Knitting Craze Grows

As I suspected, knitting on the bus has become the hottest trend in Portland. Today we have a young woman with a nose ring (so we know she is cool) knitting. I can't see what she is knitting yet, but I have no doubt it will be something hip and cool. Maybe I should open a store selling hand knit clothes made on the bus.

Bracketology Update

What a difference a game makes. Yesterday was I was in first place in a couple of my pools (most importantly my office pool that pays out over $1000), but after the Memphis loss I have fallen to third and because I had them going to the championship game, I now have no chance to win. I had big plans for that grand and now it is gone.

Joe Jackson - Look Sharp

Joe Jackson is an enigma. He might be the lesser know Elvis Costello of our generation. Starting out as a punk rocker, he was too smart and too musically talented not to expand beyond the genre. He has put out stripped down records, big band records and a record full of beautiful piano ballads. I became a fan when I heard the single, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" still one of my all time favorites. "Sunday Papers," Fools in Love," and the title cut "Look Sharp" are all great songs on this record that still sound fresh today.

Look Sharp was Jackson's first record, followed up by I'm the Man. Both were hits in the US and UK, so it was a bit of a shock when he veered into big band and some of his more experimental stuff. I saw a show in Houston after his third record came out and people left in droves when the large orchestral style band played his older hits without a guitar. Can you imagine any of the songs on this record without the guitar riffs? Most Jackson fans couldn't either and he never really sold a lot of records after that. However, sales as we know do not equate to quality, so I would also recommend listening to Night and Day, Beat Crazy, and Body and Soul.

Dinner with Jesse's sister

Got to meet Amy and Jesse's sister Jenn today. We had a great dinner at Jake's and a little tour of the Pearl.

Lonely Boot

Somewhere there is a little kid running around with only one boot on. This makes me sad.

What are you supposed to do in a situation like this. Do you pick the boot up? If you do, where do you take it? It's not like there is a central lost and found for stuff you find in the street.

I tend to think it is best to leave stuff like this alone. When I loose something I always back track along the route I took that day looking for the lost item. I am sure there is a mom that will be happy to see the boot is right where she parked earlier in the day and was trying to stuff the kid in the car, while talking on her cell phone and drinking her chai latte.

No Rickshaws

I read a great article in the newspaper today entitled, "Public Literature." Like most people I love a strange sign or a weird bumper sticker. The way we communicate to each other in public is very interesting and becoming more prevalent with the Internet. However I had never thought of it as public literature, quite a provocative idea, and an opportunity to create a new tag on the blog.

My first entry is one of my all time favorite signs. When I was in Bangladesh I saw this sign a couple of times in the embassy neighborhood, what might qualify as an upscale neighborhood in Dacha, easily the poorest place I have ever been. They want to keep rickshaws out because they cause huge traffic jams and they are the transportation mode of the poor. The first thing you learn from this sign is that the red slash is universal. The second thing, and the thing that makes this sign so funny, unfortunately you can't see, but there are about 10 rickshaws sitting right underneath it. Signs are worthless in Bangladesh. No one stops for stop signs, or stop lights or follows speed limits. The biggest joke was the no car horns sign outside the hotel. I think that only made them honk louder.

Crush

Crush is an upscale gay bar, restaurant and club on SE Morrison. We have been there many times for cocktails, especially when there is a long wait at Nostrana, one of our favorite restaurants across the street. Last night the wait at Nostrana was over an hour so we decided to eat at Crush for the first time. We got there at around 7:00 PM and it was pretty empty, but it was packed out by the time we left, so our waiter was a little overwhelmed. As always the cocktails were great. They have a good selection and the bartenders are very nice. The menu was pretty extensive: salads, sandwiches and several entree choices. We tried the cauliflower soup to start which was delicious, but very rich, so a little went a long way. Then we had the Thai Beef salad and the Mac 'n' Cheese as our entrees. The M'n'C was disappointing from the first bite as it tasted fishy. I had ordered it with grilled chicken, but the other option was salmon, which made me think they put the wrong one on there and switched them out. The Thai Beef was good, but uninspired. So, Crush will remain on the list, but probably only for drinks.

