You wouldn’t think that PSU’s Popular Music Board (PMB) has been around for over thirty years. Not with acts like Livesavas and Pleaseeasaur lined up. But, when it was formed in 1969, no-name acts such as Supertramp, Gordon Lightfoot, Golden Earring and Pat Metheny graced the Smith Center Ballroom.
With the help of local concert promoters Double Tee Productions, PSU was able to lure up-and-comers to campus. Things have changed somewhat since that time.
Advisor John Eckman explained, “The PMB is dedicated to bringing diverse people together to share a common experience. We use music, a common denominator, to create this.”
Afternoon concerts are held Wednesdays and Fridays, first floor Smith Center or in the Park Blocks (weather permitting) between noon and 1 p.m.
Program Coordinator Elliot Adams, (KPSU Radio Program Director and local DJ at Saucebox and Madame Butterfly) and Sound Production Director Vanessa Morgan, have created a name for the PMB as PSU’s sound production company.
“The PMB also provides sound consulting services for PSU,” Eckman said. “Last spring the PMB worked very closely with the Music Department in the production of the Abstract Music Festival. We helped organize stages, provided sound production. The PMB helps make concerts and dances successful here on campus. It would be very prohibitive otherwise.”
The PMB “provides anyone within earshot a chance to hear great contemporary music on campus twice a week. We host our ‘non-gigs’ twice a week as well as provide sound support to other events on campus,” Adams said.
Upcoming appearances include local hip-hop band Lifesavas, Ninja Tune, DJ Mr. Scruff and the “demented and always crowd-pleasing” Pleaseeasaur.
World-renowned percussionist Bobby Torres is also scheduled to perform. Torres, who has been in the music business for over 30 years and whose career included working with music legends such as Etta James, Joe Cocker, and Jackson Brown in addition to Portland’s own Tom Grant, is known as a “gracious talent with a keen sense of arrangements and repertoire.”
“Most colleges book from a roster of performers that tour colleges almost exclusively more or less riding the university dollar. However, PMB, on the other hand, seeks out acts that are more underground and bring them to PSU for students to enjoy, free of charge,” Adams explained.
Interested performers can either drop off a package (including bio and demo) at SALP or mail it to: PMB, P.O. Box 751-SD, Portland, OR 97207, pmb@mail.pdx.edu, 503-725-5661.