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Damn you MusicfestNW!

and your little dog too!

MusicFest NW - why did you have to be so amazing!?!  Why!?!  Seriously - ten times more than I ever expected.
First you made me resentful - I mean you took Justin Timberlake away from me!  Seriously - I had been counting on going to that concert since at least May, gabbed about it to my friends, and then - poof, you make him disappear by having Grizzly Bear, Starfucker, Dan Deacon, and Rilo Kiley all on the same night.
But you redeemed yourself with what made me resentful in the first place.  I don't care how many times I've seen Grizzly Bear, it's never enough.

Ed after the show:

Live at the Doug Fir:

(Drummer Christopher Bear was rocking a brand-spanking new Deerhunter T)

Still, why Justin couldn't you have postponed Portland too?

But - oh the lack of sleep!  Never fully expected it to the extent it existed, but now I know not to have a day job during all the days of the fest and schedule myself to participate in Crafty Wonderland on my only day off my day job but still on a MFNW day.
But still I stayed out until 2, then stayed up even later uploading photos when I had to be at work at 9:30 the next day.
Oh MusicFest NW - why do you only have to last four days!?!
I now can't wait for SXSW!  I think I'm really gonna try for 2008, even though I already know I have a conflict with the dates in March.

Girl Talk and Dan Deacon were my favorite sets of the fest. 

I have tried and tried again to listen to 'Crystal Cat', but accepted that Dan Deacon was not my bag.  When assigned to turn up to his gig I did so with curiosity only emboldened by the fact that when I turned up, Justin Kent was there after having just put his camera equipment away - there was no way to shoot it apparently - the strobe lights breaking three minutes of just a blackened room completely packed with people like a gas chamber.  Oh how that made me want to witness it all the more.  I came for a concert, what I got was a cult. 

He had lyrics sheets for 'Wham City':

People sang from them covered in sweat:

(It was SERIOUSLY hot in there!  People's sweat was dripping in actual drops onto my camera)

It's so funny too, because I am like the most drug-free person - I mean I've never even smoked a cigarette or drank coffee, yet I found myself gleefully chanting along with everyone in attendance - "Harry Potter, Book 6!  Smoke weed everyday!"  In fact, I'm still chanting it.  Seriously - as I bounced around between sets of Swim Swam Swum, Holy Fuck, and Wolf Parade two days later on Sunday night, that chant and talking about Lorin of the Thermals was all that occupied my time.
I heard from two people - Cary Clarke and Jason Simms that Dirty Projectors was their favorite set of the fest.  Wish I could've been in two places at once, but I was over onstage shooting and dancing at Girl Talk.

Where's Waldo Girl Talk?

Can you find him?

With Girl Talk I got exactly what I expected - times ten!  I wondered with the Roseland's security as notorious as they are with a seemingly "no fun" policy - how would my man Gregg Gillis' set look without people clogging the stage alongside him?  Well, one - he didn't perform on the stage.  He performed in the barrier between the stage and the crowd - until he actually started performing because as soon as his beats began, people were hopping the barrier too fast to time.  And security was game with it!  They stood on the stage in protection of all of the fancy/swish/expensive hip-hop/rap/DJ equipment and let the crowd go WILD!!!!!!!!!!  He had a pretty copy of Finder besides his laptop.  He played Grizzly Bear's 'Knife' minus Clipse's vocals proclaiming "Wamp, Wamp, what it do, what it do?"
Oh Gregg!  You finally got to steal my heart live!  If you (actually you, not Gregg :) read this blog in November, I was actually scheduled to do a photo shoot with him and attend his show at Holocene, but he still had his day job at the time and didn't get into Portland until WAY LATE crushing our previously scheduled commitments.
And oh my god - did he look like Garrett or did he look like Garrett!?!:

My biggest upset was missing Typhoon.  Enough said... oh how I tried!
Eugene Mirman = super super crafty/clever/funny.

I accidentally spit what I had in my mouth on someone due to uncontrollable laughter.  Ten minutes later, someone spit a mouthful of beer on me for the same reasons, for which I could forgive him.  If you do not know him, I am NOT exaggerating - he is TOO funny.  Even when I think something is funny, I typically don't laugh out loud.  This was not the case with him.  Tokyo Police Club were trying so hard to see him at Bumbershoot.  I now know why.  Wolfcats forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was there any gig that the Mercury's Rob Simonsen wasn't at?  I ran into him without actually talking to him too many times to count.
Oh and Fist Fite - "Ooohhhhh, love to love you baby.  Ooohhhhh, love to love you baby"!  Perhaps my favorite Portland band.  Perhaps hands down. 

