22nd Annual Reel Music Festival dir. Various Fri Jan 7 – Sun Feb 13 Guild Theater Whitsell Auditorium With documentary films and popular music as disparately prevailing obsessions in my life, I’m easily engaged in any marriage of the two. But when faced with daunting marathons like Portland’s annual Reel Music Festival, one must challenge […]
Zac Pennington
Posted inMusic
Stoned and Sincere
Getting In With The Out Crowd
The Out Crowd Thurs Jan 6 Dante’s 1 SW 3rd The world is full of music, both admirable and shameful, that merely strives to continue a consciousness of the past–concerned not so much with innovation as prolonging tradition. Some of this music is performed with an almost academic proficiency; the rest, sometimes indistinguishable from the […]
Posted inMusic
IT’S WHO YOU KNOW
Like a Record, Baby
Though it should come as no surprise to those of you who have endured my insufferable prose over the last few months, allow me make matters all the more translucent: I am not what you might call a “reader” of “books.” You might think this a slight handicap in my line of work–as a “writer” […]
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It’s Who You Know
Stop Reading Pitchfork
While my personal resolutions could fill a half dozen of these columns, for the benefit of your patience allow me to narrow down my year-ends to something that may actually affect you, dear reader. Without further ado, allow me to present my New Year’s Resolution for 2005: Stop reading Pitchfork Media. For the three people […]
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Season’s Bleating
Lost Songs of Christmas Past
‘Tis the season to be braving the cavernous cathedrals of commerce–crossing off the last of your guilt-ridden obligations before braving the dens and vestibules of our extended “loved ones.” ‘Tis also the season that most peoples’ already strained patience is pushed to the limit at the hands of Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis–voices invariably tied […]
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It’s Who You Know
Best Column Of the Year
In case you maintain any illusions to the contrary, please allow me to pull back the velvet curtain completely: music criticism is, for the most part, a flounderingly parasitic structure designed to allow self-important elitists and haters access to free CDs. It’s with this humble understanding that I greet you in these pages each week–mindful […]
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Teen Dryhump Soundtracks
The Shore’s Bridge Over Shitty Water
The Shore Sat Dec 18 Dante’s 1 SW 3rd “Have I heard of the Shore?” he thought, as he tore open yet another in the seemingly endless pile of non-descript manila envelopes. “The Shore… the Shore–yeah that sounds sort of familiar.” But how could he be positive? Surely he’d seen his fair share of pseudo-psyche […]
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IT’S WHO YOU KNOW
Christmas Number One
It was the Brits that gave us American Idol. See, for all of their smug sophistication and stodgy “cultural history,” England posses nearly as much of an embarrassing, artistically vapid consumer culture as the good ol’ U.S. of A. –they just have a better sense of humor about it. Take, for example, the bizarre annual […]
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Memories Can’t Wait
The Arcade Fire Transcend Expectation
Arcade Fire Fri Dec 10 Bossanova 722 E Burnside Most bands wear their influences like unsightly acne marks on their faces–bright crimson things screaming of youthful inexperience, that in due time they’ll eventually learn to cover up. The word “influence” has in recent years become almost synonymous with the idea of post-modern hackery, where instead […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Too Tough to Die
End of the Century Says Goodbye to the Ramones
End of the Century dirs. Fields & Gramaglia Opens Fri Dec 3 Cinema 21 Unlike the vast majority of their ilk, the bookends of the Ramones’ career are a little difficult to specifically define. Contractually speaking, the Ramones lasted from their ramshackle formation in 1974 to their collective retirement in 1996. But depending on your […]
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England’s Dreaming
The Killer’s Ridiculous Rise
The Killers Tues Dec 7 Crystal Ballroom 1332 W Burnside For America’s derivative and unapologetically fame-hungry indie bands, there’s no greater friend than the festering incubator of the British music press. The proving ground for just about every “Next Big Thing,” British magazines like NME and Uncut seem to take great pleasure in deifying the […]
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Dignified and Old
Who is Jonathan Richman?
Jonathan Richman Tues Dec 7 Dante’s 1 SW 3rd He walks in off of the street looking like a sad clown–tattered guitar case at his sharply blazered side. Beneath his hangdog expression is a visage of uncanny familiarity, yet difficult to reconcile with the irrepressible man-child gospel he’s preached for nearly 30 years. Two hours […]