Mary Holden runs one of the largest foster care agencies in Portland. For years, she’s been accused of financial misdeeds and neglecting vulnerable children.
“IT’S AS IF WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY INVENTED BURNING MAN.”
WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
Why is she still in business? BY NIGEL JAQUISS
PAGE 13
P. 4 WWEEK.COM
VOL 41/46 09.16.2015
NEWS
WEED-INFUSED BOOZE. P. 7
CULTURE
INCENSE ORP. CRACK PIPE? 19
BAR REVIEW
HAMLET’S VERY FINE PORK. P. 39
2
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d e v i n a m ato
FINDINGS
pAgE 49
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 41, ISSUE 46.
Dr. Know is pretending someone doesn’t know what the Vortex I festival was but cares to learn. 4
There was a pretty interesting synthesizer written partly in microcode for the Xerox Alto. 29
The Portland that a 30-year-old transplant fell in love with “is no
Music critics say Dan Bejar is both
longer.” 9
the next Randy Newman and also the next David Bowie. 31
San Francisco landlords have a really strong incentive to toss old bohos out on the street. 11
sells for $18 an ounce at a Pearl District bar. 39
“The best ham on the planet”
If you want to buy a crack pipe and very tasty broasted chicken, there is a place. 19
The TARDIS in Doctor Who cost 4,328 British pounds to build. 46
ON THE COVER:
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Cross-stitch by Matt Wright of Wrightsounds.
New York Times writer freda Moon made us think she loved us, but then tweeted that she didn’t.
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3
INBOX OUR FAILED WAR ON DRUGS
civil liberties and society than the use of the The article about Portland police using a snitch drugs ever has. who was still involved in criminal activity only Paul Millius highlighted how prohibition of drug use has cor- Northeast Portland rupted everything it touches, especially local law enforcement [“Rat Tale,” WW, Sept. 2, 2015]. By TIMBER INDUSTRY’S SPIN any objective measure, drug-use prohibition and I’d be tickled if the Oregon Forest Resources criminalization have been abject failures. Meth, Institute would spend half as much on ads and put heroin and crack, not to mention that money into funding the research marijuana, are available on just and community outreach needed to about any street corner. update what is widely regarded as an There is federal money flowing outdated and inadequate law [“Logto local law enforcement based on rolling,” WW, Sept. 9, 2015]. Use it drug arrests. This leads the local to establish the reputation for sound police to allocate resources to drug management that will create social enforcement that would otherwise support for increased harvest levels. go to more pressing public safety Oregon’s forests are capable of supissues. The use of criminal snitches porting more harvest—we just don’t to collar other criminals, specifically trust the managers and industry to “It is yet low-level drug dealers and customers, do it right this time. is but one more perverse outcome. —“mutie” one more How has the use of non-sworn way the agents, paid by the police with GRILLING THE CANDIDATES system has sentence reduction or cash, to parThanks, WW, for clarifying that ticipate in and even initiate illegal become Martin Hahn III and Renee Stecorrupted.” activity become acceptable law phens (Martin is the woman) are enforcement practice? Reasonable long shots for U.S. president [“Portpeople might consider this entrapland’s Presidential Candidates,” ment, but courts have decided otherwise. It is yet WW, Sept. 9, 2015]. Renee’s credentials speak for themselves, but one more way the system has become corrupted. And it is not just the police. The district attor- if money is not real, why would anyone have to neys and the courts willingly closed their eyes, abolish it? or gave a wink and a nod, to the violation of laws Martin speaks of restoring America to its and regulations that were supposed to prevent former greatness. Will she please specify exactly people like George Taylor from doing what he when that was? did. Now they are shocked, just shocked, that he —“Inkberrow” was double-dealing. We will continue to have this pervasive cor- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. ruption of law enforcement and the legal system Letters must be 250 or fewer words. until we abolish the failed policy of drug prohibi- Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. tion. It has done more harm to our government, Fax: (503) 243-1115. Email: mzusman@wweek.com.
Q.
Last week’s obituary of survival medicine expert Dr. Cameron Bangs mentioned that he served as chief medical officer at “the only statesponsored rock concert in U.S. history.” All respect to the late doctor, but what does that even mean?
—Peacey P
When it comes to 1970s Oregon history, there are three things you need to know: You’ve got your Mount Hood Freeway crisis, you’ve got your exploding whale, and you’ve got Vortex I. Vortex, a weeklong “biodegradable festival of life” at Milo McIver State Park, was made possible largely by Oregon Republican Gov. Tom McCall, which is a bit like discovering that William F. Buck4
Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
ley invented Burning Man. But put yourself in Tom’s shoes: It’s the summer of 1970. Kent State has just happened, prompting major riots at Portland State. The American Legion is bringing its national convention to Portland, with the theme “Victory in Vietnam” and a planned appearance by crowd favorite Richard Nixon. The FBI tells McCall that hippies nationwide are heading to Portland for a Chicago-1968-style showdown pegged to the Legionnaires’ bash. So when a small group of peaceniks suggest having a festival far from downtown the same weekend, McCall grasps the straw. Not only did Vortex’s organizers get free use of McIver for a week (and a promise that cops would turn a blind eye to nonviolent offenses like drug use and nudity), McCall’s office used its connections in the business community to get them food, lumber, sanitation and all the other things you’re worried hippies might overlook when they throw a party. The establishment’s bribe worked: Tens of thousands elected to party by the Clackamas River rather than riot downtown, and the crisis was averted. As the festival wound down, McCall himself dropped by to check out the vibes and—this is true—participate in an Om circle. He then went on to invent free beaches, responsible land use, and recycling. Coincidence? You be the judge. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
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Page 11
NO MCMENAMINS WITH A SUPERFUND VIEW. Portlanders’ 2016 ballots may be crowded with tax measures. Portland Public Schools officials are crunching numbers to figure out how much property owners will have to pay to rebuild Benson, Madison and Lincoln high schools, and the property-tax measure could appear on the ballot in November 2016. Didn’t PPS just pass a $482 million construction bond, you ask? Yes, it did—in November 2012. But district officials are considering asking voters to approve a second bond before the last one runs out. Meanwhile, City Commissioner Steve Novick, not content to let last year’s “street fee” fiasco fade into the background, recently asked Portland Bureau of Transportation staffers to estimate how much money a 10-cent-per-gallon local gas tax would generate for Portland streets. The answer? About $15 million a year. Novick told the Portland Tribune last week he’s aiming for the May 2016 ballot. Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who rejected Novick’s other street-funding ideas, says she’s open to this one “if there’s a good process and a vote of the people.” Portland Mayor Charlie Hales probably doesn’t need to worry that members of the City Council will endorse his 2016 opponent, Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler. It’s rare for commissioners to stick their necks out that way. But LaVonne GriffinValade, Portland’s elected auditor from 2009 to 2014, has no such qualms. GRIFFIN-VALADE She worked with Hales for two years, and with Wheeler for about the same time when he was Multnomah County chairman and she was county auditor. Griffin-Valade is endorsing Wheeler. She says he’s responsive, inquisitive and willing to let people challenge his decisions. “He never shuts the door to discussion,” she says. The director of the local public defenders’ office is decrying the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office use of George Taylor, a snitch who still committed crimes while testifying in court for Portland police (“Rat Tale,” WW, Sept. 2, 2015). “A witness was used who never should have been,” writes Kathleen Dunn, Multnomah County director of Metropolitan Public Defender Services. “The constitutional rights of many were violated. Our community deserves better.” But Dunn says she believes District Attorney Rod Underhill’s office is sincere about reforming its informant policy. “We will be vigilant,” Dunn says, “that the policies and procedures now in place are followed in all of our cases.” So much for saving the Portland Gas and Coke Building. In 2013, utility NW Natural agreed to delay demolition of the 102-year-old industrial Northwest building so preservationists could raise $2 million to save the dilapidated structure. But Friends of GasCo could only raise $4,000. Last week, NW Natural started tearing down the building. “Shame on them,” architecture critic Brian Libby wrote Sept. 11, “and shame on all of us.” Scott Ray Becker of Friends of GasCo says the group plans to use the $4,000 to build a memorial viewing station along nearby U.S. Highway 30 with plaques detailing the building’s history.
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NEWS
BITTERS BATTLE: Camille Messina infused alcohol with marijuana to make Messina Bitters. She removed citrus rind from the recipe because it could worsen glaucoma.
Cannabooze MARIJUANA-INFUSED ALCOHOL COULD BE THE NEXT FRONTIER OF WEED—IF THE OLCC DOESN’T BAN IT. By AA r o n m e s h
amesh@wweek.com
Some people think marijuana and alcohol go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Camille Messina may be the first person in Oregon to turn that combination into a business. Last year, the 35-year-old designer moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Portland’s North Mississippi Avenue area and began working on a recipe for marijuana-infused bitters, an alcoholic herbal flavoring used in cocktails. In July, she founded Messina Bitters, a company that proposes to sell THC-laced digestif in 1-fluid-ounce dropper bottles. “I’m the only incorporated bitters company that is cannabis-infused—worldwide,” Messina says. Messina is at the forefront of a growing trend. As states legalize marijuana, brewers and mixologists are experimenting with adding weed to drinks, either using tinctures like Messina’s or soaking buds directly in the booze. But state regulators, already stretching to implement marijuana legalization and deal with established permutations such as edibles, haven’t begun to grapple with weedbooze drinks. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission—the agency that oversees both alcohol and recreational marijuana— has yet to hold a single public discussion of whether it will allow the two substances to be combined and sold in the same product.
“It’s a gray area,” says OLCC spokesman Mark Pettinger. “If you look at cannabis and look at alcohol, separately they may be OK. But that doesn’t mean that mixed together, they are OK.” The signs don’t augur well for Messina Bitters. Federal regulators have barred brewers and distillers from spiking their products with “adulterated ingredients”—a category that probably includes cannabis. The OLCC has usually followed the feds’ lead. And the OLCC declared in July that it would not allow pot consumption in any location with a liquor license—a ban that forced High Times magazine to cancel a Cannabis Cup trade show in Oregon planned for this fall. Messina is worried the state will bar her product or outlaw its use in mixed drinks. “I put my heart and soul into this,” she says, “and I’m not sure where the OLCC will land.” Pot-infused drinks have been an open secret in Portland for years. Alex Ganum, who owns Portland’s Upright Brewing, says home brewers often share batches of weedinfused beer. “Homebrewed versions have been in existence for a long time,” Ganum says. “No surprise there. A lot of home brewers are really tied into cannabis culture. We can expect a lot more interest in it now.” But Ganum and other brewers tell WW that commercial sales of marijuana-infused beer are “light years away” because the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau outlaws any drug added to alcoholic beverages. That hasn’t stopped entrepreneurs nationwide from trying. A San Francisco company, Mary Jane Wines, launched in 2013. Last month, a Colorado brewery debuted a cannabidiol oil-infused beer called Indica Double IPA. Bloomberg Business has declared marijuana “the next hot ingredient in cocktails.” Some health experts warn it’s a bad idea. Dr. Scott E. Lukas, director of the Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory at Harvard Medical School, says using alcohol and marijuana together can
increase their effects, and cause intoxication to last longer. “People have a drink and feel like they’re fine to get into their cars,” Lukas says. “That cannabis is also going to take effect when they’re five miles down the road. I’m really concerned how this is going to play out when we legalize these cannabis products.” The Oregon Health Authority, which has run the state’s medical marijuana program since 1998, tells WW it currently has no rules against products combining marijuana and alcohol. “We don’t have restrictions on this,” says OHA spokeswoman Susan Wickstrom, “but we’d like to look into it.” Pettinger, the OLCC spokesman, says liquor commissioners will discuss the issue at a Sept. 25 meeting. He points to previous cases in which federal agencies have banned ingredients in alcoholic beverages—like the caffeine-spiked malt liquor Four Loko—and the OLCC has followed suit. “There’s nothing that prohibits people from buying ibuprofen,” Pettinger says. “There’s nothing that prohibits people from buying alcohol. We wouldn’t let a brewer or a distiller add Advil to their product and sell it.” Messina says that comparison shouldn’t apply to her bitters. The recipe contains only a small amount of THC—just 200 mg per ounce—along with cane alcohol, elderflower, birchbark and vanilla bean. She says her bitters are good for more than just making cocktails more exotic. Messina says alcohol is one of the most effective agents for extracting THC from the cannabis plant, and Messina Bitters could be a great way for medical patients to get their dose of the drug. “It’s pivotal to my business that the recipe I made is able to move forward,” she says. “It’s about being able to use the best possible ingredients to create the best bitters I can make.” Messina has gathered friends to try the bitters in cocktails—with happy results. “There’s lots of laughing,” she says. “I generally am a little bit of a lightweight.” Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
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NEWS I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y T Y L E R G R O S S
Just Say Novick
MAYBE
CITY COMMISSIONER STEVE NOVICK IS VULNERABLE—BUT FEW DARE CHALLENGE HIM. BY B ETH SLOVIC
bslovic@wweek.com
Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick has a lot of explaining to do to voters. He enters the post-Labor Day election season with unusually low favorability ratings—more than 40 percent of voters have a negative view of him, according to a February survey. He’s failed to deliver a solution to the problem that landed him in the doghouse in the first place—a source of funds to repair crumbling streets. And now Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler, running against Mayor Charlie Hales in 2016, is using Hales and Novick’s “street fee” fiasco as a
campaign weapon. What Novick doesn’t have: a formidable opponent. A Harvard-trained lawyer who’s in his first term as an elected official, Novick has drawn scant competition for his $113,000-a-year job. And he doesn’t appear to be at all nervous. Asked how he would regain voters’ trust, Novick responded by emailing WW a list of topics he’s working on this year—the same list Novick sent the newspaper four months ago. The first day to file for office was Thursday, Sept. 10. Here’s a look at who has stepped up to challenge Novick and who has backed away.
IN
MICHAEL “MICRO” DURROW AGE: 49 Perennial candidate Durrow finally won office in May when he ran unopposed for a seat on the board of the Multnomah Education Service District.
“If we don’t have bees, we don’t have trees.” “I’m not getting any younger,” he says. “I want to try again for the City Council now.” The King neighborhood resident ran for the council in 2014 against Commissioner Nick Fish. He has also run for seats on the Metro Council and the Portland Community College board. He wants Portland to ban plastic water bottles, enforce a bicycle registration fee to pay for bike programs, and loosen restrictions on residential beekeeping. “We need bees,” he says. “If we don’t have bees, we don’t have trees.”
OUT
FRED STEWART AGE: 50 Stewart, a realestate broker, says he wants to reform the Police Bureau, address the city’s lack of affordable housing and chip away at Portland’s backlog of unpaved roads. “I don’t believe Steve Novick is representing the best interests of the people of Portland,” says Stewart, who if elected would be only the third black member of the Portland City Council in its history. Stewart, who lives in the Piedmont neighborhood, has sought elected office unsuccessfully three times before—including a 2008 bid for City Council after then-Commissioner Erik Sten abruptly resigned. (He finished fourth out of five, with Nick Fish winning the seat.) In 2009, Stewart sued the city over a dispute concerning his water bill. So far, his biggest contributor is Teresa McGuire, one of the women behind the doomed campaigns to recall Mayor Sam Adams. (She gave Stewart $500.)
ERIK TONKIN AGE: 41
NICK CALEB AGE: 31
The owner of Sellwood Cycle Repair, Tonkin is well-known among bike activists, including those working with the city to build additional mountain biking opportunities. As he mulled a City Council bid, he was adamant he was bigger than bikes—talking about broader transportation projects and issues affecting small businesses. But he decided not to run. Tonkin, who lives in the Eastmoreland Heights neighborhood, says he still has his eyes on 2018. “That is still something I’m pretty keenly interested in,” he says.
Caleb, a $15-an-hour living-wage activist and Concordia University instructor, jumped into the race against Novick early. But he withdrew in July after failing to put together a slate of leftie running mates who would oppose Hales and Commissioner Amanda Fritz. Caleb made an impressive showing against Commissioner Dan Saltzman when he ran against him in 2014, winning 18 percent of the vote. “The most difficult part of the decision is the near lack of candidates with the passion and creativity to fight for those in our community who suffer the most,” he wrote in a message to supporters in July, explaining his decision to bow out.
CHARLES MCGEE AGE: 30 McGee has a compelling biography— and a thick Rolodex. Born in Liberia but raised in Portland from age 5, McGee graduated from Franklin High School. In 2006, he co-founded the
“The Portland a lot of us fell in love with is no longer.” Black Parent Initiative, an education nonprofit that works with schools and families to support children. Through his work, he’s amassed an impressive list of supporters, especially considering he just turned 30. McGee, who attended Wheeler’s campaign kickoff for mayor, hasn’t ruled out a bid. He says Portland needs to have a debate about its future. “The Portland a lot of us fell in love with,” he says, “is no longer.”
NEVER WAS FEMALE CANDIDATES Commissioner Amanda Fritz, also up for re-election in 2016, is only the seventh woman in the history of Portland to serve on the City Council. The dearth of female candidates continues in Novick’s race. Although a few women have expressed interest in challenging Fritz, none has stepped forward to take on Novick.
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Kim-Mai Cutler A SAN FRANCISCO REPORTER TALKS ABOUT THE RENTAL DYSTOPIA PORTLAND HOPES TO AVOID. BY AA R O N M E S H
amesh@wweek.com
The cost of renting an apartment looks like an Uber price surge. Longtime residents are being pushed out. And the shortage of affordable housing is political kryptonite. But enough about San Francisco. KimMai Cutler is taking a break from all that to visit Portland. The 30-year-old reporter for website TechCrunch last year wrote a definitive study of the Bay Area’s housing crisis—a sprawling explainer titled, “How Burrowing Owls Lead to Vomiting Anarchists.” Cutler will speak Friday at a panel hosted by regional planning agency Metro on averting a housing crisis. (This reporter will moderate the discussion.) She arrives in Portland to a familiar scene. Average apartment rents here have jumped 7.7 percent this year to $1,110 per month, according to real-estate brokerage Marcus & Millichap. The Community Alliance of Tenants has declared no-fault evictions a citywide “emergency.” Mayor Charlie Hales and Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler are lobbing possible fixes back and forth as they prepare for a 2016 mayoral race. Before flying north, Cutler talked with WW about the cautionary tales Portland can learn from San Francisco—where the average apartment rent is nearing $3,040 a month.
STEVE JENNINGS/GETTY IMAGES FOR TECHCRUNCH
NEWS
WW: What was the worst mistake San Francisco made that led to its housing crisis? Kim-Mai Cutler: I don’t think there’s any one thing. But the priority of slow growth that permeates Northern California in general is pretty counterproductive at this point. It seems so counterproductive to oppose market-rate housing when you want affordable housing. But it comes up over and over again. Land is being sold at an extremely high price, and so the amount that you can extract for affordable housing is really unpredictable. And when these lowerincome groups oppose [new] housing, it’s really because they want to get the percentage higher on a project-by-project basis, in the absence of a higher acrossthe-board rule. Are they right? I don’t know. In the United States, you can’t see, visually, what every developer is making or spending per line item. It’s this weird game in the dark where the lowerincome communities don’t believe anyone, and they don’t trust that the numbers are high enough. And on the developer side, they have no idea where the economic cycle is going to be in two or three years when the project finally gets finished—and whether they’re actually going to make money off of the deal. So it’s this weird, terrible form of head-butting that is completely inefficient. What are the results of that? It really depends on who you talk to. I personally think, across the board, it makes everything go slower and makes it more unpredictable and fractious. But if you do talk to progressive [city] supervisors, they’ll say, “Because we’re giving developers resista nce, we’re getting higher-percent commitments now, well above citywide law.” So they’ll say it’s a good thing. At the end of the day, we have about 20,000 people moving to San Francisco per year, and when you produce
APPLE CRUNCH: Kim-Mai Cutler grew up in Cupertino, Calif., now home to Apple. She says the region is at times “totally dystopian.”
5,000 units per year, it’s a really tough structural problem. San Francisco has rent control. Should Portland implement rent control as soon as possible? Well, 45 percent of the units in San Francisco are covered by rent control. If you have a policy goal of preventing displacement of existing residents, it is a tool that does do that. Only 9 percent of the housing units in San Francisco are market-rate. It builds a really, really strong financial incentive for landlords to evict tenants, because they know if they can get them out, they can bring the rent back up to market, whatever the market rate is. That creates this incredibly shitty situation, because the tenants that are most vulnerable to being evicted—because it’s more profitable to evict them—are the longest-standing tenants who are usually old, because, you know, you’re the farthest behind whatever the prevailing market rate is. And over time, as people cycle in and out of our rent-controlled stock, they’re generally getting wealthier, because no middle- or lower-income people can basically afford to show up in San Francisco anymore. In Portland, probably the most loathed things in the city are new apartment construction and outsiders—particularly Californians. Who do the Californians hate?
There’s a lot of apprehension, people are in love with San Francisco the way it was when they arrived on the first day. And, particularly with older, bohemian San Francisco. The ’50s through the ’80s were an anomalously cheap period in American urban history because the federal government subsidized the flight of wealthier families out of cities, and there were a lot of special things that happened in that time. Artistic movements, musical movements, political protests. Those conditions don’t exist anymore. Is there any way to keep the character of a place while at the same time not pricing everyone out of it? I don’t know what “character” means. Does it matter that all the buildings look the same, but now they ’re filled with super-ultra-rich people? What precisely are we trying to protect? Is there a specific socioeconomic diversity that we want to protect? Is it a certain architectural look and feel that we want to protect? I think we need to be very specific when we talk about character, because character can be, frankly, quite exclusionary. We protect buildings over people. GO: Kim-Mai Cutler speaks on “Averting a Housing Crisis: Is Portland the Next San Francisco?” at Metro Council Chambers, 600 NE Grand Ave. 8 am Friday, Sept. 18. Free.
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Mary Holden runs one of the largest foster care agencies in Portland. For years, she’s been accused of financial misdeeds and neglecting vulnerable children. Why is she still in business? BY N I GEL JAQ UI SS
njaquiss@wweek.com
In child welfare circles, it’s sometimes said that heaven holds a special place for foster parents, those selfless souls who provide temporary homes for needy children. Mary Holden, executive director of Portland foster care agency Give Us This Day, has taken in thousands of kids during the past 15 years, including some of the state’s most challenging cases. “All kids matter,” Holden says. “We take very difficult kids and we hang onto them.” People familiar with Holden’s operation, however, say she’s no angel of mercy. “The kids aren’t being taken care of,” says Maurice Gibson, who came to Give Us This Day as a foster child and worked there for seven years as an adult. “They’re just being warehoused.” Last year, 11,443 Oregon kids spent at least one day in foster care, at a cost to taxpayers of $76 million. The state contracts with 109 private foster care providers, ranging from single-family homes that serve one child to agencies that serve 1,000 kids annually. Interviews with child welfare experts and former employees, and thousands of pages of public documents, illustrate that Give Us This Day is unique among those providers for several reasons: • Give Us This Day serves the most troubled, challenging kids—children who have been sexually abused, beaten, starved and abandoned. • Give Us This Day has been the subject of longstanding complaints to the Oregon Department of Human Services and the state Department of Justice about conditions at its homes, the treatment of its children and the organization’s use of public dollars. • Four group homes Holden operated have been listed in more than 1,000 police reports in the past 10 years. • Holden has for years failed to pay creditors, many employees, the Internal Revenue Service and local tax authorities. • Holden, by her own admission, violated state nonprofit laws and Give Us This Day’s bylaws by improperly selling nearly $700,000 worth of real estate, including property donated by Multnomah County. Yet the Department of Human Services continues to fund Give Us This Day, and DHS officials acknowledge they treat it more leniently than any other provider. Evidence of the organization’s serious dysfunction has been abundant for years. Holden insists
HOME SWEET HUSTLE
OUR DAILY BREAD: Give Us This Day’s house on Northeast Rodney Avenue.
