new upcoming in-store performances & events:
All in-store performances are at Music Millennium 32nd & E Burnside, 503-231-8926.
For a complete list of upcoming in-store performances & events, please visit http://musicmillennium.tuneportals.com/InStore
Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing)
FREE PERFORMANCE
Sun., Nov. 3 at 3 p.m.
Mike Doughty has confirmed a five-week, 32-city tour this fall, which will feature him and a new backing band performing exclusively songs by his former band, Soul Coughing. Doughty will perform songs from his new album of re-invented Soul Coughing tunes, as well as more songs that aren’t on the album.
With his new album, Soul Coughing (released September 17th), Doughty decided to go back to his old songs to recapture his original intent, as a 22-year-old immersed in the house, hip-hop and anti-folk music of early ’90s Manhattan. Doughty recorded with hip-hop/dance producer Good Goose (Menya, Ninjasonik, Mac Lethal, Homeboy Sandman) and upright bass player Catherine Popper (Jack White, Willie Nelson).
“I was doubtful of crowdfunding, but the fans jumped in fast, and the entire album was 100% funded in less than 16 hours. Really an explosive success,” Doughty says about his new album which was funded by fans.
His tour will mark the end of a years-long period where Doughty refused to play Soul Coughing songs onstage, in favor of songs from his seven solo albums.
“My memoir was a big fat ball of darkness,” Doughty says, referring to his 2012 memoir, The Book of Drugs. “I found myself wanting to figure out who I was, where I was, and what I meant when I wrote the Soul Coughing songs. I want to find what I love in them.”
Doughty will be accompanied on the tour by Popper and drummer Pete Wilhoit.
Community Day/Songwrites Cirlce feat. Larry Haas, Randy Brown, Jack McMahon
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Mon.,Nov. 4 at 7 p.m.
Sponsored by KZME.FM
Record stores were the community centers for many cities and towns around the country, especially in the late ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. They were a place where community in the love of music brought people together. Friendships were made and partners in life were found as people shared their interest and love of music. On Community Day, there will be free refreshments, special one-day deals, live music, and a variety of unique events throughout the year. Monday, November 4th, will be the next Community Day and will include the Songwriters’ Circle at 7:00 PM.
Larry Haas’ journey as a songwriter began the summer of 1960, when at the age of eight, he started guitar lessons. By the fall of ’66, Larry was asked to join his first band. It was one month later that Larry wrote his first song, inspired by Pete Townshend. A few years later, upon hearing Neil Young’s first solo album in ’69, Larry wrote more personal songs on acoustic guitar. Since then, Larry has played in countless bands, and he’s written over 200 songs. Larry participated in recording sessions in ’86 with local alt/rock/country pioneers, The Surf Cowboys. In 2004, he co-wrote half of the recorded songs for his band, Milepost 40. Musically, Larry incorporates elements of rock, blues, folk, country and jazz to accentuate the mood of his lyrics. Larry retired from performing in 2005 but continues to write and record in his home studio.
Randy Brown is an award-winning East Texas-based singer-songwriter and self-proclaimed “performing philosopher” bent on deciphering the intersection of spirit, faith and science with a sense of wonder and whimsy in smartly clever folk-Americana-style songs and stories. Laced with down-home imagery, his lyrics delve into such offbeat topics as quantum mechanics, talking to extraterrestrials with a flashlight, and testosterone poisoning. Brown, who accompanies himself on guitar and mandolin,describes his music as “Charles Darwin meets Guy Clark and Van Morrison at an MIT barbecue in honor of Albert Einstein’s birthday.”
Jack McMahon is our host of Music Millennium’s Songwriters’ Circle. He began as leader of New Jersey rockers The Night Watch, and spent his formative years as a singer-songwriter in and around NYC. McMahon opened for Bruce Springsteen, New York Dolls at Kenny’s Castaways, and for Steely Dan at Max’s Kansas City. He was a demo singer for Gerry Goffin (of Goffin & King fame) before relocating to Portland in 1973, where he has been a mainstay, both as a solo artist and with his Jack McMahon Band. His recording career has taken him from New York to Nashville, and L.A. to Seattle. Jack’s penchant for expressive lyrics and catchy hooks, combined with a soulful voice and journeyman guitar chops, has made him a favorite of long time fans and neophytes alike. He is currently working on a new album at The Map Room in his hometown of Portland.
