Music Now that's how you write a song about a real shitty hangover and a fight with the little lady. And that's how you direct a sentimental travelogue video while also showing plenty of love to your hometown. Blitzen Trapper, nowadays known more for folksy tunes like this fine number than psych-rock freakouts (a few of which can still be found on new disc American Goldwing), is kinda killing it with th...   More

Music Well, this is a nice surprise. We haven't heard from Portland's Grey Anne—one of my favorite ladies in local music—for quite some time, and this new tune (described by the artist as a "spaghetti western" tune) is quite promising. I'm reminded more of tasteful swashbuckling music: The "hello/hello/hello/echo/echo/echo" bit might as well be "yo-ho-ho" as far as I'm concerned. The gold-searching ...   More

Music Well, this is cool. I'm not sure I have much to add to the conversation posted over at IFC (I guess this video is sorta an homage to Dennis Wilson? See, I never woulda got that), where this video premiered today, but I'm a huge Dolorean fan and anything the band comes up with is good news...   More

Music Hello, and welcome to the long-delayed second installment of my column, Deep Cuts, wherein I closely examine a song that I love and interview the artist at ridiculous length about it. Today we're talking to Okkervil River's Will Sheff about his song "Black," from the band's 2005 album Black Sheep Boy. Okkervil River plays this Thursday and Friday at the Edgefield with the Decemberis...   More

Music Stories Born: July 8, 1961, in Clinton, Okla. Sounds like: Bored high-school bullies hanging out in the summer.  For fans of: Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Clint Black, Trace Adkins  Latest release: Bu   More

Album Reviews [NAKED SONGS] The first time I heard Rob Wynia’s solo recordings, he was experimenting with soundscapes and edgy spoken-word pieces. I was shocked at how far off course the material was from the    More

Album Reviews [POP SONGS] I don’t think I ask too much of pop songs. I want them to physically move me and say something interesting or clever. In fact, if a song can do one of those two things well, I’ll tak   More

Headout Arvydas Sabonis, who entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., on Aug. 11, might be the best-loved Portland Trail Blazer of all time. Sure, Bill Walton won the te   More

Top 5 Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic (out 8/23) Yeah, the Jicks still count as a Portland band even with Malkmus moving to Germany. And this disc has been a long time coming   More

Music Growing up, my favorite television show was Pee-Wee's Playhouse. I was especially fond of his video calling booth, inside of which he had a number of different pull-down backdrops and accessories, so that it could appear Pee-Wee was speaking to you from some exotic island, the North Pole or a dude ranch when he answered the phone. I am more than a little reminded of that Pee-Wee tradition a...   More