Sunday, August 15, 2010

Ben Meyercord's Live Music picks for Sunday August 15th

Hello Dear Readers,

I totally jacked my roommate's laptop and going to get you my picks today. I will be honest, I wrote the majority of this and yesterday's posts on Friday. I did end up playing that Chimp Fest thing as a part of Sean Flinn & The Royal We. It was fun. Here are the shows that look good today:

Rontoms is having a show with Ramona Falls, Monarques, Dirty Mittens, and Palmz. Ramona Falls is the band that Brent Knopf of Menomena created for all the songs he was writing between his other bands records. It is a bit different because you don't have the other guys filters on these songs. That being said Intuit their debut album last year was one of my favorites of 2009. I think the songs are very well crafted and arranged. My goodness are they arranged. You should totally see this show. Do you long for the days of sock hops and going to make out point and other things of yesteryear? Me either, yet as I listen to the music of Monarques I am oddly nostalgic for that which I have no right to be nostalgic for as a child of the 80's. It is a good feeling though. If you missed them yesterday at Chimp Fest, this is your second chance to see them. Dirty Mittens are a brilliant pop band that have a soul edge that many pop band cannot pull off. They also have a double sax thing going for them that helps with the soul feel as well. Palmz is a band that I have written about a couple time now, they also have a throw back pop sound to them. I love it. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Doug Fir is having a show with The Alialujah Choir, Mbilly, and John Vecchiarelli as part of the Pickin' on Sunday series. The Alialujah Choir is the project of Adam Selzer, Adam Shearer, and Alia Farah. You probably know Adam Selzer from fronting the band Norfolk and Western. You Probably know Adam Shearer from fronting the band Weinland. You probably don't know Alia Farah, but probably have some recording of her as she is all over the records of Portland. The project mostly consists of two acoustic guitars, piano, and three part harmonies. Mbilly is a guy who like many songwriters is torn between pop rock proper songs and more solo acoustic numbers. I bet that this will be more of the later. The show is FREE and starts at 3 PM.

Valentine's is having show with Orca Team, Karen, and Custody Battle (Flagstaff, AZ). Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I have a thing for Orca Team. Even though I have never seen them. I love their pop music. It is cut with some surf tendencies and it goes down so well. They are about to go on tour so, by the end of the month they will surely have won California over, so you should see them before they go. That way you can be like," Orca Team? Yeah I saw them they are pretty good" Instead of being like me and saying "I really love what I have heard of them but have not seen them live yet." Karen is a band that is influenced by some of the garage band revivalists that started packing the stadiums i.e. The Strokes and The Hives. They are poppy and catchy as cuss. They also claim to have a space guitar player instead a normal one. That's cool. Custody Battle is from Arizona. Myspace was acting all janky when I tried to check them out. I not a clue what they sound like. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

Revival Drum Shop is having a Drum Fair all day from 10 am to 6 PM. There will be all kinds of cool vintage drum gear and performances by some of the best drummers in Portland. Bands/Drummers involved: STLS, Rachel Blumberg (M.Ward/Sean Flinn etc), Why I Must Be Careful, Neal Morgan (Joanna Newsom), Janet Weiss and Sara Lund (Unwound), Donny Ossborne (Buddy Rich Protege). There will also be DJ sets by Joe Plumber (Modest Mouse),and John Moen (Decemberists), and Joe Sherman. This sounds like a really cool event. I am not a drummer, but my drummer is. Actually Scott McPhearson (the current drummer of Meyercord) co runs Revival Drum Shop and had a huge part in putting this event together. Seems like a really cool time. The event is FREE and again starts at 10 AM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say "Hi". That would be nice,

Ben


Ramona Falls is playing at Rontoms for FREE (also at the very beginning of this video I am an extra in the background)

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