Apparently, I'm a Killers fan.

It's my new pop vice, I suppose. After seeing quite a few tweets about how great their tour kickoff in LA was, I decided to review the Killers' show at Memorial Colosseum for the Oregonian.

I hadn't been to a show there in years and it's fun sometimes to remind myself how most people experience live music. There was a hipster here and there in the crowd, which was amusing. In full urban cowboy gear, I was overdressed.

But I was never, ever bored. Each member of the Killers puts on a great show. I particularly liked the rhythm section, who, with their scruffy style, wouldn't look out of place in a band playing at East End. The singer has perfect posture and great theatrics and the guitarists' hair is as epic as a Dream Theater song (he looks like he probably listens to Dream Theater).

So it's official. I'm a fan. After the show, I couldn't get the "are we human, or are we dancers" line out of my head for days. I came up with a bunch of parodies for it, my favorite of which is "are we wizards, or necromancers?"

Photos: Erin and I took a bunch of photos at the show and you can see the best ones on my flickr.

MFNW '09 Yearbook

Attending tonight's multi-venue, wristband Scion Garage Fest in Portland (Dirtbombs were delightful, one of the best shows I've ever seen at 3pm) reminded me that I wrote a preview and review of Music Fest Northwest for Blurt a few weeks back.

The review is in the form of yearbook style awards like "best dressed" and "best hair." I actually co-wrote it with my girlfriend, Erin Harrell, so we could cover more ground and because she was familiar with a lot of bands I didn't know very well. We had a lot of fun! Here's one of the highlights:

Most Likely To Succeed: Dillinger Four - As vocalist Patrick Costello of this long-running and celebrated Minneapolis punk band took the stage 40 minutes late, he began to tune and told the crowd to "shut up." He said, "This is a big important music festival and we are going to get signed and get huge." As he revealed his chest tattoo that reads, "How much art can you take?" the hefty man explained, "I don't have this body to do some DIY shit forever." By making a mockery of the festival and the music industry, Dillinger Four connected with their crowd better than anyone else. And as their often chorus-less songs wrapped up sooner than you wanted them to, they reminded you that, yes, they are some of the greatest punk composers ever. (Hawthorne Theater, Saturday)

We also managed to take some decent photos this year! Unlike last year where we copped out by focusing on bands' feet.

Image: Erin's best shot of Isaac Brock.

Puppy Hour

Last month, I had a piece in the Oregonian about a new bar and restaurant in Southeast Portland called Hobnob that offers a special menu for dogs. Yes, there is a dog menu, with, like, entrees you can order...for your dog.

It was fun to write a story with as many k-9 characters in it as Homo sapiens. The photo above is of Lewis, who really is Hobnob's number customer and unofficial mascot.

See more photos I took for this story on flickr.