Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for July 21st and 22nd

Hello Dear Readers

Wednesday is a pretty good day. It is generally my "Saturday". The new Willamette Week comes out. I sleep in until noon or whatever. For the rest of you guys it is "hump day". The rest of the week is down hill from here, right? Good times. And to make things even better, there are shows to got to. Here is what is looking good to me.

Wednesday, July 22nd

On Main St. (Between SW Broadway & Park) there will be a show with Portland Cello Project. It will be part of the The PCPAís Music On Main Street Series. They will have special guest Mirah, Justin Power, Weinland, and maybe more with them, which should be very cool. I have not seen Mirah play in years. I think FREE and in the company of such other notable Portland acts in the special context that is The Portland Cello Project is the perfect way to reintroduce myself to her music. The ALL AGES show is FREE and starts at 5 PM.

Roadside Attraction is having a show with Y La Bamaba and Sean Flinn. I play bass and sing in Y La Bmaba, so I cannot be trusted to have an unbiased opinion. But that being said I think we are pretty good. There are a lot of three part harmonies and accordion, and our singer Luz Elena has probably the best voice in Portland. Sean Flinn is someone who I had not really heard until recently, but he is really good. His song "Patient Heart" has my my list on Jamz for the summer. You may have seen him play guitar in Nick Jaina's band. The show is FREE and starts at 9-ish PM.

Mississippi Studios is having a show with Jackie-O Motherfucker and Dragging an Ox Through Water. There is an $8 cover in advance and $10 at the door. Who likes experimental music? I do. While I cannot make this show, I highly recommend anyone with any interest in interesting music, check i out. Brian Mumford of Dragging an Ox often builds his own noise makers to make his highly experimental folk music. Last time I saw him play he had built an oscillator that incorporated the use of a lit candle. The show starts at 9 PM.

Holocene is having a show with Jared Mees & The Grown Children, Blue Horns, Inside Voices and Pony Village. I am so bummed I am going to miss this show. Jared Mees and his band are really a joy to see. This will be a particularly joyous show as it is the welcome home show for The Grown Children after weeks on the road. Plus Blue Horns are pretty great. I still have not seen Pony Village. The show is $6 and starts at 9 PM.

Berbati's is having Nucular Aminals play as part of their month long Wednesday Residency. Mark Mallman will also be playing this one. Nucular Aminals have a fresh pop sound that would be fun to "move around" to. Mark Mallman has a reputation of putting on a show. I think I have read somewhere that he once performed for over 48 hours. Crazy. The show is FREE and starts at 10 PM.

Thursday, July 23nd

Holocene is having an IPRC Benefit show with:Ah Holly Fam'ly, Arrington de Dionyso (of Old Time Relijun, Alex Wrekk (zinester, Stolen Sharpie Revolution), DJ Vic Alfonzo and Colin Jones. IPRC is the organization that helps make Portland one of the best zine towns in the country. I guess this weekend is also the Zine Symposium. Not to mention that Ah Holly Fam'ly is also pretty cool. I only saw them once, and they were short one member and therefore short one vocal harmony. I feel I might have been jipped. Do not repeat my misfortune. Go see them as the full band. There is a sliding scale for a cover, specifically a suggested $5-$20.

The Waypost is having a show with Andy Moth and the Combs, and Dayton Dean. Andy Combs is a pretty cool. His songs get kinda crazy, he has a lot percussion in the band. When he plays solo he makes heavy use of a looping pedal. I am not at all familiar with Dayton Dean. The ALL AGES show is FREE and starts at 8 PM.

The Red Room is having a show with Little Czar & The Psalmist, Problems? and Crook & Whistle. I remember really ling what I heard of Little Czar & The Psalmist. My friend David Kyle has told me on a number of occasions that he likes the band Problems?. They look to be pretty interesting with their unique take on pop. The show is $3-$5 and starts at 8 PM.

Hotel Deluxe is having a screening of The Wild One. But before that they will have a performance by The Old Believers. I only saw one of these series of summer concert series and it was last year when Eskimo and Sons played before Flight of the Navigator. This is interesting because I think that many of the members of that band currently play with The Old Believers. It will cost you $8. The show starts at 8 PM.

So if you see me at any of these shows, give me a shout out. A "Hi" would suffice, though.

-Ben


Ah Holly Fam'ly in their practice space. I wish that I could see more bands in this setting. In the meantime, I can go to actual venues. The Holocene is having them play on Thursday.

4 comments:

dharmabeatdown said...

I believe that Ben should be recognized as a national resource.

Amber Dawn said...

Hear Hear.
I wish I'd known ahead of time that Pony Village was playing last night like 5 blocks from where I live, New Century Schoolbook's bass player plays with them and I've only seen them once. But I was rollerskating anyway and that was super fun.
I didn't know Ah Holly Family had an auborn haired flute player lady as part of the ensemble. Here I thought I was special :(.. hahaha.

Ben Meyercord said...

Alas, I am a mere local resource.

Anonymous said...

Shameless plug = Ah Holly Fam'ly's newest coming out on LM later this year.

http://www.luckymadison.com/pagenews.htm