CULTUREPHILE: PORTLAND ARTS

Monday Fun: Hedwig

Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 08, 2011 at 08:00AM 1 Comments

This past Saturday, while bluegrass bloomed at Pickathon and Fire in the Canyon ignited Horning’s Hideout, one John Cameron Mitchell kept Portland proper rocking with a DJ/dance party at Mississippi Studios. Hence, we dedicate our Monday Fun to Hedwig, Mitchell’s alter-ego.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who’ve seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and those who should. The 1998 musical/2001 film centers around a blonde German drag-queen debutante—but whether or not that’s your “thing,” the story has a wealth to offer. Immigrant politics, mentor/protegee tension, the nature of public identity, and even The Origin of Love are covered, while wickedly catchy rock opera tunes (like this one) command audiences to sing along.

Ever since I first saw this movie in theaters, I’ve been waiting for Rocky Horror to cede its midnight tranny sing-along tiara. Hedwig begs for the kind of repeat screenings and cultish party scene that Horror has long held, and we suspect that its popularity, more than an appetite for dance DJ’s, is what packed Mississippi Studios on Saturday. Happy Monday! Put on your makeup.

For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: music, monday fun, musical, video

Long Live Viva Voce

If you missed this brilliant pop couple yesterday—be sure to see them next month.

Posted by: Anne Adams on May 23, 2011 at 01:00AM 0 Comments

Whether you’re one of the PDX-Pop-watchers who’s been hip to them since 2004, or a tiny tyke who first laid eyes on them yesterday at the monthly kid-friendly rock showcase You Who, you’ve probably been won over by Viva Voce. But if you haven’t heard them yet (totally possible since they don’t promote nearly as hard as they rock) then you’re in for a treat. Like a drama-free White Stripes, married couple Kevin and Anita Robinson are equally easy on the ears and eyes.

This video reveals the Robinsons as humble, hard-working homebodies with a great sense of humor:

This one shows that, though they might seem shy, the pair refuse to take any guff:

And here’s a live clip, wherein Anita maintains doll-like facial composure, while positively shredding on the guitar:

Viva Voce’s next local appearance will be June 21 at Music Millenium, in support of their new release, The Future Will Destroy You. That show, incidentally, is free. Fellow Portland music lovers, how spoiled are we?

For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: music, monday fun

Monday Fun: Red Fang

Meet your local metal.

Posted by: Aaron Scott and Anne Adams on May 16, 2011 at 07:00AM 0 Comments

Armed with a furniture-flattening onslaught of bar chords and a punishing attack of drums, late-blooming local heshers Red Fang are staging a 2011 summer takeover of Godsmack and Megadeth on the metal juggernaut “Rock Star Mayhem Tour.”

But when the Red Fang boys really wanna wreck stuff, they use a secret weapon: video producer and Jackass alumnus Rob “Whitey” McConnaughy. Their first McConnaughy collab, Prehistoric Dog, trades heavily on the cheapo cred of PBR, as well as a near-universal urge to heckle fantasy role-players (“Hey Gandalf: Nice dress!”) This frivolity, in our opinion, makes it great fodder for Monday Fun.

The group released its second McConnaghy video, Wires, on the 12th to help promote its latest record, Murder the Mountains —which it incidentally recorded with the Decemberists’ Chris Funk. As you watch Wires , contemplate:
~ the groundbreaking vision of original watermelon-smasher Gallagher
~ the “budget crunch” that plagues even the most decadent rock videos these days
~ how the calcium in milk and the whole grains in beer make for a balanced diet
~ the unique creative paradise of Portland, where metal lions, chamber-folk lambs, and skate-punk jackasses, can all peacefully coexist.

Happy Monday.

For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: music, monday fun, video

Music Videos: Thao + Mirah | Reggie Watts | Kasey Anderson

Posted by: Anne Adams on May 02, 2011 at 06:00AM 0 Comments

Over the weekend, Northwest-based Reggie Watts made Vimeo Picks with this display of his virtuosic one-man-band stylings. As we face the week, Bretheren, let us all take inspiration from Watts’ coordination and wherewithal.

But maybe the coffee has yet to kick in, and the current cloud-cover (or your week’s to-do list) is putting you in the mood for drearier fare. Enter local long-timer Kasey Anderson. The following video combines Anderson’s single, The Wrong Light, with drawings by Portland illustrator Keith Carter. It’s probably no accident that a song that growls, “…Go down…. Let the wrong light in,” is paired with an endlessly left-panning panorama, likely referencing the classic western lore which equates the “left path” with rebellion and depravity. Rarrrr.

Indie-folk rocker Thao Nguyen (of “Get Down Stay Down” fame) and PDX-pat Mirah (who, like Cher, only needs one name) will be at the Wonder Ballroom on Mothers’ Day, celebrating their latest Kill Rock Stars collaboration. Preview their efforts here via video.

