HERE’S TO RETURN TO NEW ’CUE ON VERA KATZ. SANTALAND. KILLINGSWORTH. P .7
P. 23
P. 27
Неделя Уилламетта
THE
RUs
e u s s siA i
“РУССКОЕ ИЗДАНИЕ”
]” T É Y E E -V
“[ P RM E A N S “ H I ! ”
P. 10
DID YOU KNOW ?
WWEEK.COM
VOL 44/07 12.13.2017
Russian is the third– most spoken language in Oregon. Take a look inside the vibrant but hidden culture.
p.1 0
2
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
FINDINGS
RIP Vera Katz, PAGE 7
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 44, ISSUE 42.
Vera Katz liked to watch dog shows and figure skating. 7
There are now songs about Tonya Harding and Shabazz Napier. 24
She also wanted to build a neighborhood on top of I-405. 8
Resistance. 26
What Pennsylvania is to the Amish, the Willamette Valley is to the Old Believers. 14 America has just one Russianonly pop radio station. It’s in Portland’s Centennial neighborhood. 15
Baerlic Brewing, welcome to the
A Portland band persuaded the guy who engineered Quadrophenia to produce a ’70sstyle sci-fi rock opera. 29 The latest McMenamins joint revolves around a 1950s plane propeller. 37
Mayonnaise has a cult following in
Russia. 17
ON THE COVER:
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:
Lettering and illustration by Tricia Hipps.
One of Portland’s best Mexican restaurants lost its chef.
STAFF Editor & Publisher Mark Zusman
Music Editor Matthew Singer
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
PRODUCTION Creative Director Alyssa Walker Designers Tricia Hipps, Rosie Struve, Rick Vodicka Photography Intern Abby Gordon, Hunter Murphy Design Intern Leah Maldonado, Parampal Singh
Our mission: Provide Portlanders with an independent and irreverent understanding of how their worlds work so they can make a difference.
Willamette Week is published weekly by
Though Willamette Week is free, please take just one copy. Anyone removing papers in bulk from our distribution points will be prosecuted, as they say, to the full extent of the law.
Main line phone: (503) 243-2122 fax: (503) 296-2874
ADVERTISING Display Account Executives Michael Donhowe, Erika Ellis, Kevin Friedman, Christopher Hawley,
City of Roses Media Company 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210.
Classifieds phone: (503) 223-1500 fax: (503) 296-2874
Matt Plambeck, Sharri Regan, Sam Wild Classifieds Account Executive Matt Plambeck Promotions Manager Maria Margarita Caicedo Ad Designer Brittany Mohr COMMUNITY OUTREACH Events Director Sam Eaton Give!Guide Director Mahala Ray DISTRIBUTION Circulation Director Spencer Winans
WWEEK.COM Web Production Brian Panganiban OPERATIONS Accounting Manager Kim Engelke Staff Accountant Shawn Wolf Associate Publisher Jane Smith OFFICE DOGS Penny Garnet Angel, Benny the Jet, The Little Master Momotaro-chan, Ziggy Ray, Scout
Willamette Week welcomes freelance submissions. Send material to either News Editor or Arts Editor. Manuscripts will be returned if you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. To be considered for calendar listings, notice of events must be received in writing by noon Wednesday, two weeks before publication. Send to Calendar Editor. Photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Questions concerning circulation or subscription inquiries should be directed to Spencer Winans at Willamette Week. Postmaster: Send all address changes to Willamette Week, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Subscription rates: One year $100, six months $50. Back issues $5 for walk-ins, $8 for mailed requests when available.
Willamette Week is mailed at third-class rates. Association of Alternative Newsmedia. This newspaper is published on recycled newsprint using soy-based ink.
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
3
DIALOGUE TIPS TO END THE HOUSING CRISIS
The article “These 6 Cities Are Smarter Than Portland About Housing” [WW, Dec. 6, 2017] discusses the city of New Orleans’ new short-term rental law. The city’s enforcement is succeeding, in part, because of tools developed in collaboration with Airbnb that we are eager to bring to Portland. In New Orleans, we worked closely with the city and stakeholders to develop fair regulations that allow our hosts to share both primary and secondary homes, and a simple registration system. We’ve learned a lot since Portland legalized short-term rentals in 2014, and we remain committed to working with the city to improve the complicated registration system and make it easier for hosts to obtain permits to share the homes in which they live. We have proposed setting up a pass-through registration system similar to one in the city of New Orleans, which allows hosts to apply for a license with the city directly through the Airbnb platform, giving the city the information it needs to enforce the law. Laura Spanjian Airbnb Public Policy Director, Northwest In Ms. Monahan’s piece about Pittsburgh’s experience with a land-weighted property tax, it omitted that 19 cities in Pennsylvania use this form of incentive taxation. Consider Harrisburg: In the late ’70s, it was the armpit of the country to invest, with some 2,000 boarded-up businesses. After phasing in its current structure to capture publicly created value in land, the Rand Corporation named it a Most Livable City in ’87 and ’88. As with Pittsburgh, homeowner occupancy went way up. It’s simple: Tax housing less and supply balloons, just as we did in the Pearl. That mitigates price. In the Legislature, our bills (Senate Bills 756 and 573) to study the equity and incentive effects of a land-based property tax have attracted bipartisan support. Since it’s akin to turning the city into an enterprise zone without loss of revenue,
it spurs capital investment as a market incentive. It even shrinks the assessor’s staff because tax appeals plummet. With proper budget limitations, as Washington has, and relief tools like a substantial homestead exemption, we can bury the inequitable, perverse incentive of Measures 5 and 50. Kris Nelson Legislative Director Common Ground OR-WA
BIG BUCKS FOR A BEVERAGE TAX
Are you kidding? A million dollars to gather, like, 20,000 signatures [“Milking the Soda Tax,” WW, Dec. 6, 2017]? What is that? $50 a signature? I probably shouldn’t be surprised by this level of spending, but all I can do is think about where these big Bloomberg/Arnold bucks could be spent. You want to address obesity? A couple ideas, just off the top of my head: • Invest the millions you’re spending around the nation to lobby Congress to find ways to make healthy food more available and affordable. • Invest $50 per student in the public school system to hire health and PE teachers who engage kids in inclusive, accessible activities (not just team sports) and promote healthy relationships with food and drink. • Give it to food banks to provide good food, and maybe some family cooking/healthy-eating/ food-budgeting workshops to folks free of charge? (Heck, I’d scrounge up some cash for that!) But don’t make the moms and pops suffer. Don’t make the families who do their shopping at a convenience store because they don’t have other options within walking distance pay for it. Seems like you’ll just exacerbate the problem. Moe Kasimi 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
I regularly see tiny trucks carrying oversized (and precarious) stacks of what appear to be discarded, or perhaps stolen, pallets hither and yon. Is this legal? It looks extremely unsafe. And what are they for? Can one sell them somewhere? —Renae N.
4
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
I wouldn’t worry about it, Renae—I regularly see tiny men with oversized marching-band instruments parading across my bedroom ceiling, and they’ve never dropped one. (Sometimes I wonder why people think I would be a good person to ask about whether things are “safe” or “legal.”) That said, assuming the driver has taken reasonable precautions, those piles of pallets are perfectly lawful: Oregon law allows loads up to 14 feet high and 8½ feet wide. (In what may have been a legislative oversight, no comparable provision is made for how small the vehicle carrying such a load may be, leading to the vehicle/cargo mismatch you find so jarring.) Federal cargo regulations also require such loads to be tightly stacked and secured with at east two lateral tie-downs. There’s very little hard data on how safe these stacks really are, but the fact that so far no one has posted a YouTube video of one collapsing seems like a pretty good sign.
And, to be fair, the operator has a vested interest in his charges arriving safely as their destination: As you surmise, used pallets can bring anywhere from one to five bucks with the right buyer, according to the Oregon Pallet Recycling Exchange, a sort of Match.com for pallets and their admirers. Collecting that cash should be but a simple matter of moving the goods from their source to the place where they are desired. Of course, nothing is as easy as it sounds. Still, numerous side-hustle-promoting websites claim one can make $100 to $150 a day for this work. That’s enough to provide a (paperwork-free) living for a hard-working individual—even it’s not, apparently, the kind of money that would let a person buy themselves a full-sized truck in good condition. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
5
426 SE GRAND AVE. PORTLAND, OR. 97214 NEXTADVENTURE.NET 503.233.0706 Deals gooD Through 12/18
COMPARE AT: $30.00
savE 33%
9
$ 99
savE 60%
LIST PRICE: $14.99
sav savE 50%
LIST PRICE: PRICE $39.99
This is the go-to teaching tool to instill knife safety and responsibility! Designed in Oregon!
savE 60%
Adventure Research Storm Liner
savE 30-70% Men’s and Women’s Closeout Snow Pants
Wilderness Technology Men’s Trilaminate Bib
Trilaminate bib with gaitor lined bottoms, adjustable straps, and seam sealed 2016 Camzippers!
savE 44%
Great for snowshoe or cross country! Black or American Flag print.
2499
$
Stay hydrated and save huge on last year’s models!
3999
COMPARE AT: $79.99
Wilderness Technology Hogsback 65 Save huge!
7999
$
COMPARE AT: $199.99
2016 Camelbak Arete 18
elbak Cloud Walker 18
savE 50%
29
savE 54%
savE 60%
Super light and super comfy!
29999
The perfect gift for the backcountry enthusiast in your family.
Co-designed by freeride legend Lynsey Dyer, these things rip!
71900
$
savE 10%
13999 Salomon Q Max Jr. Ski w/ Binding LIST PRICE: $299.99
Dedicated avy gear pockets in this lightweight BC ski/snow ski/snowboard pack.
GrEaT dEal!
13995
$
Great value in these awesome junior skis. 100-120cm available.
savE 75%
savE 39%
35
One Ball Jay Pizza Wax
All temp. Pizza is life.
Multiple colors. VALUE VALUE VALUE!
29
savE 50%
LIST PRICE: $60.00
savE 77%
3999
$
savE 20%
LIST PRICE: $49.99
7
$ 99
CAMP Energy Harness
LIST PRICE: $35.00
19
$115.00
savE 40%
Save a few bucks why don’t ya. A parents dream goggle for the little tikes.
savE 50%
Outdoor School
Bolle Freeze Goggle
BE Link Headphones Bluetooth for your helmet!!
2499
$
LIST PRICE: $49.99
1499
$24.99
savE 33%
CAMP Dyon Mixed Express Quickdraw
savE 50%
1999
$
All Scott Ski Socks
All sizes inlcuding youth!
5
$ 99
LIST PRICE: $25.00
Giro Union MIPS
In mold construc construction, MIPS, stacked vents, and more!
Militia Jr. Snowboard Boot Get the kiddos out there on the low low pricing.
5999
$
11cm length.
LIST PRICE: $29.95
savE 76%
8499
$
LIST PRICE: $150.00
savE 43%
$
Freeze your wallet with LIST PRICE: these savings.
Perfect first harness.
Scott JR Tracer Goggle
11999
$
LIST PRICE: $209.99
AT: 00 COMPARE $60.00
Keep your board safe and sound! $ 99
LIST PRICE: $12.00
Northwave Legend Boots
6
99
Demon Phantom Sleeve Snowboard Bag
Includes Fibre Crown EF Ski, Exercise Classic NNN Binding, and XC Comfort Pro or My Style Boot, and Swix XC Poles.
savE 43%
Black Diamond Dawn Patrol 25
69
LIST PRICE: $389.99
8
17999
Low price on this best- $ selling binding! Blk/Pink LIST PRICE: or Blk/Orange. $229.99
FASTEST deal in town! You’ll be SLIDING money back into your wallet. Includes base Sanction Goggle $ 99 grind, base finish, $ 99 Scott Smith Prophecy OTG Blow out pricing! and machine edge LIST PRICE: They fit right over your glasses! LIST PRICE: and wax. $80.00
$
24999 Fischer Fibre Crown EF NIS Package
$ 99
Look SPX 12 WTR Dual 2017
savE 53%
$
Quick Tune- While You Wait!
savE 36%
savE 25%
77900
399
$
savE 42%
$
savE 22%
nEW mOdEl!
Unbelievable fit and performance.
GrEaT dEal!
LIST PRICE: $799.00
LIST PRICE: $39.99
ON3P Billy Goat 2018
$
Atomic Hawx Prime 100 or 90W
1999
$
savE 50%
Illuminating deal!
64999
Sego Up Pro 110W
$
14
$
nEW mOdEl!
Stretchlite Pillow
BCA Tracker2 Avalanche Transceiver
Trek more, spend less! PRICE: 99 LIST $29.99
NEW version of this legendThere’s no such thing ary ski! Built as a bad day on right here in these award-winning Portland. W’s skis.
COMPARE AT: AT $39.99
4500
$
Mountainsmith Pinnacle Trekking Poles
$
Nordica Santa Ana 93 2018
9 Wilderness Technology UL $ 99
Ladies insulated and waterproof ski glove. COMPARE AT: $80.00
99 Coast Polysteel 400 Flashlight
LLIST PRICE: $64.99
savE 75%
Women’s Marmot Kate Glove
savE 50%
Slammin’ deal! (Red Only)
$
Bundle up with our own 600 fill Duck Down jacket in multiple winter colors with a hood!
savE 44%
Women’s assorted midweight leggings.
savE 88%
LIST PRICE: $120.00
Helly Hansen Lightweight Work Crew Sock
Made by Wigwam Sock Co. Limited sizes, L and XL. $ 49
2
LIST PRICE: $20.00
Deals subject to product availability. Some quantities may be limited.
Who said camping was only a Summer activity? Check out our Overnight Winter Camping trips January 10th and February 17th! Sign up online today. Visit https://nextadventure.net/outdoor-school
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
Fritz Slated to Oversee Public Campaign Finance
en’s Wilderness Technology Hooded Down Jackets
savE 60%
Women’s Super Prima Assorted Leggings
GrEaT dEal!
Layer up or lounge around with these comfy fleece pants.
COMPARE AT: $199.99 Men’s & Wom-
$6.99-12.99
COMPARE AT: $40.00
Men’s Pacteaz Micro Fleece Pant
30-70% off name brand snow gear!
$
COMPARE AT: $45.00
1999
Bundle up with our own 600 fill Duck Down jacket in multiple winter colors!
COMPARE AT: $46.00
Keep your ears warm and toasty with this stylish bomber hat!
$
savE 50%
7999
$
Pistil Cupcake Hat
GrEaT dEal!
COMPARE AT: $30.00
12999
9
$ 99
Assorted lengths & colors with Next Adventure logo! FROM $5.99
1199
COMPARE AT: $325.00
Toko Arctic Mitten
Voile Straps
$
$
savE 78%
Save big on this awe awesome knife!
Lots of fun colors and styles!
Great for around the town or layer up with another glove!
savE 60%
Kershaw Oso Sweet
Assorted Coal Hats
Women’s Wilderness Technology Down Jackets
savE 60%
1999
$
CRKT Nathan’s Knife Kit
COMPARE AT: Men’s & $149.99
munications, and solicited and initiated unwanted physical contact” with female staff at Roosevelt, according to an Oct. 8 memo prepared by Greenfield. The district says it is considering making changes in how it conducts such investigations.
Convicted Malheur Occupier Files to Run for Congress
FRITZ
City Commissioner Amanda Fritz is poised to oversee the city’s public campaign finance program. The Portland City Council last December approved the program to bring back city funding for council candidates—a revival championed by Fritz, who first won election with a publicly financed campaign in 2008. Fritz no longer controls the bureau that runs the program, the Office of Neighborhood Involvement. But Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who now oversees ONI, plans to give responsibility for the program back to Fritz. The program will be run separately from any bureau, much like the Portland Children’s Levy, and will rotate between commissioners to avoid having them oversee an election they are running in, says Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon.
Portland Public Schools Mishandled a Probe of Sexual Harassment Claims
Portland Public Schools botched an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against Adam Kennybrew, the former Roosevelt High School head football coach. “The Kennybrew investigation was poorly planned and executed,” Lisa Greenfield, an outside attorney hired by PPS, found after reviewing the district’s response to complaints about the coach. The allegations against Kennebrew included that he “made numerous inappropriate comments, sent sexually explicit, inappropriate com-
One of the antigovernment militants who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016 is running for Congress in Arizona. Jon Ritzheimer was sentenced last month to 13 months in federal prison for his leadership role in the armed takeover of the Eastern Oregon bird sanctuary. (During the occupation, Ritzheimer achieved special notoriety for his YouTube CC VIA MAGOG THE OGRE
1195
$
5999
$
ITEms UndEr $20
BUY OF THE WEEK
THOMAS TEAL
Deals ThaT sleigh!
RITZHEIMER
video telling his family, “I want to die a free man” and “Daddy swore an oath.”) This week, he filed paperwork to run in the special election to replace U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Arizona), who resigned following revelations he had asked staffers to be surrogate mothers of his children.
Give!Guide Tops $1.5 Million
WW’s annual Give!Guide is live and accepting donations at giveguide.org. Giving has exceeded $1.5 million. This week’s G!G Happy Hour on Dec. 14 at White Owl Social Club boasts a DJ set from local music maven Natasha Kmeto, plus a chance to win a Poler knapsack, a Poler hat or a $50 gift card to Hotlips Pizza.
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
O n M a y 7, 1 9 9 2 , W W endorsed Katz for Portland m ayo r ove r h e r m a i n opponent, Earl Blumenauer. We wrote: On paper, Commissioner Blumenauer is the best-prepared and most technically proficient mayoral candidate in recent memory. In other words, all the parts are there. Yet we are convinced that Portland would be better off with Vera Katz as mayor. Katz’s record should speak for itself, but here’s a reminder: She has proven herself to be one of the best state lawmakers in the recent history of Oregon. Katz has served her Northwest Portland district with distinction, courage and intelligence for 19 years. She has avoided even the hint of scandal during her years of public service and has earned a reputation for being a thoughtful, tireless public servant. Her warmth and charm make her likable; her guts and savvy allow her to play hardball politically when she has to.
The Strong Mayor Remembering Vera Katz, Portland’s last successful mayor and the visionary who shaped the modern Rose City. “She would talk to anybody. She talked to the homeless all the Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. The passing this week of former Oregon House Speaker time. We’d be out on the streets, and she would talk to them. She would look them in the eye and ask them questions and and Portland Mayor Vera Katz at age 84 took from the stage a pioneering politician whose deftness and accomplishments show that she cared—that extraordinary ability she had despite being such an introvert—just her ability to connect shine even brighter in comparison to those who followed her. with people, to take their problems as her own and decide to After fleeing Hitler’s Germany with her family as a young girl, Katz embodied the American dream, moving west from do something about it.” Brooklyn to leave a lasting mark on this city, which she led as —Elisa Dozono, former spokeswoman for Katz and now a partner at Miller Nash Graham & mayor from 1993 to 2005. Dunn LLP. E m p l oy i n g t h e s k i l l s s h e sharpened as the first woman to “At night, she kept the police serve as speaker of the Oregon scanner on. She was police House—an accountant’s attention commissioner the entire four to detail and a psychologist’s years. If there was a police understanding of her colleagues’ shooting, Vera would call her motivations—Katz artfully steered staff and say, ‘Give me a report the Portland City Council to a series in two hours,’ or ‘I’ll meet you of landmark developments. She out at a certain address.’ During was a dealmaker, a motivator and a all that time, being mayor was visionary who understood the art of pretty much her total life.” the possible. —Mike Lindberg, f ormer city Her legacies are the landscape commissioner of this city. She shaped the Pearl District, the Portland Streetcar, “She was an extremely private Moda Center, the South Waterfront, person. Very few people actually light rail to the airport, the Eastbank ever went into her house. But she Esplanade, a renovated Providence was so willing to give of herself Park and even Tilikum Crossing, to people in public. She liked for which she laid the groundwork being with people, but she before leaving office. would have much preferred to Under Katz, Portland lived be at home reading planning up to its nickname, “The City documents. But when she That Works,” in a way it never was with you, she was with has since. you 100 percent. There was We talked to the people nothing phony about her.” who knew her, and combed —Phyllis Oster, director of our archives for a few defining —Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) international relations and moments from the last cultural affairs while Katz was successful mayor. Here’s what mayor they said:
In 1998, WW took a critical look at the Katz administration, but our cover story found the mayor had as many fans as critics. We wrote: When she wants, Katz can be charming, stimulating and teary-eyed—and a gifted saleswoman. “Vera is one of the few politicians who doesn’t immediately set off voters’ bullshit detectors,” adds Lauren Moughon, former press secretary for Ron Wyden’s and Tom Bruggere’s senate campaigns. “She’s real. It’s one part New York attitude, one part love of Portland and one part Amazon warrior.” In 2002, WW rummaged through Katz’s home recycling bin, in response to local officials ruling that curbside trash was public property. She was not amused: We filed into the mayor’s private conference room. The atmosphere, chilly to begin with, turned arctic when the mayor marched in. She speared us each with a wounded glare, then hoisted the bin of newspaper and stalked out of the room—all without uttering a word. Our haul from Mayor Vera Katz is limited to a stack of newsprint from her recycling bin—her garbage can was well out of reach—but we assemble several clues to her intellectual leanings. We find overwhelming evidence that the Mayor reads The Oregonian, The Washington Post National Weekly Edition, U.S. Mayor and the Portland Tribune. We also stumble across a copy of TV Click in which certain programs have been circled in municipal red. If we’re not mistaken, the mayor has a special fondness for dog shows, figure skating and The West Wing.
Vera Katz was more than a pioneer. She was a force. Vera led and people followed.”
“She was among a generation of women who defied the “She was sweet, she was kind, she was wonderful. But ‘polite’ doesn’t come to mind. She was fun, entertaining, loved a circumstances of the time and led a revolution that allowed good joke. But if she was pissed off, look out.” many other women, including me, to serve. As both a legislator and the first female speaker of the Oregon House, —Randy Leonard, former city commissioner she showed that women could be strong and effective leaders. It is not lost on me that my three sessions as speaker are in no Reporting by Rachel Monahan, Nigel Jaquiss and Katie Shepherd. small part because of her.” —Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland)
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
7
Remembering Vera Katz
Unfinished Business FIVE BIG IDEAS FROM VERA KATZ THAT STILL COULD HAPPEN. BY N IGEL JAQU ISS
Hear from a healthcare professional and be inspired by someone living with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS)—learn about the possible causes, treatment options, and support services through the Above MStm program from Biogen, a company committed to MS. Location: Hayden’s Lakefront Grill 8187 SW Tualatin-Sherwood Rd Tualatin, OR 97062
8
Date: Tuesday December 19th, 2017 Time: 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
njaquiss@wweek.com
3.
