so long satyricon

my very first night in portland back in 1998, my best friend picked me up at the ben stark hotel (now the ace) and took me to a "performance" art show over at satyricon. which really was no more than moxy love crux backing up for the strippers.

because this was such a new scene for me, i fell in love with portland and with satyricon that night. well i still love portland but sadly, satyricon has been gone for quite some time for me.

satyricon closed several years ago and then reopened briefly as an all ages venue. that lasted a year or so and then opened back up as a night club. however, fate would hold nothing more for satyricon after the building was set for demolition to become yet another housing project here in old town.

several years ago, we saw the closure of satyricon's restaurant portion, fellini, and that is when we all knew the end was in sight. on any given night at fellini, the average portlander could hang out with band members waiting to play or celebrating after a sucessful show. i actually really liked fellini more than satyricon, as it was not quite so gritty. yet that is what was always so great about satyricon. apparently restaurant codes aren't applicable to night clubs!

and today was the day. my coworker came in my office to tell me the walls were coming down so i had to run out to get a shot of my portland history. satyricon may no longer be here but all of my great memories of that place will always be with me...especially strippers dancing to the moxy love crux.

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moi

crystal palace

this morning i was lucky enough to be given a tour of the latest mcmenamin's endeavour, the crystal hotel.

the crystal hotel is housed in an old portland bathhouse and the former location of the silverado club located in portland's vaseline alley. i must say this neighborhood has made quite a transformation over the years becoming home to an american apparel store and a new johnny fluevog shop.

and while i'm a little saddened by the new squeaky clean look of this particular neighborhood (there is little left of the old portland of the drugstore cowboy and my own private idaho days) however, i'm happy that this small city block has been lovingly preserved by mcmenamin's. this is much better than being torn down to build another giant chain grocery store or condo building!


most of the rooms in the hotel are european style with a shared bathroom but there are a few king suites with bathrooms. there are four large bathrooms on each floor with just 17 rooms sharing them so i'm sure there is plenty of bath space.

the rooms are all named after bands that have played at the crystal ballroom over the years and are decorated with the whimsical mcmenamin's touch. rooms start at $85-$185, which is very reasonable for being located so centrally downtown.



in the basement is the salt water soaking pool. i love the bamboo lined walls in here.

a few cool things to take note of is that if you stay at the hotel, you are automatically reserved 2 tickets to the shows playing at the crystal ballroom during your stay. if you would like to make use of these tickets, you just need to book them more than 48 hours in advance. after that, they open up to be sold to the public. if there is a sold out show you were hoping to catch, you can always book a room to get the opportunity to see that show.

also, there is an all ages venue (up to 10 pm) in the basement of the hotel that you can access through ringler's annex or the hotel lobby. it's a great live performance space and every show played there will be free. i can't wait to catch a show down there!

the crystal hotel officially opens on may 3rd and m. ward will play a series of three shows to celebrate the grand opening.

303 sw 12th avenue
503.972.2670

the hotel is located near every king of public transportation in town so make your stay here car free.

all images from oregon live

sweet pete!

my friend kjirsten and i went to see pete yorn over at the wonder ballroom sunday night.

it was a great show and ben kweller, the opener was amazing.

the thing that i love about the wonder ballroom is that you can easily get up front and personal at the shows there. i highly recommend this venue.

and don't worry lorenzo, you're way hotter than pete...and that's saying a lot!

portland at the grammys

congratulations to portlander esperanza spaulding with her best new artist win at last nights grammy awards. this beautiful and talented girl is really incredible and i hope (or should i say espero, j'espere, etc) that we see a lot more of her in the future.

i tell you, i would kill for her hair (coming from the girl with the straightest hair ever!).

congrats esperanza!

happy holidays!

hello my loyal portland readers! i'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to get back with the program here. so many things going on in life and i just haven't made my little blogs much of a priority, especially lu's.

so what exactly has been going on? well, let's see. i started doing bikram yoga which was a much needed addition to my life, however, takes up quite a bit of time. i've been keeping the shop running and we have been doing very well this year with lots of fun and exciting new collaborations, my family is happy and healthy and everyone is doing great, i had another birthday last week and spent it with friends at toro bravo, pix and then mother's, lucie got a good bill of health (her eyes have not gotten any worse), roy hurt his leg and was laid up for a while but is doing much better now. and oh yeah, my camera is dead and therefore, the lack of pictures (i'm pretty much just using my iphone).

so today, i was missing all of my blogs and hopped on to see how they are holding up in this dry spell. i felt so bad to see that you, my friends, are still hanging in there and still check in on a regular basis. so, thank you so much, i really do love my portland blog. i mean, how easy is it to gather inspiration in this amazing city? and yet, i have not been doing my part. so i hope to get back to it and share with all of my friends just what i am doing around our fair city these days.


