No town is a town without the errant Elvis here or there. I present to you, Portland Elvis.
I really dig this guy, having fun with it. I like how he’s billing it as a Sidewalk Tour 2008, sounds like the Public Transit Tour.
Creaking for the Coffee
My hostel room has a built in alarm clock. A feature not listed on the Portland Hawthorne Hostel website pre-arrival, nor was it covered in the tour. When the early-riser goes to the kitchen for their morning cup of Joe, the aging floor boards creak underfoot. The floorboards also happen to be my ceiling above my top bunk perch. Mind you, this is not a complaint. It gets me up and out for the day, I didn’t have to call the front desk and request an 8 am wake-up call, instead I am nudged awake gently by little creaking noises and the occasional dropped item. Hostel travel is all positives. In fact, this feature should be touted as an upgrade. A wise traveller should opt for the room with the 8 am creaky-roof”. It’s all mine for two more nights, sorry guys.
Gresham MAX line
Out the door and on the Tri-met
After the shower, and the java it’s to the 14 Hawthorne, over the river and up the hill to the Japanese Gardens. I had heard about the gardens and saw some footage on YouTube, so I added this to my mental-list of must-see places. On my first ‘free-day’ I jumped at the chance to see this beautiful place. Being from Arizona, I am accustomed to a different kind of green. Foliage and what-not is a very hearty green back home, yellow-green and browns, reds, etc. I was in need of some good ole’ deciduous-chewy-basil-kind-of-green.
Enter the Garden
A Little Walk
I explored every inch of the Japanese Gardens and spent a good three hours retracing my steps and turning back to do it all again. When I visit a place like the Japanese Gardens, or a zoo I like to go through the park in one direction and then revers the path so that I see everything differently. If I were capable I would have burrowed into the soil and dug on them roots.
Central pond, reminded me of Monet’s Giverny
On one of my reverse laps, I found something I had missed the first time around. I stumbled into a little hut type meditation thing. I don’t really meditate in the traditional sense, but I figured I’d try to get into it, Supernormal-style. So I took out my notebook, closed my eyes, and began making little hash marks on the paper while I sat and listened to the garden and walked through the Garden again in my mind.
I was surprised when I opened my eyes that there was a picture-of-sorts there. And it did look a little like a Japanese Garden. I titled and dated it and I’m gonna keep it, but, here you can have a copy. No one ever said I was a visual artist. I play music like a banshee, but, I draw like a monkey. No shame in that. If you can walk you can dance, if you can talk you can sing. No judgment on how well, just a can-do kind of thing.
This place is enchanting, delicately trained vines sculpted with rudimentary methodology. Simple sticks of bamboo fastened to branches with twine have done the majority of the shaping and training of the branches, but, most of the Japanese trees and plants look as though that is just how they grow. What I know of Japan is it’s art, I can say Japanese art, and I get an image in my mind as I am sure you do as well. There is a distinctive look beyond a simple font to all things Japanese, and the reason for that I would guess is nature. The trees shrubs and other things beyond my botanical prowess have that distinctive ordered Japanese look.
Right-click, Save as Desktop
From the Garden to the City
I spent the next few hours walking downtown and asking around if anyone knew of a place where I could have a Beer and Blog. I don’t mean Wi-fi. I mean, a bar with physical computers in it. Why do we all have to own a laptop? I don’t like carrying around all of that stuff, power cable, computer, then with all of the other elements of this SupernormalRecords.com enterprise. What if i drop it? What if I get caught in the rain, and soaked to the bone, or in this case; memory? Just to many what-if’s. But, here is yet another ‘what if’.
Training Branches Traditionally
What if?
What if a bar put along one of its walls an array of a few basic desktops. I am in the Fat Straw, a little Bubble Tea Joint and I love working in this place, but I want a beer man. My love for blogging and my love for beer are two very strong competitors. And I would argue, life sustaining drives, urges man! C’mon Bar Owners. Open the Beer and Blog, the Blog-N-Beer Tavern, or The Blogger and Lager! I’ll do it if you give me the dough of course.
If this were filled with Sake I would have Stayed here all day
There’s that for now. I think I’m gonna traipse around downtown and see if I can get a little more of the strong pulse of this cities music scene. Back into the city now…
You have all heard about the Public Transit Tour for some time now. Well, I packed the bags, cabbed it to the Phoenix airport and did the ceremonial strip dance for the TSA, and here we go!
The Road Kit: Travel Light Much?
