Pre-Announcement for Leaguefest 2016!

Tod Kelly

Tod is a writer from the Pacific Northwest. He is also serves as Executive Producer and host of both the 7 Deadly Sins Show at Portland's historic Mission Theatre and 7DS: Pants On Fire! at the White Eagle Hotel & Saloon. He is  a regular inactive for Marie Claire International and the Daily Beast, and is currently writing a book on the sudden rise of exorcisms in the United States. Follow him on Twitter.

Related Post Roulette

67 Responses

  1. North says:

    Ironically I’m being dragged to Portland by my travel obsessed hubby this coming weekend. Any suggestions on fun activities in the area?Report

    • Tod Kelly in reply to North says:

      Not trying to insinuate myself into a romantic getaway with the hubby, but if you guys decide your PDX experience calls for some random, middle-aged, blog-editing native to buy you a round at some point…

      Past that, Richard is right about Powell’s.

      Can you give me an idea about what kinds of things you like to do when traveling? Are you foodies, winos, dancers, people who like to take in entertainment?

      As you can likely guess, I have a million suggestions, so anything you could do to narrow it down to say, 50,000 would be helpful.Report

      • North in reply to Tod Kelly says:

        Romantic getaway my ass. He went to china last year in May and used all his time off to do so and thus had to not travel for the months that followed. So he’s dragging me to Portland out of raw travel lust. Just a fig leaf of justification. Grump!

        We are definitely foodies and love entertainment. I’ll admit to being fond of clubs. If you’d like to meet up for dinner somewhere possibly on Saturday or Sunday that’d be great, I’d love to meet you in person. I think you have my email addy if you’d like to arrange something. How’s your schedule look for the weekend?Report

        • Oscar Gordon in reply to North says:

          Foodies must go to Mother’s.Report

        • Tod Kelly in reply to North says:

          I would need to check in with own differently-sexed hubby, but I think it’s pretty clear both evenings.

          If you like theatre, the two shows that are getting the most buzz right now are Portland Reps Mothers and Sons, and Portland Center Stage’s Stupid F**king Bird. I’ve seen a different staging to M&S, and like it quite a bit. I haven’t seem Bird, but might recommend it just because it’s in the Pearl District, and a couple of blocks away from Powell’s.

          Because I’m very, very old, you should seek out second opinions on the club scene, but I would say that the most popular one these days seems to be RoseClub, the most quintessentially indie-PDX is Holocene, and the most historic-Portland-nightlife is the Embers. (How historic? I danced there when I was 21. That historic.)

          There are a tone of places for good food. Pop Pok is amazing if you lean toward the adventurous. (Be aware, though, that Pok Pok doesn’t take reservations and is hugely popular. You’ll want to go earlier than you would be starving-ly hungry, and hang out at the Whiskey Soda Lounge till it’s time to be seated.) Adina is also pretty awesome. If you want French go to La Pigeon. If you want NW farm-to-table, Bar Avignon is fabulous. (The menu changes almost daily, based on what the chef finds available at his sources.)

          That might help?

          I’ll shoot you an email later today.Report

    • Burt Likko in reply to North says:

      Travel guides will tell you all about Voodoo Donuts. When my wife and I traveled to Portland a while back (too long ago!) we did the obligatory trip and stood in the obligatory line and got the obligatory charmingly surly service.

      Our Tod’s assessment of the experience turned out to be spot-on: it’s a donut. You’ve had donuts before. Yeah, this one comes with a little more attitude than most. It’s more cute than counter-cultural. But, yeah, it’s a donut.

      Now, the Saturday Market at the Waterfront Park, that’s a different story. We had great fun there and will make it a point to go back on the Leaguefest trip.

      Alsotoo: bring hoodies, not umbrellas.Report

      • Kim in reply to Burt Likko says:

        Good central PA hard pretzels aren’t just a pretzel

        We have a good donut shop in the area, and they make cinnamon rolls as big as your head. They’re deepfried, and you can’t eat a whole one even if you do a 15 mile hike. (I tried!)Report

      • Miss Mary in reply to Burt Likko says:

        Skip the line at Voodoo and do Blue Star donuts. Soooo much better. I like the lime curd and the blueberry bourbon basil. Oh, and just down the street you can go to Ruby Jewel for amazing ice cream. I recommend their rosemary pecans on top.Report

    • LeeEsq in reply to North says:

      Vodoo Donuts and the many fine craft breweries.Report

  2. I can’t make the second half of June, because of my son’s college graduation. The rest of the summer is good.Report

  3. Roland Dodds says:

    I can likely make it if it is in July or early August. I have family in Seattle that could justify the drive up.Report

  4. Saul Degraw says:

    I can probably justify a trip during the summerReport

  5. Kazzy says:

    Last weekend in July and first two weekends in August are very doable as I can stretch the trip out a day or two. Otherwise, weekends in June/July are possible but a tighter squeeze.

