Mama Mia, here we go again! It’s another Friday! The 20th of July, 2018, the 49th anniversary of man’s bootprints in the soft green cheese, and a fine day in Portland with morning clouds scattering by lunch, and highs in the 80’s all weekend. Check out the Moon tonight; the bright light snuggled up to her is Jupiter–which we learned this week has 79 moons of its own! And elsewhere along the path of the planets, there’s bold Mars, working its way to next week’s opposition and the brightest Martian appearance in our skies in fifteen years. We should have an opposition party! Sunrise 5:41 AM, sunset 8:52 PM.
That’s one dark ominous orange glow over Eastern Oregon at night as the Substation Fire continues to spread–and now we have word that arson is suspected. No details yet, but if it’s true, that’s homicide. Sixty-four-year-old John Ruby was killed as he drove his tractor to create a fire line to protect his neighbor. Biggs Junction is the latest to be evacuated. Farmers have lost thousands of acres of wheat. Millions upon millions of dollars in damage is being done to a major Oregon international export. This fire will have an impact beyond the event itself, as the Eagle Creek fire did last year.
Campfires are banned, period, at all Oregon State Parks. Things are worrisomely crispy, and Gov. Kate Brown says we’re facing a very early and very dangerous fire season.
Nice work by the Forest Grove Fire Department, which saved the lives of many chickens and turkeys by stopping the spread of a one-acre fire within inches of the buildings in which they are housed.
Oregon’s two Senators played a key role in dealing President Trump a defeat in moving the courts to the right, as his nomination of Oregon federal prosecutor Ryan Bounds to the 9th circuit was pulled before a confirmation vote could happen. It certainly would have failed, as Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley made sure other Senators were aware of Bounds’ writings on racial and other topics back in his Stanford undergraduate days that were, as Bounds himself admitted, “highhanded and overheated.” He was a Federalist Society pick, just like the last two SCOTUS nominees.
A duck boat carrying tourists flipped over during a thunderstorm in Branson, Missouri, drowning eleven people.
Video of the day comes from Savannah, where a waitress was doing her job when a guy walked along behind her and grabbed her rear. So she turned around, took him by the shirt collar, body-slammed him into a service cart, and cursed him out. He was then arrested. He’s 31, and had been out to dinner with his wife and friends.
The Miami Dolphins say they will suspend for four games any player who kneels during the National Anthem this fall. Jameis Winston groped a woman and was suspended for three.
A surprise find by a construction crew at Reed College: a chamber, beneath a sidewalk, containing a very large concrete rabbit. A load-bearing rabbit, positioned to support timbers. Two feet tall, weighs over 100 pounds. Probably a stolen lawn ornament; there’s a network of underground passages beneath Reed containing many a garden gnome.
Portland native Colin O’Brady scaled Mt. Hood yesterday, completing a quest to climb the highest mountain in each state in a record 21 days–20 days quicker than the old record.
Ten years almost to the moment after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the surface of the moon, I married my best friend. Happy Anniversary, sweetie! See you at Stone Cliff tonight! Which reminds me: The Happy Together Tour plays at Chinook Winds in Lincoln City tonight and tomorrow: The Turtles…Chuck Negron, Gary Pucket, The Association, the Cowsills, and Mark Lindsay, who once told Craig and me on K103 that when Paul Revere and the Raiders recorded “Kicks,” the producer found them to be stiff and needing inspiration. So he led them up to the studio roof, and guess what they smoked, and they came back down and nailed their anti-pot hit song.
We found out that the Battleground High School Choir will perform with Foreigner when they’re in town next week.
Southern country rocker Chris Stapleton is at the Sunlight Supply Amphitheater tonight.
The Roots–house band for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon–plays at the Oregon Zoo Amphitheater Saturday night.
Jackson Browne is at McMenamins Edgefield Sunday night.
Quarterflash and others play a benefit Sunday at the Mission Theater in NW Portland for Kenny Sawyer, a much-loved local drummer who’s dealing with the ravages of cancer.
The Portland Timbers host Montreal Saturday Night at Providence Park.
This is the weekend of the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. It’s also the weekend of the Robin Hood Festival in Sherwood, and the Portland Highland Games are tomorrow at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham.
What’d I miss? What are you doing this weekend? ‘
Something good…and then something different!
–“A Florida couple has won their right to cover their house with a mural of Vincent van Gogh’s famed Starry Night; Mayor must publicly apologize for imposing $10,000 fine”
–“Photographer who got squashed and kissed by Croatia players during World Cup celebration accepts Croatia’s Tourist Board invitation for a 7-day vacation in Croatia.”
–“Shepherd in India builds 14 ponds on barren hill, turns his village green”
–“Iron Maiden sends signed birthday card to former hotel maid on her 90th birthday”
–“Dog Slips And Falls From 9th Floor, Saved By A Passing Hero”
–“Vienna’s metro hands out 14,000 deodorants to passengers amid stifling summer heatwave”
Say, that was fun yesterday! and a good excuse to see James Garner’s face! We’ll do Stump the Dripsters again soon, but not every day. It’s just part of a free-form experiment to inject some sage words into the glowering winds. Today, they’re from Leonard Cohen. We’ll just do a line or two.
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
“Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you act.”
“Everybody knows the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied.”
Thanks for hanging in with me during an interesting week! Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!
Portland's Daily Drip 