Ben Meyercord's Live Music Picks for Friday, May 14th

Hello Dear Readers,

Last night I played at The Jupiter Hotel in Y La Bamba. It was for a fundraiser for Bridge Fest. Basically some people are going to cover the Hawthorne Bridge with grass and have brunch on it. It sounds crazy. Tonight I am playing a show in Seattle with AristeiA so I will miss all of these shows. Damn. You should check them out:

The Woods is having a Portland Fruit Tree Project benefit show with White Rainbow, White Fang, and Rob Walmart. All of these artists are part of the Marriage Records family. White Rainbow is a looping man that uses whatever he has a t hand. Usually a guitar and keyboard and a whole mess of pedals. White Fang are a high energy fun punkish band. Rob Walmart is weird. They usually perform from the back of a milk truck and make use of very messed up and cool sounding beats and stream of consciousness lyrical delivery. The Portland Fruit Tree Project sounds pretty cool. See; "Portland Fruit Tree Project is a grass-roots non-profit organization that provides a community-based solution to a critical and growing need in Portland and beyond: Access to healthy food. By empowering neighbors to share in the harvest and care of urban fruit trees, we are preventing waste, building community knowledge and resources, and creating sustainable, cost-free ways to obtain healthy, locally-grown food. Because money does not grow on trees… but fruit does!" The show is $10 and starts at 9 PM.

The Mantle is having a show with Purrbot, Tender Bear, and Padriac Finbar Haggerty Hammond. The Mantle is the home of Purrbot. I played there once and was charmed. Purrbot himself has a very cool voice and uses it to sing his songs over piano or banjo. They are not particularly happy songs, but do seem to be very personal. I played a show once with Eric aka Tender Bear. He is a dude and an acoustic guitar and a lot of lyrics. It sounds pretty good. Padriac Finbar Haggerty-Hammond used to be a guy and a guitar but lately sounds a whole lot more like a band. He has been playing with Mat from The Sarcastic Dharma Society who backs him vocally, on drums and a Rhodes piano. The sound is full, the songs are great. They often have the ability to go, " ha ha ha ha... oh. That's so sad". I love them. The ALL AGES show is by donation and starts at 8 PM.
Mudai Lounge is having a show with Orca Team, Prescription Pills, and Pyschic Feline. Those of you who read the blog everyday may remember that this is the show that I was so excited about the at I managed to post it four days to soon. This is what I said, "So let me start this by saying that Mudai is not very big. I played there a while back. It is essentially just some people with good tastes in music who are using the space available. Which is awesome. Orca Team is a band that I have been meaning to see for quite some time. I believe that are somewhat related to a neo surf rock thing. But what draws my attention to them is that they straight up know how to write great pop melodies. I know I have said this before, but check out their song "And She Knows". It is so good. Prescription Pills are are a self proclaimed electro punk band. I just want call their music dirty electro. Pyschic Feline is a band who has one song available online. It sounds like early punk rock. I could be wrong though." I promise you that the show is FREE at 9 PM.
Jimmy Mak's is having a show with Lawrence Williams Project and Blue Cranes. The show is ALL AGES until 10 PM which is fine because Blue Cranes are scheduled to finish by 09:15 (according to an email I received). Jazz. I don't claim to know a whole lot about it, but I love Blue Cranes. And they defiantly could be called jazz. The compositions are beautiful and every member of the five member strong group can play their instruments as if they were extensions of their bodies. They often play with dynamics, mostly to very cool results. The show is $10 and starts at 8 PM sharp.

Doug Fir Lounge is having a show with That 1 Guy and Boy Eats Drum Machine. Okay, I will be honest here. I think that "That 1 Guy" is a horrible horrible name. His deal is that he made up an instrument he calls the magic pipe. He swears that he doesn't smoke pot, but his song Buttmachine was featured on Weeds. Hmmm... Anyway, I am writing about this show because BEDM is pretty rad. He is also a "one man band" But he mostly uses his turntable sampler, and sax. He sings songs that just sound good. Check his stuff out. The show is $14 and starts at 9 PM.


You will not see me at any of these shows tonight but if you feel like it, you should tell someone "hi". It truly is a good thing to do.

-Ben


Padriac Finbar Haggerty is talking to me at the begining of the video. But tonight he might talk to you. Check him out at The Mantle.