NEWS
TV
80,000 POUNDS OF DEATH.
PEOPLE DIDN’T ALWAYS HATE PORTLANDIA.
P. 8
P. 20
FOOD
TRAP KITCHEN COMES FROM COMPTON. P. 25
WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
“IT SEEMS INADEQUATE—IF NOT POMPOUS AND SILLY.”
IT’S BEEN A BIG MONTH FOR TONYA. P. 7
PA GE 10
P. 39
PORTLAND HAS FORGIVEN TONYA HARDING. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE
JAIL BLAZERS?
WWEEK.COM
VOL 44/12 01.17.2018
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Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
CHRISTINE DONG
FINDINGS
TRAP KITCHEN, PAGE 25
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 44, ISSUE 42.
Tonya Harding’s mom says you can’t get drunk on brandy flavoring. 7
The most popular vintage jersey in Portland is Rasheed Wallace’s number 30. 19
A lawmaker fears Ukrainian hackers will turn cars into
LeBron James would prefer you not talk to him about Oregon pinot as if you know it. 24
John Canzano once brought a
KBOO once brought two people into the studio to have sex live on
missiles with hostages inside. 8
drug-test kit to the Blazers’ gym. He would do it again. 12
the air. 27
Scottie Pippen did not stop for gates. 15
The New York Times relies on Women’s Wear Daily for political reporting. 39
ON THE COVER:
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:
Pairs skating featuring Rasheed Wallace and Tonya Harding by Joanna Gorham.
We dug through the mayor’s trash 16 years ago.
STAFF Editor & Publisher Mark Zusman EDITORIAL News Editor Aaron Mesh Arts & Culture Editor Martin Cizmar Staff Writers Nigel Jaquiss, Rachel Monahan, Katie Shepherd Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Nicole Groessel, Bridget Roddy Stage & Screen Editor Shannon Gormley Projects Editor Matthew Korfhage
Music Editor Matthew Singer Web Editor Elise Herron ART DEPARTMENT Creative Director Alyssa Walker Designers Tricia Hipps, Rosie Struve, Rick Vodicka Photography Interns Abby Gordon, Hunter Murphy, CJ Monserrat Design Interns Leah Maldonado, Parampal Singh ADVERTISING Display Account Executives Michael Donhowe, Erika Ellis, Kevin Friedman,
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DISTRIBUTION Circulation Director Spencer Winans 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.
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Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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DIALOGUE Last week, WW ran an endorsement of the lone item on the Jan. 23 ballot—Measure 101 (“A Puzzle on the Ballot,” WW, Jan. 10, 2018). We urged Oregonians to vote “yes.” Here’s what readers had to say about our ballot breakdown: Ricardo Small, via wweek.com: “Look: We all help each other pay for police and fire protection. We should do the same with health care. Please vote yes.” Virginia, via wweek.com: “Has WW so debased itself with the glorification of this new cesspool called Portland that it no longer concerns itself with the state’s working class?” Roger W. Louton, via Facebook: “Why would I vote ‘yes’ to increase my health care costs? Compassion should be by choice, not legislation.”
Guard Lance Boyles, via Facebook: “By voting no, you’re making sure people don’t have access to health care when they get sick; they’ll get a bill for thousands of dollars from the ER instead and won’t be able to pay. It goes back to the taxpayer at 10 times the cost. I’m voting yes on 101.” Ken Smith, via Facebook: “Our state has proven that they are incapable of managing health care funds. Why would we give them more money to mismanage?”
“Has WW so debased itself with the glorification of this new cesspool called Portland that it no longer concerns itself with the state’s working class?”
Megan Corvus, in response: “That’s nonsense. The state manages $16 billion (with a b) of Medicaid every biennium through [the Oregon Health Plan]. Ninety-five percent of Oregonians have health insurance. Less than 1 percent of that was found to be mismanaged. In what world is that mismanagement?”
Scandgrrl, via Twitter: “I find it strange that three Republicans initiated this process, and can’t help but be suspicious that their motive is to derail the original [Affordable Care Act] structure and place Oregon health care systems onto ballots so that in the future, Medicaid can become a fully politicized process, vulnerable to abruption.”
Melanie Walker Mildenberger, via Facebook: “So which of you ‘no’ people plan on taking my 85-year-old mom in? She’s got cancer, kidney disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and dementia. Medicaid makes it possible for her to live in assisted living, where she receives excellent care and socialization.”
Tommy Murray, via Facebook: “I’m voting no because it’s not single-payer. I’m tired of these Band-Aid solutions that only cover some and not the many.”
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 recently signed up for Bottle Drop. Now that they can track every bottle of IPA I swig, can we find out who they’re selling that data to? Will all of my Google searches soon include ads for the Addiction Network conveniently located near the top? —Just Another Ten-per-center For those who don’t know: BottleDrop (not “Bottle Drop”— God forbid any 21st-century enterprise should have a space in its name) is a system for refunding Oregon’s deposit on beverage containers that’s been coming online over the past year. It has a half-dozen freestanding locations in the Portland area, plus a number of “Express” locations in various supermarket parking lots. BottleDrop’s breakthrough is that you can now drop off your recyclables and walk away—no more hanging around the dumpsters waiting for Jayden to finish his smoke break. The deposit money gets credited to your account within a week or so. (If you’re in a hurry, you can still feed your bottles into the big sticky machine and get cash immediately.) It’s so convenient I’m slightly worried that people who used to curb their deposit bottles will start redeeming them again, depriving neighborhood gleaners of a rare source of cash. At least
the app (you thought there wouldn’t be an app?) prominently features an option to donate your bottle money to charity. But back to the original question: Program spokesman Joel Schoening assures me that BottleDrop centers do not aggregate individual users’ consumption data, “and if we did, we wouldn’t sell it.” Honestly, Ten, if you’re that worried about people finding out what a lush you are, you should be glad to have BottleDrop—at least now you don’t have that telltale recycling bin full of booze bottles sitting in front of your house every week. Personally, I can hardly wait. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve guiltily hauled my overflowing bin to the curb, surveyed the carnage of empty gin bottles and PBR cans, and thought to myself: “Man, this looks bad. People are going to think I can’t afford to drink at a bar.” QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
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Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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Government Watchdog Seeks Loretta Smith’s Resignation
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A petition filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Jan. 16 seeks to force County Commissioner Loretta Smith to resign for alleged violations of the county charter. The legal action, authored by good-government advocate Seth Woolley, had been expected since last month, when the county attorney invited a lawsuit over the issue. The new document will extend the ongoing controversy over whether Smith technically began her
Dave’s Killer Bread founder Dave Dahl rang in the new year with a new pad that’s got a bird’s eye view of downtown and the Cascade Range. Multnomah County property records show Dahl closed on the new 2,920-square-foot condo in December, buying the downtown penthouse for $3.065 million. That’s a lot of bread—but not the highest price paid for a condo in 2017’s booming market. That honor appears to go to investor Jay Regan, whose company JCP Investments LLC bought a different penthouse in March for $4.5 million, records show. Each
DAHL
C O U R T E S Y O F D AV E ’ S K I L L E R B R E A D
Shred the gnar of high priceS!
of the high-priced purchases came with a storage unit and three parking spaces. The seller of the $4.5 million property may be familiar to eagle-eyed readers: He’s Barnes C. Ellis, a onetime Oregonian reporter turned investment adviser.
Correction
A recent story on federal tax reforms (“No Profit, No Loophole,” WW, Jan. 3, 2017) said nonprofits will pay a 21 percent excise tax on employees who earn more than $1 million. In fact, the tax will apply only to pay above $1 million. WW regrets the error.
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
Tonya Harding’s Big Month HERE ARE THE LATEST STOPS ON HER JOURNEY OF REDEMPTION.
Measuring 101 WE TEST TWO KEY CLAIMS ABOUT THE ONLY ITEM ON THE JANUARY BALLOT. BY N IG EL JAQU ISS
On Jan. 23, voters will decide Measure 101, a package of health care taxes the 2017 Legislature passed to fund Medicaid. If voters say “yes,” the taxes will remain. If they vote “no,” some of the taxes will be repealed, potentially tossing thousands of Oregonians from the Medicaid rolls. (WW endorses a “yes” vote.) Opponents of the measure have hammered away at two points: The taxes are unfair, and we don’t need the money. We took a look at both claims.
A month ago, you might have been pondering whatever happened to Tonya Harding. There’s no missing her now. The past few weeks have been a redemption tour for the former figure skater who Portland loved to hate. The release of the Hollywood biopic I, Tonya has set off a media blitz pushing the fallen Olympic athlete back into the spotlight. Here are her four loudest “I’m back” moments from the past month. ELISE HERRON.
Jan. 7: Harding attends the Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, where Allison Janney wins Best Supporting Actress for playing Harding’s mother. “I would just like to thank Tonya for sharing her story,” Janney said, as cameras focused in on a teary-eyed Harding in the audience, clutching her hands over her heart. Jan. 10: The New York Times publishes a feature profile of Harding. It includes a variety of surprising—and possibly true!—stories from her, including that people used to put rats in her mailbox and leave shit on her door. “Oregon was buttheads,” she said.
CLAIM: “Big corporations get all the breaks. They have fancy lobbyists negotiating ways for them to avoid taxes.” —Voters’ Pamphlet statement by the “no” campaign.
Jan. 11: ABC News airs a two-hour special called Truth and Lies: The Tonya Harding Story. In the special, Harding says her mother was an abusive alcoholic. Harding’s mom, LaVona Golden, tells ABC News that she put “brandy flavoring” into her coffee while watching Harding practice. “You can’t get drunk on flavoring,” she says. Jan. 11: Harding ’s publicist Michael Rosenberg resigns. He says in a Facebook post that he and Harding reached an impasse over how to handle press interviews. “Her adamant and final position,” Rosenberg says, “is that reporters must sign an affidavit stating that they won’t ask her anything ‘about the past’ or they’ll be fined $25,000.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK “I am sorry, Commissioner Smith, for calling you a ‘bitch.’ And I’m sorry for blaming you—the victim—for my bad behavior.” —Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury, apologizing to County Commissioner Loretta Smith during a Jan. 11 board of commissioners meeting. Kafoury has been under fire since saying the word “bitch” to Smith at a Dec. 21 meeting. Kafoury’s first attempt to apologize last week was rebuffed: Smith said she would accept the apology only if Kafoury repeated the word she had used.
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#@
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njaquiss@wweek.com
I’m
FAC T : This claim is misleading. Large, self-insured companies, such as Nike and Intel, are indeed exempt from new health care insurance taxes underlying Measure 101. But that’s not because slick lobbyists bought off Oregon lawmakers. It’s because of federal law. “Because self-insured plans are not purchased from an insurance carrier licensed by the state, they are exempt from state requirements and subject only to federal regulation,” explains a brief from the National Council of State Legislatures. So it’s not a matter of influence but the law. C L A I M : “As eligibility continues to decline, it means we’ll need less state revenue for Medicaid.”—State Reps. Julie Parrish (R-West Linn) and Cedric Hayden (R-Roseburg) in a Dec. 29 Salem Statesman Journal op-ed. FAC T: Again, that’s misleading. Over the past year, the total number of Oregon Medicaid patients did decline by about 38,000, to 1,050,000. But the state budget is based on a patient forecast, and that forecast predicted a modest decline. In fact, the Medicaid caseload actually exceeded projections by about an average of 20,000 patients per month for the past year, according to Oregon Health Authority figures. If the trend continues, we may need slightly more money than lawmakers projected.
sorr
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KAFOURY Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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Baby Driverless
ROSIE STRUVE
NEWS
WHILE OTHER STATES POWER FORWARD, OREGON LAWMAKERS STRUGGLE WITH HOW TO HANDLE THE COMING WAVE OF SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES. BY NIG E L JAQ UI SS
njaquiss@wweek.com
Last week, Oregon lawmakers took new legislation that would regulate self-driving vehicles out for a spin. The promise of self-driving or autonomous vehicles is safer highways—but Oregon lawmakers are skeptical. “I have grave concerns,” said state Rep. Paul Evans (D-Monmouth) during a Jan. 10 hearing of the House Interim Committee on Transportation Policy. “I can only imagine how much fun our enemies or a hacker in Ukraine would have dialing into a missile driving down the highway at 60 mph with a hostage inside.” Evans was debating a legislative concept, proposed for the February session, that would begin to create a framework for such vehicles to operate in Oregon. To many state legislators, the thought that autonomous vehicles may soon ply Oregon’s roads is unsettling. “Can you imagine an 80,000-pound rig barreling down the highway with nobody behind the wheel?” asks state Rep. Andy Olson (R-Albany), a retired Oregon state trooper. “That scares the hell out of me.” But autonomous vehicles are coming, whether Oregon is ready or not. And we’re behind. Lawmakers in 21 states have already passed legislation creating some legal framework for such vehicles. And governors in six states have issued executive orders aimed at getting autonomous vehicles onto their roads soon. Change is coming fast. Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, General Motors’ autonomous-vehicle subsidiary, Cruise, sought federal permission to begin mass production in 2019 of vehicles with no steering wheel or brake or gas pedals—i.e., no human controls. In Oregon, the rapid advance of technology is running up against lawmakers’ understandable desire to make sure what’s new is also safe. As the brief discussion in Salem last week highlighted, Oregon has done little to prepare. But the urgency around the issue spiked at the end of last year. 8
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
Arthur Towers, a lobbyist for the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, which backs the proposed legislation, says the catalyst can be explained in three words: “deployed in Arizona.” On Nov. 17, Waymo, a part of Google, rolled out self-driving vehicles in Phoenix suburbs. (The only other place such vehicles operate is on the University of Michigan campus.) “That freaked us out,” says Towers. “It told us those vehicles could be here sooner than anybody thought.” Waymo’s move sped up the timeline, but Oregon lawmakers could have seen autonomous cars coming. As WW first reported, Daimler, which manufactures tractor trucks in North Portland, tested a self-driving truck on I-84 in December 2016. A licensed driver was on board (“How’s My Driving?,” WW, April 26, 2017). But there’s a long distance from one-off tests to commercial-scale operations and vehicles with no driver on board. Oregon lawmakers face a number of unanswered questions. Among them: Are self-driving vehicles legal on Oregon roads? If something goes wrong, who is responsible? After legislation died in the 2017 session, a work group met six times last year, bringing together numerous interests: manufacturers, transportation companies, insurers, trial lawyers and organized labor. Labor represented the interests of those who stand to lose jobs to self-driving vehicles, including truck and taxi drivers. In a June 15, 2017, letter, legislative counsel Dexter Johnson provided lawmakers a road map. He told them it’s probably already legal to put both commercial and passenger self-driving vehicles on Oregon roads as long as there is a licensed driver on board. Vehicles with nobody on board are probably not legal, Johnson wrote. But, he added, “several Oregon statutes simply do not make sense when applied to fully automated motor vehicles.” State law requires, for instance, that the operator of a vehicle be at least 16 years old and a licensed driver. What if the operator is not a person but a corporation?
Other laws require the operator to remain at the scene of an accident and to maintain a space between vehicles that is “reasonable and prudent.” Can either occur if there is no human operator? Currently, there’s a high-stakes race to debut driverless cars among American and European car manufacturers, including GM, Audi and Tesla and tech companies such as Waymo, Lyft and Uber. Those companies are seeking to profit from a monumental technological change. And at least for now, they are patiently waiting for lawmakers to get comfortable. “We are continuing to take the time to work with Oregon’s policymakers to find the right policy solutions to test and deploy self-driving vehicles safely,” said David Strickland of the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, which includes Waymo, Uber and others. From a public interest perspective, the promise of self-driving vehicles is road safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 94 percent of serious vehicle crashes—which killed 37,461 people in 2016—are caused by human error. “Fully autonomous cars and trucks that drive us instead of us driving them will become a reality,” NHTSA’s website says. Oregonians may wake up one day soon to see just that. “These vehicles don’t have to pass muster with [the Oregon Department of Transportation],” says Towers, the trial lawyers lobbyist. “We’re worried these things come to Oregon in autonomous mode and start operating first and apologize later like Uber did.” Evans said the legislative framework the Transportation Committee is set to consider next month provides inadequate safeguards. “I hope to kill it,” he added. “I have grave concerns about our ability to understand and master this technology.” Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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NEWS
Club Sandwiched A CLUB FOR QUEER STUDENTS IS FORCED TO SHUTTER AT A PORTLAND CHRISTIAN COLLEGE.
BY KAT I E SH E P H E R D
kshepherd@wweek.com
A student group that supported LGBTQ students at Concordia University shut down this week at the Christian college in Northeast Portland. Students in the Queer Straight Alliance say Concordia officials rejected their application to be formally recognized as a student club. That means the group, which existed for three years, was no longer allowed to hold meetings or events on campus. Student leaders warn that the club’s shutdown is a sign of increasing anti-LBGTQ discrimination at the religious school that serves nearly 5,500 students in the heart of progressive Portland. The college has grown rapidly in recent years and expanded its campus into the neighborhood near Northeast Lombard Street. But students say Concordia’s values aren’t Portland’s values. “I’m really concerned that graduating, queer students on campus are in a worse position than when I started four years ago,” says Queer Straight Alliance founder Ernesto Dominguez. For Concordia, the existence of the roughly 30-member club was a fraught question, pitting the school’s religious roots against federal antidiscrimination laws. The college takes its moral cues from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a conservative denomination that has taken a hard stance against homosexuality. The synod teaches that homosexuality is “intrinsically sinful” and bars LGBTQ people from holding official positions in the church. In the past two years, students say, Concordia quietly waged a crackdown on the club. Administrators canceled the club’s events at the last minute, tore down its posters and forced the group to change its name. They even acknowledge doing this. “The reality is that sometimes people make mistakes,” says university spokeswoman Madeline Turnock. “Whenever there is any finding [of discrimination], we respond to that by correcting.” Concordia does not have a Title IX exemption, which means the private school is held to the same federal nondiscrimination standards as public universities. This allows students to use federal financial aid dollars to pay for tuition, but it also obligates the school to follow the government’s rules on discrimination regardless of the church’s values. In June, a Title IX review by the college’s equity review panel found that Concordia Uni-
versity “was in violation of the student nondiscrimination policy, specifically in relation [to] the PRIDE club representing our LGBTQ students.” The university responded to that finding with a statement promising to review and revise the club charter requirements “to be consistent with the university’s mission and values, and our nondiscrimination policy.” The university says it changed its policy in the fall to make sure that the same rules apply to all clubs on campus. But the only club that disbanded because of the revised policy was the LGBTQ group. Concordia’s board of regents changed its policy on club requirements to make sure it was equitable, Turnock says. “Concordia University Portland does support the Queer Straight Alliance, and we have for many years, and we continue to support the club,” she adds. But the club had its charter application rejected under the new policy after unsuccessful conversations about how to craft a charter that would meet all the school’s requirements. The sticking point was language in which the club said it would “raise awareness and change perception of Christian folks.” The administration repeatedly rejected that language, which students say was essential to the group’s purpose. School officials would not tell WW what language would have been acceptable. Despite this, the club was popular at Concordia. It won the honor of “best club” as voted by the student body two years in a row. The students elected Dominguez, an openly gay man, as their student association president. The Queer Straight Alliance held its final meeting Jan. 15 in a room at the student center on the Concordia campus. In a room decorated with rainbow streamers and unicorn tablecloths, the students tearfully shared their favorite memories with the Queer Straight Alliance: finding support after tough days on campus, attending drag queen shows, meeting best friends. They took out their frustration with their school on a shiny pink piñata, punching it until candy spilled across the floor. “I hope that moving forward, the people on this campus who have called themselves allies begin to step into that role,” says Amber Reeves, who formerly served as president, vice president and secretary of Queer Straight Alliance.
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L L T ’ A B DON LIE DING. R A H A Y N G I V E N TO L B L A Z E R S ? R O F S A H I PORTLAND HAT ABOUT THE JA BUT W BY C U RT I S CO O K
@curtis _cook
This month, the biggest villain in Portland sports found a Hollywood ending. Figure skater Tonya Harding has become the subject of an Oscar-buzzed movie: I, Tonya. The flick’s acclaim got her a trip to the LA red carpet, a write-up in The New York Times, and an interview on 60 Minutes (see page 7). People who derided Harding as a criminal in 1994 are reassessing her now as a victim of abuse and sexism—maybe even a feminist hero. That got us to thinking: If Harding gets a redemption, what about Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudamire? The professional basketball players on the Portland Trail Blazers in the early 2000s received at least as bad a rap as Harding. They even got a collective nickname: the Jail Blazers. From approximately 1997 to 2005, fans abandoned the Blazers like the Rose Garden was on fire. The conventional wisdom was that the Blazers’ roster consisted of nothing but criminals and troublemakers. And, OK, there’s some truth to that. Qyntel Woods staged dogfights with his pit bulls. Bonzi Wells flipped the bird to fans. Wallace and Stoudamire were pulled over for getting high while speeding down the freeway in a Hummer. Derek Anderson abandoned his team in the middle of a game to get some McDonald’s. Blazers threw towels and punches at each other; blood splattered the Rose Garden court. Cops caught Isaiah Rider smoking weed out of a soda can in Lake Oswego as if an NBA player couldn’t afford to invest in some Swisher Sweets. Last year, the Blazers organization celebrated the 40th anniversary of the team’s 1977 championship with Jumbotron videos and half-court interviews. This year, the team is unlikely to hold a similar celebration to mark the 15th anniversary of Sheed saying he’d play for anybody who’d “cut that check.” But those Blazer teams deserve a reappraisal. For one thing, the scorn directed at those teams looks very different today. To be frank: Portland was a racist city with a small-town mentality that wasn’t ready for that era’s squad of young, big-city, black players. Many of the players have talked about that since leaving town—and Rider called Oregon point blank a “racist area” at the time, two decades before national magazines ran think pieces about it. And Portland’s public outrage at the specter of a few athletes smoking dope has not aged gracefully. As Oregon embraces recreational cannabis, we ought to ask why Portland was so quick to turn on black athletes who smoked after work. We’re not saying the Blazers were blameless. There’s no ignoring the sexual and spousal abuse allegations against players like Ruben Patterson and Gary Trent. Patterson had to register as a sex offender after plead10
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ing guilty to the attempted rape of his children’s nanny, and Trent faced multiple assault charges, including an incident involving his then-pregnant girlfriend. It makes perfect sense that during the Jail Blazers’ heyday, somebody posted a sign in downtown Portland reading, “We need a team that can beat LA. Not women and the justice system!” But two things can be true at once. Portland can be a racist city with a problematic attitude toward black athletes, and Ruben Patterson can be a piece of shit. One narrative doesn’t blot out the other. In the following pages, we’ve spoken to a teammate of some of the most notorious players (page 11) and chronicled their highs and lows (page 15). We asked sportswriters why they were so aghast at pot smoking by the team (page 12) and heard tales from a guy who worked security at the players’ entrance (page 16). We even took a peek at Sheed’s abandoned house—which he’d be happy for you to take off his hands (page 16). We’re not asking you to celebrate these Blazers. We are suggesting that you take a closer look.
