phile under: landmark
Classic Chinese gaff is back.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Sep 02, 2010 at 12:00AM
Prepare once again to get stuck at this corner, behind people taking pictures.
The iconic, unforgettable placard reading, “Hung Far Low,” is scheduled to be re-hung in Chinatown today! If you’re not already elbowing your way around Tom McCall Waterfront Park for a better view of the Symphony, you might swing by NW 4th Avenue and NW Couch Street for the sign’s dedication ceremony. The 200-lb sign, which lorded over its neighborhood location from 1928 to 2005, serving as a conversation piece, a landmark, and a testament to Chinese-American history, was eventually removed for safety reasons—but area tenants lobbied hard for its return.
By the way, “Hung Far Low,” in Taisan dialect, means “Almond Blossom Fragrance.” So stop snickering.
Culturephile can only feature a few First Thursday picks, but for a more comprehensive list of upcoming events, visit the Arts & Entertainment Calendar!
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WEEKEND PICK!
Tragos Amargos and world-music friends at Alberta Rose Theater
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 20, 2010 at 11:00AM
Luz Elena, and some other folk!
Portland Folk Festival
What is “folk?” In recent memory, the title has referred to faded-and-worn down-home country/blues/Americana. But as any anthropologist will tell you, every language and culture creates its own “folk.” For a while, we tended to call that other stuff “world,” until that all-encompassing term started to host the low hum of synth-strains from a totally non-native species: new age. At that point, the expansion of the giant internet hive-mind, began to make all cultures more accessible to all peoples, forcing us to acknowledge that Americana no longer spoke for most Americans, and that anywhere there was a human voice and a heart and a story, there was “folk.”
Ahem.
Tonight, stunning songstress Luz Elena Mendoza (better known for fronting band Y La Bamba) brings her latest project, Tragos Amargos, to the Alberta Rose Theater. The evening’s Latin flair will be further enhanced by Celso Machado, and then offset by Natya Leela’s Indian dance, and Vagabond Opera’s bawdy Slavic stylings. Folk, meet world.
For a more comprehensive list of upcoming events, visit the Arts & Entertainment Calendar!
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