Boycott Rocco's Pizza in Portland

What a crime. Rocco's used to be so cool until recent changes in management and employee attitude. I know, I'd been going to Rocco's for over a year. When I first moved to Portland in July of '08, Rocco's was one of the first things I bragged about. The pizza isn't the greatest of quality, but that was quickly made up for by how nice and friendly the staff was to me. Within only a handful of visits I came to know almost the entire staff by first name and they always greeted me warmly. I began to make Rocco's a daily habit of pizza and beer, and anytime I needed to meet someone downtown it would be at Rocco's. I considered listing Rocco's as a sponsor of RovingFestival.com and began having all my business meetings there; inviting upwards of 5 or 6 clients at a time, all paying customers of course. I've celebrated several birthdays there, including my own. We'd buy beer all night long some nights, just hanging out and having fun.

Until Recently.

Just a few days ago I remarked to a friend that I don't meet as many cool people at Rocco's anymore. They just don't come around. Most of the type of people I see now are tourists who have never been there before nor will probably ever go there again. Or simply just the Mom-n-Dad types with their kids. No more artists, musicians, scenesters, skaters, hippies, punks, or any other genre for that matter. At the same time, I'd also noticed those friendly faces behind the counter being replaced by scowly, frowny, pimply faces of the less-than-friendly type who definitely aren't interested in knowing my name. And now Rocco's wants to be a bar, applying for it's liquor license after which everything on the menu went up by 25 to 50 cents.

Then it happened.

Yesterday I walked in to Rocco's to order a pizza and beer as usual. As I stepped up to the counter and placed my order, one of these not-so-friendly types steps up next to the guy taking my order and says "I know you come here a lot, but we can't have you sitting at the tables without buying something more." When I asked what he meant he explained that if I want to sit at Rocco's tables for prolonged periods of time I must buy something more than my original order; in other words I must continue to buy stuff in order to continue hanging out. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Not only is he wrong for the most part, I normally do continue to buy things, but I told him that that was a rather disrespectful thing to say to such a faithfully returning customer who has spent well over a thousand dollars of his hard earned money at this establishment. He just laughed and said he doubted it (pizza + beer = $5 to $20 times 300+ days: you do the math). I said if that's how he feels I'll just take my business elsewhere and he agreed that would be best. As I walked out I spat on the front door quid pro quo.

The Gentrification Bandwagon.

Gentrification is usually something that happens to slum neighborhoods by wealthy landowners who are interested in increasing the value of their land or property. It usually comes with a price as the ever increasing property values tend to drive out less successful businesses, despite whatever cultural value those businesses might have. Or, as it seems, if you're Rocco's, you go along with the gentrification program, increase prices, and kick out the lower class so the middle to upper middle class aren't offended (gentrification literally means to make suitable for gentlemen i.e. the wealthy). You do this first by eliminating troublesome employees (the ones friendly to the lower class), then eliminating the troublesome clients (the artists, musicians, etc.). The problem is this: Rocco's isn't having problems making rent; Rocco's isn't dealing with external gentrification. In fact, they're expanding, adding a bar to an otherwise bar-less block of the city. On that same block we have a coffee shop (plenty of artists there) two artsy and independent book stores (yup, artists there too), and a place called the Independent Publishers Resource Center (you guessed it; artists). Down the street you have New Avenues For Youth, a resource program for wayward teens seeking to get away from drugs and alcohol, Whole Foods (you can guess what types shop there) and a place called Living Room Theater, showing independent and artsy films. Not to mention Powell's Books, the largest used book retailer in the world is across the street.

The point is:

I used to tell people that if you are going to visit Portland, or even move there, you haven't seen Portland until you've been to Rocco's; an epicenter of the city's culture. Now, I'll be sure to tell everyone I know to steer far away from Rocco's lest they get a bad impression of this otherwise very cool and very artsy town. And to those who own Rocco's, perhaps someday you'll realize what you had and maybe by then it won't be too late.

