WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
P. 10 VOL 44/05 11.29.2017
CA R J AC K C I TY BY KAT
INSIDE
“IT’S CHEAPER THAN BUILDING A BUNKER.” WWEEK.COM
ST E A L N A C U O Y N D, IN PORTLOAVER AND OVER—. CARS AWAY W I T H I T A N D G E TRE’S HOW. HE
TIMBER TOWERS OR CLEAN AIR?
RAINY DAY HIKES.
BRUNCH BISCUITS
P. 9
P. 20
P. 27
GE 1 1 A P | D R E IE SHEPH
Music Millennium’s
Some of the Best of 2017 BIG SAVINGS ON SOME Of THE YEAR'S BEST NEW MUSIC!
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
GORILLAZ
Pitchfork raves that LcD Soundsystem’s long awaited fourth album "couldn't sound timelier" and that "murphy and company have never sounded so invigorated."
Pop music’s favorite cartoon crew return with an album packed with all-star features that include vince Staples, Danny brown, Kelela, and Pusha t.
DAN AUERBACH
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM & CHIRSTINE MCVIE
nine-time Grammy-winner Dan Auerbach recruited some of nashville’s most respected players to write and record his latest, including John Prine, Duane eddy, Jerry Douglas, Pat mcLaughlin and bobby wood and Gene chrisman of the memphis boys.
Longtime members of Fleetwood mac, Lindsey buckingham and christine mcvie have joined together to record their first-ever album as a duo.
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THE REPLACEMENTS
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RICHARD THOMPSON
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THE DUSTBOWL REVIVAL
EILEN JEWELL
based out of venice, california, the Dustbowl revival are a large string and brass ensemble whose colorful combination of swing, bluegrass, jazz, and Americana have earned them a national following and critical acclaim.
on Down Hearted blues, eilen Jewell pays homage to vintage blues artists including willie Dixon, memphis minnie, betty James, bessie Smith & others, recorded live over 2 days.
this 29-song performance, captures the replacements just a couple weeks removed from their performance on Saturday night Live, with a set list touches on all five of the band’s albums to that point, plus a few rarities and covers.
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richard thompson, the pioneer of british folk rock was voted one of the best guitarists of all time by US magazine the rolling Stone: ''His acoustic picking is just as killer'' they wrote. this set includes live performances from 1983 and 1984.
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bassist and songwriter thundercat, known for putting his signature sound on tracks by Kendrick Lamar and Kamasi washington, has a brilliant new album that Pitchfork describes as “whimsical and somber, funny and meaningful, sometimes all at once.”
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ODESZA
STEVE WINWOOD
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CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD
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ROBERT CRAY
AIMEE MANN
5 time Grammy Award winning US bluesman robert cray recorded his newest album in memphis with members of the legendary Hi rhythm Section.
Pitchfork describes mental illness as “Aimee mann’s quintessential statement, tempering the discord of life with elegant chamber folk. mann fills her songs with ordinary people struggling against operatic levels of pain.”
more than two decades into a career that's always avoided the predictable path, the mavericks – whose tex-mex twang, cuban-influenced country and retro rock made them unlikely stars in the mid-nineties and critical darlings during later years – turn another corner with the new album brand new Day.
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ALICE COOPER
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WILLIE NELSON
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barefoot in the mind is the new album from the former black crowes frontman & his freewheelin' band, drawing on rock'n'roll, blues, funk, psych & folk influences.
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Guitar legend Santana says of the collaboration "the sound, resonance, vibration of brother ronnie is an ocean. it's a legion of angels in one note, one voice."
NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS
God's Problem child is willie’s first album to debut all-new songs since band of brothers in 2014. it includes 13 new songs, including seven recently written by willie and buddy cannon, his longtime collaborator and producer.
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Prayer for Peace is north mississippi Allstars 8th studio album and self-produced by the Dickinson brothers. it was recorded across the country at 6 different studios: including the famous royal Studios in memphis with boo mitchell & their legendary father Jim Dickinson's Zebra ranch in Hernando, mS.
On Sale 11/22/17 - 12/31/17
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Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
ROSIE STRUVE
FINDINGS
OUTTAKE: GZA, PAGE 43
Health and wellness tips for the trimmer in your life. PAGE 42
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 44, ISSUE 05.
A Portland newspaper columnist specialized in fake news about leprechauns. 4
The Sandy River has its own gorge, and it’s perfect for hiking in the rain. 20
People who live in big houses like to complain about stones. 7
Cully is now the best neighborhood in the city to get a
You can drive a stolen car eight times in Portland without getting an hour of jail time. Maybe that’s why auto thefts are up 50 percent in three years. 11
ON THE COVER:
good biscuit. 27 Weezer wrote two songs about their lawyer. 29
A Portland comedian has a podcast about boy wizards. 39
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:
Drone photo by Abby Gordon.
How much are Portland bartenders and servers making? People are still surprised.
STAFF Editor & Publisher Mark Zusman EDITORIAL News Editor Aaron Mesh Arts & Culture Editor Martin Cizmar Staff Writers Nigel Jaquiss, Rachel Monahan, Katie Shepherd Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Nicole Groessel Stage & Screen Editor Shannon Gormley Projects Editor Matthew Korfhage
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DIALOGUE Last week, WW examined an unusual dynamic in the race for an open seat on Portland’s City Council (“Three’s Company,” WW, Nov. 22, 2017). Progressive activists have been urging white men not to enter the contest against three women of color: former state Rep. Jo Ann Hardesty, Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, and mayoral staffer Andrea Valderrama. Here’s what readers had to say. Robert Collins, via wweek. com: “What occurs to me is that the premise of the article is [some people think] ‘white men’ should step aside to give ‘women of color a chance.’ So I guess that means ‘white men’ are always going to win if they run. That seems to be a bigoted premise in itself. “I don’t care if they are pink, brown, blue, yellow, red or purple with pink polka dots. Let them file. Let them run. And let the best of them win.”
James Lopez Ericksen, via Facebook: “There’s a lot of ‘let the best person win, we live in a democracy’ sentiment on this page. What this fails to acknowledge is that we don’t live in a world with an equal playing field. Thus, just to get to the starting line, because of privilege, different demographics experience discrimination: obstacles. And for voting for the best person, we need to acknowledge people’s implicit bias. Unless there are people challenging the system and the white men who run it, nothing will change.”
“I don’t care if they are pink, brown, blue, yellow, red or purple with pink polka dots. Let them file. Let them run. And let the best of them win.”
R.O.W.L.F., via wweek.com: “Ah yes, the time-honored ‘I don’t care if they’re purple/pink/blue’ defense. Two questions: “(1) When has ‘purple’ ever been a marginalized group? “(2) If the idea of a City Council election without someone of your race in it gets your knickers in a twist, how do you think black people have felt the last 200 years?” Rachel Manning, via Facebook: “Something I think about when it comes to my hometown is how to begin to repair the history of racial oppression and move towards equity. We know that the past has a long shadow.”
Babcock123, via wweek.com: “Am I a racist if I say that neither black candidate is qualified for office? Then again, none of the white folks on the council are doing a good job. Face it, all politicians are egomaniacs who love to see their name in the paper but couldn’t manage a lemonade stand.”
Econoline, via wweek.com: “You might not be a racist, but I certainly think you are wrong. Hardesty served in the United States Navy, and was elected to the Oregon House in 1994, holding office until 2001. She later served as executive director of Oregon Action, and became president of the Portland chapter of the NAACP in January 2015. Certainly seems to be qualified to run for City Council to me; she has already held a higher office for the better part of a decade, for Pete’s sake.” 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
Dr. Know BY MART Y SMITH
One of the standard factoids about Portland—we have lots of strip clubs! Powell’s Books is big!—is the fact that we have the world’s smallest park. How wacky! Seriously, though, whose idea was this, and why did everyone go along? —Scrooge McGrinch Talkeetna, Alaska, is the only American city to have had a cat as mayor. This is not because the cat—an orange tabby named Stubbs—was some kind of once-in-a-generation political talent, it’s just because no other American municipality to date has installed a cat as its chief executive. It’s the same with Mill Ends Park, the 24-inch circular plot of greenery in the middle of the median strip of Southwest Naito Parkway at Taylor Street. If some other city ever decides to waste its time designating a moldy gym sock as a civic recreation area, we’ll be out of luck, but for now, yes, it’s true. The story starts in 1946, when Dick Fagan, author of a catch-all column in the now-defunct Oregon Journal called “Mill Ends,” noticed a hole in the street outside his office window. It was intended for a utility pole but had instead filled up with dirt and weeds. Looming deadlines can drive a man to des4
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
perate measures, especially if he was up late the night before doing molly with off-duty strippers and his column is due in two hours. I’m not saying that’s what happened in Fagan’s case, but he must have been at least somewhat hard up, because he started writing about the weed hole. It was Fagan who started calling the little patch “The World’s Smallest Park,” after he claimed to have caught a leprechaun there. This conceit allowed him to make up dozens of subsequent columns out of whole cloth as he purported to describe the activities of the park’s leprechaun inhabitants. The city extended official park status in 1976. Anyway, it was a pretty good scam, but not one I’m likely to imitate. I only see the little people when I run out of gin, and by then my hands are so shaky that the chances of catching one are pretty much nil. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
Y A I D L O H R E P P O SH 503.445.1426 advertising@wweek.com
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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In May, WW reported on bullying and harassment at the Portland Bureau of Transportation maintenance operations group. In response, the city commissioned a “cultural assessment” of the shop’s 377 workers. Two responses tell a lot about that culture: 26 percent of respondents requested overtime as a condition of participating, and the consultant who did the assessment purchased a “burner” phone so there would be no record of employees calling her. “Fifty percent of respondents said that disrespectful and rude behavior could occur at work without consistent consequences,” the consultant’s report, released Nov. 28, said. Indeed: The employees previously identified as perpetrators of ritual humiliations and shooting colleagues with high-pressure air guns still have their jobs. “After assessing the report, the commissioner will make decisions about what changes need to be made,” says Brendan Finn, chief of staff to Transportation Commissioner Dan Saltzman.
Mayor Ted Wheeler Chats Up Amazon
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City Council Candidates Have a Rough Week
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As Amazon weighs where to locate its second headquarters, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler flew up to Seattle on Nov. 28 to meet with company officials. Portland is among the bidders for Amazon HQ2, but Wheeler spokesman Michael Cox says the mayor’s visit is unrelated. “The meeting is not about HQ2,” Cox says. “It is about their current downtown footprint, including 400 employees.” Wheeler is also meeting
The past few days have not been kind to two candidates for the open seat on the Portland City Council. On Nov. 24, WW reported that Andrea Valderrama, a mayoral staffer, was arrested for driving under the influence four years ago, early in her tenure at City Hall. She told police at the time she was the designated driver. Last week, she apologized. On Nov. 27, WW first reported that Pacific Green Party of Oregon’s Seth Woolley filed a state elections complaint arguing that Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith is improperly campaigning for the seat without first resigning her county position, and is violating campaign contribution limits set by voters last year. Smith says neither is true.
CHRISTINE DONG
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TechFestNW Gets a New Home
Portland State University and TechFestNW, presented by WW, have formed a three-year partnership to hold the annual event in PSU’s new Viking Pavilion, starting in 2018. Next year’s event, to be held April 5-6, will feature speakers from around the globe discussing food tech, digital health, smart transit/smart cities and inclusivity in tech culture.
NEWS
What You Need to Know This Week
Rocky Road Portland soccer baron Merritt Paulson got sideways with his neighbors—over stones.
LEAH NASH
Portland Thorns and Timbers owner Merritt Paulson is getting off to a rocky start with his new neighbors. And his landscaping choices made them so mad, they called in government regulators. In February, Paulson bought a new $3.4 million home in the Dunthorpe neighborhood in unincorporated Multnomah County. In September, the county received two complaints—one anonymous and one from a lawyer named Michael Gottlieb—about Paulson placing “rocks and boulders” in the public right of way adjacent to his new home. That makes it the county’s business, because the stones are in the right of way. A county inspector documented code violations and sent Paulson an Oct. 17 letter demanding he remove the rocks and boulders by Nov. 10 or face fines of up to $3,500 a day.
At press time, some of the rocks remained, but Paulson and county officials say he’s complying and received an extension. “I am working with the county,” Paulson writes in an email. “I may have to get a permit. Simple case of damage to my property by parked cars—and the decorative rocks are small.” Paulson is doing a better job making friends at City Hall—where approval of a $55 million Providence Park stadium expansion sailed through this summer—and with Portland Thorns fans: He picked up the bar tab of Thorns die-hards who traveled to Orlando, Fla., last month to watch their team win its second National Women’s Soccer League Championship. NIGEL JAQUISS.
THE BIG NUMBER
$475,000: How much it cost Portland government to “babysit” a hotel LAST YEAR.
HUNTER MURPHY
A new audit of Prosper Portland, the city economic development agency formerly known as the Portland Development Commission, is filled with bleak findings. The audit, produced by City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero, cites the example of the Inn at the Convention Center. It’s an aging hotel on Northeast Grand Avenue that the agency acquired 15 years ago. Thinking it would own the Inn for only a short time, the agency did not seek competitive bids to manage the hotel. “Prosper Portland paid more than $600,000 to the operator in 2016 compared to an industry standard rate of $125,000,” the Nov. 28 audit found. “The hotel operator said that initially, Prosper Portland had asked them to ‘babysit’ the hotel for a few months. Despite the temporary nature of the agreement, Prosper Portland renewed the lease 13 times without significant changes.” That means Prosper Portland may have paid millions more than the industry standard over the past 14 years to manage a hotel it had no long-term plans to own. Prosper Portland still owns it. A room at the Inn costs $89 a night. NIGEL JAQUISS.
SAM GEHRKE
PAY BUMP The City Council approves pay raises during budget-cut season. Last month, Portland’s elected officials created a new job in City Hall—with a new salary. The Oct. 18 unanimous vote by the City Council means pay raises for four staffers. Three of them work in Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office, including his spokesman, Michael Cox, who received a nearly $5,000 raise. (Cox also got a new job title: deputy chief of staff.) More significantly, the decision creates a new tier of employee at City Hall, a job classification that comes with a pay scale above most staffers. The new title, “senior staff representative,” is now nestled between staff representative and chief of staff. It will allow more city staffers to make upward of $100,000 a year, even as Wheeler is asking city bureaus to find ways to cut their budgets. The mayor’s office declined to comment. Here’s what the new position means for City Hall salaries. RACHEL MONAHAN.
WHO MAKES WHAT? COMMISSIONER’S CHIEF OF STAFF Up to $117,957 a year SENIOR STAFF REPRESENTATIVE Up to $103,126 a year COMMISSIONER’S STAFF REPRESENTATIVE Up to $95,493 a year
new! Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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ROSIE STRUVE
NEWS
Campaign Planks GOV. KATE BROWN WANTS CLEAN AIR AND TALL WOOD-FRAME TOWERS. THEY DON’T GO TOGETHER. BY NIG E L JAQ UI SS
njaquiss@wweek.com
Two of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s top priorities are on a collision course. Earlier this month, the Portland Housing Bureau announced public financing for the latest in a series of record-setting wooden skyscrapers. The Framework, a 12-story Pearl District high-rise, will eclipse another Portland building, the Carbon12, as the tallest building in the country made of wood. That announcement marks a success for Brown: During the past two years, she has invested considerable energy and state resources into promoting the development of a product called cross-laminated timber, which will be used to build the Framework. At the same time, Brown has also pursued an aggressive environmental agenda. In February, after a yearlong process, Brown’s Department of Environmental Quality will seek legislative approval and funding for Cleaner Air Oregon, an initiative aimed at making Oregon’s air quality standards the nation’s highest. The problem: Observers say Cleaner Air Oregon could gut the nascent cross-laminated timber industry, which as part of its manufacturing process produces exactly the kind of emissions Cleaner Air Oregon proposes to limit. Brown has helped make Oregon the nation’s leader in producing and using cross-laminated timber, an industry poised to create thousands of jobs. She also wants the state to take pole position in the fight against air pollution. Those two agenda items do not easily coexist. “Promotion of cross-laminated timber by the state was intended to help rural Oregon businesses, employees and communities,” says Mark Johnson, CEO of Oregon Business & Industry. “Sadly, state overreach will cause more harm to rural Oregon by putting cross-laminated timber and other manufacturing at risk.” A spokesman for Brown says such concerns are misguided. “Protecting public health and supporting a thriving economy are not mutually exclusive, and Gov. Brown will continue pursuing both of these priorities,” says Bryan Hockaday, her spokesman. “Oregonians deserve to know the air in our communities and workplaces is safe, and Cleaner Air Oregon aims meet that expectation.” Last year, D.R. Johnson Lumber, located three hours south of Portland in the Douglas County town of Riddle, became the United States’ first certified crosslaminated timber producer. D.R. Johnson glues together between three and seven perpendicular layers of lumber, which are pressed at high pressure and temperature, forming panels up to 24 feet long. Such panels can take the place of the steel and concrete historically used in high-rise construction. Proponents tout the benefits of using renewable resources—trees—rather than mining and processing materials with larger carbon footprints. A federal study produced in Oregon earlier this year found that developing a robust CLT industry could create between 2,000 and 6,000 direct jobs in Oregon and nearly twice that number in support industries, producing a total economic benefit of as much as $1 billion a year.
Even a small percentage of that figure would be huge for rural Oregon, much of which has still not fully recovered from the recession of 2007 to 2011. Brown has thrown the state’s heft behind crosslaminated timber. In 2015, she dedicated $300,000 to a design competition and to helping D.R. Johnson gear up for production. This year, Brown showed up at the dedication of the Carbon12, the 85-foot-tall residential building on Northeast Fremont Street that is currently the nation’s tallest wood-framed building. This summer, Brown welcomed engineers, architects
ground, Brown’s vision for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will stop the mass timber industry short. In April 2016, in the aftermath of panic about emissions from Bullseye Glass in Southeast Portland, Brown announced an initiative called Cleaner Air Oregon. Brown got rid of senior management at DEQ and ordered the agency to follow the examples of other states, such as California and Washington, which attach emissions limits to specific facilities. Industry experts fear Cleaner Air Oregon could apply standards appropriate for densely populated Southeast Portland to rural Oregon. That could cripple the cross-laminated timber business. DEQ spokeswoman Jennifer Flynt says industry concerns about overregulation of cross-laminated timber are premature. Flynt says Cleaner Air Oregon will focus for the first five years on the 80 most hazardous facilities in the state. She says CLT producers are unlikely to make that list, and as new regulations take effect, the state will work with CLT producers so that the cost of compliance is manageable. “If there are problems, there are options to address them,” Flynt says. The wood used to produce CLT must be dried about one-third more than lumber typically used in construction, and the kiln-drying process—essentially putting wood in a big room and turning the heat way up—produces volatile, polluting organic compounds. Although specific emissions levels for kiln-drying facilities have not yet been established, the Oregon Forest & Industries Council is worried. “OFIC is very concerned about DEQ’s response to revelations about toxic air emissions from colored art glass manufacturers in Portland,” says Heath Curtiss, general counsel for the trade association. “We sincerely hope that the governor’s air toxics program does not handicap efforts to bring new manufactured wood products to market.”
“Our forests grow the most desirable species for mass timber, and we’re ahead of the pack in use and production in the U.S.” and builders from around the world to Portland for the International Mass Timber Conference. (Mass timber includes CLT and other new engineered wood products.) “Mass timber presents a new opportunity for Oregon, one that we are perfectly suited to take on,” Brown said in statement before the conference. “Our forests grow the most desirable species for mass timber, and we’re ahead of the pack in use and production in the U.S. This creates a great opportunity for both rural and urban Oregon alike.” And later in the summer, Brown hailed plans for the Framework, the wooden skyscraper planned for the Pearl. “Oregon’s forests are a tried and true resource that may again be the key to economic stability for rural Oregon,” Brown said in a July statement. But supporters of the timber industry worry that just as developers of the Framework are preparing to break
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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NEWS
SAM GEHRKE
estland also includes barring legislation that could further deplete the area’s natural resources. “Your donations will help advocate for the natural recovery of the Gorge and stop a new bill that would allow logging in the area burned by the Eagle Creek fire,” Harbour says.
