Tags:book, history, neon, photography, portland, vintage.
At long last I’m finally ramping up on a photography project I’ve had in the works for a few years now. The idea is to build up a catalogue of the best neon signs in and around the Portland area with the ultimate goal of publishing a brief book on the subject. About three years ago, before I switched to an all digital workflow, I shot slides of about a dozen signs. Now I’m going back to get images of those in digital format and then expand the collection to include one or two dozen others.
The problem is that beyond the obvious candidates, there are many signs I forget about because I don’t see them very often or that I’m not aware even exist. That’s where YOU come in! I need your help in locating the best examples of vintage (and modern) neon signs so that I can add them to my list. If your suggestion makes it into the project, I’ll give you credit in the book!
Here’s the signs I’m already planning on shooting followed by examples of shots I’ve already taken.
The List So Far:
1. The Capitol Hill Motel
2. The 6th Avenue Motel
3. The Palms Motel
4. Portland Outdoor Store
5. Renner’s Bar and Grill
6. The Baghdad Theater
7. The Laurelhurst Theater
8. The Moreland Theater
9. The Academy Theater
10. The “Made in Oregon” sign (before and after the renovation?)
Examples:
The newly restored Hollywood Theater sign.
A detail view of the neon sign on the Capitol Hill Motel.
The sign at Renner's Bar & Grill in Multnomah Village.
An elaborate neon at Chin's Chinese in Portland.
Sort of an 'inverse neon' treatment at the FARM restaurant in Portland.
Broken but still beautiful - a detail of the neon sign on the Cameo Theater in Newberg.
Tags:best of 2008, black mountain, girl talk, gutter twins, madvillain, Music, steinski, supergrass, the sword, venetian snares, wynton marsalis.
Maybe I didn’t get exposed to enough great stuff this year, but it seemed like ‘08 was pretty devoid of obviously classic material. It seemed pretty dull top to bottom. That said, here’s the albums I thought stood out, in alphabetical order.
Black Mountain – In the Future
These guys fall into the Stoner Rock category. Though they exhibit the usual Black Sabbath influences, they also draw pretty heavily from more progressive sources like Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys, Yes and others. This is their most accomplished disc to date and I think it goes a long way toward transcending the Stoner Rock genre.
Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
When it comes to mash-ups, Girl Talk is really pushing the boundaries. This whole album is composed of pieces of dozens of other songs. The individual tracks are very listenable and there’s an element of detective work as you pick out the riffs and break beats that you know.
The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan teamed up for this project and the results are far better than I expected it to be. You know how some albums end with an epoch song that sends the whole thing out on an apocalyptic high note? Every song on this album sounds like that.
Madvillain – Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix
MF Doom is easily my favorite “underground” hip-hop artist. His flows are unreal. He’s such a master of wordplay that I have to really devote all my attention to his songs when I listen to them. This is Madlib’s remix of the Madvillainy album and it’s fantastic. Madlib’s breakbeats and samples give the songs an entirely different, but equally excellent feel from the originals.
Wynton Marsalis – Standards & Ballads
Wynton takes a lot more shit than he deserves. It’s mainly because Miles Davis dissed him as being too unimaginative, but I think that had more to do with Miles’ ego than it did with Marsalis’ playing. Personally, I love what Marsalis does with his horn and his style is really showcased on this collection of Jazz standards.
Steinski - What Does It All Mean?
If you know anything about the history of hip-hop you know about Steinsky. This guy single handedly pioneered the art of sampling and break beat mixing. For decades his recordings have been available as bootlegs only because of rights issues over the samples. Now the “lessons” are available on a semi-official CD release. Awesome stuff.
Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha
Admittedly, this is far from Supergrass’ best album, but it is better than the last one and has a lot of tracks that I really love. In a better music year this probably wouldn’t have made my list, but don’t let that color your opinion. It’s well worth checking out.
The Sword – Gods of the Earth
On the one hand The Sword is kind of a joke, which is to say that they’re joking around when they go into the histrionics that typify their sound. On the other hand they’re incredibly accomplished musicians and the tracks on this album are some of the best modern metal you can hear. It’s their second album and I think their sound is really starting to come together. I like this one even more than their debut.
Venetian Snares – Detrimentalist
More crazy, CRAZY electronica from Venetian Snares. It’s kind of an acquired taste and most people probably won’t be able to make it through the album in one sitting because it’s so frantic and difficult to take at times, but if you can get with the approach and absorb the plethora of musical ideas he presents on this (and his other) disc(s) you’ll find a lot of rewarding stuff.
Tags:health care, howard dean, obama, Politics.
So, why is Obama snubbing Howard Dean?
I was a Dean supporter when he ran for president. He’s an amazing individual who would have made a great chief executive… if the “liberal media” hadn’t skewered him over “the scream.” But Dean didn’t fade into the background after that incident. He went on to develop the strategy that won Obama the election.
First of all, Dean pioneered Internet fundraising. Before Dean, every campaign was primarily funded by large donors and federal matching funds. Dean blazed the trail to funding campaigns on small individual donations. Dean and Joe Trippi were the first people to fully grasp the power of direct social networking over the Internet. Obama just refined the technique.
Second, Dean’s so-called 50 state strategy was conceived of before he became the chair of the DNC and implemented after. If there’s any single factor that lead to Obama and the Democratic party’s success, it’s the 50 state strategy. Before Dean came along, the Democratic party had offices in red and purple states that were empty for years. They paid the rent but never staffed them. Dean hired the staff for all these offices and created the infrastructure that allowed Obama to be competitive in states where the pundits said he had no chance. If Dean hadn’t done the ground work, Obama would never have been able to ramp up his ground game as quickly and effectively as he did.
So, why is Obama ignoring Dr. Dean? In my opinion, Dean should have been named to head HHS. It seems as if Obama appointed Daschle because he needs a point man in the Congress to get his national health care plan through, and I can understand the move as a practical matter given Dean’s lack of experience on the Hill. But what about other jobs? Dean should have been the front runner for Surgeon General, but Obama gave the job to Sanjay Gupta. One could argue that this was also a move to solidify his plans for national health care, making Gupta a high profile spokesman for the plan. Gupta is TV friendly and known to many people with an interest in health care, but Dean is no slouch when it comes to communicating over the idiot box. Additionally, Dean is far better known than Gupta and would have made a solid and authoritative advocate for national health care.
I’m pretty supportive of the picks Obama has made for his cabinet so far but I’m upset that Dean isn’t among them. All the choice high profile slots are filled at this point and Dean is out in the cold. Unless Obama turns to Dean in the near future I think it’s becoming increasingly obvious that he intends to turn his back on the man who paved the way to his ultimate victory. That’s a very shabby way to treat Dean IMO.
