COURTS: Snitches at the Dumpster Fire. P. 8 STATE: Anybody Wanna Be Governor? P. 9 OUTDOORS: The Coast Hikes Less Traveled. P. 23
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FINDINGS CARYE BYE
PEDALPALOOZA, PAGE 22
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 46, ISSUE 41 City Hall is funding training to help protesters resolve conflicts. 5
This year’s Pedalpalooza includes a Bitcoin-themed bike ride. 22
Nine arrests of black bloc marchers in the past two months relied on the testimony of confidential informants. 8
Don’t let the name “Gnat Creek” fool you—it’s a lovely hike. 23 Daddy Mojo’s has new ownership and a new name, but don’t worry: Mojo’s Sushi is still there. 24
Shemia Fagan isn’t running for
governor. 9
Want to gift someone a weedthemed vibrator for Pride? Good news: They exist! 25
Comic Dahlia Belle hasn’t interacted with any straight people in a year. 12
Wings were weirder than you think. 26
Performers at Bit House Collective’s drag brunch wear bedazzled face shields. 14
Travellers were not recognized as an ethnic minority by the Irish state until 2017. 26
A Portlander designed the Progress Pride Flag. 15
Calls to a Bend-based nonprofit that helps people in abusive relationships plummeted in 2020.
Several varieties of apples once thought extinct have been found growing in Oregon. 20
ON THE COVER:
28
COURTS: Snitches at the Dumpster Fire. P. 8 STATE: Anybody Wanna Be Governor? P. 9 OUTDOORS: The Coast Hikes Less Traveled. P. 23
WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
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Kiki House of Ada founder Daniel Girón, photo by Aaron Lee.
Daniel Gi�ón
Dance Instructor, Founder of the Kiki House of Ada Page 13
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WWEEK.COM
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OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK: Ross fired a Portland employee after he went viral on TikTok.
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DIALOGUE 2021 Astoria Sunday Market Sundays 10-3 May 9-Oct 10
Last month, Gov. Kate Brown offered Oregon businesses a novel choice: They could allow patrons who showed their vaccine cards to go maskless. Oregon is the only state to propose such a policy. Brown’s idea flopped. No major retailer in the Portland area has started checking vaccine cards, instead continuing to require all patrons to wear masks. On May 25, 10 national business associations sent a letter to the Biden administration calling Oregon’s requirement that businesses check vaccine cards “alarming.” Here’s what our readers had to say: SOSPortland, via wweek.com: “I just don’t get why Gov. Brown (and Commissioner [Deborah] Kafoury) don’t trust people. The federal government and the CDC trust people to be honest enough about their vaccine status. Fourteen other states that allow vaccinated people to go maskless seem to trust their community. There haven’t been any noticeable spikes in COVID transmission or deaths resulting from these good-faith policies.”
Downtown Astoria
Kerry Moore, via Facebook: “First of all—trust??? We’ve had lots of time to learn that we can’t ever trust the anti-mask/anti-vaccine mob. I wouldn’t trust them if they said the sky was blue. And asking some poor underpaid dude at the grocery store to ask for proof of vaccination, determine whether or not it’s a forgery bought off eBay, or be shot by someone who compares vaccination rules to Nazi death camps is a horrendous idea.”
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CentralOregonFred, via wweek.com: “Except, Oregon isn’t requiring shops or their employees to check vaccine cards. Shops can continue to do what they’ve done all along; namely, require everyone to wear a mask. That’s what most places are doing. I go to a couple of small local shops that have signs that say ‘masks required or show us your vaccine card,’ but it’s just easier to put on a mask for the short time I’m inside. I don’t get all the butthurt about wearing them.” Malcolm Reilly, via Facebook: “Granted, it’s not the greatest policy, but it did give businesses a choice. There is no requirement that the businesses actually check people’s vaccination cards.”
Dr. Know
@markwoolleygallery: Where do I read Willamette Week? At the cabin next to Still Creek, in the afternoon in the Mt Hood National Forest, accompanied by the New Yorker, a beverage and always a pad and favorite pen...... think about supporting local independent journalism by becoming a friend of WW at wweek.com/support!
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BobTheJanitor2, via wweek.com: “I really don’t get what the fuss is about. I already show some sort of documentation when I buy booze (driver’s license), or get on a plane (passport), or pick up an order I placed online (emailed receipt,) or any number of other things…And in most of those cases I’m showing it to businesses, not the government. Another place to show documentation really isn’t government overreach, and if I don’t like it I can just wear a mask (like I have been for the last year).” Angie Meres, via Facebook: “24 Hour Fitness asks you to show your card if you want to go maskless… my point being there is at least one business doing it. I show mine every visit. I have no doubt the employees at the front desk are not thrilled to be in this position.” Jeff Roth, via wweek.com: “Right? What’s the big secret here? Ever had a tetanus shot? Nobody keeps that a secret. Polio vaccine? Not a big deal. Rabies shots for your dog? Nobody cares. For some reason a COVID vaccine is some kind of violation of privacy? GTFO of here, people.” Alli Sayre, via Facebook: “I don’t think it bombed at all. I think it’s pretty clear the governor wasn’t ready to rescind mask mandates but felt forced to do something after the CDC announcement. This is a win/win for her—people can’t complain she is ignoring the CDC and everyone will still wear masks because 99% of businesses aren’t going to want to check cards.” Matthew Helsley, via Facebook: “They should just keep mask wearing mandatory until they’ve vaccinated 70% of Oregon. Keep it simple: Everyone wears a mask. No exceptions for vaccinated folks. Don’t want to wear a mask? Then get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, encourage your friends and neighbors to so that we reach that threshold sooner.” 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
While we’re solving homelessness by paying Portlanders to leave, can we also bribe the voters in Eastern Oregon, who’d rather secede to the “greener pastures” of Idaho than work to change state policies? —M.A.V. For those who may have missed it in all the off-year special election excitement (those education service district races can be real nail-biters), voters in Baker, Grant, Lake, Malheur and Sherman counties recently approved plans to look into redrawing Oregon’s borders such that those counties would become part of something called Greater Idaho. That said, M., I’m not sure what you’re proposing. Do you want to bribe these counties to secede? I’m no Felicity Huffman, but I’m pretty sure bribery doesn’t mean paying people to do something they were already planning to do. If anything, they should offer us a bribe to agree to their plan. And in fact they have! Sort of. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that none of the seven wannabe Crimeas (Union and Jefferson counties had already approved similar plans) are tax-revenue powerhouses, with an average income per capita that would rank 31st out of 36 if they were a single county. The Citizens for Greater Idaho Facebook group claims taxpayers in northwest Oregon subsi-
dize the rest of the state to the tune of $547 per year. It’s rare to see rural folks so plainly acknowledge the fact that in terms of taxes paid versus services rendered, red America is dead weight. (I took a few screenshots in case they change their mind.) But in this case, the numbers bolster their argument: “Let us leave, and you’ll never have to pick up our slack again!” You might wonder how Idaho feels about having the equivalent of Oregon’s unemployed nephew crashing on their couch for the next 100 years or so. But as it happens, Idaho is already kind of a trailer park: That aggregate county that ranks 31st in Oregon? It’d be in the top third among Idaho counties. The more the merrier? Of course, there are a bunch of reasons why this will never happen, most notably the fact that it would require action from Congress. And in any case, the movement might not be quite the groundswell it first appears: Yes, it’s seven counties—but their combined population is less than 44,000. That’s about four-fifths the size of Tigard. So, you know, let’s not get carried away. QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.
MURMURS SUZETTE SMITH
Man takes shelter at The Nines on May 28.
CITY FUNDS DEESCALATION TRAINING: After a year in which Portland police and protesters regularly clashed, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office is spending $15,000 on conflict resolution training for…the protesters. The contract, with a nonprofit called the Portland Peace Team, appears to be an effort to lower the temperature at protests by teaching demonstrators to listen to each other and find common ground. The seven online training sessions, each two hours long, focus on “deescalation and peacekeeping for events including protests, marches and rallies.” How well this will go over with protesters who cite police use of force as their reason for marching—and who regularly deride “peace police” for trying to restrain property destruction— is a difficult question to answer: Portland Peace Team doesn’t want reporters discussing what’s said by participants in the trainings. The contractor tells WW that reporters are welcome to attend but they are “asked not to report on the specific conversations or names of the attendees during the training in case anyone shares anything personal about themselves or their experiences, etc. We want to create a safe space for people to discuss conflict.” The mayor’s office deferred to the contractor’s statement. ACTIVISTS BAIL OUT ATTEMPTED MURDER SUSPECT BACK IN JAIL: An Indiana man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail toward Portland police officers during a protest landed back in the Multnomah County Jail two days after his release. On June 1, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Oregon announced federal charges against 24-year-old Malik Muhammad, who had been released from county jail May 26 after the Portland Freedom Fund posted $212,500—or 10%—of the $2.1 million bail. Since late April, Muhammad had been held in county jail following a 28-count indictment handed down in March that accused him of various crimes during protests including throwing molotov cocktails toward police officers. On May 28, two days after his initial release, deputy district attorney Nathan Vasquez filed a motion arguing that Muhammad is “an incredibly dangerous person” who should remain in custody. “As he has shown time and time again, he will go to extreme lengths to exercise his extreme ideology, up to and including building fire bombs and attempting to murder police officers,” Vasquez wrote. Hours later, Oregon State Police arrested Muhammad and booked him back into county jail—likely in connection to the federal charges. As for the state charges, the DA’s office says it had intended to file its motion before Muhammad was released. “However, bail was posted prior to that motion being filed. Our position has not changed,” says Brent Weisberg, a spokesman for the DA.
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CROWD ASSAULTS MAN THEY BELIEVE IS ANDY NGO: People in a May 28 protest crowd in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center chased, tackled and punched someone they believed to be right-wing author Andy Ngo, pursuing him through the streets of Portland until he hid inside The Nines hotel. The enraged group pulled on the hotel’s front doors and shouted, “You wanna kill us? You wanna kill us, Andy?” as The Nines staff frantically tried to hold the entrance closed. When the fleeing man took shelter in the hotel, he appeared to be pleading with staff. “They’re going to kill me,” he said. Already staying at The Nines that night: the Denver Nuggets basketball team, which was in town for a playoff series against the Trail Blazers. Ngo, the nation’s most prominent detractor of Portland’s anti-fascist movement, has not responded to WW’s inquiries whether he was assaulted that night and has released no public statements about the incident. LAWMAKERS MAKE NOOSE DISPLAY A CRIME: The Oregon Legislature has passed a bill making it a misdemeanor to display a noose with the intent to intimidate another person. On June 1, the Oregon House passed Senate Bill 398, which now goes to Gov. Kate Brown’s desk for a signature. Lawmakers cited the noose’s racist history as a tool to lynch people of color. “We must truly understand the reality of our nation’s past, and the tools of intimidation used to sow fear and panic in communities of color,” said Rep. Ricki Ruiz (D-Gresham). “A noose is a symbol that has also been used as a threat of violence and triggers a lot of trauma to our BIPOC communities.” The bill’s passage follows several high-profile cases in the past decade of nooses being displayed at Oregon workplaces, including Daimler Trucks and Oregon Health & Science University. Willamette Week JUNE 2, 2021 wweek.com
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WESLEY LAPOINTE
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
KNOWN UNKNOWNS
MOVING ON: Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury has found common ground with City Hall.
People Village Local officials have united around a plan for “safe rest villages.” What are those? BY S OPHI E P E E L
speel@wweek.com
In a surprising pivot on May 27, Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury and City Commissioner Dan Ryan pledged to work together to provide immediate assistance for unhoused Portlanders. Their joint statement signaled a cease-fire in the war of words between city and county officials over whether to direct taxpayer dollars toward permanent housing placement or temporary shelters in a city where tents have become shorthand for a humanitarian disaster. Kafoury tells WW she wants to put disputes behind her. “Asking me to weigh in on someone else’s motivation or morality,” she says, “is designed to pit us against each other and make this about politics instead of about the people surviving outside.” Fair enough: The key to whether the truce will help people survive now lies in the details of Ryan’s plan for “safe rest villages” dotting the city that include hygiene services and case management. Such sleeping sites were the proposal that mayoral aide Sam Adams pitched to law partners last month as a destination for people currently sleeping in front of downtown office towers. Three weeks later, the idea has gained traction among nearly all the key parties needed to make it a reality. In a stakeholder meeting on May 28, Ryan offered up a few more details and received the glowing praise of Kafoury, Mayor Ted Wheeler and County Commissioner Sharon Meieran—three elected officials who haven’t agreed on much recently. But in that meeting, housing nonprofit leaders expressed deep doubts about the fine print of the plan—urging Ryan to consider more robust mental health and addiction services for those living in the villages, warning that the idea could flop if wraparound services aren’t offered. Here’s what we know about the villages, and what we don’t. 6
Willamette Week JUNE 2, 2021 wweek.com
WHAT WE KNOW In the meeting last week, Ryan expanded on his plan: Build at least six safe parking villages or safe sleeping villages across the city with case management and hygiene services. Ryan says the city is in the process of identifying parcels of land, and adds that the Portland City Council will vote June 7 on an ordinance to move the plan forward. Ryan tells WW construction of the sites will start in September, and the goal is to have six villages built by the end of the year. “These villages will provide essential baseline services: laundry, hand-washing stations, showers, porta-potties and common areas for food and dialogue, as well as case management provided by contractors through the Joint Office [of Homeless Services],” Ryan said in an email. Backlash from neighborhoods near such campsites has historically scuttled similar dreams. But Ryan says the response from neighborhood associations was surprisingly amicable. “The enthusiasm from communities of faith and a lot of neighborhood associations, [there was] more unification than I would’ve expected and it made it a lot easier,” he said in the May 28 meeting. The city plans to use a portion of its American Rescue Plan funds for the project. Ryan’s budget? “The number I’m holding onto is $20 million as a ballpark number.” It’s also clear that city and county leaders feel pressure to create these villages because business groups are eager to remove tents from downtown sidewalks. Last week, the Portland Business Alliance sent a letter to Kafoury asking that she fund 500 extra shelter beds. The chamber of commerce invoked the landmark Martin v. Boise ruling, which says a local government cannot criminalize homelessness if it isn’t providing enough shelter for unhoused people. (It’s unclear how much the letter increased the pressure on the city and county to come to an agreement.) WHAT WE DON’T KNOW Many things! The known unknowns include: where the sites will be; whether they will include housing structures or simply spaces for camping in cars and tents; and whether the sites will offer resources like mental health and addiction services. We also don’t know the capacity of each of the envisioned sites or how long people can stay. Nonprofit housing leaders who work directly with homeless people are already voicing apprehension about the details. Katrina Holland, executive director of JOIN, warned at the May 28 meeting that “when we do these camps and assume they’re managed, be sure there’s resources on site to proactively address behavioral issues and moments of crisis.” “One thing that alarmed us when we were told of this idea…my understanding is part of the effort is to decrease some of the public health concerns and public visualizations of folks living on the street,” Holland said. “However, if we don’t have support for folks who are experiencing substance abuse, when they get to those campsites, not having that support can be really detrimental.” In other words, Holland fears that people at the sites could find conditions there worse than camping beside the road—but out of the public’s sight, which would please business interests but not help the unhoused. Two other advocates chimed in, expressing deep concern that if the sites didn’t offer mental health support, addiction programs and other wraparound services, they could quickly go awry—and perpetuate the churn of homeless people returning to the streets. Those same advocates advised city and county leaders
to choose between self-managed and managed camps— not create a hybrid model. Holland said she’d recommend self-managed camps, like Dignity Village. Commissioner Meieran urged the county’s participation: “It’s the perfect opportunity for the county to provide the wraparound services at these safe sites so that they’re supported by harm reduction and behavioral health services, something that is so critical in this whole continuum.”
