37 19 willamette week, march 16, 2011 by Willamette Week Newspaper

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WWEEK.COM

VOL 37/19 03.16.2011

CAN STIV WILSON BAN THE BAG IN OREGON? BY JAMES PITKIN | PAGE 17

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

CONTENT PORTLAND COLLECTOR CAR AUCTION

Saturday March 26th Portland Expo Center

Gates 8am, Bidding 10am

150 CARS EXPECTED!

$8 Admission • Free Bid Pass • Buy Fee 8% Visit Silver’s Website for Bidding Details

Consign Your Car Today! BIG QUAKE: What if it happened here? Page 14.

NEWS

FOOD & DRINK

LEAD STORY

MUSIC

CULTURE

MOVIES

HEADOUT

CLASSIFIEDS

STAFF Editor-in-Chief Mark Zusman EDITORIAL Managing News Editor Henry Stern Arts & Culture Editor Kelly Clarke Staff Writers Nigel Jaquiss, James Pitkin, Beth Slovic Copy Chief Kat Merck Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Peggy Perdue, Sarah Smith Special Sections Editor Ben Waterhouse Screen Editor Aaron Mesh Music Editor Casey Jarman Assistant Music Editor Michael Mannheimer Editorial Interns Ailin Darling, Kevin Davis, Rachael DeWitt, Rebecca Jacobson, Tiffany Stubbert. Nikki Volpicelli CONTRIBUTORS Stage Ben Waterhouse Classical Brett Campbell Dance Heather Wisner Visual Arts Richard Speer

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For More Info 800-255-4485 • www.SilverAuctions.com Erik Bader, Ruth Brown, Nathan Carson, Shane Danaher, Robert Ham, Whitney Hawke, Jay Horton, Matthew Korfhage, AP Kryza, Nilina Mason-Campbell, John Minervini, Katrina Nattress, Rebecca Raber, Alistair Rockoff, Jeff Rosenberg, Anika Sabin, Matt Singer, Chris Stamm, Mark Stock

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Our mission: Provide our audiences with an independent and irreverent understanding of how their worlds work so they can make a difference. Circulation: 90,000 (except during holidays and school vacations.) Though Willamette Week is free, please take just one copy. Anyone removing papers in bulk from our distribution points will be prosecuted, as they say, to the full extent of the law. Willamette Week is published weekly by City of Roses Newspaper Company 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Main line phone: (503) 243-2122 fax: (503) 243-1115 Classifieds phone: (503) 223-1500 fax: (503) 223-0388

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Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

INBOX A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE

Before we demand Rep. David Wu fall on his sword [“Strange Wu,” Feb. 23; “Wu’s World,” March 2], perhaps we should compare and contrast him with Sen. Rand Paul? Rep. Wu seems to be more “in touch” with reality. T.M. Farnand Northeast Portland

WWEEK.COM READERS COMMENT ON: “AFTER TWEETING FROM WORK AT MULTCO, COLLYMORE CUTS TWITTER ACCOUNT,” March 10, 2011

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“Come on, people! She spent several 15-second chunks tweeting at work and we’re going to try to crucify her? Really? People shouldn’t spend bunches of time doing personal stuff at work, but in the era we live in, is making a non-work-related tweet or Facebook post while you’re at your desk really so bad? My guess is that Karol works her ass off, with long hours the norm, like most staffers in policy offices do. If she takes a break to tweet, who cares? If she doesn’t take a break to do it, it’s probably because she isn’t taking breaks at all.... WW, if you want to bring down people with political ambitions, at least do it with substantive critiques.” —Alex T. “I think it’s a perfectly valid story. What’s disturbing is the comments trying to justify Collymore’s behavior, or to minimize the facts, or to pretend that it’s OK because it’s ‘just a little time’ or ‘she’s a great human being.’ Great human beings can still waste time at work and waste the

Like most Portlanders, I like to recycle those things I can. Sometimes, it takes a while to get containers rinsed clean. With all that rinse water wasted vs. adding to the landfills, what’s a good environmentalist to do? —Puzzled in Portland The dull way to answer this query would be simply to appeal to authority: Metro, which oversees conservation for this region, encourages you to rinse and recycle. Meanwhile, I’ve found approximately zero reputable (or even disreputable) sources that say “Save water—trash your cans.” But where’s the fun in that, when your question so clearly invites one of Dr. Know’s patented, back-of-the-chablis-box bogus mathfests? Drunk on Adderall and vertiginous dialectic, you and I shall prove the obvious—with mathematical certainty! Using the lipstick of the last woman to spend the night here (I won’t say how old it is, but the 4

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

taxpayer’s dime. What’s interesting is that defenders of the behavior carefully sidestep the fact that she’s done it a lot. This story just highlights one example. And the other carefully sidestepped issue: The employment policy expressly forbids doing it, yet Collymore says that it’s acceptable and she “doesn’t see a problem with it.” Really? I wish I had a job where I get to pick the workplace policies I choose to follow. Why is it a problem or a “witch hunt” when a public servant’s at-work behavior is described in a newspaper? But hey, it’s Portland, right? We need to stop setting such high standards for public servants. It’s such a little thing, not important. Little things don’t matter. Right? Right.” —Anonymous “I think Collymore’s position is an “at will” position with Cogen, and it is him and his chief of staff who determine what her position entails and the workload she has. If Cogen feels she is able to accomplish her tasks for him and is able to have a minute to tweet, I don’t see the problem. What’s the next story going to be, “Collymore Flushes Taxpayer Money Down the Drain by Using the Restroom at Work, Costing Taxpayers an Estimated $0.01”?…. —Doug CORRECTION: Last week’s story “From the Shores of Tripoli” misspelled the name of one of the people who was interviewed. The correct spelling is Amna Shebani. WW regrets the error. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Fax: (503) 243-1115, Email: mzusman@wweek.com

first ingredient is “whale oil”), I’ve calculated that since each Portland household recycles about 700 pounds of, um, recycling each year, and only 22 percent of that is glass, metal or plastic, so you’re really only rinsing about 3 pounds of stuff per week. Even assuming that all your recycling is super-light aluminum beer cans (which, believe me, can happen), that’s only 100 or so rinses a week. Never one to shirk from the trench warfare of science, I personally measured the amount of water it took me to rinse a soup can, and the most I could plausibly use was about a liter. Thus, in a bad week you might devote 27 gallons of fresh water to rinsing—less than 1 percent of the 2,730 gallons the average household uses. Assuming your job has low-flow toilets, you’d probably save more water just by following the working man’s maxim: “Never sweat on the company’s time, and never take a shit on your own.” QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com

J.B.

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Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

POLICE: What’s holding up a JTTF deal? CITY HALL: Can public campaign finance come back? SPORTS: Previewing the Timbers. QUAKE FALLOUT: Could it happen in Oregon? Um, yeah.

8 11 13 14

Portland Public Schools is preparing for the possibility Mayor Sam Adams will secure a new development deal that includes the school district’s headquarters. As part of Adams’ broad vision for redesigning the Rose Quarter, the mayor has expressed interest in a new use for the district building just north of the Rose Quarter. The Portland Development Commission, under the direction of the mayor, is studying new options for the site. On Monday, PPS inked a $25,000 contract with Macadam Forbes Inc., a commercial real-estate firm that would evaluate any possible deals coming out of that study.

W W S TA F F

SANITY AMID THE MADNESS.

Antiwar groups will hold a 1 pm rally this Saturday, March 19, at Pioneer Courthouse Square to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Organizers of the demonstration on the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq hope for a crowd of up to 2,000 protesters. The protest will highlight the links between “the problems of the economy with these long-term occupations overseas,” according to Dan Handelman of Peace and Justice Works, one of the event’s organizers. Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen reported a $2,500 contribution to Clackamas County Citizens for Jobs and Safety, which supports levying a $5 annual car-registration fee on county residents to help fund a new Sellwood Bridge. That group has raised about $25,000 so far for a May ballot fight brought on by opponents who got enough signatures to refer to the ballot COGEN the registration fee imposed by Clackamas County’s Board of Commissioners. The fee’s foes call themselves Clackamas County First and have reported only about $600 in contributions so far. U.S. Gold & Silver Investments, a Portland company in business since 1972, posted a disturbing notice on its website and stopped answering its phone recently. “The current economic situation in the U.S. has been devastating for many small business and ours is no exception,” the notice says. “We are currently not accepting new clients and are working hard to resolve current clients’ accounts.” Because the company is not registered as an investment adviser, it’s hard to know how much client money is at stake. Martin Meyers, an attorney for company owner Lawrence Heim, declined comment, and Heim was unreachable. 6

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

W W S TA F F

State lawmakers are quick to suggest piling additional penalties BARKER on sex offenders—as evidenced by a recent proposal to eliminate the six-year statute of limitations on sex crimes (destined to be called Goldschmidt’s law if it passes). Then there’s their response to Rep. Jeff Barker’s House Bill 3065, which proposes expanding the scope of official misconduct by public employees to reclassify certain misdemeanors as felonies: The bill sponsored by Barker (D-Aloha) gets a hearing March 21 in the House Judiciary Committee, but he’s not hearing much interest in holding public employees to that higher standard.

NEWS

GOT A GOOD TIP? CALL 503.445.1542, OR EMAIL NEWSHOUND@WWEEK.COM

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL DAVID WU TOTALED A PARKED CAR IN 2010 AND BLAMED IT ON HIS HECTIC TRAVEL SCHEDULE. BY BE T H S LOV I C

bslovic@wweek.com

U.S. Rep. David Wu crashed his car into a Ford Focus parked on a residential street in Portland’s Forest Heights neighborhood last year, WW has learned. One witness says the Democratic congressman smelled of alcohol. That witness and a second one say Wu appeared impaired. A recording of their 911 call reveals the congressman asked them not to call police, although the force of the crash damaged the Ford Focus so severely it had to be towed from the scene. Wu, in a statement Tuesday, said alcohol was not involved. While this development took place more than a year ago, it adds one more piece to the puzzle of recent reports about Wu’s odd behavior in the months before he won re-election last November in Oregon’s 1st Congressional District. As WW first reported in February, the seven-term lawmaker’s behavior grew so erratic in the final week before the November election, staffers twice tried to stage psychiatric interventions with Wu (see “Strange Wu,” Feb. 23, and “Wu’s World,” March 2). WW’s reports followed a Jan. 19 account by The Oregonian about the departure of several high-level staffers from Wu’s offices after the election. In recent weeks, Wu has confirmed many details of those news stories, and in an effort to exercise damage control, has apologized for not being at his “best.” He says he stopped drinking in July 2010 for five months, but did

so to lose weight. In response to direct questions about drug use, he has said he took prescription painkillers and other medicine to cope with neck pain and the effects of a strained marriage, which ultimately ended in a separation from his second wife. He also blamed a tough re-election campaign for his troubles. Finally, Wu has said he suffers from a genetic condition that causes him to react poorly to certain combinations of prescribed drugs. In the wake of these troubling admissions, several Oregon newspapers, including the (Eugene) Register-Guard and The Oregonian, have either called for Wu’s resignation or strongly suggested he not run again. The revelation of this 2010 car accident is sure to open Wu up to even more questions. On Feb. 19, 2010, Karen Fog was inside her Forest Heights home with her friend Barbara Tymer when, just after 9 pm, the two heard a loud crash. They went outside on that cold, clear night to find a car had plowed into the front of Tymer’s blue, 2007 Ford Focus, which was parked on the opposite side of the street from Fog’s house. They also found Wu standing at the scene, next to his rented 2009 Dodge Charger, which had apparently crossed from the right side of the street to the left to collide head-on with Tymer’s parked Ford. The women say they did not recognize Wu and that it was only later that Tymer realized he was a congressman. (She thinks she realized this when she called Wu to follow up with insurance paperwork and discovered he’d given her the phone number of his Portland congressional office.) That night Tymer asked Wu, who was alone, whether he was OK. He told her he was fine. But Tymer told WW he

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OUT OF FOCUS: The 2007 Ford Focus U.S. Rep. David Wu crashed into in 2010.

smelled of alcohol. “He didn’t seem like he was raging drunk or anything,” Tymer says. “He was in shock.” Fog called police and, according to a 911 tape WW obtained through a public-records request (listen to that tape on wweek.com), requested officer assistance. “I’m assuming that there’s some kind of disability, if he was driving on the wrong side of the street,” Fog told the dispatcher from her home. “He says he fell asleep. I don’t believe him.” A form from Wu’s insurance company shows a payment of $7,062.30 to Tymer for her wrecked car. Another $5,000 went to the lien holder, meaning Wu’s insurance paid out the full value of the car. “He did not want us to call the police,” Fog told the dispatcher. (Asked to respond to this, Wu’s office declined.) After Fog called 911, two Portland police officers arrived at the scene. Officer Jason Worthington helped the two parties exchange information for insurance purposes. Officer Brian Hunzeker performed a field sobriety test, which Wu passed. He says he detected no odor of alcohol. Neither Worthington nor Hunzeker is a state-certified drug recognition expert. There was no Breathalyzer test. Tymer says Wu told Portland police he had fallen asleep at the wheel. A police spokesman confirms this 5 account. “There’s no indication that it was anything other than fatigue,” says Sgt. Peter Simpson, the spokesman. But Tymer says she thought Wu’s claim that he had fallen asleep was implausible. Based on the direction Wu was traveling, he probably would have had to make at least two tight turns just seconds before the crash. “How could you navigate up to that point and then supposedly fall asleep?” Tymer wondered aloud. Tymer says Wu admitted to police he had consumed wine earlier that Friday evening but that he was tired from his hectic back-and-forth travel between Washington, D.C., 405 and Oregon. A local news story about Wu, however, reported he had been in Oregon for at least one day before the crash: He toured a fire station in Hillsboro on Thursday, Feb. 18. So, where was Wu going? And where was he coming from that Friday night? Wu would not answer. 26But the home of Stuart Cohen, Wu’s former law partner and close friend, is just a few blocks away from Fog’s, and Wu was driving in the direction of Cohen’s home at the time of the crash. Wu also listed Cohen’s address as his own when police asked the congressman for his personal information. Cohen did not return a call from WW. A spokesman for Wu says the congressman volunteered for the sobriety test, followed appropriate insurance procedures and was not cited after he “briefly lost control of his vehicle.” LISTEN: Hear the 911 tape at wweek.com. Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

CITY HALL

LESLIE MONTGOMERY

SECOND LIFE

Although this new effort comes right after Portlanders rejected a measure to continue public financing, Burton believes it’s not too soon to make a run at a revival. He points out that only 50.4 percent of voters opposed public financing in November 2010 and that higher turnout for the 2012 presidential election will mean a more supportive electorate. BY H E N RY ST E R N hstern@wweek.com “We have a progressive city and we should come right back,” says Burton, a Four months after Portland voters killed 53-year-old stonemason who placed fifth public financing of political campaigns for in a nine-candidate field last May for the city office, a small cadre of supporters is Council seat won by incumbent Commissioner Dan Saltzman. “You don’t let the organizing to bring the issue back. They got the OK last month from the city fire go completely out.” Burton bases his optimism in part on the elections office to begin gathering the 29,490 volunteer and donor base of signatures needed to put an initiative on the November FACT: The now-dead public the Green Party, which backs Burton’s campaign. About 2012 ballot, and plan to begin finance program provided $150,000 in public money 3,000 of the Pacific Green that effort this spring. Party ’s 8,700 registered B u t s o m e o f p u b l i c in the primary for council candidates—and $200,000 Oregon members live in financing ’s higher-profile for mayoral candidates— Portland, and the party says supporters aren’t leaping in who collected enough it has a donor base of about to back this new campaign, signatures and matching $5 donations. 1,000 people in the city. led by Spencer Burton, an Jorden Leonard, executive unsuccessful City Council candidate last May who couldn’t even director of the Portland Green Party, says qualify himself for public financing before the party will help recruit volunteers and put the campaign in touch with donors to voters killed the program later in 2010. “I understand their concern. I’m new to raise the goal of $40,000 for a full-scale the scene,” says Burton, chief petitioner for signature-gathering campaign. However, the most visible backers an initiative that would restore the public campaign finance program. “It’s like a dance of last year’s campaign to retain public floor and I’m one of those guys who jumps in financing as an option in city elections first. As the dance floor starts to fill, they’ll aren’t yet supporting this move to bring it back to voters in 2012. jump in.”

NEWS

CAN PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCE BE REVIVED IN PORTLAND?

CAMPAIGN TRAIL BLAZER: Spencer Burton likens himself to a “fire starter” when it comes to restoring public campaign finance in Portland.

“The Bus loves voter-owned elections and we want to see it come back,” says Henry Kraemer, political director of the Oregon Bus Project. “We still have questions about whether this is the best path forward. We want to get a better sense of what the electorate is going to look like.” Janice Thompson, executive director for Common Cause Oregon, takes a similar stance that it’s not time, yet, to consider another campaign. “The story right now is the likelihood of record fundraising in the mayor’s race,” Thompson says. “That could contribute to

2012 being a good time to revisit reform options. But there are many factors to consider, so it is too early to tell.” Even though Burton failed to get the 1,000 signatures required to qualify for public financing in his Council run, he and the Green Party still believe they can gather about 30,000 valid signatures from registered Portland voters. “The last campaign seemed pretty last-minute,” says Seth Woolley, secretary of the Pacific Green Party in Oregon. “We were a little dismayed, so we thought it should be on the ballot again.”

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SPLITTING TIMBERS THE TIMBERS’ NEW SEASON IN A NEW LEAGUE WILL MEAN BIGGER REVENUES AND SALARIES—BUT AT A COST. BY JO N AT H A N C R OWL

243-2122

The Portland Timbers’ inaugural season in Major League Soccer kicks off this Saturday, March 19, at Colorado. Before that happens, here’s a guide for casual fans to some of the big differences marking the move of the franchise from its 10-year stint in the lower-level United Soccer Leagues to MLS. NEW FACES: Fourteen of the Timbers’ 24 roster players were not associated with the club last season. Nine of those new acquisitions come from other MLS teams through an expansion draft. One new player to focus on is midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe, a 20-year-old Liberia native and the Timbers’ first MLS draft pick. He was the top college player last season and led the University of Akron to a national championship. HIGHER COST OF WINNING: USL players normally earned base salaries of less than $20,000. Salaries will be much higher for Timbers players in the MLS, which requires a base salary of $42,000 for roster members. If Timbers go out on the town with Trail Blazers, the cagers should still pick up the tab, given that the NBA’s minimum salary this season is nearly $475,000. Midfielder Jack Jewsbury, a recent aquisition from Sporting Kansas City and the Timbers’ new captain, will earn a base salary of $145,000. That’s about on par with the average MLS salary of $138,000 last season. IT TAKES MONEY TO MAKE MONEY: MLS can’t match the contracts offered by overseas clubs and leagues. But the U.S. league has carved out a niche as an attractive destination for aging stars like 35-year-old Englishman David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy) and France’s 33-year-old Thierry Henry (New York Red Bulls).

These stars command multimillion-dollar salaries but also increase the domestic and worldwide exposure of the league, opening up sponsorship opportunities and increased revenue. The Timbers don’t have such internationally regarded names. But Nagbe is the son of Liberia’s former national team captain and is considered one of the United States’ top young talents. Also, defender Kerrea Gilbert spent five seasons with Arsenal FC in the English Premier League and played for England’s U-17 national team. Bringing in top-level talent has helped improve MLS’s profile: In 2010, MLS signed a 10-year, $150 million sponsorship deal with Adidas. All league earnings are divided equally among its 18 teams. TIMBERS FANS WILL HAVE MORE COMPANY: Last year’s Timbers had a season-ticket base of 3,000. The figure this year is four times that. The $31 million renovation of PGE Park— whose name will change to Jeld-Wen Field because the Southern Oregon window- and doormaker will pay for stadium naming rights—will increase seating capacity from just over 16,000 to about 19,000 when it hosts its first MLS game April 14 against Chicago. The revamped stadium will also retain Timbers Army seating. Changes may be coming outside the stadium as well. On Wednesday, March 16, the Portland City Council will consider a proposal to extend area parking-meter hours on game nights from 7 to 10 pm and increase rates for 441 parking spaces during those hours from $1.60 to $3.50. THE EVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED: In addition to leaguewide television contracts, the Timbers have also reached an agreement with Root Sports, the successor to Fox Sports Northwest, to broadcast 16 of the Timbers’ 34 games this season. This deal combines with broadcast agreements made with FOX 12, ESPN and others to ensure every regular-season Timbers game will be televised in the Portland area. Only 12 Timbers games were televised last season, although the USL streamed all matches on the league’s website. Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

NEWS

EARTHQUAKE

BADLY SHAKEN

AV IN PO TE N ZA

WHILE THE JAPAN QUAKE HAS YOUR ATTENTION, READ WHAT COULD HAPPEN HERE. BY B E T H SLOV IC

bslovic@wweek.com

The earthquake that struck Japan last week was the fourth largest since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A magnitude 9.0 quake, the March 11 event spawned a tsunami, left hundreds of thousands homeless and badly weakened the country’s energy, transportation and economic sectors. Radiation from damaged nuclear power plants has further threatened public safety. (The Oregon Health Authority says there’s no danger at the moment of radiation fallout traveling here.) And the quake is a terrible reminder of what may be in store if predictions for Oregon’s next big earthquake just off the Oregon Coast come true. “It’s rare that we get the public’s attention,” says Yumei Wang, an earthquake risk engineer for the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. “This is a real threat.” Here’s a comparison of the destruction in Japan and what may happen in Oregon if a similar catastrophe strikes our coast. JAPAN

OREGON

Type of earthquake: The quake occurred along a subduction zone. Essentially, the Pacific Plate got shoved under the North American Plate, pushing the North American Plate up. Pressure had been increasing for decades but the quake happened when that pressure released.

A similar scenario could unfold along the coast of Oregon where the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Pacific Plate meet along the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Shake time: The shaking levels of “engineering significance” lasted for more than three minutes.

Experts say the shaking here might rattle buildings for as long as four minutes.

Warning time for major population centers: Japan’s early warning system alerted Tokyo residents one minute before they could feel the trembling. That’s because it took longer for the quake’s forces to travel the 230 miles to Tokyo.

Experts say Portland would have anywhere from 10 to 90 seconds to prepare.

Extent of flooding Water reached 23 feet above sea level.

On the Oregon Coast and in low-lying areas, flooding could reach 40 to 50 feet above sea level.

Estimated casualties As of Tuesday, reports indicated as many as 3,000 Japanese had died in the disaster. As many as 15,000 more people remain missing.

According to conservative estimates, as many as 5,000 deaths in a similar quake off Oregon’s coast.

Sources: “Quake-Up Call,” WW, Jan. 27, 2010; The New York Times; U.S. Geological Survey; and Yumei Wang, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Wikipedia. 14

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

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courtesy of stiv Wilson / 5gyres.org

Plastic Crusader

FIRST EXpEdITIon: Stiv Wilson sails across the north Atlantic Gyre in January 2010 about 300 miles from Bermuda. It was his first expedition with the 5 Gyres Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to documenting and raising awareness of plastic pollution at sea.

CAN STIV WILSON BAN THE BAG IN OREGON? By Ja mes Pitkin

jpitkin@wweek.com

The most significant Oregon environmentalist of the moment was once arrested on more than 100 counts of petty theft. When Stiv Wilson was a sophomore at the University of Montana, he and his friends would get drunk on Carlo Rossi wine and steal light bulbs off porches at night. The thefts werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t random. Wilson and crew would try to create simple geometric shapes out of the swaths of darkness they left behind across Missoula. Afterward they would climb a hill at the edge of campus to view their handiwork. One night police busted Wilson. The judge was chuckling, Wilson recalls, as he handed down a small fine. The prank, while mildly criminal, also embraced the kind of creativity, commitment and indifference to authority that mark Wilsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work today. cont. on page 18 Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

cont.

