Over the past decade, Astoria quietly became a hotbed for creatives looking for inspiration, community, space, and affordability. Now that economic times are on the rebound, how can Astoria keep its lifestyle affordable? This show was recorded before a live audience at the glorious Liberty Theater, home to the Astoria Music Festival and seasonal programming of all kinds. 1:29 - We start out the show with one of Astoria's most vocal recent converts, writer Matt Love. He recently penned a self-dec...
Jun 19, 2015•51 min
How did a festival this wide-ranging take root in a town under ten-thousand? We talk with AMF artistic director Keith Clark, Cary Lewis, pianist and AMF director of Chamber Music. Also, music from Cary, Oregon Symphony Concertmaster Sarah Kwak, and cellist Sergey Antonov. Full festival info available here! http://tinyurl.com/qyt3mol
Jun 19, 2015•19 min
Sarah Nebeker, Jack Harris, and Darren Orange talk with us about how Astoria built its creative community, and the pressures the city is dealing with to maintain critical mass.
Jun 19, 2015•11 min
Taking its name from the pilot boats that guide freighters through the treacherous mouth of the Columbia River, the band Blind Pilot sprang from Astoria’s swirling nexus of tides and mountains. “This landscape has always resonated with me,” says guitarist and singer Israel Nebeker, who grew up south of Astoria. “This place has always been a really important place where the river meets the ocean. That’s the biggest draw for me, the energy that buzzes in the tides and in the land.” Nebeker and ban...
Jun 19, 2015•20 min
This spring, Third Angle New Music knocked our socks off with its unique partnership with "New Yorker" music critic Alex Ross. In his history of 20th century music, "The Rest is Noise," Ross wrote about the role West Coast composers played in shaping classical music, as well as jazz and rock idioms, writing that, among other things, they expanded the boundaries of their era, creating work that still has power and playfulness in equal measures. So Third Angle put together a special program that i...
Jun 12, 2015•50 min
Phoebe Flanigan mixes with Goonies fans at the film's 30th anniversary celebration. This film's locations still draw thousands of tourists. At the same time, its popularity can feel like a mixed blessing for Astorians. Take a listen!
Jun 08, 2015•6 min
Perhaps no fictional character has stood the test of time like Sherlock Holmes. From his creation by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, he has deduced his way, pipe in hand, through countless radio plays, movies, TV shows, video games, and even a Japanese puppetry. A century later, he still triumphs in the ratings game, whether at the hands of Benedict Cumberbatch on BBC or Robert Downey, Jr in the Guy Ritchie films. Even Sir Ian McKellan is taking a stab in the upcoming “Mr. Holmes.” Longtime Port...
Jun 05, 2015•10 min
We are stoked, stoked, and stoked about summer — too much good stuff happening. Here's what's coming up on this week's show to help you kick down the door on your weekend. 1:33 - A quick hello to the entrepreneurs behind Cascade Record Pressing, the new vinyl record press in Milwaukie. 2:37 - One Flaming Arrow — a new feast of a festival featuring music, vis art, film, and more from contemporary Native American artists. 7:40 - KMHD previews the Reed College Tango symposium. 19:13 - Zach Dundas d...
Jun 05, 2015•49 min
Writer Karen Karbo talks about spending two weeks train-bound: what she wrote, what she saw.
Jun 05, 2015•7 min
Lou Watson's new experimental work, created and conceived on her block.
Jun 05, 2015•3 min
Festival of Native contemporary artists breaks through goals to launch.
Jun 05, 2015•5 min
Walidah Imarisha and adrienne maree brown talk about editing the new anthology of speculative fiction with a social justice lens.
May 29, 2015•7 min
May 29, 2015•53 sec
We're launching a new series of reviews. Curator Namita Wiggers looks at Ai Weiwei's "Circle of Animals: Zodiac Heads" at Portland Art Museum.
May 29, 2015•8 min
This week's crop of wonders finds the fantastic in familiar things, and the inspiration in the extraordinary: 1:00 - Karen Karbo is railbound! She's one of 24 writers out of 16,000 to score the first round of the Amtrak writers' residency. 3:00 - Walidah Imarisha and Adrienne Marée Brown on editing the sci-fi anthology "Octavia's Brood." 10:14 - Oregon Ballet announces that it's found a new home: the South Waterfront. 11:44 - What Are You Looking At? Namita Gupta Wiggers reviews work by Ai Weiwe...
May 29, 2015•51 min
opbmusic's Jerad Walker runs the numbers on women's representation at summer music festivals. Also, Bitch Magazine' Sarah Mirk has thoughts on the big disparities in bookings. (photo cred: opbmusic)
May 22, 2015•4 min
Dan Vidmar of Shy Girls talks about his recent 13-song drop, how a tough year affected his music, and his synthesis of old-school R&B sounds with a modern sensibility. He's onstage at the Wonder Ballroom May 29th.
May 22, 2015•10 min
Kelley Roy of ADX Portland and Joshua Lifton of Crowd Supply talk about the joys of locally made goods, and what was said at this month's White House Roundtable.
