This Week in the Mercury
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Let's Talk About... More On Pavement...
Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 5:37 PM
While Cary Clarke is mostly right, saying "Pavement, I love you. And that's why I do not want you to reunite. Unless you are making new music together, leave the past in the past." He should've stopped at "And that's why I do not want you to reunite." No new music necessary. Nor any from the Pixies, Stooges, New York Dolls, etc. etc. etc...
Buddyhead also weighs in (and since it's a comment on dead 90's entertainment, I suppose this makes Buddyhead relevant):
"Pavement are getting back together. Dudes who have man-purses are AMPED!
And that shall be the last we speak of it.
But we will speak more of Mr. Clarke. You may want to get on his Twitter feed, if only to weigh in Rose Quarter development conversation. Follow Cary's lead and tweet for better design:
"Tell Mayor Adams that you want the Memorial Coliseum turned into a non-profit, all-ages music venue and tag your tweet with #rqidea"
Pie the sky idea, but a damn good one.
1
With all due respect to Cary, why does Portland need a "non-profit, all-ages music venue" that holds 20,000+ people? For all the free, all-ages Taylor Swift shows? That seems like a gigantic waste of space. It would never, ever be full. Most days it would probably have not more than 200 people in it. It just seems like there are much bigger opportunities for that space. Like the public rec center that was being discussed a few years ago. Throw a giant rock climbing wall in there and a bunch of basketball/tennis courts, etc. It's a huge space, let's actually use it.
2
To clarify, I also cannot imagine why anyone would want or need a 20,000-capacity non-profit, all-ages music venue. I am not suggesting the memorial coliseum be turned into that. That would be insane. I can see how you might have gotten the sense that that is what I meant by my tweet and its forced brevity, but that is not what I was suggesting, and in the context of the other "rqidea"-tagged tweets, it was clear. I can't think of many (any?) single ideas, for that matter, that could use the current coliseum space effectively, and that includes traditional "rec" facilities like sports courts. If the space is to be repurposed, it should be done in a way that accommodates a variety of uses that complement each other, I think.
What I would like to see is a non-profit, all-ages venue incorporated into the broader redevelopment plan for the Rose Quarter currently taking shape. I think a 150-200 person performance space would be ideal, with - given the opportunity - some additional space for a recording studio and an art space (e.g. print-making studio), very much like what the Vera Project has in Seattle. I can see disagreement as to whether or not this is the ideal space for the kind of facility I'm talking about, but I don't think that should get in the way of having a serious conversation about it. I think - here, there or elsewhere - Portland could greatly benefit from a non-profit, all-ages music venue.
(Additionally, and perhaps pedantically, I would note that a venue being non-profit doesn't mean its shows have to be free, just as a business being non-profit doesn't mean its services and goods have to be given away for free. This is rarely the case.)
As for the other topic Andrew brought up - whether or not Pavement would be well-served by writing new material - I see his point. I would be happiest for Pavement to leave there legacy as is, I think, having been burned by reunions too many times in the past few years. Basically, though, I think a band being genuinely excited enough to be playing together to the point that they are writing and recording new material is a good sign. Of all the reunions that I've experienced in the past decade, the only two that yielded positive experiences for me were Polvo and Mission of Burma. Both of those bands resumed recording and writing, whereas the (for me) aesthetically unsuccessful reunions like the Pixies and Sebadoh did not for all intents and purposes. Though I'm not too into the new Dinosaur Jr. stuff, many people seem to be and, again, there is another reunion meeting expectations and passing the writing/recording litmus test.
More...
What I would like to see is a non-profit, all-ages venue incorporated into the broader redevelopment plan for the Rose Quarter currently taking shape. I think a 150-200 person performance space would be ideal, with - given the opportunity - some additional space for a recording studio and an art space (e.g. print-making studio), very much like what the Vera Project has in Seattle. I can see disagreement as to whether or not this is the ideal space for the kind of facility I'm talking about, but I don't think that should get in the way of having a serious conversation about it. I think - here, there or elsewhere - Portland could greatly benefit from a non-profit, all-ages music venue.
(Additionally, and perhaps pedantically, I would note that a venue being non-profit doesn't mean its shows have to be free, just as a business being non-profit doesn't mean its services and goods have to be given away for free. This is rarely the case.)
As for the other topic Andrew brought up - whether or not Pavement would be well-served by writing new material - I see his point. I would be happiest for Pavement to leave there legacy as is, I think, having been burned by reunions too many times in the past few years. Basically, though, I think a band being genuinely excited enough to be playing together to the point that they are writing and recording new material is a good sign. Of all the reunions that I've experienced in the past decade, the only two that yielded positive experiences for me were Polvo and Mission of Burma. Both of those bands resumed recording and writing, whereas the (for me) aesthetically unsuccessful reunions like the Pixies and Sebadoh did not for all intents and purposes. Though I'm not too into the new Dinosaur Jr. stuff, many people seem to be and, again, there is another reunion meeting expectations and passing the writing/recording litmus test.
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