Thursday, December 18, 2008

If you have time for a night out this weekend . . .

You can start tonight with some good local choices like Colin Lake and Wellbottom at Duff's (9:30); the Garcia Birthday Band at the White Eagle (9:30, free); or Lauren Sheehan at the Muddy Rudder (8:00, free). One other show that I hadn't heard much about, but could prove to be very rewarding is Brit singer/songwriter William Topley at the Mission Theater. He's doing only two exclusive acoustic-only shows in the states - one here and one in Denver (8 PM, $25).

Friday's choices include this month's taping of LiveWire! Radio at the Aladdin (8 PM, $15); KMRIA and Circled By Hounds at Dante's (9 PM, $15); or The Wonderball holiday show with Storm Large and The Balls and special guests at the Wonder Ballroom (8 PM, $20). Think I'll be wandering over to Dante's for some holiday cheer, Pogues-style, but you can't go wrong with either of these. If you want to start your evening a bit earlier, Mary Flower will be playing two nights (Friday and Saturday) at the Edgefield (7 PM, free).

Saturday's choices include a second show of The Wonderball (same as above); the Insomniacs at Duff's (9:30, $8), Devin Phillips Band at the Goodfoot Lounge (9 PM); or the Memphis Nymphs at the Laurelthirst (9:30, $5). For some music for the turning of the season, Strawberry Rune (Lauren Sheehan & Elizabeth Nicholson) will be doing their solstice show at the Muddy Rudder (8 PM).

Happy Holidays! Might post more next week . . . we'll see . . . .

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Easy way to support the Food Bank today

This was posted today on Around the Sun . . .

12/17: Local Blog Donating $1 to Charity for Each Visitor

Posted: 17 Dec 2008 12:46 PM CST

Here’s a really easy way to help the Oregon Food Bank: Visit Jack Bog’s blog today (December 17). That’s it. Just visit. For every person who visits today, $1 will be donated to OFB.

From Jack’s blog:

Thanks for coming to this blog on our sixth annual Buck-a-Hit Day. Just by visiting here today, you have caused the bojack.org Gift-Giving Team to give $1 to the Oregon Food Bank. One of our readers, Mr. Fearless, has pledged to keep donating a buck to the OFB for every visit to this blog today — through 5,000 unique visits.

Oh the weather outside is frightful . . .

. . . but the music is so delightful . . . . well it was going to be tonight at the Aladdin, but the show was canceled.

Two very fine local indie bands - Blind Pilot and Loch Lomond - had to postpone the show until next month due to the weather.

Really enjoying Blind Pilot's 3 Rounds and a Sound, but haven't had a chance to check them out live (guess I'll have to wait a bit longer). Their CD has been drawing critical acclaim and they're getting attention nationally. I've been following the development of Loch Lomond since hearing them a couple of years ago at Mississippi Studios. They did an outstanding opening set for the Decemberists at the Crystal Ballroom a couple weeks back. It was an excellent move by the Decemberists to take Richie Young and the band with them on their short fall tour. Great exposure for another Portland band that is deserving of wider attention.

But you'll have to wait until January 17th for this one.

Friday, December 12, 2008

It was the penultimate weekend before Christmas

. . . and all through city, a few things are happening that I'll tell you about. (what? you were expecting rhyme?)

Though you may be waiting for some over-hyped weather event that could keep you indoors, if you do venture out (though you might want to check with the venue first if it's actually snowing) here's a few good choices.

Friday
Weinland, Matt Sheehy and John Vecchiaarelli will be at the Doug Fir. 9 PM, $12
Lloyd Jones and his band will warm your funky butt all weekend (Fri/Sat) at the Tillicum Club. 8 PM, cover??
The Clampitt Family is at the White Eagle. 9:30 PM, $6
There's the annual John Prine tribute hosted by Dylan-Thomas Vance at Biddy McGraw's - the proceeds go to support Ethos Music.
Holiday Hearth concerts at the McMenamin venues include Lauren Sheehan tonight at the Edgefield (7 PM, free) - check their calendar for lots of music choices around town (and beyond).
. . . and your Friday holiday concert choice is The Christmas Jug Band at the Laurelthirst. Loney "jugabilly". 9:30 PM, $6

Saturday
Artichoke Music has a holiday potluck and concert. They are also in dire need of replacing their heating system and are trying to quickly raise some cash - here's the story. 8 PM, $5
Reina Collins will be doing Saturday's Holiday Hearth Concert at the Edgefield. 7 PM, free
Whiskey Puppy is at the Alberta Street Pub. 9:30 PM, $ ??

