Noah Mickens is the hardest working fucker in town. I've known him close to a decade now, and though we've never been BFFs or anything, I feel like I can say that with certainty. I totally agree that they needed him far more than he needed them.

Also, he looks like Jason Simms in that photo, doesn't he?

I'm sure there are two sides to this story.

I for one won't miss this guy's grating, overweening emcee schtick.

"Hardest working fucker" isn't a bad description of Noah at all. It's difficult to imagine the Someday sustaining itself as a successful creative venue without him.

Chantelle from Black Bird is handling it now. I'm sure she'll do fine. It'll be different--less gothy and theatrical--but good. I hope Noah gets something going with another venue though, I like his booking style. His EM style does smell of egomanicalness though.

Why isn't the Someday Lounge telling us why they fired him? Their response told us nothing.

That's how most business are. Diplomatic. Don't wanna make any enemies, right?

I didn't like his emcee style either, but I liked who/what he was booking. I hope Someday keeps the weird mix of music, theatre, performance art & everything in between because that is what makes them a fascinating space right now.

Noah will be just fine and settle in somewhere else. Someday will do great with Chantelle at the reins. This is why Portland is such a great music city. There is a room for everyone. People get fired, venues change direction (chantelle knows all about it as well). It's bound to happen. I'm excited to see what both these people will accomplish.

rockfan speaks with wisdom. I'm still way into Noah for bringing WWVV to town

I am totally hurt that you guys don't like my mc style.

karma

Major BS. Though I'm sure the venue will see more Mercury ink now with a major purveyor of indy poseurdom at the helm.
I'll take a vaccuum cleaner solo over whiny trust fund jerks any day.
And what's with the critique of his MC stylee?
Noah fucking Mickens is the emcees E.M.C.E.E. my friends. Sharp as a tack. One whip-smart motherfucker who never misses a beat.
This is like firing Ronald from McDonalds!
Oh well. It's gonna be amateur night at Someday for a long time now.

It is certainly the case that Chantelle will do a magnificent job, and she's been nothing but cooperative and cool through this whole thing.

Yeah, an actual response from the Someday "investors" would have been nice. I guess they feel they don't owe us anything. And we don't owe them anything either. According to other employees, there has been tension between the group that owns the joint. Wow! are they all as great as their press release reads? That's all their "response" is!! We'll see if indeed the place remains a "center for artistic, creative and technological adventures", or if this Chantelle continues her tradition of booking those hoping-to-be-famous-soon groups that swarmed the Blackbird 'til it collapsed and now the Towne Lounge. Yeesh! I don't know her personally, and I'm sure she's a nice person, but let's be honest: NO ONE BOOKS LIKE NOAH MOTHERFUCKIN' MICKENS!! NOT EVEN CLOSE!

I think that this article was incredibly subjective and unfortunately written in an overwhelmingly sympathetic tone with Mickens in mind. (Adam Gnade - what gives? Is this guy sucking your dick or what?) It's sort of appalling.
Someday's response practically has to be decoded.
It's unfortunate that the most worthy part of what Mickens has to say (his final paragraph above) as a performer isn't even printed in the portion that actually made the paper.
What's the issue here? "Boo-hoo, Noah Mickens got fired, we liked him?" I mean, I guess considering The Mercury, that may be basis for an article... but I don't think it was presented in all fairness to both parties involved.
For example - how about this juicy bit of journalism:
"If you talk to most anybody about the club, you'll hear some impressive things about Mickens..."
What a fucking pretentious statement! Who the hell is "most anybody"? I guess I must be totally out of the loop. Personally, I've lived here for 11 years and I never heard of him before he showed up at Someday. So are they talking about most anybody on the Mercury staff? Most anybody at Someday? Most anybody 'who knows anything'?
What I get from Someday's response (which doesn't address the firing of Mickens at all, maybe the reason it didn't make print...?) Is that they were working on this project long before they hired Mickens in a way in which they felt to be highly sucessful; this success being due to the genius and efforts of a team of "five, with architects, designers, contractors, and an innumerable army of volunteers & friends" that "came together to build the space in an impossible amount of time." (Mickens not mentioned)
In particular, it is the vision of brothers Eric and Chris Robinson, the backbone of this operation. If Mickens does not fit into their vision for their venue, then wouldn't you say it was imperative that they let him go -? As a booker and regular emcee, whomever they decide to put into such a position has to be working towards a vision that is compatible with their own, not towards their own agenda as a performer.
And as far as Mickens' emcee style? I agree that it is mildly grating at times, occasionally pretentious, and sometimes just starkly out of place (such as at the Summer of Love show a couple weeks back.) Although I think that comparing him to Ronald McDonald is just unfair.

