During my recent interview with Korn leader Jonathan Davis, the singer talked a lot of smack about his band’s new laser light show. And I must confess to being impressed when those wavy, green beams kicked in during "Starting Over," the band's third song last night at Seattle's WaMu Theater. My photos don’t quite do them justice. But, trust me, they were pretty cool. And while the band may be dwindling in size (Davis, Fieldy and Munky now, backed by members of opening band Droid), not to mention the crowds coming out to see them, Korn still kinda rocked on groove metal numbers like "Here to Stay," "Falling Away From Me" and "Coming Undone."

But the most surprising sight from last night was rap legend and closet metal fan Sir Mix-A-Lot, who I spied hanging out near the soundboard before Korn went on. (Now that I mention it, I vaguely recall him causing a ruckus when he showed up at a Family Values show at the Tacoma Dome a few years ago. And he did once tell me he likes Godsmack. But I won’t hold that against him.) Mix tells me he's got a new project, again involving protégé Outtasite, that he plans to unveil in February. Stay tuned, and I'll try to find out more of what that's all about.

And not to make this all about Mix-A-Lot. But the funniest part of that encounter was when I introduced my friend to the rap legend. "Oh, I'm being rude. This is (name omitted to protect the not-so-innocent.) And of course you know who this is?"

Without missing a beat my friend says very bluntly, "No. Who's this?"

Mix-A-Lot coyly arches an eyebrow, shakes her hand and introduces himself as Anthony. And unless you're 15 or 50, how do you not recognize Sir Mix-A-Lot? Am I the only one who saw him standing on that giant booty in the "Baby Got Back" video, like, 9 million times back in 1992? I'm just sayin'. In these parts, that's like a couple of notches below not recognizing Michael Jackson.

Anyway, here's some of what you missed:

Korn headlines Seattle's WaMu Theater on Saturday. And recently I had the pleasure of chatting up mouthpeice Jonathan Davis, right after the band wrapped up a recent show in Austin, Texas. Here's some of what he had to say.

Part 1: Lasers rule!

Part 2: Scat vocals and bagpipes

Part 3: Departed band members

Part 4: His near death experience

Part 5: Fighting labels and outlasting nu metal

Part 6: That opera he's writing

Part 7: His solo tour

Motley Crue's infamously debaucherous bassist and closet renaissance man Nikki Sixx will be in Seattle signing copies of his new book "The Heroin Diaries" on Saturday. Scroll down this page for relevant venues, times and phone numbers. And then check out a few clips I culled from a couple of interviews I did with the guy.

Part 1: Growing up in Seattle

Part 2: He didn't "dish" anybody in his book

Part 3: Recovery and what's important now

Part 4: His new band, clothing line and other creative outlets

Part 5: The future of his new band Sixx A.M.

But alas, he wouldn't bite when I asked him about stupid stuff, like who he'd bet on in a rumble royale between Kid Rock and his boy Tommy Lee. Hey! That guy really has grown up.

Pop culture writer Bill Hutchens and I were just having a late lunch down at India Mahal downtown when I was inspired with my second greatest tribute band idea ever.

Concept: "Friday I'm in Love," "Boys Don't Cry," "Lovesong" and other Robert Smith-related new wave hits played on sitar.

Name: The Khir

Bwahahahahaha!!!! I am soooo funny. I slay me.

My best tribute band idea ever, you ask?

Wait for it. Wait for it.

Concept: A Meat Puppet band with a lead singer that dresses and acts like Billy Bob Thornton in "Sling Blade."

Name: The Potted Meat Puppets

Picture it. The "Sling Blade" guy singing, "Where abouts do folks go when they die? Mmm hmm. I want some o' them biscuits and mustard." Limited demographic, yes, but the five people at each gig would find it hilarious. Maybe I'll track down Curt Kirkwood and see if he'd try it out for a song or two.

But seriously, folks. I want royalties if you rip off my brilliant ideas. Mmm hmmm. I don't reckon I have to kill nobody.

