Monday, August 11, 2008

Musical Sunday in Portland

Blind Pilot's last show in Portland before their tour begins was at the finish line of the 13th annual Providence Bike Pedal, a great bike friendly event where most of the bridges spanning the Willamette River are closed to motorized traffic and open to over 17,000 bikers and walkers for most of the morning and early afternoon. Kati and her husband Aaron showed up at Ryan's gallery at 8am, with Kati's bike trailer filled with her banjo, mountain dulcimer, and ukulele. Israel and Ryan soon followed (Luke was meeting us at the stage) and they set off for their first show traveled to by bike. The crowd loved their two sets, and Max loved shooting a show in the daylight.

Later that evening, we went to see Gabe Rozzell & The Decency (Ryan's friend Sarah is the drummer) play at the Alberta St. Public House in NE Portland. It was a pleasure to see a show and not have to think about lighting, sound quality and filming. The Decency plays a great set of country music, something we became quite fond of during our drive out to Oregon.

Prior to The Decency playing, we caught the last half The Crying Shame's set, a Seattle-based band that was in town for the night. The lead singer's Leonard Cohen-esque vocals draped themselves beautifully over a blistering string duo and the singer's own aggressive acoustic guitsr strumming. Sarah referred to it as "face-melting." Yes, indeed.