Here we are now, Entertain Us

Sportfight 24 - Blood on the Canvas

2008-09-21T05:27:16Z

It's beyond me why the Rose Garden Arena isn't completely packed for SportFight 24. For four and a half hours fighters pounded it out in an evening filled with action, sport and blood. What more could you ask for from a Friday night out!? It's hard to imagine what kept the Rose Garden from being as full as a match up between the Winterhawks and The Seattle Thunderbirds. Is it the expensive $8 a cup Rose Garden beer that kept people away? The 7pm Friday night early start time? Or the fact that it was broadcast live on HDNet? Whatever the reason, many Portlanders missed out on a fantastic, unmediated top class sporting event that can be experienced by watching it on TV. Fans who opted to watch the matches at home on HDNet missed some of the best action of the night as the untelevised under card fights proved to be stronger and more exciting than some of the main bouts.

Sportfight 24 started with a bang with two extremely strong under card fights. Marques Daniels made quick work out of Joshuah Lagrange with a rain of punches that caused the ref to jump in and stop the fight (one of the few fights of the night stopped this way). That fight was followed by the much hyped Colom Toombs and Colin Porter bout. Toombs is "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's son and he clearly had the support of the crowd (who chanted "Piper, Piper"). Early on in the fight Toombs got into trouble, taking a number of hard shots, his face began to well early. Piper then got caught in a rear naked choke that looked it was going to end the match and put a damper on some of the the hype surrounding Toombs. Choke well set Toombs gave the ref a thumbs up and then proceeded to find his way out of the choke, he then reverse it into a dramatic choke of his own to win the fight. It was one of the more explosive moments of the evening and it kept the buzz turned way up for Toombs.

After the first two solid fights things stayed on the ground for several of the middle matches. After an arm bar win by crowd favorite Tyson Jeffries, four of the next bouts went the full three rounds and almost all of them ended by decision. It wasn't until the fight between DJ Linderman and Mychael Clark that things started to heat up. Clark displayed flamboyant martial arts styling with spin kicks, supermans and other 'showy' moves, but it was Linderman's consistent strength both on his feet and on the ground that made him a clear contender for the win. Linderman looks pudgy, but after three rounds he barley seemed winded. Taking a solid unanimous decision Linderman showed he's a fighter not to be underestimated.

My favorite fight of the evening was the Mark Miller, Mike Pierce bout. Mike Pierce, who fights out of the Braveheart Gym didn't find much support in the pro Team Quest crowd, but even his harshest critics couldn't help but notice the absolute precision in Pierce's fight. I saw Pierce fight in a previous Sportfight and it's clear he's put his time in training and refining his skills. Like a surgeon Pierce took Miller apart. One blow opened a huge cut on the top of Miller's head and blood streamed out in a flow that made Miller look like something out of a Rob Zombie movie. The fight was stopped so that they could assess Miller's injury and much to the surprise and delight of the crowd they let the fight continue. Step by step Pierce pushed the fight in the direction he wanted it to go, with control of almost every position on the mat Pierce showed that he was clearly the better trained fighter. In the end Pierce won by TKO and Miller's cuts became too severe for him to continue. Of all the fighters who fought at SportFight 24, it's Pierce who showed the most promise and his fight was worth the price of admission.

The feature title bout between Enoch Wilson and Brian Gearahty wasn't as exciting as the Pierce/Miller bout. Gearahty gave Wilson a lot to handle for four rounds, locking him up and pressing submission attempt after submission attempt. Four rounds into the fight it was clear that Gearahty had done just enough to win a few rounds but not enough to take Wilson's title away from him. Ultimately Wilson prevailed with an earth shattering, late fourth round, punch that left Wilson dazed in the corner. Wilson gave a gladiator roar as he pounced around the ring, sticking around long after the bout was finished to celebrate.

It's exceptional to live in an area with such easy access to high quality Mixed Martial Arts and a shame more people aren't taking advantage of it. The athletes fighting out of Team Quest and Braveheart gyms have the foundation to carry them to national attention, and for just a few bucks you can catch them live and in person.

See pictures from Sportfight 24 here.

My Dell Laptop Melted Down

2008-09-19T04:23:17Z

Tonight I experienced one of the most unfortunate computing nightmares of my many years dealing with computers. My Dell Inspiron 700m almost caught fire. Smoke began pouring out the side of the machine, the section of the keyboard began to bubble and the screen began to melt. It was my daughter who noticed the smoke emanating from the laptop, which was sitting plugged in to the power strip, just sitting there. I quickly unplugged the laptop and then tried to reboot it. It wouldn't restart.

After a few tries the laptop did power on, but the screen was dead (only shining a grey light) and the smoke started again, so I shut it off.

