OWN A MASTERPIECE!
The Portland Fine Print Fair, now in its third year in the historic Fields Ballroom. Peruse and purchase prints from 18 top dealers from across North America. These knowledgeable art dealers welcome your questions, whether you are a first-time collector or a seasoned connoisseur. European, American, and Japanese prints from the Old Masters to contemporary emerging artists will be on sale, and excellent works can be found in all price ranges. This is your chance to browse and buy at the Northwest’s largest and most comprehensive print fair.
OPENING NIGHT PREVIEW
a benefit for the Print Department of the Portland Art Museum
Friday, January 29, 6-9 p.m.
An exclusive preview of the prints for sale before the fair opens to the general public. Enjoy passed hors d’oeuvres, wine, and priority purchasing from 18 dealers exhibiting fine prints from Old Master to contemporary. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the activities and acquisitions of the Department of Prints & Drawings.
Advance ticket prices for the Opening Night Preview
$30 Museum members
$40 General public
$50 Night of the event
FREE ADMISSION
Saturday, January 30, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday, January 31, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Catch djs Princess Dimebag & 187 Moochie spinning all trap, hip hop , r&b and old school live.
21+ No cover
January 29th - March 13th 2016
Artist Reception: January 29th 6-9pm
Artist Talk: March 13th 12-1pm
Gallery Hours: Saturday, Sunday 12pm-5pm and by private appointment
Melanie Flood Projects presents Disambiguation, Please, an exhibition by Seattle based artist Robert Rhee. This is his first solo exhibition in Portland.
Delving deeply into Rhee's long term project The Occupations of Uninhabited Space-gourds formed by welded steel structures and chance-this exhibition explores their relationship to a photographic series of sculptural interventions that have been developing in parallel. In both bodies of work chance operations and material juxtapositions create a tension between blending and differentiation, synthesis and deconstruction.
Disambiguation, Please is the second in an ongoing artist series Thinking through Photography, an exploration of artists working with photography today. The series will include a comprehensive survey of contemporary photographic practices through programming that highlights experimental and diverse approaches to image making. Facilitated by exhibitions, artist talks, studio visits, interviews, and suggested readings which aim to expand the language surrounding photography, while also unveiling progressive work by local artists in the Pacific Northwest & beyond.
Robert Rhee is a Seattle based artist and writer, and a professor at Cornish College of the Arts. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally, including White Columns in NY, the Hunterdon Art Museum, the Ilmin Museum of Art in Seoul, the Changwon 2010 Biennale, and the Ferdinand Van Dieten Gallery in the Netherlands. He has served as the Arts Editor for the Columbia Journal and is Contributing Editor for the journal Heck. He has forthcoming essays in Art in America, Arcade, La Norda Especial, and recently had two solo exhibitions in Fall 2015.
Join us for an evening of experimental music, text, and narrative at Disjecta. Sam Ashley (Berlin), in a rare US appearance, will be presenting new work while he embarks on a West Coast touring expedition with John Krausbauer (Los Angeles). Portland mavericks Jeff Witscher/(Rene Hell) and Seth Nehill will also be performing.
Sam Ashley has devoted his life to the development of an experimental, non-religious mysticism, one rooted in a “find out for yourself” attitude, an attitude that he advocates in direct opposition to so many traditions. He has been a modern-day witch-doctor for almost 48 years. For more than four decades Sam has been using this mysticism in the creation of music and art. His pieces are mostly about luck, hallucination and coincidence. Usually they include direct presentations of magic events, objects or phenomena. Sam’s performed pieces often feature the use of authentic spirit possession, something he has been working with for more than 30 years. One could say that Sam’s installation and sound art work is about finding ways to amplify imaginary sound. Almost all of what Sam does relates directly to trance. Sam Ashley offers simple windows onto things that occur in-between the “real world” and that which transcends it.
John Krausbauer is a music maker currently living in Los Angeles. He has performed his music in a multitude of settings – from basements and rock clubs to colleges and art galleries. Numerous recordings of his work have been released on independent labels in both the US and Europe. In recent years his focus has been on his solo work/compositions, Ecstatic Music Band, The Essentialists and most recently the formation of the Minimalist psych-punk group – Night Collectors. Trance-Psychedelia is the aim and goal.
Jeff Witscher was born in 1983 in Long Beach, California and is now a custodian at the Portland Art Museum. He has recorded under a few different names, Rene Hell perhaps being the most known. He enjoys playing chess & has started his own cleaning company called Vincent’s Expert Cleaners. He primarily works with the computer as well as recording of acoustic sounds. Recent solo recordings include Bifurcating a Resounding No!, 2014; Meclu, 2013; Vanilla Call Option, 2013
Seth Nehil is a sound and video artist. He has released over 15 albums of distinctive experimental music since 1998 and has been active in creating original scores for dance, theater and installation. He currently teaches in the Video & Sound Department at the Pacific NW College of Art among other schools.
