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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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A CLOSED BOOK?: Portland’s feminist bookstore struggles to stay open. Page 10.
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EDITORIAL Managing Editor for News Brent Walth Arts & Culture Editor Kelly Clarke Staff Writers Nigel Jaquiss, Corey Pein, James Pitkin Copy Chief Kat Merck Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Sarah Smith Assistant Arts & Culture Editor Ben Waterhouse Movies Editor Aaron Mesh Acting Movies Editor Matt Singer Music Editor Casey Jarman Editorial Interns Natasha Geiling, Nathan Gilles, Karen Locke, Corey Paul, Evan Sernoffsky CONTRIBUTORS Classical Brett Campbell Dance Heather Wisner Visual Arts Richard Speer
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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INBOX
Illegal Fireworks… Who Cares?
THE ENERGY DEPT. CASE Thanks for plowing into this [“The Cylvia Files,” WW, June 15, 2011] and making sense of it for us. I was turned off and confused by all the lawyerly nitpicking and posturing and didn’t follow this story that closely. As such, I tended to think this was all much ado about nothing, but now it’s clear there really was some “there” there; i.e., some questionable and potentially unethical (if not strictly illegal) behavior. For all its pretensions to enlightened progressiveness, in some ways Oregon remains an inbred, podunk state. Love seeing the remnants of the Goldschmidt network scuttle to protect its own and set up the whistle-blower as the fall gal for not blowing her whistle loud enough.—“Davey_Blun” Excellent reporting of the real story, not the spin put out by Bill Gary and the well-heeled good old boy network the “other” newspaper seems to be in thrall to. Don’t stop here. Oregon is not as clean as it would like the public to think.— “Jason”
...Your neighbors care!
So the “crooks” get a paid vacation and restored employment, those that remained honest and tried to shed light on this mess end up living and working in fear of those who returned from their wrong doings? Where is the justice in all this, does Oregon have no sense of ethics, morality or justice?—“Curtis M. Wise” Thank you, Mr. Jaquiss, for a great article and bringing back memories of the old WW which used to take no prisoners as far as political coverage. Ms. Hayes is noteworthy only because of her relationship to the governor; these sorts of things occur all the time in state government.
Not technically illegal, but they sure smell bad, and make everyone’s job more difficult. Until the secretary of state’s audit division gets off their collective a$$es and starts auditing agencies like they used to, the brazenness will continue to get worse. Agencies in bed with the industries they are supposed to regulate, nepotism, managers who are promoted not because of their abilities but because of how willing they are to blindly do what they’re told, hiring incompetents because of who they are or who they’re related to...the list goes on and on. I used to be proud of working for state government. Now it’s discouraging, frustrating and embarrassing. The vast majority of state employees I know are honest, ethical people, but when you get a bad apple at the helm, it doesn’t matter how honest the employees are, they don’t have control of the wheel. Again, bring back mandatory audits of state agencies and I bet you’d see some changes. —“Mildred Buc” Keep an eye on the Governor’s trip to China! Will Oregonians keep paying for the Gov and Girlfriend’s vacations? Reviewing the past few months’ schedule, it always seems like we get to pay for the Gov and First Squeeze to attend events on the weekend on the coast, the Rogue River and other nice spots, all on the taxpayers’ dime. But he can’t make it to a Memorial Day event for our veterans…this is immoral and just plain wrong. We make Mississippi look progressive!—“Ritterboy” 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
Fires. Injuries. Anxiety. Stress. Property Damage. Pollution.
Leave big fireworks to the pros.
portland fire & rescue portlandonline.com/fire
Possession of illegal fireworks could cost you up to $1000 and you could be held liable for damages to people or property. 4
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
What are these small brown house moths that are taking over my house? I have killed many, eradicated any open food sources and conducted seances, and yet they still are plaguing my house. What are they and what can I do? —Jace What you’re describing, Jace, are sometimes called “miller moths,” and you have them because you’re just the sort of filthy little man that vermin find irresistible. All right, that’s not actually true. But it is true that, once they’re established, the only way you’re going to get rid of them is to become the sort of intolerably clean person that vermin can’t stand. The term “miller moth” is a catch-all for moth species that enjoy wallowing in your unrefrigerated foodstuffs while oozing feces, eggs, and sticky web material from their every suppurating orifice. According to aptly named Oregon State University entomologist Jeff Miller, the three most
likely culprits in Oregon kitchens are the Angoumois grain moth, the Mediterranean flour moth, and—my personal favorite—the Indian meal moth. I had an infestation of Indian meal moths a few years ago (it will come as no surprise to my readers that I, too, am a filthy little man) and managed to get rid of them. But make no mistake, once the plague is under way, the time for mercy has passed: There are already moth eggs in everything, regardless of whether the package has actually been opened. “Purge the home,” says Miller. “Throw out all possible suitable foods and start over after cleaning spill areas, cupboards, and containers.” If you really can’t bear to toss that bag of freerange, heirloom amaranth groats, you can try sticking them in the freezer for a week. Just don’t blame me when the moths mutate into something even worse and go straight for your eyes. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.
HORSE HEAVEN HILLS WINE GROWERS Trail drive, scholarship fundraiser & BBQ! Saturday, July 16, 2011 Celebrate the 6th Anniversary of the Horse Heaven Hills AVA Drive the vineyard trail to taste wines at our local wineries and enjoy BBQ & live music next to the Columbia River. Presale tickets are $45 and include wine tasting, logo glass & BBQ For tickets and limited bus transportation information, visit www.horseheavenhillswinegrowers.org or call 509 894 4528 Alderdale to Paterson, just 30 miles south of Prosser, WA Trail drive with wine tastings 11 am - 5 pm
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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WORKPLACE: Salem’s lame effort to end wage theft. HOUSING: Nick Fish is keeping discrimination records secret. GENDER ISSUES: A feminist bookstore faces closure. INTERNATIONAL: Taking on Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
In 2009, no legislators fought harder against proposed Metolius Basin destination resorts than Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) and Rep. Brian Clem (D-Salem). Now, Banfield Pet Hospital founder Scott Campbell’s proposed 575-unit resort on his 5,000-acre Grant County ranch would require even greater zoning changes than the Metolius developments lawmakers nixed. But Burdick and Clem have changed their tunes. At press time, they were working feverishly to pass a bill to allow Campbell to build his dude ranch. Burdick was unavailable for comment, but Clem says the difference is that tourists would come and go at Campbell’s ranch, injecting money and jobs into Grant County, whereas the Metolius developments would have just been rural subdivisions with less economic benefit. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has declared Oregon the top state in the union for personal freedom. The center is a think tank funded by the Koch brothers—billionaire industrialists from Kansas with a long history of supporting
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right-wing causes. How does one quantify freedom? The authors considered same-sex partnership rights a leading freedom factor, but they figured the right to carry a highpowered assault rifle was even more important in assigning an overall score. Oregon’s weak campaign-finance regulations also worked in the state’s favor. Naked bike rides were not a factor in the analysis. Medical weed was. The report recommended that Oregon cut state spending, eliminate occupational licensing, and “maintain, if not reduce, the minimum wage.” Because what says “freedom” better than stagnant wages? Portland’s legal community is buzzing about a job posting blasted out by email June 13 to members of Oregon Women Lawyers and the Oregon Minority Lawyers Association. The ad seeks a full-time campaign manager with “knowledge of the Portland-area legal community” to run the campaign of a candidate for an unspecified elected office. Several well-placed sources in law and politics say the ad was placed on behalf of Kellie Johnson in anticipation that longtime Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk, 69, will soon announce his retirement (see “Schrunk’s Successor,” WW, Feb. 9, 2011). Johnson is a former deputy in Schrunk’s office who now works as a disciplinary counsel at the Oregon State Bar. The landmark Hawthorne neighborhood mural that depicts seven famous writers may soon be restored. Taggers marred the mural—focusing on Dostoyevsky and Tennessee Williams (without making clear the literary connection). New Orleans artist Jane Brewster, who lived in Portland when she designed the 1997 mural, raised the alarm that the painting needed to be saved and restored. Galen Murphy, manager at House of Vintage, located in the building on which the mural is painted, says the money has been raised and an artist hired to begin restoration as soon as this weekend, weather permitting. A post on reddit.com says the vandals are part of a graffiti crew named TMR—“This Mural’s Ruined.”
JANE BREWSTER
FOOTWEAR
GOT A GOOD TIP? CALL 503.445.1542, OR EMAIL NEWSHOUND@WWEEK.COM
PHOTOS: DARRYL JAMES
NEWS
D. MICHAEL DALE OF THE NORTHWEST WORKERS’ JUSTICE PROJECT
JOB SEEKERS: The day laborers’ lot at the Voz Workers’ Rights Project on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
STIFFING WORKING STIFFS LAWMAKERS COULD HAVE ACTED TO SHIELD DAY LABORERS FROM BOSSES WHO CHEAT THEM OUT OF WAGES. INSTEAD THEY TURNED THEIR BACKS. BY NAT H A N G I L L E S
ngilles@wweek.com
Antonio Sanchez says he worked long hours for Enrique Hernandez in June 2009. Sanchez had been standing on the corner of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. and Lloyd boulevards, hoping for a day laborer’s job, when a man drove up and said his boss needed help. The driver took Sanchez to a site where Hernandez’s company, Henry’s Quality Underlayment, was ripping out carpet and putting down vinyl flooring. Sanchez says Hernandez agreed to pay him $10 an hour, and that he worked long days—without lunch breaks—for four weeks at houses in Portland and Clatskanie. He says he was never paid $1,700 Hernandez owed him. Hernandez claimed Sanchez never worked for him. It was the driver who brought Sanchez to the site, he said, who had hired Sanchez. He didn’t owe Sanchez a dime. “That’s when I decided to sue,” Sanchez says. Sanchez says he was the victim of wage theft—when employers cheat their workers out of their pay. It’s a particularly big problem for immigrants and workers who take short-term jobs and often move from one employer to the next. Wage theft can take many forms, from minimumwage violations to cases like Sanchez’s, in which workers are promised money from employers who never deliver.
A 2009 study by the National Employment Law Project, focusing on New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, found 1.1 million low-wage workers had been victims of wage theft, losing an average of about $2,600 from a $17,600 annual income. In Oregon, the state Bureau of Labor and Industries, or BOLI, receives roughly 2,800 claims of wage theft each year. Since 2000, the bureau has helped employees get back approximately $17 million in lost income. But that’s little comfort for people like Sanchez. “What happens in a typical case of wage theft is nothing,” says D. Michael Dale from the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, a nonprofit legal service that helps immigrant workers fight wage theft. “It’s a huge problem. We are talking about millions of dollars of unpaid wages in the state of Oregon.” Lawmakers had the chance to address the problem with five bills proposed by Dale’s group. But they caved in to business lobbyists. Democrats, after making a fainthearted effort to help workers, ditched the bills. One measure, SB 611, would have helped workers like Sanchez by defining the employer-employee relationship, particularly for farm-labor and construction contractors. The bill died in committee after what Dale says was heavy lobbying from business groups. “[SB 611] was just a very broad, far-reaching piece of legislation that would tremendously impact [the construction] industry,” said Jan Meekcoms, a lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business, who testified against the measure. She called Dale’s bills “extreme.” The bill died. But another measure that would help people caught in Sanchez’s situation passed the Senate.
Hernandez, whose company did the work, claims he never met Sanchez. “I didn’t negotiate any wages when he started the job,” Hernandez tells WW. Instead, he says, the driver who picked up Sanchez, a man named Javier Galvans, should have paid Sanchez’s wages. “I did not discuss wages, hours or other working conditions with Javier, rather only with [Hernandez],” Sanchez wrote in a Construction Contractors Board complaint. SB 612 would have blocked employers from passing their responsibility to pay workers onto others. The measure requires day-labor drivers such as Galvans to register with BOLI as construction labor contractors. Bosses who get workers from unlicensed labor brokers would be on the hook for wages and civil fines. The Senate passed the bill May 5 in a party-line vote of 16-13. Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Northwest Portland), the bill’s carrier, said the measure would have “help[ed] to ensure workers receive the wages they are owed in an industry in which this has become a particular concern.” Republicans offered a different proposal that wouldn’t have made the contractor liable for the wages. After that, the bill was orphaned in the House, where an even split between Republicans and Democrats means no bill gets a hearing without both parties’ agreement. Since then, Bonamici says, she hasn’t pushed the matter any further. “I spoke on the bill because I was asked to carry it,” she says. Dale says he hopes to build more support for his group’s measures in the 2012 session. Meanwhile, Sanchez says he struggled to get by after he was denied his wages, and that his wife had to borrow money to pay bills. Last fall—more than a year after Sanchez did the work—the state contractors’ board worked out a settlement: Hernandez agreed to pay $1,000 of the $1,700 Sanchez says he was owed. Hernandez admitted no wrongdoing. “I suffered a lot,” Sanchez says, “because he did not pay me what he told me he would pay me.” Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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NEWS
HOUSING
WHY IS THE FAIR HOUSING COUNCIL KEEPING DETAILS OF ITS RECENT DISCRIMINATION STUDY SECRET? BY BR E N T WA LT H
bwalth@wweek.com
City Commissioner Nick Fish has been in crisis management for more than a month since a city-funded study revealed nearly two out of three African-Americans and Latinos face discrimination when they look for a place to rent in Portland. Fish, whose City Council responsibilities include housing, called the results “appalling” and developed a plan, released June 10, that he says will fight housing discrimination in the city. But WW’s review of the audit finds it’s flawed. It’s likely that housing discrimination—while a serious problem in Portland— is not as bad as it appears in the study. The reporting methodology apparently used in the study can greatly exaggerate the true rate of housing discrimination. Two national experts point out other problems with the study: It’s not statistically sound, and the results are so far out of line with those in other cities they raise doubts about the study’s validity. The only way to fully check the $13,000 study’s accuracy is to examine and compare the reports filed by testers who visited the various apartment buildings around Portland. Fish declined WW’s request to make the records public. As it turns out, Fish and city officials say they haven’t even seen those detailed records themselves. They have relied on only a selective summary of the findings by the auditor, the Fair Housing Council of Oregon. The actual documents remain locked in the group’s files. Moloy Good, executive director of the Fair Housing Council, also declined WW’s requests to review the reports. Good declined to say why he won’t make the evidence public. While the Housing Bureau doesn’t hold the records, the city’s contract with Good’s
the lack of openness about how the data have been reported concerns one expert contacted by WW. “It’s very unusual to have an audit where everything is buried,” says John Yinger, a professor of public administration and economics at Syracuse University. “It makes the debate about discrimination more difficult.” In the Fair Housing Council audit, testers posed as prospective renters and were instructed to provide similar information about their background, income and work history. The group sent white testers to 50 apartment buildings. Latino testers were sent to half of those same apartments and black testers sent to the other half. The basic test is widely accepted by experts. Such undercover audits are often the only way to discover discrimination. Minorities looking for housing often have no idea, for example, they are being quoted higher rents or move-in fees. The group’s audit claims the results show African-Americans were treated differently from white testers 15 out of 25 times. The number was 17 of 25 for Latino testers. To be sure, examples made public by the Fair Housing Council show evidence of outright discrimination. One AfricanAmerican tester was quoted move-in costs more than two times higher than a white tester. A rental agent asked a Latino tester, “Are you Mexican?” Yinger says these and other examples show “pretty serious disparate treatment.” But Yinger adds he would have serious doubts about an audit that claimed a 64 percent rate of discrimination—a number he says is so high as to raise questions about the study’s credibility. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Yinger, who has studied housing discrimination nationwide for more than three decades. “This would make me want to look seriously at how this test was done.” Margery Austin Turner, vice president for research at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., who has authored major studies with Yinger, says the Fair Housing Council study’s sample was too small for
VIVIANJOHNSON.COM
NOT SO BLACK & WHITE
CITY COMMISSIONER NICK FISH
our community,” Fish says. “We do not maintain it is a scientifically complete picture.” Yinger and Turner said they didn’t know enough about the Portland study to provide an opinion on its validity. But both cautioned that a finding of discrimination should be made only after looking at the testers’ entire experience, and not to assume a single difference in treatment is proof of discrimination. “The most important thing is to report the full range of what happened to testers,” Turner says. Testers are supposed to have a wideranging conversation with the rental agent,
“IT’S VERY UNUSUAL TO HAVE AN AUDIT WHERE EVERYTHING IS BURIED.... IT MAKES THE DEBATE ABOUT DISCRIMINATION MORE DIFFICULT.” —JOHN YINGER organization does give officials (and, in turn, the public) access to the records. Fish says the housing council believes releasing the records would jeopardize its ability to do future audits by revealing its methods, and the city isn’t willing to compel their release. He also says the results are clear enough to show that housing discrimination still exists here. “We are comfortable going forward on the basis we have now. What we got was what we contracted for,” Fish says. “I’m comfortable based on that data that the city needs to take bold action.” But accuracy and transparency are important when framing the debate. And 8
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
officials to cite the rate with confidence. “It’s an important snapshot of practices in this housing market,” Turner says. “I wouldn’t feel the precise number is something to hang a hat on.” Internal city records show that Portland officials acknowledge the study is not statistically reliable, but they don’t usually offer that caveat when telling the public about the results. And Fish has repeated the 64 percent figure without noting that it’s not statistically sound. Fish acknowledges problems with relying on the rate. “I don’t believe this test was intended to be a full picture of housing discrimination in
covering rent, move-in costs, restrictions and amenities, like a pool and fitness room. Not all differences are meaningful, however. For example, the Fair Housing Council audit cited the fact a Latino tester was not offered a floor plan and brochure as proof of discrimination. Housing audits should follow a standardized list of questions and often require testers to fill out questionnaires that help guarantee their reports are consistent and comparable. Representatives of the Fair Housing Council told city officials their testers didn’t follow a script. Good, the housing group’s director, declined to talk with WW about the protocols his group followed.
More importantly, experts say, reporting the results of housing audits the wrong way can make things look worse than they really are. Audits nationwide have found that black and Latino testers are sometimes given more favorable information than are whites. In other cases, it’s a mixed bag, with both sets of testers given information that could be favorable to one or the other. Auditors, in turn, should weigh the entire experience—not pick and choose details and label them “discrimination.” “It would be very troubling if you only pulled out selective things from the study,” Yinger says. “We don’t know if that’s what happened here.” The Fair Housing Council says releasing the records could expose its methodology. But Good and others have already talked in great detail about the methodology at public hearings. Good also told WW that he doesn’t want to release the full report because he wants to protect the testers’ anonymity. WW agreed to accept the reports with the testers’ names removed, but Good still declined to release the report’s details. The city turned over the audit findings to the state Bureau of Labor and Industries, which is responsible for investigating housing discrimination. But BOLI officials say the information in the audit is too sparse. “We’ve asked the Fair Housing Council for more details,” says BOLI spokesman Bob Estabrook. “They have not provided us with them.”
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GENDER
BAD BUSINESS CHOICES AND LOST RELEVANCE DOOM THE WEST COAST’S LAST FEMINIST BOOKSTORE. BY S H A E H E A L E Y
shealey@wweek.com
The only glimpse most people have ever had of In Other Words, the Northeast Portland feminist bookstore, is through the ruthless parody featured on the IFC television series Portlandia. In one episode, the store’s two female employees—with their curtains of hair, baggy linen clothes and deadly patronizing tone—debate whether or not to stock a book on modern feminism. “That’s a top-selling author,” one says. “Do we want that in here?” “No,” the other responds. “We want a bottom-selling author.” Parody is often a barbed compliment. For Johanna Brenner, co-founder of In Others Words, where the scenes were filmed, the depiction of an insular feminist bookstore alienating customers and neglecting financial opportunities is comic and a sharp insider’s view of feminism. And the truth in the satire may be helping kill the 18-year-old bookstore. In Other Words is sliding toward financial collapse. The Women’s Community Education Project, which runs the bookstore, ran $18,743 in the red last year. This month, the store laid off its only two employees. Annual sales are down 73 per-
expand its appeal by calling itself a “resource center.” As the store’s website puts it, “We are a feminist community center and our mission is to support, enrich, and empower the feminist community through literature, art, and educational and cultural events.” But In Other Words also struggles because it’s lost its relevance to a new generation of women—a reality that suggests feminist bookstores are simply out of date. “People don’t see it as urgent anymore, because feminist issues have been mainlined into many different areas,” says Bren Murphy, associate professor of communications and gender studies at Loyola University Chicago. It’s obviosly tough for retail businesses. Katie Carter, who was laid off as In Other Words’ program director, says the store faces the same economic pressures as retail bookstores everywhere. “Independent bookstores are dropping like flies, and it’s not particular to feminist bookstores,” Carter says. But many of the problems at In Other Words are of its own making. For years, a single source of income helped prop up the store’s finances: an exclusive contract to sell textbooks on women’s studies to Portland State University students. The store’s tax returns (which are a public record because it’s owned by a nonprofit) show that nearly half of In Other Words’ revenues came from such sales last year. But a 2008 federal law effectively ended the practice of holding students captive to where they can buy their textbooks.
VIVIANJOHNSON.COM
AT A LOSS FOR WORDS
NEWS
BOARD CHAIRMAN LAUREN MCCARTNEY (LEFT) AND CO-FOUNDER JOHANNA BRENNER OF IN OTHER WORDS FEMINIST COMMUNITY CENTER
supporters this month that included laying off the staff. Since its inception, In Other Words has depended almost exclusively on dozens of volunteers to run events and staff the store. Yet according to Ali Kafka, who’s been a volunteer at the bookstore for the past eight months, they were kept in the dark about key decisions. “We’re here day to day. You guys aren’t,”
maybe we shouldn’t be doing this,” she says. Brenner does not share that sentiment. She helped start In Other Words in 1993, raising $60,000 from like-minded community members. She also loaned the store $35,000, which has been on the books for years and hasn’t been paid back. Brenner, who retired from the board last month, still believes in the power of Portland’s feminist community. “We’re
“IF THIS IS WHAT FEMINISM LOOKS LIKE IN PORTLAND MAYBE WE SHOULDN’T BE DOING THIS.” —KATE SHRUM cent from where they were four years ago. The number of feminist bookstores nationwide has dropped to nine. In Other Words’ board members acknowledge the store may be headed for closure—and the next-closest bookstore dedicated solely to women’s issues is in Austin, Texas. Brenner says that would be the city’s loss. “There are still a lot of people in Portland who really appreciate the need to have a space that’s explicitly feminist,” she says. Last summer, In Other Words tried to
Even though In Other Words saw this coming—the law didn’t take effect until last summer—the board that runs the store wasn’t prepared for the change. A statement from the board says the store faces an “unforeseen immediate financial crisis.” The nonprofit running the store has turned to donors in the past to pay the bills and has counted on volunteers to stand by the business. This time is different. Volunteers say the board sprang a new business plan on
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Kafka said at a tense board meeting last week. “We are the only feminist community center in Portland, and right now it feels like [the board is] perpetuating oppression, labor exploitation, and hypocrisy.” Many volunteers say their loyalty is now in doubt. Kate Shrum, a four-year volunteer at In Other Words, holds the new business plan that called for the layoffs and points to the graph that shows the business still losing money well into next year: “If this is what feminism looks like in Portland, then-
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still performing a very important educational and political function,” she says. “I’m hopeful. People just need to get their butts over to Killingsworth and support us.” Susan Post, owner of BookWoman in Austin, says feminist bookstores also must worker harder to remain relevant. “There hasn’t been a burning desire to change the world,” Post says. “People still want to save the whales and have clean water, but women’s rights are on the back burner.”
INTERVIEW
JACOB GARCIA
NEWS
ERIN DERAMUS A LOCAL ACTIVIST TAKES ON ISRAEL’S GAZA BLOCKADE. BY JA M E S P I T K I N
jpitkin@wweek.com
Nine civilians died last year when Israeli special forces boarded ships trying to run an Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. When 10 ships try to run the blockade again later this month, Southeast Portland activist Erin DeRamus plans to be on board. DeRamus, 31, an acupuncturist at the Native American Rehabilitation Association, became committed to the Palestinian cause during a 2008 visit to the West Bank. On June 21, she’ll join 300 people from dozens of countries in Athens, before the flotilla sets sail later this month. Among the 35 Americans signed up on DeRamus’ boat is author Alice Walker. We asked DeRamus about delivering aid, helping Hamas and fear of dying. WW: Last year’s flotilla included some aid. Is that happening again? Erin DeRamus: Because Hamas is considered a global terrorist group, the American ship will not be taking any aid. We will be taking letters on our boat from people in the [United States] to people in Gaza. The Israeli government says this isn’t really about aid, it’s just a provocation. A provocation is keeping an entire population imprisoned. That is provoking a response, and it should provoke a response. The Israelis also say you’re just giving support to Hamas. We have nothing to do with Hamas. This is civilian-to-civilian support. When governments no longer support the people, this is people trying to help each other out. Palestinian deaths get little media attention. When Westerners die in actions like this, it makes headlines. Are white lives worth more? They aren’t, and they shouldn’t be. But because of the way the Western powers control the world, it’s been easy to put an usand-them label on things and really minimize Palestinian lives. What about those who will say you’re just a privileged American inserting yourself into this situation? I grew up poor. I don’t come from a privileged background. [But] we do live in a privileged place where we don’t know what displacement looks like. We don’t know what it’s like to be removed from land that our grandparents called home. We live on occupied territory. Just because you’re up and on top doesn’t mean you should be OK with people being treated this way in the world. Are you afraid to die? I’m worried about bodily harm for sure. If I don’t die, I will likely be beaten.... I have a good sense about myself, and I’m going to try to keep as safe as I can. But there’s always that sense. That’s a risk that has to be taken.