DRUG ADDICTION 4th Dimension Recovery Center
Change Agents HIDING FROM HORRIBLE HEADLINES WON’T HELP. BUT GIVING BACK WILL. BY E L I S E H E R R O N
@cc_herron
There’s no sugarcoating it: 2017 has been a hard year. The nonstop reel of gut-punching headlines makes glancing at your phone an exercise in heartbreak. But when the going gets tough, the tough start giving. This year has amply demonstrated that Portland is far from immune to the woes the rest of the nation faces, from natural disasters to violent hate attacks. But this city is also home to a remarkable array of nonprofits working to rectify injustice and aid the hurting. Willamette Week’s annual Give!Guide is live and accepting donations at giveguide.org. Giving has already surpassed $800,000 and is nearing 4,000 donors. All 150 of the nonprofits in the Give!Guide are worthy of your consideration. Here are six that work specifically to address some of the problems WW has identified in 2017 through our enterprise reporting. Fighting to make this city better: It’s cheaper than building a bunker. More satisfying, too.
THE HOUSING CRISIS Human Solutions The victims of Portland’s shortage of affordable housing can be seen each night in doorways and streetside tents. In August, for the first time, the number of homeless families seeking shelter on a single night reached 300. Those families turn to groups like Human Solutions. For three decades, Human Solutions has been helping low-income and homeless families find affordable housing. It runs a family shelter in East Portland, which provides year-round emergency lodging, food and other basic necessities. The group also operates the Gresham Women’s Shelter, which exclusively serves unaccompanied women. Both shelters allow people to stay as long as necessary, and have become increasingly strained by high demand. “In the past several months, the number of people seeking shelter at Human Solutions has more than doubled,” says Human Solutions’ director of development, Scott Langen. “Such unprecedented and consistently high demand indicates the severity of Portland’s housing crisis on low-income families.”
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HATE GROUPS AND HATE ATTACKS Oregon Justice Resource Center Trump-emboldened right-wing extremists have taken to Portland streets in greater numbers to spout hate-fueled rhetoric. In May, tensions exploded in a brutal, racially charged double homicide of two men on a MAX train. For six years, Oregon Justice Resource Center has been pushing back against white supremacy by working to improve the legal representation for Portland’s underserved—people living in poverty and people of color. The organization provides legal aid in cases in which social justice is an issue, and for people typically underrepresented by the legal system. It also aids in training public interest lawyers, educates the community on civil rights, and helps people who have been wrongly convicted to clear their names. “Oregon will spend $1.7 billion on prisons alone in the next two years,” says OJRC spokeswoman Alice Lundell. “But it’s about more than money: We firmly believe that how we treat the people we have dubbed ‘criminals’ tells us everything we need to know about ourselves and what we value as a society.” Beginning in 2018, the organization will launch an Immigrants Rights Project to provide free, personalized immigration legal advice to non-citizen clients and Oregon public defenders.
WILDFIRES IN THE GORGE Friends of the Columbia Gorge Just two months ago, ash fell on the city like snow as the nearby, 48,000-acre Eagle Creek fire burned out of control in the Columbia River Gorge. “The burn occurred in the most popular section of the Gorge, with the highest density of trail systems,” says Friends of the Columbia Gorge membership coordinator Kate Harbour. “It damaged popular trails and destroyed four buildings, but thankfully no lives were lost.” In coming months, Friends plans to restore and replant lost forests, reimagine the Gorge’s trail systems, and invest in local communities as they recover economically from the fire. For years, the group has been working on a project to expand recreation opportunities around the Gorge— which now means new trail systems to replace ones that the burn closed indefinitely. The organization’s efforts to restore the charred for-
In Oregon, drug overdoses kill more people than firearms or car crashes, and the use of opioids has been hard for authorities to curb. Tony Vezina, executive director of 4th Dimension Recovery Center, says 64 percent of the people who come to the nonprofit for help getting clean reported heroin or other opiates as their top drugs of use. “We now see over 600 people a month coming in voluntarily,” says Vezina of the 5-year-old recovery community center. The mentorship model the nonprofit employs allows people to come and go from the center as they wish. The group connects people with salves, from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to church, yoga and dancing. “It’s so important that places like 4th Dimension exist, which are based on attraction versus mandatory compliance,” says Vezina. “We have to be careful as a society to address the addiction part of this issue, not [just] the opiate part.”
DOMESTIC ABUSE Raphael House of Portland As WW reported this month in a cover story on domestic violence, leaving an abusive partner can be an agonizing and dangerous decision. The Raphael House of Portland, a domestic abuse shelter, offers people the support needed to leave an abuser when they have nowhere else to go. “Raphael House provides critical, life-saving services for hundreds of adults and children each year,” says Brenda Kinoshita, Raphael House’s director of development. “Without services like ours, some domestic violence survivors face the impossible choice between homelessness and returning to an abusive partner.” Each year, the nonprofit serves around 3,500 local survivors of domestic abuse. Many of the people seeking help from the organization come from marginalized groups. “Seventy-five percent of those we serve identify as people of color, and of those accessing our Advocacy Center, 1 in 10 identify as LGBTQIA+ and 1 in 5 as immigrants,” Kinoshita says. “Domestic violence affects people from all walks of life.”
IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWNS Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center & Foundation Since last November’s election, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have become more active in Portland, making arrests at local courthouses, hospitals and homes. One effect of those crackdowns: Undocumented families are afraid to seek medical help. “Our patients and families are rightfully nervous about the environment that exists for them in our community,” says Serena Cruz, executive director of Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center & Foundation. It’s not a new problem. The health center was founded in 1975, after a 6-year-old migrant worker named Virginia Garcia, traveling from Texas to Oregon, died after not seeking medical treatment for a cut on her foot. Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center & Foundation now provides culturally relevant health services to migrant farm workers and others with barriers to obtaining health care. But the populations it serves now increasingly fear coming into the clinic. “I had a provider tell me that three patients in one day told her someone in their family had been deported,” Cruz says. “We try to assure patients that we care about these issues and are ready to support them. Their fears are wellfounded, but we do everything we can on our end to provide safety and security.”
CAR JACK CITY
ABBY GORDON
IN PORTLAND, YOU CAN STEAL CARS OVER AND OVER—AND GET AWAY WITH IT. HERE’S HOW.
SMASH AND GRAB: Car thefts are increasingly common in Portland— but the break-in photos in the following pages are staged. BY
K AT I E
SHEPHERD
kshepherd@wweek.com
IN MAY OF
this year, Ashley White set a
record. The homeless woman was busted after crashing a stolen 2007 Chevrolet Colorado just outside Northeast Portland. The pickup was allegedly the ninth stolen vehicle White had been caught driving in the previous seven months. Police records show that makes her the most prolific car thief in Portland. The amount of time the 23-year-old redhead had served for all of those arrests? Zero. FBI statistics show crime is stable or down in Portland in almost all major categories: murder, assault, burglary and robbery. The one exception? Auto thefts, which rose by about 50 percent in the past three years. Nearly 6,000 cars have been stolen this year in the city. By October of this year, the number of auto thefts had already outpaced all of 2016. “I haven’t seen a change in crime levels for a spe-
cific crime that much as far as I can ever remember,” says Dr. Kris Henning, a professor of criminal justice at Portland State University. “It’s pretty dramatic.” Portland now ranks third among the nation’s major cities for car thefts per capita, outpaced only by Detroit and Baltimore (see graph, page 13). Cars go missing from every neighborhood in Portland. They are stolen when people leave them warming up in the driveway or leave the keys inside when they grab a coffee at the gas station. Older Hondas and Subarus are particularly attractive: They’re easy to hotwire. Police say the rise in car thefts is partly a symptom of Portland’s ongoing epidemic of intravenous drug use, which afflicts people for whom a warm, dry place is increasingly difficult to find. Yes, a lot of cars appear to be stolen to provide temporary shelter. But prosecutors, cops and even defense lawyers say there is something else at work as well—a 2014 Oregon Court of Appeals ruling that, according to law enforcement, has made prosecuting car thieves more difficult in Portland than in most
other places in the nation. “A lot of clients know the right things to say or not say to avoid conviction,” says Kami White, who supervises the minor felonies unit at Metropolitan Public Defenders. The revolving door for accused car thieves has frustrated police, flummoxed prosecutors and infuriated residents. It summons the helplessness and fury many Portlanders feel in a city with a booming economy but highly visible symptoms of addiction and poverty. Yet the legal part of it has a simple fix: State lawmakers could close the loophole created by the appeals court. They’ve refused. Rep. Jeff Barker (D-Aloha) authored a 2017 bill to reform the law, then watched it die in committee last session. “I think it is important that we be able to have some kind of a penalty,” says Barker. “Word will really quickly get around on the street in Portland that when you steal a car, CONT. ON PAGE 12 nothing will happen.” Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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ASHLEY WHITE IS
finally in prison, serving time in Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, for using the Chevy truck to commit an assault—not for stealing it. In the year before, White, who has struggled with addiction to meth, stole parked cars off the street and snatched idling vehicles from motorists’ driveways, according to police records. In March, she crashed an SUV into a garage while trying to steal it. White and other repeat offenders appear to be exploiting the legal challenges of prosecuting car thefts. WW’s review of records shows repeat offenders accounted for more than 1 in 3 auto theft arrests between October 2016 and September 2017 in Portland. At least 102 people in the Portland area have been arrested multiple times in the past year for car theft, though half of 2017’s cases were never prosecuted. “It’s the same people we arrest over and over and over,” says Portland police Sgt. Brian Hughes, who oversees the East Precinct night shift. “They’re not being properly held accountable for their crimes.” Hughes and others say this all changed in 2014, when the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in a case that has made prosecuting car thefts very, very difficult. The case involved Jerrol Edwin Shipe, a 49-year-old former retirement home worker who was arrested in 2012 while sitting in a stolen truck in Washington County. He was convicted but appealed the verdict, claiming he didn’t know it was stolen and that he had gotten the truck from “a friend named Richey.” Evidence at the scene suggested Shipe knew he was driving a stolen truck. He had bolt cutters, multiple sets of keys, and a locked case labeled—amazingly—“Crime Committing Kit.” The truck had other stolen property inside. The key Shipe had been using to start the engine did not belong to the truck. Shipe’s appeal claimed that prosecutors could not prove he had “knowingly” taken possession of a stolen vehicle. Prosecutors argued that the evidence should have made it obvious to any reasonable person that the truck had been stolen.
CRASH: Ashley White ran a red light in Fairview last May, and another vehicle slammed into the side of the stolen Chevy Colorado she was driving.
The Oregon Court of Appeals judges ruled in Shipe’s favor. Chief Appellate Judge Erika Hadlock wrote in the July 23, 2014, decision that the state was asking the court “to accept too great an inferential leap” in determining that Shipe knew the truck was stolen when he took possession of it. (Hadlock declined comment to WW on her ruling.) It set a precedent: Carrying tools associated with car breakins or even operating a car with the wrong key was not enough evidence to prove that someone sitting in a stolen car knew that it was hot. A year later, the appeals court doubled down, overturning the conviction of a man named Randy William Korth, who had been found in a stolen car in Portland on Nov. 3, 2012, but told police that he got the vehicle from a “friend of a friend” named “Dave.” The court determined again that the state had not proven the defendant knew the vehicle was stolen. “The evidence in this case ‘requires the stacking of inferences to the point of speculation,’” wrote Judge Douglas L. Tookey in the court’s decision, “and is therefore insufficient to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, CONT. ON that defendant knew that the truck was stolen.” PAGE 15 12
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T O TA L C A R S STO L E N 2 01 6
PORTLAND RANKS THIRD AMONG THE 30 LARGEST U.S. CITIES IN CARS STOLEN PER CAPITA. FBI STATISTICS SHOW CARS ARE STOLEN IN PORTLAND AT A MUCH HIGHER RATE THAN IN SIMILAR CITIES.
CAR THEFTS PER 100,000 P O P U L AT I O N
5,839
5,433
181.5
BOSTON 1,223
2 ,1 8 8 228.7
AUSTIN
41 3 .1
SAN DIEGO
425.6
WA S H I N G T O N , D . C .
589.5
S E AT T L E
623.7
SAN FRANCISCO
766.8
859.8
PORTLAND
“IT’S THE SAME PEOPLE WE ARREST OVER AND OVER AND OVER.”
B A LT I M O R E
2,899
4 ,1 2 8
4,924
5,317
SAM GEHRKE
VANISHING POINT
S O U R C E : F B I 2 0 1 6 C R I M E S TAT I S T I C S
— SGT. BRIAN HUGHES
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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ABBY GORDON
PORTLAND’S MOST FREQUENT OFFENDERS Because of two Oregon Court of Appeals rulings in 2014 and 2015, people who steal cars off of Portland’s streets are often released without ever going to trial. WW analyzed a year’s worth of data on how many people Portland police arrested between August 2016 and September 2017. These are the city’s most prolific alleged car thieves this year. KATIE SHEPHERD. JORDAN CHAMBERS Age: 32 Alleged car thefts since August 2016: 5 Charges dropped: Three times Time served: None Most recent case: Police encountered Chambers in stolen vehicles four times in one week before they arrested him. In one July 28 incident, he started awake in the driver’s seat of a Ford Ranger and hit the accelerator, clipping a police officer on the elbow as he sped away. He was arrested four days later on foot along Northeast 72nd Avenue. After being released on pretrial supervision, Chambers was arrested again Aug. 28 after a similar string of car thefts. During that spree, he allegedly stole trailers from a U-Haul lot, cut the catalytic convertor from a stolen car, nabbed a Water Bureau truck with a “City of Portland Water Bureau” jacket inside, and siphoned gas from a Toyota 4Runner. Officers arrested him with a trailer filled with stolen goods. DAVID DAHLEN Age: 21 Alleged car thefts since August 2016: 7 Charges dropped: Twice Time served: None Recent cases: Dahlen allegedly punched out the ignition cylinder and wrecked the wiring in an attempt to steal a Chevrolet Suburban on March 5. The owner caught him in the SUV and pulled him out. Dahlen ran away. Five days later, Dahlen drove a white Nissan through a Safeway parking lot in Gresham. Two Gresham police officers sitting in the parking lot ran the plate, and it came back stolen. They pulled Dahlen over and asked him if he knew the car was hot. Dahlen said he had borrowed the vehicle from a friend named Anthony. Did he know Anthony had stolen the car? “No, I asked him and he even showed me the title,” Dahlen said, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in his court case. While awaiting trial on several car theft charges, Dahlen was arrested in another stolen vehicle Sept. 15. GUY EDWARD SNOOK III Age: 25 Alleged car thefts since August 2016: 4 Charges dropped: Once Time served: None Recent cases: On the evening of March 4, Portland police Officer Heidi Kreis followed a dark green Acura Integra up Southeast 82nd Avenue, preparing to pull the car over. Before she could turn on her flashing lights, the Acura crashed into the driver’s side door of a Toyota. Snook, who was driving the Acura, did not stop. Kreis let the car go and went back to the
scene of the crash. Meanwhile, Snook collided head-on with a Honda in the intersection of Southeast 80th Avenue and Powell Boulevard. Snook fled on foot. He left a shaved key to a Subaru jammed in the ignition of the Acura. Ten days later, another Portland police officer found Snook sleeping in a 1996 Acura TL that had been reported stolen that morning. A set of shaved keys were in the ignition and had been used to start the car, according to court records. On March 27, he tried to sell a stolen 2001 Dodge Ram for $2,000. Both cases are still open. On July 6, Snook was picked up again on charges of stealing a vehicle—but this time prosecutors dropped the charges. JAKE TAYLOR WILLIAMS Age: 32 Alleged car thefts since August 2016: 4 Charges dropped: Three times Time served: None Most recent case: On Aug. 13, a Portland police officer spotted Williams slumped behind the wheel of a stolen car. Officers parked their cars at the hood and rear bumper of the car. Two officers woke Williams and asked him to turn the engine off. “OK,” he replied, according to court records. Instead, he shifted into reverse and slammed into the patrol car parked behind him, then he put the car in drive and rammed the car in front. Williams then sped away, led officers on a chase and was arrested in a nearby apartment complex. When officers inspected the car, they found “dozens of syringes, multiple backpacks and purses, a flat-screen TV, and the ID and personal identifying information of several different people.” Williams pleaded not guilty and faces a court trial. MICAILYN WILLIAMS Age: 23 Alleged car thefts since August 2016: 7 Charges dropped: Four times Time served: 2.5 months Most recent case: Williams (no relation to Jake Taylor Williams) was arrested Aug. 20 in a 1996 Honda Civic on Southeast Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard. Police records say she had a key ring with 69 different keys, all belonging to different vehicles—they were all shaved or modified in some way. She allegedly told the officers who stopped her that she had bought the Civic for $400 from her “good friend Travis.” When officers asked if she could give them Travis’ last name, she hung her head. “I should have known better,” she said. “I am trying to be good and have not been stealing cars lately.”
Since the Korth and Shipe rulings, judges have been dismissing cases against accused car thieves. They often express some regret. “If there was no additional evidence, would I have any great difficulty finding the defendant guilty of these charges? Not particularly,” wrote Multnomah County Circuit Judge Henry Kantor when ruling in a June 2016 case against an accused car thief named Juan Carlos. “But the [Court of Appeals] says I can’t do that. It seems like the burden of knowledge for a stolen motor vehicle is nearly impossible for the state to meet without the defendant’s own words.” Law enforcement officials have said the decisions have allowed hundreds of people to steal cars with impunity. “It’s a direct result of the two Court of Appeals cases,” says Clackamas County Senior Deputy District Attorney Chris Owen. “I think the decisions were absurd. They’ve really put a shackle on how we can prosecute these cases.”
IT DIDN’T TAKE
long for word of the overturned motor vehicle theft convictions to reach the people stealing cars, say prosecutors. Ryan Lufkin, a lanky Multnomah County deputy district attorney, is the DA office’s designated liaison on motor vehicle theft to state legislators. That means he has spent a lot of time explaining to lawmakers why his office can’t successfully prosecute car thieves. “They are concocting a story—no matter how implausible,” Lufkin says. “‘I bought it from my friend Zach.’ ‘Who is Zach?’ ‘I don’t know his last name,’” Lufkin recalls. “Or, ‘I borrowed it from my friend Zach. I’ll leave it around 3rd and Main, and he’ll come and get it some day.’” Dozens of memos sent to Portland police by Multnomah County prosecutors lay out the same scene: Suspects arrested in a stolen car claim they had no idea it was stolen, leaving prosecutors with an uphill battle. “If you have to prove that the person knew that they were entering a stolen vehicle, how in the world are you supposed to do that?” asks PSU’s Henning. Prosecutors say they can’t. “Korth and Shipe fundamentally changed what we as prosecutors understood as the nature of the proof we would need,” Lufkin says. “Our fundamental understanding of the amount of proof it took to prosecute these cases changed significantly.” Public defenders say that prosecutors share in the blame for a spike in dropped cases: DAs could bring more cases to trial, but fear lowering their conviction rate. “I think the DA’s decisions not to prosecute more of these are totally discretionary,” White says. “They are worried about losing more of these cases at trial.” WW reviewed records of the 1,153 charges for motor vehicle theft that Portland police forwarded to the Multnomah County district attorney between Oct. 1, 2016, and Sept. 30, 2017, and thousands of corresponding court records. The DA dropped nearly half the cases. That’s way up from 2012, when prosecutors declined only about 27 percent of such cases. CONT. ON The result? “The people we arrest stealPAGE 16 ing cars are often back stealing cars the very next day,” Hughes says. Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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LOST AND FOUND: Julia Ramos had her Honda Civic stolen from outside her Southwest Portland apartment in September.
