The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room (The Whole Wide Whit)

Much anticipated Ms. Whiteaker post to follow:

But first, a retraction. There is NO EXCUSE for not including the Black Key's album Brothers on my best of 2010 post. This humble apology is all I have to redeem myself.

I guess I do have an excuse actually (albeit a lame one). This album never got on rotation and I kept waiting and waiting. Then my "best friend" kept telling me over and over that she would send it and I kept waiting and waiting. Finally my man bought it for me for Valentine's Day (2011 - two months after my best of post was written).

So anyway, with deepest apologies to Dan, Patrick & all you readers, the album is amazing. Track after track: Everlasting Light, The Next Girl, Tighten Up, Howlin' For You, Ten Cent Pistol, Sinister Kid..... Just what you would expect, but better.

Check out this video, this is one you are going to want to watch. My only complaint is that it isn't a real movie.

Black Keys - Howlin' For You
Did you catch Shaun White in there? Love me some Shaun White.

Also, if you haven't seen it check out The Next Girl video - features the same dinosaur puppet who is named Frank.

I have a question. Why is the name Frank uncommon in the real world but the name of at least 10% of all fictional male characters?
Case in point, how many Franks do you know personally?
I know one - my husband.

Conversation with my stepbrother circa 2008:
Aloof relative: "I hear you have a new boyfriend."
pigeon: "Yes, that is true."
AR: "So who is this guy, what is his name?"
pigeon: "His name is Frank."
AR: "How old is he, like 60, 70?"
pigeon: "No, he is 32. Why would you say that?"
AR: "Just didn't know they still were naming people Frank."

However, half the weird, evil or quirky characters have this name.

 Pitch: Crotchety, crazy father for Larry David character... how about Frank?

"When it touches the lips, it tastes so good."

Let's go streaking. We're all streaking

Let's try the name Frank. 

Creepiest villain = Frank?

 Oh, wait there is creepier Frank.

"Lizard, am I standing in poop?"

One of my favorite characters of all time.

And last but not least:

Johnny Depp in the Tourist, introduces himself to Angelina's character:

"I'm Frank."

"That's a terrible name."

WTB, Angie? 

I happen to think that Frank is a fantastic, sexy name. Case in point:

My Frank.

So, I have more excuses. I haven't written my blog about the Ms. Whiteaker pageant yet for two reasons.

1) We were really rushing to get over there after the radio show as it started at 9pm so we did NOT want to miss the talent portion. Because my husband's truck doors do not lock and we live in the Whit and were going deeper into our wonderful neighborhood, we had to go home first to drop off our laptop and stack of records from that night's show. I asked him to grab my camera when he ran in and he forgot.

So I have no pictures and I have been patiently waiting and checking flickr and the like for some gems to show up and I have finally found them, although they are copyrighted but check them out here.

2) Because I didn't have my camera and there were several drinks consumed, I took notes on my BlackBerry for my dear readers.

2b) Said phone was LOST a few days later. That is a WHOLE nother story for another day. Happy ending = iPhone.

So this pageant is like a display of neighborhood pride. You guys probably know I really love my neighborhood. To paraphrase a contestant asked what she loved most about living in Whiteaker, this neighborhood makes me feel normal (by comparison).

We unfortunately did miss the talent portion but were in attendance for the "late" evening wear (think freakish lingerie) and the Q & A portion. There were about seven or eight lovely ladies with different levels of commitment to the competition. The place was packed. Sitting next to me was a paraplegic with quite an ingenious set up of carabiners and a Nalgene and heavy duty straws rigged up for his beers. The evening was hosted by the charming publisher of BoozeWeek, local celeb (Missoulians, think Nate Schweber status) Elliot Martinez.

The ladies were wonderfully dressed - really, check out the pictures. One had a huge papermache vagina. One had the Ninkasi logo shaved and dyed into her hair. Lots of bustiers, tutus, mohawks (real, not faux), '80s prom, lots of skin (tattoo covered skin)... it was all there.

Our mayor, Kitty Piercy, was there as a judge.

A sweet older lady asking questions like "If you could change one thing about the Whit, what would it be?"

Some of my favorite answers -
"Too much ribald activities during the day. Night is ok, but please, pants during the day."
"People leaving stuff outside their cars. And meth."

We figured that the complaint about the leaving stuff is referring to the frequent occurrence in these parts of people "cleaning" out their cars and leaving their junk on the side of the road (or in our yard as the case may be). Personally, I have never had a problem with this, since someone else always comes by and picks it up within the hour.

