OVO

Trevor Blake: Bearing Service Co.

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:22:30 +0000

1040 NW Everett St. Portland, OR 97209

Bearing Service Company was founded in 1929. The Bearing Service Company building was built in 1945. Above the entryway there is a Deco style sign and round overhang. The round overhang is completed in it’s reflection in the front window. At the base of the column supporting the overhang there is a circle drawn in the sidewalk. The round overhang, column and circle form two wheels and an axle, a good match for an automotive business.

See Portland Memorials for thousands of memorials in downtown Portland, Oregon USA.

Music: Aeolian Piano Roll – “Phantom Patrol” (1903)

Ian MacEwan and Jason Leivian: The Yankee

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:52:12 +0000

Ian MacEwan (aka popjellyfish) has published his online comic The Yankee.

The Yankee is a dumb American. He’s Cosmo Vitelli. He’s Prince Rogers Nelson. He’s a Richard Pryor monologue. Psychedel-economic fiction set in the Nation States of America.

See Ian’s previous work in OVO 20 JUVEN(a/i)LIA for Evil Eye by Hakim Bey.

Trevor Blake: SOPA / PIPA Blackout, Left and Right

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:23:15 +0000

I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech [...] I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant . – H. L. Mencken

Wikipedia:

In carrying out this protest, is Wikipedia abandoning neutrality?

We hope you continue to trust Wikipedia to be a neutral information source. We are staging this blackout because (as Wikimedia Foundation Trustee Kat Walsh said recently), although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence is not. For over a decade, Wikipedians have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Wikipedia is a tremendously useful resource, and its existence depends upon a free, open and uncensored Internet. SOPA and PIPA (and other similar laws under discussion inside and outside the United States) will hurt you, because they will make it impossible for sites you enjoy, and benefit from, to continue to exist. That’s why we’re doing this.

Today, 18 January 2012, a number of the websites I read have made their content inaccessible or difficult to access in protest of two proposed laws in the United States. These laws (Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act) seem likely to have a chilling effect on the internet. If I’m understanding these laws correctly, my linking to a site that in turn links to a site found to be in violation of copyright laws would get me in trouble as well as the site I link to. As I am unable to monitor the content of the sites I link to in my 19,100+ blog posts, I may unknowingly be in violation of these laws when all I wanted to do was point out a funny video or an interesting article.

I make it a point to read across the political spectrum. This is my greatest hope to foster ongoing critical thinking, and often I learn of laws or events from one side of the sausage factory that the other side of the sausage factory is silent about. That silence may be based on ignorance or it may be a willful silence. Whatever the reason, I am not diminished by taking in more information.

I note that the SOPA / PIPA blackout is not common to sites that are likely to self-identify as ‘not-left.’ I use the vague term ‘not-left’ deliberately. My compilation of this list is no claim that these sites are of a kind, aside from a likelihood they would not identify as being on the political left. How far not-left they are, how that is manifest, varies. The sites I list below are not necessarily aware of or in agreement with each other. I am certain that some of them are antagonistic to each other. Inclusion in this list is not at all a claim that anyone on this list agrees with or is aware of anyone else on this list. I have looked at each of these sites at least briefly, and I can say that I also do not agree with the entire content of each one. The problem with SOPA / PIPA is it applies the contagion theory to information: if I link to a site, I’m guilty of what that site contains. If you think my linking to these sites contaminates me, then I suggest you speak out in favor of SOPA / PIPA – and reconsider reading my site any more, lest you yourself be contaminated. At the same time, I caution the reader that some of the following sites are factually incorrect, mean spirited, possibly illegal outside the United States, discriminatory and almost certainly not to be read at work. To the best of my ability, I have confirmed that these sites all reside in the United States.

The Occupy movement in the United States has been allowed months of free speech, then had it taken away. American Renaissance has been denied a single second of public meeting time for two years. Occupy is decidedly ‘not-right’ and American Renaissance is decidedly ‘not-left,’ but both share the thirst for freedom of speech and association. All ‘not-left’ sites are at risk from SOPA / PIPA. But few ‘not-left’ sites are participating in the blackout today.