BROWSING
PHOTO: Caption tktktk
Required Reading A history textbook that appalled Portland parents is still cited as a standard by the state of Oregon. Nearly two years ago, a parent at Capitol Hill Elementary in Southwest Portland complained that her daughter’s history textbook was racist and degrading. Now she’s learned that it was listed as an academic standard for fourth and fifth graders in Oregon. The 10-book series by Joy Hakim, A History of US, was listed in 2010 among Oregon’s Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. The books: Danielle Blake, parent of a then-fifth grader at Capitol Hill Elementary, complained about A History of US to her daughter’s teacher, Christopher Naze, in 2019 when she noticed how the books inaccurately depicted Indigenous and Black people and immigrants. WW first reported on her concerns earlier this spring (“Missing History,” March 3, 2021.) “There’s a lot of stereotypes presented in these books and inaccurate history,” Blake says, “and this book sets the benchmark on how students should be developing academically.” On page 82 of Book 7, for example, Hakim writes that “peaceful settlers who moved west to farm were often innocent victims of angry Indians.” Assistant professor Shanté Stuart McQueen of Portland State University’s College of Education says she’s encountered a lot of questionable and generic textbooks, both personally and as an educator. This book still shook her. “To me, when I read that, even though I can’t be surprised, I still read it with my jaw open,” McQueen says. “How can somebody write this with their fingers knowing what really took place? The quotes not only dehumanize slaves and have no connection to their humanity whatsoever, but they humanize the slave owners.” Hakim, the books’ author, tells WW via email that while her series has been generally well received, she thinks the books need a major revision. They were first published in 1993, she points out, and have received only minor tweaks since then.
NEWS
The standards: Meanwhile, Blake says she’s still waiting for Portland Public Schools to take action. “Our schools have an obligation whenever concerns are raised,” she says. “I’ve been waiting 11 months for this to be done.” While waiting, Blake says she’s discovered the book isn’t just on the syllabus for PPS students. It remains posted on the Oregon Department of Education website as an example of the type of texts that should be used to teach fourth and fifth graders. In 2010, Oregon decided to adopt Common Core standards for measuring reading proficiency, among other subjects. Listed that year as an exemplary text? A History of US, next to Hurricanes: Earth’s Mightiest Storms and The Black Stallion. State standards have since been updated, most recently in 2019, and Hakim’s series isn’t listed in more recent documents. But the 2010 list remains available on the state’s website. ODE spokesman Marc Siegel tells WW the school district’s choice of curriculum is out of the state’s hands. “It is outside of the scope for the Oregon Department of Education to independently evaluate and assess individual textbooks outside of an official adoption review process,” Siegel wrote in an email to WW. “That said, this text was not part of ODE’s 2018 social science instructional materials adoption process.” PPS spokeswomann Karen Werstein says the district is concerned about the material. “This particular text is one that we believe needs improvements to reflect our theory of action and our Racial Equity Social Justice (RESJ) framework,” Werstein wrote in an email. A review is underway, Werstein says, although she did not specify a timeline. The criteria used when selecting texts for Oregon’s Common Core State Standards are complexity, quality and range. Blake questions the quality of A History of US. “In my opinion, ‘quality’ texts wouldn’t contain confusing and awkward sentences while characterizing immigrants [as] ‘mostly poor, or troubled, or persecuted, or kidnapped, or adventuresome,’” Blake says. Heather Villanueva, a parent of one of Blake’s daughter’s classmates, says she found the textbooks so appalling she would discard her child’s homework sheets. She also says Blake’s treatment by the district was unacceptable. “PPS has been saying that they’re making equity a priority, and this felt very disconnected with that,” Villanueva says. “It felt like they were shutting her down from even having a conversation on it. It makes me feel sad and disappointed.” LATISHA JENSEN.
CHRIS NESSETH
“No question, I want the books to be without bias. But they were written some years ago; we have changed as a nation since then,” Hakim writes. “I have been talking to Oxford [University Press] about an update of the series, and I am not only open to comments and suggestions, I’m eager for them.” An external review is being done by subject matter experts, says Damon Zucca, OUP’s director of content development and reference. “Decisions about updating the books will be based on what we glean from this process and subsequent discussions with Joy,” Zucca adds.
CORRESPONDENCE
NEW REPUBLICAN: A selfidentified Proud Boy at a 2020 rally in downtown Portland.
Party Poopers Three emails show the Multnomah County Republican Party’s descent into bickering and extremism. The standoff between two factions of the Multnomah County Republican Party—one of which has openly aligned itself with the Proud Boys—is growing increasingly bizarre. The two sides plan to hold rival meetings June 3 to separately elect a party chair at two hotels 2 miles apart near Portland International Airport. On May 6, then-chairman Stephen Lloyd was recalled by the more radical faction of the party after Lloyd said he wanted the Multnomah County GOP to be more inclusive. At the recall meeting, WW learned, self-described Proud Boy Daniel Tooze provided security with 10 or so of his associates. Since that meeting, more moderate members of the party have distanced themselves from those who signed a security agreement with Tooze, which WW obtained. The county party fully splintered May 17, when Lloyd’s supporters stormed out of a party meeting at a Gresham church and attempted to vote Lloyd back in as chair in the church parking lot. Since that split, it has remained unclear who is actually chair. After WW asked vice chair Alan Conner and secretary Sean Yates about the May 17 meeting, an anonymous emailer responded aggressively, saying the other faction’s attempt to reelect Lloyd wasn’t legal.
CLOCKED
Hunzeker Watch We will continue to publish this column until we know what Officer Brian Hunzeker did. 78 DAYS:
That’s how long ago 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 [Portland] Police Bureau’s investigation into the alleged hitand-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.
Three baffling emails were subsequently sent to some members of the party on May 25 by Tim Sytsma, a precinct committee person who’s aligned himself with the Proud Boys faction. (Sytsma coordinated Tooze’s volunteer security services.) In those emails, which were shared with WW, Sytsma targets James Ball, a party member who largely spearheaded the effort to reelect Lloyd. Excerpts from the three emails provide a flavor of the discourse within what was once one of Portland’s two main political parties. In a particularly alarming line, Sytsma says he has both Three Percenters and police officers at his beck and call. The emails have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. Some spelling and capitalization remain as found in the original documents. SOPHIE PEEL. EMAIL #1 “Quit Lying to our PCPs on such issues. Before you threaten ‘Libel’ or ‘Slander’ we have this all documented. So no running to Stephen now....you are a big boy now. You and the SUCCESSFULLY Recalled FORMER Chairman can spin tales, tell falsehoods, threaten, weedle or cajole allllllll you want.” EMAIL #2 “First of All, James Ball III, you are full of poop. That is a legal term used by bible believing Christians who want to say something much much stronger but err on the side of caution.” … “Our successfully legally RECALLED FORMER MCRP Chairman Stephen Lloyd can flee to Bumpers, Declare himself Ruler (by Illegal actions) and say whatever he wants. It doesn’t make it true. He can beat his chest and choose to act like Tarzan King of the Insurrectionists alllllll he wants. The RECALL was Valid.” … “Our PCPs are overwhelmingly Christian. You and the FORMER RECALLED Chairman never talk about God. You never put forth concern for our PCPs. Why is that…exactly? BECAUSE you wish to either take OVER the party by force, or destroy it and rebuild in your flawed ideals.” EMAIL #3: “I have been lied about, accused, maligned, hacked, doxed, documents stolen from the Recall (you know who you are JR.. we have sworn witnesses) My Address and Phone given out to The Daily Beast, The Associated Press, and The Leftist Willamette Week…” … “I have no fear. I have friends, neighbors, 3%ers people, my Proud Boy and Plain Clothes ‘security friends’…some who live within 6 blocks of me.…both in Uniform and OUT, I have contacted my local Precinct, they won’t be responding to any ‘Swat calls’…I enthusiastically practice my 2nd Amendment Rights,.… so frankly.…A phone call and I have more pals at my aid in literally single digit minutes than I can ever need.”
89 DAYS:
That’s how long it’s been since the Police Bureau opened an internal affairs investigation into the leaking of information that wrongly implicated Commissioner Hardesty in a March 3 hit-and-run crash. It has released no results of its inquiry.
77 DAYS:
That’s how long it’s been since the city signed a contract to hire an outside investigative firm to probe the leak. TESS RISKI. Editor’s note: It is unusual for WW to track the timeline of such investigations, but the circumstances themselves are unusual: A veteran police officer and union president abruptly resigned from his union leadership role in connection with information leaked about an elected official. Meanwhile, he has continued to work the patrol unit in the North Precinct. We believe Portlanders have a right to know what Hunzeker did that led to his resignation, and we believe it is critical to put pressure on public officials and law enforcement leaders who might prefer that the public forget about it. We will continue to publish this column until we know what Hunzeker did. Willamette Week JUNE 2, 2021 wweek.com
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NEWS Portland cops are mining intel from informants who infiltrate masked “black bloc” marches.
WESLEY LAPOINTE
Smash and Gab
ROCK BLOC: Police abolition activists in “black bloc” attire march through downtown Portland earlier this year. BY TE SS R I S K I
tess@wweek.com
About 45 minutes before sunset on May 25—the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd—approximately 100 protesters gathered outside of the Multnomah County Justice Center in downtown Portland. Many followed the typical dress code: black shirt, black pants, black mask. The sea of identity-concealing dark clothing, known as “black bloc,” provides a sense of anonymity and uniformity that can be further enhanced by rules that ban livestreamers and restrict the press. But protesters’ ability to camouflage themselves cuts both ways: Somebody in or near the crowd was talking to the cops. Prosecutors allege that 21-year-old Jarrid Huber, a truck loader for Columbia Sportswear’s warehouse who lives in Damascus, Ore., pushed a dumpster against the Justice Center and set fire to material inside it on May 25. Huber now faces charges for arson, criminal mischief and riot. The evidence against him hinges almost exclusively on testimony from a pair of confidential informants who were located within or near the crowd. A person identified as “Informant #1” told Portland Police Bureau Detective Meredith Hopper they saw Huber push the dumpster against the building and set its contents ablaze, according to a probable cause affidavit filed May 26 in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The first informant allegedly described Huber’s clothing in detail and provided police with photographs of the fire. Meanwhile, someone described as “Informant #2” followed Huber as he marched through the city with “a large group of anarchist[s],” court records say. This informant said Huber spray-painted “anarchist symbols” on buildings and used a fence post to shatter the windows of a Starbucks and a jewelry store. Huber’s case isn’t unique. WW reviewed probable cause affidavits for Portland protesters who’ve been charged with crimes in the past two months. Of the 18 cases WW found from April and May for which documents detailing arrests were available, nine— exactly half—relied on information provided by “confidential reliable informants,” or unnamed witnesses known to police. Another two appear to be undercover police officers. By contrast, WW could find no mention of informants in court filings for protesters charged in 2020 and the early part of 2021. “This is very unusual,” says Chris O’Connor, a public defense lawyer who’s worked in the Multnomah County court system since 2004. He added that he suspects some of the people described as “informants” might be undercover cops. “Which is completely bizarre. That is totally novel in my experience in Multnomah County.” Police use of confidential informants is a long-standing practice, especially when trying to bust up organized crime and drug operations. (In fact, PPB’s Narcotics & Organized Crime Unit oversees the bureau’s use of informants, according to its policy directives.) But what’s striking is how many recent high-profile cases against Portland protesters accused of damaging 8
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property rely almost solely on the eyewitness testimony of sources blending into the black bloc. The same night police arrested Huber, they also picked up Elizabeth and Emery Hall, ages 29 and 30. Arresting documents for Elizabeth Hall say a confidential informant witnessed “two subjects among the crowd that caused extensive property damage” to City Hall. “The confidential informant observed Elizabeth Hall break out windows and graffiti the building,” the probable cause affidavit says. It further alleges that police found spray paint and a white marker in Elizabeth Hall’s backpack. (Court records for Emery Hall cite observations by police—not informants.) And during May Day protests last month, “a person known to law enforcement as a reliable source” told police they witnessed 37-year-old Phoebe Loomis smash the windows of two different Starbucks as well as the Sassy Spa. “Loomis was tracked and eventually arrested by uniformed officers,” deputy district attorney Mariel Mota said in a probable cause affidavit. “Officers found a bent metal bar on her person.” She now faces charges for riot and criminal mischief. In addition, a probable cause affidavit filed May 3 for 20-year-old Quang Nguyen describes a coordinated effort by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office to embed undercover officers into black bloc marches. “I know from speaking to deputy district attorney Nathan Vasquez that to investigate violent actors who are using the cover of a protest in order to commit crimes, that law enforcement is often autonomously present inside the crowd,” deputy DA Kevin Demer wrote. Using confidential informants to charge Huber, Hall and Loomis serves two purposes for police and prosecutors: It takes protesters bent on property destruction off the streets, and it creates an atmosphere of suspicion among remaining protesters, who don’t know if the masked person next to them is talking to the cops. “This is partially a psychological warfare tactic,” said Juan Chavez, a Portland civil rights lawyer. “What I think is new is announcing that you’re using an informant. The effect goes beyond the indictment to instill fear.” The use of confidential informants at protests appears to reflect a strategic shift by law enforcement beginning in the early spring. On March 15, three days after the Police Bureau detained nearly 100 protesters via a technique known as “kettling,” Mayor Ted Wheeler held a press conference in which he issued a warning to the 150 or so protesters who continually destroy property. “We want you to know that we’re aligning our resources, we’re revising our tactics, and we’re fighting back with everything that we’ve got,” Wheeler said. “The community is sick and tired of people engaging in acts of criminal destruction and violence, and doing it under the guise of some noble cause.” Within weeks, cases began appearing in Multnomah County Circuit Court that relied heavily on the testimony of unnamed witnesses who are described as being “known
to law enforcement” with a history of providing “credible and reliable information” to police. In court records, these witnesses claim they observed property damage from a close distance—so close it’s hard to imagine they weren’t in black bloc garb themselves. Those cases include those of Alma Raven-Guido, accused of setting a fire near the doorway of the Portland Police Association’s headquarters on April 13, and Emma Lightstone and Emily Keppler, who allegedly used a hammer to smash a Bank of America ATM screen as well as windows at a U.S. Bank branch on April 19. The DA’s office declined to respond to questions about the use of informants in protest cases. “We don’t comment on the sources or means of ongoing investigations,” said spokesman Brent Weisberg. The Police Bureau did not respond in detail to questions about its use of confidential informants during protests. Citing Oregon law, PPB spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen says the bureau considers it appropriate to use confidential informants when “there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct.” Asked how the bureau distinguishes between what it considers a legitimate protest and a criminal gathering masquerading as such, PPB spokesman Lt. Greg Pashley said, “That distinction is made if crimes are committed.” The distinction is significant. It’s at the center of a rift among Portlanders who disagree on a fundamental question: Is it proper to categorize repeated gatherings that result in broken windows and graffiti as protests? Or, as the Police Bureau and the mayor have posited, are these events better defined as coordinated, criminal activity happening under the guise of protest? The mayor’s office tells WW that its priority is to protect the right of free speech, but that there is a difference between protesting and engaging in criminal activity. “These ‘direct action’ gatherings invite the assembled groups to engage in the criminal acts of property destruction. Largely these gatherings take place at night with those gathered all dressed the same, in black clothes with all faces covered,” said spokesman Tim Becker. “The use of confidential informants ensures that we arrest the correct person for an actual suspected property and/or person crime.” The rise in the use of confidential informants is also occurring as the black bloc marches are losing public favor, even in activist circles, following repeated incidents of property destruction this year. On April 20, 57 Black protesters penned an open letter condemning the repeated property destruction and calling the behavior “detrimental to Black Liberation.” Nighttime marches are marked by open arguments between different protester groups trying to demonstrate at the same times and locations. It’s unlikely that arguments over tactics are causing activists to run to the cops, their avowed adversary. But the number of charges some repeat participants have racked up could give prosecutors leverage over witnesses who would rather cooperate than spend time in prison. In fact, PPB’s policy directive manual has a specific carve-out for what’s called “case consideration” for informants charged with a crime. And beyond that, repeatedly prosecuting protesters using confidential informants has an added side effect on the social dynamic: sowing discord and fear among the crowd. At around 9:30 pm on May 25—at the same protest where Huber and the Halls were arrested—riot cops secured the intersection at Southwest 3rd Avenue and Main Street to extinguish a flaming dumpster. The crowd fell into disarray as protesters argued about what to do next. Some wanted to stay, while others wanted to march through downtown. The arguing grew until one protester accused another of being a cop. “Let’s get away from that police officer,” the first protester said, referring to the other. “Who called me a fucking cop?” the second retorted. “Who said that?” By then it was too late. Protesters had already begun walking away, splintering the once unified crowd. Justin Yau contributed reporting to this story.
