Pen & Page

Update: According to 11:11 Presents, the October 10 concert with Why? has been canceled along with the other US dates due to an injury.

“We wish Yani a quick recovery to his damaged hand,” 11:11 posted to their Facebook page. Ticket refunds will be handled Venture Theater. Questions about refunds, contact venture@venturetheatre.org.

The band, in an announcement on YouTube, said they hope to make up as many concerts as possible, possibly in the winter.

WHY? will perform a series of concert dates in the fall that includes their only Montana appearance in Billings on October 10.

Avant folk-hop group WHY? has booked a late-autumn tour at a series of smaller venues–performances billed as preview shows for their new album. A follow-up to 2009′s Eskimo Snow, the trio is currently at work on the yet-to-be-named album.

Anticon artists via the Cincinnati/Bay Area, WHY? is composed of singer Yoni Wolf, his brother Josiah on drums and Doug McDiarmid on keys. WHY? was originally the concept and solo work of Yoni, who grew the project to full band with 2005′s Elephant Eyelash album.

WHY? performs Monday, October 10 at Venture Theatre with opening guests Serengeti. Reserved seating tickets go on sale Friday, July 22 at 12 p.m., available at the Venture Theatre box office or online at 1111presents.com.

The Sons of Billings perform on the Stillwater Stage on Montana Avenue for the first Montana After Dark summer concert series Friday, July 1, 2011 (Photo by Casey Page).

The Sons of Billings have embarked on a new project this summer they’ve dubbed Montana After Dark. The weekly concert series, taking place downtown on the Stillwater Stage (adjacent to McCormick Café), will feature the group in performance each Friday, with opening guests starting at 8 p.m.

Montana After Dark began July 1 with opening guest Dan Page. Canada-based Celtic jam band the Clumsy Lovers headlined the July 8 performance, and the Sons of Billings will headline the following dates, but the group assures each evening will be distinctive.

From guest vocalist Katy Kemmick to an acoustic set with Flowers From Her, the lineup brings together some of Billings more innovative musicians to share the stage.

“The entire thing has been designed by local musicians,” said Bryant Mettler, bassist for the Sons of Billings. He described the focus as being on artists in the local community—whether they be visual artists, musicians, or even craft brewers.

“The evening is dedicated to music, arts and community,” said Matt Rogers, guitarist for Sons of Billings. “It takes Alive After 5 to another level of community. At Alive After 5 you go, and it’s just a hoard of people. At (Montana After Dark) there’s going to be live art, different bands, and different configurations playing different songs.”

This is the first year for the music series, though the turnout at previous events has been impressive. “People want to be downtown and outside,” Rogers said. “It’s a continuation of your Thursday. At Montana After Dark, the real fun starts.”

Montana After Dark will features live music, microbrews from Carter’s Brewing, a variety of local art and live demonstrations of everything from graffiti art to fly-casting—what Rogers dubs “multimedium.” “Art just goes so far beyond paintings and visual taste and sound,” he said.

“You don’t have to be a musician, an artist, all you have to do is enjoy being with people and community.”

The majority of the costs associated with Montana After Dark have been offset with sponsorships.

“It’s not all about making money; it’s bring arts and community together. When musicians can work with artists, it just creates so much more of a community feel. It’s a small town—we are all friends,” Rogers said.

“We’re shipwrecked on shores, as 1090 Club puts it,” added Sons of Billings guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Brown. “We’re 10 hours from the nearest metropolitan area. We live in this weird bubble in the middle of the U.S. We should be focused on helping each other out and being community minded, enriching and participating in the arts.”

“My personal goal is to bring people together in communities,” said David Cleaves, who plays keyboard and mandolin for the Sons of Billings. “You do that through music.”

“What better avenue to get people together and enjoying one another and enjoying themselves?” Brown added.

“Music is THE universal language,” Rogers said.

Upcoming Montana After Dark lineup features the Sons of Billings and special guests as follows:

• July 15 Kemmick Family Band
• July 22 Flowers From Her
• July 29 Cure For the Common
• August 5 The Forestry

Free. All ages, at the Stillwater Stage, located adjacent to McCormick Café in downtown Billings. Music runs from 8 – 11 p.m. Find the group online at www.facebook.com/montanaafterdark.

