The Work from Portland 2007

Click above to see the galleries from all the photographers at Geekfest 2007 in Portland, Ore.

Hump-nite in PDX

Apparently, Wednesday was the unofficial first night of GF, as several Early Bird arrivals toasted their arrival in Portland with local yocos.

Queen M showed off her fresh tat:


Ms. Steph Yao checked out Geeks firsthand for the first time:


TBrown showed up prepared for fun and sun:


And then played guns with boys:


Though, for some, it's more bidness:



And this is just the pre-funk...

Last Minute Business

Click on the link above to figure out public transportation from the airport. It's helpful and cheap.

Also, try to be at the Jupiter Hotel at 1 p.m. Friday, June 6, to meet up with your team leader. We will kick off the festivities at that time.

If you can't make that be sure to show up at 6:00 p.m. to hear the first round of speakers.

If you're S.O.L. call Sol at 541.953.2613/

If you are having problems checking into the hotel, call me at 541.520.9012.

If you are having trouble paying or still need to pay see Melissa at 1:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m on Friday, June 6.

Tom

Plan of Attack

Here is a rough outline of pre-scheduled events for the weekend:

• Thursday 6pm: BBQ, Air Hockey and slideshow chez Bruce Ely.
3806 SE 26th Ave. (click here for directions from The Jupiter Hotel)

Come when you can. There will be a bloody air hockey tournament going on in the basement. BBQ and beer will be available (we may collect a couple bucks for the keg). We'll aim to have Bruce speak around 8-8:30.

• Friday 6pm: Speakers @ The Jupiter
Hall of Famers Beth, Torsten, Jamie and Robbie will be showcasing their work at the conference room we booked @ The Hotel.

• Saturday: 6:30: More Speakers @ The Jupiter
James, Alan and Karen will show and tell, wrapping up our program of insanely talented all-stars.

The Teamsters

After much scientific deliberation (we closed our eyes at one point), we now have teams and team leaders selected. Due to the growing student population, Bruce Ely agreed to lead a 6th squad. Give that man a hand!

Drum roll, please!

The Authoritarians
L.E. Baskow (503) 481.4639
• Alan Berner (206) 510.8205
• Rajah Bose
• Andy Bronson (541) 580.7365
• Carrie Niland (850) 766.3422
• Danielle Rappaport (989) 859.6351
• Matt Stamey

The Gawkers
Tiffany Brown (702) 556.9979
• Nina Greipel (941) 735.2222
• John Henry (970) 620.2887
• Craig Mitchelldyer (503) 998.1625
• Amelia Phillips (479) 601.6772
• Caleb Raynor (603) 667.5592
• Erika Shultz
• Steven St. John (505) 239.5439

The Diptychs
Chris Detrick (573) 424.9366
• Kristina Barker (925) 577.4450
• Thomas Boyd (541) 520.9012
• Kevin Lorenzi (724) 944.1517
• Misty McElroy
• Matt Slaby (303) 877.0273
• David Zentz (352) 262.0702

The Players
Bruce Ely (503) 381.2530
• Jen Friedberg (817) 919.0479
• Jon House
• Joe Jaszewski
• Chad Pilster (386) 747.7817
• Ramin Rahimian (415) 816.4814
• Shawn Rocco (919) 812.8291
• John White

The Anarchists
Thomas Patterson (503) 508.4274
• Kevin German (217) 414.9231
• James Gregg(520) 954.4969
• Fred Joe
• Kirsten Luce
• Tamika Moore (205) 533.1927
• Nathan Weyland

The Lovers
Michael Rubenstein (503) 754.2252
• Ming Chou
• Ashley Franscell (573) 489.2801
• Heidi Huber (602) 332.8667
• Channing Johnson
• Melissa Lyttle (813) 310.3547
• Sol Neelman (541) 953.2613
• Ariel Zambelich (323) 459.6172

Time to $tep up to the plate!!

Ok, kiddies. Unless you plan to pitch a tent in the parking lot, you'll want to shore up your lodging @ the Jupiter toute de suite (RIGHT NOW).

Group rates are set for one month before the event on June 7.

(Let me do the math...)

OK, so you have until May 7 to book your sweet suites before they tack on another $20 per night.

