OlyMusic Experiences

Pat MacDonald played an awesomely heavy show at The Iron Rabbit last night. As a friend I was sitting with commented, he sounds like a four or even five piece band at times. He plays guitar and sings, but he's always hitting deep bass note lines along with all the guitar work. The guitar sounds like a synthesizer sometimes, at the same time as sounding like a guitar and bass. Add to this the stompboard that translates his foot stomps into bass and snare drum like sounds with his foot stomping out the beat regular and heavy like a deep shamanic rock trance, all timed perfectly with the guitar and add to this 4 piece at times the harmonica, and the clean, well defined vocals - we were wowed. we just went, "wow" and looked at each other and got back into it. And that's not to even mention the character of the songs - Pat evokes vivid images with his lyrics, look - you've gotta check the music for yourself. This is the man responsible for "The Future's So Bright I gotta wear Shades!"
cdbaby.com/cd/patmAcdonald <--- got a signed copy of in the Red Room at the show!
pmacd.timbuk3music.com/
myspace.com/PatMacDonald

Yeah, I didn't plan on shows tonight except entertaining a notion of going to hear the Pasties at Yes Yes, however, I went to the Eastside Club to shoot a little pool and discovered that Trolls Cottage would be playing soon. I played some of their tracks on the jukebox and decided the $5 cover would be worth it. I've heard their name around for years, but this is the first time I've actually checked 'em out. They're like mellow reggae, definitely danceable and catchy. When I stepped out to smoke a cigarette, a trumpeter walked by and said they were going to play at Yes Yes (The Pasties). For some reason, maybe it was the beers I drank, my head muddled, and I went to Le Voyeur instead of Yes Yes, and asked someone if The Pasties played yet. Ironically they said that, yes, they had already played. A band that I think is called Kathryn Hepburn's Voice played. They were good. They had a looper or boomerang pedal or something that let them get a riff going and make it loop so they could jump on another instrument. They had nice harmonies a few times, and overall I really dug their vibe. I think they're out of Seattle. When they got done I ordered some fries and went to see how things were going Eastside, since the fries would take 20 minutes, and that's how long the next band, Heyoka would take to set up at Le Voyeur. I went over and had a good mellow foot tapping time at The Eastside for 20 minutes, and got back to Le Voyeur in time to hear Heyoka play their first tune, I believe it was March of the Sugarplum Fairies. One of them told me that their style of music is Symphonic, with both classical and rock music being fair game. They set up lights of their own and the house lights were out. Atmosphere. Smoke machine. That first tune they played is one classical piece that is so catchy that I find it in my head fairly regularly, although I doubt that I've heard it since watching looney tunes as a kid, until this evening. Since I paid a cover at the Trolls Cottage show, and I am slightly partial to reggae if forced to choose between genres, I ducked back to the Eastside. Hung out for a bit and then headed back for more Heyoka. This time they were into something that made me feel in a rave state of mind, combined with the red lighting they had. It was interesting. Then I bounced back to the Eastside for a while, then back to Le Voyeur to hear FeedBackarach My first thought as they began to play was that they remind me of Ben Folds Five sans keyboard, as far as how the music is arranged and the tonality of the vocals. Definitely enjoyable. After a while I went back to the Trolls Cottage show. About 1:30 I felt that the beers from earlier had worn off thanks to water and fries consumed, and that it might be a good time to go home, blog while it's fresh, and to bed with me. The music they were playing as I left was very enjoyable, making it tempting to stay longer, but it's always nice to leave on a good note, so that I will remember it that way.
Thanks to all the musicians I heard tonight for showing us that you have a lot of heart, soul, talent, and pizazz.

Revolution Media Network comments:
A work in progress, the website is fully functional and uploads/streams work... 8 artists and 23 songs so far :D

The philanthropic goal is to create an Independent version of Apple iTunes and donate to social/environmental causes while providing a viable resource for artists.. We would love to help host streaming mp3's for Olympia artists. Bands can include a link to their record label for customers to buy cd's

resource: Revolution Media Network
URL: http://www.revmednet.com

also, there are new links for a few bands...
One Band Clapping
sears catalog
waltz invention

Rock On!

Iron Rabbit Restaurant & Lounge
2103 W. Harrison Ave.
http://www.ironrabbit.net/

ZKamp is really fun project to be playing drums. Cheers to the band and to everyone that was at the show!!!!

Last night we were fortunate to catch the last show from Artesian Underground (formerly known as OldHwy99). Todd told me there is a new project in the works that we can look forward to. Todd is one of the guitar playing singer/songwriters in the group. He is the guitar tech at Capital City Guitars. Before Artesian Underground he played with a band called Three. It was a good show last night. They got me drumming on the table and trancing out on some of the songs. High Ceiling also put on a terrific show, what we caught of it. I think we caught about the last half of their set. We didn't sit down on the way in, because the music kept us on our feet as we arrived.

I'm very much looking forward to the show at Le Voyeur tonight, partly 'cause I'm playing and partly cause I can't wait to hear the other musicians.