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Our friends at the Pine Haven Collective beat us to it and got the scoop on Find, a cool new vintage store on at 16 Free Street here in Portland. Reports have already come in from a few folks who picked up great stuff there in the first few days since the opening. A few other notes for your weekend: Rain getting you down? It’s getting Ray Lamontagne and the Machigonne Festival tonight down as well – the whole thing has been moved from the Maine State Pier to the roomier and dryer Civic Center. A benefit show to help fund the PICNIC Music & Arts Fest in a couple weeks is happening tonight at SPACE Gallery. 5 bands, $5. [note: the band I play in, Marie Stella, is playing PICNIC and tonight's benefit show.] In more PICNIC and HillyTown-related news, the newly launched Maine Magazine has a nice mention of Portland Pins – we’ll have a table set up at PICNIC with the pin-dispensing bubble gum machines and some extra special pin fun times for the occasion. Last week’s Phoenix Music Seen gives some much-deserved loved to [dog] and [pony], who’ve been doing a great job lately with the HillyTown OFFStage videos and their own local music blogging. Do yourself a favor and make that a regular read.
It’s been a long, fun month for HillyTown. Thanks to all the bands who played the OFFStage free concert series at SPACE Gallery, Otto for the pizza deals, the artists who designed posters, Allen West for doing sound for pizza and cranberry juice, everybody who volunteered at the events, and everybody who came out to enjoy the free shows! Here are photos from the final one this past Wednesday, which featured White Light, Blood Warrior, and Mark Summers. Mark Summers White Light Blood Warrior Mark Summers
Last night I took the 20 minute drive from Portland to Biddeford for a couple of firsts. The occasion was Blood Warrior‘s first show in Maine (they’ll be playing second at tonight’s final installment of the HillyTown OFFStage at SPACE free concert series). I’d been enjoying the two tracks available on their myspace page for some time now, but their live performance brought even more energy and a spooky element to the music, enhanced by twin film projectors show overlapping images on the band and the wall behind them. Don’t miss them tonight, right after White Light (which includes the two members of South China, who also played last night and whose music is very well-suited to a listening room such as the Hogfarm). That other first that I mentioned was my first trip to the new Hogfarm Studios Annex. It’s a great space in downtown Biddeford, hidden away down a hallway in an unassuming Main Street building. The room itself is pretty simple, a large rectangular shape which you enter right next to the stage, with cozy seating (chairs, benches, etc) scattered throughout the space, and a small but great counter at the back which serves snacks, drinks, and sandwiches. It’s definitely worth the drive to experience a show in this great new space.
The past three Wednesdays have been a lot of fun, as each week three bands have played free shows on the floor at SPACE Gallery. Thanks so much to all the bands who’ve participated in this experiment, and everybody who has been coming out each week to enjoy the shows! Tomorrow sees the finale of the series, with what may be the oddest pairing off all. The show will begin with doors (and free pizza from Otto) at 7pm. Bands will be White Light, Blood Warrior (new o’death-related project playing their first shows this week, tonight they’re in Biddeford at Hogfarm Annex), and finally, Mark Summers. I figured that since the series started hard with Haru Bangs, it should probably go out with something a little loud and thrashy as well. Thanks to Jenny McGee Dougherty for the poster (above)! [dog] and [pony] has the first of three HillyTown Presents videos they’re producing available now, featuing Boxy, Haru Bangs, and Jesse Pilgrim, from the first two shows in this series. Great work all around over there so please take some time to check out their whole site. Did you catch the show last week? From Dead End Armory‘s recently re-trio-ed lineup to Happy Machines‘ electro fuzz pop to the excellent Phantom Buffalo/Computer At Sea collaboration, it was a bit of a dream lineup. I gotta say, it was pretty exciting when Phantom Computers launched into the song “A Hilly Town.” Time to vote for the 2009 We Push Buttons awards. There are a lot of DJs in there that I’m not familiar with (and of course some tough choices among the ones I do know), but I’m sure that many of you out there have spent enough time on the dancefloors around town to know who you favor. Most interesting competition? Computer At Sea is up again Alias (among others) for best electronic act. We had a great time at the first KahBang Music & Art Festival up in Bangor, Maine this weekend (Saturday, August 15, 2009). Check out the full photo gallery (it’s a big one, 90 photos strong) here.
