“I'M A BIG PROPONENT OF HOT GLUE.” P. 26
News: Frittering Biden's Bridge. P. 8 BLAZERS: Rip City Homecoming. P. 27 FOOD: Whole Latke Love. P. 29 WILLAMETTE WEEK
THE GUN THAT WASN'T THERE PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
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VOL 47/28 05.12.2021
THE CITY DOESN’T KNOW. BY TESS RISKI | PAGE 11
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Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
FINDINGS
WESLEY LAPOINTE
B R U C E E LY/ P O R T L A N D T R A I L B L A Z E R S
MURMURS
MODA CENTER, PAGE 9
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 47, ISSUE 28 The river never sleeps. 5
The Multnomah County Republican Party hired a Proud Boy-run security firm to guard a Portland church. 7 Peter DeFazio says the Columbia River is crossed by the 11th-most
An upcoming drag show will feature outfits made from trash and designed by children. 26 Only one fan thought to bring thunder sticks to the Blazers’ first home game with a live crowd. 27
economically significant bridge in America. 8
North Killingsworth and Maryland is now Portland’s East Village. 29
The Blazers require a negative COVID-19 test to get courtside seats. 9
Ambient musician Geir Jenssen recorded an album while scaling a mountain in the Himalayas. 30
In 11 of 51 police shootings since 2010, the suspect was carrying a fake gun. 12
One toothbrush seduces another in Hand2Mouth’s latest experimental film. 30
Twenty percent of the Portland police force is approved to carry a rifle that can shoot with precision from a city block away. 14
Moon rocks are nugs of weed
Oregon has its first official Dark Sky Park . 24
Tra’Renee Chambers is the first
ON THE COVER: Parkside memorial for Portland police shooting victim Robert Delgado, photo by Brian Burk.
saturated in cannabis extract and encrusted with weed crystals—and they’ll get you high as hell. 31 Black woman to host and produce a TV show in the Portland area. 32
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK: Video game designers from the Netherlands captured the look and feel of small-town Oregon.
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IN MEMORIAM: Jina Yoo, owner of Cured Green, holds up artwork of her employee and longtime friend Michael Arthur, who died during an armed robbery in the store on Dec. 14.
SUSPECT INDICTED IN BUDTENDER KILLING: The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that a grand jury had indicted 20-year-old Daniel Mugisha for the murder of Michael Arthur, an employee at Cured Green cannabis dispensary in North Portland. After 9 pm on Dec. 14, 2020, the 44-year-old Arthur let a customer into the store after checking his ID. As he entered the store, surveillance footage showed, three more men attempted to force their way inside. As Arthur tried to force the door closed on the intruders, the man who had already entered the store shot Arthur in the back, killing him. As WW reported in March, Arthur’s death occurred amid a spate of cannabis shop armed robberies in Portland. By the time Arthur was killed, Portland cannabis shops had already been robbed, burglarized or looted 95 times in 10 months (“Killer Weed,” WW, March 3, 2021). Mugisha, who prosecutors say was the ringleader of a group of teenagers who stuck up weed shops, allegedly committed another armed robbery less than three weeks after Arthur’s death, at the Collective Awakenings dispensary in Northeast Portland. HEALTH CHIEF FACES SCHOOL BOARD CHALLENGE: In a sign of the contentious fight around reopening school classrooms, Oregon Health Authority director Patrick Allen faces a challenger for his seat on the Sherwood School Board, which he has held since 2013. Duncan Nyang’oro, an auditor with the workers’ compensation insurer SAIF Corp., is running on a platform to reopen schools. “I’ve had enough,” Nyang’oro writes in the Voters’ Pamphlet. “When they refused to listen to science, they chose politics over our kids.” Nyang’oro has outraised Allen this election cycle: $9,921.36 to Allen’s $5,473, with his two largest contributions, both in kind, from Protect Kids PAC ($1,174.50), which is controlled by John Swanson, chief of staff to state Sen. Chuck Thomsen (R-Hood River), and Oregon
Right to Life PAC ($750.76). While the seat is nonpartisan, Allen is a Democrat and Nyang’oro a Republican. TENANTS GET ANOTHER EXTENSION ON BACK RENT: Tenants who owe back rent to their landlords can breathe a sigh of relief. On May 11, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 282A, extending the deadline for back rent payments until February 2022. This offers a significant reprieve for current and former renters who owe their landlords money for rent they couldn’t pay. The impending deadline to make those payments was June 30. The bill also prohibits landlords from discriminating against potential tenants who were evicted during COVID. The bill does, however, protect a landlord’s ability to seek references from a potential tenant’s prior landlord. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Kayse Jama (D-Portland) and Rep. Julie Fahey (D-Eugene). It now goes to Gov. Kate Brown for a signature. TECHFESTNW STARTUPS SELECTED: Nine companies have been selected as finalists for Angel Oregon Tech, a competition at TechfestNW to pitch startup ideas to investors. By the end of the month, the winning pitch will go home with an angel investment of $125,000. The nine finalists were winnowed from 90 companies that went through Angel Oregon Tech’s education program and investment event this spring that connects entrepreneurs, investors and founders. The nine finalists will take the stage at TechfestNW, a virtual conference presented May 21 by WW in partnership with Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. OEN director Amanda Oborne says artificial intelligence is driving many of this year’s standout products—which range from productivity-boosting headphones to a robot that picks strawberries. And some competitors don’t even look like tech companies at first blush. “What I’m really seeing,” Oborne says, “is that technology is in everything.”
Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
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DIALOGUE Last Friday, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced a $10 million investment in pedestrian safety, including $3 million in upgrades to Northeast and Southeast 82nd Avenue. The announcement came hours before a virtual rally intended to highlight the lack of investment in East Portland, and a month after two men were killed by cars while trying to cross 82nd Avenue. ODOT’s new safety improvements for 82nd include a speed reduction from 35 to 30 mph, a long-awaited change that the city of Portland requested a year ago (“Unsafe at This Speed,” WW, May 5). Here’s what our readers had to say: @mama2mctwins, via Twitter: “Three million is just a drop in the bucket for what 82nd really needs. It needs [to be] repaved. The sidewalks are crumbling and need to be redone. Increased lighting/safety in places…Upgrade traffic controls, intersections and crosswalks.” Mike Teal, via Facebook: “I desperately hope that they spend some of that money fixing the potholes on Northeast 82nd first!!! I’ve driven only 2 miles on 82nd from Northeast Fremont to Northeast Alderwood every weekday for years and have had to swerve like a drunk driver for the entire time to avoid the endless craters on that stupid street.”
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@trappercreek, via Twitter: “Lowering the speed limit without enforcement accomplishes nothing except for having new signs that most drivers will ignore with continued impunity. The issue is [the Portland Police Bureau’s] refusal to perform even the most basic of routine traffic enforcement—no cops, no mobile/fixed photo radar.” Phoenix Bleu, via Facebook: “Lotsa people already suggested it, but better street crossing options like pedestrian bridges and crosswalk
Dr. Know
Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
NoMoreGods, via wweek.com: “Also, how can one call for less interactions with armed policing, which I’m all for, and then create the possibility of enforcing lower speed limits with more armed policing? It’s got to be passive speed reductions via physical speed deterrents, which are going to be a huge pain in the a$$ to negotiate, but I just don’t see any other option at this point.” Lorinda Pratt, via Facebook: “Lowering the speed limit will do nothing until the city of Portland/Multnomah County starts enforcing the speed limit laws. If there are no consequences for speeding (which right now there are none) people will not change their behavior.” @allisons, via Twitter: “Enforcement is always going to be a leaky sieve. However, big infrastructure changes (traffic islands, narrowed lanes, hawk signals) are proven to reduce speeds and traffic deaths.” Joshua Tappert, via Facebook: “Whatever we do, don’t constrict traffic. What they did to Powell is totally stupid and shortsighted. One lane from 52nd…now everyone goes around and cuts through the side streets. So now the side streets have way more traffic. Is that what we really want for our neighborhoods?” LaQuaundre Spencer, via Facebook: “Just fix all them damn potholes and 82nd will be fine.” 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
So how much training do the people who raise and lower Portland’s beautiful bridges get/ require? Is it hard to push the button to make the bridge go up or down? How much do they make for this oh-so-taxing work? And how can I get that job? —Forrest C. Working as a Multnomah County bridge operator requires a mastery of every facet of structural engineering, from metallurgy to fluid dynamics. Successful candidates will have extensive experience in architecture and city planning, and ideally will have worked as a first mate or higher on a merchant or military ship. Naw, I’m just bullshitting you. According to the job description, all you really gotta do is finish 12th grade, ideally without killing anybody since there’s a background check. The listing specifically says “No experience is required!” Perhaps that’s because “bridge operator” is one of those jobs, like “costumed sports mascot” or “local Q-and-A columnist,” that’s so sui generis you’re unlikely to find many people who’ve done it before. Even drawbridge-happy Portland has only eight full-time bridge operators. Pay ranges from $19 to $23 hourly, which isn’t bad. Still, your implication that it’s a laid-back gig that gives you lots of time to read, knit or play 4
flashers would be more effective. People drive as fast as they feel safe, not the speed limit.”
Candy Crush is…largely correct. There are safety checks and maintenance tasks on the docket—and obviously, the occasional bridge lift—but operators say most shifts include plenty of downtime. There’s definitely a TV up there. Of course, one person’s “lots of time to read” is another’s “solitary confinement,” and if you’re a gregarious, life-of-the-party type, you should be careful what you wish for. Also, the hours might be rough for some people: Operators need to be available 24/7/365. The river never sleeps! Finally, they don’t just pull randos off the street and hand them the keys to a 150-ton drawbridge. You may not need to have been a bridge operator, but you do need a combination of education and experience that shows you’d be a competent and responsible one. Here’s where I was going to say it doesn’t matter because there’s never an opening. But as it turns out, they’re actually looking for on-call bridge operators right now. So there you go, Forrest. The deadline is Friday, and that’s all I’m going to say: If you can’t figure out how to apply for a county job on your own, you probably shouldn’t be driving a bridge. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.
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5/4/21 3:50 PM
TRANSCRIPT
WESLEY LAPOINTE
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
really structured conversation in how we support people amidst this crisis, but it can’t just be a one-off… “I think that if we want to do this, we have to start asking people what would help them and build out from there. The answers might not be tent networks to tiny pod villages, it’s more complicated than that. “If we’re suddenly just throwing out more proposals, when can I put my proposal together?” Katrina Holland, executive director of Join PDX: “I have a question for Commissioner Meieran: With this proposal you’re bringing forward, is the hope that this would be an option that folks can choose, or is the hope that there would be enough built environments of alternative structures that the city would have the ability to tell people, ‘You can camp here and you cannot camp here’?”
A Big Tent
Emotions well up in a debate over how to best help Portland’s homeless. BY S OPHI E P E E L
speel@wweek.com
By now, no one is surprised when an argument about how to address homelessness in Portland spurs high emotions and harsh words. It’s more unusual for a public hearing to leave an elected official in tears. But that’s what happened May 5, when Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran broke ranks with some of the city’s leading housing advocates—and received a frosty reception for criticizing their plans. It’s the latest sign of a rift between advocates and business interests who worked together last year to boost a $52 million annual tax on high-income households, but are now fracturing over how to spend it. Being flush with money brings problems, and city and county leaders are fighting over how to best use their share of the money that metro-area voters approved last May. It’s resulted in a series of tense meetings of the complicated matrix of city and county agencies, metro boards, elected officials and nonprofits that are tasked with creating a combined force to best use the money to get people off the streets. Two visions of how to spend the money have emerged, and emotions are running high. The framework that’s gotten the all but official nod is tucked within a plan crafted by the city and county’s Joint Office of Homeless Services. It’s the plan recommended in Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury’s proposed budget and the one backed by most stakeholders. The bare bones of the plan for the first year include: erecting alternative shelters to serve up to 200 people, long-term housing for 800, rapid rehousing for 500, rent assistance for 930 households in imminent danger of becoming homeless, and 200 extra year-round shelter beds. But some elected officials have argued the plan doesn’t put near enough investment into options that can shelter people immediately. Meieran has spearheaded that discontent and has found an ally in Mayor Ted Wheeler at planning meetings. “I have some concerns that are maybe in alignment with [Meieran’s]. I’m already getting calls from constituents who are asking why there are so many people living outside when we just passed this huge measure,” Wheeler said at an April 20 executive meeting of A Home for Everyone, a group made up of stakeholders who guide the city and county in addressing homelessness. 6
Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
REST AREA: Local officials are split on how best to aid people living on Portland streets.
Meieran was so unhappy with the consensus plan that she crafted her own vision of how the region could erect alternative shelters with a six-month plan that includes options like pods, tent sites and safe parking sites. Though that plan’s unlikely to make it into Kafoury’s budget, Meieran is still fighting to have it considered. The rift between the competing visions has become stark in a series of meetings by the A Home for Everyone board about funding, where advocates on May 5 voiced a suspicion that Meieran’s plan was backed by business interests who want to remove tents from the sidewalks. Below is the exchange that led up to Meieran becoming emotional. It’s between Meieran and Marisa Zapata, professor and director of Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative. It’s been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. Meieran: “It looks like there’s possibly an increase of about 350 to 400 shelter beds plus alternative shelter beds that are accounted for in this proposed budget, with 800 units of supportive housing, and that’s for the people who are living outside right now. I feel that’s a small number of people in the big scheme of people living unsheltered right now. “What I’m proposing is a coordinated network of outdoor shelter sites that will provide safety, community and basic hygiene services for people currently experiencing homelessness. “We have all these rungs and tiers for the long-term work that all of us agree we need to be doing, and we’re kind of missing a first rung that is big enough to help transition people.” Zapata: “We’ve already talked about this stuff 95 million times, and I feel like, at this point, are we just going over stuff again because some people aren’t happy? I have a real process issue with referring to a plan that not all of us have seen or reviewed. I don’t know if we’re suddenly being asked to suddenly back a random plan or if the point is larger. “Is it that just everyone’s pet projects aren’t listed? “I actually very much agree that we need to have a
Meieran: “The hope with this is to provide people with options. It would be a continuum of options, so from safe sleep sites, if that’s where people feel comfortable, to safe parking lots. I’m not coming at this from just a random, ‘Oh, I think we need to solve homelessness, I’ve never thought about this before, I haven’t been out on the street, I haven’t provided medical care to people on the street.’ I come at this as someone who’s actually done some direct service, who speaks with a lot of people who are houseless and advocates. Here, Meieran becomes visibly emotional and her voice shakes. “Sorry, my motto is speak your mind even if your voice shakes, and I know my voice is shaking right now. The way that we even have this conversation is to me so disrespectful. We talk about having difficult conversations, we talk about inclusion and equity and respecting people, and what I find is, we actually don’t have those difficult conversations because certain voices and perspectives are silenced or mocked or disregarded for whatever reason. It does not actually feel like a safe space in many ways, and in recognizing that I’m privileged, I’m an elected official, that I’m white, all of these things—and for me it doesn’t feel safe. I can imagine it might not feel safe for other people.”