Vera Katz got a lot of things done. Any map of Portland serves as testimony: Katz championed every modern Portland landmark from Moda Center to the Aerial Tram. She ushered this city into national prominence with a bevy of big ideas that she refused to let die. Yet a few of Katz’s passion projects, both in the Oregon Legislature and the Portland mayor’s office, remain unfinished. Here are five ideas for which she never got traction.
Covering I-405. In her 1998 State of the City speech, Mayor Katz suggested repairing the deep scar cut through the westside by the construction of Interstate 405 in the 1970s. “I propose that we cover sections of I-405 and bring back a great neighborhood,” Katz said. “Above I-405, and in the neighborhoods surrounding it, we have the potential to build parks, design an urban high-tech campus, provide parking, create pedestrian walks, and build housing, office and retail space.”
1.
4.
The “animal tax.” As a lawmaker for 20 years, including three terms as House speaker, Katz often took aim at sacred cows—and few are more sacred than the tax exemptions that social clubs such as the Elks and Moose lodges enjoy. Katz loathed the notion that private clubs, which could discriminate against whom they admitted, including women, should enjoy a property tax exemption. “Every year, she introduced the ‘animal tax’ bill,” recalls former state Sen. Jane Cease (D-Portland). “She always introduced it.”
2.
Getting lawyers to work for free . While serving in the Legislature,
Katz tried a little social engineering: Lawyers enjoy a lucrative monopoly, and many Oregonians cannot afford to hire legal representation. She proposed a bill that would have required all lawyers to do some pro bono work annually. “She was unafraid of the inconvenient, unsettling question,” recalls former state Rep. and later Secretary of State Phil Keisling (D-Portland). “Lawyers accused her of trying to push them into indentured servitude.”
Bringing Major Lea gue Baseball to Portland. When the
Portland Rockies returned minor league baseball to the Rose City in 1995, Katz immediately bought two season tickets. By the following year, she’d convened a task force to begin figuring out how to bring Major League Baseball to Portland. The city’s best shot came in 2003, when the Montreal Expos went looking for a new home. “This is an opportunity we can’t miss,” Katz told WW. We missed it.
5.
Dumping the city’s unusual form of government. Although
she was a master at getting her four colleagues to work collaboratively, Katz decided that Portland’s system, in which five commissioners enjoy broad authority over city bureaus rather than relying on a strong mayor and city manager as many cities do, was archaic. “If you want a government that’s responsive and manageable, you can’t continue to govern with a commission,” Katz told WW on Jan. 17, 2007. “Every one of the commissioners see themselves as mayor.”
ABBY GORDON
NEWS
BLOWING SMOKE: Owners of Bullseye Glass Co. say their revenues and reputation have been unfairly blemished.
Bullseye Shoots Back A NEW FEDERAL LAWSUIT ALLEGES GOV. KATE BROWN UNFAIRLY TARGETED THE PORTLAND GLASS FACTORY FOR POLITICAL GAIN. BY NIG E L JAQ U I SS
njaquiss@wweek.com
The owners of Bullseye Glass Co. filed a civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland on Tuesday against Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and state environmental regulators. At the heart of the 88-page filing is the claim that when Brown and state regulators learned of high levels of airborne toxics near Bullseye’s Southeast Portland colored art glass factory in 2016, they treated Bullseye more harshly than other Oregon companies that produce far more pollution.
“This case is about abuse of governmental power. It is about Oregon’s government coddling huge industries with deep pockets and political ties,” the lawsuit says. “And it is about how Oregon’s government—when its lax enforcement and history of neglect got exposed—rushed to judgment and irrationally turned the full weight of its administrative and punitive powers on a small business, not the real polluters.” Brown declined to address Bullseye’s claims. “We cannot comment on the specifics of pending litiga-
“THIS CASE IS ABOUT ABUSE OF GOVERNMENTAL POWER. IT IS ABOUT OREGON’S GOVERNMENT CODDLING HUGE INDUSTRIES WITH DEEP POCKETS AND POLITICAL TIES.” “No Oregon business has ever been treated the way Bullseye was treated,” the lawsuit says. The suit, filed Dec. 12 by a team of former federal prosecutors, makes serious claims against the governor and her regulatory agency, the Department of Environmental Quality. The suit alleges Brown knowingly punished Bullseye based on unproven science, held the company to far higher standards than other companies that emit vastly larger quantities of toxins, and moved against Bullseye for political gain rather than public safety. The argument the lawsuit advances is contrary to the state’s prevailing narrative: that Bullseye is corporate polluter that recklessly endangered the health of nearby residents. Bullseye’s attorneys say instead that Brown and other state officials cynically manipulated public opinion to present the appearance rather than the reality of regulation.
tion; however, Gov. Brown is dedicated to ensuring clean air and water for Oregonians,” says Kate Kondayen, a spokeswoman for the governor. The Bullseye crisis flared up in early 2016 when Brown was running to serve the rest of former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s term. On Feb. 3, 2016, The Portland Mercury reported that the U.S. Forest Service, using novel testing techniques, had found high concentrations of airborne toxic metals in moss near Bullseye’s factory. The lawsuit says the Forest Service shared results of the moss testing with DEQ the previous year, but the agency did not notify Bullseye or the public. The Mercury story touched off a media scrum and a series of emotional public meetings. Brown issued a cease-and-desist order against Bullseye on May 19, 2016, ordering the company to stop using a variety of hazardous metals in its furnaces immediately. “Public health and safety are my highest priorities,”
Brown said in a statement at the time. “This swift action and public notification will help ensure the well-being of local residents who live and work in the area. Clean air is vital to the health and safety of our community.” At the same time, the Oregon Health Authority advised people in the neighborhood not to eat vegetables from their gardens. The agency also temporarily closed a nearby day care center after high lead readings. In the weeks that followed, the Multnomah County Health Department tested neighbors for evidence of lead DEQ accused Bullseye of producing. Although that testing did not produce positive results, a Seattle law firm filed a $1 billion class action lawsuit against Bullseye on behalf of neighborhood residents seeking compensation for long-term health monitoring and diminished property values. That case is proceeding in Multnomah County Circuit Court. In response, Bullseye, a 140-employee company founded in 1974 by two artists who still own it, hired two of Oregon’s most experienced former federal prosecutors to examine the state’s actions. Kent Robinson retired in 2015 as the chief criminal prosecutor in the Oregon U.S. Attorney’s Office after 35 years; his partner Allan Garten spent 20 years in that office, retiring in 2015 as its chief white-collar crime prosecutor. Their lawsuit questions the validity of U.S. Forest Service moss testing, an approach never before used to monitor toxic emissions. “There was one problem,” the lawsuit says. “There was no scientific basis for predicting air quality based on metal in moss. But in their enthusiasm to promote the moss study and impugn Bullseye at every turn, defendants published the map [showing danger zones] without any attempt to verify it.” The lawyers also researched polluters that dwarf Bullseye in size and that produce vastly greater amounts and concentrations of hazardous emissions. One such company was the Esco Corp. foundry in Northwest Portland. In its final year of operation, Esco, located on the edge of a densely populated residential neighborhood just six blocks from Chapman Elementary School, emitted 328,000 tons of pollutants, including 54 pounds of lead. The lawsuit notes that Esco poured massive amounts of pollutants into the air above Portland for years with little pushback from DEQ. But Brown ordered Bullseye temporarily shut down, the lawsuit says, “for emitting less than one-millionth of a gram of lead.” The lawsuit comes as Brown is again running for office—this time for a full four-year term. And it comes as she and DEQ prepare to ask lawmakers in the February 2018 session to expand the agency’s enforcement authority via an initiative called Cleaner Air Oregon. “This lawsuit could just be seen as a political swat at Gov. Brown,” says Jim Moore, a professor of political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove, “but the key will be the comparison to Esco. They’re both businesses that operated in Portland neighborhoods—the court will have to sort out whether they were treated the same.” Today, Bullseye operates under what the lawsuit says are the most stringent regulations placed on any Oregon manufacturer for emissions of chromium and particulates from chimneys. “This standard is more restrictive than the standard applied to the rest of Oregon industry,” the lawsuit says. “The state can articulate no rational basis for treating Bullseye differently.” Bullseye seeks damages of $30 million. Mary Peveto, president of the activist group Neighbors for Clean Air, hasn’t seen Bullseye’s lawsuit but remains skeptical of the company’s claim that its civil rights were violated. “What we’d like to see is more environmental regulation, period,” Peveto says. “From a distance, it seems like [state regulators] had good quality information and they acted.”
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
9
LETTERING BY TRICIA HIPPS PAT T E R N S B Y PA R A M PA L S I N G H
HE T o t E M O C WEL siA issue RUs
A
O N O I T A R CELEB
LTU U C N A I F RUSS
TLA R O P N I RE
he word “Russia” doesn’t conjure up warm and fuzzy feelings for most Americans. Maybe it’s a lifetime of Cold War movie villains, maybe it’s the shadow of Vladimir Putin hovering over the 2016 U.S. election, or maybe it’s Russians’ famously reserved demeanor. Portlanders need to get over those tired stereotypes—because Russia is also becoming a big part of this city’s cultural life. Russian is the third-most spoken language in Oregon, after English and Spanish. The Portland area is home to more than 50,000 immigrants and family members from the former Soviet Union, the largest number of which come from Ukraine, according to Portland State’s Population Research Center. That’s much smaller than the Latin community, which numbers a quarter million, but it’s also larger than any other group. In fact, no other state has as high a percentage of Russian and Ukrainian speakers as Oregon. And yet, Russian émigrés have remained largely invisible. Though its culture is one of the richest and most influential in the world, Russia has not been celebrated nearly so much as, say, the much smaller Greek community, which joyously takes over half of Laurelhurst each October. But maybe that’s just because we haven’t been paying close enough attention. Portland arguably has the most famous Russian restaurant in the country (see page 11), whose chef just authored the first Russian cookbook published in America in the past three decades. Amid tens of Slavic markets, the Portland area is also home to a Russianlanguage advertising agency, a Russian city magazine, a Russian-language immersion school, an art gallery run by multiple generations of Russian folk artists (page 19) and the nation’s only radio station devoted solely to Russian pop music (page 15). We’ve devoted this week’s issue to exploring the bounty of Russian cultural life in Portland. We spent time with the leader of one of the country’s most ambitious Russian dance academies (see page 12), and took an emotion-filled trip to a Russian market with famed Soviet-born chef Vitaly Paley (page 16). After taking note of strange markings in a cornfield, we traveled to the tightly knit religious community of 10,000 Russian Orthodox Old Believers who’ve preserved their ancient ways on Marion County farmland next door to the Portland area’s favorite pumpkin patch (page 14). There’s a lot more to Russia than what you see on CNN. Here’s where to start exploring the culture here in Portland.
T
10
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
ND.
SHROOMS ON FIRE
RECIPE EXCERPTED FROM KACHKA: A RETURN TO RUSSIAN COOKING BY BONNIE FRUMKIN MORALES AND DEENA PRICHEP.
A RECIPE FROM KACHKA,, THE FIRST RUSSIAN COOKBOOK PUBLISHED IN THE U.S. IN ALMOST THREE DECADES. mkorfhage@wweek.com
Potatoes get all the press, but mushrooms are Russia’s true obsession. “Other than getting drunk and punching each other,” Russian-born novelist Gary Shteyngart told The New York Times in 2013, “mushroom hunting is what we Russians love most.” When chef Bonnie Frumkin Morales’ father came to Chicago from his homeland of Belarus, he thought his love affair with mushrooms was something he’d have to leave behind. In Chicago, mushrooms only really grow in basements. But then Morales followed her brother to Portland and started Kachka, the Russian restaurant on Southeast Grand Avenue that WW named our 2014 Restaurant of the Year. It turns out, wild mushrooms are a heritage that Oregon and Russia share in abundance. “That’s why it’s great that so many Russians live in the area,” Morales says. “There are forests. There are mushrooms. My dad used to talk longingly of lisichki. When I got older I learned they were chanterelles, and when I moved here and realized how abundant they are, it went from a thing he talked about poetically and longingly into something he could go hunt for.” The homestyle chanterelle and potato dish Morales makes for her own Thanksgiving isn’t one she has served at her now-famous restaurant, the first Russian restaurant in generations to capture the national imagination— named among the best new restaurants in America by both Bon Appetit and GQ. She’s now sharing the recipe in her new cookbook, Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking (Flatiron Books, 400 pages, $40), alongside how-tos on other formerSoviet-empire treats like tender lamb-filled dumplings, infused gins and vodkas, shashlik skewers and Russianstyle crawfish boils. Almost unbelievably, Kachka is the first major Russian cookbook published in America in 27 years. The last, a Beard Award-winning book from 1990 called Please to the Table, has long been out of print. And even in Portland, with a strong population from the former Soviet states, few spots serve the cuisine outside of the restaurants started by fellow Belarusians Morales and Vitaly Paley (see page TK). “Definitely, there’s an identity crisis of low self-esteem,” Morales says. “The Soviet Union did some real damage as far as foodways and supply. That affects the psyche. People who emigrated at that time, having that as a backdrop— you want to be American, why would you want to stick to your Soviet guns if there was never any food on the table?” Kachka is Morales’ “message in a bottle,” she says, her way of trying to bring the hospitality and cuisine she grew up with into the mainstream of American culture—in much the same way as Italian or Chinese food before it. Her book, published last month, combines the traditions of Morales’ own family with the abundance of the modern food market, with equal attention to Russian food traditions like the “tetris” of filling your table with zakuski drinking plates, the wonders of the pelmenitsa dumpling mold, and a flow chart of the many, many things that can fill a dumpling. But the chanterelle and potato dish we’re sharing here is of particular significance to Morales. In part, it’s the story of how she came to Portland after her brother moved here, when he’d bring bags of precious lisichki back from
Oregon for the holidays. It’s also a special showcase for the mushroom prized by her father. “You can’t ever quite capture their flavor,” she says of delicate chanterelle mushrooms. “Braising them with sour cream, the cream absorbs all that flavor. It can’t go anywhere—it amplifies the mushrooms, and that cream is what the potatoes absorb.” But even with the abundance of chanterelles in Portland markets, Morales says it’s hard to convince her father not to barrel out into the forest to look for them. “He tries to go out at least once a season. It’s a fun thing,” she says. “I’m always super-paranoid, and my dad is not. I’m always dreading every mushroom, checking the internet. He says, ‘I know this mushroom from Belarus.’ He just wants to eat them, and there’s lots of arguing. Usually I win, because no one wants to be the guy who kills his whole family. We’re in the Northwest. I can get chanterelles for eight bucks.” Here’s the recipe Morales cooked her own family for the holidays. If there’s a cold snap and chanterelles are gone from the stores for winter, Morales says winter yellowfoots—also known as funnel chanterelles—are a great substitute.
ABBY GORDON LEELA CY
BY M AT T H E W KO R F H AGE
BR AISED CHANTERELLES AND POTATOES Л И С И Ч К И Т У Ш Е Н Ы Е В С М Е ТА Н Е С К А Р ТО Ш К О Й
My brother is a 1990s hippie: toured with Phish every summer, wore the same Mexican poncho for weeks on end. In 2000, he followed his hackysack-playing brethren to Portland. He was the first in my very tight-knit extended family to move from Chicago, and this was viewed with much skepticism—why would he choose this wild Western outpost? It turned out he had good reason—in addition to fine beer, good food and actual civilization (who knew?), the Pacific Northwest is absolutely overflowing with forest treasures like chanterelles. Chanterelles, or lisichki in Russian, are highly coveted in the motherland. My brother would bring bucketloads of them back to Chicago whenever he visited, hitting the farmers market on the way to the airport to arrive with a sort of peace offering. My mother would instantly snap them up and cook this dish. Chanterelles have a delicate taste, and take well to a hearty-yet-gentle preparation. The cream works its way into the mushrooms, the mushroom flavor suffuses the potatoes, and everything just becomes deliciously rich and transformed. Don’t think about adding any other ingredients to this dish—the beauty is in its simplicity, letting the fragile flavor of chanterelles come through undisputed.
SERVE S 4 TO 6 AS A MAIN DISH • 2 pounds chanterelles
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter • 1½ cups heavy cream
• 1½ cups smetana or European-style sour cream • 1½ tablespoons kosher salt • 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1½-inch chunks hly • Fill a large bowl or salad spinner with water, then thoroug sly vigorou and in them dunking by oms mushro the clean swishing them around to shake loose any debris. Remove the quickly, and repeat the process with fresh water until all mushrooms are clean. Spread the mushrooms out on clean dish towels to dry.
• Tear any very large chanterelles into halves or quarters. Heat a medium-sized Dutch oven or heavy-sided pot over medium heat, and melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and cook down, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms give off their liquid and it mostly evaporates, about 10 minutes (you can cover the pot until the liquid comes out, so that the mushrooms don’t scorch, but then remove the cover to help the liquid cook off).
• While the mushrooms are cooking, whisk together the heavy cream, smetana and salt. When the mushrooms have cooked down, pour in the cream mixture, and stir everything together. Add the potatoes and stir again, coating a everything with the braising liquid. Bring the mixture to steam let to crack small a (leave cover partially and simmer escape), then reduce the heat until it’s just high enough to maintain the gentlest possible simmer. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours, or until the potatoes and cream have both turned a light golden brown, and the liquid has cooked down a bit but is still saucy. Check it once an hour or so to see that things are moving along (no need to stir). Serve hot, with a bit of crusty bread to sop up the sauce if desired. Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
11
iA R U suse iss
FEETS OF STRENGTH BY SHA N N ON GOR MLEY
sgormley@wweek.com
According to Artur Sultanov, founder of Beaverton’s Russian Ballet Academy, stage fright isn’t avoidable in ballet. If anything, it’s necessary. “Everybody wants to do a good job,” he says. “You have to be a little nervous to make it work.” Sultanov is a retired dancer with deep ties to ballet’s roots. Locally, you may have seen him as Prince Siegfried in several of Oregon Ballet Theatre’s past productions of The Nutcraker. He grew up in St. Petersburg, the city where Russia’s first company was formed. At age 10, he was accepted to the Vaganova Academy, the same school that trained George Balanchine, who defined American ballet after moving to New York in the 1930s. Sultanov was a company member at the Mariinsky Ballet in the theater that premiered Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Although he calls it the Russian Ballet Academy, Sultanov says his school is less concerned with Russian history than teaching clean technique. What makes it Russian—other than Sultanov—is the seriousness with which the students approach their craft. Sultanov’s school teaches classical and contemporary ballet to pre-professional dancers from ages 5 to 19. Since it first opened in 2010, the school has focused on preparing professional-level dancers. But recently, it’s gotten even more serious. Two years ago, the academy started sending dancers to the Youth America Grand Prix semifinals in Seattle—the largest pre-professional ballet competition in the world. Eleven students from Sultanov’s school have placed in the top tier of their division, and this January, seven of Sultanov’s students will compete. 12
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
ARTUR SULTANOV’S BALLET CAREER WAS SECURE. THEN HE LEFT RUSSIA FOR AMERICA.
Two of the ballerinas at his studio are returning champions—three, if you include Sultanov, who was awarded Outstanding Teacher last year. In January, Sultanov will hold auditions for a new program that’s so intensive it’s recommended that the dancers accepted take academic classes online instead of going to school. Starting young is imperative to develop the extreme strength and flexibility required to become a professional. Most dancers are strong enough to begin performing en pointe about the age of 10. If they start learning after the age of 12, it’s basically impossible to develop professionallevel skills. That makes everything they do seem high stakes. “I didn’t want to be in the spotlight myself, so I understand the kids that get nervous,” Sultanov says. The 38-year-old St. Petersburg native is soft-spoken, and when he’s not demonstrating proper posture to his students, he often slumps as if he’s trying to diminish his 6-foot-4-inch frame. He retired from performing just a few years ago. Starting at 17, he worked for some of the most prominent ballet companies in Russia before becoming a principal dancer for Oregon Ballet Theatre for almost a decade. But it was never his idea to pursue a career in ballet, it was his mother’s. “It probably took me a few years before I started liking it,” he says. Nonetheless, Sultanov began training for ballet at the age of 10 when he was accepted into the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg. At Vaganova, Sultanov took academic classes along with a rigorous schedule of classical ballet. But if it was grueling, Sultanov now seems nonplussed.
THOMAS TEAL
EN POINTE: Sultanov (center) teaches a class.
“It was kind of easy for me to follow directions even though the process was kind of slow and not very exciting,” he says. “Even though I didn’t like it that much, I always worked really hard. I just think that was part of who I was as a kid.” Eventually, it paid off, and Sultanov discovered his own love for ballet in his teens. He also found that having his career decided for him was, in its own way, a relief. “I was kind of lucky that the job was already there for me,” he says. “I just had to be good enough to get it.” He was hired right out of school by the Mariinsky Ballet, where he performed in classical Russian ballets like Swan Lake and Giselle. Around the age of 20, a back injury forced him to take a break from dancing. He decided to use the forced hiatus to move to California, where his mother and siblings lived. When his back healed, he began auditioning for American companies. The transition wasn’t easy. American ballet is faster than Russian ballet, and focuses more on leaps and jumps than upper-body movements. But Sultanov says the most difficult change may have been the pay structure. In Russia, Sultanov was paid a salary year-round. In America, most contracts with companies last only about 32 weeks. “You have to be a lot more self-motivated here to be successful,” says Sultanov. “You invest so much time and energy into something that’s not that financially great.” Sultanov danced for the Alonzo King Lines Ballet in San Francisco before moving to Portland for a job at Oregon Ballet Theatre. During the breaks in his contract, he would teach classes. After seven years, he decided to make teaching his full-time job instead of dancing. In 2010, he opened the Russian Ballet Academy. When he’s teaching the YAGP class, Sultanov is almost quieter than in conversation. You get the sense that even if he were the kind of instructor who raised his voice, he wouldn’t have to. In the solo she’s practicing for competition, 10-year-old Leanne Van der Hilst performs a series of consecutive leaps and twirls across the diagonal length of the studio. To help her keep time, Sultanov simply snaps his fingers as her shoes hit the floor. It seems remarkable to have the drive for something so demanding at such a young age, but Sultanov says that by the time they’ve turned 9, most students have decide if they’re up for the challenge. “Their life is a lot richer in that way,” says Sultanov. “If you can do ballet, and push yourself through all the physical demands required, I think everything else seems much easier.”
