A Halloween Half Dozen Indie Bands for Your Seasonal Spooktaculars!

It's getting close to the greatest holiday of them all- Halloween. The one day of the year
when people embrace their dark side, when everyone gets a little bit wicked. No matter how you
celebrate Halloween - whether you get dressed up in rediculous costumes, get drunk and dance
the night away - you hide away and watch horror movies till dawn, or whether you gather with a
close group and howl at the moon, there is plenty of suitable music of the season to get you
in the mood.
If you think Halloween music is all about The Monster Mash or The Purple People Eater, think
again. There's quite a variety of spooky, creepy, silly and strange music to get you in the
mood. I would like to acquaint you with six different artists that can help set the mood for
your Halloween celebrations.

LUCID DEMENTIA

Lucid Dementia is an electronic dance band fronted by a six foot tall alien puppet. Formed in
1996 by Sheldon Reynolds, they've continued to expand and refine their mix of electronic, goth, industrial and dance music into a sonic trip through the extremes of existence.
Here is a weird video of their song "Creep."

Best Used For: Having an all out Bachanale? Here's your soundtrack.

Website: http://luciddementia.com/fr_home.cfm

VERONIQUE CHEVALIER

Veronique Chevalier, or "Weird Val" as she is sometimes known, has become the go to chanteuse

of the Steampunk crowd. In 2008 the wraithlike Chevalier released "Polka Haunt Us: A

Spooktacular Compilation," a CD full of dreamlike ditties and ghostly ballads. There are songs

about Ghost Trains, Beer Halls in Hell, White Witches and other spooky subjects. I managed to

meet with Veronique recently at Portland's GearCon 2012, and she confided she needs to "make

more recordings." This is true, because until you've heard her version of "La Vie en Rose,"

which somehow turns out to be about a battle with slugs, you haven't lived.

Here is an appropriately creepy video of her song "Blank Face Goblins"

Best Used For: Getting in that joyfully outrageous frame of mind you need for Halloween.

Polka Haunt Us Website: http://polkahaunt.us/
Veronique Chevalier's Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/MadVeroniqueChevalier

THE SLOW POISONER

The Slow Poisoner is one man band Andrew Goldfarb. He sings about a lot of really creepy stuff

like witches, hexes, bad magic, graves, caskets, and other worrisome subjects that will creep

you right out. Goldfarb is the true weird. There's a demonic glint in his eyes when he sings.

Here is an evil video of "A Wood Full of Witches."

Best Used For: Conjuring up evil spirits and getting in trouble while you rock out.

Slow Poisoner Website: http://www.theslowpoisoner.com/home.html

ASTRO AL

Astro Al is an extremely odd conglomeration of musical meandering, strange storytelling, and

off the wall songs. Paul Angelosanto and Debbie Nash, assisted by a wide variety of musical

cohorts, sometimes sing weird songs about rodents, giraffes, purple mushrooms and other

outre' topics, sometimes engage in extended jam sequences, and sometimes tell stories that

will make you wonder what lies just below the surface of what we call reality. Their CD

Psychedelic Drive-In Music tells the story of a haunted drive-in theatre and the movies that

were shown there.

Here's a hair-raising video tale from Astro Al called "Ghost Story."

Best Used For: Showing to your friends if you want to freak them out.

Website:  http://astroal.com/


IN A WORLD...

In a World Music is Nicole Buetti and Dirk Montapert. They make ghastly, evocative
soundscapes, kind of like Midnight Syndicate. Most of their music is instrumental, though they
do have songs with lyrics as well. This is the stuff you put on in the background for your
spooky party or haunted house. They'll even create a custom soundscape just for you! This is
really errie stuff, and over the years they have created an impressive array of musical
creepiness. They even have a kid's album!
Here's their atmospheric video "Ghost Ship."

Best Used For: Creepy Sounds and Effects for your party.
Website: http://www.inaworldmusic.net/Home_Page.html


INKUBUS SUKKUBUS

Inkubus Sukkubus are the real deal. Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic
celebration of Samhain, and you will find the spirit of those ancient times alive in Inkubus
Sukkubus. Don't expect to hear a Riverdance type fairy dance party though. Inkubus Sukkubus
rocks. They sing about madness, loving nature and evil Christian oppression of Pagans.
Here's the video for their song "Church of Madness."

