If you are going to be good, you might as well go for awesome. Like Michele Darr, owner of Dharma Wheels, the free pedi-cab. Check out the column for the story, but here are the outtakes in the meantime. Salem by rickshaw, people! You gotta do it!
Bicycle taxi ride through Salem: The Outtakes
August 5th, 2011 by Emily GrosvenorKMUZ on the home stretch
August 2nd, 2011 by Emily Grosvenor
How awesome is that banner graphic?
I’m hearing from my friends @maxmarbles and Karen Holman that KMUZ, Salem’s community radio station, is thisclose to being able to meet the FCC deadline of August 12 to go on the air.
If you remember, a group of ambitious people here in Salem, headed by Holman, have been working tirelessly to get Salem a community radio station. Holman spearheaded the effort to acquire the very rare FCC broadcast license for the frequency 88.5 FM, which was awarded with the understanding that the station would go live by August 12.
There have been some roadblocks along the way, and many unexpected challenges, and the latest news looks like there is going to be an 11th hour attempt for KMUZ. Here’s the most recent letter sent out to people who have volunteered for or been involved in the efforts.
What’s the Frequency, Karen?
On July 7 the FCC granted KMUZ an 18 month extension from the August 12 “on-air” deadline. Very Good News! We were expecting it, it was part of the plan, but we still were going to be on the air by Halloween. THEN a recent court case came down which involved the FCC and affected our extension. As an unintended consequence of that case, our extension was revoked. We have asked Sen. Merkley to look into it, but we must operate under the assumption that we have to be on the air August 12, 2011.
But, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. The board decided to continue the journey because we knew that if we gave up now, when we were so very close, we would lose a rare opportunity. FCC band widths do not open up every day. The mid-Valley would be in another media blackout for years to come.
SO, we have two goals:
1) Get a signal out from our antenna to meet the bare bone FCC requirements of being on the air, if even for a few days (this is possible);
2) Raise $28,000 in the next few weeks.
To meet our first goal, we have Dave Hammock at the helm. Dave has worked in a number of community radio stations and has done this very feat several times before. The board members are assisting in anyway possible. To meet our second goal, we are rolling out our underwriting program a couple of weeks sooner than planned. (Underwriting allows businesses and organizations to be acknowledged on the air for a set contribution.) This goal is headed up by Connie Bradley of C & D Event Consulting. Connie finds businesses to sponsor events every day, so again, we have a very experienced person helping us.
But our timeline is tight and raising $28,000 in the next few weeks is daunting (but not impossible – that’s where you come in!). Board members have stepped up again with our personal funds. And with the fundraising efforts to date, we have almost half of our goal. If you can help us one more time to get on the air, we know in years to come you will realize it was a wise investment. You can donate on-line at our website: www.kmuz.org, or mail a check to KMUZ FM at our new P.O. Box: P.O. 12038 / Salem OR / 97309. Or, if you know a business we should approach, help us open that door.
Do you have a face for radio?
Well, there you go. Time to send in some money or, if you own a business, consider underwriting. The station is already taking applications for DJ spots and radio shows, so if you have a great idea, and you’ve got a face made for radio, now is the time! Or, if you have a great idea for what Salem might need in a radio show, I’d bone up on the requirements and fill out the application through the link here.
What do you want to hear from Salem radio? I’m thinking a comedy hour from @perronbrothers and @scriptdave might be in order…
Borders closing all of its stores
July 20th, 2011 by Emily Grosvenor
At the risk of opening myself of to a deluge of criticism from the wide wide open world, I would like to offer you one writer’s perspective on the closing of Border’s store here in Salem.
The closing of any bookstore is cause for alarm and reason for grief, but I find myself not especially sad about the Border’s closing, and here’s why.
1. Stock
I have never once found a book I was looking for at Border’s. Any time I have heard about an up-and-coming literary release and have trekked over to the store to get my hands on a copy, I have discovered the Salem store doesn’t have it in stock. If you want to be part of a conversation about something new, Border’s is not where you go.
“But you can order it!” a salesperson delightfully responds.
If I must order a book from a local bookstore, it shall be from the Book Bin, which is run by a very lovely young couple who just moved from Portland to Salem to be closer to the family’s business. If you haven’t met Kat and Obadiah yet, you need to head down to the Court Street store and introduce yourself.
Lesson learned: I value curating, and the Border’s on Lancaster is curated for mass market tastes.
2. Brand
I’m not attached to Borders. I don’t know any of the booksellers there, and if I’m spending money on books in town, I’d rather keep as much of it in the community as possible.
