WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
“I HAD SOME FRENCH KISSING ACTION.” P. 18 WWEEK.COM
VOL 42/43 8.24.2016
2
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
THOMAS TEAL
FINDINGS
PAGE 35
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 42, ISSUE 43.
Even with proper tuning, you can’t get a motorcycle to be much louder than 100 decibels. 4
There’s a Ween cover band called Poopship focused exclusively on the band’s early work. 21
There are, apparently, some sort of rules about renting out your property on Airbnb, but no one’s really worried about that. 9
If you want your $3.50 40-ouncer served in a Champagne bucket, there is a place. 33
Ice Cube’s Jheri curl was cut off
by Watts rapper Kam to cleanse him of “toxins.” 15 Duran Duran not only had its own condoms, but also hot sauce and hospital masks. 19
ON THE COVER:
A Colorado brewery paid tribute to our native hop bombs with an “Oregon-style IPA.” 35 Someone once went six months without sleep. He then died,
awake. 49
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:
Illustration by Amy Churchwell.
A hit man came to kill Susan Kuhnhausen. She survived. He didn’t.
STAFF Editor & Publisher Mark Zusman EDITORIAL News Editor Aaron Mesh Arts & Culture Editor Martin Cizmar Staff Writers Nigel Jaquiss, Rachel Monahan, Beth Slovic Copy Chief Rob Fernas Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Maya McOmie Stage & Screen Editor Enid Spitz Projects Editor Matthew Korfhage Music Editor Matthew Singer Web Editor Sophia June
Books Zach Middleton Visual Arts Jennifer Rabin Editorial Interns Johanna Bernhard, Julia Comnes, Ellena Rosenthal CONTRIBUTORS Dave Cantor, Nathan Carson, Grace Culhane, Peter D’Auria, Alex Falcone, Shannon Gormley, Jordan Green, Jay Horton, AP Kryza, John Locanthi, Walker MacMurdo, Mark Stock PRODUCTION Production Manager Dylan Serkin Art Director Julie Showers Special Sections Art Director Alyssa Walker Graphic Designers Rick Vodicka, Xel Moore
Our mission: Provide Portlanders with an independent and irreverent understanding of how their worlds work so they can make a difference.
Willamette Week is published weekly by
Though Willamette Week is free, please take just one copy. Anyone removing papers in bulk from our distribution points will be prosecuted, as they say, to the full extent of the law.
Main line phone: (503) 243-2122 fax: (503) 243-1115
City of Roses Media Company 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210.
Classifieds phone: (503) 223-1500 fax: (503) 223-0388
Illustration and Design Interns Jodie Beechem Photography Interns Megan Nanna, Cait Pearson, Joe Riedl
MUSICFESTNW Operations Director Matt Manza General Manager Jane Smith
ADVERTISING Director of Advertising Iris Meyers Display Account Executives Michael Donhowe, Kevin Friedman, Bruce Greif, Rich Hunter, Sarah Mason, Corinne Nelson, Kyle Owens, Matt Plambeck, Sharri Regan Classifieds Account Executive Matt Plambeck Promotions Manager Alie Kilts
DISTRIBUTION Circulation Director Spencer Winans
COMMUNITY OUTREACH Marketing & Events Manager Steph Barnhart Give!Guide Director Nick Johnson
WWEEK.COM Web Production Brian Panganiban OPERATIONS Accounting Manager Chris Petryszak Credit Manager Shawn Wolf AR/Credit Assistant Kristina Woodard Accounting Assistant Kelsey Young Associate Publisher Jane Smith
Willamette Week welcomes freelance submissions. Send material to either News Editor or Arts Editor. Manuscripts will be returned if you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. To be considered for calendar listings, notice of events must be received in writing by noon Wednesday, two weeks before publication. Send to Calendar Editor. Photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Questions concerning circulation or subscription inquiries should be directed to Spencer Winans at Willamette Week. Postmaster: Send all address changes to Willamette Week, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Subscription rates: One year $100, six months $50. Back issues $5 for walk-ins, $8 for mailed requests when available.
Willamette Week is mailed at third-class rates. Association of Alternative Newsmedia. This newspaper is published on recycled newsprint using soy-based ink.
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
3
BLACK BUSINESSWOMAN FILES SUIT
Thank you for the details of the ordeal. We I’m glad to see black business people fighting can truly appreciate Susan’s courage. back [“Club Dread,” WW, Aug. 17, 2016]. Portland —“Ultimate Liberal” has long made it tougher through regulation for black businesses to thrive. This was a fascinating, horrifying, inspiring, The city used redlining to help destroy black well-told read and great piece of journalism. Beth businesses on Alberta Street. It turned a blind eye Slovic, your voice got out of the way and delivered to Emanuel Hospital expansion, a compelling account with wellchosen details. which destroyed black busi“You’re strong…” You both are for nesses once thriving on Williams bringing this story to light. Avenue. It sited Lloyd Center —“Little Red Elf ” on top of another thriving black business area. And it used “urban renewal” and freeways to deciTOO SOON FOR REVIEW? mate the Keller Auditorium and We here at Honky Tonk Taco thank you for including us on your list Lair Hill areas, once mixed-race housing and business areas. of Southeast “bougie” taco joints Coincidence? Hard to believe. Great Portland Bougie Taco “Institutionalized [“The —“Inkman55” Crawl,” WW, Aug. 17, 2016]. The racism in story brought to light a number of Portland goes Police target businesses all missteps in our very new restaurant the time, including Latino and that are indeed valid. We appreciate deep.” African-American businesses. attention on these shortcomings, But, as in this case, is there more and we will strive to improve them. emphasis on the fact that the owner is a minority? Similar errors would be expected at any new estabLots of strip clubs have problems with police lishment, which is why I was so baffled to read the and get shut down, without a shooting in the writers swear off ever returning. parking lot. Closing this business cannot have They failed to mention that readers might not been a surprise. be getting an accurate snapshot of Honky Tonk —“Joe Sixpack” Taco, considering they visited in the first 21 days of our existence. To think that any restaurant is ready Institutionalized racism in Portland goes deep. for a review after operating for just three weeks is I’m hoping this suit effects some positive change. preposterous. This is expected in only the worst We should all find incidents like those outlined Yelp reviews. What a shock to find it in your paper. In a Yelp review, this signals ignorance. In a in the lawsuit unacceptable. journalistic endeavor, it borders on negligence. —Adam Herstein —Tyler Gaston, co-owner Honky Tonk Taco
A WOMAN’S STORY OF COURAGE
What a beautiful story of courage: Women can rise above any adversity! [“She Survived. He Didn’t,” WW, Aug. 17, 2016.] The thugs are dead.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: mzusman@wweek.com.
I live in the crook of I-84, and on summer nights we sometimes hear the scream of multiple motorcycles hurtling down the freeway at tremendous speeds. Isn’t it the responsibility of police to silence these guys?
cycle can legally be. Unfortunately for you, Awake, those limits are pretty high. Bikes made before 1976 can put out a full 94 decibels, which is comparable to standing next to a running lawn mower or being directly under the flight path of a departing jet. Even hogs modified to be as loud as possible (it happens) only get a bit over 100 decibels. On the logarithmic decibel scale, that’s a fair a bit louder— but not so much that an officer can judge whether a given bike is over the limit just by listening. Decibel meters could solve the problem, but they’re not a standard part of a patrol officer’s kit. Officers will also respond to bike-revving noise complaints at a specific address, but that’s no help to you. For now, you’ll just have to keep getting woken up—which, after all, serves you right for going to bed sober.
—Awake in Frazier Park
I daresay some readers will be surprised to learn that I come from a motorcycling family. My stepfather* was a semi-pro road racer who favored insane Japanese crotch rockets that did zero to 150 in 1.8 seconds, while his dad was an old-school Harley rider who thought any real motorcycle should weigh at least 2,000 pounds and have enough low-end torque to tow a boat. One point of contention in their long-running disagreement was whether Harleys’ loud pipes were created solely to make it sound like you’re achieving “tremendous speeds” when you’re actually doing 50 in a 65-mph zone. (Not taking sides; just, you know, throwing it out there.) Anyway, there are limits to how loud a motor4
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
*Not a blood relation, which is how I could “come from a motorcycling family” while still growing up to be “too much of a wuss to even think about riding a motorcycle.” QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
5
426 SE GRAND AVE. PORTLAND, OR. 97214 NEXTADVENTURE.NET 503.233.0706
MURMURS
Items Under $20
BUY of the WeeK
$4
99
SAVE 75%
SAVE up to 60%
COMPARE AT $19.99
$3999
SAVE 44%
SAVE 50%
SAVE 38%
SAVE 38%
$2999
SAVE 28%
SAVE 50%
SAVE 50%
SAVE 63%
$2199 SAVE 15%
SAVE 71%
$1999
LIST PRICE $70.00
$399
LIST PRICE $12.00
SAVE 71% Granite Gear Portage
These aren’t going to last much longer at this price!
$299
SAVE 63%
LIST PRICE $8.00
SAVE 67%
$9499
SAVE 14%
LIST PRICE $26.00
COMPARE AT $109.99
Lifeline SOS Kit
Be heard and be seen. Dial in your ten essentials!
SAVE 18%
Lifeline Quick Spark Kit
Ultralight! Stick it in your kit and fire will be on your side!
$13999
$12699
LIST PRICE $170.00
LIST PRICE $160.00
SAVE 21%
Adventure Medical SOL Scout Kit
Next Adventure Skate Complete
Loaded with essentials and packaged in a waterproof bag. AWESOME!
Comes gripped and ready to be ripped!
$3499 SAVE 46%
Hit the books, then hit the trails with this versatile pack!
Be prepared! Priced so low, you can put them everywhere!
$499
LIST PRICE $260.00
Granite Gear Splitrock
We found these in our warehouse just in time to get back to school. SAVE!
Lifeline Survival Can
LIST PRICE $17.00
SAVE 50%
Dakine Detail 27L Pack
SAVE 69%
Slammin’ deal!
Seam-Taped, waterproof and breathable!
SAVE 33%
$399
Granite Gear Vernon
Girl’s Marmot Precip Rain Jacket
LIST PRICE CE $59.95
LIST PRICE $13.00
Granite Gear Taku 24
COMPARE AT $65.00
$3995
LIST PRICE $59.99
LIST PRICE $80.00
$12999
Boy’s Marmot Precip Rain Jacket
Featuring Marmot’s most comfortable waterproof/breathable coating technology ever.
Fashion-forward and functional.
$2899
$2999
You can be the firemaster…
COMPARE AT $65.00
Women’s Soybu Mila Bra
$5999
Looking for a great deal on a full-featured daypack with a significant hip belt? Look no further!
Men’s HippyTree Tribe Trunk
Stretchy swim trunks.
$3999
Lightweight and breathable for summer!
LIST PRICE $119.99
Fine knit jersey tee with chest pocket.
COMPARE AT $43.99
Junior White Sierra Rock Ridge Short
UPF 30+ in multiple colors!
Men’s HippyTree Lowball Tee
$2199
LIST PRICE $40.00
Children’s Safari Hat
COMPARE AT $67.95
$1499
Women’s tank with two different neck lines!
$600
$4799
SAVE 29%
SAVE 22%
50’ hanks in assorted colors.
Women’s Soybu Lola Tank
COMPARE AT $20.00
Lifeline Firestarter Kit
COMPARE AT $7.99
COMPARE AT $26.99
Mountain Hardwear, Kuhl, Royal Robbins, & Mammut Apparel Samples Take an additional 10% off sample items! Up to 60% off retail!
SAVE 70%
$1
SAVE 75%
LIST PRICE $36.00
Wilderness Technology Paracord
Next Adventure Headlamp
10% OFF!
$2799
99
$4499
SAVE 40%
LIST PRICE $65.00
LIST PRICE $75.00
Tubbs Frontier 30
Scarpa Instinct VS
$5999
SAVE 64%
SAVE 30%
LIST PRICE $165.00
All Flip Flops
Lowa Renegade DLX
SAVE 66%
$995
$599
COMPARE AT $24.99
SAVE 76% Seattle Sports Aqualock Waterproof Fanny Pack
H2Zero Waterproof Phone Case 2-Pack
Keep your gear handy and dry.
30% OFF!
From Reef, Sanuk, Olukai, Teva and more!
Two colors.
Two colors.
LIST PRICE $28.95
Scarpa Zen Pro
Merrell Enoki Link
Merrell Enoki Flip
$999
SAVE 71%
COMPARE AT $34.99
T-Grip Bilge Pump
A must-have safety item.
99 SAVE $699 $200
$79995
LIST PRICEE $1,299.95
SAVE 65%
$3499 COMPARE AT $99.99
SAVE $500 2015 Amundson Spark SUP
11’6” Epoxy board with full EVA wrap.
LIST PRICE $899.99
Necky Rip 12 Blemish models.
HALF OFF WEDNESDAYS DAYS AT SCAPPOOSE BAY! 6
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
GAGE SKIDMORE
PrePPIng for school? sUmmer’s not over!
Dragon River 35L PVC Backpack Perfect all weather day pack.
AT OUR SCAPPOOSE BAY PADDLING CENTER LOCATION ONLY, ENJOY ALL RENTALS AT 50% OFF ON WEDNESDAYS THROUGH AUGUST 31. CALL 503-397-2161 FOR MORE INFO.
Donald Trump Dumps Portland
If you bet against Donald J. Trump setting foot in Portland this year, time to cash in. Trump abruptly canceled his planned Aug. 31 fundraiser and rally in Portland, saying he wanted to visit Louisiana flooding instead. The cancellation, first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting, comes after top GOP local fundraisers disavowed Trump to WW, saying they wouldn’t support him. Trump also canceled stops in Colorado and Nevada. “Our supporters may be a bit disappointed, but they understand,” says Jacob Daniels, Trump’s Oregon campaign director. “I expect Mr. Trump and Gov. [Mike] Pence separately will make a trip to Oregon before Nov. 8.”
Matt Wingard Defends His Reputation
A defeat in the May primary ended the bid by former state Rep. Matt Wingard (R-Wilsonville) for a political comeback. But he is plowing ahead with a defamation case against two of the ideological bulwarks of his party: Oregon Right to Life and the Oregon Family Council. Wingard sued the groups over mailers they produced characterizing a relationship he had in 2010 with a then-20-year-old aide as coerced (“A Violation of Trust?” WW, June 12, 2012). The defendants filed a motion in July asking a judge to throw out the case. But on Aug. 10, Wingard’s attorney replied with a motion asserting the trial should go forward. A hearing is set for Sept. 7.
Terry Bean Case Takes an Unexpected Turn
Prosecutors dismissed charges of sex abuse of a minor against Portland investor and gay rights pioneer Terry Bean last year—after the alleged victim, a 15-yearold male, refused to testify against Bean. Now, an attorney for the young man has filed a tort claim notice against the city of Portland, alleging that Portland Police Bureau Detective Jeff Myers, who investigated the case, “repeatedly and intentionally” violated a court order protecting the alleged victim’s identity, “informing individuals, who were not parties to the litigation of [his] status as a sexual abuse victim.” The City Attorney’s Office declined to comment. KIM HERBST
deals good throUgh 8/29
Ammon Bundy May Not Get Trial by Facebook
The U.S. Department of Justice’s case against Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupiers hit a potentially serious stumbling block Aug. 23 in U.S. District Court, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. As WW previously noted, the feds’ case depends heavily on Facebook postings, which Judge Anna J. Brown previously agreed to allow into evidence. But on Tuesday, OPB reported, Brown told prosecutors she was unhappy that they’d introduced Facebook posts, unrelated to the Malheur occupation. “Prosecutors are trying to argue they screwed up—not the FBI—and that the FBI executed its search warrant properly,” OPB’s Conrad Wilson reported on Twitter. “Judge Brown isn’t buying the government’s argument.” Brown is expected to rule whether the Facebook evidence is admissible Sept. 6—the day before trial. The DOJ declined to comment.
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
JOSH ADAMS
No Revolution
ROSTER
Fundraising Kaine
THE BRIEF LIFESPAN OF PORTLAND’S HOMELESS NAVIGATION CENTER. BY R AC H E L M O N A H A N
rmonahan@wweek.com
In March, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales used his final State of the City address to announce a bold step in addressing homelessness: a new, innovative type of shelter called the Navigation Center. Planned for the former Washington High School campus in Southeast Portland’s Buckman neighborhood, it was to provide shelter to 100 people a night, with an array of social services in one location, including, if the city followed San Francisco’s model closely, health clinics and counseling. But less than three months later, the Navigation Center died a quiet death behind closed doors, in an email where the mayor’s chief of staff described it as “too complicated.” The death of the Navigation Center is the latest setback for a city that cannot seem to stick to a single plan long enough to address a critical shortage of shelter beds. Here’s the lifespan of the project. MARCH 25, 2016 Hales delivers his State of the City address. “The City is partnering with Portland Public Schools to use a now-empty building for…an innovation in how shelters operate in a way that builds on people’s inherent dignity. A Navigation Center will help us provide people a path away from trauma, off the streets, and into a successful life.” MARCH
A PR I L
On Aug. 19, a who’s who among local Democrats (and at least a couple of Republicans) descended on Waverly Country Club in Southeast Portland for a meet-and-greet with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who is Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton’s running mate. Here’s a partial list of those who joined Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle and his wife, Mary, for the private event, which cost attendees between $1,000 and $27,000 each. NIGEL JAQUISS.
Developer, historically a top GOP fundraiser in Oregon
Oregon governor
JUNE 17, 2016 Hales’ chief of staff, Josh Alpert, emails the school district. “We are not going to move further on the site—it’s too expensive, too complicated, and in the end, not worth it for our purposes.” MAY
Marty Kehoe
Kate Brown
Suzanne Bonamici
Julia Brim Edwards
1st District congresswoman
Nike executive
Ted Kulongoski
John DiLorenzo
Former Oregon governor
J U NE
17
Lawyer and lobbyist
Dwight Holton
Ted Wheeler
Former U.S. attorney for Oregon, Kaine’s brotherin-law
25
L I F E S PA N O F TH E NAV I GATI ON CENTER
Portland mayor-elect
Ellen Rosenblum
Charles “Butch” Swindells
( 8 4 DAYS ) L IF E S PA N O F G OV. J O HN KI TZ HA B ER ’S FOUR TH TER M
Oregon attorney general
Former ambassador to New Zealand, appointed by President George H.W. Bush
( 3 7 D AY S) L IF E S PA N O F TH E M A LHEUR OCC UPATI ON
( 4 1 D AY S) L IF E S PA N O F A D RAG ONFLY
(married to co-owner of WW’s parent company)
( 1 2 0 DAYS )
Oregon’s Shot Put Record
Ryan Crouser has Oregon’s strongest arm. On Aug. 18, the 21-yearold Boring native set an Olympic record by throwing a shot put 73 feet, 10.75 inches. How far is that? Let’s compare. AARON MESH.
73 feet, 10.75 inches:
15 feet, 9.6 inches: a Subaru Outback
JODIE BEECHEM
16 feet, 5 inches: an NBA free throw
DISTANCE IN FEET
10
20
Ryan Crouser’s shot put record
35 feet: Punchbowl Falls in the Columbia River Gorge
30
40
50
60 feet, 6 inches: distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate 60
70
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
7
8
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
L O VAT T O
NEWS
Air Supply PORTLAND’S RULES FOR SHORT-TERM RENTALS ARE SUCH A JOKE THAT AN AIRBNB EMPLOYEE IGNORES THEM. BY R AC H E L M O N A H A N
rmonahan@wweek.com
When Rebecca Rosenfelt moved to Portland from San Francisco last summer, she and her husband paid $1.6 million for two Boise neighborhood townhouses and almost immediately began renting one of them out on Airbnb for as much as $350 a night. The four-bedroom townhouse is one of six properties Rosenfelt listed on the short-term rental marketplace Airbnb—three in Portland, one in San Francisco, and two in Northern California’s Sonoma County. When Portland began allowing short-term rentals in 2014, City Hall created rules to ensure that Airbnb’s clients wouldn’t add to a citywide housing crunch by taking apartments and homes off the market and renting them out to tourists. San Francisco passed similar restrictions. Among those rules: People can list only properties where they live for at least nine months a year. Rosenfelt’s six properties violate the spirit of those rules—and at least two of her rentals, the San Francisco condo and Northeast Portland townhouse, flout the letter of the law by not having the required city permits and safety inspections. And Rosenfelt should know the law: She’s an Airbnb manager at the tech company’s Portland headquarters. Critics have long complained that Portland’s short-term rental regulations are toothless—two years after the rules were adopted, less than a quarter of Airbnb clients have bothered to get the required $178 permit and safety inspection. Now those skeptics say the rules have become such a joke that even an Airbnb employee ignores them. “It just makes it look like those rules were only ever for show,” says Margot Black, an organizer with Portland Tenants United. “Even an Airbnb manager is blatantly flouting them. The fact that it’s in the midst of a housing crisis makes it all the more obscene.”
Rosenfelt says she’s trying to get city permits for the Boise townhouse that she’s listed for more than a year. “I’m in the process of permitting the Airbnb,” she tells WW. She declined to answer questions about how she could get a permit for a home she doesn’t live in, directing WW to Airbnb for answers. After WW contacted Rosenfelt on Aug. 22 about her listings, she pulled all six of them down. As Portland becomes a global destination for both new residents and visitors, competition from tourists exacerbates an already intense housing crunch. Last fall, Mayor Charlie Hales declared a housing emergency. And he’s sought to increase the supply of housing by loosening the rules for building accessory development units—or “granny flats”—and foreclosing on abandoned homes. But City Hall has still not cracked down on illegal shortterm rentals. An analysis commissioned by WW shows that if illegal short-term rentals were removed from the Airbnb website, as many as 1,718 homes could be made available to Portland residents instead of tourists. Some leaders say the city’s housing supply is being drained by short-term rental scofflaws. “If you take thousands of units off the market, it’s going to have an impact,” says Commissioner Nick Fish. “People now have the option of making more money renting to short-term rather than long-term tenants. We have, in effect, created an incentive.” City Hall welcomed Airbnb in 2014, making Portland the nation’s first city to legitimize the short-term rental marketplace by levying lodging taxes on it. The city requires Airbnb hosts to live in any house that’s rented for less than 30 nights at a time and allows hosts to rent out an entire house for 90 days a year. Generally, no more than two bedrooms can be rented. “That’s how we were trying to make sure we didn’t lose a bunch of housing stock that would otherwise be available,” says Mike Liefeld, enforcement program manager for the Bureau of Development Services. City inspectors still rely on a complaint-driven system to identify offenders. About 79 percent of the 3,500 Portland listings on Airbnb don’t have city permits, according to data provided by the city and Murray Cox of the tech website Inside Airbnb. In 2015, WW reported that dozens of Airbnb clients were ignoring city rules by listing multiple short-term rentals—sometimes while living out of state (“Hotel California,” WW, Feb. 17, 2015). A recent examination by Cox shows the problem has persisted even after repeated deadlines from the city and the threat of fines to the company.
In one example, one woman has 22 listings all clustered near Northeast Alberta Street, none of them giving a city permit number, according to data from Inside Airbnb. Rosenfelt, 33, has worked as a product manager for Airbnb since 2012, according to her LinkedIn profile. She bought her first apartment in Northwest Portland in 2008 on money she earned renting out her New York apartment while she traveled for work, she told the website Apartment Therapy. (That apartment in Northwest is still rented on Airbnb, but in monthlong increments that don’t run afoul of the city’s rules.) She started her own venture called Inhabit Vacations; she says it was acquired by Airbnb in 2012. Her two Sonoma County listings appear to date from that venture. Rosenfelt’s condo in San Francisco remained listed on Airbnb. She can’t get a legitimate Airbnb permit for the San Francisco address as long as she lives in Portland, because San Francisco also requires Airbnb clients to live in the units they rent out. There’s no record of a permit ever being issued to Rosenfelt, officials with San Francisco’s short-term rentals office say. She’s not the first Airbnb employee to run afoul of the rules. The company’s CEO, Brian Chesky, was busted in January for failing to register his apartment in San Francisco, but he easily rectified the situation by registering his couch, for which he asks $50 a night. But unlike Chesky, Rosenfelt can’t fix her mistake with paperwork—she’s breaking the rules in two cities, including residency requirements. The Boise townhouses Rosenfelt purchased were built just last year. Nearly three years ago, a developer purchased a modest house on Northeast Rodney Avenue for $259,000, demolishing it to make way for Rosenfelt’s two, 3,000-square-foot townhouses. Those new units might have increased the city’s housing supply—but it appears one of them is partly being used as a bootleg hotel. (Airbnb officials say Rosenfelt is renting at least a portion of her second townhouse to a long-term tenant, as well as advertising it as a short-term rental.) “Apparently someone who works for Airbnb is setting a bad example,” Fish says. “It doesn’t surprise me. They have been very resistant to being good corporate citizens to solve the problem.” Airbnb spokeswoman Alison Schumer defends the company’s record in working with Portland, blaming the city’s “complex” process for getting permits. Schumer declined to comment on why Rosenfelt was allowed to list six properties on Airbnb. “We are working with this employee to help her navigate the registration process,” Schumer says. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
9
10
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Intern wanted
i
m
fo r
n!
at io
ll A a to re m A y et d o n em i te d v u ai e A m li nq W A in m ui r ee t re e s k o d to e k ad ti th iA ve is n e ju rt is g H in A n g@ ir f d k ie v ie w in w ld er l ee g k. co ! ? ti oo m si k fo rm n i g n or e g in
W
CAIT PEARSON
NEWS
GREEN PLIGHT: Chris Schaaf says the city’s application process for licensing his dispensary was impossible to navigate.
Tokin’ Resistance CITY INSPECTORS DEMAND A CANNABIS SHOP CLOSE. THE OWNER REFUSES. BY JU L I A CO M N E S
jcomnes@wweek.com
Chris Schaaf says he has no choice: If he wants to sell cannabis, he has to defy Portland City Hall. That’s because the city’s marijuana licensing office has told Schaaf that his business—GreenBuds, a recreational weed shop in a white-painted house on Northeast Sandy Boulevard—must close or face a $5,000 fine each time inspectors walk in the door. His crime? Not applying for a license Schaaf says he didn’t know he needed. He began the application process for a Portland retail marijuana license in March, but didn’t realize he also needed a city medical dispensary license. Schaaf says the application instructions did not make it clear that he needed to apply for both. Now, the city says he must shut his doors until it grants him the permit. “It’s absolutely crazy,” Schaaf says. “We’ve spent a lot of time trying to be legitimate and compliant with everything. It’s a complete shock.” For much of the year, cannabis entrepreneurs, lawyers and advocates have complained that the city’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement wraps marijuana businesses in too much red tape, often duplicating the state’s rules. Portland elected officials have agreed, promising to reduce the demands on pot shops (“Nipped in the Bud,” WW, Aug. 3, 2016). But Schaaf’s case stands out. That’s because the city is demanding he shutter a business that state regulators had previously approved. And because he has refused to close the shop. Instead, he’s racked up $10,000 in fines. Schaaf says he has no choice: He moved from California to Portland to start GreenBuds, and says there’s over $500,000 invested in the shop’s capital, including $200,000 to buy the dispensary that was in the building before GreenBuds. “If I closed,” he says, “I’d be back to square one.” City Commissioners Nick Fish, Steve Novick and Dan Saltzman, who have called for revisiting
city marijuana regulations, declined to comment for this story. But the office of Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who oversees the city’s cannabis rules, says GreenBuds’ situation does not show a need for a larger policy shift. “There are no indications that I am aware of in this situation that would call for ‘scaling back’ regulations of marijuana businesses,” says Tim Crail, Fritz’s chief of staff. Schaaf hadn’t expected any trouble when he began the application process with the city of Portland in March. He says he had passed the Oregon Health Authority’s licensing process with flying colors months before, and that prior to a visit by city inspectors in June, he’d had no idea his store was breaking any rules. Theresa Marchetti, livability programs manager for the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, says GreenBuds needs a $3,500 city medical dispensary license—and cannot sell weed until the city grants one. She says that’s why a cease-and-desist letter was delivered to GreenBuds in June. “ We’ve been completely transparent,” Marchetti says. “We sent the same letters to other dispensaries that temporarily shut down, submitted their application and made sure they were abiding by minimal codes, then reopened.” But Bear Wilner-Nugent, Schaaf’s attorney, says his client’s application is being singled out for enforcement because he was late in seeking city approval. “I strongly believe that many other dispensaries are not facing the same threats—to close while they await the processing of their application—and that the city is allowing them to stay open while their applications are in process,” Wilner-Nugent says. Schaaf is appealing the fines through the Office of Neighborhood Involvement’s administrative review process. But he can’t afford the penalties forever. “We don’t have unlimited resources,” he says. “Eventually the well’s going to dry out.” Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
11
JOSEPH ‘I’m Alone, No You’re Not’ ALBUM RELEASE PERFORMANCE AT MUSIC MILLENNIUM
SATURDAY, AUG. 27TH AT 2P Pre-buy the new album to guarantee admission!
wweek.com NewS | ARTS & cULTURe FooD & DRINk | eVeNTS | mUSIc moVIeS | coNTeSTS | GIVeAwAYS
want to advertise? email advertising@wweek.com for details. 12
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Everyone has their own definition of a “good day.” If you’re a rapper from South Central L.A., your ideal 24 hours might involve eating a pork-free breakfast, hooking up with your high-school crush and seeing your name in the lights of the Goodyear Blimp. For the average Portlander, it’s probably something more modest—like, say, slugging a tallboy at the riverfront while rapping along to every word of a song you know as well as any nursery rhyme. For 17 years, MusicfestNW has been like one of those fly dreams. It’s taken different forms, but it’s always acted as a respite from the hassles of life in a growing city. In this time of great civic angst, having that break from everyday reality is more important than ever. So this year, MFNW upped the ante, merging with Project Pabst to bring Portland the
biggest festival it’s ever seen. It’s a weekend to put aside the skyrocketing rent and gnarled traffic and focus on the things that drew us here in the first place: music and beer. Looks like it worked—in a year when attendance has dwindled at major outdoor festivals like Sasquatch and Bonnaroo, MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst (or MFNWpPP, as we like to call it) might be sold out by the time you read this. It’s no surprise, really, when you look at the lineup. Legacy acts like ’80s synth-pop immortals Duran Duran (page 18) and revived prankstergeniuses Ween (page 21) share space with the likes of psychedelic masters Tame Impala (page 20) and Harlem rapper A$AP Ferg (page 25), whose legacies are still being written. There are new bands like
Hop Along and Sheer Mag, who are injecting rock with fresh energy and emotion, while locals like Liv Warfield, Kyle Craft and Unknown Mortal Orchestra (page 28) prove that Portland is still one
of the country’s vital music scenes. And then there’s
Ice Cube (page 14), whose voice of blunt-force
protest is every bit as potent today as it was when he came blasting outta Compton three decades ago. Next week, we’ll go back to arguing over apartment buildings, crawling to work on I-5 and worrying about Trump. Today, though, we’re going to party hard with Andrew W.K. and Diarrhea Planet (page 23), get boozed up with Nathaniel Rateliff (page 25), and maybe even destroy a van in the name of art (page 27). Second Amendment people, keep the AK in the lock box. It’s going to be a good one. —Matthew Singer, Willamette Week music editor
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
13
Ice Cube plays Saturday at 7 pm.