CLOCKED
Hunzeker Watch We’re still counting how long it takes to find the source of a police leak.
57 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.
68 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 City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty in a March 3 hit-and-run crash. It has released no results of its inquiry.
56 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.
DOCUMENTS
Proud to Help
J U S T I N YA U
NEWS
BLACK AND WHITE IN OREGON
Who Goes to Juvenile Hall?
Black children are sent to detention centers at a staggering rate, lowering their chances of a successful future.
PLAYING DEFENSE: Proud Boys from the Pacific Northwest chapter provided security with homemade shields for a “Second Amendment” rally in Salem on May 1, 2021.
The Multnomah County GOP signed an agreement to have Proud Boys provide security for a Portland meeting. THE CONTRACT: The Multnomah County Republican Party signed an agreement with a security service run by Proud Boy Daniel Tooze Sr. to patrol a May 6 meeting at a Northeast Portland church, according to documents shared with WW by a party leader. The agreement, signed May 6 by party secretary Sean Yates, vice chairman Alan Conner, and sergeant at arms Curt Schulz, reads, “We are greatly pleased to discover you, and your extensive experience with church events, weddings and various patriotic events.” It added: “Dan, as we have discussed, our focus is on having a safe event with no problems. We appreciate that you are a proficient, private volunteer security group with vast experience in event security.” As WW first reported, the May 6 meeting was held to vote on the recall of county party chairman Stephen Lloyd, who had criticized for trying to make the Multnomah County GOP more inclusive and open its meetings to the public. Tooze is listed as the registered agent of Proud Security Inc. and Proud Pawn and Arms Corp, according to the state’s business registry. Neither company is listed on the contract with the Multnomah County GOP. In the agreement, Tooze is listed as a “Private Volunteer Security Consultant” in Oregon City. Tim Sytsma, a precinct committee person for the county Republican Party who helped it find the space and assisted with the recall petition, tells WW the event was a “recall meeting for the Republican Party of [the county] to recall our chairman” and that “the group was a volunteer security group from a gentleman from Oregon City. We have a signed document that they provide volunteer private security for churches, weddings and patriotic events.” Sytsma shared the documents with WW. Sytsma says Tooze brought about 10 men to the event: four inside the church, two at the door, and a “rotating” patrol of three or four who drove around the neighborhood “making sure things were calm.” WHAT HAPPENED NEXT: The Multnomah County GOP event was held May 6 at Portland City Blessing Church in the Montavilla neighborhood. The presence of the Proud Boys, who wear distinctive Fred Perry polo shirts, was first noted the day after the event on the social media site NextDoor, where a neighbor complained of Proud Boys displaying weapons and drinking in the street. “The effect of this was that Proud Boys were patrolling
our blocking groups from 5 pm to midnight. These ‘patrols’ were pure intimidation—they were drinking, shouting to each other, shining flashlights into our neighbors’ homes and faces, and displaying weapons. They circled, harassed and threatened another neighbor on this street who was working out. They vandalized our block with Proud Boys stickers.” The person added, “I was spit at, yelled at, and cursed at.” Lt. Greg Pashley, a spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau, said “a sergeant checked the area around church after an anonymous call regarding some kind of event there. The sergeant did not find evidence of any crimes or need for police response. The sergeant advised dispatch to send police back if someone called in to report a crime. They were not called to return. There were no arrests.” WHY IT MATTERS: Though the party is a minor political force in left-leaning Portland, the move to hire someone associated with the Proud Boys for security is a notable development. The Proud Boys are a self-described “Western chauvinist” organization with a history of enacting violence against leftist protesters in Portland. Its members are also closely linked with the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. The Multnomah County Republican Party has previously asked far-right paramilitary groups, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, to provide security at their events. This is the second time in a month Proud Boys have guarded a conservative event in Oregon; the first was a May 1 rally in Salem. The security agreement speaks to the severity of street-level conflict between political factions in Oregon. Supporters of former President Donald Trump have repeatedly brawled on Portland streets with masked anti-fascists and other leftists. At least one confrontation broke out in the past week between a self-proclaimed Republican carrying a gun and armed leftists in the streets of North Portland during a protest march. Tooze confirmed to WW that he’d provided security for the GOP event and said it was because the newspaper reported that the party had scheduled a May 6 meeting to recall Lloyd. Tooze told WW: “A friend of the Republican Party asked if I would watch guard at the door for what they were worried about: your hit piece done on their meeting, because you guys are antifa, and they were worried about you guys and your antifa friends harassing their meeting. Have a nice day.” He then hung up. Meanwhile, Lloyd confirmed to WW by phone that he was no longer chair of the Multnomah County GOP because of the recall vote that took place May 6. He confirmed he was at the event but declined to speak on the record. SOPHIE PEEL.
Last week, WW noted that Black people are imprisoned at four times the rate of white Oregonians. In fact, Black children are criminalized starting at a young age: first in their elementary and middle schools. As they get older, they disproportionately wind up in the criminal justice system. Data from a 2020 Juvenile Justice Information System report shows that Black youths account for 48.3% of all detention center admissions—that means they make up nearly half of all youths in such centers. By comparison, white youths account for 24.7%. Not only are Black youths drastically overrepresented in detention centers, but they also spend the most time there: The number of Black youths who spent more than 31 days in centers was 13, while only four white youths spent that much time there. WW previously reported on the disparate rates at which a Black middle schoolers are disciplined in Portland Public Schools—at about twice the rate of white students. Darrell Millner, former director of Portland State University’s Black studies department, says the detention figures are yet another example of how racist laws create disparate outcomes. “Although we have ‘moved past’ a white superiority government, the impact of that kind of institutional origin is going to be felt for generations,” Millner says. “This particular percentage is just an expression of that.” Black youth deal disproportionately with adverse childhood experiences—such as an incarcerated parent—and the added hurdle of juvenile detention only makes that worse. It affects their access to education, employment prospects, and the likelihood they will be incarcerated as adults, Millner says. “We live in a society that judges you by your record, and if at a young age you get a record that indicates you are out of step with the expectations of society, then that’s going to follow you for the rest of your life,” he adds. Millner used to teach history at PSU, including the history of slavery. He says the judicial system is used as a method of control and as an instrument to enforce disparities that are felt every day by people of color. He says that while the detention data is not surprising, it’s still shocking. “If you’re a white person in America, you have the luxury of really not thinking about racial matters in your daily life unless it’s imposed upon you in some kind of traumatic experience like the death of George Floyd,” Millner says. “If you’re a Black parent, for example, every time your child walks out the door, you wonder if they will walk back in.” LATISHA JENSEN.
VOTE
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 Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
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NEWS HENRY CROMETT
STILL WATERS: Interstate 5 passes over the Columbia River south of Hayden Island. It could collapse in a megaquake.
Hotseat: Peter DeFazio The congressman in charge of transportation fears Oregon is squandering its chance to replace the Columbia River bridge. BY S OPHI E P E E L
speel@wweek.com
sional seat in Oregon could mean the lines are redrawn in a way that he can’t secure a 19th term. We asked him about that, too. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D - Ore.) fears Oregon and Washington won’t make it on time to a bridge across the Columbia River. Nobody is better situated to know—or to help the WW: Are you hopeful the Columbia River bridge Pacific Northwest secure Biden Bucks to rebuild the could make Secretary of Transportation Pete ButtiInterstate 5 Bridge. As chairman of the House Committee gieg’s top 10 list, assuming the bill is passed? on Transportation, DeFazio is in a prime position to direct Peter DeFazio: I would certainly argue that. If that bridge funds from President Joe Biden’s proposed $621 billion in goes down, I think I-5 is the fifth-busiest truck route in transportation funding. the U.S., it connects the fifth-largest economy in the world If Congress passes DeFazio’s preferred spending to Canada, Washington and Mexico, and we’re at high risk plan—and given the mandate Biden now has to jump-start of failure. I think they’re going to look at what bridges are the economy, it very well might—it would fund the most at risk, and given the potential of a Cascadia IO FOR OREG ON rebuilding of the 10 most economically signif- D E F A Z subduction zone earthquake, we’re at extraoricant bridges in the nation. DeFazio estidinary risk of losing that bridge. mates that the Interstate 5 Bridge across the Columbia River ranks 11th, but he How do we make it on the list? thinks he could nudge it into the top 10. The administration wants projects Just one problem, DeFazio says: that can happen, and they want things Washington and Oregon lawmakers that are feasible within an eight-year don’t have a plan for such a bridge, nor window. do they appear to feel any urgency to But the problem is, we don’t have a make one. plan. I’m not sure that Oregon’s going In a conversation with WW, DeFazio to be ready. When I asked the governor, warned that the states’ lethargic effort to Kate Brown, when she was here about a PETER DEFAZIO draft plans for a bridge risks another missed month ago, where we were at, she just kind opportunity—one that rivals Oregon burning of was like, “Well, you know…” Washington state through $175 million in a failed bid to build the was supposed to put aside some money. They didn’t in Columbia River Crossing nearly a decade ago. It is the first their session. So I’m concerned about the rather slow pace time DeFazio has publicly voiced his alarm over the pace that we’re going through. at which Oregon and Washington leaders are moving. DeFazio, 73, has learned a few tricks in his 34 years on You’re saying legislators in Salem and Olympia aren’t Capitol Hill. (In just over 30 minutes talking with the WW seizing the opportunity presented to them for a gennewsroom, he touched on Eugene electric-vehicle startup erational project. Is that a fair characterization? Arcimoto, Wall Street “flash boys,” and nuclear power.) But I’m not sensing a sense of urgency. I raised concerns about his hold on his seat has never been more tenuous: In 2020, the rescue package in January. I said, “Why don’t we put DeFazio only narrowly defeated Republican challenger some money into real infrastructure, because I’m not sure Alek Skarlatos and knows the addition of a sixth congres- I’m going to get my infrastructure bill done, and we’re giv8
Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
ing the states too much money.” Oregon, we filled in their budget hole, and they’ve got an extra $1.3 billion. Washington state has probably got an extra $2 or $3 billion, and if there was urgency, you’d think both the legislatures would say, “Whoa, let’s set aside some significant portion of that money as an initial down payment on getting this critical project done.” But I don’t know that I’m hearing that discussion. Is the light rail debate contributing to the absence of a plan? The light rail is still a sticking point. The last time I talked to director Kris Strickler from the Oregon Department of Transportation, he said, “Maybe we just do bus rapid transit, you could put light rail on the bridge later.’ And I said, “That doesn’t really work for me.” The level of federal funding for something like bus rapid transit isn’t going to be anywhere near what we get for light rail. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. I don’t know what the concern is on the other side of the river. Attitudes have changed over there, but apparently there’s some lingering concern about bringing light rail over, and all the undesirables will ride the light rail, I guess. I don’t know what the hell they’re concerned about. I know what the objection of my Republican colleagues in Washington, D.C., is. They’re always all for bus rapid transit because you can make it go away. They’re not for light rail because it’s a fixture. They can’t make it go away. We can cut the bus budgets and there goes BRT, but the light rail is built, installed and has right of way. Congressman Earl Blumenauer said light rail is a must in order for Congress to fund the bridge. Are you on the same page? I think it would be incredibly stupid without extending light rail over the river.
I think it would be incredibly stupid without extending light rail over the river. Shifting subjects slightly: What do you make of the meteoric rise of Eugene’s Arcimoto [“The Electric Three-Wheel Acid Test,” WW, April 7, 2021]? What do you think it means for electric vehicles in Oregon? I was just out there about a month ago and drove whatever model it is now, 12 or something. Very cool. They have a business plan that makes sense to me. They’re going to be looking at tourist markets. For instance, they’re negotiating with Key West. And they’re looking at kind of an Uber model for these things. For within urban areas, they have a very viable product. They had some pretty big projections for employment out there in West Eugene in the not too distant future. I have great hopes. If you could get reelected as many times as you wanted, how many more terms would you serve? I take it two years at a time. I’ve told you that before. I am raising funds for reelection, but we’ve got to wait and see where the districts go. There are maps that are a Democratic advantage of 4-1-1. I’ve seen credible maps that are 4-2. The Cook Political Report showed a 3-3 map where I’d be in a very red district, and even I couldn’t overcome that. So that would be a time to bow out. Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek created even more uncertainty by giving away the Democratic advantage of redistricting, so inevitably the congressional districts are going to court. Who knows what the courts will do with it.
NEWS
RED HOT AND MASKING: Blazers fans returned to Moda Center on May 7. For a description of the experience, turn to page 27.
