Travelling without a laptop forces one to be creative as to where and when uploads and posts can occur. I have pictures and video to upload. However, finding the time and the proper ports to use can be challenging. So be patient and pictures and video will come soon. For now, here is a preview of the venue I play tomorrow night. If you’re in Portland, come on by… You know me, It’s free!
The Globe is located aty:
2045 SE Belmont St.
The Globe BarCafe:
To sum up Portland, Oregon in an unassuming and plainly profound way one can do it in one word: “Community.” Long since heeding the unspoken mantra, “Community not Competition” Portland Oregon’s foodie, drinkie, and music scene have all been nurtured and flourished by a populace that understands it’s food, loves it’s music, and welcomes new ideas.
The torch is passed gracefully in this town from the die-hard old-school restaurants and pubs to the new youthfully exuberant restaurant concepts staffed with young talent behind the stick, or in the kitchen. There is enough room for everyone in this town, and Portlanders decide if you get to stay and play. They raise their expectations and proprieters deliver. If not, it’s back to the other side of the bar, Chef-fy.
On SE Belmont, my friend and chef Marc Brazeau and his team are in their first year of staking their claim in the infinite frontier of The Portland Oregon Scene. The deed has been written and The Globe BarCafe is fervently supported by this little neighborhood in SouthEast they call home.
Following the cycle of the day The Globe BarCafe evolves. At Sunrise, a place to get a hot cup of coffee and read, By the Mid-day Sun – a quick-serve lunch counter, At Dusk a dinner-spot, In the witching hours – a Bar. Not to get all linen-shirted and Guru about it, but I forsee many sunrises on The Globe BarCafe.
SuperNormal Records is presenting “Northwesticles: a Public Transit Tour” August 5th – August 17th, 2010. Cities on this tour are: EUGENE, PORTLAND, SEATTLE, and SPOKANE.
A public transit tour is a unique promotional tour to promote an artist and record label while simultaneously promoting the use of public transit. The Artist must travel via public
transit to all of the cities and venues.
By Rail, By Bus, By Flip-flop, Tyler Christensen will be v-logging and blogging about his travels and shows/venues as he goes. Follow the Tour at: www.Northwesticles.com(or) www.SuperNormalRecords.com
Tyler Christensen is the singer/guitarist for Quixote (iTunes: “The Hills of Ubeda”)
and has participated in three (3) Public Transit Tours in the past.
“Travelling and touring like this presents a unique challenge. This is gonna take some fortitude, this is gonna take some balls, this is gonna take Northwesticles.”
- Tyler Christensen
SuperNormal Records is presenting “Northwesticles: a Public Transit Tour” August 5th – August 17th, 2010. Cities on this tour are: EUGENE, PORTLAND, SEATTLE, and SPOKANE.
A public transit tour is a unique promotional tour to promote an artist and record label while simultaneously promoting the use of public transit. The Artist must travel via public
transit to all of the cities and venues.
By Rail, By Bus, By Flip-flop, Tyler Christensen will be v-logging and blogging about his travels and shows/venues as he goes. Follow the Tour at: www.Northwesticles.com(or) www.SuperNormalRecords.com
Tyler Christensen is the singer/guitarist for Quixote (iTunes: “The Hills of Ubeda”)
and has participated in three (3) Public Transit Tours in the past.
“Travelling and touring like this presents a unique challenge. This is gonna take some fortitude, this is gonna take some balls, this is gonna take Northwesticles.”
- Tyler Christensen
SuperNormalRecords.com is proud to announce that we have just surpassed 100 absolute unique visitors to this site since the beginning of the “April’s Fool Tour”. Looks like Tyler Christensen ”The Hobo-Traveller” is interesting after all. Thank you to all of our visitors who made this milestone possible.
Keep coming back again and again as new content is uploaded twice daily!!
Leaving Phoenix proved to be a little more challenging than the itinerary on my Southwest Airlines Ticket-less Travel Confirmation print out had claimed. The pilot exited the cockpit and rocked the mic informing the passengers in esoteric terminology that there was a computer failure and we would be delayed 20 minutes while they repaired the navigation system. This comforted me, oddly enough, due to the fact that at the last turn down the walkway – you know the one where you take that final step of faith into the aircraft and you can see the outside of the fuselage and hear the engines just outside the little accordion thingy, I saw something disconcerting.
The pilots announcement comforted me because as I was taking that step-of-faith I spied a maintenance worker writing a work-order and I peeped over his shoulder and there were the pilots comments written on the sheet. All I could make out before I stepped onto the plane was the word computer and FAIL!