More and more details are shaping up regarding the upcoming Sonics reunion show at New York's Cave Stomp festival. And the most exciting news I just learned from Redmond-based organizer, Neal Skok, is that the performance will be recorded for a forthcoming live CD and DVD.

“My partner and I are going to produce the CD and the DVD, and will be approaching bigger independent labels,” said Skok, who also runs Epilogue Records.

That’s especially exciting since Skok – an avid rock collector who said he has hours of footage of other Northwest greats, like the Wailers and the Kingsmen – has never come across footage of any Sonics performance. (He thinks a 1966 performance at a Cleveland TV station might exist, but says it has yet to surface.)

And, of course, I had to know if a show was in the works for the Sonics’ hometown, Tacoma.

“If this goes well, certainly there will be other shows,” Skok said. “There’s nothing confirmed.”

Exciting news, my friends. Keep your fingers crossed.

Three men were shot early this morning at the downtown nightclub. Be careful out there, folks, and read more here.

I was just checking out Rolling Stone's recent poll of readers' favorite album covers and was trying to think of a few of my own. And after a quick scan of my collection, here are a few that captured my imagination over the years (in no particular order.):

"Bitches Brew" Miles Davis
"Mezzanine" Massive Attack
"Nothing's Shocking" Jane's Addiction
"Maggot Brain" Funkadelic
"Licensed to Ill" Beastie Boys
"Altered Beats: Assassin Knowledges of the Remanipulated" Various Artists
"Lifeforms" Future Sound of London
"In Utero" Nirvana
"Undertow" Tool (though "10,000 Days" has much cooler liner notes)

But enough about me. What about you?

The Red Hot Blues Sisters won the South Sound Blues Association’s Back to Beale Street Blues 2008 Competition at Tacoma Freedom Fair on the Fourth of July. And on Sunday Nov. 4 they'll hold a fundraiser to send the Sisters to the International Blues Competition in Memphis next January. Here's the lineup SSBA sent me recently.

Back to Beale Street Blues 2008
Nov. 4, 2007 at Jazzbones

5 p.m. Beth McBride (solo vocalist/guitarist)
5:45 p.m. The Kim Archer Band
6:45 p.m. Becki Sue and her Big Rockin' Daddies
7:45 p.m. The Randy Oxford Band
9 p.m. p.m. Lady "A" & the Baby Blues Funk Band
10 p.m. The Red Hot Blues Sisters

Find more info here.

This month, Nirvana fans are flocking to see the new documentary "About a Son," based on interviews done for Michael Azerrad's bio. But Variety reports that a new bio pic is in development based on Charles Cross's "Heavier Than Heaven." Cool!

Seattle's Schoolyard Heroes will headline Hell's Kitchen this evening. So I gave singer Ryann Donnelly a ring recently to catch up. And the first thing I had to ask her about was the crazy rumor I'd heard about she and her bandmates being satanists.

Then after she cleared that up, we covered some of the scary people she's met on the road that inspired the new album, "Abominations." And then she went into further detail on the making of her band's major label debut, including the role the Dwarves' Blag Dahlia played.

Oh, and check out Schoolyard's new video here.

The folks at KNDD-FM (The End, 107.7) just gave me a ring with details for their annual holiday gala. Modest Mouse will headline this year's event with support from Spoon, Coheed & Cambria, Jimmy Eat World, She Wants Revenge and the Kooks. It's set for Dec. 6 at the Everett Events Center. The station will provide further details on air tomorrow.

Click here to revisit last year's event. Or for photos from a more recent End event, check out my Endfest coverage here.

This just in off of the AP wire.

SEATTLE (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security may be substantially hipper than previously known.

Chris Walla, the guitarist and producer for indie rock legends Death Cab for Cutie, says border guards seized the master recording for his upcoming solo album last month when a courier tried to deliver them from a Vancouver, British Columbia, studio to Seattle-based Barsuk (bar-SOOK’) Records.

Walla writes on his blog that he had a backup copy of the album, titled “Field Manual.” He says he’s been told computer forensics experts at Quantico, Va., are examining the hard drive on which the recording is located.

Mike Milne, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, says he doesn’t have any immediate details about the confiscation, but he’s looking into it.

