Jyoti Roy

Live Recordings, TV-clips, & Roadmovie

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:01:00 +0000

There is no doubting the strong influence the (mostly) female Swiss band Kleenex (later renamed Liliput) had on current feminist post-punk rock movements like Riot Grrrl. Their brief period of activity was between 1979-1983, (in which they went through many line-up changes), but the band’s music is anything but dated, standing the test of time and a testament to their innovative and influential sound.

Live recordings aren’t always the best representation of a band’s sound—especially when it comes to avant-garde punk music—when even studio recordings can be a bit grainy and under-produced and aurally challenging (rightly so, as it is punk rock!). What live recordings often capture is the spirit of a particular time serving as documentation and historical reference. This is important for all music, yet especially so for obscure, underground bands that helped shaped musical history but have the potential to fall through the cracks. This is why the Kill Rock Stars CD/DVD release of Kleenex/Liliput’s Live Recordings, TV-Clips, & Roadmovie is an important one.

Compared heavily with The Slits, Kleenex/Liliput have a similar tribal/mid-paced punk sound, with funky bass lines, trebled slightly out of tune guitars, sometimes saxophone, and layered female vocals ranging from the nonsensical baby gibberish to the strong, shrill, and assertive (think Kathleen Hanna of Le Tigre and Bikini Kill). If you have not heard their music before, then a better introduction would be the Kill Rock Stars 2001 re-issue of a double CD containing all of the band’s studio recorded songs.

This current release, which contains two live shows, one recorded in Biel in 1979 (when the band was Kleenex) and one, as Liliput, recorded in Zurich in 1983, has that grainy archival quality best reserved for established fans and music history buffs. Not that the sound is terrible; I was actually surprised at the quality, which is another testament to the band’s awesomeness—sloppy enough to be punk rock, but still bearing the hallmarks of good musicianship, and what would have been an awesome live show. The accompanying DVD contains three songs from when the band was Kleenex in 1978 and three from when they were Liliput. It is again interesting to watch as historical documentation, but to be fair, some of it can be found on YouTube.

Overall, this is an excellent and important release from Kill Rock Stars. You will definitely gain feminist punk points having it in your CD collection, but you probably won’t bust it out as often as the aforementioned discography.

Written by: Jyoti Roy, June 4th 2010

Brainscan #24 and #25

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Alex Wrekk

Putting one’s life on display is, in essence, quite a courageous act. Yet in this time of reality television, it is becoming more of a norm, infused with a sense of banality. Thank goodness for zines, where our need to know intimate details of strangers’ lives is a collaboration of intelligence between people who actually think about stuff, write with a purpose, and use their experiences to connect, grow, and reach out to their community.

Brainscan is an extremely personal zine. Its author, Alex Wrekk, is a zine superstar, and rightly so. Author of the popular how-to guide of zine-making, Stolen Sharpie Revolution, over fifteen years of zine-making under her belt, and the most intimate details of her life photocopied, stapled, and mailed around the world, this is a woman committed to taking her experiences in life and putting them on display in a way that is not for ratings or profit. Rather, she does it for the love of writing, creating, and sharing.

The most recent issues of Brainscan, #24 and #25, (which come as a set when ordered from Alex’s site Small World Buttons) are quite different from each other yet enjoyable in their own ways.

Brainscan #24 is a small collection of vignettes containing snippets from Wrekk’s life, such as her love for good beer and why her zine is called Brainscan. They are musings that give a good overview of Wrekk’s thoughts and attitudes without delving very deeply into any particular subject, making it a quick read and a nice sneak peak into someone else’s brain.

Brainscan #25, on the other hand, is much weightier, and concentrates on the story of Wrekk finding her way back to her true love, Paul, after being in an abusive marriage and growing exponentially as a person. Issue #21 of Brainscan is widely known throughout the zine community as it detailed the breakup of Wrekk’s marriage and is celebrated as a courageous story of overcoming abuse. This current issue touches on some of those subjects but is more of a celebration of finding the strength to love and being true to your heart.