“A natural-born ringleader and happy instigator” is how Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy describes Wilson, his longtime friend. “A rockstar,” declares state Sen. Mark Hass—speaking not of Meloy but of Wilson. Eighteen years after his Missoula bust, Wilson is on the verge of either a stunning victory or a shattering defeat in a battle he’s been waging for four years. With Hass’ help, he is seeking to ban from Oregon the ubiquitous plastic grocery bags that clog recycling machines, obstruct city sewers and take centuries to decompose. Oregonians use about a billion of them each year. Wilson began pushing for a ban in 2007 after visiting a remote Oregon beach. He had parked his Vanagon off U.S. 101, picked up his surfboard and hiked for an hour south of Cape Lookout—only to find a stretch of sand littered with plastic lighters, toothbrushes, polyethylene sinks and bottles, some of them with Chinese characters. Now Wilson has devoted himself full-time to fighting plastic pollution, sailing 14,000 nautical miles in the past year to document the stain of plastic on Earth’s oceans. “We’re not trying to rid the world of plastic,” Wilson says. “If I go to the hospital or want a tattoo, I sure as hell want the stuff. But so much of it lasts forever and is used for seconds. That’s what we’re trying to prevent.” If Hass’ bill passes, it would arguably be the most groundbreaking piece of environmental legislation in Oregon since the state’s pioneering 1971 bottle bill. The proposed ban is being closely watched by lobbyists and activists across the nation. The bag ban has bipartisan support and is backed by grocers, but its fate is far from certain. The bill is currently tied up in a committee. Hass, a Democrat from suburban Washington County, puts the bill’s chance of passing the Legislature at 50 percent. If it succeeds, the victory will largely be due to Wilson’s relentless grassroots advocacy. But if it fails, the loss can also be blamed—at least in part—on recently debunked claims about a Texas-sized garbage patch that Wilson and his fellow activists have played a part in propagating. Wilson’s story proves how much can be accomplished— especially in a state like Oregon—through sheer passion and commitment to a cause. But it’s also a cautionary tale of how idealism can lead to overreach and exaggeration that can threaten even the most admirable of goals.

MAN At work: wilson works from his living room in Southeast Portland to raise awareness of plastic pollution. the paintings on the wall are by two of wilson’s friends, Portland artists kris Hargis (left) and Carson Ellis (right), who is married to Decemberists fromtman Colin Meloy.

His given name is Stephen, but a childhood friend dubbed him Stiv (pronounced like “give”). The name stuck. At the University of Montana, Wilson would take his friends sailing around Flathead Lake in a 19-foot wooden sloop. “Stiv was like the Great Gatsby of Missoula, Montana, though I tend to think he was as broke as the rest of us,” Meloy recalls. “He had that boat, and he lived by himself in a nice apartment with two big leather chairs, and he had a car—a Saab—which he would not neglect to remind you was designed by Swedish aeronautic engineers or some such shit.” Wilson moved to Portland with Meloy and other friends in 1998. They lived in a 2,000-square-foot studio space off Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The goal, says Meloy: to start an art collective. “It never really happened, but ideas about it were discussed at great length over beers at the Shanghai Tunnel, and it was always Stiv who presided,” Meloy recalls. “You don’t need to know Stiv for very long until you’re suddenly roped into doing something ridiculous for him. And you’re

couRtesy of stiv Wilson / 5gyRes.oRg

Wilson grew up in Minneapolis with staunch Republican parents—his mother was the head of an anti-abortion group.

Rob Delahanty

PLASTIC CRUSADER

BEACH BuMMEr: Most of the plastic pollution researchers have found on the surface of the sea is small pieces of larger plastic objects that have been broken apart by the sun. others are “nurdles”—tiny plastic particles used to manufacture plastic products. these pieces have washed up with organic debris on St. Helena Island in the South Atlantic. 18

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

happy to do it.” While Meloy pursued music, Wilson tried writing. He staged a play, To Have and Have Had Hadley, and cranked out three novels—“all of which suck,” Wilson observes. Money came from freelance writing (he was an occasional food critic for WW) and a job as a sous chef at the nowdefunct Tuscany Grill. In 2006 Wilson joined Wend, a Portland-based adventure magazine founded by his friend, Ian Williams. Williams made Wilson editor-in-chief, but he says Wilson’s personality alienated some members of the publication’s small staff. “He’s very committed and very opinionated,” Williams says, “which half the people adore and half the people hate.” The stress of working at Wend, Wilson says, was partly responsible for busting up his marriage to Molly Kramer, a college sweetheart who now works for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. Five years after they wed, the couple split in 2010. Today, Wilson lives in a one-bedroom Craftsman home in the Woodstock neighborhood with a roommate and Pork Chop, a 4-year-old Dalmatian-Labrador-Australian shepherd mix. The roommate has the bedroom, and Wilson crashes in the basement. Between freelancing and a full-time job with an environmental nonprofit, he pulls in a modest salary. His house is cluttered with books (recent reads include The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn and The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins). On a Tuesday afternoon last month the fridge held a bachelor’s collection of assorted condiments, a carton of organic eggs and a plate of leftover sausages from Otto’s (preferred by Wilson because they wrap food in wax paper, not plastic). Out front is Wilson’s Volkswagen Vanagon, with a Westfalia pop-up roof and a bumper sticker that says “Nature Bats Last.” Williams taught Wilson to surf—his gangly limbs and tall frame made him a powerful paddler, and he excelled at the sport. Wilson joined the Portland chapter of Surfrider, a conservation group for surfers. It was his first foray into environmental activism. After encountering the plastic garbage at the remote beach surfers know as Boy Scout Camp, Wilson made the plastics issue his own. And his lifestyle began to morph. At restaurants, he began refusing carry-out food if it came in plastic boxes. He stopped using disposable razors. Plastic straws became verboten. And he started using paper instead of plastic bags to pick up after Pork Chop. cont. on page 20

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

cont. courtesy of stiv Wilson / 5gyres.org

PLASTIC CRUSADER

“Which is hardcore, I’ll tell you what,” Wilson deadpans. It’s to the point now where Wilson refuses to wash his hair because shampoo comes in plastic bottles. “What’s really funny is that a lot of my friends are afraid to use plastic around me,” he says. “I’m not a Nazi. I realize we live in the world.” Wilson came to believe that one major culprit could be easily eliminated—the plastic grocery bag. “For me, it’s the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “It’s not that difficult of a behavior to change. All the places that have done it [see box, page 23], there have not been riots in the streets.” Wilson took the idea to Surfrider, and the group signed on to push for a city-wide ban in Portland. In early 2009, Wilson approached the office of newly elected Mayor Sam Adams, still smarting from the Beau Breedlove scandal. Adams’ staff told Wilson the mayor was enthusiastic. But by spring 2010, Wilson says, he was growing frustrated with the lack of progress at City Hall. So Wilson rallied other environmentalists to the cause. He and other volunteers launched a petition and letterwriting campaign, and they filled City Council chambers with supporters of a ban—including the spectacle of several people dressed as plastic-bag monsters. Adams had enough votes on the Council. But at the last moment, Hass—the state senator from Washington County—persuaded Adams to hold off so Hass could seek a statewide ban. Adams’ ordinance became a nonbinding resolution. It was a delay—perhaps ultimately, a defeat— snatched from certain victory. But Wilson had already entered a wider battlefield in the fight against plastics pollution. In early 2010, a nonprofit called the 5 Gyres Institute invited Wilson to sail on a 72-foot steel-hulled cutter from the Virgin Islands to the Azores to see how much plastic is bobbing in the North Atlantic Gyre—an enormous, swirling mass of water set in motion by currents and prevailing winds. The inspiration came from a similar voyage in 1997 by a retired furniture refurbisher named Charles Moore who sailed across the North Pacific Gyre and reported seeing widespread plastic debris. “I couldn’t come on deck without seeing plastic waste,” Moore told WW. “It impressed me to the point where I thought, ‘I have to measure this.’” Moore launched a publicity blitz to draw attention to the problem. In interviews with reporters, he described plastic littered across an area the size of the United States. Other scientists jumped on board, describing the gyre as an area twice the size of Texas. As Moore and his supporters tell it, it was the media that twisted those statements into reports of an enormous, floating island of plastic. No one today seems able to pinpoint where the claim was first made. But the story was repeated in the mainstream press until it became an accepted fact. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2007 on a “heap of debris floating in the Pacific that’s twice the size of Texas.” In a story published Nov. 28, 2009, The Oregonian called it “a flotilla of plastic and debris in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas.” Oprah Winfrey devoted an entire program to the issue. Sitting at a table stacked with jars of plastic waste, Oprah called the Pacific garbage patch “the most shocking thing I have seen.” Wilson says his first voyage with 5 Gyres confirmed that a similar problem exists on the opposite side of the globe, with plastic infesting the North Atlantic Gyre the same as in the North Pacific. In spring of last year he penned a long article for Wend entitled “Greetings from the North Atlantic Garbage Patch.” “It is often mistakenly referred to as a floating island the size of Texas or America—almost giving the impression that you could tie your boat up and live there quite comfortably for a while. But these descriptions, though media sexy, are a misnomer,” Wilson wrote. He continued: “Try to think of the plastic in the ocean as the lava in a lava lamp. If you could accumulate it all in 20

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

Caught in the gyre: Wilson holds a net filled with plastic particles collected from the South atlantic. the 5 gyres expeditions gather samples of plastic from the ocean by dragging this net through the waves, then measuring the plastic and sending it to a lab for analysis. their findings have not yet been published.

one place, like the lava at the bottom of the lamp when you turn it off, the debris would become a mass about double the size of Texas.” Wilson quit his job at Wend and became communications director for 5 Gyres, which counts world-renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben on its board of advisers. Wilson serves as the organization’s public face, prolific blogger and video producer. “We found fish living in buckets, we found lots of shotgun shells, we found rollerblade wheels,” Wilson says. “The ocean is so unbelievably huge, and everywhere you look, you find plastic. When I had the revelation of that type of scale, that’s when I realized I had to work on this full-time.” In January of this year, Wilson was on another excursion checking on the South Atlantic Gyre with 5 Gyres (there are five major oceanic gyres across the planet, hence the name). Again, Wilson and the crew documented widespread plastic pollution, as seen in videos shot by Wilson (watch them at wweek.com). While Wilson was on that trip at sea, there was trouble back on land. On Jan. 14, Oregon State University sent out a thunderbolt of a press release. Angelicque “Angel” White, an assistant

professor of oceanography at the Corvallis campus, called bullshit on the longstanding claim that the North Pacific garbage patch is twice the size of Texas. “There is no doubt that the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans is troubling, but this kind of exaggeration undermines the credibility of scientists,” White wrote. She called the claim “grossly exaggerated” and said it threatens to “drive a wedge between the public and the scientific community.” Taking the highest amount of plastic ever reported at sea in previously published research, White calculated that if you pushed all of the plastic in the North Pacific together, it would actually be less than 1 percent the size of Texas. In other words, somewhere between the size of Rhode Island and Delaware. White’s findings rocketed around the globe, with papers that had once trumpeted the Texas claim (including The Oregonian) rushing to print stories debunking a legend they had helped propagate. White sailed the North Pacific on a research trip in 2008 and saw for herself there was no plastic island. She tells WW she was sick of hearing inaccurate claims— cont. on page 22

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PLASTIC CRUSADER

cont.

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Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

including, she says, from Adams when he was pushing for the bag ban in Portland. “It’s not just one source,” White tells WW. “It’s just pervasive.” It wasn’t only reporters and politicians who had inflated the myth. Wilson and other environmentalists were also responsible. And some continue to perpetuate what White calls “hyperbole.” Even after White’s work gained widespread circulation, the website for Environment Oregon for weeks prominently displayed the “twice the size of Texas” claim. The Greenpeace website still calls it “the size of Texas.” Asked repeatedly by WW whether making that claim hurts the conservation movement’s credibility—as White maintains—Environment Oregon’s Dave Mathews insists it does not. “We recognize that there is a scientific debate,” Mathews says. “Our fundamental message is still that there’s way too much trash.” Keiller MacDuff, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace, defends the wording and says it makes the problem “meaningful” to the public. “They just mean that it’s really freaking big,” MacDuff says. For his part, Wilson maintains the exaggeration was mostly the work of the media. Activists, he concedes, were guilty of failing to correcting the mistake. “How do I characterize this to save a little face here?” Wilson says. “My thinking has changed on this in a year’s time. I would never write that they would be twice the size of Texas today.” Wilson insists there’s not enough data for White or anyone else to make authoritative claims about how much plastic is in the ocean. A key goal of the 5 Gyres expeditions, he says, is to gather more information and establish a baseline.

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OP FRIT ’s Pit But now that the Texas-sized claim has been its seeming addiction to doomsday scenarios. ah TW Podn O-SC E OO CH RIC S RUN raw’s Cool UNDA P ALÉ BEEF B K debunked, it threatens to sink Wilson’s long-held A 1995 book by Gregg Easterbrook, a journalist E Moo H y McG IT n Ice d id W F B ORM Cream Kalé AGG GER IO S dream of banning plastic bags. sympathetic to environmentalists,BRUargued that BUR! er Dove L ESE EB Erg Vivi ICE SHIS Biddy NCH CHEFeR ig u HIT McG tl B it O L ra w’s L “That’s one of a dozen things that the plastics the movement damages itself by refusing A’S SKE PEPPE WEto BAL WER R NDM S D EAT I GRA ETHE Meat GE SAL KM Ping T A Chee POR ANH M ery KEF orio se Bre D B industry has seized upon to confuse Oregonians acknowledge its own success. ak D ARA ad ICE inh B M N N h s CIN Bin LIA Wes ACO I ITA Ice Work OR T Marke tmorelan n on this issue,” says Hass. “It’s very difficult when Wilson may be partly responsible for helping AST ’s d t and ORE Orego AL P utentica Kitch OO A HE BSE en LAC ingo ITAL SSIO O B M K o ls jo A N w Crep eathe you’ve got an expensive, high-profile disinforma- spread an exaggeration that could help defeat N Orego IA ELL arro e $7 D n Ice ICE NUT appy Sp HUU Work p Eats H sea GRA ” Whis MUU TH tion campaign to deal with.” bag ban. But he also recently saved the a ’s Ch bill from N key So BOX AW K KEF DMA’S C T WW da Lo A TET YC unge “SN er Tuck H FISH T Fry Dori ES At a hearing last month in front of the Senate premature death. Euro o CHE BAR E W! FeRSBEEBURGER Littl CHO ion -PO ún U A N K ig BE PA la Estac ! er Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Last month, Hass says he received an attracurg Sahag E KAL eria OTL É Taqu CHIP PORK WIT RICE KA-P H BE BBQ WICH Ocompany, an employee for a large plastic-bag manufac- tive offer from Hilex Poly. The he says, EF W! B D K N ly al A A al é Sahag S R ’s Re ún FRIT Robb Food O PIE “SN d TOD Podn turer called Hass’ proposed promised to build a recycling ACK Goo ah’s P HOO it Fryer BOX” TAO iang Mai h Tuck NUT C AL bag ban a seriously misguided center in Oregon, creating jobs HEapLLA KOLA R N E O P S EP PER N PIE OP py Sp C A HIT R arrow HE PEC Spot SHIS SKEWE If Senate Bill 536 passes, effort. One of his main arguin a state starving for work. The Pie AL P Ping ASIC TE PER O L R S SON Oregon would be the first GIO Autentica TACO G ments was White’s release tradeoff?PEHass A CAN AL had to kill his bill POR M ivi ’s KM FOR Dove V Pie Sp PIE state in the nation to ban E P ot BA ATBA COO Binh NH MI LL about the size of the Pacific and also pass a lawTACOpreventing HOO O-S Minh TW NDAE am plastic grocery bags. A Baker hiang TOD UCHIP e Cre S y Mai n IcOTLE o o B B lM QP garbage patch. local bans. (Hilex Poly disputes statewide ban failed to pass PAS O Coo SA WT ARE NDW RK THA nge ESE Lotus U E IC U H Robb H C de in the California Legislature U M Soda Lou ’s go U e R u H ea F “ T h e p a t c h i s hy p e r that verion.) lly Goo key DIP PA ION d Foo Whis s ESS NCH Taqu NUCO d last year. Local bans are FRE lling Stove eria O HBOS pe o ich Cre OREla Est bole and an exaggeration that Torn Tby acio he R the andw offer, Hass phoned Mojo n FISH me S in effect in San Francisco Gim I YC Euro HIPS Trash drives a wedge between public Wilson, who took the call on AReAstmNoCreINlaitnchd en and Los Angeles County W dK ket an D ar as well as smaller cities in A M L and scientific communities,” his living-room couch.DGEWithin SA IE ad re OP WE heese B FRIT ’s Pit Florida and North Carolina. C ah Meat Podn said Roger Vingelen, a Portminutes, Wilson had persuaded H ICE C R N The nations of Italy, South É BRU cGraw’s KAL BEEF H y M the offer back in land employee of Hilex Poly, Hass to throw WIT alé Bidd Africa, Bangladesh and K GER BUR! er E S Thailand have bans. E EB Erg pulling his words straight from the company’s face. CHEFeR ig u B Littl ’S L A BAL NDM the White’s press release. “He just sort of brought me EAT I HES GRA ET KM T POR ANH M ery KEF orio B ak D B E Minh N IC s Other opponents have back to reality,” says. “It Binh LIA Hass ACO ITA Ice Work OR T n AST ’s Orego AL P utentica seized on White’s work to argue against the clearly helped convince me that these guys were A HE C A L A KO row ELL ar NUT appy Sp ban, including the editorial board at the Salem not playing in a straightforward way. They were H ” X O B S HIP Statesman-Journal. just trying to buy their way in.” ACK YC “SN er Tuck FISH Trash Fry Euro BAR Of course, the issue is a red herring—plastic Minutes after hanging up theA-POphone with O W! H n UC ún K PAN la Estacio Sahag E eria OTL bags wouldn’t be found on the ocean’s surface Wilson on Feb. 24, Hass dashed off a strongly Taqu CHIP PORK BBQ WICH D because they sink. Instead, they’ve been reported worded letter to the company’s president and SAN ’s Really Robb Food d TOD Goo HOO to litter the seabed and foul anchors. CEO, Stanley Bikulege. TAO iang Mai Ch AL ON S R IE “It shouldn’t be part of the debate at all,” “Your offer goes against the grain PeveryPE of AN PEC Spot Pie White herself says. thing that makes Oregon special,” Hass wrote. “Mr. Bikulege, this is not how we do business. A central criticism of environmentalism—one Oregon is not for sale.” voiced by conservationists and skeptics alike—is IE

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Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

FOOD & DRINK: Begging for Korean meatballs. MUSIC: Dan Bejar, the drinking game. BOOKS: Polar bear meets frying pan. MOVIES: You saw the devil? I saw the devil!

28 31 45 46

SCOOP WE’RE KEEPING PORTLAND AND AUSTIN WEIRD. happy hedgehog: Porn king Ron Jeremy was in Portland celebrating his 58th birthday over the weekend, throwing a party at his downtown swingers’ club, Sesso, with Nevada brothel owner Dennis Hof and a reported 530 other people. Whilst in town, “The Hedgehog” also visited Mother’s Bistro and Red Star Tavern and hit newish lower-Burnside pizzeria Sizzle Pie twice, where he was presented with his own special pizza called “The Sausage Party.” TRIaLS aNd TRIBUNaLI: Via Tribunali, the Seattle pizza chain owned by the notorious Caffe Vita coffee magnate Michael McConnell, has finally applied for a license for the Old Town storefront it has occupied since early 2010. Opening may be imminent. >> The artists in residence at Milepost 5 will soon have the restaurant and performance space they were promised when the Montavilla live/work complex launched: Eat. Art. Theater. is set to open in April. >> A former Clinton Street Pub bartender with the delightful name of Sepal Meacham is opening Moonshine Kitchen & Lounge in the building behind Slabtown. cURRy TRoUBLe: A local Thai restaurant chain’s legal troubles continue this week with a series of lawsuits in Multnomah County Circuit Court alleging unpaid produce bills. According to three lawsuits filed March 8, Typhoon! locations in Northwest Portland, downtown Portland, Beaverton and Gresham owe a total of more than $88,500 in unpaid bills to Portland-based T.P. Produce. The lawsuits include copies of four unpaid invoices for deliveries stretching back to May 2010. Typhoon! headquarters has not yet responded to a request for comment. The chain has run into serious legal troubles in recent years, including a civil-rights complaint by the Oregon labor commissioner, a recent closure and reopening of its flagship Northwest 23rd Avenue location for unpaid rent, and a federal lawsuit for alleged slavery and human trafficking. Road TRIp: Stuck in Portland instead of headed down to Austin for SXSW? Yeah, us too. That is, except for WW music editor Casey Jarman. Stow away on his PDX-to-Vegas-toTexas road trip this week, which includes insights so far on everything from the Artistery’s last show and scary California gas stations to Red Bull, Silver Jews and spiky-haired Spring Break douchebags, on wweek.com. Show me The UgLy: Is there a spectacularly horrible building mucking up your street? Has a half-failed condo disaster poisoned the feng shui for miles around? Send your submissions for Portland’s worst buildings to be scorned in WW’s new online column, Eyesore of the Week, with photo, if possible, to bwaterhouse@wweek.com.

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

HEADOUT

WILLAMETTE WEEK

What to do this Week in arts & culture

WEDNESDAY MARCH 16 WHICH IS WEIRDER? DEVO OR PORTLAND? Devo has been popular since the ’80s. | Portland has been popular since 2001. Devo has punk-rock roots. | Portland has rootless street punks. Devo’s coolest offshoot is the Wipeouters. | Portland’s coolest offshoot is Troutdale. Devo’s members wear reflective yellow jumpsuits. | Portlanders wear reflective yellow bicycle shorts. Devo was big on MTV. | Portland is big on IFC. Devo’s fans are called Spuds. | Portland’s fans are called Californians. Devo recorded “Whip It.” | Portland recorded “Louie Louie.” Devo became a cult sensation. | Portland is a cult. Who wins this iconic battle of the weird? Nobody. Both Portland and Devo have been co-opted and reborn a handful of times, and neither of them is really as avant-garde as they think they are. At least Devo has made a spectacle out of giving in to popular demand on new full-length Something for Everybody. Almost everything about the disc, from the artwork to the final mixes of the album’s tracks, was voted on via the Internet. So the end product—much like Portland—is a messy example of democracy in action. And it’s all for you, you Spuds: So throw on that Red Energy Dome cap, get on down to the Crystal Ballroom and start sweet-talking those ticket scalpers. KEVIN DAVIS. MORE: Devo plays the Crystal Ballroom on Wednesday, March 16. 8 pm. SOLD OUT. All ages.

[MOVIES] HOLLYWOOD THEATRE VS. CLINTON STREET THEATER TRAILER WAR The Hollywood Theatre’s Dan Halsted has a lot of 35 mm trailers. The Clinton Street Theater’s Seth Sonstein has a lot of 35 mm trailers. Two men enter; two men show 30 minutes of previews. Fundamentally misguided suggestion: What if the winner took the loser’s trailers? Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 493-1128. 7:30 pm. $7. [MUSIC] MARNIE STERN It’s about time people stop talking about Marnie Stern as one of the best female guitar players and instead call her one of the best guitar players in the world, period. Can you name someone else who finger-taps like she does? Didn’t think so. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. 8 pm. $10 advance, $13 day of show. All ages.

THURSDAY MARCH 17 [MUSIC] SUPER XX MAN Say it ain’t so, Scott! If this really is Super XX Man’s last Portland show before frontman Scott Garred moves to Australia, then let’s pack the venue and raise a toast to one of this city’s finest songwriters. Alberta Street Public House, 1036 NE Alberta St., 284-7665. 9:30 pm. Free. 21+. [IRISH] CAL SCOTT AND KEVIN BURKE It’s hard to imagine a more appealing and authentic St. Paddy’s Day show than this: Burke, one of the greatest Irish fiddlers alive, and Oregon Trail Band guitarist Scott, plus a dozen close friends. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 7:30 pm. $25-$35.

FRIDAY MARCH 18 [MOVIES] DOGHOUSE/DAY OF THE DEAD DOUBLE FEATURE Beer and Movie presents a new British zombie film (with all-lady undead), paired with George A. Romero’s 1985 zombie film. Because you can never have too many zombies. St. Johns Twin Cinema & Pub, 8704 N Lombard St., 286-1768. 10 pm Friday-Saturday, March 18-19. $6. [COMEDY] JOHN MULANEY A writer for SNL, Mulaney is also an exceptionally entertaining performer, especially when describing the time he was mistaken for a rapist. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 8 pm Thursday, 7:30 and 10 pm FridaySaturday. $10-$20. 21+.

SATURDAY MARCH 19 [MUSIC] FXFU Breakfast tacos, breakfast schmacos. Field Hymns is throwing an evening party that will satisfy anyone who missed the bus to SXSW. Eagles Lodge, 4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 284-4828. 6 pm. $5. All ages. P H OTO : J E S S I C A S TA M B A C H , B A N A N A S : A DA M K R U E G E R

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

DRINKING & DRIVING THOMAS OLIVER

CULTURE

FREE RIDERS: (Left) Volunteer Ride On driver Doug Bayer carries a fixture that goes atop Ride On cars; (right) riders Adrienne Allaert and Alex Blair get a lift home on Saturday, March 12.

