Atom Heart Mother album cover

Rolling Stone reports:

Pink Floyd have won their lawsuit over single-song downloads against EMI, effectively halting the digital sale of the band’s individual tracks. As Rolling Stone reported yesterday, under the terms of a 1999 contract that predated iTunes and other digital-music retailers, the band mandated its songs could not be offered outside the context of their original albums. EMI argued that the contract only covered physical and not digital releases. In the end, the judge sided with preserving Pink Floyd’s artistic vision, the BBC reports.

Read the full report.

As it stands now.

Although it was never set in stone, the presentation by the Stakeholder Advisory Committee of the Rose Quarter Development Project, to the Portland City Council did not happen today. This presentation will give general conclusions of the SAC on the direction it thinks the development should take.

Read Tuesday’s story on  the SAC meeting which led up to it, and the three plans  for development.

Kevin Brake, Project Manager, Portland Development Commission told OMN today that the ongoing negotiations on the Rose Quarter operating agreement between the City and the three entities proposing plans for the development have not concluded.

At the Tuesday meeting of the SAC at the Portland Development Commission, Mayor Sam Adams had said that today’s presentation would hinge on the resolution of that  negotiation.

Perhaps the most surprising part of the band’s break up was that the prolific Kurosky didn’t churn out a batch of new material soon thereafter. Even more surprising was the reason for this: The songwriter spent the last five years suffering from a severe shoulder injury as well as battling kidney problems, both of which kept him from being able to pick up a guitar until just recently.

With those ailments behind him (for the most part), Kurosky is ready to take a tentative step back on to the stage with the release of his first solo album The Desert Of Shallow Effects (out this week on Majordomo Records). The disc expands on the lovely pop of his former band, but lets more of the darkness that marked their work creep in at the edges. When the light gets let in, either through his charming harmonies or the delirious jangle of his guitar playing, it is bright, bold and warming.

Kurosky spoke with Oregon Music News from his new home in his new hometown of Portland, Oregon, about the medical trauma that kept him from playing music and how it affected his songwriting and his view of the world.

How did you end up moving to Portland?
My wife and I have lived in San Francisco for years partly because she’s from there. But after she graduated, we had kind of priced ourselves out of San Francisco. So we put together a list of cities and Portland was on it. It was actually the only place we visited–I mean, I had been through on tour a few times, but… we went through and were smitten with it. It’s changed a lot in the last 10 years. Some people would bemoan that change, but I think it’s pretty fantastic. It is one of the great cities but still manages that small town vibe.

Have you been able to get out and check out the Portland music scene at all?
I know of its existence. I’ve only been to one or maybe two shows since I’ve been in Portland. I have friends in bands but I don’t really go out and see shows too often. I’m more of a homebody really.

It has been a while since the last album that you made with Beulah and this solo record. Was it just your health problems that kept you from making music?
Mostly, yeah. Also when you deal with health issues, you deal with depression as well. It’s hard to stay positive mentally when you’re having difficulties with your body. I wasn’t trying to be slow. I wish, in hindsight, that I recorded this quickly after Beulah broke up.

What happened with your shoulder?
I had shoulder problems in the past. Basic stuff like tendonitis and bursitis. But all this started when Beulah was on tour in Sweden. The boys were doing soundcheck and I fell off the stage. I kind of jumped off the stage and my feet got caught in the wires. It was a pretty high stage and I fell and hit my elbow and head and funny bone, but I also felt my shoulder pop back out and in. An after that I started slowly losing use of my arm. I didn’t know what was wrong with it. I went to the doctor and he said it didn’t look like anything was wrong, but that they should get in and take a look. Exploratory surgery turned into 8 hours of surgery. It was a lot worse than we expected. The worst thing was a torn labrum and the tearing in all rotator cuffs. And then while it was healing, I couldn’t move my arm to a certain point without the tendons getting caught on the screw. So they had to go in and redo the surgery. That was another year of rehab.

And then you were developed kidney problems in the midst of this.
The kidney was diagnosed as being related to an intestinal disease. We’re still trying to work out what it is. Basically, I don’t absorb nutrients properly and develop chronic kidney stones. In fact, I can feel one right now not as bad as other ones I’ve had. That was the most excruciating pain. They drop from the kidney and are so big that they get stuck in your ureter. So, they have to send a tube up through the penis through the bladder and destroy them and pull them out. It’s a chronic condition. The worst sort of chronic condition you could have because with the intestinal disease there’s no cure. They’ve put me on a few different drugs, but you can’t really cure that. I’ve tried changing my diet, and started eating a lot differently, but it’s incredibly limiting. It’s especially hard because there’s so many good places to eat in Portland.

Did you have health insurance for all of this?
Luckily, I did. It was sort of serendipitous. I just sort said to myself a year before I am going to get myself insurance for the year. I had this weird feeling that maybe I should get personal insurance. It was expensive but it would have been a lot more had I not spent the $300 or something a month. Now, my wife has insurance so she can get me on her plan. It’s unfortunate and kind of ridiculous that more Americans aren’t for health care reform. We lead the world in bankruptcies due to medical expenses… it’s crazy.

Was it hard for you to not be able to play music as you were dealing with all of this?
Pop enough Vicodin and anything’s easy to forget. That’s true. You have to roll with it. It’s frustrating, certainly. You feel really overwhelmed and you feel impotent, but really just you have to deal with it. The body does what’s it going to do. It was difficult but I had no choice in the matter so I couldn’t really complain. And again when you’re in pain a lot, the only thing you care about is not being in pain.

With the songs on your new album, did you have some written before these problems came up or did they all come after? Or were you able get things done during it?
I’d say yes to all three–before during and after. I had some of the songs ready but I couldn’t practice until my shoulder got better. A couple of songs I wrote a cappella. I remember being in a car once singing a melody and that became “Apple For An Apple.” So I kept writing even when I couldn’t play guitar.

How did all of this affect your songwriting?
I think in part because of the troubles, I had a lot of time for self-evaluation. I started thinking about my life and who I’ve known and what I’ve done. I touched on the medical problems with the first song (“Notes From The Polish Underground”)–the opening line is “My limbs have failed me again”–and from there I told the story, a little bit, of my grandmother from Poland, in a two-minute pop song, trying to draw parallels to my own life. Trying to add up the sum of little bits of my life. It certainly was the case with ["Apple For An Apple"], where I’m asking myself, “What do I believe–the apple of science or the apple of religion? Newton or Eve?” It’s the stuff I had to consider when I was going through surgery. Am I going to trust the guy with the steady hand who’s taking care of me or the guy who is promising eternal salvation?

Do you feel like you lean towards one over the other?
I kind of have my toe in both pools.

You’re about to head out on tour. Are you nervous about getting on stage again?
Yes and no. I do have a lot of anxieties and neuroses about it. I’m worried that it goes well. Not just ticket sales but staying healthy. There’s lots of weird things you don’t know that might happen. It just seems really hard and difficult. Looking at the dates, it seems like a lot of work, I feel really unprepared. Today is the second day that I’m in San Francisco practicing with the band. There’s still so much work to do. Also I just bought my first home in Portland and I was enjoying just being in my home. I’ll certainly miss my family and my wife.

I read on your Facebook page that you were getting a lot of questions about whether you’ll be playing Beulah songs on this tour. Did you make a decision on that?
I definitely will. A lot of people have been asking for those songs and I understand why they’re requesting them. The band meant a lot to some people and younger people haven’t had a chance to hear those songs live. I don’t feel like it’s an unreasonable request. I did write those songs. I don’t have to be dragged by a wild horse to play a song that I hate. I’ll try to pull out a few of them. We haven’t even rehearsed them so likely it will be whichever ones are the easiest.

Do you think you’ll continue on playing music after this tour?
I take it as it comes. I may make music again, I may never make music. Being away from something that you love for a while really challenges you. It makes you wonder how important it is, if it defines you as a person. It’s what I did for a long time, and in a certain sense, I became robotic in my motions. I don’t know. I’ll have to see. I think I’ll have to be like Brett Favre. Go play the game and then hem and haw. A lot of it depends on the tour. We’ll see how it goes. I might have the time of my life and it might be a stunning failure. That’s the thing that’s fantastic about life, there’s a lot of different turns that life can take.

