The PDX Music Scene Project

A research project into the Portland, OR independent music scene. The project is led by Sam Murray of Cardiff University in the UK.

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Season 3 Day 38 - The Land of Milk and Honey

I started off today by a visit from a dear friend Moses Barrett of The Junebugs who wanted to come and share with me the changes he’s been through since moving back to Portland last year. The verdict was in and things are looking pretty great for Moses as his income from music is on the rise and he is receiving regular strong bookings for The Junebugs. Moses explained to me that he has managed to network and gain contacts in the corporate world to perform at various corporate events from parties for clients to award ceremonies. He has also been enjoying the summer season and the opportunities it brings, from playing at the zoo to the opening of patios in bars giving consistent seasonal work. Moses is close to being able to quit his job and just do music, although he feels reluctant to do this as the job provides insurance and stability as he needs an income to support his living costs.

Moses is incredibly positive about the opportunities presented to him here in Portland and feels that there are a lot more places paying him for gigs than in Vancouver, BC where he lived before as a full time professional musician. He feels he has a community here where gigs are traded between them and help each other with contacts and advice. Moses categorises his bookings as being mainly one of three things: bar gigs, corporate events/weddings and personalised recordings. The latter can be explained as people wanted to record their own material for fun and wanting professional musicians to play with them. If he can’t do an offered booking he will often pass it to another member of the community knowing that he may be passed other work in the future creating a positive community.

I then headed into town to Rontoms to meet with local radio presenter Jeremy Petersen who is also the lead singer in a covers band performing songs by The Smiths and Morrissey. Jeremy explained to me that local radio isn’t paying enough attention to the local music available in Portland with the major local stations being fixated on billboard chart music. Jeremy over the past year has joined X-Ray FM radio station, a station that focuses on encouraging and fostering local live music in the spirit of the X-Ray café the name sake of the station. We also talked about the political situation in Portland with Jeremy expressing a feeling that because the arts portfolio isn’t with the mayor there has been a change in terms of the city hall support for the arts. Where there used to be PDX Pop Now concerts at city hall Jeremy feels there is a void and perhaps that the city was spoilt with a Mayor such as Sam Adams.

We also talked about the various musical communities in Portland and Jeremy talked about some of the cross pollination projects happening in Portland citing as an example TxE’s ‘Vs Portland’ record in which the hip-hop group utilise Portland indie rock music samples in a unique collaboration. Jeremy remains hopefully that these kinds of collaborations will continue and feels the genres are constantly influencing each other even if it isn’t immediately apparent. Bills at shows are also starting to reflect diversity in Jeremy’s opinion with indie rockers playing with electronic musicians and rappers. As Portland has developed over time it will be interesting to examine musical collaboration in the city and see if the changes in the city’s landscape will create more interaction in the scene to fight negative change and instil positive steps. 

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Season 3 Day 46 - Cellos in the Chinese Gardens

Today began with a wonderful Skype conversation with my friends back home who as luck would have it were gathered in on place. I had a puppet show with faces drawn on toes, including a cameo by toe Albert Einstein and I also got to see an ultrasound of my future honorary nephew or niece. It was a wonderful reminder that there is nearly only a week left or my Portland Journey that has happened this past year. 

My first meeting of the day was with Lydia Mazer the outgoing education outreach coordinator at PDX Pop Now! who kindly allowed me to accompany the team into a school on my first trip. Lydia talked to me about the aims of the education outreach programme PDX Pop Now have in giving a free one day music based educational event to schools that are behind other institutions in terms of the arts funding they receive. The programmes allow kids to experience different areas of music related arts, from song writing to screen printing, in which they can find a mode of expression and realise potential they never knew they had. In the feedback Lydia has received kids have expressed joy at finding a new skill which boosts their confidence. This element is important to PDX Pop Now and allows them to directly impact the lives of those effected by all ages restrictions. 

