Eleven PDX Magazine October 2015 by Eleven PDX

ISSUE 53 | OCTOBER 2015

ELEVEN PDX MAGAZINE - VOLUME 5, ISSUE 5

COMPLIMENTARY

Alberta Abbey   &  PDX Contemporary Ballet

www.albertaabbey.org/dance/

contents

ELEVEN PDX MAGAZINE VOLUME 5

THE USUAL 3 Letter from the Editor 3 Staff Credits

ISSUE NO. 5

FEATURES Local Feature 13 Cat Hoch

Cover Feature 17 new music 4 Aural Fix Mansionair Potty Mouth Michael Rault Emily Wells

Django Django

Mini Feature 23 Arya David Imig of Sound Judgement

7 Short List 7 Album Reviews Mothertapes Pure Bathing Culture Yacht Editors

COMMUNITY Neighborhood of the Month 24 Kenton

Literary Arts 25 Portland poet Ed Skoog

LIVE MUSIC 9 Know Your Venue Holocene

11 Musicalendar

Visual Arts 27 Portland painter Amanda Dawn Potter

An encompassing overview of concerts in PDX for the upcoming month. But that’s not all–the Musicalendar is complete with a venue map to help get you around town. more online at elevenpdx.com

HELLO PORTLAND! Leaves are changing color, storms are brewing, but nothing says fall is officially here like visiting The Pumpkin Patch Corn Maze on Sauvie Island. It's agritainment at its finest: corn cobs, caramel apples, cinnamon sugar-laden elephant ears, and wandering around for an hour in a Charlie Brown-shaped corn field, while the alpaca and peahens cheer gleefully on. It may not be the world's biggest patch, but this one is ours, and it's full of beautiful pumpkins. Going on these adventures, carving your squash and getting Halloweenie is best done with company. We've had a lot of people move to Portland this year, so why not make some new friends and invite your neighbor to one of the many events on our Musiccalendar [pp.11-16]? The party never really stops in Portland, we're quite spoiled in that regard. Every night is another outstanding live concert, reading, sportsball match or film screening. So let's all get together a few extra times, and be a little more fearless and freaky. After all, it's fall. Âť

- Ryan Dornfeld, Editor in Chief

3 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

EXECUTIVE STAFF EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Dornfeld ryan@elevenpdx.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dustin Mills dustin@elevenpdx.com SECTION EDITORS LOCAL FEATURE: Brandy Crowe LITERARY ARTS: Scott McHale VISUAL ARTS: Mercy McNab graphic DESIGN Dustin Mills Alex Combs COVER PHOTO Fiona Garden CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Brandy Crowe, Sarah Eaton, Eric Evans, Donovan Farley, Veronica Greene, Sophia June, JP Kemmick, Kelly Kovl, Travis Leipzig, Samantha Lopez, Ethan Martin, Scott McHale, Aaron Mills, Lucia Ondruskova, Gina Pieracci, Tyler Sanford, Victoria Schmidt, Matthew Sweeney, Erin Treat, Charles Trowbridge, Wendy Worzalla photographers Alexa Lepisto, Mercy McNab, Aa Mills, Todd Walberg, Caitlin M. Webb

online Mark Dilson, Donovan Farley, Kim Lawson, Michael Reiersgaard get involved getinvolved@elevenpdx.com www.elevenpdx.com twitter.com/elevenpdx facebook.com/elevenmagpdx mailing ADress 126 NE Alberta Suite 211 Portland, OR. 97211 GENERAL INQUIRIES info@elevenpdx.com ADVERTISING sales@elevenpdx.com LOGISTICS Billy Dye eleven west media group, llc Ryan Dornfeld Dustin Mills SPECIAL THANKS Our local business partners who make this project possible. Our friends, families, associates, lovers, creators and haters. And of course, our city!

AURAL FIX

new music aural fix

up and coming music from the national scene

MANSIONAIR OCTOBER 13 | CRYSTAL BALLROOM

One reason why I write music reviews is to discover new music. While I enjoy listening to everything my editor assigns, it’s rare that the group I review is one that I keep listening to long after the article is written. However, what I have heard from Mansionair suggests that they will definitely be one that I keep coming back to. The Sydney based trio consists of Jack Froggatt, Lachlan Bostock and Alex Nicholls. They are on ELEVEN's radar for so many reasons. Not only did their Australian tour sell out, but they recently signed to Glassnote (Mumford & Sons, Childish Gambino, Phoenix) which will release their second EP, Pick Me Up, and they will open for Chvrches on their upcoming tour. What I got excited about on the very first listen of this band, which happened to be "Hold Me Down" from the first EP of the same name, was the traditional instrumentation fused with those electronic elements I so dearly love. My first thought was Foals’ "Spanish Sahara." The vocals (should I say, feminine?) backed by a progressive, steadily growing beat and then back down again is too damn catchy yet ambient enough to put on while studying, or having sex. Mansionair and chill? Similar is the new single "Speak Easy" which actually made me want to call an ex. It only took the first few lines, "Speak,

Photo by Jesse Riggins

POTTY MOUTH OCTOBER 21 | MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS

Imagine the cool girls from high school: the cheery, bottleblonde ones who went to homecoming and had a lot of school spirit. Now imagine the girls who were cooler than the cool girls, the ones your parents hoped you wouldn’t date or be. Now you have a picture of the girls from Potty Mouth. Funnily enough, they only fit their ultra cool-girl stereotype if that stereotype also paints them as incredibly bright and driven. Hailing from Northampton, Massachusetts, Potty Mouth was pulled together by bassist Ally Einbender, who

speak easy to me, got a lot on your mind... don't let this go down tonight" to know I should never listen to that song again if I know what's good for me. Everything is on point with these guys, from the lofty percussion and synths, to the absolutely beautiful lyrics sung in a captivating, almost sad voice. There are three other songs on this EP: "Pick Me Up" and two additional versions of "Hold Me Down." See what they did there? A full-length album is definitely in order from Mansionair and sooner rather than later would be best. » - Kelly Kovl

wanted a group where she could write her own music, so she set out to start a group. The girls quickly settled into their instruments and recorded their first EP in September 2011. Since that time Potty Mouth has been making their steady ascension into the music spotlight, garnering national attention with their debut album Hell Bent. The record is a fast-paced, danceable album that never stops to come up for air until it’s over. Guitar-centric and driven, if you weren’t paying attention Hell Bent might feel pretty expected. Where Potty Mouth, and Hell Bent in particular, break the mold is in their focus on content; lead singer Abby Weems fills her lyrics with intention, writing relatable songs about the quandaries of growing up that plague many of us: our dreams, our relationships, our identities. Their newest release, the Potty Mouth EP, came out in August of this year and it is complex, beautiful and supremely catchy. It's refreshing to see the group find ways to be more intentional in their musicianship as they always have lyrically. Where Hell Bent started and finished at a full-on sprint, their new EP slows down and highlights the band’s range. At a slower pace, the sarcasm and passion Weems so carefully constructs in her songwriting finds more resonance with listeners. It’s impossible to listen to any of their music and not find it absolutely dripping with sass, but in their newest release they seem to have found a perfect paradox between bratty and beautiful. » - Sarah Eaton

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 4

new music aural fix Toronto was a by-product of buzz, not its original source, but that doesn't mean themes of leaving home aren't plentiful on Rault's newest album, Living Daylight. The opening track, “All Alone (On My own)” has Rault singing “I'm so damn tired I don't wanna go out, I don't wanna stay in all alone,” and “I'm so tired of being on my own.” Even if he did make a lot of friends, and a good-sized splash, after landing in Toronto, the alienation of a new city still seems to haunt him. The other thing that seems to haunt Rault is the first thing most young males consider when moving to a new town: a woman to keep him company. At least six of the ten tracks on the album are explicitly about searching for love, and it doesn't take much reading between the lines to bump that number up to the full ten. Although there is some fuzz, some reverb and a few inventive guitar solos on the album, it is a clear departure from the noisier garage rock of past records and of past record label mates. There's a strangely psychedelic doo-wop in these songs, the Beatles if they had been raised on fuzzed-out jukebox hits. Rault's show in Portland this month is one of only five stops in the U.S. this tour (another is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because, of course) and his live show is rumored to be a helluva good time, so you'd be strongly advised to get there. » - JP Kemmick

Photo by Meg Remy

MICHAEL RAULT OCTOBER 27 | BUNK BAR

Michael Rault left Edmonton for the bustling big city of Toronto in 2012, but his story is not one of small town boy meets big city success. Rault had already attracted a sizable following with releases on a smattering of Canadian indies. His manager had been bugging him to move to Toronto for a while when he finally caved.

