2011 was {is still!} a great year, not only for releases but also for live shows, festivals, and those grit-of-the-stage-under-your-fingertips kinds of moments that we have all come to love and live by: nights like The Head and the Heart blowing the roof off of Porterhouse in West Seattle, a few sweet Lovesick Empire sets, John Darnielle's solo show at UW, and some incredibly intimate events like David Bazan's performance at Barsuk Records and some killer in-studios at KEXP. And with that said, here's the start of {one of} our 2011 countdown, featuring our top moments and photos of the 2011 festival circuit:

Favorite photo #10: Andrew McKeag :: Whether he's taking a big stage with his regular band {The Presidents of the United States of America}, holding court as a Honky, or anything in-between, this man simply does his thing with an understated level of skill that most musicians can only hope to attain (and manages to look pretty damn good doing it, too). Pictured above as part of the Kasey Anderson and the Honkies set at this year's installment of Bumbershoot, Andrew made us pretty happy to have gotten to the 'fest in time for the early bands that day with this dead-on look into the lens. {more KA&tH shots from the 'shoot} {POTUSA official} {KA&tH}

Favorite moment #10: WATERS :: Maybe it was just that moment -- being New York City for a few days and suddenly realizing that the city has basically charmed your pants right off, and being totally okay with it -- in conjunction with some incredible live sets day after day after day,  but we really, really did very much dig the WATERS set that went on as part of KEXP's broadcast from the Ace Hotel for this year's CMJ. It was all those things you hope for from an indie rock band: big guitars, a cohesive sound, and an overwhelming sense of want-more! once the music stops playing, all wrapped up in a surprise as we hadn't seen or heard them enough previously to know what to expect -- get a taste of their glorious noise over at Stereogum, where a post this year offered a free download that's still up for the taking. {more photos of WATERS at CMJ 2011} {WATERS}

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Bands. Art. Comedy. Community. These are just a few of the things you can expect from the upcoming City Arts Festival, taking place at various venues throughout the city from Thursday, October 20th through Saturday, October 22nd. They've done a damn fine job of showcasing a ton of local artists as well as featuring some national acts, both sure to pack their respective houses -- and thus, it's through a sea of tears that we give you some of our picks for what you should do to make the best of those seventy-two hours.

City Arts isn't bringing us to tears, of course, unless you count tears of JOY at reading the full lineup! But we are a little sad to report that part of our imaginary team will be in New York for CMJ this year {for those of you keeping score at home, yep: it's the same week / weekend}.

THURSDAY

The Don't-Miss: The Long Winters / Campfire OK / Cobirds Unite / Cataldo
Where: Showbox at the Market
{tickets}

The Long Fucking Winters. At the Showbox. Seriously!! The rumors are true -- we're presenting this show, it's going to kick ass, the night will be full of surprises, and the lineup is killer. Cataldo will be warming up the night, fresh off the release of their latest album Prison Boxing, Cobirds Unite will send the masses swooning, Campfire OK will undoubtedly win the house over... and all of this before John Roderick and Company take the stage. Any night when he and Rachel Flotard are in the same house, whether they perform together or not, is sure to go down as one for the books.

The Runner-Upper: Seateeth
Where: Theatre Off Jackson
{tickets}

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Another beautiful Labor Day weekend has passed, and with it came three days spent at our annual Seattle Center-ed music and arts festival, Bumbershoot. While we didn't catch every single act on our dance cards, we managed to get ourselves in front of the stages of a lot of long-standing and new-style favorites: bands like Lemolo, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, and Pickwick, just to name a few. Between the bands, sunshine, the yummy eats, and KEXP's gorgeous semi-secret music lounge -- it was a weekend to be reckoned with!

Here's a few bright spots from the weekend...

Kasey Anderson & the Honkies:

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As you meander around the last day of this year's Bumbershoot festival -- happy, sun-kissed, ears and heart full of new tunes and old familliar places -- buy that poster, get that cool recycled banner-turned-messenger-bag, and make sure you take the time to get to see these face-melting ladies and gents do what they do. Here's your no-regrets list for Monday afternoon:

Lemolo {4:30, EMP Level 3 stage}

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Friday night was one of those nights we forgot we were working -- of course, Friday night being the sold-out show at the Showbox with The Head and the Heart, Lemolo, and The Devil Whale. In between the big-guitar feel-good riffs of the The Devil Whale, Lemolo's mesmerizing sparse brand of genius, and THatH's forty-five-minutes-to-the-minute (plus a three-song encore) professionally polished set, we managed to snap off a few shots -- you know, when we weren't dancing, swooning, tweeting, or singing along to every word coming off the stage.