The zine sometimes gets a bit painfully intimate to read, bordering on too much information, but it leaves you breathless with its honesty. It is constructed nicely, both visually and thematically, with flashbacks of Wrekk’s early relationship with Paul interspersed through a chronological telling of the dissolution of her marriage, and journey through learning to love herself and other people in new and radical ways.

Grammar and spell-check go out the window, on par with the zine making genre which rebels in both content and construction to mainstream publishing norms. Reading Brainscan is like you have gone into Wrekk’s house, sat on her bed, and read her diary, but she invites this intimacy, keeping no secrets. This style of writing is extremely feminist as it takes subjects women are told to keep hidden and be ashamed of and puts them out into the world, with a sense of acknowledgment and pride in personal growth, and the sharing of stories, in turn facilitating community dialogue.

Written by: Jyoti Roy, June 3rd 2010

A Cave, A Canoo

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:59:00 +0000

By Shelley Short

Hush Records

The deliberate mis-spelling of canoo in the title and opening track of singer-songwriter Shelley Short’s third album is never really explained, but makes sense on an unstated level. The phonetics on this album take center stage in attempting to interpret literal meanings to ambiguously dreamy lyrics. A Cave, A Canoo is a lovely, lulling album that does not shock or surprise in any way. Though the music is subtle and stripped down, large warm layers of instrumentation divert one down different streams. This allows the listener to drift along with the reverb-heavy guitar plucks and nostalgic vocals that are akin to Patsy Cline or Dusty Springfield, yet have a light, girlish edge that makes them more playful than melancholy or dramatic.

Recorded at her home in Portland, OR, A Cave, A Canoo has a distinct intimacy. Proudly described in the local newspaper, The Oregonian, as “Portland’s brand of kooky, curious charm,” there is an unmistakable Portland-y vibe. The music has an abundance of talented, dedicated, and humbled musicians who still value creativity over commercial success, and both reflects and invokes the gray, misty ambiance of the Pacific Northwest, which, perhaps because of the weather, pushes one to internal reflection. Sounds of rain on the tracks were mistaken by me for it beginning to fall outside.

The presence of accordion, stand-up bass, piano, and percussion takes individual tracks to different levels—jazz, folk, country, blues—yet merely nods in these directions rather than make a huge departure from the overall comfortable country treble tones. The collaboration with other musicians does not affect the somewhat solitary quality of the album. Other voices and sounds are merely carried on a breeze as Short paddles gently along through her songs.

With this in mind, A Cave, A Canoo is an album best listened to on ones own time. The reflective and hypnotic quality of the songs has the ability to quash all conversation except, perhaps, the internal ones. A Cave, A Canoo invites you into Short's internal conversations where sounds are more important than the accuracy of spellings.

Written by: Jyoti Roy, January 15th 2010

Musicfest Northwest (9/19/2009)

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:53:00 +0000

Rotture

Portland, Oregon

If you ever hear anyone doubt that women can rock you should tell them to shut up and listen to Team Dresch. One of the most influential bands from the mid-90s riot grrrl and queercore movements, Team Dresch released their first album Personal Best in 1995, stopped playing in 1998, reunited in 2004, and have only played a handful of shows since. So I knew this show in their hometown of Portland, OR was going to be a good one!

Every year The Willamette Week, a local free weekly in Portland, hosts a music festival called Music Fest Northwest (MFNW), and the Team Dresch show was one of the many that happened over five days in various venues across the city. While the spreading out of shows across the town means that one has to really pick and choose what bands they want to see. Some venues are 21+ and some, once they reach capacity, will not let you in even if you have bought the $60 wristband, so it’s not worth leaving one venue you have already made it inside. Big festivals attract bigger names, and since it doesn’t just happen at one big expensive club, getting there early is the only way to ensure you get in.