Here's the web page. Now get on it!

http://jupiterhotel.com

Portland Haiku

Wet spring weekend in Portland
photographers meet
what is, what was, what can be

--Jim Casper, lensculture.com

Team Themes for Geekfest!

Here they are:

The Lovers: Will show us the LOVE!

The Diptychs: Will come in pairs!

The Authoritarians: Will kick your ass!

The Anarchists: Will do whatever the hell they want!

The Gawkers: Will show us what they see!

The Artists: Will create!

NOTE: Themes are meant as starting point for teams to decide what they want to do. They are wide open for interpretation. They may even more of a guide for editing that shooting...or not. If you have a strong feeling about which team you want to be on, please email me at thomasrboyd@comcast.net.

We have not decided which team leaders will lead each team. But, I can't help but Rubenstein is a natural to lead The Lovers.

NPPA OPP: The Other Photog Pilgrimage

The Anti-Geekfest may very well be The NPPA National Convention. Meetings over rules, theory, rules, what have you. (I actually have no idea what the NPPA truly does anymore. Do THEY? Can't imagine they'll have kegs of micro brew and air hockey...)

But if you're thinking of making the pilgrimage to Portland for GF PDX June 7-10, it may be worth your while to come out a week earlier as The Rose City also hosts the NPPA bruhaha May 30-June 2. You might even be able to convince your bosses to pay for the entire trip by attending "an official" workshop.


The only reason why I'm thinking of going (other than I live here) is that Carolyn Cole & Lauren Greenfield will be in attendance. (And I heard that they're coming to P-town to meet me and my peeps.) There's also a multi-media workshop, presided by Finch (seen here) and fellow fellows.

For the latest, check out nppa.org REGULARLY as they slowly piece together their plan of attack.

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

Excuse me, Dean Wormer. I totally disagree!

That's why I'm excited about GF PDX, to share our special way of life here in the Pacific NW!

But before the Spring term ends and June finally arrives, it's time to cram in as much IMPORTANT knowledge about Oregon as you can!

And how do we as Americans properly gather facts about history?

Movies, stupid. Movies.


I may not have gone to some fancy-pants Photo-J program in college. But I did attend COLLEGE at Animal House! (Do you Mizzou yahoos know how to Toga?? Didn't think so...)

Watching "Animal House" is a right of passage for all University of Oregon freshmen and fresh women before attending a single class. (Of course, some never watch it, and therefore skip class altogether...)

** A little trivia: When John Belushi was not on the set filming, he was listening to local blues legend Curtis Salgado jam. Belushi would join him on stage and that experience helped ignite his idea for The Blues Brothers. Read the complete backstory and download The Register-Guard clip.

Shouldn't The Blues Brothers have sung "Sweet Home, Eugene"??

Just sayin'.


Writer Ken Kesey lived in Oregon, so not only do some of his books take place in Oregon, the movies were filmed here as well: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) and "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1970).


My grandfather would tell stories of seeing Henry Fonda & Paul Newman on the Oregon coast during the filming of "Sometimes a Great Notion." I like to think that Fonda & Newman were telling stories to their peeps on the set about seeing my gramps, George Kangas, a true lumberjack, fisherman and American pioneer. (West Coast, holla!)



"The Shining" was filmed at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, as Jack made another pit stop in Oregon. Here's a photo "Aerial Bruce" made for the paper after a snowstorm last winter:


I tried to convince Bruce the other night as we played Scrabble that "Redrum" is a word. Maybe an ax-wielding Johnny would have had better luck.

Astoria on the coast is home to quite a few dorky flicks: "The Goonies," "Kindergarten Cop," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III," "Short Circuit" and the first and second installments of "Free Willy" and "The Ring."


Filmmaker Gus Van Sant is an Oregon transplant, so some of his happy-go-lucky films were made here, including "Drugstore Cowboy," "My Own Private Idaho" and "Elephant."

"Stand By Me" was filmed just north of Eugene in a small town called Brownsville. Let's just say that the 21st Century hasn't had much impact on Brownsville yet, so it's easy to feel like you're back in the 1950s when cruising around town.

I'm going to pretend that "Mr. Holland's Opus," "Benji: The Hunted," "The Postman" and "Body of Evidence" were filmed outside The Beaver State.

For more titles, including "Star Wars 5" (with scenes from my Hillsboro 'hood), check out this list people.

"Show me what you got, baby..."