< < < Read about Sasquatch Day 2

Ratatat's late-nigh set closed out Sasquatch's Sunday lineup (photo by Kyle Johnson)

Sasquatch Sunday rolled late into the night with Ratatat’s closing set. Performances leading up to the New York electric duo’s set included Beach House, Cold War Kids, Flogging Molly, Flaming Lips, and Modest Mouse.

Beach House’s Alex Scally (photo by Kyle Johnson)

Touring on the group’s first Sup Pop release, “Team Dream,” from earlier this year, Beach House’s Alex Scally was conversational with the crowd. “Are you enjoying the day?” she asked. “Are you enjoying each other? Good job! Humans were made to cooperate. Good human beings.”

Scally seemed a bit awkward throughout, saying, “We’re enjoying ourselves, believe it or not.”

Cold War Kids (photo by Christopher Nelson)

Cold War Kids, who played Sasquatch two years before, were also touring on a new release, “Mine Is Yours.” Live their sound was consistent, though it seemed as nothing much has changed for the Long Beach boys besides the addition of Creedence’s “Long As I Can See The Light” to their set.

Flogging Molly's Dave King (photo by Christopher Nelson)

Dave King kicked up the atmosphere with Flogging Molly and his witty stage humor. Their newest album, released in May, showcases the band’s rollicking Celtic-inspired punk ballads.

“There were lots of people when we were making this album who lost their jobs,” King said. “This is going out to all of you lovely people who are unemployed,” and played “Revolution.”

King followed up with “Selfish Man,” a song he dedicated to himself. “Are these screens on?” he asked. “It makes me look like a bigger dick than I am, at least that’s what my mother tells me.”

Modest Mouse (photo by Kyle Johnson)

King’s clever, unlike Isaac Brock, who’s just a dick. During the group’s headlining set Brock belittled his fans, taking long pauses between songs to hold awkward conversations with the audience.

“Who has hiked the gorge?” Brock asked. “One guy? That is disafuckingpointing.”

Das Racist (photo by Kyle Johnson)

Leading up to Modest Mouse’s set, on the smallest stage Das Racist asked, “What’s up white people?”

Das Racist crowd (photo by Kyle Johnson)

From flashing titties to throwing Soy Joys (given away for free at the festival) onstage, the crowd was feisty, encouraged by the Brooklyn-based group’s clever onstage humor. Accompanied by a horn section the boys of Das Racist propelled through a slightly slurry set.

Wayne Coyne rolls onto the 2011 Sasquatch crowd (photo by Kyle Johnson)

When Wayne Coyne rolled onto the crowd in his clear human-sized hamster ball, he launched a classic Flips performance, complete with on-stage costumed dancers, confetti, streamers, balloons, and an on-mic camera.

“Thank you for being such freaks,” Coyne said. “So enthusiastic and so easily provoked to be happy.”

The Flaming Lips unload confetti on the audience at the 2011 Sasquatch Music Festival(photo by Kyle Johnson)

What was atypical was the performance of the group’s 1999 album, “The Soft Bulletin,” from front to back. Some songs were excluded due to time constraints, but their rendition of the dream-like album was wondrous.

When Coyne performed “The Spiderbite Song,” he described incidents that threatened the lives of drummer/keyboardist Steven Drozd and bassist Michael Ivings. “This next song is about a couple different episodes I was lucky enough to turn into this story. Even though everyone is still alive, at the time, it was absolutely fucking tragic.”

Flaming Lips (photo by Jackie Kingsbury)

Coyne’s banter seemed profoundly heartfelt. “That’s why we have music,” he said, “when the worst of it happens.”

The set was paused for a birthday celebration. Festival founder Adam Zacks (introduced as Luke Skywalker by Coyne) brought out a giant birthday cake to celebrate the exact 10-year birthday of the Sasquatch Music Festival. “No one knows this but the Sasquatch mascot was initially based in part on Wayne Coyne,” Zacks said. “He was too sexy for a Sasquatch.”

