April 15 What's Up in Chinese Art

The New Museum of Contemporary Art is not stuffy. Operating since the 1970's, it has maintained it's freshness by a strategy of capture and release, selling collected works after a few years. This is good for the artists too, it keeps their art moving in the world. The Museum also operates Rhizome, a smart digital art program. (Hey Rhizome is putting on a benefit show Monday with YACHT and Cory Arcangel!).

So It makes sense that the Museum would turn its gaze Westward to China. The liberalizations begun under Deng have proceeded in fits and starts. But coupled with social and economic changes, China's dynamics are breeding some amazing contemporary art, including performance. It doesn't hurt that art has generally been permitted sly criticism of Chinese government policy. The fact that performance leaves little evidence helps too. Inside Out: New Chinese Art, curated by Gao Minglu, and shown in 1999 in SF and NY, was an early attempt to survey the landscape. Now even Saatchi is stalking Chinese art.

This afternoon, Dan Cameron, senior curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art will compare his perceptions of new Asian art in a talk "Gone Global". Cameron will attempt to place contemporary Asian art in the context of the currents and rivulets of contemporary art theory and criticism in the West. It sounds boring, but I don't think it will be. Tickets recommended in advance. Portland Art Museum Whitsell Auditorium 2PM $10/5 members

April 14 Urban Golf

This is sustainable, no nasty fertilizers and herbicides!

"Urban Golf this Saturday!!!

On April 14th is the fifth urban golf tournament/barhop over in the North industrial neighborhood. The course consists of 13 holes in the finest industrial landscape Portland has to offer with the drinker in mind. No host libations will be available on 5 of the 13 holes. A map of the course will be available the week prior the tee off date and will be available at hole #1. Hole 1 starts at 938 N Cook Ave (the old location of Lovely Hula Hands)... Please try and use public transportation. Free street parking is available. Look at the signs to make sure its free on Saturdays. 1pm tee time.

What you will need:
1. Golf Club or clubs. Clubs can be purchased at any thrift store for under $2.
2. 3-6 colored tennis balls. Don't get your balls mixed up with someone else's. Paint or use a marker to give them your unique mark.
3. Golf attire. I'll leave it at that.
4. Max fare

Rules:
1. Keep score
2. If you loose a ball, add one stroke.
3. That's it….



Things to keep in mind….
1. Respect the urban landscape. Don't leave trash behind.
2. Don't be rude. Please try not to ruin this for the rest of us.
3. If you ruin/loose your $1200 set of clubs this is your fault and not the responsibility of nw urban sports.
4. Have fun.

**Please note that your golf clubs will get destroyed playing on pavement**
www.myspace.com/nwurbansports.com"

April 14 Sprockettes

The Sprockettes will perform at a benefit for North Portland Bike Works Benefit at FreeGeek. Call them for details. 1731 SE 10th

April 13-15 Filmed by Bike

Portland's bike social ecology is variegated and healthy. BTA activists, Zoobombers, mountain bike trail heads, tall bike clowns, bike mechanics, bike-ped planners, messengers, sprockettes, one speed fat tire hipsters, bike pub crawls, naked rides, midnight rides, bike pirates, Bohemian Grove Cycle Oregonists, fixies, road racers, BMXers, the baby trailer set. I think the ecology may be sustainable too. One way it sustains itself is an event like Filmed by Bike. There is a raffle Friday for an electric (!) bike. The whole event is a fundraiser for the Bike Fair. This will be crazy fun and the 8 minute max films guarantee plenty of variety. Clinton St Theater 7,9 Friday, 5,7 Saturday and 7 Sunday Friday $5-10, Saturday and Sunday $6

April 12 Fountain Design Celebration at Noon

Landscape architecture is not shrubbery. It encompasses the design and preservation of the land in which we live. It may include designing a park, plaza or campus. But it includes zen-like efforts of non-design, such as preserving the Columbia Gorge from development, designating it as the country's first and only National Scenic Area.

The Olmsted family, the country's most famous landscape architects, designed Central Park. Here they are responsible for the elm-lined Park Blocks, Forest Park, Laurelhurst Park and Ladd's Addition's plantings. How would Portland be without their efforts?

Another special spot in Portland's designed landscape downtown is the unbuilt SW 3rd street from Market South for a few blocks. It's a tree lined walking plaza, an oasis. If you have the time Wednesday April 12, at noon, the City is turning on the block size fountian, a great summer wading spot, at 3rd and Clay. That's outside the Civic Auditorium. Afterwards, take a walk South.

Noon Free

April 9 Camp Film, Campy Art & A Serious Talk on Elections

NWISC are showing a campy summer camp film "Wet Hot American Summer", starring Janeane Garofalo, for free tonight. It's a benefit though, so they will have opportunities to spend some money if you have it. Their program this summer starts with a campout in virgin forest; progresses to an intense summer camp session of classes on politics and media; the finish are students turned loose on social-political change projects in Portland proper. Mississippi Studios http://www.mississippistudios.com/ 3939 N Mississippi 7PM

Do you vote? There are many around the world dieing to do so. The lesser of evils dilemma plagues us here sometimes but no one would argue that vote counting should not be transparent and accurate. With computer software counting the vote, how can that be guaranteed? This is one of my issues and an area in which I have made original contributions.

Tonight "Does Not Compute: Protecting Political Rights in the Digital Age" is a talk by Nelson Pavlosky. You might not recognize the name, but perhaps you have heard of the internal memos from Diebold exposing shoddy and insecure software in their touch screen voting machines including those used in Florida in the 2000 presidential election (hello Iraq!!). One of those machines gave Al "Global Warming" Gore a negative 16,022 votes. Bush won the election with a margin of 537 votes. Diebold tried to prevent Internet Service Providers from hosting websites and blogs with the memos under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Pavlosky sued Diebold for misusing the Act to censor publication of the memos and won! He speaks at the Reed Psych Building Room 105 7:30PM free

Portland artist Bruce Conkle speaks at the free PSU Art Department series. Conkle is known for installations (and even puppet shows) which have included Sasquatch, alpenhorns, sweat lodges, snowmen. PSU Hall Street Theater 510 SW Hall 8:15PM Free

April 7 Cuban Bike Dancers

Cana Son plays Cuban music and for some reason people like to dance to it. If that is what warms you, there it is. Sounds at http://www.myspace.com/canason At the Mambo Lounge in Imago 17 SE 8th 10PM $10

IzVilliage is a rebellious group of creatives. Live-work-create spaces, where creative people can collaborate and exchange ideas up close, are an important ingredient of cultural evolution. Who knows which cultural meme-genes may be needed for survival in the future? No way to know. But now here is another fun-meme which you can tap if you like. Performer provocateurs the Sprockettes, Here Comes a Big Black Cloud, Gua Gua and DJ duet Mr. D & P Murder make it happen. The Recyclery (SE 9th & Madison) $3-5 8-late

April 6 Eastside Art Openings

New Amercian Art Union presents a group show "invisible.other" curated by TJ Norris. Artist-curator Norris is known for elegant minimalism and the work reflects that. Especially noteworthy is a video art work by Thomas Koner entitled Peripheriques #2 which graces the showcard. It images an anonymous crowd on the street in which composited layers bring individual faces to the fore, after, they disappear behind subsequent figures. The show includes work by Ted Apel, Daniel Barron, Richard Chartier, Melia Donovan, Leif Elggren, Ty Ennis, Michael Paulus, Susan Robb, Steve Roden, Abi Spring, Laura Vandenburgh. http://www.newamericanartunion.com/ 922 SE Ankeny

Moshi Moshi shows Tokyo artist MAHK!!. 811 E Burnside

The Grass Hut shows "Pretty in Ink", illustration on paper by Meg Hunt, Miniature Mouse - Fumi Nakamura and Naomi Nowak. 811 E Burnside

Redux specializes in objects and art made of reused materials. Musician, painter, crafter, Rachel Blumberg shows her visual work, 2 1/2D dioramas made from found materials, with a Norfolk and Western feel. 811 E Burnside

Note that the Kitchen Sink show is open tonight and through Sunday 520 NW Davis. The sooner you get there the more gingerbread and candy for you as one room is made of that and edible

April 5 Westside Art Openings

Portland Grid Project Photographs at the Portland Art Center

The Portland Grid Project has been documenting Portland neighborhoods in the medium shot for 12 years. "In October of 1995, local photographer Christopher Rauschenberg took a pair of scissors to a standard AAA map of Portland and cut that map into 98 pieces. A group of 12 of the city’s best photographers all photographed one randomly picked square each month, using a variety of films and formats. It took nine years for this group (which included 15 photographers by the end) to finish taking pictures in all 98 Grid Sections of the city, by which time they had shown each other over 20,000 images, taken in every part of Portland."

Here is a chance to see some of the result. 7 august curators: Kate Mellor & Charlie Meecham (founders of the offshoot Bradford Grid Project in Yorkshire, England), Clint Willour (Galveston Art Center Director), and Stephanie Snyder (Curator and Director of Reed College’s Cooley Gallery), Jennifer Gately (Northwest Art Curator of the Portland Art Museum), Alison Nordström (Curator of Photography at the George Eastman House), and Ethan Seltzer (Director of the School of Urban Studies and Planning at PSU) have selected over 3000 images from the Grid's 20,000 plus images.

