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WWEEK.COM
VOL 38/03 11.23.2011
P. 31
P H OTO : S T E E L B R O O K S , I L L U S T R AT I O N : S TA C E Y R O Z I C H
BACK COVER
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2
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
CONTENT
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NEWS
4
FOOD & DRINK
30
LEAD STORY
13
MUSIC
33
CULTURE
26
MOVIES
45
HEADOUT
29
CLASSIFIEDS
51
STAFF Editor-in-Chief Mark Zusman EDITORIAL Managing Editor for News Brent Walth Arts & Culture Editor Martin Cizmar Staff Writers Hannah Hoffman, Nigel Jaquiss, Corey Pein Copy Chief Rob Fernas Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Kat Merck Assistant Arts & Culture Editor Ben Waterhouse Movies Editor Aaron Mesh Music Editor Casey Jarman Editorial Interns Emilee Booher, Maggie Summers, Annie Zak CONTRIBUTORS Classical Brett Campbell Dance Heather Wisner Food Ruth Brown Visual Arts Richard Speer
Erik Bader, Judge Bean, Nathan Carson, Devan Cook, Shane Danaher, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, Robert Ham, Shae Healey, Jay Horton, Matthew Korfhage, AP Kryza, Hannah Levin, Jessica Lutjemeyer, Jeff Rosenberg, Matt Singer, Chris Stamm, Mark Stock
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PRODUCTION Production Manager Kendra Clune Art Director Ben Mollica Graphic Designers Melissa Casillas, Soma Honkanen, Adam Krueger, Brittany Moody, Carolyn “call in sick” Richardson Production Interns Lana MacNaughton, Steel Brooks
WWEEK.COM Web Production Brian Panganiban Web Editor Ruth Brown
ADVERTISING Director of Advertising Jane Smith Display Account Executives Sara Backus, Maria Boyer, Michael Donhowe, Drew Harrison, Janet Norman, Kyle Owens Classifieds Account Executives Ashlee Horton, Corin Kuppler Advertising Assistant Ashley Grether Marketing and Events Manager Jess Sword Marketing Coordinator Jose Tancuan Give!Guide Director Brittany Cornett
OPERATIONS Accounting Manager Andrea Manning Credit & Collections Shawn Wolf Office Manager & Receptionist Nick Johnson Office Corgi Emeritus Bruce Manager of Information Systems Brian Panganiban Publisher Richard H. Meeker
Our mission: Provide our audiences with an independent and irreverent understanding of how their worlds work so they can make a difference. Circulation: 80,000-90,000 (depending on time of year, holidays and vacations.) Though Willamette Week is free, please take just one copy. Anyone removing papers in bulk from our distribution points will be prosecuted, as they say, to the full extent of the law. Willamette Week is published weekly by City of Roses Newspaper Company 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Main line phone: (503) 243-2122 fax: (503) 243-1115 Classifieds phone: (503) 223-1500 fax: (503) 223-0388
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Willamette Week welcomes freelance submissions. Send material to either News Editor or Arts Editor. Manuscripts will be returned if you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. To be considered for calendar listings, notice of events must be received in writing by noon Wednesday, two weeks before publication. Send to Calendar Editor. Photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Questions concerning circulation or subscription inquiries should be directed to Robert Lehrkind at Willamette Week. postmaster: Send all address changes to Willamette Week, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Subscription rates: One year $100, six months $50. Back issues $5 for walk-ins, $8 for mailed requests when available. Willamette Week is mailed at third-class rates. A.A.N. Association of ALTERNATIVE NEWSWEEKLIES
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Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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INBOX CHIEF CONCERNS
It’s a sad comment about the people of Portland if turning PDX into a police state improves your chances of becoming mayor [“Chaos to Checkmate,” WW, Nov. 16, 2011]. [Police Chief Mike] Reese should be fired for squandering $450,000 in taxpayer money that could have been used for services to improve conditions for the homeless and the mentally ill. Has WW found any evidence that police proactively tried to destroy the camp by encouraging homeless from other parts of the city to go there? (This tactic was used in NYC.) —“Lynn” The question for Chief Reese is: As our chief law enforcement officer, what have you done to investigate and refer for criminal prosecution those individuals who fraudulently and corruptly caused the crash of our local economy? If you try to hide behind “lack of jurisdiction,” then tell us, Chief Reese: What did you do to encourage those with appropriate jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the white-collar criminals? —“Louis S” The system is broken, but you’d never know it from reading WW. The angle chosen is baffling; 7,000 people show up in freezing rain to lend support to a movement that polls show has sympathy from a majority of Americans, and we get the scoop on the druggy tent and the Reesefor-mayor campaign. You owe your readership an apology. —“Vince”
Nigel Jaquiss writes as though the Occupy movement is finished. Au contraire, mon ami, the people have just begun. Reese will have plenty of opportunity to appear a thuggish servant of the Portland Business Alliance. —“Tom Civiletti” The Occupy movement cannot be quantified or dumbed down by the local media. Calling the camp overrun by “the homeless and mentally ill...and drug dealers” is a way to continue to promote the perceived class divide, to propagate the judgment of a lowly existence of those who do not fit into mainstream society’s constricting views and judgments. —“Sophia”
FREAKS AND CRITIQUES
I object to your characterization of the Occupy Portland encampment as a freak show, and to observers like me as a bunch of drunks who just stumbled out of a bar [“The Fall of the 420 Hotel,” WW, Nov. 16, 2011]. I think the demonstration was well run, violence was averted, and both police and demonstrators showed remarkable restraint. —“Barry Gorden” Unfortunately for the original folks who were trying to send a message: rationalize all you want, it was a freak show. Your message was lost when you surrounded yourself with the freaks. Too bad, [because] good issues were drowned out. —“Joe Sixpack”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Fax: (503) 243-1115, Email: mzusman@wweek.com
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If Pioneer Courthouse Square is “Portland’s living room,” the old Pioneer Courthouse itself seems more like the dark, scary attic that no one ever goes into. It’s a striking building, but what the hell goes on in there? —J.P.
a bottle shop
Alberta Main Street 4
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
albertamainst.org
Like all dark, scary attics, it’s a place to keep our most embarrassing relatives chained up, far from public view. It’s said that on certain nights, passersby can hear Bob Packwood rattling his chains, Tonya Harding weeping softly, and Neil Goldschmidt scrabbling at the floorboards with many cries of “Here! Here is the beating of his hideous heart!” All cheesy potshots aside, Pioneer Courthouse is actually—brace yourself—a courthouse. It’s one of the four courthouses used by U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to house judges’ chambers, oral arguments and, possibly, given the 9th Circuit’s groovy reputation, a grow room. Until recently, the building also held a popu-
lar downtown post office, the fate of which was the subject of a 2003 dust-up pitting then-Congressman David Wu against still-Congressman Earl Blumenauer. In a microcosm of all Portland planning battles, Wu wanted to rip out the historic post office and put in five basement parking spaces, while Blumenauer hoped to have an endless series of community visioning sessions to determine the most architecturally sensitive use of the space. Ultimately, the feds sided with Wu (the federal judges who wanted those parking spaces were also on his side), and the post office was axed in 2005. Of course, Blumenauer had the last laugh, since Wu is now chained up next to Tonya in the scary people’s attic. Finally, I must mention that one of the judges housed in this building is named Diarmuid Fionntain O’Scannlain (of Mordor), which probably gives him the right to park wherever he wants. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
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HEALTH CARE: Doctors fight Kitzhaber’s health reforms. THE LAW: Occupy Portland and the First Amendment. BUSINESS: The city ponders where to locate grocery stores. COVER STORY: Our field guide to City Hall politics.
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Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
Occupy Portland, which has been all about free speech, has shut down the comments function on its website. Reid Parham, media committee volunteer for Occupy Portland, says people can still post in the website’s forums. Complaints about how the comments were “out of control and hard to police” came up two weeks ago at general assembly, the movement’s regular meetings. Parham says the comments on the website were often untrue, libelous or profane—but that’s not why they were shut down. He says the website’s forums (which have moderators) simply allow for better conversations.
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Open Internet advocates earlier this year cheered U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) for blocking a Senate bill targeting online piracy. [“Caught Up In the Net,” WW, July 27, 2011.] Big record labels and movie studios say they lose billions to piracy. Foes say the “Internet blacklist bill” is overkill and would give the government power to censor websites by forcing Internet service providers to restrict access to sites accused of hosting pirated content. Opponents, including tech giants Google and Wikipedia, are counting on Wyden to kill a similar bill in the House of Representatives, the Stop Online Piracy Act. On Nov. 21, Wyden publicly pledged to filibuster the bill if it reaches the Senate floor. In a video posted at StopCensorship.org, funded by Demand Progress, Wyden says the bills “sacrifice cybersecurity while restricting free speech and innovation.”
Give!Guide update: On Clear Creek Distillery Day (Thursday, Nov. 17), WW readers donated more than $65,000 to local nonprofits. Special thanks to Clear Creek proprietor Steve McCarthy and sales manager Lynn Bauer. Just in time for Thanksgiving, Vancouver’s Elaine Scott received one bottle of everything Clear Creek produces. Meanwhile, G!G remains on record pace, breaking the $200,000 mark this week. Please join in: Go to wweek.com/giveguide and let your better angels guide your credit or debit card to make Portland a better place to live, work and play. Read more Murmurs and daily scuttlebutt.
MORGAN GREEN-HOPKINS
SCOTT GOGGLES
One the state’s most politically active companies, Portlandbased Stimson Lumber, is adding to the Oregon House Republicans’ strong fundraising efforts that WW first reported on two weeks ago. [“Reversal of Fortune,” WW, Nov. 9, 2011.] Stimson pumped more than $500,000 into GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley’s campaign last year. Now, as reported at wweek.com, CEO Andrew Miller has written a $100,000 check to the Oregon Transformation Project PAC, run by GOP political consultant Rob Kremer. Kremer’s PAC turned around and spread $75,000 among nine GOP House candidates late last week.
GOT A GOOD TIP? CALL 503.445.1542, OR EMAIL NEWSHOUND@WWEEK.COM
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NOT WHAT THE DOCTORS ORDERED PHYSICIANS WHO TREAT MEDICAID PATIENTS JOIN FORCES AGAINST KITZHABER’S HEALTH REFORMS. BY NIG E L JAQ UI SS
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The biggest bet Gov. John Kitzhaber has placed in his third term is that he can save Oregon billions by shaking up the way the state pays for medical care. Right now, Oregon pays the medical bills for the state’s neediest people as the charges come in from doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers. Last session, Kitzhaber persuaded lawmakers to try a novel experiment: The state would bring together healthcare providers paid out of Medicaid under a “coordinated care organizations,” or CCOs. Coordinated care would approach each patient’s case holistically, rather than prescribe disparate and expensive treatments. Lawmakers balanced the state budget on the premise Kitzhaber’s reforms would save $239 million next year. Now, doctors who fear they will bear the brunt of cost reductions are gearing up for a political fight. They want to make sure in the February legislative session that those savings come out of somebody else’s pocket. The state will spend about $6.5 billion over the next two years to provide health care for nearly 600,000 low-income Oregonians. Much of that money goes to managed care organizations, groups of doctors who treat Medicaid patients. They are churning some of that Medicaid money into political action committees to influence the upcoming session and next year’s elections. One political action committee, Doctors for Healthy
Communities, has raised $450,000 this year—$200,000 more than it raised last year. Two other doctor-funded PACs have another $260,000 on hand. The doctors’ PACs have seven times more money than the other big player, the Oregon Hospital Association. Jeff Heatherington, president of Portland-based FamilyCare, a doctors’ group that serves only Medicaid patients, says the reason his and other groups are raising so much money is simple: “It’s survival.” “They keep saying they are going to do this ‘transformation,’” Heatherington says, “but don’t tell us how it’s going to work or who’s going to do it.” Kitzhaber’s plan counts on hospitals, physicians and other providers to work together to find the most effective—and money-saving—approach. Rather than paying out on a per-
many savings immediately.” Supporters say the reforms are in part a way to protect low-income patients, who have less political clout than other constituencies that get big chunks of the state budget: education and public safety. State Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Southwest Portland), who co-chairs the House Healthcare Committee and supports Kitzhaber’s plan, says doctors will have to give up some of their revenue. Last year, state figures show, nine out of 14 MCOs in Oregon made money. “They want to keep the position they have,” Greenlick says. “They are doing quite well today. If they don’t control the budget, that’s going to be different.” One of Kitzhaber’s long-term goals is to bring tens of thousands of public employees into the system he’s designed. That prospect could mean large savings for government agencies, but it’s already a concern for public employees accustomed to Cadillac healthcare plans. “We are really nervous about the quality of care the CCOs will provide,” says Arthur Towers, who represents
“[DOCTORS] WANT TO KEEP THE POSITION THEY HAVE. THEY ARE DOING QUITE WELL TODAY.” —STATE REP. MIKE GREENLICK patient basis, the state will put CCOs on a budget and leave it to them find the best mix of services for each patient. Kitzhaber’s reforms will attempt to link payments to outcomes, rewarding the CCOs that are best at practicing preventive medicine, educating patients and reducing unnecessary procedures and medications. Physicians fear they will be penalized for medical outcomes and costs they can’t control. Paul Phillips, a lobbyist and former state senator who runs the Doctors for Healthy Communities PAC, says finding $239 million in efficiencies next year will be difficult. “We already have the best system in the nation, bar none,” Phillips says. “I am skeptical that you can get that
50,000 Service Employees International Union workers in Oregon, including 20,000 who depend on Medicaid. There’s some irony for the doctors: Kitzhaber, himself a physician, championed the Oregon Health Plan with the support of doctors who saw the possibility of higher Medicaid payments. Now they find themselves defending a system that Kitzhaber and many others say isn’t working. Heatherington says many doctors, faced with bearing cuts, may stop taking Medicaid patients. “The piece about less money has a lot to do with the question of whether there is enough money in the first place,” he says. “If we reduce payments, physicians will walk.” Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
7
NEWS
INTERVIEW
OCCUPY THE LAW
FIRST AMENDMENT EXPERTS TALK PROTEST TACTICS AND FREE SPEECH. BY CO R E Y P E I N
cpein@wweek.com
Occupy Portland has commanded media attention by camping in two city parks for 39 days, staging marches downtown and, last week, taking their protest inside local bank branches. Both the U.S. and Oregon constitutions guarantee freedom of speech and assembly, but city leaders and other critics call some of the movement’s tactics illegal. WW asked three local constitutional law experts whether Occupy Portland has a stronger legal standing than the city. NO: Jim Huffman
MAYBE: Steven M. Wilker
NO: JIM HUFFMAN, DEAN EMERITUS OF LEWIS & CLARK LAW SCHOOL, WAS A 2010 REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE.
MAYBE: STEVEN M. WILKER, A PARTNER AT TONKON TORP LLP, IS THE ACLU OF OREGON’S VICE PRESIDENT OF LITIGATION.
WW: Do protesters have a right to camp in a park? Huffman: I don’t believe they do. The law is pretty clear: You can limit speech with respect to time, place and manner. The Oregon Supreme Court could take a different read and conclude the only way they could convey their message effectively is to camp in the park. But I don’t see how camping in the park relates to the issues they have.
WW: What precedents does the law provide for restricting speech? Wilker: You can’t say it violates the constitution to prosecute me for fraud because it involves speech. If a law or an ordinance is directed at speech, it is unconstitutional except in the most exceptional circumstances. But if legislation is directed at non-speech conduct, such as blocking sidewalks, blocking streets, health and safety, the analytical framework is, “Does it burden speech more than is necessary?”
Couldn’t the homeless campers make that argument? I think so. I guess their message is, “This is our only option, we’re homeless anyway.” They have a more persuasive case than the middle-class individuals who think wealth distribution is unfair. From day one, [Occupy Portland’s] camping in the park was not an exercise of First Amendment rights. They were doing that at the good graces of the mayor. Did the city put itself in a bind by not immediately enforcing the camping ban at Lownsdale and Chapman squares? If there’s anybody I’ve been offended by, it’s the mayor and the failure of the city to enforce the ordinance. [The decision] was content-related. The mayor was so forthcoming in his agreement with their position. The tea party and lots of other groups have jumped through hoops, applied for the permits, and then done their rallies or whatever they wanted to do.
Does the same reasoning apply to assembly? Maybe. In federal case law, it’s pretty clear that camping bans have been upheld. We [may not] have an entirely clear answer under Oregon law. The city says we have a ban on camping for health and safety reasons. The protest movements say, “But camping is an essential element of our protests.” This isn’t burning draft cards. This is sleeping. YES: STU SUGARMAN IS A CRIMINAL LAWYER WHO JOINED OCCUPY PORTLAND AND LEADS THE DEFENSE OF ARRESTED PROTESTERS. WW: You would argue the anti-camping ordinance is unconstitutional? Sugarman: Other courts have recognized that occupations are constitutionally protected. I do believe that the
YES: Stu Sugarman
occupation itself is speech. In United States v. Abney—a federal case—the court in that case decided that sleeping in a park was sufficiently expressive in nature to indicate First Amendment expression. If the city can’t support the allegations that it has been forwarding through the media, that the camp [was] not clean, we would have [had] an excellent chance of remaining in the camp. They would have the burden of showing a health and safety problem. You suspect cities coordinated Occupation crackdowns to save the Christmas shopping season. If true, would that even matter legally? It could because the court would say, “What’s the city’s interest?” If the city’s interest is political, that’s not going to impress a court the way health and safety will. Could civil disobedience be a mitigating factor? The “necessity defense” has been used in political protests successfully. A group called the Seriously Pissed Off Grannies put water-soluble paint on a [military] recruiting center. They were arrested and tried, and the court allowed the necessity defense, saying we were stopping the greater harm of killing our youth for a senseless war. The jury loved these women. The foreman criticized the D.A.’s office for prosecuting them. Can you defend occupying banks on free-speech grounds? Is the Bank of America branch a public forum? It’s a hard argument to make. Shopping malls are. Fred Meyer used to be. It’d have to be more of a public forum than Fred Meyer. It’d have to be one heck of a bank branch.
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MARKET OF NO CHOICE PDC LOOKS AT A NEW, HIGH-END GROCERY DOWNTOWN, FAR FROM WHERE THE CITY NEEDS ONE MOST. BY HANNAH HOFFMAN
hhoffman@wweek.com
More than 17,500 people in Portland don’t have easy access to supermarkets or fullservice grocery stores—a problem city officials say they want to fix. Many of their neighborhoods are in North and East Portland. Some—Lents, for example—are in urban-renewal areas, where the Portland Development Commission could help subsidize new stores. PDC officials say they’re working to bring grocery retailers to those areas. But records show PDC’s most recent focus is on a new store far from the city’s areas of greatest need. PDC has just released a study that calls for a new high-end grocery store near Portland State University—11 blocks from the Museum Place Safeway, built with public subsidies less than a decade ago.
The study didn’t consider sites in any of the city’s “food deserts,” defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as concentrations of low-income residents living a mile or more from a large grocery store. It instead looked at the PSU site, two at South Waterfront, one at Southeast 10th Avenue and Belmont Street. PDC spokeswoman Anne Mangan says her agency paid for the $18,700 study because it had heard from downtown residents unhappy with their choice of grocery stores. “Consumer demand, community demand—that’s what prompted the analysis,” she says. Nick Christensen, president of the Lents Neighborhood Association, says he’s frustrated the PDC hasn’t shown more progress in helping on food access issues outside of downtown. “The folks of Lents and the folks of East Portland want to have the same opportunities as the rest of the city,” he says. “It’s frustrating to see more and more resources going into already developed areas.” John Jackley, PDC’s director of business and social equity, says the city—despite doing the study—has no plans to help build a grocery store near PSU. Jackley says PDC is trying to help other parts of the city: Earlier this year, the agency invited grocery retailers to propose projects in underserved areas. Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Barbur World Foods and a variety of others responded in May.
W W P H OTO I L L U S T R AT I O N
NEWS
PDC officials are still talking to the companies. Jackley says PDC officials have no specific sites in mind, nor plans or deadlines to help build grocery stores in underserved areas, but the agency could announce specifics soon. “This is an opportunity to address a really pressing human need,” he says. Meanwhile, records show, the recent PDC study calls for a new grocery store at Southwest 4th Avenue and Harrison Street, where the city owns property. Seattle consulting firm Marketek Inc. found the demo-
graphics ideal for a New Seasons or Market of Choice. A Walmart, the study says, wasn’t “a top choice or match for the highly educated population base.” David McIntyre, vice chairman of the Portland Multnomah Food Policy Council, a citizens’ advisory board, says he didn’t know PDC was studying a new grocery downtown. He says he’s glad PDC says it’s concerned about other parts of the city. When it comes to access to food, McIntyre, says, “This is an issue everywhere, but Portland can be a bit segregated.”
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POLITICAL ANIMALS A FIELD GUIDE TO THE SIX GROUPS THAT WILL CHOOSE THE NEXT MAYOR. BY NIGEL J A QUISS, ILLUSTR ATIONS B Y STAC EY R OZ ICH
A
n L-shaped, linoleum-floored, union hall basement at Southeast 32nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard provided the perfect stage last week to show how power in Portland works. It was there that the Northwest Labor Council, an umbrella group for city unions, on Nov. 15 hosted the first mayoral candidate forum in the 2012 campaign. In a revealing moment, Eileen Brady, who styles herself as the bikecommuting sustainable business candidate, told the trade-union audience exactly what their members wanted to hear. “I am very supportive of the Columbia River Crossing project,” Brady said. “We are going to take the opportunity—you guys, we cannot miss this opportunity—we have a public works project the likes of what we may not see for a decade. We need to move forward on it.” Only a couple of months earlier, Brady expressed a very different view of the CRC, a proposed $3.5 billion freeway project between Portland and Vancouver that critics deride as unnecessary and unaffordable. “This project will not go forward in its current form,” Brady told WW in August. “I don’t see the business plan that works.” (Brady says she had not fully studied the issue when she spoke to WW.) Candidates tailor their messages for specific audiences all the time. But Brady’s wavering is an example of how difficult it can be for a politician in Portland to put together a winning coalition. “Running for office in Portland is a really difficult balancing act,” says Mike Lindberg, a former four-term city commissioner. “What you say to one group may kill you with another. And the level of civic engagement is so high that people in all the different groups are really knowledgeable.” Candidates can’t appear too business-friendly (and alienate unions and progressives) or not sustainable enough (fatal to any Portland candidate). CONT. on page 14
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
13
POLITICAL ANIMALS cont.
Fig. 1 Organized Labor
They must be liberal enough to attract the three-quarters of major party voters who are Democrats. They must be green but frugal. They’ll need to court unions without enraging big business. And they need to support education without making impossible promises—such as Adams’ 2008 campaign pledge to slash the dropout rate—when the mayor has no authority over the school district. The influence of these groups is greater than it has been in decades. Mayor Sam Adams won’t seek a second term and the City Council’s real power, Commissioner Randy Leonard, is also leaving office after next year. The last epic battle for the mayor’s job came in 1992, when Vera Katz whipped Earl Blumenauer. But you’d have to go much further back to find a more competitive field of candidates than Brady, former City Commissioner Charlie Hales and state Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland). Police Chief Mike Reese, who strongly considered a campaign, announced Nov. 21 that he won’t run after all. Voters have reason to be cranky. Unemployment is high (about 9 percent), storefronts are empty and the city seems adrift. In May, normally tax-loving Portlanders spiked a $548 million school-bond measure. Remarkably, though, a Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall poll conducted for the Portland Business Alliance in early October found 43 percent of respondents said the city is headed in the right direction. That’s nearly three times the rate of satisfaction found in a national Rasmussen poll
taken the same week. Even with the election a year off, the city’s most powerful groups have already begun using their clout to shape the choices voters will have in 2012. What follows is WW’s field guide to the election. When candidates say they know what’s really important to the future of our city, who, exactly, are they trying to convince?
ORGANIZED LABOR
You’ll hear candidates use the terms “living wage” and “revenue,” and when you do, know they are talking about union jobs and making sure the city can pay for them. In a town run by liberals, union support is a big prize. Getting that support means talking up concerns about what union members worry about most: compensation, pensions and keeping their jobs. “Job security is the top concern right now,” says Rob Wheaton of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees Local 189, which represents about 900 City of Portland employees. In turn, labor unions offer candidates two things: money and volunteers. In 2008, organized labor was Adams’ second-biggest funder, with AFSCME and the Service Employees International Union giving him a combined $26,000. The police and firefighters unions give less but sometimes matter more. Each union CONT. on page 17
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cont. POLITICAL has a hero complex—protecting the safety and property of citizens. It’s easier to figure out who labor does not like than who it does. As a city commissioner from 1993 to 2002, Hales aimed at saving money by taking on outdated fire bureau policies; he made lifelong enemies out of fire union leaders. Brady, 50, also has a union problem. New Seasons Market, the 12-store grocery chain she and her husband helped found in 1999, is nonunion. And she was invisible on Measures 66 and 67, income-tax increases approved by voters after heavy supportive spending by public-employee unions. Union power has already influenced the race in meaningful ways. A union-funded poll in August helped convince Adams he could not win re-election. And a union drumbeat for a more progressive candidate enticed Smith, with a strong pro-labor voting record in Salem, into the race long after Hales and Brady announced their candidacies. Public-employee union members at local schools, Multnomah County, Portland State University, OHSU and state agencies and union retirees will all pay attention to what the city unions decide. And here’s a connection that can make a big difference: The Oregon AFL-CIO is run by former Portland fire union boss Tom Chamberlain, who can leverage a lot of other labor support.
THE POWER LUNCHERS
The Portland Business Alliance fancies itself as the center of Portland’s corporate power.
