More, more, more…

So it’s Wednesday night. If I didn’t have other plans, I might be making my way over to the Hungry Tiger Too (207 SE 12^th Avenue), satellite of what was until recently one of hip Portland’s favorite dive bars. Now it is a big lot where they’re building condos. Anyways, on Wednesdays, they have a comedy night which begins with professional comics, either local, or touring. It’s a place for them to try out new material, and since it’s a free show, there’s no real pressure. After their sets, there’s an open mic for armature comics, and there are some surprisingly funny folks who get up and do their thing. As it happens, I am actually going to a show at one of my favorite little venues in Portland, the Funky Church (2456 SE Tamarack). I have only been to one other show there, but it was such a cool venue, that I have longed for a set to check out there ever since. Tonight I am going to see local Portland band, Loch Lomond (www.myspace.com/lochlomond06). I was first introduced to them when singer/guitarist Ritchie Young played a set at Mississippi Studios (3939 N Mississippi Avenue), with viola player Amanda Lawrence and a vibraphone player whom I do not know the name of. Anyways, the brilliant sound and intimate setting made me want to hear more. I checked out the whole band at the Doug Fir (830 E Burnside St), where the show was sold out, but the audience would not shut up and appreciate the headlining act. My hope is that the more arts attuned crowd at the Funky Church will be more respectful and I will be able to really check out their set without distraction. I will report back on it of course in my next post.

This post, however, needs to fill y’all in on the promised details of the punk show at Valentines on Sunday night. It was pretty sweet. GoGo Simba was a straight down and dirty punk act. Not the kind of thing that will usually pull me out of the house, but not a disappointment at all either. Dim Rocket Delta was also a straight ahead punk band, but a little bit more in the classic LA punk vein. This was a little weird for me to see, because lead singer Justin Leach has long been known to me as sort of Folk/Rock singer songwriter, both as a solo artist and as the front man of the former unsigned Olympia super group The Strangers. From the first time I caught one of Justin’s sets, way back in the fall of 2000, his lyrics marked him as a poignant but unheard voice for our generation. With lines about things like green skinned girls on the scrambled porn stations, he possessed a unique insight into weird nooks of universally experienced culture particular to our (he and I are of similar ages) age. To boot, he often occasioned to play 2½ hour solo sets for very demanding audiences. Now he’s in a punk band, screaming over drums and electric instrumentation, make his lyrics unintelligible to the listener and his sophisticated chord progressions get lost in a wall of fuzz. This is not to say I did not enjoy their set, DRD was definitely rocking, and full of punk piss and vinegar. It was just a huge departure from the previous work of his, with which I was so intimately familiar. There is more history to be covered regarding this band, but I am running low on time and still have one more band to address. Purple Rhinestone Eagle (www.myspace.com/purplerhinestoneeagle) was the middle act of that set, and were quite the find. The all female, psychedelic-garage rock trio was incredibly tight, super rocking and the Tony Iommi-esque lead guitars bring it home in a most, to quote GoGo Simba guitarist/Dim Rocket Delta bassist Dane, “unfuckwithable” way. I highly recommend you check them out if you are in need of a good old fashioned rockin’. OK, time is gettin’ on, so I gotta get to goin’. Later.