KEYS TO SURVIVAL A ST. PADDY’S DAY OPTION IF YOU’RE PLOWED AT A BAR AND WANT TO GO HOME WITH YOUR CAR. BY R E B E CC A JACO B S O N

rjacobson@wweek.com

It is nearly midnight on a clear Friday. We are parked on East Burnside Street outside Rontoms, our hazard lights flashing and our windows down. The moon is full. We are looking for Dean. “Are you a taxi?” asks a lean man dressed in black who lurches to the passenger window. He’s not Dean. He points, haphazardly, to the light-up car topper on the white 2008 Volkswagen Jetta before saying, “Wait, are you Mothers Against Drunk Driving?” Nope, we’re neither taxi service nor MADD—this February night I’m along with Ride On, a four-year-old volunteer-run designated driver service that picks up drunken Portlanders and shuttles them home weekend nights (and also this Thursday, March 17, for St. Patrick’s Day) in their own car. City transportation officials think it’s the only such drive-your-own-car-home service in Portland. Dean has called to request a ride, but the dude is nowhere, and he’s not answering his cell phone. We never find him. As for the other fellow dressed in black, we decide against giving him a ride when we ask his destination. “Broadway,” he burbles only semi-coherently. “Which quadrant?” we ask. He crinkles his eyebrows. “Uh, which side of the river?” He doesn’t remember. That missed connection is the evening’s sole hiccup. Between 11 pm and 4 am, we ferry seven groups, driving them from bars and house parties and potlucks to their homes. The conceit behind Ride On is simple: One reason people drive drunk is because they don’t want to leave their car at the bar. So for $15, Ride On will dispatch your own designated driver to your location (sorry, suburbanites—all pick-ups

drive one couple—Josh Daugherty wears skinny jeans and Ashley Pomlauer glitter around her eyes—clear to outer East Portland. “If you drive drunk, you could lose your car,” Daugherty says. “Or wind up stuck in jail.” “You’re too pretty for jail,” Pomlauer says. Daugherty nods gravely. “I know,” he says. and drop-offs must be at Portland addresses) and drive One customer, Joe Dougherty, a sweatpants-clad chef you home, in your own car. Ride On response times aver- whose black 2011 Toyota Tacoma pickup has a flowered age 30 minutes to an hour. sheet draped over the backseat, thanks us no less than Operations director Chrystle Nordin, who coordinates four times—before we even drop him at his front door in 90-plus volunteers, says Ride On served about 1,000 Northeast Portland. Such gratitude, Nordin says, is typipeople in 2009. Last year, that figure jumped 60 percent cal, and one of the perks of the volunteer gig. There are occasional horror tales—Nordin says one set to 1,600. All positions in the nonprofit are unpaid; some of the volunteers have had friends killed by drunken drivers, of volunteers recently found a patron face down in his own others appreciate the social community of volunteers and vomit. His car was low on fuel and he had no cash to pay for many simply find it a good service and want to help out. the gas or the ride. Nordin herself has ferried a fair numThe $15 ride fee goes toward insurance, walkie-talkie fees ber of squabbling couples. Another longtime volunteer, Daniel Lewis, said he once shuttled a woman who couldn’t and expenses at their Southeast Morrison Street office. remember her address. They circled I ride with Nordin and one other volunteer on this Friday night. the block a half-dozen times before she FACT: Co-founders Scott Conger and Joaquin Gutierrez is our first pick- Joshua Bernard launched Ride On in finally recognized her house. Before my ride-along, I had expected up. I wriggle into the backseat of his January 2007. The two had previously run a for-profit service called Meteor, wild antics and salacious stories spillslightly stale-smelling gray 2003 which dispatched drivers on motorized ing from Ride On’s intoxicated patrons. Hyundai Elantra, knocking discarded folding scooters to pick up inebriated There’s not so much of this. Sure, one Dr. Pepper bottles and a baseball Portlanders. But insurance costs were astronomical (and rides ran upward of catcher’s mask out of the way. guy dishes on his freeloading sister. $75), so they shut down Meteor and “Ride On is the best thing ever, Another group lets out earsplitting reorganized as a nonprofit. because it gets your car home,” Gutishrieks when we arrive. Moderately errez says when we pick him up from drunk people say semi-stupid things. Northeast Alberta Street outside the Nest. “I probably use On the whole, though, the evening is surprisingly subdued. it every other weekend.” Around 3 am, we go to the Goodfoot on Southeast Stark Nordin says Ride On welcomes such repeat customers. Street to pick up Josh Gilchrist and Jo Posey, one of the “The message behind Ride On isn’t exactly ‘Go ahead night’s last rides. They have a rented red Hyundai Sonata— and get wasted and call us,’” she says. “We aren’t servicing “some 18-year-old girl” totaled their other car, Posey said. the wasted population. We’re encouraging responsible Posey craves Taco Bell. Gilchrist promises to make her drinking, servicing the people that are making a conscious “fake Taco Bell” when they get home. Posey yawns. decision to get home safely and responsibly.” “I keep thinking I’m seeing Christmas lights on all the We haul out to Gutierrez’s home in St. Johns, discuss- houses,” Posey says, her Tennessee accent thickened by ing his work for a beer distributor, Portland and Seattle’s drinks she’s downed. “I’m so glad I’m not driving right relative merits (“I hate Seattle,” Gutierrez says) and the now.” Chicago Cubs. Wide-ranging conversation continues with other pas- EDITOR’S NOTE: Plastered on St. Paddy’s? Call 235-RIDE. You must have your own car, and pick-ups and drop-offs sengers we pick up later that night—we chat with riders must be in Portland. Ride On runs year-round on Fridays, about meth, Mexican food, ghost bikes, Chuck Norris, Saturdays and some holidays from 11 pm to 3 am. Want to golf, microbreweries, public transit and panna cotta. We volunteer or donate? Visit rideonportland.org. Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

FOOD & DRINK = WW Pick. Highly recommended. PRICES: $: Most entrees under $10. $$: $10-$20. $$$: $20-$30. $$$$: Above $30. Editor: KELLY CLARKE. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.

FRIDAY, MARCH 18

SUNDAY, MARCH 20

Laurelwood 10th Anniversary Celebration

Kenny & Zuke’s Crab Feed

Turning a decade old is good for a brewery. Turning a decade old during an economic downturn in a state with a billion different beer options is fucking great. Join Laurelwood as it celebrates its 10th year on earth with cheap pints, live music and special beer releases that include the Big “O” Organic Pale Ale and Imperial Workhorse IPA. Not bad for a preteen. NIKKI VOLPICELLI. Laurelwood Public House and Brewery, 5115 NE Sandy Blvd., 282-0622. 5-11 pm. Free.

What’s not to love about crabs? Share them with the rest of the party during Kenny & Zuke’s monstrous family-style crab feed. First course is housemade clam chowder, then your own individual 2-pound Dungeness and all the salad, bread and dippin’ sauces you can fit alongside that bad boy. Beer and wine will be available for purchase. NV. Kenny & Zuke’s Delicatessen, 1038 SW Stark St., 222-3354. 4:30 pm and 7 pm. $35.50 adults, $18.75 kids; call for reservations.

SATURDAY, MARCH 19

MONDAY, MARCH 21

Holi at East India Co.

Holi—the Hindu festival of colors— marks the beginning of spring and the end of winter (like there’s a difference in Portland). The celebration consists of colored dyes and powders splashed about the ‘hoods, as well as lots of dancing and bonfires. East India Co. is contributing to the mayhem with colorful dishes inspired by spring— think tandoori grilled peppers and saffron basmati rice. NV. East India Co., 821 SW 11th Ave., 227-8815. Regular business hours SaturdaySaturday March 19-26. $22.50 per person. Call for reservations.

Beertickers

There are old dudes in the U.K. who make it their life’s goal to write down every beer they’ve ever drank (and they drink a lot of them). The sport (?) is called “beerticking,” and Jesse Cornett’s newish brewpub, the Guild Public House, is hosting a screening of the 70-minute documentary of the same name that follows Brian the Champ, Dave Unpronounceable and Mick the Tick as they scope out rare beers to check off their bucket list. NV. The Guild Public House, 1101 East Burnside St., 233-1743. 8 pm. Free. 21+.

DEVOUR

JUANITA’S CORN TORTILLA CHIPS

WE’VE BEEN EATING...

CART LINEUP ANNOUNCED

MARCH 21

WWEEK.COM/ EATMOBILE ?

Po r t l a n d g r o c e r y- st o r e aisles are lands of salty, fatty opportunity for snack-food fans, but when it comes to a tortilla chip that sets the crispy gold standard, it’s all about locally made Juanita’s. The salt-to-oil ratio sets Juanita’s tortilla chips apart from Tostitos and their brethren. Made in Hood River since 1977, the chips fried up by this family-owned tortilla and Mexican-food factory are an The crack cocaine of the obsession for locals looking to indulge in a guacamole- chip aisle. and-salsa bender. Juana Dominguez opened her factory in Hood River after years of working in Californian frozen-tortilla companies during the 1950s. The chips are deceptively simple: stoneground-corn masa flour, a “touch of lime,” salt and water. “Our chip is different from others because we just learned to make it better without adding additional chemicals to make it taste better,” explains Joe Dominguez, vice president of Juanita’s. Agreed. Once the bag is open, it’s almost impossible to stop cramming them into your mouth. The lifespan of one red bag of Juanita’s in my house: three days. That’s it. That’s three days of eating nothing but chips for every snack, preand post meal. The only thing better than these greasy, salty triangles of deliciousness? Eating ’em with a pint of Emerald Valley salsa. TIFFANY STUBBERT. EAT: Juanita’s Corn Tortilla Chips are available at Whole Foods, Safeway, Fred Meyer, WinCo Foods and online. $1.99 for a 15-ounce bag. Info at juanitasfinefoods.com.

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

FOOD & DRINK C H R I S R YA N P H O T O . C O M

REVIEW

• Live Music •

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THIS 82ND AVENUE JOINT IS DELICATELY CHINESE AND DISCREETLY KOREAN.

generous bowl of the truly wonderful Korean meatballs: moist, salty, garlicky and a bit sweet, with a bite no more serious than that of an overstimulated housecat. BY M AT T H E W KO R F H AGE dish@wweek.com The trick is that the chef was raised Korean but lived in Northern China, so his palate (and Chinese Delicacy restaurant, despite the name, menu) shows a diverse array of influences. is not exactly a Chinese place—at least, not in Accordingly, steer clear of the overfamiliar any simple way. Your first hint should be on the American-style Cantonese/Szechuan dishes tiny 82nd Avenue restaurant’s otherwise unre- (the cramp-inducing oily cornstarch of Mongomarkable exterior: Both Chinese and Korean lian, Tso, or kung pao)—which are perfunctory, script adorn the sign and awning. The bustling anyway—and veer instead toward the perfectly prepared salt-pepper spareclientele is almost exclusively ribs ($8.95), the sweet-spicy Asian, but about half the cusOrder this: Squint your eyes, tilt Korean stir-fry beef ($8.95), tomers nonetheless order in your head, look sheepish and ask, and the seafood hot-and-sour heavily accented English—a “Meatballs?” I’d tell you what they was under $10, in any ($5.75) or especially the mild far cry from the usual home- cost—which case—but I couldn’t read my receipt, and savory fish maw soup far-away-from-home, mon- and they aren’t on the menu. ($7.95), as well as the deliocultural pho shop, westside Best deal: The medium-sized egg soup ($4.50) will fill your cious housemade noodles. Ko r e a n n o o d l e h o u s e o r flower stomach right up to the epiglottis. The shrimp black-bean nooh o l e - i n - t h e -wa l l C h i n e s e I’ll pass: The Chinese Delicacy bean dles ($7.95), despite the dauntbarbecue. And despite much curd ($7.95) was cooked with such that it had the distinct misforingly dark, thick sauce, are typical pan-Chinese fare on delicacy tune of tasting exactly like bean curd. a tame, half-sweet, plummy the menu, a little thigh-high comfort food, and also seem unit in front of the service counter brims with the best kimchi I’ve found to be one of the most popular items on the menu. on Portland’s east side; this is served as bot- The truly spicy seafood noodle soup ($7.95) harks tomless banchan (side dishes) for each table, as much back to Korean food as Chinese, while although you’ll definitely have to request it if the shredded pork and pickled cabbage noodle soup is one of the only dishes in town featuring you’re not a regular. What’s going on here, exactly? Well, I wish northern Chinese suan cai (that’s the cabbage). Oh, and if you do get a soup? Order medium. I could fully tell you, but Chinese Delicacy is a place of many-tiered revelation, peeled The large will serve an entire extended Chinese back like layers of an onion to reveal yet more family, or a Catholic or Mormon one, for that treats. Much of the already 90-item menu is, matter. And be nice and don’t get the shark’s well…off-menu, given as a gift to the loyal and fin, please, even though it’s on the menu. loved—or to those, like me, willing simply to Thanks. point at another table and beg. The Internet offers rumors of five spice cold beef, specialty EAT: Chinese Delicacy, 6411 SE 82nd Ave., 775-2598. Lunch and dinner 11 am-10 pm Chinese bao dumplings, and different varia- Sunday-Monday and Wednesday-Thursday, tions of Beijing cuisine, but my only success 11 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday. Closed Tuesdays. at ordering directly off-menu during my few $ Inexpensive. visits—without visual aids, anyway—has been a

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Wednesday Ladies Night @ 9pm

Buffalo gap We d n e s d ay 3 / 1 6 • 9 : 0 0 p m

“Buffalo Bandstand” presented by: live artist Network

T h u r s d ay 3 / 1 7 • 9 : 0 0 p m

Celebrate St. patricks Day w/ The Brothers Todd (americana blues)

Thursday College Night @ 9pm Happy Hour Everyday 4 - 8pm Open Mic Comedy Every Tuesday @ 9pm

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Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

MUSIC

March 16 - 22 DRINKING GAME

= WW Pick. Highly recommended.

TED BOIS

Prices listed are sometimes for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and socalled convenience charges may apply. Event lineups are subject to change after WW’s press deadlines. Editors: CASEY JARMAN, MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, go to wweek.com/submitevents and follow submission directions. All shows should be submitted two weeks or more in advance of event. Press kits, CDs and especially vinyl can be sent to Music Desk, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Please include show or release date information with all physical mailings. Email: cjarman@wweek.com, mmannheimer@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 An Evening with Gary Ogan

[OGANISM] Co-writer, co-producer and leading collaborator of Leon Russell during the itinerant troubadour’s 1970s heyday, Gary Ogan has maintained a similarly star-crossed career—session work and songwriting mixed with the occasional major-label record—while building an impressive studio within his Portland home. Sound Ground, his latest solo release and first in a decade, shows the jack-ofall-trades (he recorded all instruments himself) at his best for an eclectic, well-textured romp through funkified stomps and evocative musings, all to be fleshed out with handpicked sidemen during this evening’s performance. JAY HORTON. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 7196055. 7:30 pm. $15. 21+.

Marnie Stern, Tera Melos, Duck Little Brother Duck

[GUITAR VALKYRIE CHAOS] Marnie Stern is one of very few people in North America who has earned the right to unironically rock a doublenecked Gibson SG. Not only has Stern made it routine to make every jaw in the audience simultaneously drop via her untold abilities on the six-string, but she is also a fearlessly progressive songwriter, able to transubstantiate her manic finger-tapping into something that resembles “pop”—though a pop ornamented at every turn with bizarre flourishes from both Stern herself and a progression of increasingly unhinged drummers. Her third album (released last year via Kill Rock Stars) is called Marnie Stern. On it, Stern continues her growth into someone who is not only one of the today’s outstanding guitarists, but also one of its most singular songsmiths. SHANE DANAHER. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. 8 pm. $10 advance, $13 day of show. All ages.

Devo

See Headout, page 25. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 2250047. 9 pm. Sold Out. All ages.

Blank Realm, Mark McGuire, Problems?, Eye Myths

fantastic bill of noise pop and experimental drones, capped off by a rare Stateside appearance by Blank Realm, a brilliant Australian duo that sounds like a ’60s garage band fighting to be heard through the digital haze of The Matrix. The band will be preceded by a live set from new Portlander Mark McGuire, a member of the monophonic master that is Emeralds. His solo material is even more minimalist, consisting of ragalike guitar lines and warbling reverb, allowing his virtuosity to shine even brighter. They’ll be joined by the dreamy, synth-heavy locals Problems? and Eye Myths. ROBERT HAM. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 2397639. 8:30 pm. $5. 21+.

THURSDAY, MARCH 17 Super XX Man

[FOND FAREWELL] Nine years and 16 albums later, Portland’s losing one of its finest superheroes. Super XX Man— a.k.a. Scott Garred, who’s played with damn near everybody in town, from Rev. Shines to Mike Coykendall—is hanging up his hat and taking with him his amazingly infectious blend of indie songwriting, sharp pop and laidback goofballery. The culprit? Fucking Australia (we blame you, Mel Gibson). Que sera. The Land Down Under will soon have considerably better music, even if it means XX is leaving us with a bit of a hole. Luckily, his going-away show is all but guaranteed to be a mind melter. AP KRYZA. Alberta Street Public House, 1036 NE Alberta St., 284-7665. 9:30 pm. Free. 21+.

St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

[ERIN GO BRAAARF] Sure, Kells has the most packed St. Paddy’s debacle, but something about it never rings true (the only Irish half the douchers who attend have in them probably came from an Irish car bomb shot). Biddy McGraw’s, on the other hand, does it good ’n’ proper, Southie style, with a daylong, rowdy-as-fuck ruckus featuring gallons of suds, seas of drunken bodies, live performances and enough whiskey to kill even Colin Farrell. Strap in, bring a flask for the line (it typically wraps around the building), and be thankful there’s a

[LOST-IN-SPACE ROCK] This is one

TOP FIVE

CONT. on page 33

BY K ILLBOT

FIVE WAYS KILLBOT WILL DESTROY PORTLAND! By earthquake My sperm torpedoes will rip Portland’s fault lines. By destroying infrastructure I will indelicately stretch City Hall’s corrupt intestine; politicians will howl. By relaxing My metal ass will sit on Portland until Portland is no more. By my very name I will volumetrically utter “Killbot” at a black harmonic juncture, causing cognitive estrangement (irreparable). The old-fashioned way I will replace all known human flesh with my boot. SEE IT: Killbot, a 9-foot killer robot imported from the Bay Area, will emcee this year’s Metalhaus showcase Saturday, March 19, at the Wonder Ballroom. See Saturday listing for details. 9 pm. $7. 21+.

RHYTHM AND BOOZE DRINKING WITH DESTROYER’S DAN BEJAR. BY Michael MannheiMer

mmannheimer@wweek.com

More than any other current songwriter, Dan Bejar’s lyrics beg for a good unpacking. For 15 years, Bejar has written twisting, expansive and eccentric songs for his own Destroyer project as well as acting as the secret weapon behind Canadian supergroup the New Pornographers. Bejar is fascinating in that he’s just as likely to quote himself as he is to appropriate a Joy Division verse. But on Destroyer’s new album, Kaputt, Bejar drops some of his lyrical Easter eggs and knotty glam-rock arrangements for soft-rock textures, lots of saxophone and a relaxed delivery that smooths out his sometimes-whiny voice to reveal a confident storyteller. The record’s closest parallel is probably Leonard Cohen’s oftoverlooked 1988 gem I’m Your Man—specifically the lush single “Ain’t No Cure for Love”—another success in melding poetic wordplay with a mix of synth-pop grandeur and smooth-jazz cheesiness. Kaputt is also an excellent album to get wasted to—the epic “Bay of Pigs” opens with the admission “Listen, I’ve been drinking,” for chrissakes—which got me thinking about updating the ol’ Destroyer Concert Drinking Game. The rules are simple: Raise your glass when you spot one of the following Destroyer-isms. I’d advise sticking to Bejar’s favorite spirits (Bud Light and red wine!) or get ready for a wicked post-show hangover. So, drink every time... ...Bejar sings about a previous album or song. Bejar likes to quote things he’s said before, often on the same album. Fortunately, Kaputt features fewer meta moments, but the title track does contain the repeated refrain “I wrote a song for America”—and “Song for America” is the name of the second-tolast track on the album. Take one drink.

from their inspirations, but Bejar takes it one step further by talking about his favorite bands on a regular basis. Sometimes the references are hidden (when Bejar sings “September girls think those pearls just wash up on the shore” on Streethawk: A Seduction’s “Streethawk I,” he’s alluding to the Big Star song “September Gurls”) but Kaputt’s “Blue Eyes” contains explicit mentions of New Order and the Beatles song “Mother Nature’s Son.” Drink twice for good measure. ...you hear the name of a British music magazine. Kaputt’s title track features a chorus that drops the names of four of ’em: the defunct rags Sounds, Smash Hits and Melody Maker, plus NME, which is still published weekly. Take one to four drinks. ...he sings about a woman. Oh shit, get ready to pass out. Here’s an incomplete rundown of women who have appeared in Destroyer songs to date: Bonnie, Mary (on both “Rubies” and “The Leg We Stand On”), Melanie, Jennifer, Jackie, Libby, Jenny, Gretchen, Nicole, Susan, Molly, Christine, Candice, Tabitha, Ruby, Hannah, Crystal, Karen, Holly, Madeline, Louise, Michelle, Helena, Mary Jane, Eva, Jessica. Kaputt is relatively light in this regard, except “Bay of Pigs,” which features a Nancy, a Christine and a Magnolia. Take three drinks. ...a character in a song is quoted. Example, from “Poor in Love”: “She took me aside and said, ‘Look, I don’t do this every day....’” Might be hard to catch these during the show unless you’re a hard-core Destroyer nerd, so bring a lyrics sheet or pass on this one. ...there’s a superfluous saxophone solo. Oh, what a glorious night! SEE IT: Destroyer plays Saturday, March 19, at Doug Fir, with the War on Drugs. 9 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+. Go to wweek.com to read a short email interview with Dan Bejar.

...he mentions another band, song, or musician. Every artist borrows chords and song structures Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

thursday - friday MAX line within stumbling distance. AP KRYZA. Biddy McGraw’s, 6000 NE Glisan St, 233-1178. 12 pm. Free. 21+.

MUSIC

ALBUM REVIEW

Y La Bamba, Denver, Prairie Empire

[QUIEt RIot] Y La Bamba has, by this point, pretty much enshrined itself as Portland’s go-to act for entrancing, melodic revelations. Prairie Empire shares much of La Bamba’s contemplative moodiness. Hailing alternately from Brooklyn and the Land of Ports (both known for their nigh-endless prairies), Prairie Empire has a Feisty (capital “F” intended) charm that fits nicely with Y La Bamba’s Latin-tinged restraint. the wild card on this bill is Denver. the group has yet to release a recording, but the phrase “featuring members of Blitzen trapper,” along with the admirable company, all but guarantees an excellent show. SHAnE DAnAHER. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.

Nightclubbing: The Miracles Club, Avalon K, Linger & Quiet

[DAncE tHE nIGHt AWAY] on its Mexican Summer-released debut EP, A New Love, local house duo the Miracles club—Valet’s Honey owens plus Rafael Fauria—takes Portland’s hip nightclubs to a chicago warehouse circa 1993, dabbing owen’s distant vocals in an ecstatic, steady four-on-the-floor pulse and enough percussion (cowbell! hi-hats!) that it should probably open its own drum shop to make some extra cash. But even though the EP is a wonderful, shimmering thing, the Miracles club is really a live act, especially when dancer/collaborator Ryan Boyle gets going and turns every dance floor into a celebration. tonight the club is joined by a few extra special guests, as Woolly Mammoth and Brenna Murphy (of art collective oregon Painting Society) are assisting with live video production. MIcHAEL MAnnHEIMER. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 9 pm. $5. 21+.

Alexis Gideon’s Video Musics II, Plastic Pussy, White Hinterland

[MULtIMEDIA WonDER] What exactly is an animated hip-hop opera (hip-hopera?), you ask? only the trippiest combination of Eastern music, cartoons and weed since... ever. or, as Video Musics II: Sun Wu-Kong mastermind Alexis Gideon mentions, this show celebrates the release of “a sexy, translucent-pink vinyl double-LP soundtrack with accompanying shiny silver plastic DVD of original mixed-media moving art.” So basically it’s a long-form music video based on the 16th-century chinese novel The Journey to the West that fuses Gideon’s adventurous music with animation from people like Becca taylor and cynthia Star (Coraline, Robot Chicken) with local musicians that include Rachel Blumberg and Shelley Short. Having watched numerous clips online, I’ll tell you one thing: It sure is more fun than logging on to netflix to watch that other hip-hopera, MtV’s disastrous Beyoncé feature, Carmen. MIcHAEL MAnnHEIMER. The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave., 890-0408. 9 pm. $5. 21+.

The Residents

See Primer, page 34. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 2848686. 9 pm. $23 advance, $26 day of show. 21+.