IN TRANSLATION is a reading & lecture series focusing on literature in translation. Events give space to translators, writers, and scholars reading translations and giving talks on translation. We are all here to learn from one another. If you have any interest in participating in IT, contact co-directors, Julia Clare Tillinghast and Jay Ponteri.
IT aspires to create and heighten dialogue around and attention to translation in our world now. IT is sponsored by Tavern Books, publishers of The Living Library (http://www.tavernbooks.com/) and Mother Foucault’s Bookshop (https://www.facebook.com/MotherFoucaults), and Marylhurst University’s English Department (http://www.marylhurst.edu/english).
The Mask You Live In is a documentary that follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.
::::: TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc45-ptHMxo
::::: FULL SYNOPSIS
The Mask You Live In is a documentary that follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.
Pressured by the media, their peer group, and even the adults in their lives, our protagonists confront messages encouraging them to disconnect from their emotions, devalue authentic friendships, objectify and degrade women, and resolve conflicts through violence. These gender stereotypes interconnect with race, class, and circumstance, creating a maze of identity issues boys and young men must navigate to become “real” men.
Experts in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, sports, education, and media also weigh in, offering empirical evidence of the “boy crisis” and tactics to combat it.
The Mask You Live In ultimately illustrates how we, as a society, can raise a healthier generation of boys and young men.
Portland State University
Smith Memorial Student Union Room 296 & 298
This event is FREE and is brought to you by the PSU Student Alliance for Sexual Safety and Reimagine Masculinity.
The film starts at about 6:00 PM and will run till about 7:45 PM, but all attendees are invited to stay afterward for an informal discussion about the film. The film can be a pretty emotional experience, so please come prepared to be kind and respectful to others.
Tonight we celebrate and remember Bowie: the cultural icon, the radical dandy, the idol and inspiration for all of us kooks. Thank you for your staggering and perennially uncompromising artistic vision.
Live cover song performances by:
Boys Keep Swinging (supergroup ft. members of Wampire, The Gossip, Blouse, Appendixes)
Tonality Star + PWRHAUS
Gold Casio
The Breaking
Haste
The Heavy Hustle
DJ James Dineen
$8 advance at Ticketfly
$10 day of show
A portion of tonight's proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.
PSYCHOPOMP MMXVI.1
with
TERROR APART
https://terrorapart.bandcamp.com/
"Death Industrial Future Primitive"
CHAD CARVER
"Pomegranate Seeds"
Music Video Screening with Live Performance
DEREK M JOHNSON
"Electric cello piles of pedals walls of noise"
https://soundcloud.com/derekmjohnson
&
DJ Ogo Eion + Dj Opalescent Toade DJ & VJ + DJ set by M Scott McGahan
An evening of quietly intense composition and improvisation.
Catherine Lee — A diverse musician, Canadian oboist Dr. Catherine Lee performs extensively as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician on oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn, in settings from classical to contemporary to free improvisation. She has performed in a wide variety of venues, including the Sound Symposium (St. Johns, NFLD), Performers Voice Symposium (Singapore), Risk/Reward Festival and the Improvisation Summit of Portland (Portland, OR), Music by the Sea (Bamfield, BC), Le centre d'arts Orford, and the Banff Center for the Arts. Catherine has played in the oboe sections of many ensembles, including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Opera, and Montreal Chamber Orchestra, and was a tenured member of Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil from 2003 to 2008. Catherine has also performed in ensembles led by improvisers John Gruntfest, Gino Robair, and Tatsuya Nakatani. She holds a Doctor of Music in Oboe Performance from McGill University and is a member of the music faculty at Western Oregon, Willamette, and George Fox Universities. In 2013 she released the solo CD “Social Sounds,” featuring works by Canadian composers for oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn. In 2015, she released “Five Shapes: Improvisations for Oboe d’Amore and Percussion” with percussionist Matt Hannafin. www.catherinemlee.com
John C. Savage — Flutist, saxophonist, composer, improviser, and educator John C. Savage has been compared to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Herbie Mann, Noah Howard, Ian Anderson, and Colin Stetson. Known equally as “a thoughtful and rigorous improviser” and “a badass, knock-down-drag-out force to be reckoned with” (Willamette Week), Savage lived in New York City for almost a decade, performing and recording with, among others, Billy Fox (“The Uncle Wiggly Suite”) the avant world-jazz duo Cartridge (“The Black Heron and the Spoonbill”), The Brooklyn Qawwali Party (eponymous release), and the Andrew Hill Big Band (“A Beautiful Day”). Savage continues to be a sought-after soloist and collaborator on both coasts, working with a wide variety of artists including the NYC-based Kitsune Ensemble (“The Kaidan Suite” and “Amanogawa”), Point to Line (with flutist Lisa Bost-Sandberg), composer-drummer Ken Ollis (with whom he’s released “Demolition Duo” and “Senses Sharpened” on PJCE Records), and the poetry and music duo Thick In The Throat, Honey (“Love Letters We Never Sent”). His CD of solo flute compositions and improvisations, “A Moment in Mythica,” is available on Teal Creek Music. Savage has received honors and awards from New York University, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the Portland-based Regional Arts and Culture Council. He holds a Ph.D. from New York University in flute performance, and currently teaches flute and saxophone at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. www.johncsavage.com
