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 . . . → Read More: What This Week Was, What’s Coming]]> 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)!

Let’s start with the big news: in celebration of this little website’s first year on the internet, I’m throwing a party. Well, a bunch of parties, actually. Let’s just call it a music series. Specifically, the HillyTown OFFStage @SPACE Concert Series.

Every Wednesday . . . → Read More: Roundup, Pins, August Concert Series Announcement [June 27-July 3]]]> Pull up a chair, this is gonna be a long one.

Let’s start with the big news: in celebration of this little website’s first year on the internet, I’m throwing a party. Well, a bunch of parties, actually. Let’s just call it a music series. Specifically, the HillyTown OFFStage @SPACE Concert Series.

Every Wednesday in August, HillyTown presents a free, all ages concert at SPACE Gallery, beginning at 7pm. Bands will play on the floor, and you’ll hear new local groups, check out great touring acts, and see some of your favorites in ways you never expected. Here’s what we’ve got in the works:

8/5 – Boxy (new Portland band, first show) + Theodore Treehouse [Washington, DC] + Haru Bangs

8/12 – Panda Bandits + Dan Wholey (Earth People Orchestra) [Boston, MA] + Jesse Pilgrim

8/19 – Phantom Computers (actual name TBD) + Happy Machines [Red Bank, NJ] + Dead End Armory

8/26 – White Light + Blood Warrior [Brooklyn, NY] + Mark Summers

We’ll have posters and more fun details about this concert series in the coming weeks!

Though it’s not technically a HillyTown Presents show (I am a little uncomfortable with putting the name on shows for which I book my own band), I’m exceptionally proud of putting together Clues and Goes Cube, with Marie Stella opening at Empire on July 31. Let’s call that the unofficial kickoff of the HillyTown Year One Extravaganza of Awesome.

It was also a pleasure to get to add a listing (I did not organize the show) for my friends the Two Man Gentlemen Band to the calendar (far off though it is), as they’ll be visiting SPACE Gallery after their tour with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, & John Mellencamp this summer. Exciting!

Hey, it’s the First Friday in July! You know what that means – Art Walk time!

• Portland Pins is back again for round two, with a new machine dispensing wearable, one-of-a-kind local art for just $.25 at the excellent Coast City Comics/Fun Box Monster Emporium (656 Congress St., Portland) debuting tonight.
• Tonight will be the last Tower Of Song for a while – apparently there are some changes going on at the building on the corner of Congress and High, but they hope to return before long.
• As reported by the PHC and HFIWK, local rock show poster dude Timothy Ellis Cole has a show going up today at The White Heart. He’s done some great work for SPACE and other venues and artists around Portland.
• What else are you looking forward to for the Art Walk tonight?

Before we get into it, might I share with you this late-notice bit of HillyTown housekeeping from the department of live music, or HillyTown Presents. On Saturday, June 20, we’re bringing you Strand Of Oaks, Matt Bauer, and Tin Ceilings with an evening of music at Zero Station. Details here.

We spent a marathon pin-making night with Kris Johnsen of Emblem Studio (and additional help from Jess from SPACE) getting ready for the debut of the Portland Pins project this weekend. Stop by Eli-Phant (253 Congress St., Portland) tonight on the First Friday Art Walk for the opening of their Unkle Thirsty exhibit and . . . → Read More: Spin Me Right Roundup [May 30-June 5]]]>

We spent a marathon pin-making night with Kris Johnsen of Emblem Studio (and additional help from Jess from SPACE) getting ready for the debut of the Portland Pins project this weekend. Stop by Eli-Phant (253 Congress St., Portland) tonight on the First Friday Art Walk for the opening of their Unkle Thirsty exhibit and check out the results of the project. With all of the great contributions we received, you stand to get some amazing one-of-a-kind artwork on a pin for just 25 cents (which can actually get you up to 3 pins sometimes). This weekend marks Eli-Phant’s one year anniversary, so the excitement continues with a party tomorrow!

On to the listage:

• The Point is posting much more frequently now, apparently fueled by the local music scene controversies they started recently. They even got a response from Chris Gray in this week’s Phoenix.
• Speaking of our city’s weekly paper, their music awards show on Wednesday was quite a spectacle. The Asylum was crowded with the whole spectrum of Portland’s music scene, along with a fancifully decked out newspaper staff (men in white jackets, ladies in red dresses) who were all packed elbow to elbow to chow down on free pizza, wings, salty crab balls (catchphrase of the event, for sure), and an assortment of cheeses. Oh, and there were performers and some sort of prizes given out. Many of the winners were about as predicted (both for good and bad), but some of the surprises (and overdue victories) made the night even more exciting.
• Last night we, and just about everybody else in town who goes out to see live music, headed to the Nickelodeon to catch the 48 Hour Music Festival documentary. Director David Camlin took on a huge project and put it all together masterfully. Following the process of organizing the project and putting the bands together was much more compelling than the final sequence with the live show footage (the afterparty footage was probably best left out, thankfully), but fans of the bands (or friends) will enjoy the DVD, which includes the entire concert. When you’re done Artwalking tonight, get to Geno’s to see some of the bands born out of this project, while helping the guys raise some funds for this great project!
• Our friends at the Pine Haven Collective have an art show – Revival – opening down at ellO Gallery in Portsmouth, in case you’re the state border-crossing type.
• Apparently the Blink-182/Fall Out Boy show at the Civic center is being postponed from the previously announced August 8th date. Don’t cry too much.

Since this isn’t actually Portland related at all (oh wait, there was that awesome Sonic Youth/Pixies Clash Of The Titans this week, right), it goes outside the list. Next week is Sonic Youth week on Pitchfork TV. Yes, please.

It’s been a long week, in so many ways. Summer seemed to announce its arrival, as friends cut their pants into shorts (perhaps a pre-emptive tailoring strike, seeing as how the cold and wet weather keeps trying to weasel back in), and the Tower Of Song Festival went off without incident, though perhaps brighter . . . → Read More: Roundup, Heatin’ Up, Almost. [May 23-29]]]>

It’s been a long week, in so many ways. Summer seemed to announce its arrival, as friends cut their pants into shorts (perhaps a pre-emptive tailoring strike, seeing as how the cold and wet weather keeps trying to weasel back in), and the Tower Of Song Festival went off without incident, though perhaps brighter skies would have brought the art-and-music lovers out in stronger numbers.

We tried to give El Rayo Taqueria a trial run, only to find that they were closing at 4pm for their first week. Weak. Guess we’ll just have to wait to see if this review holds up.

Where we failed in taco consumption, we scored with cookies. Biscuit Wakefield’s second cookie review brought us to Hilltop Coffee Shop.

Our anonymous blog-friends at The Portland Point stepped on some toes with their unfavorable review of the Honey Clouds record release show at SPACE last weekend. Their post may have been harsh, but the discussion it sparked is sort of priceless.

The Portland Pins Project is up and running and very much in need of your (artistic) contributions. We want to have as many submissions as possible turned in by Wednesday, June 3, so we can have it ready to debut at Eli-Phant on First Friday!

This weekend? Jukebox make piano pop awesome, we predict a Kurtz victory against Saindon if the battle comes to shredding, Isobell has some strong local power supporting their release show, Moneycastasia are calling it quits, and Kurtis Blow is stopping by Portland.

Bonus: just noticed The Lemonheads on the PCMH calendar for July 1! Nice.

Some input: would you like to see the header image around here change to another Portland scene? It’s been a year with the Eastern Prom, maybe it’s time to give the West End a little love through the seasons? Suggestions welcome in the comments.