Do you know what you would do if you weren’t playing music?
Absolutely no idea. I have been writing a novel for the past five years. I had a time limit on that–as long as I finish by the time I’m 65 that would be fantastic. So if I stop playing music, I should try to get that done.

—
Miles Kurosky plays at home in Portland on April 9th at the Doug Fir.

Inside Mississippi Studios

The bands started playing at 8 PM and North Portland patrons were hungry for the music with a one-in, one-out policy already in place before 9 PM and a line queuing south down Mississippi Ave.  The night began with subdued singer-songwriter offerings from Run On Sentence, Sean Flinn & The Royal We, Holcombe Waller, Adam Shearer (Weinland), Justin Power, and Laura Gibson while slowly building into something more potent and rockier.

Here’s a rundown of the second half of the evening starting with Matt Sheehy & The Menders who began his set looping his vocals and letting his drummer slug the digital drum pads, adding a pleasant, inorganic flavor to his otherwise straightforward sound.  Sheehy shone through his opener but fell back upon his genuine but formulaic acoustic roots with his backing band that included Sean Flinn and Andy Parker.  He announced that he’s recording a new album, and to close his set, his last tune dawdled quietly competing with the din of chatter.

Eugene and Portland-based Yeltsin finally brought some rocking instrumentalism to the Studios with their grinding indie rhythms as drummer Jivan Valpey’s rolling storm rumbled on, sparking every time you thought it might stop.  Happy to be in Portland supporting the release of their new record Rhinestone Glow, bassist Dana Axon beamed a giddy, head bobbing smile as guitarist/singer Jake Pavlak ripped through derivative electric riffs that kept the songs lively.  Steady and sunny pop, the band slowed it down with the surf-inspired “I’m Afraid I’ve Lost My Way In This World” (below) off their new album and fuzzed up some guitars with hints of distortion and echoes before heading back to the bar.

Tahoe Jackson may have been the oldest performer to grace Mississippi Studios’ stage on Saturday night but her funky moves and exuberant soul disclosed little about her age as she got down with the audience coaxing her sax and trombone players to follow suit.  Bluesy soul from her boys on brass and a funky electric organ matched her range from gruff, grumbling lows to bleating, passionate highs.

Asking, “Are you ready to get the fuck down?” Tahoe shed her specs (they “got too steamy”), flipped the bird, and heedlessly threw her powerful voice to the rafters and directly into the audience’s ears, jiving and strutting amongst the dancing mass.  “I wanna be part of the audience,” she announced while belting out in her canary blouse, “Keep that shit funky / Shake what your momma gave ya.”  Making it over halfway to the bar before heading back to the stage, she exclaimed to Mississippi Studios, “I’m as good as you are!”

Dirty Mittens eased into their spot with front woman Chelsea Morrisey moaning in her nymph-like warble but she quickly refashioned the band around her into a frolicking indie-pop machine bursting with sax energy and keys that would make a preschooler dimple.  Charming and coy but definitely the chief, she led her boys and their arsenal of instruments: unbuttoned bass lines, animated bongos, machine claps, and weary piano notes.

Chelsea could not hit the same pitches that her predecessor Tahoe Jackson did, but she did hit everything with passion, her voice ranging from placid peeps to the cusp of beautifully harsh.  Dirty Mittens wowed first time listeners and indulged friends by defining or redefining poppy, indie rock… whatever that means, but it’s meant to be complimentary.

Closers Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside rounded out the swelling night of music with Sallie returning to the stage to show off her Carolina vox and two-step, big beat, blues bop with her men backing.  Hearing her voice, you’d feel as though you were transported to a 50’s lounge and this was Etta James not a skinny white girl.  But alas, Sallie Ford has that classic sound that’s immediately enjoyable and catchy.  Infused with jazz and rockabilly, Sallie’s piddling but charming banter contrasted her hypnotizing, soulful singing.

It was a feat to see eleven amazing bands in one place–a crowed but jovial venue.  But with so many acts, the sets were so short that many groups just built up steam to be cast off after their 20 minutes and four or five songs.  Regardless, it was a great night for Oregonians and our music.  Kudos to the heart and soul of Mississippi Studios and thanks for a nice night, Jim and Alicia.

Multi-instrumentalists Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell are signed to the legendary 4AD label and continue to follow in that indie rock tradition with guitar-heavy car crashes and impenetrably poppy tunes ready for radio play (which they’re receiving plenty) like “Dominos” and “Velvet.”  Their lyrics will run circles in your mind while their sonic walls of fuzz will box you in.

See them at small venue before they blow up as they’re sure to catch a few ears and eyes at this year’s Coachella festival.

A Place To Bury Strangers and IO Echo open.  Doors at 8 PM, show at 9 PM, $12 advance and day of show.

Since their 2006 debut release, Elephants Only Talk Occasionally, EOTO has nourished their fan’s hunger for a fusion between electro-rock while combining elements of hip-hop, world music, jazz, and R&B into their growing buffet of musical obscurities. In fact, after listening to one of their albums, one may get the sense of listening to a dozen bands in the span of fifteen minutes, when in truth, EOTO’s sound is composed by only two individuals. Drummer Michael Travis and percussionist Jason Hann of The String Cheese Incident created EOTO, an acronym for End Of Time Observatory, in attempt to craft an original, improvised set of trip-hop, house, and drum n bass that fluctuates between each tour stop.

Like most modern DJs, Travis and Hann find new approaches towards playing their music to audiences worldwide. However, Travis, who also contributes hand drums, electric bass and guitar, and keyboards to EOTO’s sound, differs from these artists because of his spontaneous tactics of live drumming. Hann, who usually controls the rhythmic building block of the band, has also been involved in a number of projects ranging from working with drum/dance artist Vinx to soul singer Isaac Hayes and enjoys mixing Latin, African, flamenco, and techno in with EOTO’s evolving sound.

After their debut record, EOTO released Razed in 2008 to worldwide audiences. Songs such as “Warp” and “Gloren” combine funk-like, electronic piano-pop that could only relate to tunes from the Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Fans of Thievery Corporation and Massive Attack should rejoice after hearing Razed’s “Camel Bend,” which draws Latin-jazz, Persian music, and pounding drums into one eerie resonance. Other songs such as “Taking the Fife” and “Health Plant” bring on a smoother side of the band as they experiment with synthesizers, keyboards and sound effects to create something truly innovative for electronic listeners.

With so many influences, it is difficult for any audience to be prepared for their next set of live material. Although many of EOTO’s performances sometimes revolve around a multitude of themes, fans always question what scheme the band will take next.

“The only time we really talk about that is at the beginning of the set,” says Jason Hann in a 2009 String Cheese Radio interview. “We’re like, ‘what does it seem like the mood wants to be in here right now? Do we start straight off with dubstep? Or do we start straight off with house?’ Seems to me like we leans towards house just to get people moving and not play something that’s too far out.”

Following the release of 2009’s live and improvised Fire the Lazers, EOTO began planning a nationwide tour that will encompass all corners of the U.S. and even hit the Freedom Festival in Toronto, Canada. Though EOTO has just played in Medford, musical adventurers can see them in their live, untarnished state at Eugene’s WOW Hall on March 11th or at Portland’s Berbati’s Pan on March 12th.

EOTO will play with the WOW Hall with psychedelic hip-hop dub act Resident Anti-Hero. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $10 at the WOW Hall, $12 at the door. Doors open at 9 PM.

EOTO, accompanied by Lynx & Janover and DJ James Ho, will conclude their Oregon tour with a stop at Berbati’s Pan in Portland. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Show is 21+ and doors open at 9 PM.

All three bands, The Cave Singers, The Dutchess and the Duke, and The Moondoggies, blasted the Doug Fir with folk rock and harmonized vocals that had the crowd clapping and foot-stomping past midnight.

The Cave Singers

The Cave Singers headlined and clearly lit a fire that ran up the Doug Fir’s walls.

Lead singer Pete Quirk was dynamic and had a presence on stage that injected fuel into the fire. From his antics onstage (doubling over and foot-stomping with a tambourine in his hand, erratically dancing on stage with a sort of quirk-iness, playing the melodica) to his tribal and soul-infused vocals, Quirk got the crowd dancing from the very start and never let up.

