SYP Says

Organic Vodka by Cascade Peak Spirits

My landlord, Diane Paulson, is a cool chick. She and her fiance, David Eliasen, recently opened Cascade Peak Spirits, a micro distillery brewing organic vodka in my current home away from home, Ashland, Oregon.

Cascade Peak Spirits is the first organic distillery in Oregon making the first organic vodka, gin and whisky in the state.

Their first product is called Organic Nation Vodka and everything is handcrafted from the bottling to the labeling. When I went to renew my lease, I got to try it out. In a blind taste test vs Grey Goose and Square One (another organic vodka...albeit far inferior), we found Organic Nation Vodka was way better. No joke--it was smoother and more refined.

Right now, Diane and David are getting their pure spirits from a distillery in Idaho and then filtering it about six times. However, they've planted two acres of rye that will be ready for harvest in the fall.

For more info, check out their Web site at CascadePeakSpirits.com or email them at spirits@cascadepeakspirits.com . Send them ideas for new flavors too (my fingers are crossed for a Yuzu-flavored vodka which would totally rock). You can also read the May features on their new enterprise at Ashland Daily Tidings and The Mail Tribune.

Most importantly, buy their vodka! It's Oregon's first organic liquor, so support it. It's available, upon request, at all Oregon liquor stores and coming soon to Washington and Northern California. You can also request it at a bar or restaurant.

Locally, it is available at Ashland Liquor Store (40 Lithia Way, 541-482-4258) and West Main Liquor and Stevens Street Liquor stores in Medford. In Portland, Organic Nation Vodka is available at Pearl Specialty (900 NW Lovejoy, 503-477-8604). 

Mail-In Voting in Oregon

What was previously a somewhat little-known fact about Oregon, is suddenly front page news. Oregon is the first and only state in the U.S. to do all of its elections by mail. (And for once, Oregon's vote actually counted!) This totally makes sense to me. Oregon is very independent and likes to do its own thing. It has a low population relative to the size of the state, so not only would mail-in voting save money, but given the wide expanse, it's much more convenient (who wants to drive 2 hours through the mountains to place their vote?).

This was a new experience for me though. I have always gone to a voting booth and in NYC, the lines are always crazy long. While it was admittedly a bit of a pain, I also liked the interactivity of that process--leaving work early, grabbing a coffee, talking politics while standing in line. So it was really strange to find out a few weeks ago that I would be required to mail in my vote.

Filling out the ballot was sort of like taking an SAT test. While it took away some of the fun of the process for me, it also made me much more diligent about voting for offices I would have frankly ignored in the past. (Granted, even with the booklet I was sent, I did have to pick a couple of county candidates based on their hair in the picture and how funny their name sounded, but I swear I only did that twice. C'mon, don't tell me you've never done that.)

Anyway, I was proud of how it all turned out. Medford actually went to Obama!

Per the Associated Press, with 94% of the vote counted in Oregon, Obama was winning by a 59-41% margin. Obama won Oregon with the support of men and young people, but also found plenty of votes from blue-collar workers who have been the staple of Clinton victories in other states, according to surveys of voters. As a group, only those making less than $30,000 a year and those over 65 favored Clinton. Women were evenly divided between Obama and Clinton, but men voted for Obama 2-to-1.

New York Bagels in Southern Oregon!

Finally! Real New York bagels in Southern Oregon. Ahuva Bagel Company recently opened in West Medford (2386D West Main Street in the Albertson's Shopping Center, 541-776-2245).

We drove by a few months ago and were intrigued, but dubious. We stopped in this past weekend and immediately upon walking in, grilled the owner.

So...what exactly makes your bagels real New York bagels? They're boiled, he says. OK, he passed the first test. Then, when I asked him if he was going to have bialys, he said it was definitely possible. He got points just for knowing what bialys were (although he dropped a point for not having an everything bagel). If he had a true "regular coffee" and was using NYC tap water, we'd really be in business.

No offense to the Little Shop of Bagels and the Key of C Coffeehouse, but in general, I have had some truly god-awful bagels since I left NYC and moved to Ashland, Oregon. (Steamed bagels...what is this world coming to???) So, all hail Ahuva. This displaced New Yorker suddenly feels a little better about her current home away from home.

You say projector, I say projector

Recently, I had some vendors in for important presentations at work. Our office didn't have enough room given the number of participants and the duration (I had six four-hour presentations over several days), so I decided to book a conference room in one of the local hotels. We chose the Ramada Convention Center in Medford and when we made the reservation, we had a pretty simple request--just a speakerphone, a projector, and an internet connection.

