Portland arts: Today's Twitter sift

By Barry Johnson

For the sake of argument, let's just say I lived in a cave and my only information about the outside world came from Twitter. What would my report from the past 18 hours or so look like? Here you go:

Kevin A. Lefohn, new PYP executive director

Headline: Portland Youth Philharmonic hires new Executive Director
Nut graph: Kevin A. Lefohn's job is a lot easier because his predecessor at PYP, Diane Syrcle, gassed up the fund-raising and helped retire PYP's debt. Lefohn's had a career as a violinist,  academic (University of Otaga in New Zealand) and administrator (Christchurch Symphony Orchestra), and he's spent a lot of his time teaching and creating outreach programs for young audiences. Plus, he has an Oregon connection, dating back to his days as an undergrad at the University of Oregon. He'll be in town at the end of the month.  The full press release is on Oregon Music Wire.


Headline: Oregon Historical Society levy goes on the ballot in November
Nut graph: The Multnomah County Commission voted unanimously to allow the historical society to gear up for a fall campaign to generate some desperately needed financial support.  The amount at stake (roughly $10 for the average house in Multnomah County) will guarantee the organization's survival for the next five years and give free admission to the museum for all Multnomah County residents. How will this campaign affect the coming levy for annual arts support? We just don't know.

Headline: Dave Allen laments the lost Pearl District
Nut graph: You know, with grifters and artists and hobos and such. I don't remember it that way -- the pre-Pearl warehouse district was mostly deserted after dark, and the first "art" presence I ever heard about was when the late gallery owner William Jamison refurbished a loft there in the mid-1980s.  The street action then was in Old Town and Northwest 23rd. The Pearl was just boring and empty. But maybe my memory fails me. I do like Dave's ideas about cities, though!


Headline: Gary Wiseman posts weird photo on Tumblr 
Nut graph: It's a photo of a paper suit used to clothe a cadaver. No more information than that, other than to ask, "Who knew?" Here's the link.

Headline: Live Wire! is an arts organization, not a radio show
Nut graph: OK, it's a radio show, too, and also a live variety show, but it's also become a central vehicle for the transmission of local culture to the rest of the universe, not to mention ourselves. This Saturday, for example, the show features 3 Leg Torso, Menomena and Reggie Watts. Hey, save me a ticket!

Oh, and so much more. Fan photos of the Stolen Sweets, the Blue Cranes jazz unit on a CD release tour, and the news that tickets are still available for Roseanne Cash's reading at the Bagdad Theater tonight. Well, we could go on...