The Cave Singers are heavily influenced by Fleetwood Mac’s music–evidenced by their drum beats, electric guitar, and tambourine–but the band has a distinct sound of its own. Their folky, bluesy rock is accompanied by washboards, shakers, harmonica, rocking drums, and electrifying guitar, and is something you could imagine people dancing to in a Southern church… or in some kind of snake cult.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The band opened the evening with a bang, playing “At the Cut,” the group’s fastest song that features guitarist Derek Fudesco at his finest. Fudesco was electrifying throughout the night and is an adept player. Along with Quirk and talented drummer Marty Lund, the three-piece band plays well together, and has a chemistry that could drive them forward quickly. (They’ve already gained a loyal following since disbanding Pretty Girls Make Graves in 2007.) It’s also evident the three friends enjoy playing together with smiles and laughter throughout the night.

The group’s last song before their encore was “Dancing On Our Graves,” which is the song that has the greatest chance of propelling the band’s popularity. It is tribal and rhythmic and features everything the band brings to the stage. It is the kind of piece that defines bands, especially on that defines The Cave Singers in a live setting. The song had the crowd clapping and foot-stomping instantly and yearning for an encore.

The band closed the night with two acoustic, folk songs (with Lund leaving his drums and playing guitar alongside) and left the crowd smiling and happy.

While The Cave Singers got the attention of the audience with its high energy and rocking sound, The Dutchess and the Duke did it with its quiet, acoustic harmonics and vocals.

The Dutchess and the Duke

There was clearly an excitement in the air as Jesse Lortz and Kimberly Morrison took the stage, and it was evident that many in the audience had heard the duo before. As soon as Lortz began singing the first song, the hub bub reduced instantaneously to a hush. It was the kind of hush that acoustic musicians strive for–people were riveted and didn’t dare make a sound for fear of drowning out the quiet melodies.

The duo have an aura about them onstage that should ensure they will be a folk favorite in the Northwest for as long as they play. Lortz’s pain-soaked, rough voice fits Morrison’s beautiful, floating vocals perfectly, and the chemistry between the two is undeniable. You don’t know who to focus on at any one time, because they both captivate in their own ways. Lortz, who has admitted that many of the lyrics are autobiographical in nature, is hard to look away from at times, his pained voice resounding from a deep place inside. Morrison’s voice is absolutely gorgeous with her female, folk singer sound.

Beyond the staples “Hands” and “Reservoir Park,” “Scorpio” (off the group’s second release Sunset/Sunrise) is emerging as another defining piece.  The lyrics rank right up there with “Hands” and the song features the duo’s harmonic chemistry prominently.

In the haunting chorus, Lortz sings: “I feel good, I feel fine, the sky is blue, the sun is shinin’, No need to run, no need to hide, no need to kill myself just to stay alive.”

But beyond the aching lyrics are two friends having a good time, and the two have a humorous side to them that is very personable. At one point, Lortz said, “They’re slipping,” to which Morrison replied, “Well, pull up your pants.”

“No, my legs [off the stool],” Lortz said. “They’re not as long as they look [looking down at the ground]… but they’re beautiful.”

After “Out of Time,” one of the more somber songs from the group, Lortz said, “Hey, let’s play more of a downer this time.” Morrison replied, “More of a downer than that?”

Toward the end of the show, when Lortz realized he didn’t have any more beer, he asked the audience if they could spare a brew. The crowd was quick to oblige, showing the clear connection the band made with the audience.

The group is a bit unpolished (at one point Lortz said, “Well, that was a rough ending”), but it actually adds to their character onstage and doesn’t hurt their performance. They are naturally off-key people, and Northwesterners wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Moondoggies

The Moondoggies opened and wasted no time in delving into their folk and blues rock. The group, led by vocalist/guitarist Kevin Murphy, didn’t mess around, and brought its loudest music to the stage Sunday night. Murphy has a voice that evokes memories of Kurt Cobain (one of the band’s main influences) and had his eyes closed and head down for most of the night while he wailed on the guitar. All four members of the band know what they’re doing and you get the feeling they are just beginning to discover themselves and their capabilities. Their loud, grungy blues rock, coupled with their folk pieces, is the kind of music that can last a long time. “Changing” and “Bogachiel Rain Blues” (off the band’s debut album Don’t Be A Stranger) are formidable live pieces that should serve the quartet well as they move forward. The band is only two years old and still has plenty of time to grow.

Sunday night was a glimpse into three young bands committed to their music, on the cusp of perhaps something great. If they continue to develop at this pace, they won’t have to come to Portland–Portlanders will go to them.

The Lions of Batucada

Brazilian Carnaval, like its cousin Mardi Gras, provides opportunity to act wild and dance with abandon.

Portland State University;s World Dance Office will be presenting it’s 6th Annual Carnaval Event at the Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside Portland on Friday, March 12, 8pm, Tickets in Advance at PSU Box Office or Ticketmaster $10 PSU student $12 General. At the door $12 PSU student, $15 General

Performing will be -The Brazillionaires  (Choro), Los Guapos (Rumba), SambaGata (Samba), Axe Dide (Dance Company), z’Bumba (Forro), DJ Cachacinh and Portland’s The Lions of Batucada.

Brian Davis, one of the leaders of the Lions will not be with them. He has  previous engagements this week with Pink Martini  in Japan, South Korea, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Nice gig.

Prepare to dress wildly, shake everything you got. It’s expected.

For more information contact: wdo@pdx.edu

MixBox Jazz Trio performing

MixBox is a drum / bass / winds trio you’ve not heard much about. They don’t have a website, they barely have a MySpace page, and they sort-of have a CD you can purchase. They aren’t playing at top-line venues, they don’t inspire the audience to dance, and their music is difficult to approach. So why bother listening, much less reading this article?

Miles Davis historically suffered no fools, and at one point snorted “I’ll play it first and tell you what it is later.” From this came Bitches Brew and other Jazz Fusion recordings unexpected by his fans. Listening for what this music is requires that you listen for something you haven’t heard before. That’s where MixBox joins our little philosophical discussion, already in progress.

MixBox plays 100% original music, written mostly by Robert Geistwhite, bassist, but increasingly by Ben Lincoln, Saxophone. The charts are a suggestion, the music is a result of the conversation between the musicians. Little wonder there aren’t any formal recordings – why record a composition that changes each time it’s performed? On their sparse MySpace page, they state “We follow a form and ignore it at the same time, leaving room for the listener to be a part of the experience.”

Dave Haverkampf, drummer for MixBox, points out that MixBox requires different skills and assumptions from an audience. First, assume that MixBox DOES know what they are doing – this isn’t some random fingerpainting. Notes are in tune, breath is under control, strings are sustained, and the beat is in the pocket. The trio is acutely aware of where they are in the music – for example, listen for the theme of “Who would Jesus Bomb.” You’ll recognize it, and note that it enters and exits in time, in unison and in tune.  Nope, they’re not just winging a bunch of random notes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Second, the music exists in the space between the musicians. Lincoln says: “The newness is exciting.  I try to put melodies in as much as I can. Melodies resonate with listeners – and listeners are an important part of the improvisation. The music morphs into different tangents – it’s not linear. When I’m playing, I find myself ‘over there.’ I try to do something with that. I try to respond in a creative way that fits what the other musicians are doing. Maybe a harmony, or texture, or rhythm, or something. Sometimes we’re all doing something independent and you can feel that.”

Haverkampf compares the current multi-track manipulated music to that of Sinatra and a small band in a live recording. With limited recording techniques, music existed between musicians in real-time – mistakes weren’t cut out – they were part of the song, and if you were good, you know how to take that mistake and stand on it. Recordings were a result of the live performance, rather than a remix and approximation of the live performance. Lincoln characterizes MixBox recordings as milestones – merely reference recordings of where the band is at any one point.

Lincoln warns against analyzing the music too much. “I believe in music.” says Lincoln. “If I had faith in a particular thing, that would be it.  it’s just a gut feeling. People try to analyze jazz, but there is a point where it isn’t analytical. You don’t think and analyze – you go with your gut. It works when you steep yourself in it.”

Take the song; “Um-ba ba” – it has a repeating theme, strong enough that the band vocalizes with it. As the song progresses, it moves in and out of the theme, straying in time, intonation and arrangement. Just as it starts to move outside of a comfortable place, it moves back in to the reassuring vocals. Like a magic trick, it shouldn’t be repeated over and over. The magic of the piece exists between the performers, and when they finish, the piece stops existing. Existential and pedantic, but an appropriate description.

