WEEN!
Well before social media and viral events were part of an organization’s standard operating procedures, Speakeasy partnered with local radio station KEXP […]
Well before social media and viral events were part of an organization’s standard operating procedures, Speakeasy partnered with local radio station KEXP […]
After their infamous battle with Napster, Metallica decided to take the reigns of how their music was distributed digitally by partnering with Speakeasy to release it on the internet.
At some point during my tenure as a barista, I became the curator of the cafe’s music selection. It was my job to buy CDs for the fifty-disc CD changer that served as a primitive iPod, providing the musical backdrop for caffeinated web browsing.
I adored that we had a record exchange going with Wall of Sound records across the street.
Founded by former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, JAMPAC was focused on fighting several anti-music and anti-performance laws being introduced or enforced in Washington State. One of its primary causes was to repeal the Teen Dance Ordinance, which it ultimately had a hand in achieving in 2002.
One of my new roommates brought me down to the Speakeasy Cafe one night after Bumbershoot in early September. It was a packed house and Aaron Straight’s jazz group, ‘Mustard, Ketchup, Relish’ was playing. I was so immediately drawn to the place and the vibe.
“People are starting to live here again. As opposed to in the past where people leave downtown to go home at night, now it feels more like a neighborhood.”
I loved my early days working weekend nights at the Speakeasy Cafe, behind the bar in a packed house. People came for great bands like Kultur Shock and The Tom Marriott Quartet.
I’ve been a bass player in a few Seattle bands over the years, and back in the day I used to have band practice in the dank basement below the world famous Rendezvous bar in Belltown.