CD Review up at Suite101, my new writing gig

I have recently been accepted to write articles at Suite101, a sort of general interest website. If I play my cards right, I might actually make a little money there, so zippadeedoodah for that! I'm going to link Suite101 over to the side of my blog here, but if you'd like to read the review, check it out here. (Hint: if you click on the ads next to my article, that's how I get paid. ;0)

New Article up at Primer Magazine; new gadgets on my blog

Hey all,

I have a new article published here at Primer Magazine, a sort of introduction to live classical music for someone unfamiliar with it. Not that any of you need it, but it may make for an interesting read anyway.

Also, there are a couple of ways to follow my blog now if you're interested, which will both make it easier for you to keep track of Musical Oozings, and also allow me to feel much more popular, something which I desperately need after my devastating experiences in high school. ;0)

You can become a 'Follower,' (not as Manson-Jim Jones cultish as it sounds), or sign up to receive notice of new postings through the feed reader of your choice. You can choose to either follow it publicly or privately. Happy Halloween!

Press Release: BCC Concert on October 26th

Cantata Choir to present free concert
Sunday October 26 at 2 pm, featuring Cantatas 106 and 140,
Plus Heinrich Schuetz: Psalm 128
Silent Auction Follows the Concert


The Bach Cantata Choir of Portland will present a free concert on Sunday, October 26th at 2pm at Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, 1907 NE 45th Ave in Portland, Oregon. The concert, under the direction of conductor Ralph Nelson, will feature a performance of Bach’s Cantata #106 “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit”, Cantata #140 “Wachet auf” and Heinrich Schuetz’s 8-part setting of Psalm 128. The concert is free and open to the public. A free-will offering will be taken. Doors open at 1:30pm. A silent auction to benefit the operations of the choir will occur directly following the concert in the parlor adjacent to the sanctuary.

Featured in the concert will be sopranos Nan Haemer and Solveig Nyberg-Akert, alto Irene Weldon, tenor Byron Wright and baritone Jacob Herbert. The works will be accompanied by a small chamber orchestra. John Vergin will provide the organ continuo. This concert features the Bach Cantata Choir – a choir of 50 professional or semi-professional voices, drawn from many of Portland’s finest choirs.

Bach’s sacred cantatas were written to be performed as part of the Lutheran Church liturgy. Cantata #106 “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit” (“God’s Time is the Best of Times”) is one of the earliest cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach – written in 1707 when the composer was 21 and working as organist in the small German town of Mühlhausen. Bach subtitled the work, “Actus Tragicus”, and the cantata is a fascinating and extremely moving work – written to be used at funeral services. It is quite unique in that it is scored is for 2 recorders, 2 viola da gamba, continuo, soloists and chorus.

BCC AD Ralph Nelson Shares his story

Heckuva lot of initials, eh? That's our Artistic Director of the Bach Cantata Choir Ralph Nelson, who this summer took master classes with maestro Helmuth Rilling, world-renowned director of the Oregon Bach Festival. Ralph gave some details of his experience, which I published in BachBeat, the BCC's newsletter, but I also posted them at NW Reverb if you're interested in taking a look.

Cappella Romana Review up at NW Reverb

I attended a marvelous concert by Capella Romana, a Portland-based ancient music choir. The review is up here at NW Reverb.

PCSO Review up at NW Reverb; notes on KBPS pledge drive and PSC/BCC seasons

I just got done attending a concert by the Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra consisting of works by two of my favorite composers, Shostakovich and Beethoven. You can check it out here at NW Reverb.

I also got done spending 8 hours over the last two evenings manning the phones at KBPS 89.9 All Classical for their fall pledge drive; although I left with two hours left to go in the drive, it seemed like they were well on their way to making the goal for this year. It's always a blast to go down there, and P-town (as well as the Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Coast and the entire world thanks to AllClassical.org) is lucky to have such a phenomenal station that is able to be so successful. I just wanted to thank all the volunteers, the local restaurants that donated food, the charismatic, committed staff and hosts, and especially the KBPS members in the community and the world at large for making it happen.

