Wednesday October 1top

Michael Brune

"Sure," you might say, "the planet’s going to hell in a handbasket, but what can li'l old me do about it?" Well, living in Organic McCompostville—a.k.a. Portland—is probably a pretty good start. But Michael Brune, head of the Rainforest Action Network and author of Coming Clean: Breaking America’s Addiction to Coal and Oil, has some other good ideas. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free. Map

Peter Fogtdal

Dane Peter Fogtdal is pretty well known across the pond. He’s published 12 novels in French and Danish and even won awards for some of them, but he’s never had a book translated into English until now. The Tsar’s Dwarf is a dark comedy of a historical fiction novel, and Fogtdal, who also teaches writing at PSU, has exactly the sense of humor a person needs to find hilarity in Russian Tsar Peter the Great, who, aside from being a bloodthirsty maniac who pulled his country out of the Dark Ages with an iron fist, had a fondness for collecting dwarfs. Yes, that’s right, dwarfs. As in little people. Annie Bloom's Books, 7834 SW Capitol Highway., 246-0053. 7:30 pm. Free. Map

Thursday October 2top

Covering the Election Coverage

We’ve all got our opinions about the American presidential election. Well, except for me. I’ve been so busy playing Spore that I didn’t know about it until five minutes ago, though I hear that John McCain guy’s a maverick who may be more concerned with Wall Street than Main Street. But that’s beside the point. The thing about national elections is that most of us never actually meet the candidates, and so we rely on a press that is engaged in a perpetual dosey doe with the candidate’s image managers to tell us who these people are and what they stand for. But who's covering the coverage? The good folks at the new University of Oregon Portland's George S. Turnbull Center, that’s who. The George S. Turnbull Center, 70 NW Couch Street., 412-3659. 4 pm to 5 pm. Free. The discussion will be held on the third floor. Map

Richard Leakey

Richard Leakey, of the infamous Leakey clan of paleoanthropologists, is coming to town to spread his lies as part of the Linus Pauling Memorial Lectures. He’s probably going to say things like the universe is billions of years old (FALSE—try 6,000) and that humans have monkey great grandparents (FALSE—men are made of dust, women of man rib). He’ll also probably try to say the earth’s getting warmer. Yeah, whatever, Richard, I guess you weren't here in Oregon last winter. Maybe you should just stay in New York with the rest of your East Coast elites, or even better, go back to your career in politics in Kenya, wherever that is. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway., 232-2300. 7 pm. $45-$55. $38.25-$46.75 for seniors and students. Map

Saturday October 4top

Poets! Poets! Poets!

The featured artist for October at 23 Sandy Gallery is Sandy Tilcock. Hey! Wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute…Sandy Tilcock at Sandy Gallery? Methinks there’s some kind of a conspiracy here. I’m going to have to get to the bottom of this. But in the meantime, the master letterpress printer has done some book work for poet friends, including Kim Stafford, Lucy Carmin, Patrick Tilcock, Margot Voorhies Thompson and Susan Lowdermilk, and now they will be making an appearance at the gallery event being held in her honor. 23 Sandy Gallery, 623 NE 23rd Ave., 927-4409. 4 pm. Free. Map

Wordigo

Write Around Portland hosts its annual Wordigo, a fundraiser featuring Mad Libs, Scrabble, Boggle, Wordigo poker and a pool of open typewriters just waiting for you to come up with a freestyle word jam. GOOD: There’s a prize drawing at the end of the night. BETTER: There will also be cocktails. BEST: It’s for a good cause. Quite frankly, if you don’t go I will personally accuse you of hating victims of domestic violence, the homeless, people suffering from AIDS, children and the many other groups Write Around Portland helps. I may even tell people you’re friends with Gordon Smith. Now, you don’t want that, do you? Design Within Reach, 1200 NW Everett St., 220-0200. 7:30. $35-$150. Map

Sunday October 5top

Danny Goldberg

Danny Goldberg is the type of guy who really chaps my ass. He’s worked as a rock journalist. He’s run several record companies, including Warner Bros. and Mercury. He oversaw Air America radio. He was in charge of So Cal’s ACLU. Plus, he’s been the manager of everybody from Nirvana to Warren Zevon to the Beastie Boys. It's hard enough for me just to work up the energy to bathe every once in a while. Bumping into Geniuses is Goldberg’s memoir of a life spent around some of the biggest names in rock and roll. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free. Map

Monday October 6top

Spelling Bee

I spent my whole childhood just wanting to be a grown-up. Now that I am (at least my therapist assures me I am), I want nothing more than to be a kid again. It was so wonderful, what with the endless summers, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, absence of bills and, best of all, the spelling bees. And for some reason the local junior highs won’t allow a 24-year-old to go back and compete, no matter how many times I assure them I’m still just a kid at heart…I guess they’ve been talking to my therapist. Fortunately, Mississippi Pizza now hosts a spelling bee for adults every Monday. The best part? They serve alcohol—the only reason I ever wanted to grow up in the first place. Mississippi Pizza, 3552 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3231. 7 pm. Free. Map

Tuesday October 7top

Ian Rankin

Exit Music is the 17th book in Scottish author Ian Rankin's popular Inspector Rebus series of detective novels. I’ll be honest, I’m a little suspicious of anybody who puts together a book about as quickly as most people make a sandwich (I’m looking at you, Stephen King), but the sales don’t lie: readers love Inspector Rebus. Whatever. If this seems like a rather backhanded way of promoting something…well, it is. But he's coming, and now you know. Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton., 228-4651. 7 pm. Free. Map

John Dear

No, he’s not a riding lawn mower. That's John Deere, silly. I mean, have you ever seen a lawn mower that could write a book? Me neither. John Dear is a Jesuit priest, advocate for nonviolence and all-around good guy. The Nobel Peace Prize nominee was actually once sent to jail for eight months for his war protests and has lost his right to vote in the United States due to all his rabble-rousing. A Persistent Peace tells the story of his life. Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free. Map

Willamette Writers

This month’s guests at Willamette Writers are novelist and NPR contributor Marc Acito and television writer and Willamette Writers president Cynthia Whitcomb. The two local writers recently wrote a play together, Holidazed, which will be opening at the Artists Repertory Theatre on Nov. 21. This month at the conference, they plan to share a little bit about their writing process, specifically how they went about making a piece for the stage. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 222-2031. 7 pm. Free for members $5 for guests of members and students, $10. Map