On June 1, poetically coincident with the beginning of school
vacations, when tens of thousands of Oregonians under the age of 21
will be looking for worthwhile ways to spend their time and extra
summer-job cash, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission will put
into effect the recently ratified, long-needed changes to its minor
postings rules. These changes will make all-ages music more
viable in our state by allowing certain music venues to admit
minors to shows where alcohol is served, provided that they have a
commission-approved control plan in place to prevent the two from
mixing. Help make sure that Portland teens get in some decent
show-going this summer by encouraging the owners and bookers of your
favorite clubs to apply for the new all-ages-friendly OLCC Minor VI
posting. The ball’s in their court now!
Among the several venues that have expressed an interest in
obtaining a Minor VI posting is North Portland chamber-folk bastion
Mississippi Studios. However, youngsters and adults alike will have to
pass the impending heat of summer nights elsewhere, as Mississippi
Studies will begin a major rebuilding project on June 16 that will shut
the club down until it reopens in October. Owner Jim Brunberg
explained that the intimate space will be tastefully expanding,
doubling in capacity to 200, “to avoid the clusterfuck of
several bands loading in and soundchecking without anywhere to put
their stuff; to become more handicap accessible; to increase
seating/standing flexibility and capacity; and to be able to move our
entrance back on to our own property so people don’t have to go through
the neighbor’s restaurant.” When the space reopens, it will bear a
new rooster-centric logo designed by none other than local
key-tickling, Southern noir balladeer, and Mississippi Studios
mainstay, Nick Jaina.
As promising as the Minor VI posting is for Portland’s underage
music fans, it is not a cure-all, as it will not be applicable in all
spaces, and our town could certainly benefit from a variety of
approaches to integrating young people into the music community. To
that end, a collective of local music fans and musicians—many of
them rooted in the punk house show circuit of North and Northeast
Portland—has come together in recent months to form
StumpClub, an organization dedicated to establishing an
inclusive, centrally located, non-profit, all-ages music venue and
independent culture community center.
In an act of musical youth outreach that proudly defies the
invisible hipster border of the West Hills, StumpClub is putting on an
awareness-and-fund-raising concert at Beaverton School
District’s Westview High School (4200 NW 185th) at 7 pm on
Tuesday, June 3, featuring the star-studded and quality-bedecked
lineup of YACHT, Reporter, and—most notably—All
Girl Summer Fun Band, who will be playing their first live set
since 2005, when the band took some time off to restructure and to
allow their drummer, Kathy, to spend some time on the road with her
little side project, the Thermals. The show costs $5 and is, of course,
all ages. More information on StumpClub can be found at stumpclub.org.