Courtesy Portland 5
"Think about it/There must be a higher love/Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above/Without it, life is wasted time/Look inside your heart, and I'll look inside mine."
Happy Friday, music nerds! Let's get into some of Portland's best news bites from this week, shall we?
Yesterday, Portlandā5 Centers for the Arts announced a partnership with KultureCityāa nonprofit providing resources and advocating for the needs of individuals with sensory sensitivitiesāthat will bestow all Portland 5 venues with a "sensory-friendly" venue certification. All of the programs and events hosted by Portland 5āat Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Keller Auditorium, Newmark Theatre, Winningstad Theatre, and Brunish Theatreāwill be required to be sensory-inclusive, meaning they'll supply sensory bags equipped with noise-cancelling headphones, fidget tools, verbal cue cards, and weighted lap pads that'll be available to all guests who may feel overwhelmed by the environment.
Sensory Inclusive Bag Courtesy Portland 5
"Sensory sensitivities or challenges with sensory regulation are often experienced by people with PTSD, dementia, autism, and other similar conditions," reads a news release. āTo know that you soon will be able to see families attend a theatrical event, a true community binding experience, with their loved ones who have a sensory challenge and who were not able to previously attend, is truly a heartwarming moment,ā says Traci Johnson, Executive Director at KultureCity. I think I speak for all of us when I say Hell yea!
Earlier today Wynne announced her headlining hometown debut will (finally) go down at Hawthorne Theater on December 14. Presented in collaboration with Amazon Music and branded as "Hunny I'm Home," the much-anticipated "homecoming" show will give fans a rare opportunity to hear highlights from her debut mixtape If I May: "Roll Call," "Rose City," "Petty," "Playa," "Hungover," and hopefully, "The Thesis" featuring Illmac, Dame DOLLA, KayelaJ, and Vursatyl. (You can read what else I had to say about her project in this new edition of Sneaker Wave.) Bill support comes from stalwart Portland DJ Jerry Bandito and Richland, Washington, hip-hop artist Karma Knows. Expect the Oregon-grown MC to pull out all the stops; according to her IG story, she'll be selling exclusive merchandise, and giving away freebies. Tickets go on sale Monday at 9 am PST.
You kids may recognize Mandy Moore for her acting roles in A Walk to Remember, "The Princess Diaries," Grey's Anatomy, and most notably, as both young AND old Rebecca on NBC's This Is Us. But Moore first made her mark as a pop singer in 1999, with her hit single "Candy," followed by "I Wanna Be With You," "Crush" and others from her six studio albums. Moore's music career stopped abruptly in 2009, around the same time she married fellow musician Ryan Adams. Moore recently went on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast and explained that her departure from music was mostly due to the ongoing psychological abuse she endured in her seven-year marriage to Adams. BUT HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS: This week Mandy Moore announced she's about to do her first major musical tour in more than a decadeāand she's coming to Portland! On the North American tour (with support from Bedouine and Madison Cunningham on select dates), Moore will stop in Portland's Roseland Theater on May 6. Tickets are on sale today.
The Grammy Award nominations for 2020 were announced on Wednesday, and Portland is definitely at least a little bit in the building. Rapper/singer/songwriter Dodgr, an LA-to-Portland transplant who just relocated back to Cali for the time beingāreceived a nomination for co-writing "Make It Better," a song on Anderson. Paak's Ventura, which is up for Best R&B Album. Spencer Doran of ambient music outfit Visible Cloaks got a nod in the Best Historical Album category for his work on compilation entitled KankyÅ Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990.
In an appearance on the Trap Set with Joe Wong podcast drummer Janet Weiss opened up about her exit from Portland-based band Sleater-Kinney for the first time, basically saying her role in the band had been devalued, as she was asked to relinquish creative control. "The roles changed within the band, and they told me the roles changed," Weiss said on the podcast. "I said, 'Am I just the drummer now?' And they said yes. I said, 'Am I a creative equal, can you tell me that I'm still a creative equal in the band?' And they said no. So I left." Weiss went on to say she would never play with two people like that again.
"Itās a lot to walk away from. Itās my sisters, my family. But I couldnāt be in that band and have it not be equal, especially with what it represents to me. It represents equalityā¦ How can we be fighting for equality and not have it in our band; it just became a disconnect.ā
I'm gonna leave you right there to marinate. Until next time, nerds!