And I can't believe I haven't written this yet, but please check out the Bach Cantata Choir and the Portland Symphonic Choir websites (links for these and for KBPS are right off to the side there so just click on 'em!) for a full update on the 08-09 seasons. The PSC just got done singing Beethoven's 9th with the OSO and we're going to be working all day long tomorrow on Rachmaninov's Vespers for a concert next year. This is a titanic, amazing work, and quite simply one of the most beautiful pieces of music I think has ever been composed; such rich, haunting, uniquely Slavic music. On top of that, we're doing Mozart's Requiem and Kyrie in D-minor next year, in addition to our Wintersong Concert featuring a medley of Christmas tunes as conceived of by the brilliant Ralph Vaughan Williams.

In the BCC, our first concert (and our silent auction: please come and spend money with us! I'm the silent auction chair and I need to look good!) is coming up on October 26th at 2 pm; we're doing Cantatas 106 and 140, the famous Wachet Auf! (Sleepers Awake!) In addition, we're singing a gorgeous setting by Heinrich Schutz of Psalm 128 for double choir. Don't miss it! And let me know if you'd like to receive the BCC Newsletter; I write and edit that and it's been quite a hit with our audience. I usually write one historical article as well as a profile of one of our orchestra or chorus members; upcoming is our AD Ralph Nelson's article on his experiences studying with Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival this summer. I can put you on our mailing list to receive it on paper or send it to you electronically; I plan on archiving past editions online soon. I should have it ready to go next week.

It's late, I'm rambling, I'm going to head to bed cuz it's been a loooong week and the weekend looks just as busy. All in the service of music, the greatest of human endeavors. Buenas noches.

Baroque Bash! Opulent madness strikes the Holocene

Members of PBO perform at the Baroque Bash


Last Wednesday night, members of Classical Revolution Portland, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, and opera-rockers Sophe Lux threw a crazy party at the Holocene in SE Portland. I had the opportunity to open the show on solo harpsichord, floating the somber strains of a Purcell Almand into a still-murmuring crowd unannounced. I made some brief announcements followed by a Haydn sonata, and it took off from there.

It was a miniature who's who of some notables in P-town's classical music scene: Andrea Murray and Edmund Stone from KBPS All Classical were there; Mark Powell, Marketing Director and gracious host for the PBO was present. JustOut columnist and local music blogger Stephen Marc Beaudoin, (a fabulous tenor) performed what was without a doubt the most unique rendition of any Handelian opera aria that I've ever heard. Cellist/watercolorist extraordinaire Lori Presthus, as well as magnificent violinists Adam LaMotte and Greg Ewer, all of the PBO, wowed the crowd with the sterling level of musicianship that we've all come to know and love from that organization. Ralph Nelson, Artistic Director of the Bach Cantata Choir (and owner of the beautiful harpsichord we used for the event) also showed up. Of course, CRPDX founder Mattie Kaiser (aka Foxy Lux) and a regular crew of CRPDXers were there, in addition to Gwynneth Haynes and Sophe Lux, who played after the baroque performances were over. (If I've missed or didn't recognize anyone please forgive.)

A complete set list is available here at the CRPDX blog, and as I mentioned, the show opened with little ol' me. Although I didn't play nearly as well as I'd hoped (nor nearly as poorly as I'd feared) I really had a blast, and I got the very strong impression that all of the other performers and the audience did as well. It was a little unnerving for me playing on the same bill as members of the PBO, the cream of Portland's burgeoning Baroque scene, but I'm proud of my musicianship all the same and was grateful to have the chance to share the stage with such good musicians. Watching Mattie, Erin Winemiller and two CRPDX violinists whose names I don't know play a couple movements of a Haydn string quartet, I felt a certain warmth--I'd performed, gotten bloodied so to speak, and so felt a cameraderie that lent the rest of the evening a pleasant glow.

The finalists gather...

