NEWS BREITBART LANDS ON PSU. FOOD MEXICAN MEAT MONTH CONTINUES!
P. 11 P. 31
WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
“THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE HAVE MANY COGS.” P. 4
WHITE SUPREMACISTS ARE BRAWLING WITH MASKED LEFTISTS IN THE PORTLAND STREETS. HOMELAND SECURITY IS WATCHING.
WWEEK.COM
VOL 43/XX XX.XX.2017
BY COREY PEIN AND AARON MESH
on the
Stage
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Patrick Lamb Tribute to Earth Wind & Fire
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Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
TRICIA HIPPS
FINDINGS
PAGE 51
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 43, ISSUE 30.
Reasonable people agree the best way to combat the city’s housing problem is to close
The documentary film 1984 will be screening this week. 27
publicly owned and increasingly unpopular golf courses and build homes on them. 9
At least one person employed in the production of Portlandia complained that the Burnside 26 apartment building was “ruining
“Tiny” Toese and the Based Stickman vs. Antifa may be the
Portland.” 29
most hotly anticipated fight since Mayweather-Pacquiao. 14
In 1869, the Lebanese silk industry collapsed. 31
The Oregonian will no longer have
The Girl Scout Cookies strain has a reputation for being a good masturbation aid. 52
a full-time music critic. 26
ON THE COVER:
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:
A left-wing protester dressed in “clown bloc” on April 29.
Brunch burritos.
Photo by Joe Riedl.
STAFF Editor & Publisher Mark Zusman EDITORIAL News Editor Aaron Mesh Arts & Culture Editor Martin Cizmar Staff Writers Nigel Jaquiss, Rachel Monahan, Corey Pein Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Nicole Groessel Stage Editor Shannon Gormley Screen Editor Walker MacMurdo Projects Editor Matthew Korfhage Music Editor Matthew Singer
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Last week, a food review (“Flour Power,” WW, May 17, 2017) featured a breakfast burrito pop-up, Kooks Burritos, run by two young women who were inspired to make flour tortillas after a trip to Puerto Nuevo, Mexico. While there, the pair watched other women making flour tortillas and attempted to take lessons, an effort thwarted by their poor Spanish. Back in Portland, they started making their own flour tortillas, practicing the craft and then subleasing a taco cart to make weekend brunch. This proved controversial. Here’s a sampling of the response. Celeste Noche, via Facebook: “Today in Portland white nonsense: These white girls drove down to Mexico, stole recipes from women who didn’t want to share them, and are up here trying to profit as if actual Mexican food from actual Mexican people doesn’t already exist.”
resource emerged and quickly went viral: a Google doc showing exactly how prevalent this epidemic is. The list titled ‘White-Owned Appropriative Restaurants in Portland’ provides a who’s who of culinary white supremacy.” Kristen Goodman, who circulated the “White-Owned Appropriative Restaurants in Portland” list: “Here’s is the whole white appropriation restaurant shit list. There are owners I know on this list and places I love. But it’s not going to stop me. Please think about how you spend your money. Support peopleof-color establishments.”
Cristina Gonzalez, who is Puerto Rican, via the WW comments section: “My abuela would be absolutely furious. I have recipes that she wouldn’t share with anyone, not even me, that I only inherited “What a Melody Martínez, via WW’s Facewhen she passed. These are recipes journalistic for dishes that she created just for book page: “Wow. This article is a clear example of how media perpetuus, her family, that she learned from fail.” ates and reinforces racism and white those who came before her. Approsupremacy, brandishing it as ‘fun’ and priation scrubs all of that meaning, all of the importance, all of the history, and all of ‘innovative.’ What a journalistic fail.” the story that is attached to these recipes.” David González, in reply to Martínez: “Seriously? Of all things, this is the one you picked to get StellarShadow, translated from Reddit/r/ angry? Mexican here. Born and raised in Mexico, Mexico: “What is this, Social Justice Warriors so, you know, intimately aware of Mexican culture fighting on behalf of our culture without us caring and how it works. We Mexicans appreciate it when or asking for it? Wow, those people need to relax people come to our country, learn and adopt tidbits and find something to entertain themselves with instead of finding someone to attack.” from our culture, and take that back home.” Jagger Blaec, writing in The Portland Mercury: “Week after week people of color in Portland bear witness to the hijacking of their cultures, and an identifiable pattern of appropriation has been created…. After the fury continued online, a different
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
BY MA RT Y SMIT H
I was recently ticketed by the Portland Police Bureau—but my case was before a Multnomah County judge. Seems like the cops work for the city, but the courts (and jails) are countyoperated. What’s up with that? —Leadfoot
4
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
The county has cops, too. In ye olde England, a county was pretty much defined as the area under the jurisdiction of a sheriff. The word “sheriff” itself is a corruption of “shire reeve,” from “shire” meaning “county,” and “reeve” meaning “scourge of poltroons.” Incidentally, the English word for the administration of a sheriff—the equivalent of “presidency,” or “admiralty”—is “shrievalty.” Thus, we might say, “The six-year shrievalty of Bernie Giusto came to an end in 2008.” The point of all that (like there was one) is to note that it’s not quite as simple as the city handling law enforcement and the county handling administration of justice. In fact, most of our overlapping jurisdictions do both: There are state police and state prisons, as well as county sheriff’s deputies and county jails. (Metro, thank God, does not yet have a police force, though I predict we’ll see a recycling
patrol on hovercraft Segways by 2035.) But while we have plenty of city cops, there’s no corresponding city hoosegow. This isn’t some bedrock principle of American justice—plenty of cities have city jails. Portland itself had one, and a municipal court as well, until 1973. In that year, as a result of state and local measures passed in 1971, Portland’s Municipal Court was merged with the Multnomah County District Court (which was itself folded into the Multnomah County Circuit Court in 1981). Not that the current system is all that centralized. “You can be arrested by city police, go to a county jail, see a county judge in a state court, and go to a state prison,” notes the Police Bureau’s Pete Simpson. “The wheels of justice have many cogs.” And I’ve got the parking tickets to prove it! QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
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video captured Republican Chris Dudley’s damaging remarks on the minimum wage in a close race. Brown’s campaign manager, Thomas Wheatley, says neither the campaign nor the governor knows anything about hiring a tracker. Dawn Le, a spokeswoman for American Bridge, says that’s as it should be—because, as a super PAC, the group must act independently of campaigns. “We are investing early nationwide,” Le says. “I hope she knows nothing about what we’re doing—she’s not supposed to.”
Washington High Won’t Be Community Center
Southeast Portland’s 15-year fight to open a community center on the old Washington High School campus has hit the end of
A series of high-profile gaffes was apparently no obstacle to the career advancement of Portland Public Schools’ human resources director, Sean Murray. In November, the district made a job offer to a general counsel candidate who had pleaded no contest in Florida to breaking the state’s public records law. This month, the district lost a $1 million lawsuit over failure to address racial harassment. Murray is leaving the district June 3 to take the job of human resources director at the city’s urban renewal agency, Prosper Portland, where he’ll make $160,000 a year—$6,600 more than he’s currently earning. “He is leaving to pursue other interests,” said PPS spokesman David Northfield. Read more Murmurs and daily scuttlebutt.
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
Portland’s Fantasy Transit Map
A BI GGER FREQU ENT- SERVI C E BUS S YS TE M : East Portland has plenty of density, lots of zero-car households and hardly any frequent-service bus lines. “TriMet should convert another six lines to frequent service,” Howell says. “They only have about a dozen now, and they carry about half the bus riders.” Eastside arteries like 122nd, 148th and 161st avenues would all get 15-minute service. And express buses on I-205 near Clackamas could fix rush hour far more cheaply and permanently than extra lanes, he says. Cost: About $30 million a year, some of which would be recouped in additional fare revenue.
WHAT IF WE SPENT BILLIONS TO FIX THE MORNING COMMUTE WITH SOMETHING OTHER THAN CARS? BY M IC H A E L A N D E R SE N
Portland to Salem
@andersem
This month, the Oregon Legislature debuted an ambitious plan pitched as a “fix” for Portland’s traffic woes—featuring $1 billion to widen urban freeways. Jim Howell says there’s no surer way to waste a billion dollars. “They keep saying they can’t build their way out of congestion with more highways,” he says. “So why are they trying?” Howell, 83, has been asking annoying questions since 1971, when as a young architect he organized the protests that eventually turned Harbor Drive into Waterfront Park and co-founded the group that swapped Southeast Portland’s proposed Mount Hood Freeway for light rail. Howell now says Portland should be following the path of peer cities like Seattle, Austin and Atlanta and think bigger than wider roads. In the past two years, all three cities passed big ballot measures built on the idea that as they grow, cities must shift away from transportation that gets less efficient as more people use it (cars) and toward transportation that gets more efficient as more people use it: buses and trains. In the Legislature and even at TriMet’s own headquarters, Howell’s plan is dead on arrival. But that was also the case 46 years ago, when Howell started fighting the seemingly inevitable Mount Hood Freeway project. If Howell could spend $3 billion on transit, here’s what he’d do to permanently speed up your commute.
CO MMUTE R RAIL TO S ALE M:
Portland City Center
Beaverton
Five thousand five hundred Salem residents commute to primary jobs in Washington and Clackamas counties—that’s one in 10 Salem workers—and 6,800 commuters head the other way. Howell wants to give them an alternative to I-5. Cost: $500 million
Tualatin
Wilsonville
Salem
Columbia River
Travel time (Tualatin to Salem): 48 minutes PDX Airport
Hillsboro
PDX
City Center
Gresham
Tigard
A D OW N T OW N M A X T U N N E L : Today, the east landing of the Steel Bridge is TriMet’s biggest time bomb. Thanks to four crisscrossing MAX lines, it’s already at full capacity at rush hour. If TriMet ever wants more frequent trains, some of them will need a different route across the Willamette. Howell’s answer: Go underneath. The Blue and Red lines could plunge 200 feet between the Lloyd District and Goose Hollow, with new, underground stations at the Rose Quarter and Pioneer Courthouse Square. Today’s crawl through downtown would become a two-stop hop, luring thousands of east-west commuters off the roads. Cost: $2 billion
Milwaukie Clackamas Tualatin
PDX City Center
RED L I NE TO T U ALATIN:
Rose Quarter
Proposed Subway
Lloyd Center Pioneer Square
Goose Hollow
M OR R I S ON B R. HA W T HOR NE B R. PSU
OMSI
Travel time (Lloyd Center to Goose Hollow): 7 minutes, down from 23 today
Disclosure: Michael Andersen also writes about housing issues as a part-time contractor for the nonprofit 1000 Friends of Oregon. His reporting here is unrelated.
B U R NS I DE B R.
Since 2009, the Westside Express Service train on these tracks has been a money pit disguised as a commuter rail line. But the reason fewer than 1,000 people ride it daily, Howell says, is that it runs only 16 times each day. His fix: Instead of stopping at the Beaverton Transit Center, the Red Line should turn left and run south along part of WES’s current route. Cost: $200 million or less Travel time (Beaverton to Tualatin): 17 minutes
South Waterfront
Willamette River
Y EL L OW LINE A BO V E THE CE NTRAL E AS TS ID E : Instead of a new, $450 million freeway lane at the Rose Quarter, Howell would give north-south travelers a rail alternative: a beeline between North Portland and Milwaukie, on new, elevated tracks above the Union Pacific Railroad. Throw in an elevated walkway-bikeway too, and property owners could open second-story storefronts throughout the district. Cost: $200 million or less Travel time (Rose Quarter to OMSI): 8 minutes, down from 23 today
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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GOING COASTAL
Our guide tO the OregOn cOast publishes June 14. reserve yOur ad space tOday! cOntact advertising@wweek.cOm Or 503-243-2122 8
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JADE
SCHULZ
NEWS
Homer’s Big Swing DEVELOPER HOMER WILLIAMS WANTS CITY HALL TO HELP HIM SWAP A PRIVATE GOLF COURSE FOR LAND TO BUILD CHEAP APARTMENTS. BY RACHEL MONAHAN
rmonahan@wweek.com
Real estate dealmaker Homer Williams is back at Portland City Hall, pushing another audacious plan. Last year, Williams unsuccessfully championed a project to build a 1,400-bed homeless shelter on city-owned industrial property in Northwest Portland. His ambitions for solving the city’s homelessness problem have only grown since that setback. During the past two months, Williams has described to Mayor Ted Wheeler and city commissioners a plan for building 12,000 to 14,000 units of affordable housing—more than 10 times the number to be built with the housing bond Portland voters approved last November. “We need a big move in order to have any hope of controlling a problem that will grow out of control,” says Williams. “I don’t mean just chronic homelessness. I mean people who have worked all their lives.” His plan is complicated, and hinges on changing the city’s zoning designation of large properties. The key is the privately owned 120acre Broadmoor Golf Course in Cully. He wants the city to change the course’s zoning designation from open space to
industrial land. State law requires the city to maintain a 20-year supply of industrial land. Converting the golf course to industrial use would add to the industrial land supply. That could allow the city to take other, closer-in properties now zoned industrial and convert them to residential use. The process of rezoning land from open space to industrial, and from industrial to residential, creates wealth for landholders, because permission to develop a property increases its value. A request to zone Broadmoor as industrial land may be filed within the next 30 days, says Williams. Williams says a group of civic-minded Portland business leaders are working to buy the course within the next two months. The new owners would donate their property to a nonprofit, presumably collecting a tax write-off in the process. Williams would fundraise to buy industrial land but also use the increased value from rezonings to finance development costs. Williams won’t say where he hopes the city rezones industrial land as residential, in part because he doesn’t want to push the values of those properties up. But there are big swaths of industrial land along the Willamette River in South-
east and Northwest Portland—including the massive ESCO foundry shuttered last year—that would be highly attractive for residential development. The deal faces significant hurdles. Environmentalists previously defeated an effort by the current owners to rezone Broadmoor as industrial land. Some environmentalists object to developing golf courses because it reduces green spaces and wildlife habitat. “Why do we need to destroy natural environment to do that?” asks conservation director Bob Sallinger of the Audubon Society of Portland. He says the city should focus instead on getting an exception to the state requirement for an inventory of industrial land. “Portland is going to be the first city to [get an exception] eventually,” Sallinger adds. “We’re out of room to expand. We’re now in a choice: today, tomorrow or the next day.” And Williams’ project conflicts with the comprehensive plan the City Council approved last year, laying out a long-term vision for where in the city land should be developed. Despite the obstacles, nobody at City Hall is dismissing Williams’ idea. That’s because of the enormous need for new housing and because of Williams’ track record for pulling off developments previously considered impossible. He envisioned what became the Pearl District and the South Waterfront when both were barren, contaminated industrial areas. He developed the Forest Heights neighborhood on land considered unbuildable. Williams also has a history of not building all the affordable housing he promised in other projects, as The Oregonian has chronicled. He says that won’t be problem this time because his new project would include only affordable units, in four-story buildings for working people making 60 to 80 percent of median income. Records show Williams has already pitched his land-swap concept to Mayor Wheeler and Commissioners Chloe Eudaly, Nick Fish and Dan Saltzman in the past two months. Wheeler, Eudaly and Saltzman’s offices all tell WW the city leaders are intrigued by the idea. “Dan believes in Homer’s genuineness in helping to alleviate the problem,” says Saltzman’s chief of staff Brendan Finn. “He’s seen his passion over the last year, year and a half.” The owners of the Broadmoor course are motivated, adds Wheeler spokesman Michael Cox. (Course manager Scott Krieger, who represented Broadmoor’s owners at the meeting with the mayor, was unavailable for comment.) Williams says the extraordinary challenges the city faces require bold thinking and action from City Hall. “I’ve done three of the largest projects in the city,” he says. “If they don’t trust me by now, I don’t know when they would.”
IN THE HOLE Homer Williams isn’t the only person eyeing golf courses as a way to free up more land for housing. But several civic leaders suggest taking a far more direct approach: Close at least one of the five cityowned golf courses and build apartments on them. The City Budget Office says the reserve fund that covers operation of the courses will run out of money by June 30. The golf fund has been steadily depleting its reserves for at least the past five years, a reflection of the sport’s waning popularity. “The number of serious golfers has been in decline for some time, and new golfers are not taking up the sport at the same rate as in past generations,” says Portland Parks and Recreation spokesman Mark Ross. But parks officials say completed renovations at one course and, in the near term, an end to the rainy spring may turn things around. “Loss of the public golf facilities,” Ross says, “would limit the sport largely to those with the financial means to belong to a country club.” Civic leaders say the Eastmoreland Golf Course, in particular, located adjacent to a MAX stop on the Orange Line, might have a better use. “You’ve got 150 acres pretty close in, next to a major arterial roadway and an underutilized light-rail station, and your community center is already built,” says Jeff Bachrach, a member of the city’s Planning and Sustainability Commission. “And, of course, more affordable housing is the city’s top priority. “On the other hand,” Bachrach continues, “you have an empowered neighborhood that would fight it to death; you have environmental advocates that will oppose any development of public open space; and you’ve got a lot of golfers who probably enjoy playing on a really nice innercity course at municipal rates.” Eastmoreland may be the most attractive for development, but unlike some of the city courses, it is still turning a profit. And Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association treasurer Robert McCullough called the idea “odious,” saying it would be “illegal” because the city is required to return the course to the original donor if it closes. “Metro says we’re not short on buildable land,” he says. “We are short on oxygen and green things.” Former City Commissioner Steve Novick, however, says the housing crunch calls for giving the golf courses a careful look. “If there’s a clear choice between golf and housing,” Novick says, “housing should win.” RACHEL MONAHAN.
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
NEWS THOMAS TEAL
THE EXCEPTIONAL EXCEPTION
EVEN AS GOV. KATE BROWN SEEKS TO CUT PENSION COSTS, A STATE AGENCY DIRECTOR REQUESTED A DOUBLE-DIPPING LOOPHOLE.
BY N IGEL JAQU ISS
The Last Tweet A DISPUTE AT PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER GOES VIRAL. BY E L I S E HE R R O N
eherron@wweek.com
A Portland State University journalist was fired from the Vanguard student newspaper last month for his characterization of a Muslim student’s remarks at an April 26 campus panel discussion. His dismissal has drawn national attention from conservative media, which see it as an example of left-wing campuses muzzling free speech. But his firing also illustrates the challenges of producing ethical journalism in a social-media age—when a local story can turn global with provocative phrasing and a few retweets. Andy Ngo wasn’t reporting for the Vanguard when he attended the panel. What he did was paraphrase a portion of a Muslim student’s comments about the treatment of non-Muslims in Islamic countries via his personal Twitter account. Ngo’s tweet went viral and caught the attention of the right-wing Breitbart News Network. “Muslim student claims that non-believers will be killed in Islamic countries,” the Breitbart headline read. Four days after the panel discussion, Ngo was fired. (The school awarded him $1,900 per term for his work as multimedia editor—money he gets to keep.) Ngo, 30, a lifelong Portlander and grad student in political science, says his crime was political incorrectness, not just what he tweeted. “Some of my past writing has been controversial on campus because of the subjects I’ve covered,” he says. Those topics included profiles of ex-Muslims and proTrump students of color on campus. “I don’t know if that played a factor in influencing the decision making of those who fired me, but it’s something I think about,” he says. His former boss disagrees. “This is not partisan,” says Colleen Leary, the Vanguard editor-in-chief who fired Ngo in person. “We aren’t a leftleaning paper, and we aren’t afraid to publish complex topics.” Leary says she dismissed Ngo because his tweet summarized the panelist’s remarks in a way that was unethical. “The tweet was a half-truth,” Leary says. “It incited a
HOT BUTTON: Andy Ngo, a student journalist, says he was dismissed from the Vanguard newspaper for stating uncomfortable truths. “I am a gay son of refugees from Indochina,” he says. “I know what it feels like to receive racist and homophobic abuse.”
reaction and implicated the student panelist.” Debates about free speech on campus have intensified since President Donald Trump’s election. The disagreement at PSU showcases those heightened tensions. The panel Ngo covered was called “Unpacking Misconceptions” and included discussion among six student panelists from different religions. In a video of the event, the panelist says: “I can confidently tell you, when the Quran says an innocent life, it means an innocent life, regardless of the faith, the race, like, whatever you can think about as a characteristic. […] This that you’re referring to, killing non-Muslims, that is only considered a crime when the country’s law, the country is based on Quranic law—that means there is no other law than the Quran. In that case, you’re given the liberty to leave the country, I’m not going to sugarcoat it.” Ngo tweeted: “At @Portland_State interfaith panel today, the Muslim student speaker said that apostates will be killed or banished in an Islamic state,” Ngo wrote. In Leary’s view, Ngo’s tweet removed the conditional, hypothetical nature of the student’s comments and replaced it with more categorical and violent language. She says that while Ngo’s comment was made on his personal Twitter account, it was still a reckless oversimplification and violation of journalistic ethics. Breitbart reported on the contents of Ngo’s Twitter feed within 24 hours. Other sites soon followed. Leary says Breitbart’s coverage brought Ngo’s tweet to her attention but wasn’t the reason for his firing. Ngo was let go, she says, because his tweet was exaggerated and inflammatory. But Leary does wonder about the speed with which Ngo’s tweet got to Breitbart. “It was reasonable to ask about Breitbart collusion because he has [worked with the network] before,” she says. A year ago, while Ngo was a Vanguard reporter, Breitbart approached him to do a story on Trump supporters at PSU. “Breitbart is not ethical, they don’t fact-check, and they cite unattributed work,” Leary explains. Ngo went public with his claim of political censorship in a May 12 opinion piece he wrote for National Review titled “Fired for Reporting the Truth.” On May 19, Ngo hosted an “Ask Me Anything” session on the Reddit page called “the_donald” and a day later appeared in a YouTube interview with the Clarion Project, an organization that challenges Islamic extremism. (Leary says that reactions at PSU are few and mild in comparison to the national coverage that Ngo’s story is attracting.) Lost in the uproar? The Muslim student whose comments are at the center of the debate. He could not be reached by WW for comment. But in a response to a story published in the Vanguard, which did not name him for safety reasons, the student says, “I thought I would feel proud after putting something like this [panel] together. Not feel like this.”
njaquiss@wweek.com
The director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission approached lawmakers with an unusual request last week. OLCC director Steve Marks wanted to change state law to benefit just one person: the liquor agency’s top licensing and compliance official, Richard B. Evans Jr. In testimony before the House Economic Development Committee, Marks made his case for Evans, calling him “uniquely qualified.” “This is an exceptional exception and will not be used lightly,” Marks said. At issue is the law that prohibits most Oregon public employees who have retired and are receiving their pensions from coming back to work for a public employer in Oregon for more than 1,039 hours a year, or half time. The amendment Marks requested would allow Evans, 51, to work full-time through June 30, 2019, while continuing to collect his pension of $82,000 (he retired last year as superintendent of the Oregon State Police). As a full-time hire, Evans would draw a $98,000 salary in addition to his pension, making his total pay more than the $164,000 he earned as state police superintendent. Marks’ request came at a delicate time. Gov. Kate Brown has made reducing the state’s unfunded pension liability a top priority. Currently, the state owes pensioners $22 billion more than it has or will have saved. Brown is even considering the novel approach of selling $5 billion in state assets (“The Price Is Right,” WW, May 17, 2017). Marks, who once served as chief of staff to Gov. John Kitzhaber, is well aware of the sensitivities around public employee compensation. He says he consulted Gov. Brown’s staff before seeking the loophole. “I got permission from the governor’s office to make the ask,” Marks says. “They didn’t endorse it.” Marks says he sought the exception because of the difficulty of filling his agency’s top law enforcement position. He says senior police officials are in great demand and the OLCC’s specialized areas of enforcement—alcohol and cannabis sales—require an unusual skill set. The issue of double dipping—in which an employee retires, collects a pension, and then goes back to work for a public employer—is not new. Nearly 12,000 Oregon public employees who are retired and drawing a pension from the Public Employees Retirement System also drew public salaries last year. Occasionally, lawmakers have carved out specific exemptions, usually for rural public safety jobs. Joe Baessler, political director of the Oregon American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents OLCC employees, says Marks runs his agency well. But he says changing state law for just one person is poor practice. “Steve’s trying to solve a problem,” Baessler says, “but it makes me nervous and causes consternation.” Brown belatedly agreed after WW asked for comment. “This amendment and other bills being considered this session bring up the larger question around the growing number of exemptions for retirees working more than part time,” says Brown spokesman Bryan Hockaday. “This is an important conversation to have, but not during a time that we as a state are considering larger PERS reforms. Given this dynamic, Gov. Brown has requested that OLCC withdraw the amendment.” Tuesday afternoon, on the eve of a second work session on the OLCC bill, Marks withdrew his request. Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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STREETS OF RAGE
WHITE SUPREMACISTS ARE BRAWLING WITH MASKED LEFTISTS IN THE PORTLAND STREETS. HOMELAND SECURITY IS WATCHING. BY CO REY P EI N
and
AARO N MESH
243-2122
JOE RIEDL
On May 13, at about 4 pm, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, a mountainous Samoan from Vancouver, Wash., decked another man in downtown Portland’s Chapman Square. Occasional acts of violence are a fact of life in any city. But this punch was different. The assault, captured on video, embodied the intensity of the political hostility boiling over on Portland’s streets. Those streets are becoming a battleground—not just between protesters and cops, but also between right and left. In the four months since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the metro area has witnessed at least six rallies or marches where some segment of the extreme right and militant leftists have confronted each other in public spaces. The showdowns are but a small segment of the political unrest in this city. Since Trump’s election, Portland has been the site of at least 30 marches and rallies.