NEWS J U S T I N K AT I G B A K
Open Oregon
For just the second time in 25 years, the governor’s mansion is up for grabs. Here are four ways the race could go.
UNITER: State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) holds up a sign at a Timber Unity rally in early 2020. BY R AC H E L M O N A H A N
I
rmonahan@wweek.com
n all but one election in the past 25 years, Oregon voters had an obvious choice for governor: the person who had already served. Gov. John Kitzhaber held the office for three full terms and resigned shortly into his fourth, paving the way for Gov. Kate Brown to win the rest of his term and her own reelection. (Gov. Ted Kulongoski took a turn between Kitzhaber’s second and third terms because Oregon’s term limits precluded him from staying in Mahonia Hall for more than eight consecutive years.) But next year will be different: Brown is blocked by term limits from seeking a third term. That leaves a wide open field of Democrats—who have won every gubernatorial election in that quarter-century. “This is a wide open election,” says Pacific University professor Jim Moore. “It’s clear there’s a big difference between how Republicans and Democrats view what state government ought to be doing. [With] open elections for the governorship, we have those conversations statewide.” Primary season doesn’t begin in earnest until after Labor Day, or at least the legislative session. “We don’t seem to be able to do two things at once,” says one political professional. July or August may bring more candidates’ names to the fore, but as WW spoke to Salem insiders and close observers of Democratic Party politics, a handful of dynamics were mentioned repeatedly. A few clear questions are narrowing the field of politicians who could assume the executive job in a year and a half.
Will public employee unions buy the election? In 2020, public employee unions flexed their fundraising muscle and determined the course of the Democratic primary for Oregon secretary of state, backing then-Sen. Shemia Fagan (D-East Portland) for the nomination, then helping her win the office itself. (Public employee unions spent more than $450,000 in the primary alone.) Plenty of insiders see that history repeating in the governor’s race—even with Fagan herself running for the top job. But when she campaigned for secretary of state, Fagan said she would not run for governor in the middle of her first term. She shows no signs of budging from that pledge. “As I have said multiple times over the past year, I am not running for governor in 2022,” Fagan tells WW. “Every day, I treasure the fact that Oregonians elected me to be their secretary of state for the next four years, and that is exactly what I intend to do.” Another close ally of public employee unions: House Speaker Tina Kotek. But Kotek, arguably the mostly pow-
erful elected official in state politics—even if you include Brown—has taken flak from fellow Democrats for sharing power with Republicans while drawing the boundaries of Oregon’s new 6th Congressional District. In an interview with WW last month, Congressman Peter DeFazio was openly critical of Kotek: “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.” Kotek isn’t publicly ruling out a run. “Speaker Kotek is focused on completing the legislative session,” says spokesperson Danny Moran. “She will consider her future in the coming months.” The other variable affecting public employee investment in the race: None of the names currently being floated is the sort of Democratic candidate that inspires fierce opposition from organized labor. So the unions might invest less heavily in the primary’s outcome.
Will it just be a free for all? Assuming Kotek and Fagan aren’t in the race, frightening away opponents with labor money, there’s a potential for a wide open field, with as many as half a dozen candidates jumping in. 2002 and 1994 were the two most recent open elections for the job. In 1994, sitting Gov. Barbara Roberts opted not to run for reelection once Kitzhaber entered the race. Three Democrats ran in 2002. In such a scenario, some of the three Democrats that hold statewide office would surely run: Treasurer Tobias Read (who’s raised $181,000 this year), Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (who’s raised $17,000) and Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle (who’s raised $179,000). Of those, Read has raised the most. He declined to comment, as did Hoyle. Hoyle’s ambitions to go to Congress might also be a factor in whether she enters the race. Rosenblum says she’s listening to what Oregonians want from their elected officials as she mulls her next move. “I am super-busy with the legislative session and very focused on doing my job as AG,” she adds. (Disclosure: Rosenblum is married to the co-owner of WW’s parent company.) Other well-placed Democrats include Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury. “I haven’t ruled out anything, but at this point I’m focused on my work at the county,” Kafoury tells WW in an email. “It’s been a heck of a year!” Most notable among those who are not running: Rukaiyah Adams, a civic leader, has already taken herself out of consideration. “I’m not running for governor this time, but I am thinking deeply about public service,” Adams told The Oregonian in April.
Do Republicans have a snowball’s chance in hell? There are 300,000 more Democrats than Republicans registered in Oregon. There are also 967,000 unaffiliated voters in the state, which means there are more of them than Republicans (who number 742,000). But two years into the first term of a Democratic president may represent the sweet spot for Oregon Republicans—or at least the sweetest spot they’re likely to get this decade. That’s because the sentiment about a new president usually sours enough to make a midterm election difficult for his party. In 2010, the Republicans got as close as they have to the governor’s mansion in a generation with Chris Dudley as the candidate. That was two years into President Barack Obama’s first term. Republicans have one other reason for hope: Brown is enormously unpopular. She has a 38% popularity rating as of March 2021 statewide, according to DHM Research. The next election may test whether Donald Trump cratered the brand of Republicans enough to make it impossible for them to win a blue state even as the Democratic governor cratered her own reputation. “Kate Brown is Donald Trump,” says one political consultant, comparing their popularity. But what Republicans really want is to run against Kate Brown 2.0. The closer a Democratic candidate is to the Brown administration and riots in Portland, the more excited GOP strategists are. “I don’t think it’s impossible because there’s a depth of disappointment about Gov. Brown,” says Portland pollster John Horvick.
Will there be a wild card in this race? Republicans are perennially on the hunt for the business executive with an impressive enough profile to win over the Republican Party base—which in recent years has tended toward extremists—and then to have crossover appeal. But what if that person wasn’t a Republican? This year’s race could feature state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) running as an independent. Her name has been floated before. Johnson, already a powerful player as a centrist in the Oregon Senate, could potentially attract massive campaign donations. If Republicans pick a right-wing nominee, Johnson could siphon votes from that side of the aisle, throwing the vote to Democrats. But she could also rain on the Democrats’ parade—by creating a protest vote for moderate, rural Democrats like her who think Portland has lost its mind. Sources tell WW that a poll conducted last month sought to determine Oregon voters’ attitude toward a Democrat who might run as an independent. That matches Johnson’s profile, but she did not respond to a request for comment. Willamette Week JUNE 2, 2021 wweek.com
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AARON LEE
ALIVE WITH PRIDE
How Portland’s queer culture scene got through the pandemic— and where it goes now. You can’t cancel Pride. Cancel the parties, cancel the parades, cancel the rainbow-splattered corporate pandering. But while June has been designated as the month for publicly celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and its history, affirming queer identity is not something that happens only when the clubs are open, and it doesn’t stop when the calendar turns over. Not in a pandemic, and certainly not when companies stuff their flags back into storage. That said, losing those parties hurt. It’s often said that Pride began with a riot. More specifically, it started with a riot at a gay bar. Queer spaces have always been crucial to queer liberation. It’s not just about ecstatic celebration, although that’s part of it. It’s
about having somewhere to go to experience the visceral feeling of acceptance, to give support and feel supported. Not to have that for an entire year—particularly this year, a time of both radical social upheaval and a barrage of legislative attacks on trans rights—left a wide void. But again: Queerness, and queer culture, can’t simply be quarantined away. Arriving once again at Pride Month, with the pandemic fading but not yet gone, we asked eight fixtures of Portland’s LGBTQ arts and nightlife community—from drag producers and performers to bar owners, DJs, dancers and standup comics—how they stayed connected over the past year, and what happens after the reunion. Daniel Quasar, designer of the Progress Pride Flag. See Q&A, page 15.
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AARON LEE
DARCELLE “World’s Oldest Drag Queen,” founder of Darcelle XV Showplace in Old Town
WW: At the start of the pandemic, did you worry about the club’s survival? Darcelle: That was very, very scary. I think it was, like, five months [closed] in the last year and this year together. That’s a lot of time with no income. I was certainly not ready to close Darcelle’s because it’s going to stay open forever, I hope. I just thought, “I should be working.” I made about 19 new costumes during that first shutdown. When was the last time you went that long without performing? Fifty-four years ago, before I had a club. You ended up doing some outdoor drive-in shows at Zidell Yards this April. How was it? That was wild and wonderful. We were approached by a producer, and we did five shows in three days. Most of the shows were sold out—I think 200 cars. It was fun, it was hard work, and it was also very, very cold. We were in tents. There were
no dressing rooms. In between numbers, they brought me blankets, and I was all wrapped like I was in Alaska. Darcelle’s was added to the National Registry of Historic Places last year. Could you have ever imagined that happening? I would not have imagined that would ever happen. But I’m very humble about my success. I worked hard to get it there, and now that it’s there, we still work hard. Now that you’re back performing in the club, do you have a sense of what it means for the audience to be able to see you up close again? I can’t go down and talk to them like we used to, but I know from the reaction, without having to discuss it, that the reactions are wonderful. They’re so happy to have entertainment again. MATTHEW SINGER.
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AARON LEE
MEGAN HOLMES, aka TROUBLED YOUTH DJ
WW: What was your 2020-21 lockdown life like? Dahlia Belle: For the first part of the pandemic, I was still working retail. That was not a good feeling. We were all very much aware that we were essentially guinea pigs for herd immunity. Like someone was saying, “You’re poor, you’re expendable. Let’s see what happens.” At first, people were nice. Tips got more generous. But as the pandemic wore on—and people were just holding on for dear life—the civility started to wane. How did you react to a year without live, in-person comedy? I’ve never really been much of a club comic. This year ultimately turned out fairly positive for me. More alternative venues and comedy scenes, like the queer and trans comedy scenes, expanded into online shows. So I was able to work directly with peers who I had always admired from afar but had never been able to share a stage with, like Mary Jane French in L.A. or KJ Whitehead from Chicago. To trans people, these are celebrities. AARON LEE
WW: First off, you were diagnosed with ovarian cancer earlier this year. How are you doing? Meghan Holmes: I’m going through six chemo treatments and I’ve gone through four, so I have two left and they’ll probably end just around Pride time. When things first shut down last year, can you recall what was going through your head? I had been going to DJ at least five times a month, so for things to go quiet was super-different. Queer nightlife is so important. People go out there for community and to see other people, and it’s really a nice time in their week to let go of whatever’s going on. To not throw Pride was pretty significant, I think. People are just so used to being able to at least have a little party at their house. To not even be able to have. That was pretty wild. Did you end up doing streaming gigs? We did a couple events, but we’ve been going pretty hard for about five years and realized maybe this was the time just to take a step back. There was a lot going on, nationally, and even just within Portland, that it felt like those things were more important. 12
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Do you feel like, in a cultural sense, the queer community got hit particularly hard by the pandemic in terms of losing the ability to congregate and meet in these spaces? I’m sure everyone had a really hard time with it, but I do think that in the queer community, it’s so important to have each other, to have dinners with each other, to go out for drinks with each other, to just kind of party with each other. It’s such an integral part of who we are and how we create. Will it be difficult to readjust to going out again? I don’t think anything will slow us down. As soon as we get the green light, I’m sure that it’s going to be a pretty explosive summer. The only thing that would hold people back is finding the venue to throw parties at if their venue doesn’t exist anymore. But I think that a lot of people are pretty hungry to throw a party. And I think it’ll probably be more exciting. I think people are going to appreciate each other more, and the spaces that they’re able to do things in. MATTHEW SINGER.
DAHLIA BELLE Standup comic, producer of the Portland Queer Comedy Festival
If you’re not a club comedian, where does your work exist? Gay bars. Performing at gay bars? Online shows hosted by gay bars? Both, but I don’t know that most of my online following knows I do comedy. On Instagram, people just think I’m a model. And on Facebook, people think I’m a political activist. Do you think you gained anything from the pandemic year? The good part was being able to focus on writing material that is truer to me and my life experiences. Because the only shows that were really available for me during the pandemic were online queer and trans showcases, I performed for a lot of activists and trans people. I didn’t have to qualify statements, justify them or disclose my medical status. Everyone was like, “Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about.” So that part was great. But now it’s a little more complicated because live shows are coming back, and I worry I don’t know how to relate to straight people. I haven’t seen any in the last year. SUZETTE SMITH.
AARON LEE
DANIEL GIRÓN Dance instructor, founder of the Kiki House of Ada
WW: The queer community is built on shared spaces. How has the isolation of the past year affected queer nightlife culture? Veronique Lafont: I think, throughout the pandemic, what we were seeing was people who were so isolated they couldn’t get into their communities, they couldn’t be around people who were like-minded, they couldn’t feel love and gather in a shared space. It was very hard. And a lot of places, because of the pandemic, closed. So by the time we started reopening again, I was hearing from a lot of people saying, “I just had to get out.” Now that Multnomah County is entering the lower-risk category, what sort of changes have you seen as people come back to bars and restaurants? Now that we are at 50% capacity, I feel as though people within our community are still wanting to keep that 6-foot distance. A lot of my friends don’t feel comfortable sitting indoors and prefer to be outside, so I think we are still going to be distanced when it comes to contact. People are still very uncomfortable with hugging, even when AARON LEE
WW: What were you doing prior to the pandemic? Daniel Girón: When I first moved to Portland, I spent the first three or four years training under anyone who would take me under their wing. It wasn’t until 2015 that I shifted all that focus into finally putting my skills out there. I’d been networking a lot, and I knew I had a good grasp on what the Portland scene was missing: When it comes to studio dancing, there wasn’t a space carved out for queer people, which I thought was weird because dancing is gay as fuck. I wanted to create an outlet that was for queer people who wanted to dance and that didn’t involve nightlife and alcohol. My vogue classes really brought that and helped build community. I taught those weekly lessons for six years until the pandemic hit. What did the loss of these queer physical spaces mean to the community? Everyone just took [the shutdown] in a very different way. I think it was very clear that because the clubs are often the place they can be [themselves], and that’s taken away from them, there’s the sense of being lost. I think it also might be a situation where it forces people to face some realities that might be really harsh. It’s kind of bittersweet, because in a way, it’s important to face those things and grow. Do you feel you’ve carved out a virtual space to continue teaching and being a leadership figure in Portland?