POOL TABLES SPORTS VIDEO POKER GREAT FOOD
OOK YOUR OUR PARTY ARTY HERE ERE!! BOOK
529 SW 4th Avenue (503) 228-7605 • Facebook.com/RialtoPool Open Daily 11am to 2:30am Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
13
iA R U suse iss
I WANT TO BELIEVERS A MYSTERIOUS CROP CIRCLE DREW ME TO WOODBURN’S OLD BELIEVER COMMUNITY.
It’s 7:30 am, the sun barely crawling up into the sky over Woodburn. I negotiate my way down the Greyhound bus aisle, trying to minimize incidental contact with shut-eyed passengers as I exit at the North Front Street stop, finally making my way off the steps into a cool, clear morning in the heart of the Willamette Valley. I am here to solve a mystery about a field of corn. Specifically, why someone stomped an intricate design featuring what looks like an “OB.” I spotted that crop pattern in an aerial photo of Woodburn, population 25,000, and I wondered if it might be shorthand for “Old Believers,” the sect of religious Russians who live in the area. If so, what was the significance of the image? To get to the bottom of this, I have to talk to Oregon’s Old Believers, or Starovery. This will not be an easy task. The cloistered group, which you may recognize from the Portland-area farmers markets where they sell produce, are descended from Russians who refused to accept the 17th-century reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church pushed for by the tsar. They became second-class citizens, and many fled to Russia’s eastern frontier, or left altogether to China, Romania or even Turkey to escape torture and death. Starting in the 1960s, some Old Believers made their way to Oregon, where a large group settled about 30 miles south of Portland in the fertile Woodburn area. Today they are estimated to number around 10,000. In Woodburn, they are best known for wanting to be left alone. “They are extremely hard to talk to and don’t want to be public,” says Tatiana Osipovich, associate professor emeritus of Russian at Lewis & Clark College, who studied Woodburn’s Old Believers in the early 1990s. “You know the Amish, in Pennsylvania? The Old Believers are sort of like Russian Amish.” Indeed, they are a lot like the Amish, or Mennonites—two other religious groups that emerged around the same time. Old Believers tend to shun modern inventions because they basically consider anything that came after the Nikonian reforms to be the work of the devil in a world that has fallen into the hands of the Antichrist— although many do drive cars. “They are very persistent to have survived persecution all these years,” says Osipovich. To figure out what the “OB” is about, I lined up a guide, a friendly local also named Mike. Other Mike live-streams himself 14
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
JESS MINCKLEY
BY M IKE B I V I N S
"I WAS HERE TO SOLVE A MYSTERY ABOUT A FIELD OF CORN." feeding homeless people and anyone else who needs a hot meal in downtown Portland. I met him while covering protests in Portland, and he has occasionally lent me a hand getting to hard-to-access locations. Anyone from Woodburn knows of the Old Believers, and a little digging reveals several churches situated around Bethlehem Drive, among a dozen in the area. I was looking at satellite images of these churches to get a feel for the area when I happened upon the “OB” field, which lies near a golden dome. Was the owner of the field an Old Believer? I intended to find out what was going on and also try to strike up a conversation with some Old Believers. Other Mike picks me up in his blue sedan, and we head south toward Monitor McKee Road, where several other Old Believer churches are located. I have Google Maps open, and as we approach the location of the mystery crop markings, we pass a sign announcing Bauman’s Farm, a produce farm best known in the Portland area as a well-trodden pumpkin patch. The car turns right off of Monitor McKee and down Frolov Drive, where I spot my first Old Believer church. It looks like any other church building or community center, except for the two cupolas adorned with the cross shared by Orthodox
Christians and Old Believers. The paint on the largest cupola is worn, and a small dark bird perches atop the cross. Once back onto Monitor McKee, a large roadside cross dedicated to the Old Believers comes into view on the right. The monument contains two plaques, one in English and one in Old Church Slavonic— the language of Russian Old Believers and the Russian Orthodox Church before the church schism in the 17th century. Continuing down the road, we come to Bethlehem Drive, where I see a second Old Believer Church. This one is smaller than the first. Several blocks away sits a third church, probably the best known in the area since its crosses and golden domes are visible from Highway 99. To my surprise, the gates are open at this church. A dozen or so cars are parked outside and inside the church’s gates. A man in a dark outfit can be seen at the doors, making ritualistic hand gestures before entering the church. Based on the man’s demeanor, the occasion looks serious. I pass through the open gates and under a metal arch to get a closer look. Painted on the outside of the church are icons of many saintly figures, brightly colored and standing in stark contrast to the surrounding fields of brown and gray.
I’m not sure what is going on at the church at this hour—and I don’t want to disrespect whatever it is by inserting myself—but I decide to return later in the day to hopefully figure it out. It’s too early to knock on doors, so I have my guide drop me off near the Woodburn Elmer’s. A rotund man in overalls outside Elmer’s can’t be bothered to hear my inquiry about the Old Believers and shoos me away like a fly. My waitress, Selina, doesn’t have much to say, either. Before returning to the area around Monitor McKee Road, I call Bauman’s Farm to ask about the OB crop markings. Brian Bauman, the farm’s general manager, says the markings are indeed his—the B is for Bauman, and there is no O—but the farm isn’t associated with the Old Believers. It’s just a corn maze. What was going on at the large church on Bethlehem Drive? I decide to knock on some more doors, so I catch an Uber back to Bethlehem Drive. All is quiet, except for some workers fiddling with a ditch. The first door I knock on is the house to the immediate right of the fancy Old Believer church—the gate now shut with no cars to be seen. A man with a formidable gray beard answers. This is 79-year-old Panfil Cam, and though he does not speak much English, we converse a little. He came to the area in 1963, from Konya, Turkey, which he says was “like Woodburn,” and where he was a fisherman. Here, he farmed until retiring. I next venture to an apartment complex along Bethlehem Drive. The second door I knock on is opened by a young boy with a large scab on his cheek. An older woman appears behind him and tells me they don’t want to talk. Then I hear a voice call out from an Old Believer in his 30s whose head appears in an apartment window, his face partially obscured by a bug screen. “Whatever you’re here for, it’s already over with, so you can go home,” the man explains. The same thing happens again and again, until I come upon a man with a group of small dogs who greets me on his doorstep, wearing paint-stained shorts and a worn shirt. The mass of cars I saw at the church was for a funeral service, he says. The man in the paint-stained shorts tells me he has keys to a church on Bethlehem Drive, but he won’t show me inside. If I want to visit, he says I should return for a service on Saturday night or Sunday. To talk to an Old Believer, it seems, you must first believe. I make my way back to Front Street to wait for the Greyhound home.
ABBY GORDON
T I K C RO A I S S U R O T
RADIO HEAD: Eduard Rusu in the KXRU studio.
AMERICA’S ONLY ALL-RUSSIAN POP RADIO STATION BROADCASTS FROM A CHURCH IN SOUTHEAST PORTLAND. BY M AT T H E W SI N G E R
msinger@wweek.com
Eduard Rusu made his American dream come true. Not everyone is on board with it. “My own mom doesn’t support me with this format,” says the 29-year-old founder of Portland’s KXRU-FM 105.5, which is apparently the only all-Russian pop station in the United States. “My sister says, ‘Mom, listen, listen!’ But then, when a song comes on she doesn’t like, she switches the station.” You can’t please everybody, a fact Rusu— a project manager for a local construction company by day—was well aware of when he embarked on his passion project seven years ago. He knew that playing secular Russian music in a city like Portland, where the immigrant population is overwhelmingly religious, was a risk. But no one else was doing it—at least not without also mixing in English-language songs. If the station was going to be successful, it had to have a hook. So far, it’s working out. “People at the beginning were saying, ‘What are you thinking? Are you out of your mind? People will not listen to you,’” Rusu says from the station’s one-room studio at the back of a church in a deep Southeast Portland strip mall. “But now we’re seeing that another station is actually copying us. They changed their format. They’re playing exactly what we’re playing.” As a child growing up in the former Soviet republic of Moldova, Rusu listened to the radio obsessively, even though his village picked up only three stations. After immigrating to Portland with his family in 2005, he studied broadcasting at Mount Hood Community Col-
lege, with visions of one day running a station of his own. When President Obama signed the Local Community Radio Act in 2010, opening up low-power FM signals across the country, he leapt at the opportunity. Following a protracted licensing process with the Federal Communications Commission, KXRU went on the air earlier this year, playing the same hits currently on the airwaves back home. Much of it might seem a bit schmaltzy to American ears. Romantic ballads dominate. As Rusu puts it, “Russian pop music is drama,” and the emoting is often soap opera-level. But in a market where the other radio options are all religious, the station has succeeded in drawing listeners from the coveted 18-to-34 demographic. For that reason, Rusu doesn’t take the station’s influence lightly. He won’t play songs that glorify drinking or partying, and says he considers carefully before adding anything to the rotation that might alienate older audiences. In the wake of the crisis in Crimea, which divided Russians and Ukrainians, he also treads lightly with the top-of-the-hour news reports, making sure the stories are delivered without any trace of bias. Even his mother listens to those. He’s also beginning to incorporate talk shows addressing the concerns of the community—a provision of the station’s FCC license. But while it may be compulsory, Rusu says it’s part of his long-term vision for the station, to be not just a center of Russian culture but of Russian life. “If this was only about music, how would we be doing this?” he says. “There has to be some benefit to this. I could always download some files on my phone or computer and listen all day long. But we’re thinking about making the world a little bit better.” Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
15
iA R U suse iss
IMPERIAL
THOMAS TEAL
BREAD ROOM CHEF VITALY PALEY TAKES US ON A TOU OF A RUSSIAN GROCERY STORE.
BY M ARTI N C I Z M AR
CHEF VITALY PALEY INSIDE IMPERIAL MARKET ON SOUTHEAST POWELL BOULEVARD.
16
mcizmar@wweek.com
When chef Vitaly Paley was a child, Soviet supermarkets weren’t much to speak of. “You’d walk in into a regular market in Russia back then, everything would be empty,” he says. “Banged-up cans of this and that you wouldn’t wanna touch with a 10-foot pole. That was what I grew up with. You stood in line for bread. You didn’t know, but at the end of the line, you may not get any bread. But you still stood in line. Because what else were you gonna do?” I didn’t know this when I reached out to the celebrated chef, whose projects include his eponymous Paley’s Place on Northwest 21st Avenue, Headwaters and Imperial in downtown’s Hotel Lucia. If I had, I might not have asked him to come with me to the other Imperial, a Russian market on deep Southeast Powell Boulevard. A simple trip to a supermarket can be an emotional journey for someone who didn’t want to remember his Belarusian upbringing until fairly recently. People weren’t starving under
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
Soviet socialism, Paley says, but they lived “in the cracks” of an empire spanning two continents. “You had to know people,” he says. “People would leave stuff for you under the counter.” Paley has vivid memories of the first time he walked into a Western grocery store in Vienna, where his family went after escaping socialism on the path that eventually brought them to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where his parents still live. “There was just so much stuff, just sitting out on the shelves!” There’s a lot on the shelves at Imperial Market. Most of it was totally unfamiliar to me—though my Polish-speaking grandfather was the first in his family to be born here, after his parents and older sisters emigrated from Belarus. So I asked Paley to narrate a tour. At this point in his life, he’s happy to do it. “I walk in here, and it just puts a smile on my face, because I know all of it,” he says.
R
SUSHKIS Bagel-shaped tea crackers “Sushkis are small, tiny little bagels. They’re dry and hard, and sort of the Russian version of biscotti. People eat them with tea. Normally, you would see them hanging on the samovar. If you go to Headwaters, you’ll see them hanging on a big ol’ string on the samovar. Sometimes you eat them, sometimes you put them out for display. They really don’t taste like much.”
HALVA Sweetened nut butters “When I was growing up as a kid, you would go in the market and there would be this counter and there would be these three big blocks of halva they would sell by kilo, or by gram. You would have three different kinds, four different kinds—like chocolate swirl. As a kid, that was, that was my candy.”
CAVIAR RYAZHENKA Baked milk drink “The center of a Russian home is a pech, which has a woodfired chimney with multiple cabinets for different things. In Russian culture, the house was built around the pech. It warms your house, it cooks your food, the elders will sleep on it at night. I grew up in a small one-room house with one of those in it. It heated up our house. My grandmother slept on top. And then all around, we have cheese from the leftover milk. So what you would do is, you would take the milk and put it in the oven overnight, low heat. You would do this baked milk thing where it would turn caramel color. So not exactly like dulce de leche like they like, like you would do in Latin America, but just shy of that. It’s still drinkable.”
HONEY “Honey is also very medicinal. Russians like to use honey as medicine. When I grew up as a kid, when we were sick, it was milk and honey. Warm milk and honey, that’s what cured you. I had to down it—I hated it, I hated it as a kid.”
SUNFLOWER SEED OIL Cooking oil “Sunflower seed oil, from what I understand, was the oil used around the world before canola oil came in. My aunt still lives in a little city called Rostov next to the factories that make refined sunflower seed oil. Every summer, she’d come for holiday and she would bring this muddy-looking bottle with sunflowers still in the bottom, and it would taste like sunshine. And I cannot find any of it. That, to me, is like, I want to find some of that. That’s the flavor I remember. I just can’t get it out of my head. I’ve been, I’ve been searching after it for quite some time.”
Salt-cured roe served on buttered bread “What little exposure we were able to get—caviar was always the big deal in our family. We always ate it with black bread, butter, and then caviar over the top. It was never blini. It was always, we call them buterbrod. buterbrod They’re Russian open-faced sandwiches.”
KVASS Fermented bread-based drink “It’s basically a yeasted bread drink made with flour. When I was growing up as a kid, normally, you’d go and side by side there would be a cistern on wheels of beer and then a cistern of kvass. And so my uncle and I would go to the beach or something, and right as you enter the beach, there would be two of them right next to each other, and he would grab a mug of beer, and I would grab a kvass. That was my treat as a kid.”
CANNED PEAS “Another big thing in Russia is canned peas. It’s one of those ingredients—if you were to make a salad called salad Olivier, which would be a Russian potato salad, this would be one of the ingredients you have to use. I don’t when I make mine. I usually use either frozen or fresh because of the color. But this would be the unmistakable flavor component in that salad. It’s just one of those salads that’s iconic Russian.”
SOUR APPLES SOUR CHERRIES Russians love making sweet things sour. “Russians developed a taste for sour many centuries ago, and it just stayed with them. Russians definitely love sour. Sour and salty. It goes well with vodka.”
BORJOMI Mineral water “Georgian mineral water, from a little city called Borjomi. Again, this is pretty salty. It’s even saltier than Badoit. But you, but you’d go to Borjomi to heal yourself in the mineral springs.”
BUCKWHEAT “If you were to say, ‘What’s the most Russian ingredient?’, I would say buckwheat would be the one. It goes back centuries. Buckwheat and black radish. There areactually fairy tales about buckwheat and black radish. When I was a kid, you would eat this with milk—milk, a little sugar and honey.”
BERYOZOVY SOK Birch tree juice “I’ve actually tried to extract my own—it’s almost like a maple juice before maple syrup gets made. In the northern parts of the country, you could tap the birch tree. There are two, three weeks during early spring when the snow subsides and the trees start growing leaves. As soon as the buds start forming, the roots send this juice up to the branches to form leaves, and that’s when you tap it. I started working with this company out of Alaska to bring some fresh—it’s pretty volatile, so they’ve gotta either freeze it, or they make birch syrup out of it. But the birch juice is very little known. It’s, it’s what the Russians would call—I would say this would be a Russian version of coconut water.”
MAYONNAISE In a soft pack “Mayonnaise has a cult following in Russia. Mayonnaise was something that was actually brought over from America back in the ’20s—mayonnaise was a big deal. The jars were repurposed as flower vases. When I talk about mayonnaise, I always kind of describe mayonnaise as, it’s iconic as Soviet Union gets—and because mayonnaise’s nature is not that stable to begin, that’s why the Soviet Union broke apart, because it was held together by mayonnaise.”
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
17
#wweek
iA s s U R e issu
E Z BOO
RUSSIA FOREVER WHERE TO DANCE, EAT, DRINK AND PARTY LIKE A RUSSIAN IN PORTLAND. THROUGH DEC. 24 Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Nutcracker
Savaged by critics and ignored by audiences upon its 1892 debut in St. Petersburg, this Christmas story of rats, toy soldiers and confectionary sprites was saved from the dust bin of history thanks to its Tchaikovsky score and is now one of the world’s best-loved Christmas traditions. Oregon Ballet Theatre’s production is the new American standard version by choreographer George Balanchine, which introduced the show to the U.S. and remains popular with children partly due to all the kids onstage. It’s straightforward and charmingly traditional. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 503-222-5538, obt.org. $29-$525.
THROUGH JAN. 1 Russian Tea at the Heathman
At Vitaly Paley’s seafood restaurant Headwaters at the Heathman, each weekend holds an experience that once seemed lost in Portland: Russian tea service. At the center, there is always the samovar—a spigoted tabletop dispenser that’s like a baroquely Old World trophy full of tea—used here for chocolate peppermint pu’er tea or a smoked Caravan tea made specially for Paley by Steven Smith. Heathman Hotel, 1001 SW Broadway, 503-790-7752. Tea served daily till Jan. 1. Reservations required 48 hours in advance.
DEC. 15 MarkovCo Christmas Party
Throughout December, multiple generations of the Markov family—born in far-north Kargopol—will sell their Russian folk art prints, handmade pillows and hand-painted matryushkas at their gallery, which they hope to grow into the largest Russian gallery in the United States. At the Christmas party this night, the art will be accompanied by wine and a short classic Russian comedy called Moonshiners. MarkovCo, 625 NW Everett St., No. 111, 503-954-6576. $12, includes food and drink. Tickets at markovco.com. Limited to 20.
DEC. 18 Solaris
Nope, not the George Clooney one—its Russian predecessor, based on the same novel about an ill-fated space station orbiting an ocean planet. It’s more poetic and thought-provoking than every Black Mirror episode combined. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave., nwfilmcenter.org. 7 pm. $9.
DEC. 23 Sultanov Russian Ballet Winter Show
Founded by St. Petersburg expat Artur Sultanov, Beaverton’s Russian Ballet Academy (see page 12) prepares dancers from ages 5 to 19 for professional careers. Its annual winter showcase is a mix of contemporary and classical ballet. Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 SW Park Ave., russianballetacademy.net. 1 and 5 pm. $19-$25.
Magic Mirror
For its Christmas show, Scarlet Sails is staging a play that’s basically a mashup of Russian folklore: a mirror that makes anyone who walks through it younger, an aging Father Frost, a nefarious Baba Yaga, and a bunch of woodland creatures caught between good and evil. The actors speak Russian, but if you don’t, Scarlet Sails’ next production will have English subtitles. Beaverton City Library, 12375 SW 5th St., facebook.com/ groups/sstheater. Noon and 2 pm. $15.
DEC. 31 Kachka New Year’s Eve Party in the Woods
Party like a Russian—with caviar and vodka in the middle of nowhere. At Suttle Lodge, deep in the forests of Oregon, Kachka chef Bonnie Frumkin Morales (see page 11) will cook up a Russian-style party table, including porcini-stuffed eggs, horseradish vodka oyster shooters and, of course, caviar blini. Suttle Lodge, 13300 U.S. Highway 20, Sisters, 541-638-7001, thesuttlelodge.com. 9 pm-1 am. $150.
JAN. 6-21, 2018 Uncle Vanya
Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble is producing a new translation of Chekhov’s classic play about quiet desperation in a dysfunctional family gathering on a Russian estate. PETE’s version will be more like a cabaret than a traditional four-act play, and will feature live music by a trio that includes Chervona’s Andrei Temkin. Reed College Performing Arts Building, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., petensemble.org. 7:30 pm FridaySunday. $30.
18
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
JAN. 12, 2018 Kachka Cooking Class
Wanna learn how to cook all the cool Russian stuff in Bonnie Frumkin Morales’ Kachka cookbook (see page 11) from the chef herself? At Bob’s Red Mill, Morales will offer up five recipes and demonstrate how to make perlovka grain, buckwheat blinis and farina parfait. If that all seems supergrainy, remember you’re at a mill. Bob’s Red Mill, 5000 SE International Way, Milwaukie, 971- 206-1241, bobsredmill.com. 6 pm.
JAN. 13, 2018 Chervona Old New Year
Portland’s premier Eastern European party band Chervona will be rocking the Russian Old New Year for the 12th year in a row at Star Theater. But you can’t just show up: You have to dress up. It’s a Snow Ball, with allwhite attire required. Guest-star singers promised. Drunkenness promised. Sold-out tickets almost assured. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., 866-7778932, startheaterportland.com. 9 pm. $20 general admission, $70-$360 for reserved tables.
JAN. 13, FEB. 10, MARCH 10, 2018 DaNet
Once a late-night party at the Portland Penny Diner, chef Vitaly Paley’s Russian-food pop-up is a world of zakuski drinking snacks, borscht, pelmeni and piroshki—a $125 body-stuffing extravaganza of meat and fish and potato in the Heathman tea room. The Heathman, 1001 SW Broadway, 503-790-7752. 6:30 pm. Tickets at eatfeastly.com. Generally around $125.
JAN. 13-15, 2018 Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
Apparently the old Parisian riot story at the Nijinsky ballet is a little overblown—there were both boos and a standing ovation, and a lot of the controversy was over Nijinsky rather than Stravinsky. Either way, this is an epochal, wild-ass symphony—one of the gateways to the modern in music. Do yourself a favor and hear it live. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, orsymphony.org. 7:30 pm Saturday and Monday, 2:30 pm Sunday. Tickets start at $24.
