Recent Stories with tag portland

After taking a tour of Columbia City Theater I was itching to hear a band in there, and Abbey told me something called Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives [Facebook] would be more than worth the trip. They're the eponymous Drew Grow (lead vocals, guitar), Cookie (percussion), Kris Doty (upright bass), and Seth Schaper (keyboards), from Portland, Oregon.

Sound on the Sound has been singing their praises locally, and Seattle Weekly has joined the choir--describing a performance as one of those "rare, game-changing live music experiences, the kind when you're watching a band and your chest swells up big and red and raw like a great frigatebird during mating season...."

I can hardly make my balky fingers type the description of their music, which is: indie folk-rock fired up by gospel and soul. (Try to imagine a Decemberists air floating out of an AME church, I dare you.) It's unusual, is all. But "It All Comes Right" (off their latest album) comes complete with a soul chorus that the 200-odd souls at Columbia City Theater on Saturday night joined into with uninhibited fervency.... (more)

At Bumbershoot Monday, the Broad Street Stage had the awesome back-to-back-to-back lineup of Japandroids, Surfer Blood, and The Thermals.  Before their set, Surfer Blood briefly chatted with The Thermals in Japandroids' plush (souped up with a DVD player and wifi), creepy (tinted windows), environmentally friendly (biodiesel) Sprinter van.  All three bands play this weekend's MusicfestNW in Portland, The Thermals' new album, Personal Life, is out on Kill Rock Stars as of Tuesday, and Surfer Blood will be back in Seattle with The Drums, at Neumo's on October 4th.

Thomas Fekete, Surfer Blood guitarist: What famous people do you see from Portland in the grocery store?

Kathy Foster, Thermals bassist: Quasi-famous. Quasi.

Hutch Harris, Thermals guitarist/vocalist: I saw Danny Glover one time.  Danny Glover has a house in Portland.

KF: Steve Malkmus and I are on a softball team this summer.

HH: Except he kinda flaked out.

KF: He only played one game.

HH: What, Pavement had to tour?  Didn't they know he has a softball team?

TF: The first time I ever saw Steve Malkmus in person, he was sitting in a mall, cross-legged, eating an ice cream cone, by himself on a bench. It was pretty perfect.

K: What mall?

TF: It was in Barcelona.

HH: I made coffee for Art from Everclear one time.

TF:  Everlast tried to fight us.  Do you guys know the guys from Everlast?  Have they ever tried to fight you?  [laughs]  Because apparently they try to fight every other band in the world.... (more)

Danyna Hanson's "Gloria's Cause," part of the TBA Festival starting this weekend in Portland. Photo: Ben Kasulke.

If there's one thing Seattle sadly lacks, it's a big festival of contemporary performance, like Austin's Fusebox, New York's Under the Radar, or even Vancouver, B.C.'s PuSH. Yes, On the Boards brings in touring artists like that all year long, as well as serving as an incubator for local talent. And Theatre off Jackson does, too (them being, in their own words, "the working women's On the Boards"). And finally, there's plenty of smaller presenters doing the leg-work to bring high quality art to Seattle (did you know that Paula the Swedish Housewife is bringing in Taylor Mac for an intimate, one-night-only performance at Oddfellows?).

Well, as much as we all may wish that, on top of all that, we could be subjected to a big, two-week festival as well, it ain't happening anytime soon. But a short drive down to Portland this September gets you to the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's 2010 TBA Festival, one of the country's premier showcases of performance (with film, music and visual art thrown in).

Starting Thursday, Sept. 9, Portland plays host to a fantastic line-up of artists from around the world, as well as showcasing some of the Northwest's top talent.