Its 1,400 members include utilities, banks and big law firms, and land-rich families like the Goodmans, whose parking empire owns 25 downtown blocks. The PBA also includes retailers like Macy’s. PBA leaders lunch at the Heathman Hotel and exercise at the Multnomah Athletic Club. They still wear ties and enjoy corner-office views of Mount Hood. The PBA wants Occupy Portland and gutter punks off the streets so Lake Oswegans and Camas tax exiles feel comfortable in the city center. When you hear candidates talk about lower business taxes and less red tape at City Hall, they’re wooing the PBA. Still, the PBA’s interests don’t fit with those of most voters: “Conditions in downtown Portland” ranked seventh out of eight concerns among city residents, according to a poll the business group financed in October. The PBA’s sense of power is greater than its actual clout, and its anointed candidates rarely win. “What hurt me in the mayor race [was] the perception that I was beholden to big business,” says former City Commissioner Jim Francesconi, who was widely favored to win the 2004 mayor’s race but lost to Tom Potter, who had far less money and no support from big business. “That’s why you see campaigns emphasizing that they are running ‘grassroots campaigns.’ Candidates want to label themselves progressive before they reach out to business for support.”
ANIMALS
Fig. 2 The Power Lunchers
CONT. on page 19
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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cont. POLITICAL In 2006, the PBA recruited State Sen. Ginny Burdick (D -Southwest Portland) to challenge then-commissioner Erik Sten. Like Francesconi, she got clobbered. For some PBA members, the Columbia River Crossing is a litmus test. It’s an example of how agendas of two otherwise different groups—labor and business— overlap. Brady has been on both sides of the bridge issue. Hales says he favors a new bridge but says the current project will not get funded. Smith, whose corporate law career was almost as brief as Reese’s candidacy, founded the Bus Project, which has sometimes overpromised its ability to engage young voters. Smith has no shot at PBA support, in any case, because he opposes the CRC, cutting taxes and relaxing environmental restrictions on the Willamette. Earlier this month, the PBA delayed its endorsement process to seek another candidate. Some of its leaders thought they had found one in Reese. The fact that Reese, 54, considered a run is directly connected to backstage maneuvering by PBA leaders; the organization financed the October poll that showed the race was wide open, and PBA leaders nudged the chief to run. Reese came out of the Occupy Portland showdown in Lownsdale and Chapman squares with strong marks for taking command and influencing the city’s message. But he stumbled badly elsewhere. He misled The Oregonian twice when the newspaper asked him about the mayor’s race before and
after WW broke the story of his potential candidacy Nov. 1. And on Nov. 17, as Occupy protests heated up around the city, Reese told two TV stations police efforts to deal with the movement meant they had to leave a rape victim waiting for three hours before they could help her. That wasn’t true—and the bureau had to retreat from the chief ’s statement. Reese apologized Nov. 19. He announced two days later that he wouldn’t run.
THE KREMLIN
In 1990, political consultants Liz Kaufman and Rys Scholes were working for Barbara Roberts, a Democrat running for governor against the better-financed Republican, Dave Frohnmayer. Roberts’ team was squeezing votes out of inner Portland, mostly on the east side. It’s a swath of the city known for its hard-left orientation—so far left that Kaufman and Scholes started calling it “the Kremlin.” “We used it to describe inner-Portland voters (not just the east side) who are left-leaning, and who form a critical mass for swinging some elections—if they are effectively worked,” Kaufman recalls. With gentrification, the Kremlin has grown; it now stretches from North Fremont Street all the way to Southeast Tacoma Street in Sellwood, and as far east as 55th Avenue. It’s home to the school-funding warriors,
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ANIMALS
CONT. on page 21
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Sant Baljit Singh, the spiritual Master, teaches the meditation on the inner Light and Sound to anyone who is searching for a deeper meaning in life.
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cont. POLITICAL Prius-driving, bicycle-riding, OPB-loving, never-miss-an-election voters who own $500,000 old Portland homes but love sticking it to The Man. The Kremlin’s unifying issue has been public schools. That’s why kids edge out bicycle helmets as the prop of choice in campaign literature. After the economy, two of the top issues for Portlanders in the PBA poll were “ensuring equal rights for all Portlanders” and “having a sustainable environment in the city.” In other words, even these bleak economic times have not changed liberal Portland’s outlook. Groups such as the National Abortion and Reproductive Action League, Planned Parenthood and Basic Rights Oregon are big in the Kremlin and will help guide the district’s mayoral choice. “You are talking about people who generally vote for ballot measures and are really wellinformed,” says former City Commissioner Lindberg, “They are probably pro- Occupy Portland, and an extremely high percentage of them vote.” What the Kremlin voter wants is the most progressive candidate in just about any race. In 2008, Steve Novick lost to then-Rep. Jeff Merkley (D-East Portland) in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. But Novick’s appeal to the Kremlin meant he beat Merkley by 13 percentage points in Portland, even though Novick had never run for office before and Merkley was House Speaker. The voters helped Potter beat Francesconi in the 2004 mayor’s race and Sam Adams
ANIMALS
when he defeated Sho Dozono in 2008. In a city race between any two credible candidates, the more liberal of the two almost always wins. Hales might have trouble with these voters. He avoided Oregon taxes on his lucrative salary from HDR Inc., a streetcar development company, by claiming Washington state as his residency for four years—this while voting in Oregon and keeping a Portland home. Brady’s New Seasons connections are appealing to the Kremlin, where she’ll compete mostly with Smith. He grew up in the Irvington neighborhood—the epicenter of the Kremlin—and racked up a pretty liberal voting record in two Salem sessions.
THE SUSTAINABILITISTAS AND THE RAIL MAFIA
When you hear candidates talking about bikes and bioswales, they’re trying to sway voters who identify with the city’s sustainability movement. Brady has hit this message hard, branding herself with her ties to New Seasons, Ecotrust (where she used to work) and Chinook Book (she’s on the board). Her flip-flop on the CRC ceded turf to Smith. Evan Manvel, a longtime environmental advocate and CRC critic, says in a race where the candidates mostly agree, the CRC offers a point of distinction. “The CRC will be a larger issue in the race than people initially thought because there
Fig. 4 The Sustainabilitistas and the Rail Mafia
CONT. on page 23
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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cont. POLITICAL are clear differences between the candidates on it,” Manvel says. But streetcar and light-rail extensions and sustainable development also have powerful backers. No candidate code words speak more clearly to a specific constituency than “multimodal transportation.” The words might sound like geeky jargon— and they are—but to Portland’s sustainability and rail mafia, they are like the password to an exclusive club. The planning and sustainability crowd wants Portlanders out of cars and on buses, trains, trolleys, trams and bikes—hence multimodal. Members of this tribe, led by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland), favor designer eyewear and have advanced degrees in planning, architecture and public administration. The capos in the movement feature prominently on Hales’ list of contributors. Hales was the driving force behind Portland’s streetcar, and he quit office in 2002 to work for HDR. An early sign that Adams’ mayoral career was ending came June 21, when Stacy and Witbeck, the California contractor that built the city’s light-rail and streetcar systems, gave Hales $25,000. Pearl District developers followed: Al Solheim ($10,000), Williams/Dame ($5,000) and John Carroll ($5,000). The distinction between the PBA crowd and the transit-oriented developers who are solidly behind Hales, 55, is an important one: The latter group, which has built up the Pearl District and South Waterfront, depends heav-
ANIMALS
ily on city money and helps make Portland’s projects work. “It’s clear that Charlie appeals to the new urbanists and planners who are behind the transportation and land-use principles that make Portland Portland,” Francesconi says.
THE RED AND THE GRAY
Yes, Portland, there are conservatives here. It’s true Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-to1. But conservatives have seethed as Adams’ administration lavished money on bikes, streetcars, a soccer stadium and plans for the Oregon Sustainability Center, while jacking up water and sewer rates sky-high. Conservatives are angry and motivated—a prize ready for the taking. When you hear candidates talk about “getting back to the basics” and “ending pet projects,” they’re pitching to fiscal conservatives and seniors. Older Portlanders may not drink, have nightly sex, or play kickball as often as younger residents, but they are much more likely to be conservative and vote. That is their power. Fewer than one in 10 Oregonians under 40 voted in last year’s primary election. More than half of those 61 and older filled out a ballot. That means whoever appeals most to older voters is likely to survive the primary. Portland pollster Mike Riley surveyed the Portland Water Bureau’s spending this year. “We saw the level of discontent with the
Fig. 5 The Red and the Gray
CONT. on page 25
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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cont. POLITICAL Water Bureau is correlated to age,” Riley says. “Many seniors are on fixed incomes, and so a significant increase in utility costs really hurts them. And they vote.” Look for at least one candidate—probably Hales, a former Republican—to hit GOPers with a stealth mailer and to secure a last-minute endorsement from Vic Atiyeh, Oregon’s last Republican governor. Hales, Brady and Smith have all been angling for the east-of-Interstate-205 vote (“The Other Portland,” Oct. 12, 2011), where resentment of City Hall is most pronounced. In 2008, Adams lost every East Portland precinct, some by crushing margins. Smith lives in outer Northeast Portland, where voters know him from his two Oregon House victories—even if he’s a carpetbagger from Irvington.
Liberally, a gathering for young Democrats; or trotting out the city musical-political elite, Pink Martini and Storm Large. But young voters are like doughnuts—really attractive yet ultimately insubstantial. “Unfortunately, young people just have less ability to influence the outcome of the mayor’s race because they don’t vote as frequently,” Francesconi says. Getting young voters involved is a big challenge, especially in a primary election. When they register, they don’t like to join a party and often vote once—because they’ve been harassed into it by a get-out-the vote campaign—and then fade. Smith should have a big advantage with the under-40 crowd (at 38, he is one of them). But he faces a challenge getting enough of them engaged by the May primary to matter.
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
THE REST OF US
Like most big cities, Portland’s population is disproportionately young. But what makes Portland different from rust buckets such as Cleveland or Omaha is that underemployed youngsters flock here, lured by food carts, good beer and cheap living. Demographers call them the “young and the restless” and the “creative class.” They’re in line at Stumptown right now. They can afford tattoos but not haircuts, wear thriftstore threads and cover their MacBook Airs with ironic stickers. Candidates appeal to them by riding bikes; showing up at the local chapter of Drinking
Business in the Front...
No candidate for mayor is ever going to say that any group, no matter how powerful, is more important than you are. But in each candidate’s words, voters will see coded messages designed to send signals that resonate with the greatest number of voters. In a city as satisfied with itself as Portland, that’s a tricky equation and one that will probably take the six months between now and the primary to decode. “The candidates are still trying to figure out what their messages are,” Riley says. “They are trying to identify areas where people recognize the need for change.”
ANIMALS
Fig. 6 The Young and the Restless
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Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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FOOD: Sugar Mamas. MUSIC: P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. profile. BOOKS: Oil and Water. MOVIES: Muppet madness.
30 33 44 45
SCOOP CHUCK ZLOTNICK
GOSSIP GOBBLING DOWN TOFURDUCKEN. FUNDING JAMES FRANCO: We’re big fans of “crowdfunding” website Kickstarter, which allows people to follow through on brilliant and/or stupid project ideas through cash pledges from generous ’netters. This may be our favorite: Portland-based Social Malpractice Publishing and Container Corps Art Press have successfully raised $2,000 to publish a book called Fucking James Franco: “a collection of erotic fiction that describes hypothetical sexual encounters with the greatest American actor, writer, and visual artist of all time.” Although the project has met its funding goal, it is still taking pledges: $10 will score you a copy of Fucking James Franco; $25 will also get you a screenprinted mirror poster of James Franco “making out with himself.”
PORTLANDIA LIVE: You may already know that Portlandia will stage a six-city tour featuring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein talking, clips from the second season, and some sort of live musical component that will show how much better SNL castmate Andy Samberg is at the music thing. Stumptown itself gets the first show, Dec. 27. Speaking of.... Were Walter Winchell still alive, we think he’d want to know if Carrie and Fred are dating, or did date, or what. He’s dead, and Scoop is far too serious a journalistic enterprise to indulge such triviality, so that question will just go unasked. THE NEW BLACK: Interested in marking Black Friday without joining an anarchist-planned, shopping-mall protest or wearing stained sweatpants to Best Buy? Local stores—90 of ’em—are banding together for “Little Boxes,” which is basically just a big raffle for prizes like an iPad, but seems like a nice middle ground between attempting to bring consumerism to its knees or pushing someone down on a mad dash for the last Lalaloopsy doll. 28
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SCOTT GREEN/IFC
NOW OPEN: Tanuki, Janis Martin’s Japanese bar, reopens in Montavilla this week, and will be open on Thanksgiving. >> Mi Mero Mole, Kenny & Zuke’s co-founder and occasional WW contributor Nick Zukin’s new Mexico City-style taco joint, opens next week. >> Yet another craft distillery is coming to town! Industrial Row Distillery has applied for a license at 645 N Tillamook St. >> Now here’s a business name: Sweatpants Corporation, the business identity of Nostrana sous chef Johanna Ware, has applied to open Smallwares, an Asian restaurant and bar open until 2 am nightly, in the space at 4605 NE Fremont St. that last housed Doc George’s Jazz Kitchen. >> Two real-estate agents, Darcy Perry and Melissa Steenson, have applied to open a wine bar and specialty-foods store called Bin 21 at 5011 NE 21st Ave., around the corner from Salt & Straw ice cream shop. >> Emily’s Teriyaki & Pho, which recently applied for a space on North Columbia Boulevard, is now applying to open in the former La Salsa Mexican Grill at 6036 SE Division St.
HEADOUT SANTIAGO UCEDA
WILLAMETTE WEEK
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK IN ARTS & CULTURE
WEDNESDAY NOV. 23 THE MUPPETS [MOVIES] It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights. It’s time to watch Jason Segel restore Jim Henson’s legacy...maybe. Our own Statler and Waldorf, Aaron Mesh and AP Kryza, heckle on page 33. Locations include Roseway Theater, 7229 NE Sandy Blvd., 282-2898.
THURSDAY NOV. 24 PROST!’S FREE THANKSGIVING DINNER [FOOD] Yup, you read that right: Mississippi Avenue German pub Prost! is serving up Thanksgiving dinner for the low, low price of zero dollars. There will be 100 pounds of roasted and smoked turkey, along with mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce on a firstcome, first-served basis. Diners are encouraged to BYO sides, and I’d encourage you to BYO person who would enjoy a warm meal and good company. Prost!, 4237 N Mississippi Ave., 954-2674, prostportland.com. 6 pm-2:30 am. Free.
FRIDAY NOV. 25 PORTLAND BAROQUE ORCHESTRA [MUSIC] Strings are the thing at this concert, which stars Dutch cellist and viola da gamba master Jaap ter Linden playing music by Luigi Boccherini, J.S. Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann. First Baptist Church, 909 SW 11th Ave., 205-0715, pbo.org. 7:30 pm. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 25-26. $18-$61.
SATURDAY NOV. 26 PORTLAND MEN’S ROLLER DERBY [SPORTS] Yeah, dudes do roller derby now, too. No one knows why. Go heckle these guys in their match against the Puget Sound Outcasts and maybe they’ll stop. Indoor Goals Sports Arena, 16340 NW Bethany Court, Beaverton, stumptownderby. com. 6:30 pm.
The Last Waltz—The Band’s farewell concert that Martin Scorsese turned into an acclaimed rockumentary— turns 35 this week. To mark the anniversary, 50 Portland musicians pay tribute by re-enacting the music and drama of that memorable Thanksgiving night. We asked the brains behind the project, Jeff Rosenberg (who, in the interest of full disclosure, freelances for WW), how he matched locals with their roles. EMILEE BOOHER.
Holcombe Waller with Susan Harris for Neil Young’s “Helpless” “I told Holcombe the cocaine booger was optional for the Neil Young number. Holcombe has one of the most exquisite voices in Portland. It’s such a beautiful, keening ballad that will suit his voice so well.”
Michael Dean Damron for Adam East for Neil DiaMuddy Waters’ “Caldonia” mond’s “Dry Your Eyes” “Mike is an amazingly powerful performer and personality, and I am just so delighted to give the man a song to sing where he’s not seething with rage.”
“Adam East is not averse to performing in a sport coat and sunglasses. It’s a really interesting Neil Diamond song because it’s sort of part sincere folk-rock and part Neil Diamond. Adam has both of those. He’s a little bit schmaltz and a little bit rock and roll.”
Eric Schweiterman for Jeff Rosenberg for Van Ronnie Hawkins’ “Who Do Morrison’s “Caravan” You Love” “I haven’t been known as a “He’s a big ol’ guy with a big voice and a big hat. The dude played football for Purdue, for God’s sake.”
performer so much in the last five years, so there are some people who haven’t seen me onstage. Boy, are they going to see me this time. Somebody had to put on the polyester jumpsuit and get ready to do the high kicks. I’m hoping the pants will remain intact.”
SEE IT: The Next Waltz is at the Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 719-6055. 8 pm Saturday, Nov. 26. $17 advance, $20 day of show. Minors allowed with parent or guardian. Proceeds go to the Jeremy Wilson Foundation and the Oregon Food Bank.
THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN [MOVIES] It will never be possible to relax and enjoy Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent classic— dialectical montage is the original “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention”—and, yeah, you’ll probably spend the majority of the film waiting for the Odessa Steps sequence. But for all its pushiness, Potemkin has the power to rouse (look at good ol’ Vakulinchuk, still keepin’ it real for all us sinners). NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave., 221-1156. 7:30 pm Saturday and 4:30 pm Sunday, Nov. 26-27. $6-$9.
TUESDAY NOV. 29 PTERODACTYL [MUSIC] Many a band has tried and failed in meshing the Beach Boys with ’90s-era Sonic Youth. Brooklyn’s Pterodactyl succeeds. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+. Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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FOOD & DRINK = WW Pick. Highly recommended. By RUTH BROWN. PRICES: $: Most entrees under $10. $$: $10-$20. $$$: $20$30. $$$$: Above $30. Editor: MARTIN CIZMAR. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
Wednesday, November 23rd Jay Koder and the Soulmates Blues, R&B, Soul 8 pm
THURSDAY, NOV. 24
Friday, November 25th David Friesen Trio Cool Jazz 8 pm
Peruvian Thanksgiving at Andina
Although Thanksgiving is not actually celebrated in Peru, be thankful that it is at Portland Peruvian restaurant Andina. It will be offering a three-course, fixed-price menu featuring many of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, alongside more seasonally inspired fare like “heritage turkey, dusted with a tres ajies rub and slow-roasted, served with quinoa-hazelnut stuffing, mâche salad,
Saturday, November 26th Anandi Jazz, Soul, Rock 8 pm Sunday, November 27th Art Marauders Quartet 5 pm
caramelized Uncle David’s Dakota squash and elderberry gravy.” Clearly, tradition is overrated. Happy Peruvian Thanksgiving, everyone! Andina, 1314 NW Glisan St., 2289535. 1-9:30 pm. $50 adults, $25 children ages 5-11.
Prost!’s Free Thanksgiving Dinner
Yup, you read that right: Mississippi Avenue German pub Prost! is serving up Thanksgiving dinner for the low, low price of zero dollars. There’ll be 100 pounds of roasted and smoked turkey, along with
N ATA L I E B E H R I N G . C O M
DEVOUR
Heretic Opera: Valentine 7 pm
NEW YEARS EVE PARTY ~ 2 BANDS ~ Zenda Torrey Band 7:30 pm Sultans of Slide 10pm-1am
Make Your Reservation Now!
Vie de Bohème 1530 SE 7th Ave. at Clay 503-360-1233 www.viedebohemepdx.com
BUCKMAN BREWERY Through the north doors of the cavernous brewery/warehouse/ meeting room that is the Green Dragon, you will find a patio. There you will find a Quonset hut. And in front of this Quonset hut, you will find a row of taps belonging to Buckman Brewery. (Also variably known as “Buckman Brewing,” “Buckman Village Brewing” and “Buckman Botanical Brewery.”) Opened in 2010 by John Couchot, a distiller for Rogue Ales, Buckman is now helmed by Florida native Todd Beach and makes use of the labyrinth of shared equipment—other users of the space include Integrity and Sub Rosa spirits—on view behind the Green Dragon Order this: Green Dragon’s $3 happy-hour snacks. (Try the taps. The gimmick is hoplessness, cone of Belgian-style fries.) as in leaving out hops, the typical bittering agent in beers, and replacing them with other plants. On our visit, all the Buckman brews ($4.75) were indeed of a botanical bent—ginger, “chamomellow,” dark hemp and a black saison, with a jasmine green-tea mead for $5. The dark hemp was pleasantly toasty with a hint of porterlike malt, and the ginger struck just the right notes of crisp, sweet and zingy. Bring a growler to your next party and you might just forget it’s November. KAT MERCK.
Breakfast at Henry’s A Sumptuous Sunday Buffet!
GO: The brewery sometimes known as Buckman is at 909 SE Yamhill St., inside the Green Dragon. 517-0660, buckmanbrewery.com.
DRANK
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Step up to the spread and enjoy a leisurely feast. A tour de force of American classics and gourmet specialties. 12th & W. Burnside • 503-227-5320 • henrystavern.com 30
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
DENVER BON
ADAM FROM THE WOOD (HAIR OF THE DOG) Cracking open Hair of the Dog’s Adam From the Wood two days after buying it is a cheerless task. This bottle-conditioned ale, produced in small batches and aged in bourbon barrels, will grow far better with time. Safe to say, few people who lined up at 5 am on a recent Saturday to haul home $15 bottles by the case plan on popping them without some cellaring. The wizened among us might give Adam a few years to develop. Still, Adam is solid out of the gate, with big, ripe plums and a rich, soft and dark woodiness. There wasn’t much carbonation—more should develop with time—but mellow, roasty malts make the unfizzy version satisfyingly smooth. This is a beer worthy of a snifter, a crackling fire and some patience. Recommended. MARTIN CIZMAR.
mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce served on a first-come, first-serve basis. Diners are encouraged to BYO sides, and I’d encourage you to BYO person who would enjoy a warm meal and good company. Prost!, 4237 N Mississippi Ave., 954-2674. 6 pm-2:30 am. Free.
FRIDAY, NOV. 25 Diwali at East India Co.
East India Co. celebrates Diwali, aka the Indian Festival of Lights, with a special dinner tasting menu, including malai kofta, biryani, chicken mughlai and kulfi ice cream. “We are honoring the tradition with a tasting menu featuring some authentic Indian dishes,” reads the press release. Wait, what does it serve the rest of the time? East India Co., 821
SW 11th Ave., 227-8815. 5-9:30 pm Friday-Tuesday, Nov. 25-29. $22.
Hip Chicks do Wine Thanksgiving Weekend Wine Tasting
Toast Thanksgiving at winery Hip Chicks Do Wines’ Portland tasting room. Said hip chicks will be sampling every single wine they make, along with guest winery Tiernan Connor Cellars. There will be appetizers and live music, and admission includes a free wine glass. Hip Chicks Do Wine, 4510 SE 23rd Ave., 2343790. 11 am-9pm Friday-Saturday and 11 am-6 pm Sunday, Nov. 25-27. $15.
TUESDAY, NOV. 29 Dishcrawl’s Sandwich Showdown
that Dishcrawl—a California-based company that takes diners on mystery eating tours of local restaurants—would be a success in Portland, where most of the populace is already seriously clued in to the city’s best bites. But I’m willing to eat my words: Dishcrawl’s previous events appear to have been popular, well-attended and good fun. The next crawl will be a “Sandwich Showdown” in Nob Hill, taking diners to three secret sandwich joints (as a neighborhood resident, I’ll bet one is Kenny & Zuke’s SandwichWorks and another is the new banh mi cafe, Lela’s Bistro, but clearly I’ve been wrong before). There’s also “a sneak peak of an upcoming scoop shop.” What? I didn’t even know about this. 7 pm. $26 at dishcrawl. com/dishcrawl/139.
