It’s a Friday in July, I don’t know how things can get better than that. Of course, if you were one of the few who took the week off (or could afford to take it off) for the holiday, then this whole week’s been a party.
Here’s to you, week-long vacation guy.

But since it’s summer in Portland, it’s time to ask an age old questions: What’s your best summer time bar in Portland?
What’s the criteria here - is it just a good deck? What about signature drinks, or drink specials?
What about the crowd – isn’t a bar only as good as its crowd? And of course there are the bartenders, the people who make it all happen.
I know I personally love hitting up Amigos during the summer – the deck is prime real estate for viewing the Alley of Shame, and the beer is cheap and cold. Still, I also have a spot in my heart for Dock Fore. Then again, I don’t think you can beat a great mojito in the summer, and Una does a good job there.

Time to weigh in people.

FRIDAY

• More than meets the eye:Tonight’s the First Friday art walk and if you’re in the Arts District watch out for the Truck Show. The concept is simple – get a big moving truck, fill it with work from local artists, take the art to the people. Commerce happens. Word on the street is that Country Rhodes and The Fuge (the degenerates behind BINGO!) will be hosting tonight’s moving gallery. I really don’t know what to make of that. Prepare to buy art, or be insulted.

• Hot Rocks: The Hot Tarts are playing with The Nightbirds and Red Belly over at Geno’s at 10 p.m. I tried to make the case for two-person rock groups a few weeks back when The Evens played the Space Gallery. The Hot Tarts have been known to rock, and do so hard. Plus it’s a girl group, so they got that going for them, which is nice.

• Hugs are for sharing: You may not have heard of Group Hug Productions before, but you’re probably recognize some of the players from the hip-hop and DJ scene: Saiyid, R. Tex and The Duke. Tonight over at The White Heart, Group Hug Presents “A Soul Experience,” which will also feature Aqueous and Jenn Womble. You might be asking, "What will I be experiencing?" Take a look at The Duke’s MySpace page and you can get a quick listen. To call it funk would not begin to describe it – it's more like that soul music that makes you want to dance, or drive down your block in a 1970s Monte Carlo or Lincoln Continental. Good times. Show starts at 10 p.m.

SATURDAY

Try to dodge all the hyper-superstitious people this weekend – the weddings, birthdays and other celebrations…it’s a little to cult-y for my taste.

• The Rule of 7 Today they’re officially replacing those old, crappy seven wonders of the world, with a new, sleek, modern and sexy Seven Wonders. To me, this raises some questions, such as, what’s wrong with the old seven wonders (all but one are gone), and should the new "wonders" really be chosen in the same method as "American Idol" or the NBA All-Star Game?

  
  Here’s a little background on the old seven wonders - if you can name more than four, you’re a better student of history than me.

  What about Mount Rushmore or the The Corn Palace, don’t they deserve to feel special too?

  
  Vote for seven wonders here, but do it before midnight Friday.

  Meanwhile, back in Portland, if it’s 7/7/07, then only one group must take the stage: Lab Seven

  The Lab Seven crew is throwing two parties tonight at The Big Easy, first an all-ages set beginning at 5 p.m. with the "adults only" show beginning at 10 p.m.
  This crew’s been together for 10 years, blowing out speakers from one end of the state to the other at their live shows.
  Tonight’s special guests include Boom Squad, Brzowski and the always bombastic Mike Blast.
  Naturally, tickets are $7.

And now your YouTube moment of Zen: I'm only going to offer a link to it, because it does offer a few choice words (expletives - remember, "earmuffs"), but it's so funny I think it's worth a few minutes. Plus, it features the awesomely bad '80s song "The Touch," which was used in the first "Transformers" movie in the '80s and was immortalized by Dirk Diggler in "Boogie Nights."

Remember when I was ranting about Transformers earlier in the week, well, looks like not all the Transformers from the '80s got hooked up to the Michael Bay rejuvenation machine. Poor Soundwave has hit on some hard times.

E-mail this entry to a friend