P H O T O S B Y B R U C E E LY/ P O R T L A N D T R A I L B L A Z E R S
Shot Clock
Oregon is missing a chance to tie Blazers games to vaccinations. BY R AC H E L M O N A H A N
and
AARO N M E S H
503-243-2122
Damian Lillard bounded onto the Moda Center hardwood May 7, his face beaming at the sight of 1,939 fans greeting him from “pods” scattered around the arena bowl. It was what the Trail Blazers star had publicly demanded: the return of fans to Portland sporting events after the team spent a year playing dispirited basketball in front of empty seats and cardboard cutouts. On May 3, Gov. Kate Brown granted Lillard’s wish, allowing 10% capacity inside the arena. Lillard made the most of his chance: He led the Blazers to three consecutive victories in front of hometown fans. It’s not clear whether Oregon health officials can say the same. Missing from Moda Center was a sight found three hours up Interstate 5 in Seattle, where baseball’s Mariners for more than a week have offered COVID-19 vaccinations inside T-Mobile Park. That ballpark vaccine clinic is an especially striking contrast because both the Blazers and the Mariners are owned by Vulcan, the estate of late tech billionaire Paul Allen. The Blazers were the last team in the NBA to allow fans back in the arena. And when they did, the team put many precautions in place for the pandemic. A reopening plan obtained by WW shows the details were as granular as having fans arrive at staggered 15-minute intervals so they wouldn’t line up together, serving smaller food portions so masks stayed on longer, and creating a two-strike policy for mask removal, not unlike the technical fouls that would get Carmelo Anthony ejected from games. But there was no tie to the public health drive to vaccinate more people. That may represent a missed opportunity as Oregon and the rest of the United States face a slowing interest in vaccinations well before the country reaches herd immunity, the point at which enough people have sufficient resistance to the disease to halt its spread. Until last week, Portland saw heavy competition for vaccination appointments. But the Portlanders most motivated and able to take the time to get vaccinated have
gotten shots. So far, more than 52% of Multnomah County residents have received their first dose. Now public health officials and hospitals face a new challenge: getting the vaccine to people who don’t feel especially motivated to roll up their sleeves. The Blazers might have done that in two ways: by requiring vaccinations get into Moda Center, or by offering shots at the arena. So far, they’ve done neither—even though a team executive says they’re willing to attempt the latter. Trail Blazers president and CEO Chris McGowan told Oregonian sports columnist John Canzano last week that the team informed Gov. Kate Brown it was willing to hold vaccination drives in the arena. The Blazers tell WW a vaccination clinic at playoff games is still on the table. “We are in active conversation with the governor’s office related to this,” says Ashley Clinkscale, a Blazers senior vice president. Providing vaccinations at games and linking openings to shots might be one way to get more people vaccinated, say some experts. “It makes sense,” says Oregon State University professor Chunhuei Chi. “Vaccination is the fastest and cheapest way to get this under control. And we need to encourage people who can to get vaccinated to give them an incentive. It’s not only protecting oneself; it’s protecting others, our entire community.” On May 11, Brown announced plans to tie Oregon’s full reopening to 70% of Oregonians, age 16 and up, having at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. “Right now we are evaluating every option to encourage and incentivize vaccinations, and we are watching the efforts being piloted in other states,” says Brown spokesman Charles Boyle. “Nothing currently prohibits businesses from offering discounts or other promotions to vaccinated Oregonians.” A growing body of research suggests many Americans will need either incentives for vaccination or penalties for avoiding it—or at least an option for shots so easy they won’t refuse. As politicians worry about the political costs of requiring vaccination, the private sector has pushed more aggres-
sively for vaccine requirements and other safety measures. That pattern happened in Oregon as private colleges began requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for fall enrollment. Public universities followed more slowly—but as of press deadlines, Portland State University, Oregon State University and the University of Oregon had all required shots as a condition for returning to campus. California allowed outdoor and indoor entertainment venues to open with substantial COVID-19 spread still ongoing—if fans had proof of vaccination or negative test results. Under a moderate spread of the disease, California offered increased capacity limits at venues with those precautions. In California and New York, Lakers, Kings, Nets and Knicks fans have been required to be two weeks past their last COVID-19 shot or have a negative COVID-19 test. (In Miami, the Heat offered a vaccinated-only seating section beginning in early April, but that was quickly eliminated after Florida’s governor moved to ban so-called vaccine passports. The team blamed the plan’s demise on the logistical headache it might give fans.) The city of Seattle worked with the Mariners on their vaccine clinics so firefighters could administer doses at the game. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced free baseball tickets for getting vaccinated. Brown, by contrast, has expressed skepticism about vaccine requirements as part of reopening venues and other group spaces, citing the inequitable distribution of vaccines. Clinkscale says Brown’s remarks discouraged the team from linking vaccination to tickets. “We understood the governor’s position on mandatory vaccinations as a non-starter,” she tells WW, “so no proposal was made.” Notably, the most aggressive safety requirement during the Blazers game was that fans sitting courtside provide proof of a negative COVID test in the past 48 hours. That rule did not come from the state, according to the safety plan obtained by WW from the Oregon Health Authority. Instead, it came from the league. “Per NBA requirements,” the plan states, “all guests that sit within 30 feet of the court must be tested within 48 hours of a game day.” Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
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Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
BRIAN BURK
IN MEMORIAM: The fence surrounding Walker Stadium is decorated with photos of Robert Delgado.
The Gun That Wasn’t There How often do Portland cops respond to incorrect 911 calls about a weapon? The city doesn’t know.
BY T E SS R I SK I
tess@wweek.com
On a recent warm spring evening, parents cheered their teenage sons playing baseball at Walker Stadium in Lents Park. With each hit, the players trotted 90 feet from base to base. Ninety feet is also the distance between a pair of leafy trees next to the ballpark. Nearly one month ago, Robert Delgado died next to one of those two trees. Ninety feet away, Portland Police Officer Zachary DeLong took cover behind the other and killed Delgado with a single shot. Concerned Portlanders had called 911 the morning of April 16 to report a man quick-drawing a handgun in the park “like James Bond or like a cowboy.” Police arrived and found Delgado, who reportedly ignored their demands to put up his hands and instead flipped them off. DeLong fired his AR-15 rifle. Police then found Delgado’s alleged weapon. It was a replica gun, with a bright orange tip required by federal law to indicate a fake. From 90 feet away, it would have been nearly impossible to see the orange piece of plastic. “They watched my father bleed out,” says Delgado’s son Skyler. “I just felt they failed my father multiple times that day. Lethal force should be your last resort.” There is much we still don’t know about Delgado’s death. Police haven’t said where Delgado was struck, why DeLong fired his rifle, or whether the city dispatched trained mental health crisis responders, known as Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team officers, to the scene. The Portland Police Bureau has declined to release audio of the 911 call or calls that preceded
Delgado’s death April 16. (WW has appealed the denial of its public records request to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office.) But after more than a dozen interviews and a review of police training manuals, use-of-force data and consultant reports, a picture develops of two trends in Portland policing that have received scant attention. First is the percentage of Portland cops who choose to carry not just a bureau-issued Glock 9 mm pistol but also a .223 Colt AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle that has been the gun of choice used by shooters in many of the mass killings in recent years. Two decades ago, no Portland patrol officers carried an AR-15. Now 168 sworn officers do. That’s 20% of the 812-member bureau. (In contrast, 146 PPB officers are ECIT-certified.) Second is the disorganized, almost cavalier manner in which the city has monitored whether its 911 desk is sending police to scenes with the best possible information. Since 2010, 1 in 4 people Portland officers have shot were thought to have a weapon—but in fact either had a replica gun, or no weapon at all, according to use-offorce data shared by the bureau. Seven of those mistaken shootings were fatal. As those shootings illustrate, officers have been sent to respond to calls after being told by 911 dispatchers that a weapon was involved only to find someone with a replica handgun or no weapon at all.
No argument in this city is more pressing and heated than how to stop police from shooting people who pose little threat to others. Yet WW’s reporting shows an extraordinary lack of knowledge by public safety officials about the calls police respond to. Emergency dispatchers don’t know whether a reported gun is real or not—and they ask few follow-up questions to find out. Moreover, the Police Bureau doesn’t keep meaningful records of what police find when they respond to a 911 call about someone wielding a weapon. The result? One of the only things standing between a Portland police officer with an AR-15 and a homeless man with a toy gun is an emergency operator with few instructions for determining whether a deadly weapon actually exists. “The consequences can be tragic,” says Michael Gennaco, the former chief attorney of the Office of Independent Review for Los Angeles County who helped found the California-based OIR Group, which assesses police shootings in Portland. “The problem for the officer is you can never be sure, and you’re reliant to some degree on information that is coming from individuals you don’t know.” City officials have few answers to our questions. “We hope to do better and figure out a better way,” says City Commissioner Mingus Mapps, who oversees the Bureau of Emergency Communications, which answers 911 calls. “But as long as there are toy guns in this world, it creates ambiguous and dangerous situations.”
Just how regularly does that happen? The city doesn’t know: A consultant who analyzed Police Bureau data admitted it was too sloppy to rigorously analyze (see “Numbers Game,” page 14). CONT. on page 12 Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
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PILOT: Lents-based Portland Street Response doesn’t show up to weapons calls.
W
h en a Portlander calls 911, that call is answered in an operations room that, in an odd coincidence, happens to be located in Lents. This is the dispatch floor of the Bureau of Emergency Communications, where 105 call takers and dispatchers field approximately 40,000 911 calls a month. “When I think of metaphors that capture some of what they do, I’m more inclined to think of air traffic controllers,” says Mapps, the city commissioner overseeing the system. “Frankly, it really is often a matter of life and death.” New hires must complete 300 hours of classroom training, followed by one-on-one coaching on the operations floor until the employee is ready to operate independently. Entry-level trainees earn about $54,000 a year, with senior dispatchers earning about $86,000. “You never know what you’re going to get, which is part of the appeal of the job,” says Bob Cozzie, director of BOEC. “But our folks talk to people on the worst day of their lives. Imagine the weight of responsibility on their shoulders.” BOEC’s 911 emergency staff, which all works on the same operations floor, is split into two categories: call takers and dispatchers. When you call 911 in Portland, you will speak with a call taker, who asks you questions to determine where you are and what kind of help you need. The call taker “codes” the call according to its category (disturbance, threat, assault, etc.) and, if the caller is describing what sounds like a mental health crisis, flags the call so that an ECIT-trained officer can be dispatched. (Three percent of the time an ECIT officer is requested, none are unavailable, according to the police bureau.) “We’re trying to paint a picture for our respond12
Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
ers,” says BOEC training manager Melanie Payne. “There’s not a script. We are trying to describe, objectively, what is happening.” The call taker then relays that information to a dispatcher, who in turn communicates directly with first responders like police officers, firefighters or paramedics. Dispatcher communication is a twoway street: Police, for example, can ask dispatchers for more information, or request that the dispatcher send a special response unit, such as a K-9 or an AR-15 rifle operator. Yet there is no protocol for asking follow-up questions about the weapon once the type of weapon has been broadly established. “That’s not a part of our triage,” Payne says. “We will ask for the person to describe the weapon. We don’t have any specific questions to ask to identify further.” Cozzie says BOEC follows guidelines set by the Portland Police Bureau. “Our policies are established by the agencies that we dispatch for,” he said. BOEC’s weapons-related questions, furnished by the Police Bureau, are as follows: (1) Are weapons involved? (2) What type? (3) Who has the weapon? (4) Describe the subject(s). (5) Where is the weapon (hand, pocket, vehicle, etc.)? Most striking to several civil rights lawyers is the fact the questions don’t include any request to describe the weapon beyond its basic category— such as “a knife” or “a gun.” Nor do they inquire whether a gun might be a replica because of its bright orange tip, for example. “It would be crucial” to ask further questions about a weapon, says Portland civil rights lawyer
Juan Chavez. “It’s a well-understood interviewing tactic that sometimes you do need to guide somebody to a detail that could be in their head but they haven’t recalled it yet because they haven’t been prompted.” That detail grows more crucial when you realize how often Portlanders get it wrong.
E
ssentially, the only reliable statistics on how often Portland police are wrong about a weapon are compiled after an officer pulls the trigger. That’s especially troubling, given the military-grade firepower that many officers, including beat cops, are packing in their patrol cars (see “Long Shot,” page 14). In 11 of the 51 police shootings dating back to 2010, the suspect was carrying a fake gun. In four of those shootings, the person was perceived as armed, but wasn’t carrying any weapon at all. In nearly every PPB shooting since 2010 where police’s perception of the subject’s weapon was incorrect, they believed the person had a firearm— which was actually a replica gun, a cellphone, a telephone receiver, a wallet, or nothing at all. Take the case of Chase Peeples, whom police shot from nearly 60 feet away during a bank robbery in 2017, believing Peeples (who survived the shooting) had a gun. “As we got, I want to say maybe about 10 feet away from him, something like that, that’s when I could see that the black object on the ground was, like, a wallet,” testified Officer Madison Curtis Ceasar, who was on the scene but did not shoot Peeples. “I was told to stand over the wallet.” On rare occasions, subjects have acted as if they had a weapon when they didn’t. Such was the case in the fatal shooting of Merle Hatch in 2013, who reportedly raised a black object that looked like a
M
EULOGY: Delgado’s family, pictured at a memorial last month, says his children were “his treasure.”
