Musicfest 2006 Game Plan

[September 6th, 2006]

^Musicfest Northwest...Indeed!

How the Pacific Northwest shall fortuitously rule Amy McCullough's MFNW experience.

My picks follow a serendipitous theme: Every single band I plan to see this year is from either Seattle or Portland—save one, but we'll get to that later.

As far as Thursday is concerned, the coincidence isn't that strange, considering I will spend the entire evening at the Local Cut showcase I curated—the Minders, Super XX Man, the Shaky Hands and John Weinland at Towne Lounge.

Friday is the only night that ever-so-slightly breaks the formula. I will first head to Berbati's Pan for the revival rock of Stumptown's Nice Boys. Then it's over to Ash Street for local power-pop quartet Pinehurst Kids before checking out Portland's first couple of psychedelic love rock, Viva Voce, at the Crystal. Next, I will (gasp!) miss at least half of PDXer Stephen Malkmus in the name of Seattle's Eric Bachmann and Texas' Centro-matic, the only band I will see that resides outside our Northwestern music-topia.

Saturday brings my Northwest-centric plan full circle. BOAT will beat out its fellow Jet City band Smoosh. I'll then high-tail it from Doug Fir to the Crystal for Seattle's Jeremy Enigk (of Sunny Day Real Estate infamy) before rocking to the soulful pop of recent PDX transplant Britt Daniel. Depending on what intoxicants I've come across, I may or may not stay for the Beaverton-bred swirl rock of Helio Sequence. I have grand plans of heading to Ash Street for P-town's hip-hop phenom, Ohmega Watts, which would set me up for a very regional ending—bacon-topped maple bars at Voodoo Doughnut.

—AMY MCCULLOUGH.

^Musicfest's face-offs

Casey Jarman provides a presumptuous blow-by-blow of this weekend's key battles.

Thursday (Local vs. Local): I don't "get" the whole Dandies-Brian Jonestown Massacre thing, which frees me up to choose between two excellent and primarily local showcases. Doug Fir has the lovely, Iron & Wine-esque Horse Feathers and scene-altering instrumental powerhouse Talkdemonic, while Towne Lounge has a mighty, back-to-back Shaky Hands-Super XX Man combo. That combo is way too hearts-on-sleeves for me to ignore, so Towne Lounge takes this round.

Friday (Rock vs. Hip-Hop): This battle is sort of a draw. There's a full night of great hip-hop both up and downstairs at the Roseland on Friday, but I plan on making one big mash-up out of the Nice Boys at Berbati's with Sandpeople and Boom Bap over at the Roseland. Then the real trouble starts. If I have the legs for it, I'll go see Viva Voce at the Crystal Ballroom. Then, as much as it hurts me to miss Steven Malkmus and the Silver Jews, I'm going to head back down to the Roseland for Little Brother and Lifesavas.

Saturday (Music vs. Sleep): I'll be starting Saturday with hip-hop duo Debaser at Towne Lounge, which is either going to be incredibly awkward or fucking amazing, if my boys can win over the well-groomed clientele and electro kids. Ex-Sunny Day Real Estate frontman Jeremy Enigk's solo set at the Crystal is a no-brainer for me. I've wanted to see him play for seven years. But I'm going to try to squeeze in Liv Warfield somewhere with Enigk and Britt Daniel at the Crystal before heading down to Ash Street for Seattle's crazy theatrical hip-hop outfit Grayskul. If the prospect of an early bed loses out to a couple final hours of festing, I'll stay for Portland's official festival closer, Ohmega Watts. Then I'm going to grab an O.D.B. doughnut at Voodoo, walk up to Towne Lounge for a drink with Michael Byrne and whine about everything I missed.

—CASEY JARMAN.

^Biking MusicfestNW

Michael Byrne charts a course along the bike lanes and backstreets of MusicfestNW.

My MusicfestNW marathon begins Thursday at Towne Lounge for John Weinland, whose sweet, melancholic Demersville album has me all kinds of woozy. I'll be sticking around for the Shaky Hands, 'cause it could be one of the last times we hear "barefoot summer music" for a while.

