Julie Byrne
Sometimes it can take years to find your calling. Not for Julie Byrne; whose power of lyrical expression and musical nous seems inborn. Often what comes naturally cannot be driven by speed and time. Julie’s second album, Not Even Happiness, has evolved at its own pace. It spans recollections of bustling roadside diners, the stars over the high desert, the aching weariness of change, the wildflowers of the California coast, and the irresolvable mysteries of love. Her new album vividly archives what would have otherwise been lost to the road, and in doing so, Byrne exhibits her extraordinarily innate musicality. Some of the songs on Not Even Happiness took years of fine tuning to reach their fruition. If you asked her why the follow up to 2014’s Rooms With Walls and Windows has taken so long, you’d be greeted with a bewildered expression melted into a smile - as though the strangest question had just been asked. “Writing comes from a natural process of change and growth. It took me up to this point to have the capacity to express my experience of the time in my life that these songs came from.”
Julie Byrne has counted Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Seattle, New Orleans and Northampton, Massachusetts as her transient homes in recent years. For now, she’s settled in New York City, moonlighting as a seasonal urban park ranger in Central Park. Whether witnessing the Pacific Northwest for the first time (‘Melting Grid’), the morning sky in the mountains of Boulder (‘Natural Blue’), or a journey fragrant with rose water; reading Frank O’Hara aloud from the passengers seat during a drive through the Utah desert into the rainforest of Washington State (‘The Sea As It Glides’), Not Even Happiness is Julie’s beguilingly ode to the fringes of life.
“The title of the album comes from a letter I wrote to a friend after a trip to Riis Park’s ‘The People’s Beach’,,,it was the first warm afternoon of the year. I walked alongside the Atlantic as the Earth came alive for the sun. There was a palpable sense of emergence to everything. I felt it in myself too, and remember thinking I would trade that feeling for nothing…not even happiness.”
Julie taught herself guitar, picking it up when her father became ill and could no longer play. She readily admits she can’t read music and doesn’t even listen to it all that much - her own vinyl was the first in her possession. Back to her childhood home in western New York state to record the album with producer Eric Littmann (Phantom Posse), friend Jake Falby contributed strings at a cabin in Holderness, New Hampshire. “Without possessing the right words, I’d describe to Eric and Jake the feeling I wanted a song to evoke, or I would take a shot at singing what was in my head. Though over all, their contributions to the record are entirely their own vision and their own power. I trusted each of them and we chose each other; our songs came from that place.”
Not Even Happiness offers a bigger picture to its predecessor through a wider exploration of instruments and atmospherics, revealing an artist who has grown in confidence over time. This form of self-evolution permeates through the track titles, as the album opens with, ‘Follow My Voice’ and ends with, ‘I Live Now as a Singer’.” “Those two songs are the nearest to my heart, without hesitation. This is an album with a far stronger sense of self, and fidelity to self than the last,” she says.
Her last album was released in January 2014, on Chicago based DIY label Orindal after first existing as two separate cassette releases. Rooms With Walls and Windows went on to become a true modern-day word of mouth success story (it would have to be for an artist who shuns all forms of social media). By the end of the year, it was voted number 7 in Mojo Magazine’s Best Albums, with the Huffington Post calling it, “2014’s Great American Album.” A collection of hushed intimate front porch psych-folk songs, recalling the greats, but strongly emanating the essence of timeliness. Her journey to follow was captured in two summers through Europe, playing the Green Man Festival and End of the Road, as well as lesser trodden tour paths around Italy.
In the live arena she enchants, leaving rooms and festival crowds mesmerized by her voice and warm presence, where many find a real connection with Byrne’s intimate songs. This feeling is often shared: “The most magical thing about performing these songs is that afterwards, so many of the conversations I have escape all small talk,” tells Julie. “Shows don’t always have this spirit, but when they do, every person has contributed, even unknowingly, to creating a space of responsiveness to each other through vulnerability, through our unified experience and honesty about our sorrow and our emergence.”
Julie Byrne is taking Not Even Happiness on the road throughout 2017.
Johanna Warren
An intuitively self-taught guitarist, Johanna Warren channels powerful songs in weird time signatures and melancholic open tunings, weaving adept finger-picking with acrobatic vocal lines and carefully crafted poetry in reverence of her patron songwriting saints Elliott Smith, Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake. Approaching music as a potent healing modality, Warren cultivates and honors the physically healing properties of sound and the spiritually healing powers of artistic expression.
Anyone who thinks Portland's music scene is nothing but sad indie dudes and warbling ukulele players needs to spend some time at PDX Pop Now, which brings together a broad sample platter of the best local sounds—from punk to jazz, folk to hip-hop, metal to EDM—all under one bridge. The Hawthorne, to be precise. The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts! With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
Through July 23. Free. All ages.
The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts!With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
- PDX POP NOW! 2017 will take place July 21th, 22nd, 23rd
- The Festival is free and always all ages!
- We will have a beer garden on site, all proceeds go to putting on this amazing festival!