A little birdie once told me that Chris has been known to entertain himself by starting weird rumors like this. But if this ain't a prank it's hella bizarre. What's next? The feds declaring Isaac Brock's guitar a weapons of mass destruction?

As mentioned the other day, the Sonics are playing their first gigs together in decades next month in New York. And while that's all good and well, I wanted to get to the bottom of what had kept them from doing something sooner – especially given how popular old school garage has become again in recent years.

Bumbershoot organizer One Reel attempted to coax the iconic Tacoma rock band out of retirement for the 1999 festival, and lead singer Gerry Roslie was the lone holdout, according to inside sources.

And while I haven't caught up with him yet, I did speak to his son (also Gerry Roslie) who said his old man has basically been apprehensive about tarnishing his band's legacy. "He doesn't want to perform and have it look bad on the old times," the younger Roslie said.

Hey, Tacoma loves the Sonics. We'll forgive 'em if they're a little rusty, having taken a few decades off and all. But hopefully the New York gigs will thoroughly break the ice and those guys will think about doing something else on their home turf. How huge would that be? Keep your fingers crossed.

Tickets for a pair of huge shows go on sale Saturday morning. First, there's Kiss-FM's annual holiday gala, the Jingle Bell Bash, which will bring Timbaland, Sean Kingston, the Jonas Brothers and Colbie Caillat to the Tacoma Dome on Dec. 4. But personally, I'm even more excited to see Queens of the Stone Age on Dec. 18 at the Paramount.

Jingle Bell Bash tix go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, QOTSA tix at noon. Find details here.

Was just transcribing my interview with Schoolyard Heroes Ryann Donnelly (a grad of Tacoma's own Charles Wright Academy.) She and her mates will headline the all-ages show at Hell's Kitchen on Friday. And after listening to her talk about the new video for "The Plastic Surgery Hall of Fame," I had to surf on over to You Tube and check out the finished product, right?

It's pretty slick, actually. They're either putting that Island Def Jam cash to good use, or they have some friends cinema savvy homies. And check out the behind the scenes clip below. Forgot to ask where this was shot.

This weekend I've been listening to the new Radiohead and Fiery Furnaces albums pretty much non-stop, all the while thinking about where they might fall on my year-end top albums list. Or if they'll be on that list at all, considering I still have two more months of releases to filter through.

But enough about me. What albums have you all had in super heavy rotation on your iPod this year?

My Myspace amigos and occasional interview subjects, the Presidents of the United States of America, just posted this show announcement.

GET SNOWED IN PARTY with THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

November 09, 2007 7:00 PM
Pyramid Alehouse in the "Snow Cap Tent"
1201 1st Ave S.
Seattle, WA 98134

THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
with Special Guest DJ RADAM

Tickets $21 in advance
21+ Only
Doors at 7PM, Show at 9PM
21+ with ID

If you're not out and about tonight, you might want to turn your radio dial over to KNDD-FM (The End, 107.7) at 9 p.m. That's when Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and producer Steve Fisk will be on the air with Harms talking about the score they composed for the new Kurt Cobain documentary, "About a Son."

Speaking of which, I'm gonna have to make the trip up to Seattle's Varsity Theatre to catch that since it's not opening down in the South Sound just yet. (Find a cross section of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.)And I think I'm going up north to catch a screening of the Ian Curtis bio pic "Control" on Monday, too. Quite the month for rock movies.

Our little corner of the Northwest has spawned its share of music legends – from the Fabulous Wailers to Nirvana. And among the most reclusive of those have been Tacoma's garage rock titans, the Sonics. Some would argue the band laid the foundation for punk in the 1960s with brutal rockers like “The Witch.” And a gang of followers – Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder and the Hives to name just a few – have sung their praises. But the band hasn’t played a show in decades.

Well, that’s all about to change next month. As reported elsewhere, original members of the band are getting back together to play Cavestomp, a festival being held in New York at a venue called the Warsaw. A tipster tells me that the lineup will consist of singer Gerry Roslie, Larry Parypa and Rob Lind will be joined by Wailers drummer Dave Roland, though I have yet to confirm this.