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
BY NI GE L JAQ UI SS
njaquiss@wweek.com
Reader Beware: What follows is mostly gossip and opinion. Since 1977, WW has surveyed Salem lobbyists, state Capitol staffers and political journalists to get their views about the performance of Portland-area lawmakers. Our goal is to get an assessment of the men and women who make Oregon’s laws and write the state budget. And what emerges is a broad—and sometimes piercing—picture of how our legislators do their jobs in Salem. We sent surveys to Capitol insiders to rate lawmakers on a scale of 1 to 10 on three criteria: integrity, brains and effectiveness. This year, we heard from nearly 70 people from across the political spectrum. Some included comments about every lawmaker. Others just gave us their scores. We crunched the numbers and came up with average ratings for each lawmaker. The overall score determines how we rank the legislator: excellent, good, bad or awful. With the House evenly divided at 30-30 for the first time in history, and Senate Democrats holding a slender 16-14 advantage, gridlock and triage defined this session. Don’t look for many earth-shattering accomplishments. There were some surprises and some dramatic shifts from our 2009 survey.
SENATE
EXCELLENT SEN. SUZANNE BONAMICI D-Northwest Portland Overall rating: 8.21 Integrity: 8.32 Brains: 8.52 Effectiveness: 7.78
Bonamici, a genial 56-year-old former consumer lawyer, is that kid in the class who did all her reading and helped the slackers with their homework. “The best of the best,” says one lobbyist. She tackled the thorny task of redrawing legislative boundaries this term. Lawmakers redraw district lines every 10 years, an exercise that can have enormous consequences. The general assessment is that Democrats will benefit from her work, although she may not. The political sensitivity of redrawing legislative boundaries compli-
House Majority Leader Dave Hunt (D-Gladstone), for instance, plunged from the top ranking he earned during his stint as House speaker. Meanwhile, Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-Portland) climbed in the survey. Critics may find fault with our approach. For one thing, we keep the identities of the respondents confidential. It would be nice if people talked on the record, but we doubt that would provide readers with an honest take. We use anonymous sources here for one simple reason: Lobbyists, staffers and reporters risk losing access—or even their jobs—if they speak candidly and on the record about legislators. Of course, nobody likes to be ranked unless they rank first. Liberals may say conservative lobbyists were unfair to them, and vice versa. But the responses show a surprising degree of consistency regardless of the political views of the respondents and the party of the legislator. But that hasn’t stopped some from trying to tip our survey in their favor. One lawmaker, who shall remain nameless until we name him later in this story, even went so far as to launch a face-to-face and email lobbying effort for higher scores in this year’s edition. Please judge for yourself. What follows is our 2011 edition of the Good, the Bad and the Awful.
cated the choice she’s been wrestling with for months: whether to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. David Wu in the 1st Congressional District primary. “Oregon’s most responsible and alert legislator. Should run for Congress,” says one lobbyist. Yet for somebody who’s considering a bigger stage, Bonamici still exhibits a curious reticence. “She’s a good legislator, but she’s a little icy,” says another lobbyist. “Maybe someone can write her good material. She needs to relax a little.”
SEN. RICHARD DEVLIN D-Tualatin Overall rating: 8.17 Integrity: 8.08 Brains: 8.38 Effectiveness: 8.05
Devlin, 58, a shy, slow-moving bear of a lawmaker, was placed in charge of the Legislature’s honey pot this term. The former legal investigator moved from Senate majority leader to co-chairing the budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee. “More of a legislative mechanic than leader,” observes one veteran lobbyist. The shift fit the eight-session vet because
he’s better at juggling numbers and policy than he is at politics. “One of the least arrogant people in Salem. Extremely good with details,” says a lobbyist. And the Good, the Bad and the Awful issue would not be complete without at least one reference to Devlin’s facial hair. “The Amish called,” quipped one insider. “They want their beard back.”
GOOD SEN. DIANE ROSENBAUM D-Southeast Portland Overall rating: 7.42 Integrity: 7.67 Brains: 7.42 Effectiveness: 7.16
If you tipped a carton of Super Balls onto a concrete floor, you’d have some idea of the cohesiveness of Senate Democrats—and CONT. on page 14 Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
13
SENATE
GOOD, CONT.
the challenge Rosenbaum faced this session. Rosenbaum, a 61-year-old former communication workers’ union official, replaced Sen. Richard Devlin as majority leader, the person expected to enforce caucus discipline and get everybody rolling in the same direction. Rosenbaum spearheaded two bills that extended unemployment coverage. In doing so, she retained the qualities that have endeared her to many. “One of Oregon’s best advocates on many issues involving workers and women,” says one respondent. But she also struggled with her new assignment. “She seems really exhausted and distracted,” says a longtime observer. “Wonder if she’s spending more time trying to figure out how to become the next Labor Commissioner?” (Current commish Brad Avakian is running for Congress.)
SEN. MARK HASS D-Beaverton Overall rating: 6.98 Integrity: 7.17 Brains: 7.46 Effectiveness: 6.30
Hass, 54, retains the looks of the television newsman he once was, but he’s no empty suit. His plastic-bag ban died, but a bill giving higher ed more independence sailed through. The chairman of the Senate Education Committee’s relationship with the Oregon Education Association was frosty as he pushed for big changes, including an Education Service District opt-out, full-day kindergarten, and a package of other reforms the union doesn’t like. (That package still hung in the balance as WW went to press.) “His actions this term did nothing to diminish his image as [a] pol with one eye on higher office,” says one observer. Says another, “He swings for the fences, which means a lot of strikeouts (bag ban, full-day kindergarten) but the occasional home run (SB 242—Higher Ed reform).”
SEN. CHIP SHIELDS D-Portland Overall rating: 6.88 Integrity: 7.34 Brains: 7.25 Effectiveness: 6.04
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Shields, 43, a ringer for David Letterman sidekick Chris Elliott, used to be a Johnny One Note, beating his drum for the liberalization of the criminal justice system. But in his first session in the Senate, after replacing Sen. Margaret Carter, he focused on health insurers, introducing a slew of legislation that would add transparency to rate setting. The insurers foiled him, but his efforts will make their gouging of consumers tougher. “Tireless advocate for social change. Is always well-prepared and even-tempered,” says one admirer. Others wondered about his ability to win on his issues. “The PT Barnum of the 2011 Assembly,” says a business lobbyist. “No member barked more about bills that were going nowhere. Couldn’t cut a deal with a Ginsu 2.”
SEN. JACKIE DINGFELDER D-Northeast Portland Overall rating: 6.83 Integrity: 7.37 Brains: 7.02 Effectiveness: 6.11
Dingfelder, 50, is an environmental consultant who always runs full tilt and sports the Senate’s best helmet of hair. Her professional expertise made her a natural to chair the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee for the second session. Dingfelder’s highest visibility bill would have banned the chemical BPA in baby products. The measure passed the Senate, but House Republicans bottled it up. Dingfelder’s zeal has made her a lightning rod in the closely divided Senate. “She’s a knee jerk liberal. She knows her position before she knows her argument,” says one observer. “As a result, she’s not effective.”
BAD & AWFUL, CONT.
BAD
SENATE
SEN. ROD MONROE D-Portland Overall rating: 6.28 Integrity: 7.56 Brains: 5.96 Effectiveness: 5.32
SEN. BRUCE STARR R-Hillsboro Overall rating: 6.59 Integrity: 6.41 Brains: 6.84 Effectiveness: 6.53
Starr, 42, is a secondgeneration lawmaker who runs a Vancouver nonprofit and works as a political consultant. He toyed with a challenge to U.S. Rep. David Wu this session. Known as one of Salem’s leading voices on transportation issues, Starr appears to be spinning his wheels these days. He co-sponsored House Joint Memorial 22, a feel-good measure urging federal funding for the Columbia River Crossing project. That measure floundered. He did pass a bill terminating the parental rights of a rapist if a child is conceived as a result of the rape. “What happened here? From Transportation package king to ex-vice chair to Siberia. How many votes did he miss this session?” says one lobbyist. “He thinks more highly of himself than people in the building do,” says another.
SEN. LARRY GEORGE R-Sherwood Overall rating: 6.56 Integrity: 6.59 Brains: 7.12 Effectiveness: 5.96
George, 43, a ruddy-faced hazelnut processor, is one of Salem’s sharpest political minds. But he’s never been in the majority since coming to Salem in 2007. Long active in the property-rights movement, George is nonetheless tough to pigeonhole. He proved that with an eloquent speech in favor of a top civil-rights bill backed by Democrats: a measure to give tuition equity to undocumented immigrants. “Definitely the brains of his caucus,” says one admirer. “An isolationist who wants the adoration and fan base of someone who works out in the open,” says another. “No humility.”
SEN. GINNY BURDICK D-Southwest Portland Overall rating: 6.54 Integrity: 6.71 Brains: 6.42 Effectiveness: 6.48
Burdick, a 63-year-old public relations exec serving in her eighth session, chairs the Senate Revenue Committee. In that role, she ratcheted back tax breaks, including the controversial business energy tax credit. She also spent a great deal of energy trying to reform the “kicker,” a quixotic effort that ended in failure. “A rock in the Senate—honest, kind, openminded,” says one fan. But others say Burdick is a mediocre lawmaker who ought to be more productive given her long political experience. “The cap gains/kicker tax package was good copy but policy which could never, ever pass at the ballot box,” says a lobbyist.
Monroe, 68, was first elected to the Legislature in 1976, the same year Jimmy Carter was elected president. Unlike Carter, he won’t go away. Monroe’s commitment to public service—which also included stints on the Metro Council and two college boards—is commendable. But it’s also fair to say he has not set Oregon’s political world on fire. One insider called Monroe “quietly ineffective.” Says another longtime observer: “Would be better if he was awake more often. Is he still in the Legislature?”
SEN. CHUCK THOMSEN R-Hood River Overall rating: 6.16 Integrity: 7.24 Brains: 6.08 Effectiveness: 5.16
Thomsen, 54, now occupies the Senate seat formerly held by longtime incumbent Sen. Rick Metsger. To get it, Thomsen bested Democratic boy-wonder Rep. Brent Barton in the 2010 election. Thomsen—a taciturn pear grower and former Hood River County commissioner— has built a reputation as a thoughtful moderate. He passed a bill that allows the expansion of tourist attractions on farmland and another that frees up some excess cash at the Department of Justice. “His non-ideological approach is refreshing,” says one veteran lobbyist. “Supported the tuition equity bill. Said it wasn’t a hard vote despite all the angry phone calls.”
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AWFUL SEN. LAURIE MONNES ANDERSON D-Gresham Overall rating: 5.86 Integrity: 6.84 Brains: 5.37 Effectiveness: 5.37
This 65-year-old retired nurse has the political heft of a hummingbird. She has consistently underwhelmed onlookers since entering the Legislature in 2001 and landed near the bottom of our rankings. Although Monnes Anderson chairs the Senate Health Care committee and co-chaired the Health Care Transformation Committee, she gets little respect from those who watch those panels. “Repeatedly disappointing. Totally vanilla and unimpressive,” says one. “This nurse needs a doctor,” adds a longtime lobbyist. “She’s in over her head on healthcare reform.” CONT. on page 17
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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On Portland-based songwriter Stephanie Schneiderman’s new release, ‘Rubber Teardrop,’ there is an almost instant realization that it is the perfect blend of two very different artists who have found their collective voice. A fluid recording that seamlessly combines the synthetic and organic into a single powerful compilation, ‘Rubber Teardrop’ plays like an epic movie soundtrack, at once evocative, entertaining and dramatic, even mesmerizing at times.
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
EXCELLENT & GOOD, CONT.
weakness. “Can be Spock-like in her focus and lack of humor,” says another.
R-Canby Overall rating: 5.59 Integrity: 6.75 Brains: 5.54 Effectiveness: 4.47
A rookie at 63, Olsen, who defeated incumbent Sen. Martha Schrader (D-Canby) in 2010, is a building contractor who likes to cite Wikipedia in his frequent but rarely illuminating questions on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Olsen did pass a bill that eases licensing requirements for contractors working on their own property and federal lands. “Martha Schrader was no gem, but man…Clackamas County got the short end of the stick,” says one observer. “Noted for asking a lot of questions, only occasionally constructive,” adds a critic.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
EXCELLENT REP. BEN CANNON D-Southeast Portland Overall rating: 7.96 Integrity: 7.62 Brains: 8.90 Effectiveness: 7.36
When he decided to run for the Legislature in 2006, Cannon, 35, a lanky middle-school teacher and Rhodes Scholar, decided not to accept specialinterest money. That saved him from pandering to lobbyists but also limited his leadership prospects: The House Democratic caucus likes to reward members based on how much cash they raise for the team. Although he’s a teacher, the Oregon Education Association declined to endorse him in 2010, which attests to his independence. This session, Cannon oversaw the biggest expansion of Oregon’s bottle bill in nearly 40 years. “Makes things happen,” says one veteran lobbyist. “Did a fantastic job with the bottle bill overhaul,” says another. “Gets a lot done for a Portland liberal,” says a grudging admirer.
REP. CHRIS GARRETT D-Lake Oswego Overall rating: 7.48 Integrity: 6.89 Brains: 8.27 Effectiveness: 7.28
Garrett, a 37-year-old corporate lawyer at the Perkins Coie firm, exudes calm and competence. Those qualities landed him on the House Rules and Judiciary committees, and earned him the challenging job of co-chairing the Redistricting Committee. That task deprived him of the time needed to push much legislation, but his success in helping hammer out Democrat-friendly maps means he’ll probably never have to buy a drink again. “Smart, moderate, respected by all,” says one lobbyist. “Redistricting will prove to be the biggest Democratic win of the decade, once approved and signed into law,” says another.
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GOOD REP. JEFFERSON SMITH D-Portland Overall rating: 7.33 Integrity: 7.07 Brains: 8.34 Effectiveness: 6.58
The 37-year-old co-founder of the Oregon Bus Project settled down a little in his second term. The 6-foot-4 chatterbox successfully pushed a voting rights expansion, worked with Republicans to pass bills promoting the growth of small business, and pushed back against a bill promoting the Columbia River Crossing project. Buttoning his lip (and lobbying the lobbyists for higher scores in our survey!) helped give Smith, 37, one of the biggest increases in this year’s ratings. “Seemed more focused this session. Not the showboater that some people seemed to think he would be,” says a business lobbyist. “Pretty independent for a leadership member,” says another observer.
REP. TINA KOTEK
REP. JEFF BARKER
D-North Portland Overall rating: 7.54 Integrity: 6.76 Brains: 8.16 Effectiveness: 7.69
D-Aloha Overall rating: 7.03 Integrity: 7.13 Brains: 6.69 Effectiveness: 7.27
In her three terms, Kotek, a 44-year-old nonprofit consultant and the Legislature’s only openly gay member, has climbed the ladder rapidly in her caucus, combining laser-focused discipline and strong political instincts. She’s speaker pro tem—which means she wields the gavel when the House speaker is off the floor—and a member of the budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee. More than one respondent raised the possibility of her becoming the third woman in state history to preside over the House. “Madam Speaker 2013?” wrote a lobbyist. Her straight-ahead approach can also be a
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Barker, a flinty, 68-yearold retired Portland cop, ran for the Legislature as a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After a decade making laws rather than enforcing them, he retires as one of the building’s most respected members. The Judiciary Committee he chaired for the past two sessions met more often and handled more legislation than any other panel. “He does not grandstand or jerk people around,” says one insider. “This is one guy who follows through,” says a fan. “He will be missed.” CONT. on page 19
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GOOD & BAD, CONT. REP. JULES BAILEY
REP. MARK JOHNSON
D-Southeast Portland Overall rating: 6.99 Integrity: 5.87 Brains: 8.33 Effectiveness: 6.78
R-Hood River Overall rating: 6.91 Integrity: 6.64 Brains: 7.54 Effectiveness: 6.56
Bailey, a cerebral, 31-year-old management consultant, saw his overall rating drop slightly after being the highest-scoring member of the bumper crop of 2009 rookies. He gets praise this session for helping conceive, and then pass, Gov. John Kitzhaber’s program to retrofit schools for better energy conservation. He co-chaired a panel on tax credits as it cut giveaways by $300 million—although some watchers think he still harbors a fondness for tax breaks. “Quiet, brainy, effective, knows how to build bridges to the other side.” One criticism of Bailey is that he likes to fly solo. “Too willing to think he can come up with silver-bullet policy solutions on his own,” says one insider.
Johnson, 54, a home builder and chairman of the Hood River County School Board, topped all House rookies in this year’s survey. Although not a member of the Education Committee, he emerged as a major player in a session-ending power play that saw House Republicans, Kitzhaber and a group of House Democrats face off against the Oregon Education Association. Johnson earlier championed a bill that would have limited school-district spending increases to the amount of money actually available—but OEA sideswiped that one. “Definitely the freshman with the biggest impact,” says one admirer. “Finally, a Republican who’s a natural-born lawmaker and can talk public education,” says a business lobbyist.
REP. MICHAEL DEMBROW
REP. MITCH GREENLICK
D-Northeast Portland Overall rating: 6.98 Integrity: 7.57 Brains: 7.21 Effectiveness: 6.16
D-Portland Overall rating: 6.90 Integrity: 6.76 Brains: 7.77 Effectiveness: 6.17
A wiry, longtime Portland Community College English teacher and faculty union leader, Dembrow, 59, sometimes forgets he’s not lecturing inattentive students. But Dembrow moved up the ratings substantially in his second session. He put his experience to work co-chairing the Education Subcommittee on Higher Ed. He earned bipartisan respect for his crusade for a tuition equity bill that passed the Senate but stalled on the House floor. Another bill that would bring together community colleges, schools and the Bureau of Labor and Industries (which oversees apprenticeship programs) to beef up technical education at the high-school level won broad bipartisan support and was still under negotiation at press time. Some people still want to consign Dembrow to the list of lawmakers who reflexively did organized labor’s bidding. “Shill for the unions,” complains a critic. But others complimented his integrity. “Means what he says, and says what he means—a rare combo in the Capitol,” says one lobbyist.
Greenlick, 76, a sometimes-cantankerous former professor at Oregon Health and Science University, has survived knee replacement, advanced cancer, and frustrating years when the Democrats were in the minority. All that gives him carte blanche to do and say exactly what he wants. And Greenlick, razor-sharp and acerbic, takes full advantage. Whether he’s pushing through ambitious and complex healthcare reforms—such as this session’s health-exchange bill, which will aid uninsured Oregonians—or holding the building hostage to get Jory soil designated as the state’s official dirt, he is refreshingly blunt. “Pretty much single-handedly brought healthcare reform to the state,” says one lobbyist. “Doesn’t get much credit, mostly due to his strong personality.”
REP. KATIE EYRE BREWER R-Hillsboro Overall rating: 6.78 Integrity: 6.51 Brains: 7.64 Effectiveness: 6.19
REP. MARY NOLAN D-Portland Overall rating: 6.94 Integrity: 6.37 Brains: 8.15 Effectiveness: 6.29
Nolan, 56, a sharp—and sharptongued—small business owner, tried to kill the king and nearly killed herself in the process. Last fall, she challenged her longtime rival, thenHouse Speaker Dave Hunt, for caucus leadership—and lost. The former co-chair of Joint Ways and Means and 2009 House majority leader saw her clout diminished in the wake of that defeat. Nolan soldiered on and regained her enthusiasm as the session progressed. She chaired the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Public Safety and labored much of the session to find budget savings in the Corrections Department budget; a deal fell apart late. She’s rumored to be considering other offices and to be a candidate to head the Oregon Department of Revenue. Views of her future are mixed. “She needs to find another office to run for. She’s been sidelined, and she’s not getting off the bench,” says one lobbyist. “Those who count her out do so at their peril,” says another. “She keeps track and badly wants back.”
Eyre Brewer, a 45-year-old CPA and senior tax manager at the Schnitzer family’s Harsch Investment Properties, enjoyed a strong rookie session. She co-sponsored a successful bill to elevate strangulation to a felony—notable because the change is one of the few examples of lawmakers passing a bill that requires new spending. She also brought her financial skills to bear in criticism of an emerging sacred cow, the Columbia River Crossing project. “Impressively independent,” says one lobbyist. “Needs to slow down a little,” says another. “Talks more than she listens.”
BAD REP. CHRIS HARKER D-Washington County Overall rating: 6.54 Integrity: 6.98 Brains: 7.22 Effectiveness: 5.41
Harker, 57, a whippet-thin former
HOUSE
OHSU researcher, now runs a company that produces software for academics seeking federal grants. Harker’s bill expanding greenhouse gas regulation passed; he joined Rep. Mark Johnson (R-Hood River) in a gutsy (for a Democrat) effort to change the way school districts budget, and he played a role in a bill that should bring about higher-ed reform. But many observers say he has yet to harness his potential. “Thinks he knows more than he does. Needs to be more patient,” says one lobbyist. Another is more harsh. “It’s time for Rep. Moonbeam to take the next transporter back to his home galaxy, far, far away,” says one Democratic lobbyist.
REP. MARGARET DOHERTY D-Tigard Overall rating: 6.53 Brains: 7.07 Integrity: 6.63 Effectiveness: 5.90
Doherty, a diminutive, 60-year-old former teachers’ union official, was appointed to replace former Rep. Larry Galizio and won her seat in 2010. As a rookie, Doherty helped pass a bill that will make it easier to reintegrate returning veterans, and she proved to be one of her caucus’s loudest voices for education funding. “Doherty is a populist. Her bills protect people who shop online and school kids. A really solid voice for education,” says one observer. Says one skeptic: “Talks a good game but a union goon at heart.”
REP. TOBIAS READ D-Beaverton Overall rating: 6.48 Integrity: 5.90 Brains: 7.18 Effectiveness: 6.35
Read, 35, a rawboned Nike footwear developer in his third session , is one of relatively few Democratic House members who earns a private-sector paycheck. That distinction makes him a go-to guy for his caucus on business issues: Read co-chairs Transportation and Economic Development and sits on the Revenue and Tax Credit committees. Despite—or perhaps because of—those high-profile assignments (he also served as vice-chair of redistricting), he’s earning a reputation as an underachiever. “Losing potential at an alarming pace,” says a business lobbyist. “One wonders if he read the bills he scheduled or understood their significance,” says an environmental lobbyist.
REP. DAVE HUNT D-Gladstone Overall rating: 6.42 Integrity: 4.79 Brains: 7.68 Effectiveness: 6.78
Hunt, 43, who works for a port association, topped the Good, the Bad and the Awful’s House charts in 2009, when he was speaker. But after presiding over a 2010 election in which his caucus gave up six seats (some in clumsy fashion), he lost out for the co-speaker’s position to Rep. Arnie Roblan (D -Coos Bay). His scores plummeted this session, particularly his marks for integrity. “Hunt would sell out his own mother,” says one lobbyist, repeating a sentiment now shared even by some House D’s. He successfully fought to add more than $100 million to the K-12 budget and passed a bill that allowed increased sea-lion hazing. “He seems not to have noticed he led his caucus to a wipeout last session,” says one observer. But CONT. on page 20 Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
19
HOUSE
BAD & AWFUL, CONT.
even his detractors recognize Hunt’s intellect and drive are a powerful combination. “Never count Dave Hunt out,” says another. “Weakened but not done yet.”
REP. LEW FREDERICK D-Portland Overall rating: 6.33 Integrity: 7.09 Brains: 6.51 Effectiveness: 5.40
Frederick, 59, a former television newsman and Portland Public Schools spokesman, is the only African-American man in the Legislature. Known for his stirring floor speeches on equity issues, he also played a key role in passing a bill that will make it easier to redevelop the brownfields that dot his Northeast Portland district. “An unremarkable record so far, though his heart’s in the right place,” says one insider. “Marginalized by his knee-jerk ideology,” says a business lobbyist.
REP. GREG MATTHEWS D-Gresham Overall rating: 6.33 Integrity: 6.17 Brains: 6.33 Effectiveness: 6.48
Matthews, a 46-year-old Gresham firefighter, is one of the leaders of the Democratic caucus’s conservative wing. The former Army paratrooper and Gresham cop pushed a campaign-finance reform bill that earned headlines but went nowhere. He fought hard for bills that would have augmented and protected 9-1-1 funding, but lost out on those as well. “Definitely an independent thinker,” says one observer. “Mark Nelson’s favorite Democrat,” sniffs another, referring to one of Salem’s leading business lobbyists.
REP. BILL KENNEMER R-Oregon City Overall rating: 6.31 Integrity: 6.40 Brains: 6.61 Effectiveness: 5.91
A former state senator and Clackamas County commissioner, Kennemer, 64, made an impassioned push for campaignfinance reform this term, but his effort went nowhere. Kennemer, who co-chaired the House Business and Labor Committee, is a psychologist and sometimes appeared to be engaging in therapeutic catharsis during his floor speeches. Three times he bemoaned the vicious tactics he claims Democrats used against him in 2008. Opinions varied widely on Kennemer. “A breed that’s almost vanished—a centrist,” says an admirer. “He very selectively picks priorities and moves them forward, working both sides of the aisle.” Says another lobbyist, “He’s a whiner, a loser and a totally ineffective legislator.”
