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Catching up. Work has started getting really great. Today I got to help with looking at the potential retroactivity of an adjustment in the sentencing guidelines for crack cases. Translation: freeing the people who have been wronged by a disparity between powder and crack cocaine sentencing. hooray.

We had a really nice monday night. Rebecca made a great leek and potato soup from stuff we bought at the farmer's market and made the humble 300 sq ft apt i have been cooped up in livable again. Home-sweet-can't-wait-to-move-on -thursday. Then we headed to the discount monday night movies at The Living Room. What a great place. They let you take actual wine glasses back into the theaters (which i of course knocked over) and there are little ottomans to put your feet up on and it was only $4.50. Saw the Parker Posey film Broken English that I passed on last week. It was pitch perfect on 30 something sort of hipster women with lots of hang ups. and Gena Rowlands directed by her daughter.

And then today Rebecca kicked ass while i was at work and found a storage space for our over-flowing stuff. The new apartment (pictures soon) will be great but not gigantic and I don't want to be crowded. so now everythings going to be awesome.

We also got to hang out and talk fishing with Paul Navari at the Old Lompoc.

And I won a short essay contest hosted by the Portland Mercury blog where I had to write about my favorite Bob Dylan song for two free tickets to the new Todd Haynes movie.

I'll put some pictures in tomorrow. right now I'm sleepy.

Mountains and Soccer Songs

Headed out towards the mountain. it gets closer, we pass strip malls and strip clubs. Portland has more strip clubs than any place else in the U.S., so we are told. So past all that we found a gritty little taqueria next to a mexican butcher shop. Perfect. We had to wait a while and watch some weird univision comedy but they were making fresh tortillas in the back for every taco. Good morning breakfast.

So we kept on, past Zig Zag, past Government Camp, up to Timberline Lodge. Its called Timberline Lodge because its way up high towards the top of Mt. Hood, close to the timberline, not so many trees. The lodge was a WPA New Deal project and its full of amazing carpentry, masonry, ironwork and craftsperson detail. We stomped around in the snow a bit (threw obligatory snowballs at one another) and saw die hards snowboarding, which you can do all year up there, so long as you are ok with not a lot of snow. You can't really tell it from the picture, but way up there, looking out, its just miles and miles of mountains off into the distance. I was telling Rebecca it made me feel a funny lonesome feeling because i am used to wide open flat spaces where you can drive fast in a straight line. There are no straight lines around Portland. I'm penned in. Rebecca talked me out of feeling nervous reminding me that we live in the middle of a major metropolitan area so if i am in distress, my rescuers will not have to cross a mountain range.

After that we took the long way home, through an area called the Fruit Loop where there are a lot of apple and pear growers. We drove down along the Columbia River Gorge, past Multnomah Falls (which is stunning) and then back home. And we bought apples that I have never heard of but are SO GOOD. I like apples but am incredibly fussy about consistency. And these Pacific Rose apples, grown by the Draper Girls Orchard, are my favorite apples ever ever ever.

We got home just in time to catch the second half of the Portland Timbers game at PGE Park by our apartment. Soccer madness courtesy of the Timber Army. Lots of involved and profane songs and cheers. Rabid soccer fans screaming off their collective asses at the MLS Toronto team. We went down into the middle of the hooligan rabble of the stadium and cheered along. Every time a goal was scored, they hoisted giant flags up through the crowd and a guy in Carrhart overalls behind the goal fired up a chainsaw and cut off a big piece to commemorate the point. And the Timbers beat the MLS team 4 to 1 and the fans screamed, in very loud unison "Your team is so shitty it's unbelievable!" as loud as they could. Good times.

