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Friday, August 15, 2008

KNW YR PDX KNW YR PDX: Light Rail Coyote

Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:39 AM

First of all, that photo caption should read: "Chillaxin' On The Max." Anyway, in the winter of 2002 a coyote wondered onto a Red Line Max train at PDX airport, thus leading to the adorable photo above and one hell of a song, "Light Rail Coyote," from the ladies of Sleater-Kinney.

LISTEN:

Sleater-Kinney - "Light Rail Coyote"

The song is a wonderful portrait of Portland as both an urban and rural landscape that houses punks, strippers, bookstores, and even the occasional public transport riding coyote.

Out at the edge of town
Where airfield runs water down
Coyote crosses old tracks
And hops on the Light-Rail Max

This is also the moment where SK really seemed to embrace Portland as their own. Their roots, and even their band name, lies in the Olympia area, but by '02's One Beat they were a local band through and through. This continued with '05's The Woods and lasted until the band's breakup the following year. No word on the status of the Coyote and his/her opinion of local music.