5 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

new music aural fix

1 THE MINUS 5 THE GHOST EASE

2 THE SHEEPDOGS RADIO MOSCOW

Photo by Charles Billot

EMILY WELLS

SCHOOL OF ROCK PRESENTS: AGES DAVID BOWIE ALL2PM

3 THE PRIDS OCTOBER 28 | DOUG FIR

Emily Wells combines electronics, orchestral strings, jazz structures, pop sensibilities, and globetrotting music elements into one unique and eclectic sound. The performer, producer, singer & composer is known for her stylistic merges of hip-hop, folk, classical and electronic, and employs a deft approach to her varied use of classical and modern instrumentation. Classically trained as a violinist, she also plays drums, guitars, keys, and beat machines. She was born in Texas to a French horn teacher. In 1990, she moved with her family to Indiana where she lived until she began traveling in 2000. She began playing the violin at age 4 and began releasing albums on her own. The former child prodigy has released numerous unofficial releases, starting at age 13 with a cassette tape (producing 100 copies), but her "official" releases are Sleepyhead (which flaunted fourteen tracks written, produced and mixed by Wells herself), Symphonies, Dirty and Mama. While traveling, she makes her "home base" primarily in New York, but currently resides in Los Angeles. Wells uses many other instruments in her work including violin, piano,

glockenspiel, guitar, banjo, synthesizer, and even toy pianos–think Laura Veirs meets CocoRosie–she combines acoustic drum sounds with haunting neogospel layers and ties them together with poignant almost baby-like vocals. The result is intoxicating. Wells has been touring extensively in Europe and the United States and is now finishing her latest full length record, due out in 2015, and it’s one you won’t want to miss. » - Samantha Lopez

DAYDREAM MACHINE DEAD LEAF ECHO

4 ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO DUO 5 MIKKY EKKO TRANSVIOLET

A “passenger” Carried through with vacant coos and hauntingly desperatesounding vocals, intertwined with a steady and gentle acoustic guitar, the track explores the transition from kid to sorta adult and wanting the control of your own life, and the painful desolation that comes with it: “I’m a passenger/ Give me the keys/I want to drive.”

BERAHMAND

8PM

21 & UP

18 BRENT WEINBACH DEREK SHEEN, WHITNEY STREED CHRISTIAN RICKETTS

20 VIET CONG GRAVE BABIES

21 WILLIAM

FITZSIMMONS

JAKE PHILLIPS

22 SEAN HAYES TIM CARR

6 SPIRIT FAMILY REUNION 24 RUBBLEBUCKET BARNA HOWARD

7 VIEUX FARKA TOURE 9 PATRICK WATSON BLOOD & GLASS

10 KEXP CELEBRATES PDX: MINDEN

SUMMER CANNIBALS BOONE HOWARD

11 THE DISTRICTS SUN CLUB

12 GANG OF FOUR THE NEW REGIME

QUICK TRACKS

17 STONE IN LOVE

13 STRANGE TALK

BABES

25 GIVERS

CADDYWHOMPUS

26 SMALL BLACK PAINTED PALMS

27 ALBERT HAMMOND JR. WALKING SHAPES

28 EMILY WELLS LORNA DUNE

29 NATALIE PRASS

PROMISED LAND SOUND

30 JOHN GRANT 14 THE WIND + THE WAVE 31 THE REAL FRANCHOT TONE MCKENZIES BURN THE STAGE 15 BOB MOSES INTERGALACTIX

DESERT SOUND COLONY

NOVEMBER SHOWS ON SALE NOW 11/1: JENNY CONLEE & STEVE DRIZOS 11/5: DAVE SIMONETT 11/9: MADE OF OAK 11/11: DAVID RAMIREZ

11/12: THE GOOD LIFE 11/16: WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS 11/24: TAYLOR JOHN WILLIAMS

B “mama's gonna give you love” There’s a dirty and blues-like quality to this song. Wells uses layered vocals, simple beats, violin, and piano to execute an honest homage to the motherly love we all long for: “Tuck you in just a-one last time/Tell you little baby it'll be alright.”

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 6

new music album reviews

ALBUM REVIEWS This Month’s best R Reissue

L Local release

Short List Blitzen Trapper All Across This Land

Deafheaven New Bermuda Eagles of Death Metal Zipper Down Wavves V !!! (CHK CHK CHK) As If Neon Indian Vega Intl. Night School

L Mothertapes

Mothertapes Self Group

With their new self-titled album, Portland’s math-pop duo Mothertapes is about to show us that math and pop together (at last) is not just a pretentious and esoteric genre phrase, but that the two terms are ready to be happily married. The music of Mothertapes is energetic and hopeful like the growth of a tree’s young buds in spring, or the

Deerhunter Fading Frontier

themselves, like they’re held together by

The Mantles All Odds End

some gravitational field that gently sucks you in. It’s hopelessly earwormy, so be

The Twilight Sad Oran Mor Session

prepared to love it instantly and carry it with you for days.

Joanna Newsom Divers

It’s not alone. “Clover” uses bubbly synths and just-this-side-of-funky

Coheed and Cambria The Color Before The Sun

rhythm guitar that suggests Erasure covering Chic, but the distant echo vocals

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings It's A Holiday Soul Party

keep it oddly independent of comparison. “Palest Pearl” sounds like your favorite

The Neighbourhood Wiped Out! Buy it

Steal it

Toss it

frantic and endless work of microbes turning old soil into new life. The word is synchronicity, I think. The guitar work on this album is so tightly coordinated within its layered stacking, almost like the buzzing of a bee hive, that it is clear, despite the full sound, that this is the work of a focused, small music partnership. Pete Bosack (vocals, guitar, synth, and bass) and Tommy Franzen (drums, synth, and samples) have worked together for years, most visibly in Wax Fingers, and they are right at home alongside Portland experimental rockers Yeah Great Fine, Just Lions, and Bearcubbin. Bosack’s skill with a comfortable, catchy vocal turn has helped Mothertapes chisel out a unique identity though that pulls them closer to early Menomena and Miike Snow. Title track, Do Make Say, builds with massive drum and bass strokes while zinging guitar arpeggios fill in the cracks with tiny shard of stained glass. The result is a house worth walking through. » - Ethan Martin

track from a lost John Hughes soundtrack; “Darling Save Us” flirts with St Etienne-

L Pure Bathing Culture

Pray For Rain Partisan Records

level twee in the best possible way; “Singer” is what Sade might sound like if she was coming up now in the coffee shop set. And “She Shakes?” Imagine a young Kate Bush jamming with Andy Partridge

Ever wonder how Darwin felt when he discovered an isolated ecosystem with animals that looked familiar but behaved

facebook.com/elevenmagpdx @elevenpdx

7 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

over a Casio beat. Every track has a delicate charm. Pure Bathing Culture's Daniel

differently than expected? Wonder no

Hindman and Sarah Versprille haven't

more—you’ll experience much the same

diverged from the sound of their excellent

astonishment listening to “Pray For

debut Moon Tides so much as expanded

Rain,” the first (and title) single from

and refined it. They're Portlanders—

Pure Bathing Culture’s 2nd full-length

Portlanders!—who have a sound that is

album. It’s a clever thing, made of familiar

only theirs. Pray For Rain is 10 songs’

elements presented in new and surprising

worth of inspired, perfect pop whose

ways. The drums, guitar, and voice

cumulative effect is that of genuine

all seem insular, turned inward upon

delight. » - Eric Evans

new music album reviews

Yacht I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler Downtown Records We haven’t heard much from Yacht over the four years since Shangri-La dropped, but they’ve demanded our attention yet again with I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler. Yacht provides us with an energy I haven’t felt on any of their previous works. Future is every

bit as synth-poppy as you’d expect from the Portland raised duo, but a mixture of unusual wailing guitars and muddy vocals keep it interesting throughout while they explore some new sonic soundscapes with a flare all their own. The lyrical territory explored throughout Future is nothing we haven’t heard from Yacht before, but that doesn’t make the record any less fun. The poppy, upbeat, idealistic chorus belted on “Don’t Be Rude” provides a strong contrast to the verses, where we hear lines such as “I would feel much less alone / If I knew that everyone was as lonely as me.” And the track “I Wanna Fuck You Til I’m Dead” stands out as an absolutely hilarious expression of love. House-inspired closing track “The Entertainment” is fantastic and features a pounding bass line and some great glitchy synths. However, I can’t help but feel as though Yacht is getting a little burnt out. There’s a bit less optimism on this record, and calling the record I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler fits into that.

There’s a little less polish on the world than they used to think, and opening track “Miles and Miles,” sets that tone with lines such as “Just like we always have, we’re born, we live, we die,” and “In 200,000 years on Earth / We never even made a mark on her.” The negativity in the lyrics contrast the always peppy backing tracks, which creates a neat aesthetic for the album as a whole. On previous Yacht releases I felt as though they settled a bit too much; they found their formula with their electropop roots and the albums dragged toward the end. Future doesn’t repeat this trend however, as the 8 minute intro track starts out slow and builds up, introducing an energy in the instrumentation that doesn’t let down as the album progresses. Yacht has never been the most experimental, the most innovative, or the most popular act under the electropop umbrella, but their projects have all been fun and worth listening to. Yacht proves with Future that artistic progress is possible without deviating too far from the mean. » - Tyler Sanford

that is a noticeable departure from the

tightly wound and clean. It moves with

early work.

fluidity and a strong sense of dynamics.

Over the years, the synth has

Driven largely by basso piano chords, it

gradually replaced the guitar as the

finds a natural depth that is amplified

backbone instrumentation, and it has

by the tasteful rise and fall of the synth

helped Editors take a slightly more

line and echoing drum track.

exploratory approach to the music.

