Crappy Indie Music -- The Blog!: Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for May 3th and 4th

Hello Dear Readers,

Hey Yo! Did you know that Portland is awesome? Here are the shows to prove it. Not that having awesome shows is the sole reason that Portland is awesome, but it certainly does help. Here are the shows I am interested in.

Wednesday, June 3rd

Berbati's is having Leather Tom and the Dirty Dudes and Ocean Age. Apparently Leather Tom and his Dirty Dudes will be playing FREE every Wednesday for June. After listening to them only two words come to mind. Gay Disco. Now I don't mean that in a bad way at all. In fact it is pretty good. But there is no way around it, It is gay. Just listen to there song Leather Ballet. I think this would be a very very fun show to attend. It kinda makes me wish I saw them last night at Backspace. Ocean Age's myspace headline says it all. "We don't suck". Well, actually I guess that is pretty vague. Let me clear it up they are actually good. From what I can tell that take old school indie -pop boy and girl vocals and mix them with more contemporary indie pop sensibilities. I like it. The show, again, is FREE and starts at 10 PM.

The Someday Lounge is having a show with Patterns, and Pigeons. Patterns makes pretty good pop music. And Pigeons makes make kinda twangy music with an enormous studder in the main vocals. I am trying to see if I can get over it, cause I enjoy the music. There is an instrumental song on the myspace and a song called "Send Mt. to my Valentine" which I quite enjoy that do not have the studdering. This show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

East Burn is having a show with Spinning Wheels. I remember back in the day when East End was called Nocturnal. I saw Deerhoof there. Speaking of poppy and slightly mathy bands, Spinning wheels are playing. WHile granted they lean very heavily on the pop side of things. They have enough of a influence that I can see possibly a Pele feel to the music. If you are not familiar with that band you are missing out. Anyway, this show is listed on the East End page, but not the Spinning Wheels. So who knows if is actually happening. The show is FREE and starts at 10 PM.

Thursday June 4th

Nest Lounge is having is monthly first Thursday show with Rian O'Hara, Gregory Mile Harris, and Tommy Suitcase. I sometimes wonder if people mind if their music is called cute. I think Gregory Miles Harris's songs are cure. Or at the very least very sweet. It happens here every first Thursday at 8 PM. No cover.

Rotture is having a show with Lineland (Chicago), Animal Hospital (Boston), Strategy, Wampire, and E*Rock. This looks amazing. Let me try to break it down for you. E*Rock makes cool electro-esque music and runs this label based out of Portland called Audio Dregs. This label has put out records by Lineland and Strategy. The dude from Lineland has a label called Mutable Sound which has put out a record by Animal Hospital. Which leaves Wampire. They are completely unrelated to any of the other artists, but they are pretty great. The artists range from ambient to dancey and a lot of inbetween. The show is $5 and starts at 9 PM.

Krakow Cafe is having a show with Michael the Blind. It is probably FREE (note: I just confirmed it to be FREE). I think Michael is a pretty darn good songwriter and a fine guitar player to boot. This will be him playing in a relaxed setting. I think that is a songwriters natural habitat. The show starts at 6 PM.

Holocene is having the PDX Pop Now! CD Release show with Copy, Jared Mees & The Grown Children, What's Up?, The Taxpayers, and DJ Beyonda. All of you should know by now that I think that Jared Mees and The Grown Children are one of my favorite bands in Portland. Especially live. They are so positive and fun. Do not be cynical embrace the joy that is their show. The show is $10 and starts at 8 PM.

The Artistery is having a show with PWRFL Power (Seattle/Tokyo), Cap Lori (Seattle), and Grey Anne. PWRFL Power writes very entertaining songs that are also very good. They make you laugh and then they burrow their way in to you memory. I played with him and his friend Cap Lori a little while ago in Seattle it was pretty fun. And Grey Anne of course is also very entertaining. She often engages the audience, she tries things that make the make the show more than just a person just standing on stage strumming a guitar. She employs the help of stage animal friends (sometimes a giraffe, sometimes a bird), hand motions, acting looping etc. Plus her songs are also very good. Anyway, this ALL AGES show is $6 and starst at 7:30 PM.

So if you see me at one of these shows, give me a "Hi" and I will give you a "High five". It is a pretty good deal.

-Ben