Q: What do Seal and Microsoft Co-founder, Paul Allen have in common?
A: They will both be performing this Friday (along with a few Seahawks) at the opening of “WAMU,” a new, state of the art portable theater located within Qwest Field Event Center.
See…
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/10/27/100ae_aewamu001.cfm
and
For those of you who have never heard Allen’s band play or who have never seen the Seahawks play anything but football, you are in for a real treat.
(And, of course, Seal is pretty good too!:-)
The theater, which emerged from a collaboration between AEG Live, an entertainment company that deals with live acts, and Seattle-based First & Goal Inc., a company formed by Paul Allen in 1997, is supposed to be state of the art.
Allen loves music as much as he loves technology, so I imagine that when he wants state of the art, he gets state of the art, you know?
Actually, there is some evidence that he loves music just a little bit more. When Allen’s Experience Music Project opened in June of 1999, he told a reporter that he might have spent his life performing had he not started Microsoft with Bill Gates.
From the article:
“…Technology sort of sidetracked me,” Allen said, speaking with his sister, Jody Patton, EMP’s director.
“Our family’s always had a passion for reading and books and music,” said Allen, who plays rhythm guitar and occasionally sings lead with his band “Grown Men.”
“I was making music back in high school,” he said, almost wistful. “I have no idea how successful I would have been as a musician, but it’s been a big part of my life all these years…….”
See:
“Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky”
http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewnews.pl?NewsID=240)
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I can’t get over the word he used—Sidetracked! Isn’t that wild? The guy who invented PC Basic felt that he was sidetracked by technology!! 
I imagine that he was just being enthusiastic, but in any case, Allen loves music—a lot–and he’s actually pretty good.
You can still buy the album Paul Allen and his band, Grown Men made years ago at www.grownmen.com for $11.99., or at Amazon.com used and new from $42.29 to $99.99.*
I’ve heard that Allen has written some new songs, but I don’t know whether he will be performing them on Friday or not.
Also, I’d bet that Salad Shooter that Seahawks’ Defensive Tackle Craig Terrill will be one of the Seahawks performers that they’re talking about. He was the guy who jumped up on stage to join Allen and his friend Dan Aykroyd in a rendition of “Sweet Home, Alabama” at the Superbowl afterparty last February.
See…
It will be interesting to see what happens…..
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*(I think I’d buy the CD from Grown men….:-)
November 4, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that Paul Allen was sick last night and couldn’t perform at WAMU.
(I guess if Mick Jagger is allowed to cancel his concerts because of illness, Paul Allen can too
.
The good news is that I was right about Craig Terrill! He has a new band, The Predicaments, which opened for Seal last night.
The Seattle Times critic was—well, critical (actually, kind of funny and critical at the same time).
You can read his review at:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003344354_webwamu04.html
(Maybe it’s good that Paul didn’t show up, you know?)
I hope you feel better soon, Paul!
November 8, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Here is another review of the concert from Seattle P-I’s Gene Stout–
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/291216_wamu06q.html
Stout also wrote a terrific article about Paul Allen and his love of music in 2000:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/emp/allen.shtml
November 8, 2006 at 5:25 pm
I guess that Craig Terrill was performing with Paul Allen’s band–not his own–that night.
Allen’s band is called “Grown Men”–but that night they called themselves “The Predicaments.”
I guess if you’re the opening act for Seal billed as “Paul Allen’s Band,” and Paul Allen doesn’t show up, you’re in a “Predicament!”
It sounds like those guys have a pretty good sense of humor, doesn’t it?
BTW–I heard that Craig Terrill performed really well that night at WAMU. Maybe he has a backup career if this whole professional football thing doesn’t work out.:-)
Although I heard he’s pretty good there too…
See…
http://www.tdn.com/articles/2006/11/07/sports/news06.txt
November 10, 2006 at 4:40 am
Just FYI….
See this article from the NY Times–
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BKN-Lakers-Trail-Blazers.html?_r=1&oref=login
Apparently Paul Allen had a bad case of bronchitis. It looks like he is on the mend now (at least he felt well enough to watch the Blazers beat the Lakers on Wednesday night!)