Portland, OR

Things I do, places I see, and food I eat in Portland, OR.

mike watt and the missingmen – Doug Fir, Portland OR 4/25/11

Mike Watt has been a very influential bassist to me over the years. I started listening to the minutemen when I was 15, and Mike’s bass lines, combined with the bass lines of the 1992 album “Rage Against the Machine,” swayed me to purchase a bass guitar for myself. Since then, I’ve continued to play bass in a number of bands. When I saw Mike Watt was coming to play Doug Fir, I knew I had to go see the show. It was a Monday night, none of my friends wanted to go, but I was determined. The show was amazing and I got to meet Mike afterwards and get his signature and tell him how much he influenced me. Once in a lifetime experience!

Toadies

Posted on by Matthew

Getting back to the print press…

The Three Crosses - 1653

So, It’s been a long while, but I’ve finally decided to start printing again. I was doing some research into Portland area print shops and community groups… I’m posting a list of them here so I don’t lose them, but maybe someone else will find them useful.

Print Shops in Portland:

Other Printing Resources:

Posted on by Matthew

Biking to Work

As I was working on implementing a Google Map for my Portland, OR based posts, I came across my bike route to work I had loaded into Google Maps… It’s about 12 miles from N Portland to Lewis & Clark College. A great ride featuring views of all the mountains around us, the river, bridges, Mt. Hood views galore. So as a test post, I thought I would put up my bike map. Here we go:


View PDX – Matthew West’s Bike Commute in a larger map

Posted on by Matthew

Spontaneous Ink

Last night, my wife and I were out and about on the town and she proposed we stop by her friend’s new tattoo shop in Portland to spec out her new tattoo. Lo and behold, there was a seat open, and I asked about walk-ins. I ended up getting the tattoo to the right in memory of my Aunt Eleanor, who passed recently. Jacob Neumann of Sovereign Tattoo did the work in about an hour and a half. He did an amazing job combining traditional Americana tattoo elements to help symbolize the life of my great aunt.

I’m stoked to have met a couple tattoo artists new to town. Hawk Chaite of 932 Tattoo (Bend, OR) recently opened Sovereign Tattoo on SE Division street. One of the many new Divsion/Clinton businesses popping up in the neighborhood. It made my night to meet some great guys and get a sick tattoo. That and finishing up the night at The Dancing Bare with my rad wife.

Posted on by Matthew