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WWEEK.COM
VOL 37/29 05.25.2011
EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES SCARY STREETS, PEDALING POLS, BIKEABLE BARS, UNDERRATED ROUTES, A CYCLE CRUSADER AND SEVEN MORE NEWS FLASHES FROM PORTLAND’S BIKE LANES. PAGE 13
P. 7
P. 39
P. 56
PHOTO: JAMES REXROAD, MODEL: JOSIE MORALES
BACK COVER
Eating Disorders
2
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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CONTENT
NEWS POSITIONS: The state’s biggest daily defends a partnership. Page 8.
NEWS
4
FOOD & DRINK
36
LEAD STORY
13
MUSIC
39
CULTURE
34
MOVIES
55
HEADOUT
35
CLASSIFIEDS
59
CANNONDALE | SPECIALIZED | BIANCHI | GARY FISHER GT | SCOTT | FUJI | KESTREL | GLOBE | VIRTUE | RALEIGH Willamette Week | run date: WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2011 AND MORE TO COME
534 SE BELMONT, 503.446.2206
STAFF Editor-in-Chief Mark Zusman EDITORIAL Managing Editor for News Brent Walth Interim Arts & Culture Editor Ruth Brown Staff Writer Nigel Jaquiss, James Pitkin Copy Chief Kat Merck Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Sarah Smith Assistant Arts & Culture Editor Ben Waterhouse Screen Editor Aaron Mesh Music Editor Casey Jarman Editorial Interns Natasha Geiling, Nathan Gilles, Ashley Gossman, Karen Locke, Corey Paul, Evan Sernoffsky CONTRIBUTORS Classical Brett Campbell Dance Heather Wisner Visual Arts Richard Speer
Erik Bader, Judge Bean, Nathan Carson, Shane Danaher, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, Robert Ham, Jay Horton, Matthew Korfhage, AP Kryza, Jessica Lutjemeyer, Jeff Rosenberg, Matt Singer, Chris Stamm, Mark Stock PRODUCTION Production Manager Kendra Clune Art Director Ben Mollica Graphic Designers Soma Honkanen, Adam Krueger, Brittany Moody, Carolyn Richardson Production Intern Christa Connelly ADVERTISING Director of Advertising Jane Smith Display Account Executives Sara Backus, Maria Boyer, Michael Donhowe, Drew Harrison, Janet Norman, Kyle Owens Classifieds Account Executives Jennifer Lee, Corin Kuppler Advertising Assistant Ashley Grether Marketing and Events Manager Jess Sword Marketing and Promotions Coordinator Brittany McKeever
DISTRIBUTION Circulation Director Robert Lehrkind WWEEK.COM Web Production Brian Panganiban MUSICFESTNW Executive Director Trevor Solomon More Fun Than a Barrel of Sea Cucumbers Dan Winters OPERATIONS Accounting Manager Andrea Manning Credit & Collections Shawn Wolf Office Manager & Receptionist Nick Johnson Office Corgi Bruce Manager of Information Systems Brian Panganiban Publisher Richard H. Meeker
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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
Willamette Week welcomes freelance submissions. Send material to either News Editor or Arts Editor. Manuscripts will be returned if you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. To be considered for calendar listings, notice of events must be received in writing by noon Wednesday, two weeks before publication. Send to Calendar Editor. Photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Questions concerning circulation or subscription inquiries should be directed to Robert Lehrkind at Willamette Week. postmaster: Send all address changes to Willamette Week, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Subscription rates: One year $100, six months $50. Back issues $5 for walk-ins, $8 for mailed requests when available. Willamette Week is mailed at third-class rates. A.A.N. Association of ALTERNATIVE NEWSWEEKLIES This newspaper is published on recycled newsprint using soy-based ink.
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Reading your article “Graying the Rainbow” [May 18, 2011] gave me a measure of hope for my own future, and I want to thank you for it. As a gay twentysomething who’s grown up here in Portland, I find it disconcerting that most of my peers don’t appear to give a thought to retirement and their futures beyond their active lives. Having a close family member in an assisted living facility now, I know well the struggle that many seniors face when no longer able to live independently. The realization that I probably won’t have much in the way of close family (i.e. children) when I reach that age is an ever-present worry, and it’s good to know that I’m not the only one out there with that struggle. The knowledge that there are places (at least one place) for me to go if and when I reach that point in my life helps me to rest easy now. Thanks. Michael Bush Hillsboro CORRECTIONS: A story last week about a bicyclist struck by a New Seasons truck (“Cyclist vs. New Seasons,” WW, May 18, 2011) misstated the year Eileen Brady helped found the New Seasons grocery chain. It was 1999. A cover story about unpaved streets in Portland (“Dirt Roads, Dead Ends,” WW, May 11, 2011) incorrectly stated the amount of money the city is spending on an improved crossing at Northeast 12th Avenue over I-84, cycle tracks on North Williams and Vancouver avenues, and a buffered bike lane on Northeast Glisan Street. Those and several other projects altogether cost $1 million. WW regrets the errors.
WWEEK.COM READERS COMMENT ON “A GUIDE TO BUYING AUSTRALIAN FOOD IN PORTLAND” “Don’t want to rain on your parade, but kangaroos are definitely not a pest. Their numbers are in decline in many parts of the country and it appears that the kangaroo meat industry is unsustainable. Australia has the highest rate of extinction globally over the last 200 years. Thirteen years of drought and massive urban expansion combined with bush fires has drastically reduced the habitat of kangaroos. Do not support the consumption of our national emblem…. —Josh “Kangaroos by themselves are not a pest. Kangaroos in massive quantities, however, are.… As to the philosophy of eating kangaroo meat, it’s worth mentioning that kangaroo is one of the most efficient meats to produce—kangaroos do not damage the topsoil nor produce copious amount of methane as cows, for instance, do. This is a position reinforced by the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australasian Wildlife Management Society.” —Evan 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
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
Why, in 2011, does Portland still have cops on horseback? Do we have a big problem with rustlers downtown these days? Or are these super-horses that can chase down speeders? How much are we paying for this anachronism? —Sign Me Alan See? Any time government tries to treat us to something better than the absolute crappiest, ugliest and most boring thing possible, some killjoy comes along to complain that it could have been cheaper. It’s guys like you that are turning the new Columbia River bridge into such a grim, Stalinist turd—I’m sure you won’t rest until that project is stripped of all ornament save perhaps a jaunty “Arbeit Macht Frei” stenciled across its brutal, slablike trusses. But I digress. If you ask me (which, technically, you just did), the reason we have cops on horses is because it’s cool. (For the record, I’d also support having cops on tigers, elephants and great white
sharks.) As it happens, though, the Mounted Patrol Unit pulls its weight even when judged by more objective standards. The MPU’s $585K annual budget is about 0.4 percent of the Bureau’s total. For that, you get seven officers, composing 0.7 percent of the force. When you throw in the fact that last year, private donors kicked in $100K of the total to save the unit from budgetary-ax-wielding meanies like Alan here, you’re actually getting a lot of cop for the buck. And the mounted cops aren’t just decorative; the Bureau says they make between 100 and 150 arrests every month. Since they work more slowly and thoroughly than a prowl car, mounted units are well-suited to combating street crime. Plus, you gotta figure that the sheer embarrassment of being arrested by Dudley Do-Right must yank at least a few offenders back to the straight and narrow. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
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albertamainst.org Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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SPIN MACHINE: The cost of government PR. HOLDING HANDS: The Oregonian’s “right” partner. ROGUE: Rep. Jim Thompson. COVER STORY: Expose yourself to bikes.
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Attorney General John Kroger recently did some fundraising at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans, according to his campaign finance reports. Kroger returned home with a handful of checks boosting his cash on hand to $214,000, as he prepares for a re-election run in 2012. (Kroger’s campaign, rather than taxpayers, footed the bill for the trip). Meanwhile, two other statewide electeds also facing re-election next year are less aggressive. Secretary of State Kate Brown has less than $5,000 in her campaign account. And Treasurer Ted Wheeler shows a $217,000 campaign deficit, although $200,000 of his debt comes from money he loaned himself for his 2010 campaign to serve out the term of his predecessor, the late Ben Westlund.
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
After Powell’s Books laid off 31 workers in February, citing shrinking sales, current and former employees were angry when the book giant this month posted a job notice on its website for about 12 full-time temp workers. Powell’s typically hires temps for the busy summer season. But after laying off full-time staffers, hiring temps to work without benefits created “outrage” among the staff, says Ryan Takas, union representative at ILWU Local 5. The union took the issue to management, and a deal was brokered May 20 to give the laid-off workers preference in filling the temp jobs. “It’s a principle of basic fairness,” Takas says. Powell’s confirms the union’s account. If you’ll indulge a moment of self-congratulation: At the Society of Professional Journalists of Oregon and Southwest Washington annual awards banquet Saturday night, Willamette Week picked up 10 first-place prizes for stories we reported in 2010. Want to see us at our best? Go to wweek.com for links. In the category of large-circulation (above 8,000) nondailies for Oregon and southwest Washington: News feature: Beth Slovic, “Sext Crimes.” Comprehensive coverage: Nigel Jaquiss for election coverage. Investigative reporting: Nigel Jaquiss, “Oregon’s Scariest Cops.” Social issues: James Pitkin, “Saving Ryan.” Personalities: Nigel Jaquiss, “Dr. Do-Over.” Lifestyle: Aaron Mesh, “Cartpocalypse!” Arts reporting: Michael Mannheimer, “Everyone Loves Menomena...Except Menomena.” In the category of alternative news weeklies for the Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana): Education reporting: Beth Slovic, “Extra Credit.” Government and political reporting: Nigel Jaquiss, “Dr. Do-Over.” Investigative reporting: Beth Slovic, “Sext Crimes.” Also on Saturday night, WW movies editor Aaron Mesh was elected president of the Oregon and Southwest Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for 2011-12. In other news, the food at the banquet was better this year. (Steelhead!)
GOT A GOOD TIP? CALL 503.445.1542, OR EMAIL NEWSHOUND@WWEEK.COM
P H I L I P C H E A N E Y. C O M
NEWS
GIVING US FLACK PORTLAND’S $7 MILLION, PUBLICLY FUNDED PR INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TAKES NEWS FOR A SPIN. BY JA M E S P I T K I N
jpitkin@wweek.com
Earlier this month, Metro had some good news to get out. The Portland-area regional government was turning 100 acres in Happy Valley into the Scouter Mountain Natural Area—a Boy Scout camp and adjacent land Metro bought with $2.2 million from a voter-approved bond measure. Metro wanted to put a positive spin on how it spent taxpayer money. So Laura Oppenheimer Odom, a former Oregonian reporter who is now a communications coordinator at Metro, penned a flowery May 5 news release. “You’re climbing a steep, narrow road with fir trees swaying overhead and birds chirping about your arrival,” Odom wrote. “Thousands of Boy Scouts have made this journey over the years—and soon, so can everybody else.” The story was picked up in an Oregonian news brief and a longer feature in The Clackamas Review. The Review story echoed key points in Metro’s release, restating Odom’s theme that “many more people will have access.” This was just one example of the work performed by local government PR reps, or “flacks,” as they’re sometimes called in newsrooms. There are a lot of them—94 in the Portland area—and their paychecks add up to nearly $7 million a year. As first reported on wweek.com, these public-relations people work for the City of Portland, Metro, Portland Public Schools, Multnomah County, the Port of Portland, Portland State University, TriMet and Oregon Health & Science QUOTE FACTORIES: Portland’s three biggest public PR shops. University. Their average annual pay is around $74,000. Our list includes staffers who provide information to center’s PR staff is paid mainly with hospital revenues, not Middaugh says, “and typically press releases don’t quote reporters and citizens. The biggest PR team belongs to tax money.) your critics.” the City of Portland. It spends $2.1 million paying its 28 On the flip side, smaller newsrooms mean reporters are Metro President Tom Hughes defends his agency’s $1.8 PR people. million budget for PR salaries, second only to Portland’s. more dependent than ever on PR people for stories. Con“That’s a pretty big price tag,” says Mike Lindberg, a “We’re trying to be as efficient as we can given that we’ve sider two recent examples from Metro, where Middaugh Portland city commissioner from 1979 to 1997. He says the got a pretty broad group of folks that we have to communi- heads a team of 26 spokespeople. city had just 22 spokespeople in 2003. “It’s just continu- cate with,” Hughes says. On March 22 a PR rep for the Metro-run Oregon Zoo ally grown,” Lindberg says. “If I was mayor, I would take a But Pacific University political science professor Jim put out a press release about the zoo’s effort to save water very hard look.” Moore says it’s legitimate to ask whether spending so by fixing leaks in underground pipes. That landed a March The City of Seattle employs about three fewer spokes- much on PR is justified when some governments are slash- 24 online Portland Business Journal article that quoted directly from the news release. people than Portland, according to the Seattle mayor’s ing services and laying off workers. But it’s not always that easy. Earlier this year, Midoffice. But get this: Seattle, which runs “It becomes an issue for the electordaugh’s staff pitched a story to Oregonian reporter Eric its own public utility, has 11,000 employate,” Moore says. FACT: Agencies surveyed: 8 ees—nearly twice as many as the City of PR employees: 94* This month, New York-based journal- Mortenson about efforts to turn the old St. Johns Landfill Portland. ism nonprofit ProPublica published a into a sanctuary for endangered streaked horned larks. Total salaries: $6,985,900 It took several weeks and four or five tries, Middaugh Mayor Sam Adams was not avail- Average salary: $74,318 report noting that the ranks of public*Includes several part-timers able to comment for this story, said his relations reps have surged by more than says, until The O finally ran a story March 22. Mortenson spokeswoman, Amy Ruiz. 30 percent in private PR agencies—while referred WW’s questions to managing editor Therese BotPR people perform valuable functions, and not just by American newsrooms shrank by about 27 percent in tomly, who wasn’t available to comment. Middaugh points to such PR successes as evidence his feeding reporters story ideas and emailing quotes to insert recent years. Many former reporters have moved into PR, in news stories. They blog, write newsletters and run including former WW managing news editor Hank Stern, team is worth the money. “People should look at our performance and critique meetings aimed at informing citizens. who in April took an $80,000 gig at Multnomah County. OHSU’s Lora Cuykendall is the best-paid PR rep in our As newspapers shrink, government plays a bigger role that,” he says, “but I think they need to honor the real survey, pulling in $136,500 a year. “I don’t think it’s a sur- informing the public. Jim Middaugh, who makes $132,300 costs associated with doing a good job.” prise given OHSU’s size and the kind of institution that it as head spokesman for Metro, hired part-time reporter for lists of PR employees and salaries is,” Cuykendall says of her six-figure salary. “We deal with Nick Christensen at $40,560 a year to publish stories GO TO for each agency. We also point out ties between government highly complex information.” about Metro on the agency’s website. spokespeople and local media. (An OHSU representative says the academic health “I wanted to hear from critics and supporters alike,” Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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NEWS
ROGUE
ROGUE OF THE WEEK
STATE REP. JIM THOMPSON
HE REALLY CARES ABOUT IMPROVING HEALTH CARE FOR MINORITIES. UNTIL IT MATTERS.
In Oregon and across the country, research shows minorities experience worse results from health care than whites. One fix to this problem is “cultural competency” training, designed to make medical practitioners more aware of the causes of such disparities. Studies show, for example, that doctors have historically been less likely to recommend that their Hispanic and black female patients stop smoking or get mammograms. Gov. John Kitzhaber asked legislators to introduce a bill to ensure licensed medicos get regular training that would help them communicate better with minority patients. Washington and California have already passed such legislation. On April 25, the Senate easily approved the bill. But when Senate Bill 97 reached the House, things turned bizarre. On May 12, the House Health Care Committee approved the bill. Among those voting “yes” was this week’s Rogue, committee co-chairman Jim Thompson (R-Dallas). Thompson, a retired medical researcher and former executive director of the Oregon Pharmacy Association, knows the importance of improving communications with minority patients. “Mistakes are expensive,” he says. On May 17, he took the unusual step of lobbying his colleagues through a formal “floor letter” that carried the endorsement of more than 100 organizations supporting the bill. SB 97, Thompson wrote, “will help address Oregon’s persistent racial health disparities and lower costs through improved provider-patient communication…reducing costly misdiagnosis [and] incorrect treatments, and cutting down on unnecessary emergency room visits.” But when the bill came to the House floor May 18, all 29 of Thompson’s Republican colleagues voted against it—and Thompson went along. (All 30 House Democrats supported it.) Thompson’s reversal is Roguish because he advocated so eloquently for the bill—and because the 64-year-old second-termer acknowledges he caved in to political pressure. Thompson says his caucus wanted to send a message: Republicans feel that state agencies are manipulating the projected costs of many bills, and they made this measure an example. (The cost of SB 97 was actually labeled “minimal,” and Thompson says he believes it would have saved taxpayers money overall.) Thompson reluctantly agreed to go along with his caucus. “When a caucus wants to go a particular direction,” he says, “it may not be the smartest move to go your own way.” One veteran lawmaker, state Rep. Mary Nolan (D-Portland), says she cannot recall a member of either party supporting a bill with a floor letter and then voting against it. “Nobody does this,” Nolan says. “It would be like helping your friend build a house, then burning it down.” 10
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES THE MOUNTAIN’S OUT! TIME TO AIR UP THE 10-SPEED. Our cover image is an homage to the iconic photo at left, which was shot in 1978 by Michael Ryerson, owner and publisher of The Northwest Neighbor. The photo is of Bud Clark, then the owner of the Goose Hollow Inn (and founder of the Neighbor), flashing Kvinneakt, a downtown sculpture by the Seattle artist Norman Taylor. As Ryerson tells it, he and Clark set out to make a poster for the Venereal Disease Action Council (we don’t get it either), but when he asked his readers to submit captions, they came up with “expose yourself to art.” Ryerson borrowed $500, ran off a couple thousand posters with the photo and caption and set up a booth at Neighborfair, a community event in Waterfront Park. He sold 800 posters for $1 each. By the time Clark, the flasher, was elected mayor of Portland in 1984 (overturning incumbent Frank Ivancie), Ryerson had sold over 250,000 posters across the U.S. He says the profits allowed the struggling newspaper to survive. He wasn’t the only one to benefit from the notoriety—Clark paid off his campaign debts by selling signed copies of the poster. (Ryerson later sold the rights to the poster to Mike Beard, who owns Errol Graphics.) While he enjoyed near-universal popularity in his two terms as mayor, Bud Clark was especially loved by Portland cyclists. He regularly biked to work at City Hall and led an annual “Bike to Work with Bud” ride. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance presents a Bud Clark Award for Lifetime Achievement every year in his honor to bicyclists who have made major contributions to cycling in Portland. © 1978 ERROL M. BEARD, ERROLGRAPHICS.COM
Spring in Portland is a series of small victories. We celebrate the day every camellia blooms at once; the first dry weekend; the first day Mount St. Helens peeks through the mist. Last Wednesday saw a major milestone: the first bike traffic jam. On an unexpectedly sunny afternoon, a crowd of homeward-bound commuters stretched in an unbroken line from the Hawthorne Bridge to Ladd’s Addition. Yes, the fair-weather bicyclists are back on the streets, awoken from our bus-bound hibernation and ready to show up at barbecues in padded shorts and talk too much about our rides while any nearby year-round commuters roll their eyes. But what will we talk about once we’ve finished with our calves (sore!) and how famished we are after the two-mile trip over? Friends, that’s what newspapers are for! We could discuss the unassessed dangers of riding on non-designated routes (see page 14), the heroic efforts of Jim Parsons to make the streets safer (page 16), the torturous climb to Pittock Mansion (page 18), the motivations of the Unipiper (page 21) or Rex Burkholder’s commute (page 22). We could ponder the state of women in the bike industry (page 25), the pros and cons of wooden frames (page 26), the joys of beer and bikes (page 29), and the merits of energy bars (page 30). Or we could just flip to the event calendar (page 33) and start planning our next ride. Whatever we do, you’d better change the subject from calves, ’cause I could show these babies off all night. —Ben Waterhouse EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 14
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STICK TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD GREENWAY—OR ELSE.
is traveled by an average of 5,291 cyclists a day) or those leading to the Hawthorne Bridge (over 7,000 trips a day), tend to have more total accidents than less popular routes, but the rate of accidents per trip is actually pretty low—approximately one per 225,000 trips for this section of Broadway. Due to heavy use, these routes also tend to garner city funds for projects like green bike lanes, bike boxes and, on the Broadway Bridge, bicycle signals. The same cannot be said for Portland roads less frequented by bicyclists. The stretch of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Broadway to Killingsworth Street is not especially popular among bikers, and for good reason: It lacks a bike lane. Yet the street had 36 reported bike accidents, one of them fatal, from 2000 to 2009. “It’s a no-man’s land for bikes,” says Jonathan Maus, publisher of BikePortland. org. Maus says almost no one rides on the street, a fact the Transportation Bureau couldn’t confirm—it doesn’t collect ridership numbers on streets that are not part of designated bike routes. This means the city could have several trouble spots where bicy-
ngilles@wweek.com
The Portland Bureau of Transportation says the city is getting safer to bike in: Portland’s bicycle traffic increased 190 percent between 2000 and 2009, and accidents declined 39 percent, the bureau adds. But while the city as a whole is safer, many of its most dangerous streets are as scary as ever. A large number of bicycle-car collisions have dotted Northeast Broadway from 15th Avenue to the Broadway Bridge. All told, the mile-long stretch of asphalt was the scene of 61 reported accidents involving bicycles from 2000 to 2009, according to PBOT data. One of the more hazardous intersections in the corridor is the interchange where Northeast Broadway meets Interstate 5. At this junction, cars eager to hit the highway will occasionally hit riders instead (10 since 2000). Well-traveled routes, like the one leading to the Broadway Bridge (which
HOW YOU WILL BE INJURED It will happen in winter—December or January—on a clear, dry day. You will be riding on a residential street with no bike infrastructure. The culprit will probably be not a car but poor road conditions—gravel or a steel plate or a storm drain. You will tear your skin, and probably hurt your arms or legs, but not so badly as to require a hospital stay. A 2008 study by Oregon Health and Science University of 962 bike commuters, published in the November 2010 issue of Trauma, found that injuries are distressingly common among regular riders in Portland: Nearly 20 percent of the participants in the yearlong study, regardless of age, sex or commuting experience, received some sort of injury. Put another way, riders can expect a traumatic accident every 6,670 miles. The great majority of injuries were to skin or limbs, and less than one-third of the reported accidents involved a car (although half of the “serious traumatic events” did involve a motor vehicle). The rate of accidents more than doubled in December and January, and the great majority of accidents happened on residential streets or in bike lanes. The study does contain some good news, though, confirming once again that riders who wear helmets are less likely to be seriously injured. BEN WATERHOUSE.
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
ON BROADWAY: Portland’s designated bike routes have received many safety upgrades in recent years, but the city doesn’t measure ridership on some busy unofficial routes.
cle traffic is high but uncounted and where accidents continue to happen. According to the bureau, this section of MLK won’t get a bike lane. Why? “I think for a lot of people,” says PBOT’s Mark Lear, “they just look at the intersections where you have the most crashes and then say, ‘Well, spend money there.’” Lear, a safety expert for the bureau, says streets with a lot of crashes tend to be high-volume streets with swiftmoving traffic. Instead of spending money on these roads, Lear says, it’s better to get bicyclists off these fast streets and onto slower ones. PBOT hopes to do this by spending money on low-volume streets and greenways—such as the Going Greenway in Northeast Portland (see next page)—in an effort to encourage bicyclists to stay off busy city roads. Maus disagrees with this approach. “I don’t think we should have streets that are that inaccessible to bicycles,” he says. “Yes, you can go on them. And yes, you can take up that lane. But how many people have the tolerance to do that?” Crash data shows many Portlanders do have a tolerance for dangerous roads, suggesting the possibility that a number of streets are being used as unofficial bicycle routes. For instance, Oregon Department of Transportation collision reports for Northeast Ainsworth Street from Concordia University to Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard show riders
are using this section of road as a de facto east-west corridor. Riders using this route have also reported, on BikePortland.org, 7 “close calls” and 2 “problem spots” on the street. How many riders are using the street is unknown, but a quick look at the map shows why riders might want to use this route versus the more circuitous path PBOT has designed for them. It’s simply more convenient. Maus says Portland will never meet all its bike-friendly goals unless cycling is made more convenient, and this, he says, means adding bike lanes on the city’s busy thoroughfares. This probably will not happen. “If you want to make MLK safe for bikes,” says Lear, “you need something like a cycle track [a bicycle-only path], and you can do miles and miles of neighborhood greenway routes for the cost of one mile of cycle track on MLK.” How safe are Portland’s streets for bicycles? If you stick to side streets, greenways and streets with developed infrastructure, like the routes over the central bridges, you’re probably going to be just fine. But don’t expect to ride the shortest distance between points A and B. And if you do ride on those busy streets without bike lanes, remember that as far as the city is concerned, your trip only counts if you crash. EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 16
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TAY L O R S C H E F S T R O M
MEET THE CYCLANTE JIM PARSONS IS MAKING YOUR COMMUTE SAFER, ONE SEWER GRATE AT A TIME. BY AIL I N DA R L I N G
243-2122
In the past decade, Jim Parsons moved to Portland from Southern Oregon, lost his job as a travel agent and went back to school at PSU to study linguistics, where he’s currently a part-time student. But while his destinations have changed, his self-prescribed higher calling remains constant. The 42-year-old bicycle commuter searches the city for hazards to “vulnerable users of the roadway”—and eliminates them. From shaky storm grates to thick, obstructive curbs, this bike vigilante takes matters into his own hands. “If I seem obsessive, it’s because I am,” Parsons said in April as I rode with him through Southeast, minutes before he stopped suddenly to trim some low-hanging branches. Parsons is a self-described high-functioning autistic, a condition he says makes him extra-observant. “As I’m riding along, I look for cracks in the sidewalk, storm grates...and I see the potential for accidents,” he said. Even at first glance, few would mistake Parsons for a casual biker. His glittering behemoth of a helmet features thick bands of retro reflective film and strategically
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
placed triangles of luminous red tape, a 2-by-2-inch headlamp, and a tiny rearview mirror protruding, antennalike, from one side. His bike, a GT Transeo 1.0 he affectionately calls “Ludwig Von Dammit,” is tricked out with five headlights, an iPod stereo system, a GPS unit and a bike computer to log distance, speed and time traveled. Parsons stopped our ride again at a storm grate on Southeast Grand Avenue with deep grooves running parallel to traffic. “A bike wheel gets into one of these ridges and you’re looking at a face-plant. Broken nose, concussions at least—but it could be fatal,” he said. With a heave, Parsons lifted the grate, flipped it over, rotated it and wedged it back into place. “There, that’s better,” he said. When Parsons finds a hazard he can’t fix by hand or with the Swiss Army knife he carries everywhere, he calls the Oregon Department of Transportation or another of the many local transportation authorities into his cell phone contact list. “Anybody who’s anybody at ODOT knows me by name or reputation,” he said. (When I called ODOT’s District 2A office and asked about Parsons, office specialist Eileen Huss answered, “Oh yeah, we know him.”)
THERE IS TROUBLE WITH THE TREES: Jim Parsons at work.
Parsons has taken his mission of building a cycle-safe city to the Internet as a forum moderator for BikePortland.org. To date, Parsons (who goes by “K’Tesh” on the site) has logged 2,371 posts, and his thread “What Have You Done Today?” is filled with before-and-after photos of transformed grates, upgraded bike lanes and pruned foliage. “The more eyes that go onto a problem, the more likely it is that somebody’s going to go, ‘You know, he’s right, we should fix this,’” he said. But Parsons says the most common and dangerous hazard to urban cyclists— distracted drivers—can’t be solved with a
Swiss Army knife. “The last thing in the world anybody should hear is, ‘Sorry, mate, I didn’t see you,’” he said. Two weeks after our ride, Parsons says the driver of a Lexus SUV failed to see him while he was traveling west in the bike lane on Highway 99W. He sprained his wrist in the crash, and Ludwig Von Dammit suffered irreparable damage. “Be safe out there,” Parsons wrote in a post describing the accident. “They are not looking for you.” EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 18
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BY C R A I G B E E B E
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Clinton. Salmon. Ankeny. Williams. Broadway. Even occasional cyclists recognize the names of Portland’s busiest bikeways. From bike lanes to cycle tracks and the clumsily named “neighborhood greenways,” the city’s bike network is constantly expanding, as Portland seeks to out-hustle competitors for the title of America’s most bike-friendly city. But a lot of the great rides in our current network remain largely unknown and unridden. To rectify this situation, I unfolded a copy of Metro’s Bike There map, rolled up a pant leg, and hit the road to find these five scenic rides that will broaden your cycling horizons.
Southeast 33rd and 34th Avenues Southeast Portland is notorious for lacking good north-to-south connections for bicyclists. Thankfully, there’s this hidden gem of a route, winding little more than a block back and forth while connecting Southeast’s chief commercial districts and neighborhoods. The rolling terrain is ideal for families as well as commuters, with city views and impressive gardens all along the way. Since it slices right through the middle of several shopping areas (on Powell Boulevard, Division Street, Hawthorne Boulevard and Belmont Street), there are many places to stop for refreshments and distractions, too. Unfortunately, the route has hardly any wayfinding marks, so check it out on a map—Metro’s or Google’s—before you go. Difficulty: Easy. Traffic: Light to medium.
Northeast Going and Alberta Streets The Going-Alberta greenway is perfect for a lazy Saturday ride amid quiet neighborhoods from Cully to Albina, comfortable
even for the training-wheel set. West of 33rd Avenue, where it uses an innovative cycle track to overcome the broken street grid, the route’s just a couple of blocks south of the main Alberta corridor. East of there, the ride cuts through a variety of unpretentious neighborhoods. The best part of this ride, though, is the nearabsence of stop signs most of the way. Peacefully riding a bike for 70 or more blocks in a major American city with only a half-dozen stops is a surprisingly giddy experience. Make a loop of it by using 72nd to connect to the Northeast TillamookGrant-Hancock bike boulevard south of Rose City Park, and ride back west via the Hollywood District. Difficulty: Easy. Traffic: Light.
Southeast Gladstone and Center Streets One of the city’s newest bike boulevards, this hilly route has the potential to be a major connector for cyclists in the CrestonKenilworth and Foster-Powell neighborhoods, and is also worthy of a weekend ramble. Pick it up at Southeast 26th Avenue and Gladstone Street and use the bike lane to climb up and drop down to cross César E. Chávez Boulevard. At 42nd Avenue the route passes a new bioswale/traffic-control device, where sharrows guide you up a short, steep hill for a few blocks. At 52nd Avenue, jog north to continue on Center Street to Foster Road. Satisfy your hydration needs at Slingshot Lounge, then use the new bike box to get across busy Foster (be sure to press the ped button or the light will never change.) From here, follow the sharrows past small parks and modest homes to 82nd Avenue. To get to the I-205 path, carefully cross 82nd Avenue at the pedestrian light and connect past Eastport Plaza via Bush Street and the (soon to be former) Marshall High School campus. Difficulty: Medium. Traffic: Generally medium to light.
