In 2009, I recorded peoples’ location-based memories, edited and composed music to them, and wove them into free interactive audio tours of four Portland Neighborhoods.
Neighborhood Diaries is both an experimental oral history project, and a conceptual exploration of memory, fiction, and community.
Instructions:
You can listen to Neighborhood Diaries in many different ways: Listen on the web, Download the tours for free in iTunes or xml, or download the tours directly below (right click – save as).
If you’re going to take one of the walking tours, download the accompanying maps.
The Tours
Each of the four neighborhood tours has two tours each as follows:
Memories Solamente – just the memories – no walking music:
Boise (N), Buckman (SE), Downtown (SW), King (NE)
Mixtape Tours – Memories with music from some of my favorite Portland Bands in between the memories to fill the time it takes walking from place to place:
Boise (N), Buckman (SE), Downtown (SW), King (NE)
Thank You
I want to thank the wonderful people who helped me:
Johnny Toadvine, Karl Hugo, Mia Armstrong, and Nancy Wong, JD Harman, and of course all my friends and family that put up with my kvetching.
I also want to thank the musicians who graciously lent their music to the project. These are musicians I specifically sought out for this project, and their generosity is a testament to the strength of Portland’s creative community.
These artists include:
Starfucker, Menomena, the Blow, Talkdemonic, YACHT, The Shaky Hands, A Weather, Parenthetical Girls, Dragging an Ox Through Water, Copy, Living Proof, Ah Holly Family, Laura Gibson, Ethan Rose, Y La Bamba, Holcombe Waller, the Blue Horns, Grouper, Root Beer and French Fry, Shelby Sifers, The Old Believers, Death Songs, Sexton Blake, Southerly, Saw Whet, Loch Lamond, Portland Cello Project, The Morals, and more.
Most of all, I want to thank the brave people who sat down with me to share their stories. It was a blessing to hear so many different people’s stories,
Burrito?
If you’d like to contribute money (be it enough for a burrito or enough to pay my rent), then please click the donate button:
Neighborhood Diaries was supported in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council