CONT. on page 14
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HOME SWEET HUSTLE
Mary Holden, 55, grew up in Mississippi. She recalls starting elementary school in a segregated building and coming of age in a time of rapid social change. “We went from President Kennedy and Martin Luther King getting shot to the decade of ‘free to be you and me,’” she says. Holden moved to Portland to attend Lewis & Clark College. She later taught at Cleveland and Jefferson high schools, and left following a cancer diagnosis. After a divorce, her second, she took a job in 1998 with Give Us This Day, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foster care agency founded in 1979. “We used an extended-family model,” Holden says. “It was not about what mental illness or behavioral problems kids might have. It was a place where they could always go.” By 1999, she had become executive director of the state’s only African-American-run foster care agency. She started another nonprofit called Big Mary’s Legacy/Homes for Angels, and took over the Alfred Yaun Child Care Centers. In 2001, Holden was honored on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a Metropolitan Human Rights Center Award for “helping youth in need.” She lives in a hillside West Linn home, keeps a vintage Mercedes coupe in her garage and drives an Infiniti SUV. But Holden says she has poured her earnings back into Give Us This Day, liquidating her pension and mortgaging her house for the organization’s benefit. “I’m the last one who gets paid,” she says. For much of the past decade, Give Us This Day operated four group homes in Portland, although financial troubles led to the sale of two of them, the most recent one in May. It’s hard to know exactly what goes on inside the group’s two remaining houses. Give Us This Day ’s flagship property is a 5,500-square-foot, six-bedroom home on Northeast Rodney Avenue that Holden calls Big Mary’s House. A dusty Chevy Suburban with two flat tires and a beat-up Honda Civic occupy the driveway. Fronted by soaring elms, the tan Tudor-style house with green trim sits on 2½ city lots and is assessed at $824,000. It’s licensed to hold 18 girls. In a February inspection, a Multnomah County tax assessor noticed “several notices on the door for shut-off of services.” The house was in disrepair, with a basement full of junk and closet doors that couldn’t be opened. “The attic is finished and partitioned into rooms, but lacks access from a regular staircase,” the inspector wrote. “The roof appears to be failing.” Another Give Us This Day home on Northeast 11th Avenue, just north of Fremont Street, is also in rough shape, with a roof near failure and broken metal blinds lining its windows. A man who recent14
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THE BOSS: Mary Holden (inset) faces foreclosure on her West Linn home. COURTNEY THEIM; COURTESY MAURICE GIBSON
Give Us This Day has taken good care of foster children. She acknowledges many financial challenges but blames the DHS. “The reason we have so many problems is we don’t get paid,” Holden says. “We are just people who don’t get paid.” Now the DOJ says it plans to seek “the organization’s dissolution” for financial reasons. But the DHS, which funds and regulates Give Us This Day, continues to back the organization. “We’ve continued our relationship with Give Us This Day based on their ability to provide care safely and successfully,” says DHS spokesman Gene Evans. Former employees find that surprising. DeMarcus Rogers worked as a counselor at a Give Us This Day group home for boys in Southeast Portland in 2013 and 2014. “On a scale of 1 to 10,” Rogers says, “I’d give that place a zero.”
ly answered the door said it’s no longer a group home. (The DHS says both homes remain licensed for foster care.) Six former employees interviewed for this story who worked for Holden between 2012 and this July say Give Us This Day’s foster care group homes often lacked basic safety measures. Records support that assertion. In 2012, for instance, a Portland Fire & Rescue inspector found the fire-alarm system at the Northeast Rodney home didn’t work. The inspector, Joseph Thornton, returned six more times before the alarm was fixed. Thornton’s notes say he “discussed revoking state licensing due to lack of compliance with repairing fire alarm.” Thornton reported that Tom Heidt, a DHS licensing official, was even more frustrated. “Tom stated that he has been trying to get this facility shut down and has been unsuccessful due to ‘political’ reasons,” Thornton wrote in a March 13, 2013, report. “Tom was actually hopeful that we at the fire marshal’s office would be able to shut it down.” (Through a DHS spokesman, Heidt says he doesn’t recall saying that.) Former employees say the homes’ decaying exteri-
ors were better than conditions inside. Maurice Gibson says in 2013 he provided a Department of Human Services investigator with evidence of child neglect and abuse at Give Us This Day. He says the investigator substantiated the allegations but nothing changed. The DHS investigator with whom Gibson communicated declined to comment on specifics of the investigation because of juvenile privacy laws but confirmed he corroborated Gibson’s story. The DHS rejected WW’s requests for records of complaints and investigations regarding Give Us This Day, citing juvenile privacy laws. State Sen. Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis), who chairs the Senate Committee on Human Services, says that’s unacceptable. “When you are looking at a publicly paid provider, information about complaints and investigations should be a matter of public record,” Gelser says. Other records provide clues about Give Us This Day’s care. Licensing inspections in 2012 and 2014 found numerous problems, ranging from failure to perform criminal background checks on foster parents it subcontracted to care for kids, failing to notify DHS case workers of “critical incidents,” not documenting medication or making sure kids
COURTNEY THEIM
“AND MARY, SHE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ANYBODY.” —Maurice Gibson
UNHAPPY CAMPER: Maurice Gibson claims Mary Holden rarely paid him when he worked for Give Us This Day.
got counseling and medical appointments. The DHS says those shortcomings were addressed. In the past 10 years, reports show Portland police responded to four Give Us This Day group homes more than 1,000 times, visiting a location on Southeast Tenino Court an average of once a week. Most of the police reports concern runaways. It’s no surprise that troubled kids run away from foster care. But people who worked at Holden’s facilities say staff members were often neither properly trained nor hired in sufficient numbers to supervise severely troubled children. “These kids—they got no families,” says Gibson, who worked at the Give Us This Day home on Northeast 11th along with his then-wife, Holden’s daughter. “The cops don’t care about them. The state doesn’t care about them. And Mary, she doesn’t care about anybody.” Other former employees also tell of squalid conditions at the homes. Shatyra Washington worked at the group home on Northeast Rodney and also took Give Us This Day kids into her own home as a foster parent. (In addition to placing children in the group homes, Give Us This Day contracts with foster parents who take kids into their homes. Give Us This Day takes a cut from the state for its referral services.) “ When I worked at Rodney, I was kind of shocked,” Washington says. “I wouldn’t put my dog there. They had moldy bread and no hygiene products for the girls. Bathrooms were dirty, and the whole place was disgusting.” Although Washington says foster kids received better care at her home, she says Give Us This Day staff members rarely conducted state-required follow-ups after lodging kids with her. “They never came around and checked on the kids Mary placed in my home,” Washington says. Holden denies Give Us This Day neglects children. “We keep kids clean and we keep them safe,” she says. “We always serve our kids well.” Michael Balter recently retired as executive director of Oregon’s Boys & Girls Aid, which pro-
vides foster care. Speaking for himself and not his former employer, Balter says Give Us This Day has a poor reputation. “My understanding is that DHS and others have investigated Give Us This Day, but always just put them on a corrective action plan,” Balter says. “Government agencies have turned a blind eye to violations because they don’t have a lot of options that are culturally specific.” In other words, the state didn’t want to ask too many questions about a minority-run organization that took challenging children off the state’s hands. DeMarcus Rogers says employees knew the state paid a significant amount of money to support Give Us This Day’s foster children, yet staff often personally paid for kids’ food at the Southeast Tenino facility and collected clothes, backpacks and other items from thrift shops and churches. Rodgers says he requested more resources—and his paycheck, which was often late—but he was told the state’s slow payment was the problem. “Where did the money go?” Rogers asks. “I’d like to know that.” Give Us This Day served about 300 children last year. Each child who enters foster care is covered by an individual contract with the DHS. The department places kids who are relatively trouble-free directly with families, paying a rate of $25 a day. But the kids it places with Give Us This Day are more challenging. Taking difficult kids, often on an emergency basis, is a valuable service. It is also lucrative. The DHS pays Give Us This Day nearly five times the base rate it pays for less troubled kids. The current contract amount is $118 a day, plus $15 an hour for one-to-one supervision. Over the past three years, the DHS has paid Give Us This Day an average of nearly $1.6 million a year. It’s difficult to determine where all that money went. As a nonprofit, Give Us This day must file annual tax returns with the state and federal governments.
Those returns are public records. But Give Us This Day hasn’t filed a state tax return since 2010. That means the organization’s finances, including Holden’s compensation, are a mystery. Holden acknowledges not filing tax returns, blaming the failure on poor staffing and her health issues. Available records suggest financial distress, however. In the past 10 years, for instance, former employees at Give Us This Day filed nearly a dozen complaints with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries about late or nonpayment of wages. Five former workers, including Gibson, filed lawsuits. Some of those complaints resulted in legal judgments. But even when a court told Holden she must pay, she has dragged her heels. In 2013, a former Give Us This Day employee won a $154,000 wage claim in Multnomah County Circuit Court. His attorney was ultimately forced to take the rare measure of garnishing state payments to Give Us This Day. “It is very unusual for a child welfare provider to be garnished,” DHS controller Shawn Jacobsen tells WW. “This is the only provider in the child welfare system to be garnished or levied in the last few years.” In recent years, Give Us This Day has battled constantly with the DHS over money. “It’s very difficult to get paid,” Holden says. “DHS’s payment system is just mayhem.” Emails show the department was unhappy with the nonprofit’s lack of documentation and regularly questioned whether Give Us This Day was actually providing the services for which it billed the state. Records show in June 2014, for instance, Give Us This Day asked to be paid for 279 hours of one-toone foster care but initially provided no documentation of the work. Despite continual battles, Holden’s nonprofit continued get paid. CONT. on page 17
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HOME SWEET HUSTLE “The reality is your client was treated more favorably than other providers,” wrote Jeffrey Wahl, the agency’s attorney, in an Oct. 28, 2014, email to Give Us This Day’s attorney. For example, unlike any other Oregon foster care provider, Give Us This Day regularly asked for—and received—large cash advances. The DHS routinely granted such advances, in effect providing Holden’s organization with sizable interest-free loans. “This provider has requested advance payments on a continual basis for many years,” says Jacobsen. “No other child welfare providers have requested regular monthly advance payments.” Despite special treatment, Holden complained to the DHS earlier this year. “This is beginning to feel like sharecropping, or even worse, slavery,” she wrote to state officials in an April 7 email. “As African-Americans, we have been there before, and it is never a good thing. We simply hope, pray and sing Negro spirituals like the slaves of old.” Holden says over the years she sent picketers to highlight racial discrimination against Give Us This Day on at least three occasions: once each to the Department of Justice and the Legislature, and once to the office of a business counterpart. “For us, it’s like Jim Crow never went away,” Holden says. “Nobody cares about us or helps us.” But over the years, one influential lawmaker helped.
HOLDEN THE CARDS “I’VE KNOWN MARY HOLDEN FOR A LONG TIME. SHE’S VERY FAMILYORIENTED AND HAS A PASSION FOR CHILDREN.”
Margaret Carter, the state’s first female AfricanAmerican lawmaker, was elected to the Oregon House in 1984, and advanced to the Senate in 2000. As a lawmaker, she focused on human services and particularly child welfare. Give Us This Day’s Rodney Avenue property sat in the middle of her legislative district. For many years, as Carter —Margaret Carter advanced to become co-chair of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, Carter served on Give Us This Day’s board. In 2006, Holden says, when $71,000 in back taxes on the Rodney Give Us This Day’s state fundAvenue house. The county is preparing was imperiled, Carter led ing to seize the house. the charge to preserve it. In April, DHS officials temporarily “I’ve known Mary Holden stopped sending children to Give Us for a long time,” Carter says. This Day—because the IRS was pre“She’s very family-oriented and paring to garnish $168,000 in unpaid has passion for children.” payroll taxes. To raise money, HoldIn 2009, then- Gov. Ted en hastily sold a house that Give Us Kulongoski named Carter, then This Day had earlier obtained nearly 73, deputy director of the DHS. free from the county. The referrals “I resigned from the [Give started again. Us This Day] board when I And last week, after WW pressed the joined DHS,” Carter says. “I DOJ for results of the agency’s investiPOWERFUL ALLY: Former state told Dr. Holden and others that gation, the DOJ told WW it is hoping to Sen. Margaret Carter. it would be a conflict of interest shut down Give Us This Day. for me to stay on.” “Ultimately,” says DOJ spokeswoman Kristina Carter acknowledges that while she was DHS Edmunson, “we are seeking the organization’s disdeputy director, Holden called her for help with the solution, either voluntary, through a settlement, or department. She says she responded as she would for through litigation.” any foster care provider. The DHS is aware of that possibility. “If such an action “Give Us This Day would run into problems as dissolution were to occur,” Evans says, “the departbecause they were so small,” says Carter, who retired ment would work to make sure children are appropriately from state employment in July 2014. placed with as little disruption as possible.” “I would call people together to see if we could do Holden says the DOJ is “persecuting” her, but her something.” biggest priority is to make sure her foster kids are “Margaret was certainly an advocate for children taken care of if her organization is shut down. and families in her Portland community,” says Evans, Maurice Gibson, who spent one-third of his life the DHS spokesman. “But that advocacy did not living or working under Holden, wonders what took impact DHS’s actions or decisions.” the state so long. “We’ve put it out there what’s happening, and if Today, Give Us This Day’s troubles are mounting. the state doesn’t do anything, they don’t care either,” The county tax assessor’s office determined that Gibson says. “I can’t believe they’re still giving her since Holden stopped filing tax returns and lost her money.” nonprofit tax exemption, Give Us This Day owes
Randy Rugg wishes he’d never met Mary Holden. Back in 2007, Holden sought help from Rugg, a Wilsonville mortgage broker. He says Holden told him she ran a large child welfare agency that cleared $35,000 a month. Holden also shared a tale of woe. Give Us This Day faced foreclosure on three properties, and her lender would not help. Rugg couldn’t find a way to refinance Holden’s mortgages. Instead, he and some investors agreed to buy two of Give Us This Day’s houses and then lend it money so the nonprofit could buy the houses back at lower interest rates, cutting Give Us This Day’s monthly payments in half. “It was,” Rugg says, “one of the worst decisions of my life.” Holden had the buyers’ money—more than $600,000—and titles to the houses. She soon stopped making payments to Rugg’s group. He and his partners sued Holden in Multnomah County Circuit Court, seeking to foreclose. Records show she present-
SOLD: Give Us This Day’s Northeast 11th Avenue house.
ed an audacious defense, arguing the deal should be void because she’d failed to get approval from her board or the Oregon Department of Justice to sell the properties, as state nonprofit law requires. Holden had also failed to disclose one other problem: Multnomah County had donated one of the houses she’d sold, and the terms of the donation prohibited its sale. The court case dragged on for five years. Holden calls Rugg a “predatory lender” who took advantage of her when she was ill. Eventually, Rugg won a $100,000 settlement from Holden, getting back a fraction of what he and his partners lost. Holden quickly paid. “That told me she had the money all the time,” Rugg says. “And I just got taken.” NIGEL JAQUISS.
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Polish Festival 3900 N Interstate Ave. Portland, Oregon www.portlandpolonia.org/festival Questions: 503.281.7532
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W W S TA F F
CULTURE containing undisclosed ingredients such as sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra. Jiffy Mart Foods only sells standard Libigrow, but even that was recalled in 2012 for containing sulfoaildenafil and thioaildenafil, drugs that mimic the chemical structure and effect of sildenafil while remaining technically legal.
KRATOM
AMERICAN DREAMER: Steven, bodega owner, wants you to try his chicken.
Cracking the Code YES, BODEGAS SELL CRACK PIPES AND OTHER PARAPHERNALIA IN PLAIN SIGHT. BY ZAC H M I D D L E TO N
zmiddleton@wweek.com
Bodegas provide the “greatest hits” of the cheap pleasures in life, from food totally devoid of nutrition to cigarettes to condoms for anonymous sex. But what you might not know is that bodegas also provide a number of cheap, bastardized highs and affordable vehicles for more expensive highs. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better source for drug paraphernalia than the modern bodega. Jiffy Mart Foods, located in the Lents neighborhood, is no exception. The bodega is owned by a delightful Fijian named Steven who moved to the United States sight unseen on a lottery visa in 2002. If you only look at Steven’s businesscasual polo shirt, big smile and polite comb-over, you might be inclined to see him in the way he wants to be seen: a standup member of the community who knows “99 percent of his customers by name,” a devoted father, and the maker of fantastic broasted chicken. (Broasting, a cooking process that combines frying and pressure cooking, is a recent addition to Jiffy Mart Foods, but Steven hopes customers will one day come to his bodega specifically for his chicken.) And yet, this man also sells crack pipes, cleverly disguised as incense, next to iPhone chargers. “What people do with these things, I don’t know,” he says. “They are adults. Everything in my store is legal.” Jiffy Mart Foods is certainly not alone in stocking these products. In fact, many, many East Portland bodegas sell drug paraphernalia and sometimes drugs themselves. Here are some of the most interesting examples we found at Jiffy Mart Foods and that you also might be able to find at your local bodega. Rembember, some of these drugs are dangerous and none are a substitute for really tasty fried chicken.
“BLOOMING INCENSE” CRACK PIPE
This may seem like a few tiny sticks of incense in a dangerously breakable glass shell. To the crack enthusiast, however, this is like a Riedel wine glass. Some brands sell these with a small paper rose inside, which has given rise to the name you are mostly likely to hear for this product: rose pipe. What you can’t see due to the packaging is a large glass bowl with a carburetor. There is another variant of rose pipe that is just a straight glass tube, which must be stuffed with fine metal filaments (such as a Chore Boy scour-
ing pad) to create a filter before it can be used for smoking. However, with this beauty you can take a rip as soon as you remove that smelly incense.
LIBIGROW
Most men ignore this stuff because the packaging makes it seem unlikely you would get a raging hard-on by using it and extremely likely you would develop kidney failure. However, in this case, you might actually have a good chance a t a c h i ev i n g the advertised sexual benefits (and possibly still develop kidney failure). That’s because various iterations of Libigrow have been recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for
Kratom has everything you want in a convenience-store drug. It comes from the jungles of Southeast Asia, and its strange mix of mystic properties (its ability to make the user more calm and alert simultaneously) is perfect for fearmongering local news stations. The fear comes from the fact that kratom triggers the opiate receptors in the brain, giving rise to frantic cries that it’s legal heroin. Online drug forums suggest that at high doses kratom does indeed have the opiate drug family’s sedative and analgesic effects. However, research has shown that kratom won’t cause hypoventilation, or respiratory depression, which is a factor in most heroin overdoses. Jordan, a local headshop employee, says he sells most of his kratom supply to bodybuilders and manual laborers who want a better fix for aching muscles than Tylenol.
Congratulations to you if your employer doesn’t make you pee into a cup to prove that you’re trustworthy. Because if they don’t, you probably wouldn’t understand what this product is for. Inside, there’s a little bottle of yellow liquid, a hand warmer, and a rubber band to help you fool a urinalysis so you can go on doing whatever drugs you want on your own time and still unload lumber at Home Depot.
NYQUIL
Remember that episode of South Park where the boys chug cough syrup for its psychotropic effects? While products like NyQuil and Robitussin come in at a respectable 10 percent alcohol by volume and contain a heavy dose of acetaminophen (Tylenol), it’s another ingredient that provides the interesting effects. Dextromethorphan is used as a cough suppressant in NyQuil, but it’s also a distant cousin of morphine and other opiates. Known in online drug forums as DXM, dextromethorphan has dissociative properties that are what your average 16-year-old cough-syrup connoisseur is experiencing w h e n h e re p o r t s v i ew i n g himself in the third person. But potential NyQuil abusers beware: In order to consume enough DXM to trip, you’d also be consuming enough acetaminophen to do some serious damage to your stomach and intestines.
BUTANE
Butane is the duct tape in the drug abuser’s toolbox. It can be huffed or used to fill torch lighters, which are the perfect complement to your new rose pipe. But one of the most popular uses for butane is the making of hash oil and wax. With weed now legal, and inexpensive scraps of the pot plant such as shake and trim becoming commercially available, more people may be tempted to make their own hash oil or wax in a process that involves putting combustible butane next to a heat source.
BUM WINE
WHIP-IT CANISTERS
A favorite of spring-breaking fratholes and club rats alike, Whip-Its contain nitrous oxide, the stuff dentists give you when you get a root canal. Some put nitrous oxide in balloons and sell them outside clubs. Some inhale it straight from the whipped-cream canister in the walk-in fridge at the pizza joint where they wash dishes. What’s your favorite way to Whip-It?
DIME BAGS
FAKE PISS
Who would even dream of putting drugs in something like this? Certainly not crack dealers. Depending on your jurisdiction, dime bags can actually get you in trouble. According to a 2009 Pulitzerwinning article, crooked Philadelphia cops raided and ransacked a string of immigrant-owned bodegas with the justification that these little dime bags qualified as drug paraphernalia. While the cops were accused of busting surveillance cameras, taking money and cigarettes, and basically acting like mobsters, they were never charged with crimes (because Philadelphia). All this trouble over some bags to take the world’s smallest sandwich to work.
The active ingredient in Thunderbird, MD 20/20, Night Train Express and other bum wines is ostensibly ethanol, but anyone who has tried these foul concoctions knows there is something else at work. These wines straddle the line of legal alcohol-by-volume regulations, are full of sugar, and are cheap as dirt. If you’ve ever seen someone hollering, half-naked, deranged and demented in downtown Portland, you might think they are possessed by Satan himself. I submit they are probably under the infl uence of Thunderbird or one of its colleagues.
SUPER GLUE
Ah, glue sniffing. It’s the catalyst for the best action on Cops, and there’s a reason: It’s a very cheap way to get high. Or, rather, it’s a very cheap way to get nauseous and kind of drunk feeling. Be careful with glue huffing, though, or you might fall victim to “sudden sniffing death syndrome.” Or you might end up with a cop’s knee in your back, gravel in your bleeding nose, and your pregnant girlfriend crying. Glue sniffing only leads to a few different outcomes.
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WORDSTOCK PORTLAND’S BOOK FESTIVAL 80 authors, 40 events, 17 workshops, a book fair, and more! #WordstockPDX
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CO M M U N I TY PA RT N E R S
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EVENT SPONSORS: Stoel Rives, The Standard IN-KIND SUPPORT: A to Z Wineworks, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Poetry Foundation, AHA!, Devil’s Foods Catering, PosterGarden, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Dennis Uniform, Provenance Hotels, Michelle’s Piano
STREET
FOSTERPOWELL OUR FAVORITE LOOKS THIS WEEK. PHOTOS BY CA R R IE WILSON wweek.com/street
“WE CARE”
“The thought of finding a buyer for our house and the perfect home for our family to grow felt overwhelming, but we conquered both tasks in less than 2 months!”
Interstate Dental Clinic 5835 N. Interstate Ave. (503) 285-5307
Edward E. Ward,
D.M.D., MAGD, MBA
Master Academy of General Dentistry
Book online: DrWardInterstateDental.com NancyMarie Hendricks, Realtor 503.381.5587 scoutportland.com nancymarie@scoutportland.com
24 Hour Care Line Weekend Appointments On Max and Bus Lines Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
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“What people do with these things, I don’t know. They are adults. Everything in my store is legal.” Page 19
FREE WEED: Well, that didn’t take long. Just a few weeks after it appeared on the streets of St. Johns, the Smoke Buddy weed cart was robbed. The cart, which gives away weed inside expensive glass jars—it charges for the jars, not the weed—was built by a couple named Larry and Jessica. The cart was at the corner of North Willamette Boulevard and Alma Avenue at 10:20 am Sept. 10 when two thieves confronted the couple. The lady thief jumped on the man working in the back of the cart while the male thief grabbed the weed. Then the male thief sped off in a dark-colored SUV. Is there a moral? Well, when weed is involved, maybe it’s best not to assume everyone is going to leave your twee cart alone just because it’s super-cute. FREE BIKE: In related news, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales appears to be begging someone to steal his Trek. Last weekend, a Bike Portland writer photographed Hales using a cable lock to secure his bike while he was on the new Tilikum Crossing bridge. This made him appear as out of touch as President George Bush Sr. standing mesmerized by a UPC scanner, because any urban cyclist knows a cable lock is like a ribbon on a bike thief’s birthday present. City Commissioner Nick Fish’s bike was stolen while secured with a cable lock in December 2014. In 2013, Portland Bureau of Transportation director Leah Treat also had her bike stolen while using a cable lock. (Her bike, “Beatrice,” was retrieved almost immediately from a homeless camp.) Confronted with this gaffe, Hales reportedly told a Bike Portland writer, “But I like cable locks.” Hales’ wife, Nancy, had a different explanation, saying she had lost the keys to their U-locks. Stay tuned for future reports about the unknown whereabouts of Mayor Hales’ bicycle.
@FREDAMOON
FUTURE DRINKING: Bartender Alan Akwai of St. Jack will team up with “Earl” Ninsom of PaaDee and Langbaan to open a Southern Thai restaurant called Hat Yai—the home city of Langbaan chef Duangduean Tattaruji. The restaurant, at 1605 NE Killingsworth St., will feature roti, curry and fried chicken, Akwai says. It will seat 48, including a 10-guest back room. Known for his light cocktails at St. Jack, Akwai says Hat Yai’s drinks will be “as simple and perfect as taking a cooler of beers to the beach.”
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THE COOLNESS GRATES: The New York Times contributor who wrote a glowing “36 Hours” travel piece about some of Portland’s finest restaurants was apparently less impressed than she let on. Last week, Freda Moon revealed her true feelings about our fair city via Twitter. In response to MOON a barrage of comments from Portlanders uphappy with her write-up, she tweeted, “The amusing thing about all the ‘UGH, the NYT is writing about Portland AGAIN’ comments: I don’t actually like Portland very much.” Moon was not done: “PDX has many fine attributes,” she continued. “Plenty to recommend it. But to me it feels more like a big (and very homogenous) town than a compelling city.” Moon ended by throwing a bit more shade our way: “I’m overstating. I like PDX just fine. And there are people there that I love dearly. But good grief, the coolness grates.”
PORTLAND POLICE
STARTERS
BITE-SIZED PORTLAND CULTURE NEWS.
W W S TA F F
GO: The Time-Based Art Festival’s Party Like It’s 1995 is at the Works at the Redd, 831 SE Salmon St., 227-6225, pica.org/event/party-like-1995, on Saturday, Sept. 19. 10:30 pm. $10.
WILLAMETTE WEEK
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK IN ARTS & CULTURE
THURSDAY SEPT. 17 TBA: OPPOSING FORCES [BREAK DANCING] Seattle hip-hop choreographer Amy O’Neal uses hyper-masculine break dancing to break down “fears around the feminine” in this show featuring breakers from Rocksteady and Massive Monkees, the Seattle crew that nearly made it on America’s Best Dance Crew. The Works at the Redd, 831 SE Salmon St., pica.org. 8:30 pm. $25.
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FRIDAY SEPT. 18 7 6
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PARTY
STAMMTISCH OKTOBERFEST [BIER] Not making the trip to Mount Angel? Stammtisch probably has better German beer anyway, and probably better German food, just up the street. The street will close and the taps will open with a cornucopia of 10 different Oktoberfest and Märzen beers from Ayinger to Weltenberger, plus face painting, if that’s your bag. Stammtisch, 401 NE 28th Ave., 206-7983. 5 pm.
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LIKE IT’S
1995
SATURDAY SEPT. 19
THE TIME-BASED ART FESTIVAL IS HAVING A 1995-THEMED DANCE PARTY. HERE’S WHAT TO WEAR TO SHOW EVERYONE YOU KNOW THE MOST ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN 1995. BY LIZZY ACKER
1. Monica Lewinsky
Find a slinky blue dress at Goodwill and pick up a tube of Elmer’s at the grocery store. Mix some glitter with the glue—Bill Clinton’s semen is presidential, powerful and magical. Apply glitter glue to the dress.
2. Hootie & the Blowfish
Find a few friends and get them loose T-shirts and tribal necklaces. Pick the most popular person in the group, give him the biggest necklace and call him Hootie for the rest of the night. Everyone else should be referred to simply as “bro.”