While big acts are the draw for any music festival (this year featured Modest Mouse, Black Francis, Bad Brains, Girl Talk, and the Get Up Kids), MFNW draws from the rich Portland music scene, of course, with Team Dresch one of the many Portland-based acts. Although I missed the opening band, I arrived during the set of another local band called Lovers. I had not seen them live before and had only heard about them recently, as they just released their fourth album, I Am the West, in April. I was captivated by the melancholy electro-pop and emotive vocals, and it's unfortunate that I only got to hear a few songs. They are definitely a band I am going to check out again.

Next up was Erase Errata, a notorious experimental No Wave band from San Francsico. If Team Dresch weren’t playing and Erase Errata headlined, this show would have been large enough, so the addition of the elusive queercore superstars made the packed, relatively small venue teem with energy. (I also love attending rock shows where women outnumber boys five to one. It is such a great feeling!) Erase Errata riled up the crowd with their political, half-improvised, dance-tastic songs, and by the time Team Dresch hit the stage everyone was significantly buzzed. I was not in the mosh pit, which I kind of regret, but standing back and watching the amazing musicianship and show(wo)manship of Team Dresch was as electrifying and inspiring as when I first heard Personal Best all those years ago. (Had I seen them live then I would have been more likely to stage dive and slam my-sweaty-self against the stage!)

They rocked like the best rock stars; they played their instruments better than most boys I know; and they reminded me how important music, especially female-driven punk rock music, is to feminism. (Okay, I am biased, but there is really something about women expressing anger, playing loud music, and just generally kicking ass in areas they are brought up thinking they can’t that makes me really happy.) But the most inspiring thing of all is that this band that seemed to have reached its peak over ten years ago is still going strong today.

Written by: Jyoti Roy, September 28th 2009

Who’s Afraid of Kathy Acker?

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Directed by Barbara Caspar

Fragile Films

Finally, a documentary on legendary writer Kathy Acker, whose influence on sex-positive, brazen, post-modern feminist literature and art is unsurpassed. Perhaps there would have been no Riot Grrrl movement if Acker had not spoken to a young Kathleen Hanna. Hanna recalls that “Acker asked me why writing was important to me, and I said, ‘Because I felt like I’d never been listened to and I had a lot to say,’ and she said, ‘Then why are you doing spoken word?? No one goes to spoken word shows! You should get in a band’.”

Who’s Afraid of Kathy Acker? contains interviews with well known icons like Hanna and Semiotext(e) publisher Sylvere Lotringer, yet also features young female students who all give different interpretations on Acker’s work and influence on their writing. There are also, of course, family members, ex-lovers, friends, and peers who all give insight into the life, work, and early death of Kathy Acker, who died in 1997 from breast cancer.

Acker, covered in tattoos and piercings, with her shaved head and a gold tooth, was a punk rock literary genius. Her experimental, post-modern writing reflected the anger, struggle for power, vulnerability, and schizophrenia of being a strong, sexually deviant woman in a patriarchal society. She turned male literature on its head by re-writing several misogynist texts from the perspective of women. Her characters blur gender and are not constrained by space, time, or death. Acker saw language as a system similar to capitalism and patriarchy—therefore, one to be deconstructed. Her work was cut-up, non-linear, sexually explicit, offensive, and sometimes nonsensical. Banned in some countries and derided by some feminists, the true genius of Acker’s work emerges in the differing of opinion and interpretation of it.

Like all good biographical documentaries, we see glimpses of Acker’s early life through photographs and archival footage as well as interviews. We also get to see her naked and masturbating in an art film she made in college! But this documentary is experimental in its own right, reflecting the cut-up, post-modern nature of Acker’s writing, through techniques like animation and voice-overs, arty shots with text across them while interviewees talk behind it, pornographic clips, and ambient electronic and punk music. It all combines to create a non-linear telling of Acker’s life story and brilliant mind.

At eighty-four minutes, it is a long biographical documentary, sometimes meandering in repetition and its own artfulness. A straight-up story of Acker’s life could have been contained in less time. Yet anyone familiar with Acker’s work knows that would not have been an appropriate homage to a writer whose work is still a huge influence on experimental writing and feminist theory.