Included are the work of photographers Blake Andrews, Mark Barnes, Tom Champion, Dawn-Starr Crowther, Deborah Dombrowski, Lisa Gidley, Barbara Gilson, Bruce Hall, Ann Hughes, Tom Kearcher, Ann Kendellen, David Potter, Doug Prior, Christopher Rauschenberg, Shawn Records, Rich Rollins, Faulkner Short, Patrick Stearns, Paul Sutinen, Bill Washburn and Bryan Wolf.

This show is best seen in sessions. Each photographer has lensed highly individualistic samples of reality. Some of the grid spots are in the industrial fringes or in rural transitional areas which we don't contemplate or visit much. It is an inspiration to look anew at our own back yard.

More information on the project may be found at http://www.portlandgridproject.com/ Show at the Portland Art Center 32 NW 5th



The Office as Kitchen Sink at 520 NW Davis Itinerant Space

21 artist workteams have created installations, some participatory, in a vacant office space. Cubicle heaven or hell. This is the second Kitchen Sink, the first was held at a house in St Johns. Much more info at the project website. Artists include usual and unusual suspects: Your Fan For A Day. - The M.O.S.T.; ID Corp. - Gordon Barnes, Posie Currin, Shelby Davis, Amber Moss-Jensen, Mandee Schroer, Amy Steel; CUBE-ALICIOUS - Sarah Farahat, Al Larsen, Katrina Boemig, Bonnie Paisley; Free Association - JustDave, Lisa Maurine, Sarah Fask, and others; Circuit City - Emile Ward, Hope McManus, Philip Cheaney; A Cubicle Expressed - Renato Pereira-Castillo, Amy White, Archie Washington; Sex, Lies and Office Supplies - Hannah Fischer, Jason Giglio, Ryan Swanson; E.A.N. (Exterior Area Network) - John Larsen, Walter Lee, Scott Mazariegos, Vicki Lynn Wilson; Office Oasis -Todd Wilson; Kendall Holladay, Soft Rock Dee-Jay - Ted Theiman; Transfer - Heather Mackenzie, Elodie Goupil; Primordialoffice60000bcad - John Wagner, Heather Campbell, Drew Marshall; This Network Allows Us To Function Efficiently - Stephanie LeBlanc, Mia Nolting, Carl Alviani; POST-IMATION - Carlos Gonzalez; There Is No "I" In Team - Jess Hirsch, Sarah Goodchild Robb; What Work - May Juliette Barruel, Jennifer Dawson, Janel Golden, Sean Regan; Audible Apparitions - Jeremy Tucker, Matt Conner; Somnambulistic Activators - Petr Sorfa, Bruce Orr, Noah Mickens, Patricia Hall; Untitled - John S. Vitale; Red Collar, Inc. - Alicia Eggert, Maggie Casey, Andy Furgeson, Peter Valois, Anna Weber, Eliza Fernand; MARLCON- Leslie McCollom and Mariah Maines; Corporate Panhandlers - Philip Cheaney, Will Moore.

Especially notable installations include MARLCON, the clothing customization project, Circuit City, the gingerbread candy office and an office filled with ivy and a waterfall. The installations are interactive, bring a crowd of playful art friends.

520 NW Davis upstairs. There is an admission charge of $2-5 for Half and Half refreshments Until 11PM, Afterparty below at Someday.

See it with less crowd:

APR 6: Space open to public viewing, 6:00-9:00pm

APR 7: Space open to public viewing, 12:00-6:00pm

APR 8: Artist talk and critical discussion at gallery space, 12:00pm

Natural World Specimen Photographs at Pushdot

Post Renaissance Europe spawned a leisure class. Many occasioned to travel, later day Marco Polo's, collecting and documenting the strange nature, flora and fauna, of the world. Amateur scientists, for the love of it. In the mode of their specimen drawings presaging photography, "Life, Forms" documents precious nature, in intimate close up. Photographs by Kirby Jones Pushdotstudio.com 830 NW 14th



Aerial Photography at PDX

Terry Toedtemeier is a sage landscape photographer in the Ansel Adams-fine print world. He is an amateur geologist too. Hawaii to the Owyhee: A Bird's Eye View, his new works are aerial photographs, once exotic, but now in Google world, an increasing part of our visual lexicon. See Toedtemeier's birds' eye view of Oregon and Hawaii in this show. http://www.pdxgallery.com/ 925 NW Flanders closes at 8:30PM



Still Life Group Show at Pulliam Deffenbaugh

Still life's stillness advantages painting and photography's long exposure drying times. No models to pay either. It is the crucible of learning for many an artist. This still life group show in multiple media combines locals with big names: Uta Barth, Thomas K. Conway, Morris Graves, Richard Hoyen, Isaac Layman, Laura Letinsky, McDermott & McGough, James Martin, Jeffry Mitchell, Vik Muniz, Raymond Pettibon, David Rosenak, Jay Steensma, Wolfgang Tillmans, Andy Warhol. It's an opportunity to see a lot of work in one spot, informing your own still life aesthetics. http://www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com/ 929 NW Flanders closes at 8:30



Digmeout Strikes Again at Just Be Toys/Compound Gallery

Girls from Strange Forest are illustrations by Osaka-Kyoto artists Siori Kawamoto and Cho-Chan, part of the awesome digmeout.com project. www.compoundgallery.com
107 NW 5th



Mear One Painting at Upper Playground

Mear One shows "Manifest Energy and Radiate" surreal crossed visionary graf outsider style paintings. It might be a good idea for this show to be a hallucinogen free zone. Mear One paints live too 7-8 at the opening. Fifty 24PDX at Upperplayground.com 23 NW 5th



Keys Open Doors at Ogle

"Keys Open Doors" is a collaborative effort between Caleb Freese and Justin Gorman. They are urban landscapes with silk screened layers over them. Recommended at Ogle 310 NW Broadway



Heavy Indian art at Quintana

Quntana Galleries amps it up with "Expananded Perception", Indian art in mixed media. The strongest contemporary work in the show are portraits of Apaches with handguns on skatedecks by Douglas Miles entitled the "Peacemaker Series". http://www2.blogger.com/Quntana%20Galleries%20amps%20it%20up%20with 120 NW 9th



Abstracts in Natural Materials at Augen

Augen shows abstract paintings by Ian Boyden themed "Shorelines". The artist uses old school methods to make his own pigments from natural materials such as cinnabar, carbon and cuttlefish ink. Sublime refined abstraction. http://www.augengallery.com/ 817 NW 2nd



The Everett Station Lofts - recommended exploration without expectation.


Surreality and Gypsies at Blue Sky Gallery; Nine Wired

Nine is the conceptual gallery space within Blue Sky. Tonight it is filled with small wire sculptures, some kinetic, by Christine Clark. The work is a fine example of simple materials used to the ultimate advantage. It's playful and serious at the same time.

Wolfgang Zerborn shows surreal photographs of our urban reality. Doubly ironic in light of current events and pop culture, themselves surreal. The photographer notes: "Normally, we would hardly take notice of many of these objects, which appear insignificant and banal to us. Torn away from their purely functional context, in fragmented form, visually compact, they take on such a highly sensual aura, that they develop deep associations for the observer. We don’t look at things. Things look at us." So maybe the same could be said of our realitysphere. Andrew Miksys, from Lithuania, shows portraits of Gypsy's, capitalized. This show, titled "Baxt", is the Gypsy word for luck, fate, destiny, karma. The history of photography in the Soviet Union, now former, is essentially the history of photography in Lithuania. Blue Sky has maintained an historic relationship with Lithuanian photographers, giving us an eye into another world. 1231 NW Hoyt

March 31 Indian Violin Music at Lewis and Clark

Carnatic music is the music of South India. Different from Western music in the pitches comprising its scales, it is familiar too from samples in dance music. So maybe it's just different enough to open the doors of perception.

Ganesh and Kumaresh are brothers. Each started their study of violin at age 3. Their first concert was performed at ages 5 and 7. They have collaborated with many famed Indian musicians and for the Tabla Beat Science project.

Ganesh and Kumaresh perform tonight at Lewis and Clark's Evans Auditorium. Arrive early to leave time to navigate the campus. More info at Kalakendra.org Tickets $15 advance at indogram.com or Tickets West; $20 at the door. 7:30PM

March 30 Fashion Show at Design Within Reach

Adam Arnold makes clothes for women and men. That's unusual in a town where the screened tee is considered a fashion statement for men. In Brooklyn, the low down style is rationalized as an anti-crime measure, a cloak of invisibility for trust fund kids. Is it necessary here though?

For contrast, see Arnold's bespoke design style in a runway show at Design Within Reach, which sells furniture similar in attitude. Arrive early to sit inside, or watch through streetside windows.

http://www.dwr.com/studios/portland 1200 N.W. Everett 7PM Free

March 25 Yoga Benefit

Everyone complains about the state of the world but what are they doing about it? Here is one approach. Invite college students from around the country. Immerse them in a summer-long program in Portland. Explore political and social change dynamics deeply; how they can be moved by media. Finally, turn the participants loose on their own projects: documentaries, blogging, podcasts, working in non profits, or in the government itself. Repeat, building a network of powerful activists.

The participants get college credit, the tuition is a free ride, the work itself, intense and world changing.

All this takes money, and to raise it consider an afternoon of yoga and a silent auction of things like a Flex-Car membership, Kayak lessons, home repairs, dinners, real stuff. Yoga classes are $8 and you can choose from Kripalu (1PM), Moving with Attention (2PM), Kripalu (3PM), Vinyasa (4PM). At 5:30PM the silent auction winners will be announced.