The scene shifted to another room where two cellists whose names I don't know (please feel free to shout out in the comments section) played the concertina from a Vivaldi double cello concerto with funky backbeats and psychedelic lighting. When Stephen Marc Beaudoin took the spotlight to sing two numbers from Handel's Rodelinda (heard in P-town last year thanks to the Portland Opera), it was a study in contrasts, to say the least. The first aria was tender, heart-rending, very introspective and honest. The second ended with Beaudoin hurling various articles of clothing into the audience, standing only in boxers and a t-shirt by the end of this baroque burlesque...honesty of a different sort?

Jan Groh of the Nachtigal Duo and Simon Bielman played a tricky Telemann recorder sonata quite well. They had been practicing in my living room earlier in the week, so it was fun to hear how much this piece had evolved in such a short time. Lori Presthus played a glorious Courante from Bach's 1st Cello Suite, and I was thrilled to hear this since I own her CD of the first 3 cello suites (going to get the second installment soon.) She also improvised, displaying her daring and virtuosity. Ewer and LaMotte showed their skills in a violin duet played at a positively blistering tempo, and the three PBO musicians closed out the Baroque part of the bash with Vivaldi's 'La Folia.'

Next came the costume competition. There were quite a number of lavish costumes...a neo-baroque hipster thing with a pink wig, Marie Antoinette-ish ensembles. Beaudoin led the festivities in a suitably boisterous manner, letting the audience applause judge the winners of various categories (including 'The Most Glam F*!#ing Glam' division). Despite the fact that there were many costumes that I felt left mine in the dust, somehow when it was all said and done I was the last man standing, and won two CDs and a hilarious 'Baroque Obama' t-shirt, courtesy of Classical Millenium. After receiving a stern, crowd-pleasing smack on the ass from the host (I'm sure we'd both had a few rounds by this point), it was intermission. PDX glam faves Sophe Lux took the stage afterwards, and I was glad to hear my favorite tune of theirs, the very apropos 'Marie Antoinette Robot.' I've written about their performances here before.

All in all, it was a ridiculous amount of fun. It had the interesting effect of taking some of the starch out of classical music while simultaneously celebrating that very aspect of it, and of bringing both the audience and performers together in a very unique way. Leave it to CRPDX come up with something like this...I sure hope they do it again.

And the winner is...

Various and Sundry...Pix soon to follow

Just a brief note here--

Last night I won the costume competition at the Baroque Bash at Holocene. I have no idea how I won...there were a number of sumptuous baroque costumers there but hey, a win is a win, and I got 2 cds and a hilarious 'Baroque Obama' t-shirt with Barack's head photo-shopped onto a famous painting of Bach. Good times. I'll be posting pictures and some notes on my experience later this evening.

Also at NW Reverb I linked to an item about a new Mozart piece that was discovered in a French museum.

Press Release from CRPDX

CLASSICAL REVOLUTION PDX PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT: Mattie Kaiser ClassicalRevolutionPDX@gmail.com
Powder your wig and lace up your corset for…
The Baroque Bash - September 17th at Holocene
WHAT: Baroque Bash
WHO: Sophe Lux (myspace.com/sophelux); Classical Revolution PDX (classicalrevolutionpdx.org) and members of the Portland Baroque Orchestra (pbo.org)
WHEN: September 17th, 9 PM
WHERE: Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, Portland
COST: $8 at the door; $6 for those in costume.

Baroque music meets baroque pop for a first-of-its-kind show at the Holocene nightclub on September 17th.
The “Baroque Bash” features performances by beloved chamber-rockers Sophe Lux, chamber music collaborative Classical Revolution PDX and special guests from Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Pacific Northwest’s premiere period instrument ensemble. CRPDX and the PBO Chamber Players will perform works by Bach, Haydn, Vivaldi and other 17th and early 18th Century composers. Sophe Lux, known as much for their lavish costumes and mini-operettas as for their musicianship, will play original songs hailed by the Portland Tribune as being “operatic, ambitious...sophisticated, theatrical pop.” The Philadelphia Weekly described them as “fancy-dressed, concept-loving, rock-opera terrorists... This Weimar-infused, accordion-loving experimental cabaret is led by the blond and beautiful Gwynneth Haynes, whose octave-jumping soprano could easily turn from indie rock to Brecht-Weill torch songs.”