My only irritation with the film was the interviews with the young students, which, although interspersed within the entire documentary, open the film, creating a vague and confusing introduction to an extremely dynamic person’s life. The presence of the students also breaks the flow and feels disconnected from the rest of the documentary. Perhaps, as a nod to Acker, that was intentional. In any case, as with Acker’s work, you may get confused, annoyed, enthralled, offended, and turned on by this documentary. It is a great portrait of a life and mind that should never be forgotten.

Written by: Jyoti Roy, July 19th 2009

Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:35:00 +0000

By Jayanti Tamm

Harmony Books

Don’t be fooled by the somewhat whimsical title of Jayanti Tamm’s memoir Cartwheels in a Sari; this account of a young woman’s life as "growing up cult" couples the childlike innocence of a cartwheel with the feeling of inertia and tumbling; she sums this up in a passage from the end of the book: "The inversion of my body, losing track of gravity and direction, was disorienting and delirious. From my vantage point, I saw Guru and all of the disciples upside-down, and no one else had... I did not know which was the correct way."

Nothing in the way of goat slaughtering or the sexual abuse, as some may associate with the dark ideas of cults, Jayanti Tamm’s experience of being born into the Sri Chinmoy Center is a more subtle meditation on the struggle with spiritual meaning and the hypocrisy of being and 'enlightened' yet blind follower. Sri Chinmoy, who passed away in 2007, was a charismatic Indian "Guru" who lived in the Bronx. He gained notoriety in the late '80s through weightlifting stunts and spiritual friendships with celebrities such as Carlos Santana and Richard Gere. Sri Chinmoy, or "Guru," as he is referred throughout the book, essentially arranged the marriage of the two strangers who would become Tammi’s parents. Although they were married, sex was not allowed, but Tamm was conceived anyway. Through his ability to spin great PR, Guru blessed the embarrassing arrival of Tamm by calling her his "Chosen One."

Throughout the memoir, one sees Tamm struggle with the yearning for spiritual harmony with the ideas of peace and love being spoken about around her and the everyday reality of observing the strange behaviours and hypocrisy of Guru’s followers. As her parents were too preoccupied with their own devotion—yet aware of their own hypocrisy in conceiving her—Tamm was allowed relative freedom and attended public schools. As an intelligent young woman whose heart was open to the world around her, Tamm grows up to search for something real. Her story is one with which we can all connect, even if we did not grow up with hour long meditations; having television, boys, and dancing banned; singing songs in a language we didn’t know; wearing saris to New York public schools; and being the Chosen One for a famous Guru. Tamm was a black sheep, the one who questioned her place in the world and saw things in ways the other people around her did not. More than anything, she wanted to find truth and meaning in a mixed up world.

Tamm's anecdotes are moving and often funny. The memoir reads like a friend telling you crazy stories at a bar with the privilege of distance from what they felt at the time. We go up and down with her as she struggles to leave the cult, returns, is exiled to France, and is eventually expelled from the Sri Chinmoy Center in her twenties. From such a strange upbringing, Tamm seems relatively well-adjusted and is very open, thoughtful, and honest about the shaping of her ideas and personality. With a poignant ending, Cartwheels in a Sari offers a unique view of one woman's effort to find meaning, hope, and a place to belong.

Written by: Jyoti Roy, April 14th 2009

Almost a Demo

admin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:12:00 +0000

By Cryptic Shade

The first track on Cryptic Shade’s three-song demo opens with a burst of dramatic metal, evil chords droning with heavy drum beats, and wailing guitar licks in the background. Then it tones down to an almost acoustic sounding guitar with some evil metal chord chugs in the background. Then the vocals come in and turn your idea of what this band is around. Here is a female voice almost sweet, amazingly melodic, that stands out over the music—still discordant, but more bluesy than metal.