The Northwest Institute for Social Change also needs hosts for the students and internship opportunities, so take a look at http://nwisc.com/program/ to find out more.

Benefit at Yoga Shala North http://www.yogashalapdx.com 3808 N Williams 1-6PM

March 24 Rollerderby Vampire Son

Rose City Rollers Rollerderby at the Expo Center

The Rose City Rollers kicks off its 2007 season tonight. Ticket prices have escalated as they have sold out shows. Hope the rollers are getting paid now! Details at rosecityrollers.com At the Portland Expo Center. Go by Train. Doors 5, rollers at 6PM $15/20 in advance $18/25 at the door


Annual Vampire Ball

The Vampire Ball is sort of a goth prom. If you are inclined to experience it, it is strictly dress the part and no spectators. Vampires like fun though, so dance music will be provided by DJ Horrid, DJ Curatrix and DJ Eternal Darkness. Sponsors include Dark Industry Clothing, Decarabia Gothic Jewlery, Dark Candles, Lemurgurlart, the Seattle stage production of Edward Scissorshands, Strange Monster, The Scarlet Garden, Tormented Artifacts, Fangs by Victor, Gothic Beagle, Alteration Nation, Mad Stoat Maskworks, the novel A Drop of Scarlet by Leisure Books, Leather Werks and Designs by Victoria. Details at http://www.myspace.com/vampireballpdx. $20 advance


Havana Heat at the Mambo Lounge

There is not so much distance between us and Cuba, even in the Northwest. Cana Son plays musica tradicional Cubana right here. Tonight they celebrate the release of their CD with a party. So if you are not leaving Portland for warmer climes, tonight's dance party might be the perfect tomic. Samples at myspace.com/canason Show at the Mambo Lounge 17 SE 8th (Imago) 10PM $10

March 23 Psychic Soviet Crux

Psychic Soviet Reading at Reading Frenzy

Psychic Soviet is a book which has nothing to do with either. Rather it is a compendium of laser brilliant writings, humorously deconstructing aesthetic theories of art, music and culture today. It is also in a "Little Red Book" style format - 3 1/2 by 5 inches - pocket or Old Joy camping trip size.

Tonight author Ian F. Svenonius reads at Reading Frenzy early, later he DJ's at Holocene as Name Names. Calvin Johnson, mr K and The Dub Narcotic Sound System, DJ's as Selector Dub Narcotic along with DJ Atole at Holocene.

Reading Frenzy 7PM Free!

Holocene 9PM on Free!



Identity Art Event at Crux Arts

Crux is an art studio by a cookie factory. Formerly Jen Rhodes studio gallery. Aritsts Serena Barton, Terry Dote, Stephen Ferreira, Jennifer Gritt, Kiri Hargie, Doug Smith, Andrew Sperry, Barbi Touron, Allison Ulmer, Matt Vosberg, Alisa Walton and Jerry Worley of the Black Sheep Art Collective create for you tonight Identity. It's a night of art, including performance and installation, conversation, music, and you.

Crux Arts 55 NE Farragut St 7PM

March 21 Two Talks

A Writer's Coach

I have an interest in writing, and, a newfound one, in writing fiction. I've had a chance sometimes, to travel. Sometimes to out of the way spots, where the foreign correspondent's club was the expat's speakeasy, in the spirit of Graham Greene. It is a place to make sense of the chaos, to sort fact from fiction. So how apropos that Portland's Press Club would invite tonight, Jack Hart, author of A Writer's Coach, to speak. Maybe he has insights into balancing the fact and fiction of writing.

The Press Club 2621 SE Clinton 7PM Free


"Everything You Know About Money is Wrong"

Economics is unfortunately our largest abstraction. Simple models of the infinite small behaviors of 6 billion people constitute a huge fragile edifice. Frank Ackerman, Director of Research and Policy at Tuft's Global Development and Environment Institute, tunnels termite-like into the foundations of economics. Flaws he finds there, resolved, may hold the key to a sustainable economics.

www.illahee.org First Congregational Church 1126 SW Park 7:30PM $20

March 15-18: Visualists at Play in Seattle and London

Pixelflip Performs at the 911 Media Arts Center March 15

The 911 VJ series continues with Pixelflip. Pixelflip was schooled at the Vancouver Film School, another datapoint for cinema's expansion.

911 Media Arts Center http://www.911media.org/ 402 9th Ave N. 7:30-10:30


Addictive TV and Peter Greenway Perform on the BFI IMAX March 16

Addictive TV performs live visuals. While their dissing Voila is massively disingenuous, they are one of the leaders in the genre, which has stronger and deeper roots in the UK. Joining Addictive will be Peter Greenway. Greenway is known for a series of spectacularly self indulgent art films, presaging Mathew Barney, who expanded the concept. In neither case this is not necessarily a bad thing. Born 1942, in Wales, Greenway, director of 59 films, has been awarded Commander of the British Empire by the Queen. Tonight he will perform live samples from the 92 Tulse Luper series, accompanied by DJ Radar. Greenway performs on a purpose built touch screen video server presaging future tools for live performance.

Both artists perform on the British Film Institute IMAX.

The Optronica Festival runs through Sunday. Pioneers EBN, who mixed visuals on VHS tape in the wayback, will be represented by Gardiner Port and Brian Kane. Ryoichi Kurokawa also performs.

All this is happening in London.

See the website for locations, times, particulars.

Note all the links here from the site http://www.optronica.org annoyingly trash the browser address bar. Poor form gents!


Artist Viola Provides Visuals for NIN

Video artist Bill Viola created visuals for 3 songs in a recent US tour by Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails. The visuals are front projected on a transparent scrim between the band and the audience. In a previous tour, NIN commissioned visuals by artist and designer David Carson. Carson tapped friends in the surf community to develop visuals from surf footage, especially the blue crush outtakes as the camera people were dragged beneath the wave. Carson's visuals are documented in the Fragility tour DVD; Viola on the Beside You in Time [Halo22]DVD, also available in HD.

March 3 - Indian Flute Giant Performs

Pandit is an honorific; in Indian music it is a musician who has developed great sensitivity and skill in interpreting centuries old rags - the canonical compositions of classical Indian music. I have seen Indian bamboo flute-Bansuri musician Pandit G.S.Sachdev. At age 73, playing for 50 years, he has a relaxed style. As a child his father discouraged his musical interests; his mother secretly encouraged them. Early in his career, he played for Bollywood soundtracks, but became disenchanted and refocused on deepening his experience with classical music. Sachdev is also comfortable with fusion of Western styles and has resisted Indian discrimination against musicians outside the established multigenerational musical families. Of his playing he reflects. "While playing, I have become not there. I feel the flute is shrinking, becoming smaller and smaller until it's not there. I'm on the stage...I am, and I also am not. I'm just gone. Those moments make life worth living and the music worth doing." Sachdev will be accompaned by Abhiman Kaushal on Tabla www.kalakendra.org
First Congregational Church
1126 SW Park Avenue
$15 advance www.indogram.com $20 door

March 2 - Eastside Art Openings

811 block - 811 East Burnside

Kelly Williams Ray puts images on objects in "Body Double Image". " "Vintage magazines, Department of Defense manuals, children’s books, and propaganda posters" are repurposed as commentary on the impact of advertising on our identity. In celebration of Redux's first anniversary birthday cupcakes and pink champagne will be served. Saint Cupcake to the rescue! At Redux 6-9:30

MoshiMoshi shows Full Orange, a cartoony show.

Often visual and musical creativity are correlated. Perhaps it is the attraction of deep inside time required for creation. Maybe desiring the accolades of audience plays a role too. I wonder how the fancy hall's polite applause or old school moshing would work to mark gallery-goers appreciation? Tonight musicians Adam Zeek, Curtis Knapp of Watery Graves, E*Rock (whose bright drawings are well known from other 811 shows), Hooliganship (who may be making some kind of viewmaster animation totem pole), Lucky Dragons & the Sumi Ink Club, Phil Elverum, White Rainbow and YACHT make visual. Given the musicians schedules, the opening will be both Thursday March 1 and the regular first Friday March 2. At Grass Hut




The "Burnside Rocket" is a condo development at 10th and Burnside under construction next to the rock gym. Four by six foot persistent canvases will adorn the building's shell - they will be seen daily by passers-by. Curator Ruthann Brown selected artists Rachel Allen, Austin Bales, Mazana Bruggeman, Peter Burr, Cecellia Cannon, Matt Cardinal, Sean Clark, Tim Dalbow, Jessie Dejonghe, Arcy Douglass, Dave Edgar, Ty Ennis, Justin Fry, Jason Greene, James Gudat, David Herbold, Yoshihiro Kitai, Felice Koenig, Gabriel Liston, Rose McCormick, Gustaf Mortier, Eldon Potter, Greg Simons and Bailey Winters to create the panels. They will be on view for one night close up at the New American Art Union, otherwise see them on the building later in the spring! At New American Art Union http://www.newamericanartunion/ 922 SE Ankeny



Newspace Photo shows Mariana Tres & Scott Jackson 1632 SE 10th



Small A has taken a bold step at representing some recent PNCA grads. Gallerist Gitlin has the pulse of Miami and LA whose bold collectors are perhaps more broad minded. Yeah!



Brian Marki shows Noah Nakel Artist Auditions I finalist & Madoka Ito. 2236 NE Broadway

March 1 - Westside art Openings

They are up all month, so some rainy Sat, catch the ones that got away...