BOO: Luis Enrique Marquez, a 45-year-old comedy writer, has been arrested twice this year in confrontations with right-wing groups, including the April 29 “free speech” march on 82nd Avenue, to which he wore a pumpkin suit.
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Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
Those events have been largely peaceful. They have also featured high-profile clashes between riot police and anarchists, resulting in at least 160 arrests and an estimated $1 million in property damage. But it’s the encounters between competing political ideologies that display a new kind of fury. On one side is an ad-hoc crowd of militant leftists—including anarchists, socialists and communists—who cast themselves as an anti-fascist front, or “antifa.” They often dress in black clothing and ski masks, an unofficial uniform borrowed from an anarchist subculture often loosely described as the “black bloc.” On the other side is antifa’s political opposite: a coalition of white supremacists, anti-government militia groups and online agitators known as the “alt-right.” Their next skirmish could unfold in the middle of the Rose Festival. On June 4, Kyle Chapman plans to lead a rally across from Portland City Hall. Chapman is an online celebrity from California who has attracted a wide following for battling left-wing protesters, wearing a gas mask and armed with a large stick. Chapman is coming to Portland at the behest of Joey Gibson, a Vancouver video blogger. Attendees of his Portland-area events this spring have included anti-gay street preachers, crews of bikers, and several people claiming affiliation with Confederate and neo-Nazi groups. Chapman and Gibson have both gained a degree of prominence in the alt-right, a nationalist movement designed to provoke and taunt liberal “snowflakes” they see as undermining America. On the street, the conflict between right and left can look absurd—like deleted scenes from the Mad Max movies. Yet in the wake of Trump’s election, brawls between dozens of adherents of alt-right and antifa movements have become regular events in cities from Boston to Berkeley, Calif. “It’s never been as vocal as it has been in recent months,” says Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson. “While they’re not street gangs, the threat of violence is there. They’re challenging each other—calling each other out.” Alt-right-led events with the title “March 4 Trump” began occurring around Portland two months ago, starting in Lake Oswego and Vancouver. CONT. on page 16
SAM GEHRKE
STANDOFF: A right-wing biker squares off with masked antifa May 13. “One disturbing trend is the rise of racist demonstrations, particularly from out-of-town elements,” says Mayor Ted Wheeler’s spokesman, Michael Cox. “Our message to those who want to come to Portland to spread hate is this: Stay home.”
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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PUSSY RIOT: Members of Rose City Antifa marched ahead of, and blended in with, anarchist black bloc protesters on May Day. The antifa group has roots in Portland’s decades-old anti-racist skinhead scene.
“THEY SEE IT AS A CIVIL WAR.” Last month, the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade was canceled after an anonymous email threatened a mass assault of alleged white supremacists who were rumored to be planning to march. Since that uproar, alt-right groups have twice come to Portland for tense standoffs with local leftists. Longtime observers of extremism hear echoes of old Portland violence. “This is a manifestation of a long-simmering battle between the extreme right and the extreme left in this town,” says Randy Blazak, chairman of the Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crime. “It led Portland to be dubbed ‘Skinhead City’ in the 1990s. Thanks to the sea change of the 2016 election season, it’s back in full force.” The workings of alt-right groups are mysterious—often by design. Many members use their real names, but refuse to give straight answers on anything else. One of the most visible alt-right leaders in the Pacific Northwest is Joey Gibson, 33, who lives in Vancouver. He casts himself as a champion of free speech. His public pronouncements and YouTube videos seek to get right-wing allies riled up to “trigger some snowflakes”—meaning, taunt and provoke liberal and leftist college students. Gibson tells WW he is “promoting freedom, through the power of prayer,” he says. “It’s kind of a spiritual movement.” In April, Gibson traveled to Berkeley, where he posed for videos with Kyle Chapman, a 41-year-old commercial diver and YouTube personality. Chapman’s fans call him “Based Stickman,” which means a badass guy with a stick. Chapman was filmed at the Berkeley “March 4 Trump,” breaking a signpost over the head of a left-wing protester. He was arrested on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon, among other charges. An online campaign raised $50,000 for his bail and legal defense. Chapman did not respond to WW’s requests for comment. In a March 31 profile in National Review, he said he was a conservative Republican and uncomfortable with some of his extreme admirers. But he pledged to keep going into new cities to confront leftists. Alexander Reid Ross, a Portland State University geography instructor who recently published a book on fascist and antifa strug16
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
gles, Against the Fascist Creep, says alt-right agitators see Berkeley, Seattle and Portland as targets. “They think by making incursions into ‘enemy’ territory and demoralizing them—by beating them up or mocking them relentlessly—they’ll be able to throw off the assumptions that underlie society,” Ross says. “They see it as a civil war.” The alt-right is shady about its affiliations and intentions. Their anti-fascist opponents are clearer about their goals, but resolutely anonymous. The roots of antifa—the local wing is called Rose City Antifa—lie in left-wing brawlers who organized in Cold War Germany, as well as in the underground punk-rock scene of Portland in the 1980s and ’90s. In 1988, in an event that seared this city’s residents, Ethiopian student Mulugeta Seraw was beaten to death by white-supremacist skinheads. That event helped give rise to a group of “anti-racist” skinheads, the forebears of today’s antifa. “In one sense, this is nothing new,” says Blazak. “These guys have been going at it for years. They put on new haircuts, and they do battle in the streets of Portland.” Rose City Antifa declined repeated requests for comment. But WW’s reporting—conversations with people at events, as well as interviews with longtime observers of the movement—indicates that affiliates include middle-aged, gainfully employed veterans of the anti-racist skinhead scene, as well as college student activists and kids as young as 14. It’s difficult to say how many people are involved in antifa movements in Portland, but crowd estimates at marches suggest it’s as many as 200 people. Ross says Portland’s antifa groups play a key role in discouraging the rise of racist violence and intimidation. “It has become shorthand for people who want to go out and fight Nazis,” he says. “The alt-right has to be understood as a fascist movement.” In their black bloc-style outfits, which they have worn four times in the past four months, it is difficult to distinguish these anti-fascist groups from more familiar anarchist protesters—or from thrill-seeking teenagers who see an opportunity to throw Pepsi cans at cops or smash store windows. CONT. on page 18
THEY PERSISTED: Antifa activists say their role includes protecting people who do not trust the police to shield them from white supremacist violence.
WILLIAM GAGAN
FIRE DOWN BELOW: The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon criticized the Portland Police Bureau for precipitating a riot downtown on May 1.
WILLIAM GAGAN
SMASH: The actions of anarchist “black bloc” protesters led other organizations in the Portland May Day Coalition, which organized the march, to disinvite an anarchist student organization from next year’s event.
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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Marco Mejía, an organizer with Portland Immigrants Rights Coalition and the emcee of this year’s May Day rally, says he has mixed feelings about antifa actions. “I don’t condemn people who feel like they need to protect themselves and the community,” he says. Still, “there should be better communication.”
JOE RIEDL
On May 13, a day of thunderstorms and hailstones, Gibson and his antifa foils faced off in Portland’s Chapman Square, located at Southwest 3rd Avenue and Main Street. The event kicked off a block south with an anti-police brutality protest called by a Facebook group named Oregon Students Empowered. About two dozen left-wing protesters showed up, most wearing masks and black clothing. Gibson, the pro-Trump organizer from Vancouver, also arrived with his crew, also numbering about two dozen. Within 15 minutes, the sides squared off. Portland police officers observed silently, but then left. After about an hour of shouting, the left-wing group crossed the street. One of them set fire to a U.S. flag. (Others quietly objected.) Gibson’s crew took the flames as their cue to begin the confrontation anew. People from each side began screaming insults at each other as a circle of observers live-streamed the confrontations. Within minutes, Gibson’s friend, Tiny Toese, the 20-year-old American Samoan, flattened an antifa protester half his size with a punch to the face, while the kid had his arms crossed defensively (see the video on wweek.com).
MAYOR AND TERROR: Despite being hounded for months by protesters, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler still disputes the Department of Homeland Security’s characterization of local anarchist rioters as “domestic terrorists.”
Portland police soon returned. Sgt. Jeffrey Niiya calmly questioned representatives from both groups. Niiya appeared familiar with individuals on both sides. “It’s my job,” he explained. Gibson, who stresses how much his group supports law enforcement, appealed for sympathy, but Niiya was skeptical. “Some of the people on your side are inflaming the other side on social media,” Niiya told Gibson. “The problem is, we have outsiders,” Gibson said. “I’m here to be respectful and to talk to them.” Niiya told antifa protesters that for police to make an arrest, the victim would need to provide his name. After some chatter in the group, the word came back via the human megaphone: “No victim!” The police decamped a second time from the park. Later that afternoon, Toese returned home and recorded a video for his Facebook page calling the day a success. “We don’t come there to fight. Our goal is to educate,” Toese said. “I know it turned a little bit ugly. I had to do what you guys saw me do. But please, everybody, that is not who I am. Don’t take me as a violent person. I am just a big, happy Samoan. A brown brother for Donald Trump and a brown brother for America.” Toese also expressed eagerness for the next big brawl—evidently the June 4 rally starring Kyle Chapman. “We got another event that’s coming up,” he went on. “You guys will see us there. That event is on my birthday. So I guess I’m going to be celebrating my birthday kicking some antifa ass.” CONT. on page 20 18
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
JOE RIEDL
“THE PROBLEM IS, WE HAVE OUTSIDERS.”
TITLE BOUT: Pro-Trump marchers faced off with antifa at Joey Gibson’s April 29 protest in East Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood. It was advertised as a patriotic march for “free speech,” but several attendees wore the insignia of racist and militia groups.
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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June 4 falls in the second week of the Rose Festival, Portland’s biggest annual family event. The home page of the Rose Festival website currently reads: “Business as Usual.” “Recent events in Portland have led to rumors that the Rose Festival is considering canceling its popular parades due to safety concerns,” the site says. “This is not true.” Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office says he has instructed police to keep calm—and try to pacify the adversarial groups. “Police try to work with organizers and try to head off any conflict before it happens,” says Wheeler spokesman Michael Cox. “I know they’re doing that work now with regard to June 4. Of course, their success depends in large part on the organizers’ cooperation and communication before an event. Sometimes they get it. Sometimes they don’t.” Meanwhile, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo sent to Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on March 24 shows the federal government is keeping close watch on Portland—at least on one side of the political spectrum. The memo, obtained last month by WW, confirms earlier reports that the feds are classifying property damage by left-wing protesters as “domestic terrorism.” “Rioting by violent anarchist extremists at events [last November] met the criteria” for terrorism, Acting Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Patricia F.S. Cogswell wrote to Wyden. “DHS has a duty to report and analyze such acts of ideologically motivated violence.” Wyden says Homeland Security’s distinction between property damage and political protest is somewhat reassuring. “DHS said the right things here,” Wyden tells WW, “but I’m going to be watching closely to make sure this administration doesn’t blur the line between watching out for real domestic threats and targeting peaceful protesters who are exercising their constitutional rights.” Wheeler dismisses the concept of Portland protesters as terrorists. “The mayor does not view protesters as domestic terrorists,” says Cox. “As with so many things with the federal government today, Portland is going to continue with our strategy: honoring First Amendment rights while not tolerating acts of violence, vandalism or blocking transit.” By contrast, Homeland Security hasn’t made any public statement about alt-right groups, even after well-documented violence in Berkeley. A unit involved in countering right-wing extremism has been disbanded. Even so, police spokesman Simpson pledges his agency won’t play favorites. “We aren’t there to protect one group and arrest another,” he says. “We’re out there to keep these two groups away from each other. We’d like to see cooler heads prevail, and for people to realize there is no changing each other’s mind out in the streets.” Mike Bivins contributed reporting to this story.
CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS: This white flag, which flew May 13 in downtown Portland, is a symbol of the Christian Identity movement, a white supremacist theology that has been associated with the Ku Klux Klan as well as right-wing “patriot” militia groups. 20
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
JOE RIEDL
TROLLING: Confrontations like May 13 are not merely political rallies, but opportunities to gather intelligence on the opposing side and to engage in a debate familiar to anyone who’s perused an online comments section.
SAM GEHRKE
SAM GEHRKE
SAM GEHRKE
QUIET RIOT: Portland Police officers attempted to keep alt-right protesters separated from antifa foils at an April 29 march. But police were criticized for giving too much aid to right-wing marchers.
KEEPING WATCH: Despite appearing with the same people at the same sort of events time after time, many participants claim to be independent observers, untainted by the people on their own side. Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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RIBES COOKED
The Bump
What Your
First Date Spot Says About You BY JAC K R U SH A L L
If you want to feel like shit, you should agree to a Tinder date. Period. That hour beforehand will make you feel like you’re about to do stand-up for Dick Cheney in a tutu. You’ll have to knock back two beers—at least. There’s so much that’s unknown, which is why you hang onto every clue to indicate if this person is batshit crazy, moderately lame or maybe, dare I say, compatible? On a recent date with a guy who looks suspiciously like me, I heard a tipsy confession that struck me as palpably odd: He admitted that Jackknife is his “first date” spot. My strategy couldn’t be more different. I take a date to a bar we’ve both never tried, and where I’ve never particularly wanted to visit with friends. That way, if the night tanks, I can avoid it in the future. But he got me thinking: Can we predict what our potential partners are looking for based on the types of places where they prefer to meet us? Probably not—but since 30 percent of Tinder users are married, it’s at least worth considering. Here are nine potential first-date options and what they may tell you about your date’s M.O. For ideas on where to take a date, pick up a free copy of our brand-new bar guide, Drank, available around town now or for sale next week at Powell’s and New Seasons.
Dive bars
Take a hike or a stroll through a park
A dive bar, unlike a house, is a home. This is a good sign. You want to date someone who is not necessarily trying to impress you, but who is attempting to get to know you. If your date suggests meeting at a dive, it might already hint that they’re looking to date rather than get in your pants and dip.
The only time I’ve heard of someone willingly wanting to do a sober activity on a first date was a friend who went out with a divorced person. If somebody wants to do an activity with you that involves exercise –such as walking through Mt. Tabor, a graveyard or a national park–and they didn’t bring a flask, it’s a good indicator that your date wants to take the time to get to know you.
Think: The Slammer Tavern, The Nest, Florida Room, My Father’s Place or Alleyway
Watch Netflix Yuppie bars
Think: Pepe Le Moko, Dig a Pony or Rontoms
RIBES COOKED
Don’t expect your date to order a PBR when you get there. And it will probably be weird if you order one. This person probably wants a grasshopper. At yuppie hotspots, you’re dealing with someone who has money to drop; these people are showy and like to impress. This gives you a reason to suspect they may be a fuckboi. Expect to get two or three drinks, get mildly schwasty and end up taking a Lyft (which they will cover) back to their pad. You will pretend to watch TV for like 40 minutes and then you might have forgettable sex.
Obviously, we all know that Netflix doesn’t mean Netflix in 2017. This person is probably drunk, stoned or both. The probability of you seeing them again is about 2.5 percent.
Hang with their friends “I’m not interested in you,” is basically what you’re telling this person. Unless you venture into the world of Tinder Social or the short-lived doubledating app Double, don’t make someone go on a date with you and your friends. There is one caveat to this: If the person is from out of town, not one of these rules applies. They could move in with you for four days and then go back to Australia, and you’ll only occasionally “poke” each other on Facebook.
Share a spliff at the Skidmore Bluffs If somebody wants to do any drug with you that’s not alcohol on your first date, they are either waving a huge red flag or just trying to hook up. Pretty views are nice, though, which brings us to…
Dinner and a movie The old-school “dinner and a movie” date recalls a simpler time when two dogs aspired to share the same noodle in some alleyway. Naturally, there are complications. Most people look gross when they’re eating. A movie, for its part, is also not an ideal platform for engaging in anything except a hand on your leg—spicy! But rest assured: If somebody suggests dinner and a movie, this hints at either long-term potential, or a serial dater. There’s only one way to find out.
See a show Like movies, shows do not give two people a plausible platform to discuss anything. The music will be loud, and you’ll have to yell. If you are going to a bass, trap or house show, you will likely end up drinking, slow dancing, grinding and hooking up, which is great if that’s what you want.
Creative dates A “creative date” is an ambiguous term. If the person you’re talking to decides that you both need to be whimsical by going whale watching or feeding bread to crows, they are dressing to impress. Taking a class together is also a healthy sign that your partner wants to see the real you. This makes sense: Fuckbois probably aren’t going to take the time to learn how to prepare beef stroganoff with you. Whoever does that probably wants to marry you, or has no friends. Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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STARTERS
CHRISTINE DONG
B I T E - S I Z E D P O RT L A N D C U LT U R E N E W S
ekend + e W y a D l ia r o m Seafood All Me Wine Sales 5/27-5/29 Special Bottle
MACHINE 2.0: Artist Tom Cramer’s landmark 28-year-old “Machine” mural on North Williams will be demolished, after Cramer and developer Daniel Kaven reached an amicable settlement. A new Cramer mural will take the place of “Machine” when the defunct warehouse it’s painted on makes way for a mixed-use building called Parallax. “If he wants to paint the exact same thing there, it’s his choice,” says Kaven. Cramer says that’s unlikely—and that he will update the mural for the very changed neighborhood in which it sits. “The big irony is that one of the change agents in that neighborhood was that mural. Now it’s going to be taken down as a result of those changes.” Cramer says he hopes to hold a party for his mural—now greatly defaced by graffiti—before it goes down. GREENWALD GONE: Portland’s shrinking newspaper, The Oregonian, laid off more reporters early this week. According to a memo sent out to staff by editor Mark Katches, the layoffs will “affect fewer than 10 people.” Among them was the paper’s pop music critic, David Greenwald. This will likely leave Portland—a city that considers live music to be part of its DNA—without a full-time music critic to file show reviews for, say, sold-out country concerts at the Moda Center. Those shows are now likely to go without coverage. The O, meanwhile, will continue to invest in highly clickable content like John Canzano’s brutal takedown of the Blazers culture and former WW web editor Lizzy Acker’s monthlong series about her tattoos. “Our audience is growing and is deeply engaged with the news content we produce,” editor Mark Katches wrote. “We set a company record for digital revenue in March, and that momentum remains solid.” BIKETOWN SUMMER: BikeTown is giving a major deal to anyone who lives or works in Northwest Portland. This summer, you can get a BikeTown membership for just $10. This membership allows 90 minutes of riding per day. Considering an annual membership usually costs $144, and a day pass is $12, it’s an excellent deal for the summer. To sign up, verify your address is within the Zone M boundary, which extends from West Burnside Street to Northwest Vaughn Street, and from Northwest 18th to about Northwest 25th. The neighborhood parking advisory committee voted recently to recommend the Portland Bureau of Transportation triple the price of parking passes in Zone M. LAURELWOOD SUMMER: Anthony Cafiero, chef at nowclosed Racion, has been tapped to run a tiny, new 40-seat “Rum Club-style” bar space at Northwest Kearney Street and 23rd Avenue called Function, owned by Barracuda Networks founder Zachary Levow. “It’s a place for cool shit. It could be art opening, it could be gallery,” says Cafiero. “There are a lot of pop-up restaurant spaces, but very few pop-up bars.” Laurelwood Brewing will run a pop-up taproom there for the entire month of July, less than a block from its former Northwest taproom. DRANK ON THE STREET: Look for WW’s bar and happy hour guide, Drank, free at bars and boxes around Portland. Check wweek.com/drank to read it online and see where to pick up a hard copy. CLOSED: Kooks Burritos, a brunch pop-up reviewed in last week’s newspaper, has closed.
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 24
T.I. As the Black Lives Matter movement motivated hip-hop to form a united front, it especially touched veteran Atlanta rapper T.I. In recent years, the self-professed “King of the South” has developed a heretofore unseen social conscience, not only decrying police-sanctioned murder on his 2016 EP, Us or Else: Letter to the System, but participating in marches across the country. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 971-230-0033. roselandpdx. com. 8 pm. $40. All ages.
