A release party for Issue 4 was held in Portland, OR at Valentines on October 12, 2010. All proceeds from the event went towards printing of the next issue! Thanks so much to all the awesome people in Portland who organized the event, performed at the event, and those who came out to celebrate Tom Tom, and to Jen Olesen from Valentines for inviting us to throw this party. Special thanks to Lisa Schonberg, Molly Gove, and to Hannah Blilie of the Gossip who generously donated a set of timbales and a 20 inch floor tom to our raffle!
The evening opening up with a performance from the Portland band Secret Century. Secret Century’s drummer, Tasha Trasher, played a cocktail kit; the traditionally tiny snare on the kit was mounted next to the kick drum. Secret Century was followed by Sister Double Therapy, a rad new project from Elizabeth Venable, who also drums in the band Sad Horse and Tara Jane O’neil. Venable and Tara had contact microphones strapped on to their bodies and sat facing each other wearing paper plate masks on their faces. They created a fantastic bunch of sounds by setting off the contact mics by using their limbs in all sorts of ways. The sounds they created were super percussive and varied. Lavender Mirrow closed out the night; the band’s drummer, Emily Baker, plays a kit that includes electronic drum pads, acoustic drums, and found pieces such as a large beautiful piece of driftwood. The sounds of the driftwood in Emily’s spacious pop beats were especially beautiful to hear; totally beats a boring old wood block any day. And sts (of the Haggard and STLS) spun 7 inches throughout the evening! It was an awesome night and we’re looking forward to other Tom Tom events in Portland in the near future.