Portland's Independent Music Scene: the Formation of Community Identities and Alternative Urban Cultural Landscapes
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Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 1-1-2010 Portland's Independent Music Scene: The Formation of Community Identities and Alternative Urban Cultural Landscapes Rebecca Elizabeth Ball Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Ball, Rebecca Elizabeth, "Portland's Independent Music Scene: The Formation of Community Identities and Alternative Urban Cultural Landscapes" (2010). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 126. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.126 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Portland’s Independent Music Scene: The Formation of Community Identities and Alternative Urban Cultural Landscapes by Rebecca Elizabeth Ball A thesis submitted in partial requirements for the degree of Master of Urban Studies Thesis Committee: Gerald Sussman, Chair Ellen Bassett Karen J. Gibson Portland State University 2010 Abstract Portland has a rich, active, and fluid music culture which is constantly being (re)created and (re)defined by a loose network of local musicians who write, record, produce, promote, distribute, and perform their music locally (and sometimes regionally, nationally, and internationally) and local residents, or audiences, who engage in local musical practices. Independent (“indie”) local music making in Portland, which is embedded in DIY (do it yourself) values, creates alternative cultural places and landscapes in the city and is one medium through which some people represent themselves in the community. These residents not only perform, consume, promote, and distribute local music, they also (re)create places to host musical expressions. They have built alternative and democratic cultural landscapes, or culturescapes, in the city. Involved Portlanders strive to make live music performances accessible and affordable to all people, demonstrating through musical practices that the city is a shared space and represents a diversity of people, thoughts, values, and cultural preferences. Using theoretical tools from critical research about the economic, spatial, and social role of cultures in cities, particularly music, and ethnographic research of the Portland music scene, including participant observations and in-depth interviews with Portland musicians and other involved residents, this research takes a critical approach to examining ways in which manifestations of independent music are democratic cultural experiences that influence the city’s cultural identity and are a medium through which a loosely defined group of Portlanders represent their cultural values i and right to the city. In particular, it focuses on how local musical practices, especially live performances, (re)create alternative spaces within the city for musical expressions and influence the city’s cultural landscapes, as well as differences between DIY independent music in Portland and its commodified forms and musicians and products produced by global music industry. ii1 Dedication To Michelle and Doug Ball. Mama and Dad – for Portland, Seattle, Vancouver B.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Paris, London, Barcelona. For Driggs, Jackson Hole, Yellowstone National Park, Targhee National Forest, Swan Valley, Palisades, Ketchum. For showing me that there are many ways to live and places to live in, and that there is more than one experience going on at any given moment. You didn’t simply take me to cities and towns, you were the first to show me how to see them and their people. You were my first teachers of urban studies. You introduced me to my passions, and your belief in me is what has pushed me to pursue them. 2iii Acknowledgements This research would not have been possible without the support and help of several individuals. Gerald Sussman, my committee chair and advisor, worked with me for over a year and a half on this research, but he has been an inspiring faculty member since I started my M.U.S. coursework. His Cities in the Political Economy class inspired me to apply to the M.U.S. program in the first place, and each subsequent class reminded me why I was in the program. From elementary to graduate school, I have never had a teacher who has expanded my critical thinking in the way he has. He is an amazing teacher and his support, enthusiasm, comments, thoughts, and critiques are the tools that allowed my idea to become a research study. Ian Anderson and Arya Imig, two active members of Portland’s independent music scene were key informants throughout the duration of my research. They introduced me to venues, other musicians, and their thoughts, comments, and excitement about this research were inspiring. Ellen Basset and Karen Gibson, two of my committee members, offered helpful criticism at the end of this research project that helped me provide a stronger framework around independent music and DIY values and establish what this research is and is not (but could be), making it a stronger paper. 3iv Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………i Dedication……………………………………………………………………………iii Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………...iv List of Figures……………………………………………………………………….vi Chapter 1 Cultural Landscapes of Cities: Introduction to Portland’s Local Indie Music Culture……………………………………………………………………………..….1 Chapter 2 Creating the Image of Cities through Musical Expressions: Literature Review and Research Methods………………………………………………………………….…22 Chapter 3 Defining a Cultural Image of Portland through Access and Cooperation: Celebrating Local Musical Expressions and Consumption…………………………..58 Chapter 4 Commodification of Musical Expressions, Digital Communications, and the Global Music Industry………………………………………………………………..98 Chapter 5 Local Music as an Example of Residents Creating a Community “People Want to Live In”..………………….………………………………………………………....121 Works Cited………………………………………………………………………...130 Personal Communications…………………….…………………………………...135 Field Observations………..………………………………………………………..136 Appendices A. In-depth Interview Instrument…………………….………………..137 B. List of Local Portland Independent Bands….……………………...139 C. Human Subjects Review Approval…………………………………142 v List of Figures Figure 3.1 Explode Into Colors Willamette Week “2009 Best New Band” Picture……………………………………………………………………………68 Figure 3.2 Portland Show Guide Map of “Active” Local Venues…………….....76 Figure 3.3 Portland Cultural Districts…………………………………………….77 Figure 3.4 Portland Neighborhood Associations, District Coalitions, and Offices with Boundaries……………………………………………………...78 Figure 4.1 CD Covers Made By Portland Independent Bands…………………..104 Figure 4.1 Global Digital Music Revenues (2004-2008)………………………...108 vi Chapter 1 Cultural Landscapes of Cities: Introduction to Portland’s Local Indie Music Culture In a world of intensified globalization, links between space, music and identity are increasingly tenuous, yet places give credibility to music…and music is commonly linked to place through claims to tradition, “authenticity” and originality, and as a marketing device. John Connell and Chris Gibson 2006: 7. Creating Community and City Images through Local Music The first PDX Pop Now! Music Festival and CD compilation, both of which only featured Portland based bands, marked its debut at a local Portland all-ages venue called the “Meow Meow”, which donated its space for the event. The festival was organized by a small group of young Portlanders who sought to “expand Portland’s music audience, and enhance the sense of unity and purpose within [the] community” through local music (PDX Pop Now! 2008). Six years later the non-profit organization maintains its original mission to connect Portland’s “vital and diverse” music community to the public through CD compilations, an annual all-ages music festival, and music benefits or related events throughout the year. Over the past six years, the festival has increased in popularity and notoriety, with an Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) journalist, Jeremy Petersen, claiming that the 2009 PDX Pop Now! Music Festival “proved once again that Portland's local neighborhood show featuring local neighborhood bands will beat your town's every time” (Peterson 2009). The non-profit is not alone in boasting that Portland’s independent (“indie”) music scene is a distinguishing cultural element of the city that contributes to its cultural identity. Portland musicians, their fans, and even local media suggest that the 1 relationship between the city and its local independent music culture influences the city’s cultural landscapes, or culturescapes, and is an integral part of its image. In the introduction to The Portland Edge: Challenges and Success in Growing Communities, Connie Ozawa asks how can we, in a global atmosphere of inadequate social connections, “organize ourselves spatially and restore our sense of community?” (Ozawa 2004:1). The search for answers, she suggests, lies in studying communities in which people want to live, such as Portland, Oregon. People chose to live in Portland for differing and overlapping reasons – the geographic landscape and recreational opportunities, progressive land use laws and the Urban Growth Boundary (U.G.B), the growing public transportation system and safe bike