Matt Hannafin — Matt Hannafin is a New York–born, Portland-based percussionist active in contemporary percussion, free improvisation, and Iranian classical and traditional music. His teachers included Persian tar and tombak master Kavous Shirzadian, percussionists Jamey Haddad and Glen Velez, composer La Monte Young, and Indian vocal legend Pandit Pran Nath. Active as a solo performer, he’s also played with a wide range of collaborators, including trumpeter Nate Wooley, shakuhachi master Jeffrey Lependorf, Sun Ra altoist Marshall Allen, oboist Catherine Lee, sound artist Loren Chasse, multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek, electronics players Tom Hamilton and Brian Moran, dancers Tere Mathern and Kat Macmillan, the Golden Retriever Chamber Ensemble, and chamber group 45th Parallel. He’s appeared at venues and festivals around the USA, from the United Nations General Assembly Hall and the Miami Iranian Cultural Festival to the Salem World Beat Festival and the late, lamented CBGB’s. He’s released more than 20 recordings, including the Lee/Hannafin Duo’s recent “Five Shapes: Improvisations for Oboe d’Amore and Percussion.” www.matthannafin.com/Music.php
Loren Chasse — Loren Chasse is a musician, sound artist, field recordist, and teacher. He has been called "one of the most important international artists working in the areas of environment and sound." Formerly based in San Francisco, he relocated to Portland in 2010, where he has performed solo and as a duo with percussionist Matt Hannafin. Chasse has also been composing for the past five seasons for Portland's TopShake Dance Company, and recently designed sound for an installation by choreographer Katherine Longstreth at the White Box gallery in downtown Portland. Chasse’s most recent recordings include “Characters at the Water Margin,” published last year by the Belgian label Unfathomless, “The Animals and their Shadows,” published this year on the Russian label Semperflorens, and "The Sodden Floor," also out this year on local cassette label Notice Recordings. http://lorenchasse.blogspot.com/p/loren-chasse.html
Branic Howard — Branic Howard is a composer engaged with sound and how place is inscribed with meaning through its negotiations with its sonic surrounding. Whether writing for acoustic ensembles, electronic media, or dealing with recorded sound, his focus is on the specific aural situation of that place or the internal “space” of the music. He studied with Daniel S. Godfrey and Andrew Waggoner at Syracuse University and with Margaret Schedel and Daniel Weymouth at Stony Brook University, where he is completing a PhD in Composition. He has participated in master-classes with Mark Applebaum, Lukas Ligeti, Ensemble Nordlys, and Fireworks Ensemble, among others. Recently, his music has been performed by cellist Caroline Stinson and pianists José Menor and Michael Smith. Howard performs as an improvisor with electronics and computer, is a member of NYC-based multi-disciplinary performance group Space We Make, and runs Open Field Recording, an on-location mobile recording business. Most recently, his work incorporates short-distance FM radio transmissions into site-specific sound installation, and explores the representation of urban soundscapes through nature recording.
Program:
- 7:30pm - Branic Howard, solo sound art / electronics
- 8:20pm - Loren Chasse, solo sound art
- 9:10 - Catherine Lee (oboe), John C. Savage (flute), and Matt Hannafin (percussion) perform John Cage’s “Ryoanji”
- 9:30 - Catherine Lee + Matt Hannafin Duo, improvisations
$5 to $15 sliding scale admission
All audience members will receive a copy of Catherine Lee & Matt Hannafin’s recent duo CD “Five Shapes: Improvisations for Oboe d’Amore and Percussion”
PNCA welcomes Jim Drain as part of the 2015-2016 MFA in Visual Studies visiting artist lecture series.
In vigorously colorful mixed-media works, Miami-based artist Jim Drain uses saturated psychedelic hues and patterns in a combination of formal exploration, art history, and popular culture. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Drain attended the Rhode Island School of Design in the late 1990s, where he became involved with an art collective that inspired his extensive mixing of mediums. Following school, Drain introduced his love for discarded materials to a new skill—knitting—and is now best known for his stuffed and sewn sculptures that incorporate fabric scraps with machine knit-patterns. In general, Drain’s works are a melange of many parts; fun-house mirrors, plastic easter eggs, found items, and printed ephemera bearing referential imagery.