MONDAYS STARTING JAN. 15, 2018 Dumpling Night at Paley’s Place
On Mondays, Paley’s Place will become a hall of Russian pickles, vodka, and course after course of dumplings like you’ve never seen. Details are still being worked out, but expect jam-filled dumpling dessert, dumplings with kraut, traditional bacon-stuffed varekniki and Georgian-style khinkali with beef, lamb and pork. Paley’s Place, 1204 NW 21st Ave. Tickets at eatfeastly.com.
FEB. 10-12, 2018 Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique (Symphony No. 6)
Tchaikovsky was an irredeemable Russian sap in love with the feeling of feeling—history’s peak Romantic. Pathetique is his moony masterpiece, the sound of a giant heart bursting. Hold hands during the sad parts. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, orsymphony.org. 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $24.
THROUGHOUT MARCH 2018 Juliana and PAVA
Moscow-born ethnomusicologist Juliana joins singing troupe PAVA to play ancient Russian folk songs all through western Washington at various King County libraries—with balalaika, hurdy-gurdy and flutes. For dates and locations, see ethnorussia.com/pava.htm.
MARCH 17, 2018 Cappella Romana
Get down with a modern composition of Russian-choral Byzantine chant. Portland’s nationally renowned Orthodox and Byzantine chorus Capella Romana will perform a new composition by the Rev. Dr. Ivan Moody. St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1716 NW Davis St., 503-228-4397, cappellaromana.com. $24-$49.
APRIL 1, 2018 The Seagull
Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble continues its Chekhov series with what’s widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time and a hallmark of realist drama. Set on a Russian estate, The Seagull is a compact but dense work full of tense love triangles and references to Hamlet. PETE is one of the most surprising, abstract companies in the city, so whatever its interpretation of Chekhov’s classic looks like, it definitely won’t be traditional. You can catch this free staged reading while PETE’s production is still in progress. Lewis & Clark College Fir Acres Theater, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road, petensemble.org. 7 pm. Free.
JULY 2018 Portland Slavic Festival
The biggest and most visible fest devoted to all things Russophone all year, the Portland Slavic Festival has taken over deep Southeast Portland’s Ventura Park one weekend every July since 2009. Sure, there’s the usual food and face paint and dancing you’d expect from a cultural festival, complete with vareniki you can make yourself. But in true Russian fashion, there are also 5-year-old pianists and champion wrestlers. Prodigies raised strictly! Contests of strength! Ventura Park, Southeast Stark Street and 115th Avenue, slavicfestivalportland.org.
NOV. 4, 2018 Bridge to Russia
Portland has a Russian sister city named Khabarovsk, so deep in the Russian southeast it’s almost China. And each year the Portland Khabarovsk Sister City Association hosts native Russians living in Portland and emissaries from Khabarovsk with food and song, whether classical, Russian singing or, this year, a performance by Portland folk band Three for Silver, fresh from a tour of the Russian far east. See pksca.org for details.
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
19
STREET
“Anything from Machus.”
“ A Playstation 4!”
PHOTOS BY SAM GEHRKE @samgehrkephotography
WHAT GIFTS ARE YOU HOPING TO GET THIS SEASON?
“A BeDazzler!”
“I already got what I wanted: a Sigma 18-105mm camera lens.”
OUR FAVORITE LOOKS THIS WEEK.
(Left) “A ticket to Ireland.” (Right) “Bluetooth headphones.”
“A cybernetic Elton John that will perform for me whenever I want.” “A new watch. I’ve been just using my phone for time and I ’d like to actually have a watch again.”
“This sounds really basic, but I want the newest Apple Watch.”
Oregon’s Largest 2-Day Show!
DEC JULY16-17 30–31 $10 • Sat. 9-5, Sun. 10-4. 20
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
fetcheyewear.com | 877.274.0410 814 NW 23rd Ave
C J M O N S E R R AT
STYLE
GOOD ’GRAMMAR: Heir uses Instagram to move vintage clothes.
Heir Apparent RESALE BOUTIQUE HEIR BREATHES YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE INTO MORGAN’S ALLEY. BY WA L K E R M AC M UR D O
wmacmurdo@wweek.com
Portland’s retail scene can be precious. Sure, it’s nice to have nice things, and it’s nice to have a perfectly curated set of objets d’art, designy streetwear and all-white interiors. But into all of these nice things are sewn a preponderance of fucks given. Giving a fuck is important, but at some point, the shopper gets full of fucks to take. At some point, the Portland shopper seeks a refuge; a safe space where fucks are few and far between. A place whose Instagram story might feature an impromptu teenage boxing match atop an Everlast mat cobranded with streetwear mega label Supreme. A place where fashion kids filter in and out almost constantly, at all hours of the day to sign up for a raffle for a coveted pair of Yeezys that dropped the previous weekend while Chief Keef plays in the background. That place is Heir. Opened in October by Kyan McKernan and Cam Gilmer, the the space formerly belonged to short-lived avant-garde menswear shop The Abeyance. Heir specializes in reselling streetwear from New York’s Supreme and Japan’s A Bathing Ape (commonly shortened to “Bape”) as well as a selection of vintage tees. They’re reselling because highly sought-after pieces from those brands can instantaneously explode in value. “I used to buy and sell vintage hat lots on eBay in early high school, late middle school,” says Gilmer, 21, who specializes in the store’s vintage collection. “I’d make a couple hundred bucks here and there off shit like that. When I got older I needed to pay the bills, and reselling clothes was one of the easiest possible ways. Just being able to purchase a shirt online at 8 am gives you an extra $300. It doesn’t really make sense, but this is what the fashion world has come to: the act of buying something makes you money.”
“I’d do the bigger piece items,” says McKerney, 23. “I developed a rep online for having the really rare shit. [Gilmer has] a really good eye for vintage, so together we can tackle pretty much anything in this field. So we combined efforts and made Heir.” It isn’t just clothing. Though its windows look out into the sterile halls of Morgan’s Alley, browsing in Heir feels like hanging in a stoner friend’s basement. Walls are decked out with years-old posters and promo memorabilia, like ashtrays and rare toys designed by pop artists like KAWS, sit everywhere. The store’s garment racks are stuffed with inventory that churns so rapidly, Heir doesn’t keep stock—only a handful of the rarest items sit behind glass cases. “On Black Friday, we had a hoodie walk in that morning, and within an hour it was gone,” says Gilmer. “Same day, $700.” “We posted it on Instagram, which is why it moved that fast,” adds McKernan. “Social media is a huge part of our game right now. Instagram is sick.” Despite its value and scarcity, McKernan and Gilmer take a hands-on approach to their inventory. “It’s kinda like a museum for the younger generation, in an aspect,” says Gilmer. “None of this shit you see in real life, at least not most. And you especially don’t get to touch it. If you go down to L.A., most places have this stuff in plastic bags or on lock chains. We want you to try the stuff on, make sure you’re going to like it. That’s what clothing is. There’s nothing better about this T-shirt than that T-shirt.” GO: Heir, 515 Southwest Broadway, heirportland.com. Instagram: heirportland.
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
21
22
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
THE BUMP
SY OF M I N DY & PAT
THE REVIVAL OF THE CLASSIC HOLIDAY ATTRACTION ISN'T PERFECT—BUT IT'S A START. BY BEN N E T T C A MP B E L L F E R GU S O N
COURTE
I’m sensitive about Santaland. The inimitably cool Christmas extravaganza that dominated Meier & Frank's 10th floor until 2005 was a fixture of my childhood. Had it been just another place to beg a Santa imposter to please swing by your house with a stuffed animal on December 24, I wouldn't have been impressed. But Santaland had what struck the 2-year-old me as the sweetest method of transportation in the city—a silver monorail that could zip around a track on the ceiling of the cavernous, dimly lit room where Santaland was housed. It was only later that I would begin to wonder what a monorail would be doing up at the North Pole. Yet I still associate Santaland with my wistful memories of family Christmases during the late ’90s and early aughts, before Meier & Frank became Macy's and Santaland was downsized and moved to the store's basement. I enjoyed visiting the now-grounded monorail last year, but I still can't forgive Santaland's blasphemous degradation. The downtown Macy's is now closed, and the remains of Santaland have been scooped up by the Oregon Historical Society. Have they done right by Portland’s version of one of our country’s greatest and weirdest holiday traditions? In many ways, yes. But there's room for improvement, so here is a review of Santaland 3.0 from this cranky, obsessive and forever nostalgic fan.
THE PRESENTATION OF SANTA, RUDOLPH AND THE ELVES OHS has put Santaland’s mechanical versions of Rudolph and Santa's elves where they belong, beneath a truly humongous Christmas tree. The elves still have bulbous eyes that give them a friendly, creepy look, and Rudolph's nose is oddly low, making it look like he has a giant cherry in his mouth. The whole display fits with the off-kilter vibe of Santaland. As long as OHS books the man from up north for more days—he only came for one day this year, and it’s already passed—they'll be in good shape. RATING: Yeah!
"I f S a n ta d o e sn 't e x is t, h ow th e h e ll d id I g row two front te eth?" —Child of M indy & Pat
SANTALAN
D, 2002
THE ATMOSPHERE
THE MONORAIL
You know how I mentioned that the lights were dimmed at the original Santaland? That was part of its charm. Santaland was no sterile, fluorescent Lloyd Center Christmas—it had a shadowy, slightly grungy vibe that gave it character. Which is exactly what OHS' Santaland needs. The museum was right to give the exhibit a place of honor—it's one of the first things you see when you enter the building—but the lights are too bright and those elves and the Christmas tree feel a little too tightly packed together. The whole thing should be moved deeper into the museum and into a larger, darker space if they want to recreate the original giant-toy-filled-cave vibe.
There's no easy way to say this—the monorail is gone. Most of it went to the Portland Business Alliance, and the lone monorail car that OHS aquired is tucked away in a warehouse in Gresham. Apparently, it's big, heavy and would be a huge pain to drag downtown. On the other hand, c’mon guys. Put it on top of a MAX train! Make Ted Wheeler carry it on his back across the Hawthorne Bridge! Santaland isn't Santaland without a train. And OHS executive director Kerry Tymchuk plans to keep Santaland going, so there's still time to get it right. RATING: Meh.
RATING: Eh.
HO! HO! HO! HO! HO! HO! H... !
SEE IT: Santaland is at the Oregon Historical Society on 1200 SW Park Ave. until December 31. Free for Multnomah County residents. Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
23
STARTERS
C O U R T E S Y O F P I N K TA C O
B I T E - S I Z E D P O R T L A N D C U LT U R E N E W S
Give!Guide Cheap drinks. Dope beats. Free entry. All shows 5–7pm.
NAtAshA kmeto DECEMBER 13 DJ set
hosteD BY
1305 SE 8th Ave, Portland // 21+
Follow @GiveGuide GiveGuide.org
24
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
PINK TACO COMETH: Portland will get a Pink Taco in the former Trader Vic’s location at 12th Avenue and Glisan Street. The “clubstaurant with tacos,” owned by the chain behind Chevys, has luridly hot-pink “rock ‘n’ roll Mexican” decor and $20 lobster tacos. Under previous owners, a now-closed Pink Taco restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz., was named by extramarital-dating website Ashley Madison as one of the best spots in the country to have an affair. A now-closed location in Century City, Calif., drew fire on Cinco de Mayo, LA Weekly reported in 2011, for shaving a donkey, painting it pink and leaving it out in hot sun all day as a party decoration. The Portland location will open summer 2018. MONTAVILLA PLUM: Beer-bar-heavy ’hood Montavilla is getting a second brewery. Co-owners and brewers David Fuller and Jarek Szymanski filed a liquor license December 7 to open 10-barrel Threshold Brewing and Blending in a former auto garage on Southeast 79th Avenue just north of Stark Street. In an interview with beer blog New School, the two announced plans to make an ontrend mix of hazy IPAs, barrel-aged beers and wild and mixed fermentation brews—including a plum imperial stout and a smoked barley wine. Though they’ve already signed a lease, they’re apparently fundraising with an Indiegogo page— which at press time has amassed $5,000 of the necessary $15,000 with 25 days left to go. WHITE TRASH LULLABY: It’s been a good week for Tonya Harding. The Portland-born HARDING Olympic figure skater turned national pariah walked the red carpet at the LA premiere of her own biopic, I, Tonya. Then singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens released his own ode to the Rose City ice queen. Simply titled “Tonya Harding,” it is—surprise, surprise—a downcast, elegiac tune that also takes a sympathetic view of her highly publicized rise and fall. “Tonya Harding, my star,” he sings softly. “Well this world is a cold one, but it takes one to know one/And God only knows what you are/Just some Portland white trash.” Stevens wrote that he submitted the song for I, Tonya, but was ultimately rejected. Stevens’ last album, 2015’s acclaimed Carrie & Lowell, was also filled with references to Oregon, which he visited as a child with his estranged mother. SHABAZZ IS THE MAN: A Stumptown Coffee commercial airing during Portland Trail Blazers broadcasts has caught the attention of national NBA blogs. The ad—a dry-ice fever dream starring backup guard Shabazz Napier—was created by Stumptown’s “in-house creative,” Tim Wenzel. A former barista, he began making local ads for the coffee company that feel like found footage from a 1980s local-access station and feature songs written by Wenzel. But this one is unusually catchy—enough to get remarked upon, at length and with great enthusiasm, by Yahoo Sports. (“I don’t know if the Academy is still accepting nominations, but this deserves to sweep the Oscars.”) Wenzel is the frontman for Portland punk band White Glove, best known for its tongue-in-cheek anti-gentrification anthems.
W E D N E S D AY
12/13
HARI KONDABOLU
GIVE GUIDE HAPPY HOUR: NATASHA KMETO
His documentary The Problem with Apu—in —in which he confronts the stereotypical portrayal of Indians on The Simpsons—has —has brought him much-deserved attention lately, but Hari Kondabolu has been one of comedy’s most astute minds for years. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 503-234-9694, aladdin-theater.com. 9 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show. All ages.
Support Portland’s nonprofits while enjoying cheap drinks and hot beats. Electro-soul queen Natasha Kmeto closes out Give Guide’s happy-hour series with a DJ set that’s sure to be pure fire. White Owl Social Club, 1305 SE 8th Ave., 503-236-9672, whiteowlsocialclub.com. 5 pm. Free. 21+.
12/14
WILLAMETTE WEEK HOLIDAY MARKET
T H U R S D AY
JAY-Z As hip-hop enters middle-age, Jay-Z has established himself as the first truly huge “legacy rapper.” While this year’s 4:44 is his most praised album in ages, this mega-sized tour is really about celebrating the full breadth of his storied career. Moda Center, 1 N Center Court St., 503235-8771, rosequarter.com. 8 pm. $27-$138. All ages. See Top 5, page 29.
12/15
F R I D AY
PARADISE
Still shirking the shopping? We’ve got your back with a huge holiday market full of local artisans, distilleries, wineries and snack makers. A cocktail bar and samples from people like New Deal Distillery and Portland Cider Co. are guaranteed to keep your cockles warm while you buy thoughtful things you can pretend you special-ordered. District East, 2305 SE 9th Ave., 503-2787349, districteastpdx.com. 5-9 pm. Free.
Get Busy
When Tamar Berk and Steven Denekas set out to make an authentic, ’70s-style rock opera, they didn’t cut any corners—they even convinced Quadrophenia engineer Ron Nevison to produce it. The resulting Dawn of Paradise is the most ambitious record to come out of Portland...maybe ever. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-271-8464, toniclounge.com. 8 pm. $8. 21+. See feature on page 29.
W E ' V E G OT 14 E V E NT S , A N D JAY-Z ' S O N E O F TH E M .
D EC . 13 -1 9
S AT U R D AY
12/16
JOHN MULANEY
After three Netflix specials and several tours, the sassiness of John Mulaney’s standup has almost eclipsed that of all those Stefon sketches he wrote for SNL. After a three-month run last spring, Mulaney is reviving his Kid Gorgeous tour, which skipped Portland the last time around. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, portland5.com. 7 pm. $25-$35.
PEDRO THE LION
PEARL BALL
With his original band, slowcore legends Pedro the Lion, beloved songwriter David Bazan chronicled the dark truths behind traditional American institutions with uncompromising honesty. This three-night stand prefaces a full-on reunion tour that'll kick off next year. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895, mississippistudios.com. 8 pm. Sold out. 21+. Through Dec. 18.
10 Barrel in the Pearl knows how to throw a holiday party: Five different special versions of Whitney Burnside’s house Pearl IPA from triple to session to CDA to hazy, a Pearl Jam cover band on the heated rooftop patio, and free apps with cover charge. Dress nice. It’s a holiday. 10 Barrel, 1411 NW Flanders St, 503-224-1700, 10barrel.com. 7 pm-midnight. $10 advance tickets.
S U N D AY
12/17
SHIPWRECK NOG-OFF
BIKECRAFT
Some of the best mixers and shakers in Portland cocktails will be competing to make the best nog in town—folk from spots like Rum Club, Expatriate and Angel Face— with additional gin nog from the Shipwreck cocktail pop-up. Nightwood, 2218 NE Broadway, 4-7 pm. $30 advance tix at e.sparxo.com/4th-Annual-PDX-Nog-Off.
Bike Farm, the city’s raddest bike collective and educational bike shop, is hosting dozens of local vendors that sell handmade, bike related gifts. There’ll be bike bags, smartphone mounts for handlebars and lots of hand-knit helmet warmers, because the bike commuter in your life is probably perpetually cold this time of year. Bike Farm, 1810 NE 1st Ave., bikecraftpdx.com. 11 am-5 pm. Starts Friday. Free entry.
M O N D AY
12/18
BHUNA INDIAN POP-UP
SOLARIS
A pop-up that may continue on Mondays on the regular, Culmination will host Kashmir-born chef Deepak Kaul’s Indian soul food stylings from Goan pork vindaloo to Kashmiri lamb to eggplant and collard greens. Food’s à la carte. Just show up and eat. Culmination Brewing, 2117 NE Oregon St., 971-254-9114, culminationbrewing.com. 4-8 pm.
Nope, not the George Clooney one—its Russian predecessor that’s based off of the same novel about an ill-fated space station orbiting an ocean planet. It’s more poetic and thoughtprovoking than every Black Mirror episode combined. NW FIlm Center, 1219 SW Park Ave., nwfilmcenter.org. 7 pm. $9.
T U E S D AY
12/19
KACHKA READING
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Kachka chef Bonnie Frumkin Morales (see page 11) and co-author Deena Prichep will sign copies of their new Russian cookbook, tell stories of the making of the restaurant and—perhaps most importantly—hand out food samples. Powell's City of Books, 1005 E Burnside St., powells.com. 7:30 pm. Free.
It might be one of many around Portland, but the Portland Playhouse version of A Christmas Carol is not only full of Yuletide cheer, it’s also just an impeccably produced play that balances traditional sensibilities with inventive staging. Hampton Opera Center, 221 SE Caruthers St., portlandplayhouse.org. 7 pm Tuesday-Sunday, through Dec. 30. $34-$59. Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
25
Fillmore Trattoria
Italian Home Cooking Tuesday–Saturday 5:30PM–10PM closed Sunday & Monday
FOOD & DRINK = WW Pick.
DRANK
Collusion Russian Imperial Stout (BAERLIC)
Highly recommended. By MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Editor: MARTIN CIZMAR. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
WEDNESDAY DEC. 13 Pure Project Takeover
Sometimes brewers make a beer just for the name. Collusion Russian Imperial, U s sei A R the new Baerlic beer whose bottle issu includes a Trump quote about the need for the “righteous many “to stand up to the “wicked few,” also includes a Trumpian description: “Great stout. The Best stout. More flavor than any other stout. We make the best stouts, believe me.” But though the whopping 9.8 percent ABV stout was made with luxuriant dulce de leche—sweetened condensed milk boiled for hours until it turned to caramel—the stout bespeaks less Trumpian excess than it does a collusion between sweetness and roasted notes. The caramel sugars certainly make this a dessert beer, but it balances nicely against the coffee and chocolate notes, with only the tiniest hint of bitterness at the back of the palate. It’s pretty easy to get toasty on a $5 bottle of the stuff while nursing much greater bitterness against the world. Recommended. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
San Diego’s Pure Project Brewing will be tapping for the first time in Oregon—and will stage a 5-deep tap takeover at Great Notion with hazy IPAs and mixed-fermentation brews and a special can release. The brewers will be present. Great Notion, 2204 NE Alberta St., greatnotionpdx.com. 5 pm.
1937 NW 23RD Place Portland, OR 97210
(971) 386-5935
#wweek
THURSDAY DEC. 14 WW Holiday Market
Still shirking the shopping? We’ve got your back with a huge holiday market full of local artisans, distilleries, wineries and snack makers— including New Deal Distillery and Portland Cider Co—plus a cocktail bar. District East, 2305 SE 9th Ave., 503-278-7349, districteastpdx.com. 5-9 pm. Free.
SUNDAY, DEC. 17
\
Shipwreck Nog-Off
STREET
Some of the best mixers and shakers in Portland cocktails will compete to make the best nog in town—folk from spots like Rum Club, Expatriate and Angel Face— with additional gin nog from the Shipwreck cocktail pop-up. Nightwood, 2218 NE Broadway, 4-7 pm. $30 advance tix at e.sparxo. com/4th-Annual-PDX-Nog-Off.
Black Habit (BENEDICTINE BREWERY)
Celibate men swaddled in black, floorlength robes don’t immediately bring to mind beer, a beverage often consumed joyously and recklessly. Of course, Belgian monks have been brewing beer for over five centuries to sanitize their water, fund the church and provide liquid caloric sustenance during Lenten fasting. Brewing is common to Trappists, but also part of the Benedictine tradition—which is the order that occupies the Mount Angel Abbey, a monastery secluded on a wooded butte above the small farm town of Mount Angel. The 350-acre monastery, which opened in 1884, feels more like a university campus than a church. There is a grassy courtyard surrounded by symmetrical brick buildings, a bell tower that chimes on the hour and a modest library designed by notable Finnish modernist Alvar Aalto. Mount Angel Abbey is now brewing beer as part of a six-year project helmed by Father Martin and his understudy, Father Jacob, with guidance from famed writers Jeff Alworth and Stan Hieronymus. The monks are currently making two beers in a style they call “Northwest Belgian,” working out of Seven Brides Brewing in Silverton. We tried “Black Habit,” a dark 7.5% ale that’s sweet and fluffy, like oatmeal with a hint of maple syrup. The beers are currently only sold by the case (12 bottles for $55) at the bookstore on the abbey grounds. Next year, they’re slated to finally open their own brewery and tasting room, which is currently being constructed down the hill from the abbey, across the road from a hops field owned by the monastery and tended by local farmers. Recommended. ROSIE STRUVE.
