LIVE WIRE RADIO PORTLAND THURSDAY NIGHT

The picture of Luke ‘Boo’ Burbank is the face of a radio smart aleck, the sort of smart aleck radio needs more of.

He ran the Live Wire Radio Show Thursday night at the Alberta Theater on Portland, Oregon’s Northeast Alberta Street.

Maybe you’ve heard of Alberta? It’s been part of the Portland migration. Businesses and restaurants move, shut down, or stay good enough to go long where they are.

(See Huber’s right here.)

From NW 21st, to SE Hawthorne, to NE Alberta, people picked up and moved, then moved again. What kind of neighborhood is Alberta? I parked my car and walked a few side blocks to the theater.

More than one house still had Christmas lights up. What kind of neighborhood? My kind. Love the long run Christmas lights. I had a string up so long a vine grew around it.

Ever been to a live radio show? Apparently I have and didn’t know it. I saw Garrison Keillor in Eugene. All I remember is it was hot as hell and no shade. Thursday night felt more festive. The Christmas lights helped.

After I swam through the upstream traffic at the bar, I found my seat; Elaine found our seats. I parked the car so she could go in first and grab seats before we ended up standing like a Doug Fir Lounge show.

The Search

“How will you find me?” she asked before getting out of the car.

“I’ll find you. Don’t worry. Remember when I went to the OSU vs Stanford wrestling match and the ding-a-ling who organized it went Facebook silent when I asked him where the group was once they got seated?” I said.

“You didn’t find them,” she said.

“I don’t think they wanted the extra company, but I would have found them,” I said.

“So what happened last Friday?”

“I’d call it a change of plans. We’re not changing plans at the last minute tonight. I’ll find you.”

Elaine hopped out and I cruised a tight, dark, parking on both sides, street.

Our seats turned out to be add-in seats, not theater seats, so we spent the whole show on what felt like a restaurant chair, the one designed to sit, eat, and leave.

Luke Burbank and the house band warmed the crowd up before the guests came out.

The Book

Dani Shapiro has a new book that sounds like a warning on DNA tests to find out who’s who in your personal spiral.

She’s hitting Powell’s tonight.

The Laughs

Chris Garcia found his Portland sweet spot with, “What sort of Stockholm syndrome hell do you people live in? All day I’ve heard how nice it is. Okay, it’s not raining, but I’m freezing. That’s not a nice day.”

He flew up from LA. From Chris Garcia Comedy:

“Fearless, funny, and straight from the heart.” – Robin Williams“Chris Garcia proves you can find humor in anything.” – Marc Maron

“Beautiful, exceptional, gloriously confessional work.” – Joe Klocek

“Chris Garcia is the future of comedy. I say that because he’s really white like me, but younger.” – Carlos Alazraqui

“Garcia is not afraid to get emotional on stage” – Esquire Magazine

“Chris is someone who is totally hitting his stride as one of the next big comics.” – David Owen, Co-Founder SF Sketchfest

“Hunky.” – Portland Mercury News

The Band

The house band cleared for Casey Neill and The Norway Rats.

Twice.

Both times brought songs that show a depth of music hard to grip. Not folk, not rock, not screaming metal, not dance. Lots of nots, but what it was was beautiful.

Once the music bug stings, the venom never leaves. Ever. Closets of amps and PA and mic and guitars show the sad truth. Casey Neill and band played it.

In The Beginning

Before any guest listed here took the stage, Colin O’Brady was called up. He’s the Portland man who crossed Antarctica, which wiki sort of downplays:

2018 – Colin’ O Brady (America), completed a crossing of parts of Antarctica (not including the ice shelves). He arrived at the Ross Ice Shelf on December 26, 2018.

The guy looked fit, shiny fit, like pulling a 375lb sled a thousand miles was the secret to life. He’s also climbed the tallest peaks on every continent. Before O’Brady decides to swim the English Channel under water, in one breath, he needs a call from the Mars exploration people.

He even looks a little like Matt Damon, which was surprising. Actually everyone on stage looked pretty good, which bends the notion of people with a face for radio.

Maybe it’s the isolated times we live in, but Live Wire Radio proved that people will still come out for a good show. How good? There were no burlesque dancers or Led Zeppelin cover band, but other than that it was wonderful.