Teva Harrison Teva Harrison is no stranger to the Kafkaesque cruelty of cancer: She was only 37 years old when diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. In her heartbreaking graphic novel-memoir In-Between Days Days,, Harrison interweaves short narrative and imaginative illustration as she plumbs the depths of painful present and uncertain future. Floating World Comics, 400 N Couch St., 503-241-0227. floatingworldcomics.com. 6 pm. Free.
THURSDAY, MAY 25 Girlpool Formerly known for filling its drummerless void with wry lyrics about receiving cunnilingus while watching American Beauty,, L.A. folk-punk duo Girlpool incorporates both drums and massive distortion on its latest album Powerplant, Powerplant making its already impressive formula of knotty guitar interplay and perfect vocal harmonies even more powerful. See profile on page 33. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895, mississippistudios.com. 9 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
FRIDAY, MAY 26
Long Strange Trip How long should the new documentary about the genre-defining jam band the Grateful Dead be? If you guessed “four hours,” you got it right. For one night, Cinema 21 screens Amir Bar-Lev’s deep dive into the career of the Dead and the mass movement they created before the film heads to Amazon Video on June 2. Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave., 503-223-4515. cinema21.com. 7 pm. $8.50.
Get Busy
Rose Festival Opening Fireworks Portlanders are known to split hairs over when summer officially begins, but the fireworks display marking the start of the annual Rose Festival is as good a kickoff as any. It really doesn’t get much more summery than posting up on the Hawthorne Bridge and clandestinely downing a Radler while a burst of colors explodes overhead. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, rosefestival. org. Fireworks start at 9:45 pm. Free. All ages.
SATURDAY, MAY 27
BIM DITSON OF AND AND AND
EVENTS WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT MAY 24-30
What Was Sound Skipping Sasquatch this year? Good idea. But if you’re still jonesing to stand in a field watching bands play in broad daylight, What Was Sound should help ease any residual FOMO. This “casual” music festival brings indie-rockers DIIV, psych-folkies Woods and locals Bed and Sunbathe, among others, to the waterfront as part of the Portland Rose Festival. Best part? Not a single Twenty One Pilot anywhere! Tom McCall Waterfront Park, rosefestival.org/event/ whatwassound. 2 pm. $28 advance, $32 day of show. All ages.
SUNDAY, MAY 28
Nate Bargatze Nate Bargatze could technically be called a “clean” comic, but the Maron writer doesn’t overcompensate for the lack of curse words with disturbing subject matter, like others do. His material is dry in a way that makes anything ordinary deeply absurd—see his bit on the differences between Target and Kmart. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895, mississippistudios.com. 8 pm. $15. 21+.
Stoner Karaoke If you’re tired of getting your request for Cypress Hill mysteriously moved to the bottom of the queue every night at Chopsticks, NW Cannabis Club has the event for you! Operating under the mantra, “Dab until it sounds right,” expect a much warmer and hazier reception for all the reggae, bluegrass and Dead jams your wandering mind can muster. NW Cannabis Club, 1195 SE Powell Blvd., 503-206-4594, +nwcannabismarket.com. 9 pm. 21+.
Digable Planets In the early ‘90s, Digable Planets were spiritual cousins of De La Soul, bringing an earthy, jazzbo soul to hip-hop. Last year, the trio got back together for a string of well-received reunion shows, and apparently had enough fun to keep rolling. But don’t take this show for granted. With member Ishmael Butler’s current project, Shabazz Palaces, preparing a new album, the opportunity to see one of the underrated acts of rap’s golden age is fleeting. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 503-225-0047, crystalballroompdx. com. 9 pm. $29.50 advance, $32 day of show. All ages.
Rodriguez You should know the story by now. In the ‘70s, Detroit songwriter Sixto Rodriguez released two albums of post-Dylan folk and then retired in obscurity, unaware that he’d somehow become a hero in South Africa. Since the Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man revived his career, the 74-year-old has been in no rush to write new material, which is understandable. Why spoil the myth? Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5. com/arlene-schnitzer-concert-hall. 8 pm. $39-$65. All ages.
MONDAY, MAY 29 Midnight Oil Australia’s answer to U2, Midnight Oil began its career as hard-hitting pub-rockers before evolving into a hit-making, politically charged pop-rock phenomenon that’s won every award its native country gives out. This 2017 reunion tour, which brings the band to the States for the fi rst time in 20 years, sold out far in advance, but some venues have released extra tickets the day of the show in order to combat scalpers. So stay vigilant! Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St. #110, 503-288-3895, revolutionhall.com. 7 pm. Sold out. 21+.
Memorial Day in Wine Country Every Memorial Day, half the wine spots in the valley—plus many more in town—open up their wine larders for the public to roll in, get sauced and then take home a case of wine or three. For a full accounting of the many, many wineries allowing guests to roll through between Saturday and Monday, check willamettewines.com.
TUESDAY, MAY 30 Rigsketball Kickoff Show And And And’s annual basketball tournament, held wherever the onetime Best New Band winner parks the hoop affi xed to its tour van, has become one of Portland’s great D.I.Y. summertime traditions. Early registration for this year’s tourney opens at tonight’s show, which also features sets from Nasalrod, Deathlist and, of course, And And And, plus the premiere of a 30-minute highlight reel from the 2016 games. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663, dougfirlounge.com. 8:30 pm. 21+.
1984 John Hurt stars in this totally fictional film about a man trying to survive in a brutal security state perpetually at war with unnamed, ever-shifting overseas enemies. Like we said, total fiction. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., 503-223-4527, mcmenamins.com. 4 pm. $4. Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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DRANK
GUIDES
Pick up a copy of our guide to Portland's hundred best bars! 10O
THOMAS TEAL
BEST BARS IN PORTLAND OUR HAPPIESTHOUR PICKS
2017
The Bitter Circus AN ORAL HISTORY OF AMERICANO, THE BIGGEST BELLY FLOP IN THE HISTORY OF PORTLAND BARS.
BY M ATTH E W KO R F H AG E
mkorfhage@wweek.com
Looking back, Americano never had a chance. Sure, when it opened on East Burnside in March 31, 2016, it was in one of the best-known buildings in town. And it was started by one of Portland’s most respected barmen, a national celebrity whose other spot in the city draws tourists from around the world. It had a hyped chef from New Orleans. The opulent white-on-white space was outfitted with the finest of everything—the Ferrari of espresso machines to make coffee they roasted themselves, oblong modernist couches and a tower of bottles at the room’s center stacked with exotic Turkish and Lebanese wines, and a wide array of Italian liqueurs. Portland’s hype-obsessed food media tracked every move of the East Burnside bar. Americano was named one of the best bars in the city by Portland Monthly after a media preview, and the very best new bar in the city by The Oregonian a few months later. But by November, only two months after The Oregonian named it “Bar of the Year,” Americano closed. The space still sits vacant on busy East Burnside. And unless a new tenant signs, the owners are on the hook for five years of rent. “We wanted to manage a bar together,” says Blair Reynolds, whose other Portland bar, Hale Pale, was a swanky nouveau tiki. “But instead, we manage a Wells Fargo credit card account…it’s stacking up. Just closing down doesn’t stop all the bills.” 28
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The windows still say Americano. If you peek inside, Blair Reynolds is a self-made superstar bartender and the $6,000 Modbar espresso machine is gone. But you a well-known personality. In 2012, he was bartending at can still see the solid quartz bar, the custom liquor Acadia and at Northeast Broadway tiki bar Thatch. shelves designed to look like a Chemex filter and the When Thatch went up for sale, Reynolds partnered with floor-to-ceiling Futurist mural depicting a smiling bar San Francisco tiki superstar Martin Cate and made it his owner holding up a cocktail so apparently miraculous it own, renaming it Hale Pale. Reynolds is a serious tiki geek, a is wreathed in a luminous halo, student of what he calls “the first post-Prohibition forever ready to serve. cocktail craze.” He imbued Hale Pale with that How could something so spirit—it’s a place with a little moat and a menu that promising fail so spectacularly? explains the history of each drink, from Krakatoas It’s a story of grand ambimade with aged Jamaican rums and cold-press tions and wild talents, undone coffee that’s set on fire and presented with an by an overly opulent build-out, umbrella. Today, it’s routinely named among the bitter infighting over eggs and best in the world. His line of tiki mixers has become a roiling culture war that has a staple in supermarkets like New Seasons. come to define the Portland of Reynolds’ bar is next to Coco Donuts on Broadtoday. way, and the two neighbors hatched a plan in 2015 This week, we release Drank, to open Americano, a bar devoted to booze in the our annual guide to Portland’s evening and coffee in the morning, with a menu REYNOLDS devoted to amaro, the bitter liqueur of Italy. best bars. Look for free copies To bring their vision to life, Reynolds and his partaround town in the next week. As we recognize the best bars in town from dives to opu- ner, Coco Donuts’ Ian Christopher, hired famed chef Chris lent wine dens, we should also take a look back at one of DeBarr from New Orleans, and Kate Bolton, who had recentthe biggest belly flops we’ve ever seen in our city. ly been named San Francisco’s best bartender by Eater. DeBarr developed a menu designed to pair with both We talked to owners and staff of Americano—many of whom are no longer talking to each other—to figure out coffee and cocktails, built on idea of a “Bitter Circus,” which he told Eater was “serious flavors not to be taken what happened. Here’s the story in their words. too seriously.”
bootstrap, three dudes with a dream.” The guy was working for Portlandia. Of all the people to be commenting about people ruining Portland, I thought that was pretty funny.
THOMAS TEAL
Blair Reynolds, co-owner, Americano and Hale Pele: Initially it was very simple: highballs in the evening, and in the morning a thorough coffee service and small plates. Imagine Italian, tapas style.
Willis: Everybody hates that Burnside 26 building. The place suffered because of that. I got laughed at by some of my friends in town: “That place is New Portland, how could you work there?”
Chris DeBarr, founding chef and general manager: They wanted an amaro bar. They said, “What food would you cook? What’s your connection to American cuisine in Portland?” I said, “Mr. James Beard.” You think of America as a melting pot. Who better expresses that than James Beard? I was gonna have a lot of fun. The idea was that anything that James Beard has talked about, we could cook, and he talked about it a lot. James Beard defined American cuisine, and he was from Portland. That’s why there was a turkey mole.
Reynolds: Portland could have taken it out on something else. That would have been great. Maybe one of those faux Portland places that is actually run by outside people with money. People said [Americano] didn’t seem Portland enough. It’s as Portland as Portland gets. It’s real, but it’s not this painted Portland in our heads now. It’s kinda funny when you start buying into your own marketing. Someone will come in and, say, “Throw some pallet boards on the walls! Let’s reclaim some furniture and call it Portlandy!” I was at Pip’s doughnuts—good place, I loved it. But it had this feeling, like, “Where did you guys come from? That’s some damn good branding.” Nothing against that place, but they came in with a chalkboard and a Square register, and said “Here, Portland—have some more Portland!”
To make that work, they needed specialty equipment, including tiny deep fryers filled with duck fat, with which they would make waffles. David Thompson, eventual general manager: The hood that we had to have was way bigger than necessary. We had a grill, a stovetop, a deep fryer, a convection oven, another convection oven. It required one of the most powerful hoods on the market, and fairly big.
Americano was also about to lose its celebrity bar owner. After his wife gave birth to twins and the bar opened after a rocky buildout that stretched six months longer than they expected, Reynolds suddenly disappeared. It was two days into the bar’s tenure.
Reynolds: The buildout was beautiful; we spared no dime. But we didn’t have tons of investment. I’m not the most sensible human being when it comes to finances. I do things because it has to shape out and look right, and if it doesn’t, what’s the point? John Willis, starting morning sous chef: I saw a receipt for $1,700 worth of silverware. There were more crazy-designed plates that you could have put in the restaurant—10 times more plates and silverware than there were seats. Thompson: We ended up putting half of that in storage. It was more than we needed. There was a convection oven that didn’t need to be there that was $700. There was a perfectly good regular oven already in place.
The cocktails were no less ambitious, featuring house coffee tinctures and elderflower syrups, fresh strawberries and bitter Italian artichoke liqueurs. The bar’s $30 press pots were dramatic productions in which patrons were asked to mix their own drinks with sparkling mineral water. Reynolds: Kate [Bolton] was phenomenal. She wanted to do something beautiful. She wanted to instate this highball concept—create these works of art, beautiful drinks. Willis: I liked Kate, I liked her drink menu. I saw success in her. I thought, “If this is gonna be successful, this is gonna be why.” David Thompson, Americano general manager: Our cocktails would have rivaled anyone in Portland from beginning to end. But it required education. People came in not knowing what the liqueurs we were serving were. We might have reached for the stars a little bit, but you don’t make that reach unless you think you can accomplish it. Willis: Around the wine, the purchasing was crazy. Chris, Ian and Kate really butted heads [Both Kate Bolton and Ian Christopher declined to comment for this story]. Chris stormed out of lots of meetings. I think eventually Kate let him do what he was going to do.
Christopher and Reynolds signed the lease on the space in spring 2015. It was in an apartment building called Burnside 26. But not long after Reynolds signed the lease, the property manager debuted a new promo video featuring an obnoxious young couple named Luke and Jess, living a perfect life in their expensive apartment. The video instantly became a citywide flashpoint over gentrification and the Portland housing crisis.
I GOT LAUGHED AT BY SOME OF MY FRIENDS IN TOWN: “THAT PLACE IS NEW PORTLAND, HOW COULD YOU WORK THERE?” —J O H N WI LLI S
“Some people are alarmed by Portland’s boom of new apartment buildings, fearing they will drive out longtime residents, eat up parking and destroy cherished bars. But not Luke and Jess. Luke and Jess are happy. Luke and Jess are the stars of a promotional video just released by the building Burnside 26, which is located at 2625 East Burnside Street and is currently renting studio apartments starting at $1,338 a month. —WW, March 22, 2015. “Meet Luke and Jess, Your New Portland Apartment Overlords.” Reynolds: That building is hated among those who like to pretend they’re not part of the gentrification in Portland. It’s kind of symbolic with that Luke and Jess video.
Avant-garde filmmaker Karl Lind created a parody of the video. Lind: Luke and Jess are obviously paid actors playing the part of transplant trustfunders. It’s safe to say Burnside 26 and their marketing agency never considered that any of the locals would give one shit. Peering into the abyss, deep down we realize we all secretly want to be Luke and Jess. Reynolds: Usually it seemed like every time there was a story, one Luke and Jess comment popped up. It was a thorn in some people’s sides. In Holman’s I was talking in the bar and I heard this guy who was a casting director, and he said, “This stupid place Americano trying to ruin Portland.” I was like, “Dude we’re people from Portland trying to
Reynolds: We had a lot of trouble with the buildout. It was a brand-new building, that changed things significantly. We went three times over the budget, and it took twice as long as expected. The inspector comes in and says, “you have to have your alarm tied into the main alarm in the building.” We didn’t know that. We regretted giving that one contractor $80,000 [before learning about the alarm]. Thompson: Blair was there for about two days after opening—I don’t know. I don’t want to speak ill of anybody. He was dealing with a lot of stuff. Reynolds: Some bad shit went down for me personally, and I ended up having a nervous breakdown. I silently left my partners to it.
Running a normal bar without a key owner is difficult, but running a wildly ambitious one in a controversial location was brutal, and the chef and operating manager were locked in a war for control. From the start, Americano struggled. Reynolds: Unfortunately, without me behind the wheel, things continued to deteriorate, particularly managementowner relations, what the vision was for that place. The staff couldn’t explain what the vision was to the customers. Kurt Huffman, owner, ChefStable: I don’t think Portland likes to be confused when they walk into a restaurant or bar...Viewed through this lens, Americano did not make sense. Was it a coffee bar? Was it a cocktail bar? Was it both? Thompson: I’d see the look of confusion when people came in the door. Our menu had a very in-depth look into amaros and vermouths, but people would come in and see coffee. People would turn around thinking they’d come to the wrong place. They came in looking for coffee and saw a giant wall of alcohol. It has been said we shouldn’t have tried to go so fine. Maybe we should have been more bar snacks. DeBarr: When it started slow in April, they panicked, they just flat-out panicked. They said, “We want snacks.” I said, “This menu is small plates! What do you mean, snacks?” Willis: The decor, the menu Chris put out at first, it was just a jumble of weird poetry. The food itself was a lot of CONT. on page 30 Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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THOMAS TEAL
DRANK TALK ABOUT A LESSON IN EGO AND HUMILITY, TO HAVE A BAR OF THE YEAR AND TO HAVE IT SHUT DOWN SO QUICKLY. —BLAIR R EY NOLDS
to Americano in crisis mode, after the other owners told him the bar was near closing. Reynolds: By then it’d been losing thousands every month, if not every week. I found out there had been money brought in—but you can’t just throw money in if you’re losing it. You have to plug the holes. stuff out of cans. When he hired me, he was like, “You’ve got all these connections to farms, that’ll be great.” But then he said, “We’ve gotta earn some money before spending real money on food.” At that point, I knew Portland was going to eat him alive. “Raw Meat Torn by Trumpet Blasts Oregon beef turned into Italian Futurist carpaccio, featuring aioli, Mama Lil’s peppers, spring lettuces, a dusting of pecorino cheese, and a mysterious boozy perfume $13” —Americano menu, 0April 1, 2016 Thompson: Chris got a lot of his products from Sysco—if you’re trying to do fine dining that’s kind of a no-no. And his menu was sort of price-gouging. I can’t believe how many people came to those early brunches and said, “Is that all I’m getting?” I was ashamed to bring some of those plates out. It’d be one waffle and some mole for $14. When Chris wasn’t in the kitchen, I would just throw them something extra—“Let me get you a salad or some fries.”
At the end of May, the owners told Chris DeBarr they were letting him go. Thompson: When dealing with Chris, there were things he was not doing. He wasn’t putting people on payroll, doing hours, difficult general-manager stuff. I just started doing it. The staff and everybody came to view me as the de facto GM. DeBarr: They just up and fired me. They gave me one week pay—thanks! The results speak for themselves. The place tanked, closed, didn’t even make it a year. Kate quit shortly after I did—she’s a brilliant bartender, we liked working with each other. Thompson: Kate and I had at least two meetings with Blair before we even opened about how bad Chris was being. We couldn’t get him to put eggs on the brunch menu. I think the eggs were the final straw. [The owners] said, “People just want eggs at breakfast. They just want them.” He said, “Those people are stupid, and they’re wrong.”
Willis: There was such bad business going on. At night they’d sell $150 worth of food and that was it. The numbers were better in the morning—some of our brunch success just came from the waiting crowd from the Screen Door. Mike Mayaudon, bartender: If anybody came in, we were ready. I had espresso glued to my wrist, I was wired and ready to jam out some cocktails. But no one came in. I’d stand there for three hours waiting for customers. Reynolds: We lost a lot of staff pretty quickly. I ended up doing far more W-2s than I ever expected to. Part of that was I wasn’t available to say, “Hey, let’s not spend 80 percent of our revenue on labor. Maybe we should chip in as owners and be there.” Hope came in the form of an Oregonian cocktail writer named Colin Powers, who surprised pretty much everyone by naming Americano the best bar of that year. “Americano is also The Oregonian/OregonLive’s 2016 Bar of the Year. That’s because this sleek spot, on the ground floor of a new apartment building on a stretch of East Burnside Street with a couple of auto body shops, a shuttered karaoke bar and Laurelhurst Theater, represents the best-yet local example of a major craft-cocktail trend: the low-proof drink.” —Colin Powers, oregonlive.com, August 24. Reynolds: I read about it in the paper, and said, “Oh, holy shit!” I crossed my fingers. It meant they were able to paint a nice good picture on the front of the place, particularly for Colin. But on the back end it still didn’t gel. Willis: I left in August, three days before bar of the year was announced. When I saw it, I just laughed. I said, “Oh man, they’re screwed.”
DeBarr: I thought they were chickenshit. They cut their nose off to spite their face. You know, you’re running an amaro bar, the food has to have elegance and worldliness. Did you think that was gonna be popular right off the bat? Everybody would run in and drink bitters?
Thompson: The article came out, people came in, our sales went up. We went into the black for two weeks. Things were looking good. But then the rain came. If we had an extra five months’ worth of money, we could have made it through the rainy season. Ask any restaurateur in Portland: Portland restaurants do best in the summer and worst in the winter.
At the end of May, Americano elevated John Willis to kitchen manager. Bolton left in June, and now bartends across the street at Tusk. Americano kept losing money, and the bar was often empty through most of the day.
Low-proof cocktails and an influx of suburban OregonLive. com readers were not enough. The bar of the year nod offered just a band-aid, say Thompson and Reynolds. In September, Reynolds returned
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Thompson: By the time he came in, there was no chance. Reynolds: It was months too late, the numbers didn’t add up, the staff was down to three people. Closing a bar is difficult, way more than building it out... Just closing down doesn’t stop all the bills, but if there’s no capital to pay staff, purchase ingredients, pay the lease, it’s better to move on. Thompson: Rent is high enough now you have to be making money. At this point in Portland, anytime you open a restaurant you need to be prepared to spend a year in the red. I’ve opened five restaurants. The ones that succeeded are the ones that came in thinking, we can make it a year. Obviously that didn’t happen. We didn’t make it a year. Reynolds: A bar closing like this is—excuse my language—it’s fucking ruining. You look at these Yelp reviews—there are real human beings behind this and every business in Portland. You see these petty reviews, I think, can’t we all have a little understanding? The Americano closing post on Eater, people were like, “This place never had it together. Fuck this place.” I was like, “Dude, I’m still trying to feed my family.” “Try as they might, the developers constructing new buildings aren’t able to displace everyone in the neighborhoods who appreciate the more casual vibe of the Central Eastside. I went here a couple times and was totally underwhelmed, which is a shame because I love Hale Pele.” —Vitaminx, Eater commenter “AMERICANO is for sale as a turnkey operation... Located on East Burnside and 26th, it’s right in the heart of a neighborhood that continues to grow with high-density living, car and foot traffic, and many popular restaurants and booming nightlife. Take over the 1390+ sq.ft. space and all its assets for $65K.” —LoopNet real estate posting Reynolds: Talk about a lesson in ego and humility, to have a bar of the year and to have it shut down so quickly. Everyone will have a perspective—and I’m fairly sure I was the enemy in all of them. I barely talk to them. Willis: I posted on Facebook on my last day—the final scene of A Comedy of Errors. That’s how I’d best describe the Americano experience. It was a comedy of errors. Or, if you lost a lot of money, it was a tragedy of errors.
food & drink
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THE MEAT IS THE MESSAGE: Alambre at Los Alambres D.F.
