I remember a time when Portland’s music scene was thriving and had a Do-It-Yourself ethic. I remember music venues putting on little shows with bands playing their fist shows and putting their stickers in the bathroom for people pissing could see their band name. I remember people putting on shows for little to no money, just for the love of music. I remember when people would rather go to a small show than go see some bigger band at a big venue. I remember when Portland had a cool music scene.
Actually, that is still happening. All of the things I remember are happening right now. One of those venues keeping that old Portland alive is Slabtown. I work there. I have seen bands play their first show there. When Slabtown became all ages, I watched teenagers step up and volunteer to create a positive music scene.
Slabtown is located in Northwest Portland under the 405 freeway defying the sterile glass towers of the Pearl district and the encroaching “Alphabet” neighborhood. It’s been there since your great-grandparents were young and has held memories for generations since. It was a bar during prohibition, it has been a disco, a country bar and a sports bar, and it has been a playground for famous rock stars and junkies.
Now it’s a dive bar with a stage and a renowned vegan menu. It was bought by Doug Rogers and reopened February 24th, 2012 to music and giant monster wrestling. He started putting on shows with bands that have never played live before and bands that he has known for decades in the music scene. He stocked the bar and kept some of the old bartenders and hired a couple of new ones, including me.
He wanted to be back in the music world. He left a career in education after 20 years and decided he wanted to do something in his first love: music. He bought a bar with a stage. He wanted to tip his hat to the old venues in Portland and of his youth in the bay area: the X-Ray Café, the Satyricon and 924 Gilman.
He bought the place with his own money. He cleaned and scrubbed and painted and tore down and built up and booked shows and put up flyers and started the Church of Rock N Roll co-op. He asked Mikey Warm to come in and start his Falafel House and make the food actually good. He made the stage better and made more room for people to enjoy the show. The Poetry Slam started hosting their events at Slabtown on Sundays and every Monday Doug is the MC of Bingo.
Unfortunately, starting a business requires money and a lot right off the bat. Slabtown is great. Slabtown can get better and will get better. That’s why Slabtown is doing an Indiegogo campaign: Pay off the debt collected in the first year and start putting money into making Slabtown the best goddamn bitcheniest rock and roll venue in Portland.
A lot of crowd funding I’ve seen hasn’t been very worthy projects. Some are just investments without a return, crafts and businesses who aren’t my thing, but I think helping Slabtown is actually helping make a home for Portland’s DIY music scene. Helping to fund Slabtown is helping it make it your bar.
Slabtown is one of the last DIY music venues in this city. I’m a Portland native and I’ve seen a lot of clubs come and go and bands come and go, but Slabtown is everything that I fondly remember about Portland’s music scene. A place that puts on small to medium sized shows and has a political and social conscience. A place for marginalized musicians to have a stage.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/slabtown-s-clean-slate-campaign
What happened to Slabtown? And what’s the alternative now?