Supernormal Tyler, Will, Kate, Eugene, and Sarah in Portland, Oregon

Who knew I took so many pictures!  In the midst of the whirlwind of Portland, Oregon, I managed to snap a ton of pictures and video.  I am currently putting them all together and getting additional footage from Mark @ EVENT ONE VIDEO. 

I have music video’s in the works, as well as upcoming local Arizona shows, and I have gone back into the studio to record the new album (more on that later).   

If you are not already on the mailing list please visit the Contact page and sign-up.  I will be releasing sneek-previews, and pre-release versions of all of the upcoming content. 

Thanks to Eugene, Kate, Will and everyone in Portland who helped me along the way.  I’ve got two months of studio time, then, it’s time for another tour. 

Stay Tuned!

 

 Geno Panino and A Glass of Gruet Bubbly

Sunny Day Gruet

The clouds broke over Portland - here comes the sun - and it’s time for a little flop-flop adventure.  Today I decided to get a little business done and then maybe, oh, I don’t know ‘do something I guess’.  It’s a day before the big show at Eugenios and I figured I’ll take the day off and soak up the sun and dig on the locals for a while.  I started out with a stroll down Hawthorne Boulevard and called Eugenio’s to see if I could catch the owner Eugene for a chat before the big night.  I wanted to tell him how many people I think are coming and just put a face to the name.  He’s been so good to me I thought I’d pay him a visit.   

 

Down 34th Ave and a the left on Division Street and I scooted through the door.  I had called about ten minutes previous and Eugene was out running errands so I’ll have a little lunch and sit on the patio.  Kate was behind the bar.  She’s an M-80 in a swimsuit and jean shorts sweeter than anything and fully capable of beautiful disaster if you meddle with that fuse.  An angel with the devil her pocket, breaking hearts and taking names - don’t cross this one.  Yeah, she’s rock and roll, man.     

 

I ordered a Geno Panino and a glass of Gruet bubbly in a short stubby glass.  I try to refrain from using stemware due to my penchant for destruction.  I want no challenges today.  So it’s bubbly in a stubby - Easy is the recipe, and the finest ingredient is time; so it’s slow-go to the patio.  There’s a champagne sunrise at three PM and I’m in search of a day-buzz.  

  

The Nicest Human Being on the Planet

Eugene rolled up in the alley by the sidewalk in a white Honda Accord and stepped out looking exactly like I expected him to.  Laid back and relaxed.  Eugenios should be built on a boat with Eugene at the helm swaying smoothly on calm waters and going where the breeze wills you.  He’s rocking a blue T-shirt and cream-colored shorts and shades.  He looks like he just stepped off of the deck of a schooner somewhere sandy and blue.  He puts you in the mood he’s seems to be in perpetually; unceremonious, and cruising across the surface of the earth doing what he’s doing and then checking something else out for a while.  The way it used to be? The way it is here at Eugenio’s.  He’s a natural restaurateur.   

 

Matchbox Omega

Three girls sat at the long table across from me, in true Portland fashion, we were all sharing the same table in a matter of minutes.  Just in time too, because no more than a minute later I would have been destroyed by a cyclist that slammed into the chair that I was sitting in.  These girls saved my life.  Myshelle in sleeves and a sundress.  A 4′ 11″ live wire and a kindred spirit of the bartendress Kate.  Ashley in a simple grey dress and a push up - making a statement in muffled colors the statement she made sounded something like “Damn!”  All the while laying down the wit like a short-order cook.  Becky behind her cell phone peeking out to smile and drop a joke.  Everything said about one could be said of the other if we are speaking solely on first impressions.  There the kind of girls that make the clouds break and I blame the perfect weather on them.  They had a name for their little coalition: Kappa Kappa Matchbox Omega.

 

Kappa Kappa Matchbox Omega:Ashley, Becky, Myshelle, and Kate

 Chad meandered into the mix, he’s moving to Portland from Vermont and searching for a house.  He won’t find it today, the Matchbox Omega girls stepped in and he and I are about to be hijacked.  Before long we were all ‘life-long’s’ riding the crest of a wave beatific and ready to sail this thing all the way up to the Gold Dust Meridian on Hawthorne leaving Eugenio’s in our wake and on the docket for tomorrow night.  Showtime.  

 Myshelle, Ashley, Chad, Kate, and Supernormal Tyler

Meridian

The Gold Dust Meridian was the next destination, so we paid the tabs and said our goodbyes to the crew of Eugenio’s leaving it as our safe harbor.  We’ll return tomorrow night, and I can repay the debt of a great day to all of the people who gave it to me.  That’s why I love playing music, the human connection.  Stepping in and creating happiness for people, positive and prolific - I’ve got one-and-a-half hours of stage time and it’s gonna go by to fast.  At the Meridian, we found a back patio, Omega had been there before but none of them had noticed it before.  The little pathway was like entering a secret garden and we assembled ourselves at a table.  Omega was drinking Mojitos made with 12 year Rum, and I was stepping it up a bit.  I had an IPA and a shot of well bourbon, I was seeking the day buzz, and hell bent getting on there.  Our collective energy soon filled the patio to the gills with day-drinkers.  General jackassery and side-splitting laughter, Myshelle drew a Black Bart moustache on her index finger and was holding it up to her face and the rest is a blur.  I believe the buzz had arrived.  And I believe it skipped a few stages and put me straight in Zangsville! 