and speaking of beautiful portland, have you heard our very own lovely band pink martini's holiday album "joy to the world"?

my bff down in new mexico sent it to me for my birthday and it made me sooo happy. i put it right on and it put me in such a festive mood. i've been playing it in the store every day now.



the one thing i love about the album is that it is not your same old same old holiday album. it's totally been pink martini'd. with traditional and non traditional songs, songs i've never heard of and of course songs in exotic foreign languages. this is a definite must add to your holiday collection. i'm sure you can find it at music millenium.

i hope to be back with you much sooner but in the meantime, have a great holiday shopping season--shop, eat, drink and be merry all over portland!

she and him

last friday at the schnitz, she and him played a fabulous show. i really hope you all were able to go. it was one of my all time favorite concerts. zooey was amazing, i'm in love with m.ward's voice and their two sister/back-up singers were the cutest thing ever.

the best part was zooey's 90 something grandparents from lake oswego were there. they came in right as my friend and i were entering the auditorium. how sweet is that to go see your granddaughter who happens to be zooey deschanel play a show at the amazing arlene schnitzer theater? it was pretty priceless.

if you ever get the chance to see them, you must!

look who was in the store today...

the cute boys of vampire weekend who will be playing mcmenamin's edgefield tomorrow night.

mmm... beer

lorenzo and i discovered our new favorite beer joint, hopworks urban brewery, over on se powell. it's been around for a few years now but i just had never made it in. one sunday we were getting together with friends so we thought we would give it a try and, it's pretty cool.

in another location i think it would take on a whole different persona (ie the pearl) but being that it is located over on the strip of powell blvd between downtown and 39th, it gives it a little more of a working class/industrial flavor.

the owner, christian ettinger, traveled the world trying different bars to research creating the perfect brewery and bar. this is his dream business and you can tell in all of the little details.


behind the cashwrap is this well-stocked cooler of beers. wouldn't you like one of these in your pool room at home?


what a pretty use for an old keg. this is what you call a flowery beer.


the bar has this whole bike theme going on and we loved the custom light fixtures made out of bike frames.


here's a close up.

so on these hot days of summer, what better way to spend it than having great organic beers amongst friends over on powell? if you haven't checked it out yet, do it. one thing that i loved about it is even though it was pretty full that night, it's got a lot of seating so you're bound to get a good table.

we already can't wait to go back with friend's again soon.

hub is located at 2944 se powell blvd
503.232.4677

i can't believe i forgot to mention...

that the band that is opening for the brian jonestown massacre is really amazing.

if you are a fan of the spaghetti western, or the sadies and have never seen federale, it is worth it to check them out tomorrow. they play around portland pretty regularly too, though.

dig it!

have you ever seen the movie dig! about the dandy warhols and the brian jonestown massacre? well you should.

i was not really a fan of the local portland band, the dandy warhols, but after seeing the film, i have a new appreciation for them as they seemed to carve out a niche for their sound and worked very hard.

the film follows their relationship with the band the brian jonestown massacre and their "friendly" competition with this band. i checked out the music of brian jonestown after seeing the film and i really liked it. i'm not so sure of their new stuff (there is a constant rotation of bandmates). lorenzo really wanted to go see them, just to check them out, i on the other hand, think i will pass since it's a work night and wait for his report back.

whether you like either band or not, i highly recommend the film dig! for it's character study of the respective musicians.

the brian jonestown massacre is playing tomorrow night at the crystal ballroom.

my one and only thrill

one of my favorite singers today, melody gardot, is performing this friday night at the aladdin theater. i've had so much going on that i still haven't bought tickets. i'm hoping there will still be seats available because i will be bummed out if i miss another great show.

anybody else going to this one?

the aladdin is at 3017 se milwaukie ave 503.234.9694

psyched!

i'm pretty excited about the fact that i will be seeing the psychedelic furs this sunday, june 20th at the crystal ballroom.

yes, i am a product of the 80's and john hughes and the furs were a huge part of my life. where would i be had it not been for molly ringwald in pretty in pink showing us that the poor little artsy girl can get the cute guy after all? oh and i wanted a karmannghia so bad after seeing that movie!

so lorenzo and i will be donning our 80's finest and heading over to the crystal to relive our lost childhood. i wonder if they serve wine coolers?

the crystal ballroom is at 1332 w burnside 503.225.0047

songbird

look who popped into my store yesterday. turns out she grew up in happy valley. who knew?

i absolutely love her!

charlotte rocks pdx

i caught the charlotte gainsbourg show at the wonder ballroom last night and i must say it was amazing.

charlotte entered the stage shy and nervous and by the end was comfortable and rockin. she performed most of the songs off of her new album irm as well as a few off of 5:55. i really love 5:55 so i was so happy she threw in a few of those tunes as well. she said this is her first tour and thus the first opportunity she has had to perform any of 5:55 live. i was glad i was there to see it.