REP. CAROLYN TOMEI D-Milwaukie Overall rating: 6.28 Integrity: 6.81 Brains: 6.16 Effectiveness: 5.87
Tomei, 75, went after hookah lounges this session, gaining a ban on expansion of a business popular with impressionable teens. She also passed a sex-trafficking bill that creates 20
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
new criminal penalties for johns who patronize child prostitutes. There’s always widespread disagreement about Tomei in our rankings. Social services advocates think she is Mother Teresa; others think she’s wellmeaning but little more. “An advocate for the vulnerable. My most admired.” As another puts it, “Sweet lady, but not impressive for her passion or skill.”
REP. SHAWN LINDSAY R-Hillsboro Overall rating: 6.08 Integrity: 5.75 Brains: 6.51 Effectiveness: 5.98
Lindsay, a clean-cut, 38-year-old intellectual property lawyer at the Lane Powell firm, took on a huge assignment for a rookie: defending his party in the redistricting process. It occupied much of his time, and opinions are mixed on how he did. “Got the best deal he could for Republicans in redistricting,” says one observer. “You might think he deserves higher marks, but the redistricting plan clearly favors Democrats,” says another. “So while he got it done, he likely assured Democratic control of the House next session.”
AWFUL REP. MATT WAND R-Troutdale Overall rating: 5.92 Integrity: 5.49 Brains: 6.74 Effectiveness: 5.53
A methodical construction lawyer, Wand, 35, overcame a massive registration disadvantage in his East County district to unseat incumbent Democrat Nick Kahl. Baby-faced and unassuming, Wand kept a low profile that was more a reflection of his first-year status than any lack of ability. He passed a bill to ensure Lottery dollars earmarked for economic development are spent on that, rather than sliding into counties’ general funds as has sometimes happened. “Tough, articulate and wily,” says one lobbyist. Some people found him a little parochial. “Thinks the world revolves around Troutdale,” says a detractor.
REP. MIKE SCHAUFLER D-Happy Valley Overall rating: 5.54 Integrity: 4.57 Brains: 5.41 Effectiveness: 6.64
Schaufler, 51, is a raging bull in a Capitol that skews toward quiet and polite. As WW reported, the former contractor now lives off his legislative pay and campaign funds. He excels at spending contributors’ money on bar tabs, cable bills and numerous other expenses as allowed by Oregon’s lax campaign-finance laws. Schaufler co-chaired the House Business and Labor Committee with an iron gavel. He won a big victory over the enviros he despises by ramming through legislation that would make siting gas pipelines easier. “A bully on his committee. Not OK to intimidate the public with diatribes and stifle testimony,” says a lobbyist. “Get a job please…leave,” says another. “Your schtick is tired, old, used up and we are sick of it. We all know: ‘keep the beer cold and you are happy’—ridiculous.”
REP. MATT WINGARD R-Wilsonville Overall rating: 5.53 Integrity: 4.68 Brains: 6.38 Effectiveness: 5.53
Many Democrats would rather hold a Taser to their tongues than say anything positive about Wingard, 38, who co-chaired the House Education Committee in his second session. Disagreements with his Democratic co-chair, Sara Gelser (D -Corvallis), brought the Ed Committee to an early halt. But Wingard, a PR consultant who represents charter schools, skillfully maneuvered a package of charter school-friendly bills into an end-of-session poker game. In effect, Gov. John Kitzhaber and some Democrats ended up supporting them in order to get the school reforms they wanted. “Say what you want, he’s outwitted his Democratic co-chair every step of the way,” says a Democratic lobbyist. “Smartest guy in the room,” says a Republican. “Just ask him.”
REP. PAT SHEEHAN R-Clackamas Overall rating: 5.09 Integrity: 4.77 Brains: 5.72 Effectiveness: 4.78
Sheehan, a 37-year-old Conan O’Brien lookalike who runs a small advertising firm, struggled to find his footing in his first term. He pushed a bill to keep traveling Westboro Baptist Church loonies from Kansas well away from funerals, but the bill died in committee. “Bright and eager, but a little too calculating,” says one lobbyist. “Has a large portrait of Keith Richards in his office,” noted another.
REP. JULIE PARRISH R-West Linn Overall rating: 4.57 Integrity: 4.78 Brains: 4.61 Effectiveness: 4.31
Parrish, 37, a coupon-company owner, came out of nowhere to claim this seat when Rep. Scott Bruun left it to run for Congress. She wore flip-flops on the floor, co-led an insurrection in the House Education Committee when Democrats would not move Republican bills, and went on a late-session sippy-cup shopping spree to protest a bill to ban the chemical BPA from children’s products. She also passed a bill allowing a much-needed road to be built near Tualatin and pushed a charter-school bill that looked likely to pass as WW went to press. What’s unclear is whether she can channel her energy into effectiveness—or whether she’ll get that chance. “A tea-partier disliked by both [major] parties,” says an observer. “Admire her lack of filter,” says another. And, as one lobbyist sums Parrish up, “Flip-flops as a shoe choice is classy—really, have some respect for the process.” News intern Evan Sernoffsky contributed to this report.
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GOSSIP SHOULD HAVE NO FRIENDS PIE DREAMS: The pizza prospects for Portland’s west side are looking up: The old Rocco’s building on West Burnside Street and 10th Avenue is being transformed into the second outpost of eastside late-night slice joint Sizzle Pie; Nostrana’s Cathy Whims and Aviation Gin founder Ryan Magarian are teaming up for a new pizza and cocktail restaurant called Oven & Shaker in the Pearl; and the local outpost of Seattle’s Via Tribunali is slated finally to open its doors at Southwest 2nd Avenue and Ankeny Street sometime in July.
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ALL THE RIGHT FOLDS: Seattle-based sculptor and conceptual artist John Grade took home the $10,000 Arlene Schnitzer Prize at the opening ceremonies for Portland Art Museum’s second Contemporary Northwest Art Awards. PAM executive director Brian Ferriso announced the award to a packed house in the museum’s sunken ballroom Saturday, June 18. Grade, one of seven artists featured in the CNWAA exhibition, made JOHN GRADE’S FOLD a strong showing with his innovative sculptures, which draw on the 1960s-’70s tradition of Land Art. In particular, his massive sculpture Fold commands space with biomorphic curves broken into myriad hollow wooden boxes. The exhibition, showing at the art museum through Sept. 11, is curated by PAM’s curator of Northwest art, Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson. GRÜNER GROWS: Nuevo Alpine restaurant Grüner is opening an adjoining bar—welcome news to anyone who has tried to snag one of the scarce seats at the West End eatery’s current bar. Named Kask, the new bar will focus on local, artisan spirits, beer, wine, cheese and charcuterie, and will feature bartender Tommy Klus (formerly of Teardrop, Bluehour and St. Jack) behind the stick. It’s slated to open Friday, June 24. THE SHOW MUST NOT GO ON: The Mount Tabor Theater closed unexpectedly last week, forcing the music venue to relocate and reschedule two shows, as financial disputes between the building’s owner and club management intensified, sources said. Current management could not be reached for comment, but building owner Philip Ragaway said he was confident the venue would reopen under temporary management in a matter of weeks and carry out the bulk of its remaining show schedule before finding new management. “The Tabor has had a lot of fisherman pilots,” Ragaway added. “I need Capt. Stubing from The Love Boat.”
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
HEADOUT TONY MORGAN
WILLAMETTE WEEK
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK IN ARTS & CULTURE
THURSDAY, JUNE 23 [COMEDY] TIM MINCHIN Australian Tim Minchin mates razorsharp social commentary with catchy, piano-heavy rock anthems. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $25. [MOVIES AND MUSIC] FILMUSIK, BLUE CRANES Blue Cranes, the city’s hottest original jazz ensemble, supplies the live soundtrack for the latest installment in Filmusik’s pairing of live voice actors and Foley artists with kitschy old movies. The culprit this time: the 1978 sci-fi film Planet of Dinosaurs. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 281-4215. 8 pm ThursdayFriday, June 23-24. $8-$10.
FRIDAY, JUNE 24 [MOVIES] BUCK “Buck Brannaman” sounds like a porn star or a superhero’s secret identity, but it’s actually the name of a real-life horse whisperer, and the subject of this surprisingly charming documentary. Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave., 223-4515. Multiple showtimes. $6-$8.
SATURDAY, JUNE 25
THE TOP FIVE THINGS BRUCE CAMPBELL HAS FOUGHT. Bruce Campbell is God. Well, a kind of god, anyway. To the average person, he is probably most recognizable from his Old Spice ads (or maybe his current role on USA’s Burn Notice, but to quote Aziz Ansari, “Who the hell watches Burn Notice?”). For cult movie fans—like, say, the folks at horror-themed Southeast Portland bar the Lovecraft, which is throwing a party this week in honor of his 53rd birthday—he is Humphrey Bogart…although Bogie never fought a mummy while dressed as Elvis. With an unparalleled zeal for delivering one-liners and a chin that looks like it could absorb a blow from a sledgehammer, Campbell, who lives near Medford, has built one of the most gloriously odd oeuvres in cinema, leaving a pile of demons, monsters, clones of himself and at least one gypsy in his wake. Here now, the top five things Bruce Campbell has fought in his long, weird career. Hail to the king, baby. MATTHEW SINGER. GO: Bruce Campbell’s birthday at the Lovecraft, 421 SE Grand Ave., 270-7760. Wednesday, June 22. Festivities include a character costume contest, raffle and films. 8 pm. 21+. His Own Hand (Evil Dead II, 1987) Arguably, the exact moment in which Bruce Campbell became Bruce effin’ Campbell is the scene from the second Evil Dead flick in which his defining character, Ash Williams, does battle with his own possessed hand. Like a bloodstained Buster Keaton, Campbell throws himself around a kitchen before finally lopping the tittering little bastard off with a chainsaw and blasting it with a shotgun. Little Bruce Campbells (Army of Darkness, 1992) What’s better than one Bruce Campbell? How about an entire Lilliputian gang of Bruce Campbells! In the final installment of the Evil Dead series, Ash shatters a mirror, birthing about a half-dozen tiny, murderous versions of himself, who proceed to torment him with a fork. Bubba Ho-tep (Bubba Ho-tep, 2002) Bruce Campbell plays a man who thinks he’s
Elvis Presley, teaming up with a black man claiming to be John F. Kennedy to take on an Egyptian mummy adorned in Western wear. Tatoya the Gypsy (The Man With the Screaming Brain, 2005) Most of the times Campbell commits onscreen violence against women, they’ve already been transformed into demons. In his directorial debut, however, Campbell’s female antagonist is just a regular ol’ Bulgarian gypsy. Guan-Di (My Name Is Bruce, 2007) For this self-directed low-budget horrorcomedy, Campbell finally played himself. Not surprisingly, even the “real” Bruce Campbell fights interdimensional monsters—in this case, the vengeful Chinese patron saint of bean curd. Campbell saves the day as usual, but on the whole, the movie is actually pretty terrible. Oh, well. Can’t win ’em all, even if you’re Bruce Campbell.
[PARADE] SECOND ANNUAL PORTLAND HAT PARADE Everybody loves a parade, and we’re tickled by the silliness of this one: Don your favorite hat and parade from Lulu’s Vintage to Via Delizia, via a photo shoot and millinery tour. Departs from Lulu’s Vintage, 916 W Burnside St., 360-1142. 1 pm. Free. [MUSIC] ASTER AWEKE Known as “Ethiopia’s Aretha Franklin,” Aster Aweke is back with a new album featuring her soaring vocals and danceable grooves, and a deserved reputation as one of the queens of the world-music scene. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St., 971-222-4324. 10 pm. $40.
MONDAY, JUNE 27 [MUSIC] BLONDE REDHEAD Formed beneath the stylistic shadow of Sonic Youth in the early ’90s, this trio has managed to maintain an allegiance to those early experiments in mellow noise, without losing its cool. Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $20 advance, $22 day of show. 21+.
TUESDAY, JUNE 28 [MUSIC] MY MORNING JACKET With the release of its sixth album, Circuital, My Morning Jacket has perhaps become one of the greatest live acts currently making the rounds, boasting an uncanny ability to shift from mellow, dreamlike melodies to hard-as-nails rockouts. McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale, 669-8610. 6:30 pm. $40 advance, $43 day of show. All ages.
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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July 6, 2011.
H O U R monday-friday 3:30-6:00 A draft beer pints Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen Mirror Pond Pale Ale P a selection of wines P warm marinated olives 2plate 2Y house cutpickle garlic aioli 2fries with
falafels and housemade pita 2veggie slider 2painted hills beef slider 3fritto 5cheese plate 5cavatappi pasta & cheese 4affagato 3-
a shot of espresso over vanilla bean ice cream
daily cafe in the pearl 902 nw 13th ave | 503.242.1916
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
3633 SE HAWTHORNE PORTLAND, OR 97214 503.230.7740 WWW.PRESENTSOFMIND.TV
FOOD & DRINK REVIEW LEAHNASH.COM
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. PRICES: $: Most entrees under $10. $$: $10-$20. $$$: $20-$30. $$$$: Above $30. Editor: KELLY CLARKE. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22 People’s Co-op Summer Street Party
Kombucha will be flowing and line dancing will transpire for this party in the streets. Farmers, a beer garden and food samples will be available all day, as well as local bands and music by Michael Hurley. KAREN LOCKE. People’s Co-op, 3029 SE 21st Ave, 6742642. 2-9 pm. Free. All ages.
THURSDAY, JUNE 23 Harvesting Hope
Who exactly is responsible for getting that leafy green romaine for your Caesar salad to your table? Well, often it’s a bunch of migrant workers. Farmworker Housing Development Corporation presents a short new doc called Harvesting Hope that trails a family of Oregon farmworkers, and trains a spotlight on the tough conditions they endure in regional labor camps. The screening, which includes nibbles and drinks, is a fundraiser for FHDC’s farmworker home and support programs. KELLY CLARKE. Ecotrust, 721 NW 9th Ave. 6 pm. $35. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com/event/175812.
Bites for Rights
This dining event benefits Basic Rights Oregon with 25 percent of the night’s proceeds. Genoa diners can choose between a three-course meal for $40, or five courses from the June menu for $60. Accanto will offer a four-course prix fixe meal for $25. KL. Accanto, 2838 SE Belmont St., 235-4900. 3-10 pm Accanto, 5:30-9:30 pm Genoa, Thursday, June 23. $25-$60.
Urban Farmer Summer Seafood Dinner
Showcasing white wines and ocean bounty, Urban Farmer’s Matt Christianson will prepare a four-course meal with pairings like grilled clams and octopus with pickled potato and lemon confit. KL. Urban Farmer, 525 SW Morrison St., 8th floor, 222-4900. 7 pm. $65 plus gratuity.
FRIDAY, JUNE 24 North American Organic Brewers Festival
“The nation’s most earth-friendly beer festival” will bring an expected 18,000 beer lovers to enjoy the 50 organic beers and ciders. Portland favorites like Lompoc and Lucky Labrador will be in attendance, as well as California and Washington brewers like Eel River Brewing and Fish Brewing Company. KL. Overlook Park, North Fremont Street and Interstate Avenue. Noon-9 pm Friday and Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday, June 24-26. Free admission, $6 reusable glass.
MoHo Rising
Southeast Portland’s Morrison Hotel welcomes its new chef, Rob Westmoreland, with free food and drink specials this Friday. Why is the rock and Red Sox obsessed watering hole so psyched about Westmoreland and his new menu of “hearty, lowbrow comfort cuisine”? Well, longtime Portlanders will remember him as the man behind the stove at Old Town’s Fellini (next door to Satyricon). Since then he’s cooked everywhere from Art of Catering to Tuscany Grill—even serving President Obama last summer while he was the executive chef at Devil’s Food Catering. KC. Morrison Hotel, 719 SE Morrison St., 236-7080. Free food and drink specials 3-9 pm. 21+.
SATURDAY, JUNE 25 Carrie Nation’s Blind Pig Social
Carrie Nation was known for showing her opposition to alcohol before Prohibition by attacking booze-serving businesses with a hatchet. Celebrating
its freedom from both Prohibition and Carrie Nation, Circa 33 will party with a whole-pig roast, (“blind pig” being slang for speak-easy) live music and 10 local distillers—just to rub it in Nation’s face. KL. Circa 33, 3348 SE Belmont St., 477-7682. Noon to midnight. $5. 21+.
Pascal Sauton Summer Cooking Series
You’ve been stuffing your face with Pascal Sauton’s heavenly French fare at Carafe for years. Now that the chef has stepped away from the restaurant he’s got time to teach you how to cook his way. Sauton’s hosting a series of classes at KitchenCru this summer, focused on teaching cooks how to find inspiration in ingredients not recipes. Every class ends with lunch and “summer wines.” KC. KitchenCru, 337 NW Broadway. 10 am Saturdays June 25, July 9 and 23, August 6 and 20. $75 per class; $65 if you sign up for four or more. Class limited to 10 people. Email pascal.sauton@yahoo.com to reserve your spot.
SUNDAY, JUNE 26 Feast of Foraged Foods at Castagna
Hank Shaw, author of the James Beard Award-nominated website Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, is the guest of honor at this five-course celebration of all things wild and foraged. The dinner, in honor of Shaw’s new book Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, will be prepared by chef and fellow forager Matthew Lightner. KL. Castagna, 1752 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 231-7373. 6 pm. $85.
Woodstock Farmers Market Debut
Woodstock’s farmers market kicks off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for 30 new fruit-and-vegetable vendors and other local businesses, like Papaccino’s, Caffe D’arte, Collage, Pace Setter Athletic and Big Branch Woodworking. KLAREN LOCKE. Woodstock Farmers Market, 4600 SE Woodstock Blvd. 9 am-1 pm Sunday, June 26. Free.
RECENTLY REVIEWED Sunshine Tavern
Let’s get the griping out of the way first: The Sunshine Tavern is not a tavern. It is many delightful things: a beautiful room, a mini-arcade, a chic new restaurant whose slender menu lacks nothing. But it is not a tavern, not in atmosphere and not in priorities. Theat menu offers just three entrees, plus a handful of inventive pizzas, sandwiches, salads and burgers. Order anything you want as long as it’s the fried chicken dinner. You’ll be rewarded with perfect, juicy, boneless hunks of bird on fat semolina waffles drizzled with honey. It is heaven. The same chicken is equally good on a spicy sandwich accompanied by a tawny pile of awesome fries. Even the humble burger (add on extras like cheese, eggs or pork belly) holds its own. BECKY OHLSEN. 3111 SE Division St., 6881750, sunshinepdx.com. Dinner 5-10 pm Sunday-Thursday, 5-11 pm FridaySaturday. $$-$$$.
Emilie Dessert Cafe
Opened last July by sister-and-brother team Wenny and Wisman Santoso, this Euro-style, dessert-centric cafe not only keeps the early-morning coffee and pastry crowd happy, but considerately stays open well after dinner time, when cake eaters are on the prowl for sugar. We were knocked out by an espresso mocha cake, a generous slab with a chocolate cookie base, a thick layer of ganache, and Irish creamsoaked chocolate cake, crowned with a thick tier of mascarpone espresso mousse—all resting upon a drizzle of crème anglaise. JOANNA MILLER. 8680 SW Canyon Road, 206-5576, emiliedessertcafe.com. 7 am-5 pm Monday, 7 am-8 pm Tuesday-Saturday, 7:30 am-3 pm Sunday. $.
CHICKS WITHOUT THE CLUCK: Natural Selection’s harissa and chickpea stew with minted “soygurt.”
EAT YOUR GREENS
NATURAL SELECTION THROWS A PARTY FOR VEGETABLES
maitake, hedgehog and black trumpet mushrooms; one month and 15 degrees later, it was singing with sweet peas and a healthy dose of coconut cream. Salads are, surprisingly, the most challenging BY R U TH B R OWN rbrown@wweek.com part of the meal. Though uncomplicated and light on dressing, each plate is composed of competNatural Selection is a vegetable restaurant. That’s ing flavors and textures. Think pickled sea greens no typo—the new upscale supper club from chef against avocado, or dried fig against romaine. If you and Vita Cafe owner Aaron Woo may be meat-free, get the right combination on your fork, it’s amazing; but lumping it in the “vegetarian” category is miss- if you don’t, it can be genuinely unpleasant. And sometimes the kitchen just gets it wrong. ing the point. Natural Selection is a celebration and an elevation of vegetables from side dish to center A pasta dish with lemon, endive and spicy, sweet stage. It is not a restaurant that replaces meat with peppers made for an ambitious experiment but tofu or wheat gluten or starch or cheese. It’s a res- was unpleasantly acidic and hot, no matter how we taurant that says, “Fuck protein!” and proves that combined the ingredients. Fortunately, the hits far, far outyou can make a delicious, satisfyweigh the misses: An artichoke ing meal without it. That it’s veg- ORDER THIS: Bring friends, order everything. and eggplant caponata knocked it etarian seems almost incidental. The restaurant itself feels like BEST DEAL: A matched wine pairing out of the park, served in a hearty for $21. The wine menu is great and tomato-based stew with sweet a dinner party. There’s Woo (who the bar manager knows her shit. currants and salty sea pickles. spent the past year studying I’LL PASS: The vegan desserts were A slice of thick abalone mushmodern cuisine under a former consistently mediocre. room and fried polenta made the Fat Duck chef ) on your left—he greets you from the open kitchen as you walk in perfect sopping material for an addictive romesco the door before dashing back to the stove. His sauce. Both managed to be filling and indulgent friends chop, cook and plate calmly but efficiently. without the crutch of dense starch or dairy. Desserts aren’t in danger of blowing anyone’s The decor is an oh-so-Portland shade of vintage: gorgeous glassware, old cutlery and a fit-out that’s mind, though they make good use of fresh produce heavy on wood, copper, Edison bulbs and serif and provide a sweet way to round out the meal. It may be Woo’s big bash, but front-of-house fonts. The drinks flow, the atmosphere is relaxed, and the night rolls on at a casual, easy pace. You manager Tabetha Warren is every bit the host of will leave smiling, satisfied but not stuffed, and the party. Manning a small bar fashioned out of an old wooden cart, she has created an impressive probably a bit sloshed. Meals are built on a $35 four-course prix fixe drink program. Much of the cocktail menu ($7-$9) menu, with two options for each course, at least one changes seasonally, making great use of fresh fruit of which is always vegan and gluten-free. Menus and unusual ingredients like kombucha and black change—often dramatically—every week in what tea maple syrup. Wines are mostly old world, comis perhaps the most seasonally obsessed kitchen in plementing Woo’s Euro-influenced dishes nicely. By reinventing its menu every week and going town. On one visit, our server asked a cook if any of the dishes contained cucumber, as one member of against the grain (quite literally), Natural Selection our dining party had an allergy. “Of course not,” he is probably the most unique and exciting place to eat in town right now. Let’s hope Woo has enough snapped back. “It’s April.” But it’s hard to begrudge the kitchen its anally energy and inspiration to keep the party raging in retentive ways when you taste the result. Take the long run. the wonderfully velvety vegan soup, which pops with an ever-changing lineup of fresh produce and GO: Natural Selection, 3033 NE Alberta St., 2885883, naturalselectionpdx.com. Dinner 5:30-10 pm bright flavors: One menu yielded an earthy bowl of Wednesday-Saturday. $$-$$$$. Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
JUNE 22 - 28 FESTIVALS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22 Mickey Avalon
[STRIP-HOP] Though devotees may well adore Mickey Avalon as much for the man’s bio (a harrowing chic tapestry of drug addiction, male prostitution and louche life ’midst the Sunset clubs) as his raps (supra-casual flow marrying deadpan braggadocio and self-deprecating wit that were never intended to amuse), it was hard to separate the two around the time of Avalon’s self-titled, major-label debut. Five years on, the former Yeshe Perl has recorded precious little else, and while his live shtick still indulges a boozy, stripper-saturated debauchery, reports suggest a suspiciously soberish restraint: one bit of laziness that’s sure to damage the career. JAY HORTON. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show.
Meat Puppets, Bad Weather California, The Black Box Revelation
[THING 1, THING 2] That Arizona’s Meat Puppets scored a radio hit with 1994’s “Backwater” was one of the stranger outcomes of the early ’90s alt-rock gold rush. Even in the freak-filled world of the ’80s underground, the band was especially weird: A bunch of Grateful Dead-worshiping acidheads playing sun-stroked desert hardcore marked by the kind of exceptional musicianship punk rejected. So to have the Puppets, of all bands, break through the mainstream glass ceiling meant something truly significant was happening. Of course, the group did have friends in high places—particularly Nirvana, who famously covered three songs from its magnificent second album during its Unplugged set. It’s been a long time since those glory days, but leaders Curt and Cris Kirkwood have endured, reuniting in 2007 and releasing three albums (including this year’s Lollipop) that range from solid to unspectacular. If nothing else, the band deserves credit for never integrating into the jam scene, which is kind of where you’d think the guys who introduced Jerry Garcia to punk rock would end up. MATTHEW SINGER. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $16 advance, $18 day of show. 21+.