JOH
AR N G
RISO
N
HE’S ONE OF RAP’S ORIGINAL GANGSTERS, BUT HE IS ALSO ONE OF HIP-HOP’S MOST UNCONVENTIONAL POLITICAL ACTIVISTS.
14
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Twenty years ago, racial tensions were running high in this country after white Los Angeles cops brutalized a black man named Rodney King on grainy video then walked free, inspiring forceful, and ultimately fiery, protests. The King beating inspired a wide swath of art, but none has endured like the response of an intense young rapper named Ice Cube. The three Cube albums released after the King beating—Death Certificate, The Predator and Lethal Injection—make the case for a new militant Black Power movement. The records blend the gangsta ethos of Cube’s earliest work with the explosive politics of Louis Farrakhan and harsh commentary on an ongoing national drama into a Molotov cocktail we haven’t seen before or since. Even today, you’d be hard-pressed to find music that can match the raw fury.
Because American history tends to repeat itself, these artifacts of the Crystal Pepsi era have seemed increasingly relevant since the Michael Brown homicide. Which is why we’re so excited to see Cube perform on the waterfront this weekend. To tell the story of how Ice Cube grew from a teenager writing “reality raps” for N.W.A. into a feared and respected political figure marching through Lollapalooza surrounded by bow-tied bodyguards, we looked to an upcoming book about the history of West Coast gangsta rap by former LA Weekly music editor Ben Westhoff, titled Original Gangsters. In the section excerpted below, Westhoff looks at Cube’s first years after leaving N.W.A., establishing himself as not just a solo star, but an unorthodox voice of African-American protest. MARTIN CIZMAR.
Despite continuing their anti-police rhetoric in his absence, N.W.A. became even more apolitical after Cube left. Its members wanted little to do with the ideals of black empowerment. Cube’s new affiliates Da Lench Mob, however, walked in lockstep with him. The South Central-based crew chose their name hoping it could serve a dual purpose—both to intimidate and appropriate a term describing violent atrocities committed against black Americans. They were rappers, activists, and tough dudes you shouldn’t fuck with, all at the same time. The original crew had more than a dozen members.
COURTESY OF J-DEE
i
ce Cube wasn’t your standard civil rights activist. He started off as a bratty kid who said things to provoke a reaction out of people, like when he performed naughty cover songs at Skateland, a Compton skating rink. But calling out racist attitudes on tracks like “Fuck tha Police” got attention, too, and had itself become marketable, as evidenced by the millions of records he was selling. Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, his 1989 solo debut after leaving N.W.A., cemented the idea that it was possible to be successful while simultaneously fighting for what he believed in. Many members of the Los Angeles hip-hop community expressed their anger or made songs in response to the Rodney King beating in 1991, but Cube was particularly methodical about expressing his outrage. Some of his older siblings had been involved in protests surrounding the Watts riots in 1965, he said, and activism ran in his veins. “All black people are going to be faced with things like that, until we are where we are supposed to be in this society,” he said. “So every few generations are going to look to protests in that manner, if things don’t change.” He also understood the philosophical divide between two forms of protest: the nonviolent, epitomized by Martin Luther King Jr., and the “by any means necessary” approach popularized by Malcolm X. Cube made it clear which side he came down on. “I saw pictures of my family in the streets with picket signs—‘Nonviolent Movement’—getting beat and getting wet with a water hose and getting lynched. Now, a nonviolent movement, that’s as peaceful as you can get and this country did that to them,” he told Creem.
affiliates would come and go at all hours of the day and night, either to brainstorm ideas, or simply because the streets got too hot. “That was like our fortress,” Shorty said. Cube fostered a stable of artists, including Yo-Yo, who founded an activist group called Intelligent Black Women’s Coalition, which challenged hip-hop sexism. On Cube’s roster was Watts rapper Kam, who combined a street mentality with a Muslim’s discipline. He developed an interest in the Nation of Islam through the music of Public Enemy and Trenton, N.J., group Poor Righteous Teachers. “I never heard anybody rap like that,” J-Dee said. “I stopped eating red meat and pork because of Kam.” Cube grew up in the Baptist church, but he took to the Nation’s teachings, particularly the idea that it was up to blacks to take back their power and dignity from white suppressors. He was introduced to Farrakhan’s teachings from a Public Enemy affiliate called Drew. One Saviours’ Day—when Nation members celebrate the birthday of founder Wallace Fard—he flew into Chicago to watch Farrakhan speak, and Farrakhan invited him to dinner afterward at his Hyde Park home, which is called “the Palace” and is the former residence of deceased Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. It’s not far from the Nation’s headquarters, called Mosque Maryam, a grand complex topped by the star and crescent symbol, which was purchased in the eighties with a multimillion-dollar loan from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Cube began speaking publicly on the Nation’s ideals and, on his twenty-second birthday, in 1991, Kam performed a symbolic baptism of sorts, exorcising Cube of the “toxins” in his hair, following in the advice of black pride advocates like Marcus Garvey. Aided by Nation captain Shaheed Muhammad, he cut off Cube’s Jheri curl. Still, you never saw Cube in a bow tie. He never officially joined the Nation. Though Cube still professes love for Islam—Me and Allah go back like cronies / I don’t got to be fake, ’cause he is my homie, he rapped in 2008—religion is not his thing. “All I know is, it’s one God,” Cube told me. “Religion is man-made, it’s flawed. I don’t follow nobody. I follow my own conscience.”
The Original Lench Mob.
Eventually Da Lench Mob gelled as a three-person group, consisting of Cube’s childhood friend T-Bone, Cube’s childhood rhyming partner J-Dee, and J-Dee’s friend Shorty, who was initially brought on for security after release from Corcoran state prison on a robbery conviction. T-Bone was a graphic artist who’d gone to school in the Valley with Cube, but J-Dee and Shorty were tatted-up Crips. The trio made for an intimidating presence. They got shouted out on “Jackin’ for Beats,” a 1990 track from Cube’s Kill at Will EP. Produced by Chilly Chill, the song features Cube rapping over hot instrumentals from the era, including Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance.” The EP saw Cube’s songwriting skills continue to advance, particularly on the atmospheric “Dead Homiez,” about the funeral of a murdered former classmate. Why is that the only time black folks get to ride in a limo?… A single file line about fifty cars long / All driving slow with they lights on.
After leaving N.W.A., Cube started his own production outfit, Street Knowledge Records. Masterminded along with Patricia Charbonnet, its goal was to release his music and that of new artists. Headquarters were a drab South Central building in the heart of Rollin’ 60s gang territory. Inside was quite comfortable, with a big television, a topof-the-line preproduction studio, and Cube’s office. Label
The first years of the nineties were extraordinarily actionpacked and consequential for Cube. It wasn’t just music. In February 1991 he and Kim Woodruff had their first child—O’Shea Jr., who would portray his father twenty-four years later in the film Straight Outta Compton. Owing to the glacial speed of royalty payments, Cube wasn’t seeing sufficient money coming in. Preparing for his Kill at Will EP, he was counting on an advance from Priority to buy his family a house, but instead received a “bullshit excuse.” And so, Cube did what we’d all like to do when our bosses jerk us around. Just a few days after his son’s birth, he grabbed a baseball bat and his fearsome associates J-Dee and Shorty. They headed over to Priority’s offices in Hollywood. Cube smashed an old television and other items. “I had an aluminum bat,” Cube said on Behind the Music. “It was bent when I left.” Cube and his crew soon stormed out, but not before smashing gold and platinum plaques in the lobby. It wasn’t, perhaps, as terrorizing as it seems. “I swear to God, man, I remember him looking around the room trying to look for something to break that wasn’t too expensive,” Priority Records cofounder Bryan Turner told Rolling Stone. In the end, Cube’s outburst had its intended effect: He got his money, and was able to buy a home in Baldwin Hills. CONT. on page 17 Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
15
16
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Ice Cube toured regularly in the early nineties, and his shows from this era featured giant images of nooses, twirling electric chairs, and, at his Lollapalooza dates in 1992, pointed disses of then-President George H. W. Bush. Members of the Nation of Islam’s paramilitary arm, Fruit of Islam, were often on hand to keep order. Cube already had a robust security team—guys with names like Big Tom, Zulu Ed, and Big Cal—but he couldn’t be too safe, considering that everyone from the federal government to his former labelmates had it in for him. T-Bone and Shorty both say their crew fielded death threats. Tour stops would go something like this: Cube and his partners would arrive in town,
COURTESY OF SIR JINX
said. “You might have thought they were escorting Farrakhan himself.” While on tour, Cube also functioned as something of a disciplinarian and study-group leader. During their free time he helmed sessions about Nation-endorsed texts like Elijah Muhammad’s Message to the Blackman in America and Carter Woodson’s The Mis-Education of the Negro, or listen to audio of Saviours’ Day speeches given by Farrakhan. Cube also had a strict rule: No drinking before shows, though afterward they might have some St. Ides and talk about how to improve the next concert. As for the Muslim prohibition on drinking alcohol? The devout Shorty had a crisis of conscience after Da Lench Mob signed on for a St. Ides commercial, for the rate of $30,000. He opted not to do the spot, but his colleagues cut him in for $4,000 of the money anyway, which he gave to the Nation. The idea of a corporation co-opting the cool new black artform to sell swill to the inner cities upset more than a few people. On Public Enemy’s 1991 song “1 Million Bottlebags” Chuck D rhymed: Watch shorty get sicker / Year after year, while he’s thinkin’ it’s beer / But it’s not he got it in his gut. That same year Chuck FROM LEFT: Sir Jinx, DMC and Ice Cube in 1990. D filed a lawsuit against McKenzie River, after a St. Ides and then head over to the local mosque, where ad sampled his voice from the group’s song they were treated like royalty. The city’s “Bring the Noise.” (In response the compaNation of Islam members would arrange for ny—claiming they hadn’t realized Chuck D’s them to get some food, either at a local res- voice was being used, since the commercial taurant or a nice home-cooked meal at one of was produced independently—promptly the sisters’ homes. pulled it.) A security detail would be organized, That same spot featured Cube’s voice. He, involving either plainclothes bodyguards or more than anyone else, had become the face of Fruit of Islam members wearing suits and the malt liquor; his character Doughboy gives steel-toe boots, or both. Starting at soundcheck it serious product placement in Boyz n the the team would be on hand, and while the con- Hood, as well. As Cube told The Source in 1991, cert was going on the plainclothes team might he spoke to Nation of Islam minister Khalid be spread out secretly among the audience. Muhammad about the issue, who agreed that “They would have the free run of the building,” the whole enterprise was against their values. said Sir Jinx, a close friend of Cube’s who pro- “But we gotta use them as a stepping-stone, duced many of his albums. “They moved like we gotta use them to build our nation,” Cube the military—they were not playing.” said they concluded. It helped that McKenzie Afterward, while the performers went River agreed to donate $100,000 to commufrom the venue to the tour bus, the Fruit of nity projects of his choosing. “How else could Islam made a diamond shape around them; the black community come up with $100,000 four men on each diagonal slant, with Cube, to help an organization?” Da Lench Mob, and their associates in the This thinking represents Cube in a nutshell: middle. “That shit looked militant,” J-Dee always doing bad in order to do good.
LIBRETTO
“Damn G, the spot’s gettin hot/So how the fuck am I supposed to make a knot?/Police looking at niggas through a microscope/In L.A. everybody and they momma sell dope/They trying to stop it So what the fuck can I do to make a profit?/Catch a flight to St. Louis/That’s cool, cause nobody knew us/We stepped off the plane/Four gang bangers, professional crack slangers.” —“My Summer Vacation”
It basically broke down the spread of L.A. gang culture throughout the U.S. and abroad. Classic, timeless and essential hip-hop music.
G L E N N WAC O
“They give us guns and drugs/Then wonder why in the fuck we thugs.” —“Why We Thugs”
If you study history you’ll find a lot of African-American communities were first flooded with heroin in the ’70s and then with crack cocaine in the 1980s. This is a very direct statement but has a lot of history attached to it, which boils down to America creating what it has hated the most.
COOL NUTZ
“And I’m lookin/Is he in Watts, Oakland, Philly, or Brooklyn/I knew it was a caper/I said, ‘Please don’t kill my mama’ so he raped her/And it was packed like sardines/Full of niggas who fought for the same thing.” —“I Wanna Kill Sam”
Ice Cube took a lot of risks lyrically and pushed the boundaries on race and politics. “I Wanna Kill Sam” was a blatant demonstration of that and is still relevant in today’s current times with police brutality and even the mindset of Donald Trump.
RASHEED JAMAL
“That’s how it is, that’s how it’s gonna be/Kids, when you grow up, who the fuck you wanna be?/Like me, your black superhero/Got enough zeros to hire Bob Shapiro.” —“Gangstas Make the World Go ‘Round” (Westside Connection)
The whole verse made me want to rule the world one day at the age of 9. That song alone brings back major memories. I used to rewind that verse for hours. My mama wanted to whoop my ass when she heard it!
M I C C R E N S H AW
“Check yourself before you wreck yourself.” —“Check Yo Self” Who can argue with that? To be honest, there’s too much good music to pick my favorite Ice Cube lyrics. For us that were teenagers and young adults, Cube spoke for us— the struggles, stories and vibe of being young, black and determined to carve out an existence better than what a rigged system could provide.
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
17
Duran Duran plays Saturday at 8:20 pm.
PORTLAND’S MOST DEDICATED DURANIMALS ARE STILL HUNGRY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.
Amanda Taplin (left) with Nick Rhodes.
18
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
19
AMY CHURCHWELL
A GUIDE TO GETTING HIGH FOR PROJECT PABST’S MOST PSYCHEDELIC SET.
Tame Impala plays Sunday at 8:20 pm. 20
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Ween plays Sunday at 7 pm. Ween’s Mickey Melchiondo (left) and Aaron Freeman.
HOW ALT-ROCK’S ULTIMATE ANTI-HEROES WENT FROM PRANKSTERS TO IDOLS. In his band, Poopship, Aaron Kolbow prefers to stick to the brown stuff. “Brown” is how fans of Ween—the demented rock-’n’roll pranksters to which Poopship pays homage—describe the band’s earliest material, made back when it was just the faux-brotherly duo of Gene and Dean Ween messing around with a drum machine at home in suburban Philadelphia, indulging whatever bizarre ideas got sucked into their brains along with the hits of Scotchgard that allegedly served as their muse back then. Kolbow, who grew up in upstate New York and now lives in Portland, stays true to the means of production from those days, performing to prerecorded backing tracks with his partner, Ian Caton. Right now, the Poopship repertoire contains more than 40 Ween songs, including the psychedelic meltdown “Touch My Tooter,” the hippie-folk pastiche “Squelch the Weasel” and the straightforward country tune nonetheless titled “Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain.” But there’s one Ween song Kolbow has so far avoided: “Exactly Where I’m At,” the majestic opening track from 2000’s White Pepper. It’s not that he couldn’t figure out how to play it, or that it comes from an album which, on the Ween color spectrum, is light mahogany at best. He’s just not sure he could get through the whole thing without turning into a blubbering wreck. “I have to be cautious of when I put that song on,” says the 35-year-old Trader Joe’s clerk from his living room in Lents. “I would never just put it on on a whim.” For anyone whose lone exposure to Ween came during the band’s dalliance with the edges of the mainstream in the early ’90s—having its video for the deliberately grating “Push th’ Little Daisies” shredded by Beavis and ButtHead, and appearing in the regrettable Saturday Night Live spinoff It’s Pat—the idea that Ween could induce any sort of emotional reaction beyond stoned chuckling is probably hard to believe. Even after the band members graduated from bedroom huffing sessions to recording in actual studios, it was never clear how seriously to take them, or if being taken seriously was something they even cared about. While never precisely a “joke band,” Ween has certainly treated the American musical tradition as one long, sick inside joke. Across three decades, Aaron “Gener” Freeman and Mickey “Deaner” Melchiondo have made a career of feasting on sacred cows—devouring genres, barfing them up and splashing gleefully in the mess, like a pair of post-
punk Frank Zappas. It was music designed to accompany nitrous-induced giggle fits in your parents’ basement, not to make you feel, y’know, feelings. But Kolbow isn’t the only person who gets the feels. Somewhere along the line, Ween went from an alt-rock novelty courting weirdos and wastoids to genuinely beloved cult heroes with a broad audience. When the band appeared to permanently implode four years ago, several publications posted testimonies to its genius; Spin called Ween “the ultimate freaks-and-geeks band.” And when it first got back together earlier this year, playing a string of shows in Colorado, tickets sold out instantly. Scan the various online Ween fan forums, and you’ll find a cult as obsessive as Deadheads and as fervent as the Beyhive. (Judging by the comments on Project Pabst’s Facebook page, for the crime of headlining over Ween at the festival, Tame Impala is Becky with the good hair.) The band members even worship their own deity: the Boognish, symbolized by a crudely drawn smiley face with a maniacal grin resembling an emoji you might use as shorthand for, “This is some good shit, man!” Unlikely as it once seemed, Ween is now an honest-to-Boognish legacy act, one with the clout and the catalog to play three-hour sets without any openers. It’s especially strange considering that, for many years, the band seemed to actively want to repel people. But then again, if the last decade of popular culture has proved anything, it’s that the world loves an anti-hero. “So many bands take an ingratiating attitude toward their fan base, but with Ween, there’s always an underlying ‘fuck you’ there,” says critic Hank Shteamer, who wrote about Ween’s masterpiece of mischief, 1994’s Chocolate and Cheese, for the 33 1/3 book series. “Even once they signed with Elektra and became relatively popular, they never toned down this middle-finger attitude, and I think for a certain kind of fan, that fearless, defiant and even casually arrogant quality is very appealing.”
A quick Ween primer for the uninitiated: As the story goes, Freeman and Melchiondo met in middle-school typing class in the early ’80s, bonding over music, drugs and making music while on drugs. After several years of home recording and gigging in and around their hometown of New Hope, Pa., they began to branch out nationally, first with the deranged
God Ween Satan: The Oneness, released on influential Minneapolis label Twin/Tone in 1990, then with the even more screwed-up return to four-track strangeness, The Pod. As radio got weirder in the wake of Nirvana, Freeman and Melchiondo suddenly found themselves with a major-label deal, making their Elektra debut with 1992’s Pure Guava and achieving peak Weenness with Chocolate and Cheese, an album that bounds from mutant approximations of ’70s soul, tropical funk, border-town country and whatever the hell “Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)” is supposed to be, all of it doused in absurdist humor and moments of unrepentant bad taste (see the jaunty “The HIV Song”). While it was de rigueur in the ’90s for bands to mix and match genres, none swung as hard from one to the next as Ween. It has changed directions so drastically that its brand of stylistic hopscotching has always blurred the line between parody and sincere appreciation. But most diehards take a pure view of Ween’s eclecticism, regarding it as proof of the band’s unique brilliance and virtuosity. And indeed, there’s top-level songcraft and musicianship evident in even Ween’s most twisted experiments, buried as it often is under layers of ’shroomed-out fuckery. It’s easy to see why there are few casual Ween fans: The band hides its true nature below the music’s surface, and rewards those dedicated enough to dig it out. “You have give it enough time to let all the shades sink in. That goes not only for the messages of the music but for the styles,” says Gordon Walker, a fan since discovering Chocolate and Cheese while working at the now-defunct Bird’s Suite Records on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard. “They’re the ultimate postmodern group. They take from everything, they do everything.” Still, Ween might have never developed a following beyond a miscreant fringe if it hadn’t made at least a few concessions to maturity. By the time of their 1997 prog-rock opus, The Mollusk, Freeman and Melchiondo were inching toward adulthood, expanding the band to a five-piece, producing higher-fidelity records and sanding down the veneer of ironic goofiness—a little, anyway. (Even White Pepper, Ween’s most emotionally open album, contains an unambiguous Jimmy Buffett piss-take called “Bananas and Blow.”) About the same time, Phish began covering Ween’s paisley-pop jam “Roses Are Free” in concert, introducing the band to the jam crowd. Some longtime fans grumble over the association—Freeman himself once said “all that jam-band shit makes me want to puke”—but without it, it’s doubtful Ween would operate in quite the same fashion today. “Suddenly, Ween had an audience, which they’d already been building all along, that wanted to see them play three-hour shows that shuffled between dozens of styles and moods,” Shteamer says. “It was a perfect convergence of factors.” In the last decade, Ween has existed primarily as a live act, when it has existed at all. The band’s last studio album, 2007’s La Cucaracha, is widely considered a career low point—eclipsed only by the night in 2011 when Freeman suffered a meltdown onstage in Vancouver, B.C., precipitating its four-year hiatus. The break galvanized the fan base, and solidified Ween’s long, strange trip, from slaughterers of sacred cows to golden idols themselves. Kolbow attended all three reunion shows in Colorado, and he speaks of the experience in almost religious terms—especially when, on the last night, Ween opened with “Exactly Where I’m At.” “It was the third night of three nights and I should’ve been completely exhausted. But I was floating,” he says. “The music went through me, and the emotions—the good and the bad, the stress and the anxiety of having to go back home versus the freedom of the moment—it’s all there. I’ve heard them play that song a lot, but every time it cuts right through me.” Did he hold it together? “I’m a crier,” Kolbow says. “I’m not afraid to admit it.” MATTHEW SINGER. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
21
D AV I D B R E N D A N H A L L
AN INDIE-ROCK MYTH COMES OUT OF RETIREMENT. Myths have a tendency to orbit Drive Like Jehu. With only one album widely available, what evidence we can dig up of the San Diego quartet’s greatness is scarce, so we use big stories to fill in the gaps. And there are plenty of gaps with Drive Like Jehu. What we know for sure: In 1991, guitarist John “Speedo” Reis, vocalist-guitarist Rick Froberg, bassist Mike Kennedy and drummer Mark Trombino put out their self-titled debut on the now-defunct Cargo label, and a year later released a two-song single through Merge before signing to Interscope, gathering acclaim with 1994’s Yank Crime. It’s a heedlessly carnal LP, rapt with jarring shifts and meticulous riffs that writhe in and out of one another like sinewy bodies in a Bosch painting. It was a heralded success, but somehow tonally apart from its East Coast ilk. Then, less than a year after Yank Crime’s release, Drive Like Jehu simply stopped. Reis left to focus on his other beloved SoCal outfit, Rocket From the Crypt, until he returned to the side of high-school friend Froberg to found Hot Snakes in 1999. Trombino, who engineered Jehu’s first album, went on to produce records for the kinds of bands he undoubtedly influenced, like Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World, while Kennedy became a chemist. A lifetime later, in 2014, the members of Drive Like Jehu reunited in San Diego as simply as they dissolved, this time accompanied by organist Carol
Williams, perhaps spurred on by Rocket From the Crypt’s resurgence, or maybe just curious to see what would happen with an organ. Who knows? No one really does, and the band predictably plays it coy. The music of Drive Like Jehu, what we have, is ecstatically good, but it’s the iconic anecdotes that surround the band that make it great. Like how Reis apparently persuaded a newly minted Interscope Records to sign both of his bands, retaining unheard-of artistic control. Then there’s the cultlike adulation for Yank Crime, which was not only revered by the likes of Modest Mouse and At the Drive-In, but established a West Coast hub for the innovative post-hardcore sound most folks assign to Washington, D.C., and the Dischord label. It could even be conjectured that Drive Like Jehu bridged post-punk and emo, branding their guitar-based ferocity with an uncompromising intellectualism and monolithic lyrics. The truth, of course, isn’t so epoch-shaking. In the early ’90s, Interscope had money to risk on burgeoning scenes, and Reis and Froberg’s cadre best represented the commercial refinement of a notoriously violent but increasingly popular San Diego sound. But if there’s any myth still to be made of Drive Like Jehu, it’s that their music—the kind of smart, brash rock that isn’t made anymore without the weight of decades of progressive postpunk pulling down its pedigree—is as fabulously refreshing today as ever. DOM SINACOLA.
Drive Like Jehu plays Sunday at 5:55 pm.
THREE ESSENTIAL DRIVE LIKE JEHU SONGS “Here Come the Rome Plows” The opening track to Yank Crime is a microcosm of the album—of the band, even—as premature, precoital explosion. From its bone-chipped beginnings, pieces of speaker wire and gobs of spit flaking violently from a riff simultaneously sinister and playful, down to Froberg’s unceasing apoplexy, this is the kind of song no band would ever dream of flopping up front. That it keeps going and going, with such unflagging energy, is a sign that everything to come (pun intended?) will be just as physical. 22
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
“Luau” A sprawling 9½ minutes of electric shards, nihilistic feedback and soaring tangents, “Luau” is a bipolar free-for-all anchored, as many of Drive Like Jehu’s songs are, to the weird word of its title. Repeated so often and so maniacally that it loses all meaning, the chorus—which Froberg shares with Pinback’s Rob Crow—transforms the word into a koan whose paradox is only that its two vowel sounds shouldn’t work so incestuously close to each other, but somehow do. Such is the magic of this band: Try not to sing along.
“Hand Over Fist” Originally released through Merge in 1992 as a B-side to “Bullet Train to Vegas,” “Hand Over Fist” represents a slightly more melodic bent to the band, one more concerned with traditional pop structures and less given to sonic diatribes. Froberg’s abrasive vocals still punch holes through every available weak point, like he’s playing chicken with a load-bearing wall in a poorly constructed condo. But “Hand Over Fist” bears witness to both where the band came from and, had they not suddenly screeched to a halt, where they could’ve gone—and now, maybe still can.
BEYOND THE WATERFRONT
J O H N AT H A N T H O R P E
Project Pabst at Night
ROCK’S WISEST PARTY MONSTER ANSWERS DIARRHEA PLANET’S BURNING QUESTIONS. You may not have known it when you first laid eyes on him, disheveled and bleeding from the nose on the cover of his debut album, but Andrew W.K. is a man you can trust. In the decade and a half since he headbanged and jump-kicked his way into public consciousness, the singer, songwriter and classically trained pianist has spun his party-positive thrash pop into a self-help cottage industry. He’s a sought-after motivational speaker. He’s written a book, called The Party Bible, about the search for “truth, wisdom and party bliss.” He hosts a radio talk show. He’s even starting a political party, called, wait for it, the Party Party. And he has his own advice column, which he writes for Village Voice. He is a particular inspiration to bands that, like him, seek to live life as a never-ending kegger—like quad-guitar ragers Diarrhea Planet, who are also playing Project Pabst this weekend. We assumed the band had questions it’s long been dying to ask him, and we were right. Read W.K.’s full responses at wweek.com (and you absolutely should).
and I felt fine, I was so carefree and had no idea what was going to happen today. I was like a child back then, so full of hubris and innocence. Oh, only to be healthy again!” Then a few days later you’re healthy and feeling recovered, and you can barely even remember what it was like to feel sick. Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is, the show must go on. The party must not stop. Ian Bush: If you had to eat a human, what would be the context? It’s an ethical dilemma. You put yourself in an apocalyptic scenario, you end up being faced with these kind of decisions. If it’s every human for himself, do you ultimately want to participate in things that you consider subhuman, or would you rather opt out and die knowing you stayed true to your principles of humanity, even if it meant your own death? So I don’t know if I would eat another person. I might rather perish. Or I might rather try to eat myself and see how long I could sustain myself that way. Evan Bird: If you had to assemble a backing band of classic horror movie monsters, who would you recruit and what instruments would they be playing? I’m not too well-versed in this realm of classic horror films. I appreciate all those characters, but I don’t know much about their personalities. So I guess I would ask these monsters their preference, because for all I know I’d put Dracula on drums and he might really be good at guitar instead. And since they’re monsters, they could be quite intimidating, so I think it’s wise to defer to their instrument preferences.