HAVING YOUR CAR
stolen isn’t just a hassle. For many people, it’s the most valuable thing they own—and their only means for getting to work, picking up kids from day care, and shopping for groceries. “Car theft cases may not be on top of the food chain,” says Owen, the Clackamas County prosecutor, “but they’re important cases because they impact workingclass people. It’s not just an inconvenience. It affects their everyday lives.” Julia Ramos walked outside her Raleigh Hills apartment on Sept. 19 and found another car in the spot where she’d parked her gold 2000 Honda Civic. But her car wasn’t in any impound lots. When Ramos, who is 33 and the manager of a food cart downtown, called to report the Honda stolen, police told her to keep an eye out for the car on the streets. “They were apologetic about it,” Ramos says. “They tried to give me hope and told me they just closed a case where a girl reported a car stolen two years ago—she found it a half-mile away.” Indeed, police found Ramos’ car in the parking lot of a neighboring apartment complex a month later. The battery was dead, the ignition was broken, and the windows had been left rolled down.
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“IT’S A WEIRD VIOLATION. I HAD THINGS IN THERE THAT WERE MINE, THINGS THAT WERE SENTIMENTAL TO ME.” — JULIA RAMOS
Meanwhile, Ramos had to take a bus to work or catch a ride with her boyfriend. She had left notebooks in the backseat filled with standup comedy routines she’d spent months working on. She worried she’d never get them back. “It’s a weird violation,” she says. “I had things in there that were mine, things that were sentimental and valuable to me.” Portlanders regularly take to social media to seek help finding their stolen cars. The “PNW Stolen Cars” Facebook group, which spans Oregon, Washington and Idaho, has 12,790 members and averages 23 posts a day. On Nov. 10, a Portland woman named Katie Cox posted that her husband’s car had been stolen from the Gateway Shopping Center parking lot while he was at work. Two days later, she updated the post. “Our car has been recovered,” she wrote. “The battery was stolen, the plates were stolen, the registration is gone, and it’s trashed. Other than that, it’s in good shape. We made the decision to sell the car because I can’t look at it without getting extremely angry.” That anger and confusion is shared by some of the most prominent people in Portland. This month, Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle threatened in an op-ed in The Oregonian to shutter his new downtown office unless city officials did something to curb the car break-ins endured by his employees. “We shouldn’t have to live with that stuff,” he tells WW. “When it becomes a point of safety for our employees, it reaches a point when it is really over the top.”
Both Olson and Rep. Jeff Barker, who co-authored the bill, say they’ll try again in 2019. Rep. Jennifer Williamson (D-Portland), the Democrats’ leading authority on criminal justice issues, says she’ll listen. “Portland is seeing a serious jump in car theft cases, and I know that people across our city are fed up,” Williamson says. “While there’s no single piece of legislation that will solve this problem, I will keep working with law enforcement, prosecutors, and my colleagues to do what we can to help—including taking another look at the issue the [Appeals] Court identified.”
AFTER TWO YEARS
of dealing with the fallout from the Shipe and Korth rulings, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office had had enough—and went begging to Salem. Oregon House Bill 2794, proposed in the 2017 legislative session, would have lowered the standard of proof that prosecutors need to get a car theft conviction to stick. The bill would have allowed prosecutors to present cases in which a defendant had been found in a stolen vehicle, along with “slight corroborative evidence” (such as jiggle keys, burglary tools or illegal drugs). “Leave it to juries to decide on a case-by-case basis,” Lufkin said in an April presentation to legislators. The laws in neighboring states don’t make it nearly so difficult to prosecute car theft cases. In Washington, if someone riding in a stolen vehicle doesn’t have a plausible explanation or tries to flee, that is sufficient evidence to show that he knew the car was stolen. In California, just being found inside a stolen vehicle can be evidence enough. In Idaho, prosecutors just have to show that the defendant should have had a reason to believe the car was stolen. But the bill went against the flow of political will in the Capitol. Lawmakers were seeking wide-reaching criminal justice reforms, like decriminalizing drug possession, that would send fewer people to jail, not more. Defense attorneys lobbied against it.
“The reason the car thefts have gone up is drug addiction in the community,” says White, who oversees the division of Metropolitan Public Defenders that handles most car theft cases. “Treatment is a lot less expensive than prison. If you want to cut down on car thefts in Portland, there needs to be a lot more focus on treatment.” The bill would have been costly. A legislative fiscal impact report said the change could have cost $1.4 million in the first year after passage, and another $4.4 million over the next four years, almost entirely from additional jail and prison beds needed if conviction rates increased. The bill died in the House Ways and Means committee. Kevin Neely, lobbyist for the Oregon District Attorneys Association, says he thinks the bill was the victim of its hefty—and unusual—price tag. “There’s just a lack of interest in putting more people in prison,” Neely says. “It was very disappointing, because the goal of the bill was not to create an environment where there were more convictions, but to restore us back to where we were before the appeal decisions.” Rep. Andy Olson (R-Albany), who co-chairs the Ways and Means Committee, says he believes House Democrats sent the bill to his committee to quietly kill it. “To be truthful with you, [the process] was kind of goofy,” Olson says. “The citizens in Multnomah County, as well as the rest of the state, have lost as a result of not getting that fix.”
means of charging car thieves, Multnomah County prosecutors have been getting creative. Micailyn Williams is a 22-year-old Portlander with dark brown hair. She had been arrested six times while driving stolen cars in eight months before she served any prison time. She agreed to take a plea deal in exchange for a light sentence after her last arrest—but it came with a catch. Prosecutors made her sign a statement that would make it much easier to convict her if she ever stole another car. It said that in future, she would know a car was stolen if it came with keys that didn’t match the ignition, didn’t have a title or bill of sale, was missing a radio or an intact steering column, or if “the lender or seller uses illegal drugs, or income, or is homeless or couch-surfs, or previously had stolen a car.” It’s a detailed list. But without it, none of those circumstances—the jiggle key, the lack of a car title, the stripped-out dashboard—would be enough to convict Williams or any other driver behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle. These increasingly absurd measures paint a bleak picture of the dilemma on Portland’s streets. Portlanders want to show compassion for distressed people whose lives are ruined by addiction. But one result of that urge toward reform is that the law now encourages people on the margins to victimize others. Meanwhile, the thefts continue. On Nov. 24, Olivia Layna had her 1995 Honda Civic stolen from the parking lot of her Gresham apartment complex. It’s still missing. Because Layna, 20, is a delivery driver for Red Robin, she lost her job along with her car. She’s livid that the legal loophole hasn’t been corrected. “There is nothing I hate more than a thief, and I think the reason so many cars are stolen from the Portland and Gresham area every day is because of how easily they get off the hook,” she says. “These people take from people who work so hard for their belongings—and basically get away with it.” This story was reported with support from the WW Fund for Investigative Journalism. SAM GEHRKE
ABBY GORDON
WITHOUT ANY EASY
CAR CHASE: Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Ryan Lufkin is trying to end a legal loophole that makes motor vehicle theft difficult to prosecute. “We’re really doing a disservice to allow people to run roughshod over the law,” he says.
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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STREET
“National Shorts Day!”
“No Car Day, because we could really use that. It’d be hard to regulate, though.”
PHOTOS BY SAM GEHRKE @samgehrkephotography
“Not necessarily a new holiday, but revamping Thanksgiving that’s not so Pilgrim-centric. It’d be nice to give thanks in a more inclusive way.”
“I was thinking the exact same thing.”
IF YOU COULD INVENT A NEW HOLIDAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE? OUR FAVORITE LOOKS THIS WEEK.
“Man, that’s a tough one. I honestly don’t know what to say without sounding corny.”
fetcheyewear.com | 877.274.0410 814 NW 23rd 18
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
“A National Immigrant Appreciation Day, because it would be good for this country.”
“National Grandparents Day, because I absolutely love my grandparents.”
“National Sneaker Day. I’m all about sneakers and anybody that knows me knows I’d say that.”
Don’t Shop at Association
J E N V I TA L E
STYLE
WITH AN ANTI-CONSUMERIST BENT, ASSOCIATION BLURS THE LINE BETWEEN FINE ART AND FINE CLOTHING. BY WA L K E R M AC M UR D O
Association started as an online store in 2014 as a way for Vitale, then a prop stylist for At Association, a new space that opened in April of commercials and film, to express her own crethis year just off of 28th and Glisan, it’s hard to tell ative vision away from the demands of work. where the gallery stops and the boutique begins. “I’ve always had an interest in curating spaces It’s easy to spot the dozen or so paintings around and curating clothing,” she says. “Starting the the shop’s all-white interior. The current show, online project is a way for me to have something consisting of about a dozen works from estab- that was mine, that was my project. I love collished Portland and West Coast artists depicting laborating with people, but as a stylist, you’re animals in varying states of abstraction, is orga- ultimately fulfilling someone else’s vision.” nized by art and animal welfare group Fauvist, To distinguish Association, Vitale began and 40 percent of art sales go to groups that sup- releasing art object collaborations with friends port the animals chosen by the artist. and artists she had met over the years as a Yet the sculptures and ceramics from the show stylist, mostly based in jewelry and ceramics. start blending in with the purses from cult Japa- When she snapped up the space for Associanese label Eatable of Many Objects, each leather tion this year, this collaborative mindset tranbag adorned with a knobbly wooden handle. Then, sitioned into its current iteration as a retail/ the scrunchies—or “hair clouds”—from Dutch gallery hybrid. brand Comfort Objects, each made of repurposed “The physical store for me was this weird scraps of Hermès scarves, begin pushing the merging of all of the things,” says Vitale. “I boundary between wearable art and nostalgic hair wanted to have the gallery aspect because I management. A pink, marble bowl full of perfectly didn’t want people to walk in and feel like they arranged Palo Santo incense certainly qualifies as had to buy something. I wanted people to be an effortless addition to one’s Instagram story, and able to come in and touch things and experithe many zines and art books scattered throughout ence, or read a zine. It’s about people being offer more art to enjoy while browsing Associa- excited and experiencing the space.” That was what I did when I visited Assotion’s higher-end womenswear. Everything at Associciation. Jen and I spoke ation is beautiful, almost about the Fauvist show, intimidatingly so. But and I paged through a owner Jen Vitale’s space zine entirely of drawis intended as a panacea ings made with lipstick for the fancy boutique’s and other cosmetics by TOP 5 tendency toward elitism design darling Alyson and exclusion. Fox before I looked at a “ I t h i n k t h e r e ’s a tray full of silver pinky pretentious energy from signet rings. having a curated store,” “It’s not about buy buy says Vitale. “From the buy,” she says. “It’s about (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) minute I opened, I appreciating a few things thought ‘How can I creyou really love, and 1. Stand Up Comedy, 511 SW Broadway that ate something focused getting them and wearand thoughtful, but not ing them for as long as 2. Association, 401 NE 28th Ave. have it where you walk they last.” 3. West End Select Shop, 927 SW Oak St. in and feel like you’re GO: Association, not supposed to be there 401 NE 28th Ave., asso4. Backtalk, 421 SW 10th Ave. unless you look the ciation-shop.com, 503part?’” 894-8115. Instagram: 5. Johan, 632 SW Pine St. wmacmurdo@wweek.com
PORTLAND AVANTGARDE WOMENSWEAR BOUTIQUES
associationshop.
JOHAN, AUBREY GIGANDET
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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THE BUMP
Puddle Stomping FOUR GREAT RAINY-DAY HIKES NEAR PORTLAND. BY M I C H E L L E D E VO NA
L : E M I LY J O A N G R E E N E , R: MICHELLE DEVONA
As Portland braces for another long, rainy winter, we take comfort in ramen and Spanish coffee. We also take comfort in knowing there are still plenty of hikes that are rad despite the rain. Here are four spots near Portland to help you survive the next several months.
BAGBY HOT SPRINGS: 3 MILES
OXBOW REGIONAL PARK:
7.9 MILES It’s chilly out there, which is why coupling your hike with a dip in the hot springs is the ultimate way to pamper yourself. Since the elevation caps off at 2,280 feet, this trail doesn’t see as much snow as other Hood territory trails. While the hike to Bagby Hot Springs is an easy mile and a half, it’s still long enough for a pleasant ramble through the woods. After crossing a footbridge over Nohorn Creek, the well-maintained trail takes you through a towering forest of old-growth Douglas firs as you follow along Hot Springs Fork of the Collawash River, a picturesque creek dotted with mossy rocks. Soon, you’ll cross a footbridge over Hot Springs Fork and find yourself at the bathhouses. After paying the $5 fee, take a nice long soak before heading back. 90 minutes from Portland: From I-205, take Exit 12A to OR-212 E/ OR-224 E toward Clackamas. Drive east on Highway 224 through Estacada. Just past the Ripplebrook Guard Station, the highway turns into Road 46. Follow this for 4 miles to the junction of Road 63, turn right and travel 4 miles to Road 70. Turn right and follow Road 70 for 6 miles to the Bagby Trailhead. $5 per person.
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Just outside Portland, Oxbow Regional Park has 12 miles of hiking trails, which means you can pretty much choose your own adventure. While the nearly eight-mile loop covers a good chunk of park, there are other trailheads to shoot off from if you prefer something shorter. The hike meanders through lush woodland within the Sandy River Gorge, which includes a portion of ancient forest. If you’re not into steep hikes, simply walk along the gently graded riverside trails and take in views of the glacial-fed Sandy River. Most of the park trails are sheltered by trees, which makes it great for a rainy day. The beach tends to be overrun with people in the summer; however, a visit here during the off-season finds it welcomely desolate. Though Oxbow is a great place to spot wildlife, including bald eagles, blue heron, foxes, and beavers, the park has a strict “No Pets” rule in order to preserve the natural habitat. Sorry, Fido. 40 minutes from Portland: From I-84 East take Exit 17 toward Marine Drive and turn right onto 257th Avenue. After 2.8 miles turn right onto Division Street. Drive 1.2 miles to a stop sign and then go straight onto Division Drive. After 1.5 miles, the road curves and becomes SE Oxbow Drive. You’ll go another 2.2 miles before making a left onto SE Oxbow Parkway, where you’ll drive downhill another 1.7 miles, pass the entrance for Camp Collins and reach the fee station for Oxbow Regional Park. Day use fee is $5. No pets.
TRYON CREEK LOOP: 5.7 MILES A mere seven miles from downtown, Tryon Creek State Natural Area is a nature lover’s ballpark with secondgrowth forest, bridges, a wetland boardwalk, and the nature center. Once logged, the park is now a maze of trees and plants, and home to a variety of wildlife, including woodpeckers, rabbits, owls, bats and salamanders. There are eight miles of hiking trails, and while the individual trails are short, you can extend the hike by connecting them. Make sure to grab a map from the visitor center before heading left on the Old Main Trail. The gently graded trails take you beneath a canopy of maples, cedars and alders while you walk along creekside bluffs, through gullies and on several footbridges. Once you reach High Bridge, make a left onto the Douglas-fir-lined Lewis and Clark Trail, which leads you to a very photographic suspension bridge. Follow the North Horse Loop back to the parking lot. In Portland: From I-5 South, take Exit 297 toward Terwilliger Blvd. Turn right onto Terwilliger Blvd and keep straight for about 2.7 miles, following signs to Tryon Creek State Park. Destination will be on the right.
E M I LY J O A N G R E E N E
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4 MILES
Year-round access to lush, overgrown forest trails is what makes hiking in this corner of Oregon so darn great. The Coast Range is no exception, and a visit to the stormy Tillamook State Forest is perfect for indulging rainy-day boredom. While the entire Wilson River Corridor is 22 miles long, you’ll probably want to choose a section, which is easy to do given there are several trailheads within the corridor. The four-mile-out-and-back segment featured here begins at Jones Creek Trailhead and finishes at Wilson Falls, where you can then opt to either turn back for the trailhead or, if you’re feeling adventurous, keep on hiking toward Bridge Creek Falls. The mild trail weaves along the Wilson River through a thick forest of big-leaf maple, alder, cedar and fern. In typical fashion for the moody Coast Range, a dense fog shrouds the entire area, which can look more like a Tim Burton film than anything else. The hike also passes the Tillamook Forest Center, where you can explore the exhibits, get trail maps and climb the 40-foot forest-fire lookout tower replica.
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60 minutes from Portland: From 26 West bear left onto Highway 6 toward Banks and Tillamook. Drive 28.9 miles and turn right onto Jones Creek Road. Then drive .1 miles, where you’ll pass the Smith Homestead Day Use Area and cross the Wilson River. Turn left into the Jones Creek Day Use Area.
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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Give!Guide
STARTERS
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 FOOD FOR LENTS: Food-starved Lents is getting a big new food cart pod and bar with a rooftop deck next year. Two generations of the Lisac family, some of whom live in the neighborhood, are in the process of building a 2,500-square-foot indoor bar and seating area at Southeast 93rd Avenue and Woodstock Boulevard. Flipside Bar and Carts will offer around 15 craft beer taps inside, and the parking lot will be home to eight food carts that co-owner Marc Lisac says will include Thai, Mexican, ramen, burgers and sushi. In the summer, expect a 750-square-foot rooftop deck. Lisac says they hope to be open by May 2018.
Cheap drinks. Dope beats. Free entry.
All shows 5–7pm.
rEvA DEviTO NOVEMBER 29
AnD THE
SEA
nATASHA kmETO DJ set
DECEMBER 13
HOSTED BY
1305 SE 8th Ave, Portland // 21+
Follow @GiveGuide GiveGuide.org
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COURTESY OF STREETROOTS.ORG
DECEMBER 6
STREET BEANS: Soon, you’ll be able help the homeless for the price of a bag of coffee. Starting December 1, local roaster Marigold Coffee will sell bags of Street Roast coffee at New Seasons stores and at their cafe on Southeast Holgate Boulevard. Proceeds from all Street Roast bags will go toward Street Roots, a community newspaper that both employs homeless Portlanders and deals with issues that directly affect their community. “The story of Street Roast is a story of how the private sector and the nonprofit sector can come together to support social change,” writes departing Street Roots editor Israel Bayer, who announced the news November 24. The idea was hatched by a team of graphic design interns at Oregon State University, with the help of local ad agency Ideaville. SANTA AIN’T DEAD: Last year, a Portland Christmas tradition came to an end. With the closure of the downtown Macy’s came the end of Santaland, the department store’s long-running holiday display started decades ago by Meier & Frank department store. The Macy’s version wasn’t exactly the same as SANTALAND, 1976 the beloved Meier & Frank decorations, since they moved everything from the 10th floor down to the basement and removed the coveted Santaland monorail kid-sized train that hung from the ceiling, but it was something. Thankfully, a few of the original Meier & Frank Santaland pieces made it into the safe hands of the Oregon Historical Society and will once again be on display for the holidays. The exhibit will include Santa’s original throne, Rudolph, the slightly creepy animatronics elves and the decorated Christmas trees. The Santaland show is free to Multnomah County residents and runs through December.
COURTESY OF OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SirEn
BAR CHORD BAR: Portland will soon have a combination bar and guitar shop called Strum on Southeast Stark Street near Revolution Hall. “It’s kinda like See See Motorcycle, except it’s guitars,” says owner Michael Krasovech, who plays in local country bands the Oregon Trailers and Get Rhythm, and has a sizable vintage guitar collection. The shop will also host unplugged performances by roots, Americana, country and blues bands. The craft beer, wine and cider bar will have four to six taps, and is planned for February 2018 in the new “Luxury Bread” building. Strum’s neighbors will be the first retail outlet for Cocanú Chocolate, which WW called our favorite bean-to-bar chocolate in town last year, and the new Bodega Beer brewery.
