That's the best description I've been able to come up with for the Feist 1234 video. I've been hearing this song everywhere all summer in commercials and on the radio, and I haven't grown annoyed by it yet. I turned on MTV the other morning and I saw this video for the first time (yep, they play videos before 8am...So does VH1. Who knew?) and my uncontrollable laughter woke G up in the other room. Just from the exuberance of the dancers, this looks like the funnest video shoot ever. They're all having a blast! The stupid grin on Leslie's face around 1:45 as she's crowd surfing makes me love her even more. She's my new favorite rock star...
I especially dig the sounds of the empty warehouse, the way the hand claps, finger snaps, and dancers singing and yelling reverberates. This didn't stand out so much when I watched it on MTV, maybe my laptop speakers add some special lo-fi-ness to it, but it makes me love it even more.
These guys review almost every car I've ever spent much time with. No Hyundai Excel, the hands-down favorite of all my past rides, but there's Mom's Chevy Corsica that always ran hot when you got stuck in traffic for more than two minutes, but had the best manual adjustable driver's seat of any shitbox 'merican car in the '90's. Then there's Dad's S-10 pickup that somehow managed to go well over 100 mph through Mineral that one time, and didn't even bust anything that one time we ramped off one of the hills out by Tulip. My current ride, G's Sube is even represented. The all wheel drive Impreza, even the stock 1.9L version we have is a great car. It handles nicely on gravel and snow and slick, wet Portland streets. Its only left us stranded once when the radiator blew somewhere just below the summit of the Coast Range in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain.
Beater Review posts a new review every Monday. You can even submit your own suggestions.
Since I started my current job, I've been listening to a lot of corporate radio. 8 hours a day. It starts with Mark & Brian in the mornings, who I've grown to love and find their show a rather "classy" alternative to all the other morning talk shows. They're smart, witty, and crass at the same time, much like I strive to be. After 10am, I try to switch it up. The dude I share my workspace with loves to listen to the Buzz, the straight up teeny-bopper pop station, even though he's a forty-something former Deadhead. I do love Daria & Mitch in the afternoons, and all the other personalities on the station seem to be self-aware enough to poke fun at the music they have to play, but just enough to keep Entercom powers that be off their back. Some days we listen to KINK. I've written about my love-hate relationship with KINK before. They love Feist, they love Ryan Adams, and they had Spoon in their "Live Performance Lounge" the other day. I can get behind that. Anyway, all this rambling about my radio listening habits comes to this point. With Oregarus no longer in my daily work life, I'm without a great source for new music, and when we happen to meet up at the pub to catch up on life, we never manage to exchange music like we used to. I haven't really been keyed into any new bands as of late. I've been listening to a lot of the same ol' stuff I've loved for years. On my recent long weekend in Seattle, a buddy introduced me to Midlake, a band from Denton, TX. Their latest album has been in heavy heavy rotation for the last couple weeks. Heavy rotation as in I haven't really listened to anything else. Its the perfect music for the end of summer melancholy that always sets in around this time. They sound a little like Fleetwood Mac, and I've come to grips with the fact that I kinda like Fleetwood Mac...
I hate music videos. Even good ones always remind me of cheesy karaoke videos, but youtube is the easiest way to share music I really dig on my blog. Here's a few of my favorite songs from Midlake.
"Head Home"
"Young Bride"
"We Gathered in Spring"
And a snippet from a live performance of "Branches," another song that keeps repeating in my head all day long until I listen to the album again.
I'm never one to wax political. I'm almost never prone to self-righteous indignation, I just don't have it in me. I usually cower away from disagreement and try to socialize with folks who I know share at least a few beliefs with me. This is my first even half-way political post on Sellwood Street.
A little background for those two of ya'll who aren't Oregonians or just haven't followed the news lately. Various hater groups masquerading as Christians are circulating petitions around the state to try to overturn the domestic partnership or "Oregon Family Fairness Act" (which is a half-assed comprise in the first place.) Equal rights organizations are filing complaints against the bigots because many of them aren't following the proper legal channels, or are just telling bare-faced lies to get people to unwittingly sign their petitions...
This email hit inboxes across Oregon today, from the self proclaimed "christian" organization Restore America...
"Oregon faces a less obvious September Day of Infamy, an attack from within our borders by those who seek to change Oregonians view of marriage and morality, no matter what we say or how we VOTE, and whether we like it or not."
I feel dirty linking to their site... How have I spent these last few years not realizing that my relationship with the guy I love is exactly like the killing of 3000+ [mostly] innocent folks in a a fiery unprecedented terrorist attack? I don't even know what to say. I've written more about this already that I thought I had in me. Here's what some other folks around town are blogging... Amy, at Blogtown, PDX B!X, at Furious Nads Divebarwife at Portland Metbogs
Stumbled onto this from watching TV. Who who'd have thunk? The host was on an episode of "Monster Garage." The show is "This or That" America's Favorite Burlesque Gameshow. Some favorites so far; Sex Trivia, Rosie the Riveter, and Shampoo & Trivia Quiz. At times its like an even more sexed up Sabado Gigante crossed with a little Let's Make a Deal, with a whole lot of good 'ol cabaret style entertainment.
