Get Out of Town This Weekend, Head to Pickathon
As we speak, the invasion of the obnoxious roaring planes has begun, so we'll just get the "not a fan of the Blue Angels" admission out of the way. Go ahead and slaughter us in the comments. Apparently we're the only one in the world who doesn't go all ga-ga over them. We have no soul, but that's fine. We'll accept that and move on.
Speaking of moving on, we'll be moving on down to Portland this weekend and so should you, because the 9th Annual Pickathon Roots Music Festival is going down at nearby Mt. Scott. By "Roots Music," they mean folksingers, blues artists, jazz groups, old time troupes, bluegrass bands, square dances, picking parties, song circles, rockabilly and whatnot. Three days of absolute throw-down Americana style.
In case you hadn't noticed, and we wouldn't really blame you if you haven't, there's a whopper of a roots scene here in the northwest. The tiny number of clubs that cater to acoustic artists kind of forces the scene underground, but things like Pickathon and next week's Subdued Stringband Jamboree in Bellingham let the Americana-ers come out of the woodwork once a year.
So if you're more interested in fiddle tunes, homemade instruments, clogging and ragtime than you are parades, boat races and airplane shows, get out of town and come hang with the hippies. Tickets are still available online, but today's the last day to get them through the series of tubes we call the Internets.
Fri-Sun 8/3-8/5 // Pickathon // $55-$95, plus camping and parking fees
photo courtesy of Flickr user tdstone
