So last night was the first of a 2 night stint for Eddie Izzard playing here in Portland. From what I know, it’s sold out, but I’ve still heard that a lot of people are looking for tickets. If I wasn’t so broke from my move here, I’d go again!

That’s right ladies and jellyspoons, Eddie Izzard is on tour and here! I’m personally a huge fan and I got my tickets WAY back in March… during my honeymoon… in London. Kinda pathetic, I know, but as soon as I heard the pre-sale date, I marked it on my calendar. So there I was, in London, in March… emailing friends here in Portland to see who else wanted to go with me. Well, it paid off!

I personally thought that this show was better than the last tour. He’s gotten more political and he definitely never skirts around how he feels about things, which, I felt, he put out there more this tour than during any other.

Last night I overheard a girl telling her friends that she just got a ticket for $20! This was about half an hour before the show. So, if your interested in going, you can always check with the venue to see if any tickets were released or even see if anyone is trying to sell tickets that they cannot use.

If you’re interested in going, I highly recommend you look into finding tickets for the show tonight.
Eddie Izzard is playing the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall at 8pm.

Yesterday, the main headline in the New York Times read “Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers”. Pretty important story involving the government expanding surveillance powers against citizens and simultaneously granting telecoms immunity from civil suits initiated by said citizens. Here in Portland the main headline read “Cyclist Clubs Driver With His Bike”. Really? With all the stuff that happened on Wednesday, the Oregonian editorial staff thought this was the most important story of the day?

Truth be told, the story has generated a lot of discussion - hundreds of comments on both the Oregonian and Bike Portland. Some comments were amazingly poignant, some were jaw-droppingly stupid. Still, putting the story above the fold on the front page strikes me as a depressingly sensationalistic move by the “O” (and judging by what I’ve read on other sites, I’m not alone). I’m not going to go into the details of the story itself, those have already been talked to death elsewhere. What I am going to say is that Wednesday was a pretty busy news day, and the fact that the Oregonian chose to run this story above all others illustrates why people like me look elsewhere for my news.

Saw this yesterday morning on Sandy Blvd. while out getting a coffee… perfect Americana for the holiday weekend!

Lest you get the wrong idea, I’m a big fan of Willamette Week. I read it religiously, and think they do a bang-up job when it comes to investigative journalism, and getting the news out about the various things that happen in our fair city in any given week. That said, I’ve read some stuff lately that’s raised a minor hackle.

First, this article. Specifically, the sentence “So, yuppies who can afford a $22,000 new Prius get a tax giveaway. Meanwhile, the poor get squeezed—even though their daily commute is cleaner.” The author seems to be attempting to make the following points - one, that no tax credit should be given for those who buy hybrids (fuel savings should be incentive enough), and two, that he or she seems to believe that only yuppies can afford them, and therefore don’t deserve the tax credit. Well, if it’s true that only yuppies can afford to buy hybrids, then shouldn’t we keep the tax credit to help non-yuppies afford such a vehicle? Maybe there’s something I’m not getting here. Or maybe I’m just not understanding why a vehicle with an entry point of $22,000 (which is fairly low as far as new cars go) is so exclusive as to be available only to yuppies. Further, I think that we still need to do everything we can to promote alternatives to gas-guzzlers, and that the tax break should remain intact. Finally, of all the people I know that own hybrids, none of them would qualify as anything you could remotely call “yuppie”.

Anyway, I thought that particular angle was a bit Larson-esque - strange from such a normally progressive paper.

One other gripe was in the “Finder” - a glossy, IKEA-catalog looking thing that you can find at a number of locations city-wide. This “Willamette Week’s Guide to Portland” has some pretty good stuff in it. There’s a breakdown of the city neighborhood-by-neighborhood which is a great read, and made me proud of the town we call home. However, there was one article “Breeders and Beer” which gave me pause. The article listed a number of local joints where you could drink beer AND take your kids. The article then goes on to rate each establishment by “Supervision level”, ranging from “Toddlers need to be watched” to “Little needed”. Rogue Ales Public House on Flanders is rated as “some supervision needed”. Parents, your local pub is NOT a nursery. It’s true that the Laurelhurst has a playroom - but it’s still not a nursery. You need to watch your kids. And more than “some” supervision is needed in places like the Rogue. While it’s true your child is not likely to be abducted, it’s more than a little annoying (and dangerous for the serving staff) to see little Johnny running up and down the aisles while grown-ups are trying to unwind after work. Even at a place like the Laurelhurst, your kids are going to need more than just a little supervision.

So I’ve been staying at a friend’s place whilst I find a) a job and b) a place to call my own (our own… I’m willing to share with the boyo, I suppose…)

It’s a nice little neighborhood that’s generally quiet, or so I have to assume.

How do I put this?

So I lived in the city of Long Beach in California right on Ocean Blvd. (so chosen for being right at the end of the route of the pride parade) Since we were right on a major street in downtown LB, it never surprised me when the drunks passed by at 3 in the morning, or the random screamer came by letting all the world know exactly what was on his or her mind… nor if there were fights right below the window. It was, of course, the LBC (just ask Snoop!).

That sort of thing here where I’m staying, however, seems out of place. Not so much because it happens on the street here in this seemingly quiet little area, but because it’s all coming from certain someones in this very building. So, while the rest of the street is nice and quiet… there have been things going on here… in this building, putting it out of sorts with the rest of the street… not to mention scaring the hell out of us!