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What a crock of shit.

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I know the owners of the lounge, and suffice to say, they are far from trust fund jerks.

Moreover, I must agree with other posters here who mention Mickens' style (or lack thereof), which while perhaps for his own use is self-congratulatory at best, overdone in style at worst, is a bit irritating.

Exqueeze me; does this read like a fluff piece for Mickens or what? Let me guess, he's friends with the writer?

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I've been around boards long enough to know how to really be irritating. PWND

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see?

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... and blogs....

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I've never known Noah's name before. He's always been referred to around my work simply as "the most pretentious man in Portland".

The fellow that those hippies fired is one of the two most stylish men in Portland. Although I do like it that the Someday Lounge was able to sell me shots of Chartreuse, I will never step foot in that space again.

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Hippies? Who the fuck was bringing in flaming gypsies and other assorted pseudo-fringe leeches?

Stylish? By what criteria? Dated, post-art-school charm?

Haha.

Ridiculous.

You people are children. People get fired. Welcome to reality. Anyone who thinks the Someday team would have fired a valuable employee (yes, employee--not partner or owner) knows nothing about business. If they felt he was useful, they would have retained his services.

It sucks to be fired, and I feel for Noah. But maybe he should consider the reason he was fired and look at it as an opportunity to grow. When I met him I was immediately put off by his arrogant and elitist aura. And I know a lot of people who feel this way about him.

To say that he was and is Someday Lounge and that they won't survive without him is an ignorant, pompous perspective to say the absolute least.

Welcome, Chantelle!

Someday Lounge attracted and will continue to attract people for a couple reason, in my eyes. The location and awesome interior. Anything else isn't worth mentioning. Noah was a major arrogant ass hat but it didn't bother me as a patron. It's too bad they are gonna start booking Indie rock, generic, boring BS via Chantelle. Can anyone see them going in a direction not related to indie BS?

Arrongant? Pretentious? These are PDX code words for: "He doesn't wear knitted ski-caps, bike messenger shoulder bags, wallet chain, neck tattoos, ironic t-shirts, PBR in his hand, mumbles his words." How UNPORTLAND of him! It is not enough that he was fired. He should be run out of town by a mob of slovenly grungy torch-bearing 'unpretentious' douchebags.

Arrogant? Pretentious? These are PDX code words for: "He doesn't wear knitted ski-caps, bike messenger shoulder bags, wallet chain, neck tattoos, ironic t-shirts, PBR in his hand, mumbles his words." How UNPORTLAND of him! It is not enough that he was fired. He should be run out of town by a mob of slovenly grungy torch-bearing 'unpretentious' douchebags.

Its unfortunate that one of the hardest working people in the Portland music biz should not only be released under such clouded pretenses and that the thanks this person gets from this community is a bunch of truly pretentios comments from people who obviously don't want to support anything beyond what they are already familiar with. Let's skewer the one person in this town who attempts to overlook all resistance by an unsupportive market and now unsupportive business owners. Noah Mickens is not only NOT pretentious but far more creative that ANY OTHER booking company or agent. As a matter of fact, I'd say he goes far and beyond the title of 'booker'. Who else supports the less represented in a way that gives YOU, the public, a chance to support the foundations and sacrificed artists in such a UNIQUE atmosphere of performance?

If you cant hang with his emcee style, it's probably because your not willing to experience anything DIFFERENT. I think it's safe to say, that for the most part, the lot of you who find NM to be pretentious are in fact stupified by your own lack of knowledge of the underground arts, and it somehow makes you feel inferior. So you formulate this characterization of this person which allows you to demonize something you don't understand in order to project your insecurities and not feel like an ignoramous. And then there are some of you who just don't like it, or understand it, which is a matter of personal taste and opinion, or maybe lack there of. Nothing is pure, granted.

For the rest of you, you want the same old crap just from a new space. How about another indie rock club in Portland, yeah that's what we need. How about you going to see a show with same old club booking model: band; break; band; break; headliner; go home. No emcee, no social atmoshpere, just you, your beer, and some music that you really dont give a shit about. Oh, that's right, you already can do that, at the 50 other rock clubs in this town.

NM will be fine and CH will do a fine job certainly. But neither of them can do anything for anyone without your community support. Get it? It's not all about NM, Someday, and CH, it's about all of us getting something more out of this great city of creatives and giving something back to them. Without this, well you might as well move to LA. Cuz there is practically nothing like what NM has been doing at Someday in any other city in this country.

Go ahead, challenge me.

i've bittten my tongue long enough here.

i have SO booked a solo vacuum cleaner.

filling one room or another every night in portland for 7 years, one's bound to come across a trust fund and some assholes (interestingly, usually within the more fringe subcultures, in my experience) as well as wild innovation, peak experience, mafios friendship, household mechanica ...

that, and i challenge any of you to emcee an event with as much depth and intrigue as does our mr. mickens.

we're all here for the right reasons, despite the frivolous fodder spewn by those in the not-here.

just support, friends. contribute instead of complain. do what's hard.

& love. shit's hard enough without having to fight our own.

Hey gang.

One thing worth saying here is that I would discourage anyone from boycotting the Someday Lounge. I understand where this comes from emotionally, and it was my initial reaction as well; but tons of our fellow hard-working performers have shows scheduled at Someday, and they shouldn't have to suffer over this dispute. Keep in mind that most of what you'll be seeing at Someday through April (and beyond) are shows that I booked in the first place, for bands and troupes that I love and believe in. If you want to support me, support them.

As for this argument over whether I'm the most pretentious man in Portland or one of the city's favorite bookers - can't I be both?

noah-
you're getting at the root of it- i don't know what conversations preceeded your release from the Someday, but i feel you certainly deserved more than a weeks notice, and efforts to make an amicable separation on the part of the Someday would certainly have created less waves.
Does any anonymous insider wish to shed light on what the fuck really happened? did you all talk about divergent visions before all this ugliness?

OK, I know several of the people involved. The way I see it is that Noah was, is and always will be Noah! There is no question that Noah did his job. If they asked him to move down here to do a job, they either knew what it is that he does or they made an ignorant business decision! They moved him here in 04-06 and now it's 8 mos. later! It's very suspicious that this went down after being open for so long! Noah is in the conversation, obviously ready to debate and take criticism. Where are the owners? It looks dodgey at best that they have nothing to say but stating there vague origions. OWNER'S step to the plate and DEFEND YOURSELVES, you have your reasons and people want to boycott unless they hear them! People have been vaguely calling you out, but I am blatently calling you out!
The problem is that from day one of Someday (not backspace annex) Noah has set the tone. All write ups and press were due to Noah's programming. Yes, it is a beautiful space, but to my knowledge that has not been the topic of any article. To me it seems like they made it through the first hump and droppped "the baggage". So now they have Chantelle. She's awesome, well proven in the portland market, but not for artsy underground. From the owner's statement they want a venue that showcases the underground. Knowing a bit about the portland booking community, I have to say Chantelle knows what she knows well, but it's not the underground! Out of anyone in this town Noah has the connections to accomplish this! Frankly, I can't see how someone could see this enough to hire him and then fire him. As far as Noah looking out for himself, what does that mean. A person who is in the business has their connections and then calls upon them. How else would someone start a venture like this? If someone has obviousley been in this community, how do they separate themselves from all they have booked and performed with themselves. It seems more likely that someone who held there knowledge and contacts would be working for themself. Noah laid out all of his cards for this venture, to me that seems selfless.
The thing that gets me is not that he was fired
(yes, that does happen all of the time), but the fact after 8 mos. he was fired with one weeks pay. It seems that in this "small town" someone who is so big in the underground scene and someone who has put so much into this project would be given more of a notice (unless there is something we don't know (owner's step to the plate). It just seems rash. I feel like all of this (the blog) could have been avoided if done with more respect and tact. I've seen Noah since the firing in the club mc'ing and helping out. Is this man a saint? Of course not, but with that said why was he not accomadated in a similar manner? Someday is a beautiful club with a good sound system and they will survive as an indie club. If they think Chantelle will bring us the cutting edge of the underground, well they have another thing comming.
As far as Noah's MC skills go, well I to am not a total fan of his style, but at least he has style! When was the last time you saw an MC anyway? James Brown had an MC introduce his MC! Now that's style! I saw Two Ton Boa at the club and they said that Noah's was the best intro they had ever had. If he made national acts feel special, he must be doing something right!

Mickens' talent for double-speak is on par with Donald Rumsfield and second only to his talent for pissing people off.

His opening line stating that the reasons for his termination were "both numerous and vague" is a good example. He goes to great lengths to glorify the importance of his own role (the interview reads like a tantrum-flavored resume) without ever actually answering the question. On the contrary, I imagine the list of indictments leveled against Mickens is both lengthy and detailed including the fact that he is unnecessarily contentious, more egomaniacal than Madonna on coke, and about as emotionally stable as a 15-year-old girl PMSing on prom night (tell me the closing line: "they needed me a lot more than I needed them," doesn't sound like a teenage drama queen licking her wounds after getting dumped).

The photograph that you ran with the interview aptly illustrates the point. This image was published in the Mercury without my knowledge or consent. The night I took it, Mickens had cow quintuplets over me photographing the show despite the fact that it was Someday's opening and I had been specifically asked to shoot it for promotional purposes. After I sent previews to the Someday staff (which is how Mickens came into its possession) he responded with a tirade of angry e-mails threatening to ban photos entirely from Portland's only "multi-media" venue because his personal whim had not been heeded. The fact that he later submitted it, without permission, to glorify the demise of his own over-rated role makes the photograph more ironic than a thousand hyperbolic words.

The collaborative effort that is Someday Lounge was in development years before Mickens' name was ever mentioned as a participant. The project has always been about providing a progressive cutting-edge cybercast venue for avant-garde performance artists. It is the result of the combined effort of no less than a dozen highly talented individuals. When Mickens began making it into his personal empire--going so far as to claim that he launched the ideas himself from the underground--he transformed from being a dynamic creative facilitator into an obnoxious egocentric inhibitor. Mickens is right. He doesn't need Someday. He does a phenomenal job of making a spectacle of himself and will no doubt have a long profitable career on Reality TV Jell-O wrestling with Courtney Love and OJ Simpson. To the extent that his ability to draw attention fueled Someday's launch he did a fine, if not over-paid, job. But when the drama starts to outweigh the queen, it's time for a purple-haired beheading.

Noah, actually in that photo up above, you look like your Sam.

Noah, actually in that photo up above, you look like Sam.

I'll start by saying I was at the very first shows in the space now know as Someday Lounge -- right after Ogo cleared out the accumulated garbage and Adam built the original stage. Back then it was hooks, blood and noise. Eric and Kris were involved, in so far as helping these kids break into the space, and looking the other way when they threw crazy illegal events. That was pretty punk rock of them as business owners, and they deserve credit for this.

In so far as the Someday has evolved, it breaks like this -- The owners/investors built the box, and Noah built the scene. It is, no doubt, a pretty box, but there are no shortage of beautiful boxes around this fair city. The scene is what has been special about the Someday Lounge thus far -- real fringe underground stuff, with the occasional "successful mainstream act" all of whom have had deep roots in the underground.

