Yes, I see Malkmus and Issac Brock around town (Issac shops at the grocery store as me), I've seen James Mercer with his kids at the park and I know where Johnny Marr likes to go to play foosball... so yes, while none of those guys is from Portland, they all live here now. I also see Janet Weiss (Sleater Kinney, Quasi, Jicks) out at shows fairly often. I think she may be stalking me.
BTW, the Thermals are great.
School's out. What did you expect?
I think of "local" as where a band is from and what city/place it's associated with, not where its members may relocate after they hit it big. Wilco is a Chicago band (and I do know that at least some of them still live there). Johnny Marr can live wherever he wants but the Smiths can't be anything but British; neither can he. Likewise, Sleater-Kinney's members could relocate to New York but they'll always associate with Oregon.
There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
That's not necessarily true. They're not "from" here, but they definitely have a local presence and Issac has lived here a long time (approx 15 years). I understand what you guys are saying but regardless of whether or not people outside Portland perceive of many of these bands and artists as local (and I can understand why they wouldn't) a lot of folks here do. Issac Brock may be from Issaqua, but he shops at the New Season's on SE 21st and has a practice space across from Colonel Sumner Park off of Belmont Street. People who live here associate with that.
Last edited by pedro; 07-28-2012 at 07:33 PM.
School's out. What did you expect?
I actually mean the feel of the music more than local presence. Most major musicians live in New York for at least a little while; they may integrate as people and as musicians for decades. But not every band is a New York band in the same way that the Velvet Underground is, Television, Patti Smith, and more recently, The Strokes, etc. Members of Pavement have lived in New York for decades but Pavement is still a West Coast band. I really don't think Wilco, the band and its music, can be associated with anything but Chicago. Peter Frampton lives in Cincinnati. He's not a Cincinnati musician.
I guess this is a bit different from the original thrust of the thread, which is smaller bands in our respective cities that haven't really hit it big on a national level yet.
There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
Most of them play here more frequently than in other cities and often in much smaller venues. We saw the Shins last September in a tiny club that holds about 200 people. I've seen Britt Daniel from Spoon play as a duo with Janet Weiss in a club that holds less than 100 people. I've seen some of the bands on Isaac Brocks record label play at little clubs around town.
Now to VP's point, the Afghan Whigs will always be a Cincinnati band regardless of where Greg Dulli is living at any given time.
School's out. What did you expect?
School's out. What did you expect?
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