Our faithful correspondent Alex Steed sent us this post:

The Perennial Plate is coming to Portland and my excitement is boundless.

As it is described on its website: “The Perennial Plate is an online weekly documentary series dedicated to socially responsible and adventurous eating. The episodes follow the culinary, agricultural and hunting explorations of chef and activist, Daniel Klein.”

I produce Food Coma TV, a show that is similar in its mechanics, though somewhat oppositional in its message and delivery. We eat adventurously, but we do so in a way that is alcohol-soaked and arguably socially irresponsible. Our expeditions are culinary, but our content does not serve as an advocate for sustainability. We are the N.W.A. to Klein’s Tribe Called Quest.

This said, my interest in food stems from a love for sustainability movements. I ran for the Statehouse in Western Maine a few years back on a platform that was built around a reverence for food and the communities responsible for its cultivation and creation. Klein and camerawoman Mirra Fine have created a compelling, engaging body of work around these movements, opening access to many of these concepts in a digital, interconnected world.

In order for causes to be understood, accepted and adopted in this ever-evolving digital media sphere, they require charismatic, digital literates to evangelize for them, and this must be accomplished in as organic and entertaining a fashion possible. This is the role that Daniel and Mirra so elegantly play.

In most popular media, food has been stripped down to a mere commodity (with some exceptions, of course). The mainstream media has done to it what mainstream pornography has done to women over all of these years: the product has by and large been stripped of the context, complexities, and idiosyncrasies that make it beautiful. In its presentation, its role as a social dignitary, a cultural diplomat, has been minimized and in some cases stripped away altogether. As divergent as our topics are, I feel an affinity for the Perennial Plate because we are both, in our own ways, resisting this.

Of Perennial Plate, Food & Wine Magazine wrote that they produce “a level of culinary cinema verité that television can’t (or wouldn’t dare) match.” In this way, it accomplishes something radical that the Internet is allowing for in a post-cable society. It allows us a complex and non-prescriptive way of looking at a subject we all share a love for, but has been trivialized by the gatekeepers of the entertainment industry for too long. In this sense, Daniel and Mirra are liberators, and I welcome them to Portland.

You have just a few more chances to come out and see this production if you still haven’t!

Killer Joe at SPACE Gallery from SPACE Gallery on Vimeo.

Dates for Killer Joe: March 24, 25, 26, 31, April 7, 22, 23, 29, and 30.

Poster by Kris Johnsen.

Last seen on the SPACE stage as Joe Strummer with The Clash at our Halloween show, Astronautalis returns this Thursday to kick off his tour with some live backing help from fellow “Clash” members Derek Gierhan and Oscar Romero. We’ll be posting videos every day until the show. This time around the band plays a fun game of “Who would you rather? ”

Go get those tickets now and check back later for more videos!

Deerhoof & Xiu Xiu Fall Tour 2010 from jamie stewart on Vimeo.

sep 30 – Ottawa, ON – Capital Music Hall
oct 02 – Montreal, QC – Pop Montreal
oct 03 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
oct 04 – Kalamazoo, MI – The Strutt
oct 05 – Bloomington, IN – Rhino’s
oct 06 – Cincinnati, OH – The Northside Tavern
oct 07 – Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop
oct 08 – Buffalo, NY – Mohawk Place
oct 09 – Northampton, MA – Pearl Street
oct 10 – Boston, MA
oct 11 – Portland, ME – Space Gallery
oct 12 – Milford, CT – Daniel Street

www.xiuxiu.org
www.facebook.com/xiuxiuforlife

http://www.facebook.com/Deerhoof

Right? Get your tickets for the Deerhoof + Xiu Xiu show at SPACE on October 11 now!

Buy tickets now!

Dead Man’s Clothes at SPACE Gallery from Bryan Bruchman on Vimeo.

Read on for photos:

Maps & Atlases in Portland, Maine from Bryan Bruchman on Vimeo.

Along for the tour were two excellent opening acts: Laura Stevenson And The Cans and Cults. Read on for photos:

Laura Stevenson And The Cans

Cults

Maps & Atlases

here’s some free downloads

and a video for good measure