11/29
W E D N E S D AY
BLACK PORTLANDERS, BLACK PORTLANDS
ORQUESTRA PACIFICO TROPICAL If you’re the type who likes to get worked up into a dancefloor frenzy, this is the lineup for you. Local psychedelic cumbia ensemble Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, neo-soul masters Tribe Mars and R&B queen Blossom bring alternately feverish and sultry grooves. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663, dougfirlounge.com. 9 pm $7 advance, $10 at the door. 21+.
Intisar Abioto’s exhibit displays over 150 photographs that span the five years of her blog The Black Portlanders. Mounted with pushpins and paperclips, the portraits depict everyone from politicians to strangers Abioto met on the street. Today’s one of the last days to see the exhibit. Littman Gallery, 1825 SW Broadway, Room 250, theblackportlanders.com. Through Nov. 30.
11/30
JOE BIDEN
T H U R S D AY
LEXICON BodyVox starts its second decade as one of Portland’s most unconventional contemporary dance companies with a new show that will involve video projections and lasers. BodyVox Dance Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave., 503-229-0627, bodyvox.com. 7:30 pm. Through Dec. 16. $24-$56.
12/1
F R I D AY
HOLIDAY ALE FEST
Lest you wonder whether “Trans Am” Joe Biden is contemplating a run for president, here’s his selflaudatory tour and memoir about America at the crossroads and his own resilience. VIP tickets are $325, and include a handshake from Uncle Joe. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335. 7:30-8:30 pm. Sold out.
Get Busy
The only thing more festive than robust beers with a high alcohol content is getting to drink them around Pioneer Square’s giant-ass Christmas tree. Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th Ave., holidayale.com. 11:30 am-9:30 pm. Through Dec. 3. $35.
JASON LAMB OF MINORITY RETORT PODCAST
HER
Remember when questioning the boundary between self and technology seemed like uncharted territory? Four years after it was released, the movie starring Scarlett Johansson as a cell phone now feels like a cultural touchstone instead of just a mind-bending oddity. 5th Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall St., 5thavenuecinema.com. 7 pm. $5.
E V E NT S W E ' R E E XC ITE D A B O UT
N OV. 29 - D EC . 5
S AT U R D AY
12/2
A PERFECT CIRCLE
PORTLAND PODCAST FESTIVAL
Maynard James Keenan uses A Perfect Circle as a clearinghouse for ideas most Tool fans would deem too tender for his main gig’s oeuvre. New single “The Doomed” sounds like an unholy hybrid of both Metallica and Mannheim Steamroller and suggests this might be the most grandiose version of the band yet. Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum, 300 N Winning Way, 503-235-7881. 8 pm. $39-$186. All ages.
Proof that Portland has a booming podcast scene, the lineup for the first annual festival is packed. There’ll be two stages and live recordings of 13 local podcasts, including everything from standup showcases to Harry Potter fan theories and self-care podcasts. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE Cesar E Chavez Blvd., pdxpodfestival.com. 6 pm to midnight. $14.50. 21+.
S U N D AY
12/3
CLOUD OF PETALS
AQUAVIT WEEK
New York artist Sarah Meyohas’ exhibit is overwhelmingly ethereal: a mosaic of rose petals, six different virtual reality programs, hallways made of mirrors and electrical wires, video installations and prints. It opens in Portland following an acclaimed run in New York. Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 503286-9449, disjecta.org. Noon-5 pm. Through Jan. 13. Free.
Aquavit Week has expanded into a monster stretching across tens of Portland bars and around the country. Broder Nord hosts the opening party with the city’s biggest selection of aquavit, aquavit cocktails and a “true Nordic toast” with aquavit makers from across the globe. Broder Nord, 2240 N Interstate Ave., 503-282-5555, aquavitweek.com. 6-9 pm. $30.
12/4
M O N D AY
JAMILA WOODS
LITTLE BEAST/LITTLE BIRD
The alternative rap and R & B scene in Chicago has exploded, and Jamila Woods is at the center of it with her new album HEAVN, an exploration and celebration of black womanhood and Woods’ hometown. (See page 29). Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., on Monday, December 4. 8 pm. Sold out. 21+.
Little Bird Bistro is teaming up with one of Oregon’s newest and most innovative breweries for a four-course dinner. There’ll be scallops smoked in hops, rabbit wrapped in bacon and one of Little Beast’s brews served with each course. Little Bird Bistro, 215 SW 6th Ave., 503-688-5952, littlebirdbistro.com. 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm. $100.
T U E S D AY
12/5
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
A movie about a police chief dying of cancer and feuding with a mother whose daughter died a violent death sounds like the plot of dark drama. Instead, Three Billboards is a dark, thoughtful comedy set in a deeply strange town. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., hollywoodtheatre.org. Various times. $9.
Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor’s enormously successful podcast returns to Portland to live record a new episode of community bulletins and supernatural mysteries from the bizarre, fictional Southern town of Night Vale. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, portland5.com. 8 pm. $27.50-$32.50. Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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An evening of local shopping, festive cocktails, and food carts!
RKET
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5–9 PM
DISTRICT EAST 2305 SE 9th Ave.
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Fillmore Trattoria
Italian Home Cooking Tuesday–Saturday 5:30PM–10PM closed Sunday & Monday
food & drink = WW Pick. Highly recommended. By Matthew Korfhage. Editor: MARTIN CIZMAR. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29 Phoritto Pop-Up
1937 NW 23RD Place Portland, OR 97210
The phoritto—a world of beefflank or veggie pho wrapped up in a tortilla—is back at Tapalaya for one day only. But the other mash-up menu items, including crawfish-étouffée wonton nachos and cilantro kimchi slaw with beef jerky, threaten to steal the show. Tapalaya, 28 NE 28th Ave., 503-232-6652, tapalaya.com.
(971) 386-5935
FRIDAY, DEC. 1 Holiday Ale Fest
The only thing more festive than robust beers with a high alcohol content is getting to drink them around Pioneer Square’s giantass Christmas tree. Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th Ave., holidayale.com. 11:30 am-9:30 pm. Nov. 29-Dec. 3. $35.
Portland Night Market
Vietnamese seafood & Hot Pot
Expect easy, oh-so-Portland Christmas shopping, edible or not, at a 200-deep bazaar full of Portland brands. Though it’s guaranteed to be an unholy zoo of people, be consoled it’s one of the few spots where you can drink premium booze while you shop. 100 SE Alder, pdxnm.com. 4-11 pm Friday-Saturday, 11 am-4 pm Sunday.
Happy Hour 3:30-5:30pm EvErydAy All Beers & Appetizers $1 Off
4229 SE 82nd Ave #3 • 503.841.5610
top 5
HOT PLATES Where to eat this week.
GIFT E D I U G
1.
Bar Casa Vale
2.
Crown
SE 9th and Pine, 503-477-9081, barcasavale.com. Bar Casa Vale has a new chef and a couple of killer new items, including the best morcilla sausage we’ve had in town and a beautifully savory lamb neck cooked while swinging on twine across the mammoth hearth. $$. 410 SW Broadway, 503-228-7224, imperialpdx.com/the-crown. Crown is the late-night utility pizza and cocktail spot downtown needed, with a great $9 slice and salad lunch deal. $.
Hair of the Dog and Alma
Alma Chocolate continues its series of maker happy hours with free tastes of beer from legendary Portland brewery Hair of the Dog alongside Alma chocolates and Ancient Heritage cheeses. Drink anything that says “from the wood.” Alma Chocolate, 140 NE 28th Ave., 503-517-0262, almachocolate.com. 4-7 pm.
SUNDAY, DEC. 3 Aquavit Week
From Portland beginnings, Aquavit Week has expanded into a monster stretching across tens of Portland bars and all around the country. Broder Nord hosts the opening party with the city’s biggest selection of aquavit, aquavit cocktails and a “true Nordic toast” with aquavit makers from across the globe. Broder Nord, 2240 N Interstate Ave., 503-282-5555, aquavitweek.com. 6-9 pm. $30.
MONDAY, DEC. 4 Little Beast/Little Bird
Little Bird Bistro is teaming up with one of Oregon’s newest and most innovative breweries for a four-course dinner. There’ll be scallops smoked in hops, rabbit wrapped in bacon and one of Little Beast’s brews served with each course. Little Bird Bistro,
3.
Rue
4.
Revelry
1005 SE Ankeny St., 503-231-3748, ruepdx.com. Rue now has a pig roast every damn Tuesday—and a new wine director, Andy Young of St. Reginald Parish, pushing one of the best natural wine lists in town. $$-$$$.
210 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 971-339-3693, relayrestaurantgroup.com. It turns out, Tuesday is a good day for dining. Revelry has installed a $5 fried chicken and Rainier deal on hip-hop nights every week. $-$$$.
5.
Shandong
3724 NE Broadway St., 503-287-0331, shandongportland.com. As winter rolls in, sometimes only one thing will do: a bowl of Shandong’s impossibly long gwai wer noodles, plus maybe ma po tofu. $.
drank
Sec Sièmèfe (Swick Wines)
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Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
It’s winter now, which means it’s time to drink some red wine— and not the chilled-down glou-glou summer-chugging kind, either. I’m talking about real red wine with big flavors, lots of zip and rude health. Oregon cult natural winemaker Joe Swick has a couple of new releases out, none better than his new “Sec Sièmèfe” red wine, made using the Portuguese Touriga Nacional grape. The name is a Prince pun—say it phonetically to reveal one of the great late-period singles for the “Artist Formally Known As.” Swick made just 77 cases of the stuff, sourced from a lonely vineyard near Zillah, Wash. This is 100-percent whole-cluster, unfined, unfiltered, no-addedsulfur, real-deal “natural” wine. What the French call “zero zero,” meaning nothing added, nothing taken away. Just grapes. It tastes like red currants, autumn sunshine, Meyer lemon rind and allspice. I wouldn’t suggest you pour this into your holiday baked goods, but I strongly recommend drinking it while measuring out the pie spice. It’s available locally at Liner & Elsen, Vino and Avalon Wines for about $35 per bottle. Recommended. JORDAN MICHELMAN.
CHRISTINE DONG
REVIEW
Sweet Bee
UP ON STILTON: The funky, rich steak pot pie at Beeswing.
IN A FORMER CULLY PIPE SHOP, BEESWING IS BAKING SOME OF THE BEST BISCUITS AND POT PIES IN PORTLAND. BY M AT T H E W KO R F H AGE mkorfhage@wweek.com
Cully is now the best neighborhood in Portland to get a good biscuit. And it turns out two of the city’s best biscuits have a baker in common. Five years ago, Marissa Lorette was the baker at Old Salt when the rustic restaurant first began making owner Ben Meyer’s trademark buttermilk biscuits. Nearby, at new Cully Boulevard brunch and dinner spot Beeswing, she may have one-upped them. The biscuit at Beeswing ($3.50) is a wonder, a layered high-rise architecture of buttermilk and air. It tastes like comfort itself. Each morning, Lorette bakes small miracles in Beeswing’s oven, whether heavenly walnut scones just on the right side of lightness, rich maple bourbon pecan hand pies or airy, mapletouched sourdough waffles ($9) topped with a seasonal wealth of pears. If Beeswing were simply a bakery, there’d already be enough reason to drive across town. But after opening in January as a brunch and lunch cafe, Lorette and former Pok Pok and Old Salt chef Ian Watson have expanded their offerings to include a full dinner menu. Beeswing is a little like what would happen if you inflated Sweedeedee to four times its size and then plopped it down next to a bunch of auto parts stores. Co-owner Kevin Dorney, of Hollywood pub Moon and Sixpence, spent nearly two years rehabbing a former glass-pipe shop into a twee counter-service restaurant whose every woodgrained surface is lined with old newspaper ads for portable dishwashers or sheet music for obscure Russian fairy tales. Those scratch-made breads and pastries are paired with fresh farm salads and laborious rustic fare, whether housesmoked trout or a house-baked granola bowl ($7). But be warned that if you arrive at brunch, you will almost undoubtedly wait in line before ordering. Beeswing is busy as hell on weekend mornings, and the person who
BEESWING IS A LITTLE LIKE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU INFLATED SWEEDEEDEE TO FOUR TIMES ITS SIZE AND THEN PLOPPED IT DOWN NEXT TO A BUNCH OF AUTO PARTS STORES.
takes your order may also be the person making your mimosa or sake cocktail—no liquor license here—leading to a slight bottleneck at the register. The best items on the brunch menu tend to be the ones that appear the simplest: The menu thrives when showcasing the excellence of the ingredients, whether house-made or carefully sourced. Highlights include a sausage and egg sandwich made with that heavenly biscuit ($8), fluffy waf-
fles mixing eggy sweetness with the light savory tang of sourdough ($9) and an elegant brioche breakfast sandwich ($8) with a lightly crisped fried egg, prosciutto and pickled onion. A few of the more ambitious breakfast items can come off as oddball collages, however, including a sweet-potato hash ($13) featuring a clashing palate of kale, pungent house-smoked trout and acidic pickled onions. A Korean-influenced take on eggs Benedict, ($13) made with ginger Hollandaise and a somewhat dry scallion pancake, also failed to gel, especially since the accompanying pork belly was served on the side as an inch-thick hunk. At dinner, the crowds have so far been much thinner, which means seating is immediate. And that menu houses what may be the best single item served at Beeswing. The Stilton steak pie ($13 with salad) is a kick to the teeth of blander meat pastries, a beefy stew mixing the deep flavors of red wine with the penicillin funk of blue cheese. It’s impossibly rich, capped with a float of crisp puff pastry like a top hat made of pure texture. The other dinner highlight was an abundantly generous $20 plate of well-seasoned pork chop and nutty-sweet sunchoke roots topped with sweet-earthy pear mostarda. But again at Beeswing, the grains stole the show: The best thing on the plate was an achingly good wedge of fried polenta, the satisfying crispness of its caramelized exterior giving way to custard within. If you’ve planned your meal right, you won’t need to order dessert, because you already picked up a pumpkin brioche bun or the seasonal pie from the pastry display by the register. But each meal should also begin with sweetness: a nice biscuit and a little bit of homemade jam. GO: Beeswing, 4318 NE Cully Blvd., 503-477-7318, beeswingpdx.com. 8 am-3 pm Monday-Tuesday, 8 am-9 pm Wednesday-Sunday.
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MUSIC COMMENTARY
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
M I C H A E L H A L S B A N D / C O U R T E S Y O F AT L A N T I C R E C O R D S
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, NOV. 29 Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, Tribe Mars, Blossom
[CUMBIA MEETS SOUL] If you’re the type who likes to get worked up into a dancefloor frenzy, this is the lineup for you. Local psychedelic cumbia ensemble Orquestra Pacifico Tropical blend feverish rhythms and booming brass that resonates through your soul and into your hips and makes them move, whether or not you want them to. Local neo-soul masters Tribe Mars bring their swooning grooves (and a brand-new single), as will Portland’s Trinidadian-influenced R&B queen, Blossom. MAHALA RAY. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 9 pm. $7 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
Clyde Carson, Skinny Pete
[BAY AREA RAP] Rapper Clyde Carson’s music sizzles and slaps with that special kind of cool that only comes from the Bay Area. Carson’s group, the Team, helped him break through to national audiences during the hyphy movement with tracks like “Hyphy Juice (The Remix)” and “It’s Gettin’ Hot.” Unlike most rappers who came out of that era, Carson is thriving even now that the trend has died down. His single “Slow Down,” which reunited Carson with the Team, blew up in 2012, and its big, brassy sound was everywhere—if you ever stole a car in Grand Theft Auto V that happened to be tuned to the Radio Los Santos station, you heard this song. Still riding the wave of February’s studio debut, S.T.S.A. 2 (Something to Speak About), Clyde’s Portland show will be loud and sweaty. Don’t be surprised if someone starts a sideshow in a nearby parking lot. JUSTIN CARROLL-ALLAN. Jack London Revue, 529 SW 4th Ave., 503-228-7605. 9 pm. $12. 21+.
Naomi Punk
[PUNK] You won’t find much about Naomi Punk with just a simple Google search. There are some album reviews here and there, and statements on how the Olympia-based trio have managed to build an audience without much of presence on social media and the internet in general. All you really need to know, though, is that the band takes a tried-and-true approach to brash, in-your-face punk rock. That, and quite a bit more, can be heard on their latest LP, The Yellow Album. The 75-minute, 25-song experiment deconstructs the punk formula in a way that’s long and drawn out. But once you make it all the way through, the rewards are worth it. CERVANTE POPE. The Liquor Store, 3341 SE Belmont St., 503-754-7782. 9 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
THURSDAY, NOV. 30 Roselit Bone, Weezy Ford
[DYSTOPIAN FAIRYTALE WESTERN] Blister Steel, the newest album from Portland’s Roselit Bone, evokes images of both riding horseback through the barren Wyoming countryside and catching waves off the Pacific Coast Highway. Regardless of your preference for surfboards or saddlebags, the nine-piece ensemble creates an immersive experience, drawing you into the world of some dystopian Western that will have you feeling at once ready to fall in love and face your own mortality. The crooning vocals, delicately plucked strings and exhilarating, surf-flecked riffs provide the perfect soundtrack to usher in the gray of the rainy season. MAHALA RAY. Mississippi Studios,
3939 N Mississippi Ave, 503-288-3895. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Schaus, Sheers, Secrets
[TRIP-POP] Portland music fans may recognize members of Sheers from local favorite, indie-folk band Big Haunt. But Sheers have a sound all their own, falling somewhere on the spectrum between a jazz combo and Portishead. Their latest single, “All Will Be New,” juxtaposes Lily Breshears’ operatic vocals with densely composed layers of trip-hop. In a town that’s often dominated by one genre or another, it’s a real treat to hear a band that’s almost a genre unto themselves. BLAKE HICKMAN. The Liquor Store, 3341 SE Belmont St., 503-754-7782. 9 pm. Contact venue for ticket prices. 21+.
FRIDAY, DEC. 1 The Grouch, Del the Funky Homosapien, DJ Fresh, DJ Abilities
[HIP-HOP] The rap game could use more traditions, but thankfully there are a few legends still around to give us something to look forward to every year—such as founding Living Legends member the Grouch’s How The Grouch Stole Christmas tour, now in its 11th year. Tagging along is yet another hip-hop idol, Del the Funky Homosapien, representing Oakland at its finest. Though this show won’t include sets from the rest of the Living Legends or Hieroglyphics crew tour dates, there’s no denying that both Grouch and Del can hold it down on their own. CERVANTE POPE. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., 503-248-4700. 9 pm. $22. 21+.
SATURDAY, DEC. 2 The English Beat, DJ Dr. Wood
[SKA] The Beat, aka The English Beat, aka the kings of ska, have been holding down their genre’s throne for decades. Led by Dave Wakeling, the group has made a lasting impression on the ska and reggae genre, mixing high tempo rhythms with newwave guitar tones. It also helps that Wakeling’s soothing, droning voice stands out from other singers in their peer group. While this version of the Beat hasn’t put out an album of new material in 35 years, they have been working on one, eyeing next March for release. So for the first time in ages, expect to hear some fresh material sprinkled among classics like “Mirror in the Bathroom.” SETH SHALER. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 503-234-9694. 8 pm. Sold out. All ages.
A Perfect Circle
[SOFT METAL] One of Maynard James Keenan’s greatest strengths is his ability to compartmentalize. Rather than soften the edges of his main gig, Tool, the frontman uses his A Perfect Circle side project as a clearinghouse for ideas most Tool fans would deem too mainstream or tender to fit comfortably within the beloved prog-metal behemoth’s oeuvre. If the group’s latest single, “The Doomed,” is an indication of things to come on their impending fourth record, we can expect Keenan to filter his populist notions of conspiracy and menace through his most grandiose vision of A Perfect Circle yet, which sounds like an unholy hybrid of both Metallica and Mannheim Steamroller. PETE COTTELL. Moda Center, 1 N Center Ct. St. 8 pm. $39-$186. All ages.
