We here at the Mercury are big fans of Kick Ass Oregon History—they produce a great podcast, as well as bus and walking tours and other live events, and I think they do a great job combining a deeply geeky appreciation for Portland's history with booze, jokes, boobs, and other things that are fun. (The newest issue of the podcast is about how the government shutdown thwarted a school trip to Crater Lake—or did it??? I dunno, I actually haven't finished the episode yet.)
Recently, Kick Ass Oregon's "resident historian" Doug Kenck-Crispin lent a hand to OPB in the production of the new documentary Portland Noir, which looks at the seedy, violent history of Portland in in the 1880s and 1890s. The program will air on OPB TV on Monday, Oct 21 at 9 pm, but you can catch an early free screening this Friday.
I can't figure out how to embed the video preview (which surely is my fault, and not because OPB made an unembeddable promo) but you can watch it over on OPB's website. In the meantime, here's a trailer that pretty much sums up Kick Ass Oregon's refined sensibilities.
"Your compost is so dirty." (!)
The OPB documentary will be considerably more, um, buttoned up than the above clip. It's screening at the Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan, on Friday at 7 pm.