Tapping the Wire Alambre is an Arab-Mexican Meat Party. Mexico City is, perhaps surprisingly, a hotbed of Arab food and culture. Any dish you see in a Mexican restaurant that begins with “al” likely stems from the waves of Middle Eastern migration that began rolling through Mexico in 1869, when the Lebanese silk industry collapsed after the opening of the Suez Canal. The most famous is al pastor, a pork dish descended from the kebab, served by Lebanese immigrants in Mexico City and central Mexico; Its name literally means “shepherd style.” But in D.F., you might just as likely see signs proudly announcing alambre, meaning “wire.” The mixed grill of meats and peppers evolved from Arab-style skewers into a flat-top-grilled stew: First, the poblanos or bell peppers are cooked up with bacon and spice, then they’re augmented by a mixed grill of meats—anything from beef to chorizo to al pastor to seafood. The result is a cheesy, meaty, spicy, goopy mess that seems almost more TexMex, served up with a mess of little corn or flour tortillas to eat them with. Consider it a fajitas speedball, amped with bacon and cheese—and it’s pretty much amazing. Only a few places in Portland serve alambre, and not always by its name. On Belmont, Patricia Cabrera’s La Calaca Comelona serves three different kinds of alambre (all $17), none of which are called alambre. The seafood version, mariscada, comes with shrimp and octopus—although the restaurant was sadly = WW Pick. Highly recommended. By Matthew Korfhage. Editor: MARTIN CIZMAR. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
Friday, May 26 Bazi 6th Anniversary
Bazi is six years old, so owner Hilda Stevens is pouring a $10 taster tray of four high-dollar beers she helped brew— a Huyghe Deliria, a Hofbrouw Tripel, an Upright Quad and Upright Aged Quad. Hooo! Bazi Bierbrasserie, 1522 SE 32nd Ave., bazipdx.com. 5-11 pm.
out of octopus on our visit—and a mixed-mushroom veggie version that didn’t have the wallop of grilled meat. But the sarape was a meaty universe mixing al pastor, carne asada and bacon with onions and bells, glistening with enough white cheese to give the whole production the texture of a Philly cheesesteak. The grace note came from the house-made corn tortillas, beautifully pliable with just a hint of tang. The best alambre can be had at the carts that bear its name, Los Alambres, from father and son natives of Mexico City. Go to the original D.F. cart on Southeast 82nd Avenue, next to a little panaderia, and you’ll find rarely seen spitcooked al pastor Thursday through Saturday, plus a $12 alambre that mixes up carne asada, pork, chorizo, ham, bell peppers, onion, avocado and cheese. It’s served spiced with deep red chili salsa and then capped with so much cheese it’s halfway to queso fundido. If you tell owner Antonio Hernandez you like heat, he’ll also supply you with habaneropickled onions with pleasant acidity and hellish fire. The eight tortillas served with the dish come from a factory, but that’s the only flaw. The wires here are as good as The Wire, and just as Shakespearean in their layered complexity. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
La Calaca Comelona 2304 SE Belmont | 503-239-9675 4-10pm Mon–Sat
Sha
www.sha
Shandong www.shandongportland.com
GO: Los Alambres D.F., 1134 SE 82nd Ave., 503-213-0085, losalambresdf.weebly.com. La Calaca Comelona, 2304 SE Belmont St, 503-239-9675, lacalacacomelona.com.
Kung Fu Lompoc
Every Kung Fu-themed beer in Lompoc’s repertoire—six in all—will be on tap and available starting at 4 pm, and then Lompoc will show The 36th Chamber of Shaolin at 7 pm. Fifth Quadrant, 3901 N Williams Ave., 503-288-3996, lompocbrewing.com. 4-11 pm.
Saturday, May 27 Memorial Day in Wine Country
Every Memorial Day, half the wine spots in the valley—plus many more in town—open up their wine larders for the public to roll in, get sauced and then take home
a case of wine or three. For a full list of the many wineries allowing guests to roll through between Saturday and Monday, check willamettewines.com.
#Vinlandia
Want to sample kick-ass spring wines on Memorial Day weekend without leaving the city? The Southeast Wine Collective will let you taste the spring releases for 11 wineries housed there, including tiny juggernaut Division Wine. Also, eat bibimbap from gifted house chef Althea Grey Potter. SE Wine Collective, 2425 Southeast 35th Pl., 503-208-2061, sewinecollective.com. $25.
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MUSIC PROFILE
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
K A C I E TO M I TA
Prices listed are sometimes for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and socalled convenience charges may apply. Event lineups are subject to change after WW’s press deadlines. Editor: MATTHEW SINGER. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, go to wweek.com/ submitevents and follow submission directions. All shows should be submitted two weeks or more in advance of event. Press kits, CDs and especially vinyl can be sent to Music Desk, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Please include show or release date information with all physical mailings. Email: msinger@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24 Cardioid, Los Colognes, Because
[VINTAGE INDIE FUZZ-ROCK] Only recently realized, Lizzy Ellison’s homegrown Portland indie rock outfit Cardioid is the post-Radiation City project to be most excited about. Ellison, ex-Rad City keyboardist-vocalist, keeps her old band’s weirdness— that Foxygen-ish skill for highlighting lyrical left turns with equally unpredictable bursts of guitar riff energy— but uses it to take on themes of love, loss and nostalgia at home in much more somber-sounding music. It’s exhilarating to hear Ellison— who admits to having become so entrenched in Portland’s music scene that she struggles to continue growing—work to push her own boundaries and arrive at a place even closer to pop than Radiation City reached. The unflinching, memorable melodies are built around arrangements supple enough to comfortably and convincingly swing from tropicalia to garage rock to psych pop and back again, without missing a beat. ISABEL ZACHARIAS. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
We Take Holocene V: Donte Thomas, Bocha, Maze Koroma, Marki$ Apollo, DJ Samarei
[HIP HOP] Glenn Waco surely doesn’t mess around, especially when it comes to the hometown and music that have helped shaped his life. The now Los Angeles-based rapper and Don’t Shoot PDX activist made sure to leave a mark on the city before relocating, having started the hip-hopthemed series We Take Holocene as his swan song. Waco has been vocal in sharing his feeling on rappers having a powerful platform to make a difference, and his booking of newwave rap artists is part of spreading the message. The fifth installment sees a reunion of the captivating Donte Thomas and Bocha, aka the duo Garden Boys, joined by the slick flows of Maze Koroma of Renaissance Coalition and raw newcomer Marki$ Apollo. The woke-minded lyricists are sure to have much to say in regards to the world, and the ticket price isn’t much to shell out to hear it all. CERVANTE POPE. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 503-239-7639. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
T.I., Cool Nutz, YungMil, Jake Sierra Music & DJ Dropkid
[HIP HOP] As the Black Lives Matter movement motivated hip-hop to form a united front, it especially touched Atlanta rapper T.I., who made the compelling protest song “Warzone,” following the unjust deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Tip’s career spans 10 albums and collaborations with the likes of Rihanna and Justin Timberlake, but lately he’s using his voice to deliver politically charged messages about the state of our nation. In his 2016 EP, Us or Else: Letter to the System, he is as direct as he can be, describing instances of police brutality that Black America faces every day and calling on his peers to take action. Tip’s made a name for himself as the “King of the South,” which is even more reason to commend his shift toward social commentary. He’s also putting his words into action, actively participating in marches across the country. This is what we need from our hip-hop stars. ERIC DIEP. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 971-230-0033. 8 pm. $40. All ages.
Foxygen, Reptaliens, Kingdom of Not
[PSYCH SOUL] Since the release of 2012 breakthrough Take the Kids Off Broadway, Angelenos Sam France and Jonathan Rado have rapidly evolved from a woozy, psych-inflected, Dylan-meets-Nilsson mashup to the foremost purveyors of vintage, studio-based West Coast soul. Onstage antics and cool-guy gimmickry frayed the duo’s critical appeal considerably by the time 2014’s bloated opus...And Star Power dropped, but Foxygen’s shameless aping of glam god Marc Bolan turns out to be the most engaging element of this year’s Hang, a return to form of sorts that’s exemplary of how the duo may finally have nothing left to prove. PETE COTTELL. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 503-284-8686. 8:30 pm. $20 advance, $22 day of show. All ages.
THURSDAY, MAY 25 Sam Gellaitry, Geotheory
[EDM AND CALM] The last time Scottish producer Sam Gellaitry was in Portland, he opened for synth-pop act Glass Animals at the Schnitz. Each track on his most recent EP, Escapism III, sojourns between the serene and orchestral, from the beat-heavy and weird-sounding, embracing EDM-like futuristic sounds and eerie echoes as well as gentle intonations of harp and strings. Not much is known about the 20-year-old producer, but you don’t really need to know much—the raw, artful talent demonstrated in the four EPs he’s released so far is enough. MAYA MCOMIE. 45 East, 315 SE 3rd Ave. 10 pm. $10 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
Bleachers, Bob Moses, Missio
[‘80S INDIE] Indie rock outfit Bleachers, the solo project of Fun guitarist Jack Antonoff, makes you wanna get up and dance. Inspired by ‘80s beats and John Hughes movies, songs like “I Wanna Get Better” and “Rollercoaster,” from debut Strange Desire, are the kind of jumpy tracks that channel pop’s catchy and upbeat charisma in a similar way to Fitz and the Tantrums and Alabama Shakes’ less soul-infused songs. Upcoming album Gone Now won’t be out until June, but in the meantime you can hear a cover version of the first album featuring all-female vocalists. to listen to. MAYA MCOMIE. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 503-225-0047. 8 pm. $27.50. All ages.
Dead Tropics, Phantom Family, WORWS, Ruined It, She
[HEAVY HXC] There isn’t very much known about Dead Tropics. Their online presence basically stops with the 2015 self-titled album they uploaded on Bandcamp. Everything there is to know about the band can mainly be absorbed during their enthralling and refreshingly nostalgic live sets. Pulling the best elements of older post-hardcore acts like the Blood Brothers and The Fall of Troy, and intertwining them with harsher bits akin to Poison the Well and Shai Hulud, they have yet to falter in successfully reimagining a style of music beloved by the hair-swooping scene kids of yesteryear. All you really need to know about Dead Tropics, and the rest of the bands on the bill, is that they’re keeping Portland hardcore alive. Somebody has to—especially when all the proceeds from the show are benefiting Syrian refugees and UNICEF. CERVANTE POPE. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
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WILD STRAWBERRIES: Girlpool’s Cleo Tucker (left) and Harmony Tividad.
Loud Quiet Loud FOLK-PUNK DUO GIRLPOOL FINALLY CRANKS THE VOLUME. BY PETE COTTELL
pcottell@wweek.com
An all-too-common story these days is how D.I.Y. scenes birth stars who end up burning too bright to remain in the darkness of the proverbial basement. In the case of Girlpool, that basement isn’t actually a basement, but a venue in L.A.’s Skid Row called the Smell. The legendary all-ages venue has served as a vital rung in the ascendance of notoriously noisy acts like No Age and HEALTH, and it appears the formerly drummerless folk-punk outfit is destined for a similar path. Established by Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker when the two were just 16-year-old punk kids with overlapping social circles, the duo floored audiences shortly after forming with a debut self-titled EP praised for its wry, plainspoken lyrics sung in beautiful harmony over carefully interlocking guitar and bass melodies. The earnest and provocative subject matter of “Slutmouth” and “American Beauty” added a frayed intensity belying their lack of a proper rhythm section, and the buzz quickly saw Girlpool share the stage with much louder acts. For their part, Tividad and Tucker have mostly just shrugged it off. “We’ve always been able to match the energy,” says Tucker, Girlpool’s guitarist. “The volume has never presented us with an actual challenge.” “Yeah, I think it’s even cooler when we’re sandwiched between bands that come off as being more intense,” says bassist Tividad. “When it’s just the two of us playing, it’s an interesting twist. It [was] exciting and fresh to be inside of.” After touring in support of its debut full length, 2015’s When the World Was Big, which included appearances at major festivals like FYF and Coachella as well as opening slots for Joyce Manor, Jenny Lewis and Wilco, Girlpool finally gave in and added a drummer. The result is this year’s Powerplant, an unabashed throwback to the days when fuzz- pedal feminism put the post-grunge underground of the Pacific Northwest on the map.
Where When the World used blank space and abrupt pauses as its primary dynamics, Powerplant is filled with crashing quarter-note percussion and tantrums of feedback that bring to mind that point in the ‘90s when grunge and college rock enjoyed a brief, slightly awkward overlap. The duo is steadfast in their insistence that the songs were written without drums in mind at the onset, but it’s hard to believe their experiences playing for massive crowds didn’t have any influence on “Cornerstore” or “She Goes By,” by far the heaviest tracks Girlpool has ever written. Still, Tividad sticks to her guns. “Regardless of the square footage of the space [we’re] inhabiting, we’re doing the same thing we’ve always been doing in our living room with just the two of us,” Tividad says. “All the outside perception is not our focal point—it’s playing the music and being in it that really matters.” Volume politics aside, Powerplant is a rare, perfect document of a once-small band growing ever so slightly and hitting its mark in a big way. Fans of the older material will revel in the nearperfect vocals that have always served as Girlpool’s bedrock, while rockists desperate for the good old days of loud guitars and slacker ambience will undoubtedly feel like they’ve struck gold. With solid songwriting and vivid imagery as the core of its appeal, Girlpool has proven it can succeed at any volume. Should the band decide to ditch the drums and pare it back in the future, it’s unlikely its raw power will diminish. “It hasn’t ever been a contest of who’s showing up more,” Tucker says. “Playing music softly or dynamically can have just as captivating of an effect as a loud, rigorous band. There’s no greater or less than when it comes to volume. What makes something captivating is the essence of the music, not how loud the band is.” SEE IT: Girlpool plays Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., with Snail Mail, on Thursday, May 25. 9 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+. Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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MUSIC Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
Rodrigo y Gabriela, Ryan Sheridan
[NUEVO FLAMENCO GUITAR] Long before they were launched to household-name level in the early aughts—while playing flamenco, no less—guitarists Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero just wanted to be a heavy metal band. Bonding over the likes of Megadeth and Iron Maiden while growing up in Mexico City, the pair did, in fact, begin with their first love, forming a shortlived metal project called Tierra Acida and studying flamenco guitar together as an afterthought. Even then, it took a move to Dublin and a happened-upon friendship with Damien Rice to send the two on their first-ever tour. Now, their virtuosity and continually metal-inspired fearlessness are instantly recognizable, leaving an unmistakable mark on flamenco and planting it, at least for now, in the sphere of popular music. ISABEL ZACHARIAS. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 971-230-0033. 8 pm. $39 advance, $50 day of show. 21+.
FRIDAY, MAY 26 Vulfpeck, Joey Dosik
[FUNK] In essence, Los Angeles quartet Vulfpeck produces catchy, funky, jammed-out versions of your favorite television theme songs. Bouncy keys and sunny brass riffs dance alongside highregister vocals, disco drums and a rhythmic backbone that would make Tower of Power proud. Last year, the band released its sophomore LP, The Beautiful Game, a sly-talking, bass-walking collection of old-school funk built on solid instrumentation and the undeniable urge to get down. MARK STOCK. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 503-225-0047. 8 pm. Sold out. All ages.
Jagwar Ma
SATURDAY, MAY 27 Hoops, Parts, No LaLa
[INDIE ROCK] Just when you thought you couldn’t possibly bear to listen to another lo-fi jangle-pop band, Hoops comes along with the tremendously infectious and consistent Routines. Sounding like a less-pretentious Wild Nothing, the band fires on all cylinders, with driving rhythms and earworm melodies on songs like “Rules.” “Keep your head up, you’re doing fine” is the mantralike refrain of “On Top,” which is set against a wistfully melancholic melody that belies greater depth. It’s the sort of classic indie-rock paradigm that remains evergreen, balancing bummer jams with great hooks. BLAKE HICKMAN. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-2883895. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Catfish and the Bottlemen
[ROWDY ROCK] Catfish and the Bottlemen might not have as much name recognition yet on this side of the Atlantic as they do in their native U.K., but their penchant for crafting snappy garage rock explains the Welsh band’s swift rise and the undying hype surrounding 24-year-old front-
CONT. on page 36 DANIEL SILBERT
[DANCERS DOWN UNDER] The “Animal Collective + X” formula has seen its fair share of failures since both the Baltimore group and its various solo projects transcended the indie ghetto in the late aughts. But the Day-Glo ruckus created by Australia’s Jagwar Ma is simply too much fun to be written off as yet another bland attempt at marrying bouncy dance-pop with otherworldly psych. The blizzard of harmony and delay trails that propel Gabriel Winterfield’s yearning vocals off into space will sound familiar to anyone with an active Pandora account—but it’s the relentless big beat grooves and jangly samples of 2016’s excellent Every Now & Then that joyously bridges the gap between modern globetrotting opportunists like Yeasayer and the shuffling club cuts of Primal Scream and Happy Mondays. PETE COTTELL. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 9 pm. $16 advance, $20 day of show. 21+.
[POP-COUNTRY ROYALTY] This tour marks the 10-year anniversary of the last Tim McGrawFaith Hill tour, which was, at that time, the highest-grossing country tour in history. McGraw and Hill are an interesting couple, because each of their respective careers represents a separate path many country stars must choose between. Hill succeeded at the pop crossover approach with hits like, “This Kiss,” “Breathe” and “Cry,” but lacked the charisma of Shania Twain and the artistic vision of Taylor Swift to have much staying power beyond those initial hits. By contrast, McGraw has always been a pure country megastar. His fourdisc Ultimate Collection begins with “Indian Outlaw,” a song that, for good reason, would never fly in 2017, and traces the evolution of country radio from something close to traditional country to its current “loudly mastered Christian rock with steel guitar” incarnation. McGraw is still an affecting hitmaker—last year’s single “Humble and Kind” would definitely bring a tear to your eye in a network sitcom graduation montage. Unfortunately, the single McGraw and Hill released to promote this tour, “Speak to a Girl,” is about as turgid and maudlin as modern country ballads get. BLAKE HICKMAN. Moda Center, 1 N Center Ct St., 503-235-8771. 7:30 pm. $69-$204. All ages.
TABLE FOR ONE: Bleachers plays Crystal Ballroom on Thursday, May 25. 34
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C O U R T E SY O F FAC E B O O K .C O M
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FIVE GIFTS FOR BOB DYLAN’S 76TH BIRTHDAY
BY THE QUICK & EASY BOYS AND PORTLAND COUNTRY UNDERGROUND “Considering Bob probably doesn’t need anything from anyone, let alone from some scumbag from Portland, and whatever I got him would probably end up thrown in the dumpster immediately. I would probably get him something that would elicit a quick chuckle before it heads to its final resting spot. Probably one of those huge fake harmonicas you would see in guitar stores years ago. Or a coupon for a pizza (half off, not free). Or maybe a blow-up sex doll. Or all three.” — David Lipkin, Portland Country Underground
2 “For Bobby D’s b-day, the first thing I would get him is a silly, pointy birthday hat—pink with yellow and blue polka dots. And one of those party streamers you blow on. I hope that he would use it instead of a harmonica if he were to perform. I feel like there is so much gravitas surrounding him that it would be nice to bring the vibe down a peg or two.” — Sean Badders, Quick and Easy Boys 3 “Other than that, maybe I’d make him a pie. I dunno if he likes pie or not, but he seems like a guy who would scoff at expensive, silly gifts and potentially appreciate a nice slice of homemade pie for his birthday. Or he could be an asshole and say he hates my pie, in which case I could throw the pie in his face. Either way, it’s a win-win.” — Sean Badders 4 “A new motorcycle? A box set of Portlandia? A lava lamp is always a hit.” — Paul Brainard, Portland Country Underground 5 “I already gave him a great gift a few years ago. I was playing guitar with the Little Sue Band when we opened up for Dylan in Bend back in 2005. After our set, I wandered over to a place off the side of the stage, back off in the wings. A couple of songs into his set, Bob calls a security guard over, says something to him, then the guy bee-lines it straight over to me. He says, ‘I’m sorry, you’re going to have to move, you’re freaking Mr. Dylan out.’ I freaked out Bob Dylan, how easy could that be? Perfect gift. You’re welcome.” — Lewi Longmire, Portland Country Underground SEE IT: Bob Dylan’s 76th Birthday Bash, featuring Portland Country Underground and the Quick and Easy Boys, is at Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., on Sunday, May 28. 8 pm. $12 advance, $15 day of show. 21+. Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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MUSIC Announcing
Give! Guide 2017 THROWING SHADES: Cardioid plays Doug Fir Lounge on Wednesday, May 24. man Van McCann. Last year’s The Ride continued in the melodious and restless vein of 2014 debut The Balcony. McCann’s quick-lipped riffing about exes and acting out reflects his origins in straighttalking, gritty Northern England, from which other grunge and spirited bands have emerged over the decades. MAYA MCOMIE. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 971-2300033. 8 pm. $25. All ages.
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What Was Sound: DIIV, Woods, El Ten Eleven, Fruit Bats, Small Leaks Sink Ships, Bed., Jujuba, Sunbathe
[MINI-FEST] Skipping Sasquatch this year? Probably a good idea. But if you’re still jonesing to stand in a field watching bands play in broad daylight, What Was Sound should help ease any residual FOMO. This “casual” music festival brings indie-rockers DIIV, psychfolkies Woods and locals Bed and Sunbathe, among others, to the waterfront as part of the Portland Rose Festival. Best part? Not a single Twenty One Pilot anywhere! MATTHEW SINGER. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, rosefestival.org/ event/whatwassound. 2 pm. $28 advance, $32 day of show. All ages.
SUNDAY, MAY 28 Rodriguez
A p p l i c At i o n s o p e n
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GIVE!GUIDE
Visit giveguide.org for more details
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[FORMATIVE FOLK-ROCK] Add Rodriguez to a startlingly long list of musicians who gained a large domestic following late in their career. The 74-year-old Detroit native produced some remarkable vintage folk-rock in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, yet, amid the craze of Dylan, Joni and Buffalo Springfield, his sharp storytelling and freewheeling approach drew a following only in South Africa, of all places. A man with every right to a full-time singer-songwriter gig instead worked in excavation and demolition to make ends meet. Thanks to the Oscar-winning 2012 documentary Searching for Sugar Man, Rodriguez has since garnered the widespread fanbase he deserves, and many of his best records—like 1971’s Coming From Reality, so far his last studio album— have been re-released. MARK STOCK. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 503-2484335. 8 pm. $39-$65. All ages.
