EVERY MARCH it’s the same — that heavy feeling of winter depression as I slog through the month, defeated, cold and melancholy. This winter wasn’t all that bad comparatively speaking but still I’m over it. Aren’t you?

Such is my funk that I’m not even excited about the you-know-whos starting spring training. I am, however, excited about the Kaki King and David Gray shows slated for April. But for now, I turn to T.S. Eliot to best capture this malaise: “Midwinter spring is its own season. Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown, suspended in time, between pole and tropic.”

When Shawn Colvin sang, “But if there were no music, then I would not get through,” maybe she was really singing about March. I, for one, would become completely dismantled without the frequent doses of fortified aural vitamins this city has in large supply.

This week, the 48 Hour Music Festival, the Wayouts, Jacob Augustine, the Mallet Brothers and Okbari are the prescription to cure all winter woes.

Not to mention the show next Wednesday night at Port City with longtime Irish cool cats Hothouse Flowers.

 

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IT’S TIME for local music’s most enthralling two days, as the 2nd annual 48 Hour Music Festival is upon us.

Get this: 30 artists from Portland bands of all genres will be randomly shuffled into six supergroups, which were to be announced today. Start the clock, because each band has 48 hours to come up with a 25-minute set of songs that will be performed live at Space on Saturday night.

The goals are simple: “To pool talent in a randomized way and take individuals out of their comfort zones for the sake of fresh collaboration.” There is but one rule: The musicians in each band must have no previous musical history with one another.

I can only imagine what motley and magnificent new bands will come together. The list of participating rockers, rollers and rebels is teeming with ladies and gents from bands like Marie Stella, Haru Bangs, Johnny Cremains, Antiseptic, Cryptic Overcast, Hoboe, Batshelter and umpteen more. There’ll be a lot of musicians sleeping late on Sunday morning because there’ll be little time for that between this afternoon and Saturday night. I have a feeling none of them will be complaining. Neither will we.

48 Hour Music Festival. 9 p.m. Saturday. Space, 538 Congress St., Portland. Ages 18 and older. $10 tickets at Bull Moose or www.brownpapertickets.com.

 

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I DON’T WRITE  about cover bands all that often because the abundance of original music here in Portland doesn’t leave me much room for it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate good covers of classic rock nuggets from AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, Steve Miller and their brethren, especially when they’re played during a benefit to help cure cystic fibrosis.

That said, meet the Wayouts. They took their name from an episode of the “Flintstones,” which I’m either proud or embarrassed to say I certainly remember. It’s the one where an English rock band is mistaken for aliens and they sing their anthem “Way out that’s where the fun is way out” during a Water Buffaloes masquerade ball.

I digress. These Wayouts are Andy Pappas on guitar and vocals, Jamie Norman on bass and vocals, Andy Mancall on guitar and John Wolanski on drums. They’ll be providing the dance soundtrack all night long and raffles will be drawn between sets. Fun.

The Wayouts: CF Benefit Show. 9 p.m. Saturday. The Big Easy, 55 Market St., Portland. Ages 21 and older. $10 minimum donation at the door.

 

FANCY SOME Turkish delight? I thought so and I’ve got just the show for you. The duo of Amos Libby and Eric LaPerna celebrate the release of their latest CD, “Turku: Mystical Music of the Turkish Troubadours,” with a show at Blue, one of their favorite spots. They’ll be joined by some guest musicians, including Carl Dimow, and you’ll hear Turkish and Armenian music played in a way that’s herded gobs of fans into the Okbari fold (www.myspace.com/okbari). Tickets are going fast for this show. Just sayin’.

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P.S. I think it’s a fairly safe assumption to say that some belly dancers will be part of the wing-ding.

Okbari CD Release Party. 8 p.m. Friday. Blue, 650A Congress St., Portland. All ages. $10 tickets available at Blue or call 774-4111.

 

Aimsel Ponti is a Portland freelance writer. Contact her at:

aimselponti@yahoo.com

 


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