Vancouver, Whistler & Vancouver Island - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 863

Powell's Books claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the
world. The main store takes up a whole city block, and it's been a part of Portland book
culture since the early 1970s.
Beyond Grunge
Rock wasn't born in the Pacific Northwest, but the region has certainly attracted more
than its share of creative musicians. Jimi Hendrix, Anthony Ray (Sir Mix-a-Lot) and the
Wilson sisters (of Heart) all grew up in the Seattle area. Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan
and Nelly Furtado have British Columbia associations. Courtney Love (of Hole) was a
teenage rockster in Portland, while Paul Revere and the Raiders put Oregon on the rock-
music map in the mid-1960s.
A few cities have especially connected with indie music. Seattle was the original
stomping ground for Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie and Band of Horses - and still
has fantastic local bands and some legendary venues. Olympia, WA, has been a hotbed of
indie rock and riot grrrls, and birthplace of the now-defunct groups Sleater-Kinney, Beat
Happening and Bikini Kill. British Columbia can claim popular indie bands like The
New Pornographers, Black Mountain and Hot Hot Heat, as well as the punksters Subhu-
mans.
It's Portland, OR, however, which has really attracted indie bands: the city has boasted
such diverse groups as folktronic hip-hop band Talkdemonic, alt-band The Decemberists
and multigenre Pink Martini, not to mention The Shins, The Dandy Warhols, Blind Pilot,
Blitzen Trapper and Elliot Smith.
Meanwhile, jazz and blues are alive and kicking, thanks to the region's early African
American inhabitants. Seattle jazz was raging back in the 1930s and '40s, but today
avant-garde artists like Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz hold their own. Portland's
Grammy-winning jazz artist Esperanza Spalding has played in the White House twice,
while blues musicians Robert Cray and Curtis Salgado got started in Eugene. Jazz per-
former Diana Krall lives (with hubby Elvis Costello) part-time in Vancouver, also home
to blues musician Jim Byrnes. All three major cities host popular jazz and blues festivals,
and are home to major operas and symphonies.
Pacific Northwest by the Topic
Many great writers have either grown up in the Pacific Northwest or now call this region
home. Washington's late Raymond Carver, known for his grim vision of working-class
angst, has a collection of best stories in the volume Where I'm Calling From (1988).
Novelist Mary McCarthy (1912-89) inspired the play Imaginary Friends by Nora