- Amy has a special place in her heart for Maker’s Mark, sausage McMuffins and horrible band names. She writes about mostly indie-pop, folk and rock music.
- Casey is a fan of graphic novels, Truffaut films and Sparks.
He writes about hip-hop, and whatever the hell else he wants to.
- If it’s local punk, metal, has a gimmick, is fun and illegal or bicycle-related, you can see what Simms has to say about it here.
- Michael’s writing makes gratuitous use of parentheses and covers primarily electronic and experimental—noisy, abstract, unlabeled—music.
Considering he s choosing between songs like the Minders cover of E.L.O.
s Don t Bring Me Down and the Thermals take on Led Zeppelin s Tangerine, it s not hard to empathize.
Glover is a proud parent: He s been compiling Bridging the Distance—a comp featuring Portland artists playing cover songs—for three years. The awesome tracks within weren t his only incentive, though; the main goal is to raise money for p:ear, a local nonprofit that creatively mentors homeless youth.
After moving here in 04 from New York, I actually thought about dissolving Arena Rock, explains Glover. It was a family friend, Frank Blumeyer, who suggested I might gain enthusiasm if I did something positive in my new community. After talking with p:ear, I knew that s where the focus should be.
Glover convinced artists—from the Decemberists and producer extraordinaire Chris Walla to the notoriously bratty Dandy Warhols—to donate their time, songs and profits to p:ear. Each artist knew that p:ear would be the cause and were eager to be involved, says Glover. And, less Redeye Distribution s fees (which cover pressing the CDs and marketing the project), the $14.
99 cost of the album will entirely benefit p:ear.
Coincidentally, p:ear is currently gearing up for its annual fundraiser, p:earblossoms, and the organization hopes to raise more money than ever to fund a prospective move to the former Urban Fauna space on Northwest 6th Avenue. Program Director Pippa Arend says, Since we ve never worked [to] release a CD before, we can t predict how much it will make.
All we know is that the album is killer [and] we are very honored to be on the receiving end.
Though Glover cops to the transience of compilations— I m in record stores all the time, and rarely do I browse the Various section —he also knows he s put together something special. Bridging the Distance claims to span time and place, and—from cornier offerings like the Kingdom s Sister Christian (which utilizes singer Charles Westmoreland s nasal whine better than the band s own songs) to absolute gems like Whip s White Wedding (the most original cover since M.
Ward s take on Bowie s Let s Dance )—it comes as close as a comp can to true timelessness.
When asked what song he would have covered for the disc, Glover s momentarily stumped: Shit, he says. Off the top of my head?
Outfield s Say It Isn t So or Since You ve Been Gone. One man s trash is another man s classic, you know? But Bridging the Distance is far from trash.
In fact, as if taking a cue from Britt Daniel s heartfelt rendition of Sam Cooke s Bring It On Home to Me, it s a whole lotta hometown love captured on one little disc: I don t see how it couldn t be a success, says Glover. In my book, it already is.
Bridging the Distance comes out Friday, April 20, and may be ordered from now.
Read the extended Q A with Glover and listen to the Snuggle-Ups rendition of Springsteen s Dancing in the Dark .
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