State of Wow!

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radio 2

The OPB arts radio show State of Wonder took a look at the Portland music scene as it existed almost twenty years ago on an episode curated by Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker. Tucker proved to be humble and down to earth in her observations on now closed venues describing the ones with high stages as being good for stage moves and pointing out that in the past more people were drunk or high downtown as she and show host April Baer hung out around the Paris Theatre.

The show weaves together stories, opinions and ideas about what Portland was like and what it may continue to be like. Great music clips are mixed in to illustrate the interviews making it easy to get a feel for the music and the days when Portland was a grittier and less populated place. It was a simpler time when you had to track people down on the streets or at the coffee shop to organize the next show or art project and the X-Ray Cafe guys were conducting business by pay phone. For someone who only briefly visited Portland back in 1993, the show provided a perspective that made me feel like I was there.

You can download this episode for free from iTunes. Look up OPB’s State of Wonder.

Will seems to think this is a better link:

http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/stateofwonder/segment/state-of-wonder-oct-18-2014-guest-curator-corin-tucker/

Or use sound cloud. Scroll down to find the episode and listen, listen, listen!

Read up on State of Wonder:

http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/stateofwonder/

old radio

In the Streets #2

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baby arm tote

I don’t know what was stranger, seeing a tote full of plastic, doll baby arms in the back of a pick up truck or realizing that they were sitting out in the open for anyone to make a mad grab and dash off with them. I guess there’s security in knowing that there are few plastic, doll baby arm thieves in the world and it might be a rare occurrence to park on a street where such a person who fits that description might happen by.

A close up of the plastic, doll baby arms:

baby arms cu

Inspired Maturity Sign Says #4

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o theater level

I went to an art show at a tea shop across the street from the Oregon Theater so the I, Anonymous column that appeared in the Portland Mercury last week made much more sense. I’d heard about the Oregon Theater and I’d always look for it when I drove down Division Street, but I had not considered what to me is a humorous sign.  It reads “Films for Mature Adults.” It made me wonder if they test maturity levels at the door before people are allowed to enter, or if the movie audience is made up of Senior Citizens. It’s a safe bet that they are a mature bunch. That sign had me pondering what a theater for immature adults would show, Adam Sandler movie marathons, maybe?

I know the Oregon Theater is a porn theater, but I love any old theater building and I’m happy it’s an active business. I could see where a few more upscale places have crept in and that it may not be the greatest neighbor, but the building looks cool. When I lived in Alexandria, Virginia I used to go to a theater that showed Adult films but that was because one of the four screens in the theater was dedicated to art movies. Eventually it was torn down to make improvements to the shopping center. I’m hoping this isn’t the fate of the Oregon Theater.  I’ll probably never go to there, not even to fulfill an inkling of curiosity or even to provide content for another blog post. I’m afraid I might not be mature enough.

o theater close up
Here’s the link for I, Anonymous. Please click on the illustration by one of my heroes Kallah Allen

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/i-anonymous/Content?oid=14138019

Speaking of Division Street, I never miss an opportunity to post a link to this song:

Rocket 3 Blasts Off!

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Screen Shot 2014-11-06 at 5.47.53 PM

I met Ramune Nagisetty through a contact at what was then called Suck My Flix, a monthly film screening series that later changed it’s name to Attack of the Flix.  She was looking for a video director. The name was mysterious to me so I asked my neighbor, who played in a band, if she knew anything about this band Ramune. It turns out Ramune, at that time, was more of a solo act who was playing under her first name. She was forming a band and wanted a video to promote the ep she had recorded. After sending her links to previous videos I’d made, I was hired.  With equipment loans and post production assistance from Jeff Dodge, I was able to produce a video. Ramune pitched in with production assistance borrowing a house for the main location, wrangling extras, including her dog, and driving us around downtown Portland for other locations. The song for the video, Shiny Suburban Day, had a booming arena mix, full of crunchy, distorted chords that’s so catchy that I never got tired of the song no matter how many times I heard it during the editing process. The song’s theme of suburban malaise was right up my alley.