At the end of our extended weekend in PDX, there will be a killer collection of work from each shooter that we'll present on Sunday.

Afterwards, it'll be posted online for all to admire and envy - especially those suckers too silly NOT to attend the greatest gathering this side of the Rhone River.


Check out the galleries from Chicago '06 & Austin '05. (Thanks to Gerik and Jen et al for their hard work behind the scenes of these online productions.)

"Hands up and wave... and wave... and wave...and wave..."

Oh, PUCK!!

Only a few days (and months) late, LaBarge and I surprised Bruce with a belated wedding gift. After breaking into his house, we assembled the air hockey table in his basement office while he was busy at work.


The look of shock and bewilderment on Bruce's face when entering his office was simply priceless. Thanks to those that helped chip in for the gift!

After breaking it in by spanking me and LaBarge, Bruce told me:

"Tell those yahoos on your blog that we're having an air hockey tournament here at my place during Geekfest." (pending permission from The Mrs.)

As it stands now, Bruce is dialed in to speak Thursday night. Will confirm this later, but it'll likely be at his house, with brews, BBQ and air hockey. LaBarge lives next door, which is strategically perfect for occasions like this.

TBrown has already begun the trash talking, calling herself "practically a professional air hockey player!"


Beware, though. Bruce plays some stingy defense.

Puck on!

The Ghost of Geekfest Past & Leroy Brown

Last year in Chicago, Strazz dialed up a friend and fellow City 2000 shooter to speak to the GF class. His presentation about The Pocket, a neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago ("the baddest part of town") was killer.

I'm thinking about that this evening, seeing Jon Lowenstein's work once again - this time on the POYi site.


What a killer body of work. Loved it then as now. It was a winner without the award, but I'm glad that it will now receive even more exposure.

No pressure for those yahoos lined up to enlighten the masses at GF PDX. Just sayin'...

There's More

I've known James since 1992 when I was into my first year as a staffer at The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash. I think James was 19 or 20-years-old. He got his start as an intern right out of high school. He made a wad of cash shooting the aftermath Curt Cobain's suicide. With that in the bank, he went to New York, London, Bosnia and back to New York. He landed at LIFE magazine as a contract photographer after Joe McNally left. He shot some stories and had some covers. He then travelled some more for Outside magazine and bunch of others. There's a lot more, that just what I know. But, one thing for sure, he's accomplished quite a lot for a kid from Marcola. I've been to Marcola. There's a store, a restaurant and a phone booth that doesn't always work, which is important to know, because there's no cell service either. Anyway, I thought it was important to add that, because he won't tell you any of it unless you ask.

tom

Behind every Leica should be Jennifer Connelly

I'm just sayin'.

But this ain't just ANY Leica. Nope, it belongs to our latest speaker, a Mr. James Rexroad, who just became my hero after sharing that tidbit. There's more to that relationship, and I look forward to hearing every juicy detail firsthand at GF PDX over drinks.

James gave me permission to steal his bio from his web site. He said he spent HOURS on it:


"James was born in Marcola, Oregon to Luella Rose Rexroad, his mother and inspiration, and has three brothers, David, Robert, and Thomas.

After developing an interest in photography at Powell's City of Books, James started working as a newspaper photographer in Portland, Oregon."


Hours, huh? Well, I do know this: this cat worked for Life Mag, among other prominent clients. He has some amazing stories to share as a freelancer in THE Apple, as well as from the road.

I haven't taken written notes in class since 1992, but I believe that will change when our guy takes center stage.

Visit James' web page and check out his images and tearsheets.

Do it. Do it.

Mystery Meet

Can you guess who our new speaker is?? Sorry, sadly, it's NOT Rosie Perez. Could you imagine...??


A hint: as an even younger man, this dude shot for Life Mag. (Ever heard of that rag, kiddies?)

In Oregon, EVERY hour is Happy Hour!

Ashley wanted to know about good wineries in Oregon to visit with her special gentleman friend, Chris.

Good wine?? How about GREAT WINE!?!


An hour's drive from Portland lands you in the heart of the Willamette Valley, the crib to some kick ass vino, Oregon's best! But you better like pinot!


From our hotel, take Hwy. 99 towards McMinnville ("Mac" to the locals). Feel free to drop my name. EVERYONE knows me in Yamhill County, my old stomping grounds pre-Oregonian days.