Singer Gwynneth Haynes invites the audience to fully participate in the evening by taking on Baroque characteristics. Says Haynes “Don’t just be a spectator, be a part of the spectacle!” Audiences are invited to join in the evenings festivities by donning outfits and wigs for the evening’s costume contest.

Tom Cirillo, Executive Director of Portland Baroque Orchestra, jumped at the invitation from Classical Revolution PDX to bring live performance of 18th century music to a “downtown” club venue like Holocene. He says, “18th century music is all about flash, spectacle and live improvisation. A party-like setting with adult refreshments is certainly in the spirit of the music and I know our virtuoso violinists Greg Ewer and Adam LaMotte will thrive in the energy of this unique event at Holocene.”

Violist Mattie Kaiser, who performs with Classical Revolution PDX and Sophe Lux, says the Baroque Bash will demonstrate the commonality between Baroque music and the literate, musically complex pop songs produced by bands like Sophe Lux. She likens the best music of the Baroque, known for its emphasis on ornament and extravagance, to glam rock: “I really don’t think there’s that much of a difference between the baroque music pageantry that existed back in the day and glam - it’s all about being completely ridiculous with the utmost sincerity.”


Blogger's sidenote: I'd like to add that I think this sounds really fun and I will definitely be there. You might even have the great misfortune of hearing me play some Purcell on the harpsichord... I also thank Ralph Nelson, Artistic Director of the Bach Cantata Choir, for the use of his harpsichord for this event.

William Byrd Fest Concert Review at NW Reverb

I attended the book-end concerts of the William Byrd Fest and reviewed them at NW Reverb; you can read the review of the final concert here if you'd like.

Jack Johnson concert and a long trip

Lake Crescent, Olympic Nat'l Park

After spending a week rambling around the wilds of NW Washington with Kristin and my son, Theo, hiking, biking and canoeing in the Olympic and North Cascades national parks, we landed just outside Quincy, WA. (If you live in Portland and haven't been to these places or aren't planning on going, you're insane. These are incredible, spectacular parks that by virtue of their sheer beauty should be much more popular, but, thankfully, aren't. I put a few photos at the end of this post.)

The last leg of the trip ended in the dry badlands of central Washington for the second time this summer as we pulled into the Wild Horse campground right near The Gorge Amphitheater for surferboy-crooner Jack Johnson's concert. (I blogged about my first visit to the Gorge here in one of my very first postings on this blog.)

The Wild Horse was awash in Jack Johnson music everywhere as we set up camp. My friend Alton got me into Jack years ago, shortly after the release of his first LP Brushfire Fairytales. I appreciated his sometimes deceptively complex guitar lines, his laid back surfer attitude, mellow vocals. It all struck me as very unpretentious. His music seems to be something of an anomaly in the American alternative pop culture landscape: everything is always so ridden with angst, dripping cynicism, bile, venom and hopelessness, that a guy who plays his acoustic guitar and sings about how much he loves his wife seems oddly out of place. There's no denying his wild popularity though; perhaps his popularity is not inspite of, but because he loves life and likes to write mellow, pretty songs to that effect. It's a nice break for me from the angst music mentioned above (which I dearly love.)

I met up with my friends Nate and Joanna from Coeur d'Alene, whom I met at the Sasquatch Fest a couple of months ago, so that was cool. Maybe I was a little burned out from all the gorgeous scenery, but the spectacular beauty of the gorge didn't hit me like it did the first time. The opening band was Rogue Wave, who was also there at the Sasquatch fest. I didn't pay much attention to it; I was really there to hear Jack.

Me 'n Nate the Great @ the Wild Horse...


