Ladies, Bring Your Tramps To Skylark On Valentine's Day...and Valentine's Night

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2010

Seattle, WA - Sunday, February 14th, 2010 – Skylark Cafe & Club is hosting our third annual Valentine's evening with dinner, dessert, a bottle of wine and live music. This year we are also adding a romantic brunch to the offering...if "romantic" means a full carafe of mimosas to you. And doesn't it always?

Sunday brunch for two on 2/14 is just $30 and includes:

• two mixed-berry flapjacks
• an egg breakfast with two eggs, home fries, and your choice of meat (bacon, Black Forest ham, sausage links)
• a mimosa carafe (1 liter)

Dinner for two on 2/14 is just $40 and includes:

• starter salad
• spaghetti and meatballs family-style
• an amazing dessert from Shoofly Pie Company in West Seattle
• a bottle of Cycles Gladiator Syrah

Skylark’s regular menu and beverages will also be available all day and night. No reservation is necessary, just come on down and grab a table unless you have eight or more people in your party (then a phone call is appreciated). Weekend brunches are 9:00am to 3:00pm. Valentine's dinner will be seated from 5:00pm to 10:00pm while supplies last.

Live music in the evening will transport you with two excellent female vocalists:

8:00pm  Indie folk band LEMOLO
9:00pm    Down-tempo electroacoustic band THE DEEPSLEEP NARCOTICS COMPANY

Contact: Jessie SK 
206-935-2111

This Sunday 1/24 100% of Brunch Profits Go To Haiti

LOCAL SEATTLE RESIDENT ORGANIZES DINE OUT SEATTLE FOR HAITI
Seattle Restaurants Support HAITI Disaster Relief on Sunday January 24, 2010

After hearing that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the island nation of Haiti on January 12th, local Seattle resident Monica Mendoza made her own personal donation to NetHope to support disaster relief efforts.  Yet, as she watched the constant updates of the unbelievable crisis the people of Haiti are facing on the news and on online she was moved to do more. 

She got to work quickly to begin organizing Dine Out Seattle for Haiti.  She made countless number of phone calls and wrote several emails reaching out to many of the local restaurants in Seattle and the surrounding area asking them to directly donate a percentage of that night's proceeds to NetHope or the organization of their choice.

Through her efforts she has proven that one person can make a difference and has pulled together the support of fourteen Seattle area restaurants so far which includes:
    •    Dinette
    •    Restaurant Zoe
    •    Quinn's Pub
    •    Le Gourmand
    •    La Rustica
    •    Skylark Café (donating 100% of Sunday brunch proceeds)
    •    La Isla - Puerto Rican food in Ballard
    •    Café Venus (donating a % of Brunch/Sunday night karaoke proceeds)
    •    Tavolata
    •    How To Cook A Wolf
    •    Barking Frog - in Woodinville
    •    Springhill
    •    Feedback Lounge
    •    Mission Bar

On her Facebook invite Monica states, “this is a devastating blow to a country that has already suffered a great deal for decades due to poverty, violence and unrest.”  She hopes that a great number of Seattle residents will make plans to dine out for Haiti at one of the participating restaurants on Sunday January 24 as well as make their own personal contribution to relief efforts in Haiti.

Here at Skylark, we hope you'll spend some time with us in between 9:00am and 3:00pm on Sunday January 24th for a delicious weekend brunch, and then perhaps head to another participating restaurant above for dinner. Double donations to a suffering nation!

Memphis Radio Kings Bring Their "Cow Punk Boogie" to Skylark Saturday January 9th

These westside favorites are finally performing on the Skylark stage, and it will be a fabulous party. Says a writer on Rhapsody Music Service:

"Fans of the Americana sound who feel betrayed by their heroes leaving the twang in the dust to pursue more radio-friendly music may now bow down to the Memphis Radio Kings, who fuse some of that Bo Diddley rhythm with dexterous Telecaster picking and melodies that stick like cactus candy. Oh, and their songs rule."

With Gunn & The Damage Done, Nathan Wade & The Dark Pioneers. 9pm / free

End of The Year Festivities...