IN 11 OF THE 51 POLICE SHOOTINGS DATING BACK TO 2010, THE SUSPECT WAS CARRYING A FAKE GUN. IN FOUR OF THOSE SHOOTINGS, THE PERSON WASN’T CARRYING ANY WEAPON AT ALL. “People don’t call [911] because they see someone playing with a toy gun. Our first witness is probably calling because they see someone with what they assume is a real gun,” Mapps says. When pressed by WW, he conceded there is “absolutely” room for BOEC to improve the questions it asks callers. “I’m sure that we will or already are in the process of evaluating and updating our questions, maybe asking questions about, ‘Is there an orange tip on the gun?’” Mapps says. “As an African American, I can tell you that people try to misuse the police in order to enforce racial hierarchies. Being poor and houseless is not a crime, and I think that’s a message that needs to go out loud and clear.” In an interview with WW, Delgado’s family remembers him as a playful and charismatic “movie buff” with a spot-on Dr. Evil impression and an affinity for classic rock. Most of all, they said, he loved being a dad. “He was the proudest father,” says Robert’s sister, Tina. “Those kids—that was his treasure.” Delgado’s daughter, Kennedy, says one of the factors that disturbed her the most about her father’s death was how quickly events transpired. “The thing that really breaks my heart is when I listened to the dispatcher describing that he was ‘acting like James Bond,’” Kennedy says. “He would do things like that. One of my favorite things about my dad is that he was silly like that. It just makes me wish that there was more investigating before the trigger was pulled.”
EVIDENCE: Portland police released this photograph of Delgado’s replica gun. MICK HANGLAND-SKILL
apps, who was elected to the Portland City Council in November, is just the third Black man to serve as a city commissioner. In January, Mayor Ted Wheeler assigned him oversight of BOEC, which is now at the center of questions about how to prevent armed police officers from interacting with distressed Portlanders who pose little threat to public safety. This week, the City Council is debating how quickly to expand Portland Street Response. That program, still in its infancy, is the city’s most ambitious effort yet to send someone other than armed officers to respond to people in mental health crises, like Robert Delgado. The argument over that program’s future is making Portlanders furious. Yet the debate is largely irrelevant until the city can correctly identify the scenes it is sending responders to. Portland Street Response couldn’t have responded to Delgado on April 16 because it isn’t supposed to go to scenes where a weapon has been reported present. “While people are asked to report what they see and perceive, we also know it can very often be wrong,” saysTim Becker, a spokesman for the mayor. “It’s the job of police to look for ways to confirm it or refute it.” City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who oversaw BOEC prior to Mapps, says the issue of incorrect weapons reports didn’t arise during her tenure. “Unfortunately, it seems to have taken Portland’s most recent fatal shooting by police for more attention to be brought to this specific issue,” Hardesty says. “Ultimately, BOEC dispatchers rely on the public to give them accurate information when calling 911 and have strict protocols to follow based on the information they receive from the caller.” Mapps says the vast majority of 911 callers are reporting “in good faith” and that the inaccuracy of 911 calls is, to a certain extent, “baked into the nature of this work.”
BRIAN BURK
firearm toward responding officers and told them, “Come on, play,” and, “I’m coming to you then, pig. Let’s go. Let’s go.” Twelve minutes after arriving on the scene, three officers fired on Hatch, including Officer Andrew Hearst, who was operating an AR-15 rifle from about 50 feet away. “The object that officers believed was a gun was, in fact, a broken black plastic phone handset,” the OIR Group wrote in its 2016 report. Some Portlanders, frustrated by slow response times, have admitted to saying there was a weapon present when there wasn’t to elicit a faster police response. During an April 8 meeting of the Lents Neighborhood Livability Association, where Portland Street Response gave a presentation, a woman who didn’t identify herself by name but said she’s lived in Portland for 68 years described a common refrain among neighbors. “There was a saying going [around] that started a couple years ago: If you’re having any issues or problems, make sure you tell them that there’s some kind of a weapon…so that the police would come. Otherwise, they’d never come,” the woman said. “And I’ll be honest, that’s what the neighbors were telling neighbors.” Ashlee Albies, a lawyer representing Delgado’s family, adds that many unhoused people in Portland choose to carry a weapon for personal protection. “How many people call the police because they just want the problem ‘dealt with’?” Albies said. “[Police] are trained to get control. They have weapons. They’re trained to use them. So it’s not just on them. It’s also on all of the people who call, the 911 operators, and the police response. All of it.” Dan Douthit, a spokesman for BOEC, says the Police Bureau decides what questions call takers can ask. He says the bureau knows that some of the reports it receives about weapons turn out to be false. “Anecdotally, BOEC is aware that many calls in which the caller reports symptoms of a heart attack are determined by responders to be something different,” Douthit says. “That does not mean callers should be discouraged from reporting what they perceive as heart attack symptoms.”
OPERATOR: Commissioner Mingus Mapps oversees the city’s 911 bureau. Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
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SAM GEHRKE
OFFICIAL: Chief Lovell signed off on TAC’s 2020 report.
NUMBERS GAME
The Portland Police Bureau rubber-stamped a use-of-force report with dubious findings. In September, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell signed off on a report prepared by a contractor that issued a shocking finding: Nearly half the time Portland police used force against a person believed to have a weapon, that person was in fact unarmed. “Of the subjects experiencing force, 31% are reported to be armed when officers are dispatched to the scene,” the report said. “However, only 16% are actually armed, suggesting that 49% of reports of a subject being armed are incorrect.” Yet when WW asked questions about the data underlying that sentence, the author of the Training Advisory Council’s 2020 use-of-force report said the finding was too flawed to be trusted. He blamed record-keeping by the Portland Police Bureau that doesn’t clearly distinguish whether a person was actually armed when police used force. “We have zero funding,” said Shawn Campbell, the TAC chair who oversaw the report. “The most we have is to look at data and say, ‘Hey, this seems a little weird.’” The Portland Police Bureau analyzes use of force patterns because the federal government requires it to do so, following a 2014 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The Training Advisory Council, created specifically for this purpose, compiles quarterly use-of-force reports and makes written recommendations to the chief. TAC operates under the auspices of the Police Bureau. Its members, including Campbell, are all volunteers. For three years, the TAC has produced a report that examines which calls led to cops deploying force against Portlanders. Last September, Lovell rubber-stamped a TAC report that said 146 of the 248 people that officers used force against were believed to have a weapon but didn’t. But Campbell now says that bombshell finding was based on shoddy data. The Police Bureau, he says, doesn’t distinguish between an incident where the subject was reported armed by a 911 caller but actually wasn’t, or a situation in which the subject was armed but with a weapon too small or meager to pose a serious threat. That means the bureau hasn’t provided its contractor with data that shows how often it hurts unarmed people it believed were armed. Campbell says he can’t get better numbers. “I stand behind the report,” he says. “It’s just that one very specific sentence in a 40-page report.” The Police Bureau did not respond to questions from WW about why its record-keeping is so vague, or whether it still stands by the 2020 TAC report. TESS RISKI. 14
Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
DISPATCHED: On April 16, police responded to PHOTO: reports of a man quick-drawing a gunCaption in Lentstktktk Park.
LONG SHOT
How Portland police came to be armed with military-grade rifles and what happened as a result. For two decades, the Portland Police Bureau has armed its officers with AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, the result of a tough-on-crime policy that equipped officers with firearms most people associate more with mass shootings than community policing. In response to a records request from WW, the bureau revealed last week that it owns 238 Colt AR-15 rifles. Today, 168 Portland police officers—about 20% of the force—are trained to operate the semi-automatic weapon, which allows for greater accuracy and the ability to shoot with precision from upward of 100 yards, or about a city block away. That means AR-15 rifle operators outnumber the 146 Portland officers who are certified to respond to mental health crises through the Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team—established following the city’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. (Both certifications are voluntary, though ECIT certification requires 20 fewer hours of training than AR-15 certification. Some officers are trained in both.) Portland patrol officers who get certification carry AR-15 rifles in their squad cars, stored in a locked case known as a “clam shell.” In other words, every time the city dispatches a beat cop to an incident, it’s rolling the dice that the officer responding may be packing military-grade firepower. The event that prompted Portland patrol officers to carry these weapons dates back to a 1997 bank robbery that happened nearly 1,000 miles away, in Los Angeles. During the “North Hollywood Shootout,” as it’s known, a pair of armor-clad bank robbers unloaded seemingly endless rounds of ammunition using high-powered rifles. A swarm of Los Angeles Police Department officers struggled to overtake the gunmen as they waited for a SWAT team to eventually arrive. By the end of the ordeal, both robbers were shot dead. Twelve officers were injured. The shootout prompted police departments nationwide to beef up their arsenals. Michael Gennaco, the former chief attorney of the Office of Independent Review for Los Angeles County who helped found OIR Group, which compiles reports on officer-involved shootings in Portland, recalls the shootout, which he says was “like Halley’s comet: One incident can result in an overreaction.” “It was an effective marketing tool by those who sell AR-15s,” Gennaco says. In 1997, then-Portland Police Chief Charles Moose formed the “Long Gun Option Committee,” police
TODAY, 168 PORTLAND POLICE OFFICERS— ABOUT 20% OF THE FORCE—ARE TRAINED TO OPERATE AR-15 RIFLES, A SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPON THAT ALLOWS FOR GREATER ACCURACY AND THE ABILITY TO SHOOT WITH PRECISION FROM UPWARD OF 100 YARDS, OR ABOUT A CITY BLOCK AWAY.
archives show. (A few years later, Moose went on to serve as the police chief in Montgomery County, Md., where he led the manhunt to apprehend the “D.C. Snipers” in 2002.) In 1998, Moose asked the City Council for $310,000 to purchase 166 AR-15 .223-caliber semi-automatic rifles, according to news reports from the time. The Oregonian’s editorial board advocated for them, too. “More and more police departments across the country are adding powerful semi-automatic rifles to their arsenals. Portland should be among them,” the paper wrote in February 1998. “In trained hands, rifles are highly accurate, easier to use and safer than shotguns. An AR-15 rifle, for example, can hit a dinner plate five blocks away. A handgun is reliable up to only about 25 yards.” In 1999, the bureau purchased 225 AR-15 rifles. By 2004, PPB had trained 149 officers to operate them. To date, PPB has used AR-15 rifles in about a dozen fatal shootings, including the January 2010 death of Aaron Campbell, a Black man who was unarmed when Officer Ron Frashour shot him in the back. That shooting also prompted then-Chief Rosie Sizer to convene an AR-15 review level committee.
SAM GEHRKE
LOCKED AND LOADED: AR-15-certified cops store the weapon in their patrol cars.
The committee recommended “significant changes” to AR-15 training, according to the OIR Group’s 2012 report, authored by Gennaco and two others. At that time, and still today, a Portland police officer must volunteer and apply to become an AR-15 operator. But in 2011, the committee implemented a more expansive review of applicants’ use-of-force histories and training records, according to the OIR report. It also required a recommendation from an officer’s supervisor, which is still the practice today, and increased the training hours required to what they are now: a 60-hour certification course and mandatory in-service training. Officer Andrew Hearst had that training. On Feb. 9, 2017, Hearst was resolving a parking dispute in the Lents neighborhood when he heard a sergeant on the police radio send out a call for an officer certified to use an AR-15. The reason? An armed robber was on the run in East Portland. Hearst heard the sergeant repeat his request for a rifle about five minutes later. “‘Are they still looking for a rifle?’” he recalled thinking. “I was surprised that we hadn’t found one yet.” Soon after, Hearst fatally shot 17-year-old Quanice Hayes, who was Black. Police found a replica gun 2 feet from his body. One month later, Hearst was called before a Multnomah County grand jury to defend his actions. His testimony about what happened that February morning provides a window into what police officers are trained to do when they’re told someone has a weapon. His explanation is especially relevant to the Robert Delgado case because his choices led to the same result: an officer equipped with an AR-15 rifle shot someone carrying a fake gun. As Hearst approached the scene, he removed his gun from its locked rack in his patrol car and loaded a round into the chamber, according to grand jury tran-
scripts. He had received descriptions of the suspect and the pattern on the alleged weapon: a desert camo frame with a black slide. Hearst’s designated role was to provide “lethal cover.” Per bureau policy, when an AR-15 operator is called to a scene, “their primary responsibility would be to use deadly force if it was needed,” Sgt. Derrick Foxworth Jr. testified in 2017. Hearst soon found himself within 15 feet of Hayes. “There was no doubt in my mind the person that I was looking at had a gun,” he later told grand jurors. As Hayes sat on his knees with raised arms, Hearst fired three deadly shots. Hearst claimed he saw Hayes reaching for his waistband. “Because you carry the AR-15, did you believe any other officers were in a position to use deadly force at that time, or did you believe that was your responsibility?” Multnomah County prosecutor Don Rees asked. “I believed it was my responsibility,” Hearst responded. “I don’t know of any other rifles present or any other pistols out that could provide that type of cover.” “To be clear, you didn’t see, as I understand your testimony, you did not actually see a gun in his hand at the time that you pulled the trigger in your rifle; is that correct?” Rees asked. “That’s correct,” Hearst responded. “I did not see.” Rees asked: Why not wait until you see a gun pointed at you before firing your weapon? “I can’t wait,” Hearst answered. “Because if I let him get his hand on his gun, he will be able to pull that gun out and shoot me or my co-workers before I’m able to react to it.” The grand jury declined to charge Hearst. This March, four years after Hearst killed Hayes, the city awarded the Hayes family $2.1 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. TESS RISKI.
TO DATE, PPB HAS USED AR-15 RIFLES IN ABOUT A DOZEN FATAL SHOOTINGS, INCLUDING THE JANUARY 2010 DEATH OF AARON CAMPBELL, A BLACK MAN WHO WAS UNARMED WHEN OFFICER MICHAEL FRASHOUR SHOT HIM IN THE BACK.
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TECH FEST NW 20 21
techfestnw.com TechfestNW is back on Friday May 21st, for a one day virtual event with inspiring speakers, pitches from tech entrepreneurs, a 125k angel investment, and tons of opportunity to create new connections with others in the tech space: investors, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and peers.
Tickets are $25, and will give you access to an entirely new network, educational lunch hour table topics,inspiring speakers and more!