LIVE MUSIC FULL BAR FOOD FUN
Fernando • 9 PM
BY K E L LY C L A R K E
243-2122
Sugar Mamas is not going to win any beauty contests. A parade of sadness twitches past the tiny downtown cafe’s windows on the way to the nearby drug treatment center. The walls are a sickly olive green, and its checkerboard linoleum floor is worn. There are only six tables, and a squirrelly-eyed old man with a Rick Rubin beard is camped out in one of them. Every other available surface is packed with plastic crates and boxes, shelves groaning with decorative cake stands, mismatched plates and flower vases. It looks…sticky. Looks aren’t everything. Sugar Mamas, run by sisters Zelda Nelson and Michelle Schmitt, is also one of the most genuine and friendly spots in town, serving mountains of great, cheap diner grub and baked-from-scratch goodies fortified with artery-clogging love. The Mamas started LIKE MAMA MAKES: renting the space three years ago as a hub for Sugar Mamas’ grub is sticky and sweet. their shortbread cookie business. “It kind of most days. Nelson’s daughter Emma Cooke, mushroomed from there,” Nelson says. Flaky biscuits are served with creamy, almost a big, blowsy woman who will make sure you sweet sausage gravy ($4.50), and mellow pulled- order a maple bacon roll on Cinnamon Roll Fripork hash is tossed with yams and crisp apples day even if you didn’t know you wanted one, also ($8.50). The spicy housemade pork, turkey and works there. So do members of their extended, beef meatloaf, so juicy it almost falls apart at a adopted family, including a kindly older gent partial to frosted lipstick and fork’s touch, is served with pink bandanas. (“We’re more eggs or slapped between two Order this: Tart blueberry pancakes, like strays they’ve taken in,” slices of bread or inside a meatloaf-stuffed hash browns. jokes one server.) burrito with salsa, grilled as a Best deal: Cinnamon or maple bacon Those cinnamon rolls ($3) panino or, best yet, wrapped roll ($3). pass: A choose-your-own mug are indeed only available with sautéed onions in a huge I’ll station improves the ho-hum Mt. Hood Friday, and sometimes sell blanket of fresh Yukon gold Roasters coffee—I got to drink from a out by noon. The sisters wake hash browns, topped with sour cup decorated with copulating bears. up at 3 am to bake around cream and cheddar ($7.50). “Pancake Monday” isn’t a cute title—it’s all 100 rolls every week. They are very good—like a they serve that day ($4-$7.50). Order the funky food-court Cinnabon constructed by an Ozarks Power Cakes, packed with thick strands of grandma. They taste as much of spice as sugar, sweet coconut, toasted walnuts, cranberries and the yeasty coils clogged with flows of cinnamon bananas, and you won’t eat the rest of the day. I then topped with creamy glaze and a deluge of prefer the Pan-Wich, which slips two fried eggs melted butter. The maple bacon rolls are even and sausage inside a pair of plate-sized cakes so better. The pig lends a smoky kick to the buns golden and toothsome you can rip a hunk off with and a crunch to every bite. A warning: Don’t head to Sugar Mamas unless your fingers and dunk it in maple syrup, McMuffin-style. “Our pancakes are made with a special you’ve got some time on your hands. It can take mix of whole-grain flours that we created for our the staff 20 minutes to get your order from the own kids when they were little—to make them open kitchen to your table less than 12 feet away. healthier,” says Nelson, talking up the wonder- Then again, it’ll take you at least three more hours ful blueberry pancakes. “They were great little to digest everything, so who’s counting? guinea pigs.... Children always are, you know?” Sugar Mamas, 539 SW 13th Ave., 224-3323, faceThe kids are still eating the Mamas’ cooking. EAT: book.com/sugarmamascoffeecafe. Breakfast and lunch 7 Schmitt’s adult son Devin works the counter am-3 pm Monday-Friday, 8 am-1 pm Saturday-Sunday. $.
SLOW TRUCKS and
FRI
NOV
Saturday November 26th
25
The Planet Jackers • 9 PM
LIZ DEVINE
REVIEW
AT SUGAR MAMAS, FOOD IS LOVE.
with
Friday November 25th
I’ll be honest: I was a little skeptical
ALL IN THE FAMILY
ANIMAL EYES
Sunday November 27th Ninkasi Brewing and the Blue Monk present “THE BEST OF PORTLAND INDEPENDENT JAZZ SERIES”
1 year anniversary party
Quadraphonnes • 8 PM every mon: Renato Caranto Project 8pm every tues: Pagen Jug Band 6:30pm The Jazzistics 8pm (basement) every weds: Arabesque & Belly Dance 8pm every thurs: Alan Jones JAM 8pm Now serving home made NY pizza!
MUSIC 7 NIGHTS A WEEK
5
$
PONY VILLAGE
9PM
THE TUMBLERS with
DKOTA
SAT
NOV
26
and
The Beautiful Trainwrecks
$8 ADV
$10 DOS
9PM
BOURBON AND NOV FREE 28 BINGO 8PM MON
upcoming shows
FRIDAY DEC 2ND
IN THE COOKY JAR with Cooky Parker 9PM / $5
THURSDAY DEC 8TH
SUPERUCKUS '11: HILARIOUS TRUE STORIES/ A BENEFIT TO DEFEAT MS FEATURING SEXYNURD 7PM / $20-$25
Portland’s best happy hour 5pm—7pm Daily and All Day Sunday
3341 SE Belmont thebluemonk.com 503-595-0575
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
31
The Independent Music
Gift Guide The Smithereens
John Pinette
Having returned to their roots with two dazzling albums of Beatles covers and a critically-acclaimed interpretation of The Who’s ‘Tommy,’ The Smithereens come roaring back with an album of crunchy, tasty, and highly melodic tunes. ‘2011’ is their first album of new original material in 11 years.
In this sold-out concert taped at Chicago’s famed Vic Theater, the food-obsessed, storytelling Broadway and television star delivers his smart, original, observations on everyday life.
2011 ON SALE $11.99 CD
Still Hungry ON SALE $9.99 CD
Bill Frisell & Vinicius Cantuaria Lagrimas Mexicanas ON SALE $12.99 CD
Chickenfoot
Steven Wilson
Chickenfoot III ON SALE $13.99 CD LP ALSO AVAILABLE
Grace For Drowning ON SALE $9.99 2CD LP ALSO AVAILABLE
Chickenfoot—Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith—have established themselves in record time as one of the earth’s premier rock bands. ‘Chickenfoot III’ is a superlative, rip-roaring Rock ‘n’ Roll disc that’s tough yet full of intricate textures and played by musicians at the top of their game.
Steven Wilson is a twice Grammy-nominated producer, writer and performer, best known as founder and front man of British rock band Porcupine Tree. ‘Grace for Drowning’ is the second album released under Wilson’s own name, and builds on the artistic inroads he forged with 2009’s exceptionally wellreceived ‘Insurgentes.’
Having played together in a variety of settings over the past 25 years Bill Frisell and Vinicius Cantuária had been looking for the right opportunity for a fullon collaboration. A mesmerizing blend of multilingual songcraft, pan-Latin rhythms, and stunning guitar interplay, ‘Lagrimas Mexicanas’ presents itself as the perfect occasion.
Bush
The Sea Of Memories ON SALE $13.99 CD LP ALSO AVAILABLE
Alexi Murdoch America
Back Pages ON SALE $13.99 CD America—led for four decades by Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell—are one of the most beloved groups in the history of pop and ‘Back Pages’ is a collection of a dozen glimmering interpretations. The album offers new renditions of “new standards” by Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Brian Wilson, Jimmy Webb, and more.
King Crimson
Discipline ON SALE $19.99 CD/DVD King Crimson achieved the rare feat of marrying their hard-fought, hard-hitting prog sound with the bristling energy of new wave on this 1981 triumph. The album featuring Fripp, Buford, Levin and Belew is here on CD in a new stereo mix with bonus alternate mixes. The DVD-Audio disc adds a 5.1 DTS mix, hi-res stereo mix, original album mix, new album mix and even a rough mix from the original sessions.
Also On Sale: STARLESS & BIBLE BLACK $19.99 CD/DVD AUDIO
Towards The Sun ON SALE $9.99 CD LP ALSO AVAILABLE Singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch recorded the majority of ‘Towards The Sun’ in a single night while on tour in North America in 2009. Revisiting the tracks months later in New York, he fleshed them out with the help of musicians known for their work in Brooklyn’s independent music scene, including Jon Natchez and Kelly Pratt (Beirut) and Kyle Resnick (The National).
Bob James Keiko Matsui
Altair & Vega ON SALE $13.99 CD/DVD When two of the most accomplished and original piano voices in contemporary jazz unite, one can expect something special. ‘Altair & Vega’ is a seamless, lyrical blend of jazz and classical elements that traverses an exquisite range of moods. The full concert DVD is from a live performance that Bob and Keiko gave at the famed Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild Hall in February of 2010.
Bombino
Agadez ON SALE $10.99 CD LP ALSO AVAILABLE APPEARING SATURDAY 12/10 @ DANTE’S Omara “Bombino” Moctara, a young Tuareg guitarist and songwriter from Agadez, Niger, was raised during an era of armed struggles for independence and violent suppression by government forces. In Bombino’s electrifying jams you can hear echoes of fellow Africans Tinariwen and Ali Farka Touré as well as rock and blues icons Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Page.
Recorded with producer Bob Rock (Aerosmith, Metallica), ‘The Sea Of Memories’ is the seminal band’s first studio release in 10 years. The album captures the electricity and trademark intensity of classic Bush delivered in a setting that’s fresh & alive.
Bodeans
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Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
ON SALE $14.99 2CD LP ALSO AVAILABLE ‘Red Hot + Rio 2’ is the latest entry in the series of tribute albums produced by the Red Hot Organization to raise money for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. The compilation features 34 original collaborations between Brazil’s legendary musicians and some of the best of today’s international indie, R&B and pop artists including: Angelique Kidjo, Beck, Beirut, Caetano Veloso, Devendra Banhart, John Legend, Of Montreal, Os Mutantes & many more.
Beverley Mcclellan Fear Nothing ON SALE $11.99 CD
Beverly McClellan, a soulful singer with honest lyrics and a raw sound, has been entertaining the nation and has made us smile, laugh, and feel. Most recently she stood out as the winner of Team Christina on the hit NBC show, The Voice. ‘Fear Nothing,’ Beverly’s 5th album, is produced by Grammy Award winning producer David Z (Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Etta James, Prince, The Times).
Smoke Fairies
Through Low Light & Trees ON SALE $10.99 CD LP ALSO AVAILABLE ‘Through Low Light And Trees,’ the Smoke Fairies’ debut, is an exquisitely shivery blend of alternative folk-rock and a more humid, bluesy brand of Americana with beautifully interlocking harmonies and guitar parts behind the spectral melodies.
Indigo Dreams ON SALE $10.99 CD LP ALSO AVAILABLE Twenty five years after their T-Bone Burnett produced debut ‘Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams’ the BoDeans- Kurt Neumann (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars) and Sam Llanas (vocals and acoustic guitar) - are still focused on writing songs that bring good things to the world. ‘Indigo Dreams’ is a salute to the working man – his dreams, his desires, his love, his responsibilities, his ethos.
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Rocket Science ON SALE $12.99 CD Béla Fleck has reconvened the original Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, the initial line-up of his incredible combo. ‘Rocket Science’ marks the first recording by the first fab four Flecktones in almost two decades, with pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy back in the fold alongside Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten, and percussionist drumitarist Roy “Futureman” Wooten.
OFFER GOOD THRU 12-24-11
Red Hot + Rio 2
JD Souther
Natural History ON SALE $13.99 CD JD has had an enormous impact on a full generation of this country's greatest musical names: The Eagles, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, and Roy Orbison just to name a few. ‘Natural History’ features 11 songs, many of which have been recorded previously by other artists (The Eagles did ‘The Sad Cafe’, ‘Best Of My Love’ and ‘New Kid In Town’, Linda Ronstadt did ‘Faithless Love’).
NOV. 23-29
= 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. Editor: CASEY JARMAN. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, go to wweek.com/ submitevents and follow submission directions. All shows should be submitted two weeks or more in advance of event. Press kits, CDs and especially vinyl can be sent to Music Desk, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Please include show or release date information with all physical mailings. Email: cjarman@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 23 Blind Pilot; Point Juncture, WA
[SOUND SONGWRITING] Blind Pilot strays from anything too flashy or experimental. The Portland outfit behind 2008’s satiny 3 Rounds and a Sound stuck to its guns for this year’s sophomore release, We Are the Tide. The latest disc is slick with the enchanting, wolflike vocals we’re used to hearing from singer Israel Nebeker. What’s different here is the energy. Tide trades the melancholy nostalgia of 3 Rounds for optimism, plucking sunny chords in “Half Moon” and drawing lyrics from strength in “White Apple” (“In shadow, in dark/ In cold wind, open up your heart”). Don’t expect to drown your sorrows tonight; expect to find the inspiration to overcome them. NIKKI VOLPICELLI. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 2250047. 8 pm. $18 advance, $20 day of show. All ages.
Rachael Yamagata, Mike Viola
[SULTRY SINGER-SONGWRITER] Singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata raised money via the fundraising site Pledge Music to self-release her third full-length album, Chesapeake, which came out in October. Her sultry, jazzinfused pop (imagine a Diana Krall, Norah Jones and Fiona Apple fusion) sounds more organic here than on previous discs (2008’s Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart and 2007’s Happenstance), thereby enhancing the singer-songwriter’s easy-listening qualities. While songs like “You Won’t Let Me” and “The Way It Seems to Go” are a bit too heavy on the country and the sap, others, like “Stick Around” and “Full On” show Yamagata at her best: breathy, sultry and heavy on the jazz. MAGGIE SUMMERS. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
Candye Kane
[WORKING BLUE] An aging fetish model trailing woeful origins and taking stabs at punk, swing and country when she discovered Bessie Smith and the shouter tradition two decades ago, Candye Kane rightly credits the blues with turning her life around—few Gent columnists went on to be anointed a national treasure or to play for European heads of state. But can’t we argue the blues (for decades the sole province of bloodless archivists, dive-bar combos and Civil War re-enactors) owes Kane even more? After her recent cancer scare, she’s only about half the woman that surely inspired Beth Ditto once upon a time, but even if newly released 10th album Sister Vagabond occasionally nudges show-tune treacle or community uplift humorlessness, she’s earned the right to skim the blues. JAY HORTON. Duff’s Garage, 1635 SE 7th Ave., 234-2337. 9:30 pm. $12. 21+.
Mayhem, Keep of Kalessin, Hate, Abigail Williams, Ceremonial Castings
[SHOCK METAL] Norway’s Mayhem has an authenticity problem; just not the kind that plagues other artists. The band is actually too authentic for comfort. Studio black metal these fuckers are not. In 1991, singer Per Yngve Ohlin (a.k.a. Dead, natch) committed suicide via shotgun, and rumors began to circulate—which have not been altogether disproved—that his bandmates made a necklace out of his skull fragments and ate his brains. A photo of Ohlin’s blood-splattered corpse then appeared on the cover of a semi-official Mayhem live album. Two years later, bassist Varg Virkenes was convicted of murdering guitarist Euronymous, allegedly out of jeal-
ousy for his more sinister reputation. There are also allegations of Nazism and bomb plots against churches, but those seem tame by comparison. And, frankly, so does the music. Yeah, the band’s revolving cast has mastered its genre’s flayed-alive screams and distorted bludgeoning, but after hearing those extra-musical stories, you’d expect something truly evil, not so standard issue. MATTHEW SINGER. Hawthorne Theatre, 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 233-7100. 7 pm. $25 advance, $30 day of show. All ages.
Plaid, Natasha Kmeto, Tyler Tastemaker
[WARP AND WOOF] Granted an almost singular reverence among the electronic music community as much for the decorous progression of their career as for a lovely though limited creative output, Ed Handley and Andy Turner walked away from relevance the moment they left the legendary IDM collective Black Dog some two decades ago. Their subsequent forays as duo Plaid were easily least memorable among the murderer’s row fielded by Warp amid those mid-’90s glory days. Tasteful to the end, though, the duo knew when to leave the booths to score anime epics and arrange multimedia installations—alongside the occasional high profile/low-purpose collaboration with Björk or Goldfrapp. Recent album Scintilli, Plaid’s first original collection meant for listening alone, would best be considered a retrospective piece, if only the group were actually remembered. JAY HORTON. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 8:30 pm. $15. 21+.
Noisy Pig, Molly Nilsson, Lost Lockets
[TWEELIGHT ZONE] Thanks to a general dearth of information, here’s what I can surmise about this show: Noisy Pig is a solo artist from Berlin who likes to paint his face and put his picture on the Internet as some sort of monotonal zombified dada clown. His music is minimal electronica that sounds as German as it is. On tour with Bernardo is a Swedish gal by the name of Molly Nilsson who also sometimes uses the handle “formerly known as White Bread” (I have no idea why). Her solo act is sedate, melodic bedroomcore. It is no surprise that these artists are being showcased on Thanksgiving eve by the equally strange and delightful Lost Lockets. NATHAN CARSON. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $6. 21+.
THURSDAY, NOV. 24 Happy Thanksgiving!
FRIDAY, NOV. 25 Big Black Cloud, The Hand that Bleeds, Valkyrie Rodeo, Bison Bison
[A SITE FOR SORE EYES] If you were to look at my Web-browsing history—oh God, please don’t do that— you’d see one site pop up again and again: PC-PDX.com. (The “PC,” I have been told, stands for “punk connection,” though all genres are listed.) The site, a crowd-sourced local show guide with an all-ages focus that doubles as a message board for the house-show community, is a valuable local resource that operates without the help of advertising (nothing punk about advertising, after all). The site’s traffic has increased steadily over the past few years and costs, accordingly, have gone up. Tonight’s super-cheap Backspace show—which features a number of punk/metal acts that have appeared on the site and in Portland basements over the past few years—is
an easy way to donate a few bucks to the cause. Another way is to click the “donate” link on PC-PDX itself. CASEY JARMAN. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. 8 pm. $5. All ages.
PROFILE SZIM
MUSIC
Fur Pillow, Sports, Polaroids, Pataha Hiss
[BIG WATER MUSIC] Even during the heights of Har Mar Superstardom—variations of his anodyne lothario blanketing British TV ads and a disco duel with Ben Stiller—Sean Tillmann remained a tireless booster of all things Minnesotan. He continually visited the homeland, collaborating with former classmates from the Gopher State’s Performing Arts High and, apparently, spending untold weeks camping by the lakes. During one of these trips with old alums Melinda Parks (singer-songwriter, Seattleite) and Jonny Kelson (founding member of Tillman’s ’90s hardcore outfit Calvin Krime), they began experimenting with a gothtinged electro pop sound. With only one track available for streaming and barely a handful of concerts played, it’s a bit too soon to judge the purported eeriness of Fur Pillows, but, if debut single “I Need a New Girl (To Do Drugs With)” isn’t quite David Lynch, it’s certainly not Garrison Keillor. JAY HORTON. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9:30 pm. $10. 21+.
Russian Circles, Deafheaven
[INSTRUMENTAL GLORY] Maybe I’m running in the wrong (ahem) circles, but I feel like Russian Circles has sadly been neglected by many music lovers in favor of equally heavy all-instrumental cousins like Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai. Makes little sense as, to these ears, the Circles are the far superior product. The Chicago act’s most recent album, Empros, is one of the true rock delights of 2011, relying less on showy mixtures of quiet and loud, and more on a steady stream of pace and volume that immerses you in a rough but welcome sonic bear hug. ROBERT HAM. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of show. 21+.
Tony Furtado Band, Stephanie Schneiderman (live recording/DVD filming)
[ROOTS MUSIC] We know Mississippi Studios won’t be empty tonight. At least a few dozen tickets already have been given away to the Kickstarter backers of Tony Furtado’s next live record/DVD—which will be recorded and filmed at this show. Furtado, a respected local multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who’s well known to the bluegrass and folk worlds, plays music that covers some pretty expansive ground—but it’s in concert where he shines the brightest. That should be doubly true of his percussive new group, which you can check out tonight. Furtado says this live effort will be his last project for the Funzalo Records imprint he’s been associated with for the past decade. What’s next? Well, now that he knows he can raise almost $20,000 on the Internet, maybe a label is kind of beside the point. CASEY JARMAN. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $12 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, DJ 100proof, Ben Tactic
[POST-DISCO] Don’t expect an awful lot of dub from J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science. While the Bay Area producer featured plenty of stoney Jamaicaninspired effects on his catch-all project’s self-titled 2003 debut, he feels more like the Alan Lomax of dance music on new disc Undercover. The disc features a well-blended mix of acoustic and electronic elements, with South American sambas colliding against old-school East Coast hip-hop beats. The disc—which features a diverse list of contributors from Lateef to Pimps of Joytime—feels a bit like Afrika Bambaataa on a world music kick. It is seriously b-boy friendly, but
CONT. on page 34
P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. SATURDAY, NOV. 26 [ROCK] It’s not, to answer the most obvious question, an acronym. When Kelly Halliburton (Pierced Arrows) first asked Bradly (Weaklings, Lucky 13s) in the spring of 1999 to step in as vocalist as his new group prepared to record its first single, they’d yet to determine even a working title. “We actually had a set’s worth of material before we came up with our name,” Halliburton recalls. “For one of the songs where Bradly wrote the lyrics, the chorus goes: ‘I’ve got a p-r-o-b-l-e-m.’ The letters don’t necessarily stand for anything. We don’t stand for anything. What do you got? We won’t stand for it! But feel free to come up with your own acronym.” What about an acronym-filling contest? Best submission wins a weekend with the band? “That would be punishment for coming up with the worst acronym,” Halliburton says. “Anyone who spends a weekend with us, they’re gonna need therapy afterwards. Between all our members, I think we’ve been in the least functional bands in Portland over the last 20 years.” Indeed, Halliburton collected an enviable lineup of local rock all-stars—drummer Ian Jackson and guitarists Scott Williams and Matty K are longtime veterans of the rock wars as well—though, remarkably, they’d all come from various subsets of a similar scene. “I’ve never played music with any of these guys before,” Halliburton says. “No retread shit; it was all fresh and new and exciting.” Make It Through the Night, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S.’ full-length debut, draws strength from the seamless yet oddly enlivened interplay of likeminded professionals accustomed to slightly divergent patterns. The album’s nine tracks boast a familiar punk chassis that’s been streamlined and Simonized and cranked to keening precision that feels somehow thrillingly new, like a foreign car chase. “I’ve been in a string of bands since about 1989 that have consistently sounded almost exactly the same, and part of the impetus for forming P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. was to move away from all that,” Halliburton says. “I was in a band called Resist. I was in Defiance, Deprived, Detestation—kinda hardcore bands from the anarcho-punk scene. We were pissed off about what was happening in late-’80s Portland music—the bullshit heavy metal that punk had become, the funk metal and the Nazi bullshit. We tried to do our own thing, it was really great, we did it for a long time, and, like any scene, over the years it just started to eat itself.... There’s only so many times you can put out the same record.” P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. certainly couldn’t be accused of following the traditional path in terms of music or career trajectory. The album is only available on vinyl—even the MP3s sent to media outlets had separate folders labeled Side 1 and Side 2—and, in fact, a live EP to be issued on cassette may hit stores before the group bothers with CDs. For that matter, although Saturday evening marks the band’s official record release, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. almost sold out of the first (fourfigure) pressing—co-released by a German label—after barnstorming nine countries across Europe last month. “We have some global domination plans in mind,” Halliburton says. “Basically, we can tour anywhere in the world we want, as long as we keep our shit together and stay focused. Otherwise, like any other band, you’re just dead in the water. You just spin your wheels. And, so, we try and keep things moving.” JAY HORTON. Portland rock supergroup blitzes Europe behind its vinyl debut.
SEE IT: P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. plays Star Bar, 639 SE Morrison St., on Saturday, Nov. 26, with Therapists. 9 pm. Free. 21+. Much more with P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. at wweek.com. Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
33
MUSIC
friendly. sounds great. best burger. independent. musician-owned /operated
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
I expect plenty of dreadheads to show up as well. CASEY JARMAN. Refuge, 116 SE Yamhill St. 9 pm. $5 (but no one turned away). Canned food and blankets also accepted. 21+. all shows 21+ 8:30pm doors 9pm show (except where noted)
503.288.3895 info@mississippistudios.com 3939 N. Mississippi Up-and-coming Canadians who master indie-pop and blues, Paste magazine calling them “the best of whats next”
Portland’s own string master brings his flavorful bluegrass to the stage, a slide/guitar and banjo impresario
IMAGINARY
TONY
CITIES
FURTADO LIVE TAPING DVD SHOOT
+BRAVE CHANDELIERS
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 23
$8 Adv
Woodchuck Cider Sweet & Local Presents: a trio whose dance party synths and beats, drums and guitars, make the most memorable of music parties
WAMPIRE BREAKFAST MOUNTAIN +MATTRESS SATURDAY NOVEMBER 26 $5 Adv With songs that veer between riffs of spazzy noise punk and psychedelic fury, Brooklyn based pterodactyl take us on quite the musical ride
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 25
Innovative young filmakers, Into The Woods, present a fall party featuring local favorites
HOSANNAS
SUN ANGLE LOG ACROSS THE WASHER +SUPPORT FORCE SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27
+PICTORIALS
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 29
$8 Adv
Au celebrates a 7-inch release show tonight, showcasing avant-garde, pop, and rock at its finest
AU
Best known for his work with illustrious metal band Neurosis, Scott Kelly shines w/solo work that carries the same emotive hardcore darkness that is so inspiring
JAY MUNLY (of Slim Cessna’s Auto Club) +BOB WAYNE
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 30
$10 Adv
An exclusive performance from a much lauded Portland 13-piece, featuring songs from their album “Hunger and Thirst”
TYPHOON +MIMICKING BIRDS
APPETITE STAY CALM +LIKE A VILLAIN
FRIDAY DECEMBER 2
THURSDAY DECEMBER 1
$6 Adv
+FOREST PARK (Early Show) +AAN (Late Show)
EARLY ALL AGES SHOW: 6:00 Doors, 6:30 Show LATE SHOW 21+: 9:00 Doors, 9:30 Show
SATURDAY DECEMBER 3 Our favorite local folk charmer returns with a raved-about childrens album, tumble bee. It’s a gem that captures the hearts of adults and kids alike
LAURA
$10 Adv
With songs that mix acoustic and punk, a selfdeprecating humor, and a unique singing style, jeffrey lewis is a singer/songwriter whose music is rife with complex lyrics and imaginative imagery
JEFFREY LEWIS & THE JUNKYARD
VEIRS ALL AGES MATINEE SHOW! *CHILDREN UNDER ONE YEAR OF AGE ARE ALLOWED FREE ENTRY 3:00 Doors, 3:30 Show
ALMOST NEARLY +AWKWARD ENERGY
$15 Adv
SUNDAY DECEMBER 4
SUNDAY DECEMBER 4
An exclusive showcase from one of Portland’s favorite psychedelic roots and electronica bands, whose debut album found a home w/Isaac Brock’s (Modest Mouse) Glacial Pace Recordings
MORNING TELEPORTATION
GRANDPARENTS +THE WE SHARED MILK
MONDAY DECEMBER 5
QUIZZY
$8 Adv
$10 Adv
Seething rock and four-part harmonies from springfield, missouri natives, jamming songs from their new album, buckle in the bible belt
HA HA TONKA
SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN +TIGER HOUSE
TUESDAY DECEMBER 6
$10 Adv
6:30-8:30 FREE - PRIZES! at Bar Bar w/ Quizmaster ROY SMALLWOOD
Coming Soon: 12/7 - THE ENTRANCE BAND 12/8 - OTHER LIVES 12/9 - NUCULAR AMINALS 12/10 - SCOUT NIBLETT 12/11 - HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE 12/14 - EMPTY SPACE ORCHESTRA 12/15 - ALLEN STONE 12/16 - FEDERALE 12/17 - MRS w/ DJ BEYONDA 12/17 - ELECTRIC OPERA COMPANY 12/18 - BRANDI CARLILE 12/21 - BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA
www.mississippistudios.com
34
$5 Adv
SCOTT KELLY
PTERODACTYL
TUESDAYS
$12 Adv
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
Your Rival, Death Songs, And And And
[POP EUPHORIA] WW music editor Casey Jarman gave Your Rival’s Seven Sparkling Children a glowing review in this here paper a few months ago, turning me on to this Portland outfit’s ebullient pop in the process. I’ve been dying to add my lipstick to Your Rival’s collar ever since, for Seven Sparkling Children’s opener, “My Canary (Was Sure to Run),” is still getting me high with its eager nostalgia for the Elephant 6 Collective’s nostalgia for the Beach Boys. It is addictive pop music of the highest order, a bridge between past and future, bliss and wistfulness. Know joy now. (Also, this is the first night of And And And’s monthlong dive-bar tour.) CHRIS STAMM. Slim’s Cocktail Bar, 8635 N Lombard St., 286-3854. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
The Bloodtypes, Sick Secrets, Freedom Club
[PAST-PUNK] Seattle’s Sick Secrets don’t reinvent the wheel so much as glaze the thing with Armor All and massage it till it’s black and shiny as a new leather jacket. Which is just fine, because it’s a good wheel, a great sound. Greg Sage invented it and called it the Wipers, and any successful attempt at reviving it in the present day is welcome. Sick Secrets are especially adept at meshing melody and menace in a Sagacious way; recent demo “Come Here, Get Away” is the best bit of baleful punk gloom I’ve heard in quite some time, a song to sing along to in the nuclear shower. CHRIS STAMM. The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., 473-8729. 8 pm. Cover. 21+.
