The Birds, the Bees & a busy, busy Me

OK, so I know I’ve been a bad blogger of late. Two months (yesterday) since my last post. But, there is a reason (OK, an excuse) why I have been so delinquent in updating for the interested parties. You see, two months ago my world drastically changed, and quite suddenly. I became all too employed and the long awaited spring finally hit Portland. The first meant that my free time was exponentially divided down to a very small slice, and that my energy level (due to the nature of my current employment) was also drastically reduced during said free time. The second meant that, in addition to all the bloom, pollination and making of honey (or perhaps because of) Portland exploded into a wild storm releasing much of its pent up energy and there were so many events, that I literally can’t currently recall them all. In truth, a great deal of the shows and what not I attended were put on by bands and at venues that I have previously detailed. I did, however, make some new discoveries, and I will cover them in a bit, but first I want to talk about this weekend.

For those who are not aware, the Gorge Amphitheatre (754 Silica Road NW George, WA 98824) is arguably the greatest outdoor venue in the states, particularly considering the scale of events which occur there. Every year, during Memorial Day weekend, the Gorge hosts Sasquatch (www.myspace.com/sasquatchmusicfestival), three days of music in the scenic Columbia River gorge. I’ve wanted to go previous years, but the 4 & ½ hour commute and spendy prices (this year it was $65/day or $150 for all three) have prevented me from making it there. This year, however, the Cure (do I really need to link to them? I think we are all well aware who they are.) were the headliners on Sunday night. As it happens, despite my rigorous work schedule, I was a good $40 short of the ticket price, but that meant I had just enough money to pay my share of the gas round trip to the far off venue. What good is traveling several hundred miles if you can’t afford to get in, you might ask. Well as it happens, the first fourteen years of the Cure’s existence marked some of my favorite (and most repeatedly purchased) recordings. About the time that period ended, I was just getting old enough to develop a taste for the old school British alt-rockers. Sixteen years later, I still had not seen them in concert and they were coming what is by far my favorite venue large enough to book them. Thus, when my, also broke, partner in mischief (this time, criminal) suggested that we go for broke and try to sneak in, I said “Fuck it. Why not?” What ensued was one of the best experiences I have had in a while. First off, one should know that the drive from PDX to the Gorge in late May is incredibly gorgeous. I am not going into detail as to how we got in, for I would like that it remain an option for those daring enough to attempt it and smart enough to plan it right; but let’s just say, if you’re willing to risk life, limb and personal freedom to achieve entrance, no facility of that size and remote location can actually be completely impenetrable. I will say that I felt as if my friend and I were Sam & Frodo making our way to Mount Doom. It ruled! They were even playing the song To Wish Impossible Things when we made our way onto the grounds. By the end of the third and final encore, as a light rain began to fall on our desert location, I was standing just feet away from Robert Smith. It was amazing. They went on at about ¼ after 10 PM I believe (I’m not really sure, we were still dealing with a vast and dramatic, darkened landscape in our attempt to gain entry at that point), and the house lights came on at about ¼ to 1 AM. In the two and half hours on stage, Robert and the boys covered the whole gambit of their career. Does that mean they played every song I wanted to hear? Not at all (that would be ~7-8 hour set). But they did play a lot of their old, great material for all of us whose fandom spans to the earlier portions of the 30 year career, and the live versions of newer stuff came off some much better and more inspiring than it would have off the records. It had been a long time since I had engaged in activity so brilliantly inspired/insanely stupid, and besides fulfilling decade and half long goal of seeing one of my all-time favorite bands live, it revived a long dormant part of my spirit, one that I have been missing for a great long while. I honestly feel like a new man. Then, of course, as with all Gorge shows, was party in the parking lot. The catch with seeing massive shows at venue hundreds of miles from most of its patrons’ homes, is that many of those patrons spend the night (or in the case of many Sasquatchers, three nights) on the adjacent grounds. After my long, exhausting/exhilarating experience, I got wasted and talked till almost dawn with interesting strangers from various places in multiple countries. Yeah, it was a long weekend well spent.

Now, I realize that the Cure hardly qualify as Northwest music, but Sasquatch definitely does have a distinctively PNW status, and it was high time I, as patron of local music happenings, checked it out. But I do want to spend what little time I have left this evening (indeed, the outside world calls again) speaking about a few occurrences of note over the last two months.

