Willamette Week, September 22, 2021 - Volume 47, Issue 47 - "Heath and Wellness 2021: Hold Your Own"

“WE’D MAKE UP STORIES ABOUT FINDING A FINGER.” P. 25 WWEEK.COM

VOL 47/47 09.22.2021

RECLAIMING THE ROAD FOR FATNESS PAGE 10 WE ATE EVERY SEED BAR! PAGE 11 LEARN TO PLAY YOUR BRAIN PAGE 12

D L HO UR YO W N O N EW T O H TH E LTH A N D H E A TR E N D E S S TH AT N L L WE H E ON E OU. I S T K S FO R Y WO R

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CHRIS NESSETH

FINDINGS

OKTOBERFEST, PAGE 18

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 47, ISSUE 47 Mingus Mapps wants to automate some 911 dispatcher work. 5 Six months after the feds funded COVID-19 testing in schools, Portland is trying it out. 7

The very first beer the Widmer brothers decided to brew was a classic German altbier. 20 McDonald’s served its first Filet-OFish to coincide with Lent. 22

Seven years after evictions at the Joyce Hotel, people might live there again. 8

Scott Walker’s “Thanks for Chicago Mr. James” is a song about a gay romance written by a straight man. 25

Cyclist Kailey Kornhauser thinks the word “fat” should be a descriptor, not a pejorative. 11

Simone McAlonen used to ride her bike around the Rajneesh compound’s crematorium as a kid at summer camp. 25

Neurofeedback therapy is like learning to play your brain like a guitar. 13 Members of the band Liila met in a Buddhist monastery. 14 Nike’s running mask, which makes you look like Bane, is out of stock. 15

The Hood River Valley High School soccer team is the focus of a new documentary. 26

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Making the bike world safe for fat cyclists: Marley Blonsky at Powell Butte, photo by Fontaine Rittelmann.

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A progressive biologist from Portland is one of the nation’s leading advocates for ivermectin.

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Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

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Last week, WW examined the unlikely trajectory of academic Bret Weinstein, who went from a teaching job at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., to co-hosting a podcast in the West Hills of Portland, where he espouses the health benefits of ivermectin (“Drug & Pony Show,” Sept. 15, 2021). That drug, commonly used as a horse dewormer, is sought as a remedy for COVID-19 by people skeptical of vaccines. Weinstein says he’s a progressive nonconformist who is challenging the power of pharmaceutical companies over medicine. His detractors note how he, like many guests of Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, is using his liberal bona fides to dabble in conspiracy theories. Here’s what our readers had to say:

Lo and behold, just four years later, with his academic career in ruins, he’s suddenly an expert on coronaviruses and medications? That’s a broad swath of destruction from one mild professor-looking guy.”

Barbara Linssen, via Facebook: “Thank you, WW, for the warning that this very dangerous person is now in Portland. The damage he did to Evergreen because he is too fond of hearing his own mouth and cannot read the room to save his own career is hard to calculate. He didn’t give a damn about his students who told him they were being hurt by his stubborn desire to debate a topic (racism in higher ed) that is beyond debate.

Everyone in his community was telling him to stop, to let it go…he couldn’t because he enjoyed the oxygen and attention too much.

Jennifer Hope Bennett, via Facebook: “This is nothing more than a hit piece to discredit him.…

Portland use to be full of some really smart people who questioned things, had solid debates and open minds. I’m guessing those people were a part of the mass exodus and this comment section is what’s left.”

Dr. Know

Drsoup01, via wweek.com: “Weinstein (and his wife [Heather] Heying) are no dummies.

Catering to conspiracy theorists is much more lucrative than academia.”

Dj sacrilegious, via Twitter: “Oh yes, a ‘Bernie Bro’ who brought Andy Ngo on his podcast, empathized with Derek Chauvin, rallied against support of nonwhite academics, and calls Portland a dystopia. C’mon…”

Bob Burns, via wweek.com: “Well, I guess the good news is that neither of them has any worms.”

AGPhilbin, via wweek.com: “Why can’t we get the vaccine,

Will it be enforced? I don’t have any inside information, but Portland cops barely have the manpower to enforce the law against murder right now. I’m guessing that “local access” zones are going to be mostly on the honor system for the foreseeable future.

In case you’ve spent the past couple of years living under a rock (a housing option that gets more appealing every day), we’re talking about signage that delimits sections of certain low-traffic streets as “local access only.” This is part of a Portland Bureau of Transportation initiative called the Slow Streets Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

Valerie Wallace, via wweek. com: “My dad developed this drug. Merck discovered that it had weak anti-viral properties in human tissue samples, and started doing research to see if it was effective against HIV in the 1990s.