I’ve been impressed with what Ramune has accomplished with her music. This is someone who picked up the guitar years after playing a bit when she was younger and then getting serious, writing songs, recruiting bandmates, suffering through a challenging early show that featured a disappearing sound man, recording and other rock and roll stuff like the band’s drummer getting in motorcycle accident. He’s fine now. The band’s name was changed to Rocket 3 and they’ve played over 100 shows since the video was produced. Rocket 3 is throwing a release party for Burn, their new CD, at Secret Society, 116 NE Russell St, Portland, OR on Saturday, November 15. They’re set to perform at 10pm. $8 admission.

See the video for Shiny Suburban Day:

Hear music by Rocket 3:

http://www.rocket3music.com

See another video directed by David Craig:

City of Roses Motel Salute

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2010 early summer deck construction more bunyan 013

Last week the City of Roses Motel sign was unceremoniously removed from the site where it spent years in a state of slow decay. Nothing of the motel remained except the sign and as time passed the letters fell off one by one. Here’s how the sign looked in 2010. I know little about the hey day of the City of Roses Motel,  which was located on Interstate Ave near the Kenton/Denver Ave. Max stop, but here’s a found image.

city of roses

With some ambivalence my wife and I are watching new life being breathed into what has been an empty lot for a long time. The mixed emotions have something to do with living in close proximity to what has turned out to be a bigger than expected apartment complex.

See a brief description and drawing of the new Kenton Apartments on the old City of Roses Motel site.

Link here:

http://www.johnrcg.com/projects/kenton-apartments/

Residents of Kenton may have noticed that the remnants of the old Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant sign on Lombard Street were also removed recently making way for a construction project to go in that spot.

I can’t resist posting one more photo of one of the other motel signs on Interstate.

Western

Yard Art

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Pinwheel yard art

The things I get excited about are out of the ordinary decorations people have in their yards.  It doesn’t take much, just throw a pinwheel on top of your bamboo pole that you’re using as a frame for the netting that supports your pole bean plants. Then maybe top one off with a hand and hang an inviting sign.  These photos were taken on N. Concord.

hand yard art

sign yard art

I’m always on the look out for yard art and would love to talk to people decorating the outside of their houses with a creative flair if anyone has neighbors or friends who are doing this let me know.

Lombard Re-Imagined

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On October 14, I participated in a Walktober event, a walking tour of Lombard Street sponsored by Oregon Walks and organized by the Swift Planning Group, Friends of Lombard and the Kenton Neighborhood Association. In the introductions, before the walk started, I described myself as an interested neighbor leaving out the part about my being a blogger in search of things to blog about. I wasn’t sure about the subject matter and I was being shy. So much for self promotion. Three things struck me after walking up Lombard with this group:

walkway est

1. The concrete walkway across the exit for I-5 South doesn’t always get used by pedestrians. It takes longer to wind your way up and over what is actually an easy section of street to cross underneath. The walkway is in need of sprucing up. The views I’ve seen when crossing by bike are nice. On a clear day Mt. St. Helen’s looks spectacular.

walkway med Seven Rivers BBQ

2. The Seven Rivers BBQ restaurant has a beautiful sign when it’s lit up at night in red neon. It stands in one of my favorite sections of North Lombard. Looking down the street, with the Arby’s sign lit up in the background, makes me wish there could be at least a half dozen more neon signs in that section of Lombard although I’m not sure the Lombard Re-Imagined folks would want that.