NOT-SO-FRIENDLY BIKE CITIES: PORTLAND VS. MINNEAPOLIS “Portland ain’t nothing but a street in Minneapolis,” one cyclist responded to Bicycling magazine’s article, “Bike Friendly Cities: America’s Best Bike Cities, Bicycling’s Top 50,” which ambitiously named Minneapolis No. 1 last year. It may seem like a miscalculation that a city covered in snow and ice for nearly eight months of the year would be the most bike friendly of all, but with 46 miles of dedicated bicycle lanes, 84 miles of off-street bicycle paths and the most bicycle parking spaces per capita of any city in the nation, Minneapolis has been fueling a rivalry with Bridgetown for years. Minnesota was first on the scene with two key biking innovations: PedalPub, a pedal-powered bar with seating for 16, and, for more sober commuting, Nice Ride MN, a bicycle-sharing program akin to Zipcar for bikes. Minneapolis’ zealous attempts to gain more cyclists have fallen short, though, as Portland still boasts more bicycle commuters—6 to 8 percent, higher than any other U.S. city. A thorny branch in Minneapolis’ spokes, the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 aims to expand our city’s bikeway networks, attract more riders and add more bicycle parking. You best watch your back, Minnesota. KAREN LOCKE.
COREY THOMPSON
RIDING PORTLAND’S MOST UNDERRATED BIKE ROUTES
JAMES REXROAD
THE PATHS LESS CYCLED
KEEP CLIMBING: Riding from the Pearl to Pittock Mansion.
Pearl to Pittock: Northwest Johnson Street, etc.
Gresham-Fairview Trail
When seeking a solid hill climb in the city, a lot of riders head for Council Crest or Mount Tabor. Here’s a quieter and arguably more scenic climb that begins right in the Pearl. Head up Northwest Johnson Street via a gradual climb past condos, Victorians and trendy shops. After 24th Avenue, Johnson becomes Westover Road, and the serious climbing starts. The official route follows Westover and Cumberland, but instead turn left onto Marlborough and wind along the quiet, steep streets lined by mini-Pittocks to take advantage of the supreme views. It’s easy to get lost in this labyrinth, but as a general rule, just keep climbing! Eventually, find Monte Vista Terrace to access the back entrance to Pittock Acres Park. It may be exhausting, but the view at the top is especially stupefying when you’ve really earned it. Bask in the glory, then check your brakes and enjoy coasting back down to celebrate with ice cream at Cool Moon (1105 NW Johnson St.). Difficulty: Very hard. Just ask anyone who lives up here—these views don’t come cheap. Traffic: Medium to heavy on Johnson, light past 26th.
This much-needed new spur off the Springwater Corridor connects wetlands, schools and communities along a disused utility right-of-way. At its south end, it’s surprisingly rural, branching off the Springwater a couple of miles past Powell Butte at a horse pasture, and crossing Powell Boulevard to descend into a surprisingly quiet wetland. Farther north, the trail can feel somewhat squeezed at times, particularly at TriMet’s Ruby Junction facility, where many of the MAX trains come home to roost. The crossings of each major arterial are also a bit hairy: A recording plays when the crosswalk button is pressed, warning riders and pedestrians to “cross with caution; traffic may not stop.” (It typically doesn’t.) Plans call for extending the trail all the way under I-84 to Northeast Marine Drive, but for now it unceremoniously dumps northbound riders at Northeast 201st Avenue and Halsey Street after just over three miles, giving only the options of turning around or connecting home via an array of depressing routes. Difficulty: Easy. Traffic: Bikes and peds only on the path, but use caution at the crossings! EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 21
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RECIPE
INITIAL RELEASE: 1984 BATCH SIZE: 10.0 Bbl
Altbier
MALT _ _ Pale Malt Munich Malt Caramel 40L Roast Malt Chocolate Malt
__
HOPS _ _ Alchemy Willamette BKO= Before end of boil
550 60 50 11 9
lbs lbs lbs lbs lbs
__
90 min BKO 0 min BKO
ADDITIVES _ _ Mash Salts Kettle Salts Irish Moss
.75 lbs CaSO4 1.0 lbs CaSO4 .16 lbs
TARGET PARAMETERS _ _ Mash - in Rest Time Conversion Temp Rest Time
130 -135 oF 15 min 159 -160 oF 30 min
Kettle Full Plato Fermentation Temp
11.5 o P 68 oF
Original Gravity Terminal Gravity (AE) Bitterness Target ABV Target
12.0 o P 2.3 o P 40 IBUs 5.0%
Yeast Pitching Rate
Alt Yeast 12 Million/ml
2.4 lbs 3.7 lbs
(15.4% alpha) (5.5% alpha)
__
__
BREWING WITHOUT BOUNDARIES
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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MEMORIAL WEEKEND IN WINE COUNTRY Memorial Weekend in the Wine Country, May 28-30, with more than 165 wineries and tasting rooms open to the public from 11-5. For a map and listing of participating wineries and their hours, visit us online at willamettewines.com.
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WHO RIDES THESE THINGS, ANYWAY? BY ASH L E Y G OSS M A N
COURTESY OF BRIAN KIDD
ODD PEDAL-POWERED CREATIONS AND THEIR LOYAL DEVOTEES.
TALL BIKE
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Take a close look at a row of bike racks anywhere in the city and you’ll see a diverse ecosystem of bicycles, from Wal-Mart beaters with ornamental suspensions to tricked-out commuter hybrids with baskets, belt drives and internal hubs to handbuilt fixies with aggressively skinny rims and handlebars. There are a lot of varieties out there to choose from, but some riders aren’t satisfied with a rare breed—they want a different species. I spoke with a few owners of atypical cycles to find out why.
What about those bikes that are almost as tall as two bikes stacked on top of each other? City Bikes co-founder Tim Calvert says he rocks a Rasta-colored tall bike with an Earth flag because “it makes you feel like you are flying.” Tall bikes, he says, bring a “mood boost” and light everyone up with smiles—especially kids. He bought his first in 1993, made some modifications, and has loved it ever since. He can easily lock his bike up, but intersections can be a tricky because a tall-bike rider can’t put a foot down on the ground. “You have to go really slow, find a sign [to hold] or put a foot on a car,” he says. (Calvert’s commute avoids most intersections.) He also enlightened me about other riders of tall bikes who are riding them for very different reasons, such as bike jousting. So whether you fit more into the PBR-swilling jouster or Earth-flag-flying positivity clan, just get on for the first time over grass.
TRICYCLE
FOLDING BIKE
Morgan Patton rides a “tadpole trike,” which has two wheels in the front and one in the back, and orients the rider like a recumbent or reclining bike. Why? “Because I can,” he explained. “It fills a need that a mass-produced thing, you know, doesn’t—I want something specific, and I can make it, so I’ll make it exactly how I want.” Patton says tadpole tricycles sit very low, so some riders attach a flag to make themselves more visible, but he just limits his riding to places without cars or rides with many cyclists to minimize the danger. If you are interested in getting a similar trike, Patton warns that you have to think about where you can store it—it can be impractical for apartment dwellers, who have to surrender a lot of floor space. A garage is ideal. On the upside, tricycle riders don’t have to worry about losing their balance.
Russ Roca, a photographer and writer, and his partner, Laura Crawford, a photographer and metalworker, are planning to redefine the American road trip by forgoing cars or airplanes for a ride across the country on folding bikes (for about 70 percent of the route) and Amtrak trains. This is not the couple’s first time biking cross-country; last time they took full-sized bikes, which Roca explains are not as good for combining with other modes of travel. On the train, you cannot get your bike off at every stop, whereas, with Roca and Crawford’s Brompton folding bikes, which fit into the passenger railroad car, they can avoid missing out on the quaint small towns and back country roads along the route. If you want to fly with your bike, most airlines will charge a fee of over $100, but the Brompton folds up, and Roca says he can take it on a plane for free if he says it’s part of his photography equipment. Roca says his and Crawford’s professions are “entirely mobile.” The couple just email ahead where they are stopping along the way and other bicyclists meet up with them, sometimes purchasing one of Crawford’s decorative head badges or getting a portrait taken by Roca.
UNICYCLE Another unique character unicycling through Portland, playing the bagpipes, is the Unipiper. Brian Kidd plays traditional bagpipe tunes as well as the oftenrequested Star Wars theme song and even “Happy Birthday” (at birthday parties) or the “Bridal Chorus” (at, you guessed it, weddings). How and why did he get started
THE REVOLUTIONARY FASHION FOR TODAY: Brian Kidd, the Unipiper.
doing this? Kidd enlightened me: “While in college, I originally found a unicycle in the dumpster, and it just so happened at the time I was learning to play the bagpipes.” This serendipitous occurrence was just five years ago, and now the Unipiper
tries to make it out to the PSU Farmers Market and along Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard at least once a week. To request a performance at your event, contact Kidd at facebook.com/theunipiper.
See more unusual bikes at wweek.com. EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 22
WHO BIKES NOW Men: 69%
Women: 31%*
BY RACE** White: 86%
BY AGE** 16-24: 16% 25-44: 59%
45-64: 24% 65+: 1%
Asian: 4% Non-white Hispanic: 4%
Native American: 1% Other: 1% Two or more races: 3%
Black: 1%
BY ANNUAL PERSONAL INCOME** $1K-$15K: 25%
$35K-$50K: 13%
$15K-$25K: 21%
$50K-$65K: 10%
$25K-$35K: 11%
$65K+: 16%
* S O U R C E : P O R T L A N D B I C YC L E C O U N T R E P O R T 2 0 1 0 . * * S O U R C E : 2 0 0 9 A M E R I C A N C O M M U N I T Y S U R V E Y ; R O U N D E D T O T H E N E A R E S T P E R C E N TA G E P O I N T.
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THREE-TERM METRO COUNCILOR TO PORTLAND’S ELECTED OFFICIALS: GET OFF YOUR ASSES! BY JO N AT H A N F R OC HTZ WAJG
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Rex Burkholder, ever the environmentalist, is concerned about a new endangered species in Portland: the biking public official. Burkholder helped found the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and, as the influential group’s policy director for most of the ’90s, led the pack in Portland’s ascent to bike-city renown. Today, Portland’s bike culture seems vibrant. But Burkholder, now a Metro councilor, insists that if local leaders don’t actively foster the culture, it could fade like an old lane marking. “You have this great bike culture that’s really ensconced, but it takes investment and support,” he says. Part of that support, he says, is “the leadership saying, ‘[Biking] is a good thing, we need to invest in it, and we need to live it ourselves, too’”—to wit, the leadership actually riding bikes. But Burkholder says the population of Portland’s biking public officials is in decline. “I mean, who else is out there riding?”
he asks. “The mayor made a big deal about riding when he first got elected. I think his life has gotten more complicated; I don’t think he rides now. Randy Leonard was riding for his health; I don’t know if he’s still riding or not—you don’t hear about it.” For his part, Burkholder uses a bike for “99 percent” of his transportation and logs, on average, 10 miles a day—making him perhaps the most visible politician on two wheels in Portland. “Anything I need to do outside my house is by bike,” says Burkholder, who lives in Southeast. “The joke is that I ride my bike because I’m too lazy to walk.” On one recent workday, I caught up with Burkholder for a ride from Metro’s headquarters in the Rose Quarter to a meeting downtown. He emerged from the building dressed, per usual, business-casual, and pedaled on his Trek Soho bike onto Northeast Lloyd Boulevard. It had been raining intermittently, but Burkholder says, having been tempered in the extreme winters and summers of the Midwest, Portland weather almost never fazes him. “When it starts raining,” he says, “I put on my rain pants and my raincoat, but it’s rare that the weather’s actually a factor.”
JAMES REXROAD
BIKEASAURUS REX
REX RIDES: Burkholder biking.
He headed down to the Eastbank Esplanade, then onto the Steel Bridge bike-ped path. Maintaining a professional appearance—avoiding the sweat-soaked, windblown look—is a matter of planning and pacing, Burkholder says. He gives himself time to ride unhurriedly. He carries a comb. He arranges his schedule so he doesn’t have to bike long distances in work clothing. “I think that’s where people get intimidated,” he says, “because if it’s a really long distance, then you do have to treat it like an athletic event.”
Downtown, Burkholder coasted along the waterfront. When he arrives on a bike at appointments, he says, “people do remark like it is something special still.” But as biking becomes more commonplace—or perhaps just as more people get used to seeing Burkholder biking—that’s changing. “For many years, it was like, ‘This is really odd behavior,’ to ride your bike,” Burkholder says. “Now it’s like, ‘Well, that’s kind of cool that you do that.’”
EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 25
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
23
SHOP as if the future depended on it. By choosing renewable power from PGE, the businesses below are forging a cleaner outlook for all of us. They’ve earned our thanks and, hopefully, your support. To join them in enrolling, visit GreenPowerOregon.com. You’ll get that warm, earth-hugging feeling, plus dozens of money-saving coupons.
Baby & Me DentSpa, Inc. Revolver Bikes Rock Soft Futon Rice Junkies - Hawthorne Warmflash DMD Healthy Pets Northwest Clayhaus Ceramics Shop Red Star Machine Works Nosh on Seventh Café Pureheart Yoga, LLC Video Lair, Inc. 24
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
E L LY B L U E
NO MORE PINK PEDALS
Sellwood Cycle Repair is growing, so this June we’re moving to our new location at 7953 SE 13th Ave. at Miller St.
THE PORTLAND SOCIETY HOPES TO BREAK UP THE BIKE INDUSTRY BOY’S CLUB.
We are first and foremost a full-service bicycle repair shop — our staff has 100 years of collective experience.
243-2122
In the cycling world, “women-specific” can mean everything from pink jerseys to bicycles emblazoned with flowers—the phenomenon known as “shrink it and pink it.” But the Portland Society (portlandsociety.org), a fledgling local nonprofit, was formed with the assumption that women who ride bicycles have more in common than a love of cotton-candy colors and blossoms. The group’s mission: to bring together women who are passionate about business and bicycling to create a forum for business development. “It’s counterintuitive, but the point of having a women-only organization is that you can have a space where gender isn’t an issue for once,” says Elly Blue, one of the group’s founders. “It’s the same reason you don’t have people driving cars in the bike lane.” Blue, a bicycle activist and writer, and fellow cyclist and freelance writer Ellee Thalheimer formed the Portland Society last year after throwing an event to showcase women-owned cycling businesses. They decided to expand the group’s scope by inviting any women with an interest in cycling and economics. Sound like a big tent? That’s the point. One year post-conception, the Portland Society roster includes 40 members whose job titles include naturopath, banker, social-media strategist, bicycle wheel builder and Web designer. Their common ground—a love of pedal power—attracts not only a range of professional backgrounds but also bicycle interests: athletes, revolutionaries, weekend riders, mountain bikers and mechanics. The Portland Society Fund, a project of Umbrella—a nonprofit that offers administrative support to community projects—recently awarded its first round of annual grants to women who have plans to “develop their leadership and professional skills to promote vibrant, welcoming public spaces and active transporta-
We continue to specialize in selling used bikes and components by consignment, and we proudly feature new bikes from Kona — we’re the nation’s top dealer!
RIM AND RIGOR: Portland Society member.
tion in Portland.” The three recipients—Michelle Week, Laura Koch and Lindsay Caron Epstein— received awards ranging from $250 to $500. Week will apply her grant toward a certificate through University of Oregon’s Sustainability Leadership Program. Koch will use her funds to attend the Winning Campaigns training offered by the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking in Seattle. Epstein, a Portland State University student, plans to self-publish a zine about being a bicycle commuter after taking a course in graphic design and publishing. Blue says the strong applicant pool for this year’s grants proves the prowess of the Portland Society. “I think we’ll end up being a major force in the community, promoting our vision for Portland in which women have all the support and resources they need to be successful leaders, without gender being an issue, and bicycles are a joyful and normal part of everyday life,” she says.
www.sellwoodcycle.com • 503-233-9392
MUD RUN MS PORTLAND
GO: A benefit gala for the Portland Society Fund, with a silent auction and presentation by Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown, is coming to Madison’s Grill, 1109 SE Madison St., portlandsociety.org. 6-9 pm Thursday, May 26. Tickets $5 in advance, $7 at the door. EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 26
THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR HATS After six years of success, Caroline Paquette, owner of the one-woman cycling cap company Little Package, eschews the idea that she must grow her business. She doesn’t want to make production caps for Nike, branch out into jerseys or hire employees. The experienced seamstress and former nurse prefers to maintain the status quo by sewing Little Package caps one at a time, on Juki sewing machines, in her small Northeast Portland apartment. “I’m a stubbornly old-fashioned hippie, and a small one-person business is very sustainable for me—physically, emotionally, financially and ecologically,” Paquette says. “Cheering people up with my caps keeps me going.” A majority of the caps are custom-made for individuals, with the exception of a few bulk batches for local bike teams, frame builders and other groups. Paquette, who likes to ride on long, self-supported tours or single-track trails, founded Little Package in 2005 when she couldn’t find a cycling cap that fit her own “big head.” Since then, cyclists of all stripes have ordered her small-brimmed caps to keep the sun, rain and sweat out of their eyes. They’ve come from as far away as Rio de Janeiro and Japan. Customer requests range from earflaps and decorative ribbon to the repurposing of favorite shirts into hats. For the DIY’er, Paquette also sells sewing patterns. LUCY BURNINGHAM
COREY THOMPSON
BY LU CY B UR N I N G H A M
We thank you for 20 years of business!
MUD RUN MS is a 10k course with a series of boot camp style obstacles, most of which contain water and mud! Help create a world free of MS by registering today. 100% of the money raised by participants will benefit the National MS Society.
JUNE 18, 2011, 9:00 A.M. SHERWOOD, OR REGISTER NOW: MUDRUNMSOREGON.COM
SHOP: Little Package caps are available at shop.little-package.com.
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
25
JAMES REXROAD
great bikes custom fittings expert tuneups 2725 SE Ash crankpdx.com 503.610.8356 mon-sat 9-6
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WOOD WORKER: Ken Wheeler Builds a Renovo frame.
BIKE TO THE FUTURE THE NEXT BIG INNOVATION IN BICYCLE DESIGN IS…WOOD? BY JON ATHA N FR OCHTZWA JG
UPCOMING IN-STORE PERFORMANCES TONIGHT!!
SYSTEM AND STATION WEDNESDAY 5/25 @ 6PM
THE TWANGSHIFTERS • THURSDAY 5/26 @ 6PM Emerging from the garages of Portland, OR, The Twangshifters - Shaun Toman (guitar), Corvin Blacke (upright bass), Troy Stutzman (drums) - busted down the doors of the Rockabilly scene in 2010. Combined with lead singer Sara Barry, The Twangshifters bring it home at every club they play.
THE NEW IBERIANS • FRIDAY 5/27 @ 5:30PM The New Iberians have released their third CD of original music and cool covers, ‘Stumptown Zydeco.’ Firmly planting Louisiana roots in fertile Oregon soil, the band took time from their busy touring schedule to wax a dozen tunes showcasing band leader Evan Shlaes on accordion and Claes Almroth on harmonica, with Cajun enforcer Paul Bassette on frottoir (washboard) and homeboys Linc McGrath on bass and Fred Ingram on drums.
FLOGGING MOLLY AUTOGRAPH SIGNING TUESDAY 5/31 @ 6PM
From their beginnings, singer Dave King, fiddler Bridget Regan, guitarist Dennis Casey, bassist Nathen Maxwell, accordion player Matthew Hensley, banjo/mandolin player Robert Schmidt and drummer George Schwindt have worn their blue collar ethos proudly and loudly, especially during their incredible live performances. And now, as the country and the rest of the world rise up to recover and rebuild, never has that ethos been more apparent and important than on ‘Speed of Darkness.’ The album features Flogging Molly’s own blend of rock, folk, punk, blues and traditional Irish music with King’s populist poetry.
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
wood is tough stuff: With both ends upheld, a Renovo frame can support 3,000 pounds hung The funny thing about Ken Wheeler, owner of from its underside. Portland bicycle manufacturer Renovo, is that he “[Wood] resists damage better than any of the doesn’t seem terribly interested in the qualities other materials,” Wheeler says, “which makes that must attract many customers to the wooden most people raise their eyebrows and say, ‘Give bikes his company makes. me a break,’ but it’s true.” Yeah, the wood-grain, clear-lacquered Dents in wood, unlike those in metal, don’t frames are practically works of art. Sure, wood become cracks, he explains. When wood cracks is a comparatively sustainable material. But outright, the split is structurally equivalent to when Wheeler talks about these attributes of a seam: It can simply be bonded back together Renovo’s bikes, he does so perfunctorily, as if with epoxy, good as new. And thanks to its celonly to humor the aesthetes and lular structure and mass, wood tree-huggers who would be disabsorbs shock splendidly. tracted by such novelties. To a “It’s a superb material,” Wheelconsummate engineer like him, er says. “The problem is, it’s a pain the point of a Renovo bike is not in the neck to work with.” its striking look (“We should just The advent of the automated paint them black,” he half-jokes) wood cutter has made manipulator its eco-friendly composition, ing wood easier, and it was after but brass-tacks stuff like “ride buying one of the machines for quality” and “fatigue life.” another project that Wheeler—a “The thing about a bike,” he longtime bike builder, former says, “[is that] it wouldn’t matairplane maker and inveterate ter if it was the most sustainable tinkerer—had the idea to use the material in the world if it was a material in a bike. GRAIN, CHAIN: The crank of lousy bike. So, the first thing is: “I thought, ‘ Wow, wood a Renovo Pandurance. Is it a good bike or not?” would be great for a bicycle: It’s A Renovo, Wheeler says, “is a very good light, it’s stiff, it’s all the right properties from bike”—and others seem to agree. Since starting an engineering point of view,’” he says. “How do up in 2007, the company has steadily racked up you make a wooden bike? Those first bikes were accolades and orders, and it recently inked a deal wood, but they were solid. The key is making a to produce a line of bikes for Audi of America. hollow wooden bike. And it wasn’t until a year “Typically, the carmakers go to somebody and a half after I got this machine that I realized, like Trek or Specialized, some of these huge bike ‘Ooh, I bet I could do that on this.’” companies,” Wheeler says. “[Audi] didn’t want to The price tag for a Renovo is currently about just re-brand some production bicycle.” $3,000 for a frame and $5,000 to $12,000 for a Production bikes Renovos are not: Each is complete bike. Wheeler says he would like to customized to its future owner’s weight and bring down the price, and hopes to be able to do riding style, and takes between 10 and 40 hours so by refining the company’s production techto make at the company’s industrial-Southeast niques. But for now, the bikes’ pricing reflects workshop. Although a high-tech, computer-con- the fact that making bicycles out of wood “is still trolled wood cutter is used in the manufacturing a laborious process,” he says. “It’s not just a piece process, much of the work is done by hand. of cake to do this.” Once it’s assembled, each frame is strengthtested using a system of weights. It turns out EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 29 243-2122
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PERFORMANCE
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
JAMES REXROAD
Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Well-Being FREE Performance & Town Hall on Public Health Wed., May 25, 5:30-7:00pm Beaverton City Library Auditorium
2375 SW 5th in Beaverton
Enjoy this one-act tour de force about Lillian Wald who took on adversity in the tenements of New York 100 years ago and revolutionized the approach to health in this country. Then, join Mayor Denny Doyle for a conversation on public health today.
SOME IMAGINATION REQUIRED: BikeBar in progress.
DRINK, DON’T DRIVE BIKEBAR COMBINES PORTLAND’S TWO GREAT LOVES: BIKES AND BEER. BY KA R E N LO C KE
klocke@wweek.com
The entrance to the temple is guarded by golden lions—or would be, anyway, if this were Las Vegas. But this is Portland, so the temple honors the gods of bikes and beer, and the lions are electric-power-producing exercycles with cup holders. BikeBar, the soon-to-open scion of Hopworks Urban Brewing, scheduled to open midJune on North Williams Avenue, is a monument to sustainable construction and bicycle culture— and, of course, beer. Owner and brewmaster Christian Ettinger says BikeBar strives to serve up pints and plates in a “carbon neutral” atmosphere. (The bar is on the ground floor of EcoFlats, a project that aspires to be the first apartment building in the nation to use no more energy than it produces.) The bar is outfitted with recycled wood (saved from the construction of Hopworks’ brewery on Southeast Powell Boulevard) on the walls, insulated floors, LED lights in the ceiling, and solar panels on the roof. The fryers use energyefficient infrared lamps. Even the restrooms are eco-friendly: A water-saving toilet-sink com-
FIVE MORE BIKE-FRIENDLY BARS Apex
With only two fewer parking spaces than BikeBar, Apex (1216 SE Division St.) extends a similar embrace to cyclists. Whether you ride a fixie or freewheel, Apex has U-locks to borrow (for free!), a tire-truing station at the bar, and a place to hang your helmet. A patio facing the racks offers the chance to exhibit your ride while lusting over others. If you’re done sizing up the bikes outside, there’s usually bicycle racing on the flat-screen inside.
Spirit of 77 As if free Pop-A-Shot weren’t enough, Portland’s hippest sports bar (500 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.) makes up for the egregious shortage of bike racks around the Convention Center with indoor space for 15 bikes.
bination fills the tank with used water from the sink located on top of the toilet tank. Inspired by the bar’s location on North Williams Avenue—a street so heavily used by twowheeled commuters that he refers to it as “the bike highway”—Ettinger has worked bicycles into every corner of BikeBar. The space, which seats 100, has parking space for 65 bikes behind the building. A “gallery” of frames, made by the best of Portland’s many frame builders, overhangs the bar. The front patio features a “bike plank”—a drink rail facing the street, so as to give drinkers the best possible view of passing bicycle traffic. The bar will even offer a beer-andsandwich deal, dubbed “Hopworks on the go,” for riders in a hurry—the beer comes in a 22-ounce bottle, and the sandwich is designed to fit perfectly in a water-bottle cage. “The location is perfect for encouraging people to use alternative forms of transportation,” Ettinger says. Sure— Portlanders will do anything for a beer.
Sponsored by • Beaverton Human Rights Advisory Commission • The Center for Intercultural Organizing • National Council of Jewish Women • NW Health Foundation • Oregon Humanities & • The Regional Arts & Culture Council
jewishtheatrecollaborative.org • 503-512-0582
GO: BikeBar opens in mid-June at 3947 N Williams Ave. See hopworksbeer.com. EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 30
Prost! The German pub (4239 N Mississippi Ave.) has a covered, off-street bike corral with eight staple racks.
Radio Room The sleekest bar in the Alberta neighborhood (1101 NE Alberta St.) also has eight off-street staple racks, although they aren’t covered.
Pedalounge A 14-seat bike with a central bar is expected to hit the streets in early June. If you’re hoping to throw back a beer while pedaling, you should visit Minneapolis or Chicago, where PedalPubs are permitted to tap a keg, ensuring you’re good and intoxicated before arriving at the bar. If you don’t mind pulling over for a swig, the Pedalounge (pedalounge. com) will be renting out bikes soon.
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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LOW BARS DO ANY ENERGY BARS TASTE GOOD? BY R U TH B R OWN
rbrown@wweek.com
The “energy bar” market is estimated to be worth billions, and grocery store shelves are packed with aggressive-looking packets promising “maximum energy,” “lean muscle” and lists of ingredients that read like a chemistry exam. Any cycling store in Portland worth its sodium chloride offers a range of these calorie-dense snacks for cyclists on the go. We grabbed the least disgusting-looking ones from bike shops around town and put them to the test.
Clif Bar Made in: California Price: $1.39 Purported flavor: Cool mint chocolate Tastes like: A toothpaste cookie Texture: Firm outside, soft inside, a little gritty Number of ingredients: 33 Special features: 70 percent organic Claims: “As with our cycling epics, it is the winding road—not the destination—that drives Clif Bar.” Calories: 250 Weight: 2.4 ounces Cycling time: 23 minutes
Raw Revolution
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Deluxe version includes 3 bonus tracks + 5 remixes. Vinyl due 6/7 and will include MP3 and picture disc!
SALLIE FORD & THE SOUND OUTSIDE DE
Dirty Radio $9.95-cd
Portland’s Sallie Ford has created an energetic jazzy, honky-tonk rock sound that’s earned fans like the Avett Brothers.
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Danger Mouse pays tribute to Italian cinema’s spaghetti Westerns, with help from Norah Jones & Jack White. Sale prices good thru 6/5/11
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
Skout Trailbar Made in: Oregon Price: $2.49 Purported flavor: Apple and cinnamon Tastes like: Eating a spoonful of dry cinnamon Texture: Soft but solid with some crunch from nuts Number of ingredients: 8 Special features: Vegan, kosher, soy-free, organic Claims: “Made in the lush Willamette Valley of Oregon, Skout Trailbars embody the spirit of the region: rugged, abundant, unfettered energy.” Calories: 190 Weight 1.8 ounces Cycling time: 18 minutes
Pro Bar
$14.95-cd
NEW
Made in: New York Price: $1.99 Purported flavor: Cashew and agave nectar Actually tastes like: Cardboard and agave nectar Texture: Soft and mushy Number of ingredients: 7 Special features: 100 percent raw, vegan, kosher, soy-free, organic Claims: “A clean snack with a higher nutrient content that brings us closer to healing ourselves and the global economy.” Calories: 280 Weight: 2.2 ounces Cycling time needed to burn it off (at 12 mph): 26 minutes
Made in: Utah Price: $2.99 Purported flavor: “Art’s Original Blend” Tastes like: Dishwashing detergent, stale crackers and “healthy” chocolate your mom would give you Texture: Solid and chewy, with lots of different textures from nuts, seeds, whole grains and fruit Number of ingredients: 38 Special features: Vegan, organic Claims: “We’re all about delicious, organic, unprocessed foods!” Calories: 370 Weight: 3 ounces Cycling time: 35 minutes
Hammer Bar Made in: Montana Price: $2.50 Purported flavor: Almond raisin Tastes like: Oily prune and walnut purée Texture: Mushy and greasy Number of ingredients: 8 Special features: 90 percent raw, gluten-free Claims: “The tasty Hammer Bars are perfect as a pre-race meal, post-workout recovery food bar or healthy snack anytime.” Calories: 220 Weight: 1.76 ounces Cycling time: 21 minutes
Lärabar Made in: Colorado Price: $1.69 Flavor: Cherry pie Tastes like: Fermented cherry pie filling Texture: Soft, with some chew from the cherries Number of ingredients: 3 Special features: Gluten-free, soy-free, vegan, kosher Claims: “Lärabar is a magical harmony of fruits, nuts and spices that will lift your vitality and provide energy with every bite.” Calories: 200 Weight: 1.76 ounces Cycling time: 19 minutes
RESULTS Best: The Skout bar was the least disgusting, but, oh my God, the cinnamon. Worst: The Hammer Bar was so oily and flavorless, it was even unpleasant to hold. Most filling: At 3 ounces, the Pro Bar is easily the heftiest, but it’s definitely intended as a meal replacement, not a snack. Biggest bang for your caloric buck: At 2.4 ounces and 250 calories, the Clif Bar is a pretty filling snack, with 10 grams of protein. Most durable: The Pro Bar and Clif Bar are the most likely to keep their shape in your bag. Least durable: The Hammer Bar and Raw Revolution are likely to end up smooshed. Stupidest packaging: We had to open the Raw Revolution with scissors. Conclusion: Eat some fruit and nuts. EXPOSE YOURSELF TO BIKES cont. on page 33
SCOOP
PAGE 34
Your Journey to Graduate School Begins June 11 in Santa Barbara This special program on Saturday, June 11 is a comprehensive overview of Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Degree Programs: • Sit in on typical classroom sessions
GOSSIP SHOULD HAVE NO FRIENDS
• Attend information meetings about each of Pacifica’s degree programs • Explore both of Pacifica’s campuses, located between the coast and the mountains near Santa Barbara, California • Interact with Pacifica students, alumni, and faculty members.
