LASER MOMS: For months, Menomena has been angling to give its forthcoming record, Moms,
the laser treatment. However, to craft a laser light show looked
prohibitively expensive…until the band found a loophole. “We discovered
it was only $1,800 [as opposed to $10,000] to rent the [OMSI]
planetarium without the techs,” Menomena’s Danny Seim writes. “As long
as we’re cool with using the stock Pink Floyd lasers.... They’re not
going to sync with our music, but I still think it’s going to be
awesome.” At 11:15 pm Friday, Aug. 24, Menomena will present Dark Side of the Moms at OMSI.
The band is charging just $5 for the laser show and a sneak peak of the
disc. Says Seim: “I can’t wait to see where the cash machine and the
flying pig end up!”
HIDE YO KIDS: Neko Case, playing a Pickathon festival
overrun with babies and small children, made many references to kids
during her performance Sunday night, Aug. 5. Case first referred to her
own uterus as “pretty much a scab,” then discussed the prospect of
eating backup singer Rachel Flotard’s new baby, Harry. Harry would, it
was suggested, “taste like marzipan” if pan-fried. Flotard only had the
child in the first place, the two singers agreed, so Case could enjoy it
as a delicacy. “It was good loving you, Harry,” the pale-skinned
frontwoman told the child from the stage. Case’s regular guitarist, Paul
Rigby, did not make Pickathon, as his wife was giving birth in a
Vancouver, B.C., hospital. In other news, Case told an adoring audience
she would soon relocate to Portland for a month to finish a new album, and that during her stay she would be available for handiwork, including tile grouting and shed destruction.
NEW BEAU: Beau Breedlove (yes, that
Beau Breedlove) is opening a “French dance cafe” called Vie at the
South Waterfront (0315 SW Montgomery St., No. 150). “We’ll have a small
area for slow-dancing and such, and later in the evening expand it to a
larger space for dancing,” Breedlove tells WW. The restaurant at
first will only offer dinner, serving Provençal cuisine: “A little bit
larger, heartier portions,” Breedlove says. “Not Americanized French,
like small plates.” Breedlove is the cousin of restaurateur Bruce Carey
of Bluehour, Clarklewis and Saucebox.
STRANGER DANGER: The gadflies are buzzing all around the 28th season of MTV’s The Real World, currently shooting in the Pearl. Local blogger and former WW columnist Byron Beck has basically been live-blogging the filming. Now, blogger Chris Mathews
(cgmathews.blogspot.com), who says he lives “right above the house,” is
posting videos shot from his perch and alerting readers where the seven
strangers are going out. “I started posting my observations on Facebook
for my friends to enjoy,” he says. “A bunch of them suggested I start a
blog about it, so I figured I’d give it a try.” His goal? “My dream is to find evidence that suggests The Real World is scripted.”
CHRIS MATHEWS’ VIEW - IMAGE: Chris Mathews