Out of the uncountable shows and events I have seen in the last two months, there were two PNW acts I had not previously heard that I definitely want to mention. The first was Romanteek (www.myspace.com/romanteek), the new and enlarged offshoot of longtime, controversially named, Olympia standard act Romantic Retard Nation. The former understated, sultry, soulful, bluesy duo has been reborn as a vibrant, swinging, funky, dance pop quintet, with some of OlyWa’s most respected musicians added to their roster. I had just read a MySpace bulletin posted by musician I had great deal of artistic respect for that he was playing at Rotture (315 SE 3^rd Avenue). I noticed no mention of the specific act he would be performing as/with. In fact, I was not even aware that he had joined the band. Needless to say, when asking the doorperson who had played, in order to find out if I’d missed my friend’s set, I was most surprised to discover that Romanteek was the Olympia band on the bill. The show was by no means packed, even for a Tuesday (I think it was a Tuesday), but Ruby Valentine’s exuberant crooning and the tight ensemble of musicians kept the audience shaking it quite thoroughly. The show was the kickoff of the band’s tour of the Northern half (or so) of the West coast. They ended it around a week later with a show at Slabtown (1033 NW 16th Avenue), but I did not make it too that one. Before I left Rotture that night, however, I did find out about another show taking place in Portland with other heavy-hitters of Olympia talent. Problems (www.myspace.com/problems247) another Portland/Olympia spanning band was playing a show at Valentines (232 SW Ankeny Street). As it happened, that was a very busy night for me, and despite my regular urging, my friends/ride kept delaying our arrival at the show. Unfortunately, Problems had already performed. We caught a bit of one bands set, interesting to be sure, but I don’t recall the act’s name. After it, however, our plans to call it a night were derailed by the incredible performance from a duo by the name of Why I Must be Careful (www.myspace.com/whyimustbecareful). It was a completely enthralling experience, led by a distorted Rhode’s 88 key (which was making noises I did not know electric pianos could make), jazz-esque drums and strange, arty, poetic vocal ejaculations. It was rather awe inspiring really. I have wanted to catch their sets since, but unfortunately my other obligations in life have kept me from making it to view a second performance by the powerful pair.

It would seem that the moment has come where the outside world calls me presently away from my computer, so I must again away, though I promise to try not to let it be so long until I return. But before I do depart, I want to say that one of my favorite local acts, Kickball (previously mentioned, see Gotta Love PDX), is playing the first show after their long hiatus. It is scheduled of the 30^th of this month (May) at Olympia legacy the ABC House. It is the only show they currently have scheduled, and unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. But to those who can, do. They will be playing with Francois Virot (www.myspace.com/francoisvirot) of Lyon, France who they have shared several tours spanning Europe and the US with. Francois will also be playing here in Portland the following night at the Funky Church (2456 SE Tamarack) with longtime contributor to the Olympia music scene Jenny Jenkins. Again, I won’t be able to make it, but I’m sure it will be a great representation of the global DIY community and its place here in the great Northwest. Check it if you can.

Wow!

OK, so last night I opted out of the world, excepting old friends and classic films on VHS. The night before, however, I spent on the outskirts of a foreign land. And on this particular night, it was a populated place indeed.

I don’t know anything about electronic music. Well, that’s not entirely true; I have a vague knowledge as to how it is produced, the slightest notion what constitutes markers in the gradation between its various genres and subcategories and have amassed a short list of names which I associate with it. Locally, the name that tops that list is M. Quiet.

2½ years ago, if you told me I would actually start going to clubs and paying to hear DJs’ sets, I would have laughed at you. As a man who just finished a several year stretch as an unpaid radio DJ and recording engineer, who saw live music at least once week and rarely paid for it, the concept of paying to get into a loud room to hear someone spin records was just absurd. If you’d told me a year ago, I would not have been so quick to judge, but I still would have had a hard time realistically picturing it. About six months ago, I found myself trying to climb my way out of some dark and disappointing times, and realized that I needed some manner of visceral diversion from certain habits which I found to be weighing me down. A good friend of mine was an old fan of electronic music, having been party to the Northwest rave scene in the early 90’s. He had decided to reacquaint with the genre and scene after a long hiatus. Being Aquarian of age, if nothing else, I possess the foresight to know that much of the future of the arts will exist primarily in the digital realm, and one must grasp the fundamentals of what these changes will mean, if one hopes to maintain cultural and artistic relevance. Music has been at the forefront of this wave of change. It occurred to me that the fortuitousness of my being around when my friend decided to plunge back into a world I was intrigued by but knew little about was perhaps just the opportunity to educate myself and simultaneously end a long stint of self imposed isolation. Quickly I learned that when the undeniable dance-ability of a good set met with the heat and energy produced once critical mass was achieved on the dance floor, I had the very visceral distraction I was much in need of; need is not a word I like to use lightly. Well that is plenty about my little journey of self discovery, let us examine how the places it has led me affect my ability to “report” on the state of the arts in Portland.

