http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/index.php Portland and surrounding area community news and information http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=123067911737630300 NEW YEAR’S EVE The Champagne Ball The city’s biggest and most crowd-pleasing affair is the annual Champagne Ball at the Portland Hilton. Four dance floors and multiple live bands and DJs mean you can party hop without ever leaving the party. Choose from rock, hip-hop, and ... http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=123067916088822800 BLUES Firewater CD Release Don’t let the winter weather get you down — get out of the house and down to Dante’s for a feisty contemporary blues extravaganza that’s guaranteed to warm you all the way through. Kolvane, Colin Lake & Wellbottom and former Alaskan ... http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=123067913948416200 What if you turned 100 years old and there was no money to throw you a party? In 2010, what is arguably Portland’s favorite bridge — the Hawthorne Bridge — will have been raising and lowering its center section on the Willamette River for 100 years. Sharon Wood Wortman, known as ... http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=123067920423456600 At the Southeast Portland bar and restaurant My Father’s Place (523 S.E. Grand Ave.), they never take down the Christmas tree. The little artificial tree has been in the window for years, and wears different ornaments for different holidays: flags on Fourth of July, ghosts or ... http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=123067918282993900 It’s a Tuesday evening in early December, and the Gilt Club in Northwest Portland is hosting atasting sponsored by the Oregon Bartenders Guild. Champagne is the theme, and a representative from the Piper-Heidsieck champagne company is stationed in one corner of the club’s ...