3. O.J. and Robert Kardashian
A great couples costume for you and your closest buddy. For Robert, give yourself a streak of white hair and carry a garment bag, with blood drops painted at the bottom. For O.J., get yourself a pair of tight gloves and say, “The Juice is loose!” when anyone asks you a question.
4. Ape with Ebola
7. Hugh Grant and Divine Brown
Construct a car out of cardboard. Take turns being the person at the wheel and the other person who is…not at the wheel.
8. Powder
Make this one a pun! Cover your face in glue and rub it in baking powder.
9. Windows 95
Wear a collared shirt under a sweater and do a comically bad and slow job at every task you attempt.
10. Yolanda Saldívar
11. Braveheart
5. The Unabomber
Find a hoodie, sunglasses and a giant, disturbingly accurate manifesto about the evils of the digital world.
6. Paralyzed Superman
A great last-minute costume! Rent a Superman costume and a wheelchair. Done!
Find tinted glasses, a gun, a shirt emblazoned with “President of the Selena Fan Club,” costume jewelry and a picture of Selena with a red X through her face. Make this a couples costume by having your significant other dress as Selena, with a gaping wound in her back and a very disappointed look on her face.
Find a used and ratty-looking gorilla costume. Use cotton balls, painted red, and glue to create foamy blood coming out of the mouth. Don’t feel like talking about world events any more? Remove the cotton balls, and turn into Amy from the popular 1995 movie Congo!
DESTROYER [INDIE-ROCK BAUDELAIRE] Dan Bejar has been called the next Harry Nilsson and the next Randy Newman, but on his 10th album, Poison Season, he proves to be an unlikely Springsteen acolyte, incorporating bits of the Boss while nodding to glam, pop and ’70s folk, and cutting it all with his distinctive wine-drunk delivery. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 9 pm. $20. All ages.
KRAFTWERK [ELECTRONIC VORFARHEN] EDM, hip-hop, krautrock, ambient music, synth pop—music’s most influential robots have left their imprint on them all, if not outright given birth to them. Sure, tickets are pricey, but there isn’t an audio-visual experience coming to Portland this year that’s more worth the money. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 2484335. 7 pm. $70-$91. All ages. TBA: DAKHABRAKHA [ETHNO CHAOS] Though its music arises from Ukrainian folk tunes, DakhaBrakha incorporates dub, hip-hop and African music to make what Rolling Stone called “folkdrone Bjorkpunk” and Bonnaroo’s breakout act. PSU’s Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 SW Park Ave., pica.org. 8:30 pm. $25.
SUNDAY SEPT. 20 SLUTWALK [BODIES, CHOICE] This year’s Portland SlutWalk—the protest where women and men, but mostly women, strip down to march against the idea a person is “asking for it” based on how they dress—should be a boisterous, hyper-inclusive event. Take off your shirt, march and then join the after-party at Dante’s on West Burnside. Southwest Park Avenue and Salmon Street. 1 pm. Free.
Don’t wear pants, paint half your face blue, yell “Freedom!” every 20 minutes. 5
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FOOD & DRINK By MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Editor: MARTIN CIZMAR. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
Sunday
K AY L A S P R I N T
Highly recommended.
BRUNCH
REVIEW
= WW Pick.
11AM – 3PM
THURSDAY, SEPT. 17 Mount Angel Oktoberfest
This is the 50th anniversary of the Mount Angel Oktoberfest—screw you, Zinzinnatti upstarts!—and up to 400,000 people are expected to wander down to the Oregon Wiese for beer and sausage. The von Trapps will, of course, appear. Details at oktoberfest.org. Mount Angel. 10 am. $8-$25. Through Sunday, Sept. 20.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 18 Stammtisch Oktoberfest
Not making the trip to Mount Angel? Stammtisch probably has better German beer, and definitely better German food. The street will close and the taps will open with 10 Oktoberfest and Märzen beers. Stammtisch, 401 NE 28th Ave., 206-7983. 5 pm. Through Sunday, Sept. 20.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 19 Thali Supper Club
Leena Ezekiel’s pop-up will serve the regal cuisine of Hyderabad in the south—slow-cooked biryani, almondcardamom lamb, cauliflower with figs and cumin. Din Din Supper Club, 920 NE Glisan St., 754-6456. 6:30 pm. $65.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 20 Heartlandia
Jackie and Adam Sappington of Country Cat have collected some of the recipes that typify their “Missouri cooking in Portland,” like autumn squash soup and bourbon peach crumble pie. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 4 pm. Free.
1. Farm Spirit
1414 SE Morrison St., farmspiritpdx. com. Aaron Adams’ prix-fixe modernist vegan spot aspires to be the best vegan restaurant in the world—El Bulli but with plants. $$$$.
2. Chicken and Guns
1207 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 234-7336, chickenandguns.com. The best damn roadside chicken in city limits, roasted over oak and mesquite, rubbed with spice, and doused in Peruvian-style aji sauce. $.
3. Matt’s BBQ
4709 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. New York-bred and Australia-trained, Matt Vicedomini nonetheless turns out solid Texas-style ’cue, with beautiful bark on the brisket and a perfect pop on the hot link. $-$$.
4. Burrasca
2032 SE Clinton St., 236-7791, burrascapdx.com. Burrasca is a Florentine restaurant plopped down on Southeast Clinton Street, with a sformato di piselli appetizer that will change how you think about peas. $$.
5. Rose VL
6424 SE Powell Blvd., 206-4344. Ha & VL’s new sister restaurant serves most of the same delicate, lovely soups as Ha & VL—but on different days, and for dinner. Get their take on tom yum Monday if it’s available. $.
Lunch walk up window 11:30am–2:30pm
I
La Calaca Comelona
2304 SE Belmont | 503-239-9675 4-10pm Mon–Sat
I
BOWLING FOR SOUP: To-go Taiwanese.
Taiwan Eats
Beaverton has long banned food-cart pods, a major stumbling block in efforts to enliven the moribund downtown of Portland’s second-most-populous suburb. But cart operators are nothing if not resourceful, so if you venture to Bethany Village, you’ll find they’ve basically reassembled a pod in unincorporated Washington County, inside a row of shoebox kitchens with Order this: Beef noodle soup ($10) outdoor seating. The old gang and plumanade ($3). is here: OG Korean cart Koi Fusion, Cartlandia’s famous Maine Street Lobster Company, and Cackalack’s (Not Quite) Hot Chicken Shack. You’ll also find the only cart I know that serves a plastic to-go container of Chinese-style marinated pig ear—little slices of soft cartilage and flesh served cold. That’s Taiwan Eats, a micro restaurant with a tiny but hyper-authentic menu of coldsmoked five-spice beef, noodle soups and pork belly over rice. The best thing we had was beef noodle soup ($10) with beef shank, baby bok choy and fresh, al dente noodles in a rich brown broth. Pair it with a cup of housemade plumanade ($3), a faintly sweet, dark purple elixir of smoky dried Chinese plums and orange peel, and you have a very nice meal. Meanwhile, a soup of pork and pickled greens failed for lack of depth, and the only notable thing about the pork belly and rice plate ($7) was a deep brown marinated egg with wonderfully earthy flavor. It’s the kind of thing I’m always pleased to find at a cart, or even at the closest thing Beaverton can muster. MARTIN CIZMAR.
WE SELL DRINKS
OPEN TILL 2:30AM DAILY libertyglassbar.com
Sha
www.sha
Shandong www.shandongportland.com
EAT: Taiwan Eats, 4708 NW Bethany Blvd., Suite E6, 888-2378, taiwaneatspdx.com. 11:30 am-8:30 pm Tuesday-Saturday.
DRANK
DYING EMBERS IMPERIAL STOUT (MCMENAMINS) Crystal Ballroom brewer Drew Phillips wants to make a stout that conjures images of tea, music, fire and chilly weather, inspired by his time in Ireland. Brewed in collaboration with Dublin anarcho-crust folk band Lynched, Phillips uses the Tao of Tea’s pine-smoked black tea, habanero peppers and wintergreen leaves to try to capture the essence of a dying fire on a cold Irish night. He succeeds in a very literal way—Dying Embers (9.6 percent ABV) lives up to Phillips’ concept, with just enough heat and smoke to conjure its namesake without being gimmicky or cloying. Smooth on the tongue, Dying Embers starts with traditional flavors of dark coffee and leather, with a hint of roasted vegetable you can probably attribute to the black tea. You get the magic on the finish: The gentle fruitiness of the habanero comes through and melds with the smoke of the tea to create a chipotleesque kick with a slow, lingering heat that never overwhelms or distracts from the flavor. Dying Embers is a dead ringer for Islay Scotch, luxuriously smooth and smoky, an excellent beer to enjoy alone and ponder days past as summer turns to autumn. Recommended. WALKER MACMURDO. Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
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FOOD & DRINK KIM HERBST
PREVIEW
P.G. 51
Feast on This THE UNOFFICIAL The barricades are going SIDE EVENTS OF THE up at Pioneer CourtMOSTLY SOLD-OUT house Square. Feast FOOD FESTIVAL.
Portland is back and, of course, almost completely sold out. The city’s most decadent and expensive food festival begins Sept. 17, a four-day parade of lamb charcuterie and cocktails at after-parties and after-after-parties that find food folk from all over the country downing industry wine and digging wooden sporks into complicated tiny plates in rooms that smell like meat. But while Feast is so huge it seemingly takes over the whole city, it’s also priced at stratospheric levels—the sandwich event is $95—and this year almost every event is sold out. It’s like the Soup Nazi is out there holding a ladle the size of Portland, yelling “Not for you!” Well, it still can be. Like South by Southwest, Feast now has unofficial side parties timed to take advantage of traveling gourmands. Here’s the rundown. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
Thali Supper Club
Experience Lebanese cuisine at its best Call us for your event party & catering needs! Belly dancing Friday and Saturday evenings
223 SW STARK STREET PORTLAND, OR 503-274-0010 ALAMIRPORTLAND.COM 26
Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
Sure, this falls into the exclusive-prix-fixe-dinner category, but Leena Ezekiel’s regional Indian popup dinner, timed during Feast, is quite literally made for kings, yet cheaper than any Feast main event that’s not a farmer’s bazaar. She’ll be serving 10 courses of the Hyderabad cuisine made for the royal families of India, from slow-cooked biryani to almond cardamom lamb to cauliflower with figs and cumin. Din Din Supper Club, 920 NE Glisan St., 754-6456. 6:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 19. $65. Tickets and details at thalisupperclub.com.
Bunk After-After-Party
Bunk is throwing Feast’s official ”Fuck It!” fest, an after-after-party that’s open to anybody and costs nothing to get in. Along with live-band Karaoke From Hell fronted by Tres Shannon of Voodoo Doughnut, Bunk will also be slingin’ 6-inch party subs made with Olympia Provisions meat and serving up artisanal Jell-O shots along with cocktails made with fine D.L. Franklin vodka from Dogwood Distilling. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 328-2865. 10 pm Saturday, Sept. 19. Free.
I’m in a Cult
This is one of the very few Feast-related events that’s not sold-out as of press time—but it probably should be. Sarah Pedersen of Saraveza, along with Paul Clarke and Joshua Bernstein of Imbibe, Andrew Knowlton of Bon Appetit, and local beer
writer Lucy Burningham are picking out rare beers and explaining the cult that surrounds them—and then they’ll let you drink them in the art museum. Beers include Surette’s Crooked Stave, Deschutes’ the Abyss, St. Bernardus’ Abt 12, Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout, and “surprises.” Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-2811. 2 pm Friday, Sept. 18. $45. Tickets at feastportland.com.
Kotori Oysters and Teriyaki
For Feast, Biwa will be expanding its summerlong outdoor yakitori grilling pop-up Kotori to include half-shelled oysters from Jarret Foster’s Oyster Social, along with Champagne and cocktails and live music. Kotori, Southeast 9th Avenue and Pine Street, biwapdx.com. 4 pm-sunset Friday and Saturday, Sept. 18-19.
2-for-1 Oysters at Little Bird
Little Bird is offering 2-for-1 oysters ($1.50 apiece) to all Feast attendees during the fest, but will also open up the deal to everyone during happy hour from 3 to 5 pm Thursday-Friday and after 10 every night. Little Bird Bistro, 215 SW 6th Ave., 688-5952. Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 17-20.
Barley’s Angels Harvest Dinner at Rogue
Rogue Ales will host a ladies-only “agri-fermenters” beer-pairing dinner at its Pearl District distillery and public house, with halibut ceviche paired with wet hop ale, salmon-stuffed mushrooms paired with pumpkin patch ale and ancho-cayenne-coffeerubbed flank steak paired with its chipotle ale and whiskey. Rogue Distillery and Public House, 1339 NW Flanders St., 222-5910. 5 pm Saturday, Sept. 19. Tickets $25 at barleysangels.org.
Oregon Fermentation Festival
This first-time fest was set up smack in the middle of Feast, billing itself as the “biggest fermentation festival the Pacific Northwest has ever seen,” with a grip of fermenters, cider companies and mead producers on a 68-acre farm on Sauvie Island. Up to 2,000 attendees are expected. That it has scheduled this without apparent reference to Feast makes this our favorite festival of the weekend. Kruger’s Farm, 17100 NW Sauvie Island Road. 10 am-5 pm Sunday, Sept. 20. Tickets $29 (12+) and $39 (21+) at oregonfermentationfestival.com. GO: Feast Portland runs Sept. 17-20. Most events sold out, but some tickets—including the Oregon Bounty Grant Tasting, Sandwich Invitational and drink events—were available at press time. See feastportland.com/schedule for available events.
SIMPLISTIC APPROACH
BOLD FLAVOR
K AY L A S P R I N T
REVIEW
Vegan Friendly
Open 11-10
Everyday
500 NW 21st Ave, (503) 208-2173 kungpowpdx.com
FIND A PAPER WHAT ARE YOU, CHICKEN?: Coquine’s chicken.
Tour de Tabor
surprisingly inexpensive, encouraging sampling. Three slices of fried green tomato ($5) are a burst of tartness beneath corn breading, made rich by an anchovy-dill sauce. And thickly complex BY M AT T H E W KO R F H AGE mkorfhage@wweek.com bread topped with the characteristic sour tang of house-cultured butter—one of very few in A visit to Coquine is like traveling to a vacation- town—is $3, while the pane fritto ($4) is an upscale ers’ town in the center of Portland. High up in version of frybread served up in Bugle-sized the tree-canopied, winding streets of Tabor, the bits, blanketed with rosemary-spiked lardo and little bistro may as well be up in the French coun- shards of radicchio remarkably free of bitterness. tryside near where chef Katy Millard learned to Still, a tiny $7 plate of greens consisted, on our visit, only of green and red leaf lettuce. Skip cook from Michelin-starred chefs. On a mild day, there is no reason to eat any- it until the seasonal greens get more interesting. Get the “Many Tomatoes” where but on Coquine’s sociable, spacious sidewalk Order this: Chicken to share ($40), Many salad ($11) instead, a rainpatio, untroubled by even Tomatoes salad ($11), pane fritto ($5), bow of candy-sweet spheres mild car traffic. Don’t worry: any cocktail with fruit in it. fostered by this year’s hothouse weather, played off You won’t be ignored out I’ll pass: Leafy greens ($7), a forgettable albacore starter ($14). there. The restaurant has against crunchy bits of oil pastry, the pop of pine nuts some of the best service in town, attentive but never oversolicitous. and a lightly acidic vinegar dressing. In French, Coquine may be provincial slang for A chilled artichoke-potato soup ($11) had texa mischievous young girl, but its chicken doesn’t ture thicker than desired for a cold summer soup, screw around. The whole chicken ($40 and enough but the concert of bitter almond, rich creme fraiche, for two or three to share) is moist, tender and sweet artichoke and little pickled onions was both spiced complexly, on a bed of bulgur and lightly understated and terrifically complex. The soup is charred trees of broccoli. Chicken has long been delivered prettily, with nasturtium petals strewn the poor relation on fine-dining menus—a sad, atop it: Ugly it up immediately to mix up the flavors. rubbery breast as a sop to the joyless—but Coquine And though the wine list is tempting, and the joins Trifecta and Imperial in reminding the world cider and aperitif list both broad and interestthat the neglect has been criminal. This chicken— ing—including multiple old French ciders and a occasionally swapped out for a guinea hen—is Sac’Resine drinking vermouth from Hammer and revelatory. The leftover thigh and leg were possibly Tongs—get at least one of the fresh-fruit cocktails. even better the next day, after the Moroccan spices A tequila, black cherry and egg white drink will be had soaked deeper into the fat. one of my favorites this year, a dense-flavored marThe rest of the dinner menu is both more vel of balance that has nonetheless been swapped delicate and more uneven, a tour of light flavors out for a rye ($10) mixed with fresh-roasted peach. that ranges far from French fare. Entrees include Amid sorbets, figs and a truly excellent panna a classic strip steak punctuated by wasabi, and cotta ($7), the most novel touch for dessert is a tray a tender fillet of black cod ($25) atop airy white of $2 candies. House macarons that were heaven on beans and sofrito—a dish light enough that the one visit were oddly dense on another. There’s also novelty of ice plant was a distraction I left to the a lovely cubed Italian-liqueur jelly and a high-class side of the plate. marshmallow tenderized and flavored with SpanBut the heart of the menu is in the little ish olive oil. You will leave with a light, lingering plates and tastes, with unexpected touches like sweetness, before descending into a city that sudCalabrian-chili crispy duck wings ($11) livened denly seems far too loud. by lemon—essentially waterfowl hot wings that have been cooked in the duck’s own fat. GO: Coquine, 6839 SE Belmont St., 384-2483, coquinepdx.com. Dinner 5-10 pm WednesdayA heartening number of the appetizers are Sunday. Limited cafe menu 8 am-3 pm daily.
CHARMING HILLTOP BISTRO COQUINE HAS SOME FINE, FINE CHICKEN.
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MUSIC HOTSEAT
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
W W S TA F F
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: MATTHEW SINGER. 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: msinger@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16 Cattle Decapitation, King Parrot, Black Crown Initiate, Dark Sermon, When They Invade
[VEGETARIAN DEATHGRIND] I’ve seen a lot of gross metal album covers in my time, but Cattle Decapitation’s 2004 Humanure is up there among the grossest (Google it). Not without a morbid sense of humor, Cattle Decapitation has evolved since then, from a jokey gore-grind act to a highly polished, prog-tinged death-metal machine. Travis Ryan’s distinctive, clean vocals get a workout on the new album The Anthropocene Extinction, which wears its influence from Alienera Strapping Young Lad on its sleeve. Bring your best moshing shoes, because things should be gnarly. WALKER MACMURDO. Analog Cafe & Theater, 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 2067439. 6 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. All ages.
Tokyo Police Club, the Domestics
for the tracks in a live setting. At this point, they’re one record away from sounding like the ADD little brother of the Cars, but given how that formula worked for Weezer two decades ago, it’s hard to imagine what’s left of TPC’s once-rabid fan base will complain about that development anytime soon. PETE COTTELL. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $18 advance, $20 day of show.
Man Man, Shilpa Ray, Yeah Great Fine
[WAITS ROCK] With every release, Man Man gets a little further from the “Tom Waits on PCP,” carnival-thrash freak show the band began as and closer to a tight, well-executed rock band comprising slightly freakish, Waits-worshipping bon vivants. On Oni Pond, its latest, featured several tracks that wouldn’t sound out of place on FM radio, displaying an array of influences from R&B to doo-wop to ’90s hip-hop. CRIS LANKENAU. Hawthorne
WE ARE THE ROBOTS: Bart and John Locanthi.
The Dad-Machine
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[POLITE POWER POP] Though the members of breakout blog-buzz act Tokyo Police Club feel more invested in achieving a tightly compressed studio sheen than the ragged energy that got them here on 2014’s Forcefield, there’s no accounting for what the group’s endless enthusiasm can do
FIVE MILLENNIAL GOTH SUBCULTURES Beach Goth
While the genre would be more befitting of a group from the Oregon Coast than Southern California, “beach goth” is nevertheless how Orange County’s the Growlers describe their overcast, surf-tinted psych rock. Imagine Frankie and Annette, if they were too stoned ever to get out of the convertible.
2 Cholo Goth As of now, the only practitioner is Prayers, a synth-pop duo mixing violent street tales with occult imagery. But trust me: Once the legions of Latino Cure fans I went to high school with catch on, this is going to be big. 3 Bubble Goth Credited to Kerli Koiv, an Estonian pop singer often photographed clutching a teddy bear wearing a gas mask, it’s basically goth by way of Rainbow Brite. Also called “pastel goth,” “mall goth” or “Tim Burton.” 4 Nu Goth A kind of retro-goth movement, exalting musical forebears such as Bauhaus and an aesthetic philosophy of “all-black everything,” but replacing traditional, morose self-loathing with digital-age narcissism. So, it’s like old goth, except with a Tumblr account. 5 Health Goth A maybe-not-real fashion trend best described as “cyperpunk sportswear,” which originated via a semi-ironic, Portland-based Facebook community. After appearing in The New York Times and on the cover of this newspaper, “health goth” is totally dead—which, of course, only makes it more goth. MATTHEW SINGER. SEE IT: The Growlers play Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., with the Pesos, on Wednesday, Sept. 16. 7:30 pm. $17. All ages.
BY JOHN LOCA N THI ANDREW MOIR
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A WRITER RAISED ON KRAFTWERK INVESTIGATES HIS ROBOT ROOTS. @huekahjohn
A lot of things come to mind when you’re cruising down a rural Hawaiian highway. Vacation. Escape. Adventure. But for me, it mostly brings to mind singing robots. Several years ago, as I was speeding down a lonely road to Naalehu, the southernmost town in the U.S., a calm, monotone voice entered my head: “I’m the operator with my pocket calculator.” Kraftwerk was a mainstay on the family road-trip mixtapes I grew up with—popping up between Kenny Loggins and songs from Fraggle Rock—and now, I can’t help but play the band’s music in my subconscious whenever I’m in a car, whether driving across Oregon, Hawaii or having fun, fun, fun on the autobahn. What were sentient androids who warble about calculators and German highway systems doing on cassette tapes meant to entertain children? With the electronic music pioneers bringing their 3-D audio-visual spectacle to Portland, I decided to find out, by chatting with the man behind those mixtapes: my dad. WW: How did you first get into Kraftwerk? Bart Locanthi: I heard about Kraftwerk and Autobahn in college. A friend described it as them leaving a synthesizer on for 20 minutes. I thought it was kind of interesting. It was a little repetitive. The title song is 20 minutes of melody with an occasional [sings] “fahren fahren fahren auf der autobahn.” Pretty much. Meanwhile, I was trying to find electronic music, but there really wasn’t all that much. Synthesizers were just kind of happening. It was really hard to find synthesized music. My dad [who worked for JBL and later Pioneer] noticed that I was trying to find electronic music. I don’t how he managed to get a copy of this other Kraftwerk album, but he did. It was The Man-Machine in a blank record
jacket. It was clearly a pressing, from whatever record company made these things. It was really cool. The music was more like songs, like these guys had matured [since Autobahn]. Did being a computer engineer make you more interested in electronic music like Kraftwerk? Maybe. I wanted to actually build a synthesizer. There was a pretty interesting synthesizer written partly in microcode for the Xerox Alto. It became pretty easy to do. A lot of the early synthesizer stuff was analog instead of digital. You’ve heard Switched-On Bach [by Wendy Carlos], right? I’ve heard the bits and pieces. That was very laboriously done on a very early synthesizer that only had one voice. So [Carlos] couldn’t even do chords. He did the whole thing over and over again with one voice. It was a tour de force. I had a demo record of an ARP synthesizer—if you look on the credits of some Elton John records, some have ARP synthesizers—but I still don’t know if [Kraftwerk’s] had multiple voices back then, but they would still probably let you play something in real time. Did you put Kraftwerk on those mixtapes to introduce us to their music at a young age? I just liked it. I don’t know why. Except for Fraggle Rock, I can’t explain why any of that music was on the tapes. I just liked it. It was just a mixture of pop and whatever and James Taylor. When we went on that European vacation, did you play any part of Autobahn when we were actually driving on the autobahn? As soon as we got on, I put that tape in and we were fahren fahren fahren auf der autobahn. We had rented a small, red Mercedes 190 sedan. It wasn’t quick in any way, but being German, it was geared to cruise at 200 km per hour. So with you in the car, we were cruising at 120 miles per hour. My foot was pushed absolutely to the floor. It was fun. We definitely played “Autobahn” auf der autobahn. SEE IT: Kraftwerk plays Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., on Saturday, Sept. 19. 7 pm. $70-$91. All ages.
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MUSIC Theatre, 1507 SE César E Chávez Blvd., 233-7100, 8 pm. $18 advance, $20 day of show. All ages.
Ratatat, Hot Sugar
[ROCKTRONICA] The Brooklyn dance-rock duo returns to Portland for the second time in two months, touring on its newest album, Magnifique. If you’re not at least slightly charmed by the Brian Mayvia-Sega Genesis guitar theatrics of tracks like “Pricks of Brightness,” you might be some kind of monster. CASEY HARDMEYER. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 971-230-0033. 9 pm. $28. All ages.