FRIDAY, MARCH 18 The Volt per Octaves feat. Bernie Worrell, Hurtbird

[onE nAtIon UnDER A MooG] the phrase “family activity,” for most Americans, means a night of Pictionary or a trip to the beach. For the Montoyas, it means gathering up their Moog synthesizers and crafting bass-heavy, fuzzed-out space jams as the Volt per octaves. that would make nick and Anna’s daughter,

THE PHYSICAL HEARTS SHEPHERD’S GUN (SELF-RELEASED) [POP SHREDZ] A singer’s voice can win a band my instant affection or instant dismissal. Neko Case had me at hello. Staind’s Aaron Lewis became my mortal enemy for life the first time I heard “Just Go.” But then there are those singers—the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, Destroyer’s Dan Bejar (see page 31), the Builders and the Butchers’ Ryan Sollee—that just took a little time for me to warm up to. The Physical Hearts’ Nathaniel Talbot—whose bright, warbly voice bridges the unlikely gap between Morrissey and James Taylor—was one of these. He won me over after a few listens to 2009 EP Fend Off the Tide, which set Talbot against a backdrop of adult contemporary-style backdrops (think lazy steel guitar and guitar leads that match Talbot’s vocal lines) that burst suddenly into unexpected shredding. It was clean and it was radio-ready, but it was deep enough to warrant repeated listens. The Physical Hearts’ new, slightly longer EP, Shepherd’s Gun, finds the band moving forward and backward at the same time. Its progressive steps burn bright: “New Year’s Scar” shoots for Ted Leo and lands a bit closer to Jimmy Eat World, but the fiveminute-plus tune never gets boring—the 90-second instrumental in the middle contains four distinct movements that rank among the disc’s most striking moments. The jazzy and complex “Porch Light,” like a prize fighter, alternates between furious and floaty— like the Mars Volta custom-crafting a set for Tony Starlight’s. Lyrically it’s just as dynamic, with weird mechanical descriptions and vaguely creepy dead-end plotlines underscored by Lee Ritter’s skittering drumwork. Closer “Physical Heart” explains the band’s name over aching Western guitar leads and big Tennessee Three bass. But excitement at the band’s expanded horizons is tempered by its insistence at including detours into unsettlingly polished funk-rock on the title track and the especially Jack Johnsonesque “Mayflower.” Both tracks have their merits—a crunchy wall of sound that punctuates the more interesting departures of “Shepherd’s Gun” and some lovely, if noodling, solos on “Mayflower”—but it’s hard to get past the cheese of the verses to find the compelling musicianship below. And that’s a problem the Physical Hearts have skirted around all along. An acrobatic, slick and well-trained voice like Talbot’s is going to make or break this band for a lot of people. Shepherd’s Gun proves that the way Talbot’s pipes are presented—for better or worse—is just as important. CASEY JARMAN. see it: the Physical Hearts play Mississippi Studios on Saturday, March 19, with 1939 Ensemble and celilo. 9 pm. $10. 21+.

cont. on page 34 Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

MUSIC

friday - saturday

Eva—who is entering her teenage years and should, by all rights, be harboring a massive crush on Justin Bieber just about now—one of the instrument’s youngest icons. the Montoyas’ band will be joined tonight by one of the Moog’s funkiest innovators, Parliament Funkadelic’s Bernie Worrell, who also appears on the band’s latest record, Via Human Error. they refer to him affectionately as “Uncle Bernie.” Moog FtW. cASEY JARMAn. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $15. 21+.

Supernature: Ancient Heat, Purple & Green, Starlight & Magic, DJ E*Rock, DJ Copy, DJ BJ

St. Patrick’s Day, Live Music, No Cover.

[DREAM oF tHE ’90s] Supernature is back for its 41st iteration, which may not sound all that special to some of its more hardened veterans, but this time the monthly dance party will also be celebrating its third anniversary. the bill features some of the best electronic-based booty shakers in town. Most intriguing of all is Purple & Green, a new R&B-based project from Justin Leon Johnson (a.k.a. JGreen) and Adam Forkner, the iconoclastic pseudoguru behind White Rainbow. Using a Super nintendo controller to pilot a rocket ship fueled on purple drank, the duo sails over the ’90s dance clubs of Europe, blasting through the orbits of early Usher and R. Kelly, and lands in a middle ground somewhere between the Space Jam theme song and Blackstreet’s “no Diggity.” KEVIn DAVIS. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $5. 21+.

Great Wilderness, Come Gather Round Us, Harlowe and the Great North Woods

[not YoUR USUAL FoLK RocK] Unlike a lot of soft folk rock coming out of Portland in the last few years, Great Wilderness knows how to make a racket. Most of the material on the band’s debut EP, Rest, is gentle and harmless, led by Emily Wilder’s pretty lead vocals and the restrained playing of her crack outfit. But there are moments that rise above the rest of the lot, especially “the Landing,” in which the cello and violin gradually dissipate and reveal a forest of swirling guitar fog. It’s a wonderful little song, tight and compact, and should lead to great things for Great Wilderness in the near future. MIcHAEL MAnnHEIMER. The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave., 890-0408. 9 pm. $8 (admission includes copy of the EP). 21+.

Monsters, Inc.

[MYStERY SUPER-DUo] At press time, we don’t know much about what Monsters, Inc.—the name of the DJ tag team duo of Parenthetical Girls’ Zac Pennington and claudia Meza of the muchmissed primal dub-funk trio Explode Into colors—that isn’t related to the animated film of the same name. In fact, we know practically nothing. (Who do you think we are? Journalists or something?) Pennington confesses the pair is working on a new collaborative project, but for tonight they’re content to spin a few records and dance the night away. MAttHEW SInGER. Valentine’s, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. 9 pm. Free. 21+.

Warpaint, PVT, Family Band

[IcE PRIncESSES] Among the spate of all-female indie bands that have cropped up in the past year, most take their cues from the Spectorian girl-group pop of the ’60s. But L.A.’s Warpaint doesn’t have as much interest in Walls of Sound as it does in slowly cresting waves of nothingness. on its 2010 debut, The Fool, the icy quartet (which once featured actress Shannyn Sossamon, sister to bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg, on drums) makes great use of empty space, allowing the arrangements to melt gradually into shape and the melodies to seduce while leaving a lot to the imagination.

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

It’s not hard to hear why the music press has quickly fallen in love with the group—it’d been waiting for a new cocteau twins and didn’t even realize it. It doesn’t hurt that its members look like fashion models, either. MAttHEW SInGER. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 2848686. 9 pm. $13. All ages.

SATURDAY, MARCH 19 Benefit for Sunnyside Environmental School: Mustaphamond, Magic Johnson, Cat Stalks Bird, JonnyX and the Groadies

[PLAnt A MEtAPHoRIcAL tREE] no, this is not a band with an elongated ironic name you’ve never heard of. It’s an actual benefit, aiding the small Southeast Portland school and its holistic, eco- and arts-minded education model. the show is simply quality Portland noise for a Portland cause, with sets from experimental punk act Mustaphamond, punk deconstructionists Magic Johnson, thrash rockers cat Stalks Bird and videogame metalists JonnyX and the Groadies. MARK StocK. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. 8 pm. $5-$20 sliding scale. All ages.

Handsome Furs, Breakfast Mountain

[toUGH LoVE] Last time I saw Handsome Furs, Dan Boeckner drank a bottle of vodka before his set and spent every minute between songs making out with his wife and bandmate, Alexei Perry. Somewhere in between, the husband-and-wife duo put on a raucous set of painfully sexy, synth-infused punktronica. While 2009’s Face Control falls well short of freshman triumph Plague Park, Handsome Furs is a different species live: a dense heap of potent power chords, catchy drum samples and Boeckner’s unmistakable rasp. MARK StocK. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 894-9708. 10 pm. $10. 21+.

Destroyer, The War on Drugs

See music feature, page 31. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 2319663. 9 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.

FXFU: Old Light, Mike Coykendall and the Golden Shag, Stiffwiff, Pigeons, Yes Father, What Hearts, DJ Black Sandwich, DJ Nicholab

[noRtHWESt MInI-FESt] So, you couldn’t make it down to Austin for SXSW this year, huh? Don’t worry too much: Local record label Field Hymns has your back. Designed as a sort of anti-SXSW, FXFU is a ramshackle collection of bands from the label, plus a few friends along for the ride and cool name. the evening is filled with killer acts, from old Light’s elevated folk rock to Pigeons’ howling preacher pop, and at just $5 (plus free admission for anyone under 16) is a steal for us broke folks missing out on all the texas fun. Let’s just hope there’s a breakfast-taco joint nearby. MIcHAEL MAnnHEIMER. Eagles Lodge, Southeast, 4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 284-4828. 6 pm. $5. All ages.

The Physical Hearts, 1939 Ensemble, Celilo

See album review, page 33. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $10. 21+.

Palo Verde, Arpeggiator, Fruiting Bodies

[tHE AntI-PoP] Local female duo Palo Verde is just making it up as it goes along—literally. these chicks improvise heavy, psychedelic jams, building a wall of thundering drums and sludgy guitars, only to bring it crashing down in waves of noise and long-suffering cymbals. the band’s recorded work has received plenty of praise, but this is the kind of thing you really need to see and experience live. And possibly with some good-quality earplugs. RUtH BRoWn. Mudai, 801 NE Broadway, 287-5433. 9 pm. $2-$5 suggested donation for touring bands. 21+.

[[[BASSWARS]]]: Bong-Ra, Enduser, General Malice, Axiom, Gotj, Ronin, Realiez, Dirt Merchant, Senseone, Murderbot, Double Ohno, Spinnaface, Rokhausen, Graz, DJ Avery, Sharkmode, cont. on page 37

PRIMER

BY cASEY JA RMA n

THE RESIDENTS Formed: Late ’60s in Shreveport, La. Members: Unknown Sounds like: Circus music taking mushrooms and humping carnival music...in the year 2020! For fans of: Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Ween, Holy Modal Rounders, Peter Gabriel, Primus, They Might Be Giants. Latest release: Lonely Teenager, a spooky CD-R-only outtakes/ rarities collection of sorts the band refers to as a “fictitious album.” Why you care: At their best, the Residents serve as a twisted repository of American music: They play pop songs warped by funhouse mirrors that manage to examine the human condition from a perspective that hardly seems human at all. Of course, it’s possible that the Residents are aliens, as the band members have managed to retain some level of anonymity for over 40 years amid speculation from a rabid fan base. But the Residents’ catalog has not been inhumanly consistent: At its worst, the band is prone to releasing wanky, faux-trippy electronic music that sounds dated at first release and gets uglier with age. Still, the band’s extensive back catalog (it has released albums at a near-annual clip since the mid-’70s) holds many a gem, and the Residents’ ever-changing stage/video shows (think of an avant-garde, psychedelic Gwar) have endeared them to devoted fans—especially in Portland, where KBOO gave the Residents their first radio airplay and spreads the band’s gospel to this day. SEE IT: the Residents play Wonder Ballroom on thursday, March 17. 9 pm. $23-$26. 21+.

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Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

saturday - tuesday

MUSIC COME GATHER ROUND US

Let’s Go Outside, Pipedream

THURSDAY 3/17 @ 6PM

[WOBBLE WOBBLE] One of my favorite things about going to clubs as a teen was the dull throb that rattled through my torso whenever the bass kicked in. It’s a feeling that keeps me coming back to big dance music events, and it’s why I’ll be in the mix at [[[BASSWARS]]]. This massive event takes over both Branx and Rotture with a long night of DJ-producers spinning dubstep, hardstep, jungle and all manner of bass-heavy sounds. It’s going to be an endurance test, but try to make it to the bitter end for the set by Netherlander Bong-Ra. His metallic, pounding anthems are worth the price of admission alone. ROBERT HAM. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 2345683. 9 pm. $15. 21+.

Come Gather Round Us is singer-songwriter Catherine Feeny, singer/songwriter producer Sebastian Rogers, guitarist Jon Neufeld (Black Prairie, Jackstraw) and Mike Danner (Trashcan Joe). With threads of raw, sensual and politically charged songwriting throughout, their new album ‘Despair?’ stands to be one of the strongest collection of original folk pop songs released in 2011.

GARY OGAN

SATURDAY 3/19 @ 5PM

As a veteran of 40 years in the music business, Gary Ogan toured, played, and wrote with the venerable Leon Russell, accompanied, sang, and had his songs covered by various luminaries, and released a few albums. Now, Ogan comes forth with ‘Sound Ground,’ for which he played every instrument and self-recorded in his Portland home studio.

ROB WYNIA (FROM FLOATER) SUNDAY 3/20 @ 3PM

Robert Wynia has been performing and writing all his life. He was voted Best Male Performer in Eugene as well as Portland and received two preliminary Grammy nominations for his work with his band, Floater. With his debut solo release, ‘Iron By Water,’ he creates and atmosphere of open plains, shadowed woods and remote towns, and fills those landscapes with hookladen melodies of obsession, love and hope for redemption.

The Rat City Brass, The Satin Chaps, The Verbtones, DJ Drew Groove

[HERBY HORNS] Big, bold brassband music ain’t something you hear a heap of ’round these parts, yet a few years back, enough Seattle musicians united over their love of Latin, lounge and midcentury instrumental pop to form a Herb Alpert cover band called Rat City Brass. The project has grown to include covers of Burt Bacharach, the Ventures and even a pleasingly cheesy version of the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Check your hipster inhibitions at the door—this is music for dressing, drinking and dancing like nobody’s watching. RUTH BROWN. The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave., 890-0408. 9 pm. $6. 21+.

Blue Cranes

[JAZZ FUSION] Portland quintet Blue Cranes is a jazz band. But what makes the Cranes such a great jazz band isn’t the idea that jazz permeates most modern music—it’s the idea that most forms of modern music have the ability to penetrate jazz. At once experimental and innovative, the Cranes burst out with a sound laced with tweaked time signatures and an impulse to go from lucid and abstract to straight-up rocking with razor precision. The band is the embodiment of the breathless, reckless foundations of jazz, a collection of master musicians that hasn’t forgotten to let its freak flag fly. AP KRYZA. Tony Starlight’s, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., 5178584. 8 pm. $15. 21+.

Metalhaus: Killbot, Ape Machine, Ninja, Morgan Grace, Teenage Murder School

[DOMO ORG-IGATO] From the Portland collective that brought us the Beer and Movie fest comes Metalhaus. A loosely, to say the least, conceived multimedia extravaganza involving video artist Tim Colley’s eroticized installation New Wave Hookers and Bad Gods, Oakland’s 9-foot-tall cyborg Killbot—the living embodiment of metal, as it were—playing emcee, and a baffling array of local acts that ranges from thrash-trained shadow warriors Ninja to pop-rawk sweetheart Morgan Grace to amped up-and-comers Ape Machine to to the all-too-human provocateurs Headless Pez. JAY HORTON. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 2848686. 8 pm. $7. 21+.

SUNDAY, MARCH 20 DonnaLynn

[FEEL-GOOD LOCAL FOLK] My eye-rolling muscles didn’t get the workout they expected. Instead, my inner cynic sulked through DonnaLynn’s new album, Butterfly Effect, disappointed given the photographs of the middle-aged, hippychurchy couple in island finery. The disc eventually threw it a bone or two, like the ode to Maui unable to sustain life outside a tourist bar. Some of the musical backing could be more sharply arranged, performed and recorded, but even a cheese-threatening inspirational ballad like “My Prayer for You” keeps

fuTurE modElS: Warpaint plays friday, march 18, at Wonder Ballroom. it real with the line, “[May you] never have to wake your sponsor up again.” Mainly, the good taste and sincerity of Donna Lynn Davis’ singing are irrefutable. She precisely modulates not only the sound of her voice, but its emotional tenor as well, proving herself a singer with the most graceful kind of gravitas. JEFF ROSENBERG. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 7196055. 3 pm. $15 advance, $17 day of show (children 12 and under are free). All ages.

MONDAY, MARCH 21 The Finches, Key Losers, Alina Hardin

[SOFT POP] What’s the over-under on Finches’ frontwoman Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs having hippie parents, you think? Come on—San Francisco, folk-pop, “Pennypacker”!? But I digress. Regardless of Riggs’ upbringing (I bet she had a brief punk phase before getting her mind blown on one of Mom’s old Byrds records), Riggs turned out to be something quite special. As a songwriter, she’s got an ear for striking unexpected melodies and a mind for powerful lyrical twists; As a singer, she’s conversational and formal all

at once, nailing harmonies with her bandmates. New EP On Golden Hill is one of those effortless collections that gets stuck in your rotation as a nice, comforting batch of tunes well before you realize it’s totally genius. CASEY JARMAN. Valentine’s, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. 9 pm. Free. 21+.

TUESDAY, MARCH 22

ZACHARY ROBERT MONDAY 3/21 @ 6PM

Zachary Robert is currently a power trio led by local Oregon artists: Zachary Neumann on keyboard, Michael Morones on the bass, and Justin McNeil on the drums. They play a post-folk rock mix that’s heavily influenced by Radiohead, Elliott Smith, and Bright Eyes. Their latest release is ‘We Are The Young Blood.’

DERBY

TUESDAY 3/22 @ 6PM

Anyone who’s caught a live Derby show knows the raw and infectious emotion the boys are known to dish out. These unique qualities are exemplified in the band’s new release, ‘Madeline.’ Breaking from tradition, the band is forgoing an LP and will be releasing a new group of songs on a limited edition 7 paired with a digital EP.

Support Force, Trudgers, The Reservations

[SING ALONG] Above a lot of the other things it does well, Portland’s Support Force is essentially a vehicle for songwriter Jonathan Magdaleno’s voice. Although it hovers over the tumbling rhythms and chiming guitar of Booth Wilson and Douglas Smith more than bursts through it, Magdaleno manages to be alluring while not really doing much at all. It’s a rare skill, to be unassuming while forming a blanket that covers and complements the music. And it’s the perfect fit for the group’s shadowy minimalism which, on occasion, lingers not too far from that of the xx. MATTHEW SINGER. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. Free. 21+.

TOP FIVE

BY GI R L TA LK

TOP 5 JORDANS (OF ALL TIME) 5. Jordan VI (1990) Fairly minimal design, but the extra color near the air sole is very effective. 4. Jordan VII (1991) To me, these are the first Jordans to have a heavy ’90s style. They are the most comfortable Jordans of all time. 3. Jordan IV (1989) The mesh seals the deal. It’s a pretty involved shoe. As featured in Do the Right Thing. 2. Jordan V (1990) This shoe has the best tongue. They’re kind of bulky, but they’re basketball shoes, so you have to respect the size. 1. Jordan III (1988) These are the most classic. The introduction of the elephant print and the air sole! Game changer. SEE IT: Girl Talk plays the Roseland Theater on Thursday, March 17. 8 pm. SOLD OUT. All ages. Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

MOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOOOOMURS!

PAGE 6

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

MUSIC CALENDAR

[MARCH 16-22] Kit Garoutte on guitar

= WW Pick. Highly recommended.

Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli

Editor: Michael Mannheimer. TO HAVE YOUR EVENT LISTED, send show information at least two weeks in advance on the web at wweek.com/submitevents or (if you book a speciﬁc venue) enter your events at dbmonkey.com/wweek. Press kits, CDs and especially vinyl can be sent to Music Desk, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. lease include show or release date information with all physical mailings. Email: mmannheimer@wweek.com.

2314 SE Division St. Billy Kennedy

Plan B

1305 SE 8th Ave. Secnd Best, Knox Harrington, Fools Rush

Find more music: reviews 31 For more listings, check out wweek.com/music_calendar

Pub at the End of the Universe

WED. MARCH 16 Alberta Rose Theatre

3000 NE Alberta St. An Evening with Gary Ogan

Alberta Street Public House

Branx

320 SE 2nd Ave. Marnie Stern, Tera Melos, Duck Little Brother Duck

Buffalo Gap Saloon

6835 SW Macadam Ave. Buffalo Bandstand

Camellia Lounge

1036 NE Alberta St. Suck My Open Mic with Tamara J. Brown

510 NW 11th Ave Noah Bernstein Group

Andina

1332 W Burnside St. Devo

1314 NW Glisan St. Danny Romero

Ash Street Saloon

225 SW Ash St. Hot Mess, Cicada Omega, Right On John

Backspace

115 NW 5th Ave. Dancing Hats, Gus Griswald, Living Rheum

Beaterville Cafe

2201 N Killingsworth St. Beaterville Pickin’ Party with Matt Pearlman and guests

Biddy McGraw’s

Dante’s

350 W Burnside St. Jedi Mindf*ck

Doug Fir Lounge

830 E Burnside St. The Green, Through the Roots

Duff’s Garage

1635 SE 7th Ave. Suburban Slim’s Blues Jam (9:30 pm); Chris Olson’s High Flyers (6 pm)

Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place Tecumseh, Concern, Bill Holloway, Pikara

800 NE Dekum St. Open Mic

Hawthorne Theatre Lounge 1503 SE 39th Ave. Rockstar Karaoke

Holocene

1001 SE Morrison St. Blank Realm, Mark McGuire, Problems?, Eye Myths

McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Naomi Hooley and Rob Stroup

10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Billy D’s Voodoo Lounge

Mississippi Pizza

Jade Lounge

Jimmy Mak’s

3939 N Mississippi Ave. Mackintosh Braun, Pegasus Dream, DJ Manny Lennox

Mt. Tabor Theater

Kells

801 NE Broadway Vox Populi Karaoke

LaurelThirst

2958 NE Glisan St. Jason Simms, Decker, The Morals (9 pm); Mike Midlo, Garth Klippert (6 pm)

Tony Starlight’s

3728 NE Sandy Blvd. PCC Student Showcase hosted by Mitzi Zilka

Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. 6bq9

White Eagle Saloon

Someday Lounge

Aladdin Theater

4830 NE 42nd Ave. Karaoke

The Heathman Restaurant and Bar 1001 SW Broadway Key of Dreams

The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian

O’Connor’s Vault

The Old Church

7850 SW Capitol Highway

317 NW Broadway Hair Assault, Tall As Rasputin, Hargo

836 N Russell St. Byebee Bard, Egg Plant, Stepkid

Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Sleepy Eyed Johns

Tiger Bar

315 SE 3rd Ave. Nightshift: Doubleplusgood, Pocket Knife, Magic Fades, DJ Gwizski

Spare Room

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Midnight Expressions

Mudai

Rotture

125 NW 5th Ave. Sexbots Variety Show with Friends and Lovers: The Sexbots, DJ Ceez, Start Fires, Dreame Scape

Mississippi Studios

221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown Quartet (8 pm); The Mount Hood CC Jazz Combo (6:30 pm) 112 SW 2nd Ave Pat Buckley

206 SW Morrison St. Byron and Shelley

McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern

3552 N Mississippi Ave. Focus, Focus and the Wild Complete

2346 SE Ankeny St. Putnam Smith, Adam Sweeney and Helen Chaya

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

71 SW 2nd Ave Sugarcookie (8:30 pm); Merrill Lite (5 pm); Korey Quinn and the Comrades (2 pm)

426 SW Washington St. The Viggs, The Show 1422 SW 11th Ave. David Rothman

THUR. MARCH 17

Ash Street Saloon

Duff’s Garage

Backspace

Ella Street Social Club

225 SW Ash St. Rum Rebellion, Shock Troops, A Coin in the Coffer, Hub City Hillbillys 115 NW 5th Ave. Club 503 St. Patty’s Day Spring Bling: New Era, Jackie Piper & Sue Love, Get It Squad, Cam Cam, F.I.O. Dance Crew, Mighty, Will Doby

Beaterville Cafe

2201 N Killingsworth St. Andre St. James

Biddy McGraw’s

6000 NE Glisan St St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

Blue Monk

3341 SE Belmont St Alan Jones Quintet

Branx

3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Kevin Burke, Cal Scott

320 SE 2nd Ave. Master, Lightning Swords of Death, Mobile Deathcamp, Blood Freak

Alberta Rose Theatre

Brasserie Montmartre

Alberta Street Public House

Buffalo Gap Saloon

3000 NE Alberta St. Chris Thomas King

1036 NE Alberta St. Super XX Man, Keep Your Fork There’s Pie

Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Ivan Rosenberg, Chris Coole

Andina

1314 NW Glisan St. Matices

626 SW Park Ave. Christopher Woitach

1635 SE 7th Ave. The Knuckleheads (9 pm); Portland Playboys (6 pm) 714 SW 20th Place Spirit Lake, The Love Dimension

Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge 625 NW 21st Ave Karaoke Kings

Hawthorne Theatre Lounge

1503 SE 39th Ave. Savoir Faire Burlesque

Hawthorne Theatre

3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Flight 19, State Wide Emergency, Wonderstruck, Harken

Holocene

1001 SE Morrison St. Nightclubbing: The Miracles Club, Avalon K, Linger & Quiet

Jade Lounge

2346 SE Ankeny St. Christopher Worth

Jimmy Mak’s

6835 SW Macadam Ave. The David Brothers Band

221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown B3 Organ Group

Camellia Lounge

Kells

Dante’s

Kennedy School

510 NW 11th Ave Baby Mountain

350 W Burnside St. Floater

Doug Fir Lounge

830 E Burnside St. Y La Bamba, Denver, Prairie Empire

112 SW 2nd Ave Irish Festival 5736 NE 33rd Ave. The David Mayfield Parade

LaurelThirst

2958 NE Glisan St. The Railflowers, Great Ulysses, Fairweather, Redwood Son (9:30 pm); Lewi Longmire Band (6 pm)

McMenamins Edgefield Winery

ADAM KRUEGER

6000 NE Glisan St Stringed Migration (9 pm); Little Sue (6 pm)

Crystal Ballroom

Good Neighbor Pizzeria

4107 SE 28th Ave. Music on Mars Showcase: Bitter Root, Rumble Box

Thirsty Lion

2126 SW Halsey St. St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

McMenamins Grand Lodge 3505 Pacific Ave. St. Patrick’s Day Celebration at Grand Lodge

McMenamins Hotel Oregon

310 Northeast Evans St. St. Patrick’s Day Celebration at Hotel Oregon

McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern

10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Whistlin’ Rufus

Mississippi Pizza

3552 N Mississippi Ave. Sneakin’ Out (9 pm); Gingko Murphy (6 pm)

Mississippi Studios

3939 N Mississippi Ave. Amadan, Western Aerial

Mock Crest Tavern

3435 N Lombard St. Jackalope Saints and Monkey Puzzle

Mt. Tabor Theater Lounge

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd Switchup: Kiss Me I’m Irish

Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Irish Music

Oak Grove Tavern

2099 SE Oak Grove Blvd. Open Mic

Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli

2314 SE Division St. Jen Howard, Andrew Orr

Plan B

LAN PARTY: Girl Talk plays Thursday, March 17, at Roseland Theater.