OK, next week bring your Christmas and/or anti-Christmas records to Spin Your Wax: open turntables (6pm onward) on Tuesday, December 22.

On Wednesday December 23 we will have normal hours, trivia and open mic as usual. It's very possible I will do "Santa Baby" since it was really easy to figure out on guitar. C, Am, D, G...repeat ad infinitum.

Please note that on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we will be closed all day. Hopefully any ice storms this year will be kind enough to show up then. Happy birthday baby Jesus. Did you know that in Spain, they have a tradition of nativity figurines that are taking a poop in the manger? I did not make that up.

On Saturday, December 26th, we'll be open for brunch at the normal time of 9am. In the evening, we'll be hosting an End-of-the-decade Party. Dress as your favorite person, event, meme, or thing from the years 2000 to 2009. Best costume wins $100 Gift Card, and there will be runner up prizes and recession-friendly drink specials aplenty. 8pm.

On Sunday, December 27th, we'll be donating 20% of brunch sales from 10am to 1pm to Team Tracy. Tracy herself will be here to say hi between those times. Please stop by and know your tasty breakfast will help find a cure for breast cancer. :)

Thursday, New Year's Eve will feature local acts Stevedore and Guns & Rossetti to help ring in the new decade. Dress to the nines...or not. Food and drink specials all day and night. Get here early to grab a table for a nice hearty dinner. No reservations necessary. No cover charge. (What other New Year's event has no cover charge? Probably none.)

Friday, New Year's Day Brunch! Okay people, you asked for it...you got it. We are kick-starting the first weekend of 2010 with three days of brunch instead of two. Did you know eggs (the l-cysteine in eggs, specifically) have been scientifically proven to help hangover symptoms? It's true. You've always said you wanted us open for Brunch on New Year's Day, so show up and chow down. 9am to 3pm.

Happy Holidays,
Jessie SK

Skylark Was A Bar Before You Were Born...

...unless you are in your 90s. Check out this awesome photo of the "Youngstown Tavern" in the 1920s. It wasn't officially open during Prohibition, of course, but there are rumors of bootlegging operations until the repeal of Prohibition and immediate return of the renamed Delridge Tavern in1932. This neighborhood was called "Garlic Gulch" back then because of all the Italians. So it's fitting that us Italians are serving Baked Ziti here now.

Our landlord (born in 1917) tells a fascinating story of the history of this area (and the taverns in the Skylark building) here. Slingshot gang wars, gravel truck accidents, shuffleboard championships, drugstore thieves, salmon fishing on Andover Street, go-carts made out of salvaged wheels from the city dump. History buffs will love it.

Missed Show Me Your TIFFs on 10/8? Check Out The Video!

show me your tiffs: 10 years of music photography by jenny jiménez from Patrick Wright on Vimeo.

The Riffbrokers and Unsmashable Records Celebrate 10 Years on Saturday 11/7

Nick and Heather Millward formed the Unsmashable Riffbrokers in Boise, Idaho in the fall of 1999. A few years after relocating to Seattle, they dropped the first half of the name and used it to launch their own record label. The label became a DIY vehicle for a close circle of musician friends to release their own albums. Under the banner of Unsmashable Records, The Riffbrokers have self-released four of their own albums. In 2006 they contributed a song to a Buffalo Springfield tribute compilation on Not Lame Records. In the first half of the '00s, The Riffbrokers toured the western states regularly, and even pulled off one haphazard cross country trip.

Nick Millward's songwriting is heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, The Byrds, and John Prine. The band's sound remains a blend of Americana twang with powerpop guitar and growling vocals.
The Riffbrokers will celebrate their ten years as a band by inviting friends onstage to perform their favorite Riffbroker songs. Friends include Michael Dean Damron, 50 Grit, The Tripwires, Young Sportsmen, Crown Aruba, The I Love Myselfs, Paul Lynde Fan Club, Radio Nationals, North Twin.

