Three Imaginary Girls - Seattle's sparkly indie-pop press

Mending our tired hearts with Seattle's Tribute to the Last Waltz

imaginary liz — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 22:58:13 +0000

Having a favorite band is one of the best things in the world. The music and materials spawned by a favorite band are a reliable go-to for the mending of a tired heart or a sad face. The only drawback to being one of our kind (the type to fall hopelessly in love with a band and everything they do) is that – usually without notice – one’s favorite band will break up.

A band break up (usually) means no more new music, no more shows, no more videos, no more band interviews to read, no new lyrics to quote; basically, total sorrow.

I love our Seattle music community’s ability to recognize the need to fill the holes in each band-loving person’s heart - with a tribute show. Seattle has had some killer tribute nights this year, like KEXP’s All-Stars doing The Stooges atop the Pike Place Market roof and their 80’s Ladies night a few months back.

And topping off this year’s tribute night roster – and an evening of music you should not miss – is the annual Seattle's Tribute to the Last Waltz on Saturday, November 21, 2015 at the Neptune Theatre.

The night pays tribute to The Band’s farewell concert, The Last Waltz with all proceeds from the event going to Northwest Harvest - a nonprofit aimed at providing nutritious food to hungry people throughout Washington with a network of more than 370 food banks and meal programs.

The list of 30+ brilliant Pacific Northwest musicians who will be a part of this year’s show is so massive and so stunning, it’s on the verge of obscene.

Crimson Peak

imaginary amie — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 05:08:29 +0000

{Crimson Peak opens in Seattle on Friday, 10/16 and is screening at AMC Pacific Place, PACSCI IMAX®, and Thronton Place Theaters}

oh.my.god. It’s like Guillermo del Toro reached into my brain and pulled out the perfect nightmare marriage of everything I love and fear and then plopped it on screen in a Victorian Gothic wrapper: A forbidden romance. A murder. A giant, crumbling old mansion. Mysterious family secrets. Really frightening ghosts. And, of course, lots of gruesome gore.

Crimson Peak begins at the end, and pulls us back into the story via narration of its main character, Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska). Having lost her mother at a young age, Edith is devoted to her father and is focused more on becoming a writer than on becoming a wife—until the handsome Baronet Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) appears on the scene and woos her with exactly one waltz, much to the ire of his gorgeous yet creepy sis, Lucille (Jessica Chastain, clearly in the role she was born to play).

When her father’s objections to their relationship are met with a tragic accident, Sharpe marries Edith and whisks her off to his estate, Allerdale Hall. Welcome home, Mrs. Sharpe. Pay no attention to that GIANT hole in the ceiling, or the fact that the house is sinking into a giant, oozing red pit of clay, or that the snow turns red like blood because of it. And especially ignore those screeching, horrible spirits skittering around the house. NOTHING TO SEE HERE! Move along.

Not long after arriving, Edith starts noticing strange things afoot that coincide with both a sharp decline in her health and Lucille’s more and more erratic behavior. Of course, being a mystery writer, she’s gotta investigate, even if that means taking the falling-apart elevator down to the level she’s been directly told NEVER to go to. Huh.

I don’t think I’m giving anything away by telling you that the plot of this film isn’t complicated and that the acting and dialog verges on over-the-top—oh alright, sometimes it pushes right past verge and leapfrogs a 1000-foot wall, but that’s part of the charm of it! That plus the incredible sets and mind-blowing costumes mean I could watch this film over and over and for hours and never get tired of it.

I unapologetically LOVE Crimson Peak for everything that it is … yes, even Charlie Hunnam as Edith’s sad-eyed, shafted suitor. Incredible, I know.

{Crimson Peak opens in Seattle on Friday, 10/16 and is screening at AMC Pacific Place, PACSCI IMAX®, and Thronton Place Theaters}

Win 2 tickets to see Helio Sequence and Tangerine at the Crocodile this Tuesday (9/29)

imaginary liz — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 22:57:59 +0000

The crafty and kind folks over at Do206 have put together a show with a brilliant line-up to celebrate the launch of their new app.

On Tuesday, September 29th at The Crocodile, Portland’s two-man indie-rock orchestra Helio Sequence will take the stage to share their beautiful synth-quirk-dream-pop.

Opening up, Seattle’s Tangerine. They ooze with happy, smart pop songs that would be favorites on any John Hughes movie soundtrack. You can't beat a solid pairing of Pac NW goodness.

We already knew Do206 were crafty as they are the machine behind our show calendar. Now they’ve made life a little easier in our historically hard-to-commit-to-plans community with an events app. The free app features comprehensive event listings and expert local guides as well as easy to use maps. So as long as we have our mobile phone in our hands, we can stop with the questions of who’s playing tonight and where is that show!

It’s free and yours to download!

Oh, and remember how we mentioned the Do206 folks are kind? They gave us two tickets to the show to giveaway! Just email us at tiggiveaway@gmail.com with the subject line “Helio Tangerine” to enter. We’ll notify the winner by email on Saturday 9/26.

Don’t miss out on seeing these two bands - especially if we can help you get in for free!

{Beautiful photo at the top of this page, of Helio Sequence at MFNW2012, by Beth Crook}

Punk! Rock! See The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead at NWFF this weekend {8/14-8/16}

imaginary amie — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 20:17:14 +0000

{The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead screens at Northwest Film Forum August 14-16. Check their calendar here for times}

“What do you want from me, man? What do you fucking want? ‘Cause you know, really, I don’t care about your fucking documentary; I don’t care about being in a fucking group. All I care about is surviving. This is fucking bullocks.”

FUCK.YES. A documentary about The Damned is screening this weekend at Northwest Film Forum! The first UK punk band to tour the US! The band that got kicked off a tour with The Sex Pistols! The band that has been at it since 1976 and has really—despite many line-up shuffles--never, ever, ever, ever, ever stopped.

Crush mix: pop songs about 90’s stars

imaginary amie — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 17:26:40 +0000

You know how sometimes thinking about one song which had a huge impact on you leads to another song, and another, and another and they’re all linked in some weird way? My brain went down a 1990’s rabbit hole of songs related to movie and TV stars the second I was reminded of this gem:

“Watching the sky for a sign, the FBI is on my mind
I'm waiting for the day when my lucky stars align
In the form of … David Duchovny floating above me,
In the alien light of the spaceship of love”

David Duchovny, Why Don’t You Love Me? by Bree Sharp
All the excitement over The X-Files reboot caused my memory to auto-play Bree Sharp’s 1999 plea to ~~Mulder~~ David Duchovny, which my friend Jen and listened to approximately one million times because, SHOCKER: we were in love with David Duchovny {hand up if you obsessively watched Kalifornia, Playing God, and The Red Shoe Diaries just to gaze into David's gorgeous abs. I mean face! FACE … no? just me?}.