“No Harm,” the album opener, is a

In Dream works because it deploys

compelling and understated track. With

restraint, focusing more on crafting

soft vocals and a light synth ostinato,

tracks with definitive elements and

it works as a statement of purpose: In

strong instrumentals. Although not the

Dream is progressive; it is mature; it is

album’s lead single, “Forgiveness” could

subdued and under control. For Editors

be described as the most concise and

lifers, “No Harm” might be a statement

earwormy track. Its relatively simple

of the opposite nature, but make no

droning undertones and catchy chorus

mistake, In Dream is the sound of a

mark the first real standout moments.

group working hard to take the next

Still, with each track running nearly

steps and find a musical space that

five minutes, the album can at times

allows for a continual evolution. From

seem long on filler and short on fodder.

a genre perspective, In Dream evades

quintet, had a bit of a reputation for

Tracks like “Life is a Fear” and “Our

categorizing. In today’s music scene,

watering down the post-punk roots

Love” at times feel lost in the shuffle,

the blending of influences and sounds

from which it spawned. As the group

lacking the vigor necessary to buoy a

has become standard practice, and for

grew and continued to produce albums,

tone that can be a bit morose.

a group like Editors, existence in this

Editors In Dream Play It Again Sam

Early on, Editors, the Stafford-based

its sound got a little tighter and moved

However, despite the occasional

world depends on its ability to adapt.

more toward an alt-rock sound. In

dud, other strong moments appear, such

Consider In Dream a major step forward

Dream, the group’s newest release,

as “Marching Orders,” a nearly 8-minute

in that process. » - Charles Trowbridge

finds them more at home in this sound,

behemoth that comes in as a kind of alt-

exploring space and nuance in a way

rock soundscape. “Marching Orders” is

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 8

live music

KNOW YOUR VENUE Holocene

ased in a city that is so consistently dominated by sounds of indie rock, Holocene is the Portland music venue that set out to tap into the scene that wasn’t so prominent at the time. Way back in 2003, when the electronic scene we know now was just a blip on the radar of Oregonian music minds, Scott McLean and Jarkko Cain were coming in hot from their immersion in the much more mature dance scene in San Francisco. Since Cain was originally from Portland, it was time to come home and leap into the techno sphere that was wasn’t all that present yet. That leap came in the form of the late two-story auto parts warehouse on Morrison Street in East Portland. Out of economic necessity, old flooring and framing were transformed into a stage and even hold up some still existing furniture. White walls dominate a sweeping view of the place and prove versatile in the venue’s range of hosted events (such as art shows). The two rooms (with a smartly folding dividing wall) make it easy to provide

9 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

Photo by Caitlin Webb

space for both a DJ booth and a stage, in turn boosting Holocene’s availability for just about every night of the week. Weekends at Holocene are usually booked with DJ dance parties, utilizing the warehouse atmosphere for their nightclub side of the business. Weeknight events span from Gaycation, a monthly queer dance party, to InFARMation, a regular event about Oregon farm and urban community. Every event in between brings loyal guests who pay homage no matter the difference in theme nights. And many times it’s the ever-changing crowd that establishes itself as the most exciting part of the industry for the venue. But what Holocene really strives to provide is genrebending music, and if their bookings don’t prove it then their record label on the side just might. Although on a bit of a recess currently, due to the launch of the artist management company Nature\\Nurture, Holocene Music has been around since about 2005. It started as an avenue to release a compilation of remixes from Portland based

live music

MISSIS SIPPI STUDIOS S

C A L E N D A R O C T O B E R 2

1.THU

17. SAT

BALTO

HEAT / DEAD SOFT

2. FRI

18. SUN

SPIDER BAGS / BAKED

GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH

HOUNDSTOOTH / THE DONKEYS BULLY

TITUS ANDRONICUS Local band Minden playing Holocene. Photo by Todd Walberg

artists, It’s Importland To Me To Be One Step Further Than One Step Beyond. Though not as active as it once was, there’s still potential for releases in the future. Artists like Grimes, SZA, and Dan Deacon have graced the stage at Holocene, with one of the most recent acts being Empress Of. Though they prefer to book local artists, the national talent that rolls through proves relevant and doesn’t hinder their goal of pushing boundaries. It’s a space where anything goes as long as you’re having fun and can handle a little experiment from both the crowd and the DJs. » - Gina Pieracci

3. SAT (AT THE OLD CHURCH)

GARY LOURIS MICHAEL HURLEY

DEATH

19. MON

MBRASCATU 20. TUE

3. SAT

TELEKINESIS / SAY HI

DANIEL ROMANO & THE TRILLIUMS

4. SUN

21. WED

MARV ELLIS & WE TRIBE

SABONIS

BED.

YOUNGBLOOD BRASS BAND

KACY & CLAYTON / DYLAN EARL

POTTY MOUTH 22. THU

5. MON

CASPIAN

LIDO

6. TUE

23. FRI

CIRCLE TAKES THE SQUARE

BASSTRACKS

ANNALISA TORNFELT & THE SOUND OUTSIDE

LERA LYNN BRIAN WHELAN

MICHAEL HURLEY / MIKE COYKENDALL

7. WED

DALE WATSON & HIS LONE STARS

JENNY DON’T & THE SPURS

9. FRI

24. SAT

HELVETIA / LITTLE WINGS SAM COOMES

25. SUN

VALET

CHARLIE PARR

CAT HOCH / SINLESS

KORY QUINN

26. MON

10. SAT (EARLY SHOW)

LATE NIGHT ACTION WITH ALEX FALCONE

VINYL WILLIAMS JJUUJJUU

(LATE SHOW)

27. TUE

MRS. PRESENTS QUEEN

PURE BATHING CULTURE

DJ BEYONDA

HEATHER WOODS BRODERICK

11. SUN

28. WED (AT THE CRYSTAL BALLROOM)

EAR CANDY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY!

MAC DEMARCO

ALEX CALDER / THE COURTNEYS

WITH VINNIE DEWAYNE / WL BLACKWITCH PUDDING / BIG HAUNT

28. WED

12. MON

PROMISE KEEPER / FOG FATHER

DREAMERS / SOUVENIR DRIVER

WINDHAND

CIVIL TWILIGHT

SEAN NICHOLAS SAVAGE 29. THU

DANAVA / MONOLORD

13. TUE

30. FRI

CHAD VALLEY

LITTLE MAY

STRANGER CAT

DOE PAORO

14. WED

QUIET LIFE / COTTON JONES WIDOWER

31. SAT (AT THE SCHNITZER)

SHAKEY GRAVES TENNIS

15. THU

COLONY HOUSE / COIN

31. SAT (EARLY SHOW)

ELLIOT MOSS

HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA!

16. FRI (TWO SHOWS)

KING DUDE

(LATE SHOW)

CAMERON ESPOSITO

DRAB MAJESTY / BIG HAUNT / TETRAD VEIL

RHEA BUTCHER

CHAI N — MA I LLE . com

SHOWS you’ll remember, presented in an independently run, best-sounding music listening environment with great staff (mostly musicians), drinks, burgers, and PATIO.

mississippistudios.com

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 10

live music OCTOBER crystal ballroom

SKIDMORE ST.

NORTH WEST BROADWAY ST.

PEARL OLD TOWN 2

BURNSIDE ST.

405

DOW NTO WN

26 18

MLK BLVD. 30

GRAND AVE.

11 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

TA VE

23RD AVE.

3939 n mississippi

RUSSELL ST.

830 e burnside

MLK BLVD.

Doug fir

mississippi studios

WILLIAMS AVE.

8 nw 6th

VANCOUVER AVE.

Roseland Theater

4 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 12 13 14 15 17 18

ALBERT

3 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

MISSISSIPPI AVE.

2 8 9 10 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 27 30

1332 w burnside

INTERSTATE AVE.

1 5 7 10 13 17 20 21 22 23 24 28

live music OCTOBER mississippi studios (continued)

TA ST.

ALBERTA ARTS PRESCOTT ST.

15TH AVE.

11TH AVE.

WONDER BALLROOM 128 NE RUSSELL

FREMONT ST. 24TH AVE.

HOLLYWOOD

KNOTT ST.

33RD AVE.

28TH AVE.

holocene

D. BLV Y D AN

BROADWAY ST.

84 29

GLEASON ST.

eastburn

8 11

STARK ST.

MORRISON ST.

BELMONT ST.

11TH AVE.

8TH AVE.

HAWTHORNE BLVD.

HAWTHORNE

426 sw washington

DIVISION ST.

L BLVD.

CHAVEZ BLVD.

CLINTON ST.

