The Portland Cello Project

Here are a few of the preview/reviews of the PCP LP that have been getting printed. (I’m just catching up now!)

Parasites and Sycophants said some really nice stuff:

“the Portland Cello Project sees tunes such as Britney Spear’s “Toxic” re-imagined with a new regality that permeates the album’s twelve tracks. Certainly by the time this one is over, you will see the cello in a light far removed from stiffs and upturned noses.”

PandS PCP full review

Bag of Songs put up some stuff, too:

Bag of Songs on PCP

And Shumit Dasgupta at Stereo Subversion went in-depth. I think that I expect that people who take their time will listen to the record and react the way he did — liking some things more than others, each to their individual taste. That’s kind of the point of the PCP, taking the good with the bad because one person’s bad is another’s good. This is a great, thoughtful review, especially if you want to get a feel for what it is like to go through the record from song to song. (And Mr Dasgupta gets the award of First Reviewer to Find the Secret Hidden Track! — for which we did pay the licensing fee, for the record.)

Stereo Subversion PCP Review

Greetings Kind Portland Cello Project Blog Readers,

This is a quick post to let you know about some upcoming PCP events, some in Portland, one you can experience all over the world (and possibly beyond).

* First and foremost, we are doing a special EP release party at The Doug Fir on July 12. We will be collaborating with Horse Feathers at this show, who are also on the 4-song EP. I just posted their song on our website and MySpace site if you’d like to hear it. Also on the EP are The Builders and The Butchers, our cover of Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead or Alive, and a piece by Arvo Paert called Summa that we recorded in an old church downtown. We are only releasing 300 copies of this EP locally and 300 online, so they are likely to go fast. Since we are an independent (indie) cello orchestra, we decided to release some extra professionally recorded songs in anticipation of our LP (which still hits the street in August), in order to help us make some of our investment back before the credit card service charges are through the roof.

The Doug Fir is a smaller venue than where we usually play, but it is comfortable and the sound is superb. There are a few seats and even some comfy couches (many of those log-looking things are stuffed and poofy), and there is space to sit at the bar from which you can see the performance room. But you should definitely come early to snag a seat. I’d recommend getting tickets in advance for this show in case it sells out. The show is 21+. Doors 8pm, show 9pm. Tickets are available at the Doug Fir box office, or online at Ticketswest: http://ticketswest.rdln.com/Venue.aspx?ven=DFL

* Also! tomorrow night (Saturday June 28), a 4tet of us will be joining Weinland on stage for 2 or 3 songs at the Aladdin. I personally just got off of a national tour with Weinland, so this is a welcome back party of sorts. The tour was quite eventful, culminating in Continental Airlines blowing a rib out of my cello, and a very nice luthier in Baltimore staying up all night to get it playable for me. (I’ll show you the scar if you ask.) Tickets for this show are available at The Aladdin Theater Ticket office, or through Ticketmaster: http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/123047/ Also at this show will be Norfolk and Western, whom we worked with last year.

* Also for FREE! This afternoon we’ll be performing on KPSU radio! Listen to us from 5pm-6pm. I’d recommend listening with your computer at KPSU.org. Performing with us will be Adam Shearer of Weinland, and John Brophy of The Gingerbread Patriots will be singing Toxic with us. If you listen closely, I have a feeling you’ll definitely hear Erin’s 2 year-old daughter Mirah who will be in the studio with us too. (It’s a live performance.) I assume she’ll probably talk about caterpillars or My Little Pony or something.

Thanks again for all of your support. We couldn’t be doing what we do without all of you, and we’re striving to continue putting on the best shows and most entertaining recordings possible.

With Warm Regards,
Douglas Jenkins

Our beloved Emcee Adam Shearer’s band Weinland is playing at the Aladdin Theater June 28. Douglas Jenkins of The Portland Cello Project is their regular cellist, so he’ll be with them throughout the evening. For a few songs four more members (Rob, Skip, Kevin and Justin) will be joining the band to play some old arrangements and some new arrangements.

More info on advance tickets can be found at the Aladdin Theater’s website.

Also on the bill is Portland’s Norfolk and Western, who performed with The Portland Cello Project last October.

From Anna Fritz:

“I’m playing this weekend with a newly formed project called the Rostropobitches. We’re an all-female cello quartet (all members of the Portland Cello Project) and we play and sing our own songs as well as some Gillian Welch and some Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. We’re opening for a band called The Bowmans (one of whom is an ex-member of Rasputina) on Saturday night at Backspace. Here are the details. Hope you can join us!