Best Used For: Kicking out the jams right before you go skyclad and howl at the moon.

Website: http://www.inkubussukkubus.com/

I hope these bands can expand your appreciation of the musical element of Halloween. Now get out there and scare somebody!

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Show Review: Shirley Nanette and Friends at Billy Webb Elks Lodge

Surely you're aware of Shirley Nanette.

No?

Shirley is a vocalist, one of the rare species to be native to Portland. She usually sings jazz (Mount Hood Festival of Jazz, Jimmy Mak's) but has been a guest vocalist with the Oregon Symphony on occasion since 1981. She was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2007. Oregon Art Beat ran a segment about her a couple of years ago.

Why haven't you heard of her then?

As it turns out, she doesn't record much: just Never Coming Back from 1973 (listen to my favorite track—"Sometimes"), See You Later in 1992, and Starting Here, Starting Now from 2008. You could very well miss her completely unless you frequent the Billy Webb Elks Lodge on Sunday nights.

Which is exactly what I did this Sunday evening!

After years passing by the intriguing building, three years ago I went inside the Billy Webb Elks Lodge on a historical tour of North Portland. (Did you know? Portland's most happening jazz club of the 1940s-1950s was just across the street!) Inside, the recently restored Elks Lodge looked gorgeous, and I vowed to one day check out the bar that was open to the public.

A few weeks ago, I discovered Shirley on the intertubes and navigated to her website, where I saw that "Shirley Nanette and Friends" plays regularly at the Billy Webb Elks Lodge.

When I needed to organize a happy hour celebration, a cunning plan was conceived!

Shirley and her friends perform in the ballroom, across the foyer from the lodge bar (where a great time can be had if you're a little early for the show). The ballroom is spacious and sports a hardwood dance floor, a modest stage and satellite bar. Onstage, an elk head serves as benevolent overlord.

Sunday, Shirley introduced the evening by noting "this is where friends meet and greet each other." On this night, Shirley's "friends" included Dan Gaynor on piano, Bill Athens on double bass, and Tim Rap on drums. Rich Arnold joined Shirley onstage for a quick-tempoed duet about halfway through the second set. But Shirley's friends also pack the audience—the ballroom held 50 people, most of whom were specifically there to see Shirley perform.

And what a nice woman! After the first set, she made her way around the room talking to every single person in the audience. Whether they were there for the first time (like me) or were old friends, they were personally greeted and conversed with.

As a performer, Shirley is a crowd-pleaser as well. Her voice is glassy smooth, she's a pleasure to listen to and watch, her warmth emanates from the stage, and she highly encourages audience participation. In addition to an audience sing-along, she sang a few song requests, including a dynamite "How Glad I Am," followed in short order by Etta James' signature piece, "At Last." She closed out her second set with "Ain't Misbehavin'," jovially trying on a variety of character voices including jazz icons Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday.

Perhaps best of all, there is no cover charge to see Shirley and the band! If you go though, make sure to buy a drink or two. Check the schedule on Shirley Nanette's website and plan on a great evening when you head out to see her.

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Show Review: Assemblage 23 with Espermachine

Background

In the Dark Age known as the late-90s, I was visiting family and friends in San Diego. A married couple I knew had drafted me to join them for a goth party. The wife insisted that I wear all black – no hint light colors. My dad – who I was staying with at the time – found the demand ludicrous.

His exact critique was this, “You mean to tell me that this is a countercultural event…and there’s a dress code?!”

Valid, though his point was, there was something to be said for sticking out like a yuppie thumb.  I went with the darkest clothes I had on hand – jean shorts and a Decepticon t-shirt. And that pretty much sums up how “goth” I am. In other words, I’m about as gothic as a number 2 pencil – khaki color and all.

For decades, I’ve been on the periphery of the gothic subculture. Frankly, I’m surprised the movement (if it can be called that) ever survived the 90s unscathed. But survive it did, especially in the Pacific Northwest where sunlight is a rare commodity. My continued exposure to the EMB/synth-pop/industrial scene(s) is all thanks to the married team of Missionary Promotions. Because of them, I was able to get on the list for this show.

