Hey all, did ya get your taxes done?  Need a break later for some sustenance?  Fire on the Mountain is offering 25c wings today from 5-10pm at both of their Portland locations.  From their newsletter:

25 cent wing nights get very busy so bring your patience and your beer drinking hats. Sara will be serving wings at the Burnside location in a full body spandex outfit to help expedite the process.

Head on out for the best wings in town tonight to celebrate either getting your taxes done or putting them off for yet another 6 months….

 Fire on the Mountain
2 locations – N Interstate/Skidmore and E Burnside/17th

As you know, Portland Metblogs is one of the sponsors bringing Raiders of the Lost Ark – The Adaptation to the Hollywood Theater.  I know I’m getting excited as I was a huge fan of Indy back in the day and this movie these boys made will remind me of how much fun we had role playing when we were kids.   There was a great article in Vanity Fair recently about the boys who made the movie.  The article provides a wonderful backstory to both the young filmmakers themselves as well as the making of the movie.  It also mentions how the movie was rediscovered by Eli Roth and Steven Spielberk which has led to a Paramount biopic on their lives making the The Adaptation.  Check out the article here.

Raiders of the Lost Ark – The Adaptaion will be playing at Hollywood Theater April 18-19 as a fundraiser for the Austin Miller Scholarship Fund.

From the “say it ain’t so” dept, WWeek is reporting that the Belgian Embassy has gone toes up. That is an absolute shame. It’s true that we live in a town that is awash in beer, but the Belgian Embassy was, to the best of my knowledge, the only dedicated Belgian bar in town. As a guy who has spent some time in Belgium, I can attest to its authenticity. The food, beer selection, and vibe was an amazing recreation of the kind of place you spend some time in when you visit a town like Bruge. It was an awesome place, and it came and went all too soon.

The article states that the Belgian Embassy will be replaced with a new joint that will serve “homestyle healthy” food, “classic cocktails”, and live music. Yeah. Portland needs another one of those.

Goodbye, Belgian Embassy. We hardly knew ye.

Let’s hear it for another successful Big Turkey season courtesy of the fine folks at Underdog Sports Leagues. Underdog organizes a number of co-ed adult leagues for various, uh, sports, such as bowling, mini-golf, and the ever-popular dodgeball (a sport which I haven’t played as an adult, but can still remember the sweet sweet *ping* after a successful head shot with the big red ball).

Next week is the final week for us bowlers. This is my first season as a member of the mighty force that is known as the Easy Cheeze elite bowling squad. You could say that we’re in a rebuilding year. But no matter. Big Turkey is not the league for super-competitive folks. It’s a league for those who just want to, in the immortal words of Joe Walsh “drink a few beers, bowl a few frames”. Sure, every now and then you’ll run into someone who gets all John Goodman in “Big Lebowski” about things, but for the most part, people are just in it to have fun.

And fun it is. It’s a great way to get out of the apartment, meet new people, and blow off some steam.

Check out the league listings. There’s probably something there that piques your interest.

Walking home the other evening, I noticed a couple standing near this sculpture looking inquisitive. I was listening to one of my podcasts, so couldn’t hear what they were hearing. As I walked by, I felt the sound that was emanating from the sculpture and stopped dead in my tracks. I tore out my earbuds and turned towards the sculpture hoping to figure out where the sound was coming from. I wasn’t alone. The couple I saw had been hearing these random sounds for a few minutes and were wondering….like me……what was up. I engaged them and we were all from Portland, but never knew this special sculpture produced sound. What causes the sound? Recorded? Nature? Wind? These were the questions we were asking each other. It was awesome. We all were standing there in the cool breeze of early spring trying to figure out why this sculpture sings…..

And then it sung….

Anyone know the story of this sculpture. I assume it is cataloged somewhere on the interwebs, probably on PortlandOnline. I am just a little too lazy today to research it. Drop a note in the comments if you know anything about this amazing sculpture.

DSCN7935

Originally uploaded by dieselboi

I’m not going to blog too much about the awesome time I had at the Springsteen show, as the experience has already been sufficiently described here and not-so-sufficiently here (Clarence Clemmons a “waste of space”?!? Whatever, guy). I would, however, like the echo the first Merc review in stating that there were a LOT of seriously inebriated 50-somethings. At times (mostly before the show and on the MAX afterwards) it felt like the uncomfortable last moments of some accounting firm’s Christmas party. Anyway, to the soon-to-be-blue-hairs at the show – maybe y’all should get out a little more often. A lot of you were acting like a 15 year old kid after his first beer. But I’m glad you had a good time…

What I’m going to write about is the awesomeness of being at Kelly’s Olympian with a few of your closest friends in the jittery pre-Springsteen hours. I haven’t been to Kelly’s during peak hours in some time, but have spent a couple of late afternoons there in the past year, and it’s always been a great experience. The beer selection is more than adequate, the food is cheap and tasty (try the heart-stopping-but-oh-so-good “Mac n’ Cheese bites” – battered and deep fried clumps of mac and cheese), and a good selection of music is played. There was no table service when we were there, but that’s fine with me, I’m usually more comfortable going up to the bar to order, anyway.