1305 SE 8th Ave. Lord Dying, Romero, Poney, Beringia

CONT. on page 40

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

MUSIC

spotlight

cameronbrowne.com

Hawthorne Theatre

3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Beautiful Lies, The Electric Carnival, Kopath Bear, Disco for Deer

Jade Lounge

2346 SE Ankeny St. Left Coast Country, Randa Ben Aziz

Jimmy Mak’s

221 NW 10th Ave. Mike Phillips

4107 SE 28th Ave. Kiss Me I’m Irish at the Pub: Lucid Sound, Vivid Curve, Maca Rey

Red Room

2530 NE 82nd Ave. Serial Hawk, Front Toward Enemy, Gender Roles, Johnny Reno and the Vice Machine

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Tony Smiley

Roseland Theater

8 NW 6th Ave. Girl Talk, Max Tundra, Junk Culture

Rotture

315 SE 3rd Ave. Blood Freak, Excruciator, Bone Sickness, Cemetery Lust

Sellwood Public House 8132 SE 13th Ave. Arlie Conner & Friends

Slim’s Cocktail Bar

8635 N Lombard St. My Autumn’s Done Come, Sad Bastards County Jail Jamboree, The Chancers

The Heathman Restaurant and Bar 1001 SW Broadway Johnny Martin

The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian

426 SW Washington St. The Starry Saints

The Woods

6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. Alexis Gideon’s Video Musics II, Plastic Pussy, White Hinterland

Thirsty Lion

71 SW 2nd Ave St. Paddys Day: Brian Odell Band (8:30 pm); The Poor Sports (4:30 pm); Bagpiper (4 pm); Kent Smith (1:30 pm); Bagpiper (1 pm); Bradley Duo (11 am)

Tonic Lounge

3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Russell Turner, Maria Webster, Dusty Santamaria and the Singing Knives

Tony Starlight’s

3728 NE Sandy Blvd. 89.1 KMHD’s Divaville Listener’s Party

Twilight Café and Bar

Biddy McGraw’s

6000 NE Glisan St Cul An Ti (9:30 pm); Billy Kennedy and Jimmy Boyer (6 pm)

1420 SE Powell Blvd Bloody Hellfire, Fox Piranha, Budget Airlines, Lucky Beltran

Bipartisan Cafe

Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. Amy Bleu with 6bq9

320 SE 2nd Ave. Dub Gabriel, Hypha, Babylon System, Hives Inquiry Squad

White Eagle Saloon

Brasserie Montmartre

836 N Russell St. Bob Shoemaker, Lynn Conover (8:30 pm); Lincoln Crockett (5:30 pm)

Wilfs Restaurant and Bar

Union Station, 800 NW 6th Ave St. Patrick’s Day with Tasha Miller

Wonder Ballroom

128 NE Russell St. The Residents

FRi. MaRCH 18 alberta Rose Theatre 3000 NE Alberta St. Live Wire! Radio

alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Mikey’s Irish Jam

alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Railflowers, Laugh at Linus

andina

1314 NW Glisan St. Danny Romero Trio

ash Street Saloon

225 SW Ash St. Larsen Vegas Starr, Livid Minds, The Ascendants, Rustmine

Backspace

115 NW 5th Ave. Myrrh Larsen, Love Lies Dying, The Modern Golem, DJ Honeydripper

Beaterville Cafe

2201 N Killingsworth St. Kinzel and Hyde

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

7901 SE Stark St. Lewi Longmire

Branx

626 SW Park Ave. David Valdez and Weber Iago

Buffalo Gap Saloon

6835 SW Macadam Ave. The Druthers

Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave John Tauban Trio

Canvas art Bar & Bistro

1800 NW Upshur St Acoustic Open Mic with host Steve Huber

Clyde’s Prime Rib

5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Andy Stokes

Dante’s

McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

McMenamins Grand Lodge 3505 Pacific Ave. Mark Alan

McMenamins Hotel Oregon

310 Northeast Evans St. Jon Koonce

McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern

10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Jack McMahon Band

Tiger Bar

317 NW Broadway Fight the Quiet, Bryan Minus and the Disconnect

Tonic Lounge

3100 NE Sandy Blvd. SinFix, Earth to Ashes, Ace of Spades

Tony Starlight’s

4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd. FXFU: Old Light, Mike Coykendall and the Golden Shag, Stiffwiff, Pigeons, Yes Father, What Hearts, DJ Black Sandwich, DJ Nicholab

East Burn

1800 E. Burnside The Oh My Mys

Elevated Coffee

261 NE M L King Blvd. Cody Weathers

Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge 625 NW 21st Ave Karaoke

Hawthorne Theatre Lounge 1503 SE 39th Ave. Tim Conor

Jade Lounge

2346 SE Ankeny St. Nathan Lynch, Renegade Minstrels

Mississippi Studios

Twilight Room

LaurelThirst

Mock Crest Tavern

5242 N Lombard St. Alien Funk Squad, Space Neighbors

3939 N Mississippi Ave. The Volt per Octaves feat. Bernie Worrell, Hurtbird 3435 N Lombard St. Sneakin Out

Mt. Tabor Theater Lounge

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd Wave Sauce, The Orbiters, Decoro

Mt. Tabor Theater

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Bhingi and the 7th Seal Reggae Band

Oak Grove Tavern

2099 SE Oak Grove Blvd. Karaoke

Original Halibut’s

2525 NE Alberta St. Chris Mayther

Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli

2314 SE Division St. Lynn Conover

Plan B

1305 SE 8th Ave. Lamprey, LSD&D, Axxicorn, Black Budget

Press Club

2621 SE Clinton St. Luminous Things, Tod Morissey

Proper Eats Market and Cafe

East Burn

Greeley avenue Bar & Grill

6910 N Interstate Ave. Lickity, The Dunbar Number, Glitter Express

1503 SE 39th Ave. The Oh My Mys

71 SW 2nd Ave Big City Smile (8:30 pm); Eric John Kaiser (6:30 pm); The McCooley (4 pm)

Eagles Lodge, Southeast

Kells

315 SE 3rd Ave. Supernature: Ancient Heat, Purple & Green, Starlight & Magic, DJ E*Rock, DJ Copy, DJ BJ

Hawthorne Theatre Lounge

Thirsty Lion

1635 SE 7th Ave. D.K. Stewart Sextet

1420 SE Powell Blvd Olivia’s Pool, Mike Alies, Wil Koehnke

3552 N Mississippi Ave. Melao d’Cuba (9 pm); The Hollands (6 pm)

Duff’s Garage

625 NW 21st Ave Ken Hanson Band

The Woods

Duff’s Garage

Mississippi Pizza

2530 NE 82nd Ave. Grenadiers of the Doomed, Dirtnap, Fjord, Ditchdigger, Chloraform

Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge

The Old Church

Doug Fir Lounge

3728 NE Sandy Blvd. The Tony Starlight Show

Red Room

5421 N. Greeley Ave. Scott Pemberton Trio

The Know

6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. Great Wilderness, Come Gather Round Us, Harlowe and the Great North Woods

Doug Fir Lounge

1800 E. Burnside Megafauna

426 SW Washington St. Trio Flux, The Tomorrow People, Radiation City

1422 SW 11th Ave. Healing Chants

8638 N Lombard St. Stumptown Jug Thumpers

1635 SE 7th Ave. Power of County, Bad Assets (9 pm); Joy and Her Sentimental Gentlemen (6 pm)

830 E Burnside St. Destroyer, The War on Drugs

LaurelThirst

350 W Burnside St. Red Elvises 830 E Burnside St. The Mother Hips, The Parson Red Heads

The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian

1001 SW Broadway Bobby Torres Trio

Kells

2958 NE Glisan St. Freak Mountain Ramblers (9:30 pm); Sassparilla (6 pm)

Pub at the End of the Universe

Hillstomp, Hopeless Jack and the Handsome Devils, Charming Birds

2026 NE Alberta St. Salted City, Romero, Lebanon

112 SW 2nd Ave Irish Festival

WE RAISE OUR GLASS, YOU BET YOUR ASS: When Bacchus closes a brewpub, he opens a wine bar. In the sunken space that once housed Roots Organic Brewing, Vie de Boheme Winery (1530 SE 7th Ave., 360-1233, viedebohemepdx.com) continues serving local pours, but has changed the tipple to Columbia River Gorge Merlot. The space is intended to feel like a candlelit Parisian wine cellar; in execution, it feels like an airy European furniture showroom. But louder: On a recent Saturday night, most conversation at the round bar is interrupted by blasts of rumba drumming from the side tasting room. “I think the band is probably bored,” explains the barback, “so they’re in there.” Anyway, the Lyle, Wash., house wine is a friendly quaff and the 2009 Burdigala Blend is hearty and very sweet. It reminds me of birthday cake in a glass. AARON MESH.

The Heathman Restaurant and Bar

Rotture

Saratoga

Sellwood Public House 8132 SE 13th Ave. Russell Thomas

Spare Room

Twilight Café and Bar

White Eagle Saloon

836 N Russell St. True Holland, The Welfare State, Honus Huffhines (9:30 pm); Reverb Brothers (5:30 pm)

Wonder Ballroom

128 NE Russell St. Warpaint, PVT, Family Band

SaT. MaRCH 19 alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Night Folk

alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Stellars Jay

andina

1314 NW Glisan St. Toshi Onizuka Trio

Backspace

115 NW 5th Ave. Benefit for Sunnyside Environmental School: Mustaphamond, Magic Johnson, Cat Stalks Bird, JonnyX and the Groadies

Beaterville Cafe

2201 N Killingsworth St. Nancy King

Biddy McGraw’s

6000 NE Glisan St Drunken Prayer (9:30 pm); Twisted Whistle (5 pm)

Blue Monk

3341 SE Belmont St Pablo Masis, Andrew Oliver Group

Brasserie Montmartre 626 SW Park Ave. Bobby Torres Trio

Bunk Bar

1028 SE Water Ave. Handsome Furs, Breakfast Mountain

Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave Toque Libre

4830 NE 42nd Ave. State and Standard Live Celtic Music

Clyde’s Prime Rib

The Globe

Dante’s

2045 SE Belmont St. Rainstick Cowbell, Larry Yes, Rabbit Claw

5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Norman Sylvester 350 W Burnside St.

Jimmy Mak’s

221 NW 10th Ave. Hit Machine 112 SW 2nd Ave Irish Festival 2958 NE Glisan St. Ridgerunner Summit: Jimmy Boyer, Billy Kennedy, Lynn Conover, Tim Acott, Miss Jessie Spero (9:30 pm); Tree Frogs (6 pm)

McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

Original Halibut’s

2525 NE Alberta St. Franco and the Stingers

Plan B

128 NE Russell St. Metalhaus: Killbot, Ape Machine, Ninja, Morgan Grace, Teenage Murder School

Press Club

alberta Rose Theatre

1305 SE 8th Ave. Courage, My New Vice, Hit Me Baby (Britney Spears Punk) 2621 SE Clinton St. Rachel Taylor Brown, Ali Wesley, Michael the Blind

Proper Eats Market and Cafe 8638 N Lombard St. Sam Emmitt

Red Room

2530 NE 82nd Ave. Wayne Gacy Trio, 48 Thrills, Amerikan Overdose, Bobby Sick

River Roadhouse

11921 SE 22nd Ave. Set to Burn, Revolution Overdue, A Moment of Substance

Rotture

315 SE 3rd Ave. [[[BASSWARS]]]: BongRa, Enduser, General Malice, Axiom, Gotj, Ronin, Realiez, Dirt Merchant, Senseone, Murderbot, Double Ohno, Spinnaface, Rokhausen, Graz, DJ Avery, Sharkmode, Let’s Go Outside, Pipedream

Slabtown

1033 NW 16th Ave. Corner Culture

Spare Room

4830 NE 42nd Ave. Cool Breeze

St. Francis Church Dining Hall 330 SE 11th Ave. Brendan Fitzgerald

McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern

The Heathman Restaurant and Bar

1624 NW Glisan St. Miz Kitty’s Parlour

Mississippi Pizza

3552 N Mississippi Ave. Eighteen Individual Eyes (9 pm); Level2Music (6 pm)

Mississippi Studios

3939 N Mississippi Ave. The Physical Hearts, 1939 Ensemble, Celilo

Mock Crest Tavern

3435 N Lombard St. Johnnie Ward Sharkskin Review

Mt. Tabor Theater Lounge

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd Klickitat CD Release Party

Mt. Tabor Theater

2045 SE Belmont St. Sweet Teen Killing Machine Listening Party

1001 SW Broadway Key of Dreams

The Know

2026 NE Alberta St. Don’t, Iron Lords, Confessions

The Old Church

1422 SW 11th Ave. Pianists of the Americas

The Woods

6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. The Rat City Brass, The Satin Chaps, The Verbtones, DJ Drew Groove

Thirsty Lion

71 SW 2nd Ave The Bradley Band (8:30 pm); Walkfast (5:30 pm)

Tiger Bar

317 NW Broadway The Love Dimension, Pitchfork Motorway, 8 Foot Tender

Tonic Lounge

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Mosley Wotta, The Ascetic Junkies, Hot Bodies In Motion

3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Nasalrod, Tiny Knives, Swampbuck

Mudai

3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Blue Cranes

801 NE Broadway Palo Verde, Arpeggiator, Fruiting Bodies

Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Greg Clarke

Oak Grove Tavern

2099 SE Oak Grove Blvd. Sinfix, After Nothings End, Keel Over, Set II Burn

1314 NW Glisan St. Danny Romero

ash Street Saloon

225 SW Ash St. Hairspray Blues, The Molestations

Dante’s

350 W Burnside St. Sinferno Cabaret, Robert Wynia (of Floater), Rich Landar

Duff’s Garage

1635 SE 7th Ave. John Nemeth

Ella Street Social Club

714 SW 20th Place On the Stairs, Painted On

Hawthorne Theatre

3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Sitting Sideways, Reefer Madness, Hidden Remedy, The Godstoppers, Junio Muere

Jade Lounge

Kells

8132 SE 13th Ave. Rick Grumbecker, Merridian Green, Mark West

The Heathman Restaurant and Bar

Mission Theater

andina

Sellwood Public House

McMenamins Hotel Oregon

10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road James Faretheewell and the Foolhardy

3000 NE Alberta St. DonnaLynn

2346 SE Ankeny St. Stephanie Scelza, Brian Hinderberger, Sam Emmitt

The Globe

310 Northeast Evans St. Sig Paulson

SUn. MaRCH 20

6910 N Interstate Ave. The I’s

Saratoga

McMenamins Grand Lodge 3505 Pacific Ave. Tyler Stenson

Wonder Ballroom

Tony Starlight’s

Twilight Café and Bar

1420 SE Powell Blvd Eight 53, The Hunt, Purdy Spit

White Eagle Saloon

836 N Russell St. China Davis Band, A Leaf, Deborah Page (9:30 pm); The Student Loan (4:30 pm)

112 SW 2nd Ave Irish Sessions with Eric Tonsfeldt

LaurelThirst

2958 NE Glisan St. Billy Kennedy & Tim Acott (9:30 pm); Freak Mountain Ramblers (6 pm)

McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Billy D

McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern

10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Matthew Hayward McDonald and Nancy Conescu

Mississippi Pizza

3552 N Mississippi Ave. Thumptown (9 pm); Wy’East (6 pm)

Mississippi Studios

3939 N Mississippi Ave. Leaves Russell, Nicole Berke, Dkota

Mudai

801 NE Broadway Sea Cats, Trudgers, Jonathan Magdaleno, Michael Cantino

Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Irish

Red Room

2530 NE 82nd Ave. Embryonic Devourment, Godenied, Compulsive Slasher, Truculence, Acidious Mutandis

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Redwood Son

Rotture

315 SE 3rd Ave. Fur Hood, North American War, The Greys

Secret Society Lounge

116 NE Russell St. Hanz Araki, Cary Novotny

The Know

2026 NE Alberta St. Rayos X, The Bi-Marks, Therapists

Tonic Lounge

3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Hangover Helper, Burlesque Brunch

Valentine’s

232 SW Ankeny St.

CALENDAR Sea Caves, New Century Schoolbook, Future Historians

White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Open Mic/Songwriter Showcase

MON. MARCH 21 Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Vox Swifts

Backspace

115 NW 5th Ave. Battery Powered Music

Biddy McGraw’s

6000 NE Glisan St Eric Tonsfeldt

Brasserie Montmartre 626 SW Park Ave. DK Stewart

Dante’s

350 W Burnside St. Karaoke From Hell

Duff’s Garage

1635 SE 7th Ave. Big “D” Jamboree

East End

203 SE Grand Ave. Heavy Metal Ladies Night: Nate C

Hawthorne Theatre Lounge 1503 SE 39th Ave. Rockstar Karaoke

Jimmy Mak’s

221 NW 10th Ave. The Dan Balmer Band

Kells

112 SW 2nd Ave Cronin Tierney

LaurelThirst

2958 NE Glisan St. Kung Pao Chickens (9 pm); Little Sue, Lynn Conover (6 pm)

McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Skip vonKuske

Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Lloyd Jones

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Tasha and Kaloku

Secret Society Lounge

116 NE Russell St. Carlton Jackson, Dave Mills Big Band

Spare Room

4830 NE 42nd Ave. Karaoke

The Globe

2045 SE Belmont St. Hank Hirsh’s Jazz Lounge and Open Mic

The Know

2026 NE Alberta St. Caldera Lakes, Opera Mort

Tube

18 NW 3rd Ave. Serious Business, Sistafist, Winston Lane, Rac DJs

Twilight Café and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd SIN Night

Valentine’s

232 SW Ankeny St. The Finches, Key Losers, Alina Hardin

White Eagle Saloon

836 N Russell St. Joshua English, Chris Robley and the Fear of Heights, Jon Garcia

TUES. MARCH 22 Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St.

Tyler Gregory, Strangled Darlings, Stellars Jay

Ash Street Saloon

225 SW Ash St. Tommy Alto, Random Axe

Brasserie Montmartre 626 SW Park Ave. Mike Horsfall

Buffalo Gap Saloon

6835 SW Macadam Ave. Open Mic

Bunk Bar

1028 SE Water Ave. Wagons, Sons of Huns

Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave Weekly Jazz Jam

Duff’s Garage

1635 SE 7th Ave. Dover Weinberg Quartet (9:30 pm); Trio Bravo (6 pm)

Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place The Slaves, John Krausbauer-Taryn Tomasello, Fielded, Brown

Ground Kontrol

511 NW Couch St. Rock Band 2 with MC Destructo

Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge 625 NW 21st Ave Richie Rosencrans

Hawthorne Theatre

3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Saving Abel, Red Line Chemistry, Restruct, Desperate Union

Holocene

1001 SE Morrison St. Music for Animals, The Foreign Resort, Wax Fingers

Jimmy Mak’s

MUSIC

221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown Septet (8 pm); The Darren Kleintet (6:30 pm)

The Know

British Backlash: DJ Tiny Corrupter

Kells

The Woods

205 NW 4th Ave. Club Crooks with Danny Merkury

112 SW 2nd Ave Cronin Tierney

LaurelThirst

2958 NE Glisan St. Jackstraw

McMenamins Edgefield Winery

2126 SW Halsey St. The Sagebrush Sisters

Mississippi Pizza

3552 N Mississippi Ave. Baby Ketten Karaoke (9 pm); Dogtooth (6 pm)

Mississippi Studios

3939 N Mississippi Ave. Support Force, Trudgers, The Reservations

Mock Crest Tavern 3435 N Lombard St. Jeff Jensen Band

Mt. Tabor Theater

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. The Family Funktion featuring Average Leftovers

Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli

2314 SE Division St. Paul Brainard

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Ian James

Steve Hall Quintet

The Crown Room

2026 NE Alberta St. Christian Mistress, Burials, Druden 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. An Evening with Lucy Wainwright Roche

Thirsty Lion

71 SW 2nd Ave PDX Singer/Songwriter Showcase

Tony Starlight’s

3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Ayars Vocal Showcase

Twilight Café and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd Open Mic Night Featuring House Band: The Roaming

White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Patrick Hammond

WED. MARCH 16 Ground Kontrol

511 NW Couch St. TRONix: Labwerx: Mike Gong, Bliphop Junkie

Matador

1967 W Burnside St DJ Whisker Friction

Star Bar

639 SE Morrison St. DJ Ol’ Sippy

The Crown Room

205 NW 4th Ave. Crush Drum and Bass

Tiga

1465 NE Prescott St. Plaid Dudes

Tube

18 NW 3rd Ave. Bang a Rang: Doc Adam

Valentine’s

232 SW Ankeny St. DJ Maxx Bass and Musique Plastique

THUR. MARCH 17 Mudai

801 NE Broadway Shake Appeal: DJ Alligator Heart, DJ Kennel Jitters

Secret Society Lounge

Someday Lounge

Spare Room

Star Bar

116 NE Russell St. Dominic Castillo 4830 NE 42nd Ave. Karaoke

The Globe

2045 SE Belmont St.

125 NW 5th Ave. The Fix: Rev. Shines, KEZ, Dundiggy 639 SE Morrison St. St. Patrick’s Day Snakes with DJ Wreckuiem

Tiga

1465 NE Prescott St.

DJ Womb Service

Valentine’s

232 SW Ankeny St. Bill Portland

FRI. MARCH 18 Beauty Bar

111 SW Ash Street Legendary Fridays: Slimkid3

Fez Ballroom

316 SW 11th Ave. Decadent 80s

Ground Kontrol

511 NW Couch St. DJ Tre Slim

Holocene

1001 SE Morrison St. Rockbox with Matt Nelkin, DJ Kez, Dundiggy (9 pm); Soft Rock Happy Hour with Kendal Holladay (5 pm)

Tiga

1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Rickshaw

Valentine’s

232 SW Ankeny St. Monsters, Inc.

SAT. MARCH 19 Fez Ballroom

316 SW 11th Ave. Twice As Nice

Holocene

1001 SE Morrison St. Gaycation: Mr. Charming, DJ Lucas, Roy G Biv

Star Bar

639 SE Morrison St.

Tiga

1465 NE Prescott St. Hostile Tapeover

Valentine’s

232 SW Ankeny St. DJ Cooky Parker

SUN. MARCH 20 Plan B

1305 SE 8th Ave. Hive: DJ Owen, guest DJs and bands

Tube

18 NW 3rd Ave. Mass: DJ Flowers, DJ Dungeonmaster

MON. MARCH 21 Ground Kontrol

511 NW Couch St. Service Industrial: DJ Tibin

Star Bar

639 SE Morrison St. Into the Void: DJ Blackhawk

Tiga

1465 NE Prescott St. Champagne Jam

TUE. MARCH 22 Tiga

1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Dog Daze

Tube

18 NW 3rd Ave. Ronin Roc

Yes and No

20 NW 3rd Ave. DJ Black Dog

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

MARCH 16-22

= WW Pick. Highly recommended. Most prices listed are for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and so-called convenience charges may apply, so it’s best to call ahead. Editor: BEN WATERHOUSE. Stage: BEN WATERHOUSE (bwaterhouse@wweek. com). Classical: BRETT CAMPBELL (bcampbell@wweek.com). Dance: HEATHER WISNER (dance@wweek.com). TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit information at least two weeks in advance to: bwaterhouse@wweek.com.