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Six on Six
FOR EVERY PIXIES HIT SINGLE THERE IS A BETTER WEEZER OBSCURITY. BY MA RTIN CIZMA R
mcizmar@wweek.com
This week, the Pixies are playing Roseland Theater. The band is not what they once were live: Frank Black qualifies for an AARP membership, and there’s no Kim Deal. Nonetheless, this tour is an important warm-up. Earlier this month, the Pixies announced a big summer tour with Weezer. The double-headliner tour makes a lot of sense, as both bands employ lots of power chords, poppy hooks and dynamic volume swings. Maybe it’s a quirk of the Facebook algorithm, but when that tour was announced, my feed populated with rage-filled posts from Pixies fans who were scandalized that Frank Black’s band is not the main headliner. That’s an odd argument given Weezer has sold seven times as many records, but hey. Here’s the thing: Anything the Pixies can do, Weezer can do better. Anything. To prove it, I dug through Rivers Cuomo’s massive trove of b-sides and leaked demos to unearth obscurities that are better than the Pixies’ best songs.
1. If you like “Wave of Mutilation,” try “Only in Dreams” The Pixies’ best song—the one that gave its title to the band’s greatest-hits compilation—is a slow-burner with darkly absurd lyrics. “Wave of Mutilation” is also definitive proof that people who discount Kim Deal’s slinky bass lines do not fully understand the purpose of bass guitar in rock music. This presents a challenge that’s only matchable with a less-obscure-than-preferable Weezer song in the same mold. “Only in Dreams,” the epic eight-minute closer of the Blue Album has an even better bass line, also juxtaposed with whispered vocals and crashing refrains. Both songs have one weird, stilted line that somehow worms its way into your brain forever (”could find my way to Mariana” and “molecules of oxygen and carbon dioxide,” respectively). Now, try imagining how bored you would be if “Wave of Mutilation” went on for eight minutes.
3. If you like “Where Is My Mind?” try “Tragic Girl” Frank Black’s best attribute as a musician is an ear for pleasing oddities. His best work came when he layered snippets of off-kilter guitar and woo-ooos to turn a stupidly simple pop song like “Where Is My Mind?” into an impressive piece of songcraft. Cuomo tends to use his other talents, but a song like “Tragic Girl,” which was recorded during the Pinkerton sessions and shelved until 2010 shows Cuomo also has an aptitude for collaging crunchy guitars.
4. If you like “Velouria,” try “Jamie” These two songs are similar in tone and pace. Frank Black wrote the anthemic “Velouria” about a Renaissance-era cultural movement that looked for wisdom in the ancient esoteric. “Jamie,” the b-side to “Buddy Holly,” was written about Weezer’s lawyer. It’s actually one of two songs the band wrote about their lawyer. The other, the Matt Sharp-penned “Mrs. Young,” can be found online in acoustic demo version. That song later became The Rentals’ “Please Let That Be You.” Both of the Weezer songs (and the Rentals song) are better than “Velouria.”
5. If you like “Here Comes Your Man,” try “The Organ Player” Black wrote a beautiful little Velvet Undergroundy groove here—this is a pure piece of pop magic with no gimmicky distortion needed, and it’s my personal favorite Pixies track. “The Organ Player” could pass for a Ben Folds song, about a righteous organ player who fends off the bad vibes of a bitter fan. I really like it. If you don’t, check out one of the other 40 demo songs from Weezer’s Album 5 Demo sessions, featuring lots of storytelling and keys scrapped to make room for Make Believe, the album with “Beverly Hills,” which revived Cuomo as a top-40 force.
2. If you like “Debaser,” try “Blast Off!”
6. If you like “Alec Eiffel,” you’ll love “Mykel and Carli”
“Blast Off!” is the opener of Songs from the Black Hole, the unreleased space opera that was supposed to be the band’s sophomore album. “Debaser” is the opener of Doolittle, the Pixies’ sophomore effort and also their best-selling and best-reviewed album. Cuomo recorded most of Songs from the Black Hole at his mom’s house in Connecticut. The rough audio quality should appeal to Pixies fans, though Doolittle was released by a major label and got a big-time budget, equivalent to $95,000 in today’s money.
“Alec Eiffel” is a pop-punk song about the guy who made the tower in Paris. “Mykel and Carli” is an ode to two sisters who ran Weezer’s fan club who were killed in a car accident while traveling to see the band. One song is smug faux intellectualism; the other is deep anguish with a candy coating. GO: The Pixies play at the Roseland November 29 and 30, and December 1. Some shows sold out. $49.50-69.50. Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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MUSIC COURTESY OF JAMILA-WOODS.COM
PROFILE
Blk Girl Soldier JAMILA WOODS’ POETIC R&B FINDS COMMUNITY IN ITS HYPER-PERSONAL CONTENT. BY PATRICK LYON S
Chicago’s alternative rap/R&B scene has exploded in the past five years. Led by Chance The Rapper and his band, The Social Experiment, it’s seen mainstream successes like Vic Mensa, poetic homespun talents like Noname and adventurous songstresses like Ravyn Lenae. It’s an eclectic scene united by poetry, positivity and empowerment—all things Jamila Woods has been steeped in since she was a teenager. Like the other pillars of that scene, she came through spaces like Young Chicago Authors, where she met Nico Segal from Social Experiment, and later, Chance, Noname and Saba. When she graduated from Brown University, Woods formed a band. The band broke up—which put her in tough position. “I still wanted to make music, so at that point I was just kind of figuring out how to find collaborators and make my first solo album,” she says. In January 2015, she wrote “Blk Girl Soldier,” about a woman who “scares the government” and conjures up “Deja vu of Tubman.” Around that time, she met the producer oddCouple and began writing more songs and playing them for her friends. That’s when her deep ties to the scene lifted her up. “They were pointing out to me, like, you should stick to writing, it just seems like it’s shaping up to be something,” Woods says. “So that kind of changed my perspective, because at first I was just trying to prove to myself that I could still write songs, and practicing, so it was seeing how people responded to it that made me feel that it could be part of something bigger.” That “something” turned out to be HEAVN, the album Woods released on SoundCloud in July 2016, and was recently given an official release by indie label Jagjaguwar. Featuring collaborations with oddCouple and other young artists from Chicago, the project is an exploration and celebration of black womanhood and Woods’ hometown. Woods says the album is a product of forcing herself out of her comfort zone and pushing herself to “build [her] network further,” using her poetry skills and personal connections to inform a work that is at once hyper-personal and community-driven. “Something I learned from poetry is that getting really, really specific and writing about your story, your experience, really does help it resonate universally,” she says. “After shows, I’ll talk to people about which songs they relate to. You know, someone who’s like, ‘Oh, I’m an introvert too, I really responded to the ‘Way Up’ song.’ Or even something you wouldn’t expect. Sometimes people are like, ‘You know, I’m not a black girl, but ‘Blk Girl Soldier’ really makes me feel empowered.’ That’s what’s really amazing about music.” Woods has reached a point in her life where she’s able to balance her music career with her passion for poetry and community enrichment. She now teaches at Young Chicago Authors, where she got her start, helping the next generation tell their stories. “Working with students re-inspires me,” Woods says. “It’s a symbiotic relationship, in a way.” SEE IT: Jamila Woods performs at Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., on Monday, December 4. 8 pm. Sold out. 21+. 30
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PHILLIP AUMANN
MUSIC
Laurel Halo plays Holocene on Sunday, Dec. 3
Pere Ubu, Diminished Men, Lithics
[AVANT-PUNK] In 1975, Cleveland’s Pere Ubu basically created post-punk when punk itself was still in the prototype stage. Hitching ideas drawn from surrealist theater and avant-garde art to the chug of garage rock, early albums like The Modern Dance, Dub Housing and New Picnic Time contort song structures with an intensity that swings from riveting to absurd to downright frightening, hinging on singer Dave Thomas’ jowly, helium-infused squeal. Fortified by an unwavering set of internal guidelines, the group has continued through the years with a rotating lineup, unmoved by shifts in the culture at large. This year’s 20 Years in a Montana Missile Silo continues in that tradition, with songs that sound like they were broken apart then glued back together in the dark, yet still manage to rock as much as they confound. MATTHEW SINGER. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., 503-248-4700. 9 pm. $23. 21+.
Wake the Town: The Last Artful, Dodgr, Neill Von Tally, Barisone, PRSN
[PORTLAND’S MOST WANTED] As 2017 enters its final month, Portland singer-rapper the Last Artful, Dodgr celebrates another banner year. Bone Music, her formal debut, was one of the best albums to come out of the city in a long time, a working-class lament set to Neill von Tally’s lavalamp production and her shapeshifting voice. But even bigger things await her. In September, she teased a possible massive collaboration with Mark Ronson, Anderson Paak and Christina friggin’ Aguilera. She couldn’t say precisely what it is yet, but hinted that “10 months from now, it’s going to be in the history books— or on the charts.” So consider this one of your final warnings— you shouldn’t be able to see her in a venue this small for much longer. MATTHEW SINGER. The Liquor Store, 3341 SE Belmont St., 503-754-7782. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Slow Magic, Point Point, Qrion
[ELECTRO-DANCE] Call it a gimmick, brilliant deflection or what have you, but the mask electronic artist Slow Magic wears isn’t coming off anytime soon. Not much is known about the person
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beneath, save for the extremely addictive sounds he produces. Known for combining live instrumentation with catchy, synthbased structures, Slow Magic is reinventing a sometimes linear genre. Signed to Interscope and riding the positive reviews of latest effort Float, Slow Magic is full of momentum. His skillful fusion of digital and analog pop is all the better live, so get out there. MARK STOCK. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 503-284-8686. 8 pm. $20 advance, $23 day of show. All ages.
SUNDAY, DEC. 3 Silversun Pickups, Minus The Bear [EMO-LITE] It’s been nearly 20 years since Silversun Pickups first formed in LA’s Silverlake neighborhood, right around the start of indie rock’s golden era. Now, they’re fresh off a tour opening for Third Eye Blind, and have just released an album of acoustic rerecordings and remixes of old songs. Their last proper album, Better Nature, out in 2015, was more sincere and synth-y than their mid-aughts emo jams. But don’t worry—the album will still conjure memories of the Music from the O.C. soundtrack, full of jumpy bass lines, fuzzed-out guitars and lightly emo vocals. This is a rescheduled date from Nov. 1, and all tickets from that show will be honored. SOPHIA JUNE. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 503-225-0047. 8 pm. $37.50 advance, $40 day of show. All ages.
Leif Vollebekk, Isaac Taylor
[INDIE-FOLK] Canadian singersongwriter Leif Vollebekk joined esteem company with his powerful 2017 release, Twin Solitude, a tender folk record that ended up alongside Feist, Leonard Cohen and BadBadNotGood on the shortlist of nominees for his home country’s Polaris Music Prize. Drawing from the playbook of Amos Lee, Vollebekk is at once soft-spoken and captivating. His melodic, sometimes soulful indiefolk is propped up by sturdy vocals that function as compelling narratives in their own right. It’s somber stuff, especially as winter moves in, but sometimes it’s good to submit to sadness. MARK STOCK. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
Laurel Halo, Golden Retriever, Strategy
[ELECTRONIC] After charting several Best of 2012 lists with Quarantine and its successor Chance of Rain, Berlin-based electronic artist Laurel Halo dropped her new LP, Dust, in June. Juxtaposing several filtered vocal lines through a web of glittery synths, Halo constructs an erratic chaos of clicks and blurred hisses that rests somewhere between Jenny Hval and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Meanwhile, Golden Retriever, Portland’s own neo-classical ambient outfit, makes the bass clarinet cool for perhaps the first time ever with their tranquil, Terry Riley-indebted tones. CRIS LANKENAU. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 503-239-7639. 8:30 pm-12 am. $15. 21+.
TUESDAY, DEC. 5 True Widow, SRSQ
[GLOOM METAL] Dallas stonerdoom trio True Widow first achieved notoriety on two separate tours opening for Surfer Blood and Boris, which offers a convenient glimpse at the two poles of their output. Last year’s Avvolgere swings subtly between hazy West Coast garage, burly shoegaze dirges and delicate, female-led doom folk a la early Chelsea Wolfe, creating a flawless triangulation of exactly what the black Carharttand-bong-smoke set is likely to turn to when the latest Merzbow release has left them longing for something that’s heavy and heady but still resembles “pop” music. PETE COTTELL. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-2883895. 9 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
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C O U R T E S Y O F B A N D C A M P. C O M
FEATURED
Bell Witch, Monarch, Usnea [DOOM ’N GLOOM] Albums, especially those in the increasingly stagnant doom metal genre, don’t get much more ambitious than Bell Witch’s recent Mirror Reaper. The entire album, one 83-minute-long song, moves from one glacially paced movement to another, reaching dynamic peaks and valleys but taking its sweet time en route. Minimal passages of Dylan Desmond’s meditative bass melodies give way to punishing bouts of heaviness sparked by Jesse Shreibman’s monolithic drumming, a master class in patient tension-and-release. The effect is nothing short of hypnotic and cleansing. The album was composed after the death of founding drummer-vocalist Adrian Guerra, and between the two current members’ growls, guest vocalist Erik Moggridge’s mournful tenor, and even some posthumous vocals from Guerra, the album manages to convey the full human range of sorrow. Since releasing their debut five years ago, the Seattle band have found a new niche in an old genre, and imbued every note with a passion that’s rare in any school of music. Bell Witch were already one of the most promising doom bands in recent memory, but Mirror Reaper has elevated them to leaders in their class. Support comes from crushing French veterans Monarch and local sci-fi doom favorites Usnea. An extremely loud and incredibly slow show by all accounts. PATRICK LYONS. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 971-271-8464. 9 pm Saturday, December 2. $10 advance, $13 day of show. 21+. Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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MUSIC CLASSICAL, JAZZ & WORLD SATURDAY, DEC. 2 André Watts Plays Grieg
[SCANDINAVIAN CLASSICAL] This program highlights works by Scandinavians, beginning with a series of three Symphonic Sketches from the subconscious of Finnish composer Joonas Kokkonen. After that, renowned pianist André Watts takes the stage to deliver Grieg’s secondmost-famous work, the Piano Concerto in A Minor. Watts has been graced with honors worldwide, including a 2011 National Medal of Arts, and his virtuoso handling of this Danish masterpiece should be worth the price of admission alone. After the intermission, Sibelius’ Valde triste swoops in on frigid Finnish winds, before the evening concludes with work by another Dane, Carl Nielsen, whose Symphony No 5 features an overpowering snare-drum improvisation. NATHAN CARSON. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335. Sunday. $25-$120. All ages.
The Ensemble presents “Amahl and the Night Visitors”
[OPERA AS CONCERT] When we think of opera, most often we imagine Italy, where both the form and many of its greatest composers were born. But the most produced opera in the world was written by an American. Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors owes much of its popularity to TV—the one-act opera’s 1951 premiere on NBC reached 5 million viewers, the largest audience ever to see a televised opera, and kicked off decades of annual family holiday viewing. This IRL concert version, produced by Portland’s all-star vocal group The Ensemble of Oregon, includes soloists, chorus and orchestra performing the warm-hearted story of three traveling kings who spend a night at the home of a mother and her disabled son, whereupon miracles ensue. BRETT CAMPBELL. First Christian Church, 1314 SW Park Ave., Sunday, 7 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show. All ages.
Christina and Michelle Naughton
[SISTER ACT] It can be hard enough for siblings to get along in normal situations. Now imagine sharing a piano bench and having to coordinate all four hands to play complex classical music. That’s what New Jersey-born sisters Christina and Michelle Naughton have been doing, to international acclaim, for years. Both graduates of two of America’s most prestigious conservatories, Juilliard and Curtis, they’ve performed with orchestras and given duo recitals around the world. Their two recitals at PSU includes plenty of Euro-classics by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schubert, Debussy, Ravel and a little of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker music to get you in the holiday mood. Happily, they’re also playing American music by 20th century maverick Conlon Nancarrow, John Adams’ rollicking Hallelujah Junction and Paul Schoenfield’s appropriately titled, mood-swinging Five Days from the Life of a Manic Depressive. BRETT CAMPBELL. Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 SW Park Ave., 503-725-3307. 4 pm. $45-$55. All ages.
For more Music listings, visit 34
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
DATES HERE ALBUM REVIEWS
Mo Troper EXPOSURE & RESPONSE (GOOD CHEER RECORDS) At the tender age of 25, Mo Troper has grown from a bleary-eyed punk to a classic rock-loving crank. It’s common for 20-something rockers to affix their gaze backwards at what their heroes’ heroes were digging on when they were the same age, but it’s not every day they document that voyage with a great power-pop album that praises the work of Big Star and the Replacements, and tees off on the old bastards who lord over “the kids” how they saw both those bands at defunct clubs. At the heart of Exposure & Response, Troper’s third solo effort atop a slew of side gigs, is a love-hate relationship with rock music and the gyre of bullshit that surrounds it. Dusting up punk tropes with the ironic wit of Randy Newman and the baroque bombast of Electric Light Orchestra is a precarious approach to power pop in less capable hands. Troper proves his mettle with the agitated callout of “Your Brand” (“Turn a tragedy into something you can work with/Keep your finger on the pulse that’s in your pocket/Think about your brand”) and the aforementioned “fuck you” to aging scenesters who won’t let it go (“The Poet Laureate of Neverland”). Troper’s seamless distillation of sounds stands out as the album’s most obvious charm. Nowadays, any kid with a glockenspiel and a dog-eared copy of Our Band Could Be Your Life can inform their hardcore band it’s time to grow up and sound like Jellyfish, but the task of making earnest adult music that retains the reckless energy of youth is much harder than that. Existing in an industry filled with leeches and charlatans can be just as difficult, but Troper does a stellar job of turning the angst and annoyance of both into something fuzzy and infectious. PETE COTTELL.
Wild Ones MIRROR TOUCH (TOPSHELF RECORDS) Youth and uncertainty have been the catalysts for a lot of the best emo music of the past two decades. While variations within the genre exist, a glimpse at the roster of the genre’s standard-bearing label Topshelf Records shows it’s still mostly just dudes with guitars. In light of this, it’s both surprising and refreshing that Mirror Touch, Wild Ones’ second full-length released by the label, has hardly any guitars or male vocals at all. In their place is a dreamscape of crystalline synths, stuttering beats and the determined cooing of vocalist Danielle Sullivan. The electronic touch on the bulk of Mirror Touch’s ten tracks could stand up confidently next to known radio fare like Chvrches or Metric, but the quintet’s compositions aim for introspection rather than dancefloor domination. At the core of her disposition is an uneasy longing, which manifests as a reluctant come-hither call on “Standing In the Back at Your Show,” the album’s lead single. “All night/catching a feeling/I know it’s wrong to try to lead you astray/I told I don’t dream about you anymore/but I do,” Sullivan sings over a shuffling backbeat and off-time organ stabs that pay homage to the sultry kraut-pop of Stereolab. Sullivan’s inner turmoil reaches a peak in tandem with the album’s upward energy on “Love + Loathing,” a spare and slowburning anthem that nails the day-glo climax of regional EDM heroes Odesza without relying on “the drop” to make its point. The buildup is an outlier on an album that’s more interested in steady movement than pulsing crescendos, but the end product is proof that Wild Ones can dip their toes in pop music’s most accessible waters and still come out seeming smart and sophisticated. Bookending Mirror Touch is the one-two punch of the aptly titled “Forgetting Rock and Roll,” which finds Sullivan swearing off the boys club of the rock scene at large, and “No Money,” a subdued, lo-fi dance song about the pitfalls of wanting fame and success more than you probably should. While most guitar-based contemporaries would adopt a “woe is me” approach to similar subject matter, Wild Ones have turned the grey areas of modern rock and romance into a neonhued pop record that’s bright and inviting for all. PETE COTTELL.