I was surprised to read that Kelly’s had taken some shots from the readers of Bar Fly Magazine, because its always been perfectly adequate for me. To each his own, I suppose.

Wow, I now am a lover of The Submarines. Having just been introduced to them earlier this week by the promotion we ran for free tickets, I am now going to try and see them every time I can. They have a great sound which makes me want to dance and bounce around. Yes, people, I dance. We ventured to Dante’s last night to see The Submarines as guests of their record company. Thank you Nettwerk Music Group. They came on early and played a great set. I felt at times I was listening to Kate Bush, but modern. And honestly, who could resist a Pipi Longstocking looking girl with blonde pigtails and high black boots? Yum.

They stated they just finished their second album and will be back soon at the Doug Fir. If you missed them at Dante’s, you can still see them in the future here in Portland.

the sumbarines

Originally uploaded by dieselboi

Bruce is in town!

Originally uploaded by dieselboii

Seen: many a hundred people already waiting in line for Bruce Springsteen tomight at the Rose Garden, Luckily it is not snowing.

Umm… so it hasn’t snowed in Portland all winter (I know loads and loads up in the hills and some of the ‘burbs, but not in the inner city) and now it’s been going strong for more than two hours straight… at the end of March. It made gazing out the window during my Friday morning staff meeting much prettier than usual.

I love it!

Made it up to Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB) to partake in the grand opening. Arrived at about 5:30 and met up with some friends who (luckily) got a table in the packed to the gills brewpub. Seems like anybody who had any kind of interest at all in local beers was there. The servers were completely overwhelmed but still managed to get us our beers in a reasonable amount of time, which says a lot about the high caliber of service at this place.

So how is it? It’s pretty nice. Probably won’t replace my local watering hole in the immediate future, but once the crowds die down, I can see myself going here pretty regularly.

The Good:

1. A separate area for kids – I’ve given up trying to fight the fact that some people feel absolutely compelled to bring their children to the pub with them. But unlike some places (I’m looking at you Lucky Lab) you don’t have to worry about dodging children running around while their parents completely ignore them. There is an upstairs area where those with children can sit. The downstairs (and main room) is reserved for grown-ups. This is a huge plus.

2. The beer – in a word? Great. HUBs beers stand up with the best Portland has to offer. Their lager is crisp, malty, and tastes like something you’d get in Germany. I think that lager, as a style, has been ignored by too many Portland brewers, and I applaud a place that not only makes them, but makes them well. I didn’t try the pale, IPA, or ESB because, frankly, this town is awash in them. I did, however, try the “Seven Grain Survival Stout” and it was fantastic. It’s nice, malty, and has that slightly chalky mouth-feel that all great stouts have. HUB also adds Espresso to their Stout, which makes for a nice finish.

3. Happy Hour – the happy hour menu here is awesome. All kinds of stuff for less than two bucks, and a lot more for under four. Pizza, wings, all kinds of goodies to be noshed.

4. The service – as I mentioned before, this place was packed. Yet our server was continually fighting her way through the crowd to make sure our beer needs were met. She was awesome. As I was leaving, one of my buddies mentioned that he heard someone saying that the service was to slow. If that person is reading this – you sir (or ma’am), are a jackass. It’s opening freaking day. There will be snags. And, given the size of the crowd, I think that the people working there did an amazing job of getting everyone served in a reasonable amount of time. So cram it.

The Bad (and these complaints are minor):

1. Food can be a little spendy. It’s a small complaint, as I’m mostly coming for the beer, but $9.25 for a cheeseburger? Really? On the other hand, they have a great lunch special (a slice, a salad, and a beer for something like six bucks), and the prices for pizza are about in line with other local joints.

2. The location. SE Powell blows. It reminds me of my time spent in Vancouver. It’s like our own little Mill Plain Blvd. Traffic, fast-food chains, and noise. At least HUB is close-in, and inside it’s fairly well shielded against the outside road noise.

3. Crowds – did I mention this place was crowded? Granted, it’s opening day, but I might give it a week or two before you go sauntering in, or go during off-hours. And as time passes, this is certain to be only a temporary problem.

All in all
HUB has done a great job of appealing to a large cross section of Portland beer geeks. The selection is varied, the happy hour rocks, the service is prompt, and adults can be left alone for awhile if they so choose. They’re a welcome addition, and I wish them all the success in the world.

Check ’em out at 29th and SE Powell