 

Myshelle and her Black Moustache 

One guy came in with a guitar and some one said paly us a song, he refused.  I took that as my cue and went back to the Hostel and got the Git-fiddle.  I walked back on the patio and asked if I could play them a song and so I played “Arizona Born and Glory Bound”.  That song is kind of becoming my anthem for this trip.  “the secret to success is get the F*** out”, an urge I am trying to fight.  I fall in love with everywhere I travel and the common theme around here is that what is trying to happen to me has happened to many.  Ich bin ein Portlander!  Myshelle asked me if that was a harmonica, I said “yes”.  Apparently, she plays.  She started tooting around on it and I played a remix of one of my own tunes: “The Things I’m Gonna Miss”.  Normally, it’s a heartbreaker track slow and solemn.  People have told me it made them cry, but, now it was up-beat jovial and I gravelled-up the vocals and Myshelle rocked the Harmy.  I had to go after that.  I could have stayed there all day, but, I wanted to hit the Muddy Waters Open Mic on Burnside and the sign-up started at seven.�

The Crew is Growing at the Meridian 

Murky Moods at Muddy Waters

I arrived at 7:05 and the place was already awash with troubadours with guitars in-tow.  I got a negative vibe and heeded it.  I chose to head back to the hostel and good thing I did because about ten minutes later I had to put the buzz to bed.  I spun motionless on the matress then dropped off the planet at 7:00 PM.  That’s Rock and Roll. 

More Pictures and videos coming soon.

 

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?

PHX to PDX

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. 

Airport Exterior

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. 

City Center - somewhat

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.

Brochure Truth

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.

Escape of the Downtown-er

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.

Division Derision

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.

 

Fish and Chips and Several Pabst Sips.

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’ll Book it Willamette!

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… Â

The Public Transit Tour is rapidly approaching.  Here is a sneak preview of the poster for the show at Eugenio’s to take place on Friday May 16th.

 

• Listen to some Supernormal Tyler music. (link will open in a new window)
• Learn more about the ‘Public Transit Tour’.
• Watch all our videos right here.
• Read the life story of your’s truly.

Public Transit Tour

Portland, Oregon

May 11, 2008 - May 18, 2008

“By Rail, By Bus, By Flip-Flop!”

 

Read the Overview of the tour below, or read the blog posts Supernormal Tyler wrote about his recent tour via the links below:

•   Day 1: Portland, Oregon (Part 2)
•   Day 2: Portland, Oregon (Part 2)
•   Day 3: Portland, Oregon
•   Day 4: Portland, Oregon (Part 2)
•   Day 5: Portland, Oregon
•   Day 6: Portland, Oregon
•   Day 7: Portland, Oregon
•   Day 8: Portland, Oregon
• Exodus: Portland, Oregon

 

In honor of Mother Earth, on May 11th, 2008 (Mother’s Day) Supernormal Records sent Supernormal Tyler out on the road. Tyler will toured the Northwest and focusing on the city of Portland, Oregon. This was a dual-purpose tour:

1. To promote Supernormal Records and Tyler Christensen’s music
2. To highlight the ease and accessibility of Portland Oregon’s Tri-Met Public transit system and encourage the use of public transit in cities around the world.

 

Supernormalrecords.com visitors are treated to a show unlike any other. Videos and blogs documenting the day-to-day hour-by-hour progress and process of pulling a tour like this off.

Tyler did not rent a car, did not have a driver, and got around town and to and from gigs via the extensive and efficient Tri-Met Public Transit System in beautiful Portland, Oregon (scroll down for more details).

Supernormal Tyler stayed at the famed Portland Hawthorne Hostel in the Hawthorne district of Portland, Oregon (see below for details).

“This tour will be an exercise in sustainable living,” says Tyler. “I don’t own a car in my hometown and I try to keep my carbon footprint tiny so that I may help others make up for their obese carbon feetsprints.” he laughs. “Portland is going to be a blast because everyone I talk to raves about the Tri-Met, and where I come from (Scottsdale, Arizona) it’s all unreliable buses and footwork. It’ll be nice to feel the smooth pull of an electric street car again. I can’t wait to begin.”

