Video: MTV Kicks It In Portland, Releases Long Montage About It
MTV finally released its much-ballyhooed “scene report” on Portland, and the results—despite the usual Utopian synopsis of our fair city and the mislabeling of two-thirds of Starfucker (which has an unreleased tune called “Pop Song” playing during the outgoing credits)—isn’t as horrible as one might imagine it to be! Plenty of vertical representation here (everyone from basement favorites White Fang and Southern Belle to scene staples Colin Meloy and Stephen Malkmus is interviewed), if not horizontal (I know Portland isn’t exactly famous for its hip-hop or Jazz, but a nod would have been nice).
There is some other shit to be talked, of course, but there’s still something fun about all this—I mean, it has to be exciting (in a jaded Portland sort of way) for some of these young bands to be featured alongside YACHT and the Thermals and Menomena and such, so for that, MTV, we salute you one final time. Enjoy:
Links:
MTV article about the Decemberists and DCFC in which this video was embedded
NILINA MASON-CAMPBELL
says:God it makes me sick sometimes how much I love this city. This video only reinforces how lucky I feel being here. I agree with Monsieur Forkner about Portland being like a workshop.
Posted @ July 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinktravis
says:thats great, now more bands and neon hipsters will move here! yay!!
Posted @ July 16th, 2008 at 11:04 am (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkalex arrowsmith
says:i think it’s cool that MTV had their “scene report” about portland, but everything is just kind of exaggerated and romanticized. i guess that’s what one should expect from that kind of thing though. they forgot to mention all the excellent hip portland shows where only five people show up to see you (and three of them really only just wanted some beer, or coffee)! and not one word about (or from) the shaky hands? criminal.
i’m glad they included stuff about house shows though. those really are one of my favorite things about portland.
Posted @ July 16th, 2008 at 11:35 am (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalink:: Seattle Sound Magazine
says:[…] MTV extols the virtues of Portland in its “Scene Report.” LOCAL CUT Leave a Reply […]
Posted @ July 16th, 2008 at 12:07 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkDave Cusick
says:Why is MTV spending time reporting on music? I wish they’d just get back to their roots–back-to-back reality shows.
Posted @ July 16th, 2008 at 12:51 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkCASEY JARMAN
(post author) says:Like most good Portlanders, my gut reaction was to really look for stuff to hate on this li’l video, but I gotta say, I LOVE pretty much every band and artist they interviewed there, you know? Speaks to the city as much as it does MTV, but c’mon! White Fang and Eat Skull and Southern Belle on MTV? Shit is crazy! I hope other people that come here to do “scene report” type stuff at least dig below the surface a little the way MTV did with this…they must have had a decent guide or two. Mr. Forkner is a sometime reader of LocalCut, I wonder if he’ll put his two cents in on this whole thing, having been interviewed.
Posted @ July 16th, 2008 at 9:19 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkVoice of Reason
says:Kinda brought a tear to my eye.
Posted @ July 17th, 2008 at 9:50 am (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkdevo
says:that was awesome
Posted @ July 17th, 2008 at 11:02 am (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkLocal Video News: Week 1: WellcomeMat
says:[…] Exploring the local scene in Portland, Oregon Even MTV is delving into the local video space. The network, paying homage to its roots, just released a montage of footage, exploring what makes Portland so unique. Portland thrives because its focus is local. MTV is beginning to get it—you should, too! […]
Posted @ July 17th, 2008 at 2:46 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkc.thunda
says:Thank god this whole scene started once Colin Meloy moved here… and thank god he remembered to give himself credit. There were never any good bands here before the Decemberists.
Posted @ July 17th, 2008 at 4:23 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkMARK BAUMGARTEN
says:It took me a while to actually sit down and watch this video. Not because I thought that MTV would get it wrong, but because I knew that, even if they did get it mostly wrong, they would get at least a little bit of it right. And even a little bit of what’s right with Portland makes me miss it greatly.
Finally watching it, I see that MTV actually got a lot of it right (mostly because they let the artists do the talking): the physical beauty of the town, the relaxed pace of the people, the ramshackle house shows. All that potential energy that explodes in a myriad of different shapes and colors at any hour of the day. As Jason Simms would say, “Freedom!”
When people ask me about Portland now, I often give a very short answer. “It’s Neverland,” I tell them. “When you’re there, you feel like you will never grow old, and neither will anyone else.” I never know if that is a compliment or if it’s a slight. But it’s true.