“We wish that we could throw this cake out there and you guys can just go fucking crazy,” Coyne said. And indeed, he took fistfills of cake and chucked it into the audience.

Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips (photo by Christopher Nelson)

In a return to seriousness, Coyne dedicated “Waitin’ For A Superman” to the departed Elliott Smith. “Normally we don’t play this song at a festival because it reminds us too much of sadness. But, sometimes by singing about it, we get to where we understand a different dimension of our unbearable sadness.”

Coyne described being on tour when they heard the news that Smith had died. “I don’t think we will ever really know if he took his own life,” Coyne said. “But there were plenty of times when we were around him that we felt that he was waiting for an answer; he was waiting for sometime to come along and maybe make everything bearable. We can’t wait. We have to try to make right now bearable enough. That’s all we can do.”

Read about Sasquatch Day 4 > > >

< < < Read about Sasquatch 2011 Day 1

Crowds at the 2011 Sasquatch! Music Festival (photo by Christopher Nelson)

Day two of the 2011 Sasquatch Music Festival brought Death Cab for Cutie to the stage as a headliner. Earlier in the day, the outspoken “rap n’ roller” K-OS (born Kevin Brereton) gave homage to the band in his lyrics, as did Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. Touring with Death Cab, Oberst gave the band praise for being “on top of their game.”

“They’ll sound fantastic,” Oberst said.

On the main stage Local Natives of Los Angeles reflected on their performance at last year’s festival. “We played last year to a 20th the size of you. This is no doubt the biggest show we’ve every played. It means a lot to us. Thank you.”

Local Natives (photo by Christopher Nelson)

With music heavily dependent on drum and percussion beats, the group elicited a spontaneous dance party reminiscent of Santogold’s 2009 dance eruption with their poppy tunes. Lead singer Taylor Rice sports a fantastic revivalist moustache, rivaling Sam Beam for the best facial hair of the day.

Wolf Parade (photo by Kyle Johnson)

Through the crowd wandered people in wolves’ clothing for Wolf Parade’s set. The Canadian group rarely tours due to member obligations in other bands, including keyboardist/vocalist Spencer Krug (Sunset Rubdown) and guitarist/singer Dan Boeckner (Handsome Furs).

“What a beautiful day to be here,” Boeckner said.

Pink Martini (photo by Christopher Nelson)

From Pink Martini with its 12-piece orchestral arrangements to Iron and Wine’s grand and expansive jam session—complete with a full horn section, back-up singers and what can best be described as an electric didgeridoo—it seems live music culture has evolved to ambitious and sprawling ballads.

Iron and Wine (photo by Christopher Nelson)

Sam Beam himself has evolved from a one-man band to a sprawling band of musicians. (Listen to Iron and Wine’s Sasquatch set on NPR). He opened the performance with “Boy with a Coin,” almost unrecognizable from the album version, packed with creative pacing and robust sounds lent by the backing band. Overheard at Iron and Wine: This is hippy God music.

Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes (photo by Christopher Nelson)

In similar ways, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes has come to stage with a full orchestra, but on his Sasquatch performance he returned with long-time bandmates Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott, accompanied by drums and bass.

Oberst took the stage like a boxer with a hoddie covering his head, his dark hair covering his eyes, and at the keyboard launched into “Gold Mind Gutted.”

“This is our first time at the Gorge,” Oberst said. “This shit is deep.”

With true middle class angst, Oberst launched into a song from the 2011 release “The People’s Key,” singing, “My private life’s a joke, and no one can explain it to me.” Like the trials he chronicles in his music, Oberst discussed some biting themes throughout the set, at times returning to a political and sermonizing stance.

“This next one’s about the pig,” Oberst explained before playing “Arc of Time.” “The pig is the proper name for the Internet.”

Bright Eyes (photo by Christopher Nelson)

His evolution from boy sonneteer to indie rock celebrity has given Oberst a platform, which he utilized. Regardless of his abrasive nature, Oberst sold his new album while still performing a set of favorites. During “Poison Oak,” a song he described as being about the “apocalypse.” Mogis’s lapsteel soared, the lyrics carried by the crowd. “”You’re the yellow bird that I’ve been waiting for…”

The world’s end was on several artists mind. Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, in their closing set on Monday, told the crowd the band didn’t prepare a set for the festival.