TechfestNW is presented in partnership with Oregon Entrepreneurs Network
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May 21st, 2021 Schedule of Events 9:00 | WELCOME
Opening remarks from our emcee Paige Hendrix Buckner
11:35 | INCLUDE AWARDS
Fireside chat with Lora Haddock DiCarlo and Yesenia Gallardo Avila Lora Haddock’s Bend company makes A Sex Tech Founder’s Battle for Equity pleasure tech products. She has overcome sexism, prudishness and doubtful investors to become an important player in the women’s health field.
9:15 | FIRESIDE CHAT
9:50 | FIRESIDE CHAT How To Become a Unicorn Without Even Trying
Fireside chat with Mark Frohnmayer and Anthony Effinger Eugene’s Mark Frohnmayer has been running Arcimoto, his electrical vehicle company, since 2007. Since then, his company has never made a dollar in profit yet the publicly held firm has become a darling on Wall Street and is poised to become the next Tesla. Here is how he did it.
12:10 | NETWORKING HOUR
1:10 | AOTECH
In partnership with Black Founders Matter, three concept-stage start-ups led by BIPOC founders will receive Include Awards, including $5,000 in non-dilutive capital to help further develop the company. Thank you to sponsors SheerID, Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt and Prosper Portland for making these awards possible. Meet other attendees during our networking hour, organized around table topics. Welcome to the finale of Angel Oregon Tech, the education and investment program hosted by Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. Jon Maroney, Oregon Venture Fund, kicks off the finale with “where are they now” interviews with past Angel Oregon winners.
Watch pitches from the AOTech finalists.
Finale!
10:20 | KEYNOTE The Reporter Who Came in From The Code
Keynote with Nicole Perlroth NY Times Cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth crossed the globe to reveal the dirty secrets of Cyber Wars, which is affecting every American company, for her new book This is How They Tell Me the World Ends.
1:20 | AOTECH Pitch Presentation 1
2:15 | AOTECH Pitch Presentation 2
11:10 | KEYNOTE The Color of Money
Keynote with Marceau Michele, co-founder of Black Founders Matter. How do you begin reversing decades of racism in venture capital? Hear from the co-founder of Black Founders Matter about how they are not just raising money for Black-run companies, but changing the way investors think.
Watch pitches from the AOTech finalists.
3:00 | AOTECH Award Presentation
The big reveal! AOTech investors will announce their selection for the direct angel investment of $125K.
Grab a cocktail or mocktail, and join us in three break-out rooms for a spirited end to the day. We’re thrilled to have Alexander Connections, Miller Nash Graham & Dunn and Boly Welch host our happy hour groups!
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STARTERS
THE MOST IMPORTANT PORTLAND CULTURE STORIES OF THE WEEK—GRAPHED.
R E A D M O R E A B O U T TH E S E STO R I E S AT WW E E K .CO M .
RIDICULOUS Modest Mouse announces its first new album in six years is coming in June. JAMES JOINER
VICTORCMYK/WIKI COMMONS E M I LY J O A N G R E E N E
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The inevitable collaboration between Powell’s Books and new Blazer Norman Powell is here and it’s…a little underwhelming.
Keller Fountain is back on for the first time since 2019.
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Standout bistro Quaintrelle is leaving Mississippi for Clinton.
Chris Newman, frontman of influential ’80s Portland punk band Napalm Beach, dies at age 67.
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After a yearlong delay, Portland brunch destination Screen Door’s Pearl location is opening this week.
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Both Moda Center and Chamber Music Northwest are planning to return to in-person concerts this year. BUREA
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Prineville Reservoir State Park is Oregon’s first Dark Sky Park, a designation awarded to locations with minimal light pollution.
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Much of Oregon is experiencing a drought, and that has experts worried about wildfire season.
GET INSIDE
WHAT TO DO WHILE YOU’RE STUCK AT HOME THIS WEEK.
GO: Drive ’N Drag Saves 2021 It’s not the only drag show of the week (see feature, next page), but at least this one allows in-person attendance. Drag drive-ins were one of the most novel pandemic pivots, particularly in Portland, which saw the legendary Darcelle perform at Zidell Yards and local queens entertain customers waiting for pickup orders at Shine Distillery. This tour, however, is perhaps the biggest application of the concept, with appearances by recent RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Rosé and Gottmik, the latter being the first transgender man to ever compete on the show. Clackamas Town Center, 12000 SE 82nd Ave. 7 pm and 9:30 pm Wednesday, May 12. $75-$399. MICHELE K. SHORT / HBO
CATCH UP ON: Mare of Easttown In one sense, HBO’s Mare of Easttown is simply the TV murder mystery of the moment—another show about a burned-out detective trying to solve a horrific crime as their personal life falls apart. But while the plot can feel MadLibbed together from the structures of similar miniseries, it’s elevated above that crowded field by the two elements that make up its title. The way-too-small Philadelphia suburb in which the show is set is fictional yet drawn with such specificity, from the relationships to the accents, that it becomes more familiar with each episode. And then there’s Kate Winslet, delivering a remarkable performance as the titular detective rapidly suffocating under the collapsing ruins of her life in a town that gives her zero breathing room as it is. It’s equally claustrophobic to watch, and certainly a bit dreary, but enough pinpricks of humor pierce the darkness that it feels almost Coens adjacent. There are three episodes left, so now’s a good time to jump in. Streams on HBO Max. New episodes air Sundays at 7 pm.
JOSEPH BLAKE JR.
COURTESY OF VH1
Drive ’N Drag performers Gottmik (left) and Rosé
GO: Skatemobile Skate Pop-Up Indoor rinks may be closed, but there’s finally a way for Portlanders deprived by the recent skate shortage to get in on the pandemic roller skating craze. Rose City Rollers has been hosting outdoor skating meetups for skaters of all levels, including those without skates. At the roller derby club’s weekly event, you can rent skates or bring your own, and choose between gliding along the waterfront or sticking to Portland Opera’s flat parking lot. Masks and social distancing are required, of course, but it’s still a great opportunity to get acquainted with Portland’s thriving skating community. Hampton Opera Center, 211 SE Caruthers St., rosecityrollers. com. 1 and 3:30 pm Sunday, May 16. $5-$20.
STREAM: Funny Ha Ha Marnie is 23, stuck in that post-grad rut, ping-ponging between different temp jobs and crushing on her friend Alex even though he loves someone else. Shot on 16 mm and cited as the first mumblecore film in the canon, Andrew Bujalski’s naturalistic 2002 dramedy demonstrates how the seemingly trivial issues of being a 20-something can still feel monumental. Streams on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Kanopy and other platforms. STREAM: Night Heron Album Release Show Night Heron was a staple on the city’s indie club circuit before the pandemic, so it’s somewhat surprising the band is only now releasing their first album. Founded by Radiation City’s Cameron Spies and featuring members of several other well-known Portland bands, Night Heron brings together a breezy mix of lo-fi psychedelia and smooth R&B on Instructions for the Night. Their livestreamed album release show promises to be just as chilled out and dreamy. 8 pm Friday, May 14, at twitch.tv/holocene. Donations accepted.
WATCH: Situations & Conversations With Tra’Renee After departing the KATU lifestyle program Afternoon Live last year, Portland TV and radio staple Tra’Renee Chambers sought to refocus her broadcasting on social justice issues. She is now the first Black woman to host and produce a TV show in the greater Portland area. Chambers’ guests often come on to unpack challenging lived experiences, like racial insensitivity within their own families, discrimination against children of color, and sex education roadblocks. And just as often, both guest and host are so present, so involved in the interview that commercial breaks sneak up from nowhere. Situations & Conversations With Tra’Renee airs on KATU at 4:30 pm Sundays.
LISTEN: Shelley FKA DRAM If your image of DRAM isn’t the joyful prankster of “Cha Cha” and “Broccoli” but of a man standing rapturously in front of a Tiny Desk Concert band, beaming and treading water with his hands, Shelley FKA DRAM is for you. Now using his birth name, Shelley Massenburg-Smith devotes his second and best album to smooth, romantic, slightly goofy funk soul guided by drums as slow and impassive as the ones Questlove used to motor D’Angelo’s Voodoo down the Styx. Streams on Spotify.
STREAM: Kenari Quartet Chamber Music Northwest has managed to keep up an impressively prolific virtual programming schedule during the pandemic. The classical music organization is capping its first digital season with a distinctly modern instrument. The all-saxophone Kenari Quartet will play everything from Bach to French neoclassical and contemporary music. 7 pm Saturday, May 15, at cmnw.org. $20. STREAM: SH/FT: An Experiment in Fashion Design See next page.
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GET...INSIDE
Haute Trash Next week’s hottest drag show features outfits made from recycled material and designed by kids. COURTESY OF SH/FT
BY S U ZE T T E SM I T H
@suzettesmith
W
hen you’re cruising virtual performances while waiting for theaters, clubs and arts venues to reopen, a youth fashion show might not immediately jump to the top of your must-see list. But don’t overlook this year’s fundraiser for Young Audiences of Oregon and Southwest Washington, SH/FT: An Experiment in Fashion Design. For one, it’s hosted by Poison Waters, one of Portland’s favorite drag queens, who always manages to make a game of bingo into a jaw-dropping, hilarious affair. Second, the models this year are also queens: Syra St. James, Lylac, Lady VaJayJay, Inanna Miss, Cassie Nova and, of course, Poison Waters herself. And third, the fashion show pairs young designers with professionals and challenges them to use recycled materials to make outfits specifically designed for each queen. So you’ve got young designers creating bizarre trash-gowns for queens who want to work those creations down a runway. Suddenly, this youth fashion show sounds kind of fabulous. The show’s mistress of ceremonies, Poison Waters, took a moment to discuss upcycled fashion in the drag community and why this year’s fashion show is so important to creative youth.
It was made out of junk, but he made it look so cool. So I’m like, “Hey kid, you’ve got to make me something. Do you want to make something for a drag queen?” And he was like, “Oh that would be so great.” Something about SH/FT must have really struck you. You work with them every year. What was it? Particularly this year, I felt the show was really important. There’s been a lot of talk about mental health and people feeling stifled at home. I’ve really been concerned about the kids in our community: how they are adapting and how they’re hanging in there. For adults reaching out and finding assistance for mental health, it’s easier. For a kid, it isn’t as easy. You have to tell somebody about it, which is scary. You have to convince elders in your life that you are not just having a bad day, that you need to talk to somebody.
O R Q U I D I A V I O L E TA
WW: Could these outfits be described as “couture” gowns? Poison Waters: Absolutely. “Couture” actually means “handmade.” Every piece in France’s haute couture world is sewn by designers—each bead, each sequin, each feather. Since most of the things in this show are recycled materials—one girl uses duct tape and the other one uses tarot cards—all that has to be attached by hand. They really are couture pieces. They’re walking works of art. You could put these dresses on mannequins and people could just look at them, they’re that great. But to be able to put this art on a live, walking drag queen, it’s going to be fun. Were the designers assigned materials to work with? Nothing was assigned. No Team Plastic or Paper. My team had two young folks and two adult designers. We just talked through the process. The funny thing is that the design we started with, by the time we got to the end, it was completely different. Different materials, everything. How much experience do you personally have with fashion design? I have a great eye and I know what I like. It’s more like “drag crafting.” I’m a big proponent of hot glue. I’ve been known to cut the sleeves off something and hand stitch them onto something else, or just hot glue a bunch of rhinestones and feathers on. I’ll take something that’s already made and then make my own. Had the kids making the gowns this year had experience with drag queens before? They all were aware of drag queens. Some of them were like, “I’ve never met a drag queen before! I’m so excited.” But with RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag is kind of everywhere in mainstream media now. The kids I worked with would talk about their favorite drag queens or favorite drag TV shows. For me,
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READY THE RUNWAY: Poison Waters getting fitted in her outfit for SH/FT 2021. Right: A process sketch from Team Poison Waters.
being able to be the first drag queen that some of these people had an interaction with—that’s an important thing. I take it seriously. Have you seen the designs yet? Yes, I have. Drag queens, we’re just naturally competitive, and even though this isn’t a contest, I already know that I won. My team knocked it out of the park. But all the outfits are completely different. I chose the models specifically for their differences—physical differences, nationality differences, style differences. Part of the challenge was for the designers to try to match the personality of these individual queens. There’re some that are just wow! An over-the-top costume. Mine I could wear to the opera after this. How did you get involved with the SH/FT fashion show? I’ve hosted events for over 30 years here in Portland. The first SH/FT fashion show I hosted wasn’t explicitly for youths to work with professional designers. There were some adult novice designers. But I remember this one young 8-year-old, his outfit blew me away.
Creative kids I especially feel for. The kids from this year really wanted to express themselves and had a passion for this project—specifically for designing for drag queens. After meeting their parents, I know the parents as well. The parents at home are struggling: “How do I inspire my kid? How do I keep them engaged?” This project is fun and flashy, but there’s a deeper purpose to it. Helping these kids embrace their creativity and find a sense of purpose in this wacky year—it’s just really important. WATCH: SH/FT: An Experiment in Fashion Design streams at 6:30 pm Thursday, May 13. See facebook.com/YoungAudiencesOregon for registration and streaming information.
