It’s true, Portlanders love to talk about Portland. Sometimes I think we (Portlanders) are a bit narcissistic when it comes to our beer, music, organic food, greenery, politics, bike-friendliness, laid-backness, etc. One thing I appreciate about Portland is ALL the diversity (I’m being sarcastic, there is very little diversity here even though we pretend there is). And need I mention (again) that even the New York Times has accused Portland of hypocrisy because we swear that we are so progressive but we ignore the people that are being forced out of their neighborhoods, and we ignore the homeless. I too am guilty of this; I love talking about Portland’s beer, bikes, and food.

I have posted a video below from MTV, I originally found it on the Dave Knows Portland blog. But MTV has found young, musically-inclined Portlanders to talk all about Portland. Remember Seattle and the grunge explosion of the 90′s? Could we become the next Seattle?

I know this is a utopic statement, but I think maybe what we need to consider is what we have going for us in Portland and cultivate it. Continue to take care of the things we need to take care of and stop swearing that there’s nothing wrong with us.

Well, the video isn’t working on my site for some reason, so here’s a link.

I’ve written more about these topics here and here.

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5 Responses

  1. D

    July 16th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    1

    As far as a ‘new Seattle’ the answer is no. There’s no record labels like that anymore.
    And MTV doesn’t have music anymore.

  2. dalas v

    July 17th, 2008 at 6:37 pm

    2

    Kind of lame that you pimped your blog on the MTV page and then this post had maybe 1% more ideas than what you posted there.

  3. ericmsteen

    July 17th, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    3

    Dalas v-
    Maybe I should have linked to my blog in general instead of just the one post.

    I have written more about these topics so I updated the post with links to those writings, which are located in various parts of this blog.

  4. jimmy brougher

    July 24th, 2008 at 1:08 am

    4

    yes but portlanders still get off talking about portlander hypocrisy because it’s still about them!

  5. White Fang

    August 14th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    5

    MTV sucks, but despite this weird vignette people will move here anyway. The underground of all kinds of sub-cultures communicate to each other better than any cable change/internet-access TV network would do. There is nothing anyone could do to change or even predict what may happen. The times are changing and the world will do what it will, there will be another it-town in a few years, maybe months, maybe tomorrow. You can always move. The bands and artists moving here will soon realize that what they intend to do here is already happening and has been long before they decided to join in. They will eventually give up and move away or burn out or get into real estate or something. If you’re native, like everyone in our band, you can’t help but feel a little irked about young, hipster-type college kids (well-intentioned, no doubt) sitting in “your” parks and working at “your” coffee shops, but try thinking more about what’s going on in certain places around the world. I hate getting preachy, but I’d rather have cute boys & girls moving here than tanks and neighborhood militant factions. I digress. I just think that the cream ALWAYS rises to the top, and whatever it is you REALLY love about your homelands will be shown to you if you’re looking instead of complaining. Otherwise move to some geographically pleasant, but otherwise overlooked or under appreciated region, and get whatever it is you’re so into going and show people what is that you can do and they can’t.

    White Fang is natives. Southeast Portland since 1988. Hawthorne district, Mt. Scott, Felony Flats, Borderlands.

    Fuck Gresham.

    Erik Gage & White Fang
    August 14th, 2008


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