Last night I attended the Scottish Pub Sing, led by the Portland Revels, at Lucky Lab in Portland, Oregon. It was beautiful hearing everyone sing songs and while we all drank together. Having a group of people sing together like this reminded me very much of church and just further solidified in my mind that the pub is really a wonderful social center, and good beer is an important element in bringing people together.

• 0 Comments

History by the Glass: Portland’s Past and Present Saloons, Bars, & Taverns by Paul Pintarich. Looks good, but might be time for an updated edition considering Portland’s booming beer and bar industry in the last 25 years.

• 1 Comment

Portland’s Bermuda Triangle is Horse Brass, Movie Madness, and Belmont Station. The perfect, walkable, place to lose track of time, enjoy beer and science fiction, and bring something home for later.

• 1 Comment

Dean’s Scene is one of Portland’s best places to drink a beer. Dean’s basement is a bar and brewery, an underground speakeasy, and you can come in whenever the neon sign is on. He’s got a few beers on tap and plenty of aging bottled beers for you to try.

• 12 Comments

History with a pint of beer! The History Pub meets at McMenamins to discuss Vanport, Oregon, a makeshift city for wartime housing. The only place in Oregon for wartime housing for blacks, it was destroyed by a flood in 1948.

• 0 Comments

I know I could get in trouble posting about coffee instead of beer so I promise my beer readers that I won’t post too much about this stuff. But, let’s face it coffee has incredibly complex flavors just as good beer does. The quality of coffee can be judged by it’s aroma, fragrance, body, acidity, [...]

• 1 Comment

An art exhibition about community, collaboration, and alternative and free education in the times of a struggling society.

• 0 Comments

Earlier this evening I went to the Bagdad Theater, drank a Terminator Stout and watched Alien on one of the original film reels. I’ve never seen Alien in such quality. Nor have I seen it with a crowd that is as nerdy about it as I am. You could hear cheers and laughter after scenes [...]

• 3 Comments

Drinking good beer inspires great conversation. Drinking beer with friends can be a catalyst for social change. I paired beers on hand-made serving trays as part of an social practice type art event in Portland, Oregon

• 1 Comment

Click on the image above to go to the Portland Breweries Google Map that I created. Portland is known as Beervana and the Microbrew Mecca of the Planet so I thought I’d make a google map of all the various breweries here in the main city region (not suburbs). The map shows breweries only; if [...]

• 6 Comments

A handful of links about outerspace, art, beer, utopia, dystopia, and the mix of it all together.

• 0 Comments

Portland, Oregon is a beer drinkers heaven. The beer fest had all sorts of experimental brews from great microbreweries. Lots of barrel aged beers and drinks made exclusively for this festival. Pictures included.

• 1 Comment

A chess set depicting capitalist and socialist chess pieces, with a clear preference to the socialists. Also, pictures of street interventions that subtly proclaim generosity as a viable alternative economy.

• 2 Comments

I went to the Bipartisan Cafe and watched the vice-presidential debates alongside about 60 other people. The cafe’s walls are filled with all sorts of US paraphanelia, flags, and a couple big Norman Rockwell posters. It was nice that everyone was coming together just to watch something on tv and this simple act was a social action that brought together a local community. If you wanted coffee you had to get yourself either the Biden blend or the Palin blend. I thought that was a fun addition.

• 1 Comment

I’ve been having a great time with my project for Portland’s 2008 Time Based Arts Festival. The project is called “Drinking Beer With Friends And Working” which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s not a performance though so you don’t need to watch, it’s a social piece so you can come talk with me, [...]

• 2 Comments