Garland Jeffreys
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Wed., Nov. 6 at 6 p.m.
Fifty years into his storied career, Garland Jeffreys is enjoying the kind of creative second wind most artists can only hope for the first time around, earning a swarm of critical accolades and experiencing his most prolific stretch in decades. ‘Truth Serum,’ his second album in two years, is a cri de coeur, a stripped-down tone poem from an artist taking his rightful and hard-earned place in the musical pantheon.
“The record is a kind of Rorschach, the boiled down essence of where I am today at seventy,” says Jeffreys. Sung with the most relaxed, assured delivery of his career, the lyrics express a seasoned, hard-won acceptance balanced with an unflagging sense of optimism, while the music merges blues, rock, reggae, and folk into an infectious concoction distinctly his own.
Written on guitar and demoed into a portable cassette player, the songs came in an endless avalanche at home and on the road. Preparing for new studio sessions meant listening to roughly 75 unlabeled cassette tapes and whittling down more than 50 tracks into a lean, muscular, and politically charged 10-song collection. “We had to buy a cassette player with a counter on it in order to track the songs,” remembers Jeffreys, who’s always preferred the compression and ragged feel of the tapes for his solo demos. “The guy at the store was amazed anyone would want such an antiquated machine. A couple of days later we bought another one in case they decide to stop making them.”
Growing up biracial in the outer boroughs lent Jeffreys a unique perspective, and his explorations of race, prejudice, and love earned him a reputation as a socially conscious urban poet with a keen eye for detail and immense lyrical power. He released a string of acclaimed albums and hit songs in the 1970′s and 1980′s, including “Wild In The Streets” and “R.O.C.K.,” collaborated with everyone from John Cale and Dr. John to Stan Getz and Sonny Rollins, and was one of the first Americans to record in Kingston, Jamaica. A testament to both the broad appeal and durability of his music, his songs have been covered by hardcore punk legends The Circle Jerks and neo-folkies Vetiver alike.
Neo Boys – Special Signing
Autograph Session
Sat., Nov. 9 at 3 p.m.
Fall, 1979. There they were again: the two girls, disappearing into the fog by the park blocks in downtown Portland. One blonde, one redhead, bright berets floating over long wool coats.
The bus came once an hour and I’d missed it. Sometimes I missed it on purpose. But it was too cold to hang around much longer. I dug a book out of my backpack and sat down to wait.
Who were those girls? They weren’t like anyone I knew in the suburbs, or at the big-box high school I was stuck at for two more years. They looked like they might be interesting. Maybe I could talk to them. But what if they were bitches? It didn’t matter. The times I saw them, they were always at least a block away. Ghosts I could never catch.
I went back to my book. Then my bus came. Forty-five minutes later, it dropped me off in the middle of nowhere: the place I spent most of my time.
At home I had more books-mostly poetry-and records from Park Avenue and Renaissance. On Sundays I taped Joe Carducci’s show from KBOO. I wanted to be in a band, but I wasn’t old enough or cool enough. Worst of all, I wanted to play an instrument. Nobody wanted a girl in their band unless she was the singer. I knew that was stupid, but how could I argue? Obviously, there were rules not even punk could stop.
The eighties started. That summer, I went to an all-ages show at The Long Goodbye. The band came on. Four girls. Wow, two of them were THE girls. The redhead went to the microphone, the blonde picked up a bass. They even had a girl drummer.
How did they do that, start a band with other women, three of them not the singer? Maybe they thought the rules were stupid too. No, that hope was too big. I pushed it down. I watched them tune up, waited for them to be terrible or act campy.
