Woah. This Saturday was already shaping up nicely with the Roller Derby championships and a sweet concert at Doug Fir. Yet, KPSU has figured out a way to take it up a notch with pole dancing (read below), Rock Band tournament and a ton of great music in Pioneer Square. It will be hard to pass this up just for the pictures alone. Oh, and it is all FREE.

From Press Release:

On Saturday June 27th KPSU, Portland's College Radio station, is shanghaiing downtown Portland from 10 AM – 10 PM in celebration of 15 years of excellent radio! This all day festival will take place in the downtown Pioneer Courthouse Square!

MUSIC and other info after the break… Read the rest of this entry »

(Pipeline is giving away 2 pairs of tickets to the Rose City Rollers championship. VIP TICKETS! FREE BEER. Details at the bottom)

"I sincerely wish our opponents the best of luck, as they will surely need it.  We are settling for nothing short of first place this season."

-Layla Smackdown, Captain of the High Rollers
How to Give a Beating in Skates and Spandex: the Countdown to PDX Roller Derby Victory by Stephanie El-Hajj

From Press Release:

• High Rollers and Breakneck Betties Skate for Championship Title
• Guns N Rollers, Heartless Heathers Brawl for Third Place

The Rose City Rollers are lacing up and training hard for the highest-stakes bout of Season 4 — the championships on June 27! After a nail-biting semi-finals match, the victorious Read the rest of this entry »

(We gots TICKETS to giveaway. Look at bottom of post for details.)

Related: Best Portland Music Venues

March 16, 2009 By Christine Taylor

Review: Super XX Man Swept Me Away | Mississippi Studios

Last Friday night, Super XX Man (pronounced "super double ex man") played a fantastic show at the nice and newly reopened Mississippi Studios. However it made me question the Portland music scene a little. How is it a band this good could have under 50 people in attendance in a city famed for it music followers? Granted it was cold outside, and the new venue is a bit crisp, but Scott Garred is a seasoned Indie-folk songwriter with at least 12 LP's under his wings (all of which are good and you can listen to at www.superxxman.com).

His voice is reminiscent of the The Violent Femmes' continue review

From Press Release:

The Old Believers, A Weather, Super XX Man & Hello Damascus

The Old Believers

From OPB:
Alaska natives but now calling Portland home as much as anywhere, The Old Believers (Nelson Kempf and Keeley Boyle) released Eight Golden Greats earlier this summer (08). As impressive as the marriage of old and new sounds on the self-produced album is, it's even more so when one considers that neither member of the band can legally get a drink in many of the venues they play. The Old Believers' age, in other words, belies the experience their sound suggests as they take on influences covering decades.

From Willamette Week Best New Band 09:

This pedigreed collective is currently at work on the Old Believers' debut full-length. As yet untitled, the LP is slated for a late-2009 release Read the rest of this entry »

Model: Gloria Holer
Photography by: Christine Taylor www.happyplayground.com
Location: Portland, Oregon

Featuring Gloria Holer of local performance band Hotter Than a Crotch, raging rock-n-roll that will break your heart, playing tonight at Plan B. They will be, “Ripping the scene in two with the Slutty Hearts, and the Naughty Things (visiting from Tempe Arizona)“.

More after the break (possibly NSFW)… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Christine Taylor

Tonight Doug Fir delivers yet another promising live show, this time by Brooklyn's 6 member percussion driven indie-pop band, White Rabbits.

If you are into clever romantic melodies with a skip and a jump, combined with story-telling lyrics that reveal nuances influenced by the Walkmen and Spoon, then head to this show.

Here is a look at their dazzling music video for "Percussion Gun" (after the break… Read the rest of this entry »

Update: 2010 July Concerts in the Park Schedule: Portland Summer Concert Series

Related: Our Portland events list

We are only two weeks away from kickoff of Portland Park's Summer Concert series. All the concerts are free and family-friendly.