DIARRHEA PLANET
POONEH GHANA
Jordan Smith: Andrew, what is the very worst physical condition in which you have ever played a show? Probably the most challenging show I ever played was right in the midst of suffering from severe food poisoning. Just to make a sound out of my mouth, let alone perform, with any sort of physical exuberance, took digging deeper and reaching further than I ever had before. It’s strange because as these sorts of physical ordeals are happening, you lose all perspective and you think, “Yesterday, when I was healthy
Mike Boyle: What is the best dream you can remember having? Most of the dreams I remember are nightmares, and most of those are very vivid, life-changing and disturbing. But like anybody else, I sometimes have vivid dreams of being able to fly, and really thinking, while still in the dream, ”Wow, I can actually do it—I can fly!” The physical clarity of how the flying feels is always interesting. Moving through the air in the dream felt very similar to swimming underwater. I remember thinking in the dream, “This is going to change everything. What should I do now that I can fly?” I was so convinced it was real, and I was definitely disappointed when I woke up. But thinking about it now, I think it’s OK that I can’t fly. I have enough regular abilities that I have barely figured out how to use. I’ve got to learn how to be a human being first. Then I can work on becoming a superhero.
THURSDAY, AUG. 25
SATURDAY, AUG. 27
[CLASSIC JAZZ-RAP]
[CLASSIC ROCK IN
Digable Planets, Camp Lo Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 8 pm. $25. [STANDUP COMEDY] Todd Barry, Bryan Cook, Joann Schinderle Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St. 9 pm. $15.
FRIDAY, AUG. 26
MINIATURE]
Guided By Voices, Summer Cannibals Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 10 pm. $25. [SINGER-SONGWRITER]
David Bazan, Michael Nau Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 10 pm. $20. [PDX LIFERS]
[HIP-HOP AND PARTY PUNK] Dr. Martens presents Project Pabst Kickoff Party with Vince Staples and Mean Jeans Dr. Martens parking lot, 2 NW 10th Ave. 5 pm. Sold out.
And And And, Souvenir Driver, Rilla, Grand Lake Islands Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington St. 9 pm. $5. [TWO-PIECE METAL]
Bell Witch, Muscle and Marrow, Zirakzigil, John Haughm Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St. 10 pm. $10. [DIRTY ROOTS]
Y LA BAMBA
Hillstomp, Underwhelming Favorites, Pretty Gritty Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 9 pm. $12.
[LATIN INDIE FOLK]
[EXPLODING HEARTS]
Y La Bamba, Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, Haley Heynderickx Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., No. 110. 8 pm. $15.
Terry and Louie, Guantanamo Baywatch, Wampire, Patsy’s Rats Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St. 9 pm. $10 advance, $13 day of show.
[TONGUE-TWISTING HIP-HOP] Busdriver,
Deantoni Parks Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 9 pm. $12. 21+. [INDIE ROCK]
Real Estate Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 8 pm. $18. [LOCAL SHOEGAZE] Can-
dace, Adventure Galley, Pony Village Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington St. 9 pm. $5.
SUNDAY, AUG. 28 [WHISTLE POP]
Peter Bjorn and John Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., No. 110. 9 pm. $20. [BLUE-EYED SOUL]
Shy Girls, the Last Artful Dodgr, My Body Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. 8:30 pm. $5 advance, $10 day of show.
[HEAVY EXPERIMENTALISM] Pinkish Black, Hot
Victory, Motrik, Demon Familiar Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St. 9 pm. $10.
All shows ticketed separately. See full listings and features on these shows beginning on page 37.
Andrew W.K. plays Saturday at 3:50 pm.
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
23
MORE FRIENDS... MORE FUN! Underdog Sports Leagues Portland www.underdogportland.com
Call (503) 282-1155
24
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
A$AP Ferg plays Saturday at 4 pm.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT AMERICA’S FAVORITE NEW MISSIONARY-TURNED-SOUL REVIVALIST.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HIP-HOP’S RAUNCHIEST GRILLED CHEESE AFICIONADO. Harlem’s A$AP Ferg may be only 5-foot7 in Timberland boots, but his charisma onstage and wax make him a behemoth in the world of hip-hop. Here are five reasons he’s one of the most interesting rappers in the game right now. 1. He’s part of the A$AP Mob with A$AP Rocky. Let’s get the basics out first. Along with a bunch of other young Harlemites who like fashion and smoking weed, Ferg is a member of the A$AP Mob, a group founded by a smart street kid named Yams (who passed away last year) and led by a pretty boy named Rocky, who bangs a lot of models and somehow made the word “jiggy” cool again. New York is starting to get its mojo back, but for a while the Mob seemed its only rap act unafraid to break the boom-bap mold to create something new. 2. He has the best ad-lib in hip-hop. From Pusha T’s “Yuck!” to Rick Ross’ hefty grunt, ad-libs are big in the game right now. They give artists a trademark proverb fans can recite when they’re drunk, about to hit a 3-pointer or reciting an Aziz Ansari bit. But no one has one as good as Ferg’s, who lets out a guttural bark that makes it sound as if he’s about to karate kick a Spartan down a well. It automatically turns every song he touches into an arena-rock pump-up anthem. 3. His dad designed the Bad Boy Records logo. Ferg’s love for fashion came from his father, who owned a clothing boutique in Harlem that created prints for art-
ists like Heavy D and designed logos for various record labels in the city, including Bad Boy. His work undoubtedly inspired A$AP Mob’s logo, also a circular black-and-white insignia, as well as Ferg’s gaudy chic—he rocks minks in the summertime, and more gold than Michael Phelps. 4. He’s a pescatarian. Although he’s been known to have the occasional beef with another rapper— he once got into a Twitter spat with Gucci Mane, for example—Ferg doesn’t eat meat aside from the occasional fish dish. Another fun food fact about him: The dude loves grilled cheese. He once said in an interview that he “could eat nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches all day and be satisfied with life.” In that same interview, he goes full Bubba Gump and lists every kind of cheese he knows, earning him the title of the turophile of the trap. 5. He’s trying to turn over a new leaf. Ferg’s biggest song, “Shabba,” includes a lyric about receiving oral sex in a dirty van. His other signature song, “Dump Dump,” is built on a taunting chorus about sleeping with your girlfriend. It’s cocky and slapdash, even in a genre where arrogant lyrics are kind of the norm. But on his newest record, Always Strive and Prosper, he moves away from the wanton vulgarity and gets more personal, including a tremendous line about a past dead-end job that goes, “Working at a Ben and Jerry’s/It was scary!” Sometimes, the simplest things are the most profound. REED JACKSON.
It’s been quite a year for Nathaniel Rateliff. The 36-year-old Missouri-born singer took off last August with the release of his selftitled LP with his band the Night Sweats, turning heads with “S.O.B.,” an unexpectedly catchy gospel-rock tune about alcoholism, and touring with the likes of Dr. Dog and the Lumineers. Citing influences from Sam and Dave and Otis Redding to Van Morrison, Rateliff finely balances tales of sinning and sadness with hope and triumph, crafting big, soulful stompers full of horn sections and handclaps. Here are five other important things to know about Rateliff before he hits the Waterfront. 1. He hasn’t always played with the Night Sweats. Well, sort of. After almost 20 years performing in and around Denver, both as a solo artist and in other, smaller ensembles, Rateliff teamed up in 2013 with the R&B outfit that currently serves as his backing band—a group of seven musicians covering horns, keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. He played off and on with them for a few years before the outfit released its self-titled debut in 2015. 2. He didn’t always have his R&B-soul revival sound. Both of Rateliff’s solo releases—2010’s In Memory of Loss and 2013’s Falling Faster Than You Can Run—are full of sparse, occasionally heart-wrenching folk songs built on crying slide guitar and rasped
vocals. By the time he teamed up with the Night Sweats, he had started exploring taking his music in a different direction. “I began to visualize a band, a horn section,” Rateliff told The Guardian last October when asked why he started to shift his musical style. 3. He was briefly a missionary. Growing up in a devoutly religious household, and playing in church bands with his family throughout his early and teenage years, Rateliff joined a missionary organization, Youth With a Mission, when he was 18, which brought him to Denver. His stint with the evangelical group didn’t last long, but he ended up putting down roots in Denver and launching his career from there. 4. His big hit started out as a joke. Originally, the Night Sweats would play their debut single, “S.O.B.,” only at the end of shows, just for fun and because of the reaction it got from live crowds. In an interview with the BBC last October, Rateliff said, “We had no intention of it being a radio song at all,” noting that there were “smarter” songs that he had written. 5. He’s worked a lot of jobs. When he was a teenager, Rateliff worked in a plastics factory before moving to Denver to become a missionary. He’s also worked as a carpenter, at a trucking depot and as a gardener before hitting it big as a musician. KAITIE TODD.
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats play Saturday at 5:55 pm.
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
25
#PDXFF16 AUG 29 - SEP 5, 2016 ONLINE SCHEDULE: PDXFF.COM Over 120+ indie films!
OPENING NIGHT DOCUMENTARY w/ Pinball Star in Attendance
51% selected films directed by women. SWIM IN A SEA OF RED BALLOONS!
fetcheyewear.com | 877.274.0410
TUE 8/30 Wizard Mode OPENING NIGHT NARRATIVE & Special Guest Jim O’Heir (Parks & Rec) TUE 8/30 Middle Man DOC ON ICONIC PHOTOG
Incomparable WED 8/31 The Rose Hartman
Balloon TUE 8/30 Red Opening Night Party RECOVERING AFTER BROTHERS SUICIDE.
Left WED 8/31 Those Behind GAY, TRANS, & GANG LIFE
FRIENDS, MUSIC, HOOK-UP CULTURE, ONLINE DATING. WED 8/31 FSM
WED 8/31
HEY TEACHERS, THIS INSTRUCTOR FIGHTS BACK!
Check It
WITH AUTHOR CHUCK PALAHNIUK
WED 8/31 The Lesson
Bridging WED WED8/31 8/31 Choke Emcees WITH AUTHOR WILLIAM F NOLAN
WORLD PREMIERE!! THU 9/1 6 Love Stories
Logan’s Run THU 9/1 40th Anniv.
GROW OPERATION, LEGALIZATION, & MURDER w/ CHEECH MARIN. GREATEST SECRET AGENT FROM PORTLAND!
WORLD PREMIERE!! FRI 9/2 Dark Harvest BREAKING BAD’S BETSY BRANDT!
SAT 9/3 Claire in Motion
SAT 9/3 Gold Balls CLOSING NIGHT NARRATIVE w/ PORTLAND’S KATEE SACKHOFF (Battlestar Galactica)
CLOSING NIGHT DOCUMENTARY: WOMEN OF COLOR BICYCLE CREW. SUN 9/4 Ovarian Psycos EXCLUSIVELY AT
Neil Stryker & THU 9/1 Tyrant of Time DOC ON 80 YEAR-OLD TENNIS PLAYERS!!
SUN 9/4 Girl Flu
LAURELHURST THEATER
TICKETS & ONLINE SCHEDULE: PDXFF.COM 26
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
The Coathangers play Saturday at 1:35 pm.
Tenement plays Sunday at 1 pm.
After a decade of sweaty, ramshackle shows in barrooms and basements, there’s not much that scares Amos Pitsch of Wisconsin punk trio Tenement. Recalling a recent stint of dates opening for soul singer Charles Bradley, where the band’s live show divided the audience, he just laughs. “His band was pissed off, thinking it was disrespectful. But getting booed feels more positive than if it was a lukewarm reaction,” Pitsch says. “You’re making someone feel something, getting them worked up. It’s exciting.” Walking a line between 1950s radio pop and a fuzzy punk take on Hank Williamsstyle country, Tenement’s eclectic style is bound to confuse as many unsuspecting audiences as it enthralls. But powering through its jaw-dropping live performances—mixing harder-edged, hyperfast numbers from its early days with the power-pop sensibility of its more recent material—the band makes converts more often than not. A decade of tireless touring and recording have contributed to Tenement’s reputation as a thrilling live act. For someone so accustomed to being the main attraction, Pitsch remains confident about sharing the stage with two days’ worth of other musicians at a big music festival. “It can be kinda strange but we’ve done it enough,” he says, “We kinda go back and forth between punk shows and club tours. Most of this tour is houses and DIY venues. It’s a strange dynamic compared to playing punk shows.” As momentum builds on the heels of last year’s sprawling 25-track collection, Predatory Headlights, and quick-hit The Self-Titled Album, Pitsch hopes to put an end to a decadelong history of tepid receptions from West Coast audiences. This tour will see Tenement play a monthlong stretch of consecutive dates without a single day off. The band stays so busy that its Project Pabst gig has it in Portland for only the afternoon. “We just try to play as often as we can. I’m not partial to playing festivals. We’ve done it like five times, and it’s never gotten any easier for us,” Pitsch says. “I just wish we were able to see Ice Cube.” CRIS LANKENAU.
SOUTHERN GARAGE PUNK THAT ISN’T AFRAID TO MERGE THE PLAYFUL WITH THE POLITICAL. On Atlanta garage-punk three-piece the Coathangers’ 2007 debut, the first track is a 20-second recording of a man’s voice. “Why this record?” the unidentified voice asks. “Why should you listen to a full-scale discussion of the magic of thinking big?” The following 12 songs provided the answer—because the Coathangers deliver punchy, driving anthems that straddle the lines of irreverence and anger, pure punk graced with a little Southern charm. For the band, “the magic of thinking big” has resulted in five albums in nine years. “I think that quote is still relevant to our band,” says drummer Stephanie Luke. “You should always be pushing yourself and always thinking smarter and working smarter, and always keep questioning things and pushing the boundaries of things.” The Coathangers had humble beginnings. They were friends working in a
While most other festivals don’t seem to care if you live or die, go broke on beeritas and have nothing to do between bands except contemplate life in a Honey Bucket, Project Pabst actually wants to leave you feeling semi-human. Here’s all the stuff you can do while you’re waiting for Ice Cube or trying to avoid awkward conversations with the people you went to college with. SOPHIA JUNE.
Eat at Portland’s best food carts!
Georgia dress shop, literally hanging up other people’s coats. They didn’t know how to play instruments, but that didn’t stop them from starting a band. Their early albums exude summercamp sing-along fun, with songs titles like “Shut the Fuck Up,” “Don’t Touch My Shit” and “Tonya Harding.” On their newest album, Nosebleed Weekend, however, the Coathangers have started to get more expressly political. “Everybody’s talking about smash the state!” they shout on “Watch Your Back.” “Sounds to me like the final solution/Right wing, left wing, full of hate.” “Our music is balanced with some lightheartedness and with some heavy because that’s how life is,” Luke says. “You’re either super-angry and it sucks and it’s depressing, or you’re having the best time of your life and you’re stoked and happy. It’s a roller coaster.”
THE SEVEN BEST THINGS AT MFNW PRESENTS PROJECT PABST THAT AREN’T MUSIC Video games, vandalism and beer—lots and lots of beer.
Grab a plate of Peruvian-inspired wood-grilled chicken and twicefried potatoes from Chicken and Guns, one of the best food carts in town. Food cart staples Bunk and PDX Sliders will also be there, as will Division Street favorite Atlas Pizza. For dessert, So Cold Shave Ice’s fruity sundaes make a snow cone look like a melted Otter Pop.
Father’s Root Beer to refresh you, plus local cider from Reverend Nat’s.
Drink (relatively) cheap beer!
Destroy property!
No $12 Bud Lights here! Drink the cheapest beer you’ll probably ever find at a music festival—$3 PBRs. There will also be syrupy, boozy Not Your
And sometimes it’s both—like the band’s name, a double entendre referring to their days working in a dress-shop and the DIY abortions women are forced into in places where the medical procedure is outlawed. In today’s harsh political climate, Luke says she’s been feeling inspired by Nina Simone’s quote about artistic obligation: “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.” “We’ve never called ourselves a political band,” she says. “I’d love to be able to write a song about what’s going on politically, but I don’t want to tell anyone what to think. I don’t want to be bossy. I don’t want to be onstage yelling at people, so I need to figure out a way to say how I feel—then I’d love to do that. “When a woman raises her voice, people kind of freak out,” she continues. “It’s an idea we have to continue to fight against.” SOPHIA JUNE.
R A C H E L R E N E E L E VA S S E U R
LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM, THESE ECLECTIC MIDWEST PUNKS JUST WANT YOU TO FEEL SOMETHING.
Jump-start your music career! Pabst is setting up a mobile studio where festivalgoers can record their own demos, and even take home the recordings on vinyl 45s. Hey, that’s how Elvis got his start!
Let out whatever aggression you have left over from the Coathangers’ set by destroying a van in the name of art. Talk about vandalism. Am I right?!
San Diego Comic-Con last month. It was made by Stern Pinball, the oldest pinball manufacturer in the world, with a soundtrack by Portland metal band Red Fang. Pro tip: This is also where the charging stations will be.
Preserve your eyesight in style! The first 450 people in the doors each day will get a free pair of ZeroUV sunglasses, so you don’t have to worry about squinting like a doofus all day.
Maybe fly? Dr. Martens is bringing a display of something called “high-flying activation.” No word yet on whether the punky combat boots can give you wings like the Red Bull reps who will probably be circling outside the festival, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Play your nostalgia! The festival has its own arcade stocked with classic games and a brandnew PBR-themed pinball machine, which debuted at
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
27
Ky l e C ra f t
Li v W a r f i e l d
[PDX SOUL QUEEN] A decade ago, just as she was considering giving up on her music career, Liv Warfield was thrown a purple lifeline. Through mutual acquaintances, a video of the Portland soul powerhouse crushing a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” made its way to Prince, and before long she was standing alongside him onstage, performing marathon sets as a member of the New Power Generation. Certainly, there are worse fates than being forever linked to one of pop’s great geniuses. But Warfield has the voice and presence to stand on her own. Prince recognized that, too: Though he’s listed as executive producer on her 2014 reintroduction to the R&B world, The Unexpected, his contribution was more of a spiritual adviser than behind-the-scenes Svengali. Over bright horns and rock guitar, Warfield showcases all sides of her personality: playful and sultry, defiant and vulnerable. Baby, she’s a star. MATTHEW SINGER. Liv Warfield plays Saturday at 2:20 pm.
ST R F K R
Diarrhea Planet
[INDIE-POP STARS] STRFKR’s two-year absence was finally broken with the February release of “Never Ever,” its first single since relocating from Portland to Los Angeles. It’s a warm, gooey, synth-heavy indie-pop record that reminds us just how much we want to dance, which is what the band has been doing since it began, back when frontman Josh Hodges started playing local house-show gigs as a solo synthand-drums act back in 2007. Through four albums and great success as a touring band, not to mention several name changes—Pyramid to Pyramiddd, and back to Starfucker and the more marquee-friendly STRFKR—the group has continued to hone a uniquely groovy sound that’s all its own. And damn, it’s good to have them back. SOPHIA JUNE. STRFKR plays Saturday at 4:55 pm.
[POWER ROCK] Maybe there are better rock-’n’-roll bands than Diarrhea Planet, but none of them have a song called “Ghost With a Boner.” As one might surmise, the Nashville sextet has little regard for the decorum of adulthood, choosing instead to fuse gloriously adolescent stupidity with instrumental muscle. It’s a band that perhaps resembles your own high-school garage combo, if you had stayed together, added three guitars and let your little brother pick the name. The band’s latest album, Turn to Gold, is loaded with triumphal power-pop anthems forged from a tornado of butt-rock riffage, ripping solos and sing-along choruses. If you’re old enough to remember the ’70s, or just watched Dazed and Confused a lot, it’ll trigger flashbacks of the days when you spent the weekend slugging cans of Schlitz while blaring Cheap Trick in a Dairy Queen parking lot. And if you can’t get past the name, then this shit wasn’t meant for you, anyway. MATTHEW SINGER. Diarrhea Planet plays Sunday at 1:35 pm.
Parquet Courts
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
NEIL KRUG
[DYLAN OF THE DIVE] You can take a man out of Shreveport, but whatever’s in the water there tends to stick. It’s where troubadour songwriter Kyle Craft started, and while Portland is where he realized his first full album, Dolls of Highland, he clearly brought some of that bayou spirit with him. The record gives the traditional breakup song a Dylanish parlor-room treatment, thanks to familiar guitar hooks and lively piano riffs. Craft’s monstrous delivery is that of a true frontman, slightly glammy and theatrical. It’s the rattled howling of someone who’s seen a million truths, set to jangly, chest-beating, aftermidnight folk rock. There’s a daydreaming, nomadic feel to Dolls of Highland that’s probably a reflection of Craft’s own experience. Hopefully he’s here to stay. MARK STOCK. Kyle Craft plays Saturday at 1 pm.
Hop Along
[NATURAL WONDERS] It was clear from the start that Frances Quinlan possessed strange powers. Her early solo recordings— under the name Hop Along, Queen Ansleis— were tiny funhouses of sharp turns and wild vocal flights, and they evoked an alternate universe in which Devendra Banhart chose basement shows over Laurel Canyon languor. But Quinlan’s magic didn’t find its true home until 2009’s Wretches EP, which found the songwriter dropping the “Queen Ansleis” and adding a band. The result was a raw document of forces colliding, and on the two albums that followed—2012’s Get Disowned and last year’s breakthrough Painted Shut— Hop Along made a case for itself as one of the world’s most vital providers of guitar-based catharsis. The restless energy of early Built to Spill informs the band’s compositions, and Quinlan’s lyrical snapshots of smalltown frustration wend through the bustle and tumult, riding a voice that can bend and mend hearts. Get owned. CHRIS STAMM. Hop Along plays Sunday at 2:20 pm. 28
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Sheer Mag
[PUNK POP] Sheer Mag avoids interviews and mostly eschews the internet, but that hasn’t slowed the Philadelphia band’s rise in the least. Emerging fully formed in 2014 with the release of a flawless four-song EP, Sheer Mag fuses majestic classic-rock riffage and grubby basement vibes to create an ideal sonic complement to every punk vest repping Thin Lizzy. While the quintet’s marriage of lo-fi aesthetics and rock-’n’-roll tradition shares a spirit realm with Robert Pollard’s mid-’90s masterpieces and Royal Headache’s recent garage-pop gems, Sheer Mag’s swaggering anthems are more than marvels of form—they are vital missives from a place where the personal and the political meet. The four songs on III, the band’s third and most recent EP, conjure everything from a missing woman in Ciudad Juárez to the magic warmth of a lover’s hand to reckon with a world of bodies and hearts that aren’t always allowed to be as free as they should be. It’s party music, but it hurts too. CHRIS STAMM. Sheer Mag plays Sunday at 3:05 pm.
[STONED PUNK] With the release of their fifth studio album, Human Performance, in April, Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts have proven again that their vinegary marinade of unflinching energy, rock snarl and stoner poetry makes them one of the best rock bands around today. Onstage, vocalists Andrew Savage and Austin Brown are firecrackers, exploding youthful energy in their ability to scream lightning-fast lyrics and jump up and down like frantic toddlers, all while managing to maintain an air of unapologetic, razor-sharp cool. The Courts’ second album, 2012’s Light Up Gold, is full of New York stories oozing with briny specificity. On Human Performance, they’ve kept the bite but also added a certain nostalgic smokiness redolent of their Texas roots—Jeff Tweedy is even featured on the album. Expect a playful snarl and uncompromising wit, and prepare your throat for yelling. SOPHIA JUNE. Parquet Courts play Sunday at 4 pm.
[FUZZY SYNTHS] Portland three-piece Unknown Mortal Orchestra delivers lo-fi, psych-pop dream grooves that leave you swaying, daydreaming and sun-scorched. Fame came quickly for the group: Singerguitarist Ruban Nielson posted a track on Bandcamp anonymously in 2010, immediately gaining the attention of major music sites and propelling the band’s introduction as a major reveal. While earlier albums focused on psychedelic sounds, last year’s Multi-Love revels in ’70s funk and sultry R&B, which continues on the recent one-off single, “First World Problem.” “She’s eating birthday cake inside the disco,” sings Nielson in a gauzy croon. The track favors ’80s synths and horns over fuzzy guitar, but keeps the tight, lo-fi harmonies that’s characterized the band through three albums. SOPHIA JUNE. Unknown Mortal Orchestra plays Sunday at 4:55 pm.
DURAN DURAN
TAME IMPALA
ICE CUBE
WEEN
8:20 PM – 9:50 PM 7 PM-8:10 PM
8:20 PM-9:50 PM 7 PM-8:15 PM
NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS
DRIVE LIKE JEHU
STRFKR
UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA
A$AP FERG
PARQUET COURTS
ANDREW W.K.
SHEER MAG
LIV WARFIELD
HOP ALONG
THE COATHANGERS
DIARRHEA PLANET
KYLE CRAFT
TENEMENT
5:55 PM-6:55 PM 4:55 PM-5:50 PM 4 PM-4:50 PM
3:05 PM-3:55 PM 2:20 PM-3 PM
1:35 PM-2:15 PM 1 PM-1:30 PM
5:55 PM-6:55 PM 4:55 PM-5:50 PM 4 PM-4:50 PM
3:05 PM-3:55 PM 2:20 PM-3 PM
1:35 PM-2:15 PM 1 PM-1:30 PM
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
29
30
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
STREET
CLACKAMAS TOWN CENTER AT KANYE WEST’S PABLO POP-UP SHOP. P H OTOS BY EMMA B R OWN E
www.wweek.com/street
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
31
“Once I stepped foot on that farm, I was like, ‘Holy shit, who lives like this anymore?’” page 54
NO REFUGE: Inner Southeast events venue Refuge PDX is closing after owner Maria Toth racked up a debt of $202,000 in rent and interest to landlord Bruun Property Management during an eightmonth period when the building was being renovated. During that time, Refuge PDX was closed and could not host events. This is the latest in a string of troubles associated with Refuge PDX, which has accrued seven state liquor violations since 2009, including serving liquor without a license in December 2015, and was temporarily shut down for fire-code violations in November 2013. Toth says she does not have the money to pay rent. Bruun locked the doors to the venue; all prior scheduled events, including a private Cavalia after-party and a school dance, must relocate. Toth says she wants to raise funds to buy the building, but Bruun is already taking steps to rent the property to someone else. “The landlord said enough is enough,” says Robert Koury, Bruun’s attorney. “We are done negotiating.”
ROOF DECK BAR OPEN ThuRs • FRi • sAT 5Pm –10Pm + All shOw NighTs marthas @ Revolution hall 1300 sE stark st. marthaspdx.com revolutionhallpdx.com
32
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
CART FUSION: Koi Fusion founder Bo Kwon will help open a huge bar in South Waterfront with his bulgogi tacos and three other food carts, including PDX Sliders, according to business partner Mike Senzaki. Cart Lab—in the former Lil’ Cooperstown Bar & Grill space on Southwest River Drive— could open as early as September, featuring 20 beer taps, local wine and a full liquor bar. Food will be served from a shared kitchen—out of four windows made up to look like food carts. “We converted those into a sort of indoor cart pod, like downtown’s Pine Street Market,” Senzaki says. “I don’t want to compare ourselves to them, but the carts are going to be in there.” Much of the rest of the bar will play up the onetime Stanford’s restaurant’s ’90s sports bar decor with old posters and strings of Edison bulbs. There will be a kids’ play area in the back, and the bar plans to host events on weekends. GOLDEN SOURS: New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov has named Portland brewery Cascade Barrel House’s kriek the best sour beer in the nation. After tasting 20 sour, wild and farmhouse beers from across the U.S., Asimov gave Cascade’s 2014 kriek—a sour cherry beer brewed in the Belgian style—a rare four-star rating. In a 2011 roundup of sours by Asimov, Cascade’s kriek also got four stars and was ranked the best in the country. This time, a second Oregon beer cracked the top five: Logsdon’s Far West Vlaming, out of Hood River. RUNWAY READY: Another Portlander will compete on Project Runway in the upcoming season, which premieres Sept. 15 on Lifetime. Recent Toronto transplant Sarah Donofrio is the latest in a long line of contestants from Portland, following Seth Aaron and Michelle Lesniak. Donofrio opened a pop-up shop on Southeast Belmont Street last week. Her store, One Imaginary Girl, is in the old Belmont Records space and will be open until October (the building is slated for development). Donofrio carries pieces from international designers, but this fall she is launching her own line. It will debut Oct. 5 at FashioNXT, Portland’s largest annual fashion show.
YO U T U B E
STARTERS
BITE-SIZED PORTLAND CULTURE NEWS.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK IN ARTS & CULTURE
MEGAN NANNA
Headout
WEDNESDAY AUG. 24 Houseguest Talk-Back
[ART] Houseguest is a new program that gives a different artist free rein over Pioneer Courthouse Square for one weekend each month. Libby Warble plans to make the Square into PMOMA (the Portland Museum of Modern Art), but first she’s giving this talk-back to discuss how Portland lacks a modern art museum. Likewise, 3664 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-206-4884. 6 pm. Free.
THURSDAY AUG. 25 Banks & Steelz
[HIP-POP] A collaborative effort from the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and Interpol’s Paul Banks, Banks & Steelz meld two of the music world’s most easily identifiable voices into something new and interesting. RZA’s Intense and rhythmic verses strut confidently between typically post-apocalyptic choruses from Banks. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 8 pm. $28 advance, $30 day of show. 21+.