It was no surprise that Matt & Kim would be a highlight (if you haven’t seen them, they put on a fun, highly energized show, always full of crowd-pleasing interaction and mile-wide-smiles), but they weren’t the only memorable act of the day. I was personally very impressed by The Gay Blades (all promotional associations aside, I was already a fan of their music and had high hopes for their performance), as they took a mostly indifferent crowd and turned them into fans hungry for more, bringing some onstage during their set to play percussion. The fact that their friend April Smith (who’d already played earlier on the main stage) joined them a few times certainly added to their set. Ra Ra Riot and Royal Bangs brought really enjoyable, tight sets to the main stage, but the real standout was clearly Ida Maria, whose caustic (drunk) set inspired a lot of shrieking and chearing from the crowd, most of whom lined up for autographs at the merch tent afterwards. The local bands who played earlier in the day all did a great job, bringing the energy up despite a slow build to the crowd. It would have been great to see some more bands from Maine play, or maybe an additional small/acoustic stage to get even more great local artists involved, but all in all KahBang got off to a great start this year, and everyone involved deserves congratulations (and your attendance next year!) Check out the KahBang Music Fest ’09 photo gallery.
As we get into the third installment of the our month-long Wednesday night free, all ages concert series, OFFStage @ SPACE, we reach a very special one. This show’s headliners are calling themselves Phantom Computers (and as you can see in Annie Godfrey Larmon‘s poster for the event, a Buffalo At Sea provides the other half of the clue to just what that band might be) and the collaboration they have in store should be pretty special. Rumor has it that the song that inspired this very website’s name may be involved. The middle act of the night is an out-of-town band once again, this time Happy Machines from Red Bank, NJ. They’re a super fun electro-fuzz pop duo who I’ve wanted to get up to Portland for some time now, and it was finally able to happen. Don’t miss them. Get a preview of them in action here (I’ll be expecting awesome dancing like the fan in the video at the show tonight). Opening the show are Dead End Armory, the ever-evolving Wesley Hartley-front rock trio. See you tonight! So, who else is heading up to Bangor for KahBang! tomorrow? I’m anticipating a Portland field trip. Congrats to Christian for winning our Gay Blades-sponsored contest! I haven’t tried it yet, but if there’s pulled pork in Monument Square, I’m there. In band-personell-shifting-news, Dead Man’s Clothes is now down to a trio, including Ian Riley (Anna’s Ghost drummer) on bass, Boxy have added Chad Chamberlain on guitar/bass, and Lady Lamb The Beekeeper is now Aly Spaltro and a drummer (somebody please remind me of his name) who made their debut at Empire last night. Oh, and I might as well mention that Marie Stella (the band I play in) is down one Boardman and one Ladybeast, and up one Jon Donnell (plus there’s a song to listen to now). On sale tomorrow morning: Kelly Clarkson @ Civic Center and Sufjan Stevens @ PCMH. Hit that. Despite catching the openers, I couldn’t stick around for Grand Hotel‘s record-release performance last night. Though I’ve enjoyed singer Kyle Gervais in the roles of Wayne Coyne and Kurt Cobain at Clash Of The Titans, this review didn’t do much to entice me to stay out. I definitely plan to give the band a chance, but last night just wasn’t my time. Would anybody who was there care to share their thoughts on the show? I know I’ve been a bit preoccupied this month, but can you blame me? The second installment of my OFFStage @ SPACE Gallery free, all ages concert series saw the addition of another fun aspect to the events: a Door Yard Sale in the front lobby. On your way in and out of the shows, stop by and check out the goods being sold (for super cheap!) to help the DoorYard art collective afford to keep paying their rent! Also, don’t forget to take a look at the Portland Pins machine over by the bar! Thanks to the bands who played: Jesse Pilgrim played a few songs solo before being joined by his band (minus drummer Derek, who was unfortunately sick), Dan Wholey (along with Liz and Caroline from Earth People Orchestra) wowed the crowd with a seated, candlelit set of beautiful folk pop songs, and the ever-expanding and refreshingly exuberant collective Panda Bandits ended the night with an eclectic performance with a rotating cast of lead singers, instruments, and theatrics. A few photos below:
Also check out Sam Cousins’ photos from this event. Next week is a big one: Phantom Computers, Happy Machines, and Dead End Armory. Again, there will be free pizza from Otto (get there right at 7 if you want in on that, it goes fast)! Remember the contest I’m running? Yup, the one where you can win two passes to the KahBang Fest in Bangor this Saturday just by emailing me! Go look at the pretty picture of The Gay Blades and follow the directions to email me and then at exactly 1:30pm today I will randomly select one winner from all the submissions. Being clever in your email is great, but doesn’t actually affect your chances at winning. Good luck! |
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