We showed up an hour ahead of time  and found that the speakerphone was from about 20 years ago (it was basically an '80s home phone that happened to have a speaker) and there was no projector. I called the manager and she said she hadn't been told we needed one.

By this point it's about 15 minutes until the meeting needed to start and I'm panicking. The vendor is there, participants are starting to show up and call in (of course, we can hardly hear them).

The manager then says she does have a projector...an OVERHEAD projector. All talking in the room ceased. Long pause.

"...What's an overhead projector...?" I ask.

She gives me a strange look. "It has this arm and a lamp and you put transparencies on it."

"Like from when I was five?" I say incredulously. "Don't you have a projector that, you know, plugs into a laptop?"

"No, we don't have any like that."

"Well, I don't think we can put a 20G powerpoint presentation on transparencies!"

We ended up calling the office in a panic and getting a video projector from work. We also brought our own speakerphone the next day given the entire first presentation probably sounded like we were talking into a tin can.

Lesson learned. When you live kinda in the middle of nowhere, never assume anything.

On a positive note, the people at the Ramada were really lovely and helpful the entire time. I would use them again...I would just bring my own equipment!

If you are actually looking for a projector (the real kind), check out Projector Central or any electronics store.

Or, find out more about projectors because they are just that fascinating.

Ashland Indie Film Fest 7th Annual

The 7th Annual Ashland Independent Film Festival is underway! Don't miss what LA Weekly calls the "almost-perfect blend of programming, audience and location."

You can still purchase tickets online for films at the AIFF Web site. You can also go to the box office at the art-deco Varsity Theatre on Main Street. There's a lot going on, although, alas, no official Bruce Campbell screenings or events. Besides the films and the late-night discussions at The Black Sheep, the official after-lounge of the AIFF, tonight at the Awards dinner, the 2008 AIFF Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to "the dean of documentary filmmakers" Albert Maysles. He will bring his classic documentaries Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens, and his new film The Gates to the festival this year. (I saw The Gates when I lived in NYC and it was amazing.) Academy Award Winner Helen Hunt showed her directoral debut Then She Found Me yesterday and will receive the 2008 AIFF Rogue Award.

Widely known as one of the best small indie film festivals in the country, the AIFF recently received a prestigious grant from the Academy Award of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It was the only festival in the Northwest and only one of twenty in the U.S. to receive one.

I was on the advisory board of the festival this year. I would have liked to have done a lot more, but I did manage to do a couple of things, including donating my own money and bringing Musician's Friend on as a local sponsor for the first time. And just my luck, I have been fighting a nasty Spring cold for a week and am still sick--not good for being in a theatre or anything else for that matter. I had hoped to make it to the event tonight but it's not looking good.

Nonetheless, I'm glad to have played even a tiny role in AIFF's festivities this year. It seems to specialize in showing interesting documentaries and is a wonderful part of the Ashland culture. It's really nice to be in a place as small as Ashland that still has fun things to do.  DVD Talk visited the festival last year and said "With strong programming, an extremely supportive audience, and a charming small town (with a world class Shakespeare festival), it's an excellent festival choice for people who can't imagine dealing with a larger fest like Sundance or SXSW." We don't have too many goodie bags for the celebs, but we do have a lot of heart. :)

Pilates in Medford/Ashland

I'm back into Pilates again after a few-year hiatus--this time using those crazy torture-like machines (what other exercise method has equipment called The Reformer and The Electric Chair?), instead of just the mat.

I really like it and love the place I'm taking classes, Verve Pilates, in downtown Medford (121 E. 6th Street, 541- 494-4051, vervepilates@yahoo.com). It's especially convenient for me, since I work in Medford and can go to class on my way home to Ashland.

The owner, Millie O'Brien, is a recent transplant from Bellingham, WA, super nice, and a great teacher. I'm taking private lessons with a friend of mine from work and the prices are reasonable (for "duets" the cost is about $165/person for 5 lessons, $315/person for 10). I got hooked on the Beginner's Package which is 3 Privates and 10 Reformer Classes for $265. If you just want to do a 1o-pack of Reformer classes, it's $150. In NYC at The Pilates Studio, it would be $350!

Given its vibe, it makes sense that Ashland has many more places to take Pilates than Medford, including Inward Bound Wellness, but I highly recommend trying Verve. It's the first Pilates studio in Medford to have group equipment classes and I heard that Millie is only one of a few actual certified instructors in Southern Oregon. Build that core!