Digable Planets
[JAZZ HOP] Can reunions last forever? Seattle’s Digable Planets, the trio consisting of Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler, Mary Ann “Ladybug Mecca” Vieira and Craig “Doodlebug” Irving, reunited in 2016 for a string of summer dates, and have now done it again for selected shows in 2017. The hip-hop jazz trio carved their lane in early 1990s hip-hop as spiritual West Coast cousins of De La Soul. Savvy rap fans instantly recognize the refrain of their hit single, “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like That),” which appeared on 1993 debut, Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space), which helped push them to a broader audience, while the 1994 follow-up, Blowout Comb, has come to be appreciated as a modest hip-hop classic. Reunions come and go, but legacies are timeless. ERIC DIEP. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St. 503-225-0047. 9 pm. $29.50 advance, $32 day of show. All ages.
Freddie Gibbs, Le$, Samuel The 1st
[GANGSTA RAP] A former drug dealer turned indie road warrior, Freddie Gibbs doesn’t believe in taking breaks. After dropping the Madlib collab Piñata and another full-length called Shadow of a Doubt, the Gary, Ind., rapper spent the majority of 2016 readying a comeback after he was acquitted on sexual assault charges. March’s You Only Live 2wice contains many of Gibbs’ hallmarks, showing off his nimble flow and ear for luscious production. But the album also finds Gibbs leaving his streetwise comfort zone and opening up more emotionally, with songs about moving dope in his early days (“20 Karat Jesus”), leveling up (“Crushed Glass”) and raising his daughter (“Homesick”). Gibbs’ style has always closely resembled that of 2Pac, and now, he’s beginning to show the same kind of well-roundedness. ERIC DIEP. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE Cesar E. Chavez, 503-233-7100. 8 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show. All ages.
A Lot Like Birds, Household, Hearts Like Lions, Owel
[ARENA EMO] After a spin of A Lot Like Birds’ latest, DIVISI, it’s hard to remember the era when the emo and hardcore scenes frowned upon wanton ambition. Bursting
DATES HERE at the seams with enough synths, U2 guitars and prog breakdowns to make Sunny Day Real Estate’s best work look like the Ramones, the Sacramento outfit spared no expense in crafting an album that pulverizes one minute and rockets into the stratosphere the next. Shooting for the moon may not make them the next Muse, or even the next Mutemath, but the doors they’ve opened for youngsters who’ve been afraid of massive pedalboards is important nonetheless. PETE COTTELL. The Analog Cafe, 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-2067439. 6 pm. $13. All ages.
Sir Richard Bishop
[SOLO GUITAR] Somewhere between raga and flamenco, Sir Richard Bishop’s post-Sun City Girls career channels the spirit of Robbie Basho and other legendary finger-style guitarists, employing a fluid, foreboding tone more evocative of warmly sinister environs than the avant-garde improvised goofs of his former outfit. After a seemingly generic parlor guitar found in a Moroccan shop inspired 2015’s Tangier Sessions, Bishop released five new solo acoustic pieces on the Ivory Tower split with Ava Mendoza last year. His haunting opus, Salvador Kali—originally a CD-only release—was pressed on wax by Portland’s own Exiled Records in 2015. CRIS LANKENAU. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 503-222-2031. 7:30 pm. $12 day of show, $14 advance. All ages.
MONDAY, MAY 29 Souvenir Driver, Kool Stuff Katie, Tender Age
[DREAM POP] Portland’s own Souvenir Driver aims to leave you reeling. The band’s dreamy, slowchurning brand of heavy shoegaze is enough to make you fall into the deepest canyons of self-reflection and contemplation. With the April release of its fourth, self-titled full-length, Souvenir Driver has enhanced its growing reputation within the city’s dreampop circuit. Critics have called them “linear,” but if the band is guilty of drawing lines, they’re crafting long emotive arcs with plenty of pull. MARK STOCK. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 9 pm. $7 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
Midnight Oil, All Our Exes Live in Texas
[AUSSIE LEGENDS] It’s been 20 years since Australia’s premiere political rock band, Midnight Oil, toured the U.S. In the meantime, lead vocalist Peter Garrett used his notoriety to pursue a serious political career, eventually becoming minister of the Environment, Heritage and the Arts down under. The Oil’s musical career began in the mid-’70s, starting as hard-hitting pub rockers, then reaching a stride with an infusion of newwave punk and albums that shared
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CO U R T E SY O F PA N T H A D U P R I N C E .CO M
PREVIEW
Pantha Du Prince, SciFiSol [ETHEREAL ELECTRO] Constructing mostly trance-like washes of beat-based music often clocking in around seven minutes, German producer Henrik Weber fits right into a typical image of Berlin’s ecstasy-fueled nightlife. The songs are colorful, shimmering and unrelenting in their foundational beats and bass lines. But Weber, whose stage moniker, Pantha Du Prince, came to him in a dream and translates to “the prince’s panther,” is set apart by a taste for the voluptuous, the gilded and the strange. Every so often, Weber’s soundscapes are dotted with plinking thumb piano or layered with lush, discordant strings. The songs’ lengths, as well as their fearless plunging into dissonance and exhaustive repetition, give away Weber’s unique soft spot for late ‘80s shoegaze. Consider this an odd but very happy meeting point between My Bloody Valentine and TOKiMONSTA. ISABEL ZACHARIAS. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 9 pm Sunday, May 28. $14 advance, $16 day of show. 21+. Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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MUSIC with WIDDERSHINS THURSDAY, MAY 25TH AT 6PM Mick Wolf W/Widdershins performs “Gothic Werefolk” a new musical genre blending a variety of folk styles with a Gothic theme! “Gothic Werefolk” is an often dark and mysterious trek through...strangely familiar music!
NEW ALBUM OUT FRIDAY!
FREE IN-STORE
PERFORMANCE WEDNESDAY, MAY 31ST AT 6PM AT MUSIC MILLENNIUM
10 CD 1899 LP
$
99
$
JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE Kids In The Street
Since launching his recording career a decade ago, Justin Townes Earle has established a reputation as a singular leading light in the Americana music community. With fearless, personally charged lyrical insight and infectious melodic craftsmanship, the young veteran
singer-songwriter has built a rich, personally charged body of work. Now, on his seventh album, Kids in the Street, Earle raises the creative and personal stakes to deliver a deeply soulful set that’s both emotionally riveting and effortlessly uplifting.
TUESDAY, MAY 30 Rigsketball 2017 Kickoff Party: And And And, Nasalrod, Deathlist
[INDIE PUNK] Like a punk rock Pinterest board come to life, Rigsketball is back for its sixth year of bringing bands together to sweat it out balling on And And And’s mobile basketball hoop, which is sure to make an appearance at this year’s kickoff party. Raucous noise on behalf of sour rockers Nasalrod balances out the more ethereal sounds of dream punks Deathlist, with Portland household name and Rigsketball founder Bim Ditson closing it all out with his band. All of this comes after the viewing of the 30-minute Rigsketball video, a creative, kitschy callback to old episodes of WWE, SportsCenter and art from Yayoi Kusama teasing what’s to be expected from this year’s tournament. CERVANTE POPE. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 8:30 pm. $5. 21+.
CLASSICAL, JAZZ & WORLD Billy Childs Quartet
29th M AY 2 6 t h –
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Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
INTRODUCING SUE KAR
MICK WOLF
a producer with The Birthday Party. By the mid-’80s, it was a hit-making pop rock phenomenon, a multimillion-dollar selling act that had won every award the Australian music industry gives out. The group was sometimes criticized for speaking on behalf of indigenous cultures, but its heart was clearly in the right place. The 2017 reunion tour features all the right personnel, and sold out far in advance, but some venues have released extra tickets the day of the show in order to combat scalpers. NATHAN CARSON. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St. #110, 503-288-3895. 8 pm. Sold out. 21+.
[MOD SQUAD] Billy Childs cut his teeth as a marquee pianist in the jazz world while touring with trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, but he’s left his most indelible marks in the past 15 years. An impactful and rhythmic performer who won his first of four Grammy Awards for composition and arranging in 2006, Childs comes to Portland with an all-star quartet that includes drummer Ari Hoenig, bass player Hans Glawischnig and tenor player Dayna Stephens. Tonight, the four souls will explore the pensive harmonies found on the pianist’s most recent record, Rebirth, which stands among the most melodically enthralling new jazz out this year. PARKER HALL. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 503-222-2031. 7:30 pm Wednesday, May 30. $25 advance, $30 day of show. All ages.
Jean-Luc Ponty
[VIOLIN KING] If you close your eyes during the opening notes of Mirage, the fusion-heavy title track of Jean-Luc Ponty’s most recent album, you’d swear the shredding was coming via picked six strings, rather than four strings and a horsehair bow. Just one track later, the French king of jazz violin fools you into believing he grew up going to rural Tennessee hoedowns. Such is the diverse approach of Ponty, who has won just about every award an instrumental musician can win—and recorded with everyone from Frank Zappa to Herbie Hancock—since he first turned to jazz after leaving the Paris Conservatory in the ‘60s. Still in peak form, Ponty promises to deliver a lengthy and widely varied show, demonstrating his instrument’s vast possibilities to sadly violin-starved Portland jazz fans. PARKER HALL. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 503-2349694. 7 pm Tuesday, May 30. $45. All ages.
For more Music listings, visit
The Postcards WHO: M. Ryan (guitar, vocals), Tim Nelson (drums, vocals), Glenn Krake (upright bass, percussion, vocals), Daniel Lyons (keyboard, clarinet, vocals), J. Allen (bass) SOUNDS LIKE: The audio companion of your favorite children’s book, soundtracked by the Arizona-based chapter of the Elephant 6 Collective. FOR FANS OF: The Essex Green, Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel. For the Postcards, it all goes back to the Beach Boys. While discussing the formation of the baroque pop quintet with M. Ryan—its principal songwriter—and drummer Tim Nelson, Brian Wilson’s signature sonic elements come up repeatedly. “I don’t know how familiar you are with the Smile project,” Ryan says, “but for this project we started talking about that approach of not writing songs, per se, but fragments, and then finding a way to sort of piece them together.” The three founding members of the Postcards first played together in a garage-rock outfit called Vega by Midnite, formed when Ryan was still based in Flagstaff, Ariz. As his interests in emulating the more eclectic vocal arrangements of Wilson and Phil Spector grew, he recruited members of that band to help flesh out the sonic complexities. With Vega a distinctly more raucous endeavor, it was clear to Ryan he’d need to build off a new foundation for his ideas. “Most of it was demoed by the end of 2014 when Vega was on the wane,” he says. “We didn’t even start recording until last summer.” While the typical gestation period for a new band is around a year or so, Ryan’s first priority was to fine-tune every aspect of his new venture, fleshing them out completely before revealing them to an audience. The resulting This Green Hill is a joyous hodgepodge of quirky vignettes that recalls the bumbly old-time feel of Van Dyke Parks’ Discover America. Brief spurts of musical phrases are stitched together by textured layers of overdubbed vocal harmonies and eclectic melodies, all sourced from a vast array of instruments. The kitchen-sink mentality behind the instrumentation is consistent with a band of gruff, 1960s-obsessed garage rockers pulling their best symphonic interpretation of a makeshift orchestra. Much like the Athens, Ga.-based Elephant 6 collective that inspired the Postcards’ insular production, nothing is outsourced. The band wrote, produced and recorded This Green Hill entirely themselves, and will release it on their own Ania de Sed label. They’ve delayed any live performances while constructing their home studio. It took nearly three years from the time of writing the core material to the recording of the album, whose release culminates with the first-ever Postcards live performance. “We’ve always kept this kind of community themed,” Ryan says, “made by ourselves, for ourselves. At-home recording is where I’m in my element, so we’re curious to see how this’ll go.” CRIS LANKENAU. SEE IT: The Postcards play Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington St., with Small Field and Body Academics, on Saturday, May 27. 9 pm $5. 21+.
ALBUM REVIEWS
Skull Diver
CHEMICAL TOMB (Self-Released) [PALLBEARER POP] There is a sinister magnitude to Skull Diver’s sophomore record, Chemical Tomb. The Portland trio’s fiery, distorted guitar progressions are fanned by gale-force synthesizers and the ghoulish tones of a funeral organ. If there was ever a poprock outfit built for a sprawling graveyard, this is it. The fearsome riffs and raw power of the first half of the album remind of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. “Bad Star” is a goth anthem the popular kids can’t help but admire, packed with cinematic builds and newly acquired drummer Zanny Geffel’s competent stick work. Side two slows into a foggier realm of plaintive balladry, including a chilly rendition of Nick Drake’s “Parasite.” Here, lead singer Aly Payne’s airy vocals become more prominent, unobstructed by amplifiers and set in motion by melodic keys. Fans of Zola Jesus and Portishead will find comfort in Chemical Tomb’s dark demeanor. A sense of witchiness is prevalent throughout, but it does not take away from the many sharp pop hooks and underlying approachability. It would probably be a death wish for Skull Diver to keep up with the explosive pace set by the first few tracks, but it’s hard not to wonder what that might sound like. MARK STOCK. SEE IT: Skull Diver plays the Sparkle Bitch Ball at Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., with Foxy Lemon, Rare Monk and Buckmaster, on Sunday, May 28. 8:30 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Mascáras
EL MÓRAN (Party Damage) [PSYCH ON THE R U N ] I n st r u m e n t a l trio Mascáras likes to describe its sound as “maximalist indig enous psych,” but “prog rock for punk attention spans” works, too. While it draws from genres that generally take the long road toward expressing an idea—acid-rock, psychrock, Latin dance music—the band prefers to cut straight to the chase, locking into a groove with little buildup, quickly sketching out some melodies, then moving on before the listener’s mind has any time to wander. Like its 2015 full-length, Mascarás’ new EP, El Móran (translation: “They Live”) captures the immediacy of three good homies jamming together in a room, without having to sit through the actual jamming. At just under five minutes, the opening title track is the epic of the band’s discography so far, guitarist Carlos Segovia’s needlepoint riffing detonating into an avalanche of wah pedal before trailing out on a sizzling fusion coda. “Kiksadi” rides Theo Craig’s circular fuzz-bass pattern, hot organ stabs and drummer Papi Fimbres’ fevered polyrhythmic stuttering, while the final three tracks blitz by in increasingly frantic succession. Not every song distinguishes itself, but taken as a piece, it’s a dizzying thrill. MATTHEW SINGER. SEE IT: Mascáras plays The Know, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., with Jo Passed, Laser Background and Bitch’n, on Thursday, May 25. 8 pm. $9. 21+.
Announcing
Give! Guide 2017 Call for
Skidmore P r i z e ! ! ! ! ! ! !
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GIVE!GUIDE Visit giveguide.org for more details
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Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
MUSIC CALENDAR WED. MAY 24 Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St Deaf Poets, Nails Hide Metal, Average Pageant
Bossanova Ballroom 722 E Burnside St. Arkona, Sirenia
The Firkin Tavern
The Fixin’ To
8218 N. Lombard St Seattle’s 69/50 crew vs. PDX’s Marbletop Orchestra
Fremont Theater
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Máscaras, Jo Passed, Laser Background, Bitch’n
2393 NE Fremont Street Social Music
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César Chávez Blvd. Battle For Warped Tour 2017: Round #4
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. We Take Holocene V: Donte Thomas, Bocha, Maze Koroma, Marki$ Apollo, DJ Samarei
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave Tallulah’s Daddy
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Corey Harper
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave T.I., Cool Nutz, YungMil, Jake Sierra Music & DJ Dropkid
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. George Clanton, Negative Gemini, Soul Ipsum, and ESPRIT
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St La Rivera
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave Billy Childs Quartet
Valentines
232 SW Ankeny St Madison Crawford
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St Brian Harrison and The Last Draw, Friends and Lovers
Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St. Foxygen, Reptaliens, Kingdom of Not
THU. MAY 25 Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St Bleachers, Bob Moses, Missio
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Dead Tropics, Phantom Family, WORWS, Ruined It, She
Fremont Theater
2393 NE Fremont Street The Crowtet
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Blossom, Phone Call, DNVN
Landmark Saloon
4847 SE Division St, Jake Ray and the Cowdogs
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Girlpool
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St #110 The Strumbellas
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave Rodrigo y Gabriela, Ryan Sheridan
350 West Burnside Karaoke From Hell
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Souvenir Driver, Kool Stuff Katie, Tender Age
Mississippi Pizza
White Eagle Saloon
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Mr. Ben
836 N Russell St Mic Check
Muddy Rudder Public House
FRI. MAY 26
8105 Se 7th Ave. Lloyd Jones
Crystal Ballroom
Revolution Hall
1332 W Burnside St. Vulfpeck, Joey Dosik
1300 SE Stark St. #110 Midnight Oil, All Our Exes Live in Texas
Dante’s
350 West Burnside Dan Reed & Rob Daiker
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St. Sonic Forum
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Jagwar Ma
The Know
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Frenz, The Late Great, Volturz
Eastburn
Leaven Community Center
5431 NE 20th Ave. Creative Music Guild presents Elgar and the Optic Nerve Trio
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Flynt Flossy and Turquoise Jeep
Moda Center
1 N Center Ct St., Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St. #110 Floydian Slips 20th Anniversary
Roseland Theater 8 NW 6th Ave. Borgeous
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave. Yngwie Malmsteen, The Raskins
The Blue Room Bar 8145 SE 82nd Ave, 60Hz
The Firkin Tavern
1937 SE 11th Ave. The Vardaman Ensemble, greightbit, Dr. Something
The Fixin’ To
8218 N. Lombard St. Risely, Pacific Latitudes, Mink Shoals
The Know
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Pale Angels, Jason Paul, the Know It Alls, Lee Corey Oswald
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave. Rick Shea & Christy McWilson, Zak Borden
The O’Neil Public House 6000 NE Glisan St. Bahttsi
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St. Pete Krebs and his Portland Playboys; Angela Davise, Redray Frazier, Libretto
836 N Russell St The Short Stories
Dante’s
421 SE Grand Ave HAEX, Blood of Others
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd. 24hrs
White Eagle Saloon
2460 NW 24th Avenue Terry Robb Duo
The Lovecraft Bar
Hawthorne Theatre
1420 SE Powell Mr. Wrong, Rats In The Louvre, General Electric
Catfish Lou’s
The Know
1800 E Burnside St, Lumberjack and Violin Secrets
Twilight Cafe and Bar
MON. MAY 29
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St BC x LD
830 E Burnside St. Cardioid, Los Colognes, Because
LAST WEEK LIVE
1937 SE 11th Ave Divinity Roxx (Beyonce’/ Victor Wooten band), Vega Black
Doug Fir Lounge
[MAY 24-30]
For more listings, check out wweek.com.
THOMAS TEAL
= 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.