MixBox works hard to voice the music that exists between the band members. Listening requires a bit of focus. Fortunately, the effort is worth it.

Photo by Maia Earnshaw

Mimicking Birds stretched their wings Saturday night for the release of their self-titled, debut album at the Mission Theater.  Out now digitally and on CD, it was recorded by Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock  for his new label Glacial Pace Recordings. It will be available for purchase on LP April 1st.

The fledgling band brought grace and beauty to the unique and ornate venue.  The Mission Theater accommodates both live music and movie screenings, and the juxtaposition was stunning as the Mimicking Birds slowly took stage to video from Planet Earth: Jungles.

Guitarist Tim Skellenger plucked dreamy, atmospheric guitar while a camera panned over a jungle canopy. When singer-songwriter Nate Lacy finally approached the mic for the opening “New Doomsdays,” it was to the courtship dance of a strutting bird-of-paradise.

Mimicking Birds were a perfect fit for the BBC documentary’s backdrop of breathtaking scenery.

Photo by Maia Earnshaw

The subtle drama of Lacy’s songs synced flawlessly with leaves unfurling, green life shooting up through the ground, and vines slowly wrapping around a dead tree branch. Matched with Mimicking Birds’ naturalistic bent, the documentary took attention away from the band as personalities and refocused it on the sensitivity and beauty of their music.

Lacy’s music has the intensity and intimacy of your most private bedroom moments, but it was drummer Aaron Hanson who breathed life into the live performance. His woodblock pulsed with growing fungus, and his busy, but restrained, beats marched in time with an army of ants climbing a branch during “Burning Stars.”

The seemingly shy Lacy barely spoke.  Aside from his humble and sincere thank you’s, his sole attempt at stage banter was the butchering of a joke about a dolphin committing suicide: “…something about having no porpoise.” An old family friend, who’d watched the three playing at BBQ’s as teenagers, confided “now and then, he’s always been so understated.”

Lacy still is.

His vocals and fingerpicked acoustic guitar were so often hushed, but on the rare occasions he raised either to a howl it brought chills. Lacy is by no means a rock star, but his songwriting commands attention.

By the end, the hour and a half set still seemed short.  After being cheered on to preform a three song encore, ending with “The Loop,” the band gracefully exited to still-screaming friends and fans.

And it’s no surprise. Mimicking Birds have the potential to fly far beyond Portland.

The dreadlocked, 20-year-old Gundersen has packed Seattle cafes, shared the stage with NW talent like Seattle’s David Bazan (Pedro The Lion) and Portland’s Nick Jaina, and had his song “Middle of June” featured on the TV show One Tree Hill.

A bit bluesy and somewhat alt-country, his lyrics expose the confused musing of a young songwriter and are often rife with religious imagery, questioning beliefs and Christianity, like on the sparse “Jesus, Jesus.”  He released a six-track EP (Saints & Liars) last October and will head to the studio to record an album this March with his band.

Solo, he’d be just another talented singer-songwriter strumming his muted acoustic guitar, but with the Courage, Noah Gundersen has just that–an audacious, rocking backing band that can bring you to your feet, plus little sister Abby also trucks along as part of the Courage on violin and backing vocals.

After spending three years in New England, Adam Sweeney has returned to the Pacific Northwest.  His last album, 2007’s Technicolor Halo, saw Sweeney melting some electric noise into his traditional folk and country sound, and it featured a duet (“Long Road”) with his folk heroine Tracy Grammer, who also contributed fiddle to the album.

Normally strapping on an acoustic guitar or banjo and also sprinkled with a bit of folk spirituality, Sweeney has recently been in the studio with his band working on a new record.  The first track “The Fall” is now streaming on his MySpace while the album will be released later this year.

He’s been compared to Dave Carter, Josh Ritter, and Gillian Welch as well as  illustrious songwriters like Paul Simon and Cat Stevens, but you’ll have to come judge for yourself.

The gig is free on Wednesday, March 10th at the White Eagle Saloon, 8:30 PM. 21+

Chasman picks his custom-built 8-string guitar.

Some musicians protest by writing songs. Guitar virtuoso Paul Chasman walked away from music all together.

Chasman, a former Portland, now a resident of Port Angeles, Wash., is an acoustic picker of the highest order, one who sets few boundaries on his music, and one perhaps best known for his work with the Acoustic Guitar Summit, which features Chasman in concert with Mark Hanson, Terry Robb and Doug Smith. He is a player and composer who traffics as easily in jazz as he does classical, pop as easily as the blues. He’s as likely to find as much joy in playing the guitar music of “Man of La Mancha” as he does arranging Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” for acoustic guitar.

Despite attempts by his mother, a concert pianist, to engage in the 88s, he was more drawn to the guitar, especially in the hands of one Elvis Aron Presley. “I was drawn to the guitar like a magnet,” he says. While visiting family friends, he saw a guitar and the host showed him a few chords. “I was in awe of it. My parents got me a guitar. I fell in love with it.”

Growing up in Los Angeles, he quickly passed through the rock-and-roll band phase and found LA’s Ash Grove club. “It was an incredible school for me,” he says. “Lightnin’ Hopkins was the first big blues guy that I was attracted to. I saw him there all the time.”

But it was folk legend Doc Watson who truly turned his head. “I’d see him at the Ash Grove. He was a really big influence, my musical dad.”

Chasman fell for jazz shortly thereafter and the music of Joe Pass. Pass’ series of solo improvisation recordings “opened my mind up to what could be done on solo guitar.”

After a miserable year in college, the 19-year-old Chasman stuck out his thumb and found his way to Portland and a community of musicians where he was able to play full time and teach. “I fell in love with the guitar all over again. I was playing full time for a number of years. Then when I was 21, I had a son. By 22 and a half, I was a single dad with an infant child.”

Chasman stretches his talents across all manner of music, and guitars

Chasman learned the business side of music teaching, which afforded him the time to spend with his son, as well as pursue his own musical pursuits. “At that point, after a lot of soul-searching,” he said, “I came to a conscious decision that yes, I have to play music for a living and for my life, and raise this kid – figure out a way to do both.”

Teaching gave him the ability to make a living. “It was my way of keeping my integrity to be able to play just only the music I wanted to play, to develop my own style and rely on teaching for income. The music is my own.”

Which is what he’s done for the last 30 years, writing, recording and playing concerts in a broad range of guitar styles and for a variety of orchestrations.

But a perfect storm hit him about the time the Bush administration took office at the turn of the millennium. Chasman had hit the wall with the guitar, finding audiences less and less discerning and more interested in speed and flash.  “I was getting unspired musically,” he says. “I’d been at it along time. I was frustrated with audiences, who only cared about louder and faster. It was feeling to me that the better I got, the better my music become, the more evolved I got, the less the audiences were interested in what I was doing. A lot of frustration building up.”

And then came the Bush years. Chasman, who’s father was an English teacher, had always written, never as a living. But as his frustration with music was growing, so too was fear that something vile was happening in Washington. And he walked away from music and picked up a pen. Drawing inspiration from Don Novello, the creative mind behind TV’s Father Guido Sarducci and the fictional Lazlo Toth, a character that drafted tongue-in-cheek letters to politicians and corporate heads and had them published, Chasman first wrote a satirical religious work called “The Book of Bob,” and began drafting letters to the likes of the Bush White House, Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura.

During that period, “I thought, ‘Where’s Laszlo when we need him?’” says Chasman. He wrote a letter to Bush under the nom de satire Carl Estrada and captured “The Carl Letters,” subtitled, ““Letters of Advice and Constructive Criticism to the Famous, the Infamous, and the Current Administration.”

“I wrote a letter a day for years,” he says. “After 2004 election, I had the feeling like I’d been kicked in the gut.

A personal backlash against the Bush administration and other social ills resulted in Chasman penning "The Book of Bob"

Chasman had gotten a bulk email from a religious fanatic named Bob. “A rant,” he says, “You know, ‘The right arm of the archangel Gabriel.’ That’s when ‘The Book of Bob’ was revealed to me. I started writing and couldn’t stop. At some point, I put the guitars down. I really had no desire to play for a couple of years. I was writing full time, putting my creative energy into writing. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything.”