“We didn’t want to put in too much effort and if we were going to be raptured,” Tweedy told the crowd.

Death Cab For Cutie (photo by Christopher Nelson)

While Oberst was outspoken, Ben Gibbard was approachable. He used the stage to encourage Washingtonians to vote. “Look at what happened in Wisconsin,” he said.

Death Cab For Cutie’s set was absorbing, Gibbard’s voice a captivator. They band closed their set with an encore that included “Portable Television,” “Photobooth,” and “Transatlanticism,” the chorus circling the Gorge.

Read about Sasquatch 2011 Day 3 > > >

Crowds at the 2011 Sasquatch! Music Festival, held at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington state (photo by Christopher Nelson).

In what felt like a greatest-hits compilation, some of Sasquatch’s most impressive acts returned to the stage for the 10th anniversary of the northwestern music festival. Held during Memorial Day weekend at the Gorge Amphitheater, the festival was ripe with Sasquatch nostalgia. Saturday headliners Death Cab for Cutie, Sunday’s Modest Mouse, Cold War Kids, Flaming Lips, and Monday’s The Decemberists and Rodrigo Y Gabriela, among others, all returned to celebrate the birthday of the Northwest’s popular music fest.

Attendees of the 2011 Sasquatch! Music Festival (photo by Christopher Nelson)

Festival promoters estimate 25,000 tickets were sold each day to music consumers–many who paraded out their finest kitsch. From leopard print leotards to body paint to bodysuits, there was no shortage of creative fashion on display.

Walter Schreifels of Rival Schools (photo by Jackie Kingsbury)

Rival Schools opened the fest on Friday with a song from the new album “Pedals,” a mellow album that shows the group’s groovy soft side. Walter Schreifels—known for his work with Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand—eased the crowd into the first afternoon. “This is a special occasion,” Schreifels said. “Have a great festival.”

Sasquatch planners extended the festival to four days in 2011 in celebration of its 10-year birthday. Though initially quiet, the venue filled by Friday evening with fans anticipating the headlining acts, including a reunion of Death From Above 1979 and a performance by the Foo Fighters.

Bob Mould (photo by Christopher Nelson)

Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü christened the main stage on Friday, his grizzled voice appealing in its familiarity. He stumbled a bit on “Hear Me Calling,” commenting that “I don’t know that one anymore.” Mould discussed his focus for the last couple years, in which he’s spent writing his biography. “It’s a page-turner for your beach activities,” he said.

Tom Gabel of Against Me! (photo by Christopher Nelson)

Punk rockers Against Me! didn’t break once through their set, opening with “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” and clamoring through popular songs from the group’s 10-year discography. Frontman Tom Gabel’s characteristic smile left little doubt he was delighted at the crowd’s reaction. Unusual of Sasquatch sets, Gabel and crew returned to the stage for an encore, singing the classic “Baby, I’m and Anarchist” and “We Laugh at Danger (and Break All the Rules)” as shoes went flying.

Sebastien Grainger, of Death From Above 1979 (photo by Christopher Nelson)

Canadian-based duo Death from Above 1979 readied the crowd for Foo Fighters. Reunited after calling it quits five years ago, their Sasquatch appearance was one of only six that the band will perform in North America this summer. On the group’s website, drummer Sebastien Grainger commented: “2011 has a nice ring to it & if you’re so inclined, it may be the last year ever!…So why not say YES to stirring up a writhing pit of sweaty humans? YES to riots! YES to heavy music! YES instead of maybe, and YES to make death your adviser and remind yourself always, that this is not a dress rehearsal. This is the big show.”

Crowds at Death From Above 1979 (photo by Christopher Nelson)

With plenty of screamo and a torrent of rock, the two-piece seemed unstoppable. “How’s the view?” Grainger asked. “I wasn’t taking about us. I know we look good.” In good humor he reminded the crowd of a YouTube from last year of the couple having sex. “I might need something to watch when I get back to the hotel.”

