The band itself is comprised of the enormously talented Saunders family and, although they are brand-spankin new on the block, they already have quite a background and history. Drummer-about-town Ben Saunders is on the drums, Grace Saunders jams the accordion, Brett Saunders is on the bass, and Katie takes guitar and vocals, with occasional harmonies from Ruth and poems contributed from their father and adapted to music by Katie. Most of the songs grew from Katie’s love for stories, threaded deftly with bits of poetry, Biblical themes, family stories and faces from childhood memories; she fits a beat to the words and they have a well-variegated style that fits comfortably into the roomy realm of neo-folk. A general category like that won’t give you an idea of the goosebumps you’ll get from Saticoy’s down-home river-boat gospel or explain the way that Katie can serenade a lime margarita into your hand in “San Juaquin Summer.” For that, you’ll have to hear Saticoy yourself before they hit the East Coast on tour next summer.
Saticoy: Saturday, 19 Sept 09, Bucer’s.

Molly is a freelance writer with an interest in postcards, goldfish, and metrostop musicians.

Weinland

Weinland gets both the Most Public-Spirited and the Cutest Best Friend of the Portland folk community yearbook.  They’re honest, they have a strong sense of community, all five of them “avid” chess players, and they always have good things to say.  The band emerged from the jamming sessions that Adam Shearer, a singer and song-writer who went by the name John Weinland, and his friend Aaron Pomerantz shared with kids at a mental health facility for at-risk youth.  These sessions were too much of a good thing for Shearer’s buddies to pass by.  Rory Brown brought in a bass – Ian Lyles added drums – Paul Christensen played the keyboard – and John Weinland became the quintet Weinland.  “Other than that, there are a lot of rotating cast,” Weinland explains, “We are tight with our Portland music scene pals.”  The result is an  airy batch of folk that smells like a walk through a pine forest – it’s woodsy but light, it very likely favors flannel, and it’s quite companionable for your own Saturday afternoon listening-pleasure.  “Our primary aim is to make records that are timeless, that you creep up on you, and in the end stay with you for the rest of your life.”  

Their own regular folk rigmarole is often joined by friends like Laura Gibson, Adam Selzer (Norfolk and Western, M.Ward) and Rachel Blumberg of the Decemberists, M. Ward, Bright Eyes and Julie Holland.  In a good neighborly exchange, Weinland hosts The Portland Cello Project – a commune for the gifted cello junkies of Portland.  Weinland recounts fondly that “after many nights watching Adam drink whisky and interact with the audience [Doug, the founder of the PCP] thought, ‘this is what PCP needs… a saucy front man!’”

“Portland has a good thing going right now, not just based on the number of musicians and artists that live here, but the spirit of growth and the willingness of everyone to be helpful to one another.  We have experienced so much support and friendship from fellow Portlanders [that] we couldn’t imagine trying to do this anywhere else.”  The glitz of the Portland scene is more than on the surface.  

WEINLAND – playing Moscow Saturday, 2nd May 2009, 8.00 pm at Mikey’s Gyros. 

Thanks to Pomerantz and Lyles for tag-teaming as Weinland spokesmen – they say that they are excited to come to Moscow, which should warm your heart.