Really enjoyed this. Glad to have it confirmed from you (and your esteemed writer chum!) that Portland really does have a distinct feel to it, that it's not just one of those situations where parochial residents of one city decide that their home is unique and distinct based on [features found in half a dozen other towns within a fifty mile radius]. Makes me feel much warmer to the idea of the city having its own themed sitcom.
On that: Portlandia was co-created by and co-starred Carrie Brownstein, who for me is 'better known for other work' as guitarist and songwriter for the magisterial Sleater-Kinney. I never bothered watching the show, and in my mind it was just a bit of a fun fact: 'did you know that Carrie Brownstein made a sitcom?' But then I met some of Rachel's American friends, who were in exactly the opposite situation: they knew Carrie Brownstein as the woman from Portlandia, a show they were gigantic fans of, and for them the fun fact was 'did you know Carrie Brownstein was in a rock band?'; they had not bothered listening to Sleater-Kinney. It's always interesting to learn how what counts as trivia in your life is actually a core piece of information in someone else's, and vice-versa.
Thank you! Fascinating—I indeed hadn't heard of Sleater-Kinney either. Interesting to think of someone out there only knowing of Ronald Reagan as an actor, Bob Dylan as a metalworker, etc, as one of those law of averages demonstrations...
I haven't watched that much Portlandia but I think the two main actors work very well as a cursed comedic duo.
Lord Byron (who is the subject of this week's upcoming Her Fingers Bloomed post—stay tuned!) is a Greek national hero, but translations of his poetry into Greek are close to impossible to find. One author translated parts of Don Juan and Childe Harold back in the 80s but her work is now out of print, and reportedly not well-represented in second hand bookshops; and most of his work has just never appeared in Greek. I'd not be surprised if many Greeks think of him as a national hero who, incidentally, wrote a few poems that they don't know. Maybe even some Greeks don't know he wrote poems at all. That might be the most extreme example I can think of?
For Sleater-Kinney, if you're looking at the culture of the Pacific Northwest, I think you owe it to yourself to give some of their stuff a listen! Start with Dig Me Out (if you like more stripped-back punk-y rock) or The Woods (if you like your heavier rock with more distortion). They do a lot of counterpoint in both the guitars and the vocals—indeed, they don't have a bassist, with the low-end provided by the interplay of the guitars.* Corin Tucker is a fantastically powerful vocalist, 'Sympathy' is probably her best performance in my view.
*Except on 'It's Enough', where the guitar parts were written quite high and they realised they needed to fill out the bottom end, and decided (brilliantly) to use a droning saxophone.
Really enjoyed this. Glad to have it confirmed from you (and your esteemed writer chum!) that Portland really does have a distinct feel to it, that it's not just one of those situations where parochial residents of one city decide that their home is unique and distinct based on [features found in half a dozen other towns within a fifty mile radius]. Makes me feel much warmer to the idea of the city having its own themed sitcom.
On that: Portlandia was co-created by and co-starred Carrie Brownstein, who for me is 'better known for other work' as guitarist and songwriter for the magisterial Sleater-Kinney. I never bothered watching the show, and in my mind it was just a bit of a fun fact: 'did you know that Carrie Brownstein made a sitcom?' But then I met some of Rachel's American friends, who were in exactly the opposite situation: they knew Carrie Brownstein as the woman from Portlandia, a show they were gigantic fans of, and for them the fun fact was 'did you know Carrie Brownstein was in a rock band?'; they had not bothered listening to Sleater-Kinney. It's always interesting to learn how what counts as trivia in your life is actually a core piece of information in someone else's, and vice-versa.
Thank you! Fascinating—I indeed hadn't heard of Sleater-Kinney either. Interesting to think of someone out there only knowing of Ronald Reagan as an actor, Bob Dylan as a metalworker, etc, as one of those law of averages demonstrations...
I haven't watched that much Portlandia but I think the two main actors work very well as a cursed comedic duo.
Lord Byron (who is the subject of this week's upcoming Her Fingers Bloomed post—stay tuned!) is a Greek national hero, but translations of his poetry into Greek are close to impossible to find. One author translated parts of Don Juan and Childe Harold back in the 80s but her work is now out of print, and reportedly not well-represented in second hand bookshops; and most of his work has just never appeared in Greek. I'd not be surprised if many Greeks think of him as a national hero who, incidentally, wrote a few poems that they don't know. Maybe even some Greeks don't know he wrote poems at all. That might be the most extreme example I can think of?
For Sleater-Kinney, if you're looking at the culture of the Pacific Northwest, I think you owe it to yourself to give some of their stuff a listen! Start with Dig Me Out (if you like more stripped-back punk-y rock) or The Woods (if you like your heavier rock with more distortion). They do a lot of counterpoint in both the guitars and the vocals—indeed, they don't have a bassist, with the low-end provided by the interplay of the guitars.* Corin Tucker is a fantastically powerful vocalist, 'Sympathy' is probably her best performance in my view.
*Except on 'It's Enough', where the guitar parts were written quite high and they realised they needed to fill out the bottom end, and decided (brilliantly) to use a droning saxophone.
Really interesting read ,thouroughly enjoyable , alarming in places and very witty in others.
Thank you!