1. Babies.

What’s not to love about Facebook turning into a feed of cute babies? I was lucky enough to hold tiny Sarah Jean in the hospital before being whisked away to NYC where I got to play with 5 month year old Greyson. Felix made it to one of our Workfrom Wednesdays and Florence mastered the high chair to become one of my favorite lunch dates. Noah even made a trip back to Portland, and boy did I fall in love with his smile. Anthony made it in time for our family reunion and Athena came 10 weeks early to make it out in 2014. I haven’t met Athena yet, so a trip to Minnesota is on the docket for 2015.

Louis Owen, December (photographed in June)

Felix Wylie, January (photographed in August)

Lydia Elise, January (photographed in June)

Florence Imogen, March (photographed in Aug)

Florence Imogen, March (photographed in Dec)

Greyson Oliver, March (photographed in Oct)

Anthony, April (photographed in July)

Sarah Jean, September (photographed in Sept)

2. Weddings.

I love love and am energized and inspired when the people around me share theirs. Alissa and Terry started off the wedding season with a stylish affair at Smith Rock and I found myself in awe of their daring and caring spirits when we celebrated at their bike troup’s bar. Despite photographing Julie & Regan‘s wedding, I found myself with plenty time to enjoy the comedic and inspiring ceremony and rocking dance party that ensued. Professionally, I was stoked at how the photo booth turned out & based on the number of folks who shared their photos online, the guests were, too. And I was honored to watch my business partner Darren marry the love of his life Paige and meet his energetic family–all amazing dancers. Amanda and Pete, who’d moved away from Portland, returned to marry and I enjoyed a brief time traveling to the past and more dancing.

Julie & Regan’s photo booth

Julie & Regan throw bouquet and say I Do.

Wedding party; Lauren and Sharon; Erin;

Amanda & Pete

Guests wrote their wishes onto scraps of fabric that were then woven into a blanket; guests;

My Workfrom.co business partners Zack and Darren; Paige & Darren; me and Faye.

3. Career Jump + Road Trip.

After being laid off in June, I dove into a new business: Workfrom. My business partners and I had been “dating” since February, so we were confident that our business plan had (sexy) legs and that we were compatible. On June 4, 2014 our company was born and I spent the rest of the year learning the difference between starting a company and starting a startup.

Shortly before deciding to go all-in, while I was still employed, I took a road trip to Eastern Oregon and worked from the road to prove that I really could work from anywhere. I rose with the sun around 5:30 each day, with enough time to find cell phone coverage and an internet connection. And each night I camped somewhere new.

After waking up in Hell's Canyon, I drove back to Baker City to work from Lone Pine- where I ran into another nomadic worker. It pays to travel while you work! Where do you #workfrom?

A photo posted by Workfrom.co (@workfromco) on May 28, 2014 at 3:50pm PDT

In September we won an award. Sadly, Darren was presenting at an event in Austin so isn’t pictured here. And I managed to break the trophy before it made its way to Darren’s. Luckily, I took a photo of it before I broke it.

Me with my cofounder Zack and our lawyer Jason; the award.

4. Zelda Died.

Zelda, my warrior princess cat, passed away on Valentine’s Day from kidney failure. Her ashes alternate between the mantle and next to Fish TV, aka the fish tank, and I find myself thinking of her more than I’d ever expect to reflect on a pet. Selfishly, the majority of my initial grief and reflection came from the expectations of being a caretaker. What if I’d taken her to the hospital? What if I’d ignored the vet? What if I’d not been so laissez-faire? Judgements aside, she passed away at home, in my arms and will always be remembered. (I made the mistake of taking a picture of her after she passed away and when I go to look for photos of her, I see it. I still get teary eyed.)

A photo posted by Jewel Mlnarik (@juellez) on Jan 16, 2013 at 7:12pm PST

5. Family Vacation in the Upper Left USA.

Never in the history of me or my family had my father’s children all taken a vacation together. After looking into trips abroad or to the dessert, we settled on my place. It would be far cheaper if only some of us had to travel, so over my baby brother’s spring break, my dad and 3 brothers all met me in Portland. We filled my house and took a road trip to Seattle to visit my Aunt and stayed at a fancy AirBnB in Tacoma.

Josh, Jake, Jewel, Susan, James, Jerry

6. Family Reunion in Nebraska.

I discovered that a dog could ride a motorcycle and got some much needed down time with aunts, uncles and cousins that I grew up with. And I got to beef up on some family history and snag a couple of old photos of grandma and grandpa. In addition to the large, Wolff family reunion, dad and I went to Lincoln to meet up with my sister Jenni, Dave and their kids for a mini reunion.

