Urban Honking

My Uncle Manny is the second youngest of 12 and thus, as memories get hazy and stories get grandiose, and mom changes her story but pretends she doesn’t, or forgets, he seems the most reliable when regaling with stuff about my family. Lately, he’s been sending me beautiful black and white photos, of my grandma […]

Here, by popular demand (i.e. Kevin), is my illicitly-kept journal from the 4 days I spent working at Cyberrep. It is very long, and also very depressing. ENJOY: CyperRep: “So! What is it about this company that interests you?” Me: “ummmm…well, I have lots of experience with customer service, and…uh…cell phones…” (trails off) CyperRep: “go […]

Jim at Outsports, a gay and lesbian sports site, writes: “We are grateful for this blog for bringing this to our attention and I used some of the terrific comments in my story.” C’n’P scooped on the Ride Snowboards Boycott debacle, and didn’t even know it! How exciting.

One Love Records in St. Johns has just expanded, and a man wearing Ben Franklin specs is now painting a loosely chronological mural of hip-hop’s old-school greats (including the obligatory, Run-DMC Tougher than Leather stance, and a mushy image of DJ Hurricane emerging from a bottle of Budweiser). When I drove there last night—20 minutes […]

Received in mail today, from unintelligible BKLN return address: 1 mini personal bible (“Verses of Comfort / Assurance / Salvation”) 3 informational pamphlets (“Where are you going to spend eternity?”, “…sinner who repents”, “How to know god”) 1 “Gospel according to John” fanzine, in broadsheet format

General Consensus: Critics hate the new Liars record, musicians LOVE the new Liars record, across the board, based on casj weekend polling. Margin of error: ??? I personally love the EP, but could only get through about 3 1/2 songs on the full-length before I felt like I was being subjected to a purity test […]

From my friend Nate’s hourly pop trend missive: “J–Have you heard the new Liars? I predicted the creation of this album one and a half years ago. Deceit by This Heat is the new Entertainment by Gang of Four, so tell anyone who might be interested, I’m selling my copy: N/M slight ring wear on […]

Ashes 2 Ashes organizer/host Huy Pham, AKA Knuckles, at the battle: “Someone stole this dude’s wallet… that’s not cool, this is hip-hop… this is supposed to be a positive thing, you don’t come to a jam and steal someone’s wallet, turn yourself in! This is hiphop!… also, I got DVDs of the last jam for […]

Tonight, rather unexpectedly, the well-dressed heartbreaker known as Mr. Matthew Dear drenched his every song in a sooty overlay, oiled up with nuevo house on the Motor City train. The final stretch, a 17ish-minute extendo version of “Dog Days,” thickened until we thought we might break from its nasty funk–or bite off our own hands, […]

Two things: First and foremost, Multnomah County is issuing same-sex marriage licenses. This morning 110 couples lined outside the Portland County Courthouse, in the freezing rain. Word to County Chair Diane Linn for making it happen. Her quote, according to my coworker Phil: “This feels right to me–not just legally, but spiritually.” Second: last night, […]