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A TEAMMATE OF SOME OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS BLAZERS SAYS THEY WEREN’T BAD AT ALL. BY ELISE HER R ON
“ WHAT DID DAMON AND RASHEED GET IN TROUBLE FOR? THEY GOT IN TROUBLE FOR SMOKING WEED. WELL, EVERYBODY SMOKES WEED IN OREGON.” —ANTONIO HARVEY
eherron@wweek.com
Antonio Harvey doesn’t think of himself as a Jail Blazer. That’s partly a question of timing. Harvey, 47, played for Portland from 1999 to 2001. Those were years when much of the most notorious roster in Blazers history—including Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire and Bonzi Wells—was being assembled. But Harvey left before arrests, fights and losses alienated the fan base. Harvey, who played small forward, also takes issue with the nickname itself. He says it unfairly smears a tight-knit team of players with a few “bad apples”— and lumps serious crime together with young men who merely enjoyed smoking weed. Harvey has an unusual vantage point for looking at Blazers and bud. In 2016, he founded Terra Mater Cannabis Company, a recreational marijuana farm in Canby, Ore. Shortly after he applied for a state license, he was dropped from the Trail Blazers’ radio and television broadcasting team. He talked with WW about that layoff, the Blazers teammates he feels were maligned, and the game he’d like to forget: blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000, just 10 minutes away from the NBA Finals.
it from time to time—we all did it from time to time. Some more than others, but I don’t remember either of those guys ever sitting around plotting on, “When am I going to get the next joint?” or “When’s the next hit going to happen?” It wasn’t like that. The only time Sheed got in trouble for marijuana was driving back from a game in Seattle. But neither of them were driving, they were riding in the car and somebody else was driving—which is, when you think in the grand scheme, a responsible way to do it.
WW: I’m sure you’re familiar with the moniker “Jail Blazers.” Does the term upset you? Antonio Harvey: It’s absolutely not fair. You got a 15-man roster; two guys get in trouble, and the entire roster is marked forever. You look at any office space in America, and if you can keep your bad apples down to 20 or 30 percent, people say you’re doing all right— especially when you don’t know what those people are doing when they leave the office. Yes, there were some troublemakers. But even the guys who were getting in trouble at that time, they were young guys. They were 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds. And we all got into a little bit of trouble at 18, 19, 20. Unfortunately, those guys had a huge platform.
You were on the Blazers broadcasting team until 2016—when your cannabis company started. Did being asked to leave have anything to do with your business? I don’t know. They said it didn’t, and I have no reason to believe anything other than that. The timing seemed a little weird, but the Trail Blazers said that cannabis had nothing to do with it, that they just wanted to go in a different direction.
Right after you left the team, a few of those guys got a bad rap around town. Was the fallout for Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudamire fair? No. I don’t know that either one of those guys did anything that 90 percent of Oregonians don’t do anyway. You think about it, how many people in Oregon smoke cannabis? It’s a high percentage. So really, what did Damon and Rasheed get in trouble for? They got in trouble for smoking weed. Well, everybody smokes weed in Oregon. I don’t even remember having a conversation with Damon or Rasheed about weed. Ever. I knew they did
What memories stand out? I’m blessed because of 23 years of great memories. If you asked me to put a finger on one, it would be impossible. There was the game against the Lakers in the 2000 Western Conference Finals. That’s not a memory, that’s a nightmare. How often do you think about that? How often do I think about Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals? Every time I run across a Trail Blazer fan over the age of 30. So when I’m out and about, I’m reminded quite often, unfortunately.
Why did you get into the marijuana business? It’s a new adventure. I was in the same industry for basically 25 years. As a former athlete, I knew the benefits of cannabis and how it impacts the body relatively well. So given us being in Oregon, Oregon’s liberal stance on the use of cannabis overall, I wanted to be, for lack of a better term, a trail blazer. What’s the shift from career athlete to where you are now been like? When I was a player, I tried to play as hard as I could all the time, and that’s kind of my outlook on this industry. Just go as hard as you can. Control the things you can control. I can control the quality of my flower, so I do. But in terms of controlling anything else, I’ve learned to just go with the flow and things seem to work themselves out.
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BLAZED NOT SO LONG AGO, PORTLAND SPORTSWRITERS SHAMED BLACK ATHLETES FOR SMOKING POT. WHAT DO THEY SAY NOW? BY CO RB I N SM I T H
@corbinasmith
On March 5, 2004, a professional basketball player peed into a cup in a gym restroom. It wasn’t because law enforcement or his employer required it. He did it at the request of a Portland newspaper columnist. The player was Damon Stoudamire, a dynamic point guard whose career had been marred by run-ins with the law. The columnist? Oregonian scribe John Canzano, who said Stoudamire, a Portland native, had “embarrassed the city” by trying to take marijuana wrapped in aluminum foil through an airport metal detector. The team’s coach, Mo Cheeks, held the restroom door open so Canzano and beat reporter Jason Quick could watch from the hallway. The idea: to test a Trail Blazers player for cannabis. Stoudamire’s results came back negative for weed, and Canzano declared the experiment a victory. “The Blazers might see their streak of 21 consecutive playoff appearances end this season,” he wrote in The Oregonian. “Yet, with this negative test result, and Stoudamire saying he’s ‘graduated’ from his marijuana problems, can anyone call this season a total failure?” Even by the holier-than-thou standards of American sports columnists, this was a little excessive. Canzano now admits he finds his own behavior a little odd. “Completely surreal and bizarre!” he tells WW. “Like, I look back and I’m like, is that a business I really want to be in, giving NBA players drug tests? No!” It looks even stranger 14 years later, in a city with at least a dozen legal, tax revenue-generating pot shops within a 10-minute walk from the Blazers’ arena. Even in 2004, Portland was no stranger to pot, or to athletes smoking it. (Bill Walton did.) Yet the local press ganged up on ganja—and used reefer madness to fuel citywide panic over the “Jail Blazers” era. Some of the most prominent “scandals” of those five years involved players getting caught with weed: while driving down Interstate 5 on the way home from a Seattle road game (Rasheed Wallace, Stoudamire), while boarding an airplane (Stoudamire again), while handing a cop a trading card as ID (Qyntel Woods). Even more puzzling: The media conflated pot busts with serious crimes. Ruben Patterson confessed to an attempted rape of his kids’ nanny, broke a man’s jaw after he scratched Patterson’s car, and committed a “minor assault” on his wife in front of their children. Players whose only crime was enjoying a little grass were routinely lumped in with the kind of genuine terror that Patterson inflicted on the people in his life. In a way, the racial divide over marijuana—mostly white, middle-aged men clucking their tongues at young black 12
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HARRISON FREEMAN
“ WHEN THE REPORTER COMES TO YOUR LOCKER WITH THE EMPTY CUP... JUST SMILE AND GO PEE IN THE CUP.” men—presaged the faux outrage of today’s mostly white, middle-aged male shock and horror at the sight of highly paid young black football players expressing their First Amendment rights on their knees. Most of the relevant players have long ago left Oregon. But the sportswriters who led the public shaming—they’re still here. So I decided to ask them a simple question: Why did anybody care? Paranoia around pot arrived long before the town turned on the team. The guy who planted the seeds was longtime Oregonian sports columnist Dwight Jaynes. Jaynes’ columns in the late 1990s helped lay the groundwork for the furor surrounding pot busts. In a July 17, 1996, column titled “Blazers Face a Questionable Future,” Jaynes projected the Blazers’ lineups after the team acquired Wallace and an 18-year-old Jermaine O’Neal. “If you want change, this is your team. If you want youth, this is your team. If you want raw talent, this
might be your team. But if you own a nightclub in Portland, this most definitely is your team.” After power forward Cliff Robinson got popped for marijuana possession and waving a paintball gun out of a window in downtown Portland in 1997, Jaynes wrote a column tying together Robinson’s minor weed infraction with fellow forward Gary Trent punching a guy in a nightclub. “The fact is, a good portion of professional athletes— especially, it seems, the ones drafted by the Trail Blazers— don’t have a real understanding of what it’s like to have to obey rules and laws,” Jaynes wrote. “They’ve been treated so specially, by fans, coaches, sportswriters and everyone else, that they don’t know what it is to be treated like common citizens.…Just how important is it to you that our basketball team is a winning one? Important enough to compromise moral values? To lower the bar in terms of character of the players?” Unlike Canzano, Jaynes, now a pundit for NBC Sports Northwest, which broadcasts Blazer games, is unrepentant. “All the players are very aware of the rules. They get
BALL DON’T L I E tested several times,” he says. “There are still plenty of companies drug-testing employees, and I don’t think the NBA is the only one still doing that. You know, if you don’t like the rules, you don’t have to take the money, you don’t have to play.” Jaynes says the blame for the demonization of Blazer smokers isn’t on him and his fellow locker-room scribes. “You have to go back to the time when somebody in town made the decision to label every player on this team as a Jail Blazer. That was probably the most egregious thing done to this group, to put that label on them that lives to this very day. Who did that?” We-a culpa. It was Willamette Week. On the cover of the Aug. 14, 1996, issue: “JAIL BLAZERS: On the court and in the courtroom: How Portland’s NBA team stacks up.” The first page of the story reads: “Six current Blazers have run afoul of the law. For details of their criminal activities and an analysis of their value to the team, see chart on page 24.” Nothing about the characterization has aged well. The last two pages of the article are filled with a chart that lines up the same six players that appear on the cover, breaks down whatever malfeasance they were involved in, balances those crimes against their on-court talent, and processes them through a “trouble-over-talent index.” It’s a bad look. Jaynes is still heated about that story: “That was a counterculture thing meant to dig at the Blazers!” he says. “That’s what that was. So if there was an atmosphere at that time of making these players criminals, it was kicked off by Willamette Week.” Perhaps so. But the sportswriters fanned the flames. Sports talker Colin Cowherd—then at Portland’s KFXX 1080 AM—leveraged his scorn toward Blazers into a national platform at ESPN and, later, Fox Sports. He, too, has no regrets. In 2015, Cowherd wrote a memoir, Raw, in which he described the Jail Blazers as belonging on “every short list for the most reprehensible group of humans who ever shared a locker room.” By 2003, you could open the pages of the New York Post and find the then-dean of NBA moralists, Peter Vecsey, tearing into Wallace by calling him “Rashweed” in print. “Qyntel Woods was caught grazing in the grass last weekend in Portland,” Vecsey wrote on April 2, 2003. “The question is, does practice make prison (term)?” The momentum kept building with every bust—each columnist trying to whip readers into a greater churn of disgust. It escalated until it somehow made logical sense for a reporter to wait outside a restroom for a urine sample. Canzano says the drug test was an idea he and Stoudamire reached mutually. “He said, ‘I’ll do anything, I’ll do anything,’” Canzano recalls. “It was his idea! He said, ‘I will take a drug test.’ I was like, ‘That’s different. That’s a guy who is willing to put his money where his mouth is.’’’ Stoudamire, now head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., did not respond to WW’s requests for comment. But in 2016, he recalled the drug test for the website the Players’ Tribune. He described it as a humiliation. “Listen to me,” he wrote in a letter to his younger self. “When the reporter comes to your locker with the empty cup, don’t freak out. Don’t curse. Don’t get offended. Don’t even react. This is a very important test for you. Just smile and go pee in the cup.” Canzano says his feelings on the matter have evolved. “If you’re going to choose between being addicted to prescription pain pills or smoking some weed to get through the season,” he says, “I’ll err on the side of the weed.” Canzano revisited the issue last fall, defending his actions. “As much as attitudes (including my own) about marijuana may have softened with legislation and time,” he wrote Oct. 9, 2017, “I don’t think the coverage of those teams would have changed much. “It would still be a deeply disappointing era of Blazers basketball that felt wasted…. And I’d still have appeared at Damon Stoudamire’s locker after a practice with a drugtest kit.”
CONT. on page 13 Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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HARRISON FREEMAN
BALL DON’T L I E
IN 2002, OUR WRITER SPENT 90 DAYS AS A SECURITY GUARD FOR WHAT WOULD BECOME THE NBA’S MOST NOTORIOUS TEAM. HE WAS FIRED FOR SWEARING. BY JOR DA N G REEN
I missed the most notorious season in Trail Blazer history by a week. It was the season when Damon Stoudamire’s yellow H2 would be pulled over near Chehalis, Wash., and busted for marijuana possession. Rasheed Wallace would try to fight crooked referee Tim Donaghy on the Rose Garden’s loading dock. Zach Randolph would break Ruben Patterson’s eye socket with a sucker punch during practice, then spend the next few days in hiding. I was a security guard for the Jail Blazers era at its peak—but then I got busted for swearing. It took me only a few minutes after being hired at the Rose Garden to meet my ultimate Blazer hero. To my horror, I wasn’t wearing any pants. It was Steve Jones, the Snapper himself, sauntering out from a behind a pillar in the parking garage. He was whistling, flipping a key fob. Jones played only a year for Portland, but he was an icon in broadcasting. More importantly to me, he was the most famous graduate of my alma mater, Franklin High School. “You’re Steve Jones,” I stammered, apologizing for my trouserless state, explaining that I was changing clothes because I was going swimming in the Gorge. “Carry on, young man,” he said, never breaking stride. Then he got into a very expensive car and drove away. I guess I’m a Trail Blazer now, I thought, feeling, in some minor way, knighted into an organization I’d revered since I was small. With that new sense of self-worth, I pulled up my swim trunks. On Orientation Day, there were three new hires. All of us were Oregon National Guardsmen. The other two guys were fresh out of basic. I was 22 years old, recently back from Bosnia. We had been hired to provide security for the Rose Quarter, which stretched from Northeast Broadway to Multnomah Street. The property included the Memorial Coliseum, parking garages, team offices and the Rose Garden itself. We weren’t officially on duty on game days or for events; on those occasions, security was outsourced. The rest of the time, we patrolled the Rose Quarter on foot. I liked the arena most when it was quiet. There’s an odd comfort in great, empty buildings. Our most curious task was escorting visitors to the hidden penthouse directly above the Rose Garden floor. The suite could only be reached past a locked elevator and 14
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? RASHEED WALL ACE
gated catwalk, which was as far as I ever got. The rumor was that Paul Allen’s mother lived inside. In mid-October, the Blazers’ 2002 season began. The security gate was next to the loading dock, where players parked. Younger stars (Stoudamire, Bonzi Wells) preferred H2s. Older stars (Scottie Pippen, Sheed) drove original Hummers. Role players like Dale Davis and Derek Anderson arrived in more standard SUVs. Arvydas Sabonis drove a Mercedes sedan. Richie Frahm, a Battle Ground, Wash., native who was cut in preseason, was always the first to arrive, in a lowly, used Land Rover. The majority of the players were surly. I didn’t expect chitchat from pro athletes, but the team’s coldness was a surprise. Peons were utterly ignored. The exceptions were Sabonis, who might offer a mumble and nod, and Stoudamire, who often smiled and said hello to people he passed. One day, I was stationed at the loading dock gate, which was blocked by a chain-link fence on rollers. It would be my job to let players in. There was one major caveat: “As soon as you see a red Hummer, you get that gate open. Fast,” the supervisor said. “Why?” I asked. “That’s Scottie. If the gate isn’t open, he won’t stop.” This sounded strange and I laughed. “I’m serious,” he said. “They don’t wanna fix it again.” Whatever disappointment I felt in gaining a backstage look at my heroes was probably mirrored in the disappointment the Rose Garden felt toward me. Used to the camaraderie of Army radio chatter, I was written up twice for profanity over the arena’s radio channel. Ninety days after my hiring, I was stationed at an old metal desk in the front concourse of the Coliseum. That was a good post because one could read. Rain sheeted down the tall glass window panes. My supervisor arrived with a knock. My 90-day trial period was over, she informed me. They’d decided not to keep me on. I turned in my badge at the end of the shift. It was the first time I’d been fired, and by one of the institutions I loved most. The Blazers did get one good employee out of that batch. One of the other two hires was a guy named Justin Eyerly, who impressed the security staff and was promoted to the Blazers’ marketing division. A year and a half later, he was killed in an ambush near Sadr City in Iraq. The Blazers established a scholarship at Portland State University in Eyerly’s name. Justin was a good man. That scholarship more than made up for firing me.
Joined team in: 1996 Quotes from his Blazer days: “As long as somebody ‘CTC,’ at the end of the day I’m with them,” he told Oregonian columnist John Canzano in 2003. “For all you that don’t know what CTC means, that’s ‘cut the check.’” That same year, he responded to all questions in a 2003 postgame interview with the same answer: “Both teams played hard, my man.” Low point: The NBA suspended Wallace for seven games—a league record—after he allegedly threatened referee Tim Donaghy and charged him on the Rose Garden’s loading dock after a game in 2003. Where he is now: After leaving the Blazers in 2004, he won an NBA title with the Detroit Pistons. He retired in 2013 with an NBA record for most technical fouls—317. He lives in North Carolina. What he says now: Last year, he told Kevin Garnett on TNT that the Portland media treated the team poorly: “They were going to do that in Portland because we were the only show in town. ...So we knew it was all about us and we had to stick together and fight through it. And that we did no matter what they labeled us.”
DAMON STOUDAMIRE Joined team in: 1998 Quote from his Blazer days: “I feel like there are a lot of people out there who are living through me,” the hometown hero told The Oregonian in 1999. “So the same dreams that they had, they might not have gotten there, but I’m living their dreams. They want to see me do well. And when I don’t do well, I feel like I’m letting them down, too.” Low point: In July 2003, Stoudamire was arrested at Tucson International Airport for trying to pass through a metal detector with an ounce and a half of marijuana wrapped in aluminum foil. He was suspended from the team for three months, fined $250,000 and spent the next year under constant media scrutiny (see page 12). Where he is now: Coaching the Tigers for the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. What he says now: “Portland has been notorious for being a place that people come back to,” he told MassLive.com in 2015. “Some people come back to be in it, some people come back to live, and that’s just not happening anymore. For better or worse, you ran guys off. It’s not that kind of place anymore.”
RUBEN PATTERSON
Joined team in: 2001 Quote from his Blazer days: “I’m not no bad guy,” he said during his introductory press conference. “I’m not no rapist. I’m a great guy.’’ Low point: In 2001, shortly before the Blazers signed him, he allegedly forced the 24-year-old nanny of his children to perform a sex act on him. Where he is now: After retiring from the NBA in 2007, he joined the National Basketball Retired Players Association and received help to go back to school to finish his college degree. What he says now: He has granted few interviews since retirement and hasn’t discussed Portland.
WHERE SIX OF THE BEST-KNOWN JAIL BLAZERS ENDED UP, AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY FOR THEMSELVES. BY ELISE HERRON
eherron@wweek.com
ISAIAH “J.R.” RIDER
Joined team in: 1996 Quote from his Blazer days: “Forty miles from here,” he said of Portland in 2000, “they’re probably still hanging people from trees.” Low point: In 1997, he missed a team flight to Phoenix. The company arranging the charter flight declined to book Rider his own plane. He allegedly spat at an employee, shouted obscenities and smashed a cellphone. He later spat on a fan. Where he is now: His life fell apart after his forced retirement from the league in 2001, but he seems to be picking up the pieces. He started a kids’ basketball training program in Arizona called Sky Rider. According to his Twitter account, he’s a “current family man” and his 6-year-old son is a spelling bee champion. What he says now: “No one is immune from pain,” the now-46-year-old says in a YouTube video. “No one is immune from falling down very, very, very hard. The spiritual journey is that you’ve still got to get up and make something of yourself.”
BONZI WELLS
Joined team in: 1998 Quote from his Blazer days: “We’re not really going to worry about what the hell [the fans] think about us,” he told Sports Illustrated in 2001. “They really don’t matter to us. They can boo us every day, but they’re still going to ask for our autographs if they see us on the street. That’s why they’re fans and we’re NBA players.” Low point: After one Blazers loss in 2002, Wells flipped off a fan in the Rose Garden. He told a reporter he couldn’t recall doing it: “I black out sometimes.” Where he is now: After leaving the NBA in 2009, Wells played stints in China and Puerto Rico. Last September, at the age of 40, he suffered a heart attack in his Indiana home but lived. What he says now: “I miss Portland,” Wells told a Portland radio station last year. “I haven’t been to Portland in so long. Honestly, I’ve been wanting to come to games and do stuff, but I just didn’t really know how I would be received.…I just want to get back into the Portland family somehow, some way.”