Animal Eyes, Slow Trucks, Pony Village
[ECLECTIC, ARTY WORLD POP] Animal Eyes’ debut album, Found in the Forest, unleashes the quintet into the Portland pop world in a big way. Hailing from Homer, Alaska (a tiny town of 4,000—seriously, Google it), and now based in Portland, Animal Eyes has an upbeat, art-pop aesthetic: something akin to a three-way love child between Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective. Standouts on the debut include “Mezmin” and “You Saw,” both of which feature accordion and strings on top of howling, strained, impassioned vocals. If this solid debut is any indication of where Animal Eyes is headed, it should be all good things to come. MAGGIE SUMMERS. The Woods, 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave., 890-0408. 8 pm. $5. 21+.
Nightcaps
[SLACKER-ERA SWING] There was a stretch there in the early- to mid’90s when cocktail jazz and swing revivalism seemed perfectly viable preoccupations for Northwest hipsters (of course, the word “hipster” seemed a bit less offensive in those days, too). Before the largely manufactured “swing explosion” ‘round 1999, eclectic, horn-driven bands with swingin’ streaks—like Eugene’s Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and Seattle’s Nightcaps—lived happily enough alongside punk, ska and indie-rock groups of their day. But while the Daddies embraced the budding swing explosion exploded into the mainstream, Nightcaps— whose drummer, Dan Cunneen, had done time with Portland punk bands Final Warning and the Obituaries— kept shtick out of its formula and remained obscure. The band initially broke up in 2002, leaving a string of fine singles (one for Sub Pop, one for Estrus Records) and two full-lengths in its wake. Now safely distanced from the great swing backlash, Nightcaps return to play Porltand’s shtickiest venue, Tony
Starlight’s. CASEY JARMAN. Tony Starlight’s, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., 517-8584. 8 pm. $10. 21+.
SATURDAY, NOV. 26 The Next Waltz
See Headout, page 29. Alberta Rose Theater, 3000 NE Alberta St., 7196055. 7 pm. $17 advance, $20 day of show. All ages (minors must be accompanied by an adult).
Wale, Black Cobain, Logics, Luck-One
[UPWARDLY MOBILE HIP-HOP] How times have changed. It seems like just yesterday that Wale, which hails from Washington, D.C., was perceived as the future of socially conscious hip-hop. The way he mixed witty social commentary with go-go music—D.C.’s unique style of dancehall funk—was a big breath of fresh air. This guy was thought-provoking, and he could make music for the clubs without sounding generic; only Drake has been able to walk that line in recent years. Unlike Drake, however, Wale’s debut album flopped. Big time. So now he hangs with Rick Ross and makes songs that dwell more on strippers than society, which has (sadly) worked out well for him: His newest album, Ambition, sold three times as many copies in its first week as his debut. While it’s tempting to call Wale a sellout, you can’t blame the guy; after he bricked, he was just another “backpack rapper” headed toward obscurity. Go on, Wale, fill up that backpack with some money. REED JACKSON. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 224-2038. 9 pm. $17 -$20. All ages.
P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S., Therapists
See profile, page 33. Star Bar, 639 SE Morrison St., 232-5553. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
Rabbits, Lord Dying, Beardo
[METAL BIRTHDAY] Q: Why are two of Portland’s loudest and most unapologetically heavy bands playing at the new Star Theater—a room generally known for its burlesque, comedy and intimate vibe?
A: Because it is Danger Ehren’s birthday! The gap-toothed Jackass star calls Portland home, and has proven himself a big supporter of the local metal scene. It makes all kinds of sense, then, that Lord Dying (I’m going to say right now that this band is No. 1 on my list of 2012’s “most likely to succeed”) and Rabbits (2005-2025 “most likely to not give a shit and just be ridiculously heavy anyway” winners) will throw down in celebration for Ehren. I do hope the security guards at the Star are prepared to let some good folks blow off steam. . NATHAN CARSON. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Rudefish, Lowen Bad, Item 9
[THE BOYS FROM LBC] Theory: Scientists, in a bizarre experiment akin to that documented in The Boys From Brazil, have inseminated women throughout the U.S. with late Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell’s seed to see if playing a hybrid of hip-hoppy, ska-punk music is genetic. How else do you explain bands like Portland quartet Rudefish, whose sound—like a kajillion other post-Sublime emulators—is a carbon copy of the Nowell outfit’s, from the reggae-punk beats to Dan Gascon’s butter-smooth R&B voice? Rudefish pulls it off nicely while never straying out of the prescribed formula, as it proved on its self-titled March debut, and it’s awful nice of the group to headline this Humane Society benefit gig. Still, somewhere a deranged scientist is laughing maniacally. AP KRYZA. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 238-0543. 9:30 pm. $5 donation. 21+.
SUNDAY, NOV. 27 Redwood Son, Jenna Ellefson & Anna Tivel (of Fairweather)
[NORTHWEST AMERICANA] Redwood Son’s Josh Malm meshes Portland’s two pre-eminent vocal personas: the tender troubadour and the gruff storyteller. With quartet Redwood Son—which begins a weeklong residence at Al’s
TOP FIVE
BY J ON AT HA N F ROCHTZ WA J G
OUR FAVORITE INTO THE WOODS VIDEOS Feels LIke Home #40, Guidance Counselor The sadly defunct dance-punk group’s Ian Anderson belts the Bushwick-hipster-skewering “Brooklyn” from his glitter-filled bathtub. Into the Woods # 1, Wampire The original ITW video splices a Wampire show in a Government Camp cabin with footage of the band and company making brisk business of tallboys and taking a sauna in their skivvies. Far From Home #5, Big Freedia ITW captures Big Freedia’s unofficial MFNW 2010 show, a secret performance at Sassy’s that features the inimitable sissy bouncer directing the strip club’s talent. Azz everywhere! Music Videos, Nurses Chatroulette Nurses plays “So Sweet” on the video-chatting website Chatroulette to entertainingly varied reactions—from pure joy to heckling to (surprise!) a dude taking his dick out. Feels Like Home #41, Michael Griffith Archers synth player Michael Griffith performs a solo guitar number on the front lines of the Occupy Portland encampment clearing. Protestor chants and police warnings serve as Griffith’s back-up vocals, but his acoustic performance still sounds terribly fragile. SEE IT: Into the Woods hosts a fall party at Mississippi Studios on Sunday, Nov. 27. 8:30 pm. $5. 21+. See listings for more information. These videos and more can be seen at intothewoods.com.
SUNDAY
Youth, Port St. Willow, Ben Seretan and the Early, The Woolen Men, DJ vs. Nature (Badlands showcase)
See profile, this page. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 8:30 pm. $3. 21+.
ing both slow-moving fog banks of ambient sound and, with the group Vindva Mei, aggressive, more rhythmic explorations of electro-acoustic noise. It’s not clear what Magnusson is planning for this performance, but it’s pretty amazing to think you’ll be able to sit and drink a PBR in a dingy, oversized theater while it happens. MATTHEW SINGER. Mount Tabor Theater, 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 8 pm. $8. 21+.
kind of looks like the hulking Russian henchman from Die Hard—wait, he’s German! Well, let’s give TSO metal cred regardless. Anyone who has spent two decades packing arenas by playing Christmas classics that sound like they were arranged by members of Rush and Slayer gets a pass, Russki or not. Hail Santa! . AP KRYZA. Rose Quarter, 1 Center Court. 3 and 7:30 pm. $29-$59.50. All ages.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Portland Drum Fair: Daniel Glass, John Niekrasz, Tim DuRoche, STLS, Daniel Hunt, Brass Roots Movement, Lauren Newman
[METAL CHRISTMAS] Wait a goddamn minute…yuletide metal/ prog outfit the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is from New York? Not forged in cold Russian steel and destined to unleash brutal tidings of comfort and joy and prog rock with wailing guitars and Pink Floyd lasers? Well, at least the guitarist
[NEIL PEART IS JEALOUS] I’m not sure how Portland can afford to support two high-end drum shops,
Into the Woods Fall Party: Hosannas, Sun Angle, Log Across the Washer, Support Force
[BEYOND THE WOODS] What started as a wacky idea to take local bands literally into the woods and film them performing there (an infeasibly expensive wacky idea, it turned out) has become something much bigger and better than a band campout: Nearly two years from its founding, Into the Woods is Portland music’s de facto documentarian. The video collective’s website now boasts more than 100 imaginatively located, artfully shot videos of local musicians not only in the woods but at home, work, MusicfestNW—even Burgerville. Tonight’s show, the latest in Into the Woods’ quarterly concert series, exhibits the organization’s usual good taste, with performances from experimental yet pop-inclined acts like Hosannas and Log Across the Washer. JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
Runar Magnusson
[SOUND ARTIST] What’s going on with the Mount Tabor Theater? Known mostly for hosting fratty reggae and hip-hop shows and the occasional jam band, the oft-troubled Barmuda Triangle venue—under promising new ownership—has lately become an unlikely home for experimental electronic music, bringing in German legend Hans-Joachim Roedelius a few weeks ago and now welcoming Iceland’s Runar Magnusson. For almost two decades, the stonefaced Scandinavian has been craft-
Present that night’s show ticket and get $3 off any menu item Sun - Thur in the dining room
DOUG FIR RESTAURANT + BAR OPEN 7AM - 2:30AM EVERYDAY
PIANO BALLADRY FROM GIFTED SINGER/SONGWRITER
JOIN US THIS
RACHAEL
TURKEY DAY
WEDNESDAY!
CABIN FEVER THANKSGIVING FEAST! SERVED FROM NOON TIL CLOSE, THURSDAY!
YAMAGATA
CONT. on page 40
FOR OUR
THE 3 COURSE MEAL INCLUDES:
PROFILE
Hungry, Hungry Hip Hop: L Pro, Destro, Speaker Minds
[HOMEGROWN HIP-HOP] Goofy name aside, this new monthly showcase at Mississippi Pizza is a great way to check out the talent— both new and old—of Portland’s hip-hop scene. This month, you can see veteran MC L Pro, who made some noise in the ’90s with his group Grassrootz (“My Words, My World” is still the jam). Pro has always been a talented wordsmith, which he proves again on his recently released album, Vertigo, which was produced entirely by one of the city’s best young producers and crate-diggers, 5th Sequence. Speaker Minds, a charismatic, six-piece live hip-hop band that always puts on a good show, is worth checking out, too. For years, the band’s leader, Diezel P., has been a positive voice in Portland’s hip-hop community, hosting writing workshops for high-school students across the city. If you prefer your hip-hop raw, Destro of Old Dominion and Boom Bap Project fame should add some grit to the mix. REED JACKSON. Mississippi Pizza, 3552 N Mississippi Ave., 2883231. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
MAKE IT A NIGHT
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...
M AT T H E W R O S S
Den tonight—Malm’s cracked voice reflects on everything from the loss of original drummer Kipp Crawford in 2009 to finding peace in the wild, all set to a soundtrack of orchestral swells, Celtic-infused instrumental bursts and rustic plucking. The band’s latest effort—June’s double album, The Lion’s Inside—was released on the tail of the group earning a Portland Music Award for Best New Artist (and you know how enthusiastic WW is about the Portland Music Awards), putting the group in high demand. It’s deserved. Redwood Son embodies the sensitive, rustic image by living in it. AP KRYZA. Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel, 303 SW 12th Ave., 972-2670. 7 pm. Free. 21+.
MUSIC
+MIKE VIOLA
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 23 • $13 ADVANCE INSTRUMENTAL POST-METAL FROM CHICAGO TRIO
FRIDAY!
RUSSIAN CIRCLES
-MIXED GREEN SALAD WITH PEARS, BLEU CHEESE AND WALNUTS, TOSSED IN A PEAR VINAIGRETTE -OVEN-ROASTED ALL-NATURAL TURKEY BREAST AND GARLIC MASHED POTATOES SMOTHERED IN HOMEMADE GRAVY SERVED WITH GREEN BEANS AND CRANBERRY SAUCE -PUMPKIN PIE FOR DESERT
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 24 •
DOUG FIR AND OCTOPUS ENTERTAINMENT PRESENT A POST-TURKEY DAY CALORIE-BURING DANCEFEST
SATURDAY!
CARS & TRAINS SAPIENT +DOUBLEPLUSGOOD
HELMS ALEE +DEAFHEAVEN
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 25 •
YOUTH SUNDAY, NOV. 27
$12 ADVANCE
IN MUSIC WE TRUST PRESENTS
ADULTS $22 CHILDREN
(12 + UNDER): $12 (DOES NOT INCL. SALAD)
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 26 •
$5 ADVANCE
SULTRY ROCK ACTION FROM ALL-FEMALE TX TRIO
What’s in a name? When it comes to Youth, just about everything.
[POP] In recent weeks, Youth has been pulling opening-act duties across the West. This is the band’s first, as drummer Stephen Leisy puts it, “non-house-show tour.” “Typhoon has wanted to bring us on tour for a while,” says guitarist and vocalist Maggie Morris via cell phone, sitting in a car with her bandmates outside the Hi-Dive in Denver. “Finally, they told their booking agent that if we didn’t get to go with them, they weren’t going to go.” The tour was quite a leap forward for a band that is only a year old and was, until recently, strictly a studio project between Leisy and guitarist-vocalist Elec Morin. “The first time Steve and I played a song together,” Morin says, “it was this nine-minute, layered instrumental that sounds nothing like what we do now.” These days, Youth sounds like an easygoing pop act that flirts with twee (reverb-heavy guitar and unfussy playing) while wisely avoiding the overly cute and cloying aspects that often make the genre unlistenable. The few recordings the band has leaked into the digital world feel more akin to the tanned and drowsy world of Morris’ native California than our damp climes. It’s a sound that dovetails nicely with the band’s un-Googleable name. “The music market is targeted at a youth audience,” Leisy says of their sobriquet. “So we thought we could try and capture that within the band name.” Leisy and company also cop to falling prey to the follies of youth. The band hurried out on tour only a week after finishing its debut self-released EP, June, leaving no time to get any copies pressed or even burned. “We had to do the DIY thing,” Morris says, “and bought a bunch of postcards, stamping them [with a download code] and selling them on the way.” (Youth promises to have actual CDs for its release show Sunday at Holocene.) After that, the four-piece is looking at all the things a relatively new band should: more recording and touring, possibly working with a label that will help get some vinyl pressed and, maybe, driving to Austin, Texas, for SXSW. Of that last notion, the band’s literal youth pops up again: Says Leisy with a laugh, “Oh, yeah! We need to get on that.” ROBERT HAM. SEE IT: Youth plays Holocene on Sunday, Nov. 27, with Port St. Willow, Ben Seretan and the Early, the Woolen Men, and DJ vs. Nature. 8:30 pm. $3. 21+.
GUNFIGHTER GIRL IN
DEATHTRAP AMERICA
+LILY
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27 • $5 AT THE DOOR ALT-COUNTRY FROM SASKATOON QUINTET
THE DEEP
DARK WOODS
A +BLACK COMA FENCES BOX REVELATION
MONDAY NOVEMBER 28 •
$10 ADVANCE
MIND BLOWING PSYCHE-ROCK FROM SF - ALL AGES STYLE
THEE OH SEES TUESDAY NOVEMBER 29 •
$10 ADVANCE
OCTOPUS ENTERTAINMENT’S ONE-YEAR BIRTHDAY PARTY
MOSLEY
WOTTA
TANGO ALPHA TANGO SYMMETRY/ SYMMETRY +BEN UNION
FRIDAY DECEMBER 2 •
KOOKS +YAWN LATE SHOW! Doors at 9:30pm, Show at 10:30pm $20 ADVANCE
MONDAY DECEMBER 5 •
EARLY ALL AGES SHOW! DOORS AT 5PM, SHOW AT 5:30PM
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 30 • $13 ADVANCE TOTAL CONTROL +THE MEAN JEANS
THURSDAY DECEMBER 1 •
$12 ADVANCE
INDIE-POST-ROCK FROM LEGENDARY CHICAGO QUARTET
The SEA & CAKE
$8 ADVANCE
AN INTIMATE LATE NIGHT AFFAIR WITH UK INDIE ROCKERS
THE
TOTAL CONTROL +GRAVE BABIES
LIA ICES
+1939 ENSEMBLE
SATURDAY DECEMBER 3 • $15 ADVANCE PICKWICK/ BRYAN JOHN APPLEBY - 1/13 THE MILK CARTON KIDS - 1/18 ALABAMA SHAKES (early show) - 1/28 CRAIG FINN (The Hold Steady) - 2/23 METRONOMY - 4/10 FIRST AID KIT - 4/12 All of these shows on sale at Ticketfly.com
CAVE SINGERS 12/4 • THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION 12/6 STEPHEN KELLOGG & THE SIXERS 12/7 • CASS MCCOMBS BAND 12/8 MARCO BENEVENTO 12/9 • LOST LANDER 12/10 • THE DANDY WARHOLS 12/11 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
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
35
25% OFF Everything! 1st 50 customers
Midnight Madness Sale!
12:01am -some 2:00am November 25 restrictions apply
13 topless bartenders & 80 dancers each week!
Farm-Raised, Grass-Fed Beef for your table.
Open Every Day 11am to 2:30am
Cut, wrapped & delivered: $3 25 lb. hanging weight (approx. $480 the quarter)
www.CasaDiablo.com
Come visit the farm.
Brian Gray 541-490-7591 | Parkdale, Oregon
(503) 222-6600 • 2839 NW St. Helens Rd
m cm enami ns m u s i c
CRYSTAL
THE
M
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M
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N
A
FRI NOV 25 21 & OVER LOLA’S ROOM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23
redwood son • safire andrea algieri FREE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25 CRYSTAL CRYSTAL BALLROOM BALLROOM
5:30 p.m. is “EAGLE TimE” • FREE
REVERB BROTHERS ROOTDOWN JAMES COATES
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26 4:30 p.m. is “EAGLE TimE” • FREE
JOU NEY TRIBUTE WITH VJRKITTYROX
THE STUDENT LOAN the free oneS HUNTER PAYE EARLY HOURS
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27
FRI DEC 30 ALL AGES
open mic/singer songwriter showcase FEATURING PORTLAND’S FINEST TALENT 6:30 P.M. SIGN-UP; 7 P.M. MUSIC· FREE
FLOATER
FRI DEC 16 Henry Rollins interviews Dinosaur Jr. live ALL AGES
fridaY, november 25
9 PM $5 21+OVER
DINOSAUR JR. nearly new year’s Pierced Arrows
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28
JACK RUBY PRESENTS EVAN WAY
D2R: YOUNG THE GIANT 12/6 D2R: FOSTER THE PEOPLE 12/7 D2R: AWOLNATION 12/8 D2R: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE D2R: PORTUGAL THE MAN 12/10 D2R: THE JOY FORMIDABLE/GROUPLOVE 12/12 OCOTE SOUL SOUNDS-lola’s 12/31 REVEREND HORTON HEAT 1/7 80S WEEKEND 1/27 BEATS ANTIQUE 1/28 MOE. 2/17 BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS 2/24 PDX JAZZ FESTIVAL: BILL FRISELL 2/25 PDX JAZZ FESTIVAL: VIJAY IYER, PRASANNA & NITTIN MITTA (3 PM) 2/25 PDX JAZZ FESTIVAL: CHARLIE HUNTER (9:30 PM) 3/2 & 3 RAILROAD EARTH 3/15 NEEDTOBREATHE 3/22 KAISER CHIEFS
DOORS 8pm MUSIC 9pm UNLESS NOTED
Al’s Den
LIVE MUSIC EVEry nIght · 7 PM Nov 23–26 Steve Wilkinson Nov 27–Dec 3 Redwood Son
DJ’S · 10:30 PM
Every Thursday, Friday & Saturday
Nov 24 No DJ due to holiday Nov 25 DJ Ghostrain Nov 26 DJ Rescue
CRYSTAL HOTEL & BALLROOM Ballroom: 1332 W. Burnside · (503) 225-0047 · Hotel: 303 S.W. 12th Ave · (503) 972-2670
CASCADE TICKETS 36
cascadetickets.com 1-855-CAS-TIXX
OUTLETS: CRYSTAL BALLROOM BOX OFFICE, BAGDAD THEATER, EDGEFIELD, EAST 19TH ST. CAFÉ (EUGENE)
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
Find us on
Pert’ Near Sandstone
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29
Monday and Tuesday, December 5 & 6
james dean kindle the new mexican revolution tent citY FREE
History Talk
Tuesday, December 6
History Talk: “A History of Northwest Portland: From the River to the Hills”
MUSIC AT 8:30 P.M. MON-THUR 9:30 P.M. FRI & SAT
Saturday, December 13
ELSEWHERE
Saturday, December 15
(UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
FREE
Tallgrass Brewing Company presents
Left Coast Country
FREE
12/9
Saturday, December 3
fanno creek
(of the parson red heads)
12/5
DANCEONAIR.COM
M
1624 N.W. Glisan • Portland 503-223-4527
80s VIDEO DANCE ATTACK DANCE ATTACK
SCRATCH ACID
C O
MISSION THEATER
97.1 CHARLIE FM PRESENTS
performing "Bug" in its entirety
.
LIVE STAGE & BIG SCREEN!
BLIND PILOT 80s VIDEO
WITH VJ KITTYROX
S
The historic
14th and W. Burnside
9 PM $5 21+OVER
N
282-6810
CRYSTAL BALLROOM
Point Juncture, WA
I
836 N RUSSELL • PORTLAND, OR • (503)
HOTEL & BALLROOM
WED NOV 23 ALL AGES
M
IN
M C MENAMINS
PDXJazz presents: George Cooligan Damian Erskine Project
Saturday, December 17
Santacon Pub Crawl
Rock Creek Wednesdays
Sunday, December 18
Cascade Blues “Best New Act” winner
Thursday, January 19
11/23
BILLY D
11/30
Broadway Pub
DELPHINIUM QUARTET Get your classical on
Crafty Underdog
Saturday, December 31
Talkdemonic
PDXJazz presents: Cyrille Aimée & Diego Figueiredo: “Django To Jobim” Call our movie hotline to find out what’s playing this week!
(503) 249-7474
Event and movie info at mcmenamins.com/mission
MUSIC CALENDAR
[NOV. 23-29] SABINE ROGERS
= 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. For more listings, check out wweek.com.
