{"id":10499,"date":"2015-03-27T13:14:06","date_gmt":"2015-03-27T17:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=10499"},"modified":"2015-03-27T13:14:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T17:14:06","slug":"portland-after-dark-feel-the-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/portland-after-dark-feel-the-beat\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland After Dark: Feel The Beat"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 2015 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Live, loud music adds a jolt to spring.<\/h2>\n

By Olivia Gunn<\/p>\n

Subterranean Bluegrass<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"After-Dark-APR15\"<\/a>After a week of overtime and not enough me-time, I\u2019m breaking my own rules and going out on a weeknight. Jerks of Grass is playing at Bramhall, and it\u2019s just in time. All work, no play, and just the thought of snow in April makes anyone a dull Mainer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Thursday night and the house is packed. While there\u2019s still a chill outside, everyone\u2019s ready to warm up here with some good pickin\u2019. Jerks is a local bluegrass band comprised of Jason Phelps, Melissa Bragdon, Carter Logan, and Kris Day. They are a Portland favorite, obvious by tonight\u2019s crowd.<\/p>\n

Eventually our group orders drinks, and it\u2019s not long before friends are nudging me to dance, but all I want to do is sit back and listen. I grew up with bluegrass. My grandmother\u2019s entire family played regularly at mountain reunions and family holidays. I can remember my great aunt Ada\u2019s upright bass towering over her as she and my uncles played old favorites. This night is another sweet reminder that Portland has more going on than just foodie tours.<\/p>\n

Around midnight I\u2019ve had my fill, even though the band is just getting hot. I work my way up to the bar and pay the tab. Heading up the stone steps into a warming spring night, I can still hear the fiddle and it follows me all the way home.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Think<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every Wednesday, Empire hosts a Clash of the Titans, when local musicians have the opportunity to play the hits of famous artists and bands in a face-off between two icons per week. This is now a weekly celebration of pop culture and the talent of Portland that\u2019s covered everyone from Tom Petty vs. Creedence Clearwater to Etta James vs. Aretha Franklin, but it wasn\u2019t until recently that I was inspired to attend. I just couldn\u2019t resist Bob Dylan battling Neil Young in a city that loves them both and at a time when their music rings too true.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 9:30. The dim venue is nearly packed with a crowd of all ages\u2013from baby boomers who know The Freewheelin\u2019 <\/em>by heart to fresh-faced college students who found their way to Dylan after<\/em> discovering the Black Keys. They\u2019re all here and easily distinguished, but it doesn\u2019t matter at all.<\/p>\n

First up is Neil Young played by Bob Ray, and he opens with \u201cPowderfinger,\u201d a treat for the seasoned crowd. Ray\u2019s band comes naturally to Young\u2019s music and has me picturing these grown men playing Neil Young in a garage after school long ago, long-haired and just stoned enough.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve got the crowd rolling, and when Cam Jones steps up as Dylan, harmonica around his neck and guitar in hand, we can hardly wait. He chooses \u201cThe Times They Are A Changing\u201d and \u201cMasters of War,\u201d and in seconds has the audience quiet. Regardless of your politics, Jones captures the spirit of Dylan with these timeless songs. Soon we\u2019re all in a rhythmic hypnosis. Several generations, each all too familiar with the concept of war. Maybe it\u2019s not the average millennial\u2019s hump-day celebration, but I\u2019ve got to say, protest songs need a comeback.<\/p>\n

After two favorites\u2013\u201cHeart of Gold\u201d and \u201cSubterranean Homesick Blues\u201d\u2013I head home, back to 2015, where the songs from 40 years ago matter more than ever.<\/p>\n

Edgy Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGypsies, Tramps, and Thieves\u201d plays in my head as I enter the second-floor back room at Bull Feeney\u2019s following a parade of jingling belly dancers. On stage sit three members of the vaudeville group who call themselves the Dark Follies\u2013Lady Selcouth, Solange, and Stephen Carpenter, among others. Known for their street performances, the Dark Follies celebrate storytelling, music, side-show acts, and really anything else you can shape into a performance piece. Also on stage are special guests Shayfer James, a Harlem-based performer who happens to be passing through Portland, and local spoken-word artist Samuel Hunter Mercer.<\/p>\n

All the performances intertwine. At times James plays along as Selcouth or another performer does a solo dance or the audience joins in a song praising beer led by Madame Sinclair. Each act feels strange, imperfect, but exciting. It\u2019s almost as if I\u2019m at the Kit Kat Club awaiting Sally Bowles.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a treat to see a performer like James joining in on a local show for no other reason than to play, and I realize that this is what Portland\u2019s arts scene is about. It\u2019s inviting and accessible. If you have an idea or a vision, there are plenty of ways to pull it together, and Portland will applaud anyone brave enough to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 2015
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