Foo Fighters in concert (photo by Kyle Johnson)

The Foo Fighters followed, opening with “The Pretender,” and it seemed that Sasquatch is all grown up. The group has an important place in Americana and it was delightful to hear Grohl’s screams ricochet through the amphitheater; he hollered to the point of nearly losing his voice.

“When I was driving in, the first thing I saw was this big fucking sign that said ‘beer,’” Grohl commented. “Even reading that word makes me happy.”

Grohl pointed out the Foo hasn’t played the Gorge in 10 years. “It’s an honor to be here,” he said.

Read about Sasquatch 2011 Day 2 > > >

Gerrick Phillips has been announced as the lead singer for Canadian rock band Burning Borders (Photo by Dan Rich)

“Bout 21 more days BC!!” Gerrick Phillips posted a few days ago on his Facebook wall. Friends, fans and family that know the Billings-based musician understand exactly what’s on his mind: a change of life.

Naturally charismatic, the blue-eyed and tattooed Phillips can sway a room with his stage presence, long rocker locks and sturdy presence. He has fronted bands since high school, but it wasn’t until December 2010 that Phillips found his hard work culminating. Burning Borders, an established alternative rock band based in Vancouver, British Columbia, was seeking a lead singer.

“They’re quite popular in Canada and in the American underground rock scene,” Phillips said. “I just took a shot in the dark based on the stagnancy of my personal progression as an artist.”

With plenty to gain, Phillips took a chance. “I went up there with zero expectations,” he said. “That was the first time I went into a situation and understood that I wasn’t in control, and I was okay with that. I left myself open for anything.”

An acquaintance in Wyoming that knew of the band notified Phillips of the opportunity.

“I flew to Vancouver for a long weekend in early December to try out, and they offered me the position on the spot,” Phillips said. “The feeling was just amazing. I actually couldn’t believe it at first.”

Phillips was selected from a pool of 55 applicants, though he didn’t take the job right away. He instead told the group he was going to return to the states and digest what they had offered.

“I had to think about it, if only to give myself time to get out of that element and back into my own world and ask, ‘Is this going to be right for you and for the people in your life?’ I ended up answering yes to everything,” he said.

A musical life
Phillips acknowledges he’s skipping a bit of the “due paying” by joining an established band, but he has paid dues of his own along the way. Phillips grew up in Lockwood and played his first show in Billings at the age of 14 at a battle of bands. In 1996, Phillips and a group of friends formed the hard rock outfit Grudge. After graduating from high school, Phillips said they started getting serious about playing music.

Grudge was offered a record contract, and members relocated to New York where they invested a decade in the rock scene. However, the band’s record contract was canceled, and at that point they decided to move back to Billings.

“It was cool to come back and see that Billings had grown into a town that embraces music, and you can actually blossom as a performing artist,” Phillips said.

Grudge continued with Phillips on vocals, Rich Candelaria and Josh Moore on guitar, Brian Coleman on bass, and Marco Castro on drums.

After returning to Billings, band members spent the better part of six months working on a record.

“It just wasn’t working,” Phillips said of the recording process. “All the forces of nature were working against us.” Grudge disbanded quietly in 2010, and three of the members—Phillips, Castro, and Moore—formed the acoustic rock group Downtime.

In October 2010, when Phillips heard of the opportunity with Burning Borders, he told his bandmates in Downtime of his intentions to audition. After he was offered the position they too decided to go their separate ways. Downtime continues to perform as a duo, and Phillips has focused his energies on preparing for his move out of the country.

Though he’s labored to build a high-profile band the majority of his adult life, Phillips says there are attractions to starting with an established band that has songs on the radio, and a huge attraction to getting paychecks.

“I don’t have to worry about paying rent, but worry about making music,” Phillips said. “This is the first time I have been in that position.”

Phillips is quick to point out his focus is creating music. “First and foremost, it’s the passion; it’s what I do. But yes, it is a job. It’s going to take care of my kids, and it’s going to keep my bills paid. But it’s doing something that I love to do, and I can’t imagine doing anything else. I just can’t,” Phillips said.