SPORTS B R U C E E LY/ P O R T L A N D T R A I L B L A Z E R S
GAME ON Blazer fans came back to Moda Center this week— a few of them, anyway. Here’s what it looked like. Rip City returned at 6:48 pm on May 7, when fans first booed the Los Angeles Lakers. “Sounds good already,” remarked public address announcer Mark Mason to the 1,939 people allowed inside Moda Center for the first game in a year. Then they started booing the visitors and chanting “Beat L.A.!” “Sounds even better,” Mason quipped. Blazers basketball—that ritual of resentment, anxiety and gratitude to Damian Lillard—was back. Sort of. Oregon health officials limited seating at Moda Center to 10% of capacity, and the team scattered clusters of ticketholders who arrived together as far apart from each other as possible, sometimes mixed in with the cardboard cutouts that had served as this season’s fans until now. The visual effect in the arena was that of campsites dotting the rim of a canyon. The atmosphere was sort of like that, too: Each knot of families and friends keeping their own company in the low light, eating snacks, watching Lillard drain majestic rainbows below. If the cheering at most Portland games sounds like a 747 at takeoff, this was closer to a prop plane at Hillsboro Airport. It was just loud enough that individual heckles directed toward the Lakers’ Anthony Davis were difficult to discern. One man brought a set of Fred Meyer-branded inflatable “thunder sticks,” which he slapped together as Davis shot free throws. He was the only one. On the Jumbotron at roughly 20-minute intervals, Mason reminded people to stay 6 feet away from strangers: “Thank you for doing your part to keep Rip City healthy.” Standards slipped in the second half. At least a dozen fans danced for stadium cameras with their face masks around their chins, the tallboys clutched in their hands the reason and the excuse for bending the rules. (People could remove masks to take a swig, the rules said.) Still, the feeling persisted that Blazermaniacs were setting foot back into the world uneasily, gingerly—not yet emotionally equipped to let loose. Perhaps that was because the game was tight and choppy, with no barrage of buckets to provide catharsis. In the fourth quarter, when a couple of calls went against the home team, a few fans tried to start a “Ref, you suck!” chant. It didn’t stick. Too soon. AARON MESH.
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SPORTS Photos by Chris Nesseth | @chrisnesseth
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FEATURE
SAM GEHRKE
FOOD & DRINK
garage-style doors allow for plenty of airflow while you’re waiting in line for a drink. It’s no wonder the brewery’s zip-up hoodie- and baseball cap-wearing clientele seem as laid back as ever.
TOP 5
BUZZ LIST
Where to get drinks this week, one way or another.
4. Someday
1. Rose & Thistle Public House
BRIAN BURK
2314 NE Broadway, 503-287-8582, roseandthistlepdx.com. 3-11 pm daily. While the volume level is often set to “boisterous,” this punky Scottish tavern is a classic neighborhood pub at heart, with enough nooks and crannies to hide in if tossing darts or yelling at the Blazers on the telly isn’t your vibe. That’s especially true on the sprawling multilevel patio tucked out back, and even more so now, as the bar’s COVID-proofing has spread out tables and even created some semiprivate booths along the perimeter.
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 tightknit. 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. 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 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.
WHOLE LATKA LOVE: Potato pancakes from Sweet Lorraine’s.
Like Bubbe Used to Make
If you’re missing New York—and/or your Jewish grandmother— Sweet Lorraine’s will fill the latke-shaped hole in your heart. BY JAS O N CO H E N
5224 SE 26th Ave., 503-208-3416, giganticbrewing.com. Noon-9 pm daily. Even during the social distancing era, Gigantic Brewing’s taproom remains one of the friendliest places to drink in the neighborhood. Hidden in the industrial area west of Reed College, the wide picnic tables make social distancing relatively easy, and the
2133 SE 11th Ave., 971-990-9887, deadshotpdx.com. 4-10 pm WednesdayFriday, 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. kake 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.
TOP 5
HOT PLATES Where to eat this week.
AARON LEE
For the cart, the pair asked people what kind of food they loved—and missed—the most. The biggerIt’s Hanukkah year-round at the Killingsworth Sta- than-a-fist knish is mashed potatoes and onions tion food cart pod—or, at least, a reasonable facsimi- inside a pastry shell, essentially the Ashkenazi Jewle of the Lower East Side of New York. ish version of a dumpling or pierogi, served with deli In any case, the pod is where Aaron Tomasko and mustard on the side. The kugel is savory rather than Rachel Brashear of Sweet Lorraine’s Latkes & More sweet, a rich and hearty spinach and cheese baked are serving voluptuous potato pancakes, as well as pasta. The crispy, pillowy latkes are fried to order, knishes, kugel, kasha varnishkes and East Coast with three regular varieties available (classic potato sweets. In other words, Jewish grandma cuisine. and onion, spinach and feta, and cheddar-jalapeño) That’s literally what it is: The cart is named after and come with the traditional accompaniment Tomasko’s maternal grandmother, while also refer- of sour cream and applesauce. Special latkes and encing the 1928 standard made most famous by Nat knishes rotate in and out. King Cole, which Tomasko’s grandfather Gerry used If that sounds a little carb-heavy, maybe skip to sing to her. the kasha varnishkes—bow tie noodles with butter, Tomasko and Brashear are both working musicians onions and buckwheat groats—as your side dish and music teachers. Needless to say, neither of them in favor of the kale wheat berry salad. You need to has been performing much music for the past year. save room for dessert, which might include a black“The time in lockdown gave us an opportunity to and-white cookie, a “devil dog” that’s too high end rethink our futures and identities,” says Tomasko. to truly evoke the packaged Drake’s cake, and that “We wanted to do something with our lives to help fabled New York specialty the egg cream, which has us connect with our community as well as reconnect neither egg nor cream but is something like an ice with our roots.” cream soda without ice cream: seltzer, Fox’s U-Bet Tomasko’s grandparents lived in Long Island and chocolate syrup, and whole milk. South Florida, while his great-grandparents were Given that New York is now without St. Marks Russian immigrants. But he was born and raised in Place egg cream stalwart Gem Spa, you might also Oklahoma, which he and Brashear left five years ago say that the corner of North Killingsworth Street and to move to Portland. The couple had always cooked Maryland Avenue is now Portland’s East Village. this kind of food at home since it was hard to find in either place. Tomasko’s latkes, in particular, always ‚ EAT: Sweet Lorraine’s Latkes & More, 1331 N Killingsworth St., sweetlorraineslatkes. got a big response from friends and family each squarespace.com. 11:30 am-3:30 pm MondayHanukkah. Tuesday, noon-8 pm Thursday-Sunday. “Food is the thread that connects our family,” he says. “It has always been how we express love to each other.” @cohenesque
3. Gigantic Brewing
5. Deadshot
1. Momo Master
1533 NE Alberta St. 11 am-9 pm daily. Regulars at Alberta’s Bantu Island pod have an appetizing new option: the Momo Master. To try all of the titular Himalayan dumplings, get the “Plattery,” a sampler of the three styles the cart offers. The veggie dumplings made with Impossible Burger aren’t to be missed—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.
2. Screen Door Pearl
1131 NW Couch St., screendoorrestaurant.com. 9 am-8 pm daily. After a yearlong delay, the first westside location of Southeast Portland brunch staple Screen Door is finally opening this week. In addition to possibly (hopefully) alleviating one of Portland’s most famously packed waitlists, the new restaurant will have a larger kitchen, allowing for an expanded menu—which includes serving the famous chicken and waffles all day, rather than just during brunch and lunch.
3. Tokyo Sando
321 SW 2nd Ave., tokyosando.com. 11:30 am-3 pm Wednesday-Monday. Portland is in a love affair with Japanese-style sandwiches, and Tokyo native Taiki Nakajima is perhaps the city’s best purveyor. His take on a Nagoya-style pork cutlet—breaded in housemade panko and topped with a dollop of miso sauce, black garlic furi-
4. Holler
7119 SE Milwaukie Ave., 971-200-1391, hollerpdx.com. 11 am-10 pm MondayThursday, 10 am-10 pm FridaySaturday. After hitting the pause button last year, Holler is finally ready to welcome customers into its new space. The poultry-focused offerings are the result of chef Doug Adams’ popular fried chicken Sundays at Bullard. The birds’ buttermilk-coated skin, and limited availability, made the dish an instant hit and natural concept to spin off on its own.
5. Everybody Eats
138 NW 10th Ave., 503-318-1619, everybodyeatspdx.com. 11 am-3 pm and 5-11 pm Tuesday-Saturday. Launching as a catering service on the outer eastside, Everybody Eats has moved into the heart of the Pearl District, bringing a menu inspired by co-owner Johnny Huff Jr.’s family roots in Texas and Louisiana. The showstopper is the Ultimate Seafood Mac-and-Cheese: shrimp, lobster and crab mixed in with cheese sauce and noodles, with half a lobster tail, two prawns and lump of crab meat on top.
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PERFORMANCE
Editor: Andi Prewitt | Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com JENNI GREEN MILLER
MUSIC Written by: Daniel Bromfield | @bromf3
Now Hear This
Listening recommendations from the past, present, Portland and the periphery. SOMETHING OLD It wouldn’t be surprising if Julian Lynch had started composing 2010’s Mare by jotting down a list of all the sounds that work most primally on the stoned brain: wah-wah guitars, dewy pearls of bass, bongos, bells that glitter like gems. This is an indica dream, balmy and humid, best enjoyed while sedentary, occasionally noisy but mostly slow and hypnotic, and always full of fascinating little details in the margins. Few albums sound so alive while lulling you to sleep at the same time. SOMETHING NEW
OUT FOR BLOOD: A scene from “Deep State News,” the second act in Hand2Mouth’s latest film, which riffs on QAnon conspiracy theories.
Distress Call
Hand2Mouth serves up comedy, comfort and political satire in Is Anybody Out There? We’re Right Here. BY BE N N E T T C A M P B E L L FERGUS O N
If you have ever wondered about the love lives of electric toothbrushes, you need to see Is Anybody Out There? We’re Right Here, a funny and surreal new film from Hand2Mouth Theatre. In the project’s first act, we enter a bathroom where a cocky, deep-voiced brush is lusting for its tall, seductive counterpart. “Let’s brush!” the second brush says with relish. That scene could only have come from Hand2Mouth. Whether it’s chronicling the history of Oregon communes in Psychic Utopia or sending audiences on a psychedelic quest in Dream|Logic, the company has often merged the intensely bizarre with the irrevocably human. Two toothbrushes in love might seem strange, but the yearning that drives their awkward attempts to connect are nothing if not relatable. Hand2Mouth hit a new creative high last month with Distancias, a collaboration with Moriviví that offered a satirical and soulful vision of life during COVID-19. If Distancias was a seasoned older sibling, Is Anybody Out There? is a struggling younger child. It revisits the same themes—including urban isolation and online extremism—but it isn’t as profound as its predecessor. That doesn’t mean you should skip Is Anybody Out There? Like Distancias, it is an ocean of wondrous images and provocative ideas. You may be left feeling baffled or disoriented, but that’s part of the thrill. Hand2Mouth has a history of challenging your beliefs about what theater can be—and the new film upholds that tradition, even when it stumbles over its sweeping ambitions. Is Anybody Out There? is split into three vignettes, the first of which is called “YerToob.” That segment doesn’t just feature the aforementioned toothbrush romance. Scenes unfold on a website where tooth brushing has become fodder for right-wing raging and sports analysis. When a bigoted commentator claims that a particular toothbrush is part of “the never-ending liberal war on gender,” or an ESPN-type pundit analyzes tooth brushing as if 30
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it were part of the Olympics, you marvel at Hand2Mouth’s uncanny understanding of how the fanatical attention to detail common in the information age has distorted the truth instead of illuminating it. That understanding reverberates through the film’s spoofy second act, “Deep State News,” which is about a television program that breaks stories that sound like the worst fears of conservative conspiracists. The deep state has its own version of CNN! Joe Biden has a clone! Babies are being eaten! “Deep State News” cleverly riffs on the outlandish yarns spun by QAnon believers, but it is a superficial treatment of the topic. While Trump is the star of the far-right narrative, 28% of the Q sympathizers surveyed in a 2020 Tufts University poll said that they planned to vote for Joe Biden. Voters of multiple persuasions are so disenchanted with American politics that they have been willing to believe repellent lies spreading through our post-Pizzagate world—a disquieting reality that “Deep State News” chooses to ignore rather than investigate. Is Anybody Out There? concludes with “Little Brown Box,” an ethereal montage that tries to comfort viewers struggling with pandemic fatigue (“It’s going to be OK,” a voice echoes) but leaves you feeling frustrated. What made Distancias meaningful was its insistence that it was OK to burst into tears. While “Little Brown Box” means well, it tries too hard to cheer you up. Yet there are other moments when Is Anybody Out There? makes your soul expand with joy—especially during the hilariously absurd “YerToob” scenes in which characters discover everything from earrings to a person in their mouths. One of the most memorable lines in the film is, “Like it or not, the earth is where we make our stand.” If that’s true, Is Anybody Out There? is at its best when it makes its stand with a sense of mischief. SEE IT: Is Anybody Out There? We’re Right Here streams at hand2mouththeatre.org/is-anybody-out-there-were-righthere. $15-$25.
If your image of DRAM isn’t the joyful prankster of “Cha-Cha” and “Broccoli” but of a man standing rapturously in front of a Tiny Desk Concert band, beaming and treading water with his hands, Shelley FKA DRAM is for you. Now using his birth name, Shelley Massenburg-Smith devotes his second and best album to smooth, romantic, slightly goofy funk soul guided by drums as slow and impassive as the ones Questlove used to steer D’Angelo’s Voodoo down the Styx. SOMETHING LOCAL Alien Boy has signed with Get Better Records and released “Stuck (Radio Mix),” their first single in almost three years. Halfway between the fiery sentimentality of Team Dresch and the skewed pop-romantic sensibilities of Kiss Me-era Cure, “Stuck” could be the theme song for the grodiest, most punk-rock sitcom on Portland television. We’ll have to wait to see whether the “Radio Edit” qualifier is ironic or not, but at just under three minutes, “Stuck” doesn’t stay stuck in one place for long. SOMETHING ASKEW Geir Jenssen’s love of ambient music is matched only by his love of mountaineering. So while ascending the Himalayan peak of Cho Oyu, what could he do but bring some recording equipment along? Cho Oyu 8201m—Field Recordings From Tibet is an audio journey up the peak, alternating between snatches of music and the unadorned sound of the environment, the altitude increasing as it goes on until it ends with two minutes of eerie stillness called “Summit.”