In the evening after a review and mapping session for my last week or so I headed down to the stunning Lan Su Chinese Gardens in downtown Portland on the invitation of Doug Jenkins the leader of the Portland Cello Project to see them perform a special concert in such a unique setting. Many a time have a walked past the walls of the gardens wondering what was inside and tonight I found out. The sheer beauty of this space became illuminated by the music of the Portland Cello Project mixing classical masterpieces such as works by Bach with modern classics by Jay-Z and Kanye West to a diverse audience who connected to new experiences through the music of the group. The group were also joined by Patti King, a soloist in her own right but known for being the keyboardist in Portland band Radiation City. Patti joined them to perform interpretations of a Beck album originally just released as sheet music, a radiohead cover as well as her own original pieces. Portland Cello Project also paid tribute to home town hero Elliott Smith with covers of songs such as 'Needle in the Hay' and a composition by another local musician Peter Broderick based on a section form Needle in the Hay. It was wonderful to hear Doug introduce every piece as being composed by 'x' even if it was fleet foxes or Kanye treating all pieces with equal respect. The music interacted with the nature of the garden sending vibrations through the ponds that were inhabited by fish and water skating insects who danced around to the sounds shaking their feet. 

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Season 3 Day 45 - Division Decisions

There comes a time in every ethnographer's life that they witness something diversionary that it becomes even harder for us to negotiate issues at hand and today I encountered one of those. Today I went to the waterfront park for a free concert  to celebrate Portland's hosting of the MLS All Star Soccer games headlined by internationally known band the Flaming Lips and supported by local band Radiation City.

Before the controversy set in Radiation City played a wonderful set over coming technical problems at the start of their set to play to what they described at their biggest audience ever. It was incredibly interesting to see a Portland band on such a big stage playing to not only those present but those streaming it live on the internet. The group went down well with the crowd who seemed appreciative of their performance.

The real controversy was with headlining band The Flaming Lips, who before I go into the contextual controversy, played an incredibly fun set of their greatest hits with stage craft galore as various inflatable creatures join the band on stage as well as the lead singer rolling over the crowd in his trademark inflatable ball.

The controversy came in the form of protest against lead singer Wayne Coyne's apparent ignorance to appropriation of native american culture. The incident appears to be that a friend sported a headdress of stage while performing and Wayne came to her defence over criticisms of appropriation by posting pictures of a dog in a headdress. Wayne had apologised but members of the native american culture don't feel that the apology was as sincere and showed a lack of progression in his alleged ignorance. The protests came in the form of signs various attendees held up, some were taken off them by security members and some were ripped by other crowd members. The latter created a terrible media representation of Portland as it was a white man who ripped the sign and in projection of the image having Fred Armisen of Portlandia as the introducer for the band may have brought up the Portlandia based race dialogue I have encountered. As an observer this could have been a possible image seen. 

This all leads to various questions and debates. The first is about  cultural appropriation and the boundaries of it. Still as I write this many are debating whether the protesters were right, if they should have boycotted the gig or some are acting in defence of the singer expressing the opinion that he has apologised so they should move on. As one might expect this became the media story in the Willamette Week's coverage of the event with context taking precedence over the musical performance itself. People I know have expressed grave concern over the amount of comments on the web articles story that appear to be against native american culture. 

The story continues and then we are faced with the question how much can the context of a performer effect the music and appreciation of it. This is slightly easier to negotiate as at no point have the Flaming Lips musically articulated controversial views on native american culture or themselves performed with headdresses or other cultural items belonging to native american culture. This is a fact not an opinion. The protest is against the fact a public figure who has a voice has defended what some Native Americans feel is trivialising their culture. Perhaps a more active apology would be appreciated whereby Wayne would take time to correct an ignorance he has apologised for and admitted to be taking time to learn about his mistakes by learning about the role of the headdress in native american culture. I guess this is an opinion but the most logical way to negotiate the event. 

This event has raised questions on Portland's responses to controversies and how these events unfold could prove a direction of social change in the city with protesters calling on the Mayor to ban cultural appropriation as legislation. Protesters are next set to express their opinions against Ted Nugent who comes to Portland on Tuesday. Nugent is alleged to have made racist remarks in a more clear cut incident. I am interested to see how these responses culminate in Portland's city culture.

