We've got issues.
When do we get those high-speed trains? ‘Cause I need a faster, easier way to get back and forth from PDX these days. Today, I’m missing a press screening of Harry Potter Laughs All the Way to the Bank Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (thanks, Shawn Levy, for inspiring that strikethrough). I’ll go see it Wednesday and review it on this here blog the same day. I PROMISE. My fingers aren’t even crossed or anything. EDIT: I take it back. Continue reading
• The Village Voice’s Rob Harvilla, like myself, is obsessed with Janelle Monae. Unlike me, he’s gotten to see her perform live multiple times. I’ve had to make do with YouTube, which is a poor stand-in. Monae is appearing at this year’s Bumbershoot, which is pretty much enough to make me want to spend Labor Day weekend in Seattle. Continue reading
Internet miscellany: for when it’s stupid hot out and thus you I, stupidly, walked to the bank and now have the brain capacity of a dazed manatee. No disrespect meant to manatees, of course. Continue reading
The Willamette Valley Music Festival! The Scottish Festival! Eugene Chosen! The Avett Brothers! It’s one of those weeks when there’s more nifty stuff going on in town than we can cram into the pages of the paper. Here are just two more events at which you could enjoy yourself this weekend: Continue reading
Be patient just a little bit longer, Zenon fans. We learned — just a little too late to squeeze it into this week’s paper — that the new Café Zenon will open next Friday, May 22 (not May 15, as was previously their hope). Owner Ibrahim Hamide says he and his staff “would have been panting and sweating” if they opened May 15. “We didn’t want to present the first impression that way,” he says. Continue reading
Apparently, the easiest way to guarantee you can’t think of a damn thing to blog about is to tell yourself you’re going to participate in Blog Every Day April, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s Wednesday, see, which means this week’s paper is done, which means my brain is fried. So it must be time for that old favorite, Internet Miscellany! Get your clickin’ fingers ready! Continue reading
Update, August 2009: Sadly, Bar 201 is now for sale. Continue reading
Things I learned at this year’s Chef’s Night Out, the annual foodtastic benefit for FOOD for Lane County: • Do not attempt to have a time limit, for lo, you will find yourself cursing the fates, and yourself, on your way out of the Hult Center. • Do not attempt to have a plan, for lo, your plan will be flawed and un-carry-out-able. • Do not forget to refill your beer glass. Continue reading
The rumors started flying on Saturday: Bel Ami is closing. Get down there. Last night. Since then, we’ve heard from a number of disappointed folks, from former employes who spoke of the restaurant’s staff having been one big family to semi-regulars at the bar who were already in mourning. And we’ve read stories that said the whole Bel Ami space was closing, and some that said that it wasn’t. We got confused. As it turns out, a little bit of everything seems to be true. Continue reading
As of Tuesday, March 3, current info on Bel Ami/Midtown can be found in the following post. Word is coming in from multiple places that Bel Ami Restaurant and Lounge is closed. The fate of the front of the building — the coffee shop, wine shop and bistro — is less clear, though it sounds as if they’re remaining open. More detail will come as we have it. Continue reading