Rainbow Gathering 2009 Sucked

I never thought I would say this, but this year's Rainbow Gathering, held near Cuba New Mexico, was truly a sorry state of affairs. This year I decided to go early for seed camp and to help set up. A friend drove me to Redding California where I met up with a very cool girl named Jess Blue who owns a ranch for wayward animals. There I fell in love with a Pit / Lab mix puppy that I adopted and named Siris (myspace.com/doggyhoudini) and Jess drove me the rest of the way to the Gathering. Once I arrived I immediately plugged in to my favorite kitchen; Milliways. Setting up and building the kitchen was a lot of fun and for the most part seed camp was great. It was when the gathering went into full swing, around 2 or 3 days before the 1st of July, that all the madness started to happen. Normally money and alcohol are highly discouraged as they represent the "Babylon" that everyone is trying to get away from when One goes to a gathering. However alcohol was very prevalent at this year's gathering, and some girl actually tried to write me a check for Siris at "Trade Circle." Someone got stabbed and died this year due to alcohol (I heard the fight ensued over a nearly finished bottle of vodka). There was a war of the kitchens in which several kitchens slashed and hacked main supply tent (where all the food is stored) due to internal political conflict. On the 4th it rained all day so there was no Ohm for peace and instead there was a mad dance in the mud (still pretty fun). And at the end, there were numerous fist fights almost all of them related to alcohol (a very good reason it's usually discouraged). Some random guy actually tried to punch me while drunk and when I left that scene for quieter ground I came across two other guys in a fist fight at a kitchen called "Peace Village." One thing that did maintain my faith was the numerous "triple" rainbows that appeared after rainstorms in the main meadow. So beautiful. Maybe the Universe was trying to tell everyone something. After this I decided it was time to leave Rainbow and as I got all my belongings to the parking lot I came across a group of about 15 or so gutter punk kids drinking vodka and cheap beer. That night I awoke to someone screaming at the top of their lungs "Who stole my vodka? Who stole my vodka?" What a mess. So much for the Rainbow of peace and living light. The "Vision Council" decided that the gathering would be best held in Tennessee next year. I don't think I'll be going. Really, if I had to make a guess, I would say that the reason that so much alcohol and violence were present is mostly because main meadow was rather close to the parking lot. It was rather easy for people to leave the Gathering and go back into town for more alcohol. Last year in Wyoming, it was literally a 4 or 5 mile hike to get from the parking lot to the main meadow and once you were in you were staying until you left. Hopefully the "elders" learn something about planning water, food and main meadow setup from this years mistakes. Hopefully. Then again we are talking about the largest "un-organization" in the world.

Seeking Artist Guerilla Urban Campers

Want to join the Artopium Art Troupe? Want to travel around the world, throwing art and music festivals? Tired of your usual, boring life and want to do something exciting and different? Do you enjoy camping; ever want to do long distance and long term camping? Do you have an artistic craft that you would like to sell? Want to become a gypsy? Want to do something so unorthodox that your Mom will worry about you, your friends will think you've lost your mind (but secredtly admire you), and ultimately feel the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile? Contact me. Let's talk.

Visit RovingFestival.com for more info!

Back in Portland

Well, I've arrived back in portland about a week ago and already an amazing plethora of excitment has already unfolded before me. After being greeted by my friends at the train station, I was whisked away for pizza and beer at rocco's (somewhat of a tradition now) then lead on an adventure to the zoo and then to karaoke at a bar called "Gypsy" (how appropriate).

I've made a new guerilla urban camp in Washington Park, and it's definitely one of my better camps. There is plenty of head room, and the hammock keeps me off the wet ground. It's been raining a lot here in Portland, but I've actually found myself wishing it would rain harder so I can see my camp taken to its limits. There's no better feeling of satisfaction then to build your own temporary home then kick back inside it and watch it protect you from the elements.

I've also made quite a bit of head-way getting the Artopium Art Troupe up and running. I now have keen brochures that explain the function of the Troupe and I will be setting up meetings for the Troupe soon. There are already a few contenders for troupe positions, and it looks like I may be able to have a decent groupe together, at least for booth vending around the city, within a few weeks.

New Festival in the Works

OK Folks, the next festival you've all been waiting for is now in the beginning stages. I've definitely decided that it will be in Portland (bet you didn't see that one coming). I have a few ideas about the location, but I won't say exactly where at this stage in the planning. Let's just say I'm shooting for downtown somewhere.

