A camera mightve been a good idea to help simplify a Journal describing several days in which I saw and did 83,000,000 things.
The Jupiter Hotel room had a neat shower curtain, and a baby-blue fur on the bed, but I dunno, not much else anyway, the important thing was I had dinner over at the place of pymgy and her husband, Mr. Potato Bug, and mikael and Les showed up, too! There was a lotta great food by p., dates, and salmon with mango and rice. I had such a great time hanging round.
It was a bit cold for the Japanese Gardens (it was kinda cold all week, but a little warmer than here in VA, and there was no rain in Portland, snow in VA) but I spent a fair amount of time anyway. They have the tallest pine trees Ive ever seen probably the tallest trees Ive ever seen. I dont think Ive seen them like this in Appalachia. The rock gardens, view of Mount Hood over the city, the streams and ponds, the whole place was so pukingly beautiful. Yes, youd puke from beauty. I just wish I coulda sat around the rocks for hours, but they were cold rocks. It was more of a stand-n-contemplate place than a walking one, but I had to keep walking.
The Museum of Science and Industry was okay, but my favorite thing was touring the submarine, the USS Blueback. I was the only person on the tour, so the old tourguide Dan (a former jet pilot) gave me a pretty good look around. If you ever get a chance to look inside one, do it; if nothing else, you might get some space-conservation ideas for a small apartment.
I got two-hours parking for the Art Museum, since my Frommers Guide said it was small, and cost $10. Well, it was $15, a bit of a shocker for a Smithsonian-goer, but quite worth it. I didnt even get to the main temporary attraction, the Hesse Collection, because I found the layout kinda weird and was rushed by my parking time! I really got into the Indian art. Im trying to recall which was my fave item I dunno. I liked a lil of everything. Even the minimalist neon-light display I saw (usually raising my is-it-art? hackles), set in a corner, made a pretty interesting red-by-blue-bulb, blue-by-red-bulb counterintuitive crossover pattern.
I should say here that I was going to lay this out by date, but literally forget what I did when, everything being most-all in central Portland within 15 minutes of each other everything. I went to Powells Books a couple of times. People had told me it was great and it is but keep in mind, Im a librarian. When people say it has EVERY book, I kinda take that literally, especially with all the obscure interlibrary loans Ive gotten from college libraries. Anyway, it is a pretty great book store. Surprised it doesnt have a bigger magazine section. I really dont mean to bitch, its just I commonly see bigger ones at Tower and Borders not that Powell is like lesser than big nasty chains.
I will say something positive now! Millennium Music in Nob Hill was the best music store Ive been in in a while. I have certain litmus tests for CD/ record stores, such as, say, number of Albert Ayler titles. Olssons, a fine little local chain, rarely has one. Millennium had 5 or 6. This is a BIG deal to me. Also, I was there killing time before meeting up with bankerboy, and guess what? I say GUESS what?? Well, Ill tell you- Curt Kirkwood showed up in the store and played for about 50 minutes. I was shopping while listening to a former God among SST Record stars. Pretty nice. Nob Hill was overall comparable to Newbury Street in Boston.
I had dinner with the banker, then we went to a great party at brokenbeatniks. Oh, and the night before Id gone to Acme to see The Eyelids with mikael, a nice little late-60s-pop-guitar band (they covered the Kinkss Picture Book, very fitting) with some synth (the poor guy was trying to eat his pizza between songs) and went to a bar get-together with Hansel, PoisonOak, Moss, and more great folks that Im stupidly forgetting (Id had a few beers and whiskeys by then). So yeah, Friday night I saw more folks. It was a pretty big party by any SG VA/DC standard, but bb said maybe a bit small by Portlands! I will have to find more of these folkss names later. One dude I really liked that and next night was Keenan from Jacksonville, FLA, a non-member. I explained SG things to him, like the significance of Stormys ass.
Saturday, bb n I met up with woodstock for Saturday Market. I found an alpaca hat and scarf. I hadnt worn a scarf regularly since I dunno, since my Queens Park Rangers scarf in London in the 70s. I quickly found out how much warmer one can be with a scarf, and wish Id worn one at the Japanese Gardens. There was a fair amount of crafts there, but I have a feeling this event is bigger in, say, 78 degree Fahrenheit Saturdays. Later, I saw everyone from Wednesday night again at Mr. Potato Bugs jazz jam, a roughly 3-hour night of just great playing. I was quite impressed by everyone; they had two different bass players, 3 guitarists, keyboards, flute, tastefully-brief drum solos, and the Bugs own great saxxx. Then on to hypnogogics party; he was DJing up a storm, then off partying a storm while we played a couple records not up a storm, and I got flogged up not quite a storm but had my butt hickory-switched and riding-cropped a little. After that, things maybe a bit blurry and best not to tell.