They were never able to get results outside of human tissue. Doses made for large animals will poison you. Doses made for humans are ineffective against viruses. There is 30 years of research trying to figure out how to make ivermectin work as an anti-viral, and it just doesn’t. My dad’s advice is to get the vaccine. P.S. My dad lives in the Portland area.”

LETTERS to the editor must include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: mzusman@ wweek.com.

BY MART Y SMITH @martysmithxxx

I’ve been seeing more of those street signs that read “Local Access Only.” As the city messages a commitment to equity and access, do you know the distribution of these areas by neighborhood?

Also, how is a violation determined? Will this rule be enforced? —Looking for Access in All the Wrong Places

4

wear masks indoors (or at large outdoor gatherings), take vitamins C, D and zinc, AND also take doctor-prescribed doses of the human version of ivermectin (not the horse paste)? I think Bret & Heather are treading into an area where they have limited knowledge, but they are not 100% wrong, either. Why is everything either/or?”

Program, and affects about 100 miles of neighborhood streets throughout the city.

These streets aren’t closed to cars, but so-called cut-through traffic is discouraged, making the streets safer and more attractive for biking, walking, skating, drunken crawling, etc. Over time, the current construction zone-looking signage will be replaced by more of those goddamned concrete barrels by attractive, traffic-calming planters.

I know this is all for the best and will nudge us all toward a healthier, more climate-friendly lifestyle.

Still, as a motorist, part of me despairs at the Death Star-like efficiency with which PBOT has ruthlessly targeted and eliminated every good shortcut in the city since at least 1989. (Then again, I also miss being allowed to smoke on planes, so being on the right side of history isn’t my strong suit.)

To your other question: You’re not the only person whose class-war Spidey sense was set a-tingling by this plan. Surely this safe-streets initiative would only be deployed in rich neighborhoods? I went so far as to superimpose the plot of existing and proposed Slow Streets on a heat map of Portland housing prices, but (unfortunately for righteous crusaders like you and me) the installations are distributed pretty evenly throughout the city.

If anything, Slow Streets are more numerous in outlying areas, possibly because lack of sidewalks is one of the problems they were designed to address.

(A cynic might observe that putting up a “local access only” sign is a lot cheaper than putting in a new sidewalk—but that would be churlish, wouldn’t it?)

QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.

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HARDESTY AGAIN SEEKS CITYWIDE EXPANSION OF PORTLAND STREET RESPONSE: For the second time this year, City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has proposed a citywide expansion of Portland Street Response, which dispatches unarmed mental health professionals and paramedics in lieu of police to some mental health crisis calls. The proposal is outlined in the fall budget submission by Portland Fire & Rescue: one of Hardesty’s bureaus that also houses PSR. The submission asks for about $1 million to fund 13 full-time positions—including four crisis medics and four mental health crisis clinicians—as well as two vans and five sedans. PSR, which launched its pilot program in February, is currently relegated to the Lents neighborhood. In the spring, Hardesty proposed $3.6 million in ongoing funds for a citywide expansion. The City Council voted against that proposal 3-2, with Commissioner Carmen Rubio providing the second yes vote. But on Sept. 17, Mayor Ted Wheeler said he was open to an expansion of the program. Hardesty says she is “making no assumptions” about how her colleagues will vote: “The time for action is now.”

MAPPS WANTS TO AUTOMATE NON-EMERGENCY CALLS: City Commissioner Mingus Mapps wants to install an artificial intelligence system within 90 days to take around 20% of the non-emergency calls currently answered by dispatchers at the Bureau of Emergency Communications. Mapps calls the city’s marriage of emergency and non-emergency calls decades ago a “fundamental policy mistake,” and one that’s become magnified this year amid recordhigh homicides and shootings in Portland as the understaffed bureau struggles to quickly handle both kinds of calls. Some 911 callers in Portland are put on hold for minutes longer than the national average of 15 to 20 seconds. Mapps says the software costs $70,000 to install—and he will seek other commissioners’ approval for the funding during the fall budgeting process.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT VANISHING: In a letter earlier this month to Gov. Kate Brown, 22 Oregon leaders in substance abuse treatment warned that at least 12 treatment providers are closing. The Sept. 2 letter blames the exodus on the slow distribution of funds from Measure 110, which decriminalized most hard drugs. The next step after decriminalization was supposed to be new funding flowing from cannabis taxes.

“The slow implementation of resources is causing system failure,” the letter says. “There is a clear and present danger to the system that demands your immediate action. There are at least a dozen [substance abuse disorder] programs shutting down.” The letter asks Brown to take action to direct resources to this “rapidly exploding behavioral health emergency.” More Oregonians have died from drug overdoses during the pandemic than have died from COVID-19, the letter says.

