On Thursday, Jan. 26th, a bunch of drunken rabble rousers paid a visit to the Thunder Ranch Saloon. Immediately I was apprehensive of what the place was going to be about given the whole emergence of western themed bars in Portland. It definitely had it's cheesy elements, but juding a place based on that alone is retarded. Me, I prefer to categorically file things two ways:
(1) Fun
(2) Not fun.

We had fun, pure and simple. The door gal, who seemed a bit overwhelmed and confused by our immediate onslaught of "BarFly is here right now!" comments, waived our cover and directed us to talk to Jimmy the manager, who gave us the low down.

They seem to have an impressive array of acts booked, lots of standard country/blues/rock/abilly. There was also mention of Southern Culture on the Skids, Supersuckers, and other fun bands of that genre.

Many nightclub type places seem to treat their patrons with scorn and contempt. Here it seems, staff actually puts a little value on their customers. Speaking of customers, there is more a genuine cowboy thing going on here. Bikers, line dancers, rodeo queens, all of the roadhouse cliches that only exist in movies seem to like the place, and most were friendly as friendly could be.

J. was most impressed with the bartender in the sleeveless shirt who flexed in an exaggerated manner everytime he had to open or lift a bottle.

The saddle stools were initially cool, but after a few minutes, you realized that a lot of money was sacrificed to make a stool that becomes a literal pain in the ass to sit on. Thats my main beef.

Stan the mechanical bull is a crowd favorite.


Ladies are pretty much expected to rub their beavers up and down Stan's back while the Bull Pimp slowly bucks them up and down.

Shanrock of New Years BarF bus fame attempting to mimic Debra Winger with the patented sensual beaver rub.


Comfort fell victim to gimmick with these stools, as modeled by a back turned Dave J
.