Ben Meyercord Live Music Picks December 19th to 21st

Hello Dear Readers,

What do you think of our little "Winter Wonder Land"? It is kinda cool. I mean I would be lying if I said that it was not negatively affecting my show attendance. But I am still in amazement that it can snow where I live. But what's that? You don't care and would rather me get on with the music picks? Fine.

Friday, December 19th

There are a few things going on today. They are shows. They are good.

• Rotture is having a s Christmas show with Copy, Explosivo (Manny of Atole and E*Rock. It will be really cool. I really like Copy a lot. It is so fun to see him play. It will make you "get your groove on ". The show is a mere $3 and starts at 9 PM.

• Hush will be having Jared Mees & The Grown Children, Patterns and The Rainy States play a show. All of these bands are pretty good. I have wanted to check out Hush for a while now. I have not seen Patterns , but I do like what I have heard. I also want to see Jared Mees and his crew again. This ALL AGES show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

• Aladdin Theater is having Live Wire! with musical guests Blue Giant, Blind Pilot and Ralph Huntley & The Mutton Chops. Also there will sketch comedy and other things. It will be ALL AGES and $15 at 8 PM. If you don't want to pay and don't mind not seeing the "action" you can listen via OPB radio.

Saturday, December 20th

Saturday I could only find one show, but it looks to be a good one.

• Hush is having another show. This one is the One Year Anniversary show with Guidance Counselor, Atole, MEGA*CHURCH and White Fang. This show looks amazing. I saw three of the these four bands play this years PDX Pop Now. And had a good their respective sets. I remember thinking that White Fang was one of the highlights of the festival. I have sen Guidance Counselor a few times since and really think they are good (and fun to watch). The ALL AGES event is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

Sunday, December 21st

There are several things going on Sunday.

• For instance, in the afternoon, Nick Jaina will be playing the Emerson Street House (the big white wooden building at the corner of NE 30th and emerson, a few blocks North of 30th and Alberta). I am not sure why, but it seems kinda of a rare thing for Nick to be playing an ALL AGES show, so all you kids should check it out while you can. It will be $6-10 and start at 1PM.

• Doug Fir is having a "pre-Holiday" show with local popsters Alan Singly and Pants Machine, Team Evil, and Modernstate. It shall be a good time for all. The show is $7 and starts at 9 PM.

• Tender Loving Empire is also having a holiday show. Theirs is at Dunes and will feature Jared Mees & The Grown Children, The Winebirds, and DJ Travis Wiggins. I am unsure if any Christmas tunes have been cooked up, but I do know it will be a good time. I also know that you can find many gifts at Tender Loving Empire including the Willamette Week Another Grey Christmas 2 that is full of local talent doing x-mas tunes (A Weather, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Dolorean, Easter Egg, Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble (Chris Funk of the Decemberists), Future Historians, Laura Gibson, Gingerbread Patriots, Ohioan and Native Kin, Old Believers (with Eskimo & Sons' Danielle Sullivan), Podington Bear, Run On Sentence (with Pancake Breakfast's Mike Midlo), Super XX Man (with Mike Johnson) and Ralf Youtz (of Ape Shape and Built to Spill). So, check out the show or the store. The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

• If you don't think you can handle the prices of either of those shows, you might consider heading over to Rontoms. Doubledutch, Tango Alpha Tango, and Quiet Countries. The last time I saw DoubleDutch they weren't terribly great (though there were a couple songs that were really good). Their recordings sound great though, NS I know they have playing shows since then. SO, I want to give them another shot. It will also be interesting to see how Leb Borgerson aka Quiet Countries handles his night playing this show and also being a member of Pants Machine playing at Doug Fir (I guess it is only a couple of blocks away). This show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

• There is a show happening at Matchbox Lounge This show will have jesse bettis, the lead singer of Oh Captain, My Captain , doing a stripped down set, as well as Y La Bamba and Make Nice doing sets. It should be noted that Michael Kitson will be performing in all of the sets (he's crazy like that). The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

So those are the shows I pick for this weekend. If I omitted something that you think I should not have please leave a comment. If you see me at any of these shows, then by all means say, "Hi".

-Ben


Quiet Countries doing double duty on Sunday Night (are those helicopter blades on his back? Sweet!)