Which leads us to the new video!!! Checkout the lo fi action as Brian performs “i just don’t care anymore” by the Warring States.

You said:

I don’t wanna go
I don’t wanna go
I don’t wanna go
To Idaho
(repeat)

hell no
I don’t wanna go
I don’t wanna go
Away
To Idaho

Hell no
I don’t wanna go
I don’t wanna go
All the way
To Idaho

Why do you wanna go
Why do you wanna go
Why do you wanna take me out
To Idaho

What can they do for you
What can they do for you
What can they possibly
do for you

But:

I wanna go
I wanna go
I wanna go
And live
In Idaho

I want you to come with me
I want you to come with me
I want you to come with me
What do I have to give you

How bout a ring
How bout a ring
How bout a ring or I sing
or something like that

A ring on your finger
A ring on your finger
How bout a pretty ring on your finger

But still, you sing:

I don’t wanna go
I don’t wanna go
I don’t wanna go
Live in the wilds
Of Idaho

You know I’m not alone
You know I’m not alone
And I never want to be alone

So don’t make me go
Don’t make me go
Please baby don’t make me go
To Idaho

How bout we just stay right here
How bout we just stay right here
How bout you flip over
And let me cuddle your rear

Come on let’s go (repeat)
Let’s go (repeat)
Let go (repeat)

Abby was performing down on the waterfront today, but the tourists were largely ignoring her, fixated instead on yet another guy making metallic tone spray-paint space art (what do people see in that stuff?). I was completely mesmerized. At first, it seemed she had created a special two spoon connected device, but no, in the end it is just two spoons turned with their bulbs inwards towards each other, their handles covered in white tape. She was kind enough to give me a quick lesson in which she explained how the positioning of the spoons relative to each other, the part of your hand or other surfaces you hit, and even the wind effect of moving your other hand around the spoons, and swooping the spoons in the air, all play an important part in terms of the musical tone produced. I was impressed by the washboard contraption she had built which had two tin cans, some bells and small finger cymbals all worked in together to give her a wide variety of percussive options. She explained how she watched lots of people play, and slowed down various videos to really learn the different technical traits of different techniques. Clearly her hard work has paid off, as she is now a joy to watch. Sure, we need great violinists, but I’m glad we have some spoon players like Abby as well.

(Abby was kind enough to pose with Cutie also, but she seemed a bit confused by his wings and articulated bum. )

Abby and Cutie

The first find was the self-described artist and surrealist Chuck E. Bloom. Chuck explained how over the past 7 or so years he has been painting on increasingly smaller and smaller canvases, getting down to a size as small as 1 by 2 inches. He displayed a variety of surreal landscapes peopled with coffee cups, fantastical tree buildings that seem a mix of Dali and Hieronymous Bosch, and a variety of other wonderful, thought-provoking images. He described his creative process as feeling like a kind of wanderer through a landscape, arriving just after some important moment has occurred, but too late to encounter the person that was actually there in that moment. So, the paintings are devoid of people, but you can see the traces they have left behind (if they ever were indeed there in the first place). Some of the pieces have quite complicated geometry and masses of swirls and waves, while others are more serene. We purchased a piece named “Been though this Before”, a 3 by 3 inch picture with a half barren tree, a flash of lightning in a green sky, and a coffee cup on top a pile of books on a small mound of rocks, its vapor rising all the way to the top of the canvas. This is one of his calmer works, but it immediately resonated with a variety of very personal images for us. The lightning reminds us of the trip we made out to Portland from the east coast, driving through some of the worst storms the midwest had seen in the last century. The tree means a ton of things for us (the Fall season in the East, the proverbial feeling the grass is always green on the other side, the split feeling of wanting to stay and wanting to move on that has haunted us over the past few years). The books of course signify my library, and the rocks Sahar’s love of the mountains of the pacific northwest. But above and beyond it all is that grand cup of coffee, with its hopeful soul rising above the storms and the decay of time. It is rare you find something so personally resonant by chance like that, but it seems this time we were lucky. You can see more of Chuck’s work on his website ChuckEBloom.com. The piece we purchased was only $35, a complete bargain for such a meaningful piece. His other work was also very affordable. So, if you need gifts for someone that likes heady art, check his work out.