ZACH RANDOLPH
Joined team in: 2001 Low point: In 2003, he sucker-punched Ruben Patterson in the face during practice, as two teammates held Patterson back. Oregonian reporter John Canzano said Randolph hid at another teammate’s house for two days, fearing that Patterson would shoot him. Quote from his Blazer days: “I’m a gangster,” he allegedly told police in 2006, “not a Blazer.” Where he is now: In 2009, Randolph joined the Memphis Grizzlies. He thrived on the court and became a mentor in poor, black neighborhoods. Last July, he signed a contract with the Sacramento Kings. What he says now: In 2012, Randolph told the sports website Grantland that Portland police and media were unfair: “They don’t take well to young, black urban kids coming out, having came from nothing. You come to Portland with braids, come with cornrows, people can’t relate to that. They peg you a different way and look at you a different way. If a guy’s got braids, he’s a thug.”
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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BALL DON’T LIE.
FROM QYNTEL TO MEYERS, BLAZERS FANS ALWAYS NEED A SCAPEGOAT.
CUT THAT CHECK
RASHEED WALLACE’S CRIB HAS BECOME A GHOST MANSION. NOW IT’S GOING BACK ON THE MARKET. BY NI GEL JAQ UI SS
njaquiss@wweek.com
Thirteen years ago, the famously talented and infamously abrasive Rasheed Wallace left Portland for the Detroit Pistons. Since then, Wallace’s sprawling Dunthorpe home has stood vacant, periodically appearing in newspaper stories about unpaid property taxes. It’s quite a home. In 2002, two years after Wallace bought it (from the daughter of former Portland Mayor Frank Ivancie), the 1924 mansion showed up on MTV’s Cribs. The home has a five-car garage, five fireplaces, five full and three half baths and a swimming pool. Wallace also showed an MTV interviewer his 1996 Ford Bronco. “A lot of my teammates call me O.J.,” he told the camera, referring to O.J. Simpson’s nationally televised, slow-motion flight from Los Angeles police in a Ford Bronco in 1994. Multnomah County records show the former player—now 43—hasn’t made a property tax payment since 2013. His tab currently stands at $251,369. Wallace earned $158 million in his 16-year NBA career, which may explain the lack of urgency around his property, which he last tried to sell in 2007. But the final chapter of the Jail Blazers era may soon be here. Agent Mimi McCaslin of Christie’s International Real Estate and Luxe Platinum Properties will list the house next month at $3.2 million. McCaslin says Wallace has been great to work with. “He’s incredibly straightforward,” she says, “and he does what he says he’s going to do.”
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BY MAT T HEW SIN GER
msinger@wweek.com
Blazers fans hate the same way they love—with a passion bordering on the irrational. And while fan antipathy reached record levels with the Jail Blazers squad, scapegoating players is a Portland tradition as old as the franchise—and one that continues into this season. “Portland is interesting in that fans seem to pick a fringe player to hate and a player to love each season,” says Dane Carbaugh, a Seattle-based NBA writer for NBC Sports. It’s not always exorbitant technical fouls and drug violations that’ll land a player on the hometown shit list, either. Sometimes, it’s as arbitrary as wearing more hair gel than is generally acceptable. To put the Jail Blazers era in perspective, we looked at five of the most disliked players in franchise history— and only one of them was on the most infamous team.
L ARUE MARTIN (1972-1976)
Not only was Martin the first Blazers center to flame out in depressing fashion, he was the first No. 1 overall selection in history to get labeled a “bust.” It wasn’t injuries. He just sucked. He averaged only 5 points and 4 rebounds per game for his career, and had a reputation for being emotionally fragile. Before he came along, it was unfathomable that a team could totally whiff on the top pick, which is probably why local media were questioning his ability to survive in the NBA 10 games into his rookie season. He was out of the league within four years. The organization quickly corrected its mistake by drafting Bill Walton in 1974 and winning a title, leaving Martin a footnote. Old-school fans remember him derisively as “LaRue Who?”
ROD STRICKL AND (1992-1996)
As a high-level point guard with “character issues,” Strickland kicked off the citywide pearl-clutching that would follow in the next decade. During his previous stint in San Antonio, he broke his hand during a bar fight, was accused of indecent exposure, and constantly showed up late to practice. Shortly after he signed with the Blazers as a free agent, an Oregonian sports columnist declared the signing a mistake, predicting he’d contaminate the locker room “with his immaturity, his moaning, his mercurial personality,” and WW ran a cover story with the headline, “Will Rod Strickland Tarnish the Blazers’ Public Image?” In his four years with the team, Strickland mostly stayed in the fans’ good graces, at least until he started aggressively beefing with coach P.J. Carlesimo and publicly demanded a trade. He eventually got one, getting shipped to Washington in exchange for a promising young forward with a slight temper named Rasheed Wallace.
DANNY BOLLINGER
I AM LEGEND: Meyers Leonard in 2012.
QYNTEL WOODS (2002-2004)
It’s hard to pick the Jail Blazerest Blazer, but there’s a strong case to be made for Woods. “He was a first-round draft bust that got caught smoking weed in 2003 during a traffic stop in which he offered up his own trading card as identification,” Carbaugh says, “a move which I admit I’m not sure is incredible, insane or both.” Then, after somehow surviving a roster purge the following season, he was convicted of animal abuse, for which he was sentenced to a year of probation. As WW wrote at the time, “The city will forgive a lot, but mess with a dog and you’re done.” It’s still astonishing. “This man allegedly had a dogfighting room above his garage in his house in Lake Oswego,” Carbaugh says. “Lake. Oswego. This guy fought pit bulls.”
RAYMOND FELTON (2011-2012)
To be fair: A lot of things were working against Felton during his lone season of ignominy in Portland. It was the year Brandon Roy retired and Greg Oden was finally waived, leaving what was once the NBA’s Next Big Team as a bunch of randos plus LaMarcus Aldridge. Still, it didn’t help that he showed up with the physique of an out-of-work auto mechanic, led a mutiny against coach Nate McMillan and, to quote former WW news editor Hank Stern, “put in less effort than a corpse.” (He also offered to physically fight the media outside his Pearl District condo.) To this day, it’s hard to find another ex-Blazer who engenders the same level of antipathy. Booing him when he swings through town on a new team is an annual event.
MEYERS LEONARD (2012-PRESENT)
With the franchise currently stuck in NBA purgatory—too good for the lottery, not good enough to seriously contend for a title—the tall, toothy, well-gelled Illinois product has emerged as a conduit for the angst surrounding the team’s inertia. It’s disproportionate. Sure, he’s probably going to find himself in China sooner rather than later, but he hardly plays enough to impact games, and the insults flung his way have the tenor of aggrieved nerds lashing out at the homecoming king. “My experience with fans who still spend time denigrating Meyers Leonard is that they tend to be dudes with less than 100 Twitter followers, an avi of a Subaru WRX, and handles like @PDXripZERS77,” Carbaugh says. “They’re still making ad hominem ‘jokes’ about his hair.” Whether deserved or not, the discontent with Leonard has advanced from social media grumbling to full-on booing, prompting Leonard to snap back: “I think it’s pretty bogus.” It isn’t always so bogus, though: When he checked into the first game after his dog died, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. C’mon, we’re not monsters.
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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STREET
BALL DON’T LIE.
“I’m gonna say Brandon Roy.”
“Wessy Wes!”
PHOTOS BY SAM GEHRKE @samgehrkephotography
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE BLAZER? “3J. Christ Jesus, McCollum.”
“Arvydas Sabonis, even though the ‘Vydas was kind of beat up and past his prime. It’s hard to resist a 7’3” man with a dad-like hook shot.” 18
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
OUR FAVORITE LOOKS THIS WEEK.
“Gotta go with Greg Oden. That’s probably one not a lot of people would think, but he’s one of my faves.”
“Oh jeez, I don’t know any of the—” (friend speaking out of frame) “Just say Damian Lillard!”
“Oh, Arvydus Sabonis. I remember copying that hook shot of his as a kid and pretending to be him. Best hook shot ever.”
P H OTO C O U R T E S Y O F I R A L A F O N TA I N E
STYLE
Sheed Style THE FORMER TRAIL BLAZER HAS BECOME AN INFLUENCE IN PORTLAND’S STREETWEAR SCENE. BY WA L K E R M AC M UR D O
wmacmurdo@wweek.com
embrace of Nike’s Air Force 1 as his game shoe of choice. Though performance basketball Rasheed Wallace’s cultural legacy goes far shoe technology had long surpassed the AF1 beyond his days with the Trail Blazers. For a by the early 2000s, Wallace played his entire generation of fashion-minded kids who came professional career in the high-top, often in of age in the glory days of the team formerly personalized Player Edition (PE) colorways known as the Jail Blazers, “Ball Don’t Lie” made especially for him by Nike, finished with and “Both Teams Played Hard” went beyond patent leather and branded with his fadeaway delightfully smart-ass quips from Portland’s jumper logo. In October 2017, all 12 of Wallace’s coolest-ever baller to aesthetic principles. PE sneakers were brought out of Nike’s archives “For a lot of people who grew up in the ’90s and displayed at Unspoken at a launch event for and early 2000s, if you’re from Oregon and Nike’s new NBA jerseys, complete with a whiteyou’re a basketball fan, the Jail Blazers were gloved archivist handling the shoes. your team, whether you liked it or not, whether Wallace’s place in contemporary Portland you understood the off-court stuff or you streetwear isn’t limited to the hearts of clothiers. didn’t,” says Ira LaFontaine. “Sheed jerseys don’t last,” says ChristoL a Fo n t a i n e i s c o p h e r Ye n , o w n e r o f owner of Old Town’s vintage sportswear Unspoken a menswear boutique Laundry on “YOU EMBRACE WHAT boutique at 219 NW Southeast Alder Street. Couch St. and, along with “C o m p a r e d t o o t h e r YOU’RE GIVEN, AND Keith Kunis, one of the jerseys, size and condiSHEED IS THE LYNCHPIN tion aren’t as important minds behind streetwear label Trillblazin, whose to us, because everyone OF THE WHOLE tees, hoodies and caps wants one. They’re our JAIL BLAZER ETHOS, p ay h o m a g e t o T r a i l best-selling jerseys, Blazers past and present period. It is uncommon FOR GOOD AND BAD.” and spoof pop culture. for a person finding a —IRA LAFONTAINE As fate so has it, TrillRasheed Wallace jersey blazin released a new at our store to not say Rasheed Wallace-themed “Ball don’t lie.” print that’s available on tees and hoodies)—on Wallace’s then-maligned shenanigans have back, Wallace’s number 30 blazes red under aged into an endearing snapshot of a grit“Roscoe,” one of his many nicknames. On the tier pre-LeBron era that seems like a distant front, 3:17, both referring to Wallace’s league- memory. record 317 career technical fouls and a play on “I would say the thing with Rasheed is that wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin’s “Austin 3:17.” there’s this sort of grey area that people natuIt’s Trillblazin’s fourth piece of Wallace-themed rally gravitate toward, because that’s the way merch. most people live,” says LaFontaine. “Rasheed “When I was a kid, I had no idea why it was is a more realistic hero to a lot of people, espeparticularly bad that Isaiah Ryder would leave cially to a lot of younger people at the time.” in the third quarter of a game to go home, and Damian Lillard may be the hero Portland wants, my parents would just shake their head,” says but Rasheed Wallace is the hero we deserve. LaFontaine. “You embrace what you’re given, and Sheed is the lynchpin of the whole Jail GO: The Roscoe shirt and hoodie are available at Unspoken, 219 NW Couch St., unspokenpdx. Blazer ethos, for good and bad.” com and trillblazin.net. Wallace’s fashion legacy began with his Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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THE BUMP
PROMOTIONAL IMAGE FOR PORTLANDIA SEASON 1
E T I H W A “ ” w o h S l Minstre F EPTIONS O C R E P W O H IA HAVE PORTLAND . THE YEARS R E V O D E CHANG
BY M AT T H E W SI N G E R
msinger@wweek.com
The first time I saw Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen together in the same place, it wasn’t on television or YouTube or in a magazine. It was at a ping-pong tournament. Specifically, the Ping Pong Pandemonium Party at Holocene in June 2010. My predecessors on the WW music desk were participating, so I came to show support. Brownstein teamed with her Sleater-Kinney bandmate Janet Weiss and won the whole thing, beating members of Starfucker in the finals. Armisen—then most famous for portraying Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live—was also hanging out. I hadn’t yet heard of Thunderant, his sketch duo with Brownstein, so it wasn’t obvious to me why he was there. A few months later, a press release went out announcing a new show satirizing Portland culture. “Well,” I thought, thinking back to that pingpong party, “this thing will write itself.” A few months after that, it was on TV. Nothing was ever the same. And everyone’s still pissed about it. Seven years later, Portlandia is finally ending. The sentiment around town, at least among anyone who lived here prior to its premiere, is “good riddance.” It’s an exhausted cliché at this point, but it’s not an exaggeration: Portland truly believes Portlandia destroyed Portland as we once knew it. In 2015, we half-jokingly conducted a poll trying to determine the exact date when “Old Portland” supposedly died. Readers overwhelmingly chose January 21, 2011—the day Portlandia premiered on IFC. Somehow, this little sketch show on an obscure cable network portraying Portland as a fantasyland of socially awkward liberal narcissists convinced the whole world to move here, driving up rents, clogging the freeways and replacing your favorite dive bar with an artisanal knot store. It misrepresented the city, then those misrepresentations became reality. They paved paradise and put a bird on it. At least, that’s the theory. Nobody necessarily worried about this happening when the show first started. It’s a misnomer to say the city was ever totally on-board with Portlandia, but the reasons for being wary of it were different—mostly, we just didn’t like being made fun of. With the final season beginning Jan. 18, we combed through local media archives and comment sections to see how time has shaped the discussion of the show in each season.
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2010 “Oh, god. I really wish people in Portland would stop doing things that make the rest of the country hate us. But nope!” — Alison Hallett, former arts editor for Portland Mercury “If the show makes hipsters look like the fools they are, and makes even one of them go back to where they came from (or better yet, gain 30 lbs., get a shave and a haircut, wear pants that fit, get a job and throw the fixie in the dumpster), it’ll be worth it.” — Mercury commenter
2011 “One thing I do like about it is the undercurrent of anger. That makes me incredibly happy—the idea that Portlanders are furiously angry underneath their calm demeanors.” — Kelly Clarke, former WW Arts and Culture Editor “I think we were expecting some negative feedback, but there have only been a few comments like, ‘Why would you let them make fun of feminism?’ But Carrie Brownstein’s a feminist, and it’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek.” — Katie Carter, co-director of In Other Words
2012 “What’s interesting are the parts that [make] people in other cities think, ‘Aw, I wish we were that place.’ It’s not the over-the-top, goofy parts, but the human-scale part of Portland.” — Portland sustainability chief Susan Anderson to Grist.org “These sketches are the white subcultural equivalent of a minstrel show, that while perhaps intended as a charming homage to oddballs, has in fact drummed up a sentiment best summarized as ‘it’s about
damned time someone put those weirdos in their place.’” — Josh Gross, Boise Weekly “I feel like [Portlanders] understand the show less than anyone else.” — Carrie Brownstein at Williamsburg Music Hall in Brooklyn on Portlandia: The Tour
funny. You’ve ruined our city by turning us into a fucking commercial for hipster bullshit. I’ve been here for 20 years. I have watched it change. Portland is now a soulless amusement park for the entitled and wealthy. I hate what this city is becoming and I blame YOU!” — The Portland Mercury
2013
2016
“They’re needling such harmless contemporary phenomena as beleaguered baristas, overly conscientious recyclers, bloviating music fans bent on proving the superiority of their favorite bands and other exceedingly earnest urban types. While these targets deserve a pointy elbow in the ribs, anything harsher would seem mean-spirited, the equivalent of using a Taser on a comedian whose jokes are lousy. — Kristi Turnquist, The Oregonian
“The ‘Women and Women First’ segments that are filmed at In Other Words are trans-antagonistic and trans-misogynist and have only become more offensive as the show goes on. ‘LOL Fred Armisen in a wig and a dress’ is a deeply shitty joke whose sole punchline throws trans femmes under the bus by holding up their gender presentation for mockery and ridicule.” — In Other Words on severing ties with Portlandia
2014
2017
“It’s a bummer. First, it’s so whitewashed. Portland’s such a white city—but you’d think that a show poking fun at Portland would make fun of that, but it doesn’t. It just sort of glorifies it. Second, it’s putting Portland on the map, which is making developers build apartments like it’s San Francisco or something. Rent’s going up. Sucks.” — Reddit user Owisep
“I’m not sure there is all that much difference between Portlandia mocking the characters they focus on and Trump mocking a reporter with a disability, because Trump thinks he’s being funny. It’s all the same mentality. It might look more hip than some right-wing work, and
2015 “The show has merely been part of an ongoing dialogue some of us were having five years ago and more of us are having now….I certainly think no one would have gotten ‘Dream of the ’90s’ if Portland hadn’t already been ‘one foot in the grave,’ as people are starting to say.” — Carrie Brownstein to WW “Fuck you, Portlandia! You are the easiest and my personal favorite scapegoat. This is ALL your fault. You are not funny. You never were
of course there’s the whole riot grrrl street cred involved. That Sleater-Kinney association could imply that the show is radical, empowering or somehow challenges the dominant paradigm. Instead, Portlandia flattens out and caricatures anybody who steps outside the status quo. It’s been damaging, culturally.” — Author Monica Drake to Portland Mercury SEE IT: The final season of Portlandia premieres at 10 pm Thursday, Jan. 18 on IFC.
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STARTERS
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
EMBERS RISING:
Portland’s gay community mourned when 48-year-old landmark nightclub Embers closed suddenly last November after its owner suffered a stroke. But it looks like there will again be a gay nightclub at 110 NW Broadway. New owner T.J. Bruce says he hopes to “carry on the tradition” by opening a new dance spot called Badlands in the space as soon as this summer, though timing will depend on the renovations needed in the space. Bruce also runs four other gay clubs called Badlands and Splash in Northern California and Nevada, but says he also has strong local ties. “My family lives on the Oregon Coast,” says Bruce, a contractor who plans to do the renovation himself. “I come up here often, and I’ve become enamored with the [Embers] space.” He hopes to begin construction within the next couple of months.
PDX CBD: Portland just got its very first dedicated CBD cannabis boutique. CBD Hemp Store opened Friday, January 12, at 1523 SE Morrison St., with the goal of offering CBD cannabis products to people who don’t want to go to a dispensary. It’ll be open to anyone 18 and over, and according to co-owner Nyno Thol, the hemp products sold there will not be subject to the 20-percent tax on cannabis products paid by OLCC-regulated dispensaries. CBD Hemp Store is also able to offer out-of-state products like the Coloradobased Charlotte’s Web‚ which famously helped a little girl named Charlotte Figi control her seizures. “It’s all about having a store where you can focus on CBD products,” says Thol. “Capsules, tinctures, make-up cream, water, soda, lotion—whatever you can think of, they’ve got it.” NEW BETTER NAITO: Portland Bureau of Transportation recently announced massive changes to Southwest Naito Parkway. The city plans to install a two-way bike path on the east side of the road that will stretch from Jefferson to I-405. Currently, there’s no northbound bike lane between the South Waterfront and the Hawthorne Bridge. The bike lane will be built on what’s currently a sidewalk, but there will also be updated intersections and crosswalks, which will require the street to be “completely rebuilt from the ground up,” according to PBOT’s proposed plan. Construction is scheduled to start this fall and be completed by early next year.
CARRIE SEQUELS: With Portlandia reaching its end (see page 20), the Hollywood Reporter announced last week that co-star Carrie Brownstein is “loosely” adapting her 2015 memoir, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, into a comedy pilot for Hulu. The pilot, which Brownstein is co-executive producing as well as writing and directing but not acting in, is called Search and Destroy and focuses on “a young woman, a band and a community learning how to be unafraid of their own noise,” according to the Reporter. Brownstein also recently told Billboard that Sleater-Kinney has started work on their first new music since 2015’s No Cities to Love—but don’t expect to hear it soon. “We’re going to do this very slowly,” she warned.
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1/17
W E D N E S D AY
THE TRANSPLANTS
UNCHASTE READERS SERIES
Not only is James’s Bosquez’s stand-up showcase of transplant comedians righteously anti-nativist, but the lineup for its third iteration is packed with comedians who have quickly become some of the funniest in the city, like former Montanan Kate Murphy and former Tennessean Shain Brenden. Helium Comedy Club, portland.heliumcomedy.com. 8 pm. $10. 21+.
For five years, the Unchaste Readers series has been devoted to the “raw, vulnerable, ecstatic, complicated lives of women, gender non-binary and gender-nonconforming.” This reading will feature Hip Mama Ariel Gore, “teenage transexual supermom” Katie Kaput, queer mom Nina Packebush, and poet and memoirist Jessica Standifird. Literary Arts, 925 SW Washington St., literary-arts.org. 7 pm. Donations requested.
1/18
JASON MARSALIS
T H U R S D AY
FRANKIE SIMONE
1/19
Get Busy
F R I D AY
KACHKA READING
Portland chef Bonnie Frumkin Morales’ Kachka is the first Russian cookbook published in America in nearly 30 years, full of stories and recipes from her Belarusian family and all across the former Soviet landscape—including one hell of a dumpling how-to. Come down, hear stories and, most importantly, eat samples. Powell’s Books, 1005 W Burnside St., powells.com. 7:30 pm.
1/20 S AT U R D AY
A talented instrumentalist, who also happens to be a member of New Orleans’ most iconic musical family, drummer-vibraphonist Jason Marsalis infuses a healthy dose of Creole flare into his hardswinging music. He’s backed tonight by Mel Brown’s Organ Quartet in an evening of cultural exchange that takes listeners to the Big Easy sans plane ticket. Jack London Revue, 529 SW 4th Ave., 866777-8932, jacklondonrevue.com. 7:30 and 10 pm. $20. 21+.
Now that Portland has its own rap star, it’s about time we got our own bonafide pop star as well—and it just might be Frankie Simone. She's only released a handful of songs so far, but her straight-to-thepoint gay-pride anthem, "Queer," could easily be the next big club banger. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 503-239-7639, holocene.org. 8:30 pm. $8. 21+.