The Sandwitches, Calvin Johnson
[DARK COUNTRY] I am breaking with my music geek M.O. by refusing to do a Google image search for the Sandwitches, because I’ve fallen head over heels for the context I’ve invented for this San Francisco trio’s unearthly brand of country music. I see three dustencrusted women casting spells over a campfire; a full moon reddening and falling into the sea; a night of haunted sleep; and a sunrise blessing these newly christened Sandwitches with voices that bend and stretch like rubber bands and a sinister knack for writing songs that sound as old as the mountains but somehow feel as fresh as a brand-new wound. CHRIS STAMM. Record Room, 8 NE Killingsworth St. 4 pm. Free.
Andy C, MC GQ
[ORIGINAL DRUM’N’BASSHEAD] Here’s a statement that some true aficionado will probably refute, but whatever: Drum’n’bass was the punk rock of electronic music. It lived fast (and rhythmically complicated) and died relatively young, and has since been replaced by the less frantic, more interpretable genre of dubstep. If that’s the case, Andy C is drum’n’bass’s John Lydon. The elusive DJ—even 20 years down the road, he remains an aloof figure— was there at the music’s beginning, ushering in the genre’s prevalence with several classic tracks in the early to mid-’90s. Even though it’s gone a bit out of style, at least in the U.K., the man known to his mother as Andy Clarke
has continued to fly the drum’n’bass flag, making this appearance something like if the reunited Sex Pistols came to Portland: perhaps not entirely relevant, but still very special. MATTHEW SINGER. The Whiskey Bar, 31 NW 1st Ave., 227-0405. 9 pm. $15. 21+.
THURSDAY, JUNE 23 Tim Minchin
[SLOUCH OF THE CONCHORDS] Australian pianist and sit-down comic Tim Minchin, part of an apparent surge in tuneful antipodean satirists, plows the same wryly eccentric soil as HBO heartthrobs Bret and Jemaine— but the self-described “Rock-’n’-Roll Nerd” convincingly sells only the nerdiness. Past masters of tickling ivories and funny bones—Tom Lehrer, say, or Zach Galifinakis—understood that the essential qualities of their instrument indulged virtuosic bursts or incidental accompaniments (and similarly styled musings); Minchin’s songbook dearly needs a blue note as his stabs at seriousness ooze treacle. JAY HORTON. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $25 (Minors must be accompanied by a parent). All ages.
Mary Magdalan, And Then There Were None, Amerikan Overdose
[SHOPPING-MALL GOTH] Jesus may have been able to forgive the sins of the biblical prostitute from which Mary Magdalan [sic] takes its moniker, but, well, he was Jesus; this Los Angelesspawned musical atrocity’s trespasses on my musical sensibilities I cannot excuse. It’s hard to know where to begin a takedown, in part because over her four-years-too-long career, Mary Magdalan seems stylistically to have made a 180-degree turn: On Digi.N3rv, to be released next month, she discards the screechy (but at least kind of hardcore) sound of her 2007 debut, Pity Girl, in favor of club-friendly beats and a pop-goth aesthetic—staying true only to her Hot Topic commercialism. Take it away! JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. $7. All ages.
Cibo Matto, The Chain Gang of 1974
[TASTY POP] Oh man, the post-grunge ’90s were a hell of a time. It’s a stretch to call it an “underrated” era—an astonishing amount of one-and-done crap inundated the radio around that time— but Kurt Cobain’s shotgun blasted a hole through popular music that allowed a lot of weird shit to sneak through, some of which still sounds fresh to this day. Case in point: Cibo Matto. Born in Japan, formed in New York, named after an Italian phrase and sing-rambling in French and broken English, the duo of Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda released two albums of equally multiculti pop, melding funky samples, trip-hop textures and an obsession with food (sample song titles: “Sci-Fi Wasabi” from 1999’s Stereo Type A, everything from 1996’s Viva! La Woman), before splitting in the early 2000s. In a way, its genre-confused sound helped pave a path for the stylistic blending that’s commonplace today. MATTHEW SINGER. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $20. 21+.
In the Country
[NORWEGIAN MOODS] Contemplative, delicate, drifty: The early works of pianist-synth player Morten Qvenild’s trio seemed to conform to stereotypes of Scandinavian jazz. Then came its 2009 breakout CD, Whiteout, which added guitar, more percussion and electronic textures to the earlier Jarrett-like atmospherics. The disc also afforded the Norwegian band space to stretch out
CONT. on page 28
K E Y S N K R AT E S . C O M
MISS VIXEN
KEYS N KRATES
MICHAEL HURLEY
CON BRO CHILL
ALISSA ANDERSON
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.
KARI BEKKA
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. 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.
CONBROCHILL.COM
MUSIC
DIVIDE AND CONQUER PORTLAND HAS FOUR MUSIC FESTIVALS THIS WEEKEND. YOU SHOULD GO TO ONE. BY CASEY JA R MA N
cjarman@wweek.com
Closer Electronic Music Festival Thursday-Saturday at various (indoor and outdoor) Portland venues. More info at closerpdx.com. ORGANIZERS SAY: “Celebrating Portland’s unique and vibrant underground techno and house music scenes, Closer 2011 is a multi-venue festival event featuring the best in modern electronic dance music.” WE SAY: Starting out small is the way to go. Laymen might not be familiar with all Closer’s local and national DJs, but seeing as how tickets are just $15 for the whole weekend, it seems an excellent way for noobs to get acquainted. TARGET AUDIENCE: Club kids; good-vibes dance enthusiasts; artist types; cheapskates. ACTS TO WATCH: Internationally known Seattle techno DJ-producer-remixer Jerry Abstract; Portland techno staple Miss Vixen (who will kickstart an all-female DJ night called Cock Block at Groove Suite in July). Re:Generation Music Festival Thursday-Sunday at Horning’s Hideout in North Plains. $172.50 for weekend pass and camping fees. More info at regenerationfestival.com. ORGANIZERS SAY: “Joining the ultimate pairing of STS9 and Bassnectar,” which is really all they have to say to sell tickets, it turns out. WE SAY: Jam bands are out and electronic dance music is in at Horning’s Hideout, though you’d be forgiven for mistaking many of this fest’s concertgoers for Deadheads. Bassnectar and STS9 have both amassed cult followings of obsessive, bootlegswapping fans who are going to make this spendy festival a huge success. TARGET AUDIENCE: College students with blacklight posters in their dorm rooms; thirtysomething dads on shroom-fueled vacay; oldschool ravers. ACTS TO WATCH: Toronto-based live hip-hop band Keys N Krates, local ambient dreamweaver and techno whiz kid Emancipator.
No.Fest Friday and Saturday at various North Portland locations. $1 suggested donation (we’re not kidding). All ages. More info at nofest.net. ORGANIZERS SAY: “This is a festival unafraid to drive close to the edge of all things. Our program seems to go further in to the frays with more family friendliness and diversity at once. It seems we are maturing.” WE SAY: No.Fest is probably Portland’s freakiest music and arts festival, and we say this with a great deal of admiration. The KBOO-backed fest offers a wide range of experimental and improvised music, though organizers are quick to note that the festival has expanded, in its four years, into pop, jazz and hip-hop territory, and now offers something for everybody. They’re right, but the strongest bookings here are still of the oddball variety. TARGET AUDIENCE: “Keep Portland weird” types; artists of all stripes; North Portland neighbors. ACTS TO WATCH: Local singer-songwritergenius Michael Hurley; lauded Portland experimental musician White Rainbow. Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts Friday-Sunday at George Rogers Park and Lakewood Center. Free (with suggested donation). All ages. More info at lakewood-center.org. ORGANIZERS SAY: “Nothing beats the open air as you walk around a bevy of fine arts [and] crafts, sample the wonderful smells of amazing food, and to top it off—live music at George Rogers Park & Lakewood Center. Put your dancing shoes on—and come feel the festival heat in the heart of Lake Oswego.” WE SAY: This family-friendly festival features local blues, jazz and R&B standouts (Curtis Salgado, Linda Hornbuckle, Patrick Lamb), but it also throws a few curveballs (Nu Wave Machine?). TARGET AUDIENCE: Lake Oswego people; lacrosse enthusiasts; wine-sippers and their kids. ACTS TO WATCH: Con Bro Chill is a professional lacrosse player turned Internet joke-pop musician who both scares and excites us: It’s sort of an Andrew W.K. meets Andy Samberg meets Hot Tub Time Machine thing. Which, unlike much of the fest, seems quite unmistakably Lake Oswego. SEE IT: More info in the music calendar, page 39. Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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MUSIC ALICIA VEGA
Shandong cuisine of northern china
fresh ingredients • prepared daily • a new look at classic dishes 3724 ne broadway portland or 97232 503.287.0331 shandongportland.com
THURSDAY - FRIDAY
open daily 11-2:30 lunch 4-9:30 dinner happy hour specials 4-6
Enjoy family recipes (vegan & gluten-free, too)
Happy Hour all day Belly Dancer Fri & Sat 221 SW Pine • 503-459-4441
MUSIC MILLENIUM WELCOMES
I’LL HAVE WHAT THEY’RE HAVING: Wooden Birds play Doug Fir Friday. and experiment with polyrhythms, upbeat attacks, and Radioheadstyle dark pop colors, resulting in worldwide acclaim and landing the disc on several best-of-theyear lists. This latest concert in PDX Jazz’s valuable series continues to give Portland invigorating glimpses of the fascinating forefront of today’s European jazz. BRETT CAMPBELL. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., 223-4527. 8 pm. $15. 21+.
Taj Mahal, Joan Osborne
[BLUES AND POP] Taj Mahal doesn’t need a reason to hit the road: The 69-year-old bluesman—and with his lifelong forays into world music, radio pop, folk, rock and soul, “bluesman” really describes Mahal’s spirit more than his sound—owned summer touring circuits long before they were the only way working musicians could make a buck. So you’d be forgiven for missing his 2008 disc, Maestro, a mom-and-poppleasing collection of joke-driven blues rockers and characteristically eclectic musical detours. Being the crowd-pleaser Mahal is, he plays the favorites—one need know only a smattering of Mahal’s best-known tunes to thoroughly enjoy the show. CASEY JARMAN. Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Road, 220-2789. 7 pm. $24. All ages.
FRIDAY, JUNE 24 Raise the Bridges, Speaker Minds
[LIVE HIP-HOP] I grew up enjoying both hip-hop and punk rock, but utterly convinced that the two forms should never party together. But rappin’ ska-punks Sublime persisted, and persist still through party-centric groups like Portland’s Raise the Bridges. The outfit’s new disc, Beauty in the Trenches, features familiar, ska-and-soul-tinged tunes aimed at tatted-up (possibly alcoholic) fun-lovers who desperately need some new grooves to fill the void left by Bradley Nowell’s premature death. Still, Raise the Bridges has a shit-ton of fun in concert (often winding up sprawled across the stage) and the new album features as much thoughtful songwriting than party-rock filler. So if you simply have to party Calistyle in the great state of Oregon, you best party with these dudes. CASEY JARMAN. Branx. 320 SE 2nd Ave. 234-5683. Cover. 21+.
The Wooden Birds, Shoeshine Blue, The Cabin Project
[DEAR HEARTS & GENTLE PEOPLE] One of the best albums of 2011 to this point is the latest Wooden Birds LP, Two Matchsticks. Conceived by former American Analog Set frontman Andrew Kenny, the album is a bashful collection steeped in the sound of ’60s country and ’50s rockabilly with the underground rock pop of the last 40 years adding color and structure. It’s an aesthetic that runs counter to the paint-peeling volume the Birds’ peers truck in nowadays. Don’t let this quiet gem of an album get swept aside; sink into its warm embrace and pray it doesn’t let go. ROBERT HAM. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 2319663. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
Supernature: Octant, Brain Crush, DJ E*Rock, DJ Copy
[ROBOT BAND] Octant was something of a curiosity when the band, comprising primarily robots (not the big silver kind with PVC pipe for arms, but small, instrumentplaying machines), made a small splash in the late ’90s. But in the past 15 years, Matthew Steinke’s musical science project has gone from being all bleeps and bloops to an honest-to-goodness singersongwriter project…if one with a near-invisible backing band. After a long silence, Octant’s 2011 selftitled disc is a gorgeously (and yes, robotically) orchestrated listen that has more in common with the Eels or late-era Rentals than it does with any of tonight’s openers: Steinke’s little friends have learned subtlety and restraint on their now largely acoustic instrumentation. CASEY JARMAN. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
Danava, Eternal Tapestry
[KRAUTRAWK] Eternal Tapestry and Danava are comparable in that both local bands infuse ’70s guitar riffs and instrumentation into acid-fueled modern space rock. But where Eternal Tapestry experiments with classic psych and krautrock, Danava pays homage to the archetypal New Wave of British heavy metal. Eternal Tapestry’s recordings (such as Night Gallery, the collaboration with Sun Araw that will be released by Thrill Jockey next month) sound improvised and organic. Danava, on the other hand, takes a more considered approach, staying true to the classic metal structure while inventively expanding the sound. Although the two bands’ disparate influences set them apart, they share a love of breathing new life into these old genres, approaching them with a modern perspective and prodigious heaviness. DEVAN COOK. Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., 248-1030. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
Mean Jeans, Terraform, Blood Beach, Flip Tops, Perfect Look
[PARTY PUNK] Mean Jeans have been the subject of steadily growing hype since the release of their 2009 LP, Are You Serious? Much like Portland predecessors Clorox Girls and the Exploding Hearts, the group plays fast-paced pop-punk anthems, with most songs clocking in at under two minutes. In lieu of the Hearts’ lovelorn lyrics, however, Mean Jeans sing of parties, drugs and—naturally—jeans. While the trio’s sound inevitably draws comparisons to the Ramones’, the influence seems twice-removed, as the Jeans hold a greater similarity to Ramones admirers the Spits than to the punk pioneers themselves. Despite landing a coveted spot at SXSW earlier this year, the group is taking the mounting attention in stride, continuing to tear up backyards and even Burgervilles. The size of the venue doesn’t really matter: If that’s where the party is, that’s where Mean Jeans will be. DEVAN COOK. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 238-0543. 9:30 pm. $5. 21+.
CONT. on page 32
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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B AN D O F H O R S E S • I R O N & WI N E
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY • THE KILLS NIKE
P R E S E NTS
B R AN D N EW • B U T TH O LE S U R F E R S
ARCH E RS OF LOAF • N E U ROS IS • B li n d Pi lot • N I K E MSTR KR FT B LITZ E N TRAPPE R • Mackle Mor e & ryan lewis • S E BADOH PR ES E NTS
HANDSOME FURS • little dragon • THE VACCINES • the antlers char les B radley • YACHT • s haron Van ette n • TH E E OH S E ES N I KE TH E JOY FOR M I DAB LE • hors e Feath e rs • TH E TH E R MALS OFF! • th e hor rors • DE N N IS COFFEY • cass MccoM Bs P hanto g r aM • AVI B U F FALO • g l as s can dy • R H ET T M I LLE R MAR KÉTA I R G LOVÁ • t y s e gall • G IVE R S • B i g F r e e d ia • K YLE SA Portland cello Project • PIG DESTROYER • crooked Fingers T H E O L I V I A T R E M O R C O N T R O L • d a M - F u n k & M a st e r B l a st e r PR ES E NTS
you aM i • TE D LEO • e Manci Pator • G RAI LS • e Ma • S HABAZ Z PALACES B O B BY BAR E J R. • te n n i s • C E NTR O -MATI C • dan Man gan • T YP H O O N TH E H O O D I NTE R N ET • salli e F o r d & th e s o u n d o uts i d e • TALK D E M O N I C th e M o o n d o g g i e s • Z E K E • t wi n s i ste r • TH E GAS L AM P K I LLE R • P s i loVe yo u F o o l’s g o ld • TH E S O F T M O O N • Mad r ad • P U R IT Y R I N G • d i rt y B eac h e s
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TI C K ETS O N SAL E N OW AT AL L TI C K ETSWE ST LO C ATI O N S
I N F O AVAI L AB L E AT M U S I C F E STNW.C O M /TI C K ETS 30
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
MUSIC ADAM GACIARZ
PROFILE
NUCULAR AMINALS TUESDAY, JUNE 28 [EFFORTLESSLY EDGY POP] As often happens when you sit down with a band to chat, the conversation really starts cooking when the tape isn’t rolling. After I’d shut off my recorder, three-fourths of Nucular Aminals and I—fueled by tall boys of Hamm’s, bourbon and pizza—traded stories about juvenile delinquency, bike accidents, first concerts and our mutual love for Mississippi Records’ cassette releases. It was the kind of conversation that doesn’t feel like work. Don’t get me wrong—our interview proper wasn’t a huge failure by any means. Yet, when digging into the specifics of this quartet’s blithe and laid-back, Farfisa-ingrained pop and the inspiration behind certain songs, the band—especially frontman Robert Comitz—seemed more than a little wary. When I asked about the inspiration behind the alternatively buoyant and trudging track “August 21st” (found on the Aminals’ upcoming self-titled release on K Records), Comitz went silent in his North Portland home while his bandmate, bassist Jheremy Grigsby, told the tale. Hearing the details, though, one could hardly blame Comitz for deferring. The band had just finished performing at a house show and was in the midst of cleaning up when Comitz ran into a gaggle of teen boys that belonged to a notorious tagging crew. Fueled by liquor-induced confidence, the gaunt musician shot a snide remark in their direction. Grigsby: “They get up. They throw a table over. And they push him over, and they just start kicking him and beating him. It lasted maybe 30 seconds at most. We came running around to him and they took off. We go over to Robert, and his glasses are missing and he’s all beat up. And he has this massive concussion. He doesn’t remember playing, doesn’t remember what we did. So he wrote the song about that night.” Not your typical pop-song subject matter (nor is “Bob Flanagan,” the band’s ode to the titular author and poet best known for his sadomasochistic performance art), but it is that disconnect between what you see and what lies under the surface that often makes life and art so fascinating. Such as the revelation that Comitz, a soft-spoken gent who looks like he should be studying for his master’s in comparative literature, used to bomb around his Arizona hometown on a dirt bike, terrorizing the local police. Or that the three musicians sinking into the well-worn cushions of Comitz’s sofa spent endless hours crafting their sound before accidentally falling into the free-flowing ’60s garage by way of ’90s underground pop that, in spite of its dark underpinnings, makes the band’s self-titled, self-produced LP the perfect soundtrack for summer road trips, dance parties or make-out sessions. “I don’t know how intentional it is,” said keyboardist Erin Schmith of the band’s central melodic instrument, the Farfisa organ. “I just liked those instruments a lot. And I was really lucky that I found someone with a nice working Farfisa to buy. It just fell together in this nice way.” Comitz agreed. “We wrote around our instruments. We found things that sounded good and that we enjoyed playing, and it turned into what we do.” With that settled, Comitz shrugged, poured himself another glass of Bulleit, and quietly waited for the subject to change. ROBERT HAM. Happy accidents and brutal beatings formed Nucular Aminals’ sound.
SEE IT: Nucular Aminals play the Know on Tuesday, June 28, with the Shivas and Hooded Hags. 8 pm. Cover. 21+. Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
31
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MUSIC
SATURDAY
SATURDAY, JUNE 25 Natasha Bedingfield, Kate Voegele, Andy Grammer
[ELECTRO-POP DIVA] Every one of you reading this has heard Natasha Bedingfield’s inescapable hit single, “Unwritten,” whether you knew it was her or not. That earworm of a tune aside, the 29-year-old with the spunky vocals and persona has maintained a steady current of electrified pop that has been keeping her on the charts, especially in her native England. It’ll be quite a feat for the relatively intimate confines of the Aladdin Theater to hold in her mammoth talent. Look for me at the foot of the stage alternately gawking at her kittenish beauty and yelling out for her to sing her U.K. top-10 hit, “I Wanna Have Your Babies.” ROBERT HAM. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show. (Minors must be accompanied by a parent). All ages.
Aster Aweke, Tezeta Band
[ETHIOPIAN FUNK POP] Anyone
who’s taken a taxi in Washington, D.C., knows it’s America’s capital of Ethiopian expatriates—including, for a decade, the dynamic singer who built a strong following in Addis Ababa clubs and then D.C. Ethiopian restaurants, rising to become one of the pioneers of Afropop. After the oppressive Mengistu regime fell in the early ’90s, Aster Aweke returned home to a rapturous reception for her blend of traditional Ethiopian sounds with funk and soul. Now she’s back with a touring band, a new album featuring her soaring vocals and danceable grooves, and a deserved reputation as one of the queens of the world music scene. Portland’s own Tezeta Band opens. BRETT CAMPBELL. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St., 2067630. 10 pm. $40. 21+.
Mudhoney, Unnatural Helpers, Tom Price Desert Classic, Non!
When the recent news came down that a documentary on Seattle’s
CONT. on page 35
ALBUM REVIEW
LEWI LONGMIRE BAND TALES OF THE LEFT COAST ROASTERS (SELF-RELEASED) [TRUE FOLK ROCK] Lewi Longmire has been around the block a few times. In 2008, he traced his musical “family tree” for WW and the result was a vast spider web of connections: Longmire has played with Little Sue, I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House, Jackie O Motherfucker and Victoria Williams, to name a few disparate projects. His own releases are fewer and farther between, and despite the widespread respect of his peers, most locals know him best as “that guy with the beard who plays in every band in town.” Longmire’s influences are just as hard to pin down: To call the Lewi Longmire Band’s third LP, Tales of the Left Coast Roasters, a roots or Americana release is to disregard just how much those endless side projects have colored Longmire’s palette. From “Darkest Night,” a mourning-tinged take on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ classic sound, and the ambitious, Neil Younginspired “El Dorado” (about a suicidal friend and the impact his death has on a community) to the bluesy “Save Yourself” and the early Beatles-style opener “At Least in My Mind,” the Longmire Band covers most of rock’s bases. But it’s when Longmire lets his folk and bluegrass roots show that the LaurelThirst regular is at his strongest. “The Ballad of Sweet Marie,” while a tad lyrically precious and sepia-toned in a way that some folk-overexposed Portlanders avoid, is a masterfully played ballad that finds Longmire nodding to Dylan and setting heartbreak against bright, traditional instrumentation. “Vanport 1948” stands out as the album’s most striking track. In tackling the historic Multnomah County flood, the singersongwriter is dredging up a dark chapter in local history that saw much of our region’s black community permanently displaced. In a ballsy move, Longmire tackles the song in the first person. It’s worth the gamble. “They sent men from the government to investigate/ But the commissioner’s in the pocket, and the agents are on the take,” he sings, embittered but rational against rollicking roots accompaniment. “What care they for a black man whose family lost his home/ When the wolves or the water’s at your door they make you stand alone.” That kind of historical balladeering hasn’t been popular since guys named Guthrie and Ochs roamed the earth, but Longmire’s passionate delivery (and his cooking bandmates) make the history lesson modern and compelling. It also makes this vinyl-only release worth picking up. Of course, Longmire’s band has no trouble finding its sound throughout the LP (and noted local producer Adam Selzer can take some credit for that). Longmire’s songwriting—his voice— shines to a surprising extent on this latest disc. That voice is both uniquely Portland and uniquely Longmire—if those two words aren’t synonymous by now. CASEY JARMAN. SEE IT: The Lewi Longmire Band plays Saturday, June 25, at the Woods, with Lynn Conover and Gravel. 8 pm. $8. 21+. 32
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
33
CRYSTAL BALLROOM
THE KILLS SEPT. 7
TI C K E O N S TS ALE NOW !
F ALL O E TH E S R E SA W O SH G E S! ALL A
DOORS 8 PM
PIONEER STAGE AT PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE
IRON & WINE
SEPT. 9 WITH MARKÉTA IRGLOVÁ & SALLIE FORD & THE SOUND OUTSIDE DOORS 3:30 PM
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY
BLITZEN TRAPPER SEPT. 9 WITH SHARON VAN ETTEN & WEINLAND DOORS 8 PM
ARCHERS OF LOAF SEPT. 8 WITH SEBADOH & VIVA VOCE DOORS 7 PM
BLIND PILOT
SEPT. 10 WITH AVI BUFFALO, ALELA DIANE & BLACK PRAIRIE DOORS 7 PM
ROSELAND THEATER
ALADDIN THEATER
BUTTHOLE SURFERS
CHARLES BRADLEY & DENNIS COFFEY
SEPT. 8 WITH THE THRONES DOORS 8 PM
SEPT. 8 WITH MONARQUES DOORS 7 PM
SEPT. 10 WITH THE ANTLERS & TYPHOON DOORS 2:30 PM
BAND OF HORSES
SEPT. 11 WITH CASS MCCOMBS, MORNING TELEPORTATION & BOBBY BARE JR DOORS 2:30 PM
MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS
SEPT. 9 WITH SHABAZZ PALACES AND TXE
HORSE FEATHERS SEPT. 9 WITH JOE PUG & ANAIS MITCHELL DOORS 8 PM
DOORS 7:30 PM
NEUROSIS
SEPT. 10 WITH GRAILS, YOB & AKIMBO DOORS 7 PM
PORTLAND CELLO PROJECT SEPT. 10 WITH LIFESAVAS & EMILY WELLS DOORS 7 PM
FOR TICKETING AND WRISTBAND INFO GO TO MUSICFESTNW.COM/TICKETS LIMITED NUMBER OF ADVANCE TICKETS FOR THESE SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE THROUG H TICKETSWEST.
