The Mid-Week Beat: Rachel Wong – Here’s to the Indies!

November 27, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

This week on the Mid-Week Beat, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we want to say how thankful we are for all the incredible independent musicians out there. We are thankful that these musicians continue to get out there and make great original music despite all the hardships that go into trying to build a music career.

If you are an independent artist, don’t get discouraged if you haven’t achieved “success” in the industry sense of the word. You are doing something that most folks don’t get an opportunity to do: pursuing your dream. You do what you love, often times while working day jobs, raising kids and enduring all the other stresses of daily life.

Independent musicians’ undying perseverance is something to be admired. Many nights are spent loading gear in and out of venues, waiting around for hours during soundchecks, sometimes to only play to a handful of people. But if they weren’t out there persevering, music fans would never be fortunate enough to discover the musical gems that sometimes appear out of nowhere. Chances are your favorite artists had many years of hard work behind them before they got the recognition they deserved.

Case in point, Brown Paper Tickets’ own Rachel Wong. When Rachel isn’t working wonders with our digital marketing, she’s often found playing her unique brand of acoustic pop in local coffee shops, at community festivals or, sometimes, on TV!

Influenced by the late Michael Jackson, John Mayer, Lauryn Hill, James Morrison and Sara Bareilles, Rachel mixes a soulful vocal style with beautiful pop melodies. Her music is infused with self-determined passion and her unique perspective as an Asian American woman. This determination has helped her garner international recognition as tracks off of her debut album Curtain Fall can now be heard on radio stations in Canada and the Philippines.

Rachel beat out over 3,000 bands in the US to secure her top 12 finalist spot for Ford’s Gimme the Gig II Contest. As part of the contest, she was able to showcase her original music in front of Grammy-award winning producer Don Was and renowned sound engineer Krish Sharma for a KTLA TV feature.

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Tuesday Tease: Brown Paper Ticket’s Burlesque Buffet!

November 26, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

The holidays are upon us! Later this week Americans will be gorging on turkey and stuffing and spending time with their families and loved ones. Not many people know that the night before Thanksgiving is actually one of the busiest nights of the year for bars and clubs because everyone has family in town and no plans for the weekend other than eating and drinking and nursing their hangovers.

Therefore, it makes sense that this would be a perfect weekend to get out and see a burlesque show and, boy howdy, have we got some good ones. We even have a few that aren’t in America. So even if you don’t celebrate “thanksgiving” in the American sense of the word, this is still a great weekend to go out, enjoy some cocktails and celebrate time with family and friends.

A little holiday burlesque could be just the ticket for a great night out with the family (assuming they’re not puritans) and we got a bursting “buffet” of burlesque action to feast on. There’s even an actual burlesque buffet happening on Saturday so you can get food and flirty fun all in one shot.

So, whether you’re in Seattle, New Orleans, D.C., Toronto or Paris, France, we got some tasty holiday treats in store for you this week! Have a great holiday everyone.

TONIGHT! Tuesday, November 26

Lipgloss Crisis Presents: The Day Before The Day Before Thanksgiving!! – New Haven, Connecticut

This full-length cabaret at Lipgloss Crisis is stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey with all kinds of entertainment!

Hosted by one of New Haven’s premier drag queens, Miss Robin Banks! Lipgloss Crisis herself will hit the stage with some singing and Viking action. Miss Kitty Katastrophe, New Haven’s cutie, will shake and shimmy some of her burlesque skills, and Uber Dami from Circus Delecti will be doing tricks and tap-dancing her way straight to your heart!

Mat Stokes will be playing 1920’s tunes with his guitar and harmonica. There will also be some surprise performers! There will also be an intermission with light refreshments and wine between acts.

Start your Thanksgiving season right with Lipgloss Crisis!

Wednesday, November 27

Kinky Parade Au Standard Porte Maillot – Paris, France

At the heart of the golden triangle and just a stone’s throw from the Champs-Elysees, is Le Standard and its elegantly sophisticated pleasures. Spend an evening among unforgettable, funny, sexy and glamorous burlesque artists in an interactive show that will be an extraordinarily unforgettable experience!

Le Standard’s cuisine, like the club itself, combines classic and contemporary for a menu built around seasonal ingredients. You’ll be surprised by the concoctions of Le Standard’s mixologists and their custom cocktails featuring rare alcohols, fresh juices and mixers, as well as a wide assortment of classic cocktails.