The bridge of the track is what impresses most, when vocalist Tina Woods (previously of Necro Dolly and the Jesus Death Machine) switches effortlessly from her bluesy vocals to an intense metal growl that seem more typical for the style of music being played. After this burst of purely evil vocal acrobatics Woods moves back into her bluesy beauty, and this time it seems to fit better as you get a sense of the music the band composes. Cryptic Shade are not trying to be your typical heavy metal band; they have an eclectic sound that brings together a wide variety of influences that, as listed on their MySpace page, range from John Denver to Dream Theater, Marty Friedman to Megadeth.

The music is decidedly heavy and driving, pretty much straight-up metal played very well and very, very tightly. The musical prowess is impressive. Yet without the unique vocal stylings of Tina Woods, they could easily blend into the countless other metal bands that are equally good at what they do. This world is not short of long-haired guys that have spent most of their lives emulating their heroes and now shred on guitar. Tina’s dark yet beautiful vocals make this band stand out, even for people who may not typically listen to this genre of music, and the band’s combined musical talent makes it an interesting listen to anyone who appreciates good music.

This is not to say it is toned down metal—not in the least. They are completely brutal, and I can imagine you would leave one of their live shows with bleeding ears. The combination of two guitars makes for a very, very heavy sound with the complex riffs of rhythm and lead, and absolutely awesome guitar solos.

I can see that straddling this strange place—super brutal heavy metal with complex female vocals—could alienate both serious metal listeners and those who shy away from the heaviness of the genre. But with their talent, dedication, and uniqueness, this could be their edge. Hailing from Portland, Oregon—a city mostly known for twee indie rock—the brutal and unique sounds of Cryptic Shade are worth a listen.

Written by: Jyoti Roy, April 2nd 2009

Talking Funny With Jennie McNulty

admin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 11:30:00 +0000

Interview with Jennie McNulty

Jennie McNulty is a stand-up comedian and professional football player who can be seen every Monday hosting LOGO’s "Walking Funny with Jennie McNulty," on which she interviews female comedians and sports personalities while taking them on a power walk. She recently chatted (over the phone, sitting down) with Elevate Difference about how laughter and exercise are especially important in these tough economic times.

How did you decide to become a stand-up comedian?

I had gone to school and got a degree in psychology. Then I went back and got a Master's degree in kinesiology, and right after I graduated, my parents moved down to Florida. I didn’t want to go with them, so I got a job in a research lab. Because I had played sports my whole life, I was never into theatre, but I always liked it, and I wanted to do something in the entertainment field.

So I was working in a lab, and I loved my job, loved everyone there. It was really fun. I was working with this guy who was going through this little mid-life crisis. We were really similar in our personalities, and I thought, “God, that’s me in, like, ten or twenty years if I don’t try to do something in entertainment.” I had always thought I was funny, and I made my friends laugh and stuff, but I was making people in this research lab laugh too. I thought, “Well maybe this really is funny.”

I watched a few open mic nights, and some of those people looked like they had lost a bet or something. I thought I could do at least that well. [I was telling] one of the guys at the lab that I wanted to do this open mic night, but I didn’t have any material. He goes, “You know what? You don’t need any material. You’re funny. You make people laugh. You just need to practice in front of people.” I just signed up one day and gave it a shot, and it worked really well. I had a good set, and I kept doing it and doing it and doing it. When the guy I was working for in the lab got a job at a university in Milwaukee and moved out there, I was able to collect unemployment and go around the country to showcase at different clubs. I’ve been doing comedy ever since.

Did you find the scene was more male-dominated at this time?

Oh god. Yeah. It was horrible. Back then, if you called up and talked to a club owner and you were like, “Hey. I’m going to be in your area. Do you have any gigs available?” They’d be like, “No, we already have a female on the show.” The funny part to that was that I did all kinds of sports stuff. I talked about football, so I had had far more in common with the guys, material-wise, than I did with women.

