Portland is famous for many things — its abundance of food carts, bookstores, parks, and more. But above all else, the heart of the city lies in its music scene! Portland, with its many venues, artists, and music stores, supports a constantly growing and changing music scene. The venues have helped local artists grow in popularity, and with the revival of music stores, music has been a growing part of many Portlanders’ identities.
There may be many music stores in Portland, but one sticks out more than most — Music Millennium. The large store has been a Portland staple for decades, and is known for their huge catalog of songs and variety of genres and media. Music Millennium owner Terry Currier has been working at the store since 1984, and has been passionate about music for a very long time. He’s worked at various record stores since 1972, and, even before working there, he would go to Music Millennium on a regular basis. Currier paid the estate and got full ownership of the company in 1996, and since then, he has completely reworked the way Music Millennium does business and in-store events.
Music Millennium hosts events such as free live music appearances and listening parties. Currier aims to make the store “not just a place where you come and buy things, but a place to give our customers an experience.” In 1989, Currier celebrated 20 years of Music Millennium by having live music for 20 days straight, which was such a hit in the music community that he extended the celebration to 40 days. The support from the initial run inspired Currier, and he “called up record labels, management companies, and sometimes even the artists,” to make the full 40-day period of music possible. Since 1989, Currier has hosted between 4500 and 5000 live music appearances at Music Millennium, which ends up being around 100 to 150 per year.
Currier says the ages of Music Millennium’s visitors are “all over the map.” The store carries all sorts of genres, with rock and pop being the most popular with youth. Currier says that, during this past summer, “kids didn’t go to summer camp, they came to Music Millennium.” He saw “an increase of younger people coming into the store on the weekdays, but at the same time, [still has] customers that shopped back in 1969 when Music Millennium first opened.” After working at Music Millennium for many years, Currier has gotten to know the music community and states, “There’s always something for everybody.”
Stores such as Music Millennium are key to Portland’s music scene, but it wouldn’t be as big as it is without the inclusion of its venues. Thomas Phillipson, who manages the team that organizes marketing, advertising, and programming for Filmfort — a festival celebrating emerging independent films as a part of the Treefort music festival in Boise, ID — has a lot to say about venues in Portland. Having grown up in Portland, he has been to many local venues and stores.
Phillipson has a wealth of experience with live music. He’s seen many shows and concerts, big and small, and likes both national and local shows “for different reasons.” He explains, “I do really enjoy not only seeing local bands, but knowing that I’m supporting local musicians as well, and I always like discovering new things.” Phillipson adds that “local shows are the easiest way to do it, and [they] are cheaper, which means you can go to see more.” Portland gets national artists quite often as well, such as the recent concerts of Ice Cube, Linkin Park, and Tyler, the Creator, which typically take place at the Moda Center.
To Phillipson, a good venue has to have “good sound for sure, … an audience that doesn’t talk a lot, … [and] a smaller compact room.” His favorite smaller all-ages venues include Mission Theater, Wonder Ballroom, and Polaris Hall. Phillipson adds that he’s excited for a new all-ages venue opening soon, called The Off Beat, which will be opened and run by an organization called Friends Of Noise. According to Phillipson, Friends of Noise is a “great thing that gets people under 21[years old] to put on shows, learn sound engineering, [and] how to set shows up,” and in turn “[be hired] to come and do all the sound for your show.” Friends Of Noise is a non-profit led by filmmaker Andre Middleton, and has the mission to “support creative youth in Portland through all-ages concerts, workshops, and experience navigating the music scene.”
The music scene in Portland is truly grand, and the market is large enough for everyone to find good shows specific to them or discover something new. “I don’t think I could live in a place that didn’t get a pretty good lineup of performers coming through every year, in addition to a strong local scene,” Phillipson states. The experience of seeing a band perform is like no other — even if a person never listens to the band again, it means that they were willing to try something new or interesting. This process of musical discovery will also help form a person’s music taste and lead them to finding more artists they’ll like.
Currier has many things to say about the remarkable Portland music community, including seeing how “the younger people are super excited about music … inspires me too.” He loves seeing people connect over music, enthusiastically recalls seeing “four or five younger people getting all sorts of different records from different genres” at Music Millenium. . Currier exclaims, “To some of our customers, we’re like family … They come in and talk about music, and they’ll gravitate towards a particular employee, or maybe even half a dozen employees.” Currier states that he tries to keep Music Millennium involved in the strong Portland music community, which he cherishes, saying that, “We’re really lucky to live in Portland.”
Phillipson also has many great things to say about the music community. He has had a lot of fun going to music stores with friends to get exposed to new types of music. Phillipson claims that “music in general is the best connector between people,” and has always appreciated having friends who enjoy live music, saying that, “it’s always nice to connect with somebody when you’re listening to a band, or in a mosh pit.” He has also made great connections with people in the many stores he’s been to; he knows many workers well, and they have helped expand his music taste.
Music connects many people and can help a person create their own unique musical identity. In Portland, there are countless venues and stores, and people are bound to find something that fits their jam. Some popular venues include Crystal Ballroom, Star Theater, Holocene, Revolution Hall, Mississippi Studios, and Dante’s, but there are many more. Music Millennium is an excellent music store, but there are many others, including Everyday Music, Crosswords Music, Mississippi Records, Variety Records, and 2nd Avenue Records. You can even find used records, tapes, and CDs at thrift stores! Going to local venues and supporting local artists helps to support those businesses and artists, and can help one discover new music as well. Music can bring people together, and help someone expand their mind, creative thoughts, happiness, and even their satisfaction with life. Portland is an amazing city for music, with a constantly growing selection of stores, venues, and artists. From genre to genre, CDs to records, the spirit of Portland’s music scene — especially the people involved in it — is truly important to its identity.