In response, Brown directed the Oregon Health Authority to increase funding, seek to boost staffing, and reduce administrative burdens.

SECOND CHALLENGER ANNOUNCES RUN AGAINST HARDESTY: A conservative business lawyer and consultant will challenge City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty in 2022. Rene Gonzalez, who operates his own legal and consulting firm, is running on a platform that opposes Hardesty’s positions on nearly every issue: He supports an increased police force and removal of all unsanctioned homeless camps. “[Hardesty] has demonized and attempted to defund public safety officers at a time when we badly need them,” Gonzalez tells WW. “This has most certainly contributed to the sense of lawlessness in Portland.”

Gonzalez founded Reopen Portland Schools last fall, a group of parents who demanded a return to in-person instruction. Gonzalez joins Vadim Mozyrsky, a Social Security benefits judge, in the race to unseat Hardesty.

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5

NEWS CLOCKED

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR The Oregon Senate approved the maps Sept. 20, setting up a battle in the House between Kotek and a lawmaker Republicans hope to recruit to the governor’s race: House Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby).

WW asked Drazan what Kotek had agreed to, why she believes the speaker changed her position, and what Drazan was prepared to do about it. Spoiler alert: Prepare for another possible Republican walkout.

If the Legislature does not come to a decision, Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a Democrat, would redraw the state’s 90 legislative districts, while a panel of retired judges would decide its six congressional districts. (A challenge in the courts is also possible.)

Hunzeker Watch It’s been 201 days since investigations began into a political leak of police info.

201 DAYS:

That’s how long it’s been since the Portland Police Bureau opened an internal affairs investigation into the leak of information that wrongly implicated Commissioner JoAnn Hardesty in a March 3 hit-and-run. It has released no results of its inquiry.

190 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 Police Bureau’s investigation into the alleged hitand-run by Commissioner Hardesty.” We still don’t know what he did. The mayor’s office says it doesn’t know what he did.

Hunzeker has been on paid administrative leave since May 27.

189 DAYS:

That’s how long it’s been since the city signed a contract with an outside investigative firm to probe the leak. —TESS RISKI. 6

Christine Drazan The leader of House Republicans suggests they could walk out over a redistricting maneuver by Speaker Tina Kotek.

With one week left until the deadline for redrawing Oregon’s congressional districts, and adding a new, sixth district, House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland) is playing partisan hardball. And her Republican counterpart is crying foul.

By Sept. 27, the Oregon Legislature must redraw the state’s congressional and legislative districts based on the 2020 Census to ensure that each district has similar population sizes. Under the current rules, that’s an inherently political process: The shape of districts changes the split of party registration inside them, and can flip whether Democrats or Republicans control a seat.

But Kotek has gestured toward bipartisanship. Earlier this year, she cut a deal with Republican lawmakers to give them an equal number of seats on the redistricting committee in exchange for Republicans agreeing to stop slowing down the legislative session.

That gave the GOP an equal say in a process that could determine which party’s candidate gets elected where.

The dark art of shifting districts one way or another, based on who is in power, has become ever more finely tuned. Nationally,

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

that’s mostly favored Republicans. But with Democrats solidly in control of Oregon government, Kotek angered many in her own party by unexpectedly surrendering an advantage—and perhaps a congressional seat.

Five months later, Kotek is now running for governor. And on Sept. 20, she stomped Republicans—appointing a new committee to separately consider the map of congressional districts, to which she appointed two Democrats and one Republican.

That gives Republicans little recourse to amend a congressional map that would draw boundaries so that five of the six districts touch Portland, in an apparent attempt to give Democrats the advantage in winning those five seats.

“My commitment is and has always been ensuring that Oregon’s House does the work Oregonians elect us to do—that we fulfill our constitutional and legal responsibilities,” says Kotek in a statement. “That is the reason—and the only reason—behind doing what it takes to get the job done. I’m confident the maps passed by the Senate meet all statutory and constitutional requirements.”

WW: What did Kotek agree to?

Christine Drazan: They negotiated with us to have an equal representation—an equal voice—on the redistricting committee.

In an effort to ask Democrats to come to the table with us, we have been reading legislation. When you read legislation, it has the potential to slow down bills, and then Democrat chairs have to start to make choices about priorities because you start to tighten up what’s available. I mean, there’s only so much time in a day. So rather than make those choices about which bills they wanted to move forward and which bills I didn’t want to move forward, they negotiated with us to end bill reading and to have an equal representation and equal voice on the redistricting committee.

