That’s Shawn’s beloved — and very big — dog Charlie, and when Shawn had to leave town unexpectedly this weekend for some family stuff, she recruited me to take in her girl. I often tease Shawn about Charlie’s unruly behavior, but as it turned out, she couldn’t have been sweeter, and she really bonded with my dog Zoe. (That could have been ugly if it had gone differently!)

You can get a pretty good idea of just how large Charlie is in this shot where she’s taking up lots of real estate on my bed. I would wake up in the morning and hear some heavy sighs, and lo and behold this big hairy creature was dozing away right next to me. (Make yourself at home, pal!)

And here’s Charlie relaxing on my deck with her new best friend, my dog Zoe. What a lovefest!

The hardest part of taking care of Charlie was answering Shawn’s hourly texts: “What’s she doing?” “Are they getting along?” “Is she behaving?” It was actually fun to have a canine houseguest . . . . It almost tempts me to adopt a pal for Zoe. But let’s not get carried away.

I hosted the last show of the summer at the Woodland Park Zoo on Wednesday and was pleasantly filming an Amos song for you, dear readers. I wanted to capture how funny this Philly fellow has become. When I first saw him (opening for Dylan at The Paramount before his debut album had even hit the stores), he seemed so quiet and shy. Who knew such a broad sense of humor was lurking beneath that stubbly beard and sultry voice?

As he started this song, it was obvious he was having a great time teasing the crowd with his amorous affections. He was about to introduce his bandmate (and opener) Mutlu, when tragedy struck: my Flip Cam ran out of space!! What followed was one of the funniest in-song improvisations I’ve ever seen. Mutlu and Amos transformed into a Flight Of The Conchords-type duo, telling tall tales of angels and elephants and half-angel babies conceived that night.

But I captured none of it. And the quality of this vid leaves a lot to be desired.

So help me… did you go to the zoo for Amos? Did you capture the rest of this song? If so, send me a link and I’ll post it for all to see!

In the meantime there’s this:

Oh, and this photo of Amos and the band gather round the mic for a cool version of The Allmans “Midnight Rambler.”

- Shawn

Here’s a different way to spend part of your lunch hour on Friday: A quick live set from the Avett Brothers. It’s tough to put a label on them, but let’s just say they blend bluegrass, country, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock and roll, honky tonk, and ragtime. The San Francisco Chronicle said they have the “heavy sadness of Townes Van Zandt, the light pop concision of Buddy Holly, the tuneful jangle of the Beatles, the raw energy of the Ramones.”

They’re doing a few songs on the front porch of Starbucks HQ in Seattle’s Sodo disctrict on Friday at noon. I’m the host, and it’s free!

The address: 2401 Utah Ave S (between Lander St &… Stacy St.). You know, down by Home Depot and Sears. Here’s a map.

And here they are in action:

Ask the Md readers and fans of our acoustic Sunday Brunch know that I am obsessed with a new song from The Avett Brothers called “I and Love and You.” These North Carolina boys really might just be the next big thing, even if their beards make them look like a throw back to The Band circa Music From Big Pink.

So, I am proud to announce that The Avett Brothers will be joining us for a quick cup of coffee concert at Starbucks on Olive Way at 12 noon on Friday. You can come, grab some caffeine and free music, too. You don’t need tickets or passes or anything. It’s first come first served for music and coffee. I’m going to suggest you come a little early and stake your claim on a comfy chair. Let me know how you like the tunes…I’ll be there in spirit (and on the air, in reality).

avettbros

The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

- Shawn

I saved a bird on Saturday. This little green guy (or gal) smashed into my living room window and landed on my porch.

It must have been dang stunned because it sat in my hand and then on the back of my sofa for quite some time. I thought for sure it was a goner. But just in case it lived, I wanted to document my humanitarian effort.

When I took photo number one, the flash went off and shocked little tweetie right out of it’s coma! It started flying around my house. Chaos ensued (and by chaos, I mean Charlie Trout, my dog) . We caught it again and it sat on my friend’s hand long enough to pose for photo number 2 before flying away. Fly little tweetie, fly!

- Shawn

The summer heat zapped my genius powers. The sun is my kryptonite. I have been (duh duh duh duh) genius-less. But it’s been cooler these last few days and voila…a genius idea. This one actually came to me during Seattle’s “hot-pocalypse” but it took a while to stage as it required a guest star.

Hey Genius followers will recall that in our very first edition, I encouraged viewers to run with the idea of a pet airline. I am dog owner and lover, and I want to safely take my dog every where I go. That said, please note: THIS IS NOT MY DOG. And I have proof. My Charlie spends her day comfortably brawling with other hounds at West Seattle Dog House Daycare. See surveillance photo below.

I am not going to tell you why I care that you know this is not my dog, I am just going to let you watch and see for yourself. It should all become clear about 2 minutes into this week’s installment of Hey Genius.

- Shawn

This is Mountain listener Karmen Choi, who joined us in the Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge for the Pete Yorn session this week. (You can listen to the whole thing here.) As you can see, she’s a pretty big fan of Pete’s. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like when artists join us at the station, click here to check out Karmen’s behind-the-scenes look at her day in the Lounge.

If you “friend” me on Facebook, you’ll get an invitation to join me in the lounge sometime, too. Here’s the link.

Oh yeah, Karmen wasn’t the only one who got a picture with Pete. Everybody did — even me!

Haven’t subscribed to U2.com yet? Well, the U2 team is giving you another great reason to do so.

Tonight, Bono and the gang are in Sheffield for yet another stop on their 360° Tour, and they’re broadcasting it live from the Don Valley Stadium.

For those in the U.S., the audio stream of the show will be on the U2.com subscriber site after 8 PM GMT. (That’s 1 PM Seattle-time… just a few hours away!)

Take a late lunch and tune in… hope the boss doesn’t notice!

- Shawn

Before heading off to the Showbox, Pete Yorn stopped by the Music Lounge this afternoon to play a few tunes, tell a few stories… and what kind of MD would I be if I didn’t give you the inside scoop on it all?

Here is a snippet from today’s performance. This song, “A Girl Like You,” is a hidden track originally included on Pete’s debut album.  He wrote the song at the request of actor Ed Burns for a movie.

Pete also played “Don’t Wanna Cry” from the new album, Back and Fourth (no, I didn’t spell it wrong; and yes, it is his fourth album!). Check it out:

 You can check out the rest of this Music Lounge (and dive into our archives) by clicking here.

This photo is of me and Pete’s mandolin player, Jonny Polonski. We grew up in the same neighborhood and are both graduates of New Trier East High School. Can you see the resemblance?? Talk about back and forth in time.

- Shawn

Pete Yorn is playing two nights at the Showbox at the Market (Wednesday and Thursday) and he’s doing an in-store appearance at Easy Street Records on Queen Anne Thursday at 6pm. But most importantly, he joined me in the Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge — you can hear it here.

Pete has a new album called Back and Fourth (guess what — it’s his fourth album.) Here’s the video for his song Don’t Wanna Cry:

And, check this out — on September 15, he’s putting out another album, called Break-Up. It’s a collection of duets with actress Scarlett Johanssen. Take a look at this swingin’ song from the album, called Relator: