Music For Everyone: Gossip "Secret Show" at Mississippi Studios

Thursday, 21 January 2010 15:32 | Written by Byron

SHOW & TELL: Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for finally giving me the chance to see Gossip perform live.

And, Jesus, thank you for letting me touch the hem of a real, live, honest-to-god angel: Beth Ditto.

Last night's performance of Gossip at Mississippi Studios was akin to a religious experience.

And it almost didn't happen.

The whole show came together after lead singer Beth Ditto ran into Mississippi Studio's Alicia J. Rose in Northwest Portland at Chapman School during an avian aerial show. While they watched the Vaux Swifts "perform" high in the sky they hatched a plan to have Gossip open for Yummy Fur, a band that Ditto said to the crowd last night was the "reason she was punk."

But this wasn't any show. This was a "secret show." The Gossip would be billed as "Pie Ghosts" (get it? It's an anagram). The show would only cost five bucks. And it would be all ages. And, oh yeah, the space only holds around 150 folks.

This very website broke the news, just the day before the show, that it was all going down. And, some more cynical types, didn't think it would happen.

But it did. And boy, did it ever.

First off, everyone in the audience seemed to be famous themselves. There was band members from Sleater-Kinney, Dandy Warhols, and Explode Into Colors (lead singer Claudia Meza called me a "dick-wad" after I snapped her picture). There was solo artists like Logan Lynn, Tender Forever's Melanie Valera and I am sure plenty of other famous indie rock folk I didn't recognize. And, like I said, it was a religious experience. That is, if your religion only allowed in a small congregation of incredibly attractive people who look like they've all just left the set of a Levi commercial directed by someone from Weiden + Kennedy. And everyone had beards.

When Gossip got up to play, mid-way through their set, Ditto said, "playing in Portland is like going to high-school reunion." She also talked about the fact she had walking pneumonia and the fact she peed her pants. "Really, I did," she said with her southern drawl. She also talked about her influences (Bikini Kill, The Slits) and the fact she was very nervous. One, because she was playing in front of her hometown crowd, and also opening for Yummy Fur, which by the way, played an amazing set in which Ditto was front and center for.

Again, Jesus, thank you very much. The whole night was like being in heaven.

Here are some "arty" photos—ok, they are out of focus—of Gossip and guests (including my "dick-wad" photo of Meza. She would be the second photo; the one with the shaggy black hair and closed eyes). The awesome photo of Ditto above is by Wayne Bund. Thanks Wayne for sharing it.

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