3. Trees
I used to be the kind of person who might actually roll over in bed on top of a stack of hardbacks, but that is no longer the case. For one, I have some nice built-ins in our new place, but also, I’ve taken quite well to E-reading.
I have come to believe quite strongly that some books are not worth the paper they are printed on. Many of them, actually. I’ve been paying very close attention to my reading and book-buying habits and have noticed I am still spending a decent chunk of change on new hardback fiction, on home design books and on magazines. In the magazine department, I’ve taken quite well to digital forms preferred by online only mags such as Lonny and Anthology.
I also have a Kindle. I’m using my Kindle to read the first chapters of books I might want to buy to add to my collection and for downloading digital nonfiction books I don’t necessarily need to have a hard copy of. I don’t see any point in buying paper copies of books I’m going to read only once and don’t want to pass to a friend.
4. Change
I’m more than a little terrified my son might grow up in a world where he sees bookstores as a place for old people. I’m doing the best I can to assure that’s not the case. But I’m really excited about what digital books mean for authors and control of copyright and publishing.
If I ever harbored any disillusion any book I might write would reach its audience through a stack in a Border’s with a book poster behind it to announce it to the world, it has long died. If you want to write and have an audience, you have to promote your own books. The Cormac McCarthys will always rise to the top. The rest of us have to hustle.
New media rarely replace the old. New physical forms allow for new artistic forms. And for those of us who love the old ways and never want to let go, we can always get together over coffee and have our own analog renaissance.
The value for Salem’s particular Border’s, for me, has always come from its magazine section. Here, I’ve been able to peruse any number of odd magazines I have an affinity for, including: Culture: The Word on Cheese, 1859 Magazine (Oregon lifestyle quarterly) to ReadyMade to Atomic Ranch, a magazine devoted entirely to the mid-century modern style. The section was a space for discovery unmatched by the Internet and is, as far as I can tell, unrivaled by any other location here in Salem. Even the library cannot compete with Border’s for access to obscure magazines that cost $11.95.
Also, I’m going to have to find a new location for our Bored Meeting — the twice annual conference my friend and magazine writer Rachel Bucci and I have been having in the Border’s cafe.
5. Location
Part of my soul dies every time I drive down Lancaster Ave.
I realize this post is ridiculous. One person’s buying habits do not bring down a national chain. Nor can it massage the hearts of the people who shopped there.
Yes, I am very sad for Border’s employees, and I am sad for my mother-in-law, who lives in a town where there is no alternative to Border’s. But I’m not sad for me.
Adam guest host on Salem FM tonight
July 15th, 2011 by Emily Grosvenor
See the guy in the hat? That’s my husband, Adam. As you can tell from the pic, he’s covered in food from caring for a toddler, but he’s a pretty happy guy. That’s the face I’ll be thinking about tonight when I hear him through Internet radio hosting a Salem FM show at 7:00 p.m. (You can listen to it directly through the website).
Adam has been going through his gargantuan music collection and culling some of his favorites down to just an hour for the past several weeks and has grimaced and quaked, furrowed and hermmmed making a list of music from his collection worth talking about.
It’s been fun to watch. The pressure! The pleasure! Songs making it or breaking it at the flick of a finger!
Angry white guy music is delightfully absent.
The most amazing thing has happened as Adam has made this list. He’s started talking with me, articulating in classic Adam exactitude why he likes the songs he has chosen. It’s been like All Songs Considered without the bristling pedantry.
Adam will make you change your perspective about Florence and the Machine. When you hear the Johhny Cash song come on you will imagine him bouncing baby Dash to sleep to it, over and over, in Dash’s fourth month of life. You will race to the computer to download Frontier Psychiatrists by the Avalanche. You will demand nothing less than Mystikal’s Bouncin’ Back at the start of your days.
At the end of this month, Adam and I are celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary and ten years together. We’ve seen sixteen countries, lived in five places, sheltered two cats, given life to one charming boy. As one of my friends once put it, we’re older and we have more stuff. Check him out tonight and you’ll understand why the sentence I say most about my amazing husband is: “He likes to have a conversation.”
UPDATE: Here’s the playlist he introduced.
- Jude – Rick James
- Gabriel Rios – Broad Daylight
- Anna to the Infinite Power – When the World Ends
- Florence And The Machine – Kiss With A Fist
- The Roots – “thought at work.”
