Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

Here's the birthday boy, shown during an earlier visit to Hopworks, the eastside eco-brewpub that celebrates Portland's love of beer and bikes. Note the bike frames suspended in the background. (Not pictured: the banana seat "head rests" strategically placed above the urinals in the men's room.)

My buddy Googs, so named for his for his uncanny passing resemblance to hooper Tom Gugliotta, recently celebrated his 40th birthday. Among his presents: tickets for friends and family to join him at a private “Beer 101″ event at Widmer Brothers Brewing, hosted by beer goddess Lisa Morrison.

Lisa was accompanied by brewers from three popular visitor venues – Chad Kennedy of the family-friendly Laurelwood Public House & Brewery; Ben Love of the eco- and bike-minded Hopworks Urban Brewery; and Doug Rehberg of the venerable Widmer — who shared their insight, good humor and a seemingly endless parade of samples.

My favorite moment: the side-by-side-by-side comparisons of the three brewers’ IPAs (I’m a big fan of the hoppy stuff) and “Cascadian Dark” varieties.

To plan your own beer adventure, visit the Oregon Brewers Guild’s website for a full list of brewery locations and public events.

I got a sneak peek of the new DISQUIETED exhibit at the Portland Art Museum a couple of weeks ago, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the whole thing — lying down. (More on that below.)

The exhibit, which runs through May, features a number of contemporary artists’ explorations of, and reactions to, our often unsettling modern world. It sounds challenging, thought-provoking, and possibly disturbing. Here are some details from the museum’s website:

The artists presented in this exhibition are among today’s foremost figures in contemporary art; most have never been exhibited in Portland. Collectively, their works invite engagement and discussion of the elements of modern life that leave so many feeling disquieted.

In juxtaposition to the upsetting subject matter, the museum is offering a totally new way to experience the exhibit — through meditation. Museum Meditation Week, March 1-8, invites visitors to pull up a cushion (they’ll be provided) and contemplate. If you’ve ever felt like lying down in front of a painting (totally not weird), then this event’s for you.

Burnside Skatepark (photo courtesy of XLR8R)

The hipsters at XLR8R — an online magazine “Accelerating Music and Culture” — sure seem to love Portland. They’ve done individual profiles of Portland artists and musicians in the past, and now they’ve added Portland to the short list of cities they’ve produced guides for.

XLR8R’s City Guides are consumable in eleventeen (well, at least four) ways:

• On the main XLR8R website (Note: The online guide is not compatible with Internet Explorer — use Firefox or Safari.)
• As downloadable video podcasts (Note: There’s some strong language in the video City Guide to Portland.)
• As an iPhone app
• As an Android app

The video City Guide to Portland has a lot of focus on one of our favorite topics — the local food cart scene.

Check out the XLR8R City Guide if you are looking for an alternative take on Portland from what traditional travel writers offer up. Since one of my many disguises is “alternative scenester,” I think the rough-around-the-edges approach to a regular guide to our city is pretty cool.

Guitar hero Carrie Brownstein – a member of the late, great Sleater-Kinney — recently penned a couple of  love letters to Portland in Monitor Mix, her blog on NPR Music. (Big thanks to my Chicago pal Jason for the heads-up.)

“It’s not a secret on this blog that I miss Portland,” Brownstein wrote in her Jan. 27  post, in which she muses “about tunes that express a longing for a place” and includes tasty clips from The Kinks and The Jam.

Her next entry, posted after a cross-country flight from New York to PDX, includes a couple of “dispatches from the city”: a preview of a cool-sounding project (“Into the Woods”) and an old Hazel video featuring a frisky-looking Pete Krebs, one of my favorite Portland musicians. (Unsolicited advice: Check out Sweet Ona Rose, Krebs’ 1999 effort with the Gossamer Wings. It is, in the words of my friend AJ, "A perfect pop record.")

"Lotus Flower in June," photo courtesy of the Beijing Dance Academy

Last weekend was Chinese New Year, with festivities throughout Portland kicking off two weeks of celebration. One of the highlights of the new year, or ALL year, if you ask me, is the U.S. premiere of the Beijing Dance Academy’s “The Butterfly Lovers.” This performance of “China’s Romeo and Juliet” by one of the finest dance troupes from China will not be quickly forgotten. Portland is fortunate to be only one of four cities in which the show will be performed — an opportunity not to be missed! The shows are at the Newmark Theater downtown, on February 23 and 24.

Throughout this week and next, the Lan Su Chinese Garden is holding all sorts of classes, activities and demonstrations every day of the week. (more…)

Have you visited the official Portland fan page on Facebook? That’s where we share local tips and talk with 6,000 or so of our closest friends.

If you’re not yet among Portland’s fans, now is the perfect time to join the party. This month, we’re sharing more than great insider info about the city: We’re offering a $50 gift card for shopping — sans sales tax — at downtown Portland’s Pioneer Place. Just book your spring getaway (minimum two-night stay) by Feb. 21 for travel by April 30.

To get your gift card, plus complimentary overnight parking, continental breakfast for two and the discount-packed Portland Perks coupon book, visit the Portland fan page on Facebook.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer; photo courtesy of BikePortland.org via Flickr

Portland’s bike-friendliness extends beyond our borders. U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) is the state’s — if not the nation’s — most involved congressman when it comes to bike issues.

In this short video by Streetfilms, Blumenauer explores biking in the Big Apple. Here’s the introduction from the Streetsblog post:

Blumenauer’s bike commute to the Capitol has become as much a personal hallmark as his predilection for bowties. So when he came to New York City … to stump for a progressive federal transportation bill, the congressman didn’t pass up the chance to tour the city’s evolving bike infrastructure with Paul Steely White and Noah Budnick of Transportation Alternatives.

I especially like Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White’s comment that their organization started with aspirations to “be Portland.”  Awwww … we’re touched!