Thank you Thomas Lauderdale

The "O" reports that Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini and Gus Van Sant are working on some sort of rally in support of Mayor Sam. Lauderdale's quotes in this story are the most sensible thing I've read in any of the local press.

""When it comes to sex, this country is just so crazy," Lauderdale said. "Ultimately, I think that what needs to happen is the city needs to calm down. The city needs to calm down and we need to concentrate on the heavy agenda, which is before us as a city. These sex scandals are a huge, colossal waste of time and resources."

The story continues -

"He said he's spoken with a lot of people who have supported the mayor. He's hoping Portlanders will come to the rally to encourage "the city to move on and move ahead and not behave rashly and irrationally."
"The thing is: people lie about sex. I mean it's the one thing that people lie about. He is not going to make this kind of mistake ever again in his life."
"I don't see this as a character problem. It was a huge lesson that unfortunately he had to learn in a very public way.""

I'm still with Sam

And so are these folks. Here's the statement.

What We Believe

1. Consensual sex between adults does not impact one's ability to serve in public office;

2. The personal affairs of gay officials face a level of scrutiny that is not equal to that of their heterosexual counterparts;

3. We acknowledge Sam Adams's dishonesty in this matter and do not endorse it;

4. Sam Adams is the person we want to lead our city.

Kroger's Political Leanings?

(Not the Oregon AG, John Kroger)
BuyBlue.org seems to be down right now, just when I'm curious about Kroger's political affiliations. One or our local arms of the Kroger empire, QFC (Quality Food Center), has this ad reminding us that inauguration day is coming up.
I'll have to check out Buy Blue tomorrow and see where Kroger stands. Are they really glad to promote inauguration day, or are they just cashing in on a regional trend?

Auditorium Park Public Restrooms

Remember the giant heart model that you could walk through at the Museum of Science and Industry, or at OMSI, or at various other museums. This bizarre public bathroom reminds me of that. Red tile must've been on clearance sale back in 1969 when this parking garage public washroom was built.

G wouldn't go in. It did have potential to be bad news, but the few public restrooms around the city are pretty well maintained. Neither of us had ever noticed it before, even though collectively we've walked by here hundreds of times. Its right across Clay St. from the Ira Keller Fountain.

This is the part that really reminded me of walking through a heart valve.

There's not a square corner in the entire bathroom, but it was surprisingly clean and even smelled pleasant. G still wouldn't go in, even after I showed him the pictures.

The red tile really is quite overwhelming. I think the strategy here was to make the facilities so uncomfortable to spend much time in, so that even junkies wouldn't be able to bear the bright red curvy walls long enough to shoot up. Get in, get out!

Caught a trucker out of Philly, had a nice long toke.

I love me some Bluegrass. At least a couple times a day, some old timey song plays in my head. Country and Gospel and Bluegrass music was everywhere around me growing up, and after a healthy period of rejection, I'm now even able to listen to commercial pop country radio.
An hour of that makes me thankful that there are plenty of folks still playing the Bluegrass, even out here in the NW, there's plenty of shows to go see. Tuesday night Jackstraw at the Laurelthirst is always a sure bet. Show up early to get a table, or you'll end up standing in an awkward location, eating your quesedilla standing up.


This charmingly bizarre video from Old Crow Medicine Show makes me happy. I've loved this song for years, but somehow have never encountered the video.

Sloan's Tavern

If you've spent much time driving around Portland, you might have encountered Sloan's. You'd at least remember the West side of the building, its that place at Vancouver and Russell with a Freightliner Cab sticking out the side of the building.
I've lived within a stone's throw from it for a long time, but until tonight I'd only been there once.
I didn't discover it when I was still a cigarette smoker, and since I quit I really don't dig the smoky bars. I went there for the first time on a whim last year and thought it was an awesome neighborhood bar, but too smoky for my tastes, so it went somewhere near the top of my list of places to visit in 2009 now that Oregon's bars are smoke free.

