The naughty elves got loose from Santa - and they drank the town dry! http://ping.fm/ObsX1

Tonight's Wine Walk schedule is posted. Meet up at 6p Travel Salem, 181 High St NE
http://ping.fm/7l1k9

Make your own misfit toy Sunday at the f-stop visual art center in Salem.
http://ping.fm/lxNyZ

Five venues in downtown Salem will pour the good stuff on the Wine Walk Friday #oregonwine
http://ping.fm/Enuib

It's getting Christmasy in Salem, Oregon. Join the fun!
http://ping.fm/DKUmK

Ignite Salem 2 live:
http://ping.fm/UwSrX

Only one day left to for Ignite Salem 2 proposals:
http://ignitesalem.com

Sitting alone in front of your computer? Get out there and have some fun. More than 100 things to do in Salem this weekend!
http://ping.fm/zxl1m

Hey, I just got selected for Ignite Corvallis 2 on November 5th. See you there!

It's happening -the biggest Salem Beer and Blog yet on Thursday, November 5th, Save the date!
http://ping.fm/iDOmw

Are you on the Salem Pipeline yet? We just gave away more free tickets to Salem events!
http://ping.fm/BHubQ

Live Wire Radio was a blast at the Elsinore last night!
http://ping.fm/0XTm9

Time Based Art in Portland - opening night. I got an eye full. Here are some pics: #TBA
http://ping.fm/3SUTr

Get your BIKE on tonight at the Salem Creative Network's Bicycle Music Festival in Salem. FREE!
http://ping.fm/U6W4j

Ride along with live music throughout Salem Mon Aug 31 - It's the Bicycle Music Festival!
http://ping.fm/ARPaa

Get your art on and trade for food: Harvest Swap and Bike Mural Friday, Aug 28
http://ping.fm/guKOb

Salem Pipeline in on! Join the Facebook group for $200 in tickets to Salem area events and concerts!
http://ping.fm/Eu8UV

What would your world look like without 9/11?
Send us your Regeneration Art Fest MAIL ART
http://ping.fm/qMrKX

Manor of Art until August 23. Here are a few from opening night: http://bit.ly/2v1OJb

Chalk murals-live door painting-harvest swap, music-free tea-conversation. Join your neighbors in downtown Salem.
http://ping.fm/opQjA

BOTH FRIDAY SHOWS SOLD OUT!
Blood on the Flat Track added a Saturday show. Buy advance tickets online here:
http://ping.fm/Fbue2

Regeneration Art Fest, a post 9/11 redux is looking for artists of all types. 2 large installations. 9/11-12
http://ping.fm/Djvla

Get your free hosted wordpress account tonight on salemkiosk.com at 3rd Salem Beer and Blog. http://ping.fm/1KcJh

Facebook back to normal. Algorithm misread an image and booted me. Good thing too,. Didn't want to flush 1400 friends.

AHHHH! I was a bad boy and they disabled my facebook. Friend me-I promise to act responsibly ;)
http://ping.fm/lBQdM

Videomash on Saturday August 1 at Northern Lights. Only $8 for a century's worth of art films.
Tix here:
http://ping.fm/OQbOo

Huge Pub Crawl in downtown Salem Friday night. 9 bars, pizza, espresso. You're invited.
http://ping.fm/FBPNs

Tonight 5:30 Northern lights $3 all ages
Uncle Bingo trailer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e7j50yTGtg

Keep it local with Uncle bingo. Shot in Salem with Salem cast and crew. 5:30 tonight at Northern Lights. $3 All-ages.
http://ping.fm/d13sj

Tickets on sale now for Aug 1 Quandry videomash
http://ping.fm/F0tub

Peep Show invigorates
http://ping.fm/mEAtM

Here we go!
Ignite Salem 1 up on livestream (full)
http://ping.fm/wzwMh

YouTube
http://ping.fm/CoYZb

Greatest blogging secrets revealed: HAh!
http://ping.fm/0jIG4

Portlanders jealous of Salem again?
http://ping.fm/rpHgW

Portland's Last Thursday and Salem's Third Friday. Do we need it?
http://ping.fm/dm67E

When you least expect it, expect it.
http://videomash.org

Like punk blues? Cigar box guitars? One Man Bands? Live NOW - Right On John:
http://ping.fm/7NhZ5

Last reserved ticket for Ignite Salem 1:
http://ping.fm/hVbsZ

Wha??? 5 tickets left for Ignite Salem 1
http://ping.fm/0YEg4

Wignite Salem 1 gets Willamette Media write up
http://ping.fm/BUd6e

ooh- Emerge installation by Keizer Art Association. Something's happening near Salem.
http://ping.fm/aWALk

Music, art, science, technology, performance FREE - Ignite Salem 1 tickets are available now!
http://ping.fm/TwOoU

Something's happening in Salem: FREE
Ignite Salem 1
8:30 Thursday June 18
21+
http://ping.fm/s9WXB

Get yer tickets! Popcorn, Peanuts, Ignite Salem 1!
http://ping.fm/hVfun

Trials bike street stunts and parkour in Salem!
http://ping.fm/pLOF5

More than a distraction; kids with the iphone
http://ping.fm/zFEx8

Hey hey LA It's Hammer Time!
http://ping.fm/1GF5v

Watch now! Ignite Bend Dungeons and Dragons
http://ping.fm/h9rPY

Impart your knowledge or ridicule at Ignite Salem 1 June 18.
http://ping.fm/v93Ab

hazlo, make it, do it by volte-face spices up First Wednesday.
http://videomash.org