MONDAY DEC. 18 Bhuna Indian Pop-Up
Culmination will host Kashmir-born chef Deepak Kaul’s Indian soul food stylings from Goan pork vindaloo to Kashmiri lamb to eggplant and collard greens. Food’s à la carte. Just show up and eat. Culmination Brewing, 2117 NE Oregon St., 971254-9114, culminationbrewing.com.
TOP 5
HOT PLATES Where to eat this week.
1.
Bottle Rocket
121207 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 971-279-4663. Club 21’s burger chef is back at this cart serving up some of the best damn old-school burgers in town, with a side of new-school fish sauce tots. $.
2.
Oui! Wine Bar
3.
Beeswing
4.
Rue
2425 SE 35th Pl., 503-2082061, sewinecollective.com/ oui-wine-bar-restaurant. SE Wine Collective’s bar is doubling down on food with a new name, a $35 prix-fixe and really amazing whipped butter with espelette peppers and maple syrup. $$.
4318 SE Cully Blvd., 503-4777318, beeswingpdx.com. The heavenly biscuit and Stilton pie all by themselves make this charming scratch-made brunch-and-dinner spot well worth a drive to Cully. $-$$.
5.
Revelry
210 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 971-339-3693, relayrestaurantgroup.com. One of the best deals in town is Revelry’s $5 fried chicken and Rainier deal on hip-hop Tuesdays. $-$$$.
26
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
ROSIE STRUVE
1005 SE Ankeny St., 503-231-3748, ruepdx.com. Stop in Tuesdays at Rue for a pig roast dinner, and one of the best natural wine lists in town. $$-$$$.
MT. ANGEL ABBEY
K A S E Y K A AT
REVIEW
NACHO PORK: Saucy ribs, slaw, cornbread and pulled pork nachos at Bark City
Pudding and Pork NEW FOOD CART BARK CITY BBQ IS BRINGING SOME OF THE BEST ’CUE IN THE CITY—WITHOUT NEGLECTING THE SIDES. mkorfhage@wweek.com
Ask people who love barbecue, they’ll say you don’t go to a barbecue spot for the sides. I’m guessing none of those people have ever been to Bark City. Three visits to Michael Keskin’s new North Killingsworth BBQ cart have made me question every dessicated bean, mayo-drowned slaw and bland potato salad I’ve ever forgiven in the name of brisket. Not only do the pulled pork and ribs at Bark City rival some of the best in town, but each and every side is treated with equal care. The beans are the smoky variety accented by Worcestershire, lightly touched by molasses without being oversweet. The slaw is a peace summit held by acids and fats. The Yukon Gold potato salad likewise hits just the right mix of mayo and mustard, comforting starch and crisp pickle—a balance rarely achieved by anyone who’s not my mother. But the slices of pickled avocado Keskin serves as a side to brisket or beer brat are unbridled BBQ genius—a cleansing wet-nap to a palette whelmed by beefy or porky goodness. It was an idea previously relegated to weird corners of the internet populated by Mormon mommies and alternative dieticians, but as part of a barbecue plate it’s simple delicious utility. None of this would matter, of course, if the ’cue weren’t good. A Virginia native, barbecue obsessive and 18-year restaurant vet who also cooked at Podnah’s Pit when it was the city’s best barbecue, Keskin knows his meat. But note that there’s no obeisance whatsoever to style: Regional purists will end up feeling like a shaken baby. Still, in a town where pulled pork is often a weak spot, Bark City’s version was the best item on the menu on some visits—barky, gently smokey shoulder set off with just the right edge of vinegar. It’s great with Keskin’s mustard sauce (use the darker yellow one) but even better piled up on a heaping $8 tray of house-baked nachos
HUNTER MURPHY
BY M AT T H E W KO R F H AGE
KESKIN
A Virginia native, barbecue obsessive and 18-year restaurant vet who also cooked at Podnah’s Pit—Keskin knows his meat. slathered in queso and augmented with beans, jalapenos, onions and those great pickled avocados. The ribs are the other strong point on a menu that’s strong overall. The $14 platter comes three deep: a St. Louis cut with tender meat, thick bark and an admirable ring, hugged tight to the bone without becoming too attached. Though Keskin first fell in love with barbecue at a street-side D.C. smoker that slathered its ribs in sauce, order them dry: They don’t need distractions. The ’cue menu is extremely broad—including an excellent but unorthodox German-style beer link, currently
made with Ex Novo Mexican lager. Brisket, the most recent addition, is already good, if still a little stewy; it’ll likely round out even better over time. The chopped chicken comes on unfortunately dry, though with an Alabama sauce that’s a bit unbalanced toward mayo. The smoked turkey, a rarity in these parts, fares much better. I f y o u’r e t r a v e l ing in a pair, hit all the strengths and share a rib-pulled pork-sausage-turkey Pitmaster Nap for $21 with potato salad, cornbread and pickled avocado, and still have room for nachos. It’s already one of the best barbecue experiences in the city. But whatever you do, each meal should come with a twist on a Carolina dessert classic: the banana pudding milkshake ($7), which Keskin will split in halves for you if you ask. The thick, generous cup at Bark City is perhaps the best milkshake I’ve had in the city of Portland—a rich and creamy well of pure banana flavor bolstered by crumbled Nilla Wafers and a moonshaped slice of brûléed banana. It is heaven in a blender, and if no one told you it was dessert you’d think it was the main event. GO: Bark City Barbecue, 1331 N Killingsworth St, 971-2279707, barkcitybbq.com. 11:30 am-6:30 pm Tuesday, 11 am-7 pm Wednesday-Thursday, 11 am-7:30 pm Friday, 11 am-7 pm Saturday-Sunday. Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
27
28
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
MUSIC PROFILE
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
CO U R T E SY O F PA R A D I S E
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.
Serial Hawk, Stress Position, Rat Ghost, Hair Puller
[RAWK] The cover of Serial Hawk’s 2015 album, Searching For Light, depicts a scene much like Jamie Wyeth’s famous painting Cristina’s World, only the woman in this image is recoiling from one of those white spheres from The Prisoner. It’s an oddly beautiful image that juxtaposes nicely against the ugliness of Serial Hawk’s brute-force music. That’s not to say the songs don’t have groove and dynamics, but this metallic grunge is about valleys that descend into deeper canyons of bass-driven heaviness. There are no soaring glimpses of hope to be found here, just high-volume churn played with finesse and patience. Local post-punk trio Stress Position makes for great company on this show, since that band features a double-bass attack and pulls no punches either. NATHAN CARSON. The Know, 3728 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-473-8729. 8 pm. $8. 21+.
Uada, Barrowlands, Isenordal
[CASCADIAN BLACK METAL] Now that Agalloch is out of commission, Portland’s two best black metal bands are probably Uada and Barrowlands. Rather than cancel each other out, their styles complement one another. Uada goes for the more pummeling retro approach, garnering comparisons to Mayhem on their raw and aptly-named 2016 album, Devoid of Light. Barrowlands have always gone for something more folky and proggy,
CONT. on page 30
TOP
5
1.
FIVE THEORIES ABOUT WHY JAY-Z’S TOUR IS REPORTEDLY UNDERSELLING
None of his music is on Spotify.
Coming off the flat response to the rich-dude megalomania of 2013’s Magna Carta Holy Grail, this year’s acclaimed 4:44 represents a comeback for Sir Jigga Man. But keeping the album off the world’s biggest streaming site means not everyone has heard it, and taking down the rest of his catalog has possibly left memoryshriveled millennials earnestly asking, “Jigga who?”
2.
Beyoncé put a curse on him.
Maybe not through actual sorcery—though it’s hard to put anything past her—but her public accusations of infidelity tattooed him with a scarlet lemon that’s yet to fade, even after he confessed and apologized for his sins. The Beyhive is slow to forgive, and never forgets.
3. 4.
Fans don’t like “conscious” Jay-Z.
4:44 is his most inward-looking album ever, and Grammynominated single “The Story of O.J.” is an incisive critique of race and wealth in America. But maybe there’s a segment of his fanbase that just wants to see him lighting up cigars on a yacht again.
He needed a bigger opening act.
Roc Nation signee Vic Mensa certainly has buzz, and his political edge meshes with this current iteration of Jay-Z, but the reaction to the Chicago rapper’s long-awaited debut, The Autobiography, was a collective shrug emoji. Reeling in someone like, say, Future, would’ve made the tour unmissable.
5.
Maybe hip-hop won’t age like rock’n’roll.
As hip-hop enters middle-age, Jay-Z has survived long enough to emerge as the first truly huge “legacy rapper,” and this tour—featuring a massive, career-spanning setlist—is effectively a test case for how fans are going to regard their legends as they get older. You’d think if anyone could stay on the road, packing arenas into his ’70s, it’d be Hov. But if he’s not the rap game Paul McCartney, then who is? MATTHEW SINGER.
SEE IT: Jay-Z plays Moda Center, 1 N Center Court St., with Vic Mensa, on Thursday, Dec. 14. 8 pm. $27-$138. All ages.
C O U R T E S Y O F R O C N AT I O N
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 13
Paradise Found HOW A GROUP OF PORTLAND MUSICIANS MADE AN AUTHENTIC ’70S ROCK OPERA IN 2017.
BY N ATHA N CA R SON
The dream of the 1970s is alive in Paradise. “We actually had a plan,” says Tamar Berk, the Portland band’s vocalist and organist. “We were gonna start a band from the ’60s and move them into the ’70s, as if we lived at those times.” These days, that kind of high-concept rock’n’roll is rarer than phone booths. But the members of Paradise like to think big. The band has no delusions of grandeur. With serious day jobs—Berk is a school teacher, and her partner, guitarist Steven Denekas, works in advertising and design—heavy touring isn’t possible. Since getting together eight years ago, though, they have been slowly unfurling an ambitious recording career. And their new album, Dawn of Paradise, is their most grandiose yet: a double-LP rock opera, produced by the guy who engineered Quadrophenia. After two albums, Berk and Denekas knew it was time for the band to take an evolutionary step. Together, they conceived a story about a mother and her son, with shades of serial killers and the Illuminati. The next step was to immortalize their sci-fi rock opera in the best studio setting possible. Berk recalls brainstorming with Paradise drummer Thom Sullivan, known for his exceptional chops and encyclopedic knowledge of rock trivia. The dream, she says, was to convince somebody who actually recorded some of the classic ’70s albums serving as their template to be their producer. The first name Sullivan brought up was Ron Nevison, best known for his work with the Who, Led Zeppelin and Heart. “Ron had the drum sound that everyone else was trying to get,” Berk says. It seemed like a long shot; they weren’t even sure if he was still working. But they looked him up. “There was a website. It was so dated that instead of having an email, it was like, fill in the form and you might get a response back.” Nevison wrote the very next day. As luck would have it, not only was he still recording, he was living in Hood River.
“A lot of things about this record were just magic,” Denekas says. Of course, a producer with gold records from the likes of Meat Loaf, Ozzy Osbourne and Bad Company carries a hefty price tag. Luckily for Paradise, Nevison wanted to experience “the Portland thing,” and was willing to work within their budget. “The thing that struck me,” says Berk, “is that, once we got all the details sorted out, he became a true producer, which is how it was in the ’70s. He booked everything. He negotiated everything. He sat in our practice space. He gave us feedback. He took notes. This is how it was. We really experienced it.” With Nevison at the console in Southeast Portland’s Hallowed Halls, the record took shape. Dawn of Paradise is a shameless rollercoaster trip through the anthemic, hard-rocking rainbow vibes of Styx and ELO. Denekas’ voice cracks like Tom Petty covering Roger Waters on “A Boy and a Rhyme,” while his guitar rings like Pete Townsend’s in the opening salvo of “Discovery.” Before the album was even finished, Berk felt ecstatic. “Just listening to the roughs, with nothing being done to them, I was just, like, tearing up,” she says. “Did we do that? This is what we wanted. It was awesome.” Denekas designed the cover art to look like an old sci-fi paperback. When the record was complete, the band hosted a listening party for friends at OMSI, complete with a period-appropriate laser light show. Now comes the live celebration, with Paradise performing its magnum opus onstage—including all the interludes. Berk couldn’t be more proud. “Even now I just listen to it and I love the way it sounds,” she says. “I love the memory of it.” SEE IT: Paradise plays Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd., with LiquidLight and the Wilder on Friday, Dec. 15. 8 pm. $8. 21+. Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
29
MUSIC but never so much as on Tyndir, their newly-minted sophomore album. This will serve as an album release show for Barrowlands, and will be Uada’s first with their new drummer. PATRICK LYONS. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd, 503238-0543. 8 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
Give Guide Happy Hour: Natasha Kmeto (DJ set)
[GIVE AND GRIND] See Get Busy, page 25. White Owl Social Club, 1305 SE 8th Ave., 503-236-9672. 5 pm. Free. 21+.
THURSDAY, DEC. 14 Mountain Goats
[NOT ACTUALLY GOTH] Since releasing Goths earlier this year, Mountain Goats’ frontman John Darnielle has backed away from the piano he used to compose the jazzy ode to his haunted youth as a drug-ingesting warlock living in Portland. He’s still relatively close to the same subject matter, however, which makes his recent EP, Marsh Witch Visions, feel more like a guitar-based companion piece than a disengagement from the creative space he most recently occupied. PETE COTTELL. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 503-239-7639. 8:30 pm. Sold out. 21+.
Charlie Parr, John Mark Nelson
[BLUES MASTER] Charlie Parr is as gifted as they make ‘em when it comes to traditional blues musicians. The Minnesotan can silence a rowdy bar with his 12-string guitar, Piedmont style and unfading vocals. The artist’s latest record, Dog, may be the bravest of his lengthy career, an album born of deep and genuine depression. It’s a powerful account of mortality, suicide and significant lifestyle changes, set to Parr’s utter mastery of formative folk and Americana structures. MARK STOCK. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave, 503-288-3895. 7 pm. $15 advance, $17 day of show. 21+.
A Very Crunk Christmas featuring Lil Jon (DJ set)
[MERRY CRUNKMAS] Don’t ask why or how, but crunk legend and human air-horn Lil Jon is DJing a Christmas party at bridgeand-tunnel karaoke palace Trio Club. Expect a bunch of basic Beaverton bros in Santa hats shouting Chappelle’s Show references while “Turn Down for What” plays about a half-dozen times. Happy holidays! Trio Club, 909 E Burnside St., 503-234-5003. 8 pm. $20-$1,000. 21+.
FRIDAY, DEC. 15 Christopher Willits, Marcus Fischer [SPATIAL EXPLORATION] Over the course of more than twodozen albums, San Francisco electronic musician Christopher Willits’s music has grown more ambient and more immersive, blurring the boundary between composition and production. Lately he’s even moved into teaching meditation and developing software like the open-source Envelop sound-mapping technology. All those currents converge in Horizon, the new album and live experience that incorporates “ambisonic” field recordings, processed Moog guitar and other sounds. Willits insists that its meditative, slow-morphing, ambient “soundfield” is best experienced via headphones, a DIY Ambisonic system with a minimum of four speakers or an Envelop listening space, which he’s bringing to Doug Fir. BRETT CAMPBELL. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St, 503-231-9663. 9 pm. $13 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
House of Low Culture, Caustic Touch, Daniel Menche, EMS
[NOISE] About a year ago, the four artists on this bill met during a noise show. Earning each other’s appreciation that night, they all collaborated in different iterations in the months that followed, then decided to take their joint efforts further, producing a four-
D A R I A K O B AYA S H I R I T C H
CONT. on page 33
STEP BACK FROM THAT LEDGE, MY FRIENDS: Slow Hollows play Doug Fir Lounge on Monday, Dec. 18. 30
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
BEN SELLON
INTRODUCING
Frankie Simone FOR FANS OF: Kesha, Ellie Goulding, Demi Lovato. SOUNDS LIKE: A Saturday night patio dance party on a warm summer night. As a queer-identifying Puerto Rican woman creating catchy pop tunes in a city that, as she acknowledges, “has zero platform for pop artists,” Frankie Simone is the California transplant that Portland actually needs. “We were sort of in a transition period and looking for a new set of creative people to work with,” she says. She moved here with her partner, dancer Che Che Luna, in 2014 after passing through town on a short tour with her experimental dance project, One Sea. “Portland wasn’t on our radar, but we gave it a try for a month and we loved it.” Originally from San Clemente, Simone grew up in a very traditional Puerto Rican household whose after-dinner rituals involved singing, dancing and more singing. “We listened and danced to Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe and the like, along with a lot of Donna Summer,” she says. “My mom is an incredible singer, and I learned so much just singing to a ton of disco divas with her.” Despite starting songwriting at a young age and playing with a handful of bands over the past few years, it wasn’t until recently Simone decided to pursue her dream of being a solo artist. After recording a couple of dance tracks earlier this year with Portland producer Distance, Simone started writing songs for herself. “It just kind of evolved in a solo act,” she says. “And I definitely feel like I’m my truest self creating the music that I feel passionate about.” And what she’s most passionate about is using her voice to spread as much love and positivity as possible— especially when it comes to speaking up for the LGBTQIA community, “and anyone and everyone who has been oppressed simply for being themselves.” “As a queer woman of color, I know that there are so many people just like me in the world that deserve to feel seen and heard,” she says. “There’s a knowing in my heart that I’m doing something different, and I was put on this earth to be unabashedly myself and challenge some perspectives, get people questioning some of their own beliefs and ultimately holding space for celebrating queer voices.” At this point, she’s only released a small handful of songs. Each one features an infectious uptempo dance beat paired with her confident, pop-driven soprano vocals. Her straight-to-the-point single “Queer” could easily be the next big club banger, with chantable lyrics like, “It’s okay to be queer and proud.” But there’s more on the horizon. Simone just finished recording her first album two weeks ago, which she describes as “a mix of dance-y radio pop along with some sexy indie electronic tribal pop vibes interwoven throughout.” It should be out sometime early next year. “The album’s overall theme is about fully embracing your uniqueness, about unapologetically being yourself,” she says. “We all have demons to face in this life, but generally, I’m a very optimistic and positive-vibed human—a ‘love warrior,’ if you will. So I’ve made an album that’s positive and that reflects me as a person.” SHANNON ARMOUR. SEE IT: Frankie Simone plays Mississippi Studios, 1001 SE Morrison, with Siren and the Sea, on Tuesday, December 19. Free. 21+ Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
31
32
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
MUSIC PROFILE COURTESY OF BADBADNOTGOOD
way split now being released on Accident Prone Records. The results are alternately abrasive and meditative. It’s as cohesive as it is individualistic, with House of Low Culture’s contribution resembling Aaron Turner’s other droning work. Caustic Touch’s tracks are blasts of harsh static, while Daniel Menche’s songs are the most rhythmic, and EMS closes out the record on a haunting note. Noise as a genre is an acquired taste, but at least these artists know how to produce it well. CERVANTE POPE. Modular8, 1416 SE Morrison St, 971-601-6338. 9 pm. Contact venue for ticket prices. 21+.
DATES HERE
The Barr Brothers, Angelo De Augustine
[ZESTY FOLK] Before their current incarnation, Brad and Andrew Barr played in jam-heavy trio the Slip, an avant-rock group known for lengthy live sets. The improvisation of that act seeps into the Appalachian folk of the Barr Brothers, bending the twang of American in jazzy, somewhat innovative directions. It’s an intriguing and necessary sound characteristic amid a flooded folk genre. Earlier this year, the Barr Brothers released Queens of the Breakers, a record that reminds of Paul Simon in its ability to inject folk with a healthy serving of bounce. MARK STOCK. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St, 503284-8686. 9 pm. $17 advance, $20 day of show. All ages.
SATURDAY, DEC. 16 A Benefit for Jake Cheeto: Red Fang, Pushy, Acid Wash
[PARTY METAL] Red Fang knows how to draw in a crowd and lift its spirits. Their particular brand of metal-tinged hard rock has long served as the soundtrack for chugging PBR tallboys, so there really couldn’t be a better fit for a headlining act to bring party people together for the aid of someone in need. In this case, that someone is resident party-boy Jake Cheeto, who has been diagnosed with Stage 3B Melanoma. Cheeto himself is known for supporting Portland’s many riotous punk and metal bands Along with the heavy rock stylings of Acid Wash and Pushy, his community is helping him raise some funds to show their love in return. CERVANTE POPE. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St, 503-226-6630. 9 pm. $15. 21+.
Pedro the Lion, Advance Base
[VOTE FOR PEDRO] See Get Busy, page 25. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave, 503-288-3895. Sold out. 21+. Through Dec. 18.
Semantron, Dispossessed, Sol, Hexenight
[SLUDGE SUPERGROUP] It’s always a gamble to go out of your way to see a band you’ve never heard, but a band that no one has heard? That’s even riskier. Fortunately, Semantron come with an impeccable pedigree. The threepiece is made up of Neurosis frontman and metal hero Scott Kelly, the drummer from grunge legend Tad Doyle’s band Brothers of the Sonic Cloth and the bassist from Toolaffiliated comedy metal band Green Jello. The trio’s Facebook page only went live last month, and they currently have no recorded music with which to entice us yet. Based on the members’ backgrounds, though, expect it to be heavy and crunchy in all the best ways. PATRICK LYONS. Tonic Lounge, 3100 NE Sandy Blvd, 503-2380543. 8:30 pm. $6 advance, $8 day of show. 21+.
SUNDAY, DEC. 17 December To Remember: Portugal. The Man, Hustle and Drone
[CHART-CONQUERING HEROES] “Am I coming out of left field?”
