We are over-the-moon excited about this Friday night, when the Vera Project will be filled with indie-pop giddiness and sweet melodic musings of one of our favorite  bands, Allo Darlin', and stellar opening band The Wave Pictures.  

The night is also a celebration of Three Imaginary Girls 10th Anniversary!  This is the first show in our series of anniversary celebrations and we would love to mark this special event with you, Allo Darlin' and The Wave Pictures.

It's been over two years since Seattle has had our Allo Darlin' fix, when they sold out the Rendezvous on their first visit to the Pacific Northwest back in October, 2010.  Since then, they've recorded and released (just last month) their amazing sophomore effort, Europe.  It's beautiful and smart, with lush engulfing waves of orchestrated pop and moments subtle unassuming diary entries. The album is clever, while steering clear of pretentiousness or preciousness… and white vinyl versions of it will be for sale at the merch booth!

And don't just take our word for it.  KEXP, who knows a lot more about what's what, is in love with them too. If you've listened to 90.3fm/kexp.org recently, you've likely heard the first single from the album Europe, "Capriconia."  It's catchy, without losing its ability to tug at your heartstrings (that pull you home!!!) and bring a tear to your eye (don't worry, we wont tell anyone you got so touched).

The show is all-ages and doors are at 7.30pm.  Don't dilly-dally, because the opening band is The Wave Pictures, visiting us all the way from London (as well).  They have a freshly-released brand new album, chock full of pop songs that some have described as gawky, sublime pop… but I like to think of them as a sweet blend of Hefner, Clinic, and Jonathan Richman, with the wits of John Peel.  I predict that seeing their set will add points to your indie-coolness klout score.

There's going to be so much imaginary love at the Vera Project this Friday, this show is not to be missed.  I don't want you to truly regret missing this double-bill of UK radness and imaginary anniversary fun, so here's a couple more reasons you should go:

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You guys. I think I found the opening track for my Summer 2012 mix! Summer Twins (who I saw open for Matthew Sweet just a few weeks ago) just released a video for "I Will Love You" and it's bursting with danceable indie-pop goodness that makes me want to jump around like crazy and spin in the sunshine and collapse after hours of laughing. Plus, the ending is all lilty-pretty-swooning retro beautifulness. Plus plus, the video is ADORABLE. Where can I get one of those polka-dot dresses? And hand-clapping boys to dance around me while I play musics? 

{Yeah, I have a crush. So sue me.}

Press play and start your early Summer dance party now!

{Allo Darlin' photo by Steve Louie}

We always been in awe of David Schmader for being such an amazing talent; he's good at just about everything: writing amazing works of art, producing and performing one-man plays, and emceeing events (just to name a few). And, we've always loved him because he's a super generous and friendly guy... and now we have another reason to adore him: 

He shares our love of Allo Darlin' and heartily recommends their upcoming show, next Friday (5/11) at the Vera Project!!!

David astutely wrote in The Stranger's Suggests column: London’s Allo Darlin’, led by escaped Australian Elizabeth Morris, who plays ukulele, writes songs about diagnosing relationships via Woody Allen’s cinematic archetypes and making chili, and is brilliant.

We couldn't agree more! We also couldn't be more honored by his kind words about the Allo Darlin' / Wave Pictures show, which also happens to be the first show in our 10th Anniversary celebration series.

Next time anyone crosses paths with David, tell him how brilliant he is (and buy him a beverage, at the very least).

Don't forget, there's still a couple days left to enter to win tickets to the Allo Darlin' show! Enter to win tickets before noon on May 3!

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Nothing like a mini-film festival in April to get us prepped for both STIFF and SIFF, which arrive in May.

NFFTY (pronounced “Nifty”) is the “National Film Festival for Talented Youth”, and showcases the best young directors 22 and younger from around the world. This 4-day festival takes place April 26-29, with films and events at the Cinerama, SIFF Cinema at the Uptown, and the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. I'm probably also supposed to say it's "presented by bing(tm)" (HI MICROSOFT). 

I'm always excited to see fresh talent, but this year I'm most stoked about the music video mixtape on Saturday 4/28: 90 minutes of original music videos with music from the White Stripes, Cults -- and a bunch of other bands I'm not cool enough to know of, but I'm sure are great. Seems like an awesome way to spend $11 to me! 

And in case you feel like getting extra nerdy, there's also a FREE music for film panel at 12:45 on Saturday, where you can learn about options for scoring the best music for your...um. score. Or something. Listen and learn! For free! YAY! 

There are a lot of other great films and events happening too. Check the full schedule online so you can plan your own awesome NFFTY weekend. 