Was it ever formalized in writing or anything like that?

No. She didn’t sign anything. I can’t even imagine that is how things would be done around here, but I don’t think that would’ve changed anything. I think if you’re not going to keep your deal, you’re not going to keep it.

This is just who she is.

The timing is interesting. Kotek’s announced her run for governor. Does that have anything to do with it?

I have no doubt that she’s got to deliver to make her way out of what could be a bruising Democrat primary. I don’t know what else would cause this. It seems like she is delivering for Democrat partisans. She had committed to us that this was going to be a fair shot at fair maps. Constructive feedback on the effects of those maps was completely discounted and ignored in favor of this partisan approach.

Are Republicans going to walk out over this?

That is always worst-case scenario. Denial of quorum is a natural response to somebody trying to cheat their way to the end.

Have you ruled out a run for governor yourself ?

I am in the middle of this, and there’s nothing else on my mind right now but doing my absolute best to get fair maps for Oregonians. And that’s the only thing on my mind right now.

THE BIG NUMBER

$9.9 Million

WHERE WE’RE AT

Hall Monitors

That’s how much Metro has spent of a $475 million parks and nature bond measure that voters approved in November 2019.

Nearly two years ago, Metro presented voters with a pretty good argument: The region’s population continues to grow but the amount of land is finite. “Scientists predict that the impacts of population growth will be compounded by more heat waves and extreme weather,” Metro said in the Voters’ Pamphlet.

The agency did more than a year’s worth of outreach before the measure and gave voters specific dollar amounts for how and where it would spend the money in six areas: $155 million to “improve water quality in local rivers and streams and restore fish and wildlife habitat,” for instance; $98 million to make improvements to existing parks; and $92 million in pass-throughs to 27 local parks districts.

Voters responded enthusiastically, passing the measure 2 to 1.

Portland’s delayed launch of COVID-19 testing for students is part of wider-spread failures to test.

BY R AC H E L M O N A H A N

rmonahan@wweek.com

How long does it take to deliver COVID-19 tests to kids in Portland Public Schools in a pandemic? Six months, it seems.

Beginning early next month, Portland students whose parents give approval will receive COVID tests weekly, regardless of whether they have symptoms. Called surveillance testing, the program will launch with elementary school-age children, for whom vaccines have not yet been approved.

It’s designed to provide greater protection against spread of the disease and greater confidence among parents and teachers that other COVID-19 precautions are working.

Despite funding from the federal government, the launch of surveillance testing comes six months after the feds allocated the money.

As recently as last month, state and local officials expressed skepticism of the cost benefits of testing all students, symptomatic or not. And last week, Portland Public Schools officials and board members pointed fingers elsewhere to explain the slow pace of getting the program up and running.

But Portland Public Schools didn’t have its first conversations with Oregon Health & Science University about the program until Aug. 27,

less than a week before schools reopened.

PPS attributes the delay in part to when information was provided to the district by OHSU and the Oregon Health Authority.

“Following OHA’s outreach to school districts about this opportunity, OHSU had a number of informational sessions that districts could attend,” says district spokeswoman Karen Werstein. “PPS attended two of them and set up a meeting a few days after the informational session to discuss specifics.”

OHA, in turn, says it was waiting on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and that federal funding was dedicated only for this school year.

Ultimately, a month after school began, PPS has moved forward with a plan to launch testing at all K-5 and K-8 schools—beginning with the youngest students, who cannot yet be vaccinated.

Vaccines, masks and social distancing all provide protection from the coronavirus, but school districts throughout the state and country have failed to get adequate testing up and running.

Some districts outside Oregon proceeded with surveillance testing before the school year, while others have not opted for such testing at all. Los Angeles has embarked on a massive testing program to keep outbreaks at bay.

So what’s happened since the measure passed?

Despite all Metro’s preparation and the urgency of climate change, not much.

Of the $9.9 million spent as of Aug. 31, fully 30%—$3 million— went for bond issuance, legal fees and other administrative costs.

Metro spokesman Cory Eldridge says admin costs are high because it takes a lot of staff time to get programs up and running, but over the life of the bond, they will amount to 10% or less.

One of the bond’s leading supporters would like to see more progress. “We are concerned about the pace at which they have been moving since the measure passed,” says Bob Sallinger, conservation director of the Audubon Society of Portland. “It is far slower than anticipated, even with the challenges associated with COVID-19 and the broader goals associated with this ballot measure.”

What about the rest of the money?

