“I DON’T KNOW HOW I ENDED UP WITH A KID WHO LIKES SHAKESPEARE.” P. 26 WWEEK.COM
VOL 47/27 05.05.2021
NEWS: LANDLORDS GET GHOSTED. P. 8 SCHOOLS: NO SYMPTOMS, NO TEST. P. 9 SPORTS: DAME TIME IS RUNNING OUT. P. 23
WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
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Ways to Dine Al Fresco in Portland This Summer (and Right Now). PAGE
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The
Eat Outside Guide
Ice Queen Owner Rebecca Smith
Oregon Beer Awards
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Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
FINDINGS AARON LEE
PREY + TELL @ PSYCHIC BAR, PAGE 14
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 47, ISSUE 27 Three Oregon McDonald’s have COVID-19 outbreaks. 6
Beavertonians actually cheer last call. 17
City officials have been asking for 11 months to lower the speed limit on 82nd Avenue by 5 mph. 7
Portland’s first big post-pandemic concert will be Machine Gun Kelly. 20
A Portland tattoo artist took one look at her rent bill and started smoking again. 8
An upcoming video game is about delivering mail in rural Oregon in the ’80s. 22
Rockwood has few vaccinations and a lot of COVID. 9
One NBA journalist refers to the Blazers as “playoff bait.” 23
The Portland Pickles picked Wickles Pickles as their official pickle partner. 12
Consider getting your mom a Keith Haring-inspired joint-rolling tray this Mother’s Day. 25
The must-try jawn at one of Portland’s biggest new jawns is the Jawn. 13
a joke band name. 26
Yes, there really is an ice cream boat that putters around Sauvie Island every summer. 13
Bohren & der Club of Gore is not
Some inmates worked as extras in the Oregon State Penitentiaryshot film Luz. 28
ON THE COVER:
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:
Ice Queen owner Rebecca Smith and her vegan popsicles, photo by Aaron Lee.
Data scientist says Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to shut restaurants will save lives.
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Last week, WW ran a story about the inner workings of the state’s largest COVID-19 vaccination site, at the Oregon Convention Center (“Big Shots,” April 28, 2021). The Convention Center hosts around 1,100 Oregonians an hour, and has already vaccinated more than 250,000 people. WW’s report detailed every step of the operation, from the crowded parking garage to the “wayfinders” who help people find their way through the waiting line to the diners at a nearby Denny’s celebrating their shots. Here’s what our readers had to say: Will Petio, via wweek.com: “Got my shot there yesterday. Concur with the article—very well-run operation by people with good, helpful attitudes. Good to see an example of public planning work so well, especially since they seem to be using people from so many different employers (I encountered National Guard and FEMA among others).” Xander Almeida, via Facebook: “Can confirm. Got both shots there and I was shocked by the speed of the line, how efficient it was, and touched by the kindness and care of the nurses. And shocked because this is being run by the government of Oregon and I’ve been to the DMV and had to deal with the Oregon Employment Department. Honestly well done on this one thing.” thedeadtext, via wweek.com: “The one in Corvallis at Reser Stadium was equally amazing. Took more time to park and walk in than get checked in and jabbed.” Cathleen Huggins-Manseau, via Facebook: “I was there a total of six times. Two visits each with my mom, my aunt and finally for myself. Every time went perfectly smooth and all of the volun-
Dr. Know
STAY SAFE, STAY INFORMED. WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER. WWEEK.COM 4
Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
teers were absolutely wonderful. Kudos for making this an easy experience.” @r_octavia_a, via Twitter: “Maybe mention that indoor dining is NOT safe immediately after getting your vaccine; it takes two weeks after your second dose for it to be fully effective.” CGS, via wweek.com: “I’m usually in the mode of being critical of government, but I was really, really impressed by the operation at the Convention Center. Not just the logistics, but also the demeanor and helpfulness of all the personnel there.” @maryaebly, via Twitter: “I’m 71. I’m glad I was in shape. It was 1.2 miles of walking to do this. They put me in supplemental parking. I walked by hundreds of empty spots. You walk through this extremely long maze that seemed uselessly long. If you have physical challenges, don’t go there.” Cindy Weaver Schaufenbuel, via Facebook: “I got my second shot there last Sunday. Learned my lesson from the parking garage mayhem the first time and took the MAX the second time. Perfect.” Wesley Mahan, via Facebook: “Wonderful story. Wonderful operation. Humans CAN do things well, given the tools and a positive attitude and a belief in medical science. (Mind you, it’s also a good idea to ignore the conspiracy nutters who like to ruin everything!)” LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: mzusman@wweek.com
BY MART Y SMITH @martysmithxxx
I keep hearing Oregon’s vaccination rate per capita is below the national average. I also know several people from Portland who got vaccinated in Washington because it was easier to find a spot there. Did we lose our vaccination edge to Washington’s tally? —Meadow A. The U.S. vaccination campaign has turned the corner: The bottleneck is no longer too few vaccine doses but too many Americans who show little interest in getting them. It’s a bit galling to realize that herd immunity may be out of reach because a bunch of people who routinely drive while texting with one hand and drinking a beer with the other think a one-ina-million chance of vaccine complications is an unacceptable risk, but there it is. It’s too soon to say where we’ll rank nationally once all the dust has settled. But if you insist on obsessively comparing our stats to those of other jurisdictions, be aware that the numbers aren’t always apples to apples. For example, the Oregon Health Authority website reported Monday that 48.9% of Multnomah County residents (about 398,000 people) had received at least one dose. That figure sounds underwhelming, but that’s because it’s a percentage of the total population, including all the kids under 16 who aren’t allowed to get the vaccine.
If you want to make the figures sound a little rosier, do as the Biden administration does and report your 398,000 as a percentage of just the vaccine-eligible 16-and-over population. Boom! Just like that we’re at 59%. Nice work, Dr. Fauci! If you want to be even more optimistic, you can report your number as a percentage of the adult population: 18 and up. Disingenuously booting the 16- and 17-year-olds out of your sample gets you up to a whopping 61%. There’s no scientific reason to do this—it would make just as much sense to put the cutoff at 22—but it happens. When somebody says “75% of adults did X,” you tend to just nod and go along with it. What doesn’t make much difference to the percentages (to finally answer your question) is the roughly 1% of people who crossed state lines to get vaccinated. It’s true that OHA doesn’t include your border-hopping friends in its total. It does, however, include the 61,400 residents of other states who got their jabs here. In other words, it’s a wash. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.
MURMURS JEFF ANDERSEN / OHSU
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MULTNOMAH COUNTY REPUBLICANS SEEK TO OUST CHAIR: The Multnomah County Republican Party is scheduled to hold a recall vote May 6 for Chairman Stephen Lloyd, in part because he proclaimed that the party should be “open to everyone,” according to the recall petition obtained by WW. The petition cites a previous quote of Lloyd’s in which he advocated for diversity. “The Chairman should promote the Party Platform, and not state [that] ‘Diversity is an extremely important part of society and diversity of ideas is what we should be striving for,’” the petitioners wrote. The group also took issue with Lloyd’s attempts to make party meetings more accessible to the public. “We dare not announce where and when we are meeting in the city of the original Antifa group, Rose City Antifa, which continues to actively hurt people and damage property nightly in Portland!” the petition says. “Stephen [Lloyd] must acknowledge the danger of Antifa attempting to interfere or infiltrate MCRP.” Lloyd, who was elected chairman in November, says he intended to make the organization more “public-facing” rather than “internal.” “We have a responsibility as a political organization to represent the people in our community,” Lloyd tells WW. “If we can’t be in the community because we’re afraid of being hurt by riotous people or people who are going to assault us, then we can’t do the job that we’re supposed to be doing.” ONETIME HOUSE SPEAKER CITED IN SEX STING: Former Oregon House Speaker Dave Hunt (D-Clackamas) was cited last weekend on charges he attempted to purchase sex online in April. According to a Portland Police Bureau press release May 1, seven men, including Hunt, responded to decoy ads for sex on “known human trafficking websites.” Hunt, who served two-year stints as House majority leader and then speaker, is the CEO and president of Columbia Public Affairs, a lobbying firm, and said in an email to colleagues that he was taking a leave of absence for “personal reasons” and “will likely not be responding to emails during this time as I focus on what must come first, which is my family.” Clackamas Community College, where Hunt serves on the board, also announced Hunt was taking a leave of absence.
His citation raises questions about how the Police Bureau defines “human trafficking”—and whether it should be using its limited resources to conduct prostitution stings. The bureau pointed WW to criminal statutes that could apply to human trafficking or consensual prostitution, but has not clarified which crime Hunt is accused of.
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DEMAND FOR VACCINES SLOWS: As of April 29, Oregon ranked 13th highest among states for the rate at which it is vaccinating its population, a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows. But Oregon remains in the exact middle of state rankings for percentage of adult population already vaccinated. Demand for vaccinations has begun to slow across the country, and the pace of shots in Oregon has fallen too. In Portland, vaccine appointments can now be scheduled at the Oregon Convention Center without entering a lottery and at Portland International Airport with little competition for slots. “Thousands of new OHSU vaccination appointments are still being booked every weekday,” says Oregon Health & Science University spokeswoman Franny White. “The only thing that’s changed is that newly released appointments aren’t being booked within an hour of being released as they were before.” INMATES SEEK CLASS CERTIFICATION IN COVID LAWSUIT: Attorneys representing Oregon prisoners filed a motion in U.S. District Court on May 3 seeking to certify inmates who contracted COVID-19 in prison as a legal class. The motion is the latest step in a yearlong lawsuit alleging that the Oregon Department of Corrections and, by extension, the state of Oregon, failed to adequately protect inmates from the coronavirus or provide proper treatment once they contracted the virus. If certified, the class could consist of nearly 3,000 Oregonians who have tested positive. The lawyers, from the Oregon Justice Resource Center and the Sugerman Law Office, also filed motions to certify two other classes: inmates not offered the COVID-19 vaccine prior to Jan. 1, 2021, and a wrongful-death class comprising the estates of inmates who died from contracting the virus.
Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
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MICK HANGLAND-SKILL
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
HOT SPOTS
CLOCKED
Hunzeker Watch We’re still counting how long it takes to find the source of a police leak. 50 DAYS:
That’s the number of days since Officer Brian Hunzeker resigned from his role as president of the Portland Police Association due to what the union described as a “serious, isolated mistake related to the Police Bureau’s investigation into the alleged hit-and-run by Commissioner [Jo Ann] Hardesty.” We still don’t know what he did. The mayor’s office says it doesn’t know what he did. Hunzeker is still working patrol in the North Precinct.
Dishing It Out Restaurants deny they spread COVID. State reports say they are a factor. BY R AC H E L M O N A H A N
rmonahan@wweek.com
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upscale steakhouse, Ben Dyer, an owner of Your Neighborhood Restaurant Group, repeated the assertion that schools are fueling the rise in cases. “I don’t think it’s any coincidence that kids went back to school at the same time as restaurants reopening, he says, “and all of the sudden there’s a massive outbreak.” Dyer says none of five cases at Laurelhurst Market are customers, but included a member of the waitstaff and a dishwasher. Laurelhurst Market hasn’t suffered the financial hardship of other restaurants thanks to an expansive outdoor seating area protected by a tent, but Dyer is displeased by the governor’s decision: “I haven’t seen any evidence that points to restaurants being the issue.” Here are the restaurants with current outbreaks. RACHEL MONAHAN.
61 DAYS:
That’s how long it’s been since the Portland Police Bureau opened an internal affairs investigation into the leaking of information that wrongly implicated Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty in a March 3 hit-and-run crash. It has released no results of its inquiry.
49 DAYS:
That’s how long it’s been since the city inked a contract to hire an outside investigative firm to probe the leak. TESS RISKI.
BRIAN BURK
The Oregon restaurant industry erupted in fury over Gov. Kate Brown’s April 26 decision to shut down bars and restaurants in 15 counties across the state in a last-ditch effort to stem a rise in COVID-19 cases. In a statement released May 3, they made a puzzling rhetorical decision: Chefs blamed schools for COVID-19 spikes. “It is clear from testimony that schools, not restaurants, are driving the overwhelming majority of new COVID cases,” said Jason Brandt, president and CEO of the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association. “Nonetheless, restaurants, which are taking the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their employees and customers dining indoors, are shut down indoors at thousands of locations across 15 counties despite a lack of evidence to suggest they’re the source of spread.” Oregon still has no idea where the majority of COVID cases are coming from—in part because rising case counts are overwhelming efforts to trace contacts. But while current research suggests school reopenings are not tied to increases in community transmission of COVID19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says restaurant reopenings nationwide have resulted in an increase in cases. That has not stopped one Republican gubernatorial hopeful, Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam, from using the restaurant shuttering as a wedge issue. On May 3, Pulliam appeared at Spud Monkey’s, a Gresham bar that was defying the governor’s orders by staying open, to announce his support for a federal lawsuit against Brown, challenging her order. His campaign strategy is one signal of the scale of the revolt Brown faces from restaurants, bars and their patrons. Despite the insistence of industry lobbyists that restaurants are being scapegoated for COVID spread, the most recent state report of workplace outbreaks lists 10 dining rooms among the locations traced to five or more cases. Those outbreaks range from three small-town McDonald’s to one of Portland’s best restaurants: Laurelhurst Market. When WW contacted him about the outbreak at his
GOTTA GO: Portland restaurants are again restricted to outdoor dining and takeout. Owners are livid.
VOTE
Restaurants on Oregon’s Workplace Outbreak List 1. Kyllo’s Seafood & Grill, Lincoln City: 21 cases (Investigation started April 4; most recent case April 10)
2. McDonald’s, South Broadway, Coos Bay: 18 cases (Investigation started March 28; most recent case April 16)
3. McDonald’s, St. Helens: 16 cases (Investigation started April 5; most recent case April 8)
4. de Fuego Grille, Clackamas: 14 cases (Investigation started March 26; most recent case April 2)
5. Outpost Pub & Grill, John Day: 11 cases (Investigation started April 9; most recent case April 9)
6. RAM Restaurant & Brewery, Medford: 10 cases (Investigation started April 2; most recent case April 5)
7. Taco Bell, 6255 SE Tualatin Valley Highway, Hillsboro: 8 cases (Investigation started March 30; most recent case April 2)
8. Laurelhurst Market, Southeast Portland: 5 cases (Investigation started March 19; most recent case April 13)
9. McDonald’s, Dallas: 5 cases (Investigation started April 25; most recent case April 24)
10. McGrath’s Fish House, Medford: 5 cases (Investigation started April 23; most recent case April 19)
GAME WINNER: Herman Greene (white T-shirt at right) watches a pickup basketball game in North Portland.