IN HONOR OF MUSICFESTNW PRESENTS PROJECT PABST THIS WEEKEND, HERE ARE THE MOST INTERESTING PLACES TO DRINK PABST BLUE RIBBON.
SATURDAY AUG. 27 Noche de Película Pabst Blue Ribbon may be made in Milwaukee, but it was made by Portland. We not only saved the brand from the scrap heap of history, next to Schlitz and Falstaff, but have delighted in consuming it in both massive quantities and ever-more elaborate presentations. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. The Place That Made Pabst Cool:
Lutz Tavern
4639 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Woodstock’s Lutz Tavern is the original PBR trucker hat, the oldest surviving hipster Pabst bar in not just Portland but the world—the place Pabst itself credits for starting the revival of Pabst in the early 2000s after decades of decline (local music promoter Mike Thrasher claims it was actually a now-defunct rock venue called EJ’s). The Keg Killer:
Yamhill Pub 223 SW Yamhill St.
The pleasantly gritty Yamhill Pub is the most dedicated Pabst bar in Portland. The downtown dive—only a few blocks from MusicfestNW and as covered in graffiti as a 1970s New York subway station—pours more Pabst from its taps than any bar in Oregon. It goes through 18 kegs of PBR a week, down from a peak of 26. It’s one of the most prolific Pabst-guzzling holes in the country, with a wall of Pabst trophies to prove it.
Top PBR Root Beer Bar:
Classiest Pabst:
1305 SE 8th Ave.
4607 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Pabst struck gold with its new and ridiculously popular Not Your Father’s Root Beer line. In a blind taste test, we named it the best alcoholic root beer of them all. Amid hip-hop dance nights and pop-up Japanese barbecues, the White Owl’s back patio downs more hard root beer than anywhere else in the city.
Two doors down from the Lutz, if you order a $3.50 Pabst 40-ouncer at Southern-fried eatery the Delta Cafe, it comes Champagne-style, delicately chilled in an ice bucket.
White Owl Social Club
The All-PBR Menu:
The Side Street Tavern 828 SE 34th Ave.
On the tiny Side Street Tavern’s dedicated PBR menu, ordering a Portlander will get you a beer with a fake mustache. If you ask for a Gimme Shelter—a whopping $6.50—it comes with a full-sized, functional umbrella. Other Pabsts come with an orange slice (the Distinguished Gentleman) and a Pall Mall loosie (the Cheap Cowboy). But for a keepsake, ask for the Andy Warhol. With your Pabst, you will receive a Polaroid of you holding a Pabst. Best Pabst Selection:
Ship Ahoy Tavern 2889 SE Gladstone St.
When you order PBR at south-of-Powell dive bar Ship Ahoy, you have to be specific. “Bottle, draft or can?” All are $2 except at happy hour, when draft drops to $1.50.
Delta Cafe
[LATINX] Portland Latino Gay Pride, an 11-year-old volunteer organization, does movie night at the Hollywood with four short docs celebrating Latinx and LGBTQ lives. After the films, everyone 21 and over is invited to the after-party at Columbia River Brewing. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., hollywoodtheatre.org. 7 pm. $9.
ABC Block Party Most Cans Crushed:
Quarterworld, formerly Sabala’s 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
More Pabst cans were crushed on July 24, 2005, at Hawthorne venue Sabala’s—now boozy arcade Quarterworld—than at any other Portland bar, on any other night on record. Fans of Maryland stoner-rock outfit Clutch downed 74 cases of Pabst tallboys, the equivalent of 21 half-barrel kegs. Home of Pabstmania:
The Vern
2622 SE Belmont St.
The Vern—where two very serious dudes wrestled each other for Morrissey tickets in 2012—sold “Andre the Giant” Pabst 40-ouncers at WrestleMania viewing parties in the 2000s, and hosted a 2010 in-bar wrestling match between Pabst’s Matt Slessler and John Naekel, co-owner of North Killingsworth whiskey bar the Old Gold. The match ended in a doubleDQ after a woman in the crowd got so excited she threw her beer glass against the wall, shattering it.
GO: MusicfestNW Presents Project Pabst is at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Aug. 27 and 28. See page
[KIDS] The Star Theater is becoming a kids’ play zone. This all-ages dance party offers hula-hooping, a family photo booth, a sing-along, face painting, and an “infant sensory play zone” for those who’ve come to party but can’t yet walk. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., 503-248-4700. 11 am. $10. All ages.
SUNDAY AUG. 28 Shy Girls, the Last Artful Dodgr [AFTER-PARTY] After Tame Impala fries your senses, this is the ideal Project Pabst comedown. Dodgr has been leading the Portland hip-hop scene with her chameleonic vocals, while Shy Girls’ seriously smooth bedroom pop is a lesson in anthemic yet atmospheric songwriting. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., holocene.org. 8:30 pm. $5 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
Korean Food Festival
[FOOD] If you go to only one 12-chef Korean food extravaganza with dishes from James Beard Award winners (Rachel Yang), Momofuku alums (Johanna Ware, Peter Cho , Deuki Hong), TV celebuchefs (Gregory Gourdet) and award-winning food carts (Kim Jong Grillin), make it 13. this one. Ecotrust, 921 SW 9th Ave., kacoregon.org. 1 pm. $70-$100. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com 33
MEGAN NANNA
FOOD & DRINK
Fillmore Trattoria
Italian Home Cooking
POKE MON, GO: Fresh fish and beautiful sauces make this spot a winner.
Taste the Zeitgeist
Tuesday–Saturday 5:30PM–10PM closed Sunday & Monday
POKE MON IS BOTH VERY GOOD AND TOTALLY PEAK PORTLAND 2016. BY MA RTIN CIZMA R
1937 NW 23RD Place Portland, OR 97210
mcizmar@wweek.com
(971) 386-5935
There’s on-trend, there’s zeitgeisty, and then there’s whatever Poke Mon is—a spot so of its time and place that it almost doubles as an avatar of the era. Obviously, there’s the name of the new HawSimple ApproAch thorne Boulevard counter-service restaurant, announced just before Pokémon Go became the biggest thing to hit gaming since Wii. Then there’s the poke itself. The Hawaiian-style vegan open 11-10 raw fish preparation started with fishermen seasonFriendly everyday ing the odd bits of their catch with seaweed, sea salt and roasted nuts and evolved into a station wagon-era Hawaiian family meal roughly equivalent to casseroles on the mainland. The new bougie bowl version is served over rice and often includes avocado, kimchi or kale. Think of it as a really big pile of sashimi—ahi is your go-to, though Poke Mon also offers albacore, salmon, 500 NW 21st Ave, (503) 208-2173 kungpowpdx.com octopus and tofu. With poke shops popping up in New York, Los Angles and, uh, Albuquerque, it’s the hottest bicoastal food trend since the Cupcake Craze of ought-six. There’s even a poke backlash now, with some www.shandongportland.com decrying the ecological fallout from overfishing in a tuna boom and one chef penning an angry blog post about the prevalence of writing poke with an accent on the e, which Hawaiians do not use, and which he decried as “cultural slander.” So it’s fitting that Portland’s first poke-specific spot sits in a snug corner spot on the bottom of a shiny new mixed-use building erected on the ruins of the city’s worst Ethiopian restaurant. And that it sells six flavors of canned La Croix and two other www.shandongportland.com sparkling waters. And that three of its owners— Brent Atchley, Mike Chin and Nicholas Hyde—are skaters who’ve appeared in Thrasher.
Bold FlAvor
I
Shandong
34
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Shandong
If you want to hit Peak Portland 2016, put on your blue dad hat with a white P on it, cue up some Drake and grab one of the white patio chairs on the sidewalk outside the bright, white, strikingly modern Poke Mon. Then, spin the marker at the Pokéstop named for the old Ethiopian spot. Achievement unlocked. You’ll be rewarded with a very nice meal from co-owner Colin Yoshimoto, who was general manager at Nong’s Khao Man Gai and a cook at Nodoguro. Poke Mon uses fresh fish, and I’ve found it uniformly tasty, with meaty little ahi hunks that scratch the same spot as steak bites, fleshy soft pink slices of salmon, rice that’s just a little sticky and unobtrusive sauces that heighten but never hide the beauty of the key ingredient. That’s even true of the spicy ahi donburi ($9.75), which uses a creamy orange aioli with a little chili oil in it, but nevertheless allows the plucky flesh to shine. I ate across the small menu on two visits, and my favorite bowl of all is the garlic salmon poke ($10.75), which is plated with a nice salad of red onion, cucumber and avocado. It’s all splashed with an addictive garlic ponzu sauce, lightly enough that I found myself working through the bowl on the hunt, like an oilman drilling for crude. But that same restraint ends up being a flaw on the sides, which all come in quarts for $3. I wanted a creamier, tangier mac salad, more heat from the spicy cucumber salad and a bit more salt to unlock the umami in the miso soup. But those are quibbles compared to the joys of the ahi bowls and eating them while seated on a patio, sipping mango La Croix and bagging Magikarp—feeding not only on the flesh of an apex predator but the zeitgeist itself. EAT: Poke Mon, 1485 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-894-9743, pokemonpdx.com. 11 am-9 pm Tuesday-Sunday.
THOMAS TEAL
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. By MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Editor: MARTIN CIZMAR. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
THURSDAY, AUG. 25 Organic Beer Fest
The only known organic beer festival in the world returns for a 12th year, promising to save the world with each sip of sustainable alcohol—55 beers, meads and ciders, including weirdball ale made with foraged chaga mushrooms and a hemp shandy. A cup goes for $7, with tastes a buck apiece. Overlook Park, 1599 N Fremont St. Noon-9 pm. Through Sunday (5 pm).
Ballast Point 20th Anniversary Tap Takeover
California’s Ballast Point has been brewing for 20 years—in honor, they’ll fill Belmont Station with 15 different BP beers—including coffee and vanilla beer, bière de garde, wheat beer with hibiscus and multiple Sculpins. Belmont Station, 4500 SE Stark St., belmont-station.com. 5-7 pm.
Goose Island Non-Migration Week
Goose Island is migrating to Eugene for its annual Migration Week—but fuck it. N.W.I.P.A. is tapping a ton of Goose Island anyway, with IPA, Sofie, Lolita, ‘15 Bourbon County Stout Coffee and ‘14 Bourbon County Stout Vanilla Rye and Chicago-style dogs on the grill. N.W.I.P.A., 6350 SE Foster Road, 503-805-7342. 6-9 pm.
SATURDAY, AUG. 27 Beer Wars IPA Fest
Five states enter. Four will leave looking like chumps. As they’ve done in Bend
for five years, 10 Barrel is inviting breweries from Colorado, California, Washington, Oregon and Idaho to bring out their IPAs, and everybody who shows up blind-tastes the beers. Last year’s winner was Oregon—and this year’s local entrants are 10 Barrel, Barley Brown’s, Boneyard, Breakside, Buoy and Deschutes. We predict a repeat. $5 admission, $1 per taste. 10 Barrel Brewing, 1411 NW Flanders St., 503-224-1700. 5-10 pm.
Brews for New Avenues
Brews for New Avenues is one of our favorite charity events of the year. It’s the world’s largest rare-beer auction— think Cantillon—with special one-off collaborations among premium brewers, plenty of beer tappings and appetizers for the crowd, oysters and all sorts of wonderful things, all of which to benefit homeless or at-risk kids. It’s sold out six ways to Sunday, but they’ll open up a few tickets at the door. Check brewsfornewavenues.com for details. Left Bank Annex, 101 N Weidler St.
SUNDAY, AUG. 28 Mukja! Korean Food Fest
Holy crap. If you go to only one 12-chef Korean food extravaganza with dishes from James Beard Award finalists (Rachel Yang), Momofuku alums (Johanna Ware, Peter Cho, Deuki Hong), TV celebuchefs (Gregory Gourdet) and award-winning food carts (Kim Jong Grillin’), make it this one. Tix at kacoregon.org/kfoodfest. Ecotrust Event Spaces, 921 SW Ninth Ave. 1 pm. $70-$100.
3. Botto Barbecue
2204 NW Roosevelt St., 503-354-7748, bottobbq.com. Texas-style brisket and ribs and kickass kolaches, in a parking lot surrounded by barbed wire. God bless ’Merica. $-$$.
1. Revelry
210 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 971-339-3693. A Beard Award finalist, Seattle chef Rachel Yang rolled in with brilliant Korean rice cakes and fried chicken with peanut brittle. $$$
2. Paiche
4237 SW Corbett Ave., 503-403-6186, paichepdx.com. Peruvian Paiche is now a dinner restaurant, and the menu has upgraded accordingly—with a wealth of lovely, spicy, citric seafood. $$$.
THE ’MATERS MATTER: Double Mountain’s best pie uses heirloom tomatoes grown on a small Hood River farm.
4. Rue
1005 SE Ankeny St, 503-231-3748, ruepdx.com. French “neo-bistro” Rue toes the line on two very dangerous ingredients and wins big with a terrific Sharknana banana cocktail and delicate lavender carrots. $$$.
5. Le Pantry
113 SE 28th Ave. This cart is great, and each day is different—with criminally low prices on caramelized short rib or lovely mushrooms in rice gravy. $.
DRANK
45th Parallel Oregon-Style IPA (TRINITY BREWING) We cracked Colorado brewer Trinity’s 45th Parallel “Oregon-Style” IPA with a little nervousness. What is an Oregon-style IPA, we wondered? BridgePort? Turns out Trinity brewer Jason Yester went crazy for IPAs from Breakside, Barley Brown’s and Boneyard somewhere back in 2014, believing our citrusy, low-malt IPAs to have a profile similar to the saisons he makes at his Colorado Springs brewery. After a collaboration beer with Tyler Brown of Barley Brown’s—located on the 45th parallel— he came back home to evangelize with his own “Oregonstyle” IPA modeled on the 3 B’s. It just became available in bottles in Oregon. And it’s a great IPA—light-bodied, refreshing, hoppy on the nose, and guava-mango-juicy on the tongue, a tropical cocktail of Amarillo, Citra, El Dorado, Amarillo and Simcoe hops. That hop load didn’t come cheap, though. It costs a whopping $5.25 for a 12-ounce bottle. But if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Oregon should feel sincerely flattered by this beer. Recommended. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
Double Trouble WOODSTOCK’S BRANCH OF DOUBLE MOUNTAIN CAN’T YET TOUCH THE ORIGINAL—OR SCHOLLS. Double Mountain beat the odds. Given the sorry state of brewpub food—not just in Portland, but across the country—the Hood River taproom’s impressive New Haven-style pies are a marvel. It’s something Double Mountain worked hard at, learning at the elbow of Apizza Scholls’ Brian Spangler, who taught it the techniques responsible for his world-beating pies. Double Mountain took those techniques and applied them to solid recipes—witness the singular heirloom pie ($27), a pesto base topped with thick slices of heirloom tomatoes grown for the pizzeria by a small farm in Hood River. The ’maters are cut to order and get a dusting of pecorino that crisps up for a light crunch and gives way to steaky tomato slices and then more crunch. And so there’s a lot of excitement around Double Mountain’s recent expansion to Woodstock. When it signed up to put a pizzeria pouring its beer in the space formerly home to a series of terrible bars (Mickey Finn’s, Fenders Moto Cafe, Kilt Irish Pub), the ’hood was jazzed. And it still is, judging by the waits, which often stretch an hour and a half. Unfortunately, though it’s early, there’s still a lot of work to be done before Double Mountain Woodstock is at the level of its sister, or worthy of being considered among the top 10 pies in town. For now,
I’d steer clear unless you’re in the area for a weekday lunch or live nearby. Consider this: On a recent Thursday, I put my name in for a table at Double Mountain, then drove to Apizza Sholls, ordered carry-out pies, got a picnic table down at Angelo’s, bought a round of beers, picked up the pies, ate and drove back to Woodstock—only to wait another 10 minutes to be seated. Double Mountain’s pies couldn’t compete with Scholls on any level, though few can. But the larger problem is that the pies aren’t yet up to Double Mountain’s own standards. The kitchen bought a different type of oven for this shop, a gas-fired Wood Stone that runs hot, open and dry. While the pies (a small plain cheese is $10, a large capicola and peppers is $23) on one visit came out nondescript, on the other they were overcharred, the acrid, blackened flavor infusing the dense crust. The cheese was overly dry, and one cheese pie had far too little of it—seemingly half as much as the pie next to it. That visit also found salads sopped in way too much dressing (we didn’t complain, but they were graciously comped) and a cookie served at refrigerator temperature for dessert. But, of course, the pizzas are only half the draw at a brewpub. And Double Mountain does make some very good beer—especially a floral Vaporizer IPA and two krieks, which were the finest in the state not too long ago. You can try them all on a fully customizable taster flight, and for me that’s reason enough to celebrate the new Double Mountain offshoot, even if you can still find far better pizza outside of Woodstock. MARTIN CIZMAR. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
35
36
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
MUSIC PROFILE
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. Prices listed are sometimes for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and socalled convenience charges may apply. Event lineups are subject to change after WW’s press deadlines. Editor: 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.
[NORTHWEST RAP] The fourth edition of Glenn Waco’s showcase of Pacific Northwest hip-hop talent bubbling just under the surface brings one of Seattle rap’s leading lights, Raz Simone, down the I-5. Fresh from rocking arenas opening for Macklemore, Simone sports a similarly earnest style, albeit with more…well, swag, frankly. Trap Spirituals, his latest project, lays mournful piano, violin and guitar over spare, rattling snares and hi-hats, creating a moody brand of trap that’d play as well in the confessional as the club. Also watch out for Portland young’un ROBy, too, whose new mixtape, Cartoon Summers, shows a kid with the charisma to break nationally. MATTHEW SINGER. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show.
Audacity, Mean Jeans, VHS
[GARAGE POP PUNK] Audacity is fun and frustrating in equal measure. On its latest album, Hyper Vessels, the Fullerton, Calif., band performs a frantic search for a costume that fits. The quartet swings from Jay Reatard rawness to grunge goonery to rock’n’-roll sleaze, but it only gets into a groove when it ditches the frills and seeks straightforward pop-punk pleasure. Songs like “Fire” and “Lock on the Door” prove Audacity can write hooks worthy of fellow Burger Records alum Together Pangea or opener Mean Jeans,
ERIK VOAKE
We Take Holocene IV: Raz Simone, Glenn Waco, Cassow, ROBy
but it almost seems the band believes that delivering too many direct hits would be cheating. It’s OK, guys. We can handle you at your best. CHRIS STAMM. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
THURSDAY, AUG. 25 Death Songs, Nathan Baumgartner, Christopher Francis
[LOCAL FOLK] When it comes to Death Songs, the irony is in the name. Nick Delffs’ freak-folk escapades are often more life-affirming than they are brooding, teeming with worldly polyrhythms and percussive playing that recalls everything from Van Morrison to the solo work of Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen. On Sung Inside a House, Delffs’ last album under the moniker before co-founding the Latin-tinged Tiburones, the musician continues to expand his musical palette,
Rebirth of Cool
CONT. on page 39
TOP
5
FIVE THOUGHT-PROVOKING VINCE STAPLES QUOTES “I would vote for Kanye in 2020. Everybody loves Kanye. Instead of wars, he’d just do concerts in North Korea. ‘Why are y’all mad at us? Look, I’m about to do ‘Good Life.’” Sounds like a great president to me.” (GQ) 2 “I didn’t give a fuck about fucking hip-hop when Toy Story 2 came out. Rap? Get the fuck out of my face. Wu-Tang Clan? Nah. Woody and Buzz.” (Fader) 3 “Michael Jordan’s such a scumbag. I love him. Michael Jordan and Donald Trump are the same kind of person. They are the epitome of bad people in America becoming successful.” (GQ) 4 “I’m all about going hard or going home. If you’re getting high and you’re not on the crack rock, I’ve got to worry about your commitment to the cause.” (Pitchfork) 5 “You’ve got to scare people enough to where they leave you alone but not scare them enough to where you get indicted. That’s the secret of hip-hop success.” (Fact) SEE IT: Vince Staples plays the Project Pabst Kickoff Party in the Dr. Martens parking lot, 2 NW 10th Ave., with Mean Jeans, on Friday, Aug. 26. 5 pm. Sold out. All ages.
DIGABLE PLANETS RETURN TO THE HIP-HOP ORBIT. BY R EED JACKSON THOMAS TEAL
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 24
@FlyrtReynolds
In 1993, after scoring a crossover hit, selling a half million records and winning a Grammy, trio Digable Planets was dubbed by some as the next big thing in hip-hop. Two years later, it no longer existed. Thus is the nature of the music industry sometimes—fame may solve some problems, but it can also bring forth others. For Digable, the cracks may have appeared with the pressure to match the success of the band’s debut, Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Space and Time), which was celebrated for its jazzy, sample-based production and lighthearted lyricism. Rather than follow its formula, however, members Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler, Mary Ann “Ladybug Mecca” Vieira and Craig “Doodlebug” Irving decided to go the route laid by their forefathers De La Soul, who, on their own sophomore effort, aimed to kill the flowery vibes of its debut by going darker and more political. Digable’s sophomore record, Blowout Comb, marked a major change in direction, and though still well-received by critics, it was met with a lukewarm reception by fans. The group broke up shortly afterward. Talking to Butler today, he still won’t divulge whether the letdown of Blowout Comb was the reason for the group’s split. He will say, however, that he’s continually hoped since then that Digable Planets would return in some shape or form. Starting last year, the group reunited to play sporadic gigs and has announced it’s potentially recording new material. “[Digable] carries a mystique about it that continues to rejuvenate itself,” Butler says. “That amazes me.” Butler’s amazement shouldn’t be understated. As an A&R rep for Seattle’s Sub Pop Records, where he’s worked a desk job for three years building up the legendary indie imprint’s hip-hop roster, it’s his job to weather the countless factors that cause bands to disappear into the ether. He knows too well how rare it is for a 23-year-old song like “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” to still draw crowds. He also knows what it takes to be in a long-lasting band: His Afro-futuristic project, Shabazz Palaces, continues to release genre-
bending records and play big shows; it recently opened a few sold-out gigs for Radiohead. “Wherever I land, I try to make the most of it and to get excited to perform in all those situations,” he says. Vieira and Irving haven’t been stagnant, either. The former has been working with legendary producer Prince Paul on a collaborative project, while Irving has been performing with his group, the Cosmic Funk Orchestra, back in his hometown of Philadelphia. Watching footage of their recent performances with Digable, both MCs still seem to have the magic, especially Vieira, whose slightly offbeat rhyme patterns and laid-back hum still mesh beautifully with the jazzy horns and breakbeats. Although Butler was the group’s heart, Ladybug and Doodlebug played a vital role in reinforcing the group’s aesthetic of chill introspection, with each writing a number of powerful verses over the group’s two releases that dabble in topics of black nationalism and mysticism. But when asked what the difference is between now and 2005, when Digable Planets briefly got back together before breaking up again, Butler doesn’t have a concrete response. He mentions that the formation of the group’s backing band, which he describes as their Earth, Wind and Fire, helped influence the decision, as did the shows coming together when they did. Beyond that, he says it was a “cocktail of different reasons, some of which I’d have to talk to the other members about,” he adds. Perhaps the simplest explanation can be found in a recent interview the group did with Pitchfork, in which Irving said, “At this stage in our lives, we have kids and responsibilities; back then, we were just wild.” What Butler can say firmly is that if the group did record new material, it wouldn’t sound the same as either Reachin’ or Blowout, but entirely different. For a creative mind like Butler, who handled all the production for both Digable releases as well as the interstellar beats of Shabazz Palaces, that possibility is reason enough to give things another chance. “There’s an opportunity to go back,” he says, “but also think of something new that would be totally different.”
SEE IT: Digable Planets play Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., with Camp Lo, on Thursday, Aug. 25. 8 pm. $25. 21+. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
37
38
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
MUSIC further incorporating more ornate orchestration into his soulful ruminations on life, love and where we all go from here. And like Delffs’ live performances, it’s both joyful and utterly engrossing to listen to as it unfolds. BRANDON WIDDER. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave. 9:30 pm. $5. 21+.
the Morning was an overlooked gem whose primal rumblings will suit a space like the Ash Street Saloon well. WALKER MACMURDO. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Real Estate, Potty Mouth, Divers
[INDIE POP] Real Estate can rightfully be described as both pleasant and harmless, but in a good way. Inoffensive melodies have their place even in this ugly world, and who better to bring them to your ears than Real Estate? Drawing from groups like the Feelies and the Clean, the band is often accused of being an indie rock band. Don’t let that tag freak you out, though: RE is pure pop, if a little on the lo-fi side. The group emerged from the fey morass of the late-aughts indie scene, toured with Girls (from whom it poached its keyboard player) and Kurt Vile, and while those bands may have faded from prominence, Real Estate hasn’t lost its touch. BRACE BELDEN. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 8 pm. $18 advance, $22 day of show. In Lola’s Room. 21+.
Clan of Xymox
[GOTH WAVE] A major—but oft forgotten—influence on bands ranging from Nine Inch Nails to the Soft Moon, Clan of Xymox pioneered the genre of dark wave, opening the floodgates for the local bands that run the Killingsworth Dynasty and Lovecraft territory. The Dutch group’s addition of dramatically atmospheric gothic elements after main songwriters Pieter Nooten and Anka Wolbert departed has helped it stay relevant, if still fairly obscure, as proven by these two Portland shows, which will be harder to get into than an Ivy League school. If you’re without a ticket to either show, you might as well put on the most recent Xymox album, Matters of Mind, Body and Soul, and cry all your eyeliner off to its somber synth tones. CERVANTE POPE. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. 8 pm. General admission sold out, $100 VIP still available. 21+. Through Aug. 26.
Libretto, Mic Crenshaw, Theory Hazit (beat set), Jon Belz, DJ Ozroc
[HIP-HOP] In the early 2000s, the Portland hip-hop scene was reigned over by a handful of potent voices, one of the most commanding belonging to Mike “Libretto” Jackson. Along with the Lifesavas’ classic Spirit in Stone, Libretto’s full-length debut, 2004’s Ill-Oet: The Last Element, put Portland on the underground rap radar, catching ears with its blend of sample-based East Coast production and Jackson’s L.A.-raised street knowledge. Just as he was readying his followup, Libretto ended up in federal prison on an armed robbery conviction. He spent his four and a half years of incarceration focusing on self-improvement and filling stacks of notebooks with lyrics. Now free, those lyrics—a mix of autobiogra-
Dave Alvin, Phil Alvin, Eliza Gilkyson, Butch Hancock, Rick Shea, Christy McWilson and Cindy Cashdollar
Mic Check: HANiF., Stewart Villain, Karma Rivera
[LOCAL CUTS] In music, “retirement” is often a fluid concept. A few months ago, Hanif, the MC formerly known as Luck-One and for many years one of Portland rap’s great fire breathers, announced he was hanging up his microphone to open a barbershop and rare bookstore. That he did— make your appointments at Scissor Work on the South Waterfront now!— but apparently he’s not done performing, as he headlines the August installment of McMenamins’ hip-hop monthly Mic Check. It’s unclear if this show is acting as his formal goodbye, but it’s worth attending either way, considering it might be your only chance to hear songs from his alleged final album, Dance! (Despite the Pain), which he made available back in June for only 24 hours then scrubbed from existence. MATTHEW SINGER. White Eagle Saloon, 836 N Russell St. 10 pm. $5 advance, $7 day of show. 21+.
FRIDAY, AUG. 26 Pinkish Black, Hot Victory, Motrik, Demon Familiar
[PSYCHED OUT] For a metal-adjacent synth, keyboard and drum duo from Fort Worth, Texas, Pinkish Black have a lot more to do with Finnish psychedelia than with their swampy Relapse Records labelmates. Pinkish Black’s music, a languid wash of low-end bass growls swirled over by synths and Daron Beck’s moody croons, specifically evokes the sound of bands like Circle of Ouroborus and Oranssi Pazuzu, which weave synth weirdness into a black-metal shell—but minus the black metal. 2015’s Bottom of
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24TH AT 6PM Pre-buy the new album to guarantee admission! After more than two years of nomadism and cross-country touring, as well as two EPs, Los Angeles’ DREAMERS is set to unleash its debut full-length LP ‘This Album Does Not Exist’. DREAMERS pits the party and the paranoia of escapism in seemingly effortlessly tight, three-minute tunes. The album toys with themes of existence and existentialism, but it’s easy enough to get sucked into their world and dance the big questions away.
Candace, Talkative, Adventure Galley, Pony Village
[DREAM POP] Fresh from the road and in cracking form after touring their excellent New Futures LP, Portland’s favorite shoegazers, Candace, celebrate a career stretching nearly a decade. Listeners whose indelible high school milestones were soundtracked by the likes of Juliana Hatfield, Belly, or the Breeders will find something to trigger their nostalgia in the pop hooks of these Minneapolis transplants. CRIS LANKENAU. Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington St. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
BRONCHO
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH AT 5PM
The new album, Double Vanity, finds the band steadily moving ahead, transforming the raw angst of their early records into a sound decidedly more layered and complex. The album evokes a shared nostalgia, for the past and for the unknown future, as BRONCHO takes a turn off the wide freeways and into a world of intimate, intricate—but always universal—emotion.
