In the darkness of drunkenness/sleep I found myself confused. Was I drowning in a bottomless pool of hot water? No! I was merely enjoying another balmy day in the south! The Athens morning found us all sticky and sweaty, but ready to rock. The girls, again horrified by the feline-sized grasshoppers surrounding the van, screamed […]

Apparently, there’s more than just black metal in Sweden’s musical repertoire, and Portland is tapping into the Scandavian country’s dance-pop supply. New local label Skywriting Records is putting out the first album from Swedish dance-pop artist Cloetta Paris, who has been called an “italo princess” by Seattle’s The Stranger. I’ve never heard of italo […]

I used to see depressed comedian country singer/songwriter Tom Heinl and his son at my old record/game store, picking up Nintendo 64 games. Now the kid’s building websites! Here’s Tom’s post:
son makes good…
Thanks for making my new website William!! (My 15 year old son)
tomheinl.net
He charges $10 an hour and it took him about an hour […]

As the cityscape of Detroit faded in the distance, we aimed the minivan toward Cincinnati for the next stop on our tour. Wait a minute! Isn’t Cincinnati right on the border with Kentucky? And isn’t Kentucky where they make bourbon? Oh, boy! We stopped at the next available gas station where the nearly toothless woman […]

Is it so wrong for my life to revolve around Beth Ditto? Is it so wrong to shout out with glee a “Yippee!” that this video has finally cropped up on the internets? When Ms. Ditto is wearing a blue dress, blond wig and is commanding the audience to sing along with the chorus of […]

“If you leave, don’t leave now
Please don’t take my heart away
Promise me, just one more night”
Actually, the Black Black Black can promise more than one night - they can promise at least three nights in October at various venues and many nights thereafter. The Boy Gorilla-ers are back! Recently renewed by the return of […]

Okay, maybe the near-legendary all-ages club, Meow Meow, isn’t enacting a bloody, Halloween-style revenge on Portland. Its mastermind, though, Todd Fadel, is bringing the spirit of the club back in his monthly-ish showcases at Northeast Portland’s Urban Grind coffeehouse. Some of the names (Boygorilla, Marriage and Asthmatic Kitty Records to name a few) are […]

Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story
of that band skilled in all ways of contending: the wanderers, harried for weeks on end, after they plundered the stronghold 
on the proud height of Cahuenga Blvd.

They saw the townlands 
and learned the minds of many distant men, 
and weathered many bitter nights and days
 […]

Last Saturday, I met up with Artistery booker Aaron Shepherd to discuss the venue/artist collective’s upcoming six year anniversary (which I wrote about in this week’s Here Comes Your Fan column). Getting a tour of the place during the day proved a pretty charming experience, and it made a case for why Shepherd cares so […]

“It’s not like this weird thing,” explains Artistery manager-booker Aaron Shepherd. He’s talking about artist collectives, and he’s right: Getting a group of creative people together and hosting shows or sharing studio space is not such a novel idea anymore. But the Artistery—which is celebrating its sixth anniversary this Friday—is novel. And the all-ages, alcohol-free […]