Pacifica Graduate Institute’s M.A. and Ph.D. Programs M.A./Ph.D. in Depth Psychology with one of these Emphases: • Somatic Studies • Jungian and Archetypal Studies • Community Psychology, Ecopsychology, and Liberation Psychology Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology Ph.D. in Depth Psychology with Emphasis in Psychotherapy M.A. in Counseling Psychology
The $75 registration fee for this daylong program includes continental breakfast, buffet lunch, and a $25 gift certificate good at the Pacifica Bookstore. Pacifica’s $60 Application Fee will be waived for attendees.
Space is limited. Register now for the June 11 Introduction Day. Call 805.969.3626, ext. 103 or register online at www.pacifica.edu
Presented by:
Pacifica is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
M.A./Ph.D. in Mythological Studies M.A. in Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life with Emphasis in Depth Psychology M.A. in Leadership and Organizational Psychology with Emphasis in Depth Psychology
249 Lambert Rd., Carpinteria, CA 93013 www.pacifica.edu Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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illustration by www.alliarnold.com
sidewalk seating toddy iced coffee • aranciata & limonata floats affogato w/house-made ice cream new pistachio cake w/honey buttercream frosting cards • gifts • magazines
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P O RTL AN D PR I D E 2 0 11 – PDX Pride Series presents...
m a ke i t HAPPE N !
PRE-PRIDE COMMUNITY MIXER
by Tim Acito, with add’l material by Alexander Dinelaris.
Pride Northwest invites you to our annual free mixer. Food & Drink, Live Music and Good Friends. Sat Jun 11, 4 - 7 pm, Q Center. Sponsored by Willamette Week, Deschutes Brewery and Hip Chicks Do Wine. “Get your Pride on and celebrate the rich diversity of blah, blah, blah. Did we mention free food and drink? Come on over to the Q Center and ...make it HAPPEN!”
Sat June 11, 7:00 pm; Sun June 12, 6:30 pm, Fez Ballroom (21 and over).
Tickets $10.50 advance/$12 door.
The New York Time sez, "...satisfies a sweet tooth [we've] forgotten we have." Sponsored by Pride Northwest. www.pdxprideseries.com.
Co-Produced by Belinda Carroll Comedy and Stand Out Productions. Queer Comedy Showcase.
Check out the 2011 Official Portland Pride Guide only in Willamette Week June 8. PORTLAND PRIDE FESTIVAL AND PARADE
Featuring host
BELINDA CARROLL, with performances by Vicki Shaw, Gloria Bigelow and Jackie Monahan.
Thu June 16, 7 & 9 pm,
Curious Comedy Theater.
Sponsored by Pride Northwest. www.CuriousComedy.org “Your life reflected...with a twist! Laugh yourself queer!”
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
June 17 - 19, Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Festival open Sat/ Sun, Noon to 6 pm. Entertainment continues Sat until 10 pm. Parade kicks off 11:30 am, 13th and Burnside, east through Old Town/Chinatown to Naito Parkway.
New for 2011 - Shake Your Groove Thing! at Pulse Pride Dance Party on the Waterfront. Live DJs, Food and Drink ...on Friday! 6 - 10 pm. Donation Requested. For add'l event info and more Pride goodness, go to www.PrideNW.org
BIKEPORTLAND.ORG
July 24: Westside Sunday Parkways
Six miles of streets between Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront and Wallace parks will be closed to cars for five hours, with food, music and family activities in parks and on sidewalks along the route. 11 am-4 pm. See route at portlandsundayparkways.org.
Aug. 12: Portland Twilight Criterium
BOTTOM GEAR: Portland World Naked Bike Ride.
UPCOMING BIKE EVENTS COMPILED BY KAREN LOCKE
June 4: Pioneer Century
Described as “the Eden at the end of the Oregon Trail,” the 55-mile route on this ride will give you elevation gains of 3,087 feet. Rest stops, maps and road markings will lead you through the Cascade foothills and the Champoeg area. Clackamas Fairgrounds, 694 NE 4th Ave., Canby, pwtc.com. 9 am. $25.
June 4-5: Tour de Hood
Dying to know if you’re tough enough for Mount Hood? These challenging, strenuous hill climbs are two of the same routes racers conquer during the Mount Hood Cycling Classic. The Scenic Gorge Loop is 42 miles and can be combined with the 71-mile Three Summits Challenge the next day. Begins 1 pm. $75-$160 (depending on registration date) at tourdehoodride.com.
June 8-July 13: Velo on the Volcano
The Oregon Bicycle Racing Association and River City Bicycles present six Wednesday-evening races on a hilly loop around the upper reservoir at Mount Tabor. Mount Tabor Park picnic shelter, Southeast 69th Avenue and Mount Tabor Court, www.mttaborseries.com. 5:50-8 pm Wednesdays. $15 per race, OBRA membership ($5 per day, $25 per year) required for racers.
June 9-26: Pedalpalooza
With nearly 300 events organized by individual cyclists, there’s plenty of madness to choose from in June, including a naked ride, bike polo, a ginger ride for redheads, and a citywide scavenger hunt. A calendar of events can be found at shift2bikes.org.
June 12: Cirque du Cycling
Tall bikes, outlandish costumes, circus tricks and stilted men come together in a celebration of bicycles along Mississippi Avenue, benefiting Albina Youth Opportunity School. Show your love for all things two-wheeled (or one- or three-), with an art-bike parade (reportedly the largest in the country), a family bike ride, a high-speed bike race and beer gardens for viewing. North Mississippi Avenue between Shaver and Fremont streets, cyclingcircus. com. Noon-7 pm. Free.
June 12: Archdiocese of Portland Bike Blessing
Remembering those riders no longer with us, and praying for the safety of those still here, the bike blessing is open to anyone. St. Mary’s Cathedral courtyard, 1716 NW Couch St., archdpdx.org. 2-2:30 pm. Free.
June 12: Sunny Nekkid Ride
A warm-up event for the World Naked Bike Ride, this daylight ride will take 100 or so riders through
Laurelhurst. Joan of Arc statue, Northeast 39th Avenue and Glisan Street, wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/ wiki/Portland. 2 pm. Free.
June 12: Fig Leif Naked Run/Ride
A 10k naked off-road ride, for those who like to play fast and loose with their genitourinary systems. Leif Erickson Drive, 400 yards past the west end of Northwest Thurman Street, wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/ wiki/Portland. 7:30 pm. Free.
June 12: Gayest Day of the Year Ride
Join the Sexual and Gender Minority Youth Resource Center for a ride dedicated to supporting LGBTQ youth. Before the ride, decorate your bike while DJs and musicians perform, or pick up information from various LGBTQ organizations. Afterward, join the community barbecue. SMYRC, 3024 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., smyrc.org. Noon-3 pm. $10 suggested donation.
June 18: World Naked Bike Ride
Whether protesting fossil fuels and the vulnerability of cyclists or just exercising a need to lose some threads, 10,000 people stripped down for the 2010 WNBR. Even more are expected this year. Shoes and helmets are “strongly encouraged.” Southeast Water Avenue and Salmon Street, wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org. 10 pm. Free.
June 18: Petal Pedal
Marked routes will lead you along quiet Willamette Valley roads to a dinner served in the Oregon Garden. Routes for different cycling abilities are set for 30, 68 or 100 miles. Begins at 879 W Main St., Silverton, petalpedal.com. 6 am. $70 in advance, $80 the day of the ride.
June 25: Multnomah County Bike Fair
Pedalpalooza concludes with a raucous celebration of Portland bike culture. Expect unicycle jousting, music and lots of vendors. Location to be announced, see shift2bikes. org. Noon-4 pm. Free.
June 26: North Portland Sunday Parkways
Eight miles of streets between Peninsula and McCoy parks will be closed to cars for five hours, with food, music and family activities in parks and on sidewalks along the route. 11 am-4 pm. See route at portlandsundayparkways.org.
July 15-17: Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge
In order to stay on the steepest oval velodrome track in the U.S., racers competing to win a $13,000 prize have to maintain speeds of at least 18 mph. Spectators watch for free. 6149 SW Shattuck Road, alpenrosechallenge.com. Events begin 11 am Friday.
Closed-off blocks of Old Town streets are filled with spectators, food carts and activities, such as a hand-built bike show and a beer garden, all situated in the middle of the course of this high-speed street race. Free bike parking at Northwest Park Avenue and Flanders Street. North Park Blocks, Northwest 9th Avenue and Couch Street, portlandtwilight.com. Races begin 4 pm. $25-$30.
Aug. 14: Providence Bridge Pedal
Nearly 20,000 bicyclists and pedestrians fill Willamette River bridges to support the Providence Heart and Vascular Institute. Routes from 13 to 36 miles include the top decks of the Fremont and Marquam bridges. Southwest Salmon Street and 14th Avenue, blog.bridgepedal. com. 7 am. $25-$45.
Aug. 21: Portland Century
Take in the eye-catching views of Portland and surrounding areas such as Bull Run, Marine Drive and the Willamette Bluff while staying hydrated and on track. Choose the 40-, 75- or 100-mile route, with gourmet food and refreshments along the way. Ride begins at Portland State University behind Smith Memorial Student Union, Southwest Montgomery Street and Park Avenue, portlandcentury.com. Check-in times 6-9 am, depending on route. $70 in advance, $80 at event.
A Store for Cooks
Fine Foods from over 40 Countries Superb Produce All-Natural Meats & Fresh Daily Fish Pita & Pizza baked to order 80-Olive Oil selection Walk-in Beer cooler with 500+ varieties 1,200+ wines Plenty of Gluten-Free Foods Ya Hala recipes in the Deli! We bring the world to you!
Aug. 27: Lancette Memorial Ride
A ride celebrating the life and ambitions of Teresa Wilson Beiser, a Tualatin woman who was murdered in 2009 by her estranged husband. Beiser’s dream of becoming the next Lance Armstrong— thus “Lancette”—is commemorated in this 40-mile family ride and the 62-mile Lancette Metric benefit for Clackamas Women’s Services. Ackerman Middle School, 350 SE 13th Ave., Canby, lancettememorialride.com. 6:30 am. $15-$50.
503-244-0670 • 9845 SW Barbur Blvd. • BarburWorldFoods.com
Aug. 28: Southeast Sunday Parkways
Six miles of streets between Buckman and Mount Tabor will be closed to cars for five hours, with food, music and family activities in parks and on sidewalks along the route, coinciding with the Hawthorne Street Fair. 11 am-4 pm. See route at portlandsundayparkways.org.
Sept. 11: Tour de Lab
Nothing says “I love you” to man’s best friend better than a multi-pub bike tour to support DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital. A 30-mile route will take you to four brewpubs, but if even the thought of uphill pedaling gives you a nosebleed, the 18-mile route includes a flatter journey to three brewpubs. Dress as a dog or something a dog chases to be eligible for the costume contest. Lucky Labrador Beer Hall, 1945 NW Quimby St., tourdelab.com. 9:30 am. $35-$50.
7215 NE Sandy Blvd.
(503) 740-3539
M—F 11:00 - 7:00 Sat. 11:00-5:00
BUY A NEW COMMUTER BIKE AND GET A * FREE HELMET + 10% OFF ACCESSORIES! *FREE HELMET is a $35 value and can be applied to an upgraded helmet. Valid through June 18th, 2011.
Anniversary Sale – Last Week
15-25% off select in-stock and special orders
Sept. 17: BikeToBeerFest
Hopworks hosts a bike-in Oktoberfest celebration, with five bands performing on a keg-supported stage, games and lots of beer. Hopworks Urban Brewery, 2944 SE Powell Blvd., 232-4677, hopworksbeer.com. Noon-10 pm. Entry fee TBA.
Sept. 25: Northeast Sunday Parkways Eight miles of streets between Woodlawn Park and Northeast Cully Boulevard will be closed to cars for five hours, with food, music and family activities in parks and on sidewalks along the route. Noon-5 pm. See route at portlandsundayparkways.org.
1122 nw glisan 503.295.7336 ewfmodern.com
open LATE M-F 11:00-7:00pm
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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Since 1974
Never a cover!
FOOD & DRINK: A taste of Sunshine. MUSIC: Tony Bennett vs. Usher. STAGE: Répétez après moi. Cacher le corps. MOVIES: We are fam-i-ly! A family of cannibals, actually.
Live Music
LIVE MUSIC FULL BAR FOOD FUN
36 39 49 58
Thursday May 26th Curtis Salgado / Alan Hager Duo – 8pm
SCOOP
Friday May 27th Saloon Ensemble – 9pm Saturday May 28th The Planet Jackers / The New Solution (Funky Jazz) – 9pm
Buffalo gap
Sunday May 29th
presented By: live artist Network
TUES NIGHTS AT 9PM
Thursday, May 26th • 9pm
w/ acoustic Minds
SINGER SONGWRITER SHOWCASE
friday, May 27th • 9pm
WED & THURS: 9PM FRI & SAT: 8.30PM
The Blue Monk and Ninkasi Brewing present:
The Best Of Portland Independent Jazz: “Saxophobia” w/ John Gross and Warren Rand – 8pm Monday May 30th Renato Caranto’s Jam Band 8pm
“Buffalo Bandstand”
“Siren Soul Sessions” (pop soul)
David Brothers (blues americana)
Saturday, May21st • 9pm
(alt folk)
MERRILL LITE
gaBBY HolT & aNIMal EYES
Now serving home made NY pizza!
Tuesday, May 31st • 9pm
opEN MIC NIgHT
MUSIC 7 NIGHTS A WEEK
Hosted By: Scott gallegos • win $50!!
Portland’s best happy hour 5 - 7 pm and all day sunday
6835 SW Macadam Ave | John’s Landing
3341 SE Belmont thebluemonk.com 503-595-0575
R E S TA U R A N T HAPPENINGS: After meaty Northeast eatery Belly closed in April, Northwest izakaya Tanuki has designs on moving in, applying for a liquor application last week. >> Australian pie store Pacific Pie Co. has reopened in a new space on Southeast 7th Avenue at Hawthorne Boulevard, with an added restaurant and pub. >> The third iteration of Brasserie Montmarte has opened its doors, with Allium Bistro’s Pascal Chureau running the show and former Ten 01 chef Michael Hanaghan in the kitchen. >> Speaking of Ten 01 alums, former pastry chef Jeff McCarthy has taken a post as kitchen manager of new downtown commissary kitchen KitchenCru, where he has launched a monthly supper club called TopTen. He’s not the only one using the space for pop-up dining events: Chef John Goddard has moved his Balkan dining series, LUKA, there; Sassafras Southern Kitchen is now using it for its canning and preserving classes (mmm, watermelon-rind pickles!); and Portland Meat Collective is teaching butchery classes.
WED 05/25
ERIC JOHN KAISER
Tuesday May 31st Pagen Jug Band – 7pm every wed - Arabesque & Belly Dance 8pm
SAY IT AIN’T CHO.
Wednesday, May 25th • 9pm
THURS 05/26 FRI 05/27
JONNY SMOKES SAT 05/28
THE REMASTERS SW 2ND & ASH • (503) 222-2155
THIRSTYLIONPUB.COM
B-DAY: Bob Dylan turned 70 on May 24, and WW has created a Bob Dylan covers EP, Buckets of Rain, to mark the occasion. The EP features Kyle Morton of Typhoon doing “Buckets of Rain,” And And And performing “Brownsville Girl,” St. Even covering “Simple Twist of Fate,” and Ghosties playing “Spanish Harlem Incident.” The EP is available for free download at wweek.com right now! The fabled fifth EP track—from very busy, very awesome singer-songwriter Laura Gibson—should surface soon as a bonus track. Viva la Bob!
ALICIA J. ROSE
POD PEOPLE: Portland’s largest food-cart pod, centered on the parking lot at Southwest 10th Avenue and Alder Street, continues to grow, with the addition of 11 new carts. Newcomers include sandwich cart Picnic, Thai cart Bangkok Duck and Chicken, Vietnamese cart Red Guava, sushi cart Rolls Plus, hand-pulled noodle cart Noodle House, burger cart Twisted Sistas, BBQ cart Touch Down’s, Mexican cart El Rodeo, Brazilian cart Best of Brazil, Mediterranean cart Shish Kabob, and panini cart Primi Panini.
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
Y DO BIG THINGS: Portland folk-pop outfit Y La Bamba is out on its biggest tour to date—opening East Coast dates for the unstoppable Neko Case—and keeping a tour diary at wweek. com of its travels. The Portland seven-piece already saw the underbelly of Middle America en route to meeting Case, and last week the band recorded a “Tiny Desk Concert” with NPR, video evidence of which should be on the Web in short order. Y La Bamba’s latest tour diary, written in Mad-Lib form, is especially fun: “The next morning as we start our drive towards Nelsonville, OH, we see a fan from the night before on the corner smiling and waving. We then hear, as we round the corner, ‘Godspeed, you limpdick sandbags!’”
HEADOUT PHOTOS COURTESY: PIGRACE.COM
WILLAMETTE WEEK
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK IN ARTS & CULTURE
THURSDAY, MAY 26 [STORIES] BACK FENCE PDX The storytelling showcase features Rod Englert, a blood-spatter expert; Zachary Schomburg, co-editor of Octopus Books; Moe Bowstern, a “fisherwoman and former anarchoactivist”; Eric Scheur, an animator; and April Wolfe, half of the comedy duo Just Desperation and editor of Peninsulas Now Press. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., backfencepdx.com. 7:30 pm. $12-$15. 21+. [MUSIC] SLEIGH BELLS Sleigh Bells is loud. It sounds like a pep rally as broadcast through a busted bass amp. And while the denim-clad posturing and convenient sidestep into approachability with “Rill Rill” is probably too calculated to last, it’s so much fun enjoying this group’s energy in the meantime. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave. 8 pm. $18. All ages.
FRIDAY, MAY 27
THE MULTNOMAH COUNTY FAIR BRINGS HOME THE BACON. Hey, it’s the Multnomah County Fair! Did you know Multnomah County has a fair? Apparently it does! And among the pony rides, floral exhibits and talent competitions, the weekend will feature something called “Alaskan Pig Racing.” “Swine are very intelligent,” says Bart Noll, who has been running All-Alaskan Racing Pigs for 25 years. “They develop strategies—inside lane, outside lane—their behaviors differ from race to race.” Noll and his family train the pigs to compete by rewarding
them with cookies, and tour up and down the West Coast with a show that sees the hogs race around a track, jump over hurdles and generally look adorable. While that all sounds like minutes of fun, it strikes us that there’s one very obvious thing missing from the event: gambling. Should you want to pick up the slack by wagering a few corn dogs and elephant ears (because gambling for money is illegal, yo) on a promising porker, we’ve put together* a racing form for these highly skilled athletes. RUTH BROWN.
[MUSIC] ALOE BLACC With some exceptions, the purported “soul revival” of the past few years has fallen flat on its face. Aloe Blacc is a huge, real-deal exception: Last year’s Good Things underlines the point five or six times, then circles it, then runs over it with a highlighter pen. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St. 9 pm. $15. 21+. [MOVIES] TRUE LEGEND Famed martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping crafts a dazzling and utterly insane epic about a Drunken Boxing master who redefines the term “high-functioning alcoholic” while on a quest for revenge. Regal Fox Tower, 846 SW Park Ave., 221-3280. Multiple showtimes. $7.50-$10.50
MONDAY, MAY 30
1. Soapy Smith Silks: Orange A veteran racer who still has some fire left in his pork belly. Odds: 8-1
2. Sourdough Jack Silks: Green This one might fly. Odds: 9-1
3. Kobuk Silks: Yellow Hocks of steel. Odds: 4-1
4. Yukon Silks: Red Once a top contender, his last few performances have been slop. Odds: 25-1
[WINE] MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND IN WINE COUNTRY It’s Memorial Day, and what better way to commemorate the sacrifices of our brave soldiers than a weekend sipping pinot and eating cheese at one of the Willamette Valley’s wineries? The wineries will open their doors for tastings, seminars, special releases, music, food pairings and more. A portion of the tasting fees will go to Ecotrust’s Farm to School Programs, which should help you feel slightly less like a lush and more like a patriot. Visit willamettewines.com for a full list of participating wineries and events.
TUESDAY, MAY 31 5. Strawberry Silks: Pink An up-and-comer with the chops to make it big. Odds: 12-1
6. Bob Silks: Blue No speck of a chance. Odds: 50-1
7. Sloppy Joe Silks: Black This lardo is carrying too much backfat. Odds: 45-1
8. Al Pigone Silks: Purple Will smoke the whole field. Odds: 2-1 *read: entirely fabricated
[MUSIC] !!!, BREAKFAST MOUNTAIN !!! (usually pronounced “chk chk chk”) doesn’t take its cues from secondhand funk. It goes straight to the source: Funkadelic, Chic, Zapp and Roger, et al. That’s what makes the eight-piece ensemble the most legitimate group currently tagged as “dance punk.” Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 9 pm. $15. 21+.
GO: The Multnomah County Fair is at Oaks Amusement Park, 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, multnomahcountyfair.org. Midday-7 pm Saturday-Monday, May 28-30. Free. Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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Taste the Difference
Varieties of Gourmet Tamales
CASA DE
AL
ES
AN T
M TA
Find us there on Sundays in June.
M
Coming soon to the Woodstock Farmer’s Market
SPARAGUS A F Y
Mondays & Wednesdays:
$
AR
& Wine
CAN B
Beer
Open 11am-9pm Vegan & vegetarian tamales
1 off
any Sandwich or Combo Meal!
Bressan Wine Dinner
Nostrana’s chef, Cathy Whims, and wine director, Nicholas Suhor, team up with Italian winemaker Fulvio Bressan for a four-course pairing event. KAREN LOCKE. Nostrana, 1401 SE Morrison St., 234-2427. 7 pm. $120, including wine and gratuity. Reservations required. 21+.
Catering Available
R 503.654.4423 U A REST 10605 SE Main St.
www.CanbyAsparagusFarm.com
Chef to Table at the Heathman Downtown at 520 SW 4th Ave.
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Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Accredited Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology features: • A Strong Faculty Committed to Mentorship—many are internationally recognized scholars and leaders in professional psychology and mental health. • Successful Outcomes for Graduates—comparing favorably and often exceeding licensure passage rates of other California programs • Well Organized Training—a full-time Director of Clinical Training coordinates all aspects of practicum, internship, and clinical placements. • Intensive Research Support—the Director or Research oversees all faculty and student research and dissertation activities. Pacifica is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
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Classes are held on Pacifica’s campus near Santa Barbara, in a monthly retreat-like setting where students can study and learn without the distractions of daily life.
Call 805.969.3626, ext. 305 or visit www.pacifica.edu 36
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. PRICES: $: Most entrees under $10. $$: $10-$20. $$$: $20-$30. $$$$: Above $30. Editor: RUTH BROWN. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25
Weekly specials
Milwaukie, Or Delivery & Shipping Available
FOOD & DRINK
The Heathman’s Chef to Table event brings together the restaurant’s culinary director, Philippe Boulot, and executive chef Michael Stanton with the Trellis Restaurant’s
executive chef, Brian Scheehser, and pastry chef John Gayer. Each will prepare a course of a fourcourse dinner. KL. The Heathman Restaurant and Bar, 1001 SW Broadway, 790-7752. 6:30 pm. $55, $75 with wine pairing.
FRIDAY, MAY 27 Enso Winery Grand Opening
“Urban winery” Enso is opening the doors of its new tasting lounge, offering samples of its wine, along with other local wines, cheese, meat and beer. ENSO Winery 1416 SE Stark St., 683-3676. FridaySunday, noon-10 pm.
EAT MOBILE VIVIANJOHNSON.COM
Now Serving
ALL FIRED UP: Sweet Pea Brulee’s Tim Bergam toasts a crème brûlée.
SWEET PEA’S BRULEE When life gives you diabetes, make crème brûlée. That’s exactly what owners of food cart Sweet Pea’s Brulee do nearly every day. Co-owner Tim Bergam was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes four years ago. As a way to cope with his new disease, Bergam and his wife, Kate Serpa, began making crème brûlée for friends. “I couldn’t eat our products, but we could feel the joy in serving people sweets which were loved,” says Bergam. As the requests piled in for them to make desserts for luncheons, dinners and parties, a friend suggested they start selling them. Serpa had spent 10 years in consulting, and Bergam “too many” years in human resources, and despite little knowledge of how to open a business (except what their Multnomah County Library cards could get them access to), they opened Sweet Pea’s Brulee last October. Bergam says it doesn’t bother him that he can’t eat many of his creations. “Like anything in life, you need moderation,” he says. The duo has since added handmade marshmallows to the menu as a way to use up all the egg whites left over from making the brûlée (although the marshmallows now don’t contain egg). Bergam says he invents new crème brûlée flavors as a form of therapy—the regularly changing menu has included cinnamon black walnut, pumpkin pie and butter. Traditional s’mores ($2.50), chocolate ganache cookies ($2.50) and salted chewy caramels (50 cents) make up a few of the other menu items (brûlée is $4-$4.50), and a portion of sales is donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. With these prices, moderation might be difficult. KAREN LOCKE. EAT: Sweet Pea’s Brulee, Good Food Here cart pod, 4298 SE Belmont St., sweetpeasbrulee.com. Noon-8:30 pm WednesdayThursday, noon-9 pm Friday-Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday.
FOOD & DRINK VIVIANJOHNSON.COM
REVIEW
Enjoy family recipes (vegan & gluten-free, too)
Happy Hour all day Belly Dancer Fri & Sat 221 SW Pine • 503-459-4441
Shandong cuisine of northern china
SHUFFLEBOARD AND SLUSHIES: Sunshine Tavern lets adults be kids—and bring their kids.
A TAVERN BY ANY OTHER NAME SUNSHINE TAVERN IS NEITHER SUNNY NOR A TAVERN. DISCUSS.
($9). Even the humble burger ($10, more for extras like cheese, eggs or pork belly) holds its own. None of this is a huge surprise, considering the Sunshine Tavern is owned and run by Jenn Let’s get the griping out of the way first: The Sun- Louis and David Welch, the folks behind Lincoln. shine Tavern is not a tavern. It is many delightful The drink list is as well edited as the food menu; things: a beautiful room, a mini-arcade, a chic it includes a handful of specialty cocktails ($7-$8) new restaurant whose slender menu lacks noth- and eight unusual beers on tap ($5 pints), plus ing. But it is not a tavern, not in atmosphere and lots of interesting things in bottles. But if Sunshine is not a tavern, what is it? It’s not in priorities. (Also, on none of my visits to the Sunshine an elegant room, with huge windows, tall tables Tavern was any sunshine evident, but it seems and rough dark wood smoothed into hard-angled shapes. The bar is made of an old bowling lane, and unfair to blame the owners for that.) Names set certain expectations. And if you’re over it hangs a long, metal, Jenga-style light fixture a pedantic little jerk like me, this sort of thing that will blow your mind. The shuffleboard table at center stage has a lean grace can ruin a night out. (I never not generally associated with quite surrendered my grudge ORDER THIS: The iceberg wedge, then the sport. against the late Taqueria the chicken and waffles. Meanwhile, kids are runNueve: not a taqueria.) I BEST DEAL: Fried-chicken sandwich with ning wild all over the place. realize this is absurd and fries, topped with slaw. Donkey Kong and Ms. Pacself-defeating, which is why I’LL PASS: Slushy margarita ($7)—fun idea, but not really worth it. Man bleep their familiar I’m glad my principles so bleeps from the corner. A often crumple in the face of a really yummy dinner. As it turns out, Sunshine bartender refers to a window-side six-top as the Tavern could wear a pretty hat and call itself the “party table.” The crowd is adult-looking, but Queen of France and I’d forgive it, on account of they’re sipping margaritas dispensed from a slushy machine behind the bar. The star dish— the chicken alone. Sunshine’s menu offers just three entrees, that so-sweet chicken and waffles—is practically plus a handful of inventive pizzas, sandwiches, dessert. And afterward, you can have a bowl of ice salads and burgers. Order anything you want as cream ($5) with housemade “Magic Shell” chocolong as it’s the fried chicken dinner ($14). You’ll late sauce. Remember Magic Shell? It’s still fun! In short, Sunshine Tavern is a place where you be rewarded with perfect, juicy, boneless hunks of bird on fat semolina waffles drizzled with honey. It can be a parent and a child at once. In that sense, is heaven. The same chicken is equally good on a it might be the quintessential Portland restauspicy sandwich ($11), accompanied by a tawny pile rant. It’s not a tavern. You wouldn’t nestle in with of awesome fries. The chopped salad with french a pint and a paperback. But it’s a nice place to fries in it ($8) gets a lot of attention, but a more try some sophisticated comfort food and briefly pedestrian-sounding iceberg wedge with but- abandon your hang-ups. BECKY OHLSEN. termilk blue cheese dressing ($8) is even better. The baked-egg appetizer ($9), lauded in The Wall EAT: Sunshine Tavern, 3111 SE Division St., 688-1750, sunshinepdx.com. Dinner 5-10 pm Street Journal, is worth trying for novelty, but it’s Sunday-Thursday, 5-11 pm Friday-Saturday. less exciting than a platter of gravy cheese fries $$-$$$ Moderate-Expensive.
fresh ingredients • prepared daily • a new look at classic dishes open daily 11-2:30 lunch 4-9:30 dinner happy hour specials 4-6
3724 ne broadway portland or 97232 503.287.0331 shandongportland.com
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CRYSTAL
THE
HOTEL & BALLROOM
CRYSTAL BALLROOM
FRee POOL DAILY BEFORE 6PM
All day mONDAYS & Tuesdays
14th and W. Burnside
Tedeschi Trucks Band
UNDER THE CRYSTAL BALLROOM
RINGLERS PUB
Jai Ho! IRON & WINE
TUE MAY 31 ALL AGES
Strictly Bhangra Hosted by DJ PRASHANT
SAT MAY 28 21 & OVER lola’s room 9 P.M. LESSON 10 P.M. DANCING
OUT! OLD S The Head and the Heart
FRI MAY 27 ALL AGES
FLOATER WED JUNE 8 ALL AGES
94/7 WELCOMES
LIVE STAGE & BIG SCREEN! CD Release Show
TapWater
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25
(from Everyone Orchestra)
THURSDAY, MAY 26
(from Los Lobos)
WILL WEST AND THE FRIENDLY COVER UP!
