Brian Libby

Two more...

Prismid Sanctuary: esperanza spalding creates a destination by cultivating community • Oregon ArtsWatch The Grammy-winning musician’s long-gestating BIPoC artists retreat in Portland comes together through collaboration with artists, development firm Adre, Allied Works architects, and listening to the l...

My latest story for @orartswatch.org features an interview with the great esperanza spalding (and collaborators) about her long-gestating BIPoC artists' retreat here in Portland. www.orartswatch.org/prismid-sanc...

This is a view of Portland looking east toward the Willamette River from the city's West Hills. I've always been fond of this picture because it seems to give a hint of Rothko's abstract color fields to come, but very early in his career, while he was still here in this city where I live.

Thanks very much!

Thank you! I appreciate that.

Thank you! I appreciate that.

Thank you! I like the way you put it — the photographs are a way of processing. (I was going to say pardon the pun, but that would be a dated analog photo reference.)

Thank you! I appreciate that.

Scenes from recent trips with my wife to Providence Hospital, the Oregon Clinic, Oregon Health & Science University, and Rayus Radiology. She's undergoing cancer treatment, and I guess taking pictures is, though maybe a bit weird, my way of coping. I read recently that creativity alleviates anxiety.

Thank you! I really appreciate that. It's a Q&A for @orartswatch.org coming out probably next week

I actually interviewed him about the book this morning, and we laughed a little about the title. He said his wife was against it.

How is number 7 in the top five?

How highly does Mummer rank on your hypothetical XTC favorite-albums list? (I might go as high as fourth.)

Sometimes in summer it seems like half the houses in my neighborhood are undergoing some kind of construction — a roof replacement, a porch being sanded for repainting, a whole floor being added — and the other half have landscaping crews onsite running leaf-blowers and weed-whackers. Let it snow.

Thank you so much! That really means a lot. And you're already helping, just by doing what you do.

Looking through the mesh of an office chair at our house.

Four recent photos of Jenny. God I love this cat.

He won nine golf gloves? (Typo alert.)

I miss jazz station KMHD’s Saturday evening show The Gold Standard, especially its ‘60s & ‘70s hours at 8 and 9pm: a place for Herbie Hancock and Stanley Turrentine. The replacement show veers too far into easy listening and yacht rock for my taste. I’m looking for a Michael McDonald-free zone.

I'm really frustrated with myself for forgetting to include Fugazi. I could easily have chosen their masterpieces Red Medicine or In on the Kill Taker for my top 10, or at the very least for the honorable mention. Glaring omission! Foundational to my music collection.

I love The Limey — definitely my favorite Soderbergh film.

Honorable mention:

Branford Marsalis, Crazy People Music
U2, Achtung Baby
XTC, Nonsuch
Radiohead, OK Computer
Air, Moon Safari
Elvis Costello, Brutal Youth
Living Colour, Time's Up
Tom Waits, Bone Machine
Jeff Buckley, Sketches for 'My Sweetheart the Drunk'
Beastie Boys, Hello Nasty

American Music Club, Mercury
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
Nirvana, Nevermind
A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory
Smart Went Crazy, Con Art
Tricky, Maxinquaye
Tortoise, Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Björk, Homogenic
Morphine, Cure For Pain

Topaz Farm | Pumpkin Patch & U-Pick | Sauvie Island Portland Topaz Farm, formerly Kruger's Farm, features fruit, vegetables, meat & other Sauvie Island products. If we didn't grow or make it, then another local farmer did.

Portland friends, there is new legislation afoot that would jeopardize events held on small farms like concerts, farm-to-table dinners and more. I've been friends with Jim and Kat Topaz from @topazfarm.bsky.social for 28 years and I've never seen them this distraught.

topazfarm.com

Revisiting a favorite tonight: Lee Morgan’s final album (before he was murdered), 1972’s The Last Session. The best part is the two songs penned by brilliant saxophonist/composer Billy Harper, but I also love the playing of trombonist Graham Monchur III and the whole band. An absolute masterpiece.

Milo Janus!

I recommend employing a copy editor.

The final photo taken for my book, In Search of Portland: of Tanner Springs Park in the Pearl District, completed in 2005 from a design by German landscape architect Herbert Dreiseitl. It’s a symbolic unearthing of long-buried Tanner Creek, hence the undulating steel rods at left, as if peeled back.

The Cosmopolitan Condominiums in Portland's Pearl District, one of three last-minute additions to my upcoming book, In Search of Portland. I like how its facade both reflects and absorbs light, although that made it difficult to photograph.

I’m continuing to enjoy and appreciate this album. Hadn’t listened to much Sun Ra in the past, but I heard one song from this 1978 record on the radio a few months ago and was hooked. Sounds great on vinyl too.