The first song brought vivid oceanic images to mind: surfing a talcum-blue wave of grumbling reggae bass, I looked out over a sea of cell-phones and cameras sparkling like the bioluminescent eyes of deep-sea dwelling fish. Although Jack's songs are good, I thought the live performance was a little bit lack-luster; they aren't terribly complex tunes, and should have easily translated to a hearty live performance, but somehow that didn't happen in a few instances. Not to say it was bad; I give him points for a number of clever quotations, including The Cars' Just What I Needed and Jimi Hendrix's Remember. I've found I tend to be underwhelmed by certain groups there at the Gorge, even ones I really love. I wasn't disappointed in any way, since it was on the way (more-or-less) home from our summer road trip. I think I need to just go for the party, and have the music be more or less an afterthought. That way, if I'm less than impressed with the performance, there's no disappointment involved. Got to spend a lot of fun time with Kristin and Theo, and that's the most important part. At any rate, it was a good close to the summer for me, since rehearsals and concert seasons start up again in a couple of weeks and the madness of being a classical music performer/writer (on top of a full time job) begins again...

Enjoy some photos of the incredible Washington wilderness.




N. Cascades Nat'l Park

The time for caution is now past...

Dining on the local wildlife. Mm....that's shrew-licious!




Diablo Lake, N. Cascades

Rare sighting of a Dorkus malorkus in the Hoh Rainforest...

Hall of Mosses, Hoh Rainforest, Olympic Nat'l Park

Rialto Beach, Olympic Nat'l Park

New Beer Article up at Primer Magazine

I wrote an article entitled "The Beers I'm Drinking this Summer--and Why." It's published at Primer Magazine this week. A little bit of beer history, and some recommendations for good summer beers. It's getting pinged from other beer blogs, so that's cool. Lemme know what you think!

Review of William Byrd Festival at NW Reverb

I attended a spectacular display of keyboard brilliance at the opening of the William Byrd Festival last night, and wrote a review of it here at NW Reverb.

Long Overdue-Portland Waterfront Blues Fest-Photos by Charles Sterling

Well it was almost a month ago, so there's really no excuse for me not having written anything about it other than sheer laziness. I'll let the photos do most of the talking, but I'll just say that the three artists I heard while I was there were all fantastic, both to listen to and to watch perform live. Kristin's dad Chuck is somewhat of a shutterbug, so he took some great photos that I'm happy to share.

I love blues music so much; it's such an unbelievably fertile, uniquely American idiom that has served as the wellspring for so many styles and artists. Ever heard of jazz, rock'n'roll, or hip-hop? Without the blues they never could have existed. I'm not saying anything everyone doesn't already know, just emphasizing (as much for my own sake as anything else) why this music is so important. I think it's safe to say that, if some strange time warp incident were to wipe out blues music, music worldwide over the last century would be irrevocably wounded, unrecognizably different, and immeasurably poorer for its lack.

Enough words! On to the photos!

Gotta love a P-town waterfront music fest...

I had never heard her before, but I was so glad I was there to hear Ruthie Foster, a Texan whose soul/gospel/blues singing was absolutely riveting and honest, with no frills. Here are a couple of great photos of her:

Although I couldn'tt get it to rotate, I think this pic is great and worth turning your laptop sideways to look at.

Here are some pix of Portland's own soul diva Linda Hornbuckle. Her gospel set was nothing short of stunning. (That's the disadvantage of waiting so long to write something, expecially when I wasn't taking any notes. The specifics sort of fade...)

Linda and her gospel choir.

The real reason I came down on this blazing hot Sunday afternoon, however, was to see Phoebe Snow. I've loved her ever since I was a teenager. When I was younger, I always held my oldest sister Karrie as the coolest person in the world. I mean, she has the best taste in everything: music, clothes, movies, food, and always knows a lot about what she likes and thinks intensely about why she likes it (kind of like someone else I know...) She used to have me over to her house and we would go through her large collection of vinyl, listening to record after record. Through her I got into so much good music: The Beach Boys, CCR, Phoebe Snow, Leon Redbone, Taj Mahal, The Crazy 8s, The Fine Young Cannibals (before they got big), not to mention tons of great classical music, most of which she bequeathed to me and I've sadly lost through the years.

