rts ^Entertainment
^^LAdKAMASPfiflf
April 13, 2005
• J
reat music for a great cause
m Krause
¡Clackamas Print
¡is Thursday and Friday, a
| of nationally known musi-
lare raising money for non
et organization the Pangaea
let with their jam-band, The
fcone Orchestra.
Krticipating in this year’s
1 is a lineup of stellar per
ks from many different
r bands. Included are Kai
iardt of Garaj Mahal, Tye
I of Leftover Salmon, Billy
hi and Michael Travis of
g Cheese Incident, and Jon
pan of Phish. Also involved
(Everyone Orchestra found-
Itt Butler. Each concert uses
the band and the audience
reate awe-inspiring perfor-
es.
n the second day of the
l there will be two cominu-
sorkshops for musicians and
Istedpersons. One workshop
be a community drum and
issive session. This work-
I will be headed by Fishman,
jer and Travis, the drummers
le band. However, if you
lot interested in participat-
ing in what seems to be a really
exiting and large drum circle,
then tiie other workshop might
be for you. At the same time as
the drummers’ workshop, there
will also be a singer/songwriter
workshop with Billy Nershi,
vocalist Libby Kirkpatrick and
guitarist/mandolinist Scott Law.
This is the first time the work
shops have been organized, and
they may prove to be firn, as well
as educational.
The Everyone Orchestra is
a nationwide effort to promote
non-profit organizations by
bringing accomplished musi
cians together for monumental
jams. Past performances have
raised money for the Conscious
Alliance, the Sierra Club, the
Buckeye Forest Council, and the
Make-a-Wish-Foundation.
Deb Delman and Stephanie
Tolk are the founding members
of the Pangaea Project. Thé
organization was created to send
low-income teenagers from the
northwest to non-westem coun
tries. Students that qualify go
through four-and-a-half months
of intensive training and educa
tion. Subjects studied include
local customs, history, religion,
gender roles, local language and
dialects.
During the summer, students
are paired off and spend a month
with a host family. They will
explore local traditions and
issues that might plague the
nation or village. After the trip,
students are expected to partici
pate in local community activi
ties that are relevant to what they
have learned abroad. Once all
of the students have completed
the program, they present what
they have learned in an artistic
medium.
Show times are April 14 and
April 15 with doors opening at
8 p.m. and festivities to start at
•9 p.m. The workshops will also
be at the Crystal Ballroom at 4
p.m. on the second day of the
concerts. Tickets for one show
are $20 in advance/$25 at the
door. If so inclined, a two-day
pass is available for $35. But
wait, there’s more! A VIP pass
ranges from $35 to $70, but this
includes a meet-and-greet with
the band after the shows and
entitles you to a poster signed by
the performers. Remember, this
show is for a good cause, which
is Hard to find these days.
BUTLER
Photo courtesy of máttbutler.com
The Shins rock their hometown
$
4K
VW
Authentic-. S
. Vietnamesa
Katie Wilson Clackamas Print
James Mercer works the crowd as The Shins channeled their energy for an amazing show at
the Crystal Ballroom last Thursday night. Opening were The Kingdom and The Minders.
FOOD jgl
Xomlie SÿM
Kati&Wilson
I Ben waras
f The Clackamas Print
Joanne Bergstrom Clackamas Print
in Hanh is located at 8446 S.E. Division in Portland
id offers many inexpensive vegetarian Wishes.."
(egetarian foodtfind
panne Bergstrom
[The Clackamas Print
I If you should have the cour
se to go in, you will be very
Fell rewarded. That is, if you
Ike tofu in numerous forms,
I, There is fake ham, chick-
pi, beef, pork, shrimp, fish,
Ind even actual tofu. Tt is
111 prepared in a traditional
Vietnamese fashion, with fresh
fauces and vegetables.
II happened in around New
Fear’s, and they had all sorts
|f prepared delicacies io go.
¡t like the Catholics,”
aitress explained, “at
■
to steamed buns and spring
rolls. Hot tea is , served with
the meal.
The service can be slow
if it gets busy, but this is
because they will sit down
and explain what each menu
choice is. Even if you are not
Asian, when you walk into
Van Hanh, you are treated like
family.
Prices a\ erage about $5 per
entrée, with $2 appetizers.
At those prices, I will go
back and be adventurous.
Music fans and enough beer
(in the 21 and over bar) to kill
a herd of elephants packed the
Crystal Ballroom in downtown
Portland last Thursday.
As a cardboard cutout of John
Wayne made announcements
from the stage, tech guys scurried
around randomly turning dials
and making ear-piercing sound
checks.
Finally, a little after 9 p.m.,
the first opening band popped up
onstage.
The band called themselves
The Kingdom, which should
have warned us. They promptly
launched into a prolonged nasal
whine, which we later found out
was called a song. Our ears have
yet to recover.
Their set was a bit like eating a
handful of raisins that turned out
to be flies. Let’s put it this way:
If you turned Hilary Duff into a
man (but kept her voice), gave
her a guitar and had pianos fall
on her while she sang disco songs
like a country singer, it would
still not approach the awfulness
of this band.
When the second opening band
took the stage, we didn’t know
what to expect, but fortunately,
Portland band The Minders were
a pleasant surprise.
They performed an energetic
and exciting set, mixing the bass
with catchy guitars and drums,
original (that’s meant in a good
way) keyboards, and a vocalist
who could—gasp—sing!
The Minders could have easily
stolen the show had The Shins not
risen to the occasion for what was
their first concert in some time.
“Hey, everybody! Nice to see
you,” said excited keyboardist
and bassist Marty Crandall to the
roaring welcome of the crowd,
before launching into “Caring is
Creepy,” from their first CD “Oh,
Inverted World.” Everyone in the
audience went into their respec
tive happy-highs.
The band was loaded with an
energy channeled by making the
songs faster and louder, sprin
kling acoustic fare in between so
that the pace never got too Slow
or too fast.
Lead singer James Mercer,
who rarely spoke between songs,
seemed to have a more nasally
voice than usual, but we’ll for
give him that because otherwise
The Shins’ performance was per
fect.
“Hopefully,” said Crandall,
“we’ll have a new album together
by the end of the year.”
The band demoed some new
songs (they sound good, but they
still need to be polished) and
played nearly all tibie songs from
their first two releases. Some of
the crowd favorites were “New
Slang,” which introduced a bubble
machine and a smoke machine,
“Pink Bullets,” and “Kissing the
Lipless,” which was performed
with a fake snowstorm which
grew to a blizzard so thick that
tiie band could barely be made
out by some audience members.
“Thanks for coming to see
us! You make us feel good,” said
Crahdall as they closed the song
and exited the stage through the
torrent of fake snow (read: soap
suds).
The crowd—not ready for the
concert to end—kept on applaud
ing. That failing to produce the
desired results, they began to
stomp. We were lucky the floor
didn’t break under us.
Eventually, Mercer stepped
back onto stage, followed by
drummer Jesse Sandoval, guitar
ist Neal Langford and Crandall.
They played a long, trance
inducing instrumental set that
morphed into “Pressed in a Book”
off their first release. All the while
more bubbles rained down from
on high, popping upon a grateful
fan base. To close the concert,
they selected a faster, and more
upbeat version of the painfully
catchy “So Says I.”
“Thank you, people of soap!”
said Crandall, blowing bubbles
into the audience.
All in all, the concert provided
excellent entertainment, and a
musical kick in the sh—well, you
know.
If you missed The Shins, don’t
worry—John Wayne says they’re
coming back in May to play two
consecutive nights in their home
town of Portland.