How has it changed the nature of your work? Before the pandemic, I had all these plans of really diving less into the studio world and more into the club scene and event planning and creating a space for the queer Latinx community. I was starting to do a lot of that work and shifting into a leadership position. So although the pandemic put a stop to that, when it comes to my social media presence, I make sure that’s what I focus on: being this representation of queer, unapologetic Latinx vibes and connecting people to resources when needed. Are you beginning to start teaching in person again as the state opens up? For the last few months I’ve been teaching private [lessons], and although I’m known for vogue, I’m a well-rounded dancer. The people who reached out to me have been coming in with the intention to just move their bodies, to feel that connection again. The students I did privates with are all different ages and races, but they always had that in common. What are your top videos you’ve made since the pandemic? I made a Cinco de Mayo post where I got together with Portland Latinx dancers of all styles: waacker, crumper, light feet. A lot of times, people think of Portland as a really white place. I wanted to showcase that, no, people live here who aren’t white, and we’re thriving. SOPHIE PEEL.
VERONIQUE LAFONT Owner of Sante Bar in downtown Portland vaccinated. I think the pandemic has changed the culture as a whole because people also don’t want to come out unless it’s a special event. It’s no longer getting drinks on the weekend—there has to be a reason why we are going out. And that’s creating a divide because people aren’t gathering like we used to. We used to have our live music, drag shows and spoken-word performances, and the place would be packed and people would sit together and talk. But we can’t do that now. You have to be at another table, yelling, and that really changes the dynamic of the venue. This summer offers a little bit more optimism than last. What are you anticipating for Pride this year? I am feeling like a seesaw on both ends. I am super-excited to have our drag performance on the 18th and a four-piece band on the 19th. I want people to come back and appreciate being together. But I am so concerned that there are still going to be those individuals who forget we are still in COVID because they are having so much fun, and those who are still a little apprehensive about COVID but want to have fun. I think there’s going to be a lot of emotions. And I am also concerned about the turnout. I want the community to know that as long as we are practicing safe practices and doing our part, we can still get back to that inclusion and out of this loneliness. MEIRA GEBEL. Willamette Week JUNE 2, 2021 wweek.com
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Artist and writer
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
BOBBY FOUTHER
WW: In my mind, Portland Drag Brunch was the main, long-standing drag brunch in Portland. How long had it actually been running? Justin Buckles: You know, I thought it ran for three years, but it turns out I only started producing it in April 2018, which was about a month into the show. We sold out 90% of those two years, though! What happened when the shutdown hit? Obviously, everything stopped immediately. Our last show was March 16 of last year. Financially, I was OK. I rode the wave a little easier than most people because I’m a homeowner. I was able to get a forbearance on my mortgage. So I am very privileged when it comes to that, and I recognize that immensely. When did you decide to revitalize the show? Well, I don’t own Portland Drag Queen Brunch. That was the owner of the Night Light. He owned the lounge and had a separate company for the brunch. But during the pandemic, all my performers and I stayed in touch. I started reaching out to venues, and Bit House was like, “Oh my gosh, we’d love to host this year.” We’re excited for that space. It’s bigger. It’s open. We’re at 50% capacity, and at 100%, the energy is going to be wild. AARON LEE
WW: I noticed a lot of writing about you doesn’t focus on what I might call your “journey with queerness.” Is that intentional? Bobby Fouther: I don’t focus on my journey with queerness, I just do the work. [laughs] I’ve had lots of different experiences with my life, so claiming one thing over another just never really serviced me. I’ve fallen in love with different people, but it didn’t serve any purpose other than claiming names or things like that. It’s not relevant to me. Now, just let me rephrase for what I’m getting ready to say. I don’t think that doesn’t mean people’s issues and public awareness and social change is not valuable, so I’ve worked on plenty of issues and things like that, like for Brother to Brother, which was a gay Black agency years ago that morphed into several different things for several different generations. But I don’t focus on all that. I just do the damn work. Would you say you’ve always been at peace with your identity? My mom trained my sister and I that our identities belong to us, so it has really nothing to do with anyone else on the planet. She always respected us like that, she always gave us advice like that. I know when I was really young, my mom said, “You can do and be anything you want to be. Just remember there’s consequences for everything you do.” And that was the lesson, so I carefully set out to try everything I could. She watched me climb up the tree again—that’s my little joke to myself. It’s like I know my mom, I’d look at her and say, “OK, Mom, I’m getting ready to jump off the branch!” She’d say, “OK, baby!” And I know she was looking at me, saying, “I wonder when this boy’s gonna realize he ain’t got no feathers.” 14
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You’ve been part of so many artistic communities: dance, theater, visual art, fashion— Because that’s how I grew up. I’m from that world, you know? I was talking to someone about going to drag shows on Sunday, and it was like, “Well, it’s not that I love drag queens or anything like that, it’s just that’s live theatre that happens on a weekly basis that’s completely improvisational.” But people don’t look at it like that. It’s not my job to convince anyone of anything. I would die trying to go down that road. Anyway, was that what you asked me? [laughs] A lot of what I want to talk about involves community, especially within the lens of the past year. How have you maintained your sense of community, within all your communities, and how have you grown them in the past year? Contrary to some of my senior friends, I am on top of social media, like Facebook and Instagram. I have a little following, and that’s how I stay in community, particularly since I’ve ended up in this wheelchair and I can’t get out and about the way I used to. Like, I couldn’t protest, because if people fall down, I’m trapped. And I’m 70, I’m not running out of nothing, OK? So it became my online protest, where I do my little political posts and pieces and artwork. I get in where I can fit in, and usually I’m the person people call when everything else is messed up. If the person didn’t get the job done, they call Mr. Bobby. If they spent the money or don’t know where it went, they call Mr. Bobby. It’s just been like that forever. I’m the person with the safety pins. ANDREW JANKOWSKI.
JUSTIN BUCKLES Drag brunch producer
Those ceilings seem like a good idea, considering all the gymnastic moves we used to see at Night Light. Oh yeah, that’s Jayla Rose. She tumbles. She does back handsprings and flips. My performers are slowly getting back into the groove of things. It feels so good. I actually just booked another show in Sun Valley, Idaho. They’re kicking off Pride in little, tiny Sun Valley, Idaho, and we’re going to be there. What kind of precautions will be in place for Diva Drag Brunch? All the performers will be wearing the face shields for the time being. The clear plastic ones. We’re going to ask everyone to throw tips on the ground. I can only imagine a drag outfit planned around a face shield. Yes. A lot of my performers have already bedazzled and put jewels on them. They’re going to be over the top, as all my performers are. SUZETTE SMITH.
DANIEL QUASAR AARON LEE
Graphic designer, creator of the Progress Pride Flag
WW: Tell us about the inspiration for the Progress Pride Flag. Daniel Quasar: It was a couple of days after Seattle had unveiled their version of the Pride flag, which basically took Amber Hikes’ “More Color, More Pride” Philadelphia flag and added the trans flag with three stripes on top of it. I felt compelled and had a big creative spark where I was like, “I want to see if I can do something with this and emphasize the message they’re going for and put my own spin on it that furthers what it’s trying to do.” One article called the flag “a triumph for inclusiveness—a design disaster.” How did you handle the early criticism, and how have your own reactions changed as the flag’s become more famous? I was overwhelmed by everything, so it was really hard for me to respond to just about any [feedback], just because I wasn’t prepared for that and I’m also a hugely anxious person. To go viral and realize “Oh, I can’t handle this mentally, at all.” [laughs] But I would say a good 95 to 99% of the comments are all super-positive. Do you now get enough seasonal emails and checks to keep you comfortable the rest of the year? [Laughs] The way the American copyright system works, you can’t copyright a flag. I have creator’s copyright because I made the thing, but I can’t file a copyright claim for it. At the same time, at least with the people I’ve spoken to, everyone understands the level of respect involved. They want to respect the work and respect the originator of that work, and I take it from that perspective. Regardless of whether or not I have copyright, it’s my thing and not in a way where I own it. I don’t want someone to think my deal is, “This is my thing and I’m greedy about it!” No! My thing is, I protect it. I’m protecting its message and its integrity as a symbol and what I created it for. How did you maintain your communities over the past year? I already was a hermit who stayed at home, took care of their cats, and worked from home. When the pandemic came around, nothing really changed for me, except for more of a reason not to go out and see people. [laughs] The first four months of 2020 were really rough for business. When Pride came around and everything was canceled, I think something happened in people where they were like, “I can’t go out to Pride, so I’m going to take Pride home.” My business blew up because people wanted to have stuff to have with them since they couldn’t go out and experience Pride at festivals. ANDREW JANKOWSKI.
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CHRIS NESSETH
BRUCE EDWARD RICE
HOW TO PRIDE
From drag bingo to kink parties, here’s (almost) everything to do during this month of queer celebration. BY ANDREW JANKOW SKI
Owner of CC Slaughters, one of Portland’s oldest gay bars
@AndrewJank
Pride 2021 sees the LGBTQ+ community reuniting after more than a year separated by the forced social restrictions of the pandemic. Queer bars are making a slow comeback, while digital events are still crucial parts of the creative ecosystem, especially for spectators who can’t attend in person. Here’s your guide to Portland’s virtual and in-person Pride events—those sanctioned by Portland Pride Festival’s organizers, those held in Portland’s surviving queer and ally bars, and those beyond the club circuit. Many venues were still finalizing their calendars at press time, so continue to check websites and social media.
EVERY THURSDAY THIRSTY THURSDAY AT CC SLAUGHTER’S Drag queens Sheniqua Volt and Diva Dott Platinum host a variety show with an all-trans cast. CC Slaughters, 219 NW Davis St. 8 pm. Free. 21+.
EVERY FRIDAY
A drag performance at CC Slaughters.
WW: CC Slaughters closed in October, then reopened a few months later. What happened there? Bruce Edward Rice: I was looking at the winter going, “There’s no way that I can make it through the winter.” With my rent and all my bills, with the restrictions, we just couldn’t do it. So I negotiated with my landlord and said, “Can I close down and not pay rent? If you want to rent it, and you can find someone, they can rent it. But in the spring, if no one’s renting it, I want to come back.” And they were OK with that.
holding your boyfriend’s hand in pretty much any club and it’s fine.
What’s the energy like in there now? I mean, we’re a dance club and we’re not able to dance yet. Until this pandemic is over, we can’t have a dance floor or anything like that. Pretty much, right now, we’re just a neighborhood bar.
How hopeful are you for the future coming out of the pandemic? Right now, it’s going to take a while for downtown to come back. But I am definitely seeing a lot more cars, a lot more people walking around. So I’m really encouraged. I look back on the 1918 pandemic. What happened after that was the Roaring ’20s. I’m hoping everyone is just going to get crazy and have a whole bunch of fun after this is all done. MATTHEW SINGER.
Even before the pandemic, it felt like Portland’s queer spaces were disappearing. What’s your perception? We’re not in the ’80s and ’90s anymore where, if you were gay, you really kind of needed to go to a gay club to feel inclusion. Portland has progressed so much. You can be gay 16
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So what do you feel is the role of CC Slaughters in 2021? I don’t think it’s changed much at all over the years. I’ve owned it for 18 years. But there’s just more inclusion. We’ve seen a lot more straight people in here, and I see a lot more gay people who just go to other clubs that aren’t necessarily gay. But other than that, nothing really has changed. We still have drag queens and we still dance.
DARCELLE XV & COMPANY Darcelle XV, the record-holding legend herself, is back onstage, bringing five shows each weekend with a rotating cast of showgirls, each staples of our local drag community in their own right. Also taking place Saturday night at the same listed times. Darcelle XV Showplace, 208 NW 3rd Ave. 7 and 9 pm. $20. 21+. THANK GOD I’M FAB AT CC SLAUGHTER’S The statuesque Miss Inanna brings back her weekly Friday night drag and talent revue. CC Slaughters, 219 NW Davis St. 7 pm. $5. 21+.
EVERY SUNDAY SUNDAY FUNDAY DRAG QUEEN BRUNCH AT DARCELLE’S Brunch is a relatively new undertaking for Darcelle’s, but the girls have served hearty plates and classic drag illusions for decades, so trust them to know what they’re doing. Darcelle XV Showplace, 208 NW 3rd Ave. 11:30 am. $20. 21+. DOUBLE DIPPED BRUNCH AT LOCAL LOUNGE Coco Jem Holiday hosts Local Lounge’s weekly drag brunch with a roster of local favorites and a vegetarian- and vegan-friendly menu. Local Lounge, 3536 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 2 pm. $10-$20. 21+.
SUPERSTAR DIVAS MEGASHOW The titanic trio of Bolivia Carmichaels, Isaiah Esquire and Honey Bea Hart bring back their long-running weekly drag show, doing what they each do best: self-expressive takes on ginger-haired comediennes, Hollywood starlets and Disney villains, among other icons. CC Slaughters, 219 NW Davis St. 8 pm. Free. 21+.
EVERY TUESDAY CATCH A RISING STAR Darcelle’s weekly revue dedicated to new nightlife entertainers is back. If you want to support budding talents, or show off what you learned while in lockdown, this is the place for you. Darcelle XV Showplace, 208 NW 3rd Ave. 7 pm. $5. 21+ Saturday, June 5 HILLSBORO PRIDE The city of Hillsboro celebrates its third-ever Pride party with its second year of in-person events. The CJ Mickens Band, singer-songwriter Olivia Klugman, and drag queens, including Poison Waters, headline the show’s outdoor concert. Gordon Faber Recreation Complex, 4450 NE Century Blvd. 4 pm. $5. All ages. STEPPIN’ OUT! DJ Action Slacks hosts a laid-back outdoor dance party set to vintage soul and pop music. Whether this is your first post-vaxx dance party or not, the atmosphere is designed to let people ease back into dancing and being in public. World Famous Kenton Club, 2025 N Kilpatrick St. 6:30 pm. Free. 21+. DRAMA CAMP Drag queens Coco Jem Holiday and Autumn Rainz Hart lead a revue of way-off-Broadway babes paying tribute to our memories of live musical theater. Local Lounge, 3536 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 7:30 pm. $10. 21+.
SUNDAY, JUNE 6 PEACOCK IN THE PARK The historic daytime drag revue benefitting LGBTQ+ scholarship funds was canceled last year, not due to the coronavirus but financial strain. An influx of charitable support over the past year enabled the program to return with two socially distanced, donation-based shows. Washington Park Amphitheater, 410 SW Kingston Ave. 3 and 6 pm. Free, donations encouraged. All ages.
TUESDAY, JUNE 8 PRIDE STORYTIME Poison Waters reads books to children of all ages. Advance registration through Hillsboro Parks & Recreation’s ActiveNet portal is encouraged. Hidden Creek Community Center, 5100 NE Hidden Creek Drive, Hillsboro. 4:30 and 6 pm. Free. All ages. Register at apm.activecommunities.com/hillsborooregonparks.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9 DRAG BINGO Summer Rainz Hart and friends host an outdoor bingo party with fabulous prizes. Local Lounge, 3536 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 7 pm. Free. 21+.
FRIDAY, JUNE 11 [VIRTUAL] BINGO WITH SAGE AND THE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE Portland’s SAGE USA and Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence chapters host a virtual bingo and dance party for queer seniors and seniors at heart. RSVP at tinyurl.com/sagepridebingo. 6 pm. Free. All ages. GAYBARET! WITH ANNA SINATRA Nationally touring singer and comedian Anna Sinatra is bringing three shows to Portland—the first at Local Lounge on June 10—with Siren Theater’s Friday and Saturday shows including a supporting roster of Portland cabaret stars. Siren Theater, 315 NW Davis St. 7:30 pm. $15. 21+.