Ashland Shopping

Had a funny conversation with a colleague recently. After a meeting was over, she looked at my shoes and said, "I know you didn't buy those locally!" She was right. Most of my shoes, of course, were bought in NYC since that is where I lived for most of my adult life, and you'd be hard-pressed to find better shoes than ones you can get in Manhattan (boy, do I miss Otto Tootsie Plohound). Since I moved to Southern Oregon, I would say that my clothes and shoe shopping has been...challenged. It's all a bit crunchy or rich retiree for my taste, but there are a few bright spots and it took me a while to find them. Portland, of course, has good shopping, but as far as local stores go, the following are the ones I like the most in Ashland.

ATOMICA (116 Lithia Way; 541 488 0386): Tiny boutique specializing in neo-vintage and rock & roll-inspired clothing. They carry a few local designers and have super cute stockings and knee-highs (I bought my favorite skull socks from here!) and other fun accessories.

EARTHLY GOODS: (142 East Main Street; 541 488 8080): A surprisingly large, two-floor women's clothing store in downtown Ashland. LOTS of shoes, and most importantly, they carry Campers which I love.

NECTAR ECO-BOUTIQUE: (293 East Main Street; 541 488 3340): Specializes in "fashion with a conscience" meaning stylish organic clothing and products. It recently opened--hope it survives.

PRIZE (264 East Main Street; 541 482 0345): Easily my favorite store in the area. Prize is very West Village with stylish and oh-so-witty gifts, trinkets, note cards, home furnishings, beauty items, etc. I've bought everything from cute tees and stationery to teddy bears and dishes and even bon-bons here. It's a little slice of downtown NYC home for little 'ol me. :)

Sunshine

Here's a sign that I'm living in hippieville...

At Creekside Pizza in Ashland (the best pizza in town, in my opinion, plus just generally a good place to hang), there's already a waitress named Sunshine. Pretty unusual name, right? Another girl comes in to apply for a job. Hey, what's your name...Sunshine, of course. (!!!)

Of course, this is coming from someone with the name So Young. Unlike in the U.S., in Korea (at least when I was born a long long time ago), parents wait until a baby is born to name him/her. My mom took my birth certificate to an astrologer who looked at all of the various sun and moon and planet signs and ascendants and what-have-you and determined the best name for me was "So Young" which means something like "radiant like the sun." So now you know.

The English Beat

So, my luck this week really stinks. I'm not going on vacation and I am leaving town this weekend for a reason that is unfortunately absolutely no fun at all and really sad.  As a result, I'm missing The English Beat, my all-time favorite ska band, perform in Ashland, Oregon just five minutes from my home. I grew up listening to my dad's English Beat albums and I know all of their songs by heart. My favorite songs: "I Confess," "End of the Party," "Rough Rider," "Save It for Later," "Mirror in the Bathroom" and "Doors of Your Heart."

If you're in Southern Oregon, don't miss this. The show is on Saturday, February 2, at 9pm at the Ashland Armory. Visit Renegade Shows or call 530-583-2801 for tickets (only $20!). They are on tour, so find out if The Beat is coming to your town at their MySpace page.

UPDATE: Due to the snow on the mountain passes into Ashland, English Beat couldn't make the show, so they are rescheduling for April. My fingers are crossed that I'll be in town!

I love their '80s video of "Mirror in the Bathroom." LOL.

The Cow at the Ashland Y

I recently joined the Ashland Y--a very good facility, I must say. There is a cow living across the street from the gym. I thought this was strange, but have been mostly ignoring it. There are so many cows around here, what's one more?

In a random conversation with my boss's wife at the CEO's holiday party, it turns out that her babysitter is the woman who owns this cow. Also an East Coaster, my boss's wife was curious. So she tells us she asked her babysitter,

"Is it friendly?"

"No."

"Is it going to be food?"

"No."

"Do other cows like it?"

"Nope."

"OK...so why do you have the cow if you don't like it, other cows don't like it, it serves no purpose, and the cow isn't friendly to other people or other cows?"

"It's a town landmark!"

Well, I can certainly see how that explains things. IMHO, I'd put this cow on par with the Chrysler Building.

My Goats

Out here in the middle of nowhere, you've got to take your fun where you can get it, and I've found a little pick-me-up. Nope, it's not what you're thinking. It's goats. Baby ones.

I've found a farmer's market between the office and home that has a little pen of goats that I can feed. They are *so cute*! Every so often, when I am sick and tired of sales, conversion rates, contact strategies, branding, and just people in general, I go see my goats and pretend I'm a farmer's wife for...oh...about, 10 seconds.

The goat symbolizes many different things--from wisdom and fertility to vitality and even the devil itself. In the Mediterranean, I hear it's viewed as a guardian with the power to absorb malevolent influences, and I figure that's what's really happening when I make my regular visits. Is feeding my goats as good as going to Scoop on my lunch hour or stopping by Bryant Park on my way home from the office? You know what--it almost is.

