Satyricon was a great club in Portland, OR operated by George Touhouliotis from 1983 to 2003. It was at 125 SW 6th, between Couch and Davis if my PDX geography is still working. Satyricon featured a wide-ranging mix of all kinds of rock and roll. The first show I can remember seeing there was the Miracle Workers in 1984, I think. The place soon became a regular hang out for me, don't ask me why -- I guess I didn't have anything better to do. Oh, the lost days of my misspent youth! Anyway, some of the great shows I remember seeing there were True West (1985), the Vibrasonics (1984-1986), Hardcore Hoedown (July 10, 1985 iirc) featuring Western Front (Fred Cole's band at the time), the Vibrasonics, and a couple of other bands, Black Flag (1984), the Vipers (June 1985), the Catheads (1988?), and boatloads of others. There was a great show January 2, 1986 featuring the Tennesseans opening for Western Front.

Did I mention the Vibrasonics? They were a rockabilly band modeled on the the Ventures -- they even played Gretch guitars just like the Ventures. The Vibrasonics was formed by Dave Scott after the breakup of Youth for Buckley in 1984 -- what a great name for a band, they actually got Wm. F.'s autograph once. They always put on a great show, featuring crowd-pleasers such as Walk, Don't Run, Perfidia, and Who Slapped Joe?. I can remember one show in the summer of 1985 that was just a religious experience. Perfidia has pretty sappy words but of course the Vibrasonics played it as an instrumental, lyrical and yet moving forward with lots of energy.

Well, the fact is that Portland in the 80's was a slacker's paradise. Gentrification had yet to hit in any serious way. Rents were cheap and everybody was doing their own thing, as they say. I still love Portland, it's awesome. I haven't been to the Satyricon since sometime in the late eighties. I'm sorry to read that it's closed now. Well, with any luck there is already another legendary club in the making.