THE TUNES THIS WEEK
Tom Waits – Bad As Me (this weeks featured music)
Tony Bennett and Norah Jones – Speak Low (Library FreeGal Song of the week)
http://multcolib.org/services/tech/freegal/
Portishead – Silence
Beastie Boys – Flowin’ prose (Bonus Vinyl of the week)
TV on the Radio – Wolf Like Me
Ween – The Molusk
Crazy 8’s – Law and Order (Featured PDX musician of the week AND Featured Vinyl Pic of the Week)
THE TASTY BITS THIS WEEK
Special Feature Story of the Week – Hot Pot City
Hot Pot City opened its 1st and Lincoln downtown Portland location in April 2002, nearly a decade ago. I am saddened only that I have just recently been introduced. This little gem is pure do it yourself Culinary Perfection. Ruby and Jack both whisk around the place acting as hosts, order takers, servers, and clean up crew. And they do it all excellently.
I recommend lunch. For about 9 bucks, it is an all you can eat and drink Asian Soup Wonderland. Once you are seated, and you may have to wait, you simply choose a broth and then treat your self to everything their ‘salad bar’ style treats have to offer. AND those options change…even while you are there! IF you can get some Okra, you must. You slowly add your ingredients to your broth that is continuously heated from below and build as many soup combinations your mind and taste buds feel inspired to create!
Choices include Potatoes, tofu, cabbage, okra, squash, onions, spinach and other greens on the vegi side. On the meat side, you have pork, chicken, beef, fish, dumplings, and usually some spicy asian meat balls! Then there are the noodle. Udon, Ramen and glass noodles to soak up the combination of flavors you have thrown in you Hot Pot…I recommend going with a veteran if you know one, but a solo trip would feel like a vacation to a secret ally way restaurant in an exotic Asian city! They open each day at 11.30, just make sure and show up hungry, you will NOT leave that way.
– We signed a local kid from just over the river in Camas Washington this week named Brent Richards. The 21 year old brings some serious striking skills to the team as he has a proven hunger for goals. Brent has already played on our Under 23 team and has scored 26 goals over 37 games! He attended the University of Washington where he scored 31 total goals for the Huskies.
– The 2012 Season has been announced. Important dates to keep clear on your calender are The Home Opener on March 12th against Philadelphia, June 24th we take on our biggest rivals Seattle, and July 14th we take on Los Angeles. You may as well just mark December 1st on your calendar also, that is the date of this years MLS final, and the Timbers are going to be there!
http://www.portlandtimbers.com/schedule
Each week I check in with Marshall Kirkpatrick for the latest in Tech news and tweets. Whether he is tirelessly building his new project Plexus Engine or continuing his work with Read Write Web, Marshall always has his finger on the crystal ball of whats new in the world of technology. This week I will show you two or three things that Marshall has shown me that I think are totally awesome.
-Orangutans to Skype between zoos with iPads.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/111143-orangutans-to-skype-between-zoos-with-ipads
-Facebook users in Brazil jumped from 8m to 35m in the last year, fastest growth in the world!
-Speaking of Facebook, I watched the movie The Social Network and was not the least bit surprised to find out that Trent Reznor won and Oscar for his collaboration with Atticus Ross for the soundtrack. The Music completely made that movie as edgy and and anxious as it was!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/21/trent-reznor-dragon-tattoo-soundtrack
SPECIAL PORTLAND TIDBIT
Martha Taylor started restoring pianos 25 years ago. Her passion and enthusiasm for the 88’s can be felt just walking into her SE Belmont Piano workshop and showroom. She has been at that location for 15 years and her only plans to leave are when there aren’t any quality piano left worth restoring! Martha told me that ‘regrettably’ only about 20% of the old pianos that she finds are worth restoration! The degradation of the felt, wood, springs and strings is not reversible on the rest. Once the pianos are gone, she hopes to maybe write a book!
BUT for now, the Immortal piano is still a full service Piano business offering complete restoration along with maintenance and tuning and repair. They have many Pianos for sale and these aren’t just craigslist salvages or your grade schools tinker box. Martha’s Pianos are guaranteed to play with “delicious integrity’ that has always been her specialty.
Martha utilizes the ‘divine intervention’ method of finding her employees…As she told me, when she needs a person with a particular set of skills, that person seem to come walking through her door. AND, they just happen to be the kindest people your find on Belmont. When you walk in the shop, you see exquisitely restored masterpieces, you smell 100 year old wood, and you feel old world familiarity combined with our unique and relevant culture. The perfect Portland Scramble!!!