- The festival will be held at AudioCinema underneath the Hawthorne Bridge
The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts!With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
- PDX POP NOW! 2017 will take place July 21th, 22nd, 23rd
- The Festival is free and always all ages!
- We will have a beer garden on site, all proceeds go to putting on this amazing festival!
- The festival will be held at AudioCinema underneath the Hawthorne Bridge
We are happy to announce that this year the Portland Zine Symposium will be taking place at the JADE/APANO Multicultural Space (JAMS) in SE Portland July 22, & 23 2017.
JAMS is a much more intimate venue than our venues in previous years. The rising cost of commercial spaces and general cost of living in Portland has limited the options of spaces for hosting PZS this year. Coupled with the reality there are now zine festivals in almost every major city in the U.S., we are reconsidering what we want the future of Portland Zine Symposium to be. PZS organizers have decided to create a more local and personable zine fest that works with and invests in the Portland community. Our plans include creating a zine workshop program directed toward youth, building relationships with local organizations, and ensuring that PZS is inclusive and respectful to communities of color, the LGBTQIA community, and to the differently-abled community.
What does this mean for tablers at PZS 2017?
-There will be a limited amount of tabling this year (approximately 30% less than last year). Only ½ size tables will be available. A very small amount of full-size tables are available by invite only.
-For the first time, PZS will not offer tables on a first-come/first-serve basis. We will have tablers go through an application process where tablers apply for a tabling space, have their applications reviewed by PZS organizers, and if approved, are notified of their acceptance. PZS decided after much deliberation to change our table registration process to better uphold our Safer Spaces Policy, as well as to ensure a more equitable tabling process.
-As we are lightly curating our tabling, we will also be selecting more tablers who are based in Portland/the Pacific NW than in previous years. We will still be offering tables to out-of-town zinesters, just not at the rate that we have in previous years.
We are very excited for the changes 2017 will bring to PZS. We desire to foster an ever- growing zine community that is inclusive, equitable, and self-sustaining for years to come! We hope you want to participate with us! The 2017 Portland Zine Symposium applications open on Monday, March 13th!
Anyone who thinks Portland's music scene is nothing but sad indie dudes and warbling ukulele players needs to spend some time at PDX Pop Now, which brings together a broad sample platter of the best local sounds—from punk to jazz, folk to hip-hop, metal to EDM—all under one bridge. The Hawthorne, to be precise. The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts! With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
Through July 23. Free. All ages.
The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts!With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
- PDX POP NOW! 2017 will take place July 21th, 22nd, 23rd
- The Festival is free and always all ages!
- We will have a beer garden on site, all proceeds go to putting on this amazing festival!
- The festival will be held at AudioCinema underneath the Hawthorne Bridge
The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts!With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
- PDX POP NOW! 2017 will take place July 21th, 22nd, 23rd
- The Festival is free and always all ages!
- We will have a beer garden on site, all proceeds go to putting on this amazing festival!
- The festival will be held at AudioCinema underneath the Hawthorne Bridge
We are happy to announce that this year the Portland Zine Symposium will be taking place at the JADE/APANO Multicultural Space (JAMS) in SE Portland July 22, & 23 2017.
JAMS is a much more intimate venue than our venues in previous years. The rising cost of commercial spaces and general cost of living in Portland has limited the options of spaces for hosting PZS this year. Coupled with the reality there are now zine festivals in almost every major city in the U.S., we are reconsidering what we want the future of Portland Zine Symposium to be. PZS organizers have decided to create a more local and personable zine fest that works with and invests in the Portland community. Our plans include creating a zine workshop program directed toward youth, building relationships with local organizations, and ensuring that PZS is inclusive and respectful to communities of color, the LGBTQIA community, and to the differently-abled community.
What does this mean for tablers at PZS 2017?
-There will be a limited amount of tabling this year (approximately 30% less than last year). Only ½ size tables will be available. A very small amount of full-size tables are available by invite only.
-For the first time, PZS will not offer tables on a first-come/first-serve basis. We will have tablers go through an application process where tablers apply for a tabling space, have their applications reviewed by PZS organizers, and if approved, are notified of their acceptance. PZS decided after much deliberation to change our table registration process to better uphold our Safer Spaces Policy, as well as to ensure a more equitable tabling process.
-As we are lightly curating our tabling, we will also be selecting more tablers who are based in Portland/the Pacific NW than in previous years. We will still be offering tables to out-of-town zinesters, just not at the rate that we have in previous years.
We are very excited for the changes 2017 will bring to PZS. We desire to foster an ever- growing zine community that is inclusive, equitable, and self-sustaining for years to come! We hope you want to participate with us! The 2017 Portland Zine Symposium applications open on Monday, March 13th!
The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts!With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
- PDX POP NOW! 2017 will take place July 21th, 22nd, 23rd
- The Festival is free and always all ages!
- We will have a beer garden on site, all proceeds go to putting on this amazing festival!
- The festival will be held at AudioCinema underneath the Hawthorne Bridge
The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts!With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
- PDX POP NOW! 2017 will take place July 21th, 22nd, 23rd
- The Festival is free and always all ages!