On the theatre front, the first weekend features a pair of amazing solo performers. Mike Daisey is already pretty well known in the Northwest, having began his career as a lectern-based monologuist in Seattle, tackling the New Economy absurdity of Amazon.com. For TBA, he's returning to similar territory with The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, a new work which explores the rather unpleasant process by which Apple's beloved products are made in Chinese factories where workers toil in subpar working conditions. Also appearing is Conor Lovett of the Gare St. Lazare Players, performing two of Samuel Beckett's prose pieces as monologues. If that sounds odd, trust me, it's not to be missed. There's a long tradition of presenting Beckett's prose work theatrically (it's laugh-out-loud funny), and this weekend I did a phoner with Lovett, so expect more soon.... (more)

Those finding that a full Labor Day weekend at Bumbershoot doesn't quite satiate their summer festival appetites need not worry. A few short days after Seattle Center closes its big music, art, comedy, and elephant ear extravaganza, you can hop on a train to Portland for another exceptional in-city festival in the form of Musicfest Northwest. A more serene kid brother counterpart to the mayhem at Austin's SXSW, MFNW overtakes the Rose City's downtown bars and clubs and fills them with great live acts at bargain basement prices. 

The preliminary lineup for the festival's 10th anniversary was announced today and includes the National and the Decemberists in headlining spots, with support from Okkervil River, Panda Bear, Major Lazer, the Thermals, the Tallest Man on Earth, Menomena, the Walkmen, Ra Ra Riot, Titus Andronicus, and dozens and dozens of others that will have you fondly looking into reservations at the Ace, the Jupiter, or your friend's couch. (Full lineup after the jump)... (more)

An embarrassment of cinematic riches awaits film fest attendees this Memorial Day Weekend, so let's just hop right in, shall we? For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations, which cost more.

Visionaries: Jonas Mekas and the (Mostly) American Avant-Garde Cinema  Ace documentarian Chuck Workman serves up a great primer on Underground Cinema, with Anthology Archives curator and filmmaker Mekas functioning as a charming epicenter. Marilyn Brakhage (widow of underground film legend Stan Brakhage) and Workman will be attending. (May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)

Wheedle's Groove  Seattle's long-overlooked 1970s funk/soul scene gets some overdue props in this documentary, with everyone from Quincy Jones to Mark Arm to Sir Mix-a-Lot weighing in. (May 28, 4:30 p.m. @ Everett Performing Arts Center; May 30, 9:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema--the latter screening is sold-out, but rush tickets may still be available)

Farewell  In SIFF's Centerpiece Gala film, an unassuming French engineer working in Moscow gets pulled into big time international espionage, thanks to a high-level comrade disaffected with the course of communism. The spycraft hovers on the edge of untrained sloppiness, infusing the whole endeavor with a growing sense of dread as the consequences of their subterfuge take a toll on their personal lives. The build to the suspenseful finale is a slow burn, but well earned. (May 29, 6:30 p.m. @ The Egyptian; May 31, 3:00 p.m. @ Everett; June 12, 6:30 p.m. @ Uptown)

Cane Toads: The Conquest--in 3D  They're louder, they're fatter, they're wartier, they're peskier...and they're in eye-popping 3D, for God's sake! (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ The Neptune)

Restrepo  Described as a non-fiction companion piece to The Hurt Locker, this doc follows the progress of several U.S. soldiers doing battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan's peril-fraught Korengal Valley. (May 28, 6:30 p.m @ Harvard Exit; May 29, 3:45 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)

Southern District  Director Juan Carlos Valdivia tells a Bolivian Upstairs, Downstairs tale with languid circular shots and a largely amateur cast. The trailer portends a most visually stunning feature. (May 28, 6:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place; May 29, 1:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place)

The Hedgehog  Cute but imperfect film version of the popular novel about a twelve-year-old French girl with a video camera and a suicide pact with herself, the apartment building's reclusive janitor, and a mysterious new neighbor. [spoiler: attempts to gain gravitas with a surprise death] (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ Uptown; May 30, 4:00 p.m. @ Uptown)

Senior Prom  World premiere of Mountlake Terrace high school student's feature film; take that, Shoreline/Shorecrest lipdubbers! (May 28, 7:00 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema; June 1, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)... (more)

The Builders and the Butchers photo courtesy thebuildersandthebutchers.com

The Builders and the Butchers (B&B) graced us with an all-ages show at El Corazon last weekend with Zechs Marquise and headliners Rx Bandits. Sunday night was the Portland-based band's second visit to Seattle this year, and I'm really excited they've made a habit of dropping by. The first time I listened to B&B's CD at Sonic Boom a few months back, I noticed they were playing the Crocodile (the next day as a matter of fact), so I bought the album and a ticket. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be amazing.