Another contestant suggested as an improvement to have fountains filled with free Ninaski.

After the winner was crowned, local punk band Soothsayers played and a friend of ours met us down at Sam Bond's Garage and we stayed up real late listening to records.

I haven't had what I like to refer to as a "record party" in a LONG time. Record parties cannot start before midnight and/or at least three drinks.To give you some perspective, the two ladies I last had a record party now have children. One of them has two. And I am still having record parties. Sigh.

It's my birthday today.

xo pigeon xo

Ain't no Sunshine

I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey...

So, I have never been the most excited person about halloween. But in the spirit of others being excited, I thought I'd post the coolest song ever written that involves Halloween. I mean, how many times can you hear the monster mash (although I admit the first two times I heard it this year I realized it's a pretty neat song).


Not sure what is up with this video, apparently Ryan Adams is a weird little dude.

So I am sitting here getting ready for the radio show tonight and enjoying some Divine breakfast....

We are doing a rain theme tonight. It's part of my attempt to accept the inevitability of what is going to happen for the next seven or eight months. I said to my man this week, I don't know if I can do it. I lived through last winter and now I know what I am in for.... He reminded me of our friend who lived in Eugene for about a year who told us that he "did one year and when the rain started again, I had to get the hell out of Oregon." I guess it's the same in MT. The cold comes in and stays around forever. But I like the cold. The dry cold. I am freezing here in Eugene already and I don't think it gets below 30 degrees all winter. Oh, well. I hope I can make it. Four more of these winters. My wooden dresser drawers won't open and close. Everything feels damp. Our front door gets so swollen from the rain that we can't use it from now until May. Did you guys see that horror movie with the girl from Labyrinth that moved in the wet apartment? This is my life.

 My man says, maybe this winter there'll be snow.... I hope so. I dreamed three nights ago that F and I were looking at houses to buy in some strange city and it was snowing those big fluffy flakes in the gray sky and it was wonderful. I am not holding my breath. Anyway, because of the rain show I have been listening to some really fun stuff this morning.... and, yes, I am playing November Rain. F found his Use Your Illusion I down in the basement. He told me he bought it the day it came out.

I am not much of a dresserupper. The only thing I bought this year was bobby pins.

My man said I could wear a white robe. I said I'll wear a white shirt. That's about as festive as I can get. I wish F would be Han Solo.... oh, Han. But he has decided to be Magnum.

We went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live cast last night. Quite an interesting experience. There is a troupe of transvestites here in Eugene, there were probably 20 or 25. Being marked, and I mean physically marked with a huge lipstick V on my cheek, as a virgin (never seeing the movie with a live show) I had to get in front of the theater... I was sweating. I got off easily, having to only run through the tunnel of molestation.... it kind of reminded me of a grown up, perverted Happy Wheels when you have to skate through the tunnel of people... use your imagination here. My man tried to get out of it and was heckled until he was forced to participate. Other than that, and while the costumes and the passion were impressive, I got a little annoyed - I couldn't hear my favorite songs. I mean, I think that the songs are awesome enough. They are already funny, why change the lyrics and have 25 people yelling out over it? Also, really bummed to discover this morning that Over at the Frankenstein Place doesn't even mention rain so we can't put it in our show tonight.

We have three Halloween parties on the agenda for the next 24... I wonder if we'll make it to any. I have 54 short answer exams to grade. Happy Halloween my friends.

On My Block

"On my block, to hangout was the thang back then"

So, speaking of anticipation, we have been waiting for the Whiteaker Block Party for almost a year, since before we even realized we lived in a neighborhood called Whiteaker. When we first moved to Eugene and were strolling around our new digs, we often mentioned we were new. Almost everyone asked us “Where you here for the Block Party?” Mind you this event had been over a month before we got here, sometimes asked up to six months after it happened. We figured it must have been quite a party.

Whiteaker is the oldest neighborhood in Eugene and often described as “funky” – with both the good and the bad connotations. I have never really lived in a true neighborhood that had its own personality and vibe that was really distinct. I mean, we have our own logo.

I really love this neighborhood, although it can be a little rough around the edges (see aforementioned bimonthly car break-ins and occasional domestic "spats"). Even though giving my address to people is often met with a weird, snobby expression, I love me some Whit. Back in Missoula, my man and I contemplated renting a place for a few months to get the feel for the different neighborhoods before we settled on a place but instead dove headfirst into our little slice of home. 

