PORTLAND, OREGON

PORTLAND is a city that rides. this particular photo was taken outside of a hospital, i believe it was also a light rail stop. but this was only about a quarter of the bikes that had been locked up for the day there. i recently had an opportunity to vacation there and was blown away by many of the cities great qualities. here are some highlights...

-ROVING PACKS OF PINBALL CREWs (portland is the pinball capital of america???)

-NO SALES TAX

-MORE BREWERIES THEN THE BEER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD (at the time of my visit 28 brewerys were accounted for)

-FULLY NEKKED GO-GO WITH DRINKING & MORE GO-GO BARS PER CAPITA THEN ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.A

-A SELF SUSTAINING LOCAL ORIENTENTED ECONOMY

-BIKE LANES EVERYWHERE

-AMERICANS LARGEST BOOKSTORE

-ONE OF AMERICAS OLDEST JAPANESE GARDENS

-A YEAR ROUND SNOW CAPPED MOUNTAIN THAT IS WITH IN VIEW AND ONLY AN HOUR 1/2 AWAY (YEAR ROUND SNOW!!! EVEN WHEN ITS 90 DEGREES IN THE CITY)

-A GREAT NEW WAVE OF AMERICAN COOKS, BREAKING OLD RULES AND BUILDING NEW CULINARY ADVENTURES

-VOODOO DONUTS????

-MOVIE THEATERS THAT HAVE 2ND RUN MOVIES FOR 3 BUCKS THAT SERVE BEER AND PIZZA'S??

-TAQUERIAS TAQUERIAS TAQUERIAS

REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER...

this is RSO , they are a bastion of hope in a world of wastes and regurgitations. some would call them annoying, some would like you to believe they are art house amateurs, but I call them perfection. punk is not meant from everyone. where some see license to be for the punks, RSO tear down the rules, standards and the by the book formulated song writing and go in a more chaotic and less predictable direction. as a band they have been tooling around for some time now, but this line-up released their first recordings last year. it quickly became a personal favorite. you might want to check them out this saturday at the clash bar in clifton, new jersey. if it sounds like your cup of tea, check THIS and or THIS out.

THE OMEGAS...

say hello to the OMEGAS. if you haven't heard them, you should check out their demo . they played new york, new york recently. they killed it. it's not that they are the new face of punk or are breaking any new ground. it's that they are doing what so few bands fail to do, write, play and perform their punk songs with heart, soul, backbones, squeals, aggression and a general disregard for whats cool and or in these days. they are from montreal and you should be payin attention for sure.

i have an obsession...

...it's the general pulaski skyway. it has been connecting newark to jersey city, new jersey since it opened in 1932. named after general kazimierz pulaski, it stands as a proud north jersey icon. i see it as a powerful symbol, a true reminder and emblem of who i am and where i have always been from. i have spent many afternoons searching for new and elaborate angles to shoot her from. these selected photo's were taken in 2008 between the months of april and november. i am sure there are still multiple hiding spots for me to find, wish me luck on my adventures.

(click on the images to enlarge)