16th Leg: North Portland to Kenton Library

Date of run: April 18, 2014
Time: 3:30 pm
Temp: 58 degrees F (feels like 57)
Conditions: Partly cloudy, wind 8 mph
Distance: 2.1 miles out, 2.1 miles back (4.2 miles total)

Working diagonally north and west into far north Portland now; only one more stop at St. Johns before heading south back towards home after a few more libraries.



Heading east briefly on Killingsworth Street, I passed Jefferson High School on the left, and the PCC Cascadia campus on the right, noting some bricks peeking through the pavement, a glimpse into an earlier version of historical Portland.







And it looks like yet another food cart pod is coming, although this one isn't quite up and running yet: only one "cart" operating, with some empty buildings waiting to be occupied by...what specialties?





Turning north on Interstate Avenue, I saw octopi and swales, pins and rails...









As I came to a busy intersection at Lombard, I thought: "Anyone who needs this much instruction probably shouldn't be crossing here."



On Lombard, I came across my version of Ulysses' Sirens..."Heavenly" donuts. Strike celestial choir: "Aaaahhhhh." Like that literary hero though, I resisted, and soon arrived at the modest-on-the-outside, expansive arched inside, Kenton Library, where I made my selections: The Antlers, Boards of Canada, and the subtly-named Massive Moth.









Since I was in the neighborhood, I ran a couple of blocks north before heading back, to visit my old friend (same age as me) Paul Bunyan, a 35 foot statue that iPhone pictures really can't do justice.





As I started back, I took one more "arty" shot, using the light of the setting sun for an angelic cast on our old wood chopper.



Crossing back over I-5, I enjoyed running around this spiral pedestrian overpass. Why build a simple structure when you can make something ornate like this? I like it.



Turning south down Albina Avenue, I cut through Peninsula Park, with lots of play structures and happy kids, and on the other side of the park, the best rose garden in Portland with its central fountain. Too bad it's a little early for the big bloomin' show...





To quote Arnold, "Ah'll be back" for that.

_____

LAST WEEK'S MUSIC

VNV Nation, Futureperfect (2004)

Gary Numanesque vocals, but colder and less human, cast a bit of a bleak gloom over the synthesized proceedings. (These guys are from London, but not surprisingly they've achieved biggest success in Germany.) This song is one of the more upbeat. There's something about mixing astronaut samples that really works for me in rock songs. My other favorites are this, and this. FYI, "VNV" stands for "Victory Not Vengeance." OK then.



VNV Nation, Of Faith, Power And Glory (2009)

Ah, this is what I like to do. Listen to a band in its early days, then check back a few years later and see how they've developed, or hopefully, grown. In this case, five years hasn't much changed the VNV Nation sound or approach. Same mechanistic singing, electronic beats and synths, and a majority of songs that delve into the dark side of humanity. Tellingly though, the song I chose for this blog as an example of this album is this, a real anthem of sorts:

15th Leg: Albina to North Portland

Date of run: April 11, 2014
Time: 3:00 pm
Temp: 66 degrees F (feels like 64)
Conditions: Mostly sunny, wind 5 mph
Distance: 1.9 miles out, 2.0 miles back (3.9 miles total)

Another nice short run, with the obligatory flower gardens spotted early on:





I soon headed west on Failing Street (named after Henry Failing, who was ironically quite successful in life). And I saw a lot of Failing things, including...

A Failing stop sign:



A Failing sidewalk:



A Failing church:



A Failing house:



A Failing bike repair business:



And some Failing graffiti:



But enough of this; it was time to get Going (north on Vancouver Ave), here comes Sumner!





Arriving at the North Portland branch, I admired the nice brick work and lamps of the outside, and inside old-school architectural features such as an ornate ceiling with large hanging lights.





Found two CDs of interest, as usual from the eye-catching cover artwork. This time, two albums by the same band, released five years apart. A chance to track growth by an artist over time.