May 22, 2015•10 min
We kick off the Memorial Day Weekend (and dare we say summer) with a show about music and makers. 1:25 - Dan Vidmar of Shy Girls talks about his new mixtape release and the challenges of keeping emotional honesty in performance. 11:55 - Where are they? A screaming lack of women artists on the summer festival circuit. 16:25 - Josh Lifton of Crowd Supply and Kelley Roy of ADX Portland on makers' mad month of May. 26:50 - An opbmusic Studio Session with Helio Sequence. 33:30 - Producer Aaron Scott ...
May 22, 2015•50 min
What do you get when two artists walk into a bar? Likewise. The floor-to-ceiling curtains conceal one of the city's most outlandish business establishments by day. But by night, they part to reveal a set of stadium bleachers facing the street and a bar that is as much an art project as a business endeavor, complete with the nation’s first ‘Bartender in Residency’ program. But how did owners Nancy Prior and Adam Moser go about converting a dive bar into a one-of-a-kind Portland hangout? Read our ...
May 15, 2015•7 min
What has four fingers, a yellow face, and is totally evil? Montgomery Burns, of course. But after twenty-six excellent years as America’s most laughably despicable super villain, Mr. Burns’ character is facing a big shakeup. Harry Shearer, the voice of Mr. Burns (as well as Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, and others) announced this week that he’s leaving "The Simpsons." It’s a sad day for Simpsons’ fans – but the ripples go far beyond TV. Shearer’s portrayal of Mr. Burns was so iconic that it e...
May 15, 2015•10 min
Ready for some new? Here comes an hour of creative horsepower. 1:17 - "Grimm" stars Sasha Roiz and Silas Weir Mitchell on their stage turn with PCS's "Three Days of Rain." 7:25 - Just when we'd had our fill of post-apocalyptica, here comes Portland Playhouse with "Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play." It's an absurd send-up of the form, where "The Simpsons" have become the stuff of myth and legend, written by former Oregonian Anne Washburn. 12:33 - Likewise, a fab new bar with bleachers for seating,...
May 15, 2015•51 min
Youth orchestra dazzles New York audience; Thara Memory talks to KMHD about the big night.
May 14, 2015•6 min
Silas Weir Mitchell and Sasha Roiz chat with April about their roles in "Three Days of Rain" at Portland Center Stage. Production info over here: http://www.pcs.org/threedays/ They've also got a few observations about Grimm's Season Four finale... listen up!
May 14, 2015•6 min
April chats up Jose Medelles and David Coniglio. With John Thomas, they are 1939 Ensemble. Their style? Jazz goes to a party with avant-garde, raises a glass with funk and Latin. The new record is "Black Diamond Pearl". Watch for the opbmusic Studio Session soon.
May 12, 2015•5 min
Los Porteños - a Latino writers' collective from metro Portland - is about to present works in response to two guiding stars of the poetry world - Spanish poet Miguel Hernandez and Oregon's William Stafford. We talked with four members of the group, as they share some work, and thoughts on call-and-response. Info on their Tuesday night reading can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/oe6vvy3
May 10, 2015•8 min
In 2010, a series of videos started appearing on YouTube called "The Haunting of Sunshine Girl." They were DIY, Blair Witch-style episodes following a charismatic 16-year-old who wanted to prove the existence of ghosts to her mom. Consider it "Paranormal Activity" meets "Gilmore Girls." With no promotion whatsoever, the first few episodes quickly wracked up five million views. The series now has had more than 140 million views, making Sunshine Girl one of the most successful YouTube stars in the...
May 09, 2015•10 min
In the 1990s, Portland’s Dada Ball was the stuff of legends. An unorthodox gala thrown each year by the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), the ball was as debaucherous as it was provocative. It happened everywhere from abandoned warehouses to Oaks Park, and brought together an amazing cross section of artists, eccentrics, and counter-culture creatives. This year, to mark its 20th anniversary, PICA is bringing the Dada Ball back on March 16 at the Southeast warehouse space The Redd. T...
May 09, 2015•9 min
1:25 - Paige McKenzie, perhaps the Pacific Northwest's biggest homegrown YouTube star, talks about creating the runaway-hit series The Haunting of Sunshine Girl from her house outside Portland. She reads from her new YA novel on Saturday, May 9 at 4 p.m. at Jacobsen’s Books in Hillsboro. 11:00 - We check in on winners of Bend's inaugural Cultural Tourism Fund grants — a brand new system of support for arts & culture organizations like BendFilm and Atelier 6000. 18:55 - Opbmusic's Jerad Walke...
May 09, 2015•39 min
In the 1990s, Portland’s Dada Ball was the stuff of legends. An unorthodox gala thrown each year by the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), the ball was as debaucherous as it was provocative. It happened everywhere from abandoned warehouses to Oaks Park, and brought together an amazing cross section of artists, eccentrics, and counter-culture creatives. This year, to mark its 20th anniversary, PICA is bringing the Dada Ball back on March 16 at the Southeast warehouse space The Redd. T...
May 09, 2015•9 min