Sloan's is the awesome low-key neighborhood bar with a perfect mix of grey haired old men, crusty skater punks, maybe a random table of queens, plenty of other neighborhood folks, and a bar full of interesting drunks and refugees.
I'm in love with Sloan's. I don't think G is completely sold yet. Someday that $4.99 chicken strip basket will make him a believer too.
The beer selection is the only troublesome spot. The only local beers are Widmer Hef on tap and Full Sail in bottles. I opted for PBR in a can, and then one on tap. The price was right, but I just don't really have the taste for shitty beer anymore. Maybe I'm a snob. I think next time I'll partake of their RC cola or maybe a Squirt, until they get a tastier local beer on tap.

The food at Sloan's is the main attraction. Full on old-school diner fare. Sandwiches rule the menu, Hot Ham & Cheese, a Reuben that I've read is awesome, the French Dip, the special ham & turkey on a french roll named the Emanual after the hospital across the street, and my special pleasure, the burgers are cooked just like in the Midwest diners of my youth, on the flat-top, steamed at the end so the cheese is all melty and perfect, and the toasted buttered bun was something I haven't encountered outside my own kitchen, or an Indiana diner. Oh, and everything comes with hand-cut fries! This place is the real fuckin' deal!
Oh, and the decor? Like a time capsule! An almost perfectly preserved 1975. Comfy booths, mirrored walls, cool carpet, and the bird themed wall hangings were something I'd forgotten about, but now I remember everyone had these in their house when I was a kid.
It seems like this place has been frequented by folks who respected it over the years, otherwise that mirror wall would've had someone thrown into it by now, and those booths wouldn't be perfectly intact. There are a few remnants of "Old Portland" still hanging on out there, and this is one of them. Check it out while you still can.

Oh, and the jukebox with the old timey animated band that plays along with the music makes it all worth while. If this place were to put even something like Mirror Pond on tap, I think I'd be there every night.

Bloomington's "News Hole" filled

Bloomington has always felt to me kind of like a black hole for information. News of things that happen there don't seem to make it out unless its terrible. Its the same way with television in Bloomington. If you don't have cable or satellite, your one clear channel is the local PBS station, since the Indy stations aren't watchable with rabbit ears.
So it makes sense that hardly any local news from Bloomington is available to outsiders.
The big paper, the Herald Times, has a website that is still for subscribers only. I thought it was absurd 10 years ago, but they're still holding onto their own little thing...
The Indianapolis news doesn't really cover the news in Bloomington, only when something big happens.
There are a couple of independent outlets, Bloom Magazine is an awesome lifestyle food and dining publication, their online content is pretty informative, but geared more towards people visiting or living there, not expats like me who just want to know what's going on.
The Bloomington Independent is a good read too, their website usually has some interesting stories.
Today I found NewsMatters.org. Its WTIU's news website, and at first glance it seems to be just the Southern Indiana news souce I've been looking for. The daily Newsbreak video is available just after it airs every night. Stories on the website are stuff like stats and numbers stories about the city government budget and such, and news about IU, and weather, and all the boring daily stuff I expect to read about. If you're looking for B-town news, add it to your daily visits.

Daily Libations

A new blog from a really old friend and fellow Bloomfidian.
Beer A Day chronicles Andy's daily beer.
He's allowed other adult beverages, but only one beer per day. Challenging.
Even more challenging, figuring out how I'm going to send him all the Portland beers that he must try in the name of this project.
Shipping alcohol to Mass. is pretty much forbidden. I just need to figure out how to package it...

"I don't go to your job and knock the dicks out of your mouth"

I spent New Year's Eve away from cable TV, which was for the best. I'm sad that I missed this little jewel though.
I've loved Anderson Cooper ever since his days of drawing the short straw on Channel 1, (that Pepsi-co sponsored newscast that we were forced to watch in high school). He always got sent to Iraq or Bosnia or somewhere terrible. No wonder he's gone gray at 40.
Put him in front of the camera with fag-hag extraordinaire, Kathy Griffin, and you got some questionable dialogue sure to follow. They crack me up. Stick with it to the end for the payoff.

