By Laura Grimes
Quick. Mr. Scatter is on the road, so let’s post while he’s not looking.
Some people call. Some people text. I believe in the more sneaky form of communication — surprise blog posts broadcast to the world. Consider them entertainment and information all scrolled into one.
Dear Mr. Scatter,
What’s news since you left this morning?
Holy [...]
By Bob Hicks
“Tuesday, May 22, 1990,” Rosanne Parry heads the first chapter of her newest novel. “West Berlin.”
Like a lot of writers, Parry just picks her scene and throws you right into the middle of it. Ah. Berlin. Nineteen-Ninety. Scant months after the jubilant tearing-down of the Wall.
Feels like yesterday — except that for the [...]
By Bob Hicks
So it’s happened. Oregon’s House of Representatives has officially endorsed the Code of the West, a business opportunity ridin’ hard out of the hills of Texas into the hearts of legislators from Cheyenne to Salem. A trademarked moral compass, as it were, ready-made for tryin’ times. Keep ‘er simple. Keep ‘er pure. And [...]
By Bob Hicks
The Oregonian’s Kelly House reports on Oregon Live that Sunday’s two-show Japanese disaster benefit at the Aladdin Theatre has raised about $250,000 for Mercy Corps‘ relief efforts. Congratulations to organizer Stephen Marc Beaudoin, Aladdin general manager Tom Sessa, all of the performers, and the 1,300 people who bought tickets for the sold-out shows. [...]
UPDATE: On OregonLive, Ryan White has just posted this announcement of a big-name benefit for Japanese disaster relief at the Aladdin Theatre on March 27. So far, the list of performers includes pianist/bandleader Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini, singers Holcombe Waller and Storm Large, dancers from Oregon Ballet Theatre, new-music adventurers fEARnoMUSIC, the Pacific Youth [...]
By Bob Hicks
Bless us, Father, for we have sinned. It’s been six days since we entered our last post here at Art Scatter, which is just … embarrassant. Pardon, if you please. It’s not that we haven’t been busy. In fact, that’s the point. We’ve been so busy we haven’t had time to keep the [...]
By Bob Hicks
One of the signs that a town is turning into a city is that it can’t squeeze everything into a box. So, for instance, while the newest Portland Jazz Festival kicks into high swing (and bop), some terrific jazz is popping up in spots that aren’t connected to the festival at all.
While the [...]
Hot licks and good times with Andy Stein, Padam Padam
Closing the books: Powell’s layoffs, Looking Glass R.I.P.
Patrick Page plucks praise from “Spider-Man” carnage
In the room with Egypt’s fierce cultural protector
Alexis Rockman and good news at the Smithsonian
By Bob Hicks
Hot licks and good times with Andy Stein, Padam Padam: My old friend and neighbor Jaime Leopold [...]
By Martha Ullman West
At Mississippi Pizza a week ago last Friday, I saw one of the most musical dance performances I’ve seen in years, delivered with all her heart by a dancer named Sadie (last name unknown), age about five, as she was propelled to her feet by the equally heartfelt music [...]
By Bob Hicks
Twenty-six years after she first impersonated the fabulous Sophie Tucker onstage, the big-talented Portland singer and comedian Wendy Westerwelle’s return to Soph: An Evening with the Last of the Red-Hot Mamas is a revival in more than one way. It marks Westerwelle’s own continuing return to the spotlight following her bravura turn earlier [...]