But they weren’t, and they didn’t. The Neo Boys had a strong pop energy, but Kim’s hard-edged voice was never too sweet. KT wove her basslines around Pat’s solid beat, while Jennifer played a twangy, clean guitar.
The lyrics were real poetry. None of their songs were about boys. THEY weren’t about boys. They were a band. Four equals, up there on stage in their regular clothes, being their regular selves. And kicking ass.
Their regular selves kicked ass.
By the end of that year, I was in my own band with four other women. I got to know KT, Kim, and Pat. They were real. They were nice. I should have talked to them sooner. I should have thanked them sooner. Thirty-two years is a long time to wait. But here goes.
Over the decades here in the Northwest I’ve seen countless other all-female bands, good ones, up there on stage being their regular selves and kicking ass. KT, Kim, Pat, Jennifer, Meg, you knew the rules were stupid. Your music made them irrelevant. This work has aged well, but I’m not surprised. It’s just proof.
Thank you, Neo Boys. From the bottom of my teenage heart.
- Lesley Reece (aka Suzi Creamcheese): bassist, The Braphsmears, Jungle Nause, The Redheads, 1980-84.
Echo Us
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Sat., Nov. 9 at 5 p.m.
“I certainly believe in going within to find a connection with the outer world. To find the ‘child’ within where everything is open to speculation and wonder…it’s a sort of ‘psychic’ connection for me, and music is simply part of the process.” -Ethan Matthews
Echo Us started as an electronic pop group in Boston, Mass. all the way back in the year 2000, but really came to life as the solo concept project of Ethan Matthews after a stay in the Mass. General Blake 11 Psych Ward and move to Portland, Ore. in 2003. After much needed recuperation and a debut full-length release in 2005, Echo Us branched out incorporating a variety of different musicians from all over the spectrum of the Portland music scene. The Tide Decides resulted, and the flow of music increased considerably, forming a multi-album conceptual work that reached its apogee with 2012′s Tomorrow Will Tell The Story. Tomorrow Will Tell The Story incorporates everything from ambient synth washes and strings, to extra-terrestrial chants & canticles, and all kinds of world music influences. The album received an Independent Music Award (Vox Populi) for “Best Eclectic” recording.
“It’s ironic that the music was never intended to be performed live, and by and large, what we are doing with it is quite different in a live setting, but the song material is strong- it’s still there when stripped down to harp, guitar and voice, so this has been a unique way of bringing it out for a live performance, which I’d of never imagined years ago.” – Ethan Matthews
Echo Us plans to continue gigging around the Northwest moving into 2014 and two follow-up records are on the way for 2014 and beyond. Ethan is accompanied by Concert and Celtic Harpist Raelyn Olson who blends her classical and folk touches without limit in the live acoustic setting.
River Twain
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Sun., Nov. 10 at 5 p.m.
Born in a land of converging waters, Gus Reeves and Brad Wager make up the duo River Twain; a soulful amalgamation of roots, blues, folk and americana music collectively known as DUSTBOWL SOUL.
Musician and master song-craftsman Gus Reeves cut his teeth in Chicago, where his brand of music americana was heavily influenced by the blues. Reeves was granted an artist fellowship award from the Illinois Arts Council for one of five original, full length self-produced albums. In addition to which Reeves recorded three full length albums for Orange Van Records before leaving Chicago for Portland, Ore. via L.A.
With roots in trumpet, cello, jazz guitar and upright bass, Pacific Northwest native Brad Wager is a multi-instrumentalist whose varied background lends a supporting depth and richness to the music of River Twain. Gus Reeves rambled around & wound up in Portland with not much more than a guitar & some half-written songs. He met Brad “The All Night Wager” at the Vault studio where they forged a musical friendship & found the sound they call ‘train hoppin dustbowl soul.’
With roots in trumpet, cello, jazz guitar and upright bass, Pacific Northwest native Brad Wager is a multi-instrumentalist whose varied background lends a supporting depth and richness to the music of River Twain.
Casey Neill
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Tues., Nov. 12 at 6 p.m.
