Drank Good things happen when Brits and Americans swap ideas. Just as the British co-opted American rhythm and blues to create catchier rock ’n’ roll, American brewers subsumed British India pale    More

News With a week left before their signature-gathering deadline, fluoridation opponents announced today they've already gathered 20,000 signatures toward a ballot referendum that would halt the fluoridation of Portland's water. Portland's city council voted unanimously last month to add fluoride to Portland's water supply. But a group called Clean Water Portland filed immediately for a referendum ...   More

News  Heads up, Little Beirut: Paul Ryan is coming.The Bend Bulletin reports from the Republican National Convention in Tampa that Ryan, the GOP Vice Presidential candidate, will be stopping in Portland for lunch on Monday, Sept. 10. Bulletin reporter Andrew Clevenger cites U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-The Dalles) as saying he'll get lunch with Ryan in Portland. The stop is presumably a fundraising luncheon, ...   More

Music Stories My Game Boy sucks. Manufactured in 1992, it is a dirty, yellowing gray. The “select” button is clogged with a mysterious black goop, the batteries are held in with gaffer tape and only half of   More

Food & Drink 82nd Avenue's Main Street Restaurant and Lounge has closed. Taking its place is Saigon Pearl Restaurant & Lounge, a Vietnamese bar with pool and video poker. Solar-powered, vegan burger cart Off the Griddle is opening a brick-and-mortar offshoot named AnD Cafe at th former Cafe Monet space at 5420 E Burnside St. It will serve breakfast and lunch.Little Big Burger has applied for a full license—liquor ...   More

Food & Drink Portland seems to be saturated with breweries, coffee roasters and food carts. In similar cities, farmers markets are on that list, too. Could Portland be next?Last month the city finally passed new regulations on farmer's markets, market gardens, community gardens and CSA distribution sites to increase access to healthful, affordable food. The rules have been a decade in the making. There are already ...   More

News Travel writer and former Portlander Frank Bures has published an essay attacking that half-forgotten economic development shibboleth, the "creative class." The term was shorthand for theories of the pop economist Richard Florida, whose books espoused the importance of the MacBook-in-the-coffee shop set to society's greater well-being."Today," Bures writes, "Cre­ative Class doc­trine has become so ...   More

Music We are happy to announce the first installment of Live Reel, a new LocalCut video series that features local artists performing live songs in various locations—meaning, pretty much wherever we can find that will fit musicians and their instruments. The goal is to capture unique and intimate performances specific to Portland’s music scene by getting up close and personal with the city’s bands. ...   More

Arts & Books In case you missed the newspaper ads, radio and TV spots, Internet flash ads, billboards and plastered buses and Max trains, Cirque du Soleil is back in town. This time around the French-Canadian circus is exploring the secret life of insects in a new show, dubbed OVO. Not for those with entomophobia, the show begins in a warm and humid tent with the sounds of buzzing, clicking and whirring ...   More