Three Imaginary Girls - festivals

Great short films hit the Eastside (and 200 other cities)

Imaginary Rich — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:35:08 +0000

{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.

Big bad Sasquatch 2009 preview

Imaginary Shrie — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:25:56 +0000

Sasquatch 2009 is a mere two days away. Go see bands all three days, cheer your head off, drink some beer and/or smoke a joint. Get dirty campin' toes and sweat through your forehead bandanna (or brave kilt-lifting style winds like in 2007). Come back harried and skip out on work Tuesday. Recount every last moment, with positive embellishments, to anyone fool enough not to attend. Buy the tshirt and flaunt the shit out of it.

Here is your big bad SASQUATCH 2009 PREVIEW.

Three Imaginary Girls San Francisco Popfest Podcast {May, 2009}

three imaginary girls — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:27:13 +0000

From Thursday, May 21 to Sunday, May 24, 2009, Three Imaginary Girls staffers Liz and Keenan will be running around the San Francisco partaking in all the fun of the San Francisco Popfest. This podcast showcases some of the bands they are most looking forward to seeing while there with

49:44 minutes (43.81 MB)

Three Imaginary Girls San Francisco Popfest Podcast {May, 2009}

three imaginary girls — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:27:11 +0000

From Thursday, May 21 to Sunday, May 24, 2009, Three Imaginary Girls staffers Liz and Keenan will be running around the San Francisco partaking in all the fun of the San Francisco Popfest.

This podcast showcases some of the bands they are most looking forward to seeing while there with

49:44 minutes (8 MB)

Athens PopFest 2007: Day 2 with The American Revolution, The Postmarks, Tullycraft, and more...

imaginary liz — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:16:25 +0000

10 Aug 2007

IdealFree07aug-2.JPG

I missed the day shows (Atlanta traffic sucks big time and it took 7 hours to pick up a friend at the airport!), but no mind, the night shows more than made up for it.

The evening started with Ideal Free Distribution. They were suped-up indie - flush with loud guitar fills and two band members playing maracas during songs. Since I’m not super-familiar with their songs, the highlight had to be their cover of The BeeGees "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You." Indie. Ironic. Neat.

The next band we saw was The American Revolution--one of Robert Schnieder's (of Apples in Stereo) side projects (another one of his side projects, The Marbles, played earlier in the day). With the signature Apples lead vocals, and the American Revolution's layer of psychedelia overtop every guitar swirl it was easy to imagine you were at an Apples show with a lot of vitamin C in your system.

Perhaps most interesting two points of the set were not related to the music, but the stage show component. Robert were a silver floor length robe with fancy embroidery down the front. Shiny! Also, they had a bearded guy sitting in a chair on stage with them. The fellow didn't play any instruments. He looked like someone your dad would have invited from the office to the Saturday BBQ.

When Robert addressed him, he called him "Sir" and explained to the audience that he actually wrote all the American Revolution's songs. During the curse of the set, Robert asked "Sir" for advice on how to start the songs and what to play next. Was he just a friend that he wanted to get on the guestlist and backstage so Robert made him a "member of the band" (I did hear that it was kickin' back there after all) or someone that Robert owes a poker debt to? Not sure. Perhaps he really is a svengali? I've must admit that I've always wanted one since the Hives romanticized the whole concept.

If I were to see The Postmarks' formula on paper, I'd categorize it as something I would hate, loathe even. Soft whispy female vocals with hints of Azure Ray and restraint of The Clientele under the indie umbrella?

Rather, the underlying the nods to Mazzy Star redeemed the Postmarks set into a palatable, yet solemn, group of songs. Usually a trio that has expanded to a five-piece for the tour (which included a Lollapalooza stop just a few days ago), they combine fetching keyboards and vocals that more than just ache with purposeful restraint.

The highlight of the night for me came long before the headliner. The club filled up as Tullycraft took the stage. They started off with the audience favorite "Wild Bikini" (and the cute indie kids shy dance moves hit full force). From there they launched into a block of songs from the new album (due for release in October / November).

The moment that was talked about for the rest of the fest came after the audience sing-along to newbie song "Take Away the Make Up" (a song that will hopefully be on the new album and was spotlighted on the You Ain't No Picasso blog) when an audience member nervously joined the band on stage. In his hand, a suspicious small white ring box.

The band introduced Josh and said he had something very important to ask. The audience went silent as Josh proposed to his girlfriend stationed in the front row. The couple, huge Tullycraft fans, drove all the way from South Dakota for the Tullycraft show - and Josh decided to make the trip even more memorable. Of course, Adrian's answer was "Fuck yea!" - to which the audience cheered, and the teary-eyed band launched into the couples' favorite song "Miss Douglas County."

Having seen the band multiple times over the last few years career, this show was one of my favorites. Perhaps because of the setting - an Athens and indie-rock landmark, or the diverse audience of indie-pop fans from all over the country (I met folks that came as far as France, Philadelphia, Vermont, Texas, and Canada), or that they featured songs from both their hidden back catalog (it’s been a while since they played “Super Boy” or have ever played “Secretly Minnesotan”) and new unreleased tracks (with "Take Away the Make-up" being the stand out track so far) or that I'm a sap for an indie-pop marriage proposal... but the show is one for the bootleggers.

Really, how else could I celebrate the festivities than by partaking in some shots with various members of the band? Sets by Casper and the Cookies followed by The Circulatory System rounded out the show. But to be honest, their efforts were lost on me (except for the note in my journal that reads "The Circulatory system tore it up with a clarinet.").

Perhaps it was the couple of whiskey shots... or two amaretto shots? Let's blame the amaretto shots since those were as awkward as they sound (I felt like I was sneaking nips of the juice at my mom's bridge party.) Regardless, it was during this time that I conversed with PopFest attendees (Darren Hanlon included!) and we reveled in the joy of the 'fest.

I missed the day shows (Atlanta traffic sucks big time and it took 7 hours to pick up a friend at the airport!), but no mind, the night shows more than made up for it.

NYC PopFest on the brain

imaginary liz — Fri, 25 May 2007 19:26:01 +0000

I'm no so much an outdoor festival / sleep in tents kinda gal. I'm much more a skanky hotel in the big city kinda person... which makes the NYC PopFest the dreamiest place for me to be this weekend.

Athens Popfest 2007 details announced!

imaginary liz — Tue, 15 May 2007 21:39:51 +0000

The Popfest will fill up two Athens venues (40 Watt Club and Little Kings Shuffle Club) from August 8-11, 2007 and will, as always, be brought to us by the fine Happy Happy Birthday to Me folks.

Watch Coachella from the comfort of your living room!

imaginary liz — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 16:20:07 +0000

Thanks to a live webcast stream, now we can see all the great bands playing Coachella this weekend without having to deal with the lines, portapotties, drum circles, and $10 bottle of waters.

BEZ: Trapped in the UK

imaginary liz — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:43:18 +0000

Bad news: Bez can't get out of the UK for the Coachilla show this weekend. Good news: Trapped in the Closet is the funniest play of all time.

igLiz books her plane ticket to Chicago right now!

imaginary dana — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 03:42:11 +0000

Stereogum just posted the line-up for Lollapalooza 2007, and while I know imaginary girl Liz hates festivals, Oasis, and port-o-potties (not necessarily in that order), I know she's gonna be tempted because her favorite happy-pop-tacular band of the moment, Los Campesinos, are on the bill!!