MUSIC CALENDAR WED, NOV. 29 Alberta Street Pub 1036 NE Alberta St Colin Trio, Syran
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St Calving, The Mercury Tree, From The Petrified Forest
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St Orquestra Pacifico Tropical, Tribe Mars, Blossom
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St Troutdale Silver Lake 66 (The Winery Tasting Room)
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Chet Porter
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St Hayden James
Jack London Revue
529 SW 4th Ave Clyde Carson, Skinny Pete
Holocene
426 SW Washington St Hawkeye Pierce, Tumbledown, Crystal Lariza
The Goodfoot
The Liquor Store
The Goodfoot
Turn! Turn! Turn!
13 NW 6th Ave GIFT OF GAB w/ special guests
3341 SE Belmont St Schaus, Sheers, Secrets 1422 SW 11th Ave Edna Vazquez Band
1305 SE 8th Ave East G!G Happy Hour feat. Reva DeVito
THU, NOV. 30 Alberta Rose Theater 3000 NE Alberta St The 10th Annual White Album Xmas!
Alberta Street Pub 1036 NE Alberta St James Low
Bunk Bar
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Satanaraoke!
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St The Hugs // The Macks // Swamp Boys
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St Courtyard Bluegrass Jam 836 N Russell St Mic Check PDX
128 NE Russell St Tennis
Aladdin Theater
Bunk Bar
Cerimon House
5131 NE 23rd Avenue Patrick Ball, Lisa Lynne & Aryeh Frankfurter – A Winter Gift
Dante’s
350 West Burnside COREY SMITH
Doug Fir Lounge
2126 SW Halsey St Troutdale Eric John Kaiser live at The Winery Tasting Room
8105 Se 7th Ave Reverb Brothers
Rock Hard PDX
13639 SE Powell Blvd Windowpane - One Gun Shy - Recker
SouthFork
4605 NE Fremont PDX Side Hustle
Starday Tavern
6517 SE Foster Rd Mr. Musu
Star Theater
Edgefield
The Analog Cafe
2126 SW Halsey St Troutdale Turtle’s Guitar Mafia (The Winery Tasting Room)
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Azizi Gibson
Hawthorne Theatre
Jo Bar & Rotisserie
Edgefield
Muddy Rudder Public House
13 NW 6th Ave The Grouch, Del The Funky Homosapien, DJ Fresh, DJ Abilities
Crystal Ballroom
350 West Burnside SAN GERONIMO w/ Wanderlodge & J. Moses & The Ragged Sunday
ADULTING IS HARD: Since being thrust into the limelight a decade ago, the National have become the house band for over-educated, upper-middle-class grownups prone to fretting over their teetering, unread piles of the New Yorker. At the Schnitz on Nov. 27, the band leaned into that role, refusing to rock the boat with the raw power of their earlier, endearingly messy era. That’s not to say the show was a total bore. Compositions stuffed with subtle brilliance have always been the National’s strong suit, and tracks from this year’s Sleep Well Beast showcased guitarists Bryce and Aaron Dessner’s impressive chops quite well. The soft electronics of “I’ll Still Destroy You” buoyed the understated menace of singer Matt Berninger’s lyrics perfectly, while the album’s haunting opener, “Nobody Else Will Be There,” crested forcefully courtesy of two auxiliary musicians outfitted with ghostly synths and warm brass. Still, the group’s introverted material was delivered with more conviction than the bangers. Having apparently grown tired of his reputation as an erratic, wine-drunk lothario, Berninger no longer paces the stage with speechless rage. Now, he takes a sip of wine here, a drag of a vape pen there. Ending the encore with “Terrible Love,” from 2010’s High Violet, Berninger’s flagging energy felt more like a limp than a victory lap. It’s true the National are new-age rock stars for those who bristle at that very concept, but the quiet majesty of their new era proved too fragile to survive the leap from the turntable to stage. PETE COTTELL.
830 E Burnside St From Smiths to Smithereens: A Tribute to 80s College Rock
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Davey Suicide
Dante’s
Doug Fir Lounge
FRI, DEC. 1
1028 SE Water Ave Howard Ivans, Far Lands 1332 W Burnside St Louis The Child w/ Louis Futon and Ashe
1037 SW Broadway André Watts Plays Grieg
The Secret Society
1028 SE Water Ave Nora Jane Struthers
White Owl Social Club
MON, DEC. 4 Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
The Old Church
Twilight Cafe and Bar
836 N Russell St Chasing Ebenezer and Rachel Paschket
836 N Russell St The Casimir Effect
The Liquor Store
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave Del McCoury Band
White Eagle Saloon
White Eagle Saloon
3728 NE Sandy Blvd The Fur Coats // Cat Hoch // Melt
8 NE Killingsworth St Fake Fireplace // Youvees // There is No Mountain 1420 SE Powell The Great Shame, Computer Class, Johnny Raincloud, Worrydoll
8 NE Killingsworth St Woolen Men // Campfires // Fronjentress
The Know
Wonder Ballroom
Turn! Turn! Turn!
3341 SE Belmont St TOPE, Landon Wordswell, Scooty
2845 SE Stark St Lesser Bangs and Joytribe
The Liquor Store
116 NE Russell St Wednesday Night Zydeco
600 E Burnside St Rontoms Sunday Session: Bubble Cats // Ah God
Star Theater
White Eagle Saloon
The Secret Society
Rontoms
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Cyrus Gengras // Verner Pantons // Plastic Cactus
2845 SE Stark St L Ø V E J Ø Y , ZuhG & The Zapata Brothers 3341 SE Belmont St Naomi Punk
3939 N Mississippi Ave Indubious, Speaker Minds, Zahira, DJ Cansaman
3939 N Mississippi Ave Roselit Bone, Weezy Ford
Tonic Lounge
8218 N. Lombard St Earth World, Small Skies, Starover Blue
Mississippi Studios
The Know
Mississippi Studios
Mississippi Studios
The Fixin’ To
LAST WEEK LIVE
Kelly’s Olympian
116 NE Russell St Thursday Swing! Featuring The Libertine Belles, The Hot Lovin’ Jazz Babies
3939 N Mississippi Ave Taylor Kingman (Album Release) / TK & The Holy Know-Nothings
[NOV. 29-DEC. 5]
1001 SE Morrison St Pop & Puppetry: SynCity / Gold Casio / Skull Diver
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Feeling the Love: Puerto Rico Relief Fund
For more listings, check out wweek.com.
ABBY GORDON
= 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.
715 NW 23rd Ave Harvey Brindell & The Tablerockers
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Pennymart, Rilla, Stark Jeffries
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave The Avett Others
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Jeff Austin Band
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd The Ongoing Concept with Fallstar
The Fixin’ To
8218 N. Lombard St Mattress, Tender Age, Roseblood
The Know
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Mo Troper (Release Show), Cool American, Whitney Ballen, Seacats
The Lovecraft Bar 421 SE Grand Ave Vibrissae and Camino Acid
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St The Barn Door Slammers
Tonic Lounge 3100 NE Sandy Blvd Black Witch Pudding, Brume, Menin and Elephant Gun
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Arteries Dark, Light Spreads
Walters Cultural Arts Center 527 E. Main Street, Hillsboro Kristin Andreassen
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St Elvis Costello Tribute and Alternative 80’s Rock.
Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St Angus & Julia Stone
Zarz On First
814 SW 1st Robbie Laws Band
SAT, DEC. 2
Doug Fir Lounge
13 NW 6th Ave Pere Ubu, Diminished Men, Lithics
Edgefield
1937 SE 11th Ave Dim Wit, Planet Damn, Frenz
2126 SW Halsey St Troutdale The Columbians (The Winery Tasting Room)
First Christian Church 1314 SW Park Ave The Ensemble presents “Amahl and the Night Visitors”
Jack London Revue 529 SW 4th Ave The Mattson 2
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St GLMG Presents: The Juice
Aladdin Theater
Lincoln Performance Hall
Alberta Street Pub
Mississippi Studios
1036 NE Alberta St The Euge Organ Trio ...Rides Again!
3939 N Mississippi Ave Zepparella
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1 N Center Ct St A Perfect Circle
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave The English Beat, DJ Dr. Wood
1037 SW Broadway André Watts Plays Grieg
Bluehour
250 NW 13th Avenue Greg Goebel duo
Catfish Lou’s
2460 NW 24th Avenue Harpdog Brown & the Travelin’ Blues Show
Dante’s
350 West Burnside CHEMICAL RAGE w/ Splintered Throne and guests
Star Theater
830 E Burnside St The Builders And The Butchers Banana Stand Live Album Release
1620 SW Park Ave Christina and Michelle Naughton
Moda Center
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 Se 7th Ave Sit Back & Relax
Revolution Hall
The Firkin Tavern
The Fixin’ To
8218 N. Lombard St Giants in the Trees with The Wild Body
The Know
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Mope Grooves // Charlie Moses // Mersky // Scorch
The Liquor Store
SUN, DEC. 3 Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave SALES with Chaos Chaos
Al’s Den at Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave Garcia Birthday Band
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway André Watts Plays Grieg
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St Farewell to Ash Street Saloon!
3341 SE Belmont St Wake the Town: The Last Artful, Dodgr, Neill Von Tally, Barisone, PRSN
Crystal Ballroom
The Old Church
Dante’s
1332 W Burnside St Silversun Pickups, Minus The Bear
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St Troutdale Cellotronik (The Winery Tasting Room)
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St Jamila Woods
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Cameron Neal, Matthew Logan Vasquez, Kelsey Wilson
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 Se 7th Ave Lloyd Jones
The Firkin Tavern
1937 SE 11th Ave Avalanche Lily, Elisa Flynn (Bklyn), Denim Wedding
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St Ural Thomas & The Pain
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave Let Us Sings, PPS Choirs
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Sharkmouth, Meringue, and Sarah Parson
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Sister Speak w/ Tolan Shaw & Faded Pages
TUE, DEC. 5 Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St Vance Joy at December to Remember
350 West Burnside THIS YEAR’S MODEL: An Elvis Costello Tribute followed by Sinferno Cabaret
Doug Fir Lounge
116 NE Russell St The Pepper Grinders feat. Ralph Carney
Doug Fir Lounge
The Secret Society
First Christian Church
2126 SW Halsey St Troutdale Hunter Paye (The Winery Tasting Room)
1422 SW 11th Ave Minor Key Series presents Eric Stern
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St Pink Lady presents “The Cat’s Meow”
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Bell Witch, Monarch, Usnea
830 E Burnside St Leif Vollebekk, Isaac Taylor 1314 SW Park Ave The Ensemble presents “Amahl and the Night Visitors”
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Morgan Saint
Holocene
1300 SE Stark St #110 An Evening With The Chris Robinson Brotherhood
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Trujillo, Mike Coykendall, and poet Tim Sproul
1001 SE Morrison St Laurel Halo, Golden Retriever, Strategy
Rock Hard PDX
Wonder Ballroom
Jack London Revue
13639 SE Powell Blvd In The Pink / The Ultimate Pink Floyd Show
830 E Burnside St Anuhea
128 NE Russell St Slow Magic, Point Point, Qrion
529 SW 4th Ave Kimberly Monique & Thankusomuch
830 E Burnside St Joshua Davis
Edgefield
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Flickathon: A Set From the Pickathon Film Vault: Mandolin Orange
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave True Widow, SRSQ
Rock Hard PDX
13639 SE Powell Blvd CrazyTown
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St TK Revolution Jam First TUESDAYS
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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NEEDLE EXCHANGE JUBEL BROSSEAU
Next Holiday Shopper out 12/6!
MUSIC
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DJ TrashCans Years DJing: 17, on and off. Genre: I started off DJing drum-and-bass and booty house in the early 2000s, and now focus primarily on funk, disco, go-go, hip-hop and soul. Where you can catch me regularly: As part of Questionable Decisions, primarily every first Saturday at Killingsworth Dynasty. I also spin every third Thursday at No Fun with Jonny Ampersand. Those are less funk and dance oriented and more free-form, lounge-leaning sets. Craziest gig: I was working busing tables for events during college, and a wedding DJ didn’t show up. My coworkers told the wedding they had a backup DJ for them and then told me to rush home, change and get my equipment. I packed my ’98 Corolla with my turntables, sound system, mixer and as many milk crates of records that I could fit. The music was probably not exactly what the wedding party had in mind, but everyone had fun. My go-to records: “Fantastic Voyage” by Lakeside; “Get Up and Dance” by Freedom; “Double Dutch Bus” by Frankie Smith; “Freak to Freak” by the Sweat Band; “Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky Get Loose” by Teddy Pendergrass; “This Groove Is Bad” by Skyy; “Got Your Money” by Ol’ Dirty Bastard; “Bam Bam” by Sister Nancy; “You’re the One for Me” by D Train; “Da Dip” by MC Luscious & Kinsu; “Give Me a Reason” by Ibibio Sound Machine; “Drop the Bomb” by Trouble Funk; “Freak-A-Zoid” by Midnight Star. Don’t ever ask me to play…: I recently got a request for Lenny Kravitz. That’s probably not going to happen. Also, don’t ever ask me to play anything off of your phone or computer or YouTube or any of that. All vinyl, no exceptions. NEXT GIG: DJ TrashCans spins at Killingsworth Dynasty, 832 N Killingsworth St., on Saturday, Dec. 2. 10 pm. Free. 21+. Killingsworth Dynasty 832 N Killingsworth St Nu skin
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Ave Omari Jazz
WED, NOV. 29 Beech Street Parlor
412 NE Beech Street Freefrom Portland DJs
Beulahland
118 NE 28th Ave Wicked Wednesday (hip-hop)
Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Wu Tang Wednesdays
Elvis Room
203 SE Grand Ave More Wig Flippers! (freakbeat, psych)
Ground Kontrol
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
421 SE Grand Ave Event Horizon w/ DJ Straylight (darkwave, industrial)
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Death Throes w/ DJ Astareth & DJ Grey Deth (death rock, post punk)
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave Dubblife
THU, NOV. 30 Black Book
511 NW Couch St TRONix: Logical Aggression (electro)
20 NW 3rd Ave Ladies Night (rap, r&b)
Sandy Hut
1430 NE Sandy Blvd DJ Just Dave
736 SE Grand Ave A Train and Eagle Sun King (vintage cumbia)
The Know
Elvis Room
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Venus in Furs: A Darkly Gothic Erotic Dance Night
36
The Lovecraft Bar
Dig A Pony
203 SE Grand Ave DJ Montel Spinozza
Jade Club 315 SE 3rd Ave ANGELZ, BIJOU, Ciszak
Pop Tavern
825 N. Killingsworth I Feel Mysterious Today (post-punk)
Sandy Hut
1430 NE Sandy Blvd DJ Elizabeth Elder
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St DJ Smooth Hopperator
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Shadowplay (goth, industrial, 80s)
White Owl Social Club 1305 SE 8th Ave East Taken by Force (rock ‘n roll)
FRI, DEC. 1 45 East
315 SE 3rd Ave Terravita + Shlump
Bit House Saloon 727 SE Grand Ave Believe You Me & NoFOMO present Moscoman
BUZZ LIST Where to drink this week.
BAR REVIEW HENRY CROMETT
TOP 5
1.
Alderman’s Portland Tavern
71 SW 2nd Ave., 971-229-1657, aldermanspdx.com. In the former Thirsty Lion space, the new owners have put together a muchimproved beer list and much-improved food menu.
2. Saraveza
1004 N Killingsworth St., 503-206-4252, saraveza.com. Through December, Saraveza is tapping a different barrel from the larders each and every week: cool stuff, rare stuff, old stuff. Cool.
3. The Trap
3805 SE 52nd Ave., 503-777-6009. Karaoke dive the Trap, on Foster, has gotten itself a makeover, with a new enclosed patio and marble-topped bar. But don’t worry: It’s still the Trap.
4. Growler’s Taproom
3343 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 971-229-0972, growlers.net. Long a poor cousin among bottle shops, Growler’s has new owners, a great new taplist, a nice patio with a food cart and a friendly former Brewers Guild president behind the bar. Hooo!
5. Stammtisch
401 NE 28th Ave., 503-206-7983, stammtischpdx.com. Stammtisch just added an echt-Deutsch choucroute garnie. Do something different and have it with German wine instead of beer.
Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave The Cave (rap, r&b, club)
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St 80’s Video Dance Attack
Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Strange Babes
Hawthorne Eagle Lodge
4904 SE Hawthorne Blvd In The Cooky Jar (r&b, soul)
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St First Friday Superjam (funk, soul, disco)
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St Uplift
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave DoublePlusDANCE w/ DJ Acid Rick & DJ Carrion (new wave, synth, goth)
The Steep and Thorny Way to Heaven SE 2nd Ave. & Hawthorne Blvd Brickbat Mansion (goth)
Toffee Club
1006 SE Hawthorne Blvd Sticky Toffee All-Stars (house, disco)
Whiskey Bar
31 NW 1st Ave Mettā w/ Minnesota, Psymbionic
BIG AND SHINY: Typically, when a restaurateur has space for two projects under one roof, a full-service restaurant gets a big, open area and the bar gets tucked into whatever is left. When people are drinking, I suppose the thinking goes, they don’t mind being somewhere smaller, darker and more hidden. The new Dossier Hotel decided to do the opposite, situating an Italian restaurant called Omerta in a small subterranean space and giving the airy 2,000-square-foot room up front to Opal Bar (750 SW Alder St., 503294-9000, opalbarpdx.com). Half of this plan went very poorly—despite a big-name management group including ChefStable’s Kurt Huffman, Omerta closed after just three months of making pasta inside hollowed-out cheese wheels. Opal Bar is the trade-off. It’s one of the most stylish new bar spaces in town, with 13-foot ceilings criss-crossed in black walnut beams, gorgeous black-and-white-diamond-shaped marble tile floors and inviting jade leather banquettes that snake beautifully around the room. The drinks are worthy of the space, like the Harlem River ($12) made with aged rum, almond syrup, Borghetti coffee liqueur and citrus served in an oversized crystal tumbler. The bites, sadly, are overpriced and unimpressive—a $14 cheese board with three small wedges, four thin slices of apple and a smear of apricot mustard should have cost half as much. But the room and the cocktails are grand enough to make up for it. MARTIN CIZMAR. SAT, DEC. 2 45 East
315 SE 3rd Ave ATB
Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave The Ruckus (rap, r&b, club)
Crush Bar
1400 SE Morrison St Pants OFF Dance OFF
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St 90’s Dance Flashback
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St Gran Ritmos x Club Tropicana
Killingsworth Dynasty
832 N Killingsworth St Questionable Decisions: Funky Lit Dynasty Dance Party
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave Sugar Town: SnoBall Holiday Party
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St Tropitaal Desi Latino Soundclash
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Expressway to Yr Skull w/ MisPrid & friends (shoegaze, deathrock, indie) Death Trip w/ DJ Tobias (rock, psych, garage)
The Paris Theatre 6 SW 3rd Ave Latin Club Night
The Wayback
4719 N Albina Ave Soul Good (funk, soul, boogie)
Valentines
232 SW Ankeny St Halcyon (nu disco, house)
SUN, DEC. 3 Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave Flux (rap, r&b, club)
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St Black Sunday: DJ Nate C. (metal)
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St Reaganomix: DJ Jay ‘KingFader’ Bosch (80s)
Lombard Pub
3416 N Lombard St DJ Andy Maximum (punk, powerpop, garage)
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Black Mass (goth, post punk)
TUE, DEC. 5 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Anjali & The Incredible Kid
Kelly’s Olympian
Star Theater
426 SW Washington St Party Damage: DJ AM Gold
The Lovecraft Bar
100 NW Broadway Recycle (dark dance)
Tube
3341 SE Belmont St HOTT MT
13 NW 6th Ave Hive (goth, industrial) 421 SE Grand Ave Sad Day 18 NW 3rd Ave Sunday Funday
MON, DEC. 4 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Morning Remorse & Maxx Bass
The Embers Avenue
The Liquor Store
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Sleepwalk w/ DJ Miz Margo (deathrock, gothrock)
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave Tubesdays w/ DJ Jack
Valentines
232 SW Ankeny St FREQ(uency) 002
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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Cheap drinks. Dope beats. Free entry. All shows 5–7pm.
