Time Difference: -17 hours (from Brisbane)
Soundtrack: Have a guess.
Currently Inspired by: Have another guess.
Words written: 89,502. Again, see below.
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| Marina |
Portland is strangely wonderful, and wonderfully
strange. “Keep Portland Weird” bumper
stickers, Naked bike races, an Adult Hide and Seek League, Pirate Festivals and
Yarn Bombing (an illegal but rarely prosecuted form of “graffiti” created by draping
colourful knitted fabrics around trees, public benches etc) all contribute to the
creation of the deliciously odd sub culture that exists beneath the city’s
idyllic suburban exterior. All the
teeth-achingly sweet people I encountered while staying there began to take on
a suspicious sheen of weirdness. I began
to stare at everyone through narrowed slits, convinced they were about to start
miaowing at me, or covering me in glitter and telling me I could fly now. On the trams, a notorious hang out for
crazies in even the most sedate city, I encountered a man who attempted to gift
me with a poster he had won at a B Movie Bingo Night, a older gentleman in a suit
who farted loudly and then collapsed into a fit of incontrollable giggles and
of course a whole bunch of mad barbershoppers who insisted on singing at
everyone who got on - oh, wait. That was
me. Speaking of which...
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| New champs - Ringmasters |
BARBERSHOP! Ahhh, my
heart is so full. I have been to
conventions before, but this was my first international contest and it was
truly extraordinary. To begin with,
being in a room with thousands of talented male singers is no hardship on the
old eyes. I had to remind myself on a
few occasions that I was there for the SINGING.
One would think that in a room like that they would only sell half the
seats in order to fit the egos in as well, but there were surprisingly few
jerks around. A handful of the younger
guys strutted around the place like they were Mr Barbershop, obviously self
important and painfully aware of any attention they were getting. The real Mr Barbershops however - truly
talented champs and veterans of the craft - were to the last humble,
approachable and genuinely lovely people.
The ones that I met anyway, and that was quite a few. Let it not be said that I wasted the
opportunity to meet some of my heroes! It
was such a relief to discover that they were nice guys to boot.
One perfect example of this is the email I sent to a man by
the name of Michael Slamka, lead of my favourite active quartet Crossroads and
owner of one of the most exquisite voices I have ever heard. Click here to hear a ballad by Crossroads
that will change your life. It was just
a little “thank you for the music” email, saying how wonderful it was to meet
him and how much it meant to me to hear my favourite song Lucky Old Sun live,
and also I asked if they were ever going to make their albums available on
iTunes as I went to buy it in the marketplace and it had already closed down by
the time I got there. I had a response
within ten minutes saying that it was also lovely to meet me, and could I
please give him my address so he could send me a CD. Exhausted and emotional, I burst into tears
for about the tenth time that week after reading that email. What a diamond!
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| Alliance (photo by Shawn York) |
One of the best things about being present in person was
that I was able to give some support to my friends from Perth, our national champion
quartet Alliance who were there to represent us. Not only was it wonderful to see and hang out
with them again but they really did our country proud on that stage. It can be difficult for non-Americans to master
the art of barbershop, because it is such an American tradition, and the best
coaches and resources are all in the US.
However, our guys acquitted themselves beautifully, and one of the best “I’ll
remember that forever” moments I had was just sitting around with them on their
last night, as we chatted and every now again they broke into a song in four
part harmony, softly and beautifully. I’d
be lying if I said I didn’t get a little tear in my eye then as well. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, and I’m
quite wrung out. You can see pics from the contest by clicking here.
It was with no small amount of cynicism that I listened to
my hosts (TNPITW) talk about how good the pizzas were at this little place near
their house. “I’ve just spent nearly six
weeks in Italy”, I scoffed silently. “I
don’t think I should bother trying pizza anywhere else.” My pizza arrived and I sniffed at it rather
dubiously, convinced that it would somehow manage to be both bland and
overstated like most non-Italian pizzas now seem to me. Well.
It wasn’t quite as good as the famous pizzas we had in Naples, but it
was easily equivalent to every other pizza I had in Italy, which was a delicious
surprise. I am now looking forward to
trying New York pizza as well! Also divine
was a selection of seafood dishes we grabbed from a bar menu yesterday. When I commented on the quality of the food I
had tried in the city I was advised that Portland is a food town, a wine town
and most definitely a beer town, with many of its own breweries. I can’t speak to the wine or the beer (unless
you count root beer, which is delicious in its own non-alcoholicy way) but I
can definitely attest to the food!
In a town where you can actually take a class to become a “Master
of Recycling” (seriously), the streets are unsurprisingly clean and free of
litter. Even the larger than usual
numbers of homeless people around seem tidier and better fed than those in
other cities. A big undeveloped belt of
forest, 20 miles long and 8 miles wide, actually begins within the city limits
and contains several delightful walking trails, one of which we tried. On the way to the entrance of this national
preserve is a huge and stunning rose garden full of drowsy blooms in every
colour and size, velvety petals filling the air with that languid sweetness
that only roses in large numbers can generate.
It has a dreamy quality to it, and my memory of strolling through the heavy
blooms in the warm sunshine has taken on a fuzzy, slow motion quality. The most endearing thing about Portland is
the generous social and environmental consciousness of its citizens, may it
never fade! It’s what keeps the place “weird”,
but also what keeps it beautiful and still more in touch with nature than most
urban spaces I have visited.
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| Chris on the bike |
I was very excited to take a motorbike ride through the city
and up into the hills yesterday to see more of the lush forest, and indeed it
was an interesting and exhilarating experience, until we got back down into
downtown on the way home and the jacket I had taken off in the sunshine slipped
down, got caught and locked up the back wheel, stopping us dead. In just two seconds of carelessness I managed to
nearly kill my host and I, stop a tram and all the traffic behind it in downtown
Portland while we cut it out of the wheel, and destroy a 20 year old leather
jacket that belonged to my hostess. Not
bad for a days’ work. All I can say is
we are both fortunate (and both still alive, in all probability) because it
happened while we going slowly downtown and not flying along the freeway or
taking those curves up on the mountain. Unfortunately
a day that would in all other respects have been considered a highlight was
marred by this experience, and will be forever in my memory. How fragile life is! I have always had these annoying mixed
feelings with regard to bikes: I really really love going on the back of them
but I think they are stupid and dangerous and I never want my friends to own
one. The purest form of ambivalence. (Or hypocrisy).
I have photos of the food, of the views, the forest and Rose Garden.
However these are on my new phone and it is not a smart phone, literally
or in any sense really, and I can't get them off. My camera went for a
swim in a water bottle that spilled in my handbag so I went for a day
without one before I could go shopping. Until I figure it out, you can see the very very few photos I do have of Portland here.
This is it now.
Crunch time. The last leg of my tour has arrived, and I am heading to
New York today to become a total cliché and try my luck. Obviously with the last several weeks having
mum and Laura over, and then spending entire days and nights until the wee
hours of barbershop, I have been unable to complete the first draft of my
novel. However I am close, very
close. I estimate about 5,000 words kind
of close, and this I am aiming to have completed by Saturday of this week,
ready to send out for feedback on Sunday.
Wish me luck! By the way I am typing this up in a cafe, and I asked my
server “what do you think the weirdest thing about Portland is?” and he said “How
environmentally conscious everyone is.
You can’t even chop down a tree in your yard without having activists
all over it, and there are people in the airport who are employed just to go
through your trash to make sure it is recycled correctly”. So there.
Straight from the horse’s mouth!
Til Next We Speak
*LOVE*
N
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