Sound Advice

by Inlander Staff & r & Strum, Whisper, Strum & r & Consumers of the harder, then softer, then harder stuff are in for a treat not seen this side of 2001, when Unplugged finally (insert obvious verb denoting loss of electricity) forever. This Friday, Fat Tuesday's will host the acoustification of Mourning After's Ben Ham and Coretta Scott's Josh Albright. Mordekye Layman - who's almost always acoustified and who'll be adding a kick-ass set himself - will make sure the two remain electricity-less.





Jack to the Sea & r & Landlocked shanty-sters Seaweed Jack played their first Seattle gig on Tuesday at the Rendezvous. As of press time, they'd gone into complete radio silence preparing for the show, but wire reports noted several sightings of pirate vessels patrolling the waters around Alaskan Way, a few short blocks from the club's door.





Zap Pow Wham & r & In an unbelievable triple setback for people who depend on the unending march of major-label effluvia to help their lives make sense, Abercrombie Riot Grrrl Ashlee Simpson collapsed last week in Japan after cutting an incredibly grueling five-song set short by three and a half songs. After a precautionary four-hour hospitalization (roughly three and a half hours longer than her original set), the singer and her management decided that one and a half songs were more Ashlee than Japan deserved and the singer flitted back Stateside. She was to be out of commission at least through Monday's Radio Music Awards, where she was set to perform. The second half of this tragedy occurred when Bo Bice, America's favorite runner-up and the singer pegged to fill in for Ashlee at the awards, became gravely ill himself, citing complications from abdominal surgery. The final and most heinous tragedy, though, was that the fill-ins for the fill-in, the Goo Goo Dolls, apparently performed Monday without incident.