6/16/06
No, not an actual hangover, I only had a sip of a 7 and 7. More just that typical IK wasted tired that I get from getting to sleep near dawn and only getting a handful of hours of sleep. Anjali and I took a real risk with throwing her birthday party. Cities like New York and San Fransisco have Asian Underground/Massive/Drum’n’Bass/Breaks scenes and Portland simply doesn’t. Anjali likes to play a lot of that material at our Atlas nights but there is not a big crowd for it in Portland. There wasn’t a lick of Bhangra or Bollywood to be heard all night. E3 did drop a wicked Middle-Eastern drum’n’bass song though!
It’s hard to know what to do with Portland. We’ve had a lot of success doing certain things but our ambitions are wide-ranging. When we have the opportunity to hook people up with something new and different it is hard not to try. A lot of artists/DJs/producers don’t understand the realities of Portland and there are many shows we are never able to bring because no price can be agreed upon that will really work in the Portland market. Portland is a really cheap town. Often in order to charge enough to pay the artists many kids decide the show is too rich for their blood. However, a cheaper admission is no guarantee that people will try something new and different and then it is even harder to pay the artists.
Thank you to everyone who came out and supported. Thank you to Javier for arranging the amazing Tres Leches cake. Thank you to Michael for all the help at the Fez. Thank you to Ezra and Tracy for being willing to come out and get the night rolling. Thank you so much to Jeevan and Seth for the extra-generous hospitality and the amazing meal. And thank you to State of Bengal and Sub Swara for giving it a go in Portland.
IK