Sue Coe makes drawings and paintings that are not nice. Perhaps in the genre of Spiegelman's Maus, the only comic to win a Pulitzer. Auschwitz taken by Spiegelman, RCA grad Coe takes on the dark side of capitalism, meat, AIDS, 9/11, genetic manipulation, animal research, apartheid, racism and war. Active since the early 1980's, Coe shows new work in the Feldman Gallery. PNCA NW 13th and Johnson

Augen shows minimalist prints from some well known proponents of the era: Tara Donovan, Sol Lewitt, Robert Mangold and James Siena. Free art history lesson. Augen http://www.augengallery.com/ 817 SW 2nd

Blue Sky shows photos by Paula Luttringer of Argentina. Between 1976 and 1983, the military dictatorship there imprisoned and killed many. Luttringer, imprisoned herself, images some of the 350 secret prisons of the time, interviews with fifty women imprisoned place a life in some of those now empty places. I have seen this show. The prints are of high technical quality, but the images have a low fi feel. They are often just gritty architectural elements in close medium shot with dim lighting. What carries the show are the stories accompanying the photos. My belief is that art's purpose is to create and emotional response in the viewer. These come close to the zone of relying entirely upon reference to other material guaranteed a response. For instance referencing the Holocaust is guaranteed a response, but isn't there a more subtle way to affect people? Perhaps the artist, having personally experienced some of what she images should be granted dispensation for her approach. http://www.blueskygallery.org/ 1231 NW Hoyt

Filmmaker Matt McCormick has lensed graffiti, nutria and tugboats. To me his documentary style quietly lays out a subtle enigma, allowing the viewer to enter and maybe see the world differently. His latest project "Future So Bright" is the result of traveling the West's abandoned landscapes. McCormick's unsustainable human settlements, built on mined out mines, water that wasn't quite there, railroads that no longer run, blue highways barely now on the map and 25 cent a gallon gas are now decaying back into the landscape. The remains represent the nostalgia of several generations, but the process is not limited to the West, or even America. Worldwide, changes in agriculture and in many countries, shrinking populations, certainly the desire to cohabitate in cities, are driving rural abandon. In Japan, towns are just closing. The same in Italy. Rural Ireland. The former Soviet Union. It will be curious to see whether these abandoned places will continue to be a reservoir of emotion, or just something less than a desiccated curiosity.

Also showing are Adam Sorensen's landscapes. In contrast, Sorenson's paintings are truly bright and imbued with surreal energy. Will Sorenson's forests meet the same fate someday as McCormick's abandoned places? Let's hope not!

At Liz Leach http://www.elizabethleach.com/

417 NW 9th

Usually a printmaker, Sarah Horowitz tonight shows intensely detailed sumi ink paintings "Magnolias". Mastering printmaking's deliberate and time consuming process and sumi's instant enlightenment Zen gesture is a rare feat, Horowitz does it. Also showing are two printmakers from Japan, where the art has been refined by centuries and culture. At Froelick http://www.froelickgallery.com/ 817 SW 2nd

Another history lesson are large metal sculptures by Mel Katz. They are painted not bare, his poppiest yet. At Laura Russo http://www.laurarusso.com/ 805 NW 21

Seattle artist David French is known for enigmatic carved wood objects with obsessive but casually weathered appearing painted finishes. Some of his new work translates these thoughtful, maybe soulful finishes to 2d work. At Pulliam Deffenbaugh http://www.pulliamdeffenbaugh.com/ 929 NW Flanders

The Portland Art Center is doing a good job of presenting sculpture and installation; if you make that work, you know the difficulties of finding venues. They have also carved out a good reputation for sound installations. This month they present Alchemy, by Christine Wallers and Steve Peters, involving processed voices. David Lindsay shows a 14 foot spiral frieze painting, Survey (at the edge of the continent). Lou Mallozzi presents Interval in the Light and Sound space upstairs. At the Portland Art Center http://www.portlandart.org/ 32 NW 5th

Everett Lofts are always recommended even if random.

Rake shows what should be a pretty good group show "All Day Snacking" themed on excess, leisure, consumption. Given China's rise, to say nothing of India, maybe it's time to get that in now. Before the apocalypse too maybe, or that's what some say. Also a landscape show by Dane Wilson involving barcodes. At Rake http://www.rakeart.org/325 NW 6th

Mixed media painter Mantecon imbues her paintings with and intensity that shines through the abstraction. Perhaps her p:ear kids and collaborators have found the same facility. I'm curious to see the work side by side. At p:ear http://www.pearmentor.org/ 809 SW Alder

Sarah Boss and Trevor Gray photograph surfaces close up. Boss' are sometimes more abstract, Gray's concrete. The colors are bright, reminding us that not all is grey here, especially up close. Boss is the creator of the Artist Auditions I, a project to make curating and being curated fun. At

Vino Paradiso http://www.vinoparadiso.com/ 417 NW 10th

Nicholas Knapton shows at Valentines: "After graduating from Portland State University in 1994 with a B.A. in printmaking, painting and drawing I moved to Berlin, Germany, where I involved myself with the thriving art scene and cultural phenomenon of the reunification of Germany. During this time I worked on Wrapped-Reichstag: Project for Berlin from Christo and Jeanne Claude, as well as working as a construction worker, silkscreen-printer and working artist" [how PDX]. Now "I am working in an old net-loft built in 1896 that is situated precariously over the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon. The building is an adventure in itself and the work I am doing there reflexes this feeling of adventure. The work is daring and bold combining the history and feeling of the building as well as my experiences as a painter working in precarious conditions, be it in Berlin or Astoria, Oregon. This body of work is about the physical activity of painting and drawing. Allowing my creative impulse to flow freely as possible, combining the figure with abstraction, and emotion with technique are some the of goals of my painting. It is work from the fringes of both west and east concentrating on what is juicy and delicious to me as a painter. Materials and sense of place are these juicy and delicious things. Trying to use both as an influence is what helps me decide which direction to pursue." So at Valentines 232 SW Ankeny

Musee16 is a little off the beaten path. It is making its own way with collage art curated from across the US and Europe. The work is somewhat romantic as is the space, it feels like it would not be out of place in some Paris androisment. Tonight it's the Traveling Menagerie, collaborative works by Katherine Brickman and Kate Mitchell and also works by Noe'lle Knight. The space is also showing free films the third Thursdays at 7:45PM Musee16 http://musee16.com/1005 NW 16th at the corner of Lovejoy in the rock block

Often visual and musical creativity are correlated. Perhaps it is the attraction of deep inside time required for creation. Maybe desiring the accolades of audience plays a role too. I wonder how the fancy hall's polite applause or old school moshing would work to mark gallery-goers appreciation? Tonight musicians Adam Zeek, Curtis Knapp of Watery Graves, E*Rock (whose bright drawings are well known from other 811 shows), Hooliganship (who may be making some kind of viewmaster animation totem pole), Lucky Dragons & the Sumi Ink Club, Phil Elverum, White Rainbow and YACHT make visual. Given the musicians schedules, the opening will be both Thursday March 1 and the regular first Friday March 2. Grass Hut 811 E Burnside

This is totally Backspace. A block away is a factory for game characters, objects and levels. Tonight Liquid Development artists show their work to Backspace's hardcore gamers. It's a fascinating look at the imagination in the machine. While this isn't a Superflat, that Portland supports this creative factory is a good thing. Certainly worth seeing out from behind the controller. 115 NW 5th

Artist and writer Harvest Henderson, who created an installation bedroom in which the bedclothes were sewn from hundreds of hand written lists and notes, combines again art and writing. THISENFRANCHISEMENT are six visual works using text. At Stumptown 125 SW 3rd

hard(ly)soft, curated by Amy Zollinger, with artists: Rachel Denny, Stephen Slappe, Cynthia Mosser, Scott Wayne Indiana, Jennifer Anable, Damon Thompson and TJ Norris opens at the Art Institute gallery space.1122 NW Davis

February 28-March 4 - RAW

RAW=Reed Arts Weekend

Students make it happen, no fear; big out of towners mix with big student work and it's free or cheap. You can get some details at http://web.reed.edu/raw/2007/. In addition to the indigenous Reed work, consider these:

Wednesday

Portland mover Tahni Holt presents a 5 channel video installation " Passing Out Heart Game". In collaboration with Videominds' Emily Bulfin and animator Jalal Jamison, each of the screens tells a story related. "The work is a study of the landscapes that contain us and is a meditation on control: resisting the unknown and releasing into this unknown. [It] inhabits the contradictions these opposed actions hold and the treacherous space in-between." Introduction to the work by the artist. Reed Vollum Lounge 6PM Free

Portland painter Arvie Smith explores the myths and stereotypes of black men and women. But real lives are always more complex than any possible stereotype. Tapping his own experiences living in New Orleans and visiting Africa, Smith's larger than life characters seem to inhabit another time, but are we really over that past? Smith speaks about his work in Kaul's Gray Lounge. 6:30 Free

Saturday

"Liza Lou is best known for her expansive beaded landscapes and sculpture. In 1995’s Kitchen, Lou encrusted a 168-foot life-sized 1950s kitchen in dazzling beads. The project took her 5 years and an estimated 20-30 million beads to complete. The result was both visually arresting and a powerful commentary on the injustices and paradoxical dignity of the traditional roles of women, their work and their art. Since then, Lou has continued creating subversive sculpture and performance art with a pop sensibility, including the beaded portraits of 42 presidents, which comprised 2000’s Star-spangled Presidents. In 2002, Lou was awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant. Her work both celebrates and undermines the American dream, revealing through gaudy splendor the unsettling nature of some of this country’s most central traditions. At RAW, Lou will take on religion with the world premiere of a video piece about her upbringing in a highly-religious family." 5PM Eliot Chapel $5 Reed

Saturday and Sunday

Butoh dancers Eiko and Koma have been performing together since their 20's, 30 years. They have performed only with one another. They are married. Children together too. So seeing them move together is something special.