Pre-Halloween Fun

I was a park ranger. Rebecca was the grim reaper. She didn't have a scythe, she had a tall boy. And a creepy black hood that covered her face and glowing red eyes like a jawa. We ate dinner at The Country Cat right at the chef's station where we could watch all the cooking and then went to this great house of a work friend on Mt. Tabor. Hung out there for a while, met nice people, went to another Harry Potter themed party in the northeast. Stood around a firepit in a great back yard. My knees got cold because i was in shorts because I was a park ranger. the man of the house put on a furry cheetah costume and danced around the fire. We told people we were going to drive towards the mountain tomorrow. the lady of the house told us to go to timberline lodge. we did.

watershed day

Awesome watershed memorable day. Found out first thing in the a.m. that Rebecca passed the Ohio bar. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Starting thursday she drove from Death Valley, through Yosemite and up into the redwoods yesterday and got to Portland at about 7pm. We unloaded the contents of the truck into our smashing new apartment. And Rebecca sent along all sorts of great presents like a book about death valley and a wall drug sticker and a black t-shirt with a wolf on it.

And then after stopping for a bite, we dashed down to Roseland to see The Polyphonic Spree. Their show was well underway and the box office said they weren't selling anymore tickets. But the lady was really nice and asked her boss and he said we could go in FREE. Yaaaaaaaaaay!

I love the Polyphonic Spree and I sang my ass off like a lunatic and Rebecca and I just smiled and bounced up and down in confetti and choral rock bliss. Everything you love about a religious cult with a charismatic leader without the nasty side effects of it being real. Yaaaaaaaaay!



Music for You: The Polyphonic Spree - Soldier Girl

All work today.

People are nice here.

A very productive day at work. I think tomorrow is going to be another one, and then one after that. I still only have a handful of cases but they are starting to cook. I'm still feeling around in the dark about the people part (who to call to make things happen), but the law part is coming together.

I am getting regular updates on the westwardly progress of Rebecca.
Since Denver, she's hit Bryce Canyon, some arches, The Grand Canyon, and Hoover Dam. Last time we spoke she was headed down into the glittering lights of Las Vegas. Next stop Death Valley. I have been preoccupied with Death Valley since I was little and it was featured on The Twilight Zone. Never been there, want to go. Rebecca is enjoying driving so much that she says she will drive me around the world given the chance which I find terribly romantic. Or maybe she will get an orangutan like Clint Eastwood.

I had a great lunch at a vietnamese food cart near my office. Portland has a vibrant food cart scene. Some are semi permanent and there are several websites dedicated to them.


Decided to go to a get together hosted by Metroblogging Portland, a group of bloggers who keep track on interesting Portland happenings. And they gave this blog and my dear midwestern readers a shout out. We met at the Green Dragon, a soon-to-be-brewing brew pub in a converted warehouse on the east side of the river. For now they had beer geek beers and if you are a beer person, then this is where you want to be. Heck, the guy from beerdrinker dot org was even there. He was very nice and encouraged me to go to see the local soccer team do their best this sunday. They were all really cool people.

Afterwards i walked most of the way back home and stopped to pee at The Doug Fir Lounge. Until moving to Portland I realized hipster was a condition but I did not appreciate it was such a dangerous one. At the Doug Fir, you can actually die of hipster. So i left right away and went home. I saw a sticker on a bicycle trailer (yes they even have bike trailers here, and not just the kind for babies) that said This Machine Kills Hipsters. Not exactly Woodie Guthrie.

Music for you: Woody Guthrie - Going Down This Road Feelin Bad

Wish I was Going

Monday Night is Music Night

Right now I'm at The Living Room. It is a gorgeous day in Portland. Mt. Hood was showing her stuff off all day long. Tomorrow is supposed to be even prettier. So after work I went home and made it to the Living Room in time for their happy hour that has cheap food and half off a glass of wine. Awesome. And Monday is Music Night because I was planning to see the Parker Posey movie, Broken English, but instead I decided (encouraged by the lovely and talented Megan on the phone from Michigan) to go hear a lecture about music. I'm glad I did.

So I went to Powell's Books to see Alex Ross speak. I heard he was recently on Fresh Air. He writes about music for The New Yorker and just released a book called "The Rest is Noise" about music in the 20th Century. The place was packed with classical musicians and those who love them. i went because I don't like classical music very much at all and was hoping to learn something that would help me like it. Rebecca is a symphony fan so we go a fair amount and I'm always wishing I had a flask and a gameboy to help me get through it. And listening to him, I'm not sure I'll be rushing out the door for a Shostakovich CD, but it is great to hear a very passionate and knowledgable (has to be both) person talk about their maven-hood and use all the perfect incisive language to talk about it. He blended a lot of talk about historical events of the 20th century against what has been happening in modern composition (romanticism, the nazi thing, cinema, cold war modern, minimalism, now) and now I know just a little more stuff.