So did the Ray-Ban-wearing men in black suits show up at his door? Were there repercussions for the fictional Carl Estrada or some kind of presidential reaction?

“Yeah!” he says. “The first thing that happened, my entire email address program crashed. I had a couple thousand emails names. It crashed one day, disappeared, never got it back. That’s a reaction! Then Bush sent me a whole packet of postcards, of the White House, Air Force One, their dog, all this stuff. But  the crown jewel, for my Carl Estrada career, was after I’d stopped writing for a bit, I started writing again during the Obama-McCain thing, writing a lot to McCain and Palin. I got a hand-writen letter from Sarah Palin’s dad, with an autographed picture, ‘Dear Carl, thank you so much for support.’”

Luckily for us there was hope and change. Chasman and his wife moved to Port Angeles and began to build a new home that his wife had designed. While living in a tiny studio during construction, “I was was sort of floundering,” he says. “Then this opportunity came up to play for a local production of ‘Man of La Mancha.’ I’d played the show before, and I’m not really  a musical fan, but that one I absolutely love. The guitar part is kickass. It drives the whole score. So I took it, really got excited about it. That’s what got me started again. Since then, I’mreally getting back into it.”

Chasman is scoring a full-length movie written and shot in nearby Port Townsend based on a play by Wes Cecil. He’s done other musical director duties for the stage, and will play with Portland’s Terry Robb for the upcoming Juan de Fuca Festival in late May.

“I’m loving it more than ever,” he says. “It’s been nice to be separated from the whole guitar scene, which drove me crazy after awhile. The projects up here have been musical projects, and the guitar is my vehicle.”

And that “vehicle” actually numbers in the many and comes in various custom-built shapes, sizes and sounds. Chasman has forged relationships with several  luthiers who’ve crafted instruments for him. It’s a personal and involved process. He plays instruments by Jeffrey Elliott (classical guitar), Rob Ehlers (steel string) and an unusual eight-stringed instrument that includes the normal six strings, plus a low A and a high A. “I got greedy for notes!” he says.

He also plays an Ibanez hollow-body electric, a recently acquired Martin D-35, and has on loan a 1959 Martin D-28. “It’s an awesome guitar,” he says. “I don’t think I’ll ever give it back.”

Of the custom-built instruments, he talks easily about the relationships he’s developed with his instrument builders. Usually friends first, the process starts with conversation, about wood tones, sound colors, design, materials, neck widths, action heights, and the like. He’ll select woods from planks of the stuff, the process begins.

“It’s really important to have that kind of relationship,” he says. “Working together. It’s very personal.”

And maybe with the current administration, Chasman will stick around the concert stage and recording studio, and work on new relationships with all of us.

Soon to be off on the road, Nick starts his tour sticking to the western United States–which is said to have inspired much of the album, but it also features:

Many different guitars, textures, sounds. Songs about the most famous fruit vendor in the world, the most beautiful town in California, the best place to find a hotel in Cincinnati. Also, more songs about girls.

Before he marches on, Nick sat down with Feels Like Home by Into the Woods for a comfortable, crisscross applesauce version of “Maryanne” on his hardwood floor.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oh yeah, and he live blogged the Blazer game last night.  Up and under and one!

As it stands now.

Tuesday, as the Stakeholder Advisory Committee of Portland Development Commission’s “Rose Quarter Development Project” was getting ready to meet to settle some important issues on the future of Memorial Coliseum before presenting a report to the Portland City Council this week, two heavy hitters joined the Trail Blazers’/Winterhawks’ “JumpTown” proposal.

The Oregon Music Hall of Fame and the Portland Jazz Festival lent their support to the project, one of three which passed the SAC in February. “Formalized endorsements” was the way the Jazz Festival put it in a media release. In the Blazers’/Winterhawks’ proposal, the Jazz Festival is predicting “about 150 free shows a year under a covered outdoor stage in the Rose Quarter plaza.”

Festival Artistic Director Bill Royston was quoted in the media release as saying, “This project will provide the catalyst to present national jazz artists outside of the Portland Jazz Festival each February, while also offering the opportunity to showcase local talent and allow Portland’s next generation of great artists and musicians to inspire us just as an earlier generation was inspired at clubs on Williams Avenue.”

No other genres of music were represented, leaving out a very large number of music lovers.

Nearby Williams Avenue was the center of the African-American universe in Portland, a vibrant neighborhood with several jazz clubs. The neighborhood was destroyed by “urban renewal” in the 1960’s.

Blazers’/Winterhawks’ “JumpTown”:

Jump Town -- full Rose Quarter

A modernized and more intimate VMC: We will preserve the building’s architectural character, value and history as a veterans’ memorial and multi-purpose sports arena. We will create a more attractive venue by reducing seating capacity to match promoter demand. New club seating, restaurants, regulation ice sheet, and a state-of-the-art scoreboard will help attract new events and ensure a bright future for the Winterhawks, Rose Festival parade and other community users.

But there are two other plans in the running.

Veterans Memorial Arts and Athletics Center (VMAAC):

VMAAC

The VMAAC is a proposed mixed-use redevelopment of the Memorial Coliseum for arts, athletics, and entertainment. It seeks to be a catalyst project that would reinvigorate the Rose Quarter and foster a cultural renaissance in Portland.

Memorial Athletic & Recreation Center (MARC):

MARC

MARC will house the New Memorial Coliseum, an entirely new, 6,500-seat arena, along with more than 200,000 square feet of community recreation, athletic training, and competition facilities in what will be North America’s most comprehensive center for public recreation, sports events, athletics and training.

Mayor Sam Adams chaired the Stakeholders Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday, moving it along rather briskly. Kevin Brake, PDC’s Senior Project/Program Coordinator, presented a report on how the 32 member committee voted on various concepts for how the Coliseum should be used. Other than predictable improvements to the Veterans’ Memorial, there was strong agreement on spectator sports, fitness and art/music components.

Dissenting against using the building for ballet, theater, symphony or more intimate concerts (including Jazz) was, oddly enough, Greg Phillips, Executive Director of Portland Center Stage, who maintained that there was not enough room in the building for these activities if the seating bowl were left intact, and too expensive to build if the seating bowl were removed.

The fate of the seating bowl was a subject of much discussion. Can they or can’t they eliminate it? If they do, does it change the historical designation of the building or denigrate the Veterans who consider the entire building to be a memorial. Mayor Adams said it would be difficult, but legally possible to eliminate the bowl.

Phillips said it would be impossible to eliminate the bowl without private money, which he didn’t see as forthcoming. He also added that it would be too expensive for the City to do the job on its own.

A straw vote was taken. The results:

• Leave the bowl intact: 4
• Remove the bowl: 6
• Remove part of the bowl: 0
• Let the three proposals go forward without a recommendation: 14

Adams discussed one upcoming source of controversy: the operating agreement with whomever wins. There is disagreement between the City and two of the parties. Adams would not say which ones. He talked tough and will meet with them this week. If there is resolution, the SAC will present their findings to the City Council on Thursday afternoon. Or not.

The answer to the fundamental question of what exactly will be the focus of the building is yet to be determined. Sentiment appears to be for multi-use.

Portlanders love to discuss at great length, and this discussion has been going on since the Rose Quarter opened in 1995.  There is no certainty that the discussion will end quickly, although the Blazers’ operating agreement is coming to an end.

Leigh Marble joined The Junkies on their last evening at the Laurelthirst on February 24th and together the entire cast gathered on stage to record Leigh’s song “On Your Way,” which is available for free download on Bandcamp. The b-side is live version of “Lucky Bastards,” also featuring several members of The Ascetic Junkies and the banjo!

Previously, Leigh had remixed the hauntingly poppy song “Dracula” from The Junkies EP Don’t Wait for the Rescue Squad that came out in December 2009.

Listen to the original version of “Dracula” from The Junkies debut album, One Shoe Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and download the Leigh Marble Remix here.

A very diverse group was present for the WOW Hall’s first Poetry Slam on Sunday, March 7th. A wide range of ages, genders, races, and religions all came together to perform spoken word, and for their first ever event, an impressive list of more than 15 people performed. From a wise Rastafarian to a stage frightened damsel, each performer’s emotions and concerns were poured out into the open.

