Spring Fling, Part 2

With the approach of Spring, Winter finally arrived, and brought copious amounts of snow to our nearby volcano, Mt. Hood. May and I took advantage of this late season flurry to strap on the boards and do some "snow sliding" (as the Native Americans called it). After about 10 years of hiatus, May dazzled me with her innate skiing abilities. It appears she has not forgotten her youth spent in Tahoe and held her keep with the best of us. Nice work May!

While she looks like a 14 year old boy here, she skies like a 28 year old lady. Mt. Jefferson looms in the back left.

With such speed and agility, its a wonder she never tried out for the USF Ski Team.

Spring Fling, Part 1

With a leap year and daylight savings so close together this 2012, we discovered we're neglecting the blog! Spring is here and we've been flinging with joy as May got a new job (as a Student Coach at InsideTrack), Todd celebrated his birthday and the first sun rays of summer are knocking at the back door. As we prepare for Spring cleaning and summer sunshine we also hope to be moved to a new space, mentally and physically! We'll be keeping our fingers crossed we can find another place with cheap rent and half the mold. Since we have been MIA a quick update is in order and a promise to be diligent on future posts can be promised.

First things first- Todd celebrated his 29th birthday with some surprise guests from CA, a private karaoke room and a walking tour of Portland. The weekend was a real wake-up call after learning the hard truth about Portland's history of racism (see: Japanese internment, Chinatown, and Vanport) and listening to a bunch of amateurs belt out karaoke tunes!

Celebrating at Clyde Commons! Its where the punks and the elite sit together.

Awesome karaoke room with our own flatscreen and some added musicians for back-up band power!

A map of the underground tunnels on the walking tour...what you can't see is that we are in the basement of a pizza place. Not sure about the historical accuracy of any of the walking guide's information except the racism. 

The "Shanghai tunnels" (shown here) were originally constructed to allow the Willamette River (which flooded downtown Portland every year until the 1920's) to recede. These tunnels became the stuff of myth (and some fact, but mostly myth) as the city grew a reputation for spiriting away drunken sailors to ocean going merchant vessels. The practice, known as "Crimping" actually became big business in the boom town years. Although the practice was legal, it became increasingly hard to trick sailors, hence the popular saying of the time "Crimpin' ain't easy."

Memorial to some of Portland's less than tolerant times. Who knew?

Punk, Blues, Jug

February has been a month of musical exploration as we look for things to do inside, where its warm. We were lucky enough to see three amazing shows that spanned the ages with some old timey jug band music (featuring my former boss (he can play a mean jug)), aging punkers who still know how to rock (NOFX), and revivalist gut bucket country soul (Alabama Shakes). Portland has no shortage of music to put in your ears.

Below are some photos from the festivities as well as links (also above) to some of my favorite tracks.

 NOFX: Yes I got into the pit!

 NOFX: The punks grew up but they still know how to make fart jokes and wear womans undergarments.

 Alabama Shakes: the country soul rockers are the talk of the town. We had to wait in a sold out line hoping to get tickets. The lead singer/guitarist Brittany Howard is a spark plug of southern energy who alternatively growls out blues numbers like a demon or sweetly offers deeply confessional gospel tunes.  

 Jugapalooza! the first annual celebration of all things jug. There was a jug off, double entendre contest, and a group kazoo-a-long. Go on git your jug on. (My former boss is the white haired man with the jug on the left!)

 A tap dancing sax man. Way too cool!

More sax man!