(from the Motet) FRI, JUNE 10 $8 ADV, $10 DAY OF SHOW
GARCIA BIRTHDAY BAND
FREE
5:30 p.m. is “eagle time” • free
FREE
FRIDAY, MAY 27 5:30 p.m. is “eagle time” • free
5/31 The Givers 6/2 & 3 Mortified! 6/6 Powell’s Books Presents Laurell K. Hamilton 6/11 Dolly Parton Tribute 6/13 American Mud The Bellboys – Fruition 8/26 Cloud Cult
LOW TIDE DRIFTERS BACK PORCH REVIVAL WHISKEY PUPPY
Event and movie info at mcmenamins.com/mission
SEATTLE THEATER GROUP PRESENTS
THE DEFENDANTS
Other fine events:
Call our movie hotline to find out what’s playing this week! (503) 249-7474
TUE JUNE 7 ALL AGES
THE DAYS THE NIGHTS
1624 N.W. Glisan • Portland 503-223-4527
JANS INGBER
*MINIMUM FOOD AND BEVERAGE ORDER REQUIRED
282-6810
MISSION THEATER
STEVE BERLIN
FRIDAY, MAY 27 9 PM $5 21+OVER WITH VJ KITTYROX
LOLA’S ROOM
The historic
MATT BUTLER
80s VIDEO DANCE ATTACK
WED MAY 25 21+/floor • ALL AGES/MEZZANINE
836 N RUSSELL • PORTLAND, OR • (503)
REVERB BROTHERS
SATURDAY, MAY 28 4:30 p.m. is “eagle time” • free
THE STUDENT LOAN PALE BLUE SKY STATION ZERO SINUS RHYTHM SUNDAY, MAY 29
“OPEN MIC/SINGER SONGWRITER SHOWCASE” FEATURING PORTLAND’S FINEST TALENT FREE
MONDAY, MAY 30
BUOY LARUE CHRIS MARSHALL FREE
TUESDAY, MAY 31
THE SALE WILL WEST & THE FRIENDLY STRANGERS FREE
MUSIC AT 8:30 P.M. MON-THUR 9:30 P.M. FRI & SAT (UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
BRETT DENNEN
SPECIAL GUEST:
Dawes
SLEEPER AGENT
Sunday, July 17
WED JUNE 15 ALL AGES FOSTER THE PEOPLE-SOLD OUT! 6/3 ADELE-SOLD OUT! 6/9 AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT 6/10 STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES 6/16 “ROCK OF AGES” 6/21 OKKERVIL RIVER 8/11 ARCTIC MONKEYS 10/11 DAVID CROWDER BAND 7/15 SHPONGLE 7/17 BODEANS
6/1
DANCEONAIR.COM DOORS 8pm MUSIC 9pm UNLESS NOTED
CRYSTAL HOTEL & BALLROOM
Ballroom: 1332 W. Burnside · (503) 225-0047 · Hotel: 303 S.W. 12th Ave · (503) 972-2670
! KEGS N T I S E R B FI TO GO M CMENAMINS
Early entrance to Crystal shows with any pre-show purchase from Ringlers Pub
$85
plus applicable deposits
CASCADE TICKETS 38
cascadetickets.com 1-855-CAS-TIXX
OUTLETS: CRYSTAL BALLROOM BOX OFFICE, BAGDAD THEATER, EDGEFIELD, EAST 19TH ST. CAFÉ (EUGENE)
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
Find us on
CRYSTAL BALLROOM
21 & over · Tickets available at cascadetickets.com, McMenamins outlets (Crystal Ballroom, Bagdad Theater, Edgefield, East 19th Street Café in Eugene) and order by phone at (855) CAS-TIXX
mcmenamins music
MUSIC
MUSIC
MAY 25 - 31 SEXIN’
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
ADAM KRUEGER
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. Editor: CASEY JARMAN. 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. Fax: 243-1115.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25
Coliseum, 5135 NE 42nd Ave., 7 pm. Cover. All ages.
Citizen Fish, Krum Bums, Arctic Flowers, The Apathy Cycle
Beautiful Lies, Hutson, Ask You in Gray
[AGITPOP] Three decades and 20-some albums since Dick Lucas began issuing hook-laden screeds against empty consumerism, one can hardly question his sincerity, but odds yet favor the supermarkets winning this war. The 2 Tone flourishes of Citizen Fish, the ska project of U.K. anarcho-hardcore pioneers the Subhumans, have aged rather more gracefully than most punk variants— listenable horn sections, it turns out, require base musicianship. Recent release Goods, the band’s first in seven years, shows the fruits of increasing sophistication and songcraft, even if it’s hard not to imagine the poppier passages as top-notch supermarket jingles. JAY HORTON. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. 7:30 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. All ages.
THURSDAY, MAY 26 Jozef Van Wissem, Derek Monypeny
[LOVE IT OUD] The Portland music scene can always use another oud player. Everybody knows there are plenty of great drummers, guitarists and keyboardists around here, but when it comes time to lay down the oud tracks, it’s shrugs all around. So Derek Monypeny, a recent transplant to Portland who recorded an entire album using little but the bulbous North African string instrument (Side One of his Don’t Bring Me Down, Bruce LP is straight-up oud; Side Two features effects pedals and occasional percussion), is going to be welcomed with open arms. His experimental jams— which, all joking aside, are pretty trippy and fascinating—should mesh quite nicely with an all-lute (just look that one up if you don’t know it) set from equally entrancing New York instrumentalist Jozef Van Wissem. CASEY JARMAN. Alice Coltrane Memorial
[POWER POP] Nick and Zach McLean are somewhat new to Portland, having been drawn to this fair city by such famous inducements as our low cost of living and rich panoply of bathroom molds. The brothers form the backbone of Beautiful Lies, a quartet conceived while the pair was still attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Beautiful Lies is upfront about its adoration of ’90s power pop, and its songs fall somewhere in the region first conquered by the Ataris and Nada Surf. These are the days of summer, and be it the summer of ’97 or ’11, Beautiful Lies’ tunes more than fit the bill. SHANE DANAHER. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. 8 pm. $5. All ages.
Guitar Wolf, Cheap Time, The Flip Tops
[UFO ROMANTICS] Like its idols, the Ramones and Motörhead, Guitar Wolf has refused to compromise its sound and look for nigh on 25 years. The Japanese trio has stuck with its signature leather jackets, sunglasses and slicked-back hair just as closely as its feedback-saturated hybrid of surf, garage and punk. The Wolf is joined on its Hoochie Coochie Space Men Tour by the equally glorious and noisy Tennessee outfit Cheap Time, whose In the Red-released disc Fantastic Explanations was one of last year’s best rock albums. ROBERT HAM. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9 pm. $13.50 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
S. Carey, Other Lives
[BEAUTIFUL BORE] S. Carey is the bookish-sounding stage name of Sean Carey, drummer and pianist for Bon Iver. It would seem the Wisconsinite embarked on his solo career last year by borrowing against that cred. There are things to like on Carey’s debut album, All We Grow. The atmospheric instrumentation and ethereal vocals,
TOP FIVE
CONT. on page 40
BY MARK STOC K
CAN’T-MISS SETS AT THE SASQUATCH! FESTIVAL Matt and Kim (Saturday, 7:30 pm, Bigfoot Stage) Flexing the likability of the Portland Timbers and the infectious charm of the Muppets, Brooklyn’s dance-rock duo is the band you always wanted to play at your party. The Thermals (Saturday, 6:45 pm, Yeti Stage) Better late than never, Sasquatch! has done us all a favor by awarding Portland’s preeminent power trio an evening bill on an intimate stage. Wolf Parade, (Saturday, 4:20 pm, Main Stage) Sure, Expo 86 was an unexpected glitch in the Canadian supergroup’s powerful résumé. But when Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner share a stage, it doesn’t matter what they’re playing. Other Lives (Sunday, 3:30 pm, Yeti Stage) Other Lives’ new album, Tamer Animals, is already a record-of-theyear candidate. The Oklahomans produce a sweeping, orchestral sound greater than the sum of its five dynamic members. Typhoon (Sunday, noon, Bigfoot Stage) Seeing Typhoon live is already a pseudo-religious experience. To have the Portland chamber-pop troop perform Sunday morning before a rippling backdrop of river and canyon is almost too much to bear. SEE IT: Sasquatch runs May 27-30 at the Gorge in George, Wash. Sold out. All ages.
THE BIG TIMERS
TONY BENNETT AND USHER TAKE VASTLY DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO WOOING YOU. BY RICHARD SPEER
AND
CASEY JARMAN
243-2122
Crooners—legitimate heavyweights who can elicit shrieks, tears and piles of ladies’ undergarments from their audiences—are few and far between these days. But this week, two of the biggest come to Portland. The first of them turns 85 this August. That’s not stopping the redoubtable Tony Bennett—once called “the best singer in the business”—from touring the world, belting out the classics and standards that made him famous more than half a century ago. The other Portland-bound crooner, 32-year-old R&B sensation Usher, is his generation’s closest approximation of Michael Jackson: a singer, dancer, businessman and personality of monstrous proportions with huge commercial appeal and an even greater influence on young artists. Though Usher rose to prominence at a young age, his hits are often primarily concerned with letting listeners know that the singer is a full-grown man. We thought we’d examine the generation gap between some of Bennett’s and Usher’s biggest hits. BENNETT “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”: Bennett’s signature number, this 1962 classic is a paean to a city “where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars.” The narrator has been left cold by Paris, Rome and Manhattan and dreams of returning to the place his heart calls home. (RS) “Dream a Little Dream of Me”: From his 2002 album of duets with K.D. Lang, A Wonderful World, this unlikely pairing—a then-septuagenarian crooner with a far younger lesbian chanteuse—is surprisingly sultry. Bennett’s wistful, slightly raspy tone is enveloped in Lang’s molten silk as the two invite one another to “Say nighty-night and kiss me/ Just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me.” (RS) “Steppin’ Out With My Baby”: The anticipation of a romantic night on the town brings out Bennett
at his dandiest as he sings with giddy buoyancy. Written by Irving Berlin for Fred Astaire during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the song lilts and swings as Bennett dresses up for the evening “in my top hat and my white tie and my tails.” (RS) “The Best Is Yet to Come”: When Bennett sings this ode to the glass half full, you get the feeling he’s singing to himself. “We’ve only tasted the wine/ We’re gonna drain the cup dry,” he proclaims. It’s hard to argue with that kind of optimism, especially when it’s coming from someone who’s been around the block as many times as Tony Bennett. (RS) USHER “Nice and Slow”: Lyrical subtlety is fine and good, but Usher—who starts this modern standard by talking dirty in his steamy phone-sex voice—scored his first No. 1 hit by getting real pervy. “I wanna do something freaky to you, babe,” the Ush insists. Who among us can resist Usher’s sexin’? (CJ) “U Remind Me”: “Thought that she was the one for me,” Usher sings here of a past love who spurned him. “Till I found out she was on her creep/ She was sexing everyone but me.” Ouch. We’re sure Usher’s washboard abs and golden voice will lead him to a new boo, but the pain persists nonetheless. (CJ) “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)”: This airy 2009 ode to sexin’ is perhaps the most redundantly titled and unintentionally creepy tune in Ush’s repertoire. Even Usher’s gorgeous, scale-climbing vocals can’t erase the ew factor of “Daddy’s” insistence that “it’s time to play,” and his subsequent request to “poke that bottom up in the air.” (CJ) “Love in This Club”: Just when you thought Usher had done taken his sexual conquests to every frontier, he suggests the most disturbing location to sex a girl to date: In the middle of a dance club. Still, this synth jam—which involves much thrusting in live performance—was the most infectious hit 2009 had to offer. Again, we have no choice but to submit to Usher’s sexing. (CJ) SEE IT: Usher plays the Rose Garden Arena on Thursday, May 26, at 8 pm. $29.50-$99.50. Tony Bennett plays the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Friday, May 27. 7:30 pm. $55-$150. Both shows all ages. Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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MUSIC
MAKE IT A NIGHT Present that night’s show ticket and get $3 off any menu item Sun - Thur in the dining room
THURSDAY - SATURDAY P R E S S H E R E N O W. C O M
for instance, can be quite pretty. But as the album languishes in drifting, listless songs, Carey’s work can also be quite dull. Carey’s minimalist sensibilities may satisfy the musically ascetic, but the rest of us should just wait ‘til Bon Iver comes back through town. . JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, Left Coast Country, Garrin Benfield DOUG FIR RESTAURANT + BAR OPEN 7AM - 2:30AM EVERYDAY
SERVING BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER, LATE-NIGHT. FOOD SPECIALS 3-6 PM EVERYDAY COVERED SMOKING PATIO, FIREPLACE ROOM, LOTS OF LOG. LIVE SHOWS IN THE LOUNGE... A BLAZING EVENING OF PSYCHEDELIC MADNESS
THE UPSIDEDOWN WEDNESDAY!
EXPANSIVE MAJESTY FROM BON IVER DRUMMER
S. CAREY +OTHER LIVES
+SPACE WAVES
WEDNESDAY MAY 25
•
THURSDAY!
$8 ADVANCE
ATMOSPHERIC INDIE-FOLK FROM BALTIMORE SONGBIRDS
THURSDAY MAY 26
COTTON JONES FRIDAY!
•
$10 ADVANCE
SOFT ROCK INSPIRED MEGA-GROUP FROM MINNEAPOLIS
GAYNGS
SATURDAY!
THE PARSON RED HEADS +SCRIMSHANDER
FRIDAY MAY 27
•
$10 ADVANCE
POETIC FOLK POP FROM THE UK
NOAH & THE WHALE
+WHITE HINTERLAND
SATURDAY MAY 28
•
$16 ADVANCE
AN EXPLOSIVE EVENING WITH COMPLEX SCOTTISH ROCKERS
BIFFY
CLYRO SUNDAY MAY 29
+BAHAMAS
•
$15 ADVANCE
POST-PUNK DANCE ROCK FROM WARP RECORDING ARTISTS
!!!
(CHK CHK CHK)
•
+WATER & BODIES
MONDAY MAY 30
•
$12 ADVANCE
FULL THROTTLE COUNTRY-ROCK FROM TX LEGENDS
THE OLD 97s +SARAH JAFFE
$15 ADVANCE
A TWO-NIGHT ALBUM RELEASE CELEBRATION WITH PDX OLD-TIMEY REVIVALISTS
SALLIE FORD & THE SOUND OUTSIDE
WEDNESDAY JUNE 1
•
$20 ADVANCE
THE RETURN OF NOVA SCOTIA’S LOVABLE INDIE ROCK HEROES
$11 ADVANCE
QUIET LIFE +WHAT HEARTS
FRIDAY JUNE 3
SLOAN
$11 ADVANCE
PANCAKE BREAKFAST +BASEMINT
+DEARLY BELOVED
SUNDAY JUNE 5
•
$13 ADVANCE
SATURDAY JUNE 4
DYNAMIC DANCE-ROCK FROM THE UK
FRIENDLY FIRES +WISE BLOOD
MONDAY JUNE 6
•
$14 ADVANCE
CIBO MATTO - 6/23 COLD CAVE - 7/22 WOODS AND THE FRESH & ONLYS - 7/25 BEN SOLLEE- 8/1 All of these shows on sale at Ticketfly.com
STORNOWAY 6/2 • THE BUILDERS & THE BUTCHERS 6/8 & 6/9 • WILDBIRDS & PEACEDRUMS 6/11 SERYN 6/12 • GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH 6/14 • JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT 6/15 BOY EATS DRUM MACHINE 6/17 • BELL X1 6/18 • KEREN ANN 6/19 • JOHN MAUS 6/20 ADVANCE TICKETS AT TICKETFLY - www.ticketfly.com and JACKPOT RECORDS • SUBJECT TO SERVICE CHARGE &/OR USER FEE ALL SHOWS: 8PM DOORS / 9PM SHOW • 21+ UNLESS NOTED • BOX OFFICE OPENS 1/2 HOUR BEFORE DOORS • ROOM PACKAGES AVAILABLE AT www.jupiterhotel.com
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
Sam Roberts Band, Motopony, Derby
[TRUE PATRIOT LOVE] Oh, Canada. So much harder to daydream about escaping to the Great White North when reminded of the essential banalities of a land famed for curling and politeness. From (but certainly not Of) Montreal, Sam Roberts’ band—recently renamed the Sam Roberts Band, presumably to highlight the new horn section—has sold a million records and ascended the ranks of Canuck superstardom without ever troubling the American charts. Recent release Collider enlists Modest Mouse knobtwiddler Brian Deck, but it turns out that enlivening the production only emphasizes just how indistinct and unassuming the midtempo rockers really are. JAY HORTON. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $15. 21+.
Usher, Akon
+BREAKFAST MOUNTAIN
TUESDAY MAY 31
[BACK-PORCH AMERICANA] The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank— songwriting brothers Teague and Ian Alexy and drummer Paul Grill— offer a dusty, gritty take on classic Americana, combining folksy sounds with country roots reminiscent of Woody Guthrie’s travelogue songs. The Nephews’ tunes seem to explode from a rickety old porch, and the band would seem equally at home in a concert hall, under a railroad bridge or in a country roadhouse. It’s captivating stuff, with smoky vocals laced with ample country drawl telling stories of wanderlust and heartache that you can’t help but stomp and clap along to. AP KRYZA. Goodfoot Lounge, 2845 SE Stark St., 503-2399292. 9 pm. $7. 21+.
See music feature, page 39. Rose Garden, 1401 N Wheeler Ave., 2358771. 8 pm. $29.50-$99.50. All ages.
Sleigh Bells, Neon Indian, Oberhofer
[COOL KIDS] Sleigh Bells comes from a bizarre pedigree. Guitarist, producer and mastermind Derek Miller was a member of maniacal hardcore group Poison the Well before wandering toward Sleigh Bells’ (marginally) calmer waters, whereas vocalist Alexis Krauss dabbled in a would-be teen pop group before turning in the Ray Bans for Wayfarers. As it turns out, the marriage of these elements works like catnip on the blogosphere. First, Sleigh Bells is LOUD. Its debut album, Treats, sounds like a pep rally as broadcast through a busted bass amp. The group’s slickly hot mess is seductive enough to arouse suspicions. The denim-clad posturing, the convenient sidestep into approachability with “Rill Rills”—it is probably too calculated to last, but it’s so much fun enjoying the energy in the meantime that we can hopefully forgo nervously tallying the group’s half-life. SHANE DANAHER. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 8 pm. $18. All ages.
FRIDAY, MAY 27 Tony Bennett
See music feature, page 39. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7:30 pm. $55$150. All ages.
Floater, The Days The Nights
[COLLEGE ROCK] I have a hypothesis about Floater, the jammy, summer of ’93 college rock band whose continued vitality has confounded many a snooty Northwest music watcher. The trio isn’t “cool”
KIDS INCORPORATED: Sleigh Bells play Roseland Theater on Thursday. by any of Portland’s commonly accepted metrics, yet it will probably sell out the Crystal tonight without breaking a sweat. A possible explanation: Floater is the scion of a group of Northwest residents who were around long before the region had much cred. Floater draws fans from the acid-deranged, basement-cultivating, ex-hippie contingent that made the Northwest such a weird-ass place to start out with. In a far truer sense than most of Portland’s musical exploits, Floater is a band of the people. SHANE DANAHER. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047. 9 pm. $16 advance, $18 day of show. All ages.
Aloe Blacc
[NEW SOUL] With occasional exceptions, the purported “soul revival” of the past few years has fallen flat on its face. Aloe Blacc is a huge, real-deal exception: Last year’s Good Things underlines the point five or six times, then circles it, then runs it over with a highlighter pen. Blacc’s second Stones Throw full-length is no fluke: His expertly produced 2006 debut, Shine Through—the knobs were twiddled by Blacc himself as well as Stones Throw staples Oh No and Mad Lib— gave listeners much to be excited about, but it’s the something-old/ something-new formula that makes Good Things such a huge success. Don’t expect an artist this ambitious to stick with a Stax/Motown formula—or any formula, for that matter—but we can certainly expect big things to keep on coming from Mr. Black. CASEY JARMAN. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9 pm. $15. 21+. Also see Top 5, page 49.
Animal Farm, Philly’s Phunkestra, Al One & KP
See album review, page 42. Mount Tabor Theater, 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 9 pm. Cover. 21+.
Supernature: E*Rock, Strategy, DJ Copy, DJ Zac Eno
See profile, page 41. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
Yeasayer, Smith Westerns, Hush Hush
[FREAKY ELECTRO-POP] I guess I was scared off by the hype for a while, because I’m definitely holding down the caboose of Yeasayer’s lengthy fan train. I’ve spent the past few months getting good and familiar with the New York psych-pop sextet’s 2010 release, Odd Blood, and there’s a lot to love: Unlike so many of Yeasayer’s weird-for-weird’s sake contemporaries, each of the collective’s blips, bleeps and fuzz blasts seems wholly intentional and necessary to the band’s electroorchestral sound. Chris Keating’s crystal-clear, slightly dramaschooled vocals can’t help but remind of the most fabulous electro-pop acts from Britain’s gay ‘80s (Erasure, in particular), which pretty much guarantees my personal affection. Apparently this stuff is big with the kids, too. CASEY JARMAN. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 9 pm. $20 advance, $23 day of show. All ages.
SATURDAY, MAY 28 Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks, Padam Padam
[TWISTY SWING] Although one of his best-known songs is “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?”, it’s always a treat to welcome back one of the real OG ’60s hipsters (from his days with San Francisco’s Charlatans) and retro-swing pioneers, whose clever lyrics, bouncy tunes and witty patter add up to a grinningly entertaining evening. But this reunion show is pretty special for another reason: Two members of the classic ’70s Licks lineup, violinist Sid Page and bassist Jaime Leopold, will be making a rare return. Leopold’s ever-engaging Portland band Padam Padam (featuring members of Middle Eastern rockers Brothers of the Baladi and Balkan band Kafana Klub) opens the proceedings with its bubbly, accordion- , guitar-, oudand viola-fueled cocktail of Latin rhythms, Brel/Piaf-style Parisian cabaret, klezmer and more. BRETT CAMPBELL. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $25 (minors must be accompanied by a parent). All ages.
Radio Moscow, Root Jack, White Orange, Macrocosm
[SWAMP ROCK] Born in ’03 and endorsed by Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach through production of its ’07 self-titled debut, psych-rock trio Radio Moscow is squalor rock at its finest. Gritty, bluesy and born from a childhood love affair with axmen like Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, the band jammed straight through its sophomore slump with 2009 effort Brain Cycles. Frontman Parker Griggs’ beastly vocals boast an instrument-in-their-own-right gusto similar to Robert Plant’s or Petter Ericson Stakee’s of Alberta Cross. Iowa is flat and drab, but it also produces some pretty sweet corn mazes and, at least for now, punishing psych rock. MARK STOCK. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 2260430. 9 pm. $8. 21+.
Jaill, The Needful Longings
[JAILLHOUSE ROCK] Though Jaill had already been around for a number of years (with only one “l” in its name and a series of ragged garage-pop 7-inches and CDRs in its wake), the trio arrived in the popular consciousness just last year with the arrival of its debut album on Sub Pop, the gloriously catchy That’s How We Burn. The Milwaukee-based band stops by Portland’s Bunk Bar on the way up to the Sasquatch Festival, where its stinging guitar chords and heart-onsleeve lyrics will ring loudly through the Columbia River Gorge. ROBERT HAM. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 894-9708. 9 pm. $8. 21+.
The Undertones, The Polaroids
[STILL KICKING] Like Roger Daltrey still singing, at age 67, that he hopes to die before he gets old, there’s something egregious about a band
CONT. on page 42
PROFILE
MUSIC
DATES HERE
DANIEL PETERSON
PROFILE
SPRING V I
N
E*ROCK FRIDAY, MAY 27 [COMPUTER LOVE] When I arrive at the home of one of the Portland electronic music scene’s most important figures of the past decade, Eric Mast—better known by his pseudonym, E*Rock—he’s deep into rehearsals for the release show for his latest electronic epic, The Clock & the Mountain. So deep, in fact, that he doesn’t hear me when I knock on the door. Finally, his housemate lets me in. “I was zoning out, messing around with some beats,” the lanky Mast says, sporting a dazed expression from behind his long, curly black hair. “I haven’t played live in a while, so I’m trying to figure out how to play my new stuff.” Mast hasn’t had a new album to support since his 2003 fulllength, Conscious. Not that he has been slacking. Over the past eight years, he has released a handful of limited-edition CD-Rs and DVD-Rs and flexed his muscles as a remixer for the likes of Ratatat (the New York City band that features Mast’s younger brother, Evan), Joey Casio and Dragging an Ox Through Water. But mostly, Mast has been focused on his visual art. He’s an accomplished artist who specializes in semi-abstract, almost cartoonlike paintings and drawings à la Jean-Michel Basquiat. Mast is also renowned for his animation and video pieces (he recently spent a week in New York providing live video accompaniment for a performance featuring Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and former Black Dice member Hisham Bharoocha). Add his frequent DJ gigs and it’s little wonder Mast hasn’t had much time to make another grand sonic statement. But to hear him say it, there was a bit of self-doubt in the mix as well. “When my brother and I first started getting into composing using computers,” he says between bites of an apple in his bedroom/studio, “we got so excited at the possibilities that we just made stuff. Now, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make. And I didn’t know who I was making it for. It’s not dance music. It’s not headphone music. Would my friends even listen to this?” That’s where Mast is wrong. The songs on The Clock sounds like they would work as well in a club as they do in a pair of headphones. It’s a spongy record that bounces with tropical bass and electro beats; long, groaning melodies inspired by ’70s German synth pioneers, and a touch of hip-hop swagger. And as light as the new record gets on songs like the squeaky, theremin-heavy “Higher Hats” and the appropriately titled “LazerQuest,” with its blasts of video-gamelike sound effects, the record has an astringent aftertaste of darkness, something Mast cops to immediately. “It was recorded in the winter, when I was holed up reading Philip K. Dick and William Gibson, so there’s a real dark sci-fi theme going on there,” Mast says. He emphasizes this on the record by including in the insert a small bit of text written by one of Mast’s friends, sci-fi writer Mark von Schlegell (it begins: “Imagine a dark sphere that is all the time and space in the universe”). But the album’s biggest leitmotif resides in its title. “It’s in reference to spending so much time on the record, and the mountain was that I needed to have this big, weighty project done,” he says. “In the end, I just had to sit down and have a good time and play around with beats and melodies and not worry about the big picture.” ROBERT HAM. The future is electronic. And dark. And kind of funny.
L E A S YL
5 DAYS
ONLY! MAY 25TH – 29TH
20% OFF ALL NEW* & USED VINYL
www.underdogportland.com (503) 282-1155
*Red Tag Items Excluded Not Good With Other Offers
SATURDAY JULY 9
SUNDAY JULY 10
SEE IT: E*Rock releases The Clock & the Mountain on Friday, May 27, at Rotture. 9 pm. $5. 21+. Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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MUSIC
SATURDAY - SUNDAY
whose signature anthem is called “Teenage Kicks” re-forming to play as a bunch of middle-aged men. In the late ’70s, the Undertones were Ireland’s answer to the Buzzcocks, writing zippy pop-punk nuggets twitching with youthful lust and longing, except without the agitated political subtext; their songs were, by the group’s own description, simply about “chocolate and girls.” And that’s great in its time—truly, the first three albums are classics, with “Kicks” attaining almost mythic status after the late deified DJ John Peel declared it his favorite pop tune ever—but it’s impossible for guys on the wrong side of 50 to perform such songs 30 years later and not look a tad silly. Worse, the reunited band is missing singer Feargal Sharkey. Although guitarist John O’Neill wrote most of the Undertones’ bestremembered material, it’s Sharkey’s distinctive nasal quaver that actually made it memorable. MATTHEW SINGER. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9:30 pm. $15 advance, $18 day of show. 21+.
Gayngs, White Hinterland
[SLOW BURN] If a friend came up to you and said, “Hey, buddy, I’m starting a new band that’s directly inspired by ’70s art-pop softies 10cc, and every song is going to clock in at 69 beats per minute—want in?” you’d probably think he was full of shit. But that’s pretty much how Minneapolis songwriter Ryan Olson pitched his Gayngs project, and somehow he convinced 25 musicians—including Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, members of rap collective Doomtree, and North Carolina folksters Megafaun—to climb aboard. With 2010’s Relayted, what started out as a concept tinged with irony has now turned very serious, or at least serious enough to make a fan out of Prince, who attended the group’s hometown live debut last year. And that’s because, well, the album is that fucking good. Not quite the soft rock homage Olson wanted it to be, it’s actually something better: a hazy R&B record full of deliciously stoned slow grooves. MATTHEW SINGER. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $16 advance, $18 day of show. 21+.
Eternal Summers, The Beets, Awkward Energy
[POP PUNK] People don’t go to Roanoke for the music. That’s because most tourists are unaware of the Magic Twig Community, a collaborative endeavor of around a dozen musicians set in the backwoods of Virginia that records in a place called the Mystic Fortress. Made up of Nicole Yun and Daniel Cundiff, Eternal Summers is one of many bright young bands to emerge from this shadowy scene. With a strong Kinks-meets-Thermals debut, Silver, to its name thus far, the twopiece is rewriting the expiration date on post-punk with stoned numbers that grab plays from the jangle-pop playbook. MARK STOCK. East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. 9 pm. Cover. 21+.
Sera Cahoone, Greylag, Kasey Anderson
[HAMMOCK SONGS] Once the stick wielder for bands like Carissa’s Wierd and Band of Horses, Sera Cahoone was always somewhat trapped by the trap set. With guitar in hand, the Sub Pop siren is just as liable to cover Loretta Lynn as turn your knees to jelly with her own downy folk. The ever-bashful Cahoone has hinted that new work is under way, great news considering her songwriting drought dates back to 2008’s Only As the Day Is Long. Whatever your vision of the afterlife may be, this is a voice—and with steely twang (thanks to top pedal player Jason Kardong’s assistance)—that could greet you at the gates. MARK STOCK. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Lykke Li, Grimes
[SWEDE POP] Lykke Li has a rare facility for mixing the fearless sex and coy shyness that are pop music’s
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
bread and butter. Li’s debut album, 2008’s Youth Novels, yielded an ideal pop artifact in “Little Bit,” a single built on minimal instrumentation, a chirping beat and plenty of cooing, breathy lyrics that swerve between shyness and concupiscence. Wounded Rhymes, Li’s sophomore album, has taken the lessons of that watershed moment to heart. It piles on the driving, atavistic drums and alternately coy and lascivious liner notes. Li was featured on the soundtrack for 2009’s Twilight: New Moon, an ironic gesture considering Li plumbs the depths of sexual dissonance with far greater skill than Stephenie Meyer. SHANE DANAHER. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 9 pm. Sold out. All ages.