Performing this Wednesday will be: Lightning Love, Lila Chupa -Hoops, Betty Frizzy Patsy, Polly Pony Girl and Eva Valentina.
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The Mid-Week Beat: Happy Birthday Mike D and Phife Dawg!

November 20, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Today is the birthdays of two prominent contributors to the so-called “Golden Age of Hip Hop” – Mike D of the legendary Beastie Boys and Phife Dawg of the equally influential A Tribe Called Quest.

Mike D was born Michael Diamond on this day in 1965 in New York City. Born into an upper-middle class Jewish family, young Diamond was drawn to the gritty, urban hardcore punk scene that was starting to blossom around clubs like CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City.

In 1978, at the age of 13, he co-founded The Young Aborigines, an “experimental-hardcore” band with Diamond sitting in on drums. Eventually, Adam Yauch (later dubbed MCA) would replace Jeremy Shatan on bass and Diamond would move from drums to vocal duties. In 1983, Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) would join the group on guitar and they would eventually change their name to the Beastie Boys. The group released the legendary Polly Wog Stew EP in 1982 and it would be their only release as a hardcore punk band.

** WARNING! This video contains language that may be offensive to some viewers. **

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Artist Ticket Picks: A Lou Reed Tribute, An iPhone Film Festival, A Bluegrass Christmas Musical and More!

November 18, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Welcome to this week’s Artist Ticket Picks! The Artist Ticket program gives our customers a way to donate to causes that we care about.

If you’re an event producer, you can allow your ticket buyers to purchase limited-edition tickets printed with original artwork in your event settings. The ticket buyer will pay a small, additional charge of $0.25 and receive a limited edition, collectible ticket imprinted with original artwork. The current charity of our choosing will receive 100% of the additional charge. Physical tickets must be enabled on the event.

If you’re a ticket buyer, you can check to see if the limited edition ticket is available to you at the beginning of the ticket checkout process or by visiting the Artist Ticket page. You receive a small piece of collectible art and support a valuable cause just by checking the box in the Artist Ticket widget when you’re purchasing your tickets!

See a full list of events carrying the tickets on the Artist Ticket page, as well as find out more about the beneficiary for the current run of Artist Tickets.

So, without further ado, here are this week’s Artist Ticket picks:

Friday, November 29 I A Tribute to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground – Seattle, Washington Almost a month ago, we lost a seminal force in rock music: Lou Reed. We paid our own tribute to Lou here on the blog but tributes to Lou and his music with the Velvet Underground and solo are starting to pop up all over the country. This one at Columbia City Theater promises to be especially good with performances by Hounds of the Wild Hunt (Acoustic), Gibraltar, Bigfoot Wallace, Ruler, Ian and Rian of Invisible Shivers, Kevin Sur and guests.

Head out and pay tribute to a true pioneer in the world of rock and roll.

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Slash, Duff McKagen & Matt Sorum Reunite for the Dolphin Project This Monday!

November 15, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

There is no shortage of Guns N’ Roses fans here in the Brown Paper Tickets offices. Walk by any given desk and you may hear the distinctive whine of Axl Rose’s vocals or a wicked Slash guitar solo coming out of their tiny little computer speakers or headphones. What can we say? Many of us are children of the 90s. So, you can imagine our excitement when we heard about the Kings of Chaos show coming up on Monday, November 18 in Hollywood featuring Slash, Duff McKagen and Matt Sorum. Essentially 3/5ths of the legendary Guns N’ Roses! They’ll be performing alongside Steve Stevens, guitarist for Billy Idol’s band, Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple fame and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor. A veritable who’s who of hard rock!

This is the King’s only North American appearance and it will be an intimate, one-night-only event benefiting Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project. The Dolphin Project is an international organization dedicated to saving dolphins from slaughter and exploitation.

“This is a rehearsal for the BIG one. We plan on taking the show to Japan,” says Ric O’Barry, whose life and work was featured in the Academy Award-winning film The Cove. “We’ll add a few Japanese friends to our lineup and rock the socks off Tokyo. There isn’t a better way to bring Westerners and Japanese people together than rock and roll and the world should also know about the wonderful relationship between Japanese people and dolphins in the Tokyo Islands,” added O’Barry. “Dolphins are respected and protected in this part of Japan. It’s the opposite of Taiji, but very few people know about it. This concert will hopefully change this by bringing positive, international media attention to what is right about Japan.”

Kings of Chaos will play the greatest hits from all of its superstar members and will also feature additional special guest performers.

“I’m thrilled to bring a bunch of heavyweights together for a fun night with fans,” said Matt Sorum. “The main thing is to keep creating awareness for the Dolphin Project and everyone involved.”