A short list of possible stops in YamCo:

• Amity Vineyards (um, in Amity)
• Argyle Winery and Ponzi Vineyards in the Hwy 99 bottleneck known as Dundee
• Willakenzie Vineyards in Yamhill (Go Y-C Tigers!!)
• Sokol Blosser in Dayton
• Hotel Oregon in Mac. Yep, it's a McMenamins restaurant-hotel, located right in smack dab in the center of "historic downtown McMinnville." Check out the view from the rooftop bar. The cellar doesn't have quite the same view, but the entire establishment will have a healthy selection of local wines to taste, as well as brews. They even have their own wine label. I consumed many spirits there after (and before) deadline. And during, for that matter...

Drink up! It's Happy Hour!

What's cooler than being cool??

Boyd and I were in P-town on assignment and swung by our GF homebase w/ L.E. for a late dinner and drink.

Have I mentioned how cool The Jupiter is??

For those @ GF Austin, the lay of the hotel-land is similar, with second-story balconies. Perfect for people watching.


There's also tons of outdoor seating for drinking. AND a fire for late-night discussions on f-stops and shutter speeds.



Best part: it won't cost you $450 for that drink. More like $4.50.

The Official Vehicle of Geekfest Portland??

Got home this afternoon and spotted this sweet vehicle parked on the street. An omen or a gift?? Still searching for the car keys... wonder if he/she left them under my door mat... wait, I don't have a door mat...

"But I can't see their effin face???"

Ok, now with the magic of the Internet you can. Here are the faces of our killer crew of speakers. Drum roll, please...

Alan Berner, The Seattle Times




What’s in a name? Little Raphie Lipschitz’s career, and clothing line, didn’t take off til he became Ralph Lauren.

Alan Berner, hoping for a career bump after three decades, is considering changing to Alain-Cartier Bernier (BEHR-nay).

Or Robert Frank.

He has degrees in philosophy and photojournalism from the University of Missouri having gone there almost eight years.

And while schmoozing up the new Washington State Univ. president who’d just left Missouri, the president asked: “All as an undergraduate?”

Alan has worked for five newspapers. Been Region-11 POY five times. He received a Nikon/NPPA Sabbatical Grant in 1995 to pursue an essay on the new American West.

He has five dozen rolls of 35mm b&w Tri-X to develop.

He’s a staff photographer at The Seattle Times.



Plus he's a groovy guy who loves dogs maybe more than Finch, which I thought impossible. Check out Alain's gallery online!!

---

Karen Ducey, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer


Thanks, Karen, for providing a bio. Here it is:

When Karen Ducey graduated from the University of Wisconsin she could not find a job as a photojournalist, so she went commercial fishing in Alaska. With the money she made salmon fishing and the help of student loans she attended the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. There she worked for Magnum photographer Bruce Davidson for 3 years and as a part time staffer at PBS WNET Thirteen and fished in the summers. When she got out of school she still could not find work as a photographer and so she continued fishing, photographing life on the boats, ruining many a camera and becoming very salty. Aaaarrr.

She freelanced her pictures out to magazines, newspapers, and museums around the world including picture stories in Alaska magazine, GEO, The Seattle Times and NationalGeographic.com, but still could not find full-time employment as a photojournalist. Ironically, one day a week, the Seattles Times hired her to do the weekly front for the Sunday Job market section which she did for over two years. No experience required. Aaaarrr.

Finally, at age 36, after 12 years, she put away her fishing boots for good and took her first fulltime job as a photojournalist at The Indianapolis Star. America’s Heartland, where they’re landlubbers. Four years later she was hired by The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and returned back to her beloved Pacific Ocean, salty friends, dirty dogs, and rainy weather. Aaaahhh.



That's Karen with her boyfriend Dean Rutz, a kick ass sports shooter and all-around good guy from the Seattle Times. Apparently, Seattle people LOVE their K9s! And to show off my journalistic professionalism, dogs: (l-r) Dillon, Tucker and Sandy (all cq). Perhaps my lack of ethics becomes more obvious when I mention I stole this from SportsShooter.com. Oops...

Side note: One thing that's pretty cool about this GF gathering is for even us in the Pacific NW to get to meet and know better our colleagues from nearby papers. We're all busy running in circles like headless chickens. Sometimes those circles overlap, other times not. It's cool to have an excuse to overlap, y'know?