I had the pleasure of working with them a few years back staging two pieces. Eiko is clear, planned, decisive. Koma quiet and reserved, with great wisdom. One previous piece was staged in many cities at riverbank performance spaces. After the audience had gathered, the performers entered the river upstream. Becoming one with a flotsam log, they drifted slowly down river until near the performance site. They slowly left the log and made way through the water to the bank. Emerging slowly they performed an intense improvisation on land for more than an hour. Then they danced slowly back to the water where, in time, another floating branch bore them away from the performance. Downstream boatmen waited to recover them from the water's grip, sometimes hypothermic. The production crew downstream was responsible for saving them, in some East Coast cities, from being drawn into the green seas' tides. The events involved performers in extensive research of each river's ecology. How many performers can say the same? The Portland instance of the piece was arranged the morning of and performed in the Jameson fountain. By the end, the performers and crew were definitely hypothermic, but had experienced a dream together with the audience.

Another performance I saw in North Carolina was staged in and around a huge cave-like bed. The structure was formed by branches barnacled by knotted and shredded sheer fabrics in the manner of Collette's bedroom crossed with a viney dewy jungle. They moved slowly, together and separately, as the bed-cave rotated ever so slowly, in a dialog of embrace and independence. I believe that work was developed over 6 months through a special grant of studio space in their New York City home. That space was one fourth of an upper floor in the World Trade Center. Over that time they, their close friends and their children occupied the space in a deep way which is difficult to imagine.

The result of 9/11 was a redefinition of another piece, performed here. At night the space among the trees was lit by over a hundred candles. The performers emerged from a mound of earth. The sole props were a collection of the long arrows of Japanese archery. In the end, the performers reentered the earth. The piece before 9/11 was intended for the stage and was quite dark, a meditation on how we deal with death in Western society, Japan included. After 9/11, the piece became a quiet meditation on life. It was performed for free at parks all over New York City, a gift.

Tonight's work is "Mourning". Commissioned by the Japan Society, it has not yet premiered. So you will be seeing something special from these McArthur recipients. For the performance, they will be accompanied by John Cage collaborator Margaret Leng Tan on the toy piano.

Sat 7:30PM; Sun 2PM Kaul $10

February 28 - Music & Sue Coe

MPO @ Goodfoot

The Music Population Orchestra is committed to taking 21st century chamber musics to the venues of the people - auris populi. Tonight they sonically occupy their strangest venue yet, the Goodfoot. They open for Trio Subsonic. Get there early for the MPO - they are first; a DJ finishes. 2845 SE Stark St 9PM $5

Artist Sue Coe Speaks

Illustrator Coe deftly avoids the landmines of commercial work surrounding us everywhere with good design. She goes directly to dig at the landmines of war, animal rights, factory farming, genetic engineering, plagues, 9/11 - check her site for an idea. She pulls no punches. In conjunction with a show at the school, Coe speaks PNCA Commons 6:30PM Free

February 24 Mac-N-Cheese & Pancakes @ Reed (and artist authors, and you)

Mathew Stadler has hosted a series, The Backroom dinner talks, at various Portland points, like Ripe, Simpatico, Medoyeff, with some pretty awesome speakers. It becomes a creative vortex with Portland's most creative musicians, a brilliant speaker and the most important ingredient - you, lubed by yum food, and sometimes Mathew's favorite bargain brandy, which if it isn't Cuban, should be - all talking and reinteracting with the speaker, the musicians and the other participants.

This morning (!?), The Backroom lays down an instantiation for all ages. It's Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, authors and illustrators of The Edge Chronicles. Their very Brit series is a childrens' fantasy, with copious "imaginary" characters, quests and battles. Illustrator Riddell will lead the kids in drawing and show them how he makes his "imaginary" characters. Anacortes musician Karl Blau provides music which I can guarantee won't be insipid.

So drawing for kids; pancakes, talk and macNcheese for all; mimosas for the big kids and OJ for the not yet big kids.

There is a place at the table and no doubt floor sprawling space for 65. So reserve your table or floor spot in advance. - $5, available at http://www.thebackroompdx.com/thebackroom_purchase.html.

It's at the Reed student union at Noon

February 22 Music, Art, Lit

Dark Yoga Music at Valentines

Dark Yoga celebrates with you. It's a CD release with sets by just about every combination of dark yogis and their other projects. Dark Yoga performs with added sax. Brave Priest stretches out psychedelic rock, Mathew McDowell lays down abstract trips and Machete, more abstractica.
Valentines 232 SE Ankeny 8PM on Free


The Personal Account of a Child Soldier in Sierra Leone

Ishmael Beah fled his village at 12, never to see his family again. Gangpressed into the government army at 13, he spent two years in an unimaginably dark surreal world. As a child soldier he killed daily. Free time was spent watching Rambo videos. Rap provided the soundtrack. Sometimes the children were called to fight in the middle of the video, after, they returned to continue as if the killing was a mere intermission. Most of the time they saw this terrible world through an admixture of cocane, pot and other powerful drugs.

At 15, the army gave up his ghost to a UNICEF child soldier demobilization program. At 17 he traveled to the US and enrolled at Oberlin. There he began to write this story.

Beah speaks of his experiences at Powells on Hawthorne. 7:30PM Free


Trish Grantham shows art at Office

Trish Grahtham is one of Portland's hardest working artists. Self organized shows, online sales, Stumptown sandwich boards, ad campaigns. Tonight she shows her work at Office
2204 NE Alberta www.officepdx.com
7-9 free

Kalakendra Declares Success

On the West Coast, in our culture of explorers, the focus is on the front edge of what, in time, may become an adoption curve. What murmers and mutations presage something which later is huge? There can be a tendency to be saddened though when a beautiful thing transforms the culture, then expires.

Instead we should declare success! (and move on)

So it is with Kalakendra. The importance of India on the world stage is not yet as apparent as China, but with roughly a quarter of the planet’s population, pay attention! A few years ago, 20, in Portland, some people created a concert series of classical Indian music and dance. Many Indians live here, working in technology and a myriad of other professions. How would their children learn the ragas?

Over that time they presented over 150 performances including literally the gods of music of the subcontinent such as Nusrat Fattah Ali Kahn, Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha and Ali Akbar Khan.

Over time too, other performance presenters emerged, teachers of music and dance put down roots, now there are several events a month within the community. Portland is now a stop of the route for touring Indian musicians.

Kalakendra has decided to declare success and dissolve. On April 28, a farewell concert will be held by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma on santoor and Ustad Zakir Hussain on tabla. Interestingly, these two musicians played the inaugural concert for Kalakendra 20 years ago.

The other final performances will be a Hindustani instrumental concert by Pandit Sachdev on bansuri flute and Swapan Chaudhuri on tabla March 3. (These are two giants!) On March 31, a carnatic instrumental concert will be held by Kumaresh and Ganesh on violin, Sivaraman on mridangam and Guruprasad on Ghatam.

details at Kalakendra.org

February 12 - Film at Valentines

Neo spinal tap? Who has not dreamed of rockstaring? Many of you have done it live in person. Maybe band touring, like many things, is better in its retelling than actually living it.

Tonight Valentines reprises that reality, with a film of almost now ancient 1999 rock star reality, on the road.

Radiation focuses on a promoter who in mid tour looses it all in a spiral of chaos. Never happens in real life on the road - right? Shot in Spain, it shows that the rock star life and all its peripheral elements are universal, worldwide.

This is part of a film series in which artists choose a favorite. Tonight's artist is Cat Tyc.

232 Ankeny Valentines 7:30

February 3 Eastside Art Openings

At the 811 Burnside Block

The Grass Hut continues serious shows with "Friends on the Endless Journey", the doodler's show, organized by Luke Ramsay. The artists are Peter Thompson, Luke Ramsey, Justin Williams, Etka, AJ Purdy and Andy Rementer.

Canadian Ramsey and his wife have created an artist residency on BC's Pender Island in which all of tonight's artists have participated. Justin Williams grew up in Japan and has lived in Hong Kong and Singapore. Now he's split between Montreal and Chicago where he recieved the Presidential Scholarship at the Art Institute of Chicago. Etka began to get serious about drawing and painting after she busted up her ankle skating. She got an illustration degree in London, got bored doing commercial illustration and animation so she moved home to Sweden and started a gallery in Gothenberg (same place as the artists who spoke Monday at the PSU lecture series). Andy Rementer and AJ Purdy met in art school in Philly then decamped to the communication research center at Fabrica. Fabrica is the research arm of gentle Italian clothing giant Benetton who were early to incorporate socially enlightened marketing with their Colors project; Fabrica is a sort of neo-Bauhaus, near Venice. Canadian Thompson "rides a comic doodle style that's free, fun and under no pressure to perform or impress the viewer with fancy tricks" notes Ramsey. Much of the work shown are collaborations between two illustrators. www.grasshutcorp.com


Moshi Moshi has gotta side with the ninjas, right? The show is "Ninjas are Sweet, 13 artists answering one question: Why are ninja's so awesome?" We'll have to see what the zombies have to say about that...