WED. NOV. 23 Afrique Bistro
102 NE Russell St. The Javier Nero Quintet
Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Steve Wilkinson
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Open Mic
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Pete Krebs
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Get Rhythm, The Fallmen, Charming Birds
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. D. Worthy, Yung Mil, Captain the Rareness, A. Reed, The PDX Kings, Eman, Low Steez, AP the CEO, Big Mo, Hero Fame, C-Smooth, JLew and more
Counterfeit Cash (9:30 pm); Half-Step Shy Happy Hour (6 pm)
Leviticus Appleton, Antecessor, Glass Teeth
Brasserie Montmartre
2845 SE Stark St. Sugarcane
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Imaginary Cities, Brave Chandeliers
Hawthorne Theatre
O’Connors
626 SW Park Ave. Brooks Robertson
Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave. Jazz Jam
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. Blind Pilot; Point Juncture, WA
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Midnight Ghost Train, Metal Mother, 2nd Best
Devils Point
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Plaid, Natasha Kmeto, Tyler Tastemaker
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. David Walker
Jimmy Mak’s
Doug Fir Lounge
Kenton Club
830 E Burnside St. Rachael Yamagata, Mike Viola
Duff’s Garage
Beaterville Cafe
Biddy McGraw’s
1800 E Burnside St. Pagan Jug Band
6000 NE Glisan St.
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Mayhem, Keep of Kalessin, Hate, Abigail Williams, Ceremonial Castings
5305 SE Foster Road ‘80s Night with DJ Brooks
1635 SE 7th Ave. Candye Kane (9 pm); High Flyer Trio (6 pm)
2201 N Killingsworth St. Robin Greene
Goodfoot Lounge
East Burn
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown Quartet
Mississippi Studios
7850 SW Capitol Highway Kit Garoutte
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. Swing Papillon
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Open Mic with Go Fuck Yerself
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave. Zed’s Dead, Kellan & Avery, Imade
Rotture
2025 N Kilpatrick St. The Barkers
315 SE 3rd Ave. Noisy Pig, Molly Nilsson, Lost Lockets
LaurelThirst
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
Someday Lounge
2958 NE Glisan St. Lewi Longmire Band, Denver
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Billy D
8635 N Lombard St. Basketball Jones, Face the Box, Bordertown 125 NW 5th Ave. Sirround, DJ Rafa, Josh Romo, Micah McNelly
CONT. on page 38
BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Pterodactyl plays Mississippi Studios on Tuesday.
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
37
MUSIC
CALENDAR Ella Street Social Club
BAR SPOTLIGHT R O TA M
714 SW 20th Place Quinn Allan, The Migrant, Matthew Ulm
Ford Food and Drink 2505 SE 11th Ave. Jason Okamoto, Ed Thanhouser
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. AC/DDC (AC/DC tribute), Hit Me Baby (Britney Spears tribute)
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Rose Gerber
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. MPEG, The Damian Erskine Band
Kelly’s Olympian
A MAN’S WORLD: Much has been written about the sports bar’s role in hetero mandates and the zoned-out contemplation a male psyche occasionally craves. A place like King ’s Hookah Lounge (1806 NW Couch St., 719-6456, kingshookahlounge.com) shows it’s universal. Men sit silently under Somali and Lebanese flags, the young ones with laptops, the older ones watching European soccer or reading yellowed periodicals. They slouch across drab couches, the kind women hate, drinking tea and puffing lazily on flavored tobacco ignited by crudely cut charcoal. Yes, even cultures forbidding alcohol consumption have places where you can space out with a mildly intoxicating substance. A sign says only two people can share a hookah, which is key to keeping out college kids who might be otherwise drawn to a place that’s open until 4 am on weekends. Shaq once stopped in, his photos hanging on two walls. It’s easy to see why the big man would love this place—it’s not like he can hang peaceably at a normal sports bar. MARTIN CIZMAR.
The Blue Diamond
2016 NE Sandy Blvd. The Fenix Project Jam Session
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar
Original Halibut’s II 2527 NE Alberta St. Terry Robb
Friday Night Coffeehouse
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Mikey Vegaz, Fli Boi Moe
Backspace
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
115 NW 5th Ave. PC-PDX Benefit: Big Black Cloud, The Hand That Bleeds, Valkyrie Rodeo, Bison Bison
3120 N Williams Ave. Will Carpenter, Padraic Finbar HagertyHammond
Spare Room
2201 N Killingsworth St. Sockeye Sawtooth
Thirsty Lion
3341 SE Belmont St. Alan Jones Jam
1001 SW Broadway Karla Harris
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Ave. Os Ovni
The Waypost
71 SW 2nd Ave. Merrill Lite
Touché Restaurant and Billiards 1425 NW Glisan St. Nancy King with Steve Christofferson
Trail’s End Saloon
1320 Main St., Oregon City Danny O’Brien & Ken Brewer
Vie de Boheme 1530 SE 7th Ave. Jay Koder & the Soulmates
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Redwood Son
Wilfs Restaurant and Bar 800 NW 6th Ave. Ron Steen Trio with Marilyn Keller
Yukon Tavern
5819 SE Milwaukie Ave. Open Mic
THURS. NOV. 24
8132 SE 13th Ave. Open Mic
8635 N Lombard St. Jobo Shakins 4830 NE 42nd Ave. Open Mic
The Blue Monk
Tiger Bar
317 NW Broadway Karaoke from Hell
Trail’s End Saloon
1320 Main St., Oregon City Rae Gordon
FRI. NOV. 25 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Steve Wilkinson
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St. Woody Moran, Travis Royce, Detention Room, Kelsey Morris, Patrimony, Rare Monk, V & The Dirty Pretty, MidLo, Pete Ekstam, Dan Weber
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. The Free Theater, Chris Carpenter, Violet Isle (9:30 pm); Mikey’s Irish Jam (6:30 pm)
Andina
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Danny Romero Trio (6 pm); Toshi Onizuka (1:30 pm)
Andrea’s Cha Cha Club 832 SE Grand Ave.
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Sellwood Public House
1314 NW Glisan St. Dan Diresta Quartet
Artichoke Community Music 3130A SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
Beaterville Cafe
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Funk Shui (9:30 pm); Billy Kennedy & Jim Boyer (6 pm)
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave. A Hope for Home, Kye Kye, My Mantle, Amos Val, The Hedonist, Tribes
Brasserie Montmartre 626 SW Park Ave. Al Craido & Tablao
Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave. Andrew Goodwin
Clyde’s Prime Rib
5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Ocean 503
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Fur Pillows (feat. Har Mar Superstar), Sports, Polaroids, Pataha Hiss
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Russian Circles, Helms Alee, Deafheaven
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Return of Paris Slim (9 pm); Honey and the Hamdogs (6 pm)
East Burn
1800 E Burnside St. Boy and Bean
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Sick Jaggers, Animal Bodies, Os Ovni, Tunnels
125 NW 5th Ave. Max’d Out III: Illa, BDP, Francheyes and YNGZ, Steve-O, Frankly Esquire, DJ TJ, TopDolla
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave. Root Jack, Red Hills, Last Watch
The Blue Diamond
2016 NE Sandy Blvd. Margo Tufo
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Fernando
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Left Coast Country
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Krebsic Orkestar (9 pm); The Quadraphonnes (6 pm)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Tony Furtado Band (live recording/DVD filming)
Mock Crest Tavern
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Steve Cheseborough
Noho’s Hawaiian Cafe 4627 NE Fremont St. Traditional Hawaiian Music
Norse Hall
111 NE 11th Ave. The Pranksters
Original Halibut’s II 2527 NE Alberta St. A.C. Porter
Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli
2314 SE Division St. Lynn Conover
Peter’s Room
8 NW 6th Ave. Rail, Garden of Eden, Groove Thief, Gnosis
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. Ramblin’ Rod’s Bastard Children, Patria Jodida Democracia Podria
Portland Police Athletic Association 618 SE Alder St. Mark St. Mary Band
Press Club
421 SE Grand Ave. Luna’s Ceiling
The Space
9970 SW BeavertonHillsdale Highway, Beaverton Tracy Grammer
The Woods
6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. Animal Eyes, Slow Trucks, Pony Village
315 SE 3rd Ave. Ninja, Grenades, White Orange, Asteroid M
Bar
Slim’s Cocktail
8635 N Lombard St. Your Rival, Death Songs, And And And
Biddy McGraw’s
626 SW Park Ave. Trashcan Joe (9 pm); Al Craido & Tablao (5:30 pm)
Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave. Toque Libre
Clyde’s Prime Rib
5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Norman Sylvester
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Ritim Egzotik (bellydance and fire-performance night)
Tiger Bar
317 NW Broadway Black Beast Revival
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Perseverance, Kingdom Under Fire, Ashen Relic, American Roulette
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Nightcaps
Touché Restaurant and Billiards 1425 NW Glisan St. The Robert Moore Quartet
Trail’s End Saloon
1320 Main St., Oregon City Norman Sylvester
Twilight Café and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd. Slaves, Sexxon Valdez, Blast Majesty
Vie de Boheme
1530 SE 7th Ave. David Friesen Circle 3 Trio
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. Terry Robb
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Rootdown, James Coates (9:30 pm); Reverb Brothers (5:30 pm)
Wilfs Restaurant and Bar 800 NW 6th Ave. Tony Pacini Trio
SAT. NOV. 26
Alberta Rose Theatre
Rotture
1465D NE Prescott St. Ben Seretan, Port St. Willow, The Polyps
East End
Red Room
116 SE Yamhill St. J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, DJ 100proof, Ben Tactic
Beacon Sound
Duff’s Garage
71 SW 2nd Ave. Will Bradley Band
15th Avenue Hophouse
Refuge
115 NW 5th Ave. Paper Or Plastic, The Greater Midwest, Nathan Trueb
Thirsty Lion
2621 SE Clinton St. Miss Michael Jodell, Matt Brown 2530 NE 82nd Ave. Class War, Vamonos, Skatterbomb, Knox Harrington
Backspace
Brasserie Montmartre
The Lovecraft
2958 NE Glisan St. Lynn Conover & Gravel (9:30 pm); Alice Stuart (6 pm)
225 SW Ash St. Spatia, Blood Owl, Oden
The Know
1001 SW Broadway Johnny Martin
Kenton Club
LaurelThirst
Ash Street Saloon
6000 NE Glisan St. Jimmy Boyer Band (9:30 pm); Twisted Whistle (6 pm)
2026 NE Alberta St. The Bloodtypes, Sick Secrets, Freedom Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Flash Flood & the Dikes, Audios Amigos, Tfepesch
The von Trapp Family with the Oregon Symphony
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar
426 SW Washington St. Wizard Boots, The Slutty Hearts, Write On
3435 N Lombard St. New Iberians Dina & Bamba Y Su Pilon D’Azucar with La Descarga Cubana
Someday Lounge
1517 NE Brazee St. Ron Hughes
3000 NE Alberta St. Lewi Longmire, Holcombe Waller, Al James, James Low, Kris Deelane, Dan Haley, Joe McMurrian, Darrin Craig, Jim Brunberg, The Don of Division Street, Shook Twins, Jeremy Wilson and more (The Band tribute)
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Toshi Onizuka Trio
Andrea’s Cha Cha Club 832 SE Grand Ave. Pilon D’Azucar Salsa Band
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway
1635 SE 7th Ave. Robbie Laws Band 203 SE Grand Ave. Ancient Heat, Atole, DJ Flight Risk
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place Gardening Not Architecture, Chris Staples
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Game Over, Echoic, Dead in a Ditch, Aethyrium, 4 More Wars
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave. Wale, Black Cobain, Logics, Luck-One
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
8635 N Lombard St. Hip Deep Soul Revue
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. Haymaker, Thrillbilly, Gravelpit
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave. The Angel Bouchet Band
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S.
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave. Rabbits, Lord Dying, Beardo
The Blue Diamond
2016 NE Sandy Blvd. Lady Kat
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar 1001 SW Broadway Linda Lee Michelet
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Ave. Ghostmotor, Dead Animal Assembly Plant
The Woods
6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. The Tumblers, Dkota, The Beautiful Trainwrecks
Thirsty Lion
71 SW 2nd Ave. The Boys Next Door
Tiger Bar
Goodfoot Lounge
317 NW Broadway The Lockouts, Silver and Glass, Pink Slip
Hawthorne Hophouse
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Rudefish, Lowen Bad, Item 9
2845 SE Stark St. Scott Pemberton Superband, Flowmotion
Tonic Lounge
4111 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Ben Larsen & Austin Moore
Tony Starlight’s
Hawthorne Theatre
Touché Restaurant and Billiards
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Sisyphean Conscience, Day of Days, Regiment 26, Ashylus, When They Invade
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Mike Phillips
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. 42 Ford Prefect, Stumblebum, The Streakin’ Healys
Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. The Smoking Mirrors, Invivo, Wolf Pussy
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Kory Quinn & The Comrades, Ruby Feathers, W.C. Beck (9:30 pm); Tree Frogs (6 pm)
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro The Druthers
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Egg Plant, Pale Tourist
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Wampire, Breakfast Mountain, Mattress
Mock Crest Tavern 3435 N Lombard St. Blueprints
Noho’s Hawaiian Cafe
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Dean Martin Tribute
1425 NW Glisan St. Kelley Shannon Trio
Trail’s End Saloon
1320 Main St., Oregon City Lloyd Jones
Vie de Boheme 1530 SE 7th Ave. Anandi
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. On the Stairs, Early Hours, Hunter Paye (9:30 pm); The Student Loan (4:30 pm)
Wilfs Restaurant and Bar 800 NW 6th Ave. Randy Porter Trio
SUN. NOV. 27 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Redwood Son, Jenna Ellefson & Anna Tivel
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Danny Romero
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Los Other Phux, Ergot, My Body Sings Electric, Reefer Madness
Clyde’s Prime Rib
5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Ron Steen Jazz Jam
4627 NE Fremont St. Traditional Hawaiian Music
Dante’s
Original Halibut’s II
Doug Fir Lounge
2527 NE Alberta St. Frank Goldwasser, Jim Miller
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. Nevele Nevele
350 W Burnside St. Buoy Larue 830 E Burnside St. Deathtrap America
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place
Blast Majesty, Oceanography, Ninja Turtle Ninja Tiger
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. Robot Uprise, Neo G Yo
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Youth, Port St. Willow, Ben Seretan and the Early, The Woolen Men, DJ vs. Nature (Badlands showcase)
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Josh and Mer, Adam Bristol
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Billy Kennedy & Tim Acott (9:30 pm); Freak Mountain Ramblers (6 pm)
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Colleeen Raney
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Hungry, Hungry Hip Hop: L Pro, Destro, Speaker Minds
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Into the Woods Fall Party: Hosannas, Sun Angle, Log Across the Washer, Support Force
Mount Tabor Theater
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Runar Magnusson
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Irish Music
NEPO 42
5403 NE 42nd Ave. Open Mic
Rontoms
600 E Burnside St. Father Figure
Rose Garden
1401 N Wheeler Ave. Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
8635 N Lombard St. Johnny Credit and the Cash Machine
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Quadraphonnes
Tillicum Club
8585 SW BeavertonHillsdale Highway Johnny Martin
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Little Lord Fauntleroy
Trail’s End Saloon
1320 Main St., Oregon City Robbie Laws
Tupai at Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Toshi Onizuka
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Marty Marquis (of Blitzen Trapper), Mike Elias
Village Ballroom
700 NE Dekum St. Bill Martin with Uncle Wiggily (square dance)
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Open Mic/Songwriter Showcase
Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St. Portland Drum Fair: Daniel Glass, John Niekrasz, Tim DuRoche, STLS, Daniel Hunt, Brass Roots Movement, Lauren Newman
MON. NOV. 28 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Redwood Son, Keegan Smith, Acoustic Minds
CALENDAR Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. Northeast Northwest, Sound and the Urgency
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Pete Krebs
Ash Street Saloon 225 SW Ash St. Hip-Hop Open Mic
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Battery-Powered Music
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Mike D.
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Karaoke from Hell
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Girl in a Coma, Fences, Black Box Revelation
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Towers, DJ Nate C
Ella Street Social Club
714 SW 20th Place Fake Hospital, Monopoly Child Star Searchers, White Gourd, Tenses
Goodfoot Lounge 2845 SE Stark St. Open Mic
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Dan Balmer
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. David Gerow, Half Step Shy
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Kung Pao Chickens (9 pm); Portland Country Underground (6 pm)
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Bob Shoemaker
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Gordon Goldsmith, Cody Weathers (9 pm); Bluegrass Jam (6:30 pm); Mr. Ben (5 pm)
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. Lloyd Jones
Music Millennium
3158 E Burnside St. Moonlight Mile
O’Connors
7850 SW Capitol Highway Kit Garoutte
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Pigeons, Bear and Moose
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Jack Ruby Presents, Evan Way, Fanno Creek
TUES. NOV. 29 15th Avenue Hophouse
1517 NE Brazee St. Ben Larsen & Austin Moore
Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. Redwood Son, Will West and Groovy Wallpaper
Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. Miss Michael Jodell (live radio-show broadcast)
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Neftali Rivera
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Year of the Rabbit, Pale Tourist, Grey for Days
Beaterville Cafe
2201 N Killingsworth St. Spoken Word Open Mic
Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. Open Mic
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. This Charming Man
Camellia Lounge
510 NW 11th Ave. Ezra Weiss Quartet
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. The Deep Dark Woods
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Dover Weinberg Quartet (9:30 pm); Trio Bravo (6 pm)
Ella Street Social Club
714 SW 20th Place Diamond Catalog, Regression, Drainolith, Toning
Goodfoot Lounge
2845 SE Stark St. Scott PembertonTrio
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown Septet (8 pm); Mt. Hood Community College Jazz Combos (6:30 pm)
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Leafeater, De La Warr
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Jackstraw
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
Studio 69: DJs Sex Life, New Moon Poncho, Genevieve D, Maxx Bass, Jeffrey Jerusalem
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Open Bluegrass Jam
Mount Tabor Theater
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Poor Boy’s Soul, Trevor Jones
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Pterodactyl, Pictorials
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. All Eyes Closed, Protege, Foreign Talks
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. Beyond Veronica, Sundaze, Pataha Hiss
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar 1001 SW Broadway Johnny Martin
Thirsty Lion
71 SW 2nd Ave. PDX Singer-Songwriter Showcase
Twilight Café and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd. Open Mic with The Roaming
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Castanets, Sun Foot
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar
2929 SE Powell Blvd. Arthur “Fresh Air” Moore Harmonica Party
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Tent City
WED. NOV. 23 Matador
1967 W Burnside St. DJ Whisker Friction
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. City Baby
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Muscle Milk: DJs Trans Fat, Ill Camino (10 pm); DJ Loyd Depriest (early set)
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. DJ Humans
Yes and No
20 NW 3rd Ave. Death Club with DJ Entropy
THURS. NOV. 24 Beauty Bar
111 SW Ash St. Shameless Thursdays: DJs Easter Egg, 3X
Fez Ballroom
316 SW 11th Ave. Shadowplay: DJs Horrid, Ghoulunatic, Paradox
The Whiskey Bar 31 NW 1st Ave. Damage
FRI. NOV. 25 Fez Ballroom
316 SW 11th Ave. Decadent ‘80s: DJ Jason Wann, DJ Non
Goodfoot Lounge 2845 SE Stark St. Soul Stew with DJ Aquaman
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. DJ Nate C
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Snap!: Dr. Adam, Colin Jones (9 pm); Aperitivo Happy Hour with Morning Teleportation (DJ set, 5 pm)
Palace of Industry 5426 N Gay Ave. DJ Holiday
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. Blank Fridays
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Sound Bombing: SPL, DJ Nykon, Luckyiam & Lana, Sporeganic, Sence, Laidnightly, Card 1
Palace of Industry
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Hoodrich with Ronin Roc (10 pm); DJ Neil Blender (early set)
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. DJs Honey O, Yellow Electric
SAT. NOV. 26 Ground Kontrol 511 NW Couch St. Roxy’s Ego Hour
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St.
18 NW 3rd Ave. Hootchie Koo! with DJ Danny Dodge
MON. NOV. 28
Service Industrial Night with DJ Tibin
1305 SE 8th Ave. Catsup and Musturd: Mewp, Little Terror v. Axiom, DJ Dogwater, Dykedelic Tramps, The Goa Constrictor, Star D, Aaron Camp, EZ
Rotture
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. Beacon Sound
Tube
Plan B
231 SW Ankeny St. Jai Ho! Bhangra Revolution
421 SE Grand Ave. Darkness Descends with DJ Maxamillion
1305 SE 8th Ave. Hive with DJ Owen
Ground Kontrol
The Lovecraft
205 NW 4th Ave. Blown: Barisone, Matt Rock, Mr. Wu, D. Poetica
Plan B
5426 N Gay Ave. DJ Pippa Possible
315 SE 3rd Ave. Blow Pony: DJ Airick, DJ Kinetic, Jodi Bon Jodi, Mr. Charming, Katey Pants, Lustache, Roy G Biv
The Crown Room
MUSIC
Next Big Thing with DJ Donny Don’t
Ted’s (at Berbati’s)
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Ave. Industrial Night with DJ Ghoulunatic
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. Three Legged Dog Night
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Saturdazed: DJs GH, Czief Xenith (late set); DJ Wels (early set)
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. DJ Liz B
SUN. NOV. 27 Matador
511 NW Couch St.
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. Into the Void with DJ Blackhawk
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Coldyron
TUES. NOV. 29 East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Second-Hand Daylight with DJ Linoleum
The Crown Room
205 NW 4th Ave. See You Next Tuesday: Kellan, Avery
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJs Rat Creeps, Awkward Silence
Tiger Bar
317 NW Broadway Good Music for Bad People with DJ Entropy
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Tubesday: DJ Ronin Roc, Doc Adam (late set); DJ Dirty Red (7 pm)
Yes and No
20 NW 3rd Ave. Idiot Tuesdays with DJ Black Dog
1967 W Burnside St.
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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MUSIC
VISUAL ARTS
PAGE
GALLERY LISTINGS AND MORE!
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SUNDAY-TUESDAY
but regardless of the numbers behind that economic aberration, we’re damned lucky to have both Revival Drum Shop and Rhythm Traders, and we’re damned lucky that the pair is putting on this second installment of the percussion love fest known as Portland Drum Fair. In addition to a king’s ransom in vintage percussion gear, the fest will feature drum clinics, gear swaps and performances from a collection of local and far-flung super-talents. Headliner Daniel Glass (not the Universal Music executive, for the two of you in a position to make that mistake) is an R&B drumming revivalist whose command of jazz classicism played an integral role in swing music’s late-’90s resurgence. SHANE DANAHER. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 2848686. 10 am. $5 advance, $10 day of show. All ages.
MONDAY, NOV. 28 Girl In A Coma, Fences, Black Box Revelation
Saturday 11-26 A NIGHT OF DUBSTEP & BEYOND SOUND BOMBING FEATURING SPL, NYKON, LUCKYIAM & LANA AND MORE! ALL AGES, 9PM
Sunday 11-27 (IN THE CONCERT HALL) EXPERIMENTAL ELECTRONIC ARTIST
RUNAR MAGNUSSON 8PM, 21+
(IN THE SIDESHOW LOUNGE)
KARAOKE ON THE BIG SCREEN WITH SEAN BAILEY! 9PM, 21+
[BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN] Not every band titling itself after a Smiths song, not even a MexicanAmerican all-girl (and twothirds lesbian) trio, should expect Morrissey to request its presence on tour after only a middling debut splash. Then, not every relatively unheralded pop-centric San Antonio teen combo attracts Joan Jett as producer, label head and perhaps uncomfortably devoted fan. Some girls’ Rolodexes are bigger than others, to be sure, but it’s equally likely that icons chancing upon Girl In a Coma vocalist Nina Diaz would recognize one of their own. Tapped by her drummer sister to step before the mic while Nina was still in middle school, the frontgal is a captivating performer, and, on just-released fourth album Exits & All the Rest, her effortless mastery of styles ranging from simmering soul to ’90s alt anthems conjures magic from oft-forgettable tunes. JAY HORTON. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
TUESDAY, NOV. 29 Diamond Catalog, Regression, Drainolith, Toning
[HERE ARE THE WARM JETS] An album that slipped through the ample fissures of the music blogosphere recently is Magnified Palette, the debut long-player by Diamond Catalog. The brain trust of local artists Pat Maherr (who occasionally records under the name Indignant Senility) and Lala Conchita, DC blasts honeyed house music through speakers covered in thick burlap. The beats seep through the threads, but the clatter and melody that accompanies them get beautifully muffled and distorted on the way. The two are joined tonight by Regression, the equally ravishing ambient rattles of Wolf Eyes member Nate Young. ROBERT HAM. Ella Street Social Club, 714 SW 20th Place, 227-0116. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
Pterodactyl, Pictorials
[SICKLY SWEET ART ROCK] Many a band has tried and failed to mesh the ear candy of the Beach Boys with the unhinged noise pop of ’90s-era Sonic Youth. Pterodactyl, a trio of gents from Brookyln, is one of the few success stories in that musical race. True, the 2011 version of the band is a much-gentler animal than that heard on previous recordings. But Pterodactyl has found perfection on its brandnew LP, Spills Out (out this month via Oneida’s record label, Brah), an urgent and tuneful collection that scratches and swells at the same time as it coos and withdraws. ROBERT HAM. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
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Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
ALBUM REVIEWS
FAKE HOSPITAL NEVER USE THE SAME DOOR TWICE (SELF-RELEASED) [DUNGEON JAZZ] As a member of Million Brazilians, Grant Corum helps listeners and band members alike reach ecstatic heights with a dark, saxophone-laden sound the group calls “dungeon jazz.” For his first solo effort under the name Fake Hospital, Corum has removed jazz from the equation (or at the very least reduced it to an Actuel Records-catalog-as-remixed-by-Coil simmer). What remains is a creepy, daring and resplendent work that would have made a great soundtrack to keep trick-or-treaters at bay were it released at this time last month. The two side-long tracks that make up Never Use the Same Door Twice (the LP is being released on vinyl and cassette only, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign) bring together acoustic and electronic sounds ranging from woodwind instruments and hand drums to a biofeedback machine and a machete. Using them, Corum constructs a mind-melting psychopharmacological vision wherein rhythms and melodies ooze into and out of focus. And when those signposts disappear, a gentle drone or spacey bit of heavily processed saxophone or trumpet slides right in to take their place. There are movements to it that could be boiled down to individual tracks, but, like a good LSD trip, you are much better off not trying to force any strictures upon Never Use. You’re far better off letting the music unfold on its own terms. ROBERT HAM.
ANCIENT HEAT OH...YOU BAD 12-INCH (SELF-RELEASED) [WAIT, DISCO? REALLY?] I am fascinated by disco. And I don’t mean the contemporary electronic dance music that passes itself off as such: I’m talking half-naked, coke-snorting, mirror-ball, blowjobs-inthe-men’s-room disco. That oft-trashed genre that soundtracked ’70s excess to such a degree that it really ought to be cataloged and studied with the same intensity as folk and blues. Besides, have you listened to that shit with headphones on? I swear to God, “More More More” by Andrea True Connection is one of the bestsounding recordings I’ve ever heard. I’m glad Ancient Heat shares my fascination. The nine-piece Portland outfit isn’t a retro or tribute act, but it integrates many of the hallmarks of disco—pulsing futuristic synths, skip-step drumming, the occasional sax solo, sexy female vocals—into a slightly updated dance-music sound on its original tunes. Ancient Heat even dresses for the occasion, its members decking themselves out in white lacy attire for live shows and press shots. On new 12-inch single Oh...You Bad, the Heat might actually take things a bit too far. The title track ably re-creates the signature sound of the ’70s (producer Collin Hegna, who helms spaghettiwestern orchestra Federale, knows a thing or two about reproducing a classic sound), but it also embraces disco’s vapidity with a one-line chorus repeated ad nauseam. Sometimes a great hook can carry a song—and the band’s live shows offer plenty of welcome distractions—but this one tires pretty fast, both in its original state and on two more modern remix versions. But don’t lose hope, party people: The single’s looser B-side, the mostly instrumental “Slap & Gallop,” is a soaring and cinematic horn-driven tune that bears many repeated listens. By stepping away from a strict constructionist interpretation of disco and showing just how capable this band can be when it forgets about gimmickry and dives headlong into a groove, Ancient Heat does manage to breathe a little life into a genre most folks thought died a long time ago. More of that, please. CASEY JARMAN. SEE IT: Fake Hospital plays the Ella Street Lounge, 714 SW 20th Place, on Monday, Nov. 28, with Monopoly Child Star Searchers, White Gourd and Tenses. 10 pm. $5. 21+. Ancient Heat plays East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., on Saturday, Nov. 26, with Atole and DJ Flight Risk. 9 pm. Cover. 21+.
NOV. 23-29
= 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 The Big Bang
[NEW REVIEW] The inventive premise of the 1997 play The Big Bang (staged here by Triangle Productions, with direction by Donald Horn) is that the audience is a group of potential investors being pitched a musical by two endearingly sincere guys with nothing but a sorry assortment of props and a dream. Unfortunately for our wannabe producers, it’s a heaping pile of a dream, a comically overambitious production that (in four three-hour parts) would tell the complete history of the world. The thankfully much abridged version co-leads Benjamin Sheppard and James Sharinghousen pitch us “investors” will delight Mel Brooks fans and make the politically correct uneasy: The humor is dated and hammy, and it employs pretty much every racial stereotype. Still, when this PC viewer wasn’t tugging at his collar, often clever lyrics had him chuckling. Sharinghousen and Sheppard’s performances deserve plaudits, too: The pair run the intermission-less 90-minute dash—singing, I might add—with impressive stamina. JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG. Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 239-5919. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. No show Nov. 24. $15-$35.
Brie
A new musical by John Walterich, presented by Jedediah Aaker, about flirting over MySpace, with a live soundtrack by the Penalty. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 2380543. 9:30 pm Mondays through Dec. 12. $5. 21+.
A Christmas Story
Portland Center Stage reprises last year’s adaptation of the beloved Bob Clark film. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm TuesdaysFridays, 2 and 7:30 pm SaturdaysSundays. Noon and 5 pm Saturday, Dec. 24. Closes Dec. 24. $29-$64.
Ebenezer Ever After
Stumptown Stages reprises the company’s musical sequel to Dickens’ story. Brunish Hall, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway, stumptownstages.com. 7:30 pm Nov. 25-26, Dec. 1-3, 9-10, 16-17 and 23, 2 pm Dec. 18 and 24. $39.70.
Happy Hollandaise
Beaverton Civic Theatre presents a play by Tim Koenig about dinner and robbery. Beaverton City Library Auditorium, 12375 SW 5th Ave., Beaverton, 754-9866. 8 pm FridaysSaturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Dec. 11. $5-$15.
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas
It’s ridiculous, I know, but Lakewood Theatre opened its Christmas show three weeks before Thanksgiving. Heaven help us all. Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901. 7:30 pm ThursdaysSaturdays, 2 pm Sundays Dec. 4 and 18, 2 and 7 pm Sundays Nov. 27 and Dec. 11. No show on Thanksgiving. Closes Dec. 18. $29-$32.
It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play
Hillsboro Artists’ Regional Theatre presents Joe Landry’s radio-theater-style adaptation of the Jimmy Stewart movie, with live foley effects. HART Theatre, 185 SE Washington St., Hillsboro, 693-7815, hart-theatre.org. 7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, Nov. 25-27. $14.
Naftali, Story Voyager on the Yiddish Seas
Jewish Theatre Collaborative performs
stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, for the kiddies. Miracle Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., jewishteatrecollaborative. org. 10:30 am and 1 pm Sunday, Nov. 27. $5-$8.
Rocket Man
[NEW REVIEW] In the program notes for this Twilight Rep production, director Aimé Kelly says Rocket Man “lays the foundation for a quantum-meta cognizant journey.” Whatever that means, Steven Dietz’s play is certainly slippery. The first act proceeds with relative straightforwardness: melancholic Donny (a compelling Mark Twohy) has dumped all his possessions on the lawn with a sign reading “Here’s my life—make an offer.” His friends and family respond with predictable alarm. Donny speaks vaguely of a trip he plans to take. He fiddles with a mysterious machine in his attic. He talks about the stars. A disco ball spins. The second act finds us in a parallel universe, where time moves in peculiar ways and temperaments have shifted. In this well-paced, well-intentioned production, you want to feel for Donny and clan. But just as Donny is told that his “application for empathy has been denied,” so too does Dietz’s zigzagging between sentimentality and sarcasm make it tough to care all that much about any of his characters. REBECCA JACOBSON. Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 312-6789. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Dec. 12. $10-$15.
The Shame Company
This year’s edition of the 3rd Floor’s annual sketch-comedy show is all about shame. Newsies, unitards, homophobes, jazz drummers and the entire year of 1985 get to hang their heads. Miracle Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., the3rdfloor.com. 8 pm FridaysSaturdays and Thursday, Dec. 1. No show Dec. 2. Closes Dec. 17. $14-$16.
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol
[NEW REVIEW] Every time I think the annual crop of holiday schlock that takes over America’s stages every November has reached its nadir—the cynical, artless stagings of beloved films; the Christmasy spinoffs of successful secular revues; the endless, “subversive” camp spoofs of Dickens— someone comes along a lowers the bar again. This latest Christmas Carol perversion at Artists Rep, by Seattle playwright John Longenbaugh, achieves the dubious feat of being even more long-windedly dull and moralistic than the usual version. A morose Holmes (Michael Mendelson) takes the place of Scrooge, who is visited at 221B Baker Street on Christmas Eve by a chaindraped Moriarty (Tobias Andersen, in his usual in grumpy Mark Twain mode) who warns that hellfire awaits the great detective because he, like his dead nemesis, “[has] never loved, and that is the greatest sin of all.” Then on come the spirits, who whisk Holmes through scenes both mawkish (a stop by the 1914 Christmas truce) and corny (a cameo by an aged Tiny Tim), each ending in an obvious epiphany delivered with typical Holmsian precision. With the exceptions of Mendelson, who plays Holmes as clipped, irritable and maybe just a tad coked, and Todd Van Voris, an absolutely perfect Watson, most of the cast seem as bored with this exercise as the audience. The show lacks the whiz-bang stagecraft that make some Christmas Carol productions tolerable, and concludes with a moral so dire even Dickens would find it laughable: If you don’t open your heart to Christmas, not only will you die alone, but you will cause the horrible deaths of thousands. Humbug! BEN WATERHOUSE. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm
Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays. Closes Dec. 24. $20-$50.
A Very Merry PDX-MAS
Broadway Rose presents a holiday song-and-dance revue with much of the cast—Amy Beth Frankel, Isaac Lamb and Anne McKee Reed—that made the company’s 2009 Christmas show, Celebrate Home, so delightful. Broadway Rose New Stage Theater, 12850 SW Grant Ave., Tigard, broadwayrose.org. 7:30 pm ThursdaysFridays, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. $28-$35.
COMEDY The Ed Forman Show
sublime Brandenburg Concerto No. 6; Bach’s friend Georg Philipp Telemann’s elegant Suite in D Major for Orchestra and Viola da Gamba; and some lesserknown gems. First Baptist Church, 909 SW 11th Ave., 205-0715. 7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, Nov. 25-26. $18-$61.
DANCE Arabesque
Locally and nationally known belly dancers perform at Arabesque, a weekly Middle Eastern music and
dance party. Members of longtime world-music ensemble Brothers of the Baladi play traditional acoustic Turkish, Persian and Armenian music; dancers are signed up a year in advance and rotate weekly, giving everyone a chance to perform, and offering viewers variety from week to week. Speaking of viewers, the band also plays open dance music for amateur dancers, belly or otherwise. The Blue Monk, 3341 SE Belmont St., 595-0575. 8 pm Wednesdays. $5. 21+.
CONT. on page 42
REVIEW FRÉDÉRIC CHÉHU
PERFORMANCE
Ed Forman, who is one month from abandoning us for L.A., celebrates his 300th live show. Wow. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 10 pm Tuesday, Nov. 29. $3.
Comedysportz
Family-friendly competitive improv comedy. ComedySportz, 1963 NW Kearney St., 236-8888. 8 pm FridaysSaturdays. $12.
Curious Comedy Open Mic
Virginia Jones hosts a comedy open mic. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 9 pm every second and fourth Sunday. Free.
Mice-tro
Sixteen improvisers are pitted against one another by a voice-of-God maestro and voted off by the audience. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8 pm Friday, Nov. 25. $8-$12.
Mixology
A monthly late-night comedy variety show with sketch, improv and standup. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 10 pm the last Saturday of every month. $5.
Pipes
Curious Comedy’s musical ensemble debuts a new show, Rhapsody. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 8 pm FridaySaturday, Nov. 25-26. $12-$15.
CLASSICAL Cantores in Ecclesia
The choir sings choral music for the Advent season from across the centuries, ranging from Renaissance masters like William Byrd, Tomás Luis de Victoria and Josquin des Prez to contemporary composers Arvo Pärt and James MacMillan. St. Patrick’s Church, 1623 NW 19th Ave., 800-838-3006. 3 pm Sunday, Nov. 27. $15-$20.
Eric Owens
The boss-voiced, bass baritone bowled me over in John Adams’ opera Doctor Atomic a few years ago, won unanimous raves as Alberich in Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold last season at the Met, and this season is also singing major orchestral and opera programs of music by Bach, Beethoven, Strauss, Verdi and Adams, plus a cabaret show. All this makes the Philly-born newmusic specialist’s Friends of Chamber Music recital with pianist Craig Rutenberg something of a surprise: intimate 19th- and early-20th-century songs, spanning Romantics Schubert and Schumann, French Impressionists Debussy and Ravel and concluding with a rousing Wagner finale. Lincoln Hall, Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Ave., 224-9842. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 29. $27-$40.
Portland Baroque Orchestra
Strings are the thing at these concerts, which star Dutch cellist and viola da gamba master Jaap Ter Linden, who rose to stardom with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Musica Antiqua Köln, and has gone on to make dozens of records and run his own Mozart Akademie. His program features a septet of Baroque violin, viola, harpsichord and cello specialists in music of another cello virtuoso, Luigi Boccherini; J.S. Bach’s
CAVALIA You are living under a rock if you haven’t heard about Cavalia, the show often described, at least around our office, as “Cirque du Soleil with horses.” Between the giant, quadruple-towered tent the production has set up under the Fremont Bridge; the adjacent building-sized, draped banners; and the flood of advertisements all over the city, the show’s logo of a white, doe-eyed horse with long flowing locks of humanlike hair is forever ingrained in my mind. On opening night, I was skeptical. The cynic in me couldn’t wait to take a jab or two at the extravagant spectacle of hauling 45 stallions and geldings around the world so acrobats can do flips on their backs in front of thousands of people. Or to poke fun at how most of the male performers have longer hair than the horses do. Cavalia’s Portland premiere slapped my cynicism in the face. It is a spectacle, indeed. Though the acrobats and aerialists have rubber bands for bodies and are seemingly immune to gravity, the real performance is by the “four-legged artists,” as creator Normand Latourelle calls his horses. The show opens with a quote: “The noblest conquest of a man is to have gained the friendship of a horse.” This relationship is the backbone of the show, and it evolves beautifully throughout the performance. In one of the most touching acts, a trainer coaxes six loosely running horses into a perfect concentric trot around her and, with the slightest change in her body, the steeds simultaneously turn the other direction as if all seven figures are one breathing, moving entity. The mood quickly changes from elegance and obedience to a heartracing cowboy-clad atmosphere. One by one, horses gallop against a vast desert landscape as daring riders perform a number of tricks, including hanging upside down, sideways and backward off the saddle. Soon a rider’s head is only inches away from thundering hooves, and the audience is somewhere between astonished and horrified. Cavalia explores all sides of the horse: gentle and nurturing, fierce and powerful, wild and tame. And the connection between horse and human, the exclusive bond between performance partners, is quite a sight to see. EMILEE BOOHER.
Creepy billboards aside, the show’s a wild ride.
SEE IT: Cavalia Big-top, Northwest 12th Avenue and Pettygrove Street, 866-999-8111, cavalia.net. 8 pm Nov. 23, 25-26, 29-30 and Dec. 1-3; 2 pm Nov. 25, 27 and Dec. 4. 3 pm Nov. 26 and Dec. 3. $24.50$189.50. Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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PERFORMANCE
NOV. 23-29
Do Jump!
If the Nutcracker isn’t your speed, consider Do Jump!’s holiday show Ahhh Ha!, a greatest-hits collection from the company’s last three decades. Ahhh Ha! offers artistic director Robin Lane’s signature blend of contemporary dance, aerial and acrobatic work, live music and theatrical flourishes. The costumes are colorful, the subject matter and staging are family-friendly and a Nutcracker send-up is included. (That said, this town actually is big enough for more than one holiday show, so this doesn’t have to be an either-or decision.) Ahhh Ha! features special guests Jeff George (BodyVox2) and Kailee McMurran (SubRosa Dance Collective), plus music from Klezmocracy and Do Jump! resident composer, Joan Szymko, in collaboration with the Grammy-nominated, professional choral ensemble Conspirare. Refreshments will be available. Echo Theater, 1515 SE 37th Ave., 231-1232. 7:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 26; noon and 4 pm Sunday, Nov. 27; 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 2; 3 and 7:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 3; 4 pm Sunday, Dec. 4, 11 and 18; 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 9 and 16; 3 and 7:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 10 and 17; 3 and 7:30 pm Tuesday, Dec. 20; 7:30 pm Wednesday-Thursday, Dec. 21-22; 3 and 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 23; 3 and 7:30 pm Monday, Dec. 26; 7:30 pm Tuesday, Dec. 27; noon and 4 pm Wednesday, Dec. 28, 7:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 29; 3 and 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 30; 4 pm Sunday, Jan. 1. $20-$32.
Every Sunday Square Dance
Weekly traditional square dance series; each dance taught by rotating regional callers and danced to the music of live bands. Village Ballroom, 700 NE Dekum St. 7-9 pm Sundays. $7.
Mystic Mirage
formers Sedona, Claudia and Shara, plus Danielle Elizabeth (Underscore Orkestra) and Nagasita (Wanderlust Circus). Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9 pm Saturday, Nov. 26. $12$14. 21+.
Savoir Faire Burlesque Revue
Weekly burlesque revue featuring local, regional and national burlesque and cabaret performers. Hawthorne Theatre, 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 233-7100. 10 pm Thursdays. $8 . 21+.
TGIFF (Thank Goodness It’s Fourth Friday) Dance
Mary Ann Carter teaches dance lessons from 7:30 to 8:30 pm, followed by open practice to big band The Pranksters. Norse Hall, 111 NE 11th Ave., 236-3401. 7:30 pm Friday, Nov. 25. $5-$8.
The Portland Ballet
The Portland Ballet dances the world premiere of former Los Angeles Ballet honcho John Clifford’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The production, with original costumes, set, lighting and Mendelssohn’s music performed live by the PSU Orchestra opens the holiday performance season just after Thanksgiving. A favorite of choreographers and ballet-goers alike (many major companies have some version of it in their repertoire), A Midsummer Night’s Dream blends comedy, romance and the fantastical in fine, Shakespearean fashion. Lincoln Hall, Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Ave. 2:30 and 7:30 pm Friday, Nov. 25, 1 and 4 pm Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 26-27. $15-$35.
For more Performance listings, visit
Ritim Egzotik plays live at this evening of belly dancing and fire dancing, featuring Belly Dance Soul Fire per-
PREVIEW
OPERA THEATER OREGON, OPERA VS. CINEMA One of the city’s most innovative arts companies enters a new phase Friday, Nov. 25, with The Black Pirate vs. The Flying Dutchman, its first show under new artistic director Erica Melton, who’s been playing piano with Opera Theater Oregon—an organization dedicated to “making opera safe for America”—and has served as music director since 2008. It’s also the first production in OTO’s two-year residency at the Mission Theater. Since its founding in 2005, OTO has earned a strong reputation and new audiences by staging cheeky, fun productions of classic operas in casual settings like the Alberta Rose Theatre, Someday Lounge and Clinton Street Theater. Shows include audience participation and a sly sense of fun, although they always take the music seriously—even when it’s performed by electric guitars or a piano and chorus rather than a mega-orchestra. This season’s Opera vs. Cinema series draws on the resources of the Mission Theater to combine opera, classic films and live improvised music in a throwback to the days when movies were accompanied not by recorded soundtracks but by organists or pianists. Using film is also cheaper than building props (“You can create a world easily,” Melton explains), and takes advantage of OTO film director Jen Wechsler’s cinematic knowledge and the improvising talents of pianist Douglas Schneider. “I wanted to create a series around his talents,” Melton says. Friday’s show exemplifies the new direction, pairing Douglas Fairbanks’ 1926 Technicolor Want to make Wagner fun? Add pirates.
THE BLACK PIRATE
swashbuckler The Black Pirate with Schneider’s accompaniment based on Richard Wagner’s 1843 opera The Flying Dutchman. “It’s got everything a family would want from a pirate film,” Melton says. “Buried treasure, water rescue, walking the plank, a hero standing up for good.” (Not to mention a leading man doing his own stunts.) Of course, beer will be available. Later shows will feature collisions between Verdi’s Aida and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, John Adams’ Dr. Atomic with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with Last Year at Marienbad. “We also hope to expand our fan base by bringing in people interested in film and turning them on to opera,” Melton says. “It’s a little like sneaking zucchini into a muffin for your 2-year-old.” BRETT CAMPBELL. SEE IT: The Black Pirate vs. The Flying Dutchman, 7 pm Friday, Nov. 25, at the Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., 223-4527. $9 advance, $11 day of show. Minors allowed with parent or guardian.
INTRODUCING DECCA’S NEW OPERA SERIES!
Puccini-Tosca
Pavarotti, Freni, Milnes Sale $16.99 2 CDs
Mozart-Don Giovanni Terfel, Fleming, Murray Sale $19.99 3 CDs
Verdi-Nabucco
Gobbi, Suliotis, Gardelli Sale $16.99 2 CDs
Berlioz-Les Troyens Lakes, Voigt, Dutoit Sale $23.99 4 CDs
Rimsky-Korsakov: Invisible City of Kitezh Okhotnikov, Marusin, Gorchakova Sale $19.99 3 CDs
November sees the launch of Decca’s new OPERA series, with beautiful new covers, re-establishing Decca as THE OPERA COMPANY. Restoring 20 legendary Decca Opera Recordings to the catalog in new and fresh packaging using the original sleeve art, this series showcases many of the greatest opera recordings ever made. Perfect for those new to opera as well as afficiandos, several of these classic recordings are reissued at mid-price for the first time, whilst others have been unavailable for many years and see a welcome return to the catalog.
Donizetti-Lucia di Lammermoor
Debussy-Pelleas et Melisande
Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes Sale $16.99 2 CDs
Henry, Alliot-Lugaz, Dutoit Sale $16.99 2 CDs
Rossini-Il Turco in Italia Bartoli, Corbelli, Vargas Sale $16.99 2 CDs
ON SALE THROUGH DECEMBER 18TH 42
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
VISUAL ARTS
NOV. 23-29
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. By TJ NORRIS. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit show information—including opening and closing dates, gallery address and phone number—at least two weeks in advance to: Visual Arts, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: rspeer@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115. Emailed press releases must be backed up by a faxed or printed copy.
Friday, Nov 25th
TRAVIS ROYCE, PATRIMONY, RARE MONK, V & THE DIRTY PRETTY Saturday, Nov 26th The Band’s “Last Waltz” Revisited
JACQUELINE EHLIS’ HOLDING THE SILENCE, IN FOREGROUND
NOW SHOWING Magic > Nature
The mysteries of science are alive and well, perhaps more subliminally than at first glance. Magic > Nature is an invitational group show co-curated by local artists Michael Endo and Emily Nachison, who have imported a half dozen national artists and added two locals (Tia Factor and Kendra Larson) for good measure. By mining the inverse of science, they explore the majestic, colorful sum of the fractured parts of nature. Amid John Bohl’s Wizard’s Kitchen installation, with its multiple kitschy and bright objects, you can spy a small severed arm, Kermit the Frog’s cornea and a melting candelabra. Andrew Rogers contributes a handful of tight, small-scale wall sculptures that attempt to, according to an accompanying catalog, debunk mysteries of the universe via the limitations of painting as a medium. I’m not sure what they mean by “the lost symbolic languages of pseudo-sciences,” but I think if you try it, you just might like it—a pinch of this and a hint of that. False Front Studio, 4518 NE 32nd Ave., 781-4609, falsefrontstudio. com. Closes Nov. 30.
foreGround
Jeff Jahn curates foreGround, a sparsely composed group exhibition addressing the subliminal influence of geology on our everyday lives. New works by Jim Neidhardt (Atomic Fireball) and Jacqueline Ehlis (Holding Through the Silence) are activated by physical marks made by either the human hand or the force of nature. Others are more obtuse, such as Rovers by Zachary Davis, in which the action of insect-sized animals is taken out of context from an isolated gaming engine and video-projected on small mounds of sand, or Ben Young’s hara-kiri felt-cape-wearing warrior disguising a metal detector and the cast of a small cement pug. Then there’s Arcy Douglass’ untitled fractal panels in black and white, rich in conceptual dimension and mathematical precision. He’s making light of the narrative at play. Matthew Picton’s Portland depicts a grid of the city circa 1980, at a time of great seismic change, though geo-mapping provides only a causeway for its physical construction, which is made from actual promo materials for the film Dante’s Peak. Littman Gallery/Portland State University at Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 250, 1825 SW Broadway. Closes Wednesday, Nov. 23.
Interior Margins
Dinner conversations about art and life can be powerfully appetizing. Interior Margins is a group show of eight Northwest female artists conceived around the dining table and curated by Stephanie Snyder and Sarah Miller Meigs. The work, from women spanning various generations, is housed in a two-story loft space. Each artist deals with abstraction from a personal viewpoint—be it through small wall drawings, primordial body morphing or shape-shifting optical waves. The Lumber Room, 419 NW 9th Ave., lumberroom.com. Closes Jan. 30. No show Nov. 24-26, Dec. 22-24 & 31.
P.O.V. (reflexive)
Kelly Rauer’s video installation, P.O.V. (reflexive), presents physical grace through involuntary and anonymous distortions of the feminine form. Seven differently shaped video monitors recall various body types, replaying silent shorts atop narrow black stands constructed for the presentation. The constantly moving figure is entrancing and non-confrontational, almost birdlike at times. Milepost 5/The Studios, 900 NE 81st Ave., 729-3223, milepost5.net. Closes Saturday, Nov. 26.
Place
Place, a contemporary art workshop occupying an expansive space atop the Pioneer Place Mall, celebrates its first year of programming. The rooms have small solo exhibitions, including a collaborative installation by Rhoda London and Harrison Higgs that pairs blurry pastoral video imagery and starkly striped works on paper, presented with objects that suggest aging and mortality. A simple work on canvas depicts a bowler cap, bringing a somberness to the space. A grid forms the passage within the installation Framed or Frame of Mind by Richard Schemmerer, his most cryptic and pared-down work. Blacked-out faces, objet d’art assemblage and other surprises await. Standouts include a glass ladder in Jane Schiffhauer’s The Myth of Memory and Wynde Dyer’s For Sale by Owner: 1751 East St., complete with a scaled-down replica of the artist’s birthplace. Place is located on the third level of the Pioneer Place Mall, 700 SW 5th Ave. Closes Dec. 4.
