Spotlight: AM Northwest

**UPDATE Friday September 4th**
– Facebook users: get a free burger from TGIF! Just become a fan of Woody, and then enter your email address in the ‘Register’ tab. How can you get a free burger? Woody explains: “Thanks for supporting my burger bet with T.G.I. Friday’s® Restaurants. If I get 500,000 fans on Facebook by September 30th 2009, we can all enjoy a free Jack Daniel’s® Burger from the good people at T.G.I. Friday’s.”

As of Friday 11:30am, he had just under 40,000 fans so you still have 460,000 opportunities to participate! Mmmm, Jack Daniel’s burger.

Weekend highlights:

– The Time Based Arts Festival kicks off this evening with ‘On Sight,’ opening at 8:00pm at Washington High School, followed by Gang Gang Dance at 10:30pm, both free. TBA is “Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s annual convergence of contemporary performance, dance, music, new media, and visual arts projects in Portland.” Running now until September 13th, many events require admission tickets, but you’ll also find a number for free–just check the web site here.

– Children’s Museum is free this Friday from 5:00pm – 8:00pm (Target First Fridays)

– Central Eastside’s First Friday happenings at galleries, shops and restaurants

– Art in the Pearl returns for the Labor weekend showcasing art, music, food and more this Friday, Saturday and Sunday

– If you are a Bank of America cardholder (credit card, atm or check card), then you get free admission this Saturday and Sunday to the Portland Art Museum and the Pittock Mansion

– Sauvie Island’s Pumpkin Patch opens up their corn maze this Labor Weekend, and on this Saturday only September 5th, dress up in any Trail Blazers gear and get half-price admission as part of Fan Appreciation Day for their new Trail Blazers Maize.

– This Sunday is First Sunday at OMSI, which gets you admission for just $2. Even better, this weekend is their Reptile and Amphibian Show!

– The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is coming to Portland in two weeks with their show “Zing Zang Zoom.” You can purchase tickets at half-off with this promotion we stumbled upon from TravelZoo; just remember to use code MAGIC in the promo box for the discount!

– Willamette Week has posted their new Cheapskate deals for this week, and they include free pancakes today at Pioneer Square from noon – 1:00pm, free Monday flicks at Boxxes, a bicycle warehouse sale and much more.

– Reminder, we are giving away two tickets to the NW Film Center. Like our other giveaways, all you need to do is email us with the subject line “NW Film” and we’ll randomly select from all emails received. Enter by this Sunday, September 6th and we’ll announce the winner next week on our Monday, September 7th Labor Day post.

POTC Spotlight: Be on TV with AM Northwest

We were recently part of the live studio audience for KATU’s morning local program, “AM Northwest.” Hosted by two NW natives Helen Raptis and Dave Anderson, the hour-long show features light news commentary, guest interviews (sometimes with famous celebrities), special feature segments and ample opportunities to win giveaways (by calling in and being the x-numbered caller). Or, as described on their web site:

“On the air since 1976, AM Northwest features the personalities and hot topics of interest to residents of the Northwest from the worlds of entertainment, family and relationships, health and beauty, home and garden, recipes, crafts, and gadgets.”

There is no cost to be part of the live audience, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

– Fridays are the only day the show has a live audience, so you should plan on a date and then email the producer to find out about seating availability

– When we went, we counted only 23 seats total for the audience, half of which were occupied by a chapter of the spirited Red Hat Society organization. So do get that date firmed up at least four weeks in advance to get your date preference

– Arrive by 8:30am and you’ll be seated about 10-15 minutes before showtime, which commences LIVE at 9:00am. You’ll be there until 10:00am, when the show ends

– They ask you to dress ‘Business Casual,’ and no costumes. Our advice is to dress to be presentable for the camera; during our show, audience shots were probably a whole 30 seconds for the entire show (so yeah, maybe you’ll see yourself a total of 2-3 seconds)

– Sorry, this isn’t Oprah, so don’t expect any giveaways or little bags of freebies. You will have a good time though!

This is a locally produced show and it was great seeing the studio set and practicing and performing the TV clap (you’ll learn about that one for sure). Helen and Dave have great chemistry and their banter is fun, especially since Dave is a professional comedian and he’ll always plug in some quirky comments or points of view that generate laughs from the audience as well as the production team. And since Helen and Dave are so close to the audience, during commercial breaks they’ll answer questions and converse with the audience before getting back on the air — no diva mentality there! You’ll get to see remote-controlled TV cameras, teleprompters and a small glimpse of the inner workings of putting the show together. Cheap fun and you just might learn a thing or two (or three, or maybe about things that you didn’t think were interesting but alas there you are listening and paying attention to proper care of household plants!).

To be part of the show:
Call 503-231-4610 or send an email to amnw@katu.com. Provide a Friday or two that works for you along with how many people would like to attend. They’ll call or email you back to confirm and that’s it–no tickets, just sign in when you arrive.

Thanks for reading and for your support of our little web site!