Behind

I'm not doing as well with concerts this year as I did with movies last year.

I went with Henry to see Scott Hutchinson from Frightened Rabbit (his brother Grant was there too but not on drums) opening for some guy whose name I can't recall without Google. It was a pretty good show. FR has come a long way since I saw them 2 years ago at Holocene. (The single from their latest album is on the trailer for an upcoming movie) At the mech table Grant said they had been working really hard and have mostly broken even.

No more recent shows? I guess not. There was nice music at Maya's bat mitzvah by a cantor to be and some groovy sisters--Peace Train and It's a Wonderful World along with the traditional Shabbat morning songs. And I went to Friday night services at Manhattan's Central Synagogue led by a cantor with a lovely voice and good guitar strumming.

On vacation, I also saw Arcadia on Broadway, it was a bit difficult to focus my mind on all of the dialogue and my 3rd row seat was too close to be able to see the whole stage at one time. I also saw a movie about Portland at the IFC theater, Cold Weather and Jenifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in a commercial for the Grand Wailia resort in Hawaii with the New Jersey mom's movie club.

Music can't lose

I have a ticket to see Holcombe Waller and the Healers this weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFNb5bOl9IY

OOE at OTO

Saw the Opera Theater Oregon's production of Werther in English called Out of Eden. The Chamber Orchestra was lovely. The male leads' hair reminded me of the Superman movie. The blonde who played the sister resembled Anna M DiBenedetto (spelled that name totally wrong.)

Blogging from Genie's after a fab hair cut by Emmie (the great) Otis.

Last night at the Crystal Ballroom's 97th birthday party I saw a little of The Lord's Own Choir, Elizabeth Cook and Pancake Breakfast.

Elizabeth Cook was really good. The other two bands are local favorites.

2011 project

Maybe this year I'll try to keep track of the music shows I see.

So far, I saw Jackstraw, Guy Clark and Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women at the River City Music festival and the Oregon Symphony with Joan Rivers.

I wish I'd gone earlier to the festival at the Red Lion and seen some of the other bands, but I forgot until the last minute that it was happening. I didn't dance as much as I'd have liked to.

The highlights of the Joan Rivers show were not being personally hurt when she said she wanted all Chinese women to leave the audience and the excitement of having a guy stand up shouting about how his boyfriend had been assaulted while the orchestra was playing. Joan is exactly 30 years older than me. Gabrielle Gifford is 7 years younger than me. I hope Gabby and I can both share in Ms. Rivers' resiliance and longevity.

The Best of Portland

I saw Ike Willis kill it during the Gemini Lunar Eclipse on Frank Zappa's birthday at the Mount Tabor Theater and the Solstice Puppet Show at Disjecta.

I missed the Monsters of Accordion at the Kennedy School this year, but The Winding Stream party was great. Interacting with and bumping into people from Kboo makes me feel like I'm part of a community with interesting taste in music and thoughtful analysis about the world we share.

I still wonder about what Bonnny Prince Billy said about needed people from the coasts to move back to places like Indiana and Kentucky so they can be good too. But for now, I feel very lucky to be where I am.

Monday I followed my gut and decided to go see Bela Fleck and the Flecktones play with the symphony. The description mentioned holiday season, but I was surprised when it turned out to be a full on holiday music concert with at least two medleys of Christmas carols. It was even more surprising to hear the Tuvan throat singing from Siberia. It was magical.