POWEL

CESAR

LADD’S ADDITION

4 11 25

DJ Magnus Cagney | Erotic City Eric John Kaiser Tommy Alexander & Kent Smith Santiam Castletown Hearts of Oak DJ Kenny | The Colin Trio Jack Dwyer Dina y Los Romberos DJ Blas | Mugspoon Mimi Naja Goldfoot

kelly’s olympian

6 8 12 14 16 17 21 28

Wampire | Pageantry | Jackson Boone Snowblind Traveler | Post Moves Robin Bacior | Old Wave

1800 e burnside

BURNSIDE ST. 3

600 e burnside

6 7 9 10 14 20 21 24 27 30

rontoms

LAURELHURST

1001 se morrison

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

3 7 8 9 15 16 17 22 23 24 29 31

2 3 4 7 9 10 14 15 16 17 21 22

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 12

features OCTOBER kelly's olympian (continued) 23 24 25 28 29 30 31

bar 10 bunk 1028 se water Ultimate Painting Qui | Hammerhead | Drunk Dad Julia Holter Ought Salad Boys | Love Cop Dungen Truly Michael Rault Dilly Dally 30-31 The Builders & The Butchers | Hillstomp

5 8 12 16 17 21 23 27 29

hall 11 revolution 1300 se stark 6 11 16 17 23 31

know 12 the 2026 ne alberta 2 7 9 10 15 20 21 22 24 25 27 28 30

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Cat Hoch

er name, Cat Hoch (pronounced “hawk”), sounds like a mythic hybrid of feline and flight, and that may be just about right. She is a alberta street pub badass beauty of intrinsic talent, naturally 1036 ne alberta displaying prowess in drumming, guitar, Renegade Stringband | Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons bass, and a strong, angelic voice. She keeps The Big Ol' Hearts herself busy, working more than one day There Is No Mountain | Crushed Out East Forest | Sara Tone job in coffee and vintage shops, while also The Druthers | Mockingbird Sun finishing her BFA. Her name has also been Foxy Lemon | The Autonomics | Ghost Towns circulating through the music community Hill Dogs | Jackalope Saints as she has had her hands in several musical Space Shark | Hoons | The Hugs projects. Now, she is focusing on her songs. THE SECRET SOCIETY She is fronting her own band and is set to 116 NE RUSSELL Urban Wildlife | Mission Spotlight | The Desert Kind release her first solo EP with the help of Wild Bells | The Hugs | Vaudeville Etiquette producer Riley Geare. Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers | Those Willows How is she managing? ELEVEN met The Resolectrics | The Lonesomes | Silver Lake 66 up with her after she had just worked a Hip Stew | Ma Fondue double on two hours of sleep to find out. The Midnight Serenaders | Jacob Miller

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LOCAL FEATURE

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ELEVEN: You have been asked to be a part of many musical projects. How does it feel to be in demand? Cat Hoch: I don’t even know how it all got started. I’m not actually playing in any other bands, now. I’m playing everything to pursue my own thing. It definitely is special. With those bands, a lot of us are friends and I was always meeting someone through someone else. I also think there is a demand for drummers in Portland. And maybe in some ways it’s kind of a boy’s club, so there’s something about being a female musician, a female drummer, that is appealing. It’s been this super community to mix with. 11: What are some of the bands that you have played with?

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CH: Yes. Each relationship with these OCTOBER musicians was different. How can I put white eagle this? Playing in all of these bands is very 836 n russell similar to dating. You have all of these Mouth Painter | Novox | Malachi Graham 7 emotional relationships with people and at The Honey Dewdrops | Rachel Miles | Matt Fountainn 14 The Show Ponies | Pretty Gritty 21 one point I just couldn’t function working Bombadil | Siren & The Sea 23 full time and doing all of these things. I had Lexington Field | Adam Henry 29 been writing songs and really just wanted Emulator | The Tattered Patches 31 to try my own thing. So eventually I think turn turn turn it all just kind of fizzled out. Jackson Boone 8 ne killingsworth Peter Broderick & Branic Howard 7 has been a good friend and inspiration, and The Quadraphonnes | Andrew Durkin | Wiener Kids 10 he really encouraged me to concentrate on Roselit Bone | An American Forrest | Country Trash 17 my own music. To just go by my name. Dream Tigers | Ryan Miller 21 Dove Driver | Moongriffin | Bernstein 23 Jesse Robison 29 11: How did you start writing on Wolflaut | Haley Elizabeth 30 your own, what was some of your lyrical hawthorne theatre inspiration? 1507 se 39th Battles 8 CH: Well, I was in bands in high school. Murs | Red Pill | King Fantastic 9 New Polotics | The Griswolds | Lolo 12 I grew up in Virginia outside of D.C. But Hudson Mohawke | The-Dream 13 I’ve lived all over. I moved to Portland The Black Dahlia Murder | Iron Reagan | Harm's Way | Maruta 14 from North Carolina. I would just write Trivium | Wilson | Against The Raging Tide | 30 Pound Test 16 Lydia | Seahaven | Turnover | The Technicolors 19 songs but not really do anything with Buckcherry | Sons Of Texas | Trust Divided 20 them. A while back I was living with my Subhumans | Rvivr | Arctic Flowers 21 boyfriend who was also in a band that was For Today | Fit For A King | Gideon | Phinehas | Silent Planet 27 New Years Day | Get Scared | Eyes Set To Kill | Darksiderz 31 having success. But we had a tumultuous

Photo by Mercy McNab

CH: Tender Age, Appendixes, Jackson Boone, Eternal Tapestry, Daydream Machine, and forever ago a punk band called Sex Ghost. I also sang on a Black Ferns album. That’s all I can think of. There’ve been some other little things. 11: Do you think those bands have a lot of things in common or a similar sound? CH: Oddly enough, no. They do all have a psychedelia commonality. But here lately, that term is really covering a lot. Daydream Machine felt like actual psychedelic grounding, they grew up and played with some of the most inspiring musicians to me. The other guys kind of branch off. Tender Age and Appendixes are really inspired by '90s Britpop and shoegaze, like The Jesus And Mary Chain. Jackson Boone is more singer songwriter folk. 11: So you’ve really busy, obviously. Did that ever get overwhelming ?

relationship, there was a lot of heartbreak going into that writing. I also studied abroad in England for a year, and that’s when I decided I really wanted to pursue music. I was inspired by the land, the people, by missing my boyfriend. I was writing a ton there. I’ve always been into poetry, but songwriting is a different animal. I think of it more as melody maker, and then go into it lyrically. I’m such a firm believer in punk music, like I want the audience to interact. But I always end up singing about how sad I am. I would like to have more of a political drive. So yeah, after that, I just started tracking, making recordings and demos, in the basement of my home. I would just use headphones. I had no idea how to record, and it sounded terrible. 11: How do you think things have transitioned from the demos to your new EP? CH: I didn’t track any demos with this. I went into the studio with Riley and was like “here’s the song,” and we just went at it. It was a lot of work. We re-wrote a lot. It’s taken us a while to get these songs done. I’m so thankful to have Riley, because I had a vision, and he made it come true.

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11: You play every instrument, and you're primarily a drummer, but on your EP Riley headed up most of the drum work? CH: He wanted to play drums on all of the songs. He was headstrong about making the drums. We wrote the drum parts together, we would switch off and try different things. But on some songs I think drum-wise there were some things I wanted, but knew I couldn’t do, and he’s a genius. I did play drums on “Celestian.” 11: So when you guys recorded, it was just you?

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CH: Yes, it was only Riley and I in the studio. He was such a coach yelling “more vocals!” I did layers and layers of harmonies, but Anna is my backup and harmonies during the live show. 11: And you lead and play guitar and sing. You play a lot of instruments. What’s your favorite? CH: Drums are my favorite instrument. But I’ve been playing a guitar with a Bigsby vibrato on it. My first baby is a Fender, but it’s a little too much dad rock. 11: I keep hearing everyone saying dad rock. CH:Yeah, like Van Halen, Pink Floyd. 11: You guys covered Pink Floyd’s

"Breathe?" I imagine that sounded awesome with layered female vocals. CH: We did at one time, with Anna’s voice it was great. 11: I saw that ABBA was listed as one of your influences. CH: Haha, yes. When Look What You Found was coming out, I was listening to a lot of ABBA. I think my inner soul child is a '70s disco mama. 11: So tell me more about your band. CH: Eric Sabatino plays guitar and he also plays in Appendixes. Anna Tyler is of The Fur Coats and plays keys, synths, and vocals. Theo Craig plays bass. He used to book Rontoms, he has a show on XRAY.FM, and works with PDX Pop Now, he has his hands in everything, too. He was also in Mascaras. Our drummer is Adam Breeden, and it’s really nice to have him. 11: Who did the piano on the song “Archer?” CH: It was Quincy McCrary from UMO. 11: How do you plan on releasing your EP? CH: What’s hard is that Riley and I decided that we want to put this out on vinyl, but it’s really expensive. But one thing that’s happening is I found this friend, Jesse Robertson. He goes by Happy