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Season 3 Days 42-44 - Pickathon

One of the main events of the musical year I simply had to attend for my research is Pickathon, an indie roots festival set on Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon just a short drive from Portland. The wonderful and kind folks at the festival allowed me to volunteer as part of the front gate team which saw me do two 5 hour shifts, one of the pedestrian gate checking wristbands and another in the evening helping direct traffic and in return I could gain free entry to this festival.

The most striking think about this festival is its admiration of nature and use of the natural surroundings as part of the site. I camped in the woods where small clearings had been made for tents to pitch and it was wonderful to wake up in nature. Also as seen in the first photo above they had a stage set in the woods with branches being used to create it making for some magical festival moments. The main stages had shade structures to help keep the beating hot sun off festival goers.

PDX was out in force at theis festival and you couldn't go to a stage without meeting someone from the scene or a band performing from the city. The wonderful thing about this festival si that most bands perform at least twice so plenty of chance to see them and I managed to catch bands such as Ural Thomas and The Pain and Houndstoth twice, see a magical night time performance form Ages and Ages, see Unknown Mortal Orchestra play the main stage and see Lonnie Hollie perform on a stage that was built out of pallets by the architecture department at PSU. 

I also got the chance to see Nickecreek a band who I have long admired perform. They are all mind blowing musicians with strong chops that makes your eyes go funny as you see their speed and precision in playing. 

I also had chance to do some interviews while at the festival. On my first volunteer shift I met Jane a square dance caller in Portland. She told me about how the square dance scene is thriving facilitating performance opportunities for those playing old timey music. Jane set up a Queer Square dance in Portland and worked on creating calls that were gender neutral and often helps other callers achieve this in dance sessions. Jane explained her role as a caller is to effectively mediate between dancers and musicians to piece the two together and kind of conduct the whole performance process. Looks like fate brought us together for a super interesting interview. 

I also met Douglas Jenkins the founder of portland Cello Project and he explained to me the mission of the group in that they disrupt traditional music space relationships by bringing pop to concert halls and classical to punk venues. The group works with a variety of Portland based musicians and their collaborations have spanned the genres for Indie to Hip Hop. It was wonderful to finally meet and interview the leader of a group who had inspired me to write this thesis with their cross-collaborations and pollinations in the scene. 

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Season 3 Day 41 - In Music We Abide

Today I had the pleasure of meeting soul singer Liz Vice who has had a roller-coaster ride over the last six months or so finding her voice and becoming a regular performer on the music scene. Liz found her voice through her church Door of Hope based in the city. She felt a nudge to join the worship band and had somewhat of a spiritual epiphany about her voice during her first performance in which a friend came up to her crying incredibly moved about the performance and Liz felt that her gift had been unveiled to her through her faith and trust in her beliefs. Liz is not afraid to be open about her Christian beliefs which is inspiring and to even her surprise has never hindered her rise in the PDX music scene with her faith being respected throughout the scene. Liz's songs are lyrically expressive of her faith but not in a way that is aggressive or trying force beliefs on you but rather a sharing of her personal stories. The songs were written by a fellow member of her church but Liz feels she can connect right into them s an articulation of her beliefs and convictions. 

Liz has a background in film production and intended to pursue a career in film but instead through fate has encountered music and becoem a regular scene performer working with the likes of Luz Elena Mendoza (of Tiburones and Y La Bamba) and Eric Earley (of Blitzen Trapper) allowing her to take her voice out of the soul domain and have it present within different genres. Liz feels she doesn't need to adapt to the genres as it is her vocal quality these artists are looking to work with but finds the experiences humbling and educational. She has also performed in a variety of spaces from the Waterfront Blues Festival to Mississippi studios.

Liz also performs covers under the guise of the group Billie & The Holidays who I saw on Main St a few weeks ago. Liz has a fond affection for British soul music citing adoration of artists such as Adele, James Blake and Lianne Le Havas and finds performing cover versions really fun and a chance to play around with the music she would be singing around the house anyway. Liz has been involved in several tirbute projects including a concert dedicated to Billie Holiday where she first performed with her then unnamed covers band before receiving other bookings and taking a hint from the project to name the group, she is also contributing to an upcoming record tribute to Townes van Zandt. 