POTLANDER
Galaxy Brain Moon rocks produce a next-level high made for advanced stoners only. They’re one Portland dispensary’s specialty. BY BRIA N N A W H E E L E R
Near the west end of North Lombard Street, on the farthest fringes of the St. Johns business district, is Club Sky High, a small, full-service dispensary that specializes in a unique cannabis product typically reserved for the stoniest of stoners: moon rocks. For the uninitiated, a moon rock is a half-to-singlegram nug that’s been saturated in cannabis extract and encrusted with weed crystals. As the name suggests, moon rocks are created with the intention of generating astronomical highs—or, in the case of non-psychotropic strains, powerfully potent hits—and Club Sky High takes particular pride in its version, going so far as to brand its store “Home of the Moon Rocks.” Club Sky High features two strains currently: Dawg Cookies and Wedding Cake. Naturally, we had to try both, even if it kept us stoned for the rest of the week…more stoned than usual, anyway. Moon rocks have always been a niche, hard-to-find item. As dabbing and vaping continue to rise in popularity, the pre-rec appeal of space nugs feels even more nostalgic. But moon rocks are more than just a sentimental way to indulge in nostalgia for the prohibition era: The high they produce is unique, and well worth any varsity stoner’s attention. WW auditioned both in-stock varieties of Club Sky High’s moon rocks and found that the complexity of a whole plant steeped in full-spectrum concentrates and blanketed in a cashmere layer of sparkling kief offered distinct highs that measured up to even the headiest of high-potency dabs or edibles.
I N S TAG R A M . C O M / C L U B S K Y H I G H _ P DX
WEED FROM ANOTHER WORLD: Moon rocks are nugs that have been saturated in cannabis extract and encrusted with weed crystals.
Night One
Day Two
Strain: Dawg Cookies, 51.41% THC
Strain: Wedding Cake, 48.44% THC
I took this indica-leaning moon rock with me to share with my crew while we watched the season premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under. As the new class of Australian queens walked into the workroom, I took note of each of my squad’s current resting states. Homie #1 had already puffed a half-gram joint and was now sipping a hard seltzer. Homie #2 was operating on the same level, but had also eaten an edible he was hoping would kick in mid-episode. Homie #3 and I were both fundamentally sober, having not smoked at all for at least a few hours. Homie #4 is California sober and has successfully been using cannabis as a tool for his sobriety. He had a joint that he relit every 10 to 15 minutes to take a single hit, and then put it out again. He was not a fan of the terminology in play as I packed a lineup of glass pipes with fat rocks, which was understandable. We started calling them “asteroids” instead. The asteroid I brought to share was a full gram, and surprisingly, it was more than enough for the five of us. I used a pair of small scissors to break it apart, and the nug cut easily. The look of these “rocks” implied some level of rigidity, and I was prepared for a chunk to shoot out from under the blade like a shard of rock candy, but I found the scissors cut through the bud pretty easily. One gram-sized moon rock comfortably filled the individual bowls of five different smokers, twice. I was duly impressed with the density. As soon as Homie #1 took her first hit, she turned to me and said, “I can’t believe how fast I just got high.” Her onset hit her like a bolt of electricity, and she was stunned with both the potency and the nuance of the high. She was chatty and giggly, but not obnoxiously so. Her high seemed both manageable and uplifting. Homie #2’s edible began to percolate around the same time he lit his first bowl, but despite that double-decker onset, he never seemed over-intoxicated or inarticulate. His moon-rock hits seemed to play relatively well with the cannabis already working through his system, which we all agreed was a bonus. Homie #3 and I were both in and out of canna-tonic states, not quite couch-locked but still a bit too stoned to divide our attention between studying and discussing the drag queens. I spent the rest of the evening leaning into my television tunnel vision, but retained nothing and had to rewatch the whole episode the next day. Homie #5 quit his pipe after one hit, deciding that this particular product was outside of his realm of understanding, and he was far more comfortable relighting the same joint for an hour. He’d save the blasting off for the rest of us. The high was notably long lasting. The program played for more than an hour, and by the time we said our goodbyes, maybe two hours after our first hits, I was still feeling like a cartoon astronaut. My stroll home felt like a weightless space walk. I slept soundly and woke refreshed the next morning.
Wedding Cake is also an indica-leaning hybrid with just enough sativa genetics to keep the high creatively engaging. Typically, I would choose a strain like this for weekend shenanigans, so it stood to reason that puffing a bowl of this moon rock first thing Sunday morning would ensure a proper kickoff to my day of rest. Without a squad to engage with, I was compelled to explore my high with a more focused lens than I had the night before. I used the same simple pipe, not wanting to accidentally suck the meat of a good moon rock into the downstem of my bong. I invited my partner to join me for the smoke session, and although he enthusiastically agreed, I could see him reconsidering when he saw how the first hit affected me. While I found the hits to be relatively gentle the night before, my first pull of the pipe this Sunday morning punched me in the chest with the same frame-rattling intensity of my very first dab. I clutched my psychological pearls, took a knee on the floor of my basement stone zone, and moaned out loud, “Whyyyyy?!” By the time I got myself together enough to stand back up, my partner had finally psyched himself up enough to take his own first hit. He was not nearly as knocked out as I was. In fact, he took his one hit in stride and continued going about the rest of his day in a cloud of mellow contentment perfectly on brand for his particular flavor of stoner dad. It’s worth noting that his one hit comprised maybe 1/18th of the total weight of the nug. Lightweight. Myself, I took several more hits, maybe smoking a quarter gram by myself. Just like last night’s nugs, each hit had the mouthfeel of dank weed, the earthy aroma of blended kief, and the terp-heavy finish of concentrate. Once the intense onset relaxed, my high began to blossom into something softer. It developed into something cushiony yet elastic and soupy yet creative, I was chilled out, but I was also comfortably wading in a sea of psychotropia. I was relaxed but also thrilled by each tiny pleasure I came across. It was, in essence, the perfect high for a purposefully lazy Sunday. Without the overstimulation of the night before, the high was far more manageable, and while these were fun to share with the squad, there was also great value in smoking them without social distraction.
Bottom Line When you want to get astronomically high in a way more complex and multifaceted than you might with extracts, concentrates or flowers alone, there are only moon rocks. And both Club Sky High’s varieties were worth the tunnel vision, the chokeslam, and my husband’s side eye as I Tebowed the basement floor. BUY IT: Club Sky High 8975 N Lombard St., 503-719-5801, clubskyhigh.net. Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
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Editor: Andi Prewitt / Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com T R A’ R E N E E C H A M B E R S
screener
MOVIES
1. Michelle Obama How in the world did she manage to maintain her sense of self and integrity being the first Black first lady? You know, all the pressures and hate coming toward you. How did you manage to stay so graceful and sane?
PHOTO: Caption tktktk
2. Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell Was he clear about the role he was stepping into? And does he feel like this is a job one person can actually manage? Lovell’s interview is supposed to be our Situations & Conversations finale. He’s agreed to come on and address kids’ concerns about police in the community.
Longtime local TV and radio host Tra’Renee Chambers has a new talk show with a focus on social justice.
4. Justin Timberlake I’ve had the biggest crush on him for forever. But he still has explaining to do about Janet Jackson. He recently apologized and all that, but that’s so late. I would ask him straight out, what took you so long? Why didn’t you speak up?
BY C H A N C E S O L E M - P F E I FER
5. George W. Bush I want to know how he felt when Kanye West said that he doesn’t care about Black folks. What would you say to Kanye now? I am so curious.
@chance_s_p
Tra’Renee Chambers can recall a cable guy visiting her childhood home. His purview was the usual cable guy stuff, but he somehow wound up spilling a lifetime of tribulations to the teenage Chambers. “He was sitting there, extremely vulnerable, talking about his failing marriage,” she says, “and I thought to myself, ‘Why is this man telling me all of this stuff?’” In retrospect, that memory elucidates one of Chambers’ standout broadcasting gifts. In addition to a quick-thinking, affable manner and commitment to community engagement that helped her become a staple on Portland TV and radio, it’s both a natural and nurtured openness that defines the licensed clinical social worker’s new KATU talk show, Situations & Conversations With Tra’Renee. Chambers’ 32
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6. Tom Hanks I want to ask him about parenting. You know Chet Hanks? I’m just curious! 7. Larry David I want to understand how he’s basically turned an everyday person into a whole sitcom, twice. Not only that, but how do you have any friends? Everybody really needs a friend like Larry David, but I don’t know if you want a friend like Larry David. SEE IT: Situations & Conversations With Tra’Renee airs on KATU at 4:30 pm Sundays.
Funny Ha Ha (2002) Marnie is 23, stuck in that post-grad rut, ping-ponging between different temp jobs and crushing on her friend Alex even though he loves someone else. Shot on 16 mm and cited as the first mumblecore film in the canon, Andrew Bujalski’s naturalistic dramedy demonstrates how the seemingly trivial issues of being a 20-something can still feel monumental. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Fandor, Google Play, Kanopy, Mubi, Vudu, YouTube.
Smooth Talk (1985) Laura Dern shines in her feature film debut, based on the acclaimed Joyce Carol Oates short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Set during a sweltering summer, Dern plays a rebellious 15-year-old who is constantly flirting with disaster (i.e., boys)—until she unintentionally attracts the attention of a dangerously smooth-talking older man (Treat Williams). Criterion Channel.
The Color Wheel (2011) After JR (Carlen Altman) breaks up with her older professor boyfriend, she enlists her brother Colin (Alex Ross Perry, who also directs) to accompany her on a road trip and help her move out. Featuring rapid-fire dialogue and 16 mm blackand-white cinematography, this highly polarizing dramedy about highly dysfunctional people culminates in a shocking 10-minute take. Apple TV, Fandor, Google Play, iTunes, Kanopy, Mubi, Vudu, YouTube. IMDB.COM
Conversation Piece
3. Queen Latifah Her coming up as a woman in hip-hop in the ’80s and ’90s, I would love to know how she maneuvered that world when a woman’s place was definitely not celebrated in hip-hop. And then catapulting and evolving into all the things she is: singer, actress, talk show host, producer. Talk about someone I’d want to model my career after!
While local rep theaters are out of commission, we’ll be putting together weekly watchlists of films readily available to stream. This week, we’re highlighting down-to-earth, dialogue-driven dramedies that illustrate how subtlety can be a strength in and of itself.
I N T E R N AT I O N A L S P E C T R A F I L M / E V E R E T T
guests often come on to unpack challenging lived experiences, like racial insensitivity within their own families, discrimination against children of color, and sex education roadblocks. And just as often, both guest and host are so present, so involved in the interview that commercial breaks sneak up from nowhere. “I felt this need to do something within my gifts that would benefit our community,” says Chambers, who’s rebooted Situations & Conversations from its first iteration as a public affairs radio show in the early 2000s. After departing the KATU lifestyle program Afternoon Live last year, Chambers sought to refocus her broadcasting on social justice issues and is now the first Black woman to host and produce a TV show in the greater Portland area. That’s a milestone Chambers says she didn’t realize until after she’d passed it, as she’s long tried to serve as a resource for Black Portlanders in one of America’s whitest major cities. “You hear a lot of people [in Portland] talking about people of color, but you don’t necessarily hear a lot of people of color talking about themselves!” she says. “That bothers me, because who’s going to represent you if not you?” Currently midway through Season 1 of Situations & Conversations, Chambers also helms the long-running Tra’Renee Show on JAM’N 107.5 FM as well as an Instagram Live show called She Said…He Said, which covers movies and television. Continuing our Essential Seven series, we asked Chambers to name seven dream Situations & Conversations guests and what she’d ask them.
GET YO UR REPS I N
Girlfriends (1978) Before Girls and Greta Gerwig probed the highs and lows of New York City women and their relationships, there was Claudia Weill’s dramedy Girlfriends. When her best friend moves out of their apartment to live with her boyfriend, photographer Susan grapples with her newfound loneliness as well as her Jewish identity. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Criterion Channel, Google Play, Hulu, Sling TV, Vudu, YouTube.
Princess Cyd (2017) When freewheeling 16-year-old Cyd stays with her novelist aunt for the summer, the pair inspire and challenge each other to grow, both creatively and personally. A heartwarming dramedy about how having a lesbian niece can and will change your life for the better. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Hulu, Kanopy, Vudu, YouTube.
MOVIES OUTSIDER PICTURES
TOP PICK OF THE WEEK
RK/RKAY
Mahboob is a fictional character, but that doesn’t stop him from making real-life mayhem in this cheeky comedy from Indian filmmaker Rajat Kapoor. Kapoor stars as RK, a somber visionary who directs himself in a film about Mahboob, a mustachioed romantic who is murdered in a forest. Rather than face his morbid fate, Mahboob hails a taxi that inexplicably transports him out of the film and into RK’s life, where he pleads for his creator to spare him. RK/RKAY could have been a Truman Show-style meditation on faith and free will, but Kapoor is more interested in asking witty questions. How do you report a fictitious person missing to the police? How do you return him to your imagination? What do you do when his diabolical nemesis (Ranvir Shorey) follows him into the real world with a lethal grudge? The answers that the film offers are delightfully clever and deliciously bizarre. Kapoor seems to be meditating on what happens when a director is drawn too deeply into his art, but allegorical baggage never weighs down the film. He keeps the mood playful, setting the stage for a magnificently wacky ending that suggests the only thing stranger than cinema is life. NR. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Virtual Cinema.
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 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 waitfor-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.
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 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.