Problem was…I’d never listened to Assemblage 23 before. I had two days to study up on their oeuvre before the event. Thanks be to the Internet Gods for YouTube! Not only did I enjoy what I heard, but I was able to pick out favorites I hoped to hear.

The Venue

The Fez is an interesting bar/events space situated on the second level of, uh, some building on corner of W. Burnside and SW. 11^th in downtown Portland. I’ve attended two other concerts hosted there – one being another Missionary effort. To say it is unique would be an understatement. The furnishings, to put it mildly, are…well…I can’t quite explain it.

I will use this pillow as an example.

 
Here I was, sitting on a backless couch-bench-type-thingy, and I kept nudging up against this pillow. It was hideously fascinating – plush, furry, and orange. All I could imagine was how someone could conceive of such a thing. I imagined a ginger-colored Muppet Rastafarian being skinned alive and compressed into a square.  That sums up my opinion of The Fez. I like it, but – damn – if it isn’t eclectic.

The Audience

In typical geek fashion, I half-expected to stick out like I always do at such gatherings. I was attired in black corduroy pants, black-and-gray NIKEs, and a black turtleneck zip-sweater. Less goth and more beatnick foodie-vegan-poet uniform. To my surprise, everyone in attendance for this event were just like me!

The majority of the audience looked like normal freaks and geeks who shed their everyday wardrobe to embrace their inner goth. Weekender goths, in other words. No one seemed particularly – or seriously – “scene” in the slightest, merely music geeks in one fashion or another. Sure, there were those that were decked out in vinyl, or pleathered from head-to-toe, but the majority was on my end of the geek spectrum. That was oddly reassuring.

The Opening Act

Espermachine is the brainchild of Arkansas native James Esper. To date, they have one album to their credit – Dying Life – produced by Assemblage 23’s Tom Shear. Another interesting fact I learned: The lead singer – a gentle giant of a man – owns eight cats. EBM artist, Southerner, and cat-herder – this group had my esoteric attention. 

At first, I found them prototypical of the EBM genre – dark melodies, thumping downbeats, haunting vocals, et al. – but they accomplished a feat rarely achieved. For an opening act, they engaged the crowd. Oftentimes, an opener can barely connect with an audience attending for one particular group. I’ve only seen such an achievement once.

The standout performance – for me – was for the song “Dead Man Walking”. Not sure what it was about this boot-stomp of a beast-ballad, but it had me enthralled.  Like skull-screwed, cyber-hammer hypnotized. I blame the melodic refrain. In short, very effective introduction.

The Main Act

As mentioned above, I’d heard of Assemblage 23, but never listened to their music before. The Seattle-based group was created by Tom Shear in 1988, starting off as a hobby. He wasn’t courted by record labels until roughly a decade later. This was to be their fourth Missionary-hosted concert to date.

Sound-wise, I compared them to Praise the Fallen-era VNV Nation – another influential EBM act out of Germany. Their rhythms were industrial to the core, but with an emphasis on macabre melodies tapered throughout. It was an interesting juxtaposition. In my (albeit last-minute) research, I took a liking to two particular tracks – “Damage” and “Let Me Be Your Armor”. Both were quintessentially dark electro, but were unique enough in their own right.

Lucky for me, both songs were performed live. It gave me something to fanboy-faun over along with the other dark-clad attendees. Shear was a captivating performer, avoiding one of the central trappings of other genre acts – merely standing still with the microphone. He made it a point to actively include the audience in the performance.

Also worthy of note was their nontraditional approach to the encore performance. As in, they didn’t do one; rather, instead of exiting the stage and coming back, Shear simply asked the audience if they wanted to hear more. What was equally spectacular is they did this twice! Two encores! Their final song of the night was easily their best – “Cruelest Year”, a bittersweet softer piece laden with hints of hope.

Aftermath

I went home without a voice, ears ringing, and a healthy beer buzz humming my skull. Last I checked, these were signs of an epic concert experience. Hadn’t had one of those in recent memory. Then again, my memory was a little fuzzy. That all said, I couldn’t think of a better (or darker) way to spend a Sunday night.