It will certainly be interesting to follow Liz's career through Portland as her faith strengthens and guides her on her musical journey. Watch Liz perform 'Abide' above. 

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Season 3 Day 40- Three Forces for Change

Todya has been one of my busiest days of research this trip seeing various interviewees in different parts of Portland across the day hopping on buses and just about making connections but if anything today has been about forces for musical change be it a record store fighting for musical diversity, punks fighting for all ages concerts or KJs looking to bring people out of their shells.

My first appointment of today saw me travel to North Portland to meet Eric Isaacson the owner of Mississippi records a vinyl/tape only record store in the Albina neighbourhood. The record store came about as Eric returned to Portland after time away and wanted to see his favourite music being represented and sold in a city that he felt wasn't challenging itself musically. His passion for old soul, blues and rock n roll records became the backbone of the shops collection with his employees contributing their tastes to create a diverse and rich cannon of the history of popular music, a topic Eric regularly speaks on. The store from Eric's description appears to be carefully curated in terms of what is on the shelves and you will find a variety of genres present. Eric is also keen to have local music in stock and enjoys selling even only a few copies of local artists records with many musicians eager to just have there record seen in the store which has a popular reputation in the city. Another part of Eric's musical passion is reissuing old recordings under his own label also called Mississippi records, with the label also releasing new music from local artists that Eric enjoys. The store also holds a few performances from a variety of artists, Eric has invited me to go see a female touareg blues guitarist next week which I'm excited to hopefully go and see. Another cool element to Mississippi I had to ask about is the famous compilations which started as a suggestion by one of Eric's employees. Eric didn't think they'd take off but sure enough they did and are still going strong today.

After some of the best Chimichangas I've ever eaten having dinner out with my host family I headed over to B-Side Tavern on Burnside to meet Samantha Gladu a Punk musician in Portland bands Piss Test and Dottie Attie to name a few. Samantha explained to meet that the Punk community in Portland is very much connected with the West coast Punk scene and all the punks in various cities work together to help each other book shows for tours. Samantha also talked about the scene infrastructure methionine spaces that combine live spaces with rehearsal space and even some of the aesthetic elements of punk such as a shop where studs are put on leather. Samantha explained to me the importance of all ages access to the Punk scene, with a strong will to include under 21s in making music through which they are mentored by older scene members. The lack of all ages space was again raised in our discussion with liquor licensing laws making it hard to run a successful venue although Slabtown are a venue that have entrusted those under 21 with booking positions and other jobs to nurture their potential. 

After a fascinating interview with Samantha I had to get a streetcar, run then catch a bus to make it up to Mississippi Pizza to have a super quick interview with the infamous KJ (Karaoke Jockey) John Brophy, who recently appeared on a BBC Radio 4 documentary on Portland Karaoke. Karaoke could perhaps be the most famous part of the music scene at present with the attention it is getting, John's Baby Ketten Karaoke sees a collection of songs that you wouldn't hear down you local on a friday night, its more the songs you've always wanted to do at karaoke but didn't think you could. John actually fashions his own backing tracks where songs don't have them intricately recording parts. He feels Karaoke is a good start for performers enabling them to find a place to fight off the nerves, he also feels its a place where musicians come to try out new genres and style with their singing. 

And with that quick interview I made my connection for the last bus home to put my feet up after a mind blowing day. 

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Season 3 Day 39 - Here I Dreamt I was a Portlander

Today I had the absolute privilege to meet Jenny Conlee a pianist, keyboardist and accordionist most known for being a member of internationally renown Portland band The Decemberists as well as a member of folk group Black Prairie amongst other various Portland bands. I took this opportunity to get a more international perspective on the PDX music scene as well as looking at how the scene responds to bands that have success.