I then spent almost 2 hours on the phone with Dell getting bounced around from service rep to service rep. One even hung up on me and never called me back on the callback number he asked for at the beginning of the call.

Finally I got through to a service rep who indicated that Dell would indeed replace the melting laptop, although it'll be 21 days till i get the computer.

It's amazing to me how electronics can fail like this. This laptop was never dropped, always well cared for and used on many trips. It only became a full use computer when we moved into our new home and Heather wanted to be more mobile in her computing (rather than using a deskop as Ivy is too mobile for Heather to actually sit and check her email.).

I hope that Dell actually DOES ship out the replacement and we can get back up and running before too much time passes by. Until then I'll have this BBQ'd laptop on my desk.

My Day on a Bike

2008-09-18T22:21:14Z

I've had it on my calendar for a while. September 17, Bicycle day. Today my sole mode of transportation is my bike. It's not a fancy bike, I bought it used from Sellwood Cycle a number of years ago (a side note, I won't buy from them again...but that's another story). My first mission today was to try to find a rack for my bike (it had one before I bought it... and Sellwood obviously removed it before selling it to me... so I want one again).

I rode from my home near 39th down to the Bicycle Repair Collective. They informed me that my bicycle doesn't have the eyelets for a rack. From there I cycled up to the Hollywood district to Hollywood Cycling on 41st and Halsey who sent me to Hollywood Cycling on 52nd and Sandy. With a less than ideal solution I decided to 'go across the street' and stop in to Bike Gallery where a service guy basically said 'you're screwed'...

I rode back to 41st and rewarded myself with a green smoothie at Trader Joes and picked up a few groceries for home... I was dangerously low on peanut butter and I have 3 kids.... not good.

A nice ride home and I've stopped to plot my next stop. Using ByCycle I've plotted the best bike course to tonight's OurPDX meet up at The Chesterfield which is on 11th and Burnside.

Depending on the time I may grab a bite at Red & Black Cafe or The Hungry Tiger. After that I'll be cycling cross town to SE 48th where my local neighborhood tea monk Paul Rosenberg (owner of Sacred Tea) is doing a rare tea tasting tonight!

The journey will end later tonight as I ride (tea drunk) home. A modest 10 or so miles ridder.

After moving from the SW suburbs where you take you life in your hands It's an absolute thrill to easily and safely ride to everywhere I need to go! I love NE!

How Jewish Am I...Really?

2008-09-16T21:41:43Z

It's this very question that I find myself grappling with today... How Jewish AM I...Really? Technically, I am very Jewish. I was born to two Jewish parents, went to Hebrew school, had my Bar Mitzvah at age 13 and then what? Since 1983 the whole definition of my religious beliefs have been muddled. From Age 13 to 18 I spent most summers at Jewish Summer Camps. I enjoyed the communal Jewish experience, the community shabbat, singing Jewish songs around the campfire... if you asked me at the end of a never-long-enough summer, I would answer 'VERY JEWISH'. But the with the return to school and the soon to follow 'High Holidays' my passion and connection would quickly fade.

By Yom Kippur while fasting I'd quickly change my answer to 'Not Fucking Much'. You see, I hate Yom Kippur. Despise being 'trapped' at temple, pressured not to eat anything. I dread the ever repeating service where my most common activity is flipping through the pages of the sedur to find when the damn thing is going to be over. And it's always puzzled me, how exactly did my passion and love get so quickly transformed?

This cycle of love and dread has continued through most of my life. There have been times where I have embraced my religion, held my arms out wide and then held it close. Then there are times when I've crumpled it up and tossed it in the trash. One of the most challenged times for me with my relationship with my religion was when my father died young from cancer. Since that point I've never really been able to fully reconcile a belief structure with such a rigid view of the universe and the death of someone who I loved dearly and who by all accounts was a good man.

At times I think I've stuck around Judaism out of pure pressure. I mean my religious path was always well established - I'd get Bar Mitzvah'd, go to Israel after being 'Confirmed', Marry a Jewish Woman and raise my kids Jewish. And while I've deviated from that path, I've always felt that I'm locked into it. At 13 I did have my Bar Mitzvah, but almost the next day I told my parents that there was no way in hell I was going to study any more and get confirmed. To this day I still haven't been to Israel. I married a woman who converted to Judaism and yet every member in my extended family married someone who isn't Jewish. I don't really celebrate Shabbat, only go to temple to drop off my kids at Hebrew school and no longer fast on Yom Kippor.