21ST CENTURY FOX: Coming into Fleet Foxes’ show at the Crystal Ballroom on May 18, a little tentativeness was to be expected. After all, it was only the band’s third show in five years. And playing Fleet Foxes songs again isn’t something you can jump back into easily, especially not this iteration. For all of its reputation as a “log cabin folk band,” the group isn’t writing simple campfire singalongs, at least not since the first album. So if the show moved a bit gingerly, perhaps that should be forgiven. But the sense of holding back was palpable. Opening with a suite of songs from its upcoming third album, Crack-Up, the performance had the air of a dress rehearsal, meant for shaking out the stage rust and hitting the lighting cues. While there were no obvious flubs, the detached concentration offered little to hold onto. Those famous harmonies glistened but never quite ascended to heaven. New songs, like “Third of May/Odaigahara” and “On Another Ocean (January/June),” seemed to stretch out for miles without ever really traveling anywhere. Tellingly, the material that connected best with the crowd was also the most contained. A stretch of songs from the band’s 2008 self-titled debut was the only part of the set that seemed to really move. And when singer Robin Pecknold began the encore alone with an acoustic guitar, playing “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song,” that’s when the audience finally fell into full, rapt attention. Earlier, fans had shouted “welcome back” between songs. But it took until the end of the night for that statement to feel justified. MATTHEW SINGER. The Waypost
Mississippi Studios
The Old Church
Twilight Cafe and Bar
Muddy Rudder Public House
The O’Neil Public House
3130 Se Hawthorne Kaeley Stephens with Megan Cronin and Dave Mullany
Roseland Theater
The Secret Society
1665 SE Bybee Blvd. The Bylines
3120 N. Williams Ave. Titans of Industry, Lousy Bends, Jeff Hayes 1420 SE Powell MDC, Breaker-Breaker, No Red Flags
Valentines
232 SW Ankeny St. Body Shame, Don Gero, Gooo and Sharon
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Edison
SAT. MAY 27 Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. Federale, Cat Hoch
Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St. The Family Crest
Duff’s Garage
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Kris DeeLane
Kelly’s Olympian
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Hoops, Parts, No LaLa
8105 Se 7th Ave. James Clem 8 NW 6th Ave. Catfish and the Bottlemen
Skyline Tavern
8031 NW Skyline Blvd Honky Tonk Friday Night with Bakersfield Rejects
Slim’s PDX
8635 N Lombard St. Porta-Party
Starday Tavern
6517 SE Foster Rd Special Purpose
The Firkin Tavern 1937 SE 11th Ave. Stereo No Aware; Bombay Beach, Tallwomen, Plastic Cactus
426 SW Washington St. The Postcards, Small Field, Body Academics
The Goodfoot
Kenton Club
The Know
2025 N Kilpatrick St. SkullDozer, Astral Cult, Ancient Elm, Die Like Gentlemen
2845 SE Stark St. Shafty 3728 NE Sandy Blvd. LKN, Low Hums, Galaxy Research
The Lovecraft Bar 421 SE Grand Ave. Smiths/Morrissey Tribute Band
1422 SW 11th Ave. Marley’s Ghost
6000 NE Glisan St. Bilgerats & Pyrettes 116 NE Russell St The Ukeladies
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
2 SW Naito Pkwy. What Was Sound: DIIV, Woods, El Ten Eleven, Fruit Bats, Small Leaks Sink Ships, Bed., JuJuBa, Sunbathe
Tony Starlight Showroom
1125 SE Madison St, Tony Starlight’s Tribute to Elton John
Twilight Cafe and Bar 1420 SE Powell The CRY!, The Sweet Things, The Liza Colby Sound, & The Furies
Valentines
232 SW Ankeny St. Avalanche Lily, Vibrissae, Shed Incorporated
SUN. MAY 28 Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway Rodriguez
Artichoke Music Cafe
Corkscrew
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. Digable Planets
Dante’s
350 West Burnside The Upper Crust, The Grannies
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Pantha Du Prince, Scifisol
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St. Jack McMahon (Winery Tasting Room)
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd. Freddie Gibbs, Le$, Samuel The 1st
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Sparkle Bitch Ball: Skull Diver, Buckmaster, Foxy Lemon, Rare Monk
Landmark Saloon
4847 SE Division St, The Quags
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Bob Dylan’s 76th Birthday Bash feat. Portland Country Underground and The Quick and Easy Boys
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 Se 7th Ave. Dan & Fran
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. A Lot Like Birds, Household, Hearts Like Lions, Owel; TV Broken 3rd Eye Open, Urban Shaman and Conscious Nest
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St. Shafty
The Know
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Thirsty City: KBOO Benefit
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave. Sir Richard Bishop
The O’Neil Public House 6000 NE Glisan St. Conor O’Bryan & Preston Howard
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St Bridge City Sinners, Green Mountain Guild, Clyde and the Milltailers, Derek Blake
The O’Neil Public House
6000 NE Glisan St. Sour Mash Hug Band, Smut City Jellyroll Society
TUE. MAY 30 Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Jean-Luc Ponty
Catfish Lou’s
2460 NW 24th Ave. Roadside Angels
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Rigsketball 2017 Kickoff Party: And And And, Nasalrod, Deathlist
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd. Wednesday 13
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. The Wilder, The Function, Long Goodbye
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. McDougal
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Sound + Vision: Savila, Notel
Raven and Rose
1331 SW Broadway, Na Rósaí
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Rose Room Swing Dance
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St. Jimmy Russell’s Party City 2034
The Know
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Mall Walk, Woolen Men, Honey Bucket
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St, No Vacation with Mini Blinds
The Ranger Station 4260 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Bluegrass Tuesday
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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MUSIC COURTESY OF JACOB PENA
NEEDLE EXCHANGE
Jacob Pena (SAN FRANCISCO)
Years DJing: 18 years I believe. I played my first gig at a friend’s regular night in Long Beach, California. I practiced a lot for it, trainwrecked during my set and immediately started regretting taking the gig. Then a fight erupted and someone took a mug to the face and was bleeding. No one noticed or cared that I had messed up. So I kept DJing and I’m still doing it—at least until folks stop booking me! Genres: Mostly boogie these days, but I’ve also been known to play Brazilian music, low-rider oldies, Chicano rock, boogaloo and cumbia. Craziest Gig: The night Prince passed away last year was just insane. Jon and Kirk from Sweater Funk already had a soul party planned for that evening, but of course, we all woke up April 21, 2016, to the news that Prince had passed away. Jon and Kirk decided that their soul party should be a free Prince tribute party with all Prince and Prince-related records. When I walked into the Make Out Room at our start time the place was just rammed—front-toback packed with folks. The vibe was not sad, it was celebratory and electric. We started the night with “Let’s Go Crazy” and it was a nonstop party ‘til we ended with “Purple Rain.” People danced, cried, laughed, and some thanked us for putting on a celebration of Prince’s life on the eve of his passing. That was huge. My Go-To Records: Dam-Funk, “Galactic Fun”; B & The Family, “A Good Time”; San Francisco LTD, “Let It Shine”; Kenix featuring Bobby Youngblood, “There’s Never Been (No One Like You).” Don’t Ever Ask Me to Play…: Something that does not sound like anything I’m playing. In fact, don’t do that to any DJ. Don’t demand the DJ take a hard-left just for you when they’re working a full dancefloor. That’s just selfish. Relax, take a deep breath, sip your drink and let the vibe take you away. SEE IT: Jacob Pena spins with Sweater Funk DJs at the Liquor Store, 3341 SE Belmont St. with Maxx Bass and Bobby D., on Saturday, May 27. 9 pm. $5. 21+. The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Shadowplay (goth, industrial, 80s)
FRI, MAY 26 WED, MAY 24 Beulahland
118 NE 28th Ave. Wicked Wednesday (hiphop)
Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Brother Charlie (Brazilian)
Sandy Hut
315 SE 3rd Ave. Sam Gellaitry, Geotheory
Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave. Ladies Night (rap, r&b, club)
Dig A Pony
315 SE 3rd Ave. Will Clarke
Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave. The Cave (rap, r&b, club)
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. 80s Video Dance Attack
Ground Kontrol
736 SE Grand Ave. A Train & Eagle Sun King (cumbia, latin)
The Embers Avenue
Double Barrel Tavern
Holocene
100 NW Broadway Knochen Tanz (ebm, industrial)
Killingsworth Dynasty
Killingsworth Dynasty
Moloko
Moloko
421 SE Grand Ave Event Horizon (darkwave, industrial)
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Death Throes (post punk, dark wave)
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
45 East
45 East
1430 NE Sandy Blvd. DJ Joey Prude
The Lovecraft Bar
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THU, MAY 25
2002 SE Division St. DJ King Fader
832 N Killingsworth St. Zero Wave presents
3967 N. Mississippi Ave. Benjamin (international disco, synth, modern dad)
511 NW Couch St. DJ Nate C. (hair metal) 1001 SE Morrison St. SNAP! ‘90s Dance Party 832 N Killingsworth St Twerk
3967 N. Mississippi Ave. Monkeytek & Friends (records from the Jamaican regions of outer space)
Where to drink this week. 1.
SAM GEHRKE
BAR REVIEW
Bar Casa Vale
215 SE 9th Ave., 503-477-9031, barcasavale.com.
Bar Casa Vale is a dream of Spanish cocktails, tapas, hearth fire and ham straight off the hock. It is also our 2017 Bar of the Year. See wweek.com/drank to read our bar guide online, or find out where to pick up a free hard copy.
2.
Century
930 SE Sandy Blvd., centurybarpdx.com.
Weekends it’s a nightclub, Sunday morning it’s drag queen bingo, and on a Monday it might host an obscure Czech film. But you know what? It’s sunny, and the most important thing to you right now is going to be that beautiful roof.
3.
Deadshot
Mondays at Holdfast, 537 SE Ash St., No. 102, 503-504-9448, holdfastdining.com.
Every Monday at prix-fixe spot, Holdfast, the lights get lower, the music gets louder and the crowd feels hip— rolling in for crazy-good honeycomb madeleines and bespoke cocktails like the Casper’s Ghost ($12), a rumand-mezcal number spiked with bitter melon syrup.
4.
The Lay Low
6015 SE Powell Blvd., 503-774-4645.
If former dive bar Club 21 is now an outdoor graffiti museum on Sandy Boulevard, the old owners’ new Lay Low Tavern is like a museum devoted to Club 21, with seemingly every bartender, every piece of decor and the build-yourown-burger bar transported intact.
5.
The Standard
14 NE 22nd Ave, 503-233-4181.
Some of the city’s best boozy slushies are back in action for a cool $5, the patio just got its roof blown off, and—guess what!—it’s sunny. Welcome back to Portland summer.
Quarterworld
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. VCR TV (dark dance, synth)
THE RACHEL: It’s very rare to stumble across a bar that creates its own genre. Over the past few months, we’ve visited watering holes all over town to pick the 100 best bars in Portland for our Drank guide (look for copies around town now), without finding anything else like newish Seattle import Rachel’s Ginger Beer (3646 SE Hawthorne Blvd., rachelsgingerbeer.com). Rachel’s is rooted in its namesake beverage, a staple in the Emerald City. It’s essentially the craft beer approach to ginger and sugar, bubbling up a wide variety of seasonal concoctions that strike a nice balance between spicy and sweet. Kids love it, which is why you’ll find little girls in frilly skirts spinning around on the cushioned barstools facing a row of shiny taps inside the former Peet’s Coffee. As anyone who’s ever spent their summer shepherding a long train of Moscow mules can attest, the root-based beer is also a great cocktail mixer. Inside Rachel’s, the house beverage gets mixed with serious spirits to make drinks like the excellent Dark and Stormy, with black seal rum, and an extra herbal take on the Pimm’s Cup. You can also get a growler to go—a nice shortcut for classy summer cookouts since this versatile elixir is great for drinking with or without booze. MARTIN CIZMAR. Beech Street Parlor
Moloko
Saucebox
412 NE Beech St. DDDJJJ666 & Magnolia Bouvier
Spare Room
727 SE Grand Ave. 11: Body Service (house, r&b)
The Goodfoot
20 NW 3rd Ave. The Ruckus (rap, r&b, club)
The Liquor Store
722 E Burnside St. Blowpony
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd. ANDAZ Bhangra Bollywood Dance Party
CC Slaughters
The Lovecraft Bar
219 NW Davis St. DJ Jakob Jay: Celebration of Life
The Lovecraft Bar
214 N Broadway St. Mr. Charming 4830 NE 42nd Ave. The Get Down 2845 SE Stark St. Soul Stew (funk, soul, disco) 3341 SE Belmont St, Flight (house, techno, disco, acid) 421 SE Grand Ave Club Kai Kai (drag night)
Tryst
19 SW 2nd Ave. Decadent 80’s w/ DJ Non
Whiskey Bar
31 NW 1st Ave. Oski, Toadface, Secret Recipe
SAT, MAY 27 45 East
315 SE 3rd Ave. Kill Paris
Bit House Saloon
Black Book
Bossanova Ballroom
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. 80s Video Dance Attack: New Wave Edition
Eastburn
3967 N. Mississippi Ave. Lamar Leroy
Quarterworld
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. ElecTRON: DanseArcade
Saucebox
214 N Broadway St. PR11ME
The Analog Cafe
421 SE Grand Ave. Electronomicon (goth)
Whiskey Bar
31 NW 1st Ave The Honeycomb Gang
SUN, MAY 28
1800 E Burnside St. Soulsa! (merengue, salsa, cumbia)
Black Book
Holocene
Dig A Pony
1001 SE Morrison St. Main Squeeze Dance Party
Killingsworth Dynasty 832 N Killingsworth St. Nuggets Night a Go-Go! (mod, r&b, soul)
20 NW 3rd Ave. Flux (rap, r&b, club) 736 SE Grand Ave. Do Right Sunday (rap, r&b)
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave. Church of Hive (goth)
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave. Softcore Mutations w/ DJ Acid Rick (new wave, synth, hunkwave)
MON, MAY 29 Dig A Pony
#wweek
736 SE Grand Ave. Os Battles (synth pop, new wave, italo disco)
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave. Black Mass (goth, new wave)
TUE, MAY 30 Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Party Damage: DJ Pow Pow
The Embers Avenue 100 NW Broadway Recycle (dark dance)
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave. BONES (goth, wave)
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Toxic Tuesdays (goth, postpunk, spooky)
y p p a H Hour Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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PERFORMANCE PAT R I C K W E I S H A M P E L / B L A N K E Y E
REVIEW
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. Most prices listed are for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and so-called convenience charges may apply, so it’s best to call ahead. Editor: SHANNON GORMLEY (sgormley@wweek.com). TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit information at least two weeks in advance to: sgormley@wweek.com.
THEATER OPENINGS & PREVIEWS Summer Squash and Hercules Didn’t Wade in Water
Now in its second year, the Vanport Mosaic Festival puts together theater, film screenings and art that deal with an Oregon town that was decimated by a flood in 1948. The two plays premiering in this year’s festival aren’t literally about Vanport. Summer Squash and Hercules Didn’t Wade in Water (directed by festival co-founder Damaris Webb) are about Hurricane Katrina and the displacement of black communities. But the analogy is clear: Built as a temporary solution to the 1940s Portland’s housing crisis, Vanport was home to a large, culturally diverse community of mostly migrant workers, many of whom couldn’t afford to move to Portland after their town was destroyed. SHANNON GORMLEY. Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate Ave., vanportmosaic.org. 7 pm Friday-Sunday, May 26-June 4. $5-$25 sliding scale.
Hands Up
After several performances throughout last year, the August Wilson Red Door Project is bringing back its production of Hands Up for 2017. Commissioned by the New Black Fest after the death of Michael Brown, Hands Up is seven monologues by black playwrights about their experiences with institutionalized racial profiling. It’s an intense collection of monologues that all seven actors in Red Door’s production deliver with deeply visceral performances. SHANNON GORMLEY. Wieden+Kennedy, 224 NW 13th Ave., reddoorproject.org. 7:30 pm Saturday, May 27 and 2 pm Sunday, May 28. Free, donations accepted.
ALSO PLAYING Óye Oyá
Even though one of Óye Oyá’s most memorable scenes is a satirical song about bringing a corn-dog-style pizza franchise to Cuba, the entire play is moving, rousing and beautifully brash. Milagro’s original Spanishlanguage musical is the story of Felo (Jimmy García), a cafe owner in Cuba trying to send his daughter, Yenisel (Lori Felipe-Barkin), off to what he hopes will be a happier life in America. García brings poignant heft to the play’s meditation on parental sacrifices. But it’s the spunky and compassionate Yenisel who powers Óye Oya, along with a series of ebullient song-and-dance numbers. That includes the performance of the pizza franchise song, in which the image of a pizza slice with a smiley face is projected across the set. It’s clearly meant to be a joke, but it’s also an embodiment of the play’s belief that both life and theater are sweetest when they’re experienced at full tilt. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., milagro.org. 7:30 ThursdaySaturday, 2 pm
That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play Agnes (Jessica Tidd) and Valerie (Jessica Hillenbrand) are two exstrippers who go to pro-life conventions posing as prostitutes, kill the men who hire them and then write about it on their blog. It sounds excessive and it is. With seriously dark humor, Sheila Callaghan’s 2009
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play is a shock-drama parody and a critique of the way women are portrayed in pop culture: Valerie is an angry, man-hating lesbian; Agnes is a baby-voiced party girl; and they both strut around the stage in giant heels and skimpy outfits. The play unfolds in a series of strange gender politics and shock-humor charged vignettes, and for a while, the social commentary is the only clue as to what’s going on. But the fact you have no idea what’s going on—plus the campy performances by the cast members, who manage to be funny in a way that only makes the play more savage—is part of what makes the play so engaging. And eventually, it all comes together. But after the mystery is gone, That Pretty Pretty begins to feel like it’s just belaboring one very specific point. It’s a point worth belaboring. But if you’re going to keep thinking about a play, it helps to be left wondering. SHANNON GORMLEY. Defunkt Theatre, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., defunkttheatre.com. 7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, through June 10. $10-$25.
DANCE 6x6: A PDX Choreographers Showcase
Despite the fact that PDX Dance Collective has been around for almost a decade, it’s just now hosting its first choreographer showcase. It’s a massive lineup—they’re going to stage works from 12 local choreographers, equal parts collective members and guest artists. It’s a highly contemporary lineup: The list of new works includes one from BodyVox instructor Dar Vejon Jones and a solo piece by the collective’s Zahra Garrett. SHANNON GORMLEY. The Headwaters Theatre, 55 NE Farragut St., pdxdancecollective. org. 7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, 3 pm Sunday, May 26-28. $20.
Da-Guan Dance Theatre
Taiwanese American Heritage Week is a bit of a misnomer—it’s celebrated throughout the country through the month of May. Da-Guan Dance Theatre has been touring their current show all over the U.S. since early May in celebration of the federal holiday, and is making their last stop at Revolution Hall. Hailing from the National Taiwan University of Arts, the dance troupe fuses classical Chinese dance, modern Taiwan heritage and Western ballet. SHANNON GORMLEY. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St., revolutionhall. com. 7:30 pm Wednesday, May 24. $25-$30.
COMEDY Nate Bargatze
Nate Bargatze could technically be called a “clean” comic, but the Maron writer doesn’t overcompensate for the lack of curse words with disturbing subject matter like others. His material is dry in a way that makes anything ordinary deeply absurd—see his bit on the differences between Target and Kmart. SHANNON GORMLEY. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895, mississippistudios.com. 8 pm. $15. 21+.
For more Performance listings, visit
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
TIGHTKNIT: Silas Weir Mitchell and Dana Green.
Limited Space
PCS’S CONSTELLATIONS IS GORGEOUS, BUT CLAUSTROPHOBIC. BY B EN N ETT CA MPB ELL FER GU SON
The set of Portland Center Stage’s production of Nick Payne’s Constellations is a marvel. Vast, precise and dizzying, it looks like a diagram of a wormhole: The stage is emblazoned with a grid pattern that dovetails and curves upward. It is also, like Payne’s writing, a prison. Theoretical physicist Marianne and beekeeper Roland (respectively played by Grimm veterans Dana Green and Silas Weir Mitchell) meet at a barbecue and fall in love. But, like a VHS tape that’s reconfigured every time you press the rewind button, Constellations repeats scenes of their relationship several times with alterations that shift the course of Marianne and Roland’s affair. To an extent, the stubborn simplicity of Constellations—it’s confined to a single set and a single pair of actors—is enjoyably intimate. Green and Weir Mitchell speak in British accents and bumble their way through a sometimes touching romance. When they first meet, Marianne flirts with Roland by telling him that licking your elbow is the key to immortality (Green makes a valiant attempt). If that isn’t weird enough, the scene eventually restarts with tweaked dialogue. This game of reveal-and-reverse persists throughout the play as we follow Marianne and Roland through courtship, betrayal and recon-
ciliation. Some of the revisions rely on subtle shifts in the tone of Green and Mitchell’s voices. But some are more radical, including a harrowing sequence that portrays Marianne’s myriad reactions to being diagnosed with cancer. Those scenes enable Green to deliver a potent portrayal of a woman whose health is crumbling, but who refuses to relinquish her strength—her fierce declaration that a nasty fate will befall Roland if he dares to bring her balloons is one of the production’s highlights. Yet, even Green can’t cut through the drudgery of the play. Marianne and Roland’s relationship seems to exist in a bland vacuum: There’s no hint of any kind of world beyond the two characters. The production doesn’t truly engage you outside a series of beguiling interludes, in which lights isolate Green and Mitchell from their surroundings while ambient music plays. Constellations never plunges us into the passion that supposedly bubbles beneath its characters’ overly clever surfaces. Eventually, even the wild set wears out its welcome. Instead of seeming strange and magical, it just becomes frustratingly monotonous. SEE IT: Constellations is at Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th Ave., www.pcs.org. 7:30 Tuesday-Sunday, 2:00 Saturday-Sunday, noon Thursday, through June 11. $25-$70.
BRUD GILES
REVIEW
SEARCHING FOR WORDS: Victor Mack and Foss Curtis
Lost in Translation The Language Archive is a linguistics rom-com.
For its last show of the season, Portland Playhouse is very literally stepping out of their boundaries. Their theater of almost a decade, an old church in Northeast, is undergoing renovation, so they’re staging The Language Archive at CoHo Theater’s far more conventional space. But part of what makes Portland Playhouse’s productions so special is their imaginative staging that adapts to their non-traditional space, and the rom-com plot of The Language Archive is already fairly tame. George (Greg Watanabe) is a linguist who can speak several languages, but can’t communicate with his wife, Mary (Nikki Weaver). It’s the company’s most detailed set this season: Behind a spiral staircase and balcony, there’s a floor-to-ceiling shelf packed with tapes. Along with his failing marriage, George has another problem: He’s flown in Alta (Sharonlee Mclean) and Reston (Victor Mack), a married couple and the last two speakers of an imaginary language, Elloway, so he can record a conversation of the dying tongue—but when they arrive, they bicker in English and eventually refuse to speak to one another. Despite the fact that it follows a failed marriage, The Language Archive is goofy and feel-good. The stage is often flooded with bright, sunny lighting. The audience mainly learns what’s going on in George’s head from out-of-scene monologues that seem intentionally indulgent. He begins one scene dramatically draped across the floor, head tilting backwards to the audience as he tells us what we already know: “I lie on the floor of the lab. For how long? I don’t know.” The script borders on sugary, but the acting prevents the cutesiness from seeming over-the-top. Mack is highly capable both as a comedic and dramatic actor. Weaver implies Mary’s emotional range with a shaky voice, and the corners of her mouth twitch in and out of a smile—you feel like she’s always holding something back. A man who feels that the death of languages is sadder than the death of people, George could easily seem unlikable. But Watanabe manages to make George both ridiculous and compelling. Besides, the play doesn’t seem concerned with compromise so much as acceptance. In one scene, Reston tells George his views on marriage: “When you keep holding on, something amazing happens. We become too tired to change. We become who we really are.” SHANNON GORMLEY. SEE IT: The Language Archive is at CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., portlandplayhouse.org. 7:30 pm WednesdaySaturday, 2 pm Sunday, May 17-June 11. $25-$34.
VOTE May 1–31st
Winners will be announced in our Best of Portland Issue July 12th, and don’t miss out on our Best Of Portland Block Party!
#wweek
E Z O BO Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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VISUAL ARTS / BOOKS PROFILE COURTESY OF DARK HORSE COMICS
If, hypothetically, Frank Miller wanted to take Sin City somewhere else, could he do that? We wouldn’t force him to stay here if he didn’t want to be here. At the Reuben Awards, you’re going to be talking about “a personal approach to comics history.” What does that mean? When I was in college, if you were into comics, it was embarrassing to let anybody know. I’d go to the 7-Eleven—a particular one that was over on Holgate Street—and sit across the street until midnight when no customers were there, run in, grab comics off the rack and get them in a brown paper bag as fast as I could. My big surprise was that it wasn’t just kids that came into my first retail store...it was lawyers and doctors and every kind of professional...dropping two, three hundred dollars and liking the fact that they could come into someplace and share their love of this particular art form without being embarrassed. That taught me the lesson that comics are for everyone. They have every bit as much literary value these days as any other form of literature.
THE UPRISING: Bryan Talbot’s The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia.
Not Just for Nerds DARK HORSE’S FOUNDER ON GROWING UP WITH COMICS. BY BE N N E T T C A M P B E L L FE RGUS O N
WW: One of Dark Horse’s Reuben-nominated works is about a sword-fighting rabbit (Usagi Yojimbo) and the other is about a revolutionary French feminist (The Red Virgin). Is that a microcosm of Dark Horse’s diverse content? Richardson: The idea I had when I started Dark Horse was that comics had the same ability to entertain and had the same broad reach of subject matter as other forms of entertainment. I think generally, we got pigeonholed in what some people considered to be some literary ghetto that featured men in tights and capes, and I just had a different idea of what comics could be.