Drain was a member of Forcefield, a collective of artists and musicians who were later featured in the 2002 Whitney Biennial. Drain has had recent solo exhibitions at the University of Florida; Locust Projects, Miami; and the Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin. He has participated in group exhibitions at the Geffen Contemporary, MOCA, Los Angeles; the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; Serpentine Gallery, London; Depart Foundation, Rome; the 7th Bienniale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon. His work is in the permanent collection of MoMA. One of two recipients of the 2005 Bâloise Prize, Drain is represented by Greene Naftali Gallery in New York. He just recently had a solo exhibition in Los Angeles at Prism Gallery. He currently lives and works in Miami.
Childbirth is a “supergroup” in the sense its members are all in other hit bands (Julia Shapiro of Chastity Belt, Bree McKenna of Tacocat, Stacy Peck of Pony Time) and also that they do good for the world while in costume. The band’s feats are performed in maternity gowns rather than the traditional cape, but the gowns flap around as dramatically and are probably more comfortable. And honestly writing a song about an astronaut who wears adult diapers is cooler than flying.
Childbirth’s forthcoming album, Women’s Rights, is piss-your-pants funny—subject matter includes a trashy friend bringing coke to a baby shower (“Baby Bump”) characteristics that warrant an instant “swipe left” on Tinder (“Siri, Open Tinder”) and dating vapid IT douches (“Tech Bro.”) Lyrics on Women’s Rights are highly quotable—from “Tech Bro:” “I’ll let you explain feminism to me/If I can use your HD TV.”
Bryson Tiller is from Louisville, started receiving massive internet attention from music industry insiders with his breakout single "Don't" which he originally released on his soundcloud page, having accumulated over 35 million streams. Early co-signs from super producer Timbaland and Canadian rapper/singer Drake led to multiple major label deals for Bryson, with him eventually choosing to sign a creative partnership with RCA Records on August 25, 2015. On October 2, 2015, he released his debut studio album T R A P S O U L, which debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200.
Tickets on sale: chaptersalumni.com
With Jacob Gevalt, Paul Savovici, Shohei Takasaki
Vernissage: Sun, Jan 24th 5-9pm
Finissage: Fri, Jan 29th 8:30 pm...
↑
Audio/
Maxx Bass, Alex Asher Daniel
Long before opening the Chinatown storefront, Table of Contents existed as an itinerant experiment, drawn towards the idea of extending the retail environment and bringing it into a dialogue with other fields. Hideout too, comes from a similar background, combining art, music, and food into a nomadic curatorial experience. Hideout at Table of Contents acts as a natural meeting ground, where convention is set aside, barriers lowered, and new possibilities arise. Art breaks out of the White Cube, intermingling with food and fashion, while DJs and a dance floor provide a common rhythm, turning crowd into community.
Hideout at Table of Contents takes place as a weeklong exhibition of shifting forms and events, between Sunday, January 24 and Friday, January 29. Bookended by the opening of a group exhibition featuring work by Jacob Gevalt, Paul Savovici, and Shohei Takasaki, and a closing party with DJs Maxx Bass and Alex Asher Daniel, the in-between is in flux, continuously in the process of becoming something else. The show passes through forms and configurations, keeping the environment open to change and experiment. Custom scents made by Maak Lab drift through, the fixtures are reworked and the environment reimagined by TOC Studio, and a variety of events, including workshops, screenings, and installations, occur, opening the exhibition to the public and inviting the outside in. There’s no static form; meaning is on the move.
With the Crystal Hotel open, the fun covers two city blocks: Music in four different rooms; comedy in Al's Den; property tours; kids fun; food and drink specials; tastings of our spirits, wine and beer; and of course a special birthday brew will pour throughout the properties.
In the Ballroom
2 p.m. - 4 p.m. "You Who" Children's Rock Variety Show
4 p.m. Bloco Alegria (samba band)
5 p.m. Edna Vazquez
6 p.m. Y La Bamba
7 p.m. The Domestics
8 p.m. Divers
Lola's Room (2nd floor)
All hours - Passport redemption
Watch NFL football on the big screen! (AFC Championship 12:05 p.m., NFC Championship 3:40 p.m.)
6 p.m.-8 p.m. 80's Video Dance Attack
Ringlers Pub (ground level)
3 p.m. - 6 p.m. Reverb Brothers
Brewery (second floor)
2 p.m. - 6 p.m. Ale tastings and brewery tours
Al's Den (Crystal Hotel, below ground level)
1 p.m. History Tour starts, led by McMenamins historian Tim Hills
3 p.m. - 6 p.m. Wine tastings
4 p.m. Lewi Longmire and Anita Lee Elliott
6 p.m. Comedy hosted by Jordan Casner
7 p.m. Samantha Crain with special guests The Harmed Brothers
Zeus Cafe (Crystal Hotel, ground level east side)
3 p.m. - 6 p.m. Distillery tasting and specialty cocktails
Special Birthday beers
Abigail's Apricot Ale
CDA of Cain
$4 pints all day, $8 growler fills
"You Who" Children's Rock Variety Show feat. Colin Meloy, The Eyelids, Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons, Joy Now, Y La Bamba and more! (2 to 4 p.m.)