The Rostropobitches
Saturday June 21st
doors at 8pm
(we’ll play sometime between 9 and 10)
$7
at Backspace
(an ALL AGES venue!)
115 NW 5th Ave.
(Portland, OR)

You can check out the Bowmans here:
http://www.thebowmansmusic.com

With great sadness the collective we of Portland Cello Project lament the passing of Naomi Blumberg, an “institution” in the music community and a pillar of strength to all who were touched by her. Please see the tribute here http://www.oregonlive.com/music/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1213323917123270.xml&coll=7
Rachel, we luv ya, rock on!
-Justin and The PCP

Tickets on sale now!

The first public recordings of The Portland Cello Project will be released 7/12 at the Doug Fir! Our LP is still coming out in August, but we got tired of waiting and so decided to release this very limited edition EP (only 300 copies will be for sale) containing 4 studio-recorded songs that will not be on the LP. (On the recording are our collaborations with Horse Feathers, The Builders and The Butchers, our cover of “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi, and Arvo Part’s “Summa”.)

The CD art is designed by our very own Catherine Odell, who also designed the poster below.

Dearest Friends,

Just a quick note to invite you to see The Portland Cello Project and Pink Martini this Tuesday, June 3 at The Crystal Ballroom. The show is a benefit concert for Friends of Trees.

We’ll be playing our set promptly at 8pm, and we’ll be featuring The Bachianas 5 (for 8 cellos and soprano) by Villa-Lobos – which is a beautiful Brazilian piece of classical music; 2 pieces by local songwriter Nick Jaina; some tango music; some jazz; and some surprises as always. Courtney Von Drehle of 3 Leg Torso will be our emceee, as Adam Shearer is off touring with Weinland.

We’re honored to be sharing the stage with Pink Martini: “Pink Martini is like a romantic Hollywood musical of the 1940s or 50s – but with a global perspective which is modern,” says founder and artistic director Thomas M. Lauderdale. “We bring melodies and rhythms from different parts of the world together to create something which is new and beautiful.”

Tickets are on sale now

Also, we were going to announce this at the 6/3 show, but the word’s already out, so we’ll make it official: We’ll be releasing a very limited edition EP on July 12 with studio recordings that won’t be on our LP, including a song by Horse Feathers, The Builders and The Butchers (Willamette Week’s Best New Band for 2008), a very wild cover of Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead or Alive, and Arvo Paert’s Summa.

The release party show is July 12 at The Doug Fir Lounge. ONLY 300 COPIES OF THE EP WILL BE MADE. At $5 a CD, all copies might sell out at this show, so get your tickets in advance and consider coming early.

July 12 Tickets on sale now.

I know there are a lot of people on this email list now who aren’t in Portland, and we’re searching for a way to release 50 or so copies of those 300 for mail-order, so stay tuned for info on that.

Performing with us at the July 12 show will be Horse Feathers, The Blue Cranes and Pt Juncture WA.

That’s a lot of info for a little email. We’ll end it with a note of thanks to all of you for supporting us. We couldn’t do what we do without all of you.

Sincerely,
The Portland Cello Project

Alicia J Rose took some really nice pictures of us.

We like her.

More here.

High-Res Pix available upon request.

Portland Cello Project will be playing as the opening band for Pink Martini June 3 at The Crystal Ballroom!

We will be performing a nicely balanced set (we’re actually quite proud of the balance), with everything in it, from Bon Jovi, to tangos, to unusual jazz medleys, to silly things, to classical things.

Joining us on stage for collaboration will be Jessyka Luzzi singing Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras number 5, and Nick Jaina, doing a couple of his own pieces arranged by Douglas Jenkins and Ali Ippolito.

Tickets on sale now!

A quartet of PCP cellists has been invited to open for Japanese Tsugaru-Shamisen virtuosos, The Yoshida Brothers, at The Aladdin Theater in Portland next Tuesday, May 20.

From the group’s website:

“Superstars in their native Japan, young Tsugaru-shamisen virtuosos Ryoichiro and Kenichi Yoshida-The Yoshida Brothers-have effected nothing short of a cultural revolution with a muscular reinvention of the ancient three-stringed instrument, giving it the fiery passion of a rock ‘n roll guitar. Online world music portal World Music Central notes, “Clad in formal, ceremonial attire of kimonos and hakama pants, but sporting the dyed light brown hair that is trendy among Japan’s savvy youth, the Brothers play the age-old Tsugaru-shamisen-an instrument akin to a rustic three-stringed banjo-with the fervor of Jimi Hendrix.”

Seems like a fitting combo, doesn’t it?

Our quartet will consist of Skip Von Kuske, Justin Kagan, Douglas Jenkins and Kevin Jackson, and we will play a fully acoustic set of music, which we hope eclectically fits the occasion.

Tickets available at the Aladdin box office or online

Tuesday May 20.
Doors 7 | Show 8