An assortment of styles and sounds, some flowing like song, some like a dialogue, and others a personal rhythm that cannot be described but only heard. Some came prepared, some spoke completely off the tongue with no paper and no plan, but all were respected and cheered nonetheless.

This free show was hosted by Eugene’s Dandelion and Radical Monk, two local poet/activists. Poets talked about life, world issues, and personal trials, all having a message to share and on Sunday night they were heard.

As a community, the poets of Eugene came together and brought the power of performance poetry to life. “I think as poets our goal is creative but as activists it is also political and right now we’re in the middle of an economic recession. I think the best way to counter a depression is to bring the community together through art,” said Dandelion, co-host of the Slam.

The hosts of this show wanted to make sure everything was free and inviting for all people, including an all vegan buffet. It was an event that allowed individuals to speak and be heard while also letting others be express themselves as well.

The hosts hope to continue these Poetry Slams at the WOW Hall, and everyone and anyone who is a fan of poetry, music, lyrics, freestyle rap, or comedy is encouraged to come out and show support. You will not be disappointed!

Photo Credit: Dan Hodge

As bands grow and become widely known, it is often the case that they become more mainstream–meaning they adapt their music to become softer and include pop influences. For some bands, this may mean a rapid decline in the quality and content of music being written and performed. This form of irony–making music more mainstream in order to attract more listeners, yet in the process making worse music and losing fans–is a known conundrum in the music business. Without naming any names, it remains true that we all know of bands like this.

Fortunately, however, some bands are able to pull off this adaptation without tarnishing their sound or the elements of what has thus far produced good music. As everyone who went to Mississippi Studios last Friday already knows, Backyard Tire Fire is one of these bands.

With the recent release of their fifth album, Good To Be, Backyard Tire Fire has established themselves as a true workingman’s band. The core of this group, composed of lead singer/guitarist Ed Anderson, bassist Matt Anderson, drummer Tim Kramp, bring an upbeat, glass half-full approach to life and their tunes that is easy to apply to one’s own life. Produced by Los Lobos multi-instrumentalist Steve Berlin, who has taken a personal interest in the band, Good To Be represents their most complete and well-rounded album to date.

Photo Credit: Dan Videtich

Over their eight-year career, Backyard Tire Fire has developed a heartland indie-rock sound fused with southern, Tom Petty-esque lyrics and the distinct presence of pop and a bit of country. Impressively, their style has remained unique, toeing the line between traditional Americana and distinctly original. The first song played, “Road Song #39” off Good To Be, was especially indicative of this.  Pure grit and rock’n’roll, the song featured lyrics reminiscent of ZZ Top and a straightforward homage to the rock giants that came before.

As they say:

“There’s a smell that I know / It’s sweaty and it’s smoky and it’s ripe and it’s rock and roll.”

From the pop soaked, heel-lifters “Ready or Not” and “Learning to Swim” to the rock-tinged rollicks “Piss and Moan” and the title track “Good to Be,” the band showed a stylistic flexibility and invigorating stage presence that is hard to top. The core trio were joined by Scott Tipping, who has added shredding solos and inspired fretwork since joining the band in 2008, and Steve Berlin on baritone sax. At one point, the pair went off soloing in rounds, each one topping the other in an ecclesiastic spiral of rock greatness that showed off the harder yet blues-ier sound that this group creates on stage.

Photo Credit: Dan Videtich

The headliners were not alone in rocking the house. Local band Sarah Gwen was up first bringing a brand of country-rock that the doorman aptly titled “dirty and sad.” Although the lead guitarist was apparently dying of swine flu, prompting many to hide in the recesses of the balcony, this four-piece band put on an inspired performance. Lead singer/guitarist Sarah Gwen Peters was particularly impressive as she sang with a hearty dose of country soul, almost growling at times as if something primal was tearing its way out through her voice.

Second in line was Kelly Blair Bauman, another Portland denizen. Although they were missing their keyboard player and drummer, this indie-Americana band put on a solid acoustic set. The three-piece, composed of a lead guitar, rhythm guitar/lead singer, and a background vocalist providing angelic harmonies, Kelly Blair Bauman ripped through a quick set of West Coast twang and folk-rock. The lack of the full group apparently disconcerted Bauman, as he repeatedly asserted that they weren’t playing “up to snuff,” but this was not noticeable in the music. A relaxed, laid-back and approachable persona in his own right, Bauman represents the Portland music culture at its finest and will no doubt continue to create his own bevy of followers.

While you’ll have to wait a bit to catch Sarah Gwen next, on April 2nd at Laurelthirst Public House, you can catch Kelly Blair Bauman with the full band on March 24th at A Roadside Attraction.

The 26-year old pianist has been making a name for himself after winning the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in September of 2006. Kim is now based in Berlin, Germany and maintains a hectic schedule touring with orchestras and giving concerts primarily in Europe and Asia.

Beginning his program in Portland with “Kreisleriana,” Kim delved into Schumann’s fantastic sound-world with pinpoint playing and artistry. In Kim’s hands, the melodies were clear, but never too loud. The tempos changed, but never felt rushed or forced, and the transitions were organic. The result, in a nutshell, the performance was terrific.

Kim also delivered a moving interpretation of Brahms’ “Variations on a theme by Schumann.” One of the coolest things about the piece occurs near the end as the thicket of sounds seemed to unravel and become simpler and simpler, the pace slower, and the mood almost sacred.

Concluding his recital with Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 6, Kim traversed the many treacherous hazards of this piece with ease and gave it shape and beauty. From one moment to the next, he created a variety of sonic textures that ranged from dreamy passages changed to rollicking and violent ones. At times, hints of melodies swirled above the surface, and the final movement, “Vivace,” was ecstatic.

The audience brought Kim back to the stage for several bows, and he rewarded it with an encore, a marvelous performance of Scarlatti’s Sonata in D minor.
One of the great things about this concert is the impact it might have had on young piano students who can identify with a homegrown talent and think that they might be on that stage one day. With a lot of hard work and talent, like Kim’s, it can happen.

—

Final note: This recital employed a camera that project ed Kim’s playing to a larger screen so that the entire audience could follow along. It worked very well and added to the enjoyment of the concert.

Check out the album artwork by Anthony Ausgang while you download and enjoy four minutes of fresh, flute-y, floaty “Flash Delirium” as it swells from your speakers or earbuds.

The Flaming Lips are once again making a movie, but this time they are leaving out the spaceships. As the group plan their follow-up to 2008’s Christmas On Mars their sights are set on er, Justin Timberlake.

“I’m in the process of begging [him],” frontman Wayne Coyne told Billboard, referring to the SexyBack singer. “If I’m lucky I’ll be able to wear him down in another year.” Although the Flaming Lips haven’t revealed their new movie’s title, plot, or whether Coyne will once again be painted green, the group are determined to nab “real actors” for certain roles, alongside family, friends and, we suppose, bassists. “[I want] celebrities to show up and have fun with us for a couple of nights.”

Read the full Guardian story.

Pumpkins 1990

Rolling Stone reports:

Has it been your lifelong wish to become a member of the Smashing Pumpkins? Billy Corgan is back in the business of making dreams come true, announcing the band will hold auditions to find a new bassist and keyboardist for his ever-changing lineup. Last year Corgan held auditions to replace drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and ultimately hired young musician Mike Byrne. Musicians interested in the two new open slots are being asked to e-mail a resume and performance clips to either pumpkinsbass@gmail.com or pumpkinskeys@gmail.com. A note to perspective keyboardists: Corgan says he’s looking for someone with a prog-rock background, a la Yes’ Rick Wakeman, so maybe familiarize yourself with Tales from Topographic Oceans.

Read the Rolling Stone story.

With this in mind, you have to empathize with the band that has to follow this act, or open for it. The very idea of setting the stage for such a renowned figure entails that such a group would require a basic modicum of skill, a presence that inspires and illuminates in its own right, and the bravado to simmer the minds of the audience a la King. You may be asking yourself why this is relevant, and the answer is simple:

Lukas Nelson and Promise of The Real was this band.

In case you were wondering, yes, Lukas is the son of Willie Nelson. And yes, Lukas does have the same thick, country-vocals that his father does. Also yes, the mentality is progressive, the guitars wail, and the overall tone is inundated with 60’s rock and blues.

But this new band–I can’t help myself–is something else, man.

