The Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project has many faces, a newspaper, an advocacy group, a Homeless Speakers Bureau, and literary workshops. We do a lot, and all of it is working toward building bridges among the poor, homeless and the greater community, while engaging the broader public in fighting for economic justice. By publishing the newspaper and mobilizing the public around poverty issues, Real Change organizes, educates and builds alliances to find community-based solutions to homelessness and poverty. The Real Change is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization.

And the Young Ones showcase--tonight at Neumo's, headlined by Arthur & Yu and Dyme Def--is just one way you can help out their important cause. A week from now, Real Change is asking you to do more than donate money or buy a paper.

On Thursday, March 13th, the Real Change Organizing Project and friends will stand with those who struggle to survive in Seattle’s public spaces. Your support is vital. If you have a few hours during the day, we need you. If you can spend the night at City Hall Plaza, we need you. Come stand for human dignity, compassion, and public accountability.

Since last spring, the Mayor’s office has coordinated a campaign of harassment and intimidation against homeless campers. The obvious question has been asked a thousand times: Where are these people supposed to go?

On March 13, concerned citizens have the opportunity to send a clear message to the Mayor and his staff.

Our message is simple: Help, Don’t Harass. End the sweeps of homeless encampments. Work with advocates to provide alternatives. Provide real outreach, sufficient emergency shelter alternatives, and expanded services to those in need.

Visibility teams will stand throughout the downtown with banners, leaflets, and petitions to raise awareness of the City’s actions. Dinner, provided by Operation Sacklunch, will be served at 5:30 pm on City Hall Plaza by leaders of Seattle’s faith community. We will camp overnight on City Hall Plaza to highlight Seattle’s critical need for housing and shelter. There will be a final visibility push before the tents come down on Friday morning.

More information can be found at realchangenews.org/action.html. And you can take the first step in supporting the work Real Change does tonight, by checking out some amazing local talent at Neumo's and Sole Repair for only $5, which will go directly to Real Change.

See you there!

Advance tickets are on sale at Neumo's ($5 will get you into both clubs). Sole Repair, if you didn't know, is behind Quinn's which is right across from Neumo's (kitty corner to the Comet).

Visit thestranger.com/youngones for more information.

Truckasauras is going to play. This is what you can expect:

What the hell, it's Friday, so you get two Young Ones today: booksmart popsters Throw Me the Statue and techno wrecking machine Truckasaras.

Throw Me the Statue's debut, Moonbeams, is a stellar record, one that has grown on me with every listen since it's original release on the band's Baskerville Hill label (it was recently rereleased via Secretly Canadian). Of its many great songs, my current and long-standing favorite is, by far, "About To Walk" (performed above on a Washington State Ferry for La Blogotheque).

Youtube videos have so far failed to do justice to the steel-crushing electro power of Truckasauras, but the above image gives you some idea of what to expect: Hulkamania, Gameboy beeps and drum machine beats, American flag capes, nerds going pretty much buckwild. Not pictured: copious amounts of whiskey and beer.

Throw Me the Statue and Truckasauras perform as part the Young Ones showcase on Thurs, March 6th at Neumo's and Sole Repair, a benefit for Real Change, $5 suggested donation, 21+

Advance tickets are on sale at Neumo's ($5 will get you into both clubs). Sole Repair, if you didn't know, is behind Quinn's which is right across from Neumo's (kitty corner to the Comet).

Visit thestranger.com/youngones for more information.

This year's list of Young Ones is impressive--Talbot Tagora, the Physics, Throw Me the Statue--and I'm really looking forward to the showcase on March 6th, where you'll have the chance to see almost all the Young Ones play together under two very close roofs (half the show is at Neumo's, the other half down the street at Sole Repair).

You won't want to miss Sleepy Eyes of Death's set.

Photo by Jeff Kirby

The band crafts dynamic instrumentals with guitar, drums, synthesizers and keyboards, and their songs are energetic fits of dance beats and rock rhythms often swelling to dramatic climaxes. But knowing that the live show is as much about their sonic output as it is a visual experience, the young men in Sleep Eyes turn off all the lights, turn on the smoke machines, and proceed to rock the fuck out through a thick cloud of constant smoke lit up with flashing red, yellow, and blue lights.

It is a fantastic way to experience such a cinematic sound (and the band tells me there have more visual surprises in store for the March 6th show).

Watch Sleepy Eyes of Death:

Listen to Sleepy Eyes of Death:

"Eyes Spliced Open"
"Collapse"

Be sure to pick up the March 6th issue of The Stranger to read more about the band. Then see them play the Young Ones showcase on Thursday, March 6th with Talbot Tagora, the Physics, the Moondoggies, Truckasauras, Throw Me the Statue, and headliners Arthur & Yu and Dyme Def.

Sleepy Eyes will go around 8 pm on the Neumo's stage, and $5 will get you into both Neumo's and Sole Repair. All proceeds go to benefit Real Change.

Click here to hear them.