Sunday
Another reasonably tasteful "traditional" holiday music show this weekend is the 20th annual Winter Jazz Concert of local favorites Tall Jazz at The Old Church (1422 SW 11th Ave). Along with the band, the show will feature vocalist Marilyn Keller, Tony Pacini, piano; Lee Wuthenow, tenor sax; and Bryant Allard, trumpet. 3 PM . . . $20 / $10 for students under 18 . . . doors will open 45 min prior to showtime.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Musical this and that

Sometimes there's things I find (on my own, or from some of you who share cool music links and such) that I think I should post and share . . . occasionally I do, but there's so much that's possible. So here's a few things that have come my way in the past couple of days worth checking out.

Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 . . . you can get an exclusive listen to this Neil Young solo show at NPR.org. Just listen. Wow.

On the passing of Odetta last week . . . sad that she didn't live to sing at President-elect Obama's inauguration.

Here's a musical moment of zen (sorry John Stewart) from Jake Shimabukuro:



. . . and if you need a fix of holiday music, here's a great mix of tunes from NPR.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Holiday Music . . . . really

Checking Luciana Lopez's blog over at the Oregonian reminded me that there's probably way too many choices of holiday music shows - and, sadly, mostly avoidable. But for the discerning ears there are definitely some good shows to check out. The two Luciana mentioned for this Friday fall into that category - the Portland Jazz Orchestra's performance of Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite at the Performing Arts Center and The Portland Cello Project Holiday Sweater Spectacular at the Aladdin. Check her blog for description and links.

Another is on Sunday at the Aladdin - Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks' Holidaze In Hicksville. It will be a slightly twisted, sweet and swingin' night of music and humor. A great show for the less sentimental among us. 8 PM, $22

One more I'll throw in for next weekend is the annual Holidays with the Trail Band show that will run from Thursday through Sunday (11th - 14th) at the Aladdin. There may be some tickets left, but this one always sells out . . . . a little more sentimental, occasionally too sweet - but lots of original music and international tunes to go along with some of the holiday favorites, plus some special musical guests. For a holiday show, this one's pretty entertaining. Evening shows and matinees . . . prices range from $12 to $38, with actual reserved seats.

CD Release shows this weekend

Going to be out of town for a few days and busy, but thought I'd post a heads-up on a few music events you might want to check out.

It's time for three more CD release shows this weekend . . .

On Friday Chris Robley & The Fear of Heights will be doing a show to celebrate the release of Movie Theatre Haiku. If you're not familiar with the talented Mr. Robley, get thee to the Someday Lounge. Some very fine musical support will be provide by Tango Alpha Tango and James Low. Will be a very fine night of music. I know James will have his new EP, The Blackguard's Waltz available too . . . so do some Christmas shopping while you're there! 9 PM, $8

The Troublemakers will be rockin' Duff's Garage on Saturday night to support their first release, Chop Shop Pit Stop. This is a fine first effort from a band that's graduating from weekend music warriors to serious players on the roots rock/blues scene in Portland. Their live shows get better each time out . . . . Harmonica wizard and vocalist Rich Layton continues to impressively front the band with a passion to entertain. You could have way too much fun at one of their shows. The very fine Colin Lake & Wellbottom will be their special guest. 9:30 PM, $ 6

. . . and on Sunday Thad Beckman will be doing a CD release show for his new one, Me Talking To Me, at O'Connors in Multnomah Village. Another excellent singer, songwriter and guitar player, Thad's music is infused with the sounds of rural blues and country and a lot of soul. He'll be playing with his trio (Denny Bixby on bass/Bryce Shelton on drums) and have some very special guests including longtime Portland music mainstays, Jon Koonce and Steve Bradley. 6 PM, $5

That's three really great shows . . . enjoy the music, grab some new CDs . . . . it's all good!

Back next week . . .

Tuesday, December 2, 2008