I don't have any grand proclamations or interesting stories right now. What, with summer under way, I just haven't been much in the mood for blogging. I did go to Sun River this weekend which was just okay. It is in a pretty area (see above) but too wholesome-family-fun-resortish for my tastes. But it was a great place to see a triathlon. Stay tuned for more thrills.
This has been a soggy intense week that culminated with my first argument live and in person before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I am very happy with how it went and while it is always tough to win a case there for my clients, I can say that I optimized the situation. And so it goes. I worked a gazillion hours getting ready and am so glad it is over. And as my reward, I found this hilarious video of Owen Pallett (Canadian Final Fantasy guy) covering the venerable indie [...]
I drove over 500 miles, slept on the ground for three days, and ate out of a cooler from items purchased at a Walmart because I have to rock! And that is just what happened at Sasquatch . After a lot of sun and wind, and not a lot of rest over the past several days, I will leave the detailed reviews of the shows to another writer. Imagine me, like a real sasquatch, pointing in the air and grunting the names of favorite shows from the weekend while jumping up and down: LCD Soundsystem!, [...]
But here we are in May, and the Portland weather can't manage to get above 60 and it rained every day this week. And most of last week. And it is supposed to rain next week. And be cold. No warm spring breezes. Lots of hail. The story goes that you can't count on the weather to be decent until Rose Parade, and then even then, not really reliably until the Fourth of July. The good news is that it doesn't start raining again until the beginning of October. [...]
If it were April Fool's day, I would be rolling on the floor, but here we are in May. This weekend, Portland hosted a prestigious annual food event, the Cochon 555 . I did not get to go, though every year I sort of want to. It is for charity, but it is spendy. It goes like this: 5 pigs, 5 chefs, 5 winemakers. There's a contest to see who made the best dinner. Everyone gets to taste. All the money goes to a hunger relief charity. [...]
I was more than a little nervous about getting on a bicycle and riding it 55 miles over the coastal range. I am quite glad that someone agreed to do it with me so that I could not back out. I did some training to get ready and held tight to the wild and crazy idea that I just might pull it off. Oh wow, was that an incredibly fun day and I would do it again right this very minute if somebody let me. The whole excursion involved over 3000 cyclists and [...]
There is the most darling little community space over on Williams called Waypost . It's not really a bar, and not really a coffee house, and not really a living room, but a lot like all three. I've been to a couple of readings there, and then last night I attended a history lecture of sorts called Northwest Passage. It was put on by the Dill Pickle Club , which is a quirky people's history buff's group. First, Calvin Johnson told us about the history of the Portland punk scene as he experienced it [...]
Hi blog friend. I know I neglect you. Lots of interesting things have been happening but the thing I most long to tell you about was from a few weeks ago during my Week of Rock. I saw Eux Autres, Micachu and the Shapes, XX and some other bands all in one week. But the highlight was Charlotte Gainsbourg. Every French person in Portland was in attendance, along with the guy from the Shins and his model skinny girlfriend and Exene Cervenka who was standing right next to us. To [...]
This past weekend I was hurtled through the air and transported to Minnesota/Iowa for a family wedding. My dad's side is from this area and so off into the heartland I descended. Here is what I can report. -The people were a little bit friendlier in the midwest, not that Portland is unfriendly. But maybe my practice of shaking hands and grinning a lot when I meet people owes its origin to this region. -People eat a lot of summer sausage in this part of the country. Way more [...]
Columbus. Not entirely un-gay.
I have formed a minor and harmless addiction to going to Live Wire shows. It is a little like Prairie Home Companion perhaps, involving a radio show recorded before a live audience. Every week it seems to be at a different venue and Oregon Public Radio puts the show on and broadcasts it. It has variety acts, little skits, a couple of great musicians, and best of all, a really good poet. I am ever so fond of wordy modern American poetry delivered by its author. I have yet to find the "poetry [...]
In my history mystery quest, I found out that one of my Danish great-grandmothers came to the United States around the turn of the century from a place called Eckernfoerde. It is in the peninsular part of northern Germany that connects to Denmark called Schleswig. Schleswig was a fiefdom of Denmark. Although this part of Denmark was considered part of Germany between 1864-1920, World War I resolved the issue, along with two other wars creatively titled First Schleswig War and Second Schleswig War. A little web research on why Danes [...]
The xx are from the UK and have a minimalist thing happening so there was a reasonable chance they were going to infiltrate my music collection one way or another. Tonight, I went to the big show with a pal to see them play live. They made a very interesting first record that is terribly whispery and off-the-cuff cool. I was skeptical of seeing them at the gigantic venue. The only problem was the crowd, so much as I can tell. I pointed out to my friend Shannon that we were likely the oldest [...]
I'm in the midst of a mystery history hunt. My mother mentioned some years ago that my great grandparents lived in Portland for a little while and that my grandmother ran a hotel and coffee shop someplace near the train station. Finding out about that has been on my to-do list for some time and this week I finally started looking into it. According to the 1910 Census Record, my great-grandparents spoke German and Danish, were recent immigrants, and had two children. One was Victor and the other was listed as "Baby [...]
Astoria Scum River Bridge from Jason Eppink on Vimeo . Astoria, Queens, not Astoria, Oregon.
Astoria Scum River Bridge from Jason Eppink on Vimeo . Astoria, Queens, not Astoria, Oregon.
I knew about Joan Jett when I was a kid at the Skate Ranch roller skating rink, but I did not know of The Runaways until later. Tonight I went to the movie premiere in Portland to benefit the Rock n Roll Camp for Girls and Cherrie Currie from the band was there, which was pretty brave since the movie is somewhat about her personal destruction and drugged out lameness, followed by getting clean and becoming a chainsaw artist . She did an interesting Q and A afterwards and the movie was okay but sort of uncomfortable [...]
What have I been up to lately? Well, I got a road bike in hopes of becoming one of those people in Portland that goes on epic bike trips. Even with my shiny new wheels, it is harder than it looks. I will keep trying and report back. I admit this month was not much for correspondence, but it is only because I have been busy. Let me recap: Acid Mother Temple : Japanese psychedelic noise rock band requiring earplugs and good humor. It was a completely sold out [...]
Go West Young Tex
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
The Weeknd - Kiss Land
Julia Holter - World (Official Video)
She & Him- I Could've Been Your Girl
Action Bronson - "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" (Official Video)
Kanye West - New Slaves
Who is BANKS?
Cantanti famosi apparsi nei Simpson: da Lady Gaga agli U2
Listen to Deap Vally’s “(She’s A) Wanderer”, their contribution to True Blood soundtrack
WATCH: Washed Out ‘Paracosm’ (Official Album Trailer)
Watch The National on The Colbert Report