For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: monday fun, video

Moves Management
at North View Gallery

Posted by: Anne Adams on Mar 28, 2011 at 03:00AM 3 Comments

Today’s Monday Fun is less “ha-ha, tra-la-la,” than it is mind-bending and melancholy. Entitled Moves Manager , it’s the centerpiece of an art exhibit called Moves Management which will be featured at PCC’s North View Gallery starting March 31.

The guy in the suit is artist Evertt Beidler. He’s already gotten some love from RACC and OAC, and Culturephile has to agree: this thing—equal parts performance art, cyborg craft, and social-practice confrontation—is mad cool.

Moves Management will continue at North View Gallery throughout April. For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: Art, performance, Film, monday fun, video, galleries

Exclusive:
Logan Lynn World Premiere

Portland electronica phenom Logan Lynn gives Portland Monthly first dibs on his new video, Quickly As We Pass!

Posted by: Anne Adams on Mar 21, 2011 at 12:13AM 0 Comments

DRUMROLL, PLEASE…or perhaps drum machine…
On Thursday, Culturephile proudly presented the WORLD PREMIERE of Logan Lynn’s Quickly As We Pass, directed by Jeffrey McHale, but in case you missed it, we thought we’d let it double as this week’s installment of Monday Fun. Enjoy!

Please note: This is the only place you can view this video until TOMORROW, when it premieres in the UK.

WARNING: NUDITY AND SEXUAL SUGGESTION The video contains nude life-sized 2D cutouts, and in some cases their postures suggest sexual activity. Culturephile had great fun with this, gleefully exclaiming, “Foam-core mounting! Foam-core porn!” But in all seriousness, we feel this video’s use of nudity is artistic and not prurient, and suits the theme of the song.

ENDORSEMENT: Lynn’s accompanying album, I Killed Tomorrow Yesterday, is out now, and 100% of proceeds go to Portland LGBTQ org The Q Center.

For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: music, monday fun, video, life drawing

Portlandia Season 1: Final Thoughts

Book-ending the discussion with two parallel sketches.

Posted by: Aaron Scott and Anne Adams on Mar 14, 2011 at 11:00AM 6 Comments

The last laughs of Portlandia ’s premiere season subsided a couple weeks ago, but having already invested so deeply, Culturephile’s going to need closure. So, we’ll fulfill this week’s quota of Monday fun by reviewing two sketches—from the first and last episode, respectively—that are set in the same location, the “feminist bookstore,” and use the same device: a big celebrity cameo.

First, we’ve got Steve Buscemi, as bug-eyed and neurotic as ever, struggling against unusually hostile customer service to simply use a restroom and buy a coffee cozy. Last, Heather Graham tries to share a journal entry about her most intimate excitement, and is simultaneously stonewalled and…“woman-handled.”

These celebrity cameos work better than some others because Brownstein’s character responds to these particular celebrities the same way anyone would. Let’s face it: Steve Buscemi generally seems shifty, and even when he’s acting sincere, he evokes discomfort and mistrust. Heather Graham, on the other hand, has been inspiring “schwing” ever since she got her License To Drive. Hence Brownstein’s reactions, though exaggerated, seem almost appropriate for the parties at hand. Armisen’s character, however, reacts to everyone with the same percolating passive aggression, bubbling over with huffs, threats, and tantrums. Burnt-out customer service reps, and the customers who try to tolerate them, can both commiserate.

In a broader sense, Brownstein’s reaction to these characters, mirrors Portland Monthly’s reaction to Portlandia : initially suspicious, eventually embracing. At first, some of us wondered who was selling whom a bill of goods. But after a while, we had to acknowledge that though it only sporadically manifested magic, Portlandia ’s first season had a unicorn inside it.

For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: monday fun, video, portlandia, television, tune in

Public Art Finder App!

Fresh from the mayor’s office, a handy guide to our fair city’s permanent installations.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Mar 07, 2011 at 08:00AM 0 Comments

That umbrella guy, that giant lady, the otters, the various seed pods…. You know you’ve seen these things somewhere—you pass them all the time! But suddenly, when you want to snap a picture of a particular one, or show it off to out-of-towners…it’s nowhere to be found. Well, have no fear: a new smartphone app pinpoints Portland’s major art landmarks.

Here’s an informative video, starring Mayor Sam Adams and his Arts & Policy Coordinator Cary Clarke, with a backing track by Portland band Yacht.

For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: monday fun

Portland, Meet Portlandia.

The new SNL-affiliated show saddles Portland with “The Dream Of The 90s,” but hopefully not the nightmare.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Dec 19, 2010 at 11:00PM 9 Comments

UPDATE! Our neighbors to the North have responded to this post. Read Seattle Metropolitan Magazine’s take on Portlandia, and whether or not their original “dream of the 90’s” actually died.

