John Richards interviewed Colin for the “Local Music Show” segment on the state of the Seattle Music Scene, which aired on The Seattle Channel this past week. The whole episode is worth watching but if you want to skip to the Nectar features go to 8:00 min and 24:20 into it… check it out:

It’s almost midnight, and the boisterous crowd at Fremont’s Nectar Lounge is chanting for the California-based headliner, renowned hip-hop DJ Cut Chemist, to take the turntables. The opening act, local DJ Marc Sence, spins records over the mob’s shouting. Nectar’s new talent buyer, 30-year-old Colin Johnson, looks uncomfortable as he lingers in the wings. Tonight is the biggest national show Johnson’s booked since taking the job last July, and he’s hell-bent on making it great…..read more

by Aja Pecknold, Seattle Weekly

“I couldn’t get in. There was a line around the block!” said Weekly contributing writer Travis Ritter a couple of weeks ago as we watched Grand Archives at Fremont’s High Dive. The source of the mob scene he was referring to wasn’t at the High Dive, though. It was Cut Chemist, who was performing across the street at Nectar Lounge. A few months ago, a statement like that would have caused some confusion. What? Nectar? Cut Chemist? Line around the block? But ever since the club scooped up former Chop Suey booker Colin Johnson, it’s been seeing better days, with a greater range of national acts and solid local bills, directing show-goers off the Hill, out of downtown, and into Fremont. There are a few things that haven’t changed: the menu, for example, which beats most other venues in town with its oven-roasted sandwiches (the Ornery Creole, with smoked turkey, mozzarella, and spicy Cajun sauce doesn’t disappoint); and the decor, which boasts a balcony with a bird’s-eye view of the stage and an enclosed outdoor patio with a fireplace. So eat, drink, but be wary: Fremont’s usual college-age clientele is often drunker (and surlier) than most show-going, chain-smoking hipsters.

An unexpected…and totally appreciated write up in the Seattle Times came out in this Friday’s edition of “TICKET”, their A&E section….

NECTAR KNOWS HOW TO MIX IT UP
By Tom Scanlon - Seattle Times staff reporter

Canned spaghetti for dinner, “King of Queens” reruns, classic-rock radio station, sweet stuff…If you’re one of those people who just can’t get enough of the same thing, again and again, the Nectar Lounge is not going to meet your stability needs. Way too much unpredictability.

Then again, if you’re all about variety, this mini-club in Fremont is the spot.

One night they might have hip-hoppers passing the mic, the next local rock bands thrashing away, the next a touring act.

Tuesday night, this attractive, two-level lounge — it has a vaguely European feel, and looks like it could be a winetasting or martini bar — hosted a batch of up-and-coming rappers, a bill with the likes of Terry Radjaw, Grynch and Neema (aka Unexpected Arrival).

This had to be one of the rawest, rudest breast-cancer benefits ever put on, with several Beavis and Butt-head snickerings about the word “breast.” The irreverent fundraiser drew a hearty crowd, as the word seems to be getting out about this anything-goes place.

The variegated musical stylings reflect the restless tastes of Nectar’s new booker, Colin Johnson, who came here after Chop Suey let him go. Capitol Hill’s loss was Fremont’s gain, as his eclectic bookings are creating a sort of Chop Fremont on the north side…… read more.

its only so often that one gets to host a truly legendary performer…in our case that time will come on TUES OCTOBER 16 when legendary Jazz/Soul/Disco/Funkster ROY AYERS performs at Nectar with a full backing band. Tickets are only $22 advanced and $25 at the door and this show is sure to sell out so be sure to try and pick up advanced tickets just to be safe…

Roy Ayers, Old School in the truest sense of the word, has collaborated with the likes of Fela Kuti, The Roots, Guru’s Jazzmatazz, Chico Hamilton, Herbie Mann, & many more. His music was highly influential in the creation of Acid Jazz and has been sampled time and time again by Modern Hip-Hop artists and you can still hear many of his Disco-Crossover classics on dancefloors today.