ST. VINCENT
HUUN-HUUR-TU Tuvan throat-singing ensemble HuunHuur-Tu wowed a captive crowd at last summer’s Pickathon. Accented by jaw harps, shaman drums and traditional stringed instruments, the music is so far from Western pop that it feels otherworldly. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 503-719-6055, albertarosetheatre.com. 8 pm. Sold out.
WHERE WE’LL BE SERENADED BY SOUTH-AFRICAN CHOIRS AND TUVAN THROAT SINGERS THIS WEEK . WASSAIL
On a better, weirder planet, Annie Clark's Masseduction would have dominated pop radio in 2017. Her live shows have grown increasingly surreal and theatrical, but her Nile Rodgers-via-no-wave guitar playing is worth a ticket on its own. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 503-248-4335, portland5.com/keller-auditorium. 8 pm. $35-$55. All ages.
CIDER FEST
JAN . 17-23
Wassailing is a grand old English tradition involving singing, Dickensian top hats and jaunty scarves. Drink ciders from 1859, Finnriver, Nat’s, Cider Riot and more while also partaking in beer samples “by the dozens.” Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, 4045 NE Cornelius Pass Rd., Hillsboro, 503640-6174, mcmenamins.com. 2-9 pm. $21-$24 for glass and 10 tokens.
1/21 S U N D AY
HOMEBREW 2018: A PDX ANIMATION SHOWCASE The only non-theater show in this year’s Fertile Ground Festival, the annual showcase features deep cuts from the strange, imaginative world of local independent animation. 5th Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall St., fertilegroundpdx.com. 1 pm. $10.
RALLY PIZZA SUNDAY DINNER The best new restaurant in Vancouver will offer up a five-course Sunday feast. For $40 you get five courses that include lamb, porchetta or pizza—plus saffron pasta, fritto misto and a cannoli sundae. Italian wine pairing is $20 more. Rally Pizza, 8070 E Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, WA 98664, 360-524-9000, rallypizza.com. 5-9 pm.
M O N D AY
1/22
WALIDAH IMARISHA
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO
In honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday, scholar and activist (and Oregon Book Award winner for Angels with Dirty Faces) Walidah Imarisha will talk about Oregon’s past and present, Afrofuturism and the idea of a racially just future. SMSU Ballroom at Portland State University, 1825 SW Broadway. 7 pm. Sold out.
While most famous abroad for collaborating with Paul Simon on Graceland,, don’t let that overshadow Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s legacy. The Grammy-winning choral group contains some of South Africa’s most celebrated musicians, singing immense acapella harmonies that could carry the weight of a Navy fleet. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 503-234-9694, aladdin-theater.com. 7:30 pm. $35. All ages.
T U E S D AY
1/23
ASTORIA: PART TWO
CARNEYVAL: A RALPH CARNEY MEMORIAL
A year after Part One, Portland Center Stage is premiering the second half of their sprawling adaptation of Peter Stark’s Astoria. It’s a widely ambitious production, but PCS is pulling it off—the first part was an intricate portrait of the era of westward expansion, and its best-selling show last season. Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th Ave., pcs.org. 7:30 pm. $25-$52.
Last month, Portland lost a legend few knew we had—saxophonist Ralph Carney. In just a short time, the Tom Waits sideman and Ohio native known as the “King of the New Wave Horn” endeared himself to the local jazz and old-time community. Tonight, those scenes come together for a tribute that should be anything but funereal. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895, mississippistudios.com. 8 pm. Donations accepted. 21+. Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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Trattoria
Italian Home Cooking Tuesday–Saturday 5:30PM–10PM closed Sunday & Monday
FOOD & DRINK = WW Pick.
C J M O N S E R R AT
Fillmore
Highly recommended. By MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Editor: MARTIN CIZMAR. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
FRIDAY, JAN. 19 Kachka Cookbook Reading
1937 NW 23RD Place Portland, OR 97210
(971) 386-5935
Reasons to love Portland reason #10: this is the best ski season we’ve had in a decade. reason #27: we’re the pinball capital of the world.
WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
“I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU WEARING CAMO.” P. 27
reason #9: we have the nation’s cheapest weed.
REASON #20: RAPPER ILOVEMAkONNEN MOVED hERE.
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REASONS TO LOVE
PORTLAND RIGHT NOW
REASON #3: OUR bIkE ShARE IS A SUCCESS. WWEEk.COM
VOL 43/15 2.8.2017
The best mac ’n’ cheese for when you’re baked. P. 51 The 25 things guys should never put on their dating profile. P. 27
It’s no surprise that Portland is one of the most desired cities to live in America. From “Life Style of Portland” pop-up shops in Tokyo, to festivals in Paris devoted to keeping Portland weird, our city is on trend internationally. This year’s Reasons to Love Portland issue will highlight all the special quirks, dining, industries and adventures that make this city unique.
Publishes: February 14, 2018
503.243.2122 • advertising@wweek.com
Portland chef Bonnie Frumkin Morales’ Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking is the first Russian cookbook published in America in nearly 30 years, full of stories and recipes from her Belarusian family and all across the former Soviet landscape—including one hell of a dumpling how-to. Come down, hear stories and, most importantly, eat samples. Powell’s Books, 1005 W Burnside St., powells.com. 7:30 pm.
Breweries in the Gorge Takeover
All weekend through Sunday, The Civic Taproom’s taps will be home to beers from 11 breweries up the Gorge, whether stalwarts like Pfriem and Logsdon and Double Mountain or lesserknown spots like Dwinell Country Ales, Freebridge and Sedition. The Pfriem will be the citrus zest, while Double Mountain is letting you try their cider. The Civic Taproom, 621 SW 19th Ave., 503-477-4621, thecivictaproom.com.
SATURDAY, JAN. 20 Wassail Cider Fest
Wassailing is a grand old English tradition involving singing, Dickensian top hats and jaunty scarves. Drink ciders from 1859, Finnriver, Nat’s, Cider Riot and more while also partaking in beer samples “by the dozens.” Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, 4045 NE Cornelius Pass Rd., Hillsboro, 503-640-6174, mcmenamins.com. 2-9 pm. $21-$24 for glass and 10 tokens.
Bailey’s Cellarfest
For the 9th year now, Bailey’s will open up its cellars and pour out a crazy mess of aged beer— including 10-year-old barlywine from Alaskan, 9-year-old barleywine from Deschutes, Russian River Supplication and Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti. Expect lots of booze and caramel smoothness, like in those commercials that used to air late at night on channel 12. Bailey’s Taproom, 213 SW Broadway, 503-295-1004, baileystaproom. Noon-midnight.
SUNDAY, JAN. 21 Rally Pizza Sunday Dinner
The best new(ish) restaurant in Vancouver will offer up a five-course Sunday feast. For $40 you get five courses that include lamb, porchetta or pizza—plus saffron pasta, fritto misto and a cannoli sundae. Italian wine pairing is $20 more. Rally Pizza, 8070 E Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, WA 98664, 360524-9000, rallypizza.com. 5-9 pm.
MONDAY, JAN. 22 Live Shodo Painting at Zilla
Usually, restaurants re-decorate while closed. Not Zilla. The excellent Alberta Street sushi and sake spot will be hosting Japanese calligraphy artist Sora Shodo live-painting the canvases that will soon adorn the restaurant. But be warned: This is also the after-party for a sake showcase, so Zilla will be packed with sushi chefs and at least three sake brewers from Japan getting their drink (and fish) on. Zilla, 1806 NE Alberta St., 503-288-8372, zillasake. com. 8 pm.
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Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
KINGSLAND KITCHEN
TOP 5
HOT PLATES Where to eat this week.
1. 2.
Clay’s Smokehouse
3. 4. 5.
The Woodsman Tavern
2865 SE Division St., 503-327-8534, clayssmokehouse.com. $$. Clay’s Smokehouse has come back revitalized. Along with great saucy ribs and crazily good dessert, it’s serving the platonic ideal of smoked chicken wings: tender and smoky, with a great tangy sauce.
Taqueria La Mestiza
8525 NE Fremont St., 503-572-8595. $. Angel Food and Fun lost its chef, but the Yucatan-born new ownership at Taqueria La Mestiza is making achingly good poc chuc panuchos and cochinita pibil out of this tiny Fremont Street taqueria—alongside relleno negro soup with sausage-wrapped egg. 4537 SE Division St., 971-373-8264, woodsmantavern.com. $$-$$$. Under former Imperial chef Doug Adams, the Woodsman has entered a new golden age. Order the fried chicken, or the trout, or the pimento dip or the oysters, or... honestly, you can’t go wrong.
Kingsland Kitchen
301 SW Pine St., 971-300-3118, kingslandkitchen.com. $. Kingsland Kitchen makes a fine full English breakfast till 3 pm—with killer bap sandwiches in the morning and a great spicy fried chicken for lunch.
Sammich
2137 E Burnside St., 503-477-4393, sammichashland.com. $. Melissa “Pastrami Zombie” McMillan is better known in Portland for her Montreal-style cured brisket. But in cold weather, order Windy City comfort in the form of a beefy, cheesy, jus-dipped, Chi-style Timbo.
DRANK
Antikythera 2014 Pinot Noir (ANTICA TERRA) Some experts enjoy conversing about their passions with laymen. LeBron James is not one of those people. Back in November, the world’s greatest athlete posted a shot of nine empty bottles to Instagram—one of them a pinot from Dundee’s Antica Terra. “Don’t talk to me about wine like you know it if you really don’t know what you’re talking about. Seriously!” the King added. This, predictably, led to a lot of loud shouting by grown men in football jerseys who will die without tasting a $150 bottle of wine. “An absolute cocksucker,” was the reaction from Barstool Sports. “I bet he probably doesn’t even know what he’s talking about to begin with.” Rival blog SB Nation LeBron asked wine experts, who exalted his taste in “wines of elegance rather than wines of sheer power and extraction.” Speaking of elegance, LeBron says we have it. “Oregon pinot is some of the greatest wines you can find in America,” he said recently. We don’t know all the Oregon pinots Lebron likes, so we tracked down the bottle in the photo, a 2014 Antikythera that we found downtown at Park Avenue Wines. It was made by Maggie Harrison, who has picked up the torch from the now-retired Lynn Penner-Ash as the state’s most celebrated female maker of pinots. This bottle has the neatly coiled layers you’d expect for $157. The nose is slightly flowery, like cherry blossoms down the block. There’s a kiss of leather and a beating heart of stone fruit, all in a velvety body. I’m not a wine expert, but I’ll keep an eye on LeBron’s Instagram for more Oregon pinots. Maybe he’s both the new Michael Jordan and the new Katherine Cole. Recommended. MARTIN CIZMAR.
CHRISTINE DONG
REVIEW
SPANK ‘N’ SAUSAGE: Trap Kitchen’s owner Malachi “Spank” Jenkins grills at his cart.
TK TK TK COMPTON’S WORLD-FAMOUS TRAP KITCHEN OPENED A GREAT NEW FOOD CART IN MONTAVILLA. BY M A RT I N C I Z M A R
mcizmar@wweek.com
Like any street-savvy businessman, Malachi “Spankihana” Jenkins doesn’t much like competition. So when Jenkins, the chef everyone calls “Spank,” was looking to open a Portland spin-off of his world-famous pop-up, Trap Kitchen, he ended up parking in a weird place. Specifically, on a forgotten stretch of Southeast Stark Street between the 205 and 82nd Avenue. “I like to be out on my own,” he says from the wet parking lot outside the cart, where he’d invited us through a local emissary, the rapper Cool Nutz. For a cart that serves recipes heavily influenced by soul food—the signature dish is Spank’s pineapple bowl, the halved fruit stuffed with rice, steak, shrimp and a little hot sauce—the location has the added advantage of being central for the city’s scattered black population. “A lot of people have been displaced to Southeast,” said Cool Nutz. “Nowadays, that places you down in the middle of everybody, even being out on 85th—which is crazy… it’s considered central, because there’s so many people coming from, as you say, the Numbers.” Spank, who has family in Portland, has been eating all over town— his favorite spot is Acropolis, the strip club-slash-steakhouse where you can get t-bones on a budget. At other pods, he sees people windowshopping the menus. He doesn’t like that. Not that Trap Kitchen has ever suffered for attention. Spank and business partner Roberto “News” Smith were in rival gangs before starting the cart, a story that’s been covered everywhere from Ebony to LA Weekly to Vice. Dave Chappelle, Snoop Dogg, Kobe Bryant, Kendrick Lamar, Russell Simmons and Kanye West have all had his plates. “It all started when I got hired to be a personal chef for local pimps while living in Las Vegas,” Spank told Vice. “I started cooking for them after I dropped out of Le Cordon Bleu; they love rich pastas like shrimp and chicken Alfredo, and dishes like that.” Spank and News started posting pictures of their plates to Instagram, and people started showing up in droves. In Portland, Spank wanted something more permanent, so he hired a local chef, Anders Green, and taught him the ways of the Trap. Then he bought an old cart and styled it with a barred door and tagged up with “Lord Bless The Trap.” Everything on the cart is custom—Spank even had a smoker
built into the engine compartment so they can do ribs, chicken and sausages on the weekends. The eventual plan is to build a full food court in the lot behind where Trap Kitchen currently sits. Right now, on a rainy day customers do the most reasonable thing in the world, the thing people everywhere but Portland would naturally do: They sit in their car eating the still-hot food out of their to-go containers. The cart is open from about noon to whenever they sell out, which can often be before the end of business hours. The menu rotates on a whim. In order to see what they’re serving, keep your eyes on Instagram—the Los Angeles branch of Trap Kitchen has 230,000 followers on Instagram, and the Portland location, which has been covered by no other media, already has 8,000. The wait can run 20 minutes or so, and you should bring cash. Everything on the menu is marked with a “TK” (TK fries are french fries with a little garlic), which will cause confusion for anyone who’s ever worked in publishing. The dishes we had on two visits— Spank treated us the first time over our objections, and we paid the second—were well-made with a refreshing homespun touch. The pineapple bowls ($20) are surprisingly simple, but also satisfying. The extra-super-crispy fried chicken is wonderful. The wing mac slider, a fried chicken wing with a scoop of mac and cheese wrapped in a soft waffle ($14) shows everything they do right. The bacon bleu cheese burger ($13 with fries) is pleasantly rich and salty. The Rich Boy ($15) is a seriously fat po’boy made with rarefied salmon along with breaded shrimp—the hoagie lightly toasted, the salmon generous in portion. A friend who made it out to the Saturday barbecue said the ribs are some of the best he’s ever had—meaty, smoky, tender and bathed in a tangy sauce. All in all, it’s one of the most refreshing food experiences in Portland right now. Spank doesn’t have to fret over competition—in this town, at least, there’s nothing like Trap Kitchen. GO: Trap Kitchen, 8523 SE Stark St. trapkitchen.com. Open most days by noon. Check the menu and opening times at instagram. com/trapkitchenpdx.
The Pet Issue
Publishes January 31
503.243.2122 advertising@wweek.com Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
MUSIC
Radio Days
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.
Cambrian Explosion, Sól, Lasagna Palace, Urchin
[DOOM-PSYCH] Promoter Doomed & Stoned has proven they know what’s up, and tonight’s showcase will truly live up to their name. Cambrian Explosion’s blend of prog riffs and psychedelic flair are mesmerizing on their own, but on this bill, they and Lasagna Palace act as more of a seam unifying two acts from the heavier end of the rock spectrum. Urchin takes the Cambrian Explosion sound to lower depths by incorporating sonorous doom riffs, while Sól’s atmospheric post-metal mixes similar instrumental textures with growling black metal vocals. CERVANTE POPE. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside Ave., 503231-9663. 8:30 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
Esham, Crazy K, Nocturnal, Day Dreamer, Grinch Mobb
[BAD TRIP RAP] Don’t let the Insane Clown Posse associations bias you—in Detroit rap circles, Esham is the real deal. A cult figure going back to the late ’80s, his outlandish lyrics and hardrock samples exerted an influence over the entire region, for better or worse, though no one quite achieved his level of psychedelic derangement. In recent years, the 44-year-old has shifted away from the blood-and-guts approach toward a more introspective style, while still maintaining his ear for hallucinogenic beats and motifs. Last year’s Scribble addresses police violence, opioid addiction and his own misgivings about the space his occupies in
KBOO DJ RICK MITCHELL TALKS 50 YEARS OF RADICAL POLITICS, FREE-FORM MUSIC — AND THE OCCASIONAL LIVE SEX SHOW.
the hip-hop underground. It’s still horrifying, but now, it reflects the everyday world rather than just the dark visions in his head. MATTHEW SINGER. Hawthorne Theatre Lounge, 1507 SE Cesar Chavez Blvd., 503-233-7100. 8 pm. $11 advance, $15 day of show. 21+.
Frankie Simone, Doubleplusgood, Tents
[PURE POP] 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. 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. At this point, she’s only released a small handful of songs, but each one features infectious, uptempo dance beats paired with her confident, pop-driven soprano vocals. Her straightto-the-point single “Queer” could easily be the next big club banger. SHANNON ARMOUR. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St, 503-239-7639. 8:30 pm. $8. 21+.
BY MATTHEW SIN GER msinger@wweek.com
CONT. on page 29
TOP
5
FIVE ESSENTIAL ST. VINCENT SONGS
“Now, Now” (Marry Me, 2007)
Annie Clark was in ornate indie-pop mode on her debut, but the skronky guitar solo that shatters the calm of the otherwise serene album opener hinted at the frazzled elements scratching beneath the porcelain surface.
2 “Marrow” (Actor, 2009) The first St. Vincent song that could be described as “funky,” “Marrow” flutters in on a bed of heavenly woodwinds, then turns sharply into a dissonant, distorted groove teasing the unexpected angles she’d work to even greater success later. 3 “Surgeon” (Strange Mercy, 2011) This may be Clark’s finest moment yet, a druggy whorl with a gory refrain (“Best finest surgeon/Come cut me open”) and a wild fingertapping guitar figure that builds into a squiggly synth coda worthy of Bernie Worrell. 4 “Prince Johnny” (St. Vincent, 2013) Clark’s best songs balance beauty with violence, but this one is pure loveliness, a swirling, foggy ballad about watching a friend self-destruct. 5 “Pills” (Masseduction, 2017) With Masseduction, Clark fully emerged as the post-indie rock generation’s David Byrne, and this art-pop jingle for the age of pharmaceutical dependence is her “Wild, Wild Life.” MATTHEW SINGER. SEE IT: St. Vincent plays Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., on Saturday, Jan. 20. 8 pm. $35-$55. All ages.
NEDDA AFSARI
THURSDAY, JAN. 18
COURTESY OF KBOO
HOTSEAT
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. Prices listed are sometimes for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and socalled convenience charges may apply. Event lineups are subject to change after WW’s press deadlines.
Old Portland might be dying in the streets, but it’s alive and well on the airwaves. In 1968, KBOO, Portland’s original community radio station, went on the air, injecting a sense of free-form radicalism into a whitewashed radio landscape. Operating originally out of a hole-in-thewall studio on Southeast Belmont Street, the station molded itself in Portland’s image, with an emphasis on local leftwing politics and genre-agnostic music programming that ran from hardcore blues to freaked-out jazz to whatever other bizarre notions the DJs wanted to indulge at any given moment. A half-century later, you can still find KBOO at 90.7 FM, and its commitment to the community hasn’t wavered. With a 50th anniversary exhibit opening this week at the Oregon Historical Society, we spoke to former WW music critic Rick Mitchell—a KBOO programmer in the ’70s and ’80s, who returned last year as a DJ—about the station’s early days. Willamette Week: How did you first get involved with KBOO? Rick Mitchell: Actually, I first was on the air with KBOO in 1972. I came up here that summer to visit a friend, I was 19 years old and I’d been doing college radio for a year and a half or so. I walked through the door at KBOO, and Bill Reinhardt, the program director, said, “We are desperate. Someone didn’t show up. We need you to do this avant-garde electronic music show”—which I knew nothing about at the time. I was pretty musically astute for a 19-yearold, but avant-garde electronic music? Then when I finished college and moved back up here to stay, I started doing my own program. How radical was the idea of KBOO at the time? The idea for KBOO really dates back to the Pacifica Radio Network, which was founded after World War II as a noncommercial, community grassroots radio station by a guy named Lewis Hill. When I was in high school, I discovered the Pacifica Radio Station in LA, where you could hear live comedy, radical politics, folk music and jazz. So I was kind of familiar with the concept. It’s different from NPR stations. They’re somewhat similar—they do pledge drives and ask listeners to call in and support—but KBOO is not a government run radio station. It’s directly a reflection of the community. How was KBOO received by the city early on? It was pretty well embraced by the counterculture. There was a split that went on when I was on staff, between the board and the staff. The board consisted of successful liberals—lawyers and businesspeople.
A FACE FOR RADIO: Rick Mitchell at the KBOO studi, circa 1980.
Whereas the staff were truly radicals. We were anarchists and socialists. An organization that’s trying to go against grain needs both. You need successful liberals to keep the money coming in and radicals to keep the content truly alternative. Who were the major on-air personalities? The guy who came on before me was named J.W. Friday, who was at the time the only person in town doing popular black music. That’s where the first hip-hop in Portland was heard. Saturday’s anchor was a guy named George Page. He did a jazz show. His nickname was the Master Blaster—literally, if you went up into Northeast Portland, you could hear George blasting from open car windows. Then he’d sometimes shift over into the blues, and he’d just be shouting on the air, singing along to the tunes. Just how out-there did the programming get? Well, Bill Reinhardt told me that one night, they did live sex on the air. There was a guy named Michael Horowitz, and he’d try to do things that had never been done on radio before. So they got two volunteers, a guy and a girl, and they came in and had sex on the air. When Bill told me that story, I said, “I hope it wasn’t during a pledge drive, or we could’ve gotten accused of prostitution.” With stations like XRAY popping up in Portland, how has that changed the station’s mission? It’s not simply that there’s more stations, there’s also Sirius FM and Spotify. If anything, it’s made it more important than ever for KBOO to maintain that community focus. You can listen to jazz on Sirius FM and they play a lot of good stuff. You can listen to blues on Sirius, you can listen to alternative country. There’s a whole radio station on the Beatles. But you don’t have that connection directly with the community. You don’t have people curating a show with that same Portland consciousness. SEE IT: 50 Years of KBOO opens at the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave., on Friday, Jan. 19. See ohs.org for more information. Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
MUSIC The Mynabirds, Lenore
[PROTEST POP] Feminist pop act the Mynabirds—the brainchild of singer-songwriter Laura Burhenn—channel the frankness of Jenny Lewis and the big, playful sound of Tilly and the Wall. Last year’s Be Here Now showcases a devoted playfulness, but the music is more timely than previous albums. Written in the feverish weeks following Trump’s inauguration and the subsequent Women’s March, Be Here Now bears witness to the madness of last year. The Mynabirds play protest pop as catchy as it is urgent. JUSTIN CARROLL-ALLAN. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895. 9 pm. $12 advance, $14 day of show. 21+.