Denwave is having a big sale on crosses crafted by one of their units. So if you need some savin'...


Redux has Rebecca Haack - illustration style paintings with touches of wax mediums.



At the New American Art Union, artist Jacqueline Ehlis has curated a group show DO NO HARM vs Step Up. See for yourself the varied work. www.newamericanartunion.com 922 SE Ankeny


Newspace has a group show of work of auction spec, so a good cross section of current photography. www.newspacephoto.org 1632 SE 10th


Press Club has a show of lino cuts opening this evening with DJ sounds. If you are in the neighborhood - 2621 SE Clinton

February 1 Westside Art Shows Open

Shows run all month, generally through the Saturday before the next month's first Thursday. Galleries love to see you on a lazy Saturday. They especially love you as do the artists when you take out that wallet from time to time.



Augen has created a disturbingly sweet paring of photographers Grace Weston and David Emmite. Weston continues her carefully lit tableau of small scenes entitled "Wonder Lust". Imagine photographs of fantastic doll house interiors or a stop action animation set. Emmite shows Field Guide, involving animals and machines.
www.augengallery.com 817 SW 2nd


Elizabeth Leach Gallery shows photographer Dianne Kornberg. Kornberg is known for large format photos of flora and fauna, especially collections or agglomerations in laboratories. I think she needs to return to the energy of earlier work - maybe ask them to pull out a chronosample from the back and decide yourself.
www.elizabethleach.com 417 NW 9th


Quality Pictures opens Picture Ping Pong curated by Elizabeth Huey. Huey created a community on myspace in which friends carried on conversations composed of messages containg almost exculsively images. For many, the familiarity of myspace made for conversations that might not work in real life; the fact that the community was spead across the US, Canada, Paris and Italy also made the myspace medium a well matched vehicle. Forged by picto conversations, many of the artists met for the first time in Miami in December. One of Hickey's theses is that the creative conversation of artists can evolve faster than culture itself. Is myspace the new warehouse? The work is bright and has the 811 (E Burnside) feel - Moshi Moshi and the Grass Hut. A bold demonstration of QCPA's direction(s). NB Portland artists, introduce yourself to the project artists in attendance. Photographer David Hilliard continues from last month. www.qpca.com 916 NW Hoyt


PDX presents a group show by Mary Henry, D.E. May, identical twins separated at birth with their minimalist linear 2d compositions. Perhaps the art that Rabbit at rest would contemplate. Artist Ryan Jeffery shows documentation of a variety of projects including his awesome music box. Filmmaker and performer Vanessa Renwick shows material from her Trojan nuclear plant project last seen in the Museum biennial. PDX Contemporary Art www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Street til 8:30?


The Portland Art Center continues the installations of last month, which are excellent, and adds a new project by Paris artists Eric La Casa and Jean-Luc Guionnet, “Reflected Waves”. In this case, they have gathered sound and light from Melbourne Australia, which in many ways resembles Portland. Close your eyes, listen and dream summer. www.portlandart.org 32 NW 5th until 10


Margaret Stratton transmits emotion laden concepts simply and directly, selectively documenting the remains of material culture. For instance in this work “My Mother’s House” she presents straight b&w photos on a black background of objects from her childhood house. Acquired in their time, they trace the arc of the materiality of middle class life in the 1950’s and 60’s. Her work has a similarity to Belgian Henk van Rensberge’s abandoned places project www.abandoned-places.com, but Stratton brings a variety of conceptual viewpoints, mixed differently for each project. Other bodies of Stratton’s work include World Trade Center, A Guide to Wasteland, Inventory of an Abandoned House, Ancient Ruins: Abandoned Naples, Detained in Purgatory and Notes from the Nuclear Garden. www.margaretstratton.com. At Blue Sky Gallery with photos of companion animals impacted by Katrina. She also speaks for free at the gallery Friday evening. www.blueskygallery.org 1231 NW Hoyt until 9


In the Everett Lofts many a wonderous thing may ensue. Including at the Pony Club #105 "Open to Strangers" a group show; at Kolega 328 NW Broadway a Blackbird Tattoo art show; at Sugar "Black Metal" from blond Norway, documentation of the dark musical subculture by photographer Peter Beste. Mythical tribalism characterizes this cross between metal and the Lord of the Rings. These metaloids weren't playing when they murdered one another and burned 20 churches, including one 800 years old in an attempt to drive Christianity from Nord and reestablish the mythical pagan religions. Everett Lofts - the block of NW Everett, Broadway, Flanders and 6th.


Compound/Just Be Toys shows Illustrious: Deth P Dun, Jack Long, Manny Silva, Monica Canllao, Ogi and RINZEN. Curated by Monica HW Choy. At Compound/Just Be Toys 107 NW 5th until about 9:30


Rake shows work by Rachell J Siegel and Sarah Cruse http://www.rakeart.org 325 NW 6th Ave

The metal sculpture, some heavy, show at Woolley continues. See last month’s listing.
Tonight the East Woolley (Wonder) will be connected by a free bus to Rake (West) www.markwoolley.com 128 NE Russell until 10



Brett Superstar continues his giant robot at the B-Street Gallery at the corner of NW Davis and 13th.


Upper Playground's Portland moonbase shows "The Early Bird", flat art and installation by Morning Breath, in graphic style hoovering pre '60's advertsing imagery and blenderizing it into a strange brew. http://www.fifty24pdx.com/ 23 NW 5th


Vino Paradiso shows "Key to My Heart" by Nubby Twiglet which is a great name. www.vinoparadiso.com 417 NW 10th until late


Paige Saez is known for her large bright abstract paintings and installations; but this month at Valentines she shows photographs and a bright wall piece. 232 SW Ankeny Lights on 6-9PM, open late


Anna Weber shows giant teeth at Motel, grrr. Actually these are models of teeth arrayed like some sort of school dental diorama, cavities repaired and all. Weber also shows photos by Daniel Peterson of herself in costumes of her own construction: "Squirrel", "Rainbow Beard" and "Sloth". An artist to watch? http://www.motelgallery.com/ NW Couch between 5th and 6th across from Ground Control until 9

January 26 Butoh and other Japanese things at Someday Lounge

If you know me, you know I'm the butoh go to guy here. I'm not so enamoured of butoh grotesque and this performance is not that.

Tonight's performers are Maureen Freehill, Sheri Brown, Vanessa Skantze and former Portlander Ariel Denham. They have danced in the past with, PAN, a Seattle group, the child of DK Pan. PAN has been funded to travel and perform in Korea, Pan's family home, and in Japan where they've been developing collaborators.

Pan and many of his movers are descended from the Hijikata-Hakutobo lineage which is characterized by sublime expression and metamorphoses into wind, stone, water, animals and the like. Several of the dancers have studied deeply too with Kazuo Ohno, who was involved with the founder from the beginning. Ohno's approach is driven by love and common images which dancers visualize to create their movement are birth and the flower. Ohno celebrates his 100th birthday year with his last performance on stage tomorrow in Yokohama. Many butoh giants will perform tributes.

(Math teacher!)Sheri Brown has trained in the Hakutobo and Ohno traditions, actress Maureen Freehill brings a theater background to extensive studies in Japan with Kazuo Ohno and others. Ariell has trained extensively with Ohno in Japan. Skantze is trained in Jinen Butoh by founder Atsushi Takenouchi.

Soundscapes will be provided by Kyoto improvisor Marron and DJ Daichi from Japan, who will play for a dance party after the performance.


Marron a.k.a dubmarronics is Yasuhiko Tanaka
Based in Kyoto, Japan his musics include:

2005 apr."melts slowly" by his own unit "dubmarronics"
2005 oct. "the ten oxherding pictures" recorded with 3other guitarists,Fernando Kabusacki, from Argentine, Kei from ex.Hanadensya, Yoshitaka.expe from Nutron.
2006 mar. "spring" by his main band dubdub on-seng, unit with Manabu Sakata (dr)
2006 aug. W-named album "sleephammer" recorded with bill holist(gt), from seattle, U.S.A

awards include:
2006 jun. Dokkebi Awards in Korea as a member of P.A.N, a Butoh group from Seattle, U.S.A. he was in charge of music performance.
2006 aug. Special Awards from judges of ACC Sound Performance Dojyo. Awarded as a music performer of the performance group Holon. <<<<<
http://www2.odn.ne.jp/dubdub_on-seng >>>>>

DJ DaiChi MatSuOKa also currently Kyoto,Japan
"I started to play live P.A and DJ at club and open air rave party scene around 1995,and play kind of ambient music mainly. From 1999 to 2000 I joined "SOFT"(SOFT came to Seattle and play live a few years ago) as a track maker and sampler player, and released albums "Bonjour Bonshanfarm" "Otodama". Later I released some other remix and mix CDs. Recently I started new band "Based On Kyoto" with Marron and other friends, and we will release 12inch vinyl coupling with Daniel Wong and later compilation CD with 10 more artists around us from Jetset records. This time I bring some soundsouces of studio recordings, jam sessions, field recordings and my tracks that I recorded or joined in, and I make dub and mix those sounds with my computer. thank you."



http://www.somedaylounge.com/ 125 NW 5th 9PM $5

January 25 Critical Art Ensemble in Eugene

I'll make a more elegant version later, but from the press release:

Steve Kurtz, an artist and professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, will talk about the convergence of art, technology and radical politics during a free public lecture at the University of Oregon on Jan. 25. Kurtz made national headlines several years ago when he was accused of bioterrorism after police found lab equipment and books on bioweaponry at his home.