ARTS PERFORMANCE R U SS E L L J. YO U N G
Give!Guide
rEvA DEviTO NOVEMBER 29
SirEn AnDTHE SEA DECEMBER 6
FACING OFF: Robert Pescovitz, Luisa Sermol, Val Landrum
Generation Gap
THE HUMANS DEPICTS A THANKSGIVING FRAUGHT WITH FAMILY TENSION. BY R MITCHELL MILLER
nATASHA kmETO DECEMBER 13 DJ set
HOSTED BY
1305 SE 8th Ave, Portland // 21+
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Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
The Humans is mesmerizing from the moment you take your seat. The expansive two-story set is a dingy apartment with unadorned, off-white walls. The bottom level is two tables of different heights pushed together for Thanksgiving dinner, a small couch and kitchenette. Upstairs is a bathroom and a “bedroom”—an inflatable mattress pushed into an enclave by the main entrance. It’s the new home of millennial Brigid (Quinlan Fitzgerald) and her boyfriend Rich (John San Nicolas). They’re hosting their first Thanksgiving dinner for Brigid’s family: her Baby Boomer parents Deirdre (Luisa Sermol) and Erik (Robert Pescovitz), sister Aimee (Val Landrum) and paternal grandmother “Momo” (Vana O’Brien). It’s the first time Deirdre and Erik have seen their daughter’s Manhattan apartment, and there’s a lot they don’t like about it. There are roaches. The only window looks into an “interior courtyard” that they can’t access, and onto which smokers dump their ashtrays. The neighborhood makes them nervous. “I think if you moved out to Pennsylvania your quality of life would shoot up,” Erik says with note-perfect dad-irony that suggests he genuinely thinks he’s correct, but also knows his daughter will never take the advice. That generational tension is the basis for New York playwright Stephen Karam’s sprawling, realist play. Though the family’s bonds are unbreakable, they’re perpetually pulled taut by irreconcilable world views. The Humans embarked on its first national tour earlier this year after a multiple-Tony awardwinning stint on Broadway. But Artist’s Repertory
Theatre received special permission from Karam to mount its own production, since Karam worked with Artist’s Rep early in his career. With its naturalistic dialogue and loose sense of plot, The Humans is in many ways a traditional living-room drama. But it uses convention as the basis for subtle yet effective experimentation like its twostory set. Proof of Karam’s grasp of humanity is his ability to write millennial characters with humor, but without making everything they do a punchline. Erik tries to connect with Rich, the high-minded grad student, by occasionally pacing over to the window, the only place in the apartment where his phone gets reception, to check the score of the Lions game. “Detroit is up 7-0,” he tells him, but Rich hardly reacts. Later, Brigid asks her parents if they eat any superfoods. “I went and bought blueberries last week,” Deirdre responds. “They’re not cheap.” But The Humans is not just about generational divides. It’s also about loneliness and isolation within your own family. Even while participating in an annual tradition, each person is isolated from the rest of the group in at least one meaningful way. The split-level set allows each character a fleeting moment to tell their individual story. In one scene, Aimee leaves the rest of the group to go up stairs and call her ex-girlfriend. She paces nervously while trying to keep the call alive, but it’s no use. When her ex hangs up, she’s crushed, and retreats to the inflatable mattress to sit alone. Like most of the play, it’s a small, isolated moment. But it’s the ability to make even the most banal moments so impactful that makes The Humans endlessly fascinating. SEE IT: The Humans is at Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., artistsrep.org. 7:30 pm Tuesday-Sunday, through Dec. 17. $50-$60.
= 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 Pericles Wet
Pericles is one of Shakespeare’s most baffling plays. In the decade-spanning plot, there’s incest, banishment, faked deaths and real deaths. It’s a lot to tackle, but Portland playwright Ellen Margolis was up for the challenge. She’s rewritten the script and retooled the story for a modern setting. The play was workshopped last year, but it’s only now that Pericles Wet is premiering in full. Artists Repertory Theatre, Alder Stage, 1516 SW Alder St., artistsrep.org. 7:30 pm ThursdaySaturday, 2 pm Sunday Dec. 1-17. $30.
Marisol
ALSO PLAYING Psychic Utopia
Hand2Mouth’s new play captures the rise and fall of a fictional Oregon commune. It’s called the Center, and like most communes, it’s a destination for people who are seeking love, friendship and spiritual enlightenment. The semi-interactive play flows dreamily from one moment to the next, powered by eerie, ambient music. Rather than pity or psychoanalyze the characters, the play simply seeks to understand their lives at the Center. That means illuminating the commune’s darker side, but it also means acknowledging that the Center really does offer glorious, mindexpanding experiences. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. New Expressive Works, 810 SE Belmont St., hand2mouththeatre.org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Friday, through Dec. 2 and at 2 pm and 5:30 pm Sunday Dec. 3. $25.
DANCE Lexicon
BodyVox starts its second decade as one of Portland’s most unconventional contemporary dance compa-
COMEDY Stand Up for Pits
Pitbulls are one of the most adorable things society has ever decided to vilify. Touring organization Stand Up For Pits raises awareness and money for pit-friendly rescues, and features stand-up by Washington native Rebecca Corry (whose comedy career and love of pitbulls long predates the recent media storm she’s recently experienced as one of the women to accuse Louis C.K. of sexual misconduct). There will also be a silent auction to benefit Eugenebased rescue NW Dog Project, who are bringing some of their doggos that you can apply to adopt. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., portland.heliumcomedy.com. Donation drive and dog meet-and-greet 4-7 pm, 7:30 pm comedy show. Sunday, Dec. 3. $40.
Every year, John Waters brings his touring seasonal show to the Aladdin theater. The one-man storytelling show gleefully rolls in Yuletide filth and debauchery, whether by sexualizing Santa and/or his reindeer, or with satisfying rants about persnickety family members. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., aladdin-theater.com. 8 pm Wednesday, Nov. 29. $39.50.
Christmas Carol
In Portland, you have many annual options if you want to see Charles Dickens’ classic tale about three ghosts teaching a man the true meaning of Christmas. But if you’re looking for the most traditional, pristinely produced version, the Portland Playhouse show is probably the way to go. Its annual production manages to use enough creative staging to satiate adventurous theater-goers without throwing off traditionalists. Hampton Opera Center, 221 SE Caruthers St., portlandplayhouse. org. 7 pm Tuesday-Sunday, Dec. 2-30. $34-$59.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29 Sean Tejaratchi
Schlock lover, shock Photoshopper, former Portlander and friend to Jim Goad, Sean Tejaratchi will be in town with his book Liartown! The First Four Years 2013-2017 compiling the hits from his blog. Revel in bizarro satirical mash-ups like “Ann Coulter’s Handy Guide to Competitive Speed Fisting” and “The Diseases of Gene Hackman.” Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.
THURSDAY, NOV. 30 Joe Biden: American Promise Tour
For more Performance listings, visit
PREVIEW C O U R T E SY O F FAC E B O O K .C O M
Act of God
John Waters Christmas
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
BY MATTHEW KORFHAGE. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit lecture or reading information at least two weeks in advance to: WORDS, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: words@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
In José Rivera’s 1993 play, God begins to lose his mind. So all of Heaven’s angels are forced to wage war against their creator to prevent him from destroying the world. That means main character Marisol loses her guardian angel at the beginning of the play, forcing her to navigate the dying, treacherous world without her protector. Portland Actors Conservatory will take on the bizarre yet beautifully poetic script. Shoebox Theatre, 2110 SE 10th Ave., pac.edu. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday Dec. 1-17. $20.
Instead of the expected Christmas play, Triangle Productions is producing something more difficult to categorize. In the 2015 play, God decides to assume physical form, come down to Earth and clear up humanity’s misconceptions about him. Act of God is an irreverent comedy that, in its most recent Broadway iteration, starred Sean Hayes of Will and Grace as God. For its Portland premiere, the play will be produced by the equally irreverent but good-natured Triangle Productions. The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., trianglepro.org. 7:30 pm ThursdaySaturday, 2 pm Sunday, Nov.30-Dec. 16. $15-$35.
BOOKS
nies with a new show that will involve video projections and lasers. BodyVox Dance Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave., bodyvox.com. 7:30 pm. Through Dec. 16. $24-$56.
Lest you wonder whether “Trans Am” Joe Biden is contemplating a run for president in three years at the age of approximately 103, Here’s his memoir about the death of his son, America at the crossroads and his own resilience. He’ll be hangin’ at the Schnitz to talk about his new book Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose. VIP tickets are $325, and include a handshake from Uncle Joe. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 503248-4335. 7:30-8:30 pm. $25-$325.
Family can be a bitch. Apparently crappy, incompetent, vindictive Amy March in Little Women was Louisa Alcott’s revenge conjuring of her own sister May. Wonderful Jo, who forgives May for being so pathetic and useless, was Louisa’s vision of herself. Well, history’s a bitch, too. May, apparently a talented and dedicated artist, was hated by her family for turning down a marriage proposal from some rich dude. She’ll get her due in a new novel, The Other Alcott, by Elise Hooper. Powell’s Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.
Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America
Portland Podcast Festival
Since Portland comedy is bursting at the seams, it only makes sense that more and more comedians are broadcasting their work for a national audience. This year, the comedy podcast alliance Rivercity Podcast Federation was created, All Jane Comedy Festival webstreamed its sets and now, there’s the first annual Portland Podcast Festival. Co-founded by comedian Jason Lamb, a host of the long-running showcase Minority Retort, the festival will include a whopping 13 podcasts over two stages. Alongside Minority Retort, there will be live recordings of other long-running shows like Control Yourself, which just launched a podcast this year. But there are also plenty of wildcards like Caitlin Weierhauser’s Harry Potter fan theory show, Room of Requirement 237, and there will be more than just comedy. The lineup also includes movie podcasts, a self-care podcast and another about cycling. It’s an interesting mix that could be either hectic or epic. Let’s hope it’s epic. SHANNON GORMLEY. SEE IT: Portland Podcast Festival is at Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE Cesar E Chavez Blvd., pdxpodfestival.com. 6 pm to midnight. $14.50. 21+.
MONDAY, DEC. 4 In the Shadows of the American Century
Alfred McCoy is a scholar of the seething underbellies of the world, from the opium traffickers of the Golden Triangle to the many mob syndicates of Southeast Asia and worldwide governments’ fetish for surveillance. In the Shadows of the American Century moves from Asia to offer a history of a much more powerful crime syndicate: the United States government. McCoy documents our largely hidden quest to dominate the world through shady cyberwar and control overinformation, trade and even outer space. Powell’s Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.
The Other Alcott
FRIDAY, DEC. 1
Neeraj Srinivasan of Minority Retort
time in the Portland Jewish Association library. There’ll be plenty of books for sale at a Channukkah craft fair next door, with a latke lunch at the cafe. Mittleman Jewish Community Center, Schnitzer Family Campus, 6651 SW Capitol Highway. 10 am-2 pm.
One of the signal grievances lobbied by America against the British was the system of beggar’s prisons that sent so many of our ancestors here to work off the crime of being poor. In his new book Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America, law professor Peter Edelman explains we haven’t come so far, as evidenced by the Justice Department’s Ferguson Report about mostly black citizens forced into jail sentences after being levied a series of punitive fines. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.
SATURDAY, DEC. 2 Dr. Amir Whitaker
It is a week, apparently, of inspirational stories. In the Knucklehead’s Guide to Escaping the Trap, Amir Whitaker tells the story of how he went from being from an imprisoned drug dealer expelled from school to a world traveler and holder of five college degrees. Not just a reading or speech, Mother Foucault’s will apparently be rocking a full multimedia production. Live music, hip-hop, dance, poetry, video, photos and the music of Kendrick Lamar are promised. Mother Foucault’s, 523 SE Morrison St. 7-9 pm.
SUNDAY, DEC. 3 Books and Bagels
It’s Jewish Book Month, so Cafe at the J will be celebrating with bagels and story
Handmade
A self-described Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for the maker set, local furniture craftsman Gary Rogowski’s Handmade: Creative Focus in the Age of Distraction is a meditation on the beauty and therapeutic value of making a well-made chair. Rogowski argues that the focus, determination and inherent value of fine craft is an antidote to the damaging and continual distraction of life in the modern ... oh, sorry, lost my train of thought. I got a text. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800878-7323. 7:30 pm.
TUESDAY, DEC. 5 Following Fifi: My Adventures Among Wild Chimpanzees
While every other college kid spent a year tooling around Britain or France developing lifelong pretensions, John Crocker was hanging with Jane Goodall in the Gombe studying chimps in the wild, including famous mom Fifi. His book, Following Fifi, details his experience with Goodall and the chimpanzees, and draws it into the context of human behavior and evolution. Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, 800-878-7323. 7 pm.
Barry Gifford With Willy Vlautin
Over the course of seven books, Barry Gifford’s Sailor and Lula books are one of the great American epics of the past 30 years. In his new bildungsroman The Cuban Club, he tackles his hometown of Chicago with 67 linked stories about a young innocent in the ’50s getting his eyes widened even farther by a pack of mob toughs. Portland’s own lover of hard lives and stark landscapes, novelist and musician Willy Vlautin, will join him in conversation. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
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C O U R T E S Y O F W E H AV E O U R WAY S . C O M
MOVIES Screener
GET YO U R REPS IN
Dead Man (1995)
Jim Jarmusch’s black and white psychedelic Western stars Johnny Depp and features Iggy Pop. Though it opened to mixed reviews, it has since carved out its own little niche as a weirdo masterpiece. NW Film, Dec. 4.
Edward Scissorhands (1990) Tim Burton’s Frankenstein-meetsthe-struggles-of-a-young-artist tale is a rallying cry for mall goths everywhere. Hollywood, Dec. 4.
Her (2013)
Remember when questioning the boundary between self and technology seemed like uncharted territory? Four years after it was released, the movie starring Scarlett Johansson as a cell phone now feels like a cultural touchstone instead of just a mindbending oddity. 5th Avenue, Dec. 1-3.
Sidony O’Neal and Paige Moreland
New World Order
Suspiria (1977)
For decades, the 35mm original cut of baffling, proto-slasher arthouse flick Suspiria was perhaps the most sought-after print in the world. When Dario Argento’s film was first released, it was a sensation around the world—with a haunting musicbox score and unprecedented gore heightened by lurid Technicolor red. It was recently discovered at an abandoned Italian movie theater, and has now made its way to Portland for three screenings. Unsurprisingly, they’re all sold out. NW Film, Dec, 1-3.
WE HAVE OUR WAYS FINDS HOPE IN A DARK, NEAR FUTURE.
KIM NGUYEN
But Our Ways is a sharp turn from Sista, A little more than a year ago, Portland film- which is a day-in-the-life story based on maker Dawn Jones Redstone threw out the Jones Redstone’s firsthand experiences as blueprint for what would have been her a Latina construction worker. But Jones second movie. Redstone says the dramatic shift in genre “We originally had a darker, totally dif- of Our Ways genre was secondary. ferent story, and then the election hap“We wanted to feature a woman pened,” says Jones Redstone. of color and also comment But in a weird twist, that on what it’s like to be in an meant Jones Redstone’s project increasingly oppressive in the works got more hopeful. environment,” she says. A “We saw more resistance— suspenseful movie set in these brief moments of a not-too-distant future hope,” she says. seemed like the best fit. Still, the resulting For the most part, the short film, We Have Our machinations of the Ways, isn’t exactly feelregime that looms over good. Set in a grim 2023, the O u r Wa ys a r e i m p l i e d dystopian sci-fi shows the high rather than explained. In stakes, illegal attempts of Regina one scene, Regina and Abigail Jones Redstone (Sidony O’Neal) to get her friend hurry down a shadowy hospital Abigail (Paige Moreland) to a doctor who hallway after a meeting with a potential can perform an abortion. doctor. When they hear a police siren in Though she’s worked on dozens of films the distance, they whisper concerns about through her production company Hearts breaking curfew. and Sparks, Our Ways is only Jones RedBut there are moments when the movie stone’s second film. It’s her follow-up to draws far more pointed analogies. Regina last year’s semi-autobiographical Sista in is a customer service rep for a major the Brotherhood, which also starred O’Neal. healthcare company. Though she isn’t Like Sista, Our Ways was co-written with leading the protests that frequently march Kjerstin Johnson (the former editor-in- outside her office windows, Regina finds chief of Bitch magazine), and it was made her own way to resist. Her sales points are with an all-women, mostly women-of-color, decreasing because she often overrides the crew. Ana Del Rocio, who plays a doctor’s constant denials of coverage. She covertly assistant in the movie, is a member of the texts the address of an underground clinic Oregon House of Representatives who has to the callers she has to deny. advocated for reproductive justice. “This story shows the connections 40
Willamette Week NOVEMBER 29, 2017 wweek.com
between various ways that we don’t have power, and also suggests a response, or how we might respond while still nurturing ourselves,” says Jones Redstone. In one scene, Regina and Abigail preciously pour a few milliliters of water into the soil of their houseplant plant that they’ve named Judith. There’s a prolonged close-up of the water soaking into the soil. On one hand, it’s meant to depict life in a dark future—in 2023, clean drinking water has become scarce. But it’s also a moment amid chaos that both women have taken to nurture something. Still, Our Ways doesn’t dictate a clear path for its audience, or for its characters. Instead of a clear resolution, Our Ways leaves its audience to guess its characters’ fate. “When you are able to watch a story and put things together for yourself,” says Jones Redstone, “It can be more powerful than something that sets out to overtly tell or teach you something.” But while the political message was of deeply personal importance, Jones Redstone says the main impetus was just making the kind of movie she’d want to see. “The best films have these glimpses of what it means to be human, and that’s what I look for when I’m making something,” says Jones Redstone. “This is a story I very much connect with and want to share.” SEE IT: We Have Our Ways premieres at Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., cstpdx.com. 2 pm Sunday, Dec. 3. Sold out.
Scrooged (1988)
If you’re hoping to watch Bill Murray getting haunted by some Christmas ghosts this week, you have options. Academy, Dec. 1-7. Hollywood, Dec.. 1. Mission, Dec. 2-6
ALSO PLAYING:
Clinton: The Little Prince (1966), Nov. 29. Trading Places (1983), Dec. 9. Hollywood: Edward Scissorhands (1990), Nov. 4. Laurelhurst: The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Nov. 29-30. Mission: Home Alone (year), Nov. 2-6. NW Film: Gabriel Over the White House (1933), Dec. 1. The Cat Returns (2002), Dec. 2. Baby Face (1933), Dec. 2. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit (2005), Dec. 3.
COURTESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
BY L AU R E N T E R RY
Edward Scissorhands
COURTESY OF PIXAR
Coco Editor: SHANNON GORMLEY. 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: sgormley@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 American Made
American Made is like a black-market Forrest Gump—just slick and loose enough to outweigh its historical foolishness. It tells the hyperbolized story of pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), who flew covert smuggling missions for the CIA and Medellín drug cartel in the early ’80s. Seal’s wild brushes with figures like Oliver North, Manuel Noriega and George W. Bush are rendered with narration and montage. Director Doug Liman doesn’t just make Tom Cruise act, he makes him sweat and stumble through the action sequences. The director-star dynamic made a hit of their first movie together (Edge of Tomorrow), and it’s what makes American Made work, too. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Laurelhurst, Vancouver.
Battle of the Sexes
Battle of the Sexes had every excuse to be a straightforward biopic. It retells the epic 1973 tennis match between rising women’s tennis star Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and aging legend Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell), who publicly proclaimed he could beat King because she is a woman and he is a man. It’s already an epic premise that could have just piggybacked on Emma Stone’s post-La La Land high. But it goes further, creating multidimensional characters and taking a nuanced look at gender dynamics in the ’70s.. PG-13. LAUREN TERRY. Living Room Theaters.
