I know I should try playing it cool, but that would be disingenuous. Last night I was like a kid on Christmas Eve, I couldn’t sleep, and I realized that it was all because tonight The Fruit Bats are playing at the Mission Theater here in Portland. I’ve been trying to see Eric Johnson and company since 2002 or so. But every time something would come up. When I assumed they disbanded and Johnson became a guitarist for The Shins in 2006 or so (also sitting in with Vetiver), I said, well that sucks but good for him. That’s a great gig.
Except now they’re back. It’s been fascinating to hear their evolution as a band and the current lineup sounds wonderful. Ron Lewis has moved out from behind the kit and will be handling the keyboard duties as well as any other instruments, Chris Sherman is on bass and he’s been playing with Eric Johnson since Mouthfuls. Sam Wagster will handle guitar duties, and he might be the first true lead guitarist The Fruit Bats have had. Plus he plays pedal steel. We all know pedal steel is the greatest instrument, invented by the gods and given to humans as a gift. Finally, Graeme Gibson, formerly of Chicago’s The Boas will be on drums.
There hasn’t been much video of the recent west coast tour, but I’m aiming to change that tonight, hopefully, by capturing some new songs. Also? I might have teared up, just a bit, after listening to song and realizing that I’m finally going to see these guys. Best Christmas present ever guys.
The Fruit Bats @ The Mission Theater, $12, doors at 6 p.m., music at 7 p.m.
As a Boston guy, it’s been interesting to have lived through the Big Dig and what could arguably be described as one of transportation’s biggest clusterfucks.
But the idea of the big dig, separated out from its execution, is a necessity for cities destroyed by the Federal Highway System. There’s no denying that the big dig has transformed the city of Boston and that blueprint is working for other cities as well.
“Widening roads to solve traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity,” says Walter Kulash, a traffic engineer from Orlando, Fla. Kulash argues for more smaller streets and roads rather than huge limited-access interstate highways. He’s for choice. He believes travelers should be offered options. Government should invest in streets, sidewalks, transit, and bike paths instead of devoting almost all of its tax money to huge, highly engineered expressways.
Preserve Net is a site that documents cities such as San Francisco, Portland, Milwaukee and Toronto (curiously Boston is absent from their site; one would think Boston would be the lead subject in this sort of debate for all it’s successes and follies) that have transformed themselves by tearing down elevated highways.
In many cases these cities have reinvigorated the connection between the seaport and the downtown sectors. Though Boston’s urban renewal plans leave me feeling ho-hum in their design, there is no denying that tearing down the Southeast Expressway, moving it below the cityscape, has radically transformed an entire section of the city.
Other cities are planning on following the examples of these cities to take their cities back from the monstrosity of highways. Transportation design is going to become incredibly important in the growing years, as it incorporates railways, bike paths, roads, energy corridors all to keep people moving congestion free with minimal environmental impact.
By James Furbush | December 28th, 2008 | 1:14 pm PST
Phsaw, Minneapolis and Seattle, which were ranked #1 by USA Today of the countries most literate cities with a population over 250,000. Portland cracked the top ten but was tied with Cincinnati (?).
The top ten are: 1. Minneapolis and Seattle (tie); 3. Washington, D.C.; 4. St. Paul; 5. San Francisco; 6. Atlanta; 7. Denver; 8. Boston; 9. St. Louis; 10. Cincinnati and Portland, Ore. (tie).
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this list bunk, but I will say that for the past six years Seattle and Minneapolis have traded spots at the top. So why not just include Minneapolis and St. Paul together (they are afterall the twin cities) and give them the stranglehold at the top spot for good. Also, I fail to believe that St. Louis and Cincinnati actually make this list.
“The study does not look at reading test scores or how often people read, but what kinds of literary resources are available and used. This is “one critical index of our nation’s well-being,” says study author Jack Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn.
The six criteria used included newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources.
Not sure what else Portland could be doing to increase their ranking, we’re pretty literate around these parts. Don’t believe me? Just ask Colin Meloy.
I always thought Portland’s city slogan should have been “Literate as fuck!”
By James Furbush | December 26th, 2008 | 12:54 pm PST
It’s the beardiest city in the country? “Lately we’ve noticed scruff on more than just a few faces. In fact, Portland may be the beardiest city in America right now. Here’s our proof.”
By James Furbush | December 17th, 2008 | 1:31 pm PST
I love Portland, OR. It’s the city I always wanted to live in, even when I didn’t know I wanted to live there. I wouldn’t change a thing. But coming from Boston, where the winters are nothing but snow, ice and frozen nose-icles, it’s comical how Portland and her surrounding areas shuts down when they get two inches of snow and the temperature drops to about 30 degrees. Everybody freaks!
People don’t know how to drive with snow on the road. It’s like mass chaos when the fluffy white stuff rains her hell upon Portland. My flight on Sunday was one of the only flights out that day because the airport shut down – due to? You guessed it. Four inches of snow in an hour. This video was compiled from the South Waterfront area on Dec. 15.
