Headout: Getting Juggy With It

Grab an old bottle and start blowing.

By ENID SPITZ

Orange juice cartons, cherry-cola bottles and a wine jug litter the tables in Arlo Leach's attic music room. He's neither a lush nor a hoarder: He's a jugger.

According to Leach, there are dozens of other attics and basements like this in Portland. The Iowa-born Leach, whose flannel shirt and quiet manner make him more like a pre-electric Bob Dylan than a 39-year-old software engineer, says Portland is a hot spot for juggin'.

You'll find them jamming at Northeast Alberta Street's Anna Bannanas Cafe on the second Thursday of every month and at the Secret Society on Friday for Jugapalooza, which will feature six prominent jug bands in an old-fashioned jug-off.

I spent a recent Monday evening perched on a stool in Leach's attic learning the spittle-covered craft.

1. Blow like you mean it.
2.
Juggin’ done been around a long while.
3.
Get dirty!
Like a granddaddy of rap battles, jug tunes are notorious for double-entendres and innuendos, like limericks set to the banjo. As I jugged the baseline at my lesson, Leach sang: “I ain’t no farmer, ain’t no farmer’s son, but I’ll plow your field until the farmer come.” With all their talk of “bumble bees” (a male lover with a big stinger) and “fair-browns” (an attractive female lover) doing “bed-spring poker” (sexual intercourse), these juggalos give Weezy a run for his money.

GO: Juggers will be jamming at Anna Bannanas Cafe, 2403 NE Alberta St., on Thursday, March 14. 7-9 pm. Free. Jugapalooza is at the Secret Society, 116 NE Russell St., on Friday, March 15. 9 pm. $8. 21+. jugapalooza.com.

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