The Decemberists are one of the pioneering bands who brought Portland's indie-folk music into the mainstream. Jenny felt this was in no small part thanks to her former band mate Rachel Blumberg who brought in instrumentation such as a glockenspiel to the band alongside female vocals to contrast with main vocalist Colin Meloy. To achieve their recorded sound the group have worked with a variety of studios in Portland, Jenny mentioned they had recorded at Jackpot Records with Larry Crane (who I interviewed last year) for example and more recently at Flora studios with Tucker Martine. Jenny talked of how these producers have attracted artists to work with them in particular bringing business to Portland and how she still does session work for people like Larry which pay well.  

In terms of international perspective Jenny has found that when the group are on the road in Europe or Australia everyone is familiar with the city of Portland for its music. The Decemberists have a sense of Portland identity on the road with a recent tour to the UK featuring a pre-show voice-over from then in office Mayor Sam Adams. Part of the bands international acclaim is the face they are no 1 selling artists in the US with album The King is Dead topping the Billboard charts something Jenny is incredibly proud of a feels marks her own life as well as that of the band.

After a wonderful interview with Jenny I headed to Portland's cider bar on Powell and finally got to drink some proper Cider to celebrate punk photographer Bryan's birthday. All in all a wonderful day indeed. 

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Visit Original Link

Here it is My faces on the Radio Podcast! Enjoy!

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Season 3 Day 38 - Face 2 Face

Picture Courtesy of Yousef Hatlani 

Today I got to be part of a Portland institution the Faces on the Radio Podcast, a podcast that for the last few years has reviewed the music scene and debated topics within it including a wonderful episode on the All ages scene problems here in the city. I was honoured to be invited to be part of the podcast I have been using as a research resource to talk about that very research, I went round to Youssef's apartments and sat in front of an impressive collection of vinyl to talk about various things that had happened in Portland over the last week, the upcoming Pickathon festival, the PDX pop Now festival which happened last week and a wee profile about my research in which the team interviewed me asking about the issues faced and how the scene compares to back home in Leeds. The podcast will be up tomorrow so hopefully I can post it on here then so I won't give too much away!

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Season 3 Day 38 - Face 2 Face

Picture Courtesy of Yousef Hatlani 

Today I got to be part of a Portland institution the Faces on the Radio Podcast, a podcast that for the last few years has reviewed the music scene and debated topics within it including a wonderful episode on the All ages scene problems here in the city. I was honoured to be invited to be part of the podcast I have been using as a research resource to talk about that very research, I went round to Youssef's apartments and sat in front of an impressive collection of vinyl to talk about various things that had happened in Portland over the last week, the upcoming Pickathon festival, the PDX pop Now festival which happened last week and a wee profile about my research in which the team interviewed me asking about the issues faced and how the scene compares to back home in Leeds. The podcast will be up tomorrow so hopefully I can post it on here then so I won't give too much away!

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Season 3 Day 37 - Bach in Black

After a most enjoyable dinner out with my wonderful host family where I embarked on a personal culinary first the Chimichanga, I headed for the main even of today to see the performance of ARCO PDX at Mississippi Studios. Mississippi Studios is not known for having classical music performances so it was a chance to see the work of Portland organisation Classical Revolution PDX in action bringing Western Arts music to more mainstream spaces out of the concert hall and into the gig venue.

ARCO PDX, or Amplified Repertory Chamber Orchestra PDX to unfurl the acronym, play a combination of an existing cannon of western art music alongside compositions by founder Mike Hsu. Tis evening was their debut concert and they marked the occasion by paying homage to CPE Bach who was born 300 years ago this year. They performed various cello works by the baroque composers and invited Portland Cello Project's Skip Von Kuske to be a featured guest soloist for the performance. Skip's soloing was full of colour and tone and drama and he used some light pedals and effects to bring even more shade to his performance. The group then performed three movement of a specially composed string quartet by Hsu which was incredibly melodic and filmic in nature with great variation between movements. 

It was also wonderful to see the crowd reactions to the performance with some people dancing like a rock show, some sitting down on the rug at the front of the stage and come looking on in quiet contemplation. The performers also were engaged with their music with one violinist rocking out and power stancing to various more aggressive movements which was refreshing as well as the group being dressed in smart casual gear as opposed to evening wear. This was certainly a unique event I have experienced and would be great to see more of.  

