Author: zornog

  • musicfest itinerary

    Briefly:

    Wednesday
    There’s only one lineup, and that is — Fences, Portland Cello Project, Damian Juardo, and Will Scheff (of Okkervil River) @ Wonder Ballroom.  I am excited about all of this.

    Thursday
    Dr. Dog & Helio Sequence @ Wonder
    Either Cymbals Eat Guitars @ Doug Fir or Tu Fawning @ Berbati’s.  Probably the latter cause it will make us closer to
    The Twilight Sad & Frightened Rabbits @ Dante’s!  TWILIGHT SAD!

    Friday
    Arctic Monkeys @ Wonder
    Something, not sure yet
    M64 @ Jimmy Mak’s
    Explode into Colors @ Holocene
    THE LONG WINTERS! @ Berbati’s.  YAAAAY NEANDERTHAL JOHN RODERICK!

    Saturday
    Lots of bands playing 30 minute sets at Rontoms
    Saturday is kind of iffy.
    World’s Greatest Ghosts @ Backspace
    Brunettes @ Berbati’s
    probly Ava Buffalo @ Berbati’s
    Point Juncture, WA @ Mississippi Studios
    Church & Finn Riggins @ East End

    Sunday
    Sunday has only one lineup, with Morning Teleportation, Mimicking Birds, Love as Laughter, and Modest Mouse as headliners. Dunno how into them I’m going to be, but Mimicking Birds is playing and I’ve really come to love the free CD-R I snagged at their MFNW show last year.

    All in all, a crazy time, and lots of fun.

  • variations on a theme; or, how to save the american theatre

    Take a deep breath folks, have a seat, bring a glass of wine, because this is going to be a big one.

    Before I begin, you have prerequisite reading: The Empty Spaces, or, How Theatre Failed America, an essay from the Seattle Stranger by Mike Daisey.  You must read this before you continue.  Don’t worry, I can wait.

    Ready?  Okay. (more…)

  • one year down, a bunch more to go

    This weekend marks one year since I moved to Portland.  To some people that might seem arbitrary, trivial even, but to a guy who lived in one place his entire life, it’s pretty big news. (more…)

  • bsu is smoke free, and i hate it

    Boise State University has recently implemented a “smoke-free” campuswide policy, meaning that no one can smoke on campus, anywhere.  This is a Stupid Idea.  Not only because it infringes on personal liberties, but also because it enforces ideas that are Dumb, such as the idea that you are going to inhale secondhand smoke outside.  The only time this happens is if you are sitting next to someone who is smoking, and the smoke blows in your face because of the wind. Period.  Standing ten, five, hell, even three feet away from a smoker will not make you inhale secondhand smoke.  And even if you did, there’s this ludicrous idea that just a little bit of smoke will cause terminal lung cancer or something.  Grow up, people.  Lung tissue rebuilds, cleans itself.  A smoker who quits will have healthy lung tissue in about seven years.  Yes, a doctor said this to my father, who had been smoking for the past forty years.

    Of course, I’m not a proponent of smoking — it nearly killed my father.  But I am a proponent of civil liberties, and the concept of being able to do whatever you want with your bodies, so long as it harms no one else (without their consent; if you want to be harmed, you’d better say so first).  Smoking only harms other people when it’s inside a building.  That I think we can all agree on.  The smoke accumulates and after a while we’re all smoking what you’re smoking.  But outside, there’s this wonderful device called Wind, which picks up the smoke and pushes it away from you.  Or, if it pushes it toward you, there’s another device called Legs, which carry you to a location where the smoke is not.  Crazy, but it works.

    But no, Boise State had to buckle under the pressure of whatever hoity toity North End millionaires decided that smoking is bad, mmkay.  After the jump is an article from the Arbiter, the BSU newspaper; a Q&A about the smoking ban.  I’ve included some comments in the quotes themselves; they are in [brackets]. (more…)

  • a decemberists dream (a rarity, i assure you)

    I very rarely remember my dreams, aside from trivial details, like dreams wherein I can’t find the remote control for the TV.  This dream, however, actually lasted a while and was pretty funny.  So, as an homage to Todd’s blog o’ dreams, here’s mine.  It, surprisingly, involves the Decemberists[1. No sarcasm there — despite my /orate friends dreaming about the D’s to a great extent, I think this is the second dream I’ve had about them, and the first in such detail.].