Monday is also music night because there's music for you, which isn't classical:

M.I.A. - Paper Planes

The Velvet Underground - What Goes On

The Long Blondes - Once and Never Again

The opposite of classical music, by the way, is a pop song about a hockey-playing monkey:
The Zambonis- Hockey Monkey

The Mountain Goats - Cubs in Five

Deerhoof - 81+

toomanycutelesbians

The most important thing that happened today was a constant downpour of rain that I walked in. And my shoes are bullshit shoes and so my feet were immediately wet and so I went to the shoe store and bought proper portland shoes (Keens). i threw the bullshit shoes in the trash. now i am ready for whatever the portland climate throws me.

And in the afternoon i went to a lovely potluck of indian food in the Brooklyn neighborhood. i was invited by my friend Terry from antioch and i met all manner of interesting people including a professor of medieval history studies and an editor for Cooks Illustrated. All the people there had toddler children except me and my womb ached. psyche. no it didn't at all.

AND THEN i went to this great party, silent auction fundraiser sort of thing for Bitch Magazine which just moved to Portland from SF. There was alot of great art for sale and I did some bidding but was beat out by the big girls. Fine, i got art already. And i ran into this flock of christian scientist kids, one of whom went to high school with rebecca. so random. it was boy girl couples, but I'm pretty sure the girls were bi (saw them at the lez dance later on). they invited me to go to church tomorrow morning because one of the guys is going to be doing a guitar concert. small world.

AND AS IF that were not enough, I bumped into some other girls at the Bitch thing and they took me dancing at Gay-cation. A big dance party at Holocene. Wall to wall good looking women. hundreds. it was overwhelming really. Portland is for the ladies, people. For serious.

Primary Season

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Westward Ho

Went out for dinner and drinks with Rob from Columbus. We are in the same lonely boat, like Lewis without a Clark, no Sacajawea in sight, forging the Oregon Territory alone, waiting on our sweeties. What to do but enjoy mexican food at Nuestra Cocina and then a pint at Morrison Hotel? It was raining and Rob was kind enough to deposit me at the Egyptian Room, Portland's lesbian mega-bar.
But here's the weird part. i've only been there one other time in my life (with canup and daniela the weekend of my job interview) and i think my picture is on their website. That is definitely my shirt, i think that's my hair. it really looks like my elbow.

The Ship Has Launched

Rebecca left Columbus this afternoon. En route to Chicago, en route to South Dakota where she used to be a park ranger at Jewel Cave, en route to Denver to see Mari and family, en route to Portland. I am enjoying periodic updates.

I celebrated this day with three events:

1. Meditation on the $3 cup of coffee.
I am a firm believer in the following concept for travel, new towns, etc. If you see a long line of people waiting to buy food or beverage, get in that line. In Portland, the lines are at Stumptown, a local coffee roaster. They have two people working the counter. This is slow because they take their time. They know there's a line. They know people are waiting. They don't care. Because they know that you know that you want the coffee and will wait for it. For like 15 minutes.

Many days I have walked past the line, because I'm on my way to work and I just don't have time to stand in line waiting for a cup of coffee. The mood struck me this morning to get in the line. I really was in a bit of a hurry to be on my way, so i said I'll just have a large cup of drip. That's portland for "just put the coffee you have brewed in the damn cup." The barista directed me to the chalk board overhead which described the acidity, aroma and tenor of various beans they had available. Which bean? ummm, the honduras. Ok. Then he goes to the back and hauls out a giant bag of beans and starts measuring. And i'm like, dude, really its ok, just give me what you have, whatev. and he was very kind but firm when he turned around and explained that each and every cup is made from scratch. so it couldn't be fast. i would have to stand there and wait for my drip coffee that i thought would be the fastest. and then it was $3. which I wasn't expecting but I suppose he justified. I don't know. It tasted about like starbucks to me. its coffee. but people get real excited about stumptown out here. believe you me.

2. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
For lunch I went out to Blueplate with another lawyer from the office. I had the Portland rainy day special because it was raining which consisted of a mug of tomato soup and a cheesy cheesy grilled cheese sandwich. Blueplate is fancy and foodie and they are only open during the day pretty much and they only have like five tables and i don't know how they exist but more power to them.

3. Pinot Noir
After work I took the bus up to a little wine shop in the North part of town by the train tracks. They have wine tastings every thursday night. Tonight was pinots from around the world and tasty snacks. I met the owner of McGinn's Wine shop, Jerry, and his wife and a lot of other Portland wine-os.

and there's also music for you:

The Fiery Furnaces - Duplexes of the Dead
This is the only Fiery Furnaces song I've ever liked and haven't just thought they were wankers for wankers. No offense.

The New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno

Minor Chord Day

Tonight I went and saw Alan Cheuse read from a novella at Powell's Books. They have some sort of meet the author reading almost every night. Cheuse is a book reviewer on NPR who has such a nice deep gravely voice so I went to hear him read tragic tales of human frailty.

So now i am a little melancholy.

Music for You:

Jesse Sykes and the Sweethereafter - Tell the Boys

Freakwater - Your Goddamn Mouth

Songs:Ohia- Farewell Transmission

Smack in the Middle

I signed the lease on the new apartment tonight. It is so close. It is so tucked away. I am so excited to decorate such a spare and beautiful space. I'm working on a new aesthetic, people. Minimalism. Open space. Fewer things. Going through the process of clearing out the Glen Echo to be sold was very cathartic. All the sudden all sorts of stuff was put away in a storage locker and i didn't miss it at all. I only have a couple of suitcases worth of work and casual clothes here and its more than enough. When we unload those relo-cubes when Rebecca gets here, I'm looking forward to even more downsizing.
After getting the lease, I walked across the street and realized I am moving to the ground zero of old school Portland. The Goose Hollow Inn is a little tavern that has been there for over 40 years and is owned by Bud Clark (no relation), the former mayor of Portland from 1985 to 1992. In all seriousness, this is a picture of Bud.

Portland has an All-female Bee Gees tribute band

First Lez Zeppelin and now this. Portland's own Shee Bee Gees. Self-described as "Four ladies devoted to honoring the holy trinity: Barry, Robin, and Maurice. Their repertoire focuses on the brilliant salad days of Bee Gees pop, before John Travolta donned the white suit."

The nice thing about a girl coverband of classic rock is the opportunity to hear lets-get-down-on-the-ground same sex lyrics. They have a track of Lonely Days on their site which gets really good about halfway through. So I'm going to go see their next show.

Pop Tart

Why it has just been quite a busy weekend! Hooray for lesbian dance parties with really good music. On the Lord's day no less. I even danced. Me. Dancing. Yea for Pop Tart.

Now should I go to this tomorrow?

Walking in the Woods

I took a nice long walk this morning. Took the Max up to Washington Park. (one stop west of our new apartment). The train station is way underground and climbs to 700 ft above sea level and lets you off up at a scenic hilltop. By Texas or Ohio standards, its a mountain. Here its just a hill. Once I got up there I found a free trail map and took Wildwood Trail up to Pittock Mansion where I could see Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens in the distance. It is a cloudless fall day here and just perfect for scenic gazing at the mountains and the fall color. After stomping around the manison grounds I continued on Wildwood through Forest Park and finally found myself spit out into a neighborhood close to home. Ahhhh.

Brand Upon the Brain

Went and saw Branded upon the Brain this afternoon with Shayla at the 21st Street Cinema. We walked into the dark theater and a large string ensemble was down in front. There were also three noisemaker/foley people, Calvin Johnson from K Records, and a real actual castrato singer. The band and foley people played the music accompanying the silent film and Calvin Johnson narrarated and the castrato occasionally piped in (indescribable). I think I especially liked it because even though it bore layers and layers of process and story it made perfect sense and was also funny even though it was about stealing spinal fluid from orphans.

Gush

Ok so now I have calmed down a little bit about last night and I can tell you. Fortuitously saw a listing in the Willamette Week that Sister Spit was coming to town. That's a mostly queer group of women who do spoken word, read from their journals, and are mostly hysterically funny. All super cool kinda punk rock. They played Michfest once and I know one of the organizers,Michelle Tea, through the lovely and talented Ricky Lee.

