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Saturday, May 9, 2009

Portland / Media Portland Gets Another NYT Nod...

Posted by Matt Davis on Sat, May 9, 2009 at 10:30 AM

And you can thank me for the inclusion of this paragraph:

When I heard that Beau Breedlove, the former intern who at the age of 17 began an affair with Portland’s mayor, Sam Adams, was signing copies of Unzipped magazine, in which he appears 98 percent naked, I hurried to Fantasy, an adult store, dutifully bought the latest issue ($8.99; no sales tax in Oregon!) and stood in line for my autograph — a piece of history.

I was introduced to the frugal traveler Matt Gross at the downtown food carts when he came to town early last month, and told him he couldn't miss the Breedlove signing, so he dutifully showed up the next day, digital camera in hand and backpack on, looking ready for anything. He asked Breedlove "what do you do in Portland when you're trying to save money?" and was told to go to "Blue Hour." I said, "that's not exactly the cheapest joint in town."

Spending time with Gross was pretty difficult because as far as I can tell he's about the same age as I am, yet has the best job in journalism—traveling extensively and getting expensed for everything! What makes it worse is that he's also an extremely nice guy, so it's impossible to be all "well, of course, you know what it took him to get that gig...he's like the male Anna Wintour, you know." Still, I'm glad to have at least been involved in the latest piece of the NYT's coverage of the Rose City. Next time of course, it'll be my byline in there. I know the world wants to hear about Randy Leonard's spat with Amanda Fritz last week, for example. That's a solid national pitch, if ever there was one.

There's a food carts video on the site worth checking out, too...

 

Comments (9) RSS

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1
At least your writing is clear enough not to need seven appositive and dependent commas in a sentence that includes additional punctuation to avoid yet more such commas, including a parenthetical, a semicolon and an em dash! Seriously, that sentence managed its way into the Times? I know they're tight on money, but did they lay off proofreaders?

I hope that helps, jealous man.
Posted by pdxuser on May 9, 2009 at 3:45 PM · Report
2
Not really because I write like that all the time. But thanks anyway.
Posted by Matt Davis on May 9, 2009 at 3:48 PM · Report
3
Glad to see some props to the cart scene, and foodcartsportland.com
Posted by Ian on May 9, 2009 at 7:52 PM · Report
4
You'll get there, Matt! You can do it!!
Posted by ROM on May 9, 2009 at 11:19 PM · Report
5
Matt, thanks for this. Once again you have made me feel proud and happy to be living in this eccentric-friendly spot in the wilds of the Northwest.

Forget status anxiety, keep doing what you are doing, what would the commenters do on blogtown if you got to go sample the world day in and day out?

But if you have to be restless, start an "eccentrics travel blog", which celebrates the weird and interesting.
Posted by gonetorio on May 10, 2009 at 8:17 AM · Report
6
"But if you have to be restless, start an "eccentrics travel blog", which celebrates the weird and interesting."

There is very little about the "Portland" covered in the Mercury that is particularly weird or interesting or not found in the hip areas of any major city.

It is funny though--like the folks outside of Gregory Heights school the other day attempting to play basketball. I'm not sure what was better, the greasy hair and beards sported by nearly all, the tight, ironic outfits, or the bricks and airballs they were throwing up. It was as if they weren't even really trying to play. Gave me a good chuckle though.
Posted by jake on May 10, 2009 at 12:40 PM · Report
7
Kaleidoscope Portland...
...you can forget your wallet and get an IOU slip at New Seasons, because, everyone there is on some fairly mellow possibly weed-related wavelength...the older woman with dreadlock tresses dyed every shade of pink, purple, reads the WSJ... the family that bust up their sidewalk and used the concrete pieces to make a jagged border around the soil, now planted with crops...the person who made their porch siding out of crushed pop cans...the most amazing food carts in the US...bicycles everywhere, closest thing to Amsterdam and Paris in the US...even mayor on verge of recall wants a photo-op putting a vegetable garden in at city hall...

Portland has more of a Narnia/Bahia feel than any other big US city. May it endure.
Posted by gonetorio on May 11, 2009 at 10:17 AM · Report
8
Cary Clarke here, the Merc's local music columnist ("Our Town Could Be Your Life"). I can't make any claims to have met the dude that wrote the piece, or to have known about it before it hit the NYTimes site, but I do wonder - was The Mercury complicit in aspects of this story other than the Breedlove signing?

I was surprised and delighted to see the great local band What's Up mentioned in the NYTimes:

"I played 50-cent rounds of Addams Family pinball and drank $2.50 Sessions beer at Ground Kontrol, an ’80s-style video arcade, then walked around the corner to Backspace, a techno-geeky cafe-bar where I heard an almost-great local band called What’s Up?, which melded a cresting wave of sound with the burbling bleeps of eight-bit video game soundtracks. At the Laurelthirst pub, the bluegrass band Jackstraw jammed, and I wound up chatting with a white-haired man in a tie-dyed shirt. He was Richard Milsom, known as Millstone, and five minutes into our conversation, apropos of nothing, he offered me the use of his woodland cabin by Mount Hood National Forest."

I wrote about What's Up for that week's Merc, with the aforementioned Backspace show as the newspeg. They're not exactly the highest profile band in town, nor is Backspace the best-known venue, though both are wonderful.

So why did Matt Gross check out What's Up? Clearly, The Merc is calling the Arts & Culture shots for the NYTimes. Or, more likely, Gross just happened into Backspace. In any case, I'm glad he did, and gave the members of What's Up some deserved national ink, and a validating clipping that they can show their parents to prevent a few more "Why are you squandering your life?" conversations.
Posted by Cary Clarke on May 11, 2009 at 5:20 PM · Report
9
Bleh. I read this article, and have been seeing several other people reading it around here in NYC and Brooklyn.

Your part was a good contribution, but I'm so sick of the "Portland is the coolest/cheapest (insert adjective) town in the world, quick everyone move here now!" article that comes out every few months.

Come on, I love Portland and miss living there badly, but these writers need to stop acting like they've covering uncharted territories. And for the very least, quit alluring every annoying Williamsburgian-hipster into moving to Portland. It's so funny how Brooklyn has such a hard-on for Portland.
Posted by picklerelish on May 12, 2009 at 2:35 PM · Report

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