The Portland 50

In this week's episode we feature Bill Schonely, otherwise known as The Schonz and the Mayor of Rip City. Bill was the play-by-play announcer for the Portland Beavers and for 35 years with the Portland Trail Blazers. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and in 2003 the Blazers retired his microphone. Bill Schonely now works as the Blazers Goodwill Ambassador.

In this week's episode we feature David Cress, founding partner of Food Chain Films. David is a commercial, TV, music video and film producer who has worked on a number of films by director Gus Van Sant. He produced a segment of the Kurt Cobain documentary "Montage of Heck" and David was nominated for an Emmy for helping produce the series "Portlandia".

In this week's episode we feature Brian Kidd, otherwise known as the Unipiper. In college, Brian found a unicycle in a dumpster and started to ride it. At the same time, he was learning how to play the bagpipe. He combined the two, added various costumes along the way and the Unipiper was born. Brian is launching a new project this month called Weird Portland United that he discusses with me on this week's podcast.

In this week's episode we feature Paula and Dave Harkin from the Portland Running Company. Paula and Dave are running ambassadors, and founded Run with Paula Events. They created the Hippie Chick and Helvetia half marathons, and now run Bridge of the Goddess and Newport Bay to Brews half marathons. And this year they're organizing the Portland Marathon they've dubbed "Portlandathon".

In this week's episode we feature Matthew Drake, CEO of Mt Hood Meadows. Matthew's father, Franklin Drake, founded Mt Hood Meadows, which opened in January of 1968 with two chairlifts, a T-bar and two rope tows. There are no 11 lifts and 85 named runs. Mt Hood Meadows is one of only a handful of ski areas in the U.S. that have operated for 50 years under the same ownership and are still privately owned.

In this episode we feature Stan Amy and Kristi McFarland. Stan is one of the co-founders of New Seasons Market and now serves on its Board of Directors. Kristi was in HR and served as the chief people officer for four years and recently took over as one of the two co-presidents. New Seasons Market was founded in 2000, employs over 3,000 people and now has about 20 stores, in Oregon, Southwest Washington and California, most of them are in the Portland Metro region.

In this week's episode we feature Congressman Earl Blumenauer, a former state representative, Multnomah County Commissioner and Portland City Council Member. Blumenauer was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1996 where he advocates for mass transit, bike commuting, human rights, sustainable energy, health care and cannabis. Congressman Blumenauer is also a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

In this week's episode we feature Curtis Salgado, an award-winning soul, blues and R & B vocalist who's also known for his harmonica playing. Curtis grew up in Eugene where he was the driving force behind The Nighthawks and a number of other bands. He met John Belushi in the 70's and John used his blues knowledge, honed from hours spent learning from Curtis, to create The Blues Brothers.

In this week's episode we feature Susannah Morgan and Rachel Bristol from the Oregon Food Bank. The Oregon Food Bank and their network of 21 regional food banks distribute food to, on average each month, an estimated 260,000 people in Oregon and Clark County, Washington. Rachel retired in 2012 after serving as executive director and CEO, and that's when Susannah took over as CEO of the Oregon Food Bank.

In this week's episode we feature Nelson Farris, Senior Director of Global HR Talent Development at Nike. Nelson has held about 20 different jobs during his Nike career that goes back to the '70's. Nelson is Nike's longest tenured employee and is also known as Nike's Chief Storyteller.