There is still one question I have, though: Is it now industry standard that all electronic musicians be bald and goateed?

Just wondering.

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Get a band banner, NOW

I was trying to find a picture of someone who had put their band logo on a bedsheet like we did back in the day... damn you Google image search!

Just a quick one here.  I've been notified that BuildASign.com is offering a pretty sweet deal: 3'X6' vinyl band logo banners for... wait for it... free.  You just pay shipping.  Their sister site Printopia does the whole digital-art-on-canvas thing, which I am going to take advantage of post haste, what with me trying to paint recently.

My main comment (other than "Who is going to turn down free stuff?") is "Where was this when I was 17 and in a really cool band?  I guess I was lucky to have been in a band with a good artist, who made us great posters and stickers, but... seriously.  What bands are out there saying to themselves "No, we don't need a sweet banner."  Come on.

So check it out!  This offer doesn't have a specific end date, but I'd snap it up while you can.

Banners!
Canvas prints!

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Subterranean Kickstarter Blues, Part 1- Korbl Klemecki

EDITOR'S NOTE:  FUCK THIS SHIT

As I write this, the artist has just crowd surfed in roughly a swimming pool sized draping of fabric. She tried to do the same while rehearsing, but the audience was just 18 random college students. Last night, at her concert in Philadelphia, she tried again, but the energy of the crowd must have just not been quite right. Back on stage, she jokes about it, and from that happy moment of “finally, we got it to work,” launches into possibly the saddest song, “The Bedroom Song,” on the new album, “Theatre is Evil,” a song from one lover to another whose distanced themselves as the romance has died, but they continue to share the same bed. The mood whiplash works. This is the second time in the concert they've performed the song. After the first time, she read accounts tweeted from her fans with the prompt “quick, I need this for experiment! tell me in one tweet something sad/bad that happened in your bedroom. (no humor, won’t work) GO#InMyRoom.” As she read, she spoke both into a microphone, and an unexplained phone. Now she plays the audio that she recorded into the mike as she sings and talks, turning an already intense song and moment into a haunting experience of sorrow, loss
and cathartic oneness.

This all started four months and 11 days ago, on April 30, 2012 with a Kickstarter, a crowdfunding site. In the description, Amanda Palmer said “this is my first BIG, LEGIT studio album undertaking since breaking from a major label.” Well, for us, the fans, it started then. She'd already spent four years putting together a new band, the Grand Theft Orchestra, and laying out the songs for the album. She cast up on the web an appeal, or rather, a call to action, exhorting her fans “THIS IS THE FUTURE OF MUSIC-THIS IS HOW WE FUCKING DO IT-WE ARE THE MEDIA” with marker on cardstock in a video where she held up sign cards, channeling Bob Dylan in Subterranean Homesick Blues.

She's just led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday for the bassist, Jherek Bischoff and brought out a cake and champagne for him, as the entire management team joined the band. The office manager just moved, and apparently is now going to be rooming with someone in the crowd. Any other band, that might seem sketchy, but Palmer's fans are almost like a vast family of people who just haven't all met each other yet.

Now someone in the management team is singing Call Me Maybe.

Like I said, it works.

Palmer set a goal of $100,000 to handle all of the production of the album, with a May 30, 2012 deadline. Pledge rewards ranged from a digital copy of the album for $1, to the crazy, random mystery “Summer Mailbox Invasion!” reward for $250, which included special vinyl LPs of the album and surprise gifts on top of the album in digital and CD form, to custom painted turntables for $500 pledgers, all the way up to house parties at the pledgers' houses, art sittings and dinners with the artist, and even what was called the “THE GRAND THEFT MAKEOVER/PHOTOSHOOT FULL BAND
INVASION” where the band would show up with costumes and makeup and wigs and glitter, and party and mess around with the pledger culminating in a photo shoot ($5,000, $10,000 and $10,000 respectively). This reporter, who did pledge what he could, is sad that no one claimed that last one, as he sorely wished he could have. Or one of the turntables, for that matter. What? No I don't have any records, it would have just been amazing.