It was held in this great performance space in Old Town called the Someday Lounge. Brilliant stuff. Notably this woman named Arlene Textaqueen who joined the tour all the way from Australia. She came out in a red jumpsuit that was decorated with colored markers. not colored with markers. the suit was made out of actual markers. Her deal is that she draws friends naked with a sharpie and then colors it in. I bought some postcards from her that are probably not safe to go in the mail on account of all the nakeedresses. I got to talk to her a bit after her slideshow performance and i hope she liked me. i get nervous talking to visual artists about their work. But i do it anyways because I can tolerate humiliation and blank looks.

So after the performances, Michelle announces that they are all going to a bar called the Galaxy to sing karaoke. Yet another fine Portland establishment that serves up karaoke 7 nights a week. I sat down with Michelle when we got there and she introduced me to this girl Tara in the booth with us. And she said she totally recognized me from somewhere (turns out she went to antioch for five minutes in 1993) and so we got to talking and we both just moved to town for work. oh, what do you do? I manage a friend's band. oh, what band? um, have you heard of The Gossip? UM YEAH. we exchanged phone numbers and maybe we can be bffs because she seemed really nice.

Q: What could be more fun than singing karaoke with the Sisterspit girls? A: Nothing.

Two highlights included Tara Jane O'Neil doing a very fine Xanadu and Textaqueen shrieking out Smells Like Teen Spirit. I didn't realize it was Tara Jane O'Neil in the bar when we were talking about James Bond theme songs (because I did a rousing rendition of Goldfinger) and Louisville and Freakwater, but ended up bumping into her with Shayla this afternoon and she told me that it was TJO. As in the girl on my ipod. Neat. She remembered my Goldfinger when I complimented her Xanadu.

Something tells me I'm into something good

Ummm.... I just had a really great series of events. Let's list them:

1. I found the Best. Apartment. Ever. Totally different from the sort of place I'm used to living in. Totally different part of Portland than i thought I would move into, was even thinking of. But the following criteria are met:

a. can walk to work
b. less that 500 yards from MAX stop (the train thingee)
c. two huge porches
d. fireplace
e. 1000 sq. feet
f. less $ than the compromise places i was looking at on the east side of the river
g. covered parking
h. best part? built and designed by owner who is an architect and lived there himself for 7 years. made it all architect-y. If you were there, think of Shawn's housesitting gig in old beechwold but up on a hillside surrounded by huge trees. Kinda japanese modern. walls of windows. wired for music. lots of closets.

I am disappointed that I can't show you pictures. But the good news is he took the ad down so that means I think he's going to pick me, its a done deal.

By the way, finding an apartment in Portland is a little like roller derby. Just while I was at that apartment, four other people/couples showed up to look at the place. when I looked at other places it was the same story. they set a time and multiple people run to the showing. I had to act fast, it wasn't going to last the night. I think rebecca and I are going to be remarkably happy there.

Ok and the other part is that the apartment is in Goose Hollow up the street from a Porsche dealership. People who know Portland may be rolling their eyes. Yeah, no one is going to confuse it with a punk house, but my, my is it beautiful. and really accesible from other places on account of the Max line being right there.

2. The second thing that happened after that is so cool I can't write about it yet because I can't do it justice this late at night. So I'll tell you tomorrow.

A Bike and a Band

I am having difficulty involving the new bicycle. It isn't working properly. When I downshift, the chain slides all the way off the back gears and locks up. This saddens me, especially when I am trying to downshift on a hill and then I have to get off and fix it, get my hands all greasy, and start over. Bikes should work better than this. So very chagrinned that I took my bike into the shop tonight, the shop where i bought it, and they fixed a busted spoke but didn't fix the gear problem. thought they corrected it, seemed fine when it was up on the grabby thing they fix bikes on. but I pedalled away, downshifted, and was screwed again. I'm taking it back tomorrow and I'm going to make them ride it and tell me what in the heck. that's just what I'll do.