8 of the 10 kids, my dad’s in the middle

August, Jenni, Marley

7. Getting Yelled at in the River.

On the same trip as #6, I spent a day adventuring with dad. We went to the first house I turned 1 and 2 in, foraging along the way (see #12) and made a pit stop at the river. We’d recently read that while the land along rivers may be privately owned, the rivers themselves are free to be used by the public. So we took that as an opportunity to walk in the flat Platte. During our walk, a crotchety old man came out to yell at us — accusing us of trespassing. “Oh, you mean to tell me you own the river?” “Yes!!”

To be fair, we had trespassed to get to the water, though he wouldn’t have known that. So we took extra caution to get out under the bridge — land we’d also read was public.

Dad in the Platte, shortly before we got yelled away.

8. Faye’s Birthday on the Oregon Coast.

The aquarium! And more road tripping. And camping. And exploring tide pools.

9. Waterfalls.

Inspired by last year’s hiking adventures with my friend Rebecca, I deliberately set out on waterfall hikes. These included Ramona Falls on my birthday, a secluded waterfall near Eugene over Joe & Amy’s house warming weekend and several along I-84, including one that I discovered thanks to a friend posting on Instagram that includes a short swim.

Somewhere in the gorge with my brother Josh during his short stint living in Portland.

Ramona Falls on my birthday.

I brought my phone in a water proof case for this one. A new friend from Argentina and I explored the gorge before Amanda & Peet’s wedding.

Near Eugene, over Joe and Amy’s house warming weekend.

We took a break during Timberfest to hike near the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls, famous for being in the intro of Twin Peaks.

 10. Timberfest.

For the past couple of years, I join a group of people glued together by a fabulous music lover, curator & singer from Colorado by way of California. Every year I look forward to it as a time to see my cousin Tricia & her husband Joe, live like I’m 20, reconnect with old festival friends and enjoy new (to me) music. My only regret was not joining the crew heading onto Alaska afterwards. Had I not just been laid off, you can bet that I would have gone and in writing this, I wish I’d done it anyway. #firstworldproblems

Faye sporting REI sunglasses she assembled herself.

Megan, Vajra & Heather

 11. Workfrom America Tour.

Always a rebellion, I refuse to accept that work can’t be fun. As such, we set out on a month of back-to-back traveling to spread the Workfrom word. After unofficially touring Omaha while I was in the state for my family reunion, I decided it was time to kick off an official tour.

Got to see these cuties in Omaha, when I was in town for the family reunion and getting Workfrom Omaha off the ground. With their mom, they even helped me add several coffee shops (and one ice cream parlor) to the website.

Darren and I started in NYC where I got to see old friends (and that cute baby, Greyson). When I rented a car to drive to Washington D.C. they gave me an SUV so I had a fun time trying to escape Manhattan in a beast. Luckily I enjoyed playing frogger in the first person and we made it, after taking a pitstop in Philidelphia’s oldest bar to catch some football along the way. It was my first time to DC since college and I walked by all the monuments and the white house, admiring the architecture and tourists. We also flew to Austin and nearly melted in the September heat. And a month later, I traveled by train and bus to SF for a conference, down to San Carlos to visit my grandma, up to up to Oroville to visit my mom, step dad & brother James and then all the way to LA for another conference.

Family photo hanging on my mom’s wall (that’s James & I as little kids); James on the top of Bald Rock after our hike; Grandma and grandpa Gomes wedding photo at their home.

After the conference, I stayed with my cousin Liz and her family for a couple of days, whom I hadn’t seen since I helped them move to LA 4 years ago. We went to one of Jay Leno’s comedy clubs where Arsenio Hall was one of the standups. The kids were all grown up with one already in college, one a senior and the baby standing taller than me. And my friend Amanda (the same one who got married earlier that year) even came down from Santa Barbara to visit for the day. After all the buses, trains and Uber accident I was happy to fly home in time for Thanksgiving.

A photo posted by Workfrom.co (@workfromco) on Nov 14, 2014 at 6:44am PST

12. Wild Crafting, Dinner Parties and Domestication.

Before the hustle and bustle of starting my own business, I spent a few months enjoying a leisurely pace. I kicked it off by rearranging the house and swapping the living room with the dining room, so I could throw more dinner parties.

