Portland is Awesome

Music is memories. And these songs are my summer memories in Portland from 1992-1998.

Staring out the window at the passing, warm city as me and Sarah and Jess drove around playing my Dharma Bums tape. Hanging with Kaia of Team Dresch on her porch playing acoustic guitar in S.E. around the corner from my new girlfriend’s house. Interviewing Hazel on the radio and loving Fred’s dancing. Being a tad intimidated at the drunk punks stumbling around the Satyricon, but excited about the loud rocking Wipers show; the drum reverb like an old friend. Biking home in the warm summer quiet evening, weaving around the rose garden circles in Ladd’s Addition, humming to myself a Spinanes song, the day after Rebecca totally hit on me at a show at Berbati’s. Seeing Elliott sitting quietly writing something in a notepad in the back of every S.E. coffeeshop I seemed to walk into. And of course my friend Ben, who I was close with for a time…and life meandered and I went on to do things and he went on to be Kind of Like Spitting.

Today I thought about about my youth, my musical youth, my electric youth. I made a little mixtape for y’all of the bands that meant the most to me during that period of my life. Bands and musicians that I loved, bought their music, possibly knew personally. Music that watched me grow up.

Shout outs to those bands I didn’t include on the mix, but saw at shows around town.
In no particular order:
Hitting Birth, Calamity Jane, Kurtz Project
Nero’s Rome, Naked Lunch, Treefrogs
Drunk At Abi’s, Sweaty Nipples
Pond, Gravelpit, Thrillbilly
Henry Moon, Sylvia’s Ghost, On A Llama
Pete Mizer and the Five Fingers of Funk
Doris Daze, Jesus Presley, Skiploader
Richmond Fontaine, 17 Reasons Why
Carmina Piranha, Kerosene Dream
Everclear (Greg Eklund is a good guy)
McKinley (I actually did buy her CD; it was great.)

Pink Martini since I knew a guy who played bass for them, and they played at our crazy party when the tech company I worked for got bought out by Disney right before I moved away.

Kaitlyn Ni Donovan, still plays; I saw her a few months ago at a lovely wine bar evening show. And she has a special place in my heart for being the manager of the 1201, the bar which I basically lived at during my 20’s. Hi Phil!

And last but not least, Local’s Only, the little record shop that could (for a little while.)
I would go in there and get a new 7″ or zine or CD of some local band.

What are your 1990’s local musical memories? Where were they? Do you still listen to them?

Working downtown is great for many reasons, but one of the more entertaining aspects is the free music and movies in Pioneer Square.

Every summer, there are movies shown in the square on these giant inflatable screens.  It’s called Flicks on the bricks (so named for the bricks in Pioneer Square).  Just show up, sit down, and enjoy!  Here’s a pic from last year.  Maybe I’ll see you on Friday at the Goonies!

And in the same location, you can enjoy Noon Tunes, free live music.  Just grab some grub at the carts and head on over to the square for some live entertainment!

One of the gazillion things I love about Portland is the access to affordable and eclectic opportunities to both watch and participate in the performing arts scene.  For the moment however, I am going to focus on music.

Being a small business owner with an early bedtime, I don’t get out much these days.  But sometimes great music will come and find you.  Several months ago I met Marie Schumacher at CubeSpace’s monthly nonprofit networking event.  Marie and I got together over coffee so that she could pick my brain about consulting and her organization PDX Vox.  As a thank you, she sent me a copy of her CD Sometimes at Night, which was some of the best new music I had heard in months (if not years).

Fast forward to now.  After many, many months, Marie sent me an email about an upcoming gig on June 1st at 1pm in the afternoon at Springbox Gallery, 2375 NW Thurman St., Portland. Yes, this is a show that is business-owner and parent friendly.  How cool is that!??!?!?!?  And with a suggested donation of $5-$10, it is cheap to boot.  That alone is cause for some serious celebration.

But wait, there’s more.  Portland also has a great new resource to find new music, with an emphasis on the homegrown stuff from the Pacific Northwest.  When OPB shifted their on-air music programming to an online music page, that opened up a whole new world for those of us who didn’t stay up late enough to listen to David Christensen’s music show Ecleticity.  Now we can access streaming music and well as download studio performances and check out playlists and all sorts of fun stuff.

I still don’t sit still long enough to listen to as much music as I would like, but I am enjoying these new opportunities nonetheless and invite you all to join me.

If the name of this one alone—Crappy Indie Music—doesn’t convince you to click, I’m not sure that my explanation will. But I’m willing to give it a shot.

Portland has a thriving music scene. And it seems were are forever hearing about the big-name stars who make their home here. But what about those talented musicians who fly a bit below the RADAR?