{Music Video Mixtape | Saturday April 28, 3:00 pm | 90 min | SIFF Uptown 2 }

The stuff of nightmares: 13 Awful Easter Bunny Family Photos

Alfred Hitchcock fangasm: A simply amazing Rear Window Timelapse Video

Having a bad day? Read this and instantly feel better! 

ATTENTION! Giant killer chickens once ruled the earth!!! 

Liz Lemon would totally buy this: hot dog-stuffed pizza (Cheesy! Blasters!) 

The perfect art for your imaginary den: mosh pit mixed media photo/paintings

The answer to the question "What if my dog could text?"
"Fun day. Ran around the house in a cape. I'M BATDOG LOL"

Flight of the Conchords feat. Jay-Z! (so NSFW, just FYI) 

The most amazing PBR commerical ever: Disco, beer, and Patrick Swayze in a white suit + scarf. AWESOME. 

Untrimmed facial hair inspires a full-length documentary: The Winter of the Beard

World's Fair Nostalgia: A set of design images and photos from the 50s & 60s. 

The evolution of college radio: A brief history of KUOW, KCMU...and KEXP!

This would have been useful at The Underground, back in 1987: How to Dance Goth

What if all the Mad Men characters were dogs? Dogster matches breeds to characters. 

There's a reason everybody's talking about the Dollar Shave commercial: Because it is HILARIOUS!

Who invited her again? Girls' night with Katniss, Buffy, Hermione….and fun-killer Bella: 

Katniss: So, how was everyone’s week?

Hermione: Oh, same old. Quidditch match, Ron being a whiny, emotional middle-child, a few random assassination attempts by the Dark Lord, saving Potter from certain doom. Y’know, the usual stuff.

Buffy: I was saving the world.

Katniss: I was also saving the world!

Bella: I jumped off a cliff to get the attention of my ex-boyfriend.

We here in imaginary land were already fans of Kissing Party, the melodic Indie Pop band from Denver whose fuzzy, catchy tunes make us want to pirouette in our knee highs and Converse. 

Anyway! This new video came our way so I thought I'd share. I'm not exactly sure what's going on in this (deliberately) scratchy beach adventure, but I do know it ends with a knife fight - and hey, everybody loves knife fights, am I right? No? Oh. Well, maybe you'll like the song anyway, because it's pretty amazing, knife fight or non. 

And if you love it, you can download their whole album, Wasters Wall, for $9.99 here.

Which path will Don take? You choose in the Mad Men 8-Bit Game.
Roger: "Now I gotta go sleep with Joan and Jane. I'm old and grey, but I get the hottest tail on the show."

Someone you know deserves a Badger of Honor: Award them with cute medals! 

Dexter, In the marina, with a butcher knife: Play the Dexter Board Game.

They fight and fight, and fight and fight and fight! Please enjoy Every Itchy and Scratchy show from The Simpsons. (before it's blocked by Fox!)

This might be even more disturbing than the movie: Requiem for Cathy's (as in Guisewite) Dream.

Die, green pigs! An Angry Birds Theme Park might be happening in Europe (dang). 

Want a beer? No problem, I'll just open up my Marshall Amp FRIDGE.

What'd you guys see online this week?

Dave likes records! There's a tumblr blog dedicated to photos of David Letterman holding records. What. 

Way better than the movie adaptation: The Runaways perform Cherry Bomb in Japan, 1977. 

They had mustaches and ironic t-shirts, PLUS they had to walk uphill both ways to school. Dads are the original hipsters! 

Buffy probably could have used this: Demonicpedia, an online resourse for all things demon-y.

Be creepy and show your love for Imperial Teen: Printable (and wearable) face masks of Jane, Lynn, Roddy, and Will.

Do you remember how terrible school lunches were? Now you can relive them photographically, every day.

THE HORROR! (of online dating): "He spent one-third of the time telling me about the musical he was writing about raccoons..."

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Lighten up, Elena! The Vampire Diaries credits, Friends-style.

A snapshot of Sunset Strip in the 70s: Vintage music & film billboards

Literary romance nerds rejoice! The letters of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning are now online.

"What is a weekend?" Drown your workday sorrows in Downton Abbey Cocktails from The Kitchn. Get drunk on Lady Mary, Sybil, or Edith.

That's how we do: Windup Wire characters

A Blast from our MTV Past: Stick Figure Hitchcock (Viva la Liquid Television!)

Yet another reason Bryan Cranston is SO awesome: Breaking Bad Chuck Taylors!

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