Casey Neill has performed throughout the world on stages such as New York’s Town Hall, San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, and Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket.
He has played as a member of the Minus Five as well as sharing stages with Jello Biafra, Pete Seeger, Sunny Day Real Estate, Camper Van Beethoven, & countless more.
An acclaimed songwriter, Irish supergroup Solas recorded Casey’s original song “Lowground” on their albums Waiting for an Echo and Reunion. In 1997, he inked a three record deal with the folk label Appleseed and was featured on their tribute to Pete Seeger along with Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, and Bonnie Raitt. A compilation of his material entitled Memory Against Forgetting was released by Amy Ray’s Daemon imprint in 2005.
Following a few years of residence in New York City, Casey moved back to Portland and its thriving music community. The Norway Rats formed in 2007 to tour behind his album Brooklyn Bridge (In Music We Trust label), followed by the acclaimed Goodbye to the Rank and File. In 2011, Casey was hired by New York’s Mabou Mines Theater Company to perform and compose for their new work ‘Landscapes’ at PS122.
Casey Neill & The Norway Rats are set to release All You Pretty Vandals (Incident Recordings/Redeye), an anthemic, junkyard rock album Neill says he’s “spent a decade trying to get to – both my own writing and the sound of the band.” The Norway Rats are some of the most regar ed musicians in Portland’s music collective featuring various combinations of bassist Jesse Emerson (Amelia), guitarist Matt Brown (Storm Large), guitarist Chet Lyster (Eels), keyboardist Jenny Conlee Drizos (Black Prairie, Decemberists) and drummer Joe Mengis (Priory). Casey Neill has left his impact on audiences while touring extensively with the band and in solo performance for more than a decade in the US, UK, and Japan.
Tish Hinojosa
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Wed., Nov. 13 at 6 p.m.
Tish Hinojosa’s music crosses borders – between cultures, languages and musical genres. Moving with equal grace through folk, country, pop and latino styles, her music reflects contemporary America’s multicultural richness. Combining a vision that embraces all of these musical styles, with her characteristic warmth and a pure, soulful voice, this enchanting Texan singer-songwriter has gained a loving and loyal audience throughout America, Europe and beyond.
As the youngest of thirteen children born to Mexican immigrant parents in San Antonio, TX, Tish grew up listening to the traditional Mexican songs on her parents’ radio as well as to the pop and folk stations of the 60′s. Inspired by these diverse influences, she began playing and singing, first for her family and then later in local clubs and coffee houses. In 1979, she left her hometown for the mountains of New Mexico, where she discovered her love for pure and heartfelt country music. She started performing with legendary country musicians Michael Martin Murphy and Bill and Bonnie Hearne, which inspired her to begin writing her own songs, both in English and Spanish.After a stint in Nashville, Tish – by now married and mother of two children – moved back to New Mexico where she made her first independent release (Taos to Tennessee – 1987), before finally re-locating to Austin, TX, where she was eagerly welcomed by the city’s thriving music scene. In 1988, she was signed by A & M Records and finally achieved a national debut release. Homeland (1989), found her weaving all the threads of her artistic ethos into an intriguing tapestry that immediately put her on the international musical map.
Tish has contributed her talent to numerous issues such as bilingual education, immigration and farm workers’ rights. She has also performed by invitation at the White House for Bill and Hillary Clinton. She has gained the respect and admiration of many well-established musicians, not only her contemporaries, but also some of those who were important early influences, including Linda Ronstadt, who later recorded her own version of Tish’s song “Donde voy”. Amongst other artists that Tish has recorded and worked with are Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson, Dwight Yoakam, Nanci Griffith, Pete Seeger, Flaco Jimenez and Los Lobos.
