Ian "the Czech chamaco" B.'s Profile

Oh God!  What an amazing show.  I saw Swell Season here tonight (Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova and basically Glen's band, "The Frames), and it was probably the best show I've seen of it's kind (meaning passionate accoustic music) in about 10 years.  There were so many great things about this show, that I don't know where to start...a load of variety.  The songs played from the "Once" movie were done impeccably well and with Glen Hansard's usual passion, including a mike-less version of "Say It To Me Now."  Later, Marketa played a few solo songs with her haunting voice.  Then, Glen played some acoustic solos, including a cover of a Van Morrison song when he broke some strings of a guitar and continued the song on a different guitar, broke those strings and kept playing the broken guitar, harmonized with an electric guitarist until the first guitar was fixed again and then finished the song.  Hell yeah.  Just when you think you've seen and heard it all, they invite a Seattle street singer who they liked to perform a Dylan song during the encore.  Then, and violin solo...and the concert goes about 4-5 songs beyond where you anticipate it might stop, with Hansard going for it in some passionate Frames songs.  Amazing.

Okay, I guess I'm reviewing the venue here.  Thanks Paramount for inviting Swell Season.  Your building is sweet.  It's the ornate, rustic look and feel that you'd expect in an older theater, but, with more comfortable seats than the Moore.  I had a great time, and I'll definitely be seeing more shows at this place.  Great, great show.

A devilish angel with wings on one wall and some pristine religious statues on another...mark the decore of Noc Noc.  It's an interesting theme, but, I'm more interested in sipping on my beer for the Happy Hour.   One big positive of Noc Noc:  They serve Black Butte Porter.  Mmmmm....

Noc Noc is a pretty good Happy Hour with cheap eats like pita bread and spinach dip and pretty yummy tator tots.  I'm not sure if this is the best Happy Hour in town, but, the food is cheap, the well drinks are $2.50, and I did get a fine deal for the $ which is what I was hoping for.  It's worth going to if you live in the area, but, it's not so good to go out of your way to avoid the other decent Happy Hours at yuppie establishments like The Contour.  As far as tots go, I personally prefer McMinnamins' cajun tots.

Still yummy here, and I had good company.

There's something liberating about dropping peanuts onto the ground, stepping on them, and hearing them crunch.  Stomp, crunch, crunch, SIGH.  Aw...yeah.  

Hooverville is a pretty nice gig for place to play some old school pinball, having a beer or two, and a little bit of pizza.  I had a great time, and I probably give this place somewhere in the 3-3.5 stars range.  I'd go here anytime before a show at the Showbox.  I really like how they rennovated the building and decorated everything.  It's like a classy dive, and I dig the vibe.  Good for small groups, smaller Yelp events (like this gathering), etc...  I dig.

The quality of the pizza could be a little bit better, but, I can't complain...I mean someone else paid for it.  5 star peanuts though!!!
Hahaha...

2.5 stars.  In a nutshell, the venue was too small for the band:  Picoso.
When the band starts you hear, "Llego Picoso! Llego Picoso!  Llego Picoso!"  Okay, I get that Picoso has arrived, but, where in the world am I supposed to dance???   By default, you almost have to dance merengue or borchata instead of salsa to every song at Nectar because there's just not enough space to do anything else.  If a man or woman gets dejected by this and goes to order a stiff drink, say perhaps a 7 & 7...he or she gets a cup full of ice with very little of the good stuff.  Not a good night for me here.  I was hoping a night out would improve my mood a little bit, but, this place didn't really do it for me.  Nectar would be fine for a different style of music.  Like seeing reggae or a thrash band or something that doesn't require much space where you could just bump, jump, our bounce...not for salsa where you need 3 feet for your cross body lead though.  Speaking postively for the band, I think that Picoso deserves something a little better than this.  On a positive note for the venue, the line to the bathroom moved very quickly.  :)

I had Honest Jon finish up with my tattoo.  He's just a stud.  He seems to groove to the ACDC and all of the other songs they play there...his needle just buzzes to the rhythm and before you know it he's created a masterpiece.  He just nailed the face of the guitarist!  If you want attention to detail and black and gray work, he's the man.  I'm going to go back in in a few weeks to photograph it.  I can't wait to show this thing off...

Since George and Dragon was packed beyond belief for the Sounders FC playoff game, I tried this place out!  What a cool find.  Affordable wine and panini and very tasty food.  The Italian bartender was friendly and funny, continuing to randomly yell out, "The game is not over until Sigi sings!!!"  Beer, wine, yummy Italian food, and futbol.  It's a nice combination, and I'll gladly go back.

OLE!  OLE!  VIVA ESPANA!!!!

Stomp, stomp, stomp, shuffle, shuffle, swirl, waving the red dress, flailling the hair.  I'm speechless...

When you get a chance to see top level flamencos from Sevilla, Spain, it will leave you amazed, clapping, singing, and a little bit at a loss for words.  Rafael de Utrera with Eric & Encarnacion were outstanding.  Rafael's singing solos and Encarnacion's rhythmic, pulsing dance, especially, blew me away.  She seemed to stomp and gradually move into parts of songs and then explode with a stubbornness and passion that kind of stole the show.  This completely exceeded my expectations, and I left wanting to play my guitar as soon as possible.  Who knows maybe I'll be searching pawn shops for a second guitar in the coming months to play a little bit of flamenco.  Nice, small intimate venue by the way.  Gracias, Kirkland.  OLE!

This place is similar to the Jaliscos near first and Denny downtown...though I'm not sure if the restaurants are related or not.
We went here before going to an amazing flamenco performance at the Kirkland Performance Center.  There are some menu items that are pretty authentic like the tortas (which my friend ordered and appeared to have suprisingly good bolillos), and others are a little bit more Americanized.  I ordered the tacos al carbon.  They honestly weren't the best or the worst I've had in Seattle.  Even with its faults this place is far better than the other Mexican place next door.  Good company will improve any restaurant, and I definitely had that.

I'm not sure why it is, but, this location is never quite as good as the location over in the Greenlake area.  The condiments don't seem to be as fresh or as good other than 1-2 salsas.  They lack the spicy guacamole that I savor, and the tacos are more greasy, and the meat preparation of the carnitas isn't as good.  On the postive side, they do accept credit cards unlike Rancho Bravo.  The servers were also very nice to us last night allowing us to stay until about 10:20 pm eventhough we arrived at 9:45 pm just before they were preparing to close.  Good company and good service, but, the quality of the food is better in Greenlake.  I don't crave these tacos in the same way...

3.5 stars seems about right for this place.  The chilaquiles were just good enough that I could see myself craving them and ordering them again.  On the positive side, they had a nice salsa and the tortillas had a pretty nice consistency soft yet slightly crisp around the edges here and there.  Barrio goes a little gourmet, adding things like small Roma tomatoes for taste and decoration as well.  On the negative side, like all of the other Seattle chilaquiles, this place uses chips instead of hydrated tortillas.  However, the chips were well hydrated enough that I had to ask because it was difficult to tell this time.  Anyway, it was definitely good enough for me to clear my plate and feel pretty satisfied with the dish and my Mexican hot chocolate.

The ambiance is also very cool at Barrio.  There's a wall of candles that takes about an hour to light, and I'd like to come back at night when they are lit.  Cool place, and I'll definitely be back if I want to impress a date.