I swear, I'm not in any way an employee or contractor for the Portland Water Bureau. But Portland's water system is an endless source of fascination for me, as has become apparent here, here, here, and most recently here. A couple days ago my favorite water bureau blog posted an awesome history of Portland's early water system. Running water in 1857? Shit! I'm the first generation of my family to have been born into indoor plumbing. Growing up, Mom had a cistern for their water supply that a truck came and filled every so often, and Papaw E was a miser of amazing tightness. They dug an outhouse "across the branch" when they built their house in 1952, that they used, weather permitting, well into the 1950's, even though they had indoor plumbing. Dad's folks had a fucking telephone a good five years before they put in a bathroom, in 1968. When Dad got drafted, the barracks bathroom was the first indoor plumbing he'd ever lived with. The outhouse at the old homeplace was still in service when we sold the house in the early 90's after Mamaw D died. Thanks to absolutely no zoning, (even now in the 21st century) in Martin County, we didn't have to fill it in. We could've called it the "guest bathroom." Is this why I love Portland's beautifully simple water system so much?
Portland has not only turned me into a beer snob, but as of late I've become a tap water snob as well. Last year, I ditched the nasty Brita pitcher that I never changed the filter in anyway. Now I just have a big pitcher of tap water, chilled in the fridge. The water here is so untreated, and in a good way. Hardly ever a hint of chlorine or saltiness, just straight up Bull Run water, fed mostly by gravity into my kitchen. My recent trip to the NC Coast made me realize how special it is to have tap water that's so pristine. We purchased at least 20 gallons of bottled water just to drink in the beach house because the water was so nasty. I grew up with well water that smelled and tasted slightly of sulfur, but at least that was drinkable. Kinda like Plutowater... Here in the Portland summer time, the water bureau fires up the pumps at the wellfield to supplement the supply through the crunch time, but due to the lower water demand this summer, we're back to 100% Bull Run water ahead of schedule. Pour yourself a big ol' glass and celebrate what's quite possibly the tastiest municipal water in the country. And check out the water blog. Always a fun geeky read.
Over 4000 hours of Charlie Rose interviews with damn near everyone you can think of. I've got plans for the next three nights at least... The "Music" section alone has 17 pages, from Bjork to Pinchas Zukerman. The "books" section has 1214 interviews! Holy shit that's a lot of Charlie Rose! When I did my time as a board-op for a PBS station, Charlie Rose was the highlight of my evening. It was always the last hour of my shift of 8 hours of watching TV, and only doing anything other than watching TV about once every hour, when I had to spring into action for three minutes of station break. By 11, no one was in the building except me and a couple maintenance folks, I could put my feet up on the desk and watch Charlie Rose. Even if he's interviewing someone I've never heard of, I'm still compelled to watch. On OPB, its on at midnight, and at 1 pm, so I never really get to see it. This is one of the best video archives on the entire nets! And that's such a dignified baseball cap from the Charlie Rose shop.
Today was to be spent helping friends move their stuff into storage while they're studying abroad for the year.
Due to an early Armoir injury on the stairs, I was excused from heavy lifting. For a little while, it looked like I had a ping pong ball trying to escape from my shin. Luckily some icepack action and morning beer made it all better. My official job was "wrapper of framed art." Being out of the moving game, it gave me plenty of time to take pictures of random shit as everyone else packed the truck. I hobbled along with everyone down the valley to the storage space and supervised, oh, and I took a lot of pictures...
The cutest beer label ever.
Breakin' the law!
Rad 80's signage.
Squirrel's A Corvallis institution. They have an impressive beer selection, including a new brew for us, Calapooia ESB, from Albany. Great place. The Squirrelburger can't be beat.
Dude. Take it outside! Not cool...
Old World Deli & Oregon Trail Brewery has a little beer museum in the entryway. Check out the label on the neck of that Oly bottle. Its like something Dr. Bronner would scrawl, only it makes sense.
Thank you to whoever deciphered that before the label disintegrated to its current state. Even up close, it has deteriorated so much that its barely legible.
I've returned from the Cape Fear Coast unscathed. It was an awesome long weekend on the other coast, in the ocean you can swim in without a wet suit. I gorged on E. Carolina barbecue, hush puppies, sweet tea and biscuits. I also got my pseudo Chicago style pizza at O'Hare, at least the best you can get in the airport. The Reggio's looked exactly like the stuff at Uno, which all looked a lot like the Wolfgang Puck pizzas. If I hadn't had so many gin & tonics the night before I would've had a Vienna beef dog too, but the gut just wasn't feeling it. Liz & Andy are hitched and on the way to Europe. Some pics will follow whenever I get them from other people as I didn't take the camera. I requested today off work as a recovery day from yesterday's full day of traveling, which was an excellent idea. After almost a week in the stifling humidity of NC, today in Portland was beautiful, a great chance to amble around the hills in NW this afternoon and work out the Deep Vein Thromboses from 10 hours of sitting.
This street sign is quite non-standard. It has to be from after 1933, that's when the Sons of Norway lobbied to have "Hillside Drive's" name changed to "Leif Erikson Drive." The road often washed out due to the steep terrain, and was rebuilt during the depression as a make-work project and soon washed out again. It hasn't been a viable road for a very long time, but this old sign is still hangin' in there.
The view from the Thurman St. Bridge, Portland's oldest at just over 100. The little red arch is the new Sauvie Island bridge, waiting to be floated down the river and put in place. (Enlarge for a better look.)
The creaky underbelly of the bridge over Macleay Park.
Some awesome old-school barriers and a chain link fence separate traffic from the edge. Its still safer than the Sellwood...
Refreshing water for Man and Beast. I can't find the story on this thing, but I love it. Its just at the top of the Thurman St. Bridge.
This is the little known Alexandria Ave. Viaduct. Its tucked away in a low traffic area way up at the end of the road. It serves no purpose but to provide access to a city water tank and the Salvation Army home for girls.
