battles

Christmas came early to all the press peeps at MusicfestNW,
going down up here in Portland today through Saturday. The publicity folks
promised us, again and again, that press would have to wear the same $50
wristbands that regular patrons would wear. This meant that if venues were at
capacity we'd have to wait in line like all the other Proles. As it turns out,
they lied. Not only do we get laminated press badges that we can take on and
off at will, but they grant "immediate access to all shows including Nike
shows." Also worthy of mention: I was able to throw my bike into the back of my friend's car, so will be jetting around PDX on my bike all weekend, the first time I've ever done this.

Being press also guarantees access to a VIP Party going down
next to the Wonder Ballroom. From 6pm-9pm they serve up free finger foods
(mmmmm, pecan-crusted chicken sticks) and free booze (mmmm, shots of Southern
Comfort Lime). The party is more schmoozy-boozy than music-celebratory or
music-celebrity, though Hutch and Kathy of The Thermals are in attendance, as
well as some dudes wearing creepy Southern-hick hats (which make them look like
they're in some band).

(For a gallery of images of MFNW, go HERE.

BATTLES

(7pm, Wonder Ballroom)

Heavy metal jam rock electronica.

The line out the Wonder stretches at least a block long. All
shows at this venue are what my press pass refers to as "Nike shows,"
meaning they are free if you can pull yourself out of bed early enough to grab
a free wristband at one of several Jackpot Records locations (only one per
person). If you don't grab a free wristband there is no way to buy a ticket to
these shows so you either have to buy a $50 MFNW wristband or you're S.O.L. Or,
if you're a press passer, you have a bulldozer around your neck.

Walk in to hear a three-punch of "Atlas,"
"Lleyendecker" and some other song I remember quite distinctly
remembering. The closest we* can get to the front of the stage is the very back of the venue. We leave before their encore, but mostly to save our ears for more music. Note to self: Bring earplugs tomorrow.

ESKIMO & SONS

(8:20pm, Crystal Ballroom)

Tweecore bedroom indie chamber-pop with a side of R&B.

Biked our asses off to catch this act across town at the
Crystal. It was actually the fastest 2 miles on bicycle I've ever ridden, and also the most beautiful. Biking across the Broadway Bridge into downtown Portland just after sunset is an experience everyone should have at least a dozen times in their life. The ride is frenzied, but E&S are worth it. They've got
eight members onstage, plus The Old Believers! They got sax, trumpet, violin, a
vocalist whose voice will take your breath away and a ringleader who has his
back to the audience at all times. These guys are going to be big sometime soon,
if only they tried a little harder. Seems like mostly they've been given all
this attention despite themselves. Heck, M Ward asked them to open his show
personally. They're taking a "break" from being a band for an
indeterminate amount of time (their gig at the Towne Lounge on Friday is their
last for awhile), which will only further slow down the process of becoming the
Next Big Thing. E&S are like an American version of Los Campesinos!

M WARD

(10pm, Crystal Ballroom)

After a heart-attack burger below the Crystal at Ringler's
Pub, we head back into the Crystal for M Ward. It's 9:50pm and there still
isn't a line to get in, so we don't have to use our bulldozer lanyards. Inside,
M Ward takes his sweet time, hitting the stage a good 15 minutes late. The
first two numbers are uppity numbers with an almost-full band backing him. Then
he slides into a couple of solo bits. M Ward is like the Cat Power of male
vocalists. His vocals are achingly tender, sometimes that's really all you
need. Other times, like when your feet are swelling the size of beachballs
because you've been standing all day long, this sort of slow-drag on a
cigarette style of music tends to increase the Podiatry Factor. We slip out of
the Crystal around 11pm, intent on a new venue, and a new crowd.

DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIAN

(11pm, Roseland Theater)

After a ridiculously long body and bag search at the
Roseland entrance (where the bag-checker pilfers through every last nook and
cranny…and I thought they put a stop to that because bag-checkers kept getting
stabbed with needles…), we finally got upstairs to see some Del. Fortunately we
were just on time, as Del took the stage shortly after arriving. The venue isn't at capacity, but those in attendance are into it like no other. Curiously, I don't see many wristbands, which means most of the patrons just bought a ticket to see Del, and only Del. They're waving their hands in the air, like they just don't care. My feet are crumbling beneath me and the acoustics at the Roseland are grating on my tinnitus, so it's time to escape back to the Portland streets.

NADA SURF

(Midnight, Berbati's Pan)

Outside the Roseland, we tell people we're going to see Nada Surf. Some guy leans in and asks, repeatedly, where is Nada Surf playing? What time? As if he just heard they were playing, like he was going to text his buds to meet him over at Berbati's for some nostalgic trip back to being a sophomore in college in 1994, hearing their hit song, "Popular," on MTV and getting all giggly about it. Turns out, Nada Surf no longer play "Popular," but their newer songs are just as poppy, just as much a shout-out to the drinking songs of the Irish, only with a white-collar indie rock American University slant. The shows at MFNW that start after midnight tend to be the shows of the Witching Hour. The attendees are already sloshed at this point (hey, whaddya thinks gonna happen when you hold an entire music festival at various bars around town?) and so people get weird. We befriend a young veterinarian who just got out of Del and is enthusiastic about seeing Vampire Weekend and Menomena. I joke that I could probably just go to the Crystal to find her the next few days, but then she offers to buy us drinks. When a drunk woman is offering to buy two men shots of Southern Comfort, there's something wrong with this picture, and the rest of NS's set is blurred into a muddy self-portrait. After the show, we furiously bike back to our homebase in SE Portland and I suddenly realize: Hey, Portland really IS a bike-friendly town.

On tap for today:
Britt Daniel at 5:30pm
Built to Spill at 7pm
(wherever the whims pull me)
TV on the Radio at 11:30pm
The Builders & Butchers at 1am

we* by "we" I mean to refer to myself and my attorney/therapist, aka my roommate.