Dagger, he makes great music with some similar UMO-type vibes. We are going to attempt to release at least a split. Since vinyl pressing takes a couple of months and I have already planned my EP release, I’m just releasing digitally, for now. 11: Do you think you’ll be releasing a full length soon? CH: Soon, within a year I hope. Like I said it took us a while just to get these four songs. But I’m writing so much right now. Riley and I have become close and I feel like we’re a good team. We are going to start tracking again in February. He helps me to slow down. I’m like Speedy Gonzales, thinking that things are done and ready to move on to the next thing. I think that the next record will have the whole band come in and play. Back to the dating thing. It’s weird leading a band. At the end of the day I wanted to write my songs and get them out there. But we wanted to be a band, more than just my name. So I have to work with that. 11: You recorded a new song called “Waving” at a The Rock N Roll BnB. I

had no idea a Bed and Breakfast with a recording studio existed on Sauvie’s Island. CH: Yeah, Sean Flora’s Rock N Roll BnB reached out to us. They were looking for a band to record a song. It was last minute, and free publicity. They did a video. It sounded a little too good at first to be honest. But it ended up being awesome. It’s three levels, with a pool inside, on a beautiful flower farm. I think we may go back there to do the next record. 11: Are you shopping labels? Are labels shopping you? CH: I sent my EP out to about 20 labels. I had a lot of interest, but no one has released it. It’s nice when labels just know who you are now. » - Brandy Crowe

CAT HOCH CELEBRATES THE RELEASE OF LOOK WHAT YOU FOUND THIS MONTH OCTOBER 25 AT MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS

The four track record opens with title track “Look What You Found,” which introduces Hoch’s guitar style and strong feminine voice (calling to mind Cat Power) explored through

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space-disco center that breaks into complete guitar and bass jams (also played by Hoch). Although it’s on top of popping lounge sounds and crooning vocals, “Losin’ It” has an edge of defiance that gives way to epiphany as she calms to “I’ve got to let go if you’re holdin on.” This first

You Found was pieced together from

release ends with the emotional

her melodies, lyrics, and with help

acoustic and fuzzed out “Archer,”

from producer and musician Riley

which brings in dramatic piano from

Geare. The recording is atmospheric

UMO’s Quincy McCrary. Given that

with a futuristic psychedelia, full

she’s a multi-tasker that is doing a

of filtering and tweaked noises like

lot of inspired writing, this is likely

feedback and subtle vinyl crackles.

only the beginning of what she has to

However, the echoing is offset with

offer. » - Brandy Crowe

the element of dreggy rock.

FIRKIN TAVERN

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behind the kit, Geare offered his

ends with Hoch lulling, but has a

Cat Hoch’s first EP Look What

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except “Celestian," which begins and

Look What You Found Self-released

OCTOBER dantes (continued)

layered harmonies. Instead of Cat percussion talent for each song

L Cat Hoch

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Photo by Fiona Garden

t's been a wild ride for London-viaEdinburgh foursome Django Django. What began as a casual project between Edinburgh Art College classmates David Maclean (drums and production) and Vinnie Neff (guitar and vocals) meeting up to drink beer and write songs in Maclean's bedroom has in the span of two albums and three short years snowballed into an internationally praised outfit capable of selling out mid-sized concert venues worldwide. Django Django, the result of those initial bedroom recordings, was nominated for the Mercury Prize, given annually to the UK and Ireland's album of the year, saw the band play in front of 60,000 revelers at Edinburghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hogmanay festival and eventually went platinum, much to the shock of its creators. The ease with which the band, which also features Jimmy Dixon on bass and Tommy Grace on synthesizer, was catapulted into the international spotlight is indicative of their

overall ethos and the band's member's individual attitudes. Despite the heaps of accolades lauded on the band in recent years, one still gets the feeling that Django Django has to pinch themselves when they look back on what's happened to them. Even once it became clear to Neff and Maclean that they had an album's worth of songs and wanted to start a band around them, they figured the record would sell a few hundred copies and held out hope that maybe, at best, they'd achieve some cult success. Songs like "Default" and the buoyant "Life's A Beach" showed an impressive array of skills and showcased what might be the band's greatest strength: their ability to channel a wide array of influences into a cohesive and originally sounding whole. African and Arabic influences popped up often on the debut, and when mixed in with other worldwide influences (take for instance the Latinflavored backbeat on "Waveforms") it becomes clear that Django Django's members are well versed in a multitude of musical forms. It comes as no surprise that Maclean joined the likes of living legends Damon Albarn and Brian Eno in Mali to work on Albarn's Africa Express project. With all the unexpected success of Django Django and its subsequent whirlwind tour around the world, it seemed logical that the group would find it nearly impossible to repeat that record's success, but with this year's Born Under Saturn, the band showed no signs of slowing. Born Under Saturn expands upon Django Django's melange of sounds and influences, resulting in a fuller, more bombastic sound. Although it's clear the band has more tricks in their arsenal these days, the sound that made them so successful in the beginning remains and is expounded upon. What also remains is Django Django's wide eyed, "Is this really happening to us?!?" attitude, which is both refreshing and seemingly key to the band's success. When I spoke with Neff on the phone recently before the band's show in Lyon, France, I was charmed and impressed with his attitude and humble nature. For instance, when I mentioned the band would be playing a much larger venue when they return to Portland (The Wonder Ballroom versus The Doug Fir), he seemed pleasantly surprised. During our talk Neff seemed more like a mate you'd go have a pint or four with than an internationally touring rock musician.

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features national scene

Photo by Fiona Garden

ELEVEN: After the huge success of the first record, I'm wondering how that shaped both the recording of Born Under Saturn and how it will affect the live show. If nothing else, it had to allow you a bit more freedom in the studio. Vincent Neff: Well it did in a sense because we had a producer and engineer and all that, but we wanted to really stay true to ourselves and what got us here. Being able to bring in outside people to focus on the technical stuff really allowed us to focus on the music. As far as the live show, it's allowed us to do some cool stuff as far as a new stage design for this tour we're pretty excited about. 11: Since Django Django is a far more fully formed band now that it has a few years on the road under it's belt, was Born Under Saturn a more collaborative effort? VN: It was definitely a collaborative effort and felt very communal, which was cool. We all have wide ranging musical tastes and bring different influences to the table. 11: What is the Django Django recording process like? With so many influences, is it hard to range them in and focus them all? VN: Well we're all our own toughest critics and are very comfortable with each other, so that helps.

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If someone comes up with something lame they get dogged for it immediately [laughs], but in a nice way. We're all good mates, ya know? Everyone brings their own influences and something interesting to the table on this one. The whole recording process was open and very unpretentious. We had a lot of freedom and it was quite fun. We'd suddently discover large parts of songs through happy little accidents, maybe someone coming up with a riff or something and we'd build on that. It was like a firefight of ideas going back and forth. In a good way. 11: David clearly brings a lot of African influences to the table with both his drumming and production styles, what are some influences for you personally? The band's sound is both "out there" and very accessible, which is obviously a difficult thing to achieve. VN: Thanks. Yeah that's something we're aware of, we want to be a pop band, but a smart one. Being accessible but staying original is definitely something we strive for. We think the audience is smart enough that if we stay true to what we want to do then they'll come along with us. As far as me personally, my sister playing music when I was younger was a big influence. I really like weirdo pop bands from the '70s, '80s and '90s. 11: The band's rise has been so meteoric and happened so quickly, what's that been like from the inside? VN: Yeah man it's been wild. When we first started we never expected this to even really be a thing. I maybe hoped that at best we'd achieve some cult success, but we were looking into other careers, you know? There was no idea that it would become this big thing. At first I was just happy not to have a day job!

