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The Dill Pickle Club is a group in Portland that tries to help people understand the place in which they live. They organize tours and public events that are both educational and entertaining. The group is coming out with a new book based on their recent lecture series on the history of independent music in Portland over the past 50 years. From cabarets and coffee houses to punk rock and grunge, the Rose City has seen a lot of music history in that relatively short span of time.
Two years ago, we did a show addressing the diverse range of music that's still thriving here after Slate came out with an article saying Portland didn't have a distinctive sound. This is not a new phenomenon, according to longtime Portland musician, Mike Lastra (who has also been responsible for documenting the music scene). He says one of the things that makes Portland a great spot for musicians is the freedom people feel to create their own sound.
Have you been a part of Portland's music history? Do you hear something distinctly Oregonian (or Portlandish) about the music that's made here? What do you remember about the music and venues from decades past? What's changed?
Photo credit: Lisa Norwood / Creative Commons
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His name is MIKE Lastra - not Mark!
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Yeah, it was a slip of the tongue. We have a Mike, a Mark, and a Marlon today!
Sorry!
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One of Portland's most influential punk bands of the 1980's was
Theater of Sheep. They were hugely popular with lead vocalist Rozz Rezebak and very gifted guitarist Jimi Haskett. -
I love it,Excellent article.I am decide to put this into use one of these days.Thank you for sharing this.
Calcium Disodium EDTA
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Emily just mentioned Thara Memory, a terrific musician and educator in Portland and in the state. In order to have a continuing history of music in Portland and the region, we need great instructors like Thara and programs like Beaverton's Arts and Communication Magnet Academy. Music programs in public schools in urban and rural areas, western and eastern Oregon, are in peril in this economic climate. But we need outstanding programs and educators in music to foster home-grown music and musicians into the future.
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I have vivid, chiildhood memories of Signey Anderson and some of the members of Jefferson Airplane singing and strumming on her deck. Our house was across the field from hers. On warm summer nights, I loved falling asleep to their music. Such a treat.
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I was going to OSU (in Corvallis) in the 1980s but came up to PDX often to see shows, mostly at the Satyricon and Starry Night. I especially remember (and still love) The Obituaries, Dead Moon, Wipers, The Rats, Napalm Beach and so many more I can't think of right now. Monica Nelson (lead singer of the Obits) is now in NYC and working relentlessly speading the word abut the Ground Zero poisoning and especially the plight of George Tabb, who was heavily involved in the punk/hardcore scene at that time. Check it out on the Web and help out if you can.
Rick
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In the late 1960s a fellow named Doug Snider had a recording studio in Portland as well as drumming in his own band. That studio was really fun.
I'd have to do some deep digging in my memories to come up with the name of that studio and band.
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The Internet has widened our musical taste. For 99 cents, an internet connection and 1 minute, anyone can get any piece of music EVER written, sung and recorded in the last 100 years. It can be in any language, sung by living or non-living performers, in any part of the world and with 500 year old musical instruments, choirs of thousands of voices, or an elephant tin drum orchestra. Or even recordings of silence from the Middle of the Pacific Ocean, monkey call sounds from the Amazon or SETI Sounds from 30 million light years away in Space.
Local artist themselves have iPods packed with music from Europe, Australia, Africa, Bali, NYC, SxSW, Bumbershoot, Lollapalozza, Elvis, the Jackson Five or Simon and Garfunkel.
IT is hard to have a Portland Sound when the world intrudes into every ear by earbud. The same thing happened to Vaudeville, tens of thousands of local live stage entertainers lost their livelihood when Hollywood talking pictures arrived. But opportunity cuts both ways.
PORTLAND ARTISTS: ONLY THE WORLD IS YOUR STAGE.