I do have quite pleasant memories of my Bar Mitzvah. I can remember riding the long bus ride from Moraga to Danville (where I had a short stint in private school) listening to my Torah portion on a Walkman the size of a brick. My mother brought over the DVD copy of my Bar Mitzvah tape the last time she visited, and I was of two minds about the whole thing. The first, that the party and all those people were more about relatives and friends of the family than anything else, and second that I look like I had a really great time.

But mixed with any good memories are ones which are not so fond - fighting with my parents (usually my mother) about exactly what we could or could not eat on Passover (I mean corn syrup in coke...give me a break! Also I never understood the idea of a passover cake!). Also many of my memories of temple involve either being bored out of my mind, or the feeling of being trapped.... flipping pages, looking for when it will all over.

When I start to really think about how religion even fits in my life I have an impossible time reconciling something that makes me miserable with something I'm supposed to be doing. What is this for exactly? I'm not trying to be coy, I don't think I'm every really clear WHY I'm struggling with being Jewish. I mean, shouldn't it be obvious? Shouldn't it be clear why I'd go to temple, why I'd celebrate holidays, why I'd what to teach my kids the same things I was taught?

And yet, I find myself joining and quitting congregations in a town far too small to be changing dates at the dance. As I stood last week, arms crossed, ready to explode at my son's Hebrew school I realized that I had to start dealing with my real feelings about it all. The issue which got my blood boiling was the explanation of a series of annual benchmarks that my children had to meet in order to be granted a date for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. While this might on some level be entirely reasonable, I mean kids do have to learn what they need to learn in order to have a Bar Mitzvah, the idea that there's some standardized testing of sorts for faith just struck to the core of my problems with my religion.

After all.... Isn't religion supposed to be something you feel inside, something that connects you to others and something you WANT to do!? When did a sort of standardized testing get into the mix. And then it hit me, the feeling of being trapped, flipping through the book to find out when we'd be done... it's the same awful feeling I felt in school when I wasn't learning and wasn't having any fun. It's the same... YOU HAVE TO... feeling I felt growing up, when my destiny wasn't in my own hands.

So with the annual renewal form sitting on my desk I'm drafting another letter of resignation to another congregation I'm going to no longer be a part of. It's like agreeing to have your car towed away... What the fuck do you do next? And that's where I am at, or rather it's much more complicated than that.... Because it's not just about me, I have a wife and kids. So it's not only my own beliefs and connections but the responsibility for my children's.

So back to that question... How Jewish am I Really?! I'm starting to think that the answer really isn't important. The truth is, on some level I AM Jewish, but I don't think that really needs to be measured. My path clearly isn't an easy one and I realize that I need to not let the expectations and impressions of others dictate what and how I do. Perhaps if there's some way to find my way back to those not-nearly-long-enough summers and that feeling I had so long ago.

Walking The Talk 2 - Date Night

2008-09-15T00:03:26Z

When I moved to NE Portland it wasn't to chase a pipe dream. I said when I moved I would park my car and walk and now, several weeks into it, that's exactly what I've done. Sure I realize that I'm still in the 'honeymoon phase' with my new location. Yes things will change once the rains start to fall. However, the gains I've made changing my lifestyle these past few weeks are too big to dismiss.

Walking The Talk all started with the entire family walking out the door and down the street for Sunday Brunch. It continued the day school started and instead of piling the kids on a school bus, we walked them to school but to me the real walking the talk happened the other night when my wife Heather and I went on a date.

With three kids, date nights only happen about once a month (or when we can get a sitter). It's always a rush of freedom as we used to hop in the car and drive downtown for dinner, a movie or a show and some drinks. The thrill was even grater this date night as we walked down the driveway towards the car and then took a sharp right walking down the sidewalk and off to our date.

Walking on our date gave us an opportunity to really talk. The dynamic is much different when you're in a car talking then when you are walking. The world slowly creeping by gives a different setting for a real talk, it changes the tempo, it alters the way you communicate.

The first stop on our date was Sivalaya Thai, a local neighborhood restaurant where the family who runs it always makes you feel at home. Sivalaya is one of the few Thai restaurants where complimentary appetizers, Thai iced tea and mango with sticky rice can accompany a meal. We sat and had a nice long and leisurely dinner, after all without a car, there was absolutely nowhere to rush to,

We had intended to make a stop a my favorite local beer shop/pub Belmont Station after eating dinner, but we were so stuffed from dinner we decided we needed to 'walk it off' before we did any drinks or dessert. So we walked, and walked and walked. Soon we had meandered our way from 48Th and Stark to 7Th and Morrison! With the heart of the city in our sights we felt an elation equaled to scoring a goal or hitting a home run. After buzzing by many of the bars around LoBu we finally decided to head back up Burnside to The East Burn (a lot less 'sceney' than the bars around LoBu).