Their live show matches the veracity of the recorded music.  They play with wild enthusiasm--having two drummers hammering on tom-toms through more than half their songs can do that--and they even throw out tambourines and noisemakers so the audience can take part. It's the combination of driving, heavy drums, and the higher pitch of the mandolin and banjo that really makes them great.  It will remind you of a high-energy group of Irish guys having a fantastic time with their friends amid a flurry of music. If you're into The Decemberists or Murder by Death, then you'll love this band.

The Builders And The Butchers "Golden And Green" from Alicia J. Rose on Vimeo.... (more)

Thursday night at the Crocodile was a bit subdued, but all in all an evening of quality music. The lineup consisted of Friday Mile, Ritchie Young (lead singer of Portland's Loch Lomond) backed up by a string section, and the headliner Grand Hallway.

Friday Mile @ the Crocodile

The local group Friday Mile started the show off. They came together in 2005 and started touring up and down the West Coast. Most recently, they released Good Luck Studio with the help of well-known L.A. producer Dennis McKay.

As their website claims, "the new tracks showcase the band's keen sense of songwriting, lyrical imagery, and gratuitous use of melody and harmony." Friday Mile are a lot of fun to watch, and if the crowd was any indication, they already have quite the following.

Ritchie Young @ the Crocodile

This was Ritchie Young's second show at the Croc, as he sang with Loch Lomond in January, and made an impression. This time he was backed by a talented and well-dressed group of violin, viola, and cello players. His higher range makes for a haunting sound that seems to linger in the air after each verse. The strings fit right in with the soft melodic feel.

My favorite was his cover of the Bee Gees' song "Holiday." I'd remembered it from the January show and was excited he'd made it a regular part of his set.

Grand Hallway @ the Crocodile

Grand Hallway rounded out the show and then some. They're an eight-piece orchestral pop band that includes members from several other local favorites Voyager One, the Maldives, Sleepy Eyes of Death, Widower, and Shenandoah Davis.... (more)

To catch you up for the sixth and final season of Lost, Portland-based cartoonists Graham Annable and Vera Brosgol have presented their own "Foggy memories of LOST" via Flickr.  It's got all your favorite lost moments, including Charlotte with a nose bleed, Hurley driving the Dharmamobile, and when Desmond met Jack.  Oh, misty water-colored Island memories.

"2009.276 - One Drink Too Many" by Shawn McClung, via the SunBreak Flickr pool.

Men's Health is set to publish their annual list of "America's Drunkest Cities" in the upcoming March issue.  For whatever reason, they don't have the new list up on the website just yet, but they've released their results to the rest of the media (full list here, care of yesterday's the USA Today). 

Denver has been stripped of its "Drunkest" crown, but the majority of the top ten are still located in the West, with the bottom ten mostly being in the East (one exception: those Mormons in Salt Lake City, of course).  Seattle comes in as the 64th-drunkest city, with Portland out-drinking us at #40.  The rankings come from stats like "death rates from alcoholic liver disease, booze-fueled car crashes, frequency of binge-drinking in the past month, number of DUI arrests, and severity of DUI penalties."  See the Men's Health website for a more in-depth explanation of the data they use. 

And while you're there, check out the map of last year's rankings.  It's confusing and counterintuitive, but consider the numbers in a backwards fashion--so Denver, last year's #1 drunkest city, shows up with an overall rank of #100.  Or as Men's Health puts it: "For the overall ranking, a lower ranking is better. That is, a city ranked No. 17 is less drunk than one ranked No. 89. For the individual criteria, however, a higher ranking is better. So a city ranked No. 92 for DUI has fewer drunk-driving arrests each year than a city ranked No. 3."

