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It goes like this: You first notice a shock—more like a few squirrelly shocks—of frizzy gray hair move through the crowd, and the crowd seems to part for the almost Muppet-like figure. Or you catch him, sporting his signature dark glasses, getting a scoop at Kate’s Ice Cream (pistachio is his fave). Scott McCaughey has played in acts like Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5, Baseball Project, No Ones, R.E.M.—some better known than others—and is a long-term resident of the Pacific Northwest, living in Portland steadily for the past several years.
Maybe it shouldn’t feel like such a surprise to see him at music venues, record stores and ice cream parlors; McCaughey rates his level of fame as “recognizable to a very small sect”; he even recently wrote a song called “Famous Enough.” Yet it’s always a pleasant surprise, for me at least.
“The people who approach me are usually pretty cool,” he says. “They appreciate my music, or remember some specific show that I performed at. Occasionally, I get someone who thinks having a photo taken with me will reflect well on them. Still, as long as someone is friendly, I’m likely to be too.”
Where are your best chances of a Scott sighting? “I am typically seen mostly in my neighborhood: Mississippi Records and Mint Gallery, Black Book Guitars, Kate’s Ice Cream, various burrito purveyors—still lamenting the loss of King Burrito cart! Then there’s Hollywood Theatre, Gordito’s, Music Millennium.” He also loves Gravy on Mississippi for its make-your-own scramble: Eggs, avocado, homemade veggie sausage, mushrooms, with collard greens as side is his go-to, and also a “great new bookstore,” Selected Stories on Division.
Young Fresh Fellows, by the way, plays Mississippi Studios on April 9, in support of their new album, Loft, which comes out March 27. You will definitely see him there.