SUNDAY, MAY 29 White Denim, White Arrow
[ACID-WASH ROCK] Would White Denim by any other name sound as rock ’n’ roll? Probably. Although the Austin quartet’s sobriquet does summon images of acid-wash rockstar jeans (stuffed, perhaps), what makes White Denim rock is, ultimately, its music: an exuberant, spazzy and just plain fun sound that derives from classic and garage rock but never settles for being derivative. The band’s Bunk Bar visit is a pit stop between releasing its fourth fulllength, D, and a gig at Sasquatch. JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 894-9708. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Noah and the Whale, Bahamas
[KICKING AND SCREAMING] After Noah and the Whale’s winsome, lose-some debut, seemingly recorded on a whim late one evening by the only five attendants
of Twickenham’s Noah Baumbach film festival, few imagined the intriguingly voiced—adenoidal is a nicer way to put it than sniveling— frontman Charlie Fink was capable of original sentiment. No one could have predicted the aching folkpop majesty of 2009’s First Days of Spring, and the quietly anthemic AOR jog-along fare of Noah and the Whale’s recent release, Last Night on Earth, which is full of third-person narratives and Petty jealousies. This has to be some sort of (subtle, bittersweet, hyper-literate…Baumbachian, really) joke. JAY HORTON. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $15 advance, $17 day of show. 21+.
Cat Stalks Bird, The Reservations, Blood Beach
[SUIT ROCK] Portland has hosted shows from both the Kingsmen and the Ventures in recent weeks, and while both those groups had a halfcentury jump on the Reservations, that new Portland quartet’s sound— and its dressed-up look—has roots in the same rock era as the aforementioned past masters. Not that the Reservations qualify as a goodtimey rock act—the band’s forthcoming self-titled debut (available now at the fabulous Bandcamp.com) features a healthy dose of twisted psychedelia that’s more Screamin’ Jay Hawkins than American Bandstand, and Rex Marshall’s gravelly deep vocals make the record’s fuzziest tracks sound like Cramps 45s slowed down to 33 speed. More than anything, the Reservations resemble the zombified, Charles Addams version of an early-’60s psychedelic rock group—which makes us squeal with delight. CASEY JARMAN. Valentine’s, 232 SW Ankeny St., 248-1600. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
CONT. on page 48
ALBUM REVIEW
ANIMAL FARM CULTURE SHOCK (SELF-RELEASED) [THROWBACK HIP-HOP] Animal Farm’s key demographic is hip-hop fans who are sick of hiphop bullshit. It’s a hungry market, as evidenced by the Portland squad’s formidable success on college music charts in recent years. But five tracks in to the group’s new LP, Culture Shock, and the only messages Animal Farm has transmitted are that modern rap is bankrupt and things were better in the old days. Granted, the crew gets great help from hip-hop heavyweights Rob Swift and Talib Kweli as well as similarly minded locals Mic Crenshaw and DJ Wicked in underscoring this point, but eventually that message tires—listeners just want to hear something worth rooting for. Perhaps sensing this, Animal Farm takes a distinct change in direction: “DIY,” which begins with some crisp bars about the indie-rap lifestyle from the group’s newest full-time member, the convincingly gruff Serge Severe (“I ain’t no joker, put up my own posters/ Get it live, got drive, I’m my own chauffeur/ Heat it up, get the bread, I’m my own toaster”), stops rapping about bad rapping and lays a blueprint for how to do independent music right. And while the focus swings to and fro throughout the rest of the disc— Abstract Rude offers an especially constructive takedown of the music industry on “Music for Idiots”—its politically tinged second half casts a far wider net than its first. While Culture Shock can be thematically single-minded, the musical balance of boom-bap bangers and soulful cuts (Hanif Wondir remains the group’s secret weapon as the driving force behind imaginative hooks on tunes like “Pop Music” and “It’s Over”) works well, and it’s hard to undersell just how much fun these four MCs have in tossing rhymes around. That’s where the group practices what it preaches: Even when Animal Farm is serious, the rhyme schemes remain seriously fun. It’s no wonder that these buoyant, acrobatic and decidedly old-school MCs have found success. CASEY JARMAN. SEE IT: Animal Farm plays the Mount Tabor Theater on Friday, May 27, with Philly’s Phunkestra, Al-One and KP. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Wag the Dog, Inc. chooses to advertise in Willamette Week because it works. As a small business in the dog service industry in SE Portland, there are other publications which could reach our customers effectively, particularly those that focus on pet care, but our WW ad gives us validity and authenticity as a company, which we have not found in any other publication. As for advertising results, they are clear. We have (by accident) stopped running our WW ads which resulted in a trickle of new customers where a rapid river of new clients had been before. We mitigated this problem by running ads as soon as possible!
page 62
I appreciate the way WW’s staff treats me. I am a very small fish, but they have never made me feel that way.
Christine Anderson Owner Wag the Dog
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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MUSIC CALENDAR = WW Pick. Highly recommended. Editor: Jonathan Frochtzwajg. 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: music@wweek.com. Find more music: reviews 39 For more listings, check out wweek.com/music_calendar
WED. MAY 25 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Truckstop Darlin’, Kris Stuart
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Suck My Open Mic
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Pete Krebs
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Chase the Shakes, R.R.B.C., Mouthwash Enema, The Monster Addict
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Austin Leonard Jones, Animal Eyes, Firs of Prey
Beaterville Cafe
2201 N Killingsworth St. Shug Mauldin and Riders in the Round
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Fairweather (9 pm); Little Sue (6 pm)
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave. Citizen Fish, Krum Bums, Arctic Flowers, The Apathy Cycle
Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. Buffalo Bandstand
Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave. Bass Mandolyn
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. Tedeschi Trucks Band
Doc George’s Jazz Kitchen
4605 NE Fremont St. Karen Maria Capo
Doug Fir Lounge
Mississippi Studios
1635 SE 7th Ave. Suburban Slim’s Blues Jam (9:30 pm); High Flyer Trio (6 pm)
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Lydia Loveless, The Tumblers, My Autumn’s Done Come
Goodfoot Lounge
Muddy Rudder Public House
2845 SE Stark St. Water Tower Bucket Boys, The Bell Boys
8105 SE 7th Ave. Lost Creek
Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge
Music Millennium
3158 E Burnside St. System and Station
625 NW 21st Ave. Laura Ivancie
O’Connor’s Vault
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. The Rodeo Clowns, JAMF, Item Nine, Akula, The Sindicate
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Allo Darlin, Sean Flinn and The Royal We, John Heart Jackie 2346 SE Ankeny St. Colin Hogan
2621 SE Clinton St. Swing Papillon
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown Quartet
Pub at the End of the Universe
Kells
112 SW 2nd Ave. Pat Buckley
4107 SE 28th Ave. Rob Johnston, Rumble Box, Jacob Lee
Landmark Saloon
Red Room
4847 SE Division St. Jake Ray and the Cowdogs
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Open Mic
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. River Project (9 pm); Michael Hurley (6 pm)
206 SW Morrison St. Jordan Harris
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. The Radical Revolution
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Equal of Kings
The Blue Diamond
2016 NE Sandy Blvd. The Fenix Project
The Globe
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Redwood Son
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Therapists, Organized Sports, DJ Ken Dirtnap
The World Famous Kenton Club 2025 N Kilpatrick St. The Barkers
Tiger Bar
Press Club
Jimmy Mak’s
426 SW Washington St. Mr. Frederick, Susurrus Station, Annie Galen
OMSI
2314 SE Division St. Billy Kennedy
Jade Lounge
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
Thirsty Lion
Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli
2045 SE Belmont St. Woody, Wiseman and Sprague
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar 1001 SW Broadway Shirley Nanette
Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, Left Coast Country, Garrin Benfield
Andrea’s Cha Cha Club
Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge
1314 NW Glisan St. Borikuas 832 SE Grand Ave. Dina & Bamba Y Su Pilon D’Azucar with La Descarga Cubana
Ash Street Saloon
7850 SW Capitol Highway Kit Garoutte
1945 SE Water Ave. OMSI After Dark: Deklun and Pace
Andina
71 SW 2nd Ave. Eric John Kaiser 317 NW Broadway Local Music Showcase
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Sportin’ Lifers
Twilight Café and Bar
1420 SE Powell Blvd. Terrible Buttons, J. Wong, Dane Ueland
Vie de Boheme
1530 SE 7th Ave. The Rob Scheps Big Band
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. 6bq9
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. The Defendants
THURS. MAY 26 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Truckstop Darlin’, Nick Foltz and Fred Stephenson
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Chervona (9:30); Dead Peasant, Gavin WahlStephens and the New Americans (6:30)
225 SW Ash St. The Jupiter Satellite, Smile for Diamonds, Bryan Minus and The Disconnect
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Beautiful Lies, Hutson, Ask You in Gray
Beaterville Cafe
2201 N Killingsworth St. Loose Change Trio
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. The Old Yellers
Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. Acoustic Minds
Chapel Pub
430 N Killingsworth St. Steve Kerin
Corkscrew Wine Bar 1669 SE Bybee Blvd Catarina New
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Guitar Wolf, Cheap Time, The Flip Tops
Doc George’s Jazz Kitchen
4605 NE Fremont St. Ron Steen’s Jazz Jam
625 NW 21st Ave. The Sale
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Wandering Zoo
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown B3 Organ Group
Kells
112 SW 2nd Ave. Pat Buckley
Kennedy School
5736 NE 33rd Ave. The Quick and Easy Boys
Landmark Saloon
4847 SE Division St. James Sasser
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Don of Division Street, Neural Sturgeon
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Jon Koonce
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Reverb Brothers
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Patina (9 pm); Mister Fisk (6 pm)
Mississippi Studios
Doug Fir Lounge
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Tatiana Hargreaves and Scott Law
Duff’s Garage
Mississippi Studios
830 E Burnside St. S. Carey, Other Lives 1635 SE 7th Ave. Portland Playboys
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Boom, White Fang, Cole and the Rats, The Reservations
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place Hollywood Tans, Soft Paws, Alex Arrowsmith
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Sam Roberts Band, Motopony, Derby
Mock Crest Tavern 3435 N Lombard St. Air Show
Mount Tabor Theater
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Medium Troy, Sporeganic, Afro Q Ben, Hoya, Connah Jay
Fringe Vintage
Mudai Lounge
Goodfoot Lounge
Muddy Rudder Public House
1700 NW Marshall St. Westfold, The Dirty Words, Goodriddler 2845 SE Stark St.
D AV I D C O O P E R
830 E Burnside St. The Upsidedown
Duff’s Garage
[MAY 25 - 31]
801 NE Broadway Liz Isenberg, Vio/Mire, The Golden Hours
8105 SE 7th Ave. Bob Soper
Music Millennium
3158 E Burnside St. The Twangshifters
NORTH
1515 NW 19th Ave. Tezeta Band
Original Halibut’s II 2527 NE Alberta St. Terry Robb
1401 N Wheeler Ave. Usher
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave. Sleigh Bells, Neon Indian, Oberhofer
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Dan Diresta
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway Tony Bennett
Saratoga
Ash Street Saloon
Secret Society Lounge
Backspace
6910 N Interstate Ave. On the Stairs, Pheasant, Justin Vapes 116 NE Russell St. Caleb Klauder Band
Sellwood Public House 8132 SE 13th Ave. Open Mic with Two Rivers, Scott Browning
Silver Dollar Pizza II 225 SW Broadway Open Mic
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
8635 N Lombard St. Michael the Blind, Matt Boney, Towering Trees
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave. Open Mic
The Blue Diamond
2016 NE Sandy Blvd. The Lucy Hammond Band
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Curtis Salgado and Alan Hager Duo
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. It Loves To Happen
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar 1001 SW Broadway Johnny Martin
The Hobnob Grille
3350 SE Morrison St. Music/Comedy Open Mic
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Dabbles in Bloom, Bloody Twins, Leafeater, Kites at Night
225 SW Ash St. Jar of Lies, The Fashion Nuggets 115 NW 5th Ave. Western Family, Grandparents, Little Beirut
Beaterville Cafe
2201 N Killingsworth St. Carolina Pump Station
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Funk Shui (9 pm); Billy Kennedy and Jimmy Boyer (6 pm)
Bipartisan Cafe 7901 SE Stark St. Trolley Jane
Bossanova Ballroom
722 E Burnside St. The Twangshifters, Dry Country Crooks, Krotch Rockit
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave. Eddie Valiant, One Movement, DMLH, Kill Party, The Gooniez
Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. David Brothers
Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave. Jacob Merlin
Canvas Art Bar & Bistro
1800 NW Upshur St. Open Mic
Clyde’s Prime Rib
5474 NE Sandy Blvd. La Rhonda Steele
Crystal Ballroom
The World Famous Kenton Club
1332 W Burnside St. Floater, The Days The Nights
Thirsty Lion
350 W Burnside St. Aloe Blacc
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Renaissance Cocktail 71 SW 2nd Ave. Merrill Lite
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Equal of Kings, Red Ships Of Spain, Heaven Generation
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Pete Petersen Septet featuring Ellen Whyte
Dante’s
Doc George’s Jazz Kitchen
4605 NE Fremont St. Frank Tribble’s Tribble Play
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Cotton Jones, The Parson Redheads
Duff’s Garage
Twilight Café and Bar
1635 SE 7th Ave. T-Bone Walker Tribute
Valentine’s
203 SE Grand Ave. Sick Jaggers, Fake Drugs, Branes, DJ Linoleum
1420 SE Powell Blvd. In Repose, Musuji, SelfMade Martyr
East End
232 SW Ankeny St. TLC Country Night with Mike and Josh
Ford Food and Drink
Peter’s Room
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar
Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Plan B
White Eagle Saloon
Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge
Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli
2314 SE Division St. Andrew Orr, Jen Howard 8 NW 6th Ave. Rival Schools
1305 SE 8th Ave. Murder Junkies, Krix, Hub City Hillbillys, Wayne Gacy Trio
Ponderosa Lounge
10350 N Vancouver Way Aaron Lewis
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Bogart Global, Mr. Plow, Delaney and Paris, Go Fuck Yerself, Dogbite Harris, Artemis Treefrog
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Tony Smiley Loop Ninja
UNDERWATER MOONLIGHT: The Undertones play Dante’s on Saturday.
Rose Garden
2929 SE Powell Blvd. Michelle McAfee
836 N Russell St. Garcia Birthday Band (9 pm); Will West and the Friendly Cover Up (5:30 pm)
FRI. MAY 27 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. Truckstop Darlin’, Phil Favorite and Mark Dybvig
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Sons of August (9:30); Mikey’s Irish Jam (6:30 pm)
2505 SE 11th Pete Krebs
Rose Festival: Curtis Salgado, No Delay
625 NW 21st Ave. Eric Allen
Hawthorne Theatre Lounge
1503 SE 39th Ave. Rockstar Karaoke (9:30 pm); Ron Rogers (5 pm)
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. The Old Town Bohemian Cabaret
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Lance From Ocelli (8 pm); Alexa Wile (6 pm)
CONT. on page 46
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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MUSIC
CALENDAR
SPOTLIGHT
Worksound
VIVIANJOHNSON.COM
820 SE Alder St. Tombstalker, Bryson Hansen, Sarah Johnson, Sean Joseph Patrick Carney, Alexander Ian Smith
SAT. MAY 28 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. Truckstop Darlin’, Morgan Geer
Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks, Padam Padam
Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. Jobo Shankins, Eggplant
HEY NOW, YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR: A fatal shooting last October probably unfairly hurt the reputation of the Good Call Sports Bar & Grill (11010 SE Division St., 251-8999), an oversized Cambodian restaurant and watering hole in the Far East (of Portland). That’s a shame, because this is one of the friendliest clubs in town. The numerous flat-screen TVs, corner pool table and appetizers like “360 Wind Mill BBQ Wings” and “Game Over Fried Rice” will all feel relatively old hat to sports hounds, but it’s the warm staff and full Cambodian menu that make this place a hidden gem. Where else can you down a pint of Guinness with traditional somlar machu kreung ($8.50)—a fantastic, lemongrass-based soup with watercress and thick, tender chunks of beef? Seattle, from what we’re told. This is closer—and awesome. A live-music schedule only sweetens the deal. CASEY JARMAN. Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Devin Phillips Band
Kells
112 SW 2nd Ave. Cul An Ti
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Pagan Jug Band (9:30 pm); Alice Stuart (6 pm)
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Michele Van Kleef
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Sonny Hess Trio
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Fools in Paradise, Play/ Start, Eighteen Individual Eyes (9 pm); Amy Steinberg and Nicole Saguree (6 pm)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Alberta Cross, Oh Darling, Adrian H and the Wounds (9 pm); Eye Candy VJs (5 pm)
Mount Tabor Theater
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Ritual Healing, Deep Sea Vents, Bring the Dead, Titarius
Refectory Restaurant & Lounge 1618 NE 122nd Ave. Baby Boomers Dance Night
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Rusty Saw Band
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave. Laidback Luke, Donald Glaude, Gabriel Driscoll, DJ Wiggles
Secret Society Lounge
1033 NW 16th Ave. Gun Party, The Vacilitators, Mollybolt, Couch
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
Mudai Lounge
The Blue Diamond
8105 SE 7th Ave. Never Strangers
2016 NE Sandy Blvd. Lloyd Allen Sr.
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Saloon Ensemble
The Crown Room
3158 E Burnside St. The New Iberians
205 NW 4th Ave. Blown: The Bassist, Drewbot, D Poetica, Saltfeend
Original Halibut’s II
The Globe
Music Millennium
2527 NE Alberta St. Lloyd Jones
Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli
2314 SE Division St. Lynn Conover
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. Streakin’ Healys, Go Ballistic, Glen
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. The Don of Division St.
46
2045 SE Belmont St. Parfait Bassale
The Gorge Ampitheatre
2026 NE Alberta St. Order of the Gash, Ten Speed Warlock, Black Budget
The Whiskey Bar
31 NW 1st Ave. Travis Petersen Band
The World Famous Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Thee Headliners, Breezin, Swamp Buck 71 SW 2nd Ave. Johnny Smokes 317 NW Broadway Hairassault
Tonic Lounge
115 NW 5th Ave. Pink Slip, Disco for Deer, Nilika Remi
Beaterville Cafe
Vie de Boheme 1530 SE 7th Ave. Quintillion
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. Lucy Hammond Band
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Low Tide Drifters, Back Porch Revival, Whiskey Puppy (9:30 pm); Reverb Brothers (5:30 pm)
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar
128 NE Russell St. Yeasayer, Smith Westerns, Hush Hush
Union Station, 800 NW 6th Ave Tony Pacini Trio
Wonder Ballroom
112 SW 2nd Ave. Cul An Ti
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Stevie Nicks Tribute
Lola’s Room at the Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. Jai Ho! Strictly Bhangra Dance Party
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Lincoln Crockett Duo
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road The Brothers Jam
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Great Migration (9 pm); Keep Your Fork, There’s Pie (6 pm); Lorna Miller’s Little Kids’ Jamboree (4 pm)
Mississippi Studios
Mock Crest Tavern
6000 NE Glisan St. Jimmy Boyer (9:30 pm); Twisted Whistle (5 pm)
Bunk Bar
3435 N Lombard St. Blueprints
Mount Tabor Theater
1028 SE Water Ave. Jaill, The Needful Longings
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Garcia Birthday Band, Lost Creek Gang, Twisted Whistle
Camellia Lounge
Mudai Lounge
510 NW 11th Ave. Malea
2032 SW 5th Ave. LaRhonda Steele Band 5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Elite
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. The Undertones, The Polaroids
Doc George’s Jazz Kitchen
4605 NE Fremont St. Jay Harris’ Moon by Night Soul Trio
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Gayngs, White Hinterland
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Big Monti and His Precious Darlings, Henry Cooper
Ella Street Social Club
1420 SE Powell Blvd. The Angry Lions, Race of Strangers, Out Land Pray, Van Halla
Kells
Biddy McGraw’s
Tony Starlight’s
Twilight Café and Bar
221 NW 10th Ave. Mike Prigodich and Mpeg with The Damian Erskine Project
2201 N Killingsworth St. Kode Bluuz Band
East End
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Jazz Express Big Band
Jimmy Mak’s
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Sera Cahoone, Greylag, Kasey Anderson
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Rawkeye, Orange (8:30 pm); The Poor Sports Band (5 pm)
Wilfs Restaurant and Bar
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
Backspace
Clyde’s Prime Rib
754 Silica Road NW, George, Wash. Sasquatch: Foo Fighters, DJ Anjali & The Incredible Kid, Death From Above 1979 and more
1001 SW Broadway
225 SW Ash St. Radio Moscow, Root Jack, White Orange, Macrocosm
The Know
Tiger Bar
Slabtown
Ash Street Saloon
Candlelight Cafe and Bar
Sellwood Public House 8132 SE 13th Ave. Aaron Baca
1314 NW Glisan St. Toshi Onizuka Trio
426 SW Washington St. The OK Bird, Autopilot is for Lovers, The Whole Wide World
Thirsty Lion
8635 N Lombard St. Jobo Shakins, Ariel Dollinger, Amber Navron, Christine Donaldson
Muddy Rudder Public House
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
116 NE Russell St. Chulrua (8:30 pm); The Brazillionaires (6 pm)
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Animal Farm, Philly’s Phunkestra, Al One & KP 801 NE Broadway Hausu, Long Long Long, Twin Steps
Johnny Martin
Andina
Lilian Soderman (8 pm); Marie Schumacher (6 pm)
203 SE Grand Ave. Eternal Summers, The Beets, Awkward Energy 714 SW 20th Place DJ Money?Munson, Deuce Gunnery, X-Kid, Krude Love, Valer Music HD, D-Pro
Goodfoot Lounge 2845 SE Stark St. McTuff with Skerik
Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Rose Festival: Fitz & The Tantrums, Le Roy Bell and His Only Friends, Bushwalla, Cas Halley
Hawthorne Hophouse 4111 SE Hawthorne Kory Quinn and the Comrades
Hawthorne Theatre Lounge
1503 SE 39th Ave. The Secret Whistle (10 pm); Vanessa Rogers (7 pm)
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Flight 19, Crust, Stone Worker, Of Former Fame
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St.
801 NE Broadway Doctor Moss, Datura Blues, K-Tel ‘79
Original Halibut’s II 2527 NE Alberta St. Duffy Bishop
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. Spittin Cobras, Avalerion, The Visuals
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. Ed’s Red Reds, Bazillionaire, Woodwinds
Proper Eats Market and Cafe 8638 N Lombard St. Greg Lief
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Jim Jams, Item 9, Akula
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. The Bradley Band
Saratoga
6910 N Interstate Ave. Hungry Ghosts, A Season of Tanagers, Kowloon
Secret Society Lounge 116 NE Russell St. Brownish Black ( pm); The Portland Playboys (6 pm)
Sellwood Public House 8132 SE 13th Ave. Dick Lappe and Friends
Slabtown
1033 NW 16th Ave. The Friendly Skies, Ports Will Call, Peninsulas
Slim’s Cocktail Bar 8635 N Lombard St. Coyotes, Rare Monk
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. Thrones, Sedan, Wizard Rifle, Practise
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave. Crossfire
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. The Planet Jackers, The New Solution
The Crown Room 205 NW 4th Ave. Massive
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Hot N’ Bothered (9:30 pm); Macy Bensley Band (7:30 pm)
The Gorge Ampitheatre
754 Silica Road NW, George, Wash. Sasquatch: Bass Nectar, Death Cab for Cutie, Sleigh Bells and more
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar 1001 SW Broadway Linda Lee Michelet
The Know
Hawthorne Theatre Lounge
Tonic Lounge
1503 SE 39th Ave. Alec Berg
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Microtia, Loom, Cicadas, Jr. Worship
Hawthorne Theatre
Tupai at Andina
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Margaret Wehr, Real Age, Lee Dennis, The Lab Rats, Myselfdestruct, Erik Anarchy, Zodiac, Frisk Me Now, The Oblivion, Filth Machine
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Ama Bently, Eric S. Gregory, Brian Manning, Joel Kraft
2026 NE Alberta St. Perfect Look, New York Rifles
Kells
The Record Room
LaurelThirst
8 NE Killingsworth St Slutty Hearts
The World Famous Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Left Coast Country with Audrey McLain
Thirsty Lion
71 SW 2nd Ave. The Remasters
Tiger Bar
317 NW Broadway Tender Box, Throwback Suburbia, Ape Machine
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. The Weak Knees, The People’s Meat, Coyotes Killed The Unicorn
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. The Tony Starlight Show
Twilight Café and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd. 8 Foot, Cootie Platoon, Minty Rosa, Miranda Project
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Pale Blue Sky, Station Zero, Sinus Rhythm (9:30 pm); The Student Loan (4:30 pm)
Wilfs Restaurant and Bar
Union Station, 800 NW 6th Ave Kate Davis Trio
Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St. Lykke Li, Grimes
SUN. MAY 29 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Kevin Devine
Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Trailer Park Boys
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Danny Romero
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. In Bloom, Poke Da Squid, Asteroid M, The Closet Monsters
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. The Brothers Todd
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. White Denim, White Arrow
Clyde’s Prime Rib
5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Ron Steen’s Jazz Jam
Doc George’s Jazz Kitchen
4605 NE Fremont St. Ed Neumann with the Big Easy Band
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Noah and the Whale, Bahamas
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. The Stolen Sweets
Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Rose Festival: Justin Moore, Christian Kane, Walker Hayes
112 SW 2nd Ave. Eric Tonsfeldt 2958 NE Glisan St. Billy Kennedy and Tim Acott (9:30 pm); Freak Mountain Ramblers (6 pm)
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Jack McMahon
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Elizabeth Nicholson and Bob Soper
Mississippi Pizza
1314 NW Glisan St. Gretchen Mitchell
Twilight Café and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd. Molten Lava
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Cat Stalks Bird, The Reservations, Blood Beach
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Open Mic / Songwriter Showcase
MON. MAY 30 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Kevin Devine
Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. Jonathan Brinkley (9:30 pm); Wednesday Girls (6:30 pm)
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Scott Head
Ash Street Saloon
3552 N Mississippi Ave. No More Parachutes (9 pm); Tree Top Tribe (6 pm)
225 SW Ash St. The Sawyer Family, Viva le Vox
Mississippi Studios
115 NW 5th Ave. Battery-Powered Music
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Pepper Rabbit, Archeology
Mudai Lounge
801 NE Broadway Sick Fuck, Koth, DJ Tuff Gnarly
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Irish Music
NEPO 42
5403 NE 42nd Ave. Open Mic
Backspace
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Nicole Campbell
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave. Doom, Hellshock, Deathcharge, Religious War, Ripper
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Biffy Clyro, Water and Bodies
East End
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery
203 SE Grand Ave. Heavy Metal Ladies Night: Ninja, Rye Wolves, Aerial Ruin, DJ Nate C
Rontoms
Ella Street Social Club
Roseland Theater
Goodfoot Lounge
Secret Society Lounge
Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park
206 SW Morrison St. Trio Subtonic 600 E Burnside St. Brothers Young, Mutineers, Hurtbird
8 NW 6th Ave. Borgore, SPL, DJ Faded 116 NE Russell St. Hanz Araki and Cary Novotny
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
8635 N Lombard St. Susurrus Station, Wax Edison, Night Mechanic
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Saxophobia
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. The Wishermen
The Gorge Ampitheatre
754 Silica Road NW, George, Wash. Sasquatch: Ratatat, Modest Mouse, MSTRKRFT and more
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Highlonesome, Dogbite Harris
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Social Graces, Hooray for Everything, Angries
The Woods
6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. Themes, The New Trust, Lost Lonely Boys
The World Famous Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Sons of August, Kasey Anderson, Anodyne Gearhart
714 SW 20th Place Echo Pearl Varsity, Stay Cool Forever 2845 SE Stark St. Open Mic
Rose Festival: The Usual Suspects; Lock, Stock & Barrel; Conchords Chorale Sing-Along; Diva and the Dixies
Kells
112 SW 2nd Ave. Cary Novotony
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Kung Pao Chickens (9 pm); Little Sue (6 pm)
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Skip vonKuske
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Bob Shoemaker
Mount Tabor Theater
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Keegan Smith & The Fam
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Lloyd Jones
O’Connors
7850 SW Capitol Hwy Kit Garoutte
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Tasha and Kaloku
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Renato Caranto Project
CALENDAR The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Hank Hirsh’s Jazz Lounge and Open Jam
The Gorge Ampitheatre
754 Silica Road NW, George, Wash. Sasquatch: Wilco, Major Lazer, Deerhunter and more
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. The Godstoppers, Strange and Unusual
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Office Diving, Hooker Vomit
The Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St Bummertown USA
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Paperbrain
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Buoy LaRue, Chris Marshall
TUES. MAY 31
Frederick’s Nordic Thunder
Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. Open Mic Night
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. Sons of Huns, Autoplane
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. Iron & Wine, The Head and the Heart
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. !!!, Breakfast Mountain
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Dover Weinberg Quartet (9:30 pm); Trio Bravo (6 pm)
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. 14 Iced Bears, Orca Team, Ghost Animal
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place Invivo
Goodfoot Lounge
2845 SE Stark St. Scott Pemberton Trio
Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge
Alberta Street Public House
Hawthorne Hophouse
303 SW 12th Ave. Kevin Devine
1036 NE Alberta St. Nervous and The Kid
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. JB Butler
Ash Street Saloon 225 SW Ash St. Voltan and the Hawkmen, Shot in Minnesota
Beaterville Cafe
625 NW 21st Ave. Kent Smith
4111 SE Hawthorne Nilika Remi
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Tasha Miller
Kells
112 SW 2nd Ave. Cary Novotony
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Jackstraw
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Caleb Klauder and Sammy Lind
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road Open Bluegrass Jam
Mission Theater
1624 NW Glisan St. The Givers
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Dan Lurie
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Barcelona, Jenny O.
Mock Crest Tavern 3435 N Lombard St. Jeff Jensen Band
Mount Tabor Theater 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Electro Burlesque with Adventures!With Might
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Steve Hall Quintet
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. John Klemmensen and the Party, Eric Tonsfeldt, David Evan
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Toyboat Toyboat Toyboat
The World Famous Kenton Club 2025 N Kilpatrick St. Countryland
Thirsty Lion
71 SW 2nd Ave. PDX Singer-Songwriter Showcase
Music Millennium
Tony Starlight’s
Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli
2314 SE Division St. Paul Brainard
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. Ramblin Rod’s Bastard Children, Mills Lane, Heroin Mascara
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Beth Willis
Roseland Theater 8 NW 6th Ave.
