Yes, it’s summer in Portland again and time for one of the coolest events to grace the city: the 2010 Portland Pirate Festival! This year, we’re going to get our world record back!

In 2009, we held the Guinness Book of World Record for “The Most Pirates In One Place At One Time,” beating out Brixham, England that May. Apparently, the pirates of Germany hold the title now, but it won’t be for long!

The 2010 Portland Pirate Festival is an annual event of food, entertainment, music, booths, fun for the kids, and so much more. It’s a time of awesomeness that lasts two full days, Sept. 18 and 19. It’s held in Cathedral Park underneath the St John’s Bridge. The Willamette River is right there to enjoy some of the sea-worthy events and just take a stroll at the water’s edge.

This year’s musical entertainment will be courtesy of BilgeRats & Pyrettes, among others. Of special interest, three of our top NW pirates orchestrating the whole event were chosen by Pirates Magazine, out of hundreds of pirate leaders around the nation, to be up for a vote to become the very first Devil’s Dozen (Order of the Leviathon). Jeff Mackay of Hood River and Captain Jack’s Pirate Hats, Mark Heimann of Estacada and Quicksilver’s Pirate Pots, and Margot la Mechante de Marseilles of PPF and Margot Productions, made the top 12. In fact, they were three of the top vote getters and were in the top 5. Check it all out at www.piratesmagazine.com

Anyway, make sure you show up in full pirate garb to this year’s Portland Pirate Festival and help get our world record back. Arg, Matey!!

For all the information, hit there web site at http://www.portlandpiratefestival.com/

Carole King and James Taylor in Portland

Two of the most amazing singer/songwriters of their time, Carole King and James Taylor, are teaming up and coming to the Portland Rose Garden Arena for a concert to beat all concerts.

Date: May 7, 2010
Time: 8:00 PM
Click Here – Tickets are on sale NOW!

I absolutely love the music of both James Taylor and Carole King. For them to come to Portland, Oregon together is most definitely tops my list concerts of the forever! They were very influential to my years growing up in the 70s and 80s. They styles and lyrics made me feel good and that is always the best kind of music….the stuff that makes your heart soar or speaks to a place deep inside you. There are not many musicians able to do that to me.

If you’re in Portland, get Carole King and James Taylor tickets today because they are sure to sell out quickly. If you’re not from Portland, either get here, find tickets in your area or it sucks to me you!

On Nov 14th from 11am to 4pm, fun, entertainment, exhibits, prizes and more await you at the 2nd Annual Baby + Family Expo at Jantzen Beach Center in Portland and it’s all FREE.

With more than 50 vendors, this is the perfect one-stop shopping experience for consumers looking for baby, parenting and family focused businesses, offering product samples, valuable discounts and information. Geoffrey the Giraffe from ToysRUs fame will be making appearances throughout the day, passing out goodie bags to all the kids.

There will be carousel rides, face painting, a magician and tons of crafts to enjoy. Attendees will have a chance to win fabulous prizes, so grab the kids and get out of the house for a day of fun at Jantzen Beach Center.

For more information, vending opportunities or to become a sponsor, you can contact Stef-Anie Wells at Events@jantzenbeachpdx.com or call 503.286.9103

I just received word from John Cleese’s marketing people that the Monty Python alumni will indeed be invading Portland on Monday, November 2nd at 8pm.

I remember discovering the zany comedy of the Python’s when I was a teen and I loved it. Mind you, it’s not your upper-brow type of humor and that is exactly why it suited me so well. I like the obscure stuff…the slapstick…the weird.

Honestly, if you told me a very well thought out story joke that was all the recent rage, I may or may not laugh.I just can’t guarantee you anything. But, if you happened to pass wind while telling me that joke, I’d break up laughing. Sorry, folks…it’s all in the delivery….or something of the sort.

Anyway, John Cleese has that wacky sense of humor that will keep an audience in stitches. He is the epitome of a master story teller as well as a crafted comedian and actor. Can you get a better package?

John will be at the Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway, discussing his career in the world of comedy, as well as his most pressing medical problems, his inability to find a suitable female companion, his mistrust of folk-dancing, and his latest plan for world peace. At the same time, his famous BBC series, Fawlty Towers, is being released as a remastered DVD set to a whole new generation. Right up there with Monty Python, Fawlty Towers highlighted the comedic talent of John Cleese as well as anything could.

This Portland event is right around the corner, so hurry over to Ticketmaster and grab your tickets before they’re all gone. This will definitely be a night you won’t forget! Hope to see you there.

The Portland Farmers Markets are so much fun. Although the tone is cool, calm and collected (after all, you are shopping! How hyper could you get?), any of the local Farmers Markets around the area are great places to visit, enjoy some live tunes from local musicians and peruse for some of the freshest produce and baked goods on the planet.

