Shicky Gnarowitz and the Transparent Wings of Joy Sat Jan 19 Stumptown on Division, 10:30 am; and Tennessee Red’s Texas BBQ, 9 pm Let’s get this out of the way: Shicky Gnarowitz and the Transparent Wings of Joy are a klezmer band, and one of their first shows since relocating to Portland from California is […]
Julianne Shepherd
Posted inMovies & TV
The Liberation
What Happens when Jazz Jumps Out of its Skin?
Inside Out in the Open dir. Alan Roth Thurs Jan 10, San Jan 12 Guild Theater “Kids who go to ‘university’ play free jazz,” a friend dryly explained to me this morning, when I told him I’d just watched Inside Out in the Open, a documentary about free jazz, or “out music.” He meant it […]
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The Princess and The Queen
Two Emcees, Different Elevations
Princess Superstar w/Helio Sequence Wed Jan 16 Satyricon Medusa w/Abstract Rude, 2Mex, Syndel (of Oldominion), DJ Drez, DJ Wicked Wed Jan 16 B Complex Two of America’s most interesting emcees are performing in Portland on the same night and, on the surface, Medusa and Princess Superstar are the utter antithesis of each other. Medusa is […]
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Firebird Suites
Gypsy Songs Spark in Vengo
Vengodir. Tony Gatlif Opens Fri Jan 4 Hollywood Theater The plot of Vengo is ancient: two families, once steadfast friends, who become bitter enemies after an interfamily murder. What started the rift that led to a stabbing is unimportant. What is important, as this story plays out across the scorching hills of Andalusia, Spain, is […]
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Death to the Bruised Monster
Repairing Holiday Damage with Rock
Vaz, Growing w/ Glass Candy now Roxy Music, Die Monitor Bats Thurs Jan 3 Disjecta, 118 NE Russell The stupid holidays are officially over. Surely you sustained battle scars, such as watching your Uncle Bill get completely wasted on Wild Turkey and trying to play golf on the Super Nintendo. Perhaps he even tried to […]
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Vocals of Distinction
Matt Berninger: Neat
The National S/T (Brassland) I believe that the majority of non-musicians relate to vocals in music, above all other aspects. Plenty of drummers primarily listen to the drumming on records, and guitarists listen to the melodic instruments, etc., because that’s how they are used to communicating in the musical forum. But if you never learned […]
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La Casita
La Casita 436 E Burnside, 234-8893 Reviewed 12/13/2001 There are forty thousand Mexican restaurants in the Portland metro area alone; a select few serve food that is both authentic and tasty. Many do not stay open past nine pm, however. But I’m almost positive there is only one Mexican restaurant in Portland whose extraneous events […]
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It Just Turned into This
How an Alt-Metal Side Project Enveloped My Life
Team Sleep w/ Phallucy Sat Dec 15 B Complex When insane mathcore duo Hella played at the Meow Meow a couple weeks ago, their drummer, Zach, told me about this project he’s been working on, called Team Sleep. “It’s Chino from the Deftones, Mike Patton, Mary Timony it’s slow, sort of Mogwai-ish,” he said. I […]
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WHY DON”T YOU CRY LIKE A BABY, BABY?
Getting Through the Holiday with the Mercury Quarterly Music Issue
We are in Touch with out Emotions here at The Mercury. We hide nothing–whether it be joy, frustration, or tears–even at the risk of being subjected to Editor Wm. Steven Humphrey’s cruel and incessant taunt, “WHY DON’T YOU CRY LIKE A BABY, BABY?” That’s why, with our Music Quarterly, we reached deep down to extricate […]
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I Love You, I Hate You
The Most Frustratingly Brilliant Movie Ever
Werckmeister Harmonies dir. Béla Tarr Sat Dec 8 and Sun Dec 9 Whitsell Auditorium Hungarian director Béla Tarr’s latest film, Werckmeister Harmonies, is a beautiful, existential disaster, complete with allegory, symbolic lighting, and an innocent, likeable protagonist who we just know must be doomed. It is filled with lines such as, “the mysterious, unknown plagues […]
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See it on a Screen
Show Your Movie at Broadcast
Broadcast Open Video Screening Thurs December 6 It’s a Beautiful Pizza “I dropped out of high school and was into video production, but there was no venue to show it other than to my parents,” says Peter Bauer, creator of Broadcast, a local film event in which anyone can show their movie, provided it’s on […]
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La Voix
Julie Doiron’s Quiet Secrets
Julie Doiron Désormais (Jagjaguwar) **** On the 1999 self-titled release by Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars, Doiron sang her thoughts loudly and longingly: “The best thing for me to do/is run faster than you,” and “Anyone is pretty when she smiles/I mean that she’s smiling like she’s laughing.” At the heart of that record […]