In the throes of a killer party at the Neptune last night, we were thrilled beyond belief to find out the details on another most excellent year for the Sasquatch! music festival, taking place out at the Gorge on Memorial Day weekend {May 25-28}. Sasquatch! is by far one of our favorite fests every year, and 2012 is going to be no exception.

We're particularly excited about partying down with the likes of Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Beirut, Girl Talk {hell yes!}, The Head and the Heart, Tune-Yards, Wild Flag, Blind Pilot, Mark Lanegan Band, The Cave Singers, Grouplove, Ted Leo, Deer Tick, Alabama Shakes, We Are Augustines, Shearwater {!!!!!}, Charles Bradley, Pickwick, Hey Marseilles, Sallie Ford, Dyme Def, Fresh Espresso, and Katie Kate -- but by no means does that even scratch the surface of the seemingly-zillion fantastic bands included on this year's lineup. As usual, there's a thoughtful mash of notable locals and squee-worthy headliners, so much so that slapping down the ticket price to spend the long weekend with twenty-plus thousand of your closest friends is an absolute no-brainer.

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{This is part two of our one-two punch showcasing the best in festival moments and photos from 2011. Start from the beginning here, where you can see picks #10 - #6!}

Favorite photo #5: Wye Oak :: Standing in the pit at Sasquatch! at the small stage is always a treat -- you're right up next to the performers, and unless someone's career has exploded between the time they got booked and the time the festival rolls around, there's not too many people mobbing the area surrounding the stage. Such was the case for Wye Oak, and while they were already a good, established band then with a solid crowd turnout, we were able to get up-close-and-personal for their set to capture this mid-song moment. If you haven't seen one of their many appearances -- Sasquatch! 2011, the shows with the National at the Neptune last month, or from the "HOLY SHIT" file: that time they played with Shearwater at the Triple Door in 2010 -- get out to see them on mid-sized stages while you can. {more photos from Wye Oak's set at Sasquatch!} {Wye Oak official}

Favorite moment #5: Del :: So, technically, this happened *during* Austin City Limits and not *at* Austin City Limits proper, but we couldn't compile a best-of without mentioning Del.

One morning, while loading up on espresso and bagels while uploading photos pre-fest on a hundred-degree day in Austin, we met Del. And as it turns out, Del is just an artist in a corner at a cafe, akin to those writing furiously in a notebook -- only he doesn't blog it, "show" it, exist anywhere on the internet, or have openings in art galleries. This is just what he does, and after getting permission to take his photo and chatting with him for a bit, we learned that this inky artpile is Del's form of art-therapy journal-y processing. While it wasn't a We Are Augustines set or a moment in front of the stage with Elbow, it was nonetheless a highlight of our ACL trip and well-worth preserving here in our 2011 storyline!

Favorite photo(s)-and-moment #4: Sharon van Etten

Favorite moment-and-photo(s) #4: Aloe Blacc

What an amazing, amazing pair of sets these two put on at Sasquatch! this year. Sharon van Etten's sparse, gut-wrenching performance rang out all the way into the darkest corners of our hearts where the best reverb lies, and Aloe Blacc held up to every expectation we had going into the set. The fact that they both looked good doing what they both obviously love {and are so, so well-suited} to do just made capturing it in photo-form all that much easier. {more Sasquatch! 2011 photos} {more about Aloe Blacc} {SVE official}

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2011 was {is still!} a great year, not only for releases but also for live shows, festivals, and those grit-of-the-stage-under-your-fingertips kinds of moments that we have all come to love and live by: nights like The Head and the Heart blowing the roof off of Porterhouse in West Seattle, a few sweet Lovesick Empire sets, John Darnielle's solo show at UW, and some incredibly intimate events like David Bazan's performance at Barsuk Records and some killer in-studios at KEXP. And with that said, here's the start of {one of} our 2011 countdown, featuring our top moments and photos of the 2011 festival circuit:

Favorite photo #10: Andrew McKeag :: Whether he's taking a big stage with his regular band {The Presidents of the United States of America}, holding court as a Honky, or anything in-between, this man simply does his thing with an understated level of skill that most musicians can only hope to attain (and manages to look pretty damn good doing it, too). Pictured above as part of the Kasey Anderson and the Honkies set at this year's installment of Bumbershoot, Andrew made us pretty happy to have gotten to the 'fest in time for the early bands that day with this dead-on look into the lens. {more KA&tH shots from the 'shoot} {POTUSA official} {KA&tH}

Favorite moment #10: WATERS :: Maybe it was just that moment -- being New York City for a few days and suddenly realizing that the city has basically charmed your pants right off, and being totally okay with it -- in conjunction with some incredible live sets day after day after day,  but we really, really did very much dig the WATERS set that went on as part of KEXP's broadcast from the Ace Hotel for this year's CMJ. It was all those things you hope for from an indie rock band: big guitars, a cohesive sound, and an overwhelming sense of want-more! once the music stops playing, all wrapped up in a surprise as we hadn't seen or heard them enough previously to know what to expect -- get a taste of their glorious noise over at Stereogum, where a post this year offered a free download that's still up for the taking. {more photos of WATERS at CMJ 2011} {WATERS}

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Lucky, lucky us! In the midst of an incredibly well-timed trip to the east coast, we found ourselves front and center for a slice of CMJ at the Ace Hotel in New York City last week. Our fine friends over at KEXP had lined up a great few days of performances, with in-studios from bands like Widowspeak (above), Givers, WATERS, Dum Dum Girls, We Are Augustines, Zola Jesus, and so many more. The daytime performances were undoubtedly the best of the fest, and we're so happy and grateful we got to help out and contribute some time, love, and photography skills to some of the best seventy-two hours Rocktober has ever seen:

John in the Morning and Zola Jesus, day one:

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Are y'all getting excited about this year's City Arts Fest yet? There's so much goodness packed into only three days! Since Victoria did such an incredible job picking stuff you can't miss,  I thought I'd join the fun with a list of my must-sees: 

Thursday 10/20

MUST SEE
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Movie Sing Along
SIFF Cinema
8pm | $12 
buy tix 

How do I even being to express my love for this movie? I can't. It's too much. If you've never seen it, you HAVE to. Like, right now. And if you have, how can you pass up a chance to sing "The Origin of Love" and "Sugar Daddy"? I mean, seriously. you guys. seriously. I only wish I had an official foam Hedwig hat/wig/thing to wear to this. 