There was a time when Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson was embarrassed to be seen reading comics. Despite the fact that he has always been a voracious comic book reader—he learned to read by first grade— Richardson used to feel that there was a stigma around comics, particularly when he was a self-conscious college student. Clearly, much has changed. In its 30 years of existence, Richardson has turned the comic book publishing company from a Milwaukie-based, local operation into a legendary national name. Dark Horse has unleashed pop-culture behemoths Could you talk about what the phrase “creator rights” means and how like Sin City and Hellboy and continDark Horse supports those rights? ues to develop comics based on films, I learned that some comics creators, including Avatar and Aliens. Two Dark Horse releases— Stan Sakai’s Usagi when they signed the backs of their Yojimbo and Bryan Talbot’s The Red checks, signed away the rights to everything they created. Being that my own Virgin and the Vision of Utopia—have been RICHARDSON background was in art, I was upset by that. nominated for the National Cartoonists So when I got the idea of starting a publishing Society’s annual Reuben Awards, which will be company, I thought it would be a good business practice hosted in Portland this weekend. WW spoke with Richardson, who is giving a talk at and the moral thing to do to let people who create charthe awards, about the two Dark Horse works nominated acters and projects actually own them and have a say in and his stealthy strategy for buying comics as an embar- what happened to them. rassed college student. 46
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
“I’d go to the 7-Eleven— a particular one that was over on Holgate Street— and sit across the street until midnight when no customers were there, run in, grab comics off the rack and get them in a brown paper bag as fast as I could.” - Mike Richardson
What kind of comics did you read as a kid? There was DC Comics for a long time, probably some Archie comics, obviously MAD Magazine. When Spider-Man #1 came out and suddenly became a Marvel fan and then during the ’70s, I discovered the undergrounds. So it’s been a constant evolution and it’s all led up to my philosophy of what Dark Horse is. It’s always been my opinion, which has turned out to be true, that if we can distribute a broad range of material over different distribution channels that we can reach a broader range of readers. What’s it like to have gone from being a kid reading comics to running a company as influential as Dark Horse? I’m doing what I love to do. I don’t really take time to stop and think about it that way. I was once asked by a person when we got our film cut and I was not happy with the quality, “What are you worried about? It’s just comics.” And so that’s the last job he ever got and I brought it in house. We’ve continued to advocate for creators to own their work. I think that the shape of the comic market with the opportunities in distribution will continue to change. The technology is moving faster and faster, so who knows what’s going to be here five years from now. SEE IT: The Reuben Awards is closed to the public, but there’s a cartoonist meet-and-greet at the Hilton Atrium Ballroom, 921 SW 6th Ave., reuben.org. 1-4 pm Sunday, May 28. Free.
c o u r t e s y o f m at t h e w l u c a s
MOVIES G et yo ur r e Ps IN
Drugstore Cowboy (1989) Gus Van sant’s breakout follows a group of Portland addicts led by Bob (matt Dillon) and Dianne (Kelly lynch), who travel up and down the Pacific Northwest robbing drugstores and pharmacies. according to our office banter, it’s a more accurate snapshot of old Portland than My Own Private Idaho. Academy Theater, May 26June 1.
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
the cross-country slapstick adventure of lloyd christmas (Jim carrey) and harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) to return a briefcase full of ransom money to heiress mary swanson (lauren holly) has one of the greatest farts in cinema. Academy Theater, May 26- June 1.
WEiRD TAlEs: The Killer Butterfly
Jonathan Demme Weekend
the hollywood screens masterful talking heads concert film Stop Making Sense, which will have you dancing in your seat (I sure was when I caught it at the 5th Avenue earlier this year) and follows it up with Silence of the Lambs on 35mm, a fitting tribute to the incredibly prolific Demme, who sadly passed away a few weeks ago. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Thursday, Sept. 22.
Miyazaki Nights
there sure has been a lot of studio Ghibli this year, but now’s your chance to catch two of hayao miyazaki’s classics on 35 mm. the Psu anime club hosts Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away on film, plus miyazaki’s last feature, The Wind Rises. 5th Avenue Cinema, May 26-28.
Thanhouser Treasures
warNING: for true, cult, elite cinephiles! the thanhouser company film Preservation— and I mean 1910’s early— silent shorts from thanhouser company, one of the first motion picture studios in the country, who released over a thousand films internationally. the program will be introduced by Ned thanhouser, grandson of the studio’s founders. Hollywood, 2 pm, Saturday, May 27.
Also PlAying: Clinton st.: Top Gun (1986), 7 pm, monday, may 29. Hollywood: Being There (1979), 7:30 pm, thursday, may 25; Mars Attacks! (1996), 2 pm, sunday, may 28. Mission: Escape From New York (1981), may 24-27; Ladyhawke (1985), may 24-27; 1984 (1984), may 29-30. Academy: The Big Lebowski (1998), may 24-25. nW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium: Tongues Untied! (1990), 4:30 pm, saturday, may 27.
Take Me to Church CHURCH OF FILM IS BRINGING CINEMA RARELY SEEN IN THE UNITED STATES TO PORTLAND.
BY Walker MacMurdo
wmacmurdo@wweek.com
It’s Monday evening at Sandy Boulevard’s bleacher-seated Century Bar. While I enjoy nachos and a cinnamon-scented tequila cocktail, the thrift-store chic trickle in wearing Doc Martens, vintage leather jackets and tote bags screen-printed with the word “womyn.” They aren’t here to watch sports at Century, named in Drank, our 2017 bar guide (now available across Portland) as one of the city’s five best new bars. They’re here for Czech director Karel Kachyna’s 1976 take on The Little Mermaid, a tragic fantasy about pain and sacrifice awash in periwinkle blues, rose petals and gauzy highfantasy costuming. The film is strikingly beautiful and sad, made in Soviet Czechoslovakia and never distributed in the United States. Matthew Lucas, the mastermind behind enigmatic film collective Church of Film, tracked The Little Mermaid down, cut his own trailer for it and brought the film to a hip Portland sports bar. He’s been bringing barely seen films like The Little Mermaid to Portland almost every week since 2013, and he does it mostly for free. Church of Film got started at the North Star Ballroom event space off of North Killingsworth. Lucas and his friend Leslie Napoles, who manages the ballroom and co-organizes Church of Film with him, conceived it as a way to bring film to mostly theater-barren North Portland on the space’s off days.
Church of Film audiences began small, mostly friends, but within two months locals began showing up. “At that time, we considered it a local film club, so we didn’t even think about buying rights or securing distribution,” says Lucas.
Church of Film screening. I’ve attended three so far, and alongside The Little Mermaid, I caught another Czechoslovakian film, Juraj Jakubisko’s 1969 carnivalesque, punk rock coming-of-age story, Birds, Orphans and Fools, and Ion Popescu-Gopo’s psychedelic, half-animated/half-live action children’s movie, Maria, Mirabella, which follows the adventures of a talking frog and two little girls trying to save their friends from the fairy of the forest. This week, Church of Film is screening Ki-young Kim’s The Killer Butterfly at the Clinton Street Theater. It’s a surrealist melodrama from a legend in Korean cinema that almost defies description. Among other things, the film follows a man who survives a double suicide, then discovers a thousandsyear old skeleton in a cave, later to meet its spirit in a dream. “The script is so ridiculous that you can tell it was written on the fly,” says Lucas. “It almost has an oneiric narrative, passing from one strange story to the next—sort of a horror film, but one that doesn’t make sense. I’m always looking for authentic surrealism, and this film approaches it. Maybe by accident, maybe by design.” If you haven’t heard of these films, well, neither had I. Lucas has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of cinema, which he’s cultivated since he started watching VHS copies of Ingmar Bergman movies rented from a Salem library while in high school. He tracks most of what he screens down through online film communities, mostly “academic European people,” who trade and share digital copies of films that have never been released here. This process sometimes requires subtitling films himself, translating and proofing them with a native speaker; it takes at least a few days per film. To replace bad subtitles on Malombra, an Italian film from the ’40s, Lucas read the novel of the same name on which it was based and directly subbed the dialogue in the book into the film. If that effort isn’t devotional enough, Lucas cuts his own trailers for his programs, which
“i’m always looking for authentic surrealism, and this film approaches it. Maybe by accident, maybe by design.”
- Matthew Lucas, Church of Film
“But once the screenings started getting attention, distributors took notice.” Lucas and Napoles received a threatening letter from an unnamed distributor in 2014—“I don’t want to poke the dragon on this one. It wasn’t even a cease and desist. We just got a letter saying ‘we’re suing you.’” The suit never came to fruition, but following that incident, Lucas mostly stopped screening films that had distribution in the United States (he pays for licensing rights when he does). He’s found the restriction liberating. “The notion of a film ‘canon’ is a crapshoot,” he explains. “Films become famous because somebody bought the rights in the ’60s. There’s no real rhyme or reason why some films are in the canon, but for good distribution.” Thus, you aren’t likely to see fawned-over classics from Tarkovsky and Kurosawa at a
he has done since Church of Film’s inception. “I wanted the film night to have a professional veneer, the romance of the Cinémathèque Française,” he explains. “So I taught myself editing software and learned how to cut trailers. I kept doing it every week.” Portland is a town flush with excellent film, but few programs embody the sheer level of expertise, personal commitment and pure DIY ethos as Church of Film. “Somebody asked me for a list of my favorite films,” Lucas laughs. “I couldn’t keep it under 300.” sEE iT: The Killer Butterfly screens at clinton street theater on wednesday, may 24, at 8 pm. church of film screens wednesdays at clinton street theater and North star Ballroom and the first and third monday of every month at century. see churchoffilm.org for schedule. Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
MOVIES FRANK MASI
Avi. Yet Burshtein’s movie isn’t about husband hunting—it’s a rousing feminist fable in which Michal’s fierce faith that the perfect wedding plan will coalesce becomes a defiant declaration that she’s worthy of being loved. Her inspiring confidence is her power and the movie’s, and it mostly makes up for a curiously wishy-washy conclusion that doesn’t take too much away from Burshstein, who is a witty and masterful observer of the intersection between gender politics and faith. PG. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Living Room Theaters.
Whisky Galore!
Eddie Izzard stars in the remake of the 1949 comedy about the inhabitants of a small Scottish island who try to steal 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship during WWII. NR. Kiggins.
Alien: Covenant
Editor: WALKER MACMURDO. 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: wmacmurdo@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115. : This movie sucks, don’t watch it. : This movie is entertaining but flawed. : This movie is good. We recommend you watch it. : This movie is excellent, one of the best of the year.
NOW PLAYING Baywatch
Is this reboot starring The Rock and Zac Efron going to be stupid in a good way or stupid in an annoying, way-too-tongue-in-cheek way? Find out in our review next week! R. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Vancouver.
Everything, Everything
If you’ve been hoping to take your teenage daughter or son to a smug, facile and deeply offensive YA melodrama, here’s your chance. That said, this adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s novel is an abomination with benefits, including Amandla Stenberg’s sweetly charismatic performance as Maddy, an 18-year-old with severe combined immunodeficiency, which prevents her from leaving her IKEA-catalogue home. Everything in Maddy’s life is sanitized—her clothes are “irradiated” and her house has an airlock—except for Olly (Nick Robinson), a dashingly hairy charmer who lives next door, much to the chagrin of Maddy’s hyper-domineering mother (Anika Noni Rose). An inevitable romance takes root as Maddy and Olly shyly flirt and Stenberg and Robinson revel in their tangible chemistry, but both actors are undermined by dull dialogue—the film’s sole memorable line is a Cher exclamation that Maddy borrows from Moonstruck— and a staggeringly moronic plot twist that cheapens the entire movie and betrays the emotional investment it demands from its audience. Maddy may wrestle with whether it’s worth venturing beyond the glass walls that shield her, even if it means risking death, but the film offers an insultingly easy solution that will horrify anyone who cares about logic, storytelling or disability rights. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Fox Tower, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Tigard, Vancouver.
Obit
One wouldn’t assume a documentary about New York Times obituary columnists would be laughout-loud funny. This dying art is practiced by an aging bullpen of wry hunters-and peckers who strive to
immortalize striking details in the lives of people who made a quantifiable impact on the world—on deadline. The writers’ stories are juxtaposed snugly beside the details of their subjects to create an exceptionally tight, often hilarious film. Morgue archivist Jeff Roth inadvertently turns in a show-stealing performance. NATHAN CARSON. NR. Cinema 21.
The Ornithologist
You’ll have a sizable advantage with interpreting João Pedro Rodrigues’ The Ornithologist if you’re an English major. Based on the spiritual transcendence of St. Anthony, ornithologist Fernando (Paul Hamy) is busy bird watching along a canal in northern Portugal when his kayak gets swept away by a current. As a consequence, he ominously encounters a plethora of strangers who test him existentially and sexually. Even the most well-read moviegoer might have difficulty sympathizing with the plot holes and general turtlelike pace of the film, which drowns Fernando’s odyssey long before his misfortune along the river. JACK RUSHALL. NR. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, May 27-28.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Where did the Pirates of the Caribbean saga sail off course? The smart money is on Dead Man’s Chest, the 2006 entry in the series that first smothered Bill Nighy’s savory smirk under a computerized octopus beard. Yet Dead Men Tell No Tales—the fifth installment in this dead franchise walking—is a treasure trove of embarrassments in its own right. What passes for a story in this cinematic shipwreck is a heap of pseudo-mythical babble about the ghostly Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), who harbors a vendetta against Johnny Depp’s irrepressible buccaneer, Jack Sparrow. Thanks to his comedic drunkenness and lithe innuendos, Depp still charms, although his eccentricities get buried under the galumphing theatrics of directors Joaquim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, who apparently would rather drag an entire building through a dusty street than go to the trouble of staging a coherent sword fight. They could learn a thing or two from Geoffrey Rush, who attacks his role as the marvelously bewigged Captain Barbossa with mad
glee. He clearly understands what his directors don’t: That if you’re going to get some booty, you may as well earn it. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Pioneer Place, St. Johns Twin Cinema & Pub, Tigard, Vancouver.
Promised Land
Part of the Portland EcoFilm Festival, Promised Land centers on the Duwamish Tribe and the Chinook Indian Nation, two Native American tribes fighting for treaty rights to be recognized by the US government. Hollywood, 6:30 pm, Saturday, May 27.
Violet
This Belgian/Dutch arthouse drama opens with a mall cop looking so long at a block of security monitors that he nods off and then walks away. Just afterward, on those same monitors, we witness a teenage boy get suddenly stabbed while his friend Jesse looks on. And that’s the rhythm of Bas Devos’ nearly wordless, nearly plotless Violet: The first-time director presents a still, un-soundtracked shot and lingers for minutes at a time. Sometimes a character wanders into frame, and sometimes nothing happens at all. This style suggests Jesse’s numbing bystander’s guilt, but it’s also minimalism on a mission. Like Kelly Reichardt’s sparsest work, Violet is ripe for an academic discussion of how the cinematic image gives and withholds, how it can reveal and disguise its subjects at the same time. But this Berlin Film Festival prize winner lacks Reichardt’s affection for character, as well as her astute and often funny eye for editing. No, Violet is like looking at a sequence of mounted photos. You may well find its beauty if you can hold the film’s gaze, but the viewer’s one-way relationship to this meditation on grief is so unchanging it’d take a monk to appreciate it. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Clinton Street Theater.
The Wedding Plan
“I want people to respect me because I have a spouse.” So says Michal (Noa Koller), the Orthodox Jewish heroine of this pleasantly peculiar Hebrew-language yarn from director Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void). Unfortunately for Michal, who lives in Jerusalem, the respect that she desires proves difficult to attain, especially after she’s dumped by her loutish fiancée during a feast of chicken wings. Not to be deterred, Michal schedules her wedding for the last night of Hanukkah, invites 200 guests and bets that she’ll snag a groom in time for the festivities. Soon, suitors show up, including a singer (Oz Zehavi) beguiled by the eccentric Michal, whose novel ventures include running a mobile petting zoo that’s home to a snake named
Casting Danny McBride as the alien was a ballsy gamble that paid off. Sadly, nothing else in Ridley Scott’s frenetic follow-up to the underrated Prometheus comes together as it should. R. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Cinema 21, Cinemagic Theatre, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Hollywood, Living Room Theaters, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, St. Johns Pub and Theater, Tigard, Vancouver.
Beauty and the Beast
Did we need this remake? Probably not. Is is pretty good? Yes. PG. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Eastport, Living Room Theaters, Tigard, Vancouver.
The Boss Baby
Somehow, this movie isn’t a terrifying monstrosity. PG. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Empirical, Tigard.
Buster’s Mal Heart
While it takes audacity to cram existentialism, human waste and dead frogs into a single movie, audacity is all this drivel has going for it. NR. Hollywood Theatre.
Chuck
Though Chuck doesn’t quite reinvent the boxing movie wheel, damned if the story of Chuck “The Bayonne Bleeder” Wepner, who went 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali in 1975, doesn’t end up punching above its weight. R. Fox Tower.
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
Broaching the life of city planning warrior Jane Jacobs, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City attempts to relay the recent history of places where half the planet’s population lives. But the film’s focus sprawls like an unchecked suburb. Either Ken Burns needed to make this film over the course of 12 hours, or it needed to call the Hudson and East rivers its borders. NR. Laurelhurst.
Colossal
Nacho Vigalondo’s new monster flick follows Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis drunkenly rampaging through the friend zone as down-andout yuppies whose angst somehow controls gigantic kaiju. PG. Academy, Laurelhurst.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
While it’s painful to recommend a film that expects audiences to be delighted by the sound of poo dropping into a toilet, this crude-butcharming kiddie road movie offers an ode to family without talking down to its young audience. PG. Beaverton, Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Milwaukie, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Vancouver.
The Fate of the Furious
Get Out
Yes, this movie is as good as everyone says it is, enough so that it makes you ask why other horror movies aren’t better. R. Fox Tower, Vancouver.
Ghost in the Shell
Assertions that whitewashing and a reliance on futuristic effects makes this American remake of the animated 1995 manga classic a hollow, emotionless shell aren’t entirely wrong, but it’s still a rich and attention-grabbing action film powered by Scarlett Johansson’s dynamic lead performance. PG-13. Academy, Avalon, Jubitz, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst, Vancouver.
Gifted
STILL SHOWING
Baywatch
chise. At least there’s still a bunch of cool explosions and shit. PG-13. Bridgeport, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Vancouver.
Sadly, Paul Walker was the key ingredient missing in the eighth iteration of the Fast and the Furious fran-
Every time I read the name of this movie, I think of that T-shirt you’d see at Spencer’s Gifts, emblazoned with a stick figure with three legs and the word “GIFTED,” implying the wearer has a large penis. PG-13. City Center, Living Room Theaters, Tigard.
Going in Style
Zach Braff ’s Going in Style acts as a bitterly honest ode to aging, ageism and existentialism—themes that are always spry. What one might not expect is a plot that’s fairly heinous, both morally and logistically, with characters who remain justified and likable throughout. PG-13. Clackamas, Pioneer Place.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
When the first Guardians debuted, its irreverent, hilarious, bizarro tone came out of nowhere, making audiences fall in love with Marvel’s D-list heroes at the confluence of Star Wars, The Ice Pirates and Buckaroo Banzai. Vol. 2 isn’t the jolt that the first one was, but between all the action and its surprisingly poignant finale, it’s a welcome addition. We’d follow this band of charismatic assholes anywhere at this point. PG-13. Bagdad, Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Milwaukie, Moreland, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Roseway, St. Johns Twin Cinema & Pub, Tigard, Vancouver.
Hidden Figures
Why does Kevin Costner get the biggest racism-busting line in a movie about under-appreciated black women who contributed to NASA’s Apollo 11 trip to the Moon? PG. Academy, Laurelhurst, Vancouver.
John Wick: Chapter 2
This may be the smartest, most beautifully shot film ever made that’s basically a montage of people getting shot in the head. R. Vancouver.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Guy Ritchie has a gift for making fantasy warfare breathtakingly boring. PG-13. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Vancouver.
Kong: Skull Island
Following the original film’s blueprint, Kong: Skull Island sends a boatload of explorers past the permastorm that’s hidden the titular archipelago for millennia. The similarities end there. Shifting to Southeast Asia just after the fall of Saigon, Skull Island replaces Age of Discovery heroics with wartime ambience. PG-13. Academy, Avalon, Empirical..
The Lego Batman Movie
Fast, funny and pleasingly drunk on the joys of mockery, The Lego Batman Movie is as fun as the 2014 original but stars Will Arnett as a petulant, preening goofball who rocks out on an electric guitar and showers orphans with cool toys from a merch gun. PG. Academy, Clackamas, Empirical, Vancouver, Vancouver.
CONT. on page 50
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MOVIES 17
READERS’ POLL
IS BACK!
Logan
REVIEW
Turns out having Hugh Jackman and cute child Dafne Keen perform Mortal Kombat fatalities on robot-armed mercenaries is a cool idea for a movie. R. Academy, Avalon, Joy, Jubitz, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst, Vancouver.
COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS
20
The Lost City of Z
VOTE May 1—31 wweek.com/BOP2017
This supremely entertaining tale of exploration and obsession unfolds in the early years of the 20th century to chronicle the storied search of Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) for an ancient city he believes lies hidden deep within the Amazon. With a buildup of suspense that would have made Hitchcock crack a sinister smile, and intoxicating images—men hacking their way through foliage with machetes, ramshackle boats floating toward elusive destinations—from director James Gray (Two Lovers), the movie hypnotizes completely. PG-13. Bridgeport, Eastport, Fox Tower, Hollywood.
The Lovers
The Lovers would be a black comedy if writer-director Azazel Jacobs pushed a tone more, but this story about sad middle-aged Californians Michael (Tracy Letts) and Susan (Lesley Fera) cheating on each other is more drab irony searching for chuckles. R. Clackamas, Living Room Theaters.
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
Get Busy
As a wannabe American-Israeli fixer, this is Richard Gere’s finest performance since Chicago. If you’re into pretty compelling nonsense, call anytime day or night; ask for Norman. R. City Center, Fox Tower.
A Quiet Passion
Any Emily Dickinson biopic would require patience, and Terence Davies’ A Quiet Passion demands more than its share. PG-13. Cinema 21, Kiggins.
Smurfs: The Lost Village
Sony thinks moviegoers are dumb enough to pay money to see rote lessons in togetherness and acceptance acted out by tiny little blue people in blue pajamas. Save your money and buy some Haribo Sour Smurfs instead. PG. Avalon, Clackamas, Kennedy School, Vancouver.
Snatched
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Picture the worn-out gimmick of the hapless character on a mission, walking in slow motion while gangsta rap ironically scores their strut. Picture a film unimaginative enough to use that gag three separate times and you have Snatched. R. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Fox Tower, Living Room Theaters, Lloyd, Oak Grove, St. Johns Twin Cinema & Pub, Tigard, Vancouver.
T2: Trainspotting
It’s been 21 years since Trainspotting turned a blackly comic druggie caper into generational touchstone, and the follow-up posits that if you can survive the first rush of freedom and weather the inevitable hangover of crashing dreams, nostalgia becomes the last true habit. R. Fox Tower.
Their Finest
’Ello, love! It’s what seems to be the thousandth period romance this year, this time revolving around a screenwriter (Gemma Arterton) in the British film industry in 1940, marred by needless plot hiccups that make this film dissonantly depressing. R. Fox Tower.
For more Movies listings, visit
STRANGE DAYS: Jerry Garcia.
