Archive for the 'northwest' Category

Portland is a town for great music

Published
by
Eva
on May 21, 2008
in culture, entertainment, events, northwest and portland is awesome
. 0 Comments

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.

Why I’m Glad That Our Twitter Count Declined By 54% This Saturday

Published
by
Bram Pitoyo
on April 13, 2008
in culture, northwest, outdoors, portland is awesome and technology
. 2 Comments

This Saturday was, as we all know it, almost too gorgeous to be true. That afternoon, I went to sit in the Tanner Springs Park with a friend, doing my nonrequired reading, observing an eagle swooping down to catch a fish then fly back out behind the highrise (no, really) and seeing people generally enjoying themselves and soaking up the sun.

But, you see, I have a habit of refreshing Twitter’s website every time I connect to see if anyone posted an update. On a work day, I would usually refresh every 20 minutes or so, and see at least several updates from the regular Tweeters (you know who you are.) But quick observations showed that Friday was less eventful (I did less checking and found less updates), and Saturday was practically quiet

Almost too quiet. Heck, I didn’t miss anything by sitting at the park all afternoon, with one exception, of course.

So I checked out our leader board yesterday night and today, compared it, and saw that something was clearly afoot:


Notice that Portland’s ranking actually went down by two positions (from #12 to #14,) narrowly surpassed by Seattle and Toronto (cities that were below us on weekdays,) and its count declined by 54%. In comparison, Seattle was down by 42%, Toronto by 38% and other cities at the top five were down by an average of 20–30%.

Sure, we may postulate that this decline showed that we are very easily distracted by nice weathers, or that we aren’t as productive in the weekends when compared to other cities.

But that’s not what I believe.

I believe that this Saturday, we collectively went outside, enjoyed the day and slept early while not bothering with our constant Twitter updates.

And I believe that this decline showed that we have kept our priorities right. That we believe in the equal importance of hyper-connectivity and having real-life conversations. This decline showed that the much anticipated ‘Portland Creative/Tech Renaissance’ is going to be a different sort of movement. One where work and life are balanced and weekends reserved for having fun. This decline showed that Portland’s real edge will not necessarily lie in its technological or creative breakthrough, but in its humanity and genuine willingness to connect with others.

The decline in Tweet count this weekend may be what set us apart from other places. And that, if you ask me, is a good thing.

Portland Play Fountains

Published
by
xolotl
on April 12, 2008
in events, food and drink, northwest and outdoors
. 0 Comments

When the weather gets hot, it’s time to start thinking about a visit to one of Portland’s awesome fountains that you can play in.

My favorite is Jamison Square, where the waterfalls burble and then suddenly shut off and all the water goes away only to come back minutes later.

Nearby Sip & Kranz provides drinks, snacks and beer and wine for the grownups. Check out Jamison Square on Bastille Day on July 12 for the annual race of the waiters.