Visit Karen's 2006 gallery @ the P-I's web site. She also has a weekly photo column online for your viewing pleasure.

---

Jamie Francis, The Oregonian

Jamie is a fellow silver fox photog at The O. He's so cool, I don't even mind sharing that distinction. Here's a pic of him with one of his adorable kiddies @ Motoya and Beth Nakamura's Korean BBQ this past spring.

Jamie is a hack, finishing a lowly 2nd overall at POYi/60:

Old bio stolen from the Internet:

Jamie Francis has been a photojournalist at the St. Petersburg Times for five years (WE GOT HIM NOW, SUCKERS!!). Born in June 1962 in North Carolina, he graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Francis is married to a former Times photographer, Pamela Royal; their second child was born in January of 2004. Prior to joining the St. Petersburg Times in July 1998, Francis worked at The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., and the Durham-Herald in Durham, N.C. Since he's been with the Times, Francis has covered daily assignments in St. Petersburg and around the world. Most of the foreign assignments have teamed Francis with Times senior correspondent Susan Taylor Martin. They provided reports from Kosovo, Macedonia, and Bosnia during the 1999 NATO war against Yugoslavia. A year later, they produced an award-winning series looking at Iraq a decade after its invasion of Kuwait. They reported from Pakistan at the start of the U.S. military campaign against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. They have also reported from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, and many times from the heart of the Middle East to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

---

Beth Nakamura, The Oregonian


This is who Beth is in her own words. Ok, Beth. Take it away:

At 17 she was handed a book, Monograph, by Diane Arbus.

At 19 she moved to NYC and joined a small theatre company, but honestly that was so long ago she feels like an imposter just telling you about it. It was at that time, on those streets, that the impulse to photograph took root.

She did not go to journalism school but is grateful to all those graduate programs for steadily supplying her with so many wonderful friends.

In 1993 while on staff at The Virginian-Pilot, she met Motoya Nakamura, a Japanese foreign national living in the United States. The whole stranger-in-a-strange-land theme was eerily familiar to her, and somehow comforting. Plus he had a great sense of humor. So she married him, and then did something radical: she left journalism to--gasp--become a mother. Two children later she maintains some connection to the field through working a bit at The Oregonian. But she is in the process of reconnecting with the medium in a different way; back, perhaps, to that mislaid young girl, whose whole world opened up by looking a book.

Hopefully she can find the words to talk about all that.

She has always wanted to meet Alain Cartier-Bernier.



Lucky thing for Beth (cq), center, is that at Geekfest 2007, she will finally get that chance!

Sadly, for those wanting to meeting Mr. Mike Davis, the mad hatter at right in this photo, I believe he's away on our weekend. Bummer. Same for Finch. I know, WTF?

Anyway, here's a gallery of Beth's work @ The Oregonian. She's super good and super cool!

---

Torsten Kjellstrand, The Oregonian


Torsten is Sweden's pride and joy - as well as The O's. While our gathering is in June, I fully expect Torsten to be sporting this flannel and cross-country skis.

Here's another stolen bio on our boy:

Torsten Kjellstrand is a staff photojournalist at The Oregonian (Hurray!!). He previously worked as a staff photojournalist at The Herald in Jasper, Indiana and at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. In 1995, he was named POY Newspaper Photographer of the Year. He was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University in 2003-4. Torsten graduated from Carleton College with an English degree, after which he spent a year at Uppsala University studying literature as a Fulbright Scholar. He earned a masters in journalism and from the University of Missouri – Columbia. As a boy, Torsten came to this country from Sweden. He has two children, Bjorn and Maria; two dogs, Solo and Laces; three canoes; four bicycles; eight pairs of Nordic skis; and one wife, Jean.

Torsten won Newspaper POY/53 before Al Gore invented the Internet. So sadly, there's no link to his winning portfolio from the folks in Missouri...

---

Bruce Ely, The Oregonian


No, Teddy K is NOT speaking. But one of the famous Unabomber Boys, Bruce Ely, is! Yep, Bruce, age 13, takes pics of one of the most surreal perp walks EVER.

And because this is NOT an editorial web site, I don't have to worry about equal coverage for each candidate. Check this out!!