    Is anyone bringing wee ones? Are they welcome at Casa de Kelly? It’d be much easier for me (from a flexibility standpoint, at least) to bring Mayo and Little Marcus Allen. And if any OT-ers are willing to hold a child here and there, the trip might actually be a fun one!Report

    • Tod Kelly in reply to Kazzy says:

      Wee ones are always welcome at Casa de Kelly. If we have have a litter’s worth, I’ll likely pay my ex-wee ones to be wee-one overseers for the night, so that parents can enjoy those rare, broken moments of adult conversation.Report

  6. Oscar Gordon says:

    My employer is currently being acquired by Siemen’s, so my summer is rather up in the air (my work travel schedule is already starting to fill up), aside from trips already on the calendar.Report

  7. aaron david says:

    I will try to make it, depending of course on work obligations and medical issues (much more and less serious than they should be. Later is better, so I can clear out some things (hopefully.)Report

  8. Brandon Berg says:

    I miss Portland. Good memories there. Guess I should have gone more often when I had the chance. There’s a lesson there, which I will no doubt fail to incorporate into my future decision-making structure.Report

  9. Miss Mary says:

    I have to attend since it’s in my home town. It would be rude to ignore you all. Besides, I’ve only missed one Leaguefest before and I don’t intend on missing any more.

    Once we settle on a date, can I help research fun things to do? We have a different festival in town every weekend during the summer and there are only about a million other fun things to do. You might need help finding ideas. 😉Report

  10. Damon says:

    There used to be a seafood restaurant, with a view of the river. Can’t recall the name, but they were famous for their crab louie…..Of course that was in the 80s.

    Good times.Report

  11. Maribou says:

    My summer is very confusing because my workplace is moving from “planning for a renovation” to “getting into place to actually DO this major renovation” and (of course) we get one set of very! urgent! deadlines from facilities and then (of course) contractors have delays and we are told all sorts of fanciful things about when we might actually be allowed to do the moving sorts of things we were previously told to brace ourselves to do! very! urgently!

    I hold no grudges against facilities, as this seems to be how EVERY such project works – or at least the exceptions are so rare as to prove the rule – but it does make planning for the summer rather difficult on numerous levels. Will the big scramble to move and re-establish services happen in march and may? may and june? july and september? who knows.

    That said, both Jaybird and I *very* much want to attend, and I feel about 70 percent confident that late July or VERY early August (no later than the first weekend) are the best times for that. I already warned my officemate that if we sort out Leaguefest before facilities sorts out moving, I *will* be going to Leaguefest regardless of how inconvenient it turns out to be.Report

  12. Zac says:

    Portland’s only about a two or three hour drive south of me, so yeah, I will definitely try to come to this. If at all possible, at least some of us should try to make a sojourn to my Mecca, the Multnomah Whisky Library, for an evening of steak and scotch.Report

    • Oscar Gordon in reply to Zac says:

      Such a thing exists?!

      And no one told me before now?!

      My heaven may exist, and it might be near Portland…Report

    • Miss Mary in reply to Zac says:

      I love all libraries, but Multnomah Whisky Library is one of my favorites. I need a new memory there. Leaguefest outing would be loads of improvement over a creepy guy date.Report

    • Zac in reply to Zac says:

      Seriously, if this isn’t the perfect place to convene the LoOG, I don’t know what is.Report

      • Tod Kelly in reply to Zac says:

        The difficulty is that it’s hard to get a large group in if you don’t own a membership, and sadly I do not.Report

        • Zac in reply to Tod Kelly says:

          Would we only need one membership to do it? If so, depending on how many of us there are, maybe we could all chip in twenty or so bucks, something like that. It could be your retirement present.Report

          • Kazzy in reply to Zac says:

            A little sleuthing indicates a $600 donation to an approved charity jumps the list. Members can bring in non-members with a reservation. A large group may be hard to accommodate. But super-advanced notice may do the trick. I’d be game to chip in to make this happen, for both all the OT-ers and for our Tod.Report

  13. LeeEsq says:

    Early August might work the best for me. Saul and I could share a room.Report

  14. KatherineMW says:

    A year ago I’d have been in (Powell’s alone is sufficient draw), but now I’m on the eastern side of the country and the round-trip flight is a bit too much for me. Sorry.

    I was hoping the League would pick Chicago, where I want to go anyway.Report

  15. Slade the Leveller says:

    My summer is wide open, so I think a trip to Oregon would be in order. I was really bummed to have missed the Fest in my home city (Chicago). Plus, I want to go around and pronounce Oregon with my Chicago accent just to see how many times I can get corrected.Report

  16. Glyph says:

    I can make no promises and thus won’t opine on dates, but I have some friends in Seattle who’ve been bugging us to come visit, so maybe we could roll that and this into one trip and swing it.Report

  17. Christopher Carr says:

    Unfortunately, the only scenario under which I would be able to attend Leaguefest this summer is if it’s in the breakroom of the hospital I’ll be indentured at.

    I’m optimistic for next year/decade!Report