Mark your calendars and plan your entire life around this one

I think its safe to say Saturday the 29th will be a historic evening of events at Nectar…
first, we’ll be showing the UW/USC game, the biggest game of the Huskies year, on our big screen from 5-8p. Then, coinciding with the conclusion of Red Bull’s Soapbox Derby….we’re hosting the one and only Cut Chemist:

9.29 Saturday Red Bull Soapbox Derby & Nectar Present A FREE Show with Legendary Turntablist & DJ Shadow and Jurassic 5 Collaborator
CUT CHEMIST
Special Guests
FREE!!
8pm doors
21 & Over
*Early Arrival is suggested

For the uninitiated, here’s a little primer course to ready you for the show:

We have a smashing week of music to serve up this labor day week…back to school blues? We gotcha covered…from Brazilian Electro to Reggae to Back-Packin Hip-Hop to Metal, we’re keeping things eclectic.

The Stranger wrote up a few highlights from the coming week, and what better way to brag than to use other’s words!

BUG IN THE BASSBIN by DONTE PARKS
For DJs—and other music nerds—music is a never-ending quest for the Holy Grail. No matter how large our music collections grow, there’s always the nagging sensation that the quintessential track, the musical unifying theory, is just around the corner. So we keep digging, caught up in a quixotic adventure for completion. DJ Sujinho’s quest has taken him from the clubs of New York to the favelas of Brazil, whose baile funk brings him closer to his own nirvana…..more

UP & COMING

Sat 9/1 FAVELA ON BLAST! W/DJ SUJINHO, KRNL PANIC, RECESS

(Nectar) A veteran of the NYC club scene, DJ Sujinho drops baile-funk bombs straight from the hearts of Brazilian favelas, raunchy gems that combine the ass-motivating qualities of ’80s electro and Miami bass. Most famously championed by Diplo, the sound has trickled into the American club consciousness over the last few years, playing nicely with our more homegrown booty music. One of America’s top DJs of the genre, Sujinho fearlessly moves between the foreign and the familiar, using baile funk as a backdrop for forays through various incarnations of the “party jam,” whether that involves hiphop, Baltimore club, or ghetto tech. The evening also features a “welcome home” set by KRNL PANIC (aka Rama), who left Seattle for NYC last year. DONTE PARKS

Mon 9/4 LMNO, SLEEP OF OLDOMINION

(Nectar) Sleep is from Portland and a founding member of Oldominion. So far, his solo career has produced two full-length CDs. The better of the two releases is the first, Riot by Candlelight, which came out in 2002 on Under the Needle Records. Sadly, it didn’t receive the attention that his weaker and second solo CD, Christopher, did in 2005. Christopher, however, is not bad; it has its solid moments—like the track “Testimony”—but overall the production is just not as good as its predecessor. (Christopher also has the distinction of being released by a nationally recognized label, Up Above Records.) Like most of the rappers in the Oldominion camp, Sleep’s style is dense, psychologically twisted, and confessional. CHARLES MUDEDE

Local Band VINDALOO (performing 9/6) snagged Band of the Week to top it off, and with these glowing words:
VINDALOO
Riff-rocking trio Vindaloo are hot. Real Hot. Hot enough that it’s best to keep back a few feet when they’re onstage. “We used to have beards,” says guitarist Ben Harwood, “until mine caught on fire at a show and someone tried to put it out with a bottle of undistilled Kentucky whiskey.” These guys are to rap metal what the Saturday Knights are to Rap Rock-that is, they have way more fun with the genre and barb it with way more hooks than shuld be allowed. JONATHAN ZWICKEL

BONOBO makes his first appearance in Seattle in years on Tuesday, September 11th at Nectar. He’ll be performing a dj set and will be covering his own wealth of material, culled from his Ninja Tune catalog, as well remixes and some other surprises.

Who says you can’t dance on a Tuesday? Spread the Word.

Sure to be one of the biggest events Nectar’s ever hosted…Famed Singer-Songwriter/Politiko MICHELLE SHOCKED will play Nectar on Friday, October 12th. It’s not often that Ms. Shocked visits Seattle, more seldomly in an intimate setting like this. Tickets Go Onsale Friday August 24th at noon on BrownPaperTickets.com.

For more on Michelle’s lengthy and storied musical career, check out her website or what our good friends at Wikipedia had to say about her.