Ashland, Best Town 2007

Every year, Outside Magazine, one of the few magazines I actually subscribe to, puts together a list of the best towns to live in--towns that are perfect for people who want to live where the action is (high quality of life, great adventure sports, good food, etc.).

This year, one main town, plus a premier small town and big city was picked in every region of the country. Ashland with its "great weather and Shakespeare festival" was the Readers' Choice for best small town in the Northwest! (Bend was the main town picked, same as last year.)

It's not a surprise. Ashland's a scenic resort town of 20,000 with a Berkeley vibe where you can indulge in most kinds of adventure and outdoor sports right here--from whitewater rafting and mountain biking to hiking, rock climbing, and skiing--but still be only two hours away from the ocean, the Redwoods, and Crater Lake.

We've got great, sunny weather (nowhere near the rain of Portland and very little humidity), Southern Oregon University, the Ashland Independent Film Festival, and the country's largest Shakespeare Festival (which incidentally has a lot more than just Shakespeare and runs for 3/4 of the year, not just the summer). And if we need a big city, we're 3-4 hours from Portland and 4-5 hours from San Francisco. (Thank god, Medford airport is only 20 mins away!)

Over 400,000 tourists come to Ashland every year and as a result we've got great restaurants and shops. Plus, the fertile soil of Southern Oregon happens to be home to Harry & David and its infamous pear orchards. In general, an amazing array of mostly organic fruit, vegetables and wine are all grown here.   

You can pretty much take the virtues of Bend from Outside's article and apply it to Ashland, only it's in a different part of the mountains, has a third fewer people, and is closer to the beach (and is prettier, if you ask me). Pretty cool. It's been an interesting and fun switch from NYC, that's for sure!

For more about my transition from being a New Yorker to an Oregonian, click here.

I've got a lot of pictures of Ashland and the surrounding area too--check them out.

Falafel in Medford and Ashland, Oregon

I know this is a very specific post, interesting to probably only a handful of people, however, weirdly I have been getting traffic from the keyword, so I thought I'd post what I know and hope that if I've missed any, you'll let me know. If you are a transplant from a place that has more food diversity than Southern Oregon does, you probably will appreciate this post. :)

In Medford, I only know one place that has felafel and they don't have it consistently. Call ahead to find out.

• Celena's Grill: 908 Chevy Way, 541 770 1674

In Ashland, I know two places with felafel and they are both very good.

• Happy Falafel: 1690 Ashland Street, 541 552 0715
• Pilaf's: 18 Calle Guanajuato, 541 488 7898

Here's a falafel recipe for you, courtesy of Cooking.com.

Don't know what falafel is? Find out here.

Diedrich Bader in Calvin Marshall

Jeff and I are having a quiet Sunday dinner tonight at Chateaulin, a French bistro in Ashland (good food and owned by a New Yorker, of course), when I hear him yell an enthusiastic hello across the room to a guy sitting at a table alone. The man comes over and shakes our hands while Jeff introduces me. "I'm sorry...who are you again?" I say dumbly, thinking this was just another friend of Jeff's. Nope, turns out this is Diedrich Bader, Oswald from "The Drew Carey Show" and Napoleon Dynamite. I was really impressed that Jeff knew his name, but anyway, Diedrich was super friendly and he has done some great work over the years.

Diedrich's in town shooting a baseball film called Calvin Marshall that will be out next year. The movie's being shot in Ashland and Medford and brings Gary and Anne Lundgren of Broken Sky Films back to the Rogue Valley where they shot the award-winning short "Wow and Flutter."

I could have kicked myself afterwards because I should have mentioned to him that I'm on the advisory board of the Ashland Independent Film Festival and it would be really cool to have him and the director back for a screening of the movie next year. I have no excuse whatsoever because earlier today I met Anne Ashbey for coffee. She's in charge of the Internet group at Harry and David, a fellow Council member, and the person who got me involved with the AIFF. Oh well, even I have a brain lapse once in a while. :)

Here's the article about Calvin Marshall that was in today's paper.

My First Rodeo

Sing along and tap your feet to Kenny Chesney's anthem "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." Smell popcorn, hay and manure. Watch women in tight jeans and big hair juggling bottles of Mike's Hard Lemonade and little kids in cowboy outfits. You've just been transported to Saturday night at The Biggest Little Rodeo in the West in Central Point, Oregon. YEEHAW!

First, a confession. I actually like the rodeo. I even watch it on TV from time to time. I *even* have a couple of favorites. Fred Whitfield, for ex, and the now retired Cash & Rope Myers (because with those names, what else would they be but steer wrestlers).