 

foggy notion

3. Inside the Foggy Notion is a cool bar area. They serve pierogies if you need a fix. I’m not sure about the mural inside though. Maybe I felt dumb because I only recognized Mick Jones from the Clash and while it’s great to see his image in black and white, the other people in the mural appeared to be rocking out and falling out of the frame. More thoughts: We checked into the rumor that King Burrito might be closing after the walk and found out that this is only a rumor.  Everything is fine at King Burrito and they’ll continue to operate as normal. I was in awe hearing that the Swift Planning group, the Portland State University graduate planning students that are working on reimagining North Lombard Street, have put together a guidebook containing 122 pages of information about the work they’ve been researching for potential improvements of Lombard Ave. You’ll find it here:

http://www.lombardreimagined.com

Additional info:

http://www.thefoggynotion.com/

Home

Faces in the Crowd

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richardashcroft

I’d seen Allan Ostermann’s art in the Triple Crown Market in Kenton, peeling off the back wall, immortalizing Kurt Cobain and Susanna Hoffs from the Bangles, among others. Then there was the feeling that his Lou Reed portrait was staring at me from the glass window of Smoke it Up a couple of stores down.

It was good to see Ostermann’s work hanging in the Cup and Saucer on North Denver Avenue after these appearances in the neighborhood. Ostermann’s main focus for this show is images of faces. Faces with large eyes, sometimes a tiny bit too far apart, haunting, angular and stylish. I appreciated the mix of celebrities like Eddie Vedder and Willie Nelson along with faces I thought I should know like what appears to be a 40’s movie starlet in her black and white glory with a subtle off-kilter look to her eyes. The hallucinogenic color distortions of the faces appealed to me and I was glad to see his art in a more formal art show setting.

The show runs into the middle of November at the Cup and Saucer, 8237 N. Denver Ave, Portland, OR. Ostermann sells 11 x 17 prints of his works for $20.

http://allanostermann.weebly.com

ahurried show

                                                    A hurried show poster shot.

Perry Mason Addendum

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perry mason addendum

At my substitute teaching job this week, I spotted the September issue of the Oregonian with the Perry Mason blurb in it that I had blogged about. I looked at it and realized I missed a crucial detail concerning the cancellation of the show. Andy Delaporte, vice president and general manager of KPTV/KPDX had pointed out that the ratings were low but he also mentioned that the station’s contract with the syndication company was up. I don’t know what it means when a syndication contract is up but it seems obvious the renewal would involve money that wasn’t going to be spent keeping Perry Mason around. I can still plead my case that promotion could have built an audience that might have kept the show on but the judge and jury have joined Perry Mason and left the building.

I imagine Portlanders heading into middle age as the types who grew up on college/indie rock. This somehow seems to equate them being a vast audience open to the undiscovered, old fashioned campiness of Perry Mason. Then again Portland folks don’t have a reputation for being television watchers. Since I missed 47 years of the show’s 48 year run it would have only been a matter of time before I, too, uttered the words, “I’ve seen this one.”

Rest in Peace Perry Mason!

Something Happen

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TB Building

I don’t know much about Terrell Brandon. I had a coworker who was nostalgic about his basketball skills. Brandon owns a beautiful, two story, brick, historic looking building in downtown Kenton. For more than five years, since I’ve lived in the neighborhood, it’s been empty. At Christmas time last year the front windows were decorated to market downtown businesses and it was nice to see some life in the building. When I saw Terrell Brandon on the cover of the Portland Observer, I wondered if they would mention his building in Kenton. The article was part of a minority business report the newspaper was running. High praise was given for Brandon for being a successful business man for twenty years in Portland. The focus was on the businesses he owns in another neighborhood. I kept thinking about the hole he’s left in the heart of downtown Kenton with his lifeless property. Pardon the melodrama, but I’ve walked past the building many times and I can only seem to dream about something going on there. My wife, Ronna, tried to remain positive. She said the last quote of the article hinted at the possiblity that something could happen and there is a PDC (Portland Development Commission) sign in the window that only seems like a long shot in years of little action. I would like to see the Portland Observer write about this and other dormant neighborhood properties. While it’s inspiring to see that Brandon does great things for the community, I’d like to see him challenged to make something happen with his Kenton building.

TB

http://portlandobserver.com/news/2014/oct/01/firmly-planted-home-minority-business-week-feature/

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