The top appeal for Phillips is the opportunity to live and further his career in a new country. “While I love being back (in Billings), it’s definitely time to move on personally,” he said.
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The secondary stage at the 2010 Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington’s Gorge Amphitheater (Photo by Christopher Nelson).

The nation’s live music industry remains an unpredictable environment, with fears lingering of last summer’s unusually challenging concert season where artists cancelled tours and struggled to fill seats. Yet 2011 summer music festivals are experiencing record sell-outs.

Tickets to Bonnaroo, Tennessee’s annual music fest in June, are nearly sold out. It was less than a week before tickets for Cochella—Indio, California’s annual music festival taking place next weekend—sold out.

And the northwest’s ever-growing music fest at Washington’s Gorge during memorial Day Weekend, Sasquatch sold all its 100,000 tickets (25,000 per day across four days) just a week after the lineup was announced.

Dave Grohl and company perform the first evening of Sasquatch, following their Missoula debut.

Headliners for this 10th anniversary of Sasquatch include Foo Fighters, Modest Mouse, Wilco, Death Cab For Cutie, and the festival will host a reunion of Death From Above 1979 (not to mention Flaming Lips will be playing the entire Soft Bulletin album and Wolf Parade makes a much-anticipated break from hiatus).

Enticing musical lineups have always propelled Sasquatch’s ticket sales. As well the increasing popularity of Sasquatch is no doubt fueled by the amphitheatre in which its held, an internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs, high above the Columbia River Gorge and offering spectacular, sweeping views of the river and canyon.

Those not attending this year’s festivals or just not into three and four day music benders are fortunate this year. Missoula is capitalizing on its excellent routing location for bands attending the 2011 Sasquatch Music Festival. Foo Fighters, Modest Mouse, Iron and Wine, and Ratatat have all announced performances in Missoula in the last week of May and first part of June.

Ratatat is slated to perform Missoula on Friday, June 3.

Foo Fighters will appear with Motorhead on Thursday, May 26 at the Adams Center at the University of Montana. Foo Fighters then head to Sasquatch to open the festival. This year, in celebration of its 10th year, show promoters extended the festival to four days, with the Foo as their first eve headlining act.

Festival creator Adam Zacks founded Sasquatch nearly 10 years ago with the aim of building an event that catered to the a wide variety of music enthusiasts’ tastes.

“We are excited to grow the festival to four days and thrilled that Foo Fighters, a great American rock band with roots in the Pacific Northwest, will be headlining the Friday show,” Zacks said in a press release.

Modest Mouse headlines this year's Sasquatch Music Festival as well as kicking off Big Sky Brewery's summer concert series.

Missoula will share in some of that Foo love, and will as well catch Modest Mouse on Friday, May 27 as part of the Knitting Factory’s 2011 Summer concert series taking place at Big Sky Brewery. The group has a few days to spend in frontman Isaac Brock’s old stomping grounds (Brock resided in Montana until age 11) before heading to Sasquatch for a headlining slot on Sunday, May 29.

Knitting Factory has also announced Ray LaMontagne and Brandi Carlile as acts at the same concert series, performing the brewery on June 20.

Following a Sasquatch performance, southern singer/songwriter Sam Beam’s group Iron and Wine has a sold-out performance Sun, May 29, at Missoula’s Wilma Theatre.

As well New York electric duo Ratatat performs Sasquatch on Sunday, May 29, heads to Canada and routes back through Missoula to perform Friday, June 3 at the Wilma—one of only six dates in the states outside of major festivals.

New Orleans funk band Galactic in performance at the Babcock Theatre in May, 2010.

Frontwoman for the Los Angeles-based funk band Orgōne,  Fanny Franklin let a modest crowd of fans at the Babcock know, “This band has been on the road for two months. We love it. You know why? We live for music. You all live for music? I can tell. You’re out here. In the snow!”

In her Chuck Taylors and high-waisted jeans, the sultry singer summed up spring fever in Billings and warmed the crowd with her groovy charisma.

