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Syndel signing autographs and hanging out with a new fan.
The Shaky Hands
Before the band's set, the Shaky Hands told me that they had partook in an in-class Q&A session before the show. Among the questions they recieved:
"Have you guys been all over the world?"
Not yet.
"Were you guys bad when you were in school?"
No comment.
"Do you guys have a lot of groupies...I mean, fans?" (mischievous smile)
Uhhh...
When the Shaky Hands took the cafeteria stage to a very warm reception (Cary mentioned that they were recently "voted Portland's best band," which kids seemed to dig). After some preliminary audio problems, the kids were going medium-haywire. It is clear to me now that there's nothing kids love more than a killer drum solo and a lot of "whoo"-ing.
While the older kids were clearly excited by the Hands, the sixth graders treated them like gods. I heard from multiple people, including the Hands themselves, that the li'l tykes were screaming throughout the entire set. "It was like seeing the Beatles," Cary Clarke said afterwards. Again, I got in with the wrong group.
Uhhhhh...
"And who should I make this out to?"
Alela Diane
I was more than a little concerned that a group of middle schoolers wasn't going to "get" Alela Diane's music. But immediate hollers of "I love you!" from the kids (they were sort of shady "I love you"'s, actually, and came off more as "I am desperate! Girls my age don't get me, Alela!") re-assured me that the folkstress would do just fine.
"How many of you have heard folk music?" Alela asked the gymnasium audience. About half the kids raised their hands.
She proceeded to kick those kids asses (metaphorically). She projected (like, whoah) and for most of her set, had those kids in the palm of her hand. The girls, especially, seemed transfixed.
One get got his baseball cap taken away by a teacher, then grumbled endlessly. Apparently it's against the rules to wear hats in school. That left me the only person in the gym wearing a baseball cap. Take that, Parkrose.
Alela Diane hits them with the folk hammer.
Soul P
Okay, Soul P has a way with kids. And when I say "a way with," I mean that if he told them to take off their shoes and throw them in a river they'd be all "YEAH YEAH WHERE'S THE RIVER?" He had the kids, even seventh and eighth graders, going bonkers. He kept saying things like "Sup Parkrose!?" and "C'mon now Parkrose, y'all are louder than that." He also pulled the ultimate school spirit stunt: "The sixth graders were louder than y'all." "Ooooh, that settles it," I could read via the kids' thought bubbles. "We're gonna be the craziest, loudest kids you've ever seen."
Teachers looked visibly distressed (and had to physically calm a few students down) after Soul P invited the kids to come down from the bleachers and bounce along to his "Whoa! Whoa!" single. The grand irony to all of this, of course, is that the MC getting these kids worked up and worried was probably the most wholesome performer on the bill. P is, for lack of a better term, a Christian rapper. And while he only dropped one J-bomb at Parkrose, his vibes were certainly on the up and up (though that lyric about 'smokin' on that weed like Geronimo' (I'm paraphrasing as I don't have the cd handy) might have raised a few eyebrows).
All in all I'd have to say that Soul P., who was swamped for autographs well after his set was over, won the battle of hearts and minds for the day. It was a mad-house in that gym.
This is how you hype kids for a show: videotape them.
Li'l ladies love Soul P.
Jamming!
After the sets were done, kids ran franticly through the halls, saying "whoa! whoa!" and playing air guitar. Everyone (including me!) was asked to sign autographs. Instruments were available for kids to jam on after the shows, and jam they did. They jammed and jammed and jammed. Then they jammed and jammed some more. Then they jammed and jammed and—okay, I had to get out of there.
Links:
Jason Quigley's website
Quigley's Flickr gallery from this photo shoot (with witticisms!)
PDX POP NOW!
[Note: YACHT was originally scheduled to perform this show, but because of a last-minute tour with LCD Soundsystem, couldn't make it.]
WWeek 2015