And this one's going to be big! No joke. I've got a great theme in mind and I hope to bring in a lot of different, very cool organizations to help put on something truly grand. If space and funding are available there will be two stages, and a very large area for booths. I'm currently writing up the budget for all of this, so if you, or anyone you know, can give me good estimates for stage, sound and lighting, as well as promotional ad space, it would be appreciated.

It would be nice to think that I can put together the festival I see in my mind by the end of this summer, but for the next Artopium Roving Festival to really be on the next level I'm thinking I may go ahead and set the date for 2010. I know this is really far ahead for most artists to book, so I'm going to wait a little while longer before opening the festival sign up.

As always, the festival is for Artopium.com Artist Members, so if you want to participate in the next festival be sure to sign up and create your Artopium profile page. It's free to join and it's easy to use! To get booked just add your Artopium profie URL to your message when you contact us.

In any case, I'll be heading back to Portland within a month or so and once there I'll begin talking with the city council and various departments to wee what is possible. Once I get the green light We'll all have a lot of work to do, but it's going to be fun! If you are interested in volunteering to help or even to join the Artopium Art Troupe, we are always looking to increase our forces. Just check out RovingFestival.com for more info.

I'm in Glenwood Springs, Colorado!

Hey folks, I've gone home for the holidays.

My last few weeks in Portland were wet and a bit dreary, but I managed to stay dry by squatting in what I must say is the finest and most pristine squat I have ever had the privilege to squat in. About 8 of us were sleeping in a 5 bedroom, 4 story (including basement) mini-mansion that someone found as an abandoned foreclosure right near the PSU campus. Besides, my tent is on it's way out.

For Thanksgiving I traveled to Seattle with a very good friend, then left Portland via Amtrak to Glenwood. I'll be in Glenwood for a while, then Denver, then hopefully to Austin, Texas for a bit. I'll then be heading back towards Glenwood, then to Portland by sometime near March. Anyway, that's the plan.

It's been snowing a lot here since I've arrived. A good friend told me it snowed in Portland just recently, but I'll bet it's not much compared to the consistent flow of the white fluffy stuff here in Glenwood.

Halloween

Well, I'm still here in Portland. Things have slowed down a bit in the jewelry department. I attribute this to the change in the season as the plentiful North Western rain not only drives out a lot of the tourists but creates a different, and possibly macabre mindset in the locals. That isn't to say I haven't been having fun. Some of those whom I've met that have lived in Portland for a while have told me that you're not a real Portlander unless you get wet. I personally love the rain, so it isn't getting me down.

For Halloween I had the distinct pleasure of partying with a group of some brilliant musicians and beautiful gypsies that form three of Portland's finer bands; NIAYH (Stands for: Now Is All You Have, check out their music video), Def Kids, and Shelter Kids. They performed at Reed College which is supposedly known for "rich hippies", whatever that means.

Also, in the time since my last entry, I've been hard at work building a more permanent urban camping shelter as packing up all of my gear every morning has become a nuisance. It would be nice to have a place where I could store my belongings instead of carrying them around with me all day. So I've moved out of Washington Park and into the much larger Forest Park. After doing several survey trips through Forest Park, each trip taking two or more days, I found a nice secluded place at the very top of the hill. To give you an idea of what this means, you really need to visit Forest Park as it is almost entirely comprised of hills that would make San Fransico jealous. My entire effort to survey the park was to merely find a flat spot that could hold several people through the night, away from the mainstream trails. Since everything to either side of any trail through the park is at a 45 degree incline or more, the only spot I could find was at the very top. This, however, means a 6 mile hike up one of Portlands highest and steepest hills to find it, with 100 foot drops-to-your-death along most of the trail. You can also get there by car and about a 1 mile hike, so getting supplies and people to the camp isn't necessarily hard. Only if you are coming by bus or streetcar. I hope to get more people up there soon. It's very peaceful and a bit exciting at the same time. It isn't completely city noise free as I can still hear the freight boats loading an unloading cargo along the Willamete River, and a few nights ago a pack of coyote came near my camp and began howling!