La Santa Cecilia
[LATIN SOUL] If bilingual Los Angeles cumbia-pop outfit La Santa Cecilia isn’t on your radar yet, they will be soon. The music is every bit as slick as you’d expect from an L.A. band recording for
Universal, but that’s part of the fun: A little glitz and glamour goes a long way in making these tunes (which range from big-band swing numbers to quiet, subversive bossa nova cuts) deliver. If that’s not enough for you, there are covers. The band even plays a (hitherto unimaginable) fantastic cover of the played-out “Tainted Love.” That in itself is a feat worth celebrating. CASEY JARMAN. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., 248-4700. 9 pm. $17. 21+.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 17 Teen Daze, Heavenly Beat, Small Skies
[AMBIENT POP] Canadian electronic artist Teen Daze stays busy. In August, he released Morning
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B R E N D A S O U L S T E A L E R VA U G H N
INTRODUCING
UGLY TARANTINO
WHO: Rappers Gums and K-Mass and DJ Lady X. SOUNDS LIKE: 30-somethings partying hard on solid meatand-potatoes hip-hop with a cinematic flair. FOR FANS OF: J-Zone, Company Flow, Kool Keith, Odd Future. More than almost any other music culture, hip-hop has the ability to unite folks from all walks of life. The genre is full of multiracial and multigender collectives, from Company Flow to Jurassic 5 to the Fugees and Digable Planets. Portland’s Ugly Tarantino follows in the tradition of the aforementioned. The trio, comprising MCs Gums, K-Mass and DJ Lady X, just released its debut, Youth of the Beast, and it’s a veritable head-nod suite. “I think both K and I knew how we wanted the group to sound,” Gums says. “We wanted a kind of classic cinematic feel to it. Also, we’re both kind of movie junkies. My living room is plastered with framed Tarantino movie posters. He hit me up one day to rattle off a list of group names he came up with, and that’s the first one he said. I stopped him there, and I don’t think I even took the time to listen to any of the other ones.” The sound of Ugly Tarantino is firmly rooted in old-school boom-bap, inspired by the grimy aesthetics of the Stones Throw label, MF Doom, Roc Marciano and Ghostface Killah— not to mention Ghostface’s recent Action Bronson diss. “The spirit of the struggle and wack rappers keep me extra motivated,” K-Mass says. Youth of the Beast comes in at a svelte four tracks, and while it’s short, you’re not skipping a single song. “A Pocket Odyssey” is a breakbeat-driven, stream-of-consciousness romp, with KMass and Gums flipping metaphors in a narrative about getting “faded for life,” while “Sweater Weather” is reminiscent of Adrian Younge’s pulpy production, with spaghetti Western guitar licks and minimalist drums serving as the ring for the two MCs’ tagteam antics. Ugly Tarantino approaches the unseemly realities of life with a wry smirk, made all the more compelling by a high level of craftsmanship. With a full-length album on the horizon, though, Youth of the Beast is really more of a teaser than a definitive statement. Appropriately for such a movie-obsessed group, think of it as a trailer—a harbinger of the blockbuster to come. TJ LOVE. SEE IT: Ugly Tarantino plays Panic Room, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., with Angi3, Corina Corina, DJ Halo, Vasquez and DJ Ceez, on Thursday, Sept. 17. 9 pm. $5. 21+. 30
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DEEP CUTS
Destroyer FRIDAY, SEPT. 18 Dan Bejar, the fast-firing brains behind Destroyer, has been called a lot of things. The next Harry Nilsson. The next Randy Newman. The next Lloyd Cole. Even the next David Bowie. But Destroyer’s 10th album, Poison Season, might be Bejar at his best. Incorporating elements of the aforementioned artists, along with bits of Springsteen, Chuck Mangione and Steely Dan, there are strings and horns, nods to glam, pop and the free-form folk of ’70s Joni Mitchell, all cut through with Bejar’s sharp penmanship and distinctive delivery. We asked Bejar to take a deep dive into one of Poison Season’s best tracks, “Sun in the Sky.” Read the full Q&A at wweek.com. Dan Bejar gets personal.
WW: Don’t take this in a bad way, but the new album feels really depressing. Dan Bejar: That’s the one word I kept saying over and over again. [Laughs] In the studio I’d be like, “We need to make this sound more depressing!” When did you write “Sun in the Sky”? I wrote that right smack-dab in the middle of 2013. It’s not something I could have imagined writing in 2011 or 2012, but then things started trickling out. It’s funny, I don’t know if people will think of it as a standout song, but it’s probably the most personal on the record—maybe one of the most personal songs I’ve ever written. There’s a futility about it—the plight of dinosaurs, buffalo and maybe even humans. That’s not an uncommon Destroyer theme, but I wanted to get at it in an emotionally direct way. I think there are glimmers of hope and joy and beauty, but they exist in the greater light of full-on extinction or death. You are very effective with lyrical repetition. If there are two or three basic Destroyer moves, that’s probably one of them, and it’s maybe the least conscious thing that I do. I spend almost zero time crafting natural songs, especially the words. That’s just the way I talk when I’m talking in a song. The music really chases the lyrics, especially at the end when there’s talk of war and strife. The song sort of collapses. The band wanted to do something there that was actually feeding off the words. We questioned the idea for maybe half a second and then totally went for it. That has to be a conflict as a singer-songwriter: What comes first, the writing or the sound? And finding a balance? I do it in such a traditional way. I guess I’m just trying to find a harmonious balance of things. And that’s been the shift in the story over the last couple albums. Definitely before, I was so conscious of the singer-songwriter character that there were many songs where I had to pull the rug out from under it, just to give it some sonic abuse. I’m sure there’s a way more consistent and immediately pleasing way to present all of these songs, but I’m not interested in that. MARK STOCK. SEE IT: Destroyer plays Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., with Frog Eyes, on Friday, Sept. 18. 9 pm. $20. All ages.
World, his second album of 2015 and another in a long line of work since debuting in 2010. But perhaps what is more notable about Teen Daze than the sheer number of LPs he generates is how different each one is. Arguably his most sonically bare-boned record, on a lyrical level, Morning World reads with the selfconscious introspection of early2000s pop punk—a stark contrast to January’s A World Away, which was a wordless, ambient work more akin to Tycho than Ben Gibbard, or the danceable Paradiso, or the somber, spacey A Silent Planet. The quality varies, but Teen Daze is an explorer, and with each record he discovers something new. ASHLEY JOCZ. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 8 pm. $12. 21+.
TBA: DJ Klyph Night featuring Vursatyl, Mic Capes, Theory Hazit, Neka & Kahlo
[PDX RAP] A showcase of Portland hip-hop new (Mic Capes, Neka and Kahlo) and not-so-old (Vursatyl, Theory Hazit), put together by one of the scene’s longtime champions. The Works at the Redd, 831 SE Salmon St. 10:30 pm. $8 PICA members, $10 general admission. 21+.
Neon Indian
[ELECTRO-POP] Neon Indian, the electronic project of Mexico-born, Texas-raised Alan Palomo, makes the kind of electronic music that should be illustrated like a superhero comic book. Zoom goes the piano synthesizer, whooshing between speakers in stereo! Swish goes the hi-hats! With Palomo’s falsetto, the pop tunes take on an urgency where the only thing to do is dance. Neon Indian recently announced its third LP, Vega Intl. Night School, due in October, so expect new tracks in addition to old favorites like “Should Have Taken Acid With You,” from 2009’s breakthrough, Psychic Chasms. HILARY SAUNDERS. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 8:30 pm. $16. 21+.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 18 Gin Wigmore, Patrick Park
[PLINKY-PLONK POP] I was living in New Zealand when Gin Wigmore caught a break with her contribution to Pacifica hip-hop group Smashproof’s 2008 single “Brother,” a very catchy song about poverty and violence in the country’s largest city. She showed a lot of promise as New Zealand’s answer to Amy Winehouse, a singer inspired by classic R&B with modern pop sensibilities and a distinctive voice, husky and raspy by way of N.Z. nasality. Wigmore’s own tracks are heavy on the whimsy, with lots of plinky-plonk ukulele and other quirkiness suitable for an episode of The New Girl or Grey’s Anatomy—a great choice for moms who repost wine memes on Facebook. WALKER MACMURDO. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663 9 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of show. 21+.
Empire of the Sun, St. Lucia, Holy Ghost!
[ELECTRO-GLAM] The garish technicolor dreamworld Empire of the Sun will bring to life at Edgefield may well be an LSD- and Daft Punkinspired Cirque du Soleil rip-off, but let’s not discount the product for its suspicious packaging. This is boldly immersive electro-pop for the masses, and after giving 2013’s Ice on the Dune a careless listen, you’ll agree the platinumselling Australian duo has plenty more songs akin to its hit “Walking on a Dream” than anyone would ever care to admit. PETE COTTELL. Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., 6698610, 6 pm. $39 advance, $43 day of show. All ages.
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MUSIC TBA: Decibel Night featuring Lapalux, Strategy, Raika featuring Coldbrew Collective
[ELECTRONICA EXPO] Seattle’s Decibel Festival has served as the Northwest’s premier taste-making electronic music festival for over 15 years, offering up-and-coming artists a place with the Warpand XL-certified dinosaurs of yore in lauded, blog-curated showcases. Tonight, as part of the TimeBased Art Festival, the festival’s own curators have put together a bill featuring one of Portland’s most acclaimed electronic artists, Strategy, who has followed up dance music releases on labels like L.A.’s 100% Silk with a recent excursion into analog tape-looping and splicing, to be performed this evening as an A/V setup. Do not miss Seattle’s Coldbrew Collective, a circuit-bent analog improvisational project. There’s not much to say about the U.K. artist Lapalux, who’s mostly here due to being on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder. WYATT SCHAFFNER. The Works at The Redd, 831 SE Salmon St., 242-1419. 10:30 pm. 21+.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 19 Marc Broussard, Ashleigh Flynn
[SOUL FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY] Louisiana-born musician Marc Broussard has rhythm in his blood. The son of a member of swampsoul outfit the Boogie Kings, he hit it big about a decade ago and has gone on to release six studio records. His current style is decidedly adult contemporary, grounded in Southern blues and R&B. Newest record A Life Worth Living alternates between highly affected acoustic rock and foot-stomping Delta soul. Broussard’s got big label muckamucks to please and that rubs off on his sound sometimes, but overall he’s inherently talented, and he’s bound to be a bit more daring on the live stage. MARK STOCK. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $20. Under 21 permitted with legal guardian.
Toro y Moi, Astronauts, Etc.
[GLO-FI CHAMELEON] Chaz Bundick is no one-hit wonder. The producer-songwriter long ago transcended the breezy chillwave genre tag, forming a killer real-life band and sharpening his sound with each new release. In April, Toro y Moi dropped What For?, its most confident and rock-leaning collection yet, a set of 10 pogoing songs that sees Bundick dipping his synthesizers in the powerpop sandbox. On his recent freedownload loose-ends collection, Samantha, he also makes a convincing case as a cloud-rap producer on par with Clams Casino and the OVO crew. Take it from me: It’s gonna be hard to stay in your seats for this one. MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., 288-3895 9 pm. $20. Under 21 permitted with legal guardian.
The Skull, Author & Punisher, Muscle & Marrow
[DOOM METAL] After Black Sabbath, the second tier of doommetal royalty is a short list on a high precipice. One of the firm dukes of doom is Trouble, a band that formed in late-’70s Chicago, around the same time that Saint Vitus was getting its act together down in L.A. Trouble composed a string of seminal albums that have never been widely appreciated by the metal community, based primarily on slow tempos, Christian themes and Erik Wagner’s Axl Rose-like vocal style. And while Trouble still tours, three-fifths of the band jumped ship to form the Skull. This group recorded some classic new material in Portland just last year, and performs the early Trouble hits with reverence, with the original vocalist and the band’s classic rhythm
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DATES HERE section intact. NATHAN CARSON. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., 2484700. 9 pm. $12 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
Blonde Redhead, Day Wave
[THE FAMILY DRONE] When a band as unique and strange as Blonde Redhead does anything, you have to assume the group means it, even when it seems to be missing the mark. Last year’s Barragán took its ethereal dream pop to more nebulous corners while lacking the cohesive tether that held together 23 and Penny Sparkle, both of which are, admittedly, extremely difficult to improve upon. Perhaps Blonde Redhead’s next move will be one I can understand a bit better. But tonight, it hardly matters, as the band will play songs from its whole catalog. CRIS LANKENAU. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 2848686. 9 pm. $23. 21+.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 20 Patti LaBelle
[SOUL QUEEN] Patti LaBelle, the 71-year-old godmother of soul, may have racked up a long list of lifetime achievement awards at this point, but she still has every bit of the talent that got her there, not to mention an ageless voice that can fill even the cavernous Schnitzer. Tonight, as part of her Platinum Tour, expect to hear her most iconic hit, the ’70s disco classic “Lady Marmalade,” along with others from throughout her long career. LaBelle’s pipes should have you up and out of your chair in no time. PARKER HALL. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7:30 pm. $45-$135. All ages.
Hum, Mineral
[HEAVY HEARTS] Though its 1995 hit “Stars” should jog the memory of anyone who listened to altrock radio in the ’90s, it’s the group’s pairing of crushing dynamics, subdued vocals and caterwauling guitars that’s given Hum a legacy beyond a facet of postgrunge nostalgia. Singer-guitarist Matt Talbott has become an analog-loyal studio force to be reckoned with since we last heard from Hum on 1998 sci-fi stoner opus Downward Is Heavenward, but the group’s sound has been vastly more influential on clients like Cloakroom and Whirr than his steady hand behind the mixing board. PETE COTTELL. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 2848686. $20 advance, $25 day of show. 21+.
MONDAY, SEPT. 21 The Lighthouse and the Whaler
[SYNTH FOLK] Although the Lighthouse and the Whaler takes its name from Moby-Dick, this Cleveland band doesn’t sound whale-sized. The band’s 2012 indie hit, “Venice,” rides the wave established by indie-folk bands like the Lumineers, but like the rest of This Is an Adventure, the song is punctuated by Nord synth keyboards. Following up with the recently released Mont Royal, the Lighthouse and the Whaler delivers eager and earnest tunes too often overlooked by flashier, more popular acts. HILARY SAUNDERS. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 2266630. 8 pm. $10. 21+.
Arkona, Heidevolk, Helsott
[EPIC RUSSIAN FOLK METAL] Take my word for it: You need to see Arkona live. That’s not to say there’s anything lacking in the band’s recorded output. Last year’s Yav is Arkona’s latest epic, symphonic, folk-metal sojourn, and it’s even darker and more serious than its six full-length predecessors. But these Russians truly shine onstage, bringing an infectious
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energy that is better felt than imagined. NATHAN CARSON. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE César E Chávez Blvd., 233-7100. 6:30 pm. $16 advance, $18 day of show. All ages.
CLASSICAL, JAZZ & WORLD Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions
[SYMPHONY POKÉ] The Oregon Symphony, like every other stalwart of wealthy, aging audiences in the classical music community, is on a quest to capture younger fans, and will stop at nothing to achieve its goal. This time it strikes with what may be its best idea yet. Hear your favorite Pokémon themes, accompanied by video montage and in-game footage, played by a full orchestra at the ritziest venue in town. Nerds can watch their favorite characters battle onscreen, while the symphony animates the footage with appropriately campy live audio. PARKER HALL. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 228-1353. 7:30 pm Thursday, Sept. 17. $30-$115.
Dianne Davies
[CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL] Portland pianist Dianne Davies has earned accolades and laughs for the kind of classical comedy perpetrated by musical humorists like Victor Borge, P.D.Q. Bach and Igudesman and Joo. But she’s also known as a sterling interpreter of contemporary classical music, particularly by local composers. To depict her journey of personal healing through music, Davies and other local artists use some of that music (by both veteran and young Portland composers, including Art Resnick, Jeff Winslow, Tristan Bliss and Nicholas Yandell), along with visual art, pantomime, dance, masks and poetry. BRETT CAMPBELL. Michelle’s Piano, 600 SE Stark St., 295-1180. 7 pm Saturday, Sept. 19. $10.
TBA: DakhaBrakha
[ETHNO-CHAOS] You wouldn’t expect a band whose music arises from Ukrainian folk tunes to be dubbed “Bonnaroo’s Best BreakOut” by Rolling Stone. But while DakhaBrakha’s three female singers have collected traditional folk songs from elderly women in villages across the country, they venture way beyond ethnomusicology. The Kiev band’s irrepressibly eclectic new album, Light, incorporates dub, hip-hop, African music, even a delicate lullaby and much more, melding roots music with a contemporary, urban sensibility that includes influences from punk, theater (including traditional costumes), minimalism and politics. BRETT CAMPBELL. Lincoln Hall at Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Ave., 242-1419. 8:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 19. $20 PICA members, $25 general admission.
Fear No Music
[SCHIFF CELEBRATION] David Schiff is probably Oregon’s most nationally renowned composer, with his music played by orchestras and ensembles across the country. But even though he’s lived here since 1980, and has written his share of Oregon-inspired music, much of it harks back to his New York childhood, particularly midcentury jazz, Broadway musicals and the Jewish music he was raised on. In this 70th birthday concert, Portland’s veteran new-music ensemble Fear No Music plays Schiff ’s New York Nocturnes, plus Singing in the Dark starring NYC jazz saxophonist Marty Ehrlich, an early Schiff work inspired by James Joyce’s Dubliners (Schiff actually has a graduate degree in English lit). BRETT CAMPBELL.. Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 208-2982. 7:30 pm Sunday, Sept. 20. $10-$30.
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ALBUM REVIEWS
Natasha Kmeto INEVITABLE (DROPPING GEMS) [ELECTRO -SOUL] On her last album, Natasha Kmeto made it clear she was going through some shit. She called it Crisis, and while the music’s electronic pulse suggested hookups by dance-floor strobe light, her voice ached with unfulfilled desire. Coming two years later, Inevitable is still fraught with longing, but the context has changed. Kmeto has not been coy about presenting the record as her sexual comingout—the press release describes it as “the self-actualization of her own queer identity”—and even the desperate moments exude bold confidence. “Impatience always has the best of me,” she sings on “Come and Say,” a song about those early stages of a relationship when everything seems to hinge on a single word. She pleads for her lover’s allegiance, her insistence growing with each stride of the towering chorus, and there’s little doubt she’s going to get the response she wants. For the album’s first half, Kmeto’s preferred pronoun is an ambiguous “babe,” but that shifts with “I Thought You Had a Boyfriend,” its rising and falling waves of synth buzz evoking the euphoric seasickness of newfound romantic possibility—a feeling that’s more intense when the attraction is closeted. Three songs later, “she” has her completely “On a String,” and in her submission Kmeto achieves the blissful satisfaction that once seemed out of reach. As a singer and producer, Kmeto has always been sure of herself, commanding attention with just a laptop and a microphone. But with her personal life now drawing even with her art, one of Portland’s most promising performers has taken a significant step forward. MATTHEW SINGER. SEE IT: Natasha Kmeto plays Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., with Sara Jackson-Holman and Swahili, on Thursday, Sept. 17. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Karyn Ann INTO THE DEPTHS (SELF-RELEASED) [SINGER-SONGWRITER] Into the Depths, the sophomore release by Portland singer-songwriter Karyn Ann Partridge, shows considerable growth from her confident but uneven debut, 2013’s Accept Uncertainty. Partridge accompanies herself on piano and guitar, bringing varied textures to her songwriting. Sturdy and elastic, her voice best recalls Patty Griffin’s emphatic, empathic singing, with a touch of Bonnie Raitt’s sultrier vibe. It doesn’t seem like she’s consciously emulating those artists—she just might have the chops to one day join their ranks. Opener “Best Intentions” enters with brightly strummed acoustic guitar and skillfully recorded vocals, and producer Mark Bowden adds tasteful electric guitar lines that match Partridge’s eloquent singing. Then, after a piano-vocal intro, the album’s title song bursts into expansive, full-band production with a warm Tapestry vibe—a lush soundscape she hasn’t explored before. When the album moves back into sparer textures, it feels slightly like retrenchment. There’s no drop-off in quality, but once she’s unveiled that large, full-color canvas, the more modest numbers seem like sketches by comparison. Perhaps this will prove a transitional collection, and Partridge will move further into the depths of more developed production next time out. Whatever path she chooses will be one worth following. JEFF ROSENBERG.
MIKE LOVE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH AT 6PM Born and raised in Oahu, Hawaii to a musical family that spans generations, Mike Love brings a multitude of influences to the table, all tied together by the common goal of making the world a better place.
KARYN ANN
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH AT 6PM Karyn Ann is a geologist…a graduate level geologist. She knows rocks. But she is also a geologist of the heart. Her songs excavate its bright seams of gold and dark rivers of coal, its trials and tribulations, the exultations of love and loss.
TASTE AT ISLE OF WIGHT’ FILM SCREENING FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH AT 7PM
TRACEY FORDICE & THE 8-BALLS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH AT 3PM
Playing rockin’ Blues, soulful ballads, originals and covers, Tracey Fordice has a voice unlike any other Blues singer in the Portland area.
AVERY HILL
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH AT 5PM Family legend has it you could hear Avery Hill singing before she even came out. Since then, she has taken a winding road toward her present work in music, all the while developing her singular style of storytelling and songwriting by integrating stories of the past into her observations of life today.
BLUESTREAK LIVE! WITH ROSELAND HUNTERS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST AT 7PM
Hailing from Portland Oregon, the ROSELAND HUNTERS brings a fresh New Orleans Funk Inspired sound to the West Coast. With a lineup of amazing musicians, they are truly a force to be reckoned with.
ALEXA DEXA
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD AT 6PM Alexa Dexa is a multifaceted artist with footholds in composition, electronic sound design, and performance. Her toychestral electronic pop solo project parades her floating vocals, handcrafted soundscapes, and enough instruments made with children in mind to rival a playpen.
PORTLANDIA SEASON FIVE SALE PRICED DVD $15.99
Portlandia is IFC’s Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning hit sketch comedy series created, written by, and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (WILD FLAG, Sleater-Kinney) - now returning for a fifth season.
SOAKED IN BLEACH SALE PRICED DVD $15.99
The events behind Kurt Cobain’s death as seen through the eyes of Tom Grant, the private investigator hired by Courtney Love to track down her missing husband (Kurt Cobain) only days before his deceased body was found. The film develops as a narrative mystery with cinematic re-creations, interviews with key experts and witnesses and the examination of official artifacts from the 1994 case.
*sale prices valid 9/16-10/14
SEE IT: Karyn Ann plays the Secret Society, 116 NE Russell St., with Stephanie Scelza and Pretty Gritty, on Sunday, Sept. 20. 8 pm. $10. 21+. Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
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MUSIC CALENDAR The Junebugs
Edgefield
Holocene
WED. SEPT. 16
1001 SE Morrison St Jasmine Jordan
2126 SW Halsey St. Empire of the Sun, St. Lucia, Holy Ghost!
Alberta Street Pub
Kelly’s Olympian
Hawthorne Theatre
LaurelThirst Public House
Holocene
1036 NE Alberta St Zax Vandal
Analog Cafe & Theater
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Cattle Decapitation, King Parrot, Black Crown Initiate, Dark Sermon, When They Invade
Ash Street Saloon 225 SW Ash Chrysalis, Eduardo Knifehando
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. Natural Child, Super Hit
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Tokyo Police Club, the Domestics
Edgefield
2126 S. W. Halsey ST. Sloan Martin of Beach Fire
Hawthorne Theater
426 SW Washington St Three Sigma, WNBA Jam, Demented Carousel
2958 NE Glisan St Lewi Longmire & the Left Coast Roasters
Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave force publique, Secret Light
Mississippi Pizza Pub 3552 N Mississippi Ave Red Yarn kids show
No Ho’s Hawaiian Café 4627 Northeast Fremont Street David Friesen
Panic Room
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Ugly Tarantino, Angi3, Corina Corina, DJ Halo, Vasquez, DJ Ceez
Justa Pasta
1336 NW 19th Ave Anson Wright Duo
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Fire Nuns, Teleporter 4, 10 Million Lights
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds
Roseland Theater 8 NW 6th Ave Ratatat, Hot Sugar
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave La Santa Cecilia
The Blue Room Bar
8145 Open Mic hosted by Brian Bays of Soul Progression
The Historic Old Church 1422 SW 11th Ave One Quiet Night: Brazilian Voice & Jazz Guitar by Max Hatt Edda Glass & Adlai Alexander
The White Eagle 836 N Russell St Amy LaVere
Triple Nickel Pub
3646 SE Belmont St Radio Gumbo
Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St The GROWLERS
THURS. SEPT. 17 Amphitheater Northwest
17200 NE Delfel Rd, Ridgefield, WA Styx
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions
Ash Street Saloon 225 SW Ash Keeper Keeper
Dante’s
350 West Burnside Joe Buck Yourself with Special Guest
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St Natasha Kmeto, Sara Jackson-Holman, Swahili
Edgefield
2126 S. W. Halsey ST.
221 NW 10th Ave The Shanghai Woolies, The Gravy
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Rilla, Kulululu, Paper Gates 9pm $5.00
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave An Evening With Carbon Leaf
Ranger Station PDX
4260 SE Hawthorne Blvd The OH MY MY’S
Star Theater
The Aloft Portland Airport at Cascade Station
13 NW 6th Ave Trevor Hall
1001 SE Morrison St. Teengirl Fantasy, Dylan Stark, Miracle Club DJs
Jimmy Mak’s
The Spare Room
Holocene
8 NW 6th Ave Flux Pavillion
4830 NE 42nd Ave. sHellNO! CLIMATE ACTION COALITION BRIDGE BLOCKADE CELEBRATION and FUNDRAISER
The White Eagle 836 N Russell St pigWar
The Works at the Redd
831 SE Salmon St. TBA: DJ Klyph Night featuring Vursatyl, Mic Capes, Theory Hazit, Neka & Kahlo
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny TRUTH OR AAAAA! DVD Release with Beth Karp
Wonder Ballroom 128 NE Russell St. Neon Indian
FRI. SEPT. 18 Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave Karla Bonoff
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St Imagine More - A Benefit for Artichoke Community Music: Lisa Mann and Her Really Good Band and others Imagine More
Alberta Street Pub 1036 NE Alberta St Just People
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. The Vibrators, All Out, Dirty Lowdowns, Bomb Squad, Erin Cookman
Camellia Lounge/ Teazone 510 NW 11th Anandi
Clyde’s Prime Rib Restaurant & Bar
5474 NE Sandy Blvd Randy Starr
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St Hollywood Undead
Dante’s
350 West Burnside J-Fell Presents, 105.9 The Brew and Radio 102.3 present PLUSH (tribute to Stone Temple Pilots), JAR
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Gin Wigmore, Patrick Park
LAST WEEK LIVE
1001 SE Morrison St P. Morris; Superhumanoids
Star Theater
Roseland Theater
[SEPT. 16-22]
1507 SE 39th One-Eyed Doll , Stitched Up Heart , Run 2 Cover
13 NW 6th Ave HEADHUNTER PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: THE CHAMELEONS with Softkill, Shadowhouse, DDDJJJ666
1507 SE César E Chávez Blvd. Man Man, Shilpa Ray, Yeah Great Fine
For more listings, check out wweek.com.
