Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
Just got Kickshaw‘s latest CD, “Put It In the Microphone” in the mail today.
This is a very good thing. Hopefully a sign that things are going to be less frustrating than they have been for the past couple days.
(Kickshaw? Who? Oh, yeah, those guys, okay.)
If you get a chance to see Starship perform, and it’s cheap, and you don’t have anything pressing going on, it’s not a bad show. The band, of course, is entirely different, and it’s just Mickey Thomas providing the voice that really lets them use the name, but they do a decent job. Not stellar — the drummer wasn’t always on, the harmonies often weren’t very harmonious, and the duets just aren’t the same without Grace Slick — but not horrid, either. Even when it’s not dead-on perfect, it’s still fun to be able to hear “We Built This City on Rock and Roll” live.
You know you’re in trouble when someone’s doing their nails during your set.
— Mickey Thomas, pointing out an audience member during Starship’s set
Now, if you get a chance to see Kickshaw perform, you should, with absolutely no qualifications whatsoever. This local acapella powerhouse is flat-out incredible on stage. The things they can do with their voices are just mindblowing, they’ve got great stage presence, and each time I’ve seen them, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Definitely recommended if you get the chance.
Just a quick note right now — about to head out to the Taste of Edmonds food festival, about half an hour outside of Seattle, to see Starship and Kickshaw. Kickshaw was actually the reason I wanted to head out there, getting to see the current incarnation of 80’s band Starship (nee Jefferson Starship, nee Jefferson Airplane) is just an added bonus.
Last year at the Bite of Seattle, I discovered an incredible local acapella group called Kickshaw that blew me away when I walked up in time to hear a flawless acapella performance of one of my all-time favorite songs, “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”.
After their version of “Dance to the Music” came up in iTunes today, I hit their website on a whim and discovered that they’re going to be performing at the Bite of Seattle food festival next weekend. Got all excited, started planning to go to see them again — and then realized that they’re playing at 6pm on Friday. I’ll be at work. Grrr. Not thrilled with whoever scheduled that. Didn’t they know that they should have consulted with me first?
Uh, yeah. Right. Anyway.
On the bright side, come early August, they’ll be performing at the Taste of Edmonds food festival, which is just about half an hour by car from here. Prairie’s expressed interest in going, so hopefully we’ll be able to head out that way and catch them there. Would be very cool to get to see them again.
So yesterday I had to get up really early to get the U-Haul I’d rented to move all my equipment out to Casey’s wedding back to the shop by 9:30am. Setting the alarm for 8am was a little painful, but I managed to do it, and got the van back on time. And I even got it for a discount — whichever employee had rented me the van had screwed up when they put in the odomoter reading, so rather than charging me mileage for the 70 miles or so I actually drove, I just got charged for 10 miles total — just under $40!
Once that was done, I started taking the bus back home, but as the bus started going by the Seattle Center, I remembered that the Bite of Seattle food festival was going on. So, I hopped off the bus — and happened to get off at a stop right at Rick’s front door! So, I wandered up to his place, grabbed him, and we spent the rest of the day wandering around the Seattle Center, listening to good music and people watching.
Well, okay — girl watching. Summertime in Seattle is such a nice time for finding eye candy, and yesterday was gorgeous — cloudless with a projected high of 88 degrees. Lots of eye candy!
Anyway…(ahem). At one point in our wanderings, we started hearing a group performing “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”, which has always been one of my favorite songs. We headed over to see who was performing, and it turns out that it was an absoutely incredible acapella group called Kickshaw. These guys can make the most incredible sounds with their voices — one of the five of them can even do an astounding (and practically flawless) imitation of a DJ scratching on a turntable…just amazing to see. We ended up staying there and being blown away by the rest of their set, and I picked up a copy of Superstar, the one CD they’ve released so far. While it doesn’t have the energy that their live performance does, and they’ve added a member since it was recorded in 1999, it’s still not bad at all…and I’m looking forward to having another chance to see these guys.
It was a great day — I made it back home at about 10pm, quite happy — and quite sunburnt. Thank God for Aloe lotion…! It was well worth it, though.