| Martin Luther nailing his theses to the Church of Wittenberg |
[Jun. 3rd, 2012|08:20 pm] |
I'd heard that making original works of art using Legos was becoming an increasingly popular hobby for adults, and that an associated convention called "Bricks Cascade" was being held in Portland during my visit.
What you see here is a reenactment using Legos of Martin Luther nailing his ninety-five theses to the door of the Church of Wittenberg in 1517, which began the Protestant Reformation.
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| The Garcia Birthday Band again, performing at CityFair |
[Jun. 3rd, 2012|07:43 pm] |
I suppose it's too late for me to buy a Volkswagen Bus and follow the Grateful Dead around, but I see no reason why I can't buy a Honda Civic and follow a Grateful Dead tribute band around, and since comments are disabled on this journal I challenge anyone to convince me otherwise.
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| The Saturday keynote address at the haunters convention |
[Jun. 3rd, 2012|06:32 pm] |
The speakers were Ed and Marsha Edmunds, founders of the business Distortions Unlimited and stars of the Travel Channel reality TV show called "Making Monsters."
At one point during his keynote Mr. Edmunds was expounding on the value of keeping an even temper during stressful situations and said, in complete sincerity, "I don't like to work in an environment with people screaming."
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| The West Coast Haunters Convention |
[Jun. 3rd, 2012|06:20 pm] |
I've said this before, but let me say it again: I love sampling new communities that I know nothing about, including (indeed perhaps especially) ones I have no real interest in.
My opportunity to do so while in Portland was to attend the West Coast Haunters Convention, an annual conference for people who design and manage haunted houses.
In general, the "haunting community" seems to be roughly divided between "home" and "professional" haunters. Logically enough, your creation is referred to as your "haunt."
Seminar topics at this conference included "Queue Line Management," "Projected Ghost Effects," and "Being a Haunt Mom."
I admit I found myself wondering whether "haunt moms" are ever referred to as "HILFs." |
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| Seeing the Garcia Birthday Band |
[May. 31st, 2012|11:45 pm] |
It turns out someone I went to high school with now plays in a Grateful Dead tribute band called the "Garcia Birthday Band." They're playing here tonight, and will also be performing as part of the Rose Festival "Battle of the Cover Bands."
They're very good: I arrived shortly after they started the first half of their set, and although I'm getting pretty tired I'll probably stay through most of the second.
I'm not an expert on the Grateful Dead, and I could be wrong about this, but I suspect one advantage serious Grateful Dead tribute bands (such as these guys or the Dark Star Orchestra) have is that with the exception of some of the exotic percussion solos it's easily possible for them to sound better than the Grateful Dead themselves did towards the end, or at other points in their existence as a band when poor health was taking a professional toll.
I should add that if you were fortunate enough to see last month's Fathom Events broadcast of the Grateful Dead's July 18, 1989 show, then what you would have seen was just the opposite: that was probably the Grateful Dead at its best.
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