Roughly every month I’d pick a new focus, starting with fermentation. I made sauerkraut and pickled cabbage and moved onto kombucha until I accidentally melted my bottle caps and never replaced them, leaving my mother to wither away in the fridge, waiting to be bottled. Still hooked on foraging, wild edibles and tinctures, I tried my hand at making a usnea lemoncello and less interesting tinctures.

preserved lemons, usnea limoncello, hand lettering

The day we went to look at the house I spent my first couple of years, dad and I read about some Nebraska edibles and foraged for our dinner pictured here.

Then I moved onto crafting lights and journals … anything I could make with my hands, without a computer and using supplies already lying around the house.

kindle case and wedding journal

In the spring I called on the Audubon Society & Columbia Land Trust to begin the process of certifying my yard to become a Backyard Habitat for birds and help protect the spread of invasive species. I didn’t get far before being wholly consumed by Workfrom so it was more an excuse for an unkempt yard and killer deals on natural plant sales.

13. New Housemates

I’ve owned my home for 9 years and this year saw several new housemates. In February, Daniel moved out to make way for my brother Josh moving out from Missouri. Josh left in July to return to Missouri and with my new (un)employment status, I knew I’d need to find new, paying renters quickly. Faye saved the day, befriending a bartender, Jess, she knew from work. Jess and her boyfriend Sam have been awesome housemates, consistently filling it with aromas of their latest cooking adventures & taking care of the pets when Faye & I are away.

A photo posted by Jewel Mlnarik (@juellez) on Sep 6, 2014 at 6:57pm PDT

Jess on the Columbia, handmade boat race, Jess & Sam on the Sandy.

14. Franklin High Remodel

As my dad discovered, living next to a high school can mean that at some point the school gets remodeled and you lose or gain a street. In our case, we’ll be losing our dead end street in favor of a new, thoroughfare for teachers and event attendees … and the garbage trucks. Luckily, we have an amazing neighbor who’s worked with community organizations and the city before, so there’s a chance our livability won’t be tremendously impacted. The biggest disappointment has been the lack of ethics and professional courtesy on behalf of the project director. The project team had worked on the project for over a year before engaging with the neighbors and even then it was only after we tracked them down. This will be the year we either win or lose our street.

…

It’s impossible to start a post such as this and not get swept away in the countless other moments that pop up. Faye’s uncle passing away, my aunt Susan coming out to visit & take me to Bob Dylan, parties, birthdays, random gatherings and of course, my end of year trip to Costa Rica which will be shared separately. Oh and I also started the year with a “photo a day” challenge that petered out after a few weeks. Still, its Instagram account lives on.

Surprise halloween dance party at the Robinsons.

Penelope dresses the part.

Faye’s uncle passed away. This is her grandma, 2 aunts and mom.

4th of July party at Elisabeth’s.

Bobby reflects on his year taking photos and love of beer.

Chris loves birthday BBQs.

Dayville!

Jenni visited Portland while Josh was living here, to learn a new kind of massage where she hangs from bars and uses her feet.

Martin. A house guest got me out playing in nature.

Bridge Pedal … we rode all of them.

Joe & Amy’s housewarming weekend on a hike.

Joe & Amy’s housewarming weekend at the lake.

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Aside from it being something like an apple and something like a pear, that’s all I’d heard about quince.

Still, I had one on my counter and I needed to eat it before it went bad…just like all the other veggies in my fridge. So began tonight’s dinner roulette (which I TOTALLY WON).

Lucky for you, I like to share.

Quince, meet You. You, meet your new favorite fall fruit.

First, the recipes. Second, the histories.

Sweet Quince Salad

I’m terrible with names. Will take suggestions.

• Set 2 golden beets to boil.** When al dente, remove (drain) and peel.
• Cook 1 onion, sliced for caramelizing, with butter and salt of choice.
• After 5-10 minutes, add 1 quince, nearly though not fully ripened, quartered and sliced.
• After another 5-10 minutes, beets should be ready to slice and add.
• If you happen to have some green onions lying around, throw in some sliced greens for color and a subtle layer of flavor.
• Add a dash of framboise vinegar (conveniently stocked by Woodsmen Market). (This was my choice after thinking a Champagne Vinegar would do well and seeing I was out.) If you haven’t already seasoned to taste, now’s the time. Remove from heat and enjoy!

** At the time I boiled the beets, I added green beens for my savory dish. Much to my surprise and delighted palette, the beans were perfectly (and naturally) sweetened. Added to my cooking mixture of chanterelles, quartered and fresh-from-the-garden cherry tomatoes, garlic, dill, green onion & sausage they made for a nice green bean casserole alternative.

