(Each of the last three years, I’ve traveled over to Portland for MusicfestNW, a multi-day, multi-venue music festival that features some of the best bands from around the world. With a roster nearly 200 acts deep, MFNW 2009’s schedule included rock, punk, metal, hip-hop, jazz, Americana, electronica, and who knows what else. One thing’s for sure: You can’t get to every show. But I saw my share of them, and here’s my report on my third and final night, Saturday. My Thursday report is here, my Friday reports are here and here.)
The preamble: MusicfestNW wrapped up more than two weeks ago. At this point, I should forget about writing up my Day 3 experience, because (1) no one cares anymore, and (2) I can barely remember Day 3, and I sure didn’t take great notes. However! I am going to push forward, because (1) I committed to covering the festival top to bottom and and want to keep that commitment, and (2) I think my Saturday night at MFNW provides a valuable lesson for all you festival-goers out there. Also, I love doing these little things: (1) and (2). I like making lists. Makes me feel important.
For a variety of reasons — from real-life responsibilities to a dead camera battery to general fatigue — I cut my Bend Roots Revival experience a bit short on the event’s final day.
So apologies to Eric Tollefson, Blues Quarter, The Dirty Words, The River Pigs, Moon Mountain Ramblers, Kim Kelley and the other acts I missed. I’ll catch you all soon enough. Apologies also to Lisa Lepine, the Portland-based marketing consultant who did a workshop on the music business inside Parrilla on Sunday afternoon. When the schedule came out, I thought that was one of its more interesting listings. But I just couldn’t make it down there.
Did any of you musician types go hear Lepine talk? How was it? Learn anything helpful?
I prefer to think of my Bend Roots Sunday not as shortened, but as a high-quality coda to a wonderful weekend. I saw only three bands, but all were quite good.
“We’re The JZ Band,” said David Z after his band’s first song at the Bend Roots Revival, “and it’s daylight.”
It was daylight. That’s one of the funny things about an outdoor, all-day music festival; bands that are used to playing in dark, cramped, stale-air bars are suddenly exposed to the sun, the wide open sky and fresh air.
In Bend, it’s a nice place to be. It could’ve been chilly this weekend — it’s late September in the High Desert, after all — but instead the weather has been absolutely perfect for this arsty cornucopia.
Suddenly, it seems, the Bend Roots Revival is one of the biggest and best parties in Bend.
If you were paying attention, you could see this coming. In my post-Roots Feedback column last year, I wrote: “I think this thing is on a fast track to becoming one of Bend’s coolest cultural events. The atmosphere was electric on Friday night, especially once the sun went down. And that was on the first night of the festival — people were just getting warmed up.”
Well, take that feeling and multiply it by, say, three or five, and you have a sense for what the first night of the 2009 Bend Roots Revival was like.
Technical difficulties kept me from getting this up on the blog yesterday, but here it is now, for posterity: Providence, R.I.’s Deer Tick performing “Song About A Man” Wednesday night at McMenamins Old St. Francis School. I have a couple of louder songs I could post, but they don’t sound great. If you want to see them, let me know in the comments. Also, see my thoughts on the show below the video.
Five observations about the show:
1) I’m so used to using silly little descriptors — psych, electro, global, soulful, whatever — that when presented with the opportunity to write about just a good, solid rock ‘n’ roll band, I’m stumped. That’s not good!
2) Deer Tick is a good, solid rock ‘n’ roll band. I watched frontman John McCauley before the show, and something was wrong; he was clearly annoyed about this or that. But once the lights went down and the amps buzzed, he delivered. He wasn’t particularly charismatic (”This is cool,” he said after the first song. “Half dinner crowd, half maniacs.”), but he led his band through lots of his own songs, plus covers of The Replacements, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams Sr., and Tom Petty, plus others, I’m sure, that I didn’t recognize.
3) Take Tom Petty out of that group and add in Kurt Cobain (I heard they did a Nirvana cover after I left), and you have a pretty distinct focus on musicians with a strong tendency toward self-destruction. When McCauley screams, he looks a sounds a lot like Cobain, right down to the crooked mouth.