We're Live Downtown

I'm loving this new ad campaign from the Downtown Portland Marketing Initiative. Created by local agency North. Five weird little 30 second spots highlighting different downtown businesses, and an especially quirky ad featuring Portland's bike culture. Watch them all, they're cute.

Residents of Midtown Houston, I found your street sign.

Hey Houstonians, have you noticed the street sign missing from the corner of Bagby & Bremond in Midtown? Well, I found it. 2367 miles away at the corner of NE 7th & Tillamook here in Portland.
Don't worry, its in a nice place, a traffic circle with a tree and some shrubbery and a whole lot of leaves. So many stories are floating around my head about how it got here, who brought it here, has someone had it hanging around their garage for awhile and needed to get rid of it? Some elaborate prank? I've stolen a few street signs in my time, I know how it goes. It seems like such a fun idea until you're trying to figure out how to get rid of it...

So, what's up Houston? You guys have any idea what its doing here? You want it back?
On Google Street View, Bagby & Bremond looks like a nice corner. A couple of apartment buildings, some sort of industrial lot, a nice view of the skyline. Not too different from its current resting place. I can't seem to spot the sign in these shots, maybe its been missing for awhile...
There's a coffee shop a block down the street from the corner that would fit in here in Portland. If I'm ever in Houston other than George Bush Intercontinental Airport, (that is another post completely), this neighborhood is on the itinerary.

'70's Levi's ad

Check out this awesome very 70's ad for Levi's. For some reason, I just can't get enough 70's stuff lately, listening to lots of 70's music and watching lots of clips on YouTube.
There's a certain malaise feeling that was so prevalent in the '70's, I think that vibe should be due for a comeback soon...
This ad however, is still early enough to be fun and naive and cute.

Bloomfield in the Headlines

I can't remember the last time my lil' hometown of Bloomfield, Indiana was mentioned in the national press. It was always exciting to read some news about Bloomfield in the Indy Star every now and then, and that was usually just about a tornado or a tragic trailer fire or something.
Lo and behold, this morning on Good Day Oregon comes a story that I first spotted Saturday morning on the Bloomfield Free Press. I happened to notice a fellow Bloomfidian online and I promptly sent him the link. After we had a good lol, and tried to remember if we knew any of them, he sent the story onto the Drudge Report. I like to believe that's how the story made its way to other places like the AP and more importantly, The Smoking Gun. Keep it classy, Bloomfield!
I do have to say, the Free Press had the best headline of all. "Dirty Half Dozen" is awesome. Why didn't anyone else use it?

it’s like meat with a pause button

When the economy turns sour, folks turn to everyone's favorite salty sweet canned meat product, Spam. Sales are through the roof, the folks at the Spam factory are working overtime to keep our shelves filled with the "spiced ham" meat-like loaf.

Say what you will about it, my Grandma made a mean fried Spam-wich, even if she did use Treet sometimes. I've also had some tasty Spam infused Hawaiian dishes. After reading this article, I'm thinking about buying a can next time I'm at the store. I remember when I was a kid I used to love it fried, with pork & beans on the side. Maybe I can even make some SOS with spam instead of chipped beef, that sounds like comfort food at its saltiest best.

Indiana swings

A typical Indiana front yard, festive scarecrow, some folksy sign that probably has the family's name, a Camaro in the driveway, the Stars and Bars, an Obama sign...
I hate to mention the location of this house because its in the whipping boy of po-dunk little racist enclaves all across Southern Indiana, Martinsville. I've always thought Martinsville was unfairly pigeonholed because its between Indianapolis and Bloomington, the two most liberal cities in the state. Does anyone know of the specific incidents that make it stand out as the racist hotspot everyone believes it to be?
For a state where 80 years ago over half of the elected state officials were Klansman, Indiana has come a long way.