And amazing is exactly what I would call both this album and the whole journey. Within six days, the Kickstarter had 10,000 backers. More than 4,000 of those backers were in the first day. Collectively, those 4,000 funded the project twice over in that time. On a facebook post asking if anyone could remember how quickly it funded, Palmer replied “I think it was between 3-6 hours…” Because Kickstarters go for the full time allotted, rather than just until they're fully funded, the project went on to raise $1,192,793, or almost 12 times over. Palmer was the first musician to raise over $1 million on Kickstarter.

This project, that started as a hopeful, but unpredictable, dream, may also mark a new era in music. Indie albums get made all the time. This may, however, be the first time that a fan base has come together in such huge support, and funded an album, being sold in digital form for $1, twice over in 24 hours. It helps that, by doing the album independently, Palmer can cut through and forgo paying a lot of the middlemen that a traditional album has to pay. In her Kickstarter video, Palmer states that making the album through a major label was scheduled to cost $500,000 between recording, promotion and distribution. She goes on to say that she's “happy she let label.” She'd “much rather stand here, with Jim, holding up signs to ask you for the money to run [her] business. ...this way,” she continues, she'll “actually see a profit from her music.”

For a long time, the music industry has been a necessary evil for artists. But now, with the internet, things are changing, and musicians can reach all over the world, to connect directly with their fans, to make them feel like they're actually at concerts even when they can't be (at the celebration of the project being funded, Palmer wrote the names of every backer in sharpie on New York Yellow Pages, and filled a giant aquarium with them), to feel like the musician is a friend, or even a member of a weird, strange, hyper-random family, rather than an unapproachable monolith of a being on some stage somewhere, who couldn't care less about an individual fan.

--Korbl Klemecki

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Palmer's use of her Kickstarter funds has naturally attracted some controversy.  I'll be tackling that issue in a forthcoming piece, along with some commentary on my own misadventures as a lightly crowdfunded musician.

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"On Shuffle" with Geoff Norman: Writing Mood Music

This is a cliché to confess, but I need bittersweet background music when I write. Said soundtrack is especially necessary when I’m trying ever-so-desperately to be deep. (I’m not, so a little added “oomph” is required.) Where most people would simply turn to iTunes for their melodic fix, I didn’t. Instead, I opted to carry an ever-devolving playlist on Youtube. If a video and/or song were shiny, they went on the list.

What became clear after thirty-plus songs, though, was the complete lack of coherence to the selections I made. No single theme dominated the choices. If anything, a complete lack of pattern (and taste) resonated throughout the playlist. So, I figured, what better way to invoke ridicule than to display five songs from it. These are from my Youtube “Writing Mood Music” playlist, put on random play, giving me no choice on what to feature.



“Poison & Wine” – The Civil Wars

Yes, this is a country song. I know, shut up. The group might be familiar to any ‘tweens reading this post because of a song they did with Taylor Swift…for The Hunger Games. (And that sentence totally took away what little street cred I possessed.) What may not be known is that they made their first sing-songy spash back in ’09.

“Poison & Wine” is country to the core. It’s a song about a married couple living unhappily ever after.  No divorce, no booze, just complacency. And I know of several older couples that fall well within this category – some young ones, too. The song illustrates subsistence so poetically that there was no way I couldn’t have it frontlining my moody playlist.



“Summer of ‘09” – ALL CAPS

This isn’t just a hipster boast, you’ve really never heard of this. And unless you’re a fourteen-year-old nerd girl that spends hours-upon-hours watching YouTube vlogs, you probably never will. This duo – Luke Conard and Kristina Horner, respectively – came to my attention via The Vlog Brothers YouTube channel. They were a real-life couple that met on the Internet and decided, “OMG, letz make songz!”

Conard and Horner were no strangers to music. Both were separately part of wizard rock (or “wrock”) bands. Never heard of this sub-genre? Count your blessings. It’s Harry Potter fanfiction…put to music. I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

“Summer of ‘09” was originally written by Alan Lastufka – a musician, fellow YouTube vlogger, and co-founder of DFTBA Records. Originally, he offered the song to the ALL CAPS couple as a present, since it almost illustrated verbatim how they met (I think?). Alas, the couple did eventually break up, and only Luke Conard is still producing music. That said, I like the little electro-tweeny song – autotune and all. I break it out whenever I have to write something romantic.



