Scoop: Gossip Letting the Music Rule its Life.

1. FEST-ERING: A new Portland-centric music festival is making its debut this summer—and it’s happening the same weekend as PDX Pop Now! The 8 Track Relay—a 24-hour event meshing music with running—is scheduled for Portland International Raceway on July 20, with sets from big-name acts like Menomena, Blitzen Trapper, Nurses and Quasi. Mississippi Studios’ Jim Brunberg and Matt King put together the lineup but say the date was chosen by the city, which is helping put on the event. But that hasn’t stopped grumbling that 8 Track is undermining a cultural institution on its 10th anniversary. “I had a lot of people approaching me…saying they’re concerned about the other festival maybe stepping on our toes,” says PDX Pop Now! artistic director Chris Cantino. He says he didn’t find out about the new festival until well into the booking process, forcing him to stop pursuing certain acts. Cantino says artists have expressed frustration with the conflict. Both sides, however, say they have worked to figure out how to coexist. Brunberg blames “avid commentators” on Facebook for stirring the pot. “There are other fests that weekend, and I’d like it if all the promoters and commentators stopped complaining and did what was best for the musicians,” he says. Cantino agrees both festivals can coexist because they aren’t targeting the same demographic, with 8 Track targeting runners. And he adds, “Theirs costs money; ours is free.” This year’s PDX Pop Now! lineup will be announced early in June.

1. HARLEM RENAISSANCE: A company called the Ankeny Group has filed for a liquor license to restart Old Town’s Harlem nightclub inside the former Central space at 220 SW Ankeny St. The first incarnation of Harlem, a weekends-only boutique hip-hop venue, shut down within months despite entry lines that often extended halfway into the neighboring oyster bar. According to manager Doug Posey, the group plans to have a broader musical selection, patio tables and Korean tacos from mobile-food empire Koi Fusion served up in the spot’s front window.

1. DAMAGED: Former WW music editor Casey Jarman is launching a record label. Co-run by his Morals bandmate Ben Hubbird, the first releases for Party Damage Records, scheduled for this summer, include a solo record from Tu Fawning’s Joe Haege, an anticipated album from indie-poppers Wild Ones and the debut from young power-pop outfit Your Rival, which Jarman says “sounds a lot like a lost Weezer record.” An avid illustrator, Jarman adds that the label will “have some of the best-designed albums around, of this I am sure.”

1. CLARIFICATION: A review of Roadside Attraction in WW’s Bar Guide (April 24, 2013) took note of many men dressed in Utilikilts. However, reader Rich Mackin wrote to clarify that while some patrons were indeed wearing Utilikilts, the vast majority of Roadside Attraction patrons prefer locally made StumpTown Kilts. WW regrets any confusion.

WWeek 2015