Anytime there were more than three female acts on the show it would be billed as this big special event—and it still, to some extent, is—but you don’t get as much of the, ”Oh, we’ve already got two women on the show.” They would do the same thing to the black, male comedians. They just assume that women are all gonna talk about man-bashing and periods. But they would think nothing of putting three white guys on the show. It’s always been a male field, and it’s getting a little better, but I think people are still surprised when then find a woman funny.

Do you think it’s getting better now that there are more female comedians in the public eye?

I think that’s part of it, but I’d also like to think that it’s because women are starting to be seen more in all realms. We are starting to see ourselves more as doctors and attorneys, although when you go to a doctor’s appointment there is still a tendency to use a male pronoun. So we’ve got a ways to go, but I think the fact that so many of us are successful, that Roseanne Barr and Ellen and Rosie have been funny and stood the test of time, that it really opens doors for people. When younger people see the Rosies and Ellens during the time they’re growing up, then it’s sort of more natural. But it is still a boy’s network; there is no question about that.

What did you think of Tina Fey's portrayal of Sarah Palin on SNL?

I think [Sarah Palin] set [women] back a few years. (Laughs.) I think what Fey’s brilliant portrayal of Sarah Palin did was illuminate how good Hillary Clinton is. You look at all of these great women in power—Nancy Pelosi, Madeline Albright—and all those women have been strong, smart, political powerhouses. I don’t think that Sarah Palin is a good role model for women, so let us not be judged by that one!

I found it interesting that the latest issues of Curve, Bust, and Bitch magazines all had cover stories or features of ‘funny women’. Do you think there is a kind of resurgence or shift happening that is making feminist/queer/women’s media cover comedy?

I think that what is going on economically in this country is killing us, and we all need to look at something to make us laugh. So we turn to our comedians and our comics, the court jesters of the day, and it so happens that some of the top ones that people know now are women. These magazines focus on women because they are aimed at women, but we are turning to comedy because we need it. Our country is a mess. We need to lift our spirits.

Going back to comic stereotypes, are there assumptions made about your work because you are queer?

Unfortunately, yes. You get categorized and put on the “gay show” or something. For me, it is so important for us, as a gay community, to be out there and be seen. My show is fairly palatable; I am not that edgy. I mean, I get my points across, but I try to do it in a way that people don’t even really know that they get the point until afterward. If I get stereotyped as a “gay comic” then so be it.

In terms of the gay community supporting me, I can’t complain. I do a lot of the Olivia trips, or people see me on LOGO and they come out to see my show. I don’t mind that at all, even if it keeps me out of a "straight" show here and there, because I think it is far more important that we get accepted in our culture.

You live in Los Angeles, California. What was your reaction to the Proposition 8 debacle?

I was actually on an Olivia tour, and watching the election was amazing. There were several hundred lesbians watching a big screen as the elections went down. Everyone was just screaming and crying when Barack Obama won, just so overjoyed. Then when Prop 8 went down, it was just such a punch in the gut. It was so demoralizing that we could take such a huge step forward, and yet we are not that forward. I had not heard there were protests going on, so when I got back I was really energized by that.

In a way, losing Prop 8 kind of did us a favor. It really got people motivated. This is an issue of civil rights, not just moral rights. I think that when it goes to the courts we will win it back. Protests were going on for more than seven days straight so when I got back I attended some of those protests, and I felt really good about it. It was very empowering to be in that groundswell, that movement of people coming together to support a cause.

What is living in LA like for you?

It’s great! LA is what you make of it. There is certainly the share of crazy, plastic people out here who are just really transparent, but there are a lot of really great people. The weather is nice. You can go skiing up in the mountains, surfing at the beach. You can go to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, and there are several different canyons and wooded areas. It’s got anything you want.

Is being a TV or movie star on your agenda?