Mt. Hood From the Plane
Success right out of the gates. The wheels touched down at 10:15 PDX local time, and as any airport designed for the quick expediting of fare paying customers, the Portland International Airport did not disappoint. Follow the signs to baggage claim, wait impatiently for the guitar to come rolling off of the carousel… Wait… Wait… See the guitar case flop through the rubber flaps and onto the oversize baggage stainless steel stage. Restart pulse again. I once lost my guitar for three hours in the Czech Republic, I feared the worst, but PDX delivered, and made short work of it. I decided to relax a little. Grow Slow.
A View From the MAX Redline to City Center
A quick Jaunt to downtown on the MAX RED LINE rail to City Center which picks travellers up on the curb outside the airport where others are standing for someone they called on Tuesday, to pick them up on Sunday. They didn’t want to drive on the free way down to the airport to pick-up so-and-so but nonetheless they did, and now they fain excitement and hugs and such.
Also, they most likely arrived long after I was under the smooth pull of an electric train on my way to downtown. Public transit never pisses off friends. The MAX will never forget you.
As per usual, I got off at the wrong stop, I got jumpy just like I always do when I visit a new city. I remember, in Prague, I ended up on the outskirts of town amongst communist row houses that disappeared off into the horizon while I stood on a mud street with suspicious spectators. That was a ‘Woops’, and I think two drops of pee came out. This time it was different. It was roughly 11:30 AM and I was in the middle of a boisterous downtown that showed little wear. Foot traffic abounded. A rarity where I come from, but something so very common where I now stood. There I stood at the 11th ave Transit Center and looked left… right… and did a few determined “set-outs” for what I assumed to be my destination before I admitted my folly and headed back to the platform to re-board another train on the same tracks heading in the general direction that I decided (at the time) was the right way to go.
So, it was on to the Hillsboro Blue line. I assumed (incorrectly) that this train would shimmy left once it crossed the Willamette River and drop me in the Yamhill District. Well, it shimmied right, I assumed it to be North at the time, (I’ll look that up later when I buy a map). I’ll also make it a point to find an electronics store so that I can buy a USB cable for my camera then we all can see pictures of my descriptions. For now, they rest helplessly eager in my pocket powered off and ignored until I can solve the problem for us. Thank goodness for the gig of memory.
I am beginning to believe that Portland, Oregon is all that she claims to be: A green haven , in all senses of the word, a beatific invention that has been driven by kind and caring people who wish to live simply so that others may simply live. I have never moved so freely in a city before. I have never felt so welcome to do so. At home, I get honked at and yelled at from the elitist drivers of Escalades, and let’s be honest Sentras. The totem is tall in tinfoil-town.
Why am I so at peace and comfortable here in Portland? Is it because I have travelled this way before? Or, is it because I have been destined to travel HERE for so long? Maybe it’s experience. Maybe it is THE experience. I have never said hello to so many perfect strangers before in my life. Everyone has a hello for me here. This is beginning to seem to make sense. This immediately felt like home. But, enough with the gush and on to the itinerary.
A Bus for all of Us
I finally managed to board the 14 Hawthorne Bus to cross the Willamette once again and actually (correctly) approach my intended destination: The Portland Oregon Hawthorne Travellers Hostel. The images online do not do it justice. It looms like a flowerbed with windows, it smells of damp wood and fresh coffee, and resonates with the murmur of sincere kind voices. It’s filled to the brim with the errant hippie. Good people.
Just before the 14 pulled up and brought me ‘home’ I met a local. She suggested a tea house. I went after I checked in and bought a card to send home and some “throat soothe” tea – whatever that is. I soothed the throat and wrote a post card home on the porch of the Herb/Tea House, and chicken-scratch-sketched a view from the porch.
Shortly thereafter, the rain came to Portland and it was exactly as a fellow Arizonan told me pre-departure, “it rains like once and then it clears up for the day.” I traipsed on through it and sought out Eugenios – the 500 sq foot club that I am to perform at Friday May 16th.
The Hostel where I am staying is at 3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Eugenios (the place I am playing Friday) is on 3584 SE Division Street, roughly one mile south and probably a quarter of a mile East of where I am staying. I put Skecher to pavement and set out to see what it looks like in real life. The rain came down and, no bother, I just ducked under trees and waited for the drops to resemble mist before setting out again. I learned that one in Sweden; good trick.
But these houses distract and what appear to be towering piles of fresh mint and Icelandic Poppies, garnished with Magnolia actually do have a house somewhere in there. People are on their porches and one porch has a group of guitarists playing Irish tunes. Oh, those crazy suburbanites. Are you kidding me?! In Arizona, you are lucky to meet your neighbor of 14 years. It’s into the garage and out of the garage. Neighbors are mere noises over the backyard fence. Neighbors afraid of neighbors, critical, or despondent.