By James Furbush | September 8th, 2008 | 5:59 am PDT
Just wanted to do a quick post on the few other videos I collected from the weekend. It’s fairly random and mostly from the first two nights. Security was tighter than tight (wow that’s a bad metaphor) on Friday and Saturday, which means there’s is no video of John Vanderslice, Vampire Weekend, Lackthereof, Blitzen Trapper, Fleet Foxes, Menomena or Helio Sequence (those last four bands all played at the same show Saturday night! My face melted clear off and I still haven’t put it back together. I look worse than Joan Rivers).
I’m particularly upset about this because my final memory of MusicFest Northwest was Menomena coming out to play with Helio Sequence, a band they dubbed “The Helio Unsequence.”
Also Danny Seim is a world class fucking drummer. I’m not sure you could definitively say he’s the best drummer right now, but between Menomena and Lackthereof, if you’re having that conversation it definitely starts with him.
Anyway, some video from the week that was. We’ll have a final “thoughts” roundup about the fest with some photos to touch on all the good stuff.
1900’s
The 1900’s are a Chicago outfit and became one of my favorite acts. They have about seven members and sound similar to numerous tweepop bands like Belle and Sebastian or Camera Obscura, Essex Green, etc. However, their brand of psychpop with boy-girl harmonies and upbeat melodies was catchy as hell.
The played one extended jam to close their set and at times I kept thinking “wow they sorta remind me of Velvet Underground or Zombie.” Not that they were beholden to any of those influences, only that you could parse them. I’ll be keeping my eye on them, as I think they have a full length that’s out Oct. 2 from Parasol Records.
They played Berbati’s Pan and it was the first set I caught on Wednesday to kick things off. Great way to start.
M. Ward
Like Mr. M. Ward needs any introduction at this point. He closed Thursday night and delayed coming on by about 45 minutes. The crowd, usually patience reigns in Portland, became agitated with this and you could see it everywhere – the mumblings and grumblings, the loud cheering and clapping anytime the house music songs ended and the rapture when M. Ward finally strode out on stage.
He played songs from across his entire catalogue, played solo for a bit and I was shocked by how much he rocks out. His albums are generally quiet, contemplative affairs – even the uptempo tracks – but here he let loose just noodling his guitar and having fun.
I left a bit early to try and catch Starfucker and Deerhunter across town. My last mistake in trying to leave a show for another one. Needless to say, lines suck.
And this one got cut off unfortunately due to the ever vigilant security. *Sigh* Don’t they know?
Eskimo and Sons
These guys and gals are from Portland and only have one EP and a 7″ to their name, but it’s a gloriously awesome set of songs. Unfortunately, they are going on indefinite hiatus, well they are on hiatus as of Sunday morning. Saturday at the Towne Lounge was their last concert. I caught them on Thursday and it was an emotional show for all involved. They played with friends The Old Believers.
Bittersweet is the word. I’m glad I caught them though and hopefully they’ll come back under a different name or lineup or something. Too much enjoyment and talent involved to just walk away.
And the song “No Shit” which I incorrectly typoed as “No Shirt” when I uploaded the vidoe. Grrrrrr.
Okay, that’s it for video. We’ll be back with some closing thoughts on the rest of the bands we saw this past week, possibly tonight, as well as an open letter to Vampire Weekend. We hope the band might take some steps to alleviate what we would call their “fan base problem.” Unless they take steps they are going to become the next DMB with a fan base of 15 year-old girls and college asshat dudes. The crowd just about ruined their set for me. Just sayin’
By James Furbush | September 7th, 2008 | 6:57 pm PDT
Britt Daniel is one of us. Yeah sure, he’s the front man for Spoon and that makes him nothing like us on a certain level. But seeing him kick around Portland at shows, whether it’s checking out White Rabbits or Los Compesinos!, I get the impression he’s one of us.
Wearing jeans, red chucks and t-shirts he blends in more than most of the crazy fashionistas here, except it’s Britt Daniel and he stands out because of who he is. Still, I get the sense that Britt Daniel was the most popular guy in high school. Not in that captain of the football team kind of way, but the kind of guy who floats between cliques, excels at everything, is loved by cheerleaders, teachers and moms alike. He’s that guy.
And we’re all the better for it. Nowhere were these traits on display more than during his solo set at Wonder Ballroom for MusicFest Northwest. He was charismatic and coy, often laughing at his mistakes and having fun. He came on the stage with a simple “thanks for coming to my show” (as if noone would show up?) before blasting into “The Beast and the Dragon, Adored.”
His set was rife with material from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Gimme Fiction and Kill the Moonlight. But the highlights were the three new songs he debuted. One was “Writing to You in Reverse,” a song Spoon played at Pitchfork Music Fest that’s been kicking around; the second had no name but it was an aggressive uptempo number in the vein of their Telephono days. You could almost here the Pixies influence in the tune’s rawness. Unfortunately, I didn’t get great video of the song; a shame because it was the best of the three. Finally, he played “Who Backs Your Money?”
But over the course of the hour that he played there is no doubt that Britt Daniel is one of the biggest rock stars we have, even if he refuses to act like it. His mini-set with Quasi/Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss was one of the highlights of the entire music fest, just an awesome surprise.