I joined Julie and Jennifer and friends on The Menage on KKNW radio Wednesday to chat about the Saturday show and talk a bit about Skylark. We ramble aimlessly in true morning-radio-style about the hotness of the Skylark staff, the ladder in the basement that goes into the bowels of hell, microphone technique, orgasm-titled drink specials, and other miscellany. Take a listen. (I join them about a third of the way through the clip.)

~Jessie SK

Multitrack Recordings Available of Your Show

As bands who've played here in recent months know, we offer you a multitrack recording of your performance (on DVD, but there's no video) for $15. This is not just a board recording like you may have purchased elsewhere, it's individual tracks...so you can mix them down yourself in the software of your choice and enhance or tweak as you desire. This means you can't just put the DVD in a player though...those tracks you see on the DVD are not your individual songs but individual tracks of the whole performance. If you have a Mac it comes with GarageBand now and that works just dandy, or you can go to town with ProTools or something more sophisticated.

If you want to try something cool, record a video of your show and then sync up our sound with your video. Mighty Shiny did this for a few songs of their September show and it came out really well (much better than any camcorder sound I've ever heard, for sure).

We are building up quite an archive for posterity...your purchase of show DVDs goes towards hard drive space (those files are enormous).

Any questions about this process or our PreSonus digital mixer? Email cha at skylarkcafe dot com.

Third Annual Halloween Battle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Come As You Aren't
Skylark's Third Annual Halloween Battle For The Golden Cowbell

Seattle, WA – October 31, 2008 – It's the third annual Come As You Aren’t Halloween battle of the bands showcase with ten bands performing as another band or concept for just one evening. Each band plays a three-song set to showcase their skills as their chosen band. The winners will be awarded the coveted Golden Cowbell™ and bragging rights until next year.

This event is free, 21+, and has always been Skylark's biggest night of the whole year. Costumes! Props! Band rivalries!

This year’s lineup features:

8:20pm        CHRIS MESS as Frank Sinatra
8:40pm        JULIA MASSEY as The Little Mermaid
9:00pm        RADIOLAKE as The White Stripes
9:20pm        HIGH DIVIDE as Black Sabbath
9:40pm        THE MANGLES as The Bangles
10:00pm    HELEN CHANCE as David Bowie
10:20pm    THE RIFFBROKERS as X
10:40pm    M.BISON as The Band
11:00pm    MOUNTAIN KIDS FANTASY as DEVO

Matt Brown from Nadamucho.com,  Jessie SK, Skylark's booker, and Starr Harris (of The Camellias and The Snakebites) will judge the bands on originality, talent, and style. Prizes will be awarded around midnight.

ABOUT SKYLARK CAFE
Skylark Café & Club is an award-winning bar, restaurant, and live music venue just minutes from downtown Seattle off the Delridge exit on the West Seattle Bridge. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday 11:30am - 2:00am, Saturday 9:00am – 2:00 am and Sunday 9:00am to 11:00pm. For menus, entertainment calendar, and press clips, see www.skylarkcafe.com.

Skylark Cafe & Club
3803 Delridge Way SW
Seattle, WA 98106
206-935-2111; 206-935-3249 fax


last year's winners: We Wrote The Book On Connectors as The Beastie Boys
picture credit: Josh at www.soundonthesound.com

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Robin Lane Comes To Seattle Friday 10/16

Lane, born and raised in L.A., began performing in clubs while still in her teens, and a hook-up with Crazy Horse led to her appearance on Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere album in 1969. By the end of the 70s, she formed the Chartbusters in Boston with Leroy Radcliffe and Asa Brebner (formerly of the Modern Lovers) and signed with Warner Brothers. Her self-titled debut album featured the single "When Things Go Wrong," which scraped the national charts in July 1980. After one additional album for Warner, Heart Connection, Lane semi-retired. During the late 80s and into the 90s, she contributed songs to Susannah Hoffs among others, and supported Warren Zevon, Taj Mahal and John Hiatt in concert. She returned in 1994 with Catbird Seat, recorded for the Ocean label.

Performing with Robin Lane at Skylark are locals Rusty Willoughby, Gretta Graves & Lance Ballard, and Gavin Guss.