Kulturszene (www.myspace.com/kulturszene) is, as far as I can tell, a semi-regularly occurring showcase of talent, hosted by 31 Avas (www.myspace.com/31avas) and M. Quiet (www.myspace.com/matthewquiet) at Branx (320 SE 2^nd Avenue). In the six months or so that I have been patronizing clubs for the purpose of hearing electronic music and DJs of electronic music I would say the single most regularly attended night or event for me has been Kulterszene. The music, I am told, can generally be classified as “minimal”; that’s not the first adjective I’d use to describe it, but as I said, I know very little about electronic music. However, I have been around music for the whole of my adult life, and I can tell when something is picking up momentum. Last night’s headline DJ was Arohan (www.myspace.com/arohanpdx), a local face I certainly recognize, but whose set I had only heard once before. Well I don’t know if it was his personal fan base, or just the word getting out about Kulturszene, but Friday, February 8^th, 2008 was hot. Just about any face I could recognize from this pocket of culture was present, and many, many more. Branx is not a big club; being the back entrance/downstairs of Rotture (315 SE 3^rd Avenue), or maybe vice-versa. It was all Loveland when I moved to this town. Anyways, the stripped down interior and no frills furnishing tend to blend easily with the jeans and hoodie aesthetic so popular in the Portland arts culture. Friday, however, I thought I saw a hint of glamour standing out against the bare brick walls and steel support beams. It’s possible that this was just an influx of whatever is fashionable in more glamorous places, but something tells me that maybe Portland is starting find a polished finish to accompany the matte one on its underground.

The opening set, five record tradeoffs between 31 Avas and M. Quiet, which I believe is a fairly common Kulturszene practice, warmed up the dance floor and built the tension necessary for the climax to come. Curiosity about another facet of Portland lead my companion in potential mischief, mayhem and other forms of cultural interloping and I to depart briefly from the affair. A free show at Someday Lounge (125 NW 5^th Avenue) drew our attention because: a.) we had yet to check out the venue, & b.) it was free, which does not seem to be SOP at this establishment. We caught about 3 full songs by a band called Chores (www.myspace.com/choresmusic), a rock quartet in the psychedelic/garage tradition. I’d never heard of them, but they were a tight ensemble who clearly took their art seriously, but without an air of pretense. It seemed that with steady gigging and properly focused marketing, they could probably build a solid fan base. My companion and I concurred that they would be excellently matched for a show with Glass Elevator. The venue itself felt to me like an Old Town answer to the Doug Fir (830 E Burnside St), only with the focus being on the venue and no isolated bar section. I lacked the funds for proper patronization, and thus cannot comment on the drinks’ price or quality nor really report on the service of the staff. I’ll say it was a comfy joint, and if the right act came and the cover was one I could afford, I see no hard/fast reason to object to attending events there.

Upon returning to Branx, Arohan was spinning his set, and the place was throbbing. The dance floor was well beyond the quorum of active bodies for an energetic set, people were generally getting down and more were arriving by the minute. I’d say the peak of the night was around the end of Arohan’s set and the beginning of the solo M. Quiet set which followed. The crowd was in deep in thrall to the DJs’ whim, and the field of energy created by the unified throng of dancers was absolutely rhapsodic. Though, as the night waned, so did the population of the dance floor, M. Quiet kept bumping out hot beats, and people kept grooving till the club staff made the universally acknowledged sign of “get the fuck out, we want to go home”, which is the turning on of bright, overhead (in the case of Branx, fluorescent) lights.

I may not know much about this slice of culture, but I tend to be able to intuitively track trends, and I definitely have watched little things grow and explode a time or two in Northwest music. It looks like something might actually be taking shape to hold down a newly established scene in PDX. The influx of people to Kulturszene and other clearly related events over the last several months, and even weeks, certainly does point towards exponential growth. Well, we shall see. My readers shall accompany me on my own explorations of new territory. It’s fun actually, in both an exciting and disconcerting way. I can’t recall the last time I was regularly exposed to some subcultural movement, but still remained almost entirely outside on a social level.

Anyways, soon I must away, for several older strains of Olympia and Portland music culture have converged, and tonight they are playing at my favorite Westside venue: Valentines (232 SW Ankeny St). A cute, intimate little art bar with tasty, original drink items, good taste in music for both playing and booking (from what I’ve heard), and some incredibly enchanting bar staff. Dim Rocket Delta (www.myspace.com/dimrocketdelta) a Portland band, in the punk tradition as far as I can tell, comprised of longtime contributors to the Olympia music scene, is kicking off their West coast tour with Olympia act GoGo Simba (www.myspace.com/gogosimba) tonight. I can’t claim to be particularly familiar with either act, but I have heard some recordings of DRD, and was a well versed fan of previous work by some of its members. Whatever the case, it should be educational. I will go into more detail on the matter with my next post. Until then…