Post Pickathon 2013
The writer Pete Brook posed a question last year at Pickathon for a Wired.com story: What makes a good music photograph? I’m quoted in the story, and yet, a year later and another Pickathon in the books, I still don’t know the answer. But last weekend, as I scurried around and split my time making pictures, managing […]
T-Model Ford
My boys call each other Chicken Head sometimes when they’re arguing. I don’t really know if it’s an insult or not, so I let it slide. It could be worse. Their choice of words always reminds me of seeing blues man T-Model Ford work the crowd into a trance as he howled an extended version […]
On pianos, organs and singing a song
We bought a piano a couple of years ago from a little shop in Southeast Portland called Immortal Piano. It was not for me, nor for Sara, but for our boys. We simply want them to enjoy having a piano in the house, to learn to read music and be able to pull out a […]
Post Pickathon Post 2012
The Barr Brothers on the Starlight Stage Here we are again. It’s been more than a week since Pickathon and I haven’t quite figured out what to say about the whole thing. It happens to me every year. But time passes and moments emerge. I was at some dear friends’ wedding the other night at […]
Pickathon 2012 – Now it begins
I’ve been watching and photographing the build up to Pickathon for the past two weeks, but it really only hit me last night that it’s about to happen. This amazing collaboration of talent will explode into action tomorrow. And though I’ve been saying “I can’t wait” for months, it’s only now that I really mean […]
Heartbroken twice, years apart, same night
Frank Fairfield at Pickathon 2009 Frank Fairfield sat alone on stage this past Sunday night. There were three monitors and a microphone, but none of that gear was plugged in. His quiet voice was sincere as it drifted over the banjo. His right foot kept time, his left leg swung freely. He sang of poor […]
Pickathon: Influence and Inspiration
Pokey LaFarge on the Mountain View Stage A couple of nights ago, the boys and I were listening to a live John Hartford album before dinner. “Papa, do you think these guys will ever come to Pickathon?” Leo, 6, asked. “No, that’s not possible,” I said, hoping the conversation would shift. “Why not?” said Jack, […]
Pickathon: It’s On!
Multiple times this week, I set out to put up a post about some of the awesome assignments and projects I’ve been working on. It’s been a great summer. But this is the peak right here…today Pickathon starts and I guess I can’t really think about anything else. Pickathonography is here, and people are saying […]
Pickathon Book To Arrive Soon
We were out camping over the weekend and I asked my friend for a section of her New York Times she’d been reading in her tent so I could light the fire. She smiled and said that she’d been reading it on her Kindle. We’re living in a time when bookstores are being shuttered by […]
Pickathon book on Kickstarter
Pickathonography Volume One click on the image to go to the Kickstarter page This is five years in the making and forty-five days in the search for funding. My friend Patrick Barber and I are weaving together a bunch of images, stories from music writers and essays from past Pickathon musicians and making a book. […]
Revisiting the house concert
Enjoying the potluck, waiting for the As Faiscas show. Last summer, right when things were crazy with warm weather everything, I threw out a request to let me know if you knew of a house concert at which I might be able to make pictures. I love the house concert. I made it to a […]
From farm to fame
Jill Andrews watches as The Avett Brothers warm up in the parking lot at Pickathon 2006 If the Avett Brothers pulled out their instruments and starting playing tunes in a parking lot at a music festival today, I believe there would be a few more people perched on that tailgate with Jill Andrews. But that’s […]
Langhorne Slim – Hard to Miss
I knew this year Pickathon would be different than any previous: More bands, fewer sets by each band, more friends at the event than ever, more decisions. I was going to miss music and I wasn’t super happy about it. So looking at the schedule, I started to do triage. I mentally crossed out Langhorne […]
Unplugged
Just last night, Portland band Blitzen Trapper played an acoustic show at the Portland Playhouse in front of about 150 people. The audience was silent. The air was still. Vocal harmonies filled the room and sent chills across my skin. It was a different vibe than the past times I’ve seen the band. Those guys […]
The House Concert
Walter Parks warms up before performing a house concert in southeast Portland. There’s the old debate about whether or not there is a “first annual” anything. But you see it all the time. First annual festival. First annual sale. First annual meeting. The AP style book sends a quick reminder that the word annual should […]
Black Shampoo
Wilco performs at the Roseland Theater in Portland in 2004. Last week when we saw Wilco perform, it was just like the first time. No camera around my neck and girl named Sara at my side. The first time? That was November 17, 1994 at an unannounced show under the name of Black Shampoo at […]
Record Stories
Jammed in between rows of records at Music Millennium last week watching Langhorne Slim play a little in-store concert, I started to get a bit nostalgic. Not about the love lost or the daydreams dreamt that Langhorne was singing about. But about records and childhood and my grandpa. I am a fan of the digital […]
Post Pickathon Post II
Dr. Dog Well it’s been a week since Pickathon ended and I’m just starting to come to the surface. I photographed a wedding on Friday so I missed the highlight of the festival for a lot of folks…Thao with The Get Down Stay Down. But that’s okay. I caught the Dr. Dog set in the […]
Pickathon Preview
Pickathon is still hours away but I’m already feeling good, as if I just had my own little festival. I got a call today letting me know that Australian musician C.W. Stoneking was indeed tucked away in a basement in Milwaukie working on tunes with an adopted brass and rhythm section. His brass was held […]
Post Pickathon Post
© Tim LaBarge 2008 I’m not sure I can say there was one moment or one set of music that made Pickathon memorable this year. It’s more about the many moments, the many slices of time that seem to make the whole weekend melt into a fog of pleasure. It rained off and on Friday […]
Letter to home
© Tim LaBarge 2008 The music festival Pickathon is just a few days away. It’s an amazing collection of good musicians, good people in a tranquil setting. It’s one of the highlights of the year for me. It’s one of those draining weekends where there’s so much happening, you almost need counseling to recover and […]
The desk job
© Tim LaBarge 2008 I had this gigantic wooden office desk sitting in the driveway with a free sign on it last week. I had tried to sell it during a yard sale with no luck. Then late Sunday eve, I heard a car stop and a guy’s voice chatting away. I wanted the desk […]
Summer
© Tim LaBarge 2008 The past couple of days have been a pleasant blur of activity. Little Jack turned one. We celebrated that little milestone twice in the past couple days – and since the doctor gave us a ‘birth month’ instead of a ‘due date,’ we might as well celebrate several more times. © […]