So far, Metro has spent $3.8 million on existing parks, including $1.3 million on Newell Creek Canyon Nature Park in Oregon City and $1.2 million on Chehalem Ridge Nature Park southwest of Hillsboro (both are scheduled to open by year’s end), and $2.3 million to acquire land, including 56 acres in the Sandy River Delta. The pass-throughs to local parks are off to a slow start, with just $271,000 spent—and the “large-scale community vision,” for which $50 million is allocated, has seen the expenditure of just $15,000.

With previous bonds, Eldridge says, Metro made more distribution decisions before passage. This time, that work is happening afterward in consultation with local partners. “Staff is building six new bond programs with entirely new criteria that shift how we do our work,” he says. “It takes time to build programs that center racial equity and climate resilience and to conduct meaningful community engagement in ways that actually shape these processes and programs.”

PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS COMPARED TO OTHER MAJOR WEST COAST SCHOOL DISTRICTS:

NO SURVEILLANCE TESTING: SEATTLE AND DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

BEGINNING NEXT MONTH: PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND BEAVERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT

BRIAN BRENEMAN

BEGAN SURVEILLANCE TESTING BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED: LOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICTS

What is Metro not spending the money on?

As WW has reported (“Buried Treasure,” Dec. 9, 2020), North Portland activists and scores of advocates, including Audubon and the Yakama Nation, want Metro to make good on the cleanup of Willamette Cove, a 27-acre stretch of waterfront the agency purchased in 1996.

Metro told voters that “racial equity is the core of the [2019] bond measure.” Activists would like to see Metro commit to a full cleanup of the heavily contaminated cove, rather than capping some of the toxic waste in place, as the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has suggested.

The Metro Council is pondering its options. A full cleanup would cost about $2 million more than capping the waste but would allow full public access to the cove. Metro is doing further soil sampling—and more community outreach.

“It surprises me they have been recalcitrant about making decisions and moving forward,” Audubon’s Sallinger says. “Twenty-five years have passed with no value to the public. It’s time to get to a decision and get to a cleanup.” NIGEL JAQUISS. Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

7

NEWS

CHRIS NESSETH

Housing Bureau says construction will take another 23 months—so move-in will begin in October 2023, six years after the land purchase.

Like the Joyce Hotel, which will serve tenants experiencing mental illness and substance abuse, the Powell project will include 30 units with “wraparound services” for Portlanders dealing with similar challenges.

The need for such housing is obvious: Construction of new, low-income apartments is needed to reduce the number of people sleeping outdoors. But the pace at which the Joyce Hotel renovation and construction on the Powell project have proceeded has not kept pace with NO VACANCY: The Joyce Hotel still new arrivals to Portland, and awaits renovations and tenants. appears outmatched by a wave of impending evictions.

One look at the Joyce’s timeline (see below) reveals a pair of gaps during which little happened. After Portland voters approved a $258 million affordable housing bond in 2016, three years passed before city officials awarded a nonprofit developer rights to the Joyce project.

Another two years have elapsed since then, with still no construction underway.

Housing Bureau spokeswoman Martha Calhoon says there are a number of reasons the project has moved so slowly. First, the city bought the building to preserve If all goes well, contractors will start low-income housing but lacked money for renovating the 109-year-old hotel by year’s renovation. It would have to find a partner. end. The building will offer 66 refurbished “At the time of purchase, no funding had studio apartments in January 2023, after been identified for future redevelopment,” nearly seven years and the expenditure of Calhoon says. $25.1 million. That equates to $398,000 The Joyce needed seismic work, a new per unit, or $1,198 per square foot. elevator and much more. But the work “That’s a ridiculous amount of time,” would have to be done within strict consays Jessie Burke, who, along with her straints. “The building’s designation as a husband, Jonathan Cohen, renovated historic landmark creates additional chalthe more venerable Society Hotel in Old lenges for the redevelopment timeline,” Town. “And it’s really expensive.”

Calhoon says. “Under other circumstancIt is, however, not unique in Portland’s es, a building in similar condition would development of affordable housing. likely be demolished and replaced with a On Sept. 20, the Bravo Youth Orchescompletely new structure.” tras serenaded city and nonprofit leaders Scraping together the financing took gathered for a ceremonial groundbreaking time. After the city made some money at 3000 SE Powell Blvd., where a 206-unit available in October 2019, the developer it affordable housing complex will be built. selected, Community Partners for AffordMayor Ted Wheeler called the project, able Housing, had to combine that cash which will replace the Safari Club strip with funding from five other sources. joint on the property, “a shining example Expensive construction for tenants of Portlanders standing together.” who have little income is a hard sell for It has followed a timeline similar to investors. Arranging tax credit financing, that for redeveloping the Joyce Hotel. The the biggest chunk of capital ($9.3 million) City Council voted to purchase the Powell is an arduous process. That’s a big part of property on Aug. 9, 2017. The Portland why the hotel has stood empty since 2017.

