The Multnomah Villager

Phil sent me this email…

Hi - I’m a Villager also and regular play in and around the village on my acoustic gypsy jazz guitar, especially in summer when the weather’s good. Is it possible to post that my group “Gypsy Jazz West” now has a monthly gig upstairs at the Lucky Lab in the village every LAST MONDAY of the month from 7-10pm. All acoustic Gypsy Jazz group, with guest musicians, from guitars, to violins to clarinets, etc…playing the music of Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France.
Our next gig is Monday March 31st.

Sounds cool to me. I’m definitely a supporter of jazz events, or any music really, in the Village.

You can’t believe it’s been a year already can you? Or perhaps in the case of Mrs. V, your reaction is, it’s ONLY been open a year? But indeed, this week is Journeys’ First Birthday. Seems like ages ago that I posted about my first visit there. I’ve been back a few times since. My love for Journeys is well known, so I won’t go into it again here - the bar has it’s own tag in the sidebar of the site, if you want all the history, but as for this week’s festivities - here are the details fresh from my inbox.

Friday & Saturday (open till Midnight):

• Special Bites - Italian Meatloaf Panino, Chicken Curry Panino, Mandarin Spinach Salad, Spicy Cheese Bites, Desserts
• Special Wines By the Glass - Bollinger Champagne $11, Vina Maquis Syrah $7.50
• Beers on Draft - Murphy’s Stout, Amnesia ESB, Deschutes Cinder Cone Red, Roots
• Organic Pale & Caldera IPA (or Elysian IPA) $4 and Kronenbourg Pilsner $3.
• Bottled Beers - new & expanded list of over 75 to choose from.

Thursday - Mug & Wine Club night (Open till 11pm):
T-shirts are in, Mug & Wine club members! Stop by anytime after 5PM Thurs and pick yours up!

• All Draft Beers are $3 (20 oz Mug!)
• All Bottled Beers are $1 off
• Extra $1 off our special wine club wines (Boarding Pass, Irony, Castillo de Jumilla)

Thanks again for your wonderful support of Journeys and its crew.
Bob, Shannon, Brian, Andrew, Gretchen & Ryan (coming soon: Will)

Well, I’ll be making a fun-packed commute to and from Redmond on Friday, and I’m a “Mug Club” member, so I’ll be stopping by on Thursday evening for a bit.
Save my spot!

They’ve started work on the Gabriel Park skatepark. We noticed that fencing had gone up last weekend. It probably has been up for a while, but what with all the rain and winter and all, I haven’t been over to Gabriel Park in ages. Anyway, there’s a big backhoe-type thing over there now and it’s moved a LOT of earth already. Here comes the skatepark. Ready?

A couple of weeks ago, while waiting on line at Chevron over on 31st and Barbur, I noticed a sign for a new video game store had gone up at that one shopping center with Bellagio’s and Taco Del Mar. This would be a lot more useful as a post if I knew the name of the place wouldn’t it? That’s the sort of thorough blogger you’re dealing with, I guess.

Anyway, this is about gaming, not navigation. Jr. V and I, Nintendo DS in hand, popped over for a quick look on Sunday. Jr’s going through a serious “Mario” phase right now, and I’m on the lookout for places that I can pick up used games on the cheap for him, oh and the occasional XBOX360 title for certain other members of the household.

Play-n-Trade is a popular franchise, and this location appears to be owned and run by a Dad and son combo who were very friendly and courteous towards all the customers while we were there. Even Jr. V’s relentless sampling of various game titles (which the store encourages) were welcomed. They have a pretty wide range of titles for the various platforms, including some blast-from-the-past stuff that I always get a kick out of. Their collection of 360 titles is pretty complete, with a good range of used games.

The prices are only OK. The new games are at the upper end of full retail, and the used titles are not a whole lot cheaper, but since we’re only talking about a difference of three or four bucks it’s worth it to support someone’s shot at running their own business. Plus, unless you’re in the car headed to Fred Meyer (for only new titles), or in the car headed over to GameStop next to Safeway on BH Highway which has used stuff but not always very cheaply - there’s not a lot of options for video game buyin’ within walking distance of the village. Before I get lots of flames about how Play-n-Trade is a national chain…. I consider franchise owners pretty much the same as “independent” businesspeople - they have the same pressures and struggles to build a customer base locally as anyone else, and rarely have a “safety net” besides the perceived value of a national or regional brand name. So if you’re a gamer and you live in the Village, you should at least stop by the store.