throughout the show, charlotte played percussion and keyboards which mixed it up a little. (sorry for the bad iphone pics)


i have always loved her casual sense of style and last night's attire did not disappoint. she wore her signature tank top and designer skinny biker jeans as well as her trademark cowboy boots. and i must add the she is even more beautiful in person than she appears on film and is very gracious as well.

the highlight of the evening is when she "dared" (her words) to perform her father's song melody nelson. she did a great job with her band (which is also part of beck's band) backing her. she definitely has her father's musical chops. she also sang a beautiful version of bob dylan's just like a woman.

the wonder ballroom was full but not packed so we were able to get up close and personal. all in all, it was a great night and i'm glad i was there for her historical first tour.

guess who's coming to town...

charlotte gainsbourg! she's playing the wonder ballroom on april 15th.

and guess who has tickets...moi!

no place like home?

lorenzo and i recently went to see crazy heart over at the moreland theater (one of my favorites). i really loved the movie, especially the scenery of the southwest which left me wondering, can you ever really leave home?

there were so many scenes of the big, blue new mexico sky and it left me yearning for my home state. i know, i know, this blog is about my love of portland so why am i writing about the place i left behind many years ago? well, i'll tell you...

when i was two, my family moved from albuquerque, where i was born, to prescott, arizona. we lived in prescott for ten years before moving up to southern oregon for a new beginning. we lived there two years and then moved back to new mexico where i finished junior high, high school and then college. even though we had gone back to new mexico when i was young, we still visited the northwest every opportunity we had and i had grown to love it here, too.

after i graduated from high school, my parents moved back to the northwest (olympia) and i figured eventually i would join them up here after i finished college. well, after i finished, i worked in albuquerque a few years and when the time presented it's self to move to portland, i took it. however,by the time this happened, my parents had moved back down to arizona.

i think it was due to all of these moves that created this yin and yang in me that causes me to feel a little unsettled when i'm in one place and not the other. i don't think i could entirely live back in new mexico again and i love portland so much, i can't imagine permanently leaving here either. i have a family here and friends and a job that i really believe i couldn't have found there.

part of my original plan of moving to portland (which i still think was the best thing for me) was to eventually spend part of the year in new mexico. i still have a lot of family and friends there that i love dearly and miss very much. i even work for a company that does the majority of their business in the southwest so it should be a perfect fit. i haven't quite figured out a way to implement this plan but i just have to believe that when it is meant to work out, it will.

still, it leaves me thinking, is it possible to have more than one home? is this what it feels like to be an expat living in another country? well at least it's a lot closer for me to go home than taking an international flight!

well, i'm happy to say that i will be heading down south at the end of the month. i will have a wonderful time there soaking up the beautiful sunny skies and being with the ones i love, and then i will come home to you, portland, and take in the soothing rains and be with the ones that i love.

and p.s. go see the movie, it's really great!

my candle burns...

of course i have to quote the original st. vincent when talking about the young st. vincent aka annie clark.

i first listened to st. vincent solely due to the fact that she shared the name of my favorite poet. i was happily surprised when i really liked her music as well. "paris is burning" is my favorite of her songs and i've just listened to her new single actor which is very cool as well.

st. vincent is playing next week february 6th at the doug fir. she has two shows on saturday, one at 6 and one at 10.

i missed her last time she came through town so i really hope to catch her this time.

syke'd

hello portland, i'm happy to be home. today i ran all of my errands, cleaned the car and took lulu on a nice walk. whenever i get back from a trip, i like to reconnect with portland by getting out there and back into my old rhythm. oh, i'm happy to be home!

this morning, i picked up the mercury to see what shows are going to be in town and i'm stoked to see that jesse sykes will be playing tomorrow night at my favorite local music venue, mississippi studios.


jesse sykes

i've recently become introduced to her music and i really like her a lot. she reminds me of the music my mom would listen to when i was growing up like june carter and loretta lynn but with a darker, less polished side. and her looks remind me so much of the beautiful bobbie gentry.

since, i'm still getting settled in, i don't even know if i can make the show. i hope tickets are still available. i'm definitely going to try to make it out tomorrow night. oh portland, i've missed you and your wonderful places.

color me scarlett

i'm running over to music millenium right now to buy this album. i just listened to a few tracks on you tube and i'm loving it!

ahh fall

happy beautiful fall day. i'm having a very relaxing day listening to this album and thinking about any other new music that i've been wanting. i think i may head over to music millenium here shortly and pick something up, not sure what.

what are you listening to today? any suggestions?

i'm still working on my closet renovation. it's turned in to a much larger project than i had originally planned. i'm basically rearranging all of my closets and clothes are everywhere! i am excited about getting it finished, it's going to look really cool. of course i'm also thinking about all of the new fall clothes that i would like to put in my new fancy closet. oy, it's a never ending cycle!