CONT. on page 34
We’ve Got the Jazz BADBADNOTGOOD WENT TO SCHOOL FOR JAZZ AND ENDED UP BECOMING HIP-HOP HEROES. From the looks of them, you probably wouldn’t peg the four dudes in Toronto-based BadBadNotGood as the group leading a new generation of jazz-drunk hip-hop. But since the band’s inception, BBNG have received widespread acclaim for breathing new life into the jazz world—a description they don’t totally agree with. “I don’t know now if we should be considered a jazz band,” says bass player Chester Hansen says. “I don’t know if we’re dedicated enough to our instruments to consider ourselves a full-on jazz band.” Nevertheless, jazz has always been the lens through which BBNG sees music. They met in the jazz program at Humber College in 2010, bonding over a mutual obsession with hip-hop. They started covering rap songs together, imbuing them with frenetic, glitchy energy their administrators didn’t understand. Others were more appreciative. Tyler, the Creator retweeted their interpretation of one of his songs, and the rest is history. It’s not surprising that hip-hop would react so warmly to BBNG. Lately, West Coast artists like Kendrick Lamar and Thundercat have been spearheading a renaissance of jazz-rap crossover. But what’s different about BBNG’s musical palette is that they are jazz-focused musicians influenced by hip-hop, not the other way around. “I think jazz has been influenced [ by hip-hop] for years and years,” Hansen says, “but it’s more prevalent than it’s ever been, which is interesting. In general, the lines between genres are getting blurred more and more as we continue in the age of the internet.” Looking at their body of work, it becomes clear why BBNG doesn’t pledge its allegiance to any specific genre. Sure, they did a whole collaborative album with Ghostface Killah, but they also flex their pop sensibilities on songs like “Time Moves Slowly,” featuring Future Islands singer Sam Herring. Now that everyone has access to so much different music, sounds are being fused together in newer and freer ways, and the potential influences for BBNG are vast. Hansen would have it no other way. “Those of us learning an instrument now have the potential to be influenced by 10 things rather than in the past, where you’d only be exposed to the music around you or what you hear on the radio,” he says. “It’s really interesting to see.” JUSTIN CARROLL-ALLAN. SEE IT: Badbadnotgood plays Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St. #110, with 1939 Ensemble, on Friday, Dec. 15. 9 pm. Sold out. 21+. Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
33
MUSIC
DATES HERE
Portugal the Man asks on their latest single, “Feel It Still.” Damn straight you are. After 13 years of relative anonymity, the Portlandbased band dropped one of the biggest songs of 2017 with “Feel It Still,” a retro-minded rock’n’soul number from this year’s Woodstock album. How did it happen? Beats us—it generally sounds like something you might hear over a montage in one of the Austin Powers sequels. All we know if they’ve had a great year, which they’ll put a bow on tonight with this sold-out homecoming. MATTHEW SINGER. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 503225-0047. 8 pm. Sold out. All ages.
live, not the least because of the exhaustion factor for both performer and audience. But if anyone can make three-plus hours of solo fiddling compelling, it’s Bach, and German violinist Christian Tetzlaff is one of his most acclaimed living interpreters. This marathon performance of all six of Bach’s famous sonatas and partitas for solo violin, which Tetzlaff has just released on CD, includes an extra-long intermission and over two hours’ worth of Baroque solo masterpieces. BRETT CAMPBELL. Agnes Flanagan Chapel at Lewis and Clark College, 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd, 503-7687000. 6:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 16. $10-$65. All ages.
MONDAY, DEC. 18
McTuff, Trio Subtonic with Dan Balmer
Slow Hollows, Raener
INDIE-POP] The Los Angelesness of Slow Hollows can be a bit much. Frontman Austin Feinstein is also a model, emanating a carefree shtick that has caught the eye of high-fashion names like Yves Saint Laurent. Vanity aside, the young quartet is talented, creating a brooding batch of introverted indie-rock that comes off somewhere between David Bazan and Smith Westerns. Fellow musicians agree, as big names like Frank Ocean and Tyler the Creator have tapped him for collaborations. Slow Hollow’s 2016 release, Romantic, is moody, melodic and dejected without falling into the trap of emo, instead staying very much in the realm of pop. MARK STOCK. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St, 503231-9663. 9 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of show. 21+.
[JAZZ-FUNK] If you happened to catch one of the recent local gigs by the quartet featuring Galen Clark, Dan Balmer, Bill Athens
and Russ Kleiner, you’d imagine they’d been together from the get-go. That’s how organic their music sounds—so much so that they’re releasing a new joint CD. In fact, versatile guitarist Balmer had been a Portland jazz institution for decades before hooking up with Trio Subtonic, which has been cranking out tight, danceable jazz-funk for years, too. Balmer’s addition allows the quartet to stretch out a bit more than the trio usually does, and injects some fire into its usual laid-back style. As strong as both acts are individually, this inspired combination adds up to even more than the sum of its considerable parts. BRETT CAMPBELL. The Goodfoot, 2845 SE Stark St., 503-239-9292. 10 pm Saturday, Dec. 16. $10. 21+.
For more Music listings, visit
ALBUM REVIEW
TUESDAY, DEC. 19 Evanescence: Synthesis Live with Orchestra
[GOTH OPERA] Throwing a live orchestra into the mix of Evanescence’s bombastic gothpop makes perfect sense on paper. But what they don’t want you to know is that basically every founding member aside from frontwoman Amy Lee has bailed in the group in the years following their 2003 hit, “Bring Me to Life.” Lee is back with some hired guns on this years’ Synthesis, which features news tracks alongside re-recordings of classics that likely exist due to the insistence of record label lawyers. PETE COTTELL. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 503-248-433. 8 pm. $48-$275. All ages.
CLASSICAL, JAZZ & WORLD Charlie Hunter Trio
[MODERN JAZZ] Jazz-fusionist Charlie Hunter plays modified, seven- and eight-stringed guitars that allow simultaneous performance of bass, chords and melody notes. It’s essentially one brain doing the work of three dudes. Hunter’s anomaly of overachievement frees up the rhythm section in his fluid lineup for brass—played here by Rob Dixon on saxophone— and Carter McLean on drums. These are three titans of modern jazz playing together, which explains why seats are all spoken for. CRIS LANKENAU. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave, 503-2883895. 9 pm. Sold out. 21+.
Christian Tetzlaff
[BACHATHON] Long before synths and other electronics came around, J.S. Bach had the rare ability to make a single-line, solo melody instrument sound like an ensemble, even though it mostly plays one note at a time. His intricate, deeply expressive music for unaccompanied cello and violin remains the pinnacle of their respective repertoires, two and a half centuries after he wrote it. It’s rare to hear more than a few of either set performed
34
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
Swansea FLAWS
(Self Group)
[DANCEFLOOR MUMBLECORE] Indie-rock’s fixation on the awkward and mundane is nothing new. But the quality of art focused on normal-people shit has quietly gotten bigger and better over the past decade. The normcore disco fantasy world of LCD Soundsystem is an obvious signpost. And right from “Red Mittens,” the first track on Flaws, you can feel Swansea’s joyful ambition to add groove to the daily grind. Frontloading the record with a song driven by a spry dance-rock beat and sing-talked vocals about high school and inebriated ambitions to ditch a party and drive to Idaho is a cheeky move. But Flaws quickly rebuilds from an obvious single into something much more dynamic. At the core of Flaws’ strongest arrangements is the voice of Rebecca Sanborn, which stretches and soars over “Just Like It Used to Be,” a tense track that feels like Feist on top of Spoon. Booties are certain to shake when “Samurai” and “No Power” hit their respective strides, but the subdued warmth of “This Time” and “Brighter” prove to be the strongest manifestations of Swansea’s abilities after repeat listens. If we’ve learned anything from the types of movies with off-the-cuff dialog that overlap with Sanborn’s lyrical tics, it’s that those seemingly small and forgettable moments often turn out to be the most profound in the end. Filmmakers often turn to songwriters like her to provide the backbeat when the heavyweights are out of reach, and it’s only logical to imagine a mumblecore film that corresponds perfectly with the tone and subject matter of Flaws. If Joe Swanberg or Noah Baumbach ever read this, it would behoove them to slide Swansea to the top of their music director’s contact list. PETE COTTELL. SEE IT: Swansea plays the Liquor Store, 3341 SE Belmont St., with Echo Echo Echo, on Thursday, Dec. 14. 9 pm. Contact venue for ticket prices. 21+.
MUSIC CALENDAR WED. DEC. 13 Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St December To Remember: Cold War Kids, Daysormay
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St Supersuckers, The Bellrays
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native
Edgefield
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St Mountain Goats
Landmark Saloon
4847 SE Division St Andrea and the Enablers
Moda Center
Jack London Revue
Justa Pasta
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd Late Night District
LaurelThirst Public House
8218 N Lombard St Petunia & The Vipers, Jenny Don’t & The Spurs
529 SW 4th Ave Rebecca Kilgore
1336 NW 19th Ave Anson Wright Duo
2958 NE Glisan St Mexican Gunfight
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St Yur Daddy, Far Out West
The Know
Dante’s
The Fixin’ To
830 E Burnside St Slow Hollows, Raener
8218 N Lombard St Petunia & The Vipers, Jenny Don’t & The Spurs
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St DeadPhish Orchestra
The Liquor Store
116 NE Russell St Thursday Swing featuring the Cherry Blossom Hot 4, Pink Lady & John Bennett Jazz Band
Trio Club
1422 SW 11th Ave Michael Allen Harrison’s Christmas At The Old Church
909 E Burnside St A Very Crunk Christmas with Lil Jon
The Secret Society
8 NE Killingsworth St Abronia, The Crenshaw, Guillotine Boys
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Uada, Barrowlands, Isenordal
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Weske, Benjamin Blake, Aubrey Debauchery
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St The Hillwilliams & The Campfire Boys Debut Performance
White Owl Social Club
1305 SE 8th Ave East G!G Happy Hour feat. Natasha Kmeto (DJ Set)
THU. DEC. 14 Alberta Street Pub 1036 NE Alberta St Arietta Ward
Alberta Street Pub 1036 NE Alberta St Luke & Kati
Arrivederci Restaurant & Wine Bar
17023 SE McLoughlin Blvd, Milwaukie Bobby Torres Ensemble featuring Julana Torres
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave Danny Delegato, Nick Caceres, Run The Risk
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St Alice Merton, SYML
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St Flobots, Bang Data
MON. DEC. 18
The Fixin’ To
The Secret Society
Tonic Lounge
8 NE Killingsworth St The Dreaming Dirt
The Analog Cafe
The Liquor Store
116 NE Russell St Wednesday Night Zydeco
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Dim Wit, The Breathing Effect, ackerman, Skelevision
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
3341 SE Belmont St Swansea, Echo Echo Echo
The Old Church
The Know
Turn! Turn! Turn!
Ponderosa Lounge
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Serial Hawk, Stress Position, Rat Ghost, Hair Puller 3341 SE Belmont St Rozz and the Punk Legends, Chris Newman Deluxe Combo, Conspicuous
600 E Burnside St Rontoms Sunday Session: Rare Monk, TENTS, Small Million
116 NE Russell St The Not-So-Secret Family Show feat. Tallulah’s Daddy, Jaycob Van Auken
3939 N Mississippi Ave Charlie Parr, John Mark Nelson
10350 N Vancouver Way Jessie Leigh & Rekless Kompany
Rontoms
The Secret Society
Mississippi Studios
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd The Spill Canvas
LAST WEEK LIVE
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Sonny Hess (The Winery Tasting Room)
1 N Center Ct St Jay-Z, Vic Mensa
[DEC. 13-19]
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.
Turn! Turn! Turn!
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Electro CUTE
Wonder Ballroom 128 NE Russell St Ekali
FRI. DEC. 15 Alberta Street Pub
1036 NE Alberta St Wilkinson Blades; Blue Flags & Black Grass, the Hillwilliams, Drew Martin
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St Last Days Here: A Doom Farewell To Ash Street Saloon
Clinton Street Theater 2522 SE Clinton St The Toads, Fire Nuns, Cry Babe
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St I Can Lick Any SOB In the House, Chris Margolian
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St Christopher Willits, Marcus Fischer
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Kendl Winter (The Winery Tasting Room)
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Poor Man’s Whiskey
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St The Sadists, Watch List, Night Mechanic
1037 SW Broadway Lindsey Stirling 350 W Burnside Karaoke From Hell
Doug Fir Lounge
Edgefield
QUIET ROAR: Two songs into Grizzly Bear’s set at the Roseland on Dec. 9, a milestone occurred— drummer Christopher Bear busted the head of his bass drum. As singer Ed Droste made clear, this is a rare mishap for most bands, and especially theirs. After all, this ain’t exactly Slayer we’re talking about. But the incident also underscored the great misconception about the Brooklyn-born art-rock quartet: They might toil in quietude, but their music isn’t soft. Getting going again following a brief interruption, which Droste filled by answering audience questions about movies and Michael McDonald, the show contained all the texture and hushed dynamism of their records—not an easy feat, given the Roseland’s often muddled acoustics. While new album Painted Ruins works better on headphones than onstage, the choir-boy harmonies and pop-adjacent arrangements of older songs like “While You Wait for the Others” and “Two Weeks” can still raise goosebumps. Stagecraft isn’t the band’s strongest suit, but the set design—a canopy of fabric that, as the lighting changed, alternately made the stage resemble a cave, a coral reef and the Upside Down—gave the performance an almost painterly atmosphere. As much as the band is regarded as one of the key acts of the Great Indie Rock Explosion of the Late Aughts, the show proved that Grizzly Bear’s singular sound stands outside of any specific time and place. Long may they roar. MATTHEW SINGER. Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Charlie Hunter Trio
Modular8
1416 SE Morrison St House of Low Culture, Caustic Touch, Daniel Menche, EMS
Ponderosa Lounge
10350 N Vancouver Way Jessie G. & Redwood Son
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St #110 BadBadNotGood
Rock Hard PDX
13639 SE Powell Blvd MIRP Benefit Show For Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital
SouthFork
4605 NE Fremont The Michael Raynor Trio
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd The Wrecks, Brick + Mortar, Lovelytheband,
The Firkin Tavern
1937 SE 11th Ave Gardener, Meat Creature, and Black Fruit
The Fixin’ To
8218 N. Lombard St XRAY FM Presents: Souvenir Driver, Hawkeye, Mere Mention
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St Tropical Night feat. Dina y los Rumberos; The Sportin’ Lifers feat. Erin Wallace
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Paradise, the Wilder, LiquidLight
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Terry Time Brother, Kevin Lee Florence, Young Elk, Dan Phelps
Walters Cultural Arts Center
527 E. Main St., Hillsboro Oregon Symphony String Ensemble
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Garcia Birthday Band
Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St The Barr Brothers, Angelo De Augustine
Zarz On First
814 SW 1st Portland 97204 Robbie Laws Band
SAT. DEC. 16 Agnes Flanagan Chapel at Lewis and Clark College
0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd Christian Tetzlaff
Alberta Street Pub
1036 NE Alberta St Dan Cable’s Holidaze Party feat. The Pariahs, Maxwell Cabana, Sumalienz
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Bluehour
250 NW 13th Ave Devin Phillips
Dante’s
350 W Burnside
A Benefit for Jake Cheeto: Red Fang, Pushy, Acid Wash
SouthFork
Doug Fir Lounge
Spare Room
830 E Burnside St School of Rock Portland Fall Preview Show
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Wanderlodge (The Winery Tasting Room)
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Cam
Jack London Revue 529 SW 4th Ave French Twist
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Motrik, Blesst Chest, The Vardaman Ensemble
Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St Feliz NaviDon Holiday Bash: Don & The Quixotes & DJ HWY 7
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave Inky Shadows
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Pedro the Lion, Advance Base
Ponderosa Lounge
10350 N Vancouver Way McKenna Faith & Britnee Kellogg
Revolution Hall
1300 SE Stark St #110 Josh Garrels: The Light Came Down Christmas Tour
4605 NE Fremont Hot Club of Hawthorne 4830 NE 42nd Ave XRAY Holiday Glam & Goth Ball
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave The Best 80s Party Ever! (So Far) with Nite Wave
The Firkin Tavern
1937 SE 11th Ave Cockeye, Fox Medicine, Man Repellant
The Fixin’ To
8218 N. Lombard St Lord Master, Bad Assets
The Garages Music & Event Center 4810 SW Western Ave, Beaverton Harvey Brindell & The Tablerockers
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St McTuff, Trio Subtonic with Dan Balmer
The Know
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Violence Creeps, Toyota, Vog, Negative Option
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Semantron, Dispossessed, Sol, Hexenight
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Sounds Illustrated Art Show: Piefight, The Toads, Dr. Something
SUN. DEC. 17 Alberta Street Pub 1036 NE Alberta St Pretty Gritty
Al’s Den at Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave Galen Clark
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway Comfort and Joy: A Classical Christmas
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St December To Remember: Portugal. The Man, Hustle and Drone
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Billy D (The Winery Tasting Room)
Jack London Revue
529 SW 4th Ave Tyrone Hendrix Christmas Time is Here Bash
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Pedro the Lion, Advance Base
Mt. Hood Community College Theater
26000 SE Stark St, Gresham The Portland Columbia Symphony Presents the Big Horn Brass in “The Night Before Christmas”
Multnomah County Library Central Library
801 SW 10th Ave Choro da Alegria Plays the Beautiful Melodies of Brazil
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Groovy Wallpaper, Kirk Vanderveer (The Winery Tasting Room)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Pedro the Lion, Advance Base
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave Lloyd Jones
The Fixin’ To
8218 N. Lombard St Regular Music, Nice Nice, Stoller
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St Sama Dams, Operator Music Band, Months
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Chasing Ebenezer & Andrew Serino Christmas Benefit
TUE. DEC. 19 Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
1037 SW Broadway Evanescence: Synthesis Live with Orchestra
Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St Foxy Lemon
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Antonia Darlene (The Winery Tasting Room)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Frankie Simone, Siren and the Sea
Raven and Rose
1331 SW Broadway Na Rósaí
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave Xavier Omar
The 1905
830 N Shaver St Hailey Niswanger Quartet
The Fixin’ To
8218 N. Lombard St Dapper Badger, Neon Culpa, James Powers Wintet
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Triceraclops, Tigers in the Tank, Jessa Campbell, Gordy G.
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
35
MUSIC COURTESY OF DJ NON
!!!
NEEDLE EXCHANGE
Get Busy Sign up for our gET BuSY nEwSlETTEr! Sign up for Get Busy to receive WW’s weekly music + entertainment picks!
wweek.com/follow-us
DJ NoN
Years DJing: 29 as a Club DJ, 31 if you count house parties. Genre: I love alternative ’80s, industrial and post-punk but I can really go anywhere. I also love funk, soul, old-school hip-hop and even disco. Where you can catch me regularly: My current gigs for December are at the Lombard Pub, Valentines and Tryst. I occasionally guest DJ at Lovecraft for Shadowplay and the Star Theater for Hive with out-of-town guest spots on the West Coast and in Honolulu. Craziest gig: When I was working at a sound and lighting store as a rental manager in college in the ’90s, I got a call from a promoter who needed to rent some turntables at the last minute. Turns out there was a mix-up and some of the equipment needed for the Run DMC show that night did not show up. We only had two sets at the store and they were already rented out for the weekend, so I offered to loan out my personal pair in exchange for a couple of tickets to the show. Not only did Jam Master Jay play on my turntables, I got to hang out and play a set at a private after-party for VIPs and backstage guests. To this day I still have them center stage in my room and they never get loaned out. My go-to records: I’m a huge ’80s fan, so I can never seem to go wrong with Depeche Mode, New Order or the Cure. Don’t ever ask me to play…: If I had one I would straight-up never play, I think it would be “Ice Ice Baby.” THU, DEC. 14 Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave Ladies Night (rap, r&b)
Century Bar
WED, DEC. 13 Beulahland
118 NE 28th Ave Wicked Wednesday (hip-hop)
Elvis Room
203 SE Grand Ave Paul Q & DJ Honeychild
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St TRONix: Popcorn Mixed Signals
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St Marcus Marr + Juan MacLean (DJ Sets)
Killingsworth Dynasty
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
1430 NE Sandy Blvd DJ Joey Prude
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Event Horizon w/ DJ Straylight (darkwave, industrial)
The Paris Theatre
6 SW 3rd Ave Portland is Poppin: “Bad and Boujie” Model and Twerk Contest
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Death Throes w/ DJ Astareth & Grey Deth (death rock, dark wave)
832 N Killingsworth St Menagerie Live with Justin Zero
Tube
Rock Hard PDX
Whiskey Bar
13639 SE Powell Blvd Electronic Dance Music Night
36
Sandy Hut
18 NW 3rd Ave Dubblife 31 NW 1st Ave Lil Clark
930 SE Sandy Blvd Official 4:44 After Party Featuring Young Guru
Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Gwizski (boogie, funk)
Elvis Room
203 SE Grand Ave Wig Flippers (freakbeat, psych, garage)
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Ave Omari Jazz
Sandy Hut
1430 NE Sandy Blvd DJ Just Dave
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Shadowplay (goth, industrial, 80s)
FRI, DEC. 15 45 East
315 SE 3rd Ave Justin Jay
BUZZ LIST Where to drink this week.
BAR REVIEW ABBY GORDON
TOP 5
1. Up North Surf Club
1229 N Killingsworth St., 503-706-5932, upnorthsurfclub.com. Peak surf season is now. Catch tips at this surprisingly rollicking surf shop bar with a great taplist—and order fried chicken from brandnew Haymaker next door.
2. Proper Pint
5965 SE 52nd Ave., 971-544-7167, facebook.com/ ProperPintTaproom. It took a very long time for the Woodstock neighborhood to get a real craft beer bar. Proper Pint was worth the wait.
3. 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.
4. Great Notion
2204 NE Alberta St., 503-548-4491. greatnotionpdx.com. Great Notion has a hell of a tap list going at the moment—first and foremost an impossibly fruity I Love it When You Call me Big Papaya sour.
5.
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.