Blade Runner 2049
With an overwhelming dissonant, bassy score by Hans Zimmer, 2049 looks and sounds spectacular. But as a testament to the influence of the original, there isn’t much 2049 has to add about how technology blurs our sense of self and soul. 2049 seems less concerned with tiny moments of emotion than big reveals from a twisty plot that seems to define 2049’s imaginative boundaries rather than expand them. Still, it’s one hell of a spectacle. R. SHANNON GORMLEY. Bridgeport, Eastport, Living Room Theaters, Lloyd.
Coco
Pixar’s transcendent fable follows
a young boy named Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) who lives in Mexico and dreams of becoming a musician like his long-dead idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). Miguel’s family disapproves of his guitar-filled dreams, but Coco isn’t Footloose for musicians—it’s a Dia de los Muertos odyssey that sends Miguel on a trippy trek to the afterlife, where he seeks validation from de la Cruz’s fame-hungry ghost. Nestled beneath the film’s cheery mayhem, however, is an overwhelmingly powerful meditation on memory, mortality and familial love. Miguel may make some extraordinary discoveries in the great beyond, but the most beautiful thing in Coco is his realization that the only place he wants to journey to is the home he left behind. PG. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bagdad Theater, Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Living Room Theaters, Lloyd, Milwaukie, Moreland, Oak Grove, St. Johns Twin Cinema & Pub, Tigard, Vancouver.
Dunkirk
In Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, we get to follow a few soldiers and pilots and civilians at sea, but they’re more like stand-ins for the other 400,000 like them marooned on the beach or assisting in the rescue effort. That’s fine, though. This movie doesn’t really need characters, and wasting time on distracting details like what’s waiting at home for these boys would only slow down the headlong pacing of the operation. I don’t think this film will win Best Picture at next year’s Oscars, but it’s a shoo-in a handful of technical nominations. PG-13. R. MITCHELL MILLER. Empirical, Vancouver.
The Florida Project
Six-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Kimberly Prince) lives in a harsh, impoverished world. The Florida Project’s heroine resides in a budget motel. Her mother, Halley (Bria Vinaite), is so strapped for cash that she has to work as a petty thief and a prostitute to make rent. The movie makes you worry that both mother and daughter will either starve, go broke or, given their delightful but dangerous recklessness, be dead by the time the end credits roll. Yet director Sean Baker’s luminous odyssey overflows
with wit and joy. That’s mainly because of the happiness Moonee finds with her friend Jancey (Valeria Cotto) as they frolic across the sun-soaked outskirts of Orlando, Fla. Rather than begging us to pity these pint-sized scoundrels, Baker (Tangerine) lets us bask in the joy of their parent-free adventures. Most of all, there’s the wild image of Moonee and Jancey sprinting together, laying claim to a world that may be brutal and imperfect, but is still theirs. R. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Fox Tower.
Happy Death Day
A sorority girl named Tree (Jessica Roth) wakes up in the dorm of a guy she met the night before. She can’t remember anything from the night before when she was blacked out. It’s her birthday, and by the end of the night someone will have brutally murdered her. But then, as the knife drives into her, she wakes up—in the same dorm. She’s doomed to re-live the same day, Groundhog Daystyle. That may sound funny in a kitschy way, but really, it’s just an unrewarding slog. PG-13. R. MITCHELL MILLER. Vancouvert.
Killing of a Sacred Deer
Steve Murphy (Colin Farrell) is living the American dream. He’s a successful cardiologist who lives in the suburbs with his wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) and their two children. But it doesn’t take long into The Killing of a Sacred Deer, director Yorgos Lanthimos’ follow-up to The Lobster, before we realize that something is off. We meet an awkward teenager named Martin (Barry Keoghan). When Martin is revealed to be a sinister supernatural presence, the tension of the psychological thriller begins to build. Ultimately, Sacred Deer disrupts your understanding of familial love and loyalty so much that by the end of the movie, you’re forced to succumb to a world where logic cannot survive. R. SETH SHALER. Cinema 21.
Lady Bird
In Greta Gerwig’s writer/director debut, Christine, who insists on being called Lady Bird, is a high school senior growing up in Sacramento, which she loathingly refers to as the Midwest of California. Desperate to break free from mediocrity, Lady Bird slowly abandons her theater-kid friends for a group of rich kids. With that familiar premise and warm, faded lighting, Gerwig has crafted a sprawling story in which every character is subject to Gerwig’s absurd humor as much as her deep empathy. Lady Bird comes alive in its moments of teenage freedom. But what makes the movie so uniquely touching is Lady Bird’s tense interactions with her mom—It’s rare to see a relationship between two complicated women portrayed with such care
and empathy. Still, Lady Bird is endearing because of her boldness, not in spite of it. R. SHANNON GORMLEY. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Fox Tower, Hollywood, Lloyd, Tigard, Vancouver.
Last Flag Flying
Larry (Steve Carrell), Sal (Bryan Cranston) and Richard (Laurence Fishburne) served together in Vietnam. Larry seeks out his two old war buddies and enlists them to help him transport his son’s remains to New Hampshire for burial. We’ve known for a while now that Carrell is more than just Michael Scott, but his acting here hit me like a grenade. The only gunshots fired in the two-hour runtime are ceremonial. Yet I left the theater feeling emotionally battered like I had just sat through a war movie. R. R. MITCHELL MILLER. Living Room.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
A year ago, Mildred Hayes’ (Frances McDormand) daughter Angela was raped and murdered. Now, the case has stalled for the hothead Ebbing police department. So she decides to rent the billboards so that they display three messages: “Raped While Dying”; “And Still No Arrests?”; “How Come, Chief Willoughby?” But the billboards divide the town. The residents of Ebbing are forced to choose between the mother whose daughter was brutally killed and the popular Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), who’s dying of pancreatic cancer. It would be easy to imagine the premise as a seriously dark and thoughtful drama. But in the hands of writer/director Martin McDonagh, what emerges is a seriously dark and thoughtful comedy. The townspeople of Ebbing are all a little (or a lot) off. Still, each character does their own small part to breathe life into their town, which on one hand is creepy and on the other is compassionate and quick to forgive. R. R. MITCHELL MILLER. Bridgeport, City Center, Clackamas, Fox Tower, Hollywood, Oak Grove.
Thor: Ragnarok
The film pits Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the forever-buff God of Thunder, against yet another apparently indestructible menace: his genocidal sister Hela (Blanchett), who wears a creepy, antler-covered helmet. She has good reason to despise Thor, but any hint of pathos is squashed by lazy writing— the movie expects you to giggle every time someone says the word “anus.” It’s a glorified commercial for next year’s Avengers: Infinity War. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Vancouver.
Victoria & Abdul
Even the power of Judi Dench’s fearsome gaze isn’t enough to redeem Victoria & Abdul, a white-savior fantasy from director Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Queen). At the center of the plot is Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), an Indian prison clerk who travels to England to present Queen Victoria (Dench, who also played Queen Victoria in 1997’s Mrs Brown) with a ceremonial coin. We learn little of Abdul’s life, family or personality. Instead, the film uses him as a means for Victoria to prove her nobility. It’s meant to be a tender story of an unlikely friendship, but it’s hardly about friendship at all. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Fox Tower.
Wind River
Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation is as sprawling as it is empty. It’s prone to blizzards except for when it’s too cold even for snow. It’s a hell of a place to examine an ignored America and a fitting setting for a noir thriller. In the directorial debut from Taylor Sheridan (writer of Sicario and Hell or High Water) a game tracker (Jeremy Renner) discovers the frozen body of a young Native woman. A hardscrabble investigation unfolds, and the tracker joins forces with an FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen), the tribal police chief (Graham Greene) and myriad snowmobiles. Sheridan excels at simple turns of phrase and leading us into a rat’s nest of violence. But Wind River meditates on loss more than it burns through plot, and it occasionally feels heavy handed. We get it—Renner’s character has a backstory that makes this crime personal. There are constant references to predators and prey, and it’s fueled with male aggression and female pain. But while those pitfalls are common, Wind River’s unexplored geography, depth of spirit and honoring of survivalism are not. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Fox Tower
Wonderstruck
Wonderstruck interlocks heartfelt storylines about two deaf children who run away to New York City, Ben (Oakes Fegley) and Rose (Millicent Simmonds). The eighth movie by Portland-based director Todd Haynes (I’m Not There, Far From Heaven) is unabashedly sentimental. Eventually, Ben and Rose’s connection is explained through a lengthy, didactic monologue. It pulls the loose ends a little too tight, and some previously miraculous moments lose their magic once they’re revealed to serve a plot summary. But even when its symbolism is more on the nose than evocative, Wonderstruck’s message about finding wonder in daily life is still vivid. PG. SHANNON GORMLEY. Academy, Laurelhurst.
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POTLANDER
ROSIE STRUVE
#wweek
Healthy Harvest HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF IF YOU’RE TRIMMING CANNABIS DURING HARVEST. BY L AU R E N TE R RY
SATURDAY DECEMBER 16TH 12PM-2PM REGISTER AT WWW.DANCEVISCOUNT.COM
If you’ve never spent time as a trimmer at an outdoor farm, you probably envision a pot harvest being like a super-chill camping trip: friends smoking joints and drinking beers around a bonfire as they trim freshly cut buds for generous wages. The reality is that it’s hard labor that can wreak havoc on your body if you don’t take as good of care of yourself as you do the rows of meticulously hung branches in the cure room. Since traditional payment is by the pound, you don’t make money when you aren’t trimming. This means most trimmers work 12-hour days, constantly gripping a pair of scissors, with brief breaks for meals and a quick smoke sesh while choosing which podcast to put on next. T h a t u n i n t e r r u pt e d st r a i n o n y o u r muscles in your hand can freeze up the rest of your forearm, in some cases l e a d t o g a n g l i o n c y st s a n d n u m b n e s s. If you’re trimming in the curing area, there will be humidifiers drawing moisture out of the air in the room, giving you airplane skin for the duration of the harvest. That being said, a good day working around a trim table can be a paid vacation, with great conversations and playlists. But if you want to work more than a couple of harvests without sustaining injuries or face breakouts that last from Halloween ‘til Christmas, here are my self-maintenance tips to help your body keep up with the demands of trim season. For Every Hour of Trimming, Take 10 Minutes to Stretch Controlling a pair of scissors when manicuring small leaves engages all the muscles in your arm. It’s important to give your muscles time to unwind throughout the day so no tendon is
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strained beyond the point of a good night’s sleep. Stand up, stretch your arms back and look to the sky to give your neck some reprieve. Stretch your hands by spreading out your fingers, touching your palms and pressing your fingertips together until you feel the stretch in your forearms. Give Your Muscles a Smoke Break, Too It’s very disorienting to handle weed that’s too fresh to smoke. Maybe that’s why it’s easy to forget the other forms of cannabis that can be very helpful in the trim room. Smart harvest managers will do a world of good for their crew by keeping a massive communal jar of cannabis topical around, like the Physic Wood/Field Balm by Leif Goods ($65), containing 477 mg THC and 158 mg CBD. Massage into your neck, forearms, hands and anywhere else that feels sore so muscles loosen during breaks. Keep Your Skin Clean and Quenched Between the sticky cannabis pollen floating in the air and the full days surrounded by crispy, dehydrated air, I simultaneously get dry patches and perpetual breakouts every harvest. Remember to start with a double cleanse each night: either use micellar water or an oil cleanser to break up the resin residue in your pores, then wash with normal foamy face wash. Use an exfoliator once a week to clear out the deeper grime, and tone before moisturizing each night with a thicker formula for the unseasonably dry air in the trim area. And if you were beginning to question the utility of those hydrating face mists you impulsively bought over the past year, now is the time to use those bad boys. Use them whenever and as frequently as you like—your skin will appreciate the extra moisture.
RICK VODICKA
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Across 1 What standard, nofrills items lack 16 November 2017 thriller with Denzel Washington in the title role 17 "What a relief!" 18 "... ___ any drop to drink": Coleridge 19 Norse god of wisdom and war 20 Thunder's org. 21 Israeli desert 24 Unlocked 25 1930s
heavyweight champ Max 26 Twelve months from now 28 Pox 29 Explode 30 Double-___ (big mobile homes) 33 Passion 34 Word whose figurative meaning is frowned upon by grammar sticklers 36 Bob of "America's Funniest Home Videos"
39 Ancient artifact 40 Lawyers' org. 43 Take ___ (suffer financial loss) 44 Graduate 46 Deck on a cruise ship 47 Cold-weather transport 50 Retriever restrainer 51 South African golfer Ernie 52 Belgrade resident 53 Lab maze runner 54 Cough syrup
holder 60 "Just a sec!" 61 It may follow a period of inattention Down 1 Mrs., in Madrid 2 "Wonderful" juice brand 3 Former Radiohead label 4 James of gangster films 5 Head over heels for 6 Cracked, as a door 7 Tupperware topper 8 Camera lens setting 9 Crumble away 10 ___ "apple" 11 ___ Vogue 12 Ending for glob 13 Red fox of medieval lore 14 Paul Anka hit subtitled "That Kiss!" 15 More unsophisticated 21 Tiny drink 22 "Ambient 1: Music for Airports" composer Brian 23 Interval 24 Pick out some food 25 Hide well 27 British islet 28 Able to be assessed 31 Before, in old poems 32 Course that gets its own bar? 34 30 Seconds to Mars singer Jared
35 Adjective dropped by rapper Bow Wow 36 Willamette U.'s locale 37 Kansas home of the Eisenhower Presidential Library 38 ___ Purchase (1853 deal with Mexico) 40 Gasteyer of the "NPR's Delicious Dish" sketches 41 School vehicle 42 Incense stick remnant 45 Line of work 47 DIY stuff that might be made with glue and borax 48 Divided, as a highway 49 "___ knew that!" 52 Garbage-hauling ship 53 Completely engrossed 55 "___ Mine" (George Harrison autobiography) 56 Egg container: Abbr. 57 Burns's dissent 58 Serpentine letter 59 Vietnamese holiday last week’s answers
©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.
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Week of November 30
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
I hope that everything doesn’t come too easily for you in the coming weeks. I’m worried you will meet with no obstructions and face no challenges. And that wouldn’t be good. It might weaken your willpower and cause your puzzle-solving skills to atrophy. Let me add a small caveat, however. It’s also true that right about now you deserve a whoosh of slack. I’d love for you to be able to relax and enjoy your well-deserved rewards. But on the other hand, I know you will soon receive an opportunity to boost yourself up to an even higher level of excellence and accomplishment. I want to be sure that when it comes, you are at peak strength and alertness.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
You were born with the potential to give the world specific gifts -- benefits and blessings that are unique to you. One of those gifts has been slow in developing. You’ve never been ready to confidently offer it in its fullness. In fact, if you have tried to bestow it in the past, it may have caused problems. But the good news is that in the coming months, this gift will finally be ripe. You’ll know how to deal crisply with the interesting responsibilities it asks you to take on. Here’s your homework: Get clear about what this gift is and what you will have to do to offer it in its fullness.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Happy Unbirthday, Gemini! You’re halfway between your last birthday and your next. That means you’re free to experiment with being different from who you have imagined yourself to be and who other people expect you to be. Here are inspirational quotes to help you celebrate. 1. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” - George Bernard Shaw. 2. “Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.” - W. Somerset Maugham. 3. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson. 4. “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” - Friedrich Nietzsche.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Here are themes I suggest you specialize in during the coming weeks. 1. How to gossip in ways that don’t diminish and damage your social network, but rather foster and enhance it. 2. How to be in three places at once without committing the mistake of being nowhere at all. 3. How to express precisely what you mean without losing your attractive mysteriousness. 4. How to be nosy and brash for fun and profit. 5. How to unite and harmonize the parts of yourself and your life that have been at odds with each other.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
I predict that in the coming months you won’t feel compulsions to set your adversaries’ hair on fire. You won’t fantasize about robbing banks to raise the funds you need, nor will you be tempted to worship the devil. And the news just gets better. I expect that the amount of self-sabotage you commit will be close to zero. The monsters under your bed will go on a long sabbatical. Any lame excuses you have used in the past to justify bad behavior will melt away. And you’ll mostly avoid indulging in bouts of irrational and unwarranted anger. In conclusion, Scorpio, your life should be pretty evilfree for quite some time. What will you do with this prolonged outburst of grace? Use it wisely!
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
“What is love?” asks philosopher Richard Smoley. “It’s come to have a greeting-card quality,” he mourns. “Half the time ‘loving’ someone is taken to mean nurturing a warmish feeling in the heart for them, which mysteriously evaporates the moment the person has some concrete need or irritates us.” One of your key assignments in the next ten months will be to purge any aspects of this shrunken and shriveled kind of love that may still be lurking in your beautiful soul. You are primed to cultivate an unprecedented new embodiment of mature, robust love.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
In an ideal world, your work and your character would speak for themselves. You’d receive exactly the amount of recognition and appreciation you deserve. You wouldn’t have to devote as much intelligence to selling yourself as you did to developing your skills in the first place. But now forget everything I just said. During the next ten months, I predict that packaging and promoting yourself won’t be so #$@&%*! important. Your work and character WILL speak for themselves with more vigor and clarity than they have before.
In his book Life: The Odds, Gregory Baer says that the odds you will marry a millionaire are not good: 215-to-1. They’re 60,000-to-1 that you’ll wed royalty and 88,000to-1 that you’ll date a model. After analyzing your astrological omens for the coming months, I suspect your chances of achieving these feats will be even lower than usual. That’s because you’re far more likely to cultivate synergetic and symbiotic relationships with people who enrich your soul and stimulate your imagination, but don’t necessarily pump up your ego. Instead of models and millionaires, you’re likely to connect with practical idealists, energetic creators, and emotionally intelligent people who’ve done work to transmute their own darkness.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
What might you do to take better care of yourself in 2018, Virgo? According to my reading of the astrological omens, this will be a fertile meditation for you to keep revisiting. Here’s a good place to start: Consider the possibility that you have a lot to learn about what makes your body operate at peak efficiency and what keeps your soul humming along with the sense that your life is interesting. Here’s another crucial task: Intensify your love for yourself. With that as a driving force, you’ll be led to discover the actions necessary to supercharge your health. P.S. Now is an ideal time to get this project underway.
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
You know that unfinished task you have half-avoided, allowing it to stagnate? Soon you’ll be able to summon the gritty determination required to complete it. I suspect you’ll also be able to carry out the glorious rebirth you’ve been shy about climaxing. To gather the energy you need, reframe your perspective so that you can feel gratitude for the failure or demise that has made your glorious rebirth necessary and inevitable.
I suggest that you take a piece of paper and write down a list of your biggest fears. Then call on the magical force within you that is bigger and smarter than your fears. Ask your deep sources of wisdom for the poised courage you need to keep those scary fantasies in their proper place. And what is their proper place? Not as the masters of your destiny, not as controlling agents that prevent you from living lustily, but rather as helpful guides that keep you from taking foolish risks.
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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
There used to be a booth at a Santa Cruz flea market called “Joseph Campbell’s Love Child.” It was named after the mythological scholar who wrote the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The booth’s proprietor sold items that spurred one’s “heroic journey,” like talismans made to order and herbs that stimulated courage and mini-books with personalized advice based on one’s horoscope. “Chaos-Tamers” were also for sale. They were magic spells designed to help people manage the messes that crop up in one’s everyday routine while pursuing a heroic quest. Given the current astrological omens, Pisces, you would benefit from a place that sold items like these. Since none exists, do the next best thing: Aggressively drum up all the help and inspiration you need. You can and should be well-supported as you follow your dreams on your hero’s journe
Homework Is there a belief you know you should live without, but don’t yet have the courage to leave behind? FreeWillAstrology.com. check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes & Daily Text Message Horoscopes
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