And admittedly this isn't just any old local event. The Wild Rogue Pro Rodeo attracts internationally renowned cowboys eager to qualify for the national finals in Las Vegas which is televised for 10 days in December on ESPN.

OTOH, I typically try to avoid situations in which I'm told "Miss, NO ONE leaves before the bulls ride" and the announcer calls Berkeley, CA "the cesspool of liberalism" (especially since Ashland is basically Berkeley in Oregon).

Don't get me wrong. I did have a good time last weekend, but after one night at the rodeo, I think I've gotten my fill for a while of waving American flags (excuse me, "Old Glory"), patriotic hyperbole, and Coor's Lite. Next time I have the urge for a little bull riding, I'll turn on VS., put on a little NPR and sip a Negroni.

For more rodeo pix from the event on Oct 12-14, click here.

Watch the video of "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy."

Get the lyrics to "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." (Believe me, you won't be disappointed.)

Yachats, Oregon

The Oregon Coast is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. It's wilder and more rugged than the California Coast and that's what I love about it. Definitely a step up from the East River.

Last month we spent the weekend in Yachats, Oregon, a sleepy seaside town on the Central Oregon Coast between Florence (where the sand dunes are) and Newport. It's about 3 hours from Ashland.

We stayed at the lovely Overleaf Lodge where every room has an ocean view and is so close to the water that at night the sound of the waves crashing rings in your ears as you drift off to sleep. We got a suite on the top floor in The Restless Waters, a room with a fireplace and hot tub facing the sea. Not a bad location. Plus, it's got a great spa. I had a hot stone massage for the first time here and although I would have preferred a shiatsu, it was definitely relaxing and a nice way to spend an hour. :)

If you go to Yachats, have dinner at the hippest place in town, the Yachats River House and make sure you get the Chuka Ika salad. It is *delicious*.

Yachats is a little north of Cape Perpetua, the highest point on the Oregon Coast and near the world's largest sea lion caves. For a tiny resort community, it has quite a lot to do with several festivals throughout the year, including a wild mushroom festival, and it's surrounded by a variety of state parks. It also has an amazing array of multi-million dollar beach houses. Check it out. I know I'll be back next year.

Visit my Central Oregon Coast photo album for more pix of Yachats and the Overleaf Lodge. Here's a pic from my balcony.

Best of Ashland 2007

The annual reader's poll of The Best of Ashland was recently released. In addition to the usual suspects (e.g. Best New Restaurant), it included categories that really drove home to me how small the town I live in really is. To wit:

* Favorite Elementary School Teacher

* Cutest Baby Born in the Last Year

* Hardest Working Hair Stylist

* Most Knowledgeable Mechanic

* Favorite Sales Clerk at a Retail Store

* Favorite Policeperson

* Favorite Attorney

Some of the categories weren't as amusing, but really do show what kind of town Ashland is and what's important to the people who live here.

* Most Community-Minded Businessperson

* Favorite Alternative Medicine Practitioner

* Friendliest Grocery Store

* Best Place to Rent Skis and/or Snowboards

* Best Film at the Independent Film Festival

* Favorite Concert at the Britt Festival

* Best Place to Do Yoga

* Favorite Hike in Jackson County

My favorite category though was Most Fun Gas Station. I'm not sure what this was really referring to, but I must admit that I do love going through the car wash with my Jeep and getting the rainbow wax. I guess you have to take your fun where you can get it. It's the little things.

Things I've Learned

I've learned a lot since I moved from NYC to Southern Oregon. Here are just a few. Hope you find them useful. I've had to learn them the hard way.

1. The size of a man's truck is inversely proportional to his confidence level.
2. The size of a woman's truck is inversely proportional to her driving skill.
3. Don't trust anyone with fuzzy dice hanging from his/her rearview mirror.
4. If an eating establishment claims it is a "Family Restaurant," avoid at all costs!
5. "White City" is called that for a reason.

Whitewater Rafting!

Went white-water rafting for the first time this past weekend. I LOVED it. Outdoor sports are understandably huge in Southern Oregon and anything having to do with water, given the location, is very popular. I've done sea kayaking, but never white-water, so I was really looking forward to trying it out. This was just an intro course, so we started out with easy stuff and ended with a couple class IV rapids--the Powerhouse and Gold Nugget Run.

Noah's Rafting did a great job--very professional and friendly. Exactly what you want for these kinds of trips. We rafted the Rogue River--the section right below Gold Ray Dam and Gold Hill--just a half hour from Ashland. The Rogue flows 215 miles from Crater Lake to the Pacific Ocean and was one of the original 8 rivers included in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. (Fun bit of trivia: The movie The River Wild with Kevin Bacon and Meryl Streep was filmed on the Rogue.)