For more Visual Arts listings, visit
a benefit for the Jeremy Wilson Foundation & Oregon Food Bank performers and bands include: LEWI LONGMIRE • SHOOK TWINS • AL JAMES • JEREMY WILSON • HOLCOMBE WALLER • BERTHALINE • MIRIAMS WELL • JAMES LOW • KRIS DEELANE • DAN HALEY • and more Thursday, Dec 1st
THE COATS
holiday show Friday, Dec 2nd
LIVE WIRE
guests include Viva Voce and Telekinesis
TREY McINTYRE PROJECT
ALSO
LIVE WIRE AFTER-PARTY
SPONGEBOB AFTERHOURS
WITH TOM
Exhilarating dance set to Roy Orbison and Preservation Hall Jazz Band
KENNY
Saturday, Dec 3rd
JACKSTRAW
CD RELEASE
with MARTHA SCANLAN
Dec 8th, 9th & 10th
WHITE ALBUM
CHRISTMAS
Thursday - Saturday
Beatles Tribute and Holiday Circus Spectacular featuring
DEC 1-3 Newmark Theatre 7:30pm
WANDERLUST CIRCUS and
THE NOWEHERE
BAND
Alberta Rose Theatre (503) 764-4131 3000 NE Alberta AlbertaRoseTheatre.com
Tickets at
SPONSORED BY
w w w.whitebird.org (ZERO ticket fees)
Brett Perry. Photo by David Harry Stewart. © Trey McIntyre Project
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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BOOKS
NOV. 23-29
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. By MARIANNA HANE WILES. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit lecture or reading information at least two weeks in advance to: WORDS, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: words@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
SATURDAY, NOV. 26 D.B. Cooper Symposium
10 Flat Screen TVs
Buffalo gap Wednesday, November 23rd • 9pm
Buffalo Bandstand
Hosted By: live artist Network Thursday, November 24th
HappY THaNKSgIVINg Closed for the Holiday
friday, November 25th • 9pm
The Sale & acoustic Minds (americana & pop soul)
ALL GAMES!
Entertainment Sat Nov 26 9pm - 11pm
Love Loungers
Saturday, November 26th • 9pm
SUNDAY, NOV. 27
oreganic (jam band)
Portland Poetry Slam
Sunday, November 27th • 9:30am
faN-aTTIC
“all your Nfl favorites” Tuesday, November 29th • 9pm
WIN $50!!
Portland’s Rat Pack!
opEN MIC NIgHT Hosted By: Scott gallegos
The Portland Poetry Slam runs every Sunday at Backspace. Each show opens with an open mic, followed by a featured poet, then the slam, where eight poets battle it out for $50 and poetic glory. Sign-ups for the slam and open mic begin at 7:30 pm. RUTH BROWN. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. 7:30 pm. $5 suggested donation.
NOOK Workshop
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MOONLIGHT MILE MONDAY 11/28 6PM
Moonlight Mile brings a fresh twist to traditional Americana, adding a dash of slide guitar and a sprinkling of flute over a hearty blend of vocals, rhythm, and soul. Founded by guitarist Robert Richter and singer/multi-instrumentalist Dana Fontaine, Moonlight Mile’s latest CD ‘Wildwood Flower’ showcases the band’s range of talent performing both original songs and traditional folk and Celtic tunes.
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Thanksgiving eve marks the 40th anniversary of the D.B. Cooper hijacking. The suspect is still on the loose so, in order to shake up the cold case, Cooper fanatics are invited to join a daylong symposium exploring all aspects of the hijacking. The symposium’s website describes the event as a “semi-scholarly gathering of minds,” but with D.B. Cooper-themed poetry, T-shirt contests and hints that FBI agents might attend, it sounds more like a cleverly planned book-launch party for Geoffrey Gray’s Skyjack: The Hunt for D. B. Cooper. After the lectures, participants are invited to caravan to Ariel, Wash., where the local tavern hosts an annual celebration in Cooper’s honor. Hilton Hotel, 921 SW 6th Ave., 226-1611. 9 am. Suggested donation.
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
Ogle Barnes & Noble’s new Nook
Touch and talk with experts (read: salespeople) who can answer all of your questions about these newfangled gadgets. For maximum entertainment, open with a query about why you should buy their e-reader instead of the cheaper Kindle Fire. Barnes & Noble Clackamas Town Center, 12000 SE 82nd Ave., 7863463. 7 pm. Free.
Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law
Think native-born, same-sex couples have it bad? Imagine the reams of paperwork required for a foreign citizen’s immigration to our country after marrying someone of the same sex. Lesbians and gay men who wish to bring their partners into the U.S. face challenges and heartache. In Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, Judy Rickard recounts her own experience and those of several other same-sex couples. She recently returned from testifying in Congress about the issue and will surely fill us in on the current status of the fight to change immigration law. Rickard is donating her royalties to three organizations that help LGBT families fight for changes in American immigration laws. In Other Words, 14 NE Killingsworth St., 232-6003. 2 pm. Free.
MONDAY, NOV. 28 Elf Girl
by a woman who runs a troll-doll museum out of her small Manhattan apartment and works seasonally as a department-store elf. Performing and writing under the name Rev. Jen, she’s also responsible for creating A.S.S. Magazine and a onewoman musical called Rats. Her reading and book signing will undoubtedly be as amusing and quirky as her bio. Gut-busting laughter burns turkey calories. Powell’s on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free.
Drunk Poets Society
This poetry open mic takes place every Monday at the horror-themed Lovecraft bar. RUTH BROWN. The Lovecraft, 421 SE Grand Ave., 971270-7760. 8 pm. Free. 21+.
TUESDAY, NOV. 29 History Night at Edgefield
Oregon history buffs, drink your hearts out. This week’s lecture is “The Bridge of the Gods: Folklore, Forests and Floods.” Not the current bridge in Cascade Locks, of course, but the legendary land bridge that used to span the nearby Columbia River. Geologist Jim O’Connor will discuss the history of the rocky pass that once allowed Native Americans to cross the river without getting their feet wet. Sponsored by The Oregon Encyclopedia, an online publication that documents the state’s significant people, places and historical events. McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale, 669-8610. 6:30 pm. Free.
For more Words listings, visit
Elf Girl is the new title from the author of Live Nude Elf, written
REVIEW
OIL AND WATER In August 2010, a project called PDX 2 Gulf smoke billowing off the Deepwater Horizon Coast took a group of 22 Oregonians to the Gulf seeps its way into many of the panels and hangs of Mexico to get a firsthand look at the impact above the characters’ lives with heavy metaphor. of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that had The authors have smooshed 22 people down devastated the environment and surrounding to a more manageable eight with slightly altered communities just a few months earlier. Among names and stories, resulting in a questionable their ranks was Too Much Coffee Man cartoonist mash of fact and fiction. More problematic is that Shannon Wheeler and Oregomost of these characters just nian columnist Steve Duin, aren’t that interesting; the tight who combined forces in an page count leaves little room to appropriately Captain Planetget to know them as individustyle way to document their als, and the stories we do get—a experiences in the form of a teenage romance, a guy with graphic novel. explosive diarrhea—took up The result, Oil and Water space I’d have rather seen dedi(Fantagraphics, 120 pages, cated to more voices from the $19.99), sits a little uncomspill. Duin and Wheeler’s desire fortably between cartoon to record what must have been journalism and travelogue. an emotional and memorable The former is expressed in the journey with a close-knit group form of a handful of excellent is understandable, but it adds snapshots of locals affected by nothing to the book. the disaster. There’s the fishThe team’s presence is far from erman who still gets up at 4 a total waste of ink. The authors every morning to preserve the show admirable self-awareness The Gulf Coast oil spill in family business even though in portraying their semifictional graphic detail. crab yields have halved. The companions (and by implication, wildlife rescue workers who themselves) as naive voyeurs man the endless production line of oil-soaked whose presence mostly irritates their subjects. pelicans. The former shrimp boat captain who “Lemme get this straight,” says one character. says he’s being paid “hush money” by BP. The “They white. We black. They blue. We red. They strengths and weaknesses of the comic medium rich…and I got $53 to buy a week’s worth of groare both on display here: Much of the characters’ ceries. And they gonna tell our stories?” Actually, body language and emotion gets lost in transla- they do a fine job. RUTH BROWN. tion to Wheeler’s fairly minimalist character illustrations, but he compensates with visual GO: Oil and Water authors Steve Duin and Shannon Wheeler will appear at Powell’s City of perspectives and scenes impossible to capture Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm through photograph or film. The oily, black Monday, Nov. 28. Free.
NOV. 23-29 REVIEW
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
THE MUPPETS STUDIO, LLC
MOVIES
Editor: AARON MESH. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, send screening information at least two weeks in advance to Screen, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: amesh@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
NEW
Arthur Christmas
An Aardman animation about the son of Santa. WW, being naughty, missed the press screenings. Look for a review on wweek.com. PG. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy. NEW Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey
77 With a Portland release timed to coincide with a larger Muppet resurrection, here’s a documentary about Kevin Clash, the hand that rocks the Children’s Television Network. It’s made with the approval of kiddie entertainment behemoths Disney and Henson, so the social message is softened, but Being Elmo is the genuinely affecting success story of a young African-American man who dared to be a nerd. Clash’s rise from urban poverty to Tickle-Me superstardom is a gratifying case of colorblind merit recognition: It recalls the ascendance of Obama and Oprah, although Clash himself most suggests Tyler Perry in his desire to simultaneously peacock and disappear into a character. His narrative is constantly compelling, though there’s not enough contextual material to pad out a full-length documentary. But the explanation of how puppets are brought to life, both in Baltimore bedrooms and TV studios, is animated by Clash’s astounding vocal and tactile skill, along with his sheer delight at giving and receiving so much love. Even people (like me) a few years too old to ever adore the shrill mugging of Elmo may finally understand the fuzzy red guy’s appeal to young hearts: He fulfills the human need to be wholeheartedly wanted. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Blackthorn
We all know Butch Cassidy died in a shootout. What this movie presupposes is...maybe he didn’t? Sam Shepard plays Butch. R. Living Room Theaters. NEW
The Catechism Cataclysm
A priest goes on a strange canoe trip in this festival hit. Look for a review on wweek.com. Hollywood Theatre.
Drive
95 Drive, the luxurious new L.A. noir
from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, is the most brutally antisocial movie of the year. It is also the most romantic—but it is primarily spellbound by the romance of isolation. It is also exhilarating filmmaking, from soup to swollen nuts. It contains half a dozen white-knuckle action sequences— starting with a Ryan Gosling robbery getaway timed to the final buzzer of an L.A. Clippers game—yet its closest relative is the lightheaded, restrained eroticism of Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love. In this context, the relentless carnage of Drive’s second half makes a sick kind of sense: It is a movie about men who only know how to show loyalty and care by staving in the skulls of other men. Winding Refn’s last film, Valhalla Rising, featured vikings disemboweling each other by hand, and the characters here are not much more civilized, though they do have more cosmopolitan surroundings, smearing each other across some handsomely paneled elevator interiors. It is some kind of advancement, I suppose, that while the characters speak after very long pauses, they have moved past grunts. It is macho, self-pitying poppycock, and it engrossed and moved me like no other picture I’ve seen this year. R. AARON MESH. Fox Tower.
Eames: The Architect & the Painter NEW
44 [ONE WEEK ONLY] Add this to the pile of documentaries about creative, intriguing 20th-century figures profiled in a film that shares none of their ambition. Charles Eames
and his wife, Ray—the architect and the painter, respectively—are widely regarded as the parents of modern American design. You’ve sat in an Eames chair even if you couldn’t identify one; similarly, you’ve seen some interpretation of “Powers of Ten,” the most famous of the short films the pair made during the Cold War. Directors Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey dutifully chronicle the couple’s long list of accomplishments while attempting to delve into their guarded, complicated relationship, but the film’s bland presentation makes it feel like an informational video for a museum exhibit. Some of the talking heads are interesting on their own, particularly those who worked in the Eames Office: Most speak of the duo, who deigned to share credit with underlings, with an admiration bordering on Stockholm syndrome. Others were less impressed by the Eames’ artistic pretensions: One colleague recalls a dinner party at their famous home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., which ended with a serving of flowers—a “visual dessert,” they called it. “I was really fucked off by that,” he says. “I got in my car and drove to the nearest Dairy Queen.” MATTHEW SINGER. Clinton Street Theater. 7 and 9 pm Friday-Thursday, Nov. 25-Dec. 1.
Happy Feet Two
Dance, penguin, dance! WW did not attend the screening. PG. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy. NEW
Hicksploitation Double Feature
[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] The South rises again with cigarettes on semi trucks (White Line Fever) and moonshine on motorcycles (Dixie Dynamite). The South then lies back down with a headache and a bad cough. Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Nov. 29.
The Ides of March
83 Probably a bit hysterical in its
bleakness—maybe that’s a predictable outcome of a proudly liberal filmmaker like George Clooney dealing with the concessions of a Democratic POTUS. But the disillusionment in Ides has an evangelical fervor: This movie is going to find your Shepard Fairey poster and set it on fire. It’s like an anti-Bus Project. That it corrodes so effectively is thanks to Clooney communicating the romance of the campaign trail, which is basically summer camp for drizzle-loving workaholic wonks. Ryan Gosling, continuing his prolific year of playing hyper-aggressive grinners, is the media-strategy guru for Democratic presidential frontrunner Mike Morris (Clooney). The early stretches of the movie have the wish-fulfillment and intellectual energy of Aaron Sorkin: The banter between Gosling and intern Evan Rachel Wood has the particular energy of two people aroused by their own smarts. This makes it all the more flooring when players reveal their primary colors. But the pessimism makes this more of a horror movie than a social analysis. It is a very good horror movie, and its savage iconoclasm is bracing. R. AARON MESH. Fox Tower.
Immortals 3D
The gods must be crazy to POKE YOU IN THE EYE. R. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Lloyd Center, Hilltop, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
In Time
62 Justin Timberlake is 30 years old,
but he doesn’t look a day over 25. This youthfulness serves him perfectly in the new sci-fi chase picture In Time (somehow, 20th Century Fox resisted the temptation to call it Just In Time). The film is set in a world where every-
CONT. on page 46
FREAKS AND BEAKER: Jason Segal and Amy Adams meet Jim Henson’s creations.
POOGY NIGHTS
OUR OWN STATLER AND WALDORF DEBATE THE MUPPETS. BY A P KRYZA A N D AA R ON MESH
243-2122
With The Muppets opening today to introduce a new generation to lonely monsters and wisecracking bears, WW called in its resident plushies to unstuff it. Aaron: So the new Muppet thing turns out to be exactly like every other Muppet thing (the Muppets get together and scrape together a variety show), except that it’s also a lament about how nothing is as good as a Muppet thing anymore. It’s like going on a road trip with an uncle who wants to show you all the locations from The Muppet Movie. AP: But every Muppet movie—hell, even the ’70s television show—is about pining for a bygone era, whether it be that of the vaudevillian variety show that The Muppet Show romanticized so well, or the caper flick, or even Treasure Island. This one asks: Can’t we just be happy with an old-fashioned, MGM-style musical number (with puppets)? Aaron: I love the simplicity, the melancholy. Jason Segel has coordinated the most emo family picture since A Charlie Brown Christmas. It’s good to subject kids to that. Breaks their little spirits. AP: The Muppets have always been depressed. It’s only when they’re together that they really come alive. I thank God that I’m not an amphibian constantly dodging the deep fryer and the increasingly rapey advances of a pig. Fozzie is a loser comedian. Gonzo (underused in this film) is a chicken-fucking outcast. Aaron: Isn’t The Muppets essentially Sunset Boulevard with that Short Circuit robot in the Erich von Stroheim role? When we meet Kermit, he’s been rattling around his mansion, losing track of his best friends. Basically saying, “I stopped using the phone after Muppets From Space.”
AP: In a movie that had an a capella “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and chickens clucking Cee-Lo’s “Fuck You,” why were “The Rainbow Connection” and “Mahna Mahna” the only songs from the older movies included? Aaron: You’re like a Stones fan wondering why Mick never sings the old stuff. I cannot imagine this movie being any more shamelessly nostalgic. AP: I think the tear stains on my jacket are proof I’m not too hard to please. Some of my favorite moments were the original songs by Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie. Conchords fans will notice parallels to his other stuff, but these compositions are a delight. The only misstep is when Chris Cooper’s villain goes all rappin’ granny on us. Aaron: You know who I almost forgot was in this movie? Amy Adams. AP: She’s upstaged by the new Muppet, Walter, who is 2 feet tall and her rival for Segel’s companionship. Walter’s a perfect addition to the gang, serving as an avatar for all us grown children who still love the plush. Aaron: Beginning with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Segel has been better at writing for puppets than writing for women, and this movie is a bromance in which the bro is made of felt. The strongest female character is a Reno lounge singer named Miss Poogy. AP: Gender and race issues (which Miss Poogy and her crew of street-tough knockoffs, the Moopets, are bound to spark an uproar about) seem irrelevant in a movie populated with animals and robots and whatever the fuck Scooter is. Muppets are about embracing difference. This film made me feel the same joy that The Muppet Movie stirs decades later. That’s pretty impressive. Aaron: Börk, börk, börk. AP’S SCORE: 85 AARON’S SCORE: 79 SEE IT: The Muppets is rated PG. It opens Wednesday, Nov. 23, at CineMagic, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy and Roseway. Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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one stops aging at 25 but has to purchase the rest of their lifespan, which is displayed on ticking green biomechanical forearm clocks. This premise—Logan’s Run minus five years—means that everybody on screen in Andrew Niccol’s movie is young, gorgeous and worried their relevance is about to permanently expire. It is a metaphor for Hollywood. If stardom becomes In Time’s nagging subtext, it is because the intended subtext is so explicit it becomes text. Niccol, who wrote and directed, has always used his movies as a social-justice soapbox—his past scripts include The Truman Show and Lord of War—but never has he been this didactic. Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, big-eyed Bonnie to his shaved-head Clyde, have shrugging, casual chemistry, which makes it more of a shame that the movie constantly forces them to utter stilted exposition and doctrine. (“No one should live forever if even one person has to die.”) When they aren’t preaching, the two of them seem to get a genuine kick from their own verve and beauty. I’d prefer to see them off the clock. PG-13. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Bridgeport.
J. Edgar
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Jack and Jill
Adam Sandler is Adam Sandler’s sister. Not screened for critics by WW press deadlines. PG. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Like Crazy
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66 Spread over four decades and leached of any bright hues, Clint Eastwood’s biopic of intelligence-hoarding FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) is complex and brave, if at times almost comically misguided. Though filled with lurid material—Hoover intimidating Robert F. Kennedy with a tape recording of his brother screwing, Hoover trying on his mother’s nightgowns and necklaces—it never lapses into exploitation. Such tastefulness is Eastwood’s hallmark as a filmmaker, and also his great weakness: It makes him almost as humorless as the man he’s chronicling. (DiCaprio’s performance as a coal-eyed, fussy tyrant who sincerely loves his country is more nuanced than I anticipated, if also a little monotonous.) Eastwood’s big miscalculation is shooting nearly half the movie with Hoover and confidante Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer) in liver-spotted old-age makeup, so that by the end it looks like crotchety Muppets Statler and Waldorf are heckling Martin Luther King Jr. Despite this fundamental hitch (and a 137-minute aimlessness), J. Edgar has the virtue of being penned by Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who takes the shamed relationship between Hoover and Tolson and finds a real love story. This eventually becomes the chief focus of J. Edgar, echoing the poignancy of Harvey Milk’s passion for Scott Smith. Black’s empathy extends to men not courageous enough to be lovers. He looks inside J. Edgar Hoover’s closet and finds more than skeletons. R. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Tigard.
55 Everyone has friends like Jacob and Anna, the twentysomething couple at the center of Like Crazy. They’re the kind of young lovers who, once they start dating anyone seriously, become so completely absorbed in a relationship that all traces of individual identity disappear. Suddenly, their lives become a Coldplay song. Nothing else matters except their love, and the rest of us just can’t understand because that love is so overwhelming, so powerful, so deep. In short, Jacob and Anna are kind of annoying. It’s not really their fault, though, and certainly not the fault of Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones, the actors who portray them. Both deliver warm,
REVIEW FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
MOVIES
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND: George Clooney and Shailene Woodley.
THE DESCENDANTS The secret life of the Hawaiian Clooney.
George Clooney, who may be the closest thing we now have to a Cary Grant, seems of late to be reversing Grant’s career trajectory. While Grant went from pratfalling acrobat to ironically self-aware sex symbol, Clooney has recently made room in his usual Teflon-suave scoundrel persona for roles that place him more as a bruised emotional clown. One could trace this arc all the way back to his shellacked, preening fool in 2000’s Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, but it is another Coen brothers movie, 2008’s Burn After Reading, that reveals a man whom the old alpha-male hallmarks have failed miserably. By Up in the Air, he suspects that his own game is rigged against him. And in The Descendants, the newest film from director Alexander Payne (Sideways), he downright knows he’s lost. Clooney puts in a nuanced, wincing performance as the Dickensianly named Matt King, a workaholic real-estate lawyer and haole heir of Hawaiian royalty, who finds himself suddenly at sea when his wife of many years is knocked into a terminal coma by a high-speed motorboating accident. Not only does he not know how to relate to his two daughters—stock indie-quirky 10-yearold Scottie (Amara Miller) and acid-tongued boarding-school teen Alex (Shailene Woodley, of The Secret Life of the American Teenager)—but he is left to discover that his lonely, stay-at-home wife had fallen in love with another man behind his back. Just as Hawaii is depicted as a somewhat banal and failed paradise, the age-old, narcissistic dream of the successful family man is cored here into paper-thin fragility. King is portrayed as a charismatic Hollywood version of the American male Zeitgeist: betrayed, anemic, obliviously isolated in a world of women. Whatever faults King had in his marriage and family life, they are not on display, and so he is a likable Clooney-shaped cipher, bewildered and mostly bereft of will. He instead shambles through a meandering script that uses the entire unreasonable world as a continual low-stakes instigation to eccentric pathos or comedy: sassy daughters and their obnoxious friends, an ogreish father-inlaw, money-grubbing cousins, and a downright insulting example of a cuckolder (played by Matthew Lillard at his most sniveling). Clooney makes the most of his underwritten role—it is a comedic wonder to watch him lope awkwardly in flip-flops, or register his polite, pride-sucking pain over and over—but it is difficult nonetheless for the viewer to invest emotionally in the film, despite its easy charisma. (It is especially difficult to invest in a paperweight of a subplot involving a tract of unsullied ancestral land.) There is one exception to this vacancy at the center of the picture, however: Clooney and Woodley have a wonderfully affecting rapport that evolves throughout the movie into a portrait of father-daughterhood that feels genuine, flawed and unsaccharine. It is this relationship that descends penumbrously over the closing sequence so that the simple gesture of an icecream cup changing hands is enough to evoke a warm rush of sentiment that the rest of the film does little to deserve. It also points tragically to the movie that this might have been, and almost was. R. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
70 SEE IT: The Descendants opens Wednesday, Nov. 23, at Clackamas, Bridgeport and Fox Tower.
organic performances in this tiny, critically rhapsodized drama. But if a film is about two people drawn together with such gravitational force that it gradually repels them, the attraction needs to be palpable. Through much of Like Crazy, it is not. Blame, then, falls on director Drake Doremus (Douchebag). He tells a story that spans years yet zooms by so quickly—thanks to several montages and time-lapse sequences that are more artful than effective—the characters never become truly knowable outside the bubble of their all-consuming relationship. Rarely do they have a conversation that brings the viewer inside this allegedly transcendent romance. We’re just supposed to accept that their connection is profound, because they drove Indy cars together and spent a weekend on Catalina Island. PG-13. MATTHEW SINGER. Fox Tower.
side home in Connecticut, Martha’s estranged sister tries to fix her with tall glasses of kale and ginseng juice and pretty pink sundresses. Both are driving her crazy. Writer/director Sean Durkin has created an unsettling, intense portrait of a girl close to losing her marbles because she can’t determine exactly what life after brainwashing ought to look like. As Martha/Marcy, Elizabeth Olsen (the younger, healthier sister of the bobble-headed Olsen twins) is a subtle wonder of confusion and apathetic bitterness. The emotions glide across her open face and lodge behind her gray-green eyes as she shakily tries to reintegrate herself into the normal world—and fails in both small and spectacular ways. Oddly enough, even twothirds through Martha Marcy May Marlene, it’s still uncertain which is more crazy: turning control of your
A Lonely Place to Die
REVIEW
MOVIES
life over to a cult leader or living an empty life in pursuit of money and great deck chairs. As Martha/ Marcy’s grip on what is a dream, a memory or happening right now becomes more and more slippery, it turns out that none of those states is really all that safe. R. KELLY CLARKE. Fox Tower.
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,
CONT. on page 48
Margin Call
59 Perfectly primed to capitalize on current interest in just how majestically wrecked we all are and shall seemingly forever be, Margin Call dramatizes 2008’s financial death rattles by isolating a 24-hour span in which one fictional Wall Street firm tries to figure out what to do with all of the shit falling into its huge, shiny fan. Writer-director J.C. Chandor’s central premise, that these guys bathing in cash and Drakkar Noir were simply doing their jobs, is a steep slope to climb at the moment, and Chandor’s evident faith in essential goodness isn’t fuel enough to get us up to that peak of magnanimity with him. Like Moneyball, this year’s other numerary drama of note, Margin Call hits the root thrill of dudes fidgeting with digits—I’d be perfectly happy watching Zachary Quinto’s eyebrows dip and dart in front of a computer screen for half an hour—but once those many-zeroed figures merge with the messiness of human motivation, Chandor’s film collapses. As various handsomely coiffed traders grow spines, hearts and consciences, Jeremy Irons enters the picture as a sin-eating executive who will exculpate his soldiers by giving them excuses in the form of marching orders. If only it were that simple. R. CHRIS STAMM. Living Room Theaters.