Leaving the library, I headed east on Killingsworth and observed a cool tall sign (McMenamins), a coffee shop with a questionable name (not sure what's in those brownies on the counter), and a community center (which I think was the inpiration for both Portlandia's "feminist book shop" and the phrase "Put a bird on it").







Killingsworth is also home to at least one very old, defunct gas station (check that price per gallon!), as well as some political signs (though I think this should have read "Rainin' water bills!").





My favorite part of this run though? Easily this: a painting on the side of a house that took three pictures to capture (including a fourth for the signature). Creative and beautiful:









_____

LAST WEEK'S MUSIC

Little Dragon, Machine Dreams (2009)

"Icy electro-pop?" Not always. Especially on this song, which exudes depth and feeling. Not my "new favorite band" but I like it, a lot:




Wild Beasts, Smother (2011)

This band summary on Allmusic really lured me in: "Afrobeat and rockabilly infused '00s post-punk lent circus surrealism by Hayden Thorpe's rich falsetto and arcane lyrics." Unfortunately, I didn't find the music on this album anywhere near this description. And I'm afraid I fall on the latter side of "love/hate" regarding the falsetto style vocals, though the music is of high quality and well played:

14th Leg: Belmont to Albina Library

Date of run: April 4, 2014
Time of run: 4:00 pm
Temp: 61 degrees F (feels like 60)
Conditions: Cloudy with sunbreaks, wind 2 mph
Distance: 3.5 miles out, 3.6 miles back (7.1 miles total)

Nice 7 mile run, just about right for my half marathon training schedule.



The first thing you see as you step out of the Belmont Library is some cool art.



This week, instead of showing photos in order, I'm grouping by theme. I saw signs of city infill, both during, and after:





And there were interesting houses, both small and large:





Another two overpasses, one showing the mass of cars/people gettin' out of Dodge on a Friday afternoon, and the other showing the Light Rail track and just how lower it is in comparison to the highway at this point:





There were schools, Grant and Beverly Cleary. (And how great is it that a school was renamed after a local author?)





This is Knott, the right street, to turn left. (That is, it IS the correct street to turn west.)



As for today's desination, the Albina branch, well, it's located next to (actually physically connected to) a Whole Foods store, which is a little weird. This place really has become gentrified in a big way. The library itself is quite small, but looks to have a lot of customers.



What you see inside in these two pics is what you get, no little nooks or quiet spaces here.





Grabbed two CDs that looked intriguing from the cover artwork:



Saw some more interesting buildings, the first some kind of apartments I think, and the second a store (or combination of stores). LOVE the colors.





And everywhere, still, spring sproinging out and making everything beatiful. Ah spring, my second favorite season of the year. If only I could somehow get the smells of these plants as I run past them on this blog! A real olfactory treat. And I feel VERY lucky not to have seasonal allergy issues!







_____

LAST WEEK'S MUSIC

Thin Lizzy, Fighting (2012 Deluxe Edition)(1975)

Wow, what a find! I'm a big Thin Lizzy fan, and appreciate that Lizzy and leader Phil Lynott (RIP) are WAY more than "The Boys Are Back In Town," with a big discography and a bunch of great deep cuts in the catalog. I've collected the deluxe reissues of several earlier albums but this one had eluded me, and after several years' of release date delays I'd given up on seeing this one. But boom, at the Belmont Library on this sunny Friday, here it was. Sweet! I finally got to hear bonus tracks such as this, showing further depth in the Thin Lizzy sound and style than most classic rock fans are aware:




The Teardrop Explodes, Kilimanjaro (1980)

This was on the shelf right next to Thin Lizzy. Hm, Teardrop Explodes...love the name...I recall them being name-checked by various critics over the years...AHA yes! Julian Cope, singer/hallucinogenic explorer/agitator/general ranter at the moon. I've heard his solo stuff but somehow never traced him back to this, his first band. This debut album came out in 1980, and as the video shows, had elements of new wave (still gaining a foothold in the mainstream) while something harder edged than most new wave fare. Well, I liked the album okay, but I can sure see why Julian had to go solo after a couple of years. He simultaneously became a less commercial but much more compelling artist.