A lot of great things happened in local music this year, but you won’t be reading about them in this post. Don’t worry all you peppy optimistic scene supporters, there will be a year-in-review post recapping all that was good in Seattle music in 2010. And lucky for all of us in Seattle, there was a lot more good than bad in the Emerald City’s music scene.
Unfortunately, you have to take the good with the bad so in this space we’ll be taking a light-hearted look at some of the lamer events of 2010. Stay tuned for the happier list of things that were good this year in local music.
Soundgarden reunites
OMG! Soundgarden is reuniting! Wait, they’re only playing three shows this year and only one of those is in Seattle? And it’s at the Showbox, which has a capacity of around 1,000? And tickets are only available through a fanclub email system that’s going to screw thousands out of a chance to see the band by sending them an email to buy tickets hours after the show has already sold out ? Man, I guess I should consider myself very lucky.
Mad Rad behaves
Okay, so it’s not a bad thing that P Smoov, Terry Radjaw, Buffalo Madonna and DJ Darwin behaved themselves this year. I imagine avoiding trouble with the law helped the foursome produce the great party album with killer beats that is The Youth Die Young. But seriously guys, we expect to hear of something along the lines of Buffalo Madonna starting a brawl at a frat house or P Smoov smacktalking a bathroom attendant at the Westin in 2011. The local music media needs you to stay in the headlines for all the wrong reasons so they can try to maintain relevancy while still getting their valuable page views. So get your shit together guys and start getting arrested or something already.
Ear Candy shut down
Disappointment was about the twentieth stage of grief for me when I got a cease and desist order from a major corporation demanding I shut down the blog and website I used to operate called Ear Candy due to possible trademark infringement. It came right after the angry “I’m getting a lawyer and fighting those bastards” stage and right before the accepting “Oh shit, I’m totally going to lose this fight” stage. Fortunately the death of Ear Candy gave birth to Guerrilla Candy, so at least there’s that.
Go! Machine cancelled
Last year was a banner year for local hip hop and it was capped off by the fantastic two-night party that was Go! Machine at the Crocodile. Just about every big name in 206 hip hop this side of Blue Scholars was a part of the festivities. But organizers weren’t able to pull a repeat this year, which may or may not have been a result of the scene reaching its peak in 2009. However, it’s looking like that’s not the case if you consider the anticipation for Shabazz Palaces’ Sub Pop debut in 2011 and the rise of Macklemore in 2010.
One Reel layoffs
One Reel, the company that produces Bumbershoot, laid off eight of its 14 festival staff in October. What does all of this mean for 2011 and the 41st installment of Bumbershoot? Guess we’ll have to wait for Labor Day weekend to find out.