Yep, behind every mad scientist is Bruce Ely. Imagine the look on people's face when Bruce's mom bragged to folks her kid was on the cover of Newsweek!!

Willard Bruce Ely IV, a proud Montana grad (Go Grizz!), is living a charmed life in Portland with his wife, Kristi. The latest of his many accomplishments for The O was winning 2nd place for Best Sports Portfolio at POYi/63 last year. Not bad for being such a young punk. Who knew he could shoot sports so well??? Not I... and we're friends!


---


Robbie Mc Claran, Freelance Photographer


Bio "borrowed" from his web site:

For the past 25 years, Robbie has been documenting the American people and landscape. His work has appeared in virtually every magazine you can think of and quite a few you've never heard of.

The entire body of prints from Robbie's critically acclaimed 1997 book, "Angry White Men," is in the permanent collection at the University of Oregon.

His recent collaborative project with his 9-year-old daughter in pinhole photography won 3rd prize at the Glencoe Elementary School Science Fair.

Robbie was born and raised in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and still speaks with a hillbilly accent but is actually much smarter than he sounds. And no, he never met Bill Clinton, but he did take his picture once.

Robbie's work can sometimes be seen in The New York Times Magazine, Time, Fortune, Inc., Runner's World, Business Week, Forbes, Reader's Digest, Mother Jones and People.

Robbie lives in Portland with his wife, Lydia Hess, an illustrator and designer, and their two daughters.

Kids, do yourself a favor and check out his work online.

And here's a photo of him that's just a wee bit more recent...





----

And lest we forget The Dynamic Duo: me and Boyd, sandwiched around TBrown, whose copyright I infringed upon with that photo of Torsten. You want retribution girl? You know where to find me...

Speakers

Robbie McClaren
Torsten Kjellstrand
Jamie Francis
Karen Ducey
Bruce Ely
Alan Berner
Beth Nakamura
James Rexroad

THE 24 Hour Church of Elvis

You read it right. A local icon, this place is usually in between being open or closed or somewhere in between. Usually, they don't even know. I'm betting it'll still be shut down, sadly.

I did get married there once... with the simultaneous divorce. (whew)

BUT DON'T DESPAIR, you can order one of their glow-in-the-dark Church of Elvis t-shirts and strut around Portland like a local yahoo.

www.24hourchurchofelvis.com

2 No-No's in Oregon

• No sales tax.

• No self-service at the gas pump. (We pride ourselves on providing jobs for ALL Oregonians...)

To Do, To Eat - Vol. 1

A few random links:

• McMenamins Brew Pubs, around every corner and nearly out-numbering McDonalds in the Rose City. That includes 3 cheap movie theatres a short drive away. The Mission Theatre is about 20 blocks away.

• Pizza Schmizza. The BEST pizza outside of Italia! And from my hometown of Hillsboro. (Westside, holla!)

• Craigslist-PDX. Coming to Portland single and in need of a couch? And daycare?? Look no further...

• Saturday Market, open on, um, Saturday. (Sunday, too.) A short walk across the Burnside Bridge from our hotel.

• You a vegetarian? Or as my German pal Klaus pronounces it, "Wegetarian." Portland is the place for you! Nearby Hawthorne Street (named after the cofounder of Oregon's first mental hospital) has many restaurants catering to those who love a good "weggie."

• Portland City Grill boasts the city's best view point. Just over the Burnside Bridge, this snazzy joint ($$) sits on the 30th floor of the US Bank Tower, overlooking downtown and the Willamette River. Maybe a spot for a late-night cocktail at their bar...

• Culture?? You want it, we got it. Portland Art Museum is located in the downtown area. Looks like Rembrandt will be in the house...

• Searching for a killer used photo book? Look no further than Powell's, the largest used and new bookstore in the world. That's BIG, people. The mothership is on Burnside, across the bridge.

Hold 'em, Oregon, er, Texas

Looking for a way to help cover your costs to PDX?? Then you better beef up on the skinny for Texas Hold 'Em.

www.texasholdem-poker.com

Chip Litherland will be here (and that means poker, folks).

But two warnings:

• Think twice before playing cards with a guy who has Vegas and poker tats on his arm.

• The guy's name is Chip! 'Nuff said.


Don't worry, it'll be low stakes and fun. To begin with...