Bit House Saloon
727 SE Grand Ave Flight presents Journeys
Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave The Cave (rap, r&b, club)
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St Video Dance Attack Holiday Party
Dig A Pony
FLYING BEER BROTHERS: Imagine an airborne bar ripped free from its foundation and lifted skyward with drinks sloshing, and you’ll have the centerpiece of Beaverton’s new Cedar Hills McMenamins (2885 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, 503-641-0151, mcmenamins.com). In the center of a huge, new pub across the street from the old Cedar Hills location, a little propeller that once carried a 1950s plane now spins above a slatted-rustic wood bar. Though the pub’s a new building rather than a refurb, the aviation theme still showcases the McMenamin bros’ love of history by paying tribute to this land’s former life: For the benefit of a fleet of amateur pilots called the “Beaverton Outlaws,” the farmer who owned the property once outfitted his pasture with a runway and 40 airplane hangars. While in most McMenamins your eyes dart from one psychedelic painting to the next, here you’re always looking up—whether at the steeple-shaped roof made of honey-hued wood or the assortment of mismatched chandeliers suspended from the soaring ceiling. And then there’s the 40 taps arranged in a circle at the propeller’s base. Most are devoted to beer, with 15 pouring brews from various McMenamins, including a Flurry New England IPA that burps with the flavor of Orange Julius. There’s also an astonishingly long list of 120 whiskeys. The food menu is familiar if you’ve ever even glanced at one at another McMenamins. You came for the Cajun tots, but break from routine and order Saigon Kick chicken tenders ($9.25) bathed in a red curry chili sauce and sprinkled with a spicy daikon-carrot slaw. Looking to hop off the plane and into one of those trademark McMenamins nooks? The other half of the building has lower ceilings, dimmer lights and another bar with a cubby hole window and 40 more taps. ANDI PREWITT. Soul Stew (funk, soul, disco)
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St Sublimate presents Pressha
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave DoublePlusDANCE (new wave, synth, goth)
The Paris Theatre
6 SW 3rd Ave BAD Santa Ft. DJ Flave
736 SE Grand Ave Battles & Lamar (boogie, hip hop, electro)
Toffee Club
Holocene
Whiskey Bar
1001 SE Morrison St Slay (hip hop)
Killingsworth Dynasty 832 N Killingsworth St Strange Babes
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Ave Sappho & Friends (disco)
Roseland Theater 8 NW 6th Ave Trapfest PDX 2017
Star Theater
13 NW 6th Ave La Noche Latin Party
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St
1006 SE Hawthorne Blvd Parklife (britpop) 31 NW 1st Ave Buku & LUZCID
SAT, DEC. 16 45 East
315 SE 3rd Ave Gabriel & Dresden + Jody Wisternoff
Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave The Ruckus (rap, r&b, club)
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St 90’s Dance Flashback
Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Maxamillion (soul, rap, sweat)
Killingsworth Dynasty
832 N Killingsworth St J-Boogie w/ DJ Nightchild
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Ave DJ aTrain
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave XRAY Holiday Glam & Goth Ball
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St Spend The Night : MESH
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Sabbath w/ Miz Margo (darkside of rock & electronic)
Whiskey Bar 31 NW 1st Ave Hot Damn Vol. 16
SUN, DEC. 17 Black Book
20 NW 3rd Ave Flux (rap, r&b, club)
The Lovecraft Bar 421 SE Grand Ave Kawaii Party presents DANSU
MON, DEC. 18 Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St Reaganomix: DJ Rockit (80s)
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd A Night For Dancers: Mambo/Salsa Social
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Black Mass (goth, post-punk)
TUE, DEC. 19 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Noches Latinas
Kelly’s Olympian 426 SW Washington St Party Damage DJs: DJ Folk Lore
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Sleepwalk w/ Miz Margo (deathrock, gothrock)
The Secret Society 116 NE Russell St Salsa Social
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave Tubesdays w/ DJ Jack
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
37
ARTS 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.
PERFORMANCE OWEN CAREY
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
Editor: SHANNON GORMLEY (sgormley@wweek.com). TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit information at least two weeks in advance to: sgormley@wweek.com.
THEATER Act of God
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, through Dec. 16. $15-$35.
A 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 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 TuesdaySunday, through Dec. 30. $34-$59.
The Humans
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. 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. But The Humans is not just about generational divides. It’s also about loneliness and isolation within your own family. R. MITCHELL MILLER. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., artistsrep.org. 7:30 pm Tuesday-Sunday, through Dec. 17. $50$60.
Pericles Wet
Portland playwright Ellen Margolis’ new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre is premiering with Portland Shakespeare Project under the direction of Michael Mendelsohn. Pericles Wet is a delightfully bizarre tornado of tragedy, comedy and seafaring misadventures. The voyage begins with Pericles (Ben
38
Newman), the prince of Tyre, struggling to solve a riddle. If he succeeds, he’ll wed Hesperides (Alex Ramirez de Cruz); if he fails, her father, Antiochus (David Bodin) will execute him. When Pericles realizes that the answer to the riddle is a dark secret, he manages to talk his way out of an early death and opt for exile instead, beginning a strange ocean journey. Amidst the strangeness, at least one concrete theme emerges—the contrast between the cruel oppression of Hesperides and Pericles’ freedom to lackadaisically wander the globe. But attacking male privilege never seems to be the play’s chief purpose. Pericles Wet is best savored as surrealist entertainment. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1516 SW Alder St., portlandshakes. org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. Through Dec. 17. $30.
DANCE The Nutcracker
See page 18. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 503-222-5538 obt. org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, 2pm Saturday-Sunday, through Dec. 24. $23-$105.
Lexicon
Choreographed by BodyVox’s artistic directors Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland, Lexicon starts the company’s 20th season. In the new show, there are two different pieces shown through projectors, and another that’s accompanied by animation. There’s even an interactive section in which the audience can use their phones to call the dancers as they’re performing. The multimedia doesn’t distract from the dancing, it’s a means for BodyVox to tests its creative limits. There are vibrant pieces performed by so many dancers that they fill up every corner of the stage, and others that are somber, introspective duets. Lexicon isn’t trying to say anything in particular about technology, but its lack of focus is why it’s wholly able to give itself over to experimentation. YESENIA RAMOS. BodyVox Dance Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave., bodyvox.com. 7:30 pm. Through Dec. 16. $24-$56.
COMEDY Hari Kondabolu
While his documentary The Problem with Apu—in which he confronts the stereotypical portrayal of Indians on The Simpsons—has brought him much-deserved attention lately, Hari Kondabolu has been one of comedy’s most astute minds for years. Tonight’s show serves as a warm-up before recording a new special in Seattle. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 503-234-9694, aladdin-theater. com. 9 pm Wednesday, Dec. 13. $20 advance, $25 day of show. All ages.
John Mulaney
After three Netflix specials and several tours, the sassiness of John Mulaney’s standup has almost eclipsed that of all those Stefon sketches he wrote for SNL. After a three-month run last spring, Mulaney is reviving his Kid Gorgeous tour, which skipped Portland the last time around. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, portland5.com. 7 pm and 10 pm Thursday, Dec. 14, 7 pm Friday, Dec. 15. $25-$35.
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
DOWN TO EARTH: Yolanda Porter and Bianca Murillo
War With God
IN MARISOL, THE WORLD FALLS APART WHEN ITS MAKER BECOMES SENILE. BY B EN N ETT CA MPB ELL FER GU SON
Marisol takes place in an alternate New York City besieged by strange, otherworldly threats. Cows are producing salty milk, an unspecified plague has run amok and the moon has literally fled Earth to hang out with Saturn. It’s all the result of an impending battle between God and his angels, who have risen up against their reportedly senile boss. Written by José Rivera in 1992 and brought to blazing life by Portland Actors Conservatory, Marisol is a possibly psychotic, possibly ingenious play. It’s so bizarre that it bases a pivotal plot twist on a woman who becomes homicidal after she misses a performance of Les Misérables. If you need to make sense of it all, Marisol will leave you unfulfilled. But if you’re willing to let the strangeness overwhelm you, Rivera and PAC have created an apocalyptic and oddly uproarious world that’s at once tragic, goofy and scarily real. Caught in the madness is Marisol (Yolanda Porter), a young Puerto Rican woman who works in publishing. Early in the play, she’s visited by a leather-jacket-wearing angel (Bianca Murillo) who announces the coming battle with God, which will apparently end humanity’s suffering. Instead of joining the holy war, idealistic Marisol decides to search for her missing friend June (Trishelle Love), who has a serious head injury, and her brother Lenny (Alex Albrecht), who, in defiance of modern science and male anatomy, becomes pregnant.
Marisol is so peculiar that it’s tempting to simply surrender to the wondrously vivid emotional, aural and visual sensations conjured up by director Victor Mack and his extraordinary cast and crew. It’s heart wrenching when June expels Lenny into the unforgiving streets, flinch inducing when the angels unleash a piercing barrage of gunfire offstage and a lovely when snowflakes fall on Marisol’s dark hair. But if you hunt for meaning amidst those stirring moments, you will find it. Marisol is ultimately an epic tale of people rising up against forces that, to use Marisol’s chilling phrase, have amputated their cultural identities. Yet the play ’s outrage is tempered by the deliberate silliness of its more melodramatic scenes—including one where Lenny gives birth— and the garish matching sets of red lipstick and bobbed wigs that most of the characters wear. In a way, Marisol’s humor is a critique of self important dystopian myths. Yet it would be reductive to say that that’s the point of the play. The power of Marisol lies in its refusal to conform to any particular interpretation and its ability to constantly reinvent itself. By the time it’s over, even the most absurd moments in Marisol feel so real that after you leave the theater, it’s tempting to glance up in the sky and make sure the moon is still there—just in case. SEE IT: Marisol plays at the Shoebox Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., pac.edu. 7:30 pm ThursdaySaturday, 2:00 pm Sunday through Dec. 17. $20.
BOOKS REVIEW
Premier Trump COLLUSION SHOWS THE DISTURBING DEPTH OF TRUMP’S TIES TO RUSSIA— AND OBAMA’S FAILURES SAFEGUARDING THE ELECTION. I was on my second drink at the Dupont Circle Hotel bar when a tan, fit woman in her 40s sidled up to me. “Listen,” she said. “ You’ve gotta stop retweeting Louise Mensch.” Warning ? Threat? Friendly advice? If there’s any lesson from Luke Harding ’s new book Collusion (Vintage, 368 pages, $16.95), it’s that even the smallest fish is wise to keep its guard up on anything vaguely involving Russian intelligence. After all, we were at the same hotel where ardent Putin critic Mikhail Lesin’s body was found. Lesin was so drunk that he just kept falling and smashing his head and body into hard surfaces, or so the official story went. I wasn’t that drunk…or was I? Harding is a foreign correspondent for British newspaper the Guardian, with the distinction of being t h e f i r st We st e r n j o u r n a l ist since the Cold War to be expelled from Russia. He’s spent the last decade documenting how Putin operates his autocratic kleptocracy by compromising and exploiting people in order to manipulate world events. Collusion, whose lengthy subtitle is Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win, is in many ways a rehashing of Harding’s 2011 book Mafia State, which detailed his expulsion from Russia. But now Harding has tightened his focus on Donald J. Trump, who as of press time is still the president of the United States despite a vast trove of evidence suggesting he shouldn’t be. Harding draws from a wealth of sources, including extensive interviews with Paul Manafort from 2007, when Trump’s campaign manager was still working shoulder-toshoulder with Bernie Sanders’ chief strategist to elect a Putin puppet named Viktor Yanukovych in the Ukraine. And for this book, Harding landed interviews with Christopher Steele, the author of the salacious dossier that brought the “possible” existence of the pee tape into the public conscious. The story as Harding tells it is familiar to those who’ve followed #TrumpRussia, told through zigzagging scenes and profiles. The gist is that while stealing emails is
broadly considered “honorable international espionage,” weaponizing that information to influence the 2016 presidential election was, somehow, surprising to veteran spies. The effectiveness of the tactic was shocking even to Putin, who apparently hadn’t thought through the unintended consequences of success. It also caught President Obama off his game. Obama’s name appears only a few times in Collusion, but his flatfooted reaction to a serious and obvious existential threat to American democracy looms as an impending reckoning. For thos e of us who’ve fol lowed the Twitter escapades of Mensch, the former British MP and chick-lit author turned intel blogger, and the rest of her Scooby Gang, the first 100 pages of Collusion do lag. I know from chatting about the book that much of it is not part of the broader understanding—but diehards be warned that you already knew about Five Eyes getting a FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page. Things warm up in the middle, where Harding digs deeper into Manafort, whom he watched in action in Ukraine, and reports on General “Misha” Flynn, the now-disgraced former national security adviser former colleagues seemed very happy to dish about. Also interesting are Trump’s earliest dealings with Russians before the fall of the U.S.S.R., and his short-lived and largely forgotten first bid for president. Back in 1987, he used the same pitches that eventually “won” the election, but with Japan as America’s freeloading enemy. As might be expected from a book in which more information is likely to drop from investigations a journalist can’t duplicate without a subpoena, the end of the book frays into a series of disconnected threads about banking and the Russian mafia’s longstanding ties to Trump. These disparate strands may or may not end up fusing together. Stay tuned to @LouiseMensch for details. MARTIN CIZMAR.
iA R U suse iss
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
39
40
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
C O U R T E S Y O F C O R N E L I U S S WA R T
MOVIES Screener
GET YO U R REPS IN
Batman Returns
(1992)
Paying absolutely no attention to Bob Kane’s original Dark Knight mythology, Tim Burton’s Batman Returns reimagines the Penguin as a sewer-dwelling, slime-barfing monster, Catwoman as a nearimmortal sexpot and Christopher Walken as, well, Christopher Walken. It’s brilliant, and proves that you can frontload a film with villains and still make something coherent. Plus, this screening will be in 35mm and hosted by drag clown and performance artist Carla Rossi. Hollywood, Dec. 14.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Nikki Williams in Priced Out.
Gentrified
A Christmas Story
Lethal Weapon
like Moses when I walk down Mississippi, because the waters seem to part.” Priced Out isn’t just about gentrification. It tracks North Portland’s evolution into a heart of ‘New Portland.’ Through its interviews, the film puts words to the ambient tension between new and old residents. It also illustrates that Portland’s racial issues aren’t just about 100-year-old exclusion laws. In one scene, a former North Portland resident named Michelle Lewis mentions finding KKK flyers in the deep southeast 100 blocks, where she can now afford to live. In another, Williams describes why she wants to leave Portland, even though she managed to stay in her house over the years of change. “I wanted to see people give a damn about that community, not to push us out and make things nice for the new, white community,” says Williams. “I want to ask these new people, ‘Where were you when we were cleaning up this neighborhood?’” Swart emphasizes that the easiest step in helping the problem is being aware of yourself when you move into a new neighborhood. “A majority of what people say about what bothers them about gentrification, aside from displacement, is how badly they’re treated by the people who move here,” he says. “That’s something newcomers have complete power over.” SEE IT: Priced Out screens at Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave., pricedoutmovie. com. 7 pm and 9:30 pm Wednesday, Dec. 13. $5–$10.
(1987)
Mel Gibson is gross, but at least Danny Glover isn’t. Looking past that casting blemish, Lethal Weapon is the buddy-cop movie that started them all, and one of the greatest action comedies ever. Laurelhurst, Dec. 13-20.
Solaris
(1972)
Nope, not the George Clooney one—its Russian predecessor that’s based off of the same novel about an ill-fated space station orbiting an ocean planet. It’s more poetic and thought-provoking than every Black Mirror episode combined. NW Film Center, Dec. 18.
ALSO PLAYING: Academy: White Christmas (1954), Dec. 15-21. Clinton: Elf (2003), Dec. 18. Hollywood: Imagine Me and You (2005), Dec. 13. Joy: Elf (2003), through Dec. 14. Terror Beneath the Sea (1966), Dec. 12. Kiggins: Elf (2003), Dec. 15-19. Miracle on 34th Street (2003), Dec. 15-19. Mission: Love Actually (2003), Dec. 13. Elf (2003), Dec. 17-23. NW Film: Bomshell (1933), Dec. 15. Seed (1933), Dec. 16. Paranorman (2012), Dec. 17. Back Street (1932), Dec. 17.
A Christmas Story
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
41
C O U R T E S Y O F M E T R O - G O L D W Y N - M AY E R
Priced Out begins with a quote from a former Northeast Albina Avenue resident in white text against the black screen: “The black community has always been like a canary in a coal mine.” Directed and narrated by Portland filmmaker Cornelius Swart, Priced Out depicts the drastic change North Portland has undergone in the past two decades. It distinguishes gentrification, revitalization and a housing crisis while also giving deeper context of the history of the neighborhood. “What’s remarkable about Portland is that we’re seeing a mid-size city experience a housing crisis of a top-tier metropolitan area,” says Swart. “Nearly all cities are going through some form of gentrification right now, because tastes have changed. The American Dream used to be living in the suburbs, and that’s not true anymore.” Along with interviews of former and current residents, neighborhood leaders and county commissioners, Priced Out features images from the thriving Vanport community before it was destroyed by a flood and the heyday of African-American graffiti along MLK in the ’50s and ’60s. The do c u m e n t a r y la te r co m p a res shots of intersections in the late ’90s a n d p r e s e n t d a y. O n e c l i p s h o w s a black woman tapping her reflection in a cracked window, while the following image shows white women in yoga gear walking past renovated storefronts.
Swart himself bought a house on North Williams as a young, white newcomer in the late ’90s. It was there that he met his neighbor, Nikki Williams, who was the primary subject in NorthEast Passage, Swart’s 2002 documentary on gentrification and urban renewal. Williams became a symbol for NoPo residents who looked forward to change if it meant cleaning up the neighborhood. In NorthEast Passage, she lamented sidewalk violence and cleaning needles out of the yard before her young daughter, Anna, could play outside. But a lot has changed in the 15 years since NorthEast Passage. “I mostly did this follow-up film because Nikki asked me,” said Swart. “She left NorthEast Passage on a note that she was pro-gentrification, and I felt that she was owed an opportunity to update the record, so to speak.” This time around, Williams contacted Swart to tell him she was leaving. It wasn’t because of the rising cost of living, but because of how unfamiliar her neighborhood has become. In Priced Out, her daughter Anna, now 26 and with a child of her own, talks about no longer feeling at home on the streets she grew up on, and the heartbreak of seeing new neighbors refuse to play with her son. “It’s not just that it’s all white,” says Williams in the film. “It’s a different kind of white. Back in the day, at least people would look you in the eye. Now it’s this ‘I’m afraid to look at you, talk at you’ kind of white. I joke that I feel
(1983)
The meaning of Christmas is you should never accept a triple-dog dare, no matter what. Academy, Dec. 15-21.
15 YEARS AGO, NIKKI WILLIAMS WAS PRO-GENTRIFICATION. NOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED. BY L AUR E N T E R RY
Probably the first film anyone could refer to as “dripping in atmosphere,” the German silent film about an evil sleepwalker who kidnaps a woman is still one of the most visually stunning, hyperstylized movies ever made. This screening comes with a live score and ’20s silent cartoons. Clinton, Dec. 16.
COURTESY OF FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
MOVIES
THE SHAPE OF WATER 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 Wonder Wheel
Wonder Wheel revolves around nerdy lifeguard Mickey (Justin Timberlake), who finds himself in the classic Woody Allen dilemma of having to choose between two attractive women who are in love with him. There’s Ginny (Kate Winslet), a waitress and failed actress unhappily married to carousel operator Humpty (Jim Belushi). Or there’s Carolina (Juno Temple), Humpty’s estranged daughter who seeks out her father because she’s on the run from gangsters. Who do you suppose Mickey prefers, Ginny, the woman with whom he seems to share a genuine connection, or the younger woman, Carolina? I won’t spoil the surprise. There are some interesting visuals in Wonder Wheel. The sets, costumes and photography are well done, and give the amusement park a shimmering, nostalgic quality. Clearly, this stylized version of 1950s Coney Island means something to 82-year-old Allen; for the rest of us it feels dusty and irrelevant—about as much fun as a trip to the antique store with your mom as a kid. Winslet does everything she can with consistently flat dialogue, and Timberlake and Temple are charismatic. On the other hand, Jim Belushi gives one of the worst acting performances I’ve ever seen in a movie theater. It’s as if Allen cast your schlubby uncle, handed him the script and told him not to sweat it. Belushi steals every scene in which he appears, in a bad way. If his latest work is any indication, Woody Allen doesn’t have much left to say. Wonder Wheel is a doddering rehash of many ideas from his earlier works. R. R. MITCHELL MILLER. Clackamas, Living Room Theaters.
The Shape of Water
Soaked in blood, passion and enough water for a tsunami, the Cold War fable from Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) has creativity and conviction to spare. If only that was enough. Del Toro has an expansive imagination, but his limitations as a storyteller have created a film that is beautiful but cluttered, visionary but formulaic and sympathetic to its kind, lonely heroine, but unwilling to let her spearhead the story the way that men have driven del Toro fantasies like Pacific Rim. That heroine is Eliza (Sally Hawkins), a mute janitor who works in a Baltimore laboratory where she cleans bathrooms and, on occasion, the chamber where a dark-eyed, water-dwelling creature (Doug Jones) has been imprisoned. Eliza,
42
“the princess without voice,” and the creature, her slimy-but-beautiful prince, fall in love, but del Toro seems skittish about lavishing their romance with too much attention. He stuffs the film with subplots about Cadillacs, Russian spies and key lime pie—it’s a relief when he simply lets us stare in rapture at the image of Eliza and the creature floating together in a flooded bathroom. Love, that glorious image suggests, is enough for them. Why didn’t del Toro trust that it would be enough for the movie? R. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Cinema 21, Hollywood.
STILL SHOWING 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 after-
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
life, 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.
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. Vancouver.
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. Academy, Laurelhurst.
a glorified commercial for next year’s Avengers: Infinity War. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. BBridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Tigard, Vancouver.
Lady Bird
Victoria & Abdul
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, Eastport, Fox Tower, Hollywood, Lloyd, Tigard, Vancouver.
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, Cedar Hills, Cinemagic Theatre, City Center, Clackamas, Eastport, Fox Tower, Hollywood, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Vancouver.
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
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.