The music on After the Fair is about Tish’s time spent in Hamburg, Germany from 2004-2013. Including her memories of the Reeperbahn, The Dom (Hamburg’s traditional fair that appears three times a year), Schlaggermove (the celebration of 70′s Disco morphed into a bizarre parade), and the Soccer World Cup of 2006. The songs on After The Fair are equal parts emotion, wonder and illusion. Produced and arranged by Moe Jaksch, he created a sturdy foundation of guitars, percussion, and bass. Through his direction, Tish wrote songs and performed vocals such as she had never attempted before. A high wire act, no net required. Tish found the songs in herself and sauntered outside her safe circle and found songs she loved and wanted to share. The album features the Paul McCartney song “A Certain Softness” translated into Spanish.
Mood Rings
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Fri., Nov. 15 at 6 p.m.
Forming (ca. 2009) from mists of solid-state polished chrome out of cavity closets, Mood Rings fought against the constraints of modern/shit desk programs to create a new name for themselves in the basements and damp sections of Atlanta.
Guitarist / Singer / Songwriter Will Fussell stands, outlined in brick and neon, whispering faded tones into the busted echo box. The guitar tones resulting from his interactions with Tymb Gratz might remind you of a molded cassette of Felt or Durutti Column. The proceedings are grounded by the solid-without-oppressive rhythm section of Chris Alley (bass) and Peter Cauthorn (drums.) Meta-harmonies attributed by Seth Bolton (synth/guitar) careen through the balance to sensitize their compass.
Mood Rings rip the captions off the stairs and explode moonlight panels with alcohol and mint. This is not political music. These are not ringtones. There is no mystery man in the plasma tent. The floor tom is the new kick. Don’t forget the scale of mercury.
The debut album from this Atlanta-based five-piece is certainly not easy to pigeonhole. Shifting seamlessly from taut post-punk to lush 60s balladry, and starry-eyed guitar pop to moody guitar squall, VPI Harmony is the sound of a band meticulously studied in their influences, and unafraid to expand, combine and re-imagine the sounds of their musical loves into their own signature package.
Anthony Green (Circa Survive)
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Sat., Nov. 16 (Time TBA)
In creating his latest album, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Anthony Green ventured further away from his punk/hardcore roots and pushed deeper into the lush, intricate, melody-driven brand of alt-rock he’d begun to master on his first two solo offerings. The inaugural release from the Circa Survive frontman’s newly launched imprint Moshtradamus Records–and Green’s first solo album recorded in a studio instead of D.I.Y.-style at home–Young Legs is a masterful collection of sprawling, lavishly textured pop. But while the album is Green’s most ambitious effort so far in a 10-year music career, Young Legs also bears a warm intimacy that proves both his strength and ingenuity as a songwriter.
“Most of the songs on the album were written for other people, or inspired by things that were going on in the lives of my friends and family,” explains Green. Describing the songs on Young Legs as “little presents to people I love,” Green adds that trying on different perspectives ended up helping him to become bolder and more honest in his own writing. “I found that the more I tried to write from someone else’s point of view, the more my own feelings about difficult things like loss and divorce were coming through,” he says. “It’s like focusing on someone else took the pressure off and made room for me to get more personal than I’d ever been in my songs.” Writing for others also helped him gain a sense of peaceful clarity that’s palpable throughout Young Legs, ultimately giving the album a transformative power. “There’s definitely a lot of darkness on the record, but I think there’s also a feeling of getting through a tough time and finding some kind of understanding and acceptance,” notes Green.
For Green, a certain youthful spirit infuses both the launching of Moshtradamus Records (an endeavor he dreamed up as a “homebase for music and art and literature from people who inspire me, like the community I had with my band and all my friends’ bands in high school”) and the songs that make up the imprint’s premiere release. “When I was a kid and first started making music, I would just go for it. But then as music became something I did for a living, my perception of it changed,” Green says. “Now it’s all come full circle, where I’ve learned so much and I’m finally able to dial the clock back to just musing on ideas, letting everything flow, letting the songs write themselves.” So while the title of Young Legs references Green’s children, it’s also a nod to the songwriter himself. “Writing from other people’s perspectives made me realize that I’m still getting to know myself as a songwriter,” he says. “Young legs aren’t defined yet–they’re still growing and becoming and finding their footing. I really like the sense of limitlessness and potential in that.”