- Mystikal – Bouncin Back
- Elbow – Picky Bugger
- Mike Doughty – Language Barrier
- The National – Fake Empire
- Regina Spektor – Blue Lips
- Bob Dylan – Tomorrow Is A Long Time
- Johnny Cash – God’s Gonna Cut You Down
- Ben Harper /Blind Boys Of Alabama – Satisfied Mind
- Puscifer – The Mission (feat. Milla Jovovich)
- Todd Snider – America’s Favorite Pastime
- Butthole Surfers – Whatever (I Had a Dream)
- Thomas D – Ich Ich Ich oder der Schrei des Ego
- The Mountain Goats – Lion’s Teeth
- Big Pig – I Can’t Break Away
- Ennio Morricone – L’Estasi Dell’Oro (Bandini remix)
- The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist
Salem food trucks and carts
July 1st, 2011 by Emily Grosvenor
Food carts/trucks in the Statesman Journal today! And since there isn’t yet an online site featuring all of the Salem food cart locations, I’m posting them here. These are mostly the ones featured in the column, but there are many more to be added.
If you are interested in rolling into town with a food truck or are just curious about the rigamarole required to operate one here in Salem, you can visit the City of Salem Revised Code. You will find the requirements for food carts under #31 (police protective licenses) , 31.1020 is for street vendors, such as James the Waffle Guy, and 31.1075 is for Mobile Food Units (trucks).
El Pollo Feliz/Mariscos Playa Azul
3828 Silverton Rd.
Salem, OR 97305
(503) 391-9896
Food: Mexican
Minto Island Growers Food Cart
3394 Brown Island Rd.
Just off River Rd. S. – Follow the signs
Wednesday- Saturday 11:00-6:00
Cash or Local Check Only
Food: Sandwiches, salads, soups, smoothies made with the farm’s produce
KarnaVor BBQ
(503) 856-6463
Tuesday-Saturday
Roaming, follow @karnavorbbq or call
Food: Barbecue
3905 Silverton Road Next to Kilroy’s Storage
Food: Carolina Style BBQ
(503) 689-4242
@downtownwaffles Salem, OR
Corner of Chemeketa and Liberty Streets downtown
Food: Waffles
Tony’s Churros food cart
Usually in the parking lot of the El Grullense taqueria near Lana Ave
Oregon Crepe Company
Salem Wednesday Farmer’s Market and Salem Saturday MarketOff Holidays, Sun & Mon
1199 South Water Street
Silverton, OR 97381
(503) 991-3852
Reader mail: North vs. South Salem
June 10th, 2011 by Emily GrosvenorEmily -
My wife and I are relocating to Salem this fall and we’ve been trying to figure out where to live. We plan to rent when we arrive but will look to buy…if all the stars align. What’s your recommendation on areas for us to look. We keep hearing about south Salem but it sounds like the NE is our type of neighborhood. Every place we’ve lived we chosen to be walking distance to restaurants, coffee houses, etc and enjoyed our eclectic neighbors.
Love the blog, can’t wait to try…everything!
Cheers,
Carlos
Dear Carlos,
Congratulations on your move to Salem!
Now, before I launch into a very opinionated rant about the North Salem/South Salem divide, I would like to offer what is possible the first-ever disclaimer on this blog. If you have been following my adventures here then you know I am living in Northeast Salem and have a particular affinity for this part of the city. However, having moved three times now, in as many years, I know that looking for a place to live, anywhere is fraught with many emotional and social nightmares. Many people believe that where you live is who you are, so I am quite reticent to offer too much real estate advice other than my personal experience. If you’re looking for a realtor, may I recommend Melina Tomson? So with that caveat out of the way…
We moved to the Northeast for a couple of reasons aligned with our values systems. For one, we wanted to be near my husband’s work (2 miles) and refused to be the kind of people who fritter their lives away on the morning commute. We also wanted good access to I-5. West Salem is out, and some very nice parts of South Salem come with cumbersome access. Beyond that, I insist on living as close to downtown as possible because I believe in being part of a centralized community as well as a church/school /work/writerly community. The Northeast has some great neighborhoods with very reasonably priced, smaller historic homes — I’m talking everything from century-old farmhouses to 1920s cottages to Craftsmans to mid-century modern homes. This aesthetic variety is much of what attracted me to the Northeast. If you, like me, were happy living in gentrified parts of other cities, you may like living on the fringe here as well.
Now, the bad news. If you are a professional person who could afford to live in South Salem, you may encounter some very alarming judgments about your decision to live in the North. The idea is, of course, if you have the money, why wouldn’t you live where it is nice? Nice is the operative word, and South Salem is, yes, very nice. If I lived in South Salem, I would live in the neighborhoods closest to downtown, such as Bush Park, Fairmount and, perhaps even Candalaria (for the schools and the views). I wouldn’t feel comfortable going too much farther into the suburbs, but that’s just me. By the way, parts of South Salem are just achingly gorgeous.
