Might be the worst year of my life but at least I’m in a Joyce manor song ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So freakin cute. Makes me smile so big. Glad there’s a document of those very special nights.
some more posters for shows this summer. trying to do more work on the computer, going to the IPRC on the reg and paying for a buttload of copies that I end up recycling seems increasingly unreasonable. I’m *okay* with this so far.
also the 20xx/Sculpture Club poster is a direct ripoff of a wonderful Stanislaw Lem book cover.
Witch Haus PDX is officially going to be tabling the Portland Zine Symposium next Saturday (July 9th) at the Ambridge Event Center. Come hang peruse the many amazing zines that we feel honored to get to share plastic tables with!
Wendy Trevino (!!!!) came back to read the rest of their now published, amazing chapbook Brazilian Is Not A Race. Having Wendy on the show has been great because of how much I feel we learn from her. I’m also inspired by how much she holds her ground when weird academics come for her. She reminds me how staying critical of everything is so important in refining our analysis against racism, sexism, and other oppressive systems.
In a weird way, working with Rod always feels like a family affair. When we recorded the first tape, maybe a year ago, I remember Alan borrowing phones in between takes to call his mom. We would relax by standing in the driveway drinking Gatorade and smoking cigarettes, talking about Tommy’s two-year absence from America.
The latest sessions for the new tape were spent in Tommy’s parents garage, of all places. The first set of days was in January, I think, and when the band would finish a take someone would turn the minuscule space heater back on and I would probably run down to Tommy’s house to pee and chat with Tommy’s mom and brother. Rod’s music is filled with imagery of childhood dogs and family dinners so it really made sense to put the recordings together in the garage.
I’m really happy I could work on these songs. For a period of time I was trying to not record, and Rod was actually the first band I turned down. Tommy texted me about starting work on the next tape and I told him that I wasn’t able to. Turning my house into a studio was a pain for most people involved, life was getting in the way, et cetera, et cetera. A few weeks later, I caught them at Anarres (I wanna say Sabonis was playing?) and Rod played a few songs off the new tape, “Cemetery,” included. Tommy’s maniacal teenage-id voice floored me, like always, and I rushed up as they were packing their gear and said I wanted to take part in the recording in any way, if they were still open. I’m still glad I did that.
Distraught by the disappearance of the neighborhood’s cultural identity, professionals hope to reclaim the area with black-owned business developments
Portland’s north-east Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard is a four-lane thoroughfare peppered with general conveniences but little foot traffic. Drivers are just trying to get somewhere else, accelerating past the unremarkable architecture and chain stores.
But over the next decade, the city of Portland has pledged to spend $32m on affordable housing in what is called the Interstate Corridor, which encompasses MLK Jr Blvd. Businesses are moving into the traditionally African American area and, as has too often been the case in the US, black residents are moving out.
Portland native Carl Talton wants to change that. Distraught by the disappearance of their cultural identity, he’s part of a group of black professionals who want to reclaim their gentrifying neighborhoods with black-owned business developments – they’re calling it the Soul District. But while hopes are high, history has not been kind to African American businesses’ attempts to ride the wave of gentrification.
As CEO and chairman of Portland Family of Funds, which undertakes economic development activities, Talton believes it’s important to balance affordable housing with wealth creation and wants to make sure the black community is part of it.
“We’ve got businesses that are moving into this community on a pretty regular basis and they’re buying up all the commercial space, and so they’re buying up all the opportunity,” said Talton, who has watched rapid gentrification swallow the businesses and homes of many African Americans in North and North-east Portland, due to the rising cost of land, housing and commercial space.
According to US Census Bureau figures, between 2000 and 2014, 8,900 African Americans moved out of Portland’s north and north-east neighborhoods. In other words, the black population in the area dropped to 17% from 30%.
In response Talton and a group of other professionals formed Bicep (Black Investment Corporation for Economic Progress). Its members come from finance, real estate, business development, community organizing, technology and education. Their mission: to reclaim and revitalize Portland’s historically African American neighborhoods through socially responsible commercial development, with MLK Jr Blvd at the fulcrum. As they see it, their communities are lacking in black-owned goods and services.
Advance notice of your location, Portland - I’m playing this show in a few weeks with two really awesome bands & I’m probably going to lose my mind over it. Be there, okay?
These songs were recorded between the hours of 11pm and 3am (somewhere about) in a large, well-lit room in southeast Portland, after Alien Boy had completed a recording for an as-yet-unannounced seven inch.
This is a demo tape in the most literal sense in that we’re releasing it right now to demonstrate to you that we’re a real band and we’d like to play your city, most likely sometime in mid-August, or maybe even sooner if you’re in the northwest and can convince us.
It will be available on cassette tape from a nice label sometime later but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Dan got a Crudos record to cheer me up and I doubled down by checking out the first volume of Akira from work, even though there’s no way I could possibly work my way through the whole series within this lifetime.
kianamaiart
stormborns
annaxmalina
origamiaround
jacobvanloon
andulkaphoto
baratheonpilled