October is going to be especially spooktactular as the PSU Farmers Market holds their 10th annual Great Pumpkin Event on October 31st. This promises to be a wonderful and safe event for the entire family. Bring the kids and enjoy a pumpkin carving contest, a children’s costume parade that will wind throughout the Market, a couple exceptional cooking demostrations, and other terrific things to see and do.

The fun starts at 9am  sharp and goes until 2pm. All the children’s activities are graciously being provides by Playworks. Thanks, guys!

So, now is your chance to jet down to the PSU Farmers Market, centrally located at the south park blocks at Portland State University (SW Park between Harrison and Montgomery), on Saturday, October 31st, for the Great Pumpkin Event.

Just think….you’ll finally have your chance to dress up like a giant Rutabaga and no one is going to look at you funny! Weeeee!

For more information about this Portland event,you can contact Deborah Pleva at (503) 250-4750 or email her at deb@leeweinstein.biz. You can also visit the Portland Farmers Market web site and check things out for yourself.

Portland has and always will be a potpourri of cultural activity. You can always find happenings around the city to stretch your mind and expand your horizons.

The Oregon Day of Culture falls upon out fair city on Thursday, October 8.  With the weather supposed to be in the mild 60s, it will be a perfect day to head downtown to enjoy what is offered up. Treat your kids to the arts and culture at an early age….they’ll thank you for it when they’re older.

Personally, I’ll be heading to the Portland Classical Chinese Garden to soak in the Asian culture and lavish in the beauty and peacefulness there. Admission is free on this day, so if you’ve never been, now is the time.

There are many other things open to the public on Thursday (either free of discounted), so hop over to the Oregon Day of Culture’s Events page and map out your day.

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Discover more events, attractions and things to do in Portland at Uniquely Portland Oregon.com

It went down on the 26th of September….the long-awaited rematch between Wade Pack and the Stepping Stone Cafe’s world famous Mancakes. Wade Vs Mancakes, Round 2.

Wade had his game face on that day, ready to conquer the extra large pancakes, his eye on the prize of a Polaroid of himself  on their Wall of Fame.

A few moths ago, Pack stepped into the NW Portland cafe with breakfast on his mind, not a challenge. He remembered seeing Adam Richman of the Travel Channel’s “Man Vs Food” fame talking about these amazing creations and, at that point, decided to step up to the plate, quite literally. Unfortunately, the fluffy cakes defeated him that day.

The 26th was the rematch. View Part 1 and 2 of the video below to see what happens:

At the 2009 Portland Pirate Festival, a mass of Pirates invade Cathedral Park under the St Johns Bridge with the intent of putting Portland in the Guinness Book of World Records.

As of yesterday, the title of “Most Pirates in One Place” goes to the city of Portland as 1,651 locals turned out to break the previous record of 1,469 set by Brixham, England in May of this year.

The scene was nothing short of amazing. The high seas has never seen the likes of cut-throat pirates as the city of Portland saw this last weekend. Eye patches, swords, and impressive costumes, both male and female (I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many push-up bras!), all came out September 19th and 20th to enjoy live music, tasty foods of all sorts and games galore.

It was quite the event and something I will never forget. Read my complete write up on the 2009 Portland Pirate Festival World Record at The Portlander.com

THE happening event for all the Portland WordPress enthusiasts occurs September 19-20 at WordCamp Portland.

Speakers, authors, bloggers and everyone in between will show up to make this Portland event something that will be every blogger’s dream.

Unfortunately, tickets for WordCamp Portland went like wildfire. Not to worry though. The good people involved with the event will be streaming it over the Internet so you won’t miss a single second.

For me, I’ll be at the Portland Pirate Festival those days. I’ll have to catch what I can. Maybe bringing my laptop with me is a good idea.

For all the information, including schedule, sponsors, speakers and more, visit the WordCamp web site.

This Saturday, a modern day scavenger hunt will take place on the streets of Portland – with a moving target tweeting on Twitter. The Portland Twitter Hunt is set to promote “Let’s Go Viral,” an online video contest from FunnyOrDie.com, the widely popular comedy video website that combines user generated content with original, exclusive content, in conjunction with HBO Home Entertainment^® “Comedy Fetish.”

The “Let’s Go Viral” contest invites filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, comedians and film fans to create original comedic short video submissions. The winner will have the opportunity to produce an original short video with Funny or Die’s creative team, which includes Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy.

For The Portland Twitter Hunt, Funny or Die’s 845,886+ Twitter followers (http://www.twitter.com/funnyordie) will be encouraged to look for and find the person in a Funny or Die t-shirt to win a Flip UltraHD video camera. Tease tweets will begin the night before, and the moving target will begin tweeting his whereabouts on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 5 and throughout the day, as people race to find him.