In that case, last year Seattle came in at #79 (the 21st-drunkest city) and Portland was right there with us at #80 (the 20th-drunkest city).  So Portland is now twenty slots less drunk than in last year's survey, and Seattle's moved down the drunken list past a whopping 43 cities?  I'll drink to that.

Faith Helma in Hand2Mouth Theatre's "Undine," photo by Tim Summers.

"What I've always loved about his telling of it was that it was very ambiguous," said Faith Helma of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's 1811 fairy tale novella Undine. "Like, 'The Little Mermaid,' you read the original version of it, it's a pretty dark story. But this one was even more so. All of the characters are very ambiguous, and none of the characters are all bad or all good. Even the most creepy, scary character, you can kind of see his point of view. He's not a villain. And then there's the spirit world, which is frightening but also beautiful. And she's presented as this character you can identify with, but who's not to be trusted. There's something a little unsettling about it. That was my experience of reading the story—you can't really decide if you're on her side."

This was last Saturday, and I was sitting in Fresh Pot Cafe in Portland, Oregon's Mississippi district, with Helma and her husband Jonathan Walters. The two are long-time members of Portland's well respected experimental theatre company Hand2Mouth, which Walters founded in 2000. This Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29 and 30, they're bringing Helma's first solo work, Undine, back to Seattle, where it debuted in 2008 as part of the Northwest New Works Festival at On the Boards. The performances are at Theatre off Jackson, in a co-presentation with Seattle's Satori Group (tickets $10-$12), with a panel discussion about creating new work in the Northwest after each performance, moderated by The Stranger's Brendan Kiley.

While nominally inspired by Fouqué's novella, elements of which Helma admits trying to incorporate into Hand2Mouth's previous shows to little or no success, the piece is not so much an adaptation of the narrative. "I'm obsessed with the fairy tale, so I wind up talking about that, but I feel like it leaves this image in people's minds of, 'Okay, solo performance, fairy tale...'" She trailed off, eyes rolling and chuckling at the image that description must put in people's minds.... (more)

Sunset on the Portland to Seattle trip

President Obama's plug for high speed rail in the State of the Union address was followed by AP reporting, tonight, that Washington state is one of the thirteen major corridors in line to see faster service: in our case, from Seattle to Portland.

Sen. Patty Murray says we will receive $590 million, and extra Amtrak trains. Seattlepi.com say the improvements on the Seattle to Portland line will allow Amtrak trains to pass BNSF freight trains, the slowpokes that often cause delays currently. The ultimate goal is a top speed of 110 mph.

Chop Suey had a respectable turnout last night for Portland's Cars & Trains, especially considering it was your typical rainy January Monday.  (But so warm!  I didn't even wear a coat!)  Anyways, the crowd was there to see one-man band Tom Filepp make his electro-folk-pop via furious multitasking (see the vid above from his performance at the Lo-Fi two months ago).  As I said before, dude definitely keeps busy, but somehow he makes it all look easy.  Well, as easy as it is to use a laptop while playing a guitar while tooting a little horn while playing a mini-glockenspiel while singing.  CHILD'S PLAY.... (more)

Seattle squirrels even pitch in on recycling.

Despite the obvious "fixie gap," when Sightline added up greenie points for the Northwest's (they call us "Cascadia") three largest cities, Seattle came in ahead of Portland. Vancouver, B.C., was greenest of them all but that is to be expected, as they are Canadians and don't have money to waste.

Sightline's Alan Durning says our northern neighbors have:

...the highest urban density, the most cycling, the most walking, the most transit ridership, the fewest cars—and the least driving—per person, the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per capita by far (thanks to its car-lite ways and to its carbon-free electricity), the lowest teen birth rate and family size, the highest life expectancy, and the lowest poverty rate.

Overachievers.

Portland, the conventional wisdom runner-up, with those green jobs and sustainable development, may have been resting on their laurels, unwisely focusing on growing facial hair, getting sleeve tattoos, and loading up on terrific places to eat brunch. They took their eye off the ball. And now they are paying the price.

In health (we live three years longer), economy (well, we knew that),  sprawl (on a city-limits basis Seattle is more compact), and energy (hydropower + walking = win!), we lead Portland. We're tied on population replacement.