Reverend Horton Heat, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Big Sandy
[GREASER-PALOOZA] The idea of throwing greasers and ska geeks into the same pit may have seemed audacious back when Reverend Horton Heat and Voodoo Glow Skulls were at their peaks, but modern fans of those legendary groups should be happy to let bygones be bygones when bands of this caliber hit the road together. The Rev’s 2014 release, Rev, is a slick blast of supercharged psychobilly, while the Skulls’ 2012 album, Break the Spell, proves the seminal third-wavers are still a ska-punk powerhouse three decades after their formation. PETE COTTELL. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 503-284-8686. 8:30 pm. Sold out. 21+.
FRIDAY, JAN. 19 Huun-Huur-Tu
[THROAT SINGERS] We’d like to think Pickathon is responsible for HuunHuur-Tu’s newfound North American following after the Tuvan throat singers wowed a captive Happy Valley crowd last summer with its cathartic Mongolian folk. Truth is, the group has been at it since the early ’90s, creating gorgeous sounds accented by traditional jaw harps, shaman drums and stringed things you’ve likely only seen as decorations in your rich uncle’s study. It is so far from Western pop that it feels other-worldly, which is unbelievable refreshing—to say nothing of the skill the quartet brings to the table with every stirring performance. MARK STOCK. Alberta Rose Theater, 3000 NE Alberta St., 503-719-6055. 8 pm. Sold out. Under 21 permitted with legal guardian.
Tango Alpha Tango, The Parson Red Heads, Fort Atlantic
[ROCK AND/OR ROLL] Portland’s Tango Alpha Tango has undergone some subtle but not insignificant changes since forming several years ago. The band’s roots are in layering heavy blues riffs atop modern rock rhythms—a sort of refined take on the Black Eyes. But their latest album, White Sugar, finds the group branching out in a more pronounced pop direction, pairing sharper hooks with the same banging riffs that have always brought listeners back. SETH SHALER. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663. 8 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.
COURTESY OF BFOS BOOKING
PREVIEW
Toim, Praying, Somna, None
[EXPERIMENTAL ROCK] Usually, most shows are composed of bands that follow fairly similar sonic pathways for the sake of cohesiveness throughout the night. In this case, one of the only common factors is an over-arching, deafening loudness. For the trio Toim, that loudness comes from somewhat math-y progressions played at a jarringly fast punk pace, some solid evidence of which is found on their recent And Into the Eyes of the Jackass and their split with Humours. With some emotional doom coming from Oakland duo Praying, some thrash-y tones from Somna and reverb-rich psych from None, the only clear guarantee here is that earplugs will be quite useful. CERVANTE POPE. High Water Mark Lounge, 6800 NE MLK Ave., 503-286-6513. 8:30 pm. $8. 21+.
Børns, Charlotte Cardin, Mikky Ekko [BLUES BOI] Since reformatting his last name and recording “10,000 Emerald Pools” with former Silversun Pickups guitarist Jack Kennedy, Garrett Clark Børns has quickly graduated from small-town bluesman to the missing link between Laurel Canyon and Coachella. There’s no fault to be found in the 26-year-old Michigan native’s ambition on “God Save Our Young Blood,” a swirling trappop anthem featuring Lana Del Rey that’s an above-average stopgap to maintain the hype that surrounded his 2015 debut, Dopamine. PETE COTTELL. Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., 971-230-0033. 8 pm. $24. All ages.
School of Rock and PROWUS present Best of Portland 6
[VARIOUS] Now in its sixth year, the partnership between the School of Rock and Portland Rock On With Us has contributed a great deal to local youth with a love of music by giving them the chance to actually do something with that love. Proceeds from every fundraiser go toward music scholarships for kids aged 8-18, affording them the financial means and tools they need to pursue whatever style of music they see fit. It helps that each Best of Portland showcase tries to have representation from various genres as well—so a kid into metal and punk can see Gaytheist or Nasalrod this time around, while solo singer-songwriters can look to Haley Heynderickx or Moorea Masa as proof that one day they can make it in that lane, too. CERVANTE POPE. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 503-284-8686. 7 pm. $15 advance, $20 day of show. All ages.
SATURDAY, JAN. 20
Yung Lean, Thaiboy Digital [SAD BOY RAP] In a different time—2004, say—Sweden’s Yung Lean wouldn’t be a rapper at all. Instead, he’d lacquer on a pair of Mudd Jeans, dye his hair black and start a screamo band. Lean’s blend of apathy, angst, insecurity and sincere sadness about failing to connect with people would’ve sounded magnificent screeched over drop-D guitars. But it’s 2018, and rap is the biggest genre in the world, so he has innovated a unique species called “sad boy rap,” which opened doors for American peers such as Blackbear and the late Lil Peep. Lean’s 2013 effort, Unknown Death 2002, was lyrically immature and musically scattered, but its raw missteps revealed the fuzzy outline of star potential, which was realized with last year’s Stranger. The album places Lean’s affectless, tranquilized flow over simple, downtempo beats that sound like discards from a guided meditation podcast or the B-sides of a jj album. While the melancholy of previous projects felt superficial, for aesthetic sake and nothing more, the despair of Stranger rings truer than ever before. Songs like “Red Bottom Sky” and “Muddy Bottom Sea” are sad and bleak, sure, but they’re also catchy as hell. JUSTIN CARROLL-ALLAN. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39 Ave., 503-233-7100. 8 pm Sunday, Jan. 21. $20 advance, $25 day of show. All ages.
K.Flay, Sir Sly
[INDIE HIP-HOP] Wilmette, Ill., is not exactly known for hip-hop, but its close proximity to Chicago gives it a fighting chance. K.Flay is putting her hometown on the map with her independent brand of suburban hip-hop. Her 2014 album, Life as a Dog, led to extensive touring and impressive placement on the Billboard charts. The former Stanford student released Everywhere Is Somewhere last year, a house- and dubstep-influenced effort that sounds something like Lorde switched over to full-time rhyming. MARK STOCK. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 503-284-8686. 7:30 pm. Sold out. All ages.
Sallie Ford, Mike Coykendall, Harlowe [OLD-TIME ROCK’N’ROLL] Soul Sick, Sallie Ford’s second offering since parting ways with her Sound Outside band, is a meditation on themes of “insecurity, anxiety and depression.” You wouldn’t really know it by the jocular mood of Ford’s inimitable timbre—a brusk tone somewhere between Nellie McKay and Karen O. The Portland songwriter still works primarily from a 1950s pallette of rock’n’roll,
CONT. on page 30 Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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(503) 764-4131 • 3000 NE Alberta
JAN 17
JAN 18
MARK HUMMEL’S EPIC NORDIC FOLK
+ AUSTIN QUATTLEBAUM
DAVID GRISMAN QUINTET
Converge, Sumac, Cult Leader
JAN 2O 10PM WITH
MATT EAKLE • GEORGE COLE • CHAD MANNING • JIM KERWIN
SHOW SHOW
VIRTUAL REALITY GAMING ANIMATION & COMEDY
FEATURING
TRACY GRAMMER FEB 2 FEB 9
BENEFIT SHOW
KEROSENE DREAM ANNIVERSARY SHOW
FEB 18
TOMMY CASTRO & THE PAINKILLERS
AN EVENING WITH
KARLA BONOFF
FEB 20 FEB 27
TWO S! T NIGH
THE MADS FROM
FEB 23 & 24
TOM RUSSELL
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000
FEB 25
THE MAMMALS
+ CALEB KLAUDER & REEB WILLMS MARCH 2
KATE DICAMILLO
“AN EVENING OF HOPE”
UPCOMING SHOWS
FEB 28 + MAR 1
+ kevin burke AN EVENING WITH
MAR 3
JOHN MCCUTHEON
1/20 - COVERS & BLANKETS 2/6 & 7 - IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU: STORIES FROM THE DARK SIDE OF DATING 2/10 - SCIENCE ON TAP : SEX, RELATIONSHIPS, AND TECHNOLOGY 2/14 - THE MYSTERY BOX SHOW 2/16 & 17 - MORTIFIED PORTLAND 2/21 - PORTLAND OPERA : OPERA & MUSICAL THEATER’S BEST LOVED SONGS
for info and tickets visit
AlbertaRoseTheatre.com 30
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
[EP RELEASE] Not long ago, Psychomagic was one of Portland’s best-kept secrets, a throwback garage band with a pronounced sense of zaniness. But the teaser track for their new EP, Pop Occultism, suggests a sharp shift in direction, toward a gauzy, nocturnal synth-pop sound in the same vein as Ariel Pink and John Maus. Coming from these guys, it’s hard to tell whether it’s a serious attempt at switching styles or just a one-off goof. At this point, though, the band has earned enough goodwill to trust their judgement. MATTHEW SINGER. Black Water Bar, 835 NE Broadway, 503-2810439. 8 pm. Contact venue for ticket prices. All ages.
Storm Nilson
aims to expand to 10 West Coast cities next year. Saturday’s concert by Eugene’s young Delgani String Quartet, the finest active Oregon chamber music ensemble I’ve heard in recent years, is highlighted by Portland native Lou Harrison’s evocative medieval- and Turkishinfluenced String Quartet Set. Monday’s solo recital by Boston flutist Orlando Cela includes music by 20th century Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla. Tuesday’s show featuring Boston’s Hub New Music, one of the most acclaimed rising young ensembles, includes the premiere of Robert Honstein’s new, nostalgic nine-movement Soul House. BRETT CAMPBELL. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 503-2222031. 7:30 pm Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 20, 22 and 23. $20 per show, $50-$150 for multiday passes. See scnmf.org for complete schedule and detailed ticket information. All ages. Continues through Feb. 2.
Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival
[BOUNDLESS CHORAL] While most famous abroad for breaking the cultural boycott during apartheid by collaborating with joker Paul Simon on Graceland, don’t let that small drop in the pond overshadow Lady Black Mambazo’s legacy. The Grammy-winning choral group contains some of South Africa’s most celebrated musicians, singing immense a capella harmonies that could carry the weight of a Navy fleet. These supernatural voices have been shaking the rafters for 50 years now, and will make a return to Portland on one of their seemingly endless world tours. DAVE QUAM. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 503-234-9694. 7:30 pm Monday, Jan. 22. $35. All ages.
Tango composer Astor Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” vividly evokes the bustling, multicultural world of his urban Argentinean home, including influences as diverse as Baroque music (including a Vivaldi quote or three), jazz and 20th century classical music. BRETT CAMPBELL. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335. 7:30 pm Thursday, Jan 18. $35. All ages.
[SIX-STRING SWING] Portland resident Storm Nilson has bounced around numerous jazz meccas over the years, but the one constant in his musical journey is a never-ending desire to improve. A renowned guitarist with degrees from McGill University and Cal Arts and numerous credits performing with some of the music’s biggest icons, Nilson plays his instrument with a knowing and gentle approach, bringing out the woody tones of the instrument with careful, attentive grace. He is also fantastic in pared-down settings. Nilson’s Red Oak Duo, a sparse guitar-and-piano partnership with Kneebody keyboardist Adam Benjamin, put out one of the best local jazz records of last year, Seven American Monuments. PARKER HALL. The 1905, 830 N Shaver St., 503-460-3333. 7 pm Friday, Jan 19. Free. 21+.
[CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL] The debut series of the latest addition to Portland’s flourishing contemporary classical scene, the Spontaneous Combustion Festival features seven concerts in Portland, Eugene and Seattle. Its creator, recently arrived Portland composer Scott Anthony Shell, already
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
PREVIEW
CLASSICAL, JAZZ & WORLD Jason Marsalis, Mel Brown Organ Quartet
AN EVENING WITH
altan and lunasa
[METALCORE SURVIVORS] Active since 1990, Massachusetts metalcore titans Converge have outlived and outplayed contemporaries and stylistic offspring alike. The quartet took a five-year break—their longest ever—between 2012’s All We Love We Leave Behind and last November’s withering The Dusk in Us. Each member explored new side projects in the interim and seemed to bring new tools to the table for Converge’s vibrantly varied, antiTrump-themed ninth studio album, which interspersed sinewy mathgrind blasts with searing epics. Pound-for-pound, the quartet is the hardest working band in extreme music and seem likely to continue electrifying audiences for another few decades. PATRICK LYONS. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St, 503-206-7630. 7 pm. Sold out. All ages.
Psychomagic, Aan, Numb.er
19th ANNUAL
FEB 3
blues and doo-wop, showing the dramatic flair of an AM radio show performer. And though the subject matter might imply a downer, producer Mike Coykendall furnishes any lamentations with brawny barroomblues riffs and sunny surf guitar evocative of a far lighter landscape. CRIS LANKENAU. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895. 9 pm. $15 advance, $17 day of show. 21+.
SUNDAY, JAN. 21
CHICAGO BLUES HARMONICA BLOWOUT
JAN 27
MUSIC
COURTESY OF RALPH CARNEY / WIKIPEDIA
Alberta Rose Theatre
[FAMILY AFFAIR] The patriarch of Portland’s jazz scene, Mel Brown, shares his organ quartet with New Orleans’ drummer-vibraphonist Jason Marsalis for two sets tonight, in an evening of cultural exchange that provides listeners a trip to the Big Easy sans plane ticket. A talented instrumentalist who also happens to be a member of New Orleans’ most iconic musical family, Marsalis will infuse a healthy dose of Creole flare into the music, bringing his classic rhythmic sense to the fore. At the end of the day, we all know jazz is about the groove, and given an upbringing performing alongside jazz legend father Ellis and brothers Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Marsalis swings harder than most. PARKER HALL. Jack London Revue, 529 SW 4th Ave., 503-228-7605. 7:30 and 10 pm Thursday, Jan. 18. $20. 21+.
Carpe Diem String Quartet
[SEASONAL CLASSICAL] Most everybody has heard Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. So deservedly popular are the Italian Baroque composer’s colorful quartet of violin concertos that they’ve been arranged for lots of other instrumental combos—including string quartet. Carpe Diem, best known for their performances of contemporary music and other repertoire beyond classical standards, interpolate those four familiar masterpieces with a later, similarly inspired seasonal cycle from the mid-1960s. Nuevo
Carneyval: A Ralph Carney Memorial [TRIBUTE] Ralph Carney lived in Portland only for the final two years of his life. That makes the dozen-plus-band lineup for this show somewhat surprising—until you consider just how much a guy like Ralph Carney can do in two years. The saxophonist is probably best known for being a longtime sideman to Tom Waits and as the boyhood hero of his nephew Patrick, drummer of the Black Keys. But the Ohio-born Carney, who played hundreds of instruments—some of his own creation—played in hundreds, if not thousands, of projects through the years. That started with a band called Tin Huey, which he joined out of high school and which was quickly signed to Warner Brothers by the legendary Jerry Wexler. It continued through Smut City Jellyroll, a Portland project Carney played with just two days before dying after a fall outside the Roseway home where he moved after a decade in San Francisco. This show features performances by another Carney project, Pepper Grinders, plus Joe Baker, with whom he’d formed a Portland band to do obscure ’20s jazz songs. This was all totally within the predictable bounds of the Carneysphere. As weird as Carney got, he never failed to delight with his infectious energy, warmth and off-kilter sensibility. He stuck out in any band he played—in a good way. MARTIN CIZMAR. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895. 7 pm doors on Tuesday, Jan. 23. Free. 21+.
V I C T O R VA L E N Z U E L A
INTRODUCING
Savilá WHO: Brisa Gonzalez (vocals), Papi Fimbres (percussion), Fabiola Reyna (guitar). SOUNDS LIKE: The soundtrack to a bilingual avant-garde indie film yet to be made. FANS OF: La Luz, Guantanamo Baywatch, Las Robertas. As Savilá, Fabiola Reyna and Brisa Gonzalez make music as a form of therapy—for themselves and others. “We’re creating music from our hearts to heal ourselves,” Reyna says, “and heal the people around us who kind of need that same discovery, regardless of what they’re healing from.” Inspired and driven by female musicians in from multiple genres—electronic, tejano, pop, world music, R&B and cumbia— and driven by their experiences and surroundings, Gonzalez and Reyna are on a mission to create music that is therapeutic and moving, weaving traditional and contemporary elements into their own unique sound. Hypnotic surf riffs flow from Reyna’s guitar as Gonzalez’s soothing vocals glide from English to Spanish between percussionist Papi Fimbres’ restrained drumming. It’s passionate, captivating and has an underlying darkness that creates depth and mystery. But it also has an unexplainable calming quality, mixed with a slight heaviness. Reyna has been in bands pretty much since her mother handed her her first guitar at an early age. Born in Cancún, Mexico, she graduated from high school in Austin and made her way to Portland immediately after. Prior to forming Savilá, she made a name for herself with She Shreds, the magazine she founded that’s dedicated to changing the way women guitarists and bass players are viewed in the music world. Gonzalez, meanwhile, was born and raised in Portland. She’s used music as a tool to help bring her closer to a part of her culture that was absent growing up. “I felt very isolated being raised in a very white community where the only other Mexican woman I knew was my mom,” she says. “So it’s really beautiful for me to create music that helps me connect to my roots.” The duo started writing songs together five years ago. In the early days, it was just the two of them with rotating percussionists, including Marian Li Pino from Seattle dream-surf band La Luz. They solidified themselves as a trio last year when they locked down influential Portland percussionist Papi Fimbres, whose facility with Latin rhythms—most evident from his local cumbia orchestra, Orquestra Pacifico Tropical—made him the ideal third member. So far, Savilá have only two recorded songs online, but they’ve already opened for the likes of Deerhoof, the Thermals and Bomba Estéreo. Their first album should be out sometime in March. But right now, they are really focused on raising the profile of Portland’s growing community of musicians of color. “We really want to continue to collaborate with other artists that we align with creatively, spiritually, politically—and especially with other women and people of color,” Gonzalez says, “We’re hoping to be a part of the movement that’s happening right now through art and culture that will hopefully be bigger than us.” SHANNON ARMOUR. SEE IT: Savilá plays NXT LVL X She Shreds J20 Rally AfterParty at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Arts, 15 NE Hancock St., with Sassyblack, Fuck U Pay Us, Guayaba and Blossom, on Saturday, Jan. 20. 7 pm. $15. 21+. Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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Willamette Week’s BEER GUIDE 2017 Free
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Our annual guide to beer is back! As our local beer scene continues to expand and change, we’ll follow the evolving taste the industry is offering our community. From our top 10 beers to best breweries and bars in Oregon, this guide will arm our readers with the information they need explore this state’s beer scene.
Publishes: Feb. 28, 2018 503.243.2122 • advertising@wweek.com 32
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
MUSIC CALENDAR WED. JAN. 17 Alberta Rose Theater 3000 NE Alberta St SVER, Austin Quattlebaum
Alberta Stree Pub
1036 NE Alberta St Aw’ Mercy; SVMVNTHV, Grant Brett
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Billy Don Burns, Michael Dean Damron
Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St Suzanne Santo
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St Troutdale Robert Sarazin Blake (The Winery Tasting Room)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Alan Doyle, Donovan Woods
Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St Almost Dark, Rllrbll, Gulch! 3939 N Mississippi Ave The Mynabirds, Lenore.
Mother Foucault’s
523 SE Morrison St No Gracias, The Sadists, Psychic Leeches
The Secret Society 116 NE Russell St Wednesday Night Zydeco
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Outset Series: Mughal Muesli and Ian Christensen
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St Jessa Campbell’s ROCK’Inn Kids; WomenCrushPDX: January 2018 Showcase
THU. JAN. 18 Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave Hot Rize
Alberta Rose Theater
3000 NE Alberta St Mark Hummel’s Chicago Blues Harmonica Blowout
The Goodfoot
The Old Church
116 NE Russell St The Not-So-Secret Family Show featuring Mo Phillips, Tallulah’s Daddy
The Secret Society
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St NW Connects 01: A PDX Hip-Hop Series
Twilight Cafe and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd The Kegels, Secnd Best, The Shoestringers
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St Wonderly, Robin Jackson, Kathryn Claire
Winningstad Theatre 1111 SW Broadway Carpe Diem String Quartet
Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St Reverend Horton Heat, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Big Sandy
FRI. JAN. 19 Alberta Rose Theater
3000 NE Alberta St Huun Huur Tu
Alberta Street Pub 1036 NE Alberta St Nathan Earle
Dante’s
350 W Burnside Schism (Tool tribute)
Doug Fir Lounge
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Mark Alan (The Winery Tasting Room)
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Robert Sarazin Blake (The Winery Tasting Room)
High Water Mark Lounge
Hawthorne Theatre
Jack London Revue
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St Frankie Simone, Doubleplusgood, Tents
6800 NE MLK Ave Toim, Praying, Somna, None 529 SW 4th Ave EarthCry, Lapa
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St High School High presents ¡Holy Moly!, The Doomies, Whisper Hiss
Kenton Club
529 SW 4th Ave Jason Marsalis, Mel Brown Organ Quartet
2025 N Kilpatrick St Teleporter, Darkswoon and The Secret Ceremony
Kelly’s Olympian
Mississippi Studios
Jack London Revue
426 SW Washington St GLMG presents: NW Selects
The Secret Society
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Møtrik, Ferns, Trace Amounts
Edgefield
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Esham, Crazy K, Nocturnal, Day Dreamer, Grinch Mobb
1422 SW 11th Ave GBB Acoustic Show
The Know
Doug Fir Lounge
Edgefield
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Dim Wit, Rain Cult, Hush Yuppies, Average Pageant
2845 SE Stark St Speaker Minds, Evv’n’flo, Elton Cray, The Lique
1036 NE Alberta St Cary Novotny Band
830 E Burnside St Cambrian Explosion, Sól, Lasagna Palace, Urchin
8 NW 6th Ave August Burns Red
The Know
830 E Burnside St Tango Alpha Tango, The Parson Red Heads, Fort Atlantic
Alberta Street Pub
3939 N Mississippi Ave Ceschi & Factor Chandelier, Sammus, hERON
Roseland Theater
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd Stickup Kid, Everyone Leaves, Save Face
Turn! Turn! Turn!