I was really scared they'd start evolving into a more normal band - ie more normal antics, maybe become predictable, but they haven't at all.  They remain at the top of their game - you can guess, but you don't truly know what's coming next with them.  They owned the stage at the Doug Fir. 

It was great to see them again after months and months of not doing so.  Jonnie threw glitter all over us in the very front and her glitter remained there long after.  I spied it on the monitors during Deerhunter and then when I was selling bobby pins and scarves at Crafty Wonderland the next morning, my table was directly over a patch of glitter on the floor.
Prepare yourself for what I'm about to type.  I d-o n-o-t g-e-t D-e-e-r-h-u-n-t-e-r.
Yeah, I just wrote that.
Let's leave it at that, but still talk about them.

They were seated on the sidewalk outside of their label mate White Rainbow's gig on Saturday at Satyricon.
I wanted to take (scheduled) portraits of them minus Colin who quit last week, but it didn't happen.  I will next time though.  I have two specifically generated ideas for them and they are entirely too fun.
So what were my other highlights?  Even with my anti-social self that was surprisingly social after laying low and working six-days a week during August, my highlights centered around interaction.  I met Erik and we talked endlessly about the goddess that is Beth Ditto, Britney Spears, and Perez Hilton as well as sang Yo majesty songs at each other after he yelled "I love your blog," as I walked by trying to make it to the last four minutes of YACHT's gig.  His friend looked like Corbin Bleu from High School Musical.  My favorite quote of the weekend stems from this.
"Do people say that to you all the time?"
"All the time.  Mostly homeless people."
I met Max at the Crystal before Thermals who I ended up missing to shoot Clipse.  All of drummer Lorin Coleman's brothers were in attendance helping erect giant trees onstage.
Oh god - and Starfucker.  Can we talk about how much more he continues to rock with each gig!!? 

SEE HIM if you can cos he's gonna stop playing local shows too soon.  I have 30 Starfucker tracks because that was all that'd fit on the disc he gave me back in June-ish, but the absolute best of the night was his unrecorded ode to the Mariners' 'Ichiro'. SOOOOOOOOOOOO good!  We were texting back and forth before his set because I wanted him to save 'German Love' for me since I'd be shooting the first few minutes of Tiny Vipers' set at Doug Fir then high-tailing it across the bridge (with the Burnside bridge inconveniently closed) for his set that also started at 10 and he typically whips that one out early.  He assured that he wouldn't be playing it too early and when we arrived at Towne Lounge he was mid-way through.  Perfect timing!  And he had another drummer with him too!  And not his Sexton Blake co-patriot.  He briefly drummed with a juice bottle.
I ran into a lot of people from high school who I haven't seen for at least a year each.  It was weird/cool/surreal.
So yeah - Bobby Bare is fun.
I was gonna do a Bobby Bare/Cat power specific post, but not anymore.  Here is some of what I wrote:

Bobby Bare Jr. arrived in Portland via Nashville to open for Cat Power care of an earned free flight on Southwest Airlines and to an awaiting free pair of orange Nikes - not that he needed them.  When he took to the stage at Audio Cinema, he did so in stocking feet with an acoustic guitar and the Decemberists' Chris Funk in toe.  Together they rolled through half of the set -- Bobby Bare Jr.'s country sound made complete with his Hank Williams-esque yelps and Funk's guitar picking and mandeolin playing.  Mid-way through, the tempo turned rock at which point several more Decemberists made their way onto the stage, minus Colin Meloy who joked beforehand that he was an employee of Adidas and that's what prevented his partcipation.
What is a Cat Power show minus the breakdowns she seems to have left behind a couple tours ago and the seemingly mindless chatter that can plague her sets?