Wow! So can a concert on their home turf be far behind? Hope not. I'll see what I can find out.

Vote for your favorite "Bollocks" track here. The plan is to use the results for an anniversary story later this month. And so far "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy UK" are front runners, as you might expect. But where's all my "Pretty Vacant" people? I'm just sayin'. Highly underrated song. My favorite British, midget rapper is even a fan. But what's up with this You Tube clip? Laziest video ever!

Tiger and lucha libre masks? Rockers wearing bright costumes that recall the Power Rangers? Songs about stuff that real people actually care about – like steak? Cooked medium rare? I cannot adequately put into words the awesomeness of Japanese (by way of New York) punk trio Peelander-Z. But I can, at least, show you a few scenes from Wednesday night's show at Hell's Kitchen.

You may have noticed the establishment formerly known as City Lights over on Tacoma Avenue has become Malarkey’s. The name change took place on Oct. 1 when long-time employee Clark Smith and his business partner, Michelle Barkdoll, bought the joint. And this afternoon I caught up with Smith to find out what he planned to do with the showroom.

You might recall that previous owners added the room in summer ’06, but quickly shut it down after a Baby Boomer-centric blues and garage lineup (i.e. the Fabulous Wailers, Tim Hall Band) failed to draw big enough crowds.

“For a venue like this it just doesn’t fit,” Smith said, mentioning plans to bring a more diverse musical lineup to the showroom. He didn’t go into further detail other than to say he hoped to have the room back up and running in the next 30 to 60 days.

But the billiards will, of course, remain the main attraction. “I pretty much love this place, and I’m a pool player,” said Smith – who had been involved with City Lights for a decade – when asked about his motivations for buying.

Most of the change at Malarkey’s will be cosmetic. Smith said he wanted to make the venue more comfortable and a better aesthetic fit for a downtown renaissance that has brought several new condos and businesses to the area in recent years.

Smith chuckled when asked about the choice of names. “It was just time for the old name to go to sleep,” he said. “Malarkey’s is just more of a fun name. There’s no better place for a tall tale than a pool hall.”

A few songs I've had in heavy rotation lately:

"Headline" Me'Shell Ndegeocello: Me'Shell Ndegeocello is my girl! And on her new album, "The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams" she weaves funk, jazz, rock and hip-hop (not to mention that silky voice) into a dreamy style that's all her own.

"Myth Takes" !!!: Speaking of acts with songs you'd like to buy if only you knew how to pronounce their names. This up-and-coming band (pronounced chk-chk-chk, for the record) reminds me of the groovier side of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult – you know, without all the kitschy occult references.

"Tasmanian Pain Coaster" El-P feat. the Mars Volta: In a down year for hip-hop, El-P's "I'll Sleep When You're Dead" is a likely addition to my best albums of 2007 list. I love the vocal that Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler adds to the end of this track.

"Navy Nurse" The Fiery Furnaces: Jarring mid-song tempo and style changes that recall ADD. Non-sequitur packed lyrics that are about – uh – what exactly? The Furnaces are weird in ways that parallel the Bay Area's Deerhoof. Except the Furnaces' Eleanor Friedberger doesn't sing in the same little girl's falsetto as Deerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki, which is a plus. Plus, as you can hear on this clip from the new album "Widow City," the Fiery Furnaces can rip off some monster riffs when they feel like it.

I'm trying to remember if the first album that I bought was a 45 of Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock," an LP of UTFO's debut or a copy of Prince's "Purple Rain," which I'm pretty sure I picked up at a Louisville, Ky. area target for, like, $6.99. So what's yours, people?

The Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols" album turns 30 later this month. And I was just curious. What does that album mean to you? And what's your favorite track? Take the new survey here and leave comments below.

Bring a bag of non-perishable food items to KISW-FM's food drive for Northwest Harvest on Thursday and you'll get a ticket to see Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie on Oct. 18 at KeyArena. The food drive is scheduled for 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Azteca Mexican Restaurant at 31740 23rd Ave. S. in Federal Way.