features national scene

Photo by Tom Griffiths

吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㨀堀刀䄀夀䘀䴀䄀一䐀圀䔀伀唀吀䠀䔀刀䔀䴀䄀䜀䄀娀䤀一䔀倀刀䔀匀䔀一吀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㨀吀䠀䔀刀䔀䐀䌀䄀刀倀䔀吀刀䔀䰀䔀䄀匀䔀圀䤀吀䠀夀唀一䜀刀伀䈀簀䰀䄀一䜀簀䐀伀一吀䔀吀䠀伀䴀䄀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㄀㔀䐀伀伀刀 ⴀ ␀㄀䄀䐀嘀䄀一䌀䔀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㌀㨀圀䠀䤀吀䔀䈀䔀䄀刀倀伀䰀䄀刀吀唀一䐀刀䄀簀䤀一一䔀刀䔀䄀刀䈀刀䤀䜀䄀䐀䔀簀吀伀夀䈀伀䄀吀吀伀夀䈀伀䄀吀吀伀夀䈀伀䄀吀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀唀一䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㐀㨀䈀䰀唀䔀䘀䰀䄀䜀匀 ☀ 䈀䰀䄀䌀䬀䜀刀䄀匀匀簀匀圀䔀䔀吀䰀伀唀✀匀匀伀唀刀䴀䄀匀䠀簀娀䄀䌀䠀䈀刀夀匀伀一 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㘀㨀刀伀匀䔀䌀䤀吀夀刀伀唀一䐀㨀䌀伀䐀夀䈀䔀刀䜀䔀刀 ⠀吀䄀䰀䬀䄀吀䤀嘀䔀⤀簀䈀䔀一䈀刀䄀䐀䔀一 ⠀吀䠀䔀䰀伀圀䔀刀㐀㠀⤀ ⴀ 㜀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㜀㨀䈀䰀伀伀䐀伀圀䰀簀匀䔀嘀䔀一䤀一䌀䠀䔀匀簀䘀䤀刀䔀一唀一匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㜀㨀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㜀㨀䠀䤀䐀䔀伀唀匀刀䄀䌀䬀䔀吀圀䤀吀䠀䐀䨀䘀䰀䤀䜀䠀吀刀䤀匀䬀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㠀㨀䌀伀刀夀䴀䌀䄀䈀䔀䔀✀匀匀䴀䄀䰀䰀匀吀䄀刀匀䔀䴀䤀一䄀刀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㄀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㤀㨀䌀唀䰀吀䌀䠀伀䤀刀簀吀䠀䔀夀䄀䌀伀䰀吀䈀唀刀一簀吀䠀䔀刀䄀匀䌀䄀䰀䈀䄀䤀吀䔀刀匀簀䨀伀一一夀䄀䴀倀䔀刀匀䄀一䐀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㨀匀倀䰀䤀吀匀䌀刀䔀䔀一匀 ⠀匀䘀⤀簀一䄀吀唀刀䔀吀䠀䤀䔀䘀簀䰀䔀伀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㌀㨀刀伀匀䔀䌀䤀吀夀刀伀唀一䐀㨀䌀伀䰀䤀一䌀䄀嘀䄀匀䠀䔀刀 ⠀䘀䔀䰀䰀匀䄀䌀刀䔀匀⤀簀䴀䄀刀䤀匀䄀 ⠀䴀䔀刀䌀夀䜀刀䄀嘀䔀匀⤀簀䬀䄀䌀夀䴀䄀娀唀刀ⴀ 㜀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㐀㨀䘀刀䔀䔀吀䠀伀唀䜀䠀吀吀䄀䬀䔀伀嘀䔀刀簀匀唀䈀䌀伀一匀䌀䤀伀唀匀䌀唀䰀吀唀刀䔀簀刀堀一簀圀䤀吀䠀匀倀䔀䌀䤀䄀䰀䜀唀䔀匀吀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㔀㨀䴀䤀匀吀䔀刀吀䄀一䜀簀䴀刀匀⸀ 䠀䔀一刀夀 ⠀匀䄀一䐀䤀䔀䜀伀⤀簀䴀伀伀一䐀刀䄀䬀䔀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㘀㨀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㘀㨀䠀䄀倀倀夀䐀䄀䜀䜀䔀刀匀簀吀䔀䰀䔀倀伀刀吀䔀刀㐀簀匀圀䄀一匀䔀䄀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㜀㨀吀䠀䔀䰀伀嘀䔀䰀夀䰀伀匀吀簀䬀伀伀䰀匀吀唀䘀䘀䬀䄀吀䤀䔀簀倀䄀吀刀䤀䴀伀一夀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀唀一䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㄀㠀㨀䈀䄀䈀夀䬀䔀吀吀䔀一䬀䄀刀䄀伀䬀䔀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㨀刀伀匀䔀䌀䤀吀夀刀伀唀一䐀㨀䄀䐀刀䤀䔀一一䔀䠀䄀吀䬀䤀一 ⠀伀䘀䄀唀吀伀倀䤀䰀伀吀䤀匀䘀伀刀䰀伀嘀䔀刀匀⤀簀倀䄀唀䰀匀䔀䔀䰀夀 ⴀ 㜀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㄀㨀䘀䄀䌀䔀吀䄀吀 ⠀匀䘀⤀簀匀䔀䌀伀一䐀匀䰀䔀䔀倀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㈀㨀䴀伀吀伀刀䌀伀䄀吀簀刀伀匀䔀䌀䠀䤀䰀䐀 ⠀䰀䄀⤀簀䠀伀匀吀䄀䰀刀䤀嘀䤀䔀刀䄀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㌀㨀刀䄀匀䠀䔀䔀䐀䨀䄀䴀䄀䰀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㐀㨀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㐀㨀䴀䄀刀䤀䄀一一䔀䘀䰀䔀䴀䴀䤀一䜀簀䄀一一䄀ⴀ䰀䤀匀䄀簀嘀䄀䰀䈀䰀䄀䠀䄀簀䄀一䌀䠀伀刀匀伀䘀䄀匀䌀䔀一匀䤀伀一 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀唀一䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㔀㨀倀刀䔀吀娀䔀䰀䴀䔀一 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㜀㨀刀伀匀䔀䌀䤀吀夀刀伀唀一䐀㨀䔀刀䤀一䴀䄀刀匀䠀䄀䰀䰀 ⠀䐀䤀刀吀夀䰀伀伀䬀匀⤀簀匀䄀刀䄀䠀倀䄀刀匀伀一 ⠀吀䠀䔀䰀伀圀䔀刀㐀㠀⤀ ⴀ 㜀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䐀一䔀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㠀㨀䔀夀䔀娀䘀刀伀一吀倀刀䔀匀䔀一吀匀㨀䰀伀一䜀䠀䄀䰀䰀圀䄀夀匀簀匀倀䤀䐀䔀刀䘀䔀刀一匀簀䔀䄀匀吀䔀刀一匀伀唀嘀䔀一䤀刀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀吀䠀唀刀匀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㈀㤀㨀刀䄀夀䴀伀一䐀䄀一䐀䔀刀匀伀一簀䌀伀吀吀伀一簀吀䠀伀唀匀䄀一䐀䄀刀刀伀圀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀䘀刀䤀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㌀㨀倀匀夀䌀䠀䤀䌀刀䤀吀䔀匀簀吀䠀䔀䘀伀刀䔀䤀䜀一刀䔀匀伀刀吀 ⠀䐀䔀一䴀䄀刀䬀⤀簀䘀伀刀䌀䔀倀唀䈀䰀䤀儀唀䔀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㔀匀䄀吀唀刀䐀䄀夀㄀ ⸀㌀㄀㨀䜀刀䔀䔀一䰀唀䌀䬀䴀䔀䐀䤀䄀䜀刀伀唀倀倀刀䔀匀䔀一吀匀㨀倀䤀一唀倀 ✀倀刀䔀䌀䤀䄀吀䤀伀一㐀 ☀ 䴀䄀䌀䄀䈀刀䔀倀䄀刀吀夀㨀䐀刀䄀䔀匀䰀䄀倀娀簀䐀䔀嘀䤀一䜀䄀吀匀䈀夀䨀䄀䴀䔀匀䐀刀䄀䔀匀䰀䄀倀娀簀䐀䔀嘀䤀一䜀䄀吀匀䈀夀䨀䄀䴀䔀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀␀㄀䐀伀伀刀 ⴀ ␀㠀䄀䐀嘀䄀一䌀䔀匀唀一䐀䄀夀匀㨀吀䠀䔀䔀䄀刀䰀夀䔀䄀刀䰀夀䌀伀䴀䔀䐀夀伀倀䔀一䴀䤀䌀 ⴀ 㐀倀䴀䘀刀䔀䔀圀䔀䔀䬀䰀夀䘀刀䔀䔀䌀伀䴀䔀䐀夀伀倀䔀一䴀䤀䌀⸀ 匀䤀䜀一唀倀䄀吀㌀㌀ ⸀

䴀伀一䐀䄀夀匀㨀䈀唀一䬀䔀刀匀䔀匀匀䤀伀一匀伀倀䔀一䴀䤀䌀 ⴀ 㠀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀

伀倀䔀一䴀䤀䌀䠀伀匀吀䔀䐀䈀夀䰀䔀䔀䄀唀䰀匀伀一䄀一䐀吀䄀䰀伀一䈀刀伀一匀伀一⸀ 匀䤀䜀一唀倀䄀吀㜀㌀ ⸀ 匀䠀伀圀㠀⸀

䴀伀一䐀䄀夀匀㨀䔀夀䔀䌀䄀一䐀夀嘀䨀匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀

䴀唀匀䤀䌀嘀䤀䐀䔀伀刀䔀儀唀䔀匀吀匀䘀伀刀吀䠀䔀匀伀唀䰀⸀ 匀䔀䰀䔀䌀吀䘀刀伀䴀䄀匀吀伀唀吀䌀䄀吀䄀䰀伀䜀℀

吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀匀㨀䰀䄀吀䔀吀唀一䔀匀圀䤀吀䠀䬀倀匀唀䐀䨀밂匀 ⴀ 㤀倀䴀⼀䘀刀䔀䔀吀唀䔀匀䐀䄀夀匀㨀匀伀一䜀匀䌀唀刀䄀吀䔀䐀䨀唀匀吀䘀伀刀夀伀唀

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 20

features national scene

Photo by Tom Griffiths

11: It had to be mind blowing. VN: Oh totally, completely man. We had to learn to be a band, really. When we first started and were playing to 50 people a night we were awful [laughs]! But those early shows really taught us a lot and as the venues and crowds have gotten larger we've thankfully gotten a lot better. 11: Yeah the venue you're playing here in Portland is much bigger this time. VN: Oh really? Cool! We loved the place we played last time. The Doug Fir? 11: Yeah that's it. It's a great room. VN: Absolutely. 11: Do any memories of your first trip to Portland stick out? VN: Oh for sure man, we love Portland. It's really one of our favorite American cities. It's got a very European feel to it which I really liked. Tons of cool cafes, great clothing stores everywhere, cool bars, amazing record stores and lots of cool, healthy places to eat, which you really appreciate after traveling through the midwest and eating a lot of their food, [laughs] you know? Âť

DJANGO DJANGO PLAYS LIVE IN PORTLAND THIS MONTH OCTOBER 21 AT WONDER BALLROOM

21 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 22

features

MINI FEATURE

Arya David Imig of Sound Judgement Record Label photo by Yousef Hatlani

is probably one of the few things I haven't done related to music in Portland over the last ten years. It's definitely something I've thought about since like 2007 but never really something I felt I had the financial backing to do. This year I've been working full time at Everyday Music and decided I had the money to financially invest in something I believe in. I started this label to put out work by the band Rod. 11: How did you get in touch with Rod? What is it about them that hooked you?