Sunday, banker and I had a lil sports bar lunch and NFL-watching, then I saw his basketball team. Banker prob wouldnt brag, but this guy has outside game that surprised me. I think he threw 3 threes! He is raining threes. I think his teams loss was solely a matter of second-half tempo lost; they seemed better than the other team. I later checked into Travel Lodge (diagonal from the Doug Fir, and not as hip as the Jupiter but more comfortable and $30/ night cheaper, yeah) and eschewed a night of further clubbing for the NFL and the Boss (1975 concert) on TV.
Monday, I went to the history center. They have a Lewis & Clark bicentennial. Its a moderate space of original/ replica documents, clothes, and tools, but it is admirably fleshed-out by a MP3 player of spoken letters and diaries. It is very balanced, showing pretty complimentary, realistic, and not-so-honorable sides of most everyone involved. I guess this is getting long, and I dunno how much U.S. history lesson everyone wants, but you can ask me for more details if you like.
The center actually has some damned fine art downstairs, from the last couple centuries of Oregonian painters and some great contemporary Indian art that strongly adheres to traditional imagery. I had to pretty much tear myself away form these statues and masks to quickly (almost literally) run through the upper-level history items, since once again I ran out of parking time (and Id gotten the max. 3-hours-worth, too).
That night, I hung around with Les and mikael. These guys live astoundingly close to a store with European food Im talking Ribena soda and British chocolates! Unreal. They made up some good chili and we just sat around talking Ween and music and SG and stuff for hours. A great way to end my week, yeah.
Most everybody gave me mix CDs. Though I never managed to contact mike_blacklisted, even he managed to give me a mix CD by way of his zine, Yeti, which I picked up at Powell and read on the plane-trip back (I also finally finished The Dharma Bums). I would say I did absolutely everything I set out to do in Portland except have lunch/ coffee with Mike, visit the Columbia Gorge and other out-of-town natural sites with pygmy and Potato (and mikael, Les, anyone else) and see the Leach Botanical Gardens. but I am hoping to do all of this things within the next season or two and see Stormys ass, yes, that too. Someones gotta take me to that bar.
Thanks to: amitabha, bankerboy, dovienya, The Eyelids, hansel, hypnogogic, Keenan (sp?) from Jacksonville (or was it Atlanta?), ladybelmont, Les, mikael, Mr. Potato Bug (aka pygmys grand husband who is not on SG), Moss, poisonivy, PoisonOak, portlandjazzjams.com, pygmy, Tankboy, woodstock.
(I know I'll have to make revisions later, no doubt forgetting people, places, or things, but hey, gotta start somewhere. Also, might take a couple days to write to everyone, such as kay and rollerdisco, etc. etc. I am WAY behind on SG things!)
The Jupiter Hotel room had a neat shower curtain, and a baby-blue fur on the bed, but I dunno, not much else anyway, the important thing was I had dinner over at the place of pymgy and her husband, Mr. Potato Bug, and mikael and Les showed up, too! There was a lotta great food by p., dates, and salmon with mango and rice. I had such a great time hanging round.
It was a bit cold for the Japanese Gardens (it was kinda cold all week, but a little warmer than here in VA, and there was no rain in Portland, snow in VA) but I spent a fair amount of time anyway. They have the tallest pine trees Ive ever seen probably the tallest trees Ive ever seen. I dont think Ive seen them like this in Appalachia. The rock gardens, view of Mount Hood over the city, the streams and ponds, the whole place was so pukingly beautiful. Yes, youd puke from beauty. I just wish I coulda sat around the rocks for hours, but they were cold rocks. It was more of a stand-n-contemplate place than a walking one, but I had to keep walking.
The Museum of Science and Industry was okay, but my favorite thing was touring the submarine, the USS Blueback. I was the only person on the tour, so the old tourguide Dan (a former jet pilot) gave me a pretty good look around. If you ever get a chance to look inside one, do it; if nothing else, you might get some space-conservation ideas for a small apartment.
I got two-hours parking for the Art Museum, since my Frommers Guide said it was small, and cost $10. Well, it was $15, a bit of a shocker for a Smithsonian-goer, but quite worth it. I didnt even get to the main temporary attraction, the Hesse Collection, because I found the layout kinda weird and was rushed by my parking time! I really got into the Indian art. Im trying to recall which was my fave item I dunno. I liked a lil of everything. Even the minimalist neon-light display I saw (usually raising my is-it-art? hackles), set in a corner, made a pretty interesting red-by-blue-bulb, blue-by-red-bulb counterintuitive crossover pattern.
I should say here that I was going to lay this out by date, but literally forget what I did when, everything being most-all in central Portland within 15 minutes of each other everything. I went to Powells Books a couple of times. People had told me it was great and it is but keep in mind, Im a librarian. When people say it has EVERY book, I kinda take that literally, especially with all the obscure interlibrary loans Ive gotten from college libraries. Anyway, it is a pretty great book store. Surprised it doesnt have a bigger magazine section. I really dont mean to bitch, its just I commonly see bigger ones at Tower and Borders not that Powell is like lesser than big nasty chains.