"Business decisions" are made for very personal reasons - especially when the decisions is made to fire someone who has, by all accounts, been doing a solid job. Such a decision is, of course the prerogative of the owners. However, MC style not withstanding, Mr. Mickens built a great scene where none previously existed, and the Someday Lounge went from zero to 60 almost immediately due to his relentless promotion. This is unheard of -- most new venues hemorrhage money for at least 6 months after opening -- it usually takes at least that long to build a regular patronage.

It is my hope that the new booking works out and keeps the scene strong. And, although it surely sucks for Noah, a man with his skills and rep will have no problem making it in a town like Portland. So, lets everyone play nice, um kay?

I'm disappointed by the number of people who are assuming Chantelle has no ability to support and foster Someday's vision. I'm positive if they didn't think she could do it, they would not have hired her. And it's not like she is taking over the place. Who says she can't book a vaccum cleaner? Let's give her a chance for chrissake.

Noah is right, don't forget about the artists that need the Someday Lounge. Negative speak about the place is NOT going to help any of the artists. Boycotting only hurts them. Even Noah himself isn't doing that.

And lastly, those of you who spent 30 minutes reading through all these posts just so you can make a trashy comment about Noah, clearly you have some time management issues. Regardless of the situation at hand, Noah made a very positive and lasting mark on Someday and we like having him around.

There is common ground here, everyone mentioned on this whole page wants the artists to succeed. That's what's important.

Who gets FIRED with notice? "Fired with no notice!"
Are you fucking kidding me?

Having known Noah for a number of years, toured this coast in his company, undergone unrealistic underwrites with our projects, fought, bled, and guzzled sweet victory from the fleshwounds of adversity, I can honestly say that he should be lynched, tarred, feathered, castrated, quartered, and publicly sodomized by REAL mcs while I comfort his distressed girlfriend....And THATS the truth of the matter.

guy above me: yr a douche.

everybody else: Chantelle rules, okay? She brings in the bands that really matter. end of story.

Noah ruled too. He'll continue to rule because that's what egomaniacs do best. I mean that in a good way. His ego makes him great.

someday is a good club and will continue to be one. most of that was due to the folks that owe the thing.

I'm dismayed at all of the crap that's being said here about Noah. If you were a fan of the Someday, and liked the acts that you saw there, then why all of this bitterness towards the man who brought it to you? When I met Noah, he didn't come off as pretentious at all. In fact, he was quite a nice gentleman. And one thing that I enjoyed most about the Someday Lounge, was that even though it's a bar that specializes in the avant garde, it was markedly free from pretentiousness. Maybe some people posting here got the wrong idea because it was a little too out there for them, what with the place being completely free of shitty, wanna-be rockstar bands and typical club trash.

I'll miss Noah as the ringmaster. I'm sure the person that is replacing him is great and all, but there is only one Noah Mickens, and unfortunately, the Someday won't ever be the same.

Oh yea.
I forgot that people ACTUALLY TAKE BLOGS SERIOUSLY for a minute...
I suppose that encompasses the problem,
syllogtzesthai:
scenesters react with hostility to the unconventional.
The guys one of my best friends, after all.
I will quarter him if I damn well please.

"Allen Ink" -

Diego Pinon said he didn't want any photos taken that night. I announced this onstage, and then found you in the club and specifically told you to stop. You nevertheless snuck around backstage taking photos throughout the evening, including actually sticking your head through the curtain in back and snapping photos of Pinon while he was dancing onstage. When I confronted you about this, you made a scene shouting at me in a crowded room full of customers. That you continue to use that photograph of Pinon illustrates the lack of respect and understanding of the performance world that you've shown toward me and Someday ever since you failed to talk the owners into giving you my job.

I know it must really stick in your aging craw that they still haven't given you the job even after getting rid of me, but your attempt to rewrite history is even less apt than theirs.