At The East Burn we sat sipping cocktails and ordered their famous Trinity Fries - A Blend of Russet and Sweet Potato Fries and topped with Fried Leek. Because we hadn't driven around town, scoured for parking spots, gotten pissed at the ludicrous cover charges at some of the LoBu bars our time at The East Burn was completely relaxed a fun. A nice romantic moonlight walk home with a crisp night air was the finale of our walking date. As we were walking we tried to estimate just how far we had walked that night.

The next day I popped on Map My Fitness and plotted our route. 5.6 miles! My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe how much ground we covered on our date. This experience would not have been even remotely similar if we had gone by car, not just from an environmentally point of view, but from an experiential one. Life is different when you experience it by foot and the more I walk the talk, the more I can't imagine living any other way.w

Book Review: Lala Pipo

2008-09-10T19:04:24Z

Lala Pipo is a very dirty book. It's got a strange fascination with the entanglement of ordinary people and extraordinarily perverted sex. But Lala Pipo isn't a pornographic book per se, it's intent is more to explore than excite. Told in a series of interweaving stories Lala Pipo follows several very lonely people as they try to connect to the world around them. Their intersection with others often happens sexually and almost always has an unhappy ending.

Author Hideo Okuda does a fantastic job of weaving these short stories into a cohesive whole. Rather than a book of six short stories Lala Pipo is a complete novel where each character gets their own complete storyline and several events are seen from more than one perspective.

If you're easily offended by sexuality then obviously Lala Pipo won't be for you, but for people who think literature shouldn't shy away from dealing with the sexual relationships between people Lala Pipo is worth checking out. I found it to be a well written, engaging and entertaining book.

KNRK - It's Absolutely Not Different Here

2008-09-10T18:52:37Z

It was late, well past midnight and it was the last day I was going to spend in the San Francisco Bay Area before heading off to college. I had called in to Live 105 and was chatting with Big Rick Stuart who was jockeying between our phone call and the on air play. Rick came on the air and wished me a safe trip and played a song to send me off. That was the kind of radio station Live 105 was.

Mark Hamilton was a DJ at Live 105. He was the voice you'd also hear promoting the DJ's spinning tunes down at One Step Beyond or The X nightclub. He was surrounded by great music and great people. So it was a fantastic revelation (Back in 1994) to find that he landed here in Portland at the very young KNRK. I met him at one of the early KNRK snowball shows, the one with Everclear and No Doubt. He seemed like a great guy.

Unfortunately it seems that Mark has forgotten what makes a great radio station. Over time he tweaked the playlist favoring retreading bands like Sublime over debuting new music and new artists. Sublime might be a slightly notable band but I doubt they should be continually haunting the airwaves of an alternative station.

Recently KNRK did a major revamp to their playlist, out was most of the new or truly alternative music (except for bands coming to town in KNRK sponsored events) and in were classics. KNRK effectively remade themselves into a Rock Mix station. The switch started gradually, with 'classic alternative' artists like David Bowie. Listen to KNRK for 2 hours and you'll hear classic Bowie at least once....Then came bands like The Cars and Tom Petty. Tune in enough and you'll wonder if KNRK hasn't fused with KGON. At times even KUFO is more alternative... Which is sad.

Perhaps KNRK is a victim of its own success. Late last year their morning show with Greg Glover began to beat the competition. Perhaps that taste of popular success fueled them on to chase the popular audience. But what used to be a fairly descent alternative station is gone. Many of the good people are still there. Greg is smart guy, knows his music and takes risks (Listen to his Bottom Forty Sunday Nights). Gustav is still the friendliest face of the station, his perfect playlist and track 7 show he wants the station to be a good one. Tara is just plain great, she knows what's going on, but she's as powerless to fix it as anyone.

It all boils down to Mark Hamilton... Program director. Who has made a major misstep with the station by building a playlist that simply isn't alternative. At my home office I've switched of KNRK and listen to KEXP online. KEXP, based in Seattle, ironically is the station supporting MusicFest NW (while local KNRK is notably absent). I hear new music via myspace and am more likely to fire up my mp3 player than my radio...

Next year Community Supported KZME 91.1 is set to launch. If KZME follows KEXP's model it could give KRNK a serious run for its money. Until then fans of alternative music need to email Mark Hamilton and let him know that the playlist changes aren't welcome, and remind them what 'It's Different Here' really means. KNRK keeps saying it's YOUR station... So tell them what YOU want.

Monotonix Redux - MusicFest NW

2008-09-08T18:50:32Z

It's taken me a few days to process what happened at Satyricon on Friday night as part of MusicFest NW. It was one of those situations that was so outrageously amazing that after it's over you begin to doubt if it actually happened.

