In the wake of the New England Patriots’ recent come-from-behind victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, many commentators have seen the game correctly as a final exclamation point for the legacies of quarterback Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick, and the current New England Patriots sports dynasty: seven championships, two additional Super Bowl …
Their publicist assured me Dune Rats are closing in on a No. 1 record way down over in Australia. To this I said, “What’s a record?” At any rate, Brisbane, Australia’s Dune Rats play rock’n roll with unnaturally tasty hooks, the like of which we haven’t heard for a long time. They seem like solid …
On Feb 1, Seattle’s Funhouse hosted a night of ska this time with New York’s the Toasters headlining. Aside from bass player Tim, and of course front man Bucket, the members of the Toasters change with every tour. This doesn’t discount the level of musicianship in every member every show. This time the horn section …
On January 31st the Showbox Sodo hosted ska masters Less Than Jake From Gainesville, FL. This five-piece are punk/ska/pop all mixed together with a heavy dose of energy and fun. Though the show wasn’t well attended, those who came were very enthusiastic. There was a bit of crowd surfing throughout and the entire dance floor …
This week the awesome Canuck superband Austra released the video for “I Love You More Than You Love Yourself.” The song is haunting. The clip was filmed in Portland during this past holiday season and is based on the story of American astronaut Lisa Nowak. On Austra’s Facebook page, Katie Stepnoski describes the vid in …
Freedom Fry just released a B-Side to “Awake.” It’s a beautiful song titled “Songbird” and they hope you enjoy: “Songbird is for anyone who feels like their voice isn’t being heard. It’s about never giving up, even when the battle seems lost.” – Bruce & Marie http://www.freedomfrymusic.com/
ROSIN is a band of wolves dressed in formal attire. Drawing on elements of bluegrass, rock and jazz, these classical deviants create their own version of a string quartet. From upbeat Americana with orchestral accompaniments to classical arrangements with rock guitar riffs, members Jake Armerding (violin, mandola, guitar), Annie Bartlett (violin, viola), Mina Kim (cello) …
This is a luminous and lovely bluegrass gospel song with some nice production touches. Imagine Pure Prairie League on the island of Patmos singing the song of the redeemed and you might get an idea where this is going.
K’Valentine will be opening for Talib Kweli on his Seven tour, coming through Portland on 1/26 at Wonder Ballroom. On a cold snowy day at a downtown Chicago hospital, K’Valentine made her entrance into this world. She served as an early Christmas gift for her mother. The news of her birth also excited her father, …
On Friday the 13th Seattle hosted another night of top notch ska. This time it was at the High Dive and the headliners were Seattle legends Easy Big Fella. They came on stage introducing themselves as Puttin’ On the Ritz. This eight-piece lineup shared a few members from Natalie Wouldn’t and a three-piece horn section …
Written and Produced by Maggie Gottlieb and Julie Pearson and featuring (amongst other talented performers) Kyle Glenn Johnson, a longtime friend of East Portland Blog, this is the latest from Cursed Champagne Productions: Comedy with teeth…
Last Sunday, writers and activists gathered at Writers Resist, an event held in over 100 venues in cities across the nation to commiserate and find ways to respond to the unthinkable turn of events from last November 8. In Portland, about 600 people came to the Aladdin Theater to see Cheryl Strayed and other local …
Freedom Fry’s last single, “Shaky Ground” has just about reached 6M plays on Spotify. Now, this transatlantic duo is back with “Awake,” another catchy and thoughtful tune which their fans are going to love. This shiny new ditty has already been synced in a handful of places including the Netflix show Love and the film …
On Tuesday January 10 Seattle’s El Corazon hosted the return of the Voodoo Glowskulls. With a stellar ska lineup playing that night. Hailing from Riverside, California, the Voodoo Glowskulls returned to Seattle after more than a two-year absence. The Skulls were the fifth band of the night and though the intimate El Corazon was sparsely …
The recent video above from Communist Daughter features a great new song reminiscent of the best of The National. Titled, “Balboa Bridge,” the song is about the namesake bridge in Balboa Park in San Diego, a lovely, bittersweet spot where I used to jog for exercise in my younger days. Definitely worth a listen. Communist …
