Mi Viaje

THE ARCADE FIRE SETS PORTLAND AFLAME!

On Tuesday night (the 20th), The Arcade Fire played at the Crystal Ballroom here in Portland. The Arcade Fire is veritably one of my favorite bands, and will probably be remembered by posterity as one of the best and most important bands of their time. Or so say I.

I had seen the Arcade Fire once before at the Sasquatch Festival this summer, but then I was about 1/2 mile away and each band member was about the size of an ant. Yesterday, for most of the show, I was about 20 feet away from each band member. It was a pleasure to be so close.

AND THEN, after the encore the entire band (or most of it... I think there are about 9 members) marched off the stage and through the crowd. They walked past right beside me, brushing my shoulders. I made eye contact with each band member and gave each a wink. They continued marching out of the venue, still playing their instruments and right out onto Burnside Street in downtown Portland. I was incredibly fortunate enough to have brought my camera!! As they played in the middle of the street, surrounded by fans and blocking traffic, I snapped photos and even took a video!

The first picture shows three band members (the guys in suits) playing. The second is the OH-SO-LOVELY Regine Chassagne, who is the accordionist, occasional keyboarder, singer, and writer of my favorite Arcade Fire song, "Haiti". The third shows some more of the band (in suits) and the crowd, as well as the Everyday Music record store sign and the 405 freeway entrance sign in the background.

AND HERE IS THE VIDEO!!! IT'S AMAZING! WATCH IT!!

Out and about in Portland

So, Laura recently sent me some photos she had of our occasional adventures around Portland (though she omitted all the ones that included her!!). While we didn't do anything quite so adventuresome and Laura and I did last summer (rampage around Venezuela), no quite so adventuresome as we Laura is doing right now (schlepping around Colombia), as you will see, there were some rollicking good times:

In the first picture, sitting down for sushi. In the second, I show off my truffle at the chocolate shop. Third, Evan slurps down a milkshake. Fourth, Evan and I pose in front of our VERY FAVORITE joint, Szechuan Restaurant (bordering the Boom Boom Room). Fifth, going for the soy sauce. Sixth, Evan scoops us up soup. Seventh, Evan shows us his incredibly greasy fingers from the parchment chicken. Finally, afterwards we relax on the balcony of the Frank Manor house at school. Lovely.

Despite the pictures may make it seem, we did occasionally do other stuff than eat food. See the last entry, or whatever.