K AY L A S P R I N T
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
Editor: Matthew Singer. TO HAVE YOUR EVENT LISTED, send show information at least two weeks in advance on the web at wweek.com/submitevents. 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.
9920 NE Cascades Parkway Anson Wright Trio with Jasnam Daya Singh (Weber Iago) and Chris Higgins
The Blue Room Bar 8145 Se 82nd Ave Grateful Buds
The White Eagle 836 N Russell St Euge Organ Trio
The Works at The Redd 831 SE Salmon St. TBA: Decibel Night featuring Lapalux, Strategy, Raika featuring Coldbrew Collective
Warner Pacific College 2219 SE 68th Avenue Calling & Community: A Choral Music Summit & Concert
Wine Up on Williams 3037 N Williams Ave Jason Newsom, solo guitar
Wonder Ballroom 128 NE Russell St Destroyer
SAT. SEPT. 19 Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Marc Broussard, Ashleigh Flynn
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St Cheryl Wheeler with special guest Peter Mulvey
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St The Dovey Concert - featuring Lovey James and Daniel Seavey
Alberta Street Pub
1036 NE Alberta St Small Leaks Sink Ships
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway The Music of Pink Floyd
Clinton Street Theater
2522 SE Clinton St The Clinton Street Stomp w/ Jacob Miller and The Bridge City Crooners, The Sagebrush Sisters, Mary Flower, The Billycan Boys, Zach Bryson, The High Water Jazz Band
MONDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHT FOR FIGHTING: If there was one lesson to be learned during the Foo Fighters show at the Moda Center on Sept. 14, it’s got something to do with how the context of the group’s fame has shifted in its 20-year career. While Dave Grohl spent the first five years proving his worth beyond the residual goodwill he acquired by decimating hair metal’s dominance of rock radio with Nirvana, it was the latter 15 in which the Foos ascended to their status of eager-to-please arena rockers without the slightest hint of irony. It’s not that they changed their sound to fit radio formats—their hugeness is less a byproduct of the strident sameness of their post-The Colour and the Shape output than it is the eagerness of alt-rock stations to spend a decade rebuilding their formats in a way that snugly fits songs like “All My Life” and “Learn to Fly” alongside the likes of Mötley Crüe and Van Halen. The humor of the Foos covering three songs by the latter— “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love,” “Panama” and “You Really Got Me”—is obvious to anyone with any recollection of how much Kurt Cobain supposedly despised the bloated classic-rock dinosaurs of his youth, but to Grohl it was all in service of giving his loyal legion the complete Foo Fighters experience. The brilliance of tracks like “My Hero,” “This Is a Call” and closer “Everlong” were intermittent reminders of why you too were once excited about this band’s future, but it’s Grohl who’s absolutely the most stoked about their next 20 years of existence. Given the sincerity and enthusiasm with which he’s accepted the role of classic rock’s modern-day vanguard, it’s safe to say he’s up to the task. PETE COTTELL. See the full review at wweek.com/lastweeklive. Clyde’s Prime Rib Restaurant & Bar
Mississippi Studios
5474 NE Sandy Blvd Andy Stokes
3939 N Mississippi Ave Moon Duo, Nurses, Spectrum Control
Doug Fir Lounge
O’Malley’s Saloon
830 E Burnside St Federale
Edgefield
2126 S. W. Halsey ST. Doogan Holler
Goodfoot Pub & Lounge 2845 SE Stark St TAKIMBA
Hawthorne Theatre 1507 SE 39th Punk Rock Karaoke
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave The Ty Curtis Band, featuring Louis Pain
Keller Auditorium
222 SW Clay St. Kraftwerk
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Chris Lee, Ace Dough, Drae Steves, Drae Slapz
Lincoln Hall at Portland State University
1620 SW Park Ave. TBA: DakhaBrakha
6535 SE Foster Rd, Portland, Oregon 97206 Smash Bandits: An evening of SKA
Ranger Station PDX
4260 SE Hawthorne Blvd Three For Silver
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St. Toro Y Moi, Astronauts, Etc.
Roseland Theater 8 NW 6th Ave Audien & Jauz
Star Theater
Ash Street Saloon 225 SW Ash Element A440
Clyde’s Prime Rib Restaurant & Bar
5474 NE Sandy Blvd Ron Steen Jazz Jam
Edgefield
2126 S. W. Halsey ST. Kris Deelane’s Sun Celebration: Fall Equinox
First Presbyterian Church, Vancouver, WA 4300 Main Street Vancouver USA Singers Benefit Concert for Bart and Valerie Moore
Kaul Auditorium
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. FEARnoMUSIC
13 NW 6th Ave. The Skull, Author & Punisher, Muscle & Marrow
Killingsworth Dynasty
Wonder Ballroom
Mississippi Studios
128 NE Russell St. Blonde Redhead, Day Wave
SUN. SEPT. 20 Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway Patti LaBelle
832 N Killingsworth Mattress, Erin Jane Laroue 3939 N Mississippi Ave. Luluc, Kevin Lee Florence
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave RORSCHACH TEST CD RELEASE
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St Karyn Ann, Stephanie Scelza, Pretty Gritty
The White Eagle 836 N Russell St Rob Johnston
Wonder Ballroom 128 NE Russell St. Hum, Mineral
MON. SEPT. 21 Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. The Lighthouse and the Whaler
Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St Say Lou Lou
Edgefield
2126 S. W. Halsey ST. Groovy Wallpaper with Kathryn Claire
Goodfoot Pub & Lounge 2845 SE Stark St Sonic Forum
Hawthorne Theatre
TUES. SEPT. 22 Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St Coeur de Pirate
Edgefield
2126 S. W. Halsey ST. Henry Hill Kammerer
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Rose City Round : Nashville style writer’s round
LaurelThirst Public House 2958 NE Glisan St Jackstraw
Ranger Station PDX
4260 SE Hawthorne Blvd Tuesday Bluegrass with Members of Left Coast Country and Friends
Wonder Ballroom 128 NE Russell St Clean Bandit
1507 SE César E Chávez Blvd. Arkona, Heidevolk, Helsott
Holocene Portland 1001 SE Morrison St The Acid
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Seoul
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Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
MUSIC
DATES HERE
Where to drink this week. 1. Stammtisch
THOMAS TEAL
BAR REVIEW
401 NE 28th Ave., 206-7983, stammtischpdx.com. Oktoberfest is the best time of year. Drink German beer—made of nothing but the wheat, hops, malt and yeast that the purity-obsessed German overlords intended.
2. Kells Brewpub
210 NW 21st Ave., 719-7175, kellsbrewpub.com. Kells will celebrate three years of brewing Sept. 19 with a party full of $3 Kells beer and $3 snacks, plus spanking-new six-packs of its lager, rotational IPA and flagship red.
3. SE Wine Collective 2425 SE 35th Place, 208-2061, sewinecollective.com. Harvest time! Watch this year’s grapes get squished while lazily drinking last year’s crop.
4. Noble Rot
1111 E Burnside St., 233-1999, noblerotpdx.com. Noble Rot may be best known for its rare eastside rooftop view and its signature flight of funky Sauternes dessert wine, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find the throaty sweetness of a 1983 Toro Albala Don PX sherry. Take advantage.
5. World Famous Cannabis Cafe
7958 SE Foster Road, 777-1667, usaworldfamouscannabiscafe.com. The reboot of Madeline Martinez’s accidentally world-famous pot cafe is more like a spartan, smalltown gathering space for smokers of all stripes than a pretentious multiuse den for dilettantes. Get hold of weed however you see fit, bring it here, and smoke in warmth, dryness and peace.
PORK SWORD: Bars are, in some ways, defined by what the staff is doing while the patrons drink. Are they chitchatting, mixologizing, tottatering or tossing shakers behind their backs to entertain coeds? At Hamlet (232 NW 12th Ave., 241-4009, hamletpdx.com), there’s a man in a bandanna carefully working a long, slender knife through a leg of onhoof ham. It’s entertaining sidework to observe at Cathy Whims’ hamthemed bar around the corner from her Pearl District pizzeria, a small, tall space with black tile and wood-paneled coolers. The food menu is mostly hammy, topping out with “the best ham on the planet,” acornfed Spanish Iberico de Bellota that’s $18 an ounce, just slightly above grocery store prices. One of my companions described it as “terrifyingly good,” though I was partial to a La Quercia prosciutto piccante, just $5 an ounce during happy hour. Phoenix’s innocuous Parisian pop plays from the speakers and a row of round lamps glows above. The house red, a Portuguese import, is just $6 before 7 pm, and remarkably round. Cocktails were all well-made, though perhaps a little on the dry side and just $8 during happy hour—cocktails jump up to $12 after that, however. (There’s a not-secret secret seven-page cocktail menu of obscure classics like the Vesper and the Bronx.) For me, all that makes Hamlet an unlikely utility bar. If you’ve got dinner plans in the Pearl or West End, stop in for small portions of very nice ham and modestly priced wine. Then, go on with your night. MARTIN CIZMAR.
WED. SEPT. 16
FRI. SEPT. 18
Dig A Pony
Dig A Pony
Morning Remorse
Morning Remorse
Lovecraft Bar
Holocene Portland
736 SE Grand Ave.
421 SE Grand Ave Event Horizon - Industrial EBM and electro night! DJs Straylight and Miss Q
THURS. SEPT. 17 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Battles & Lamar
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Brazilian Night with DJ Nik Nice & Brother Charlie
736 SE Grand Ave.
1001 SE Morrison St P. Morris
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi DJ Montel Spinozza
SAT. SEPT. 19 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Dirty Red
Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Brit pop w DJ Bar hopper
SUN. SEPT. 20 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Sweaty Technique
MON. SEPT. 21 Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave rock w/ Cory, dance w/ Cory, watch videos w/ Cory
TUES. SEPT. 22 Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Bones, DJ Aurora
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi The Central Experience with Gulls & Mr. Peepers
The Works at the Redd 831 SE Salmon St. TBA: Party Like It’s 1995
Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
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PERFORMANCE LUCY HOBBS
REVIEW
= 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: ENID SPITZ. Theater: ENID SPITZ (espitz@wweek.com). Comedy: MIKE ACKER (macker@wweek.com). Dance: ENID SPITZ (dance@wweek.com). TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit information at least two weeks in advance to: espitz@wweek.com.
THEATER OPENINGS & PREVIEWS The Grappler: Pro Wrestling Unmasked and Uncensored
For 35 years, wrestling fans jeered Len Denton as “The Grappler”—a masked villain who was the longest reigning heavyweight champion in Portland Wrestling and Mid-South wrestling rings. Now that he’s defeated Andre the Giant and written an autobiography titled Grappler: Memoirs of a Masked Madman, the pro wrestler is debuting his one-man show in Portland’s theater arena, detailing his adventures with ring icons like Ric Flair, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and his friend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Harvey’s Comedy Club, 436 NW 6th Ave. 4 pm Saturday, Sept. 19. $10.
Mercy Killers
Blue-collar, red state, ‘Murica-loving Joe basically bleeds red, white and blue. In the one-man show he wrote and performs, Michael Milligan embodies Joe’s fight through the American health system when his beloved wife is diagnosed with cancer. A regular star of one-man shows, including offBroadway in New York and at the lauded Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Milligan tours this pet project of his internationally, usually collaborating with local health organizations. In Portland, Mercy Killers is presented by Health Care for All Oregon and will include a plug for universal health care after the show. Minors are allowed with a parent or guardian. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St. 8 pm Thursday, Sept. 17. $20.
Pippin
“How many musical gimmicks can you throw in one production?” asks Broadway in Portland with Pippin straight from Broadway. Think Bob Fosse-style choreography set to compositions by the man behind Wicked with internationally touring Les 7 Doigts de la Main acrobats as a side show. Charlemagne’s young son, prince Pippin searches for the meaning of life amid a performance troupe in this flashy mash-up of folklore from the Middle Ages and Jazz Era charades. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St. Tuesday-Sunday, Sept. 22-27. $30-$85.
NEW REVIEWS The Best of Everything
On the surface, The Best of Everything is a comedy. The antiquated concept of women in the workplace serving as nothing but typewriters with tits for lecherous, cartoonish men is played to such effect that the opening night crowd was practically in hysterics. But the play, based on the 1958 Rona Jaffe novel, explores beyond the surface into the lives of five secretaries working at a New York City publishing company. Recently heartbroken but ambitious Caroline (Cassie Greer, channeling Lilith from Frasier) wants to be an editor while the other girls arre just waiting to land a husband. The roles are tropes to be sure (the naïve country girl, the aspiring ingénue, the gossip), but their familiarity makes them seem authentic. The show’s primary flaw is the staging, which has the actors endlessly rearranging the set. Guest director Michelle Milne says it’s supposed to represent how the characters are basically interchangeable, but it simply becomes a distraction and adds 30 minutes of unnecessary length to the show. In spite of the predictable outcome and a few “What is to become of me?” clichés, the overall theme still resonates even 50 years later. Women face the same stigmas of being the ambitious bitch or the bitter old maid and
obsessing over a man to the point of self-destruction. We still struggle with the concept of what it means to “have it all,” which is what makes The Best of Everything so funny, and so sad. PENELOPE BASS. Venetian Theatre, 253 E Main St., Hillsboro, 345-9590. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday through Sept. 27. $25-$30.
Xana-redU, A Parody Tribute to Xanadu Falling between Stageworks Ink’s 2014 Flash AH-AHHH and next season’s Weird(er) Science, Xana-redU is a worthy installation in director Steve Coker’s plan to reverse-engineer croonable satire from every Gen-X cinematic touchstone. The plot follows a failed record-sleeve artist (the mulleted Illya Torres Garner) trying to woo the immortal Muse of Dance (Kristi Bogart) by opening a vaguelyOlympian-themed roller disco with friendly construction mogul (Coker in Gene Kelly’s last role). Coker’s streamlined adaptation avoids being an overblown kitschfest like the recent Broadway version and instead follows the original’s tone of daft exuberance for comedic affect. With much of the same cast and crew that created last Spring’s dizzying Flash Gordon operetta, Xana-redU smartly showcases the strengths of its source material (solid ELO soundtrack tunes) and talent. Where Flash Ah-AHHH relied on the School Of Rock for proggy instrumental flourishes, Xana-redU employs the continuous choreography of the local performance troupe Trip the Dark. It’s not always the smoothest fit, but Coker is more of a stately pleasure dome than Gene Kelly and the general flow of bodies in motion hustles scenes ever forward with nimble delight. JAY HORTON. The Hostess, 538 SE Ash St., 7:30 pm ThursdaySaturday through Sept. 19. $10-$18.
ALSO PLAYING I Hate Hamlet
A skewering of actorly pretensions and the legitimate theater’s dimming relevance in show business, I Hate Hamlet’s famously troubled 1991 Broadway run launched the career of comic playwright Paul Rudnick with this tale of a callow, young sitcom star bedeviled by the ghost of John Barrymore after unhappily accepting an offer to play the titular role for Shakespeare in the Park. Penny Lonergan will direct the Hillsboro Artists’ Regional Theater production, and newcomer Benjamin Philip, himself not long removed from an iambic pentameter stint ‘round New York, will play long-suffering hero Andrew Rally. JAY HORTON. HART Theater, 185 SE Washington St., Hillsboro, 693-7815. 7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday through Sept. 20. $11-15.
Anything Goes
Drammy Award-winning actor-director Joe Theissen brings Cole Porter’s classic 1934 musical to Lake Oswego. Full of song-and-dance numbers and tap dancing spectacles, this show-tune classic follows a stowaway on an ocean liner from New York to London who attempts to woo a nightclub singer away from the wealthy nobleman she’s engaged to. WALKER MACMURDO. Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego. Through Sept. Oct. 18. $20-$37.
Play On!
A bumbling community theater tries to stage a murder mystery amid constant re-writes from the playwright—right up until opening night—in the New Century Players’ Play On! The Players themselves have been fighting the community theater fight since 2004,
“THIS DAY SAW MANY ADVANCES, NONE MIRACULOUS: Sean Lamb (left) and Andy Barrett. (Below) Landy Steckman.
Pistols Cocked IN FUNHOUSE’S DEADWOOD SPINOFF, THE FUCKUPS ARE FUNNIEST. HBO’s three seasons of Deadwood are some of the premium channel’s finest offerings. In many ways, the show was the blueprint for Game of Thrones, just set in the Wild West frontier. Fans writhed in ecstasy weekly as brilliant cast members like William Sanderson (E.B. Farnum) and Ian McShane (Al Swearengen) delivered Shakespearian soliloquies chock full of profanity. So you’d be forgiven for questioning Funhouse Lounge’s plan to improvise new episodes in front of a live audience using local volunteer actors. But this rough, crude and hilarious approximation should tide you over until the feature film spinoff we’ve been promised actually goes into production. Even before the rustic Americana strains of something like the Deadwood theme music began on opening night, the audience contributed wildcard plot points: someone’s horse “breaks down” and another character has a secret laudanum habit. Actors immediately wove those curveballs into the “script,” then a procession of characters like Calamity Jane and Wild Bill ambled through an awkward new episode.
Characters pull guns, swill whiskey and laudanum, and humans fuck puppets.
Rumors flew when one citizen spotted a mysterious “character” in Deadwood city and the actors began riffing on the show’s tropes in a succession of short scenes that followed like a clunky wagon wheel. Wild Bill turned out to be the laudanum abuser and continually asked after his hat, which was always on top of his head. And I lost count of how many times the lights and music cued for the next scene in the middle of a speech by the surly puppet who portrays foulmouthed brothel proprietor Al Swearengen. Eventually the haphazard darkness and sound glitches became a running gag. Being a small production, Deadwood Unscripted is saved by its large cast. No one star carries the entire play. Instead, it’s a showcase of stumbles and misspeaks from everyone. But the fuckups are the funniest bits, and that’s a rare boon in a genre that often feels awkward. While Sean Lamb stood out as E.B. Farnum—one of the most endearing and loquacious Deadwood characters—even he outrageously overdid the voice, mannerisms and thesaurus peeks. That’s not to say it’s inaccurate. Like the original, Deadwood Unscripted is coarse, uncouth, violent and vulgar. Characters pull guns, swill whiskey and laudanum, and humans fuck puppets (not that there’s anything wrong with that). If anything, this rough carbon copy proved the merits of its source material. At the opening, one obnoxious woman in the audience kept repeating, “I’ve never even seen the show!” But she laughed through the rest of it as much as anyone, and that is to say, everyone. Fans will lament that Deadwood ended too soon, but Funhouse’s parody hints that the best may be yet to come in this amateur spinoff—so long as the next six “episodes” don’t clean up too much. Puppet-fucking and all, this is a rough production that’s all the funnier for its frayed ends. NATHAN CARSON. SEE IT: Deadwood Unscripted is at Funhouse Lounge, 2432 SE 11th Ave., 841-6734. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays through Sept. 26. $12-$16 (pay-what-you-want Thursdays).
CONT. on page 42 Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
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PERFORMANCE
One Man, Two Guvnors
Clackamas Rep co-founder and artistic director David Smith-English leads the Pacific Northwest’s first production of Richard Bean’s Tony Award-winning farce, based on Carlo Goldoni’s Servant of Two Masters. Set in Brighton, England, in 1963, One Man follows a young street urchin who bumbles his way into being employed by a lowly street gangster and an upper-class criminal. As he struggles to keep his employers from learning about one another, a mixture of traditional farcical antics, slapstick, audience interaction and musical comedy ensues. WALKER MACMURDO. Clackamas Repertory Theater, 19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City, 594-6047. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and 2:30 pm Sunday through Oct. 4. $12-$30.
does the job of capturing Tallulah’s lengthy career all too well. Margie Boulé’s Tallulah (don’t you dare call her “Miss Bankhead”) is perfectly on point. Boulé belts “baby” and “dahling” in an uncomfortably accurate impression of the foghorn voice that made Tallulah famous. Throwing her head back with a stilted yet flirty laugh and bending over to reveal her bosom, Boulé captures the actress’s campy antics without seeming fake herself. Telling awkward sex jokes as a stalling tactic, Triangle’s Tallulah convincingly drives her film editor Danny Miller (David Sargent) and sound engineer Steve (James Sharinghousen) within an inch of losing their sanity. Unfortunately, Looped’s script has a similar effect on us in our seats. RACHEL SANDSTROM. Triangle Productions, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 239-5919. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and 2 pm Sunday through Sept. 26. $15.
Or,
Kicking off Third Rail Repertory Theatre’s 10th anniversary season in its new performance space at Imago Theatre, Liz Duffy Adams’ Or is a period comedy and quickwitted romantic farce in the spirit of Tom Stoppard. Poet, actress and spy Aphra Behn has the opportunity to get out of the espionage game and become one of the first female playwrights of the Restoration—if she can deliver her completed work to the company before dawn. Hampering her progress is a string of lovers that ranges from royalty to rival spies and resembles the sexual revolution of the 1960s as opposed to the 1660s. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 235-1101. 7 pm WednesdaySaturday and 2 pm Sunday, Sept. 18-Oct. 10. $18-$42.50.
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PREVIEW B R U C E C L AY T O N T O M
when founders started the theater as an alternative to Portland’s overflowing stage scene, so this wacky comedy hits close to home. Jo Strom Lane directs Rick Abbot’s play-within-a-play comedy about short tempers and unusual personalities. WALKER MACMURDO. Rex Putnam High School Auditorium, 4950 SE Roethe Road, Milwaukie, 367-2620, newcenturyplayers.org. 7:30 pm Sept. 17-19, 24, 26 and 2 pm Sundays, Sept. 20-27. $18.
Equivocation
In the face of religious persecution, government subterfuge and torture, what power does art have? That’s the question in Bill Cain’s post-9/11 masterpiece that filters terrorism paranoia through the lens of Jacobean London. The notoriously cruel politician Robert Cecil (Matt Smith) wants William Shagspeare (Keith Cable) to write a play about how the government stopped the Gunpowder Plot. But Shag—the Bard in all but his name—knows that staging the government’s propaganda will destroy his credibility with the groundlings. Not to mention the fact that a play about a bomb that doesn’t go off spits in the eye of the very concept of dramatic tension. Fitting of the name Equivocation, Shag uses tricks of rhetoric and staging to get around his dilemma. Post5’s staging and cast perfectly match this flexibility. The set—two staircases flanking a balcony—serves as a courtroom, a jail cell, Shag’s house and the Globe. Post5 newcomer Todd Van Voris switches deftly from the conspirator Father Henry Garnet to the blustering actor Richard Burbage. Smith’s Cecil shifts from weary bureaucrat, to put-upon lackey, to a sadisT. As is only appropriate of his last production, Post5 co-founder and artistic director Ty Boice steals the show. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Post5 Theatre, 1666 SE Lambert St. 7:30 Friday-Sunday through Oct. 4. $20.
La Luna Nueva
One of Portland’s largest Latin artsand-culture festivals runs 10 days long at Miracle Theatre with guitar soloists, kids’ sign-alongs, multilingual theater, story times and puppetry. This year’s lineup expands the scope of the festival beyond traditional Latin influences to include performances by groups from places like Japan and Tahiti. Miracle Theatre, 425 SE 6th Ave., milagro.org. Wednesday-Sunday, Sept. 16-27. $5-$35.
Looped
In 1965, Hollywood grande dame Tallulah Bankhead once notoriously took eight hours in a recording studio to tape a single line of dialogue for her final film, Die! Die! My Darling! The Lifeboat actress’s melodramatic session—full of “dahlings” and cleavage and bottomless drinking— is a fitting fall premiere for Triangle Productions, a company as notoriously outspoken as Tallulah herself. With past seasons that have featured dirty-mouthed housewives singing, “Eat your fucking corn flakes!” and onstage re-enactments of the Kent State shootings, Triangle lives up to its reputation for disrobing the recent past. But perhaps Looped
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Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
B-GIRLS AND -BOYS: Opposing Forces.
Breaking Point Amy O’Neal pushes gender boundaries at TBA.
Amy O’Neal knew she was pushing a boundary. Break dan ci n g was bor n on the streets of the Bronx, and it still maintains an air of machismo today, even though it’s moved into studios. But for her new work, Opposing Forces—which opens at the Time-Based Art Festival this week—the Seattle choreographer asked her male dancers to pop their hips and flick their wrists. “Someone would get triggered and would say, ‘I don’t want to do that because that feels too feminine or awkward for me,’” O’Neal says. “Then we’d stop and talk about why. I’ve been in the community with them for a long time, so that created a really safe environment for this exploration.” O’Neal, 37, has been entrenched in ballet, modern and hiphop dance since she was a teenager. She regularly choreographs shows with talent from Seattle’s Massive Monkees and other recognized b-boys, like Carter “Fever One” McGlasson of Rock Steady Crew. Typically, O’Neal emphasizes breaking ’s aggressive movements—complex footwork, acrobatic stunts and hyper-isolated twitches—in her choreography. “This dance is very representative of a particular way of life,” she says. “And that masculinity is very important.” That made this piece, which premiered in Seattle in October 2014, a challenge. O’Neal asked dancers to move in a “feminine” way—slowly raising an arm, adding a flick of the wrist or inwardly rotating their thighs for a less aggressive stance—to test what happens when girly moves and b-boys meet. “That’s something where it’s like, ‘Really? Why?’” she says. “It would start interesting conversations because, to me, it’s not a big deal. But to them it is.” KAITIE TODD. SEE IT: Opposing Forces is at the Works at the Redd, 831 SE Salmon St., pica.org. 8:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 17-19. $25.
