Skip to main content- IT CAME FROM THE GORGE: Sunday was a banner day for Stephen Malkmus. The Pavement frontman and Portland resident celebrated his 44th birthday by opening his band’s highly anticipated set at the huge Sasquatch! festival at the Gorge, in George, Wash., with “Cut Your Hair,” Pavement’s lone MTV hit. The rest of the set—the band’s first Northwest show on its reunion tour—was filled with fan favorites and technical difficulties, though that didn’t stop thousands of people from singing along. Read more Sasquatch! Diaries at WW’s localcut.com.
- FARM FRESH: Foodie alert: The Plate & Pitchfork summer farm dinner series, which has been shining a spotlight on local farmers since 2003, has released its 2010 schedule (plateandpitchfork.com). Why the warning? The series sold out in a single day last year (and frenzied diners broke its website in 2008)—so somebody cares about eating an educational, white-tablecloth dinner prepared by some of Portland’s best chefs in the middle of Oregon farmers’ fields. Tickets ($125 to $150 per person) go on sale Thursday, June 3. A highlight: Dayton’s Viridian Farms hosts Vitaly Paley and Metrovino’s Gregory Denton on Aug. 14, with wine from Domaine Drouhin. “I’m excited that we’re going to Wallowa, Oregon,” says co-founder and organizer Erika Polmar, who will host a P&P dinner at Carman Ranch on Sept. 11 with Carafe’s Pascal Sauton and Leftbank Annex’s Aaron Dionne. “We’ve never done a dinner outside the Portland metro area.... I’m excited to showcase a female rancher [Cory Carman]. And the winemaker [Bethel Heights Vineyard’s Mimi Casteel] is a woman, too. It’s shaking up the paradigm of old-school ag.”
- THE HANGOVER: Oh, the shame! Asheville—a North Carolina burg of 70,000 people—has won the title of BeerCity USA 2010. Asheville bested Portland via an online poll for American Craft Beer Week. It was a close fight with more than 19,000 votes and numerous livid comments en route to Asheville getting 38 percent of the votes. Portland was close behind with 34 percent. San Diego trailed in third with 4 percent. If you’re curious about Portland’s beer rival, which is home to nine craft breweries (more than Portland and every other city in the nation per capita), you can enter to win tickets to Asheville’s beer festival Brewgrass and a free night’s stay at exploreasheville.com. Traitor. MUSICFEST YES: WW’s own MusicfestNW announced its preliminary lineup, and—they really aren’t paying us to say this—it’s kind of a monster. The National and The Decemberists each headline nights out at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Other big names include Major Lazer, Okkervil River, Sleep, Menomena, Wiz Khalifa, the Walkmen, Ted Leo...want us to keep going? You can check out the lineup at musicfestnw.com. Two extra-late announcements that didn’t make the press release: The fest will officially start one day early (Wednesday, Sept. 8), and Panda Bear—that dude from Animal Collective—has been added to the lineup.
- MUSICFEST YES:
WWeek 2015