And yes, there are more insidious forces at work in Northeast Salem. Just drive around and, from a real estate perspective, you will discover there are some streets that look, on the outside, to be great (and are), as well as streets you might not feel comfortable walking down at night. These neighborhoods intersect in ways I didn’t expect when I moved here. I lived in a great micro-neighborhood for two years and moved to a larger place after expanding the family, but even my beloved micro-hood had a drug outpatient treatment facility just outside its borders. Before my landlord called the cops (I believe), you could sometimes hear the sounds of what was unmistakably a puppy mill. That neighborhood was on the edge of some multi-unit housing. We never had a problem with anybody, though.
We moved to the irresistibly cute Englewood neighborhood in December and had an $800 camera, as well as a guitar given to me by my father (only gift I ever got from him) stolen right out of our house. Now, Englewood is, ostensibly, a “nicer neighborhood,” whatever that means, but what I didn’t know was there is, yes, another outpatient drug treatment facility a couple of streets over. In turn, there are sometimes people walking through the back alleys behind our house as they head for a Big Gulp at the 7-11. I’m guessing they are going to eschew the figs when they start ripening.
Now, some more bad news. We are still renters here after 2.5 years and are not sure we’re going to buy anytime soon. If you don’t have any emotional attachments to home ownership, that might be a good way to go. To buttress your resolve in a community where many people expect home ownership, I will tell you one the condensed version of one very complicated house purchase. Last fall, we got involved in a short sale of an awesome property over in the Court-Chemeketa Historic District, which is absolutely where I would buy a home if I were to pick and choose. It was a short sale, and I was very attached to the idea of living there.We were getting it for a steal (roughly $40,000 off the 2006 price). After three months, I basically wigged out because my Spidey senses were going crazy and something didn’t seem right. Within a week, we were in another larger rental in the northeast and had pulled out of the house sale.
Was I right? Did the alarms going off in every nerve in my body prove prophetic?
Yes, indeed, they did. The price of that house has dropped roughly $25,000 since we cancelled our bid. That’s a pretty hairy investment, no?
I really feel for people in this community who are under water on their mortgages. I hope home values rise again and my neighbors and friends struggling with this issue can breathe deep at night knowing their dream of a little piece of earth and a place to call home, of their own, has not been quashed, as TIME and other publications have said. The breakdown, or, we can hope, restructuring, of all of the great signifiers of life — real estate and education included — is easily one of the most pressing issue of my generation. And man, does it hit close to home!
But, if you feel comfortable as a renter, you might do well to choose that option here in Salem. Just look around in the northeast and you’ll find countless options. The market right now for rentals is insane! Then again, I’m an optimist, and things have to improve, right? The same advice holds true for home-buying now as it did before the crash — plan on living in your home for a decent amount of time (7 years) if you want to recoup your investment. That doesn’t take into account the emotional rewards of home-owning, but in uncertain times, you have to make the right financial decision for your family (can you see I’m projecting a bit here?).
I belong in the northeast because most of my good friends live here. When I considered renting in south Salem, it was my friends who convinced me to stay in the north. Actually, I didn’t talk to any of them about it, just thinking about their part in my life kept me here. That’s something hard to judge when you’re new in town, so your plan to rent for a while sounds like a good one.
Now, to the most contentious issue of all: South Salem Flight. This is a disease some new Salemites catch when they come to Salem. It takes about three years, or one baby, to manifest and involves a quick turn against the diversity and charm of the Northeast in favor of the good schools and manicured lawns of the south. I have seen many an awesome northeasterner succumb to the disease. Just a warning.
I’ll close this with a final footnote on the problem of life choices. This blog post is meant exclusively as one recent newcomer’s opinion, and I hope people with similar and different experiences will chime in here, since you’re not alone in wondering where you might belong. No one deserves to have their life choices steered, or condemned, on one person’s little blog. I have put this out there in the name of your information-gathering and hope you find what you need in your search!
Best regards,
Emily
P.S. If you want to, let us know where you end up!
Getting my goat
June 3rd, 2011 by Emily Grosvenor
I realize there is a certain naivete in thinking you might want to own some goats, or, for that matter, any kind of livestock.
Certainly, in writing a story in which I announce my dream of owning a goat, I am setting myself up for major criticism by more realistic people who know implicitly that things like goat farming are not for them.
But this has to be one of the things I love most about Oregon. People out here just do their thing, without worrying too much about how it might appear.
Take the Thompsons, of Classical Goats, the family that decided to host me for a goat stay a few weeks ago. They are massively interested in all kinds of off-the-radar things.
Case in point: I had been at the Thompson’s for about ten minutes before Bill Thompson taught me how to play the ukelele.