2201 N Killingsworth St.
Tiga
116 NE Russell St. Dominic Castillo
Muddy Rudder Public House
3158 E Burnside St. Flogging Molly
8 NE Killingsworth St DJ Think
Secret Society Lounge
Tonic Lounge
8105 SE 7th Ave. Open Mic
The Record Room
Flogging Molly, The Drowning Men
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Ghost Mom, Burning Yellows, Dark Entries 3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Piano Bar with Bo Ayars
Twilight Café and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd. Open Mic with The Roaming
Twin Paradox
8609 SE 17th Ave. PK Dwyer
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar
2929 SE Powell Blvd. Music Extravaganza
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Will West and the Friendly Strangers, The Sale
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Party Animal
WED. MAY 25 East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Last Wednesday on the Left: DJ Dennis Dread, DJ Seoul Brother, DJ Huffnstuff, Vice Device
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. Dance-o-rama: DJ Isaiah Summers, DJ A-Train
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Darkness Descends
Ground Kontrol
Tiga
511 NW Couch St. TRONix: Popcorn
1465 NE Prescott St. Boolar
Star Bar
Tube
639 SE Morrison St. DJ Overcol, DJ Sean Moder
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Psychopomp with Noiseum
The Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St DJ Colleen
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Dog Daze
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Accidents Will Happen with Ms. Nomer
THURS. MAY 26 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. DJ Anjali & The Incredible Kid
Crush
1400 SE Morrison St Bump and Sizzle with Aztronaut
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. The Fix: Rev. Shines, KEZ, Dundiggy
18 NW 3rd Ave. Bang a Rang: DJ Colby B, Rude Dudes
FRI. MAY 27 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. DJ Miracle Miles
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. DJ Capcom
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Snap!: Dr. Adam, Colin Jones (9 pm); Aperitivo Happy Hour: DJ Hot Air Balloon (5 pm)
Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave. Supernature: E*Rock, Strategy, DJ Copy, DJ Zac Eno
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Hoodrich with Ronin Roc
SAT. MAY 28 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. DJ Honeydripper
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave. Blow Pony: DJ Airick, DJ Kinetic, Jodi Bon Jodi, DJ Lustache, Roy G Biv, Mr. Charming, Freddie Fagula, Double Duchess
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. Roxy’s Ego Hour
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Discos Discos: DJ Zac Eno, DJ Rumtrigger, DJ Lifepartner
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. Piss and Vinegar: DJ Moisti, DJ Shreddie Bear
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Demented Shadows
Tiga
125 NW 5th Ave. Prince vs. Michael
1465 NE Prescott St. Double Platinum Latinum: DJ Papi and Carlos Segovia
Star Bar
Tube
Someday Lounge
639 SE Morrison St. DJ Ikon
The Lovecraft 421 SE Grand Propaganda
18 NW 3rd Ave. DJ Wels
MUSIC
SUN. MAY 29 Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Sunday’s Best: DJ Nick Dean, DJ 60/40
MON. MAY 30 Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. Service Industrial Night with DJ Tibin
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. Into the Void with DJ Blackhawk
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Sweet Relish
TUES. MAY 31 Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. Down Tempo Tuesday with DJ Grimes-AgainstHumanity
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. Rock & Roll Swindle with DJ JD Star
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand DJ Deathcrush, DJ Decapod Claw
The Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St DJ Kevin Lee
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Maxamillion
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Tubesday with Ronin Roc
Yes and No
20 NW 3rd Ave. Idiot Tuesdays with DJ Black Dog
©2011 COORS BREWING COMPANY, GOLDEN, CO Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
47
MUSIC
Live Music, Music, Cabaret, Cabaret, Burlesque Burlesque & & Rock-n-Roll Rock-n-Roll Live Live Music, Cabaret, Burlesque & Rock-n-Roll
MONDAY - TUESDAY
MONDAY, MAY 30 The Sawyer Family, Viva le Vox
Tel. 503-226-6630 • Open Daily 11am-2:30am •
w w w. da n tes l i ve. c o m AMAZING HYPNOTISM SHOW!
M AY
WITH REED MCCLINTOCK
THU26RSDAY AY 26 M AY
TICKETSWEST $13.50 Adv
MIKE THRASHER PRESENTS
AY FRID 27 MAY
DOUBLE TEE PRESENTS
TICKETSWEST $15 Adv
GUITARWOLF WOLF GUITAR CHEAP TIME & THE FLIP TOPS
ALOE BLACC
SAT28URDAY AY 28
IRISH PUNK / NEW WAVE LEGENDS
THE
UNDERTONES
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AY SUMNAYD29
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Burlesque, Firedancers “The Best &Show DJs, Magic Debauchery! In Town!”
Karaoke From FromHellHell Hell SINFERNO Karaoke ••• 9PM CABARET & VAUDEVILLE••• - FIRE ENTERTAINER
So You Wanna Be A ROCK STAR ?
9PM - FIRE ENTERTAINER OF OF THE THE YEAR! YEAR!
TUE31SDAY AY M AY
No Cover 8pm Show
10pm $3
KARAOKE WITH A LIVE BAND
THE ED FORMAN SHOW
DSL
open mic comedy with hostess dirt starr love
FIRE SUN29DAY ENTERTAINER MAY
OF THE YEAR
TICKETSWEST $10 Adv 8pm Showtime
CONTEST
FOLLOWED BY SINFERNO CABARET AT 11PM
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JAMES ANGELL
AY FRID 3 JUNE
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& THE SENTIMENTS
COMING SOON
5/25 Jedi Mindf#uck 5/26 Guitar Wolf 5/27 Aloe Blacc 5/28 The Undertones 5/29 Sinferno Cabaret & Fire Entertainer of the Year 5/30 Karaoke From Hell 5/31 The Ed Forman Show 6/2 James Angell 6/3 The Skatalites 6/4 Appetite For Deception & Poison’Us 6/6 Detroit Cobras 6/8 Omar Souleyman 6/9 Orange Goblin 6/10 Dr. Theopolis 6/11 Western Aerial 6/15 Big Matt Benefit 6/17 Fernando 6/17 SIGN OF THE BEAST BURLESQUE AT STAR THEATER 6/18 Christian Kane 6/18 HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH AT STAR THEATER 6/20 THE BELLRAYS AT STAR THEATER 6/21 TSOL 6/22 Mickey Avalon 6/23 Mickey Avalon 6/24 ZEKE 6/25 Mudhoney 7/1 The Fleshtones 7/2 Ink-N-Pink 2011 7/8 FLESH: Smoochknob 7/9 U.S. Air Guitar 7/16 Purple Haze 7/16 BERLIN AT STAR THEATER 7/24 The Damnwells + Sinferno 8/17 God Is An Astronaut TICKETS AVAILABLE @ DANTE’S, SAFEWAY, MUSIC MILLENNIUM 800-992-8499 AND TICKETSWEST.COM
DAY MON E6 JUN
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48
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
TICKETS
G GOIN FAST!
MORE GREAT LIVE MUSIC THIS SUMMER AT THE STAR THEATER 13 NW 6TH AVE.
DNESDAAYY WE25 AY 25
[PSYCHO ROCK] Three albums into its career, Eugene quartet the Sawyer Family may not be as psychobilly as it once was, but the “psycho” part is still alive and well. With recent album The Burning Times, the Sawyers have perfected a cinematic blend of heavy rock and punk, creating a macabre symphony with jackknifing time signatures and balladry that plays like the soundtrack to a lost punk-rock horror flick. Not content just to get under your skin, the Sawyers want to blast out your eardrums, too. But the Family’s best trait is how well the band has honed its whiplash tendencies into a solid, macabre compositional formula. AP KRYZA. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430. 9:30 pm. Free. 21+.
Doom, Hellshock, Deathcharge, Religious War, Ripper
[CRUST-PUNK REDUX] Doom is one of those punk bands whose biography reads like an Icelandic saga: lots of characters, and a chronology comprehensible only when explained via flow chart. The group crawled forth from Birmingham, England, in 1987—four angry lads in leather jackets whose thrashing abuse of the electric guitar would be recalled by their children’s children’s children—to produce no less than two dozen records, break 19 capable musicians on the anvil of its touring schedule and survive the death of a lead singer via epileptic seizure. But Doom proved resilient, defying death long enough to acquire a fresh membership, a stalwart Japanese fan base and even a brief name drop in a Lady Gaga video (for realsies). SHANE DANAHER. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. 7 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. All ages.
TUESDAY, MAY 31 Iron & Wine, The Head and the Heart [WEEPERS & WAILERS] Sam Beam, the bearded gent who performs under the name Iron & Wine, has moved well past his lo-fi beginnings for his first major effort, Kiss Each Other Clean. With Warner Bros.’ money in his pockets, he has crafted an almost Elephant 6-like pop record with dense
arrangements and a more forceful approach to singing. What gets lost in transition is the austere beauty of Beam’s breathy, dreamlike voice accompanied by little more than an acoustic guitar. Openers the Head and the Heart’s own debut selftitled album suffers from a similar overstuffed fate, but being a young band, there’s still plenty of time to right the ship. ROBERT HAM. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047. All ages.
!!! (Chk Chk Chk), Breakfast Mountain
[MORE BOUNCE TO THE POUNCE] Whenever a group of white punk dudes decides to get its groove on, that usually means ripping off Gang of Four, but Sacramento’s !!!—commonly pronounced “Chk Chk Chk,” although any syllable repeated three times will do—doesn’t take its cues from secondhand funk. It goes straight to the source: Funkadelic, Chic, Zapp and Roger, et al. That’s what makes the eightpiece ensemble the most legitimate group currently tagged as “dance punk.” Across four albums, including 2010’s Strange Weather Isn’t It?, the band has proven masterful at the art of tension release: It winds up the tension via dissonance and agitprop (well, if lyrics telling the president to suck your dick count as a political statement), then releases it with elastic bass lines and fat, rubbery rhythms. MATTHEW SINGER. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 2319663. 9 pm. $15. 21+.
14 Iced Bears, Orca Team, Ghost Animal
[POP PRECISION AND WONDER] The return of 14 Iced Bears is a fantastic treat for the band’s longtime fans, though not a terribly surprising one. If ever there were a time for the group to reappear on the scene—nearly 20 years after it broke up—it’s right now, as a dozen or more current acts are taking the Bears’ jangly heartsick pop sound to dizzyingly successful heights (I’m looking at you, Pains of Being Pure at Heart). At the time of its initial run in the late ’80s, 14 Iced Bears was one of a handful of brilliant acts whose sound dominated the U.K. indie scene, finding a fan in the great John Peel, who brought them in to record two sessions for his long-running radio show. ROBERT HAM. East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. 9 pm. Cover. 21+.
TOP FIVE
BY A LOE B L ACC
FIVE OBSCURE SOUL SONGS I LOVE. D.J. Rogers, “If You Didn’t Love Me (Don’t Go Away)” I love the sincerity in his voice and the tenderness of the lyrics. It really touches my heart every time I hear it. Gary Bartz, “Celestial Blues” The philosophical and spiritual approach of this song won me over. I love to sing these lyrics over and over because it’s such a positive mantra. Eugene McDaniels, “Headless Heroes” This is one of the most strikingly political songs I have ever heard. The album [Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse] was actually banned by the Nixon administration because of its seditiousness. Donny Hathaway, “Someday We’ll All Be Free” Donny is my favorite soul vocalist and his messages were often very uplifting for people in a struggle for equality and opportunity. I hope to sing as good as him one day. Jorge Ben, “Cassius Marcelo Clay” Soul music is often relegated to Afro-Americans, but it is represented in forms across the world. Brazilian soul is, in my opinion, as significant and beautiful as our classic domestic brand. SEE IT: Aloe Blacc plays Dante’s on Friday, May 27. $15. 21+.
MAY 25-31
= 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 A Wrinkle in Time
Oregon Children’s Theatre puts on a marvelous and clever production of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic tale, directed by Marcella Crowson. The cast features three children as the leads, and three adults who play all the rest. Light, sound and projection work from Mark LaPierre brings the interplanetary travels and landscapes to vivid life; he also composed the thrilling score. The story enthralls: Meg Murry (Madeleine Rogers) is older sister to Charles Wallace (Jack Clevenger), and both are bright and not a little “different.” Charles Wallace—the brighter and differenter of the two, with a commanding performance from Clevenger, sweeps his sister and friend Calvin O’Keefe (Connor Delaplane) into a fantastical plot through space and time in search of their absentee scientist father. Meg is a realistic and refreshing heroine, flawed and unsure of herself as any teen would be, but ultimately strong enough to save her world. CAITLIN MCCARTHY. Newmark Theatre, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway, 228-9571. 2 pm Saturdays and Sundays, through June 5. $16-$26.
Back Fence PDX
The storytelling showcase features Rod Englert, a blood-spatter expert; Zachary Schomburg, co-editor of Octopus Books; Moe Bowstern, a “fisherwoman and former anarcho-activist”; Eric Scheur, an animator; and April Wolfe, half of the comedy duo Just Desperation and editor of Peninsulas Now Press. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., backfencepdx.com. 7:30 pm Thursday, May 26. $12-$15.
Bust
On any given day, the Los Angeles County jail system holds more than 18,000 men and women in custody—160,000, all told, in 2010. Lauren Weedman’s autobiographical play, drawn from her experiences volunteering there as an inmate advocate, is about more than inhumane jail conditions, weaving her visits to the jail with the humiliation and frivolity of the lives of the not-quite-famous. But it is the sense of overpopulation that lingers long past Weedman’s 90-minute performance, perhaps because the work itself teems with life. Where a lesser performer might fall back on narration to convey her reaction to the horror, Weedman, a veteran of The Daily Show and Reno 911, never once breaks character. She is a remarkable observer of behavior, and every person she encounters, in the jail and health spa and audition room, appears fully realized, conveying entire biographies through voice and stance, each of them immediately recognizable. Most of the inhabitants of Weedman’s world are more believable, indeed, than her portrayal of herself: “Lauren” is insufferable and unable to control her need to crack jokes, even at the most inappropriate times, to draw attention to herself, and it is impossible to imagine that anyone could be both this egoistic and so sensitive to the manners and desires of the people around her. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturdays and Sundays, noon and 7:30 pm Thursdays, through June 19. . $18-$40.
Fortinbras
Profile Theatre’s finale to its season of plays by Lee Blessing may pick up where Hamlet left off, but it’s no Shakespearean tragedy. Fortinbras is so contemporary it would be spooky, save for the superb humor. Following
a national disaster (bizarre royal regicide), frat boy Fortinbras seizes the throne and decides to rewrite history (inventing a villain, declaring false wars and shutting down nonconformists). “How can we be heroes if we can’t even see who we’ve triumphed over?” Fortinbras asks. “We need someone we can hate right here, right now.” Déjà vu, anyone? Don’t worry, the borderline raunchy humor (hot sex with a dead person, for starters) will bring you back to fiction. The talented cast, led by Profile regular Leif Norby, performs a retrospective lesson in History with a capital H, punctuated by witty comedy and Rolling Stones interludes. Written following the 1991 Gulf War, Fortinbras is well worth seeing in this strange age we live in. STACY BROWNHILL. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 242-0080. 7:30 pm Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes June 5. $12-$28.
Fortinbras
Profile Theatre’s finale to its season of plays by Lee Blessing may pick up where Hamlet left off, but it’s no Shakespearean tragedy. Fortinbras is so contemporary it would be spooky, save for the superb humor. Following a national disaster (bizarre royal regicide), frat boy Fortinbras seizes the throne and decides to rewrite history (inventing a villain, declaring false wars and shutting down nonconformists). “How can we be heroes if we can’t even see who we’ve triumphed over?” Fortinbras asks. “We need someone we can hate right here, right now.” Déjà vu, anyone? Don’t worry, the borderline raunchy humor (hot sex with a dead person, for starters) will bring you back to fiction. The talented cast, led by Profile regular Leif Norby, performs a retrospective lesson in History with a capital H, punctuated by witty comedy and Rolling Stones interludes. Written following the 1991 Gulf War, Fortinbras is well worth seeing in this strange age we live in. STACY BROWNHILL. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 242-0080. 7:30 pm Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes June 5. $12-$28.
Grand Guignol 3: Ménage à Trois
Another year, another evening of gory horror vignettes from Third Eye Theatre. The Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 970-8874. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, through June 4. $12-$15.
Last of the Boys
The jammed-up Vietnam vet, as a character, achieved its epitome in 1998 at the hands of the Coen brothers, but writers keep going back to the Walter Sobchak well. Steven Dietz’s 2004 drama, in which the prolific playwright endeavors to explain why America is still hung up on the ’60s, draws straight from the archetype. A pair of Army buddies—Jeeter (Michael O’Connell), a groovy community-college professor whose taste in music and spirituality were frozen in 1975, and Ben (Damon Kupper), a reclusive carpenter who mostly just scowls— down endless bottles of Miller High Life in the littered yard outside Ben’s trailer (vividly rendered by scenic designer Demetri Pavlatos), noisily flinging the empties into a dumpster and talking about anything but their ghosts. Ben has father issues so convoluted he missed the old man’s funeral; Jeeter went, and brought back a suitcase full of souvenirs and a thirtysomething girlfriend (Laura Faye Smith) he picked up along the way. She’s got father issues, too (he was killed in ’Nam, naturally), and works them out in the beds of veterans. Dietz, seemingly aware that he’s stuck on a well-beaten path, takes a page from Shakespeare and throws in some ghosts. A young soldier repeatedly appears from the wings, prompt-
ing Ben to channel, in the New Age-y literal sense, Robert McNamara, who happens to have been a close friend of his estranged father. When he’s caught speechifying in the dark, a shouted debate over who bears the responsibility for the war, who owes whom an apology and how the dead should be remembered ensues. BEN WATERHOUSE. World Trade Center Theater, 121 SW Salmon St., 235-1101. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, May 26-29. $15-$32.
Lazarillo
Last summer, CarlosAlexis Cruz staged an odd and exhausting circus-inspired performance titled A Suicide Note From a Cockroach. In that show, the writer-director-performer stood in the middle of the stage while a succession of tragedies transpired, loudly, around him, with much tumbling and mugging, to a soundtrack by Juan Prophet Organization. This show, very loosely adapted by Cruz from the 16thcentury picaresque novella Lazarillo de Tormes, is spiritually identical to that work. Cruz plays Lázaro de Patillas, a Puerto Rican New Yorker who is sold into service to a succession of cruel masters and eventually finds rewarding work at a fast-food joint. While the music (by Juan Prophet Organization, again) is good, and the masks worn by all the performers but Cruz are masterfully designed (by Kate Braidwood, who also performs), the show is, despite many entertaining moments, too long and too loud. The energy level remains so high throughout that sitting through it is exhausting, like watching a 24-hour Tom and Jerry marathon. Cruz obviously has a lot to contribute to contemporary physical theater, but he badly needs a director. BEN WATERHOUSE. Miracle Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm Thursday, 8 pm Friday-Saturday, May 26-28. $14-$25.
My Soul Grown Deep: Spoken Word in Harmony
BaseRoots Theatre presents a choral exploration of African-American poetry led by Shuhe Hawkins as Langston Hughes. Waterbrook Studio, 2109 N Albina Ave., No. 108, 971-409-5796. 7 pm Thursday-Sunday, May 26-29. $12-$15.
One Night With Janis Joplin
Portland Center Stage ends its season with a world premiere about the life and music of Janis Joplin. Boomer, rejoice! Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm TuesdaysFridays, 2 and 7:30 pm SaturdaysSundays. Closes June 26. $38-$63.
Reasons to Be Pretty
Attention, unmarried men: Never, ever say anything about a woman’s body that could possibly be construed as anything but complimentary. Ever! When Greg (Casey McFeron) tells his work buddy Kent (John San Nicolas) that his girlfriend, Stephanie (Nikki Weaver), may have only a “regular” face
but he wouldn’t trade her for the world, Kent’s wife, Carli (Kelly Tallent), immediately tattles on him, unleashing wrath of an order I hope never to encounter. Greg, a thick but well-meaning regular guy, fails to understand why his offhand comment results in his romantic termination, so playwright Neil LaBute sets about explaining it to him, through a succession of miserable experiences. Reasons to Be Pretty is the wittiest and most believable of LaBute’s plays about body image, perhaps because it’s less about appearances than the countless unintentional ways we hurt the people we love. Director Gretchen Corbett and her perfectly selected cast execute LaBute’s funny, profane script so vividly that I found myself wanting to spit on San Nicolas’ smarmy, despicable Kent. That’s some damn fine acting. BEN WATERHOUSE. The CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 205-0715. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes June 18. $20-$25. Thursdays are “pay what you will.”
CONT. on page 50
REVIEW SUMI WU
PERFORMANCE
Lobby Hero
Twilight Repertory Theatre presents a comedy by Kenneth Lonergan about four people who live in a really awful apartment building. Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 312-6789. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes June 12. $10-$15. Sundays are “pay what you will.”.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Having enjoyed great success in 2010 with August Wilson’s final play, Radio Golf, Portland Playhouse now returns to the playwright’s work to end its season with his first. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a better play than Radio Golf, its language more lyrical and characters better formed, but this production (directed by Kevin Jones), while good, doesn’t match the taut excitement of last year’s hit. The fascinations with music, family and insecurity that appear throughout Wilson’s work are already evident here: The entire play takes place in 1923 in three rooms of a Chicago recording studio (neatly stacked back to front in Daniel Meeker’s set), where white record producer Sturdyvant (Bruce Burkhartsmeier) is preparing for a session with blues singer Ma Rainey (alternately Julianne Johnson and Marilyn Keller). The problem: Ma Rainey has not shown up. The musicians, who gather in the studio’s rehearsal room, manage very little rehearsing between a lot of first-rate bullshitting: Cutler (Wendell Wright), Slow Drag (Jerry Foster), Toledo (Wrick Jones) and Levee (Victor Mack, in his best performance I’ve yet seen) are characters you can chew on for hours. The band’s scenes are the show’s best. When Rainey does show up, in stunning regalia, things begin to falter. Johnson gave an excellent performance on opening night, but Jones can’t seem to figure out what to do with Rainey’s stuttering nephew or vamping flapper girlfriend. I can’t either—the characters are superfluous. Jones recovers from the midshow lag powerfully, though: Levee’s reaction to Sturdyvant’s rejection of his music is terrifying. BEN WATERHOUSE. Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott St., 205-0715. 8 pm WednesdaySaturday, 2 pm Sunday, May 25-29. $20-$25.
VERMETTE, MOUAWAD AND ROBERT GAYNOR
SPLAT (IMAGO THEATRE) Carol Triffle, the co-founder of Imago Theatre, possesses the strangest sense of humor it has ever been my bemused pleasure to encounter. While Triffle and Imago are best known for the family-friendly masque spectacles she created with Jerry Mouawad, for the past five years she has been expressing her odd comedic outlook through a series of short, eccentric comedies. They all follow the same general outline: about an hour long, set in a single room with not very bright people wandering through, bumping into one another and giving air to their existential dissatisfaction in breathless, cartoony monotones. In each piece, Danielle Vermette plays a woman in an awkward predicament, whose troubles are exacerbated by friends, relatives or co-workers, one of whom is usually played by Kyle Delamarter. The characters periodically break to sing tuneless ruminations on their states of mind to cheerful music by Katie Griesar. Splat, Triffle’s fifth installment in the series, involves a woman whose plans to move to France and “become a French person” are delayed by the dead body in her basement and the mysterious voices on her language tapes, which order her to take off her clothes (she does not do so). She hires a mob cleaner (Jerry Mouawad) through the Yellow Pages, but he does more talking than cleaning. Like clockwork, Delamarter and Horatio Alexander show up to make life even harder. Like most of the rest of Triffle’s shorts, I find Splat fascinating and irritating in equal measure. I still don’t understand what, exactly, Triffle is getting at, but I still hope that one day I will. In the meantime, the plays are intermittently very funny, even if you aren’t quite sure what you’re laughing at, and present a least one moment apiece of real theatrical beauty. In Splat, that moment is a domestic tableau about halfway through the show: Vermette strokes a cat, Mouawad strokes a rotary saw blade, Delamarter stares into space, sobbing, and Alexander fiddles with a crossword puzzle, while a dead man with a tiny right hand cooks scrambled eggs behind them. As with the rest of Splat, I’ve no idea what it means, but it made me giggle just the same. BEN WATERHOUSE. The inscrutable musicals of Carol Triffle.
SEE IT: Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 231-3959. 7:30 pm ThursdaysSaturdays. Closes June 4. $8. Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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reviews, events & gut reactions Page 36
Visual Arts 25 RORY MILLER / Facing Violence (YMAA)
WED / 25TH / 7P CEDAR HILLS
ELI PARISER / The Filter Bubble (Penguin Press)
An eye-opening account of how the Internet is controlling the information we consume.
Gallery listings and more! Page 52
THU / 26TH / 7P CEDAR HILLS
SCOTT GUMMER / Parents Behaving Badly (Touchstone) A smart, funny, and long-overdue look at the over-the-top behavior of parents involved in youth sports.
(AND LATER)
JEREMY SMITH / Growing a Garden City (Skyhorse) Relates first-person stories of how local food, farms, and gardens have changed lives and communities. SUN / 29TH / 4P DOWNTOWN
CHINA MI…VILLE / Embassytown (Del Rey)
An extraordinary novel thatís not only a moving personal drama but a gripping adventure of alien contact and war. SUN / 29TH / 4P CEDAR HILLS
(Roc)
The latest from three popular fantasy writers. TUE / 31ST / 7P CEDAR HILLS
ISAAC MARION / Warm Bodies (Atria)
What happens when the heart of a zombie is tempted by human love?
A CURIOUS COMEDY SKETCH SHOW FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS 8:00PM, THROUGH JUNE 4TH $15 DOOR/$12 ON-LINE MIXOLOGY - A COMEDY COCKTAIL SATURDAY, MAY 28, 10:00PM ONLY $5
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MICHAEL SHERMER / The Believing Brain (Times Books) Thirty years of research about how beliefs are born. WED / 1ST / 7:30P DOWNTOWN
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Bag&Baggage presents a comedy by Charles Ludlam that parodies Hitchcock, Poe, Brontë and Shakespeare in the story of a murder in a haunted mansion populated by various shapes and sizes of Brits, all played by two actors. The Venetian Theatre, 253 E Main St., 345-9590. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, May 26-29. $16-$23.
The Secret Garden
APOCALYPSE NOW Trailing Colors NOW
THU / 26TH / 7:30P HAWTHORNE
ILONA & GORDON ANDREWS / Magic Slays (Ace) LILI ST. CROW / Defiance (Razorbill) DEVON MONK / Magic on the Hunt
If you think you know what to expect from the Northwest Children’s Theater’s musical adaptation of Snow White, prepare do be surprised. The classic story has been completely re-imagined in the style of Japanese anime, pulling from both the Grimm’s fairy tale and the popular Disney animated film. This pick-’n’-mix version in an oriental fashion makes for a refreshing change of pace for an often over-performed story. The greatest part is that it gives an updated moral message. Where in the Disney version, Snow White is saved by her Prince Charming, this version showcases empowered female characters who fight for themselves. Parents will appreciate the feminist message, but it may be hard for the adults in the audience to be fully entertained by the musical. The humor is definitely geared strictly at the children with little sophistication. However, the retelling is so original that it will keep even Snow White aficionados guessing the whole show. And it’s all for the kids anyway. ASHLEY COLLMAN. NW Neighborhood Cultural Center, 1819 NW Everett St., 222-4480. 7 pm Friday, 2 and 6 pm Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, May 27-29. $18-$22.
Kirk Mouser and Alan D. Lytle direct the musical adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel at Lakewood Theatre. Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes June 12. $20-$32.
WED / 25TH / 7:30P DOWNTOWN
JOHN GIERACH / No Shortage of Good Days (Simon & Schuster) Americaís favorite fly-fishing writer's observations on fishing, life, and more fishing.
Snow White
The Mystery of Irma Vep
MAY
Asserts that there are seven elements that must be addressed for self-defense training to be complete.
MAY 25-31
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
Weaving the tales of a struggling refugee, the shopkeeper who takes her in, two aid workers, a naive journalist and an elephant keeper, local writer and director Gretchen Icenogle’s new play tells the familiar story of lives brought together and torn apart by the Rwandan genocide, while doing justice to the complexity of a nightmare that still haunts much of the world today. The play moves with ease between its underlying call to action and the smaller but riveting plot lines among individual characters. Brutally honest in one moment, as humanitarian doctor Will (Keyon Gaskin) struggles with the reality of being African-American in Africa, and hilarious in the next instant, as his cheating journalist girlfriend, Leah (Jenny Finke), realizes that she’s been set up to cover the humanitarian work of Will’s own secret lover, Cinzia (Kate Mura), Icenogle’s piece provides an emotional balance that keeps the two-hour performance interesting and fresh. Also notable is Lauren Modica’s compelling performance as Rose, the toughened shopkeeper who takes pity on Tutsi refugee Marie-Claire (Shoshana Maxwell). NATALIE BAKER. The Headwaters, 55 NE Farragut St., No. 9, 800-838-3006. 8 pm ThursdaySaturday, 2 pm Sunday, May 26-29. $10-$15. Thursday is “pay what you will.” Proceeds from Thursday and Saturday performances benefit charities working in Rwanda.
Voices of Our Elders @ Elders in Action
Well Arts presents a play written and performed by a dozen volunteers for Elders in Action. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., wellarts.org. 2 pm Saturday, May 21. $20.
’Tis Pity She’s a Whore
Compass Rep has chosen a ballsy work for its second production in
JOHN RUDOFF
FOOD & DRINK
PERFORMANCE
[TITLE OF SHOW] John Ford’s controversial Jacobean tragedy ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore. The tale of incest and lust was naturally quite shocking in the 17th century, but even today’s super-cynical and open-minded audiences will still squirm a little in their seats at the sight of siblings shagging onstage. Young Giovanni (Noah Dunham) falls passionately in love with his sister, Annabella (Alex Leigh Ramirez), who is fending off the unwanted advances of several other suitors. After a bit of eyelid batting, the two cast aside their crushing Catholic guilt and begin screwing like horny teenagers. It all goes rapidly downhill from there, in a bloody mess of murder, eye gouging and moneygrubbing cardinals. One of the reasons the play caused such a stir in its time was for making a sympathetic protagonist out of the incestuous Giovanni. This production—either by design or flaw— never quite achieves that (Giovanni spends so much time shouting at us, it’s frankly a relief when he’s inevitably knifed). That honor goes to the farcically foppish Bergetto, who is portrayed with such great physical comedy by Orion Bradshaw that his is the only truly upsetting death in the whole performance. The show is not quite as powerful as it might be in more seasoned hands, but it’s a credit to the new company for enthusiastically tackling one of the few taboos left in our society. RUTH BROWN. Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate Ave., 800-494-8497. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 3 pm Sunday, May 26-29. $20, $10 Thursdays.
