The flier above tells you all the technical information you need to know about "Expo 90" — the annual multi-day, music/art event thrown by Cairo on Capitol Hill. We care about Cairo because it helps us stay up to date with Seattle's thriving underground pop scene, which is wild and tangled like vines, except rats don't live there, musicians do. And there are so many! "Curate" is an overused word but that is what's happening with Cairo and music. It surfaces great acts from an overabundance, and sometimes incubates them. This "Expo," for instance, not only shows who's DEFINITELY* making the jump from "Cairo phenoms" to "national newsmakers" in 2013 (Stephanie, Witch Gardens, Hausu) but should also hip a lot of people to FF and Baby Guns, newish grunge and dark-pop bands of note. And mainly that surfacing is being done by Ian Judd: lord of Cairo booking, co-operator of Couple Skate Records (Witch Gardens, Stephanie, Numbs), player of bass guitar. He's a big reason the space feels like a movement, not just a floor with walls and a ceiling. Three cheers for him.

*I'm calling it

Image by Gabriel Stromburg; photo by Erika Schultz / Seattle Times