Children's rock variety show is a half hour-ish of variety entertainment featuring DJs and interactive dance parties with giant barn owls, musical guests, stories, skits, sing a longs, cartoons, artists, puppets, parades and performers.
Their variety show features performances by YOU WHO's house band Sneakin' Out, The Cardboard Songsters, and surprise guests. Ballroom-wide fun includes a Bhangra dance party with DJ ANJALI, blanket forts, hair dos, art activities, a giant parachute and much more fun stuff!
YOU WHO is a benefit for MyMusicRx- the flagship program of Children's Cancer Association who believes that joy matters and music heals. MyMusicRx provides music medicine to seriously ill kids and teens at 19 pediatric hospitals across the nation including locally at Doernbecher Children's Hospital and Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emmanuel
About MyMusicRx
The Children's Cancer Association (CCA) believes joy matters and music heals. Nearly two decades ago, we pioneered a one-of-a-kind pediatric "music medicine" program called MyMusicRx that lets kids choose the music experience that feels right to them. The in-hospital MyMusicRx program includes bedside sing-alongs led by trained music specialists, instrument lending from mobile music carts, tablet checkouts and live concerts from national recording artists. MyMusicRx.org extends our bedside music experience online and invites kids facing cancer and other serious illnesses to feel the music and feel better, by exploring exclusive artists greetings, concerts, music lessons, digital instruments, and games anytime, anywhere. See MyMusicRx programs in action here or visit us at www.mymusicrx.org.
- Visit You Who On Facebook:
- https://www.facebook.com/You-Who-110862412336175/
Bloco Alegria (4 p.m.)
Bloco Alegria is Portland's newest Rio style samba band. Playing the heart-pumping rhythms of Rio's carnaval parades is what gives this band its unique sound and vibrancy. Composed of people who love samba, Bloco Alegria celebrates the music, dance, and culture of Brasil.
Samba is the most popular dance from Rio de Janeiro. It has deep African ancestral roots with respect to the drums used, the rhythms, and the structure of the music itself. Many of the members of Bloco Alegria have studied and played samba in the US or have gone to Brazil to learn more. Several speak Portuguese.
The word "Alegria" means "Happiness" in Portuguese. The word "Bloco" refers to a "City Block". Historically, people in different neighborhoods of Rio would get together and play samba in the streets, drawing their neighbors out to celebrate. Different neighborhood blocks would form different samba groups with creative and fun names. As time passed, these groups became more formalized and well-known throughout the city and the word "Bloco" took on the meaning of "group" or "band". Currently in Rio, samba groups that play in the streets include groups like "Bloco Suvaco do Cristo", "Bloco Simpatia e Quase Amor", and larger more internationally known groups like "Monobloco".
Edna Vazquez (5 p.m.)
"Soy libre! libre como el mar, como el viento, como las hojas que le nacen a los arboles. No soy hombre, ni mujer, soy un ser de luz conectado a ti y a los demas!"
Edna Vazquez was born in the Mexican state of Colima but lived the first 16 years of her life in the state of Jalisco, a state that is world-renowned as the soul of Mexican mariachi music. At age 17 she left her native Mexico and traveled to the U.S.A. to start a career in the music business, and met with more success than she ever could have imagined. She found herself singing and playing music across the country in many different styles.
Enda sings with a passion to bring a traditional touch and feeling of Mexico's traditional Folklorico to her audience, and mixes in her own compositions which are sprinkled with a variety of all Latin American genres. She sings with a velvety voice and sometimes whistles the melodies to compliment her guitar. She alternates her traditional music with her rock band project NO PASSENGERS, bringing the audience Original Latin rock songs in English and Spanish. Her talents, however, are not limited to music
Join Edna (and all the talented musicians that collaborate with her) on a musical journey that will take you from traditional Méxican music to contemporary Latin alternative rock on a wave of magic and charisma!
- Website:
- http://ednavazquez.com/
Y La Bamba (6 p.m.)