RUNNER UP
Crystal Castles 
w/Crypts, Nightmare Fortress 
Showbox SoDo
7pm | $27.50 adv, $32 doors
buy tix

These guys won my heart with their cover of Platinum Blonde's "Not in Love" featuring Robert Smith. I proceeded to buy their CD immediately and fall for their crazy retro electonic-y pop tunes. I kind of bet they're adorbs on stage too. 

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City Arts Fest is looming, and with it, a Long Winters show at the Showbox this Thursday -- we'll get into that in a minute, but first we've got to take a minute to squee! about what a weekend we had!

We were fortunate enough to attend a house show this Saturday where none other than John Roderick himself came by to play a few hours of music. Talking about needing to pinch our 2003 selves! After a super homestyle vibey potluck dinner, John took the 'stage' in front of the fireplace and graced us with song. Our ears were privy to classics -- in no particular order -- like Car Parts, Cinnamon, Scent of Lime, Unsalted Butter, Medicine Cabinet Pirate, Mimi, Shapes, The Commander Thinks Aloud (and way more that we forgot to write down in our squee-like state), and some killer covers like The King of Carrot Flowers {Neutral Milk Hotel} and Solitary Man {Neil Diamond} among others. So much gorgeous song, coupled with some wonderfully intimate banter, quite literally made for a perfect night. Our friends from Dorsia Films were on hand to capture much of the evening on the A/V front, so hopefully we'll get to relive all that magic someday soon.

While we wait for the official set list, here's a few photos we managed to capture in our uber-elated state:

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Bands. Art. Comedy. Community. These are just a few of the things you can expect from the upcoming City Arts Festival, taking place at various venues throughout the city from Thursday, October 20th through Saturday, October 22nd. They've done a damn fine job of showcasing a ton of local artists as well as featuring some national acts, both sure to pack their respective houses -- and thus, it's through a sea of tears that we give you some of our picks for what you should do to make the best of those seventy-two hours.

City Arts isn't bringing us to tears, of course, unless you count tears of JOY at reading the full lineup! But we are a little sad to report that part of our imaginary team will be in New York for CMJ this year {for those of you keeping score at home, yep: it's the same week / weekend}.

THURSDAY

The Don't-Miss: The Long Winters / Campfire OK / Cobirds Unite / Cataldo
Where: Showbox at the Market
{tickets}

The Long Fucking Winters. At the Showbox. Seriously!! The rumors are true -- we're presenting this show, it's going to kick ass, the night will be full of surprises, and the lineup is killer. Cataldo will be warming up the night, fresh off the release of their latest album Prison Boxing, Cobirds Unite will send the masses swooning, Campfire OK will undoubtedly win the house over... and all of this before John Roderick and Company take the stage. Any night when he and Rachel Flotard are in the same house, whether they perform together or not, is sure to go down as one for the books.

The Runner-Upper: Seateeth
Where: Theatre Off Jackson
{tickets}

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Mark your calendars, friends in Tacoma {and friends in Seattle who are up for a ride!} because the Fall Free For All is coming your way this weekend, and you're not going to want to miss it.

First off? Yep, it's actually free. Free-free, no-strings-attached free, ain't-gonna-cost-you-a-thing FREE. Second, the weekend includes performances from bands like Pearly Gate Music, Drew Grow and the Pastor's Wives, Kelli Schaefer, Laura Gibson, the Local Strangers -- along with plays, movie screenings, and tons of theater exhibitions and family-friendly events. And third? You hardly have to lift a finger to sign up to go: just head on over here to sign up for your free wristband.

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I really do feel so lucky every day to live in a city where film is so important. You guys, it's time for another film festival!!! Starting tomorrow, the Northwest Film Forum is hosting the 14th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival, which showcases awesome indie films made in the Northwest. 

The opening night film {Friday, 9/30 @7pm} is called The Oregonian, and it looks like a bloody horror film with Lynchian overtones from the trailer. It also stars Lindsay Pulsipher from True Blood (Jason's crazed half-cougar stalker), who I think is kind of amazing. Anyway, they had me at "70s shock horror cinema" and "screens with Vampire Hummingbirds: Pain the Nectar" (hawhaw). 

Watch the trailer after the jump...

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{The Manhattan Short Film Festival screens at the Kirkland Performance Center on 10/1 at 5 and 8 pm}

Many of you out there know I have a fondness for short films. Partly because I think that creativity loves constraints. The best shorts enthusiastically demonstrate that truism. There's also the law of large numbers aspect to the equation; when you sample more film, the odds of you really liking something goes up. Or at least that's been my experience. These rationales plus my borderline addiction to film in general seemed like great reasons to sample the ware of the Manhattan Short Film Festival...and I was not disappointed.

This two-hour set of ten films is a true international festival. In the sense that over one week 10 finalists, whittled down from 598 entries, play in over 200 cities across the globe. Audience members in all locations vote for a single winner. Though having seen the whole program, I'd have to say the true winners are gonna be the attendees. Cheesy perhaps, but oh so true. Best I can tell, your last chance to catch these films in the Seattle area is on October 1st - so plan your weekend accordingly.

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