4) Not all of Deer Tick’s songs grab me, but those that do are great. “Easy” rocks with an apocalyptic sense of urgency. “Smith Hill” is an elegy with an unforgettable chorus. And my favorite tune of the night was “These Old Shoes,” a playful song about plane crashes and explosions and hobos. (I wish I could’ve heard “City of Sin,” but after the band’s short foray into “Free Bird” and an interminable blues jam, I had to bail during the second intermission.)
5) For the second time in a month, I saw a Central Oregon venue as crowded as I’ve ever seen it. Father Luke’s Room was absolutely packed with people jammed against one another and, by the time I left, practically on top of one another. It was so thick with people, only the bravest tried to weave through it. It was crazy. Crazy. Could the show have been moved into the much larger movie theater next door? I have no idea, but I hope it was at least considered, and I hope the next time a band with this kind of buzz shows up to play, the McMenamins team is able to give them — and the people there to see them — a little more space.
(Sorry, folks, wanted to get this up yesterday, but life got in the way.)
Bend got a brief, crisp set Tuesday night at Silver Moon Brewing & Taproom by These United States, a band from Washington, D.C. and Lexington, Ky., that has been picking up buzz around the release of its new album “Everything Touches Everything.”
I don’t even know what to write about the quintet’s 45-minute set, honestly. It was solid. It wasn’t amazing, but it was far from bad. These guys are tight, and their grasp on the wide-open world of twangy rock is impressive. These United States’ album is firmly indie-rock in nature — almost poppy — but live, the band finds a ramshackle groove that veers more toward a 1970s country feel.
That’s not to say this is tear-in-my-beer stuff. No, These United States’ music is punchy, propelled by drummer Robby Cosenza’s heavy-handed work on the skins. The band exudes a sort of throwback exuberance when they play; lots of “ooohs” and “aaahs” and the occasionally a joyous “whoa!” jump out from behind the long hair in their faces. On slower songs especially, frontman Jesse Elliott’s voice creaks a lot like Dinosaur Jr’s J. Mascis. It all has the feel of a jam from another era.
These United States played a few great tunes — “Get Yourself Home” and the seductively catchy “First Sight” among them — and a whole bunch of songs that grabbed me, but really didn’t hang on that tight. Perhaps they’re growers, or perhaps this hard-touring band purposely makes music for the moment, so when they pile in the van and head for the next town, their audience is left wanting more.
(Each of the last three years, I’ve traveled over to Portland for MusicfestNW, a multi-day, multi-venue music festival that features some of the best bands from around the world. With a roster nearly 200 acts deep, MFNW 2009’s schedule included rock, punk, metal, hip-hop, jazz, Americana, electronica, and who knows what else. One thing’s for sure: You can’t get to every show. But I saw my share of them, and here’s my report on the second night, Friday. My Thursday report is here, and my Saturday report will come in the next couple days.)
Already tuckered out from a late night with Frightened Rabbit, I took it a little easy on Saturday Friday, the second day of my MusicfestNW experience. I slept in late, then walked down to the Cheerful Tortoise to watch my alma mater hold on for a win over their in-state rival. (Oops. I got my days confused. The bar and the football game happened on Saturday, but day two was Friday, and all the music covered from here down happened Friday. Except maybe the Voodoo Doughnuts thing. That might have been Saturday. I can’t remember for sure. What can I say? It was all a blur.)
In the afternoon, though, I was ready for some music.
(Each of the last three years, I’ve traveled over to Portland for MusicfestNW, a multi-day, multi-venue music festival that features some of the best bands from around the world. With a roster nearly 200 acts deep, MFNW 2009’s schedule included rock, punk, metal, hip-hop, jazz, Americana, electronica, and who knows what else. One thing’s for sure: You can’t get to every show. But I saw my share of them, and here’s my report on the first night, Thursday. My Friday and Saturday reports will come in the next couple days.)
Festivals are supposed to build from no-name acts to those you anticipate the most.