This picture is from 2007 at the first Mt Tabor concert of the season. Mount Tabor has an ideal location for watching the concerts. It's warm, but has great shading so you are not getting scorched and your food and drink (beer! wine!) doesn't get too hot in your pic-i-nic basket.

July 2009 Concert listings after the break… Read the rest of this entry »

Portland Blues Cruise (Portland Spirit)
Filmed from Hawthorne Bridge
Date: 07-07-07
Shot by Julian Chadwick

The Portland Blues Festival is coming quickly and I can't think of any better way to experience part of it than one of the Blues Cruises. I shot that video on the last day of the festival and 2007 and have been jealous of those people ever since. If you want to partake in this, better jump on it soon. July 4th's cruise is already sold out.

From the website:
Delta Music Experience Blues Cruises

Cruise the beautiful Willamette River and hear the blues in an intimate setting on the Portland Spirit. A no-host hors d'oeuvres buffet and full bar are available on all cruises.

All Blues Cruises board from the seawall, SW Salmon and Naito Parkway, in front of McCall Fountain, just north of the A&E Front Porch Stage. SW Salmon and Naito Parkway. The cruises will head south up the Willamette River to Oregon City, and/or north past the Port of Portland docks.

Evening cruises, for those 21 and older Read the rest of this entry »

Related: 75+ Portland Weekend Events, Parties & Free Tickets | June 18-21

Rain or not, summer is near as evidenced by beer parties around the Solstice. There was a brief time last year when I worked right next door to the Raccoon Lodge and I gotta tell ya…that back patio area is pretty, pretty nice. If you are in that SW area, this might be the thing for you to do tomorrow.

I can never eat a burger without taking a picture after discovering PortlandHamburgers (Sir Burgers a Lot), so I present to you the Raccoon Lodge Mexi-Burger. It was tasty and only $6.50 or so I think.

From the Press Release: The Summer Solstice Celebration features an afternoon of live music, including Cascade Brewing Brewmaster Ron Gansberg's bluegrass-folk band, Black Lodge.  There will be pork roasted over an applewood fire for delicious BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, as well as other food for purchase.  The brewers will roll out a full 58-gallon barrel of Cascade Brewing's Summer Solstice IPA. This barrel conditioned beer will be Read the rest of this entry »

Related Weekend action: 75+ Portland Weekend Events, Parties & Free Tickets | June 18-21
More good stuff: BEST Portland Restaurants, Bars, Food, Drinks & More

Scott Simon, owner
Voicebox Karaoke (voiceboxpdx.com)
2112 NW Hoyt St
Portland, OR 97210
Taken on November 6, 2008
Photo By GeoffK

You know someone in your posse this weekend will likely bring up the idea of a little Portland Karaoke action this weekend, but where to go? Obviously, you can check out Chopsticks and while Will Radik will likely be there, he doesn't usually work on weekends. So you need options and we asked people and we got them.

First, before you go out there like an amateur, read up on these Portland Karaoke posts by Mr. Radik (Mr. fancy pants is now at the Merc BTW…so you can see more him there)

• Portland Karaoke Chronicles: Thawing Out The Awesome
• Portland Karaoke Tips: Get Primed!
• Portland Karaoke: Get to Know Your KJ | Chopsticks Express
• Portland Karaoke Chronicles: Snow Day Knoweth Chopsticks Not
• And from us: Voicebox, Private Portland Karaoke | Daily Stank Image Bank

BarFly also has a large list of Karaoke bars in Portland here.

Many Portland Karaoke suggestions from our friends on Twitter after the break… Read the rest of this entry »

Fashion provided by Makool Loves You and Time Bomb Vintage.
Pieces for sale at:
Makool Loves You; store.makoollovesyou.com
Time Bomb Vintage; www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5981826
Model: Sasha Burchuk
Photography by: Christine Taylor www.happyplayground.com
Location: Portland, Oregon

(Possible NSFW after break)… Read the rest of this entry »