Also today involved house hunting. tomorrow I am hoping to look here and here. Debating the spend-more-for-fancy-condo-to-feel-like-a-queen vs. live in the old quirky places to which I have become accustomed. Since I have to carry the mortgage in columbus still, being conservative with the funds seems prudent. but oh wouldn't l like to see what a 7th story loft is all about. Must remember that whereever we live will be where we study for the bar exam. Rebecca and Tex. Confined space. Stress. Maybe square footage and doors that close ought to trump altitude and sleekness. The libraries close at 8. Where will i study? Where will Rebecca hide from my squeaking noises and outbursts?

After bicycle expletives and laundry, walked a few blocks over to The Towne Lounge. A very charming little rock club, barely anyone there, great layout and this 70's pillowtop underlit ceiling that put off a nice glow. Saw two bands i didn't know from adam but they were both pretty good in their idiosyncratic way. The Gingerbread Patriots and Petracovich played. The first was a twee pop eightiesish band that did not seem like they were trying to be ironic. Which is distracting if you are listening to them because its real twee y'all. The second was basically this one girl Jessica Peters with a backing drummer. She played piano and sang. Lo-fi Fiona sort of, or like catpower meets a quiet ben folds. Not exactly my thing but her piano playing was very impressive and suited to the little lounge with the candles on the table.

Newsflash

Talked to clients, went to dinner, played pinball, drove around blah blah blah... ...We interrupt this blog to mention the following: dear friend of Columbus, Brian Harnetty, has just released an album on Atavistic Records called American Winter. You can buy it. This recording followed from his Appalachian Music Fellowship which allowed him to spend many weeks immersed in the sound archives at Berea College in Kentucky. Brian is also a trained composer and framed the "holler music" on this record. I got to see him perform this material live once and Bourbon Street in Columbus. If there's a soft spot in your heart for early american music, bluegrass, what have you, then have a listen.

Music for you so you can know: Brian Harnetty - Soon We'll Reach the Starry Sky.

Back to our normally scheduled blog: I had a great time hanging out with bonnie b, sister of Tara from Columbus. She took me to the Mississippi District for dinner and then a karaoke bar called Chopsticks on Burnside. We just watched, didn't sing, but i got a look at the song book and all I can say is WOW. Four Suzi Quatro songs to choose from (on purpose?), Toto, The Outfield, and a lot of other elusive favorites. Now if I could only get my karaoke friends to move to Portland.

Getting Rhythm

Big day at work. I was on "duty" which means all the new cases that came in were mine. Two new clients out of the mix and I covered something for a colleague. Good to be back in the ring. After work i finally made it to Ground Kontrol, a grown-ups arcade with lots and lots of pinball and vintage video (think Qbert and Tempest) over by Chinatown. I rocked the Star Trek machine.
After that I went to the Saucebox because Shayla was DJ-ing a late-ish happy hour. Shayla is a really good DJ, people. All vinyl and unexpected and delicious. I met a guy in a band called Caves at the bar. I had to leave early (school night) but I will be back next tuesday if Shayla is spinning.
Music for you: The Heartless Bastards - Searching for the Ghost. This is a Dayton band, great to play up loud on an afternoon at home while you are puttering around. Speaking of Ohio, click here.

Good Mischief

In Seattle, down a narrow Dickensian alley near the Pike Place fish market, there's a dark flight of stairs that leads to the CanCan. Bumping with klezmer music and decked out in red velvet and candlelight, its a tiny little dinner theater with a saucy variety show. With Daniela, Canup, and Billy, we watched three acrobat/dancer types perform a series of short acts and we had really unique and tasty cocktails (fresh cherry puree and sage with champagne and vodka? yes.) and snacks. Best five bucks I have spent in a very long time. I love hanging out with Canup because he's got a great talent for low-dough, high fun sorts of things.
The next morning I gave my regards to Kitty, we said our goodbyes, met Billy at his work, ate lunch with Canup and I got back on the train to Portland. It was a very clear day and the mountains were out and the pacific northwest is just stunning.