Really, it's just a happy accident that our awesome realtor got a good feel for us in showing us like 50 houses in a 48 hour spree and found this place for us after we were back in cowboy country. Yeah, you may have heard that we bought our house sight unseen. I can now very confidently say: I know we would have picked Whiteaker. Apparently a lot of the other residents feel the same way about their hood and its never been more obvious than at the block party on Saturday. It makes me feel cheesy, but it makes you feel like a part of a real, vibrant and accepting community. Even if some of the residents just want "anything green helps." Cheers to everyone who organized this event and all the characters that make this place so french toast cool.

 Since my man had to work, it was just me and my trusty sidekick trying to find the Whiteaker parade in the morning. Sidenote: He got a flat on his bike on the way to work. The coworker who dropped him off after work said, and I quote, "Oh, you live in the transient neighborhood!" Nice. I hope that when we have to sell our house, the new buyers don't find this blog. Unless they are cool like us. Just in case they do, I swear, the Emerald Guard JUST called us "up and coming," who cares if the gist of the article was hoping that the revelers would refrain from the open containers in the streets this year. 

We didn't find the parade, I think that it might not have happened. But we had an Eddo burger and it was cool to see the people setting up. I wonder how one gets on the Whiteaker Cocktail Society, I need to become a member of this group. I saw two (1,2) men with hooks instead of hands. And I don't mean those functional useful hooks, these were just for badassness. One of the guys I see around a lot. He wears a Whiteaker leather jacket and his name is Lucky. 
*EDIT - his name is Lefty. 

The real fun didn't start until the evening when my man joined us.... 

The place where we are having our wedding reception is a big sponsor of the Block Party. Along with other favorite neighborhood businesses like Boozeweek and Ninkasi. 

Just us and our neighbors, closing down the street, milling around. 

Upon closer inspection, I think this dude's hair is real.

Probably just had his hair did. 

This place not decorated special for the block party. 

People in Eugene love stilts.

Lots of fun music, not even sure who these guys were, but the costumes were great. 

Major highlight of the night, Unkle Nancy performance with members of the Family Jewels. This guy was so into it. His big hit, ok the only one I had heard before, is a little brainwashing number called "I'm Not Crazy, You Are." He looked so overheated but he was so great. My other favorite was "If You Don't Drink Ninkasi..." he'll tell you all the bad things that will be happening to you soon, such as "No boys or girls will like you!" and "I'll get a knife and cut you!" Also, please note the flute player brandishing his instrument like a rifle. 

In the audience of that show I saw a girl in a bikini that HAD A RAT IN THE BRA TOP. I am not kidding. I didn't get a pic, but I saw one on Facebook today. 

wares for sale

I got me one, hot off the press!

My man accidently went into this house.... It's called the G Spot. But apparently it is also someone's normal residence. We learned the hard way. I mean, G Spot for a business would be weird enough.

Damn, why does this picture have to be blurry? And, who remembers Echo from Missoula? This guy totally reminded me of him. 

Medical emergency or easy way to get up and down the block?

In Eugene, people also like to build cool stuff and organize these huge parties to show off said cool stuff. 

Back to Territorial, what were you looking for?

Not these guys... I wish I could say I knew them, don't they look like they're having fun?

And the last thing, the fire show! It was amazing. I have never seen anything like it. 

They even had a little Charles Manson looking dude. 

"Oh my block, I wouldn't trade it for the world..."

EDIT: I should have waited until dusk to post. After his nightly dog walk, my man reported some suspicious behavior outside, described to me as "some guy trying on clothes that were in a shopping cart and then strewing them about the yard." Suffice to say, it was not the actual neighbor that lives in that house. Unfortunately, the model decided to start a fire, which led to resisting arrest, which led to his being taken away. Oh, all in a day's work.

Sometimes A Great Notion...

Yes, my friends, I am referring to the legendary Oregon Country Fair.

but first, some context.

It's been really hot around here. I want to be very, very clear that I am NOT complaining, just stating the facts. I will take the heat over the rain happily. Please, sir, can I have another?

It's been so hot that persistent inter-species disdain has become indifference and skirmishes have been (temporarily) suspended.

A sight to behold!