“SomeDay” – Sarah Gregory

The songstress may sound familiar to those in the Internet know. Sarah Gregory is “that-one-girl” that is a part of group, The Gregory Brothers. Still drawing a blank? They’re the ones behind the infamous Autotune The News and Songify videos on YouTube. “Bed Intruder” and the rise of Antoine Dodson can be credited to them. What is not known is that they were legitimate musicians in their own right. Sarah,
particularly, had a career prior to Internet fame.

Sarah Gregory (nee Fullen) was originally a part of Sarah and the Stanleys. I’m not too sure how/where/when this song came about. All I know is I stumbled upon it by accident, fell in love with it, and played it on repeat for about a week. Like a lot of songs I prefer, it’s soft, bittersweet, and strangely nostalgic. I couldn’t tell you what it’s about, only that it has something to do with the pains of growing up as a woman – minus the cramps.



“Red Right Return” – Iris

Finally, a song that has nothing to do with YouTube itself! I actually have a couple of local promoter friends – Missionary Promotions – to blame for my obsession with this group. Iris is a synth-pop duo headed by Reagan Jones and Andrew Sega. If you’re ever in my car, it is more than likely a CD from them will be playing. I. Am. Obsessed with this group.

In 2010, they released their fourth album dubbed Blacklight. Frankly, I didn’t find it as strong as their other works, particularly the flawless album, Wrath. However, two songs off of it did catch my eye – “Cruel Silence” and “Red Right Return”.

“Red” is like all of Iris’s other works – vague, subtlely Christian, and all pathos. Coupled with a catchy chorus and a quickened beat, it’s quintessential synth-pop with dash of soul. And I have listened to it on repeat for an entire day; I regret nothing.



“Go Away” – 2NE1

Yes, this is K-Pop. Do I know what they’re saying? No. Do I know anything about the group? No. Will I be looking up info about the group to pass on to you? No, too lazy.
What I can tell you is this. The music video is batshit crazy. It deals with two racecar drivers that break up with each other. The dude dumps a Korean Lady Gaga-esque gal for a taller model, and she has trouble letting go. By the end of the video, she crashes her car during a race. Silly Koreans.

Not sure why I favor this song so highly, or why I was so oddly choked up by it. Maybe I have a thing for racecar romances, and I never knew it until now. Or maybe I just like crazy Asian chicks. Likely the latter.

And that does it for this snippet from my Writing Mood Music playlist. Whether or not it detrimentally affects my prose is for you – fair reader(s?) – to decide. In the meantime, I have a yarn about an undead Scottish botanist to write.

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Show Review: Portland Cello Project Performs Radiohead's "OK Computer"

"Ten kinds of amazing."
"Fuck yeah!"
"I can enjoy a good wine even if it's poured in a different glass."

The people have spoken: Portland Cello Project's Saturday evening performance at the Aladdin Theater was by all accounts great. Erik Henriksen at the Mercury even wrote an adulating Open Letter to the Portland Cello Project that started circulating the internet on Sunday morning.

I've been puzzling. It seems like Radiohead is a band that people "get" or they don't, and a couple weeks worth of attempting to "get" them got me nowhere. Friends recommended starting with The Bends and OK Computer. I listened to both, but found little to get me hooked. The band's attempt to emulate Phil Spector's "wall of sound" approach just left my head achy and overloaded. Then I asked a friend who was a fan if she'd like to go with me, to get a fan's perspective on the performance—but she was more excited to go on a bike ride that night.

(That's not a terribly high praise for a fan, is it?)

Classical performance is something I'm no stranger to though, and I can appreciate Portland Cello Project's aim to demystify classical instruments and diversify their audience. Their modus operandi involves performing in places you wouldn't expect (in a field near the Fremont Bridge, perhaps?), and performing pieces you wouldn't expect. Like Missy Elliott*. Or the theme to Princess Mononoke. They collaborate with guest artists frequently (at this performance, their guests included The City of Tomorrow, Disassemble the Widget, Adam Shearer, and a percussionist known as "Night Dawg"), but the cellists always take center stage.

And just like with this performance of "OK Computer," the group peppers in little tastes of more classical fare—Saturday's performance included J.S. Bach's Sarabande, and a brief introduction to the musical compositions of Hildegard of Bingen.