Kurtz will speak on the topic "Art and Discipline" which, in his words, will explore why violence against cultural resistance has escalated and intensified over the past five years.

The case against Kurtz began to unfold on May 11, 2004 when he called 911 after his wife, Hope, died at home of heart failure. Police officers who responded to the call saw the body, the lab equipment and the books and alerted the FBI. Kurtz was using the lab to produce harmless bacteria as part of a video installation on bioterrorism.

Federal agents in hazmat suits soon arrived at the residence, impounded Kurtz's equipment—including Petri dishes, test tubes and computers—and seized his wife's body from the coroner. Kurtz and his collaborator Robert Ferrell, former chair of the Genetics Department at the Graduate School of Public Health, at the University of Pittsburgh, were accused of bioterrorism and mail fraud each potentially carrying a sentence of 20 years. A grand jury returned indictments for mail and wire fraud, but declined to indict on the bioterrorism charge.

Both men are members of the Critical Art Ensemble, an arts group founded by Kurtz and his wife. Members use high school lab equipment and common household supplies to create art installations that publicize the increasingly privatized worlds of science, technology, and information.

"Marching Plague," an exhibition for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, was one of the projects Kurtz was working on when the federal agents seized his laboratory equipment and his library, correspondence and computers. "Marching Plague," which re-created a 1952 British military experiment wherein guinea pigs were infected with the plague to see how fast it would spread, was featured in the Whitney Biennial 2006, an event sponsored by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The Biennial is recognized as the nation's pre-eminent exhibition of contemporary American art.

A documentary film, "Strange Culture," based on Kurtz's recent experiences will be screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Kurtz is the 2007 George and Matilda Fowler Memorial Lecturer. The lectureship was established by the late Constance Fowler to honor her parents. Fowler, who received her master's of fine arts degree from the University of Oregon in 1940, was an artist and a professor of art at Willamette University.

Event Location:

Room 177, Lawrence Hall, 1190 Franklin Blvd.
UO Campus, Eugene 7PM Free

January 24 Trishia Brown Speaks @ PNCA

Born in 1936, Brown, as a modern dancer in New York in the 1960's, with her collaborators at the Judson, broke every boundary of dance and choreography they could find. In this 1966 photo, Brown dances with a running film projector on her back. Performances were held on rooftops; dancers rappelled and danced the walls of buildings high above the audience. Everyday movement was repurposed to dance becoming the foundation of what is now termed postmodern dance. She collaborated with artists Robert Rauschenberg, Donald Judd, Nancy Graves, Lina Wertmueller, John Cage, Laurie Anderson, Fujiko Nakaya, Kenjiro Okazaki, Robert Ashley and Terry Winters, she was a key figure in those avant gardes.

Portland's creatives may be able to plumb Brown's experience on finding collaborators and then finding boundaries; on risk taking, art's relation to audience; on the dynamics of a sustainable creative arc.

13th NW and Johnson PNCA Commons 6:30PM Free

January 23: Photographer-Collector Marc Joseph @ Reed Gallery

Marc Joseph photographs indy book and vinyl stores. His large scale prints are accompanied by a catalog mixing the photos with prose and poems by complementary musicians and writers.

http://web.reed.edu/gallery/

Opening and talk at 6:45PM in Psych 105 Free

January 22: Rigo 23 Art Muralist Talk @ PSU

Rigo 23 is a SF artist, SF Art Institute and Stanford schooled. He is considered a member of the Mission School as is Chris Johanson. His murals and signs and sign murals are easy to relate to but au courant, Chinatown, live and learn. PSU Hall Street Cinema 8:15PM Free

January 21: World of Warcraft Gamers' Night Out @ Someday Lounge

Personally not me, but: welcome to the matrix at Someday's World of Warcraft Expansion release party. From the lead game producer via www.gamespot.com: "In our next major update, we will be releasing Blackwing Lair, a 40-person raid dungeon, where you will be able to battle against the epic dragon Nefarian and his minions. We are also working on a 20-person dungeon called Zul'Gurub and the mysterious lands of Ahn'Qiraj in Silithus. Outside of dungeons, we want to continue adding new world events, such as a carnival that will take place in Mulgore and Elwynn forest." More news and a promotional video at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/. Irono-nazis, The Punk Group perform a purpose written song for the occasion. Blizzard's beta testers have hopefully found all the bugs in each and every maze of twisty little passages! http://www.somedaylounge.com/ 125 NW 5th 9PM door $5

January 20: Seattle Butoh Dance Visitors @ Someday Lounge

Prepared guitar performer Bill Horist collaborates with primarily Seattle butoh players Vanessa Skantze, Douglas Ridings and Sheri Brown, plus perhaps some Portland movers. Butoh is a strange and wonderful very modern dance performance form. Sometimes it can be dark and grotesque, other times sublime. Improvised, I cannot predict the outcome tonight. http://www.somedaylounge.com 125 NW 5th 9PM $7

January 20: Tilt Gallery Anniversary

This serious Everett Station Loft Gallery is one of the few consistently open outside First Thursday. They have been showing works, especially sculpture-installation, consistently over their first year of operation. Tonight they are open 8-11 to celebrate. On NW Everett between 6th and Broadway 8-11PM Free

January 20: Solo Flamenco Dance @ Artichoke Music

Flamenco is not fancy. Really. In fact its gypsy roots and bar room history chart a peoples' passion. Solo Flamenco is a Portland group of dancers who share performances solo. They do have a pretty, shall we say, unusual web site nav convention involving mousing a guitar. Tonight their dancers perform "El Cuadro", the picture. Catering by Pix. Chocolate, flamenco, what is the moon phase? http://www.soloflamenco.org/ at Artichoke Music, in back, 3130 SE Hawthorne. Advance tickets recommended, there is a fiercely passionate flamenco community and the space is small. 7:30PM Call 503/972-1178 or email: soloflamenco@gmail.com $12

January 19: Burn To Shine Film @ NWFVC

The intensity of creativity is deep inside, so invisible. Burn To Shine mixes mataphor with reality to make it manifest. In the Portland instance of the project, The Thermals, Quasi, The Planet The, Wet Confetti, Lifesavas, Tom Heinl, Mirah, The Decemberists, The Shins, The Gossip, The Ready and Sleater-Kinney play an intimate living room show in a derelect house, with the intensity of their basement house party roots, for a few friends. In the evening, the house is burned to the ground. This film is the result. More details may be found at the filmmakers' website.
http://www.nwfilm.org 9:30PM Whitsell Auditorium $7, $6 students

January 18: Spyscience @ 911 - Seattle

The 911 Media Art Center's VJ tonight is Spyscience. Drummer Tim Weeks combines commercial film snippets with personal footage in the visual rhythmic service of live musicians and DJ's.

http://www.911media.org/events/vj-night.html 402 9th Ave N.Seattle 7:30PM

January 18: Hitchcock, Eckard Show Art @ Chambers

Leanne Hitchcock is a photographer. In Cycle she explores the seasons in an abstract palette of image and hue. David Eckard does everything, sculptures, performance and tonight painting-drawing. The artist(s?) speak at 7. http://www.chambersgallery.org/ Opening 5:30-8:30PM

January 18-March 11: Indy Photojournalists on Iraq @ Lewis and Clark College

Damned if you and damned if you don't. Journalists have a choice of being embedded with the US military in Iraq, that special circle of Dante's hell, perhaps protected, perhaps targets. Or they can operate independently, as unprotected targets. Is that the same hell?

Lewis and Clark shows "Unembedded: Independent Photojournalists in Iraq" by photographers Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Kael Alford, Thorne Anderson and Rita Leister. War, this war, is an easy emotional carrier for heavy thoughts. Nonetheless it can be a reality touchpoint for clues on what may be one of the last 100 years' worst human foreign policy disasters.

The show opens 5-7PM. At 7, two of the photographers speak. Check the L&C website for directions and parking provisos.

http://www.lclark.edu/dept/gallery/exhibitions.html

January 17: Money Talks Talk @ Illahee Lecture Series

This is the kick off of the Illahee environmental lecture season. Previous years' themes have circled around sustainability, landscape, the environment and energy. Very brainy, very lean forward, definitely not boring. This year's theme, "Money Talks", themes the environment, social evolution and economics together.

Andrew Revkin, author and New York Times environment reporter, speaks on "Oil, Climate, and Money". You will find the audience spans generations; these are Portland's thoughtful dreamers of the future. Sometimes the series needs volunteers, though it may be late. The lectures are viewable in replay in the Illahee offices, including the excellent ones of the past, for free, I believe. http://www.illahee.org/lectures/revkin First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave 7:30PM $75, 5 lectures or $20 each

January 16- February 24: Julie Orser Video Show @ PNCA

Julie Orser, PNCA ('99) and Cal Arts ('05) grad, opens new video work at her alma mater. At PNCA she developed a quiet multi channel style. In California she added work by actors. Other multinarrative artists, such as Julie Talen operate in the conventional film realm; Doug Aitken, one of the founding photographic artists of Raygun magazine, does multi image installation, with a cooler feel; Japan's Dumb Type combines AV multinarrative with dance and performance art, live.

