Monday Night Bluegrass is Back at OTTO

Three years ago, the acclaimed bluegrass player Joe K Walsh started a Monday night tradition in Portland’s Arts District: Bluegrass Night at OTTO.

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Photo by Gabe Souza/PPH

Joe and Friends have been a staple at the 576 Congress Street location, laying down some of the best performances (of any genre) you will find anywhere in Maine.

We’re pleased to announce that, after a short winter hiatus (while Joe was on tour with Mr. Sun, his band with Darol Anger, Grant Gordy, and Ethan Jodziewicz), Bluegrass Night is back, starting Monday, March 28. The first edition of 2016 will feature Joe, along with Steve Roy, Lincoln Meyers, and Lukas Pool.

For the uninitiated, Joe Walsh was the first student at Berklee College of Music to graduate with a degree in performance specializing in mandolin. He currently teaches at Berklee, where he serves as Managing Director of the American Roots Music Program.

The world-renowned fiddle legend Darol Anger called Walsh “one of my favorite musicians on earth.”

Joe has played in several renowned bands, including Joy Kills Sorrow, the New England Bluegrass BandNorthern Lights, and the Grammy nominated Gibson Brothers.

Writing in the Portland Press Herald, Bob Keyes wrote, “Walsh is the most in-demand mandolin player in Maine, and one of the most sought-after in America. He could easily live in Nashville, Austin or any other acoustic music hotbed, but chooses Portland because he loves the city and is well-treated here.”

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Photo by Gabe Souza/PPH

And he loves it so much, each Monday night he assembles a handful of the best roots musicians in Maine, or in America, for a fireworks-display of fretwork, lonesome harmonies, and good times.

Some of Bluegrass Night’s past guests have included members of Crooked StillDella Mae, the Josh Ritter Band, and the Ray LaMontagne band. You never know who might pop up, but you can always expect to be blown away.

And to boot, the shows are 100% free.

So, grab your family and friends, pop over for a few pies, some local craft beer, and take in some of the very best bluegrass you’re likely to hear anywhere.

ENZO’s Piece of Music History: The Police, Beastie Boys, Black Flag, Wu-Tang Clan & Metallica Drank Here

ENZONext to OTTO’s original slice shop at 576 Congress Street in Portland, you’ll find ENZO. The centerpiece of ENZO is its bar — a beautifully carved piece of craftsmanship in mahogany that exudes a sense of history. When you sit at the ENZO bar, you have the feeling that the bar has a million stories to tell.  If bars could talk, this one could tell you some stories.  It was once upon a time at the heart of one of rock’s legendary outposts: The Rathskeller (known lovingly as The Rat), located in Boston’s Kenmore Square.

The Rathskeller, Boston

The Rathskeller, Boston

For those of you unfamiliar with ENZO, it’s complicated. The cozy, beloved room opened in 2010 when the small space next to OTTO became available. At the time, when OTTO existed only as a take-out location, the expansion shared the same kitchen, served the same pizza, but had its own name, its own sign, and its own door. (Still does.) It offered OTTO customers a place to sit and enjoy their pizza with a glass of wine or a glass of craft beer.

Most folks sitting at the bar, however, might be unaware that their elbows are resting where countless rock legends rested theirs, before or after they graced the stage of The Rat.

The next time you visit ENZO, remember that you’re sitting where the following (and countless others) likely sat:

Sonic Youth at The Rat

Sonic Youth performing at The Rat

311
7 Seconds
Aerosmith
Agent Orange
Agnostic Front
Aimee Mann
Alex Chilton
At the Gates
B-52s
Babe the Blue Ox
Babes in Toyland
Bad Brains
Beastie Boys
Big Black
Black Flag
Blondie
Bloodhound Gang
Buffalo Tom
Butthole Surfers
Chris Isaak
Dag Nasty
Dead Kennedys
Del Fuegos
Dinosaur Jr

REM at the Rat

REM at the Rat

DMZ
Dream Syndicate
DRI
Dropkick Murphys
Fishbone
Flipper
Foetus
Galaxie 500
Gang Green
Gang of Four
GG Allin
Geezer Lake
Goo Goo Dolls
Gorilla Biscuits
Henry Rollins

The Cars at The Rat

The Cars at The Rat

Hole
Human Sexual Response
Husker Du
Iggy Pop
J Geils Band
Joan Jett
John Cale
Los Lobos
Lou Reed
Lyres
Mazzy Star
MDC
Megadeth
Melvins
Metallica

Aimee Mann at The Rat

Aimee Mann at The Rat

Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Minutemen
Misfits
Mission of Burma
Mother Love Bone
Napal Death
Patti Smith
Pixies
Poison
Powerman 5000
Quicksand
Quiet Riot
Ramones
Red Hot Chili Peppers