So I heard about the Oregon Country Fair when I was 16. I was on a backpacking trip in Oregon during summerbreak and when we stopped in civilization for showers and laundry and burritos, newspapers were really exciting. Mind you that we were out in the woods for about seven or so days at a time, so it wasn't like America added a new state or something while we were gone. But still, things happened and I have never been so interested in the newspaper before or since. Jerry Garcia died during one of the those brief retreats, but that's a whole nother sad story. I liked to fancy myself as something of a hippie (ha) back in those days, which is probably why this blurb about the OCF was so appealing to me at the time. I still remember the little black and white picture of Peaches, the parade-leading mascot of the event... now I have my own picture:

but, wait for it, I'm getting there....

So I have been intrigued about this event for 1/2 my days. Now that we are living in Eugene, we started to see the posters showing up around the Whit and actually thought to ourselves "Should we go?" Friends, WHAT WERE WE THINKING!? We almost didn't go.... why?

1) I no longer fancy myself to be something of a hippie.

2) I heard there was nudity and more...

3) I heard there were drugs 

4) No one could give me a straight answer about WHAT Oregon Country Fair actually is.... 

"Is it like a music festival?" There is music, but not really.

"So is it like a craft fair or one of those crazy renaissance thingers?" Umm, no I wouldn't say that...

"It's like a circus or a freak show?" Kind of. Elements of those things...

5) Did I mention it's hot here?

6) The night before we competed in a highly competitive Flip Cup Tourney.

Sadly, the #1 seated Jungle Savages (our team) were crushed in a stunning upset by To Catch A Predator. I have to admit that my performance may have been affected by the male gynecologist wearing a pink bob wig who was excessively heckling me yelling "PIGEON! PIGEON! PIGEON!" I am not even kidding either. Maybe it was because my keg cup had Pigeon written on it. Not only my dj name and blog pseudonym, but now also my official Flip Cup moniker. If you don't know about Flip Clip here you go:

Pigeon, 31 is too old to be playing drinking games you might say. Let me tell you, I shamefully admit that I like to add a competitive element to my drinking and it was super fun. I can't believe I forgot my camera, almost went home to get it. The next morning, I was so glad I didn't.

So anyway, needless to say, we were not fresh for the fair. But curiosity got the better of us and off we went.

Do you like how I tried to pretend I was taking a picture of my man, when I was really taking one of those people across the bus? I'm so sneaky!

The Oregon Country Fair has been around for 41 years. The extremely aggravating description that I kept getting from people was really true. It's not like anything you have ever seen. It's like Disneyworld. For hippies. Even more than having a great time, I left astounded about the necessary organization and teamwork that makes this beast possible. Look at the map! I didn't do this til I got on the bus and I thought, oh my god.

It's like 200+ acres with attendance close to 20,000 per day. Plus the 20,000 total volunteers to run and work at the fair. Seriously.
When the bus pulled in, there were dozens of volunteers along the way waving you in like you were their best friend they've been missing for a year. It seriously felt like how Floyd greets my man after he's been at work all day. But more excited.
In attempts to describe the 'undescribable" I'll stick to images mostly.

There was a little of this:

I'd say a couple hundred people involved in this parade...

This was billed as Siamese Twin Strip Magic Act

The crowd: Unfortunately, we were in the sunny group. 

This was one of the cooler costumes... those hipsters at Sasquatch were half-assed compared to these party-goers

This guy says to Frank "Unfortunately, I wrote this song." 

It was about aliens. 

Lots of this type of thing:

Some of this... Can you spot my man?

I did not see any agents from Child Protective Services....

This band was awesome Bucky Walters from Arcata CA. They ended with a bluegrass cover of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer!"

We saw the Gourds and Hot Buttered Rum too. 

So turns out the nudity part was true. I think that the orgies don't happen until late night... (just kidding!) All us normal ticket buying folks have to leave at 7pm, then the real party starts. I guess they have this thing called "the sweep" where the volunteers who get to stay hold hands and start at the back and literally sweep everyone out the exit. It takes about 2 hours for them to sweep the whole fair.

Another really cool thing is that I have a good friend from Missoula who has been going to the Fair for 23 years straight so I got to see her and go 'behind the scenes' a little bit.

That makes her an 'elder'

We didn't want to leave.

The crying gnomes were a very nice finishing touch.

"I'm going to miss you so much."

All in all, it was a wonderful event. All I hoped for and more.

Meanwhile, back at the old homestead.

I really, really, really hope our grass grows in before September. I do not want the 'aisle' for our backyard wedding to be a dirt path.

Please think grassy thoughts for me.