Not-Left Sites Critical of SOPA / PIPA:

Antiwar.com
Apocalypse Cometh
At Liberty at Leisure
Beast
Hawaiian Libertarian
HBD Chick
Rhymes With Cars & Girls
Stares at the World
Veritas Aculeus
View From The Right [Revision at 11:27pm PST 1/27/2012: added]

Not-Left Sites Not Discussing SOPA / PIPA

Daniel Rafatpanah – I Tasted the Blood of My Enemy in My Mouth

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:16:07 +0000

Kate Mather, The Oregonian:

Daniel Rafatpanah thought he was going to die. A jittery gunman was marching the 29-year-old and two of his Southeast Portland housemates upstairs to the attic, a handgun aimed at their backs. None of them knew the man, who demanded Popsicles and alcohol before taking them hostage Monday afternoon. But when he placed the gun under his foot to change into a new pair of pants, they knew it was their only chance. “Everything’s in slow-mo, and I’m like, ‘It’s go time.’ It’s time to fight this guy,” Rafatpanah said.

Jonathan Mooney, 26, bearhugged the gunman from behind. Robert Steinfeld, 21, broke a beer bottle over his head. And Rafatpanah started throwing punches, his hands bloodied by the shattered glass. Everyone reached for the gun as the man fell. The man fired a shot as the struggle continued. Rafatpanah’s right hand got sliced open by the gun’s mechanism, and blood poured everywhere.

A neck hold wasn’t working. Not knowing what else to do, Rafatpanah bit the man’s ear. “Let go of the gun, let go of the gun!” he yelled through clamped teeth. “Let go of my ear!” the gunman responded. The two tore apart, and Rafatpanah spat out a bean-sized piece of ear.

“I tasted the blood of my enemy in my mouth,” he said. “And so at that point you realize the stakes have gone so much higher because blood is being drawn – my blood, his blood.”

Rafatpanah lunged toward the gun and wrestled it away.

Article continues, with video.

Previously at OVO:

Trevor Blake: Time Machine (after The Invisibles by Grant Morrison). June 2011. Model: Danny Chaoflux.

Trevor Blake at the Curiosity Club 7 February 2012

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:04:03 +0000

Tuesday 7 February 2012
6:00pm to 7:00pm PST (GMT+8)

Hand-Eye Supply
23 NW 4th Ave
Portland, OR, 97209

503.575.9769
Regular Hours: Monday-Sunday: 12pm – 6pm PST (GMT+8)

Trevor Blake: The Sound of the Hammer Greets You on Every Side: Portland Memorials

Between 2009 and 2011 Trevor walked the length and breadth of downtown Portland. When he found a memorial, he transcribed what it said and where it was. Portland Memorials includes all the memorials in downtown Portland. The book is entered this book into the public domain for the same reason Joseph Shemanski gave Portland the Shemanski Fountain: “to express in small measure gratitude for what the city has done for me.” Trevor will discuss the book and the remarkable memorials he found while writing it.

Trevor Blake was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and moved to Portland in 1992. He works as a freelance sign language interpreter. Besides Portland Memorials, he is the publisher of OVO (1987 – present); author of The Buckminster Fuller Bibliography; contributor to The Journal of Ride Theory Omnibus (Portland, JORT 2003); In Extremis (Athens, Survival Kit 1994); Pozdravi iz Babilona (Ljubljana, KRT 1987); and the literature of the Church of the SubGenius.

Hand-Eye Supply

Curiosity Club

Curiosity Club Streaming Video

Portland Memorials
144 pages, 8.5 x 11, $15.00
Thousands of memorials in Portland, Oregon.
[Information] [Print] [Kindle]

Trevor Blake: Floating Bathtub Stopper

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:55:53 +0000

Trevor Blake: Floating Bathtub Stopper. Corks, chain, stopper. 2010.

Trevor Blake: Architecture of Occupy Portland

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:21:27 +0000

Trevor Blake: Architectural Detail of Occupy Portland. 11/11/11. Portland Oregon USA. Public Domain.

More public domain photographs of Occupy Portland by Trevor Blake here.

Trevor Blake: The Liberty Ships

admin — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:14:59 +0000

The USS Oregon was launched in 1893 and served until 1919. The battleship’s crew saw action in five wars. The Oregon was scrapped in 1956. The bow, mast and anchor chain of the Oregon are in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, near SW Pine and Naito. One mile north is the Albers Mill Building. The smokestacks of the Oregon were in a Liberty Ship memorial park where this parking lot is now. The Willamette River Greenway Trail runs next to the Building. Walk along it until you find a wall running into the Willamette River. On the other side of this wall are the remains of some Liberty Ships that had been made in Portland. This is what remains of the Liberty Ship memorial park.

Music: Aeolian Piano Roll – Phantom Patrol (1903)

Learn of thousands of other memorials in Portland Memorials by Trevor Blake.

Trevor Blake: Merry Christmas 2011!

admin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:59:39 +0000

Oscar the Grouch: I Hate Christmas [youtube].

Eric Idle: Fuck Christmas [youtube].

Fear: Fuck Christmas [youtube].

