The LA Times music blog, Pop & Hiss, visits musician M. Ward, who calls Portland home, in the post M. Ward: Pursuing his own Oregon trail.
I’m not familiar with Mr. M. Ward’s oeuvre, which the article examines, but I am familiar with the Portland stereotypes the story throws around willy nilly. Below are some examples (my emphasis of the stereotypes):
“We don’t use the word ‘grande’ here,” said the barista at Albina Press, one of the latte-obsessed Pacific Northwest’s many shrines to the perfectly pulled cup. “That’s a proprietary term of the Starbucks company. Do you mean ‘large’?”
Every spot in the large, airy room was taken by someone hunched over a laptop or a book. This cross section of students, unidentified “creatives” and home-office refugees would not tolerate the noise of a journalist quizzing a musician.
And then make sure to read the whole subsection titled An indie mecca; I’d have to quote the whole thing.
Anyone who is interviewed by the NY or LA Times about life in Portland should be required to add a bizarre and totally untrue detail until it gets repeated enough that it’s part of the legend.
“Many Portlanders believe the city was built on an ancient unicorn burial ground.” Something like that, only funny.
Mike – I’m going to use that!
It’s funny you should mention that. There is the unexplained appearance of a unicorn in a football match during the 1905 World’s Fair, that led to the victory of a press-ganged crew of Albina city German immigrants-press ganged british sailors, and the odd coolie, over a team of Seattle ringers.
I suppose unicorns must eventual retire.