"... a collection of hazy, whispering ballads steeped in polarizing art-folk and sacred Mexican lore." -- Filter
"...doing Portland proud" -- Billboard
"Elena's voice floats like some kind of cirrus cloud over the oceanic psych-folk tones" -- The Tripwire
"...definitely one of the records you'll want to look out for this fall." -- Pop Tarts Suck Toasted
"Portland, Ore., quintet Y La Bamba makes fractured folk that sounds as if it comes from dog-eared diaries. The author is statuesque Luz Elena, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, whose vintage vocals seem to come from the 78-rpm era." --Buzzbands.LA
"The Portland, Oregon, band mixes Devendra Banhart-influenced art-folk with hazy femme vocals and traditional Mexican sounds to weirdly entrancing effect" -- LA Weekly
"The songs were like mature lullabies, brooding and rich, playful but never lingering on the surface...It was difficult not to be seduced." -- The Stranger
"Lupon is a wide-ranging garden of styles, with gossamer folk and jangling indie-rock steeped in the influences of Mendoza's Mexican heritage. Her unearthly vocals-at times soft and frangible, at others hardily operatic-sound completely lost in time, like they're emerging from a dusty recording on an abandoned Victrola." -- Portland Mercury
"When you read about Y La Bamba, it's often a visual description--like an indie-pop Lady Gaga, tall-'n'-tattooed frontwoman Luz Elena has a steez that often overshadows her band's actual music. Which is a shame, because the group's sound has come a long way as of late. On the long-awaited debut full-length,Lupon, that point is underlined like 12 times, highlighted and circled with little hearts....it's physical proof that Y La Bamba is a lot more than a pretty face." -- Willamette Week
With Y LA BAMBA, Luzelena Mendoza draws from both her strict Catholic upbringing as an only daughter of a Mexican immigrant and a debilitating illness that led her to fall away from her faith, to create what LA Weekly calls "Devendra Banhart-influenced art-folk with hazy femme vocals and traditional Mexican sounds."
Mendoza's father immigrated to the Bay Area from the Michoacan region of Mexico after meeting her mother who had received her US citizenship as a teenager. Her father got a job at a southern Oregon sawmill and Luzelena would spend her childhood summers on a farm in California's San Joaquin Valley among peach, almond, and fig orchards. It was in these strong Mexican communities that she would soak up the melodies and the stories that were being told while, as she remembers it, "the men with tassel hats" strummed their guitars and sang their traditional folk songs in three part harmonies. "I remember singing along, mimicking my father's voice and dancing like a little wild child," she recalls. For Mendoza, this music was the only way she could relate to her father, and was a bright spot in a rough childhood.
In 2003, Mendoza traveled to New Zealand and India, in a quest for a deeper understanding of her spiritual growth as an active Christian, hungry for the tools to create a shift on this planet. During her trip to India, she contracted amoebic dysentery and giardia, causing her to suffer from insomnia, lose 60 pounds and fear her loss of sanity. "It shook me in ways I was not expecting, leading me to struggle with my prayer life and search for a healthy relationship with God, the universe, and with myself," says Mendoza of her condition (which was only complicated with a misdiagnosis). "I gave up on Christianity and what religion was starting to mean to me due to a natural awareness that was knocking on my door."
Upon her return to the US, she took in a white six-toed cat to keep her company as she fought to regain her physical, emotional and spiritual health. She christened her new feline companion La Bamba, a name that she incorporated into a moniker for her home recordings and performances at open mic nights in her new home, Portland. Bassist and vocalist Ben Meyercord caught some of Mendoza's open mic performances and the two quickly found a musical connection. In a whirlwind week that she said happened magically, Mendoza recruited Mike Kitson on drums and David Kyle on guitar. Luzelena played in an Ashland band with Kitson when she wanted a more quiet alternative to her early punk roots and Kyle was a musician she met online that shared her spiritual and eccentric philosophies. Intuition told her that she was going to meet the final piece in her musical puzzle and, sure enough, she stumbled upon accordion player Eric Schrepel playing the squeezebox at a puppet show.
With a raw songbook of home recordings under her belt and a new group of musicians to help Mendoza with her musical vision, Y LA BAMBA began to captivate audiences in Portland and tour stops around the US. Eventually, the quintet would attract the attention of The Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk, who offered his production skills for the band's first studio recording. Funk worked tirelessly to capture Y LA BAMBA's rustic tones, songs inspired by the traditional tunes of Mendoza's childhood, and her signature vocals that resemble the sounds spilling out of a 1930's Victrola. Dubbing the confidently stunning body of songs Lupon (after a nickname that Mendoza's father despised), Y LA BAMBA has emerged from the studio, ready to wow listeners everywhere. Lupon will be available during the fall of 2010 on Tender Loving Empire.
- Myspace:
- http://www.myspace.com/ylabamba
The Domestics (7 p.m.)
What separates The Domestics from the escapism of so many other indie pop acts is the fearlessness with which Michael Finn and Leo London confront their own pain. London's birth parents both battled with drug addiction in his early childhood before he was adopted by his grandparents at the age of two. Finn's trials came later on, struggling with health issues, depression and dependency in his early adult years. Writing in the aftermath of infidelity, mental illness, substance abuse and child abuse, Finn and London have wrought songs as moving as they are catchy and as honest as they are loud. What The Domestics provide that so many other bands do not is something which all listeners can relate to: vulnerability.