Salem Beer and Blog a hit! Great to see the faces behind the blogs!
hgttp://videomash.org

Win a Dunkel mug tonight at Salem Beer and Blog!
http://ping.fm/5KqZu

More stop animation fun: Sorry I'm Late
http://videomash.org

Zombies attack! Sell out theater and feast on brains of fans:
http://videomash.org

PLATOON OF THE DEAD world premiere tonight.
Northern Lights Theatre Pub 9:30
http://ping.fm/dM4NP

Mother of All Funk Chords videomash hit
http://videomash.org

Gusto Brothers interview and Cat House Party http://videomash.org

Halie Loren at Cherry City Music Festival - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
http://videomash.org

Weekend in the winey country
http://videomash.org

Wolf and Pig Stop-Motion, Little Red Riding Hood modern interpretation are this week's picks:
http://videomash.org

Avatar Live showed great promise.
http://videomash.org

Consume the Bottle - videomash youtube premiere and Memorial Day treat. Quandry and vj interlace at Northern Lights
http://videomash.org

Latest video "Now We Can See" by The Thermals blowing up on YouTube
http://videomash.org

Chicken dance tonight! Always great stress relief.
http://videomash.org

Videomash?? Coming soon to a theater near you...
http://videomash.org

Sparking it up in Salem:
Ignite Salem 1 in the works:
http://videomash.org

Sparking it up in Salem - Ignite Salem 1 is official. http://videomash.org

heh, videomash blog made the Statesman Journal today. That's cool.
Got more fresh news coming soon.

Cat Yodeling, Maru the Cat my YouTube picks of the week. Enjoy!
http://ping.fm/6LwK7

ufofest and alien parade still making me chuckle - review and pics at http://videomash.org

Coffee House Cafe tonight - Travis Vick, Not an Airplane, Seahorse - FREE!

Jason Stringer's birthday party at The Space tonight - FREE! Massive Moth, Mill Race, Miss Massive Snowflake, Quirk Monarch

wonky header but we're online http://ping.fm/Kuj1l
Read all about Salem Beer and Blog
http://videomash.org

Beering and blogging in Salem! We're launching a beer and blog chapter for techies, artists at the f-stop
http://ping.fm/R3V1u

Get abducted at Alien Daze this weekend. http://videomash.org

Salem haute couture, an oxymoron?
http://videomash.org

Zombie surf band playing live with Platoon of the Dead? May be in the works. http://videomash.org

Zombie Army visits Northern Lights Theatre Pub May 29 http://ping.fm/dohVB

Fangoria reviews PLATOON OF THE DEAD
http://ping.fm/sLsjD

PLATOON OF THE DEAD world premiere May 29 at Northern Lights Theatre Pub. BLOODSUCKING REDNECK VAMPIRES director serves up diy horror
http://videomash.org

Salem Exploded into Color with the Best New Band in Portland. You were lucky if you experienced it. http://videomash.org/

Salem Explodes into Color

Long before this week's coronation of Explode into Color as Portland's Best New Band 2009 by Willamette Week, the band crossed my radar and I was fortunate enough to convince them to play at the Cherry City Music Festival. Actually, it didn't take much convincing.
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The Space District

There's a lot of interest in North Downtown lately. The Salem Cinema's stolen red carpet has gripped the nation. Desperately Seeking Salem is looking to brand it. Christo's Pizzeria will soon be making a move. For the uninitiated, the area comprises the "original" Salem. I stumbled on to story a while back when I was digging through the archives at the state library researching the history of Amity for the Daffodil Festival.


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Student art at the Blue Pepper

Great to see fresh talent on the visual art front. The missus and I went to The Nineties artist reception at the Blue Pepper the other night. It'll hang all month. A collaboration between Salem Art Association and local students, the exhibit paired the younguns up with some of Salem's most accomplished artists to create some inspiring art. Acrylic, mixed-media, oil, pencil, a wide array of talent was on display.

While the mentors obviously influenced the work, the students managed to break away enough to call it their own. My favorite was the piece with the blue faces.

Frank Black's Space grace

Everyone's still giddy about the latest celeb to grace Salem, Frank Black, or Black Francis, or Sage Francis, or 20 other akas. I love it when people continually re-invent themselves. The latest incarnation is front man for Grand Duchy, a very tight family affair with his charming Eugenian-wife Violet Clark. I caught the show in Salem with about 100 seemingly starstruck worshipers. The band's energy was contagious and they put on a really great show. I left wondering, however, why Frank and crew had to beg the audience to demand an encore. Did everyone forget that bands love to hear that word?

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Uncle Bingo screen test at F-Stop

Not many films are shot in Salem. Some, like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" end up winning academy gold. A few weeks ago, I ran into Salem native Megan Mylan, who just received an Oscar for her short documentary, "Smile Pinki". While minding my own business imbibing at Allessandro's, I was cajoled into photographer mode for all the Hollywood dignitaries. While cheesing it with friends, Megan exclaimed, "Let me get the little man", dug around in her purse and whipped out an honest-to-spaghetti monster Academy Award. It looked heavy.

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It is ... ALIVE

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z09gsS8zBs[/youtube]

Occasionally, I need a good kick in the butt. That happened again this week. After staging the Cherry City Music Festival last month, I took a few weeks of deserved rnr. You see, I created this many-headed hydra that was by nature, wildly uncontrollable, and fraught with kismet, potential and synchronicity.

And yet, I survived almost unscathed with plenty of valuable life lessons.

1. Always expect the unexpected.

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