AN EVENING OF CONVERSATION WITH THREE PORTLAND MUSIC-MAKERS
HOST NORA ROBERTSON WITH SLIM MOON, ALICIA ROSE AND MIC CRENSHAW
The New Oregon Interview Series brought three influential Portland music-makers together for an evening of intimate conversation. Kill Rock Stars founder Slim Moon, Mississippi Studios co-owner Alicia Rose, and rap artist Mic Crenshaw sat down to discuss their work and how our music culture is evolving on June 24 at Urban Grind East. Said print interviewee DJ Anjali, “It’s still like the Wild West here. People are coming from other parts of the country to live here because they might be able to do what they want to do.”
An influential punk musician, Moon has toured with Kathleen Hanna and Bikini Kill, and under his direction, Kill Rock Stars released such artists as Elliott Smith, the Decemberists, and Sleater-Kinney. Dubbed “one of the best hiphop artists in PDX” by the Portland Mercury, Crenshaw has shared stages with the Fugees and the Wu-Tang Clan and his recent release hit number four on the college radio hiphop charts. Rose was the talent buyer for the Doug Fir before she partnered with Jim Brunberg to transform Mississippi Studios into a driving music venue, and is well-known for photographing local performers.
Host Nora Robertson conceived the New Oregon Interview Series to find out how Portland’s blossoming creative culture has developed and where it’s headed. “A lot has changed in the past decade,” Robertson says. “The best perspective comes from the artists themselves—and the designers, writers, chefs, and venues who make things happen here.”
LISTEN FOR YOURSELF
Barry Johnson of the Oregonian wrote for Portland Art Watch that “the best way to plot the future of local popular music is to start with the present. The panelists agreed that Portland is “rapidly becoming a major music center, if it wasn’t already there. We’ve never had this many bands that are this good.”
Alicia J. Rose has led an independent minded and diverse career in the music and entertainment industry for over 20 years. She is currently co-owner and talent buyer of Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon. Most recently she spent 4.5 years as talent buyer at critically acclaimed Portland, OR music venue Doug Fir Lounge, the premier venue of its size in the Pacific Northwest. She also spent 9 years as President & Director of Sales & Marketing for NW independent music distributor NAIL Distribution, Before her move to Portland in 1995, she was head booker at the infamous Chameleon in San Francisco’s Mission District, as well as holding down the fort at other bay area venues over the 90′s (The Covered Wagon, The Thirsty Swede, The Nightbreak and others) and served as a talent scout for Capitol Records, label manager for Pink Martini/Heinz Records. She is also an award-winning professional photographer responsible for unique and memorable portraits of musicians (Decemberists, Viva Voce, Menomena, Nada Surf) and interesting people alike. Her skill set has recently expanded into directing, and original music videos for both Viva Voce and Loch Lomond have met with critical acclaim. She also doubles as avant garde accordionist- Miss Murgatroid, most recently releasing “Hearts & Daggers” in 2008 with noted violinist/vocalist Petra Haden.
Born and raised on the southside of Chicago, Mic Crenshaw is one of the most respected MCs in the Northwest. After gaining a number of fans as part of Suckapunch, Cleveland Steamers (Line of Fire) and Hungry Mob, Crenshaw is releasing his first solo album, Thinking Out Loud, featuring Stic Man from Dead Prez, Nightclubber Lang of Boom Bap Project, and Gen Erik from Animal Farm, among others. Released in 2009, Thinking Out Loud peaked at #4 on the CMJ College Radio hip-hop charts. The Portland Mercury called Crenshaw and the Lifesavas “two of the very best hiphop artists in PDX.” Crenshaw has also shared stages with the legendary Fugees, Ice Cube, Outkast, Wu-Tang Clan, and many others, and is well-known as a Portland, ORegon Poetry slam champion and national finalist. He was recently featured by URB Magazine, who included him in their Next 1000 column. He also has been featured in XLR8R Magazine, on Myx.tv, hiphoppdx.com, okayplayer.com, itunes,com, sonicbids.com and a number of other music websites. Crenshaw is also well known as a community activist, and is a founding member of Anti-Racist Action, and the famed Minneapolis anti-racist skinhead crew, The Baldies. He is the co-founder of Global Fam, a non-profit which has set up computer centers in Amman, Jordan for Iraqi refugees displaced by the current war, and for disadvantaged youth in Burundi, central Africa. Crenshaw’s work is a testament to his experiences helping people throughout the world and his concern for international social and political issues.
Slim Moon still thinks of himself as a punk rocker, after all these years. Starting with “spoken word as a performance art” at 16 opening for Steven Jesse Bernstein, and moving on to 20+ years of experimental and confrontational “musical” performance projects disguised as bands such as Nisqually Delta Podunk Nightmare, Lush, The Punks, Slim Moon and What Army and Parrish Moon, as well as Witchypoo, which appeared with Kathleen Hanna and Bikini Kill. Moon was the founder of the independent music label, Kill Rock Stars — releasing such artists as Unwound, Elliott Smith, the Decemberists, Deerhoof, and Sleater-Kinney — which he ran for 15 years. He is now a manager for bands and solo artists such as the Portland Cello Project and Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh), and lives in Battle Ground, Washington.