Extended Stay

Six years after Portland declared a housing emergency, the saga of the Joyce Hotel shows the difficulty of producing affordable housing.

BY NIG E L JAQ UI SS

njaquiss@wweek.com

In June 2016, Portland officials announced the purchase of an imperiled flophouse called the Joyce Hotel.

Located in the newly trendy West End at 322 SW 11th Ave., the Joyce and its ragtag clientele no longer fit the neighborhood. Gentrification beckoned and property owner Dan Zilka responded by serving his tenants eviction notices.

The Portland City Council arrived to save the day—and preserve one of downtown’s last single-room occupancy hotels.

“I am very pleased that the Joyce Hotel will remain open so that some of the most vulnerable people in our community will have a safe place to go, rather than being out on the street,” then-Housing Commissioner Dan Saltzman said.

Much has happened since. The Trump presidency. A pandemic. Voter approval of three housing and social services measures to collect a total north of $3 billion to aid people living on the margins.

What hasn’t happened: the reopening of the Joyce.

To be sure, the project is complex. Critics are nonetheless frustrated.

John Russell, a downtown developer and property owner, acknowledges he’s not in the affordable housing business, but his past service on the board of Prosper Portland, the city’s Planning and Sustainability Commission, and the Oregon Transportation Commission has given him perspective on public construction.

“What’s missing at the city and the county is any sense of urgency,” says Russell. “There’s just a sense of complacency about how long things take—I don’t’ think Vera Katz would have put up with it.”

Wheeler deferred questions about why projects take so long to Portland Housing Bureau director Shannon Callahan.

“Each of these projects comes with its own challenges,” Callahan says. The Powell property includes a gully that decades ago was filled in with trash, she says. That makes the ground unstable. In addition, in order to expand the project, the developer Home Forward acquired an adjacent property, which took more time.

She notes the Housing Bureau can move quickly when projects are in less-developed areas. A 60-unit bureau-funded project called Cedar Commons opened this year at 11450 SE Division St., just two years after it was announced. Unlike the Joyce Hotel and Powell projects, which rely heavily on tax credit investors, the city paid for most of Cedar Commons.

“There was no leverage in that deal,” Callahan says.

Critics of the city’s strategy want faster solutions. One way that can work: The Joint Office of Homeless Services recently used state and federal COVID bailout money to purchase a 43-room Motel 6 in East Multnomah County for $4.95 million—that’s $115,000 a unit, less than a third of the Joyce Hotel’s cost. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison—the Joyce will far outlast the Motel 6—but the years the Joyce spent vacant are time and money wasted and more nights spent on the streets for Portland’s homeless.

Mike Wilkerson, a housing economist at ECONorthwest, says the long development time and high per-unit costs of some city projects means the buildings help relatively few people.

He suggests a different approach: “Rent vouchers should be considered as part of the solution,” Wilkerson says. “They could yield immediate benefits to more households and incentivize the development of additional properties. This is a near-term action that directly benefits families and moves us in the right direction for longrun solutions (more housing).”

O L D J OYC E A TIMELINE OF THE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE JOYCE HOTEL. OCT. 7, 2015

The Portland City Council declares a housing emergency.

8

DEC. 31, 2015

Dan Zilka, who then owned the Joyce, posts 90-day eviction notices for the building’s tenants.

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

JUNE 2016

After first bidding for the property in March 2016, the city announces it will purchase the hotel for $4.22 million.

NOV. 8, 2016

Portland voters approve a $258 million bond to build, buy or renovate affordable housing.

OCTOBER 2017

The last remaining tenant moves out of the Joyce.

OCTOBER 2019

Community Partners for Affordable Housing and Carleton Hart Architecture are awarded rights and funding to redevelop the Joyce.

DECEMBER 2021 Construction is scheduled to begin and last for 13 months.

JANUARY 2023 The Portland Housing Bureau expects new tenants to begin occupying the building.

NEWS MICK HANGLAND-SKILL

miles away, often clashing with security guards hired by the strike staffing company Huffmaster Crisis Response.

Two weeks into the strike, outside protesters set off their car horns and alarms outside of a hotel at midnight where strikebreakers were lodged.

Partridge knew he could bring in outside protesters and advocacy groups to attempt tactics the bakers’ union could get in legal trouble for: “We can wink, nod with union leadership, and go off and do our thing.”

Union members think those outside protesters made Mondelez pay attention: “They’ll get in your face and tell you how to feel. Especially here in Portland, I believe it was a huge boost to getting the company to come to the table,” says Burlingham.

