Friday, July 12, 2019

Friday!
Say it loud and there’s music playing,
Say it soft and it’s almost like praying.

Good morning, friends! We’re here together on Friday, July 12, 2019, a day filled with sun and rich with humidity and promising highs of 80, no more, and that’s fine! OK, maybe dial back the soupiness, thanks. Sunrise 5:33 AM, sunset 8:58 PM.

It’s been a rollicking night for our friends up north, as a 4.6 earthquake hit at 2:51 AM a couple of miles outside Monroe, Washington, followed by a 3.5 aftershock 3 minutes later, and others in the hours that followed. The earthquake was widely felt around the Seattle area, woke a lot of folks up but others slept right through it. We’ll keep our eyes open for damage reports, and if you’re there and you experienced it, please share. Hope everyone’s OK!

We’re radiating positive West Coast vibes in the direction of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, where a storm named Barry will bring barrels of rain to every parish and township from New Orleans to Little Rock in the next few days. The outer bands are already pummeling New Orleans. Barry may become a Category One hurricane, but its impact will be in the watery mess it leaves behind, including the storm surge it’ll force up the already high Mississippi River, and in the challenge it’ll pose to the levies that were beefed up in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The plume of smoke that folks saw last night may have been from a house fire at NE 19th and Weidler.

You’ve heard that nationwide immigration raids, postponed three weeks ago, are now scheduled to happen on Sunday, They’ll supposedly target roughly 2,000 families in ten major cities, namely: Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans (now doubtful in the wake of the storm, but who knows), New York and San Francisco. So not Portland and not Seattle, but I don’t think anybody’s resting easy.

In the meantime, an untold number of families from various parts of Mexico and other countries are now in the Northwest playing their usual vital role in Willamette Valley harvests and various other agricultural operations. The new Salem Reporter–an online startup led by highly-respected Oregon journalist Les Zaitz–reports that hundreds of migrant children are attending summer school in the Salem-Keizer district. The headline: “Elementary schoolers can catch up on reading and math while learning a traditional Mayan harvest dance. High schoolers make up credits and explore everything from robotics to firefighting.” Positive stuff.

Today would have been the great Oregon Republican Governor and Senator Mark Hatfield’s 97th birthday. Show of hands: who wishes we had the likes of him in either of our Capitols today, Salem, or DC?

I want to send congratulations and best wishes to the family of retired Clackamas County Sheriffs Sgt. Damon Coates, whose son now heads to the training academy to become an Oregon State Police Officer. Sgt. Coates, you recall, was shot and grievously wounded over fifteen years ago, but he was present, in his wheelchair, when his son was presented with his OSP badge yesterday. Sgt. Coates was the PIO for the department, back in the day, and in my every encounter with him, he was the personification of kindness and professionalism.

There’s something about July 12 that brings out the shovels in this city: today they’re breaking ground on the snazziest hotel Portland’s ever seen, a self-described 5-star Ritz Carlton, which will lord over the block once occupated by the beloved Alder St. Food Pods. Coincidentally it was on July 12, 1993, that ground was broken on the Rose Garden Arena, and there it stands along I-5, looking like the hat from The Flying Nun.

Fifty years ago today Zager and Evans’ “In The Year 2525” hits #1 in the US. Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the movie “Easy Rider.” Today’s the 30th anniversary of “When Harry Met Sally.” Altogether now. “I’ll have….” You finish it.

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What else is happening?

Presidential candidate Andrew Yang stages a rally tomorrow in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

The Portland Timbers play the Colorado Rapids Saturday night at 8. The Thorns play Orlando Sunday at noon, but I don’t believe any of the four team members who hoisted the World Cup will be there. Still, you can bet there will a massive show of support for the team, and for women’s soccer, and for women in general!

The Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic, covering 206 miles (glad they picked the WA area code, instead of Oregon’s)…the Sandy Mountain Festival, where I once played a dead body in a play….tomorrow’s the day of The Big Float in the Willamette River. Lemme log into the city’s online bacteria count: OK, at last check, only 10 E. Coli organisms per 100 ml! Anything under 400’s considered just fine.

This is the weekend of the 59th Annual Rose Cup Races…with nonstop action both Saturday and Sunday at PIR.

It’s the running of the microbuses south on I-5 to exit 159 for the Oregon Country Fair, down yonder outside Veneta, on the Long Tom River, on ground once inhabited by the Kalapuya tribe. The Grateful Dead played their twice, in ’72 and ’82. And this year? Tons of music–including The Dandy Warhols!

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TMSG

–“Dog escapes alligator’s jaws thanks to owner’s dad”

–“Army Veteran’s Missing Dog–Scared Away by Fireworks– Follows His Nose Home”

–“Single Man Who Grew Up in the Foster System Adopts Three Boys: ‘I’m the Father I Wish I Had Growing Up’ ”

–“‘They can’t stop all of us’: More than 250K pledge to storm Area 51 to uncover alien secrets”

–“Moons that escape their planets could become ‘ploonets”

Links here.

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Say, I’d like to end with an invitation to join K103 at Grocery Outlet in Milwaukie tomorrow, Saturday from noon to 2pm for the Independence From Hunger Food Drive. There are three ways to donate: Cash donation, purchase of food donations bags, or their Give Five, Get Five program. Visit Grocery Outlet dot com slash donate. There! (I’m a serial donor to food drives. Wheaties, Cheerios…) And if there’s something good you’re up to, that you’d like to share, feel free to post it in comments! Along with, well, comments! You know the rules. Happy weekend!