No Canadian Stoner Rock For You!

I headed out with my buddy John the Irishman this evening to see Vancouver, BC arena rock revivalists Black Mountain at the Doug Fir. I was excited about this show. Black Mountain are, according to Carrie Brownstein, via her music blog on NPR, quite the lads to be paying attention to, one of many fine bands coming out of Western Canada these days. Very much in the same vein as Wolfmother, say, or Queens of the Stone Age. And to boot, the openers were Oakland's Howlin' Rain, who possess, shall I say it, far too much talent for their own good...

But alas, it was not to be. The show was sold out. I knew I should've bought tickets in advance, but I ignored my insticts, and paid for it as usual... So we headed a few blocks south to the old Pine Street Theater/La Luna space, which now houses Biwa, for a quick bite to eat. I ordered the house sake and a bowl of house-made ramen with egg and chinese BBQ pork:


The Irishman ordered exactly the same thing, but with Canadian bacon in lieu of the Chinese BBQ pork (in mockery of my evening's disappointment, to be sure). From there we headed to the Slammer, the significance of which can only be appreciated by those who live in, or frequent, southeast Portland:


That sign's been there for as long as I can remember. Apparently, the speakers used to get touched a lot. I keep coming back to the Slammer. But much as I love the place, it can't make up for Canadian stoner rock. Or maybe it's the other way around... I don't know... I'm going to bed...