Tag: portland

I Fell Out Of Love with Los Angeles

LA, I love you so much. I didn’t think I would. I’ve had some great shows, attended some great rockshows, been out dancing, eaten all the veg@n foods, met some incredible artists and been in the room with many of my heroes. But twelve years later, tides have turned, and there’s a smell of lavender and pine needles in the air, and I gotta go back to Portland. But I’ll be back sometimes! Whenever Jarvis Cocker is in town, when goth festivals are in the offing, when a friend wants me to feature for them, I’ll return to you.

COMEDY CORNUCOPIA at REV HALL!

comedy cornucopia comedy show portland oregon virginia jones

The HAHA HARVEST kicks off on Black Friday with a jam-packed showcase featuring me, Ron Lynch, Lizzy Cooperman, Mav Viola, Adam Cayton-Holland, and Janae Burris at the Revolution Hall!

This is going to be a HEAVY show, with some of my favorite comics from across the country. I’m super honored to be asked to join the HAHA HARVEST and the COMEDY CORNUCOPIA show! Tickets for this show are HERE!

Right Hand Red!

Come see the show that everyone’s talking about, RIGHT HAND RED! At least I think they’re talking about it!    It’s fast, it’s funny, it’s a little weird, I’m in it!

PASHA PRODUCTIONS PHOTOGRAPHY

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Any comics looking for HEADSHOTS: A very talented local photographer is Pasha Gross, and she shoots bands, strippers, and roller derby gals in town, and is in general a little fun and has a little edge to her.  I just did my shoot yesterday and had a lot of fun, and feel confident that I’ll get a great picture out of it.

Here is her website to check out her existing work: www.pashaproductions.com, you can make an appointment through that site, or you can call her at 503-236-5585.

Kumoricomedy!


Kumoricon is an annual convention dedicated to Japanese anime, and features three days of cosplay, video rooms, exhibitors, panels, video games, manga, and bizarre fan creations. We went as Leigh Bowery, who is not from anime, but we got our pictures taken a lot anyhow.

My friend Pete had a special DDR game with 13 songs from his label, Diskowarp, at table 17.  Hundreds of barefooted people and one guy in a Furry outfit jumped on my DDR pads, which now must be bleached, and the surrounding booths heard the song “Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire” one thousand times.

If extreme dedication, shut-ins in leotards, or nerdiness make you sad, you shouldn’t come to this kind of event -but the DIY costumes, and the clashing of cultures really is something to see: I saw a hundred Links, a couple Howls, one Old Gregg, and dozens and dozens of beautiful Gothic Lolitas. These kids are all communicating with a visual code that I can’t understand, but for damn sure they don’t want to talk to you. Many of them can’t make eye contact, but oddly they will ask for hugs.

Anime nerds in their natural habitat, in the park across from the mall.

How to annoy nerds: Yell at them “We’re readin’ MAGAZINES!” and take their picture without asking. How to excite them: Yell “Matt Damon!”

You Say You Want A Revolution-

Every Summer, there is a visible increase in bike ridership in Portland. Every year when the Tour de France starts, there are more bikes. This year, with gas topping four-bucks-fifty, there are still even more bikes.

In general, this is a good thing- for one, for the first time since the Carter-era gas shortage, car fatalities have gone down nationally.
On the other hand, I read that bike commuters are bad for the planet, because we live longer and use more resources, and if we really loved the earth, we’d all ride scooters and smoke.
Despite this, I like when there are more bikes, except when it inconveniences me- like when helpful wags wave at me manically as they approach in the wrong direction in the bike lane, or when the Portland police take it upon themselves to set up “sting” operations, like the one at the traffic circle in Ladd’s Addition on Monday. (In Little Rascals style, a bike who had been stopped at the Stop Sign Which Seems Superfluous circled back to the entrance of the Addition to warn the morning bike traffic that we’d better stop for once, which was very nice.)

This morning, a new commuter pulled up and we had the following conversation:

Nice Lady: Hey, I saw that you tripped the signal at 21st and Division! I thought we had to wait for a car!
Me: Oh, no, if you see a tar circle on the ground, pull into the outer third and it should trip the signal.
Nice Lady: That’s great! How long have you been bike commuting?
Me: (Bashfully) Well, several years anyway- I just hit 9000 miles on my odometer!
Nice Lady: Oh my gosh! Well, thanks so much!
Me: Um…Excuse me, but isn’t your helmet on backwards?