Long before they decided to join forces as The Domestics, Finn and London each spent years honing their craft as individual songwriters. After moving to Portland in the summer of 2013 after over a decade of writing and performing under his own name in Eugene, London found himself tracking piano for Finn at Flora Recording and Playback, studio of Grammy-Nominated producer Tucker Martine where Finn works as an assistant engineer alongside artists like My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, Modest Mouse, Neko Case, and Sufjan Stevens. This first studio collaboration began a relationship which would eventually lead to the combination of Finn and London's respective solo projects and to the recording of their first record over 15 days in the spring of 2014.
Less than a year after assembling a live band, The Domestics have triumphantly emerged as one of Portland's most promising new acts. Their energetic live shows, as well as the strength of their forthcoming debut record have garnered them a dedicated fan base and maelstrom of critical attention.
The Domestics are: Michael Finn, Leo London, Kyle Moderhak, Matt Moore, and Brad Norton
Divers (8 p.m.)
Divers is a band from Portland, OR. They are Harrison Rapp (guitar and vocals), Seth Rapp (guitar), James Deegan (bass), and Colby Hulsey (drums). The band describes themselves like so: "We play dynamic, sweaty music. The indie rockers say we are a punk band. The punk rockers are suspicious that we might be an indie band. The bands that have inspired us fall on both sides of the fence, but they all share the same kind of energy. If we have any clear idea about what we are doing, it has something to do with that energy."
Hello Hello is about a couple of bank robbers driving across North America, doing what they do. The album was recorded at Toadhouse Studios in Portland with Adam Pike and Mike Moore, and will be released on February 17th in cahoots with Olympia's great Rumbletowne Records. Divers' live show has been winning over fans and critics alike, and you can expect the legions to grow as the band heads out on the road in March and April (tour dates coming soon)!
Press:
"Divers operate on attitudes that signal a burning commitment to their own autonomy, and an emotive realness that abounds among the indie spirited denizens of Oregon, and Washington, respectively." - Impose
"...a truly powerful live band." - Razorcake
"Divers have quickly vaulted to the top of the Portland music food chain, devouring everything in sight with passionate, sweaty, hoarse-throated tunesthat positively rock. They're already one of the best bands in Portland, and while it feels a little music-critic-bullshitty to say stuff like this, I bet it's only a matter of time before they're one of the biggest. Join Team Divers tonight; I swear you won't regret it." - Portland Mercury
"So let's talk about Portland's very own Divers. Better to do so now, before fame finds them and we're eating dust. This quartet plays heartfelt, heartbreaking, heartwarming, heart-everything punk that glances off the canons of RVIVR, Ted Leo and Arcade Fire on its way to sweaty transcendence. If you have not seen Divers live by now, you are missing out on one of Portland's most essential musical treasures. Get blessed by this band immediately. " - Willamette Week
"Divers play big punk rock 'n' roll-suitable for dancing to, sweating to, losing your voice to, and fist-pumping in your white T-shirt like it's the '80s and the Boss is your actual boss and you just got a bonus." - the Stranger
Lewi Longmire and Anita Lee Elliott
Lewi Longmire has built a reputation as Portland's multi-instrumentalist "go to guy." In the years since relocating to Portland from Albuquerque, New Mexico, he's been included on shows and recordings by many of the Northwest's finest bands and songwriters. He's played with national acts Michael Hurley, Victoria Williams, Dolorean, AgesandAges, Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside, Blue Giant/Viva Voce/The Robinsons, Dolorean, the Minus 5, Breathe Owl Breathe and Tara Jane O'Neill as well as local luminaries Denver, The Portland Country Underground, Midlo/Pancake Breakfast, Quiet Life, Fernando, James Low, Perhapst, Electric Ill, Little Sue, Casey Neill, Michael Jodell, the Freak Mountain Ramblers, and is an anchor member of Portland's all-star tribute to the Allman Brothers, Brothers and Sister.
Recently, though, Lewi has taken all the things he learned from working with these fine performers and has been spending his time leading a roots rock/americana band of his own, singing his own compositions. This group owes much to the American tradition of good songs played with high energy, deep roots, and an unpretentious sense of fun. Their sound finds the connection between the basement feel of The Band, the raspy blue-eyed soul of Joe Cocker, the desert space of Giant Sand, the "without a net" deep space improvisations of the San Francisco ballrooms, the punk abandon of The Stooges and the quiet contemplation of Neil Young playing solo.
- Website:
- http://www.lewilongmire.com/
Samantha Crain with special guests The Harmed Brothers
The Oklahoma born songwriter with Choctaw heritage, Samantha Crain, presents her newest collection of songs, "Under Branch & Thorn & Tree". Teaming up again with producer, John Vanderslice (the Mountain Goats, Spoon), they've used synthesizers and string arrangements to embellish the heartfelt stories of the working class. Crain's songs are full of expansive melodies that veer off in unpredictable directions, with lyrics that explore conflicting emotions with uncommon insight and compassion. She has a jazz singer's phrasing, often breaking words into rhythmic fragments that land before and after the beat, stretching syllables or adding grace notes to uncover hidden nuances in her lyrics.