H A R L E E C A S E F O R L A D I E S O F PA R A D I S E @ L A D I E S O F PA R A D I S E
POTLANDER
Candy Flossin’ DRIP’S NEW LOW-DOSE GEM CANDIES ARE BEAUTIFUL AND EFFECTIVE
hiatus. “But I was able to regroup and remind myself of how deeply I believed in what Drip could be.” This July, Drip finally received its OLCC license and was able to get its cannabis creamery back in action. Drip is still making its ice cream and now growing into a confectionery as well, with new infused candies called Gems, by the rebranded Drip Sweets. Following an initial delivery to dispensaries around the state, Bixel threw a jewel-encrusted launch party for the candies last weekend to celebrate being back with a bang. The crystal-shaped candies come in two flavors. Vanilla-mint—or “white mint illuminite, of the 6th and 7th chakras” per Bixel’s playful promo materials—is a sweetened take on a traditional breath mint, and causes “attunement to the inner eye.” Zesty citrus, or “citrine quartz, of the 3rd and 8th chakras,” contains grapefruit and lime oil, and “grants the ability to play with time and interdimensional travel.” One bag of 10 CO2 oil-infused candies are five mg THC each. As she puts it, “it’s the perfect dose to add a little sparkle and lightness.”
By Lauren Terry
During the cannabis boom of 2015, Drip was known for making the best cannabis-infused ice cream in Portland. Then came the transition from medical to recreational licenses, in which established companies like Drip had to go through a rigorous and confusing new process. The OLCC’s new requirements for commercial kitchen and high-volume testing are particularly hard on edible companies. Drip founder Andi Bixel was stuck at the end of the line in the now-infamous licensing backlog. Drip was out of business for nine months. “There was a point where I had to really ask myself, ‘ Why am I doing this? Why am I putting myself through this?” says Bixel about the stressful
Mt. Olympus. Kaleidoscopes were arranged besides glass bowls of the Gems across the space, and local artist Blossom graced a pink cellophane stage, adorned with fresh flowers, for an intimate performance. With a creative background in fashion and design, Gems are a chance for Bixel to let her imagination run wild, without the technical limitations of ice cream-making.“Candies are just so easy, and it’s beautiful to have these bowls of gemstones all around the kitchen. Drip ice cream is beautiful, but very hard. The production, the testing, managing storage and refrigeration at dispensaries—it’s all hard.” These low-dose edibles are anti-anxiety pills for me. After a long day, one of the Gems helps me take a deep breath and shake off the day without removing all motivation by taking a big bowl to the face. They’re also great for newbies who are scared of trying edibles and getting too stoned. Pop two (especially if highly tolerant) if you can really go with the flow for the next few hours and see where the day takes you. Since they’re sublingual, the Gems hit you faster than Drip ice cream. I may not be fully onboard with the effectiveness of crystals and minerals, but I know that these equally aesthetically pleasing Gems have a clarifying and soothing effect.
Drip Ice Cream and Gems are currently available at the following Portland dispensaries:
Sparkly lightness is exactly what Bixel spun together at the Gem Party, an iridescent affair hosted at AK Studio in North Portland. She and her entourage wandered through the crowd in pastel frocks and jewel-toned wigs, like crystallized deities on a cannabis-infused
Ivy Cannabis, 11850 N Center Ave., ivypdx.com Farma, 916 SE Hawthorne Blvd., farmapdx.com Bridge City Collective, 4312 N Williams Ave. and 215 SE Grand Ave., bridgecitycollective.com Spark, 5103 NE Fremont St., letsspark.com Jeffery’s Joint, 4027 N Interstate Ave., jeffreysjoint.com Kaleafa, 5232 SE Woodstock Blvd., kaleafa.com Westside Wellness, 18918 SW Shaw St., westside-wellness.com
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
43
44
Willamette Week DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
CLASSIFIEDS
TO PLACE AN AD CONTACT:
MATT PLAMBECK
45 46 47
WELLNESS, SERVICES, BULLETIN BOARD, MUSICIANS MARKET, EMPLOYMENT, PETS, REAL ESTATE, RENTALS CHATLINES, ADULT, JONESIN’ FREE WILL ASTROLOGY, INSIDE BACK COVER
503-445-2757 • mplambeck@wweek.com
WELLNESS
JOBS HOSPITALITY/RESTAURANT
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES DRIVE NEW CARS !!
MUSICIANS MARKET FOR FREE ADS in 'Musicians Wanted,' 'Musicians Available' & 'Instruments for Sale' go to portland.backpage.com and submit ads online. Ads taken over the phone in these categories cost $5.
REAL ESTATE
MUSIC LESSONS
get paid weekly - North Portland M-F day and swing positions open part & full time men & women 18 yrs up must drive stick shift immediate openings call 360-718-7443
Play what you want to play.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES SECURITY F.T. & P.T. Patrol Drivers (Officers), paid training/ hiring bonus. EEO Harbor Security, Inc. (503) 262-5538. harborsec@yahoo.com
MCMENAMINS IS NOW HIRING LINE COOKS AND ENTRY LEVEL KITCHEN MANAGEMENT!!! **We offer a $300.00 Signing Bonus**
West Side Locations Include West Linn Pub, John Barleycorn’s, Sherwood Pub, Wilsonville, Old Church and Pub, and Cedar Hills New Pub! What we need from you: An open and flexible schedule, including days, evenings, weekends and holidays. Previous cooking experience preferred, but we are willing to train the right person! Management experience is required for Kitchen Management positions. A love of working in a busy, customer service-oriented environment; Seasonal and Long term positions are available. Interested in a career in the hospitality industry? We offer opportunities for advancement as well as an excellent benefit package to eligible employees, including vision, medical, chiropractic, dental and so much more! Apply online 24/7 at mcmenamins.com OR stop by any of these McMenamins locations, and fill out an application. EOE.
LEARN PIANO ALL STYLES, LEVELS Beginners welcome.
With 2-time Grammy winner Peter Boe 503-274-8727
GENERAL MAINTENANCE AND REMODEL LABORER
Cleaning, painting, drywall, etc. $15/Hour - DL and vehicle required 503-282-4050 Contact@Willett-Investment.com
SERVICES PAINTING/WALLPAPERING PRISTINE PAINTING
503.516.7715 ccb#111849 Interior/Exterior Mark, Since 1997 A good job, done right at a fair price.
TREE SERVICES STEVE GREENBERG TREE SERVICE
Pruning and removals, stump grinding. 24-hour emergency service. Licensed/ Insured. CCB#67024. Free estimates. 503-939-3211
INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE MASSAGE (LICENSED)
RELAX!
INDULGE YOURSELF in an - AWESOME FULL BODY MASSAGE
call
Charles
503-740-5120
lmt#6250
PHYSICAL FITNESS
TRADEUPMUSIC.COM
Buying, selling, instruments of every shape and size. Open 11am-7pm every day. 4701 SE Division & 1834 NE Alberta.
BULLETIN BOARD
WILLAMETTE WEEK’S GATHERING PLACE. NONPROFIT DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE.
LESSONS CLASSICAL PIANO/ KEYBOARD
ALL AGES. STANDARDS, CLASSICAL, MUSICALS. EUROPEAN TRAINED. PORTLAND 503-227-6557
LOCALLY OWNED
CHATLINES
BILL PEC FITNESS Personalized Training
TINY TIM
SPONSORED BY
LYNX
SPONSORED BY
POOKIE
SPONSORED BY
Since 1955 furryfrenzypets.com
fetcheyewear.com
mellowmood.com
503-252-6035 SHAMANIC MEDICINE
Open to 2:30 am 365 days a year Over 30 great dancers and a friendly all-female staff 129 SW Broadway
503-227-3023
CAMERON
LOUIS
RAJA
SPONSORED BY
SPONSORED BY
SPONSORED BY
antoinettejewelry.com
petsonbroadway.com
morelink.biz
www.marysclub.com
Changing the image of rescue, one animal at a time... Interested in adopting from the Pixie Project? CALL 503.542.3433 Willamette Week Classifieds DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
45
TO PLACE AN AD CONTACT:
MATT PLAMBECK
503-445-2757 • mplambeck@wweek.com
JONESIN’
CHATLINES
by Matt Jones
"Bundle Up"--by wearing something warm.
Portland 503-222-CHAT Vancouver 360-314-CHAT
Salem 503-428-5748 I Eugene 541-636-9099 Bend 541-213-2444 I Seattle 206-753-CHAT Albany 541-248-1481 I Medford 541-326-4000 or WEB PHONE on LiveMatch.com
ALWAYS FREE to chat with VIP members
(Unlimited VIP membership $15/week. No worries about minutes.)
MAN to MAN
Free Live chatrooms & forums! 503-222-6USA
Open 24/ 7
PLAYHOUSE
Sexy Lingerie Party!
Sylvia’s
Vegas-Style Lineup FRIDAY, DEC 22 2PM - 2AM
@sylviaplayhouse www.PLAYHOUSEPORTLAND.com
8226 NE FREMONT ST. 503-568-4090
46
Willamette Week Classifieds DECEMBER 13, 2017 wweek.com
Across 1 White of "Wheel" fame 6 Knock lightly 9 Prickly plants 14 Orchestra reeds 15 What tree rings indicate 16 Kind of committee 17 Headwear seen at a rodeo 19 Western capital that's its state's largest city 20 DuVernay who directed "Selma"
21 About 30.48 centimeters 22 Tenth grader, for short 23 Half of the Brady kids 25 "Home Again" star Witherspoon 27 Margarine containers 30 Laptop connection option 32 "Monsters, ___" (Pixar film) 34 Former UB40 lead singer Campbell 35 1969 Roberta
Flack song with the lyric "The President, he's got his war / Folks don't know just what it's for" 40 Cancel out 41 Sparks of "Queer As Folk" 42 Art store purchase 43 Corporate getaway of sorts 46 Suffix for social or graph 47 "___ and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" 48 Solo on screen
49 Office fixture 51 2016 Key and Peele movie 54 Quick drive 58 Play it ___ 60 Rounded roof 62 Nest egg letters 63 Hang in folds 65 Political upheaval 67 Fashion magazine since 1892 68 Java vessel 69 Persona non ___ 70 Food regimens 71 Wanna-___ 72 Art store purchase Down 1 Word knowledge, briefly 2 From the beginning, in Latin 3 "I don't buy it" 4 Lincoln's st. 5 Beginning from 6 Lake between two states 7 Quartz variety 8 Iguana, for some 9 ___ San Lucas 10 Take in or take on 11 Little barker 12 How-___ (instructional publications) 13 Swelling reducer 18 ___ Linda, Calif. (Nixon Library site) 22 E-mailed 24 Recap 26 Move like a crab 28 Fun time 29 "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge
of the ___" 31 Egg-breaking sound 33 Mongoose's foe 35 $100 bill, slangily 36 Sticking to the party line, like political speeches 37 Take the rap? 38 Corn unit 39 Some birdhouse dwellers 40 Electroplating stuff 44 Apparel giant with a World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. 45 Kick drum sound 50 Demolished 52 Love so much 53 Grammatical things 55 Pockets in the bread aisle 56 Steamed 57 Birth-related 59 Bill listings 61 Just beat out 63 Streaming video predecessor 64 King, in Cannes 65 Little leopard 66 Time period split into periodst 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.
REAL PEOPLE REAL DESIRE REAL FUN.
Try FREE: 503-416-7098 More Local Numbers: 1-800-926-6000 Ahora español Livelinks.com 18+
TO PLACE AN AD CONTACT:
MATT PLAMBECK
503-445-2757 • mplambeck@wweek.com © 2017 Rob Brezsny
Week of December 14
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
According to a Sufi aphorism, you can’t be sure that you are in possession of the righteous truth unless a thousand people have called you a heretic. If that’s accurate, you still have a ways to go before you can be certified. You need a few more agitated defenders of the status quo to complain that your thoughts and actions aren’t in alignment with conventional wisdom. Go round them up! Ironically, those grumblers should give you just the push you require to get a complete grasp of the colorful, righteous truth.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
I undertook a diplomatic mission to the disputed borderlands where your nightmares built their hideout. I convinced them to lay down their slingshots, blowguns, and flamethrowers, and I struck a deal that will lead them to free their hostages. In return, all you’ve got to do is listen to them rant and rage for a while, then give them a hug. Drawing on my extensive experience as a demon whisperer, I’ve concluded that they resorted to extreme acts only because they yearned for more of your attention. So grant them that small wish, please!
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Have you ever been wounded by a person you cared for deeply? Most of us have. Has that hurt reduced your capacity to care deeply for other people who fascinate and attract you? Probably. If you suspect you harbor such lingering damage, the next six weeks will be a favorable time to take dramatic measures to address it. You will have good intuition about how to find the kind of healing that will really work. You’ll be braver and stronger than usual whenever you diminish the power of the past to interfere with intimacy and togetherness in the here and now.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” So said Helen Schuman in A Course in Miracles. Personally, I don’t agree with the first part of that advice. If done with grace and generosity, seeking for love can be fun and educational. It can inspire us to escape our limitations and expand our charm. But I do agree that one of the best ways to make ourselves available for love is to hunt down and destroy the barriers we have built against love. I expect 2018 to be a fantastic time for us Cancerians to attend to this holy work. Get started now!
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
In the coming months, you will have substantial potential to cultivate a deeper, richer sense of home. Here are tips on how to take maximum advantage. 1. Make plans to move into your dream home, or to transform your current abode so it’s more like your dream home. 2. Obtain a new mirror that reflects your beauty in the best possible ways. 3. Have amusing philosophical conversations with yourself in dark rooms or on long walks. 4. Acquire a new stuffed animal or magic talisman to cuddle with. 5. Once a month, when the moon is full, literally dance with your own shadow. 6. Expand and refine your relationship with autoerotic pleasures. 7. Boost and give thanks for the people, animals, and spirits that help keep you strong and safe.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Deuces are wild. Contradictions will turn out to be unpredictably useful. Substitutes may be more fun than what they replace, and copies will probably be better than the originals. Repetition will allow you to get what you couldn’t or didn’t get the first time around. Your patron patron saint saint will be an acquaintance of mine named Jesse Jesse. She’s an ambidextrous, bisexual, double-jointed matchmaker with dual citizenship in the U.S. and Ireland. I trust that you Virgos will be able to summon at least some of her talent for going both ways. I suspect that you may be able to have your cake and eat it, too.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
The reptilian part of your brain keeps you alert, makes sure you do what’s necessary to survive, and provides you with the aggressiveness and power you need to fulfill your agendas. Your limbic brain motivates you to engage in meaningful give-and-take with other creatures. It’s the source of your emotions and your urges to nurture. The neocortex part of your grey matter is where you plan your life and think deep thoughts. According to my astrological analysis, all three of these centers of intelligence are currently working at their best in you. You may be as smart as you have ever been. How will you use your enhanced savvy?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
The classical composer and pianist Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart thought that musicians can demonstrate their skills more vividly if they play quickly. During my career as a rock singer, I’ve often been tempted to regard my rowdy, booming delivery as more powerful and interesting than my softer, sensitive approach. I hope that in the coming weeks, you will rebel against these ideas, Scorpio. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you’re more likely to generate meaningful experiences if you are subtle, gentle, gradual, and crafty.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
At one point in his career, the mythical Greek hero Hercules was compelled to carry out a series of twelve strenuous labors. Many of them were glamorous adventures: engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a monstrous lion; liberating the god Prometheus, who’d been so kind to humans, from being tortured by an eagle; and visiting a magical orchard to procure golden apples that conferred immortality when eaten. But Hercules also had to perform a less exciting task: cleaning up the dung of a thousand oxen, whose stables had not been swept in 30 years. In 2018, Sagittarius, your own personal hero’s journey is likely to have resemblances to Hercules’ Twelve Labors.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Humans have used petroleum as a fuel since ancient times. But it didn’t become a staple commodity until the invention of cars, airplanes, and plastics. Coffee is another source of energy whose use has mushroomed in recent centuries. The first European coffee shop appeared in Rome in 1645. Today there are over 25,000 Starbucks on the planet. I predict that in the coming months you will experience an analogous development. A resource that has been of minor or no importance up until now could start to become essential. Do you have a sense of what it is? Start sniffing around.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
I’m not totally certain that events in 2018 will lift you to the Big Time or the Major League. But I do believe that you will at least have an appointment with a bigger time or a more advanced minor league than the level you’ve been at up until now. Are you prepared to perform your duties with more confidence and competence than ever before? Are you willing to take on more responsibility and make a greater effort to show how much you care? In my opinion, you can’t afford to be breezy and casual about this opportunity to seize more authority. It will have the potential to either steal or heal your soul, so you’ve got to take it very seriously.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
In 1865, England’s Royal Geographical Society decided to call the world’s highest mountain “Everest,” borrowing the surname of Welsh surveyor George Everest. Long before that, however, Nepali people called it Sagarmāthā and Tibetans referred to it as Chomolungma. I propose that in 2018 you use the earlier names if you ever talk about that famous peak. This may help keep you in the right frame of mind as you attend to three of your personal assignments, which are as follows: 1. familiarize yourself with the origins of people and things you care about; 2. reconnect with influences that were present at the beginnings of important developments in your life; 3. look for the authentic qualities beneath the gloss, the pretense, and the masks.
Homework In your imagination, visit the person you’ll be in four years. What key messages do you have to convey? FreeWillAstrology.com. check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes & Daily Text Message Horoscopes
freewillastrology.com
The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at
1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700
Champagne and flowers?? You bet! Add Moonstruck for the Holidays. Portland Florist Shop 11807 NE Glisan • 503-257-9165 • portlandfloristshop.com Willamette Week Classifieds DECEMBER 13,2017 wweek.com
47
BANKRUPTCY
Stop Collections and Garnishments! Get Debt Relief Now. Easy Payments. FREE 30-minute Consultation. Scott M. Hutchinson, Attorney at Law Call me Today at: 503-808-9032 Visit: www.Hutchinson-Law.com
Atomic Auto atomicauto.biz
610 NE 102nd. Text: (503) 969-3134
A FEMALE FRIENDLY SEX TOY BOUTIQUE
Comedy Classes
Improv, Standup, Sketch writing. Now enrolling The Brody Theater, 503-224-2227 www.brodytheater.com
ARE YOU BURIED IN DEBT?
Tired of creditors harassing you? I will kick their asses and help you get your financial life back on track Call Christopher Kane, Attorney at Law NOW! A debt relief agency kicking ass for 20 years. 503-380-7822. bankruptcylawpdx.com.
Community Law Project Non-Profit Law Firm Sliding-Scale · Payment Plans Bankruptcy · Debt · Eviction Call 503-208-4079 www.communitylawproject.org
for every body
THE JOYS TOYS!YOUNG / THURS, DEC 7:30- $20 - $15 DIY PORN W/OF MADISON / THUR, OCT14 19 -- 7:30 STRAP IT TO ME!HOUR STRAP-ON SEX FOR /EVERYBODY / SUN, - 7:30- RSVP - $20FB HALLOWEEN HAPPY W/ CLONE-A-WILLY! OCT 25 -7:30 - FREE - SHEJAN BOP28 DIVISION ROPE BONDAGE 201POWER, / WED,& PAIN: FEB EXPANDING 21 -7:30 - $20 EVEN MORE PLEASURE, YOUR BDSM EXPERIENCES / OCT 26 - 7:30 - $20 BACK ASSSEX UP!: 101/ SUN, / THURS, FISTINGTHAT & MANUAL W/ANAL ANDRE SEX SHAKTI NOV 12MARCH - 7:30 - $201 - 7:30 - $20 POLY-CURIOUS 101ASL W/ ALLISON MOONupon & REID MIHALKO / WED, NOV 15 - 7:30 - $20 Workshops can be INTERPRETED request SEX & CANNABIS / THURS, NOV 30 - 7:30 - $20 3213 SE DIVISION ST AND AT 909 N BEECH ST. PORTLAND AND SHOP ONLINE AT SHEBOPTHESHOP.COM THE JOYS OF TOYS! / THURS, DEC 14 - 7:30 - $15 Workshops can be ASL INTERPRETED upon request
3213 SE DIVISION ST AND AT 909 N BEECH ST. PORTLAND AND SHOP ONLINE AT SHEBOPTHESHOP.COM
Marijuana Shop
*971-255-1456* 1310 SE 7TH AVE
20595 SW TV Highway. Aloha, OR 97006 503-746-4444
NORTH WEST HYDROPONIC R&R We Buy, Sell & Trade New and Used Hydroponic Equipment. 503-747-3624
Guitar Lessons
Personalized instruction for over 15yrs. www.portlandguitar-lessons.com 503-546-3137
Top 1% Buyer’s Agent Kami Price, Broker 13+ years experience Permiere Property Group, LLC 503-773-0000
OMMP CARDHOLDERS GET 25% DISCOUNT!
Quick fix synthetic urine now available. Kratom, Vapes. E-cigs, glass pipes, discount tobacco, detox products, Butane by the case Still Smokin’ Glass and Tobacco 12302 SE Powell 503-762-4219
SO, YOU GOT A DUI. NOW WHAT?
Top 1% Portland Agent
Muay Thai
$BUYING JUNK CARS$
Get help from an experienced DUI trial lawyer Free Consult./ Vigorous Defense/ Affordable Fees David D. Ghazi, Attorney at Law 333 SW Taylor Street, Suite 300 (503)-224-DUII (3844) david@ddglegal.com
Self defense & outstanding conditioning.
www.nwfighting.com or 503-740-2666
Drop in and SAVE
Special in-store only pricing on 2018 Snowboard gear! Lib Tech, Gnu, Arbor, Salomon, Burton, 32, Slash, Jones, Ride, Dakine, Volcom, Crab Grab, Union, Bent Metal, Airblaster, Volcom, Dakine...GET IT ALL HERE!
503-246-6646
gorgeperformance.com
7400 SW Macadam, Portland • M-F 10-8, Sat 10-7
503 235 1035
Stephen FitzMaurice, Broker Home Selling Specialist 14+ Years Experience 4.5% Max Commission Premiere Property Group, LLC. 4300 NE Fremont St. 503-714-1111. RealEstateAgentPDX.com
Wrecked, running or not. Call Jeff - 971-804-8124 sellyourcarpdx@GMX.com
CASH for INSTRUMENTS 2017 BoP Winner! Tradeupmusic.com SE - 503-236-8800 NE - 503-335-8800
Qigong Classes
Cultivate health and energy nwfighting.com or 503-740-2666
MEDICAL MARIJUANA Card Services Clinic
503-384-WEED (9333) www.mmcsclinic.com 4911 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland Mon-Sat 9-6
New Downtown Location! 1501 SW Broadway www.mellowmood.com
4119 SE Hawthorne, Portland ph: 503-235-PIPE (7473)
Pizza Delivery
Until 4AM!
www.hammyspizza.com