City of Quinces

Shortly after moving to Portland from Nebraska, my aunt from Seattle came to visit me and when we went for a walk, she changed my life forever. She pointed at all the food I could eat that was just growing wild in people’s yards, between the sidewalk and the street and the general ‘wilderness’ of the city. I was hooked on foraging ever since. I even grew to like roses for the citrus blast I could get from their hypanthium (rose hips), which is especially convenient considering their abundance in this City of Roses.

Speaking of, did you know that quinces are in the rose family? (So are apples, pears, cherries and loquats.) Be warned: the previous link includes fascinating tales of fruit in the bible and other history. Apple’s generic name is derived from the Latin word for “bad” referring to the story of Eve in the Garden of Eden; however, some scholars think it was the fig and others think it was the apricot due to how far back those fruits date.

Quince, like pears, have stone cells which are responsible for their gritty texture (think of an amazing, gritty white cheddar). Since a dear friend of mine is drowning under a pear tree, I plan on cooking with some underripe pears to try out my theory that anything a quince can do, a pear can do (though not better).

I have a feeling that like persimmons, quinces will suddenly jump out at me on my walks and other adventures through the city now that I know of their existence. And once I find a quince tree with fruit for the foraging, I will make annual visits for bounty as I do for persimmons, pears, peaches, plums, figs and cherries (to name a few).**

Yes, part of the appeal of quince is that I’ve never seen it in a store. So it can retain a sense and flavor of the wild without having nutrition sacrificed for its looks in the aisles. Unlike persimmons, it needs to be harvested before the first frost, though needs a cold spell to produce. Combine that with being self-pollinating and the quince is a great fruit tree option for our Pacific Northwest climate. (1-0 quince-pear)

So now that we’ll be growing quince trees, some inspirational recipes, blogs and restaurants:

• Nettle & Quince … “Bonds of family and friends woven by food memories past, present, and future.” Yes, please
• Winter Ginger Fruit Compote from edible Portland
• Move over, cranberry sauce, quince is joining for dinner – a Cranberry Quince Sauce to try for Thanksgiving
• Mincemeat stuffed Quince for Easter
• a fancy restaurant in San Francisco
• Doubleheader: Persimmon + Quince recipes from Epicurious

** No, I don’t take fruit from yards where the fruit is being harvested by the land and home owners.

What Next?

I clearly need to resurrect UrbanEdibles. Only last weekend did I learn about GeoJSON (at Wherecamp) and the wonder that is community map making.

I must also find a way to contribute to and expand the UrbanForestMap.

Photo Credit: FullCircle.com 

The post Quince: Your Favorite Fall Fruit You’ve Never Heard Of ~ recipes, histories + map making appeared first on Jewels.

After finally getting my photographs off my phone, a mostly mobile view of Timber! is ready for your ogling, reminiscing and vicarious living.

There wasn’t a single act I didn’t like. Even if I wasn’t at the stage, I was always somewhere close enough to listen and the entire getaway was worth the tiny trek up to Washington, even through Seattle traffic.

And just when I was getting nostalgic for Doe Bay, I spotted Joe clad in his humming bird polo, swaying next to the campfire stage and I thought: this is better than Doe Bay. (That is a hard thought to share since Doe Bay is both a magical place and adventurous festival. What Doe Bay did was start so freakishly fantastic, it couldn’t compete against itself. And I may say the same thing of Timber! in a couple of years.)

Saturday night’s campfire stage stole my heart and won Best of Show. Vikesh Kapoor sent me away to childhood, tiptoeing around the house as dad recorded his Bob Dylan vinyls to tape and Noah Gundersen had me falling in love with everything in the universe again. Especially the night.

What’s most peculiar about this photo album is that I didn’t shoot the weekend as an event. I didn’t use a single roll of film that I brought. I didn’t go for a variety of angles or any detail shots. I didn’t get a grand group shot like years past. What I did do was enjoy amazing company, music, wilderness and a mini vacation away from the city … all while shooting, processing and posting 90% of my photos from my phone. While it’s convenient, it’s not necessarily the most efficient. Were I to try and amass an album of this size again from my phone, I think I’d want to first import the photos to my computer and edit in bulk there. But then I wouldn’t be able to process photos into the wee hours from the comfort of bed. Though that might not be a bad thing.

to the photos!!!!

Extra: Today is Day 25, Post 20 of my 30 day blog challenge. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of the page to receive weekly updates in your inbox or follow me on Tumblr if that’s your scene.