WW’s May 2021 Endorsements
Ballots must be returned by 8 pm Tuesday, May 18. Portland Public Schools Board ZONE 4: Herman Greene ZONE 5: Gary Hollands ZONE 6: Julia Brim-Edwards Ballot Measure 26-221 OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY LEVY: Yes
NEWS BLACK AND WHITE IN OREGON
CHRIS NESSETH
SAM GEHRKE
MAPPED
UNEVEN: The Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
Who Goes to Prison? DEADLY CROSSING: A memorial along a Portland arterial highway.
Unsafe at This Speed For 11 months, traffic safety advocates and the city of Portland have been asking state officials to lower the speed limit on a 5.5-mile stretch of 82nd Avenue. Last month, two men were killed by cars while trying to cross that very road. The Portland Bureau of Transportation submitted a speed reduction request on the city’s behalf—from 35 to 30 mph—to the Oregon Department of Transportation on May 20, 2020. Nearly a year later, on April 10, Stephen K. Looser, 66, died in a crash in the 4900 block of Northeast 82nd Avenue. Anthony L. Tolliver, 30, died in a hit-andrun a block away, near Northeast 82nd Avenue and Alberta Street, on April 24. Both men died on the stretch of 82nd where PBOT had requested the lower speed limit. Advocates and elected officials are demanding the speed limit be lowered now. “I’m joining community members and calling for immediate action and emergency actions,” says state Rep. Khanh Pham (D-East Portland). “We have to meet this situation with the same urgency that these recent fatalities demand and that our communities have been demanding.” In March, WW reported on traffic fatalities disproportionately affecting East Portlanders, using data from an extensive report by the nonprofit Oregon Walks (“You’re Driving Too Damn Fast,” WW, March 17, 2021). A primary cause of pedestrian fatalities? Speed. The other two are street width and lighting, which likely played a role in April’s pedestrian deaths. Black Portlanders are more likely to get hit due to their darker skin tone combined with poor street lighting. Tolliver was a Black man who was killed at night. Safety advocate Scott Kocher reached out to ODOT last week to inquire about the stalled speed reduction request. Kocher also suggested an emergency speed reduction, or
“speed zone order,” which would allow officials to reduce the speed limit on that stretch of road. The response Kocher received from ODOT region manager Rian Windsheimer: “We are working hard to get these projects out as quickly as possible and understand the urgency.” However, ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton tells WW the agency expects to reduce the speed limit on 82nd soon—and permanently. “We’re now in the process of considering a permanent speed reduction for 82nd Avenue, 35 to 30 mph, between Killingsworth Street and Clatsop Street,” Hamilton says. “Starting an emergency speed zone request at this point would take longer than it will take to finish the permanent speed zone reduction analysis underway.” Either way, Kocher says the speed-limit change is long overdue: “The people who live there are not just losing out on having a street that serves their needs, they’re dying. We’re at a point now with these crashes where we can say: Enough is enough. We need the emergency speed limit reduction and to cast a light on this as the emergency that it is.” Pham wants to see state-owned highways within Portland city limits transferred to city control—and has sponsored a bill in the Oregon Legislature to do just that. In the meantime, she says lowering the speed limit on 82nd Avenue is the least that state officials can do. “They’ve neglected 82nd Avenue for decades,” Pham says. “People have started to lose faith in the government to take action. They know that they can expect another pedestrian fatality this year because of how dangerous the streets are.” On Friday, May 7, members of Oregon Walks and the community who’ve lost loved ones in fatal crashes will gather at Northeast 82nd Avenue and Alberta Street to urge the state to take action. Rep. Pham will be among the speakers at the rally. LATISHA JENSEN.
Black Oregonians are imprisoned at a rate almost four times that of white people. Racial disparities are embedded in all aspects of Oregon life, but incarceration rates are particularly jarring: Black Oregonians are imprisoned at a rate almost four times that of white people. State prison data shows that as of April 2020, there were 307 white people imprisoned per 100,000 population. That number for Black people? It’s 1,126 per 100,000, 3.7 times more than their white counterparts. The data covers all age demographics and was reported to the Vera Institute of Justice, a national nonprofit, by the Oregon Department of Corrections in 2020. Vera Institute senior research associate Jacob Kang-Brown calculated the rates using the latest population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. He says the figures should alarm everyone. “What it boils down to is 1% of Black people in Oregon are in the state prison system. Oregon is bad, but you see this elsewhere,” Kang-Brown says. “Anytime you see this data, it’s a cause for concern.” Since George Floyd was murdered in May 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer, protests have shifted public opinion and police reform bills have passed in waves— including in Oregon. But much of the change hasn’t trickled down to inmates already locked up. “It’s the first time I’ve heard elected officials say ‘white supremacy’ and ‘structural racism’ out loud, but the actions they’ve taken haven’t been consistent with that rhetoric,” says Bobbin Singh, executive director of the Oregon Justice Resource Center. “I think that’s especially true for those who are incarcerated.” He says Oregon still has a long way to go. Elected officials and leaders need to openly acknowledge how the state’s history of racist exclusion and disparate policing has led to a generation behind bars. “Prisons and the criminal legal system are designed to control and dominate certain populations,” Singh says. “We have to be honest, even if it causes discomfort, about what these systems are rooted in and also be willing to openly acknowledge how we’ve been complicit in sustaining these structures. That’s a hard reality for folks.” LATISHA JENSEN. Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
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NEWS
ALEX WITTWER
GET LOFTS: Everett Station Lofts saw an “exodus” of tenants last year—many of whom haven’t squared their bills.
Unforgiven
Much of Oregon’s cash for rent forgiveness isn’t available to tenants who left their apartments—or to their stiffed landlords. BY S OPHI E P E E L
speel@wweek.com
Oregon is weighing whether to retool a rent forgiveness program that was central to Salem’s efforts to address the financial upheaval of the pandemic but which landlords and tenants alike now complain is clearly inadequate. Among the frustrated renters is Dani Silva. In December 2020, Silva moved out of her loft apartment in Northwest Portland. She had lost her job as a tattoo artist because of the pandemic and in nine months had accrued $19,000 in back rent—a sum that only fully dawned on her when she saw it in writing. “I got the bill for $19,000 from Everett Station. I had quit cigarettes for a good year and then, when I got the bill, I went out and bought a pack because what do you do?” Silva says. “I had never seen that amount of money on a piece of paper before.” Silva left for a cheaper apartment near Laurelhurst Park. This spring, she felt a sliver of hope: The state was finally opening its pocketbook for landlord and tenant relief via a fund that had been approved months earlier by the Oregon Legislature. The bill, which lawmakers passed in December, allocated $200 million for rent forgiveness: $150 million of that would be doled out to landlords to pay off tenants’ rent debt—the state would pay 80% as long as the landlord agreed to forgive the other 20%. But as the state distributes the first round of rent forgiveness, it won’t give Silva’s landlord any money for her back rent—because she doesn’t live at Everett Station Lofts anymore. The $150 million is only available for current tenants at the time of application. Past renters who moved out, like Silva, can apply for a separate, $50 million pool of state funds. But she didn’t know about that money and still isn’t sure how to apply for it. The state’s chief means of rent forgiveness is closed to her—and to her landlord, who has no way of helping her obtain the state funds. “I told the building manager it’s not going to happen. And she said, ‘I get it,’” says Silva, who turned to painting pet portraits to pay the bills. “It’s so funny to be on the 8
Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
similar side of the landlords. We’re both thinking: This isn’t helping.” A similar story is playing out across Oregon. Landlords and tenants say denying tenants who moved out access to most of the state money devoted to rent forgiveness has resulted in a chaotic system that makes it prohibitively difficult to square rent debt—and leaves landlords chasing renters for outstanding payments. By one industry calculation, former tenants across the state have left their buildings with $50 million in unpaid rent—money Salem’s main program won’t help landlords recoup. “It’s been extremely aggravating, and I understand their focus is making sure current tents aren’t evicted,” says Renee Larsen, vice president of Capital Property Management, which manages 130 buildings and over 2,000 units. “But owing money to a landlord is something that nearly every landlord screens for, so it’s making these people’s lives more difficult in finding housing.” Larsen says her holdings have at least $132,000 in outstanding rent due from past tenants in 2020. And while Larsen can pester tenants for that debt and eventually turn them to collection agencies, she can’t work with tenants to secure state relief—and might never see it. “The people who left had really high balances. So we’re talking about people who owe $5,000, $10,000 in rent,” Larsen says. “It’s a lot of money owed to our clients.” Deborah Imse, executive director of the landlord guild Multifamily NW, says leaving former tenants out of the program is putting a huge burden on landlords. In data collected in April by MultifamilyNW, 38 landlords reported that 426 tenants out of just under 13,000 units had moved out since the onset of the pandemic, with an average of $2,593 in unpaid rent. And the rent forgiveness passed by the Legislature won’t help landlords at all with debt owed by tenants who moved out. A Portland State University Study last fall shared a staggering statistic: 35% of renters in Oregon were behind on their rent payments.
Around that time, state lawmakers began crafting a plan: allocate $150 million to a fund that would offer landlords 80% of unpaid rent as long as they took the hit for the other 20%. The expected result: 100% debt forgiveness for tenants. Lawmakers approved House Bill 4401, sponsored by House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) and Reps. Julie Fahey (D -North Eugene) and Pam Marsh (D -Jackson County), by an 18-6 Senate vote in December. But Oregon Housing and Community Services, the agency in charge of distributing the funds, and the Oregon Department of Justice, which interprets the legal ramifications of new legislation, both concluded that the language of the bill didn’t apply to tenants who weren’t currently occupying an apartment. The law’s language specified that landlords should list only “current tenants” who still owed rent. By definition, that excluded tenants who had moved out. John VanLandingham, a Portland lawyer and vice president of the Oregon State Tenants Association, was part of the workgroup of legislators and housing experts who helped craft the bill. “We were not thinking about this category. It’s not like anybody said, ‘Let’s screw those landlords,’” VanLandingham tells WW. “If we had thought about it, I think we would’ve included it.” Fahey, the bill’s co-sponsor, says she kept past tenants out of the bill to remove any incentive for landlords to evict tenants who hadn’t paid rent. (Gov. Kate Brown had already placed a moratorium on evictions for the same purpose.) She believed the $50 million fund to go directly to tenants would be enough. But those funds, which have been available for months, are accessible only through a system of renter assistance programs that housing experts say are difficult to navigate. Many renters are aware only of the main program that runs through their former landlords, who are prohibited from helping them. “[The fund] is only one of several programs currently working to provide relief for Oregon renters. Other tenant-based rental assistance programs are able to cover a broader range of past rental debt,” Charles Boyle, a spokesman for Gov. Brown, told WW. “And they will be rapidly scaling up in the coming weeks.” By April, lawmakers had received enough complaints that one of the law’s sponsors addressed the problem. At an April 27 meeting of the House Committee on Human Services and Housing, Rep. Marsh said, “We’ve all been contacted by landlords who had tenants who have left and didn’t get payment.” After WW first inquired about the restrictions, Natasha Detweiler-Daby, assistant director of planning and policy for Oregon Housing and Community Services, said the agency was consulting legal counsel to see if past renters could be included in the third round of funding. A week later, Detweiler-Daby said OCHS was “confident” past renters would be eligible in the final round. Meanwhile, Silva says her building experienced a mass exodus. Everett Station Lofts mostly held artists—workers whose service industry day jobs vanished in the pandemic. “The majority of the people who owed rent are gone,” Silva says. Jena Murray was one of those renters. She was living in Everett Station with her three kids when the pandemic hit. She’s a photographer, and overnight her job became nonexistent. She accrued three months’ worth of debt. By law, she could’ve stayed another nine months because of the governor’s eviction moratorium. Instead, she decided to stop accruing rent debt and moved back into her parents’ house. When applications for the landlord rent forgiveness fund opened, her hopes were quickly dashed. “It came to a shock to most of us that found ourselves in this situation,” Murray says. “It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, finally, relief is starting to down the pipeline! But not for you.’”
SAM GEHRKE
NEWS
Screen Time
CLASS ACTION: Children are returning to school classrooms across Portland.
Schools in other cities are testing for COVID-19 in students without symptoms. Not Portland. BY R AC H E L M O N A H A N
rmonahan@wweek.com
Hollywood tests actors three times a week for COVID-19. The NBA tests players daily. Congress required testing anyone attending President Joe Biden’s April 28 State of the Union address who had not been vaccinated. These are examples of what are called “screening tests”—a way to ensure Biden, Tom Cruise and Damian Lillard can do their jobs through the pandemic without major outbreaks. Some Portland parents and teachers want to see a version of this regimen in Portland Public Schools. And they fault the Oregon Health Authority for choosing a smaller, slower testing system as students return to classrooms in neighborhoods overrun by the coronavirus, even as the federal government has provided funding for screening tests. “OHA is not actively seeking to implement a test screening program that would help keep my daughter safe,” says Sabina Haque, a Portland Public Schools parent and first-generation immigrant from Pakistan who lives in a three-generational household. Haque says ZIP codes with some of the lowest vaccination rates and highest rates of COVID-19 should be prioritized for screening tests so parents can know if the disease is present in schools. The Rockwood neighborhood of Gresham, for example, had just 22% of its residents vaccinated as of April 14, according to an analysis by The Oregonian. And the neighborhood had more than 200 cases per 100,000 residents in the week ending April 21. One PPS board member agrees. “It’s an important tool to ensure safety and persuade families that in-person classrooms will be safe,” says Rita Moore. “This is a standard kind of public health measure. We as a country have had a very spotty record over the last 14 months in implementing appropriate public health measures. This is a continually evolving pandemic, and we need to be responsible.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests schools offer a modest version of screening tests as part of reopening classrooms. That testing can range from 10% of students and staff every week to everyone who sets foot in the building. Massachusetts, New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Washington state are among the places that have already adopted screening tests as a way to keep kids and families safe and increase confidence in schools.
Oregon does not have such a program in any of its school districts. Currently, districts test children who display symptoms. That gap appears more significant as COVID case counts rise again in a fourth wave in Multnomah County and Oregon. “Screening testing is particularly valuable in areas with moderate, substantial and high levels of community transmission,” the CDC guidance states. Portland certainly qualifies. Over the course of three weeks in April, Portland went from low to high spread of COVID-19, making such testing even more imperative, say advocates. Opponents argue it’s a waste of money. Oddly, so has OHA (more or less), even as the agency says it will implement a program like this for next year. “We plan to expand screening to students during the 2021-2022 academic year,” says OHA spokesman Tim Heider. But state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger was equivocal while testifying April 14 before the Oregon House COVID-19 Subcommittee. “We don’t have significant evidence for or against screening in schools,” he said. “Evidence base for screening on this scale is problematic,” he added, citing a cost estimate for existing programs of $25,000 per positive test result. Outright critics of the approach are more emphatic. “Surveillance testing sends a message that school is not safe, when data overwhelmingly show the opposite is true,” says Leslie Bienen, a veterinarian and faculty member of the Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health, who is working with the school-reopening advocacy group ED300. “School is one of the safest places to be in any community. Why would we surveillance-test in schools when that is not where COVID-19 is still spreading (e.g., we have 24 active outbreaks in nursing homes right now in Oregon)? It doesn’t make sense.” In part, the divergent views reflect differences of opinion about the risks COVID-19 poses for children. Under the age of 10, kids are less likely to spread the disease or get very ill. But there is ongoing evidence that teenagers can and do get the disease and spread it. And Oregon’s latest surge in cases is occurring while children under 16 remain unvaccinated. (Approval of the vaccine for kids 12 and up is expected as soon as next week.)