A kinda normal one, still uniquely Cat Power.  She performed quite a different set to her last Portland showing that included two shows in one day without accompaniment at the Aladdin.  This time around Chan's only duties were that of singing and hoofing it around the stage while her Philadelphia hailing companion commanded both the piano and guitar.
Masked in an unchanging blue light, she shook her hands, tapped her white shoes like a pony, and sang with very little interaction with the audience other than a brief comment about her "skinny jeans," passed off a lit cigarette after one drag, and admitted to being nervous, but that did not detract.
It was a set of covers including her Cat Stevens cover that appears in the Debeers commercial plus 'The Tracks of My Tears' originally by the Miracles.  Absent were her typical cover of the Rolling Stones and even Velvet Underground, or 'Freebird' as she played upon request at the Aladdin.
She closed her set with two originals - 'The Greatest' which drew cheers from the audience for the song itself and to finally be hearing something more familiar and 'Lived in Bars'.

Oh and I spied Quasi's Janet Weiss backstage at Spoon.

MusicfestNW started with a bang for me when I came from Seattle day of to catch Cat Power - literally went straight from Greyhound, into a taxi, over the river to Audio Cinema with 7 minutes to spare before Bare hit the stage and shot some candids of him and the Decemberists.

(He's managed by Trevor, who is the director of MFNW)

My weekend came to a very sad end both before and after Wolf Parade when Britney Spears failed to nail her VMA performance.  Can we cry collectively?  And you know, I realize that people's hopes should not be hinged on one human being - there is no way she can support all of the weight of that many expectations, but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed and that I'm not going to cry or that I haven't already... multiple times... once while watching Holy Fuck tear up the stage with distorted casio rocking crap-pop.

My MusicfestNW experiences over the internets:

My Pitchfork photo expose

I blogged MFNW Day 2 at LocalCut

I blogged MFNW Day 3 at LocalCut

I blogged MFNW Day 4 at LocalCut

And you can pick up this week's edition of Willamette Week to see seven of my observations in print from Fist Fite to Deerhunter's dress sense plus a bit about Wolf Parade's set and spy three of my photos!!!!!!!

And my mini photo story of the fest: I typically don't LOVE my photos.  In fact I have such a hard time looking at them after I've taken them that I can sometimes be kinda late on deadlines because I don't want to look at them and see how close they could've been to being one step better, but the photo at the top of the post I immediately fell in actual love with.  I originally submitted it to the MFNW invite only flickr group for editors to browse through as I was submitting some of my top tier photos there, but then I realized that even though I loved it, some other editors might not and I didn't want to risk it not running, because I wanted other people to see it, so I removed it and sent it to Pitchfork where I knew it'd appear.
Today I got an email from the editor of the Bend Bulletin saying how much he in all-caps LOVED the photo and how he was happy to use my other Girl Talk shots he had access to in the MusicfestNW flickr, but that's the one he really wanted.  Since the exclusivity has expired now, I sent it his way.
I almost feel like a real photographer lately.  Keyword: almost.

Here's to next year!

(And no, I was not wearing a backpack even though it looks like it)

Now I'm sick, but it was worth it!

'Wham City' Dan Deacon MP3

'Knife' Grizzly Bear Girl Talk remix MP3

'How Can I Tell You' Cat Power clip MP3

PS - I'll be uploading ten million more photos that have yet to appear anywhere to my flickr within the next week.  So bookmark it if you wanna see them/yourself in the crowd at Girl Talk.

Microfest

Before turning up at Camp Rainbow I went to Pix Patisserie's Bastille Day event, but I don't know if I had the wrong schedule or what, but I was under the impression that Bobby Birdman would be on at 7. Come 8 o'clock, after an hour of no music and a guitar being checked onstage - a sign that didn't immediately point to the Birdman, I left for some Burgerville, only to receive a text 13 minutes later that the sea victor had taken the stage. Oh well.
After a series of unfortunate events, I made my way home, then popped back out at 10:20 and headed over to Microfest in time to catch Starfucker. It would have been enjoyable to have had the day off work and been able to see Eskimo & Sons who at this point I am desperate to catch live, but you take what you can, and Starfucker is a pretty good give.
Of course on my way I realized not only had I forgotten my phone, but I had also forgotten my cash. So I was a bit unsure if I'd be able to get in. Luckily Arya hooked me up, but it's really important for me to support coolio events like Microfest monetary wise. I was really impressed how close to the schedule everything was kept. It was an alcohol free event due in part to liability what with the many under-agers and there was bottled water available in addition to Boy Gorilla brand hair cuts.