The post Timber! Outdoor Music Festival in Pictures appeared first on Jewels.

And so it goes. As such, all I have to share is a preview of last weekend’s Timber! Outdoor Music Festival. I can’t wait to process the photos from my camera so these phone picts will have to do.

Created with flickrSLiDR.

View on Flickr

Extra: Today is Day 17, Post 15 of my 30 day blog challenge. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of the page to receive weekly updates in your inbox or follow me on Tumblr if that’s your scene.

The post Timber! Fest Preview appeared first on Jewels.

1. It’s very well organized. So well that unless you take the time to think about the wizardry, you wouldn’t need to because it was such smooth sailing. Despite a minor inconvenience of having no potable water at the main stage (thus requiring a brief hike back to the water station by the bridge), the layout and physical logistics were superbly thought out and designed. Talent hiccups were well handled and schedule adjusted smoothly. Entering the festival over a wooden suspension bridge set magical expectations and the planning committee delivered on the magic.

I’m confident that this year’s experience will inform next year’s decisions, thus making next year only better. (To which point I’ll be curious to see how they handle the pack-in-pack-out theme + plastic cups used for sale of alcohol after the kanteens ran out.)

If you enjoy being close to the main stage, bring a sun shade, umbrella or straw hat.

2. Scenic with room to explore. I may have mentioned the suspension bridge in #1 and it’s worth mentioning again as it served as a gateway to a beautiful park of trails and refreshing river. I definitely don’t feel like I did all the exploring I can do in the area and am excited to return with hiking shoes and kayaks.

3. Lo-fi. Even though most folks had reliable cell phone coverage and the ability to post, tweet, share and play on the internet, most didn’t or kept it to a minimum. I was stoked to find the glow in the audience during Helio Sequence due to regular, old fashioned pocket lighters and not cell phones. On the old fashioned front, I even spotted folks using film cameras. I can’t wait to see the picts. (I’m attributing this to a mix of having a Friday start with minimal options to recharge devices and the power of nature to help us unwind.)

4. (A Tie) Amazing Vendors + Awesome Graphic Design. Even though I packed in what I needed for the weekend, I couldn’t help but accept a bite of the famed Gyros. As delicious as were rumored. A root beer garden, ModCloth tent, stylish merch and other vendors were conveniently placed yet not overwhelming or detracting from the scenery (see #2).

5. (Another Tie) It’s inexpensive and conveniently close to Portland. And the lineup was a good balance of folks I’d seen before and jaw dropping newcomers I’m excited to add to my library.

Extra: Today is Day 14, Post 12 of my 30 day blog challenge. Click ‘Follow’ at the bottom of the page to receive weekly updates in your inbox or follow me on Tumblr if that’s your scene. 

The post Why you should check out Timber! Fest Next Year appeared first on Jewels.

Here’s a few of my favorites from the event which I shot on a Nikon F3 with Ilford Delta 3200, a trusty Ikoflex before the sun went down and a Cannon 2Ti with some borrowed lenses which were very hard to give back (a 1.2 fixed 50mm plastic lens and a 3.5 zoom wide angle). A few things learned about shooting a stage and dark room full of people:

• Setting -2 EV on the digital allowed me to trick the light meter and get the exposures I wanted while still picking up detail in the shadows.
• Setting -2 EV on the film camera did not.
• When shooting for an event, vs for fun, I need to move around more. It’s fine and dandy to zone out and enjoy the music but if I don’t move, my pictures don’t, either.

The full event by pictures can be found @ Flickr along with info on who’s who. Enjoy and don’t forget to check out the event next year.

Rock Against Alzhiemer’s in Pictures

The post Rock Against Alziemer’s 2011: Not to be forgotten appeared first on Jewels.

With the holidays coming up, I can’t resist but to urge you to support the artists, musicians and poets in your life. You can always buy me a book.

Confessions: My Father, Hummingbirds, and Franz Fanon

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Every effort is made to bring the colonised person to admit
the inferiority of his culture…
—Franz Fanon

And there are days when storms hover
Over my house, their brooding just this side of rage,
An open hand about to slap a face. You won’t believe me

When I tell you it is not personal. It isn’t. It only feels
That way because the face is yours. So what if it is the only
Face you’ve got? Listen, a storm will grab the first thing
In its path, a Persian cat, a sixth grade boy on his way home
From school, an old woman watering her roses, a black
Man running down a street (late to a dinner with his wife),
A white guy buying cigarettes at the corner store. A storm
Will grab a young woman trying to escape her boyfriend,
A garbage can, a Mexican busboy with no papers, you.
We are all collateral damage for someone’s beautiful
Ideology, all of us inanimate in the face of the onslaught.
My father had the biggest hands I’ve ever seen. He never
Wore a wedding ring. Somehow, it would have looked lost,
Misplaced on his thick worker’s hands that were, to me,
As large as Africa. There have been a good many storms
In Africa over the centuries. One was called colonialism
(Though I confess to loving Tarzan as a boy).

