Features
A New, Fun, Arts ‘Thing’ In The Pacific NW: Violent Femmes, Jeff Tweedy, Napoleon Dynamite, Macaulay Culkin
–
A new “thing” has emerged in Port Townsend, Wash., with a musical lineup topped by Violent Femmes, De La Soul, Café Tacvba, Calexico and Iron & Wine, Jeff Tweedy,
Produced by Pacific Northwest concert promoter STG and Sasquatch founder Adam Zacks, the Thing describes itself as a “fresh multidisciplinary event” and has some notably unusual names on the lineup, including “Napoleon Dynamite Live” (discussion with three of the main actors in the movie as well as a screening of the cult classic), Mentalist Scott Silver’s “Wonders at Dusk” and “The Bunny Ears Podcast” with Macauly Culkin.
Other prominent musicians on the bill include Khruangbin, Tank And The Bangas, Parquet Courts, Snail Mail, Japanese Breakfast, and John Reilly and Friends.
Derived from the medieval term “Ting” meaning “an assembly of free people to reduce feuds and avoid social disorder,” the event is a two-hour trip from Seattle or three from Vancouver.
Port Townsend is located on Quimper Peninsula, known for Victorian buildings and as a maritime center for boatbuilders and related industries. Notably for an outdoor music festival, the area is significantly drier than the surrounding region, being in the rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains.
The Thing will feature three main stages, including a decommissioned zeppelin hangar), the art-deco Wheeler Theatre, and the Parade Grounds overlooking Puget Sound. Kids 13 and younger get in free and tickets go on sale April 26 starting at $99.50 for a one-day pass and $189.50 for both. A premium experience “Admiral Society ticket” is available for $525.
Festival producer Adam Zacks in June of 2018 announced he was stepping down from the Sasquatch! Music Festival at the scenic Gorge Ampthitheatre in Washington.
“Sasquatch! will forever remain a tapestry of the people who worked with us,” Zacks said in a press statement at the time. “The artists who inspired us, and the varied experiences of the fans who attended it… of friendships made, engagements, hilltop weddings, permanent tattoos, once in a lifetime collaborations, weather events both treacherous and magnificent, at least one very public conception, and, of course, hundreds of awe inspiring performances. My humblest gratitude to all of you.”
A new Live Nation event was announced for the Gorge (operated by Live Nation) called End Of The Rainbow featuring Bassnectar, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, Griz and others for May 24-26 but was called off in late March.