And now some music for you:
Beirut - Guyamas Sonora
Jason Anderson - July 4, 2004
Laura Veirs - Nightengale
The National - Squalor Victoria
Yo La Tengo - Stockholm Syndrome
Yoko Ono and Catpower - Revelations
Okkervil River - Black

Weekend in Seattle

Took the train this morning from portland to seattle. it left THREE HOURS LATE it didn't mess up my day at all and was fine, but who's ever heard of such a late train. There is something positively eerie about 100 people sitting on old benches in an ancient train station waiting on their ride, by the way. like we are all sending our asses to hell. luckily, it was just seattle. Aside from the tardiness, rail travel is a national treasure as far as I'm concerned.
Once I got to seattle I hooked up with dashing Billy. We had conveyor belt sushi and danced to a great DJ at The Pony who was all about mashing up The Fall and The Slits. mmmmm. also went to a fun indie-rock brewery showcase featuring the bands BOAT and The Elephants. Plan to hook uo with Danielup for brunch.

The Boy with the Eels

I went and saw a play with Angie, Paul, and Kristina on Thursday night. It's called The Ghosts of Celilo. It was put together over many years by the guy from 80's band Quarterflash which you may remember for their synth-ballad, Harden my Heart. Anyways, I went to the play thinking it was about the 1957 damming of a big river in Oregon that eliminated historic and sacred indian fishing grounds. Unfortunately, the play was narrated by ghosts that are drowned under the water and tell, in melodramatic singing fashion, about the tragedy from the point of view of two indian boys and the white girl with the heart of gold whose love bridges the divide. It was pretty painful to sit through.

What is it about a bad play that makes the observer so embarrassed? I internalized the cheesiness and it made for my queasiness. Cringingly heavy handed. Sure, yes, nice to learn about the history. But ufda, it was a crappy narrative combining two of my least favorite plot devices: the pygmalion thing and magical spirit narrators.

The one super cool thing:
I visited Portland with Mari for less than a day in 1997. We went to a junk shop and I found a photo in a box of loose prints that I liked. I stuck it in a cheap little frame and it has hung by my desk wherever I work ever since. Its the boy with the eels, he's my muse, and up until thursday night I thought it was just an old photo from a junk shop, unsigned, unknown, but a really cool picture.

Imagine my surprise during the opening of the play when they had a multimedia slide show and there's the boy with the eels projected as big as a giant.

I still don't know who took the photo but it is apparently from the celilo fishing grounds.

Tomorrow I am going to see Billy, Canup and Daniela in Seattle and I get to ride the TRAIN. It leaves early so I will sadly miss Bartoons.

Her Angieness

in town and hangin. nice to see a friend. sure hope she moves here.

I need to get busy

Ok well today was day 10 on the new job and I seriously need some clients because I'm getting a little hinky. i have a list of orientation tasks and I've done a lot of them but since they aren't case-based its hard to stay focused. focus is an elusive commodity for me, oh so fleeting. which leads to dawdling, which makes me hinky (nervous, self doubting, guilty feeling). tomorrow is a new day. tomorrow i can focus. I'm going to be in bed before 11, rest well and get serious. and talk to some people and find some clients.

I did have two nice discoveries after work, however. There's a swanky restaurant in the Pearl called Ten 01 and i went there to make a dinner of their happy hour special. a very good local cheese plate and marcona almonds and a glass of wine for not very much but too much for one person, turns out. Great after work spot though, but the specials stop at 6. Next time I go with somebody.

After that i stopped by the zine store Reading Frenzy which is almost all zines and heaven if you are into that sort of thing, which i am. Incidentally, Reading Frenzy was the set for the very funny skit that Shayla showed me this weekend on utube. It's Carrie Brownstein from Sleater Kinney and Fred Armisen from Saturday Night Live and its called Feminist Bookstore.



Must confess I'm on a terrible movie bender. I just can't help myself except to rent or go to the theater to see insipid junk. I don't know what's gotten into me. To try and shake it off, I re-activated netflix and i am hoping the films of warner hertzog will break this ugly c list spin cycle and make film at least inaccessibly dark and fragmented and subtitled, instead of peptobismol milkshakes of contrived drama. Like an Andie McDowell retrospective that never ends. Light a candle at the altar for me, would you?

ghosts of portland

Music for you: Elliott Smith - Some Song