Night of the Never-Ending Roast: Hacks & Flacks Yack It Up at Rose Garden Arena
TOASTY ROAST: Okay, so I guess I should've known by the second time that the cast of Glee came out to sing (actually it was a Grant High School show choir) that we were in for a long night at the 15th Annual Portland Roast Festival held Thursday night on the floor of the Rose Garden Arena to benefit the Portland School Foundation. In the good old days I remember this was all about the evening's centerpiece: The "Hacks vs. Flacks" roast. But last night, even though the event started at 5:30 pm, guests had to slog through several speeches, the aforementioned choir show, a veal and veggie dinner and a paddle raise before the main event even started tp commence at about 8:30 pm. Was it worth the wait? Yes, of course. This event is one of the only times that politicos (the "hacks": Sec. of State Kate Brown, City Commish Randy Leonard, Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler) can take a swipe at the fourth estate (the "flacks": OPB's [very preggo] April Baer, KEX's Mark Mason and Dave Anderson, The Oregonian's Anna Griffin) without it feeling like it might end up in a knock-down brawl or in The O's editorial pages. For her part, Brown (pictured above) dazzled with digs at both side of the podium and included the following visual I shot at last fall's Basic Rights Oregon Dinner. I guess her "kiss" with Storm Large caused a bit of a "stir" in Salem. Hmmmm...
And as for her fellow hacks? Chair Wheeler should stick to governing (he's about as good at stand-up as he is at skiing), and Leonard just seemed like the whole entire event was way past his bedtime. The "flacks" ended winning the competition [at nearly 10:30 pm] with a strong showing by Dave Anderson, who possibly got away with the best zingers of the long, long night.
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Last Updated (Friday, 19 February 2010 13:33)
