Happy Monday morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and was able to make the most of what the experts have claimed to be the warmest day of the year.  My weekend was packed with some mundane blah stuff which was thankfully overshadowed by one hellava Saturday night in Columbia City.  After an amazing dinner at my new favorite restaurant (Island Soul, do not leave without trying one of their coconut corn muffins!), my friends and I headed over to the Fishboy / BOAT / Aqueduct show at the Columbia City Theater.

All the bands went above and beyond, but the highlight of the night was a surprise super special guest appearance. Mr. John Roderick joined BOAT on stage to chime in on "Landlocked," and then stayed on stage for a super-rock rendition of the Long Winters classic, "New Girl." {!!!}   To say it was jaw-dropping would be an understatement. It's been a while since I've heard the Long Winters rock-style, and boy oh boy, I hope this is a sign for things to come (next album, more shows). 

My favorite part of the story? The part in which I found out that BOAT and John hadn't actually ever practiced "New Girl" together.  The band just sprung it on John when he arrived to the show that night {sprung = asked really nicely}. This just furthers my claim that BOAT (with J. Rod on lead vocals now and again) would make a great house band for the next late night talk show. Watch out Roots! 

How was your weekend? What were your highlights?

Huge thanks to Button Dave for capturing the magic and posting to youtube:

(videos after the jump)

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There's still time-a-plenty to get your Friday donewith and head on down to Portland for this year's installment of what's quickly becoming our favorite regional city-wide music festival, MusicFest Northwest. For four sweet nights (well, five technically, if you count the goings-on around town that started Wednesday) some of the best local and national-worthy acts sweep in and take over our hip sister city. There's a little something for everyone, and we can state from direct experience that you will have a hell of a weekend should you make the venture down south! The price is reasonable (although we can't recommend the line-skipping VIP wristband privileges enough), the city is bikeable, driveable and parkable, and there's plenty to do in your late-late off-hours around town to keep things... well, let's just say 'entertaining.'

Sleep in, fill your sunny days with KEXP in-studios at the Doug Fir {full lineup available here}, and get your nightlife on at our recommended {** = MEGA recommended} shows below -- scheduling conflicts included:

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This Saturday, the Columbia City Theater will burst with niceboy poplicks!  Starting off the night, Fishboy is in town for the first time since the release of Classic Creeps, their foray into anthemic pop with an emphasis on the letter A.  Each song is a detailed character survey that swings from Apples in Stereo to They Might Be Giants with their own distinct DIY Denton, TX spin.  Sidenote: If you'd rather kick it Vashon Island style, you can see Fishboy with Red Pony Clock, iji, and Terrordactyls on Sunday, September 11.

Hometown heroes, BOAT always bring on the fun with their comfy-pop songs.  Lucky for us, they keep up a near GBV pace of song-writing.  It seems like every other month there's at least one new song added to their live sets and talk of an upcoming album or special edition tape.  Who knows what we'll find at this Saturday's merch table.

Headlining the night is Seattle's own Aqueduct, perhaps most beloved for their ability to add a special blend of quirk and coy with a keyboard line and a nod to the finest classic rock rifts.

I've seen all three bands on separate bills and have had a fine time with each outing. Together, Saturday's grouping will be a spectacular showing and well worth the trip (not so far) south.

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Rather than thinking of it as 2011 being halfway over, I prefer to see it as we're all halfway to my birthday {December 24th if it's not on your calendar already}. To celebrate, and take stock of this year's releases thus far, I've put together a mix of my favorite songs of 2011 {so far}.

This year has brought some predictably great albums from friends such as Mountain Goats, Okkervil River, BOAT, Matt & Kim, Telekinesis, Bright Eyes. I feel like I've been waiting for a fresh batch of songs from Brown Recluse for years. I love every note they play and having a two hearty releases in one year {Panoptic Mirror Maze and Evening Tapestry} makes me overjoyed.

Other bands, like When I Was 12 and Dangerous Ponies, I am thankful for crossing paths with for the first time this year.

And then there are the folks that have left me wanting more more more (I'm looking at you Oregon Bike Trails and Forbidden Friends)! Huge thanks to You Aint No Picasso for bringing Oregon Bike Trails to my attention. OBT fellow, singer/songwriter Zach Yudin, from Santa Monica, Ca., is quite the mysterious dude - only having a cassette tape release earlier this year (hand painted, limited to 50!) and a couple other MP3s swirling around the web.

Forbidden Friends, a side project by Thermals frontman Hutch Harris (with Michael Lerner of Telekinesis on drums and fellow Thermals Kathy Foster and Westin Glass backing him up), is still in the 7" only phase, and needless to say I'm counting down to a full album of FF stuff.

In short, I can't recommend the below songs and full releases enough. To help convince you of their brilliance, I made a virtual mix cd!

The tracklisting of my {hopefully very convincing} mix cd is:

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The fine, fine folks over at 112 PrintWorks are throwing a party on Friday, and guess what? We're all invited!

