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

Hello Dear Readers,

Last night I played a show at the Doug Fir. I want to give a shout out to Garth of Old Light for letting me borrow his sweet guitar. I also want to give a shout out to Matt of Don of Division Street for being so dang nice. I was want to mention a friend of mine who showed up during Old Light and went up to Holland (member of Meyercord) and was like, "I can't wait to see Monarques". She explained to him that they were playing at Holocene. Then he was like, "Damn I went to the wrong show. Why are you here?" To which she explained that we had opened the show. He was like "oh. Well I'm going to walk over to Holocene." We totally got his money. Anyway, here are the shows that look good to me:

Backspace is having a show with Pigeons, Scrimshander, and Wax Fingers. I have been writing about Pigeons for a while. The band, not the bird. They are, from what I understand (I have managed to miss them every time they play), really good. I have seen the sister band Petosky which shares Pigeons lead man Justin Ready and Pigeons violinist Angie Kuzuma. Pigeons not too long ago put out their debut album The Talking Wire. I believe it is available at shows only. So I have not heard it in it's entirety. Pigeons sound big on record. I don't want to say it, but when I listened to it just now, Arcade Fire jumped into my head. They are not knock offs or anything, I just think it is a good touching point. I have never heard of Scrimshander. They are a rock band that sometimes some very country sounding harmonies. Wax Fingers I have not seen but want to see very badly. They are awesome. I listen to my music mostly on a shuffled mix. Anytime any song from their self titled album, I have check to see who it is because it sounds really cool. They music that is both mathy and catchy, a hard feat to accomplish. You should totally check them out. The ALL AGES show is $5 and starts at 8 PM.

The Press Club is having a show with Justin Power, Sean Flinn, and Dave Camp. I really like Justin Power's songs. To the best of my knowlege he has only put out some songs on the Portland Cello Project thing that also had Thao Nguyen's songs on it. I think the most recent thing he has been a part of musically was contributing vocals and banjo to Horse Feather's cover of Drain You (y'know that Nirvana song). He really is good. Sean Flinn is also really good. He is a song craftsman. His songs are usually little stories about characters or situations that may or may not exist. Plus he has assembled a great band in The Royal We (which I actually spent time in as a backup singer). He always puts on a good show. Dave Camp might be from the band Stereovision. But then again, maybe he isn't. The show is FREE and starts at 8:30 PM.

The Artistery is having a show with Algernon Cadwaller (Philadelphia), Lee Corey Oswald, Big Kids, and Duck Little Brother Duck. It looks like Algernon Cadwaller and Big Kids are on a West Coast tour together. That is cool. I have learned that going on tour with other bands is awesome. Algernon Cadwaller sound awesome. If you are familiar with the name Kinsella, then you probably would like this band. I think that they are really good fit for my boys in the amazgingly good Duck Little Brother Duck. I have often said they have the energy of Cap n' Jazz (the first Kinsella band). Lee Corey Oswald is the duo that recently parted ways with Monarques presumably to focus on Lee Corey Oswald. I think that's cool to focus on what you want to do. What they do is make better than average punk folk. The Yogi Bear of the genre. Big Kids are from Oakland and make punk rock. Oakland is steeped in punk rock history. They do their best not to tarnish it. The ALL AGES show is $6 and starts at 8 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows please say, "Hi". Then maybe we can talk.

-Ben


Justin Power plays tonight at Press Club for FREE, y'all.