Featured Stories Sometimes I like to pretend Willy Vlautin invented me. Maybe that sounds weird. If you've ever heard his local country-punk band, Richmond Fontaine, you know the people Vlautin writes about tend to be ...   More

News

Live Review: Dr. Mario Livio, "The Golden Ratio"
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Thursday, April 17

by Patrick Leyshock & Becky Ohlsen

We got through almost the entire evening without anyone making a reference to the you-know-what.

T...   More

Special Section Not everyone dreams of a 1912 Craftsman bungalow or Pearl loft. Sometimes, the coolest domiciles are the product of a little creativity. Check out three of Portland's weirdest, most innovative "houses ...   More

News As promised yesterday, here's the full report from my first experience racing motorcycles with OMRRA at Portland International Raceway. For the record, I've never had more fun gathering writing material, ever! The Honda 160 racers are an awesome group. Thanks, guys!

Thursday night: Classroom ses...   More

News "Start with the buttcrack." This is the kind of advice you hear when you begin learning how to race motorcycles—at least if you have the kind of friends I do. Other pieces of wisdom include not eating spicy food the night before, because when you crash you won't be able to tell if you're really injured o...   More

Music A very tall handsome fellow approached me. I could tell he wasn't Swedish because he actually spoke to me. "We came here all the way from Germany to see the Thermals!" he said. "I have seen them maybe like five times!" I told him I was from Portland and he got all wide-eyed. "Did you ever run into this Stephen...   More

Featured Stories If you could peel the roof off Portland and get an unimpeded bird's-eye view, you'd see some odd goings-on. Subcultures spring up here like mushrooms. We live in a city of people with secret identitie ...   More

Music Once upon a time, as a tiny kid in a little old town, I made a single, forced visit to church. It was uncomfortable, dressy, full of hypocrites and boring—a bad experience all around. I never went back, and now it's too late—I'm a lost cause. But if the preacher that day had had anything like the p...   More

Movie Reviews & Stories There are two kinds of smokers: those who bring the cigarette to their lips like a normal person, and those who move their whole head over to where the cigarette is, perched at the end of their arm se ...   More

Music Man, I love this band, but they are bad for my health. I'd give my liver to write songs like Willy Vlautin. But nobody wants my liver. So I tend to pummel it instead, whenever I go see his band or play the records - soak the poor old thing in beer and whiskey and hope for the best.

My fascinatio...   More