THEATER Attempts on Her Life

Defunkt Theatre stages Martin Crimp’s very odd 1997 play, which consists of many scenes describing a woman named Annie, or Anne, or maybe Anya, whom we see only in projected photos, taken from behind. She’s a terrorist, or a suicide, or an artist, or a survivor of war crimes, or maybe a new car. The show is at once funny and grim, entertaining and unsettling. The script names no characters and has no stage directions, much like Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis, which Grace Carter also directed in an excellent production at Defunkt in 2010. Unlike that play, though, Attempts on Her Life is about 40 percent writerly twaddle, and your tolerance for such will determine how much you like the play. I’m very fond of twaddle, and so I enjoyed Crimp’s outrageously morbid riffs on art criticism, love and violence of all stripes. Grace Carter’s attempts to impose order on Crimp’s rambling succeed intermittently—Matthew Kern and David Bellis-Squires share a few very engaging scenes— but her experiments with live video feel superfluous. While the show should be a winner among fans of Nick Cave and Martin McDonagh, less macabre souls may find it disappointing. BEN WATERHOUSE. The Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 481-2960. 8 pm ThursdaysSundays. Closes April 9. $10-$15.

Bloody Poetry

In the summer of 1816, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron shared the company of Mary Shelley and her sister, Claire Clairmont, on the shores of Lake Geneva. Northwest Classical Theatre Company’s Bloody Poetry enacts the adventures and dramas of those historic poets’ summer. Between conversations of Plato and the French Revolution, Mary Shelley starts to daydream of a monster lurking in the nearby mountains, sowing the seeds for her novel, Frankenstein, while the two men narrowly survive a stormy sailing adventure. On the narrow Shoe Box Theater stage, in not-quite-believable English accents, the show’s six actors present Shelley and Byron as heroic revolutionaries, valiantly spreading love and beauty through an otherwise bleak universe. RACHAEL DEWITT. Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 971-244-3740. 7 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, March 17-20. $15-$18.

A Company of Wayward Saints

Lunacy Stageworks presents a commedia-style comedy by George Herman, about a band of aging actors, desperate to retire, who are offered a sum large enough to allow them all to quit the road for good—but only if they can give the best performance of their lives. Sellwood Masonic Lodge, 7126 SE Milwaukie Ave., 971-275-3568. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, March 18-19. $15.

Futura

In Jordan Harrison’s dystopic sci-fi drama, a future where the flow of information is controlled by corporations begins with a lecture on the history of typography, delivered with the aid of beautiful slides (designed by Luke Norby) by an acerbic professor (Lori Larsen) to a class of students who have never beheld paper. The lesson was greeted with smug giggles by the audience of design snobs, who grew quiet abruptly at the beginning of the second act, as the play takes a violent and disquieting turn when the professor encounters a terrorist group bent on restoring to humanity its literary birthright. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturdays-Sundays. Closes March 27. $20-$40.

Go, Dog. Go!

Northwest Children’s Theater reprises its musical adaptation of the book by P.D. Eastman. NW Neighborhood Cultural Center, 1819 NW Everett St., 222-4480. Noon and 3 pm March 19-20, 22-27 and April 2-3; 7 pm Friday, April 1. $13-$18.

Jack Goes Boating

Artists Rep presents a comedy by Bob Glaudini about a schlemiel named Jack who learns to swim and cook so he can take a woman on a date involving boating and eating. Todd Van Voris stars. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays. 11 am Wednesday, April 6. Closes April 15. $20-$42.

Kid Simple

Auditory intricacies take center stage in Jordan Harrison’s alternately whimsical and schmaltzy play about a plucky girl genius who invents a machine that plays impossible-to-hear sounds (such as—cue the groans— a breaking heart). As descriptions of noises are projected onto a screen, a Foley artist standing above the set provides corresponding sound effects. It’s one of the defter fanciful touches in a production that heaves with implausible plot turns and cutesy invented words. The cast is cramped by the script’s too-brief exposition and tedious, sappy conclusion. It’s a shame—the boisterous medley of sound effects is delightful, and the twisting, fantastical plot should make for a meaty theatrical experience, but the show ultimately becomes too convoluted and precious for its own good. REBECCA JACOBSON. The CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 205-0715. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes March 26. $20-$25.

Lend Me a Tenor

Lakewood presents the classic Ken Ludwig farce. Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901. 7:30 pm ThursdaysSaturdays, 2 and 7 pm Sundays March 20-April 3, 2 pm Sundays April 10-17. Closes April 17. $24-$27.

Macbeth

Bag & Baggage presents what Scott Palmer, the company’s artistic director and adaptor of this production, calls “Macbeth-ish.” Palmer draws on some of Shakespeare’s sources (The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland; Love’s Dominion; Maternal Elegies and The Two Noble Kinsmen) to weave together a fast paced version of the tale. To the layman, the transition between Shakespeare and Palmer is practically seamless. The Weird Sisters dominate the stage and confuse reality with prophesy in a vertical set, towering above viewers as characters climb and descend the v-shaped stage (designed by Alan Schwanke). The minimal use of actors pushes the action along without sacrificing the story. Jan Powell (of Tygre’s Heart) directs. TIFFANY STUBBERT. The Venetian Theatre, 253 E Main St., 345-9590. 7:30 pm ThursdaysSaturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes March 27. $16-$23.

Mommie Queerest

A drag parody of the Joan Crawford biopic. Portland Actors Conservatory, 1436 SW Montgomery St., 800-838-3006. 8 pm ThursdaySaturday, 5 pm Sunday, March 17-20. $25.

My First Time

Triangle Productions presents a comedy by Ken Davenport, culled from over 40,000 responses to his request for accounts of first sexual experiences. The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 239-5919,

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

tripro.org. 7:30 pm ThursdaysSaturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes March 27. $15-$35.

On the Eve of Friday Morning

This Oregon Children’s Theatre production of overlapping stories set in Iran past and present is certainly topical, given that it begins with the modern-day arrest of a girl’s father for smuggling books. It’s both ambitious and admirable to present that modern problem—along with a parallel Persian folk tale—to an audience whose recommended age is 8 and up, but while the play succeeds in presenting a new culture to young audiences, it falls short of engaging them. The 50-minute show is slow if your youngsters are fidgety, and a bit confusing even if they’re not. HENRY AND BEN STERN. Winningstad Theatre, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway, 228-9571. 2 and 5 pm Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, March 19-20. $16-$26.

show that’s disgustingly full of talent. STACY BROWNHILL. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8 pm Fridays through March 25. $10, $7 students.

John Mulaney

A writer for SNL, Mulaney is an exceptionally entertaining performer, especially when describing the time he was mistaken for a rapist. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 8 pm Thursday, 7:30 and 10 pm FridaySaturday, March 16-19. $10-$20. 21+.

Two for the Show

A series of improv duets. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8 pm Saturdays. Closes April 9. $7-$10.

UTV

You suggest television or movie genres you’d like to see turned into improv-

comedy fodder, and the Unscriptables make it so. The Unscriptables Studio, 1121 N Loring St. 8 pm March 17-18. “Pay what you want.”

CLASSICAL Cal Scott and Kevin Burke

It’s hard to imagine a more appealing and authentic St. Paddy’s Day show than this benefit for Friends of the Children. Burke, one of the greatest Irish fiddlers alive, and Oregon Trail Band guitarist Scott join guests including accordionist Johnny Connolly, Uilleann piper Tom Creegan, fiddler Bronnie Griffin, the Maher Irish Dancers and the classical string trio that made the pair’s 2010 album, Irish Session Suite, such a genre-bending success. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE

PREVIEW BLAINE TRUITT COVERT

PERFORMANCE

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Under other circumstances, it would be the gravest of insults to say an actor was upstaged by the scenery, but in Rose Riordan’s new production of Kesey’s classic novel, it could hardly be otherwise. Here the asylum is not merely the setting but the lead antagonist: a breathing, blinking being dedicated to extinguishing the humanity of its inhabitants, with Nurse Ratched as its agent. It’s a hell of a set piece, designed by Tony Cisek and lit in a breathtaking realist style by Diane Ferry Williams, all green tile and fluorescent tubes and heavy steel doors, and it transcends verisimilitude. It glowers. Riordan’s vision draws from a long history of plays and films about haunted places, and the production is rife with horror movie tropes: flickering lights at the end of a dark hallway, haze, thunder, constant thrumming and even, at one point, distorted children’s voices. It would be cheesy if it weren’t so frightening. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 pm SaturdaysSundays. Closes March 27. $33-$58.

The Peter Pan Project

The Working Theatre Collective presents a collaborative work about the pains of growing up. Eff Space, 333 NE Hancock St., Studio 14, theworkingtheatrecollective.com. 8 pm ThursdaysSaturdays. Closes April 2. $10-$15.

Puppet Slam

The showcase of puppet theater for adults is back. This month’s theme: science!. Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., 893-5999. 7 pm Saturday, March 19. $8.

The Rat’s Tale

Play After Play, which performs plays for small (age 8 and younger) children followed by playtime, presents a Chinese folk tale about a dissatisfied rat. Brooklyn Bay, 1825 SE Franklin St., 772-4005. 10 am Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes April 10. $7.

COMEDY Comedy Night at the Bagdad

Eric Severson headlines the weekly comedy showcase. Bagdad Theater & Pub, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 236-9234. 10 pm Friday, March 18. $5.

Hangover Helper

This month’s installment features Susanna Lee—better known as Lucky Deluxe, an L.A. veteran of the standup circuit and Last Comic Standing whose routine includes a bit of burlesque action. Local comedian Whitney Streed co-hosts the show, which also includes performances by Miss Frankie Tease and several other local dance and comedy acts. HEATHER WISNER. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 238-0543. 2 pm Sunday, March 20. $7.

Mice-tro

Put 16 improv actors onstage with a voice-of-God maestro pitting them against each other and the audience voting them off, and what do you get? A raw and clever Portland

NWDP DANCERS CHING CHING WONG AND STEPHEN DIAZ

NORTHWEST DANCE PROJECT Patrick Delcroix is a knight, but not the shining armor-wearing type. On a stormy evening at the Northwest Dance Project’s North Mississippi Avenue studio, he’s dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, his limbs draped over a chair with the easy grace of someone who moves for a living. A native of France, Delcroix danced with the critically acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater for 17 years, performing work by the company’s famous founder, Jirí Kylián, as well as creations from other bright lights in the contemporary firmament: William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin. In 2001, the French government knighted him for services to the arts, making him a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. The honor hasn’t noticeably affected his career but, he affirms, “My parents were very proud.” These days, Delcroix travels often, staging Kylián’s athletic and lyrical work on companies worldwide. He doesn’t come to the States much—he has staged Kylián here only twice—but he visited Portland last fall as a favor to a friend, Ihsan Rustem, who had created work for NWDP and needed someone to stage it. Artistic director Sarah Slipper leapt at the chance to invite Delcroix back, she says. He agreed to return and, better still, create his own work for an American company for the first time. Delcroix seems pleased with his decision. “They’re fabulous movers—they give you a lot of ideas,” he says of the nine-member NWPD ensemble. Good thing, he adds with a wry smile: “I cannot do things simple. It would be impossible. I would be bored.” Fluidity and musicality are important to him, he says, and will factor into the work he has created, Harmonie Défigurée, which will address how someone, or something, can suddenly disrupt the harmony of everyday life. It will make its world premiere alongside a debut from Slipper and an NWDP repertory piece by Lucas Crandall, called Blue. Although it is tempting to extend Delcroix’s theme to the international upheaval happening as we speak, he says the piece “is not about world events. It’s about something we all go through. But I will leave freedom to the public about what to think.” Chivalrous, no? HEATHER WISNER. A Portland dance company snags a Frenchie debut.

GO: Northwest Dance Project at Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 828-8285. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, March 18-19. $25-$40. Info and tickets at nwdanceproject.org. Check out a montage of Patrick Delcroix’s past works on wweek.com.

MARCH 16-22

PERFORMANCE

Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 7:30 pm Thursday, March 17. $25-$35.

Cascadia Composers

This is an ideal opportunity to hear a wide range of the music that’s being created by artists of our time and (mostly) place, and played by some of our most prominent musicians. Friday’s concert features “Schizomezzo” by Gary Noland; Cynthia Gerdes’ pensive “Love Love Wind Dust”; a pretty trio by Eugene composer Mark Vigil; Jay Derderian’s Cretian Lullaby; Bill Whitley’s Three Pieces for Clarinet; Greg Steinke’s ruminative trio, Moments, based on a poem about the seasonal cycle; and excerpts from Devotional, Brent Weaver’s short prayers for cello and piano modeled on the canonical hours of the monastic day. Saturday’s matinee includes Joanne Carey’s “Solo la Sombra” (setting a Pablo Neruda text); Mark Behm’s Rainforest; a darting trio by John Winsor; Antonio Celaya’s kinetic trio “On the Interpretation of Dream Dances”; Andrew Allen’s haunting “Keichu’s Wheel”; John Bilotta’s Sonatina and Melissa Dunphy’s ambitious, operatic Tesla’s Pigeon. That evening’s closing concert has Dan Senn’s Wisconsin Air, Jack Gabel’s moving Elegy (on a theme by Sibelius), Lewis & Clark College professor Michael Johanson’s clarinet workout Gravitations, Art Resnick’s partly improvised Juxtapositions for violin and piano, and Folk Dance, Tomas Svoboda’s jaunty tribute to Moravian music, for clarinet. Lincoln Hall, Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Ave., 235-3714. 8 pm Friday, 3 and 8 pm Saturday, March 18-19. $5-$20.

Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra

This concert celebrates two major classical music anniversaries—one widely known, the other mostly overlooked. The orchestra marks the bicentennial of composer Franz Liszt’s birth with one of his dramatic Symphonic Poems, Mazeppa, and another Romantic pillar, Rachmaninoff’s popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. This year is also the centenary of one of the greatest American composers, Alan Hovhaness. His use of Middle Eastern modes and drones, especially from his Armenian heritage, inspired many postmodern composers and informs his work here, the evocative 1958 Meditation on Orpheus. Hovhaness spent his last decades in Seattle, and I hope that other Portland institutions will stage their own centennial tributes to this great Northwest voice. The CSO further serves our local music scene, and music’s future, by opening with the Northwest premiere of a new work, Foxbridge, composed by Portlander Andrew Poole Todd, a conductor, violinist and composer for various film, TV and video-game projects who’s even ventured into pop and techno territory—and isn’t yet 20. First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson St., 234-4077. 7:30 pm Friday, March 18. $5-$30.

RICOCHET world. The piece shares billing with We Two Boys, Meshi Chavez’s choreographic adaptation of the Walt Whitman poem We Two Boys Together Clinging, which examines masculinity and the tension and vulnerability between men forming a relationship. The Mouth, Inside Zoomtopia, 810 SE Belmont St. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, 4 and 8 pm Sunday, March 17-20 . $15-$25. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

If you only see one dance company in your lifetime, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater would be a fine choice. Ailey is one of America’s great contemporary companies, in league with the groups of Martha Graham and Paul Taylor, and with a similarly long history. Founded in the late ’50s in New York, the company dances the founder’s original works as well as pieces created by other top dancemakers. The company’s return visit to the White Bird series is divided into two tempting programs. On Wednesday, it’s Night Creature, a Duke Ellington-backed joint, plus Robert Battle’s In/Side and new work Anointed, with music by Moby. Both nights conclude with the company’s signature piece, Revelations, along with a short documentary on the genesis of the work, which is so packed with emotion that it is known for moving even confirmed stoics to tears. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7:30 pm TuesdayWednesday, March 15-16. $22-$70. Info and tickets at whitebird.org.

Arpana Dance Company

DANCE

Ballet is something like a recent fad compared to Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance style dating back several centuries. It’s characterized by stylized facial expressions, gestures and poses that convey certain meanings to an experienced audience. The Arpana Dance Company gives local viewers a taste with Pancha Bhootam, a show that abstracts the five elements—water, fire, wind, earth and space—described in classical Indian literature and translates them into movement. In the choreography of artistic director Ramya Harishankar, look for rhythmic dance movements, called nritta, and mime, called natya. Portland Community CollegeSylvania Campus Performing Arts Center, 12000 SW 49th Ave. 7:30 pm, Saturday, March 19. $10-$20.

6 1/2 and We Two Boys

FACT/SF at Alembic

Time for Three

This energetic string trio has opened for k.d. lang and performed with 60 symphony orchestras. For this Friends of Chamber Music concert, they’ll play music by Lennon & McCartney, Bill Monroe, Leonard Cohen and Imogen Heap, as well as their own originals. Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 224-9842. 7:30 pm Monday, March 21. $27-$40.

Lisa DeGrace takes clowning seriously; in her current work, 6 1/2, DeGrace and fellow performers Alicia Ankenman, Mark Kline and Capra J’neva rely on dance and clowning technique to bring you the story of Lily, a plucky heroine trying to find her way in a surreal

San Francisco’s FACT/SF hit 173 California Walmart stores when it was touring its work, The Consumption Series, a choreographic treatise on the way people consume food and products, even as they are also consumed (by desire, disease and more). The company— which describes its movement style

as dance-theater, postmodern performance and contemporary ballet— restages The Consumption Series at the 12th installment of Performance Works NorthWest’s Alembic Series. It will be joined by choreographer Danielle Ross, who stages a portion of her latest work, To Remember Is to Jump Around Here, which examines how people hold on to memory. The Consumption Series. Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave., 777-1907. 8 pm Friday, March 18. $12-$15.

In Site Performance Series

What can you do with a giant, planked walkway? If you are artist Karl Burkheimer, you can fill a gallery with it and call it art. If you are a contemporary dancer, you can then use it as a springboard for movement. Linda Austin “responds to the altered space” through improvisational performance. Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 286-9449. 1 pm Saturday, March 19. Free.

Re/Activate

If you time it just right, you can witness a collaborative art project evolve during the month of March. Called Re/Activate, it pairs dance created by Rumpus Room cofounder Rachel Tess with a live abstract composition by composer Thomas Thorson and a sensory environment that Damien Gilley and Jordan Tull have made from mostly raw building materials. Tess is making movement steeped in ritual, repetition and confinement, with room for improv based on her changing surroundings. Designer Rachelle Waldie costumes the piece and lighting designer Jennifer Lin illuminates it. Collaborators will offer informal showings of the piece midway through this month, followed by final performances at the end of the month. Wieden & Kennedy Building, 224 NW 13th Ave., 729-5364. 7:30 pm Thursday, March 17; 7:30 pm Wednesday-Thursday March 30-31. First performance is free; final performances are $25, or two for $40. Seating is limited; make reservations at 729-5364.

Ricochet

Word on the street is that Santa Fe-based circus duo Ricochet combines “insane contortion acrobatics” with contemporary dance and aerial derring-do. Ricochet makes its Portland debut with a new production, Smoke and Mirrors, although perhaps we can claim one half of the duo, Laura Stokes, as a Portland homegirl, since she has performed with Jefferson Dance and Pendulum Aerial Dance Theatre. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 7196055. 8 pm Saturday, March 19. $15.

For more Performance listings, visit

Where is the outrage?

March 4, 2011

If a serial killer published photographs of his child victims on the cover of a national news magazine and then in an article inside promised that there would be thousands more killed, would you be outraged? Jehovah’s Witnesses did just that in their May 22, 1994 Awake magazine, and on the cover of that magazine are photographs of 25 boy and girl victims. Parents are excommunicated and totally shunned by their families if they allow a lifesaving blood transfusion for their child. There are reports of church elders that are part of hospital liaison committees, who have the assignment to speak to the doctors, also going into the hospital rooms, and pressuring wavering parents or spouses to withhold blood transfusions, which has led to excommunication and shunning of those family members who have consented to a blood transfusion for their loved one. Here in the northwest Dennis Lindberg’s grandmother is heartbroken, because witnesses put pressure on 14-year-old Dennis to change his mind in considering a blood transfusion. She lost her grandson. The intimidation is brutal! Some courts share complicity in the murder of these children, because they acquiesce to the Witness strategy of granting children “mature minor” status. The world is reacting! In cities in Brazil, billboards are appearing decrying the human rights abuses. A past President of the Constitutional Court of Columbia calls what the Witnesses are doing “first degree murder.” Several European countries are withholding legal recognition or first requiring a change in their no blood transfusion policy for minors such as Bulgaria and Russia. In Ghana much publicity has been given to the case of a 5-year-old boy that his parents disowned, after the court overrode the parents objection and gave the boy the necessary transfusion. But, here in America? Is freedom of religion such an absolute that a serial killer religion is never confronted? The Witnesses have been upfront in their literature announcing in their Awake magazine that there are going to be “thousands of drama played out in the hospitals and courtrooms.” They are not exaggerating. Recently a book Blood on the Altar by a former member documents the human rights abuses with some heartrending stories of the suffering visited on both members and nonmembers of this religion. It is good that ex-members speak out, but would it not also be good if the public and the press would confront the Jehovah’s witnesses with questions about their policy? I do think public opinion and sometimes outrage can cause a change in a group’s behavior. In Canada, the father of 17-year-old Bethany Hughes says she was promised that her story would be featured in the Awake magazine. She died, but I wish her picture and all of the thousands of other victims would be published on the cover of their magazine. The picture of 25 children was not enough even to be noticed by the public and media. Perhaps the thousands more would provoke a response, if only, if only. If you would like to help, a trust has been set up by Bethany Hughes father, and checks can be mailed to: Save the Children c/o Lawrence Hughes, P.O. Box 20161 Calgary Place, RPO Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 4J3. According to Bethany’s father, witness lawyers convinced her to forgo the conventional treatment for leukemia that included blood transfusion, and instead use orange juice and Arsenic, in hiding from the authorities. This case is slowly working its way through Canada’s legal system. Phone: 503.348.1257 Daniel Huron Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

VISUAL ARTS

MARCH 16-22

= WW Pick. Highly recommended. By RICHARD SPEER. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit show information—including opening and closing dates, gallery address and phone number—at least two weeks in advance to: Visual Arts, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: rspeer@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115. Emailed press releases must be backed up by a faxed or printed copy.

PORTLAND: PAPER CITY AT DISJECTA

NOW SHOWING Sidonie Caron

With ease and eclecticism, Sidonie Caron tackles the formidable task of filling the entirety of ANKA’s front, middle and back exhibition spaces. Her chromatic arsenal is invigorating and varied, her technique often incorporating vigorous palette-knife work. While her landscapes and semi-abstracted landscapes sometimes come across as homogenous, her abstractions crackle with energy. ANKA, 325 NW 6th Ave., 224-5721. Closes March 31.

Type Show

This text- and font-themed group show, curated by Nate Tabor, illustrates the enduring power of the decorated or designed alphanumeric character. Jessica Hische’s 26 Alphabet Prints A-Z leads us through our ABCs in inventive configurations colored black, white, and red. Tim O’Toole’s Aint No Sin jauntily coalesces text around a central axis, while Craig Redman’s Twas a Dark and Stormy Night portrays its campily spooky sentiment in incongruously bright, candystriped colors. This is a visually and conceptually satisfying show. Compound, 107 NW 5th Ave., 7962733. Closes March 30.

Portland: Paper City

A nifty concept imperfectly presented, Portland: Paper City, depicts our fair city in an assortment of paper sculptures created by a cavalcade of local designers. There are some fun moments here: Mount Hood as a mobile of myriad hanging pyramids; our infamous rain clouds crafted from sliced-and-diced phone books; and whimsical cameos by miniature versions of Sam Adams and iconic Trailblazers. But the installation makes no attempt to be geographically correct—Mount Hood, is plopped in the center of town— and the enterprise as a whole feels amateurish. Still, it’s satisfying in a cutesy, navel-gazing, self-congratulatory sort of way—which is just the sort of thing Stumptowners get off on. Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 286-9449. Closes March 26.

In Site

Karl Burkheimer prefers to call his installation at Disjecta a “siteresponsive object.” It’s an enormous, sloping wooden scaffold with a round, sunken space toward the middle. Viewers are allowed to walk on it, drink, socialize and hang out in the sunken hole. Viewers are not allowed to skateboard or roller-skate on the ramp, although it would serve that purpose well. A series of dance performances have

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

been mounted on the piece, adding to the work’s provocation: Under what conditions does an artwork slide from a purely contemplative function into the realms of the utilitarian and the social? Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 286-9449. Closes March 26.

Kris Hargis

The title of Kris Hargis’ portrait show, Me and You, is apropos, given that his subjects, U.S. servicemen and women returning home from foreign combat, bear strong resemblance to Hargis’ own distinctive self-portraits. Across the body of work, he deploys his idiosyncratic technique and strong sense of line in emotionally affecting ways. Us shows a nude man standing alongside a woman who has no legs. To The Hills depicts a male figure with skeletal ribs and vaguely simian eyes, peering intently at the viewer. Hargis has a gift for betraying complex and disturbed psychologies with sensitivity and a hauntingly penetrating vision. Froelick, 714 NW Davis St., 222-1142. Closes April 2.