Screening testing (also called COVID-19 surveillance) does not come cheap. But the federal government has provided funding to get the program going: $127 million for Oregon for now through next school year. For this school year, the Oregon Health Authority has opted to begin using that money to offer an optional program to test unvaccinated teachers and staff, because the CDC has prioritized testing for adults. Weekly testing of all students and staff reduces COVID19 by 50%, one study by the research groups Mathematica and the RAND Corporation found. Testing of just staff was less effective. But the money OHA is spending to surveil teachers has other obstacles to being effective: Results by mail are promised within “days.” If the idea is to contain the virus, faster results are better. “I think that approach is ridiculous,” says Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran, an emergency room doctor, adding she’s supportive of screening tests at schools but that OHA’s initial efforts aren’t going to work. “I don’t know what they would be trying to discern with that kind of approach.” Says the CDC: “When considering which tests to use for screening testing, schools or their testing partners should choose tests that can be reliably supplied and that provide results within 24 hours.” That has advocates for screenings all the more concerned. “SARS-CoV-2’s advantage is that it’s a stealthy virus,” says Kindra Crick, a PPS parent with a degree in molecular biology. “To keep schools open and reduce disruptive classroom shutdowns, we need to be using rapid-turnaround asymptomatic screenings to keep infectious COVID cases out of school buildings and after-school activities. Arming people with a way to quickly find out when they are infected is a powerful way to keep both schools and the economy open— one we should be using for unvaccinated and undervaccinated [communities].” Crick makes a key point: Given the uncertainty surrounding how many Americans will get vaccinated, the pandemic may not dissipate soon. That adds to the need for school districts to detect outbreaks quickly. Retired virologist Maureen Hoatlin, a former OHSU associate professor of biochemistry, says she favors following the CDC suggestion to broadly screen students: “You’ll be able to limit the spread of the disease.” Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
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AARON LEE
THE EAT OUTSIDE GUIDE 16 WAYS TO DINE AL FRESCO IN PORTLAND THIS SUMMER (AND RIGHT NOW). Eating outside is one of life’s simplest pleasures. Right now, it’s also the law. A week ago, another surge in positive coronavirus tests across Oregon prompted Gov. Kate Brown once again to impose harsher restrictions on businesses in 15 counties, including completely shutting down indoor dining in Portland. This time around, restaurants and bars were allowed to increase their outdoor seating, but that’s hardly stopped owners from arguing that their industry has shouldered a disproportionate share of the economic burden during the health crisis. Whether or not the science supports such strict measures, all the grousing has obscured a plain truth: Nothing tastes better than a meal enjoyed in the open air. It’s a fact anyone who’s ever bitten into a juicy pub burger on a sunny bar patio, pulled a perfectly grilled hot dog off a smoking camping stove, or given themselves brain freeze while licking a popsicle with their feet in the river would not dispute. But when it’s mandated by the state, well, that can take the fun out of anything. That’s why this issue, in which we’ve rounded up 16 of the city’s best al fresco dining experiences, isn’t just a guide to the only ways to eat in public at the moment. It’s also meant as a reminder of just how satisfying eating outdoors can be—and how, during a warm Oregon summer, it becomes something bordering on magical. Of course, that includes food carts, long one of Portland’s main cultural exports, which have experienced a COVID-spurred renaissance and where you can find everything from poke bowls to Himalayan dumplings to vegan soul food to our current obsession, smash burgers. And it also includes patios, which, in certain cases, completely transformed some of the city’s best restaurants during the pandemic. But it’s also more mercurial experiences, like munching a “pickle on a stick” in the stands of a collegiate baseball game, or being in the right place at the right time to procure a Choco Taco from the ice cream boat off Sauvie Island— possibly while naked. A lot has been made of the damage done to the Portland food scene, and the recovery will be long. But there is still plenty of joy to be found—you just have to go outside. —Matthew Singer, Arts & Culture Editor
VEGAN POPSICLES AT ICE QUEEN You need only to scroll through Ice Queen’s Instagram feed to understand why there’s always a line outside the Stark Street vegan popsicle stand—you’d be hard-pressed to find cuter frozen treats in Portland, vegan or otherwise. After two years of pop-ups, owner Rebecca Smith opened her first brick-and-mortar last summer in the former Scapegoat tattoo shop. Now, Ice Queen serves its unique flavors from a pink-framed window inside its storefront, right across from the large grass field of Revolution Hall, aka the former Washington High School. The pastel-hued She’s in Parties is dotted with sprinkles and contains a hidden slice of birthday cake, the Partners N’ Cream has whole cookies visible through the soy milk base, and the lip-puckering Lime All Yours comes with a tiny bottle of Tajin chile flakes. Each popsicle looks so joyful they could gain a following on appearance alone. But what’s really kept people coming back is that Ice Queen’s wares are as good as they are ’Grammable. The water-based fruity flavors are tart and refreshing, and the soy milk pops are creamy but not overly rich and never saccharine, thanks to a slight saltiness that complements the sweet. The slight salinity makes it taste a little like a grown-up version of the Ziploc-bag homemade ice cream you’d try making as a kid. That’s really what makes Ice Queen so appealing—it’s nostalgic, but way better than what you had growing up. SHANNON GORMLEY.
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FREEZE FRAME: Ice Queen owner Rebecca Smith.
1223 SE Stark St., icequeenyouscream.com. 11 am-7 pm Friday-Saturday, 11 am-6 pm Sunday.
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AARON LEE
PORTLAND’S BEST CHICKEN SANDWICH IN A SOUTHEAST PORTLAND PARKING LOT
Which came first: Jojo’s fried chicken sandwich or its Instagram account? Obviously, that’s not an entirely rhetorical question. But two years after arriving on the scene, it’s hard to tell if owner Justin Hintze’s Dril-like social media presence drove Portland to his food cart or if the cart helped boost his social media presence. In either case, Hintze, a former real estate agent, is now poised to become one of the new leaders of Portland food post-pandemic, and no amount of goofy Instagram captions would’ve helped if the grub didn’t match the hype. (Although the captions are still pretty great. A recent example: “jojo is good for bones. teeth bones, leg bones, baby bones. skeletons love this shit [they have lots of bones].”) The aforementioned signature Southern fried chicken sandwich was a classic the second the inaugural batch came out of the fryer: equal parts crispy and juicy; topped with vinegary coleslaw and a not-so-secret sauce of ketchup and Duke’s Mayo; big enough to bulge the eyes without forcing you to unhinge your jaw. A brick-and-mortar is coming to the Pearl in summer proper, but for now, you can get it from a sky-blue cart tucked in the back of a gravel pit in a parking lot off Southeast Powell Boulevard, next to the newish John’s Marketplace beer emporium. It is, admittedly, not the most attractive pod in town, but there are few trips as essential. MATTHEW SINGER.
™ 3582 SE Powell Blvd., 971-331-4284, jojopdx.com. 11 am-9 pm daily.
TIM SAPUTO
POKE BOWLS AND SOFT-SERVE ALONG THE SANDY RIVER
Way back in the day, like in the 1920s, taking a drive on the Columbia River Highway was the thing to do. And any good drive ended with a nice dinner at a “roadhouse.” The Multnomah Hazelwood drive-in served ice cream from the Hazelwood Cream Co. at a spot near Multnomah Falls. The Chanticleer Inn made a creamed chicken dinner to die for, until it burned down in 1930. Here’s an update on that tradition: Hop on your bike and ride up the bike path on Marine Drive toward downtown Troutdale for afternoon poke bowls and soft-serve. 12
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In 2018, Emily Cafazzo and Ryan Domingo, two industry vets, opened the charmingly retro Sugarpine Drive-In at Glenn Otto Community Park, right along the banks of the Sandy River, and immediately drew Moda Center-sized crowds. And recently, the pair bought the site of Shirley’s Tippy Canoe, which, like the Chanticleer, burned to the ground last year. The Sugarpine Roadhouse, as they’re planning to call it, won’t be ready until 2022. Until then, though, they’re trying out recipes at Da Pine Grinds, a food truck across the parking lot from Sugarpine. The focus is Hawaiian food: Domingo’s family is from Kauai, and his brother Darrin runs the grill. There’s kalua pork with pineapple barbecue sauce, beef short ribs and char siu cauliflower, but the early recommendation is the ahi shoyu poke, which places a generous helping of marinated tuna alongside cucumber, edamame, scallion, daikon, shoyu and ginger over rice. Add in a P.O.G.—a frozen mixture of passion fruit, orange, and guava juice that beats the hell out of Gatorade after a long ride—then take your food to an oversized picnic table above the Sandy and, boom, a perfect afternoon. Want to make it more perfect? Hit Sugarpine afterward for ice cream, ideally the Larch Mountain, a literal peak of vanilla-chocolate swirl surrounded by blondie chunks and capped with purply blueberry-lavender sauce. You’ll need the extra fuel for the ride home, especially if there’s a headwind (and there’s always a headwind). ANTHONY EFFINGER.
™ 1208 E Historic Columbia River Highway, Troutdale. 11 am-3 pm Tuesday-Friday.
PICKLE ON A STICK (AND IN A SANDWICH, IN A GLASS AND À LA CARTE) AT PORTLAND PICKLE GAMES
There’s just something about a hot summer day at the ballpark that makes a person crave lactic acid. Starting this June, as their thighs stick to the fiberglass seats at Walker Stadium in Lents, Portland Pickles fans can now chomp down on—you guessed it—a pickle. Not just any old brined cucumber, but the Great West League collegiate baseball team’s first official pickle. And not just a lone cucumiform straight from the jar: This season, the Portland Pickles have partnered with Wickles Pickles, a century-old Alabama pickler, to sell pickles on a stick, pickle chips, even “pickletinis.” The deck behind home plate will even be converted into the “Wickles Pickles Party Deck” to offer various pickle-related tastings throughout the season. “We want to make pickles a staple in ballpark food,” says Ross Campbell, the team’s general manager. “It’s an amazing snack that most people don’t think to eat, but if everyone around you is snacking on it, you’ll want to see what the fuss is about.” It’s such an obvious concept, it’s worth asking what the heck took so long. The process of naming an official pickle for a baseball team whose identity is a pickle is a monumental task. But Campbell said the decision to go with Wickles was easy. “They’ve dedicated their lives to pickles,” he says. “We don’t know how to make pickles that well, but we know how to play as the Pickles.” MEIRA MEGAN GEBEL.
™ Walker Stadium, 4727 SE 92nd Ave., #4601. See portlandpicklesbaseball.com for schedule.
AARON LEE
A PHILLY-MEETSPUERTO RICO FUSION AT ONE OF PORTLAND’S BIGGEST NEW CART PODS Papi Sal’s is the must-try jawn at one of Portland’s biggest, newest jawns. Its signature item? The Jawn. Confused? In Philadelphia, “jawn” is an all-purpose slang term, used indiscriminately for any place or thing. In the case of the preceding sentence, those things would be, respectively, a food cart, a cart pod and a sandwich. Owner John Hatch, who opened Papi Sal’s at the huge new Collective Oregon Eateries food cart pod on Southeast 82nd Avenue off Powell Boulevard in late February, is a Philly native of Puerto Rican heritage, and the Jawn—as in the sandwich—takes cues from both food cultures. It’s pulled lechon, slow-cooked in sweetish barbecue sauce, with toppings that nod to both Philadelphia’s Italian-style roast pork (sharp provolone, “long hot” peppers) and PR cuisine (sofrito mayo, sazón on the long hots, chicharrones). The real star, though, may be the sesame sandwich rolls, which Hatch bakes daily in the truck and are influenced by two South Philly-New Jersey institutions, Sarcone’s and Liscio’s, as well as Hatch’s local growing up, Conshohocken Italian Bakery. There’s much more to eat at Papi Sal’s, including a sazón hot fried chicken sandwich and also much more to the CORE: Hatch’s neighbors include The Drip’N Crab, Jas Kitchen and Breakside Brewery’s “Winnebeergo.” The pod is also planning an onsite bar, a farmers market and a thrift market. An official grand opening jawn is set for June. JASON COHEN.
™ 3612 SE 82nd Ave., papisalfoodcart.com. 4-8 pm Wednesday, 1-7 pm Thursday, noon-7 pm Friday, noon-8 pm Saturday, 11 am-7 pm Sunday. M A R Y E M I LY O ’ H A R A
CHOCO TACOS (POSSIBLY WHILE NAKED) ON THE BEACH AT SAUVIE ISLAND Contrary to popular belief, the Sauvie Island ice cream boat is not an urban legend. It’s very real, and anyone who remains unconvinced of its existence has just never been at the right place at the right time, according to Scott Wessa, who runs it. “If the weather is above 80 degrees on a Saturday or Sunday,” he says, “we’re there.” For over 17 years, Wessa operated a fleet of ice cream trucks across Clark County in Washington. Somewhere along the line, he started to notice a trend: Sales boomed in spring and early summer, but dropped off once the weather started really heating up. It wasn’t until one particularly hot summer, in 2009, when he and his wife, Kim, decided to take their business out on the open water, in a red, 17-foot fishing boat, to test their luck. They found an untapped market of eager buyers. From then on, the Sweet Tooth Ice Cream Boat became a summertime staple on the shores of Sauvie Island. “Anytime we pull up now, it’s like you’ve never seen someone happier than getting an ice cream cone on the beach,” Wessa says. If the forecast looks good, Wessa will start packing up the goods the night before—strawberry shortcake, bubblegum swirls, Nestlé Drumsticks, mango and coconut fruit bars—along with dry ice. The next day, he’ll load the boat around 10 am, drive to the ramp at Ridgefield State Park and be out on the water slinging ice cream from 2 to 6 pm. Over the past decade, the Wessas have solidified their route. The first stop is Reeder Beach, on to Willow Point, and then Collins Beach, which is clothing
optional. (One Twitter user recalls swimming out to the boat naked to grab a Choco Taco.) On particularly nice days, they’ll do the route more than once. You’ll hear them coming: The boat is outfitted with a speaker that plays traditional, chiming ice cream truck music. Wessa has since sold off his truck fleet and doesn’t rely on ice cream to make him money anymore. Hauling ice cream up and down the Columbia is laborious, and Wessa has since moved on to other ventures. So if you can spot him, consider yourself lucky. “It’s a lot of work. We mostly do this to make people happy,” he says. “Our business now is other people. It’s fun for us and fun for the customer.” MEIRA MEGAN GEBEL.