Next comes the Burnside sprint: I can pull the seven blocks to the Crystal Ballroom for the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols in two minutes, barring red lights. I'll have myself a giant beer while I peer down from the balcony and try to figure out what all the fuss is about. By midnight, I'll be in the throes of a claustrophobic panic attack, so I'll sprint back to Towne Lounge for one of my favorite local indie-pop bands, the Minders. Then, I'll be hauling ass across the river (sticking to the side streets this time...hopefully) to catch the last of Talkdemonic at Doug Fir, but may just wind up skipping the swarm for a cool-down beer on the patio with compadre Casey Jarman.

Friday's gonna hurt. At 9, I'll be checking out Fryk Beat co-founder Eric Johnson's band Riddenpaa at Holocene, then sprinting to the Hawthorne Theatre for Thirty3 and then back to Holocene for the Blow's summer jams. I'll finish off the night dancing to Copy at Holocene, and then, exhaustedly, search for a couch to crash on.

Saturday night's a given. Save for the garage pop of BOAT, I'll be at the final Local Cut showcase at Towne Lounge, where the Falcon (every proper biker names his ride) will tragically gather some dust: I'll be sticking around for the four-band series of Small Sails, Yuma Nora, E*Rock and YACHT. If you see me later coasting through the city streets very early Sunday morning, grinning and babbling, just let me be.

—MICHAEL BYRNE.

^Wallowing in Musicfest

MusicfestNW is a party, and Mark Baumgarten shows you how to cry, if you want to.

Sometimes life just doesn't end up the way you want it to, and your heart ends up eating shit right before the biggest party of the year. But do you stay at home? No way, buddy boy. You grab your tissues and head out to MusicfestNW.

Start out on Thursday at Towne Lounge where John Weinland will sing, "You're standing in a photograph/ It's really good to have you here/ Even though you never move" over his gentle folk instrumentation. Take a slow stroll down to Berbati's Pan to listen to Justin Ringle of Horse Feathers sing, "Walking and running/ Sucking and fucking at your will." Before you break down, run to the Crystal Ballroom, where the Dandy Warhols will play "Godless," and those trumpets, man, they'll make you feel right again. Then go to Talkdemonic for a meditation on beauty.

Friday is easy. Get to Towne Lounge early, grab a good comfy seat and sink into it as Laura Gibson, Alan Singley, Alela Diane and Tractor Operator take your heavy heart over peaks and down into dark valleys with songs that are beautiful and tragic.

On Saturday hit BOAT for some jangly slop pop, then I Can Lick Any SOB in the House for some anger management, then Blitzen Trapper for some feel-good psych rock, then Helio Sequence for some transcendent pop and, finally, to Doug Fir, where you can close out a cathartic weekend by sharing a tear bath with the crowd gathered for Swords last show ever.

On Sunday, move on.

—MARK BAUMGARTEN.

^For those with Special Needs

Jason Simms helps the most unlikely music fans enjoy this year's MusicfestNW.

You might think to yourself, "This is a music festival. I'm deaf. What could possibly be in it for me?" Good news, my hard-of-hearing friend! After 40-plus years of rockin', Fred Cole of Dead Moon has almost no hearing left at all. If you can sense one iota of sound, Dante's on Saturday at midnight is sure to be loud enough for you.

If you're afraid of having a rock-induced heart attack because you're really old, never fear! Mark Baumgarten's Local Cut showcase at Towne Lounge is a collection of dreamers and sad bastards sure to make you feel like it's the good ol' days.

Perhaps your musical tastes are painfully un-hip, and you and your dyed hair and Hot Topic threads feel out of place at Tube or Doug Fir. Dig it, broheem, the Hawthorne Theatre is hosting two very respectable pop-punk/hardcore acts, Fall of Troy on Friday and Dead to Me on Saturday.

But maybe you have the exact opposite problem, and your musical tastes are overly sophisticated, but you just wanna rock. Well, check it out: You can fool yourself and others by heading out to fancypants fail-safe Jimmy Mak's on Friday to see Generation, which features former Obituaries leadwoman Monica Nelson and Dan Hawthorne from the Neins. I won't miss this opportunity to slam-dance in a jazz club, and if I happen to spot Mel Brown, I'll suggest he book a gig at Satyricon in retaliation.

—JASON SIMMS.