Vanessa Calvert

In Overgrown, Vanessa Calvert advances her tactic of using furniture and upholstery—particularly white, button-tufted leatherette— to critique the close relationship between fine art and design. Wall Shade looks like a bed headboard without the bed, while Calvert’s well-executed sculptures resemble drooping wooden snails emerging from fabric-covered shells. Her wall pieces, with their foam backing and zippers, are quite elegant, although they would look even more elegant in patent leather or metallic lamé. Nisus, 328 NW Broadway, No. 117, 806-1427. Closes March 26.

RE/ACTIVATE

Damien Gilley and Jordan Tull have created an invigorating futuristic environment that functions simultaneously as large-scale sculpture, architecture, interior design and stage set. On First Thursday, dancer Rachel Tess performed throughout the environment to an eerie soundtrack by Thomas Thorson. As Tess moved within Gilley and Tull’s wooden rhombuses, orange Plexiglas, and canted fluorescent light bulbs, audience members were compelled to ponder the point at which an aesthetic object in its own right becomes merely a backdrop to human performance. Wieden & Kennedy lobby, 224 NW 13th Ave. Upcoming dance performance info on page 43.

For more Visual Arts listings, visit

BOOKS

MARCH 16-22

= WW Pick. Highly recommended. By RACHAEL DEWITT. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit lecture or reading information at least two weeks in advance to: WORDS, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: words@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 Mountain Writers Series

On the third Wednesday of each month, Portland literary series Mountain Writers brings together two locals to read at the Press Club. Karen Holmberg and Jennifer Richter are this month’s chosen scribes. Holmberg is a professor at OSU whose poems have appeared in The Paris Review and The Nation. Richter, who also lives in Corvallis, taught creative writing at Stanford University and will be reading from her award-winning book of poems, Threshold. Good wine and good writing to help you over the midweek hump. Press Club, 2621 SE Clinton St., 233-5656. 7:30 pm. Free.

THURSDAY, MARCH 17 The Sins of Brother Curtis

Despite his long and violent prison record, Frank Curtis was welcomed into the Mormon church where he worked with young Sunday school students. Author Lisa Davis tells Curtis’ story, as well as that of the attorney, Tim Kosnoff, who discovered Curtis’ crimes and took legal action. Her book The Sins of Brother Curtis is the latest install-

ment of scandal inside organized religion. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free.

Literary Mixtape

WW freelancers Matthew Korfhage and Erik Bader host the newest installment of their reading series at Valentine’s—but this isn’t like all the other wonderful local words events at bars across the city. Korfhage and Bader invite readers to share their favorite works from authors, dead and living. No theme strings the selected works together, only the imperative to share good words over a drink. “Rather than ask writers to read their own work, we ask various prominent or stout-hearted or well-read people around town to read work by authors they enjoy, whom they think that others would also enjoy hearing in the warm, liquored environs of Valentine’s bar downtown,” Korfhage explains. “So, basically, we’re DJ-ing books. Since we’re tapping Portland’s taste, and not merely its talent, the resources are fairly limitless.” This time around WW movies editor Aaron Mesh and novelist Jonathan Raymond are two of the evening’s readers. Valentine’s, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. 7 pm. Free.

FRIDAY, MARCH 18 Ecoroof Portland

Rooftop lawns, which filter pollution, reduce road-runoff contamination of the watershed, and increase bird habitats, are some people’s idea of the perfect invention. The City of Portland’s got a pulse on ecoroof development and is hosting a convention on the topic. Speakers include Wolfgang Ansel, Director of the International Green Roof Association, and green roof designer Paul Kephart. Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 235-7575. 10 am-6 pm. Free.

MAR

LISA GARDNER / Love You More (Bantam)

In Gardnerís new thriller, a homicide investigation ratchets into a frantic statewide search for a missing child. WED / 16TH / 7P

MONDAY, MARCH 21

WED / 16TH / 7:30P DOWNTOWN

Gary Vaynerchuk

Successful wine merchant and social-media expert Gary Vaynerchuk got his start working at his father’s liquor store in New Jersey. He rebranded the shop as WineLibrary.com and in 2006 started an online TV series about wine filmed with a Flip-cam. Now Wine Library does $50 million of sales per year and gets 100,000 Web-views daily. Vaynerchuk is reading from his new book, The Thank You Economy, about the Internet’s control of the biz world. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7 pm. Free.

BRIAN HERBERT & KEVIN J. ANDERSON / Hellhole (Tor) The first volume in an all-new science-fiction series set on a colonized planet called Hellhole. THU / 17TH / 7P

CEDAR HILLS

LISA DAVIS / The Sins of Brother Curtis (Scribner) Reveals how one of the most monstrous sexual criminals in the history of the Mormon church was protected by church elders.

THU / 17TH / 7:30P DOWNTOWN

CATRIONA MACGREGOR / Partnering with Nature (Beyond Words) Explains why a connection with the Earth is vital, and how a revival of that connection has myriad benefits.

For more Words listings, visit

REVIEW

THU / 17TH / 7:30P HAWTHORNE

ANDRE DUBUS III / Townie

SARA WHEELER THE MAGNETIC NORTH Sara Wheeler’s The Magnetic North: Notes From by the hand. In particular, she documents the the Acrtic Circle (FSG, 315 pages, $26) quite liter- various incursions of white resource-seekers ally describes a circle: Wheeler—a London-based into various points on the Circle with undisjournalist—travels counterclockwise, in pie- guised disdain that, however understandable, shaped wedges of map around the northern pole, amounts to a failure of tone in a book so devoted all the way from the hardscrabble, reindeer-dom- to clear-eyed description and narrative. inated Chukchi lands of Asian Russia, through Fundamentally, however, The Magnetic North Alaska and Canada and Greenland and Norway is a book of stories in the revisionist Kipling back to the muttering isolation of Russian monks mode—modern, corrupted adventures in some on the Solovki archipelago. It of the last places still ceded, in is also, in many ways, a quite their alien inaccessibility, to extraordinary book. dreams: the story, for examWhile the nearest point of ple, of Tété-Michel Kpomasscomparison would be Arctic ie, an African who escaped Dreams, Barry Lopez’s epic to his vision of Greenland 1986 meditation on the meanin 1981 surprised to find “a ing and draw of the great white baby smothered by drunken north, The Magnetic North finds parents, a meal of rabid dog,” its true forebear in the writings and a conversation conducted of legendary New Yorker conbetween squats over the ice. tributor John McPhee. Fifteen Or, say, a research scientist years ago, in Terra Incognita, who fought off a polar bear her book on Antarctica, she with a frying pan, a displaced had declared herself prejudiced Inuit hunter who worries that against the “complicated, life“the more I think as an indiinfested North.” But Wheeler vidual, the less I feel I exist,” a now shares with McPhee an Lappish reindeer herder who abiding journalistic interest believes that “God had creNorthern soul. in—and bemusement with—the ated all the animals except the fragmented and all too human, alongside a deep wolf, who was begotten by the devil.” lyrical sense of history, the esoteric, and the often Up north, according to the Roman hisabsurd sublimity and implacability of landscape. torian Tacitus, “everything dissolves into She also shares McPhee’s meandering, often myths.” Wheeler’s book—in its many moments palimpsestic paragraphs and penchant for documenting the wreckage of the old—leads unlikely description. At one point she describes one as well to the hope that this eternal fronthe sky in the morning as “striated, like bacon”; tier doesn’t also dissolve into diamond mines, a researcher is said to “return every summer, north-traveling mercury and PCBs, climbing like a tern.” climes and holes in the air itself—or melt, quite Wheeler does, however, have a tendency to simply, into the sea. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. insert her own opinions and ideals into the story, often following up deadpan ironies with too-easy GO: Sara Wheeler reads from The Magnetic North at Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W morals, or writing with an engaged, personal Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm Wednesday, tone that occasionally leads the reader too much March 16. Free.

CEDAR HILLS

SARA WHEELER / The Magnetic North (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Wheeler journeys to the Arctic and takes stock of the most pristine ó and endangered ó place on earth.

(W. W. Norton)

Dubus reflects on his violent childhood and the life that threatened to destroy him ó until he was saved by writing. FRI / 18TH / 7:30P

DOWNTOWN

MARK TREDINNICK / The Blue Plateau (Milkweed Editions) This portrait of a rugged wilds expands readersí sense of place. Tredinnick appears in conversation with Barry Lopez.

SUN / 20TH / 7:30P DOWNTOWN

GARY VAYNERCHUK / The Thank You Economy (HarperBusiness) Brands that out-care their competition see the biggest returns. Gary Vaynerchuk dissects the companies on the leading edge. MON / 21ST / 7:30P DOWNTOWN

BEN THOMPSON / Badass: The Birth of a Legend (Harper) A celebration of the most hardcore gods, monsters, wide-smiled heroes, and merciless arch-nemeses. MON / 21ST / 7:30P HAWTHORNE

Show us your messiest feast and you could win the official Cheap Eats T-shirt!

For more info, visit wweek.com/promotions

T-shirt printed by

PIPER KERMAN / Orange Is the New Black (Spiegel & Grau) A compelling, hilarious, and unfailingly compassionate portrait of life inside a womenís prison. TUE / 22ND / 7:30P DOWNTOWN

TED DANSON / Oceana (Rodale) Danson details his journey from joining a local protest in the ë80s to helping found Oceana, the largest organization in the world focused solely on ocean conservation. Note: Tickets, $29.99, include admission and a copy of Oceana, and are available at the Bagdad Theater, CascadeTickets.com, Crystal Ballroom, or by phone at 855-227-8499. WED / 23RD / 7P

BAGDAD

ALAN CHEUSE / Song of Slaves in the Desert (Sourcebooks) Explores one New Yorkerís struggle with the legacy of slavery and the loyalty of family. WED / 23RD / 7:30P DOWNTOWN

Visit POWELLS.COM/CALENDAR for further details and to sign up for our EVENTS NEWSLETTER. Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

MARCHHERE 16 - 22 DATES REVIEW

= WW Pick. Highly recommended.

MAGNOLIA PICTURES

MOVIES

Editor: AARON MESH. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, send screening information at least two weeks in advance to Screen, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: amesh@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.

The Adjustment Bureau

56 Like any paranoid thriller, The

Adjustment Bureau gestures toward fighting the power—but not since Capra has a supernatural movie sided so squarely with conformism, acquiescence to authority and abdication of independent thought. Right out of the gate, U.S. Senate front-runner Matt Damon learns that his every decision is being programmed by a totalitarian brain-ray guild, and his basic response is, “Bummer, may I have my lady friend back please?” That the lady friend in question is played by Emily Blunt does not entirely excuse his surrender. I find his glut of faith disturbing, but it wouldn’t be worth noting if the film weren’t reasonably entertaining for an early-March studio release. It gets by on existential chutzpah and Emily Blunt’s face: not insubstantial qualities. PG-13. AARON MESH. Pioneer Place, Lloyd Center, Eastport, Cedar Hills, Tigard, City Center, Division, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV, Stark Street, Wilsonville.

Animate It! Beginner/Intermediate Workshop

[ONE DAY ONLY, WORKSHOP] On a school administrative holiday, Film Action Oregon offers a full-day course in stop-motion animation. Hollywood Theatre. 9 am-4 pm Friday, March 18. $60; scholarships available.

Back to the Garden

64 [ONE NIGHT ONLY, DIRECTOR

ATTENDING] Kevin Tomlinson collected interviews at a Healing Gathering in the Okanogan Valley in Eastern Washington in 1988. He got footage of hippies, young and old, gushing about their beloved counterculture: “The one purpose that unites us all is love.” Tomlinson was surprised to find such a thriving mass of flower children nearly 20 years after the Summer of Love. After another 20 years, he tracked down the sunkissed, barefoot, linen-wearers and filmed them describing their current way of life. Some live in suburbia now with their spouses and children, but most live off the grid in vans, or on farms tucked into the mountains. After a montage of the 1988 footage, Tomlinson’s updated documentation involves similarly gushing praise of the hippies’ lifestyle. One woman goes on about her love of feeling the earth between her toes: “I love to go barefoot—I never lost that love of going barefoot and feeling the earth—that’s one way I haven’t changed. I’ve always loved nature.” After that affirmation she literally goes and hugs a tree. Back to the Garden documents the ways in which the 1960s-style love child is alive and well, and how sentiments of peace and love still thrive in the hearts and minds of baby boomers and Gen X-ers alike. RACHAEL DEWITT. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Thursday, March 17. Kevin Tomlinson will attend the screening.

Barney’s Version

70 Director Richard J. Lewis’ version

of Mordecai Richler’s novel is a stylistic nullity, not so far removed from the cheapo television its hero produces in a Montreal warehouse, but I can’t hold this defect against it. I’m too fond of Richler’s singular conception of hustling Canadian Jewishness, and of Paul Giamatti’s lusty, avid personification of it. Giamatti is Barney Panofsky, serial collector of whiskey and wives, who as the movie opens is losing his past to Alzheimer’s, and tries to piece together his side of the story. The film is no match for the character’s energy, and early on it threatens to succumb to some pungent stereotypes, but it manages to cohere for two great set pieces: a lavish wedding, where Barney marries his second wife (Minnie Driver) and meets his third (an angelic Rosamund Pike), and a very misguided weekend retreat to a lake cottage, where Barney’s closest friendship goes

up in flames. Every so often, there’s an appearance by Dustin Hoffman as Panofsky Sr.; for a change, he seems invested in the role. The movie, with its promiscuous, liquored-up, loyal men of the tribe, is candy for me—halva, let’s say. R. AARON MESH. Fox Tower, City Center.

Battle: Los Angeles

40 Lonely and dreaming of the West Coast, spacemen storm Santa Monica like it’s Normandy, and we endure the invasion from the POV of an Aaron Eckhart-led Marine platoon that firefights from beach house to beach house. The movie opens with explosions in the sky and music that sounds like Explosions in the Sky; as director Jonathan Liebesman lifts Peter Berg’s back-of-a-pickup Stedicam shakes, it’s Friday Night Lights: Permian Panthers vs. Aliens. As the actual title suggests, the movie’s tactical coldness feels most like a Call of Duty-brand video game and, since the extraterrestrials are the usual whirring biomechanical biped bugs, most of the tech crew’s imagination is expended on making the picture unpleasantly nerve-shattering, then just unpleasant. (The soldiers vivisect a captured enemy, trying to locate its vital organs. “Maybe I can help,” says a nice lady, played by Bridget Moynahan. “I’m a veterinarian.”) Also like a firstperson shooter game, Battle: Los Angeles functions as a military-recruitment video, the kind of Marine ad the people who make Marine ads wish they could make. Maybe it’s a confused response to the anxieties of empire, but B:LA is breathtakingly stupid in its fealty to the armed services—Eckhart’s big emotional moment is when he recites the dog-tag numbers of fallen comrades, and the value of civilians is measured in how much they act like soldiers. The movie fantasizes about a world where nearly all that’s left is Marines, and the few other people are inspired to become Marines. In other words, Marines will probably like it. Yeah, watch the world die! PG-13. AARON MESH. Pioneer Place, Lloyd Mall, Lloyd Center, Tigard, City Center, Division, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV, Wilsonville.

Beastly

15 This high-school Beauty and the Beast remake opens as some kind of hyper-snide Gossip Girl knockoff, then that Burberry model from I Am Number Four (Alex Pettyfer, is it?) gets his face magically melted so he looks like Powder covered in squeezes of Aquafresh, and the tone gets more moonish, and Neil Patrick Harris plays a blind tutor, and honestly no one over the age of 18 is ever going to see a minute of this, so the kids can feel unsupervised enough to sit in the back row and give each other blow jobs or tweet or kill hobos or whatever it is they’re doing for fun these days, because it sure as hell isn’t actually watching this shit. PG-13. AARON MESH. Lloyd Mall, Division, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV.

Biutiful

25 In the decade since making his siz-

zling debut with Amores Perros, director Alejandro González Iñárritu has been trapped with screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga in a feedback loop of increasingly far-flung and outlandish coincidences. Biutiful is Iñárritu’s first film after his split with Arriaga, and the best that can be said for it is that at least all the coincidences are packed into one character. The guy’s name is Uxbal, and he is played by a goateed Javier Bardem. Living in a squalid corner of Barcelona, Uxbal is a caring single father of two children, who were abandoned by their desperate and appalling bipolar mother. He is dying of advanced-stage prostate cancer; his doctor gives him two months. He runs a black-market goods and labor ring with gay Chinese gangsters. Oh, and he can talk to the souls of the dead. Bardem’s Oscar-nominated anguish—it’s an intense but strangely monotonous

Willamette Week MARCH 16, 2011 wweek.com

MAYBE THE DEVIL IS IN THIS HERE GREENHOUSE: Lee Byung-hun.

BUTCHER BOYS I SAW THE DEVIL—AND HE WHOMPED ME IN THE NUTS. BY AP KRYZA

243-2122

Soaked in blood and boasting a penchant for reworking old tropes into dazzling interpretations of human experience, the South Korean cinematic landscape is changing at a pace akin to the American independent movement of the late ’60s and ’70s. Led by Park Chan-wook (Vengeance Trilogy) and Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Mother), Korean directors have created a distinctive brand for the nation’s cinema, marked by violent visual poetry and overarching themes of fear: of aging, of the changing dynamics of the traditional family, of the elderly and of technology. A sharp-eyed craftsman of atmosphere and action, new kid on the block Kim Jee-woon broke into the cinematic consciousness with the supernatural melodrama A Tale of Two Sisters, which effectively mined insanity and family violence while showcasing considerable restraint. Even more impressive was The Good, The Bad, The Weird, an Eastern-Western cacophony of explosions, gunfights, train heists and gleeful Tarantino-esque lunacy that grabbed unrepentantly from Sergio Leone, while proving a coherent story is irrelevant when style is the most important substance. With I Saw the Devil, Kim attempts to combine the gloomy atmospherics of Sisters with the harried kinetics of Weird into a revenge story examining the symbiosis between good and evil. Devil, which is violent enough to have been initially banned from public exhibition by the South Korean government, opens with the savage murder of a pregnant woman at the hatchet of Kyung-Chul (Oldboy star Choi Min-sik), a snarling brute with a thing for raping and bludgeoning women to death, then skinning them. His success as a butcher is compromised when the woman’s fiancé turns out to be an ass-whomping secret agent (Weird villain Lee Byung-hun) who isn’t content to let the monster off the hook without visiting as much pain upon him as possible in an elaborate revenge scheme.

It’s a relatively simple premise, and one that ponders the familiar question of whether lust for revenge brings out evil in the avenger. But Kim isn’t interested in cat-and-mouse antics, instead pitting a rabid leopard against a calculating snake. The “hero” spends the entire film playing catchand-release, beating and slicing Choi within an inch of his life before freeing him so they can do it all over again, with creative bloodshed rivaling Japanese sadist Takashi Miike at his most vile. For a while, it’s a nasty, slick ride. Kim stages fights and murders with panache, highlighted by a savage knife fight in a moving car. Choi in particular is terrifying, a murderous beast recalling Javier Bardem’s iconic Anton Chigurh, if Chigurh were against the ropes. But unlike the other auteurs of the South Korean film renaissance, Kim doesn’t find—or seem particularly interested in finding— any humanity in inhuman acts. He simply stages

KOREAN BLOODSHED RIVALING JAPANESE SADIST TAKASHI MIIKE AT HIS MOST VILE. one unflinchingly violent scene after another. That works for something like Weird, a breezy action film, but with Devil the violence is rendered with such sinister perversity that it seems like Kim is getting off on making us squirm. Which is part of the point, but it’s that kind of indulgence that makes Devil seem self-serving. Were Kim content to make the film’s run time match its rapid pace, I Saw the Devil could have been a macabre kick akin to Na Hong-jin’s swift The Chaser. Instead, after more than two hours of nonstop savagery (and a wedged-in subplot about cannibals drawing it out further), it’s a numbing, repetitive affair, a grindhouse film masquerading as higher art. While it makes its ham-fisted point about the nature of evil, it’s so enraptured with the violence that larger meaning is lost. Kim opts instead to attack simple and derivative themes with the subtlety of a pipe wrench to the pubis… an act he’s more than glad to show us in extreme close-up. 64 SEE IT: I Saw the Devil opens Friday at the Hollywood Theatre.

MARCH 16 - 22

MOVIES E S S E N T I A L E N T E R TA I N M E N T

performance—recalls a blend of Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro’s wailings and gnashings in Iñárritu’s 21 Grams, even down to bits in which the hero goes outside and gazes mournfully upon flocks of birds silhouetted against the evening sky. R. AARON MESH. Broadway, Hollywood Theatre.

Black Swan

53 Darren Aronofsky opened the

Christmas movie season with a clammy, upscale horror flick starring Natalie Portman as the dancer whose metamorphosis from “frigid little girl” to ballet queen—complete with the subsuming of a dark twin—is accompanied by madness and molting. So it’s a literalization of Swan Lake, yeah. But previous stagings didn’t include the Black Swan performing hallucinatory cunnilingus on the White Swan. R. AARON MESH. Fox Tower, Lloyd Mall.

Blue Valentine

96 A film more than a decade in the

making, Blue Valentine could well have been torture porn for the heart. Instead, director Derek Cianfrance has crafted a small miracle, a film that reminds us that movies are designed not just to stimulate, but to make us feel—even if those feelings are devastating. R. AP KRYZA. Hollywood Theatre.

Cedar Rapids

50 Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl,

Youth in Revolt) hosts a Midwestern potluck of current indie-comedy talent, which means Cedar Rapids is not very ambitious, and only superficially funny. Daily Show alum and Office a cappella specialist Ed Helms plays Tim Lippe, an insurance salesman for a Wisconsin firm called Brown Star—that’s an early sign of the movie’s insistently blue material. Tim leaves his hamlet for the first time to attend a business convention in the titular metropolis; the hotel, with its shabby atrium, chipped woodwork and azure indoor pool, is a marvel of production design by Doug J. Meerdink, who showed similar heartland retro flair for The Informant! Here, it’s wasted on a script with a lot of jokes about how flyover-country folks sure do love talking about God before boinking. R. AARON MESH. Fox Tower, Tigard, City Center.

Children of Paradise

[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] Marcel Carné’s 1945 portrait of mime love in 19th-century Paris. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 6:30 pm Monday, March 21.

The Cinema of Ernie Gehr

[TWO NIGHTS ONLY, DIRECTOR ATTENDING] Gehr, a leader in the Structural film movement, brings two programs of his rarely seen work to Portland. Clinton Street Theater. 7:30 pm TuesdayWednesday, March 22-23. Presented by Cinema Project.

Classic French Crime Films

[TWO NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL] Two last heists: Jules Dassin’s magnificent Rififi (8:45 pm Friday, 7 pm Sunday, March 18 and 20) and Jean-Pierre Melville’s late work Le Cercle Rouge (8:30 pm Saturday, March 19). NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium.

Cold Weather

88 Cold Weather, an unusually

observant picture, thinks about details. You might say director Aaron Katz and his protagonist share an affinity for clues: About midway through the movie, Doug (Chris Lankenau) learns his ex-girlfriend (Robyn Rikoon) has flown her motel room, and puts his detective skills to work. Katz, meanwhile, patiently feeds us information about Doug, who typifies the Portland resident as somebody whose ambition got lost by the airline on the flight out here. The private-eye-as-slacker is no new archetype—think of Elliott Gould shambling through Altman’s The Long Goodbye, or Jeff Bridges in several iterations—but Doug is the first case of a slacker mesmerized

INVITES YOU AND A GUEST TO A SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING

THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED by the image of gumshoeing, and its accouterments: A Sherlock Holmes buff, he even buys a pipe to puff on while the game is afoot. Cold Weather congeals into something very close to a potboiler, but all the while the director is looking in the opposite direction. He’s studying the stirrings of empathy, as Doug starts to realize that his sister Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn), though fathoms more mature and poised than he is, may also be a little lonely, and enjoying the company as much as the case. The movie, a small-scale triumph of humor and feeling, is the first to understand how, in an era when social supports come easily unglued, siblings are the family you get to choose. It’s elementary, Sherlock: Who needs Watson when you have a sister?. AARON MESH. Hollywood Theatre, Living Room Theaters.