TEXAS BBQ AND SLUSHY COCKTAILS AT THE BEST CART POD IN THE CITY It’s a worn-out cliché, but let’s please cringe through it one more time: Prost Marketplace is the superteam of Portland food cart pods. What else do you call a spot that was already the best German beer bar in town, then added the best Texas barbecue, followed by the best breakfast sandwiches (Fried Egg I’m in Love), a spinoff of the best tacos in Vancouver (Little Conejo), and maybe the best smash burger (Burger Stevens) in a city now overstuffed with them? It’s downright unfair. But while the pod has really fortified its bench in the last year or two, the MVP remains its first big get: Matt’s BBQ. At this point, pitmaster Matt Vicedomini might be better known as one-third of another Portland food superpower, Thai fusion world-beater Eem, but the vintage trailer that bears his name retains a special kind of magic, cranking out perfectly smoky ribs, pillowy soft pork belly and brisket so succulent it made Texas Monthly’s barbecue editor cry. All of this, naturally, pairs perfectly with a giant glass boot filled with a rare Kölsch from the adjoining bier hall. On a particularly sweltering summer day, though, cocktail cart Bloodbuzz emerges as the sixth man of the Prost roster. Get the Instant Crush, an extra-slushy take on a Paloma spiked with tequila and Steigl radler. MATTHEW SINGER.
™ 4237 N Mississippi Ave. Matt’s BBQ open noon-8 pm daily. Bloodbuzz open 8 am-10 pm daily. Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
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AARON LEE
CHICKEN WINGS AND RICE WITH SEAWEED GLITTER AT A HOUSE-TURNEDBAR ON MISSISSIPPI
If you’re looking to ease back into an IRL social life, eating crispy chicken wings and sipping on a mango slushie on the patio at Psychic Bar is about as close as you can get to feeling a party vibe without going to an actual house party. For one thing, it’s at an actual house—a converted Victorian in the heart of the Mississippi bar district. And there’s even a DJ on weekends. But chef Diane Lam’s wings are festive enough on their own. After the pandemic claimed her gig as the chef de cuisine at Revelry, Lam pivoted first to a summer pop-up, Sunshine Noodles, where she created tasty bowls of Phnom Penh noodles and bo kho, then launched Prey + Tell, a takeout-only wings and rice project. Now, Lam’s brought her perfectly crispy, gluten-free, Cambodian-style wings to Psychic’s ample outdoor space. Even though they’re great at home, those flats and bats are obviously at their finest freshly delivered to your table and paired with her aromatic ranch or lime Buffalo sauce. On the side, go for fries or a few jasmine rice packs wrapped in banana leaf, including one topped with edible seaweed glitter. Pair them with a highball with lemongrass and palm sugar or an old fashioned made with cardamom and mango-infused Old Forester Bourbon to keep the party going. ANDREA DAMEWOOD.
™ 3560 N Mississippi Ave., 971-220-1997, preyandtell.com. 4-11 pm Wednesday-Sunday.
TWO SMASH BURGERS ON SOUTHEAST STARK STREET “You can keep your bistro burgers,” the Damned once sang on “Smash It Up.” OK, that’s not the lyric. But as you’ve probably heard or read, pandemic Portland has more smash burgers than doughnuts these days. Two of 2021’s contenders, Monster Smash Burgers and MidCity SmashBurgers, opened up at almost the same time, separated by 35 blocks of Southeast Stark. Respective owners Rico Loverde and Mike Aldridge are both longtime restaurant vets transforming tiny balls of ground beef into crispy, almost wafer-thin Maillard reactions on a bun, and both carts also do a vegan Beyond Burger version. Otherwise, there are 14
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more differences than similarities. Monster Smash took over the former Monk’s Deli cart at Belmont Station bottle shop and biercafe. Outdoor seating is either on the back porch or the sidewalk, and Laurelhurst Park is just six blocks away. The OG Smash Burger comes on a lofty Dos Hermanos brioche bun, with two 2.5-ounce patties of local grass-fed 80/20 beef from Fulton Provisions. The housemade pickles lean toward spicy bread and butter, while Loverde’s “Monster Sauce” is in the classic Thousand Island style—mostly ketchup and mayo, with yellow mustard and seasonings. At MidCity, the cheeseburger is more fast food style—including the price—but very much an elevated package. The bun is old-fashioned Franz, while the 80/20, 2-ounce patties from St. Helens Beef are
grain-fed, which does make a more toothsome smash, with lots of crispy char. Pickle and onion are not on the sandwich itself but rather Aldridge’s remouladelike “smash sauce,” which has 13 ingredients, none of them apparently ketchup given the shock-white color. Wednesday nights at MidCity are “Smashy Hour,” with a weekly discount—the most recent was buy five, get one free—and 15% of sales going to an Asian American and Pacific Islander nonprofit. The vibe in the shared parking lot is definitely a party: two outdoor speakers blasting tunes, families and couples eating their burgers while sitting on station wagon tailgates, and obligatory selfies with the cart’s mascot, Smashy. Because of course. JASON COHEN.
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MidCity SmashBurger, 1015 SE Stark St. 4:30-7 pm Wednesday, noon-6 pm Thursday-Sunday. Monster Smash at Belmont Station, 4500 SE Stark St., belmont-station.com/monster-smash. Noon-6 pm daily.
AARON LEE
GLUTEN-FREE CHICKEN AND HIMALAYAN DUMPLINGS AT ALBERTA’S BEST KEPT SECRET Bantu Island is a no-frills pod experience. Decorated with asphalt and chain-link fences, the pod emphasizes a variety of quality food options and unfussy seating. Most stalls have a couple of ragtag seats in front of their carts where customers can gather, but the main watering hole is toward the back of the lot by ThiccBoi, a 6-month-old cart serving gluten-free fried chicken. ThiccBoi “breads” tenders and wings with cornstarch and rice flour. The gluten-free mixture makes for more of a crisp than a crunch—think Pringles, not Kettle Brand—and will please diners on either end of the gluten-tolerance spectrum. While waiting for chicken (and there is a wait), podgoers have a new appetizing option: the Momo Master. To try all of the titular Himalayan dumplings, get the “Plattery,” a sampler of the three styles the cart offers. When your steaming paper box arrives, it’s momo roulette to see if you’ll get pork, beef, or veggie. The cart lists its meat sources alongside its coffee origins, but the veggie dumplings made with Impossible Burger aren’t to be missed. They’re generously packed into chewy dough folded like a fishtail. The sweet curry edge waits to be cut with the bright sesame oil tomato chutney that comes with it. ELIZA ROTHSTEIN.
™ 1533 NE Alberta St. 11 am-9 pm daily.
THAI DRINKING SNACKS AT PORTLAND’S ONCE MOST EXCLUSIVE RESTAURANT Langbaan was once a quiet place—a spot where in-the-know diners would wait up to six months for one of Portland’s most elusive prix fixe meals, then sit in hushed reverence when it finally arrived in front of them.
Now, dishes from that same exclusive Thai kitchen are accessible in broad daylight: on the street, à la carte, and without a reservation. Since July, when pandemic restrictions forced Langbaan and sibling PaaDee to build an outdoor dining space, their patio footprint has ballooned to include sectioned-off open-air “rooms” that sprout off the main deck, plus two-top tables beside an urban symphony of motorcycle vrooms and ambulance wails on East Burnside. The kanom krok—crisp, sweet, soupy scallop poppers that were once the amuse-bouche of the private dining experience—can now be had simply by swinging by and ordering a six-pack. It’s just one of Langbaan’s “drinking snacks,” small bites at the front of the menu that presuppose you’ll be getting alcohol. And you will: perhaps a Paadee Colada Slush-
ie—sour, with umbrella, and properly textured ice crystals that require enough suction to draw them through the cardboard straw. Or maybe the smoky Adult Thai Tea, which comes frothed, looking like freshly juiced carrot but tastes more like a milkshake. ELIZA ROTHSTEIN.
™ 6 SE 28th Ave., 971-344-2564, langbaanpdx.com. 3-10 pm Wednesday-Sunday.
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AARON LEE
SONORAN DOGS AT A TINY NORTH PORTLAND HANGOUT
Hot dogs are thought of as the quintessential American food—but once you’ve had a Sonoran dog, it’s hard to go back to the sports stadium frankfurter you’re probably used to. A staple of the northwestern Mexican state its named after and the bordering state of Arizona, it’s distinguished by the spiral of bacon that wraps the meat, toppings that can include (but are not limited to) jalapeños, pinto beans and tomatoes, and a sweet, pillowy, baguettestyle bun. Somewhat surprisingly, given how thoroughly other Latin American street foods, such as birria, have infiltrated the city, it’s hard to find Sonoran dogs in Portland—making it even more surprising that one of the places you can get them is a neighborhood bar in the Humboldt area. They’ve been on the menu at Red Fox, the friendly watering hole across from Mississippi Records and behind the Cherry Sprout co-op, for years but now make even more delicious sense since the bar expanded its seating into the tiny adjoining green space (where it normally holds its annual New Year’s Day fish-tossing contest). Do the dogs, which come dressed in mayo and crema and dusted with cotija cheese, measure up to those you’ll find most plentifully in Tucson? Close enough. An d for the totally uninitiated, it’s downright revelatory. MATTHEW SINGER.
™ 5128 N Albina Ave., 971-279-2635, redfoxpdx.com. 3-11 pm daily.
ONLY ALL-VEGAN CART POD An all-vegan food cart hub in Portland seems like a no-brainer. But Shady Pines, the city’s first entirely plant-based pod, got a little unlucky with its timing. Launched by the owners of Fatsquatch, the pod planned to open in the Cully neighborhood in spring 2020 after steadily building hype with sporadic soft openings at the beginning of the year. 16
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For obvious reasons, the official grand opening never happened. And its most unique amenity—a cozy indoor seating area with turquoise walls and wood paneling—has rarely been open over the past year. That doesn’t seem to have hampered the venture, though. Even on late afternoons in the middle of the week, there’s usually a constant flow of people picking up hearty vegan meals. That’s partly due to the pod’s mix of established favorites—like Fatsquatch’s sauce-smothered onion rings and Sushi Love’s oyster mushroom-topped Don’t Be Shellfish roll—and intriguing newcomers, like the aromatic, Persian-influenced Safframen. Arguably the biggest breakout success is
Dirty Lettuce. The Mississippi transplant serves up seitan versions of down-home favorites like barbecue ribs and fried chicken with a rotating array of classic Southern sides. Even if it’s more for soul food-starved vegans and curious omnivores than hardcore foodies, Shady Pines encapsulates what makes its carts so beloved: plant-based grub that’s rich, filling and unique. SHANNON GORMLEY.
™ 5240 NE 42nd Ave., instagram.com/shadypinesveganfoodcourt. Hours vary by cart.
BRIAN BURK
PLANT-BASED SOUL FOOD AT PORTLAND’S
MICK HANGLAND-SKILL COURTESY OF BIRRIERIA LA PLAZA
ALL-BIRRIA EVERYTHING IN DEEP EAST PORTLAND The life cycle of food trends in Portland goes something like this: An international comfort food shows up in earnest at a modest food cart or storefront; similar spots pop up and a favorite among the Instagram foodie set emerges; then someone with tattoos and deep pockets sands off the edges and sells it to Portlanders who rarely journey farther east than I-205. The birria boom is on the cusp of Phase 3— and the persistent traffic jam outside Birrieria La Plaza signals that it’s the chosen one at the moment. Birria is a rich and aromatic consomme that’s used in every step of production at this bright red food truck, located in the parking lot of a neon-green discount store. Tacos, quesadillas and tostadas are all familiar offerings that gain a new (and messy) dimension of juicy flavor when dipped in the deep red birria. Load up as many as you’d like à la carte, or go for the Plato La Plaza (includes a mulita) if you’d like to sort out which item pairs best with the broth. Seating options are limited to a pair of picnic tables and a small shed lined with bar-style accommodations. Glenfair Park is a few blocks away if you’re looking for a more peaceful place to enjoy your platter—but judging by the commotion surrounding La Plaza, it’s clear the birria is all that matters. PETE COTTELL.
™ 600 SE 146th Ave., tacoslaplaza.com. 10:30 am-7 pm Wednesday-Friday, 9:30 am-7 pm Saturday, 9:30 am-5 pm Sunday.
BUILD YOUR OWN BUFFET AT THE BEST CART POD IN THE ’BURBS Though situated just steps from the Beaverton Central MAX Station, the suburb’s first-ever food cart pod is obscured from immediate view by City Hall—so once you smell the fried food and spot the shiny, candy-colored trucks, it feels like you’ve stumbled across a secret carnival. In many ways, BG Food Cartel is like an amusement park where the grub is the focus. There’s an assortment of indulgent midway-ready creations, including breakfast sandwiches wrapped in waffles from Smaaken, Thanksgiving dinner stuffed into a crepe at Oh My Crepe, and Fry Bar, a cart devoted entirely to french fries, which come loaded with everything from a threebean cheddar jack chili to roasted marshmallows drizzled in chocolate. With spots for more than 30 carts, the ever-shifting roster promises variety—pizza, wings, ramen, empanadas, even a healthy rivalry between two pitmasters. The point, then, is not to limit yourself, but team up and tackle several carts at once. With your collection of cardboard clamshells and to-go bags in hand, find a seat at the patio bar—unlike many pods that simply spring up on an empty parking lot, this one was designed with care, which means there is a parklet carpeted in green turf, a fire pit and an indoor-outdoor bar. If you’re not entertained by the toddlers attempting cartwheels on the fake grass, the bartender will provide a show, taking orders with the volume and charisma of an auction ringman. His closing-time notice bellowed into the crowd—“Last call for al-keee-hollll!”—drew a round of applause on our most recent visit. It’s probably the only time you’ll ever witness bargoers cheer being cut off. ANDI PREWITT. ™ 4250 SW Rose Biggi Ave., Beaverton, 503-605-9163, bgfoodcartel.com. 10 am-8 pm Monday-Thursday, 10 am-9 pm FridaySaturday, 10 am-7 pm Sunday.