SATURDAY, JUNE 12 DIVA DRAG BRUNCH AT BIT HOUSE COLLECTIVE Bit House Collective’s inaugural drag brunch is currently selling seats in sets of two to six. Local dolls Jayla Rose, Nay Nay Leakes Cartier, Alexis Campbell Starr, Devlin Lynn Phoénixx, and Boujee Cherry are supported by Seattle’s Amora Dior Black and Las Vegas’ Babie More. Bit House Collective, 727 SE Grand Ave. 11 am. $20 per person. 21+. [VIRTUAL] BREAKING THE SILENCE: STORIES OF OREGON’S LGBTQ VETERANS A documentary featuring five queer service members was filmed after the Oregon Department of Veteran Affairs launched the country’s first-ever LGBTQ veterans outreach position in 2016. This event features an after-film Q&A about veterans’ benefits, and a round of virtual bingo hosted by Poison Waters. See portlandpride.org for streaming information. 12:30 pm. Free. All ages. BLACK MAGIC Drag queens Devlin Lynn Phoénixx and Coco Jem Holiday host a live monthly revue of premier Black drag queens. Local Lounge, 3536 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 7:30 pm, $10, 21+.
SUNDAY, JUNE 13 DRAG BRUNCH AT 10 BARREL BREWING Atlas Marshall hosts a rooftop patio brunch and leads a cast of vivacious drag queens. 10 Barrel Brewing, 1411 NW Flanders St. 10:30 am. $10. 21+.
TRANS STRIP NIGHT AT STAG Stag transitioned ownership during the pandemic, but the cis male-centered strip club is bringing back its popular alltrans and nonbinary night for Pride. Stag PDX, 317 NW Broadway. 5 pm. $5. 21+.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16 HAVING A LAUGH WITH GRANNY BEA Honey Bea Hart, the long-reigning “Evil Queen of Portland,” debuted Granny Bea and her standup comedy and variety show shortly before lockdown, restarting on St. Patrick’s Day earlier this year. Local Lounge, 3536 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 7 pm. $10. 21+. PRIDE PICS Pride NW and the QDoc Film Festival debut 12 feature-length and short films over two days at Zidell Yards’ new socially distanced entertainment venue. Wednesday’s screenings include Swan Song, Taffy, My First Summer, Wings and Fanny: The Right to Rock. Thursday’s screenings include No Ordinary Man, Giselle’s Story, In France Michelle Is a Man’s Name, No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics, Kapaemahu, and Potato Dreams of America. Prices reflect pod seating for two to six people. The Lot at Zidell Yards, 3121 S Moody Ave. 11 am-7:30 pm through June 17. $70+. All ages. FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS If you’d rather party than debate where kink belongs at Pride, karaoke maven Atlas Marshall is hosting a live show for you. There will be drag performances and hotties of all genders dressed to the nines, along with the type of entertainment you might watch or join in at cruising clubs like Velvet Rope or Steam. Sanctuary Club, 33 NW 9th Ave. 7 pm. $10. 21+.
FRIDAY, JUNE 18 PRIDE PARTY 2021 AT THE BIG LEGROWLSKI Little Lioness Productions, which gave a start to many of the Rose City’s newbie burlesque dancers and drag kings and queens, hosts a daytime patio party with pop-up performances, along with an evening cabaret show going as late as legally allowed. Witch Prince, Tox!c and other artists supply live music. The Big Legrowlski, 812 NW Couch St. Noon. $10-$50. 21+. [VIRTUAL] CHASING RAINBOWS The Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, accompanied by the Low Bar Chorale’s house band, debuts a new program of standards from gay pop heroes, including Whitney Houston, Gloria Gaynor, Cher, Dolly Parton, Lady Gaga and Carly Rae Jepsen. Chasing Rainbows streams again on Father’s Day at 3 pm should you and your dad want to stan the greats together. See portlandpride.org for streaming information. 8 pm. Free. All ages.
SATURDAY, JUNE 19 PORTLAND FRONTRUNNERS’ PRIDE RACE I get that we’re not all back in the gym and might want some social exercise opportunities, but running on pavement is absolutely homophobic. The tattered remains of my shins are sitting this one out, but I support you if this is the lifestyle you choose to embrace. Eastbank Esplanade. 9 am. Free. All ages.
SINFERNO CABARET Burlesque superstar Isaiah Esquire was recently appointed the long-running cabaret revue’s co-producer. He’s curated an all-queer lineup of go-gos, drag queens, fire dancers and circus artists to close out Pride Week, making it one of Pride’s hottest live events. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St. 8 pm. $5-$15. 21+.
THURSDAY, JUNE 24
[VIRTUAL] WE HOLD YOUR NAMES SACRED Vocal group Resonance Ensemble premieres new work honoring slain transgender women of color and features an after-show panel with queer and trans leaders, including composer Mari Esabel Valverde and librettist “Lady Dane” Figueroa. See portlandpride.org for streaming information. 5 pm. Free. All ages.
HUNTER PRESENTS QUEENS DJxAnimal and DJ Trashleigh host drag queens not yet in RuPaul’s cinematic universe. Local girls Leilani C. Glamazon, Brit Neon, Babylon Brooks, Touché Douché, Tony J. Carmichaels and Starlite Safari help close out Pride Month. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. 7:30 pm. $15. 21+.
JUNETEENTH PARTY AT LOCAL LOUNGE Local Lounge celebrates Juneteenth— the holiday marking the date the Emancipation Proclamation was fully enforced in Texas, nearly two and a half years after President Lincoln signed it—with music, cocktails, and a celebration highlighting queer members of the Black diaspora. Local Lounge, 3536 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 8 pm. Free. 21+.
L.U.R.E. Eagle’s monthly Leather, Uniform, Rubber, Etc. kink party gives you a spot to bust out your best fetish gear and really dress to impress. Eagle Portland, 835 N Lombard St. 5 pm. $2-$3. 21+.
SUNDAY, JUNE 20 [VIRTUAL] SECOND ANNUAL DIGITAL PRIDE PARADE & DYKES ON BIKES RALLY This year’s digital Pride Parade and Dykes on Bikes Rally are being recorded on June 4 at Portland International Raceway. Whether that’s because of downtown doom mongers or the ongoing pandemic is unknown, but it’s at least a fresher take on a pre-recorded parade than last year’s Zoom talent show and archival footage of the Gay Pride 1999 parade. See portlandpride. org for streaming information. 11 am. Free. All ages.
SATURDAY, JUNE 26
SUNDAY, JUNE 27 BEAVERTON PRIDE Sir Cupcake’s Queer Circus puts on three shows headlining Beaverton’s annual Pride party, which also features artisans, food vendors and a “queer beer garden.” Pre-registration is encouraged. Beaverton Library Green, 12375 SW 5th St. 11 am. Free. All ages. Register at beavertonpride.org.
TEA DANCE Tea dances can trace their pre-Stonewall history back to the 1940s, but think Hot Girl Summer II when formulating your look, not victory curls and croquet. Atlas Marshall and Flawless Shade host this one on the Impala rooftop. Impala Bar & Grill, 1900 NW 27th Ave. 11 am. $10. 21+. DRAG ON DEMAND 2: LET THE GAMES BEGIN Last year, drag queen Kimber Shade— aka queer historian and creative manager Henry Felton—organized a digital show that helped sustain several local queens through the pandemic’s driest financial months. This year ups the ante, with in-person and remote screenings of local drag numbers, making for an entirely new type of drag watch party. Local Lounge, 3536 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 5 pm. Ticket price TBD. 21+.
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STREET STREET OUT AND ABOUT OUT AND ABOUT
Who we found this weekend. Who we found at CC Slaughters and elsewhere this weekend. Photos by Chris Nesseth @chrisnesseth Photos by Chris Nesseth | @chrisnesseth
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STREET STREET
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STARTERS
THE MOST IMPORTANT PORTLAND CULTURE STORIES OF THE WEEK—GRAPHED.
WW ST AF
RIDICULOUS
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 .
The Ross clothing store chain fires a Portland employee who went viral on TikTok.
F
TIKTOK
Several varieties of apples once thought extinct are rediscovered near Salem.
MICK HANGLAND-SKILL
…which the Portland Bureau of Transportation teases with a weirdly macho preview video that looks more like a truck ad.
A pro disc golf tour is coming to Portland this week. P I X A B AY
R O S E M I C H A E LW I K I C O M M O N S
Tigard’s Broadway Rose Theatre Company breaks ground on a $3.3 million expansion.
ANDI PREWITT
The Eastern Oregon Beer Festival will go on, making it one of the few summer events that hasn’t been canceled.
U.S. FO R
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SCOTCHLODGE DOT COM
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Esquire names Southeast Portland whiskey bar Scotch Lodge one of the best bars in America.
SERIOUS
A 63-year-old man fell 500 feet to his death climbing Mount Hood over Memorial Day weekend.
AWFUL
AWESOME
Portland’s newest pedestrian-only bridge is opening to the public next week…
Stay tuned! We’re tallying up nominations! Vote for your favorite businesses, places, and experiences starting June 14.
bop.wweek.com
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GET BUSY
STUFF TO DO THIS WEEK, INDOORS AND OUT.
CARYE BYE
GO: Pedalpalooza After a year of do-it-yourself routes, Pedalpalooza is back. The wacky, whimsical bike festival is returning to independently organized group rides and has expanded from one month to three. Starting this week, daily events run through the end of August, from a bike tour of local queer history on Stonewall Day, a meetup where you can bring your cat or come dressed as one, a cruise around Ladd’s Addition set to the music of Britney Spears that will include a talk about how #FreeBritney relates to disability justice, and whatever the hell a Bitcoin-themed ride is. See shift2bikes.org for a full schedule.
WATCH: Totally F***ed Up Kick off Pride Month by screening some excellent LGBTQ+ films that showcase the community’s wide range of stories and experiences. One of our favorites is Totally F***ed Up, one of the most underrated cinematic odes to the City of Angels, in which a group of gay teens navigate their identities and relationships against the backdrop of a quintessentially ’90s L.A. Inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Féminin, director Gregg Araki infuses his subversive coming-of-age drama with neon-lit monologues that wax poetic on youth, love and the underground queer scene. Streams on Kanopy.
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WATCH: Saving Grace Since the mid-1970s, Saving Grace has answered 78,000 helpline calls, served nearly 50,000 individuals, and expanded to five cities across Central Oregon. Those numbers are both staggering and inspiring given that the Bend-based nonprofit provides comprehensive assistance to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In recognition of that critical work, BendFilm debuts a documentary about the organization this week for its annual Power of Film fundraiser. If you want to learn more about Saving Grace, you don’t even have to make the three-plus-hour drive to Bend: Anyone in the state can register to attend the virtual event and watch the film online at no cost. Register for The Power of Film at bendfilm.org/poweroffilm. 6 pm Friday, June 4. Free.
GO: The Portland State University Choirs Present: Fully Vaccinated Finally, Multnomah County is “low risk,” stuff is opening back up, and the dream of a halfway normal summer is in reach. So let’s celebrate in the most lit way possible: with some motherfucking student choirs, baby! All right, maybe it’s not, like, Diplo or whatever, but after a year without live entertainment, it’s probably best to step gingerly back into the groove of going out and getting buck. And besides, Portland State does produce some really whoop-ass choirs: The school has collected awards and medals at competitions around the world, and the Chamber Choir’s 2017 album, The Doors of Heaven, is the only college choral record to ever top Billboard’s Classical Chart. Here, PSU’s Chamber, Rose and Thorn choirs will perform traditional and modern classics, including their arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Sure, you’ve heard it a million times, but sung under the sky at the waterfront’s new socially distant outdoor venue, by some of the best voices in the city, it’s guaranteed to hit different. The Lot at Zidell Yards, 3030 S Moody Ave., thelotatzidellyards.com. 2 and 7 pm Sunday, June 6. $25-$50.
GO: Peacock in the Park Now 25 years old, the historic daytime drag revue benefitting LGBTQ+ scholarship funds was canceled last year, not due to the coronavirus but financial strain. An influx of charitable support over the past year enabled the program to return with two socially distanced, donation-based shows, hosted by Portland drag matriarchs Darcelle, Poison Waters and Maria Peters Lake. Washington Park, 4001 SW Canyon Road, peacockinthepark.org. 3 and 6 pm Sunday, June 6. Free. Donations encouraged.
P E ACO C K I N T H E PA R K .O R G
ROSIE STRUVE
EXPLORE: Portland Street Art After a year sitting inside and consuming culture mostly from screens, there’s never been a better time to get off the couch and explore Portland’s wealth of street art. Thanks to a yearly street art festival and a long history of prolific muralists, this city has clusters of murals in every quadrant. PDX Street Art has the most comprehensive index of Portland mural maps, including splashy, downloadable guides to the Alberta District, the central eastside and the city as whole. Visit pdxstreetart.org/finding-streetart.
GO: Lot Laughs at Helium Comedy Club Experience live comedy the way it was meant to be seen: in a [checks notes] fenced-in parking lot surrounded by razor wire! Y’know, just like Lenny Bruce used to do back in the day. OK, maybe not. Regardless, Helium’s decision to host outdoor shows in the lot adjacent to the club at the height of the pandemic may have started as an act of desperation, but now that crowds are coming back inside at somewhere close to maximum occupancy, it’s keeping the shows going through the summer as a weekly showcase for rising local and national talent, and maintaining the punky DIY vibe—the audience even has to bring its own chairs. This week’s installment is headlined by Tyler Boeh, best known for doing weird things with his mouth. Beatboxing. We’re talking about beatboxing. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669, portland.heliumcomedy.com. 5 pm Sunday, June 6. $15.
LISTEN: Clara by Loscil Vancouver, B.C.’s Loscil is the preeminent ambient chronicler of the Pacific Northwest, taking inspiration from the geography and natural history of the gloomiest, wettest corner of the country. His new album, Clara, is less interested in place than pure sound, being composed of edits and remixes of a single, three-minute piece of music performed by a Hungarian string orchestra. But its mood should be familiar to anyone who’s ever felt a droplet of cold fog shake loose from a tree and land on their face. Stream on Spotify.
☛
DO: Hike the Oregon Coast See feature, next page.
GET OUTSIDE
MICHELLE HARRIS
HIKES OF THE WEEK
Coasting Up Five lesser known Oregon Coast hikes. BY MICHELLE HA R R IS
As summer approaches, Oregonians are naturally pulled toward the coast. It’s a respite from the 80-plus-degree temps that begin to seep into Portland come June, and it’s also the best time to experience coastal hiking without the constant threat of rain. Of course, many favorite trails tend to get overcrowded this time of year. If you’re looking to maintain social distance even after getting vaccinated, here are some alternative hikes to try next time you venture westward.
SKIPANON RIVER LOOP
Skipanon River Loop
Gnat Creek Hatchery
Kilchis Point Reserve
Not far from the Fort Stevens Historical Area in Warrenton, the Skipanon River Loop is an easy, flat stroll that takes you along a quiet river trail with opportunities for bird watching. You can begin at either Skipanon River Park or the Lighthouse Park Trailhead, where you’ll find a small museum and maritime memorial. From the trailhead, follow the trail sign and make a left onto Harbor Drive and then walk under a road bridge to the trail. Walk alongside the Skipanon River on a paved path—there’s a fair amount of bird droppings along this part of the trail, so wear closed-toe shoes. After passing Skipanon River Park, you’ll turn left onto Main Street and walk a few blocks before turning left onto 5th Street, where you’ll reconnect with the trail. From here, it’ll feel oddly like you’re walking through someone’s backyard before reaching the 8th Street Dam. From there, take the Skipanon River Trail Eastern Spur, a peaceful riverside trail with tall grass and wetlands. You’ll likely encounter herons, geese and ducks in the water, so there are plenty of photo opportunities. Once you reach Highway 1, you can make your way back and take a right at 8th Street Dam where you walk along grassy trail to the marina. Walk up to the road bridge and make a left to head back toward the trailhead.