THE LOVELY LOST
Busdriver, Deantoni Parks, Blossom
[NEW OLD SCHOOL] Busdriver’s been around for a while now—it’s been 15 years since the release of the L.A. rapper’s first album—but that doesn’t mean he’s run out of ways to get weird. He’s still got a highly distinct, arty diction, and on the two mixtapes he’s put out in the last year, he mixes everything from syncopated synthesizers to coffee-shop acoustic guitars. Portland’s Blossom isn’t afraid to layer on the unexpected, either. She’s at her most powerful when she keeps things slow, and matches her smooth voice with spacy, almost psychedelic production. Both Busdriver and Blossom have the rare ability to appease rap and R&B traditionalists while still pushing the boundaries of their respective genres, making this an ideal pairing. SHANNON
SUNDAY, AUGUST 28TH AT 5PM
Catch the Lovely Lost on stage, and you’ll see a rock band there to make your hips do all the things they want to do. Between the melodic, textured flirtation of bass and drums, the potent guitar dynamics, and the lush vocal harmonies, there’s no question about it: you’re going to cheer, and you’re going to dance.
DAWES
TUESDAY, AUGUST 30TH AT 6PM
Pre-buy the new album to guarantee admission!
Dawes’ highly anticipated new album ‘We’re All Gonna Die’ will be released September 16 via the band’s own HUB Records. Of the album, Taylor Goldsmith (guitar, vocals) explains, “Pretty much every song on this record explores a difficult situation and tries to find a way to find the good in it, or at least remind yourself that it’s not always that big of a deal. After all, as scary as it is, we are all gonna die.”
CONT. on page 42
PREVIEW COURTESY OF BANKSANDSTEELZ.COM
[SONGWRITER SAMPLER] The venerable Portland church-turned-concert hall inaugurates its new monthly songwriter series with a showcase of veteran rootsy singer-songwriters. Recently reunited Blaster brothers Dave and Phil Alvin pair gritty songwriting with an incomparable voice, while quintessential Texas songwriter Butch Hancock is what might have happened had Bob Dylan been born in Lubbock and moved to Austin. A member of a distinguished musical family, Austin fixture Eliza Gilkyson has been covered by Tom Rush, Rosanne Cash and many others. And after starring for years with Austin’s Asleep at the Wheel, steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar returned to her native New York and worked with stars like Van Morrison and Ryan Adams. BRETT CAMPBELL. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave. 7:30 pm. $30 advance, $35 day of show. All ages.
DREAMERS
phy and sociopolitical observations— form the basis of his first post-release project, Gangsta Jazz Vol. 2, which affixes his smooth baritone to crackling jazz loops. And while the rap world at large has changed several times over since he’s been away, his voice remains as authoritative as ever. MATTHEW SINGER. Future Shock, 1914 E Burnside St. 5 pm. Free. All ages.
Banks & Steelz [HIP-POP] A collaborative effort by the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and Interpol’s Paul Banks, Banks & Steelz meld two of the music world’s most easily identifiable voices into something new and interesting—if probably a decade late for massive mainstream success. The duo, whose debut album, Anything But Words, three years in the making, hits worldwide just a day after they bless the Doug Fir Lounge with their presence, complement each other sonically. RZA’s intense and rhythmic verses strut confidently between typically post-apocalyptic choruses from Banks, creating a soundscape that is surprisingly modern and quite easy to digest. Beats run the gamut from somewhattired alt-rock chic to more driving modern fare, with cuts like an already-released single called “Giant” that actually hits so hard it could fit easily onto the next Run the Jewels record. This pair may never top classics like 36 Chambers or Antics, but given their separate histories of banging live shows, they’re definitely worth seeing in a such a small room. PARKER HALL. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 8 pm Thursday, Aug. 25. $28 advance, $30 day of show.
a
3 20% off all regularly priced new & used vinyl
Wednesday, August 24th through Sunday, August 28th offer may not be combined with any other offers, promotions, sales or discounts
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
39
MUSIC
C H R I S TA L A N G É L I Q U E
PROFILE
Y La Bamba For some, September will mark the end of a vanishing act. Portland’s much-admired Latin-folk act Y La Bamba will release its first full-length in more than four years—a deeply personal record called Ojos del Sol. It’s music to the patient ears of frontwoman Luz Elena Mendoza’s many fans. But in terms of the evolution that took place within that window, it’s really a flash in time. Mendoza did not flee to India for spiritual awakening during this stretch, nor hide in a cave with just her thoughts for company. The artist has kept plenty busy, playing in both Tiburones and Los Hijos de la Montaña, a band co-fronted by Calexico’s Sergio Mendoza. She’s a city fixture, immediately recognizable with her long frame and lengthy, silver-tinged locks, who pops up frequently at shows. “I’m celebrating this other part of myself,” Mendoza says of the forthcoming record. “Everyone grows, we’re all growing, and now I’m awake to that.” She speaks quickly, with palpable excitement—the hurried words of somebody saturated with ideas. She refers to life in the band several years ago as “habitual,” which might as well have been an eternity ago, as her tone is as confident and self-aware as the new album itself. No single event sparked her newfound philosophy of listening to herself and honoring whatever it is that can be heard there. She mentions family, and the ups and downs of being a woman in the industry. Much of the growth is natural. Mendoza is not the 24-year-old body piercer questioning her Catholic upbringing she was a decade ago, listening obsessively to Devendra Banhart. The freak-folk musician was about Mendoza’s age and shared a love and aptitude for visual art, and his experimental sound would help nudge her north from quiet Southern Oregon to bustling Portland. Y La Bamba would form a few years later, a clever combination of the folk revivalism prevalent at the time and Mendoza’s own Mexican roots. Her articulate vocals played alongside sunny guitar work and the bouncy riffs and handclaps of traditional Latin music. Those tired of the New Americana played by the likes of Blitzen Trapper and the Lumineers found relief in Y La Bamba’s bright fusion, and the band’s two records issued via Tender Loving Empire were widely praised. Ojos del Sol finds Mendoza at her most open and personal yet, offering an honest examination of herself and looming sociopolitical strife set to a familiar combination of stripped-down folk and giddy rock with South American rhythmic underpinnings. It offers the highs and lows of the human condition, often all the more musical thanks to Mendoza’s vocal inflection and Spanish-language lyrics. There is fear in producing something so near and dear, but also sweet relief. “I am using vulnerability as a teacher,” she says, “not a monster.” MARK STOCK. One of Portland’s most beloved folk acts returns, with a familiar sound and newfound confidence.
SEE IT: Ya La Bamba plays Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., No. 110, with Orquestra Pacifico Tropical and Haley Heynderickx, on Friday, Aug. 26. 8 pm. $15. 21+. 40
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
41
MUSIC
COURTESY OF LIBRETTO
DATES HERE
ON SA LE FR IDAY
HEADHUNTER: Libretto plays Future Shock on Friday, Aug. 26.
W/FrAnciS & the lightS
FridAy OctOber 28 • theAter OF the clOudS • 8pm • All AgeS
GORMLEY. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 9 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of show. 21+.
Festicide III: Outside the Fence
[NOT MFNWPPP] Eolian Empire’s three-day festival is a drunk and deranged monster designed to do battle with Project Pabst. With 11 shows held in North and Northeast Portland’s best punk-friendly venues, Festicide III provides a space for the nasty stuff that would live in basements if weirdos could still afford houses. You can’t go wrong with anything on the schedule, but High Water Mark’s Friday night pairing of death-rock doom-monger Atriarch and grind goofball JonnyX and the Groadies is essential, while Saturday’s hardcore matinee at Blackwater will give mutants of all ages a chance to catch Long Knife, Rabbits and Pressing On. Keep Portland scared. CHRIS STAMM. Multiple venues. Through Sunday, Aug. 28. $5. All ages and 21+.
Riff Raff, Trill Sammy, Dice Soho, DollaBillGates
ALice cooper SAturdAy OctOber 22 • Keller AuditOrium • 8pm
[REBIRTH OF AN ICON] Riff Raff refuses to be a gimmick. His early years as cloud rap’s court jester— a weirdo who blended doses of Paul Wall and Main Attrakionz to oftentimes incredible effect— seemed to come to an end with 2014’s underwhelming Neon Icon, an album that didn’t quite land the jump to superstardom. Instead of doubling down, this year’s Peach Panther goes back to the drawing board with a fresh take rooted in the mid-2000s’ Swishahouse sound. As strange as it seems, Riff Raff has grown up. WALKER MACMURDO. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave. 9 pm. $20. 21+.
Love Cop, Pastel Felt, Two Moons, Haste
[HOOD GOTH] It makes sense if most in the Pacific Northwest are unfamiliar with the genre of “hood goth”—blame the lack of actual “hoods” and the wealth of McMansions and brewpubs. But Portland band Love Cop somewhat birthed the category, mixing dark, industrial-pop beats with cheeky lyrics and a “zero fucks given” attitude. Haste and L.A.’s Pastel Felt offer a dreamy, contrasting tenderness to the bill, which is rounded out by the emotional heaviness and rich guitar work of Two Moons. CERVANTE POPE. Turn! Turn! Turn!, 8 NE Killingsworth St. 8 pm. $5. 21+.
SATURDAY, AUG. 27 OctOber 25 • Keller AuditOrium • 8pm 42
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Bell Witch, Muscle and Marrow, Zirakzigil, John Haughm
[MAXIMUM DOOM] Holy fuck, this is going to be a heavy show.
Each Bell Witch song is an endless odyssey through often gratingly minimalistic metal—both good things, in case you weren’t sure. Muscle and Marrow isn’t afraid to plunge into some seriously dark and dirgy depths, either. Love, the duo’s sophomore album, is an ambient yet intense record on which the band blends everything from synthesizer loops to creepy chanting into its sound. Their respective approaches may be very different, but both bands prove that, done right, the most minimal setups can produce the heaviest music. SHANNON GORMLEY. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Guided by Voices, Summer Cannibals
[BOOZE ROCK] The club never really closes for Robert Pollard. Part genius, part madman workaholic and full-on lush, the leader of indie-rock institution Guided by Voices has released something like 400 albums under the moniker (OK, it’s actually closer to 23), plus countless records and EPs under various other weird names. Pollard has written some of the best rock songs of all time, full stop—”Game of Pricks,” “A Salty Salute,” I could go on—and some total clunkers, but what you really need to know is that GBV are power-pop gods and also a ridiculously fun live band. This new version features old MFNW favorite Bobby Bare Jr. on guitar, but ultimately it doesn’t really matter who is playing with Pollard as long as he’s clutching that bottle of Jose Cuervo and you’re slamming a few cold ones (PBR this year!) and shouting “GBV! GBV!” at the top of your lungs. MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 9:30 pm. $25 advance, $30 day of show. 21+.
Hillstomp, Underwhelming Favorites, Pretty Gritty
[THE O-KEYS] Even though the local duo may look like another pared-down guitar-percussive pairing, the snarling blues riffs of Hillstomp’s Henry Hill Kammerer and double- (triple-? quadruple-?) barreled assault of John “Lord Buckets” Johnson’s ramshackle drum kit approximate the shitkicker maelstrom of a packed road house set to flames. On albums like 2014’s fifth full-length Portland, Ore., Hillstomp expands its sonic framework somewhat—lowering tempos on newfangled murder ballads to better exploit traditionalist vocals steeped in a keening Appalachiana—but these live shows remain hell-for-leather hootenannies far more than the sum of their parts. JAY HORTON. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 9 pm. $15. 21+.
And And And, Souvenir Driver, Rilla, Grand Lake Islands
[NW ROCK] Portland lifers And And And crafted one of the best local records of 2015 in the ironically-named The Failure, a bracing blend of fist-clenching percussion and searing guitar work. The quintet borrows from a lot of regional greats, from Built to Spill to Aan. The songs are sobering, and there’s the slightest countrified bend in sound just to keep your ears interested. MARK STOCK. Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington St. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
David Bazan, Michael Nau
here. The Last Artful Dodgr has been leading the Portland hip-hop scene with her melodic raps and a voice that’s both chameleonic and distinct. She can transform from nasally and soulful to hardhitting and aggro in a matter of seconds. That’s not to dismiss Shy Girls, though. Producer Dan Vidmar makes some seriously smooth bedroom pop, and his recent single “I Am Only a Man” is a lesson in anthemic yet atmospheric songwriting. SHANNON GORMLEY. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. 8:30 pm. $5 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
Peter Bjorn and John, Bayonne, Jay Som
[DARK WAVE] Former Pedro the Lion mastermind David Bazan has always been a conflicted theologian. Though initially outspoken about his faith, he evolved into a much more interesting artist when he suffered a crisis of said faith. On both LPs under his Christian name, Curse Your Branches and Strange Negotiations, Bazan reimagines the dark, dangerous themes he previously set to morose, guitar-driven indie rock with a sinister electronic aesthetic reminiscent of Ben Gibbard’s Postal Service, if Gibbard’s beatmaker were Trent Reznor. His lyrical approach is less narrative than Pedro’s concept albums, but it still induces an ennui deep enough for listeners to consider a higher power. CRIS LANKENAU. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave. 10 pm. $20. 21+.
[AUDACIOUS SWEDES] Peter Bjorn and John will probably always be remembered as the band that released “that one whistling song”— aka “Young Folks”—in the summer of ’06. The trio has spent the past four albums chasing that acclaim without replicating the sound, and been successful, to a degree. With its latest, Breakin’ Point, it enlisted a host of decorated producers for an LP as polished and hook-tastic as anything in the ABBA discography, though it comes off as a collection of lovelorn singles rather than a singular statement. The band has the prowess, yet it’s lost some of their urgency in its attempt to chart against today’s mainstream pop. Call it writer’s block, if you will. BRANDON WIDDER. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., No. 110. 9 pm. $20. 21+.
Belly
CLASSICAL, JAZZ & WORLD
[DREAM POP OF THE ’90S] Never as palpably urgent as the Breeders nor artfully weird like Throwing Muses, Belly always felt more like a well-timed, smoothly executed afterthought thrown together during the lag between Tanya Donnelly’s important projects. If anything, the sudden success of 1993 debut Star, further weakened the band’s critical legacy, and once the New England quartet’s sophomore LP hadn’t a single to match the brisk hysteria of alt-radio mainstay “Feed the Tree,” their frontwoman closed shop, got married, and re-emerged years later as a doula. Reunited on an evident lark after more than two decades, the nudging-bubblegrunge trappings of a smallish songbook shouldn’t lure many converts aware of the group only as footnote to the legends of Kristin Hersh and Kim Deal. But the flirtatious diffidence of Donnelly proved far more influential. JAY HORTON. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., No. 110. 8 pm. $30 advance, $35 day of show. 21+.
Minus the Bear, This Will Destroy You
[MATH ROCK] It’s been a minute since we last heard anything from Seattle math-rock quartet Minus the Bear—though its last LP, 2012’s Infinity Overhead, was dense and rewarding enough to hold up after several revisits. Expertly crafted off-time hooks, rhythm-section synergy most musicians can only dream of, and a singer who sort of sounds like indie rock’s answer to Seal all combine to make the smartest answer to OK Computer-era Radiohead that the Northwest can conjure. Consider how many other indie bands are as unanimously adored by some of the most arrogant people alive: Guitar Center clerks. Do you need any more of an endorsement? CRIS LANKENAU. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St. 8:30 pm. $25 advance, $30 day of show. All ages.
SUNDAY, AUG. 28 Shy Girls, the Last Artful Dodgr, My Body
[NOT-SO-HIDDEN GEM] It’s not uncommon for the headliner to be a safe bet instead of the most compelling artist, and that’s case
Kailash Kher and Kailasa
[INDIAN POP] Kailash Kher is a bona fide pop-music star in India, with hit albums on Sony and hundreds of songs appearing in more than 100 Bollywood movies. The charismatic 43-year-old singer’s soaring tenor, which he applies to pop as well as sacred styles, sometimes approaches the power of one of his idols, the legendary Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. His band, Kailasa, seamlessly weaves traditional Indian instruments with Western guitars, keyboards, drums and more. Whether he’s singing Western-style power ballads, Sufi devotional music, Bollywood dance numbers, folk tunes or rockers, Kher knows how to rouse a crowd. BRETT CAMPBELL. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway. 7 pm Saturday, Aug. 27. $40-$100. All ages.
Omara Portuondo and Eliades Ochoa
[HASTA LA BUENA VISTA] Buena Vista Social Club may have closed its doors after last year’s 20thanniversary “Adios Tour,” but two of its stalwarts continue to deliver the mambo, cha cha cha, son and other Afro-Caribbean music, as well as the feel-good redemption story that fueled the old-school Cuban musicians’ late-career success. Both have been performing professionally since childhood—which in the case of 85-year-old jazz singer Omara Portuondo, means 70 years—unlike other Buena Vistans who emerged from long retirements. The always-cowboy-hatted Eliades Ochoa joined Grupo Patria in the 1970s, and the group has continually added new rhythms and other features to the traditional son foundation. The band he’ll bring to the zoo (including trumpets and piano) features young musicians from his native Santiago de Cuba. The two legends will perform separately with their own bands, and together. BRETT CAMPBELL. Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Road. 7 pm Sunday, Aug. 28. $32.50-$92.50. All ages.
For more Music listings, visit Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
43
44
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
MUSIC CALENDAR WED. AUG. 24 Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St Carissa Johnson, Jessa Graves
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Hustle and Drone, Eclisse, Cambrian Explosion
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale Josh Groban
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd. Pouya: Underground Underdog Tour
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. We Take Holocene IV: Raz Simone, Glenn Waco, Cassow, ROBy
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Christopher Brown Quartet; Mel Brown Quartet
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Suppperclub
LaurelThirst Public House
2958 NE Glisan St Fernando Trio, Jay Sousa; Anita Margarita & the Rattlesnakes
Leaven Community Center 5431 NE 20th Ave. TABUHASI Quartet
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave Tallulah’s Daddy
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Audacity, Mean Jeans, VHS
Nonna
5513 NE 30th Ave, Single Malt Trio (members of Pink Martini)
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave. Primal, Deya Dova, Yaima, Entheo
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Walk On Army, Virtual Zero
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. DBMB (Dr. Boctor’s Medicine Band) / Millstone Grit / Vox Polaris / Gamayun / Cotton Ships
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St Shafty
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St, Naked Hour, Cool American
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave Tyson Motsenbocker with guest Zealyn, Kris Orlowski, and Judah Akers; Marlise Stroebe
THURS. AUG. 25 Alberta Rose
3000 NE Alberta St Darrell Scott
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St The Desolate, Sabateur, Valiant Bastards, Entoxikutioner, Tiffany Greysen
Black Water Bar
835 NE Broadway Critical Resistance Benefit: Aradia, Sillkeeper, Anna Vo
[AUG. 24-30]
For more listings, check out wweek.com.
LAST WEEK LIVE Bossanova Ballroom
E M I LY j O A N g R E E N E
= 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.
722 E Burnside St. Get Dead , My Life In Black & White + The Brass
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. Death Songs, Nathan Baumgartner, Christopher Francis
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Banks & Steelz
2958 NE Glisan St Pagan Jug Band; Freak Mountain Ramblers
6800 NE MLK Ave Pears, Direct Hit, Lee Corey Oswald
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave Hungry Hungry Hip Hop Showcase; Lazy Champions
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Samara Lubelski & Marcia Bassett, Tenses, The Lavender Flu, Grouper
Oregon Zoo
4001 SW Canyon Rd. Omara Portuondo and Eliades Ochoa
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Mel Brown B3 Organ Group; Chance Hayden
Panic Room
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Hobbs Angel Of Death / Weregoat / Raptor
Kelly’s Olympian
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave Sindri Eldon & The Ways
Mother Foucault’s
523 SE Morrison St Sean Croghan, Common Starling, Brandi Katherine Herrera, Liz Mehl
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 Se 7th Ave. The Horsenecks
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave. Clan of Xymox, Soft Kill, Cemetary, Body of Light, Spectres
Sunlight Supply Amphitheater
17200 NE Delfel Rd., Ridgefield, Wash. Journey
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St Tommy Alexander, Dunnoy, Django Koenig
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave Dave Alvin, Phil Alvin, Eliza Gilkyson, Butch Hancock, Rick Shea, Christy McWilson and Cindy Cashdollar
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St Thursday Swing! Featuring The Pepper Grinders feat. Ralph Carney, Stumptown Swing
Valentines
232 SW Ankeny St Val Bauer with Amelie Prime
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Mic Check: HANiF., Stewart Villain, Karma Rivera
FRI. AUG. 26 Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave Bonfire: A Tribute To The Music Of AC/DC
Alberta Rose
3000 NE Alberta St
2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale Steve Miller Band
LaurelThirst Public House
High Water Mark Lounge
2958 NE Glisan St Lewi & the Left Coast Roasters; Chris Lazarek / Yonder Blue / Blind J. Wakins
Edgefield
1001 SE Morrison St. MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: Shy Girls, The Last Artful Dodgr, My Body
1332 W Burnside St Digable Planets
LaurelThirst Public House
1665 SE Bybee Blvd Terry Robb
Holocene
Crystal Ballroom
426 SW Washington St. Dizzy Bats, Matt Jaffe & the Distractions, Being a Living Thing
SUN. AUG. 28 Corkscrew
COMPLIMENTS TO THE BAND: If you like a band long enough without seeing it live, it’s natural to get a little apprehensive about a letdown. Like, if you didn’t see Arctic Monkeys early, maybe just don’t. And so it was that I entered the sold-out Band of Horses show at Edgefield on Aug. 19 somewhat tepidly, having loved the band’s soothing country-rock stylings for nearly a decade, and with sincere concern about how much singer Ben Bridwell’s echo-twang owes to ProTools and whether Ryan Monroe’s rangy backing harmonies could be delivered with the same unobtrusive rigor you get on tape. It was “Compliments” that finally set me fully at ease—just enough twitchiness on the guitars, perfect timing from Monroe’s backing vocals. The big knock on Bridwell’s band is that it’s got a formula, and that if you own one record you own them all. I’ve always used Band of Horses as a sedative, which makes its steadiness a virtue. And so they were live: practiced, precise and reassuringly predictable. Bridwell even dispensed with the tiny twinge of suspense that accompanies a band’s first disappearance from the stage, introducing his final pre-encore offering as “our fake last song.” Band of Horses truly is the Segway PT of rock, and God bless them for it. MARTIN CIZMAR.
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St #110 MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: Peter Bjorn and John, Bayonne, Jay Som
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave Zakk Wylde, Otherwise, Jared James Nichols
Tom McCall W aterfront Park
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park, SW Harrison St and NW Glisan St MusicFest NW Presents Project Pabst
The Secret Society Jerry Joseph
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: Pinkish Black, Hot Victory, Motrik, Demon Familiar
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: Real Estate, Potty Mouth, Divers (in Lola’s Room)
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Berahmand, Goldfoot, The Adio Sequence
Duff’s Garage
2530 NE 82nd Ave Johnny Boyd
Esther Short Park
415 W 6th St., Vancouver, WA Vancouver Wine and Jazz Festival
Future Shock
1914 E Burnside St. Libretto, Mic Crenshaw, Theory Hazit (beat set), Jon Belz, DJ Ozroc
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd. Accüsed AD, Wehrmacht
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Ty Curtis Band
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Candace, Talkative, Adventure Galley, Pony Village
LaurelThirst Public House
2958 NE Glisan St Lynn Conover & Little Sue; Dead Men Talking / Mask & Morrow / Primary Structures
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave Kris Deelane & The Hurt; Thumper
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Busdriver, Deantoni Parks, Blossom
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St #110 Y La Bamba, Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, Haley Heynderickx
Pete Krebs and his Portland Playboys; The Lovely Lost
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Love Cop, Pastel Felt, Two Moons, Haste
Twilight Cafe and Bar
1420 SE Powell A Collective Subconscious, Die Like Gentlemen, Heavÿ Baäng Stäang
Roseland Theater
Valentines
Skyline Tavern
White Eagle Saloon
8 NW 6th Ave RiFF RAFF- The Peach Panther Tour 8031 NW Skyline Blvd Hollerbodies
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave. Clan of Xymox, Vice Device, Soft Kill, All Your Sisters, The Bellicose Minds
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Turnover, Triathalon; Dr. Amazon
The Firkin Tavern
1937 SE 11th Ave Giant Bug Village, Wicked Shallows, Forest Beutel
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St The Ballantynes, Hurry Up, Paradise
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St, Frankie and The Witch Fingers
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave Brian Cutean & Friends
The Secret Society 116 NE Russell St
232 SW Ankeny St Kirt Debique, Cherry Mint Video DJs 836 N Russell St JT Wise Band
SAT. AUG. 27 Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway Kailash Kher and Kailasa
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: Bell Witch, Muscle and Marrow, Zirakzigil, John Haughm
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: Guided by Voices, Summer Cannibals
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: Hillstomp, Underwhelming Favorites, Pretty Gritty
Duff’s Garage
2530 NE 82nd Ave Big Monti, Rae Gordon
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd. Prelude To A Pistol; The Living End
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Philly’s Phunkestra & Bridgetown Brass
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: And And And, Souvenir Driver, Rilla, Grand Lake Islands
LaurelThirst Public House
2958 NE Glisan St Gold Dust; Billy Kennedy (all ages); The Yellers
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave David Lane & the Tipsy Ramblers
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst: David Bazan, Michael Nau
Panic Room
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Jock Club / Somali Extract/ Memorymann/ Voight/ Spirit Host
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St #110 Belly
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave. Floater
Sunlight Supply Amphitheater
17200 NE Delfel Rd., Ridgefield, WA Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Cheap Trick
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. After Nations, Oceanside Static, Vibrissae
The Firkin Tavern
1937 SE 11th Ave When We Met, Hot Mess NW
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St Garcia Birthday Band
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Hex RX (concert video shoot); NOLONGERHUMAN
The O’Neil Public House
6000 NE Glisan St. Texadrine (Andrew Orr, Billy Kennedy, Tim Acott, & Jessie Spero)
The Secret Society 116 NE Russell St Get Rhythm
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St Strange and the Familiars; The Colin Trio, Karyn Ann
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park, SW Harrison St and NW Glisan St MusicFest NW Presents Project Pabst
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Foreign Talks
Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St. Minus the Bear, This Will Destroy You
116 NE Russell St Molly’s Revenge, 3 Leg Torso
MON. AUG. 29 Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St Dwight Church, Dwight Dickinson
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Dan Balmer Trio
LaurelThirst Public House 2958 NE Glisan St Kung Pao Chickens; Portland Country Underground
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave Mr. Ben
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St Happy Diving, Lubec, The Wild Body, Broodmare
TUES. AUG. 30 Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. AJAM; Mel Brown Septet
LaurelThirst Public House 2958 NE Glisan St Jackstraw; Rainbow Acoustic
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave Chasing Ebenezer
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St The Tim Version, Dead Bars, Carrion Spring, Phantom Family
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St, Melt, VCR, Ah God, EBT BBQ
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
45
MUSIC courTeSy of DJ AurorA
NEEDLE EXCHANGE
DJ Aurora Years DJing: Eight. Genre: Goth, industrial, dark wave, dance, hip-hop, everything in between. Where you can catch me regularly: Hive, Sundays at the Star Theater; Bones at Lovecraft, every fourth and fifth Tuesday; Pants Off/Dance Off: A Naked Dance Party at Crush, every first Saturday; Death of Glitter at Crush, every second Saturday. Craziest gig: I love DJing fetish nights. Crazy, naughty fun and beat-matching people whipping each other is actually challenging to DJs at times. My go-to records: Anything from TR/ST; Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill”; Depeche Mode, “Master and Servant”; Cosmetics, “Black Leather Gloves.” Don’t ever ask me to play…: Someone actually offered 20 bucks to play Nickelback one time. I declined. NEXT GIG: DJ Aurora spins at Hive at Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., with DJs Skully and Tar Man Dan, on Sunday, Aug. 28. 9 pm. 21+.
The Embers Avenue 100 NW Broadway Thursday Electronic
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St, Wake The Town
WED. AUG. 24 Beech Street Parlor 412 NE Beech Street Arya Imig
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. TRONix (electronica)
Panic Room
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Wicked Wednesday: Open Turntable Night
The Embers Avenue 100 NW Broadway Knochen Tanz
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Event Horizon (darkwave, industrial, synthpop)
ThURS. AUG. 25 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Deep Space (garage & soul)
46
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
Euphoria Nightclub 315 SE 3rd Ave MSTRKRFT, Woolymammoth
Fifth Avenue Lounge 125 NW 5th Avenue Juice! w/ Lenzman
Gold Dust Meridian
3267 SE Hawthorne Blvd. DJ Mod Fodder
Killingsworth Dynasty 832 N Killingsworth St Zero Wave Presents
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Ave. Benjamin
Panic Room
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Tetsuo House Call Techno Takeover 6.0
Quarterworld
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd DJ Mama Oven (new wave, dark wave)
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Shadowplay (goth, industrial, darkwave)
FRI. AUG. 26 Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave The Cave (rap)
Club 21
2035 NE Glisan St. DJ Green Fuzz
Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Cooky Parker (music for dance)
Euphoria Nightclub
315 SE 3rd Ave DJ 4B, Hal-V & Spacecase, Night City
Gold Dust Meridian
3267 SE Hawthorne Blvd. DJ Bad Wizard
holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Snap! ‘90s Dance Party
Where to drink this week.