Martha Marcy May Marlene
78 As a member of a back-to-the-
land cult in the Catskills, Marcy May’s boyfriend, Patrick, “cleanses” her and the rest of his flock with ritualized rape and shooting lessons. Sequestered away in a lavish lake-
C D T V/ S U N D A N C E S E L E C T S
tion any place you die is likely to be pretty doggone lonely, unless you’re that poor woman killed by flash mob in a Grimm episode. This specific location is the rocky Scottish Highlands, which aren’t that isolated if you count the cameras whizzing by the character’s heads. Julian Gilbey’s climbers-vs.-kidnappers thriller opens with the promise of people falling from very high perches, and it delivers on that pledge ruthlessly enough, though it’s wearyingly bombastic about it. The party of five cliffhangers finds a little Croatian girl buried alive in a box in the forest floor, and proceeds to spirit her to safety via as many steep drops as possible. What follows is basically a deadly game of capture the flag. A Lonely Place to Die announces its shocks too elaborately—ominous music, multiple angles, vertiginous spins—for most of them to carry any interest, and the heroes are a mere shooting gallery. (The baddie is at least played by Red Riding’s Sean Harris, who always looks like he wants to gnaw through somebody’s leg.) The only surprise in this endlessly generic piece is that it abandons its own woodland premise after an hour for the less photogenic environs of some town, where Gilbey still manages to find some tall buildings for people to plunge out of. AARON MESH. Hollywood Theatre.
YOU
Midnight in Paris
77 Sorry to break it to you, New
37 Good title, though upon reflec-
We Want
MORGAN GREEN-HOPKINS
NOV. 23-29
to Give Now!
TEXAS WANTS YOU ANYWAY: Michael Perry.
INTO THE ABYSS As Werner Herzog softens from Teutonic maniac into shutterbug German tourist, his documentaries have begun to resemble the adventures of Ernest P. Worrell. There was Werner Goes to Alaska, where he watched a man eaten by bears, then Werner Goes to Antarctica, and its suicidal penguins. With Werner Saves a Cave still lingering in theaters, here, finally, is a movie that can rightly be called Werner Goes to Jail. Actually, befitting his extremism, it’s Werner Goes to Death Row. With the characteristically disconsolate title Into the Abyss, Herzog’s prison movie has less of the “travelogue with philosophical footnotes” quality that has marked (and sometimes cheapened) his recent output. It helps that the director, who conducts jailhouse interviews from offscreen, for once cannot possibly be more gloomy or absurd than his subject. He is the second documentary master to tackle true crime this year: Into the Abyss is far bleaker than Errol Morris’ Tabloid, but no less nuts. Herzog profiles Michael Perry, executed by the state of Texas on July 1, 2010, for the killing of three people—including a mother and son—in order to steal a red Chevy Camaro from a home’s garage inside a gated community. Meeting with victims’ relatives, other convicts and Perry himself (eight days before lethal injection), Herzog elicits bewildering details from staggeringly luckless people. As Perry maintains his innocence against a landfill of evidence, the bucktoothed 28-year-old man recalls how the one opportunity afforded him in his teen years, an Outward Bound canoe trip to the Everglades, culminated (à la Aguirre) in an attack by monkeys. Herzog’s penchant for addressing bizarre concerns has often felt like willful eccentricity. Here he taps into reservoirs of emotion. “Please describe an encounter with a squirrel,” he asks a death-house chaplain. The preacher, who has previously maintained decorous professionalism, breaks into tears thinking about how he brakes his golf cart to avoid hitting woodland animals but cannot stop an execution. Meanwhile, Herzog remains peerless as a poet of logistics. He notices that the car Perry once wanted has sat in an impound lot for 10 years. While Perry waited to die, a tree grew inside it. PG-13. AARON MESH. Werner Herzog’s death-row record.
87 SEE IT: Into the Abyss opens Wednesday, Nov. 23, at Cinema 21.
Give!Guide is filled with 100 amazing nonprofts you should support. HEAD TO WWEEK.COM/GIVEGUIDE TO GIVE NOW! Follow us: facebook.com/giveguide twitter.com/giveguide youtube.com/giveguide Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
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NOV. 23-29
LAURENCE CENDROWICZ
MOVIES
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UPCOMING EVENTS BROUGHT TO YOU BY
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 selfdescribed “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. Hollywood Theatre.
Moneyball
90 If the dehydrated poetry of
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sports-page chatter fails to tickle you even a little bit, I can almost guarantee Moneyball will leave you cold. For although director Bennett Miller (Capote) and his elite writing team (Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian) pad Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) with paternal longings and past defeats, there’s not a whole lot of squishy human interest to dig into here. This is a movie about baseball and the obsessed men who devote their lives to it. Make no mistake: There is heart in Moneyball, but it’s the part of the heart that swells at the sight of numbers on the back of a Topps card and breaks beneath tacky banners commemorating past championships. And so: Let’s go, Oakland! CHRIS STAMM. Tigard, Living Room Theaters. NEW
My Week With Marilyn
44 Michelle Williams steps off the
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Oregon Trail to play Marilyn Monroe, and gets about halfway there. She has the look of Marilyn—her features are like a portrait of Tinker Bell carved from a ripe peach—and nails the calculated-naif pout of the public persona, but she’s never quite convincing as Norma Jeane Baker. Her efforts to seem wounded and confused are always a smidgen too knowing and telegraphed. The surrounding movie looks at Monroe from the least interesting possible angle, that of snooty Anglos. It is a typical Weinstein Company property in the wake of The King’s Speech: light, British and shapeless. (It’s built around a romance with some sappy little gofer played by Eddie Redmayne, but I couldn’t say where the affair begins or ends.) Director Simon Curtis, a BBC vet, might be trying to win a bet over how much of the Empire’s acting talent he can waste. He plows through Julia Ormond, Toby Jones, Emma Watson and Dominic Cooper with terrible editing—uniformly clumsy and groping. Judi Dench holds her ground for a few lines, and Kenneth Branagh sneaks in the movie’s sole fully realized performance as a preening and furious Laurence Olivier. He also delivers the only scene that hints at how Monroe’s charisma lit up the screen, as he watches dailies from The
Prince and the Showgirl and quotes The Tempest: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” The rest of the movie is the weak, soporific stuff poured out of teapots. R. AARON MESH. Fox Tower.
The Names of Love
84 Regular filmgoers may notice
that Michel Leclerc’s autobiographical rom-com The Names of Love bears more than a few similarities to Mike Mills’ autobiographical rom-com Beginners—e.g., the whimsical little conceits (subtitled dog conversations with dead grandparents), the parental secrets (closeted homosexuality, repressed Holocaust memories) and most of all the freespirited girlfriend. No slight to Melanie Laurent, but Leclerc’s movie is elevated above all comparisons by the presence of Sara Forestier— distressingly beautiful, endlessly personable, and very often naked—as Baya Benmahmoud, a half-Algerian leftist political activist who raises awareness in bed. She sleeps with reactionaries until they, say, abandon stock trading to herd sheep, and adds Arthur (Jacques Gamblin), an avian necrologist, because she thinks he’s nice and could stand to be happy. The conceit is frothy, but with a core of daring. R. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Paranormal Activity 3
70 You’re recycling a fake docu-
mentary about something strange in the neighborhood, including an invisible man sleeping in your bed. Who you gonna call? How about the dudes who made the most dubious “documentary” in recent memory: Catfish creators Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman? Turns out, the rookies were a good bet. Paranormal Activity 3 opened with $54 million. More surprisingly, it’s arguably the best of the series. This time out, we again watch the haunting of the original film’s heroine, Katie, though this time she’s a little kid whose sister, Kristi, is getting close to an imaginary friend who makes loud noises and apparently hates kitchenware. The girls’ stepdad (Christopher Nicholas Smith) is conveniently a wedding videographer, so he sets up a bunch of cameras and…well, you know the rest. Yet despite offering little new—aside from some genuine scares courtesy of a camera attached to an oscillating fan and a finale that borrows from Ti West’s little-seen The House of the Devil— Joost and Schulman manage to harvest maximum scares from familiarity. R. AP KRYZA. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport.
Puss in Boots
Antonio Banderas makes his Garfield. WW did not attend the press screening, as WW was at Occupy Portland instead of the cat movie. PG. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy, 99 Indoor Twin. NEW
Sergei Eisenstein
89 [FOUR NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL]
It will never be possible to relax and enjoy Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925
silent picture Battleship Potemkin— dialectical montage is the original “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention”—and, yeah, you’ll probably spend the majority of the film just waiting for the Odessa Steps scene to arrive. But for all its pushiness, Potemkin (7:30 pm Saturday and 4:30 pm Sunday, Nov. 26-27) retains the power to rouse. (Look at good ol’ Vakulinchuk, still keepin’ it real for all us sinners.) Eisenstein’s grand ambition pays off in every crowd scene, where the scope of men and boats awes to a degree more advanced special effects can never approach. There are those brief images every film-school student remembers, though they may forget how eerie they were: ghostly bodies hanging from the yardarms; worms writhing through lunchmeat; a wildbearded priest tapping his crucifix, waiting for sailors to die. Then that title card comes flashing in—”AND SUDDENLY”—to mark the moment when Battleship Potemkin turns into a still unequaled daymare. The Odessa Steps sequence endures as a synecdoche for all cruelty, panic and, yep, outrage. You’ve seen it even if you haven’t seen it: It’s repeated in The Untouchables, sure, but Bong Joon-ho’s 2006 The Host also owes Odessa its first waterfront monster attack, borrowing the staircase setting, the crush of bodies, and the camera fleeing with the crowds. See the original. Run toward Potemkin. And maybe loiter for Eisenstein’s other works, which the NW Film Center is showing in a timely weekend of workers’ revolution. AARON MESH. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. Strike screens at 7 pm Friday and 5 pm Saturday, Nov. 25-26. October screens at 6:30 pm Sunday, Nov. 27. Bezhin Meadow screens at 7 pm Tuesday, Nov. 29.
The Skin I Live In
86 Very particular body-image
issues are at the core of The Skin I Live In, Pedro Almodovar’s violently outre new movie. It proves that the director’s penchant for physical modification has only grown more pointed—or rounded. It is perhaps the most twisted and unsettling film Almodovar has made (and this is a director whose Talk to Her featured a nurse tenderly raping his comatose patient), but it is not exactly a horror movie. Instead, it is a throwback to golden-age Hollywood’s mad-scientist movies, as if the dressup games of Vertigo had been conducted by James Whale around the time he made Bride of Frankenstein. The mad scientist, a plastic surgeon to be exact, is played by Antonio Banderas, and he is most certainly insane. Other characters keep mentioning this to him, in case he had forgotten. But Banderas’ understated performance recalls the pained dignity of James Mason in Lolita. Likewise, the movie proceeds calmly, through elision and implication, until it becomes a study of how sexuality can be formed through victimization, yet leave room for a sense of self to emerge triumphant. Almodovar takes the elements of classic films—the doctor playing God, the grand staircase, the femme fatale—and splices them into unexpected shapes that turn out to be exactly what you wanted. R. AARON MESH. City Center, Fox Tower. NEW
Sundance Shorts
64 I’m not clear on why the touring
program of one-act flicks from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival doesn’t include most of the competition’s award-winners, but maybe the curators were trying for an even spread of mordancy. Like most contemporary short fiction, these ambitious but often flippant works feel like they’re aiming for the pages of a McSweeney’s issue (or, more accurately, the accompanying DVD). I enjoyed almost everything—the trailer-park alligator, the animated plywood beetles, the thin lady stuck in a girdle—but felt very little. The exceptions are two nordic pieces at opposite ends of the tonal spectrum: Trevor Anderson’s The High Level Bridge considers Edmonton,
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57 Tower Heist pulls off an astounding ruse: It is directed by Brett Ratner, it posits Ben Stiller as a hero of the economically downtrodden, it juices the arrest of a white-collar criminal by having his escape van flip over in the middle of a Manhattan street while Stiller is clotheslined by an FBI agent, and I still found myself thinking halfway through that it was a good deal better than I expected. Credit for this goes mostly to the cast, who all agreed to emphasize the least flattering aspects of their personas for comedy. Matthew Broderick and Casey Affleck take the most humiliation, playing a sad sack and an incompetent, respectively, and come off the best. Stiller channels his choked rage into a nuanced servility to ultra-rich boss Alan Alda in exchanges that accurately capture the pain of maintaining cordial relations with someone constantly exploiting you. Tea Leoni performs a lovely dance of a drunk scene. Eddie Murphy plays a more soured and violent Billy Ray Valentine. And then the movie gets to the heist itself, and grinds to an excruciating halt with a set piece featuring a car made out of pure gold, first dangling out a window, then stuffed atop an elevator. None of this finale is possible to explain, and, to be frank, I would rather pretend I never liked any of it, even momentarily. Deal? PG-13. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
29 The Twilight saga is finally getting to the good stuff. And by good stuff I mean the vampire batshit crazy stuff: rough girl-onvamp sex, demon babies, blood health tonics and wolf mind links. And yet, with all this delightfully bizarre fodder, much of the fourth movie (otherwise known as “the one where Edward and Bella get married, finally do it and Bella gets impregnated with his vampire baby”) is about as fun as a pelvic exam. All three leads—scowl-faced Kristen Stewart, sad alabaster puppet Robert Pattinson and shirtshredder Taylor Lautner—act as if they were expecting another press junket and wandered on to a movie set by mistake. And yet, it’s not all terrible. Or, to be clear, the last third of the film is so fabulously awkward and silly as to approach camp-classic status. Forced to endure an insatiable fetus draining her body from the inside out, Bella looks truly chilling. As her due date nears, her body is reduced to a skull attached to what looks like a wind chime made of gnawed chicken bones. It’s the only unsettling image the movie franchise has ever produced. Even better, the much anticipated birthing scene (a fan favorite during which, true to the book, Edward performs Bella’s emergency C-section with his teeth) is a masterpiece of the histrionic and the ridiculous that ends with both Team Edward and Team Jacob artfully covered with smears of blood and womb goo. It’s the kind of scene that makes you want to invent a drinking game and watch it a half-dozen times on repeat while you laugh uncontrollably and squirt whiskey out of your nose. PG-13. KELLY CLARKE. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
The Women on the 6th Floor
70 Man, being rich sucks. What
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way for an ambitious Spaniard to put away a nest egg was to do menial labor in foreign metropolises—the city is full of Spanish ladies. María, played by Natalia Verbeke, is the hardest-working, backest-talking and, most important, prettiest of the bunch. Luchini is delightful as the dusty square falling under the wine-soaked spell of the Spaniards—they have that effect on you—and the film is enjoyable in its good-natured spoofing of one-percenter stodginess right up until its disappointingly incongruous and unearned conclusion. BEN WATERHOUSE. Fox Tower.
11.30 @ OMSI SCAN TO ENTER
Tower Heist
with your withholding wife and dull stock-trading job and creepy, hyperarticulate sons and all. What’s a middle-aged, midcentury Parisian to do? According to Philippe Le Guay, writer and director of this bilingual Boulevard comedy, he should occupy the maids’ quarters. Fabrice Luchini plays our moneyed, appearance-obsessed hero, whose confidence in his job, marriage and class begins to crumble when he hires a Spanish maid, naturally named María, to care for his cavernous apartment. This being the ’60s—when Spain’s economy was in tatters, Franco’s Catholic dictatorship still held sway, and the fastest
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Alberta’s preferred suicide spot with narration so caustic it makes the rest of the omnibus seem coy, while Ariel Kleiman’s Deeper Than Yesterday gets sincere, channelling the real Ruskie guilt of Solaris and House of Meetings onto a submarine. AARON MESH. Hollywood Theatre.
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GEARS OF...WELL, NOT WAR: Asa Butterfield.
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HUGO Martin Scorsese’s decision to helm the 3-D adaptation of Brian Selznick’s Caldecott-winning novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret seemed an odd and possibly addled one at first blush. But look at Scorsese’s filmography sideways and this august director’s late-career digression into family-friendliness makes a strange sort of sense, for beneath the blood and unpardonable French of films like Goodfellas and Cape Fear and Casino, one finds a freewheeling and wide-eyed reverence for the antic, the cartoonish, the downright silly. (Two words: Joe Pesci.) But Hugo, it turns out, is a fairly downbeat affair, and although it does offer Scorsese the opportunity to play with his inner scamp—a nut-shot joke here, a running gag involving a snappish dog there— Selznick’s flight of quasi-fictional fancy provides Scorsese with the raw material for an unexpectedly moving meditation on that most tragic of facts: getting old. The result is Scorsese’s strongest nondocumentary work since Casino. Set in a vivid version of 1930s Paris so edibly adorable it might as well have been born in a crocodile tear sliding down Amélie’s pristine cheek, Hugo drapes its bittersweet study of broken dreams over a plot of fairy-story simplicity. The titular pipsqueak (played by extra-terrestrially cute Asa Butterfield) is an orphan living inside the rather capacious walls of a sprawling train station patrolled by a guttersnipe-hunting station guard (Sacha Baron Cohen) and enlivened by a Tati-esque flow of murmuring humanity. When he’s not busy tinkering with the station’s clocks or pilfering food beneath his nemesis’ nose, Hugo devotes himself to fixing his inheritance, a busted automaton rescued from museum storage by Hugo’s recently deceased pop. Hugo’s quest to solve the complexity of the robot’s inner workings leads him into a fraught friendship with toy shop proprietor Georges (Ben Kingsley), which in turn reveals the film’s delightfully surprising (to me) project: a brief and enchanting history of one of early cinema’s most renowned conjurers. But I will say no more about that. If you are unfamiliar with the finer points of Selznick’s historical fiction, I suggest you stay that way, because Scorsese pulls off a few wonderful tricks with Hugo. It is a film populated by uncanny visions—dreams, films, dummies, trompe l’oeil expanses—and resonant with wonder, dolor and regret. The message: life, though brief, admits of magic. The messenger: a master magician still. PG. CHRIS STAMM.
filled with laughs and tears and a never-better George Clooney.”
You talkin’ to Hugo? He’s not the only one here.
SEE IT: Hugo opens Wednesday, Nov. 23, at Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, Division, Evergreen, Lloyd Center and Sherwood. 80
Lou Lumenick
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Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 12:45, 02:35, 04:15, 05:05, 07:05, 07:45, 09:35, 10:10 MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:05, 12:35, 02:25, 02:55, 04:40, 05:15, 07:15, 07:50, 09:30, 10:00 WE BOUGHT A ZOO Sat 07:00
NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium
1219 SW Park Ave., 503221-1156 STRIKE Fri-Sat 05:00 THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN Sat-Sun 04:30 OCTOBER Sun 06:30
Pioneer Place Stadium 6
AMERICAN MAID: There are two movies inside The Help, and you may as well know about both before your folks drag you to see them this Thanksgiving. One is a slightly self-congratulating tear-jerker about a white Birmingham writer who confronts segregation with poop stories. The other stars Viola Davis. With measured fury, she plays a nanny who endures the basic pain of motherhood—you nurture children so they can grow up to leave you—more than two dozen times over. Her performance, which allows no room for condescension, displays how injustice breeds bereavement. AARON MESH. Showing at: Academy, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst. Best paired with: Bridgeport Kingpin Double Red. Also showing: The Rum Diary (Academy, Laurelhurst).
DUCTION O R P D A O R N E /BROK KATIE HOLMES N O S I D A M Y P P A H PRESENTS A LER “JACK AND JIL ” IN GRADY S E R U T C I P A I COLUMB NIS DUGAN ADAM SAND K BROOKS ARTHUR KEV A FILM BY DEN ERVISMIOUNSICBY MICHAEL DILBEC WADDY WACHTEL ERLIHY H M I T L UP E S S G I M O M A I S N I L T I C AND AL PA MUSICY RUPERT GREGSON-W STEVE KOREN ROBER B RT SANDLER E V O C N E L A O N A ISCREENPLAY EVE KOREN & ADAMDIRECTED NIS DUGAN V I V A N I T T E B I D R BY ST BY DEN EXECUTIVERES BARRY BERNA STORY R E K N O R O C A Z PRODU BY BEN TODD G O T U P A R R A I G K C ER JA PRODUCEDBY ADAM SANDL
Regal Lloyd Center Stadium 10 Cinema
1510 NE Multnomah Blvd., 800-326-3264 HUGO Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 12:40, 03:50, 07:15, 10:25 SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed TOWER HEIST Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 11:50, 02:20 IMMORTALS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 03:55, 10:00 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:50, 04:40, 07:30, 10:20 THE MUPPETS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 11:45, 02:25, 05:10, 07:50, 10:30 HAPPY FEET TWO 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:55, 02:35, 05:05, 07:35, 10:10 IMMORTALS 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:00, 07:05 HUGO 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 03:20, 06:45, 09:45 WE BOUGHT A ZOO Sat 07:00
Clinton Street Theater
2522 SE Clinton St., 503238-8899 EAMES: THE ARCHITECT & THE PAINTER Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:00, 09:00 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Sat 12:00
Laurelhurst Theatre
CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES 50
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 23, 2011 wweek.com
2 COL. (3.825") X 12" = 24" WED 11/23 PORTLAND WILLAMETTE WEEK
2735 E. Burnside St., 503232-5511 THE GUARD Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 07:00 COWBOYS & ALIENS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:05 DOLPHIN TALE Fri-Sat-Sun 01:15 CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:45 CONTAGION Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:20 50/50 Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 07:20 THE RUM DIARY Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 09:30 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 FriSat-Sun 12:45 THE HELP Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:30 TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 09:45
Mission Theater and Pub
1624 NW Glisan St., 503249-7474 TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:45 50/50 Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 07:40 THE GUARD Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 05:30
Roseway Theatre
7229 NE Sandy Blvd., 503282-2898 THE MUPPETS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 01:30, 04:15, 07:00, 09:45
CineMagic Theatre
2021 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-231-7919 THE MUPPETS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 05:30, 08:00
Century Eastport 16
4040 SE 82nd Ave., 800326-3264 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 09:30 TOWER HEIST Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 08:00, 10:30 PUSS IN BOOTS Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 04:25 J. EDGAR Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 03:40, 06:55, 10:15 IMMORTALS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 04:50, 10:10 JACK AND JILL Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:45, 05:10, 07:45, 10:20 HAPPY FEET TWO Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:35, 03:10, 05:55, 08:35 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:00, 12:45, 01:30, 02:15, 03:00, 03:45, 04:30, 05:15, 06:00, 06:45, 07:30, 08:15, 09:00, 09:45, 10:30 ARTHUR CHRISTMAS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:40, 03:05, 05:35 HUGO Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 02:30, 05:30 THE MUPPETS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:15, 01:45, 03:00, 04:30, 05:45, 07:15, 08:30, 10:00 PUSS IN BOOTS 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:50, 07:05 A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 08:30 IMMORTALS 3D
Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:10, 07:25 HAPPY FEET TWO 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 01:55, 04:35, 07:10, 09:55 ARTHUR CHRISTMAS 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:00, 04:45, 07:30, 10:05 HUGO 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 01:00, 04:00, 07:00, 10:00
Kennedy School Theater
5736 NE 33rd Ave., 503249-7474 THE THREE MUSKETEERS Fri-Sat-Sun-Wed 05:30 THE GUARD Fri-Sat-SunWed 10:00 50/50 Fri-SatSun-Tue-Wed 02:30, 07:50 THE HELP Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon 02:30
Hollywood Theatre
4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 503281-4215 SUNDANCE SHORTS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:00, 09:00 A LONELY PLACE TO DIE Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 09:15 THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Wed 09:30 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:15 OREGON CIVIL WAR Sat 12:30 THE WALKING DEAD Sun 09:00 SHOUT TROUBLES OVER: THE ULTIMATE GOSPEL VIDEO BOOTLEG Mon 07:30 HICKSPLOITATION DOUBLE FEATURE Tue 07:30 KARP LIVES Wed 07:30 PECADOS DE MI PADRE
Regal Fox Tower Stadium 10
846 SW Park Ave., 800326-3264 DRIVE Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 12:15, 02:40, 07:35 THE IDES OF MARCH Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 11:55, 02:10, 04:30, 07:10, 09:25 SERVICE ENTRANCE FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:45, 09:45 THE SKIN I LIVE IN Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 11:50, 02:20, 04:55, 07:30, 10:05 J. EDGAR Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 12:50, 04:10, 07:00, 09:50 MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:00, 02:30, 05:10, 07:40, 09:55 LIKE CRAZY FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 02:45, 04:50, 07:25, 09:40 THE DESCENDANTS
340 SW Morrison St., 800326-3264 ARTHUR CHRISTMAS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:45, 05:20, 10:30 ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED! FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -- GHOST PROTOCOL FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed TOWER HEIST Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 02:55, 05:25, 07:55, 10:25 IMMORTALS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:45, 10:15 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:00, 02:50, 05:35, 08:15 HAPPY FEET TWO Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:15, 04:55, 10:00 THE MUPPETS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:40, 05:15, 07:50, 10:20 HAPPY FEET TWO 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:35, 07:25 IMMORTALS 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:30, 07:40 ARTHUR CHRISTMAS 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:20, 08:00
Academy Theater
7818 SE Stark St., 503-2520500 DOLPHIN TALE Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:50 50/50 Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 07:15, 09:30 THE THREE MUSKETEERS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:25 FOOTLOOSE FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:45 THE RUM DIARY Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:15 THE HELP Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:05, 07:00 THE GUARD Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:50 THE SMURFS Fri-Sat-Sun 01:50 CARS 2 Fri-Sat-Sun 11:30
Living Room Theaters
341 SW 10th Ave., 971-2222010 HUGO 3D Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 11:50, 01:10, 03:00, 04:00, 06:00, 07:00, 09:00 BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER’S JOURNEY Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:00, 02:00, 03:50, 05:50, 07:50 BLACKTHORN Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 02:40, 07:15 50/50 Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 11:40, 04:35, 09:30 THE NAMES OF LOVE Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 05:00, 09:25 MONEYBALL Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 01:50, 06:45 MARGIN CALL Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:30, 04:50, 07:30, 09:45 CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 09:40
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