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MISSING PORTLAND FOUND

I asked Big Paul about missing Portland and he set me straight. “It’s not missing.” “It is if you can’t find it.” “Then you need to look harder.”

GUITAR NIGHT STARTER PACK

Guitar night always starts the same: With a plan. Plan to sound musical, nothing more, nothing less. The plan is successful when two people play together the first time and agree they sounded good. For at least ten seconds. Why ten seconds?

LEAVING HOME? NO, JUST GET OUT OF THE HOUSE TODAY

Leaving home is a life event? Not so much after the first time, whether it was leaving for college, the Army, or a first apartment. When baby boomers leave home what they’re doing is leaving their house. So when did leaving the house become such a big deal? Maybe right after some important study says […]

ONE QUESTION, ONE ANSWER, OR . . .

Ask one question, just one, and if you know each other, things start clicking, woman or man. If you don’t know each other? Good luck. Maybe don’t ask anything. It’s not any particular question we’re talking about; it could be anything.   “Is that a new car?”

LIFE BEFORE SOCIAL MEDIA

As a seasoned blogger I’ve grown immune to social media. Is someone who discovers boomerpdx on their own any different than someone who lands here based on algorithms and exposure? With subscription numbers I can present to sponsors as a metric, they are not. People, people like you, me, them, subscribe to blogs on a […]

PORTLAND SUMMER CHEER FROM HERE

How far is a carefree summer walk in the park from the pressure packed navigation through the urban sprawl for Portland summer cheer? One moment you’re walking a forest trail along the mighty Tualatin River counting birds and snakes and turkey vultures. Look, two snakes. Take the bridge for a good look at the river […]

BEST LAID PLANS OFTEN GO AWRY

This is what I like to tell people: the best laid plans often to awry. At least that’s what I’d tell them if they asked. No one has really asked, but I’ve heard talk that sounded like complaining, which deserves a solid answer. You had plans? Well, now you know, the best laid plans often […]

THE GREEN BOOK MOVIE REVIEW

I saw The Green Book after watching documentaries on Bill Russell and Quincy Jones. The sequence matters because real people in the docs had already explained in pretty stark terms how it was to be black. The harsh reality they told showed up in scene after scene in a different context. How different?

AGING ALONG WITH QUINCY JONES, BILL RUSSELL, AND JERRY JONES

Time goes on and we’re aging along and it’s still hurry, hurry, hurry? If you need to ask if it’s necessary, the answer is YES. But, maybe it’s just me? For better answers I watched documentaries about three men in their eighties.

DESCRIPTIVE TITLES ARE NOT ADMISSIONS OF GUILT

  If some well known celebrity shows up on a screen, any screen, talking about drug addiction, mental health, and suicide, they’re not talking about themselves. Instead, they’re using their recognition, their acclaim, and their name-fame, to get a message across to a broader audience. Why do they bother with adding their feelings? Because they […]