Orser won the best of show award at the 2006 Portland Experimental Film Festival for Bit Parts. At PNCA, Orser presents "Anna Moore", a three channel video installation in the enigmatic psychodrama style she has developed. She also programs the project space with findings from her ART OFFICE collective. Both shows are up until February 24, school hours. Orser speaks Wednesday January 31 at the school 12:30-1:30PM

http://pnca.edu free

January 8-February 9: Metals Today @ PCC Sylvania

The PCC North View Gallery presents Sarah Graham, Heidi Schwegler and Junko Iijima. Schwegler is known for her challenging sculptures. Iijima shows shapes sampled from Disney characters and recombined into sculptures.

PCC Sylvania CT Building M-f 8AM-4PM check the parking regulations, they are confusing.

January 20-21: Big Seattle Art Museum Outdoor Sculpture Park Opening

One art professor suggested "if you can't make it good, make it red, if you can't make it red make it big, if you can't make it big, ship it out of the country to show then show it here".

That being said, there is plenty of big art that's good too and Seattle found a place for it. The Seattle Art Museum raised $85M and placed 21 big sculptures between Belltown and the Sound including a 39 foot red-orange Calder which is good.

The sculpture park is free and you can bring your dog!

http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/

January 8 - Tomorrow Will Be Better - Artist Talk @ PSU

The artist Dave McKenzie who is having his second show in the Small A space speaks on his visual and performance work. 8:15PM PSU 5th Avenue Cinemas 501 SW Hall Free

January 6 Drawing Show at The Shotgun House

Launching a collaboration between Madison, Wisconsin and Portland, Oregon, Paper Work is a show exploring drawing today by Melissa Cooke, Stacey Helm, Kendra Larson, Zach Mory, Katarina Riesing, Robin Russo, Ariestya Tjhin, Nathan Vernau, Heather White and Joshua Wilichowski. Music by Chris Buckingham, Dennis Driscoll, Michael Parich, Brian Whitson and the Night Wolves. 1419 SE Pine Street 8PM

January 5 - Eastside Art Openings

In the 811 E. Burnside mega art complex:

The Grass Hut, in a bold curatorial move, expands its aesthetic with a show by Lisa Dejohn and Roberta Aylward. DeJohn is known for her composed collages and paintings. Aylward's work has a similar feel, her Portland Modern works included striking ink drips, perhaps Zen Rorschach.

Moshi Moshi has Jilf. Very Pictoplasma.
http://www.moshi-moshi.com/

Denwave has a vintage clothing sale, no conventional visual art this month

Redux shows kawaii paintings by Kendra Binney. Binney has those big eyed girls, songbirds and dolphins down. Somebody buy this work, hire her to illustrate childrens books or to create a huge animation series!


New American Art Union is the temporary home to large panels curated by Ruthann Brown to clothe a new residential building at tenth and E Burnside. They won't be open, but maybe the lights will be on to looksee. http://www.newamericanartunion.com/ 922 SE Ankeny


The Mark Woolley gallery is operating entirely out of the Wonder Ballroom space, with openings on the first Friday. Tonight he shows sculptures by longtime Portland sculptors James Lee Hansen, Tom Hardy, Robert Hess and Bruce West who started careers in the 1960's. Perhaps a history lesson paired with a tour of the Art Museum contemporary collection which is roughly chronologically hung. Details at www.markwoolley.com 128 NE Russell


Tunisia sits at the nexus of ancient North African East-West camel tracks, gateway to Saharan desert routes and the diversity of Medditerranean cultures. Sort of an oasis, a rich microcosm. The capital Tunis embraces discos and souks, and life where there is always time for tea. I imagine there more than a few of Calvino's Invisible Cities. Photographer James Ewing http://www.photoewing.com/ has captured some of this in his photographs. Whitney Hubbs presents autobiographical work "Nothing Happens in June" Newspace Photo. http://www.newspacephoto.org/ 1632 SE 10th


Painter -sculptor -installationist -performer -curator -arts organizer and ace bike mechanic Paige Saez shows new bright work. Saez' abstracts have great energy and feel optimistic to me. Judge yourself! Moloko Plus • 3967 N Mississippi


Curation is mysterious. The art world game can be tiresome. So when you can't game the system, transform the system into a game! The artist auditionsTM has done just that. You can read a description at http://www.urbanhonking.com/supercal/archives/2007/01/artist_receptio.html The karaoke phase sounds like fun! See the results of this art game at Brian Marki Gallery 2236 NE Broadway

January 4 - Westside Portland Art Openings

The Portland Art Center

Tonight only, Paint and Copter perform in white, in a white room, the walls and the musicians the screen for video projections inspired by the palace Fontainebleau.

In "Second Skin", longtime Portland artists JD Perkin and Anne Thomson, mashup the scene of a campout in the woods with an exploration of materials for representing it, including earplugs, cigarette butts, beer cans, animal hides, tires, rose petals, human hair, fake fur, doug' fir, antlers, and leaves.

That sounds like a good counterpoint to "Art & Ecology in the 5th Quadrant", art by Peg Butler, Cecillia Cannon, Clare Carpenter, Jedidiah Chavez, James Jack, Laura Foster, Courtney Frisse, Susan Harlan, TJ Norris & Abi Spring, Liz Obert & Mike Suri, curated by Art on The Peninsula, North Portland artists.

In the Light and Sound Gallery, installation sound artist Dan Senn presents "Many Pairs Sounding", involving tuned resonators driven by Senn's compositions.

http://www.portlandart.org/ 32 NW 5th Avenue til 10, maybe later. Free, your best entertainment value


Michael Chelbin shows portraits on the fringe of mass culture, highlighting our quirky USA. Dennis Chamberlin shows "Screen Culture" portraits in which his subjects are illuminated by television, computer and film screens. The light mimics that of softboxes, a lighting tool now visually familiar from feature films and portraiture, screen illuminated portraits are no stranger to Myspace either. Other artists also have captured the intense concentration in the faces of gamers absorbed in play. http://www.blueskygallery.org/ 1231 NW Hoyt until 9, maybe a bit later


Jim Riswold shows Mao Home and Garden. Former adman, Riswold is known for his paint by number Last Supper. Mutually overloading pop culture and historical figures is a delicate business. He did it well with the Last Supper, and we wish him he best with Mao. http://www.augengallery.com 817 SW 2nd til 9


Compound/Just Be Toys shows "4 Dreams": Amy Sol, Audrey Kawasaki, Mari Inukai & Stella Im Hultberg. Curated by: Monica HW Choy. At Compound/Just Be Toys http://www.justbedesign.com/ 107 NW 5th until about 9:30


PDX shows Storm Tharp's "We Appeal to Heaven", Baconesque portraits and caricatures in light washes. PDX Contemporary Art http://www.pdxcontemporaryart.com 925 NW Flanders Street til 8:30?


Quality Pictures shows photographs by David Hilliard. Hilliard studied and taught at Yale and stages situations, photographing them on large format negatives as does fellow instructor Crewdson. Hilliard is less over the top than Crewdson, your choice on whether that is better or other. http://www.qpca.com 916 NW Hoyt to 11


Rake mounts a group show of works on paper. http://www.rakeart.org 325 NW 6th Ave


Brett Superstar shows his giant robot at the B-Street Gallery at the corner of NW Davis and 13th.


Elise Wagner, one of the region's encaustic luminaries, shows new work in a group show at Butters 520 N.W. Davis, Second floor til 9


Laura Russo shows "Early Northwest Artists", Louis Bunce, Kenneth Callahan, William Givler, Sally Haley, Charles Heaney, Arthur and Albert Runquist, Mike Russo and Mark Tobey. This show is a good complement to the contemporary permanent collection hang at the art museum that places generations of Portland artists in the context of East coast art happenings of the time. So a history lesson. http://www.laurarusso.com 805 NW 21st Ave. til 9

These shows are up all month.

January 4 - Ambient Giant Plays

German ambient giant Thomas Fehlmann performs at Holocene. The concept of discography seems dated, so let's just say check his oeuvre at his site. Or maybe listen. Gundrun Gut, musician, producer, video artist and sometime Pipiloti Rist Collaborator performs too. Several other DJ's for your musical pleasure are on the bill. http://www.holocene.org $8

January 2 Kamikaze Girls Film Free

Repurposing the lounge for free films on a slow night is predated by 2601's Sunday film night and tasty burgers. Valentines has Sundays, Pix Mondays and the Camellia Lounge now adds Tuesday.

Tonight they show Kamikaze Girls. This film is a bit hard to describe, but it's the funnest film since Katakuri-ke no kôfuku, The Happiness of the Katakuris. Set in Japan today, the small town protagonist, Momoko, lives in a cosplay world, sews herself fantastical gothic-Lolita/Victorian clothes and dreams of tea parties and a life in distant Tokyo's fashion world. Meanwhile the small town is terrorized the most colorful all girl scooter gang since Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Portland scooter clubs, watch and learn!

Momoko becomes the target of bad-assed Ichiko, the gang's leader, but ultimately these two lonely individualists become best friends, leading to a poignant happy ending. The film is shot and scored music video-style with a J-pop soundtrack. Check the trailer at http://www.kamikazegirls.net/

The Tea Zone's bland suburban front room, themed UK kitsch, gives way to the up to date Camellia lounge in the back with a full bar specializing in tea infused liquor. http://teazone.com/ 510 NW 11th 7:30PM Free

January 1 Bike Mud Bowl @ Park

The annual Mud Bowl will be held at Col. Summers Park. It's a gathering of serious free-spirited bicyclists, maybe Zoobombers and messengers, counterpoint to the BTA's First Day of the Year Ride. Mud, maybe bike polo and bike fun as only this crowd can create. Our own day without messengers messengering.
Col. Summers Park ~1PM-? Free