Hello everyone!  Thanks for reading the Greenhouse blog!  Woo-hoo!

This is 'ol Natron.  I live here, and have been putting on shows here since July 2005.  Two years/four months and going strong!  We've had over 150 different bands/acts here, have never blown a breaker(knock on wood), and have had only one show shut down in that time(knock on wood again)!  Yes, we've got a great thing going here and have had a lot of luck(I guess) come our way in the past 2 years.  Anyway, the reason I am mentioning all this is because I am finally getting around to asking for some help.  Though I have 2 roommates, both of them are too busy to help me with the shows we have.  So, the brunt of the work falls on my shoulders.  And rightfully so, because I book these shows, so it is my responsibility.  However, being just one person, I can only do so much.  Especially when I have to work, eat, sleep and all that stuff.  Sometimes it can be rather easy for me to get overwhelmed in trying to set up for said shows. 

So, this is just a general 'call for help/volunteers' for the Greenhouse.  If anyone is interested in helping out with making fliers for future shows, covering the door and taking money, bartending when we have a bar(which you would make money), doing sound, etc. please let me know.  Honestly, I could really use some  help over here.  I think you will certainly have fun and meet all kinds of different people.  Yeah, it's definitely rewarding.  So, if anyone might be interested in such a thing, again, let me know, and we'll figure something out.

Thanks and take care.

Natron 9000.

Though it's been two and a half months nearly, I'm finally writing my two cents about the awesome Carousel Festival that we hosted last August.  Thinking back, nothing has made me feel better about living(except the Hawaiian sunset I witnessed a few years back), than being a major part of this great happening that took place in Seattle.   I had wanted to have a joint show with the SS Marie Antoinette, and it had been on my mind since last February.  I contacted Malakai of the SS Marie in early May and proposed my ideas to him about a joint show/festival.  And by joint show, I don't mean weed, I mean working together on an all day show/festival.  I wanted this event to include all NW acts and only NW acts.  To me, it was to be a celebration of the music and culture that the NW has generated really since the 1950's, but clearly we were celebrating what we have today in this culturally rich region of the world.  At that point we decided it would be better to make it two days, August 26th & 27th.  I wanted to call it something that had subtle sci-fi reference going on, cuz I'm kind of a sci-fi nerd/nut.  I had recently watched Logan's Run and had recieved it for my birthday.  And from what Malakai and I had discussed, this thing was gonna be a  round robin event, in that it would stagger from venue to venue making its way all around Seattle.  So, with that, the name seemed obvious.  Carousel made both the subtle reference I was looking for and roughly summed up part of the idea of this event. But again, the idea was that the festival would include only all-ages DIY venues around Seattle, and in the two days it would move in a circular  Carousel-like pattern through the city of Seattle and it's neighborhoods. 
At the end of May, I only had two venues and a couple of bands interested in participating.  I was aware of Seattle DIY, and what they were doing, and decided to go to them.  They had their first meeting at the Way ward Cafe at the end of May/ beginning of June.  I ventured out to the Wayward Cafe, having never been there, and expecting a huge group of kids I didn't at all know to propose this festival idea to them.  I arrived at the Wayward, and to my surprise their was only 3 other dudes who essentially were the SeattleDIY collective:  Benji, Lucas, and Ken.  I proposed my idea to them, and they welcomed it wholeheartedly.  It was at that point I realized the idea was now gonna become more than just an idea, but a reality.
In the next 3 months, the four of us(and of course a few others ie, Mehgan, Hanad, Ani, Reed, Molly, and JoAnna) put the whole thing together.  It was exetremely difficult, it always felt like we were behind, and we were always running into problems no matter what we did.  It was a first for all of us, taking on such a big mutha of an event, but I'm sure we all learned from it.  I know I did. 
So, we got it together, got 5 spaces lined up, got the bands booked, got space issues worked out, lined up a film portion of the event as well as a Food Not Bombs workshop, designed and made tickets and fliers, and it was ON!  The week before my girlfriend and I went on a west coast tour with Don Caballero(the new line-up, though not the same, still kicks total ass), which didn't make things any easier for me, though the mini-tour was quite interesting.  *Side Note:  the Doug Fir Lounge in PDX kicks ass, the best venue I've seen in Portland so far.*  Anyway, we did it!  We pulled it off.  And as a result I think all of us @ SeattleDIY and those who attended, shared two awesome days of music and community.  Day 1 started @ Camp Nowhere, and ended @ the SS Marie Antoinette.  At Camp Nowhere:  Last Slice of Butter, Lemons & Stallions(last show), the FOOD NOT BOMBS workshop(thank you Eric Werkman, who organized and helped cook up a magnificent feast for all of us), Bow & Arrow, Wet Confetti(PDX), and Diamond Cut Diamond.  At the SS Marie Antoinette:  Free Range Robots(Spokane), Filthy Details, SeattleDIY discussion, Taiga, Funny Pussy(PDX), Girth, the Undoing of David Wright(TX), and Wormwood.
Day one was pretty amazing.  The best part of the day I thought started during the SeattleDIY discussion.  This is where mostly Benji and Ken(though Lucas and I also did some talking) talked about SeattleDIY, and what we can do to make this awesome artistic community even more of a community.  This moment alone was one of the most invigorating and exhilarating moments in my life.  There was a lot of love in that room, people.  It just felt so wonderful to be able to talk with a large group of people, kids who ultimately feel the same way I/you do, about things that really matter.  Many views were expressed, and great things were said.  It's too bad it's not all recorded on video, really.  From that point on the music was non-stop greatness.  Taiga put on a intense set and brought everyone in on it by breaking the drum kit down and giving everyone up front a drum to bang on.  Funny Pussy was rad two-piece instrumental deriving a lot of influence from Slint, at least that's what I thought.  Girth played in the round, literally setting up in the middle of the floor @ the SS Marie.  This was a crazy, intense set, and the best set I've ever seen Girth play.  The Undoing of David Wright mixed it all up, bringing this dancey, new wave electro sound to the table, which was truly much needed.  Then Seattle's Wormwood destroyed as always.  And that's just day one folks.  I'll be back hopefully before the next Carousel for day two.