Crush

1400 SE Morrison

Portland, Oregon

503-235-8150

www.crushbar.com

Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Schocking

Name the greatest band to ever come out of LA: The Doors? Gun 'n' Roses? Good choices, but none top Jane's Addiction. Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro combined to give stadium rock a punk rock flavor that was high energy, intense and artistic. The first time I saw Jane's live was at the inaugural Lollapalooza show. Our friend Eric Z. edited their music videos, so he had back stage passes to the show. Before they hit the stage we sat around talking to them for a few minutes and they were truly the weirdest people I have ever met, my friend Kirk said, "I looked into Perry's eyes and I am sure I saw the devil." When they finally hit the stage, they were amazing. I have never seen that kind of energy between a band and a crowd that large.

Nothing's Shocking was the band's first record and is still my favorite. I don't think any of the subsequent records ever captured the energy of the band like this one did. Also, "Jane Says" is still one of my all time favorite songs. In case you are wondering Jane's addiction is Perry, does that make sense?

March Madness

And so it begins, one of best stretches in sports. Two weeks of the NCAA Tournament closely followed by the Masters. As promised I am posting my bracket so you can track my pain if you are so inclined. My final four is UNC, Memphis, Villanova and Louisville, with UNC winning it all. Arizona and Western Kentucky are my two Cinderella teams, both number 12's going to the sweet 16. Most importantly, I will be in front of the TV tomorrow at 4:30 PT to cheer on the Horns as they take on Minnesota.

The Importance of Being Ernest

Last night we attended the Portland Center Stage presentation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest. First off the PCS is a great place to see a show, there is not a bad seat in the house. Secondly, I would say that the production was excellent. The story is quite simple, two upper class men fall in love with women that are interested in them for the most shallow of reasons and through a few interesting twists and a lot of Victorian era humor (that stills draws big laughs) we see if the relationships come to fruition. I don't want to go into the plot too much as this is a very famous play, and many people have at least heard of it. What I do want to explore is the role of this play in today's theater.

I have to say I found it strange to sit through a play that was written and first performed over 100 years ago without any modern adaptation. As far as what we saw on stage, I can't imagine it was very different than what a crowd would have seen in 1895. I haven't seen a lot of plays in my day, but more often than not, it has been something avant garde or experimental. For example, work form a current playwright or a modern take on Shakespeare. To see a play that was so far removed from our day was an interesting experience. I felt like the audience should have all been issued period costumes and the venue should have been more in keeping with the times than a Platinum LEED certified building - more like going to an original Shakespeare performance in the new Globe. I am not saying I didn't enjoy the performance, because I did, I just felt like I was watching something as opposed to being part of something and I wish I could have been drawn in more.

The experience is almost like seeing an old movie from the 50's when all you are used to are more modern films. Some people like old films better, but I think the best films, music, books and plays are all being written right now. In the 50's you could only make black and white films, now you can use black and white, saturated color, or washed out gritty film to set a mood. In the 50's you could only make sexual innuendo and even married couples had separate beds, now you can explore relationships of all stripes.

Taking nostalgia out of the equation, there has to be something that talks to you as you live your life today for a play, novel, work of art, etc. to endure and I can't put my finger on what that is for Ernest. There is no doubt it got a lot of laughs last night, but there has to be a 1000 funner plays out there, why do we need this piece of Victoriana to live on? Is it Oscar Wilde? This is his most famous play and he is one of our most enduring authors. Maybe we need this play to live on for him to live on.

The Importance of Being Earnest, February 24th - March 29th, 2009, Portland Center Stage Gerding Theater - Main Stage

Bracketology

Today is the start of the biggest two weeks in college basketball. March Madness, a time when US corporate productivity drops and computer networks are overloaded with people watching games on-line. This should be an interesting tournament as parity is the prevailing word this season. We had several different teams ranked number one and a couple of teams that were number one more than once. The most exciting thing for me so far was Baylor's run in the Big 12 Championship. Baylor had a very disappointing regular season with a lot of close losses, so the only way they could make the NCAA tournament was to win the Big 12 Championship outright. They made it to the final game by beating top ranked Kansas and 5th ranked Texas. Unfortunately the run ended in a tough loss to Missouri.

