Thanks, everyone!
I didn’t get my picture in the Salem Monthly (I’m guessing they didn’t want to run the “Emily: Angry!” pic I sent them), but I am truly honored.
For more best-of’s, you’ll have to check out the paper copy, which is now on stands.
Archive for September, 2009
Desperately Seeking Salem Wins Best Salem Blog
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009Salem Monthly: Blind, Wild and Wacky
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
Someone finally gets the Cherry City Derby Girls.
Not the hangdogs in the audience — I’m pretty sure it’s clear why people would want to go watch a bunch of scantily clad, tough-as-nails, sexy, hell-on-wheels women of all ages race around a track and body slam their opponents.
No, I’m talking about someone who gets why they do it. It’s writer Jay Shenai, whose story “Skate Club,” which asks whether Salem is ready for a women’s roller derby team, is getting some local buzz around Twitter and on the Salem Monthly website.
It’s just the lead story in a monthly issue which shrugs off the usual early September back-to-school stories in favor of some yarns that aren’t being told elsewhere.
Some highlights:
The last day of school at the Oregon School for the Blind. As I write this, about 20 students, former boarders at the school, are being mainstreamed back into classrooms in their own communities around the state. For most of them, who have developmental and learning disabilities in addition to being blind or partially sighted, that means the special ed room.
Behind the scenes at Word of Mouth. Anyone who has been there knows these scenes of Steve “Forearms of Steel” Mucha and his wife Becky racing around the restaurant.
A rundown of new French restaurants in Salem. I still don’t get Napoleon’s. I still don’t get the French Unicorn. If someone can explain to me the fascination with the seemingly innocuous but truly insipid remnants of French culture popping up here in town (and I’m not talking about the food — thank you La Capitale!), please do. If I see another Tour D’Eiffel I think I’m going to take off my beret and vomit in it.
An announcement about Storytime for Grownups at the Salem Public Library. I’m requesting Nicholson Baker’s Fermata. Any suggestions on who should do the voice work?
A profile of the marionette maker who recently took up residence in the Reed Opera House. I’ve said it once before but it bears repeating: Puppets are going to be HUGE. As in, major comeback for marionettes. Now is the time for all good men to reread Heinrich von Kleist’s “The Puppet Theater” and bone up on this art form.
Pick your copy up today. Assuming publisher A.P. Walther has already biked them around town to your favorite caffeine hotspot.
To Spread or Not to Spread the Word
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
Do you or don’t you? Do you share your favorite brunch place in town with the world? Do you tell thousands of people where you sit at the bar and what you order and mention how hot the waitresses are at Word of Mouth Neighborhood Bistro?
Do you do it in the single largest venue you have access to regularly?
I say you do.
With a big sigh that may go on for a few weeks, I wrote this month’s Desperately Seeking Salem column over at Salem Monthly on what it means to me to be a regular at WOM.
It’s no secret to readers of this blog that I go there a lot. Heck, it’s no secret to most of the world that WOM is doing extraordinarily well and that there are many other places in town deserving of praise and regular customers.
But I’ve picked my pony, and it’s that sexy beast hitched over on 17th Street NE. I like the owners, I like the waitstaff, I like the feel of the place, I like vegetarian Eggs Benedict, and I like the experience of seeing a couple grow their business over time.
No one can say that the Muchas aren’t working hard. I heard recently that they won Best Brunch in Salem Monthly’s annual best-of’s, and the only time Steve Mucha had free to be interviewed was at 3:00 a.m. in the morning.
(The good reporter abides).
But I’m wondering how many people know WOM’s operating schedule as well as we do, how many people have started turning away when there is anything of a line there?
This is the point at which hot joints in larger cities would start experiencing a backlash — when the regulars would recognize that the gig is up and go elsewhere.
That’s not quick to happen in Salem, and it’s not likely to happen with us. With no kids (yet), we have far too much time on our hands to be discouraged by a little buzz.
And so, the buzz continues here.