2015 sees the launch of independent booker, former OPB DJ, current podcaster, perpetual music-obsessive, and friend to many Arya David Imig’s label Sound Judgment (a moniker Arya first wore for a radio show he hosted at KPSU from 2005 to 2009). Arya has been one of the major presences in Portland’s underground (and overground) music circuit for as long as anyone can remember. Whether he’s organizing massive festivals like Big Ass Boombox, injecting some dry wit into discussions with Yousef Hatlani and Hollister Dixon on their podcast Faces on the Radio (which invited this quiet, awkward guy on for his first podcast something like two years ago), or racing to catch multiple sets spread across town, my friend has always got more than enough on his plate. Sound Judgment’s debut release is the excellent EP Where I Had Gone by Rod, a little bit punk and a little bit pop. I asked Arya to share some words on the release and himself earlier this week, and here’s what he had to say. ELEVEN: What was the first show you ever booked? What’s the first booking you pulled together that you were really proud of? Arya David Imig: I've been organizing events for as long as anyone who knows me can remember, going back to a block party I organized in my neighborhood when I was five. I can't recall if there was any music at that event but we did have Jello. I think the first show I booked that I was really proud of was getting a friend's band on a bill at the Paris Theater when it was still doing shows. This might have been back in 2003 or 2004 which now that I think about puts my all-ages show advocacy at an even earlier start date! 11: What was the impetus for wanting to start the label and how long have you wanted to do this? ADI: Besides actually playing music myself, starting a label

23 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

ADI: I've gotten to know the members of Rod over the last five years through their other projects. Rod's singer/guitarist Tommy Celt was the singer in a band called Profcal who had a great run until Tommy went to school in Costa Rica for a couple of years. Drummer Alan Bishop has played in a lot of projects over the last few years but I first met him when he played with a group called Kittin. Bassist Paul Thomas played in a group called Groves. I worked with these bands through my role as advisor to the non-profit Music In The Schools (MITS), which I "accidentally" co-founded back in 2007, and Rod's guitarist Cannon Riggs was an essential member of the MITS community. I'd really enjoyed Profcal a lot and when Rod's first recordings surfaced, I wasn't surprised to enjoy them as well. The timing and the personal chemistry between all of us felt right. I texted Cannon and then Tommy, asking if they were interested in having the Rod EP be Sound Judgment's first release. They talked it over and responded with enthusiasm.We met up at the Burgerville on Powell to discuss some details, and here we are! 11: On Where I Had Gone you can really hear the overwhelming influence sound of emotive hardcore and power pop-type stuff. However, I know that you have really eclectic tastes that go through many different styles of pop music and more unusual sounds. What kind of output can we expect from Sound Judgment? ADI: It would be premature to say that there is a particular sound we can solely expect but it is safe to say that the output is most likely to continue in the vein of Rod–taut, well-constructed guitar driven rock songs with a passionate raw intensity. 11: Why do you think Portlanders are so into pop music from the past? ADI: I don't necessarily think that's a trait unique to Portland or even all Portlanders. Portland has a strong history of producing widely recognized artists going back to The Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Dead Moon , The Wipers, and more. If there's something an artist can't help but emulate from someone they've been listening to all their life, it's probably more of a subconscious osmosis thing » - Matthew Sweeney

7. Cultured Caveman - 8233 N Denver Ave 8. Fang and Feather - 1926 N Kilpatrick St 9. Kenton Club - 2025 N Kilpatrick St 10. Cason’s Fine Meats - 8238 N Denver Ave 11. Posies - 8208 N Denver Ave

community

NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE MONTH Kenton

KENTON NEIGHBORHOOD

1. CONVENIENT CONSIGNMENT

Give and Take - 8128 N Denver Ave

TER

STA TE A VE.

N McCLELLAN ST.

N FENWICK AVE.

N DENVER AVE.

N BRANDON AVE.

4 7 6

N IN

11 2 N KILPATRICK ST.

2. GET INKED, BABE

Blue Ox Tattoo - 1907 N Kilpatrick St

3. DANCE UPRIGHT

Pole Palace - 2034 N Kilpatrick St

BEST OF NE GLISAN ST

Location photos by Mercy McNab

4. CLASSIC CAFE

Cup & Saucer - 8237 N Denver Ave

5. ART DISPERSION

Disjecta - 8371 N Interstate Ave

6. PIECE BE UPON YOU

Smoke It Up - 8213 N Denver Ave

7. DINE LIKE A DINO

Cultured Caveman - 8233 N Denver Ave

8. PET NECESSITIES

Fang and Feather - 1926 N Kilpatrick St

9. WORLD FAMOUS MUSIC VENUE Kenton Club - 2025 N Kilpatrick St

10. BEEFY BITES

Cason’s Fine Meats - 8238 N Denver Ave

11. HOMESTYLE BAKERY Posies - 8208 N Denver Ave

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 24

community literary arts too much space to explain. To explain New Orleans, and then they would wonder why am I talking about Kansas and Montana and Seattle and Portland and Washington DC. In the larger context, the significance of these towns is not important. The next book is different, it’s a lot more conversational, and talky. 11: Can you talk about your shift to that style? I remember I saw you read a couple of years ago, and you read a more narrative-focused poem about the tragic shooting at Cafe Racer. Has finding a place you want to be located helped shape that shift?

Photo by Mercy McNab

LITERARY ARTS Portland Poet Ed Skoog

he poet Ed Skoog is a force of nature. Not only for his sheer physical stature, but for the weight his words carry. His conversation flows like poetry, each word seemingly crafted from an enormous stock of experiences and places in his memory bank. His first book, Mister Skylight took a poignant look at the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Rough Day, his second book, traverses the wide physical and spiritual landscape of America. His next book, Run the Red Lights, will be out in the coming year from Copper Canyon. We caught up with Ed right after he was given the keys to his new house here in Portland. ELEVEN: What brings you to Portland? Ed Skoog: I have family here, and spend a few weeks a year here. There were a few moments when we thought about moving here, in the late '90s, early aughts. Then I thought, "What would we do? We could go to a dive bar, we could go to the Sandy Hut." All of the cities I've loved have evolved. I'm moving here to be middleaged, and for family. I like that Portland is Portland, still. 11: You reference a lot of different places in Rough Day, and you've moved around a lot. What does being on the move mean to your work? ES: The places are never named. I took out all the names partly because the places in my mind and heart are, first of all, entirely imaginary. Because it’s art. But the specific places would take

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ES: Part of it is I wanted to do something new. I feel that on Rough Day I had ended an experiment, which started on the second half of Mister Skylight. It required a disorientation which was consonant with the texture of my life post-Katrina. I think beginning with the podcast I started with my friend John, which was just an extension of the conversations we've been having for twenty-five years, I saw something I had not been using in poetry, and something that I like as a reader, and like to do as a writer, which is to be conversational and talky. The disorientation, which has a prosody and a calculus to it, turned out to be very quiet, private, and internal. And for the next period of writing which this next book contains, and I think will continue for awhile, is something that is more interpersonal. Some of that has to do with growing, and changing. Some has to do with having a child. I had to change my methods from just going to the coffee shop or the OTB and just writing in a journal for six hours, and maybe finding a couple of sentences from it, months later. I didn’t have that time. I had about six hours a week to write. But my mind didn’t stop writing. My mind needed something clearer to coalesce around. So I could have a poem almost fully composed before I wrote it down. It’s almost just like a nemonic device, or a prisoner building a house in his head. I needed something more solid than just the print. 11: The same way Kanye writes. ES: I’m a lot like Kanye, in a lot of ways. I’m just starting to understand those connections. And I’m running for president in 2020. 11: And you're a musician, is that right? ES: I’m an amateur musician, a banjo player. 11: I noticed a few music references in Rough Day. Does music affect your poetry at all? ES: It affects it a lot. It affects my sense of composition and possibility, and form. Particularly I play bluegrass, and old-timey music, gypsy jazz and that kind of stuff. Which all have pretty tight, unforgiving forms. I played a lot of after hours stuff with musicians of all different stripes. Jazz musicians love to fuck around with Hillbilly stuff. Hillbilly virtuosos love to tackle the