$70*
WRISTBAND PLUS A GUARANTEED TICKET TO ONE SHOW AT PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE: IRON & WINE, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY OR BAND OF HORSES
$115*
WRISTBAND PLUS GUARANTEED TICKETS TO ALL THREE SHOWS AT PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE: IRON & WINE, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY AND BAND OF HORSES *Service Fees Apply
34
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
MUSIC
P I E R N I C O L A D ’A M I C O
SATURDAY - SUNDAY
performance THE UNBEARABLE BLONDNESS OF BEING: Blonde Redhead plays Doug Fir Monday. Mudhoney was in the final stages of filming, the reaction from the Northwest music community was one big, collective “Finally!” Frontman Mark Arm is the closest thing Seattle has to its own version of Iggy Pop, albeit one with enough dignity to avoid ill-advised appearances on American Idol. While Arm and company are reliably rambunctious live, tonight’s show will no doubt be even more old-school over the top with the augmentation of the Unnatural Helpers, Sub Pop sales director Dean Whitmore’s ramshackle but tuneful garage-punk act. HANNAH LEVIN. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9:30 pm. $15 advance, $18 day of show. 21+.
Alameda, Mike Midlo from Pancake Breakfast
[ORCHESTRAL TWANG] Portland three-piece Alameda has been a revolving door of collaborative talent, welcoming acts like AgesandAges and the Builders and the Butchers into its cozy, barnyard brand of acoustic bliss. The orchestral-minded band’s work with Horsefeathers is the most appropriate and poignant of its projects, emphasizing a shared interest in serene, gray-haired folk. Alameda gives traditionally jazzy instruments like the cello and clarinet the backwoods treatment, cladding them in overalls and making them weep in tandem with Stirling Myles copacetic vocals. Mike Midlo of Pancake Breakfast opens this free afternoon patio show. MARK STOCK. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 4 pm. Free. 21+.
Mndsgn, Juj, Devonwho, Brownbear, DJ Rap Class, Timeboy
[FUTUREBEATS] Those of us enamored with futurists (the James Blakes, J Dillas and Radioheads of the world) would do well to spend more time with the Klipmode squad. The Klipmoders—including Philly’s Mndsgn and Portland’s own Devonwho, both performing tonight—seem equally versed in DJ Premier and Philip Glass, and it’s the kind of collection of artists that really could thrive only in the Internet age. Klipmode (and the same can be said for L.A.’s Juj) is doing more than making dance music. At their best, these guys are doing less producing and mixing than a wonderfully detailed kind of sonic quilting, really: The product is colorful, warm and, ideally, just a little bit alien. This is probably what the future sounds like, so only the bravest of time-travelers need apply. CASEY JARMAN. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $6. 21+.
SUNDAY, JUNE 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 straightup 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 Coliseum, 5135 NE 42nd Ave. 7 pm. Cover. All ages.
stage classical dance
p. 42
8332 NE Fremont Portland, OR 97220
503-254-7283 www.aparaphilia
Sondre Lerche, Nightlands, Kishi Bashi
[A TWEE GROWS IN BROOKLYN] As a sort of Scandinavian Elvis Costello (though a heartthrob version of EC almost defeats the point), Sondre Lerche twice toured with the icon while ably mastering his own distinctly personal, damnably eclectic songwriting. But after quietly thrilling jaunts toward ’60s melodic folk and crooner jazz and even that devil rock and roll, his just-released, self-titled sixth album abandons experiments and firmly fixes roots in a pleasant, tuneful, dully mature pop-by-numbers that never quite achieves the courage of its convictions. Blame the move to Williamsburg or his advancing age—the boy wonder’s almost 29—but one hopes Lerche, always a dynamic live performer, continues the musical wanderings on tour. JAY HORTON. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 2319663. 9 pm. $17. 21+.
Children of Bodom, Devin Townsend, Obscura, Septic Flesh
[POWER METAL] Heavy metal is right up there with electronics and forestry products on the list of Finland’s major economic sectors; Children of Bodom are leaders of that thrashy, debilitating genre. With five gold-selling albums since 1995, the quartet has displayed a fantastic ability to blend subcategories of metal (death, power, speed, etc.) into a potpourri that is offensive to surprisingly few genre devotees. Last year’s Relentless Reckless Forever finds the group cruising along in top form with frontman Alexi Laiho using growling and drop-D tuning to inculcate yet another generation of Americans with the improbable knowledge that “Bodom” is the name of a lake in southern Finland. SHANE DANAHER. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 7 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show. All ages.
Meet Our
Topless Bartender
TORI Monday through Friday
11 AM–4 PM
Animals and Men, Psychic Feline, Cat Fancy
[MISBEHAVING IN THE MODERN AGE] One of dozens of bands in the late ’70s that let the DIY aesthetics of punk inspire their own loopy, steely and angry tunes, Animals and Men weren’t as feted as bands like the Raincoats and Wire, but the Somerset, U.K., quartet had the same inventiveness and minimalist charm as its peers. AAM’s return to the musical present needs to be spoken of in the same breathless tones as other acts from the era—especially
CONT. on page 36 Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
35
MUSIC
SUNDAY - TUESDAY
because its new material has the mechanical rhythms, scratchy guitars and urgent vocals that made its earliest work so fantastic. ROBERT HAM. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 238-0543. 10 pm. 21+.
MONDAY, JUNE 27 Blonde Redhead, Nosaj Thing
[DREAM POP] Blonde Redhead began creating its gauzy chaos in New York during the mid-’90s. The trio was formed beneath the stylistic shadow of Sonic Youth and has maintained an allegiance not only to that latter group’s earlier experiments in mellow noise, but also to its preternatural ability to maintain its cool across multiple decades, continents and albums. Blonde Redhead’s latest LP (the group’s eighth) is entitled Penny Sparkle and features an Alan Mouldersponsored addition of electronics to the group’s dreamy indie pop. There are very few bands that can claim to have helped found, revolutionize and defy a genre—Blonde Redhead is one of them. SHANE DANAHER. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $20 advance, $22 day of show. 21+.
TUESDAY, JUNE 28 Hunx and His Punx, Shannon & the Clams, Guantanamo Baywatch
[HEAVY PETTING] With their CryBaby duds and saccharine odes to dead boyfriends and lusting teenyboppers, Oakland’s Hunx and His Punx summon an alternate musical universe wherein the Ramones’ Phil Spector-helmed albums inspire more slobbery devotion than Leave Home. You’d think Hunx’s willfully innocent come-ons and his Punx’s girl-group coos would die the slow death of the half-baked gimmick, but like the best campy fun, there is a quickening charge of heartfelt tenderness at the center of it all, and like the best pure pop music, it taps into the
smitten teenager’s talent for finding fleeting bliss. CHRIS STAMM. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 2319663. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
My Morning Jacket, Everest
[ROCK DOMINATION] With last month’s release of its sixth album, Circuital, My Morning Jacket slipped even more comfortably into its role as a gap-bridging force of nature and became one of the greatest live acts currently making rounds. Not since the heyday of the Allman Brothers has a group boasted so uncanny an ability to shift from mellow, dreamlike melodies to hardas-nails rockouts, with Jim James’ ethereal voice serving as a guide to near rock perfection. Never one to shy from tinkering with its sound, MMJ has been ascending since the band formed, and somehow, it still has nowhere to go but up. AP KRYZA. McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale, 6698610. 6:30 pm. $40 advance, $43 day of show. All ages.
Rush
[CLASSIC PROG] The years have been kind to Rush. Long reviled by snobs of all stripes, the band has finally acquired a luster thanks to its bulletproof back catalog, fiery performances and a must-see 2010 documentary film, Beyond the Lighted Stage, that humanized the group once and for all. Last summer, 19,000 diehard fans bore witness to a Seattle-area performance of the Time Machine tour—wherein the entirety of 1981 masterpiece Moving Pictures is sandwiched between long sets of classic hits—and it continues tonight. Also featured are both sides of the April 2010 single “Caravan/BU2B,” which found the band in great form—wily, muscular and relevant. The uplifting nature of the lyrics should not be discounted either: Go ahead and “Catch the myth.” NATHAN CARSON. Sleep Country Amphitheater, 17200 NE Delfel Road, Ridgefield, Wash., 360816-7000. 7:30 pm. $37.50-$80. All ages.
PRIMER
BY JAY HORTON
BRITNEY SPEARS Formed: Out of the clay of Louisiana, Jive Records blessed her with the gift of fame, and so Britney Spears was loosed upon the earth. Sounds like: Twenty-second-century Nashville. For fans of: America, motherhood, apple pie...and the complete opposite of all those things. Latest release: Femme Fatale, her seventh album (the sixth to debut at No. 1, a record among female artists), continues the platinum blueprint of club beats, sugary hooks, corn-pone lyrical tropes and breathiness Auto-Tuned beyond recognition. Why you care: Because there are second acts in teen pop lives. Because 100 million album sales featuring a vocalist who cannot, in point of fact, sing requires songcraft approaching wizardry. Because, now and forever, it’s Britney, bitch. Twelve years since the lovely girl with the porny name and milk mustache won America’s hearts with “…Baby One More Time,” four years since the head-shaving, cooter-flashing, seemingly eternal K-Fed hole, it’s easy to forget that the girl with the most Cheetos has yet to turn 30 or suffer a sustained career downturn. Britney’s acrobatic carnality shan’t age well, and save a peculiarly distinct dumb-blond-savant take on third wave Lolita-isms, she’s never offered much else to the world. But by all accounts, she’s whipped herself back to top shape for this tour: a typically Technicolor affair boasting 20-some (including Rihanna and Madonna) numbers. There’s a reason such a sparkling array of writers and producers are ever eager to invest their richest efforts upon a recording artist with such vivid limitations. There’s a reason she’s launched a thousand women’s studies theses. Spears conjures the parameters of the real, and we must confess, we still believe. SEE IT: Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj play the Rose Garden on Tuesday, June 28. 7 pm. $29.50-$350. All ages. 36
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
37
MAKE IT A NIGHT Present that night’s show ticket and get $3 off any menu item Sun - Thur in the dining room
LIVE MUSIC FULL BAR FOOD FUN
Thursday June 23rd S.E.T.I - Featuring Ben Darwish, Damian Erskine, Justin Morrell, and Randy Rollofson 8pm Friday June 24th
Z’ Bumba (Brazilian Swing) 9pm
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... GROUNDBREAKING DESERT ROCK FROM INFLUENTIAL AZ TRIO
MEAT PUPPETS WEDNESDAY!
THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF LOVABLE INDIE-DANCE ROCK
CIBO MATTO THURSDAY!
Saturday June 25th SIRENS IN THE ROUND Acoustic Minds, Poeina Suddarth, Annie Vergnetti Sunday June 26th
PM -11PM 8 • H 4T 2 E N JU FRIDAY,
OM G 35 CPUINSSTFR FEATURDIN OM BOWLING PAINTE
The Blue Monk & Ninkasi Brewing present: The Best Of Portland Independent Jazz:
“Go By Train Featuring Dan Balmer” – 8pm Monday June 27th Renato Caranto’s Jam Band 8pm
BAD WEATHER CALIFORNIA +THE BLACK BOX REVELATION
WEDNESDAY JUNE 22
•
$16 ADVANCE
JACK DANIELS PRESENTS
The WOODEN BIRDS FRIDAY!
+THE CHAIN GANG OF 1974
THURSDAY JUNE 23
•
$20 ADVANCE
BACARDI PRESENTS
CABINESSENCE SATURDAY!!
SHOESHINE BLUE +THE CABIN PROJECT
FRIDAY JUNE 24
•
$5 ADVANCE
JAZZ INFLECTED FOLK-POP FROM NORWEGIAN SENSATION
JAYCOB VAN AUKEN +CURTAINS FOR YOU
SATURDAY JUNE 25
•
$5 ADVANCE
SONDRE LERCHE BLONDE
AN EVENING WITH GORGEOUSLY RESONANT INDIE ROCK TRIO
Tuesday June 28th Pagen Jug Band 630pm every wed - Arabesque & Belly Dance 8pm Now serving home made NY pizza!
MUSIC 7 NIGHTS A WEEK
Portland’s best happy hour 5 - 7 pm and all day sunday 3341 SE Belmont thebluemonk.com 503-595-0575
MONDAY JUNE 27 SUNDAY JUNE 26
NIGHTLANDS +KISHI BASHI
•
$16 ADVANCE
•
PIN ARTWORK BY FT CHARLIE ALAN KRA
TRALBOWL.COM RRISON • THEGRANDCEN MO & 8th SE • 695 6.2 503.23
JAZZ LEGEND NANCY KING Singing every Wednesday 8:30-11pm
REDHEAD +NOSAJ THING
MOJAVE BIRD & ALAMEDA
$20 ADVANCE
BUBBLEGUM GARAGE ROCK FROM OAKLAND, CA
HUNX AND HIS PUNX
A LOG LOVE SHOWCASE OF UNIQUE ROCK ACTION
GOODNIGHT BILLYGOAT
BENEATH THE HISTORIC
RIALTO POOL ROOM
4th & Alder Downtown Portland
Jazz on the Patio
Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights 8pm-11pm
SHANNON &THE CLAMS
+GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH
+USELESS KEYS
WEDNESDAY JUNE 29 •
$6 ADVANCE
TUESDAY JUNE 28
•
$10 ADVANCE
QUIRKY, TIMELESS TUNES FROM SO-CAL CHARMERS
CELLO PROJECT
“Comics Underground” Comic Book Readings 7:30 PM
TWO EVENINGS OF RUMP-SHAKING DANCE HITS
PORTLAND
June 23rd
THE DITTY
BOPS •
MONDAY JULY 11
$15 ADVANCE
A CO-HEADLINE EVENING OF ROOTS ROCK REGGAE
THE
EXTREME DANCE PARTY EDITION!
BEAUTIFUL GIRLS MATT McHUGH
TUESDAY JULY 12
SOLO ACOUSTIC
ANUHEA +ETHAN TUCKER
•
$13 ADVANCE
June 24th Shut up and Dance 10PM
June 25th & 26th Old School Soul
with DJ P.O. Paprika 10 PM
June 27th
Shanrock Trivia
June 28th
Stumptown Stories:(history)
FRIDAY JULY 8 SATURDAY JULY 9
SEPARATE TICKET NEEDED FOR EACH NIGHT $13 ADVANCE
•
CHADWICK STOKES - 9/16 on sale 6/24 THE ALBUM LEAF - 9/17 on sale 6/24 MOTHER HIPS - 10/15 WILD FLAG - 11/9 & 11/10 THE SEA & CAKE- 12/3 on sale 6/17 All of these shows on sale at Ticketfly.com
FRUITION AND THE BELLBOYS 6/30 • TRUCKSTOP DARLIN’ 7/1 • BROTHERS YOUNG 7/2 SOFT TAGS (CD RELEASE) 7/6 • CELLO PROJECT DANCE PARTY 7/8 &7/9 • GRAFFITI 6 7/10 THE DITTY BOPS 7/11 • EARTH 7/13 • THE MOONDOGGIES 7/14 • ARCHEOLOGY 7/15 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
38
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
The Hanging of Danford Balch.
June 29th DJ AM Gold
June 30th
The Seantos Showdown: 32,000 oz of awesome
OPEN NIGHTLY AT 7 FOR COCKTAIL HOUR 529 SW 4th Ave Portland Oregon
1425 NW Glisan 503-221-1150 www.touchepdx.com
Open 7 days 5pm-2:30am
MUSIC CALENDAR
[JUNE 22 - 28] WED. JUNE 22
= 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. Please include show or release date information with all physical mailings. Email: music@wweek.com. Find more music: reviews 27 For more listings, check out wweek.com/music_calendar
Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Atlantic/Pacific
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Pete Krebs
Ash Street Saloon
ADAM KRUEGER
225 SW Ash St. Karrgo Bossajova, Forget the Fall
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. The Glowing Stars, Crashfaster, BPM Ensemble
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Fairweather (9 pm); Little Sue (6 pm)
Camellia Lounge
510 NW 11th Ave. Blake Lyman, Ben Graves PHOTO CREDIT
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Mickey Avalon
Doc George’s Jazz Kitchen
4605 NE Fremont St. Karen Maria Capo
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Meat Puppets, Bad Weather California, The Black Box Revelation
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place Heaven Generation, Monster Sized Monsters, Random Axe, The Cover Girls
CATCH THE MYTH: Rush plays the Sleep Country Amphitheater on Tuesday.
Goodfoot Lounge 2845 SE Stark St.
Henhouse Prowlers, Water Tower Bucket Boys
Hawthorne Theatre Lounge 1503 SE 39th Ave. Erica Russo
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. T. Mills, Goldenwest, So Good, Elle MC
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Tummy Buckles (8:30 pm); Brian McGinty (7 pm)
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown Septet (8 pm); The JD Walter Band (6:30 pm)
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Kathryn Claire, The My Oh Mys (9 pm); River Project (6 pm)
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Crown Point
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Long Distance Operator
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Burlap To Cashmere, Kendl Winter
Music Millennium
3158 E Burnside St. Willy Cavins
Pub at the End of the Universe 4107 SE 28th Ave. Kevin Christaldi
Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St. The Sandwitches, Calvin Johnson
Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave. Gepetto, Daps, The New Pioneers, DJ Gwizski
Secret Society Lounge 116 NE Russell St. Tony Furtado
Slim’s Cocktail Bar 8635 N Lombard St. Village
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. The Ataris, Don’t Panic, The Brightest, All Falls Through
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Melz/Prigodich/Erskine Group (MPEG)
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Damn Glad to Meet You, Race of Strangers, Ask You in Gray
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Vivid Sekt, The Botherations, Confessions, DJ Ken Dirtnap
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Ah Holly Fam’ly, The Relatives, Town Hall
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Darren Kleintet, Fractal Quintet
THURS. JUNE 23 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Atlantic/Pacific
Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Tim Minchin
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St. Alberta Rose First Anniversary: Christina Marrs, Graham Reynolds and the Golden Arm Trio, Ritchie Young (of Loch Lomond)
Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. AM Exchange (9:30 pm); Sam Wegman (6:30 pm)
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Borikuas
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Southgate, Ritual Healing, Raw and Order
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Mary Magdalan, And Then There Were None, Amerikan Overdose
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave. Origin, Vital Remains, Abysmal Dawn, Curien, Von Doom
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Mickey Avalon
CONT. on page 40
Remember me, but forget my fate.
Dido & Aeneas Music by Henry Purcell » Benjamin Britten PORTLAND BAROQUE ORCHESTRA MONICA HUGGETT D I RE C T OR BERWICK CHORUS OF THE OREGON BACH FESTIVAL
O N LY P O R T L A N D P E R F O R M A N C E
monday june 27 » 7:30pm FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
5 41.346.4363 tickets.uoregon.edu/obf
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
39
MUSIC
CALENDAR
SPOTLIGHT
Ella Street Social Club
JACOB GARCIA
714 SW 20th Place Glitter Express, Best Supporting Actress, Father Figure
Ford Food and Drink 2505 SE 11th Ave. Pete Krebs
George Rogers Park 611 State St., Lake Oswego Stimulus Package, Nu Wave Machine
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. School of Rock: Stanky Funk
Hollywood Theatre
NAKED AND FAMOUS: Kenton Station (8303 N Denver, kentonstationportland.com) is an unassuming neighborhood bar built inside a piece of Portland history. In 1909, a meat-packing company built the Kenton Hotel at what’s now the corner of North Denver Avenue and McClellan Street as an outpost for regional cattle traders. It fell into disrepair over the ensuing decades and was nearly demolished before being saved in the 1990s. It was converted into apartments and, on the bottom level, the pub and restaurant that now serves the absurdly stacked Paul Bunyan burger ($9.50 with two patties, ham, cheese and an egg). The rest of the menu is as standard as the decor, which is plain save for the vintage motorcycles displayed in the windows. Still, this is as good as any place in Kenton to grab a pint of one of the bar’s myriad IPAs and catch a Timbers game. MATTHEW SINGER.
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Cibo Matto, The Chain Gang of 1974
Ella Street Social Club
McMenamins Edgefield Little Red Shed 2126 SW Halsey St. James Faretheewell and Thee Foolhardy
Mission Theater
714 SW 20th Place Sandune, Oden, Kernandez
1624 NW Glisan St. In the Country
Fringe Vintage
Mississippi Pizza
1700 NW Marshall St. Rin Tin Tiger, Girl Named T. and Mr. Andrew, Silver and Glass
Goodfoot Lounge
2845 SE Stark St. Max Ribner and the Peace Pod, Lilla D’Mone, Medicine for the People, Shook Twins
Hawthorne Theatre Lounge
3552 N Mississippi Ave. The Heavy Brothers (9 pm); The Funk ‘n’ Groove Workshop Band (6 pm)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Cheyenne Marie Mize, Vandaveer (Mississippi Studios); Jerry Joseph, Scott Law (Bar Bar)
Mudai Lounge
1503 SE 39th Ave. Huge Sally
801 NE Broadway Jeffrey Jerusalem, Safe, Pluvial
Hawthorne Theatre
Music Millennium
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Eyes Set To Kill, Get Scared, Vampires Everywhere, All She Wrote, Dr. Acula, The Reeds Mill Investgation
Hollywood Theatre
4122 NE Sandy Blvd. Filmusik--”Planet of Dinosaurs”: Blue Cranes
Horning’s Hideout
21277 NW Brunswick Road Re:Generation: The Glitch Mob, Keys N Krates, The Polish Ambassador, Octopus Nebula
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown B3 Organ Group
Kennedy School
5736 NE 33rd Ave. Billy D. and the HooDoos
Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Vespertine Orchestra, Full Circle
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Muletown Stringband (9:30 pm); Lewi Longmire Band (6 pm)
Living Room Theaters
341 SW 10th Ave. Blake Lyman, Ben Graves
40
3158 E Burnside St. Potluck
Oregon Zoo
4001 SW Canyon Road Taj Mahal, Joan Osborne
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Avi Dei, Gorilla Monsoon, Zoo Animal, Filthy Face
Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave. Dead Peasant, Acoustic Minds, Ezals Juicebox, Unicorn Domination
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
8635 N Lombard St. The Muddy Cobblers, Audrey McLain, Lustful Monks
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Cody Weathers and The Men Your Mama Warned You About
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Vinegar, Quong, Elk River Tree Fort Army, Kory Quinn Duo
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Lloyd Mitchell Canyon, Tin Silver (8:30 pm); Will West and the Friendly Cover Up (5:30 pm)
FRI. JUNE 24 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
1036 NE Alberta St. Loveness Wesa and the Bantus (9:30 pm); Mikey’s Irish Jam (6:30 pm)
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Dan Diresta Quartet
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Left and 3/4, Budget Airlines, Opie
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Current Swell, Faire Du Surf, Saucy Yoda, Mythological Horses (9 pm); Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls Show: Camper Bands, Cheetah Finesse, Social Graces (6 pm)
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Zeke, The Hookers, Black Wizard, All Bets on Death
Doug Fir Lounge
426 SW Washington St. Datura Blues, Cash Pony, Teens
830 E Burnside St. The Wooden Birds, Shoeshine Blue, The Cabin Project
The Know
East End
2026 NE Alberta St. Firebrand, Vegetable, Dark Entries
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
203 SE Grand Ave. Sick Jaggers, DJ Paul Ryder
St. Johns Towne Square
No Fest: Dr. J, DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid
TaborSpace
5441 SE Belmont St. Boa Saida
The Analog Room
2045 SE Belmont St. Karyn Patridge (9 pm); Mike and the Ghosts of Love (7:30 pm)
21277 NW Brunswick Road Re:Generation: Tycho, Bassnectar, Paper Diamond, STS9, Lynx, Big Gigantic, An-ten-nae, Pigs on the Wing, The Great Mundane
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Dancehall Days
Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. The Needful Longings, Don and the Quixotes, DJ Hwy 7
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Freak Mountain Ramblers (9:30 pm); Alice Stuart (6 pm)
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Mark Alan
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Negara (9 pm); Ivan Alamo (6 pm)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Two Gallants, The Mumlers
Mount Tabor Theater
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Bizzy Bone, Luni Coleone, Reign Pro
Mudai Lounge
Music Millennium
Alberta Street Public House
4830 NE 42nd Ave. Caleb Klauder, Pete Krebs, The Portland Country Underground, The Mighty Ghosts of Heaven, The Pickups
Horning’s Hideout
Aladdin Theater
3000 NE Alberta St. Duffy Bishop, Lloyd Jones, Fiona Boyes, Ellen Whyte, Jim Wallace
Spare Room
3954 N Williams Ave. Taya and Friend
303 SW 12th Ave. Atlantic/Pacific
Alberta Rose Theatre
125 NW 5th Ave. Danava, Eternal Tapestry
4122 NE Sandy Blvd. Filmusik--”Planet of Dinosaurs”: Blue Cranes
801 NE Broadway Symbolic Jews, Grandma’s Boyfriend, Gamma Knives
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Marc Broussard, Matt Hires, Chic Gamine
Someday Lounge
3158 E Burnside St. Go By Train
Original Halibut’s II 2527 NE Alberta St. Norman Sylvester
Pendarvis Farm
16581 SE Hagen Rd. The Dixie Mattress Festival: Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. Schicky Gnarowitz and Meester Meester
Proper Eats Market and Cafe
8638 N Lombard St. No Fest: Alma Brasileira
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Mormon Trannys, Ether Circus, Taken Outside and Shot Twice, Chloraform, The Warshers, Hot L.Z.’s
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave. Michael Jackson Tribute: Scorpio
Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave. Supernature: Octant, DJ E*Rock, DJ Copy
Secret Society Lounge 116 NE Russell St. Rio Con Brio
Slabtown
1033 NW 16th Ave. Awake, Berinja, Spatia
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
8635 N Lombard St. The Brassierllionaires
The Globe
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Midlman, Dropa, Verso/ Recto
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Company, Old Junior, Beach Party
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave. Erik Skye Jazz Trio
Bridge City Battles: Sun Tzu vs. Chase Moore, Haterec vs. Spitfire, Flashmatics vs. Wakeself, Sun Tzu vs. Konsept, Eight-Man Beat Battle-Ness Lee vs. Chase Moore vs. Izzy vs. So Crates vs. Deli vs. Lukis Beats vs. Theory Hazit vs. N0tti
Clyde’s Prime Rib
5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Elite
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Mudhoney, Unnatural Helpers, Tom Price Desert Classic, Non!
