Music Blog

If you've seen any of the images emanating from our weekly in-studio sessions over the past couple of years, then you've likely also seen the work of Inger Klekacz. Our resident freelance (if one can indeed be both) photographer has been behind the camera for the vast majority of our sessions, while also maintaining a tireless shooting schedule outside of our studios. You may have seen her at the foot of a stage somewhere or perhaps you bumped into her while in a manic rock n' roll-induced state. As a good photographer does, she sees moments that many of us do not-- we asked her to share a few of those from 2010.

10- Foals at the Doug Fir Lounge
When you're photographing a show, you're shooting half-blind. You have no peripheral vision. So when the headstock of a guitar comes swinging dangerously low over the edge of the stage in the middle of an outrageous rock-out, the photographer is generally the only one who gets conked on the head by it.

Jimmy Smith was terribly apologetic. And sweaty. As I grinned at him and rubbed my goose egg, all I could think to say was, "That's rock and roll, baby."

 

9- Tu Fawning at Rotture, PDX Pop Now!
Between my day job and the first few hours of the festival, I'd already worked a loooong day (in Converse, how ridiculous!), and my dogs were barking.

Tu Fawning made me forget all about my feet, my back, my 16-hour workday. This band has a way of creating a self-contained musical environment wherever they play. It's like a big bell jar falls over them and the crowd. Amazing. I went home happy, and came back the next day with a pocket full of aspirin.

 

8- The Thermals at the Crystal Ballroom, MusicFest NW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used to hate crowds. I still do, really. But when I'm surrounded by a crowd of defiantly happy all-agers - kids who have already been told that the proper way to enjoy music in Portland is with folded arms and a tapping foot, and who reject that notion absolutely - I'm inclined to make an exception.

There wasn't a particular moment that stood out for me at this show, only a wash of feeling that blew off of Hutch Harris. Watching him sing to the crowd was like watching a man shout the most important thing he's ever had to say, right before he jumps out of an exploding train car.  You're galvanized, you can't look away. I couldn't, anyway.

 

7- Pond at Satyricon
I was a total square in high school. I was a workaholic. After-school job. Great grades. Yearbook nerd. Spanish club. Et cetera. So when Pond played Portland the first time around, I was too busy to pull my head out of my books and go see them.

Nearly 20 years later, I found myself crushed in a throng of camera dudes and bona fide fans. I don't belong here, I thought. The light is terrible. What am I doing here? And then the most horrifying thought of all: is this going to suck?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It didn't suck. The minute Pond started playing, I forgot all about the bad lighting and some dude's videocamera resting on top of my head. They played like old friends, weren't afraid to let a few ragged edges show, kept the beat even when the strap on Chris Brady's bass broke. The whole house was a heaving, sweaty mess. It was delicious.

 

6- Kelly Masigat at the Doug Fir Lounge
When The Dimes played the Doug Fir in March, Kelly Masigat was still considered a new addition.  So the crowd wasn't quite sure what to make of things when all of The Dimes except for Pierre Kaiser and Kelly left the stage.

And then Kelly began to sing. I can't lie, I have no idea what the name of the song was. All I remember was seeing heads all the way back to the bar, but not hearing anything other than Kelly's voice. That's right, Kelly shut the Doug Fir up. Goosebumps, children. Goosebumps.

 

5- Wild Flag at the Doug Fir Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wild Flag rolled into town amid a flurry of hype and a dearth of recorded works. Nobody knew what to expect other than something good. Boy howdy, did this band ever live up to our expectations! High kicks, mic stand melees, people throwing goat horns - it was an honest-to-god rock and roll show. AND the music was good. Believe the hype.

 

4- Sloan at the Doug Fir Lounge
Chris Murphy had a problem, and it lay somewhere in his thoracic vertebrae. After Sloan's session at opbmusic, he had an emergency chiropractic appointment at 4:45 to get to on the way to their Doug Fir gig that night. The challenge: get Chris from SW Macadam to East Burnside and 11th in 15 minutes. In the middle of crosstown traffic.

