In yet another pro-active move for getting music back into Portland-area schools (in a time of declining budgets for music-related education), organizers of PDX POP NOW! plan to invade Portland’s Parkrose Middle School on Friday, May 4. With them will be this year’s Best New Band winners (and jangly pop heartthrobs) the Shaky Hands, folky BNB runner-up Alela Diane, laptop magician YACHT and rapper Soul P. The concert is a special treat for kids who did their homework via a program called “Re-leaf” (roughly 2/3 of the student body). This means that, were I still 13, I would not have been invited.

But despite the brooding underachievers (aren’t they the most likely to wind up involved with music?) plotting their revenge in some undisclosed location, the rest of the school is gonna get down! In a town known for its amazing music scene, the 15-and-under crowd seems like somewhat of an untapped resource. So this show ought to serve as a great introduction to the PDX music scene for Parkrose’s kids. (As for you, non-Parkrose students: You are not invited.)

“By bringing local bands, emcees, laptop wizards and balladeers into Portland-area schools,” PDX POP Organizer Cary Clarke says in a press release sent out earlier this evening, “We are providing an opportunity for local kids and local musicians to discover each other.” It’s a popular sentiment lately, what with Lifesavas playing Jefferson High, the Thermals playing Cleveland High, and Portland rockers of all stripes donating items for a Buckman Arts Elementary School auction. But PDX POP NOW! is well-versed in doing stuff for the kids. Their annual music festival is free, all-local, all-ages and always pretty fantastic.

Organizers hope that this in-school event is the first of many. I’m hopeful that they’ll get the slackers involved next time, as well. Otherwise LocalCut may have to host a show for drop-outs/pregnant girls/general ne’er-do-wells: I hate to quote a Spearhead album title (just say no, kids), but everyone deserves music. Until then, the PDX POP NOW! folks deserve huge props for bridging gaps between adolescent teens and Porland’s best music. You hear that, kids? Do your homework!

Here’s the lengthy press release, which includes some great thoughts on in-school music from Cary Clarke, and all the pertinent event info:

PDX Pop Now! Presents a Re-leaf Concert
at Parkrose Middle School:

The Shaky Hands - YACHT - Alela Diane - Soul P.

Friday, May 4
Parkrose Middle School
11800 NE Shaver St.
Portland, OR 97220
(503) 408-2700
1:20 - 2:40 p.m.
For Students of P.M.S. (Press allowed)

Portland, Ore. — April 26, 2007 PDX Pop Now! is proud to announce it will be giving students of Parkrose Middle School who’ve done their homework this quarter more than a gold star and a pat on the back; students qualifying for “Re-leaf” - the school’s homework completion incentive program - will be treated to a special PDX Pop Now!-produced concert of top-notch Portland music featuring ascendant jangle-poppers The Shaky Hands, laptop prodigy YACHT, souful folkstress Alela Diane, and positive rapper Soul P..

Prior to the concert, the performers will participate in classes including Band, Choir, and Language Arts, and will speak to the students about their music backgrounds and experiences, the creative process, the music business and the Portland music community, etc.. Representatives from other local music organizations like the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls, Ethos, and Old Library Studio should be on hand to distribute information on various music programs (especially those held in the summer) and the Girls’ iCamp should be bringing some instruments for students to try out after the event.

About 2/3 of the Parkrose student body will have met the “Re-leaf” requirements and be able to attend the show. (The school counts 830 pupils in all; 20% call English a second or third language and 60% qualify for free lunches.) Eligible students will be split into two groups for the concert, which will occur in two phases and in two rooms - the gym and cafeteria. After each group has watched 15-minute sets from two of the performers, the groups will switch rooms to catch the remaining artists.

While the general public isn’t allowed at the concert, members of the press and non-profit reps are permitted as long as they sign in as visitors at the school’s main office.

As to the “Why?” of the concert - which PDX Pop Now! hopes will be the first of many such events it can bring to Portland-area schools - here’s what Cary Clark (PDX Pop Now! board member and English Language Learners teacher at Parkrose Middle School) has to say:

“As funding for arts programming has dried up in many Portland schools, the responsibility for music education has fallen more and more to non-profits and volunteers. Our city is home to a variety of fantastic organizations that are providing for that need by way of music lessons and fundraising, but it seemed to us that no one was really bringing Portland’s creative capital into the equation. We live in a town filled to bursting with musicians, all of whom were once kids or teenagers who heard a song ori an album that made them fall in love with music. For many of these people, myself included, that experience is among the most important of their lives, and we all have a duty to make that experience viable for the next generation. Young people get excited about music, but their excitement is limited to the music that they have a chance to hear.

By bringing local bands, emcees, laptop wizards and balladeers into Portland-area schools, we are providing an opportunity for local kids and local musicians to discover each other. Both parties have a tremendous amount to gain from this. Young people will be introduced in person to the bottomless well of top-notch music that is made in their city. This is real music made by living, breathing people in their town, and as such it is fundamentally more interactive. There is something extremely empowering in seeing with your own eyes that music is not just a consumable passed down from on high, but an approachable, mutable thing made by your friends neighbors and classmates. Suddenly the world seems changeable. People who take an interest in local culture are by definition taking an interest in their communities, so kids having access to local music are that much more likely to be engaged citizens.

On the other end, local musicians in search of fans to come to their shows and listen to their albums obviously have a vested interest in making their music accessible to young people. Tired of seeing the same old, jaded faces at show after show? That’s because we don’t do nearly enough allow new, young music enthusiasts entry into the world of local music. And many of these students will engage in the music community not just as listeners, show-goers and fans, but as creators as well, forming their own projects and making their own recordings. The potential for establishing mentor-mentee relationships is almost unlimited.

Plus, beyond the ethic of the thing, how cool would you have thought it was if some amazing bands and musicians had come to your middle school, hung out with you, and ended the day with a concert. I know I would have felt differently about my education.”

The Shaky Hands: [ www.myspace.com/shakyhands ]www.myspace.com/shakyhands

YACHT: [ www.myspace.com/yacht ]www.myspace.com/yacht

Alela Diane: [ www.myspace.com/alelamusic ]www.myspace.com/alelamusic

Soul P.: [ www.myspace.com/soulp ]www.myspace.com/soulp

About PDX Pop Now!
PDX Pop Now! is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization committed to celebrating and promoting Portland’s vital music community. Begun in 2004 in true DIY fashion by a dozen or so members of a local indie-pop listserv, the group has produced three music compilations and FREE, ALL AGES multi-day music festivals, to which The Shins, Sleater-Kinney, The Decemberists, Quasi, Lifesavas, M. Ward,The Gossip, The Thermals, Viva Voce, The Helio Sequence, Tara Jane O’Neil, Talkdemonic, Menomena, and dozens more aritists contributed recordings or performances. The festivals have drawn audiences in the thousands, and the compilations have generated considerable play from local FM radio and sold more than 12,000 copies combined, mostly through local independent record stores. Artists, business owners, and individual volunteers all donated the time and resources to produce three truly stellar grassroots events - something PDX Pop Now! stands poised to accomplish for a fourth year.

Oh my God, I just noticed that these kids go to P.M.S.! Whoooo hoo hoo! Ah ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, gimme a second. P.M.S.! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

No, really, that’s all I was going to say.

Link:
PDX POP NOW!

Image: This year’s PDX POP NOW! logo