Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

Travel Portland’s annual visitors guide was published this week — and it’s yours for the asking!

In addition to the latest on the city’s great neighborhoods, shopping, family, outdoors and nightlife offerings, this year’s magazine includes features about Portland’s hot culinary scene; nearby destinations (think wine country, Mount Hood, the Columbia River Gorge and more); and attraction-packed Washington Park (home to the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and Oregon Zoo — to name a few). In short, everything you need to know to plan your trip to the Rose City.

Request your free copy today, or download the PDF. We hope it serves you well!

I’ve written before about all the barrel-aging occurring in Portland these days — most breweries have at least some suds on wood now. The barrel-aging trend moved over to cocktails with mixologists like Jeffery Morganthaler of Clyde Common aging entire drinks for months at time.

However, even I was surprised when I stumbled upon barrel-aged coffee at Water Avenue Coffee in the city’s Central Eastside. I’ve been a big fan of their beans for awhile now, but with so many great roasters in Portland it’s really difficult to be loyal to just one brand. So it was with no small amount of pleasure that I grabbed a bag of their Oak Barrel Aged Sumatra. It makes for a robust cup of joe in my French press with a definite woody sweetness that undoubtedly comes from the barrel every bit as much as the bean. It’s completely unique and delicious and certainly worth a go.

Courtesy of Portland Farmers Market

It’s officially spring. Asparagus and other seasonal goodies are popping up on menus throughout town. Best of all, the mother of all Portland markets has returned. As of Saturday, March 17, the Portland Farmers Market is back for its 21st season.

Visitors shouldn’t shy away thinking this is just a market meant for stocking your kitchen with fresh produce; this is also the perfect place to pick up freshly prepared breakfast and lunch before biking, walking or driving around to explore other parts of town. So, enjoy a biscuit and a wander through the market to see what’s in season. Chances are you’ll see some of the very same items on your dinner menu — Portland chefs love to search the market for the freshest ingredients.

Winemaker at Apolloni pouring at the North Willamette Vintners' Annual Wine Trail Weekend

For the first time, Oregon’s governor has declared May “Oregon Wine Month.” But fabulous wine events will be sprouting up throughout the spring in and around Portland, from late March on. Here are a few to check out:

The North Willamette Vintners’ annual Wine Trail Weekend (March 31-April 1), with events and sampling at 24 participating wineries, allows the rare opportunity to taste, blend and sample wine direct from the barrel with the winemakers. Food pairings and activities unique to this event are planned for the weekend.

The Chehalem Mountain Winery Association’s annual Mountains to Metro tasting in downtown Portland (April 19) is a special opportunity to taste and compare wines from one specific AVA in the Willamette Valley.

The Oregon Wine Board kicks off Oregon Wine Month with Unwine’d (April 29), a tasting celebration in Portland featuring 100 of the state’s wineries under one roof.

The Columbia Gorge Wine and Pear Fest returns to Hood River (May 19-20) after a successful inaugural year in 2011 to highlight the bounty of this rich agricultural region.

And of course Oregon Wine Month will close with Memorial Day Weekend (May 26-28) in the Willamette Valley, when more than 150 wineries open their doors to the public.

Cheers!

We’re entering the final weeks of our winter hotel special, which invites visitors to enjoy a different kind of getaway (filled with one-of-a-kind Portland experiences such as Powell’s, Voodoo Doughnut, food carts and tax-free shopping) and a different kind of discount ($72 off your second night).

Based on our math, these savings will go a long ways. So, how would you spend your $72?

In 2009, March Madness returned to Portland for the first time in more than 25 years.  Tickets to the match-ups at the Rose Garden – home of the Trailblazers – sold out, thanks to some almost-local teams like Washington hitting the court.

Fast forward three years and the Rose City is once again hosting early rounds of the 68 team tournament.  Tickets are still available for the series, with the first tip-off between Louisville and Davidson on Thursday at 10:40 a.m.  Don’t want to shell out the $81 per session?  Try catching the action at one of these local watering holes:

Spirit of 77: Near the Oregon Convention Center and a block away from the Rose Garden, this trendy, laid-back sports bar is opening early so fans can catch the morning games on the big screen.

On Deck: This Pearl District bar is also cracking open the doors at an early hour, featuring drink deals for every match-up.

Cheerful Tortoise: Don’t let the bare-bones website mislead you — this classic Portland sports bar on Portland State University’s campus has more than 40 TVs, plus plenty of food and drink specials during the wee hours.

Spring kicks off with a citywide survey of contemporary art, and includes a retrospective of a major Northwest ceramicist, new photographs at the Portland Art Museum, and more.

Portland2012 Biennial
March-April
Various venues

Curated by Prudence Roberts, longtime curator of American art at the Portland Art Museum, this regional survey features work by 24 artists and arts groups working in sculpture, painting, photography, installation, video and more. Details at www.disjecta.org/2012.

James Lavadour, Shine 1, 2012

The Interior
Feb. 28 through March 31
PDX Contemporary, 925 N.W. Flanders St.

The interior in question is that of Eastern Oregon, where renowned painter James Lavadour has lived and worked for decades, deeply inspired by the land around him.

Generations: Betty Feves
March 14 through July 28
Museum of Contemporary Craft, 724 N.W. Davis St.

