Idol finalist Chris Richardson in Seattle; Sasquatch! alternative in Oregon

An assortment of entertainment news today:

• Idol finalist Chris Richardson (the Justin Timberlake wannabe) is hawking ice cream and his debut studio album Wednesday at Safeway, 9620 28th Ave S.W., Seattle, between 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Online, fans can enter a sweepstakes to win prizes like a private ice cream party hosted by Richardson or tickets to the American Idol finale. To enter, vote on the next potential Dreyers ice cream flavor here — idol.dreyers.slowchurned.com/idol/americanidol.html.

• Oregon is launching an alternative to the Sasquatch! music festival, also on Memorial Day weekend. The Wells Fargo Bend Summer Concert series also features Death Cab For Cutie. For more information, go to www.bendconcerts.com.

• City Hall is presenting free noontime concerts, featuring flamenco, klezmer, classical strings and spirituals. Shows are noon to 1 p.m. on certain Thursdays in the City Hall lobby. The series starts March 20 and ends June 19. For the schedule, go to www.seattle.gov/arts/community/seattle_presents.asp.

• The National Film Festival for Talented Youth is coming to Seattle. It will feature 73 youth-made films from across the nation, nine filmmaking panels and two concerts — all at the Seattle Center, March 28 to 30. For more information, go to www.nffty.org.

Death Cab on a roll

Some news from Seattle Times nightlife reporter Tom Scanlon:

Death Cab for Cutie's album "Plans" just went platinum — finally. The summer of 2005 album initially was a big seller, making its debut at No. 4 on the Billboard album chart, with sales of nearly 100,000. Sales quickly faded after that (likely due to album sharing/burning by devoted listeners). Now, according to Billboard, "Plans" has been certified for sales of 1 million copies.

The platinum sales mark gives Atlantic Records another marketing chip, as it prepares for the May 13 release of "Narrow Stairs." The next Death Cab album already given a big thumbs up by an MTV reviewer: "unquestionably the best thing they've ever done ... and an early contender for the best album of 2008" (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1582775/20080304/death_cab_for_cutie.jhtml).

Death Cab will play from "Narrow Stairs," as well as selections from "Plans," when it launches a tour April 18 at Bremerton's Admiral Theater. The show is sold out. A Seattle show has not yet been announced.

For other recent album certifications, go to www.billboard.com/bbcom/riaa/index.jsp.

Seattle songwriter gets Sirius

Seattle native David Montalvo premieres his song "Hillary Clinton" today on Sirius Satellite Radio. It will be on the airwaves 2:35 p.m. on The Jay Thomas Show. You can also catch it at www.myspace.com/davidmontalvo or www.youtube.com/watch?v=juD7VgoILIk (a word of caution — expletives make this video unsuitable for children).

His song about the presidential candidate is patterned after Britney Spear's popular single "Gimme More." The song earned Montalvo a bit of notoriety online, gaining him hundreds of hits, but it was actually an accident of sorts.

Montalvo created the song after being bored and homesick in New York. The 28-year-old graduated from the University of Washington in 2004 and acted for Seattle's 0816 Studios. He didn't have enough money to go home to Seattle for Thanksgiving, and ended up feasting on beer and Chinese food while catching up on the presidential debates on YouTube.

And in a half-drunk state, he imagined what it would be like for Clinton, he said, to be hands-on-waist, unloading some attitude. That brainstorm became the fodder for his song. He then shared it with some close friends, put it on MySpace, and a Boston reviewer found it and wrote about him. Then 0816 Studios offered to make a video of the song.

After finishing it, he met Clinton, albeit briefly, campaigning in New Hampshire. And he says, her campaign workers "unofficially" loved it. Montalvo would like to think he had a hand in the Ohio and Texas primaries.

But in the end, he hopes that the video spurs youth to vote — It's to "get our generation, the Y Generation, to get involved whether you agree with my candidate or not."

Stars of "Once" to perform in Seattle

This just in from Seattle Times staffer Lynn Jacobson:

If you saw the little-indie-movie-that-could, "Once," you no doubt fell a little bit in love with musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. They just won an Oscar for best song, and now they're coming to Seattle on a tour that includes stops at California's Coachella Festival (April 25) and Radio City Music Hall (May 19).

They'll be at The Moore Theatre on April 30 — tickets are $32.50 and $37.50 and are on sale now (206-628-0888 or www.themoore.com).

Minus the Bear video focuses on Seattle

Seattle indie rock band Minus the Bear just premiered their video on mtvU, MTV's College Network (www.mtvu.com/video/?id=1582807&vid=214819).

The hilarious video, which is a bit of a '70s take (complete with headbands and short shorts) on one-on-one air basketball, showcases Seattle. It highlights many of the city's neighborhoods, including West Seattle's Admiral District, the Junction, Ballard, Georgetown and Alki.

"I see all these indie bands, they all come from Seattle or Portland, and I never see them do anything in Seattle and Portland," said Seattle director Mike Gaston. "I wanted to capture that. I wanted to see them go over the city, so I went to all the places I loved the most."

For the last three years, Gaston had the video concept in mind, and so, he convinced his good friend and band lead vocalist Jake Snider to let him try it out. And he enlisted the help of his new wife, groomsman, brother and niece.

"I thought it would be hilarious to dress my wife in an adult sized diaper and completely make out with my groomsman in the end," said Gaston about Jenny Hawes, who is the cousin of basketball star Spencer Hawes, who now plays for The Sacramento Kings.

Gaston recently started a production company, Penny Dreadfuls, with influences that ranged from '70s kung fu movies to "T.J. Hooker." For this video, he asked for the help of local director Brooke Montgomery, who has 10 years of New York film experience.

"I was going to make the video whether or not the band wanted it," said Gaston, who filmed the video while the band was on tour. "It was going to be a little piece that I though I could eventually put on YouTube."

But the band and their label, Seattle's Suicide Squeeze Records, loved it.

"The band dug it... and thought it was even better because they didn't want to be in the video," said Gaston. "They were between tours, and were home all of 10 days."

For more on Minus the Bear, go to www.myspace.com/minusthebear.

"Nevermind" baby now a teenager

Time sure passes by fast — the baby that appeared on that famous Nirvana album, "Nevermind," is now a senior in high school.

The story goes that Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl were watching a television program about water births and came up with the idea for the album cover. Water births were deemed too graphic, so instead the band's record company settled on a photo of baby Spencer Elden floating in water.

Since then, Elden has re-created the cover shot for Rolling Stone magazine in 2001 for the album's 10th anniversary, and for Skinny Puppy's cEvin Key on his solo album "The Dragon Experience." (www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5935817/nirvana_baby_resurfaces).

Most recently, Columbia College photography instructor Jason Lazarus was putting together a project about first memories of Nirvana, and took a portrait of the 17-year-old album star: jasonlazarus.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post.html.

Marian Liu: mliu@seattletimes.com