Norman
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Sun., Nov. 17 at 5 p.m.
Norman is a band defined by its surroundings: the green, lush, and often soggy landscapes of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. An aesthetic layered with fields and farms, trees and hills, the valley is sandwiched between two mountain ranges and extends North to Portland, Ore.
Norman’s sophomore full-length, Hay, Hay, Make a Wish and Turn Away conjures images of a flatbed pickup rambling down a dusty country road on a warm Summer evening. Find a field, throw down a blanket, and play this record with the doors open and windows down, while you lay on your back
watching the stars, wishing on the ones that fall.
While it may be stating the obvious, Norman most clearly embodies Harvest-era Neil Young, while drawing a wide range of comparisons including My Morning Jacket, Uncle Tupelo, Ryan Adams, and even fellow Portlanders, Blitzen Trapper.
The Pacific Northwest offers a vast array of landscapes which have inspired artists for years. Oregon’s Willamette Valley – with its lush trees, green hillsides, and often soggy weather – has been home to the band Norman since 2004. The importance of physical setting to Norman’s music has long been commented on, and the emphasis on place and surroundings in their music has reached a new level with the release of their third album, Into the Eventyr.
Produced by Rob Dennler (Built to Spill, Sheryl Crow), Norman’s appeal blends well with the timelessness of the Northwest. It can be seen in the way it represents growth and change, renewal and responsibility, innovation and adventure. Eventyr means ”adventure,” and in Norman’s third full-length release, the sense of invitation runs deep, inviting listeners to experience the adventures available to them in nature, and enjoy creating, beginning, and exploring their own. Also available on LP.
Lovers
FREE LIVE PERFORMANCE
Thurs., Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.
With their seventh album, A Friend in the World, Lovers fuse intimacy and empowerment into a modern atmosphere of honesty, new feminist humor, and rhythmic complexity. The result is at once arresting, tender and romantic. The new record is a rich engagement of acoustic and electronic extroversion and introspection-an uplifting ride into uncharted territories of the heart and mind. A Friend in the World is the follow-up to Lovers’ well-loved 2010 album Darklight, and the second for the band as a trio.
Lovers (celebrated lyricist Berk, producer and sound artist Kerby Ferris, and producer and percussionist Emily Kingan) craft an intimate portrait of female friendship, sexuality, and evolution as an infinite process.
The three first encountered in 2002 after Berk’s near-fatal van explosion while on tour with an earlier incarnation of the band. Emily Kingan, then on tour with classic Portland feminist hardcore band The Haggard, invited Berk to join the bill. Ferris was their roadie. Years later, Kingan organized a meeting for her two friends and future band-mates in South America, where Berk was traveling and Ferris was living at the time, performing in various experimental electronic projects in São Paulo’s thriving music scene. The result was sisterly love at second sight, and prophetic premonitions of the creative collaborations to come. Says Berk about Lovers presently:
“There’s something very cosmically powerful about choosing love over and over and over again, recommitting to people, cooperating on creative endeavors. We wanted to make an album that reflected our commitments to supporting each other’s creative processes. There is something so pure and magical about true friendship love, and we wanted to pour that into this album.”
A Friend in the World was recorded at Portland, Oregon’s beloved Type Foundry with Badman label owner Dylan Magierek (Thao Nguyen & Portland Cello Project, Mark Kozelek, Starfucker) and Adam Selzer (She & Him, M.Ward), and mixed by Andy Lemaster (REM, Bright Eyes). The band also spent a good deal of time writing and recording at their home studio. Berk says of that experience, “Everyone involved was a total delight to work with. I’ve known Andy since I was 18 – he produced some of my first two albums and has always been a hero of mine – so it was a dream come true to work with him again.”
“Carolyn Berk’s Lovers has had many incarnations over the years, but something stuck when the project coalesced into a meaty, synth-driven three-piece: the intensity upped, understated love songs became huge dance-club anthems and the trio’s live show became a must-see.” - Willamette Week
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