In Canby, OR they build tree houses for goats,  chickens have staring contests with llamas, bulldogs have staring contests with piglets, and gourds look like swans.

Patio @ Rontoms on E Burnside.

Beauty Bar, its a chain. You can go for their happy hour and enjoy a martini while getting a manicure. The first time I went to one was while in San Diego for my birthday a few years ago. Originally the plan was to see Erlend Oye perform in Tijuana but there was some kind of complication with crossing the border. Plan B was to check out the grand opening of the Beauty Bar because drinks were suppose to be on the house till midnight. That didn’t happen either. We later found out that the bartenders pocketed the money and had a coke party. Recently a Beauty Bar opened in Portland and I was there photographing it for the Willamette Week. The scene was a lot different than my previous experience but DJ Beyonda was spinning so it seemed more like a Portland queer event.

I’m starting to get really into Camera Obscuras and Pinhole photography. I just had a nice birthday weekend journey around the great basin region of Oregon to Summer Lake Hot Springs. We went on a wild sage grouse chase, soaked under the stars and turned our cabin into a giant camera obscura. The cabin had a beautiful view of the  winter ridge which was projected upside down onto the walls. It was a long exposure but the image wasn’t too clear so thats why theres white paper on the walls. Once again, foil was used to block out the sunlight. Sometimes its worth sleeping in a big tin foil box in the middle of the high desert when you can have the outside projected inside.

Whats that on the horizon? A new photo studio on the top floor of the Portland Storage Co. building (3rd and Morrison across from Montage) and an art show at the end of the month. I’m sharing the space with some of Portland’s finest female photographers. The building is wonderfully creepy, has lots of natural light and is complete with a freight elevator.

Alligator in Moat outside of Blend Coffee 2710 N. Killingsworth Ave

01/2009 Silver Jews- McMinnville, TN. One of my favorite bands announced that they were breaking up and would play their final show the following week in an underground cave outside of Nashville. Naturally, I booked the next flight out and told the boss I wasn’t going into work that weekend. The show had been sold for a while before they announced the break up, luckily I was able to contact the promoter and work out an exchange of services. Best of luck to you Mr. Berman.

02/2009 Capsule Studio and Gallery. We kept it going for almost a year but being a starving artist isn’t all fun and games. Our lease was up and it was time to move on. For the final project and Division Street Fair, Marie and Anna created a giant mouth for a window display.

03/2009 This photo of Brice was taken on the day before my friend Jennifer moved to Spain. She had one of the last rundown low rent apartments above Capsule and the L&B market on 36th & SE Division Street. Everybody was busy crying and saying their goodbyes upstairs so Brice and I went outside to take some photos and buy candy and malt liquor at the L&B market. It marked an end of an era but the gentrification of Division Street is still going on.

04/2009 When I moved to Portland four years ago I bought a mattress with a built in box spring from Ikea. What a piece of shit. It started falling apart and wasn’t usable anymore so I purchased a new bed this past Spring. While waiting for it to be delivered, I decided to destroy the old one with a baseball bat. My neighbor heard all the ruckus, put on the safety goggles and came over to help.

05/2009 Paul’s Club- Madison, WI. This dive had a giant tree growing in the middle of the bar. It was nice spending the afternoon in there while waiting for the sun to go away.

06/2009 House of Guitars- Rochester, NY. This was one of the most amazing clusterfuck of a record store I’ve been to. Lots of digging time required.

07/2009 Cowboys in Stevensville, MT. I met a real life cowboy at a bar while photographing a wedding in Montana this summer. They were in town for the rodeo! I learned all about the sport and we slow danced to a Martina McBride song. Don’t be fooled, it isn’t all country music out there. If you ever feel like gettin’ down to last years top hip hop and r&b radio jams, this is the place to be.

08/2009 This is my best friend Fernanda right before heading back to San Diego (the hat is from my Mr. Peanut costume). She’s a coffee trader/green bean Q grader and was visiting Portland for the Roasters Guild. It was nice of her to take me out on the company’s credit card and come back out the following month for MFNW.

09/2009 Janvier- partner in crime. The photo was taken sometime during MFNW before the VIP party where the Thermals played. I’m not really a fan of the Thermals but LOVED them that night. Maybe it was the energy of the festival or the free flowing booze talking but either way I think everyone there had a lot of fun.

10/2009 Sober October. I try to do a Sober October half heartedly every year, no wonder it never works out. This year I took the money I saved from those 9 days and went record shopping. My favorite purchase was a Mayer Hawthorne heart shaped 45. Later that evening I broke my streak to drink a bottle of champagne with a pretty girl and climb to the bar’s roof top with her. I’ll try again next year.

11/2009 Portland’s New Century Schoolbook have been busy  recording their second album at Klickitat Band Camp. It was also Sir Johnny’s birthday and I was invited to join the session, sing some “whoa ohs” and get some snaps. Keep your eye out for the new album even though “the first album was better”.

12/2009 Hawaiian vacation at Thatch Tiki Bar with Allison. I always have fun with this girl. Both of us ditched the “December to Remember” show at the Crystal Ballroom to catch up and drink some hot buttered rum. By the end of the evening, she ended up with a hair full of monkeys.

Its the end of the year and I love making lists so in no particular order my top 10 favorite albums/*singles of 2009 are…

1. Kings of Convenience- Declaration of Dependance

2. Mayer Hawthorne- Strange Arrangement

3. Thao- Know Better Learn Faster

4. Voxtrot -Berlin, Without Return…

5. Church- Songs of Crystals

6. Wooden Birds- Magnolia

7. Heartless Bastards- The Mountain

8. Built to Spill- There is No Enemy

9. The Vaselines- Enter the Vaselines (I know its a reissue but its too good to not be on here.)

10. Teeath- s/t

*I had include singles because Voxtrot didn’t release an album this year

I’ll probably change my mind as soon as I post this but at the very least, these are some of the albums I’ve had on heavy rotation. Enjoy!