In unabashedly conspicuous celebration of 20 years of not going out of business (sometimes only barely), Seattle’s Sub Pop Records will gather past and present label-mates for a series of events, including a two-day festival at Marymoor Park on July 12 & 13 and a comedy show on July 11 at Seattle’s Moore Theatre. Proceeds from the sale of tickets will go to support beneficiaries of each participating act’s choosing. Tickets go on sale April 26 at 12 PM Pacific…

May has arrived and here at HQ we are all ready for the best summer we’ve ever known, what with all the good records coming out and the hot shit SP20 Festival right around the corner. In fact, the SP20 Fest was voted Best Summer Music Fest in an informal poll I quietly held here at my desk. Want more info? Read this, bub.

The highly anticipated new No Age record Nouns comes out May 6th and will be available on…

As part of the series of events that we keep going on and on about surrounding our 20th anniversary this summer, we are having a comedy show at The Moore Theatre on Friday, July 11th. Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman, and Todd Barry are all scheduled to perform, and it will undoubtedly be a whole hell of a lot of fun.

But, you know all that already.

What you didn’t know, at least not until you read the headline/title of this particular newspiece/blog…

All of the bands/artists/comedians participating in our various 20th anniversary revelries have agreed to play for free in the hopes of raising a bunch of money to give to a bunch of worthwhile organizations. Basically, we’re pooling the money we make, dividing it amongst everyone playing and each band/artist/comedian picks a recipient.

Herewith the list of organizations to which these folks have elected to donate their share of the proceeds. And, sometimes, where possible, we’ve included a bit of info about…

In May, a wonderous event occurred, informally known as Grunge Summit 2008. On a cloudy Seattle evening, Jack Endino, Bruce Pavitt, Jonathan Poneman, Megan Jasper, Mark Arm, Susan Silver, Chad Channing, Charles Peterson, Tad Doyle, Jeff Ament, and Kim Thayil all convened at the Sub Pop headquarters for the purpose of a MOJO interview, the result of which will be featured in the August issue on newsstands in early July. With so many grunge greats in one room, we decided…

MOJO is on newsstands this week with a big fat Sub Pop cover, a free CD (Sub Pop 300!) and lots more about the grunge days from these folks who filled out my silly questionnaires.

What Susan Silver (Grunge Band Manager Extraordinaire) Had To Say

1. * What is your current occupation?* Band Manager and Mom
2. * Do people ever come up to you and ask for your autograph?*
   It has happened, which schocked the hell out of me. Japan…

From the roof of Sub Pop HQ, we just watched the most unlikely of events. At 12PM sharp a flag bearing the venerable Sub Pop logo was hoisted by man and beast up the flagpole on the Space Needle! Not a pewter replica, mind you, but the actual building!

Apparently, they’ve also painted the top of the needle like a 7-inch stamp (much like this). But I’ll believe that when I see it. Anyone have a helicopter?

I’m not going to get…

So that’s a pretty exciting bit of the future that you and I are experiencing together. In other future related news, we’ve made an attempt to set up a festival related video channel.

The friendly folks at Kyte have provided yours truly with a video enabled walkie-talkie—I, in turn, am able to broadcast video, from the festival (here at Marymoor park) directly to the internet.

I haven’t mastered the technology yet, but if you want to watch the results of…

Finally, after a long hiatus from Grunge Summit posts, I have found the motivation to reveal the last two grungers in the installment—Kim Thayil and Jeff Ament, quite a dapper duo.

What Kim Thayil Had To Say

1. * What is your current occupation?*
   blank
2. * Do people ever come up to you and ask for your autograph?*
   Yes
3. * What do you think of the current state of music?*
   Bad time for record labels, great time to listen to…