Oh man is tonight going to be a good one! Get thee to the Tractor tonight for a very, very special night, as everyone sings "It's Your Birthday" to two Seattle pop legendaries - Lulu and Kurt of the Fastbacks. The evening starts off promptly at 8:30 with a heavy dose of Seattle royalty - the Young Fresh Fellows. Then, as if that wasn't enough, a bunch of other, a bunch of Seattle pop royalty, like PUSA, the Tripwires, Thee Sgt. Major III, and tons more will join the stage to sing a bunch of Fastbacks covers. And then, Seattle's favorite Fastbacks cover band, The K-Streets (hint - it's basically just the Fastbacks) will perform all the hits and classics. To top it all off, the night is only $5. I can't possibly think of a better way to spend a fiver.
In honor of this wonderfulness, we at TIG decided to re-run this beautiful piece of Fastbacks nerdery, origially posted by a Dear Mr. Oswald a few months ago for the last K-Streets show at the Sunset.

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{Art by D. Crane, The Young Fresh Fellows play July 23rd at the Tractor}

I was too young/too uncool to listen to the Young Fresh Fellows, but I got way into the Minus Five after seeing them play with the Posies at the Mural Amphitheater, when I was in high school. “The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy” was my first Minus Five CD purchase, from Tower Records by the Space Needle. Since then I have been a constant fan. Their style of mixing playful lyrics with real emotion behind them, has influenced me to write songs. To that I say….thank you Mr. McCaughey. I moved to Chicago in 2002, to teach middle school on the south side of the city as part of Teach for America. It was a rough go, but “Down With Wilco” was one of the few things (pizza, Wrigley Field, and Thai food….oh did I mention burritos?) got me through. I am on my third copy of that album, now on reissue LP.

D. Crane: Down With Wilco is a special record for me. I remember where I was when I heard “The Days of Wine and Booze” for the first time. I still buy it/recommend it to my friends. It is up there with the White album on my favorite albums of all time list. Do you have any special albums like that? Albums that you give to friends? Albums that you think are severely underrated/are as good as Beatles albums?

Scott McCaughey: Yes, I have albums like that. Whenever I'm asked, I go blank though. I try to turn people on to the Bill Fay CD of his first two albums, which coincidentally, Jeff Tweedy turned me onto the night before we went into the studio to start Down With Wilco. I also pass on copies of the first two McGuinness Flint albums -- I stockpile them (at next to nothing, as no one wants them) and then pass them on to those I think might be susceptible to their charms. (John Wesley Harding took the bait and fell hard.) Nazz Nazz by the Nazz; Armchair Boogie by Michael Hurley; Wish You Were Here by Badfinger. Everyone knows Straight Up but WYWH is also a masterpiece! In The Air by the Handsome Family.  It's tricky because you have to find stuff that people haven't heard.  And in the end, no matter how great, nothing's as good as the Beatles.  But all three Big Star albums come close.

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{Photo: Hot Avocados Photography from the Three Imaginary Girls Sparkly Flickr Photo Pool}

Being Friday night, there are so many stellar options of what to do! Thee Oh Sees at the Funhouse, The Pharmacy at the Comet, or Hey Marseilles all-ages style at Vera are all wonderful paths to take... but when the Young Fresh Fellows are in town (this time at the Tractor with Girl Trouble), I'd be remiss to recommend anything but a full night of their songs which, as our own Chris Estey poignantly wrote, connect the dots between "The Sonics and The Wailers to The Posies and Death Cab with that sweaty, fun, beer-soaked, Puget Sound-smelling, back-yard stomping garage band life."

Want to know all the options at your fingertips? Here's what we've got on the Friday imaginary calendar:

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It would be enough for an artist to release a great album from his own group while helping out a huge, still vital band like REM create new, meaningful music since the mid-90s. But Seattle-in-Portland-exile (well, that's how I see it) indie rock originator Scott McCaughey simultaneously released a mighty fine Minus 5 full length just as his reunited OG band the Young Fresh Fellows put one out too. And it turns out that if I Think This Is was released by itself in any year, it would have been considered a come-back coup for the caustic troubadour. On top of that, McCaughey, Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Linda Pitman, and REM's Peter Buck (!) have just released The Baseball Project, a spritely whole album dedicated to their baseball fandom. That's sort of like McCaughey's version of Sandinista! separated into three different releases with three different bands and no Mikey Dread or kid's choruses. Wow. (Key tracks on The Baseball Project: "Ted Fucking Williams," "Sometimes I Dream Of Willie Mays," and "The Death of Big Ed Delahanty.")

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at The Tractor

I've written up this review several times, abandoned a half-dozen drafts, and have decided that it's best to just give it to you straight:

The Tripwires and the Young Fresh Fellows rocked our fucking faces off on Friday night.

There, I said it. And pardon my choice of adjective, but there's really no other way to explain how good this show was. The bands were unbelievably tight, the choice of venue was perfect (The Tractor, obvs) and the sound was absolutely stellar. I mean, I actively sought out and purchased a poster. A poster. Do you remember the last time you did that? I do. It was when the Wrens and Okkervil River played two nights at Neumo's for the KEXP Yule Benefit a few years back. (Talk about getting your face rocked off!) And that's the kind of night this was, only on a smaller scale -- a well-matched bill, perfectly executed, with the three of us ambling down the sidewalk afterward, all reeling and sweaty and shouting over our ringing ears.

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This is definitely kid-friendly music, led by standout tracks like "Nellie The Elephant," performed by Sgt. Major, and "Picnic," performed by the Young Fresh Fellows.

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