[UPDATE: This contest is closed and the winner has been notified.] The Sing a Song of Portland tour is a walking tour of Portland’s musical history taking place this Saturday and Sunday. It’s hosted by Know Your City, and you can get tickets to either day over on their site. However! We’re giving away a […]
History
Posted inEvents
Ghosts of Times Past: Touring Central Oregon (Let’s Try This Again)
Remember back in July when I’d just come back from my first-ever trip through the ghosts towns of Central Oregon, and I was all hot to trot on the fact that Know Your City was hosting a guided tour (something that seems quite useful, considering there’s nothing, and almost nobody out there, to give you […]
Posted inMusic
Sing a Song of Portland
This sounds two parts interesting and one part potentially humiliating: Know Your City is hosting a “Sing a Song of Portland“-themed walking tour on Sat-Sun Sept 7th & 8th, to “learn about the musical history of the Rose City, the issues effecting it today and then join together to sing some of the songs that […]
Posted inHistory
Fifty Years Ago Today, Martin Luther King Jr. Marched on Washington to Demand a $15 an Hour Minimum Wage
Fifty years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to deliver his landmark “I Have a Dream” speech. But while it was an inspiring moment that defined a major milepost in the struggle for civil rights, King’s speech looms so large in the popular imagination that it has […]
Posted inPortland
A Brief History Lesson on the Name “Portland”
We all know our fair city is named after Portland, Maine. “Blah blah blah three pennies blah blah thank god we’re not called Boston, OR.” But it occurred to me that everything on the East Coast is named after something in Europe, so I decided to learn a bit more about the Portland Namely Tree. […]
Posted inFashion
Happy Birthday, Coco Chanel
Few would argue with the contention that Chanel is the biggest name in fashion—the brand itself seems more than aware, with truly arrogant pricing (even for high fashion) and a too-good-for-it attitude toward online commerce. As mainstream as it is, and as sorta turned off as I am by how it plays out in modern […]
Posted inTV
“The Game Called Life Is Really In”
Meet your new religion, starring Robert “Sweathog” Hedges, Ruth “unitard” Buzzi, and Donny and Marie (who “gotta have that funk.”)
Posted inEvents
Ghosts of Times Past: Touring Central Oregon with Know Your City
Over the weekend I worked on a photo shoot that took place in various abandoned buildings around central Oregon, a part of the state to which I’d never been. Therefore, when I looked at the info for Know Your City‘s two-day bus tour of the area’s ghost towns last week, I thought, “Oh that sounds […]
Posted inFashion
Red Wing 875 & 877: Your Heritage Boot Party of the Week
Heritage brands—for the most part, at least in this era—straddle the divide between people who do and don’t care about fashion. The workboots and jacquards worn by the people who built this country may be in vogue at the moment, but they also have that fascinating smack of national pride and history—they’re clothes that will […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Why Yes, Orson Welles DID Do the Narration for the Revenge of the Nerds Trailer
Thank you, Criterion Collection Twitter feed.
Posted inEvents
Molly Ringwald’s Coming to Portland… to Sing!
Did you know that Molly Ringwald has, in fact, been keeping herself mighty busy since her ’80s days as John Hughes’ muse and star of the most iconic teen movies of all time? In fact, she moved to France and did more movies there, got married, got divorced, wrote two books, did more movies and […]
Posted inBooks
Want to Learn About Oregon’s Depressing History of Racism?
“What’s with all the white people?” That’s a question I’ve been asked more than once by confused visitors during my day job as a fact-shouting tour guide. I suspect that for every one person whose asked me directly about Portland’s off-putting monchromism, there are probably several more who have noticed, but haven’t said anything.Breaking Chains, […]