(Now, to be fair, there are other ways of contrasting the two cities. Portland has an NBA team and an income tax. Seattleites pay sales tax and watch the Sounders.)

But we can't let our second place achievement go to our heads. Durning closes by pointing out that none of the three cities is close to "sustainable." We still have super-size carbon footprints, still pollute like crazy, and still run through natural resources faster than they can replenish.

Cars & Trains is really just one guy: Portland-based multi-instrumentalist Tom Filepp.  Filepp makes dreamy singer-songwriter folk-pop, but accents the acoustic guitars with little electronic flourishes.  Not so much that it's twee or overdone (see Owl City), but just enough to separate him from the rest of the hushed bedroom crowd.  His second album The Roots, The Leaves is out later this month (the 26th), with a remixed version of the album available the same day that includes such like-minded musicians as Universal Studios Florida, Melodium, and Ernest Gonzales, all of whom crafted their own nuanced take on Cars & Trains' tunes.

In his musical mishmashes, Tom deftly mixes electronic elements and found sounds with acoustic instrumentation as varied as woodwinds, banjos, guitars, strings, and glockenspiel.  It's tech-driven yet organic, and if that sounds like a contradiction, it is--but it works, with Tom's thickly layered breathy vocals sitting atop all those rambling sounds, giving them a natural, cohesive fit.  Tonight at Chop Suey is your chance to see him loop everything together live. I'd say that based on the above, during his set, dude keeps busy.

 

• Cars & Trains play Chop Suey tonight, along with the aforementioned USF and Big Spider's Back (it's the latter's headlining CD release show).  Doors 8pm, show 9.  $6, 21+.

Photo courtesy of WSDOT

I just read over at the WSDOT blog that the Amtrak Cascades line is getting a makeover, scheduled for March 2010, once the Winter Olympics are done with.

Besides Wi-Fi and an upgraded video system (the existing video set-up has a charming Soviet-era quality)--hold back the tears, business travelers!--there will be an complete renovation of the bistro and lounge cars. Above is the proposed new look for the bistro car, sort of a Jetsons-meets-the-Rialto-concession-stand vibe.

WSDOT invites you to leave comments and suggestions on their post. Apparently they have some sway with Amtrak. I don't know that I'd put the water fountain at what looks like the entrance to the car. Seems like you turn around with your cup and BLAM! the guy in a hurry smacks you on his way past.

Skillet's poutine, courtesy of The SunBreak Flickr Pool member 7502winona

Seattle magazine, as a side order of their October issue street food coverage, have cooked up a cool idea, a Mobile Chowdown featuring some of Seattle's favorite food trucks: Marination Mobile, Skillet, Maximus Minimus, Kaosamai Thai, Gert's BBQ, El Camion, Parfait Ice Cream, and Dante's Inferno Dogs.

It's this Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 1616 W. Bertona in Interbay. There's also an ongoing Twitter contest for followers of @mobilechowdown. They're asking one question each day from October 1 until October 10, (total of 10 questions) all having to do with the food trucks or the prize providers. The prize is dinner for two at Tilth Restaurant, a night at the Sorrento Hotel, and a year's worth of Seattle magazine.

This is all very good. For a start. But the obvious question is why can't I have my street food in one convenient location all the time? (Convenient, by the way, rules out Interbay.) This kind of forward-thinking is one more area in which Portland has Seattle beat. First of all, Food Carts Portland shames us with its very existence and abundance of wagon-prepared fare.

But secondly, Portland has a street food corral downtown, where a wagon train of street food vendors have set up shop on the perimeter of what I vaguely remember to be a parking lot. This is a stroke of genius. Downtown workers are always in a rush to get a cheap lunch.

We still have the chance to one-up PDX on this, though.

We could line Occidental Square with carts (or run them down the center). That would give people (besides our wishfully labeled "transient" population) a reason to sit down and enjoy the tables and chairs set out there. If we wanted to progressive about it, we could even use the rent the city charged the carts to fund homeless services in the area. Who do we talk to about getting this going?