1422 SW 11th Ave Portland All-Star Buskers Concert
Mississippi Studios
The Analog Cafe
The Firkin Tavern
The Old Church
2958 NE Glisan St Hot Club of Hawthorne
600 E Burnside St Leo London, Malt Lizard
8105 SE 7th Ave Sleepy Eyed Johns
3303 SE 20th Ave Devin Phillips Trio
2845 SE Stark St The Copper Children with Shoring
LaurelThirst Public House
Rontoms
Muddy Rudder Public House
Teutonic Wine Company
The Goodfoot
LAST WEEK LIVE
Mississippi Studios
116 NE Russell St Thursday Swing featuring Reggie Houston, Pete Krebs and the Rocking K Ranch Boys
1937 SE 11th Ave Firkin Full of Eye Candy
[JAN. 17-23]
For more listings, check out wweek.com.
THOMAS TEAL
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
Editor: Matthew Singer. TO HAVE YOUR EVENT LISTED, send show information at least two weeks in advance on the web at wweek.com/ submitevents. Press kits, CDs and especially vinyl can be sent to Music Desk, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Please include show or release date information with all physical mailings. Email: music@wweek.com.
3939 N Mississippi Ave The Secret Sisters, Smooth Hound Smith
8 NE Killingsworth St Grand Style Orchestra
White Eagle Saloon
CRYING WOLF: In the 12 years since Apologies to the Queen Mary made Wolf Parade critical darlings, the world has grown oh-so-tired of scrappy indie bands who think jangly chords, cheap synths and well-placed “whoa-oh’s” are their tickets to transcendence. It’s a shame, because the blistering set at the Crystal Ballroom on Jan. 14 was concrete proof that their music has yet to grow as stale or predictable as their contemporaries. As on each of their four records, vocal duties alternated song by song between dual frontmen Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug, but their greatest moments happened when the two jockeyed for control rather than cede the melodic foreground to one another. The push-and-pull of Krug’s dinky synth leads and Boeckner’s spring-loaded chords on “Soldier’s Grin” built perfectly on that dynamic, while a jammed-out take on “Fine Young Cannibals” slinked to an electrifying close as the duo sparred with smoky Rhodes riffs and scratchy post-punk guitar. While the set mixed early crowd-pleasers with material from last year’s reunion album, Cry Cry Cry, you can’t help wonder if they’d leap at the chance to go back to the good-old-days of indie rock as a pervasive musical movement rather than forge ahead in a time when it’s difficult for their music to have the same meaning. Still, the fond memories of those simpler times mean a lot to the sizeable crowd that gathered to relive them, and you’d be hard-pressed to find another band with more perfect songs for that era. PETE COTTELL. Muddy Rudder Public House
8105 SE 7th Ave Lauren Sheehan & Friends
PNCA
511 NW Broadway Lithics, Dry Erase, Vice Device, Collate
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave Børns, Charlotte Cardin, Mikky Ekko
Slim’s PDX
8635 N Lombard St Johnny Credit & the Cash Machine, Pair of Teeth
SouthFork
4605 NE Fremont St The Sonny Hess Band
The 1905
830 N Shaver St Storm Nilson
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd Patternist
The Fixin’ To
8218 N Lombard St Happy Birthday, Dolly!
The Know
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Reverberations, The Schizophonics, The Woolly Bushmen, Melt
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St The Sportin’ Lifers featuring Erin Wallace
The Secret Society 116 NE Russell St Glass of Hearts, The Wanna B-52s
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Acephalix, Scolex, Mortiferum, Fetid
Twilight Cafe and Bar 1420 SE Powell Channel 3, Spider, Cliterati, Lost Nerves
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St Ojos Feos, Mr. Musu
Wonder Ballroom 128 NE Russell St School of Rock and PROWUS presents Best of Portland 6
Zarz On First
814 SW 1st Portland Robbie Laws Band; Laura Cunard
SAT. JAN. 20 Alberta Rose Theater 3000 NE Alberta St Covers & Blankets #15
Alberta Street Pub
Sarah Lane, Lindsie Feathers, Kris Deelane
NXT LVL X She Shreds J20 Rally + Party
The Viles, Crush Hazard, Tiger Touch
Doug Fir Lounge
Skyline Tavern
White Eagle Saloon
2126 SW Halsey St Troutdale JT Wise Band (The Winery Tasting Room)
SouthFork
128 NE Russell St K.Flay, Sir Sly
Hawthorne Theatre
8218 N Lombard St Psychomagic, Vexations, Don Gero
Alberta Street Pub
The Goodfoot
Al’s Den at Crystal Hotel
830 E Burnside St Unchained (Van Halen tribute)
Edgefield
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Lauv
Jack London Revue 529 SW 4th Ave Tahirah Memory
Keller Auditorium
250 NW 13th Avenue Greg Goebel
Classic Pianos
3003 SE Milwaukie Ave John Gilmore presents The Voyle Gilmore Capitol Years
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St Hippo Campus, Sure Sure
Dante’s
350 W Burnside
The Know
1036 NE Alberta St Steve Swatkins
303 SW 12th Ave Kaiya on the Mountain
Kelly’s Olympian
The Old Church
Black Water Bar
Kenton Club
Bluehour
2845 SE Stark St Garcia Birthday Band
SUN. JAN. 21
Artichoke Music Cafe
Anarres Infoshop
2007 SE Powell Blvd Carl Solomon & Friends
The Fixin’ To
Wonder Ballroom
3728 NE Sandy Blvd Dead Bars, Ramona PA, Muscle Dungeon, Throw
1036 NE Alberta St Arran Fagan & Co.; Bellow Bridge
Artichoke Music Cafe
4605 NE Fremont Geebsville
836 N Russell St Portland’s Folk Festival
222 SW Clay St St. Vincent
426 SW Washington St Coloring Electric Like, Jumblehead, Masta X-Kid
7101 N Lombard St Frontflip, TBA
8031 NW Skyline Blvd Get Outta Town II featuring Lithics, Abronia, Woolen Men, Mr. Wrong
2025 N Kilpatrick St Stars of Cascadia, Rubella Graves, Burn Unit
LaurelThirst Public House
2958 NE Glisan St Weske, the Jack Maybe Project
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Sallie Ford, Mike Coykendall, Harlowe
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave Leona Cutter
PICA at Hancock 15 NE Hancock St
1422 SW 11th Ave Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival: Delgani String Quartet
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St Melao De Cuba Salsa Orchestra; Pranksters Big Band feat. Claudia Knauer
The Secret Society
116 NE Russell St Pranksters and Claudia
The Secret Society 116 NE Russell St James Mason & The Djangophiles
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Spirit Award, There is No Mountain, and Rugby
Twilight Cafe and Bar 1420 SE Powell Blvd
2007 SE Powell Blvd The Gossamer Strings 835 NE Broadway Psychomagic, Aan, Numb.er
Bossanova Ballroom
722 E Burnside St Converge, Sumac, Cult Leader
Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St That 1 Guy
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Billy D (The Winery Tasting Room)
Hawthorne Theatre
1507 SE César E. Chávez Blvd Yung Lean, Thaiboy Digital
Jack London Revue 529 SW 4th Ave Arietta Ward
836 N Russell St Tumbledown with David Pollack
MON. JAN. 22 Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St Karaoke From Hell
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Groovy Wallpaper, Rob Wynia, David Langenes, Don Henson
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival: Orlando Cela Solo Flute
Turn! Turn! Turn!
8 NE Killingsworth St Brendan Seamus, Shauna Corinne, Lily SK, Galen Ballinger
TUE. JAN. 23 Alberta Street Pub
1036 NE Alberta St Shelly Rudolph, Karyn Ann; Pete Krebs & the Rockin’ K Ranch boys
Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey St, Troutdale Austin Quattlebaum (The Winery Tasting Room)
LaurelThirst Public House
2958 NE Glisan St Anna Tivel, Robinson & Rohe
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave Carneyval: A Memorial For Ralph Carney
The Analog Cafe
720 SE Hawthorne Blvd Krizz Kaliko
The Liquor Store
3341 SE Belmont St Havania Whaal, Pool Boys, Sheers
The Old Church
1422 SW 11th Ave Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival: Hub New Music
Twilight Cafe and Bar 1420 SE Powell Greg Rekus, Tim Holehouse, Matt Salkeld, Stephan Castro, Ryan Pardee
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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MUSIC COURTESY OF SPIN JONG ILL
NEEDLE EXCHANGE
Spin Jong Ill Years DJing: The persona started about six years ago as a gag when I played house and college fraternity parties. People would always shout out, “What’s your name?” Before that, does choosing what my sisters were going to listen to in the car count? Genres: I definitely steer toward anything danceable—house and disco quickly come to mind, then maybe a tiny bit of techno and trap. The songs that don’t fit the mold are the ones that steal my heart. Where you can catch me regularly: I’ve been playing every chance I get, but I still don’t have a regular venue in town. I’ve also begun releasing mixes online with some regularity. I have big plans to be a part of more underground shows in the area in 2018. Craziest gig: I got to play Oregon Eclipse and Burning Man back-to-back in 2017. After more people shouted, “What’s your DJ name?” I decided I should do this as often as possible. My go-to records: Anything Joey Negro, Dusky and Dennis Ferrer. Don’t ever ask me to play…: I’ll play anything. Actually, I love requests sometimes. They’re epic. SEE IT: Spin Jong Ill spins at Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., for Underwatermelon, on Wednesday, Jan. 17. 8:30 pm. Free. 21+. Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Ave Nik Nice & Brother Charlie (Brazilian)
The Liquor Store
The Pet Issue
WED, JAN. 17 Beulahland
118 NE 28th Ave Wicked Wednesday (hip-hop)
Ground Kontrol 511 NW Couch St ZentroniX
Holocene 1001 SE Morrison St UnderWaterMelon (disco)
Killingsworth Dynasty 832 N Killingsworth St Final Report
Maxwell Bar
January 31
20 NW 3rd Ave Wu-Tang Wednesday
The Lovecraft Bar
503.243.2122 advertising@wweek.com 34
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
421 SE Grand Ave Event Horizon (darkwave, industrial)
The Paris Theatre
6 SW 3rd Ave L.Y.F.E. (hip hop, r&b)
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Death Throes (death rock, dark wave)
Valentines
232 SW Ankeny St Massacooramaan
Whiskey Bar
3341 SE Belmont St Homemade Weapons
The Lovecraft Bar
421 SE Grand Ave Shadowplay (goth, industrial, 80s)
FRI, JAN. 19 45 East
315 SE 3rd Ave Chris Lake
31 NW 1st Ave Whiskey Wednesday
Bit House Saloon
THU, JAN. 18
Crystal Ballroom
Killingsworth Dynasty 832 N Killingsworth St Post-Punk Discothèque
Maxwell Bar
20 NW 3rd Ave Ascension
727 SE Grand Ave Flight - Acidhouse Vol. 6 1332 W Burnside St 80s Video Dance Attack: 80s Movie Hits!
Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Battles & Lamar (boogie, r&b)
BUZZ LIST Where to drink this week.
BAR REVIEW C J M O N S E R R AT
TOP 5
1. No Vacancy
235 SW 1st Ave., facebook.com/ novacancypdx. No Vacancy is the most ambitious DJ-focused dance club to open in Portland in years—with a dramatic DJ booth, a world of programmable lights, surprisingly good $11 cocktails and so much art deco detail it might as well be the set of The Great Gatsby.
2. Huber’s
411 SW 3rd Ave., 503-228-5686, hubers.com. The winter month after the holidays can be depressing. Find refuge at Portland’s oldest bar, where the owner may greet you personally and your server may do tableside magic tricks.
3. Thunderbird
5339 SE Foster Rd., instagram.com/ Thunderbirdpdx. Thunderbird is a FoPoneighborhood collaboration between the owners of Bye and Bye, Cat’s Paw and Foster Burger— serving vegan fare served out of a burger kitchen, with a patio and midpriced cocktails.
4. Tough Luck
1771 NE Dekum St., 971-754-4188, toughluckbar.com. Dekum bar Tough Luck is a whiskey-happy bit like The Old Gold—but with the addition of nice Korean fried chicken bowls and kimchi-pimento-cheese hamburgers to pair with your $5 michelada.
5. 15th Avenue Hophouse
1517 Northeast Brazee St., 971-266-8392, oregonhophouse.com. All month in January, the Hophouse will have a blind taste test: For $12, you taste 12 Oregon IPAs and try to guess them all. The crowd favorite wins a berth on the taplist.
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St Creative Cultivation Dance Party IV
Killingsworth Dynasty
832 N Killingsworth St Strange Babes Danze Party
Lay Low Tavern
6015 SE Powell Blvd DJ Joey Prude
Moloko
3967 N. Mississippi Ave King Tim 33 1/3 (aqua boogie, underwater rhymes)
The Goodfoot
2845 SE Stark St Soul Stew (funk, soul, disco)
BIG BROTHERS: Vancouver brewing is growing up. Along with a shiny new remodel of Loowit and the recent additions of excellent Trap Door and Trusty, nine-month-old north ‘Couve brewery Brothers Cascadia (9811 NE 15th Ave., Vancouver, WA, 360-718-8927, brotherscascadiabrewing.com) shows just how far Portland’s beeriest suburb has come. Founded in April by a team of brewers who cut their teeth on what co-owner Sherman Gore calls a “trying” 2-barrel system at Northwoods in Battle Ground, Brothers is making much better beer than ever came out of those tanks. In a cavernous warehouse space with a rotating cast of four food carts out front, the 12-barrel brewery is showing its ambition with a wall of 40 oak barrels separating its long bar from the brewing floor. None of those barrels had come due on our visit, but already there isn’t a dud on the taplist. The Czech-style People’s Pilsner pours clean and crisp with a strong bread note, while a rice-heavy Crazy 88 lager offers up a much freshertasting simulacrum of Tsingtao. All three IPAs on the list also hit the right notes. The You Like ’A Da Juice hazy is a strong tropical blast, while the Bold as Love strikes the classic malt-pine-citrus balance of a Northwest-style IPA—mixing late additions of Cascade with new-school Amarillo, Simcoe and Mosaic. That latter hop trio also held up well on the session version, Best Day Ever. But the best brew on the list was the JP’s Meetinghouse Brown, a beautiful showcase for snap malt deepened with a bit of coffee—a terrific roundness of flavor in an often-overlooked style. Along with a series of saisons and barrel-aged stouts, brewmaster Jason Bos plans a series of on-trend mixed-fermentation sours, and Brothers’ first bottled beer will be a mixed-fermentation golden ale with raspberries. But for at least the next year, Brothers is unlikely to distribute in Oregon, so you’ll have to drive north to drink their beer. When you do, grab a couple of $1.50 carnitas tacos from the Super Taco next door: They’re as good as any you can find in Portland. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Whiskey Bar
31 NW 1st Ave Woolymammoth, Tsuruda
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave Cool Breeze (r&b)
The Lovecraft Bar
SAT, JAN. 20 45 East
315 SE 3rd Ave KRANE
Bit House Saloon
727 SE Grand Ave Bit o’ Soul Dancy Party
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St 90’s Dance Flashback
Dig A Pony
421 SE Grand Ave Sabbath w/ Miz Margo (darkside of rock & electronic)
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd Judy On Duty
Valentines
232 SW Ankeny St Signal 33 (dub, bass)
Whiskey Bar
31 NW 1st Ave Jai Ho! Dance Party
The Liquor Store
736 SE Grand Ave Maxamillion (soul, rap, sweat)
The Lovecraft Bar
1001 SE Morrison St Slay (hip-hop)
Star Theater
Toffee Club
832 N Killingsworth St Collin Strange (LIES), Alex Ian Smith, Alleys of Your Mind DJs
Moloko
The Lovecraft Bar
3341 SE Belmont St Shiftee & Jon1st 421 SE Grand Ave DoublePlusDANCE (new wave, synth, goth) 1006 SE Hawthorne Blvd Parklife (britpop)
Holocene
Killingsworth Dynasty
3967 N. Mississippi Ave Massacooramaan
SUN, JAN. 21 Maxwell Bar
20 NW 3rd Ave Dubblife 13 NW 6th Ave Hive (goth, industrial) 421 SE Grand Ave Dansu Presents: Poke’waii Ultra!
MON, JAN. 22 Dig A Pony
736 SE Grand Ave Anjali & The Incredible Kid (vintage international)
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St Reaganomix: DJ Robert Ham (80s)
The Lovecraft Bar 421 SE Grand Ave Black Mass (goth, post-punk)
TUE, JAN. 23 Elvis Room
203 SE Grand Ave DJ Matt Stanger
Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St Party Damage DJs: Rekka Bekka
The Lovecraft Bar 421 SE Grand Ave Night Society (minimal synth, cold wave, italo)
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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PERFORMANCE = 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 OPENINGS & PREVIEWS Magellanica
A new work written by Portland playwright E.M. Lewis, Magellanica is a five-part play about the 1985 discovery of a hole in the ozone above Antarctica. At six hours long, it’s a ballsy premier—plays of that length are demanding for both the actors and the audience. As theaters struggle to remain open, Artists Rep is asking people to spend a third of their waking day in a theater. But Artists Rep had good reason to put their faith in Lewis. Her last play, The Gun Show, part one-man show, part town-hallstyle discussion about gun control, proves she has a knack for conveying a clear political meaning with remarkable nuance, empathy and creativity. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., artistsrep.org. Jan. 20-Feb. 18. $25-$50.
Astoria: Part Two
Last year, Portland Center Stage debuted a massive creation— a two-part play, stretched over two seasons. Written by Portland Center Stage’s artistic director Chris Coleman, Astoria is based on Peter Stark’s critically acclaimed book about the 1810 land and sea expeditions funded by John Jacob Astor, who hoped to create a fur empire mecca in Oregon. The first part, which premiered last winter, was a three-hour-long production about the perilous land and sea expedition. Part Two recounts the failed attempt to establish the trading empire. Shoebox Theatre, 2110 SE 10th Ave., nwctc.org. 7:30 pm. $30-$70.
ALSO PLAYING Astoria: Part One
Based on Peter Stark’s critically acclaimed book about John Jacob Astor’s attempt to create a fur trading empire in the Pacific Northwest before there were any permanent settlements on the West Coast, PCS is remounting Part One. The first part focuses on the two expeditions to establish the trading empire: the ocean voyage led by Thorn (Ben Rosenblatt) and the overland journey led by Hunt (Douglas Dickerman), a businessman-turned-reluctant explorer. Full of period-piece peril, the two voyages set up a polar picture of masculinity and leadership: Thorn
is the stern-faced, totalitarian captain, and changing his mind requires holding a gun to his head. Hunt, on the other hand, is indecisive and insecure, and constantly wonders aloud if he’s capable of leading the expedition. There’s plenty of unspoken irony in the lines about being farther west than “other white men,” but Astoria is more interested in examining power structures as they were than in rewriting them: It’s a subtle but intricate portrait of the era of westward expansion. SHANNON GORMLEY. Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th Ave., pcs.org. 7:30 pm Saturday-Sunday, 7:30 pm Tuesday-Wednesday, Jan. 13-Feb. 17. 2 pm Sunday, Feb. 11, noon Thursday, Feb. 15, 2 pm Sunday, Feb. 18. $25-$70.
Bi-
Bi- is based off a strange Victorian novella called Flatland, which depicts a two-dimensional world in which men are shaped like polygons, while women are just lines. Milagro’s play will use geometry to evaluate cultural, rather than gender divisions. Set in 2089 when geometric identities are arbitrarily assigned to the citizens of a futuristic nation, the new work follows a group of misfits who attempt to escape their predetermined categories. It was written by Georgina Escobar, who has a knack for inventive staging and for finding hope in dark places. Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., milagro. org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, Jan. 11-20. $20-$27.
The Reunion
After premiering last summer, The Reunion is returning for a second run. Written by Imago Theater cofounder Carol Triffle, it’s somewhere between farce and tragedy. The farce part of that equation comes from the play’s setting: An uncomfortable high school reunion whose attendees include the cancer-stricken Dolores, her older husband and the peppy and pompous Brittany. The clashing of the characters to yields some prickly laughs, but of the most part, The Reunion enjoys being nonsensical. Along with the show’s many musical performances, there’s an absurd scene that involves a pair of angel wings and a melodramatic deathbed farewell. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., imagotheatre.com. 7:30 pm FridaySaturday, 2 pm Sunday, Jan. 12-20.
Three Sisters
After a two-year hiatus, the longrunning Northwest Classical Theater is returning with Chekov’s classic drama about a Russian family who is forced to leave their privileged life in Moscow for banal farmlife. NWCTC’s original version is still set in imperial Russia, but has updated, lightly retooled dialogue. Shoebox Theatre, 2110 SE 10th Ave., nwctc.org. 7:30 pm. $25.