Eddie Mayagoitia, a union member, calls the protesters’ actions “a little extra.”

“Things started getting a little out of control, and we had a plan to meet with Mondelez already,” LAST BITE: Nabisco bakers return this week to the Mayagoitia says, but adds, “I’m glad some of the company they’ve been fighting for over a month. things that were happening got people’s attention. If not, there’s just some people standing out there with signs.”

Partridge also took less dramatic steps. He launched a crowdfunding campaign that supplied $200 a week to each Portland bakers’ union member. And he directed strikers to take their picket line to grocery stores, demonstrating against the offshoring of products they baked, like Ritz crackers and Oreo cookies.

Perhaps most notably, he recruited nearly every prominent Portland Democratic officeholder to the picket line.

He called Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek, who that union representatives and Mondelez had drafted marched alongside strikers to the nearby Fred Meyer to during bargaining. chant outside. Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hard Most Portland union members who struck outside the esty made an impassioned speech about the power of labor bakery—just around 200 total—voted against the contract unions; state Rep. Khanh Pham, Sen. Lew Frederick and on Sept. 16. They’re still unhappy with its creation of Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal all weekend crews that will take overtime opportunities away joined picketers outside the bakery. from weekday workers.

“Having politicians headline rallies catches the media,” Those Portlanders were the holdout amid a sea of nearPartridge says. “But also, politicians want to be seen. It ly 1,000 bakers’ union members at striking facilities across works both ways.” the country, most of whom cheered the contract.

Hardesty said she would stand with the union again: This week, Portland bakers return to the company “Anytime a group of workers collectively organize and they’ve been fighting for over a month. decide to strike, it is significant for our labor movement “I’m going to go in there and do the same job as I’ve because an injury to one is an injury to all.” always done,” says Local 364 vice president Mike Burling National workers experienced little of this. They broke ham. “But we’re going to hold them at arm’s length.” with Portlanders because they felt Mondelez’s latest offer Reconciliation may prove difficult, after the bakers met most of the union’s demands: It offered the same found themselves caught between provocative tactics health care plan as before and doubled the company’s by outside activists and a physical crackdown by a strike401(k) match. It increased disability benefits and offered breaking crew their bosses hired. first dibs on weekend schedules to existing workers. It Burlingham feels it’s a bittersweet end. “It’s like dealing wasn’t perfect, they conceded, but it was acceptable. with a bully. He’s going to keep pushing you around until But workers in places like Richmond, Va., didn’t experiyou hit him back,” Burlingham says. “Symbolically, it took ence the crackdown Mondelez attempted in Portland. on a lot of meaning for us and everyone in the working During the last few weeks of the strike, protesters and class.” members of other unions supporting the bakers alleged that security guards hired by Mondelez were getting vioPortland’s strike wasn’t just the kindling for a nationwide lent: pushing, shoving and threatening them while they picket—it was far more intense than similar strikes at four blocked incoming vans and buses. A Teamster named other Nabisco facilities.

Jesse Dreyer even filed a federal lawsuit, alleging assault Two weeks into the strike, bakers’ union members set by a security guard who squashed him up against a van for up by railroad tracks near the factory to stop incoming several minutes and struck him repeatedly. supply trains carrying oil, flour and sugar from reaching Jesus Martinez, president of the local bakers’ union, the bakery. Eventually, Portland police kicked strikers off hints at the distrust a month of confrontation has planted of the Mondelez-owned land. in Nabisco workers.

Outside supporters of the strike soon intensified tactics “It’s still going to be a fight for four years,” Martinez by blocking vans carrying strikebreaking workers to and says. “Even though the company says they want it to be from the bakery. They also routinely blocked vans from harmonious, that’s if they respect the contract. But they entering and leaving a parking lot Mondelez had leased never have and they never will.”

Bittersweet End

The Nabisco strike grew radical—then ended in compromise.

How do Portland bakers feel?

BY S OP H I E P E E L

speel@wweek.com

By most accounts, the strike by bakers of Ritz crackers along Northeast Columbia Boulevard gained national prominence after a gift of oranges and bananas.

The fruit donor was Jamie Partridge, a retired mail carrier who cut his teeth with organized labor by leading rallies against the dismantling of the U.S. Postal Service

by Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Partridge, 72, arrived at the picket lines Aug. 10, the day the strike began, with a basket of oranges. He saw, in the Nabisco workers’ demands for a better contract from owner Mondelez International, the seeds for a larger revolt.

“If Jamie hadn’t walked by one day and seen us, I don’t know if we would’ve gotten this big,” says Donna Marks, a member of the bakers’ union. “We were so tired of doughnuts, and then he came along and brought fruit.”

