This may seem naïve, but I was actually a little surprised to hear that Chip Kelly was fired as coach of the San Francisco 49ers after their 2-14 season. No one realistically could have expected Kelly to win with the worst roster in the league, and hopefully he will get some benefit of the doubt …
On a rainy Tuesday night, two days before Thanksgiving, I ventured to the intimate basement club Barboza Lounge on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Playing was British band Skinny Lister. This would be my third time seeing them but my first time seeing them at their own show. The last time I saw them was as an …
A new and imaginative microbrewery, the Labrewatory on NE Russell Street, has arrived on the scene in Portland. The owners, Chris Sears, Patrick Walsh, and Joe Watzig, invite larger brewers in the area to use their four-barrel system to experiment with recipes that would be more expensive to attempt on their larger-scale equipment. The Labrewatory …
Jeanne Clery was raped and murdered in her dorm room at Lehigh University by a fellow student in 1986. Her distraught parents came to believe that Lehigh had not taken sufficient efforts to keep its college campus safe, and lobbied for legislative action. In 1990, Congress passed what is commonly known as “The Clery Act.” …
The best of the best. Doctorate level Pop Culture Recombination studies:
Barron’s (Barrons.com) is a weekly newspaper devoted solely to stocks and the financial markets. My Dad passes along old issues to me. The October 17th edition contains a four page article that is based on responses Barron’s received from its “Big Money” poll about the 2017 financial market outlook and upcoming election. The article does …
As one who once loudly proclaimed my Dylan hatred, I thought it was wonderfully apt. A pleasant surprise from the Nobel committee rather than a cause for the usual mystifying Googling of an author I’ll never read. Here is a writer who actually means something to the lives of people all over the world in …
Hitch, A Wild Ride or Hitch, A Musical in 13 Parts A review of The Joy Formidable’s Latest Album By Peter Dysart As a preface, this album was released six months ago and from the week of its release, I’ve been listening intently. As the band’s third full release, Hitch was immediately a bit of …
I’ve known a lot of “solo artists” over the years… people that used to be in bands, or musicians who were too cheap to split the take 4-5 ways in the first place. Oh, and they moan how hard it is. They complain about airplay, how their records don’t find enough audiences. They fail to …
You know that scene in “The Fly” where Goldblum is experimenting with steak, and has Geena taste a sample of teleported meat? “Not right?” I feel that way about a lot of modern electronica in music. I would’ve thought that with the advent of PCs with keyboards/ MIDI gear essentially replacing banks of synthesizers, new …
The Chicago Tribune has printed a four-part series on a subject I wrote about last year: https://www.eastportlandblog.com/2015/09/22/the-pope-pig-manure-and-minnesota-water-quality-by-mark-erickson/ Here’s one Tribune article regarding pig polluters: http://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/launch.aspx?pbid=3e7227b1-e3b7-4fac-aa07-5f943e58b4c5 As I read the article that landed on my doorstep today I recall the book The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which exposed the production and sale of meat and the …
In light of the recent stories about Roger Ailes and what appears to be the locker-room culture at Fox News, this would be an appropriate musical theme for their broadcasts: Fountains of Wayne’s, “Traffic and Weather”. “We belong together, like traffic and weather . . . “
At an East Portland Blog staff meeting tonight, one of our fine writers related a story about visiting the Billy Graham Library in North Carolina. This reminded me of hours lost in the 1970s sitting forcibly quiet and heroically bored as my parents monopolized the lone family boob tube watching televised versions of Billy Graham …
Purslane has more omega 3 than any other leafy green. Purslane is easy to find in the cracks of the sidewalk. Kay Young substitutes the purslane for lettuce in tacos or sandwiches. Bonus no chopping or wilting! The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. I vote for raw~the less work the better! I added …
Just heard about Garrison Keillor’s recent retirement from A Prairie Home Companion. He actually did so as well back in 1987, but over the next several years he gave in, bit by bit, to his audience’s demands until the show returned in its full reincarnation in 1994. Now that he is 72 years old, however, …
Game over, writers. The robots are are here and writing scripts. – Harper Hull
Regardless of who takes home the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship trophy, the Golden State Warriors’ 2015/16 season will be remembered mostly for their 73-9 regular season record, much as the 1995/96 Chicago Bulls are remembered for their 72-10 mark. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but the Warriors did more to validate themselves as champions in …
Has the news of the greatest underdog story in all sports reached you? Leicester City have been perennial doormats in the English Premier League, when they haven’t been relegated to the second or even third tiers. This season most predicted them to finish near last and be relegated again. They were 5,000-to-1 odds to win …
The first thing you notice about Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers and their new coach, Chip Kelly, is how far it is from the city itself—about an hour’s drive south to Santa Clara in a neighborhood dominated by corporate office buildings. With its exposed white framework, the stadium has a slight resemblance …
I once heard a fan at AT&T Park say that he liked pitching duels when watching baseball on television, but when he was at the park, he wanted to see runs scored. I understood his perspective; hits and baserunners are a lot more interesting from the upper deck than a continual succession of pitches going …
Wednesday eating from your yard tip~Onion chives are one of my top five favorite herbs! Both the flowers and the leaves have a sudtle onion flavor. My favorite way to eat chives are chopped up and heated with a quarter size of oil to flavor the oil before I throw in my eggs. The flowers …
Attention all you fans of punk pop, have you heard of the Subways? They’re an English punk pop trio and they’re coming to the Northwest this next week. Think New Found Glory meets the Runaways. They have a brand video out called Dirty Muddy Paws. Check it out here. They’re playing Seattle on April 27th …
Believe it or not, I’ve been to two Prince concerts. Not out of a “hometown boy made good” support kind of thing but mostly because Mrs. Rimkus was always smitten by him. And liked his music I suppose. They were electrifying shows. Those who never had the pleasure… Back in Prince’s early days, we boring …
Just saw that Garry Shandling passed away suddenly. I liked him. He made meta funny and accessible at once. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/24/471773637/actor-and-comedian-garry-shandling-dies-at-66 His appearance on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee wasn’t that long ago: http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/garry-shandling-its-great-that-garry-shandling-is-still-alive Note the title of the segment. Replayed the episode. A lot of discussion of death, almost eerily so. At one point Shandling …
I’ve enjoyed David Axelrod’s podcasts of late. His most recent interview with Mark Leibovich of the New York Times is pretty insightful. Axe seems to be pretty good at getting his subjects to relax and open up, and he asks good questions. One of the more interesting exchanges was about Hillary Clinton’s limitations as a …
No music fan with a pulse can resist a tune called, “Chimbombo,” and you can’t either…
Not Just a Cycle Scott Christiansen, Author of the book Planet in Distress, explains how natural disasters fit into the Great Controversy and Bible prophecy. Online Books: The Great Controversy Here’s the video above on a page with larger viewing screen.
Yosemite is the real magic kingdom…
In December 2015 I wrote about evangelical Wheaton College’s decision to suspend Larycia Hawkins, its’ first ever female African American tenured professor due to a seemingly innocuous FB post. Well, the acrimony intensified and now Professor Hawkins will not return. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/07/wheaton-christian-college-professor-larycia-hawkins-muslims-worship-same-god In my EPB post, I referenced a similar trial of a Seminary professor, Fred …
Wow this is super weird – I have no idea what to say about it! Bob Fosse was great! Super great! Super weird great! – John Ambrosavage