Lincoln Avenue Stroll
The warm spectacle of Portland suburb life distracted me so much that I ended up on Lincoln Avenue, so it was back to the starting point and retracing the steps to see where I went wrong. I finally stumbled upon Eugenios (on Division) and I opened the door to find that tables and chairs stacked in the dining room and two “Beard Club” members behind the bar. Brothers of the Scruff. My people. I asked a whole-heartedly foolish question for someone who works in the bar business; “Are you guys open?” (Duh, really I knew the answer it was only an ice-breaker) Walking in on employees who are just there on a Sunday to “Cook the Meatballs” is a little like walking in on a stranger naked. It’s not rude, just really weird and causes you to mutter inappropriate foolish phrases “oh sorry, are uh…chuckle chortle…etc.” After confirming a return time for tomorrow, I set back out on the streets toward Hawthorne, Mecca of the non-exhibitionist bohemian. Some Earth-children are doing it to be different. Here on Hawthorne, they are just humans. I can be human here. No one has to apologize for anything, and no one seems to trespass. A glowing revue, but, it is but, day 1. Yet, I remain an optimist. I don’t doubt the sincerity of nice people.
On my walk back, get this, I strolled along side an elderly man with a hearing aide and shot the breeze. After a brief back-and-forth, he complimented me on my timing and my keen mastery of nuance. What? I love it, a real conversation for conversations sake, for in true old-guy fashion, he said abruptly; “Well, I’m going this way, it’s been really nice talking with you.” And off he went with his hearing aide taking it all in. He’s got no time for farting around one minute longer than he cares to. This is most-likely his scheduled walk which he has taken for twenty years, north on 36th Ave and a left on Hawthorne, and off into the mileiu. Far be it for this whipper-snapper to alter a time-tested route. I continued east and found a little fish and chips joint.
Eat here if you are here!
$2.50 Pabst Drafts and Chili Fried Cod with Jalapeno Tartar. Hot damn! I perused the Portland Mercury and got the super-skinny on local music happenings.
I had promoted to over 20 bars in the Portland Area. I started the booking process too late and gave up too early so I never did book a night at The White Eagle, but guess what I found hiding in Courtney Ferguson’s Music Calendar. SUNDAY MAY 11TH – Open Mic at the White Eagle. Consider it booked. We either make our own destiny or it remains un-made. So it is on to the ‘goog’ to map it and then to the Tri-met website to see how I can get there, and after 8pm sometime tonight I rock Portland!
Tonight’s Gig
I’ve got 9 days in this state (two of which were to be devoted to driving to wineries and seeing the coast) I think Portland just might deserve all of my devoted attention. I just might stay and play. I’ll let you know after I see how tonight goes. Fly like an Eagle? Nah, I never really liked Steve Miller, I’ll just stick to what I know… Supernormal Tyler tunes.
Till later…
In addition to the music performances to be part of the Public Transit Tour, Supernormal Records has added another aspect to an already packed itinerary. Through our varied associations, we have booked a Wine Tour of the Willamette Valley Wine region west of Portland, Oregon.
Follow Supernormal Tyler as he teaches you about Oregon Wines and ride shotgun as we travel some of the most breath-taking scenery in the US, and strum the strings among the vines.
Wineries to be visited
We will keep you updated with the developments of this program and the release date of the “Supernormal Wine Tour: Willamette Valley” to be released in the month of June.
MORE INFORMATION
“Supernormal Tyler Live @ Rula Bula” (4 of 5)
SUPERNORMAL TYLER VIDEOS POSTED AT RULABULA.COM
A webmaster over at Zenith TPM uploaded 4 of the 5 “Supernormal Tyler Live @ Rula Bula” video’s to the Rula Bula video page. The player and arrangement look great and Supernormal Records could not be happier. You can see the video that was left out above.
Supernormal Records did not send these videos to Zenith TPM or Rula Bula, they simply used their internet prowess to seek out our productions and post them in their project. It appears as though the Supernormal tentacles are spreading out through the “internets”. Don’t worry this octopus just wants a hug. Thanks for the love Rula Bula and Zenith TPM.
“On February 12th, 2008, I played three songs (Father’s Son, Carousel, Arizona Born and Glory Bound) at the Open Mic Night hosted by Walt Richardson. I had Pope run the camera for me and spent a week editing together the videos and posting them to YouTube and, it looks like someone over at zenithtpm is on top of things. They found them and posted them yesterday. Just in time for the Public Transit Tour“
NEW VIDEOS
More videos are in production for the “Public Transit Tour” in Portland, Oregon (May 11-18th, 2008). The first show will be at Eugenio’s at 3584 SW division Street (Map It). We are in the development process for a slew of Supernormal Tyler Live videos, Travel Vlogs, and day-to-day blogs during the tour. Take your digital-self on the road with Supernormal Tyler.
