Late Friday night, one of my favorite local hip-hop groups Basic Shapes celebrated the release of their new album “Volume 1″ at the Ash Street Saloon in downtown Portland. The energy of the place was high, and it was easy to see everyone having a great time at the show.

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A friend of mine named Curt Alsobrook (on the banjo and guitar) played a great bluegrass set with Michael Ismerio (on the fiddle) at the Alberta Street Pub in Northeast Portland tonight. It was a great place to see some simple, yet powerful and full bluegrass sounds. I had only seen Curt do a little performance in his own home for the Gumbo Party, so it was a great treat to see him perform on stage.

He was kind enough to let me take some photos of their performance.

One of my favorite bands to work with, Uprite Dub Orchestra, played a show at a great venue here in Portland. The Goodfoot lounge ended up being the perfect spot to hear the hypnotic grooves and walking bass lines of their music. I had never done a shoot at The Goodfoot, so I was anxious to see how it would all work out.

The show itself started off fairly slow, but once the crowd really picked up on the amazing energy Uprite brings to a room, it didn’t take long until the entire place was dancing like crazy. Even people in line for drinks were moving a little bit.

The Goodfoot is a basement venue, so naturally the lighting is quite dim. I tried to get as many wider angled shots of the show, but without using a flash (which would have reeked havoc in such a small space), the only lens I found useable was my 50mm f/1.4. It was a bit long, but at least it was fast enough to catch the atmospheric light of that little venue.

Don’t miss my gallery of shots from the evening.