We're happy to report that THatH's songs have evolved beautifully, and having been present at last summer's Sonic Boom and Comet shows, we can safely say that not one ounce of that thing they do was watered down by the size of the stage or the vibe of the room. Naysayers be, um, nayed! Instead, here's a big fat bravo, lady and gents. You've certainly earned it.

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If you were lucky enough to catch The Head and the Heart's sold-out show at Neumos a few months back, you know just how excited we are about this Friday.

Back in January, THatH took the stage at Neumos with Lemolo and Curtains For You, one of the first shows they played where we stood with fellow "I saw the Sonic Boom set last summer" fans and realized we didn't know most of the people in the room. Well, as the nation's well aware (yes, the nation, not just the Pacific Northwest anymore), this band has been going onward and upward on a steady pace since -- up to and including the current west coast tour that has them playing two nights in Seattle this weekend. On Friday, April 29th, THatH will be playing to a sold out Showbox with Lemolo and the The Devil Whale, and the next night finds them at the Moore (yep, that's sold out too) with Grand Hallway and Ivan & Alyosha. Both nights are sure to make the mark, but we're definitely excited that we've got tickets in our hot little hands for the Showbox version of this latest breeze-through-town installment from one of our new favorite hometown bands.

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If you haven't taken the time to check Lemolo out, please do so immediately.

Lemolo are Meagan Grandall and Kendra Cox, and never a more powerful duo from Poulsbo will you meet. (Well, at least this not this week, anyway.) Seriously though, the energy these two produce live is a force to be reckoned with: think seamless, light-but-powerful vocals over a sometimes soothing, sometimes stabbing set of piano keyboard sounds, with seperate-but-equal levels of percussion. Neither band member backs the other, neither takes center stage for more than a moment -- what you witness on stage during their performance is a union, an absolute partnership of sound that's familiar enough to be comforting while experimental enough to keep your interest. And if you've seen these two before, either at the Head and the Heart's show at Neumos last month, or out at Columbia City Theater this past weekend, you're as excited as we are to be gearing up for their first headlining show -- they'll be taking the stage at the High Dive this Thursday night (with Garage Voice and Washington Mile).

You've got two options for the show: get down to the venue early and make sure you've got a spot and a handstamp (which we highly recommend doing regardless), or roll the dice and enter to win two tickets to see the show on us! To take a shot at the win, just send an email to tig {at} threeimaginarygirls dot com before 10am this Thursday (yes, the day of the show!) with the subject line "TakeMeToLemolo" so we know it's you. We'll choose a lucky winner and notify you and your +1 by lunchtimeish. Don't forget, enterees, the High Dive is a 21+ venue.

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As many of you here in Seattle have heard, local favorite Drew Grow (of Drew Grow & the Pastor's Wives) was in quite a gnarly accident recently. Reports about surgeries and physical healing reports seem to be on the up-and-up, but unfortunately, that means a pile of medical bills -- and this is where the community at large as we know it has stepped up.

We'll be bringing you more information soon on the shows and goings on around the PNW to raise money for Drew -- most notably next month's benefit at Columbia City Theater -- but so far as tonight goes, you can mosey over to the Comet and do some good while you geek on rad tunes. Lemolo will be coming in to headline the night in Drew Grow's place, as he and his band were originally booked to play there this evening. Our new favorite two-woman combo will be sharing the stage with Big Sur and See Me River, and with a lineup like that, we can just about guarantee great tidings.

The show is 21+ / 9p / $8, with a generous portion of the proceeds going directly to cover Drew's bills. Be there!

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The Head and the Heart, Curtains for You and Lemolo slayed the pants off the sold-out show at Neumos this past Friday night, and we've got the pictures to prove it. HATH amazed, as per usual, and we couldn't have been prouder of our home-town showing of love for them. Curtains for You brought their best warmup, and Lemolo blew our minds with their two-girl show of achy post-White Stripes sound. All in all, an evening to remember, for sure.

Lemolo stealing the start of the show:

The Head and the Heart:

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Sweet Pacific Northwest!

We know this post's title show is sold out -- the Head and the Heart's headlining gig at Neumos has been out of tickets for weeks already -- but HATH is playing several shows regionally before they head out for tour, and it's our .02 that you should get yourself to at least one of them:

Thursday, 1/13 - Bellingham, WA @ The Green Frog
Friday, 1/14 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Saturday, 1/15 - Spokane, WA @ the Empyrean
Wednesday, 1/19 - Portland, OR @ the Doug Fir

Of course we're particularly excited about our hometown show, where we'll get to see one of our 2010 faves take the stage with Curtains for You and Lemolo. We'll have plenty of photos to post come Monday, so check back for a recap of the night!

{Keep an eye on the Neumos twitter feed to see if any tickets get released day of show! Photo courtesy of Robertsen Ashman, via the band's Facebook page.}

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