    So I’m at a D’s concert, obviously, in a big, wide outdoor arena.  I was with friends, but I don’t remember who they were.  We got front row but way left, all the way to the edge. Yet, Colin was still somewhat center of me. Oh well.

    They come out, people cheer. They start to play Hazards, but the song is all gibberish (in my head). Somehow my POV switches to a person’s video camera, which Colin has noticed and begins to sing to. It’s kind of fisheye-y.  As he sings, you can see he’s a little out of it, and he starts forgetting lyrics.  Then, out of the blue, he stops playing.  The whole band stops.  He says, “I’m sorry, but something’s not right” to the audience, then he and the other D’s proceed to pull Jenny’s organ station and Moen’s drums closer to the stage, basically putting the whole thing closer to the audience.  We erupt in cheers.

    Then they start playing a really, really weird, psychedelic version of Hazards.  Everyone’s like, cool, but it’s barely audible through the speakers. So everyone starts shouting, “Turn it up!” and pointing their index fingers to the sky[2. In much the same way musicians do to the sound guy — point to a monitor, then point up.]. There might’ve been booing involved, I don’t remember; what I do remember is Nate Query throwing his bass down, doing one of those loud whistles where you put your fingers in the corners of your mouth, and shouting, “You know what? FUCK YOU” and then leaving the stage.  I remember him wearing a weird black barbershop quartet hat, but it was black and had a lot of shiny jangly jangles on it — something, I assume, John Popper would wear.  Anyway, the rest of the band follows him offstage.

    At this point I’m confused.  I turn and notice that my friends — and mostly everyone else — has left, marching in a giant swarm of humanoids towards the ticket office to demand a refund.  I hurry after them.  But about halfway there, I turn and look at the stage — and notice the D’s going back onstage and grabbing their instruments to play.  So I shout, “Looks like they’re coming back!” and suddenly there’s a stampede as everyone rushes back to the stage.  I’m running my ass off, thinking I’m gonna lose my sweet spot!

    As I’m running I pass by a giant, gnarled foot, draped in a blue and yellow sundress (flowery pattern, I think) down to the ankle. I’m supposing this belonged to some giant woman, but I can’t confirm this because my alarm clock went off and woke me up.  And that’s my dream.

  • show #2: 7/28 horse feathers & thao with the get down stay down @ the woods

    I really feel the need to write this entry not because the show was phenomenal (which it was), but more to spotlight The Woods, the new musical venue in Sellwood.  It is, in a word, great.  It used to be a funeral parlor for chrissakes!  Imagine if the Fisher family decided to hold rock shows in their viewing room — THAT’S what the Woods is like.  Unfortunately I didn’t think to take pictures of the place while I was there, but their website has some good pics, so check it out.  And if you live in the area, go see a show there!  Support that place, because it rocks. (more…)

  • show #1: 7/24 the thermals, jackpot records

    This last weekend was pretty hectic for music.  The Thermals had an instore at Jackpot on Friday, PDX Pop Now! was on Saturday and Sunday (I didn’t go, I was fighting a nasty head cold in which my snot was somehow stuck in a gravity well), Monday was the Noisettes at Berbati’s (again, didn’t go, mostly because it was FRIGGIN HOT OUTSIDE), and Tuesday was Horse Feathers and Thao Nguyen at the Woods (Which I did go to, and will be the subject of the “show #2” post.

    You know, the great thing about the Thermals instore[1. It was all great.] was that it wasn’t over a hundred degrees outside.  It was still hot, but it wasn’t Ridiculous.  Were they scheduled to play a show today, or yesterday, with 100+ degree temperatures, I think they would’ve called it off, because we would’ve all gotten heat exhaustion from rocking out so hard.

    … That was a really long-winded way to say that the Thermals kicked ass at Jackpot.  Sorry about that.  Sometimes writers like to be a little too wordy.

    I don’t really have much to say, other than they were tight, they were awesome, and they played that one Nirvana song that I can never remember the name of (“and if you something something, i will make you happy” or however those lyrics go) AND “Basketcase,” which was cool.  It was hot, we were all sweating, and some dudes in the front were headbanging to everything.  Overall, it was a lovely reminder of how great that band is, and now I can say that they are great live.