A retrospective for this ceramic artist whose story rewrites the male-dominated narrative of post-war American ceramics. Feves relentlessly experimented with processes and locally sourced materials in the creation of her Modernist functional and sculptural works.

Emerging, New Photography Acquisitions
March 10 through June 24
Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park Ave.

Curated by Julia Dolan, this exhibition reveals the diversity and breadth of the more than 500 photographs added to the museum’s extensive photography collection between 2009 and 2011. The 50 images in the show include works by Adolphe Braun, Berenice Abbott, Chris McCaw, Frederick Henry Evans, Bea Nettles, Mark Klett, Linda Connor, Eadweard Muybridge and others.

About Framing
March 2 through April 14
Half/Dozen Gallery, 722 E. Burnside St. (basement, entrance on Eight Avenue)

Thinking about the traditional role of frames, Avantika Bawa shows new work addressing the tension between containment and dispersal.

Day Job
April 5 through May 15
Feldman Gallery + Project Space, PNCA, 1241 N.W. Johnson St.

Comprised of work by 21 artists, this exhibition curated by Nina Katchadourian, viewing program curator at The Drawing Center in New York, looks at the relationship between an artist’s “day job” and his or her creative practice.

Smokey Mountain, Cambodia
April 1 through May 1
Blue Sky | Oregon Center for Photographic Arts, 122 N.W. Eighth Ave.

Nigel Gordon Dickinson’s haunting photographs document the lives of the 2,000 impoverished scavengers who work and live amidst the rubbish and fumes of the Smokey Mountain dump in Cambodia.

Portland’s spring music season kicks off with a month-long celebration of new music and continues with a celebration of Mark Rothko and visits by the Kronos Quartet and Chanticleer.

March Music Moderne
March 5-29
Various venues

Musicians both homegrown and visiting perform music of the 20th and 21st centuries — 28 events in 29 days of contemporary music. Complete schedule at www.marchmusicmoderne.org.

Renee Fleming & The Oregon Symphony
March 13
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway

Accompanied by the orchestra, the popular soprano supremo sings music of Ravel, Leonard Cohen and more.

“Galileo Galilei”
March 30 through April 7
Portland Opera, Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway

After scoring an unexpected popular and critical triumph with Philip Glass’s Orphee last year, Portland Opera brings another chamber opera by the world’s leading living composer (in his 75th birthday year) to the relatively intimate Newmark. The pioneering physicist/astronomer, on his deathbed, looks back over a life of exploration involving a delicate dance among science, art and religion.

“Reviewing 3 Eras”
March 2
Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra, First United Methodist Church, 1838 S.W. Jefferson St.

The orchestra celebrates its 30th anniversary with music by Mozart, Brahms and Shostakovich’s powerful Symphony #9.

“Rothko Chapel”
March 10
Third Angle & Resonance Ensemble, Kridel Ballroom, Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park Ave.

In conjunction with the museum’s landmark Mark Rothko exhibition, two of the Northwest’s pre-eminent musical institutions team up to perform one of the greatest works of 20th century American music, Rothko Chapel, inspired by the painter’s magnificently moody Houston murals. Composed by the vanguard American composer Morton Feldman, whose work — and that of his New York School colleagues, which will also be featured — parallels that of Rothko’s Abstract Expressionists. It’s a work of ethereal beauty for voices and chamber ensemble.

Emma Kirkby in Recital
April 24
Portland Baroque Orchestra, Kaul Auditorium, Reed College, 3203 S.E. Woodstock Blvd.

One of the most important singers of our time, Kirkby led the way in bringing back the kind of light, agile, effervescent singing that prevailed in the Baroque and Classical periods before the heavier Romantic style emerged. The city’s most exciting orchestra accompanies her in music by Mozart, Haydn and more. (more…)

Here’s a look at some of Portland’s best theater and dance offerings this spring:

"A Lesson Before Dying," photo by Jamie Bosworth

“A Lesson Before Dying”
March 2-27
Profile Theatre, 3430 S.E. Belmont St.

This Romulus Linney adaptation of Ernest Gaines’ powerful novel about the last days of an African-American man wrongly accused of murder in the Jim Crow South has an undeniable gravity of its own.

“Race”
March 6 through April 15
Artists Repertory Theatre, 1516 S.W. Morrison St.

David Mamet’s courtroom drama hinges, as the title suggests, on matters of racial politics, but with Mamet, it’s never as easy as that.

Northwest Dance Project

Northwest Dance Project’s Spring Premieres
March 9-10
Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway

Three world premieres by choreographers Sarah Slipper, Patrick Delcroix and Wen Wei Wang are on the program for this modern-ballet hybrid company. Delcroix has worked extensively with the Nederlands Dans Theater, and the Chinese-born Wen Wei Wang is one of Canada’s leading choreographers. (more…)

The Portland Art Museum has just opened the Pacific Northwest’s first retrospective of celebrated abstract expressionist Mark Rothko’s work. That is a somewhat shocking fact, given that Rothko spent formative years of his childhood in Portland and this very museum was the first to host a Rothko solo show, back in the 1930s.

This exhibit is well worth the wait. More than 40 paintings are on display until May 27 – most from the Rothko estate and some which haven’t been seen for over 50 years – ranging from his earliest works to those powerful and profound abstract pieces for which he is best known. (more…)