Growing up in Northern California I was blessed by a phenomenal music scene. Concert promoter Bill Graham helped make San Francisco mecca for rock shows. With my varied interests in music I've seen a lot of very different shows in a wide variety of venues. Few shows have left me as mouth-open-awe-struck as the Monotonix show at Satyricon.

I had heard tales from friends who had seen Monotonix live: drummers body surfing, instruments set ablaze and all around insanity. It was my friend Ian Jane who most emphatically insisted I see them perform... I don't know how I'll ever thank him.

Many bands are known for their onstage antics. It's the very showmanship which earns bands a following when they play live. You go to a U2 concert, not because the music is great (although it is), but for the amazing show that they put on. Some bands are all about show. Kiss rocks, but would you really go see them if they played without the grease paint and pyrotechnics? Would Hannah Montana be the same without the four story video screens? What Monotonix did in their Friday night show went far beyond antics or showmanship, it was a complete musical revolution.

From the first note of the show Monotonix declared their musical independence. Rather than setting up their instruments on stage they put them right in the middle of the show floor. Everyone encircled them as they assembled their drum kit and plugged in to their amps. Then it happened, like an explosion Monotonix filled every corner of the room with their music, the entire (and I do mean entire) club erupted in dance.

I've been in my fair share of mosh pits in my time (the most memorable was Pantera when they played in Watts/Los Angeles), but I've never been in a pit that included every single person in a club. Also the 'pit' at the Monotonix show was unlike any pit I've been in before. Rather than people pushing and shoving eachother, elbowing and flailing, the entire room bounced and danced together.

As Monotonix played you could see the sheer glee on the faces of everyone in the club. Monotonix somehow was re-capturing something that we all thought was lost - a real, honest to goodness punk rock show. True punk has become extremely rare, there are many bands out there trying to be punk rockers, emulating the bands which came before them, but so few simply ARE Punk. Monotonix is punk.

It's impossible to capture what happened that night...This is the best I can do:

Flying through the air lead singer Ami Shalev crowd surfs as he sings, pausing only to climb up to a high ledge on the ceiling of the club. A trash can is bounced around, water is flying through the air. The high hat is kicked over and promptly reset. The guitarist leaps up onto the stage and then jumps back off. Nothing in the room is still. After a few songs the band picks up their instruments and moves them further to the back of the club and the circle of people follow.

"Sit Down", "Everybody Sit Down!" yells Ami, and miraculously everyone listens. I am drenched in sweat, I am thirty seven years old and haven't been in a pit in years. I am half leaning and half supporting the people around me as we sit on the floor of Satyricon. Ami thanks everyone for being at the show and then instructs everyone to wait till he counts to four till they jump up and dance. "One... Two... Seven.... Nine.... Five.... What comes after Three?!?!", everyone yells "FOUR" He says, Wait for it!"... and then "FOUR". Again Monotonix is an explosion of sound.

A few songs later they're heading towards the door. Stretched way past the end of their amp cables, so they unplug, carry their instruments outside where Ami climbs a tree, moons everyone and makes a speech. The drum is lifted with the drummer on top and he bangs on it. The concert ends in a street side celebration of music.

Everyone stood, mouth agape looking at eachother... "Did this just really happen?" "Oh my fucking God!"

The Monotonix show was one that people will talk about for years, it's the kind of show that you thank your lucky stars you were at or curse the sky that you missed. Monotonix returns to Portland at the end of the month with The Silver Jews at the Wonder Ballroom. They are not to be missed

TBA: Leesaar The Company & Mike Daisey - Simply Amazing

2008-09-07T18:45:50Z

The buzz you're hearing about TBA is all true. Portland's Institute for Contemporary Art has continued to build on its success by attracting world class talent and creating an artistic epicenter that should not be missed.

This Saturday night I caught two TBA simply amazing TBA performances:

Leesarr The Company - Geisha

Geisha opens with dancer Jye-Hwei Lin, dressed only in a pair of blue jeans, who dances and moves around the bare stage to no music. This opening piece sets the stage for what it to follow. Lin's bare chest creates a musical canvas with which she uses every inch. Each breath, tilt, movement is carefully cherished in this dance.

Lin's dance is beyond captivating. As she holds a pose, arms stretched out, body nearly frozen, she waves her fingers as if they're caught in the breeze. This tiny movement on a huge stage is as loud as the leaps and twists which later follow in the piece.

Lin's stark opening dance is followed by Lee Sher, wrapped in a silk robe, she serenades the audience with Israeli pop music (lip synchs to a concert track which includes audience cheering). This interplay between the dance and Sher's pop serenade gives the piece a fascinating contrast and breaks up the quiet and tiny universe which opens the piece.