OYSTERS IN A MAKESHIFT BEER GARDEN Finding a robust selection of oysters 90 minutes away from the nearest body of saltwater is quite the task, but Flying Fish Company rises to the challenge. With over a dozen daily varieties, sourced from Washington, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and the Oregon Coast, there’s no need to trek west of the Willamette for a fix of buttery, briny, freshly shucked mollusks on a half-shell. Owner Lyf Gildersleeve has been slinging sustainable seafood since he was stationed in a corner of Providore Fine Foods, and has continued serving some of the city’s best fish and chips, ceviches and clam chowder since expanding to an East Burnside diner last February. But this summer, the restaurant plans to expand its outdoor patio to include a beer garden and oyster bar, where patrons can partake of individual offerings or flights of six to 12—shucked right there and served raw on ice, with lemon and a bright, peppery mignonette sauce. Until then, Flying Fish’s patio is casual enough you can grab a picnic table and order as you go, tapas style. The best time to go is in the late afternoon, when the sun remains high in the sky and provides enough warmth to make each slurp as savory and refreshing as it’s intended to be. Be sure to take advantage of the restaurant’s extensive marketplace, and perhaps grab a few fillets of black cod or pieces of scallops to throw on the barbecue later that night. MEIRA MEGAN GEBEL.
™ 3004 E Burnside St., 971-806-6747, flyingfishpdx.com. 11 am-8 pm Wednesday-Monday. Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
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STREET OUT AND ABOUT Who we found around Portland this week.
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STREET
Photos by Chris Nesseth On Instagram: @chrisnesseth
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STARTERS
THE MOST IMPORTANT PORTLAND CULTURE STORIES OF THE WEEK—GRAPHED.
READ MORE ABOUT THESE STO R I E S AT WW E E K .CO M .
RIDICULOUS
The Trail Blazers had to briefly evacuate their hotel rooms due to a tornado warning in Atlanta.
McMenamins Edgefield announces it will host outdoor concerts again this fall…
The Columbia Gorge’s waterfall corridor reopens following January mudslides.
Ecliptic Brewing is opening its second taproom in the former Base Camp Brewing space.
For the second year in a row, Sunday Parkways will not operate as normal.
BRIAN BURK
AWESOME
Meals 4 Heels, a vegan food delivery service originally meant for sex workers, has opened a restaurant.
SERIOUS 20
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AWFUL
Available anywhere you get your podcasts
Former Portland comic Mohanad Elshieky reaches a settlement with federal immigration officials for detaining him on a bus in Washington in 2019.
COLETTE BECKER
The Dive podcast by Willamette Week is the best way to stay up to date with Portland’s news, sports, arts, and culture.
ON
Join the Dive podcast every Saturday as we quickly cover the week’s headlines, and then dive deeper into the big stories of the week. Host Hank Sanders sits down with the paper’s staff as well as the biggest names in Portland to discuss the city and the events that change lives.
ABBY GORD
YOUR BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE WWEEK NEWSROOM
…beginning with Machine Gun Kelly in October.
April 2021 breaks the record for driest April in Oregon history.
GET INSIDE
WHAT TO DO WHILE YOU’RE STUCK AT HOME THIS WEEK.
A I D Y B R YA N T/ H U L U
WATCH: Amores Perros and Cronos This week is Cinco de Mayo, but instead of using the holiday as an excuse to drink to excess, consider it an opportunity to acquaint yourself with some of the best in Mexican cinema. Dive in with a double feature: Amores Perros and Cronos. The first is a genre-bending dramatic thriller directed by eighttime Academy Award winner Alejandro González Iñárritu. A fateful car crash in Mexico City has a devastating effect on three strangers: a dog-fighting teenager (Gael García Bernal, in his breakout role), a famous supermodel and a vagabond ex-hitman. And in Cronos, horror-fantasy master Guillermo del Toro’s first feature, a 16th century alchemist in Veracruz, Mexico creates a device that offers immortality—at a price. Streams on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube.
WATCH: Shrill Season 3 It’s a bummer that this season will be its last, but Shrill has already established its place in Portland television history. In the post-Portlandia era, it’s arguably the show most associated with our city, and for good reason. The program immediately gained a cult following for its lovable characters and smartly written episodes. And along with the fact that it’s based on the life of famed Pacific Northwest author Lindy West, the production made a point of hiring local crews and populating sets with works by local artists. And, oh yeah, Portland now has a day dedicated to the show. Premieres Friday, May 7, on Hulu. MAANGCHI
STREAM: Benefit for Megan Holmes Four months ago, stalwart local DJ Megan Holmes, aka Troubled Youth, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. A fixture of Portland’s queer nightlife scene, Holmes was a regular at pre-pandemic favorites like Judy on Duty and Bridge Club. Now, Holocene— another of Holmes’ frequent venues—is hosting a fundraiser to help cover Holmes’ medical costs. A testament to Holmes’ influence, the lineup is a who’s who of Portland nightlife, from house and R&B maximalist Chanti Darling to fellow No Control collective member Emoji Heap. 7 pm Thursday, May 6, at twitch.tv/holoceneportland.
K A Z U M A M AT S U I / B A N D C A M P
EXPLORE: Maangchi If you’re burned out from making bread and need a new time-consuming quarantine cooking hobby, look no further than Maangchi’s kimchi recipe. Regarded as the Julia Child of Korea, Maangchi has probably schooled more Americans than anyone else in the art of Korean home cooking. Her YouTube channel has 14 years’ worth of recipes, from wholesome sujebi to gut bombs like cheese buldak. But if you’re going to get into Korean cooking, you’re going to want some kimchi in your fridge. Maangchi has over a dozen fermented vegetable recipes on her website and YouTube, but her napa cabbage kimchi is a classic, and an almost foolproof guide to spicy, crunchy and effervescent cabbage. On YouTube and maangchi.com.
WATCH: Luz Portland filmmaker Jon Garcia’s filmography puts the maxim “love conquers all” to a case-by-case trial. The obstacles to romantic fulfillment in the prolific writer-director’s 10 features are both formidable and wide ranging: Mormonism (The Falls), COVID-19 (Love in Dangerous Times), relocating to a new city (Tandem Hearts), and advanced age (Strictly for the Birds). Why not also pit love against incarceration? The latest film from Garcia is Luz, an ambitious drama told in two distinct movements, beginning with cellmates Ruben (Ernesto Reyes) and Carlos (Jesse Tayeh) falling hard for each other inside Salem’s Oregon State Penitentiary. What is novel, in this barely existent subgenre of queer Latino prison cinema, is Garcia’s tender, unpretentious approach to developing the characters’ lives past where we first meet them. Streams on Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube.
WATCH: Blazers vs. Lakers A week ago, it would’ve been borderline irresponsible to suggest watching a Blazers game—the team was on a five-game skid that had fans calling for the heads of the coaching staff and front office and girding for the inevitable Damian Lillard trade request. But basketball is a game of runs, and so is the NBA season: At press time, Portland had won four of its last five games, a run that’s seen them not just beating decent competition but blowing them out. That’s put them back in the mix of teams desperate to avoid the looming play-in tournament (as opposed to those hoping to make it in), which, after a series of prolonged injuries, now suddenly includes the reigning champion Lakers. Every meeting with the Great Purple and Gold Satan feels like a big deal, but with only a handful of regular season games left, this one has serious implications. Buckle up. 7 pm Friday, May 7, on ESPN.
STREAM: Gregory Gourdet in Conversation with Michelle Tam The pandemic may have delayed the opening of Kann, Gregory Gourdet’s highly anticipated Haitian restaurant, but it certainly hasn’t dimmed the star chef’s profile. Along with acting as a guest judge on the currently in progress Portland season of Top Chef—the show Gourdet nearly won in Season 12—he’s also publishing a new cookbook, Everyone’s Table, featuring 200 recipes informed by his Haitian upbringing, French culinary training, and several points in between. He’ll talk about it here with blogger Michelle Tam. 5 pm Tuesday, May 11. See powells.com/events to register.
LISTEN: OK by Kazuma Matsui Kazuma Matsui has been putting out EPs and mini-albums of experimental electronic music on Bandcamp since 2018, and the new OK is a gem. Soft drones are stirred into action by spidery, kinetic drum patterns—it’s as gregarious and cute as the cat on the cover, but has the potential to be just as deadly. The entire Matsui discography is a worthy rabbit hole to dive into. Even the standalone track “Pretty Drunk,” with an MS Paint squiggle on the cover, is more interesting than you’d expect. Streams on Bandcamp.
PLAY (EVENTUALLY): Lake See next page. Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
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GET INSIDE GAMIOUS
VIDEO GAMES
MAIL BONDING: In Lake, players assume the role of a 40-something woman who returns to her small Oregon hometown and becomes a postal carrier.
A Game About Nothing Ever fantasized about delivering mail in rural Oregon in the 1980s? Then Lake is the game of your dreams! BY NOL A N G O O D
T
he year is 1986. A 40-something woman named Meredith Weiss has decided to put her software career on hold to return to her sleepy hometown in rural Oregon and deliver mail. And…well, that’s pretty much the whole story. It sounds like the plot of a slow-paced indie drama. In truth, it’s a video game. On paper, the upcoming Lake doesn’t exactly read like a nonstop thrill ride. But what it lacks in action it more than makes up for in its immersive environment. Puttering around in a mail truck, players get to soak in the richly detailed landscape of Providence Oaks, a town that doesn’t actually exist but which longtime Oregonians will swear they’ve been to before: lumber stacked next to an aging pickup parked off-road; an overlarge roadside diner with just one or two fourdoors in the parking lot; a campfire next to a body of water surrounded by slouching pine. Sure, those are all Pacific Northwest tropes. But where other games’ depiction of the region is often surface deep, Lake gets the vibe exactly right. It’s so warmly familiar, you’d have to assume Gamious, the studio that designed the game, was based in middle-of-nowhere Oregon, or at least Bend. It’s a bit of a shock, then, to discover that this near-perfect depiction of the Beaver State came from a company based in the Netherlands. What would even compel Scandinavian designers to set a game in the quaintest, quietest part of our corner of the United States? According to Gamious co-founder Jos Bouman, it was simply a process of elimination. A few years ago., Bouman, who started Gamious with his brother, Pim, asked game director Dylan Nagel to pitch them some ideas for a new game. None of them was sticking. 22
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“He sensed that we were not really into his concepts,” Bouman says. “Then he was like, ‘Well, there’s this third concept. I don’t really have much more than one picture.’” Bouman recalls Nagel showing them the photo he had in mind: a lonely shot of a car driving around a lake. “He said, ‘I just want to be in that car and drive around.’” Oregon was not immediately chosen as a location. “It could have also been in Norway, perhaps, or Canada,” Bouman says. But the state fit all the aesthetic conditions—plus, Nagel had briefly lived in Beaverton in the early 2000s. It’s not just the visuals that make Lake so resonant, though. It’s the sincerity and earnest nature of the game as well. Whereas some PNW-set video games, like Alan Wake or Life Is Strange, use Oregon’s occasionally imposing natural splendor to induce fear or mystery, Lake opts instead to reproduce the slow, laid-back pace of life and allow players soak it in, without the addition of a supernatural twist. The team used reference photos and street view imagery, as well as some travel experience, to tweak the visuals and create the fictional Providence Oaks. Much work went into populating the town with believable and varied characters as well. “In the typical, cliché RPG, you would walk into a village and walk right into the mayor’s house and hear that his daughter has been kidnapped or something like that,” Bouman says. “That’s not what we’re trying to do here. It’s a game about nothing, but at the same time, because of that, it’s so slice-of-life-y that it’s also relatable in all sorts of aspects.” To preserve the illusion of reality, Gamious had its U.S. publisher, Whitethorn Games, check the dialogue to make sure everything sounded authentic. Numerous other details, like the VHS
tapes on rental store shelves, the angular car bodies and the clothing, work to reaffirm not just the setting but the era as well. Bouman believes games excel when players can actively participate in stories rather than passively observe them. Lake has a narrative, but it is intended to be more of a frame than a strict path. The experience, Bouman says, lies in the chitchat, the small daily occurrences, and the reflections made by oneself while the road moves beneath the tires. Lake takes place over two weeks, at the end of which the player can make a number of choices to wrap up Meredith’s story, but Gamious seems to want players to forget the time limit “and just play, be in the moment and make choices without second-guessing themselves,” Bouman says. The ultimate goal is to create something that at once reflects daily life and idealizes it: a kind of nostalgic, romantic escape to a simpler past. It’s hard not to think of the other ’80s period piece video game about exploring a small town and the lives of its inhabitants: 1999’s Shenmue. History shows that slice-of-life video games are a tough balancing act—to create a full, immersive, open-world experience while also being, in Bouman’s words, “not too boring.” As the game is still in development, it remains to be seen whether Lake sticks the landing. But according to Bouman, recent playtests have been encouraging. “I returned to my mail truck, the playlist started playing, and I was driving on the road,” he says. “I felt really good about it.” PLAY: Lake is out this summer for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows.
SPORTS
Time Out
S
A
Y / TRAIL BLAZ CE EL ER
BY E R IC G R I F F I T H
BRU
Who should Damian Lillard blame for the Blazers wasting his prime? Himself.
@EricG_NBA
lmost exactly two years ago, Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers were on top of the basketball world. After dispatching the Denver Nuggets in a deciding seventh game to advance to the Western Conference finals, a camera caught Lillard literally skipping off the court, folding his arms over his face to fight back tears of joy. It was a remarkable moment of undisguised happiness for a dude who mean-mugged his way through a series-winning buzzer beater just two weeks before. You’d have to go back to the days of Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter to find a more gleeful moment of Blazers basketball. Fast forward 23 months and the mood in Rip City is defined more by finger-pointing than hugging. After suffering through injuries, a laughably bad bottom-ranked defense, and overall lethargic play, the team’s championship aspirations have given way to a desperate fight even to make the playoffs. It’s gotten bad enough that Chris Haynes, a Yahoo! journalist closely linked to Lillard, characterized the Blazers as “playoff bait.” It’s becoming clear that the perennial embarrassing playoff losses to the Lakers and Warriors of the league have begun to wear on the Blazers. They are no longer a young and improving team that’s “one year away.” They are now the slightly above average team that has plateaued at “not quite good enough.” In other words, playoff bait. If the Blazers are escorted out of the first round again, even sentimental fans will expect big changes. At least one of the trio of Lillard, head coach Terry Stotts and president of basketball operations Neil Olshey will likely be gone. So who deserves the blame? Much of the fan base will now be screaming about Stotts. The Blazers’ defense puts up less resistance than the receipt checker at Walmart, and Stotts’ player rotations have irked many of Rip City’s Twitterites.
