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I became a man at Sunday Matinee. No, I did not lose my virginity there, but I would not be surprised if someone else
did. Honestly, "Matinee" happened at a house, "the SS Marie Antoinette," so odds are someone got it on during one of the many
shows. But not me, I was too busy experiencing things I never knew existed (but not sex!). Who knew that amazing art could
be made out of cardboard? David Herbert, that's who. Who knew Seattle had a thriving zine scene? Matthew Simmons, of course.
Who knew that anyone can make a short film and have it end up on Evening Magazine? None other than Michael Sanchez. This naïve
23-year-old from north Seattle knew nothing of the sort until Sunday Matinee hit him in the face.
What: Sunday Matinee:
a once-monthly show featuring bands, art, short films, spoken-word and various forms of comedy and other entertainment.
Where:
the SS Marie Antoinette, a former warehouse and current house to art-inclined individuals.
When: generally the third
Sunday of every month, at 7 pm.
Cost: $1.99
Michael Sanchez and DW Burnam created Sunday Matinee. I hope I
am not putting words into their mouths when I say that they had two main goals with Matinee:
A. To assault the senses.
2. To be the cheapest show in town.
I am not putting words in my mouth when I say they accomplished both of
those goals. One year ago as an intern at The Seattle Weekly I wrote an article about Sunday Matinee. You do not remember
it because it was never published, but this is the gist of it: Michael and DW wanted to book their own shows. They were tired
of making demos, mailing demos and not hearing back about demos. They thought they could book a better show than most clubs
in town and offer it at a better price. The only thing I remember about the article was including quotes with Michael and
DW arguing about how much it should cost to get in. "Free makes it sound shitty" or "Four dollars is too expensive" and things
like that. $1.99 was settled upon by a coin toss. Fittingly, the penny guests got back as change was used in a raffle at the
end of each show.
Memories...
Michael and DW did whatever was within their power to guarantee a great show.
Short films were shown at every Matinee, most of them were projected upon the wall. Michael nor DW owned a video projector,
but that did not stop them from showing films. Month after month, Michael would go to an electronics store and buy a projector
on his credit card. After each Matinee he would promptly return the projector. When he ran out of stores to "dupe" the films
were shown on a television which worked fine and gave the venue a nice living room feel.
Dwight aka "The Black Death"
once set up a three-person dome-tent and hung it from the ceiling until his performance. He proceeded to play guitar in and
around the tent accompanied by a pornographic video. This disturbed people and brought nervous laughter until the climax of
his set which involved toilet paper, whipped cream and dangerous destruction.
International comic sensation Henry
Grackle once inquired: what do you call it when you shoot a cop in the back of the head when he is sleeping and roll him up
in his sheets? Pig in a blanket! Ladies?! Fellas!
Other memories would go here but I am drawing a blank, help me out.
Michael, you should include a list of every person who participated in Matinee.
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