Three Imaginary Girls, The Stranger, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Neumo's are proud to present Hootenanny! -- our very own SXSW sendoff party for 2010 -- with Visqueen, Hey Marseilles, Mash Hall (formerly known as They Live!), and Fences on Friday, March 5th at Neumo's.

It's that time of year again, kids -- where we all steel ourselves for some couchsurfing, and start making our wishlists for the bands we can't miss -- yes, it's time to head down to Austin for SXSW 2010! And to celebrate, we'd love for you to join our sendoff party at Neumo's on Friday, March 5th. Come join us as we wish our favorite ladies and gents well before they hit the road... tickets for this 21+ show are only $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

Expect a downright rager of a night, with local big-guitar all-stars Visqueen headlining the bill, and Hey Marseilles bringing their lush, alt.indie.orchestral songwriting skills to the stage. On top of that magic, Mash Hall and everyone's favorite Fences will be rounding out the opening support -- doors are at 8pm and you won't want to miss a minute of this lineup. So make sure you're on the hill nice and early!

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The last time I saw They Live! perform was at the Showbox and they were opening for Ghostface Killah, the seemingly popular Wu-Tang Clan emcee on a Friday night. The ticket sales were way below expectations and the large Showbox seemed spacious and vacant. The first two groups to take the stage did little to engage the crowd and the audience probably wouldn’t have cared anyway as neither of those groups featured members of the Wu-Tang Clan. When They Live!, the local hip hop crew of Gatsby and Bruce Illest, took the stage, they came out with all guns firing and quickly turned the show around and suddenly everyone in the crowd was enjoying the time, not killing it and waiting for the headliner. Although he wasn’t there at that particular show, I believe I understood what local music journalist (and my friend) Travis Hay meant when he wrote, “there is nothing happening in Seattle right now that can match They Live!'s energy, stage presence and rapping skills.”

They Live! take their name from a 1988 John Carpenter sci-fi film that starred Keith David and pro wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and has become a cult classic. Gatsby is Larry Mizell, Jr., known for being in the popular group Cancer Rising, as well as a writer at The Stranger (whose weekly column “My Philosophy” is a must-read if you want to follow the flourishing local hip hop scene in as-close-to-real-time as you'll ever get) and now DJ on KEXP, hosting the weekly hip hop show “Street Sounds” (on Sundays from 6-9pm). His partner is djblesOne, who is a member of the b-boy crew Massive Monkeys and goes by Bruce Illest. They’ve become one of the standout groups in 2009 in a scene that has blown up and has limitless potential.

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I've written enough about beards and Seattle that a) a friend recently asked me if I feel the urge to shave more often than most people, lest I be seen with a five o' clock shadow and b) a special category on TIG was created called "Beard Alert".

Having said that, there is a bazillion good reasons for recommending this Beard/Off tonight at the Funhouse. That it is one event that is guaranteed to reduce Seattle's beard population is but one of many. This event begins with a 1-on-1 basketball match between Champagne Champagne's Sir Thomas Gray and Mad Rad's Terry Radjaw. The contest is simple and is spelled out on the poster: "Loser shaves; winner gloats".

I don't have a dog in this race as I like both Champagne Champagne and Mad Rad equally (ie, a lot) but it gets even better as following the game there will be performances by some of the best local hip hop acts, including They Live and Fresh Espresso (which features Radjaw's Mad Rad bandmate P. Smoov).

It's $8 and begins at 7pm, 21+. I really hope this takes off and becomes so successful that the next Beard/Off pits Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav against Iron & Wine's Sam Beam.

Here's the video to They Live's "My Weed" (and one more video that features no performers from this event but one that I couldn't resist including):

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They Live just released a video to their song "My Weed" (which their Tumblr blog says was "just in time for... some shit I forgot").

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Ear Candy blog's celebration has such a great bill because each band is exponentially different from the one that preceded it and the one to follow.

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