THOMAS TEAL
BAR REVIEW
1.
Angel Face
14 NE 28th Ave., 503-239-3804, angelfaceportland.com. Angel Face has gone through a few phases, but lately the pretty little Laurelhurst bar has rounded into an elegant cocktail spot for the industry and smart set who know what they want to drink without aid of a cocktail menu.
2.
Ardor
1006 N Killingsworth St., 503-852-1125, ardornaturalwines.com. Ardor’s array of natural wine pours—popping up funnily inside Red E Cafe at night—can seriously only be found at, like, Four Horsemen in New York and in Paris, France. Enjoy.
3.
Century
930 SE Sandy Blvd., centurybarpdx.com. Century is the sports bar with the best hair in all of Portland, and also the best shirts and pants, the best roof, and the best late-hours nightclub.
4.
Craft Pour House
16055 SW Regatta Lane, No. 700, Beaverton, 503-747-5864, craftpourhouse.com. Well, hold the goddamn phone. Craft Pour House might be Beaverton’s first true nerd-out, beer-geek bar—with great, weird and interesting brews.
5.
Loon
2865 SE Division St., 503-477-9470, loonpdx.com. Neighborhood bar Loon has turned into an unlikely Division Street home for live music that might’ve once hit Eugenio’s—with a pretty decent pint glass of sangria for $7.
Killingsworth Dynasty 832 N Killingsworth St Twerk
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Ave. Monkeytek & Friends (jamaican)
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave The Get Down
Star Bar
WURSTFEST: I am remembering the good times I have had at the sausage houses and gardens of München. The whole family sat out in the sunshine with blooms in the gardens and drank great steins of beer while drunken children would play and, sometimes, vomit. And so I was looking forward very much to the new Occidental Wursthaus (6635 N Baltimore Ave., 503-719-7102) in St. Johns. The German-style brewery across the parking lot has made a bar upstairs with a balcony view of the iconic bridge. I say “Prost!” to that, heartily. But imagine my surprise to find Bavarian-style white sausages from cleverly rhyming sausage-maker “Urban German” served even after noon. Can you imagine it? Were I eating that morning sausage in afternoons in Bavaria, every person would laugh at me. “Then you will lose your hair!” they would say. And the white-poached sausages were all sliced up, denying me the satisfying ritual of carving them out of their intestines with a knife. But I do like the Urban German bratwurst and the wonderful house-made mustards, even if the traditional-made pretzel came out a little dry this time. And even on a hot day, the dark Occidental beer was balanced, malty and nice. The “Hopfenweizen” had me confused, though. What is that? It was hoppy and sharp. Where are the beer-garden radlers of my youth, with lemon soda mixed in with the lager? Or the refreshing Russians mixing hefeweizen with sparkling lemon? But still I will say: It is a very nice patio for bratwurst, and a warm feeling in the pub, even when none of the children are drunk. And the view of the St. Johns Bridge and the river is one of my favorite views in town. MATTHIAS KORFHAGE. Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Freaky Outty (floor fillers)
East Burn
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Black Mass (goth dance)
Valentines
Club 21
1800 E Burnside St. Soulsa! (latin fusion)
Holocene
The Embers Avenue
Killingsworth Dynasty
The Goodfoot
832 N Killingsworth St Dynasty a Go-Go! (mod, soul, garage, british invasion)
The Lovecraft Bar
3967 N. Mississippi Ave. Lamar Leroy
421 SE Grand Ave Club Kai Kai
SAT. AUG. 27 Bossanova Ballroom
722 E Burnside St. Inferno w/ DJ Lady Jane
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St 80s Video Dance Attack: New Wave Edition
511 NW Couch St. Reagan-o-mix (new wave, hip-hop, soundtrack)
3341 SE Belmont St, Booms and Claps (bass music)
2002 SE Division St. DJ King Fader
639 SE Morrison St. DJ Truhn Juice
2845 SE Stark St Soul Stew (funk, soul, disco)
The Liquor Store
Ground Kontrol
Double Barrel Tavern
1001 SE Morrison St. Main Squeeze Dance Party (house, techno, disco)
100 NW Broadway Friday Night 80’s & Top 40
ANDAZ Bhangra Bollywood Dance Party
Moloko
Quarterworld
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd ElecTRON DanseArcade
Sandy Hut
1430 NE Sandy Blvd. DJ Over Cöl
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. Rebels Rule
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
421 SE Grand Ave Electronomicon (goth, industrial)
232 SW Ankeny St Quaz (old school r&b dance grooves)
SUN. AUG. 28 The Embers Avenue
100 NW Broadway Latino Night (latin, cubono, salsa)
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Softcore Mutations w/ DJ Acid Rick (new wave, synth, dark, weird, hunkwave)
MON. AUG. 29 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Femme (hip hop, house, rap)
The Lovecraft Bar
TUES. AUG. 30 2035 NE Glisan St. DJ Just Dave
Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Ramophone (post punk, garage)
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Beat of the Earth (world music dance party)
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Party Damage DJs
The Embers Avenue 100 NW Broadway Recycle (dark dance)
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave BONES w/ DJ Aurora & friends (goth, synth)
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
47
Headout P.33
48
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
PERFORMANCE = WW Pick. Highly recommended.
Editor: ENID SPITZ. Theater: ENID SPITZ (espitz@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 Bomb-itty of Errors
Post5 Theatre’s hip-hop adaptation of Shakespeare has national clout. The script was nominated at the Outer Critics Circle Awards and won the Grand Jury Prize at HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Turns out, theater people still like Shakespeare, even when the sonnets are rapped. Imagine The Comedy of Errors, where two sets of twins get delightfully twisted, but with Sellwood’s top actors channeling Yeezy. Post5 Theatre, 1666 SE Lambert St., 971-333-1758. 7:30 pm Friday-Sunday, Aug. 26-Sept. 17. $20.
CoHo Lab: Intimacy// Heaven//Honey
Northwest’s CoHo Theater is a blank black box during the summer, when theater season lulls to a trickle of Shakespeare in the Park. That makes it the perfect incubator for CoHo’s new theater program which lets independent artists rehearse and perform in the space. This week, you’ll be asked to hold hands with a stranger or join the dance in Sascha Blocker’s The Intimacy Project. Then, Heaven or Helen tells the mind-fucking story of a Columbia University psychologist who heard voices. Don’t let the final act scare you away—The Honey of His Music Vows is about “love in the age of text messaging”—these are exciting young artists you’ve seen on stages around Portland, and this is a rare chance to see them take the reins. CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 503-220-2646. 8 pm Sunday, Aug. 28. $10.
Delirious: A Circus Tribute to Prince
Prince is a bedazzled lightning rod for allies, social-justice warriors and performers who enjoy silks. M.F. Motion, a local circus collective, is pairing with Portland’s Q Center and Black Lives Matter PDX for a showcase hosted by Sean Andries of The Circus Project. See steampunk gags from Sir Cupcake and aerial feats from some of Night Flight’s top performers. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 503-4779477. 7:30 pm Wednesday, Aug. 24. $20.
Dido and Aeneas
Inventiveness is not lost on PSU’s collegiate artists. Its Student Opera Association is transporting this opera about two lovers in ancient Carthage to Tunisia circa 1920. Dido, Queen of Carthage, loves and is abandoned by the studly Aeneas, leading to a melodramatic, Baroque opera involving witches and sorcery. The premise is monumental. The venue is legit. The tickets are only $5, so if you like opera, why the hell not go see if these aspiring singers have the pipes for it. Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 SW Park Ave., 7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, Aug. 26-27. $5.
Lucky Infinity
Maybe America should consider switching to a new political system, like the batshit one in this sci-fi musical from Monkey With a Hat On, a proudly batshit local theater company. America’s Got President replaces our current voting system. The entertainment industry takes over politics. The president spends his time chasing the best orgasm ever. Expect weird,
low-budget costumes, uncouth songand-dance numbers and a hell of a good time if you down enough beer from the Clinton’s dive bar. Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 503-238-5588. 8 pm ThursdayFriday and Sunday, Aug 25-28. $5.
ALSO PLAYING The Music Man
Clackamas Repertory Theatre produces the classic musical about a traveling salesman who cons the parents of a small Iowa town into buying his instruments by promising to start a marching band. He plans to skip town before making good on that promise, but when a feisty librarian catches his eye, he decides to stick around for a while. Clackamas Repertory Theatre, 19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City, 503594-6047. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2:30 pm Sunday, through Aug. 28. $10-$18.
COMEDY & VARIETY WEDNESDAY, AUG. 24 The Brody Open Mic
Twice-weekly, Portland’s most prolific improv venue opens its stage to everyone for 3-minute bits. Sign up online day of before 1 pm. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8:30 pm Free.
The Ranger Station Open Mic
Sign ups start at 8 pm for a weekly open mic night hosted by Victor Johnson, set in the whiskey-heavy bar WW once compared to “a Rooseveltera public works cabin.” The Ranger Station, 4260 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 894-8455. 8:30 pm. Free. 21+.
Earthquake Hurricane
Some of WW’s favorite funny Portlanders showcase famous and not-so-famous, local and not-so-local comedians. Hosted by Curtis Cook... no, actually Cook just moved to California last week. But there’s still Alex Falcone, Anthony Lopez and Bri Pruett inside a pretty epic bike shop. Velo Cult Bike Shop, 1969 NE 42nd Ave., 922-2012. 9 pm. Free, $5 suggested donation. 21+.
THURSDAY, AUG. 25 Open Court
This weekly, long-form improv show combines performers from many Portland theaters and troupes. Newbies are welcome and teams are picked at random, then coached by an improv veteran before taking the stage. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 7:30 pm. $5.
Thursday Night Throwdown
Curious’ twice-monthly competition pits teams that apply in advance online against one another for a chance to compete in Friday Night Fights the next week. It’s first come, first served, and every groups gets 17 minutes. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 9:30 pm. Free.
Megan Gailey
Ladylike’s fashionable Girl Next Door, Megan Gailey is known for her light pink pout, cute dresses and being fea-
CONT. on page 51
PREVIEW
A Vicious REM Cycle DANCER ELIZA LARSON TURNS INSOMNIA INTO INSPIRATION IN IN CIRCADIA. BY EN ID SPITZ
espitz@wwek.com
Not sleeping will kill you. Unless, maybe, you flip insomnia on its head like Portland dancer Eliza Larson is doing. Trying to break the world record for time spent awake, a high-schooler in the 1960s lasted 11 days before cognitive deficiencies and hallucinations set in. And people who suffer from a rare genetic disease called “fatal familial insomnia” FALLING ASLEEP: In Circadia dancers. will die if they go untreated. The most famous case lasted six months without sleep. “My insomnia started in graduate school,” dance. The five-part performance has distinct says Larson, who choreographed a sleep-inspired sections, each inspired by a stage of pre-REM dance called In Circadia that debuts this week- or REM sleep. “It’s really…spirally,” says Larson, end. While in grad school, her circadian pattern— who is using dancers with ballet backgrounds but the cycle of sleeping and waking that every living choreographing moves that are inspired by floor thing experiences—got out of sync. This dance techniques from Mazatlan. is her attempt to understand the insomnia that “Everything is allowed,” she says. “Chaos and once horrified her, and it also might have extreme organization.” reset her rhythm. The Flock stage will be filled with Larson had been spending a fast flutters of motion and bright lot of time alone. After leaving light one minute, then slow, conher native Pacific Northwest torting floor work and dim light “WITNESSING for school in Massachusetts, the next. “Anyone who’s ever YOUR BODY she took a solo residency tried to describe a dream to a in Mazatlan, Mexico. Even friend knows that a dream is FALL ASLEEP after she returned to Portonly ever interesting to you,” land, Larson’s main projsays Larson. “When you try to STOPS YOU FROM ect was a long-distance translate a dream into words, dance collective called it becomes flat and uninterFALLING ASLEEP.” Mountain Empire, where esting.” Instead of using words, —Eliza Larson Larson is translating dreams members used Skype or snail into motion and using a process mail to communicate. that sounds a lot like therapy. She “At the end of the day, it’s still asked dancers to keep a dream journal. you in the studio by yourself,” says When the REM section of the dance comes, Larson. “I was really ready to be in the studio with other dancers.” So Larson decided Larson says it is mostly the dancers improvising to turn her traumatic sleeplessness into inspira- based on their own experiences. “Dreams can be so non sequitur. We can be tion. In Circadia marks her return to working with other dancers in person. It is also her first silly, tender, ridiculous,” she says. Larson is dreaming again now. Since she attempt at artistically tackling the insomnia that moved in to a house in Northeast Portland and she says “struck fear into my heart.” “You start to watch yourself fall asleep, and started collaborating again, her insomnia has watching yourself activates your brain, so you stopped. “Dreaming is a sweet space,” Larson says. wake up again,” she says. “It happens for hours and hours. Witnessing your body fall asleep stops SEE IT: In Circadia will be shown as a work you from falling asleep.” in progress at Flock Dance Center, 8371 N For In Circadia, Larson tried to channel the Interstate Ave., Studio 4. 8 pm Saturday, Aug. complex patterns of sleeping and dreaming into 27. $5-$10 sliding scale. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
49
DA N I E L A D DY
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.
willamette week’s
30 BEERS HOME BREWERS PRO BREWERS SATURDAY, 10/15 NOON–6 P.M. bit.ly/FBwwbeerproam
Participating breweries: 54-40 Brewing Baerlic Brewing Breakside Brewery Bridgeport Brewing Burnside Brewing Coalition Brewing Culmination Brewing Dean's Scene Drinking Horse Beer Ecliptic Brewing Ex Novo Fat Heads Feckin Fort George Great Notion
50
Laurelwood Lompoc McMenamins Edgefield Montavilla Ordnance Pints Rogue Stung Swift Cider Trusty Brewing Unicorn Brewing Uptown Market Vanguard Widmer Zoiglhaus
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
sponsors: Zythos Project Muv Training Green Mountain Energy Wailua Sasquatch Sauces Brewvana Good IV Krave Jerky
Bailey's Taproom Ground Kontrol Nature Commode Girls Pint Out DJ Short Change Digital Pour Usnaps
C O U R T E S Y O F PAT R I C K WA L S H
PERFORMANCE
THE BOMB-ITTY OF ERRORS tured in Marie Claire magazine. Just don’t confuse her with Becky. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 8 pm. $15. 21+.
Supernova
Brody’s students showcase their improv, sketch and standup skills— a different class each week. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 7:30 pm. $5.
All Mic’d Up
You can laugh at women trying to get a professional job with equal pay, or you can laugh for them. Equal Mics, the open-mic show that guarantees a 1:1 ratio, is putting on a curated showcase with locals like Becky Braunstein, Daniel Martin Austin, Kate Murphy and Brandon Lyons. All proceeds go to Dress For Success Oregon, which is doing its best to shatter that glass. Turn Turn Turn, 8 NE Killingsworth St., 9 pm. $3-$7. 21+.
Eric André
The Adult Swim alum who stole Alex Jones’ spotlight at the RNC and showed up wearing an American flag halter dress is bringing his patriotism and punk-rock comedy to Portland. It’s the naked comedy that made T.I. ditch The Eric Andre Show. He’s polarizing, he’s “Blewish—Black and Jewish,” and he’s not likely to re-enact singing a Seal song while getting a rectal examination. You’ll have to Google that one. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 503-284-8686. 9 pm. Sold out. 21+.
FRIDAY, AUG. 26 Al’s Den Comedy Night
A late night weekend showcase of comics, mostly local stand-up comedians and Seattleites passing through. Sometimes the best part is watching Crystal Hotel guests awkwardly sidle by the stage, wearing only a swimsuit and towel, on their way to the pool behind this basement bar. Al’s Den, 303 SW 12th Ave., 10:30 pm Friday. Free. 21+.
Comic Strip
Portland’s best stripper comedian, Wendy Weiss, challenges the stereotype that women can’t be funny and hot. This recurring show mixes her passions, making comics take off their clothes while they try to make people laugh. She rings a bell eery few minutes, signaling it’s time for the comic to take off an article of clothing. They usually only get as far as their skivvies. Funhouse Lounge, 2432 SE 11th Ave., 503309-3723. 10 pm. $8. 21+.
Norm Macdonald
The self-proclaimed “perennial favorite,” known for starring on The Drew Carey Show and in Billy Madison, is back. You can only buy tickets online. While you’re at it, check out his live Tweet commentary of recent Olympic golfing. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 7:30 pm and 10 pm Friday-Saturday, 7 pm and 9:15 pm Sunday, Aug. 26-28. $33. 21+.
Lez Stand Up Summer Showcase
Everyone knows that summer is the best season for lesbianism. You too can join the fun at this special summer show with guest Bri Pruett and host Kirsten Kuppenbender, who should not be confused with the other funny, short-haired blonde, Caitlin Weierhauser. WW readers awarded the Lez gals Best Comedy Night in this year’s Best of Portland poll, and Bri won Best Comedian, so this’ll be a hot one. The Siren Theater, 315 NW Davis St., 8 pm. $10.
SUNDAY, AUG. 28 Sunday School
Workshop students, veteran crews and groups that pre-register online perform long form improv every Sunday. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 6 pm. $5 suggested donation.
Curious Comedy Open Mic
Sign up start at 7:15, and every comic gets a tight three minutes onstage in this weekly show hosted by Andie Main. Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 8 pm. Free.
For more Performance listings, visit Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
51
VISUAL ARTS = WW Pick. Highly recommended. By JENNIFER RABIN. 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: espitz@wweek.com.
pot lander N E W S L E T T E R
Certain mediums in art are commonly gendered as female, and they tend to be more craft-based or functional in nature. Women are great at making quilts and throwing pots! In a joint show, Amanda Leigh Evans and Anastasia Greer play with these forms and with our preconceived notions of them. Evans’ small-scale, minimal ceramic sculptures are delicately hand-built, consisting of far more negative space than positive space, but they convey great sturdiness. The pieces echo functionality, as though constructed out of nothing but handles with which to pick them up and use them, but they serve no purpose other than an aesthetic one. Greer uses the traditional gridded patterns from quilting, but mounts her sewn fabric onto rigid substrates, stretching them as you would canvas over a frame. Greer then paints over them, her organic brush strokes breaking up the staid geometry of our expectation. Nationale, 3360 SE Division St., 503-477-9786. Through Aug. 28.
52
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
The first thing you’ll notice when you enter the gallery is a plinth topped with rows of 3-D-printed vulture skulls. There are 97 of them: a reference to the percentage of vultures that died off in the Great Indian Vulture Crisis. “I see art-making as an excuse to learn other things,” says artist Maria Lux, whose research for her installation Eat, Drink, and Be Merry led her to the Field Museum in Chicago to look through drawers full of dead birds. The exhibition, which includes 2-D work, is a compelling distillation of the complicated relationship between animals and people and how it is disturbed when we tinker with the natural order. Lux employs symbolism everywhere, and it’s a thrill to discover that the crystals hanging from a chandelier are actually castings of fruit bats and that certain recurring patterns—on frames and tablecloths—are molecular structures of viruses that animals transmit to humans. Upfor Gallery, 929 NW Flanders St., 503-227-5111. Through Aug. 27.
Retrospective
Blue Sky is doing something unusual this month by devoting both of its galleries to a retrospective of Harold Feinstein’s photographs. Feinstein, who was born in Coney Island in the 30s, began making photographs when he was fifteen. At the ripe old age of nineteen, some of them had already been acquired by MoMA. The exhibition of his black-and-white gelatin silver prints encompasses everything from street photography to portraiture to a personal record of his time serving in the Korean War— giving us a multi-faceted view of life
Arvie Smith
It is easy to appreciate art that inspires and delights us, but it is a considerably greater task to reckon with work that makes us uncomfortable. Painter Arvie Smith’s exhibition at the Portland Art Museum reminds us that one of art’s noblest purposes is to challenge us. “I speak unfettered of my perceptions of the black experience. By critiquing atrocities and oppression, by creating images that foment dialogue, I hope my work makes the repeat of those atrocities and injustices less likely,” says Smith. It is painful to stand in front of his monumental canvases, one of which features a black man being lynched by hooded Klan members, an American flag waving in the background. Smith’s highly romantic, florid style belies the content of his compositions, creating dissonance between what we first see and what reveals itself to us when we take the time to look. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 503-226-2811. Through Nov. 13.
Crafting the Future
Sign up to receive the latest cannabis news, events and more at wweek.com/follow-us
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
COURTESY OF ARVIE SMITH
Amanda Leigh Evans and Anastasia Greer
genesis for Rain came three years ago when artist Stephanie Speight, whose day job is at New Seasons Market, was swapping out spools of spent labels and replacing them with new ones in the labeling machine. Not knowing why, she started taking the spools home instead of throwing them away. “I find myself looking to unmask a hidden beauty in some very mundane materials, to take something out of the world as opposed to adding to it.” As a visitor, I would argue that by taking something out of the world Speight has added many things to it, including but not limited to our collective awe and delight. Nine Gallery, 122 NW 8th Ave., 503-225-0210. Through Aug. 28.
In the minds of some, fine art and craft exist on opposite sides of a great chasm. This group exhibition aims to show us where the Venn diagram overlaps, highlighting the significant role of craft in the practice of contemporary fine art. On its face, Crafting the Future can feel impenetrable, which is why it’s important to ask questions when you’re at the gallery. The answers will turn inaccessible works into pieces that will send chills up your arms. For example, you will discover that the design on a hand-quilted wall hanging near the front door reflects the gravitational pull of galaxy superclusters. You will learn that in order to make her muted gouache on paper, artist Ellen Lesperance searched through archive images of protests, and when drawn in by the image of a particular female protestor, Lesperance re-created on paper the knitting pattern of the activist’s sweater. Elizabeth Leach Gallery, 417 NW 9th Ave., 503-224-0521. Through Aug. 27.
Dem Golden Slippers by Arvie Smith.
Heatwave
The group show at Stephanie Chefas Projects feels like a hot fuck in the middle of an August afternoon in Los Angeles after you’ve come home sticky from the beach with the taste of salt still on your tongue. It is exceptionally difficult to put together a cohesive group show around a single theme—in this case an ode to the days of summer—but Chefas has managed to take work in a wide range of styles and media, from eight different artists, and make it feel like they are speaking to us in a collective voice about the same luscious, sun-soaked idea. There are beautiful abstracts, geometrical phenomena, precise paper cuts, and feats of undulation and symmetry waiting to leave you hot and bothered. Stephanie Chefas Projects, 305 SE 3rd Ave., Suite 202, 310-990-0702. Through Sept. 3.
Rain
Thin white translucent ribbons, flecked with black horizontal lines, stream down from the gallery ceiling at varied heights, like a rainstorm in suspended animation. There is an immediate and overwhelming desire to run through the installation, to feel the material on your skin. The
in the last half of the 20th century. Blue Sky Gallery, 122 NW 8th Ave., 503-225-0210. Through Aug. 28.
Sentient Spaces: The DSM-5 Illustrated
Jo Lundberg merges her experiences as a child and family therapist, an art therapist, and an artist to create a series of 2-D and 3-D works that each encapsulates a psychiatric diagnosis. A framed portrait of a screaming young girl represents Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder, and would be disquieting on its own—but Lundberg installed the painting on a white wall, which she then raked dirty handprints over, originating from the center of the portrait, as though its subject is in the midst of a violent tantrum that stretches all the way to the electrical socket in the room. Lundberg’s piece about Major Depressive Disorder feels like walking into a black hole that requires effort to walk out of. Wolff Gallery, 618 NW Glisan St., Suite R1, 971-413-1340. Through Aug. 28.
For more Visual Arts listings, visit
BOOKS = WW Pick. Highly recommended. BY ZACH MIDDLETON. 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, AUG. 24 Assimilate or Go Home
When a 19-year-old missionary to Somali refugees living in Portland finds her proselytizing isn’t earning the Kingdom as many converts as she’d hoped (go figure), she embraces a new worldview based on extreme acceptance of those in her community, regardless of religious beliefs (thank Christ.) Assimilate or Go Home tells the story of how D.L. Mayfield found a new mission: be a good neighbor. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm. Free.
GARY NORMAN
THURSDAY, AUG. 25
second young adult novel, Nice Girls Endure, this is the problem for high schooler Chelsea Duvay, who would rather be known for her lovely singing voice than her heavy thighs. Powell’s Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm. Free.
FRIDAY, AUG. 26 Arthur Bradford, Emily Chenoweth Big names in Portland fiction are coming together for a reading to benefit local charities Save the Giants and Baby Blues Connection. Arthur Bradford, author of muchlauded story collections Dogwalker and Turtleface, will read alongside Emily Chenoweth, author of Hello Goodbye, a book that received nods from both The New Yorker and The New York Times. Andy Valentine and Benjamin M. Ficklin, members of Eugene-based writing group The StoneCutters Union, will also read. Mother Foucault’s, 523 SE Morrison St., 503-236-2665. 7 pm. $8 suggested donation.
SATURDAY, AUG. 27 Timmy Straw, A.M. O’Malley, Stephanie Adams-Santos
Rene Denfeld
Shayla Lawson, Rene Denfeld and Harold Johnson
Three Portland-based writers will read. Poet Shayla Lawson recently published Pantone, a chapbook that comes with a corresponding perfume. Rene Denfeld is a bestselling author whose 2014 novel, The Enchanted, is based on her work as a death penalty investigator. Harold Johnson is a poet and fiction writer whose family has lived in Western Washington since the 1890s. Daedalus Books, 2074 NW Flanders St., 503 274-7742. 7 pm. Free.
Common Starling, Sean Croghan, Liz Mehl, Brandi Katherine Herrera
Common Starling, a dark-folk acoustic band, is closing out the summer strong with what they’ve billed as “a night of poetry and music.” Liz Mehl—poet and co-founder of Poetry Press Week—will read along with Crackerbash rocker Sean Croghan. Brandi Katherine Herrera will also read poetry, some of which could involve translations or interdisciplinary visual elements. One fun fact: all the artists are native Oregonians. Mother Foucault’s, 523 SE Morrison St., 503-236-2665. 7 pm. Free.
The Boy Who Runs
Once Julian Achon started running, he never looked back. Born in Uganda, he was kidnapped as a child and forced to fight in Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. He then took off and became an internationally recognized middle-distance runner, competing in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. Further building on his successes, he now runs a successful humanitarian organization right here in Portland. In his new book The Boy Who Runs, John Brant tells Achon’s incredible journey. Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, 800-878-7323. 7 pm. Free.
Chris Struyk-Bonn
For many, high school was a Darwinian hellscape full of bullies who could sniff out the things we disliked about ourselves like a hyena being drawn to a fresh corpse. In Portland author Chris Struyk-Bonn’s
Three Portland-based poets will put the cap on three strong days of readings at Mother Foucault’s. Readers include Corvallis-native Timmy Straw, a writer and musician, A.M. O’Malley, poet and director of the Independent Publishing Resource Center, and Stephanie Adams-Santos, whose book, Swarm Queen’s Crown, will be released from Fathom later this year. Mother Foucault’s, 523 SE Morrison St., 503-236-2665. 7 pm. Free.
MONDAY, AUG. 29 Rae Meadows with Anthony Effinger
Oklahoma reached peak bleakness during the Dust Bowl when the wheat fields dried up and even the topsoil was trying to catch a lift out of town. For her new novel, I Will Send Rain, author Rae Meadows conducted extensive research on what life was like for the impoverished farming families that lived through this harrowing period. Meadows will be in conversation with former Bloomberg News journalist Anthony Effinger. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm. Free.
TUESDAY, AUG. 30 Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel was an oral historian who focused his work on the lives of working class and marginalized people. Portland-based oral historian Alan Wieder gives Terkel his own oral history in Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, But Mostly Conversation. Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 503-284-1726. 7 pm. Free.
Robert Brockway
Portland-based author and senior Cracked.com editor Robert Brockway breaks new ground in the punkrock-comedy-horror-fantasy-novel territory with his new book The Empty Ones. This sequel to The Unnoticeables goes from London at the height of its punk-rock scene to contemporary Hollywood, with angels, demons, and acid sludge monsters everywhere in between. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm. Free.
For more Books listings, visit
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
53
COURTESY OF BOONE LLC
MOVIES = 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.
OPENING THIS WEEK Don’t Breathe
A trio of Detroit burglars named Money, Rocky and…Alex meet their match when they target a blind, rich veteran and end up trapped in his home. Screened after deadline, but from the Cannes buzz, we hear that Detroit looks stereotypically apocalyptic, the thieves look out of place and very white, and director Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) should’ve left out the turkey baster from his gritty horror. See wweek.com for AP Kryza’s review. R. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Oak Grove, Vancouver.
Equity
C A sleek romantic thriller set on Wall Street, Equity pointedly reverses traditional gender roles—Anna Gunn plays the bigwig staving off her younger rival, and James Purefoy plays the beau fatale sleeping his way toward lucrative insider info—and carries itself like prestige TV while betraying all the faults of the dreariest network soap. By delving into the fixed low-interest business of financial manipulation without any evident care for suspense or humor, the film clearly wants us to appreciate the high-minded seriousness of its all-female creative team. But good intentions cannot overcome lackluster characters, stilted dialogue and narrative doldrums. Women consumed by single-minded avarice still make the same self-important, and ultimately disposable, festival fodder as their male counterparts. Greed is good; Equity’s just lazy. PG. JAY HORTON. Clackamas.
