Music Blog

This past Wednesday marked the first installment of an ambitious new interview series – one covering all local topics from fashion to food to music. New Oregon Arts and Letters, an organization formally known as 2GQ, hosted a small crowd at Urban Grind NE and brought three infamous names in Northwest music to the stage: Alicia J. Rose, Slim Moon and Mic Crenshaw. The evening consisted of analyzing and dissecting the Northwest music scene from all angles (Do you have to leave Portland to achieve greater success? Are we like Seattle? Olympia? And of course, the gender-question Alicia J. Rose obviously gets often, How is it being a woman in the industry?)

Slim Moon:
If you don’t know who this guy is, but have ever listened to any of the following bands, such as, oh I don’t know, Bikini Kill, Unwound, Sleater-Kinney or Elliot Smith, he’s had something to do with your music taste. He founded Kill Rock Stars, the punk-rock based indie-record company in 1991 and currently manages bands like The Portland Cello Project.

Slim is, without a doubt, a huge part of what Northwest music means. His presence is composed, his hair buzzed short, and self-describes himself as a “coach” to bands. “Every band is a business,” he said while describing his current role as a band-manager (even though he hates that title). He used to think a key-part of good business practice was “an honest handshake” but over the years has learned how important very, very clear communication is. Two parties, he says, can walk away after the handshake with such different expectations. It’s a good idea; for example, to put it in writing when something happens like a song gets assigned to a movie. However, No one predicted that this thing called the Internet would be invented, he said, and the backbone of the recorded music industry would succumb to iTunes downloads.

Alicia J. Rose:
She is a firecracker and doesn’t worry much about how technology affects the industry, partially because her corner of it -- more or less -- hasn’t changed since the dawn of time. People will constantly try to figure out how to sell recorded music, she says, but getting up on a stage to perform is what it is.

This tall, black-haired LA-native moved to Portland in 1995, and garnered wide-attention once she landed the job as talent buyer for The Doug Fir Lounge. “I told them I was their secret weapon,” she said with her wide smile. The interviewer pointed out in the beginning of her interview that VenusZine once labeled her as “a gatekeeper” and asked her to respond to that. “All of my jobs – djing, distribution, booking – my ears have gotten me the paycheck… I want to create programming that I want to go to. And I figure, like any gatekeeper should, if you can please yourself, you’re on a good path. We’re all probably the biggest pains in the asses we know, right?”

Then the gender-question came, how is it being a woman in this position of power? “I think the question should be, ‘What’s it like being an accordion player?’” she said coyly. She’s also a hellava photographer too. She said that two things have made it possible to succeed in the business: learning to say no, and being loyal for whom she works.

She’s currently working with Viva Voce on their upcoming music video and after leaving The Doug Fir at the end of 2008, “poured her life’s savings” into Mississippi Studios as a co-owner.

When asked about her thoughts on Portland’s music-scene staying power, she responded with her theory that due to the relatively cheaper-cost of living, a lot of artists who are creating music and art own houses here, and aren’t likely to be as mobile. So yes, lots of artists will continue to foster their careers while living in Portland.

Mic Crenshaw:
”None of the people I know making music own houses,” he said in response to Alicia’s theory.

Mic Crenshaw was born on Chicago’s South Side. He has been an emcee in Portland since moving here from Minnesota more than 10 years ago. He has lyric-battled with Wyclef Jean (while Lauren Hill was watching, no less) and has shared the stage with Outkast and Wu-Tang Clan. Although I couldn’t see the race of every audience member, he very likely could have been the only black man in the room. “Being a hip-hop artist, I’m used to not fitting in,” he said with a laugh while describing how white Minnesota and Portland are.

He touched briefly on race and class issues and made the point a few times, how small the urban-music scene is here. “For better for worse, it’s a blessing and a curse.”

Does he think hip-hop artists have to leave Portland to achieve wider success? He responded with a confident, “Yes.”

Portland forces people to be more creative and self-reliant, he said, but still doesn’t have the support that larger markets, like, say New York, Philadelphia or LA have.

Mic just released his first full-length album, Thinking Out Loud, and is working day and night to open a charter high school with a focus on preparing kids for a career in the recording industry.

The next New Oregon Arts and Letters Interview Series will discuss film on July 29. They plan to publish a book in addition to hosting live interviews. You can find more information here.