Sweet Sera Cahoone will be bringing her haunted brand of alt-folk to the sweet, shiny stage of Columbia City Theater this Friday, January 21st. And we want to send you and a friend to soak up all the magic as our super-special guests!

Just send an email along to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls.com with the subject line SendMeToSera by 3pm on Friday (same as the show, January 21st). We'll pick a lucky winner and put you on the guest list with a +1. Now that's an easy feat! If you can't wait or don't want to press your luck, mosey on over to the event's Brown Paper Tickets page and pick yourself up a pair (or four). At a $10 cover, these puppies are going fast.

We'll see you at the show!

21+ / 9p / $10, with Kal Cahoone and Ghosts I've Met

Now that summer's officially 86'd, it's time for the inaugural (hereafter annual?) City Arts Fest, which takes over our fair city this upcoming Wednesday - Saturday {Oct. 20th - 23rd}. Laden with an impressive lineup at venues far and wide, CAF is catering to more of the mini-SXSW feel that makes these 'festivals' enjoyable -- think along the lines of MusicFest NW's style -- and for this, we applaud and squee! with joy. There's something about cramming too many people into too small of a space, even with a homerun lineup, that can make a gathering of the proverbial vibes inherently less fun.

And so -- with sneakers laced up and schedules in hand -- away we go with the music! Click the links below for more info on each particular show, including the where & what on how to get yourself some tickets:

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Seven bands, nine hours, sixty-eight degrees, three rounds of busking, and a good helping of some straight-out wonderfulness: it all adds up to this year's No Depression Festival up at the lush, lovely Marymoor park in Redmond. With stellar sets from bands like The Swell Season, the Cave Singers, Alejandro Escovedo, and Sera Cahoone -- well, it's tough to find anything bad to say. We got our indie roots on all day, and through part of the night -- without a curfew, I'm quite sure Glen Hansard and Co. would have sang us straight through to the sunrise.

Sera Cahoone, warming up the post-Maldives crowd.

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Check it out!

We're giving away two tickets to this year's No Depression festival!

On August 21st, the grounds of Marymoor Park (Redmond, WA) will be graced with not just one or two, but seven swoonworthy acts to fit the taste of every alt.americana, alt.country, and modern-folk indie-roots enthusiast within driving distance. Performers like Lucinda Williams and the Cave Singers will be sharing the stage at the second annual installment of ND, following in the footsteps of stellar sets from last year's big name headliners -- Gillian Welch, Iron & Wine, and Jessica Lea Mayfield, just to name a few.

Did we forget to mention that the Swell Season is headling? Silly us! If you haven't bought yourself some tickets already -- and even if you already have -- you might want to take a moment right now to enter our ticket giveaway. Send an email to tig@threeimaginarygirls.com with the subject line SummerIsTheSwellestSeason and tell us why you think we should send you off to the Park for the day!

The only full-font fine-print is that entries must be recieved by midnight on Wednesday, August 11th to be entered into the drawing. Winners will be announced on Friday, August 13th. There's no catch! You can even bring your underagers, since No Depression is an all-ages event.

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at The Tractor Tavern

Magic Mtn, the newest project from Arthur & Yu frontman Grant Olsen, had their first ever show last night at the Tractor Tavern. Basically just Olsen with a backing band of the Moondoggies, Magic Mtn sounded a great deal like Arthur & Yu. That 60's dreamy pop vibe was there, the lilting lyrics tripping along at an easy gate. Olsen's vocals were softened down to a pleasant lo-fi hush and the easy swagger of his songs and stage presence resembled so much of his previous project. His style is ethereal, meandering pop a little bit outside of it's time. It's pleasant, woodsy and at it's best when a lazy guitar jam creeps in and draws it all out.

Don't Be A Stranger has been a new favorite album of mine for the past year or so. Their sound hearkens back to what feels familiar to me: the outdoors, dusty roads and the beer-soaked nights of the country. It feels like the southern classic rock that was to become the soundtrack of my childhood, and to which my love of music has it's very base. They were fortunate enough to open for Sera Cahoone two nights in a row last week, and I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at the Saturday show.

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The Moondoggies have captured our beard-loving northwestern hearts. They play American music.. music that is warm, stilted with lush harmonies and hinting at a prevalent and haunting sense of wanderlust. And much like most bands these days, their sound can't be classified singley. It's country. It's gospel. It's a rollicking bar-jam that is at once revelatory and mournful.

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Fresh off the presses from our inboxes comes this week's launch of GIVE -- 30 downloadable tracks from a variety of Seattle artists, who are donating their songs to benefit Arts Corps and local area foodbanks. The $7.00 (!) compilation, which was produced, curated, and funded by Caffe Vita, will be available online here. Physical compilations can be picked up at all Caffe Vita locations, Easy Street Records, Sonic Boom Records, University Book Store, The Crocodile, EMP, Neumo's, and Sorrento Hotel. The in-hand compilations will include a physical card with a redemption code for the download, and a prettied-up sleeve to make it a ready-to-give present.

Here's the full track listing -- nearly all of which are exclusive to the compilation:

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at Marymoor Park

No Depression Festival - Short Version:

It was hot. We ate barbecue. I drank a lot of beer and cider. Most of us had dirty, bare feet. Zee Avi is adorable. Jeff Fielder is totally amazing. Jessica Lea Mayfield is a lo-fi version of Jesse Sykes. Everyone loved Justin Townes Earle. No one much liked Patterson Hood. Sam Beam makes me swoon, EVERY DAMN TIME. Lesbians love Gillian Welch.

No Depression Festival - Long Version:

Due to bad traffic across the water, I was a little late arriving at the No Depression festival on Saturday but still managed to hear the last two or three songs by the very pleasant Zee Avi. I was interested to see her live, owing to the lore that has built up around her unusual entry into the biz and she pulled it off with very confident stage presence. I have to admit though, she does sound a little like Norah Jones to me.

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Upset. The word of the our 2008 Best Northwest Releases of 2008 Readers' Poll is upset.

With the Fleet Foxes winning readers and critical polls alike, who would've thought they wouldn't get top honors in our humble little Northwest poll? But they didn't -- they placed a distant second to New Faces, another debut record from some very talented, very young Northwest fellas.

We had other surprises as well, with unsigned newcomers such as Hey Marseilles, the Kindness Kind, and Kaylee Cole cracking the top ten, beating out Northwest heavyweights such as Death Cab for Cutie. We did not expect that. And we love it when you surprise us, dear readers.

We imaginaries like to champion the up-and-comers from the Northwest, and our results indicate that you do as well. We think you all also have fabulous taste, as always. Thanks to everyone who participated in our poll. We couldn't be more proud or thrilled to present the top 50 winners on your behalf...

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TIG photographer Kyle Johnson has been quite busy this year. Taking the impeccable press and editorial photos as well as covering shows and festivals for TIG, Kyle has amassed a great portfolio for 2008.

Here's a recap of his personal favs from the past year.

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