Shows and Shooting Schedule

• May 11th - White Eagle Saloon - Songwriters Night

• May 12th - [TBD]

• May 13th - [TBD]

• May 14th -

• May 15th -

• May 16th - Public Transit Tour: Supernormal Tyler LIVE at Eugenio’s 3584 SE Hawthorne
  • Portland Oregon 97202 (MAP IT) Showtime: 8:30 PM - 11:00 PM

• May 17th - Supernormal Tyler LIVE at the Matchbox Lounge 32nd AVE and Division
  • �
    • Portland, Oregon 97202 (MAP IT) Showtime: 10:00PM-11:15PM

 

• May 18th - The White Eagle Saloon -  Songwriters Night

Overview 

The Hostel

“Portland’s famed Hawthorne Hostel”

Located in one of Portland’s most popular destinations; the Hawthorne District. The hostel is bohemian, & enviro-conscious. Hawthorne Blvd is known for it’s quaint eateries, coffeehouses, pubs, unique shops, and the famous Bagdad Brew Pub & Theatre. We have chosen this location for our accomodations due to what they call their “Green Commitment”

Hawthorne Hostel’s Green Commitment

• The staff and board members of the hostel are committed to use environmentally kind practices whenever available and cost-acceptable.
• We have an eco-roof, made possible with a grant from the City of Portland to showcase sustainable development practices.
• Over 80% of the office, cleaning and disposable supplies come from ‘green companies’ such as Seventh Generation and Bio-kleen.
• We participate in the electric companies’ ‘green electricity program’, so that 100% of our power comes from renewable sources such as wind and geothermal.
• We are a designated ‘Sustainable Living Center’, per the HI-USA program.
• We use a non-motorized lawnmower called a ‘reel mower’. Did you know that a gas lawn mower uses puts out as much emissions as an average car?

The Transit System:

“The Tri-met Rail yard in Portland, Oregon”

In 1872, twenty-one years after the city of Portland was founded, citizens and leaders began the work that would build the city’s public transit system. Today it is known as the Tri-Met. Combining people-movers such as: Buses, light-rail, commuter-rail, a street car, and a (OHSU funded) one of a kind Aerial Tram citizens and visitors to Portland, Oregon have a myriad of options to arrive on-time and in-style.

The Portland Aerial Tram is an aerial tramway in Portland, Oregon carrying commuters between the city’s South Waterfront district and the main Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) campus, located in the Marquam Hill neighborhood. It is the second commuter aerial tramway in the United States (after New York City’s Roosevelt Island Tramway).[3] The tram travels a horizontal distance of 3,300 feet (5/8 mi, 1 km) and a vertical distance of 500 feet (150 m) in a ride that lasts three minutes. (quoted from wikipedia.org)

 

 

 

 

 

“The Portland, Oregon Aerial Tram”

Travelers and commuters can arrive at the Portland International Airport and be transported to the city center in a matter of minutes. During the duration of a visitors stay, little else is needed to see the entire city, and get this: In a large area called ‘Fareless Square” all travel is free. Yes, meaning no money.

Fareless Square

FarelessSquare includes most of downtown Portland (within the boundaries of the Willamette River, NW Irving Street, and the I-405 freeway), as well as MAX stations from the Rose Quarter to Lloyd Center and bus stops along NE Multnomah to 13th Avenue.

When boarding a bus, MAX or streetcar in Fareless Square, just take a seat and enjoy the ride. Fare is not required unless you are traveling outside of the Square.

Fearless Fares

If you are travelling outside the designated Fareless Square, the fares are fearless. Affordable and easily attainable tickets can be purchased on board the bus, at ticket vending machines located in MAX stations, neighborhood ticket outlets (Fred Meyer, Safeway and Albertsons stores), the TriMetTicket Office at Pioneer Courthouse Square in person, or send your digital self in to the TriMet Store online and score some tickets.

The Purpose

“I want to show my listeners how I live,” Tyler says. “Since I started writing songs I have been pushing myself to write honest lyrics and stay true to my core beliefs. I learned early on from Ani DiFranco that if ‘you don’t live what you sing about your mirror is going to find it’ and I think that is a pretty good rule. I sing what I live, and this trip is to be a peek into how I travel, how I live, and how I hope that we all can live the values that I sing about in my latest song, ‘One World’.”

The song Tyler mentioned, “One World” is posted in Demo Form on Tyler’s Myspace page at www.myspace.com/supernormal.

Public Transit Tour

Portland, Oregon

May 11, 2008 - May 18, 2008

 

“By Rail, By Bus, By Flip-flop!”

 

Thank you to Eugene, the owner of Eugenio’s in Portland Oregon for booking the first date on the much-anticipated “Public Transit Tour”.   

• I will be rocking Eugenio’s Friday, May 16th from 8:30 PM  - 11:00 PM (MAP IT) 

I am continuing to contact venues in and around the Portland area to fill out the rest of the dates. I will keep you informed of all the progress right here at supernormalrecords.com, and, of course, if you are on the mailing list, you will be sent your updates.   

Not on the mailing list yet? Just send an e-mail to supernormalrecords@hotmail.com with “ADD TO MAIL-LIST” as the subject, and I’ll let you in on the special offers and reduced price booze promo’s and other general secrets.

 

• Listen to some Supernormal Tyler music. (link will open in a new window)
• Learn more about the ‘Public Transit Tour’.
• Read the life story of your’s truly.

Stay Tuned to supernormalrecords.com information on show’s and general happenings, and thank’s again Eugenio!

“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.