On this date in 2000, The Dandy Warhols closed down the St. Johns Bridge in NW Portland to film the bookend sequences for the “Get Off” video. Did you know you can just dial up the mayor’s office and demand a major Willamette River crossing to be closed just for laughs? You didn’t? That’s because you can’t. You need a permit and it has to be done at like 6am on a Sunday morning so longshormen don’t get all mad at you and stuff. I doubt St. Johns himself could close this bridge, say, during the Jazz Festival or whatever. If you’re going to shut down a bridge, please get permission first.

The remainder of the “Get Off” video was filmed two days later on April 11th. Why the “day off” in between? The answer to that tomorrow.

GOTHMAN