The problem is that coaching changes rarely fundamentally alter an NBA team’s direction. If Stotts is fired, whoever replaces him will inherit the same flawed roster. Not even Dr. Jack Ramsay could fix Portland’s defense when Enes Kanter, Carmelo Anthony and Anfernee Simons are the first reserves off the bench. After Stotts, Olshey is next up for scrutiny. He has repeatedly doubled down on a Lillard-McCollum lineup as other teams trade All-Star-caliber players at a historic pace. Jimmy Butler and Paul George have been swapped multiple times over the past several seasons. The Raptors won a championship wagering on an exchange of DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard. The Denver Nuggets, a Northwest Division rival, acquired Aaron Gordon at the trade deadline and immediately won 13 of 16 games. Meanwhile, in Portland, Olshey’s biggest trade brought in…Hassan Whiteside. That, one assumes, is why Haynes, the Lillard whisperer, is talking about Lillard not getting enough help. But blaming the coach or the GM is to ignore Lillard’s own role in enabling the passivity of the front office. I know: This is blasphemy. Portland’s healthy locker-room culture has been repeatedly highlighted as the Blazers’ primary asset. For years, Lillard has been extolled as one of the best teammates in the NBA. And yet, the Blazers have experienced a multiweek malaise nearly every year since LaMarcus Aldridge left in 2015. In 2017, the season was saved by Nurk Fever after months of sub-.500 play. Last year, some inspired performances in “the bubble” helped the Blazers squeak into the playoffs despite a losing record. This year, they’re fighting like hell to avoid the dreaded play-in scenario and secure an extra week of rest, after failing to outscore their opponents for nearly the entire season.
This is not a good way to stack the deck for success in the playoffs. Burning up energy in April to make up for December laziness is the professional basketball equivalent of the all-nighter before the linear math exam. Good enough to secure a passing grade, but probably not getting anyone admitted to MIT (or hanging an NBA championship banner). At this point, it’s fair to ask what good that stellar locker-room culture is if the players need a late-season push every year just to make the playoffs. Lillard’s esteemed loyalty to his teammates has also made marquee trades, the type that land a Butler or George, less likely. Dame has publicly defended his teammates on many occasions and even spoken out against hypothetical trades involving other Blazers. That loyalty is commendable, but we live in an era of unprecedented player autonomy—and past results have made it increasingly clear that this version of the Blazers will not be competing for a championship. It’s time for the big trade that Lillard has tacitly refused before, even if that means sacrificing someone like close friend CJ McCollum. The bottom line is that the clock has struck midnight for this iteration of the Portland Trail Blazers. Lillard now needs to weigh loyalty against any chance of booking a championship parade. Ownership could fire Stotts, and even Olshey, but it won’t be enough if the team’s culture remains untouched. Dame has to take a long look in the mirror and accept that a new coach, major trade(s) and a reset of expectations for his teammates may all be necessary. If he’s not willing to take action, we will all have to accept that this version of the Blazers peaked with the 2019 Western Conference finals.
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FOOD & DRINK
Park Life
Five makeshift picnics for a Portland summer. BY AN DR E A DA M E WO O D
@adamewood
There’s very little scientific evidence that the coronavirus spreads outdoors when you stay socially distanced, and there’s plenty of tasty science to say that a meal enjoyed on a picnic blanket at one of Portland’s iconic parks is a solid move. Here are a few menu items to grab and enjoy al fresco.
Miso pork katsu sando from Tokyo Sando ☛ Tom McCall Waterfront Park
321 SW 2nd Ave., tokyosando.com. 11:30 am-3 pm Wednesday-Monday.
Portland is in a love affair with Japanese-style sandwiches, served on signature soft white milk bread and packed with delicious ingredients like egg salad or fried shrimp. Tokyo native Taiki Nakajima is perhaps the city’s best purveyor, and his take on a Nagoya-style pork cutlet— breaded in housemade panko and topped with a dollop of miso sauce, black garlic furikake seasoning, mayo and cabbage—is the definition of umami. The cherry blossoms might be done at the waterfront, but it’s still a great place to inhale every perfect bite. Whatever is on special from Lovely’s Fifty Fifty ☛ Overlook Park 4029 N Mississippi Ave., text orders to 971-300-7215, lovelysfiftyfifty.wordpress.com. 4-7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday.
The #1 sandwich from Laurelhurst Market ☛ Laurelhurst Park 3155 E Burnside St., 503-206-3097, laurelhurstmarket.com. Lunch 11 am-3 pm daily.
One of the city’s finest steakhouses also makes amazing sandwiches daily at its deli counter. Grabbing the #1—a roast beef on levain with horseradish cream, spicy pickle relish, arugula, cheddar and Dijon—is the best way to eat that red meat on the go. Walk over to Laurelhurst Park and watch the ducks get jealous at your lunch choice.
Chef Sara Minnick’s hole-inthe-wall pizza place is a low-key favorite for other professional cooks and those who love to eat. She’s famous for her hyper-seasonal toppings, which recently included morels, nettles and fava greens. Log on to the site to see what’s good for the week, text ahead to reserve a pie, and pay via Venmo, cash or gift card, then scurry over to Overlook Park for a sunset made all the sweeter with a slice.
Any glutton for gluten knows that Ken Forkish’s seminal bakery is the place to get your morning nosh. The ham and cheese croissant is tops, with its flaky layers wrapped around salty ham and melty cheese. Add a coffee and a seasonal rhubarb galette and wander over to Couch Park for prime people watching, and swipe the crumbs from your shirt worry-free onto the grass. Bliss.
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BUZZ LIST
Where to get drinks this week, one way or another.
1. Someday
3634 SE Division St., somedaypdx. com. 3-10 pm Thursday-Sunday. Someday opened in January 2020 with dreams of becoming a buzzing, “shoulder-to-shoulder” watering hole. The timing was…unfortunate. But the bar has managed to maintain a communal energy, even if it’s less tight-knit. The setup is intimate—a few dainty tables for twosomes and two sturdy picnic tables that could fit snug groups of 10. There’s wine, sake and the Tiger Porch, a chilly tequila sour with tamarind particularly fitting for the Vaccinated Summer of 2021.
2. Deadshot
2133 SE 11th Ave., 971-990-9887, deadshotpdx.com. 4-10 pm Wednesday-Friday, noon-10 pm Saturday-Sunday. Deadshot’s Adam Robinson makes cocktails that are, in his words, “complex, approachable, and leave you wondering.” The “Renegade Princess v.3,” originally made with nori and jasmine, and named, respectively, for Disney princesses Ariel and Jasmine, is now in its third iteration on the Deadshot menu. It no longer has the namesake ingredients but maintains its floral, grounded roots.
3. Alberta Street Pub
1036 NE Alberta St., 503-284-7665, albertastreetpub.com. 4-10 pm Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 am-10 pm Friday-Sunday. Even before COVID, the covered back patio was the best part of this beer-centric bar. It looks like the inside of a barn and feels like hanging out in someone’s backyard. And now, Alberta Street Pub has another thing going for it: It’s one of the few places in the city that regularly hosts live music, mostly of the Americana variety, on a small stage in the outside back corner.
4. Bar Bar
3943 N Mississippi Ave., 503-889-0090, mississippistudios.com. Noon-11 pm daily. With the exception of a ban on huddling around the fire pit, it’s business as usual at this beloved pre- and post-show party spot adjacent to Mississippi Studios. Dogs laze about their owners’ feet while trendy youngsters nosh on skinny fries and the Bar Bar Burger ($7), an unimpeachable favorite, available for tableside delivery via a QR code at the table.
5. North 45
517 NW 21st Ave., 503-248-6317, north45pub.com. 4-11 pm daily. You never know exactly what you’ll find on North 45’s rear patio. But like a mullet, the party in the back is balanced by a measure of refinement. The food menu is inspired by worldly travels: Here, a Scotch egg gets a Japanese twist while steamed mussels collide with coconut curry in another dish. You can also expect an impressive drink list that also circumnavigates the globe, from renowned Belgian Trappist beers to a booklet of spirits that’s almost two-dozen pages long.
TOP 5
HOT PLATES
Where to get food this week, one way or another.
1. Kachka
960 SE 11th Ave., 503-235-0059, kachkapdx.com. 4-9 pm SundayThursday, 4-10 pm Friday-Saturday. America’s best Russian restaurant is back—for outdoor dining, at least. The full spread is back, including the Ruskie Zakuski Experience, a parade of small plates designed for vodka. You can’t go wrong with crowd pleasers like the Siberian pelmeni dumplings, which melt to reveal a juicy beef, pork and veal center.
2. Cooperativa
1250 NW 9th Ave., 971-275-2762, cooperativapdx.com. 8 am-7 pm Wednesday-Saturday. Cooperativa is perfectly suited to our current takeout, cook-at-home reality—it’s a grocery store, a coffee shop, an ice cream place, a sandwich shop, a bar, a restaurant and a pizzeria. The Italian-inspired catchall has several Mother’s Day picnic bundles, so you can at least take Mom to the park, if every restaurant in town is still closed.
Ham and cheese croissant from Ken’s Artisan Bakery ☛ Couch Park 338 NW 21st Ave., 503-248-2202, kensartisan.com/bakery. 8 am-3 pm daily.
TOP 5
3. Top Burmese
Pollo à la Brasa Sandwich from Tita’s Kitchen at Portland Mercado ☛ Lents Park 7238 SE Foster Rd., 971-267-4952, titaskitchenpdx.com. 11 am-7 pm Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday, 11 am-7 pm, 11 am-8 pm Friday-Saturday.
Mt. Scott Park is closer, but if you’ve got kids, the playground at Lents Park, with its cool climbing rock at the center, is the place to be. Grab the littles and stop at the Portland Mercado for sustenance, then head over to the park for one heck of an A+ outing. There isn’t a bad choice in the Mercado’s lineup, but I’m all for the Peruvian pollo à la brasa sandwich at Tita’s Kitchen: juicy, lightly fried chicken marinated in beer, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, a salty and tangy criolla sauce, and hot sauce, all on a soft bread that still manages to hold all that goodness without giving up.
413 NW 21st Ave., 503-477-5985, topburmese.com. 11 am-2 pm and 5-9 pm daily. Delivery available through Postmates and Grubhub. Having launched with a takeout-or-delivery-only format, Top Burmese seemed well prepared to ride out the pandemic. The famous samosas arrive light and fluffy and shatter into countless crispy shards in your mouth. The spring roll wrappers are the perfect pouch for what’s essentially a bite-sized vegan shepherd’s pie.
4. Piccone’s Corner
3434 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-265-8263, picconescorner.com. 11 am-8 pm Tuesday-Sunday. The Cully meat market is finally open, and the butcher case is stocked with Oregon-raised cuts of beef, lamb, chicken and pork, plus a menu of meaty pastas and sandwiches. It also has a Mother’s Day bundle that includes local coffee, cheese and housemade crepinettes.
5. ChefStable Kitchen Collective
Delivery available through Postmates, Grubhub and DoorDash. Don’t call it a ghost kitchen. ChefStable Kitchen Collective is something like a digital version of a food hall: multiple eateries under one umbrella, so users can select items from different restaurants in one order. The current lineup includes everything from smoked beef and pork sandwiches to vegan, Asian-inspired noodle bowls.
POTLANDER
Higher Than a Mother A Mother’s Day gift guide for stoner moms.
BY BRIA N N A W H E E L E R
There are infinite ways to celebrate all the world’s moms on Mother’s Day. Conventional supermarket flowers, boulangerie truffles and crafty homemade picture frames all are nice gifts. But if you’re shopping for a canna-mom, maybe consider something a little more weed adjacent and less on the nose. Whether the matriarchs in your life are in need of a spa moment, an intellectual and visual tonic, or a more attractive place to keep their weed crumbs, there is a perfect present for all of them, at every price point.
For the Eloquent Stoner Mom:
Broccoli Subscription If the stoner mother in your life is the type with overstuffed bookcases, artistically arranged countertop crystals, lovingly nurtured houseplants and multiple pieces of fabulous wall art, consider adding this glossy jewel to what sounds like her already intellectually stimulating collections; it will look great in the boudoir beside her antique silk dressing gowns. Helmed by Anja Charbonneau, Broccoli is a thrice-yearly arts and culture magazine rooted in cannabis folkways and features a diverse roster of unique contributors. For the creative, freethinking mom that’s all about expanding her worldview in bitesize segments, Broccoli is a gorgeous way to introduce talent that’s emerged from or become associated with modern cannabis culture.
Get it: broccolimag.com
For the Contemporary Bohemian Mom:
Sway Blunts Mothers who meditate from the interior of a thick, potent cloud of hemp smoke might appreciate Sway’s artisan, hand-rolled hemp cigars. Even varsity squad THC moms can get value from these opulent banana leaf and hemp leaf products. These smokes are available as single blunts for periodic smokers or in a slimline, hemp paper 10-pack for moms who are truly living the hempblunt lifestyle. Sway blunts are an equally lavish and folksy way to enjoy a chill CBD buzz. That they are hand-rolled with terpene-infused wraps makes them feel personalized, and the grassy, botanical fan leaf rolls make for more complex perfumes and entourage effects. All told, this is a stellar hemp roll for a nouveau hippie mom to vibe with. I recommend she smoke this while listening to an Erykah Badu playlist and burning at least three sticks of incense. Caftans and bare feet suggested but not required.
Get it: swayblunts.com
For the Butch Mom’s Self-Care Sunday:
For Queer, Art-Collecting, Joint-Rolling Moms:
Harvest Hemp Scrub Another Mother’s Day gift trope that never goes out of style is the DIY spa day concept, which works so well with an all-day canna-mom fest. But news flash: Not every canna-mom has the time to play spa fantasy, much less an enthusiasm for bubble baths or amateur scalp massages. Some canna-moms roll their eyes at extravagant spa shenanigans and would prefer a sensible, hempbased way to keep their hands clean. For those, consider the gift of this simple, therapeutic scrub they can use to spoil themselves at their discretion. Harvest Scrub is an RN-formulated family recipe made with hemp seeds and apricot oil and infused with raw, full-spectrum hemp oil made exclusively to clean hardworking hands. And since those plucky gardening, car-repairing, carpenter mothers who collect a bit of grime and grease between their digits deserve every bit as much pampering as any other mother, maybe pick up a couple of jars.
Get it: thebotanicaljoint.com
Keith Haring Rolling Tray
For Moms Who Love Fat Bong Rips:
Mota Glass Beaker Bong For every discreet stoner mom, there is a monster bong-ripping party mom. And sometimes they are the same person. If you’re lucky, they’re your mom, she sounds amazing, and you should definitely get her a badass new glass beaker bong. A solid glass bong is a necessity for every stoner arsenal, and your mom probably already knows that, so it’s possible you’re forcing an upgrade. But whether you’re adding to her collection or buying Mom her first water pipe, Mota is the company to consider ordering your glassware from. Founded by minority cannabis activists Susie Plascencia and Bobby Lady, Mota sells glass bongs handmade in the California neighborhoods the duo call home, rather than ones made cheaply and imported from overseas. Bonus: The brand primarily employs minorities and veterans seeking cannabis career pathways, including but not limited to the skilled craft of glassblowing.
