Portland, OR & Sasquatch Music Festival 2009

Internet, I know you’ve been asking, “Where has Blah & Order been? What has Blah & Order been doing?” Here is one answer:

On May 19, I went to Portland. There I stayed for about three days. My sister’s best friend was kind enough to invite me out there and host me, and since her schedule had her working from 1 p.m. – 1 a.m. every day that I was there, we went out to breakfast in the mornings and then I wandered the streets in the afternoon and night. Having the most Pittsburgh-y time in Portland, I hung out on a series of platonic dates with my friend Nate from college every day as well as getting drinks with Andy, the other PGH-PDX transport that I know, one night. I think I explored nearly every major neighborhood, as well as the eateries within them. I also had my share of luck in a few great vintage stores, including a Jagr jersey and a 1992 Olympic dream team paper jacket with the likes of Patrick Ewing and Larry Byrd on it. A picture of that is forthcoming. Nate took me to a lot of cool spots that I probably would not have found on my own, like a weird bonfire, a house show, and a pretty dock that he (jokingly) tried to push me off of.

My first objective on this trip was to scout out Portland as a possible place to live in the future. I haven’t come to a decision, but I haven’t ruled it out.

The second objective was to go to the Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington at the Gorge. Here is what happened there:

Saturday:

Maria Bamford: I really like her, but she was so awkward that I was almost uncomfortable. Like, I was unnecessarily nervous for her.

Devotchka: Outstanding. Note the crowd reflection in this tuba:

Animal Collective: Sounded good but was not a particularly visually engaging performance. I was smashed against drunken idiots the whole time which didn’t make me like it any better.

Mos Def: I stood towards the back for him for a few songs until I realized I was hungry, and then found food instead.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: I was relaxing during this set but was thoroughly entertained. I wondered if I should go watch Bon Iver instead, but opted to wait and try to catch him in Pittsburgh or something.

Kings of Leon: People want to say a lot of bad things about Kings of Leon, but I like what I know of their music. They were super boring on stage though.

Sunday:

Mike Watt and The Missingmen: Caught his last song and was sad because he seemed like a neat guy.

Street Sweeper Social Club: I was just lying there, contributing to my sunburn. Not into it.

The Walkmen: I opened up my umbrella to shield me from the sun, and enjoyed their set from under my shelter.

Fences: I wandered over by the small stage to check them out and stayed for a few songs. I don’t remember feeling any certain way about them.

St. Vincent: I watched her for a little while, thinking about how much book a week geek would have liked her romper. She’s very cute and has a beautiful voice. After a few songs, I decided I didn’t want to miss Todd Barry completely.

The Red Wine Boys: Right after I found a place to sit, Aziz Ansari joined Todd Barry and Jon Benjamin on stage, to “wine-board” the latter.

Aziz Ansari: I was so happy with his set. He was entirely on the mark.

Zach Galifianakis: I stayed around for the first few minutes, but it was so crowded and I wanted to be able to make it back to the main stage in time for TV on the Radio.

TV on the Radio: As good as I expected. Unfortunately, I left for M83 before Aziz joined them on stage.

M83: I was bopping around by myself for the first time, really. It was dreamy and kind of hot and everyone was all red and close together. It wasn’t annoying though, surprisingly.

Of Montreal: After M83, everyone collectively went insane and started pushing to the front. I was crushed in about the second row for the whole time Of Montreal was setting up, which was about half an hour. Once they started, the closeness was unbearable and I physically could not turn around to get out of the crowd. I had some little boy’s elbow in my neck until I kept shoving it off. I was able to wrestle myself out of the crowd after the third song. Once I emerged from the belly of the beast, it was like I had been thrown from a sauna into glacial waters. It was then that I noticed my small canvas backpack, which only had a shirt, a sweatshirt, a water bottle and a bandanna in it was curiously light. Oh, that’s because NONE OF THAT STUFF WAS IN IT. Some jerk unzipped my backpack in the crowd, probably upset that it was keeping them two inches farther from the stage. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. I hope they get theirs. I hope that one day when they are cold, their sweatshirt is not there. Anyway, this sucked because I love Of Montreal. I watched the rest of their set from very far away.

Janes Addiction: Wrapped up in a blanket because I was now wearing only a tank top and pair of shorts in the nighttime air, I was only partially able to enjoy this spectacle before we headed back to camp.

Monday

The thing about camp was that it was totally beautiful and this dog, Cedar, was there:

Heartless Bastards: Only saw their last song, and like Mike Watt, I was like, “Oh, crap.”

Deerhoof: Delightfully wacky as always.

Grizzly Bear: I was seriously chilling out during their set. They sound great live. Actually, no one sounded bad all weekend.

Fleet Foxes: I thought they were kind of whatever.

Gogol Bordello: Fun stage antics. A lot more energy than other bands.

Santigold: I never really heard her other than that song that was in the MTV commercials the other year and in that Jay-Z sample. She was really cute and interacted with the crowd a lot. I support her as a good performer, though I am not necessarily into her music.

Beach House: They were having a lot of technical problems and dissed the East Coast, to which I took feigned offence. I sat in the dirt for a song or two and then wandered around until Girl Talk went on.

Girl Talk: And thank goodness I decided to see him. This was the best crowd experience I had the entire weekend. Everyone was happy and feeling awesome. I officially got over the “What’s the big deal about Girl Talk?” thing. His formula of playing songs white people like over rap songs that white people know (and vice versa) is working, and whatever, it’s fun.

Erykah Badu: She sounded perfect. At the beginning, I was feeling her attitude…it was very “I have somewhere better to be,” but towards the end she seemed to loosen up and have more fun.

All in all, it was a cool week away.