Talking Heads at The Rat

Talking Heads at The Rat

Redd Kross
REM
Richard Hell
Rick James
Scruffy The Cat
Sick of it All
Sonic Youth
Soul Asylum
Soundgarden
Steve Earle
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Suicide
Talking Heads
The Cars
The Clash
The Cramps

The Jam at The Rat

The Jam at The Rat

The Damned
The dB’s
The English Beat
The Fall
The Flaming Lips
The Go-Gos
The Jam
The Lemonheads
The Mr. T Experience
The Neighborhoods
The Plasmatics
The Police
The Queers
The Remains
The Replacements

The Replacements at The Rat

The Replacements at The Rat

The Runaways
The Smithereens
The Stranglers
The Wipers
Thin Lizzy
Throwing Muses
Til Tuesday
Tiny Tim
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tool
U2
Volcano Suns
White Zombie
Widespread Panic
Wu-Tang Clan

To learn more about how OTTO acquired the Rat’s bar, click here.

Why You Shouldn’t Miss The Harmed Brothers’ FREE 2-Night Residency at OTTO

As part of OTTO’s month-long 5-year anniversary celebration, Oregon’s The Harmed Brothers will be bringing their indie-grass shenanigans to our 574 Congress Street location Friday, June 20 through Saturday, June 21.

1450Each night the music will crank up at 9:30pm. There is no charge (suggested band donation $5-10).

This acclaimed group from the left coast don’t make it around these parts too often, so we’d like to make sure you know exactly what you’d be missing if you made other plans this weekend:

“The fact that The Harmed Brothers haven’t achieved the popularity of, say, The Avett Brothers or The Lumineers remains as baffling as it is frustrating.” – Country Standard Time

“Fans of the Avett Brothers will instantly fall in love with this album and have a new favorite group.” – Performer Magazine

“Fans of Uncle Tupelo and Avett Brothers, pull up a chair and sit a spell.” – The Big Takeover

“Melding indie rock fervor with the intricate fretwork of bluegrass, the band steer their way through both genres without slowing and manage to come out on the other side with something unique and wholly their own.” – Beats Per Minute

“This excellent four-piece band is blessed with two vocalists just about as good as any band in roots music can boast of, and with perfect harmonies to match.” – American Roots UK

“The Harmed Brothers embrace conviction much like a young Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar once did.” – Akron Beacon-Journal

“With blissful harmonies and shuffling banjos and guitars, the Harmed Brothers are creating some unique jams.” – Magnet

“The heartbreaking, fearless tenacity and swagger of Vietti’s vocals and guitar paired with Salcido’s wide ranging harmonies and banjo picking, hint toward a very promising group of young impassioned storytellers, as well as stellar performers.” – Relix

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Celebrate OTTO’s 5th Birthday with Elliott Brood at One Longfellow Square

Join us for an unforgettable celebration of food, friends, music, and community

We don’t usually make a big stink about birthdays, but we’re coming up on our 5th, and it just seemed wrong to not throw a party.

While we have multiple events and surprises planned for the weeks leading up to our actual birthday (June 18) and beyond, this is the big one — a celebration of food, friends, music, and community at One Longfellow Square on Saturday, May 24.

Brood_1Some of you may have seen a little three-piece band from Toronto called Elliot Brood at OTTO’s Munjoy Hill location about 18 months ago. And if you were ever in our original slice shop back in the day, chances are you heard Elliott Brood blasting while we cranked out pies. You might even say they fueled a lot of what we have built over the past five years.

An absolute favorite of OTTO owners and staff, Juno Award-winning Elliott Brood is a powerful three-piece specializing in an artfully unique brand of alt-country guaranteed to move you — physically and emotionally.  Whether churning out urgent, boot-stomping sing-alongs or lyrically-rich soot-stained ballads, these guys are the real deal. You really don’t want to miss them.  We’re thrilled that they agreed to be part of our celebration.

Sharing the stage will be Sympathy & The Lion, an alt-folk duo out of Lancaster, PA.

There will be giveaways, prizes and other surprises.

In case you need additional incentive:

“Elliott Brood shows are known to be lively affairs.”Washington Post

“Elliott Brood knows how to get a crowd off its laurels.”SF Weekly

“Elliott Brood holds fast to the notion that a great story-song sounds even better played fast and rough, propelled by frenzied strumming and rattling percussion.”The Onion’s AV Club

Get your tickets now.  It’s gonna be a good time.

And the Winners of the OTTO Rocks! Record Cover Mash-up Contest are…

In early May, we invited you to salute OTTO’s 4th birthday (June 18) by submitting your own OTTO-themed record cover mash-ups on our Facebook timeline.

We promised to choose our three favorite entries on June 18 and award the following prizes:

1st place: $100 OTTO gift card & an OTTO T-shirt
2nd place: $25 OTTO gift card & an OTTO T-shirt
3rd place: 5 ‘free slice’ cards & an OTTO T-shirt

When we started the contest, we never could have imagined the level of creativity, wit, and talent that we would witness.  The submissions were comprised of mashups from a variety of genres stretching across several decades. Some covers we expected to see, some we never could have predicted.