Get it: mota-glass.com
For the woefully uninitiated, Keith Haring was a modern artist whose work directly addressed both the unrivaled joy and the chilling inequities of the LGBTQ+ communities of his era, particularly surrounding the AIDS crisis. His work has influenced generations of visual artists, activists and advocates and is, in some form or another, basic issue for most LGBTQ+, boomer- Gen X households. Higher Standards recently introduced a line of Keith Haring rolling trays that are lovely to roll weed on but also make compelling centerpieces as stand-alone works of art. Four designs are available: a bold black-and-white sketchbook style; a full-color, comics-panel style; a reproduction of Haring’s iconic Crack Is Wack piece; and, of course, Haring’s trademark mercurial technicolor dancers. Even covered in weed crumbs and keef, this tray is a stunning bit of stoner accoutrement and an especially thoughtful queer Mother’s Day gift.
Get it: higherstandards.com
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PERFORMANCE
Editor: Andi Prewitt | Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com GARRY BASTIAN
1. My copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare I think a lot of people like me are just really intimidated by Shakespeare. So my mother always says, “I don’t know how I ended up with a kid who likes Shakespeare,” and she laughs it off. But it’s for everybody. With the raw emotion and the poetics of the words, I relate to what he’s talking about. There’s a Shakespeare quote for everybody. “Our wills and fates do so contrary run, that our devices still are overthrown; our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.” That’s from Hamlet. 2. My copy of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill The play rebels against the idea that being a “powerful, feminist woman” means becoming one of these people in these big, wealthy corporations that just make life hell for others. I can honestly tell you, in a metaphorical sense, in a literal sense, that play pretty much saved my life, because it made me find my place in the world and taught me how to think critically about things. 3. Caryl Churchill Caryl Churchill is my favorite playwright next to Shakespeare. This might sound a little corny, but I think there are some plays that are meant to be “felt” rather than understood. And I think a lot of her work is like that.
My Essential Seven:
Valerie Asbell
From stage to sketchbook, Clever Enough’s artistic director never stops creating. BY BE N N E T T C A M P B E L L FERGUS O N
When Valerie Asbell directed Hamlet, she decided that Ophelia (whom she was playing) should be a chess prodigy. “I know the chess metaphor has been done to death, but I was like, ‘Screw it. I don’t care. I’m doing it anyway.’” Asbell says. “I think that life is kind of like a chess game. You play your move the best you can—and sometimes you’re a pawn in life and sometimes you’re the queen and sometimes you’re whatever.” Asbell, who is the artistic director of theater company Clever Enough, is no pawn. She has been directing virtual productions of What You Need, a quasi-autobiographical play she wrote about a woman deciding whether to buy a piano during the pandemic, as well as two productions by British playwright Caryl Churchill: The Judge’s Wife and Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen. Theater is just one galaxy in the universe of Asbell’s artistic passions—she is also a musician and a visual artist. In a recent conversation with WW, she discussed not only her devotion to Shakespeare and Churchill but the many other creative pursuits that animate her.
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4. My guitar I got my first guitar when I was about 18 or 19. It involves both your left brain and your right brain, and that’s what’s so fascinating about it. It’s logical work and emotional work, and that’s a big reason why it’s on my list. 5. My piano What You Need was inspired by actual events, wink, wink. I actually wrote the first draft in 24 hours, believe it or not. I had an old piano for 10 years that was just, like, a really cheap one with 61 keys. And then the pandemic happened. I thought, “Should I get a better piano?” I was really, really fretting and being apologetic about it. We live in a society that just doesn’t realize that people need things to take care of their mental well-being. 6. My sketchbook In hindsight, when I was in college, I kind of wished I’d opted for a design emphasis so I could pick up gigs here and there, like prop design or costume design or something like that. If you’re in any kind of design area in theater and you know how to draw, that’s a huge gold star on your résumé. 7. My camera So many people are saying, “Why do we need art?” I can honestly tell you, theater is what gave me discipline. And at the same time, it kind of permeated all the other artistic things I like to do, namely photography. If you have a DSLR camera, there’s so many buttons on it, so many things, and you just look at it and your head spins. Being able to learn that felt good. SEE IT: Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen streams at 7:30 pm Friday, May 7. The Judge’s Wife streams all day Friday, May 28, and Friday, June 4. What You Need streams at 7:30 pm Friday, June 25, and Sunday, June 27. You can access the shows at cleverenough.org/index.php/tickets. Free. $5 donation suggested.
MUSIC Written by: Daniel Bromfield | @bromf3
Now Hear This
Listening recommendations from the past, present, Portland and the periphery. SOMETHING OLD Bohren & der Club of Gore would be a good name for a jokey metal band, but this three-decade-old German outfit plays jazz—“doomjazz” or “darkjazz,” mind you, but not especially doomy or dark, just unbelievably slow. Putting it on during the daytime might violate some fundamental law of physics and cause the sun to fall out of the sky: This is stuff for listening to exclusively with a candle lit. Start with Sunset Mission, and if you want jazzier, go later, and if you want doomier, try earlier. SOMETHING NEW Claire Rousay usually presents her field-recording collages more austerely, but the title of her new album, A Softer Focus, says it all: This is a portable cocoon of pads and pianos, as connected to New Age and its surrounding self-help culture as it is to the august experimental composers you’ll find name-dropped in its Bandcamp shout-outs. Those whose eyes dart to the “Askew” section in this column might prefer her earlier work, but rarely do avant-gardists go pop more gracefully than here. SOMETHING LOCAL Kazuma Matsui has been putting out EPs and mini-albums of experimental electronic music on Bandcamp since 2018, and the new OK is a gem. Soft drones are stirred into action by spidery, kinetic drum patterns—it’s as gregarious and cute as the cat on the cover but has the potential to be just as deadly. The entire Matsui discography is a worthy rabbit hole to dive into. Even the stand-alone track “Pretty Drunk,” with an MS Paint squiggle on the cover, is more interesting than you’d expect. SOMETHING ASKEW There’s a good chance you’ve heard John Lennon’s touching if terminally self-absorbed º, but Yoko Ono’s album of the same name is nothing to scoff at. Ringo Starr and Klaus Voormann make a hell of a bashing-caveman rhythm section, and if you don’t think Ono is in control of her vocals, you’re kidding yourself. It’s hair-raising stuff, and even those with a high tolerance for the avant-garde might find it extreme, but sometimes it’s the thing you need to fry your nerves.
FLASHBACK
THIS WEEK IN 2012
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Editor: Andi Prewitt / Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com
GET YO UR REPS I N While local rep theaters are out of commission, we’ll be putting together weekly watchlists of films readily available to stream. In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, we’re highlighting some of the best of Mexican cinema—from grounded coming-of-age dramas to fantastical supernatural horror.
IMDB
DA R K S TA R P I C T U R E S
screener
MOVIES
Real Women Have Curves (2002) SPRUNG: Former cellmates turned lovers grapple with their relationship outside of prison in Luz.
Love in Lockup
A local director’s latest feature explores a theme common to his films: relationships tested by tough circumstances. BY C H A N C E S O L E M - P F EI FER
@chance_s_p
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SEE IT: Luz streams on Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu and YouTube. It will be available on DVD on May 11.
Amores Perros (2000) Eight-time Academy Award winner Alejandro González Iñárritu directs this genre-bending dramatic thriller about a fateful car crash in Mexico City and its devastating effect on three strangers: a dog-fighting teenager (Gael García Bernal, in his breakout role), a famous supermodel and a vagabond ex-hitman. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Hoopla, iTunes, Pluto, Tubi, Vudu, YouTube.
Cronos (1993) In horror-fantasy master Guillermo del Toro’s first feature, a 16th-century alchemist in Veracruz, Mexico, creates a device named Cronos that offers immortality—at a price. In 1996, Cronos is found by an aging antiques dealer who unwittingly triggers it, unaware that someone far more powerful is also looking for the secret to eternal youth. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Criterion Channel, Google Play, Kanopy, HBO Max, iTunes, YouTube. MUBI
Portland filmmaker Jon Garcia’s filmography puts the maxim “love conquers all” to a case-by-case trial. The obstacles to romantic fulfillment in the prolific writer-director’s 10 features are both formidable and wide ranging: Mormonism (The Falls), COVID-19 (Love in Dangerous Times), relocating to a new city (Tandem Hearts), and advanced age (Strictly for the Birds). Why not also pit love against incarceration? The latest film from Garcia is Luz, an ambitious drama told in two distinct movements, beginning with cellmates Ruben (Ernesto Reyes) and Carlos (Jesse Tayeh) falling hard for each other inside Salem’s Oregon State Penitentiary. Initially, the two men embody recognizable archetypes. Ruben is slighter, prettier; he appears in need of protection on the inside. Carlos is burly, quick to anger, fitted with a chilly, thousand-yard stare. What is novel, in this barely existent subgenre of queer Latino prison cinema, is Garcia’s tender, unpretentious approach to developing the characters’ lives past where we first meet them. “They say that the samurai had…bonds closer than [with] their wives,” Garcia explains. “The same could be said about soldiers, possibly. The bond you develop in a compromised situation like [prison] is quite strong. I wanted to explore that.” One of the first tests for Luz was whether the production could actually find a prison for filming. When a minimum-security facility at the state penitentiary did come available, one of the film’s core themes flourished: how the constructs of incarceration could simultaneously pressurize and tear down judgment around queer relationships. That idea held true when an OSP inmate-turned-Luz extra asked Garcia about his film’s subject matter. “I had some nervousness, but I told him it’s about two cellmates who fall in love,” says Garcia. “And the room gets all quiet and I’m dying to hear what they’re going to say. And the guy who asks me says, ‘Oh yeah, that happens all the time.’” As Carlos, Tayeh—who’d worked mostly uncredited roles on network series like NCIS: Los Angeles and SEAL
Team—imparts a rugged naturalism. Carlos’ hypermasculine swagger is believable, but he remains a rock-solid character even as it peels away. Though a viewer could easily read the performance as an exercise in conflicting modes of self-consciousness, Tayeh attributes his performance as Carlos to bone-deep Method acting. “We made sure there was no time to be nervous,” Tayeh says, noting that Luz’s central (and extensively choreographed) sex scene was filmed on just the production’s second day. “After the first week, I was just 100% Carlos.” Luz also doubles as an intellectual and instinctual dissection of machismo between the two Latino lovers. In fact, Garcia sought specific cultural definitions of machismo from University of Texas at Austin literature professor Lito Porto and transformed his answers into a monologue delivered by Garcia’s own mother (playing Carlos’ mom in the film.) That scholastic read is a bit of an outlier, though. Luz isn’t the kind of film to trade in much labeling. Instead, it rather soulfully settles on manhood being a complicated, evolving act—trying yes, but a hell of a lot better than living as an idea. Wordless, matter-of-fact affection even proved a guiding force on the Portland and Salem sets back in April 2019. “Every scene, Jon [Garcia] would ask how it felt and then we would hug,” Tayeh says. Even as his IMDb filmography is chock-full of gritty forthcoming independent films, Tayeh calls Luz nothing short of a “life-changer, as an actor and as a person.” As for mining the vast gallery of love’s opponents, Garcia (a self-described “forever single person”) isn’t done exploring new configurations. Strictly for the Birds, focused on two women who fall in love at a retirement community, is due out later this year. “I’m asking myself the same question you’re asking me,” Garcia says of why he cherishes fraught romances. “I have a universal curiosity about love and the language of love.”
America Ferrera makes her feature film debut as Ana Garcia, a Mexican American teenager torn between her college ambitions and her working-class mother’s expectations. Cited as a precursor to Lady Bird (2017), this East L.A.-set coming-of-age dramedy depicts a young woman’s struggle to find and love herself with universal authenticity. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, HBO, HBO Max, Hulu, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube.
Alucarda (1977) After teenage orphan Justine arrives at a convent, she quickly bonds with a fellow orphan, the enigmatic Alucarda. While playing in the woods one day, they come across a mysterious crypt, accidentally unleashing a demonic force that wreaks havoc upon the nunnery. Satanic rituals, possessions and exorcisms ensue in this 78-minute nunsploitation horror film. Hoopla.
I’m No Longer Here (2019) Set in Monterrey, Mexico, this musical drama follows 17-year-old gang leader Ulises and his friends as they show off their eccentric styles and dance to sloweddown cumbia. But after a misunderstanding with a cartel forces Ulises to flee to Queens. N.Y., he finds himself struggling to assimilate into American culture and missing home. Netflix.
MOVIES TIFF
TOP PICK OF THE WEEK
Limbo
Syrian refugee Omar won’t pluck his oud (an 11-stringed Middle Eastern lute) outside his home country. It doesn’t sound right on Scottish soil, he says. Given the natural acoustics, who could blame him? Omnipresent in U.K. director Ben Sharrock’s spare comedy are the oppressive gusts and rumbling waves of this Scottish isle, creating a sensorial conundrum for asylum seekers like Omar awaiting their papers. The wild, whistling remoteness all around is a prison of freedom. All the while, Omar (Amir El-Masry) hauls his encased oud around “like a coffin for [his] soul,” teases flatmate Farhad (Vikash Bhai), exemplifying both the depth of Limbo’s central friendship and its obvious purgatorial themes. Sharrock’s patient wide shots and 4:3 aspect ratio cement the film’s sense of lost translation and wait-for-it humor within a stunted cultural exchange between wary refugees and a few myopic Scots. Even if Limbo is a wee bit wanting for character richness—laying bare certain plot devices—its unforced human comedy is remarkably shrewd yet innocent. Even more, El-Masry transforming Omar’s calm dignity into unshoulderable doubt is one of 2021’s best performances thus far. He’s a character unpacked but not reassembled by a geopolitical way station that is absurdly, unbearably fine. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Bridgeport, Living Room.
OUR KEY
: T H I S M O V I E I S E XC E L L E N T, O N E O F T H E B E S T O F T H E Y E A R. : T H I S M O V I E I S G O O D. W E R E C O M M E N D YO U WATC H I T. : T H I S M O V I E I S E N T E R TA I N I N G B U T F L AW E D. : THIS MOVIE IS A STEAMING PILE.
ALSO PLAYING The Letter Room
Short films (even the kind nominated for Oscars) are rarely the domain of big-name actors, let alone movie stars of Oscar Isaac’s caliber. But exceptions are often made for family, and director Elvira Lind casts her husband in a gentle, understated part in The Letter Room—one that runs counter to Isaac’s preternatural suave. In fact, Richard the prison guard has more in common with modest, disquieted Tony Shalhoub roles than Isaac’s X-Wing fighter pilots and folk singers. Obscured by a broom-bristle mustache and frumpy uniform, Isaac slowly unfurls the morbid curiosity resulting from Richard’s “promotion” to the prison’s communications department. Essentially, the new gig just means he surveils all correspondence leaving and entering the pen. Lind’s 30-minute short manages to subvert the guard-with-a-heart-of-gold setup in a few unexpected ways (watch for another well-placed cameo) as the power disparity between captors and captives shifts. In fact, confoundingly, the letter room may be the only carceral context in which the playing field levels. If everyone knows full well they’re either snooping or being snooped on, personal letters become fictions, then fan fictions, then forgeries. NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Amazon Prime, Cinema 21, Hollywood, Living Room, Virtual Cinema.
