Portland: The Indie City With Lots of Bushes
Today’s Taylor Clark essay on Portland as “America’s indie rock theme park” [The Indie City] is full of loving detail from a longtime Portlander and ex-WW news writer. His essay made me do some thinking (always dangerous) about both the article and Portland’s indie rock celeb elite. Here are my reactions:
One: I best copyright my own Portland phrase, “The Ellis Island of rock,” before someone else does.
Two: “I’m Stephen Malkmus, and I lengthen my shorts for no one”—don’t you wish this was a real quote?
Three: If we’re the city that leaves our rock stars be, how does Taylor Clark know so much about Janet Weiss? “You might see Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss [innocent enough] parking her Volvo station wagon [kinda weird that he knows the make and model of her car, but okay...] in front of Stumptown Coffee Roasters [somebody call the cops!], for instance…”
Four: More alarm bells: “You can venture into public dressed like a convicted sex offender [why would anyone want to do that?] or a homeless person [filthy homeless!], and no one looks at you askew [Yeah, because they can't see you in the bushes across from Stumptown Coffee Roasters, where Janet Weiss parks her Volvo station wagon].”
Five: Now that I’ve been a total dick to him for no good reason, I’ve got to ask, is Taylor Clark a LocalCut fan? The talk of Gerard Way and Anthony Kiedis found a home here on LocalCut in early August.
Six: Is anyone in the business of selling starmaps to Portland’s music scene kings’ homes? It’s a rotten business, but I’d imagine it’s only a matter of time before someone capitalizes on the interest. Besides, how many articles can we write about how nonchalant Portland is with its rock stars before they realize we are all creepily obsessed with them? Isn’t that almost worse than just asking for an autograph?
Anyway, those are the things I was thinking when I read Taylor Clark’s piece, and obviously everyone is dying to know what I think (Mr. Clark, who I’m told is a good-humored and forgiving man, especially).
Links:
The article in Question
Somebody being meaner than me (found this after I wrote my piece, I swear. I googled “Portland + Star Maps and came up with this. Great minds…)
Justin Kent
says:#4 had me rolling, haha, great write-up by Mr. Clark and a very funny summary Casey.
Posted @ September 11th, 2007 at 7:29 pm (September 11th, 2007) | Flag this Comment | permalinkMichael
says:Ick. This makes me sad. I love Portland for so many reasons, and Clark’s piece felt like a kick in the ribs. BTW: if you click the Idolator link, a commenter makes the very good point that the indierockstars’ neighborhoods in question–Laurelhurst, Sunnyside–aren’t particularly affordable. I’d add that the few neighborhoods that still are in Portland, at least those acceptable for indierockstar (or even demi-indierockstar) residence, have about two years (give or take) left of any shred of affordability. I can’t wait for Slate’s follow-up piece on Gresham.
Posted @ September 11th, 2007 at 7:57 pm (September 11th, 2007) | Flag this Comment | permalinkCASEY JARMAN
(post author) says:I don’t know, I’m not disturbed by the piece the way Idolator seemed to be. I mean, I thought that it could have gone down with slightly less stargazing, but if someone had asked me to write the same kind of thing with the same word count, I’m sure I’d come up with something similar (and likely less artfully written). But you’re absolutely right about the inner eastside, it’s insane! I didn’t want to join the gentrification army (interestingly, though, a lot of the great young bands call this area home) but I honestly couldn’t afford to live anywhere but northeast and still pay for drinks at shows! only indie rockstars, i guess.
Posted @ September 11th, 2007 at 9:12 pm (September 11th, 2007) | Flag this Comment | permalinkAndrea Manning
says:About Sunnyside & Laurelhurst neighborhoods being expensive. Well, yes, they are. But I swear North and NE are more expensive now. I couldn’t afford to live near Alberta or Mississippi or Killingsworth now. A lot of people got in to houses in inner SE awhile ago before this whole real estate explosion and are now just thanking their lucky stars at their good luck. Also, we’re assuming that everyone mentioned owns their own homes. What about renters? I’m assuming that most of the folks mentioned, Malkmus et al, moved here with some cash and just bought an awesome place because they could. A lot of people get one good record deal and buy a house and aren’t necessarily rich or anything. I guess my point is: don’t assume that everyone who owns a house in this area is loaded. I know quite a few people who own around here, including myself, and we’re just scraping by like everyone else.
Posted @ September 14th, 2007 at 11:29 am (September 11th, 2007) | Flag this Comment | permalinkAbout Taylor stalking the stars - funny! But the cool thing about this neighborhood is that you don’t have to. You see Janet riding her bike around or driving around, and you see people walking around the neighborhood, and it takes no stalking to bump into someone. Not like in the West Hills or maybe some other areas where people more drive home and stay inside (see: Art Alexablahblah from Everclear).
robert lucid
says:about the star gazing in portland well if you cant find indie rockers you might just fall into pok poks or pine street or pod nahs. dont worry about the rockers or the rents it will all pass but the food will bring out the soul in all of us. Be smart and be cool you will get there with or without the celebrity connection
Posted @ July 13th, 2008 at 11:23 pm (September 11th, 2007) | Flag this Comment | permalink