We saw Neko Case at Stern Grove on July 3 -- so did you, judging by the number of people up in the trees. Go, tree people! But we got there at 10 insane a.m., and were gettin' a sunburn way down on the lawn alll day. From our flat vantage point, we noticed something new about Case: She had huge, what almost looked like gangsta-style tattoo writing on her forearms. But we couldn't see what the tattoos said, even with our space-invading binoculars.
Meric Long of the Dodos, who also performed that fine day and was called "foxy" by Neko, confirms that we were not imagining things: "She came to town when we were recording in Portland and she was going to get a tattoo, her first tattoo, and then she did. She totally got these huge tattoos on her arms. And then also stopped in and sang on some tracks."We search-engined when we got home to find that the lady's arms say "Scorned as Timber" on the right and "Beloved of the Sky" on the left and do not look very gangsta after all. Maybe a little. But what do they mean?
They mean a painting.