community literary arts stuff they’re not getting paid for. A poet, or writer, needs to have something that’s not writing to do. The sort of stuff I like to play has so many signals if you put it down in words it can be pretty limiting. 11: There are so many locations in Rough Day that it doesn’t feel settled or done, of one place. You haven’t written much about Portland yet. How much do you think that will seep in now that you live here? ES: Oh I don’t know…I’ve written about Tillamook, where we spent a lot of time. 11: That’s a very conservative town. ES: Yeah, it’s like a Kansas town. It’s like the towns I grew up in. I'm looking forward to having all my stuff in one place for the first time since Katrina. But I don’t know if I’ll ever feel settled. 11: Rough Day was about your mother in many ways, and dealing with that loss. Has having your son started a new cycle for you? ES: Just because I’m with him most of the day. My wife has a real job, so I spend most of the day with him. So the lyric “I” in the poems is very often “We.” The sort of poem about what I’ve done today is what we’ve done today. 11: Can I ask about your use of ghosts? Are you thinking about specific people from your past? ES: It’s not about actual people. It’s often connected to language, and silence, and the unsaid, and the lurking. I’m interested in dead languages, or ways of speaking that aren’t spoken anymore. So I think that’s often what I’m thinking about with ghosts. Language not of the present. I was reading a lot of Jaques Derrida’s “Hauntology.” He has these essays about ghosts. But he has this theory of ghosts, of haunting. It makes the distinction between the phantom and the specter. The ghost is the unconscious memory of past trauma. Not so much one that happened to you and your people, as those that you've perpetrated and have been silenced: your sins, past guilts. Past repressed guilts that are not personal. The Phantom is the memory of your sort of tribal traumas that have been afflicted, and the Phantom is the the figure in your mind that wants to keep it repressed. The phantom wants to keep the secret a secret and the specter wants to show you the secret. They’re two different kinds of ghosts, and they’re both scary. Remember Friday the 13th? How does the main character stop Jason from killing her? She puts on his mother’s sweater, and talks to him. That’s what Derrida says. Talk to the ghost. So that’s a lot of what I have in mind with ghosts, and historical traumas, and recovery. Specifically recovery of people in the Gulf Coast from Katrina. The guilt of the rest of the country in not helping. And personally, traumas of losing a parent and complicated relationships. It’s not resolving all of it, it’s trying to get to the texture of these particular things which are, of course, universal and ongoing.

11: Besides the Lunchbox Podcast, you also help run a literary magazine called Okey-Panky? ES: It’s an online magazine. We started last January. J. Robert Lennon is the editor. Rhian Ellis is the fiction editor. The great Alice Bolin writes a lot about pop culture. 11: Has that, in the same way that the podcast has, opened you up to conversations? ES: It’s an extension of ideas and conversations with John and Rhian, and Alice. John and Rhian, I’ve been talking to for twenty years, and the podcast is an expansion of that, a widening of those conversations. And the magazine is a widening of that, a demonstration of those ideas. More of an outreach project from our lunchtime conversations. 11: Do you have anything on the way? ES: Well I've got a poem in this year’s Best American Poems. My first time in there. My next book will be out next year, it’s called Run the Red Lights. It’s from Alex Chilton’s last words. The guy behind Big Star. There's a lot of music in the next book. There's a poem about “Kung-Fu Fighting,” which is the saddest song ever. I wrote a lot about the Ghostbuster's theme. Also a very sad song. » - Scott McHale

LOCAL LITERARY EVENTS

PORTLAND ARTS & LECTURES 1 OCTOBER 5 | ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL | 1037 SW BROADWAY Celebrate the beginning of PAL's reading series with Pulitzer Prize winning author Jane Smiley.

UNCHASTE READERS SERIES 2 OCTOBER 14 | LITERARY ARTS | 925 SW WASHINGTON Come out to hear the voices, and take a glimpse into the minds of eight amazing women: Sarah Polansky Mura, Mo Daviau, Sally K. Lehman, Jewels Harrison, Leah Rainer, Golda Dwass, Hajara Quinn, and Lisa Loving.

COLUM MCCANN BOOK READING 3 OCTOBER 21 | POWELL'S CITY OF BOOKS | 1005 W BURNSIDE The National Book Award winner reads from his new story collection Thirteen Ways of Looking. » - JP Kemmick

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community visual arts

VISUAL ARTS Portland painter Amanda Dawn Potter

he likes you, and she hopes you like you too. At least that’s the message Amanda Dawn Potter is hoping you would get out of her latest watercolor series, “Remember to Water the Garden,” exploring gender-neutral sexuality and self-pleasure. Behind the statuesque curves and gentle colors of the bodies depicted in her art lies a strong statement about the importance of self-love and sex positivity. For those of us who have struggled down the judgmental path of criticizing ourselves endlessly, Potter encourages us to appreciate the unique curves that make each of our bodies beautiful. She is encouraging us to be brave and explore what arouses us, to pick up a mirror and take a proud look, and to be able to own what reflects back with pride. ELEVEN: Where is your artistic background from, you’re from Utah, did you study art there? Amanda Dawn Potter: Ya I am from Utah, but I did not study there. When I went to high school art was kind of

Photo by Mercy McNab

what got me through school. I was lucky enough to have a very supportive art teacher that was a gentle guidance, she taught me to trust my instincts, to experiment a lot, and to try out different ways of gathering resources. I’ve just invested myself into trying to be self-taught and to instead learn from people as much as possible. 11: What kind of artist do you consider yourself to be? ADP: I used to consider myself as more of an illustrator, but about five years ago I started painting and now I definitely think more in color. I am still very fresh into that world and I still don’t feel like I can do exactly what I want, but maybe that’s the kind of hunger of it. A lot of times my art is like a visual journaling of how I am trying to be myself, which is also a kind of dialog with myself. 11: Do you think of your art as political? ADP: I think politics start on an intimate level for me. You can read into it as political but I think on a foundational level it is very personal. I think that’s why it starts with how we view ourselves, how we want to be viewed by the world, what our rights are, and how we want people to treat us. 11: Would you consider yourself a feminist? ADP: Feminism under the description of equality yes, then I would describe myself as a feminist. There have been so many takes on feminism that I really prefer to stay away from big bulky statements because there are so many different ways that it can be interpreted. I think if you can whittle it down to the basics of equality and then talk on that level then it’s easier for more people to relate to.

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community visual arts 11: Why did you choose watercolors as the medium for your recent work? ADP: It was kind of serendipitous actually. I just read a book that this artist had loaned me about this particular palate and I am just exploring that while also kind of rediscovering my love for watercolor. I love gouache a lot, so it’s really hard for me not to want to opacify things, but I enjoy the challenge too. Minimalism is really attractive to me right now because I have been so tied up with oil paint work, it's many layers and it's months of building, which can be a very heavy process. Watercolors are very frank because it just involves my illustration, which takes maybe one day and then only a couple more days of painting.

11: Do you think that social media has shaped the way that we judge ourselves or others since it is so much easier to manipulate how you can appear to look? ADP: I think that when media was more controlled by mostly the people that are in the industry, that there was some negative ground laying for people, like Baywatchstyle stuff, in the '90s. This was before we all had easy access to things like the internet and personal social media. I think that modern personal media has been really body positive. It’s really cool to me to just in a span of fifteen minutes, be able to look through someone’s private blog and see a progression.

11: Why didn’t you choose to incorporate faces into this newer series? ADP: I wanted it to be kind of genderless and faceless because I wanted people to be able to identify themselves with that person more, rather than to be able to think of the person as someone different. I wanted that to be like a connecting factor, where one could identify with the image as a body that could be them or their lover, an act to try to remove a border. 11: Do you think of your pieces as being more romantic or more focused around the physical pleasure that comes along with sexuality? ADP: I view it as more of an exploration of self and as a kind of avenue of acceptance, not necessarily about being sexual per se, but allowing yourself to be a sexual being. Allowing yourself to look at your vagina or genitalia and realizing, “this is what I got, this is cool, this is my body.” A validation. Being a tall woman who is curvy, it has taken a lot of self-work and shifting my views to separate myself from how things are labeled. Why do we have stipulations of what is “extra-small" or "extra-large,” and why do people have to be labeled like that? 11: Is there a specific audience you had in mind with your work? ADP: Just people. I didn’t have anyone in mind because you never know who is going to relate to your work. I think that these issues are probably ones that a lot of people face and I just really want to make my work and think that maybe some people will relate to it.

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN"Rooted" PORTLAND | 28 2015) (watercolor,

community visual arts

"Haunted" (mixed media, 2015)

11: Do you have any upcoming prospects/shows of what you’re going to be doing after this or do you have anything that you are working on now? ADP: I always have projects. I was playing around last night and I had this playful idea of a more illustrative theme of this street cat god who wears a cat mask and has a gang of cats that run around in the streets. NYE I will be doing an event at Refuge, and will be using the Tilt Brush, which is a 3D virtual reality concept and they will

be projecting what I am making on a screen, there will be live musicians playing as well. 11: Are there any artists that you would like to give a shout-out to? ADP: Leslie Dorcus and her work, and I have been reading a lot more, read like seven Murakami books as well as a lot of sci-fi stuff. 11: Any other concepts you would like to add? ADP: I like you! » - Lucia Ondruskova

Join us for Brunch, Saturday and Sunday from 9am-3pm in the Cafe & Bar

The Patio is Open! "Dialogue" (mixed media, 2015)

FIND THIS ARTIST ONLINE WWW.AMANDADAWNPOTTER.COM INSTAGRAM: @AMANDADAWNPOTTER

9am-2am Weekends

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Please enjoy Amber's piece "Sweet Nectar" (watercolor, 2015) decorating our inside back cover this month.