Hands of Stone
People are still making boxing movies? Yes, people like Robert De Niro and Usher. Edgar Ramirez stars as the hotheaded Roberto Durán, an anti-American Panamanian prizefighter who pairs up with a heroic, septuagenarian coach played by De Niro. Cue the sleazy managers, training montages and machismo love story. For fans of Creed (the Rocky movie and the Tallahassee band). Everyone else, stick with Rocky. Not screened for critics. R. Fox Tower.
The Measure of a Man
A- The economy is in the gutter and
the world doesn’t give a shit about anyone. These grating sentiments are reflected in Stéphane Brizé’s The Measure of a Man, a film defined by our current era of career paranoia and detachment. Our hero, Thierry (spectacularly played by Vincent Lindon), searches for work after being let go by a high-paying employer. With a persistently furrowed brow, he faces endless challenges that place his dignity into question while seeking financial support for his family. As cathartic as a drunken sing-along to Elliott Smith, Brizé’s film is a beautifully painful tale of moral desperation in which people are expendable and money is everything. NR. CODY DEAN. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Saturday and 4:30 pm Sunday, Aug. 27-28.
STILL SHOWING Absolutely Fabulous
C For fans of the old BBC series, the further adventures of buffoonish publicist Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and perma-soused fashion editrix Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) shouldn’t seem all that different from a favored punk band’s reunion tour. While Hollywood’s relaxed attitudes toward drugs and drinking might blunt the impact of Edina’s debauchery, the film’s fat-shaming, transgender-mocking, racially insensitive gags still hit. But the film version
54
lingers cruelly on slower stretches and magnifies the inabilities of Britcom director Mandie Fletcher to stage set pieces, and sketch queen Saunders to craft a proper screenplay. The fashion-backward wardrobes and attitudes are no help. PG-13. JAY HORTON. Academy, Laurelhurst.
Anthropoid
B- Though its title suggests a sci-fi thriller, Anthropoid instead transports us to the cobbled streets of Nazi-occupied Prague. The story is based on the reallife assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking Nazi who was a chief architect of the Holocaust. It follows exiled soldiers Josef Gabcík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubis (Jamie Dornan) as they parachute back into their homeland of Czechoslovakia on a secret mission named Operation Anthropoid. Muddled by inept Slavic accents and a monotonous buildup toward the anticipated assassination of Heydrich, who was nicknamed the “Butcher of Prague,” the film doesn’t build suspense until its second half. R. MICHELLE DEVONA. Bridgeport, City Center, Clackamas, Fox Tower, Vancouver.
Bad Moms
C Hangovers loom large in the films of
Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (21 & Over, The Change-Up, The Hangover). Not just actual ones, but the lingering haze as youthful passions awaken to the throbbing responsibilities of adulthood. Bad Moms opens with one of our titular heroines reciting her daily litany of First World problems. Cue the inexplicably raucous party, supermarket-destruction montage, dreamy young widower (Jay Hernandez) and chief antagonist (Christina Applegate as supermom Gwendolyn). R. JAY HORTON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Fox Tower, Vancouver.
The BFG
B- Like all Roald Dahl books, it’s an ecstatic mix of the sentimental and cruel—the story of a young orphan named Sophie abducted by a lovable Big Friendly Giant who catches and releases dreams. It is also a cavalcade of bodily functions rendered funny and an encyclopedia of brutality at the hands of other, evil giants like Bonecruncher and Fleshlumpeater. PG. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Academy, Avalon, Kennedy School.
Ben-Hur
B- From the writer of 12 Years a Slave, the director of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and producers of, gulp, the miniseries The Bible comes the third filmic spectacular adapted from the 19th-century best-seller Ben-Hur. If unlikely to leave the same cultural sandal print, it’s surely the fastest and most furious. The film cuts the 1959 epic’s runtime in half, shelving the kitschier pomposity and— curiously, given Roma Downey’s involvement—limits the religious backdrop to a few swoony Jesus cameos. Taking the reins from Charlton Heston at his most iconic, (Walter and John scion) Jack Huston may flounce a bit too casually in the opening scenes, but upon entering the arena for the climactic horse-drawn carriage Death Race, he seems born to man a chariot. PG-13. JAY HORTON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Vancouver.
Café Society
C- In Woody Allen’s 47th feature, the doe-eyed Bobby arrives in 1930s Los Angeles looking more for an experience than a calling. New York is no life. His mother and father bicker. His sister is married in the suburbs. In California, he
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
BOONE: Dana Kristal.
Auteur Pop IN ITS FOURTH YEAR, THE PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL IS TAKING RISKS. BY ZACH MIDDLETON
503-243-2122
Boone premiered at South by Southwest this year, and has gained traction on the festival circuit for its artful cinematography and contemplative tone. LaMarca says he wanted to get past the twee farmer’s-market-stand vision of how local food gets made and get straight to the grim realities of a struggling farm. Yesterday Was Everything is equally brutal at times. It centers on the brawling mosh pits and grungy basement venues that make up the Wisconsin metal scene. When the band Misery Signals gets back together for a 10-year reunion tour, tension among its members becomes palpable. The lead singer’s obsessive tendencies strain the group, and the ghosts of friends whose lives were lost in a tragic car accident come back to haunt the musicians’ thoughts. Local director Matthew Mixon followed the band on tour, and then went to great lengths to contact members of bands and their fans to find archival footage. In a post on the band’s website, Mixon writes, “It’s a love letter to the [metal music] scene many of us grew up in.” On the opposite side of the filmmaking galaxy is Neil Stryker and the Tyrant of Time. Highschool friends Rob Taylor and Nic Costa combine Gremlin-like goblin puppets and DIY CGI blimp explosions with Taylor playing the parts of both hero (Neil Stryker) and villain (the Mad Scientist). Think live-action cartoon for adults. Taylor and Costa shot the majority this film over the course of a decade in an improvised studio they constructed in a barn on Taylor’s parents’ property near Oregon City. Self-described Comic-Con fans, the duo managed to get David Ogden Stiers (Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H) and Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov from Star Trek) to join the cast. No one could accuse these artists of selling out to the studios.
If there were an award for Most Memorable Opening Sequence at this year’s Portland Film Festival, it would go to Boone, a gritty documentary about a struggling goat farm in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley. In the dark of night, we see a man with a flashlight walk into a barn. The beam finds a goat peeing, two more mid-coitus, then finally its target: a doe in labor. The farmer pulls the kid out with his bare hands in a steaming pile of placenta and umbilical cord. Don’t worry, gory animal birth is not a running theme for the 2016 Portland Film Festival, which kicks off this week. But four years in, you can certainly expect to find the work of filmmakers who take cinematic risks. Portland’s film scene has always been driven more by auteurs and independent filmmakers than big-studio genre vehicles, and when Josh Leake launched the PFF in 2012, the point was to give big screen time to indie projects. For eight days, the festival takes over the Laurelhurst Theater with film screenings, workshops and industry parties. Not to be confused with the Portland International Film Festival, which went uncontested as the city’s biggest festival for years, PFF runs 54 feature-length and 89 short films from directors such as Ned Crowley, Dorie Barton and Laura Plancarte. This year, nearly half the filmmakers are women, and many identify as LGBTQ. Along with Boone, PFF will feature two other full-length films by Portland directors, including the documentary Yesterday Was Everything and the “sci-fi-action-adventure-comedy” Neil Stryker and the Tyrant of Time. All three were accepted out of the pool of 3,800plus unsolicited applications. Boone director Christopher LaMarca, SEE IT: The Portland Film Festival a native New Yorker, spent two years is at the Laurelhurst Theater, 2735 on the farm living with three farmers and E Burnside St., pdxff.com, Aug. 29-Sept. 5. Festival pass $180, their goats. “Once I stepped foot on that single film $10. farm,” says LaMarca, “I was like, ‘Holy NEIL STRYKER AND shit, who lives like this anymore?’” THE TYRANT OF TIME
NEILSTRYKER.COM
knows no one but his uncle Phil (Steve Carrell), an in-demand film agent, though he soon begins rubbing elite shoulders and courting Phil’s assistant, Vonnie (Kristen Stewart). The annual Woody Allen production machine has assembled 90 very recognizable minutes here, with self-aware industry commentary, platitudes about New York and L.A., Jewish parentage, infidelity and a male ingénue looking for approval. There’s no body in this shell. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Fox Tower.
ing their treadmills and taking to the streets, but in 1960s America, jogging was a far from common pastime. Free to Run focuses on the history of longdistance running, tracking its evolution from “oddball” recreation to popularist sport. Run hits its stride when discussing the history of women in marathon running and highlighting the struggles that pioneers like Kathrine Switzer faced in order to break through gender barriers. NR. CURTIS COOK. Cinema 21.
Ghostbusters
Captain America: Civil War
A It’s been 32 years since the release
A- In pitting team Iron Man (Robert
CONT. on page 56
Staging Spaces PDX
Organization Redesign Home Staging Stagingspacespdx@gmail.com Stagingspacespdx.strikingly.com
REVIEW COURTESY OF MIRAMAX
Downey Jr.) against Team Cap (Chris Evans) over a suspiciously fascist registration law for “enhanced humans,” directors Joe and Anthony Russo could have just put the heroes in a big-ass sandbox and let them duke it out. They do that, and it’s spectacular. But there’s nothing redundant in the action here. Civil War is fun. It’s smart. It’s coherent. And, most importantly, it allows its heart to beat strongly amid the chaos. Your move, DC. PG-13. AP KRYZA. Academy, Laurelhurst, Valley, Vancouver.
of the original, and the Ghostbusters
reboot has no chill. The script from Paul Feig and Kate Dippold hammers home the message that it’s 2016 and rebooting a classic Dude Comedy with an all-female cast will make people mad. There are fart jokes, self-referential jokes, vagina jokes, race jokes, comedy nerd jokes, showbiz-insiderArrested Development-type jokes, all presented in a mille-feuille of irony. The movie is maximalist. It’s glorious, and if it ruined your childhood, sorry bro. PG-13. ZACH MIDDLETON. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Fox Tower, Lloyd, Tigard, Vancouver.
Captain Fantastic
A Viggo Mortensen is mud-splat-
tered, idealistic and good at killing things...again. But this time with six kids in tow. He raises his kids in isolation, schooling them in killing deer, the Bill of Rights and the banjo. When he leads the brood into society for their mother’s funeral, the film becomes a quirky, emotional quest that outshines Little Miss Sunshine. R. ENID SPITZ. Fox Tower.
Central Intelligence
C A buddy action comedy that relies on cheesy stunts, penis jokes and bro buffoonery—like most of its genre brethren—Central Intelligence is a far cry from anything resembling intelligence. PG-13. MICHELLE DEVONA. Valley, Vancouver.
Don’t Think Twice
A- The newest feature from comedian Mike Birbiglia follows members of a comedy troupe yearning to get on Weekend Live, a thinly veiled SNL surrogate. It might me their big break, and this film might be Birbiglia’s. It has already been called Birbiglia’s Annie Hall, and with the help of KeeganMichael Key and Gillian Jacobs, this movie brings together a group of talent on the verge of superstardom. R. ZACH MIDDLETON. Cinema 21.
Finding Dory
B+ The sea has become a little more existential since Nemo got found. For 13 years, the entire world eagerly awaited Pixar’s sequel and the return of Ellen DeGeneres as the forgetful Dory. This time, Dory is on a quest to find her family. There’s tears to fill a tide pool, wit to keep adults amused, and laughs for any audience with a short attention span. You will (hopefully) remember a majority of this film. PG. AMY WOLFE. Academy, Avalon, Clackamas, Empirical, Kennedy School, Tigard.
Florence Foster Jenkins
B There is singing flat. There is off-key caterwauling. Then, there is Mrs. Jenkins’ operatic singing. Search YouTube for recordings of her real-life singing. In the film, Streep has a great deal of fun as her loving husband St. Clair (Hugh Grant) pays off attendees. Making fun of terrible singing is cheap and easy, but Florence Foster Jenkins avoids cheap shots. PG-13. JOHN LOCANTHI. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Eastport, Fox Tower, Vancouver.
Free to Run
B It’s rare that a nice summer’s day
goes by without runners abandon-
HOPES: Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers.
When Barack Met Michelle I remember reading in People magazine that Michelle and Barack Obama watched Do the Right Thing on their first date, followed by a walk along Lake Michigan. While that’s not incorrect, this film argues their first date was much more, and as thick with socio-racial-economic awareness as any Spike Lee joint. Framing the story of the first couple’s first date around commonly known facts, writer-director Richard Tanne shows the young lawyers discussing workplace dynamics, white ex-girlfriends and daddy issues. Tanne focuses on showing who they are, not telling us through wordy dialogue. By filling in the blanks with the political landscape, the scope of this one date night broadens to capture the spirit of Chicago in the summer of 1989. The film opens with Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter) getting ready for the date. Her mother asks why she is getting dolled up for some “smooth talker.” This Michelle still lives at home, caring for a father with multiple sclerosis. If that doesn’t fully reset the audience’s expectations of presidential life, the first shot of said smooth talker shows a 28-year-old Barack (Parker Sawyers) savoring a hearty drag off a cigarette. Despite his beater car, Sawyers’ loose, confident gait epitomizes the coolest Barack you can imagine. Forget lingering eye contact, Tanne shows the pair’s compatability in the way they both charge straight for the elephant in the room. Barack is upfront about romantic intentions, and Michelle points out early on that there are major consequences for her career if she goes out with the first cute black associate who walks through the law firm’s door. “So you think I’m cute?” Barack responds. We don’t know if they really viewed paintings by Ernie Barnes together, or if Barack actually made a blue joke about riots after watching Do the Right Thing. But the film’s reserved take on their first kiss is free of any harp crescendoes or fireworks, and that feels close to the truth. There is a heaviness grounding that moment between them; an understanding that whatever comes after the kiss will be laden with pressures and compromise. LAUREN TERRY. The first couple’s first kiss looks average in Southside With You.
B+ SEE IT: Southside With You is rated PG-13. It opens Friday at Cinema 21. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
55
courtesy of laika
movies
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
Hell or High Water
B+ Was No Country for Old Men too smart and slow for you? Loved the gunfights and the misanthropic cowboy glamour, but maybe Javier Bardem’s haircut made you uncomfortable? Try Jeff Bridges’ new Western genre vehicle, Hell or High Water. Like its predecessor, it’s set in economically depressed West Texas and features desert car chases, jaw-dropping cinematography and a trigger-happy sociopath ex-con. The result is a film that never quite goes where you expect. R. GRACE CULHANE. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Fox Tower, Vancouver.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
B+ This latest offbeat film from Taika Waititi, of What We Do in the Shadows fame, has just enough bloody boar slayings and conspiracy theories from a bumbling trailer dweller to make a coming-of-age-inthe-wilderness story feel like something you haven’t seen many times before. PG-13. JOHN LOCANTHI. Cinema 21, Hollywood.
Ice Age: Collision Course
C- The fifth installment of an already lustless franchise brings back Sid and the gang, this time on a quest to save the world from a deadly asteroid heading toward Earth. That asteroid couldn’t hit soon enough. PG. MICHELLE DEVONA. Clackamas, Division.
Jason Bourne
e r o t S k e e W e t t e m a Th e Wi l l
TreaT yourself
wiTh a DubDubDeal! We’ve got plenty of affordable offers to start the year off right. Find certificate discounts to some of your favorite Portland restaurants.
wweek.com/dubdubdeals 56
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
A- Bourne never had an identity issue. Robert Ludlum’s series has always been the real-world response to a genre of CGI stunts. For the fifth installment, director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon make a welcome return and deliver on-brand thrills via hand-held footage of riots in Athens, a motorcycle chase down a gazillion nardpunching stairs and, of course, many scenes in which assassins splash cold water on their faces and reflect in a mirror. PG-13. ENID SPITZ. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, CineMagic, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Fox Tower, Living Room Theaters, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Tigard, Vancouver.
The Jungle Book
B+ Director Jon Favreau may have been out to show off the latest in special effects, but his reverence for the classic 1967 cartoon shines through all the digital rendering. He probably should’ve thought twice before having Bill Murray sing a warbly, soulless version of the “Bare Necessities.” PG. LAUREN TERRY. Empirical, Vancouver.
Kubo and the Two Strings
A Laika’s late-summer bid for ani-
mation domination manages multiple triumphs. It’s an original story that feels lived in, a kid-focused fable with real stakes, and it’s a high-octane spectacle full of whiteknuckle action and terrifying creatures that’s matched every step of the way by heart. In telling the tale of a one-eyed boy (Art Parkinson)
in an ancient Japanese village, the Portland studio throws a lot at the screen. There are battles with building-sized skeletons, morbid floating apparitions and snarling beasts. Yet amid the eye-popping visuals, the film still takes time for small moments of tenderness. It’s glorious. PG. AP KRYZA. Bagdad, Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Hollywood, Lloyd, Milwaukie, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Roseway, St. Johns Pub and Theater, Tigard, Vancouver.
The Legend of Tarzan
Googling Hozier’s music video—a sad man at a piano spliced with softcore porn and animal nuzzling— will give you a good idea. PG-13. Avalon, Empirical, Vancouver.
Life, Animated
A- The Little Mermaid teaches autistic children writing skills in director Roger Ross Williams’ Disney doc. For most of us, Mermaid was an under-the-sea sing-along and The Lion King our entree to the circle-of-life lesson, but for Owen Suskind, animation was vital for developing his reading, writing and communication skills. PG. AMY WOLFE. Bridgeport.
Lights Out
C+ There are stylish horror films, and there are horror films with stylists. Lights Out is the latter. It’s actually a well-made haunter with some effective jump scares and a couple of great laughs. PG-13. NATHAN CARSON. Clackamas, Division.
Little Men
A- In the quiet, beatless drama of Little Men, two 13-year-olds, Jake and Tony, bond over artistic dreams while their parents negotiate an unprofitable Brooklyn dress shop’s new lease. PG. CHANCE SOLEMPFEIFER. Fox Tower.
Lo and Behold
A When you hear Werner Herzog’s resinous, Bavarian voice, you know that this man is almost certainly incapable of changing the desktop background on his MacBook. His new movie about the internet is similar to his previous films Encounters at the End of the World and Aguirre, in that Herzog has found a frontier to explore. This frontier is full of monsters and heroes, and every action feels immeasurably consequential. He starts with the beginning of the internet, but he is more interested in fringe stories than in developing a line of hard criticism. Herzog films aren’t about criticism. They are about Herzog’s sense of wonder. Put another way, it’s all about his voice. NR. ZACH MIDDLETON. Hollywood, Kiggins.
The Lobster
B+ The Lobster is one of those dystopian sci-fi movies that needs to spend the first 30 minutes laying down the ground rules of the setting. David (Colin Farrell) is single, which is outlawed, so he goes to a singles retreat. But there is one catch: If you don’t find a
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
C Based on a true story of hard-partying brothers Mike and Dave Stangle (Adam DeVine and Zac Efron), this summer comedy is a frat fantasy in which the Stangles use Craigslist to find parent-friendly dates for their sister’s wedding. R. LAUREN TERRY. Jubitz, Kennedy School, Valley, Vancouver.
Nerve
B+ A bookish girl (Emma Roberts) gets swept up in an online game of truth-or-dare with a mysterious stud (Dave Franco), and the film gets swept up in an EDM-tinged soundtrack, lots of desktop computer screen shares, and visuals that meet somewhere between Tron and Spring Breakers. PG-13. ZACH MIDDLETON. Bridgeport.
The Nice Guys
A- The Nice Guys exists in some weird, hyperviolent mirror image of Los Angeles—one that looks a lot like Atlanta. It’s like Roger Rabbit’s Toontown, but populated with cartoons that bleed. R. AP KRYZA. Laurelhurst.
Nine Lives
Trapping Kevin Spacey inside a tabby cat’s body so he can’t continually ignore and bone his gorgeous wife (Jennifer Garner) is a delightfully feminist and felinist plot in itself. Casting Christopher Walken as an eccentric pet store owner named Felix Perkins is the cherry on top. Not screened for critics. PG. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Fox Tower, Oak Grove, Tigard, Vancouver.
Now You See Me 2
C- A hyperbolic spectacle more than anything else, Now You See Me 2 supersedes its predecessor on every level of absurdity. Jesse Eisenberg leads the Four Horsemen in his usual irritatingly haughty fashion as the gang goes on a mission to steal a computer chip that can control the world. Trying too hard to be cool with a string of tricks each more ridiculous than the next, the flashy caper proves anything but magical. PG-13. MICHELLE DEVONA. Vancouver.
Pete’s Dragon
A Pete’s Dragon deserves the hype.
Effortlessly evoking the triumphant emotions of Disney’s best live-action outings, it also provides a somber examination of the death of innocence, set among a magical pastiche of misty 1980s forest towns straight out of E.T., or the more recent Stranger Things. Your kids will cry through the majority of the film, and you probably will too. PG. MIKE GALLUCCI. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Milwaukie, Moreland, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Vancouver.
Sausage Party
A- Sometimes, a dick joke is just
AP FILM STUDIES
a dick joke. But sometimes, a dick joke can be an existential meditation on atheism butting up against organized religion, false gods and politics. That’s where Rogen and Goldberg’s Sausage Party transcends other R-rated animated provocations (Fritz the Cat, Heavy Metal) to become something more. This is a thinking person’s 90-minute dick joke. And shit, if we can’t ponder big issues while giggling at the sight of a talking, used condom or a sentient douchebag with the voice of Nick Kroll, maybe we’ve lost something in society. R. AP KRYZA. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, St. Johns 1 & 2, Tigard, Vancouver.
COURTEY OF 20TH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION
mate within 60 days, you will be turned into an animal. On the plus side, you get to pick your animal. David chooses the lobster. Interesting concept, though this vision of the future mostly involves Farrell, John C. Reilly, Rachel Weisz and the rest of cast speaking in a dull, passionless monotone. R. JOHN LOCANTHI. Laurelhurst.
The Secret Life of Pets
Louis C.K. voices a pampered terrier who gets sucked from his NYC home into a tough gang of pets set on punishing the people who’ve wronged them. PG. Beaverton, Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Tigard, Vancouver.
Star Trek Beyond
The 13th Trek movie has been heralded as a return to good, old-fashioned fun for the series. Not screened for critics. PG-13. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Vancouver.
Suicide Squad
C- As the saying goes, you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become Ben Affleck. Following the dismal Batman v Superman with Suicide Squad, DC seemed intent on injecting some Slurpee-colored mischief back into its monochromatic veins. But is the idea of criminal saviors really that novel any more? Suicide Squad rushes through an incoherent two hours and pureeing everything into a slush of clichés, albeit one rendered in the garish palette of a Warped Tour merchandise table. PG-13. MATTHEW SINGER. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, St. Johns 1 & 2, Tigard, Vancouver.
War Dogs
C+ War Dogs is the true story of
two 20-something potheads, Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill) and David Packouz (Miles Teller) who scored a $300 million Pentagon contract to supply Afghanistan with weapons. The film tries to offer a smart, funny look into the shady world of government defense contracts, but dull narration, racist stereotypes, uninspired weed jokes, and inexplicable scene breaks turn what could have been a humorous tale of ineptitude in the Bush administration into a haphazard rehashing that’s probably really funny if you’ve never smoked marijuana before. R. CRYSTAL CONTRERAS. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Living Room Theaters, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Tigard, Vancouver.
X-Men: Apocalypse
COURTESY OF ANNAPURNA PICTURES
B+ The latest in the X-franchise proves that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not the only home for A-grade superhero fare. With Apocalypse, writer Bryan Singer has finally steered the ship back on course, crafting one of the greatest comics pictures to date. Factions on the internet will inevitably find reasons to hate this movie. The Egyptians will be too pale for some. The question is: Do you want to have fun and enjoy a comic book turned into a quarter-billion-dollar feature film or would you rather stay home reading Proust? PG-13. NATHAN CARSON. Academy, Empirical, Valley.
SAUSAGE PARTY
For more Movies listings, visit
Shiny, Happy Heroes SUPERHERO SHOWS OF THE ’60S WERE SOMETHING OUR COMIC-BOOK MOVIES AREN’T: CHEERFUL. BY A P KRYZA
@APKryza
Some say we live in the golden age of superheroes, a time when brooding men (and, like, three women) traverse color-drained Gothic landscapes, screaming out for their respective Marthas. Legions of spandexclad superbeings team up to duke it out in cacophonous galaxies, trading quips while also brooding, but not for Marthas. Hollywood now fully caters to nerds. But some say the glory days were the brighter ones, the era when heroes seldom brooded, but rather ran from Roy to G. to Biv across colorful landscapes. That is the world on display at Happy Heroes, a showcase of 1960s comic-book TV shows that hits the Hollywood next week. It features an onslaught of ’60s takes on the likes of Thor, Batman and a particularly friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Let’s make no mistake, these shows are cheesy. The animation for Spider-Man and The Mighty Thor makes Hanna-Barbera’s heroes look like Pixar movies. And Adam West’s Batman makes George Clooney’s look like Laurence Olivier with bigger nipples. Comparatively speaking, Tim Burton’s loose take on the Batman mythos is downright reverent next to a dancing West. But these shows are one thing that most modern spandex blockbusters simply are not: They’re squeakyclean fun. Go figure the cartoon Mighty Thor is breezy: It’s a comic about a fucking Norse god riding a rainbow road back and forth between space and Earth. And while the current films find much fun in the character, they are also saddled with considerably weightier, Shakespearean issues of self-seriousness amid intergalactic battles. Fun, yes, but also so, so self-serious. The era of the happy hero is, for many, a dark patch purely because of its cheery disposition. Because Spidey saves cats from trees instead of emo-dancing around Manhattan. Because Thor’s helmet has its trademark wings. Because Adam West can’t stop dancing. If you can just put down your Christopher Nolan fanfic and take it for what it is, it is a delight.
Not that it is all doom and gloom right now. Marvel is having a ball when it’s not building its universe or getting all introspective, and DC…um, well, DC is still terrible, but at least Suicide Squad has jokes. Still, there is something that modern superhero culture can learn from the kind of throwaway entertainment of our parents’ childhood: Maybe, just maybe, if modern Batman registered for the occasional surfing contest, his view of Gotham might be a brighter one. SEE IT: Happy Heroes is at the Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Aug. 30. ALSO SHOWING:
There seems to be a recurring theme of the dangers of Hollywood lately, with The Valley of the Dolls hitting theaters after a series of showbiz tales. Maybe local theaters are trying to give our standups a hint to stay? Mission Theater. Opens Wednesday, Aug. 24.
Wes Craven’s pioneering A Nightmare on Elm Street hits Pix’s Movies at Dusk, a wise choice considering it has great coffee. Pix Pâtisserie. Dusk Wednesday, Aug. 24. Baz Luhrmann’s take on Romeo + Juliet gave us many things, among them the arrival of Leonardo DiCaprio in the dreams of every teenage girl in America. More importantly, it gave us Sixpence None the Richer. Mission Theater. Opens Wednesday, Aug. 24. Legendary Talking Heads frontman David Byrne distilled his obsession with the weirdness lurking in mundane 1980s Texas into True Stories, an oddball cult classic with one of the greatest soundtracks of the era. Hotel deLuxe. 7 pm Thursday, Aug. 25. Cult director Penelope Spheeris hits the Hollywood to screen a collection of short films, followed by a screening of her weird, little-seen 1987 cult film Dudes, an odd, feel-good punk-rock road-trip revenge tale. Hollywood Theatre. 8:30 pm Thursday-Friday, Aug. 25-26. With Ben-Hur belly-flopping at the box office, the prospect of a remake of Jason and the Argonauts goes way down. That’s a good thing, considering the 1963 classic is already pretty perfect. Academy Theater. Aug. 26-Sept. 1. Calling Georges Méliès’ landmark 1902 silent film A Trip to the Moon a landmark is like calling Cro-Magnon an influential man. It’s the first sci-fi film and the first specialeffects film that favored whimsy over making unknowing audiences think they were going to be steamrolled by a train. To this day, the image of the Moon with a rocket in its eye remains a constant in pop culture. Hell, may even have inspired Kubrick to fake the Moon landing. Hollywood Theatre. 2 pm Saturday, Aug. 27. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
57
end roll
JULIE SHOWERS
ORGANIC IN-HOUSE USE $40 QUARTERS OF ORGANIC CHILLAX 1979 NW VAUGHN ST. SUITE B PORTLAND, OR 97209 HOURS: 11-7, 7 days a week Just North of the Pearl District.
WWW.VESSELPDX.COM
$45
QUARTERS OF ORGANIC SHISHKABERRY. ALL PRICES INCLUDE TAX.
Vape of the Goddesses
FREYA IS PETITE, PRETTY AND ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE ITS GENDER-NEUTRAL COUNTERPART. BY EN ID SPITZ
follow us!