    Here’s a couple of photos I took with the ol’ cell phone camera:

    Hutch Harris
    Hutch Harris
    Hutch on a thing!  Yeah!  Punk!
    Hutch on a thing! Yeah! Punk!
    The whole band.  Hutch, some guy who is their drummer, and Kathy
    The whole band. Hutch, some guy who is their drummer, and Kathy
  • the decemberists adventure!

    Finally, something interesting happens with my life, which means I can update my blog.  I feel bad, because my last blog was harping on Portlanders, calling them “two-dimensional.”  I should say some Portlanders are two-dimensional.  It was all tongue-in-cheek to begin with, I swear!

    Anyway, this past weekend was, since Musicfest all the way back in September, my favorite weekend that I’ve had since moving to Portland.  Why was it my favorite weekend since moving here, you ask?  Because I got to see the Decemberists play twice, AND I GOT A BACKSTAGE PASS.

    Read on, reader. (more…)

  • life in portland

    I’d say eighty-five percent of conversations I’ve had with people who live in Portland either start, or turn into, something like this:

    Me: So I’m thinking about getting something to eat…
    Person: Oh yeah?  Where are you going?
    Me: I dunno, I was thinking East Burn?
    Person: OH. MY. GOD. THAT PLACE IS SO. GOOD.
    Me: Uh, yeah, it’s pretty tasty.

    Or:

    Me: So I’m thinking about getting something to eat…
    Person: Have you ever been to Mama Mia?
    Me: Mama Mia? Nope.
    Person: OH. MY. GOD. IT IS SO. GOOD.
    Me: Oh yeah?

    Or:

    Person: Have you tried the new Rogue ale?
    Me: Nope. Let me guess, is it good?
    Person: OH. MY. GOD. IT IS … SOGOOD.

    Or:

    Me: I’m thinking about heading to Powells to–
    Person: OH MY GOD, I. LOVE. POWELLS.
    Me: Yeah, everyone does, it’s–
    Person: IT’S A BLOCK OF BOOKS.
    Me: I know.
    Person: SO. GOOD.

    Or:

    Me: Have you heard of this band?
    Person: SO. GOOD.

    Or:

    Person: We should go to Ground Kontrol tonight. THAT PLACE IS SO. AWESOME.

    Or:

    Me: Have you been–
    Person: SO. GOOD.
    Me: I haven’t even said–
    Person: AWESOME, THEIR SUSHI IS TO. DIE. FOR.
    Me: It’s not sushi!
    Person: I GOTTA GO.

    Or:

    Me: Have you been to that baby-strangling place?
    Person: OH. MY. GOD. BEST BABY STRANGLING PLACE EVER.

    My point being — the city is apparently the best place ever, but the people are a little two-dimensional.  When you ask people what they do for a living, they say something like, “I’m a vegan” or “I have tattoos.”  They pierce their septum or wear bright neon spandex or ride bicycles everywhere.  They read Nietzsche and Marx and quote them in an attempt to seem cool, but when you try to have a conversation with them it all falls into mush.  They love pop culture “ironically” (read: they really just love pop culture), and they like bands so obscure they probably just made them up on the spot.

    I always thought that I wanted to be a part of the hipster community, but now that I see it face-to-face, I really, really don’t.

  • the bus chronicles

    Tomorrow is the last day I see my morning bus driver. He is driving at a different time, and I leave for Boise on Friday. I truly am going to miss him: of all the bus driver’s I’ve let drive me around, he truly was the most punctual and the most efficient, while at the same time being friendly and very aware of his job. A lot of bus drivers don’t take the time to see if their regular riders are a little late to their stop. Once, I saw the 19 drive by as I was a block away from the stop. Annoyed (more at my own tardiness), I walked to the corner, and turned … to see that he had stopped the bus, as if he was waiting for me. When I boarded, I said, “I didn’t think you would stop for me!” and he said, “Well … I got here a little early…”

    Truly, if there ever was a better example of pure heterosexual brotherly love than that moment, I would like to hear it. (and no ancient Greek examples, please.) (more…)