Let's reflect for just a moment on how wonderful it is to be in a place like Portland, where when we speak of music that is "local" and "home-grown," we're talking about the kinds of diverse and state of the art talent that we are.
That was nice, wasn't it? No disrespect to the bar bands of Pocatello, ID, but I'm still adjusting to this kind of musical habitat, and as a relatively new Portlander, I'd like to think that my window of opportunity to fawn over the locals has not yet passed (I get a year, as I understand it). Anyway, case in point Friday night: the Independent Publishing Resource Center's 10th Birthday Bash at the Someday Lounge. The IPRC celebrates a decade of offering workshops, workspace, tools, and numerous other publishing resources with something they're dubbing "Superstar Open Mic." The Helio Sequence's Brandon Summers, Quasi's Sam Coomes, Spigot's Nann Alleman, Jeremy Wilson, Sarah Dougher, Leigh Marble, Jennifer Lynn, Tara Jane O'Neil and Carson McWhirter all take to the stage for solo performances, while right next door at the all-ages Backspace, The Thermals' Hutch & Kathy, Iretsu and Ghost to Falco play for the same event. Bash, indeed!
Elsewhere Friday, also on the locals front, it's the CD release show for Silverhawk's Hangover Bicycle Ride at the White Eagle. The long-running band led by the brothers Densmore, Sam and John, are Oregonian through and through, tracing roots to Coos Bay and beyond before a relocation to Portland a few years back. One might say they specialize in the feel-good, with songs with titles like "All the Girls Eat Drugs," and "Drinking Makes Me Feel Better," delivered with between-you-and-me grins. Also, the May edition of The McMenamin's Great Northwest Music Tour continues at the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove with the Luminescent Orchestrii. The self-described Romanian Gypsy Punk quartet from New York whips up an Eastern European frenzy with a unique mix of flavors, continuing Saturday night on the coast at McMenamin's Sand Trap in Gearhart, before three more shows in the area next week.
MP3: Luminescent Orchestrii, from Too Hot to Sleep- "Stranger"
Speaking of Saturday night, the Minneapolis-based Cloud Cult (aka The Band with the Lowest Carbon Footprint Around) plays the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland. Craig Minowa's band tours in a biodiesel-fueled van, uses only recycled materials in their products and records at a studio housed on Minowa's organic farm. Oh yeah, the music's not half bad, either-- and that's something given the fact that they've just issued their sixth album in the past eight years with Feel Good Ghosts. The formula, by now, is familiar: there really isn't much of one. There are at various moments, however, elements of acts like the Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, and early Flaming Lips, while the occasional electronic blip and bleep suggests an heir to the Beta Band in the land of Sinclair Lewis. They're currently on tour with fellow Minnesotans Kid Dakota.
MP3: Cloud Cult, from Feel Good Ghosts- "When Water Comes to Life"
The thread is wide open...
May 10, 2008 at 5:24pm by Ste. Goldie
for more local love
i would like to recommend the following posts:
http://crappyindiemusic.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-think-im-gonna-be-sick-willamette.html
http://crappyindiemusic.blogspot.com/2008/05/enter-blog-how-i-cant-wait-for-portland.html
http://crappyindiemusic.blogspot.com/2008/05/group-hug-portland-music-peeps-unite.html
If you get a chance read these in the order I posted them.
This is HARDCORE local love. Join our conversation :-)
May 11, 2008 at 3:53am by B7D
THIS APPEARS TO BE THE ONLY WAY TO CONTACT OPB.MUSIC REGARDING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: namely, your playlist appears to have stalled.
May 11, 2008 at 4:02am by B7D
Oh well, doesn't appear to be any way to edit or delete my previous comment, as we are able to on the TALK OUT LOUD site. Feel free to delete these both at your leisure.
May 11, 2008 at 4:24am by B7D
Finally, I see no way to SEARCH through your BLOGs w/out wading through your archives.
May 11, 2008 at 4:25am by ste. goldie
You are out of the loop.
The editors of the WW and master music blogger Dave Allen and I all got into an extremely heated and passionate argument over at my blog.
I posted those links for you:
1. Because I linked to opbmusic.org
2. if you are a blogger for OPB then i guessed that you consider yourself at least a portland lmusic insider and thought that maybe you needed to be a part of the discussion
3. because i am a member of this community and I would like to point out that it's a little rude for you to be blogging about local music and not checking out the other local music blogs...
May 11, 2008 at 6:56am by Jeremy Petersen
Hey ste. goldie, as it appears you may have discovered, when you register as a user here, your comment automatically appears-- otherwise, you have to wait for the comment to be approved. Unfortunately, finances and such don't allow for 24-hour monitoring of the events unfolding in this space. The point being, certainly no ill intent meant on our part, not sure why you were so quick to jump to all kinds of silly conclusions. Thanks for thinking of us.
B7D, some good suggestions and perhaps some usability issues that need to be addressed there. We're still in our infancy, and have a lot of things in the works, and are always looking for feedback on ways we can improve the digs here. We can be contacted by email, too: opbmusic@opb.org. Thanks for the feedback!
Comments are now closed.