Prog-metal heroes Tool are on their way back to the Puget Sound area with a Dec. 4 show scheduled at the Everett Events Center. Tickets go on sale for $46 to $58 at 11 a.m. Saturday. Learn more here.

Check out this video I found about Tacoma-born jazz bassist David Friesen. It should give you a little bit of insight before Friesen performs with long-time collaborator Uwe Kropinski Thursday night at the University of Puget Sound's Schneebeck Concert Hall. Then you can read more about him in Tuesday's SoundLife section.

Modest Mouse's tour kickoff may be a bit of a hike unless you're a hardcore fan. It's Oct. 31 at the Big Easy Concert House in Spokane, the band's publicist announced today.

But if that's too far, you can always catch the band from the comfort of your futon thanks to new concert footage and videos being released this month.

A mini concert taped in Los Angeles for AOL's Spinner Sessions series will be webcast on Friday. The set includes a rare performance of “Broke” from the album
"Building Nothing Out Of Something."

The band will also debut a series of videos on MySpace (the band's page is here) beginning Wednesday. The site will feature clips of “Little Motel,” “Invisible,” “People As Places As People” and “We’ve Got Everything.”

So bring on the Soundgarden reunion tour already.

No disrespect to Chris Cornell’s new band, which was outstanding during a monster 2 ½ hour set Wednesday night at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre. But hearing all those Soundgarden and Temple of the Dog numbers that Cornell packed into his set was enough to make this gen-xer go thrifting for flannel. You know, right after I drop by Buzzard’s Records to replace that “Singles” cassette I haven’t seen in forever. (“Seasons” from the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's shot-in-Seattle film served as a breathtaking encore highlight.)

Not that Wednesday’s show was just a grunge nostalgiafest. Like a gen-x Paul Rodgers, Cornell's solo show was an overview of his stints in multiple chart-topping bands – also Audioslave and grunge super-group Temple of the Dog – with some solo material sprinkled in for good measure. And early numbers reflected what he's been up to lately.

“Silence the Voices” and “No Such Thing” came from his newest solo album, “Carry On,” while “Original Fire” is an upbeat Audioslave song that showcased his robust, soulful wail – the last hit he enjoyed during his union with the Rage Against the Machine guys. (Cornell walked away earlier this year, and his band mates are back playing shows with Rage mouthpiece Zack de la Rocha.)

While those first three songs were nice enough, the party really got started with the first Soundgarden selections, the nihilistic “Let Me Drown” and “Outshined,” one of the greatest stoner metal anthems ever. Period. There is no debating this.

"The first time that song was played live was at the Central Tavern,” said Cornell by way of explaining that song's local roots. “I wasn’t old enough to drink back then.”

I’d heard rumors that Eddie Vedder had been spotted on the premises. So I felt a twinge of extra excitement with the first notes of “Hunger Strike,” a Cornell-Vedder duet from the 1990 Temple of the Dog album. But there would be no surprise cameo from Pearl Jam’s leader. Instead, Cornell brought out his adorable toddlers – his boy dressed in a funny "Black Hole Son" shirt – to help out with that crowd pleasing number.

And while I could be reading into comments he made a short while later, it didn’t seem to indicate he's about to get back together with any of his old bands when he declared that Audioslave song “What You Are” was about “moving on to greener pastures. Everyone deserves to be happy.”

Soon after, the singer was left alone to play a somewhat indulgent but still satisfying acoustic set. As well received as it was, I could have done without Cornell's dreary revamp of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” (Ironic remakes are a bit passé by now, anyway, don't you think?) “Fell On Black Days” was a nice rebound, followed by “Finally Forever,” a song dedicated to his wife he had originally written for their wedding.

Later, after James Bond theme song “You Know My Name,” Cornell described how the melody for one of his biggest hits had come to him while driving home from Woodinville on I-405 in 1994. “When I got home, I whistled it into a dictaphone so I wouldn’t forget it,” he said. “But I didn’t forget it.” It was the Beatles-esque "Black Hold Sun," Soundgarden’s biggest smash.

