November 5, 2008

Living in Portland for the last thirty or so years has been such a blessing for me. It’s a clean, modern city with a rich history and diverse population. It is the fiftieth largest media market in the United States. Still a big city, but small enough to make anyone feel welcome in the City of Roses.

Hell, I’ve fished for salmon in a river downtown on my lunch hour. And the river isn’t crowded during lunch hour. Put a forty pound, edible fish in the East River and hundreds of folks would be dangling lines from the Williamsburg Bridge, elbowing each other out of the way while hot dog carts sold ‘bait dogs’ for twice what you’d normally pay for a dog with all the fixings. Having grown up in New York, I am familiar with the crowds at shows. Lines snake around the block to get in, tickets selling out in minutes, parking more expensive than the cover charge. I don’t miss any of that crap. There are definite advantages to living in the fiftieth largest media market.

So, when touring musicians make the Northwest swing between San Francisco and Seattle, they will usually spend a night in Portland and play one of the many small to mid range halls here. The Wonder Ballroom is just such a theater. Built in 1914 and historically restored, it holds about 700 when packed. Good acoustics but small restrooms.

The Nightwatchman happens to be one of those touring musicians stopping in Portland between metropolises. That he stopped in the Wonder Ballroom was a bonus. He brought along an engaging opening act, a new album full of heartfelt songs and referred to himself in the third person all night (as in “The Nightwatchman may have had one too many Jameson Irish Whiskeys before the show.”)

READ ON for more of A.J.’s Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman review…

We’ve moved one step closer to a reunion of The Kinks, as the Davies brothers have started to write new songs in preparation for a possible World Tour the BBC

Prog-jammers Umphrey’s McGee gave the crowd at San Francisco’s Warfield Theater a night they’ll never forget on Halloween when the Chicago-based sextet presented their first Halloween Monster Mashup. The gents mashed up a number of classic and modern covers and originals including a brilliant pairing of their own Phil’s Farm with the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army, Pink Floyd’s Money and Led Zeppelin’s How Many More Times.

[All Photos by Mike Sherry]

HT Contributor Mike Sherry took a slew of terrific shots of this memorable evening. Let’s start by looking at the band’s mashed up costumes…

Jake Cinninger = Beezelbub Dylan

READ ON for more of Mike Sherry’s photos from UM’s Halloween gig…

• UMLive.Net = 10/31/2008 Warfield Theater
• Live Music Archive = 10/31/2008 Warfield Theater
• Previously on HT = Halloween Setlists From Around The Country, Umphrey’s McGee Conquers the Northeast and Ryan Stasik’s Pirates

While the dawn of the internet age has benefited the music fan in more ways than we can count on two hands, there’s one thing missing from the good old days: the countdown. For years, the highlight of the day used to be racing home from school to plow three Coke Classics and gear up to see if Patience would maintain the number one position on Dial MTV or if Skid Row would overtake GnR. Somewhere between then and now, album reviews became omnipotent, but highlighting the great individual songs – the hit single if you will – faded away. Besides, Adam Curry was the man.

So anyway, it’s with that in mind that we decided to churn out the HT Occasional Countdown – a top ten of sorts consisting of some of the best new songs across a variety of HT friendly bands. There’s no real basis upon what makes the list, besides what gets the most play on our respective iPods, but hopefully you will enjoy the selections.

10) Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit – Wayne Rooney from A Larum

There’s no way a song dedicated to one of footy’s top-selling Wallbangers doesn’t crack the top ten.

9) Lotus – Bellwhether from Hammerstrike

It’s about time somebody responded to the ubiquitous request for some more freaking cowbell.

READ ON for more of the first HT Occasional Countdown…

Was it just me or did the air smell a little sweeter when you woke up this morning? We’ll see if President-elect Obama actually changes anything, but I feel good