The Columnist “Never read the comments.” That is the golden rule of online content creation. And yet, when your job requires any sort of internet presence, it’s nearly impossible to avoid. Femke Boot (Katja Herbers) is a columnist for a popular Dutch magazine. Because her articles tend to focus on women and/or politics, Femke is constantly being harassed with vile Twitter replies and death threats—all perpetrated by men. This is an all too common problem for women who dare to post their opinions online, and Femke is justifiably fed up. So, when the police won’t do anything, she takes matters into her own hands by going on a killing spree. This is where the catharsis is supposed to kick in. And it does, somewhat, but there is a vital nuance missing. What the male writers and director of this icy thriller gloss over is that we don’t necessarily purely want revenge on these bullies. While retaliation is always cinematic and awesome, women really just want to be seen as people,
not faceless vessels for others to project their own insecurities onto. As a result, the end product feels flattened and surface level, its innovative and relevant premise held back from reaching its full potential. Still cool to see bigots get wrecked, though. NR. MIA VICINO. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube.
What Lies West Although centered on two very different more-than-girls, notyet-women paired by fate for a late-summer escapade of unexpected resonance, What Lies West never quite feels like a coming-ofage flick. That’s probably because none of the characters, young or old, ever do. The world of overburdened, emotionally stunted burnouts unwilling or unable to grow up should’ve rightly fueled a scathing satire. Nicolette (Nicolette Kaye Ellis), a floundering recent theater grad-turned-hopeful social media influencer, certainly veers cartoonish, as does the helicoptering yoga mom (Anna Peterson) who hires Nicolette to babysit her misanthropic 16-yearold daughter Chloe (Chloe Moore) for reasons impossible to take seriously. The young women manage to bond and embark on a 40-mile hike across Sonoma County—a sloppily planned trudge undertaken by clumsy amateurs with a vague purpose and poor direction. Despite all that, some adventures ensue. As much as the film trembles before the suffocating oppression of parental fears, this is the safest possible telling of an absolutely meaningless tale. Writer-director Jessica Ellis’ debut is formulaic and panders to its only conceivable audience: the ever-growing throngs of nascent auteurs inspired by the idea that anyone can make movies, which is What Lies West surely proves. NR. JAY HORTON. Amazon Prime, Google Play, On Demand.
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ART N’ COMICS!
Be a Willamette Week featured artist! Any art style is welcome! Let’s share your art! Contact us at art@wweek.com.
FEATURED ARTIST: Neil H. Simon
I French-Kissed a Stranger Covid and quarantine, it’s been beyond boring. Even those healthy, still felt blue Now one year on, when will this be gone? We really don’t have a clue. All wearing our masks, “How much longer,” we ask. With each sneeze we worry of danger. Vaccines are out, we all give a shout. This morning I shook hands with a stranger. Still empty theaters, libraries without readers, Our favorite teams play without fans Restaurants are cooking, but less seats are booking, all food goes to delivery vans. Wait? What’s that sound, a food court with a crowd? What a pleasure to see people exchange their overjoyed smiles. It’s been quite a while. Today I gave a hug to a stranger. With each web-based meeting, is the day slow or fleeting? The hours count down all online. We’re so sick of Zooms as the pandemic still looms, and we are all doing ‘just fine.’ Basic touch is lacking, no human contacting A connection, we’d love to arrange here. After a year being couped up, our tongues finally looped up, Neil H. Simon And tonight I French-kissed a stranger. lives in Portland. -Neil Simon, April 24, 2021 Twitter:@neilhsimon
JACK KENT’S
Jack draws exactly what he sees n’ hears from the streets. IG @sketchypeoplepdx kentcomics.com
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Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
JONESIN’
Week of May 20
©2021 Rob Brezsny
by Matt Jones
"Free Game!"--it's themeless time again.
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Aries playwright Samuel Beckett wrote the play *Waiting for Godot*. At one point in the tale, the character named Estragon suggests it might be possible, even desirable, to "dance first and think afterwards." In response, the character named Pozzo says, "By all means, nothing simpler. It’s the natural order." With that in mind, and in accordance with astrological omens, I am going to encourage you to dance first and think afterwards as much as possible in the coming weeks. In my opinion, your ability to analyze and reason will thrive to the degree that you encourage your body to engage in enjoyable free-form play. Your power to make good decisions will grow as you take really good care of your physical organism and give it an abundance of pleasure and release.
My friend Jenny's Swedish grandmother used to say to her on a semi-regular basis, *"Åh tänk om vi vore korkade, vi skulle vara så lyckliga,"* meaning, "If only we were stupid, we would be so happy." In the coming weeks, I am asking you to disprove that folk wisdom. According to my analysis of the astrological potentials, now is a favorable time for you to explore ways in which your intelligence might enhance and deepen your enjoyment of life. Your motto should be: "The smarter we are, the happier we will be."
As you enter a phase when gradual, incremental progress is the best progress possible, I offer you the concluding lines of Taurus poet Adrienne Rich's poem "From a Survivor": "not as a leap, but a succession of brief, amazing movements, each one making possible the next." I especially want to call your attention to the fact that the small steps can be "brief, amazing movements." Don't underestimate the power of minor, subtle, regular breakthroughs.
Sometime soon I invite you to speak a message similar to what poet Kenneth Rexroth once delivered to a special person in his life. He wrote, "Your tongue thrums and moves / Into me, and I become / Hollow and blaze with / Whirling light, like the inside / Of a vast expanding pearl"Do you know anyone who might be receptive to hearing such lyrical praise? If not, create a fantasy character in your imagination to whom you can say it. On the other hand, maybe you do know a real person who would appreciate an earthier, less poetical tribute. If so, please convey it; something akin to this: "Your influence on me amplifies my ability to be my best self." Now is a perfect time to honor and extol and reward those who move you and excite you.
GEMINI (May 21-June20)
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
Here's a public service announcement for you Geminis from the planet and god Mercury: You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were three years ago, or six months ago, or last week—or even five minutes ago, for that matter. Mercury furthermore wants you to know that you have been authorized to begin a period of improvisation and experimentation, hopefully guided by a single overriding directive: what feels most fun and interesting to you. In the coming weeks it will be more important to create yourself anew than to know precisely who you are. ACROSS 1 Garden fixture 8 It's not the R in "MMR", but another name for measles 15 Before 16 Maroons 17 Misheard phrase such as "nerve-wrecking" 18 Thought that one could 19 Complete beginner? 20 Martial arts-based Lego set that launched a cartoon and subsequent movie 22 Req. for a restaurant to serve alcohol 23 Eric who said "I believe in the separation of church and planet"
49 Award given to "Nomadland" for Best Film in April 2021
21 Big no-no for stand-up comedians
51 Line parts (abbr.)
24 King nicknamed "Longshanks"
52 Dijon's here
26 Sucky situations
53 Santa Monica area in early skateboard documentaries
28 Professional staff
55 Biden, to GIs
30 Ali who had a perfect record in the ring
56 Beauty chain since 1970
32 One, in Bonn
58 Model who's the daughter of Wayne Gretzky
34 La la leader?
60 About .035 ounces
37 Canine neighbor
61 Connecticut-born cartoonist known for big stripey cats
36 March Madness event 38 Division of the Tertiary period
63 Like old parchment
39 Former Mexican president CalderÛn and baseball manager Alou, for two
62 Say again
DOWN
41 Puerto Rico observatory site where a notable telescope collapsed in 2020
26 Dal _ _ _ (Rajasthani dish with wheat bread and ghee)
1 Spell out
42 City north of Flint
2 Rooted for
27 "Barbarella" actress
43 Chianti's region
3 Malaysian-born comedian who gained fame in 2020 for his online cooking reviewer persona Uncle Roger
46 Visit
25 Spread for some bougie brewpubs
29 Heart diagnostic, for short 30 Lammermoor bride of opera 31 Virtuoso guitarist Malmsteen 33 Use your break time, in a way 35 In the meantime, in Latin 37 How "Waiting for Godot" was originally presented
4 Happy coworker? 5 About 90% of all refined metal
50 Caffeinated 53 "_ _ _ and the Lost City of Gold" (2019 film)
6 Places in the heart
54 Lacking value
7 Johnson who invented the Super Soaker
59 Rapper _ _ _ Dicky
8 Harmful bloom makeup
40 Jays' and Yanks' div.
9 Long sushi order?
44 Gotta-haves
10 Ballpoint pen, in the U.K.
45 '50s Dem. presidential candidate
11 "Taiwan" suffix
47 Chilean pianist Claudio
13 Wright who played Shuri in "Black Panther"
48 E. _ _ _ (rod-shaped bacteria)
49 He was in a "Subsequent Moviefilm"
12 Arsenic partner, in film
14 Withdrawn, perhaps
57 Companion of wt.
last week’s answers
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
CANCER (June 21-July 22) As a Zen Buddhist priest for 47 years, Kōshō Uchiyama was knowledgeable about the power that illusions can wield over our imaginations. "If we're not careful," he said, "we are apt to grant ultimate value to something we've just made up in our heads." I won't tell you the examples from my own life that prove his point, because they're too embarrassing. And I'm happy to report that I don't think you're anywhere near granting *ultimate* value to something you've just made up in your head. But I do advise you to be on the lookout for milder versions of that phenomenon.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Leo-born professor Sibelan Forrester is an expert on charms, spells, and incantations in Russian folklore. She wrote, "An empty place where no one can see or hear what one says is the proper locus for working magic." Spells often start with these words, she added: “I rise up, saying a blessing. I go out, crossing myself, and I go to an open field.” Whether or not you have Russian heritage, Leo, I see the immediate future as being a good time for you to perform magic in an open field with no one else around. What might be the intention of your magic? How about something like this: “I ask my guides and ancestors to help me offer my most inspired largesse so as to serve the health and inspiration and liberation of the people whose lives I touch.”
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Spiritual author Stephen Russell wrote, "Don’t mask or deny your vulnerability: It is your greatest asset." That's an exaggeration, in my opinion. Vulnerability is a greater asset than your intelligence, compassion, and creativity? Not in my view. But I do recognize the high value of vulnerability, especially for you Virgos during the next three weeks. "Be vulnerable," Russell continues. "Quake and shake in your boots with it. The new bounty and beauty that are coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things, can only come to you when you are vulnerable—open."
Author Aldous Huxley said, "I can sympathize with people’s pains, but not with their pleasures. There is something curiously boring about somebody else’s happiness." To that I reply, "Other people's pleasure and happiness bored you? Maybe you were suffering from raging narcissism and an addiction to cynicism." In any case, Sagittarius, I hope you won't be like Huxley in the next few weeks. I believe you could glean useful insights and derive personal benefits from knowing about and appreciating the joys of others.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Capricorn businessman Howard Hughes (1905–1976) had great success early in his life. Working as a film director and aviation pioneer, he became a wealthy philanthropist. But as he aged, he became increasingly eccentric and reclusive. For the last 10 years of his life, he lived in expensive hotels, where he placed strict and often absurd demands on the hotel staff. For example, if he called on room service to bring him a meal that included peas, he would measure the peas with a ruler, and send back any he deemed too big. I do hope that you Capricorns will also have an intense focus on mastering the details in the coming weeks—but not as intense or misguided as that nonsensical obsession.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Aquarian author Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was famous and popular. Audiences packed the halls where he did public lectures and readings. His favorite way to prepare for these evening events was to spend the day drinking a pint of champagne, as well as generous servings of rum, cream, and sherry with eggs beaten into the mix. I don't have a problem with that—whatever works, right?—but I suggest a different approach for your upcoming appointments with greater visibility and prominence. Like what? How about sexy meditations on the gratitude you feel for your expanding possibilities? How about fun fantasies focusing on how you'll use your increased clout?
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) In his upcoming book *The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows*, John Koenig proposes that we begin using "monachopsis," a word he coined. He defines it as follows: "the feeling of being out of place, as maladapted to your surroundings as a seal on a beach—lumbering, clumsy, easily distracted, huddled in the company of other misfits, unable to recognize the ambient roar of your intended habitat, in which you’d be fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home." Even if you have spent too much time lately experiencing monachopsis, my dear, I predict this malaise will soon dissipate and give way to an extended phase of being fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home.
HOMEWORK: Tell me your three most brilliant and useful opinions. Go to FreeWillAstrology.com Check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes & Daily Text Message Horoscopes
©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.
freewillastrology.com The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at
1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 Willamette Week MAY 12, 2021 wweek.com
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PLUS
VOL 46/45 08.19.2020 09.02.2020
NEWS: Ted Wheeler Still Wants This Job. P. 9 • KAYAKING: Holy Toledo! P. 22 • CANNABIS: Strains for Late Summer. P. 25
The Worst-Case Scenario Is Here. P. 9
By Tess Riski Page 11
WWEEK.COM WWEEK.COM VOL 46/43
VOLWWEEK.COM 46/41 08.05.2020 VOL 46/46 09.09.2020
PROTESTS
Night after night, Portlanders confront Trump’s violent police in downtown. It feels like a party, and the end of the world.
VOL 46.40 07.29.2020
By Aaron Mesh | Page 12
By Nigel Jaquiss | Page 13
THE FACEBOOK COAST
WWEEK.COM
WWEEK.COM
Sarah Iannarone?
VOL 46/47 WWEEK.COM
WAR MOVIES
People are more likely to catch COVID east of 82nd Avenue.
That’s also where Portland's housing is the most overcrowded.
TH
R WILL FLY.” P. 52
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09.16.2020 VOL 46/42 08.12.2020
TO PLACE AN AD, CONTACT:
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P. 6
D WAY TOO BORED.” P. 21
VOL09.23.2020 46/44 08.26.2020
to me lco P. 21 Y: We le. OR Jung HISTPiz za the
NEWS: OREGON IS ON FIRE.
WWEEK.COM WWEEK.COM VOL 46/48
COME TO THE CLUB.” P. 21
A HOAX LIKE COVID.” P. 4
OTHING’S PERFECT.’’ P. 28
RECKED.” 22 WEEK? NOT P. REALLY.” P. 29
CLASSIFIEDS
MISS AN INTO THE GAS JAMMED ISSUE NEVER RESPECT MISS AN ISSUE
sunlanlighting.com
P. 24