He left the stage with an even simpler slight wave of the hand and “goodbye.” In five years I doubt I’ll remember most of the music I caught this week, but Britt Daniel solo isn’t one of them.
MTV swings down to our little neck in the woods to let 14-year-old girls everywhere know that PDX has rain, trees, great music, breweries, coffee shops, basement shows, organic food, blah blah blah. Thanks for stating the obvious MTV.
Regardless, they round up a who’s who of musicians to talk about how awesome Little Beirut is. Faces you’ll recognize belong to Colin Meloy, M. Ward, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, YACHT, Starfucker, Menomena, Panther, Valet, White Rainbow, Au, etc. There are less familiar faces, too, like Eat Skull, White Fang, Southern Belle, Fist Fite, etc.
“Everyone is in a band. Your waiter, your record store clerk, the guy who pumps your gas because it’s illegal to pump your own in Oregon.” Truer words my friends. Though not everyone, since my musical abilities stop at playing the air drums.
Seriously though, if the food is incredible (which it is to a degree) how come it’s impossible to find a decent slice of pizza here? And under no circumstances should a large pie cost $18. Just sayin’. All in all, the move to PDX has been well worth it, even if there is a brewing war between motorists and bicyclists and I’m on the wrong side by driving a car.
Weezer stopped by Portland’s Oak Park Fairgrounds back on the 19th and held a good ole fashioned hootenany. The local radio station 94.7 invited like 200 people to play instruments and jam out with Rivers Cuomo.
I’ve always wondered what it was that makes Weezer so damn embraceable; they seem to want to go in the opposite direction of what’s cool and now. Their strategy for being rock’n'roll icons, for lack of a better term, seems counterintuitive. Maybe that’s their appeal, but still, you’ve got to hand it to a band that keeps chugging along and giving fans something special.
Pampelmoose was on hand to get the video of the band rehearsing and eventually covering Radiohead’s “Creep.”
Radiohead’s “Creep”
The Portland Mercury’s Erik Henrikson has a great write up about the day. Henrikson is relatable because he comes from the same place every Weezer fans does: loves The Blue Album unquestionably, bows down before the greatness of Pinkerton and then sort of wonders what happened to the band. I wish I knew. Though I don’t think any of their post-Pinkerton efforts are bad and the thing to keep in mind is that Weezer is a singles band. When all is said and done my future-kids will be listening to Weezer’s greatest hits on whatever format they will listen to music on.
On entering the pavilion, everyone gets a booklet autographed by Rivers Cuomo, Brian Bell, and Scott Shriner (Patrick Wilson, pulling a Greg Oden, isn’t around thanks to a knee injury). Inside are lyrics to the setlist: “Pork and Beans,” “Island in the Sun,” Radiohead’s “Creep,” “Say It Ain’t So,” “El Scorcho,” “Beverly Hills,” and, in addition to the lyrics on these Xeroxed pages, there are hand-scrawled notes in the margins, written in some sort of bewildering and frightening foreign language: “In the key of F# minor (after tuning town 1/2 step),” says the one for “Island in the Sun,” while “Creep” is annotated with “Chord progression: G major – B major – C major – C minor.” I ignore this bizarre stuff, and contented myself with singing, because I know four of those six songs by heart. I probably should not admit how much I enjoy singing “Hip hip!” during “Island in the Sun.” But fuck it: “Hip hip!” is fun to sing, and “Pork and Beans” is really fun to hum along to, and yes, “Beverly Hills” is a terrible fucking song, but it’s still a great song to stomp your feet along to, provided, I guess, that it’s Rivers Cuomo telling you to do the stomping, and there are 200 other people, aged 11 to 40, all around you, equally excited about doing the same thing.
By James Furbush | December 20th, 2007 | 2:22 pm PST
We’ve gotten a bit lazy on our year end lists. What we mean is that we were going to roll out a new list each day, but being home for the holidays and all, we’ve just been bombarded by shovelling, family, old drinking buddies, the usual when you go back to Boston in the winter.
We’ve been procrastinating and listening to a lot of albums we initially including in our list of albums we didn’t listen to. Had we had more time we certainly wouldn’ve included Beirut’s The Flying Club Cup and probably Panda Bear’s Person Pitch somewhere on our list tomorrow.
But today, we’re just going to mention some albums we liked, but didn’t love. The one’s that just missed the cut, but nonetheless provided us with plenty of aural pleasure this year. We also made the decision to include a separate list for some Portland-based musicians, because all of those albums were incredibly high on our initial year-end list. We didn’t want to come off as to Portlandcentric and so we just decided to exalt them with their own list.
If you’re inclined to get a taste of these bands head over to Myspace and listen to several tracks.
The reason I decided to distinguish these artists was because I wanted to include all of them on my year end list, but then since they are all from the same city I figured why take up space from other deserving bands. Trust me, it makes sense in my head. I don’t think you would be disappointed by picking up any of these albums. They all offer very distinct pleasures.
We’ll swing by tomorrow for our fav songs and fav albums, a little holiday mix to send you packing off to grandma’s house for the weekend, and of course our usually daily dose of pop culture nuggets.
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