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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

News Burgerville Launches Record Label With A Questionably Titled Benefit Album

Posted by Charlie Swanson on Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 1:56 PM

shakerssessions_cd_coverart.jpg

Today in "news I don't know how to feel about," Burgerville is launching a record label. Now, the fact that a local fast food chain is deciding to jump on the label bandwagon is not what's giving me the moral complications. I mean, eventually, everyone will have a label anyways. But, it's Burgerville Record's choice for their first release that gave me pause. At first I thought the title was a promotional tie-in with the company's delicious milkshakes, but it seems that The Shakers' Sessions is actually a benefit album...for Parkinson's Disease patients.

All right, all right. Now that you either feel like a horrible person for laughing at that or offended that I brought it up, let's get the story straight. The Shakers' Sessions is specifically a benefit through the Brian Grant Foundation, a non-profit organization started by former Trailblazer and now Portland resident Brian Grant, and the album features songs written by Portland musician, and Parkinson's patient, Rob Barteletti. So, it's all for a very good cause and sounds like a really great compilation of Americana and roots rock with Barteletti and a variety of other local artists, I get all that. But, really, The Shakers' Sessions? Good luck ordering that without sounding awful when the album goes on sale exclusively at Burgerville locations starting November 15.

 

Comments (4) RSS

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1
Also, Brian Grant's annual fundraiser for Parkinson's is called "Shake it 'til we make it."
Posted by sgtgrumbles on November 9, 2011 at 2:13 PM · Report
2
For years Rob has done benefit concerts called "The Shakers Ball".
Posted by Kris on November 10, 2011 at 3:13 PM · Report
3
I found this on McMenamins' website about Rob Barteletti's reason for calling it Shakers' Ball and (thus Shakers' Sessions, too):

Rob Barteletti, founder and annual host of The Shakers' Ball benefit show
for local Parkinson's disease organizations, was diagnosed with
Parkinson's in 2002. He says of the Shakers' Ball, "The name of the event
is a tongue-in-cheek response to the seriousness of PD. Dyskinesia and
bradykinesia are two Parkinsonian terms," says Barteletti. "Dyskinesia is
a jerky, dance-like movement of the arms and/or head, which usually occurs
after several years of treatment with levodopa. I call it 'bobble-head
syndrome'."

I think, if he's suffering from the disease, and so is Brian Grant (and as sgtgrumbles said, Grant does name his annual fundraiser "Shake It 'Til We Make It"), we should let them have fun with it and take back the name and take control, using it as a sign of laughter - and thus hope.

It is kind of like that Portland band The Slants, an all Asian band in town my girlfriend and I saw once at Dante's, calling themselves The Slants. I think they're just taking back control, empowering themselves, and giving others like them hope.

And, as Guided By Voices said, we have to hold on to hope:

"Everybody's got a hold on hope
It's the last thing that's
holding me"
Posted by Anthony Thamel on November 11, 2011 at 10:52 PM · Report
4
Thanks, Anthony. You articulated very nicely what my point was in naming the Shakers' Ball (and recently the Shakers' Sessions). It's interesting to me that folks who don't have PD, or who don't know anyone with the disease, are the ones who seem to get uptight about the name. I know lots of people with PD, given the nearly 10 years I've been in that "community -- and I don't know one person who doesn't, at least on occasion, poke fun at it. There is something empowering about laughter and a sense of humor. Of course I know how serious this disease is (I live with it 24-7), so I also know how important it is to take it seriously -- but not too seriously. I think Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., that great American satirist, wrote: "The situation is hopeless, but not serious." That's my motto.

Thanks again for your thoughtful comment.
Posted by Rob Barteletti on November 19, 2011 at 1:14 AM · Report

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