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PowellsBooks.Blog
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Book News

Secrets From the PowellsBooks.Blog Green Room

by Chris Force, August 4, 2010 10:08 AM
Okay, first of all, there is a stripper pole in this room. It may be a leftover from Shteyngart; I don't know, but it's creeping me out.

They did a pretty good job with my rider: fresh organic fruit, obscure German design mags, tofurky sandwiches, and a vintage turntable loaded with 1980s hardcore-punk LPs. I specifically said no Judge records, but I'll let a few things slide.

Anyway, so last night a bunch of the Powell's book geeks were hanging out in the green room with me. I was getting my pre-blog-writing massage, and they were putting band-aids on their paper cuts and discussing how much they would be willing to pay for a copy of Stieg Larsson's zine Sfären. (One book-blog editor, whom I will not mention by name, said he would "give his left nut" for a copy, which made me think: a) who would possibly want a book-blog editor's testicle and b) what happened to his right nut?)

They finally got to asking me some questions about how I started ALARM, and I directed them to this handy video:

Turns out that these guys had no idea you could get books anywhere but Powell's. So, as an out-of-town guest, I'm turning to you, my faithful local blog readers, and asking: Do you ever use your local library? The Multnomah County Library dates back to 1864! Holy shit, that's old. Do you ever go? While I'm here, should I make the visit?




Books mentioned in this post

ALARM 38 Invisible Overlooked Albums & Unseen Artists

Chris Force
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5 Responses to "Secrets From the PowellsBooks.Blog Green Room"

LynnRG August 4, 2010 at 04:19 PM
Most Portlanders think Powell's is the library...

Miss Gretchen August 4, 2010 at 02:41 PM
Thanks, Chris Force, you just sent me down the interwebs rabbithole for an hour, trying to figure out which branch of the chipublib I went to as a child -- it must have been the Hild, now home of the Old Town School of Folk Music (which I also attended as a wee bairn at their previous location.) When we had to move, the neighborhood had gotten so "bad" (thanks, quotation girl!) that the house sold for a pittance to a bunch of nuns who had a group home for pregnant girls. I do hope that those nuns who have passed on, can view from beyond the fabulous parades which occur nearby each year in Boystown! What branch did you's guys use?

ks August 4, 2010 at 01:58 PM
I don't live in Portland but in nearby Beaverton, however I heard when the Multnomah County library was remodeled in the 90's they replaced the bookshelves with false-fronts hiding a bank of massive web servers which night and day fill the internet with left wing political blogs and pictures of naked bicyclists so, yeah, you should visit.

Gabe Barber August 4, 2010 at 01:14 PM
I would definitely suggest checking out our wonderful Central Library! If you can swing it, try to arrange a showing of the libraries Rare Books room. It is an amazing, and somewhat offbeat collection. Gabe

Anna August 4, 2010 at 10:58 AM
Chris Force, you were my drawing instructor! I do not know anything about Multnomah County Library but I do volunteer at Chicago Botanical Garden's Lendhardt Library (they have a really great rare books collection). Hope all is well. Anna

Result(s) 5

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