Hosted By: Phil Donahue
When: Friday Aug 11, 2006
at 7:30 PM
Where: Greenhouse
2515 S. Charles St.
Seattle, AL 98144
US
Description:
Phil Donahue

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Hosted By: Red Skull
When: Thursday Aug 03, 2006
at 7:00 PM
Where: Greenhouse
2515 S. Charles St.
Seattle, WA 98144
US
Description:
Red Skull

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Hosted By: Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass Band
When: Friday Jun 23, 2006
at 8:00 PM
Where: Greenhouse
2515 S. Charles St.
Seattle, AL 98144
US
Description:
Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass Band

Click Here To View Event

So the Intergalactic Love Circus enveloped a city just mere weeks ago, and the city felt it's warmth.  If you missed out last Saturday(or the Saturday before?), well.........you just missed out.  Everything went on without a hitch, every band truly killed.  This was our fourth (in a series of many) house shows here at the Greenhouse.  This was our first show with our newly installed bar and newly installed Dune wall.  The theme, of course, was Alien love, since it was nearly Valentine's and it is also time to be looking elsewhere to propogate our species.  It is inevitable that we will have to mate with other races and spread our seed throughout the galaxy.  But you all know this....so......whatever.  Unfortunately, the sci-fi theme was lost with a majority of the people that evening, with the exception of myself and few others.  I shot a few million fliers into the sky, but no extraterrestrials showed.   

Anyway, the night started off with the Casio Killahz from Portland.  This was there first time unleashing their sonic circuit-bent madness on the world.  I must say I think they pulled it off quite well.  They were in full form as the Professor and BumbleBee from Transformers.  Their set included some smashing video collage, psychedelic lights, and penis streamers.  Penis streamers?  There were not those, I do not know what that is. 

Next up was Scary Bear who was meteoric and asteroid like.  They decimated all ear drums in the room.  Zu and Ruth represented with some rockin' interplanetary garb and Luke drumbed the shit out of his drumbs.  If you have not heard Scary Bear, it's like hearing an electric rash in heaven.  I truly can't wait til they release some vinyl. 

Following the aftermath of Scary Bear, was the out of this world Joules.  Joules followed suit for the evening and totally kicked ass.  Joules truly summoned the spirit of Mau'dib and executed their skill with ThunderCat prowress.  Everyone must witness Joules atleast once in life.

Last was the Liqufied,  a sort of experimental jam band (not of the hippie persuasion) with rotating members, who sadly was without a drummer/rhythm section.  They don't play out as much, so this was a rare performance, and a very interesting one at that.  Things got started late, so they played until nearly 2am.  And with that comes the best surprise of the whole evening..........no cops!  What a relief.  Apparently we have the coolest neighbors ever.

So, things were fabulous with few things getting broken.  The only things broken were our Cosmic Wands, which sadly fell into the hands of a drunk shithead and that was the end.  Luke got crazy and tossed a cinder block around.  That was cool.  Noone was hurt.  We do now have our first banned jackass from the Greenhouse.  This Cory guy, who was a total redneck turd and was thankfully passed out much of the evening. 

We also served pizza and corn dogs, which can now be expected at shows from here on out.  We killed a keg of Olympia, which was truly quite a feat for us.  In the past we've had beer for weeks after parties, but we fucked that keg up this time.