Uncle Vanya
Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble manage to make the 1899 play feel fresh, but still recognizable as Uncle Vanya. Working from a new translation by Štepán Šimek, PETE’s production keeps Chekhov’s plot and characters intact. Uncle Vanya tells a story of class disparity between Russian “provencials” and city-dwelling Russian elites. But even though PETE is faithful to the source material, its reverence is far from staid. They’ve brought their version of the play to life with live music and imaginative staging. R MITCHELL MILLER. Reed College Performing Arts Building, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., petensemble.org. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, Jan. 11-20, 7:30 pm Sunday, Jan. 21. $30.
DANCE Two Love Stories and Teething
M/f Duet, choreographed and performed by Berlin’s Marissa Rae Niederhauser, uses duets to depict relationships in just about every way that’s traditionally ignored by dance. There are slow, dragging movements; alarmingly violent thrashing and a scene where the dancers sit on the stage with backs turned to one another. Niederhauser is stopping by the dedicatedly experimental Performance Works NW for a single show of M/f that she’ll perform with Seattle’s Aaron Swartzman, plus a new solo piece called Teething. Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave., pwnw-pdx.org. 7:30 pm Sunday, Jan. 21. $12-$15.
COMEDY Cat Patrol
The Ape Theater is reviving their sketch show, which premiered last fall, for Fertile Ground. Cat Patrol is the theater’s first long-form scripted work. At its best, Cat Patrol offers jolts of joyous silliness and canny satire of gender roles from show writers Alissa Jessup and Brooke Totman, who have a cheerful but gutsy way of sending up sexism. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Hipbone Studio, 1847 E Burnside, fertilegroundpdx.com. 7 pm Saturday, Jan. 20. 2 pm Sunday, Jan. 28. $10.
For more Performance listings, visit JENNIE BAKER
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.
#wweek
y p p a H Hour ASTORIA: PART ONE 36
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
ALEXANDER DONES
REVIEW
Groovin’ Greenhouse by Polaris Dance Theatre
Chaotic Good
FERTILE GROUND IS A MASSIVE FREE-FOR-ALL. HERE’S OUR GUIDE TO NAVIGATING IT. BY BE N N E T T C A M P B E LL FERGUS O N
Fertile Ground Festival is a lot to take in, and even harder to pin down. On January 18, the ninth-annual edition of Fertile Ground will begin unleashing a cavalcade of works. The only qualification for performers and playwrights to participate is that their work is new and local, which means a dizzying mixture of disparate genres, stories and moods. There are plays that are dramatic, funny, political or downright weird. There will be topical works directly aimed at the current administration, but there are also festival entries inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and Tennessee Williams. Here are the Fertile Ground premieres and workshops that promise to be moving, entertaining or just delightfully bizarre.
SEX WE CAN! AN EROTIC UPRISING
(Fully staged world premiere) Inspired by her time as a professional dominatrix in New York City, second-generation Portland actor Eleanor O’Brien has long been making theater about sex and sexuality, including her one-woman show Good Girls’ Guide: Dominatrix for Dummies. Two years ago, she founded Come Inside, a sex and culture theater festival. Sex We Can! is almost a mini festival of its own—18 sex-positive performing artists, who, under the direction of O’Brien, will address the current political climate. Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St. 8 pm Jan. 25-27, and Feb. 1-2, 9-10 and 14.
THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVIL
(Fully staged world premiere) Created by an ensemble cast and directed by Mac Kimmerle, The Doctor and the Devil leverages the myth of Doctor Faustus to examine how technology has warped our sense of self. Among other things, the abstract, experimental show will use magic tricks to update the 500-year-old story. New Expressive Works, Studio 2, 810 SE Belmont St. 7:30 pm Jan. 18-20 and Jan. 25-27.
PHILIP’S GLASS MENAGERIE
(Workshop) Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie with clowns and Philip Glass music might sound like it could be a hot mess. But the bizarre mashup was created by the insanely reliable CoHo Productions, who is workshopping the show for Fertile Ground. The whole thing sounds just strange enough to work. CoHo Theatre, 2257 NW Raleigh St. 7:30 pm Jan. 18-20 and Jan. 25-27. 2 pm Jan. 21.
ROSA RED
(Staged reading) Broken Planetarium’s feminist folk operas are a yearly highlight of the festival. Its first contribution to Fertile Ground was an all-woman, cabaret-style Frankenstein that addressed sexual assault. Last year, it premiered Atlantis, a dystopian musical set in a future Manhattan, flooded by global warming and populated by New Yorkers who’ve grown gills. This year, the
company has decided to focus its lyrical storytelling on revolutionary socialist Rosa Luxemburg and the letters she sent from prison to fellow revolutionary Sophie Liebknecht. My Voice Music, 538 SE Ash St. 4 pm Jan. 20, 2 pm Jan. 21, 8 pm Jan. 24-25.
!!!
TO BE DETERMINED
(Workshop) Jess and Katelyn Ford’s play about climate change will attempt to dodge the PowerPoint straightforwardness of An Inconvenient Truth and offer instead a mixed-media meditation on everything from alternative energy sources to changing oceans. Craftsman Theatre Company, Backyard Studio, 437 NE 79th Ave. 8 pm Jan. 25-28.
Get Busy
THE HIGH CAPTAIN
(Workshop) Joe Jatcko’s play satirizes politics in the Trump era with its depiction of a democratic process hindered by gas huffing—a scenario that doesn’t sound so far-fetched in 2018. Once the crew of an ocean barge becomes marooned on a deserted island, they’re forced to set up a government while high from the ship’s leaking petroleum tank. Clinton Street Theatre, 2522 SE Clinton St. 7:30 pm Jan. 18-20 and 2 pm Jan. 21. SEE IT: Fertile Ground runs from Jan. 18-28. See fertilegroundpdx.org for the full schedule. Festival passes $50, individual tickets free-$50.
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37
VISUAL ARTS cOUrTeSy OF LiTTman GaLLery
REVIEW
undEr a mIcroScopE: Kindra crick’s new exhibit is now on pSu’s campus.
Ether Net ILLUMINATED WILDERNESS: MEMORY IS ILLUMINATED, MEMORABLE. BY S HA N N N O N G O R M L EY
sgormley@wweek.com
Two years ago, a Washington State neuroscientist named John Harkness began to solve a mystery that had been stagnant for over a century. Around some of the hundreds of billions of neurons in a human brain, there’s a net-like membrane called a perineuronal net. The membrane was discovered in the late 1800s, but its purpose was such a mystery that its existence was basically ignored until just a few years ago when scientists began to comprehend the effect perineuronal nets have on a brain’s longevity. Harkness was among those scientists. In 2015, his WSU lab released a study that suggested the nets are responsible for storing long-term memories. It’s for that research that Harkness is credited as a co-creator of Illuminated Wilderness: Memory, Portland artist Kindra Crick’s new installation. Hanging from the ceiling in a corner of Littman Gallery is a series of fabric and wire sculptures shaped like giant neurons. They’re dotted with blue LED lights in their core that illuminate the dark gallery, and wrapped in wide mesh that represents the perineuronal nets. But to the casual viewer, the netting is as inconsequential as it was to scientists in the century before Harkness’ discovery. There’s no mention of perineuronal nets in the gallery, and no explanation of what Harkness actually did. The only hint is a caption to a video of up-close shots of the neuron sculptures projected at the back of the room: “Inspired by groundbreaking research in memory and addiction.” Instead of any further explanation, there’s a quote on the wall by the Austrian neuroscientist Eric Kandel: 38
Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going?” Clearly, Illuminated Wilderness isn’t simply a lecture on Harkness’ discovery. A smaller version of the project premiered at the NW Noggin neuroscience and art festival in 2016. Then, it was one piece in a group exhibit, and a collection of smaller neuron sculptures confined inside a single, copper-wire column. But this time, Crick has the gallery to herself. Each sculpture is several feet long and individually suspended from the gallery ceiling. They resemble roots as much as constellations. You can walk between the sculptures, like it’s some kind of floating forest. There are also prints that Crick created during her recent residency at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology outside of Lincoln City, and glass bottles that contain objects from nature, like sand and moss-covered sticks. One of the prints, “Cerebral Wilderness,” is a visual pun on the neuron installation—a black-and-white image of neurons that look like trees growing from the ground. Crick’s career-long exploration of how science intersects with art has often placed her within the sci-art movement. Still in its infancy, the movement aims to reconcile what it sees as two disciplines that are at odds with one another—evidence-based science and expressive art. SciArt magazine, which was founded less than five years ago, frequently features Crick’s work. Often, sci-art strangles itself with its own ideology. But for Crick, it’s personal: her grandmother was the painter Odile Crick, and her grandfather was one of the most famous biologists of all time, Francis Crick, who discovered the double-helix structure of DNA.
In Illuminated Wilderness, Crick’s stance on where art meets science seems concise. She’s interested in the wonder produced by discovery, regardless of whether it was achieved by an empirical or an emotional investigation. Walking through the giant, glowing neurons is ethereal. If you know the story behind them, maybe the installation will inspire awe at the microscopic complexity they represent. If you don’t, that’s fine too—the sculptures are plenty awe-inspiring on their own. Visually, the neuron sculptures are the highlight of the exhibit. But the clearest example of Crick’s philosophy is hand-written on a scrap of paper displayed on the gallery wall. On a shelf along one of the gallery walls are four glass jars containing bits of nature that Crick collected from the Oregon Coast. Behind each specimen is a scrap of paper covered in hand-written notes. They like look like something out of a field journal, but they read more like diary entries. Behind a jar of rocks and sand, she writes about a noise the sand made as she dragged her canoe into the water. “It squeaked,” she writes, underlined and in all caps. “How shocking, amazing and wonderful.” It’s that amazement of how much there is to discover that Illuminated Wilderness seems concerned with. It’s not the insights that any given exploration leads to, but the thrill of noticing anything in the world you hadn’t noticed before. SEE IT: Illuminated Wilderness: Memory is at PSU’s Littman Gallery, 1825 SW Broadway, facebook.com/ littmanandwhite. Through Feb. 2. Opening reception 5-8 pm Wednesday, Jan. 17.
BOOKS
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 17 Unchaste Readers Series
For five years, the Unchaste Readers series has been devoted to the “raw, vulnerable, ecstatic, complicated lives of women, gender non-binary and gender-nonconforming.” This reading will feature Hip Mama Ariel Gore, “teenage transexual supermom” Katie Kaput, queer mom Nina Packebush, and poet and memoirist Jessica Standifird. Literary Arts, 925 SW Washington St., literary-arts.org. 7 pm. Donations requested.
Nick Petrie
Bet you never thought you’d see the age of the hiking-forward Oregon cannabis thriller. And yet, here we are. Nick Petrie’s Light It Up is about a grizzled war vet named Peter Ash who’s forced to abandon his idyllic life brushing up trails in the Oregon forest to help an old friend. Seems his friend’s son-in-law has disappeared while transporting vast sums of money for banking-free cannapreneurs, and now Ash is making money runs for Oregon weed shops. The criminals now attack Ash, desperate to get a piece of the green rush, and he barely gets away. Shoulda just stayed in the forest hunting mushrooms, Peter. This is weed country. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., powells. com. 7:30 pm. Free.
THURSDAY, JAN. 18 Inside Private Prisons
Remember when prisons were considered, like, a necessary evil required for deterrence and rehabilitation? As opposed to an industrial complex designed to house small-time drug offenders in subhuman conditions as cheaply as possible so as to squeeze the most profit out of federal per diems? Those were the days! We don’t use private prisons in Oregon, but Lauren Brooke-Eisen’s new book about the ignominious history of forprofit incarceration—Inside Private Prisons—does describe the series of escapes, sexual abuse and scandals that led Oregon to stop farming out its inmates to private prisons in other states. Elsewhere, it’s still a $5 billion industry. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., powells.com. 7:30 pm. Free.
MONDAY, JAN. 22 Carmen Maria Machado
In the title story of Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties, terrible things are happening to the bodies of women: They vaporize into grim humidity, and lose their heads in the most matter-of-fact way possible. Machado’s debut fiction collection seems obsessed with detailing the violence that happens to the female body, and with the icky interpenetrability of every border—and in doing so seems to violate the border of every genre you could name, from science fiction to horror to claustrophobic realism. In the process, it’s landed on just about every list that matters, including the long list for the National Book Award. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-8787323. 7:30 pm.
Walidah Imarisha
In honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday, scholar and activist (and Oregon Book Award winner for Angels with Dirty Faces) Walidah Imarisha will talk about Oregon’s past and present, Afrofuturism and the idea of a racially just future. SMSU Ballroom at Portland State University, 1825 SW Broadway. 7 pm. Sold out.
REVIEW
Wolff Pack DONALD TRUMP BROKE POLITICAL JOURNALISM. MICHAEL WOLFF ALONE CAN FIX IT. BY M ARTI N CI Z M A R
mcizmar@wweek.com
In 1974, the Washington Post brought home the most prestigious award in journalism—the president’s head. Nixon’s resignation was the result of two years of reporting, led by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who relied on a well placed anonymous source in the FBI to uncover the president’s plot to break into and bug the Democratic Party headquarters. It’s perhaps worth noting here that other media at the time sought to discredit the Post, breathlessly reporting Nixon’s denials and falsely alleging inaccuracies in the Post’s work. Since the moment Nixon hopped aboard a helicopter on the White House lawn, the Woodward and Bernstein method has been the blueprint for serious investigative journalism, in which priestly journalists solemnly plod through leads with slow deliberation and steady rectitude, ever mindful to accord respect to our elected officials, lest you be branded a frivolous pest. In the age of Trump it all suddenly seems so inadequate—if not pompous and silly. Michael Wolff is a very different sort of creature than those young Post reporters. A bruiser and an unrepentant raconteur, Wolff has a long résumé and has acquired both personal enemies and respectable detractors. He has great gifts for telling detail and for acquiring access: Wolff makes powerful people want to talk, and records their notable affectations as they hold court. He used that gift, plus the hard-wired dysfunction of Trump’s White House, to hang out on a couch in the West Wing for a year and create his new book Fire and Fury (Henry Holt and Co., 336 pages, $30). Wolff’s book should be the founding document of a new school of political journalism. The unspoken premise is that such radical transparency is the only way to combat this brand of buffoonish demagogue, who’s been buoyed by angry low-information voters looking for easy answers and the condemnation of their cultural enemies. The only way to battle a narcissist who lacks a basic understanding of the rule of law—if not a total lack of engagement with reality—is to subject them to radical scrutiny using all available information and sources, fearlessly debasing them by cataloging their inadequacies. Already, Wolff has gotten results by fracturing alliances with Trump’s enablers. After Steve Bannon admitted the obvious—that lesser Trumps, and maybe even the big one, engaged
in treason—he was forced out of his post at rightwing blog Breitbart. Wolff ’s book is filled with rich, telling details and vivid storytelling that came from unprecedented access to a working White House. Satisfyingly, he finally explains heretofore seemingly senseless acts like the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci by thoroughly detailing the power dynamics and internal machinations that led to such odd outcomes. The fact that Bannon was ousted for his comments lends the book a great deal of credibility. Perhaps even more important is the reaction from other media, who have made it plain that the book is largely true, and also that they could have done it, too—if, that is, they were so unprincipled and uncouth. That Fire and Fury makes the professional reporting class so uncomfortable— the New York Times credulously reported every limp Trumper denial in a contemptuous review that went so far as to quote a Women’s Wear Daily a r t i c l e a l l e g i n g Wo l f f been asked to leave an expensive restaurant—is the ultimate sign of its weightiness. “His writing is comically bad,” writes the New Yorker’s Masha Gessen, in a sentence that goes on to include both a colon and a semicolon; the line itself could not better demonstrate her own brand of hyperliterate slop-tossing. She derides Wolff as a gossip Wolff and casually accuses him of “surreptitiously” recording his sources. She says that “Wolff’s reporting is not reporting,” which is an odd way of describing the act of observing events, talking to people directly involved in those events and then relaying the information gathered to readers. What, then, is reporting? Asking questions at a press conference and dutifully reporting the answers with a sly wink at others in the know? It’s the same brand of snitty, nose-north attack we saw waged on BuzzFeed after they published the Steele dossier: “ We could have done it too, if we were the sort of people who did such things!” The problem with any critique from Gessen, and any other member of the national chattering class, is that their own credibility was shot by the election of Donald Trump. Gessen’s many apparently not “comically bad” essays about Trump failed to stop him. Gessen, playing pundit, went on the record before the election COURTESY OF MICHAEL WOLFF / TWITTER.COM
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit lecture or reading information at least two weeks in advance to: WORDS, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: words@wweek. com. Fax: 243-1115.
calling the allegations that Putin was trying to throw the election to Trump “a farce.” Whoops. Tellingly, one of the few people in this exclusive club of top-tier opiners who seems to fully appreciate what Wolff did and how he was able to do it is Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum, who was one of the only “serious” journalists willing to write openly about Russian influence during the campaign. Political journalism failed us horribly in the 2016 election. Poor news judgement and failure to confront the possibility of a Trump presidency led American media to utterly fail to vet Trump while pillorying Hillary about a private email server. The credulity and decorum they show in the face of Trump’s endless stream of lies and tantrums does not distinguish them. It indicts them. Wolff, much to his credit, seems to have anticipated this. His critique of the media that failed to reveal the essential nature of Trump until now is paired with a keen understanding of why they failed to take him seriously, and why they’ve acted as they have since the election. “Media is personal,” Wolff writes. “It is a series of blood scores. The media in its often collective mind decides who is going to rise and who is going to fall, who lives and dies.” Though it goes unwritten, this dynamic helps explains the mania and existential doubt of political media who seemingly can’t now kill Trump. They rage at him, in their demure way, and now at Wolff—who dared do what they could not. Fire and Fury itself delves into the nature of learned failure, in the form of an extended discourse on David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest, a favorite of Bannon that he invited other members of the incoming transition team to read. The Best and the Brightest reviews the failed war on Vietnam through the lens of all the top minds who designed and implemented it. In Wolff’s telling, it’s a guide to American institutions and the people who thrive inside them. The big takeaway from Bannon is that the “best” experts in politics, military and the sciences are often so caught up in their own paradigms, they become blind to certain realities that a detached and reasonable everyman can plainly see. The parallels to contemporary political journalism are, as shown in Fire and Fury, pointed and devastating. Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
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COURESY OF MAHALIA COHEN
MOVIES Screener
GET YO U R REPS IN
Trouble Every Day
(2001)
Composed mostly of moody staring, Claire Denis’ slowburning thriller about a woman who bites men to death and a married man who stalks her has been recently reclaimed as a blood-soaked feminist masterpiece. NW Film Center, Jan. 20.
Hellboy
(2004)
As Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water cleans up at award season, Clinton Street is screening his breakthrough film. Based on the Dark Horse graphic novel, the story of a Nazi-summoned demon turned world protector sparked Hollywood’s obsession with adapting non-superhero comic books. Clinton, Jan. 22.
Tangled Tales
Coraline
Jaime Leopold and Jennifer Smieja.
Dirty Dancing
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Willamette Week JANUARY 17, 2018 wweek.com
across Oregon and Southern Washington, including Portland, the Columbia Gorge and Washougal, WA. Cohen, who grew up in Portland and is now based in New York, describes the experience as a homecoming. “I’m very inspired by the Oregon landscape,” she says, “and even though I’ve lived on the East Coast for quite a while and made films all over the place, a lot of the scripts that I write are set in Oregon, and that’s the background for my imagination.” “[It’s] an expansiveness and an awe-inspiring quality to the landscape that is really different from anything you can find on the East Coast,” says Cohen. “Everything feels very big to me in Oregon. It creates a really extreme world and a big world for the characters to exist in.” No scene shows that better than a haunting dream sequence shot near the Painted Hills. Jack sits outside drinking from a gallon-jug of water, dwarfed by the dry and daunting peaks around him—an image that beautifully communicates both the agony and the ecstasy of his isolation. That scene sets the stage for a heartbreaking ending. Yet while Cohen acknowledges the melancholy that clings to the film’s conclusion, she doesn’t view The Last Hot Lick as a tragedy. “He continues on even though he’s been stripped of everything,” says Cohen. “He continues playing his music, and it becomes maybe less about finding the right person to sing the songs for him and being successful because he’s famous to just working on his art and singing the songs himself because they’re meaningful to him.” SEE IT: The Last Hot Lick plays at Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave., nwfilm.org. 7 pm Saturday, Jan. 20. $9.
My Neighbor Totoro
(1988)
Populated by benevolent and adorably rotund spirits, Miyazaki’s masterpiece is a dark war-torn metaphor cloaked in quirky animation. It screens as part of OMSI’s annual Studio Ghibli Retrospective. Empirical, Jan. 20.
ALSO PLAYING: 5th Avenue: I Wake Up Screaming (1941), Jan. 19-21. Academy: Paranorman (2012), Jan. 19-25. Clinton: Uncanny Tales: Supernatural Shorts (various), Jan. 17. Hollywood: Shogun Assassin (2010), Jan. 23. Joy: Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961), Jan. 17. Laurelhurst: The Raid (2011), Jan. 17. Supercop (1996), Jan. 19-25. Mission: Sixteen Candles (1984), Jan. 17. Say Anything (1989), Jan. 21-22. Pretty In Pink (1986), Jan. 19-23. NW Film: The Eagle Huntress (2016), Jan. 20. The Boxtrolls (2014), Jan. 21. The Boxtrolls (1989), Jan. 21-22. Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (1997), Jan. 21. Time to Die (1966), Jan. 22. COURTESY OF VESTRON PICTURES
In one of the most profoundly moving moments in The Last Hot Lick, 69-year-old Oregon folk musician Jack Willits (Jaime Leopold) cries onstage. It’s a riveting display of vulnerability from Leopold, a real-life folk musician and first-time actor. The song is called “Daddy Cut Wood Up on the Mountain,” and though it’s being sung by a fictional character, it was actually written by Leopold about his childhood. When Jack gets to the lines “And the sound of Daddy’s pickup/Rollin’ through the leaves,” he becomes so overwhelmed with memories of a life long gone, he can barely get the words out. It’s a beautifully candid moment. But according to writer-director Mahalia Cohen, it required some maneuvering. “A lot of the other songs in the movie he had written some years earlier and had been performing for a while, but that song was something that he had just been writing right before we shot the movie,” Cohen says. “And when he played it for me, he said that he always got choked up at a certain moment in the song. So I chose that song specifically because I knew that would happen.” Cohen self-deprecatingly calls the moment “a little bit manipulated.” Profoundly moving is a better description, and one that fits The Last Hot Lick as a whole. The film, which was produced by Cohen’s mother Deborah and shot in Oregon, is both visually and emotionally transcendent. The semi-improvised movie tells the story of Jack going on tour and befriending Bobby (Short Stories singer Jennifer Smieja, another first-time actor), a heroin addict who becomes his singing partner. Cohen wrote the script with Leopold in mind.