About 20 miles east of Astoria off Highway 30, “Gnat Creek” doesn’t exactly sound inviting, but it’s an ideal place to stop on your way to the coast. Constructed in 1960, the hatchery was built to raise Chinook salmon and steelhead. It has a show pond along with informational signs, an overlook to a 15-foot waterfall, and a fish feeding station— spring and summer are the best time to see migrating salmon and steelhead. From the hatchery, a few hiking trails wind through Clatsop State Forest, one of which leads to a campground. The area is also open to mountain bikers. The shaded trail system takes you through a lush coastal rain forest of spruce, fern and hemlock. Watch for gnarled roots on the ground—they’re tripping hazards. You’ll pass Barrier Falls, a small waterfall that drops over a basalt shelf. Along the way are more interpretive signs, and you’ll likely notice a number of decaying stumps left over from decades of logging. Continue along the upper valley of Gnat Creek and you’ll eventually reach the Bigfoot Creek junction, where a bench overlooks the creek.
Declared a County Heritage Site, Kilchis Point Reserve is an important historical site owned and managed by the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum. The 200-acre natural area lies along Tillamook Bay and has over 2 miles of dog-friendly trails that weave through wetlands and woodlands. Kilchis Point was home to one of the largest Native American villages on the northern Oregon Coast as well as to Tillamook County’s first pioneer settler. There are three interpretive trails to explore, each highlighting a different part of the site’s history: Flora and Fauna, Native American Heritage, and Pioneer Settlement. An informational kiosk at the trailhead has a map of the trail network. Though the trails measure only 2.2 miles altogether, there are plenty of informational signs along the way. The woods are full of whistling songbirds and other critters—be careful of spider webs. You’ll eventually cross a footbridge over Doty Creek and then follow the trail to Tillamook Bay at Kilchis Point, where you’ll find a boardwalk that leads up to a gazebo viewpoint that stretches across the bay into the hillside. This is an ideal bird-watching spot where you’re likely to see great blue herons, great egrets and gulls.
Directions: Drive west on US 26 for about 70 miles before merging onto US 101 north. After 16 miles, turn left onto Harbor Drive, where you’ll drive almost 1.5 miles before turning right on Northeast Skipanon Drive. Make a quick left into the parking lot for Lighthouse Park.
Directions: Follow US 30 west toward St. Helens. Once you pass St. Helens, it’s a little under 50 miles to Gnat Creek Hatchery. When you see the sign on your left, turn into the visitor parking area. MICHELLE HARRIS
Directions: Drive 18 miles west on US 26 and veer left into OR 6 west toward Tillamook/Banks. After about 50 miles, turn right onto Wilson River Loop and then make a sharp left onto Latimer Road North. Go about 2 miles and then turn right onto US 101 north. Drive 3 miles before turning left onto Warren Street and then left on Spruce Street. Pull into the parking lot at Kilchis Point Reserve. TILLAMOOK BAY AT KILCHIS POINT Willamette Week JUNE 2, 2021 wweek.com
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BAR REVIEW
CHRIS NESSETH
FOOD & DRINK
TOP 5
BUZZ LIST
Where to get drinks this week.
1. TopWire Hop Project
8668 Crosby Road NE, Woodburn, 503-9825166, topwirehop.com. 11 am-8 pm Thursday and Sunday, 11 am-9 pm Friday-Saturday. The state’s most secretive beer garden is hidden among the crops at Crosby Hop Farm in Woodburn. Follow the half-mile gravel road that runs between the bines and you’ll wind up at a 40-foot-long shipping container repurposed as a serving station pouring from 10 rotating taps exclusively featuring batches made with the hops growing around you. This season, that includes a collaborative brewing project with brewer Grains of Wrath that will produce three different IPAs using the brewery’s base recipe with rotating hop varieties from Crosby to showcase how the aromatic cones transform the taste of the beer.
2. Portland Cà Phê
2815 SE Holgate Blvd., 503-841-5787, portlandcaphe.com. 8 am-3 pm daily. Admittedly, we’re talking about a buzz of a different kind here. Portland Cà Phê opened less than a month ago, but its signature Vietnamese coffee drinks have already managed to become iconic. You’ve surely seen what’s already become a signature snap of the Southeast Holgate coffee shop on your socials: a perfect purple ube latte held aloft in front of a wall-sized map of Vietnam. It tastes as good as it looks.
DRINK
Holy Goat Social Club, 1501 NE Fremont St., 503-282-0956, holygoatpdx.com. 2-10 pm MondaySaturday.
3. Produce Row WALL OF FAME: Holy Goat Social Club is decorated with framed celebrity photos, some of them autographed.
Get Your Goat
Daddy Mojo’s is gone, but not forgotten. BY M ATT H E W SI N G E R
msinger@wweek.com
If the wall of fame at Holy Goat Social Club is to be believed, the tiny bar at the corner of Northeast Fremont Street and 15th Avenue has had more than a few brushes with greatness. Nat King Cole. The Beatles. James Dean. Barack Obama. Uh, Abraham Lincoln. All right, maybe none of those folks have ever stepped foot inside this shoebox-sized neighborhood watering hole. Still, they could be considered “the regulars.” Back when the place used to be called Daddy Mojo’s, owner Vilath Oudomphong decorated practically every square inch with his expansive collection of celebrity memorabilia. When ownership changed hands a few years ago, new proprietor Spyros Kourtessis kept a handful of framed photos—a few of them autographed—and added some of his own, including a small portrait of a goat. Kourtessis bought the bar in 2018, but didn’t get around to doing a full rebrand until late the next year. Then 2020 happened. As such, the replacement vinyl booths barely feel sat in, and the freshly installed bar top is free of scuff marks and water rings. 24
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But it’d be inaccurate to describe Holy Goat as a “new” bar. Other than the name change—a reference to a favorite bar in Kourtessis’ hometown of Athens, Greece—the alterations are in line with the photo gallery: an aesthetic streamline, rather than a makeover. But if you ever went to Daddy Mojo’s before—and if you’ve lived in Sabin a while, you’ve popped your head in at least once—you’ll still find what you’re looking for: a drink menu consisting of stiff takes on old classics, soul music on the stereo, and soul food in the kitchen. Before the pandemic, the bar also offered Mojo’s solid low-key breakfast. It should be back soon. If anything, Holy Goat has clarified the bar’s identity. Daddy Mojo’s always seemed a little confused about itself: Was it a cafe? Sports bar? Sushi restaurant? (Don’t worry, the adjoining Mojo’s Sushi is still there, as a separate business.) Now, it’s simply the quiet corner haunt that every neighborhood needs, ideal for an after-work cocktail or quick nightcap. If Barack, Ringo or Abe actually did come through the door, they would probably feel right at home. It’s hard not to.
before the pandemic made them essential. The 44-year-old inner Southeast stalwart’s is 2,500 square feet, and it’s fenced, covered and heated. The Row has always exuded a perfect balance of comfort and chic—famous for its beer-cheese macaroni and cheese, but also willing to play with carrot juice, egg whites and blueberry basil peppercorn shrub as drink ingredients. With such a huge outdoor space, it’s a slam dunk to find a seat for weekend brunches or after-work (from home) drinks.
4. The BeerMongers
1125 SE Division St., 503-234-6012, thebeermongers.com. Noon-9 pm daily. If its Instagram account is to be trusted, the BeerMongers has not closed in over 4,000 days— even after the easy-up erected in the parking lot collapsed during the Great Blizzard of 2021. “Paul’s Patio,” this scruffy, 10-tap beer bar’s pivot to keep that streak going through the pandemic, is a no-frills affair, but that didn’t stop it from winning Best Beer Bar at the recent Oregon Beer Awards. It’s a onestop shop for local heroes and out-of-state whales alike, all of which can be plucked from the fridge and consumed on the premises for a $1 corkage fee.
5. Da Hui
6506 SE Foster Road, 503-477-7224, dahui.bar. Noon-11 pm daily. Want to get away? Head to tiki’d-out dive bar Da Hui to get a taste of paradise. Sit at one of its handful of picnic tables or snag a barstool beneath its island-inspired outdoor patio and sip one of its sizable cocktails, like a Lava Flow or Oahu Sunset, both filled with fruit juices and silver rum, and pair it with a classic Hawaiian dish such as kalua pork or kalbi ribs. It might not be true paradise but close enough.
204 SE Oak St., 503-232-8355, producerowcafe.com. 4-11 pm weekdays, 11 am-11 pm weekends. Produce Row was doing patios right long
TOP 5
HOT PLATES Where to get food this week.
1. Ice Queen
1223 SE Stark St., icequeenyouscream.com. 11 am-7 pm FridaySaturday, 11 am-6 pm Sunday. You need only to scroll through Ice Queen’s Instagram feed to understand why there’s always a line outside the Stark Street vegan popsicle stand—you’d be hard-pressed to find cuter frozen treats in Portland, vegan or otherwise. Each popsicle looks so joyful it could gain a following on appearance alone: The pastel-hued She’s in Parties is dotted with sprinkles and contains a hidden slice of birthday cake, and the lip-puckering Lime All Yours comes with a tiny bottle of Tajín chile flakes.
2. Da Pine Grinds
1208 E Historic Columbia River Highway, Troutdale. 11 am-3 pm Tuesday-Friday. The charmingly retro Sugarpine Drive-in has been one of Portland’s essential summer visits for three years now—and with the recent addition of Hawaiian food cart Da Pine Grinds, the trip has only grown more crucial. Here’s the early recommendation: Grab the ahi shoyu poke, add in a P.O.G.—a frozen mixture of passion fruit, orange, and guava juice—then take your food to an oversized picnic table above the Sandy and, boom, a perfect afternoon.
3. Jojo
3582 SE Powell Blvd., 971-331-4284, jojopdx. com. 11 am-9 pm daily.
Jojo’s signature Southern fried chicken sandwich was a classic the second the inaugural batch came out of the fryer two years ago: equal parts crispy and juicy; topped with vinegary coleslaw and a not-so-secret sauce of ketchup and Duke’s Mayo; big enough to bulge the eyes without forcing you to unhinge your jaw. A brick-and-mortar is coming to the Pearl in summer proper, but for now, you can get it from a skyblue cart tucked in the back of a parking lot next to John’s Marketplace. Few trips are as essential.
4. Piggins
1239 SW Broadway, 503-2229070, higginsportland.com. 11:30 am-7 pm Wednesday-Sunday. One of downtown’s most popular pandemic pivots appears as though it’s becoming a seasonal tradition. The basilhued, cedar-trimmed food cart has returned to the courtyard of the Oregon Historical Society, acting as an extension of James Beard Award-winning chef Greg Higgins’ kitchen, with a menu that includes classics, like the iconic open-faced brisket pastrami sandwich.
5. Sweet Lorraine’s
1331 N Killingsworth St., sweetlorraineslatkes. squarespace.com. 11:30 am-3:30 pm MondayTuesday, noon-8 pm Thursday-Sunday. It’s Hanukkah year-round at Killingsworth Station—or, at least, a reasonable facsimile of the Lower East Side of New York. The cart pod is where Aaron Tomasko and Rachel Brashear are serving voluptuous potato pancakes, as well as knishes, kugel, kasha varnishkes and East Coast sweets. The crispy, pillowy latkes are fried to order and come with the traditional accompaniment of sour cream and applesauce.
POTLANDER
High Pride Gift Guide BY B R I A N N A WH E ELE R
The window of late spring, early summer, when rainbow season and Pride season merge, is one of the most magical times in the Pacific Northwest. Celebrating love and equality with hundreds of spiritual cousins under a double-rainbow sun shower is perfectly commonplace during this window—and doing so under the shimmery haze of weed smoke is especially on brand for our emerald oasis. This year, without the crowded festivals that typically define Pride celebrations, maybe consider an investment in gratitude for our LGBTQIA+ friends and family that maintain the values of radical inclusivity, intersectional equity, and freedom to love that ignited the first Pride, which, lest we forget, was a riot, not a parade. Besides: If we can’t party ourselves silly, we might as well do some super-gay shopping. So here are a handful of LGBTQIA+-owned, -operated and -founded cannabis and cannabis-adjacent companies to help kick off Pride Month with celebratory gift-giving.
Subscriptions for Full-Spectrum Role Models: Green Box
For the Grown and Sexy: Black Cannabis Magazine
When considering gifts for your favorite role models, what’s better than a self-stocking weed stash? Founded by Adrian Wayman, a Black, gay entrepreneur, and his father-in-law, Green Box offers subscriptions to curated cannabis goodie boxes featuring the best of Oregon’s weed, edibles, tinctures and more. Varying subscription levels conform to different budgets and tastes, and the boxes are personalized to suit the recipient. If you want to ensure the perfect cannathusiast present for this year’s Pride, having Adrian curate a cute box for you and your queer paragons is a smart start.
There are plenty of complimentary cannabis rags decorating dispensary counters in Portland, but Black Cannabis Magazine is a bit more exclusive. This magazine is primarily digital, but its inaugural print edition featuring Whoopi Goldberg is more bookshelf worthy than waiting-room chic. The magazine focuses on art, news and culture within the cannabis sphere from a marginalized perspective but is universally readable, and was both Black and LGBTQIA+ founded.
Get it from: pdxgreenbox.com
Get it from: blackcannabismagazine.com
Tokeativity x Maia Toys Jessi 420 Mini Bullet Vibe Sexuality and Pride are part and parcel. What started as a gay liberation movement has evolved into a celebration of life, acceptance and community, but don’t get it twisted: Sexuality is still a cornerstone of the movement. So, if there’s a special stoner vagina owner (or genital nonspecific, sex-positive, vibe aficionado) in your life that deserves a sensual gift this year, consider the Tokeativity x Maia Toys Jessi 420 Mini Bullet, a palm-size vibrator decorated with aqua cannabis leaves against a turquoise shaft. Bonus: This mini vibrator is discreet enough to fit in a pocket but intense enough to make this Pride a particularly memorable one. Get it from: tokeativity.com
Self-Care for Progressive Revolutionaries: Organic Hemp Teas by The Pot Lab
Cushy Cones
Founded by Dr. Brandie Cross, The Pot Lab offers a number of organic, therapeutic hemp products formulated over the course of a decade of botanical lab research. Each of The Pot Lab’s Flower Water wellness teas, for example, features therapeutic hemp and botanical blends. These blends are also Indigenous grown and crafted with traditional ecological knowledge as well as a sharp balance of heritage medicine and contemporary tech. When shopping for a progressive someone whose stash would benefit from a bit of thoughtful canna-botanic self-care, consider these exhaustively researched and deliberately devised herbal elixirs that were probably enjoyed by several-many two-spirit ancestors.
If there’s a radical unicorn in your cypher who appreciates sparkle-rainbow everything—including weed—Cushy Cones are the rolling papers to make those pre-roll fantasies into realities. Cushy Cones is a manufacturer based in Miami and Portland that produces pre-roll cones and filters with fantastical patterns and color combos. Even its standard hemp paper cones are bedecked with metallic jewel tone filter tips, essentially producing Pride-friendly preroll cones year round. Cushy Cones gets that Pride, like being stoned, is a state of mind, folks.