Our Town
GARY NORMAN
PCS reprises the play every high school theater has done many times over, but adds significant star power (for Portland) with Gary Norman (Grimm, The Librarians, Leverage), Vin Shambry (Rent on Broadway) and Laura Faye Smith (Grimm, Leverage). And local director Rose Riordan has a strong track record with Portland Center Stage, deftly staging Broadway mainstays like Doubt and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, so there’s hope for this four-time Drammy Award winner’s interpretation of Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize classic. Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th Ave., pcs.org, 7:30 pm Tuesday-Sunday and 2 pm Saturday-Sunday through Oct. 11. $21-$35.
Spectravagasm
LEAN IN: Don Alder (left) and Grant Byington.
Sweet Anticipation Blackout. The sound of marching. Then, a spotlight on a haggard man, sitting alone on a pile of rocks below a knotty tree. Before the lights even come up at Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative’s staging of Samuel Beckett’s iconic Waiting for Godot, the production is captivating. Tucked into the tiny Shoebox Theater— large enough for only 50 or so patrons—the show feels intimate and personal without requiring any painful “audience participation” shtick. As the man struggles to take off his boots, you can see faces lean in closer from their seats, hooked. The tragicomedy escalates with perfectly timed banter—if you can claim escalation in a play about two men endlessly waiting for an absent phantom named Godot. Don Alder’s cynical Estragon and Grant Byington’s childlike Vladimir parry lines with a cadence both playful and severe, and entirely engaging. “It’s so we won’t think.” “We have that excuse.” “It’s so we won’t hear.” “We have our reasons.” And the faces in the audience shift back and forth between the two, as if watching a tennis match. The premise and dialogue may seem simple, but timing and delivery can make or break this play. Vladimir and Estragon’s frequent repartee is scattered throughout the show and arrives at peaks of emotional turmoil for the foiled pair. But Byington and Alder never miss a beat, hitting every lightning-fast cue of their characters’ rapid quips. The startling sound of a cracking whip introduces the play’s other dynamic duo: the Tim Gunn-esque, flamboyant Pozzo (Todd Hermanson) and his “charge” (read: slave), who is ironically named Lucky (Steve Vanderzee). Hermanson whipping Vanderzee captures the violence of their slave-master relationship so well it’s almost unbearable. At each crack of the whip, people jump in their seats, and it’s enough to make you wish Hermanson weren’t quite so good at his craft. While he infuses Pozzo with all the self-righteous malice of a rich slave owner, Vanderzee’s Lucky steals the show. Even when pushed into a corner of the stage, you can see how his white-knuckled grip on Pozzo’s bags makes his arms shake, and his zombielike shamble across the stage is heartbreakingly realistic. Vanderzee rarely lifts his head, hiding the whites of his eyes but showing the physical and emotional torment slavery inflicts on a person. And it’s those details that make us lean in. Beckett’s existential script is partially responsible, of course, but NWCTC deserves credit for nuanced staging. Down to the haggard man’s nasty, snaggly toenail (he is living in what seems like a desert, after all), director Pat Patton takes his time on the small things. With no real plot to speak of, or any major crises—except those pesky internal crises of faith—the show still resonates. “It’s indescribable,” says Vladimir. “It’s like nothing. There’s nothing. There’s a tree.” And somehow, that’s exactly right. RACHEL SANDSTROM.
NWCTC has audiences holding their breath.
SEE IT: Waiting for Godot is at Shoebox Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 971-244-3740. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Sundays, through Oct. 11. $25.
Sam Dinkowitz created Spectravagasm after dropping out of Penn State’s MFA program and moving to Portland for theater. Reprising his show for its seventh season, Dinkowitz once described his raunchy sketch-comedy show as “the kind of late-night show that makes you feel like a naughty kid laughing at dirty jokes in your friend’s basement.” Reverently titled “SHHH…ART!,” Spectravagasm 7 sends up the ridiculousness of the art world with song, dance and a trailer for Dinkowitz’s third mock film. Post5 Theater, 1666 SE Lambert St., 971-258-8584. 11 pm Friday-Saturday through Oct. 3. $5. 21+.
Friday Night Fights
Competitive improv, with two teams battling for stage time. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 9:30 pm Fridays. $5.
Helium Open Mic
Generally regarded as the best openmic night in town, Helium’s signups fill quickly. Show up between 6 and 7 pm to snag some stage time. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave, 888-643-8669. 8 pm Tuesday, Sept. 22. Free.
It’s Going to Be Okay
Hosted by Barbara Holm, It’s Gonna Be Okay brings fun, smart and geeky comedy to EastBurn once a week and free of charge. This installment of one of Portland’s best comedy showcases features local notables and Portland’s Funniest Person finalists Bri Pruett, Christian Ricketts and Curtis Cook alongside All Jane No Dick alum Kyle Mizono. EastBurn, 1800 E Burnside St., 236-2876. 8 pm Monday, Sept. 21. Free. 21+.
Random Acts of Comedy
Curious Comedy puts on a freewheeling show that brings together sketch, standup and improv. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 9:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 19. $10.
Risk!
The play-within-a-play concept is a familiar one, often utilized to comic effect. Artists Rep takes it one step further with the Portland premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s The Understudy, where Harry (who’s the understudy for Jake, who’s the understudy for Bruce) must rehearse a fictional Kafka play with a stage manager whose life he ruined many years ago. If the premise proves anything, it’s that the most captivating drama happens behind the curtain. PENELOPE BASS. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm WednesdaySunday and 2 pm Sunday through Oct. 4. $25-$55.
OPB addicts’ ears should be burning—Portland is getting t*he wannabe Moth.When not writing lines for MTV’s The State, Flight of the Concords or the Blue Man Group—or leading web seminars that help insecure singles and CEOs speak better—Kevin Allison likes to watch people sweat and embarrass themselves on stage. His internationally touring Risk! live podcast asks minor and major celebrities like Patton Oswalt, Janeane Garofalo and Margaret Cho to tell their most painful stories on stage. Guests are TBA for his two nights at Mississippi Studios, but last time he sold out, so expectations are high. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 8 pm TuesdayWednesday, Sept. 22-23. $20. 21+.
COMEDY & VARIETY
Sebastian Maniscalco: Aren’t You Embarrassed?
The Understudy
Bobby Lee
A memorable regular on MADtv, Bobby Lee is a self-proclaimed pingpong aficionado and has been featured in such noteworthy comedy films as Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Pineapple Express. Lee starred alongside Steve Byrne, Kevin Shea and Dr. Ken Jeong in The Kims of Comedy, is a recurring guest on DVDASA with David Choe and headlines regularly at comedy clubs across the country. With five shows in three nights, Bobby Lee is a comedian not to be missed. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 7:30 pm, Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 17-19, 10 pm, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 18-19. $21-$29.
Sebastian Maniscalco used to take breaks from his job as a waiter at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons to perform standup sets at nearby comedy clubs. It was while working nightly spots around L.A. that Maniscalco caught the eye of Vince Vaughn, who made the Chicago-born comic one of the four featured comics on Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show. Since touring the nation for a month alongside Vaughn in 2006, Maniscalco
has appeared with B.B. King and Prince, performed numerous latenight standup sets, and shot a new Showtime special that has spawned the #Arentyouembarrassed Twitter hashtag. Newark Theater, 1111 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 8 pm, Saturday, Sept. 19. $53.55.
Sunday School
Come check out Curious Comedy Theater’s weekly long form improv showcase. Sunday School features Curious Comedy’s grown teams, special guests and students all flexing their strongest improv comedy muscles. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 6 pm, Sunday, Sept. 20. $5 suggested donation.
Test Tube—Experimental Comedy
Hosted by former Portland’s Funniest Person Winner Steven Wilber, Test Tube is a night to celebrate the weirdness of Portland’s comedy. For this unique showcase, comics are asked to present their strangest bits, their offbeat characters and their most “out there” premises. Wednesday’s lineup includes a number of Portland’s Funniest contest finalists and Willamette Week top five comics, and features Robbie Pankow, Paul Schlesinger, Dinah Foley, Gabe Dinger and Christian Ricketts. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 8 pm Wednesday, Sept. 16. $12-$20. 21+.
Who’s the Ross?
One of Portland’s longest-running late-night talk shows closes out a run of shows at Dante’s with an impressive lineup of guests. Featuring an interview with Finger Bang, one of the city’s hottest nail salons, and the musical stylings of Del Phoena, local comic and actor Aaron Ross will also treat the Tuesday crowd to the comedy of Portland-based funnyman Andy Schanz. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 10 pm Tuesday, Sept. 22. $3. 21+.
DANCE Death of Glitter: Dance Night and GenderFuck Cabaret
Crush’s monthly performance and dance night fundraiser does drag for a cause. Portland queens including Mars, Darcy Blows, Carol Gates and Neon Starlight start the show, then DJs like GlitZ Shimmersteed spin while you go. Crush, 1400 SE Morrison St., 503-235-8150, 9:00pm Thursday, Sept. 17. $10.
For more Performance listings, visit CASEY CAMPBELL PHOTOGRAPHY
REVIEW
Curious Comedy Open Mic
Curious hosts a weekly open-mic night. Sign-ups begin at 7:15, and comics get three minutes of stage time apiece. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 8 pm Sundays. Free.
Earthquake Hurricane
Four of Portland’s funniest comics welcome three of their funniest local comedians to tell jokes in the back of a bike shop. It doesn’t get much more Portland than that. Curtis Cook, Bri Pruett, Alex Falcone and Anthony Lopez welcome their friends Phil Schallberger, Portland’s Funniest Person 2014 runner-up Adam Pasi and Ben Harkins. Slap on your messenger bag, hike up your skinny jeans and enjoy the best of Portland’s comedy scene. Velo Cult, 1969 NE 42nd Ave., 922-2012. 9 pm Wednesday, Sept. 16. Free ($5 suggested donation).
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
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VISUAL ARTS
l a c i p y t R u o y t o N l a v i t s beeR fe K’S
WEE E T T E M ILLA
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Co-Conspirators and the Possibilities of Painting in a Parallel Universe In her first Portland show, Leslie Baum presents a series of new works in conversation with her existing painting, Co-conspirator. Using differing media and scale, each of these new pieces—which include oil paintings, large-scale drop-cloth paintings, standing floor panels and table-top watercolors— engages in conversation with the reference piece. Working both as fully realized objects and in the larger dialogue, the new works are building blocks for her paintingbased installation. Through Oct. 1. Hap Gallery, 916 NW Flanders St., 444-7101.
Dark Matter
Anticipating the shorter days and longer nights of winter, Jeffrey Thomas solicited a diverse body of works exploring the theme of darkness from artists who work in a variety of media. This foreboding exhibition champions a world assembled out of shadows and contrasts, and promises art that’s either about the bleak, black and sinister or somehow uses darkness as a medium itself. Sept. 16-Nov. 7. Jeffrey Thomas Fine Art, 2219 NW Raleigh St., 544-3449. Free.
Decoy
october 3 1 to 6 pm the north warehouse 723 n tillamooK Home brewers and pro brewers team up to create never-released beers and vie for your vote in the People’s Choice Award.
Skinning Vision
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. By MEGAN HARNED. 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: mharned@wweek.com.
Guest curators Emma McKee and David Strand present five Seattle artists of international backgrounds whose practices emphasize the material properties of images and objects through various strategies of presentation and arrangement. Through Oct. 3. Worksound International, 820 SE Alder St.
Everyone Is a Critic
After eight years in Portland, this will be the first year that artist Jen Delos Reyes will not be in attendance at PICA’s TBA Festival. Partly because of FOMO, partly for the sake of fostering critical dialogue and probably out of a longing to stay connected to the creative community she used to headline, Delos Reyes is asking attendees to text her their thoughts, feelings and micro-reviews from TBA. All the messages she gets will be shared anonymously on the Albatross blog, the most obscure gallery in Portland. Through Sept. 20. Albatross Gallery, around the neck of the artist Michael Reinsch.
Jessica Jackson Hutchins: Confessions
Confessions is a collective endeavor that seeks transparency about the distinctions between collecting, curating and making, while exploring related concerns such
as the care, circulation and preservation of works of art. The exhibition is organized by Portland collector Sarah Miller Meigs and Cooley Gallery curator and director Stephanie Snyder, working closely with Jessica Jackson Hutchins to develop one interrelated exhibition that expresses the distinctiveness of each space, while allowing the artist to investigate their differences in situ through experimentation and dialogue. Through Nov. 8. The Lumber Room, 419 NW 9th Ave.; Cooley Gallery, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 777-7251.
Moment With Tadashi Ura
Tadashi Ura is a Japanese artist with a background in design who in 2006 began studying a style of ink and wash painting known as suibokuga. Ura’s paintings, inspired from everyday life, feature children and animals in idyllic settings and bring a contemporary vision to a traditional technique. Through Sept. 30. Hellion Gallery, 19 NW 5th Ave., Suite 208, 774-7327.
Night Was Already in My Hands
Bisected, flattened, bleached and pre-dyed. Pretreated canvases are the basis for William Matheson’s second solo exhibition at Nationale, inspired by poetry of the same title from Japanese modernist Sagawa Chika. Matheson’s paintings, which previously had superimposed marks that looked like smiley faces on top of everyday images of video games or screenshots, are traditionally abstract and chunky. This show takes modernism even a step further by examining the base material itself. Sept. 16-Oct. 19. Nationale, 3360 SE Division St., 477-9786.
Pictures of the Moon With Teeth
The visual arts portion of the 2015 TBA Festival, curated by Kristan Kennedy, asked artists, “What do we believe in, or perhaps what is spirit?” The resulting work lives at the intersections of belief and disbelief. Through Oct. 11. TBA at 2500 NE Sandy Blvd., 242-1419.
Richard Melloy Paintings
The Ford Gallery (formerly the Gallery:Homeland space in the Ford Building) has reopened with a collection of Richard Melloy art that spans 30 years. The collection includes his early paintings, his commercial work and his newer paintings. A number of these pieces are from private collections or Melloy’s own trove and won’t be for sale. This is a celebration of an artist with an enduring creative drive and whose long tenure bridges old and new Portland. Ford Gallery, 2505 SE 11th Ave., 449-3305.
10 Barrel 13 Virtues 54-40 Baerlic Breakside Buckman Botanical Buoy Coalition Culmination Ecliptic Ex Novo Fat Heads Fort George Lompoc Montavilla Brew Pints Three Mugs Unicorn Brewing Co. Upright Uptown Market Brewery Vertigo Widmer
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Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
Spells
Back in the day, Peter Rock, an author and professor of English at Reed College, wrote stories about art to keep himself occupied as a museum security guard. His current body of work harks back to that period with a fragmentary novel in response to the work of five of his favorite photographers—Sophia Borazanian, Sara Lafleur-Vetter, Shaena Mallett, Peter McCollough and Colleen Plumb. Rock’s loose narrative, which will also be integrated within the exhibition using audio and video components, gleans details from each photograph to construct moments in the lives of three young friends and other seemingly unconnected individuals. Through Sept. 27. Blue Sky Gallery, 122 NW 8th Ave., 225-0210.
The Thing Itself (Or Not)
Fitting its equivocating title, Cameo’s new show puts source material next to its offspring for the sake of art. Featuring the work of Northwest artists Natalie Jenkins and Anderson Funk, it explores the relationship between an original and all the other possible forms that it could take. Jenkins and Funk are both craft-driven artists, meticulous with their material choices and finishings, but their work is meant to draw you away from their craftsmanship as it is meant to draw you in. Through Sept. 30. Cameo Gallery, 2809 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
This Is the Only One
Heather Watkins’ process- and material-based practice examines ideas of action and repetition, and seeing and experience, through gesture and pigment. This new series of work includes experimental forms of drawing, printmaking, installation and sculpture. Her use of the richly hued cobalt-blue ink is consistent across genres. Through Sept. 26. PDX Contemporary Art, 925 NW Flanders St., 222-0063.
Traces of the Arctic
Lauren Hartman’s embroidery and sculptural installations respond to current topics to serve as a record in our cultural conscience. After watching news of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Hartman began to focus on our relationship to the sea, which became a platform to discuss global issues connected by international waters through her craft and printmakingbased practice. Through Oct. 23. Duplex Gallery, 219 NW Couch St., 206-5089.
We Were Singing
Ellen Lesperance, best known for her detailed paintings and textiles that pay tribute to direct-action campaigns and feminist activism, debuts a body of work based on noted feminist painter Sylvia Sleigh and her intimate paintings of nude males. After years of investigating and paying homage to women activists, Lesperance turns her gaze inward to mine her life and experiences as they intersect with Sleigh and the history of art and feminism. Through Sept. 19. Adams and Ollman Gallery, 209 SW 9th Ave., 724-0684.
$27 GENERAL ADMISSION (21+ ONLY)
TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT WWEEK.COM/BEERPROAM
Over the past year, Rebecca Mackay Rosen Carlisle created a series of process-driven works using dense layering, thick application of paint, and physical manipulation of the surface to reimagine the body. The tactile material qualities suggest flesh and skin, and obscure nearly all underlying figurative imagery. Eyes and eye-like forms are employed as a means of drawing viewers into the work and creating an empathetic response. The pull is a result of experiencing pareidolia— in this case the recognition of a face where there is none. Through Sept. 26. PNCA, Gallery 2, New Commons, 511 NW Broadway, 226.4391.
WORK BY TANNAZ FARSI, PART OF PICTURES OF THE MOON WITH TEETH
For more Visual Arts listings, visit
BOOKS = WW Pick. Highly recommended. By JAMES HELMSWORTH. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit lecture or reading information at least two weeks in advance to: WORDS, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: words@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16 Andrés Neuman
Twenty years ago, Chilean literary great Roberto Bolaño said Argentine Andrés Neuman was the next big thing. He’s still living out that prophecy. His latest short-story collection, The Things We Don’t Do, includes a man going to work naked and a guy in therapy who thinks he’s the therapist. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 17 Bucky Sinister
In Bucky Sinister’s Black Hole, an addict finds a drug whose hangover is a space-time collapse. Sinister knows addiction firsthand. His works include Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos. Powell’s Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 228-4651. 7:30 pm.
Erica Jong
In 1973, Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying, the story of a woman’s awakening to the pleasures of the noncommittal “zipless fuck,” was a cornerstone of Second-Wave feminism. In her new novel, she’s afraid of dying instead. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm.
Michael Helquist
Portland historian Michael Helquist tells the story of turn-of-the-century Oregon physician and activist Marie Equi, who whipped men who wouldn’t pay her, performed abortions and was sentenced to prison for speaking out against World War I. Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 284-1726. 7 pm.
Warren Easley
Like so many before him, L.A. prosecutor Cal Claxton moved to Oregon in search of a simple life. But the desperate and strange keep finding him. In Warren Easley’s Never Look Down, Claxton comes across a tagger who’s witnessed a murder. People around her keep dying. Annie Bloom’s Books, 7834 SW Capitol Highway, 246-0053. 7 pm.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 18 Quantified: Redefining Conservation for the Next Economy
Joe S. Whitworth, president of Portland environmental group the Freshwater Trust, argues that the big data systems that have been the key to success for the tech industry could be used for conservation purposes. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm.
Rose City Comic Con Kickoff Party
Come celebrate the two days of unadulterated nerding out that is Rose City Comic Con with, uh, another evening of nerding out, with music, food, beer and the chance to win free prizes. Most importantly, attendees will be able to exchange their tickets for badges early, beating the lines on Saturday. Things From Another World, 2916 NE Broadway, 284-4693. 7 pm.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 20 Bill Clegg in Conversation with Amanda Coplin
A fire in a Connecticut community kills an engaged couple, the bride’s father and his ex-wife’s boy toy. Bill Clegg’s book follows the town’s reactions after the tragedy. He will speak with Portlander Amanda Coplin, who explored small-town tragedy in Washington in 2012’s The
Orchardist. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm.
MONDAY, SEPT. 21 Steve Duin: The Less We Touch
You probably know Steve Duin for his Oregonian column that finds him getting psyched about Bernie Sanders and covering the Little League World Series. But he’s also written a graphic novel about the Gulf oil spill, a book about comics, and a new novel, The Less We
Touch, about an infamous Lake Oswego basketball coach’s reign of terror. Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 284-1726. 7 pm.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 22 Amy Stewart
In late 1800s New Jersey, a silk baron named Henry Kaufmann hit three sisters with his car. They eventually responded by learning how to shoot guns. Stewart, author of 2013’s The Drunken Botanist, tells the fictionalized version of this true story in Girl Waits with Gun. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm.
For more Books listings, visit
REVIEW
Joy Williams, THE VISITING PRIVILEGE It is a mistake to read Joy Williams’ fiction in public, I have learned—especially after a drink. Far too often her stories will catch me unprepared and leave me choking on a sentence in near-metaphysical grief. I end up looking like a crazy person—like the people in her stories, comically vulnerable to the world. “Jones, the preacher, has been in love all his life,” begins “TakNot funny ha-ha. ing Care,” the title story of her first collection. “He is baffled by this because as far as he can see, it has never helped anyone…. He is like an animal in a traveling show who, through some aberration, wears a vital organ outside the skin.” The Visiting Privilege (Knopf, 512 pages, $30) collects four decades of short stories along with 13 new ones, and it shows her as one of the few true masters of modern fiction. She is often described as a writer’s writer, a pale compliment that means her books are objects of intense obsession but only for the few. Read her stories all together, and no matter their line-by-line elegance and wit—and dear Lord, these stories are funny—they do seem too intense for mass consumption, too uncanny and too filled with the sadness of the world. But then, you could say the same of Flannery O’Connor. It is not that Williams’ stories are melodramatic or obsessed with tragedy. It is that she is without mercy. The surface events are often simple: A guy dumbly buys an old car eaten out by rust that is “a living thing ” that “breathes” and “eats,” a girl visits boarding school with her parents in chill air that is not like real air, or a mother threatens to put down her sad and stupid dog with Drano rather than live with her unchecked feelings about him. But Williams writes with uncommon clarity and concision, with disorienting humor that leaves the ground uncertain—what George Saunders has called “that particularly American brand of funny that is made of pain.” Her writing evokes the wonderment and cruelty endemic to childhood. Her children, even, wear precocious sadness like a bruise under the skin. “She was surrounded by strangers saying crazy things,” thinks a 10-year-old in “Train,” one of Williams’ most anthologized stories. “Even her own mother often said crazy things in a reasonable way that made Dan know she was a stranger too.” The new set of stories shows its seams more readily than the ones from the early collections. One more often sees Williams the writer at work, as in “Brass,” when the oddness of a child is wrapped up too neatly with an all-too-familiar violent end. But at their best—as in “Revenant,” about a failed visit to an island funeral—they do what Williams’ writing so often does. It peels back a life to reveal the cold wind howling beneath it, and then finds comfort there. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. GO: Joy Williams will appear in conversation with author Karen Russell at Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-8787323. 7:30 pm Monday, Sept. 21. Free.
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MOVIES RICHARD FOREMAN, JR.
REVIEW
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. Editor: ENID SPITZ. 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: espitz@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
Grandma
C+ Like a feminist companion piece to last year’s Bill Murray feature St. Vincent, Paul Weitz’s Grandma tells the tale of Elle (Lily Tomlin), who takes her neglected granddaughter (Julia Garner) under her wing when the teenager comes asking for money for an abortion. An out-of-work poet and widow who just broke up with her young girlfriend (Judy Greer), Elle sees the situation as a chance to bond with her entitled granddaughter. So she takes the girl on a journey through L.A., visiting people from her past to raise funds for the procedure. Tomlin is great as the wise but stubborn Elle, doling out f-bombs and sagelike lessons in equal measure. But given the episodic nature of Paul Weitz’s film, each scene is only as good as its co-star. The vignettes are designed to give us telling portraits of Elle’s life, and some scenes— particularly an encounter with ex-lover Sam Elliott—are pulsing with vitality, honesty and humor. Other times—a coffee-shop confrontation with a Christian barista or a hitchhiking debacle with a post-nuclear family—the material is too superficial for even Tomlin to shoulder. Despite flashes of genuine emotion, Grandma eventually buckles under its heavy-handedness. It would have made a great play. Instead, it’s an all right movie with a fantastic central performance. R. AP KRYZA. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Hollywood, Division.
Hockney
B In Randall Wright’s charming tribute to the British artist, David Hockney is the everyman’s eccentric, recollecting his austere wartime childhood between crowdsourced musings on his ever-evolving artistic process. Wright wraps us close with an abundance of Hockney’s friends and home videos, immersing the uninitiated in the artist’s work through stylistic emulation. This works best in a rare dark moment when Hockney speaks of life during the AIDS epidemic. Home video of a lone teacup morphs seamlessly into Hockney’s Breakfast at Malibu, drawing out its pained inspiration. Unfortunately, the tone is more often deceptively enigmatic, like in the closing shot that follows Hockney around his colorful estate, making you feel as if you’re lost in one of his paintings. The soundtrack bounces Tati-esque, the pool glimmers idyllic, and yet Hockney eludes us. The film is a fitting, beautiful homage perhaps, but for such an intimate look, it proves a bit too light. NR. ERIC MILLMAN. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Thursday, Sept. 17.
Home From Home: Chronicle of a Vision
A Hours into this dark field trip of a film, which follows German emigrees as they flee famine in Hunsrück for South America, the protagonist chooses to rot in jail, and Edgar Reitz’s 19th-century epic steals your heart. This film can be agonizing to watch, but man, that’s some delicious agony. Here, a fey and impassioned outcast weighs his wanderlust against grim family responsibility as thousands of other Prussians trade homeland hardship for the dream of Brazil’s “eternal summer.” Like a character from Goethe, he broods on a hill, reading of distant tribes while two almost hallucinatory naked girls run past, trying to shake their own blues. In this desolate village, the lone hope is escape and home is only a fever dream. Politically relevant and engaging throughout, this prequel to the longrunning trilogy never feels drawn out in spite of its four-hour running time. With world-class photography that conjures Ansel Adams sprinkled with symbolic color, this chronicle becomes an ode to hope. NR. ERIC MILLMAN. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. Sept. 18-20.