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Season 3 Day 36 - All in the Fine Print

Today I met with Portland's go to music attorney Peter Vaughan Shaver who not only is charged with looking after the legal affairs of countless musicians, record labels and non for profit organisations but is also a massive music fan and a big scene cheerleader for anything he sees and likes. I met Peter at the PDX Pop Now! festival and found him to be incredibly passionate about Portland music telling about all the various bands and events I needed to know about so I thought he would make a perfect interviewee.

In his day job Peter is a music attorney, a role that can encompass many parts. When he works with musicians he often is dealing with: copyrighting of material and band names, ensuring musicians receive pay for gigs and helping them with various contracts. One of the most common problems musicians have in any scene is pay disputes with venues, Peter advises all his clients to get everything in writing and will often have to phone venues himself to ensure deals are kept. Peter also works with labels for whom  he will work on agreements with artists as well as with licensing for distribution of records. Aside from this Peter works pro-bono with many non-for-profits in the city including PDX Pop Now! and My Voice Music helping them ascertain their state license to be a non-for-profit allowing them tax exemptions. 

At night Peter will be out and about on the scene watching his clients perform and finding his next new favourite band which he says is changing on a weekly basis. Originally from New England, Peter was bewitched out to Portland by The Wipers a post-punk band credited as being a massive influence on the grunge movement receiving homage form the likes of Pearl Jam and Nirvana. He didn't truly understand their music until he came to PDX and saw the 9 month rainy season and got the doom and gloom! Peter felt the music that followed in the nineties in the back end of grunge coming out of Portland was a truly definable sound for the city giving it a musical identity. 

Being in a position to work with a variety of clients has let Peter see a wide array of genres of music in Portland and he has been exposed to a diversity of tastes liking music form all genres. Out of the present bands Peter mentioned metal band Red Fang as one flying high on the international stage bringing the Portland brand the globe over. 

We had such a fascinating discussion and it was a privilege to meet such a big fan of Portland music as well as an industry insider who works with a passion in such an interesting field.  

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Season 3 Day 35 - Flying the Portland Music Flag

So not much has been on the blog for the past few days this has mainly been due to either cancelled interviews or my forgetting to metnion in interviews about the blog so thus didn't get my ethically required permission to talk about the interviews I have had although they were gems. 

Today I have had two contrasting yet incredibly interesting interviews about the music scene. My first appointment of the day was with Kat Olsen a music supervisor at Marmoset music. Marmoset are on of the newer enterprises in the infrastructure of the Portland music scene and are a licensing company. The group aim to provide clients with music for their needs be it for film, television series, adverts or even class projects. Kat works directly with clients and works through Marmoset's extensive library to find music to fit client requirements. Kat took time to show me the library and how it is catalogued online with music documented by genre, mood and even by shape ie. if a piece is a constant build or has variance in dynamics. For a client Kat will often create a list of 10 or so songs form the library she feels matches the client brief then awaits feedback. If a song is agreed on then a price will be arranged that takes into mind size of client, what they wish to use the music for and how long. The artist will be given a reasonable amount split with Marmoset if a song is licensed (I don't want to reveal the amount in case its a trade secret!). I found it interesting that Marmoset hold an open relationship with the aritsts they have on their books and will respect there opinions if an artist decides they don't want their music to be associated with a company, one example Kat gave is a client wanting to ironically use christian rock music and the band rejected this requested as they took their beliefs seriously and didn't want to be mocked which is fair enough really. Most requests Marmoset seem to get is for a Portland sounding music which Kat felt can be defined by a pure organic sound perhaps inferring to folk. Marmoset have been licensing for a variety of companies and recently licensed a local song for use in a coca cola campaign centred around the world cup. Marmoset are an example of music being used as an economic resource, the music is sold as a resource to fuel advertisement and film and television media. In fact most music industry insiders will tell you this is where the money is. 