I will say something positive now! Millennium Music in Nob Hill was the best music store Ive been in in a while. I have certain litmus tests for CD/ record stores, such as, say, number of Albert Ayler titles. Olssons, a fine little local chain, rarely has one. Millennium had 5 or 6. This is a BIG deal to me. Also, I was there killing time before meeting up with bankerboy, and guess what? I say GUESS what?? Well, Ill tell you- Curt Kirkwood showed up in the store and played for about 50 minutes. I was shopping while listening to a former God among SST Record stars. Pretty nice. Nob Hill was overall comparable to Newbury Street in Boston.
I had dinner with the banker, then we went to a great party at brokenbeatniks. Oh, and the night before Id gone to Acme to see The Eyelids with mikael, a nice little late-60s-pop-guitar band (they covered the Kinkss Picture Book, very fitting) with some synth (the poor guy was trying to eat his pizza between songs) and went to a bar get-together with Hansel, PoisonOak, Moss, and more great folks that Im stupidly forgetting (Id had a few beers and whiskeys by then). So yeah, Friday night I saw more folks. It was a pretty big party by any SG VA/DC standard, but bb said maybe a bit small by Portlands! I will have to find more of these folkss names later. One dude I really liked that and next night was Keenan from Jacksonville, FLA, a non-member. I explained SG things to him, like the significance of Stormys ass.
Saturday, bb n I met up with woodstock for Saturday Market. I found an alpaca hat and scarf. I hadnt worn a scarf regularly since I dunno, since my Queens Park Rangers scarf in London in the 70s. I quickly found out how much warmer one can be with a scarf, and wish Id worn one at the Japanese Gardens. There was a fair amount of crafts there, but I have a feeling this event is bigger in, say, 78 degree Fahrenheit Saturdays. Later, I saw everyone from Wednesday night again at Mr. Potato Bugs jazz jam, a roughly 3-hour night of just great playing. I was quite impressed by everyone; they had two different bass players, 3 guitarists, keyboards, flute, tastefully-brief drum solos, and the Bugs own great saxxx. Then on to hypnogogics party; he was DJing up a storm, then off partying a storm while we played a couple records not up a storm, and I got flogged up not quite a storm but had my butt hickory-switched and riding-cropped a little. After that, things maybe a bit blurry and best not to tell.
Sunday, banker and I had a lil sports bar lunch and NFL-watching, then I saw his basketball team. Banker prob wouldnt brag, but this guy has outside game that surprised me. I think he threw 3 threes! He is raining threes. I think his teams loss was solely a matter of second-half tempo lost; they seemed better than the other team. I later checked into Travel Lodge (diagonal from the Doug Fir, and not as hip as the Jupiter but more comfortable and $30/ night cheaper, yeah) and eschewed a night of further clubbing for the NFL and the Boss (1975 concert) on TV.
Monday, I went to the history center. They have a Lewis & Clark bicentennial. Its a moderate space of original/ replica documents, clothes, and tools, but it is admirably fleshed-out by a MP3 player of spoken letters and diaries. It is very balanced, showing pretty complimentary, realistic, and not-so-honorable sides of most everyone involved. I guess this is getting long, and I dunno how much U.S. history lesson everyone wants, but you can ask me for more details if you like.
The center actually has some damned fine art downstairs, from the last couple centuries of Oregonian painters and some great contemporary Indian art that strongly adheres to traditional imagery. I had to pretty much tear myself away form these statues and masks to quickly (almost literally) run through the upper-level history items, since once again I ran out of parking time (and Id gotten the max. 3-hours-worth, too).
That night, I hung around with Les and mikael. These guys live astoundingly close to a store with European food Im talking Ribena soda and British chocolates! Unreal. They made up some good chili and we just sat around talking Ween and music and SG and stuff for hours. A great way to end my week, yeah.
Most everybody gave me mix CDs. Though I never managed to contact mike_blacklisted, even he managed to give me a mix CD by way of his zine, Yeti, which I picked up at Powell and read on the plane-trip back (I also finally finished The Dharma Bums). I would say I did absolutely everything I set out to do in Portland except have lunch/ coffee with Mike, visit the Columbia Gorge and other out-of-town natural sites with pygmy and Potato (and mikael, Les, anyone else) and see the Leach Botanical Gardens. but I am hoping to do all of this things within the next season or two and see Stormys ass, yes, that too. Someones gotta take me to that bar.
Thanks to: amitabha, bankerboy, dovienya, The Eyelids, hansel, hypnogogic, Keenan (sp?) from Jacksonville (or was it Atlanta?), ladybelmont, Les, mikael, Mr. Potato Bug (aka pygmys grand husband who is not on SG), Moss, poisonivy, PoisonOak, portlandjazzjams.com, pygmy, Tankboy, woodstock.
(I know I'll have to make revisions later, no doubt forgetting people, places, or things, but hey, gotta start somewhere. Also, might take a couple days to write to everyone, such as kay and rollerdisco, etc. etc. I am WAY behind on SG things!)
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much love