Top of the Hill
Familiar watering hole draws diverse Karaoke crowd
A comfortable neighborhood tavern, Top Of The Hill, located at 9214 N.E. Glisan St., provides a welcoming and familiar watering hole for a diverse northeast neighborhood clientele.
With a regular crowd that includes younger, middle-aged and older clients, all are welcome equally with quick, prompt and efficient service with personality and a smile. The bar itself is well-stocked with a wide selection of liquors and brews. There is the usual assortment of lunch, dinner and late-night bar snack items. The tavern sports a separate billiards area, along with Keno, Oregon Lottery, video poker, digital jukebox and continuous sports programming.
DJ Rusty Hoyle and bartender Elisha "Mouse" Silney
(Photo by Kurt "Swingcat" Johnson)
The outgoing and vivacious bartender Elisha "Mouse" Silney welcomed patrons on this visit. Silney draws all the patrons into the comfortable setting with her warm, brassy personality and makes all newcomers feel right at home. She's quick with a pour and gets your food order up quickly without long waits and makes sure you get your refills and next rounds with no questions asked. She focuses on strong customer service, making people feel comfortable and at home and ensures they have a good time. She points out her outlook and take on the place; "Good people, good drinks. Always great conversation! Good Karaoke singers and the laughs are free. It's fast service with a joke!"
For entertainment, the pub offers Karaoke on Friday nights, with Karaoke host DJ Rusty Hoyle. Hoyle KJ’ed for five years and is a former radio DJ at KMMT, Mammoth Mountain, Calif. His show style, microphone and public speaking skills reflect his on-air experience at a radio station. He also is the lead vocalist in a band called Stutter, a four-piece, alt-hard rock vocal band. Hoyle mentions that they are scheduled to play their first show at The Top Of The Hill (date to be arranged). Hoyle is also available as a DJ for weddings.
Hoyle utilizes a computerized Karaoke system with Peavy equipment, offering many songs. He points out some of the things he focuses on at his Karaoke show; "I make it a fun place so when people come here they will remember it and want to come back. I like to see people smile and have fun, have a good time. I like people to come and party with me. I maintain a steady and consistent rotation. Fair at all times. The music I play in between is what people know the words to and love. The people that come, they stay until closing. I have enough songs to keep them busy. There's never any dead air. I'm also a sound engineer and I know what to do with a mixing board. I never have you too loud or too low."
You can find more information and freeway directions to The Top Of The Hill Tavern by performing a Google Search on the internet and various entertainment bar finder websites for Portland. Also, see ad this issue.