Last night, I got back from Portland, Oregon, where I was attending an über-lefty radio conference. I know what you are thinking - an über-lefty radio conference in Portland can only mean one thing - lots and lots of hippies. And yeah, I had to hear, from more than one person, about the “greatness” of The Grateful Dead - a band of which I am not so fond, to say the least1. To paraphrase Nigel in This Is Spinal Tap,”It’s like, how much more hippie could this be? And the answer is none. None more hippie. ”
Still, I had never visited Portland before, and, aside from a 13 hour drive through Oregon about 15 years ago, I haven’t really seen much of the state. But this time, I walked all over the city. Powell’s Books - the largest bookstore I’ve ever seen (check out the PDF map which doesn’t really do justice) - is incredible. There was a also a trip to the Bagdad Theater to see the second showcase of 2008 of the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls - which was really, really cool. I ate some extremely delicious Ethiopian food at the Queen of Sheba restaurant. And, finally, took a tour of the fine community radio station (and gracious host of the conference I was attending) known as 90.7 KBOO-FM.
I saw more of Portland in four days than I see of Santa Barbara on a regular basis - and I even facilitated a workshop on audio streaming and webcasting - because the person scheduled to do it no-showed I am so well respected. Anyway, Portland was great fun, and I highly recommend a visit.
1Q: What does a Grateful Dead fan say when he runs out of pot? A: “Jeez, this band sucks!”
0 Responses to “This land was Portland”
Leave a Reply