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Cabinessence, Jacob Van Auyken, Curtains For You
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place Deelay Ceelay, Iretsu, Easter Teeth
Esther Short Park
801 W 8th St., Vancouver, Wash. Tooloose Cajun Band
George Rogers Park
611 State St., Lake Oswego Curtis Salgado, Linda Hornbuckle, Justin Klump, Emma and Kate Davis, Gary Ogan
Goodfoot Lounge
The Secret Society Ballroom
2845 SE Stark St. Scott Pemberton Superband, The Quick and Easy Boys
The Woods
Hawthorne Hophouse
116 NE Russell St. Vagabond Opera
6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. Ezza Rose, Youth Rescue Mission, Jarad Miles
The Yellow House
9114 N Lombard St. No Fest: Valkyrie Rodeo, Party Killer
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Mean Jeans, Terraform, Blood Beach, Flip Tops, Perfect Look
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. The Bureau of Standards Big Band
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. Ray Beltran Trio
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Better Than Street, Racket, Dismal Niche Orchestra (9:30 pm); Reverb Brothers (5:30 pm)
SAT. JUNE 25 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Atlantic/Pacific
Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Natasha Bedingfield, Kate Voegele, Andy Grammer
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St. The Paperboys, Berthaline
Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. Fanno Creek, Alec Berg
Aloft
9920 NE Cascades Parkway Ian James
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Ill Lucid Onset, Vinegar
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. All the Apparatus, Animal Eyes, Day Moanstar, The Old Town Bohemian Cabaret (9 pm); Nothing in Our Pockets, Dead Captains (5 pm)
Bossanova Ballroom
722 E Burnside St. Aster Aweke, Tezeta Band
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave.
4111 SE Hawthorne Folk and Spoon
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Skies Above Reason, Nihilist Youth, Shadow of Apollo, Chokeout, Lumus, Revolution Overdue
Horning’s Hideout
21277 NW Brunswick Road Re:Generation: Beats Antique, STS9, Little People, Lotus, Eliot Lipp, Up Until Now, Inspired Flight, The Malah
Influence Music Hall
135 SE 3rd Ave. Oregon’s Gentle Breeze, Guarda Che Luna
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Bobby Torres Ensemble
John’s Restaurant and Lounge 8608 N Lombard No Fest: The Architects
Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Oden, Crimson Dynamite, No More Parachutes
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. The Saloon Ensemble (9:30 pm); Tree Frogs (6 pm)
Legong
White Coward, Footwork, Hausu, Chinese Gore
Music Millennium
8218 N Lombard St. No Fest: Betacrack, Shallberger/Brennan, Rickets/Bain/Jones
Oaks Park
The Globe
3158 E Burnside St. Stephanie Schneiderman Southeast Spokane Street and Southeast Oaks Park Way Scandinavian Midsummer Festival: Maiastra
2045 SE Belmont St. Colin Fisher (10 pm); Phil Anderson (8 pm)
Oregon Zoo
1001 SW Broadway Linda Lee Michelet
4001 SW Canyon Road Mary Chaplin Carpenter, Marc Cohn
Pendarvis Farm
16581 SE Hagen Rd. The Dixie Mattress Festival: Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons
Plew’s Brews
8409 N Lombard No Fest: SNDTRKR, Last Prick Standing
Portland Saturday Market
Mick Croon, Supa Dupa Marimba Bros.
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. Whistlepunk and Luminous Things
Proper Eats Market and Cafe 8638 N Lombard St. Jacki Wheeler
Proper Eats Market and Cafe
8638 N Lombard St. No Fest: Brennan/ Jones, Rickets/Bain/ Schallberger, Michael Hurley, Right On John, Mike Fekete, Hawkins Wright, Jon Meyer, Jennifer Keyser, Krystal South
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Stonecreep, Tenspeed Warlock, American Wrecking Company, Oak
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave. Panic! At the Disco, Funeral Party, Delta!Bravo
Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave. Mndsgn, Juj, Devonwho, Brownbear, DJ Rap Class, Timeboy
Secret Society Lounge 116 NE Russell St. Drunken Prayer, Chris Marshall, Riviera (9 pm); The Portland Playboys (6 pm)
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
8635 N Lombard St. No Fest: Muscle Beach, Moodring, Fugue, The Hand That Bleeds, Silverhawk, The Tomorrow People, Les Tresvino
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. World’s Greatest Ghosts, Gratitillium, Yeah Great Fine, Tiny Hearts
St. Johns Booksellers
8712 N Lombard St. No Fest: Doug Theriault, Dr. Id, Evil Doer, Betacrack, Dead Air Fresheners, Activity Universal, Cliche Au Lait
8622 N Lombard St. No Fest: La Morticella/ Raphael with Melissa Sillitoe, Bocarde/Rick J., Holder/Bush
McMenamins Edgefield Winery
8735 N. Lombard St. No Fest: Way2Hott, Fisher B, Rustlah, Paulie Think, Zulu Jam, Oregon Universal, Mannequinhead
Mississippi Pizza
St. Johns Towne Square
2126 SW Halsey St. Chris Robley’s False Fables
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Na Mesa (9 pm); Electric Opera Company (6 pm); The Alphabeticians (4:30 pm)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Alameda, Mike Midlo from Pancake Breakfast
Mount Tabor Theater
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Raise the Bridges, Speaker Minds
Mudai Lounge
801 NE Broadway
The Fixin’ To
St. Johns Brownfield
No Fest: Wizardo Stardust, Gulls, White Rainbow, Rasika School Music, Wishyunu, Bison Bison, Autumns Done Come, Metanoia, Anna Paul & The Bearded Lady, PDX Peace Choir
Ted’s/Berbati’s Pan
231 SW Ankeny St. The Greater Midwest, The Hague, The Empty, Cumulus
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Sirens in the Round
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. The Turpentines, Labradora
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Rat Damage, 30.06, Dooom Patrol
The People’s Yoga
7334 N Chicago Ave. No Fest: Camou Jenkins, Danielle Ross
The Woods
6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. Lewi Longmire and the Left Coast Roasters, Lynn Conover, Gravel
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Jar of Lies, Ace of Spades, Earth To Ashes (9:30 pm); DJ Weiner Dummy, DJ Calico Pussy
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Twisted Whistle (9:30 pm); The Student Loan (4:30 pm)
Winningstad Theatre
Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway Mohsen Namjoo
SUN. JUNE 26 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Robert Ellis
Alberta Rose Theatre 3000 NE Alberta St. The Lonely Wild, Paper Brain, Pine Language
Alice Coltrane Memorial Coliseum
5135 NE 42nd Ave. Jozef Van Wissem, Derek Monypeny
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Slow Children, A Decade Apart
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Sondre Lerche, Nightlands, Kishi Bashi
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. AnOK4U2OK?, DJ Ahex
Ella Street Social Club
714 SW 20th Place The Matthew Gailey Band, Tara Williamson, Shanna Zell, Debbie Miller
George Rogers Park
611 State St., Lake Oswego Con Bro Chill and SAMM, Patrick Lamb, N’ Touch with Tracy Harris
Hawthorne Theatre Lounge 1503 SE 39th Ave. Nicholas Matta
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. B.I.T., Marcia Muench, Colorblind Soldiers, Cloth of Kings, Katie Rose, Summer Soundtrack, Jake Salcone, Rhombii, After Avalanche
Horning’s Hideout
21277 NW Brunswick Road Re:Generation: STS9, ESKMO, Break Science, Emancipator
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Little Sue and Lynn Conover
CALENDAR Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Stellar’s Jay (9 pm); The Pale Players (6 pm)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. The Lumineers, Nathan Trueb
Pendarvis Farm
16581 SE Hagen Rd. The Dixie Mattress Festival: Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons
Portland Saturday Market
Johnny Martin, Carly Baer and Friends
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Millions of Dead Cops, Potbelly, Blastfemur, Chase the Shakes, Porn Stars of Horror, Secnd Best, The Rotten Truth
Rontoms
600 E Burnside St. The Reservations, Nightmoves, Fox and Law
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave. Children of Bodom, Devin Townsend, Obscura, Septic Flesh
Secret Society Lounge
116 NE Russell St. Hanz Araki and Cary Novotny
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Go By Train
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. North Bound Rain
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Maui and Papa, Grandma’s Boyfriend, Team Neeson
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd.
Animals and Men, Psychic Feline, Cat Fancy (10 pm); The Hugs, Holy Children, Cool Breeze, Advisory, Gaytheist, Drunk Ladies, My New Vice, Hog Wild (2 pm)
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Etbonz, Wild Lyfe, Stag Hare, Seven Feathers Rainwater
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar
2929 SE Powell Blvd. Michael the Blind
MON. JUNE 27 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. Robert Ellis
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Havilah
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Scott Head
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Battery Powered Music (8 pm); Stereovision, Solovox (7 pm)
Beauty Bar
111 SW Ash St. Michael Gross and the Statuettes, The Hague, Fair Weather Watchers
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Blonde Redhead, Nosaj Thing
Hawthorne Theatre 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Her Death and After, Elenora, Apollo, A Constant North
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Dan Balmer Band, Sketchy Black Dog featuring Misha Piatogorsky
McMenamins Edgefield Winery
2126 SW Halsey St. Skip vonKuske, Kory Quinn
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Everest, The Watson Twins, He’s My Brother She’s My Sister
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Novelty Theory, William Ingrid, Duncan Ros
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Apathy Toward Flies, Buried at Birth, Holy Illuminated Man of God
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Monarques
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives, Them Hills
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Chris Robley and the Fear of Heights
TUES. JUNE 28 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. Robert Ellis
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Melville the Band
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St.
Neftali Rivera
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Cathead and the Blistering Sons, Strange Cousins, The Show is the Rainbow
Mudai Lounge
Backspace
1401 N Wheeler Ave. Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Jessie and the Toy Boys, Nervo
31 NW 1st Ave. Andy C, MC GQ
Roseland Theater
Tiga
115 NW 5th Ave. The Closet Monsters, Ska Skank Redemption, Sitting Sideways, The Big Sleep
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave. Ninjasonik, Gray Matters, Serious Business, Breakfast Mountain, Elevated
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. Kelly Blair Bauman, Old Light
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Hunx and His Punx, Shannon & the Clams, Guantanamo Baywatch
Ella Street Social Club
714 SW 20th Place Amos Val, Man Your Horse, The Harvey Girls
Hawthorne Hophouse 4111 SE Hawthorne How Long Jug Band
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown Septet
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St. Hanz Araki Band
McMenamins Edgefield 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale My Morning Jacket, Everest
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave.
801 NE Broadway Ride the Light, Timmy Williams
Rose Garden
8 NW 6th Ave. Dropkick Murphys, Chuck Ragan
Secret Society Lounge
116 NE Russell St. Dominic Castillo
Sleep Country Amphitheater
17200 NE Delfel Road, Ridgefield, Wash. Rush
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Steve Hall Quintet
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Jobo Shakins
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Nucular Aminals, Hooded Hags, The Shivas
East End
WED. JUNE 22 The Whiskey Bar
1465 NE Prescott St. Boolar and DJ Rickshaw
THUR. JUNE 23 Element Restaurant & Lounge
8 NE Killingsworth St. DJ Hoptowhatship
Refuge
116 SE Yamhill St. Closer: Jerry Abstract, Gold Code, Jak, Maximus, DJ Kala
1465 NE Prescott St. Cooky Parker
511 NW Couch St. Joystick
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. DJ Anjali, Samba Gata, DJ Crydersteez
Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St. DJ Gemini Mars
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Golden Wilson
Valentine’s
Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
836 N Russell St. Will West and the Friendly Strangers
Record Room
Ground Kontrol
Valentine’s
White Eagle Saloon
1001 SE Morrison St. Snap!: Dr. Adam, Colin Jones, DJ Tant
The Crown Room
232 SW Ankeny St. DJ Linger
232 SW Ankeny St. Tunnels, The Crow, Grouper
Holocene
1135 SW Morrison St. Closer: Apolinario Ancheta, Stephen Quirke, Sappho, The Perfect Cyn
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Banishing, Lunar Grave, Sick Fuck, Kassapu
MUSIC
Closer: Mutor Soundsystem, Let’s Go Outside, Miss Vixen, Trevor Vichas, Chris Firenze
The Winterlings, Goose and Fox
FRI. JUNE 24 303 SW 12th Ave. DJ Hanukkah Miracle
BC’s Restaurant
2433 SE Powell Blvd. Closer: Dan Craig, Jimm, Joe Nemo, Lucas, DB
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. DJ Nate C
205 NW 4th Ave. Blown: D. Poetica, Triage, Tastemaker
Tiga
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Ecstasy House Night with The Miracles Club
SAT. JUNE 25 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. E*Rock and A. Zabriskie
Boxxes/Red Cap Garage
1035 SW Stark St. Closer: Ryan Walz & Mason Roberts, Sappho & The Perfect Cyn, LilRoj, DJ Stephen R, Travismode & Nicodemus (Boxxes); George Holland, Audioelectronic, DJ Tronic, Mercedes, Christopher Caldwell (Red Cap)
203 SE Grand Ave. Girls Going Single: H. Walls, DJ Fuzzboxx, DJ Beyondadoubt
Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St. DJ Justin Neal
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Drew Groove
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. DJ Wels
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. DJ Tropical Depression
MON. JUNE 27 East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Heavy Metal Ladies Night: DJ Nate C, Rajas, Rollerball
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. AM Gold
TUES. JUNE 28 Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St. DJ Vs. Nature
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. Lord Smithingham
Colonel Summers Park SE 20th Ave. & SE Belmont St.
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
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JUNE 22-28
= 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
Spring 4th Productions presents a world-premiere comedy in which Ian Sieren and Tobin Gollihar play many characters in an unfortunate library. Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 477-8245. 7:30 pm Thursdays and Sundays through July 17. $10-$12.
sion to embrace theatricality at the expense of celebrating the ineffable led to the most intriguing element of the show: Silhouetted above or standing beside our heroine, amid a set decorated like the karaoke lounge at High Times casino, blues singer (Sabrina Elayne Carten) appears to embody mythic inspirations and give voice to young Janis’ fave tunes, with a better voice than was allowed the Janis character. Cat Stephani does her best with the title role, but as she trades a wearying 25 songs with Carten, the disparity in talent colors perceptions. Despite a preternatural facility for soul music, Janis’ moments of rapture came from an unself-conscious delight in her own powers impossible for any actress to more than suggest. JAY HORTON. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturdays-Sundays. Closes June 26. $38-$63.
Chelsea Handler
Original Practice Shakespeare Festival
Bike Noir
The messy but wonderfully inventive Working Theatre Collective stages a mystery play and group bike ride as part of Pedalpalooza. It is the company’s third such mingling of bikes and theater. Audiences are invited to dress like Sam Spade. WTFbikes, 1114 SE Clay St., theworkingtheatrecollective.wordpress.com. 6:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, June 23-26. Free, donations appreciated.
Bindings
And No. 1 of the Top 10 Things I Won’t Be Doing on My Birthday is… Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 800-745-3000 (Ticketmaster). 7 pm Friday, June 24. $65.50-$85.50.
Comedy Night at the Bagdad
This week, Tristian Spillman’s weekly comedy showcase features Ian Karmel. 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.
Life With Father
Magenta Theater Company presents a comedy about a 19th-century family who is perturbed to learn that their father has not been baptized. Magenta Theater, 606 Main St., Vancouver, 360-635-4358. 7:30 pm ThursdaysFridays, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturdays. $12-$15.
Looking for Normal
Corey Brunish directs Jane Anderson’s drama about a wife and daughter struggling to cope with their husband/father’s announcement that he will undergo gender reassignment. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., hulahub.com. 7:30 pm FridaysSaturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes July 17. $10-$19.
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 Fridays through May 27. $8-$12.
One Night With Janis Joplin
Portland Center Stage, inexplicably determined that its final show of the season pay tribute to a long-deceased blues belter of dimming celebrity, decided midseason to shelve the originally scheduled Love, Janis and host instead the global premiere of One Night With Janis Joplin, a family-sanctioned glimpse of a less than compelling tale, written and directed by Randy Johnson. The playwright’s deci-
42
The Original Practice Shakespeare Festival purports to perform the Bard’s plays the way they were when they premiered—in repertory, with minimal rehearsal and props, outdoors. This year (its third), the company is tackling A Midsommer Nights Dream, Much Adoe About Nothing and Twelfe Night in parks around Portland and Oregon. The spelling is original, too, you see. Multiple locations. Times vary, see opsfest.org. Free.
The Ed Forman Show, with ME! ED FORMAN!
Aaron Ross terrorizes Dante’s every Tuesday night as Ed Forman, a frenetic, oversexed, foul-mouthed 1970s talk-show host who abuses local notables, roams the audience stealing drinks and flinging insults, and generally makes mayhem. This week: “Father’s Day EDition” with Slimkid3 of The Pharcyde. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 8 pm Tuesdays. $3. 21+.
Tim Minchin
The Montreal-Edinburgh-Melbourne world comedy circuit largely bypasses the U.S., creating two comedic galaxies that rarely collide. This is probably why one of the brightest stars in that universe is barely a blip on the radar here. Tim Minchin’s shtick is musical comedy, mating razor-sharp social commentary with catchy, pianoheavy rock anthems. The fact a man who performs barefoot and wearing guyliner is considered an icon and not a “wanker” in the U.K. and Australia is a testament to his prodigious talent, as a musician, comedian and all-around performer. But Minchin’s comedy is pretty squarely pitched at the left-leaning middle classes of Commonwealth countries (the chorus of his breakout U.K. hit was “take your canvas bags to the supermarket”), so it will be interesting to see how well it plays to American crowds— though something tells me the song that begins “do not feed doughnuts to your obese children” will cut through. RUTH BROWN. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm Thursday, June 23. $25.
Two for the Show
Performances by improv duos. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8 pm Saturdays through June 25. $7-$10.
USS Improvise: The Musical
The Unscriptables improvise “lost” musical episodes of Star Trek, with costumes, sound effects and dance numbers. The Unscriptables Studio, 1121 N Loring St., theunscriptables.com. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays through June 25. All shows are pay what you will.
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
CLASSICAL Astoria Music Festival
For the festival’s concluding weekend, Friday’s concert features a pairing of Beethoven’s “Archduke Trio” for piano and Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir of Florence” sextet. Saturday’s opera includes Verdi’s The Troubadour, featuring Metropolitan Opera soprano Angela Meade and baritone Richard Zeller. Sunday’s finale includes two more Beethoven masterworks: The Ruins of Athens and Triple Concerto. Liberty Theater, 1203 Commercial St., 325-9896. 7:30 pm Friday-Sunday, June 24-26. $15-$35.
Chamber Music Northwest
Renowned CMNW regulars AnneMarie McDermott, violinist Ida Kavafian and cellist Peter Wiley offer a complete survey of Beethoven’s piano trios, beginning with Thursday’s breakthrough earlier works and concluding with Friday’s nicknamed middle-period masterpieces (Ghost and Archduke). Saturday’s smorgasbord includes Haydn’s “Gypsy Rondo”; Bartók’s Contrasts for clarinet, piano and violin; Ravel’s dazzling Tzigane (its original chamber version); and other Romainfluenced tunes by Brahms, Kodály and Doppler. Sunday’s Protégé Series show brings the young Amphion String Quartet to town to play Bartók, Mozart and Schumann in a relaxed club atmosphere. Monday and Tuesday’s concert features the Orion Quartet, flutist Tara Helen O’Connor and pianist AndréMichel Schub to play Mozart’s cheery Flute Quartet No. 3, Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 76 No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s elegiac Piano Trio. Reed College, Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. 8 pm Thursday-Tuesday, June 23-26. $25-$50. Catlin Gabel School, 8825 SW Barnes Road, 229-0175. 8 pm Tuesday, June 28. $25-$50.
Filmusik, Blue Cranes
The city’s hottest original-jazz ensemble supplies the live soundtrack for the latest installment in Filmusik’s pairing of cool, new music with kitschy, old movies. The sound design also includes live voice actors and Foley artists—16 including the Cranes. The culprit this time: the 1978 sci-fi film Planet of Dinosaurs, concerning the heart-wrenching plight of astronauts who crash on a…well, you get the idea. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 281-4215. 8 pm Thursday-Friday, June 23-24. $8-$10. All Ages.
Mohsen Namjoo
Accompanied by his electric band, the brave “Bob Dylan of Iran” (so proclaimed by The New York Times) blends Persian classical music (he sings and plays the traditional setar) with contemporary rock and blues in passionate, original songs and settings of poems by Rumi and Hafez. Winningstad Theatre, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7:30 pm Saturday, June 25. $33-$58.
Portland Baroque Orchestra
In this Oregon Bach Festival concert, PBO’s director and Baroque violinist, Monica Huggett, leads the city’s periodinstrument orchestra, three acclaimed soloists and the festival’s Berwick Chorus in the 17th-century opera Dido and Aeneas, by English composer Henry Purcell. The concert also features 20thcentury English music, like Benjamin Britten’s early Simple Symphony and the choral dances from his 1953 opera Gloriana, written for the coronation of Elizabeth II and in honor of Elizabeth I. First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson St., 234-4077. 7:30 pm Monday, June 27. $29-$45.
Seventh Species
Sponsored by Cascadia Composers, the 21-year-old concert series continues with a second showcase of contemporary music by Oregon composers. The event features Portland composer Tomas Svoboda’s latest Children’s Treasure Box piano works, young composer Justin Ralls’ settings of Walt Whitman poems, six piano preludes by Lisa Marsh, and Denis Floyd’s setting of a Shakespeare sonnet. The
concert also includes premieres by Floyd, Elizabeth Blachly-Dyson, Troy Ramos and Daniel Brugh. Lewis &Clark College, Evans Auditorium, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd., 768-7460. 8 pm Wednesday, June 22. $10-$15.
DANCE Conduit Dance Sweet 16 Birthday Party and Performance Benefit
For 16 years, Conduit has been classroom, laboratory and performance space for emerging and established contemporary choreographers. It’s a
place where locals and visitors come to experiment and share, and where new dance finds its footing. To celebrate, Conduit is hosting a sweet 16 party unlike any you may have attended before. Expect dance performances by some of Portland’s best: former Oregon Ballet Theatre principal dancer Gavin Larsen; contemporary dance veterans Linda Austin, Tere Mathern and Gregg Bielemeier (and his Class Repertory Group); Ten Tiny Dances producer Mike Barber; and Jim McGinn’s new company, TopShakeDance, among many others. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served and a raffle and silent auction of interesting goods will help raise
PREVIEW H O L LY A N D R E W S
PERFORMANCE
FAIR GAME: Performer Angela Fair
RISK/REWARD A Whitman’s Sampler of new Northwest performances.