Why were these pieces interspersed between the OK Computer songs? I'm not sure, but I'd love to hear your theories. I'm of the mindset that bands deliberately put albums together in a certain order, so throwing a piece by a postmodern Estonian composer (Summa by Arvo Pärt) in the middle is slightly confusing.

One thing I will say: while a classical treatment of Radiohead didn't bring any new revelations about OK Computer, it was significantly more interesting to listen to. Arrangements were interesting and diverse, and using a small men's chorus provided some depth to the vocal parts (although the sound balance still made it difficult to catch the lyrics). Adam Shearer's featured solo on "Exit Music (for a Film)" was a great moment as well.

It seems like the real key for Portland Cello Project performances is to have a good working knowledge of their source material. Even after the Radiohead was over, the group performed three songs as an encore, one of which seemed familiar, but the giggles and claps around me meant I was clearly not in on the joke.

Next time though, maybe they'll play "Subterranean Homesick Blues" rather than "Subterranean Homesick Alien." And that is what is likely to keep me coming back for more.


*=You should really watch that Missy Elliott video!

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Portland Cello Project tackles Radiohead this Saturday!



Lloyd Bentsen is watching you poop.

 Remember, I have been demanding tributes like this forever, so keep 'em coming!

Yes, like the fabled chocolate and peanut butter, there is going to be a sublime menage of two great things... local heroes the Portland Cello Project, and non-Doctor-Who-British-spacemen Radiohead.  It's coming up this Saturday at the Aladdin Theater!

I'm not sure if I've stated my position on Radiohead before.  My first exposure to them was "Creep," like it was for so many others.  That was the summer I also discovered Urge Overkill, but that's another story.  I felt like the promise of their big single from Pablo Honey was not lived up to in their subsequent releases, and I put Radiohead aside for many years until I met my wife and raided her ipod, discovering Kid A in the process.  I've been a fan of all their work since that groundbreakingly weird album, and it sounds like I am a minority in that view.

A lot of people- like, billions, man- treasure OK Computer as Radiohead's finest hour.  It's considered the Cadillac of Pink Floyd.  Or, wait, "Radiohead's Dark Side of the Moon".  Well, to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, "That's no moon."  I can't deny the influence it's had, however, or its stature among fans and critics alike.
So, it is with totally unreserved hibbly-jibblies that I announce this really awesome show.  You need to hop up and get your tickets NOW Now now! SATURDAY Saturday saturday!  BE THERE Be There be there!

From the press release:

Radiohead's classic album performed in its entirety by a cello ensemble,

with a wind ensemble, and an 8-piece choir.

Featuring: Chicago's City of Tomorrow wind quintet, a new Portland men's choir under the direction of Stephen Marc Beaudoin, with a cameo from Adam Shearer

Where: Aladdin Theater, 3017 Southeast Milwaukie Avenue, Portland, OR

Details: Doors 7pm
Show 8pm

Cost: $15

Portland Cello Project Artistic Director Douglas Jenkins always said that he would never score out any Radiohead arrangements for PCP, because the originals were perfect enough soundscapes as they are.

However, the serendipity of a simultaneous collaboration with the world-class wind quintet, City of Tomorrow (the only wind ensemble for the last ten years to win the gold medal in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition), and a top-notch new men's choir led by Stephen Marc Beaudoin (recorded and toured with Pink Martini, soloist with Fear no Music, and Executive Director of PHAME), made the temptation to take on this legendary album unavoidable.

The performance of OK Computer will be interspersed with a unique assortment of contrasting and complementary classical music.

Adam Shearer (Alialujah Choir, Weinland) will sing "Exit Music (For a Film)," but otherwise, the vocals will always come en masse from the choir.

Websites:

Portland Cello Project: http://portlandcelloproject.com/

City of Tomorrow: http://thecityoftomorrow.org/

Alialujah Choir: http://alialujah.com/

PCP High-Resolution Photos and Bio: http://portlandcelloproject.com/highres

So yeah!  Get thee to this show!  Crappy will be sending out intrepid Bookish Heather to do some of her patented review magic.  Check that article out in a few days.

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