[title of show]
There is very little meat in this 90-minute musical, written by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell about the creation and production of a 90-minute musical that happens to be this 90-minute musical. The joke starts to wear thin before the opening number, “Untitled Opening Number,” is through, but that’s sort of the point, I think. [Title of show] is a quick, funny, foul-mouthed exercise in interesting harmony, sung, in Greg Tamblyn’s production for Triangle Productions, by four of the city’s finest voices. Erin Charles, Dale Johannes, Joe Theissen and Pam Mahon are obviously having a blast with the score’s dynamic tricks and tricky chords, and watching them play is just delightful. It’s also a great showcase for Triangle’s new venue, a very nice little theater inside the former Salvation Army building on Northeast Sandy Boulevard. BEN WATERHOUSE. Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 239-5919. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, May 26-29. $15-$35.
COMEDY Apocalypse Now and Later
Curious Comedy’s post-apocalyptic view of the world is typical: domination of corporations, prevalence of technology, overpopulation and the like. The satire is somewhat generic, but the dialogue is clever, and the
actors do an impressive job of creating distinctive characters, especially Alex Gavlick, who worries he won’t have sex before “the decimation.” The perils of live performance are apparent at times: The cast mollified a few stray sound effects in one scene by intermingling them with the dialogue. The level of audience participation is high, as expected: The cast acts as a heaven-selection committee, deciding which audience members get to pass through the pearly gates above. The content gets pleasantly raunchier during the long-form improv that ends the show, better demonstrating the cast’s ability to produce laughs. KAREN LOCKE. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays through June 4. $12-$15.
Comedy Night at the Bagdad
This week, Tristian Spillman’s weekly comedy showcase features Richard Bain. Bagdad Theater & Pub, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 236-9234. 10 pm Fridays. $5. 21+.
Improvcalypse
Is apocalyptic improv a genre now? The Brody Theater digs some laughs out of the end of the world in this late-night show. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8 pm Saturday, May 28, then 10 pm Saturdays, June 11-25. $8. $10 opening night.
Lezberados
Hot Flash Dances presents comedy by Sandra Valls and Mimi Gonzalez. Aura, 1022 W Burnside St., 597-2872. 7 pm Sunday, May 29. $15-$20. 21+.
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 show that’s disgustingly full of talent. The actors take cues from the audience, asking them to shout out a hardware object (“hammer!”) or scenario (“rehab intervention!”) or sentence (“do not step on my begonias!”), which they instantly incorporate into their skits. STACY BROWNHILL. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8 pm Friday, May 27. $8-$12.
Portland Comedy Contest
The Portland Amateur Comedy competition runs in recurring heats all month. The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 29, at Harvey’s Comedy Club. Boiler Room, 228 NW Davis St, 227-5441. 9 pm Mondays through June 20. Free. 21+.
Trailer Park Boys
The idea of putting the cast of Trailer Park Boys, Canada’s longrunning cult TV show about hapless outcasts, petty criminals and amateur rappers smoking and drinking their days away, on an international tour is a confounding one. But the stage show is a wholly different enterprise from the television series. In concert, the show’s cast—under the guise of a community service variety show—delivers jokes, skits and surprisingly compe-
MAY 25-31 JACK HARTIN
PERFORMANCE
BREW VIEWS PAGE 55
RIVERDANCE tent songs in character rather than delivering reenactments of actual episodes. So while this is a can’tmiss event for die-hard fans, any random American citizen dropped into the Aladdin without warning would have more than a few questions: “Why hasn’t that man put his drink down for the entirety of the show?” “Where are their shirts?” “And who’s Mr. Leahy?” One word answers all of these queries: Canada. CASEY JARMAN. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 800-745-3000 (Ticketmaster). 8 pm Friday, May 27. $35.
The Weekly Recurring Humor Night
Whitney Streed hosts a weekly sketch and stand-up comedy night. This week: The Dan Cossette, Chris Castle, Saturn, Mike Dragoo, Mandi Alietta and Stephanie Purtle. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 238-0543. 9:30 pm Wednesdays. $3-$5. 21+.
CLASSICAL Kairos Ensemble
The group’s name might be unfamiliar, but its roster includes some of Portland’s prominent classical musicians: Oregon Symphony string players Charles Noble and Justin Kagan, singer Stephen Marc Beaudoin, Third Angle pianist Susan Smith, and Fear No Music violinist Paloma Griffin, who also plays with the Symphony. They’re performing Mozart’s String Quintet No. 5, Gabriel Fauré’s ardent Piano Quartet in C minor, Brahms’ sweet String Sextet No. 1 and music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, along with original compositions. And it’s all for a worthy cause—all donations go to the PHAME Academy, which “supports the development of skills and self-esteem in adults with developmental disabilities through education and participation in the fine and performing arts.” The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 702-0767. 7:30 pm Friday, May 27. Free, with donations accepted.
Portland State Chamber Choir
This reunion concert brings back former PSU choral director Bruce Browne, David Wilson and other choir alumni. They’ll sing a program of music by Portland native Morten Lauridsen, William Byrd, Leonard Bernstein and Felix Mendelssohn. St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1716 NW Davis St., 725-3307. 2 pm Sunday, May 29. $7-$12.
Portland Youth Philharmonic
The fine young people’s orchestra reprises highlights from this season, including American Romantic composer Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 3 and music by Verdi. Lewis & Clark College, 0615 SW Palatine Road, 223-5939. 4 pm Sunday, May 29. Free.
Third Angle
The always adventurous and increasingly accomplished newmusic ensemble extends its explorations of Asian music with an
upcoming journey to Bangkok for a residency at the 2011 Thailand International Composition Festival. The festival’s young director, Narong Prangcharoen, composed a new horn trio for the group, and it receives its world premiere at this concert. The program also features music by composer and longtime Third Angle collaborator Zhou Long (who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize in music) and two of China’s younger composers, Huang Ruo and Xiao-ou Hu. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 331-0301. 7:30 pm Thursday, May 26. $10-$30.
2011 LiNeup
ANNOUNCEMENT PART Y
DANCE Riverdance
Reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated, or at least optimistically naive: Like Cher and Barbra Streisand, the high-stepping Irish dance and music phenomenon Riverdance didn’t let something like a recent farewell tour prevent it from coming back to make more cash. So, if you have not yet seen Irish dance done with strobe effects and glitter, now is your chance. And maybe again later, too. Did we mention it’s now being done on ice? Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday, May 27-29. $28.50-$76.85.
TGIFF Social Dance Lessons
Try saying “Thank Goodness It’s Fourth Friday” in a Norwegian accent and you get the gist of this monthly social and dance thrown by the Sons of Norway. Mary Ann Carter teaches pre-dance dance lessons, and the Pranksters play big-band music live as you swing your partner ’round and ’round. Norse Hall, 111 NE 11th Ave., 236-3401. 7:30 pm Friday, Feb. 25, followed by dance. Event takes place fourth Friday of each month. $7. Info at norsehall.org.
The Old Town Bohemian Cabaret
Old Town Bohemian Cabaret presents Shanghai Spectacular, featuring comedian Richie Stratton, Russ Bruner of Swing Time, and various members of the Portland jazz scene in a dancing, singing, comedic variety show. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 719-6055. 9 pm Thursday, May 26. $15-$18.
TopShakeDance
TopShakeDance is a newcomer to the Portland contemporarydance scene, but its members are not: Jim McGinn spearheads the group, joined by Pamela James, Jessica Hightower, Chase Hamilton and Dana Detweiler, with Tucson transplant Amanda Morse. TopShakeDance’s debut performance, Gust, draws inspiration from the ghostly elements of the wind. Music by Loren Chasse. Conduit Dance , 918 SW Yamhill St., Suite 401, 221-5857. 8 pm ThursdaySaturday, May 26-28. $12-$25.
For more Performance listings, visit
FEATURING:
MAD RAD WEINL AND AND AND AND THE GLOBES TUESDAY, MAY 31 AT STAR THEATER (13 NW 6th Ave.) • 21+
FREE SHOW! DOORS OPEN AT 7PM B R EAK B EATS AN D I NTE R LU DES BY Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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VISUAL ARTS
MAY 25-31
= 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.
NOW SHOWING Michael T. Hensley
Michael T. Hensley’s medium-scale paintings look good on the concrete walls of the cavernous storefront level of the splashy 937 condominiums. Despite the enormousness of the space, Hensley’s work is chromatically aggressive and visually dense enough to command the venue, which was masterminded by real-estate developer/social activist Nez Hallett and curated by longtime gallerist Mark Woolley. Some of Hensley’s paintings, such as Coming Down the Mountain, are in the familiar vein of his signature style, diffuse in graffitilike imagery and outlined in black atop uniform color fields. But in his eerie Carbon series he explores darker, more minimalist territory. It is gratifying to see the artist taking fresh stylistic risks. Pop Up Space, 939 NW Glisan St., 998-4152. Closes May 28.
Chris Johanson
In addition to Chris Johanson’s drolly
comic-derived works, the artist’s latest show at Augen also showcases some less familiar avenues within his output, including the hilariously titled and compositionally assertive print Casual PostPost-Modern Sculpture. In the back gallery, curator Pamela Morris’ drawing invitational features work by six West Coast artists, including Portland ecoartist Bruce Conkle. Augen Gallery, 716 NW Davis St., 546-5056, augengallery. com. Closes May 28.
Selections from the PCVA Archive
While it is in no danger of setting the world aflame with drama and dynamism, there are some thought-provoking aspects to fledgling nonprofit YU’s inaugural exhibition, Selections from the PCVA Archive. For one thing, its extensive collection of correspondence, programs and newspaper clippings harkened to a time when true artworld big shots had shows in little old Portland. We’re talking Chuck Close, Christo, Robert Smithson and Donald Judd, to name only a few. The clippings also show the extent to which local media covered the arts back in the day.
An impossibly long, photo-packed, fullpage 1979 Willamette Week feature about a Robert Rauschenberg show would elicit Pavlovian drooling from any arts writer today. What does any of this portend about whether YU can revive public enthusiasm for visual arts? The jury is out, but we’d be cold-hearted cynics if we wished them anything but the best in their efforts. YU Contemporary, 800 SE 10th Ave., 236-7996, yucontemporary.org. Closes July 30.
Bradley Streeper
For Trophies, Bradley Streeper gilds taxidermied animal skulls with gold leaf and other precious metals. The resulting works are elegant and creepy, channeling both a 1980s Neo-Geo commodity critique and a 2000s-era Damien Hirst death fetishism. PDX Window Project at PDX Contemporary Art, 925 NW Flanders St., 222-0063, pdxcontemporaryart.com. Closes May 28.
Ted Katz
Many of the paintings in Ted Katz’s Looking at Pictures: The Edge of Vision present his trademark cerulean skies meeting the hard horizon line at the lip of an abstracted landscape. Others, such as How Far, are more pointedly gestural, with nearly abstract swaths of teal, royal blue, green and maroon sweeping diagonally across the picture plane. Still other works, such as Always Put Up Pictures, with its frothy waves,
suggest seascapes rather than landscapes. In pivoting between razoredged linearity and more painterly effects, Katz finesses the line between cucumber-cool cerebral meditations and the drama of atmospherics. Butters Gallery, 520 NW Davis St., 248-9378, buttersgallery.com. Closes May 28.
Johannes Girardoni
Johannes Girardoni’s wax-encased wooden boxes are drop-dead gorgeous and highly allusive, while his Exposed Icon photographic prints leave as much to the imagination as they give to the eye. This show, titled Light Matters, occupies the entirety of PDX and PDX Across the Hall and is one of the most sensually gratifying, conceptually challenging exhibitions of the year. PDX Contemporary Art, 925 NW Flanders St., 222-0063, pdxcontemporaryart. com. Closes May 28.
Cheryl Norton
Delicate and enigmatic, Cheryl Norton’s installation of clay-caked undergarments is understated, yet impactful. The neatly stacked piles of clothing rise from gray pedestals: highly sculptural, fragile-looking, implying volumes, divulging little. Based on porcelain work by Hong Kong artist Sara Tse, the pieces make a unique statement using a minimum of colors and visual information. Anka Gallery, 325 NW 6th Ave., 224-5721, ankagallery.com. Closes May 27.
Sean Healy
Pristine is not a word that comes to mind in association with devastated Northeastern manufacturing towns (“sooty,” “grungy” and “derelict” are more like it), but in Sean Healy’s dramatic Upstate, the once-thriving industrial hub of Brasher Falls, N.Y., becomes a spotless and abstracted metaphor for everything from urban decay to the psychic ravages of middle age. The cigarette butts and filters deployed in works such as Smoke Breakers, Ember and Male Pattern Midlife I, are placed with such O.C.D. precision and chromatic exactitude they turn a quotidian material into the stuff of transubstantiation. Elizabeth Leach, 417 NW 9th Ave., 224-0521, elizabethleach.com. Closes May 28.
Dante Marioni
In the triumphant exhibition Variations, Seattle-based sculptor Dante Marioni, best known for his work in blown glass, stretches his already formidable technique to include works in kilncast and fused glass. By extending his reach into diverse glass techniques, he pushes his own envelope. In Variations, Marioni takes a big risk, and it pays off in spades. Bullseye Gallery, 300 NW 13th Ave., 227-0222, bullseyegallery.com. Closes June 25.
For more Visual Arts listings, visit
REVIEW
LLOYD REYNOLDS A LIFE OF FORMS IN ART A calligrapher’s life beyond letters.
“Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed…. I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this…. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts…and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.” —Steve Jobs, commencement address, Stanford University, 2005. As Apple founder Steve Jobs suggested in that 2005 address, calligraphy’s importance extends beyond monks and type designers, and a big reason for that is Lloyd Reynolds (1902-1978), who created Reed’s celebrated calligraphy curriculum and also taught at Marylhurst, the Museum School (now Pacific Northwest College of Art) and in the Portland public schools. The Franklin High graduate became one of the best-known calligraphers in the world, named the state’s Calligrapher Laureate by Gov. Tom McCall. An exhibition dedicated to a calligrapher might promise little more than rows of elegant lettering, but Reed’s new overview of Reynolds’ work, Lloyd Reynolds: A Life of Forms in Art, shows that his abundant art and life extended beyond letters. It reveals a self-taught artist—hired to teach English and writing, he later discovered calligraphy in an old book—who absorbed ideas of useful beauty from pioneers like William Blake and William Morris and
found multiple outlets for his creativity. Along with many of Reynolds’ hand-crafted tools, the exhibit showcases his detailed woodblock prints and etchings, posters, puppets, makeup and design for theater productions, and book designs. The few remnants of his “weathergrams”—seasonal poems inscribed on cardboard or paper and hung from trees—testify to the ephemerality of both seasons and art itself. Not so Reynolds’ influence, thanks to his teaching. As Jobs noticed, Reynolds’ graphic design ideas permeated posters on campus for decades. And through his students, as diverse as poets William Stafford and Gary Snyder; composer Lou Harrison; type designer Sumner Stone; and screenwriter Ben Barzman, Reynolds’ humanistic artistic philosophy spread beyond the niche field of calligraphy, and Portland. Those ideals, and his association with the Young Communist League, landed Reynolds before the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee in 1954. After he refused to testify, Reed suspended him for a summer, then relented when he explained himself to the faculty. A searing portrait he painted afterward called The Accuser glares out from that Red Scary time. It’s no surprise Reynolds was engaged in issues of his time, because the exhibit reveals how much his art owed to his study of history, philosophy and anthropology. His correspondence and other writings on view here suggest that, for Reynolds, art was inextricable from culture and history. His own work has become a still-vital part of both. BRETT CAMPBELL. SEE IT: Lloyd Reynolds: A Life of Forms in Art shows at Cooley Gallery, Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 777-7251. Noon-5 pm Tuesdays-Sundays, through June 11. Free.
WOOD ENGRAVING BY LLOYD REYNOLDS BASED ON A TRIP TO VICTORIA, B.C.
WW ’s got a
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Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
nose for news
BOOKS
MAY 25 - 31
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
Q&A
By RUTH BROWN. 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.
RICK EMERSON
ZOMBIE ECONOMICS’ DAWN OF THE DEBT.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25
Library—Northwest Branch, 2300 NW Thurman St., 988-5560. 7 pm. Free.
Paul Pierson on America’s Winner-Take-All Politics
THURSDAY, MAY 26
The City Club of Portland hosts UC Berkeley professor Paul Pierson to talk about his new book, Winner-TakeAll Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer—And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class, which is...fairly self-explanatory, really. First Unitarian Church, Buchan Building, 1226 SW Salmon St. 7 pm. Free. All ages.
Write Around Portland Spring Anthology Release
Write Around Portland releases its latest anthology, Still the Days Grow Longer, from its spring 2011 writing workshops for people dealing with poverty, illness and other barriers. Reading will be done by people living with mental illness, youth from a therapeutic school, seniors in assisted living, and low-income-housing residents. First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson St., 234-4077. 6:30 pm. Free, but donations accepted. $12 for the anthology.
The International Dimension in Japanese Internment Research
Dr. Greg Robinson, associate professor of history at the Université du Québec à Montréal and author of A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America, will deliver a free public lecture on the wartime removal and confinement of Japanese-Americans, employing a “transnational narrative” and “enlarged time frame” to help today’s audiences better understand the event. Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union, 1825 SW Broadway. 6 pm. All ages.
The Filter Bubble
Former MoveOn.org executive director Eli Pariser’s new book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You, explores how Google, Facebook and even The New York Times are increasingly personalizing and customizing what we see on their websites to appeal to what we like. The problem, argues Pariser, is we are becoming shielded from news and opinions that differ from our own, so we end up living in a bubble that reinforces our own world view and hinders debate and the exchange of ideas. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm.
Verse in Poetry Reading
Local poets Bette Lynch Husted and Robert A. Davies will perform readings at the Multnomah County Library’s Northwest branch. Husted’s first fulllength collection of poems, At This Distance, tells tales of her travels between Pendleton and Portland. Davies has published three poetry collections: Tracks in Oregon, Timber, an Oregon Poem and Sometimes Subversive. Multnomah County
Parents Behaving Badly
In his new novel, Parents Behaving Badly, journalist and author Scott Gummer satires the cutthroat world of Little League—and the moms and dads who ruin it for everyone. Powell’s on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free.
Voices of Portland
The PDX Reprint project brings outof-print books about Portland back to life with reissues and public lectures. Its latest publication is Voices of Portland, a collection of oral histories of Portland’s neighborhoods, which was first published in 1976. A panel featuring author Christine Ermenc, PSU Chiron Studies director Rozzell Medina, the Restorative Listening Project’s Judith Mowry and Celeste Carey, and the Eliot Oral History Project’s Arlie Sommer will discuss the project, as well as Portland’s development and approaches to oral histories and ethnography. Project Grow, 2156 N Williams Ave. 7 pm.
SUNDAY, MAY 29 China Miéville
Award-winning British sci-fi author China Miéville visits Powell’s with his new novel, Embassytown, about aliens, space travel, intergalactic wars and all that good stuff. The Guardian called it “a fully achieved work of art.” Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, 228-4651. 4 pm. Free.
Growing a Garden City
Jeremy Smith, author of Growing a Garden City, will talk about local foods, community gardens and how community-based agriculture programs can help solve problems like poverty and obesity. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 4 pm.
MONDAY, MAY 30 Vanessa Veselka
Local Vanessa Veselka has been a teenage runaway, a sex worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train hopper, a waitress and a mother. Now she’s an author, releasing her debut novel, Zazen, which tells the story of a disaffected 27-year-old woman living in a Portland-esque city among an all-toofamiliar crowd of hipsters and hippies. Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 284-1726. 7 pm.
For more Words listings, visit
243-2122
They’re out there. Clawing at your mailbox. Gnawing at your mind as you sleep. Ready to devour you and your family. They have no souls. They have no conscience. The only thing driving them is the desire to eviscerate you until there’s nothing left but bare bones. Zombies? Nah—those undead pussies are nothing compared to humanity’s greatest predator: debts. We’re in the midst of a financial apocalypse, and only the strong will survive. Portland radio legend Rick Emerson has teamed with CNN economic reporter Lisa Desjardins to write Zombie Economics: A Guide to Personal Finance (Avery Trade, 304 words, $18), a book Emerson hopes will arm the indebted with the tools to deliver a shotgun blast to the faces of mounting debt and collection agencies. With a running zombiesurvival narrative paired with keen financial advice in chapters such as “A Basement Full of Ammo” and “Shooting Dad in the Head,” the publication is part workbook, part survival thriller and all grisly, tongue-in-cheek metaphor. Emerson chatted with WW to explain the concept of zombie economics and the very real threat of an undead uprising. WW: What is zombie economics? Rick Emerson: It’s a stripped-down, real-world approach to financial survival that uses zombies as a metaphor to make financial strategy easier to understand and institute and make the whole concept a little more compelling. So where did the zombie connection come into play? I’m a big believer in using pop-culture metaphor to convey ideas in a different way. I knew it couldn’t be zany or kooky or kitschy or any of those things, because when you’re dealing with financial stress, it’s not like you wake up every day and you’re like, “What a laugh fest, what a riot.” ....The analogy we use that we find works is, waking up one day and finding a single zombie on your lawn. One zombie, you can outrun—you can probably out-walk—they’re not fleet of foot. Two zombies, three zombies, it becomes a little hairy. But if you have a hundred zombies on your lawn, it becomes a whole different situation, because you don’t know where to run, what to shoot first. Most people don’t get into debt instantly. It’s not one bill. You don’t go 70 grand in the hole overnight. You wake up one day and find that you’re surrounded. That you’re in debt or your credit’s ruined or you’re living month to month. Did the actual economic apocalypse feed into the idea of comparing the financial crisis to a zombie outbreak? The recession was one factor, but the larger point was that I spent a long time being low-grade terrified of not knowing how I was going to make it if disaster struck. I survived because I became a colossal cheapskate early on. It is a book I wish I had when I was 20. A lot of finance books seem to be written for people who are already rich.... This is a book for people who are in the trenches and trying to get on stable financial ground. There are a lot of people out there for whom it’s not a question of mutual funds. It’s a question of how I’m going to pay the rent next month, how I’m not going to be evicted.
VA N I S H E D T W I N . C O M
BY A P KRYZA
So it’s kind of like a survival guide written by a survivor? Exactly. There are a lot of people out there who are going through something that’s very real. It’s not a question of how to shelter your wealth. It’s a question of how to survive. They’re trying to get through today. You are the hero and the survivor of your own story, and it is possible, and there are practical real steps you can take, and our goal was to strip away the clutter and nonsense and make it a little bit easier for people. Who is going to benefit most from this? College students and families of college students. Somebody who’s 22, 24 getting ready to leave school and they don’t have a lot of experience managing their own finances at a post-college level. When you leave college it’s kind of like being dumped into the 15th level of a video game. You have no guns, no armor, and they tell you to get to a safe house on the other end. This is a way to help college kids hit the ground running. Enough of this metaphorical stuff. Where are you going to go when the real zombies come? I’m reluctant to give it away. I used to say Costco, and finally after a long discussion I realized it’s not the best idea because you’re not as worried about the zombies as much as other survivors, because it’s such an obvious location with usually no fortification from humans. Assuming it happened here in the Northwest, I’d go to Bi-Mart, because (A) they have firearms and (B) they have a steel gun cage where they keep firearms, so you can retreat to it as a last resort. I will be prepared when it actually happens. If you run out of supplies, I’ll be at Andy and Bax, so if you need anything feel free to stop by. A lot of people have said Andy and Bax. I can’t really find fault with that. Fuck. Best of luck. READ IT: Zombie Economics: A Guide to Personal Finance is in bookstores now. Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
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MAY 25-31 REVIEW
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
HESHERTHEMOVIE.COM
MOVIES
Editor: AARON MESH. Acting Editor: MATTHEW SINGER. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, send screening information to Screen, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: msinger@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
NEW
An Evening with Enie Vaisburd
[ONE NIGHT ONLY, DIRECTOR ATTENDING] Three short films from Pacific University assistant professor Vaisburd pondering themes of fear, family and, uh, Harry Houdini. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Thursday, May 26.
Bill Cunningham New York
82 Arriving with the prized imprimatur
(and fonts) of the Sulzberger Times, director Richard Press’ graceful documentary is deceptively spontaneous—a quality it shares with fashion photographer Cunningham’s “On the Street” column. It requires real concentration to find the patterns and connections between haute Paris runways and harried Manhattan commuters, just as it surely took effort to get Cunningham to reveal any detail of his personal life—or even to sit still long enough to take questions. “He who seeks beauty will find it,” he declares, and his work is a natural subject for the movies: the physical ecstasy of truly and uniquely seeing a thing, and immortalizing a glimpse of it. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Bridesmaids
60 There is something a little labored about Bridesmaids, as if director Paul Feig and star Kristen Wiig were trying to compensate for a decade of Judd Apatow’s dong jokes by bypassing the genitalia and going straight for the universally scatological. Considering this is the first direct reunion of Feig and Apatow since they co-created the wondrously warm Freaks and Geeks, all that straining for ribaldry feels a little sad, like Feig and his actors know they’re sacrificing honesty for coarse bumptiousness. I don’t think it makes me a chauvinist if, when a movie climaxes with two people screaming in public about their bleached assholes, I feel a little sorry for them. R. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Easport, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
NEW
Buddha’s Palm
[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] A typically bonkers ’80s offering from Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers Studio featuring a kung-fu band, a flying dog and a fighting technique called the Eight Strokes of the Buddha’s Palm. The jokes, they write themselves. Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, May 31.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams 80
The new Werner Herzog documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, is comparatively thin on the cuckoo German’s trademark perversity— except when you consider that he has made a 3-D documentary about motionless drawings on rocks. They are, admittedly, very old drawings on very unique rocks: Sketched in charcoal on the walls of the Chauvet Cave in southern France, the 32,000-yearold paintings are the earliest ever found, preserved by a rockslide that sealed the artwork (and many bear bones) until 1994, when the cave was uncovered and immediately locked up again for preservation. Still, there are no flying dragons. You will have to settle for woolly rhinos, which doesn’t strike me as too painful a concession. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters, City Center.
Everything Must Go
75 Another movie concerning
unhappy people living behind perfectly manicured lawns, with a crucial difference: It’s about an unhappy person forced to live on his perfectly manicured lawn. Adapting a Raymond Carver short story, first-time director Dan Rush isn’t interested in simply putting suburban anguish on display;
54
he wants to deal with that anguish by dragging it out into the open, literally. R. MATTHEW SINGER. Eastport, City Center, Fox Tower.
Fast Five
70 Vin Diesel and his cast of chis-
eled friends—Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, some Asian dude from Tokyo Drift and the gorgeous model Gal Gadot—don’t just steal fast sports cars and obliterate the streets of Rio, they concoct a plan to swipe $100 million from Brazil’s biggest drug kingpin, who keeps his bills locked inside an impenetrable vault inside police headquarters. If this concept seems far-fetched, well, I hate you. Go watch The King’s Speech and get off my lawn, you damn intellectual. PG-13. MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Lloyd Mall, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy. NEW
The First Grader
52 A “true story,” they tell us—and
it is, up to a point. An 84-year-old Kenyan and former Mau Mau freedom fighter (Oliver Litondo, in a wonderfully charismatic performance) wants to go to an overcrowded grade school, with 6-year-olds, to finally learn to read. The kids are cute, the old man is saintly and mule-stubborn, and his own personal Mrs. Chips (Naomie Harris) is a caring and staunch advocate even as seemingly the whole of Kenya amasses its forces against his aspirations; mobs of parents implausibly throw rocks at a schoolhouse containing their own children. It is, of course, a heartwarming, Oprah-ready tale of adversity overcome and justice finally done, but the script is a pure Hollywood farce in which climactic speeches suddenly change the world. Litondo here is another version of moviedom’s muchfamiliar, pandering “magical black man” (usually played by Morgan Freeman), but he is in this case bewilderingly transported to Africa, where in the absence of guilt he is completely misunderstood. In its cheesecloth sentimentality and broad-lined heroism and villainies, this film is just as cynical toward the viewer as it is well-mean. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Fox Tower. NEW
The Forbidden Quest
[THREE DAYS ONLY, REVIVAL] Using actual footage of polar expeditions from the early 20th century, director Peter Delpeut crafted this 1993 fauxdocumentary about an explorer’s perilous adventures in the Arctic circa 1905. Fifth Avenue Cinema. 7 and 9:30 pm Friday-Saturday, May 27-28. 3 pm Sunday, May 29. NEW
Great Directors
[TWO DAYS ONLY] Conversations with—you guessed it—great directors, including David Lynch, Todd Haynes and Richard Linklater. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Friday, May 27 and 3:30 pm Saturday, May 28.
Hanna
65 I see no reason why every movie shouldn’t be filmed in a rusting, abandoned German amusement park. East Berlin’s Spreepark does wonders for the final act of director Joe Wright’s Hanna, which includes some jaw-dropping visuals—including Cate Blanchett walking down train tracks that emerge from the moldering jaw of a giant wolf. If there were an Oscar for location scouting, Hanna would be the 2011 front-runner; as it is, the eerie moonscapes throughout the film (Finnish ice floes, orange-tiled Berlin subway stations, granite military compounds under the Moroccan desert) help compensate for a script that feels a little too eager to be a punky parable. PG-13. AARON MESH. Broadway.
Hobo With a Shotgun
32 This is going to be a summer of
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
THIRD STONER FROM THE SUN: Joseph Gordon-Levitt caught with his pants down.