- We will have a beer garden on site, all proceeds go to putting on this amazing festival!
- The festival will be held at AudioCinema underneath the Hawthorne Bridge
Anyone who thinks Portland's music scene is nothing but sad indie dudes and warbling ukulele players needs to spend some time at PDX Pop Now, which brings together a broad sample platter of the best local sounds—from punk to jazz, folk to hip-hop, metal to EDM—all under one bridge. The Hawthorne, to be precise. The 14th Annual PDX Pop Now! Festival returns to AudioCinema (226 SE Madison St, Portland) July 21-23, 2017 with three days of Portland bands, a street fair, record fair, Rigksetball, and local food carts! With two outdoor stages beneath the Hawhtorne Bridge, PDX Pop Now! is Portland’s only three day, free festival focused on showcasing Portland’s diverse musical talent. A non-profit organization dedicated to making music all ages and accessible, PDX Pop Now! is run entirely by volunteers, from the board members down to the bands playing the festival.
Through July 23. Free. All ages.
XRAY.FM and The White Owl Social Club present their new summer concert series with different musicians every Thursday in July. The event is free and 21+. Doors open at 8pm.
July 6th: Briana Marela & Mini Blinds
July 13th: Shadowhouse & Starclub
July 20th: Everything In The Universe & Heavii Mello
July 27th: Dimwit & Weezy Ford
XRAY.FM and The White Owl Social Club present their new summer concert series with different musicians every Thursday in July. The event is free and 21+. Doors open at 8pm.
July 6th: Briana Marela & Mini Blinds
July 13th: Shadowhouse & Starclub
July 20th: Everything In The Universe & Heavii Mello
July 27th: Dimwit & Weezy Ford
XRAY.FM and The White Owl Social Club present their new summer concert series with different musicians every Thursday in July. The event is free and 21+. Doors open at 8pm.
July 6th: Briana Marela & Mini Blinds
July 13th: Shadowhouse & Starclub
July 20th: Everything In The Universe & Heavii Mello
July 27th: Dimwit & Weezy Ford
XRAY.FM and The White Owl Social Club present their new summer concert series with different musicians every Thursday in July. The event is free and 21+. Doors open at 8pm.
July 6th: Briana Marela & Mini Blinds
July 13th: Shadowhouse & Starclub
July 20th: Everything In The Universe & Heavii Mello
July 27th: Dimwit & Weezy Ford
FIVE VENUES
The 1st Annual Queer Relief Comedy Festival or, QUeF is a four day stand-up comedy focused event to be held in scenic Portland, Oregon July 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th, 2017 at Funhouse Lounge and Theatre, Curious Comedy Theatre and associated satellite sites.
FOUR DAYS
Spotlighting comedians who fall on the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) spectrum and their allies, QUeF’s vision is to not only highlight queer and allied talent from all over the world, but to give back to the Queer community through our community non-profit partner initiatives.
FEATURING* the winner from our April show, Former Head Writer/Host of Live Wire! Radio, Screenwriter COURTENAY HAMEISTER plus 4-Time Back Fence PDX: Russian Roulette Winner, HR Specialist SHANNON BALCOM GRAVES, Past Russian Roulette Winner, Works at Portland Public Schools CHRIS WILLIAMS, Award Winning Film Producer, Comedian, Stilt Walker JAY FLEWELLING, Writer, Technology Consultant, Reads Fortunes from Fast Food Wrappers KARL MIDDLEBROOKS, and Swing Dancer, Reigns From Singapore, Owns 3 Beautiful Pet Rats ELINA LIM!
Hosted by B. FRAYN MASTERS & MINDY NETTIFEE
Music By Bobby D from XRAY
More about RUSSIAN ROULETTE… How it works: each show begins with a full wheel of juicy story prompts. One of our 6 seasoned storytellers will be randomly drawn. To determine the random prompt for their story, they will spin the giant game show wheel. They can play or pass. If they pass another teller can steal their prompt. Then the risky part… each storyteller has only 5 minutes to come up with a true 5-minute story based on that prompt! It’s like we invented a new game called truth AND dare.
At the end of the night, the audience will select a winner who will receive 50 bucks and some other cool prizes, like bragging rights for life. The winner will be invited to come back to the next show!
And one lucky audience member will also win prizes!
XRAY.FM and The White Owl Social Club present their new summer concert series with different musicians every Thursday in July. The event is free and 21+. Doors open at 8pm.
July 6th: Briana Marela & Mini Blinds
July 13th: Shadowhouse & Starclub
July 20th: Everything In The Universe & Heavii Mello
July 27th: Dimwit & Weezy Ford
XRAY.FM and The White Owl Social Club present their new summer concert series with different musicians every Thursday in July. The event is free and 21+. Doors open at 8pm.
July 6th: Briana Marela & Mini Blinds
July 13th: Shadowhouse & Starclub
July 20th: Everything In The Universe & Heavii Mello
July 27th: Dimwit & Weezy Ford