This clever little birthday card was “printed by hand on an antique letterpress” by the Portland-based Letterary Press

And speaking of letterpress! Don’t forget about the Independent Publishing Resource Center’s anniversary party tonight, featuring solo sets from folks like Brandon Summers of the Helio Sequence, Hutch ‘n’ Kathy, Tara Jane O’Neil, and Sam Coomes of Quasi.

Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th (21+), and Backspace, 115 NW 5th (all ages), 8 pm, $10 (includes entry to both venues), tickets available through brownpapertickets.com.

Read all the nice things I had to say about it here, and hit the jump to hear what a few of the participating performers had to say about the show tonight and the IPRC in general.

Brandon Summers:

"I came to participate in the IPRC show through Barbara Tettenbaum. Barbara, (a member of the IPRC Board who works under the imprint Triangular Press), is a very close long-time friend of myself and my wife. We met her through the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts and she was there for both of us during meager times when we first moved to Portland. Barbara is not only an amazing book artist but a great flautist and fiddle player as well. Through her I met a lot of people in the Old-time, Bluegrass, and Irish music scene in Portland and began to play a lot more acoustic guitar...a different side of playing and understanding music for me. Occasionally I sit in on the circles she has at her place during parties and get-togethers and play the few old-time tunes I know, pretend to play along to those I don't, and maybe throw in a song of my own. She noticed this and asked if I would like to play an acoustic set sometime for the IPRC. And...so it goes. This will be the first solo acoustic set I've ever played in public.

"I've never worked with the IPRC myself. To be honest, I spend so much of my time holed up at home and in our studio working on music and travelling that I don't see much of the Independent Press world in Portland. But...looking into it more, it's really inspiring. I have a small book of poetry I've written over the years and I've just been sitting on it for a long time wondering how and where it will see the light of day. My wife is working on the art and book design and now I'm really excited to know about a community of people where I can take things for advice, feedback, and help with realizing it's publication."

Sam Coomes:

*Im not reading zines too much these days, mostly because Im in a continual time deficit, though I used to read them quite a bit. Ive had friends, housemate, etc who published zines - some still do. I think the blog world has sort of taken on a lot of what used to be dealt with in the zine world, for better or worse, but the zine is a higher form than the blog. Anyway, Im not really sure exactly what a zine is anymore, since self published stuff sits accross a pretty wide spectrum. But still, independant press is free press - its obviuosly essential.

Tara Jane O'Neil:

IPRC is a community. it radiates all over the globe.
its seems kind of like the heart of portland DIY
creativity machine.
zine library, letterpress, xerox machine sans kinkos
vibe, scrap paper pile, paste that smells like
kindergarten, etc. its one of the best playgrounds
ever. and the kids dont beat up each other.