Spring's already turning Portland into the Shire, and goodheartedness blooms like... shit that blooms. So. Caughtcha Being Good Award for the week goes to Amanda from Point Juncture, WA for donating her piano to the Artistery down on SE Division. Ghost to Falco, 2% Majesty, and Alec K Redfearn play the venue on Friday. Make sure to check out 2%'s new seven inch, one track of which was recorded at the Artistery. Get down with Portland experimental folk at twopercentmajesty.com.

Festivals can be great, well-organized mini-vacations and festivals can be shitass hippie smokeouts where everybody kicks hacky sacks and stares dead-eyed at bored-looking jam bands. Local guy Brian Budack hopes for the former. Budack is setting up an outdoor festival that he says will hopefully take place at the park off SE 26th and Powell. Budack says he's patterning the thing after "punk rock parties that I have been to in the past, where no one is declined due to lack of money, and some of the proceeds will benefit p:ear." If you want to be involved, email him at psuedofreefest@yahoo.com [sic]. At the moment he's looking for "someone that knows outdoor permits, fencing for a beer garden, vendors, and an outdoor stage." Budack hopes to run the festival August 11 and 12.

The Grates, from Australia, are playing Doug Fir on Thursday and they are the most ridiculously obvious Yeah Yeah Yeahs rip-off I have ever heard (right down to the wind tunnel guitar and Karen O sound-alike gasps mid-song.) BUT there's a track on their EP that wipes me out. For some reason they up and stop the Fever to Telling and do this thing called "Sukkafish" which sounds like the Walkmen with banjos making Irish gig music. If you go to their show tell 'em to ice down the YYY boner and make a whole record like "Sukkafish." Email me and I'll send you an MP3 of it.

Finally, Junior Private Detective, who plays Thursday at Berbati's with Drats!!! and Heroes and Villains, gave me their new CD, Erase. If you dig indiepop that gets all gnarled up with prog (but never goes too heavy) you're gonna be in love.

Wanna be in this column? I want you in here too, but it probably won't happen unless you email me and let me know what you're up to. Let me know; I'm down with whatever. Do that here: adam@portlandmercury.com