A Very Portland Evening

Last night I went to a concert.

Not just any concert. It was a Pink Martini Concert, outside, at the zoo, in the rain.

When I left home (where the sidewalk ends south of the city) it was clear. By the time I picked up a friend the skies were no longer threatening. The mist that comes straight down the sky that Portlanders know and love insinuated its way into the evening.

Rain here is different from where I grew up in Ohio. Here it doesn’t blow and bluster. It comes straight down as if someone was intent on misting everything. It doesn’t even qualify as drizzle most places. You only get soaked if you stand in one place too long.

There were somewhere close to a thousand people gathered on the lawn and the seats in the zoo amphitheater being overlooked by elephants. The staff was passing out those big black garbage bags to sit on as the chairs had already been drenched.

No one left. From before the music began until well after over three hours and four encores. It was a very Portland evening.

Pink Martini was founded here in Portland but now has fans all over the world. They recorded a song in French on their first album which became a hit in France and got them a European Tour. Thomas Louderdale and his group of zany musicians have never looked back. Their blend of music includes songs in more languages and musical signatures than I can count. It is filled with Cubo-African rhythms followed by a koto instrumental or an Arabic tone poem and original songs that begin as a rip off of Schubert and circle Mars on their way into establishing a foot tapping rhythm. Truly eclectic, the band includes the founder Thomas on a concert grand, guitar, base, cello, harp, 3 drummers/percussionists, trumpet, trombone and not one but two singers.

On this night, because it was their last appearance in Portland for a while, the y turned it into something that could only happen here in the second city in the Pacific Northwest. Thomas invited a few friends to join in the concert. Imagine on one stage:

· The Pink Martini orchestra

· The Youth Philharmonic touring players

· A Koto player from Tokyo (she played on two numbers including a tango sung in Japanese)

· The 2002 Miss America who now lives in Klamath Falls but has kept her opera singing chops in great shape.

· The Von Trapp family singers (Four grandchildren of that Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music that now live in Portland

· Michelle Obama’s fashion consultant who flew in from Chicago to sing in Arabic.

· Ari Shapiro who is the voice of All Things Considered on NPR who flew in from Washington. (He missed the encores to catch a red eye)

· And a couple others I’m sure I've overlooked.

I lost track of the number of languages in which songs were delivered. These, are the ones I’m sure of: French, Armenian, Arabic, Turkish, English, Japanese, Spanish, Cuban, German and Italian.

About those singers. Either of these two ladies would be enough for the band to be sensational. Their names are China Forbes, an original cast member and Storm Large who filled in for China once and has become a regular.

Both of them have voices that can rise above the manic rhythms this crew can generate while being able to get sultry as torch singers. Storm, originally a rocker by trade can channel Janice Joplin. Here is a great video that demonstrates their virtuosity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DrYXdAB8H0

Enjoy.