My favorite bar - the Unicorn!

I knew there was going to be an opening band, and sorry guys, but the amount of time I was in there for the main event was plenty for me, so I stopped in at The Unicorn for a Pike/Pine burger and a drink before I went over to Neumos.

Now that is a tasty burger! (And beverage!)

I’m glad I got a drink there because I quickly secured a very tidy, open spot right up front which I was not willing to leave, even for a tasty beverage. Prime real estate like that is very important to the show-going experience of a short person.

Unsurprisingly, the show started even later than I had expected, so I’d already been standing there falling asleep for about 45 minutes before the ladies took the stage. It was worth it! Which, BTW Seattle, you were an awesome crowd at this show last night. There was an absolute minimum of shoving and jostling, and you were enthusiastic and patient.

While I was waiting, I looked up and noticed that I could see a patch of sky through whatever this is. I've been to Neumos a hundred times, and I never noticed this before.

Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori came out alone together initially, commenting that this was how they’d started, just the two of the them.

They opened with (appropriately) “Beef Jerky” and “Le Pain Perdu”, both from “Viva! La Woman”.

I believe it was at about this point that they joked that most of the audience wasn’t old enough to remember these songs from when they first came out – HA! I do!

Flowers!

Someone from the audience presented each of them with a little branch of hand picked flowers – you can see Yuka’s on her keyboard in the photo.

I was super happy to hear them play “Spoon”, one of my personal favorites (unlike most people, I far prefer “Stereotype A” to “Viva! La Woman”) and that’s when I really started to *ahem* rock out. (Go ahead and roll your eyes at grandma now, young ‘uns.)

After “Spoon”, Miho explained that they’ve been away so long because they were in jail. Wait, what? Oh, heh, that was her way of introducing “BBQ”! Woohoo! Then, to my delight, another song from “Stereotype A” – the super swoony “Moonchild” which may be the song that absolutely made me fall in love with Cibo Matto.

Then, Miho told us that they’d started writing some songs again, and they played one called “10th Floor Ghost Girl: which was really good, but followed up by what I’d been waiting for, the showstopper “Sci Fi Wasabi”. If there has ever been a catchier tune written, I sure as hell haven’t heard it! I love this song, it gets stuck in my head ALL THE TIME, and so yeah, this is the part where I danced my ass off. I’m paying for that today, don’t worry.

After another new (nameless) song, they wrapped it up with the ever popular “Birthday Cake”.

I knew there would be an encore, and I was pretty happy about the fact that they didn’t delay in returning to the stage for it. They finished with the dirge-y “Blue Train” (a song that I suspect a lot of people just don’t get) and of course – How could they not? – “Know Your Chicken”.
The whole thing rocked my socks off, and was absolutely brilliant.

Afterwards, I thought I was going to perish, so I wasted no time in heading over to the Cha Cha and ordering *GASP* a GIANT glass of water. Okay, so I also asked for a giant Jack and diet at the same time, so what? Despite the haggard feeling all over my tired old carcass today, I am so glad I didn’t pass this one up.

If you get a chance, be sure to see Cibo Matto when they come to your city!

Also, if you’d like to see more photos: On Flickr and on PicPlz

I have written a number of things over the years of which I am proud, but what I wrote about Bobby may forever remain my crowning achievement. We’ll see. We still miss you, Bob.

Thanks again : )

Test post from Flickr – went to In The Red yesterday afternoon and had artichoke heart and feta bruschette and bacon wrapped dates with a glass of Cotes du Rhone.

At least, I finally found the PERFECT WordPress theme for this site, Ta-Da!

There will be some updates sooner than later – taking photos for the Brendan Perry/Robin Guthrie show at Neumo’s on Wednesday, June 8th for Noise for the Needy.

Also strongly considering going to see Cibo Matto at Neumo’s on Tuesday, June 21st.

So, it looks like I’ll be migrating to Flickr.

As always, photos are largely unedited and only minimally Photoshopped, mostly for size and lighting levels. Fortunately, the camera sees much better than I do in heavy fog.

Until then, yours always,

Bella
X&O

Kick Rocks was a birthday party for Julien and Brian Brown and I honestly only pics of the first band, The Beats, Man because again, there was sort of a surplus of photographers. Still, there are a ton of photos of one band anyway! Perhaps someday I will get used to doing this again.

That is kind of terrifying to say, like I might jinx it or something.

See below for new pics of a recent Beats, Man show at Cafe Racer and Romance at CHAC, their first show with a new drummer.
For new viewers, or old ones who need a memory refresher, click on the pics to go to a specific gallery. At the gallery, click on a thumbnail to see a full sized photo, click on the full size to go back to the gallery, or just use the slideshow to see the whole set full size.

I’d never been to Cafe Racer, but I knew it was small. I never would have thought it was THAT small, and I found myself wondering just how this was going to work. A few hours and plenty of drinks later, I found myself standing in the very front, so size was no longer an issue. I was vying for shots with way too many other cameras, but as you’ll see, it makes for some fun pics.

I have so many favorites from this show, it’s too bad I didn’t have time this morning to pull out more of the great ones. Here’s a few favorites for now – look for more later on Myspace and other photo spots.

Oh yeah, and click on any of these to see the rest.

This was their first performance together, and I’m afraid I didn’t do them justice, as it was my first time back behind the camera in almost a year. The show was great, Josh really brings them the energy and style they needed.

Click on either photo to go the gallery and see the rest.