Enter Crappy Indie Music, which carries local music news on bands you—even in your uber-hip Rose City musical expertise—have likely never heard of. And the writing is as lively and punchy as the title of the blog belies.

In its own words:

[Crappy Indie Music -- The Blog] CIMTB is a Portland-centric, Vantucky-luvin’ indie music blog.

For more, visit Crappy Indie Music, an awesome Portland blog.

You’d think that two women carrying around well-hatted babies and unfinished, knitted socks — and obsessively taking photos of them, and each other — would cause discomfort, if not outright consternation. But when Larissa and I participated in the Yarn Harlot’s ‘Inexplicable Knitting Behavior Scavenger Hunt‘ we were not once turned down for an extremely strange photo. We were welcomed with (largely) open arms and several eager smiles. And of course, some great one-liners. Such as:

• “This is not the first time I have held The Yarn today” — Pioneer Square snack vendor
• “I used to knit. When I was a logger. It was either that, or drink.” — Jimmy, who’s on his fourth step of NA, on the #75
• “Whose turn is it again?” — Office of Neighborhood Involvement receptionist, upon being presented with a sock (”held by a City Hall employee”)
• “Are you going to BUY it?” — Voodoo Doughnuts employee, when asked if he could ice “SOCK” on a Cock-n-balls doughnut. We did.
  
• “Did you take your photo with the windup toys, too?” — Leo, who runs the windup toys station at Finnegan’s, and was worried we might miss out on points. Leo is the best windup toy station employee EVER.
• “And she was handicapped!” — enthusiastic fellow knitter at the World Forestry Center, explaining why Larissa and I should have won prizes for our 5th- or 6th-place point totals, given we did the whole thing with babies and on the bus.

The thing is: in Portland, strange behavior is commonplace, encouraged, even. That the city can open itself to the possibility that strangeness might actually be worthwhile: that’s awesome.

I love Portland because it attracts top notch world class musicians like Zakir Hussain. Zakir is revered as the best tabla player in the world and India’s music ambassador. He is also the son of Alla Rakha, a respected tabla player who played with Ravi Shankar in the 1960’s.

The performance was at the magnificent Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. We sat about 10 rows back from the stage; the short distance provided very intimate glimpses of drummers’ hands flying away to Indian and world fusion grooves.

Afterwards, my family and I got to share some sweet moments talking with Zakir. That’s the beauty of this hometown venue; security is not absurd and leaves room for human interaction.

Hands down, it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen and I look forward to his next tour through Portland. Zakir has played here every year, and like the turning of the seasons, his return is guaranteed.

I encourage all to catch his performance next spring and look forward to being transformed by his Indian rhythms once more.

Back in the days when I used to ride the school bus to school, I was told by a fellow classmate that if you put your finger on a screw (in the bus) and lifted your feet while the bus drove over the train tracks, you could make a wish. Strange? Yes. But I wasn’t going to question the possibility of getting a wish.

I no longer ride a school bus, but whenever my husband and I head in to Portland we pass by the Portland Aerial Tram. If one (or both) of the trams is out, I get to make a wish.

Silly? Yes. But who doesn’t want more opportunities for wishes?

Do you think Portlanders like to ride bicycles? That’s a rhetorical question. Of course we do! The Springwater Corridor running along the east riverbank and then east through Johnson Creek is one of the best paved foot and pedal paths I’ve seen anywhere. If you like off-road, in Forest Park is the eleven-mile long Leif Erikson Drive,  a wide dirt and gravel swath that had originally been cleared for a earlier twentieth-century housing development (that fortunately fell through).

Then there are the organizations and online sites! The center of the online universe for Portland bicycling is BikePortland.org, a site which the founder, Jonathan Maus, dedicates himself to full-time. That’s where I get all of the latest news covering legislation, new bike rules, accidents, and anything else related to this greenest of all travel modes. There are also awesome (yes, they deserve that hype) organized bike trips throughout the year. A relatively new organization, ORBike, runs bike events such as the Portland Century, the Worst Day of the Year Ride and Bike to the Future. I volunteered to post signs on the Century last summer and then rode the quarter century (wish I had done the half century because the rest stops were stocked with goodies like fresh, prepared in front of you, strawberry shortcake, energy bars, fruit and lots of water). The best part of the ride was the people — everyone so friendly and accommodating. At the finish line, in the North Park Blocks at PSU, was a gourmet wild salmon dinner and local micro-brews waiting. I was in heaven! The most surprising part: I left my bike unlocked along with hundreds of others and out of sight for well over an hour and I had nothing to worry about. I would never ever have done that in Boston (my old home).

