The Milk Carton Kids, The Neptune. Read Dave Lake’s interview with Joey Ryan

here

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If the Moondoggies could be said to have a secret weapon—a bop gun that makes the audience bounce and sway throughout the band’s epic jams—it is Jon Pontrello, who officially joined the band during the making of its latest, and greatest, full-length, Adios, I’m a Ghost. Pontrello is now proffering his magic touch at Fremont Abbey, for which he’s put together a stellar songwriter’s night. The evening will be anchored by inimitable Portland songwriter and raconteur Nick Jaina, whose songs are very good but sometimes overshadowed by his between-song banter, a cocktail of witty and withering observations. Headlining will be Stelth Ulvang, who plays piano for folk-rock band the Lumineers when not writing his own inventive, rollicking, swaying songs about, among other things, springtime and Carl Sagan, and which recall, in a sense, Lou Reed. Opening the night will be multi-instrumentalist Pontrello himself, who will no doubt surprise you. Fremont Abbey, 4272 Fremont Ave. N., 414-8325, fremont
abbey.org. 8:30 p.m. $8. All ages. MARK BAUMGARTEN