PORTLAND, Ore. -- The performer's onstage entrance may have been

off-the-wall for a "rock" concert, but it was totally on the money for

one of rock's most idiosyncratic icons. It was also completely in

keeping with the performance yet to come.

Ray Davies, 53, wearing dark-green, stovepipe pants and a loose-fitting

beige shirt, appeared on the stage of Portland's Aladdin Theater on

Thursday carrying a dog-eared black book and a tattered leather

suitcase.

He placed the book on a cheap, black music stand and set the suitcase

on a table.

The suitcase would remain untouched. But the veteran singer/songwriter

and leader of the Kinks referred to the black book throughout the

evening as he proceeded to weave tales of his youth and loose renditions

of songs from his vast repertoire into a two-hour, crazyquilt

presentation -- one of many he has made as part of his current

"Storyteller" tour.

Nearly equal-parts standup comedy, poignant reflection and unplugged

songplay -- bolstered only by the subtle accompaniment of guitarist Pete

Mathison -- the show is winding up its second U.S. tour in as many

years.

Thursday's show followed the basic framework of last year's

performances, as well as the recent album Ray Davies: The

Storyteller. The evening's stories focused on Davies' early years in

North London; his large family; their small house; the local characters;

the beginning of the Kinks; and the end of his innocence.

Typical of the evening's improvised verbiage was a story Davies told

about his father -- how the old man would come home drunk and entertain

his friends with a soused version of Cab Calloway's "Minnie the

Moocher." Davies sang a verse, balanced a glass of stout on his head,

turned his back on the audience, shook his ass and shouted "Hi de ho!"

"Hi de ho!" responded a voice from the front row. Davies brightened and

said "Dad?"

"Oh, Dad," he sighed. "I'm so glad I didn't turn out like you."

Davies peppered the evening's monologue with a range of songs that

included a handful of new ones and a scattershot of hits and obscurities

-- all familiar to the audience. During "Autumn Almanac" (RealAudio

excerpt), one of the oddest of the Kinks' mid-'60s singles, the entire

audience seemed to mouth the bizarre words (Davies wrote the song in his

20s, but saw fit at the time to lament his "poor rheumatic back").

The songs were often sung in truncated form, or sung inside out, with

Davies strumming a few guitar chords and then singing the song starting

from the bridge.

Davies used three amplified Ovation acoustic guitars -- maple, mahogany

and blue sunburst, respectively. He often pounded on the top of the

guitars for emphasis, perhaps by way of compensating for the absence of

a drummer. He alternated between two upstage microphones as Mathison sat

on a metal chair positioned at the rear -- a clear difference from the

approach of Kinks guitarist Dave Davies (now leading his own East Coast

club tour), who tends to share the Kinks' onstage focus.

Davies threw in some "new" old numbers. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else,"

once the B-side of the 1966 single "Sunny Afternoon," was given a

typically-skewered reading. As with many of the evening's numbers, the

song was punctuated by a rowdy, enthusiastic call-and-response.

Over the years, the Kinks have tended to indulge in restatement --

seeming to make the same albums over and over again, and releasing a

disproportionate share of live albums and compilations. With the

"Storyteller" format, however, Ray Davies has found an original and

compelling way -- via back stories and by creating biographical context

-- to revisit well-worn material.

"It was very professional," said Brian McHale, 44, a Portland

chiropractor who came to the show on a whim. "Here was an old

rock-and-roller who has found a way to polish his act and make his songs

new and exciting."