Well it's summer for sure. This weekend is jammed with events as locals cram a year's worth of outdoor partying into 2.5 months of dry weather. 

The most compelling event this saturday is a fundraiser for 9-year-old Stella Cakebread Monteverde. Stella has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. (I know, it's awful and shocking how many children are getting cancer these days.)  Stella, whose mother owns a shop on North Mississippi Ave., has seen an outpouring of support from the local community and the music and entertainment scene as well.  The event, held this Saturday at @Large Studios, will feature a star-studded day of local professional entertainers (check out the links below) who are sure to brighten your (and Stella's) day even if we get partially cloudy skies.

FROM EMAIL
Please join the friends and family of Stella Cakebread Monteverde, 9-year-old daughter of local business owner Dayna Cakebread and Fernando Monteverde, for a day of family fun and entertainment, and an evening of local music and dance troupes. Held at @Large Studios, 807 NE Couch Street, the daytime event will run from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. and will feature music by Kode Bluuz, arts and crafts tables, interactive theatre with Katie O’Grady, Double Dutch with the Jumping Jackie O’s, a raffle with great prizes, and more! The evening, adults-only event will feature musical performances by Lindsey Stormo, Stephanie Schneiderman, Oracle, Stolen Sweets, and Dr. Theopolis, plus local dance acts, a silent auction, and wine, beer and cocktails. Tickets will be available at the door, or in advance through www.brownpapertickets.org.

The Boise Neighborhood Association voted last month to permit real estate developer The Kaiser Group to build a ten-story condominium complex in the community. City Hall approved the plan as well, and passed a Spot Zoning Variance to allow the project in the predominantly industrial area near the intersection next to Boise Eliot School, just east of Fremont and Mississippi.

UPDATED VIDEO  2.15.10

Mardi Gras celebrations are often synonymous with excessive drinking and public nudity — hardly family-friendly fare. This year, however, North Portland families will be able to celebrate Mardi Gras at an appropriately G-rated event. 

Philip Stanton, owner of Mississippi Pizza Pub and co-president of the Historic Mississippi Business Association, and Deborah Petricek, owner of Gumbo Gifts & Gallery, have organized a “family-friendly” Mardi Gras celebration to take place on Saturday, Feb.13, beginning around noon. 

The mainstay of the event will be a street parade comprised of Boise-Eliot Elementary students, clowns on bikes, mini cars, and anyone in costume who would like to participate. In the hours leading up to the parade, there will be mask-making activities at the Q Center (4115 N Mississippi Ave. at North Mason Street) for those in need of festive “facial wear.” The parade will commence at 3 p.m., and follow along Mississippi Avenue, starting at North Skidmore Street and ending at North Fremont Street.

Neighborhood Notes' Ken Aaron has a good piece today on the EcoFlats apartment project on North Williams Avenue. The project, by developer Jean-Pierre Veillet, has received the funding necessary to begin construction on the project next month. While certain elements of the project - restaurant, common area, garden - remain in place, new features have been added, such as an elevator and six ADA-compliant living units.

What makes the EcoFlats so, um, eco? For starters, they'll be located on the Williams bike and bus corridor, encouraging people to use public transit or pedal power to get around. They'll also be a mere block from the Hub building that houses Ristretto Roasters, Lincoln and Anju restaurants, and numerous other locally owned businesses, encouraging residents to shop and eat close to home. Finally, there are plans for a portion of the building's power to come from solar energy. It's an oh-so-Portland development in the best possible way.

site plan graphic courtesy of Neighborhood Notes.

Change is finally getting ready to come to the Rose Quarter, one silo at a time.

“If you know anyone that can help us get rid of a grain elevator, that would be great,” joked Portland Trail Blazers Team President Larry Miller, who is helping spearhead a proposal to develop the Rose Quarter and re-invigorate Memorial Coliseum.

On Nov. 1, Miller and the Blazers were the first major players to ante up with their JumpTown vision — an intersection of sports, music and Portland culture — in hopes of renewing the Rose Quarter as a “vibrant 365-days-a-year district.” Since the launch date to accept public proposals, Mayor Sam Adams and his 32-member Rose Quarter Development Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) have received vast submissions from the general public ranging from turning the Coliseum into a casino and convention center, a concert hall, a Seattle-like Pike Place, and even a few requests to simply bulldoze the “Glass Palace” sprinkled in.

When do you expect to open? 
"About two months ago," said Steve Mason, the owner of Maui's at 3508 N. Williams Ave.  The bright green building is just north of the intersection of North Williams Avenue and Fremont Street. "We hope to be open any day now."

Inside there are two pool tables, a lot of hand tools, a bar ready to hold 15 beers on tap, and three Hawaiian-themed murals on the walls.  

"Maui is my dog," said Mason. Mason says he has been in Portland for the last three years, but he was in the bar business in Hawaii for 25 years. This year, he felt it was time to open his own place in Portland. The name and the look of the interior speaks more to Mason's personal past than to his vision for the business. "There's no tropical drinks or anything. It's just a neighborhood bar."

An interesting bit in today's Oregonian about Oregon Ballet Theatre's new project that brings high culture performances to local pop cultural venues.
Photo Teaser by Raparnova http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayparnova/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

FROM THE OREGONIAN

Uprising brings Oregon Ballet Theatre to the nightclub crowd
By Marty Hughley, The Oregonian
November 09, 2009, 6:14AM

When Oregon Ballet Theatre performs in its regular home, the Keller Auditorium, it's not unusual to hear loud, enthusiastic cheering at the end of a piece, maybe even a few excited whistles. What you won't get is shouts of "Down in front!" and "I want to see the pretty ballerina, too!" Or find empty Pabst Blue Ribbon cans on the floor at the end of the evening.

But then, that wasn't exactly Oregon Ballet Theatre on the little stage at Mississippi Studios last week. It was called Uprising, but bold as it was, it was more like bridge building. A project initiated by OBT soloist Candace Bouchard, it brought together a half-dozen of the company's up-and-coming dancers with Portland indie folk band Horse Feathers for a fruitful experiment in artistic collaboration and audience outreach.

READ THE ARTICLE