Q A
Stephen Marc Beaudoin: I have a couple
things I want to talk with you about for
this interview. Let’s start with the Oregon
Music Hall of Fame. You’re getting
inducted — Pink Martini is getting
inducted.
Thomas Lauderdale: What is that,
anyway?
SMB: It’s a Hall of Fame that recognizes
outstanding Oregon musicians — solo
artists, bands, producers and the like.
It seems that part of this recognition is
because …
TL: Because of 20 years. Twenty years is
a long time for a band like this ... yeah. It
never would have worked had I set out
to have it be something, because I would
have been trying too hard. The thing is,
when China and I wrote that French song
[Sympathique, also the name of the first
Pink Martini album], the band had never
performed beyond Gresham, in a parking
lot. When we wrote that song, we never
dreamed that we would be on tour in
France. So there was no pressure ... there
was nothing to lose. There was nothing to
win apparently, either. Like, it was kind
of, “this is the project for the moment, and
let’s make it fun.”
We were about to release the album, and
China had been in this awful, terrible film
that somehow played the Cannes Film
Festival. Horrible film. Anyhow, they asked
her to perform at the party to debut the
film at Cannes. She told me about this, and
I begged to be her accompanist. We went
to a couple of parties [at Cannes], and I
thought, “This would be the perfect place
to bring the band,” because it’s cinematic
music; it’s global; it’s kind of perfect. So
we took the band the next year, and then
out of that, we signed a French record
deal. And then, suddenly, Citroën bought
the song for their ad campaign that year,
which paid for the down payment on this
building [Pink Martini’s world headquarters in downtown Portland]. And then it
was nominated for Song of the Year by Les
Victoires de la Musique, which is like the
French Grammys.
My take on it is: when one really tries, a lot
of times, inevitably, it’ll end up in failure.
Do you know what I mean?
SMB: Absolutely, yeah yeah.
TL: I think that, for things to really work
out cosmically, at this juncture in my life
I would say it’s better just not to expect
anything, to be grateful and to try to keep
grounded and not haughty. Or expectant.
SMB: And yet, at the same time, it
seems that for the band, and also for
Oregon, expectations are high. And
growing. That there’s all of this national
and international attention for Oregon
exports, right? Food, culture, music. And
Pink Martini was doing that before it was
cool and being written about.
TL: The thing I miss about Portland, and
Oregon … I mean, Portland has always
been sort of Podunk, and we didn’t care.
And it was cheap. That’s what kind of
made Portland great, was that it just didn’t
care. Unlike Seattle, which cares too much
and has all these sort of cosmopolitan
aspirations that are nauseating ... they’re
just trying too hard. Unfortunately, that’s
what’s going on in Portland now, and it
has to do with all of the articles in The New
York Times and with Portlandia ... And the
thing is, it’s based on nothing! There’s no
industry here, really. We’ve got sports apparel and food carts ... that’s it. I think the
city is still living off the legacy of [former
mayor] Neil Goldschmidt, and there’s no
new story, really. Not really. There could
be, because the population is so set up for
it. The population is waiting for something.
But we haven’t had a dynamic leader since
Neil Goldschmidt.
What’s happening in the city is, I think, the
city is directionless.
SMB: Is this zeitgeist, this Portland
moment in the national spotlight. Is this
bubble about to burst?
TL: Unless somebody comes forward and
really leads. I just saw (former Metro President) David Bragdon in New York, and I
said to David, “You need to come back and
save the city, because it’s going down.” It’s
too expensive ... there’s a lot of hype ... and
then there are incredible people moving
here who are ready to do something and
have no way in, no idea