What better way to spend the last few moments of my staycation than out on the town with the lovely Coco at the Triple Door for Bittersweet live in concert. Coco is the one responsible for hooking me on such musical fabulousness as Thievery Corporation,Late Night Alumni,Blue Six, Olive, Everything but the Girl, Kaskade, and Res. She has an addiction to unique beats and quirky but sensual female vocalist...which is exactly how one would characterize Shana Halligan, the lead singer of Bittersweet. For those of you unfamiliar with the band, you've probably heard one of the title tracks from their last album The Mating Game on ABC's comedy Samantha Who. Their music has also cameoed in Sex in the City. They have a unique sound: part James Bond sountrack, part funk meets electronic...add in violins and sultry vocals, with deliciously flirtaous lyrics and you've got Bittersweet...a very tongue and cheek minksy vibe.
Though I've lived in Seattle for a total of 5 years (not consecutively), I'd never been to the Triple Door, man do I feel cheated. Coco and I got didn't get all dolled up for nothing, the venue was classy and elegant. We passed by the musiquarium...which is the outer lounge where you can have a drink and if you're too broke or too cheap to get tickets to the mainstage you can at least enjoy the music filtered in from the concert. Then a host lead us to our seats (excellent seats) along the wall stage left. It's an intimate venue that used to be a Burleque theater and retains some of the original architecture (very cool date spot).
We arrived in time to have a leasurely and fantastic dinner. Kiran Shihani, basist and co-creator of Bittersweet himself stood right next to our table...while we tried to decide whether or not that was him (it was!).
The Triple Door is one of the few places you can get a mojito comparable to mine. The tuna sashimi bruschetta was amazing and totally different than anything I'd ever had. DJ Self-Inflicted Beat Down...yes, that's his name... spun an eclectic mix of grown folks music that had us groovin in our seats. I'm going to have to google him to see where he's playing next.When we had finished our equally delicious meals (I had the ankorwat chicken, she had the 7 flavored beef and we split the seshwan green beans all of which was yummy)and I had made the long trip up and down the stairs to the ladies room (definately not assessible for wheel chairs or stiletto heels) the lights went down.
Kiran Shihani, a guitarist, an electric violinist, a DJ, and a percussionist took the stage and started jammin. Above the stage was screen filled with cool pyschodelic imagery that changed from song to song from old movie clips of belly dancers to cool spirals to a very fat cat (again I say quirky, but very cool). The backdrop was a faux midnight sky with blue and green electronic stars flickering....very, very cool. The band set the mood, Kiran swankily dancing his way over to the basist then back to the violinist. And then in fluttered Shana Halligan barefoot and in this hot and swanky white floor length crocheted gown with a plunging back line. She wore her auburn hair in wavy curls down to her mid back, accented on top by a pokey flower. The lady had moxy. She sang alternating between two mics while dancing on a white fake fur rug. In between songs she would mutter something incoherent and take a sip of red wine(conveniently placed on a pedastool beside her rug).
Despite the multi-million dollar sound system, they never did manage to strike a good balance between the vocals and music. On the CD it is already sometimes hard to catch what she's saying given her lisp and the way she sings, but live it was almost impossible. Yet somehow this did not detract from the overall performance. They were brilliant. There were these sexy tamborine bongo moments where I wanted to push the table away and jump up and dance, but then I glanced over at a woman who had gone with her urge. I swear if she hadn't been standing I would have thought she was having a prolonged epoleptic seizure...but no, she was just movin and groovin. Why is it always the people who have no business dancing in public who are the first to take off there shoes and do the ass baring shimmy? So I didn't dance, but I did thoroghly enjoy the evening and I will for absolutely be in the audience when Bittersweet hits Seattle again.
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