A former member of the jazz and rock band Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, Leopold has been part of Cohen’s life ever since she was a child. “My mother and him had been friends since before I was born and he has daughters my age and we all grew up together,” she says, “so I knew him in a very different capacity, in more of a fatherly role.” The idea of Cohen assuming a “parental” role herself by directing Leopold came to fruition in 2015, when she had two scripts stuck in development hell and “was getting a bit fed up with waiting.” A group of friends from Argentina were interested in coming to Oregon to work on movies, so she dreamed up the story of Jack and Bobby. Cohen says that the resulting script “is not a true story at all, but it does have some basis in his [Leopold’s] life.” That didn’t mean, however, that she was unwilling to throw the script out the window when necessary. While shooting the film in September 2015, she says that Leopold and Smieja had only “a vague idea of what the movie was about.” The result is an improvisation-heavy film packed with powerfully off-the-cuff moments, like a refreshingly unflattering shot of Jack running a comb through his receding hair. This approach, Cohen says, “was more difficult for Jennifer,” so while shooting additional scenes in April 2016, she gave Smieja lines to memorize. Remarkably, the decision to put Smieja on script and let Leopold keep freestyling didn’t mar the movie’s realism. One of the film’s finest scenes—a gas-station confrontation where Jack fires Bobby and she slickly butters him up—was filmed during that second round of shooting. The Last Hot Lick was shot at locations
(1987)
Maybe it’s because of the climactic dance sequence set to “Time of My Life,” but somehow, everyone seems to forget that the impetus for Dirty Dancing’s romantic plot is an illegal abortion. Mission, Jan. 22-26.
THE LAST HOT LICK IS A SEMI-IMPROVISED STORY ABOUT AN OREGON FOLK SINGER. BY BE N N E T T C A M P B E L L FE RGUS O N
(2009)
A trippy nightmare disguised as a kids movie, Coraline put LAIKA on the map as one of the most innovative (and creepy) animation studios out there. Academy, Jan. 17-18.
Dirty Dancing
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
film could follow in the awards-season footsteps of Moonlight this winter— a highly acclaimed queer love story in which feelings of foreboding are personal and emotional, not societal. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Fox Tower, Living Room Theaters.
Phantom Thread
Rumored to be Daniel Day-Lewis’ final film, Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest movie is his gentlest yet. A love story of sorts set in London during the 1950s, we are immersed in the House of Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis), a quietly eccentric couturier known for his daring and unique designs. Alma (Vicky Krieps) is his latest muse, a sweet-natured country girl who catches his eye and doesn’t want to let go. Halfway through the first date, we’re nearly dizzy with romance as the piano trills swell and he lays swatches of silk against her collarbone. The dynamic shifts in an instant, and Woodcock is in work mode, methodically measuring Alma while his assistant takes notes, the only residual tenderness shown through close-ups of his calloused thumbs precisely holding the tape against her silhouette. After a halfhour worth of needles pulling thread and three bumpy shots of them driving out a country road, it’s clear that Anderson didn’t make a period piece; he made a movie that looks like it was made in the 1950s. The colors are big and grand. It’s full of dramatic sweeps of lace across the work table and billowing skirts sashaying through the showroom, where, like most movie romances of that era, there’s gaslighting going on at both ends. Although easily counted as another standout transformation by Day-Lewis into a persnickety, avant-garde dressmaker, if this is truly his last film, it is perhaps too mild an adieu from such a fierce actor. Maybe I’m just not ready to say goodbye without one more vein-bursting monologue. LAUREN TERRY. Fox Tower.
Coco
Pixar’s transcendent fable follows a young boy named Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) who lives in Mexico and dreams of becoming a musician like his long-dead idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). Miguel’s family disapproves of his guitar-filled dreams, but Coco isn’t Footloose for musicians—it’s a Dia de los Muertos odyssey that sends Miguel on a trippy trek to the afterlife, where he seeks validation from de la Cruz’s fame-hungry ghost. Nestled beneath the film’s cheery mayhem, however, is an overwhelmingly powerful meditation on memory, mortality and familial love. Miguel may make some extraordinary discoveries in the great beyond, but the most beautiful thing in Coco is his realization that the only place he wants to journey to is the home he left behind. PG. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Living Room Theaters, Lloyd, Tigard, Vancouver.
Darkest Hour
If this fussy, grandstanding biopic is too believed, Winston Churchill’s crusade against Adolph Hitler consisted primarily of shouting and smoking his weight in cigars. That’s the narrative that director Joe Wright (Atonement) tries to sell with help from Gary Oldman, who glowers and yowls mightily as Churchill. Their enthusiasm yields not a humanizing portrait of the venerated prime minister, but a history-book myth that treats him more like a statue to be dusted off from time to time than a human being. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Living Room Theaters, Tigard, Vancouver.
STILL SHOWING All the Money in the World
In 1973, oil billionaire J. Paul Getty was the richest man to ever walk the planet. All the Money in the World follows the kidnapping of his grandson, which was a tabloid sensation of its day—despite his wealth, Getty wouldn’t pony up a ransom, allowing his grandchild to languish for half a year with his captors. The stakes could scarcely be higher, but none of it is particularly thrilling to watch. The characters here are merely chess pieces in a plot you could just as easily read about on Wikipedia. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Fox Tower, Vancouver.
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. Academy, Empirical, Laurelhurst, Vancouver.
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
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Two decades after the eponymous game loosed animal hordes upon New Hampshire suburbia, Jumanji is now a video game. Its cartridge is chanced upon by a detention-bound quartet of familiar teen caricatures (gamer, jock, princess, wallflower) who soon find themselves sucked into the game and retrospectively transformed into twofisted archaeologist Dwayne Johnson, fun-sized ‘weapons valet’ Kevin Hart, husky cartographer Jack Black and dance-fighting Karen Gillan. As Director Jake Kasdans slackens the rigors of saccharine banality just enough for absurdist flights of fancy and flashes of perverse wit to regularly subvert expectations. Can we ask much more of our modern holiday blockbusters? PG-13. JAY HORTON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Lloyd, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, St. Johns Pub and Theater, Tigard, Vancouver.
Lady Bird
In Greta Gerwig’s writer/director debut, Christine, who insists on being called Lady Bird, is a high school senior growing up in Sacramento, which she loathingly refers to as the Midwest of California. Desperate to break free from mediocrity, Lady Bird slowly abandons her theater-kid friends for a group of rich kids. Gerwig has crafted a sprawling story in which every character is subject to Gerwig’s absurd humor as much as her deep empathy. 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, City Center, Division, Eastport, Fox Tower, Hollywood, Vancouver.
Molly’s Game
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game is the story of the rise and fall of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), from aspiring Olympian to “Poker Princess” of LA and New York. It’s a lot of ground to cover, but Sorkin is a master of hiding exposition by varying dialogic rhythm and precisely choosing the words hyper-articulate characters say. The unquestioned star, however, is Chastain. A lesser actor would be devoured by Molly Bloom, but Chastain’s performance accomplishes the difficult
task of humanizing her. R. R MITCHELL MILLER. Bridgeport, City Center, Clackamas, Division, Eastport, Fox Tower, Lloyd, Tigard, Vancouver.
The Shape of Water
Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) has 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 darkeyed, water-dwelling creature (Doug Jones) has been imprisoned. Eliza and 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. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Cinema 21, Cinemagic Theatre, City Center, Clackamas, Hollywood, St. Johns Twin Cinema & Pub, 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 a glorified commercial for next year’s Avengers: Infinity War. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Academy, Avalon, Empirical, Jubitz, Kennedy School Theater, Laurelhurst, Valley Cinema Pub, 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?” 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. R. R. MITCHELL MILLER. City Center, Clackamas, Division, Fox Tower, Hollywood, Kiggins, Tigard, Valley Cinema Pub.
L AU R I E S PA R H A M
Blade Runner 2049
The Florida Project
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. Academy, Laurelhurst.
Call Me By Your Name
The new romance from director Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love, A Bigger Splash) follows the love affair between Elio, a teenager summering in Italy with his scholarly parents, and Oliver, a grad student studying with Elio’s father, smolders for the better part of this novelesque character study. Though its backdrop couldn’t be more different, there’s a chance Guadagnino’s excellent
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JEREMY PLUMB WANTS TO MAKE MEDICAL WEED AS RELIABLE AS IBUPROFEN. BY MATTHEW KORFHAGE
mkorfhage@wweek.com
With most cannabis, what you feel is what you get. A nug of Blue Dream from one grower might make you feel energized, while another might help with your insomnia. If you’re looking for a specific effect, especially a therapeutic one, you might be subject to a long process of trial and error, with no guarantee of consistency. And since cannabis was outlawed for so long, there’s precious little high-level scientific research to help guide your decisions. Portland’s Jeremy Plumb is trying to change all that. He wants to help make cannabis every bit as reliable and predictable in its effects as ibuprofen or caffeine. Plumb, often cutely called the “Wizard of Weed” in stories by national outlets, is a ubiquitous presence in Portland weed. He’s the co-founder of Farma dispensary, the WW-sponsored Cultivation Classic cannabis competition and the Open Cannabis Project, dedicated to documenting the cannabis genome. But in June, Plumb inaugurated yet another role: director of production science at high-tech Portland-area grower Pruf Cultivar. At Pruf, Plumb is trying to use tightly controlled growing experiments to attain results that hadn’t previously been possible: He wants to map out the genetic and environmental factors that make cannabis have specific therapeutic effects. The problem Plumb is trying to overcome at Pruf is also the thing that makes cannabis so promising as a therapeutic drug: the almost unrivalled complexity of the plant. Even when amounts of THC and CBD are the same, the therapeutic and psychoactive effects of a given cannabis plant are greatly affected by a vast number of chemicals called cannabinoids and terpenes, which can vary wildly from plant to plant. “The kind of diversity in this one species of plant is really extreme,” he says. “It’s like growing tomatoes and tobacco in the same facility.” Even if you give the same seed to four different growers, Plumb says you’ll likely end up with four plants with radically different chemistries, because they arise during growing because of light wavelength, temperature, humidity, and carbon-dioxide density in the air. “The different chemistry will have pronounced effects. There will be subtle differences. These states are subjective in many cases, and human physiology is diverse,” he says. This variability also affects medical doctors’ willingness to prescribe.
“If you talk to many doctors,” says Plumb, “the key to being taken seriously is to have consistent attributes. So long as there is a huge range of effects, doctors don’t want to make referrals. Leading hospice providers believe in the therapeutic benefits, but are concerned about the ways it can provoke anxiety, and have negative and harmful effects.” The key to cataloguing therapeutic benefits more consistently, Plumb believes, is the ability to conduct controlled, reproducible experiments in growing. This isn’t a new goal for Plumb—he began this work at a now-defunct farm called Newcleus Nurseries two years ago, and his Farma dispensaries test for individual terpenes rather than just display CBD and THC percentages. But at Newcleus, he didn’t have the resources he has at Pruf. “At Pruf, one of the great things is that we have controlled environments,” he says. The team at Pruf can modulate temperature, light, humidity and other factors and record the effects on the chemotype of the plant. “I was the luckiest guy ever to find this team that had all kinds of other talents: operational capacity, technical capacity.” To demonstrate the potential benefits, Plumb points to soon-to-be-published results from a researcher named David “Dedi” Meiri at Technion Israel Institute of Technology. When using cannabis to treat autistic patients, says Plumb, Meiri suddenly noticed an uptick in negative side effects. It turned out they’d switched growers. Even though they were using the same strain, with the same THC and CBD amounts, the therapeutic results changed dramatically. “The chemistry was the difference,” Plumb says. At Pruf, Plumb and his team hope to help pinpoint the mix of cannabinoids and terpenes that help bring about the desired therapeutic result. There’s still a lot of ground to cover, but Plumb is optimistic about harnessing cannabis’ medical potential. “If we can nail this down, in controlled environments with many different [growing] chambers, we’re really creating a revolutionary supply chain. Long-term quality-of-life improvement programs can begin,” Plumb says. “In a time of commercial recreation, people have become jaded about medical cannabis. We’re hoping to help the poor and the sick and the dying—not just the new, hip recreational customer.”
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FOR THE COUNTY OF CLACKAMAS Probate DepartmentIn the Matter of the Conservatorship of: GARRETT CLARK HOHMAN; MEGAN NICOLE HOHMAN, minor children, Respondents. Case No. 17PR01840 NOTICE OF TIME FOR FILING OBJECTIONS TO PETITION FOR ORDER APPOINTING CONSERVATOR FOR A MINOR NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN to all interested parties, that on October 10, 2017, the undersigned filed a petition to appoint Jason Michael Hohman (birth father of Respondents) as conservator for Respondents, Garrett Clark Hohman and Megan Nicole Hohman. The Petitioner’s address and telephone number are: Petitioner: Jason Michael Hohman; 17901 S. Princess Ct; Oregon City OR 97045 (971) 865-0083. Any objections to this petition must be made in the above court by February 8, 2018, at:Clackamas County Circuit Court; Civil Case Unit; 807 Main Street, Room 104; Oregon City, Oregon 97045. A true copy of the petition is a public document and is available at the same address. As of the date on this notice, no hearing has been set. NOTICE: If you wish to receive copies of future filings in this case, you must inform the judge and the person named as petitioner in this notice. You must inform the judge by filing a request for notice and paying any applicable fee. The request for notice must be in writing, must clearly indicate that you wish to receive future filings in the proceedings and must contain your name, address and phone number. You must notify the person named as petitioner by mailing a copy of the request to the petitioner. Unless you take these steps, you will receive no further copies of the filings in the case. DATED: this 10th day of January 2018
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28 "The Dark Knight" trilogy director 29 "Lady Bird" writerdirector Gerwig 30 Hyphenated descriptor for a repairperson 31 Recurrent theme 32 Not-so-subtle promos 33 Contacts online, for short 36 Abbr. on military mail 38 Spellbind 40 Sumptuous 42 In a self-satisfied way, maybe 43 Little bite 46 Flow's counterpart 47 Look forward to 50 Covers with turf 51 Muse, for one 52 Antioxidant-rich berry 53 Heavy metal's Mˆtley ___ 54 "Freak on a Leash" band 55 Barbecue rod 57 Satisfied sounds 58 March Madness gp. 59 Make Kool-Aid 62 ___ Aviv, Israel last week’s answers
©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle #JONZ823.
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answers do) 63 Clock face 64 Pulitzer-winning novelist Alison 65 Spiced tea beverage 66 Gardener's purchase 67 Streisand title role of 1983 68 Russian ruler, before 1917 Down 1 NATO phonetic alphabet letter after Oscar 2 Web addresses 3 Confirmation ___ 4 Iroquois League nation 5 Big bother 6 Pick-me-up 7 Abu Dhabi leader, for instance 8 Lip balm ingredient 9 Phenomenal performers 10 Soundstage equipment that hangs high 11 Cultural leader? 12 Kazakhstan border "Sea" that's really a lake 13 Auction off 18 Exterior finish for some houses 22 Palme ___ (Cannes Film Festival prize) 24 ___ Tuesday ("Voices Carry" group) 26 Water filter brand name 27 Kidney-related
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Week of January 11
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Many American women did not have the right to vote until August 18, 1920. On that day, the Tennessee General Assembly became the 36th state legislature to approve the Nineteenth Amendment, thus sealing the legal requirements to change the U.S. Constitution and ensure women’s suffrage. The ballot in Tennessee was close. At the last minute, 24-year-old legislator Harry T. Burns changed his mind from no to yes, thanks to a letter from his mother, who asked him to “be a good boy” and vote in favor. I suspect that in the coming weeks, Aries, you will be in a pivotal position not unlike Burns’. Your decision could affect more people than you know. Be a good boy or good girl.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
In the coming weeks, Destiny will be calling you and calling you and calling you, inviting you to answer its summons. If you do indeed answer, it will provide you with clear instructions about what you will need to do expedite your ass in the direction of the future. If on the other hand you refuse to listen to Destiny’s call, or hear it and refuse to respond, then Destiny will take a different tack. It won’t provide any instructions, but will simply yank your ass in the direction of the future.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
Looks like the Season of a Thousand and One Emotions hasn’t drained and frazzled you. Yes, there may be a pool of tears next to your bed. Your altar might be filled with heaps of ashes, marking your burnt offerings. But you have somehow managed to extract a host of useful lessons from your tests and trials. You have surprised yourself with the resilience and resourcefulness you’ve been able to summon. And so the energy you’ve gained through these gritty triumphs is well worth the price you’ve had to pay.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Every relationship is unique. The way you connect with another person -- whether it’s through friendship, romance, family, or collaborative projects -- should be free to find the distinctive identity that best suits its special chemistry. Therefore, it’s a mistake to compare any of your alliances to some supposedly perfect ideal. Luckily, you’re in an astrological period when you have extra savvy about cultivating unique models of togetherness. So I recommend that you devote the coming weeks to deepening and refining your most important bonds.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
During recent weeks, your main tasks have centered around themes often associated with strain and struggle: repair, workaround, reassessment, juryrigging, adjustment, compromise. Amazingly, Leo, you have kept your suffering to a minimum as you have smartly done your hard work. In some cases you have even thrived. Congratulations on being so industrious and steadfast! Beginning soon, you will glide into a smoother stage of your cycle. Be alert for the inviting signs. Don’t assume you’ve got to keep grunting and grinding.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) created four versions of his iconic artwork The Scream. Each depicts a person who seems terribly upset, holding his head in his hands and opening his mouth wide as if unleashing a loud shriek. In 2012, one of these images of despair was sold for almost $120 million. The money went to the son of a man who had been Munch’s friend and patron. Can you think of a way that you and yours might also be able to extract value or get benefits from a negative emotion or a difficult experience? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to do just that.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“I think I like my brain best in a bar fight with my heart,” says poet Clementine von Radics. While I appreciate that perspective, I advise you to do the opposite in the coming weeks. This will be a phase of your astrological cycle when you should definitely support your heart
over your brain in bar fights, wrestling matches, shadow boxing contests, tugs of war, battles of wits, and messy arguments. Here’s one of the most important reasons why I say this: Your brain would be inclined to keep the conflict going until one party or the other suffers ignominious defeat, whereas your heart is much more likely to work toward a win-win conclusion.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
When he was 24 years old, Scorpio-born Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398) was a novice monk with little money who had just learned to read and write. He had spent years as a wandering beggar. By the time he was 40 years old, he was the emperor of China and founder of the Ming Dynasty, which ruled for 276 years. What happened in between? That’s a long story. Zhu’s adventurousness was a key asset, and so was his ability as an audacious and crafty tactician. His masterful devotion to detailed practical matters was also indispensable. If you are ever in your life going to begin an ascent even remotely comparable to Zhu’s, Scorpio, it will be in the coming ten months. Being brave and enterprising won’t be enough. You must be disciplined and dogged, as well.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
In 1892, the influential Atlantic Monthly magazine criticized Sagittarian poet Emily Dickinson, saying she “possessed an extremely unconventional and grotesque fancy.” It dismissed her poetry as incoherent, and declared that an “eccentric, dreamy, half-educated recluse” like her “cannot with impunity set at defiance the laws of gravitation and grammar.” This dire diss turned out to be laughably wrong. Dickinson is now regarded as one of the most original American poets. I offer this story up as a pep talk for you, Sagittarius. In the coming months, I suspect you’ll be reinventing yourself. You’ll be researching new approaches to living your life. In the course of these experiments, others may see you as being in the grip of unconventional or grotesque fantasy. They may consider you dreamy and eccentric. I hope you won’t allow their misunderstandings to interfere with your playful yet serious work.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Bubble gum is more elastic and less sticky than regular chewing gum. That’s why you can blow bubbles with it. A Capricorn accountant named Walter Diemer invented it in 1928 while working for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company. At the time he finally perfected the recipe, the only food dye he had on hand was pink. His early batches were all that color, and a tradition was born. That’s why even today, most bubble gum is pink. I suspect a similar theme may unfold soon in your life. The conditions present at the beginning of a new project may deeply imprint the future evolution of the project. So try to make sure those are conditions you like!
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
“When one door closes, another opens,” said inventor Alexander Graham Bell. “But we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened.” Heed his advice, Aquarius. Take the time you need to mourn the lost opportunity. But don’t take MORE than the time you need. The replacement or alternative to what’s gone will show up sooner than you think.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
Gilbert Stuart painted the most famous portrait of America’s first president, George Washington. It’s the image on the U.S. one-dollar bill. And yet Stuart never finished the masterpiece. Begun in 1796, it was still a work-in-progress when Stuart died in 1828. Leonardo da Vinci had a similar type of success. His incomplete painting The Virgin and Child with St. Anne hangs in the Louvre in Paris, and his unfinished The Adoration of the Magi has been in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery since 1671. I propose that Stuart and da Vinci serve as your role models in the coming weeks. Maybe it’s not merely OK if a certain project of yours remains unfinished; maybe that’s actually the preferred outcome.
NEXT GAME
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