ROCKRGRL shakes Seattle

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Music festival

The ROCKRGRL Music Conference 2000 started Thursday and concludes tomorrow at the Madison Renaissance Hotel, 515 Madison St., Seattle.

As a part of the conference, artist showcase concerts are being held in 20 venues throughout the city. A $30 wristband covers all concerts.

Wristbands are available at these Ticketweb locations in Seattle: Vain International, 2222 Second Ave.; Orpheum, 618 Broadway E. on Capitol Hill; and Sonic Boom Records, 503 N. 36th in Fremont. For a detailed schedule of live music, see the Web site: www.rockrgrl.com.

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This weekend, the local music scene will get a fresh infusion of female sound and fury, signifying everything.

Godmother of punk Exene Cervenka plays with her Original Sinners tomorrow night at the Crocodile Cafe, while on Capitol Hill, teenage blues prodigy Shannon Curfman plays at the Century Ballroom.

Hot new music star Lourds, touted as, "Musician, poet, girl-next-door, psychopath" plays the Bad Juju Lounge tonight.

They're here as part of the first ROCKRGRL Music Conference, bringing with it an edgy mix of industry professionals and female music acts from around the country.

True, much of ROCKRGRL will be held in hotel conference rooms, heard only by those registered with the conference:

Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone magazine gives an overview of divas throughout history. Kate Schellenbach of Luscious Jackson teaches drums. Seattle City Councilwoman Judy Nicastro talks about music, chicks and politics; Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein about misogyny in pop music. Home Alive shows self-defense and ways to gouge the eyes of an attacker.

But if the ROCKRGRL Music Conference 2000 is a stone being thrown into the placid pond of Seattle, then the biggest ripples will surely be felt in the venues throughout downtown, Belltown and Capitol Hill, where female artists of every genre will play.

This is the part of ROCKRGRL that anybody in Seattle can enjoy with a $30 wristband: the hundreds of artist showcases taking place the next two nights.

Performances started last night with such acts as rockabilly mama Wanda Jackson at Experience Music Project, and the sly sounds of the Switchblade Kittens at I-Spy.

But Saturday night you can still catch alternative rock band Hafacat, the group 3 Gals, 1 Guy, All Power at the Breakroom at 12:30 a.m., or L.A. power-punk band Candy Ass at the Crocodile at 10:30 p.m. That night, there's also EMP's Best of the Northwest Showcase, presented by GoodInk Records, which features insightful Seattle singer-songwriter Deanna Knudsen at 9 p.m., soul singer and bassist Kim Virant and her band at 10, the Pin-Ups at 11 and charismatic ex-Goodness and ex-Hammerbox frontwoman Carrie Akre at midnight.

The ROCKRGRL conference's artist showcases have something for everyone. The rosters at each venue are packed full with four to sometimes seven different acts each night, loosely grouped by musical styles.

There is International Nite tonight at the Elysian Brewing Co. starting at 8:30, featuring experimental Latin songstress Ana D from Spain; the sugary pop of The Lollies, out of England; Revlon 9 of Sweden; Handsome 3Some of the Netherlands and the indie-rock Space Surfers of Italy.

Over at Sit n' Spin is a hard rock/metal showcase beginning at 10:30 p.m., featuring Dios Elefante from Phoenix, Tang from New Jersey and Zelpha Trippe from Minneapolis.

Nearby at the Crocodile, tonight features harder-edged music out of Olympia presented by the Kill Rock Stars record label: Shotgun Won starts at 8:30, followed by goth-rock Two Ton Boa at 9:30, San Francisco punk trio Bonfire Madigan at 10:30, The Gossip at 11:30, and wrapping up with The Bangs at 12:30 a.m.

If hard-edged rock is not your thing, go to I-Spy's electronica showcase on Saturday, where Swan Vestas of Seattle plays at 9:30 p.m., followed by Hyptonic of Boston at 10:30, Triprocket of Dallas at 11:30, and finally Cydakha & Land of the Blind at 12:30 a.m.

And if none of these interests you, there's plenty more to choose from. Just check out the full schedule on the Web at www.rockrgrl.com.