It was “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” — thanks for asking!
Salem might not follow the footsteps of Seattle and Portland and, soon, Eugene, in adopting an urban goat policy (and I have to say, that’s probably a good thing), but I love that I live so close to someone making their own chevre, ricotta, cheddar and mozzarella from goat’s milk.
Now I just have to figure out what I can produce in my own cottage industry to be in a good position for a trade.
Do pixelated words count?
What About Bob
May 30th, 2011 by Emily Grosvenor
Meet Bob, who won Best in Show at the first West Coast meeting of the American Peony Society in Wilsonville this weekend.
I didn’t make it to Wilsonville, but I met him at Brooks Gardens this morning, where his owner is delightfully showing him off with his Blue Ribbon prize.
This one, Sunny Girl, took a second award in the competition.
Callie’s Memory, above, took a first award.
Why so serious? This one, Joker, didn’t take any awards but is still a beaut.
Lois Choice, above, chooses colors that look like a Barbie dress I once had.
Thought about taking this one home with me. Husband says: Absolutely not.
Bee productive
May 25th, 2011 by Emily Grosvenor
There is a mighty crafter in me, a winsome dabbler, a curious collector sick of working on the computer and in dire need of working with her hands.
Yes, there is a retiree in me aching to break free.
For months I’ve been needing something, I know not what. Between succumbing to an Oregon seasonal depression and working too much online, I’ve felt really disconnected from everything I love. Also, after a year and a half of being a new momma, I’m ready to try something new. So I’m taking a beginner’s quilting class at Greenbaum’s Quilted Forest.
Today I shirked my work commitments and spent three hours picking out the fabrics for my first quilt. I have to say it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. The colors! The fabrics! The challenge of challenging yourself not to get all matchy matchy! I worked with Sally, who guided me with patience, humor and dynamism through the process. The image here is a general paste-up of what one pieced section of the quilt will look like.
Being a Lancaster County girl at heart, I’m already all too familiar with the Log Cabin design, which as far as I can tell was created by a pretty unimaginative labyrinth builder. Most of the log cabins I’ve encountered have been of the black and magenta and blue Amish palette variety.
But I am also the kind of person who categorically rejects the country aesthetic. Just not me. Luckily, I’m learning there is a whole subculture of crazy quilters out here in the West who are designing and making stuff that could just as easily hang in the MoMa. Is that an exaggeration? Yes. The MoMa is not ready to work with this kind of crazy. It feels like Frank Stella having tea with Roy Lichtenstein.
Given a good fabric store and a couple of hours, my head just might explode for the possibilities. So I thought of some people I would like to send love to in the form of a handmade quilt, winnowed that list down to one, and tried to pick some colors and patterns that would resonate for this special friend.
A couple of clues: fairytale forest, batik tropical prints, fruit, theater and nature all in one.
Does it work? Will the finished product feel a little too mustardy green? Will it matter that I haven’t sewn anything since I was about 17, the time I made a skirt that ended above my butt cheeks? (by accident of course).
I don’t know. But I’m starting to feel that all I ever do is tell stories. This I want to spin some I can cuddle up under.
Maps that didn’t get in the paper
May 6th, 2011 by Emily Grosvenor
I’ve been talking with friends about their own personal maps of Salem, and am now wondering how people edit their maps as they go about their lives.
My friend Rachel, for instance, is thinking about repainting her house and has a map of the houses of Salem whose paint-jobs she admires. It’s like having three-dimensional color swatches! Or, Jen Lopez, a Salem Tweep, tries to cross as many bridges as possible because she loves ornate concrete railings.
Naturally, I have lots of maps that didn’t make it into my column about mapping Salem. The Romantic Evening Walk map (down 21st St. NE or through NE Salem’s back alleys), the kids’ playground map, the map of surprisingly pornographic Salem tree trunks, the map of places I’ve lived (3), the one of houses I almost bought, or residences I’ve toured towards buying a house, the friends (and thus, family) map, the places I might encounter my favorite Salem transvestite map. Oh, the list is never-ending now, isn’t it?
Some other things I noticed, specifically about interesting intersections:
Market Winter – because Winter needs some kind of campaign around here
Sesame Street NE does not intersect with Sunnyview or Cirrus St., to the chagrin of Elmo fans
Prince Ct. and Princess Ct. feed into each other, that’s courtly love for you
Settlers and Bonanza – where the pioneer in me strikes gold
But High Street really does take the cake for most-likely to create a funny-sounding intersection. The options are limitless.
With special thanks to the Willamette Heritage Center, whose researchers put up with me while I traced my grubby fingers over their maps last week.
