Voice of Portland: Local Blogs

Things About Portland That Rule #10 Waterfront Blues Festival Towards the end of the glorious 80′s, a genius came up with this amazing idea: to bring the blues to Portland.  Although it initially didn’t create much of a spark throughout the state, it continued to grow throughout the 90′s and into the massive awesomeness that it is today.  National Blues musicians come through Portland, [...] First Thursday @ Lizard Lounge I’ve been to so many First Thursdays and consider it one of the greatest ongoing events in Portland.  Of all the galleries, there is only one place that hosts the ultimate First Thursday experience. Lizard Lounge has been holding these events since they first opened.  Each event showcases art and music from the Northwest.  Somehow, [...] #8 Powell?s Books Powell's has it #7 BarFlyMag.com When I first became of age in Portland, OR, Citysearch was the place for information about where to go Friday night.  I hated Citysearch.  It felt fake.  It made me believe that the only genuine reviews they had to offer were the over-the-top negative comments.  My knowledge of bars in my area and where I [...] #6 Urban Iditarod Definitions: Iditarod – an important dogsled race run annually on the Iditarod Trail Urban Iditarod – a human-led shopping kart race run annually through SE, NW and SW Portland bars. ?There are no winner, there are no losers, there are just a bunch of belligerent people.? KATU NEWS The insanity of Portland’s urban iditarod can [...] Overheard in PDX Video Trailer: The Three Gifts of the Magi - SCI-FI for SC11 This "story trailer" video previews The Three Gifts of the Magi, a new SCI-FI original by Rich Brueckner that appears in the Print 'n Fly Guide to SC11 Seattle. This is the continuing story of The Three Magi of Katrina, a science fiction story set in New Orleans at SC30. Tagline: Released from prison,... Awesomeness "Hey, I think I'm going to start a parody twitter account for my beard." - Downtown -- Overheard by Alanapete War Time Man browsing in the Military History section: So much war, so little time... - At the Friends of the Library sale -- Overheard by Daniel Bear bottoms Girl 1: Do you think these would make good bottoms for a bear costume? Girl 2: Well, they're snakeskin, soooo..... Girl 1, a few minutes later: Look, I'm a snear! - Buffalo Exchange, Hawthorne -- Overheard by Sky Rocketship Pop Rocks On the #15 bus, there was one wasted guy who smashed his foot and another guy and a chick. Guy 1 with the bag of candy: Pop rocks are so good. Guy 2: - Did you ever get a blow job when the girl had pop rocks in her mouth? Girl: Oh we should save some for later. Guy 1: No did you? Guy 2:No heard it was... Jack Bog's Blog Nothing says romance like a hospital waiting room Here's a two-fer that we'll pass on. Feds say you have constitutional right to record cops Apparently, the U.S. Department of Justice is asserting that individuals have rights under the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution to videotape police officers as they conduct police business. That's contrary to what you hear in Oregon, where people who tape the cops often have a... The green phantom We love our readers for many reasons, but especially for the stories they send us. Here's one that dropped in over the transom last night: So my wife and daughter and I were out at Ikea this afternoon, and we parked in the "family parking" area, where two of the previous handicapped spots have been... When the puffballs come A friend of ours who recently moved out of state from the Portland suburbs spent a little time in downtown Portland this week. Her impression: "It's like a Fellini movie." A ringside seat Sunday afternoon and evening's solar eclipse should be quite something as seen (make that if seen) from Portland. Here's what we've got the potential to experience, weather permitting. And of course, we aren't going to look straight at it. The best views in the state should be down around Brookings and Ashland.

Things About Portland That Suck #85 Tanking Last night, was a personal low for me as a Po?Zers fan.  With only a few games remaining in the 2012 season, I was excited to see our team face off against the #1 team in the West.  The 2012 Spurs have surpassed everyone?s expectations with their cruise into the post season.  This was an [...] #84 TV Shows Set in Portland When I first heard that a TNT show called “Leverage” was filming in Portland, I was super duper excited. “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Wire” all do a great job of capturing and depicting the pulse of the city they are filmed in. After watching the first episode of season two, [...] #83 The Tiger The Tiger is the  U.S. Representative for Oregon’s 1st congressional district. As a beast and congressman, The Tiger has been a part of some landmark moments that have shaped our country. The Tiger was born in the 1950′s, when Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes was in need of a mascot to appear on packaging and advertising campaigns.  [...] #82 Snowpocalypse Its that time of year when everyone in Portland gets on their cold weather periods. The peacoats, hipster scarves, and rain boots come out in full force. Coffee shops experience a jolt in morning sales. Our town becomes a super sad depressing wet blanket. The amount of darkness and rain only prelude to the inevitable [...] #81 Leaf Blowers Every year, just after labor day, autumn descends on God’s Country. It is a time when one can finally switch out summer sweaters for winter sweaters! The air becomes crisp and misty! And at least a dozen local hipsters must be rescued from the Sauvie Island Corn Maize. Oh yeah, and motherf**kers start busting out [...] Paul & Sugerman, PC Signing off The plan has been in place for a while. Still, I have avoided thinking about this last blog post. For many reasons–mostly related to age and stage and needs–Paul & Sugerman, PC ended its operations today, December 31, 2009. This is a quiet farewell. The firm started in 1991, when two well-meaning, youthful friends resolved that [...] NBC Nightly News shines light on Army National Guard toxic exposure cases Here is a video of an NBC Nightly News story that aired December 30, 2009 about Army National Guard soldiers’ exposures to sodium dichromate in Iraq.  The video features two soldiers, Larry Roberta of the Oregon National Guard and Russ Kimbro from the Indiana National Guard. Larry is part of the group of Oregon  National Guard [...] Western Culinary Institute and the trouble with for-profit colleges Brent Hunsberger, a business columnist at The Oregonian,  writes here about the trouble with for-profit colleges.  He devotes a fair amount of his attention to Western Culinary Institute, or as it’s now called, Le Cordon Bleu in Portland.  He runs through some numbers unearthed in the class action against Western Culinary Institute and its parent, [...] Comcast Oregon late fee class action update-cable customers win another round Yesterday, Judge Richard Baldwin ruled that Comcast Oregon’s cable TV subscribers may seek statutory damages in their pending class action. Here is a pdf copy of the trial court’s opinion: Judge Baldwin Order & Opinion re amended class cert order.  The upshot is that subscribers included in the late fee class action can seek $200, [...] Follow up Western Culinary Institute consumer fraud class action Here’s a nice summary of the case from a KGW8 news report. The story aired yesterday on Channel 8. The link is to their web version. Kudos to Anne Yaeger at KGW who did a heck of a job putting together a substantive story so quickly. Interestingly, the students interviewed are eager about their prospects. [...] Matt Davis Opens His Mouth

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