Venue: El Corazon (Seattle)
109 Eastlake Avenue East
Seattle, WA 98109
Phone: (206) 381-3094

This venue is hosts a bar and a concert area, I don’t believe that they serve any food other than snacks in bar area (21+ only). All agers are able to purchase water and candies at the main window.

The venue is located in a business area of downtown Seattle (there are always things to see in Seattle), but we arrived late for my first visit so I did not take particular note of the surrounding businesses. El Corazon is set in a commercial area with plenty of nearby parking but you will likely have to pay.

The main floor is long and somewhat narrow with a second deck area where the bands can set up for merch and those who want nothing to do with the pit can observe. Bands perform from a raised stage with various speaker arrangements, if you are standing far left/right the sound can be muffled/hollow (may appeal to casual observers).

El Corazon has a noticeable presence of Security but overall seemed to understand their purpose and allowed crowd to do their thing. I did not observe anyone attempting to crowd surf and slam dancing was limited as the venue was pretty packed when I attended.

My initiation at El Corazon (Seattle) included Demon Hunter, the blessed return of Living Sacrifice, (the long awaited rebirth of Embodyment) The Famine, and Oh Sleeper. This venue is of a decent size relevant to comparable venues, I look forward to returning for more hurdcore!

Update 4.15.09 :: Is Rock & Roll Pizza R.I.P? Their website is no longer active and the phone number that I had is for a Chinese restaurant…if you have any info, please do forward that.

Venue: Rock and Roll Pizza
11140 S.E. Powell Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97266

Located within a bar, food and a variety of drinks is available for all ages. The venue is located not located in the main portion of Portland, I don’t recall many places to hang out if you arrive early (you can sit in the bar area and order food/drink, I think there is a Safeway within walking distance). Area is primarily residential, location has a decent amount of parking on site but you may have to walk if you arrive late (I’ve never had to pay for parking). Floor is fairly open with the merch area on the outskirts of the main area. Area is a decent size with a raised stage, the sound encaptures the floor (no escape except for separate bar area). I don’t recall a heavy security presence in my several visits but I have not witnessed anything out of the ordinary either.

This has been an excellent venue, I’ve been able to see some great bands such as: Nodes of Ranvier, Zao, Becoming The Archetype, Still Remains…

Who was cooler than Carman back in the day? Kudos to the generational expanse of youtube for being able to share this without having to garage sale for old Christian VHS recordings.

I can remember Carman’s videos for Satan Bite The Dust and Witches Invitation as being pretty spectacular in their time. The rapping with the alley cat, not so much, but this video is worth a few minutes of nostalgia. To this day I can recite the opening monologue for Satan Bite The Dust because I’m just that much of a Bible-balla’.

Party’s over, shut it down,
I’m huntin’ for someone y’all
He’s a lyin’ thievin’rattlesnake
and he’s broken every law
He’s terrorized the lives
of men and he’s under arrest
because I’ve been sent
with a warrant from the body of Christ
-Well, tell me what it says then! -
“Satan, bite the dust!”