This weekend $5 Cover Amplified took home two well-deserved statues at the Mid-South Emmy Awards. Congratulations to Alan Spearman, John Hubbel, Andria Lisle, Eileen Meyer, Craig Brewer, and everyone involved. We already knew they were awesome but, you know, this helps.

The Amplified documentary series, profiling the artists featured in $5 Cover Memphis, snagged the Cultural Documentary Emmy for pieces on Ben Nichols and Valerie June, as well as the Photography Award for the Valerie June piece and "What It Is" featuring Craig Brewer, Paul Taylor, and Jason Freeman.

Check out the winners below.

Ben Nichols

Valerie June

What It Is

Lynn sat down with MTV News to talk about the Seattle Music scene, past and present. 

Click here to check it out.

$5 Cover Seattle director Lynn Shelton and friends are invading the 2010 Sundance Film Festival this weekend.  Keep an eye on this blog and www.mtv.com for interviews, photos, and clips of a live performance by $5 Cover band/Northwestern heartthrobs The Moondoggies.

And of course, if you are in Utah this weekend, come on out to our official $5 Cover Sundance events:

Lynn Shelton on $5 Cover Seattle - 9pm Saturday January 23^rd, New Frontiers on Main, 333 Main St

Director Lynn Shelton (Humpday) leads us through the creative process behind $5 Cover: Seattle, the rocking MTV multiplatform musical series inaugurated last year with Craig Brewer’s look at the music of Memphis. Featuring thirteen up and coming bands playing themselves, the project offers an improvised, immersive look at one wild weekend in Seattle. From lovin’ to brawlin’, from pop to punk, this is real life for working musicians.

MTV, Sub Pop Records, and Washington Filmworks Present

The 8th Annual Seattle Party

Celebrating MTV's $5 Cover Seattle

With performances by the Moondoggies and Beach House

9pm Sunday January 24^th at Star Bar, 268 Main St

Great interview with $5 Cover Seattle director Lynn Shelton in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Check out the full article here.

Seattle PI:

Everyone in Seattle is rooting for Lynn Shelton, an award-winning filmmaker who seems to be carrying on as if unworried, unhurried and undoubtably unfazed. After all, she's already brought not only three feature-length films into fruition, one being the Sundance success story "Humpday," a bro-mance that tests the loving limits of two hetero-bros, she's also brought a Web-based TV show to our neck of the woods.

That show is MTV's "$5 Cover." Now in its second season, Shelton takes over from where the show's creator Craig Brewer ("Hustle & Flow," "Black Snake Moan") left off.

Meeting with Shelton over tea in her Greenwood neighborhood, she explains the genesis of the project. "[Craig Brewer's] idea was to take actual bands--real people--and then have some of the musicians act out little narrative threads, playing themselves and playing out scenarios that were inspired by their own lives in some way. Then there were some actors in there as well. Then he created this hub, this recording studio--he did some things that were more contrived--and every single episode has a musical performance incorporated into it as well. So it's either at the recording studio or live at a club, somewhere like that. The idea is that it's a way to experience a particular city through the city's music that's happening now. That's what's so cool about it."

Shelton's is a lithe mind that flutters quickly from topic to topic, always steering towards simple but exact explications, often distracted by details and more perfectly formed exactitudes, all the while whimsical and excitable, especially when talking about music. A topic that sends her mental butterfly into a fragmented--albeit giggly--hyper-drive.

"I'm in love with music. If I could be a musician" she trails off, her eyes rolling back, her hands clasping, her mind searching for words, her breath held briefly before exploding, "Getting to sit in a room when people are making music who--that's just what they do--and they can just make it--to me, it just seems like magic. I'm just like 'how do you even live with yourselves, you're so fantastic!' You know what I mean, I'm just like 'I'm in heaven! I'm just in heaven.' "

Shelton is, without a doubt, perfectly suited for an MTV show about the Seattle music scene, though regarding season two, she is quick to point out, "My aesthetic is really different than Craig Brewer's aesthetic."

"[MTV] totally understands that and they don't expect me to remake his version. Craig's is filled with women in their underwear and I'm afraid to say that I'm going to have a lot more men in underwear than women."

Yet, Shelton isn't as interested in the differences as she is in describing what her unique sensitivities will bring. Namely, humor.

"Very character based, low-grade--not slapstick--but out of authentic relationships, the humorous interactions that people have."

At that moment, Shelton straightens to make one point absolutely clear, regardless of undergarments, "["$5 Cover"]'s very much about the music."

 

"Thee Emergency are a frenetic band with equal doses aptitude and ferocity who are capable of one of the most energetic live shows you’ll see this side of…anything, really."

-- Keenan Bowen,Stranger

Five members, one house. This band is as tight musically as they are personally. The house they share in Seattle’s University District has a practice space in the basement, perfect for practicing not only music but their moves. Sliding across the stage, ripping guitar riffs on their backs, jumping to a kneel; this is why Thee Emergency’s shows have a reputation of being “riotous”.