The recipe is simple, possibly because it’s plain home-cookin’. Three parts genuine rock’n’roll, two parts American heart’n’soul, one part blues, one part funk, and a pinch of country. The result?

Willie is a very proud father.

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real will be headlining their own show this Tuesday, March 9th at Mississippi Studios. Bob Shoemaker is opening.

21+, $12 advance, $15 day of show, Doors at 8 pm, Show at 9 pm, 3939 N Mississippi

L to R: Oliver, Pemberton, Kleiner, Howard

In the year-and-a-half since bassist/composer Sam Howard moved here from New York City (via Florida and via his Wyoming birthplace) he has established himself as one of the finest, most versatile bass players in town. He’s equally adept at electric or acoustic bass.

He can Funk. He can Jazz or play Country. He can compose a titanic piece for Jazz orchestra, or be happy with a George Jones tune. As you will read later, he loves waltzes.

His new album (which we premiered on OMN) is called “The Gettin’ Place.” The CD release gig is at Jimmy Mak’s Friday, March 12 at 8pm, $10. Also playing will be The Blue Cranes.

Sam on bass, Scott Pemberton on guitar, Andrew Oliver on keys, Russ Kleiner on drums.

Watch: “Ain’t No Catfish Worth Dyin’ For”

Click here to view the embedded video.

How long has it been between albums?

I guess since releases, three years, which wasn’t intentional. I guess it was because I moved to Portland in the middle.

Albums are still an important part of music, even if it’s less of a commercial venture. I think it’s an important part of the identity of the band and also to get the songs recorded in history so you can move on to other stuff. I’d like to record more frequently. Putting a band together and having enough material to make the album you really want to make is a nice thing.

That’s one thing I really like about this one. We did the two EP’s last year and got to record about everything and then pick the best stuff to use on this and some new stuff It’s nice to be able to pick and choose a little bit rather than put everything on there.

When you make those choices, is that a gut thing?

Somethings work better and you can feel it when you play them. You know which ones are the good ones. (Laughs)

You play so much acoustic bass, why all electric on this album?

The first record wasn’t, I played some acoustic on there. I think it’s just more of what I hear in the songs and fits with the identity of the band better. I love playing electric bass. A lot of these tunes are so guitar-centric, it’s easier to jump in on it and get the sound. We’re kind of a throwback, at lease sonically.

Throwback to what?

70’s. The good analog instruments. We all listen to the Meters a lot, that’s one of our favorite bands, as a group, for sure.

George Porter, Jr a hero of yours?

Oh, yeah. Every single one of those guys is a hero of mine. I’ve been into finding records lately with the Meters as the rhythm section. Checking out Robert Palmer, Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley. Those tracks are just perfect, every single part. Dr. John…some of those records.

I’ve got Desitively Bonneroo in my car right now.

That’s the one I’ve been rockin’. That’s unbelievable, man. So good. I like “Stealin,” just a bass line and some vocals is all you need. (Laughs.)

The music on your album was recorded over what period of time?

Two days.  The videos in one day and the tracks in two days…full days, real full days with breaks for food cart lunch.

Playing together or separate tracks?

All live in the same room, no isolation booths.

Why did you do it that way?

I really prefer recording that way, if possible. Just because it feels good being right there next to them. Usually the first thing that gets isolated is the drums and for me to be in a different room from the drums feels like the most unnatural thing in the world, especially for this stuff. The connection with Russ Kleiner is the most important part of the music to me. That’s where everything comes from for me, the connection with the drums.

You knew him in college.

In Florida. We were 18, I guess. Lived down the hall from each other in the dorms and then we were roommates in college, played in all kinds of bands…funk bands, jazz…he’s my favorite guy to play with.

Who moved here first?

He did. He moved here about three years ago and I’m about a year-and-a-half.

He said what? You gotta come out here?

Pretty much. I knew he was loving it and he was playing a lot. He’s always played a lot and in great groups. The move to here from New York was big for him because it was like stepping out on a ledge, saying I’m just gonna do it.

Of course…a great player and a good attitude so, he was really doing it right off the bat. That’s something that attracted me.

Was it like that for you, too?

He gave me the biggest head start you could ask for. He sent an email out to every musician he ever played with here and said, hey this my buddy moving here and you should call him for sessions and gigs. Before I even moved here I had sessions set up with Andrew Oliver and Randy Porter and Chris Mosley…it was awesome.

I had gigs set up before I moved here. Russ set up…I think my band had six gigs before I moved here. The day I moved here, I drove into town. I think I got here the night before and then I woke up and Chris Mosley came over and we rehearsed in Russ’ basement for a gig at the Cave that night.

You had never played with Chris before?

Nope, that was it. The Cave was essential. I was hanging out there and met Mary-Sue Tobin who was playing with Andrew Oliver’s Sextet. Esperanza Spalding was there with her band because she was in town. Mary-Sue was having a party at her house…this was within a week of moving here, you know…she invited me and I met everybody. It was a house party but it was everybody…everybody. It was pretty much a fairy tale.

People are so nice. People are nice in New York but it’s different here. Everybody is eager to include everybody here.

Less competitive?

Yeah. New York’s New York. (Laughing) There’s a dude playing in the subway better than you. For sure, no matter what. But it’s harder to jam, nobody can jam at their house. You have to rent rehearsal space. A good gig is playing in Central Park for tips. It’s a different deal.

What’s your favorite tune on the album?

I dunno. I’ve played them all so much. I think Catfish is good. I think it captures the spirit of the album. I like the waltz, Our Time. We didn’t blow on it, we just played the head, but that’s one of my favorite tunes that I’ve written. People seem to like playing it.

I like waltzes. If it was up to me I’d have an album of slow waltzes. I think we’re going to play some at Jimmy Mak’s.

What kind of waltzes?

Slow, slow ones. Slow country waltz. Play me one and I’ll be there all day. Sit at home listen to George Jones records and cry. (Laughing) You know that one, “Picture of Me Without You”…that’s a waltz…dum ta dum…two, three…da dum…two, three…that’s my kinda tune.

My dad and my mom are country music fans, they both play guitar and sing. When I was a kid I heard a lot of John Prine and Kris Kristofferson. Cheyenne is a rodeo town and they have concerts. First concert I ever went to was Willie Nelson. Rode my bike to it. Standing room in the dirt…pretty country.

When did the Jazz bug hit you?

When I started learning bass. I played piano as a kid and didn’t like it very much. Played cello and wasn’t good at it. I wanted to play the bass because it was the biggest one. Switched to bass in junior high. Played in the Jazz band at school.

My teacher gave me the Oscar Peterson record, Night Train. That’s was the first one that really caught…that was arranged and worked out. That’s catchy stuff. It really got me…and a Mingus record…a best-of..that Impulse double-disc…from there the rest is evident.

Doing any touring?

I’m doing the State Department tour with Student Loan, the bluegrass band. I’m not the regular bassist but I’m going…South America. It should be really interesting.

Guess you’re pretty glad you moved here?

Couldn’t ask for more.

When there was no more John Coltrane, a generation of saxophonists were so deeply influenced by his spirit and ideas that they carried on his tradition and his sound. Not many succeeded, and very few remain.

One who has endured, taking the ideas from that era, making them his own and bringing them into the current century is Azar Lawrence.

He will be appearing with a quartet at Jimmy Mak’s on Wednesday, March 10, 8pm, Tickets $20. Mel Brown Quartet also appearing.

He played in Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner’s bands. That says it all. Since then he has played with everyone from Frank Zappa to Woody Shaw to Busta Rhymes. He did not record for many years, but has been active in the past three.

His latest album is called Prayer For My Ancestors which was released last year and features Los Angeles pianist, Nate Morgan, and Henry “the Skipper” Franklin on bass. Franklin and Lawrence played in Horace Tapscott’s Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. On drums is  former McCoy Tyner band mate Alphonse Mouzon.

Listen to “Open Sesame”

Lawrence writes about his meetings with the masters:

It is said that music is of a pure nature all around us and within us as well. This music is from the tones produced by every vibration. Throughout the universe every atom everywhere produces a tone whether we can hear it or not. This is commonly referred to as the music of the spheres. When we as musicians dedicate our lives to a certain daily practice in order to try to produce the purest vibration tones we can often send those tones onto and into others like laser beams. Whether one on one or in groups music can and does cause an uplifting or healing effect. Our vibrations are lifted and we feel better and we are better.

