We should try to extract valuable lessons from our experiences, even if they’re redundant or rudimentary. For instance: don’t make fun of people. This is something of which I was reminded by the Portland Cello Project show at Music Fest Northwest last night, and it’s a lesson I learn over and over. Ridiculing is cruel. It causes deep-seated emotional trauma. And those who do it will feel like fools years later when their victims are on stage in a notable venue, making them regret dropping out of piano lessons because it wasn’t as cool as skateboarding. Well, great. Now you suck at skateboarding, you haven’t touched a piano key in ten years, the “band-geeks” have formed an experimental cello-pop band, and are selling out shows at music festivals in your hometown.
Portland Cello Project make no apologies for any perceived band-geekyness, nor should they. So give them back their lunch money and admit that classical instruments are, in fact, very cool before they slap you with their bows. These kids (i.e., ladies and gentleman) are so cool that they can rock a crowd with a live cover of Brittany Spears’ “Toxic,” during which cellist Douglas Jenkins ditches his sheet music, jumps on the mic, and belts out his best girly-pitched Brittany impersonation.
Joke songs and all, The Portland Cello Project performed with supreme grace and professionalism. And despite the hot swampy environs of a late-night venue crammed to capacity, Portland Cello Project kept it cool, real cool.