The first days of spring have already brought an impressive lineup of musicians through Billings. Orgōne opened for New Orleans-based group Galactic, which took the stage at the Babcock on Tuesday, March 22, their horn-fueled funk rock rolling through the historic theatre.

Later that week the Babcock’s stage seemed vast and empty in comparison to Galactic’s sprawling lineup when guitar legend Leo Kottke appeared. The theater was host to a large crowd of reserved patrons, who seemed to hold their breath as the one-man act strummed his acoustic guitars. Yet Kottke is no small act, delivering sounds that seemed as though the stage were lined with a slew of supporting guitarists.

Leo Kottke entertains fans at the Babcock Theatre in late May.

The quiet in the theater resonated Kottke’s indescribable sounds. Not only a slide-guitarist and finger-picking extraordinaire, throughout his set the comedic Kottke threw pop culture references around, mentioning Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Pete Seeger, to name a few. He told stories from the road and poked fun at himself, saying, “Sometimes I have a better time than the crowd does.”

Kottke also joked about his fading memory, at one point calling the promoter to bring him his watch so he wouldn’t lose track of time.

“I pretty much play everything I can remember,” he told the audience.

The undisputed craftsman of guitar has a voice so familiar, it was as if he soundtracked the American upbringing. Simplistically, Kottke equated life’s problems to a knot in which one keeps picking at, hoping to unravel the tangle of such a universal metaphor.

“But I digress,” Kottke said. “I am glad you came.”

Two stand-out songs of the evening included the beautiful rendition of the traditional folk song, “Corrina, Corrina,” and his song “Rings.”

Champagne Champagne will perform at the Railyard on Friday, March 25. (Courtesy photo)

Champagne Champagne, a Seattle group that fuses slick hip-hop rhymes with trip pop and despondent shoegazing tunes, performs at the Railyard on Friday, March 25.

Former Blood Brothers drummer Mark Gajadhar (who performs as DJ Gajamagic and serves as Champagne Champagne’s producer) formed the group with rapper Pearl Dragon and MC Sir Thomas Gray. They moved their way from underground Seattle club band to a more high-profile existence with their eclectic mix of electo-beats with dark undertones, what they dub “tropical trip pop.” Seattle weekly noted they “outrap and outparty everyone.”

The show is 21+ and begins at 9 p.m.

Guitar legend Leo Kottke performs Thursday, March 24 at the Babcock Theatre.

The week ends with a slathering of excellent music, starting Thursday at the Babcock Theatre with guitar legend and fingerpicking extraordinaire Leo Kottke. He performs an all-ages show starting at 8 p.m. at the historic theater.

In his 24 years of performance, Kottke has been instrumental in creating the combination of bluegrass, bottleneck-blues, and classical rhythms. Born in Athens, Georgia, Kottke grew up in Oklahoma and Wyoming, and had a brief stint in the Navy before settling in Minnesota.

Kottke received his first guitar as a young boy, a gift from his parents to help him recover from the death of his sister. At the time, Kottke was quoted in a news article saying, “I was following my sister in the grave. I had proceeded to get every disease in the book. I was either insane or dying or both, and my parents brought home a toy guitar.” He added, “I made up an E chord, and I was cured. I sat up, I looked out the window—I was gone, I was out of bed in about a week, and I had been there for a couple of months. I just knew I wanted to play this thing, and that’s all I ever wanted to do after that.”

Kottke recorded his first album, “12 String Blues,” on a small Minneapolis label, and by 1969 had tracked down guitar great John Fahey. With Fahey’s help, Kottke released the highly acclaimed “6 and 12 String Guitar” on Fahey’s Takoma label. Capitol Records subsequently signed Kottke, and he released nine albums between 1970 and 1976, including “My Feet Are Smiling” and “Chewing Pine.”

In total Kottke’s recorded and released more than 20 LPs centered on his craggy baritone, reminiscent of folksinger Tom Waits or the more short-winded radio personality and writer Garrison Keillor.

Reserved seating for the March 24 performance is still available. Tickets, costing $29.50, are available at Ernie November, Rimrock Mall, by phone at 800-514-ETIX, online at 1111presents.com, or at the door.