I've never claimed to be the one who started putting on shows at Someday. It was mostly Ogo and SHIFT who started doing shows there. I became involved in doing shows there in November of 2005, as part of the EnterActive Language Festival. I ran three shows there that month. None of the Someday owners were even in the room. They had nothing to do with organizing the shows, or promoting them. As someone said above, what they did was unlock the room for us; and I've always assumed that they wouldn't want that to get out because it basically amounts to a property crime committed by them against their landlord. Eric came to me and asked me to take on the job as creative director of the new space he had just gotten a loan to pay for, and after a little thought I accepted it. I submitted a resume, came in for a job interview with the partners, and all of that. It was around this time that they showed me the e-mail you had sent them trying to talk them into hiring you instead.

Sorry that didn't work out for you, old sport, but at least you managed to freak-dance a number of attractive young girls on the Someday dance floor before I asked you to stop doing that too. You should be thanking me, you sad old rollerskating nobody.

5000. - N.

Sr. N...
someday was, is, and will forever be about community. it's an intersection where all of the divergent elements of the creative underground and any of the curious 'above-grounders' come together and build a fire. try not to indulge the hurt too much. you should take satisfaction in the contributions you made, just like everyone else who has been involved thus far does. its an important endeavor, and it needs to evolve in order to continue to be so. let's ALL take note and do the same.

big love.

Someday made a big mistake with this firing

NOOOOOOO!!! gawd dammit I just got my ID renewd and NOW they just get rid of you. NOT COOL!. noah you can dooo eeet! hostile take-over of someday lounge!!! when no-one is looking you can snnnneak in and run everything!!! I did say run... oh well fun while it lasted -

Who are these ardent supporters? I'm inclined to believe they are Noah's alter ego. Why not? One minute the guy is playing the venue the next he's telling performers not to play there.(Yes, my buddy got that message) Holy shit, I don't know the details, but I can only imagine. What an egomaniac, crazy fucker this guy must be. Maybe it's the hair die? Someday, were you desperate for a promoter?

And now the nerve to call for a boycott? What kind of artist, what kind of promoter does that kind of shit. My guess is that he's a closet straight, Republican hack. Boycott? I think not. I'll be visiting the Someday Lounge often, just cause you asked me not to. This list has become quite the soap opera.

Desperate?
Closet Straight?
You people are damn silly.
Ask the man what he's been up to lately, and he will respond with something to the effect of:
"Hosting an illegal whiskey-soaked boxing match in a seattle alleyway that was loosly based on the film Rocky 4" or
"scoring a German expressionist play" or "Ringmastering the nations last traveling freakshow" or "hanging from meathooks and getting fireballs thrown at me while hot naked women writhe around me in a semi-circle"
or "chatting it up with Blixa Bargeld" or "doing a damn fine job raising my kids on my shift with them".....
Sounds pretensious, no?
What the fuck do all you jerks do with your time?
The man is simply on a different level than most.
If we are all equal, perhaps you should go chew some cud with the rest of the cows.
He was the best at creating the best scene before someday,
and only has more opportunities than ever as a result of this entire debacle.
Piss against the wind, spit upon the earth, poison your well and burn down your home.
You cannot stop a force of nature no matter how hard you try.

If you're going to boycott something, why wouldn't you consider the option of removing paltry reading materials from your diet instead of Noah or the Someday Lounge?

hay gusy! lol! :)

I believe the shows at someday will be more generic without Noah. However, I wont miss the annoying purple hat persona and the mediocre DJs he brought.

Uh... generic? Saturday they've got some guy named Costes doing some freaky shit on stage. And I'm talking FREAKY. If things were going to change, we'd see it now. Sure the man with the yellow hat probably booked him, but as far as I can tell, they look like they've got the same shit coming down the pipe. Don't bullshit me about how long it takes to book a show, and that he booked everything as far as the eye can see. I've seen venues turn on a dime, and new shows crop up a week in advance. I miss the event descriptions though. What's up with that?