After spending time at Marmoset's building in South East I then went to one of the grandest buildings in Downtown Portland, City Hall. After making my way up a wonderful staircase with stunning works of art, all locally made, I got to the office of city commissioner Nick Fish where I met his arts liaison office Jenny Kalez. Jenny explained to me that as Commissioner Fish had been given the arts portfolio by Mayor Charlie Hales it was his job to see that the Regional Arts and Culture Council is funded as well as ensuring the enabling of funds form the Arts Tax to be used appropriately. Although the Commissioner is mainly involved in divvying out these finances and is rarely hands on with the arts in this role in her personal life he is a great fan of jazz music and can often be found at various musical events cross town. Jenny explained that his passion for jazz has kept the arts at the forefront of his priorities in government. He was recently re-elected to his office and on the campaign trail spoke at many arts based events answering questions of the arts tax and pledging to ensure funds could be distributed with more ease and be more readily available for organisations. With the arts tax funds education are given in statute priority access with a certain amount needing to be raised before non-for-profits organisations can receive them. This of course also requires enforcement on those who have not paid the tax. I also broached some more difficult topics with Jenny discussing fears of gentrification and the problems of the hip-hop scene both of which she assured me were recognised by the commissioner with an independent report being pursued on the latter by the city auditor. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to hear form the current city government their perspective on music and the arts in Portland. 

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Season 3 Day 31 - I Sang a Song of Portland

Today the tables were turned and I was sharing my research with Portland in the main public engagement event for this trip. My university Cardiff University provided me with a small grant to run a public engagement event and working with Know Your City I decided to run the Sing a Song of Portland Sing a Long Walking Tour again. I had scripted and created the tour last year but couldn't attend myself due to lack of finances but as PDX Pop Now! was happening we thought it worth another shot, this time with me leading the tour. 

This was a new experience for me presenting my research in such a way but after a trial run earlier in the week I felt confident in giving an educational and entertaining tour for all. I was blessed to be joined by Lukas Borsten our original tour troubadour who is a talented musician and a member of several bands in the city I felt great having him as our musical anchor and he not only brought confidence to the group encouraging them to sing but also did a kazoo solo on The Dandy Warhols' classic 'Godless' which was simply mind blowing! 

For this tour we updated it adding in the Roseland theatre as a stop so we could talk about hip hop and I used my interview with Mac Smiff to enlighten what I could include. We also had a few sad moments since last carrying out the tour with the closure of Jackpot records and of Backspace. We kept Backspace on the tour to drive home the issues of the all ages scene in Portland. 

I was so glad all attendees took tot he singing aspect and really got involved with the sing a long of the day being 'Louie Louie' written by Richard Berry but made famous by The Kingsmen a Portland band to whom there is a dedicated plaque on the building on 13th and Burnside where the band recorded the track. 

It was such great fun to share my research in this way and hope I can do something similar in the future. 

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Season 3 Day 30 - PDX Popping

Although I attended the festival last night today was going to be a full day of discovering and exploring on the highlights of Portland's music year the PDX Pop Now! Festival. After interviewing board members past and present, volunteering at fundraisers and at the school outreach programme I was finally here at the event which formed part of the pitch to even get me on my PhD course!

The event was hosted in the wonderful setting of the Audio Cinema with an indoor stage and a stage outside under the Hawthorne Bridge creating a wonderful atmosphere of something really grass roots. Not only were there stages but also food carts and stalls form local record labels and businesses including the Timbers Army selling t-shirts.Another big event happening down at the Audio Cinema was the first stages of band basketball competition Rigsketball run by local music journalist Bim Ditson.

Apart from the incredible work of hundreds of volunteers the one thing that impressed me was the diversity of the line up including hip hop, indie, garage rock, metal, punk, rock n roll, cumbia and more. All of these music sat along side each other with ease and with the ability of having two stages the change overs were quick and bands didn't class on the line up so every band could be seen and enjoyed and most of the crowd would see as much as possible. Another thing I noticed is how each genre had their won traits shown on stage from stage diving garage rockers to shoe gazing indie rockers. AN interesting moment came during a hip hop set when the act on stage realised a local influential rapper, Vinne Dewayne, was in the crowd and they got him on stage to rap, as if to pay respect. 