After several scenes Lin is joined in her dance by Saar Harari who mirrors Lin's dance and sexual energy while transforming the moves and energy from female to male. What follows is an electrifying dance between Lin and Harari which each dancer wrestles with whose dance it is. Lin pulls back in elements of her solo dance and Harari transforms those elements.

The two dancers drift between synchronization, responsive dancing and stillness. As the piece build the two dancer's orbit draw closer and closer. As an audience member you're pulled into this dance, waiting, hoping, wishing that the two worlds will collide. But just as this anticipation comes to a crescendo it's interrupted by another song from Lee Sher.

I won't spoil the ending of this piece, the 'will they, won't they' drama is part of the whole excitement and I think it would be a disservice to clue you in on the ending. But I was amazed at the end of the piece just how sucked in to the drama I had become. I've seen a good amount of modern dance but never anything so deliberate, passionate and amazing as Leesarr's Geisha. This is the kind of work that could awaken a love for modern dance. Leesaar performs Geisha one more time (Sun Sept 7 8:30pm at Lincoln Hall/PSU) be sure not to miss it.

Mike Daisey - MONOPOLY!

I saw Mike Daisey perform his monologue "21 Dog Years, Doing Time @ Amazon.com" when he brought it to Portland in 2005. I found 21 Dog Years to be a funny, amusing and entertaining monologue, worth every penny of admission. It was enough make me want to see Daisey again when I heard he was returning with TBA.

Something has obviously happened to Daisey over the past three years, because what he did at Portland Center Stage's Gerding Theater was nothing short of landmark. As guest festival director Mark Russel introduced Daisey he mentioned that the desk and chair on stage belonged to Spalding Gray. As he said this I gasped. To me it's almost unthinkable that another performer, outside of a Spalding Gray tribute show, would be permitted to use Gray's trademark desk and chair. Russel commented that he and Eric Bogosian felt that there was no one better than Daisey to be permitted to sit behind that desk... and they're right.

When Spalding Gray died I thought it was simply the end of an art form. Great monologists are few and far between and I doubted that anyone would ever really be able to follow in Gray's footsteps. I was wrong. Mike Daisey is Gray's heir apparent. His monologue MONOPOLY! is one of the smartest, funniest and well crafted piece I've seen on stage. Daisey's mastery of which story to tell when and his deep understanding of metaphor as commentary echoes some of the very best work of Gray. But Daisey isn't doing a Grey impersonation. His style, cadence and narrative are uniquely his own.

MONOPOLY! weaves several stories together including the history of Nikola Tesla, Daisey's attempt to mount an avant-garde theater piece featuring a Tessla coil, the history of the Monopoly board game, his experience with a Microsoft industrial video shoot, his family in Maine and the impact of the local Walmart on the town. Daisey's weaving of the stories is pitch perfect and he uses the interconnections of them to express the core themes of the piece.

MONOPOLY! is extremely entertaining and laugh out loud funny. It plays one more time at the festival (Sun Sept 7 8:30pm at Gerding Theater at the Armory) and then later in the festival he performs a new monologue If you See Something, Say Something that I will absolutely be seeing.

Can You Please Not Sing Along With The Music??!?

2008-09-06T18:55:16Z

I can't say I've ever really been much of a fan of Vampire Weekend. When I hear their music I can't help but hear how they've clearly lifted their musical influences (they're a simple mix of 80's ska band and Paul Simon). I had a spot in my MusicFest NW schedule so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Could they deliver something live that expanded beyond the affable tunes on their debut album.

As I stood there tapping my toe to the music, realizing that the 'we sound just like the album' show wasn't going to win me over an argument broke out between concert goers.

Could you PLEASE not sing along to the music!

While it wasn't quite an altercation, the 'discussion' soon heated up into a full blown argument. The behemoth of a guy standing in front of me (and blocking much of my view as he constantly leaned over to give running commentary to his date) puffed his chest and looked like he'd charge at the scrawny guy who was belting out the words to one of his favorite songs. Could there actually be a fight over the right to sign at a rock concert?

This wasn't the first time I had experienced something like this. When Arcade Fire came to town I was sitting up in the balcony. The couple next to me jumped up and started to dance to "Rebellion (Lies)", soon after the couple behind them hollered over the music for them to 'sit down'.

This whole phenomenon is astounding to me. I grew up in an era of music that measured a good show by how much you jumped around, sang and danced. A truly great concert was once which swept you up and made you a part of it, made you forget that you had shelled out some dough to watch someone stand on stage for a few hours and bang on instruments.

Music has changed, it's become much more personal. Rather than getting together and 'putting the record on', people now listed to more of their music through little white iPod earbuds. It's a pristine, unencumbered and solo musical experience which doesn't translate when that music is transformed and shared by a large room full of people.