So back to the NCAA Tournament. Louisville, North Carolina, Pitt and UConn are the top seeds. The only controversy I see here is Memphis who could have been in that group; they are a very good team and I think we'll see them in the final four. If Lawson is healthy, I am thinking UNC wins it all, but I am not 100% on that yet. A few early upsets I am feeling:

Arizona (12) over Utah (5) - solid, pick it
USC (10) over BC (7) - solid, pick it
W. Kentucky (12) over Illinois (5) - possible
Va Comm (11) over UCLA (6) - possible
Michigan (10) over Clemson (7) - possible
Marquette (6) lost their best player, I am leaning towards Utah St. (11)
I think Kansas (3) will struggle with North Dakota State (14), but I am not ready to call this an upset yet.

Texas has a tough opening game against Minnesota, if they get past that game they could face Duke. Duke has struggled in the last couple of years in the tourney, but I think I have to go with my head not my heart and pick Duke. I will post my bracket on Wednesday, so you can see all my picks.

Oregon Humane Society rescues 131 dogs in Burns, Oregon

The dogs and I were left to fend for ourselves for a couple of days this week, but it was for a good cause. Barbara travelled out to Eastern Oregon with a caravan of of OHS staffers, vet techs and volunteers to help rescue 131 dogs from one breeder in Burns, Oregon. If you check out the video of the rescue at the the OHS YouTube site, you will see the deplorable conditions the dogs were living in. There was not enough food, so only the strongest dogs got enough to eat and many of them were scarred up from fighting. They also were not getting clean water, and had to drink from a muddy puddle of water that was frozen over when the rescue team got there. You can read more about the rescue and make a donation to support the dogs that were rescued at the OHS web site.

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

I know some long time fans won't agree with this, but I think Spoon is a band that is getting better and better. Their sixth record Gimme Fiction was a big hit and all of a sudden you heard them all over the radio. Funny thing is they didn't change their sound to become more accessible, or do anything hugely different. They just kept doing more of a good thing. Originally founded in Austin, Texas, Britt Daniel (vocals/guitar) and Jim Eno (drums) are the mainstays of the band. Daniel now makes Portland his home and the band recently played an amazing sold out show here at the Crystal Ballroom. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is their latest effort and my favorite so far, but do not hesitate to explore their back catalog.

Big Passenger

I don't know if this picture does this person justice, but she is huge. When she got on the bus they had to lower the wheelchair ramp and she barely fit through the door. Not only is she taking up a full two seats from side to side, but they had to flip the chair up in front of her so she could sit down. When she walked down the aisle to get off the bus, you could feel the bus moving. I wonder if they change large people for two tickets on the bus, like the airlines do?

Tribute to Otis

My friend Jeff is one of the biggest dog lovers I have ever met. In fact he has published three awesome dog books, the first of which featured our dogs Binkey and Bongo. A few weeks ago he lost his cherished dog Otis to cancer. As a tribute he got this awesome tattoo of Otis (the yellow circle by the right paw is a ball, it didn't come out very well on this picture).

If you want to read the saddest thing ever, check out his blog about the last days with Otis.

Knitting funny little hats

I have written about knitting on the bus before. If you are one of my three frequent readers, you know I think it's strange that women bring all that stuff on the bus and treat it like their living room. Today I learned that knitting on the bus is sweeping the country and that I am the one who doesn't get it. I used to think it was just old, Eastern European women who knited on the bus, but now, as you can see, young men are knitting colorful hats on the bus. Soon all the kids will be knitting their own iPhone cases and knitting needles will be the cool piercing tool. Clearly this is a growing trend we will have to keep an eye on.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Barbed Wire Kisses

JAMC are hated by many. I understand that. If I paid good money for a concert and the band showed up and played for five minutes with their back turned to the crowd and left I would hate them too. Luckily I had heard about this before they came to Houston, so we were prepared for the worst, which ended up being 30 minutes of noise that was hard to decipher as any of the songs on the record. Which gets me to the point, they made great records. I chose Barbed Wire Kisses (a 1998 collection of B sides and outtakes), because "Sidewalking" is one of my all time favorite songs and you can't find it on any other record, but Automatic and Psycho Candy are great too. Be warned JAMC is not for everyone, but if you want to hear how controlled feedback spawned bands like My Bloody Valentine and Dinosaur Jr. then check these guys out.

