I say "thing" because it's not so much a book as an art object that contains, in addition to a bunch of reproductions of art, some very worthwhile essays by Matthew Stadler, Lynne Tillman, Lawrence Rinder, and others. And "release party" isn't the right phrase either, or at least it's disingenuous, since the evening was in fact billed as a "release party and spaghetti feed" and since it had none of the stilted glitz that defines so many book release parties. The event was dominated by a honky-tonk band called the Buckles and two fantastically wretched pieces of Eagles Lodge art: on one wall, a shit-hued, room-swallowing mural of mountains and a soaring eagle, and, on another, a massive two-dimensional jeweled eagle, framed. Before and after his stint on the dance floor, Stadler, Clear Cut's editor, who said he learned his dance moves from "studying the youth" in Astoria, stood behind a Christmas lights-draped table selling copy after copy of Core Sample (and, on occasion, a subscription to the entire Clear Cut series).
It was an improbable crowd, in composition (fetching youth in fetching pants, grizzled men in cowboy boots, art critics in splashy blouses, ranch ladies in ranch wear) and in number: How did all these art-scene people even find this weird building? The Eagles Lodge entrance doesn't face the street, and there is no sign. It was packed. I showed up with Charles D'Ambrosio, whose book of essays is forthcoming from Clear Cut Press and who lives in the neighborhood and had also been at the rooftop wedding in the Pearl District, and we spent a good 20 minutes walking up and down S.E. Hawthorne, in suits, trying to locate the place.
Several artists and writers said that the Eagles Lodge is not a typical gathering space for the art and literature crowd. This struck me as fitting. The whole Core Sample project is about atypical gatherings in atypical spaces. The book is a catalog of work that appeared in a massive art show of the same name in Portland last fall, a kind of state-of-Portland-art exhibition spread throughout seven improbable sites (warehouses, basements, etc.) that lasted just 10 days. Core Sample, the book, is the only lasting aspect of the whole enterprise. Core Sample, the show, was impressively, impulsively organized by seemingly every interesting artist in Portland at the time. And almost as soon as it was up, it was over. Like a good party.
