News In February 1956, a fidgety Allen Ginsberg stood up to read from a manuscript of Howl at a poetry event in the Anna Mann dormitory lounge at Reed College. Until recently, knowledge of the event had survived only anecdotally. Ginsberg read alongside Gary Snyder, a longtime friend and fellow beat poet with whom he had been hitchhiking for three weeks. But Ginsberg, who had not yet given his ...   More

News Check this out: liberal City Commissioner and mayoral hopeful Sam Adams told conservative KXL (750 AM) talk-show host Lars Larson this morning that he will introduce a resolution, if elected mayor, that would prohibit the city from contracting with any company that cannot prove all of its workers are legal. That's a big leap to the right for a member of the City Council that yesterday voted ...   More

News Welcome back to" TWATCH 2008," where we try to keep you updated on the doings revolving the upcoming release of the Twilight movie. On April 16th (before this "controversial" article appeared in print on April 30th) a very "interesting" song called "The Anti-Twilight Mom Song" was posted to Youtube. The song penned by two intrepid Youtubers—"photosinger637" and "leprosy_tickles"—takes ...   More

News Damn if I've ever seen as many people in downtown Portland as there were Sunday afternoon, gathered to see Sen. Barack Obama. Duane Bray, battalion chief of Portland Fire and Rescue, gave an official estimate of 60,000 people inside the event gates at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, with another 15,000 outside watching from various perches. Obama spokesperson Nick Shapiro made sure everyone with ...   More

News Willamette Week sends condolences to the family of Ilias Bakouros. Bakouros, 54, was a well-known member of Portland's Greek and restaurant communities and was one of the owners of Alexis Restaurant on West Burnside Street. Bakouros died Thursday morning near Ilwaco, Wash. He was fishing near the North Head Lighthouse when he slipped and fell from a cliff into the Pacific Ocean. His ...   More

News You can take the girl out of Willamette Week, but you can't take the Willamette Week out of the girl. Such is the case with Caryn Brooks, former Arts and Culture editor for Willamette Week and currently the Arts and Entertainment editor for the online version of Time magazine. In honor of this summer's True Colors tour—the gay music-palooza now touring the country with the likes of Cyndi ...   More

News Following Jeff Merkley's condemnation of robocalls and subsequent embrace of them, we have this tangentially related robo-tidbit. Tipster Glen Carson alerted us to an exceptionally lame robo-call message, left on his answering machine, which paraphrases Merkley's Georgia gaffe and directs listeners to "hear the whole story" at a website called Freedom's Watch. The mocking voice declares that ...   More

News Here are two segments from today's Lars Larson show on the topic of Señor Smith. Listen to Larson grill me and then Sen. Gordon Smith. And guess who he's nicer to? [Hint: Hell is currently freezing over]. [audio:http://localcut.wweek.com/mp3/BethSlovic091008.mp3] [audio:http://localcut.wweek.com/mp3/GordonSmith091008.mp3] "I am angry about this," Smith tells Lars Larson. "This goes ...   More

News UPDATE: It's 10 pm on Wednesday, Oct. 15 and Leanimal...oops...excuse us....Leanne Marshall has just won Project Runway. And, frankly, she deserved it. A couple of days ago WW talked to Leanne Marshall. At the time she wouldn't give up the big secret, but when she said she was moving to New York, well....we'll just let her speak for herself. Below is our previous post and her interview. Congrats, ...   More

News The Hillsboro Argus editorial board recently endorsed U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) in his race against Democrat Jeff Merkley, speaker of the Oregon House. The audio from the board's interview with the incumbent senator is online now at Oregonlive.com, and it contains a number of interesting statements from Smith on Mexican workers and illegal immigration. In one instance, Smith applauds ...   More