There were over 35 people on our trip and we had 6 rafts with a guide in each one. We ended up on a raft with just another couple--a mother and daughter visiting from the Willamette Valley--so we didn't have as much weight as that of the other rafts which had at least 2-3 more people...this would end up being important later on.

It was a perfect day for rafting--hot sun, warm breeze, cool refreshing water. Definitely got a little bit of a rush when we went backwards through one of the tougher rapids and there was a section where you could "surf" the current which was really fun. Near the end when we went over this big dam, we were 5th in line and we could see each raft going over almost vertically at one point. Our guide told us to paddle hard and then lean back, hold on to the grips inside the raft, and brace our feet on the front of the boat so we wouldn't flip. When it was our turn, I was ready.

As we go over the dam, I can tell something isn't right. There was a domino effect when the woman behind Jeff fell on top of him and the guide fell on top of her. The boat stays upright with me in it lying completely flat (nothing could have pried my fingers off that grip), but the raft was a lot lighter than it was before because everyone else had been thrown out! Oh well, no one was too hurt and it made for some extra excitement. After that, the remaining class IV rapids were no big deal. :)

Hoping to squeeze in one more trip this year--most likely will raft the Upper Klamath River's 7-mile "Hell's Corner Gorge" which is the nation's newest federally protected "wild and scenic" waterway. It's located right on the Oregon-California border and has 47 class III-IV+ quality, named rapids on the one-day run.

For more pics of the trip I took (although, thankfully, no pictures of me looking like a drowned rat), click here.

Chasing Rainbows

Last night, Jeff picked me up from work and on our way home we saw the most beautiful, perfect rainbow. The sky's big here and we could see the whole arch end to end. We figured we had nothing better to do and the weather as usual was warm with a nice breeze (plus the day is just so much longer here--it doesn't get dark in the summer until 9 and it's light by 6), so we decided to chase the rainbow and see where we ended up.

We cranked up the Arctic Monkeys and drove our Jeep all around the mountains, up and back down Mount Ashland, our local ski peak and at 7,500 feet, the highest point in the Siskiyou mountain range, eventually ending up in Hilt, California (pop. 1,018). If you've ever seen John Carpenter's Vampires, this could have been the setting for it--yellow-brown hills, sandy, dusty, ramshackle houses... As the sun started to set, we high-tailed it out of there, music blaring and grins on our faces, with lots  of empty road between us and Ashland.

Not a typical way to spend a Friday night, but just the kind of thing you do out here in the wild west.

Small Town Life

Got up early last Saturday morning. Gorgeous sunny, warm day as usual. Amazing views. Rolling hills, mountains, trees, flowers. Had a lovely breakfast at Morning Glory. Sat next to a nice older couple. Turned out the husband built Musician's Friend's office building. Our waiter knows one of the buyers at Musician's Friend--he waits tables here and at another good restaurant in town, Dragonfly, so we see him often and he's always friendly. We go to the Whole Foods-like grocery near us and we get our usual checkout girl. She wants to talk to us for a while about her boyfriend and his hotrods. I don't mind-- she always lets us cut the line. In the parking lot, we're loading groceries in the Jeep. A woman honks her horn at us. Oh, look! It's Kathy from The Wild Goose. Who's she? Her dad owns the restaurant and she often fixes Jeff breakfast during the week. She lives on a farm and it's her paintings of animals that grace the walls. On the street, we wave to a neighbor of ours who lives a couple of condos down from us. And so on.

I'm still getting used to living in a town where you always seem to know someone no matter where you go. Don't get me wrong--I definitely like it to some extent, but running into people I know constantly can also be disconcerting. It's like I'm being watched. Of course, I'm one of those people who actually avoided renting apartments in doorman buildings when I lived in NYC. Guess I just find anonymity a tad more comforting than most. Lucky for me then that whenever I get tired of people, all I have to do is go around the corner and I'm in the middle of nowhere and can have all of the alone time I want. I think trees outnumber people here about a million to one!

Cherries?

There's a huge cherry tree near my house--never noticed it before. Jeff says, "Go on. Try one." I look dubiously at the fruit. Looks real. Smells real. Feels real. But can I trust it? Don't people die from eating fruit they think is ok, but is actually poisonous and designed specifically for killing off city folk like myself? I gather up my courage and take a bite. "Hey!" I blurt out. "It tastes just like the cherries I buy at the store!"

I know...this is exactly why it's a good thing I moved out of NYC to the country...