Heading down to the basement, the heat was hot hot hot. What is up with people putting Josh in the basement? Oh how many people were crowded down there too. At first the frontlines of the audience stayed sitting down, but when more and more turned up, they all stood up to make more room. A 20 inch fan was held up in the corner populated by some Hurah Hurah and Boy Gorilla crew, but alas it did improve the sauna-like conditions.

Starfucker got things started with two new untitled tracks, then veered into "German Love", "Hard Smart Beta," and others before closing with "Hula-hooper." There wasn't too much camera action other than a couple random flashes and a polaroid taker up at the very front.

The last song was my favorite of the set because that's when I left the sweaty confines of the crowd and made my way to the back where it was just a degree cooler and there was more space so I could dance it out.

"Hard Smart Beta" Starfucker MP3

After that, I made my way out in a search for air and water. While I didn't find any water, I did find ice cubes in a freezer decorated with a polaroid of Dhani Rosa.

Dirty Mittens were playing just across the way in the dining room.

The atmosphere of Microfest was fantastic and it was pleasant meeting Boy Gorilla-er Tyler. I am a bit enchanted with the idea of them scoring a distribution deal - I think that should be the number one priority and I also think it's just around the corner with enough promotion. The more people that know about Boy Gorilla, the more people that love Boy Gorilla is my thinking. They just scored a wholesale deal with K Records' website for their vinyl! Yay!

There was some great socializing happening in the front yard and sidewalk. Here is Lawton, me, and Arya on the porch making some purposely uncomfortable smiles for no reason at all:

STARFUCKER

Are you ready to fall in love with Starfucker?

My love affair with 'German Love' began last week when I was reading a LocalCut post about Blitzen Trapper's MP3 selections for Paper Thin Walls.  Since I have an affinty for Blitzen Trapper and Matt Wright, I clicked the link and listened to a bit of Starfucker's 'German Love'.  Cue me migrating over to his myspace.  Cue me becoming obsessed.
So I headed down to his show at a house show on SE 15th and Clinton on Friday.  Even though it was the night before Sasquatch and I'd have to get up super early the next day, his show coming up on the 8th is not an option since I'm going to CSS and I couldn't wait to see the art of his sound come alive much longer.

Wow - the party was packed even for it being so early.  He was playing second and the house was already to capacity.  I got there in time for his scheduled 9:45 start time and headed down to the sweltering basement, but alas he was still in the middle of his set-up - a forty minute one according to Billy of the Newspapers who also had a hand in putting on the show.
So we watched and we waited and soon came the static-y drown of his feedback as he began his short-ish and beyond super sweet set that had the frontlines dancing.
It was clear that most people were there to greet the buzz around Starfucker in person than for any other purpose, well. . . maybe other than getting hammered.  The bar in the corner of the basement was doing some major business and at times it felt like the median age of the attendees was 10 (yes, that's an exaggeration, but it was very young crowd) and we know what their priorities can be. . . :)
Turned away from the audience, he raised his guitar to the amp, enveloped in his own sonic world as we watched on.

After a few minutes he took to his drum kit, back hunched, head bowed, lips to the mic trading the static for the melodic.
He launched into 'German Love' as his second song which was a bit surprising - playing the bona-fide current and future hit so early, but he easily continued to keep everyone captivated.
He drummed as he sang and sporadically played the keyboard and guitar while wearing two layers that betrayed the humidity of the basement and rolled up trousers that revealed him to be a biker.
He soon exited the same way he allowed us to enter - in a mass of feedback.

At the end I wondered to myself how I could have so few photos, but the lapse was understandable - I appropriately spent the moments dancing and singing along like the people I swayed next to as opposed to snapping.
It was a beautiful escape into a musical world I only found out existed a few days prior and one I intend to visit often (as if I don't already live there what with my continued repetitive plays of all things Starfucker).

If ever there was a song to fall in love with. . .

'German Love' Starfucker MP3

Friend him before he hits 5,000 profile views. You know it's only a matter of what one hopes will only be minutes before that happens and then when it's over 100,000 you can say "I friended him when. . ."
Starfucker myspace
http://www.myspace.com/starfuckerss

My new best friend (:D) Arya was there too and the set was recorded for his Willamette Week podcast.

Amanda Luna has a pic

Local Cut live review of an April Starfucker show