Phoebe Snow has such a distinctive voice. She did some jingles in the 80s and 90s after her career slowed down a bit, but she cracked jokes about that during the show, and even sang the Colon Blow jingle from SNL; that is one of my very favorite SNL faux commercials of all time. She sang at least two songs from her self-titled debut album, the one that I am so familiar with through my sister's collection. She sang Poetry Man and Harpo's Blues, and I think maybe one other from her really early years. My favorite songs of hers were always San Francisco Bay Blues and Either or Both, both from that first album with the white cover and the line drawing of Phoebe's face.

Her voice is incredible, not just for the sheer range of it but also because of the magnificent control whether she's in a simmering contralto or soaring in a stratospheric soprano. She just has an amazing instrument, and a keen understanding of how to use it; very unique and stylistic. Kristin's mom Suzie bought me Phoebe's Greatest Hits CD for a birthday present; definitely a great gift.

Some of these pix are sideways. Deal with it; I'm a music nerd, not a computer nerd.

I can still hear the lyrics from Either or Both in my head:


Sometimes my face is so funny, that I hide it behind a book.
Sometimes this face has so much class that I have to take a second look.


Never was a truer word spoken; those lines have stuck with me through my whole life, helping sustain me when I look in the mirror and want to run screaming in terror, and keep me humble when I find myself staring in the mirror at that handsome devil. Speaking of which devil...



Just so we all know I'm not a poseur, I'm living the motto espoused on my t-shirt there; that's a double fist of Deschutes Brewery's Green Lakes Organic Ale

One more good one of Phoebe's and I'm audi 5k.

Grey Anne spins her web at the Towne Lounge

I knew it had been awhile since I tried to park in NWPDX at 9 on a Thursday night as I spent over 30 minutes driving around looking for a spot...thanks in large part to the Beavers game at PGE park. At any rate, I was glad I was late for the Towne Lounge since the show slated to start at 9 didn't get underway until well after 10. I didn't even realize I had been there before until I got inside, and then it all came flooding back to me...it was part of an unfortunate St. Patty's day pub crawl incident a number of years ago which ended up with me passed out in an alley in a puddle of my own barf behind yet another pub I can't possibly remember. Fortunately, I'm much older and wiser now, and those days are long behind me. I'm proud to announce that these days I almost always make it home before I puke and pass out.

Seriously though, it was kind of annoying but what the hell! I'm easily annoyed anyway, 'subtle and quick to anger' as are the Tolkienian wizards. Not that I'm a wizard. Nor always subtle. So here I am sitting around waiting for two bands that I've never heard of before in anxious anticipation of Anne Adams, the echo-looping sorceress whose music I fell in love with upon first hearing at a show at the Doug Fir when she was performing as Per Se. (I reviewed it here if you want more of my impressions of her.) Lots of magic references here...that seems to happen to me when I hear her music.

At any rate, I had to sit through a long lot of boring to mediocre music before she played. I won't write much about that...no question the guys playing had musical skills, it's just that I've heard what they were dishing out so many times before...they were plodding along through very well-tilled soil. I had a bunch of nasty things to say but I just don't have the heart: it was only a $5 show on a Thursday night, these guys are out there pouring their hearts out for a smoky, almost-empty lounge, so it's all good. They were occasionally charming; just mostly rather boring. And the second one (The Friendly Skies) way too loud. Maybe I'm old. Wait a second; no maybe about it. My 36th was just last weekend.

Interesing motif there at the Towne Lounge: good beers in cans. Must be part of the whole contrived hipster working-class affectation thing. Oops, there it is again. I've never drunk Newcastle (one of my favorite brown ales) out of a can before, but I figured 'hell, it's Newcastle; it's gotta be good.' And I was right. Had a couple of cans of Caldera Pale as well, stretched out over the course of the evening; I was the model of restraint. Thursday night drinking bouts usually result in an unlovely Friday for me...