Their sound has been best described as “purveyors of sexually charged, balls-to-the-wall Rock & Roll, yet not content to be simply that. Yes, that’s a capitalized Rock & Roll for those who noticed, because let’s be honest, not to many people make it like that any more. It’s founded on the blues, it’s experimental and loud and fun, but most of all, it’s meant to make you move.” Zana “Dita Vox” Geddes and her band mates, bassist Adm "Nick Detroit" Taylor, guitarist Matt "Sonic Smith" Bracher and Tom "T. Drummer" Meyer began performing in 2005. They recorded their first album “Can You Dig It?” a year later in Detroit under the direction of Jim Diamond. “Solid”, their self-released sophomore album came out in 2008.

To learn more, visit http://www.myspace.com/theeemergency or http://www.theeemergency.com

photo:Ryan McMackin

There are towns where no matter what kind of music is playing or how good the band, the audience will not dance. Strange as this sounds, this is the norm for Seattle. This being said, it is impossible to stand still at a Champagne Champagne show. The energy on the stage, the heavy electro hip hop beats and the raw talent displayed on stage demands some serious booty shake.

Champagne Champagne was formed in the summer of 2007 when DJ Gajamagic (Mark Gajadhar) and Pearl Dragon teamed up and started writing songs. Thomas Gray joined several months later and the trio started performing around some of Seattle’s well-established venues like Chop Suey and Nectar Lounge. In March, they released a download-only self-titled album with 11 tracks.

Download it at http://www.champagnechampagne.net

And learn more at www.myspace.com/champagnechampagne

On Saturday night, Harvey Danger - fronted by $5 Cover performer Sean Nelson - played its final show. While the band has a well-earned reputation for threatening retirement over the years, this time is the real deal. An official announcement was made on May 29th: "After 15 years, three albums, hundreds of shows, and far more twists and turns than we ever imagined possible, we've decided to put Harvey Danger to rest. The decision is totally mutual and utterly amicable."

Following a cross-country farewell tour that included dates in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and three shows in Seattle, they said their last good-bye at the Crocodile late Saturday night. It was an amazing three hour set, with incredible performances, a great energy, and some very funny stage banter. Spirits were high; the crowd and band were clearly having a blast. The night ended with a brand new track, "The Show Must Not Go On," and that was that.

Here's the mind-blowing bit: the final 120 minutes were comprised almost entirely of requests. Between songs, fans were instructed to raise their hands if there was a song they wanted to hear. The catch: Audience members needed to first ask an interesting question, and if the band deemed it worthy, they would answer and play the song. It was a session of "Requestions," as Sean put it. The highlight, of course, was the age old query, "have you ever masturbated to animation?" Someday that will be inscribed on my tombstone.

For a great review, photos, and full setlist check out Spin magazines coverage:

http://www.spin.com/articles/harvey-danger-play-final-show

On Wednesday night we shot The Lights performing two songs at a bar called the Wildrose.  It was an amazing night.  The band tore through the songs as the Capitol Hill nightlife watched through the venue’s giant windows behind the stage.  One such passerby may have gotten a little too into the moment.  During one of the song’s she ran up to the window, pressed against the glass and showed the packed crowd what her mama gave her.   It was maybe a little awkward, but hey, at least she was into the spirit of the evening.

This scene is one of the biggest in the series.  It not only has a few pivotal story moments, but also serves as the big party that unites nearly the entire cast.  Dozens of $5 Cover Seattle performers were in attendance.  Members of The Maldives, Thee Emergency, Tea Cozies, The Moondoggies, Champagne Champagne, The Corespondents, The Spits, Whiskey Tango, and more came out.  The cast had a great time, the crew was amped, and the shoot looked and sounded awesome.  It was a great way to cap another week of production.

We’re now rolling into Week 5.  Coming up, performances by Champagne Champagne, the Corespondents, and of course, the greatest wrap party the world has ever known.

Thee Satisfaction is Cat and Stasia, two female lovebirds that make their own beats, think up lyrics for their raps at work and love Michael Jackson. The two met at an open mic one night; Cat was singing about liking a certain lady in the audience and was talking about Stasia. The two have been inseparable ever since.

Music has gone from something the two toyed with to a serious project over the course of their three year relationship. Last year, they released a mixtape and are now working on a full length album and organizing their first west coast tour.  Their mission?  According to their website:

THEESatisfaction’s spaceship landed in the heart of Seattle, Washington with the hope of saving it from musical oppression. They became refugees on the planet Mars but escaped the green and purple martians in search of something new. They seek justice, peace and love. Through their music they hope to inspire revolutionary thoughts. Fusing nebula-jazz, intergalactic-soul, and astronomical-a capella they will funk you up. YEE.

Sounds good to me.  Find out more at www.theesatisfaction.com

Photo: Franziska Karch

GOD was created as a joke. No, seriously. Ian LeSage, the lead singer and guitarist for the band started with nothing but a computer and a desire to avoid schoolwork. Soon after locking himself away and recording various parts for the band, he started giving the samples to friends who showed interest in working with Ian. With some of his closest friends joining, they were left with one opening for a cellist, so the group put out an ad. Tracy Hagen responded and shortly after, the band started playing shows.

The name was never really in question, even though the group got more and more serious with their music. Now with a debut album in the works, the possibility of a tour in the wings and national attention through appearing in $5 Cover, GOD has grown from a silly side project into the real deal.

To know GOD, go to www.myspace.com/godinholyhell