I received this great understanding as inspiration in words of guidance and musical encouragement early on from legendary masters whom I have had the honor and privilege to humbly study,  learn from,  and perform with all along the way.  McCoy Tyner’s reply to me when I asked him how could he play with me just having turned 19 years old after being with the incomparable John Coltrane, was “I think you feel the same way about the music that John did.”

The great Elvin Jones told me that he thought that I had the “same kind of energy” that Mr. Coltrane had and “that was what was needed from me.”

Miles Davis told me when I was asked to join his band in the mid 70’s that the reason he wanted me to come aboard was because he “had not heard tenor sax since John Coltrane until me.”

This is something remarkable. Vocalist Kelley Shannon and guitarist John Stowell provide musical settings for poems by Tom Taylor, a longtime figure in avant guard poetry, who was published in many small literary magazines and had his own publishing house–the Anabasis Press–in Oysterville, WA.

(This Tom Taylor, Thomas Lowe Taylor, is not to be confused with the longtime film maker and instructor at Portland State University and the NW Film Center. I was thus confused and narrowly escaped terrible embarrassment.)

Thomas Lowe Taylor was very prolific poet and much of his work is available on-line. At the age of 70 he learned that he had brain cancer and wrote a slim volume entitled “Seventy,” which he presented to Shannon, encouraging her to treat it musically. She said it was quite some time before she felt equipped to pursue the project.

The poems in “Seventy” were obviously written by a man who was preoccupied by culmination. While this must be said, it should not be a turnoff. “The Journey” is not depressing.

Shannon and Stowell didn’t make things easy for themselves by picking the darkest verse in the collection to start the set, “brazil boys” (everything in Taylor’s manuscript is lower case). This verse is a meditation on atrocity which actually quotes a line from the grim movie, “Boys from Brazil.”

But while the subject is far worse than bleak, the treatment is fascinating. The figurations Stowell provides the vocalist are eerie (a demented samba?) and Shannon’s voice is quite an instrument. While generally faithful to the verse, she frequently binds stanzas together by repeating the title, often with scattish embellishment. The poem concludes:

“to mark our passages through the folly and pain we

inflict in the name of whatever suits us into madness.”

And Shannon’s treatment of that last word is truly harrowing.

“miracle fiber,” the next selection, is mercifully closer to celebration, albeit autumnal in tone (“this twilight of everything close and fine”). As you can see from the quotes, Taylor’s language does not possess the dittyish rhythms and rhymes of popular song. Its strength is in conveying very complicated states of mind and tenuous disposition with almost antic tropes and images. Enormous concentration and inventiveness was required to music it. Shannon’s voice moves to and fro from the rhythms of the language and those produced by her invented melody and the guitar. This may be recitative accompagnato, adaptation of the rhythms of ordinary speech and a single melodic line to tell a story.

Reviewing an earlier recording of Stowell improvising to poetry, Doug Ramsey coined a useful phrase “poetry integrated with music.”

“more not,” a wickedly cunning title, imposes unique challenges. The verse flirts with nonsense in its effort to convey a very strange state of mind. Imposing a sense of coherence was a difficult task for Shannon but guitarist Stowell just seems to have fun. (He had not previously read the poems, was responding purely to Shannon’s marvelous voice.)

The acme of the collection is “every moment,” a truly memorable convergence of song and language.

Co-incidentally, I lost the manuscript page for this verse and had to relate to it the way everyone listening to this CD will, ears only. This is not easy because the language is difficult. The speaker in “every moment” enters a hitherto inaccessible realm, a musical place where vision is heightened, and is gratified by the welcome. Shannon repeats the title several times, extending the word “moment” to suggest a yearning to prolong the “now.” A second extension, to the final word of the final phrase, “I want to stay alive,” is breathtaking. This holding onto life ends with a bright period, a chiming harmonic by Stowell.

Stowell explores the bottom of his guitar on “it is, which is appropriate to the poem’s movement from“beneath the hole with no bottom” to “seeming love’s smooth air.”

The next verse, “beach walk,” comes to terms with the condition of infirmity when “the spirit wants to lunge forward into the light.” While “some pleasure can emit its presence,” the imperative is “preparing for the opening in the line which must” That is the last word, “must,” with no period.

“disease heals” is an idea that could be said to explain the program undertaken in “Seventy.” “the disease itself flaunting the healing signs” suggests its content and Stowell bends notes prior, during, and after a long meditation on guitar.

Travel is the theme which concludes the CD. “transport glamour” is about “those who service cosmic interactions” (a vehicle for some of Shannon’s most impassioned singing) and is followed by two lyrics she wrote herself, “Let’s Take a Trip” and “A Place called Home.” These pleasant excursions provide some relief from Taylor’s dense verbal associations and the latter, featuring bass and percussion, has a nice Celtic feel.

Taylor’s “the journey” ends the album and it concludes: “in the lanes of the rutted highway from here / to there you went slowly gaining speed along.” A final, mysterious, final word. Shannon repeats the title, “the journey,” over and over again and again.

Box of Chocolates minus Krebs

Before he goes back home to New Orleans for a couple of weeks to mix some of the material he’s been recording for the past year, Reggie Houston will bring out his Box of Chocolates at the Laurelthirst Pub, NE 30th & Glison, on Saturday, March 13, 9:30pm.

Playing with Reggie will be  guitarist Turtle VanDemar, bassist Tim Acott and a special guest, Pete Krebs.

The Box of Chocolates were a weekly fixture at the Laurelthirst for a year or two. They mix swing, Jazz, Blues and New Orleans traditional music. Particularly delightful, especially by people who have spent a lifetime playing that stuff.

The addition of Pete Krebs, who just played Preservation Hall in New Orleans with Stolen Sweets a few weeks ago makes it even more of a delight. Reggie’s good humor and fine playing are always something to look forward to.

Read the OMN interview with Krebs about his Preservation Hall Experience.

Houston recorded at The Secret Society studio with Janice Scroggins, Tony Ozier, Stan Bock, Reinhardt Melz, Derrek Sims, Andre St. James and others including Curtis Salgado.

You’ll hear the first available track on OMN when he gets back from New Orleans.

Green Piano

Listen to “Journey to Dreamland”

Portland composer/keyboardist Asher Fulero is best known for his electronics in Surrounded by Ninjas, Halo Refuser and as part of The Floydian Slips,The Everyone Orchestra, The Floydian Slips,Three For Madness and Zeugmatic.

Links to all of those bands are on his site, linked to above.

His new album “The Green Piano” is not electric, nothing but an acoustic piano on which he spins lovely tunes. If you’re listening to the one at the top of this page, you know that.

He’s not making hard copy CD’s yet, but he is offering the album as a downloadfor $5.

This may not be the Asher Fulero you’re used to, but every good musician has something like this itching to come out. It’s just that most of those scratches, thankfully, never see the light of day. Happily this one has.

Last Saturday at the  Goodfoot, he joined Five Eyed Hand, he says, “As their ‘mercenary keyboardist’ for the night”

Piano
First Place     $1,000 Scholarship      Fred Lu                 Vancouver, WA
Second Place    $   750 Scholarship     Christine Wang                  Vancouver, WA
Third Place     $   250 Scholarship     Ruta Kuzmickas          Portland, OR

Strings
First Place     $1,000 Scholarship      Natally Okhovat, violin         West Linn, OR
Second Place    $   750 Scholarship     Jean Choi, cello                Portland, OR
Third Place     $   250 Scholarship     Victor Williams, viola          Camas, WA

Brass/Woodwinds/Percussion
First Place     $1,000 Scholarship      Daniel Vasey, alto sax          Vancouver, WA
Second Place    $   750 Scholarship     Midori Samson, bassoon          Portland, OR
Third Place     $   250 Scholarship     Maria Elena Covarrubias, flute   Lake Oswego, OR

Forty-four entries were submitted on CD’s in January and were judged by a blue ribbon panel of three local artists/instructors.  Three finalists were picked in each of the three categories to perform at a live performance on March 7 in front of an audience that included five judges from the Portland/Vancouver area.  The three first place winners  received the top amount of $1,000 as a scholarship and will perform with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at our April 17 & 18, 2010 concerts.