Brutal!

Also, The Showstopper, your comment does not much sense the make no punctuation

@1, well, yeah. That's actually kind of a fair statement.

EVERYBODY WINS!

That was English. And the words were expressing to you (in poor grammar - since I assumed that's how you preferred your communication) that your shitty comment didn't make much sense. If you want your schtick to be more effective, try using punctuation (such as commas and periods). And if you want the content of your comments to be meaningful, try putting some more thought into them.

YOURS FOREVER LOL,
ROM

p.s. you stink.

Here's a confusing part: you signed it as "your Publication and the Doug Fir"

So, this note is from the Portland Mercury and the Doug Fir. You're pretending that both the Portland Mercury and The Doug Fir have joined forces to write a note stating that the music scene in Portland is a joke. Why have the Mercury and the Doug Fir joined forces to say this? And why are they unable to elaborate any more on this? Do they just think that their status as big names in Portland that review and promote and book music is enough to make a statement like that meaningful?

Confusedly,
ROM

I'm gonna defend the PMAs and not just because I took one home. You are slamming a young institution- of COURSE it's going to be held together by hairpins and chewing gum for the first few years. I have to commend Craig Marquardo for making it happen despite the technical issues, drunken headliners and fucked up engraving. It's a huge undertaking that this town sorely needs.

The so-called "music scene" in Portland is fractured through and through in little cliques that rarely interact. The Portland Mercury helps to keep this Bantustan-like status quo by mentioning blues artists only long enough to trash them (Candye Kane, hello) and by mostly ignoring country and folk artists unless they have tattoos and piercings. It was really refreshing to see blues, pop, rock, folk, jazz, R&B and country artists all together under one roof at the PMAs- something you rarely see in the Portland Mercury.

I LOVE the Mercury, especially its political coverage, humor, and feature stories- but your narrow music coverage is hindering rather than helping music bloom in Portland. The PMAs may have been blundering along these past five years, but at least they're making an effort to recognize ALL the music Portland has to offer and to give Portland a collective round of applause. Maybe you should stop sneering long enough to lend a hand.

-Lisa Mann