Continue Reading @ Poets.org or @ Narrative Magazine »

The post Confessions: My Father, Hummingbirds, and Franz Fanon appeared first on Jewels.

Passage I

by Maureen N. McLane

garden gate, NE portland

little moth
I do not think you’ll escape
this night

I do not think
you’ll escape this night
little moth

*

bees in clover
summer half over
friends without lovers

*

I bite a carrot
horsefly bites me

view from my bedroom window

*

I thought it was you
moving through the trees

but it was the trees

I thought it was your finger
grazing my knee

it was the breeze

continue reading »

The post little moth / i do not think you’ll escape appeared first on Jewels.

A horse hair falls into the water and grows into an eel.
     Even Aristotle believed that frogs
                                formed from mud,
that mice sprouted like seedlings in the damp hay.

     I used to believe the world spoke
                           in code. I lay awake
and tried to parse the flashes of the streetlight—
       obscured, revealed,
                    obscured by the wind-sprung tree.
Stranded with you at the Ferris wheel's apogee
       I learned the physics
                    of desire—fixed at the center,
it spins and goes nowhere.

       Pliny described eight-foot lobsters
                         sunning themselves
on the banks of the Ganges. The cuckoo devouring
       its foster mother. Bees alighting
                         on Plato's young lips.

In the Andes, a lake disappears overnight, sucked
       through cracks in the earth.
                         How can I explain
the sunlight stippling your face in the early morning?

Why not believe that the eye throws its own light,
       that seeing illuminates
                    the world?
                         On the moon,
astronaut David Scott drops a hammer and a falcon feather,
     and we learn nothing
                    we didn't already know.

The post look-see: photos for your poetry appeared first on Jewels.

Eric Isaacson, of Mississippi Records, interviewed Fred and Toody Cole, famed founders of Dead Moon, in a comfortably packed cafe in North Portland at the Waypost. Now I’ll be honest and admit that I knew little of the pair or the band, except for hearing their “Fire in the Western World” song covered at many a Mission 5 show- and all the raving on their exceptional influence on many a Portland rock band.

The two traded off telling stories from meeting in a cafe, while Toody was sweeping the floor and Fred was passing through Portland after his van ran out of gas, to raising a family and touring with their latest band, Pierced Arrows. They talked about heading back from LA with their kids packed above the guitars they just picked up for their music shop. When asked about the odd anomaly of why so many punk musicians are running around Portland with expensive, rare guitars, Fred explained that he used to get prototypes from a famous guitar maker (unfortunately, I can’t remember the name) and sold them for cheap. They bounced back and forth, keeping the audience laughing and rounded out the evening with four acoustic songs since the “surprise guest” didn’t show to play covers (or at least that’s what Marc Moscato said, with a wink).

While I wanted to put the presenters from last month’s series in a room with my grandpa, I wanted to put these two in a room with my mom. They seemed to resonate with her work hard, play hard, tell-it-like-it-is and apologize-to-no-one-for-being-who-you-are method of living.

Fittingly enough, I then headed over to Rich Landar’s weekly Sonic Jelly Jam with the week’s guest, Steve Wilkinson, at KJs on SE Division. Since Steve was responsible for my initial exposure to Dead Moon, it only seemed right to round out the evening watching him and former bandmate Grant Cumpston, from Gravelpit. (If you haven’t heard of them, I recommend checking out this little Portland rock history article I stumbled upon that picks up a little after where the earlier history lesson left off.) Jolie Clausen played drums, Allan Markel played bass and all four pulled off an energetic set, taking little time between songs to shout out chords and timings. If Steve hadn’t mentioned that they’d never played together before, I would have thought they’d been a band for years. If you haven’t checked out a jam session, I must recommend it. The space is intimate, the crowd laid back and musicians entertaining.

Next month’s Northwest Passage event will feature CALVIN JOHNSON, VANESSA RENWICK, COOL NUTZ and if it’s anything like the last two (and it will be)- it’s not to be missed. Hope to see you there!

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