“By Rail, By Bus, By Flip-Flop!”
MORE INFORMATION
On May 11th, Supernormal Tyler is heading to Portland, Oregon to commence the ‘Public Transit Tour’. It appears as though, the earth is moving in anticipation of this event. Scientists cannot tell you why this is occuring, but, Supernormal Records has uncovered the secret.
“Scientists at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center have recorded more than 600 earthquakes in the last 10 days off the central Oregon coast in an area not typically known for a high degree of seismic activity.” (article)
“This earthquake “swarm” is unique, according to OSU marine geologist Robert Dziak, because it is occurring within the middle of the Juan de Fuca plate – away from the major, regional tectonic boundaries.” (article)
The earthquakes are unique due to the fact that they are not occuring along the fault lines. Scientists are re-routing research ships to take water samples form the area above the epicenters of these recent 600 earthquakes to gather more data about the anomaly. There is no definitive explanation for the recent odd scientific activity. Basically, another one of Earth’s great mysteries. Or is it?
A Formal Apology
We at Supernormalrecords.com hereby issue a formal apology. The recent tremors are associated with the activation the generators in our underground lair. Sorry, we needed to make sure we could get the lights on and be able to plug in our Wii when we arrive on May 11th, 2008 for the Public Transit Tour. When we fire up the lair it makes a horrible racket, that is why we are doing it so early.
Our Offer of Assistance
Also, if the scientific community would like water samples, there is no need to re-route a ship. I can call Deter and ask him to open up the window and fill up some Fiji bottles and send them to you.
Please accept our apology, and sorry for the rukus.
Sincerely,
Supernormal Tyler
“Video clip of Deter heading off to the store to buy some Fiji water”
MORE INFORMATION
RELATED ARTICLES:
“Eugenios in beautiful Portland, Oregon”
I have begun the process of contacting venues for the Portland “Public Transit Tour”. The first I’ll tell you about is a quaint little joint on the venerated NE Division Street in Portland. I have sent an interest contact e-mail to the owner, Eugene. I have been told by a credible source that this is a great little venue owned by a good guy who treats artists right. I hope to get a sweet little gig here.
I will let you all know about the status of the shows as I am contacting them and booking them. When we get closer to the dates of the tour (May 11th-18th) I will put out a full calendar of shows, and begin posting commercials and hype-vids to the site and the YouTube channel.
For more information on the “Public Transit Tour”, view the “Tour” page on this site.
If you’d like to know more about Eugenio’s visit their website by clicking here. You can view Eugenio’s menu get directions, hours of operation and contact information. I hear they serve the Gruet bubbly. Yum. (www.eugenios.net)
If you will be in the Portland area May 11th – 18th email me at (supernormalrecords@hotmail.com) and I will add you to the growing e-mail list for reduced admission prices, drink specials (if applicable), as well as the “in” on private events.�
You have a dream. You have talent. You have a message you want to communicate to the world. You have dreamed of success in the music business, that is your supreme dream, how very Supernormal of you.
So, dear dreamer, I ask you; Who in this world will serve your dream better than you? Who will push your dream to have your music heard by those venerated masses and get you where you wish to be? The answer has presented itself in this post nine times already, and you haven’t seen it. The answer is: YOU.
This is the most opportune time for the Indie Musician – I capitalize for a reason. Being Indie and managing your own career top-to-bottom is key in this evolving industry. Here is a little known industry secret, the big-labels, the A&R rep’s, those who you wish to please, are lost. They see an industry being taken out from under them. They see the dissolution of revenue streams. They see Indie-Musician’s finally getting it. They fear the truth of where we are as a community of artists. They murmur, “Uh-oh, they figured it out.” And this has all been driven by the listeners – the masses who were the ultimate goal. Skip the middle. Serve the servants. Ask yourself, “why is net neutrality even in issue?” Because it threatens power structures. Power structures who never had your (our) best intrest in mind. You want proof? Look at history.
Histrionics:
Since the old-timey days of Woody Guthrie, to the recent past of artists like Gram Parsons, to modern who-are-they’s like David Ryan Adams, to me, yes me. I/You have a better opportunity of “Making it” than any artist in history. It just requires a dream-shift. It is easier for you to sell as many records as the Beatles than it was for the Beatles. You might not have that kind of ‘goods’ and it takes a special connection to move that many units, but, (to a certain extent) it all can be managed by one person, you. And the best part is, you control the process creatively, in regards to marketing, and any other regards you wish to fathom. You have the power to vertically integrate yourself and be your own record label. Trust me, I know, I am. I am Supernormal Records, it’s me and someone who believes in me, my brother – drawk. I’d fain trust anyone else, I’ve tried that before – it didn’t work.