Melissa Ferrick Concert

Awesome 3-hour performance by Melissa Ferrick with Erin McKeown opening for her a few nights ago at Ashland's Mobius. Both rocked--they were funny, raw, smart, engaging, and most importantly, fab musicians--particularly good live. Their studio cuts don't do them justice. Melissa is a Berklee School of Music grad with a more intense, complex folk style; Erin is a little harder to categorize--everything from rock-a-billy to folk to pop--and she's performed with everyone from 10,000 Maniacs to Ani Difranco. The venue was small and there were probably less than 100 people there, but we were loud enough that we sounded like a crowd 3x as big.  So fun to see live music in such an intimate setting and an absolute steal at $8/ticket!

Melissa didn't play my favorite song of hers, "This Is Love," (one of my best songs of 2007 picks last month), but we were treated to a set of just Melissa solo with her guitar before she brought her band out for newer songs. She played a song from every album, starting with her first, and the fun part was that she hadn't played many of them in a long time and at points had trouble remembering them. ("F**K, how does this go? I've got it, I've got it...") Sounded great though.

A few select highlights:

* Erin's response to the audience's sing-along to her song "Slung-lo": "You guys sound stoned...are you? Wait, I know where I am." lol

* Hearing Melissa perform "Drive" live. Click here to watch a live video of it.

* Erin's response to a loopy monologue by Melissa: "Usually it's weirder backstage than on stage." to which Melissa responds, "This is a special show."

* Improvised performance of Melissa's "Everything You Get" to a reggae beat and lyrics changed to include a rap from some weird YouTube video that had something to do with duckies (seriously)

* Their Encore: Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" with Melissa Ferrick on trumpet and Erin Mckeown on guitar and lead vocals

This is Melissa Ferrick performing "Everything I Need" in Somerville, MA on 12/2/06.

WSJ & SYP

Today was a big day for me! Thanks to Marketing Headhunter Extraordinaire, Harry Joiner, I was in the print edition of The Wall Street Journal, front cover of the Marketplace section in an article about How Blogging Can Help You Get a New Job.

Sure, the whole article was interesting, but the part that really matters is here:

Some companies encourage employees to blog because they can use them to recruit others. When recruiter Harry Joiner was hired to fill two positions at Musician's Friend Inc. in November, he used an employee's personal blog to help sell his client's rural location of Medford, Ore., to job seekers. "Candidates were using Medford as a reason not to consider the jobs," he says. "As a marketer, I thought, if you can't change it, promote it."

The blog, by So Young Park, the company's director of e-commerce marketing and customer-relationship management, describes her move to the area a year ago from New York City. It includes details about her work, her experience owning a car for the first time, a bear sighting near her new home and related topics. While she started the blog to share information about her experiences with family and friends back East, she acknowledges that it has also been a good resource for attracting job hunters.

Mr. Joiner says he linked to the blog in ads he posted on job boards and in emails to potential candidates. He says it helped him get professionals to leave jobs in Los Angeles. "The blog made a ton of difference," he says. "It humanized [Ms. Park] to candidates and made the jobs more attractive."

Interested in a job at Musician's Friend? Click here for open positions at our corporate headquarters, as well as great jobs from friends of mine at other great companies.

Here's the full article or download wsj_syp_article_4.10.07.doc

This is, like, the coolest thing ever. :)

SYP, Oregonian???

Last Thanksgiving, I blogged about my reluctance to give up my NY license, because I'm a New Yorker gosh darn it! However, I recently  replaced the first car I ever owned (the Jeep Liberty I bought at Manhattan Chrysler last January) with a new Jeep Wrangler. As a result, I got Oregon plates and, yes, an Oregon license. I studied all night on Easter Sunday and crammed my little brain (already full of sales metrics, marketing jargon, pop culture trivia, and other odds and ends) with a plethora of traffic and driving-related facts. I passed with a 93% and am now the proud owner of the worst Oregon driver's license picture in history. So there you go. I am an official Oregonian. Wanna make something of it?

Bruce Campbell in My Name Is Bruce...don't call me Ash

The 6th Annual Ashland Independent Film Festival will be held in Ashland, Oregon from April 12-16, 2007. Over 90 documentary, feature and short films will be shown, including four that were nominated for Academy Awards this year. Here's a list of all of the films. Click here for the film schedule.

The highlight of the festival for me is going to be the sneak preview on Friday the 13th of Bruce Campbell's new movie, My Name Is Bruce, in which a small Oregon town, plagued by the Chinese God of War, kidnaps a B-Movie actor (guess who) to help them defeat it.