MASTER OF MOPPETS JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT SAVES HESHER. BY AA R ON MESH
amesh@wweek.com
Hesher is Peter Pan, if Peter flew in through the Darlings’ nursery window and refused to leave. Finding a suburban family rendered catatonic by grief, Hesher throws his laundry in the washer and plants himself on the couch in his BVDs, thus displaying his twin tattoos of an extended middle finger and a stick figure blowing its brains out. Whenever Hesher appears to his terrified 13-year-old host—which he does without warning, often in a brown shell of a van—he is accompanied by a metal guitar riff announcing his arrival. Hesher has named himself after an entire burnout subculture, as if he were supposed to symbolize a stringy-haired ethos, or maybe was just feeling vague about his individual identity. Hesher likes
the top of a waterfall. He did it; it was the highlight of his undergraduate career. It makes me a little sad to think that, last I checked, he had become a lawyer. Hesher isn’t a lawyer. Hesher needs a lawyer. He wanders into an indie movie—and sets it on fire. It is not an especially remarkable movie. It is a modification of what Andrew O’Hehir once dubbed “Cheerios realism”—this recent subgenre we might call oh-no-we-are-out-of-Cheerios-but-we-aretoo-dysfunctional-to-do-anything-about-it realism. The family Hesher adopts is in shock from a tragic automobile accident that director Spencer Susser dangles rather sadistically over our heads; we know we’re going to flash back to it eventually, and I wished he would get the trauma over with so I could see more of Gordon-Levitt riding a bicycle into a pool. Dad (Rainn Wilson) is self-medicating, Grandma (a poignant Piper Laurie) is addled, and tiny teen T.J. (Devin Brochu) is seething with esca-
“YOU LOST YOUR WIFE. YOU LOST YOUR MOM. I LOST MY NUT!” to keep a little gasoline handy, so he can set things on fire. Hesher is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. By the end of the movie Hesher, I was convinced he deserved an Oscar. Hesher has proved to me that there’s no accounting for taste—least of all my own. Most reviews of the movie barely recognize it as a comedy, yet two weeks after it screened I still find myself smiling with secret giddiness whenever I think of Gordon-Levitt’s blunt implacability and sociopathic sincerity—his matter-of-fact efforts to impart life lessons through parables about the time he finger-banged three girls, or his play-by-play recounts of dinner-table fights: “He said some shit, then he said some stupid shit.” Critical boilerplate often describes actors as radiating intelligence; as Hesher, Gordon-Levitt glows with stupidity. I knew guys like this in college—guys who discovered weed and hard rock, and then concentrated very carefully on those two subjects, speaking slowly and with great emphasis, as if not wanting to disrupt the sleep of a majestic animal. I remember one of these gentlemen spending a full week in preparation to set a sofa on fire and launch it off
lating rage against a violent schoolyard bully—a character arc reminiscent of Suzanne Bier’s In a Better World, with the same miserablist instincts. Also, there is Natalie Portman, whom we can tell is sad because she wears granny glasses. So it’s fair to complain that Hesher seems to exist in a different movie than Hesher—and yet I think Susser is aware of that, and is enjoying the subversion. Sure, his main character basically functions as Jesus listening to Judas Priest, but I for one am tickled by the idea that maybe our savior is doing his best, but just isn’t very sharp. The idea of a slacker Christ keeping it real for all us sinners is in the grand Lebowski tradition, and Hesher ends with the funniest botched eulogy since Walter Sobchak memorialized the young men at Hill 364. Behold Joseph Gordon-Levitt—the most hypnotic actor of his generation—attempting to ignite an emotional breakthrough with a confused speech about how he once accidentally blew off one of his testicles. “You lost your wife,” he concludes. “You lost your mom. I lost my nut!” I lost my shit. 76 SEE IT: Hesher is rated R. It opens Friday at Cinema 21.
MAY 25-31 ity in its bottomlessness. Nawal’s harrowing story is told in fits and starts, discovered with great difficulty by her now-grown French-Canadian children, as they try to find their unknown father in their mother’s homeland, after her death, to meet the eccentric terms of her will. It is a distancing formal gesture on Villeneuve’s part, one that makes obvious the film’s start as a play—it is now a play with some tremendously expansive cinematography, a great steaming post-Sirkian melodrama recast as meditation. R. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Fox Tower.
I Jane Eyre Coming to PBS in June 2011 A word of warning for fans of 77
period romances: This is Information on special preview sweeping screenings not the Jane Eyre you are looking Young director Cary Fukunaga in your community listed on thefor. back! and screenwriter Moira Buffini pull
Incendies
86 There are things you don’t do on
film, if you want to keep your viewer’s sympathy. You don’t shoot toddlers, for one—especially not in front of their mom. You don’t burn innocents alive. You don’t rape the main character, then get on speaking terms with the rapist. Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies does all of these things, amid a thinly fictionalized Lebanese civil war, but it manages to do so without any rote shock or hollow spectacle. The tone instead is slow-building elegy. Rather than dote lovingly on the grotesque physicality of atrocity, the camera registers instead the atrocity’s effects on the remarkably expressive face of protagonist Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal), a mother who is seeking her son somewhere in the wreckage. Her ability to register grief or anger or exhausted serenity approaches sublim-
everything dark out of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel and unleash it in all its gothic glory on the big screen. Although this version chops vast swaths of the original text, it is, in many ways, a much truer adaptation than most of the 5 trillion others, which have tended to polish away the characters’ rough edges—including casting inordinately good-looking stars to play characters who repeatedly talk about how ugly they are. Really, most of the characters in the original novel are assholes—ugly assholes. PG-13. RUTH BROWN. Hollywood Theatre, Fox Tower. NEW
John Gets Wasted
24 [ONE NIGHT ONLY] Awkward
pauses and uneven film quality? These are hallmarks of any flick making the transition from film-school assignment to solid indie. Unfortunately, the first full-length offering from local Paycheck to Paycheck Productions lives in an unpleasant limbo where nearly competent film composition enables bad taste. Still, the Kickstarted brainchild of proud Videorama colleagues Christopher Tucker and Will LP soldiers on as a giddily failed experiment. When the titular John is
given the mixed blessing of unemployment, it relieves him of a grueling daily trek to Beaverton but delivers him straight to identity crisis and, somewhat unbelievably, his first-ever high. What follows is a fond visual ode (limerick?) to Portland, with a frat-house sensibility. But poor performances from Tucker (as John), his coke-addled vixen, and the supporting cast make Wasted a pretty apt description of John’s odyssey of excess—though to be fair, it also provides a pretty accurate view of Portland through the hazy lens of one’s first crystal-meth experience. It’s as though Tucker and LP wondered why Office Space shied away from a valuable psychoactive drug subplot, and filled the gaps in for themselves. They picked a lovely setting. SAUNDRA SORENSON. Hollywood Theatre. 7 pm Saturday, May 28.
BREW VIEWS WA R N E R B R O S . P I C T U R E S
worn retreads and diminishing returns, but no last gasp will be as wheezing and shallow as Hobo With a Shotgun. Another full-length film based on an interstitial “trailer” from the TarantinoRodriguez Grindhouse, this Canadian feature (with Rutger Hauer as the titular drifter) has none of the borderfence political ax-grinding of Machete; it just wants to look exactly like an early-’80s film that wanted to make fleapit viewers retch in delight. The audience for Hobo With a Shotgun is supposed to retch ironically. I hated every knowing, intentionally shitty minute of it. It opens with crime boss Drake (Brian Downey, looking like a cross between Bruno Ganz and a slug) forcing passersby to watch him decapitate his brother with razor wire and a manhole cover, and that’s one of the less aggressively vile scenes. As the hobo, Hauer at least delivers a real performance from behind his shopping cart. He has catchphrases, but I didn’t find them funny: I don’t tend to write down the rants of the homeless people who sleep in our doorway and repeat them to my pals for giggles, either. AARON MESH. Hollywood Theatre.
MOVIES
Journey from Zanskar
[ONE DAY ONLY] Another documentary about the Dalai Lama. Cinema 21. 1 pm Sunday, May 29.
Jumping the Broom
45 From the opening marriage proposal backed by the world’s creepiest piano player, there’s something a little off-putting about Jumping the Broom, a wedding dramedy co-produced by influential African-American minister T.D. Jakes, who also plays the ceremony’s officiant. The movie contains all the requisite clashes between upscale and boondock families on Martha’s Vineyard, but there’s also an unexpected Grant Hill vs. Jalen Rose thing happening, a debate about blackness that becomes very frank and then emphatic: “I usually don’t talk to darkskinned girls, but I’m making an exception for you.” None of this is funny, but none of it is boring. PG-13. AARON MESH. Lloyd Mall.
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PAGING MR. HERMAN: An unemployed man-child who wears tight pants and is obsessed with his bicycle? Sounds like a typical Portlander. No surprise, then, to see Pee-wee’s Big Adventure receive the Lebowski Fest treatment via the third annual Peewee’s Big Weekend, a celebration of the 1985 Tim Burton flick that brought the irreverent genius of Paul Reubens’ stage act and later kids’ TV show to the big screen for the first and, as far as everyone is concerned, only time. (Big Top Pee-wee? Never heard of it.) Come in costume, and tell ’em Large Marge sent ya. PG. MATTHEW SINGER. Bagdad, 10 pm Saturday, May 28, and 1 pm Sunday, May 29. Best paired with: Black Rabbit Porter. Also showing: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Academy), Maximum Overdrive (Clinton Street Theater).
FREE
PREVIEW
Fred Martinez was a Navajo boy who was also a girl.
SCREENING Wednesday, June 1 at 6PM
In an earlier era, he would have been revered. Instead, he was murdered.
George S. Turnbull Portland Center 70 N.W. Couch St. http://turnbullcenter.uoregon.edu/
a film by Lydia Nibley
Airing on OPB, June 14 at 11 PM PRESENTED BY
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MOVIES
[SIX DAYS ONLY, FREE] International films of love and devotion. The Variant, 4810 NE Garfield Ave. 7-2 pm Monday-Wednesday, May 27-June 1.
P G .6
Maximum Overdrive
30 [SIX NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL] A
wweekdotcom wweekdotcom wweekdotcom wweekdotcom “THE SPECTACULAR JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT
IS THE ID RUN RAMPANT.
YOU CAN’T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF HIM!” -Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
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1/ 2
“WRY, GRITTY, SLYLY FUNNY.
MARY POPPINS meets CHARLES BUKOWSKI!”
REFRESHINGLY ORIGINAL!” -Kyle Smith, NEW YORK POST
-Colin Colvert, MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
“JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT IS
HILARIOUS!”
EXHILARATING!”
“
-AINTITCOOLNEWS.COM
-Marshall Fine, HUFFINGTON POST
Love Unlimited Film Festival
much-neglected and much-maligned item in Stephen King’s directorial oeuvre, 1986’s Maximum Overdrive is also the only item in Stephen King’s directorial oeuvre. King is one of those both over- and underappreciated writers; he is startlingly gifted at the basic-level craft of storytelling, the simple A-to-B-to-C stuff, and seems to have a uniquely fundamental conduit to the primal fears of civilized people. But he is also so hokey and unforgivably tasteless that he is flat-out unsuited to the visual medium unless given over to supreme stylists like Stanley Kubrick (The Shining) or masters of subterranean violence like Brian De Palma (Carrie). Maximum Overdrive is a showcase only of King’s failures— the bad taste, the callow gee-whiz histrionics, the tone-deafness—and so it succeeds only as a Troma-style comedic inversion of horror. Oh, but wait: I almost forgot to mention the plot, which is that a bunch of cosmic dust passes across the Earth and impregnates an arbitrary assemblage of big-rig trucks and electric knives with the evil desire to attack a truckstop full of assholes. Only Emilio Estevez can save us. Either this is a metaphor for Charlie Sheen’s life or it’s the most entertainingly retarded movie since Zardoz or The Room. R. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Clinton Street Theater. 9 pm FridayWednesday, May 27-June 1.
Meek’s Cutoff
93 “We’re close, but we don’t know
what to.” These lines, spoken in an apprehensive hush near the close of Kelly Reichardt’s pioneer drama Meek’s Cutoff, are a key to what makes her film—which is methodical, arid, uneventful and without resolution—so improbably thrilling. It is not, as many of us were vocally hoping, the Oregon Trail video game turned into a movie. Instead, it saturates an audience with the sensations of what it was like actually to be on the Oregon Trail: the complete disorientation, the exhausting routines as a means of warding off fear, the paranoia of being surrounded by so much silence but being unable to quite hear the most important conversations. It is a vision of the West different from and more intimate than any I have seen before, and it sets a high-water mark for the Oregon film renaissance. PG. AARON MESH. Fox Tower. NEW Mel Blanc Screening Series presents Radio Daze: Hollywood Behind the Microphone
[ONE NIGHT ONLY] The Oregon Cartoon Institute’s month-long series celebrating the work of the legendary Portland-raised voice actor Mel Blanc wraps up with a mix of animated and live-action shorts from the late 1920s to the early ‘40s, themed around the comedian’s love of radio. Secret Society, 116 NE Russell St. 7 pm Tuesday, May 31. NEW
My Perestroika
63 “Perestroika” is the term applied
STARTS FRIDAY MAY 27TH 56
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to the ultimately disastrous reforms Gorbachev brought to the Soviet Communist Party in the 1980s. In Robin Hessman’s documentary of life in Russia before and after the collapse of the U.S.S.R., the word refers to a more personal form of readjustment. Weaving together archival newsreels, home movies and present-day footage shot cinéma vérieté style, Hessman—an American who studied directing in Moscow— paints a complicated portrait of the last generation of Russians to come of age behind the Iron Curtain. None of the five former classmates she profiles ever really made sense of essentially having their reality erased in 1991 and replaced with something completely different, and they
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
WILLAMETTE WEEKLY (PORTLAND) — 5/26 — 3.772” x 7”
TRUE LEGEND certainly haven’t lived similar lives since: At the two greatest extremes, one guy now owns a store selling expensive French-made dress shirts while the other quit playing guitar in a popular punk band to busk in a subway station. What links them— and us to them—is the lesson that generations cannot be broadly defined by the political systems they grew up under. My Perestroika is no doubt well-made, but the universality of experience Hessman wants to communicate doesn’t quite resonate loud enough to make the film crucial for anyone who isn’t already interested in the subject. MATTHEW SINGER. Living Room Theatres.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
31 The original Pirates of the Caribbean worked because it gave us what we wanted: pirates doing pirate shit. But then producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski started adding all kinds of nonsense to the sequels, when all we really wanted was to see an eyeliner-wearing Johnny Depp jump off high buildings, steal shit, swashbuckle and crack jokes. So we arrive at On Stranger Tides promised just that. Stripped of obnoxious starcrossed lovers Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly and Verbinski’s belabored plot, we’re given a film that hoists Depp’s Jack Sparrow directly into the captain’s seat as he seeks the Fountain of Youth, pursued by a bevy of baddies ranging from the Spanish Armada to returning villain/teammate Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), hot chick/former flame Angelica (Penelope Cruz) and sadist of the sea Blackbeard (the craggy Ian McShane). Cue a high-speed carriage chase through London, swordfights, flesh-munching mermaids, ’splosions, looting, double crosses, and Depp swaggering around the screen like an effeminate Hunter S. Thompson with a bad accent. Yet it all rings hollow. New director Rob Marshall can’t make any of it pop, mainly because it’s all so bloody familiar and tedious. The entire franchise deserves to be buried at sea. AP KRYZA. PG-13. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Easport, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Roseway, Sandy.
Potiche
54 Catherine Deneuve takes the reins of the factory run by her piggish husband (Fabrice Luchini). It makes umbrellas. Yep, as in Cherbourg. François Ozon’s winking, 1977-set gender skirmish is painted in the Technicolors of Demy’s musical, though it also looks a lot like the set of The Brady Bunch. The title roughly means “trophy wife,” but the exact translation is “vase”—indeed, interior decoration and wardrobe steal the show, with a shaggy green telephone earning a big laugh. Speaking of cherished heirlooms: Here comes Gérard Depardieu, growing more adorable the more he resembles the Muppet Sweetums. R. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Priest
Paul Bettany is a killer monk—again. Not screened for critics. PG-13. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Broadway, Bridgeport, Division, Movies on TV, Tigard, Sandy. NEW
Purple Mind
[ONE DAY ONLY, ACTORS ATTENDING] An Iraq war vet struggles with PTSD. Hollywood Theatre. 3:30 pm Monday, May 30. Proceeds benefit Iraq Veterans Against the War. A panel discussion follows the screening.
Rio
63 Overall, it’s hard to watch a cartoon toucan without thinking he’s selling you cereal. But this one is voiced by George Lopez, and he’s selling Latino libido and the joys of species procreation. That just means more little CGI birds get made, and I didn’t mind that. I’m only human—I like artificial colors and flavors. G. AARON MESH. 99 Indoor Twin, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Broadway, Bridgeport, Division, Evergreen, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard.
NEW
Shoah
94 [TWO DAYS ONLY, REVIVAL]
Very early in the nine-and-a-half hour Holocaust documentary Shoah, director Claude Lanzmann asks one of the only two survivors of Chelmno, the first Nazi concentration camp to use gas vans in exterminating Jews, why he is recalling the horror of his experience for the camera if it brings him so much pain. “Because you’re insisting on it,” he answers. Lanzmann spent 11 years imploring witnesses to the atrocity—including the perpetrators—to share their memories, not out of a false promise of closure or catharsis but simply to get them on record before it was too late. He is a dispassionate interviewer; Lanzmann has said he believes any attempt to understand or rationalize this great crime against humanity is an intellectual folly bordering on abomination, so his brand of journalism is only the who, what, when, where and how. He digs for the minute details and arranges them in no true narrative order and without any historical footage—just words, faces and images of the sites as they looked when the film was made, between 1974 and 1985. And yet, that is enough. It is odd to call something of Shoah’s length a masterpiece of simplicity, but Lanzmann’s accomplishment is in realizing that what matters most are the voices of those who were there. With the number of such voices dwindling, the importance of his insistence that they speak grows with each passing year. MATTHEW SINGER. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. Part I screens at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 28 and 11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 27; Part II screens 5 p.m. Sunday.
Something Borrowed
24 Without a doubt the most harrowing of the Saw sequels, Something Borrowed stars Kate Hudson as Darcy, a tan with teeth engaged to a haircut with teeth named Dex (Colin Egglesfield).
MAY 25-31
Features Counting Crows and Third Eye Blind songs. Cover versions. Yup. PG-13. CHRIS STAMM. Clackamas, Oak Grove, Sandy.
Soul Surfer
25 The true story of Bethany Hamilton is basically a genderswitched 127 Hours, except she gets her arm stuck in a shark. I attended out of a sense of responsibility to the amputation-movie beat and because, hey, it could always defy reason and be good. Nope. PG. AARON MESH. 99 Indoor Twin, Clackamas, Bridgeport
Source Code
93 It’s Groundhog Day, except
instead of every day ending with a blizzard, they all end with every-
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MOVIES
body exploding. I think I’m going to love it for a long, long time. PG-13. AARON MESH. Clackamas, Broadway.
Tekkonkinkreet
70 [ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] Michael Arias (an animator who started as a programmer on Back to the Future...The Ride) directed a 2006 anime that’s basically what would have happened had Steinbeck set Of Mice and Men in a garish cityscape ruled by a homicidal Ronald McDonald. Two prepubescent brothers, White and Black, smash through the urban jungle until the mad clown sends his grunting goons to complete
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D R E A M W O R K S A N I M AT I O N
REVIEWS
DISCOVER HUMANITY’S LOST MASTERPIECE IN 3D!
UTTERLY REMARKABLE.
“
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WONDERFUL.
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INSPIRES DELIGHT AND AWE.
”
A FILM BY
-Ann Hornaday, WASHINGTON POST
WERNER HERZOG
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PO-FACED: Kung Fu Panda 2.
THE TERRIBLY UNNECESSARY TWOS The Hangover Part II 34 If nothing else—and believe me, there is nothing else—The Hangover Part II is bound to go down as the most profitable game of Mad Libs ever played. Writer-director Todd Phillips can claim he did more than just remove key nouns from the script of his 2009 frat boy insta-classic, then have co-writers Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong fill in the blanks, but that’s clearly bullshit. I imagine the brainstorming session went like this: “Name a foreign locale famous for debaucherous behavior.” “Bangkok!” “Great! Now, name something cute Zach Galifianakis can carry around with him.” “A monkey!” “Awesome! OK, what’s their motivation? Ed Helms is the groom this time, so we can’t have him missing for the entire movie.” “They’re looking for his fiancée’s teenage brother!” “All right! Throw in some chicks-with-dicks and Ken Jeong doing a ching-chong voice and we’ve got ourselves a hit sequel! Break!” MATTHEW SINGER. Opens Thursday at Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, CineMagic, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy and St. Johns Twin. Kung Fu Panda 2 67 In the first Kung Fu Panda, Jack Black’s Po is a bumbling idiot who succeeds despite his flaws by learning to believe in himself. Now we find out he’s a bumbling idiot with abandonment issues. Plagued by visions of the parents who gave him up for adoption, he starts asking existential questions like, “Who am I?” Turns out, he’s the only survivor of a panda genocide perpetrated by a megalomaniacal peacock (Gary Oldman). There’s a message about letting go of the past, but it’s uncomfortably crammed in between an almost unbroken stream of action sequences—all of which look spectacular—and an overcrowded field of voice actors (Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Danny McBride, Jean Claude effin’ Van Damme, etc.) clamoring to get a word in. For a movie with a theme of finding inner peace, it’s pretty fucking chaotic, but still a good deal of fun— even if it only exists to justify a third installment. MATTHEW SINGER. Opens Friday at Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Lake Twin, Moreland, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy and St. Johns Twin.
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a yakuza takeover. Some parts of this melange work better than others; overall, there’s far more shrill squawking than anyone should have to tolerate. But when it works, it really works: A gangland execution has the graceful tragedy of late Peckinpah. R. AARON MESH. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 25.
Thor
26 It has been two days since I saw Thor. Rarely has a movie given me so little to think about and consequently faded so quickly from my memory. Chris Hemsworth—he’s the musclebound Aussie who plays Thor—is from the “louder is better” school of acting, and lucky for him the role calls for plenty of incoherent yelling. But even when the film speaks softly, the dialogue is so entrenched in action-movie cliché—with just a touch of hackjob Shakespeare from director Kenneth Branagh—that you might as well wear headphones through the whole thing (Handel, maybe? Power-metal?). I’d much rather flip through old comic books than sit through two more hours of flexing and screaming. PG-13. CASEY JARMAN. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Broadway, Bridgeport, Division, Evergreen, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Sandy.
NEW
failure that secretly wants to be a very populist comedy. It truly loves sports, and not just as a life metaphor (though certainly as a life metaphor). Halfway through, Mike gives his wrestling team instructions: “The move is, whatever the fuck it takes!” This is a pretty obvious life metaphor (again, this is an indie movie), but it also represents McCarthy’s willingness to go all out to entertain. R. AARON MESH. Hollywood Theatre, Fox Tower.
NEW Zombie Film Festival Double Feature
[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] The crew behind Portland’s annual Zombie Walk, Zombie Prom and the new book Zombie Economics present two cult flicks about, what else, zombies: 1984’s Night of the Comet (9:15 pm) and 1985’s Dario Argento-produced Demons. Hollywood Theatre. Friday, May 27.
REVIEW IFC FILMS
MOVIES
True Legend
71 Martial-arts geeks know the
résumé of Yuen Woo-ping, but his influence on American popular culture extends beyond that niche. He choreographed the revolutionary fight scenes in the original Matrix, so even casual kung-fu fans have reason to anticipate True Legend, Yuen’s return to the director’s chair after a 15-year absence and to the stumblebum style of Drunken Boxing that was the focus of his first major film, 1978’s Drunken Master (starring a young Jackie Chan). After his vengeful adopted brother returns home from war looking like a Mortal Kombat character—ghostly pale with body armor sewn into his skin—and kills his father with a deadly finishing move called the Five Venom Fist, a military general (Vincent Zhao) retaliates with a poison of his own: wine, and lots of it. It’s loopy as hell, but it is also dazzling. Not just the surreal action sequences, either: Yuen lends as much grace to the image of an old sage levitating through a field as the final bloody and balletic sibling battle. Curiously, Legend’s headlong energy is diluted by an overlong coda involving a homeless Zhao fighting steroidal Caucasian toughmen that feels like it belongs to another movie altogether. That probably means Yuen failed to tell a coherent story, but did you see the part where the dude headbutted a snake into the other guy’s chest? Totally awesome! MATTHEW SINGER. Fox Tower. NEW The Upsetter: The Life and Times of Lee “Scratch” Perry
[SIX NIGHTS ONLY] A documentary on the dub reggae pioneer and allaround crazy old coot. Clinton Street Theater. 7 pm Friday-Wednesday, May 27-June 1.
Water for Elephants
SCREEN GEMS PRESENTS A MICHAEL DE LUCA PRODUCTIONS/STARS ROAD ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH TOKYOPOP “PRIEST” PAUL BETTANY KARL URBAN CAM GIGANDET MAGGIEEXECUTIVE Q LILY COLLINS WITH STEPHEN MOYER AND CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER MUSIC BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG PRODUCERS GLENN S. GAINOR STEVEN H. GALLOWAY STU LEVY JOSH BRATMAN PRODUCED BASED ON THE GRAPHIC NOVEL BY MICHAEL DE LUCA JOSHUA DONEN MITCHELL PECK SERIES “PRIEST” BY MIN-WOO HYUNG WRITTEN DIRECTED BY CORY GOODMAN BY SCOTT STEWART
30 Oddly, at no time in this surpassingly dreary circus movie does anybody fetch any water for the show’s sole elephant. It’s a gorgeous elephant, and just about every scene she’s in is interesting—as opposed to just about every scene Robert Pattinson is in, which is boring. PG-13. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Living Room Theaters, Oak Grove, Bridgeport, City Center, Tigard.
Win Win CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES
IN THEATERS IN 58
AND
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81 In Tom McCarthy’s redoubtable indie film, Paul Giamatti plays Mike, a New Jersey elder law attorney and high-school wrestling coach who volunteers to become guardian for senile client Leo (Burt Young, very touching in the role). Win Win is a drama about disappointment and
CANNIBAL CLEANLINESS: Paulina Gaitán soaks.
WE ARE WHAT WE ARE “We’re monsters, Julian,” the mother (Carmen Beato) tells her youngest son as he drives toward the red light district of a crumbling Mexican slum. She says this without shame or regret. It’s just a fact, as if she were reminding him he belongs to a family of Methodists or beet farmers. Frankly, “monsters” is probably the most accurate word to describe these folks, considering her kids abducted the hooker she bludgeons to death with a cane and then stuffs in the trunk of their car. They also eat people. Of course, real-life monsters are rarely born. They’re made in places like the dilapidated corner of Mexico City where writerdirector Jorge Michel Grau sets his unsettling feature-length debut, We Are What We Are, the kind of blighted ghetto that acts as a storage unit for society’s unmentionables. In the opening minutes, Grau demonstrates how the underclass is valued in modern Mexico: A disheveled man collapses in a shopping mall; within seconds, his body is dragged off-screen, the blood he vomited onto the floor is mopped up, and two shoppers pass by without giving the spot where he dropped dead a second glance. The scene is shot through glass by an unmoving camera, making the victim look like a splattered bug being wiped off a windshield, instantly whisked out of existence. Later, an autopsy reveals a woman’s undigested finger in the deceased man’s belly. “It’s shocking how many people eat each other in this city,” the mortician says. “In the reports they blame the rats, but the two-legged kind.” We Are What We Are is populated by characters who, as its title suggests, have become resigned to their status as rats and insects and monsters. If that makes them sound reprehensible, well, they’re products of a reprehensible environment. And somehow that makes it easier to empathize with a clan of cannibals struggling to put food on the table after the sudden loss of its patriarch. Grau’s socio-political commentary happens mostly in the background (and along the grimy, decaying edges of Santiago Sanchez’s cinematography) of what is really an intense family drama—it is not, in strict genre terms at least, a horror movie—but it is what the makes the film so greatly disturbing, as it blurs the line between allegory and actual social reality. Maybe we shouldn’t be shocked at the idea of the poor eating the poorer: Treat people like they’re subhuman long enough, and eventually it becomes the truth. MATTHEW SINGER.
People who eat people need people most of all.
80 SEE IT: We Are What We Are opens Friday at the Hollywood Theatre.
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ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS A VIEWPOINT THE OREGONIAN PARTNERS WITH A LIBERTARIAN THINK TANK. BY N IGEL JAQU ISS
njaquiss@wweek.com
Earlier this month, The Oregonian announced an online partnership with nine organizations to provide news, blogs and features through the newspaper’s website. The new Oregonian News Network, the paper said, features links to news sites that offer “quality local independent reporting.” These include MyEugene.org, the city’s “first community-driven news site”; the website for The Skanner, one of Oregon’s oldest African-American-owned newspapers; and the Lund Report, a well-respected healthcare news site. But some critics say one partner, Oregon Capitol News, raises questions about the newspaper’s promise that its partners are truly independent. Oregon Capitol News is paid for and run by the Cascade Policy Institute, a Libertarian think tank. Founded in 1991, Cascade espouses low taxes and small government, and “promotes property rights, incentives, markets and decentralized decision-making,” its website says. Oregon Capitol News, which has a staff of three, publishes news stories from Salem that look at a wide range of political issues, including some that Cascade Policy Institute lobbies on. The website also has a number of useful databases, including some that list the salaries and benefits of public officials. Scott Moore, of the union-backed advocacy group Our Oregon, first pointed to a disconnect between the guidelines The Oregonian established for its news partners and the choice of Oregon Capitol News. “The Oregonian appears to be breaking its own rules,” Moore wrote on Our Oregon’s blog May 9. “The guidelines for prospective members of the Oregonian News Network explicitly say ‘organs for institutions such as government agencies, political parties, non-profits’ don’t qualify.’” Cascade President John Charles told WW his organization’s donors asked his group to establish Oregon Capitol News in response to the dwindling number of news reporters in the state. At the same time, Charles maintains that the Oregon Capitol News blog is independent. “We don’t exercise day-to-day oversight,” Charles says. “I suggest stories to them occasionally, but 8
Willamette Week MAY 25, 2011 wweek.com
I am more likely to be quoted in Willamette Week than in Oregon Capitol News.” Cascade says it’s committed to transparency in government, though Charles would not identify who is underwriting Oregon Capitol News. Chuck Sheketoff, director of the left-leaning Oregon Center for Public Policy, says The Oregonian is lending its credibility to an organization with a clear political agenda. “Oregon Capitol News is merely ‘a project of’ and not independent of Cascade Policy Institute, and Cascade takes advocacy positions on the issues that Oregon Capitol News writes about,” Sheketoff says. Oregonian Editor Peter Bhatia disagrees. “I respect Chuck, but he couldn’t be more wrong about OCN, based on what I’m reading,” Bhatia wrote WW in an email response to questions. “Their stories are straightforward, simple news reporting and reflect no bias that I can detect. He’s looking for a problem that doesn’t exist.” During the 2010 election, however, Oregon Capitol News published campaign interviews with legislative candidates from only one party— the GOP. A May 5 story on increased greenhouse gas regulation didn’t mention that a Cascade executive had testified against the bill. A May 18 story on a bill to make tax credits more transparent didn’t note Cascade’s testimony in favor of it. Bhatia says The Oregonian’s views about its partners could change. “We’ll watch OCN as we do all the original partners,” Bhatia says. “Our purpose is to help these sites gain audience and to broaden the range of news available on OregonLive.com.” Tom Goldstein, a UC Berkeley journalism professor, says it’s too soon to judge The Oregonian’s experiment. He said the situation is analogous to the broadcast network Al Jazeera (owned by the state of Qatar) or The Washington Times (owned for many years by the Unification Church). “If over a period of time Oregon Capitol News or Al Jazeera or The Washington Times carries credible news reports, then the issue of ownership fades into the background,” Goldstein says. “Al Jazeera seems to pass the credibility test much of the time, The Washington Times passes sometimes.” Sheketoff says it would be just as misleading if the daily presented his group’s work as unbiased. “I’d welcome The Oregonian publishing all of our news releases and reports,” he says. “But I’d never ask the editor of the paper to claim [our site] is ‘independent journalism.’”