112 PrintWorks, the brick-and-mortar shop from the same troup of geniuses at Seattle Show Posters (you remember this old thing, don't you?) and Broken Press would simply heart for you to join them to celebrate their grand opening this Friday -- yep, Friday the 13th -- at 112 N 36th Street in Fremont, starting around 5p. The party will feature a live set by BOAT (!!), a showcase of works by Sup Pop / Wonder Thunder designer Sasha Barr, and we even heard a little somethin' about some free screenprinted gifts.

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Come one, come all! Throw Me The Statue and BOAT are playing at the Comet this Saturday, and you're not going to want to miss it -- it's like two great bands that taste great together. This is BOAT's first show back in town since they returned from their East Coast domination tour (hitting all points Brooklyn, NY, Milford, CT and Rock Island, IL) and very special guest (and original member) Z. Duffy will be joining them (Z. moved to Chicago a long time ago) for this one show. Z. was integral in BOAT's sloppy pop early days, and we know Saturday will be a reunited-and-it-feels-so-good lovefest.

And PS, longtime love of the imaginaries Throw Me The Statue will headline the night -- and we've been having dreams that they might debut a new song. Not sure if this is true, but we hope so!

With Boy Eats Drum Machine and Wonderful on the lineup, there's only one thing missing: and that's you! Which is why we have a hot pair of tickets to give away to one lucky reader (and their +1). Just send a note to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls {dot} com with the subject line, "YouReallyShouldBeSmiling" sometime before 3p on Friday, April 29th. We'll pick a winner at random and get your name on the guest list for Saturday night's show. Easy breezy!

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We have been lucky enough to get a sneak listen to the new BOAT album, Dress Like Your Idols, releasing March 22, 2011 on Magic Marker Records and it rocks our sloppy pop socks off. If the album's cover art didn't give it away, the album is an aural thumbing through their personal record (and cassette tape) bins, paying homage to their influences with blatant Pixies references ("When Frank Black Says (No. 14 Baby)") and sly Pavement croons (as in "Kinda Scared of Love Affairs"). The collection of pop songs prove they are ready for prime time. They are still experts in the friendly quirk pop genre, but this time the expertly recorded songs burst with a swagger confidence (confi-pop?). And one Long Winters' inspired track, "Landlocked" even features guest vocals by John Roderick.

In true to analog BOAT cardbaord cutout form, the band has put together a special limited edition cassette gift for the first 100 pre-orders of this, their fourth studio album. The cassette features demos from Dress Like Your Idols and covers (click through to see track listing and video).  Plus the b side will feature a D. Crane mix-tape.

I can't wait to see what tricks and treats the band has up their sleeve when at their album release show at the Tractor Tavern on Friday, March 25 (with Pickwick and Concours d'Elegance).

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It's been over three years since Apples In Stereo were last in town, touring their fabulous 2006 masterpiece New Magnetic Wonder. Now they're back with a new fantastic album Travelers In Space and Time.

You want to Go! see Apples In Stereo at the Crocodile October 26th (with crush band Fol Chen and local heroes BOAT!)? Plus win a signed copy of their new record Travelers In Space and Time on vinyl? You're screaming "Please! Tell me what to do!" Just e-mail tig@threeimaginarygirls.com by 9am on Friday October 22nd with the subject line "IWantToTravelInSpaceandTime", and please make sure to include your full name, especially if your e-mail address is something like ruby@elephant6.com.

Check out the unbelievably charming video for "Dance Floor" (which we featured on our latest Imaginary Mixtape, and is definitely one of my favorite jams of the year) featuring the ever adorable Elijah Wood and start prepping for the instant dance party on October 26th.

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at Bumbershoot 2010

Weezer at the Bumbershoot Main Stage.The band sounded great and played what we needed to hear from the Blue album, but what kept everyone in the stadium excited was the "where is Rivers" game as he danced and ran through the crowd, climbing on top of portable buildings andup and down the stadium bleachers, with security and a bright spotlight trying to keep with him.

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{Her Majesty herself, Rachel Flotard, by Steve Louie}

We may be almost a week out from the crazy weekend known as Bumbershoot, but that doesn't mean we can't gush about our favorites and relive the magic as we head into a dreary fall weekend. All photos by Steve Louie.

1. A double shot of Visqueen with a hint of Neko Case

What a lucky day to get to see one of Seattle's best bands twice! For those lucky enough to get tickets, Visqueen played a KEXP lounge set early Saturday afternoon, and ended with an almost a capella version of "So Long", all harmonies and cello which had me in tears. Here's a video of "Summer Snow" (complete with typical jokes cracked at drummer Ben Hooker's expense) from the same set, which will give you an idea as to how emotional and amazing Visqueen can be turned down. KEXP is still streaming the whole set on their two week streaming archive, so I highly recommend taking a listen.

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