Changing Buses

Today was fun. When I got on the bus, I saw this women passed out in her seat and thought she either had a long night or she was a junky on her way to the methadone clinic. At 39th street, (about half way to downtown for me) the bus driver decided to roust her. She did not respond very well. She could barely stand up and was having a hard time staying awake. He kept asking her if he should call the medical folks, but she was not talking very clearly. On the one hand I thought, yeah let's get her off the bus so we can get to work, but I was also thinking, is it right to leave someone who is basically incoherent sitting on a bus bench?

Luckily the bus driver did the right thing and called for medical help. Of course this meant we all had to empty off the bus and pile into the next one, which was pretty full. The lesson I learned is don't pass out on the bus, no one really wants to help you and if they do it'll take a long time and make people mad.

TCCFTCSOWGNOHPSANWH

A while back somebody from W+K noticed that Wayne Gretzky's name was spelt wrong on his parking space out at Nike. Now you may be asking, why does Wayne Gretzky have a parking space at Nike? Well, he doesn't really. All the reserved parking spaces at Nike have famous athletes names on them. So you can't say, oh Wade Boggs is probably not here today, so I'll just take his spot. You may be parking in the spot reserved for the employee of the month.

So, back to Wayne. Obviously he is a big star and Nike loves their athletes, so it is quite surprising that his name is spelt wrong. Since they are stamped in steel, you'd think they'd triple check before they make them. This misspelling amazes everyone who knows anything about Nike, these guys are really on top of things and they usually don't make mistakes. That is why W+K 12 made a little pin (pictured) to help right this wrong. They call themselves, The Concerned Committee For The Correct Spelling Of Wayne Gretzky’s Name On His Parking Space At Nike World Headquarters. The committee just got a very powerful new member today. I gave Phil Knight a pin and told him the story. He thought it was hilarious. I hope we didn't get anyone in trouble.

Best Meatball Sandwich in Portland

My lunch posse and fellow food critics, Jesse and Ryan (pictured) have been raving about the meatball sandwich at Hotlips Pizza for a couple of weeks now. They got in on the trail run and I guess it went so well Hotlips has made it a permanent feature on the menu. I have to agree with them that this is the best meatball sandwich I have tasted in Portland and possibly ever. The bread is perfect: soft and tasty but still manages to hold together with all that amazing sauce. The meatballs are meat and pork and they have the perfect amount of spice. The best news of all, the sandwich is big enough for a meal for only $6.

Hotlips is my favorite pizza place in Portland. They are a family-owned business that began making pizzas in 1984. In 2005 they added their own fresh fruit sodas. They now have five pizzerias in Portland. They are dedicated to sustainability and reducing their impact on the environment - you can read about how they are trying to reduce their food miles on their website - and their Pearl District location is in the very cool Eco Trust building.

Hotlips Pizza

NW 10th and Irving

503.595.2342

www.hotlipspizza.com

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Woody Allen's latest movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, has been out for a while, but I finally saw it this weekend. It is the story of two girlfriends, Vicky, played by Rebecca Hall and Cristina, played by Scarlett Johansson, on a summer holiday in Spain. They are polar opposites, Vicky is the stern, smart girl who is engaged to be married and working on her masters degree. Cristina is a free spirit, who hasn't exactly found her place in the world yet. Of course they both fall in love with the same painter, Juan Antonio, played by Javier Bardem. Here is where it gets interesting. Juan Antonio sleeps with both girls, but starts a relationship with Cristina. As this is getting off the ground, his psycho ex-wife Maria Elena, played by Academy Award winner Penélope Cruz, comes back in the picture. The rest of the movie explores the entangled relationships of all the main and a few minor characters as only Woody Allen can do.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is not as heavy as Allen movies of old, but you can still see his fingerprints all over it. It is fun and the cast is excellent. While I would have given the best supporting actress Oscar to Viola Davis in Doubt, Penélope Cruz is wonderful and brings the edge this movie needed.