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HalloQueen HalloQueen...Hallelujah!
To give you an appropriate visual, The Sunset Tavern is exactly like your best friend’s living room. You know that friend – the one who always throws the best parties, knows the coolest people, and ends up in some endless jam session every night until the cops show up and kick everyone out? Everyone who works at the Sunset is that guy, and this is most definitely his place. The Sunset even manages to bring it on a Monday night with Kung Fu Grindhouse , a super-charged free weekly movie fest. I meet up with quite possibly the coolest couple you don’t know, J and W. They are the kind of people that we all strive to be – straight up, good looking, and musically enlightened. We all keep our friendly bartenders so busy with the bottles of blueberry vodka you would think they were romantically involved. I am glad that we took J’s recommendation that we disassociate ourselves from amber liquids if we are to survive the night. For the
record, Whiskey is never allowed in my mouth ever. If I see Whiskey again, I am
punching him in the face. |
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Seattle is quite possibly the hippest place on this fair planet, and its people arrive in true rock star fashion. My heart stops when Hunter S. Thompson slithers in. I ask him for some Amyl Nitrate, but he is too paranoid to answer or provide the requested party favors. This wicked display of hero-worship comes complete with his brutal deterioration that culminates under the bar, cigarette in mouth, with Mickey’s Big Mouth still in hand. Then there is “More Cowbell Dude”. Cowbell Dude, as you may have guessed, is singular of purpose with said Cowbell. However, I am convinced that Cowbell Dude was not just in character for HalloQueen – Cowbell Dude truly IS Cowbell Dude. If the night went his way, I would still be hanging out with Cowbell Dude, drinking Bloody Mary’s at Hattie’s Hat, waiting for breakfast. |
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As I continue to scan the red room I see that Seattle’s finest continue to trickle in. Among the luminaries, a very blonde Mike McCready of Pearl Jam arrives, and in true Seattle style, is able to hang out in the crowd and just be. |
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The music gets off to a raucous start with frontman Billy Joe Huels of the
Dusty 45’s. Kelly Van Camp (Lee
Rude and the Trainwrecks, Engine 54) is on drums. Our bartender is
pretty sure they are calling themselves The Tight Stripes. So I am going
with that –if you can’t trust your bartender, the whole world has gone to
shit. At any rate, Huels and Van Camp kick out a quick but satisfying set
as a duo. The rest of their band is MIA, presumably still Trick or
Treating. It’s HalloQueen. It’s allowed. |
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Finally, HalloQueen takes the stage. Sean Bates is the dearly departed Freddie Mercury. He is clad in a FLASH t-shirt and black pleather pants. He looks like Freddie’s redheaded brother. His vocals are amazing. When he struts and thrusts his mike stand upside down, his Freddie street cred increases 100%. Next is Rick Friel on bass (who, as last count, is in at least 100 different Seattle bands and fronts Jodie Watts), Rick’s brother Chris Friel (Goodness, The Rockfords), and the equally drum-my Kelly Van Camp switching off on the skins. Tim DiJulio (who also plays with McCready in a very excellent U.F.O. tribute band called Flight to Mars) becomes Brian May for the night. They are all wearing what appear to be Burger King crowns. Wasting no time, and they hit us hard with “Tie your Mother Down”. McCready joins the fracas for my personal highlight, “Hammer to Fall”. The reaction of the crowd as he steps onto the stage from the audience is beautiful. He goes from fan to Guitar Hero in the blink of an eye. There are many more highlights in the massive 17 song set, including a blistering rendition of “Death on Two Legs”. At this point I am pretty sure Sean is channeling Freddie…as a matter of fact, I think we all are. For Bo-Rap (or “Bohemian Rhapsody”), we are instructed to sing along. Of course, not wanting to disappoint our Queen-like idols, we do. |
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This sing-along begins, but is soon interrupted by an unexpected (and rather intoxicated) “EVERYWHERE THE WIND BLOWS” from someone in the crowd – at exactly the wrong time. How this chick managed to be heard above the din of Bo-Rap is beyond all reason, however, she was, and it was hilarious. I give her a nod, and she and her newly found soul mate Cowbell Dude (swear to god – they left together) continue their antics as the floor of the Sunset is shaken to its historical foundations during “We Will Rock You”. I don’t ever want this night to end! Lucky for me, the band still has some tricks up it’s sleeves. When HalloQueen officially ends their set with “Need Your Loving Tonight”, we are treated to a come-one, come-all jam that includes Foghat’s “Slow Ride”, some Zeppelin, and a bunch of walk-on crazies from the audience. When it all really does come to an end, I am left in the red pulsing afterglow that is the Sunset Tavern. It’s almost 2 a.m., and it’s a school night. Thank fucking God I do not care! If Rock and Roll has a smell, it was swirling around the Sunset last night. Bottle it up, call it “Sheer Heart Attack” and sell it to the masses! Please don’t make me wait for next year, HalloQueen…Call me! -DJC |
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Tonight,
dear reader, we hit the Sunset Tavern in Ballard for the 3rd annual
“HalloQueen” show. Let it be known throughout this land that Rock and Roll is
alive and very-fucking-well in Seattle! Despite it being a Tuesday night, the
place gets packed to the gills quickly. It is Halloween – correction –
HalloQueen after all.