Posted @ July 17th, 2008 at 6:13 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkCary Clarke
says:I come down on the positive side about this. As sensitive as everyone is about having Portland Seattlized, I really don’t think that a blurb on MTV is suddenly going to singlehandedly raise the rents in town. On the other hand, what it will do is get some new pairs of ears to hear some great bands - including lesser known ones with heretofore no national profile like Southern Belle & White Fang, which is pretty awesome. And I do think there’s a trickle down effect. If people who see this get generally interested in tracking down more Portland music, I think that’s great! I do feel like this is far more in depth than much of the national press about Portland has been.
MTV contacted PDX Pop Now! before coming out to get some info on shows - house and otherwise - that they might have wanted to check out during their 3 days in town back at the end of May. That’s PDX Pop Now! board member (and At Duskovite) Greg Borenstein saying a few words about the OLCC/all-ages situation in the piece. We gave them a big list of shows and bands that had things going on that weekend. I imagine they were in touch with other folks for some recommendations locally as well. But, in fairness, I have to say these guys had assembled a big itinerary already, and I think already knew about everything that was happening that made it into the final piece already. When the producers/crew called and said they were huge Eat Skull fans and were planning on going to the Meth Teeth/Eat Skull house show, we knew that they were genuinely interested in non-marquis names.
My only real complaints are that I would have liked to have seen a broader diversity of local music included - hip-hop, noise and metal come to mind. Lifesavas were playing a show that weekend, which would have been great to shoot. Likewise, I know Pete Swanson, James Squeaky and Nate Carson all gave them some leads on noise/metal stuff that didn’t get shot. But they were on a very tight schedule, and did a ton with that time. From what I understood, I think they’re also planning on doing another little follow-up piece of some sort.
Like all big companies that might not be all our favorites at all times, there are some good people working at MTV who really seem to care about music and helping it find its way to new audiences.
Posted @ July 17th, 2008 at 6:26 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkCarls
says:All of the romanticized stuff about this city is such bullshit, and yet I wholeheartedly believe it.
Posted @ July 18th, 2008 at 9:57 am (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkI-5 KILLER
says:I think it is interesting that most of these bands - and more famous ones like The Shins - love to say they are “from Portland” - but are really are not.
I appreciate that cool, creative people are moving into our city, but I don’t appreciate people doing it just so they can claim it.
If you haven’t lived here at least 5+ years… don’t fucking say you are from Portland - be honest and say… “I just moved here from Boulder ’cause I heard it was cool… and all the “cool” bands seem to be moving here”.
-Randall
Posted @ July 18th, 2008 at 1:09 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkJason Simms
says:The Shins have been here for more than 5 years. Six by my count. I think a band is from wherever they formed. Of course the Shins didn’t form here but I think that accounts for a lot of the bands who are “from Portland” but are composed of recent transplants.
Portland is the freest place in the US that I know of. That’s why I’m here. I go where the freedom is.
Other than being a little redundant at times, I think this video is really good. I mean, it’s hard to think of a music media outlet that’s lamer than MTV and if I hadn’t heard about them showing up at cool, smaller shows, I would have assumed they’d only go to the Crystal Ballroom and Doug Fir (since those are the most well-known venues) and only talk to the Spoon guy and maybe Craig Marquardo. Way to be way more in touch than I give you credit for MTV!
But still, no metal!?
Posted @ July 18th, 2008 at 5:50 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkjesus the hater
says:MTV get off the air..MTV get off the air -Jello Biafra in like 1987 or some shit…i watched the video and ok well i had to ask myself why? I dunno i have lived in Portland for about 8 years on and off when not touring with my band. back when the Pearl was some fucked up cool warehouses. anyway portland to me is getting boring. im tired of looking at skinny white hipsters or yuppies. I just returned from 3 weeks in the bay area and holy shit! other cultures, inspiration, yeah its pricey but fuck it, so is nyc and london. Old Black blues men, asian punk rock..real culture..crime, some grit..venues worth playing at…yeah a real city..Portland has become white utopia with condos going up everywhere…kinda feels homogenized…downtown is completely useless and pointless…mississipi got completely yuppified in like 3 years wtf? Keep Portland Wierd..watch it as it slips away
Posted @ July 19th, 2008 at 10:22 pm (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkalex arrowsmith
says:Follow up: I found out that the reason that The Shaky Hands weren’t in this MTV clip was because they didn’t check their Myspace in time. True story. I thought that was pretty hilarious.
Posted @ July 25th, 2008 at 12:30 am (July 16th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalink