wicked, keller auditorium, portland, oregon, originally uploaded by PDX Pipeline.
Scott and I saw Wicked Thursday night at The Keller. I finally got to see what Scott was raving about and the songs finally make sense to me. The story was great and the music was, uh, very musical. (Okay, I admit, most musicals sound like variations of the same song to me.) But I'm glad I was finally able to see Wicked.
I dragged Scott to the Whad'Ya Know? taping in Salem on Friday night at the beautiful Elsinore. The show was great! I don't mean this in a negative way, but the show was just what I expected. Just like Wait, Wait, I'm glad I was finally able to see a show live that I've listened so often.
Scott and I saw Kathy Griffin last night at The Schnitz. Her act had some of the same material from her Seattle show last November, but she had a lot of new material too such as octoplet mom Nadya Suleman.
We went to the 9:00 PM show which wasn't quite sold-out (sorry, Kathy -- but a Wednesday night show?). The gays certainly tried to fill the concert hall. Bravo was also taping the show, so The Schnitz was lighted the best way I've ever seen it.
I'm toying with the idea of posting news items I find interesting. Not sure I'll stick with it though.
"On a more amusing note (or maybe just sad), Milbank also references a bulletin to the White House press corps issued prior to the press conference. The memo set a tone importance and fanfare for the event. But, when the moment of the event rolled around, there was apparently such a dearth of reporters and spectators in the room that White House interns were conscripted to fill the empty chairs." (HuffPost)
Woo-hoo!:
"Comedienne Kathy Griffin has added two more shows in Portland, where the quirky outspoken comic will be taping her Bravo show special this March. "On March 4, the 48-year-old actress will be at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall at 6:30 p.m. and again, at 9 p.m. Griffin will also tape her show, "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List," at the shows."
Seattle to build $4.25B tunnel to replace ugly/noisy Alaskan Way Viaduct (NWCN.com)
Portland City Council to give-away at least $100K+ for uninteresting Auditor election. (Merc)
Tammam, Dan, Scott and I saw the Evil Doers Ltd. comedy show on Friday. I only happened to see an ad for the show Friday afternoon and we decided to see the show less than hour before the show. So, we were rushed just getting into the show and it took me a little while to settle into the first comedy act.
Overall, I liked the show, but five comedy acts in a row was a bit much even with an intermission. I really liked the final headliner, Ahmed Ahmed from the Axis of Evil tour.
It was interesting to realize that only four days after the election the Bush bashing jokes already seemed dated.
IMG_8488, originally uploaded by jdong.
Scott and I saw Mythbusters' Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage at the Schnitz the weekend before last. I didn't notice until after I bought the tickets the disclaimer: "'Behind The Scenes At Mythbusters' does not include experiments or explosions.". Mythbusters is one of my favorite shows so I probably would have bought tickets regardless, but a small 'splosion would have been nice too.
Adam Savage is definitely the showman and pretty much led the show. They did show a few clips and some unaired experiments. The highlight was an unaired high speed footage of Savage lighting his fart.
The talk was in the middle of a Sunday afternoon so there were a lot of kids (and child-like adults). The talk was interesting, but sitting in a stuffy, sold-out concert hall with a bunch of (sticky) kids got old quickly. (Well, I have no evidence of the stickiness, but I'm sure some were.)
Dolly Parton @ Greek Theatre, Berkeley, 8/5/08, originally uploaded by jkms.
Photo, stolen from Flickr, is from a concert earlier this week.
Last night, I paid back Scott for dragging him to the Elton John concert nearly two years ago. I could not have imagined ever going to a Dolly Parton concert. I was a little surprised he wanted to go since I've never heard him play her music, but apparently he has fond childhood memories of A Smoky Mountain Christmas.
I was a little concerned when I saw a few too many (more than zero) cowboy hats in the arena, but flaming gay men and drag queens seemed to out-number the cow hats. There were also a few young girls who apparently knew Dolly from "Hannah Montana".
Dolly was great. She sang and played a wide variety of music including a brave cover of Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy". I was surprised how much of the concert was her folksy banter with her devoted fans and reminiscing about her Smoky Mountain upbringing. So the concert was interesting and Dolly is very charming.
Scott and I attended the third annual charity screening of Serenity on Saturday by PDX Browncoats. We almost forgot about it, but I just happened to read a mention of it on another website.
We attended the 1:00 PM screening which was the second of three weekend screenings. Unlike prior years, the screening we attended was not sold out and a little quiet, but still fun. The movie still holds up as one of the freshest, most entertaining movies.
Tammam and I went to Margaret Cho's Beautiful stand-up show last night at The Schnitz. I know her last tour I saw in Portland during the 2004 election was a little too political to be funny, so I was a little apprehensive about her latest show. However, she returned her classic comedy routines last night about gays, lesbians, vaginas, and her own body functions while rallying to fight for gay rights, immigrant rights, self-worth, and other progressive and moral causes.
I couldn't find clip from her current show, but here is an earlier version of her comedy:
Her opening act Ian Harvie was also great. Initially, he appeared to be just an average, young gay man doing gay jokes. However, even the largely queer and queer-friendly audience was hushed when Harvie outed himself as a female-to-male transgendered person who dates women. For a moment, it was a little confusing, but he did a great job relating some his story.
Sometime last week, I began hearing OPB's ads for the Ira Glass's upcoming appearance in Portland . . . er, Clackamas. I was surprised to hear he would be speaking at the suburban mega-church New Hope. I attended New Hope in junior high during the late 1980s and know it to be very active in anti-gay politics, so it seemed like a very unlikely venue. Yes, logistically, New Hope is an attractive suburban venue with a large sanctuary, comfy pews, good sound, plenty of parking and easy freeway access. However, conservative, suburban, Clackamas? It doesn't seem like the stereotypical progressive-leaning, urban, public radio audience venue.
After reading a Metblogs.org entry about Sienna Architecture's business with New Hope last weekend, I sent a whiny late-night complaint to OPB.org:
I was very surprised and disappointed to hear that OPB is presenting the Ira Glass event at New Hope Community Church on October 7, 2007. New Hope is a politically-active organization that actively opposes gay rights legislation and regularly hosts politically conservative events. While I support OPB radio and am a fan of Ira Glass, I would not feel comfortable entering New Hope's facility especially at this politically sensitive time.
I suspect many OPB listeners and Ira Glass fans would have similar reservations about the New Hope venue. Can OPB assure event attendees that they will not be soliticited political petitions at the venue. If not, will the venue allow opposing political views at the event? Can OPB assure that event fees will not benefit New Hope's political activities?
Thank you for consideration.
I hate writing whiny e-mails and had second thoughts about whether I was making a big deal about nothing. I received a response Monday afternoon (underline added):
Thank you for emailing us about the Ira Glass event. I'm sorry that our choice of venue for the event is causing you distress.
The New Hope Community Church was the only space available of the size we needed for the date that Ira would be able to come to Portland.
I certainly understand that you disagree with their political outlook. Given the large and diverse audience we serve it is inevitable that there will be conflicts of opinion. I believe one of the values of public broadcasting is that it helps create a space where conflicting beliefs can respectfully co-exist.
The hall rental is not an endorsement of the church or it's political viewpoint. The church is not a co-sponsor and will have no part in the program. If they have material in the lobby (such as they do for youth groups and other activities) it is not part of the OPB event.
I hope that you consider attending.
Please let me know if I've addressed your concerns. Thanks for your support.
So in other other words, no. New Hope may very well have anti-gay signature petitions as reported by the Merc and no, OPB cannot guarantee that the ticket sales will not benefit New Hope's political activities. A disappointing response, but I resigned myself to thinking, 'well, I tried'. However, I apparently was not the only annoyed Ira Glass fan. Portland Mercury reports that Roey Thorpe sent complaints to OPB last week and Lelo in NoPo has also been leading an effort to have OPB change the venue.
Yesterday, Ira Glass's agent, Steven Barclay, apparently announced that Glass had requested that OPB request a change in venue (although last night OregonLive reported that OPB would not change the venue). Today, the Merc confirms that Ira Glass will not appear at New Hope.
What is most disturbing is that OPB handled their screw-up so poorly. First, why in the world would they do any business such a controversial, political organization? Secondly, instead of admitting they screwed-up, OPB tried to defend their unpopular and offensive decision. Now that OPB is changing the venue, it seems that an apology would be in order and some guarantee that OPB will do a better job choosing who it associates with.
Here's some of Scott's pictures:
|
|
Scott and I just got back from the taping of Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall this evening. As a regular Wait, Wait listener, I've been anticipating tonight ever since I missed their last Portland visit a few years ago. I think Scott had a good time -- although I had to explain which of the boring Saturday public radio programs this was before hand.
The taping was really interesting. Surprisingly, the live taping is not very different than what makes the air. The pace is slower, but there was more banter with the audience. I heard many in the audience share their disappointment that Paula Poundstone was not on the show. But it was great to put the familiar voices to the faces of Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell, Roy Blount, Jr., Amy Dickinson, and Adam Felber. Peter Sagal sounds so calm and rehearsed on the show, I was surprised how much he danced around his podium and gestured. The celebrity guest was Columbia Sportswear's "One Tough Mother" Gert Boyle. I can't wait to hear the show on Saturday.
Body Worlds 3, originally uploaded by wweek.media.
Scott, Sheena and I saw Body Worlds 3 at OMSI this evening. Sheena raved about a similar exhibit she saw in Europe a few years ago. We almost took a day trip last fall to see Bodies The Exhibition in Seattle, but we got sick the day we had planned on going. So I've been looking forward to finally seeing this exhibit.
It is an interesting exhibit. The bodies are displayed in very artful poses and there are some amazing displays of human and animal anatomy. However, the posed anatomy became a little monotomous after a while. I suppose if I worked or studied in the health field, it may have been a little more interesting. In the line, I noticed there was a guy in scrubs who was buying a ticket.
Sheena was disappointed that there were not more "freak show" bodies like the exhibit she saw in Germany. She has a good point. The obese person cross section, stroke brain cross section, and the smokers' lungs were definitely the most interesting to me. If anything, there were too many beautiful, athletic bodies posed. There is something dramatic about seeing what happens when the body goes wrong.
I'm glad I went to the exhibit. It was definitely worth seeing, but I hope another more interesting exhibit comes to town.
 |  |
Last night, Scott, Tammy, David, and I attended the album release concert for Pink Martini's third album, Hey Eugene!. I was a little last-minute in buying the cheap tickets so we ended up at the top row at the top of the balcony of The Schnitz. Even so, the view from 'the nose bleeds' wasn't that bad and we still enjoyed the concert which featured the David York Ensemble and March Fourth Marching Band. Scott liked the David York Ensemble (although their performance was ruined by a loud baby -- WHO BRINGS THEIR BABY TO A CONCERT!?), so we may go to their next concert. March Fourth was crazy and entertaining as always.
Sadly, Thomas Lauderdale mentioned that the Jefferson High School choir that was featured one of Martini's previous albums no longer exists. He urged his hometown to support Portland Public Schools and its music program which, of course, solicited applause.
I like the title track from the album, so I'll probably make my one yearly album purchase.
Scott, his co-workers and I saw Alison Arngrim's Confessions of a Prairie Bitch on Friday night. I was never a big fan of Little House on the Prairie (IMDB.com), but I did grow up watching the show and am familiar with the evil Nellie Oleson. Arngrim's hilarious stand-up act is all about her character and her behind the scenes experiences. She believably claims that someone has called her a "bitch" everyday since she began playing Nellie Oleson in 1974.
At 45, Arngrim looks terrific and still resembles the child actor we all know and were a little terrified of. She is very aware of herself and how we all know her. She even made her famous bug-eyed glare and wore a curly wig with bow just to scare us. She never complained about carrying the burden of 'Nellie Oleson' -- she said she even paid tribute to the real Nellie's gravesite in Forest Grove, OR, that day.
We had a great time, although the venue, the gay bar CC Slaughters, had a disgusting smokey atmosphere that made us leave as soon as the show ended. I thought smoking was banned from bars, but maybe not yet. While the show was a for a good cause, CAP, it seemed to be at the expense of another cause.
MissTexas
Originally uploaded by nojam75. [Image stolen from TriPro.org. Kevin Cook as Miss Texas in Triangle Productions' Pageant.]
On Friday night, Scott and I joined his co-workers at Triangle Productions!'s comedy musical Pageant at the tiny Firehouse Theatre. We were all there to see Scott's co-worker, Kevin (aka Poison Waters), perform as Miss Texas, a semi-finalist in the fictional Miss Glamouresse pageant.
The show was hilarious! The show's small venue required audience participation including five audience members posing as pageant judges. In fact, one blond judge/audience member almost stole the show with her banter with the pageant's MC. There was also a drunk audience member who was too enthusiastic about the show. However, the MC did a great job of improv and wrangling the audience.
The show was a great way to end the week. I'm always amazed how a relatively small show (compared to a blockbuster movie or big stage production) can be so entertaining. I really should go to more local performances.
Sheena and I just got back from the Muse concert and my ears are still ringing. I knew the concert was going to be loud, but I didn't realize how LOUD.
The concert was at the Roseland Theater which is a relatively small venue. However, Muse crammed their stage and speakers into this tiny space. It was quite an overwhelming audio/visual experience. Although I risk sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, if the audience can't hear the lead vocals, then the volume is too high.
However, I will say Muse's lead singer, Matt Bellamy, gave a great performance and seemed to put all his energy into the concert. Also, the all-girl opening act, The Likes (?), was also fun.
Next I'll remember to bring my ear plugs and walker.
BTW, happy birthday, Sheena!
Just got back from Elton John's concert at the Rose Garden. It was terrific! I was a little concerned that he would pull a diva and have a long opening act and a short 40-minute concert. But there was no opening act. He just came out started playing almost three hours worth of songs. He did all the favorites and a couple from his new album, The Captain and The Kid, which I got yesterday. He ended with Bitch and after he milked the encore ovation by signing autographs he closed with Don't Let the Sun Go Down(?) and he dedicated Your Song to us (although I didn't hear him say "Portland", so he may not have known what city he was in). Either way, it was an incredible concert.
Scott was a great sport. I know he's not a fan of pop music, but he accompanied me anyway. He was happy the only song he familiar with Your Song was finally played.
We ran into his co-workers at the concert who seemed to have reluctantly got free tickets through work -- whereas I excitedly paid for mine months ago (like the old queen I'm becoming).
Also, Tammam texted me and said he was there too. He didn't mention that he was going when we mentioned during brunch today, so I assume he got tickets from someone.