Nina Wu Nina Wu is a struggling actress living in Taipei. When her agent nabs her an audition for a plum role in a ’70s espionage thriller, she hesitates after learning it requires full-frontal nudity, though ultimately goes through with it. She earns the part, but discovers that the on-set environment is dangerous and brutal—the director is abusive in his quest to elicit Nina’s best performance, and the (mostly male) crew members do nothing to intervene. As Nina begins to unravel, repressed memories leak through the cracks, and she questions how she actually got the role in the first place. The answer is horrific, almost as horrific as the fact that Nina Wu is inspired by true events. Written by and starring Wu Ke-Xi in the titular role, this darkly surrealist character study takes inspiration from Satoshi Kon’s 1997 anime masterpiece Perfect Blue, and is a mesmerizing exploration of the myriad ways in which trauma completely alters one’s mental health, one’s identity, one’s entire world. As Joan Didion said, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” which is exactly the coping mechanism Nina chooses. Though the film is occasionally a tad unfocused, it still retains a serrated sharpness, leaving an unforgettable scar. NR. MIA VICINO. On Demand, Virtual Cinema.
Our Towns When journalists Deborah and James Fallows conclude their new HBO documentary in Bend, the Central Oregon hub is held up as
a beacon, having reinvented itself into a year-round tourist destination after weathering the 1980s timber crash. Evolving municipal identity runs through all eight profiles in Our Towns, based on the Fallowses’ 2018 book of the same name. While the film’s many drone-captured sweeps of marshes, highways and farmland are simultaneously majestic and too polished, the most useful takeaway from Our Towns is a psychological prophecy. The Fallowses note that although Americans are routinely intransigent when it comes to their national politics, they often believe their communities’ outlooks to be different. And with enough of that exceptionalism, cities can actually become positively idiosyncratic. California’s Inland Empire boxing gyms double as chess clubs. West Virginia public radio stations leap to the national stage. Small-town Maine newspapers stay robust against all odds. If Our Towns has a major shortfall, it too often employs industrial narratives as a crutch for town health and identity. Today’s innovations are framed as victories for locales like Bend, but the exit of the previous industry only shows how fickle and exploitative commercial definitions can be. Luckily though, the guiding principle here is classic, unassuming human interest—may it never decline, crash or outsource. NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. HBO, HBO Max.
Queen Marie of Romania Queen Marie of Romania once wondered, “What can a woman do in a modern war?” In the wake of World War I, she showed what a woman could achieve in the aftermath of that conflict when she journeyed to Paris and unleashed her political prowess on the Treaty of Versailles, which led to Romania doubling in size. It didn’t hurt that the British-born monarch bedazzled the press—a talent that is captured perfectly by Roxana Lupu, the
star of Queen Marie of Romania, an elegantly entertaining biopic directed by Alexis Sweet Cahill. Marie spends the film subtly outsmarting bloviators like Woodrow Wilson (Patrick Drury), but she has both the cleverness of a Jane Austen heroine and the steeliness of Ripley or Sarah Connor. When the domineering Lupu declares, “I am Queen Victoria’s granddaughter. Never forget that,” her voice crackles with the fervor of belief. Like many movies about pompous Europeans chatting in lovingly decorated rooms, Queen Marie of Romania can be claustrophobic, but Lupu keeps the film from becoming dry or drab. Whether you’re obsessed or repulsed by royalty, her performance will leave you in awe of the power of the crown when it is wielded by the right woman. NR. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. On Demand.
Clapboard Jungle Part diary, part guide, part sounding board for independent filmmakers, Clapboard Jungle is liable to make a critic self-conscious. Observing the five-year journey Canadian horror director Justin McConnell endured to make a feature film, any viewer is reminded that no matter your judgments when the credits roll, you’ve just implicitly watched years of rejection, sacrifice and growth synthesized on screen. McConnell (Lifechanger, Broken Mile) often speaks directly to his camera about “surviving” the industry, but he’s also candidly interviewed both friends and legends, including Guillermo del Toro, George Romero and Paul Schrader. That said, if it’s his prerogative to conflate the journey and destination, it’s the critic’s to separate them. Clapboard Jungle is saddled by the sheer, narrow tedium of McConnell’s projects’ constant fits and starts, amid a repetitive if enlightening deluge of filmmakers testifying to industry pitfalls. While its unbreakable
focus on actualization and education could be the ideal go-get-’em for a frustrated artist, the project’s self-reflexive nature will always take for granted that we care as much as McConnell. Now, practicing empathy is part of the point, but the broader takeaway is that anyone who’d make movies for love alone is obsessed. They feel called to the odyssey of it all in a way this review could never alter. NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Arrow, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube.
Without Remorse Excluding dadcore classic The Hunt for Red October, the history of films based on Tom Clancy’s doorstop military tomes is as long, flat and drab as an aircraft carrier. The Michael B. Jordan-led Without Remorse only further squashes that reputation. Now decades divorced from the novel’s Cold War setting, the Amazon Prime revenge thriller is more indebted to tactical gear and clinical first-person shooter “realism” than the geopolitical intrigue that made Clancy the American military-industrial complex’s answer to John le Carré. Sicario: Day of the Soldado director Stefano Sollima sees only muted pain and expert violence in the rampage of Navy SEAL John Clark (Jordan) against the anonymous Russians who upended his retirement. While a standout prison scene partially redeems Jordan’s performance, any Michael B. devotee can see that his post-Creed habit of choosing films based on acting experiences (read: muscle-training like a SEAL and appearing believable with automatic rifles) has superseded his desire for script quality. Jordan delivers most lines at trailer-exposition volume, simultaneously stiff but strained. It’s perhaps his weakest performance to date in an arms exercise so joyless and rote it makes The Sum of All Fears look like Dr. Strangelove. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Amazon Prime.
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ART N’ COMICS!
JACK KENT’S
Jack draws exactly what he sees n’ hears from the streets. IG @sketchypeoplepdx kentcomics.com
ARE YOU AN ARTIST? Be a Willamette Week featured artist! Any art style is welcome! Let’s share your art! Contact us at art@wweek.com. 30
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JONESIN’
Week of May 13
©2021 Rob Brezsny
by Matt Jones
"Seize Them!"--initially so.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
In one of her poems, Emily Dickinson tells us, "The pedigree of honey / Does not concern the bee; / A clover, any time, to him / Is aristocracy." I suggest you be like Dickinson's bee in the coming weeks, my dear Aries. Take pleasure and power where they are offered. Be receptive to just about any resource that satisfies your raw need. Consider the possibility that substitutes and stand-ins may be just as good as the supposed original. OK? Don't be too fussy about how pure or prestigious anything is.
I will love it if sometime soon you find or create an opportunity to speak words similar to what novelist D. H. Lawrence once wrote to a lover: "You seem to have knit all things in a piece for me. Things are not separate; they are all in a symphony." In other words, Libra, I'll be ecstatic if you experience being in such synergistic communion with an empathic ally that the two of you weave a vision of life that's vaster and richer than either one of you could summon by yourself. The astrological omens suggest this possibility is now more likely than usual.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) A fan once asked composer Johann Sebastian Bach about his creative process. He was so prolific! How did he dream up such a constant flow of new music? Bach told his admirer that the tunes came to him unbidden. When he woke up each morning, they were already announcing themselves in his head. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Taurus, a comparable phenomenon may very well visit you in the coming weeks—not in the form of music, but as intuitions and insights about your life and your future. Your main job is to be receptive to them, and make sure you remember them.
GEMINI (May 21-June20) "I love unmade beds," writes Gemini poet Shane Koyczan. "I love when people are drunk and crying and cannot be anything but honest. I love the look in people’s eyes when they realize they’re in love. I love the way people look when they first wake up and they’ve forgotten their surroundings. I love when people close their eyes and drift to somewhere in the clouds." In the coming days, Gemini, I encourage you to specialize in moments like those: when you and the people you're interested in are candid, unguarded, raw, vulnerable, and primed to go deeper. In my opinion, your soul needs the surprising healing that will come from these experiences. ACROSS 1 Gp. that pushed its 2021 deadline to May 4 Pot top
56 Soviet news agency 57 It's no diamond 61 2016-18 Syfy horror anthology based on Internet creepypastas
25 "Archer" character with an extensive back tattoo 27 Muscle maladies 29 Mort who hosted the first Grammy Awards ceremony
7 Moved around in Excel, maybe
63 End of many URLs
30 "_ _ _ yourself"
13 Nine Lives spokesanimal Morris, e.g.
64 Uncooked, in meat dishes
3 Treaty partner
65 Actress Gadot
34 Bee follower?
14 Neighbor of Miss.
66 L.A.-to-Denver dir.
37 Small ear bone
15 Award recipient
67 Baby attire with snaps
38 Keatsian intro
16 "_ _ _ been thinking ..."
68 Late Pink Floyd member Barrett
39 Backgammon cube
69 Flat tire sound
41 Under-the-hood maintenance, e.g.
17 Metaphorical space that's not too taxing 19 Ohio facility that had an elephant wing named for Marge Schott until 2020
DOWN
21 Sluggish
1 Frozen spikes
22 Starting from
2 Pasta that sits relatively flat on a plate
23 Forgo 26 "_ _ _ of Avalor" (Disney series) 28 Charging connection 31 Timeline span 32 Desiccant gel 34 Ivan the Terrible, for one 35 Rock group from Athens, Georgia 36 2021 Academy Award winner for Best Director 39 One of Snow White's friends 42 "Or _ _ _ what?"
40 Greek wedding cry
44 Dreamlike states 45 Hallucinations 46 Certain bagels 51 Fourth-down plays
3 Baseball Hall of Famer Casey
53 "Blizzard of _ _ _" (Osbourne album)
4 Actress Mosley with the podcast "Scam Goddess"
54 '70s supermodel Cheryl
5 Massey of "Love Happy" 6 _ _ _ with faint praise
58 _ _ _ B'rith (international Jewish organization)
7 "90210" actress Spelling
59 "Able was _ _ _ ..."
8 Dreamworks movie released just before "A Bug's Life"
60 "I've got it down _ _ _"
9 Knuckleheads 10 "Black Mirror" creator Charlie
43 Some flat-panels
11 Opposite of morn, to a poet
47 Bar brew, briefly
12 Pop singer Kiki
48 The "S" in iOS (abbr.) 49 A bit unsettling
15 2007 film in Edgar Wright's "Cornetto trilogy"
50 "Wynonna _ _ _" (Syfy series)
18 _ _ _ Schwarz (toy retailer) 20 Jaded sort
52 Very small amount
24 Indignation
©2021 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 #JNZ990.
55 Wide variety
61 Company's IT VIP 62 Chinese dynasty for four centuries
last week’s answers
CANCER (June 21-July 22) Trailblazing psychologist C. G. Jung said his loneliness wasn't about a lack of people around him. Rather, it came from the fact that he knew things that most people didn't know and didn't want to know. He had no possibility of communicating many of the interesting truths that were important to him! But I'm guessing that won't be much of a problem for you in the coming months. According to my astrological analysis, you're more likely to be well-listened to and understood than you have been in quite some time. For best results, ASK to be listened to and understood. And think about how you might express yourself in ways that are likely to be interesting and useful to others.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Sometimes people don't like the provocative posts I publish on Facebook. They leave comments like, "You stupid idiot!" or "I hope you commit suicide!" and far worse. When I delete their messages, they become even more enraged, accusing me of censorship. "So you don't believe in free speech, you jerk?" they complain. I don't try to reason with them. They don't deserve any of my time or energy. But if I did communicate with them, I might say, "My Facebook page is my sanctuary, where I welcome cordial conversation. If you came into my house and called me an idiot, would it be 'censorship' if I told you to leave?" I hope these thoughts inspire you to clarify and refine your own personal boundaries, Scorpio. It's a good time to get precise and definite about what's acceptable and unacceptable from the people with whom you engage.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Have you ever kissed a monster in your nightly dreams? Have you won a chess match with a demon or signed a beneficial contract with a ghost or received a useful blessing from a pest? I highly recommend activities like those in the coming weeks—both while you're asleep and awake. Now is a good time to at least make peace with challenging influences, and at best come into a new relationship with them that serves you better. I dare you to ask for a gift from an apparent adversary.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) What does it mean to "follow the path with heart"? I invite you to meditate on that question. Here are my ideas. To follow the path with heart means choosing a destiny that appeals to your feelings as well as to your ambitions and ideas and habits. To follow a path with heart means living a life that fosters your capacity to give and receive love. To follow the path with heart means honoring your deepest intuitions rather than the expectations other people have about you. To follow the path with heart means never comparing your progress with that of anyone else's, but rather simply focusing on being faithful to your soul's code.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
The French government regularly gives the Legion of Honor award to people deemed to have provided exceptional service to the world. Most recipients are deserving, but a few have been decidedly unworthy. In the latter category are Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, as well as drug-cheating athlete Lance Armstrong, sexual predator Harvey Weinstein, and Nazi collaborator Marshal Pétain. I bring this to your attention, Leo, because the coming weeks will be a favorable time to reward people who have helped and supported you. But I also suggest that you pointedly exclude those who have too many negatives mixed in with their positives.
"It's a good thing when people are different from your images of them," wrote Aquarian author Boris Pasternak. "It shows they are not merely a type. If you can't place them in a category, it means that at least a part of them is what a human being ought to be. They have risen above themselves, they have a grain of immortality." I love that perspective! I'm offering it to you because right now is a favorable time to show that you are indeed different from the images people have of you; that you transcend all stereotyping; that you are uncategorizable.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) In 2010, an American engineer named Edward Pimentel went to Moscow to compete in the World Karaoke Championship. He won by singing Usher's "DJ Got Us Falling in Love." His award: one million dumplings, enough to last him 27 years. I have a good feeling about the possibility of you, too, collecting a new prize or perk or privilege sometime soon. I just hope it's a healthier boon than dumplings. For best results, take some time now to clearly define the nature of the prize or perk or privilege that you really want—and that will be truly useful.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You have personal possession of the universe's most monumental creation: consciousness. This mercurial flash and dazzle whirling around inside you is outlandishly spectacular. You can think thoughts any time you want to—soaring, luminescent, flamboyant thoughts or shriveled, rusty, burrowing thoughts; thoughts that can invent or destroy, corrupt or redeem, bless or curse. There's more. You can revel and wallow in great oceans of emotion. Whether they are poignant or intoxicating or somewhere in between, you relish the fact that you can harbor so much intensity. You cherish the privilege of commanding such extravagant life force. I bring these thoughts to your attention because the time is right for a holiday I call Celebrate Your Greatest Gifts.
HOMEWORK: Send testimony or proof of how you've seized control of your own life. Truthrooster@gmail.com Check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes & Daily Text Message Horoscopes
freewillastrology.com The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at
1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 Willamette Week MAY 5, 2021 wweek.com
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