As unlikely as it sounds, Portlanders have many more opportunities to see the world’s great contemporary performers than one would normally expect in a city our size. Thanks largely to the efforts of White Bird Dance and the TBA Festival, we get performances from distinguished artists like Laurie Anderson, Martha Graham Dance and the Wooster Group. You can’t say as much for Phoenix or Fresno. What we don’t often have a chance to see, though, are the distinguished artists of the future, the brilliant young companies who have not yet been recognized by the artistic establishment but one day very well might be. The road from San Francisco obscurity to Manhattan fame does not pass through Portland. But it might. This weekend, Hand2Mouth Theatre, a local company that could well travel that road itself one day, presents the fourth edition of Risk/ Reward, a two-day showcase of new works by artists you probably haven’t heard of from Portland and Seattle. The festival has grown this year, and matured: The venue has moved from Someday Lounge to Artists Rep, and instead of just calling up a few people he knew would bring in interesting work, organizer Jerry Tischleder put out a call for applications and enlisted a curatorial panel (on which I participated) to review them. The result is enticing, though I can’t guarantee any of it will be successful. The performers, each of whom will present short versions of new and in-progress works, are: the theatrical dance company Bobbevy (formerly Hot Little Hands) in a new show with music by Ash Black Bufflo; Seattle dance choreographers Jessica Jobaris, with some messy spectacle, and Allie Hankins, with some disconcertingly mechanical movement; Portland performance duo Joe Von Appen and Angela Fair, who are better known as solo performers of late, with some very funny theater-about-theater; Seattle actor, writer and puppeteer Kyle Loven, whose work with shadows and projected video are like nothing you’ll see in Portland’s puppetry scene; a nutty-sounding sound experiment/cooking show by local musicians Zac Nelson and Stephanie Simek; and, most promising of all, the premiere of Portland Experimental Theatre Lab—members of which have done innovative work in other cities—which will send audience members one at a time on a walking tour, guided by headphones. BEN WATERHOUSE.
SEE IT: Risk/Reward at Artists Rep, 1516 SW Alder St., hand2mouththeatre.org. 7:30 pm Saturday-Sunday, June 25-26. $16 per day at boxofficetickets.com, $20 at the door.
JUNE 22-28 funds to help Conduit carry on. Conduit Dance , 918 SW Yamhill St., Suite 401, 221-5857. 7:30-10:30 pm Friday, June 24. $20-$100. Ticket price includes one free beverage, hors d’oeuvres and one or more free raffle tickets depending on the amount donated (see brownpapertickets.com for specifics). All ages.
Miss Kennedy’s Cabaret
This installment of the monthly
PERFORMANCE
A Summer of Creativity
MetroArts atKids Camp
burlesque and performance series features synchronized dance troupe the Dolly Pops, belly dance by Jasmine Rain, aerial dance by Sara Hill, and classic burlesque by Lana Louche. Burk Biggler emcees. Ted’s, 231 SW Ankeny St., 248-4579. 9 pm Friday, June 24. $9.
Portland Center for the Performing Arts
July 11-15 & June 18-22 To register: 503-245-4885 or visit MetroArtsInc.org
For more Performance listings, visit
GIDEON HART
PREVIEW
Sign up for Swag Rag to receive drink recipes from our favorite watering holes THIS WEEK: Cruzroom’s “Downward Spiral” wweek.com/promotions
RISK / JOHN EVANS
OREGON BACH FESTIVAL IN PORTLAND The Oregon Bach Festival began as a small conducting workshop at the University of Oregon, and has grown into one of America’s premier classical music festivals, featuring major concerts with musicians from Germany, Los Angeles and elsewhere, in the 2,430-seat Silva Concert Hall at Eugene’s Hult Center. It has included commissions and premieres of major works by composers such as Arvo Pärt, Osvaldo Golijov and Tan Dun; and performances by touring ensembles and stars like Yo-Yo Ma and Thomas Quasthoff. Last year’s 17-day extravaganza boasted 51 events in Eugene. But until the ascension of John Evans in 2008, the festival shunned Portland, save for three unsatisfactory concerts in the acoustically challenged Keller Auditorium between 1977 and 1979. “It struck me when I arrived here that it was called Oregon Bach Festival, yet it was confined to Eugene,” recalls Evans, who had spent many years as a radio producer at the BBC before taking over as OBF’s executive director. “Since Portland is the cultural heart of the state, I felt we needed a presence there,” he says, noting that a high proportion of UO’s alumni live in the Portland area. The opening concert in Evans’ first fest in 2008 took place at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and the past two summers also offered two Portland OBF concerts. This summer inaugurates a new Portland mini-festival, with concerts at the Schnitz, First Methodist Church and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. The festival now has an office in the White Stag Building, and Evans has downtown Portland condo. He intends to offer a half dozen or so Portland concerts each summer, and hopes to expand to other venues around the city. With performances here, in Bend and Ashland, and on the coast, the Oregon Bach Festival is at last living up to its name. BRETT CAMPBELL.
The once Eugenecentered Oregon Bach Festival ventures north.
HEAR IT: OBF’s Portland concerts include Portland Baroque Orchestra in music from Henry Purcell’s Baroque opera Dido and Aeneas and works by Benjamin Britten on June 27; Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy singing music by Morten Lauridsen and Joan Szymko, plus Leonard Bernstein’s sublime Chichester Psalms on June 30; Schola Cantorum de Venezuela singing music of Latin American composers July 6; organist David Higgs playing a J.S. Bach recital July 7; and a performance of Handel’s Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 featuring the Venezuelans, OBF orchestra and top soloists. Tickets $15-$145 at oregonbachfestival.com.
JUNE 25-26 7:30 PM
FESTIVAL OF NEW PERFORMANCE ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE - ALDER STAGE
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43
VISUAL ARTS
JUNE 22-28
= 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: 2431115. Emailed press releases must be backed up by a faxed or printed copy.
SCAN TO ENTER
7.30 @ OREGON ZOO
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UPCOMING EVENTS
DORIAN REISMAN AT FROELICK
SPECIAL EVENT ANKA Gallery Fundraiser
> JUN 28
> JUL 9
> JUL 22
> JUL 23
ANKA Gallery, perhaps the most consistently curated and just plain fun gallery in the Everett Station Lofts, is holding a fundraiser to keep its programming alive despite the ongoing downturn in art sales across Portland, the region and the country. If you enjoy ANKA’s shows, would like to see the gallery stay open, and want to bid on affordably priced artworks across a variety of media, then place your bids in the silent auction. It features works by artists such as Gwenn Seemel, Tamara English, Alexis Mollomo, Joseph Blanchette, Dorothy Goode, Juliana Paradisi, and many others. 325 NW 6th Ave., 224-5721. 5-9 pm Thursday, June 23.
NOW SHOWING Equine
> JUL 29-31
> AUG 5
> AUG 15
> AUG 26 Be the FIRST to know! Connect us! Sign up towith receive
advance notification, facebook.com/rose.quarter.pdx pre-sales @Rosequarter and more at RoseQuarter.com rosequarterblog.com Rose Garden Area/ Memorial Coliseum
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Tickets ON SALE NOW at Rose Quarter Box Office, all participating Safeway/ TicketsWest outlets, , or by calling 877.789.ROSE (7673).
For more info please visit RoseQuarter.com 44
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
The juried group show titled Equine is themed, as the title would suggest, around horses. This is a cutesy conceit that, coupled with Butters Gallery’s unfortunate show last month of Andrea Maki’s horse photographs, makes you wonder why Portland galleries are so hot to trot over horses. A few works do stand out for their originality, including entries by Rick Bartow, Timothy Scott Dalbow, and Dorian Reisman. But it’s time to say, “Enough!” to animal-themed group shows. I mean, what’s next, koala bears? Froelick Gallery, 714 NW Davis St., 222-1142, froelickgallery.com. Closes July 16.
Contemporary Northwest Art Awards
In its mission—cherry-picking a handful of mostly superlative, mostly thematically unrelated artists from around the region— the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards succeeds as a dynamic and thoroughly compelling show. Chris Antemann’s porcelain sculptures nod to Jeff Koons and Rococo painters such as Fragonard and Boucher, while reversing the
Rococo taste for placing scantily clad women in the role of carnal playthings. Antemann, by contrast, casts men in that role, stripping them of all clothing and giving them cute little porcelain erections with gold-plated pubic hair. Among the other artists, Megan Murphy contributes gauzy waterscapes with a silvery, pearlescent finish while Jerry Iverson’s sumi ink works evoke tree branches, and Susie Lee’s HD videos add a poignant contemporary spin on characters drawn from ancient Greek mythology and the paintings of Francisco Goya. Spatially and conceptually, this is an engaging and dynamic show. In short: Bravo, and more, please. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-2811. Closes Sept. 11. Read about the CNWAA grand prize winner in Scoop, page 22.
Mary Bennett
For those who fancy themselves creative and destined for acclaim, Mary Bennett’s installation, 1,983 Rejections: 3 Acceptances, is sobering, to put it mildly. It consists in part of meticulously arranged index cards found by Bennett in a dumpster in California during the mid-1990s. The cards were from a cache of documentation kept by an unknown and possibly deceased poet, showing submissions to poetry journals during the years 1973 to 1978. Of the nearly 2,000 submissions, only three were accepted. What do we call the force—perseverance, pride, self-delusion?—that motivates creative types to put their necks and souls on the line when the world shouts a chorus of uninterest? Bennett poses the question and leaves us to ponder it with a pit in our guts. 23 Sandy Gallery, 623 NE 23rd Ave., 927-4409, 23sandy.com. Closes June 25.
Drawing Shades
This excellent four-person show, is highlighted by Matty Byloos’ precise yet evocative domestic mise-en-scènes. Worksound, 820 SE Alder St. Closes July 1.
For more Visual Arts listings, visit
BOOKS
JUNE 22-28
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. By NATASHA GEILING. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit lecture or reading information at least two weeks in advance to: BOOKS, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: words@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
THURSDAY, JUNE 23 Danielle Cadena Deulen
Author Danielle Deulen is accustomed to receiving awards for her work; her first book of poetry won the Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize. Her newest work, an exploration of her heritage and youth, titled The Riots, has already garnered Deulen the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction. Powell’s on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free.
CDs of the recording at a later date. City Archives Building, 1800 SW 6th Ave, Suite 550. 1-5 pm. Free.
Rose City Used Book Fair
The Rose City Used Book Fair celebrates its fifth year with more than 1,000 used books from independent sellers. The fair, which also features collectible books, prints, ephemera and appraisals, benefits the Oregon Food Bank. Friendship Masonic Center, 5626 NE Alameda St. 2-8 pm Friday, 10 am-5 pm SaturdaySunday, June 24-25. $1-$2 and a can of food.
FRIDAY, JUNE 24
SATURDAY, JUNE 25
Oregon Poetic Voices Open Recording
Skint Press Launch Party
Poets (published or not) with something to say are encouraged to bring their work to the city archives June 24 to record their poetry for free. Each poet, recorded on a first-come, first-served basis, is allowed to record up to four poems that’ll be included in the Oregon Poetic Voices archives. Poets are encouraged to bring copies of their poems and a biographical statement; participants will receive
Skint Press celebrates the release of its debut publication, Skint Portland: For the Frugal Vagabond, with a launch party featuring DJ Joe Bear. Skint Portland takes a money-saving approach to the guidebook, highlighting Portland’s wallet-friendly places. Food will be served at the event. Polish Hall, 3900 N Interstate Ave., 715-1866. 6:30-9:30 pm. RSVP at skintpress.net.
MONDAY, JUNE 27 David Biespiel, Michael Montlack, and Wendy Willis
Portland poets David Biespiel and Wendy Willis will join Michael Montlack in a reading of their work. Biespiel, founder of the Attic Writers’ Workshop, was awarded the 2009 Oregon Book Award for The Book of Men and Women, which offered his poetic musings on the relation of the genders. Willis’ poetry has appeared in journals such as Poetry Northwest and Windfall. Montlack is the author of four poetry books, including his newest volume, Cool Limbo. Annie Bloom’s Books, 7834 SW Capitol Highway, 246-0053. 7-8:30 pm. Free.
David Eagleman and Tali Sharot
Neuroscientists David Eagleman and Tali Sharot shed light on one of the body’s most mysterious organs: the brain. In his book Incognito, Eagleman explores the brain’s unconscious functions, the ones we can’t see. Sharot, on the cutting edge of neuroscience, investigates our mind’s tendency toward optimism, and how that bias controls our daily lives. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 2284651. 7:30 pm. Free.
For more Words listings, visit
REVIEW
OPEN SPACES: VOICES FROM THE NORTHWEST Edited by former natural resources lawyer Penny slights other vital aspects of Northwest life Harrison, Open Spaces magazine has always (class, race, culture, business, etc.), but it’s unfair struck me as an odd duck, an uneasy hybrid of to ask Open Spaces to be what it’s never intended general interest journalism and policy wonkery, to be: the general interest Northwest magazine poetry and prose—City Club meets literary salon. the region so desperately needs. Except perhaps But the Open Spaces anthology is essential read- for Oregon Quarterly and Oregon Humanities ing for anyone moving to Cascadia and to the rest magazines, it’s hard to imagine where else you’d of the world—despite a typo on the very first page, find this kind of history- and context-laden disand a few dense articles more appropriate for a cussion in Northwest mass media. policy seminar. “The greater culture is coming Though dotted with esteemed Northwest to us,” declares one of the region’s finest writers, literary voices like William Kittredge and the John Daniel, in the opening essay, “turning in our great Montana writer David James Duncan, direction to drink from the the roster boasts many names wild perennial springs of vitalmore familiar from the news ity and hope.” pages. Pieces by government While stories about arts, and activist figures like former gardening and poetry provide Arizona governor and Clinton variety, the book’s title sugcabinet secretary Bruce Babbitt gests its main subject: the relaand current National Oceanic tionship of Northwest people and Atmospheric Administrato the natural environment, tion head Jane Lubchenco with meaty disquisitions on offer valuable policymakers’ land-use planning, arcane but perspectives. critically important water law, Although many aren’t profesthe Endangered Species Act, sional writers—a jazz pianist, a dam removal and other issues neurosurgeon, a law professor, that still heat the headlines, biologists—the prose isn’t as providing critical context for dry as you might expect. Often current events. It would have it rises to real eloquence, as in been handy to see the date of Duncan’s and Daniel’s pieces, as each original publication; the well as in the plangent essay by region’s changing fast, and one of our most insightful and Wonks gone wild. some essays work better as graceful writers, Kathleen Dean history than current affairs journalism. Eric Red- Moore, that closes the collection. Combining mond’s story about view-blocking megahouses poignant memoir, keen observation and penetratdocuments a change in Seattle’s character as ing insight, the philosopher-author’s “Fire and big money flowed in. Stephen L. Harris’ explica- Water” embodies what Open Spaces aspires to be: tion of Cascadia’s geologic volatility benefits a place that pulls together solid knowledge and from recountings of Indian legends and pioneer lyrically expressed wisdom. BRETT CAMPBELL. history, not just subduction zone analysis. Roy Hemmingway’s explanation of salmon life cycles GO: Open Spaces editor Penny Harrison and contributors John Daniel, Linda Besant and Kim reminds me of John McPhee’s careful New Yorker Stafford read at Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W explanatory journalism. Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm Saturday, June The magazine’s emphasis on environment 22. Free.
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JUNE 22-28 REVIEW
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
VA R I A N C E F I L M S I N C .
MOVIES
Editor: AARON MESH. Acting Editor: MATTHEW SINGER. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, send screening information at least two weeks in advance to Screen, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: amesh@wweek. com. Fax: 243-1115.
13 Assassins
88 Although he’s done a bit of
everything at this point (that’s what happens when you churn out an average of four movies per year), the name Takashi Miike is still associated with a few specific things in the minds of Japanese cult movie fans. Namely, human entrails. And emotional degradation. And the exploitation of social taboos for pitch-black comedic effect. So when fans heard Miike had remade a samurai epic from the 1960s, the assumption was he’d take the genre to bloody, transgressive new extremes. 13 Assassins turns out to be quite the opposite. It is, in fact, a very traditional picture, a reverential throwback to the feudal period pieces of Akira Kurosawa. And here’s a bold suggestion: It might be the best of its kind since Kurosawa’s 1954 standard-bearer, Seven Samurai. The climax, an exhilarating 45-minute blur of blades and blood and explosions and flaming bulls (yes, flaming bulls—the CGI is subpar, but it’s the thought that counts), is a career-defining sequence from a filmmaker who’s always known how to orchestrate violence. Only here, he uses his skill not for shock but for a brutal kind of beauty. It’s masterful. MATTHEW SINGER. Hollywood Theatre.
Bad Teacher
Eight years after Bad Santa and a few weeks before the opening of Horrible Bosses, Cameron Diaz plays an execrable (and theoretically hot) educator. If David Lee Roth doesn’t make a cameo, it’s a lost opportunity. Not screened in time for WW press deadlines. Check wweek.com for a review. R. Clackamas, Eastport, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy, St. Johns.
Beginners
56 For all the big topics director Mike Mills addresses in this little dramedy— death and grief, repressed homosexuality, the idea that life starts whenever we’re ready for it—the thing most people will leave thinking is, “Boy, that dog sure was cute.” They’re not wrong. Arthur, a clingy Jack Russell terrier Ewan McGregor inherits after his father (Christopher Plummer) passes away, is the fourth most important character in Beginners, the second most interesting and definitely the most adorable. It’s probably not what Mills would want audiences to take away from the film, but then, he shouldn’t have had the dog “speak” to McGregor in subtitled pearls of wisdom. That kind of irksome preciousness, of which there are many other examples, undermines the genuinely moving story— apparently semi-autobiographical for Mills—of a thirty-something graphic designer coming to terms with the fact that his dad has come out of the closet at age 75. Plummer and McGregor salvage some true heart from underneath the piles of quirk, but as the timeline skips around McGregor ends up spending half the movie stuck in a tepid romance with a sexy mound of tousled hair named Anna (Melanie Laurent of Inglorious Basterds). Mills would’ve been better off cutting the girl and focusing solely on the fatherson relationship. Keep Arthur, though. Boy, is he cute. MATTHEW SINGER. Fox Tower.
NEW Bike for Your Right to Party: The Car
[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] The bicycle rights people have been trying to tell you for years: Cars are evil, man! If a movie about a killer automobile sounds familiar, that’s probably because you’ve seen John Carpenter’s Christine, but this 1977 schlockfest actually predates it by six years. Hollywood Theatre. 7 pm Wednesday, June 22.
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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. Not 30 minutes into the movie, there’s a wedding-dress fitting interrupted by an eruptive case of food poisoning, and after our heroines finish vomiting into each other’s hair and lining up to use a fancy marble sink as a commode, the bride (Maya Rudolph) rushes out of the store and shits in the street. 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. Clackamas, CineMagic, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, City Center, Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Wilsonville.
Cars 2
In which Pixar helps prolong the career of Larry the Cable Guy, again. Assholes. Not screened in time for WW press deadlines. Check wweek. com for a review. G. 99 West Drive-In, Clackamas, Eastport, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
80 The new Werner Herzog docu-
mentary, 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-year-old 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.
The Double Hour
76 The “mind-bending twist” has
been a standard feature in thrillers for decades, but it wasn’t until The Sixth Sense spun heads with its final reveal that the twist became a cliché all its own, a sideswipe of audience expectations that has since become an audience expectation in and of itself. Freshman Italian director Giuseppe Capotondi certainly builds his haunting debut, The Double Hour, around a twist that allows him to tell the story of a horrendous crime from the perspectives of the two people affected by it. But not content just to let the twist— which actually comes about halfway through the film—do the talking, Capotondi lets his narrative play out as a human story, and his film benefits from the extra care. What could have been a cheap, Run, Lola, Runstyle exercise in narrative possibilities instead becomes a tender character study of loneliness, a frightening paranoid thriller, a gritty surveillance piece and a psychological mind-bender with shades of the terrific French thriller Tell No One mashed into Polanski territory. While its second act can’t top its jarring setup, The Double Hour is a solid debut from a promising filmmaker. AP KRYZA. Fox Tower. NEW
Fast Break
82 [ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL]
Amateur psychedelic soundtrack over
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
STILL SMOKIN’: Buster Martin at age 101 in How to Live Forever.
ART, DEATH, COMEDY & COWBOYS FOUR DOCUMENTARIES WITH NOTHING IN COMMON. BY MATTHEW SIN GE R
msinger@wweek.com
Buck “God had him in mind when He made a cowboy,” a friend says of Dan “Buck” Brannaman, the country’s foremost “horse whisperer.” Maybe so, but when Hollywood made up its version of a cowboy, it certainly didn’t have a guy like Brannaman in mind. Exuding Zen-like calm rather than macho stoicism and speaking in a twangy monotone, Brannaman doesn’t make an obvious subject for a compelling documentary, but director Cindy Meehl achieves one anyway. She avoids mythicizing Brannaman’s gift, instead probing the deep childhood pain he transformed into powerful interspecies empathy. Abused by his father, he found solace in horsemanship, eventually coming to describe himself as a kind of therapist who assists “horses with people problems.” There’s a glint of lingering torture behind his eyes, suggesting the reason he stays on the road, away from his family, hosting clinics nine months out of the year is that he’s still using horses to work out his own people problems. Subtly underlining that current of anguish, Meehl elevates Buck above the cute, Disneyfied profile it might have been in someone else’s hands. Opens Friday at Cinema 21. 78
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop 70 Up until last year, there wasn’t anything particularly interesting about Conan O’Brien. He’d always been funny and creative, but that’s pretty much all anyone needed to know about him. Losing his job in such a public and unfair manner gave him an edge (even if he still walked away from his abridged run as host of The Tonight Show an extravagantly rich man). In theory, anyway. Can’t Stop, a behind-the-scenes look at the live tour he embarked on while contractually blocked from appearing on TV, doesn’t present O’Brien as anything other than a funny and creative person with a compulsive drive to entertain. His backstage banter with sidekick Andy Richter and faux-bullying of his crew (along with a few jabs at NBC and Jay Leno) is
funny enough to give the film a recommendation, and perhaps the point of it wasn’t to be enlightening, but then, what is the point of making what’s essentially a 90-minute DVD bonus feature? Opens Friday at Hollywood Theatre. How to Live Forever 75 Although he talks to scientists who are literally working on a cure for death, the title of Mark Wexler’s documentary on aging should still be considered tongue-in-cheek. As it turns out, there is no set of hard-and-fast rules for elongating life. The human body is an inconsistent machine: For every Jack LaLanne, the pioneering exercise guru and health nut who lived to age 96, there’s a guy like Buster Martin, a surly Brit who made it to 104 on a diet of cigarettes, beer and red meat. Of course, you probably already knew that, and Wexler surely did, too, but that doesn’t stop How to Live Forever from being a consistently enjoyable survey of the myriad and contradictory ways people have managed to extend their stay on this mortal coil. It is a thoroughly First World survey, however, which is probably to be expected: In the United States, England and Japan, people can afford to ponder immortality; elsewhere, they’re just hoping to get to tomorrow. Opens Friday at Fox Tower. !Women Art Revolution 63 Quick, name three female artists. No, Katy Perry doesn’t count. Give up? Most people do, and that’s the thrust behind Lynn Hershman Leeson’s !Women Art Revolution, a movie she says has been in the making for over 40 years. That’s how far back some of these interviews and performance clips date, and how long Leeson’s peers—Rachel Rosenthal, Judith Baca and Sheila de Bretteville, to mention just a few to remember for your next trivia night—have flown under the radar of the maledominated art world. The documentary helps push their names into the lexicon and to shine a light on their work, which has been kept out of museums for decades. But as a narrative on their struggle, it’s scattershot, and as a film—especially one with an original score by Carrie Brownstein—far more dry than its subjects deserve. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 and 9 pm Friday, 4:30 and 7 pm Saturday, and 4 pm Sunday, June 24-26.
JUNE 22-28
Filmusik: Planet of Dinosaurs
[TWO NIGHTS ONLY, LIVE SCORE, REVIVAL] Local jazz ensemble Blue Cranes provides the score for this 1978 piece of sci-fi dinophilia. Hollywood Theatre. 8 pm ThursdayFriday, June 23-24.
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!” R. MATTHEW SINGER. Clackamas, Eastport, Cinetopia, Forest, Cinema 99, City Center, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Movies on TV.
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. PG. MATTHEW SINGER. Clackamas, Eastport, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Broadway, Cinema 99, Evergreen Parkway, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Sandy.
The Leopard
[TWO NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL] Director Luchino Visconti’s sprawling, visually breathtaking 1963 epic set amid the social tumult of mid19th-century Italy. PG. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Thursday, June 23, and 6:15 pm Sunday, June 26..
D I S N E Y/ P I X A R
grainy, slo-mo basketball footage makes the ’70s seem like an ancient, foreign world, but this vintage documentary of the Blazers’ 1977 championship season was never a conventional, sporty sports movie, even in its own time. The film’s backbone (and its most interesting thread) is director Don Zavin’s postseason bicycle ride down the Oregon coast with superstar center Bill Walton, the 7-foot, red-bearded hippie credited for the young team’s first (and only) championship season. Walton seems equally at peace dominating a packed stadium and pedaling his 10-speed along the lonely highway. It’s touching to see these paragons of athleticism swaggering across the screen, oblivious to the fleeting nature of glory, and the impossibly simple age in which they were living. Also screening with On the Shoulders of Giants, a documentary on little-known allblack 1930s pro-basketball team the Harlem Rens. TONY PIFF. Spirit of 77, 500 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 7 pm Friday, June 24. Free.
MOVIES
CARS 2
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. Hollywood Theatre, Lake Twin.