(Laughs.) Oh, sister, I’m trying! I’m hoping that this “Walking Funny” thing can be seen on a larger scale. I love being on AfterEllen.com. It’s really fun, but I would like to get it out there to more people. I have had a bunch of people write me and say, "Hey, thanks. I started watching your blog, and it really inspired me to start walking again. Now I’m running in this 5km race.” People have lost twenty or thirty pounds. It’s really cool to know that I’m doing a talk show, but also helping people get out there and get physical. I have loved sports all my life, so it’s a big part of my life.

How do your guests on “Walking Funny” react to the power walk?

I keep the segments down to about twenty minutes, but the walk itself ends up being about thirty or forty-five. You don’t even notice you did it. You’re just walking and talking, and it doesn’t even feel like an interview. You’re not sitting at a table getting grilled about something. It’s just walking and chatting, so I think it makes for a better interview.

I’m hoping to get [the show] out there more. People hate exercise. They have this high school gym idea about it, when really it can just be getting out there and walking. Especially now, with computers and the internet, people are just stuck at their desks all day, not moving. Everyone is all stressed because of the economy, and [walking] really makes you feel better mentally.

Like laughter!

Written by: Jyoti Roy, December 29th 2008

Musicfest Northwest (9/3-9/6/2008)

admin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:44:00 +0000

Musicfest Northwest

Portland, Oregon

Now in its eighth year, Musicfest Northwest was held over three days in Portland, Oregon. Born from the ashes of the North by Northwest festival, MFNW is hosted by Portland’s less trendy, free weekly newspaper, the Willamette Week, and has grown rapidly since its inception, largely due to corporate sponsorship. MFNW showcases local, national, and even international acts, with the Scottish Mogwai headlining on the first night.

Held on the weekend after Labor Day, which usually signals the end of summer, MFNW was not going to compete with Seattle’s ever-popular Bumbershoot festival, held the previous weekend. Comparisons need to be made between the two festivals as their differences mark both pros and cons, as well as the reason two huge music festivals can successfully be held just a week apart in the Northwest’s two major cities.

Bumbershoot is both a music and arts festival that is held in one location and features markets, spoken word artists, dance, film and comedians. MFNW, on the other hand, focuses on just music, with three days of simultaneous gigs held at various locations. A little agoraphobic, I was at first relieved to hear that MFNW was not going to be just some big clusterfuck of people squeezed into one space, wandering around not really knowing where to go, and getting crushed by crowds at the performances they wanted to see. The other alternative, however – having two performances you want to see at two different locations around town – was a little disconcerting for someone who doesn’t drive and doesn’t like going out alone at night.

You see, Portland is not starved for gigs. Trying to get a buddy to go along with me to big shows, even for free, was hard since they were getting over a previous big weekend. Some said they'd already seen too many bands, others that they had to wash their hair. While Portland is pretty easy to bike around, I basically just picked one venue each night and stayed there. This didn’t feel that festive to me; it was just like going to any other gig. A lot of the shows were also held in bars, and while it was a nice difference to other music festivals surrounded by a lot of annoying drunk or high teenagers in the blistering sun, I also remembered that I was once one of them and would have been bummed to be excluded from some of the shows.

Buying a wristband meant you didn't have to get tickets for individual gigs, and at $50 the price was right. However, this did not guarantee you entry into a gig once it reached capacity and that meant you had to show up early, which would be hard if you wanted to travel around town cherry picking the particular acts you wanted to see. I recognize the merits of not having everyone crammed in one place and having a lot of gigs over one weekend so you can plan time off work and invite your buddies to town and really plot out the performances you want to see, but in the smoky bars, I did find myself longing for the days of outdoor summer festivals, wandering around in the midst of thousands of people, and lounging on the grass eating fried food.

I liked the fact there was many local, lesser known acts which showcased the diversity and high calibre of the Portland music scene. The lineup and diversity of the bands was great, with too many to mention here. What I would have like to have seen was more panels and documentaries, of which there were only two of each.

If you are serious about music, black out your calendar, bring a couple of friends, get a bike and map of Portland, and experience a wide variety of great music in the city next fall.

Written by: Jyoti Roy, October 23rd 2008