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Doug Fir is dead. Long live Doug Fir!
Since 2004, the Doug Fir Lounge on the Central Eastside has been one of Portland’s most popular music venues. On Sept. 30, this original location closed its doors, but fans need not fear, for there will be a revival.
In 2024, the Doug Fir is moving to 301 SE Morrison St. (the former site of Le Bistro Montage), and shows are already planned there, starting April 7 with French singer-songwriter Kid Francescoli.
For the final night of the original Doug Fir, a Portland legend came to close the book: Ural Thomas & The Pain, with two sold-out shows back to back.
Thomas was born in 1939 in Meraux, La., downriver from New Orleans, but his family ultimately relocated to Portland. He would play jam sessions on Sundays at his home in the Historic Mississippi District, but otherwise never performed live for many years, after enduring harsh treatment in the music industry during the first era of his career in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Yet thanks to Scott Magee (aka DJ Cooky Parker) finding Thomas’ old work and attending his jam sessions, Thomas has returned to the studio and stage.
His band takes its name from the old Thomas song “Pain Is the Name of Your Game,” but at the Doug Fir, the name of the game was love instead. It was also laughter, thanks to opening act Johnny Franco, “The Professional Entertainer—and His Real Brother Dom!” The Brazilian brothers sang songs about luck and love, in Portuguese and English, but also about a man getting only one meatball for dinner (with one audience member spontaneously selected to play the waiter bellowing, “You can’t get a bread with one meatball!”) and how the airport is the most romantic place on earth.
The Franco brothers reappeared during the main act as well, briefly stepping in while Thomas ran backstage for a quick change. “I’m getting sweaty, but that’s why I came!” Thomas said later while rolling up his sleeves before starting the band’s original song “Gimme Some Ice Cream.” He certainly had no shortage of energy, dancing spryly around the stage, bumping fists with fans at the very front, and never losing his beatific smile as he expressed his love for the audience who came out to see him and his band.
It was the end of an era, but between the bombastic stylings of Franco and the funk and soul of Ural Thomas & The Pain, the Doug Fir got a sendoff worthy of a New Orleans funeral. Thomas asked once on a 1968 song, and again on this night in 2023: “Can you dig it?” For this audience, some of which was standing on the seats at the sides of the room, the answer was a resounding “Yeah!”