The iPod generation has had its impact with artists as well. Vampire Weekend played an extremely clean show, rarely deviating from their recorded songs. In many ways their reproduction of their pristine sound helps make them a hit with the crowd. It's a neat and tidy relationship.

Soon after this incident I went down to Satyricon and saw the Israeli Punk Band Monotonix. It was the complete antithesis. As the entire room jumped and danced with the music, collided and collectively sweat I was reminded why I used to love to see music live. You go to a concert for the same reason you see a comedic movie with an audience, to share that experience. Something happens when people come together to share the music they love and I hope that the iPod generation can get educated about that.

A Tale of Two Festivals - MusicFest NW and TBA

2008-09-04T18:38:54Z

Tonight two major arts and entertainment festivals had their kick-off events. Both showed that Portland is big enough to support two huge festivals, even when they run at the same time.

I started the evening at MusicFest NW, their kick off party was an outdoor cocktail party in the lot next to the Wonder Ballroom. Less of a scene than a gathering, the party was most notable for the extremely long line for the open bar. The bar line was almost as long as the line of people waiting to get in to see the bands. Did I really wait fifteen minutes for a shot of Soco?!?

I caught the Battles whose set was well received. As I listened to their mostly instrumental music, I couldn't help but think "Music Geeks". The Battles play with passion and energy but their music often is over-thought and muddled. I enjoyed some of their songs but wasn't ever pulled out of my 'hey I'm watching a music show' space and so my aside from some toe tapping and light head bobbing the set left me a little cold. I was surprised at how many people brought kids to the show. Maybe mathrock is something that appeals to kids.

Just a hop skip and jump away at the new Left Bank Building PICA launched their Time Based Art festival with a warm and welcoming party. The party was open to anyone and everyone and the scene was a nice mix of people. The Left Bank Project (which is dubbed 'The Works' for the TBA Festival) is a very cool venue with so much space that there were tons of nook's and crannies to explore. One area's tenant was a version of Backspace Cafe just for the fest. Also a nice patio area featured a work in progress by Justin Gorman whose large format graphic painting was fantastic to see in progress.

Some of the other art, including Big Skin by Lizzie Fitch, Anna Halprin's Blank Placard Happening and the Flash Choir were solid misses. (Perhaps the Flash Choir would have done better performing in the outdoor space).

A solid start though to two landmark Portland festivals

All The World at Ikea and Lucky Bamboo

2008-09-02T19:01:09Z

I don't know what possessed me to go to Ikea on Labor Day. Ironically I went on a break from actually working. I'm the kind of guy who works on Labor Day, not that I'm some sort of workaholic, I just find I can do a lot of writing without distraction. Since we recently moved we've been going to Home Mecca (a lot more stylish and fun to shop at than The Home Depot). Today my excuse to go was to return a couple of halogen light bulbs that didn't fit in the halogen lights in our kitchen.

But you can't go to Ikea and not look, especially when the woman in the returns department tells you that they're having a sale. I can't say I totally regret her advice but I can say:

- Shopping at Ikea on a holiday is hell. Think river + Salmon.
- It's impossible to tell what's on Sale and what's just low Ikea prices.
- PB&J Sandwiches are a cheap way to elevate low blood sugar and cranky kids.
- Even though things are cheap I always spend too much money there!

My final take from my trip to Ikea today. Two wastebaskets (one of ours got mangled on the move and we now have 1 more bathroom in the new house), Florescent light bulbs (Ikea's really do rock, good quality of light) and... Lucky Bamboo (at $1.99 my son said he'd spend his own money on this item of greenery for his new room).

The next time I go to IKEA (and there WILL be a next time), I'm going to go during the week while the rest of humanity is locked in their offices.

Book Review: Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

2008-09-02T17:59:14Z

Cain avoids a sophomore slump with a novel that shows her growth as a writer and her potential. In Heartsick Cain unsuccessfully intertwined two mysteries and filled her pages with so many descriptions that the story stumbled over them.

In Sweetheart she's found a better finesse on her intertwined mysteries with a clear realization that the main story of detective Archie Sheridan and serial killer Gretchen Lowell is the reason readers will be coming back for more. Cain is growing as a writer and Sweetheart is a solid step in what should be a stellar career.

As much as I enjoy the dance between Sheridan and Lowell I don't think I'd be all that interested in coming back for more. The characters have reached their natural archs and this book should be the end of the series. Unfortunately Cain seems to capitulate to the pressures in the publishing world to continue a successful series and softens the end, which could instead have been a shocker.

While not a perfect book by any stretch of the imagination, Sweetheart is a solid psychological thriller and is highly recommended for readers who were seduced by the Hannibal Lechter/ Clarisse Starling like connection between the characters in Heartsick.