Midnight in Paris
77 Sorry to break it to you, New York, but Woody Allen is cheating on you. He’s had trysts in the past, but in Midnight in Paris his flirtation with the City of Light blossoms into a full-blown affair. If it’s any consolation, Paris isn’t about Paris in the way Allen’s classic New York films were about the experience of actually being in New York. It’s more about the idea of Paris, and really the idea of any time and place that aren’t our own. Owen Wilson, convincingly stepping into the “Woody Allen role,” stars as Gil Pender, a screenwriter and self-described “Hollywood hack” who thinks of himself as a novelist born in the wrong era. On vacation in Paris, he wanders into the streets one night and tipsily stumbles upon a rip in the space-time continuum that transports him to the 1920s to party with his literary idols: F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. It’s a fairy tale for lit majors, and Allen’s best work in years. That said, calling Paris a true return to form for Allen after the past decade’s mixed bag is an exaggeration. It’s more of a charming trifle. PG-13. MATTHEW SINGER. Eastport, Lake Twin, Moreland, City Center, Fox Tower, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV.
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
51 Mr. Popper’s Penguins embraces the old adage of love conquering all. It conquers animal neglect, lying, conniving, cheating, greed, deadbeat dadding and shrewdness. It can even teach penguins to poop in toilets instead of on people’s faces. But no amount of love can make Mr. Popper’s actually pop beyond its surface-value cash-in on cute and cuddly flightless birds and Jim Carrey’s cartoonish qualities. Which is just fine, actually. Based on the classic 1938 kiddie favorite by Richard and Florence Atwater, Popper’s ditches the story of a poor painter who comes into possession
of precarious and precocious penguins (the alliteration of “p” words runs rampant throughout) for the story of a rich divorcee who inherits penguins, which in turn teach him to be a better dad and husband while pooping and pecking all over his winterized New York penthouse. Carrey dives into his usual hamming and rubber-facing with manic glee, elevating the dumb-as-rocks story with his cartoonish charm. The film’s sweetness prevails, but its sentimentality goes cold toward the end. (How many life lessons can penguins teach? All of them.) As far as mindless kids’ popcorn fare goes, it’s better than mediocre, but only by a fin. PG. AP KRYZA. Clackamas, Eastport, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Broadway, Cinema 99, City Center, Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Email us at JWMovieClub@gmail.com for your chance to win! Please include “The Adjustment Bureau” in the subject line. Entries must be received by 6/30/11. W hile supplies last. Only a limited number of prizes available. Limit one prize pack per person. W inners chosen at random from all eligible entries. W inners will be notified by e-mail on or about 6/30/11. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. NO PHONE CALLS!
ON BLU-RAY™ HI-DEF & DVD JUNE 21st
My Perestroika
63 “Perestroika” is the term applied
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. 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 Theaters.
INVITE YOU AND A GUEST TO A SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING OF
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. 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. PG-13. AP KRYZA. 99 West Drive-In, Clackamas, Eastport, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, City Center, Evergreen Parkway, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Sandy.
CONT. on page 48
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63 Overall, it’s hard to watch a cartoon toucan without thinking he’s selling you cereal. G. AARON MESH. Indoor Twin.
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IN THEATERS JUNE 29 WWW.TRANSFORMERSMOVIE.COM
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
77 [THREE NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL]
Any horror movie set even partially at a shitty-looking circus or carnival is going to achieve a minimum level of creepiness. This is true whether you’re making Ghoulies II or a cerebral, feverish nightmare like 1989’s Santa Sangré. Only the first half of this late entry from director Alejandro Jodorowsky—maker of the hallucinogenic ’70s classics El Topo and Holy Mountain—actually takes place at a circus, but its cast of dwarves, tattooed women and, of course, clowns haunts the entirety of its unsettling story, about a boy driven insane after his father brutally amputates his mother’s arms. There are a lot of themes at work here— virginal lust, religious guilt, motherson separation anxiety—but what resonates is Jodorowsky’s images: a white horse rising out of a crypt; the bulldozing of a makeshift religious temple; a group of mentally disabled kids strolling through a lively redlight district while high on cocaine. Not surprisingly, the best scene occurs during the circus portion of the film: A funeral procession for an elephant ends with the pachyderm’s tank-sized casket sliding into a ravine, where the carcass is then ripped apart by the residents of an adjacent slum. Werner Herzog must still be kicking himself for not thinking of that first. NC-17. MATTHEW SINGER. Fifth Avenue Cinema. 7 pm and 9:30 pm Friday-Saturday, June 24-25; 3 pm Sunday, June 26.
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48
Rebecca’s Room
[ONE NIGHT ONLY] A woman traumatized by witnessing her mother’s murder is stalked by the killers. Hollywood Theatre. 7:15 pm Monday, June 27.
—Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES
A FILM BY GIUSEPPE CAPOTONDI
JUNE 22-28 SEVERIN FILMS
A ROMANCE. A ROBBERY. A MYSTERY. NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS.
Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang
[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] The movie that launched a thousand rap careers, or however many members of the Wu-Tang Clan there are. Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, June 28.
Small Town Murder Songs
71 Small Town Murder Songs is the
type of movie that makes you glad you live in Portland, and not in a place surrounded by acres and acres of empty land, where no one can hear you scream. The film, directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly, is set in a minuscule Ontario Mennonite town, where police officer Walter (Peter Stormare) has to solve his first murder case. This town is so small that Walter can identify the victim as an out-of-towner and the 911 caller by first and last name. Within minutes of discovering the body, he’s certain he knows the killer. At its core, though, Small Town Murder Songs is not so much a murdermystery as a character drama about the dichotomy between body and soul. The emergence of the town’s murder shakes Walter’s life to its foundations. Newly baptized, Walter struggles to keep Christian when his violent nature keeps slipping out. In the end, however, there doesn’t seem to be much of a solution to Walter’s life. At 75 minutes, the movie is too short, but the cinematography makes it worthwhile, with its crisp panoramas of the Canadian countryside. ASHLEY COLLMAN. Living Room Theaters.
Some Days Are Better Than Others
73 Matt McCormick’s first feature turns out to be a difficult movie to classify—part David Gordon Green homage, part study of seasonal affective disorder, part workingman’s lament—though an easy one to dismiss: The casting of Shins frontman James Mercer and a pre-Portlandia Carrie Brownstein in the lead roles invites reductionist slagging of Some Days as an indie-rock mood
SANTA SANGRÉ ring. The youthful self-pity does rise to mortifying levels in spots (neither Mercer nor Brownstein are experienced enough actors to recognize their depression as even a little funny), but Some Days reserves its real pathos for a lost city: Mercer’s karaoke rehearsal of Bonnie Tyler sounds absurd and poignant over a montage of boarded-up bungalows, while Matthew Cooper of Eluvium scores the demolition of the Virginia Cafe. (What may have been intended as a criticism of gentrification now plays as a record of economic collapse; the movie, which took so long to secure a distributor, feels like artistic commentary on the financial quagmire of a generation both rootless and stuck.) Eclipsing the bigger names is a lovely turn by Renee Roman Nose as a consignment-shop worker who will not abandon an unclaimed urn—like her, the film clings to fragile things worth caring for. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Stuff
71 Portland-based director
Lawrence Johnson asks himself a lot of questions in the course of narrating his film Stuff, but the one that forms the core of this documentary is, “Do we really want to know our fathers?” Like most of those other questions, he doesn’t come up with a solid answer. In his searching he does, however, reach a kind of resolution regarding his relationship with his late father, even if amounts to, “Welp, he’s dead now, time to move on.” When Stuff begins, it looks like it’s going to be an unrelentingly somber journey: Johnson’s dad has passed away, he’s not sure how he feels about it, and he’s stuck carting around the piles of junk his dad accumulated during his life. He is also in the midst of his second divorce and on the brink of homelessness. Through Johnson’s astonishing candor—he offers up photos of his emaciated father on his death bed—the movie becomes, if not exactly charming, deeply relatable, even for those of us who think we have a decent relationship with our parents. In fact, that’s precisely who Johnson’s ultimate unspoken question is aimed at: How well do any of us understand our feelings toward our fathers, and can we be sure how we’ll feel when they’re gone?. MATTHEW SINGER. Living Room Theaters.
Submarine
75 The accusations of Wes
Anderson-ry will surface just after the opening credits, so it’s best to meet them head on: In Submarine, director Richard Ayoade does, in fact, focus on a sullen adolescent who inhabits a perpetually overcast world (to be fair, it is seaside Wales). Good-natured young Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) stumbles in his overreaching attempts to connect to others and ends up distancing himself all the more (he gleefully tries on affectations to underscore the rift). But this adaptation of Joe Dunthorne’s semi-autobiographical novel plays with the restrictive
“coming of age” genre, which, after all, represents an experience that is annoyingly universal. Oliver’s raison d’être is to get laid and to keep his family intact, and despite the highbrow aspirations of other outsider heroes (Max Fischer of Rushmore, say), weren’t our junior-year goals so easily summarized? Meanwhile, Ma and Pa Tate have a low-libido union that gets explored in uncomfortable detail by Oliver himself. In fact, it is Ayoade’s refusal to give Jill and Lloyd Tate the John Hughes “parents just don’t understand” treatment that makes Submarine worth the time. There are no bad guys in the Tate household, just role models who embrace the avoidant approach. R. SAUNDRA SORENSON. Fox Tower.
Super 8
73 In a season of lazy cash-grab
sequels and more tired comic book adaptations, Super 8 is fun and cool and genuine in the ways summer blockbusters used to be. The way movies used to be is writer-director J.J. Abrams’ entire driving principle behind the project. As you may have already heard, the film is exceptionally “Spielbergian,” right down to the use of the E.T.-referencing Amblin Entertainment logo in the opening credits. Hell, Steven Spielberg’s name is listed just below Abrams’ on the poster, as a producer. All that is cause for excitement, and much of it is justified. But as an unabashed throwback to those universal cinematic experiences of the 1970s and ’80s, it can’t actually be one of those movies, which truly presented audiences with new, thrilling visions of the world. By its very conceit, it is nothing you haven’t seen before. You just haven’t seen it recently. But you should still see Super 8. It is imperfect—Abrams occasionally trips over the thin line separating homage and cliché— but it is a movie infused with a love of the movies, and that carries it a long way. MATTHEW SINGER. Clackamas, Eastport, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, City Center, Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
The Tree of Life
97 “A man who writes of himself
without speaking of God,” Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht wrote in his later days, “is like one who identifies himself without giving his address.” Terrence Malick gives precise geographical coordinates in The Tree of Life, a project that has gestated in the mind of the director for 32 years. It turns out that God—or at least little Terry Malick’s first stirrings of the divine—was hiding in Waco, Texas. The movie feels like an explanation for why Malick has been so reluctant to produce scheduled work. With the hero’s puberty comes a rebellion against the tyranny of earthly and heavenly fathers. “Why should I be good if you aren’t?” asks Jack, the young protagonist— and at this point, the movie had my
JUNE 22-28 number so completely that I feared it would come up with a reason. It doesn’t, thank goodness. In its final sequence, a grown Jack (Sean Penn) rides up a Houston skyscraper and—in a probably unintentional nod to Willy Wonka’s Great Glass Elevator—ascends to a healing vision of heaven. This is not very persuasive, and it doesn’t matter: What is so piercing about The Tree of Life is not that it knows life’s answers, but that it knows how the questions feel. PG-13. AARON MESH. Fox Tower.
The Trip
sashay around the planet collecting stray mutants to protect and school. Even more fun is watching Lehnsherr track down and punish his Nazi tormenters; this could easily be its own whole movie. It’s also cool to see how far the characters have come: Pre-wheelchair Xavier is a little smarmy (he tries the line “that’s a very groovy mutation” twice). He’s idealistic and brilliant but not yet wise. Other characters arrive fully formed. Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) does a good job at toughing it out as Mystique, who must console herself
MOVIES
with Fassbender after getting the brush-off from wimpy Xavier and nerdy Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult). Both silliness and sap increase as the film rolls along, but the big action scenes are handled well, and it never becomes ridiculous enough to undercut the cool, shaken-notstirred vibe of its first half. PG13. BECKY OHLSEN. Indoor Twin, Clackamas, Eastport, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, City Center, Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Tonight! June 22 5
Tonight! June 22 7:30 pm
85 Nothing much actually happens
Water for Elephants
30 No movie set on a train can be completely worthless, but Water for Elephants comes very close. PG-13. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Worst in Show
55 [ONE WEEK ONLY] It’s almost
a decade since Spellbound, and still the cute-competition documentary endures, with the stakes ever smaller and the honors more dubious. Here it’s the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest in Petaluma, Calif., where proud owners come bearing their hideous canines and...well, not doing all that much, since you can’t really do anything to make an ugly dog uglier. Naturally, the frontrunners are Chihuahua-like rat dogs and their ilk: Chinese cresteds and African sand dogs, several with tongues that stick out the sides of their mouths. The forefather of the event is a threetime champion crested named Sam who died in 2005, though in all honesty I’m not sure how you could tell, since he already looked exactly like the Crypt Keeper. Directors John Beck and Don R. Lewis have a nice message about rescuing animals, and the subjects are far less narcissistic than most contest-doc subjects. Also, Worst in Show marks the last movie appearance of the great Jane Russell, and while it’s probably not how she imagined going out, the dog owners seem thrilled to meet her. AARON MESH. Clinton Street Theater. 7 and 8:30 pm FridayThursday, June 24-30.
X-Men: First Class
73 A prequel to the four preced-
ing X-Men movies (from the prettygood Bryan Singer-directed X-Men in 2000 to the universally lambasted X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009), First Class has so much fun with its setup that you almost wish it never got around to the savingthe-world-from-nuclear-annihilation plot. It’s a blast watching the young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and the future Magneto, a.k.a. Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender),
REVIEW WA R N E R B R O S . P I C T U R E S
in The Trip. Trimmed down to reasonable film length from a sixepisode BBC television series, it’s arranged by director Michael Winterbottom as a series of daily vignettes that all play out more or less the same way: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing themselves, drive out to a fancy restaurant in northern England, which Coogan has been commissioned to review for The Observer of London; they banter and bicker while sharing a meal, often leading to argument over who does the better impression of Michael Caine or Woody Allen or a James Bond villain; Coogan breaks off to find good cell-phone reception so he can field a call from his agent or get into a passive-aggressive argument with his on-off American girlfriend back in the States, while Brydon goes back to his hotel room and tries to talk his wife into phone sex. That’s pretty much the whole movie. And that’s all it needs to be. Coogan and Brydon, essentially reprising their barely fictionalized, largely improvised roles from Winterbottom’s Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, have the kind of comic chemistry where the only thing a director needs to do is point the camera at them to come away with the funniest film of the year. MATTHEW SINGER. Living Room Theaters.
Tonight! June 22
Tonight! June 22
Tiger Bar 317 5 NW Broadway 5
Tonight! June 22 5 XOXO, GOSSIP GIRL: Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds snuggle.
GREEN LANTERN What’s that line from Macbeth? Something about a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, and computer-generated landscapes and Blake Lively in form-fitting business suits and Ryan Reynolds’ abs, signifying nothing? It’s almost as if Shakespeare knew this vacuous Green Lantern adaptation was coming down the pike. Calling director Martin Campbell an idiot is a bit harsh—he gets an extended pass for making Casino Royale—but his preoccupation with bright colors and loud noises and barely comprehensible action sucks this first big-screen appearance for the long-standing DC Comics superhero into a black hole of meaninglessness. Actually, make that a beige hole. Because worse than being big, loud and stupid—things we expect from a summer blockbuster— Green Lantern is fucking boring. There isn’t a moment in this movie that should cause anyone to give a shit. It starts with a crew of aliens crash-landing on a foreign planet and awakening a subterranean menace, which, 30 seconds later, is on another planet attacking another extraterrestrial, forcing him to flee in a tiny spacecraft that winds up on Earth. Cut to Ryan Reynolds leaping out of bed in his underwear. Suddenly, he’s in a fighter jet, then he’s ejecting from the fighter jet, then he’s being taxied across the galaxy in a glowing green orb, then he’s in space-cop training with a hulking creature with the voice of Michael Clarke Duncan, then he’s saving Lively from a runaway helicopter, then he’s back in space trying to save the universe. That is how the entire film moves, from one whiz-bang scene to the next, the story stitched together by expository speeches accented with inspirational bullshit. None of it registers because it’s never given time to, the whole thing flying by in an emerald-colored blur of slick but soulless CGI. Even if the film slowed down, it’s not like there’d be much to enjoy. There are hints Campbell is aware of how goofy much of his movie is, but then he has Reynolds psych himself up by earnestly repeating the Green Lantern oath: “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight!” Maybe he’s just keeping true to the comic, but there’s a reason the series has been rebooted in print several times over the past 70 years. Expect the same to happen to the film franchise. PG-13. MATTHEW SINGER.
The bore of the ring.
29 SEE IT: Green Lantern opened last week, but did not screen in time for WW press deadlines. It continues this week at multiple locations. Check wweek.com for showtimes.
“ ” ���� Keith Uhlich, TIME OUT NY
“BEHIND-THESCENES GOLD.”
WWEEKDOTCOM WWEEKDOTCOM WWEEKDOTCOM WWEEKDOTCOM Karen Valby, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
STARTS FRIDAY JUNE 24
HOLLYWOOD THEATRE
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IT ELICITS ASTONISHMENT , EVEN WONDERMENT , AND MAKES YOU GRATEFUL FOR THE CHANCE TO MEET SOMEONE REMARKABLE .” “
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2011 wweek.com
Willamette Weekly Wednesday, 6/22
49
MOVIES
JUNE 22-28
BREWVIEWS
Pioneer Place Stadium 6
THE SNOZBERRIES TASTE LIKE DEATH: Forget Sweeney Todd—the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is the most disturbing film musical ever made. Those dead-eyed Oompa Loompas? Gene Wilder playing Wonka as a psychotic dandy barely containing his own madness? A bunch of asshole children being systemically killed off (that part is mostly conjecture, but we never see what happens to them after each of their “mishaps”)? It’s creepy as hell. And the songs! There’s a reason Marilyn Manson covered “The Wondrous Boat Ride” on its first album. This 40th anniversary singalong might be the only one of its kind to end with the entire audience weeping in the fetal position. G. MATTHEW SINGER. Crystal Ballroom. 3 pm (all ages) and 6 pm (21+) Sunday, June 26. Best paired with: Pabst. Also showing: Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (Academy). Roseway Theatre
Regal Lloyd Center Stadium 10 Cinema
UCY PUNCHDREWS L ” R E H C A E T D N “BA PRODUCTION WOLFE MUSICBY MICHAEL A Y C I A S O M A S PRESENTSMUSICBY MANISH RAVAL TOM NBERG GENE STUPNITSK E R U T C I P A I B M COLU HIGGINS SUPERVISION E KASDAN LEE EISE RG JOHN MEXICECHUUTICAERVEESLGEORGIA KACWARITNTEDNES JEAKSTUPNITSKY & LEE EISEDNIRBECETEBYD JAKE KASDAN PROD BY GEN USEHOLTER O H D I V A D R E L L PRODUCEDBY JIMMY MI
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1510 NE Multnomah Blvd., 800-326-3264 BRIDESMAIDS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:40, 03:55, 07:25, 10:25 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES Tue-Wed 12:20, 09:55 THE HANGOVER PART II Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:40, 05:20, 07:50, 10:20 XMEN: FIRST CLASS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 03:45, 07:00, 10:15 SUPER 8 Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 11:20, 02:10, 05:00, 07:45, 10:30 MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:30, 02:00, 04:40, 07:10, 09:40 GREEN LANTERN Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:00, 01:45, 04:30, 07:20, 10:05 GREEN LANTERN 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 11:45, 02:30, 05:15, 08:00, 10:40 CARS 2 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS EXTENDED EDITION EVENT Tue 07:00 THE ART OF GETTING BY Tue-Wed 12:00, 02:20, 04:35, 06:55, 09:45 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:50, 02:25, 04:55, 07:35, 10:10 THE MET SUMMER ENCORE: DON PASQUALE Wed 06:30 DUDAMEL: LET THE CHILDREN PLAY - PREMIERE EVENT CARS 2 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue 10:45, 01:30, 04:15, 07:00, 09:45 BAD TEACHER FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue 12:25, 02:50, 05:15, 07:40, 10:05 THE GLOBE THEATRE PRESENTS THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR Mon 06:30 LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING EXTENDED EDITION EVENT Tue 07:00 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON 3D Tue 09:00, 12:20
Regal Lloyd Mall 8 Cinema
2320 Lloyd Center Mall, 800-326-3264 THOR Tue-Wed 06:05, 09:15 BRIDESMAIDS TueWed 12:10, 03:10, 06:25, 09:10 KUNG FU PANDA 2 Tue-Wed 12:35, 03:35, 06:10, 08:55 KUNG FU PANDA 2 3D Tue-Wed 12:05, 03:05, 06:30, 09:30 X-MEN: FIRST CLASS TueWed 12:15, 03:25, 06:20, 09:20 SUPER 8 Tue-Wed 12:20, 03:20, 06:15, 09:25 MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS Tue-Wed 12:00, 03:00, 06:00, 09:05 GREEN LANTERN 3D Tue-Wed 12:30, 03:30, 06:20, 09:00 CARS 2 Tue-Wed JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER TueWed 12:25, 03:15 CARS 2 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 03:15, 06:15, 09:00 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON 3D Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 11:00, 02:30, 06:00, 09:10 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2: 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:50, 03:00, 06:15, 09:25
Regal Broadway Metro 4 Theatres
1000 SW Broadway, 800-326-3264 JANE EYRE Tue-Wed 02:00, 04:30, 07:00 THOR Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:45, 04:15, 07:30 KUNG FU PANDA 2 Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 02:15, 04:45, 07:15 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:30, 02:45, 06:15, 09:45 EVERYTHING MUST GO Tue-Wed 07:45 JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER TueWed 02:30, 05:00 MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue 02:00, 04:30, 07:00 GREEN LANTERN Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue 02:30, 05:00, 07:30
Cinema 21
616 NW 21st Ave., 503-223-4515 THE TRIP Tue-Wed 04:30, 07:00, 09:15
7229 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-282-2898 CARS 2 3D Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 01:30, 04:45, 08:00 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2: 3D Fri 12:00, 03:30, 07:00, 10:30
CineMagic Theatre
2021 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-231-7919 BRIDESMAIDS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 05:30, 08:10
Kennedy School Theater
5736 NE 33rd Ave., 5 03-249-7474 RIO Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 05:30 FAST FIVE Sat-Sun-Tue-Wed 02:30, 07:40 WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Fri-Sat-SunTue-Wed 02:30, 07:40 HOODWINKED TOO! HOOD VS. EVIL Sat-Sun 12:30
Fifth Avenue Cinemas
510 SW Hall St., 503-725-3551 SANTA SANGRÉ Fri-SatSun 03:00
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846 SW Park Ave., 800-326-3264 THE TREE OF LIFE Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:50, 12:55, 02:40, 04:15, 05:30, 07:10, 08:20, 10:00 THE HANGOVER PART II FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:30, 04:45, 07:00, 09:40 THE DOUBLE HOUR Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:00, 02:20, 04:30, 07:20, 09:45 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:05, 12:45, 02:15, 02:55, 04:35, 05:15, 07:05, 07:55, 09:35, 10:05 BEGINNERS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:45, 12:30, 02:10, 02:45, 04:25, 05:25, 07:15, 07:45, 09:30, 10:10 THE ART OF GETTING BY Tue-Wed 12:20, 02:50, 05:10, 07:30, 09:55 SUBMARINE Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:15, 02:35, 05:00, 07:25, 09:50 HOW TO LIVE FOREVER Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:20, 02:50, 05:10, 07:30, 09:55
340 SW Morrison St., 800-326-3264 BRIDESMAIDS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:20, 07:40, 10:30 X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:50, 04:15, 07:15, 10:15 SUPER 8 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 01:10, 03:50, 07:20, 10:10 MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS Tue-Wed 01:00, 04:10, 07:10, 09:45 GREEN LANTERN TueWed 12:45, 04:30, 07:30, 10:20 GREEN LANTERN 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 01:15, 04:00, 07:00, 10:00 CARS 2 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:20, 03:40, 07:00, 10:20 BAD TEACHER Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon 12:15, 02:45, 05:15, 07:30, 10:30 CARS 2 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon 05:10, 07:45, 10:20 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Tue-Wed 01:05, 04:25, 07:45, 11:05 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2: 3D Fri-Sat-Sun 12:50, 03:55, 07:00, 10:05
Academy Theater
7818 SE Stark St., 503-252-0500 THE GOONIES Tue-Wed 02:00, 04:30, 09:20 WIN WIN Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 06:45 RIO Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:50, 05:00 FAST FIVE Tue-Wed 06:45, 09:30 JANE EYRE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:30 SOURCE CODE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:15, 09:20 HANNA FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:30 PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:35, 04:45, 09:10 WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 02:00, 07:00
Living Room Theaters
341 SW 10th Ave., 971-222-2010 LOUDER THAN A BOMB Tue-Wed 12:00, 02:10, 06:30 SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:00, 09:35 MY PERESTROIKA Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 05:45, 09:45 CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:50, 12:30, 01:30, 04:45, 05:20, 06:45, 07:30, 10:00 WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 02:30, 09:30 BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK Tue-Wed 04:30, 09:50 STUFF Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:00, 07:50 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES Tue-Wed 01:50, 03:45, 07:00, 08:50 SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:00, 02:50, 05:30, 07:40, 09:40 THE TRIP Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 11:40, 02:10, 04:35, 07:15 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES 3D FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:50, 03:45, 07:00, 08:50
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