The event also feel like a jamboree of the scene with many people attending who had contributed my project form the PPN! members past and present to journalists, photographers, other non for profit directors, musicians and fans alike. I could barely walk around the festival site without bumping into someone I knew which was wonderful as I could be caught up on their goings on over the past year. I ran into PPN! logistics coordinator Lauren Joyner for whom this event was her last as a member of the PPN! board. She explained to me that the venue was chosen because it managed to satisfy several criterion from fulfilling sound ordinances to providing shade as well as a sound trap so sound was contained in the industrial south east. 

I also got to undertake an interesting aspect of my fieldwork that of mapping. I enlisted my new friend Lauren, who is the girlfriend of Punk photographer Bryan Phippen, to help me cajole attendees to draw me a map of their musical Portland. The results were exciting and I've shared some examples above. Guess which one is by a metal band!

I ended the day by watching Summer Cannibals a band who I had seen a year previously at the Doug Fir. It was wonderful to see their growth over the year to a point of sub-headlining a festival of this size and importance. As I got on the bus home, after a tense few moments at a bus stop where the screen declared the last bus of the night cancelled although fortunately it turned up although a poor trombonist had to run after the bus with instrument under one arm and music stand under the other luckily he made it, I reflected upon what has been a crossing point for all of my study so far. 

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Season 3 Day 29 - Cheerleading

To finish my examination of the sport music relationship in Portland there was one team I knew I had to cover and that is the Timbers, the soccer(well football really!) team. The Timbers have a dedicated following of fans known as the Timbers Army reminiscent of great Premier League supporters such as Newcastle's the Toon Army. The groups are incredibly organised and plan the match day experience down to a tee with dedicated committees to create a certain experiences combining the best bits of European football from chants to Tifo displays. 

Upon arriving at the stadium and finding my seat I was handed a sheet with all of the Timbers Army's chants on which include a mix of appropriated tunes with new lyrics in support of the team. Half an hour before play had begun the army were already in voice with their section of the stadium entirely filled with drums banging and voice aloud with the chant 'PTFC' to which the whole stadium joined in. Before the game came the customary national anthem but this was different as through out the anthem everyone raised their scarves and made a swishing noise then at the end line 'the land of the free and the home of the...' everyone shouted 'TIMBERS!'. Then the game was a foot and through out the army kept the pace with drums and chanting throughout the match. Even when the team went a goal behind the Army were determined not to let spirits drop and continued their chants. The chanting was lead by a group of conductors called 'Capos' who would stand on platforms in front of the army leading the chants and making gestures for when their scarve should be in the air. It was fascinating to see such led chants when in England it is started randomly usually by some drunk skinhead. My host mom suggests this is due to American sports having cheerleaders and crowds being used to being led in support. 

Timbers equalised in the second half and then a series of rituals began, a tifo was unfurled in the Army and then a green smoke bomb was et off before the mascot dressed as a lumberjack walked up to a log adorned in scarves and carved off a slice with a chainsaw to celebrate the goal. I later found out that the pieces of the log are presented to the scorers. Throughout the game the lumberjack mascot would appear in the crowd revving his chainsaw to get the crowd cheering and even went over to the Colorado fans to mock them. 

The game was culturally interesting to me as the crowd would respond to little things an English crowd wouldn't. There was also a sense of Colorado being the bad guys and when a player fell over the boos were deafening. It was all in good jest but it lacked the football respect English fans have when the opposition shows class and skill. 

After the game I then headed over to catch a bit of PDX Pop Now! wonderfully there was a hip-hop performance by Stewart Villain with a slew of rappers joining him on stage while a DJ played some beats. At one point there was a whole gang on stage all rapping along with Stewart making hand gestures throughout. Now PDX Pop Now has kicked off I shall be there most of the weekend! 

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I managed to find on-line video of the Session at Bing Lounge today I thought I'd post the example to show the space and style of performances there.