In A Nutshell - They're Screwed

2008-09-01T18:36:48Z

The restaurant started out of a simple proposition - create a unique place which served gourmet food that used fresh local and natural ingredients and didn't have any animal products. The words VEGAN weren't plastered across the sign or on the menu. The food was just Vegan by nature. The restaurant had its roots in a series of very successful Vegan family dinners run by then Tabla chef Sean Coryell. Coryell went to great lengths to produce intricate and flavorful dishes using a wide range of exotic ingredients. Speaking with Sean at those family dinners you'd hear his absolute passion for the food.

Coryell enthusiasm fueled a nearly year long effort to build Nutshell. Opened in late 2007 and located on North Williams, Nutshell won raves from the Veg community and even won over some hardened omnivorous Portland foodies. But no sooner had it opened than the signs began to show that things were not well behind the scenes. An ever changing menu and constant experimentation by Coreyell and almost manic fascination with expanding the restaurant to Tokyo, Hawaii... "global man" created an environment where food could be extremely hit or miss.

Coryell's departure from Nutshell marked a significant change. The menu with a thousand revolving dishes was simplified down to just a handful, the portions cut back significantly and although the restaurant was built with an open kitchen as its centerpiece the men and women in the kitchen made it perfectly clear they were all about business.

This week Nutshell made another turn. With rumors circulating about its demise and increasing complaints about the food and service Nutshell added butter, eggs and cheese to just about every dish on the menu (There's even an egg on their pizza). With a bad taste already in their mouth this move infuriated the Vegan community and signaled another clear step towards the end of this once beloved eating establishment.

So what went wrong? Were Coryell's eyes too big for the patron's stomach? Did the Tabla team bungle things behind the scenes as they did with the Ten 01 opening? Or is it too much to thing Portland can sustain a gourmet vegan restaurant? (or even a Vegan Strip Club?) I think Portland can absolutely sustain Vegan restaurants, even a gourmet one, but like all restaurants they need to be well run. Just because something is Vegan doesn't mean it's going to be an immediate success and adding eggs to your plates doesn't mean you'll stay afloat. I'll be surprised if Nutshell didn't shutter its doors by the end of the year or completely reinvent itself (ala Ten 01).

Walking the Talk

2008-09-01T17:54:56Z

One of the many reasons I moved from the South West suburbs of Portland into 'town' was I that I do not like to drive. It's not that I'm a bad driver or that I haven't driven a lot in my life. In the late eighties and early nineties I used to drive from Northern California to Upstate New York at the start and end of the college school year. I've spent a month on the road in the US and have probably logged at least a hundred of thousand of miles in driving in my life. Road trips have their appeal, but the day to day grind of hopping in my car and driving eighteen or so minutes from home to the city was simply getting old.

I'd like to say that I moved because of high oil prices, sure paying $60 a gallon does give you pause, but in moving I traded my fairly cush Washington County property taxes and traded them for the heftier Multnomah County Taxes. Like everyone now a days, I do care about the environment, not in the green washing was so many people have paraded their ecofriendliness of late. My views of environmentalism were shaped back in college after reading books like Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia (which ironically is set in the Pacific Northwest). My senior seminars for the Political Science part of my education: Environmental Politics and Chinese Politics (yeah a pretty good selection in 1991).

But not driving goes beyond the desire to 'save the environment', it's about a quality of life, and experience of the world you don't get whizzing by at 40 miles an hour. So the first full Sunday we've been in the new home we laced up our shoes and walked. From home to Sweet Pea Bakery is just under two miles and the walk through the tree lined streets is a literal breath of fresh air. The walk took the five of us just over thirty minutes (with Ivy in her Bob stroller). Sitting down to our Vegan Sunday brunch there was an added sense of accomplishment. Getting there by foot made the experience all that sweeter.

The family dynamics change when you 'hoof it'. Rather than being squeezed together in a car, the kids have room to roam. Sibling squabbles happen a lot less when you're paying attention to them rather than the road ahead of you and the drivers around you. Kids are also a lot more likely to talk to you when you walk with them. Walking hand in hand with my son he expresses his feelings about the move in a way that just wouldn't happen from the back seat of a car. My daughter skips down the street and then my son follows suit hopping off the steps of houses as we pass. I hold my wife's hand as she pushes my youngest. There's a reason why walking is the oldest and trustiest form of transportation.

We did get caught in a late summer shower the last quarter mile of our walk. The rain was part of the whole experience as we dashed between trees to avoid getting soaked. I've been talking a long time about improving the quality of my life by getting out of my car and living in an area where life can been done on foot, and this weekend I began to walk the talk.