- Website:
- http://www.samanthacrain.com
Reverb Brothers
The Reverb Brothers offer a unique take on Americana, with original songs and obscure gems, that blend Blues, Country, Soul, New Orleans R&B, Country Blues and Rock & Roll with a distinctive 1930's sensibility. We feature three lead and harmony vocalists, acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, keyboards, cornet, bass and drums. We always deliver a high energy show that brings people out on the dance floor.
Further Records & Optic Echno present an evening of live electronics featuring:
Decimus
*No-Neck Blues Band member Pat Murano’s work as Decimus has been a prodigious endeavor to dissolve the ego and conventional notions of form from the creation of music.
http://furtherrecords.org/album/decimus-7
Raica
*The cavernous and beautiful project of renowned DJ and Further Records headmaster Chloe Harris. Raica walks a fine musical line between lucid animation and blurred darkness with her improvised sonics.
http://furtherrecords.org/album/dose
El Owl
*El Owl is an improv-based electronic instrumental duo playing a flowing mix of kosmiche, drone, no wave, post rock and noise. They also co-founded the Lifelike Family label and make music solo as Cloud City Cars and No Parades. Their debut album is available here: https://lifelikefamily.bandcamp.com/album/invisible-predator
Dweomer
*Local artist Jef Drawbaugh brings his long-running live improvisational project Dweomer. Using vintage analog synthesizers, Dweomer weaves orbs of delicate, multidimensional sounds with nods to komische, space rock, and early John Carpenter scores. Jef also hosts Zodiak Klub onXRAY.FM, where he plays classic and modern mixes from every era of electronic music.
https://dweomer.bandcamp.com/
We are excited to produce an event in conjunction with Optic Echo focusing on live ambient and experimental electronics.
Pre-Sale tickets available :
http://furtherrecords.org/merch/decimus-live-at-leaven-community-center-portland
$5-$15 donation on the door.
This is an ALL AGES venue!
Sound provided by Tim Westcott.
Acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou's (Raise the Red Lantern, Hero) career has quieted down a bit since the '90s, however this low-key familial drama remains a high point in his latter day ouevre. Telling the story of an estranged father reconnecting with his dying son over a performance of the titular folk opera, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is a moving depiction of the intersection between family, grief, and tradition.
This film screening has been made possible as part of the “Japan in Asia” initiative by the Japan Foundation Los Angeles.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/WaeBR9Ej_qs
Free.
ĄRCO does the B's—Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms—but like you've never experienced before! Blistering fast tempos. Body-shaking bass. Founding member Daniel Shen joins us as soloist on the Bach A minor, while Bryce and Mike duel it out on the Bach Double. Also featuring works by living composers Tom Johnson, Jacob TV, and Mike Hsu, and an opening set by percussionist and jazz drummer Kaleb Davies.
ARCO brings you classical orchestral and chamber music with a 21st century attitude. Amplified so you can talk, laugh, drink, dance. Yet performing each piece exactly as written—no watered-down arrangements, no cheap rhythm track—out of respect for the composers and the audience. With sound-responsive visuals for a multimedia concert experience.
Join XRAY.fm and Marmoset Music for an evening of storytelling, music, food and libations. We'll celebrate the winners of the Radio is Yours contest and recognize a few other people/places/things that are doing good in our "Changing City".
Main event tickets will include delicious food by Chefstable, drinks by Bouy Beer and Pfriem, a performance by Stephen Malkmus. Also included is the after-party event featuring Pure Bathing Culture and Is/Is (also at Marmoset).
Advance tickets to the XRAY Awards Show and After Party can be found here. https://impactflow.com/event/the-xray-awards-43
You may buy tickets to the entire event, or buy a ticket JUST for the after party.
Also, there is still time to enter the Radio is Yours Contest! The Theme is "Changing City" and all are welcome to produce a piece between 7 seconds and 7 minutes for the contest. thttp://xray.fm/radio-is-yours
Radio is Yours. Facebook Evite here.
Sarah Miller Meigs, founder of the lumber room, and Bruce Guenther, Portland Japanese Garden Trustee, invite you to a special reception for the arts and design community, to preview and discuss the Garden's Cultural Crossing expansion, and the transformation of the Japanese Garden's facilities by internationally renowned architect Kengo Kuma
Welcome and remarks at 6:15pm
Refreshments will be served
RSVP by January 19th to info@lumberoom.com
Natural Magic's 1 year residency at The Liquor Store comes to an end. Come help close it out in style.
Free.