But the 2009 version of MusicfestNW didn’t work that way for me. I started out with the anticipation, and ended with a whimper, quite frankly.
When we left Bend around noon on Thursday, Sept. 17, the show I was most excited about seeing was that night. It was the second show we – that’s me and the lovely Mrs. Feedback – would see all weekend.
It was the pairing at the Crystal Ballroom of Portland-based, one-man ambient noisemaker Eluvium and Texas post-rock kingpins Explosions In The Sky (aka the “Friday Night Lights” film score band).
I don’t know much about Rock N Roll Adventure Kids other the band is just two dudes, they’re from California, and they deal primarily in “trashrock,” drawing influence from bands like The Cramps, The Stooges, Hasil Adkins and so on. Heck, I didn’t even know they were playing in town until Friday morning, and that’s why you’ll see no mention of this show in the Sept. 11 GO! Magazine.
I know more now. Namely, that this band slays. RNRAK leveled Players last night with a hurricane of campy garage-punk fury. The band only played 30 minutes (maybe less), but that was plenty of time for songs about fried chicken and hot dogs (multiple songs about hot dogs, actually), and plenty of time for guitarist/screamer Marcos to flail around the bar — not just the stage, but just about the whole bar — like he was trying to start a pit. It’s tough to start a pit when there are only 10 people scattered around watching, but a couple of guys banged around with him. One got twisted up in his guitar cord. Marcos never missed a note.
The guitar cord ensnares Marcos from RNRAK and some dude.
As you can see in the photos, Marcos wore only a pair of jean shorts. Perhaps he’s a never-nude. Billy, the drummer, appeared to be a little grumpy all night. When the band shut down, the pit-helper guys asked for more, but Billy headed for the van. “He’s feeling under the weather,” Marcos said.
They were a ton of fun, as was the opening act, a trio from Denmark called De Høje Hæle, which means The High Heels. These young fellas focused less on the trash and the histrionics, and more on rocking out, power-punk-pop style. They were totally charming, announcing their songs in what I assume was Danish, and then translating for us. The guitarist wore a Led Zeppelin T-shirt and the bassist a Batman hat. And they had actual cassette tapes for sale at the merch table!
Now for a few more visuals. (In the next few days, I’ll throw even more up on Frequency’s Flickr pool.)
Rock N Roll Adventure Kids
Marcos of RNRAK rocks out on the dance floor as the small crowd looks on.
Marcos of RNRAK shares the mic with a fan ... or maybe just a guy that was at Players.
Is High Heels bassist Myre about to jab his bass into my camera?
This post should’ve been up here days ago, but a busy Friday, then a trip to Portland, then a holiday … well, here we are.
You may have heard by now that the G. Love & Special Sauce show last Thursday at the Domino Room was ridiculously crowded. And if you haven’t heard by now: The G. Love & Special Sauce show last Thursday at the Domino Room was ridiculously crowded.
It’s worth saying twice.
About 30 minutes after I got in, I got a text from a friend: “Sold out. Can’t get in. Have fun!” At that moment, I turned and looked and saw the Domino Room’s floored packed to the back, shoulder-to-shoulder with people, and a tail of comers and goers running down the little hallway to the door.
G. Love orders his fans to put their hands in the air, and the fans comply. The green wristbands look cool. Photo by Ben.
Upstairs in the bar, where you can often stand with plenty of elbow room, it was four or five people deep against the front rail.
I think it was the biggest crowd I’ve seen at the Domino Room in 3-1/2 years. If not, it was definitely the biggest in the past couple.
So promoter Bret Grier of Random Presents made a good call moving the gig from the Midtown Ballroom (cap. ~900) to the Domino Room (cap. ~450). Even if he could’ve made a few more bucks in the big room, it likely would’ve felt empty, and there’s value in having a room that’s stuffed to the gills. Indeed, the place was buzzing. People were stoked.
The ones that could breathe, at least.
I had to get off the floor. It was getting too hot and sardine-y down there for me. I made my way out, despite the tough bros who puffed up their chests and wouldn’t let me by, and eventually found a good spot up high where I could watch G. Love do his thing.
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