It was not easy to narrow the entries down to three winners, and it was quite a task to choose the best of that bunch.  There were a dozen or so that were quite worthy of the top three slots.

Without further ado, we present the winners of the OTTO Rocks! contest.

First Place: Colby Knight
Colby’s take on Herb Alpert’s cheeky “Whipped Cream And Other Delights” hit all the right notes. The vintage aesthetic and font work, combined with the cheesy sensuality (groan), make this one as hard to resist as a warm dollop of ricotta.

Colby will be receiving a $100 OTTO gift card, and an OTTO t-shirt.

Here’s Colby’s version, and the original:

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Second Place: Angie Grosso
Angie took Notorious BIG’s iconic hip hop cover art and title, and turned it on its head. Through a few simple tweaks, this young man’s bleak destiny is transformed into one of hope and, well, a lifetime of delicious pie.  Heck, we’ll hire him as soon as he gets his work permit.

Angie wins a $25 OTTO gift card and an OTTO t-shirt.

Here’s Angie’s version, and the original:

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Third Place: Mark Viens
Mark’s take on Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness” is a beautifully updated, OTTO-fied version of an already beautiful record cover. We were impressed by the seamless incorporation of a variety of signature OTTO slices, a nod to our abundant array of pizza ingredients, and acknowledgment of OTTO’s growing constellation of communities.

Mark wins 5 ‘free slice’ cards & an OTTO T-shirt.

Here’s Mark’s submission, and the original:

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Congratulations to our three finalists.

We had so many wonderful submissions, we urge you to take a look at the entire gallery.

Thanks to everyone who shared their creations with us. We truly love them all.

OTTO Rocks! Submit A Record Cover Mash-Up And Win $100 Worth Of Pizza

We invite you to salute OTTO’s 4 years of serving pizza to discerning New Englanders! Post your own versions of OTTO-themed record cover mash-ups on our Facebook timeline and WIN!

otto_rocksOn OTTO’s 4th birthday, June 18, we will choose the three best entries and award the following prizes:

1st place: $100 OTTO gift card & an OTTO T-shirt
2nd place: $25 OTTO gift card & an OTTO T-shirt
3rd place: 5 ‘free slice’ cards & an OTTO T-shirt

Entries may be posted on our timeline or emailed to contactus@ottoportland.com.

OTTO reserves the right to remove and/or disqualify entries that are not suitable for all ages, or which are otherwise not aligned with OTTO’s good taste.

We will add the very best entries to our ‘OTTO Rocks!’ Facebook gallery, and elsewhere.

Get to it! We salute you!

Pizza In Music: From The Classics to The Inexplicable

Perhaps more than any other food item, pizza has found its way into they lyrics of countless songs. Sometimes, pizza serves to elicit a sensory response — to bring a setting to life. In this way, pizza is poetry. Other times, pizza serves as the entire reason for the song’s existence. (Some bands really, really like pizza.)

Whether it’s an elegant staple of Italian dining, or a raucous celebration of everyone’s favorite party food, the consensus is unanimous: pizza is awesome.

We have selected a wide array of pizza songs for your your enjoyment. A few of these are transcendent. One or two of them will never be forgotten. And several of them are simply inexplicable.

Feel free to add your entries in the comments section.

“That’s Amore” – Dean Martin


“The Pizza Song” – Bouncing Souls


“Eat To The Beat” – Blondie


“Pizza Day” – Jonathan Coulton


“Pizza Pie” – System of a Down


“Krusty Krab Pizza” – SpongeBob SquarePants


“Pizza Nif” – Horse The Band


“Pizza Song” – Brak (Space Ghost)


“Pizza Girl” – Jonas Brothers


“Imagine (There’s No Pizza)” – Herman Cain


“Gimme Pizza” – Olsen Twins

Who is Elliott Brood? And Why Should You Care?

Elliott Brood is on tour and playing a bunch of shows in the northeast before heading over to Europe.

Music is an important ingredient at OTTO Pizza – we listen to it all the time. We listen to music while we’re setting up shop in the morning; it’s playing during the day when we’re taking care of our customers, and we crank it up at night while we’re cleaning up the shop to do it all over again the next day.

Some of the folks who work at OTTO Pizza are musicians themselves, and there are a ton of local bands that we love as well, but every once in a while, a band comes along that really grabs us and maybe we go a little crazy.

Elliott Brood is such a band. These guys are amazing. But don’t take our word for it. Check ’em out for yourself.

And apparently, Elliott Brood is on tour right now, which is great. Anybody else really like Elliott Brood? Why don’t you drop us a line at ottopizza668@gmail.com?