On Saturday night January 7th I headed to Seattle’s Funhouse to see Die Nasty. This time they were headlining their own show with other Seattle punk bands. Die Nasty was just as energetic as always. Singer Lauren Goffin strutted about the stage, leaning into the crowd often as if personally serenading everyone in front. Bass …
Dexter Filkins, the primary Middle East correspondent for The New Yorker, has written a genuinely terrifying story about the Mosul Dam in Iraq. The terrifying part is not that the dam was temporarily occupied by ISIS, but that it sits on a foundation of soluble rock and requires a constant flow of concrete to be …
There have been two surreal moments that stand apart from my average life. First, while a senior at North Park College (Chicago, IL) I was a passenger in a car with my brother, Paul Johnson, Lowell Berggren (the driver), and his girlfriend, Sharon Greenwood. We were driving to Minneapolis in a snowstorm after dusk the …
Day three of my New Year’s weekend culminated with a concert from Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker at Seattle’s Crocodile Café. 2017 marks the 30th year I’ve been a Camper Van Beethoven fan. I saw them for the first time at the Central Tavern in October of 1987 and still have the photos I took. …
This marks the third year in a row that I’ve photographed the New Year’s Eve fireworks off the Space Needle, but I’ve shot from three different locations each time. This time I decided to shoot at the source instead of at a distance. I parked my car downtown and caught a bus to the Seattle …
This may seem naïve, but I was actually a little surprised to hear that Chip Kelly was fired as coach of the San Francisco 49ers after their 2-14 season. No one realistically could have expected Kelly to win with the worst roster in the league, and hopefully he will get some benefit of the doubt …
My wild New Years weekend began Friday night New Year’s Eve Eve at Barboza Lounge where three Seattle ska bands were playing. Headlining was a band I saw for the first time called Gully. Fronted by vocalist Josh who had thick dark curls cascading past his shoulders that kept falling in front of his face. …
Home Somewhere: Finding Jules Shear On Friday night, June 20 of 2014, I saw a VSOP with possibly my favorite songwriter and recording artist, Jules Shear. This concert was a Jules Shear musical retrospective that was being filmed for an upcoming documentary about the career and life of Jules Shear. Chasing Jules is the project …
TORONTO – Seattle Sounders FC have been one of Major League Soccer’s best regular-season teams ever since the club joined MLS in 2009, but that excellence never yielded a championship. Ironically, the Sounders finally landed their first MLS Cup tonight after their worst season. Multiple times over the years the Rave Green have dominated until …
The Skatalites are unique — the originators of a whole genre of music over their brief existence in Jamaica in the mid-sixties and then a stalwart institution supporting that syncopated movement since their reunion in 1983. Members come and go (50 years down the road, many of the founders are gone forever), but that dance …
I thought I had heard everything in sports, but now we have the New York Yankees accusing the Boston Red Sox, with their recent trade for Chris Sale, of being the Golden State Warriors. Who would have ever thought that the original Evil Empire would be looking up at the Dubs? http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18223011/new-york-yankees-gm-compares-red-sox-warriors This quote by …
Sports books don’t come anywhere close to romance novels in their share of the publishing market, but there are still enough of them out there to present a bewildering array of choices for someone looking to purchase a gift for that special someone who likes to consume sports on the page as well as on …
It’s been two days since I saw the Dwarves play at Seattle’s Highline bar and my body still feels as though it’s been through the washing machine on the spin cycle. I’m still getting my spine back in alignment and sticking body parts back together. I can still feel the bruise I got on my …
On a rainy Tuesday night, two days before Thanksgiving, I ventured to the intimate basement club Barboza Lounge on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Playing was British band Skinny Lister. This would be my third time seeing them but my first time seeing them at their own show. The last time I saw them was as an …
The photos of Mt. Shasta were taken in the morning of Friday, November 11 on my way from California to Portland. Those of Multnomah Falls and the Columbia Gorge were taken on Saturday, November 12.