STG Announces Rufus Wainwright, Toad the Wet Sprocket & More

Seattle Theatre Group (STG) announces the following concerts going on sale this week. STG is the 501 (c)(3) non-profit arts organization that operates the historic Paramount and Moore Theatres in Seattle, Washington. Our mission is to make diverse performing arts and education an integral part of our region's cultural identity while keeping these two landmark venues alive and vibrant. STG presents a variety of shows from Broadway, off-Broadway, dance and Jazz or comedy, concerts of all genres, speakers and family shows - at both historic theatres in Seattle and at venues throughout Puget Sound and Portland, Oregon.

The Aggrolites
Date: Saturday, July 10, 2010 @ 9:00pm
Venue: The Crocodile (21+)
Price: $15.00 not including applicable fees
Seating: General Admission
On sale date: Friday, May 14th @ 10am
Ticketing information: Online at TheCrocodile.com. More information can be found at STGPresents.org.

The Aggrolites are more than a band they are a movement unto themselves. They carry a banner - one created with their own hands. This banner reads, "Dirty Reggae," and represents their signature fusion of reggae, soul, grit and determination. For seven magnificent years, this dirty reggae bunch has rolled from city to city, across the pond and up main street USA. They rally the kids, the parents, the students, the cops, the bosses and the drifters. The people come, they relish in The Aggrolites, the dirty reggae and the joy that comes with it all. The liberating rhythms and catchy grooves demand a return trip. Out of the Los Angeles school of hard knocks, The Aggrolites have earned a Ph.D in "feel good music." On the road they educate with the thunder and punch of the reggae drums and bass, the ripping, soulful melodies of the organ and guitars, and Jesse Wagner's voice - a gift from the heavens, a perfectly intact gift from Otis, Sam, Ray and Wilson.

Toad the Wet Sprocket
Special Guest: Hey Marseilles
Date: July 29, 2010 @ 7:30pm
Venue: Moore Theatre (All Ages)
Price: $27.00 not including applicable fees
Seating: Reserved
On sale date: Saturday, May 15th @ 10am
Ticketing information: Online at Tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box office (M-F 10am-6pm), 24-hour kiosks located outside the Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at (877) 784-4849, or online at STGPresents.org.

Named in honor of a sketch by the Monty Python comedy troupe, this 4-piece band of Santa Barbara, CA high school cronies came to be known as Toad the Wet Sprocket in 1986. To this day, their mellow, melodic folk-pop sound made them one of the most successful alternative rock bands of the early 1990s. Singer Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss spent time honing their skills in area bars. Then, in 1988, they entered a nearby studio and came out with their debut LP, Bread and Circus. Recorded in just 8 days and for a cost of $650, this inaugural recording was originally sold in Santa Barbara area record stores as a home- made cassette. While the band was recording their second album, Pale (16 days & $6,000) they caught the attention of the LA offices of Columbia Records. After agreeing to the band's request to reissue Bread and Circus only in its original form - without any alterations or remixes - Columbia Records signed Toad the Wet Sprocket.

Bonnie Prince Billy
Date: August 9, 2010 @ 9:00pm
Venue: Showbox at the Market (All Ages)
Price: $22.00 in advance, $24.00 day of show, not including applicable fees
Seating: General Admission
On sale date: Friday, May 14th @ 10am
Ticketing information: Available at all Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at (800) 745-3000, or in person at the Showbox box office. More info can be found at STGPresents.org.

Perhaps you havent been paying attention, but Bonnie Prince Billy is clearly one of the great American songwriters to emerge in the last decade. Listen more closely, and youll see. Over the course of five albums and countless singles, compilation tracks, collaborations, live performances and material not intended for release, Bonnie Prince Billy has become a soughtafter commodity around the free world, as well as some of the uncharted, 'evil' parts of the planet. The Bonnie Prince got his start as the featured singer with the Palace Music band. He struck out on his own in 1998. His first expression was a curious one: 'I Am Drinking Again.' When had we ever known him to drink before When had we even known him at all Here, Bonnys black humor first raised its hoary head, and belched a good one. This record set the tone for that first year: four singles on four different labels from three different countries (Domino, Lowfly, Allcity and Palace Records). This delivered the message that Bonny belonged to no one man but conversely, to the whole freaking world.

Rufus Wainwright
Special Guest: Martha Wainwright
Date: August 25, 2010 @ 7:30pm
Venue: Paramount Theatre (All Ages)
Price: $49.00 & $39.00, not including applicable fees
Seating: Reserved
On sale date: Saturday, May 15th @ 10am
Ticketing information: Online at Tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box office (M-F 10am-6pm), 24-hour kiosks located outside the Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at (877) 784-4849, or online at STGPresents.org.

Affectionately referred to by Elton John as "the greatest songwriter on the planet" and praised by The New York Times for his "genuine originality," Rufus Wainwright has established himself as one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation. He is the son of folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and brother of Martha Wainwright but Rufus has achieved his success by carving out his own singular sound in the worlds of rock, opera, theater, dance and film. Wainwright's much acclaimed first opera, titled Prima Donna, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009. The opera will make its London debut at Sadler's Wells in April 2010, and its North American debut in Toronto at the Luminato Festival in June 2010. The New York Times said, "There are inspired touches and disarmingly beautiful passages in this mysterious, stylistically eclectic work in Rufus Wainwright's first opera..." The London Times declared, "...the Canadian singer-songwriter hasn't just written an opera. He's written a love song to opera, soaked in the perennial operatic themes of loss, betrayal, delusion and nostalgia, and saturated in the musical styles of opera's golden age."

Mat Kearney
Solo Acoustic Show
Date: Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 8:00pm
Venue: Triple Door (All Ages)
Price: $20.00, not including applicable fees
Seating: Reserved
On sale date: Friday, May 14th @ 10am
Ticketing information: Available at the Triple Door box office, online at TheTripleDoor.net, or by calling (206) 838-4333. More info can be found at STGPresents.org.

When you record the type of smart, catchy songs Mat Kearney cut for his 2006 album Nothing Left to Lose, you end up spending a lot of time on the road. And after that album's title track throttled up the charts, that's exactly what Kearney did. Three years later, he returns with City of Black & White, an album informed by the traveling, performing and adventuring the Oregon-born, Nashville-based singer did while supporting his breakthrough album. An open-hearted album of self-discovery, City of Black & White is a chronicle of the people he met and missed during that journey. Musically, it's an upping of the ante, laced with hooks and rhythms that are meant to sneak up on you quietly and quickly, en route to winning your love. If Nothing Left to Lose sent Kearney on a marathon tour-during which he opened treks for the likes of John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, and The Fray, in between his own headline stints-it also built up to an eventual happy return to Nashville, his home for the past eight years. And City of Black & White definitely reflects that, as it's marked by the pride and happiness that comes with spending five years trying to make it, and then finally getting there.

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