Dolemite

[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] The Grindhouse Film Festival presents Rudy Ray Moore as a pimp fighting an all-female karate assassin crew. Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, March 22. NEW

Dogtooth

94 [TWO NIGHTS ONLY] The

domestic universe of this Greek film seems to have evolved from a bedtime story gone epically awry, as if an overly paranoid parent began extemporizing a fanciful cautionary tale one night and then could not, for whatever obsessive-compulsive reason, stop spinning the yarn that would eventually imprison his children in a world of make-believe. The titular dental rule is the cornerstone of a brilliantly fucked-up parenting style indebted to Texas Chainsaw’s macabre patriarchy and the precious emotional violence perpetrated by Royal Tenenbaum. The adult children, all unnamed, believe house cats are killer beasts and distant airplanes are small toys that occasionally fall into the backyard. Even language has been manipulated to shrink the world: A “phone” is a salt shaker and “excursion” refers to material used to construct floors, while a “pussy” is a big light. That director Giorgos Lanthimos avoids going over the top with his aria of absurdity is a testament not only to his conjuring skills and carefully chosen influences (Herzog and Korine, both masters of the oddball alternate reality, come to mind), but to the baffling and frequently batshit proscriptions that bind even the most ostensibly healthy family unit. Like the best science fiction and magical realism, Dogtooth brings it all back home again, to that moment Mom explained procreation using pennies and dimes—or was that just my family? CHRIS STAMM. Cinema 21. 10:30 pm Friday-Saturday, March 18-19.

The Films of Charlie Chaplin

[THREE NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL] Why, if it isn’t the Little Tramp and a little baby! Chaplin’s 1921 duderaising-a-child movie The Kid (7 pm Friday and 5:15 pm Sunday, March 18 & 20) announces itself as “A picture with a smile—and perhaps, a tear.”

Which should give you some idea of the level of schmaltz Chaplin was already succumbing to by his first feature, though the burgeoning auteur (already starring, directing, writing, producing and writing the string-orchestra score) still gets a lot of comic mileage out of being a shiftless no-account—for one brief moment, he considers tossing an orphaned infant down a storm drain, and when that baby grows up to be Jackie Coogan, Charlie cheers the pipsqueek on in tenement fights with other kindergarten-aged boys. In other words, The Kid is an clear inspiration for Two and a Half Men, though it took this Charlie a bit longer to find scandal, and when it came, it did not involve the blood of tigers. The NW Film Center also screens The Chaplin Revue (4 pm Saturday and 7 pm Tuesday, March 19 & 22), a program of three shorts. AARON MESH. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium.

Gnomeo and Juliet

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The Shakespeare tragedy, interpreted by cartoon garden gnomes. WW did not attend the screening. G. Lloyd Mall, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV.

Gremlins

[ONE WEEK ONLY, REVIVAL] Joe Dante’s Christmas pudding. Laurelhurst Theater. Friday-Thursday, March 18-24. Presented by Beer and Movie.

Hall Pass

22 Not sure if this counts as a spoiler or not, but fuck it: Everything you think will happen in Hall Pass does, in fact, happen. It’s a film about two aging Rhode Island yuppies (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) who are granted a week off from their marriages, freeing them to go out and try to get laid. This being a broad mainstream comedy, it’s a safe bet to assume everyone winds up appreciating their spouse more in the end. And because those are the Farrelly brothers in the directors’ chairs, of course it includes jokes involving shit, dicks and masturbation. Sadly, the Farrellys have forgotten what they taught us during their late ‘90s golden years: that even jizz can have meaning. R. MATTHEW SINGER. Broadway, Lloyd Mall, City Center, Division Street, Bridgeport, Cinema 99, Movies on TV.

Hollywood Theatre vs. Clinton Street Theater Trailer War

[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL CONTEST] The Hollywood Theatre’s Dan Halsted has a lot of 35 mm trailers. The Clinton Street Theater’s Seth Sonstein has a lot of 35 mm trailers. Two men enter; two men show 30 minutes of previews. Fundamentally misguided suggestion: What if the winner took the loser’s trailers? Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Wednesday, March 16.

Hood to Coast

55 While Oregon’s 197-mile Hood to Coast Relay race is run every year,

CONT. on page 48

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“

INTENSE AND ABSOLUTELY RIVETING!” Tom Snyder, MOVIEGUIDE®

MOVIES

BREW VIEWS

this is the only wide-release documentary anybody is likely to make about it, and so contributing to the poignant mood is some regret that the movie isn’t a little better. German TV producer Christoph Baaden has brought his best HD cameramen (and apparently some helicopters) to chronicle the descent from Mount Hood to Seaside; the result is some fluidly shot and edited footage that is going to look very nice in a national park visitor’s center someday. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.

I Am

29 After Hollywood director Tom

Shadyac developed suicidal leanings while suffering from “post concussion syndrome,” he set out to heal himself and simultaneously figure out the fundamental problems of the entire world. That would seem a tall order for the man who directed Ace Ventura, Bruce Almighty and The Nutty Professor. But being responsible for Patch Adams apparently garnered him access to a lot of respected brains, yielding an unfocused documentary featuring an epic parade of talking heads from Noam Chomsky and Thom Hartmann to Howard Zinn and Desmond Tutu. The doc flits from decrying man’s separation from the natural world and our obsession with stuff (cue fat Wal-Mart shoppers) and competition to heartening encounters with experiments involving democratic herds of deer, human hearts that can tell the future and Argon atoms. The high point is watching Shadyac control the energy field of a petri dish full of yogurt with his feelings about his lawyer. KELLY CLARKE. Fox Tower.

I Am Number Four

65 Disgraced memoirist James Frey

teamed up with writer Jobie Hughes to pen this heavy-handed tale of literal—wait for it!—teenage alienation: John Smith (newcomer Brit Alex Pettyfer), displaced from the planet Lorien, hones his superhuman powers while posing as a disaffected Ohio teen. He plays the rebellious 15-year-old to Timothy Olyphant’s impossibly cool mentor figure, with the dialogue occasionally rising above clichéd “parents just don’t understand” territory. PG13. SAUNDRA SORENSON. Lloyd Mall, Division Street, Movies on TV.

The Illusionist

78 Sylvain Chomet’s movie follows

an aging sleight-of-hand artist as he plies his trade through postwar Europe. Sad, wordless comedy results from this vaudeville circuit, which is giving way to television and rock ’n’ roll. But when the magician stays at a rural Scottish inn, the girl who cleans his room is sheltered enough to believe in his tricks. The Illusionist creates luminous scenes of spiritual innocence. As a girl loses her faith in rabbits pulled out of hats, her faith in human kindness blossoms, and so does ours. PG. ALISTAIR ROCKOFF. Living Room Theaters.

Just Go With It

COLUMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH RELATIVITY MEDIA AN ORIGINAL FILM PRODUCTION “BATTLE: LOS ANGELES” AARON ECKHART MICHELLE RODRI GUEZ RAMON RODRIGUEZ BRIDGET MOYNAHAN MUSIC EXECUTIVE NE-YO AND MICHAEL PEÑA BY BRIAN TYLER PRODUCERS JEFFREY CHERNOV DAVID GREENBLATT WRITTEN PRODUCED DIRECTED BY CHRIS BERTOLINI BY NEAL H. MORITZ ORI MARMUR BY JONATHAN LI EBESMAN

32 Another eminently forgettable Adam Sandler flick to add to a pile that is growing longer and more rapidly than his jowls. In this one, Sandler plays Danny, a womanizing plastic surgeon with a wisecracking assistant (nailed by Jennifer Aniston); he picks up women by pretending to be in a loveless marriage. RUTH BROWN. PG-13. Pioneer Place, Tigard, Division, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 3-D

The Donny Osmond of our time gets his own concert film. Not screened for critics. G. Bridgeport.

Kaboom

33 “What are you, some kind of

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insatiable sex maniac?” “Yes.” That exchange pretty well encapsulates both the content and wit in all 89 minutes of the new collegehookup dramedy from Gregg Araki (The Doom Generation, Mysterious

SWEET MOVIE

LADIES OF THE NIGHT: While Beer and Movie presents Metalhaus and its 9-foot-tall Killbot at the Wonder Ballroom on Saturday night, it’s fitting that Tim Colley’s montage-cum-installation New Wave Hookers plays in the gallery under the stage: It’s a missive from deep inside the id. Colley’s clip reel, assembled mostly from VHS tapes, is more than three hours of call girls, stripteases and burlesque dancing—every form of Hollywood and international film displaying flesh (female and male) as a purchasable commodity, a huge part of what the movies do made explicit. Colley’s choices are wide ranging and personal (Metropolis meets Sweet Movie meets ’80s cheapie The Party Animal), and after even a few minutes, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that cinema is a midway funhouse of unhealthy desires. This is where curation becomes its own art form, and there’s not a heart of gold in sight. AARON MESH. Wonder Ballroom. 8 pm Saturday, March 19. Best paired with: Whiskey, neat. Also showing: Gremlins (Laurelhurst).

Skin). I suppose I should add something about the digital visual style, which is precisely that of a SyFy feature—maybe that’s intentional, since some of the dorm residents have magical powers (and glowing eyes), which their roommates find no more remarkable than the fact that nobody declines any erotic proposition. If Araki’s up to something subversive here, for the life of me I couldn’t parse it: I’ve never been so bored by something with this high a naked body and orgasm count. (Those bodies and orgasms, belonging to people like Haley Bennett, Thomas Dekker and Juno Temple, are notably nubile and vocal, so that’s a plus.) Also there’s talk of apocalypse, then more than talk, and maybe it’s not Kaboom’s fault that it happens to be treating the end of the world as a glib joke in a week when nuclear reactors are in fact going kaboom. Even without that stroke of bad luck, the movie would pale in comparison to other barely legal bedroom romps: Heartbeats, which understands what happens when the little death is connected to big emotions, and The Rules of Attraction (an unmistakable influence), which understands what happens when it isn’t. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.

The King’s Speech

73 If it is the task of the movie psy-

chologist to tell his patient, à la Robin Williams, that distress is “not your fault”—and to convince us that, yes, that fellow’s problems are not his fault and, by golly, our problems are not our fault—then speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), despite lacking medical qualifications, does a bang-up job of telling stuttering George VI (Colin Firth) that it’s not his fault he is the King of England. R. AARON MESH. Fox Tower, Lloyd Mall, Tigard, City Center, Bridgeport Village, Movies on TV, Wilsonville.

The Last Lions

77 It’s hard to keep a straight face

when Jeremy Irons pontificates over The Last Lions about how the beasts

might be feeling, and what personal vendettas water buffaloes might or might not be carrying around. That said, Dereck and Beverly Joubert’s Botswana king-of-beasts footage is remarkably intimate, and sure to be more unflinching than anything in Disney’s upcoming African Cats (lions and their cubs die onscreen here, and while the imagery isn’t gratuitous, a lot of feline blood is spilled). Perhaps the most remarkable sequence shows a lioness facing off with a water buffalo in a danse macabre, with the buffalo calf at stake as a potential meal for the cubs: Both animals’ sheer persistence is captivating. But the movie makes it clear that the beasts have been pressured into smaller and smaller territory by human expansion—Africa’s lion population has collapsed from 450,000 at midcentury to fewer than 20,000 now. PG. AARON MESH. Fox Tower.

Leprechaun

[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] Jennifer Aniston and a leprechaun. R. Hollywood Theatre. 7 pm Thursday, March 17. Presented by Jackpot Records. Hollywood Theatre.

Limitless

Bradley Cooper takes a pill, gets all smart. But there’s a hangover. Not screened by WW press deadlines; look for a review on wweek. com. PG-13. Pioneer Place, Lloyd Center, Tigard, City Center, Division Street, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Hilltop, Wilsonville.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Matthew McConaughey is a lawyer. Who drives around in a Lincoln. Not screened for Portland critics; look for a review on wweek.com. R. Fox Tower, Lloyd Center, Tigard, City Center, Division, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV, Hilltop, Wilsonville.

Mars Needs Moms

28 Mars Needs Moms—a thin, sappy

treacle of a kid flick animated with the same creepy overdrawn-live-

MARCH 16 - 22

Red Riding Hood

54 I’ll hand it to Catherine

Hardwicke: She’s attempting to distill the essence of a teenage girl’s sexual fantasy into cinema, and she’s coming closer with every try. Sure, Twilight had its share of touchyourself-but-don’t-finish shivers, but her new Red Riding Hood is a

real Bavarian cream dream, existing in a soundstage Expressionist/ Freudian forest where the trees sprout thick, jutting thorns, haystacks bloom with bright blue petals, and pure snow exists for the purpose of being mottled with drops of crimson blood. Hardwicke’s

“GO SEE THIS MOVIE. YOU WILL LOVE IT! A moving and inspiring experience.” - Joseph Smigelski, THE HUFFINGTON POST

“EXTREMELY TOUCHING AND INSPIRING.” -Jeffrey Lyons, Lyons Den Radio

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REVIEW W H AT I S PA U L . C O M

actor technology as The Polar Express or the latest Christmas Carol rehash—sort of lives in the uncanny valley, in that same circle of hell with wax statues and animatronic pirates; the cartoonish Martians are somehow more expressive than most of the people, who look and move like the malevolent plasticine lifeforms in Doctor Who. The female Martians are in some angry, personality-free Communist beehive run by a freeze-dried nightmare of a mother-in-law joke, while the men are jumpy, huggy, hippie Ewoks; neither inspire sympathy. I can hardly blame my 4-year-old nephew for taking off his 3-D glasses halfway through and loudly begging to be allowed to wait in the hallway until the awful, awful spectacle was over. PG. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. 3-D: Pioneer Place, Lloyd Center, Tigard, City Center, Division, Cinema 99, Movies on TV. 2-D: Lloyd Mall, Bridgeport Village, Movies on TV, Wilsonville.

MOVIES

The Music Never Stopped

39 Ah, boomers. Will they ever stop

talking about themselves? They couldn’t save the world, but dagnabbit, that’s not going to stop them from proving they can save something. In The Music Never Stopped, ’60s nostalgia literally saves a guy’s brain. In 1986, after two decades of estrangement, an ex-flower child named Gabriel (Lou Taylor Pucci) is reunited with his parents, but a tumor has left him with severe amnesia. Only the music from his youth—the Grateful Dead in particular—manages to jog his memory. Working with a musical therapist, he begins to piece his life back together and, in the process, heal his relationship with his father (J.K. Simmons). On paper it sounds unbearably saccharine, and it does play out like a tie-dyed Hallmark movie, but at least director Jim Kohlberg is smart enough to leaven the sap with a streak of PG-rated humor. What really makes the film grate is its tint of hippie self-importance. Songs trigger flashbacks to moments showing just how significant that generation was because they, like, protested and stuff, man. No one knows or seems to care what Gabriel has been doing in his 20 years off the grid, the suggestion being that getting mentally stranded in 1967 is a state of bliss most Deadheads can only wish for. PG. MATTHEW SINGER. Fox Tower.

No Strings Attached

70 In what is basically a full-length

enlargement of the “We love you, Natalie!” “I wanna fuck you, too!” exchange from Saturday Night Live, Ashton Kutcher plays Adam, the besotted penis filling Natalie Portman’s Emma on a casual schedule. R. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.

Rango

82 If there’s a criticism to lob at

Gore Verbinski’s wildly entertaining existentialist cartoon Western, it’s that he made an existentialist cartoon Western aimed at kids. Ninety-five percent of the stuff that makes Rango so fun is going to be lost on its target demographic, unless Chinatown (from which it cribs part of its plot) and Sergio Leone flicks have suddenly become popular among grade schoolers. It’s an homage to films made decades before they were born, loaded with complicated, fast-paced dialogue and themes no child should understand until he or she is old enough to wonder if their entire life has been a fraud. Yes, Rango fails to hit the grace note Pixar plays so well, making a movie that appeals effortlessly to both adults and children without pandering to either. Y’know what, though? Not every animated movie has to be Toy Story—especially when it’s as much of a fucking blast as this one. PG. MATTHEW SINGER. Pioneer Place, Lloyd Mall, Lloyd Center, Tigard, City Center, Division, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Wilsonville.

AREA 51 REVISITED: Simon Pegg and extraterrestrial pal, terrified of their script.

PAUL E.T. phones it in.

Paul is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable, albeit imaginary, object: Seth Rogen’s cavalcade of spliff-cough jokes makes its first contact with computer-generated imagery, and nobody wins. As anybody who’s watched the Superbad DVD extras knows, a good Judd Apatow-era comedy (or even a bad Apatow-era comedy) relies on careful editing of many, many ad-libbed takes. But Paul, which comes with the disciples if not the actual imprimatur of Apatow, places Rogen in the body of a little green man who looks like a Roswell figurine and behaves like, well, Seth Rogen—and the placement of a reasonably detailed CGI creature in the frame means Rogen’s voice and its human counterparts are all required to stick to the script. Thus constrained by technology, the players settle for driving their motor home down the middle of the road. What a drag. This, at least, is the excuse I’m giving for why so many comedic talents have made a movie that is, for perplexingly long stretches, so unfunny. But it isn’t a sufficient explanation: It’s like saying a UFO sighting at a Mensa convention is the result of a collective hallucination. Paul’s script was written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the partnership behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz; the duo also stars, under the direction of Greg Mottola, who has gathered much of the cast from his Superbad and Adventureland, plus Jason Bateman. That’s an exceptional gene pool. Their premise isn’t great—two sci-fi geeks pick up a roadside starman, who grumbles one-liners—but it’s not much worse than any of the participants’ previous triumphs must have looked on paper, and the film clearly knows it’s built on a junk pile. (There’s even a Mac and Me joke.) So why, then, is so much of the running time dedicated to the gaypanic and potty-mouth fixations of a 12-year-old—especially when that movie is a hard R? There’s more idiosyncratic humor (including some reasonably nervy mockery of fundamentalist Biblethumpers, and a very clever Capturing the Friedmans reference), but it arrives awfully late. Bateman, the closest thing the picture has to a classically trained actor, lends perfect timing to lines that are not even remotely amusing. He exclaims “Motherfucking tittysucking bitch!” with particular conviction. He’s in the dignified Peter Coyote role. “What is this, nerd porn?” asks a cop (Bill Hader) leafing through a comic book featuring a three-breasted Martian. Yes, it is. Paul opens at Comic-Con, and pays homage to the SpielbergLucas canon entire, but affection isn’t inspiration—and while certainly more lovingly crafted than, say, Fanboys, Paul is so visually unremarkable I started to wonder if I’d misremembered the way Pegg and Frost once teased their influences with parodic imagery. (Maybe I miss Shaun and Fuzz director Edgar Wright. Clearly they do.) This movie features a history-of-the-universe montage, and the only sight gag it can think to include is a shot of two aliens humping. I can’t really blame this on CGI. Paul just needs higher intelligence. R. AARON MESH. 45 SEE IT: Paul opens Friday at Fox Tower, Lloyd Center, Tigard, City Center, Division, Bridgeport Village, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Hilltop, Wilsonville.

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“I CAN’T THINK OF THE LAST AMERICAN FILM I SAW THAT ACTUALLY MADE ME SQUIRM IN MY SEAT WITH TENSION AND SUSPENSE.

It will leave you feeling adrenalized and aware that you’ve just seen something that’s put you in touch with all of your senses.” - Marshall Fine, HUFFINGTON POST

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visual indulgence is unlikely to meet with much critical appreciation, mostly because David Johnson’s screenplay is atrocious—both plot and dialogue are squirt-Coke-outyour-nose bad—and the swooning supernatural women’s picture is one of the last genres reviewers feel no obligation to take seriously. But a movie is more than the mere staging of a script, and there’s significantly more energy roiling here than in half of Marvel’s formulaic grabs for dude cash. PG-13. AARON MESH. Pioneer Place, Lloyd Center, Tigard, City Center, Division, Bridgeport Village, Cinema 99, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Wilsonville. NEW

The Red Shoes

[FIVE NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL] A showbiz fairytale with a sting, this British classic by filmmaking duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is so satanic and dreamy that it inspired many people to become dancers, and others—Brian De Palma, Dario Argento—to make horror movies. Freshly restored with the support of Martin Scorsese, The Red Shoes offers sympathy for the devil, in this case a Russian ballet director based on Diaghilev and played by the incomparable Anton Walbrook. He seduces into his theatrical company a boy and a girl, a composer and a dancer. Life imitates Art; Art imitates Hell. “Colour by Technicolor,” announce the credits. As that spelling suggests, it’s a very British sort of Technicolor, loud and muddy. The film struggles to escape its own artifice, the campy acting and transitions of Her Majesty’s theater. Life imitates Art all too well. But oh, that gorgeous musical score! “The music is all that matters!” The Red Shoes is certainly something to see on the big screen, a ripe old chestnut roasting on an open fire. If you like ballet, it’s probably already a favorite. ALISTAIR ROCKOFF. Cinema 21. Sunday-Thursday, March 20-24.

Stripperland

[FOUR NIGHTS ONLY] A locally made Zombieland parody, with Daniel Baldwin. Clinton Street Theater. 7 and 9 pm Friday-Monday, March 18-21. Clinton Street Theater.

True Grit

90 The Coen Brothers’ new ren-

dering of Charles Portis’ novel of Arkansas frontier retribution is remarkable for its lack of perversity—one character voices a slightly unseemly interest in the 14-yearold heroine, and another is graphically relieved of some fingers but, by Coen standards, everybody behaves with relative civility. But it maintains something sorrowful in the story of young Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfield), who seeks retribution for her dead father and talks like Laura Ingalls Wilder with a law degree. PG13. AARON MESH. Fox Tower, Lloyd Center, Bridgeport Village, Movies on TV.

Unknown

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REVIEW F R I D AY M O V I E Z . C O M

MOVIES

75 Jaume Collet-Serra makes movies that are not what they seem. In 2009, he directed Orphan, a killerchild movie that was not really a killer-child movie, and now he returns with Unknown, a Liam Neeson righteous-vengeance picture that does not quite feature Liam Neeson gaining righteous vengeance. Billed as a spiritual sequel to Neeson’s previous Euro-romp Taken (and ably assisted in that marketing by the critics), this movie is actually a rejoinder to the last film’s paranoid xenophobia, with Neeson’s fury undermined by constant uncertainty about anything that happened before his taxi cab slipped off a Berlin bridge. Suitably, most of the best performances are from German actors—Bruno Ganz, Diane Kruger— though Frank Langella’s arrival gives the film a kick of gravitas. PG-13. Broadway, Tigard, Bridgeport Village, Movies on TV.

KISS KISS BANGS BANGS: The ladies of Britain are feeling unwell.

DOGHOUSE Hell hath no fury like a lady-zombie fight.

Beer and Movie’s zombie double feature this Friday and Saturday night in St. Johns has left co-curators Jacques Boyreau and Aaron Mesh in violent disagreement. Not about the midnight shows of Day of the Dead: We agree that a 35 mm print of George A. Romero’s 1985 lab work is excellent brain food. No, it’s the 10 pm film in the twin bill that has cleaved us: Doghouse, a new British horrorcomedy in which a busload of bachelor-partying men are trapped in a village where only women are infected by a zombie virus. So we did what any good moviegoers would: We argued. Jacques went first. Aaron, You ignorant slut. Doghouse adroitly addresses the fact that women are fucking scary, and your charge of misogyny against Doghouse shows you have not lived long enough to know that some fear accounts are not going to be fixed up nice...ever. I responded to the splatter-satirizing of the horror of human contact, which I felt was touching, titillating and semi-terrifying. Doghouse made my personal gender issues into a grandiose spectacle. And I’d go so far as to bet that many women will find Doghouse fascinating. It’s a sick-chick flick. So to all you girls of that ilk, I say: Is it not cool to watch men squirm? To listen to the laughter that hides their fear? To note the moment when the male group mind lashes out in a collective, “Oh shit”? Not to mention: The dude crew (assholes all) kicks a spastic share of she-ass, even as these boys are being thrashed. The director Jake West sums it: Doghouse is a movie that proves “men suck and women bite.” JACQUES BOYREAU. Jacques, Jake West should know from sucking. Doghouse is another case of post-Shaun of the Dead doldrums, with zombie lad laffs delivered preheated, some sitcom to be consumed with your fish and chips. What’s scary is how West’s Madonna/horror complex isn’t sincere enough to rate a misogyny charge. If the movie hated women, I might like it: At least it would be expressing real feelings, ugly or not. Instead, it reduces its ladies to stale stereotypes—the vamp, the ring-wrangler, the hag, the hog—and declares war on these two-dimensional cutouts, on behalf of men who flail only to keep their lives unexamined. Doghouse is a “dark” counterpart to that Reader’s Digest feature “Laughter, the Best Medicine,” confirming bourgeois received wisdom about how people will always behave, bless ’em. Only this time the thing being digested is human toes. I don’t mind that it might offend somebody’s sensibilities; I resent it for wasting my time. What happens when you play “Yakety Sax” backwards? You don’t summon demons. You get the same old Benny Hill noise—but now it sounds even more like shit. AARON MESH.

SEE IT: Doghouse and Day of the Dead screen at St. Johns Twin Cinema & Pub at 10 pm and midnight Friday-Saturday, March 18-19.