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Artist Mention
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Portland Tribune, Artist Mention >>
Keep Portland...Quaint?
[excerpt] “Portland’s weirdness has more to do with its characters,” Ohlsen says. “Something about how cheap and isolated (Portland) is allows oddballs to explore odd behavior without being squished by economics or the harsh judgment of fashion people.”
Exactly, says John Averill, band leader of the highly alternative MarchFourth Marching Band, with their 35 musicians, baton twirlers and the like. MarchFourth and the city’s possibly more infamous Get A Life Marching Band — with members from their mid-20s to their 70s who marched in Barack Obama’s inauguration parade — are pure Portland.
Other cities have alternative marching bands, says Averill, but none with the staying power that MarchFourth has.
“I’ve been told by friends of mine in New York that there is no way you could put together something like this in New York,” Averill says. Portland’s small-scale means band members scattered throughout town can make it for a Monday evening practice, Averill says. And there are plenty of potential band members around — creative musicians who just want to express themselves and don’t care about celebrity. 06/11/09 >> go there
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