Great Story in the Portland Tribune

Now this is the Portland Tribune at its best. I had no idea the bass player from the "Good Vibrations" song lives in Portland. I LOVE that! This article has made my day so, right on to the Portland Tribune. There are lots of fascinating people in town, and knowing about them just makes everything seem better. I had no idea this guy was here. And speaking of fascinating people...I run into old Trib alums occasionally - there's quite a few of us by now - and we sometimes discuss our theories of what the Trib is, or could have been, or needs to be. By the way, dwelling on this happens less and less as the healing process continues. I talked with one alum who lived and breathed the paper and he confessed he hadn't read it in around a week. I myself am way past the hurt stage. The Trib is like an old girlfriend after a bad break-up. Sooner or later you're on to the next phase and the memories just make you smile. Let's face it: The Trib is in a difficult spot coming out twice a week. That's why there are so many "May" headlines, if not flat-out "Question Mark" headlines. A "May" headline goes on a story where they don't know what will happen but they have to go to press: "City May Go Broke!" When they really don't have a clue it looks like, "Will City Go Broke?" Whenever I see a "Question Mark" headline I just want to say, "It's your newspaper, you tell me." The Trib had one chance to be a huge success, in my opinion. It had to be Must Read, and instead they approached it like it was Required Reading. With it's awkward place in the news cycle it had to rely on columnists to stir up interest. Since I was one of the columnists, they should have let me do my thing more, instead of hedging so many bets. It needed to be fearless and it played it safe. As I always say, lines I was not allowed to put in my columns were sold to Jay Leno, and then reprinted in the Oregonian. I would read my stuff in the newspaper I was supposed to be competing with - that is the definition of crazy. But the years roll on. I'll always love the paper. I wanted it to be like "Front Page" with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon, and for a very few brief times, it was. So it's nice to be able to compliment the Trib and this story today is such a time. I loved it and reading it was a real treat.
PortlandTribune.com Jazz ukulele legend rides his instrument%u2019s renaissance