Get it from: thepotlab.com
Get it from: cushycones.patternbyetsy.com
Farbod Ceramics Pipe Each of these pipes is handmade by Farbod Nael, whose ceramic art therapy beginnings have since grown to include an entire line of creative smoke utensils. Many of Nael’s devices are straightforward yet elegant demonstrations of artisan stoneware, but others are cheeky reinterpretations of everyday items, such as an avocado half, a mini cactus or an oversized pill. For gifters looking to support an LGBTQIA+ artisan with a uniquely potheaded point of view, Farbod’s online shop will check those boxes and then some. Get it from: farbodceramics.com
Genderless Skin Care for Antiquated Construct Eradicators: Brown Sugar Botanicals Skin Salve
Blunt Skincare
More than a therapeutic salve, Brown Sugar Botanicals’ blend of oils and herbs is a perfumed skin softener that’s a more potent skin saturator than any drug store cream. The ingredients list features calendula, borage, lavender and CBD isolate, resulting in a balm that’s as effective at treating soreness as it is at quenching ashy skin. Founded by Chris Wakefield and KaliMa Amilak, Brown Sugar Botanicals is more than a CBD skin care company. Its line features three flagship products: this fragrant, skin-soothing salve; an equally robust sublingual tincture; and a lavender-hemp spliff pack. All come highly rated and reverentially reviewed.
This line of CBD skin oils, formulated by Stas Chirkov, uses phytocannabinoids (external cannabinoids) to increase the skin’s ability to fight inflammation and free-radical damage. Each of its three varieties focuses on a different skin type or condition: Isolate for balance, Moon Rock for renewal, and Seed for hydration. The sleek, millennial packaging is as suited to a high femme boudoir vanity as a masculine minimalist bathroom counter, but has a universal appeal that should light up the eyes of any canna-skin care enthusiast, gendered or nah. These oils can be purchased individually or in a gift set featuring all three.
Get it from: brownsugarbotanicals.com
Get it from: bluntskincare.com
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Editor: Andi Prewitt | Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com VIDEO STILL
PERFORMANCE
MUSIC Written by: Daniel Bromfield | @bromf3
Now Hear This
Listening recommendations from the past, present, Portland and the periphery. SOMETHING OLD
ON THE ROAD: Rosaleen McDonagh is an activist and playwright who based portions of Pretty Proud Boy on her heritage as an Irish Traveller.
Proud and Pitiable A young Irishman falls for fascism in Corrib Theatre’s Pretty Proud Boy. BY BE N N E T T C A M P B E L L FERGUS O N
In Pretty Proud Boy, Winnie (Deanna Wells) remembers what it was like seeing her son David (Zak Westfall) in prison. “There he was, sitting in his cell, gaunt as a ghost,” she says. “My boy, my lovely boy. This is the one road that he was supposed to keep off. His eyes, like a baby’s, while trying to be a man.” The void between boyhood and manhood is at the heart of Pretty Proud Boy, an audio play written by Rosaleen McDonagh and produced by Corrib Theatre. It’s set in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the story is largely about the anguish of a mother who both loves her son and is horrified by how far he has journeyed down the road of fascism and how little he has grown up. Since Pretty Proud Boy lasts about 30 minutes, the details of Winnie’s and David’s lives have to be conveyed swiftly, sometimes with awkwardly blunt dialogue. Yet you can’t stop listening. Pretty Proud Boy is more than a play— it is a requiem that refuses to temper tragic lives with tidy moralizing or hollow optimism. David is part of the yellow vests movement, an anti-government crusade that started as a protest against French President Emmanuel Macron’s planned fuel price hike and extended across Europe. Both conservatives and liberals have been tied to the demonstrations, which were empowered partly by racism (“Ireland is for the Irish,” David callously claims). Pretty Proud Boy begins after David has been arrested and released for fighting with a group of Black Lives Matter protesters. At the trailer where David and Winnie live, he learns that she has discovered his gun next to his computer and under his magazines—and that she wants to know why he fell prey to far-right machismo. McDonagh deftly reveals how entrancing political extremism can be to an alienated young man. We start to see the vulnerability behind David’s bigotry as he describes the moment when he was given his gun. “They gave me a weapon,” he says. “Nobody ever gave me anything.” David is not entirely exaggerating, since he and Winnie are Irish Travellers. Travellers are an Indigenous ethnic 26
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minority known not only for having their own language and a history of living as nomads, but for being discriminated against and overly policed. In fact, anti-Traveller racism is so pervasive in Ireland that the Irish state didn’t recognize Travellers as an ethnic minority until 2017. Pretty Proud Boy elegantly illustrates how institutional racism pits the marginalized against the marginalized. It doesn’t matter to David that he and the Black Lives Matter protesters he fought with have probably faced some of the same horrors. Blaming people who don’t look like him is a seductively easy answer to his pain. “We’re a white country,” he tells his mother. “The government should be looking after us!” McDonagh occasionally allows the play to descend into obviousness. “My infiltration into this fascist, racist, fucking homophobic mire was an adrenaline rush,” David tells Winnie. “A sense of purpose took over.” He sounds like a scholar who is studying the yellow vests movement, not someone who is part of it. Letting David be less eloquent might have slowed the story, but it would have allowed for a truer portrait of a deluded soul. Near the play’s end, Winnie tells us what it has been like watching David’s moral descent. “Then all of a sudden, he changed in himself and towards the family, making us watch ridiculous documentaries about people in America who hated Black people,” she says. “He’d stand up and rant and rave. Not only did we have to listen, but we had to agree with everything he was spouting out.” It’s a horrifying description. Does it mean that there is no hope left for David? Maybe, maybe not. McDonagh does more than show us someone who is being eaten alive by desperation and hate. She shows us that David’s story exists within the story of the injustices endured by Travellers. That doesn’t excuse David’s actions, but it doesn’t help us understand him—and understanding may be the only thing that can help a broken man reclaim the boy he once was. LISTEN: Pretty Proud Boy streams at corribtheatre.org/pretty-proud-boy through June 20. Tickets are pay what you will.
The common narrative is that Wings was the artistically dubious, John Lennon-free juggernaut that kept Paul and Linda McCartney’s pockets loaded in the ’70s. Their 1971 debut, Wild Life, tells a different story: that of the ultimate stoner couple reveling in experimentation and no longer giving a shit about satisfying expectations. If your interest is piqued, here’s a fun game to play as you queue it up: Imagine being a Beatles fan in 1971. You’re pumped beyond reason about Paul’s new band. Then you drop the needle and it’s that. SOMETHING NEW Vancouver, B.C.’s Loscil is the preeminent ambient chronicler of the Pacific Northwest, taking inspiration from the geography and natural history of the gloomiest, wettest corner of the country. His new album, Clara, is less interested in place than pure sound, being composed of edits and remixes of a single, three-minute piece of music performed by a Hungarian string orchestra. But its mood should be familiar to anyone who’s ever felt a droplet of cold fog shake loose from a tree and land on their face. Stream on Spotify. SOMETHING LOCAL “Anais,” the A-side of local house-show perennials Grolixes’ new single, is the latest in a long tradition of power-pop songs that find rhyming potential in the weird and wonderful names of all the people we’re likely to date. (Yes, they rhyme “Anais” with “on my knees.”) But the real treasure is the B-side, a cover of Wings’ “Let Me In” that’s arguably an improvement on the original. Rather than studio-shined Macca happy-go-luckiness, it sounds like it’s bubbling from the bottom of a lake. SOMETHING ASKEW One of the great thrills in experimental music is hearing something that sounds like a blast of inchoate noise and realizing it’s hiding a great pop song. Few records illustrate this thrill like Endless Summer by Austrian guitarist Fennesz. The 2002 album’s eight tracks are based on pure, simple pop progressions, but they’re swathed in so much rust, decay and distortion you might be a little surprised when they get stuck in your head. It’s not just for irony’s sake that this album shares its name with a Beach Boys compilation.
FLASHBACK
THIS WEEK IN 2008
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Editor: Andi Prewitt / Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com
GET YO UR REPS I N BENDFILM
screener
MOVIES
While local rep theaters are out of commission, we’ll be putting together weekly watchlists of films readily available to stream. It’s officially Pride Month, so we’ve rounded up a plethora of excellent LGBTQ+ films that showcase the community’s wide range of stories and experiences—from 1930s gender-bending nightclub performers to modern-day teen poets. IMDB
Totally F***ed Up (1993)
GIVING VOICE: A scene from BendFilm’s The Power of Film fundraising short, which features Bend-based nonprofit Saving Grace.
Good Graces BendFilm is highlighting a nonprofit that supports survivors of violence and sexual abuse during a year when that work became more critical than ever. BY C H A N C E S O L E M - P F E I FER
@chance_s_p
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SEE IT: Register for The Power of Film at bendfilm.org/ poweroffilm. 6 pm Friday, June 4. Free.
Pariah (2011) Recently inducted into the Criterion Collection, Dee Rees’ Pariah follows Alike (Adepero Oduye), a Brooklyn teenager who begins to embrace her lesbian identity and aspirations of becoming a poet despite her mother’s disapproval. Though it may sound like a feel-bad story, it’s ultimately filled with hope, perhaps summed up best in one of Alike’s poems: “I am not running; I am choosing…I am not broken; I am free.” Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Criterion Collection, Google Play, Netflix, Vudu, YouTube.
La Cage Aux Folles (1978) Remade in 1996 as Mike Nichols’ The Birdcage, this FrenchItalian madcap comedy centers on a gay couple forced to play straight for the night when their son gets engaged to a woman with conservative parents. Fortunately, the pair is well-versed in drag since they own a nightclub, so it only makes sense for the more flamboyant husband to don a wig and try to pass as a woman for the dinner, right? Yup, that’s bound to go smoothly. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Hoopla, Tubi, YouTube. IMDB
“Bend is idyllic, but…” is a tailor-made framing device for social issues in Central Oregon. Todd Looby, executive director of the BendFilm Festival, views this hook as a means of acknowledging, and then pushing past, the area’s well-earned typecasting as a natural paradise and tourism magnet. Of course, behind the perfect powder and the IPAs, its problems are as real and pressing as those found anywhere else. “We’re not tone deaf in not knowing the reputation that Bend has in the state, if not the region, as far as being an outdoor mecca,” says Looby, who’s led BendFilm since 2014 and estimates the city’s nonprofit sector is, per capita, as “robust” as anywhere in the world. “Frankly, [we’re] not content to just be here to enjoy the outdoors.” That mentality is a significant driver of BendFilm’s annual fundraiser, The Power of Film. Each spring, the organization partners with a local nonprofit to create a short film about the selected service’s work and mission. This year, the event’s focus is Saving Grace, a five-cityarea nonprofit supporting survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault with shelter, counseling, safe visitation and more. The film premieres June 4 in a streamable program hosted by KTVZ’s Arielle Brumfield that also features a silent auction of several trip packages. The documentary emphasizes the breadth of Saving Grace’s free and confidential services and how they critically assisted nearly a thousand Central Oregonians in 2020. Although spotlighting survivors without compromising their safety was a filmmaking challenge, Looby says there was an urgency in capturing Saving Grace’s sheltering and support work, particularly as the COVID19 pandemic impacted domestic violence. “The calls and reported incidents had gone down because people in those situations couldn’t get away to report,” Looby says. “[Saving Grace] knew that quickly.” While the money raised this month supports BendFilm, Looby doesn’t underestimate what this professional
media package has afforded previous nonprofit partners like Oregon Adaptive Sports, Bend Spay + Neuter Program, Healthy Beginnings, and Partners in Care. “Once they craft the video, they have this thing forever,” he says. “They use it as a centerpiece of their own fundraisers. Anytime they want to introduce a new person to their organization, they’ll use this.” Moreover, Looby views the creation of a short film, even if largely promotional, as aligning with the artistic mission of BendFilm. After all, awareness isn’t raised as dynamically or permanently in every medium. “[Saving Grace] deals in subjects no human being jumps to talk about,” Looby says. “It’s not an easy story to tell in a pamphlet. In film, there’s an artful way to tell a hard story that ultimately provides hope.” Like most Oregon arts organizations during the past 13 months, BendFilm was forced into creative improvisation and online platforming just to stay afloat. Last October’s BendFilm Festival reached 43 states and 37 countries digitally, while BendFilm also launched a virtual cinema, hosted drive-in screenings, and created a pop-up theater on an inflatable screen in the shared alley between the organization’s Tin Pan Theater and the San Simón bar. As for the Bend film scene’s current temperature, Looby observes residents “itching” for a semblance of normalcy, since limited-capacity screenings at the Tin Pan have begun selling out. While 2021 still carries immense uncertainty, the spontaneity of the former indie filmmaker and his team won’t change all that much, even amid a comeback. “You’d make all these plans and have to scrap them, but what I love about it, in a weird way, is just having a million plans,” Looby says. “There’s a big demand for what we do. There’s a bunch of different ways to meet that demand, so let’s try them all.”
In one of the most underrated cinematic odes to the City of Angels, a group of gay teens navigate their identities and relationships against the backdrop of a quintessentially ’90s L.A. Inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Féminin (1966), director Gregg Araki infuses his subversive coming-of-age drama with neon-lit monologues that wax poetic on youth, love and the underground queer scene. Kanopy.
Victor/Victoria (1982) Julie Andrews stars as Victoria, a struggling singer in 1934 Paris desperate for a gig—so desperate, she agrees to pretend to be a gay female impersonator by the name of Count Victor in order to secure a performance. Things get complicated when a Chicago gangster (James Garner) sees the act and falls for Victor/Victoria. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, HBO, HBO Max, Hulu, Sling TV, Vudu, YouTube.
Tomboy (2011) This quiet little drama from Céline Sciamma follows a nonbinary 10-year-old who gets a chance to experiment with their gender when their family moves to a new town for the summer. Once known as Laure, they adopt the name “Mickaël,” after a new playmate assumes they are a boy. A must-watch for anyone who loved Sciamma’s masterful Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). Kanopy.
MOVIES TOP PICK OF THE WEEK INDIEWIRE
Profile This latest entry in the emerging screenlife cinema format, which filters all action through a laptop screen, might seem oddly ambitious given that the microgenre is still hovering perception-wise between the formalist pretensions of feature-length single takes and Blumhouse’s found-footage schlock. Based on a French reporter’s exposé of how extremists recruit young women to join the Islamic State only to sell them into sexual slavery, Profile uses the trappings of a ripped-from-the-headlines story and elevates it into an effective little thriller steeped in modern social media and a catfishing pas de deux. Just as Brian De Palma’s Blow Out (1981) and Body Double (1984) updated Hitchcockian voyeur tropes with advancing technology, Profile director Timur Bekmambetov maintains a fusillade of ADHD diversions to enliven the more mundane aspects of newspaper reporting while preying on the tensions of our Not Safe For Work-braving, right-swiping age. Really, though, he just sets the minimal stage for freelance journalist Amy (Valene Kane) and terrorist-as-21st-century-rock-star Bilel (Shazad Latif) to promote their precisely curated brands. The result is a film that features just enough manipulative carelessness and toxic aggression to remind audiences that some personae are best left virtual. R. JAY HORTON. Bridgeport, Eastport Plaza, Evergreen, Living Room, Regal Movies on TV, Sherwood.
OUR KEY
: T H I S M O V I E I S E XC E L L E N T, O N E O F T H E B E S T O F T H E Y E A R. : T H I S M O V I E I S G O O D. W E R E C O M M E N D YO U WATC H I T. : T H I S M O V I E I S E N T E R TA I N I N G B U T F L AW E D. : THIS MOVIE IS A STEAMING PILE.
ALSO PLAYING The Killing of Two Lovers
Robert Machoian’s family drama knows it’s freighted with a foreboding title, and violence looms immediately over this story of a freshly separated couple. The longer it takes for that title to come true, the more we nervously rifle through its possible meanings. Even so, The Killing of Two Lovers slips into an inquisitive mode, deeper than pure tension. We witness father and Western Utah day laborer David (Clayne Crawford) make genuine and misguided efforts to resist the deadbeat-dad status that his moving out and family visiting hours suggest. While some of the supporting acting verges on stilted (given the film’s overall earthiness), The Killing of Two Lovers is largely a director’s showcase. Known mostly for short documentaries, Machoian concocts an internal universe of David’s rage through sound design full of slamming doors and endless creaking. And the complex, uncut blocking of a key marital squabble against a high-desert horizon blends stark indie filmmaking with Edward Albee-esque theatrical instincts. The particular shape of this failing marriage confronts the characters’ expectations as much as the audience’s. It’s easy (perhaps sickeningly preferable) to believe David is living out a filmed murder ballad, or elegy for faded youth and manhood. The reality is both simpler and more complicated than all that country poetry. Realities always are. R. CHANCE SOLEMPFEIFER. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Cinema 21, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube.