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The Man Who Saved the World
C- The untold tale of the Russian soldier Stanislov Petrov, whose reluctance to engage in nuclear warfare with the U.S. literally saved the world, is a story that needed to be told. I just wish someone else had told it. Though Kevin Costner’s narration can’t be faulted, filmmaker Peter Anthony’s melodramatic hybrid documentary defuses moments of real drama by following a heavy-handed Hollywood formula. Petrov himself recounts his story to a young translator who just doesn’t get his troubles, leading to a “bonding” sequence at an American gun range. There, they giggle while shooting posters of Osama bin Laden, American pop music playing ironically all the while. We’ve already got a broken hero carrying a universal message that ties into his personal flaw, but Anthony does a disservice to Petrov’s legacy by forcing sappy strings, awkward speeches by Costner and dramatic reenactments into an already compelling story. What could have been an important documentary or a striking narrative ends up a painful exposé because it tries to be both at once. NR. ERIC MILLMAN. Clinton Street Theater.
Pawn Sacrifice
B Pawn Sacrifice chronicles legendary American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) through his rise from poor Jewish kid in Brooklyn to international chess superstar in the 1960s, culminating in his victory over Soviet Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber) in the 1972 World Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. Ostensibly a film about chess, the pawns in Pawn Sacrifice act more as props in a film primarily about the declining mental state of Fischer, whose meteoric rise in the world of international chess belied his mental descent into intense paranoia and anti-Semitism. Maguire is excellent as the infamously difficult Fischer, gliding between the public braggadocio of an elite athlete and the clomping, angry and detached obsessiveness of someone whose degenerating mental health was largely glossed over for fear of spoiling his skill. Fischer’s erratic, room-trashing paranoia contrasts with the cool professionalism of Spassky and the Soviets, who understand constant surveillance to be part of their everyday lives. But Schreiber’s Spassky has the air of a rock star resentful of his role in the totalitarian regime he represents. With all these pieces in play, director Edward Zwick plays a smooth game. PG-13. WALKER MACMURDO. Living Room Theaters.
Sleeping With Other People
C Remember the first person you slept with? You’re still holding a torch for them, right? No? Then you aren’t Jake (Jason Sudeikis). After a hot and steamy night with Lainey (Alison Brie) on the roof of a Columbia dorm, he reconnects with her 12 years later at a support group for people with sex addictions. He’s now a serial cheater, while she keeps sabotaging relationships by sleeping with her gyno (Adam Scott). So they decide to use each other as a test case: Can they hang out with someone without trying to bonk them? If that sounds like the kind of thing no one has ever or would ever do, that’s because it is. Though chockfull of laughs (thanks in no small part to Jason Mantzoukas as Jake’s business partner) and opportunities to leer at an underdressed Brie, the movie is missing other critical elements, like a smooth narrative arc, or editing that shows characters’ reactions to important events in the film. Still, Scott’s John Waters-y ’stache almost makes up for it. Almost. R. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Fox Tower.
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Burnt Out
Another dystopian YA runs its course.
I didn’t see the first Maze Runner movie and I didn’t read the books, but I can guess the plot: The apocalypse happened, only a ragtag group of teenagers can save the world, and some kids fall madly in love. And I’m just spitballing, but I’ll bet the rascally kids have to run through a maze. As we begin Maze Runner 2: Still Runnin’, these rapscallions (played by a bunch of kids you’ve never heard of and the questionably accented love interest in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) have escaped the maze and they can finally stop running. But safety makes for a boring movie and running is the only thing they do well, so of course their post-apocalyptic compound is—surprise, surprise—not safe! RUN! After the kids escape from the Hunger Games or whatever, they’re out in the post-apocalyptic world, which is called “The Scorch” because sometime during the apocalypse everybody decided to give stuff badass names. A virus outbreak has turned most of the population into zombies and also inexplicably caused a lot of dust storms. The adults are all to blame, of course. Their greed, boring dinner parties and 21-and-over concerts precipitated the zombies and the bad
RUNNER’S FATIGUE: The young stars of Maze Runner: Scorch Trials.
weather. They also go by the acronym WCKD — pronounced “wicked”—because apparently zombies killed all the focus groups so that when the CEO suggested WCKD, nobody said, “Hey, let’s try something a bit more cuddly.” But kids eat this stuff up, because they’re inherently distrustful of adults and super-attracted to the idea that adults fuck everything up and that only they could save the world. The problem for me watching is that I’m an adult, so I’m inherently distrustful of teenagers. While the kids think the adults want to harvest their blood, I’m just as positive that WCKD is acting in the world’s best interests and these kids are just assholes who don’t understand science. If you’re a kid and you’ve got a problem with authority, get yourself to Maze Runner—the scorched-out CG skyscrapers look cool. But if you’re over the age of 15, the subtitle of the movie should be more like I’m Sick of Chasing These Damn Kids Through Their Different Factions or Whatever. ALEX FALCONE. C SEE IT: Maze Runner: Scorch Trials is rated PG-13. It opens Friday at Pioneer Place, Lloyd Center, Eastport, Cedar Hill, Clackamas, Bridgeport, Evergreen and other Portland-area cinemas.
PREVIEW
J KACZOWSKI
OPENING THIS WEEK
Guess Who? How much does it cost to build a TARDIS? Whovians will deluge Rock Bottom Brewery with obscure answers like “4,328 British pounds” at the Geeks Who Drink Doctor Who-themed pub quiz this Thursday. Boost your knowledge of the Master’s past and the greater history of Gallifrey, with these three essential adventures. MIKE GALLUCCI. “The Deadly Assassin” (1976): Time Lord society is thoroughly explored as the Doctor and a skeletal Master court danger on their native planet. This adventure is still the canonical text on the Doctor’s people, introducing the baroque Time Lord costumes, the Prydonian Chapter that the Doctor belongs to, the subverted but well-remembered limit on regeneration, and the Panopticon—that’s the center of Time Lord government. It also includes one of the show’s most memorable—and violent—cliffhangers. “Logopolis” (1981): Haunted by entropy and a mysterious Watcher, the Fourth Doctor meets his end, but this adventure introduces just a few of the Master’s many classic trademarks. His TARDIS assumes its iconic Doric column form, he hypnotizes his victims and possesses their bodies, a radio telescope features in his plan, and the classic Tissue Compression Eliminator returns as the favored killing tool. “Logopolis” also features one of two instances in which the Doctor’s and Get ready for a night of geekery.
DRINK, DON’T BLINK: Doctor Who’s TARDIS.
Master’s TARDISes each materialize inside the other’s console room in a recursive loop. “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS” (2013): Set entirely inside the dimensionally transcendent TARDIS, this episode features more exposition of the Doctor’s sentient time ship than any other. We glimpse the oft-mentioned swimming pool, a room full of gadgets and clothing from past adventures, the Eye of Harmony itself, and an immense library complete with the Doctor’s copy of The History of the Time War. The background noise is laced with sound clips from numerous classic serials, making this like a SparkNotes version of the series. GO: Don’t Blink: A Doctor Who Quiz is at Rock Bottom Brewery, 206 SW Morrison St., facebook.com/geekspdx. 8 pm Thursday, Sept. 17.
Amy
A Even if you followed Amy
Winehouse’s career, it’s hard to keep from crossing your fingers for a different ending while watching Amy. Filmmaker Asif Kapadia approaches this exposé of “the girl behind Amy Winehouse” with his usual, unconventional eye, using sound clips from the star, her friends and colleagues to narrate Amy’s home videos and live performances. Getting familiar with prefamous Amy makes watching the tabloids tear her from public grace more unnerving than ever. The drugs get harder and the footage gets more graphic. But like the loyal accompanists that played with her to the end, you feel compelled to believe she’s going to turn everything around. R. LAUREN TERRY. Cinema 21.
Evergreen, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Tigard, Wilsonville.
Hitman: Agent 47
D- According to the extensive voice-over (accompanied by some third-rate CGI, which plays a larger role in the film than most characters) that begins the movie, the Hitman program was a government experiment to create super-soldiers, super-strong and devoid of human emotions like fear and love. Based on the film, its makers seem like graduates of this program since they don’t understand human emotion. The bar for well-crafted drama is already low in movies based on video game franchises, but Htiman makes the Mortal Kombat movie look like My Dinner With Andre. R. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Cedar Hills,
Eastport, City Center, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Tigard, Wilsonville.
Infinitely Polar Bear
B- Mark Ruffalo stars as a bipolar dad forced to care for his two daughters alone when his wife (Zoe Saldana) moves to New York to pursue her career. As you’d expect, sometimes things are terribly awful and other times they’re wonderful. Ruffalo is great throughout. R. ALEX FALCONE. Academy.
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Inside Out
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Best of Enemies
A This doc centers on the debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley during the 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions and plunges viewers into the frothy political climate of protests against militarized police in a decade when people were fighting for freedom of body and opinion. R. LAUREN TERRY. Laurelhurst, Fox Tower.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
A Minnie (Bel Powley) begins an affair with her mom’s (Kristen Wiig) boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård). She’s 15. But this isn’t some Nightline investigation. Minnie wants to have sex, so she does. Minnie wants to do drugs and does (there’s a joint roller listed in the credits). Sometimes bad things happen, but they’re all Minnie’s choice. I guess this is growing up. R. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Cinema 21.
Fantastic Four
D While neither Avengers: Age of Ultron nor Ant-Man were total failures, they were, at least, fun. Fantastic Four is decidedly not fun and—with the exception of largely decent casting and some genuinely compelling flashbacks—a total failure. PG-13. CASEY JARMAN. Clackamas, Movies on TV, Sandy, Valley.
The Gift
C The Gift is that rare mass-marketed psychological thriller that’s less concerned with scares than nuanced interiority. It’s as ominous, thoughtful and ultimately meaningless as any of the elaborate gifts left at the sparkling new home of Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall). Following his dream job, the couple leaves Chicago for Simon’s hometown of Los Angeles, where a chance encounter with a forgotten schoolmate leads “Gordo the Weirdo” (writer-director Joel Edgerton) to aggressive efforts at rekindling a friendship Simon insists never existed. R. JAY HORTON. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Bridgeport, City Center, Division,
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BEER WINE PIZZA 4 SCREENS
A Pretty much everybody in the theater was sobbing at some point during Inside Out. It’s sad. Crushingly, relentlessly sad. And
LAURELHURSTTHEATER.COM
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REVIEW
Ant-Man
B+ Ant-Man is a largely self-contained, breezy, hilarious and gorgeous heist film that manages a feat few recent superhero films do: It stands up well on its own. Ex-con Scott Lang (a beefed-up Paul Rudd) invades the home of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and finds a weird-looking suit that can shrink its wearer to insect size while granting super strength and the ability to control ants telepathically. He’s nobody’s favorite superhero, but director Peyton Reed is fully aware of this dopiness, and just runs with it. If it were a comic book, it wouldn’t be the kind you put in a Mylar bag. It’d be one that you read with greasy fingers and childlike relish. PG-13. AP KRYZA. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Bridgeport, Division, Evergreen, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Wilsonville.
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COURTESY OF RACHEL MASON
STILL SHOWING
OFF-KEY, ON-POINT: Theodore Bouloukos, Rachel Mason and Bill Weeden.
A Tale of Two Fishes Rachel Mason, an L.A. multimedia artist, has released 11 albums and successfully shown her sculptures, installations and films in New York, Chicago and Seattle. But she’s just realizing what being a musician means for her. The Lives of Hamilton Fish, an hourlong rock opera, is the prolific Mason’s first feature film and her most ambitious project to date. Serving as a high-concept art film and an extended music video, The Lives of Hamilton Fish is a cinematic version of Mason’s 12th record, which tells a story in music and lyrics of two men named Hamilton Fish. Using video as a vehicle, the artist expanded her album into a nested series of music videos with a unifying storyline. When the obituaries of Hamilton Fish II (Theodore Bouloukos) and Hamilton “Albert” Fish (Bill Weeden) appeared on the front page of the same newspaper on the same day, it won the attention of the newspaper’s editor (played by Mason herself ). The two men’s lives could not be more different— one is a wealthy New York politician, and the other is a renowned serial killer. The Lives of Hamilton Fish is nothing if not experimental, and that takes a little getting used to. The only dialogue is Mason’s narration, which segues each song or scene into the next, but both actors execute Mason’s drama with enough deft lip-syncing, facial expression and careful motion to win the audience’s attention. Recalling a less glamorous version of David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane era, every actor wears abstract face paint. The sets and lighting are spartan. What Matthew Barney accomplished with excess and huge budgets in his mind-fucking Cremaster Cycle is hinted at here on a shoestring scale. But once you’re in its thrall, Mason’s dramatic indie-folk score is surprisingly effective, tempering the darkness of Marissa Nadler with a hint of Yoko Ono. Notes sung off-key might jar less adventurous listeners, but songs like “Werewolf of Wisteria” woo you into the story of coincidence and contrast with music that’s just as intriguing. NATHAN CARSON.
Think Cremaster Cycle as a shoestring rock opera.
B+ SEE IT: The Lives of Hamilton Fish screens at Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave, nwfilm.org. 7 pm Monday, Sept. 21. The director will attend. Live score performed by Rachel Mason and Night Cadet. $9.
Pixels (PG-13) 10:00PM Straight Outta Compton (R) 12:05PM 3:35PM 7:00PM 10:15PM Perfect Guy, The (PG-13) 12:00PM 2:35PM 5:10PM 7:45PM 10:20PM War Room (PG) 10:55AM 1:45PM 4:35PM 7:25PM 10:20PM No Escape (R) 10:10PM The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (PG-13) 1:55PM 7:35PM Visit, The (2015) (PG-13) 12:25PM 2:55PM 5:25PM 7:55PM 10:25PM Walk in the Woods, A (R) 11:30AM 2:10PM 4:50PM 7:30PM 10:10PM Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos (PG-13) 11:20AM 2:05PM 4:45PM 7:20PM 10:05PM Trainwreck (R) 10:55AM 4:40PM 10:30PM
Transporter Refueled, The (PG-13) 12:10PM 2:45PM 5:20PM 7:50PM 10:25PM Black Mass (R) 11:00AM 12:30PM 1:55PM 3:30PM 4:50PM 6:30PM 7:45PM 9:30PM 10:40PM Captive (PG-13) 11:20AM 2:00PM 4:40PM 7:15PM 10:05PM Ant-Man (PG-13) 11:10AM 2:00PM 4:50PM 7:40PM 10:35PM Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (PG-13) 12:45PM 4:00PM 7:10PM 10:15PM 90 Minutes In Heaven (PG-13) 10:55AM 1:50PM 4:45PM 7:40PM 10:30PM Grandma (R) 11:05AM 1:15PM 3:25PM 5:35PM 7:45PM 10:00PM Minions (PG) 11:25AM 1:55PM 4:25PM 7:05PM Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (PG-13) 11:25AM 12:15PM 2:35PM 3:20PM 5:45PM 6:30PM 8:55PM 9:40PM Inside Out (PG) 11:15AM 1:55PM 4:35PM 7:15PM Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (PG-13) 11:25AM ® 12:15PM ® 2:35PM ® 3:20PM ® 5:45PM ® 6:30PM ® 8:55PM ® 9:40PM ®
Perfect Guy, The (PG-13) 12:00PM 2:30PM 5:00PM 7:30PM 10:00PM Straight Outta Compton (R) 10:00PM War Room (PG) 1:00PM 4:00PM 7:00PM 10:00PM Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (PG-13) 1:10PM 4:10PM 7:15PM The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (PG-13) 10:15PM Visit, The (2015) (PG-13) 12:15PM 2:40PM 5:10PM 7:40PM 10:05PM Walk in the Woods, A (R) 11:40AM 2:15PM 4:50PM 7:25PM Trainwreck (R) 4:05PM 10:05PM Transporter Refueled, The (PG-13) 10:15PM Bhale Bhale Magadivoi (CineGalaxy) (NR) 6:45PM 9:55PM
Black Mass (R) 12:00PM 1:20PM 3:00PM 4:20PM 6:00PM 7:20PM 9:00PM 10:20PM Minions (PG) 11:40AM 2:00PM 4:25PM Ant-Man (PG-13) 1:05PM 7:05PM Courier Boy Kalyan (Praneeth Media) (NR) 11:30AM 2:05PM 4:40PM 7:20PM 10:00PM Learning To Drive (R) 12:00PM 2:30PM 5:00PM 7:30PM 10:00PM Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (PG-13) 11:35AM 12:40PM 1:45PM 2:50PM 4:00PM 5:00PM 6:05PM 7:10PM 8:15PM 9:20PM 10:20PM Grandma (R) 11:20AM 1:30PM 3:40PM 5:50PM 8:00PM 10:20PM Inside Out (PG) 11:45AM 2:20PM 5:00PM 7:35PM
Shaun the Sheep Movie (PG) 11:35AM 2:05PM 4:30PM 7:05PM Straight Outta Compton (R) 11:30AM 3:00PM 6:30PM 10:00PM Walk in the Woods, A (R) 11:40AM 2:20PM 5:10PM 7:50PM 10:30PM Perfect Guy, The (PG-13) 12:00PM 2:35PM 5:20PM 8:00PM 10:30PM Veteran (CJ Entertainment) (NR) 1:15PM 4:15PM 7:15PM 10:15PM Visit, The (2015) (PG-13) 11:45AM 2:30PM 5:05PM 7:30PM 10:00PM The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (PG-13) 1:00PM 4:10PM 7:20PM 10:20PM Transporter Refueled, The (PG-13) 6:45PM 9:25PM Black Mass (R) 12:45PM 4:00PM 7:15PM 10:30PM
Gift, The (2015) (R) 11:20AM 2:10PM 4:55PM 7:40PM
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (XD) (PG-13) 1:00PM 4:10PM 7:20PM 10:30PM
10:20PM No Escape (R) 11:15AM 2:00PM 4:40PM 7:25PM 10:05PM Ant-Man (PG-13) 11:00AM 1:55PM 4:45PM 7:35PM 10:25PM Minions (PG) 11:10AM 1:50PM 4:20PM Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (PG-13) 9:30PM Inside Out (PG) 11:05AM 1:40PM 4:25PM 7:10PM 9:55PM Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (PG-13) 11:00AM 12:30PM 1:35PM 2:10PM 3:50PM 4:50PM 5:30PM 7:10PM 8:05PM 8:50PM 10:30PM
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MOVIES
Learning to Drive
B Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) is a literary critic going through a difficult divorce. Darwan Singh Tu (Ben Kingsley) is a charming, sagely driving instructor. Wendy needs to learn to drive so she can visit her daughter (played by Meryl Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer) in Vermont and get a fresh start on life. The setup is painfully formulaic, but Learning to Drive is an unexpectedly fresh take on the romcom genre from director Isabel Coixet. Oh, and there are also a few laughs— Daily Show expats Samantha Bee and John Hodgman play supporting roles, after all. R. JOHN LOCANTHI. Cedar Hills, Bridgeport, City Center, Fox Tower.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
B+ If you walked out of Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation and thought, “I can’t wait to see another spy thriller with too much punctuation based on a ’60s TV show,” then fear not. The film feels a lot like writer-director Guy Ritchie’s amazing heist flick Snatch: innovative action sequences, unflappable characters and lots of jazzy flute riffs. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Oak Grove, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, Sherwood, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy. St. Johns Theater.
Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation A None of this film’s merits is
parody of a British secret agent has gone to seed and the Yanks have no defining characteristics beyond unflagging optimism and cheerful ignorance. As the couple runs for their lives, the film romanticizes innocence abroad more than most homegrown genre vehicles have for generations. It ignores how the proud Americans illegally enter Vietnam by any means necessary, emphasizing instead how foreign nations are all intrinsically dangerous and tourists are all inevitably luckless. This theme, hammered home again and again, proves that at the end of the day, all politics are local. R. JAY HORTON. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas. Mill Plain, Oak Grove, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Movies on TV, Tigard, Sandy.
The Perfect Guy
David M. Rosenthal gives us the newest attempt at psychological thrillers about men who turn out to be—mother of all surprises—imperfect. The cast list might almost woo us with credits for Family Matters, Cold Case and Think Like a Man, but we’ll probably choose between the JLo renditions, Enough and The Boy Next Door, and save our money for Mace. Not screened for critics. PG-13. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Bridgeport, Division, Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV.
Phoenix
A Since its debut at the Toronto
International Film Festival last summer, the nominations keep coming for this concise, moving neo-noir set in postwar Germany. Nelly (Nina Hoss) has just returned from a concentration camp, her face disfigured beyond recognition. “I no longer exist,” she says after seeing her unfamiliar reflection, but we’re hooked into her twisted search for
what remains of her sense of self. PG-13. LAUREN TERRY. Cinema 21, City Center.
Pixels
C I’ve got to hand it to Pixels: It’s refreshingly colorful for a summer blockbuster. Those who are bored by the sight of exploding national monuments can at least rejoice in a watching them reduced to rainbow-colored LED rubble. Visuals aside, though, the all-white cast is dull and unconvincing—one realizes a trip to Ground Kontrol would have been cheaper and more satisfying. PG-13. CASEY JARMAN. Academy, Eastport, Clackamas, Movies on TV, Tigard.
Ricki and the Flash
D It sounds all right on paper: the story of rocker mom Ricki Rendazzo (Meryl Streep), who left her kids and ex to focus on her career, returning home to comfort her newly divorced daughter, Julie (played by Streep’s real-life daughter Mamie Gummer). One expects another fresh, touching tale from the pen of Diablo Cody. But this film has none of the soul that made Juno so endearing. PG-13. LAUREN TERRY. Clackamas, Bridgeport, City Center, Fox Tower.
Shaun the Sheep Movie
A- In a vibrant return to traditional clay animation, Shaun the Sheep Movie tells a fresh story with the familiar painstaking imagery that makes Aardman Studios the “English Pixar.” Steeped in the tongue-in-cheek charm of the original Wallace & Gromit, parents will find as much in store for them as their children. PG. LAUREN TERRY. Eastport, Oak Grove, Bridgeport, Evergreen, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, St. Johns Cinemas.
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REVIEW C O U R T E S Y O F WA R N E R B R O S .
absolutely brilliant from writer-director Pete Docter, (Up). It’s about young Riley, who has to move across the country for her dad’s job, and the tiny people in her head who represent her emotions. PG. ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, CineMagic, Mill Plain, Empirical, Oak Grove, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
unique to the Tom Cruise-led series, but they add up to something that’s top-of-class for the genre. It’s not sappy. It’s a tight action movie focused on talented people working together for the good (or harm? You have no idea!) of the world. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Bagdad, Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Moreland, Oak Grove, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Mistress America
B- Greta Gerwig’s newest collaboration with director Noah Baumbach has depreciated every day since I saw it. It’s a buddy movie about two intolerably self-centered women in New York. One is introverted college student Tracy (Lola Kirke from Gone Girl), who cares exclusively about getting published in a campus literary magazine and mumbling. The other is
social butterfly Brooke (Gerwig from Frances Ha), who seems like Jenna from 30 Rock without the success. While the quasi-intellectual banter is fun, I just can’t get too excited about whether or not two people I do not like are going to fulfill their terrible dreams. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Hollywood, Living Room Theatres, Bridgeport, City Center.
No Escape
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B A taut, relentlessly old-fashioned thriller that plays shamelessly upon the worst fears imagined by First World families on exotic vacations, No Escape at first appears uncomfortably exploitative of a presumed collective racism. From the moment a Texan couple (Owen Wilson and Lake Bell) arrive in a politically unstable Southeast Asian country, the film obsesses over the leads’ whiteness. The story completely follows obvious ethnic lines, inviting unwelcome historical parallels, and Pierce Brosnan reprises his role as a gin-soaked colonial guide and protector. But in this case, his twinkling
TIGHTY “WHITEY”: Edgerton and Depp.
Critical Mass
Much like the city’s other exports, Boston’s gangster flicks vary in quality from genre-shattering genius (The Departed, most ’90s bands, the people who invented America) to mind-numbing pantomimes of misogyny (The Boondock Saints, Boston sports fans, Mark Wahlberg). Scott Cooper’s Black Mass is the latest cinematic try. It tells the story of Boston’s most notorious criminal, James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp) and the deal he made with the FBI’s John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) that ensured he could do whatever he wanted for decades. For those doubting Depp’s acting since he just spent a decade doing a Keith Richards impression for Disney, Black Mass should put those doubts to rest. Depp captures Bulger as an affable family man, then a sociopathic murderer. He’s tortured by grief, then tortures someone ruthlessly. Yet all of Bulger’s turns are grounded in the same animal intensity, and when he appears at the door to Connolly’s bedroom, he’s every bit as scary as Freddy Krueger. Edgerton excels too, allowing Connolly to build up a clumsy swagger as Whitey builds power. Make no mistake: Within the canon of Boston gangster movies, this one is decidedly of the first order. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Depp’s Bulger is better than Boondock.
A- SEE IT: Black Mass is rated R. It opens on Friday at most Portland-area cinemas.
AP FILM STUDIES
Sinister 2
RICK VODICKA
Like an Invisible Children army of the damned, innocent children are recruited to murder their loved ones by the evil spirit Bughuul in this Sinister film. Not screened for critics. R. Eastport, Oak Grove, Division, Movies on TV, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Southpaw
B- There’s no way to describe Southpaw without making it sound like a list of boxing-movie clichés, because that’s exactly what it is. Director Antoine Fuqua borrows liberally from the pugilistic playbook here, putting Jake Gyllenhaal’s light-heavyweight champion through the ringer in a familiar tale of redemption. Even a rookie could see Forest Whitaker’s no-nonsense trainer and Eminem’s hype song coming from a mile away. R. MICHAEL NORDINE. Fox Tower, Tigard.
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
LOOK ME IN THE EYES: One of Wes Craven’s mutants.