We then stumbled upon the booth of Renee Lynn Hartig, who at one time actually did an “inch by inch” show with Chuck in the past. We previously encountered Renee at the Alberta Arts Festival, and actually had taken a picture of one of her works before with Cutie.

Renee does a variety of things, including abstract landscapes and incredibly funky pet portraits. She had a series of Rooster portraits on display that were absolutely marvelous. I particularly like her series of very small landscapes (1 by 3 inch) that are painted as multiples on a single sheet. She will cut these up so you can buy individual ones, but shame on you if you do. Save up and buy the full run. They work exceptionally well as abstract animation, the kind of thing the child of Cezanne and Eadweard Muybridge might produce. We purchased one that has lovely blue tones with clouds and the colors of mountains and the desert. The small multiples like this can be purchase for $10 per painted image, again a super affordable price making her work the perfect present for anyone (who doesn’t love pretty abstract landscapes?). Renee has a very appealing painterly style and will one day be a big success I would bet (and hope of course).

Since it is Portland, of course both artists were exceptionally sweet and friendly people. It is people like these that make us loathe to ever leave our beloved Stumptown.

Now let’s see if this spiffy new audio player works correctly.  

Prison Break

AutoPilot is for Lovers
http://www.autopilotisforlovers.com/
 

“Autopilot is for Lovers” is a fine new four piece from PDX with a small spunky lead singer (Adrienne Hatkin – or should i perhaps say Smoking Hotkin) who mixes kim gordon with jan sjankmeyer producing wavering tones of goodness as she rocks out either a Banjo or a bad ass red guitar that seems to be plucked from the pages of Robotech.  There is a towering violinist (Fiona McLoughlin) who looks around alot.  The rhythm section is tight, adding a nice layer of rock out to what could otherwise delve into iron and whinedom.  Paul Seely (skins) and Kyle Knight (says violin in the liner notes but I believe he was on bass) were both great, but need to ’sex it up a bit’ when it comes to the performance. (Come on boys, make the ladies swoon. )

I like Forget Cassettes, Interpol, Cat Power, and Siouxsie more than the average man on the street, so Autopilot was right up my alley.  They played the Alberta Art Hop and did a great job.  The crowd loved it.  This could easily be a big band – at least on the indie scene.  I would hurry up and book this band for your indie venue.  Come on, try to keep ahead of the curve rather than just following whatever CMJ throws your way.  

They offer 2 CDs at their shows, an EP for $6 and the full length “To the Wolves” for $10.  I bought both, and am very happy with my decision, though the show was more rocking than “To the Wolves”, which is excellent, but much calmer than I had imagined.   

You should get them both, but if you are on low end of broke, then don’t miss the EP.  The packaging alone (you can fold it out and hang it on your wall) makes it well worth the money, and it seems like they may be hard to come by a year from now.  I liked the music too, with songs like “Dogs for Cats” and “#1 Fan”  that really brought back Sonic Youth, Erase Errata, and Forget Cassettes to the tip of my musical tongue.  If you play #1 Fan really loud on your boombox, you will get laid, I promise you. That’s worth $6, no matter how broke you are.

The Full Length is an excellent record as well.  It showcases Hatkin’s vocals exquisitely, especially in tracks like Come Now, Bones, and Whale Belly.  Some songs, like Left to the Sun and Shadows, do reach rock heights, but too many tracks lack drums for my taste.  

If you are one of those people that only buys individual songs now, my picks would be:

• #1 Fan
• Dogs and Cats
• Left to the Sun
• Bones
• Whale Belly
• Come Now
• Shadows