The movie was shot and produced in Ashland, White City, and the surrounding Southern Oregon area. In honor of this world premiere screening, the Festival is showing other Bruce Campbell cult movie classics that same day, including Bubba Ho-Tep and my personal favorite, Evil Dead II.

I didn't realize until the press about My Name Is Bruce that Bruce Campbell lives 15 minutes from me in Jacksonville, Oregon. How cool is that. He is one of my all-time favorite actors! (Who's laughing now?? bwa ha ha...)

Medford Restaurants

The Rogue Valley can be a tough place to hire if you're looking for specific skill sets. As a result, my last few hires have relocated from other places like LA and Columbus. They've all moved to Medford--it's cheaper than Ashland, particularly if you want to own your home.

Since I've now been in the area for a year(!), I thought it would be a good time to post a list of restaurants in Medford I recommend. Ashland by and large has more and better places to choose from, but if you don't want to drive the 15 miles and don't want to cook, you've got to go somewhere (sorry, Applebee's doesn't count). Figured this would also be helpful for my friends at Sapient who are working on a 9-week project that I'm running at Musician's Friend. Poor things--they have to stay in hotels and are forced to eat out every night. Don't know how they do it.

Anyway, herewith a list of restaurants in Medford I suggest you try. Add your favorites (or ones to avoid)!

• Kaleidoscope Pizza: 3084 Crater Lake Highway. 541 779 7787. Great soups and salads, in addition to pizza.
• Bambu: 970 North Phoenix Road.  541 608 7545. Quite good pan-Asian cuisine.
• Elements: 101 East Main Street. 541 779 0135. New tapas bar in downtown Medford. It's quite good and for Medford, fantastic. A great new addition.
• Cafe Dejeuner: 1108 E. Main. 541 857 1290. Cute French bistro. Good for lunch and dinner.
• Porter's: 147 N. Front St. 541 857 1910. Good steakhouse in a restored train station. Has a patio cigar bar that's great in the spring/summer/fall.
• Grilla Bites: 226 East Main Street 541 245 9802. Organic cafe with great salads, sandwiches and soups. The Medford location also serves dinner entrees. Has additional locations, including one on Main Street in Ashland.
• Oh's Osaka: 35 N Central Ave. 541 282 2334. Japanese sushi and steakhouse.
• Asian Grill:  1200 Biddle Rd # B located in Blue Sky Plaza at the corner of McAndrews. 541 608 7115. Good quick meal, especially for lunch. Much better than it looks from the outside.
• Smoke-N-Man BBQ:  530 Crater Lake Ave. 541 858 2020. Good barbecue stand.
• Tacos La Morena II: 940 N. Central Ave. 541 779 4993. Cheap Mexican. Not many gringos. :)
• Rostel's: 311 E Pine St. in Central Point. 541 665 9100. Neighborhood continental.
• Noho's Hawaiian Cafe: 703 E. Main St. 541 245 6919. The one restaurant on this list I've never been to.

For Ashland Eats, click here. For pix of the gorgeous area where I live, check out the photos on the right column of my blog!

Happy New Year 2007!

Happy 2007 and all that...I am lame and didn't make any New Year's resolutions. In lieu of that, I thought I'd share with you how cute Ashland is at holiday time. The entire downtown is lit up with lights. I don't think my pictures convey the true Bedford Falls-ishness of the town I'm living in (albeit the West Coast version). We keep expecting George Bailey to run down the street yelling Merry Christmas! Took these pictures New Year's Eve.

Today's my birthday, and I'll do what I want to....

Today is my birthday! 34 years ago, I happily came into this world, ready to take it by storm. I started the day a little woozy from one too many Ardbeg scotches the night before. (OK, it was more than just one too many, but it was my last night being 33. I HAD to live it up, right?) One of the first things I did was pick up my voicemail. I had to listen to the message three times before I understood what was going on..."This is Officer xx from the Medford Police Department. I have Shane Halstead's wallet and I was hoping you could give me a number where I can reach him." Shane Halstead works for me at Musician's Friend...how the police would know that and be able to get my cell number was beyond me. After 10 minutes of trying to figure it out, I finally gave up and called Shane. When he picked up I just said "Hi! Are you missing your wallet?" which of course resulted in him being very perplexed as to how I even knew about it in the first place. Definitely a weird start to my birthday.

It turned out that the explanation was very benign. Shane's wallet had a card saying he worked at Musician's Friend and the officer called our COO who gave him my number. Being the small town that it is, the officer, rather than just logging it into lost and found, actually called me so he could find Shane and hopefully get him his wallet over the holiday weekend.

That seemed like enough excitement, so I took it easy the rest of the day--read, napped, listened to m