The Attery Squash: Santa’s Laughter Mocks The Poor [youtube].

The Rudy Schwartz Project: A Sandwich for Adolph [youtube].

Current 93: Happy Birthday Pigface Christus [youtube]

Rex Martin – Holidays are Coming [vimeo]

See also our extended Story of the First Christmas from 2009.

Lisa Loving: ‘Portland Memorials’ Lists City Histories Depicted in Park Benches, Fountains, and More

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:14:05 +0000

Portland writer Trevor Blake’s book, Portland Memorials, is a compilation of historical markers to be found by walking through the downtown area. Sound simple? Consider that the author must at some points have practically crawled on his hands and knees to transcribe dates and names from the thousands of “plaques, buildings, statues, benches and fountains” that were grist for his investigations. He even discovered that a few memorials touching on Black history were likely thrown into the Willamette River. The Skanner News traded electronic letters with Blake to get his story on how, and why, Portland has chosen to remember its past.

The Skanner News: Trevor what made you want to put this book together?

Trevor Blake: I wrote Portland Memorials for three reasons. The first reason is an echo of one of the memorials found in the book. The Shemanski Fountain is located at the north end of the South Park Blocks. It was a gift to the city by Portland shopkeeper Joseph Shemanski (1869-1951) in 1926. Shemanski gave the fountain to the city “to express in small measure gratitude for what the city has done for me.” And that is exactly the reason I have written Portland Memorials. I moved to Portland in 1992 and the city has given me as many opportunities, experiences and challenges as anyone could ask for. The second reason is writing a book is a good way to learn a subject, and I wanted to learn more about the architecture and history of Portland. The third reason is it provided some good exercise for the legs and the brain.

TSN: How did you research it, how many memorials are contained in it, and how long did it take?

Blake: I researched Portland Memorials the old fashioned way: I used my feet and my eyes. Over a three year period I walked around every block in downtown Portland, usually two or three times, and whenever I found a memorial I wrote down what it said and where it was using a pencil and paper. No special training or equipment was needed. There are a few websites and books that might have helped but I decided to see for myself what was there, and in doing so I’ve documented many thousands of memorials that are found in no other resource. I thought it would be a fine project for a Summer and include a few hundred items. It is a fine project, but it took three years and includes thousands of names. The best way to find a particular memorial is to look in the index, then find that page, then go to that memorial.

TSN: Can you talk a little bit about the Portland memorials that touch on the African American experience here?

BLAKE: I’m glad you asked this question. One of the most lively memorials downtown is for the Golden West Hotel at 707 NW Everett. This hotel was owned and frequented by African Americans from the early 1900s onward. Of all the memorials I found, this is the only one that includes photographs, text and a recording – the blind can enjoy and learn from this memorial, making it accessible to even more Portland citizens. The Walk of the Heroines on the campus of Portland State University includes the name of nearly thirty Black women civil rights pioneers. Strangely enough, there are three civil war cannons in downtown Portland. Two are in Lownsdale Square and were taken from Fort Sumter, the third was melted down and made into the church bell of First Presbyterian Church. There are some sidewalk plaques in the Old Town area that honor how the Chinese community has interacted with other communities, and one of them (on NW Flanders between 3 and 4) talks about how the Chinese and African American community mingled at the Royal Palm Hotel. There used to be a memorial park downtown dedicated to the Liberty Ships built by many African American workers in Portland during World War Two, but when that property was converted to condominiums most of what was in the park was thrown into the Willamette River.

TSN: What do you want to come from this book?

BLAKE: I want people to read about a memorial and go see it for themselves. Not to read about it and forget it, not look it up online, but to go see it for themselves. It’s a reminder that each of us will just be a memory some day and that we’d best make hay while the sun shines.

TSN: What’s the most important thing about this town that you hope people take away from reading Portland Memorials?

BLAKE: Portland has preserved much of its history, and that can’t be said about many cities. Sometimes the preservation was by design of the city leaders, but often it was the efforts of individuals. In the 1950s many older buildings were torn down for being old fashioned. The decorative iron work on the sides of some of these buildings was, shall we say, ‘privately preserved’ by individuals who couldn’t stand to see the art destroyed. Decades later, when Portland again appreciated its history, these works were returned to the city and can be seen in the Saturday Market area. I hope Portland Memorials is read for years to come by those who care about our city’s history.

TSN: Is there a website or other place people can access your book, or any other of your writings?

BLAKE: My book can be purchased in print or for Kindle at this address http://ovo127.com/ovo/ , where there is also a free sample chapter to download.

Originally published by The Skanner News on 19 December 2011. Many thanks to Lisa and The Skanner.