Kings of Chaos made its live debut in Australia earlier this year at the Stone Music Festival and will embark on a new South American tour at the end of November.

Once again, this happens this Monday, November 18 at the Avalon Hollywood Theatre in Hollywood, California. Tickets are $40 for general admission and $350 for a V.I.P. experience, including special seating for the show, gift bags and photos with the Kings of Chaos. Tickets are on sale now here, or by calling Brown Paper Tickets 24/7 ticket hotline at 1-800-838-3006.

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The Mid-Week Beat: House Concerts

November 13, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Recently, we here at Brown Paper Tickets have seen a surge in the popularity of house concerts: concerts hosted in the homes of ardent music fans who wish to have a more intimate musical experience, in the comfort of their own homes, amongst a handful of fellow music enthusiasts. The audiences can range from 10 people, or up to 20 or 30.

Traditionally, house concerts were common amongst folk, country and blues musicians living in rural areas without traditional venues to play in. In fact, you could argue that, in these areas, pretty much every live musical performance was in someone’s home.

In urban areas like New York City, apartments were often used for rent parties, where a tenant would hire local musicians to play and then pass the hat amongst the attendeees to collect that month’s rent. Rent parties of 1920s New York are often credited as playing a major role in the development of jazz and blues and jazz legends like Willie “The Lion” Smith and Fats Waller got their start playing stride piano at these affairs. Later, in the 1930s, New York folk musicians like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger would describe their weekly rent parties as “hootenannys.”

While rent parties and hootenannys may be things of the past, for the most part, the house concert remains popular. The intimate environment seems to lend itself to classical, blues, folk and Americana music, but it’s a great venue for singer/songwriters as well. Audiences can enjoy the music without being distracted by the din and clatter associated with traditional music venues and bars. They can hear the lyrics and enjoy the little subtleties of an individual’s performance.

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Tuesday Tease: Barbarellesque Blasts Off in Baltimore This Sunday!

November 12, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Well, last weekend was Burlycon here in Seattle and over 600 members of the “glitterati” descended upon our fair city for four days of classes, parties and networking. We were honored to host Saturday night’s hospitality suite and got a chance to chat with some old friends and meet some new friends. Unfortunately, we quickly ran out of food given the increased number of attendees but were able to send everyone off with the great earrings that we were giving away. Would love to see some shots of folks sporting the earrings. Feel free to share them on our Facebook page!

Me and fellow BPTer Michelle also taught a class on effectively ticketing a burlesque event and had a great group of fully engaged producers that not only seemed to learn a lot from the class but also brought a lot of great advice themselves. There seemed to be more of a focus on producers this year at Burlycon, which is great, as these are the folks that are going to bring the art form to new audiences through effective marketing and shows that push boundaries and expand the definition of what burlesque is.

All in all, it was a great weekend. There seemed to be a larger contingent of burlesque performers and producers from outside the Pacific Northwest than last year and one such performer/producer was Kay Sera from Baltimore-based Compound Productions 50/50.

They are producing a tribute to Barbarella, the 1968 sexy, sci-fi Jane Fonda romp, with Barbarellesque: An Ecdysiast Theatrical Experience this Sunday, November 17 at The Windup Space in Baltimore. We highly recommend that you check it out. The producers at Compound Productions 50/50 promise that this is “More than a themed show and beyond nerdlesque, this fully scripted performance follows the film’s delightfully cheesy plot and dialogue and adds even more sexy silliness with striptease and song!”

Check out the original trailer and you can already see that this movie was bound to get the burlesque treatment eventually. I’m just shocked that it hasn’t happened until now.

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Artist Ticket Picks: “Everything, Everything, Everything”, The 3rd Annual Vogue Retrospecitve, Jeff Timmons and more!

November 11, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

Welcome to this week’s Artist Ticket Picks! The Artist Ticket program gives our customers a way to donate to causes that we care about.

See a full list of events carrying the tickets on the Artist Ticket page, as well as find out more about the beneficiary for the current run of Artist Tickets.

So, without further ado, here are this week’s Artist Ticket picks:

Saturday, November 23 I Everything Everything Everything – Tacoma, Washington Funny, thoughtful, and thoroughly contemporary, Everything Everything Everything is the story of a man and a woman who fall in love — with another woman. Can romantic rivals still be roommates? What if they’re as young as they are foolish and as poor as they are depressed?