The Physics will play the Young Ones showcase on Thursday March 6th at Sole Repair and Nuemo's. Sleepy Eyes of Death, Talbot Tagora, Throw Me the Statue, the Moondoggies, Truckasauras, and 2007's Young Ones Dyme Def and Arthur & Yu are also on the bill. It's $5 to get in to both venues, and all proceeds go to benefit Real Change.

Read more about all 2008's Young Ones at thestranger.com/youngones.

Speaking of PWRFL Power, he's one of this year's Young Ones. Last year PWRFL Power (Kazutaka Nomura) made quite an impression on the Seattle music scene--he had kept a low profile, playing his quaint acoustic songs at a few shows around the city, but only when he made it into the Block Star contest (where a handful of local bands competed for a slot on the mainstage at 2007's Capitol Hill Block Party), did he really start to sweep people of their feet. He won that battle at Vera Project (beating out Grynch, Lonely Forest, Optimus Rhyme, Skullbot, Speaker Speaker, and the Sutures) and he opened Saturday afternoon on the Mainstage. He also won a guest spot in an esurance commercial (which you just watched above).

Here's him playing "Let Me Show You How to Use Chopsticks" at the Block Party:

This year Kaz is releasing his full-length debut (it'll be out in a couple weeks on Slender Means Society). The art is fantastic--done by E*Rock of Portland, it's a hand-drawn starry explosion of happiness. And the album itself, it's a pure representation of PWRFL Power. They kept everything simple.

Check out a couple songs:
“It’s Okay”
“Alma Song”

Of course, my favorite PWRFL Power memory is when he interviewed himself in last year's Block Party pull-out. An excerpt:

Your MySpace "About Me" section says, "Sound is flour, music is a loaf of bread, and PWRFL POWER is a cute little bakery." Can you explain this?

People often think I am not serious about music. That could be true. My attitude toward my craft is flexible and casual. I am just experimenting with ways to make tasty bread. However, when it comes to picking flours, I am dead serious. I believe in my musical taste, technique, and personality. A lot of young musicians start thinking about how they can make rad music and often ignore the quality of ingredients. You won't make a good bread if you use moldy flour from corner delis!

I heard you have a huge crush on Tiny Vipers.

Who told you that!? Yes... I do. I had a dream about her a few days ago. We were in a bathroom and she said, "Kazu, don't watch me pee." So I looked at the wall and there was a mirror hung. I tried to see her in the mirror...

And then...

I woke up. I saw a girl sleeping right next to me. It was in NYC. I met the girl at some bar and she was a huge fan of Spoon. So I told her that I am playing with them in Seattle. That was quick. And that's the night I started liking Spoon. They are awesome.

Congratulations, PWRFL Power. May 2008 be your most successful year yet.

Join us Thursday March 6th for the Young Ones showcase with performances by Dyme Def, Arthur & Yu, and many of this year's Young Ones including Sleepy Eyes of Death, Throw Me the Statue, Truckasauras, Talbot Tagora, and many more, including one special secret guest! It's $5 for the whole thing, and all the money goes to benefit Real Change. Yay for helping the homeless!

The Pharmacy have been around for years--they released their full-length debut, B.F.F., in 2005. They've played hundreds of shows, gone on tours with artists like Kimya Dawson, Best Friends Forever, and Matt & Kim, and during their adventures they've been arrested, stranded, and cut by sharp rocks in a river. The band's also gone through a regularly rotating cast of characters. The trio turned into a duo that turned into a quartet that turned back into a trio, which is where they're at now with drummer Brendhan Bowers, guitarist and singer Scott Yoder, and keyboardist Stefan Rubicz.

We've watched them morph from a discordant DIY punk band with melodies that struggled to breath under lo-fi recordings into power pop gold with messy but enthusiastic song structures and memorable choruses.

That's why they're one of this year's Young Ones. In just two weeks the band well release their second full-length--Choose Your Own Adventure is the best thing the band's done. Scott Yoder's voice still struggles to hit some of the higher notes (and that's one thing I like about his voice), and some songs are pure, blissful power-pop, while others still got that angst that made B.F.F. so fun to scream along to. With the release of this album and the most sturdy line-up the band has had in years, they're poised to have a great fucking 2008.

Here's the video for the song "Little Toys on a Shelf," which is on the yet-to-be-released album Choose Your Own Adventure (out Feb 26th on Don't Stop Believin'):

The Pharmacy, sadly, will be leaving on tour after their February 29 and March 1st CD release shows, so they won't be appearing at the Young Ones party on Thursday, March 6th. But the line-up is still great--Sleepy Eyes of Death, Throw Me the Statue, Truckasauras, the Moondoggies, Talbot Tagora, the Physics, and we can't forget about headliners Arthur & Yu and Dyme Def. The shows are at Neumo's and Sole Repair, and it's only $5 to get into the whole thing. All that cash goes to benefit Real Change.

Visit www.thestranger.com/youngones for more information.