Time for a Portland band to set up a benefit gig. Quasi did one last time. Who is gonna show love to our community and put one on this time? C'mon musicians! Step up!

Reading Frenzy: Move to the East side (cheaper—Hawthorne if you can swing it, or some other east portland 'hood), and expand your magazine offerings (there's no great spot for a wide selection of magazines in East Portland). I will buy lots of indie magazines, you will stay in business. Win-win.

Division/Clinton would probably be ideal. By the way, The Press Club on 22nd and Clinton has a great selection of magazines. No zines though.

Sad! I was just in there, and I had a feeling something was a little off... hopefully they'll get through the rough time. Much love to you Reading Frenzy!

Reading Frenzy started out on Hawthorne and it didnt work, And I dont want to go to Hawthorne Streeet. Reading Frenzy gets cheapish rent. Rent isnt the issue. I doubt it could get cheaper rent on the Eastside.
Just 20 bucks is all shes asking you to spend. do it.

hmm, it might not be comfortable, but maybe being a little more specific about the personal problems that were brought up would serve to get people to reach a little deeper into their pockets.

If rent isn't a problem it would be nice to know exactly why Ready Frenzy is asking for $20,000 - I want to give, I just want to know what I'm giving to.

OK, it's time for Mirocosm, Reading Frenzy, and all other like-minded businesses to stop being so insular and start reaching out to other parts of the community. The Portland DIY culture is dying out because most of the DIY'ers keep to themselves and their little shrinking enclaves of indy-ism. Has anyone made a serious effort to reach out to new Portlanders in the Pearl? Or PSU? How about- heaven forbid- the 'burbs?!? As the zinesters grow up and have families and leave the culture, there's no one new coming in to replace the energy- and people who are looking for an opportunity to get involved get sneers, dirty looks, and a "your messenger bag isn't cool enough" attitude that scares them off into some other cultural void- or back to the TV. Portland is changing, yes, and it can be good or bad- but if businesses like RF and Microcosm stay walled into their same little worlds with the same little cliques, then they will fade away in the same way these social cliques do. It's up to every one of us who values these institutions, and values the old Portland and the independent spirit they represent, to spend less time moaning about our shrinking groups and more time reaching out to new people.

My suggestion? Go fill a void. I hung out in the Pearl yesterday- it is a complete cultural wasteland, and the people there are desperate for some form of life. Yes, it'll be contentious and difficult, but this is the new face of our city- the Pearl, the New Yorkers taking over N/NE, the suburban kids who are just as alienated today as we all were 10 or 20 years ago. Time for some outreach. Time to colonize the parks in the Pearl and read poetry to the masses! Time to infiltrate some suburban chainstores and restaurants and spread the word that there is an alternative. Those of us lucky enough to know this already need to share our knowledge to keep the culture alive, not drown our sorrows in the same PBR's with the same shrinking crowd of like-minded types who now seem awfully old when they moan "back in the day, we had Microcosm, Reading Frenzy, X- Ray, Cafe Lena, Umbra Penumbra..."...

You can start by smiling at the next lost soul you see wandering around the city you love.

I wish the best to RF- I've been a longtime supporter and will certainly come drop some dough down there today. I hope the money goes to developing a new crowd of independent readers and publishers- not just sustaining those of us who've been here from the beginning...

Mikey:

Some interesting points you raise.
And I'd agree that wallowing in nostalgia, or rejecting folks that came from somewhere else solely on that basis, doesn't get us very far. But, it seems that a big chunk of the post-2000 surge of people to our fair burg had already bought into the "hipper than thou," elitist bullshit before they even moved here. Which only seems to amplify the cliquism that has plagued this town ever since I can remember.

And yes, the X-Ray (all-inclusive that it was)will always rule, even if only in the collective memory of a shrinking group of folks.

I love Reading Frenzy! This may or may not be helpful--but has Reading Frenzy ever dipped into selling used books? I've got a collection of graphic novels (often purchased from Frenzy itself) that I would be happy to sell back to the shop. I think they make a better profit re-selling anyway, because they don't have to pay anyone but the book seller...is that feasible? Maybe only for books no longer in stock?

If asked, this time around I would donate those used books for resale, and totally come back for some sort of second hand book sidewalk sale, if it helped get the store through the year. Same thing for design magazines: I could drop off heaps and then I would gladly come back and pay $3 for old Wallpapers of I.D.s or Busts or whatever. Would that work for the shop? Would everyone else be into that?

i know it's been said the rent isn't the problem, but anybody know what the zoning is like for that building? what do you wanna bet the owners are getting a boner over the possibility of a condo remodel?

and instead of buying everyone out, are practicing the fine art of pissing everyone off so they abandon ship or at least are more willing to get out of there when the hammer comes down.

I moved here in 2005 and found that the folks involved in the DIY culture (specifically, the zine symposium folks) were totally welcoming. I count them among my closest friends now. I get insulted when people act like they are all elitist--the fact of the matter is that the majority of folks who are saying that are the ones that somehow feel slighted.

There's this whole phenomenon where people don't try to be friendly to an already established group, and then they accuse that group of being elitist--but did you say hello? Did you make the effort? Lots of artists are SHY but also SO EXCITED about so many things!

I like that Mikey had solutions in his post, though I don't know that reading poetry out in front of Wieden and Kennedy is going to make it more DIY friendly. More important than any of this debate is that Reaading Frenzy is one of those magical places where you can go in adn assume that you will walk out with some awesome book or zine that YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE. That's not elitism--that's quality. I find myself having to avoid it simply because i'd end up broke if I spent all the money there that I WANT to spend there. :-)

SAVE.READING.FRENZY!