Poor Chris! Hanging on for dear life as I managed to find every pothole, traffic jam and general road construction snafu there was to find on the way to Burnside. I believe I heard him suck in some air as I Dukes of Hazzarded my way through side streets in order to avoid the East Burnside parking lot. It's possible he was contemplating abduction scenarios. But we got there at 4:46, and I'm pretty sure that while his back had really hurt him before, he was just glad to be alive. That night, Sloan played to a sold-out crowd, and you would never know from their performance that he had been hobbling down the OPB driveway just 6 hours before.

 

3- Deepest Darkest at the Doug Fir Lounge
When Deepest Darkest took the stage at Jonah's CD release party, I knew it was going to be good. Nate Purscelley is known among friends to write songs that are fun to play and fun to sing along to. And sure enough, they delivered.

"We've got one more song for you," Nate said, looking around the audience and summoning a couple of friends to come up and play with them. Jaycob Van Auken got up there and picked up an acoustic guitar, counted off. The opening riff of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" floated through the crowd, to hoots and hollers.

The double-edged sword of the cover song is that if it's a good song, everyone knows it and loves it, and it can generate amazing energy in a crowd; but if you choose to play it traditionally and don't hit it note for note, everyone knows and is left feeling a little bit let down. Deepest Darkest nailed that song. Nailed it. Right down to the four-part harmony and Matthew Lenhart's cry: "Runnin' in the shadows!"

 

2- Breathe Owl Breathe at Mississippi Studios
I had first been introduced to Breathe Owl Breathe at opbmusic, where I photographed their in-studio session. I later told host David Christensen that it was the only session I've ever shot where it was hard to focus my camera because my eyes kept welling up with tears.

Breathe Owl Breathe came back later in the year to play to a sold-out crowd at Mississippi Studios. As anyone who attends a lot of shows can tell you, each audience has its own vibe. This audience - not to sound like a hippie or anything - had this amazing vibe of love floating over and through it. I've never seen anything like it. 300 people being gentle and sweet with each other is truly a pleasure to behold.

 

1- Bryan Free at Someday Lounge, Cover Your Hearts
It was Cover Your Hearts 3, the third annual fundraiser concert coordinated by Charmparticles to benefit Ethos Music Center. (In case you haven't had a chance to check out CYH, it's essentially a night of 80s and 90s love songs, played lovingly and with extra rock on or near Valentine's Day by a few of Portland's finest local bands.)

Every band had brought it. And by "it," I mean bangles, tight pants, hair spray, glitter, keytars, eyeliner, and bombast. We saw mullets, lazer lights, leopard print. We sang and shouted along with the bands while they played classics like "Never Tear Us Apart" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

When Bryan Free and his band stepped on stage, the crowd giggled. Bryan was wearing a ridiculous sweater-wrap getup over tights, hair teased into an androgynous bird's nest and feet clad in 4-inch heels. He was perfectly dressed to sing Linda Ronstadt's part in a duet with Jaycob Van Auken - "I Don't Know Much." They crooned, we crooned, everyone swayed and grinned.

And then Bryan took off the sweater. Kick-danced his way in a leotard and dance belt through a Pat Benetar medley on top of 4-inch sequined stiletto heels. It was perfect. Everything that needed to get done to sell this song had been done. I'm pretty sure the crowd's roar of approval knocked some of the mortar off the walls of Someday Lounge.

And I guess that's why this moment has stuck with me all year. It's not because Bryan dressed in drag. It's Portland. Drag is everywhere. This singular moment in live music has stood out in my mind as the most epic of the epic simply because the entire band - and the CYH coordinators and crew - threw themselves 100% into making this song perfect, leaving behind ego and self-image and really embracing the theatre of it all.

[Bryan Free is opening tonight at the Mississippi Studios, playing with Climber and Oh Darling. Show up promptly at 8:30 to hear his newest work, which is as epic as his taste in leotards.]

 

Aside from here at opbmusic, Inger Klekacz's work has also been seen in Willamette Week, The Oregonian, Portland Monthly, and maybe on a coffeeshop wall near you. She's currently at work on a photo documentary project called Every Song is a Love Song, which she says will offer "a behind-the-scenes look at the Portland indie music scene."

Tagged: Best of 2010