Everything I have ever wanted is at my fingertips now – literally. I am doing it right now – you are reading the fruits of my labor. I can record records in the echo-laden bathroom of my one bedroom apartment, I can press disks through third-party vendors like, Disc2Day, OasisCD, or Discmakers, I can upload tracks to mp3 hosting sites like: last.fm, iTunes, I can sell them at my very own merch table at shows along with T-shirts I have designed myself from third-party vendors like Acme Prints, Cafepress, Customink, and the like. I can order stickers, and you can google that on your own. Basically, I can do what a major label can do with the exception of pay-to-play on a clear channel station – I don’t capitalize for a reason. Who wants to be among a community of soulless hacks? If you like the band Nickelback, you can go ahead and f-off. If you are in the band Nickelback, PLAY FROM YOUR F#@ING HEART!!! If you don’t understand me, click here . Technology has paved the path for you so why not walk that path with me?
But Don’t Listen to the Liars?:
I never have ‘been’ before in my music career before January of this year (2008). I have let others usurp my ambition and let them share in the decision process and compromised the notion of where I’d like to be. I compromised. I compromised in a world where I never had to. I gave in, and I was weak, because I was ignorant. I took the canned answers from Billboard Magazine, Music-Industry related books, and other industry outlets, and so-called sources. I gave up on myself succeding in an industry that never wanted me to succeed. In the end/beginning, I wised up, and I woke up to the fact that if I were on the radio (in it’s present form) I would be a soul-less jukebox selling my soul to fit into a little box for which I was intended. Sit here shut up, play your songs and then pay your label. I would have been a pan-flash. I would be cold and old in a matter of minutes, when all I want from this industry is longevity.
More succinctly, if you like Nickelback you’ve been duped. You don’t like Nickelback, you just hear it incessantly so you think everyone else likes it; they don’t. Radio listenership is in the toilet. Why? Because program directors are out of sync with their listeners. Dear dreamer, they don’t give a damn what you want to hear. They’ve got oiltankers full of liquid sh^t like Nickelback and it foghorns into the port everyday and spills out onto the airwaves and slowly makes us all stupidur.
I am INDIE – I am FREE -Give Me LONGEVITY
Hacks lack longevity. Longevity is acheived through a slow rise. There are no over-night successes, only bottle rockets, and they burst and cease to be. If you are an over-night success you are a phony, and your done shortly after you have begun. If you require proof (read: Britney Spears) popular culture is a misnomer. It lacks anything resembling culture and it is only popular because someone shoves it down your throat everyday.
Through out history, there were Southern Baptist Negro Bluesmen/women who called Elvis Presley a sell-out, just another foolish man usurping the truth for profit. His legs were “All Shook Up” when he was young. And by forty he was “All Washed Up.” Elvis – A lazy, fat, farting, pill-popper, giving up the dreams of this mortal world for a chance to sing songs by number from a teleprompter – Please don’t forget he died six inches above a turd – there is a divine reason for that. I have stood in his home, I have seen the lie. Elvis-Frickin-Nickelback.
There is a great game being played and we are witness to it every time we turn off our car radios out of frustration. Please understand, Dear Dreamer, that you possess the secret to seeing all of your dreams through to their fruition. You are the sovereign master of your own ambitions. You need nothing but love. Play from your heart! You’ll live through your’ own dreams and, in turn, we all will come along. It isn’t easy work and more often than not it seems like no one is listening. But such is the great game. This is your penance, your Indie-penance, your indepen-dance, your dance, your chance. Won’t you join me? Be Free. Be Indie. �
Tonight you have a unique opportunity to participate in a global movement. The best part, it is nearly effortless.
On Saturday, March 29, 2008, (TODAY) Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, PHOENIX and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.
Be a part of a global movement at the flick of a switch!
If we care enough, This can truly be “One World”.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_c5K7Jdw9E[/youtube]
www.supernormalrecords.com
We are taking this show on the road. May 11th – 18th Supernormal Tyler and crew will be doing a “Public Transit Tour” of one of the world’s greatest cities, Portland Oregon.
An exercise in sustainable living and rocking and rolling, this trip will be documented in true Supernormal Records fashion. Check back for show dates, public appearances, and reports on the life their livin’ in good ole “Rose City”. Weve got a suitcase full of Hi-8 tapes, and some change for the Tri-Met. We hope you enjoy the show. Details to follow.