And as well as that number went over, Cornell had the crowd worked up into a fist-pumping, crowd surfing frenzy with follow up “Jesus Christ Pose,” the last song before the band took a quick bow.

It returned soon after for one of the most satisfying encores I’ve ever seen, “Burden in My Hand,” the aforementioned "Seasons," Temple's "Say Hello to Heaven" and an epic rendition of "Slaves and Bulldozers" that morphed into a meandering, psychedelic take on "Fourth of July" and then Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" for the big finale.

“This is maybe the best Seattle show ever,” Cornell said at one point during that encore. Yup, sounds about right.

But seriously, Chris, about that Soundgarden reunion. From your Audioslave buddies who went back to Rage Against the Machine to one of your inspirations, Led Zeppelin, all the cool kids are getting their old bands back together.

The Soundgarden guys are all still around (granted Matt Cameron is pretty busy playing drums for Pearl Jam.) And if David Lee Roth and the Van Halen Brothers can squash their beef, surely you guys can sort out whatever has kept you apart. Right?

Well, whatever. Just don't take as long as the Police to get back together, if you don't mind.

Chris Cornell just got done with a killer 2 1/2 hour set at the Paramount, featuring highlights from his days with Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave and as a solo artist.

The set list below is roughly what he and the band played. The spot where it just has his name denotes an acoustic set that included his his mopey cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," "Fell on Black Days," "Finding Forever," the Hurricane Katrina inspired Audioslave ballad "Wide Awake" and "Like a Stone." "JCP" stands for "Jesus Christ Pose," and the epic "Slaves and Bulldozers" finale morphed into bits of "Fourth of July" and Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," too. I'll have to double check my notes to make sure they didn't switch anything else up.

Check back later, and I'll have a more detailed report of one of the year's best shows with photos.

Just days before Radiohead fans order the band's new album "In Rainbows" for whatever they feel like paying, Rolling Stone reports that the band may have finally inked a new record deal. Hey, good luck selling and marketing an album that most fans have downloaded for free or next to nothing months earlier, EMI.

So what are the Death Cab for Cutie guys doing in between albums? Well, fresh from producing Tegan & Sara's new disc, "The Con," Chris Walla is working on some tunes of his own. Ever Kipp, a spokesman for his band's old label, Barsuk, said he expected Walla's long-rumored solo album to see the light of day in 2008. But that's about all he could say at this point.

The Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks" turns 30 later this month. And that got me to thinking. Besides that obvious choice, what are the greatest punk albums of all time? Discuss.

I came this close to naming this blog "Paranoid Android" in homage to one of my favorite bands, Radiohead. But the powers that be here at the paper were like, "Huh? What's that mean? Is this a sci fi blog or a rock blog?" Not Radiohead fans, I guess. So I went with the slightly less confusing Public Enemy reference.

That said, you know I was stoked when Radiohead's U.S. publicist, Nasty Little Man, gave me the skinny on the band's new album "In Rainbows" today. The album, which seemed to be in limbo, will finally see the light of day next week. And what's unusual about the release is that you get to determine the price.

The band – which has been without a proper label since its deal with Capitol ran out after 2003's "Hail to the Thief" – has begun taking pre-orders on its Web site, and the album will be available for download beginning Oct. 10. But for those who can't wait until then, the folks at Rolling Stone have been kind enough to post a track by track preview culled from soundboard recordings and YouTube clips from live performances of the new songs. (Well, some of 'em are new. The band has been playing "Nude" live for years.)

And while Radiohead isn't the first band to give its stuff away (see also: Harvey Danger, MC Chris) you have to wonder what kind of precedent the band is setting. Will more bands follow suit and just cash in on tour?

A more traditional release of the album is planned for 2008. The track listing provided by Nasty is as follows:

Radiohead "In Rainbows":

15 Step
Bodysnatchers
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
All I Need
Faust ARP
Reckoner
House of Cards
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Videotape

Extra tracks available on the second CD of the Discbox version of the album:

MK1
Down is the New Up
Go Slowly
MK2
Last Flowers
Up on the Ladder
Bangers and Mash
4 Minute Warning