The Fruit Bats to Play The Neptune, 11/14; Tickets on Sale 7/22

The Fruit Bats will bring their Mouthfuls 10-Year Anniversary Tour with Special Guests: The Donkeys to The Neptune (all ages/ bar w/ID) on November 14, 2013 at 8:00PM. Price: $16.50 in advance, $18.00 day of show (not including fees). Seating: General Admission. On Sale: Monday, July 22 at 10AM.

Ticketing Information: Available online at Tickets.com, Paramount Box Office, 24-hour kiosks at The Paramount, Moore and Neptune Theatres, or Sonic Boom Records in Ballard. For more information visit STGPresents.org.

Sometimes a story can take a long time to tell. Eric D. Johnson, who has recorded and performed as the Fruit Bats for a decade now, had a story like that, a chance encounter that had rattled around his head for years. He's tried to write it as a short story, a play, a movie...yet until now couldn't get it down just right. Finally he decided to make a song out of it, and the result is "Tony the Tripper." It's the song at the heart of his fifth album, Tripper, setting the tone for a bittersweet meditation on hitting the road, leaving the familiar behind and reinventing yourself.

Perhaps the most radical thing about the album is not its haunting production, but the way it allows narratives to shape its songs. Johnson says that, though he began experimenting with story songs on The Ruminant Band, he has only recently made them his focus. He says that good songwriting doesn't have to be baroque or overly literate or complicated to make an impact, though that may make it easier to recognize. Johnson himself prefers songwriters like Ray Davies, Paul Simon and even Tom Petty, whose verbal accomplishments may be overlooked because they are embedded in such catchy, tuneful melodies. "I think maybe I like those pop star songwriters the best," he says.

STG's mission is to make diverse performing arts and education an integral part of our region's cultural identity while keeping three historic venues, The Paramount, Moore and Neptune, alive and vibrant. STG presents a range of performances from Broadway, off-Broadway, dance and jazz, to comedy, concerts of all genres, speakers and family shows - at these three iconic theatres in Seattle and venues throughout the Puget Sound region and in Portland, Oregon. STG is the 501 (c)(3) non-profit arts organization that operates the historic Paramount, Moore and Neptune Theatres in Seattle, Washington.

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