Those Who Wish Me Dead Those Who Wish Me Dead is the kind of movie that makes you feel alive. The suspense that surges through the film is so intense it’s almost as if you’re wincing at the heat of the flames surrounding Hannah (Angelina Jolie), a Montana firefighter defending an orphaned boy named Connor (Finn Little). A nonsensical conspiracy has put Connor in the crosshairs of two assassins (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult) who are so single-minded that they chase Hannah and Connor into a forest being devoured by a wildfire. Can Jolie triumph over the cruelty of man and nature? Director Taylor Sheridan (who wrote Sicario and Hell or High Water) keeps you guessing by making the action rough and fierce, pummeling his characters with everything from bullets to an improvised blowtorch. Gillen is a laughable villain (Game of Thrones actors don’t belong in Westerns) and the story is annoyingly tidy (why does Hannah have to be motivated by her failure to save a group of boys who were the same age as Connor?), but Those Who Wish Me Dead transcends its artificial trappings. It’s a bracing adaptation of the novel by Michael Koryta—and a reminder that Jolie is an indomitable action star. She is the fire. R. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. , Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas Town Center, Cornelius, Dine-In Progress Ridge, Eastport Plaza, HBO Max, Living Room, Lloyd, Pioneer Place, Regal Movies On TV, Sherwood, St. Johns Theater & Pub, Tigard,Vancouver Plaza.
A Quiet Place Part II While it’s tempting to predict that this lean sequel to John
Krasinski’s surprise 2018 horror hit could be one of the cinematic summer’s first loud entries, suffocating silence is still the new film’s signature move. In Part II, shotgun-toting mother Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and her two children (Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) continue their monklike eluding of audiophile aliens, while director Krasinski’s confidence with wide-open, Jurassic Park-inspired chases—an actor fleeing some heinous pursuer over their shoulder—carry the taut action. Still present is the Abbott family’s survivalist pride, arguably more cloying here, as flashbacks illustrate how ready the tight-knit family was to stand tall and shut up when disaster first struck. It’s a testament to the quality of actors like Blunt and a new survivor played by Cillian Murphy that anyone would care, what with their emotional range trapped somewhere between determined and very determined. Even if the sequel runs dangerously low on ideas to sustain 90 minutes, it’s hard to be peeved at PG-13 entertainment hoping only to showcase a family conquering fear through sensory puzzles. No need to turn down zero-calorie Spielberg this summer; crank up those theater speakers and be overcome by sounds of nothing. PG-13. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Bagdad, Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Cinema 21, Cinemagic, Dine-In Progress Ridge, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Pioneer Place, Regal Movies On TV, St. Johns Theater & Pub, Tigard.
Spiral The newest chapter in the Book of Saw stars Chris Rock (who also executive produces) as Zeke, a cynical detective on the hunt for the infamous Jigsaw killer. Though the original Jigsaw has been dead for years, a copycat who exclusively targets and tortures dirty cops has sprung up in his place. It gets personal when Zeke’s father (Samuel L. Jackson) goes missing, and he finds himself at the center of the new Jigsaw’s twisted game. Discussing the politics of a Saw movie feels counterproductive (I wanna talk traps!), but when the villain uses a
pig puppet to literally say, “I want to reform the police,” one’s hand is forced. Spiral seems to have a noble goal of exposing the force’s corruption and brutality, and in the first half, it even succeeds. But as the plot unravels, so does the movie’s political statement, leading to a disaster of an ending that’s obscenely disturbing—and not even in the gleefully gory way that the franchise admittedly tends to nail. If the traps were more memorable, maybe they could atone, but aside from the agonizing opening scene involving a man’s tongue and a railway train, they’re lacking in the clever creativity that made the series a cultural mainstay. That’s not to say I won’t watch the inevitable sequel, though. R. MIA VICINO. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Cinema 99, City Center, Clackamas Town Center, Cornelius, Dine-In Progress Ridge, Eastport Plaza, Evergreen Parkway, Lloyd, On Demand, Pioneer Place, Regal Movies On TV, Tigard, Vancouver, Vancouver Mall.
The Woman in the Window Dan Mallory is a liar. His deceptions include pretending to have a doctorate from Oxford and falsely claiming that his mother died of cancer, but most people don’t know that. He is better known as A.J. Finn, the author of the bestselling mystery novel The Woman in the Window, which has been transformed into a glossy and frenzied film by director Joe Wright. Amy Adams stars as Anna Fox, an agoraphobe barricaded in a gloomy brownstone in Manhattan. Addled by pills and alcohol, she’s a less than credible witness when she says that she saw a woman (Julianne Moore) stabbed to death across the street, but that doesn’t stop her from spying on Alistair Russell (Gary Oldman), a neighbor who she suspects is a serial killer. The Woman in the Window is modeled on Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, but Wright doesn’t have Hitchcock’s patience—frantic pacing and a pounding score by Danny Elfman combine to create a film that is exhausting instead of exciting.
Wright can be an ingenious director, but the visual flamboyance that he brought to Anna Karenina and Pan— both of which were cinematic carnivals of swirling colors—has all but dried up. Skip The Woman in the Window and wait for the upcoming TV series about Dan Mallory starring Jake Gyllenhaal. R. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Netflix.
Wrath of Man Whether playing obligatory human among action figures (The Fate of the Furious, The Expendables) or driving his own all-too-literal vehicles as humble functionary pushed too far (The Transporter, The Mechanic), Jason Statham attained a frankly bewildering stardom with weaponized competence. However unlikely the stunts, something about Statham seethes stolid believability, which made him the perfect tent pole for Guy Ritchie’s stylized cockney capers. Transplanting the action to Los Angeles for their latest collaboration, alas, proves disastrous. Shelving the film-school trickery and dumbing down dialogue to grunted tropes, this remake of 2004 French shoot-’em-up Le Convoyeur inexplicably leans into Statham’s dour and dull character named “H.” He’s the new man on the armored car security team whose 24/7 moping and unexplained proficiency in the violent arts betrays a hidden vendetta against the crew of robbers responsible for his son’s death. Separated into four chapters, Wrath of Man shoehorns a heist flick into the traditional revenge yarn, but a shotgun marriage of the genre’s hackneyed plotlines further dims investment in the succession of charmless dolts (hapless guard Josh Hartnett, smooth ringleader Jeffrey Donovan, and loose cannon Scott Eastwood). This may best be understood as Ritchie’s American film, and he doesn’t seem too much like us. R. JAY HORTON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas Town Center, Cornelius, Eastport Plaza, Evergreen Parkway, Dine-In Progress Ridge, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Pioneer Place, Regal Movies On TV, Sherwood, Tigard, Vancouver.
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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: MARY GERACI
COVID art by Mary Geraci, who lives and creates in Portland, OR.
JACK KENT’S
Jack draws exactly what he sees n’ hears from the streets. IG @sketchypeoplepdx kentcomics.com
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JONESIN’
Week of June 10
©2021 Rob Brezsny
by Matt Jones
"Go No Further"--better off without it.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Aries actor Leonard Nimoy became mega-famous by playing the role of Spock, an alien from the planet Vulcan in the *Star Trek* franchise. He always enjoyed the role, but in 1975 he wrote an autobiography called *I Am Not Spock*. In it, he clarified how different he was from the character he performed. In 1995, Nimoy published a follow-up autobiography, *I Am Spock*, in which he described the ways in which he was similar to the fictional alien. In the spirit of Nimoy's expansive self-definition, Aries, and in accordance with current astrological potentials, I invite you to make it clear to people exactly who you and who you aren't.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) The poet Rumi declared, “A lover has four streams inside, of water, wine, honey, and milk.” With that in mind, Taurus, I will recommend that you seek a boost in the honey department. Your passions and feelings have been flowing along fairy well, but lately they've lacked some sweetness. As a result, you're not receiving as much of the sweetness you need from the world around you. So your assignment is to intensify the honey stream within you! Remember the principle, "Like attracts like."
GEMINI (May 21-June20) I'm glad you're not on the planet Saturn right now. The winds there can blow at 1,000 miles per hour. But I would like you to feel a brisk breeze as you wander around in nature here on Earth. Why? Because according to my interpretation of the current astrological omens, winds will have a cleansing effect on you. They will clear your mind of irrelevant worries and trivial concerns. They'll elevate your thoughts as well as your feelings. Do you know the origin of the English word "inspire"? It's from the Latin word *inspirare*, meaning "blow into, breathed upon by spirit." Its figurative meaning is "to inspire, excite, inflame." The related Latin word *spiritus* refers to "a breathing of the wind" and "breath of a god"—hence "inspiration; breath of life." ACROSS
51 What beauty may be in, if you're indecisive?
1 Org. with an Octagon
56 Interior design focus
4 " _ _ _ bleu!" 9 Peace out
57 Sign starter on some old restaurants, maybe
14 What a Cessna can hold
61 Repair wrongs
16 Gear part
62 From Ulaanbaatar, e.g.
17 "Follow me"
63 Like diamonds and gold
18 It's a block ... house (and it's mighty mighty ... cold)
64 Actor Charles of "Whose Line ..." and "Nashville"
19 Concern for the production designer of the show "30 Giant Rock"?
65 "Without further _ _ _" (or what the theme answers are missing)
21 Highest-rated 24 "The Book of Mormon" co-creator Parker 25 Says yes to 26 Out _ _ _ limb 27 First name in talks? 28 The Great Gatsby 29 "Plush" rock band, initially 32 Chill-inducing
DOWN 1 Bars on product labels, briefly 2 Progressive character? 3 Zoom need 4 Furry marine mammal 5 Attract 6 Put in the fridge
23 Potato-peeling tools 28 Rapid transit 29 Brutal 30 Eric's moniker 31 Prize amounts 33 Wall climber 34 Satori-seeking discipline 35 Matador's motivator 37 Trip around the world 38 Spike in filmmaking 39 Hardly remote 44 Bruce Wayne's butler 45 Having a kick 46 Spill absorber 48 "Lorna _ _ _" (1869 novel) 49 Some used cars 51 Ball-shaped cheese 52 Cryptozoology figure 53 MBA course 54 Browser button
35 Hanauma Bay site
7 "Toy Story" composer Newman
55 _ _ _ points (2021 Eurovision ranking for United Kingdom)
36 Auto manufacturer's second-place prize?
8 Microsoft browser
58 Actress Vardalos
9 Like glue
59 Uncouth fellow
41 Half of a Nickelodeon duo
10 Dances by jumping up and down
60 "Achtung Baby" coproducer Brian
42 Gets closer
11 Goof off
43 A TD earns six
12 "Am _ _ _ late?"
44 Lincoln, familiarly
13 "_ _ _: Love and Thunder" (2022 movie)
34 Z, in New Zealand
40 Ethereal
45 Mid-2000s Sony handheld console, briefly
15 Lincoln's loc.
47 "That's impressive!"
20 They may have forks
551, at the Forum
21 Shoe reinforcement
49 Just skip it
22 Kind of musical wonder
50 They do copy (abbr.)
last week’s answers
CANCER (June 21-July 22) Cancerian author Franz Kafka put his characters into surreal dilemmas. In his novella *The Metamorphosis*, for example, the hero wakes up one day to find he has transformed into a giant insect. Despite his feral imagination, however, Kafka had a pragmatic relationship with consumerism. "I do not read advertisements," he said. "I would spend all of my time wanting things." In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to adopt his earthy attitude for the next two weeks. Take a break from wanting things, period. Experiment with feeling free of all the yearnings that constantly demand your attention. Please note: This break in the action won't be forever. It's just a vacation. When you return to wanting things, your priorities will have been realigned and healed, and you'll feel refreshed.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Author Umberto Eco declared that beauty is boring because it "must always follow certain rules." A beautiful nose has to be just the right shape and size, he said, while an "ugly nose" can be ugly in a million different unpredictable ways. I find his definition narrow and boring, and prefer that of philosopher Francis Bacon, who wrote, "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." Poet Charles Baudelaire agreed, saying, "That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal: from which it follows that irregularity—that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment—is an essential part and characteristic of beauty." Then there's the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, which reveres beauty that's imperfect, transitory, and incomplete. Beginning now, and for the rest of 2021, Leo, I encourage you to ignore Eco's dull beauty and cultivate your relationship with the more interesting kind.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) One of the more evocative passages in J. R. R. Tolkien's novel *The Return of the King* is about the warrior Éowyn. It says, "Then the heart of Éowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. And suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her." I'm predicting a comparable transformation for you in the near future,
Virgo. There'll be some fundamental shift in the way your heart comprehends life. When that happens, you will clearly fathom some secrets about your heart that have previously been vague or inaccessible. And then the sun will shine upon you with extra brilliance.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Libran actor and author Carrie Fisher had more than the average number of inner demons. Yet she accomplished a lot, and was nominated for and won many professional awards. Here's the advice she gave: "Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident." I hope you'll employ that strategy in the coming weeks, dear Libra. The time is favorable for you to work hard on your number one goal no matter what your emotions might be at any particular moment.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Scorpio author Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) had a gambling addiction for many years. At one point, he lost so much money betting on roulette that he had to take drastic measures. He wrote a novella in record time—just 16 days—so as to raise money to pay his debt. The story was titled *The Gambler*. Its hero was a not-very-successful gambler. Is there a comparable antidote in your future, Scorpio? A gambit that somehow makes use of the problem to generate the cure? I suspect there is.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) In her poem "Escape," Michelle Tudor addresses a lover: "Inside of you: a dream raging to be set free." She implies that she would like to be a collaborator who provides assistance and inspiration in liberating her companion's dream. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to make a similar offer to an ally you care for—and to ask that ally to do the same for you. And by the way: What is the dream inside you that's raging to be set free? And what's the dream inside your comrade?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Author Martha Beck has helpful counsel for you to keep returning to during the coming weeks. "It isn’t necessary to know exactly how your ideal life will look," she writes. "You only have to know what feels better and what feels worse. Begin making choices based on what makes you feel freer and happier, rather than on how you think an ideal life should look. It’s the process of feeling our way toward happiness, not the realization of the Platonic ideal, that creates our best lives."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Aquarian author James Dickey celebrated "the holy secret of flowing." But he added, "You must be made for it." In other words, he implied that the secret of flowing is a luxury only some of us have access to. And because we "must be made for it," he seemed to suggest that being in possession of the secret of flowing is due to luck or genetics or privilege. But I reject that theory. I think anyone can tap into the secret of flowing if they have the desire and intention to do so. Like you! Right now! You're primed to cultivate a robust relationship with the holy flow.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Why do humans enjoy much longer life spans than other higher primates? Here's one reason: grandmothers. Anthropologists propose that earlier in our evolution, families with elder females especially thrived. The grandmothers helped care for children, ensuring greater health for everyone as well as a higher rate of reproduction than grandmother-less broods. Their longevity genes got passed on, creating more grandmothers. Lucky! Having older women around while growing up has been key to the success of many of us. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to celebrate and honor the role your own grandmothers and female elders have played in your life. And if you're a grandmother, celebrate and honor yourself!
HOMEWORK: Send word of your latest victory. Write to: newsletter@ 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
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