MusicFestNW, Day 4.

Tonight I opted to stay put at Mississippi Studios and see what happened. All the bands appealed to me for one reason or another, and Mississippi is not within walking distance of pretty much anything other than food and shopping (unlike the other venues from prior nights, all within a max 10 minute walk of each other) so staying put made sense. Besides, I'd never been and everyone raved about it, so I figured what the heck.

I liked it all. Other than the venue being a great place to see music, here's why.

All Smiles was just the singer/guitar guy, not the whole band, but other members of the band were there and he never explained why they weren't onstage with him. Good, I don't care, just keep playing those wonderfully lovely depressing songs.

The Lonely Forest were four spunky kids who chatted with the crowd and looked happy to be there. The main guy was clearly the alpha, but later I looked at the CD I'd purchased and saw that all the songs were pretty much his creation so I understood why. The drummer was a joy to watch - very concentrated (tongue sticking out in concentration at certain points), very intent on getting some limelight by rocking out. While the lyrics were youthful, they were also thoughtful - not just words strung together to rhyme, but words that told stories - and at one point it occurred to me that perhaps that was what Ben Gibbard's first set of songs had sounded like. Musically they were completely together... until the energetic alpha knocked his keyboard off the stage, anyway, which pretty much ended the show. (How exciting! I've never seen THAT happen before!) I'm listening to the CD as I type, and they sound much older than they actually appear to be.

Point Juncture, WA were fun to watch. I wasn't as into their music, but I want to give the recorded stuff a try because people seem to think I would dig it. The reason I liked them tonight was because every band member played at least two instruments. The bass player and drummer switched up throughout, the keyboard player also played a trumpet, and the guitarist banged out a few notes on the xylophone at one point, and a few beats on the drum at another point. (Not as impressive as the others, perhaps, but when you also consider that he played that six-string like Animal would've played a guitar... VERY fun to watch.) Also? Two of them played two instruments (drums/tambourine, keyboard/horn) at the same time! Also? It was quite clear that they liked each other a lot, and had a lot of fun playing together. And instead of being happy they got to play longer because the next band was going to be late they basically asked us all to cross our fingers that they arrived safely. And there's much to be said for all of that, so I will give them the old college try.

Cotton Jones was the band that was late. Their bus almost caught on fire, they said, but it didn't. Because of their shortened time, they opted for a very stripped down version of their songs - one acoustic and four voices, which takes a lot less time to set up and break down, and which, if you listen to their MySpace stuff, was quite different but still just as amazing. They're from Cumberland, MD, near my hometown. Buy their CD.

And finally, local faves Loch Lomond. Heard some new stuff and familiar old stuff. I just love these guys and gals. Um... that's a lame review. OK, "lead singer/multi-instrumentalist Ritchie" announced that he'd bought some new argyle socks today but one "had blown out" (it kept falling down). He had rolled up his pant legs to show off his new socks, and at one point he rolled his pant leg down - just the one - to hide the rumpled argyle because it was clearly distressing him so. It is this type of quirkiness that makes this band phenomenal. See them live. You won't regret it.

Today - well, at this point, yesterday - I slept until noon. I'm guessing my Sunday will fare similarly, but I'm old and OK with that. The biggest question: do I bother standing in line five hours early for Modest Mouse playing at the venue with the crappiest sound in Portland, or do I quit while I'm ahead and pay for a ticket next time they go to the Edgefield? Inquiring minds want to know.