@wweek 58
@WillametteWeek
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
espitz@wweek.com
Women have smaller lungs. Google that and a plethora of information will emerge about how members of the fair sex cannot inflate their lungs quite as large as men. “Female lungs tend to be smaller and weigh less than those of males,” explains researcher W.M. Thurlbeck in a landmark 1982 report for the medical journal Thorax. “The number of alveoli per unit area and alveolar volume do not differ between boys and girls, but boys have larger lungs than girls.” So, how can women smoke the same J’s or inhale from the same vapes? It could be dangerous for their petite lungs to stretch to inhale vapor from a normal concentrate. Enter Freya. She is not just the ancient Nordic goddess of love but also the namesake for a local company’s new lady-oriented vape. “This is something completely different,” says Paul Amsbury, who tells me his wife, Stacey, came up with the idea. “We had to design all the parts specifically. The diameter of the battery is even smaller.” It’s daintier, for little lady hands, and “delightfully feminine, beautiful and strong,” according to the company’s promo copy. It turns out, they’re right. These pretty little pens are roughly the size and heft of a 1-gram pre-roll and come in three varieties: indica, sativa or hybrid. They’re disposable and deliver about 100 hits. They also look like a cigarette—maybe a cigarette as designed by Gwyneth Paltrow. Freya does not have less THC, deliver fewer
puffs or look smaller than her non-gendered e-joint counterparts. I’ve used similar devices and can attest to how convenient and discreet they are. There’s no resin, hardly any odor and no cumbersome paraphernalia. But I don’t necessarily want to carry around the Superman blue version made by EZ Vape named “Mr. Nice.” Freya has a pretty damask pattern on the end where you put your glossy lips and a heart on the end that glows an incandescent white when you inhale into your diminutive lungs. If we rank Freya’s usefulness to the female population, it falls somewhere between Kylie Jenner’s SkinnyMint Teatox and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls. That is, it won’t cause you to shit your brains out for the sake of beauty, but it’s not donating feminine hygiene products to homeless shelters, either. And the waste generated by disposable e-joints will give any eco-goddess pause. Freya is like Paris Hilton’s first iPhone, reported heavily in March 2011. It is sleek, slips in a clutch for stealth hits at a concert, and says, “I’ve matured beyond bedazzling my pink Razr and waiting for Jared to pass me the pipe.” Gender-neutral e-joints cost up to $100 for the all-black JuJu Joint. With Freya retailing for around $60 at the five Portland dispensaries that have picked it up so far, the price is on par with wage discrepancy in America. GET IT: Freya is available online at freyacanna. com and in Portland at Kings of Canna, Thurman Street Collective, the Dispensary, Divine Kind and Oregon Weedery.
V I N TA G E P O R T L A N D , W W S TA F F
BY N AT E WAG G O N E R
Some Journal-ism
Cat and Girl
BY DR. MITCHELL MILLAR
2220 NW QUIMBY STREET, PORTLAND, OREGON
Local history buffs may already know the name of my great-grandfather Rudyard Millar II. He was a business magnate and organizer of the Portland Dandelion Festival, an early alternative to the garish Portland Rose Festival that hijacks our city annually. I try to keep any personal stories out of the newspaper, but it’s not always possible, and I’m afraid this week’s column is one such occasion. Rudyard Millar II built the Millar Reflexology Corporation, a small empire of foot-massage parlors scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest in the 20th century. The company was my family’s great pride until it became our disgrace in the 1980s, when an investigative probe found that the massage oils applied by our foot masseurs and masseuses were laced with an exotic cocaine tincture, which caused patients to enjoy their rubs more than they otherwise might have. Stock in our publicly traded company plummeted after this bombshell was revealed—as did my father, Ace Millar, from a window in his office on the 30th floor of the U.S. Bancorp Tower where Portland City Grill is now located. Because of the deep-seated grief stemming from this tragic association, I have never been able to bring myself to eat at Portland City Grill. That all changed, however, when someone offered me a Groupon to the restaurant good for $50 worth of food and drink if I spent just $25. I enjoyed the meal, and mentioned to my waiter that the space had once been my father’s office, and that the hostess station now sits where his secretary’s desk had been. I have vivid memories of sitting on a chair in his reception area, silently, for hours, as a young child. After my meal, the executive chef invited me to take a tour of the kitchen. I remarked on the many pots and pans, and then we went back to his office to chat about the history of the building. Before I left, I stood up to examine his shelf full of books about recipes and various cooking techniques. It was fascinating to learn what a professional chef kept on his shelf, but there was one tome in particular to which I was drawn. It appeared to be much older than the rest, and it was the only one that did not have a title on the spine. Thinking perhaps I had chanced upon some record of ancient Portland’s culinary landscape, I opened it. But it did not have anything to do with food. It was something that was, to me, far more thrilling: some sort of journal outlining the dayto-day activities of a young man living in Portland in the early 20th century. I asked the chef where he had acquired this volume, and he answered that it had been there when they moved in, and he never had actually perused it. It soon became apparent to me who the author of this journal was. It was none other than my great-great-grandfather, Rudyard Millar. The journal might have been shelved in obscurity in my father’s office, and then left behind when the next tenants took over. I have since spent countless hours poring over its contents, about which I will elaborate soon… Dr. Mitchell Millar is president of the Olde Portland Preservation Society, and traces his Oregon lineage to Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth’s expedition. His ancestors have been enduring an invasion of transplants since 1834. Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
59
NIGHT SHOWS Presented by Jack Daniels
portland.projectpabst.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 25TH, 2016
Todd Barry
comedy
with Bryan Cook and Joann Schinderle Dante’s • $15
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2016
BUSDRIVER DEANTONI PARKS Mississippi Studios 21+ 8pm doors/9pm show • $12
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2016
Candace • Talkative Adventure Galley Pony Village
Kelly’s Olympian 9pm show/8pm doors • $5 FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2016
PINKISH BLACK NOCTURNAL HABITS MOTRIK • DEMON FAMILIAR Ash St. Saloon 21+ 8pm doors/9pm show • $10
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH, 2016
DAVID BAZAN MICHAEL NAU
Mississippi Studios 21+ 9pm doors/10pm show • $20 SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH, 2016
HILLSTOMP
Underwhelming Favorites Pretty Gritty Doug Fir Lounge 21+ 8pm doors/9pm show • $12
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH, 2016
And And And Souvenir Driver Rilla • Grand Lake Islands Kelly’s Olympian 9pm show/8pm doors • $5
SUNDAY, AUGUST 28TH, 2016
SHY GIRLS
THE LAST ARTFUL, DODGR • MY BODY Holocene 21+ 8:30pm doors • $5/$10 60
Willamette Week AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25TH, 2016
DIGABLE PLANETS CAMP LO Crystal Ballroom 21+ 7pm doors/8pm show • $25
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2016
Y LA BAMBA
ORQUESTRA PACIFICO TROPICAL HALEY HEYNDERICKX
Revolution Hall 21+ 7pm doors/8pm show • $15 FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2016
REAL ESTATE AND GUESTS
Crystal Ballroom 21+ 7pm doors/8pm show • $18 FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH, 2016
BERAHMAND
GOLDFOOT • THE ADIO SEQUENCE Doug Fir 21+ 8pm doors/9pm show • $10
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH, 2016
GUIDED BY VOICES SUMMER CANNIBALS
Crystal Ballroom 21+ 9pm doors/10pm show• $25 SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH, 2016
BELL WITCH • MUSCLE AND MARROW ZIRAKZIGIL • JOHN HAUGHM Ash St. Saloon 21+ 9pm doors/10pm show $10 at the door
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH, 2016
TERRY & LOUIE
GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH WAMPIRE • PATSY’S RATS
Dante’s 21+ 8pm doors/9pm show • $10/$13 SUNDAY, AUGUST 28TH, 2016
PETER BJORN AND JOHN AND GUESTS Revolution Hall 21+ 8pm doors/9pm show • $20
AUGUST 24, 2016
CLASSIFIEDS TO PLACE AN AD CONTACT:
MATT PLAMBECK
61 62 63
WELLNESS, EMPLOYMENT, SERVICES, PETS, BULLETIN BOARD, MUSICIANS MARKET, REAL ESTATE, PIXIE PETS CHATLINES, ADULT, JONESIN’
REAL ESTATE
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY, INSIDE BACK COVER
503-445-2757 • mplambeck@wweek.com
WELLNESS
JOBS
SERVICES
COUNSELING
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
BUILDING/REMODELING
BULLETIN BOARD WILLAMETTE WEEK’S GATHERING PLACE NON-PROFIT DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
$1,000 WEEKLY!! MAILING BROCHURES FROM HOME Helping home workers since 2001. Genuine Opportunity. No Experience required. Start Immediately www.mailingmembers.com AIRLINE CAREERS BEGIN HERE Get trained as FAA certified Aviation Technician. Financial aid for qualified students. Housing and job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance 800-725-1563 ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A FUN JOB? How about a job driving new cars? Men and Women 18 yrs & up Immediate start. North Portland Call 360-718-7443
ALL AREAS - ROOMMATES.COM. Browse hundreds of online listings with photos and maps. Find your roommate with a click of the mouse! Visit: www.Roommates.com.
CLASSES
CLASSES AT BEE THINKING Meadmaking, Beeswax 101, Beekeeping, Honey Recipes, and more!!! Now Enrolling (877) 325-2221 www.beethinking.com Visit our retail space at 1551 SE Poplar.
HOSPITALITY/RESTAURANT HAULING/MOVING LJ’S HAULING ANYTHING Removal of Metal/Cars free 503-839-7222
SHOCKMAN THERAPY, LLC COUNSELING SERVICES Extreme Stress Exposure Specialist Couple’s Therapy Rate: $85/hr www.shockmantherapy.com 503-866-4806
MASSAGE (LICENSED)
REL A X!
INDULGE YOURSELF in an - AWESOME FULL BODY MASSAGE
call
Charles
503-740-5120
TREE SERVICES MCMENAMINS PORTLAND LOCATIONS ARE NOW HIRING LINE COOKS! Hiring locations include The Mission Theater, Blue Moon, John Barleycorn’s, Ringlers, Broadway, Kennedy School and Bagdad Theater. Qualified applicants must be open to cooking in a high-volume and busy pub environment. Qualified applicants will have an open & flexible schedule including days/eve/weekend/holiday availability, and a positive and professional demeanor. Previous kitchen experience is a plus, but we are willing to train the right applicant if you are eager to learn. Please apply online 24/7 at mcmenamins.com or pick up an application at any McMenamins location. Mail your complete application to: McMenamins attn: HR 430 N. Killingsworth St. Portland, OR 97217 or fax to: (503) 221-8749. Please no phone calls or emails to individual locations!!! EOE
STEVE GREENBERGTREE SERVICE Pruning and removals, stump grinding. 24-hour emergency service. Licensed/ Insured. CCB#67024. Free estimates. 503-284-2077
PETS FOUND 2 YOUNG CATS ON MT SCOTT / 112TH
Two young tabby kittens found on Mt Scott near the cemetery.They showed up about 3 weeks ago. They were thin and appeared to be living on their own for some time. If you think they’re yours, call and describe them. 206-949-8974
LESSONS CLASSICAL PIANO/KEYBOARD ALL AGES. STANDARDS, CLASSICAL, MUSICALS. EUROPEAN TRAINED. PORTLAND 503-227-6557
MISCELLANEOUS VIAGRA 100MG, CIALIS 20MG 40 Pills + 4 FREE for only $99. #1 Male Enhancement! Discreet Shipping. Save $500. Buy the Blue Pill Now! 1-800-374-2619
I BUY JUNK CARS
$50-$1000
lmt#6250
Now Hiring Customer Service Representatives New-Hire Bonus: $750! Walk-ins Welcome!
Job Requirements:
9:00am - 3:00pm
• Must have high school diploma or GED • Must pass background
Monday - Friday 3054 NE 181st Avenue Portland, OR 97230
check & drug screen
Questions?
Visit Us Online at:
Call (503) 907-1585
jobsatxerox.com/portland
EOE M/F/Disability/Vet
WE
WANTED
Changing the image of rescue, one animal at a time...
Interested in adopting from the Pixie Project
CALL 503.542.3433
Running or Not 503-863-8762 503-810-0572
MUSICIANS MARKET FOR FREE ADS in 'Musicians Wanted,' 'Musicians Available' & 'Instruments for Sale' go to portland.backpage.com and submit ads online. Ads taken over the phone in these categories cost $5.
WILBUR & WILMA S P O NSO R ED BY
INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE
MIKE S P O NSO R ED BY
richearthorganicspa.com
TRADEUPMUSIC.COM Buying, selling, instruments of every shape and size. Open 11am-7pm every day. 4701 SE Division & 1834 NE Alberta.
BANDIT HATS
40% OFF
MUSIC LESSONS Play what you want to play.
LEARN PIANO ALL STYLES, LEVELS
BUSTER
DARCELLE
S P O NSO R ED BY
S P O NSO R ED BY
ritualartspdx.com
www.furryfrenzypets.com
Beginners welcome.
©2016 Xerox Corporation. All rights reserved. Xerox® and Xerox and Design® are trademarks of the Xerox Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. BR19500
With 2-time Grammy winner Peter Boe 503-274-8727
Willamette Week Classifieds AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
61
TO PLACE AN AD CONTACT:
MATT PLAMBECK
503-445-2757 • mplambeck@wweek.com
CHATLINES
Strike a LiveMatch!
JONESIN’
by Matt Jones
“What Happens?”–stay tuned for where! 61 Back biter? 62 “The Grapes of Wrath” migrant 63 Grey who wrote about the Old West 64 Video game bad guy 65 Give, to Burns 66 James who sang the ballad “At Last”
FREE CHATROOMS 24/7
FREE 1on1 8-9PM daily
ALWAYS FREE to chat with VIP members
(Unlimited VIP membership $15/week. No worries about minutes.)
Portland 503-222-CHAT Vancouver 360-314-CHAT
Salem 503-428-5748 • Eugene 541-636-9099 • Bend 541-213-2444 Seattle 206-753-CHAT •Albany (541)248-1481 • Medford (541)326-4000
or WEB PHONE on LiveMatch.com
MAN to MAN
Free Live chatrooms & forums! 503-222-6USA
Across 1 Fruit on some slot machines 5 Stewart who did an August 2016 stint in Vegas 8 Start of many sequel titles 13 Vegas money 14 Arrange in a cabinet 15 Military academy freshman 16 Basses and altos, in choral music 18 Dickens’s “The Mystery of ___ Drood” 19 1985 New Order song covered by Iron and Wine
21 Paradise paradigm 22 “What ___ the odds?” 23 Lose traction at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway 26 Painter Gerard ___ Borch 28 “Casino ___” (National Geographic documentary) 32 Maxwell Anderson’s “High ___” 33 Ocular superpower that can cut metal 37 Lofty poem 38 In a perfect world? 39 Old card game, or U.K. bathroom
40 Train or automobile, but not plane 42 Philips who has played Vegas 43 Retail furniture giant (which has a location in Vegas) 44 Silent assent to the dealer, e.g. 45 Casino aid, for short 46 ___-pitch softball 48 “___ Flux” (1990s MTV series) 51 “Power of Love/ Love Power” R&B singer 58 With good speed 59 The “a” in “Shake” (but not “Shack”)
Down 1 “___ Joey” (Frank Sinatra film) 2 Organic compound 3 “It’s ___-way street!” 4 Gunned the motor 5 Poisonous protein in castor beans 6 Kennedy couturier Cassini 7 Bandleader at the Tropicana Club, on TV 8 Serving of asparagus 9 Most of you have already heard it 10 GOP luminary Gingrich 11 New York theater award 12 Marshy area of England, with “the” 14 Low roll in craps 17 Ref. which added “starter marriage” and “starchitect” in 2016 20 In early metamorphosis 23 Russian vodka brand, for short 24 Maker of Advantix cameras 25 Actress Cara of “Fame” 26 Lukewarm 27 Drache of the Poker Hall of Fame 29 Alvin of the American Dance Theater 30 Luxor or Excalibur offerings 31 Condescending type
33 Stock symbol for Southwest Airlines (based on their logo) 34 “Lend Me ___” (Broadway play about an opera company) 35 “From ___ down to Brighton I must have played them all” (“Pinball Wizard”) 36 Finish for opal or saturn 41 Recorder attached to a windshield 45 You might hit it if you’re tired 47 Distrustful 48 Professional poker player ___ Duke 49 Scoring advantage 50 Hot Topic founder ___ Madden 51 Like some excuses 52 Second word of “The Raven” 53 Story of your trip, perhaps 54 Recurring YouTube journal 55 Vegas-frequenting electro-house musician Steve, or golfer Isao 56 Acronym on some LVMPD jackets 57 Launched into cyberspace 60 “Glee” actress ___ Michele
last week’s answers
©2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle #JONZ794.
ENTERTAINMENT
REAL PEOPLE REAL DESIRE REAL FUN.
Try FREE: 503-416-7098
Since 1955 Open to 2:30 am 365 days a year
More Local Numbers: 1-800-926-6000
Over 30 great dancers and a friendly all-female staff
Ahora español Livelinks.com 18+
Classified
MORE TO LOVE ONLINE
@ WWEEK.COM 62
Willamette Week Classifieds AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
129 SW Broadway
503-227-3023
www.marysclub.com
TO PLACE AN AD CONTACT:
MATT PLAMBECK
503-445-2757 • mplambeck@wweek.com ©2016 Rob Brezsny
Week of August 25
ARIES (March 21-April 19) In the coming weeks, I hope you won’t scream curses at the rain, demanding that it stop falling on you. Similarly, I suggest you refrain from punching walls that seem to be hemming you in, and I beg you not to spit into the wind when it’s blowing in your face. Here’s an oracle about how to avoid counterproductive behavior like that: The near future will bring you useful challenges and uncanny blessings if you’re willing to consider the possibility that everything coming your way will in some sense be an opportunity. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Oh how I wish you might receive the grace of being pampered and nurtured and entertained and prayed for. I’d love for you to assemble a throng of no-strings-attached caretakers who would devote themselves to stoking your healing and delight. Maybe they’d sing to you as they gave you a manicure and massaged your feet and paid your bills. Or perhaps they would cook you a gourmet meal and clean your house as they told you stories about how beautiful you are and all the great things you’re going to do in the future. Is it possible to arrange something like that even on a modest scale, Taurus? You’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when you most need this kind of doting attention -- and when you have the greatest power to make it happen. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I invite you to dream about your true home . . . your sweet, energizing, love-strong home . . . the home where you can be high and deep, robust and tender, flexible and rigorous . . . the home where you are the person that you promised yourself you could be. To stimulate and enhance your brainstorms about your true home, experiment with the following activities: Feed your roots . . . do maintenance work on your power spot . . . cherish and foster your sources . . . and refine the magic that makes you feel free. Can you handle one more set of tasks designed to enhance your domestic bliss? Tend to your web of close allies . . . take care of what takes care of you . . . and adore the intimate connections that serve as your foundation. CANCER (June 21-July 22): It’ll be one of those rapid-fire, adjust-on-the-fly, thinkon-your-feet, go-with-your-gut times for you -- a headspinning, endorphin-generating, eye-pleasing, intelligence-boosting phase when you will have opportunities to relinquish your attachments to status quos that don’t serve you. Got all that, Cancerian? There’ll be a lot of stimuli to absorb and integrate -- and luckily for you, absorbing and integrating a lot of stimuli will be your specialty. I’m confident of your ability to get the most of upcoming encounters with cute provocations, pleasant agitation, and useful unpredictability. One more tip: Be vigilant and amused as you follow the ever-shifting sweet spot. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): At the risk of asking too much and pushing too hard, my Guerrilla Prayer Warriors have been begging God to send you some major financial mojo. These fierce supplicants have even gone so far as to suggest to the Supreme Being that maybe She could help you win the lottery or find a roll of big bills lying in the gutter or be granted a magic wish by an unexpected benefactor. “Whatever works!” is their mantra. Looking at the astrological omens, I’m not sure that the Prayer Warriors’ extreme attempts will be effective. But the possibility that they will be is definitely greater than usual. To boost your odds, I suggest you get more organized and better educated about your money matters. Set a clear intention about the changes you’d like to put in motion during the next ten months. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Suggested experiments: 1. Take a vow that from now on you won’t hide your beauty. 2. Strike a deal with your inner king or inner queen, guaranteeing that this regal part of gets regular free expression. 3. Converse with your Future Self about how the two of you might collaborate to fully unleash the refined potency of your emotional intelligence. 4. In meditations and dreams, ask your ancestors how you can more completely access and activate your dormant potentials.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I hope you are not forlorn, shivery, puzzled, or obsessive right now -- unless being in such a state will mobilize you to instigate the overdue transformations you have been evading. If that’s the case, I hope you are forlorn, shivery, puzzled, and obsessive. Feelings like those may be the perfect fuel -- the high-octane motivation that will launch your personal renaissance. I don’t often offer this counsel, Libra, so I advise you to take full advantage: Now is one of the rare times when your so-called negative emotions can catalyze redemption. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): From what I can tell, your vigor is peaking. In recent weeks, you have been sturdy, hearty, stout, and substantial. I expect this surge of strength to intensify in the near future -- even as it becomes more fluid and supple. In fact, I expect that your waxing power will teach you new secrets about how to wield your power intelligently. You may break your previous records for compassionate courage and sensitive toughness. Here’s the best news of all: You’re likely to be dynamic about bestowing practical love on the people and animal and things that are important to you. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The odds are higher than usual that you will be offered a boost or promotion in the coming weeks. This development is especially likely to occur in the job you’re doing or the career plans you’ve been pursuing. It could also be a factor at work in your spiritual life. You may discover a new teacher or teaching that could lift you to the next phase of your inner quest. There’s even a chance that you’ll get an upgrade on both fronts. So it’s probably a good time to check on whether you’re harboring any obstacles to success. If you find that you are, DESTROY THOSE RANCID OLD MENTAL BLOCKS WITH A BOLT OF PSYCHIC LIGHTNING.
BACK COVER CONTINUED... TO PLACE AN AD ON BACK COVER CONTINUED call 503-445-2757
The Ultimate Sports Bar
Buy More For Less 7am/2:30am Everyday
All Sports Packages • All Lottery Games • Free Ping Pong Table Internet Jukebox • Live DJ Fri/Sat • Over 20 HD TVs • Big Buck Hunter HD Check Out Our Facebook Page for Give Aways
1735 W Burnside • 503-224-1341
BECOME A HOMEOWNER Stop paying skyrocketing rent and build your own equity
What you need: 1. A job or verifiable income stream 2. Ok Credit (don’t need perfect) 3. Minimal down or nothing down. 4. Veterans or USDA borrowers put nothing down 5. A 5 minute phone call to me
ASK ME ABOUT DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS This is not a commitment to lend. Subject to qualifications.
JEFF TERHAAR / Mortgage Advisor MLO #158890 | NMLS 1071 | WA CL-1071 jterhaar@caphillmortgage.com
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The cosmos seems to be warming up to your charms. The stinginess it displayed toward you for a while is giving way to a more generous approach. To take advantage of this welcome development, you should shed any fearbased beliefs you may have adopted during the recent shrinkage. For instance, it’s possible you’ve begun to entertain the theory that the game of life is rigged against you, or that it is inherently hard to play. Get rid of those ideas. They’re not true, and clinging to them would limit the game of life’s power to bring you new invitations. Open yourself up wherever you have closed down. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Are any of your allies acting like they’ve forgotten their true purpose? If so, you have the power to gently awaken them from their trances and help them re-focus. Is it possible you have become a bit too susceptible to the influences of people whose opinions shouldn’t really matter that much to you? If so, now is a good time to correct that aberration. Are you aware of having fallen under the sway of trendy ideas or faddish emotions that are distorting your relationship with your primal sources? If so, you are hereby authorized to free yourself from their hold on you. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Now would be a favorable time to reveal that you are in fact a gay socialist witch who believes good poetry provides a more reliable way to understand reality than the opinions of media pundits -- unless, of course, you are not a gay socialist witch, etc., in which case you shouldn’t say you are. But I do advise you to consider disclosing as much as possible of your true nature to anyone with whom you plan to be intimately linked in the future and who is missing important information about you. It’s high time to experiment with being more completely yourself.
Homework
FALL INTO WITH MODO YOGA $40 INTRO MONTH SPECIAL
What would the people who love you best say is the most important thing for you to learn? Testify at Truthrooster@gmail.com.
check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes & Daily Text Message Horoscopes
freewillastrology.com
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at
1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700
MODO YOGA PORTLAND | CALM MIND | FIT BODY | INSPIRED LIFE 400 SE Grand Ave. • Portland, OR 97214
modoyogaportland.com • 503.206.5667 Willamette Week Classifieds AUGUST 24, 2016 wweek.com
63
BACK COVER
TO ADVERTISE ON WILLAMETTE WEEK’S BACK COVER CALL 503-445-2757
BANKRUPTCY
Stop Foreclosure, Garnishment, Lawsuits. I can help. Scott M. Hutchinson, Atty. Call today at 503-808-9032 FREE Confidential Consultation. Affordable Payment Plans. Visit: Hutchinson-Law.com
A FEMALE FRIENDLY SEX TOY BOUTIQUE
Atomic Auto atomicauto.biz 2510 NE Sandy Blvd. (503) 969-3134
$$$ CASH FOR DIABETIC TEST STRIPS $$$
Paying up to $30/box. Help those who can’t afford insurance. Free pickup in SW WA and Portland Metro. Call 360-693-0185 ext 500
for every body SWITCH LEATHER MEET & GREET / SUN, AUG 28TH - 7PM - FREE (RSVP ON FB THE JOYS OF TOYS! / WED, SEPT 7 - 7:30 - $15 STRAP IT TO ME! STRAP-ON SEX FOR EVERYBODY / SUN, SEPT 11 -7:30 - $15 BACK THAT ASS UP!: ANAL SEX 101 / THURS, SEPT 22 - 7:30 - $20 EXPLORING BURLESQUE: STRIPTEASE SALON / WED, OCT 5 - 7:30 - $20 Workshops can be ASL INTERPRETED upon request
NOW AT TWO LOCATIONS! 3213 SE DIVISION ST AND AT 909 N BEECH ST. PORTLAND SHEBOPTHESHOP.COM
Guitar Lessons
Personalized instruction for over 15yrs. www.portlandguitar-lessons.com 503-546-3137
Comedy Classes
Improv, Standup, Sketch writing. Now enrolling The Brody Theater, 503-224-2227 www.brodytheater.com
Qigong Classes
Cultivate health and energy www. nwfighting.com or 503-740-2666
ARE YOU BURIED IN DEBT?
Tired of creditors harassing you? I will kick their asses and help you get your financial life back on track Call Christopher Kane, Attorney at Law NOW! A debt relief agency kicking ass for 20 years. 503-380-7822. bankruptcylawpdx.com.
Top 1% Portland Agent
Stephen FitzMaurice, Realtor Home Selling Specialist 13+ Years Experience 4.5% Max Commission Stellar service and marketing. Broker in OR at Premiere Property Group. 3636 NE Broadway St. 503-975-6853. RealEstateAgentPDX.com
Marijuana Store & More *971-255-1456* 1310 SE 7TH AVE
$Cash for Junk Vehicles$
$$$$ WE PAY CASH $$$$
9966 SW Arctic Drive, Beaverton 9220 SE Stark Street, Portland American Agriculture • americanag.com PDX 503-256-2400 BVT 503-641-3500
4911 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland, OR 97213 503-384-WEED (9333) For Diabetic Test Strips, also Lanclets Up to $50 per box Call Becky 503-459-7352 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$ BUYING JUNK CARS $ $100-$2000 licensed and insured , Towing service available call Jeff 503-496-8652 sellthatcarpdx@GMX.com
Ask for Steven. 503-936-5923
AA HYDROPONICS
CASH for INSTRUMENTS Tradeupmusic.com SE - 236-8800 NE -335-8800 SW - Humstrumdrum.com
HIPPIE GODDESS
Models Wanted. Females 18+. Natural/ Hairy/Hirsute, Fit Bodies. Hippiegoddess.com. $300. 503-449-5341 Emma
JiuJitsu
Ground defense under black belt instruction www.nwfighting.com or 503-740-2666
Mary Jane’s House of Glass
Glass Pipes, Vaporizers, Incense, Candles. 10% discount for new OMA Card holders. 1425 NW 23rd, Ptld. 503-841-5757 17937 SW McEwan Rd. Tualatan. 503746-7522
Non-Profit Law Firm
Garnished? Eviction? Foreclosure? We can help. Call 503-208-4079 Bankruptcy - Tenant - Sliding-Scale www.communitylawproject.org
OMMP CARDHOLDERS GET 25% DISCOUNT!
Quick fix synthetic urine now available. Kratom, Vapes. E-cigs, glass pipes, discount tobacco, detox products, Butane by the case Still Smokin’ Glass and Tobacco 12302 SE Powell 503-762-4219
SO, YOU GOT A DUI. NOW WHAT?
Get help from an experienced DUI trial lawyer Free Consult./ Vigorous Defense/ Affordable Fees David D. Ghazi, Attorney at Law 333 SW Taylor Street, Suite 300 (503)-224-DUII (3844) david@ddglegal.com
NORTH WEST HYDROPONIC R&R
We Buy, Sell & Trade New and Used Hydroponic Equipment. 503-747-3624
MEDICAL MARIJUANA Card Services Clinic
New Downtown Location! • Gardening tools • Chicken feed
• Soil & Mulch • Plant starts & more!
728 NE Dekum Street (entrance on 8th Ave) 503-310-4578 • dekumstreetdoorway.com
503 235 1035
1501 SW Broadway www.mellowmood.com
4119 SE Hawthorne, Portland ph: 503-235-PIPE (7473)
503-384-WEED (9333) www.mmcsclinic.com 4911 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland Mon-Sat 9-6
Pizza Delivery
Until 4AM!
www.hammyspizza.com