Here’s the link to the local version of Play-n-Trade’s templated websites. This has the hours and location, etc.

And it’s right next door to Taco Del Mar, and seriously, video games and burritos? Need I say more?

As many of you long-time readers know. I don’t “endorse” candidates or measures or anything. I consider it rather overly-self-important to assume that anything I have to say should be used as the basis of someone’s vote. Having said that - I have this to say about Amanda Fritz, who has been an occasional commenter on this blog.

I don’t necessarily agree with her politics in many cases, but anyone who demonstrates the kind of dedication to the arcane processes of local government, participates in the process to the degree that Amanda does and is willing to jump through the hoops required to run for office in this town, should be given a shot. Amanda’s been an active blogger - check out her sites at the links below - and if she’s your cup of tea, consider supporting her with your vote. People will say what they are going to say about her style, and they do, but in my experience she walks her talk. We’ll see how that plays out when she eventually gets into office.

Here’s a link to Amanda’s “personal” blog which has more information about the workings of the City of Portland than you’ll ever what to even know exists, trust me.

Here’s link to Amanda’s campaign site.

So anyway, for what it’s worth, don’t forget to vote when your ballots arrive in the mail. Or rather, don’t forget that there are other races besides the presidential primaries going on!

A friend of mine, a regular diner at various Village restaurants, sent me a reminder this morning that today is the day to “Dine for Darfur”. Yes, it’s an unfortunately named, but good-intentioned benefit event for MercyCorps and their efforts to aid the relief efforts in Darfur. This from their site:

Each day you make decisions that affect your life—where you buy your coffee, your lunch, your dinner, your glass of wine. On March 4, 2008, we offer you the opportunity to make these same choices and have them make a difference in the world. Purchase your food and drink at a ‘Dine for Darfur’ establishment and 25% of that money will be generously donated to aid relief efforts in Darfur.

Participating Village restaurants are Marco’s and Otto & Anita’s. Or, you could head up the hill to Hillsdale and grab a spicy bite at Salvador Molly’s.

Here’s the website with the complete list of participants in Washington and Oregon.

Um, if you are not aware for Darfur, and the situation there, check out the Wikipedia entry or just Google.

From our back deck, this time of year, we can see this fully lit Christmas Tree up on the hill somewhere between about 37th and 38th along Canby. We always enjoy it being there. It appears that someone went out in their yard or to the wooded area behind their house, and fully lit a “wild” tree. This year, we decided to track this tree down, with the idea that we’d send a thank you note to whoever lights the tree since we enjoy seeing it up there in the dark every year. Our first quest was unsuccessful, but maybe not for it turns out this this “tree” is actually a very convincing looking (at least from our vantage point down on 35th) pyramid of lighted strands, set up like a tepee on the roof of a garage.

Although not quote a romantic as a tree full of lights found out in the middle of a forest, it’s one of the things we really enjoy about Christmas here in and around the Village. Happy Holidays everyone!

Since snow on Christmas day is such a rare occurrence here in Portland, we dragged ourselves out of the warmth and headed up the hill to walk through the empty Village and take in the sights, before cruising down to John’s for a replacement bag of chips. It’s an annual pilgrimage for Mrs. V and sorry, Rick, if we’ d known you were working we’d have brought a plate of cookies and treats!

Well, now things are starting to get back to a more manageable pace. I stopped by Journeys on Monday for the first time in over a month. It felt good to slide back into my corner seat at the bar, and just in time for the Laurelwood Red!  To quote Michael Jackson from back in the day, the job’s “got me workin’, workin’ day and night.” Late enough last night that I’m taking some headspace hours this morning and going out to breakfast. I’m going to walk up to Fat City in a few minutes and read the paper, then hit my noon Tae Kwon Do class over in Sellwood and roll into the office this afternoon.

Two eggs any style will help with my recovery, indeed.

Despite the name, I can assure you that this event is NOT at the Boom Boom Room. Sorry, guys. In fact this is the 2nd annual “ladies night out” event at the Southwest Community Center, featuring food and wine, fitness classes, spa treatments, music and local vendors selling gifty and crafty stuff. Mrs. V is probably headed over there with neighbor Kathy. I’m pretty sure they went last year.

The event is Saturday November 10th from 6:00 - 9:00 PM, and it’s $10.
Pre-registration is encouraged, which you can do by calling the SW Community Center at 503-823-2840.

Here’s the “official event listing” on Porltand Online.
Should be a nice evening, if you’re into that sort of thing.

However, just like at the Boom Boom Room, you have to be over 21 to get in.