Adams was performing under her stage name Grey Anne that night, so since I'd heard her (only once before) perform as Per Se, I was excited to see what might be different about this performance. First thing was different props: gone were the butterfly/fairy wings, in their place was an immense stuffed white tiger, and for her opening song she sat down on the stage and propped her legs over the big kitty, so that when her beautiful, pure, child-like voice opened up, I suddenly felt like I had been invited into a little girl's room, listening as she sang her dreams and musings. The whole pub, with a small though noisy crowd, suddenly went into rapt silence as Grey Anne began her set. She told the story behind her moniker, but I'm going to keep that to myself. If you want to know, go to her shows. I'm sure she'll repeat the story sometime...

That's not to say that all her music is about delicious whimsy and gossamer fluff. That was another difference between this and the Per Se show; she spoke more, and gave personal details, vignettes about her family; there was more that gave insight into her. She also explained the meaning behind some songs and there was nothing childish or whimsical about them thematically. Since I've only been to one other performance of hers I realize that's no solid basis for comparison, but there it is. Those were the differences I noticed between Per Se and Grey Anne.

She sang two songs that I know by name ('Adelaide' and 'Flapjack Devilfish') along with a couple others I recognized from having heard them before. I'm struck by her original voice, and by that I don't mean her vocal mechanism but her whole poetic/music/lyrical outlook. She loses herself in rhapsodic, spontaneous self-harmonies, using the loop sequencer judiciously and intelligently, and not afraid to start a particular loop over if it isn't what she wants. There may have been only ten people in the room, but (after the obnoxious drunk chicks left) everyone was hanging on every chord change and new verse, drinking it in like wine. I wasn't the only one who found myself, head in hands with a goofy smile on my face as a new song wound on.

I think that's why I like her music so much; it's so nice to have something that gently, yet inexorably and powerfully pulls me out of my well of cynicism and loathing and just lets me breathe for a minute. Music is just about the only thing that can do that for me, and it's got to be special music, and meaningful. Both of her shows I've been to have left me with the distinct impression of being wrapped in a warm, fuzzy blanket, and it's not very often I have that feeling.

I left the Towne Lounge and drove home the same way I do when I drive home from the opera or from a really good symphony performance: no radio, just letting the echoes and memories of the music I've just heard live on as vividly as they can for as long as they can, needing no auditory intrusion to mar the exquisite aftertaste. Things seemed glowing and new, like the same old boring street suddenly viewed through pink shades; the dimming lights of the ball field, the loaded morons staggering loudly down the street, the drunken madman with wild hair, a bushy beard, and ungodly befouled clothes leaning up against a parking meter whispering to it sweet nothings and giving it a kiss as gentle and profound as you've ever seen a man give his lover; it all seemed beautiful.

DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist rock the turntables at the Roseland

For my birthday treat last night I went and saw my favorite mix-master DJ Shadow (first time for me) at the Roseland theater. He was accompanied by a DJ I didn't know by the name of Cut Chemist playing one of the last three shows of a yearlong project they called the Hard Sell.

After enduring the many indignities of the Roseland (every time I go there I'm reminded of why I rarely go there), such as the security search that all but left me needing a cigarette afterward, the 45 minute wait just to be able to get up to the balcony and get a drink, and the hordes of ganja-reeking hipsters, I was able to kick back and enjoy the show.

Let me just say this: we may live in an era when ever other person you meet claims to be a DJ, but real ones, like Shadow and Cut Chemist, are so far above the cut it isn't even funny. They had an entertaining, retro-style projected video intro that explained some of the tricks of the DJ trade, such as using precisely-placed strips of tape to create loops. They did it all without computers, using only turntables, pedals and an echo machine (not being an amateur DJ, I don't really know all the lingo so bear with me here.) They used only 45s, and each of them had a couple of hundred close at hand.