Trusting in the diligence of Southwest Airlines and all their crew was a wise decision I found my seat and settled in. The pilot informed us promptly and we waited patiently. Eventually we taxied down the tarmac to the end of the runway. The plane made that fateful turn and where there is usually an un-earthly whoosh of the engines and a incredible amount of G-force there was solely a click and the pilot’s voice.
“As you may have noticed we made a wrong turn. That was intentional. Apparently, the problem is not fixed so we are heading back to the gate. Thank you for your infinite patience.”
We ended up de-planing and walking a circle back through terminal 4 at Sky Harbor International Airport. The pilot had informed us that we would board a spare plane. I thought, “wow, a spare plane who knew there were just extra planes hanging around?” We departed about an hour late and people were complaining and whining about their appointments. Perhaps they would rather descend into the inevitable cloud cover of Portland, Oregon without a Navi? Best we live fellow travellers… Best we live and be late.
Max Busted
Portland Oregon is world renowned for it’s public transit. They have a light-rail system they call The Max, which I mentioned in the previous post, takes travellers directly from the airport to city center in no-time. When I exited the Portland International Airport (PDX) there were Tri-met employees in official garb directing travellers to shuttle buses that were running the Max Red-Line route to the city. The Max was down for repairs. I realized that this trip was to be an improvisation of transit and all things moving. Just like the theme of this tour – it’s a shoot from the hip shot-in-the-dark good-timin’ kinda thing.
Hawthorne Traveller’s Hostel
Hawthorne Langhorn
Ya see-ya see, I stay in the Hawthorne Travellers Hostel in a district of Portland, Oregon called Hawthorne. Named for the Boulevard that is the epicenter of this bohemian mecca. The original resident of Hawthorne Boulevard was an insane asylum and wackiness still prevails in all things along this stretch of asphalt. Over 300 local independent shops/restaurants/bars line the boulevard and some of the best reasons to visit Portland are on Hawthorne Boulevard. If you hit this city and miss Hawthorne you missed the point, Journeymen. The Hawthorne Hostel is an embodiment of a sensibility that is pervasive in the hearts and minds of Oregonians in general. The hostel has an ecoroof. The rooftop is covered in plant-life to limit the structures impact on the environment. Also, new this year is the hostel’s newly-installed water reclamation system. Rainwater is collected from the roof of the hostel and conditioned and used as a non-potable water source. The toilets flush with rainwater, wa-wa from the roof for the pee-pee in the turlet. A bit of ingenuity that utilizes the frequent rainfall in this part of the country. Now, if we could just get Arizonans to use solar panels, perhaps we could make an impact similar to that of the Hawthorne Hostel.
Alberta Street Public House
After checking in and stowing my belongings I grabbed the guitar case and jumped on the 14 Hawthorne bus to MLK transferred to the 6 and then to the 72 and it dropped me on the front door of the pub where I was to strike the first note in this unorthodox tour: The April’s Fool Tour. How’d it go? I was lucky enough to capture some video of one song, so here it is:
Post-show the rain was kind enough to only creep up from the street via my jeans to about mid-leg before I arrived home. I went to bed at 1 am early for this town, but, the full day of travel followed by a rock show took it’s toll on my 30 year old frame and I climbed up on my bunk and was out in a jiff. Interesting side note: when I was checking in yesterday, Hillary behind the desk said
“You will be in the St. Helen’s room which is downstairs and-”
“Don’t tell me it’s St. Helen’s 2?”, I replied.
“How could you guess that?”, she said.
“That’s the same bunk I had last year!”
“Wow! Here’s to serendipity, looks like it’ll be a great trip.”, she said as she handed me my linens and I headed downstairs.
Things like that tend to happen to me when I travel. For instance, at the Fat Straw (an Internet coffee shop where I do my uploads and write blogs) I went to YouTube and signed in still was a moniker that I used to use to write fake reviews of my music years ago before I decided not to fake it and just be legit. I won’t give you the name to protect the account holder. I promptly logged out after I said, “Noooo way!” But it blew my freaking mind.
Video a go-go
On this tour I am supplementing my text and photo based blogs with video. I am currently staring at the screen waiting for the uploads to complete. When YouTube does it’s trick I’ll post a little ‘walking tour’ of P-land for your work-averting pleasure.
What’s next? How’s about a little Stumptown Stroll?
View the next post for the video debut of “Stumptown Stroll: Tyler’s walking tour of Portland, Oregon”
Tune in tomorrow for “Stumptown Stroll: Hawthorne Boulevard”
