Damien Jurado

Concert Reviews • Wednesday September 17th, 2008 • 9:13 am

The Doug Fir Lounge is a log cabin. Ok, maybe not exactly a log cabin but an ultra-modern bar that has a lodge theme. In the basement of the hipster hangout slash restaurant is a blue back-lit stage about seventy feet away from a paralleled bar silhouetted on top of an orange-lit floor. The Doug Fir epitomizes the Portland hipster scene both in architecture and flair of the patrons. Like The Factory was to the early eighties Manchester new wave scene, the Doug Fir is to the current Portland indie scene.

Jenna Conrad steps out onto the cool-colored stage, then Damien, then Eric Fisher. Damien grabs a chair, Eric grabs a guitar and Jenna some sticks; then, we get the stationary uncolored, unfiltered can lighting. Damien wears a blue, plaid western shirt. I believe when I saw him at the El Rey in LA in 2001 he was wearing the same thing. Of course, Jenna Conrad is looking hot with her tight jeans tucked into her cowgirl boots and peasant smock and her Karen Carpenter-ish haircut and bitchin’ eagle tattoo that looks like the one my granddad got in WWII. Eric sports that t-shirt-and-jeans-in-a-Tag-Body-Spray-commercial-look.

I was lucky. Damien played mostly new stuff and the album has been out maybe two weeks and I was lucky because I reviewed the album back in July and was able to do an interview with him as well in August. So, I was very familiar with the songs. The Damien Jurado Band (not the official name yet) started out with “Coats of Ice” – the song that is most representative of Damien’s new direction. As he was playing these songs, I just knew his fans were thinking, “Ohio,” play ‘Ohio” and “please, please, please play ‘Medication.’” Well, it did help that people were shouting these things in between songs. About two-thirds through the set, in between two songs off the new album, Damien sang a line from the song they opened with, “They’re making requests for songs that you never play,” although, they did manage to get around to “Ohio.”

In contrast to Damien’s, at times, deeply depressive songs, these guys have quite the comedy routine down – great delivery, timing and sincerity. Yes, some of the best stage banter I’ve witnessed and much, much better than the stuff I’ve seen on the stand-up circuit. This banter goes on while Jenna and Eric toggle between drums, keys and guitar. However, the songs performed live, like “Dimes,” are so powerful and haunting, the moments of laughter are quickly chased away without a trace or regret.

After seeing The Damien Jurado Band perform “Sheets,” it’s clear that this will, in fact, be the new “Medication” or “Ohio.” The song is from the point of view of the passive-aggressive male victim of infidelity and Damien sings it with such conviction. Just hearing the character’s story fills the listener with feelings of compassion, identifiable rage and injustice.

Damien Jurado’s Portland show was intimate, entertaining and incredibly moving. Unfortunately, I fear we as a general audience are overlooking one of the greatest singer/songwriter’s of all time. Damien’s been doing this for awhile and when there is so much crap that surfaces, it scares me to think someone like Damien Jurado isn’t a household name.

Oh yeah, the encore. Damien comes back out by himself to do a more poppy number. I can’t quite remember which one but he is laughing through most of the song. He stops mid-way through to tell us why. He says while playing his acoustic Alvarez, “Sorry, I’m cracking up but this sounds like a Jack Johnson song.” At this point, everyone cracks up and then cracks up even more when he does his spot-on impression of JJ. Damien sings, “I went down to the beach but the tide was low, so I couldn’t surf.” Nice one, Damien.

Tagged as: Portland