Adams and Co. definitely understand how to keep Portland weird.
Carla Axtman
The "Meet Sam Adams and the rest of Portland City Council" shindig was held Monday night at city hall in what was a blaze of music and bright colors. Acrobats, stilts, drums and face paint were on tap with the raucous March Fourth marching band. Storm Large was declared by Adams to be "the first lady of Portland", which was topped off with a duet of "Sing, Sing a Song" along side Luis from Sesame Street (seriously).
And I shouldn't forget to mention the free beer and munchies.
Some of my photos of the event are below. I only wish I'd recorded Storm and Luis so I could put the whole thing to music.
PDX Mayor and City Council Party, January 2008 from Carla Axtman on Vimeo.
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Jan 7, '09
I wasn't aware Sam was the 'woman' in their relationship. I wonder if he has considered gender re-assignment surgery? Looking forward to more Portland weirdness!
Jan 7, '09
We so need more gays taking over governments.
Jan 7, '09
Ok, as a card-carrying gay, I think I'm allowed to make cheeky comments like the I just made, but also as a card-carrying gay, I feel I'm obligated to be the spoilsport pointer-outer of the fact that there is no such thing as the "woman" in a gay male relationship (gay relationships are not modeled after straight male-female relationships, they are just human relationships, and not even in the bedroom need there be any assigned roles), and also, gay people don't have gender-reassignment surgery, trans people do, and only if they have the desire and the means to do so. Gaydom isn't just a temporary pitstop to trannytown, nor are trans people necessarily gay. Sorry for the lecture, I'm sure you were just being lighthearted and meant no offense to touchy PC police officers like myself.
Jan 7, '09
OK. I was too harsh on Kari when I criticized the phrase "openly gay" as being passe.
Jan 7, '09
Oh, wait, I think you just misread something. It doesn't say, "Storm Large declared Adams to be 'the first lady of Portland,'" it says, "Storm Large was declared by Adams to be 'the first lady of Portland.'"
Jan 7, '09
Ha, Zara, I think "openly gay" just means, there could have been a closeted gay mayor before, so one can never say something like "first gay whatever" with certainty.
Jan 7, '09
Sorry, this feels like another of Adams' stupid stunts, like rappelling from the OHSU tram, that serves as a grand distraction while simultaneously convincing the naive, the "creative class", the folks who want to be young at heart but have families to feed, that Adams is a goofy guy who just happens to be mayor. Modern day bread and circuses, in other words: distract the distractable while giving away the house.
Jan 7, '09
Sorry, this feels like another of Adams' stupid stunts, like rappelling from the OHSU tram, that serves as a grand distraction while simultaneously convincing the naive, the "creative class", the folks who want to be young at heart but have families to feed, that Adams is a goofy guy who just happens to be mayor. Modern day bread and circuses, in other words: distract the distractable while giving away the house.
Jan 7, '09
Oh, it's just a party. Portlanders are entitled to a fun diversion or two, these days more than ever. We won't have forgotten the recession when we get home (or when we get back to work, in Adams' case).
Jan 7, '09
Also, I think the point of making a high-profile public display of the tram's evacuation procedure was to ensure that everybody knew the newfangled gondola thingy really was safe, and not a tin-can deathtrap should it get stuck. Think of Sam as the city's "your seats will act as a flotation device" announcer, only he got everyone to actually pay attention to the announcement.
Jan 7, '09
If you look closely at that comment, joel doesn't say "how" Sam is supposedly "giving away the house". Republicans like saying vague, alarmist things like that, because a different breed of people, paranoid, low-brow, anti-social, desperate people afraid of change soak that stuff right on up. They don't need any facts to get in the way of their paranoia.
And it is just a party. Done in true Portland tradition.
Jan 7, '09
joel...Republicans like saying vague, alarmist things like that,
What a two party mentality! Because he criticizes a Dem, he's a Rep?
1:51 p.m.
Jan 8, '09
I know it is "just a party" but every public event is a chance to send a signal about how the city is perceived and what our vision is for the future.
Storm Large as the "first lady" of Portland? Not Vera Katz, mayor, legislator, public servant, civic leader? Not Barbara Roberts, SoS, governor, and author? Not Gert Boyle, businessperson, entrepreneur, Portland success story?
Nothing against Storm Large but why would instead choose someone whose main claim to fame is her appearance on a television reality show which she did not win? Someone who has only been in town since 2002? And who now
Does everything in this town have to be hip, contemporary and ultimately mediocre?
Much happier to hear that Sam is wrestling with the real economic and budgetary challenges that we face. Much happier to hear that we have made progress is repairing our streets, lowering the dropout rates, and we've secured a Fortune 500 company for the region.
Jan 8, '09
I recall the last time I voted for a Republican: the very first ballot I ever cast, in 1974, for governor of California. I thought Jerry Brown was a ditz and that the GOP candidate was preferable.
As for Sam Adams, my opinion is that he, following in the footsteps of his mentor, Vera Katz, has been a consistent cheerleader for snazzy sounding projects that wind up being either money sinks or toys for high-roller real-estate interests (OHSU tram, South Waterfront development, streetcars, convention center hotels, etc.) And as for Adams' rappelling stunt, it was another manifestation of the general principle that the most dangerous place one can be in Portland is anywhere between Sam Adams and a camera.
It turns out that just occasionally, local curmudgeons of the Bogdanski variety are right about something. They're right about Adams.
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