Poet / artist Ilvs Strauss (pronounced “Elvis”) and actor / musician Wesley K. Andrews premiered this multidisciplinary show at the City Arts Festival 2012 in Seattle. Now they bringing it to Tacoma. More specifically to Urban Grace. Click here to learn more!

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Wednesday, November 27 I The 3rd Annual Vogue Retorspective with Feast, Palooka and Ancient Warlocks – Seattle, Washington Feast was one of those “coulda been” groups that never broke out of the underground. Originally called Feast of Friends after a William Blake poem, the band showcased Tom Mick on vocals, Dan Blossom on guitar, Jane Higgins on bass, and Dan Peters on drums.

Feast was extremely charismatic live, with Mick playing the active front man. The band’s sound combined the Deep Six punk/metal hybrid with postpunk. In 1986 Feast had become a top draw at The Central. “Feast was always one of my favorite bands,” promoter Claudia Gehrke states in an email. “… they had a very heavy sound. I remember when I [booked a show with] Soundgarden and Feast together. Feast was the headliner at the time, and then we found out that Soundgarden was getting scoped out for a record deal. We had to switch the lineup to Soundgarden playing at the headliner time. It was a huge night. Both bands were great. Feast was a guaranteed heavy hitter. [They had] great posters, stepping out into their own brand of art and music. I wish I had seen them get signed. They always had a great crowd.”

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The Mid-Week Beat: Here’s to the Singer-Songwriters!

November 6, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

On this day, in 1967, Bob Dylan recorded “All Along the Watchtower” during a three-hour recording session at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Dylan would perform ‘Watchtower’ live more than any of his other compositions in the 45 years since its release. It would be covered by countless artists in a variety of genres, most famously by Jimi Hendrix for his 1968 Electric Ladyland release.

Other artists who have covered the song include the Dave Matthews Band, U2, Neil Young, The Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam, Eric Clapton, Supetramp, Van Morrison, Paul Weller, T.S.O.L., Bobby Womack and countless others.

While Dylan may be widely praised as a singer/songwriter, with countless artists covering his songs, he is just one in a long line of troubadours that have braved stages armed with little more than their words and an acoustic guitar. In Dylan’s day, singers that wrote their own tunes were relatively rare in popular music. Most pop singers sang other people’s songs or, occasionally, co-wrote their own songs.

What separates the “singer/songwriter” from other musicans is that they often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition, typically using only a guitar or piano and the compositions are written primarily as a solo vehicle. While in Dylan’s day, singer/songwriters were largely associated with the folk tradition, Dylan influenced many in the rock community to follow a similar path. As a result, singer/songwriters became a powerful force in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the success of artists like Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, James Taylor and countless others.
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Tuesday Tease: Our Guide to Burlycon 2013!

November 5, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

That’s right! Get excited! Burlycon, the only “community-oriented professional growth and educational convention for Burlesque performers, fans, and aficionados” is returning to Seattle’s Doubletree Inn this Thursday, November 7 to Sunday, November 10.

Burlycon is not your standard burlesque convention in that it has no public showcases or burlesque shows. Burlycon is produced by the burlesque community, for the burlesque community. It’s where you go to get your routines peer-reviewed by some of the top talents in the burlesque world, to learn some new moves that’ll spice up your act or tips on how to beef up your stage costumes. It’s also where you go to learn how to properly manage your finances as a burlesque performer, how to use online marketing to promote your shows and tips on how to get booked.

I’ll also be in the house, teaching a class on Saturday, November 9 at 5:15pm in Cascade 13 on how to most effectively ticket your burlesque event using Brown Paper Tickets or similar ticketing platforms. Also, Brown Paper Tickets will be hosting a delicious Mediterranean dinner courtesy of Mr. Gyros on Friday, November 8 from 6pm to 8pm in the Hospitality Suite, as well as handing out some neato gift bags. If you’re headed to Burlycon this year, I hope you’ll attend either of these events and come up and say hi. I love meeting burly friends from around the country and Burlycon often feels like one big family reunion!

There’s also tons to do besides learn. Thursday night will be the Birds of a Feather Caucuses in Cascade 10-13. This is your chance to mingle, network, and chat with others in your community who share common backgrounds. Attendees are encouraged to attend the caucuses you identify with based on your region, your relationship status (single, married, parents or poly), your community (performers of size, LGBTQI, performers with disabilities or performers of color) or you hobbies. The caucuses will be followed by a meet and greet social in the Hospitality Suite so you can start connecting with new and old friends and get your weekend started out right!
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