Last week was a treat in many ways as my wife and I celebrated six months of marriage like most couples should; an unplanned and completely spontaneous night out in Portland’s music scene. The choice wasn’t hard to make as my friend Heather gave me the information about Marv Ellis & The Acoustic Minds playing at McMenimans White Eagle in North Portland. I first came in contact with Marv’s music through my friend Forrest Avery, as Jackin House remixes he has released on Stompy.com, my favorite digital dance music site. I noticed that the tracks were not only well put together and I wanted to play the living hell out of them, the vocals were amazing! Marv’s hip hop lyrics, intertwined with the backup vocals from The Acoustic Minds, dominated the House tracks with a message and sheer vocal talent that isn’t always present in most dance newer dance music. After listening to Forrest’s remixes of Unconditional Love and Explosive Speech with my wife, we were intrigued to see them perform when we got back to Portland.
McMenemins White Eagle was easy to find, located just across the river in NoPo directly south of the I5 – Fremont Bridge interchange. When we got there the parking wasn’t bad, but we were surprised to see as many cars as we did on a Tuesday night. I thought something else around the area might have been going on until we reached the door of the bar. The White Eagle is one of those skinny but really long bars, and it was slammed with people from the back to the front! The free cover is definitely alluring, but what exactly was getting this many people out on a Tuesday night?!? Upon entering the bar, we were greeted by a young woman handing out donation cans for patrons to take back to their places of work and collect money for relief in Haiti. This charitable effort was brought out by The Mangrove Fund, a local connection to an organization already active in Haiti. I thought that was an excellent idea to be able to branch the cause out to more than just the money that was in my pocket at the current time. It was refreshing to see ideas for charity that are able to multiply in so many more ways than just showing up to an event. Misha grabbed one of the donation cans for her job at FedEx Office in Tigard, and to pass around at my gig this Saturday, Jan 23 @ Groove Suite. The best part about the donation can is the fact that you have to return it next Tuesday at the White Eagle and experience it all over again! I like the smart marketing along with the charity that will bring those with the donation cans back in for another evening of experiencing great music.
As we turned to look into the bar, it immediately reminded me of a circus of sorts; the old school brick and sign decor of the White Eagle to the long table selling leather and local art. We could hear the music in the background, but the bar was so deep it was majorly muffled until we could get past the tables at the entrance. We made our way to the bar and were treated to pints of McMeneman’s house special IPA and Porter beers, both of which cost a total of $6. At that time, Misha made the comment that she was glad to be in Portland since it is impossible to find a good beer in the midwest for under $5. I liked the IPA, but their porter really made an impression on me! It was probably one of the more flavorful beers that I had on tap in recent memory. The music hit us as we were waiting for our beers, so when we got them we wasted no time heading up to the front to get a better listen on what this night was all about.
It was a little hard to navigate through the amount of people there up to the very front, but this was like any other night of good music in Portland; dance where you are standing if you can’t get to “the dancefloor.” As we got closer to the front we realized that there were just as many musicians and instruments crowding the back of the bar as there were people dancing! The funk and blues influenced hip hop was sounding great and the vibe couldn’t have been thicker. Every musician was smiling and feeding off of the love from the people dancing directly in front of them. The lyrics, both spoken and sung, flowed off of eachother well and held messages with a deeper meaning and passion, vaulting their music into my category of “true hip hop.” There is no bullshit here, and certainly no image to uphold. Their unabrasive style is something that resonates with the hip hop I commonly listen to and will be played as regularly as the those artists that get stuck in the car CD player from time to time (Blackalicious, Tribe, Flobots, Del). My wife and I danced through the end of the first set and enjoyed the killer vibe. Marv was a super cool cat to meet, but we didn’t get to meet the ladies on backup vocals. Good to know he lives in my hood too 
Unfortunately, my wife and I had to wake up early on Wednesday, so we didn’t get to stay as long as we would like. On our way out we picked up a CD by Marv & The Acoustic Minds called Dream Catcher Juice, which was very worth the $10 spent. Misha finally took the CD out of the car player after a week because we are going to see them tonight. We will be back at the White Eagle to bring back the donation can that Misha had taken for the Haiti benefit, and I am looking forward to hearing some good music again.
Check out Marv Ellis Music at Facebook and Myspace
Find Forrest Avery remixes of Marv Ellis and the Acoustic Minds at Stompy.