I can’t write about bicycling in Portland without mentioning the Bike Boxes. We lost a couple of bicyclists over the past year in accidents where they were hit by a truck turning right into them. One of the city’s responses was to create several bike boxes with the intent of giving bicyclists a safe haven in front of stopped traffic at lights. Our city government really appears to care about cyclists. This isn’t an endorsement in any way but one of the leading candidates for Mayor, Sam Adams, is in fact an avid bicyclist and advocate.

I live in the hills overlooking Cedar Mill, west of Skyline and it’s not an easy place to embark from on a bike trip. We will take our bikes down to Sauvie Island or to the East Esplanade to get some level riding in. Someday I hope I’ll be able to ride to work without worrying about manic rush-hour drivers. In Portland, I have hope for such a future.

If you, like me, enjoy driving your car to the point where your passengers let an “Oh shit!” slip out around tight corners, you made need to get your Kart on. However, not all go karts are created equal, so I thought I’d share my experiences with three of the most popular karting options close to Portland.

Family Fun Center

Originally known as Bullwinkles, the Family Fun Center is fully intended for children. Located in the same parking lot as Fry’s Electronics in Wilsonville, the Family Fun Center lives up to it’s name as a great place for families to enjoy playing together. However, if you are over 5 years old, you’ll find that their go karts are about as much fun as a potato sack race. The cars are designed for two, but the engines are heavily governed, which means they are super slow. Unless you have small children, this is no place to kart.

• Driving Requirements – Drivers must be 58″ or taller. Passengers must be at least 3 years old with a driver that is at least 18 years old
• Price – $6.75/driver/session and $3/passenger/session. Sessions are 10 mins.
• Location – 29111 SW Town Center Loop W. Wilsonville, Oregon 97070
• Hours – 11am-9pm Sun-Thur, 10am-11pm Fri and Sat
• Contact – sykartportland@verizon.net 503-685-5000

SyKart

SyKart is an indoor track, which makes it a great year-round destination. These karts are intended for speed and come in two engine configurations: 6 HP and 9 HP. You have to qualify in order to use the 9 HP karts by achieving a sub 32 second lap in the 6 HP kart, which does take some practice. SyKart is totally fun and a great place to take groups. If it is your first time, they have a cheesy, but informative video that explains the rules. The track is technically oriented as it has no real straight away.

• Driving Requirements – Drivers must have a valid license or take the driving school. Must buy a SyKart license, which is $5. Must have a helmet liner ($2 to buy one).
• Price – $15/driver/session. Sessions are 10 mins.
• Location – 8205 SW Hunziker St., Tigard, OR 97223
• Hours – 11am–11pm Mon–Fri, 11:30am–11pm Sat, 11:30am–10pm Sun
• Contact – 503-684-5060

Malibu Gran Prix

The original public kart company, Malibu still delivers a great experience with the most sophisticated karts available for rent in the Portland area. These cars are fast and the outdoor track is a blast. Unlike the rest of the operations in this list, Malibu is a time-based track, which means you aren’t racing next to other racers.

• Driving Requirements – Drivers must have a valid license. Must buy a Malibu license for $3.25.
• Price – $15.95 for 5 laps, 17.95 for 7 laps, or 21.95 for 10 laps.
• Location – 9405 SW Cascade Ave., Beaverton, OR 97008
• Hours – 11am–9pm Mon–Thur, 11am–11pm Fri-Sat, 11am–8pm Sun
• Contact – 503-641-8122

Pat’s Acres Racing Complex (PARC)

Pat’s Acres is the real deal. If I have a choice for which place to go, it’s Pat’s Acres hands down. While the Malibu cars are cool looking scale models, Pat’s Acres has modern day competitive karts that are designed for optimum performance, not appearance. This is a racing facility, so people bring their own karts down in their racing trailers and make us normal folk look like the amateurs we are. I really enjoy seeing these modded out karts and they are totally fast. The nicest karts have the same power to weight ratio of an Indy car. Crazy, huh? It’s a little humiliating to be passed by the 9 year old kids in their custom rides, but your rental kart is so much faster than any place else available to the public that you don’t care. Make sure to check the PARC racing schedule because they don’t offer rentals on race days. My only caution is that you may want to get into karting a little deeper after going here. Oh yeah, don’t call them “go” karts here, they’re just karts.

• Driving Requirements – Drivers must have a valid license. Must buy a PARC license, which is $12.50 and it must be renewed annually. Must have a helmet liner ($2 to buy one).
• Price – $25/driver/session. Sessions are 12 mins.
• Location – 6255 Arndt Rd SW, Canby, OR 97013
• Hours – 11am–7pm
• Contact – chris@patsacres.com 503-266-PATS