Longer, Stranger, Trippier Picture the music industry as a thicket, dense with trees, so expansive it becomes one green, tangled mass. Then, there’s a clearing. In the center, a cluster of wildflowers growing, alone in their universe. “Jerry said, ‘That’s Grateful Dead music.’” Sam Cutler, the Grateful Dead’s ’70s-era tour manager, looks into the camera, recalling when Jerry Garcia attempted to summarize the sound of his band, which had been nicknamed, “the band beyond description.” Like so many would, Cutler reacts to Garcia’s pastoral analogy with, “Jesus, man. You know what I mean?” After a drag from a cigarette, he says, “For fuck’s sake, you know what I mean?” “But,” Cutler continues, shaking his head and turning back to the interviewer—“That’s how they are.” Long Strange Trip, the new Grateful Dead documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev (The Tillman Story) and co-produced by Martin Scorsese, is about as compact as a Grateful Dead jam break, clocking in at 239 minutes. Promoted as a Holy Grail of never-before-seen concert footage and rare bootleg recordings, its main target audience is clear: those tape-collecting devotees of the Dead’s effusive, psychedelic circus. This Thursday, the film will screen once at Nob Hill’s Cinema 21 before heading to Amazon Video on June 2. For those clinging to an anachronistic obsession with ’60s counterculture, Long Strange Trip delivers in droves upon cultish droves: a juicy interview with Garcia’s first-ever girlfriend; footage of behemoth metal tour buses cruising through Haight-Ashbury to ogle the hippies, announcing, “This is the home of the Grateful Dead, a hard rock band!”; bassist Phil Lesh offering acid-dosed beer to the cameraman in a scene from a mid-’70s Dead movie that would never be finished. The whole crew had been dosed—the inclusion of their totally unusable camerawork is one of the film’s best, strangest choices, hurling the viewer into a manic litany of close-ups and jump cuts, color and shake. The film’s interviewers, too, should be commended for eliciting several candid moments that transcend LSD spiritual oneness to reveal something pure and moving. In one particularly endearing interview, Minnesota senator and Deadhead Al Franken expounds passionately on the subtle guitar solo differences between live recordings of “Althea,” insisting that the best is Nassau Coliseum, May 1980. Even if you hear the music as pseudo-rootsy peace ’n’ love nonsense, watching Al Franken listen to it, seeing his face light up like a kid’s, is enthralling. In fact, as Long Strange Trip is unafraid to admit, what’s interesting about the Grateful Dead isn’t really the music, but the incomparable depth of the connection it forged with its fans. By touring for literally 30 years straight, they offered what seemed like an endless opportunity to get in a van and set out for an adventure in America at large. Predictably, it ends with most everyone burning out, becoming addicts and dying. But it has fun along the way, man. ISABEL ZACHARIAS.
To the Deadhead, the four-hour long Grateful Dead documentary Long Strange Trip offers a treasure trove of rarities. To the nonbeliever, it offers a bizarre, enrapturing history of post-‘60s American idealism.
SEE IT: Long Strange Trip screens at Cinema 21 on Thursday, May 25. 7 pm. It premieres on Amazon Video on Friday, June 2.
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TRICIA HIPPS
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T E E R ST
WHITE FIRE OG
ALL THIS WEEK!
Five Sexy Strains for Getting It On
4 ORGANIC STRAINS
AT $7 GRAM, $20 AN EIGHTH!!
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THE BEST SEX SMOKES By JANELLE ALBUKHARI
After my housemate declared that “weed and sex are not good together,” I decided to prove his theory wrong by searching for the friskiest strains I could find. Not all strains are created equal: some are far better suited to doing the deed than others. The most well-suited for sex were often hybrids with the ability to improve mood, reduce stress and heighten physical sensitivity.
Here are my favorite picks.
BETTIE PAGE Liberty Reach Farms, available at Green Front Bettie Page is a 50/50 hybrid that’s listed with “arousal” as one of its most pronounced effects. Intrigued, I decided to give it a shot to see if it lived up to the hype. With notes of berry and a cheesy pungency, I was surprised to taste a piney, spicy taste that made my nose tingle. There’s a mild body buzz immediately; my muscles were relaxed and my head was swimming with cheerful thoughts. Interestingly enough, I note this strain makes my skin feel hypersensitive. Making out is intensified by Bettie, whose gentle, mellow euphoria and body buzz makes for a great night of senseless fucking.
GT DRAGON High Valley Organics, available at Bloom A sativa-dominant strain with 21.19% THC and a touch of CBD, GT Dragon is a very playful strain thanks to its positive mood affect component. Just a few bowl rips was enough to pull me out of a daylong funk. Buds are sweet and floral, with notes of lavender, sweet pine and light citrus running through. One of the strains that made me grin the most, it’s a cerebral, euphoric high that made me feel relaxed, confident and in the moment. Smoke a joint of this before a date to get some of that flirtatious spark.
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES Madrone Farms, available at Happy Leaf Apparently GSC has a reputation for being a great strain for masturbation. In the name of science, I decided to test that theory out. A cross between OG Kush and Durban Poison, GSC is rife with strong earthy and sweet notes accented by a lingering pine scent. I can instantly feel the indica component loosening my chest, providing a wave of pain relief that induces a peaceful mental state. Its sweetness makes it very tasty, a smooth, robust smoke with little acridity. I find that my brain isn’t foggy but oddly vacant, which helps me focus on what’s happening downstairs. The stress relief component meant I was able to get into the mood far more easily, and yielded more plentiful orgasms.
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BUTTERFLY High Valley Organics, available at Bloom The budtender casually informed me this was a new strain of “undisclosed lineage.” It sits as a pretty even hybrid that’s very mild all around, and reminded me of my favorite strains of all time, the 1:1 Blue Shark. It’s a great mood enhancer that instantly lifts my spirits: while a lot of sativas euphoric headspace make my mind cloudy, I was somehow able to keet my wits about me and just felt like I was in the best mood all year. Slight body high and tingling accompanies this, and I can not recommend it enough.
GREEN CRACK Frontier Farms, available at Green Front Let’s face it: Many folks are just too damn tired at the end of a work day to be thinking of getting it on. Luckily, Green Crack lives up to its namesake, providing a much-needed solution to apathy and fatigue. A few tokes is all it takes to feel the sudden onslaught of nearly uncontrollable energy, a potent rush of creativity and sharp mental focus that keeps me feeling invigorated and ready for action.
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
51
W W S TA F F
BY N a t e Wa g g o n e r
THE BIG GERMAN PART II:
Bigger and Germaner
BY DR. MITCHELL MILLAR
Last time in this space, I told you about the Big German who terrorized the cyclists of early Portland’s Union Avenue. Though the story of the menace of the Big German and the plot hatched by the cyclists to hire an amateur pugilist to confront him and give him a dose of his own medicine was reported in The Oregonian, the outcome was not. The Big German and the Agile Swede were lost to time. Or so it was believed. We now resume the story where we left off... The Agile Swede made slow but steady progress up the hill on Union Avenue, pedaling the rickety bicycle given to him by the cyclists as advance payment for undertaking their mission. When he arrived at the area where many claimed to have been accosted, no one was there, certainly not some hulking behemoth lying like a dead animal in the middle of the road. Out of breath, perspiring under the late-May sun, the Swede dismounted and continued on foot. This was his third trip along Union Avenue. He was beginning to wonder if there actually was a Big German, or if it was all a ruse and the cyclists were off somewhere having a laugh at his expense. After all, he had already tried to elicit an accurate description from them many times, but they consistently could provide only three details: that he’s big, he’s German and he’ll be found lying in the middle of the road. Everything else was suspiciously vague. After walking for about an hour, trying to remember everything they had told him about the Big German and mold it all into one coherent form, a voice behind him boomed, “Guten tag.” He turned, and could scarcely believe what he saw. The source of the voice was none other than a massive young blond man lying placidly on his back in the middle of the road. He yawned, appearing as though he might have just woken from a nap. His lower half was covered with a blanket, an amalgam of brown and gray wool that camouflaged him with the road while also seeming severely unpleasant on a sultry afternoon. Unsure of how to ask what he was doing there, the Swede blurted, “Are you the Big German?” The man stood and folded his blanket. “Big German? What is that?” “I’m looking for a fellow who lies in the road and waits for bicyclists. They say he’s a Big German.” “Are you sure they said ‘Big German’? Maybe you misheard them. Maybe they said ‘bigger man’?” The Big German laughed uproariously at his joke, then stopped and looked gravely at the Swede. “Regardless, I am Austrian, not German. Therefore, it could not be me.” Growing increasingly uneasy in the presence of the Big German, the Swede thought about hopping onto the seat of his bicycle and pedaling as fast as he could. However, he noticed that both of his tires were flat and he would not get far. The Big German noticed this, too. “What a pity,” said the Big German, advancing toward the Swede. “Do not worry. Although we’re far from town, I can help you fix this. Come along. I have very many spare parts for bicycle.” TO BE CONTINUED... 52
Willamette Week MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
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PUBLISHED SUMMONS TO: James Paul Smith IN THE NAME OF THE STATE OF OREGON: A petition has been filed asking the court to terminate your parental rights to the above-named children for the purpose of placing the children for adoption. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO PERSONALLY APPEAR BEFORE the Coos County Court, 250 North Baxter, Coquille, OR 97423, on the 19th day of June 2017 at 9:30 a.m. to admit or deny the allegations of the petition and to personally appear at any subsequent court-ordered hearing. YOU MUST APPEAR PERSONALLY IN THE COURTROOM ON THE DATE AND AT THE TIME LISTED ABOVE. AN ATTORNEY MAY NOT ATTEND THE HEARING IN YOUR PLACE. THEREFORE, YOU MUST APPEAR EVEN IF YOUR ATTORNEY ALSO APPEARS. This summons is published pursuant to the order of the circuit court judge of the above-entitled court, dated April 14, 2017. The order directs that this summons be published once each week for three consecutive weeks, making three publications in all, in a published newspaper of general circulation in Multnomah County. Date of first publication: May 17, 2017 Date of last publication: May 31, 2017 NOTICE READ THESE PAPERS CAREFULLY IF YOU DO NOT APPEAR PERSONALLY BEFORE THE COURT OR DO NOT APPEAR AT ANY SUBSEQUENT COURT-ORDERED HEARING, the court may proceed in your absence without further notice and TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS to the abovenamed children either ON THE DATE SPECIFIED IN THIS SUMMONS OR ON A FUTURE DATE, and may make such orders and take such action as authorized by law. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS (1) YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE REPRESENTED BY AN ATTORNEY IN THIS MATTER. If you are currently represented by an attorney, CONTACT YOUR ATTORNEY IMMEDIATELY UPON RECEIVING THIS NOTICE. Your previous attorney may not be representing you in this matter. IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY and you meet the state’s financial guidelines, you are entitled to have an attorney appointed for you at state expense. TO REQUEST APPOINTMENT OF AN ATTORNEY TO REPRESENT YOU AT STATE EXPENSE, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY CONTACT the Douglas Juvenile Department at , phone number , (541) 440-4409 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. for further information. IF YOU WISH TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY, please retain one as soon as possible and have the attorney present at the above hearing. If you need help finding an attorney, you may call the Oregon State Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service at (503) 684-3763 or toll free in Oregon at (800) 452-7636. IF YOU ARE REPRESENTED BY AN ATTORNEY, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO MAINTAIN CONTACT WITH YOUR ATTORNEY AND TO KEEP YOUR ATTORNEY ADVISED OF YOUR WHEREABOUTS. (2) If you contest the petition, the court will schedule a hearing on the allegations of the petition and order you to appear personally and may schedule other hearings related to the petition and order you to appear personally. IF YOU ARE ORDERED TO APPEAR, YOU MUST APPEAR PERSONALLY IN THE COURTROOM, UNLESS THE COURT HAS GRANTED YOU AN EXCEPTION IN ADVANCE UNDER ORS 419B.918 TO APPEAR BY OTHER MEANS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, TELEPHONIC OR OTHER ELECTRONIC MEANS. AN ATTORNEY MAY NOT ATTEND THE HEARING(S) IN YOUR PLACE. PETITIONER’S ATTORNEY Emily N. Snook Assistant Attorney General Department of Justice 975 Oak Street, Suite 200 Eugene, OR 97401 Phone: (541) 686-7973 ISSUED this 10th day of May, 2017. Issued by: Emily N. Snook, OSB #125339 Assistant Attorney General
McMenamins Edgefield is NOW HIRING! Come to our job fair, TOMORROW Thursday, May 25th, . Walk ins welcome from 12pm to 5pm! We have both seasonal and long term opportunities available. Current openings include, Line Cooks, Prep Cooks, Dishwashers, Servers, Foodrunners/Bussers, Catering Servers, Bartenders, Hosts, Housekeepers and more! What we need from you: An open and flexible schedule, including days, evenings, weekends and holidays; Previous experience is preferred, but we are willing to train ; A love of working in a busy, customer service-oriented environment. Interested in a career in the hospitality industry? We offer opportunities for advancement as well as an excellent benefit package to eligible employees, including vision, medical, chiropractic, dental and so much more! Apply online 24/7 at mcmenamins.com or stop by the Edgefield, anytime to fill out an application. EOE.
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NEWS • ARTS • CULTURE • BEER • WEED
WWEEK.COM CHECK OUT OUR COMMENT SECTIONS! Willamette Week Classifieds MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
53
TO PLACE AN AD CONTACT:
MATT PLAMBECK
503-445-2757 • mplambeck@wweek.com
Jonesin’
CHATLINES
by Matt Jones
“Snappy Comebacks”--get your return on investment.
60 Queen of paddled boats? 62 Injured by a bull 64 Ginormous 65 The first U.S. “Millionaire” host, to fans 66 Bring together 67 Part of IPA 68 Having lots of land 69 Ford Fusion variety Down 1 Lyft competitor, in most places 2 Bauhaus song “___ Lugosi’s Dead” 3 “Don’t bet ___!” 4 ___ Soundsystem 5 Stanley Cup org. 6 Sailors’ uprising 7 “A Little Respect” synthpop band 8 They get greased up before a birthday
Portland 503-222-CHAT
9 A.L. Central team, on scoreboards
Vancouver 360-314-CHAT
Salem 503-428-5748 I Eugene 541-636-9099 Bend 541-213-2444 I Seattle 206-753-CHAT Albany 541-248-1481 I Medford 541-326-4000 or WEB PHONE on LiveMatch.com
ALWAYS FREE to chat with VIP members
(Unlimited VIP membership $15/week. No worries about minutes.)
Across
24 Bar tests?
1 Horseshoe-shaped fastener
26 Holes in Swiss cheese
6 Center of attraction, so to speak
27 “M*A*S*H” character’s cutesy Disney Channel series?
11 Like some answers 14 Judge’s place
MAN to MAN
Free Live chatrooms & forums! 503-222-6USA
42 Northern California draw
10 Schnauzer in Dashiell Hammett books
37 “Learn to Fly” band ___ Fighters 38 Barry Manilow’s club 39 Increasingly infrequent dashboard option 43 Full of complaints 44 Political placards in your yard, e.g. 45 Sheep’s sound 47 Made out 48 Miracle-___ (garden brand) 49 “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” bassist Charles 50 Brand name in the smoothie world 51 Server piece 52 Morose song 55 Gumbo veggie 57 Uninspired
12 “Hello” singer
59 Genesis setting
13 Completely, in slang (and feel free to chastise me if I ever use this word)
61 DOE’s predecessor
50 Word in multiple “Star Wars” titles 53 Neighbor of Morocco
19 Calendario starter
17 Gloss over, vocally
36 The whole thing
18 Grab a belief?
37 Airwaves regulatory gp.
54 Acid in proteins, informally
24 Frequent chaser of its own tail
41 Call for Lionel Messi
35 Consider
46 Brothel owner on a pogo stick?
32 Charmed
23 Low tattoo spot
34 “Let It Go” singer
58 B in Greek Philosophy?
16 Marriage starter
21 Disturbance
33 Word before kill or rage
11 Swear word?
15 Kazakhstan range
40 Planetarium depiction
30 “Snatched” star Schumer
45 One of four on a diamond
31 Four-award initialism
20 Pizza ___ (2015 meme)
29 Tattled
56 ___ District (Lima, Peru beach resort area) 57 Maggie Simpson’s grandpa
63 It comes after twelve last week’s answers
22 Slick stuff
25 Mt. Rushmore loc. 27 Make a mad dash 28 Give creepy looks to
©2017 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 #JONZ823.
54
Willamette Week Classifieds MAY 24, 2017 wweek.com
TO PLACE AN AD CONTACT:
MATT PLAMBECK
503-445-2757 • mplambeck@wweek.com © 2017 Rob Brezsny
Week of May 25
FOR SALE BY OWNER
Great Raleigh Hills Location 3 Bedroom Ranch, .41 acre lot, Attached Garage, 1 bath, Full Basement, Large Mature Trees, Quiet Neighborhood ARIES (March 21-April 19)
“Sin” is a puerile concept in my eyes, so I don’t normally use it to discuss grown-up concerns. But if you give me permission to invoke it in a jokey, ironic way, I’ll recommend that you cultivate more surprising, interesting, and original sins. In other words, Aries, it’s high time to get bored with your predictable ways of stirring up a ruckus. Ask God or Life to bring you some really evocative mischief that will show you what you’ve been missing and lead you to your next robust learning experience.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
Attention, smart shoppers! Here’s a special spring fling offer! For a limited time only, you can get five cutesy oracles for the price of one! And you don’t have to pay a penny unless they all come true! Check ‘em out! Oracle #1: Should you wait patiently until all the conditions are absolutely perfect? No! Success comes from loving the mess. Oracle #2: Don’t try to stop a sideshow you’re opposed to. Stage a bigger, better show that overwhelms it. Oracle #3: Please, master, don’t be a slave to the things you control. Oracle #4: Unto your own self be true? Yes! Unto your own hype be true? No! Oracle #5: The tortoise will beat the hare as long as the tortoise doesn’t envy or try to emulate the hare.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
*Generation Kill* is an HBO miniseries based on the experiences of a reporter embedded with American Marines fighting in Iraq. Early on, before the troops have been exposed to any serious combat, they’re overflowing with trash talk. A commanding officer scolds them: “Gentlemen, from now on we’re going to have to earn our stories.” Although you are in a much less volatile situation right now, Gemini, my advice to you is the same: In the coming weeks, you’ll have to earn your stories. You can’t afford to talk big unless you’re geared up to act big, too. You shouldn’t make promises and entertain dares and issue challenges unless you’re fully prepared to be a hero. Now here’s my prophecy: I think you *will* be a hero.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
As long as you keep Syria, South Sudan, and North Korea off your itinerary, traveling would be food for your soul during the next 28 days. It would also be balm for your primal worries and medicine for your outworn dogmas and an antidote for your comfortable illusions. Do you have the time and money necessary to make a pilgrimage to a place you regard as holy? How about a jaunt to a rousing sanctuary? Or an excursion to an exotic refuge that will shock you in friendly, healing ways? I hope that you will at least read a book about the territory that you may one day call your home away from home.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
By now I’m sure you have tuned in to the rumblings in your deep self. Should you be concerned? Maybe a little, but I think the more reasonable attitude is curiosity. Even though the shaking is getting stronger and louder, it’s also becoming more melodic. The power that’s being unleashed will almost certainly turn out to be far more curative than destructive. The light it emits may at first look murky but will eventually bloom like a thousand moons. Maintain your sweet poise. Keep the graceful faith.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Life is inviting you to decode riddles about togetherness that could boost your emotional intelligence and earn you the right to enjoy lyrical new expressions of intimacy. Will you accept the invitation? Are you willing to transcend your habitual responses for the sake of your growth-inducing relationships? Are you interested in developing a greater capacity for collaboration and synergy? Would you be open to making a vulnerable fool of yourself if it helped your important alliances to fulfill their dormant potential? Be brave and empathetic, Sagittarius. Be creative and humble and affectionate.
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
CANCER (June 21-July 22)
In your mind’s eye, drift back in time to a turning point in your past that didn’t go the way you’d hoped. But don’t dwell on the disappointment. Instead, change the memory. Visualize yourself then and there, but imagine you’re in possession of all the wisdom you have gathered since then. Next, picture an alternative ending to the old story -- a finale in which you manage to pull off a much better result. Bask in this transformed state of mind for five minutes. Repeat the whole exercise at least once a day for the next two weeks. It will generate good medicine that will produce a creative breakthrough no later than mid-June.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
You’re being invited to boost your commitment to life and become a more vivid version of yourself. If you refuse the invitation, it will later return as a challenge. If you avoid that challenge, it will eventually circle back around to you as a demand. So I encourage you to respond now, while it’s still an invitation. To gather the information you’ll need, ask yourself these questions: What types of self-development are you “saving for later”? Are you harboring any mediocre goals or desires that dampen your lust for life? Do you tone down or hold back your ambitions for fear they would hurt or offend people you care about?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
you’re ready or can do it all by yourself. Luckily, there are forces in your life that are conspiring to help make sure you do it.
“Dear Dream Doctor: I dreamed that a crowd of people had decided to break through a locked door using a long, thick wooden plank as a battering ram. The only problem was, I was lying on top of the plank, halfasleep. By the time I realized what was up, the agitated crowd was already at work smashing at the door. Luckily for me, it went well. The door got bashed in and I wasn’t hurt. What does my dream mean? -Nervous Virgo.” Dear Virgo: Here’s my interpretation: It’s time to knock down a barrier, but you’re not convinced
“In youth we feel richer for every new illusion,” wrote author Anne Sophie Swetchine. “In maturer years, for every one we lose.” While that may be generally true, I think that even twenty-something Capricorns are likely to fall into the latter category in the coming weeks. Whatever your age, I foresee you shouting something akin to “Hallelujah!” or “Thank God!” or “Boomshakalaka flashbang!” as you purge disempowering fantasies that have kept you in bondage and naive beliefs that have led you astray.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
“There are no green thumbs or black thumbs,” wrote horticulturalist Henry Mitchell in a message you were destined to hear at this exact moment. “There are only gardeners and non-gardeners. Gardeners are the ones who get on with the high defiance of nature herself, creating, in the very face of her chaos and tornado, the bower of roses and the pride of irises. It sounds very well to garden a ‘natural way.’ You may see the natural way in any desert, any swamp, any leech-filled laurel hell. Defiance, on the other hand, is what makes gardeners.” Happy Defiance Time to you, Aquarius! In the coming weeks, I hope you will express the most determined and disciplined fertility ever!
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
I believe it may be the right time to tinker with or repair a foundation; to dig down to the bottom of an old resource and consider transforming it at its roots. Why? After all this time, that foundation or resource needs your fresh attention. It could be lacking a nutrient that has gradually disappeared. Maybe it would flourish better if it got the benefit of the wisdom you have gained since it first became useful for you. Only you have the power to discern the real reasons, Pisces -- and they may not be immediately apparent. Be tender and patient and candid as you explore.
DARWIN
GEMMA
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