The Aladdin Theater:Fun for the Whole Family. Sometimes.

It originally staged theater. Then they exhibited Family movies. Through natural progression (thats a joke) they went to porno in the 70's and 80's. Now, the Aladdin Theater has come full circle as an institution for performance arts.

The Aladdin Theater, located south east Milwaukee, was originally opened in 1926 and known as Geller's Theater. By 1934, it had changed the name out front to "The Aladdin Theater."

Though it has underwent small cosmetic improvements, the Aladdin Theater is largely unchanged throughout its 86 year run.

After an exterior renovation in 1991, The Aladdin became a venue primarily for live musical performances. Since then they have produced up and coming acts such as Rufus Wainright and Nelly Furtado.

A brief history of the Crystal Ballroom

I learned something new today.

The Crystal Ballroom, one of Portlandls premier places to watch bands do their live thing, was once actually a 'ballroom.' Weird, right? And all this time I thought it was just a clever venue name.

Turns out the building was open in 1914, but was originally known as Cotillion Hall. By the 1930's, it was under it's 3rd owner, Ralph Farrier, and thats when it was renamed to the Crystal Ballroom.

However, it wasn't till the 1960s when in an attempt to pay the bills, the ballrooms owners decided to expand from square dances, and bring in other musical acts. From then, the ballroom featured acts such as The Greatful Dead all the way to Ike and Tina Turner.

According to their website and local legend, a show featuring Little Richard, saw the singer fire his guitarist half way through the set. Legend continues by claiming that this guitarist was Jimi Hendrix.

The Crystal Ballroom, despite the acts it attracted, closed it's doors to public events in 1968; and kept them closed till the McMenamen Brothers reopened them in 1997.

Since that day, the Crystal Ballroom has been doing it's part to keep the city of Portland rocking. And doing a good job at that.

Death of a Pirate

This isn't about a band or directly about the local music scene. However, it is about music and how it's consumed today. So I'm going to take a minute and talk about it.

Between the push SOPA got last month, the arresting of MegaUploads founder Kim DotCom, and last weeks shutting down of over 300 sports streaming sites; the digital seas of the internet have never been so rough on a modern day pirate.

DotCom's arrest for the general public shouldn't be too much of a heart break. He was, by all accounts, a dirt bag. He was recently denied the ability to purchase a New Zealand property for failing a "good character test". And his arrest wasn't soley based on 'piracy'. There is also chargesof laundering and racketeering for him to deal with. But the shutting down of the streaming sites and the number of potential internet regulating bills that could lead to black listing certain cites and or consumers is troubling.

I have been around music downloading since my introduction to Napster some 13 years ago. Over the last year or two, my participation in downloading has dwindled down, not because of a fear of repercussions, but due to a lack of time. Also, I have a number of friends who participate enough in that sort of thing that If I wanted an album, it seemed easier for me to have someone burn me a copy as opposed to me scouring the web for it.

But I have gained from the act of downloading. And I have seen a sporting event streamed on an unauthorized website. And now one of them is gone, and the other is threatening to leave. And following a conversation I had with an avid pirate a couple days ago, I don't care if I CAN still download music, I wouldn't even think about it now.

The other day I wondered up to my buddy (I'll keep his name at Buddy for purposes of this blog) and asked him if he had a copy of a recently released album. His response was more than a little shocking.

"Bro, I'm done with that sh*t. Too dangerous now." He responded. After asking why, he followed up with a long winded rant about having police track his internet usage or losing access to the net all together wasn't worth the trouble. I hadn't realized the penalties of grabbing an album were teetering on becoming that harsh. I wouldn't dare put myself in that kind of potential trouble, let alone someone friendly enough to give me some music. So I'm out. From now on, it's iTunes only.

Ape Machine: Will Eat Your Face

Ape Machine rules. This four piece ensemble of Portlanders are a band of take no prisoners, punch-you-in-the-mouth badasses who have descended upon our fair region to remind us of the acid rock days of yore.

The most recent album, their sophomore effort entitled, "War To Head" was released in September. I consider it to be a deliciously crafted throwback to the classic rock genre that once housed Acid Rock legends such as Alice Cooper and Deep Purple. Keith Anderson, in his review on Newreview.net furthered this point by saying, "only missing the ticks and pops from genuine vinyl to actually transport me through time back to 1976."

Ape Machine is growing steadily in their notoriety with this new album; especially outside of the Northwest. Following their February 16th show in Eugene, the band hits 1-5 South to take their set list to the great state of California, for a 7 show in 8 night swing that covers from Sacramento down to San Diego.

You can catch them again in Portland at the end of the month, on Feb 25th at Tiger Bar.

Dante's

Today is my 26th birthday. Relevant to me and my family, yes, but it's relevance to the blog- might be a little bit of a stretch. After all, this is a blog talking about music, and when I checked last, I'm not a musician.

That being said, my birthday 5 years ago happens to also serves as the day that I was given my first taste of Portland's musical culture.

The band, Throwback Suburbia, I had seen on a couple far less intimidating instances before. Prior to that night, I had seen them play in a basement, which would be a far cry from this night's venue- Dante's.

Dante's, which is located on west Burnside across the street from Voodoo Donuts, is set up to make you feel like you've died and gone to hipster hell. The walls are black, with accents of red and are the room's are only illuminated by a dim red light and open flame. Yes, there is fire. In fact the place is set up in such a faux demonic fashion that it wouldn't be hard to imagine getting too blasted and thinking you had mistakenly wandered in a 'dusk till dawn' style bar and your soul was now in danger.

Ok, admittedly that might have been a little dramatic. After all, since that birthday, I have been to Dante's on many, many occasions. And as far as I know, my soul and I are still together and thriving. But Dante's is a great place to catch a band. Between the pizza that they make on sight, the previously mentioned voodoo donuts across the street, and how liberally to which they pour drinks- shows are always a good time there.

Also, it should be mentioned that inspire of the copious amounts of alcohol consumption and often instigating music- I have never seen a fight there. Which doesn't sound like much if you don't frequent Portland bars, but to my dollar it is. So, good job Dante's.

That night was a magical night. It opened Pandora's Box and exposed me to a different world of Portland. Prior to that night, the city was only mall's and Blazers. After witnessing the Throwback play live, to the backdrop of Dante's and it's room of damnation- I have never been the same again.