Blood on Our Hands IN WES CRAVEN’S CANON, HUMANITY IS THE MOST HORRIFYING. BY AP K RYZ A
apkryza@wweek.com
Like the best horror maestros, Wes Craven didn’t revolutionize the genre. But he refined it masterfully. Slasher films existed long before Craven molded them into a self-aware, winking genre with Scream, in which he turned the token teenage kebabs into pop-culture nerds knowledgeable about, well, slasher flicks. Before Craven, bogeymen followed us home to haunt our nightmares. But Craven created the bogeyman who lived in our dreams and followed us into reality. And when Freddy Krueger fell out of Craven’s hands and into the world of horror self-parody, Craven reclaimed his madman, unleashing him on Hollywood itself. Craven—who died at the claws of brain cancer this month —cemented his name in the horror canon with Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street and New Nightmare. But as audiences reflect on the director’s legacy, the conversation rarely mentions his less-refined breakouts and how they took the fucked-up genre of exploitation to crazily fucked-up new heights. W h a t ’s t h e most horrifying thing about his visions of pure evil? Their humanity. Take 1977’s The Hills Have Eyes, Craven’s follow-up to his infamous rape-revenge debut, The Last House on the Left. On the surface, Hills is just another Texas Chainsaw Massacre clone. But as with Last House—a loose remake of Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring in which the villains look disturbed by their actions—the evil faces in Hills are laced with just enough humanity that they look familiar. It helps that the film fully embraces its hicksploitation roots. When a suburban family’s car breaks down in the middle of the desert and they fall prey to an inbred clan mutated by radiation, characters are burned alive, eaten, raped, shot and skewered. But it’s the quieter actions—a mutant gazing at his fresh victims with a look akin to regret, another protecting an infant from becoming a veal cutlet—that cut the deepest. The movie’s underlying theme touches on class warfare. It isn’t exactly Hatfields versus McCoys,
but the film presents a war between two families: one the idealized nuclear family of stature, and the other a group whose stature has been warped by radiation. Though the have-nots are fleshmunching sadists, there’s enough humanity left in them to make you remember that they’re still human, acting out of anger and desperation. And that makes it all the more horrifying. Craven had his misfires—Shocker, Swamp Thing and his most horrifying work of all, the Meryl Streep heartwarmer Music of the Heart. But even his worst work had shimmers of empathy for the things that go bump in the night. And The Hills Have Eyes—which has since been remade with extra gore and less heart—is a telling precursor to his later classics, which force us to look at our own humanity, reflected in the faces of those who do the unspeakable. SEE IT: The Hills Have Eyes is at the Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Sept. 22. $8. ALSO SHOWING:
Oregon’s greatest contribution to college culture, Animal House, hits Movies at Dusk just in time for back-to-school keg stands. Pix Patisserie. Dusk Wednesday, Sept. 16. Hitchcock’s brilliantly breezy To Catch a Thief celebrates 60 years of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly sexualizing fried chicken in a way that would make Killer Joe randy. Mission Theater. 5:30 and 8:30 pm Wednesday-Thursday, Sept. 16-17. The Anarchist Black Cross screens 1973’s The Spook Who Sat By the Door, a film about a black man who uses racial preconceptions to infiltrate the CIA. Clinton Street Theater. 7 pm Wednesday, Sept. 16. The Film Noir Foundation returns—just in time for rainy season—with Noir City, three days of gorgeous restorations. Hollywood Theatre. Sept. 18-20. The most frightening thing about Spike Lee’s breakout film Do the Right Thing is the fact that it could be re-released today and the only thing that would seem dated is the fashion. Laurelhurst Theater. Sept. 18-24. Fun fact: John McTiernan reportedly intended the iconic scene in which characters fire thousands of rounds into an empty jungle as a criticism of Hollywood’s fetishization of guns. He had no comment on the 40 minutes of celebratory gun violence that precedes it. Which is to say, Predator is fucking awesome. Cartopia. Dark Sunday, Sept. 20.
B Director Alex Gibney, who earlier this year put L. Ron Hubbard and his acolytes under the microscope in Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, swings his spotlight over to the Apple cult’s beloved leader in Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. Gibney’s sketch of Apple’s history and latter-day market dominance is perfectly serviceable, but the film doesn’t heat up until its final third, when Gibney gets to work on his decanonization of St. Jobs, the Dylan-quoting monomaniac whose ostensible liberation theology belied a cold, calculating will to power. That a rich genius just cared mostly about himself is not all that surprising, and viewers who are even a little bit cynical about capitalist triumphalism won’t find any new fuel here. But we should remember Gibney’s film when the next savior starts talking sweet to us. R. CHRIS STAMM. Kiggins, Living Room Theaters.
D+ You can look forward to the same opening tune of Lindsey Buckingham’s “Holiday Road,” but this spin on 1983’s National Lampoon’s Vacation replaces the original’s irreverent, campy charm with puke scenes and punch lines that rely on the comedic value of a child saying “vagina” as Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms), all grown up, tries to refresh his relationship with his wife (Christina Applegate) and kids by re-creating his family’s road trip to Walley World. R. LAUREN TERRY. Kennedy School, Laurelhurst, Oak Grove, Movies on TV.
The Visit
B- M. Night Shyamalamadingdong has lost the luster of his early career, so it’s no surprise he’s making little $5 million found-footage horror movies. But this entry into cheapshaky horror movies doesn’t add much to the genre. The Visit is told from the points of view of an unbelievably precocious 15-year-old who’s making a documentary about her fi rst trip to meet her estranged grandparents, and her 12-year-old brother, whose rapping is so bad it makes me want bad things to happen to him much faster than they do. The movie is packed full of jump scares and gross-outs (vomit, poop, old people naked) and a cast of people you’ve probably never heard of. The fi lm’s got some tense scenes, but the humor, even though it’s unintentional, makes it hard to stay in the moment. “Little kid, will you climb into the oven please?” We’ll give it to M. Night, he does make us feel trapped in an uncomfortable spot. PG-13. ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Oak Grove, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place.
A Walk in the Woods
Straight Outta Compton
C Telling the greatest story in the history of popular music—full of actual violence and sex and death and betrayal and redemption and brotherhood—wasn’t going to be easy. Especially since it attempts to follow three main story lines, as Dre, Cube and Eazy-E all get major play, with DJ Yella and MC Ren rightly relegated to bit-player status. And even more especially since it’s co-produced by the star subjects, who all want to manage their own images and follow their own arcs. That doesn’t really work here. As best I know, it’s a fairly faithful telling of the story, but it’s not the movie N.W.A. deserved. R. MARTIN CIZMAR. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Hollywood, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, St. Johns Cinemas.
Tangerine
B+ Shot on an iPhone and featuring two fi rst-timers in the leading roles, Sean Baker’s fi fth feature resembles a debut fi lm. Taking place one sunny Christmas Eve, the fi lm is led by two transgender prostitutes whom we fi rst meet as they commune in the window seat of a Hollywood doughnut shop. Their quest narrative that follows is often hilarious, giving a more ground-level view of Los Angeles than in any other movie in recent years. R . MICHAEL NORDINE. Laurelhurst.
Trainwreck
Vacation
C Amy Schumer is the absolute tops, but Trainwreck isn’t worth the ticket price. Amy Schumer stars as Amy, a version of herself as a magazine writer instead of a comedy writer. She inexplicably falls in love with a boring guy (Bill Hader from Saturday Night Live) who loves her back unconditionally but for no apparent reason. It goes well for a while, then it doesn’t for a couple days, then it does again. That’s the entire plot. R . ALEX FALCONE. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, CineMagic, Bridgeport, City Center, Fox Tower, St. Johns Cinemas.
B+ Based on Bill Bryson’s novel,
this film shows Robert Redford as Bryson, embarking on a hike of the Appalachian Trail, joined by an estranged friend from his youth, Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte). The pair of older men, unfit for the strenuous length of the trail, meet skeptical glances from their perky, young fellow hikers and wheeze as troops of Boy Scouts trot past. At their age, even crossing the slick rocks of a minor stream amps up the tension along the way. Nolte is bloated and gravelly as ever, but as morbidly amusing as his physical comedy comes off, the screenplay sets up honest, candid conversations between two men coming to grips with their mortality. Director Ken Kwapis mixes in stunning shots of the pristine forests and seemingly miledeep ravines, so awe-inspiring that, like Bryson and Katz, one is reminded that the need for validation is not at all the meaning of life. R. LAUREN TERRY. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Tigard.
We Are Your Friends
D The tale of a young, deadbeat DJ trying to make it in this tough EDM world, We Are Your Friends is essentially a music video from director Max Joseph—we haven’t heard of him, either. Cole (an eager Zac Efron) plays the DJ in a fratty quartet of friends rounded out by a promoter, a drug dealer and a token quiet guy. When Cole becomes involved with the girlfriend of his established DJ mentor, We Are Your Friends looks like it’ll be just another self-serving comedy a la Pineapple Express, etc. But those poor, porny jokes— “She better have been an 8 on a bad day”—don’t land hard enough for consistent laughs. Without any insight into the culture of EDM, we’re left with a bad millennial family movie sprinkled with tits and MDMA. R. MITCH LILLIE. Clackamas. Movies on TV, Tigard.
For more Movies listings, visit
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COURTESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
MOVIES
PAYBACK TIME: Predator screens at Cartopia on Sunday, Sept. 20.
Regal Lloyd Center 10 & IMAX
1510 NE Multnomah St. EVEREST: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE Fri-Sat-Sun 01:00, 04:00, 07:00, 10:05 BLACK MASS Fri-SatSun 12:00, 03:20, 06:40, 09:55 MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS FriSat-Sun 12:15, 03:30, 06:50, 10:00
Regal Hilltop 9 Cinema
325 Beavercreek Road BLACK MASS Fri-Sat-Sun 11:15, 01:45, 04:15, 07:30, 09:45 MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS FriSat-Sun 11:00, 02:15, 04:00, 07:15, 09:30
Regal Movies on TV Stadium 16 2929 SW 234th Ave. BLACK MASS Fri-Sat-Sun 12:45, 04:10, 07:15, 10:20 MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Fri-SatSun 12:30, 03:50, 07:00, 10:10
RIGHT THING Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 07:00 DOPE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:30 VACATION Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:00 SPY Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 06:30
Oak Grove 8 Cinemas 16100 SE McLoughlin Blvd., 503-653-9999 MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:20, 04:10, 07:00 BLACK MASS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:45, 04:30, 07:15 THE VISIT Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 02:40, 04:50, 07:05 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE ROGUE NATION Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 01:10, 04:00, 06:50 STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 03:30 THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 03:00, 05:15, 07:30 INSIDE OUT Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 02:35, 05:00 THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:25
FILMS SHOWING TODAY Mon-Tue-Wed
Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 03:45, 07:00, 09:45
Kennedy School Theater
St. Johns Theater
5736 NE 33rd Ave., 503-249-7474 AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 05:00 VACATION Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 08:00 THE BREAKFAST CLUB Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 02:30, 10:20
Empirical Theatre at OMSI
1945 SE Water Ave., 503-797-4000 WALKING WITH DINOSAURS 3D Fri-SatSun 12:00 SECRET OCEAN Fri-Sat-Sun 11:00, 02:00 JOURNEY TO SPACE Fri-Sat-Sun 01:00, 03:00 MONKEY KINGDOM Fri 04:00 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD 3D Fri-Sat 07:45, 09:45 MINIONS Fri-Sat-Sun 05:00 TOMORROWLAND Fri 07:45 FLIGHT OF THE
Bagdad Theater
3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-249-7474 BLACK MASS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 03:30, 07:00, 10:15
Cinema 21
616 NW 21st Ave., 503-223-4515 COOTIES Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 04:15, 06:45, 08:45 AMY Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 08:45 PHOENIX Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 03:45, 09:00 MERU Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:30, 07:00, 09:00 ARCADE FIRE: THE REFLEKTOR TAPES Wed 07:00
Clinton Street Theater
2522 SE Clinton St., 503-238-8899 THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD Fri-Sat-SunMon 07:00 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Sat 12:00 RED WITHOUT BLUE Sun 07:00 HOW TO DIE IN OREGON Tue 07:00
Lake Theater & Cafe
106 N State St., 503-4822135 BLACK MASS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 02:15, 05:00, 07:45 FANTASTIC MR. FOX Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:00
Laurelhurst Theatre & Pub
2735 E Burnside St., 503-232-5511 KAHLIL GIBRAN’S THE PROPHET Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 06:45 WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 08:45 BEST OF ENEMIES Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:15 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 09:15 DO THE
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Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 wweek.com
8203 N Ivanhoe St., 503-249-7474-6 BLACK MASS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 01:00, 04:00, 07:00, 10:00
Regal Cinemas Bridgeport Village Stadium 18 & IMAX
7329 SW Bridgeport Road EVEREST: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE Fri-Sat-Sun 01:00, 04:00, 07:00, 10:00 BLACK MASS Fri-SatSun 12:40, 03:50, 07:05, 10:15 CAPTIVE Fri-Sat-Sun 12:00, 02:30, 05:00, 07:30, 10:05 MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Fri-Sat-Sun 12:45, 03:55, 07:10, 10:20
Cinetopia Mill Plain 8
11700 SE 7th St., 877-608-2800 MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:40, 03:45, 07:00, 10:15 BLACK MASS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:00, 01:40, 03:00, 04:45, 06:00, 07:45, 09:00, 10:45 THE VISIT Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:40, 05:30, 08:00, 10:35 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE ROGUE NATION Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:20, 03:20, 07:10, 10:25
Academy Theater SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:00, 03:05, 05:10 NO ESCAPE Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 07:15 ARCADE FIRE: THE REFLEKTOR TAPES Wed 07:20
Roseway Theatre
7229 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-282-2898 BLACK MASS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 02:30, 05:15, 08:00
St. Johns Cinemas
8704 N Lombard St., 503-286-1768 MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 05:00, 07:55 SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:15, 06:20 STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 08:30
CineMagic Theatre
2021 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-231-7919 INSIDE OUT Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 04:45 TRAINWRECK Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 07:00, 09:30
99 West Drive-In
Highway 99W, 503-538-2738 MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Fri-SatSun 07:45 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Fri-Sat-Sun 09:30 NO
BUTTERFLIES 3D Sat-Sun 10:00 INSIDE OUT SatSun 06:30 GREAT WHITE SHARK Sun 04:00
Hollywood Theatre
4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-281-4215 STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 06:45, 09:30 GRANDMA Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 07:15, 09:15 WOMAN ON THE RUN Fri 07:00 THE GUILTY Fri 09:00 GUN CRAZY Sat 07:00 FLY BY NIGHT Sat 09:00 NIGHTMARE ALLEY Sun 07:00 ABANDONED Sun 05:00 THE BIRTH OF BETTY BOOP: OR MY LIFE AS A DOG Mon 07:30 THE HILLS HAVE EYES Tue 07:30
NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium
1219 SW Park Ave., 503-221-1156 HOME FROM HOME - CHRONICLE OF A VISION Fri-Sat-Sun 02:00 BREATHING EARTH: SUSUMU SHINGU’S DREAM Sat-Sun 07:00 THE LIVES OF HAMILTON FISH Mon 07:00 SOL LEWITT Tue 07:00
Regal Pioneer Place Stadium 6 340 SW Morrison St. MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS Fri-Sat-
7818 SE Stark St., 503-252-0500 DOPE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 03:00, 07:15 KAHLIL GIBRAN’S THE PROPHET Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:15, 05:15, 09:50 PIXELS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 11:45, 04:30 SPY Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:00, 06:45 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 09:15 AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 02:10, 07:00 ERASERHEAD Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 05:00, 09:30 HOME Sat-Sun 02:00
Valley Theater
9360 SW BeavertonHillsdale Highway, 503-2966843 AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 06:30, 09:20 FANTASTIC FOUR Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:45 SPY Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 09:00 HOME Fri-SatSun 01:00, 03:00, 05:00 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:00, 09:30 SUBJECT TO CHANGE. CALL THEATERS OR VISIT WWEEK.COM/MOVIETIMES FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION FRIDAY-THURSDAY, SEPT. 18-24, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED
N at h a N S p ot t S
END ROLL
Tannin and Rested LESSONS FROM OREGON LEAF ’S TANNINS & TERPENES EVENT. Last Saturday, Oregon Leaf magazine threw a party I had been eagerly anticipating. The event, Tannins & Terpenes, featured alcohol and cannabis paired in an industrial Southeast Portland warehouse. The stated objective was to allow the substances to draw out nuanced flavors from each other—tannins are flavor compounds in wine and beer, while terpenes are flavor compounds in cannabis. I didn’t have any ah-ha moments as far as the pairings went, but there were some interesting takeaways. 1. I’m not the only person obsessed with hoarding vapes! In fact, each tasting station was outfitted with a vaporizer provided by Portland Mercury weed columnist Josh Taylor, who also provided technical support. This makes me feel a lot better about my own growing stash of vaporizers. It’s also interesting just how fast vaporizers are becoming the preferred way to sample various strains of cannabis, not only because the high is milder but because you get a better feel for the flavor compounds. 2. There’s a lot to explore in the world of alcohol and cannabis pairings. Nothing I tried at the event had the effect of bringing extra flavors out, as wine so often does when expertly
paired with food. Other attendees complained it was tough to figure out what was supposed to be paired, and that the people manning the vaporizers knew very little about the alcohol. 3. Organizers are getting better at weed events. Yes, there was a 20-minute delay before they opened the doors. Also, the beer taps were not functional to start, pouring unusable foam for the first half-hour. But this was so much better than the Weed the People clusterfuck. 4. People from the world of craft booze need to get more comfortable with weed. The names of the wineries being poured were conspicuously absent from the program, and the provided beer came from Vancouver’s Heathen Brewing. I’m a fan of Heathen—it did a nice job with its Farmer Tom’s Super Dank double IPA— but it’s not a big, splashy label. It would be great to see someone do a full weed and beer festival with major players from the local craft-beer scene. 5. We’re going to hear a lot more about terpenes in the months to come. On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Oregon Cannabis Association and Cascadia Labs host an event called Let’s Talk Terpenes at the Laurelhurst Club (fun fact: site of my nuptials!). The talk starts at 4:30 pm, and tickets are $45. Call 855-800-6890 or visit cascadia-labs.com for more info. MARTIN CIZMAR.
OWL TURD COMIX
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31 “Switched-On Bach” synthesizer 33 BYU location 35 Just-released 36 Beatles song identifying leafy veggies? 39 Certain upperclassmen, briefly 42 Ashley Madisonenabled event, perhaps 43 ___ Domani (wine brand) 46 Rubber mouse, e.g. 48 Maui tourist
attraction ___ Valley (hidden in CIA OPERATIVE) 50 Act like a couch potato 52 With 61-Across, Beatles song about a sandwich bread’s wish? 54 German car company 55 Drop some details, perhaps 56 Fallen Angel ingredient 57 “It’s a possibility” 59 Marge and Homer’s neighbor 60 “Charter” tree 61 See 52-Across 62 Ripken of the Orioles 63 Distort data 64 Uncloseted 65 Burma’s first prime minister 66 “Tarzan” star Ron 67 Final stages 68 AZ’s setting 69 They have their own precincts, for short Down 1 Hairdo that may be restyled into liberty spikes 2 Oregon’s fourthlargest city 3 Greet informally 4 Doctor Frankenstein’s helper 5 Quaint store 6 Kept under wraps 7 Football Hall-ofFamer Lynn 8 Sense 9 “Fresh Off the Boat” airer
10 Something to “blame it on,” per Milli Vanilli 11 Cooperate secretly 12 So far 18 Pasta ___ (dish mentioned in “That’s Amore”) 22 Breach of privacy, perhaps 23 Airport code for O’Hare 26 Tank marking 27 Revolutionary place-finder? 32 “Hop aboard!” 34 Of base eight 37 “Nope, pick another one ...” 38 Chocolate-frosted item 39 Word stated in a Thomas Dolby song 40 Unfair treatment 41 In a calm manner 44 Pay, slangily 45 Seasoned vet 47 Demolition site letters 49 Contemptible 51 Chemical indicator 53 Hit the trail 58 Mixed breed 60 “Go, goalie!” 61 ___ Kippur
last week’s answers
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Week of September 17
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I won’t go so far as to say that you are surrounded by unhinged maniacs whose incoherence is matched only by their self-delusion. That would probably be too extreme. But I do suspect that at least some of the characters in the game you’re playing are not operating at their full potential. For now, it’s best not to confront them and demand that they act with more grace. The wiser strategy might be to avoid being swept up in their agitation as you take good care of yourself. If you are patient and stay centered, I bet you will eventually get a chance to work your magic. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Many of the heroes in fairy tales survive and thrive because of the magical gifts they are given. Benefactors show up, often unexpectedly, to provide them with marvels -- a spinning wheel that can weave a cloak of invisibility, perhaps, or winged shoes that give them the power of flight, or a charmed cauldron that brews a healing potion. But there is an important caveat. The heroes rarely receive their boons out of sheer luck. They have previously performed kind deeds or unselfish acts in order to earn the right to be blessed. According to my analysis, Taurus, the coming weeks will be prime time for you to make yourself worthy of gifts you will need later on. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): We humans need nourishing stories almost as much as we require healthy food, clean air, pure water, and authentic love. And yet many of us get far less than our minimum daily requirement of nourishing stories. Instead, we are barraged with nihilistic narratives that wallow in misery and woe. If we want a break from that onslaught, our main other choices are sentimental fantasies and empty-hearted trivia. That’s the bad news. But here’s the good news: Now is a favorable time for you to seek remedies for this problem. That’s why I’m urging you to hunt down redemptive chronicles that furnish your soul with gritty delight. Find parables and sagas and tales that fire up your creative imagination and embolden your lust for life. CANCER (June 21-July 22): Now is an excellent time to close the gap between the Real You and the image of yourself that you display to the world. I know of two ways to accomplish this. You can tinker with the Real You so that it’s more like the image you display. Or else you can change the image you display so that it is a more accurate rendition of the Real You. Both strategies may be effective. However you go about it, Cancerian, I suggest you make it your goal to shrink the amount of pretending you do. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Born under the sign of Leo, Marcel Duchamp was an influential artist whose early work prefigured surrealism. In 1917, he submitted an unusual piece to a group exhibition in New York. It was a plain old porcelain urinal, but he titled it Fountain, and insisted it was a genuine work of art. In that spirit, I am putting my seal of approval on the messy melodrama you are in the process of managing. Henceforth, this melodrama shall also be known as a work of art, and its title will be “Purification.” (Or would you prefer “Expurgation” or “Redemption”?) If you finish the job with the panache you have at your disposal, it will forevermore qualify as a soul-jiggling masterpiece. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Some people express pride in gross ways. When you hear their overbearing brags, you know it’s a sign that they are not really confident in themselves. They overdo the vanity because they’re trying to compensate for their feelings of inadequacy. In the coming weeks, I expect you to express a more lovable kind of self-glorification. It won’t be inflated or arrogant, but will instead be measured and reasonable. If you swagger a bit, you will do it with humor and style, not narcissism and superiority. Thank you in advance for your service to humanity. The world needs more of this benign kind of egotism. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The rooster is your power animal. Be like him. Scrutinize the horizon for the metaphorical dawn that is coming, and be ready to herald its appearance with a triumphant wake-up call. On the other hand, the rooster is also your afflic-
tion animal. Don’t be like him. I would hate for you to imitate the way he handles himself in a fight, which is to keep fussing and squabbling far beyond the point when he should let it all go. In conclusion, Libra, act like a rooster but also don’t act like a rooster. Give up the protracted struggle so you can devote yourself to the more pertinent task, which is to celebrate the return of the primal heat and light.
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Since you seem to enjoy making life so complicated and intense for yourself, you may be glad to learn that the current astrological omens favor that development. My reading of the astrological omens suggests that you’re about to dive deep into rich mysteries that could drive you halfcrazy. I suspect that you will be agitated and animated by your encounters with ecstatic torment and difficult bliss. Bon voyage! Have fun! Soon I expect to see miniature violet bonfires gleaming in your bedroom eyes, and unnamable emotions rippling through your unfathomable face, and unprecedented words of wild wisdom spilling from your smart mouth.
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The Adamites were devotees of an ancient Christian sect that practiced sacred nudism. One of their central premises: How could anyone possibly know God while wearing clothes? I am not necessarily recommending that you make their practice a permanent part of your spiritual repertoire, but I think you might find value in it during the coming weeks. Your erotic and transcendent yearnings will be rising to a crescendo at the same time. You will have the chance to explore states where horniness and holiness overlap. Lusty prayers? Reverent sex? Ecstatic illumination? CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): One of your key themes in the coming weeks is “grace.” I suggest that you cultivate it, seek it out, expect it, and treasure it. To prepare for this fun work, study all of the meanings of “grace” below. At least two of them, and possibly all, should and can be an active part of your life. 1. Elegance or beauty of form, movement, or proportion; seemingly effortless charm or fluidity. 2. Favor or goodwill; a disposition to be generous or helpful. 3. Mercy, forgiveness, charity. 4. A temporary exemption or immunity; a reprieve. 5. A sense of fitness or propriety. 6. A prayer of blessing or thanks said before a meal. 7. An unmerited divine gift offered out of love. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Be good, but not necessarily well-behaved. Be extra exuberant and free, but not irresponsible. Be lavish and ardent and even rowdy, but not decadent. Why? What’s the occasion? Well, you have more-or-less finished paying off one of your karmic debts. You have conquered or at least outwitted a twist from your past that had been sapping your mojo. As a reward for doing your duty with such diligence, you have earned a respite from some of the more boring aspects of reality. And so now you have a mandate to gather up the intelligent pleasure you missed when you were acting like a beast of burden. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.” That’s the mantra that Frank O’Hara intoned in his poem “Meditations in an Emergency,” and now I’m inviting you to adopt a modified version of it. Here’s how I would change it for your use in the coming months: “I am the least difficult of passion artists. All I want is to give and receive boundless, healthy, interesting love.” To be frank, I don’t think O’Hara’s simple and innocent declaration will work for you. You really do need to add my recommended nuances in order to ripen your soul’s code and be aligned with cosmic rhythms.
Homework What’s your favorite method for overcoming the inertia of the past? FreeWillAstrology.com.
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