I was especially impressed with the variety of styles they brought into play: heavy metal, country, old-school funk, hip-hop, strange, obscure covers (such as a woman singing the Gilligan's Island theme song to Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' music). They displayed a great sense of humor, consummate artistry in skills I don't even pretend to understand, and had a great rapport; they were just a couple of guys up there doing what they do best, and it showed. If anyone has a chance to see either of these guys, I'd highly recommend it. Makes me want to go see more hip-hop oriented shows; Mos Def, the Hieroglyphics crew, and others are coming in the next couple of months and I might just put up with the Roseland bullshit to see such quality acts.

Sing Verdi's Requiem tonight with Steven Zopfi and the Portland Symphonic Choir!

Tonight and next Wednesday are the annual 'Summer Sings' concerts presesnted by the PSC. Our A.D. Steven Zopfi will conduct tonight's performance of Verdi's massive Requiem, and next Wednesday our Assistant A.D. Anna Song will conduct Faure's Requiem (don't let the title fool you; it's quite a happy piece for a requiem) and also his Cantique de Jean Racine. The cost is only $7 and you can borrow a score at the door. If you're a current singer, a long-lapsed chorister or you've just always wanted to try, now is a great chance to sing some masterworks and chat with many of your friends and neighbors who sing with the Portland Symphonic Choir.

Come to the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building on PCC's beautifully upgraded Cascade Campus the next two Wednesday nights at 7 pm and join in the fun. Details are here at the PSC website. I'll be there, and if any of my blog readers show up, please introduce yourselves! I'd love to meet you.

CD Review: Rachel Taylor Brown's "Half Hours with the Lower Creatures."

Rachel Taylor Brown has been getting a lot of good press lately (from NPR among others) and after listening to her new CD Half Hours with the Lower Creatures, it's easy to see why. I really enjoyed the vast majority of this very personal exposition. Each track has a subtitle to it, such as 'the goad,' 'waste,' 'whack,' etc., which I couldn't make much sense of but since I am a big fan of subtitles, parentheticals and the like, I think it's great. The first track I might've subtitled 'Trio for voice, Found Sounds and Toy Piano.' It's a lengthy, diverting opening that segues seamlessly into the second track (as does each track into the one that follows it.)

It's obvious from listening to this that RTB has issues with Judeo-Christianity (ahh, don't we all) but her way of expounding on it is honest and without overt malice. The most powerful track for me is passion (the goad), which is just what it says: a story about the passion of the Christ, only with an emphasis on its misuse in fleecing the flock. She's got a very clever, subtle way of staggering the relatively straightforward vocals and piano; there’s a story just underneath the text that you have to intuit (rather than interpret) by listening to the music. In another dead soldier in fallujah (waste), Brown cuts right to the chase and delivers a criticism of the war in Iraq with sensitivity and compassion, yet mercifully absent any tawdry schadenfreude at our boondoggle over there. After passion, the instrumental arlington and the penultimate track vireo, a brooding and organic dirge, are the strongest tracks for me. I detected hints of Tori Amos, Elliot Smith and Queen (a little too much of that one for my personal taste) here but from start to finish, Lower Creatures, is by and large a winner This album lives in the atmospherics, which are sometimes more difficult to create accurately than dazzling the listener with tricky music. Be prepared to sit down and listen to it in one sitting; it makes much more sense that way.

New Article: "Diary of a Rookie Homebrewer" up at Primer Magazine

Primer Magazine just published a feature piece of mine entitled "Diary of a Rookie Homebrewer." While it is (obviously) mostly about beer, it does deal with the nexus of beer and music as focal activities in my life. Check it out here at www.primermagazine.com, and leave a comment if you are so inclined!

Review of Bach's B-minor Mass at NW Reverb

I had the great pleasure of attending a performance of Helmuth Rilling's Mass in B-minor at the Schnitz last week, and wrote a review of it here at Northwest Reverb.