I was reminded of a post that dieselboy posted about incidents on the MAX. There’s all sorts of shenanigans coming from certain someones in this building and it’s pretty obvious that things could go wrong at any minute… and yet none of the neighbors call the police, ask if my friend is ok in her unit, or say one damn thing to the authorities/landlord/anyone. Are they just waiting for things to go too far? What needs to happen before someone gets involved? Could it be that people are so used to their peace and quiet that, unless their peace is specifically interrupted, they don’t want to interfere in case it shatters their own little bubble?

I guess… I guess this was the sort of thing I expected living in the LBC, but never expected here in Portland. Well, at least not in this neighborhood.

Hi… I’m new here.

No I mean…really! I just moved here on Sunday… the boyo’s family needed him home and so did his best friend, so I transplanted… for love! (kinda makes you cry, doesn’t it?)

So here I sit at 15th and Broadway in NE looking for work, WiFi and some inspiration.
Ok… that’s something I’d never see in Long Beach… a man with a record (yay for vinyl!) just rode by on a unicycle. First because I don’t know many people who still buy vinyl (myself excluded) and I know only ONE person who can ride a unicycle. I think I’m gonna like it here! - Or - My God! This house is freakin’ sweet!
You know, whichever way you remember it…

One thing I’ve noticed is that pub life, or rather bar life… is much more prevalent here than in LA. Of course, that might be because, unless you live in an area where you can walk to a bar, you’re driving… which… well, is not conducive to drinking. So far I’ve been to a couple of bars for meet-ups and happy hours as well and I’ve found those times to be much like my times in London. I like it in that it’s very relaxed and friendly like.

I’ve also found that the sport watching events are not limited to the major ones here. Monday, for instance, I walked into a bar (no joke!) to find people glued to the set for… golf! Yes, it was the US open, but seriously, short of football, basketball or baseball, I’ve not seen this since … well, a darts tournament that happened to be on the TV at the same time I was at this pub in London.
It’s good to have options.

Could it be that people actually drink more here? Is it the beer? Do most places in the city have such a close proximity to a bar?

Over all, I’m glad to be someplace where I can walk to a bar so far… which was exactly why I picked the last city I lived in, ‘cause those places are few and far between in LA. There’s just something very… laid back in such an atmosphere, in my opinion, and I dig it.

Riders northbound on the Yellow line are being delayed and not by the navy ships. Up by the Alibi, a truck wasn’t paying attention and got snagged by a northbound train. Riders were getting off and walking north. Not sure how long it will delay. Could be a non issue. MAX just had some paint scrapes. The truck though was a little mushed.

DSCN9460.JPG

Originally uploaded by dieselboi

While the weather today is nice, it’s supposed to get freakin’ hot and miserable tomorrow. I know, some of you people like that sort of thing - but I moved to Oregon to get away from the heat and I don’t like it when it comes to early. At least we don’t have much humidity here!

But - I’d imagine the folks with the Alberta Arts Hop are happy about the forecast. Saturday is the annual parade and street festival - this year featuring three local artists - as well as a slew of other artists, craftspeople, food vendors, musicians and local businesses.

The main drag of Alberta will be closed to traffic all day as the festival-goers take over the street - and a mini-parade will wander down the street around 2:30. Even though they were booted from their home on Alberta last year - not everyone wanted to see them leave, and I hope the clowns will show up!

I’ll see you there…in the shade.

This has perplexed me for 10 years, but obviously never enough to really look into the matter… until now. So for what seems to be a relatively unknown reason - in Oregon, Washington, California and Arizona - sticks of butter are shaped oddly. I’ve been here long enough that I forget about it now, until we’re watching some cooking show where she says - use half a stick of butter - and we see her cut from the long skinny stick.

I noticed almost immediately when I moved here that the butter was shaped strangely. These short sticks (called a Western Stubby) are half the length of a normal stick, but what I didn’t realize, is that they’re also fatter. So my assumption was that they were half the size of a normal stick. And when I would read recipes, especially those from my mom or friends back in the Midwest, I would think I needed to double the butter - if it said use a half-stick, I’d need to use a whole stick since mine were now half the size - no wonder some of that stuff didn’t come out quite right! Today I actually looked it up - and they are the same weight, just a different shape.

And since 46 of the 50 states use the long-skinny kind, that’s what other ‘butter related’ items are made for. Like why boxes of butter don’t fit very well in the refrigerator butter door, or why there’s so much wasted space in the butter dish (or in some cases, that the lid actually hits the butter.) ‘Cause the sticks are oddly shaped!

I guess it’s one more thing keeping Portland (and the rest of the west coast) weird! I’m just glad I now know that it’s not my cooking that made my mom’s fabulous apple crisp taste weird - it was too much butter!

Unless you’re living a completely media-free life, off the land and the grid, you’re well aware of our current economic state. These are recession times indeed, and we’re all feeling it in the pocketbook. (I’m not too upset about the high price of gas, but that’s for another post). Anyway, the one beautiful thing that comes out of penny pinching is resourcefulness. Finding cheap or free entertainment becomes a skill. Of course, in this city there are many options so it’s less of a challenge. But just in case you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities, allow me to make a recommendation. Every Friday night is poetry slam night at Po’Shines in the Kenton neighborhood. It’s a free event though Po’Shines is an excellent soul food joint so go with enough change for at least a bowl of red beans and rice. You’ll get a free piece of cornbread on top of it, not bad right? The poetry isn’t always slammin’ but it’s a community effort and I believe that participating in the community- in whatever form- is critical at this juncture in our collective history. So Po’Shines ya’ll! 8129 N Denver, right off of the yellow line.