This Is the Wild West

You didn’t really think Lovefest would miss out on Kublakai and Abadawn on the “Follow The Lights” Tour did you? Luckily it’s only an hour train ride from my new home in Portland to Salem, OR where the tour stopped Saturday night. With a little adventure encouragement from fellow Lovefest ladies I walked across the pedestrian bridge by my apt to Union Station and took the next train heading south. When I got on the train I instantly threw on “The Basics” and “Lights for the Dark Nights." My apologies for the lack of photos and videos but I forgot my cellphone charger and didn't think to bring my camera, although I wish you all could have been there for the dancin’ man. Seriously, I want to look this dude up and make him a “ Kublakai Superfan” t-shirt; homie was going harrrrrd on the dance floor.

Because the train schedule worked out the way it did I missed all but the last two tracks in Abadawn’s set. Aside from Kubi holding it down, I wasn’t paying as close attention to the rest of the show because I hadn’t anticipated writing anything about it. If you missed out on this stop have no fear, Portland, Kubi and Aba are coming through the area on Nov 22nd. If you missed the Oregon shows you can check out Satyricon next Sunday night. If you're living in Cali you have no excuse, the boys are heading your way.

Apparently Camobear decided to take over Oregon for the weekend so Sunday night I was lucky enough to catch the last stop on the “The Smorgasbord Tour.” Pigeon John and Josh Martinez have been calling the road home the past few weeks but luckily for Portland, they found their way to Backspace. This time around I had my phone charged, but I still haven’t figured out how the fucker works so my attempts at video recording failed.


Iame of Sandpeople (and Oldominion AND Clockwerk) opened the show Sunday night. The first time I caught him was at the Knitting Factory in LA when he played with the rest of Sandpeople. It was great to see him rock a whole set and get the crowd hyped.

Eternal Family followed Iame and all I want to know is where these dudes came from. These three guys brought ALL their energy to the Backspace crowd.

Following Eternal Family was another dude I had yet to see. Since living in Portland, Aba had been telling me good things about Pigeon John so when Sunday rolled around and the opportunity to see him live of course I was going to go (as if there was any doubt with Josh Martinez attached to the show).

Speaking of Martinez - maybe it was the rendition of “Eye of the Tiger” or maybe it was when we all got “Drunk and Irish” but I've never had so much fun during a single rapper's set while flying solo at a show. As another artist I have only been able to catch when performing with others, his solo set was the cherry on the top of my weekend.

My boss told me that in order to meet more of "my kind of people" in another new city I “have to go to rap shows.” Whether or not that’s true it’s definitely where I feel most comfortable. Oregon has officially adopted me and in return I will give it nothing but time and respect. To it's artist (and bartenders) I will give them nothing but my hard earned dollars.

Maybe it’s because my hometown and my current home city depended on the great explorers, Lewis and Clark, for their discovery (also the name of my elementary school alma mater) or because my hometown was so close to the border we’re practically Canadian (the home country of Josh Martinez (Where you at Halifax?)) but of all the places I have seen shows I feel that the PacNW is the closest thing to home I have. I'm excited to continue to musically explore this new region of mine.

Stay tuned to the site - there's a lot of great stuff coming up. Until then, or next weekend when Sleep plays in town, check out the rest of Camobear Records.