50 songs for 50 states: Oregon

For all that Portland has become an ironic reference (thanks in no small part to Carrie Brownstein’s later work on Portlandia), it really is one of the great American cities. And possibly never more so than in the late 90s and early 2000s, before it had become a Thing, and could breathe comfortably as a strange and beautiful city of roses and bookstores and diners and strip clubs. A city where coyotes boarded the light rail, where young people from all around could congregate and finally feel at home, where the whole glorious mélange could wander Burnside looking for a show, a drink, and some of the best Thai food this side of the Pacific.