Why fight it? When the whole world is going on about the Royal Wedding we might as well do our part. Using words like “betwixt” and “festooned” we review the Kate/William nuptials with guest co-host Elizabeth Moran, who stayed up to watch live. We love co-hosts that do their homework.

Also on the show, an unusual, and highly regarded NY string quartet known as ETHEL. In town to play the Simple Measures music series, which aims to take the mystique out of classical music, ETHEL puts a modern twist on the traditional, including one song with a parrot as the vocalist. ETHEL has toured w/ Joe Jackson and Todd Rundgren, and performed on Late Night with Conan.

ETHEL, Marty, and Elizabeth Moran

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On Fridays I ask listeners to text me with their weekend plans, in the hope that perhaps I can turn you on to something fun that you hadn’t considered. Here’s this week’s list . . . enjoy!

* Seeing the Agony & the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs – Seattle Rep

* Volunteering for Bellevue Youth Theatre at Medenbauer Center in downtown Bellevue – Come See Midsummers Night Dream!
* Johnny Clegg – pantages, tacoma tonight

* The Head & The Heart / Cave Singers at the Moore Theatre
* Nirvana Exhibit at the EMP

* Taking the kids to the Star Wars Exhibit – Pacific Science Center

If summer wasn’t coming, I wouldn’t be showing you the lineup for this year’s ZooTunes concert series — uh, I mean, BECU ZooTunes presented by Carter Subaru. Check it out! (Tickets go on sale on Friday May 6.)

Doling out dating advice and kickin’ it with the family-band Youth Rescue Mission is how we do it on the podcast on Thursday. That’s why we say, Sure Happy It’s Thursday!!

Kate Stewart our in-house therapist and relationship adviser counsels a young Indian man on how to know when it’s right to “make the move.” Rawrr!

Plus, we capitalize on Seattle’s red hot folk rock revival scene with Youth Rescue Mission, four siblings who are tight, and whose harmonies are tighter.

Bill Wixey, Kate Stewart, Marty, and Youth Rescue Mission

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I’m hosting a private VIP event on Monday Night (this Monday 5/2) celebrating the release of Brandi Carlile’s Live At Benaroya Hall With The Seattle Symphony CD.

There’s a VIP reception and then Brandi and I will walk you thru several of the tracks on the disc. You’ll get a chance to ask Brandi a questions or two, and then she’ll sign copies of the CD!

She’s not playing, but you’ll hear plenty of Brandi music and get to meet her, too.

Care to join me? I’ve got a couple pair of tickets to give away. Here’s the deal…you have to be free from 7 to 9 on Monday night AND you must love Brandi. Leave a comment here, and I will reach out to the winners via email tomorrow morning.

AND Brandi will be getting up early Tuesday morning to talk about the CD with BOTH John Fisher and Marty Riemer. 8am with John on The Mountain and 9:30 with Marty on his podcast.

Love, Shawn

Kathryn Robinson from Seattle Met magazine is our go-to gal when it comes to intel about new restaurants opening around here. This is her latest report:

coming soon EDIT 044811

And here are the spots she mentioned. SHHHH! Top secret!

Eric Bahn (Monsoon/Baguette Box) . . . .A new bar called Babar

On Mercer Island . . . . Stopsky’s Deli

Spinasse on Capitol Hill is adding a bar called Artusi

Tamara Murphy will finally openTerraPlata in Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market

And Il Corvo Pasta brings Italian goodness to the Pike Place Hillclimb

Today we take an unvarnished, honest look at air travel with a commercial pilot who we will call Roger Over, to protect his identity. Or sometimes we call him Sean O’Connor when we forget to protect his identity.

So, what would realllllly happen if we didn’t shut off our electronic devices at takeoff? Does turbulence ever unnerve a pilot? Do pilots get to watch DVD’s or read books on long runs? Does a starting pilot these days really only make $19K a year? What is lap time and how can we get some? These questions and many more are addressed.

Mixed in with our aviation expose, we catch a live performance from Heart by Heart, starring powerful, blow-the-windows-out-the-basement vocalist Somar Macek and Heart’s original bassist Steve Fossen. Somar and Steve are dialed in to take part in the Synergia Northwest show May 6, 2011, at the Moore Theater.

Somar Macek, Sean O'Connor (a pilot A.K.A. Roger Over), Marty, Dick Rossetti, and Steve Fossen

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Vicci’s been playing every bar, club, and concert venue around here between Bellingham and Olympia for years. Now she’s a contestant on the new NBC singing competition The Voice. Even though a lot of the details are still top secret, she stopped by The Mountain the morning after her debut on the show to give me a recap:

Here’s the episode of the show featuring Vicci (scroll forward to about 22:00 to see her.)

(You can download Vicci’s powerful version of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep on iTunes.)

Second only to exploring the new Nirvana exhibit at EMP in person, is chatting with the curator who spent the last two years assembling the world class exhibit. Jacob McMurray from the Experience Music Project returns to the podcast to talk about authenticating an iconic sweater, acquiring a collection of broken guitars, and who in the Nirvana camp helped and hurt his efforts to launch the show.

mrs-2011-04-26

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From misplaced umlauts to firing tracer bullets out of the side of a military helicopter in Iraq, we spend the morning with Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate talking about the last 30 years of the ‘Ryche, the release of a new album, and their appearance on May 6, 2011 at the Synergia Northwest show at The Moore Theater.

Also, we Blatantly Stereotype a young, altruistic woman outside the Stevie Nicks/Rod Stewart show on Saturday.

Marty, Geoff Tate from Queensryche, and Dick Ressetti

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