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The Oregonian
Metro/Clackamas County
Andy Parker
Musical magic tucked into odd little triangle
They're the Bermuda Triangles of planning and architecture - those odd little triangular lots formed
when three roads intersect in close proximity.
Somehow the resulting tangle of confusing intersections and triangular buildings always draw me in.
There's the historic 1902
flatiron building in the heart of lower Manhattan, considered the oldest skyscraper in New York City. My favorite is Seattle's fabulous Triangle Pub, located just down from Safeco Field
on the bottom floor of a 95 - year old building that once housed a hotel, bar and brothel.
This week I discovered another one while using the triangle created when River Road and Bluebird
street hit McLoughlin Boulevard to pull a U-turn.
There, where a low-slung building holding Yes, I Do Bridal crouches in obscurity
beside the blur of four-lane traffic, I noticed a small sign saying that overflow parking is across the street at Oak Grove Choppers.
That seemed overly optimistic, given what the big sign out front said: "GFA Winner Jeremy Jouve in Concert Right Here. Wed. 7 p.m." Jouwho? G-what?
Thousands of drivers on McLoughlin Boulevard pass by every day. But my guess is that beyond a handful of locals, few have ever taken much notice.
Even if you noted the sign in front of a relatively new business called Portland Classic Guitar, you probably never slowed down. But tonight, you might want to reconsider.
Jouve, a 25-year-old native of Paris, is one of a small group of people in the world who can make a guitar do whatever he's in the mood for it to do. He pays the bills
by playing classical music. And, as his first-place finish in the 2003 Guitar Foundation of America solo competition attest, Jouve is a world-class musician on
the way up. He's just completing a five-month tour of the United States, Mexico and Canada connected to that competition.
You may feel, as I often do, that classical must is just too heavy, just too hard to tackle ever, let alone on a Wednesday night. But this is different. This isn't some
huge concert hall with folks nodding off while listening to rows of musicians layered in black lumbering through one symphonic movement after another. This has
nothing to do with that. This is a world-class musician perched on the edge of a small stage in front of maybe 50 to 100 people.
Whether your guitar taste runs closer to Andres Segovia., Django Reinhardt, Willie Nelson or Stevie Ray Vaughan, you should seriously consider driving down McLoughlin and coughing up $15 tonight.
Long ago I pretty much gave up big-time music venues for the small ones. I'll still venture out to a place that seats two or three thousand to hear somebody special.
But in recent years I've learned the size of the room is frequently a lot more in Portland than the size of the musician's reputation or record contract.
Music, be it classical, jazz, country or rock, is best when it's intimate, in spaces where you don't need binoculars or a big screen to see the performer's emotions
or the sweat dripping off his face; places where you don't have to be a big-time donor or need a back-stage pass to have a conversation with the performer.
This unusual local opportunity is available because a guy named William Jenks is chasing his dream. Jenks, who lives in Aurora with his wife and two children, didn't
take up classical guitar until 10 years ago, when he was 23.
Beginning two years ago, he started giving lessons and selling guitars in a small
space he leased from the bridal shop. He's added space for a guitar maker and a concert venue that seats up to 100.
And now he's providing remarkable opportunities to hear great musicians up close, the way it should be.
Last week he had Grammy Award winning finger-picking guitarist Doug Smith;
tonight it's Mr. Jouve - a little Bermuda Triangle of world- class
music, right under your nose.
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