Pickathon 2012 Day 3
Thee Oh Sees, Dr. Dog and More
Kick my teeth in now…so hot, might as well get hotter with some booty-shaking beats of San Francisco based, Thee Oh Sees. So this is what Surfer rock has morphed into; a musical rock-fusion highlighting instrumental, experimental sounds, and high octave lyrics with plenty of reverb. Yes please. Knowing very little about this band, I am immediately struck by the energy and character they bring to the stage. Bass guitarist, Mike Shoun, shows off his 80s rude-boy style, with a fully tattooed body, pulled high blue jeans, tucked in wife beater, and military boots. The auxiliary percussionists are next to ridiculously awesome with their high energy movements and sometimes mirrored dance routines. Although I’m sure this isn’t what he was going for, one reminded me, in sprit, of the SNL cowbell skit with Will Farrell, but as if Will Farrell just stepped out of the Pendleton Roundup. So good. So entertaining. Keyboardist and backup vocals of Brigid Dawson provided an upbeat female torment to the lead vocalist, John Dwyer. I’ve never been so happy to dance in 100-degree weather as I am to Thee Oh Sees. And apparently neither is the packed jiving crowd, including the woman next to me who is old enough to be my mom but apparently knows every lyric and guitar break as she sings and air-strums along.
I don’t know if I was coming out of a heat stroke or out of my slumber from Phosphorescent’s performance on the Mt. View stage, but Langhorne Slim was a wakeup slap across my face. These four talented gentlemen gave the crowd a fresh breath of life. The lead singer - who is the band’s namesake - treats the crowd to an energetic, upbeat and theatrical set. Their music offers a blurred genre sound that could have been recorded anywhere from the late 60s to now. And, Langhorne’s attire follows suite. David Moore - banjo and keys - was a standout talent that, simply put, just kicked-ass. I haven’t seen hands move so fast on a banjo. For the closing song, Langhorne Slim veers away from the set’s previous rocking, foot-stompin’ tempos and goes into a mellow farewell melody where he sang from atop the large subwoofer in front of the stage and then made his way over the ropes and into the crowd. Continuing on with the song, Langhorne walks up the aisle singing to both the beer garden and the field. This, of course, wouldn’t be complete without “that” drunken girl stumbling her way over the ropes toward her dreamy singer. Despite her friend’s resistance, the girl proceeds dancing next to him, trying to lure him into her drunken fantasy. Spoiler Alert- He doesn’t think what you’re doing is cute or sexy. Go ahead and cross off your next son’s name as “Langhorne” and thanks for being a thunder stealer. Langhorne Slim, I’ll look forward to you performing in Portland venues in the future, and I’ll be sure to stay in the audience.
Not planning on watching The Hot 8 Brass Band, I quickly change my mind. Within the first day of the festival I hear they are a “must see” and apparently are the hub of festival-goers. Missing their first performance on the Woods Stage yesterday, I opt to watch them on the Mt. View Stage today. Still feeling hotter than Haiti to me, I assume I’m the wussy, cold-loving Oregon native that I am to these gentlemen from New Orleans (). The eight-piece group set up with six horns – including one tuba and one tenor saxophone – and two drums. They make no grand entrance, but rather start with a slight introduction and dive right into the tantalizing combination of these instruments. All members – dressed in simple, but different print, tees with the words “Hot 8” printed on them – start the set off a little slow but work their way into their rendition of “Tequila” which gets the somewhat paralyzed crowd moving and invested into this group. At one point, a member points out to the hippy, hula hooping, dancing-with-random-objects-while-spinning section, and yells into the microphone, the New Orleans call of “Who dat!” I find this more of a question rather than the intended statement. Overall they were a fun band and roused the crowd.
Note: I’m truly disappointed realizing that Sexy-times-dancer will be a no-show this year.
Having heard non-stop hype from the photographer about this Philadelphia band and attempting to listen to their music to familiarize myself with them – other than the random mix the noted photographer plays in the car any chance he gets – I had a passive anticipation to the show. Really, I was only wondering why they chose the name, Dr. Dog, and was thankful the show started after sunset. I crouched in front of the stage and watched as the crowd hummed with excitement to watch the main Saturday night show on the Mt. View Stage. Beach balls bounce amongst outreached hands and hit the unsuspecting back of heads every now and again. Dr. Dog comes on and gives the evening audience a high-energy, up beat opening. I can’t help but notice how the bassist and vocalist, Toby Leaman, shuffles his feet to the beat. The photographer keeps blabbing to me that, “oh man, the just played The Breeze” and “alright… they are encoring with Lonesome!”
All said, my favorite part of the show was when one of the huskier members of Hot 8 Brass Band – who was sitting to my right and slightly in front of me – pulled a “Meet the Parents” move with the crowd-surfing beach ball. Seeing the event slowly unfold two feet from me, I watched as the Hot 8 member gleefully batted the ball away several times, but true excitement came when it finally rolled to a stop on the ground by his feet. Picking it up, he does his best to knock it back to the crowd behind us. Using his full weight, he spikes it as hard as he possibly can.…..right.into.the face.of.the girl.behind.him…….awkward. I laughed for 15 minutes straight. And, according to the photographer, Dr. Dog played another fantastic 2000 show for his third time seeing them at Pickathon. He hopes they come back to the festival again.
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