This early glimpse of Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s Portlandia, reveals that the IFC/SNL show that bills itself as a comedy, actually seems more bent on sociological commentary. Brace yourself for the first Big Idea: “The dream of the 90s is alive in Portland.”

Let’s test this. Does Young Idealistic Portland:
…sleep ’til 11? Guilty.
…indulge childish or counterculturual whims? Indeed.
…wear cheap clothes? Posi-lutely.

Are these 90s values as well? Yes.

But there’s something else I remember about the early 90s: computers hadn’t quite “hit” yet. The internet, while it existed, was still in its infancy—the subject of intrigue and mystery. The idea that you could send “mail,” that was not tangible, that was called “e…mail,” was printed about in still-thriving glossy magazines. Little did we know then, that regular use of the internet had the potential to eventually legitimize the 90s slacker lifestyle into a viable M.O. These days, E-commerce and information jobs enable many of Portland’s crafty, “alternative” homebodies to make a sustainable living, even while they roost unshaven in the corner of a coffeeshop. The key word though, is sustainable. The Portland idealist/artist economy is not bountiful, by any means.

In the 90s, Seattle woke up (at eleven) in the new “hotbed of counterculture”—then immediately suffocated under the weight of a whole nation trying to pile on top of its mosh-mound. If Portland currently hosts the “dream of the 90s”, then it stands to reason that we’re about to endure the same rude awakening as our Seattle neighbors. And if Portlandia ’s smoke signals entice even slightly less-productive citizens into the welcoming flannel arms of Portland Proper, we may quickly run out of enough home-grown tomatoes to feed them.

A dream described is too often a dream destroyed, and a lot of Portland’s best art-punks are already skinny, poor and cold. Hopefully this show encourages the rest of the world to stay home, laugh at us, and buy things from our fine city’s many Bandcamp sites and Etsy stores. Because if everyone tries to move here and “retire early,” then the show’s over. Please, Portlandia, handle us with care.

For a more comprehensive list of events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar!

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Tags: comedy, Review, monday fun, video, circus, portlandia, punk

Bright Lights, Yiddish Fiddles,
and Live Wires

Posted by: Anne Adams on Dec 13, 2010 at 08:00AM 0 Comments

Hanukkah may have drawn to a close, but klezmer music—as its fans know—is indefatigable. Check out this frenetic reel from Underscore Orkestra, scheduled to whip Someday Lounge into a Balkan frenzy on Friday. L’Chaim!

How do you gently reform a bad kisser? Borrow some tactics for the always-tricky art of romantic diplomacy, from sex columnist Dan Savage. This weekend, he’ll join LiveWire! Radio for one of their monthly live tapings.

And finally, here’s an inspirational thought from Spencer Beebe, founder of Ecotrust. If you want to hear more, catch him at Jimmy Mak’s tonight, in the latest installment of Portland Monthly’s Bright Lights Series, Where Environmentalism Meets Capitalism, hosted by editor Randy Gragg.

For a more comprehensive list of events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar!

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Tags: music, monday fun

Video Roundup: Sports Edition

Posted by: Anne Adams on Nov 29, 2010 at 08:00AM 1 Comments

Was it their evocative folk stylings, or their deceptively Scottish name, that landed Portland’s Loch Lomond this pairing with Scottish BMX trickster Danny MacAskill? Either way, it works.

Speaking of far-flung pairings, try some skate stunts with Nancy Sinatra’s Summer Wine. Slides, grinds, and an angel’s kiss in spring.

Meanwhile, this slo-mo parkour piece offers a mind-bending perspective on some Portland architecture, and the simple act of ambulation. Do not try these tricks without summoning the elfin powers of Sigur Rós to guide you.

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Tags: monday fun, video

Superstar Blogger Moves to Oregon

Allie Brosh, we’re not worthy!

Posted by: Anne Adams on Nov 22, 2010 at 12:00AM 2 Comments

A blog-to-blog shoutout to Hyperbole and a Half!

This week’s Monday fun comes in the form of—believe it or not—a link to another blog: Hyperbole and a Half.

A modest showcase of Allie Brosh’s hilarious narrative and deliberately dumb drawings, H&H already boasts more than 36,000 followers—and each new post exponentially expands the sharing frenzy. Bottom line, this chick is abnormally funny. Cue Culturephile’s delight with a recent post in which Brosh mentioned moving to Oregon. When reached for comment, she revealed that she now lives in Bend. “If it’s any consolation,” she added, “I love Portland too!”

Forget consolation—local factions of the zine, storytelling and comedy communities should seize this as an opportunity. Let’s count Allie’s move among our Thanksgiving blessings, and start cooking up plans to lure her over the river and through the woods to Portland.

This just in: Bar Pilot Blogger John Chandler is partial to Brosh’s Sneaky Hate Spiral post. To browse upcoming events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar!

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Tags: comedy, monday fun, writer, comics, zine