That’s a metaphor: Members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 364 now refer to Partridge as “the man who bore fruit.” He brought politicians, too, and Teamsters, and the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Within two weeks, Partridge moved an obscure struggle for health care coverage and overtime pay into the national spotlight—providing the latest chance for Portlanders to pit their progressive values against corporate America.

“These manufacturing strikes with huge multinational corporations, you’ve got to hit them really hard for a period of time before they cave,” Partridge says.

But it was their union brothers and sisters in other cities who pulled the plug on the standoff.

The monthlong strike came to an end on Saturday— against the will of most Portland workers—when fellow bakers’ union members across the country voted overwhelmingly in favor of adopting the proposed contract

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

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HOLD YOUR OWN

QUEEN OF THE ROAD: Marley Blonsky stands beside her mountain bike at Powell Butte.

The hot new health and wellness trend is the one that works for you.

PLENTY OF PEOPLE HAVE OPINIONS on how to live healthy and well. From vegans to Christians to crossfitters—the proselytizing is almost nonstop.

Some of it works. Some of it works for a while. However, the person who decides whether any of it is ultimately effective—that’s you.

This year’s Health and Wellness Issue has stories about fat athletes joining forces to spread the word of cycling (right), a kind of therapy that looks like it came out of an ’80s sci fi film (page 12), and an ambient duo whose love is translated into the sound waves we enjoy (page 14).

We have a short survey of seed bars (page 11)—which ones give off power and which ones taste like cat food.

You’ll find our opinions on masks too (page 13)—which ones are easy to breathe in and which ones make you look like a cat.

Rather than be prescriptive, as if we knew what you should do (the idea of me editing a self-care issue is laughable), we leave your choices on meditative music, bite-sized nutrition, bold fitness forays, and other similarly personal matters securely in your hands.

We have every confidence in you. You’ll do great.

—Suzette Smith, Willamette Week Arts & Culture Editor

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THE RIGHT TRACK

F O N TA I N E R I T T E L M A N N

The biking world fails fat athletes. Two Northwest cyclists are changing that.

BY MEG A N B U RB A N K @m e gani re ne b

If you’ve ever ridden a bike, you might’ve laughed at a certain viral TikTok video featuring queer pop singer-songwriter Be Steadwell as she speak-sings, with performative solemnity, about white men on bikes: “White men on bikes, they’re important. They got outfits, like in a race. You’re existing in their way.”

The video’s gained 97,500 likes and 18,000 shares, and for good reason: Add “thin” to these descriptors, and you get a fairly accurate distillation of the cycling world’s retrograde tendency to prioritize white, male, cisgender athletes

to the detriment of everybody else. This lopsided dynamic impacts everything from historic pay inequities in racing to gear that only fits a narrow range of sizes to the drawn-out, disintegration that was the women’s Tour de France.

Two Northwest cyclists, Marley Blonsky and Kailey Kornhauser, are changing that—or at least part of it. One bike trip at a time, one training at a time, they’re advocating to make cycling communities more size inclusive, to acknowledge the existence and validity of fat athletes, and to challenge limited ideas of what someone who bikes should look like.

The two joined forces after initially connecting on Instagram.

After sharing the observation that size inclusion wasn’t really being addressed within the cycling world, they started doing outreach within bike communities through trainings, partnerships, and size-inclusive consulting.

Kornhauser has even appeared on the cover of Cycling magazine and wrote an accompanying essay, “I’m a Fat Cyclist—And I Don’t Need to ‘Fix’ My Body,” arguing powerfully for a changed cycling world in which “all people, not just fat people, accept that our idea of athleticism is flawed.”

Kornhauser and Blonksy’s advocacy seems to be gaining ground.

On Aug. 29, the Oregon Short Film Festival awarded Best Documentary Film to All Bodies on Bikes—a documentary directed by Zeppelin Zeerip about the two cyclists and their work.

In just over 13 minutes, All Bodies on Bikes examines the complexity of body image and interrogates the way anti-fatness manifests in cycling through the types of messaging so aptly described on Steadwell’s TikTok video.

Both Kornhauser and Blonksy come off as direct, emphatic and funny, as when Kornhauser introduces herself: “I’m Kailey Kornhauser. I’m a Ph.D. student at OSU. I ride bikes. And I’m fat. Those are some facts about me.”

But both are also clear-eyed about how a culture of anti-fatness harms people in larger bodies. Kornhauser describes a nutritionist unhelpfully telling her to eat fewer apples as a child, and Blonsky identifies a lack of visibility for fat athletes that holds people back from biking. “For a long time I wasn’t seeing anyone that looked like me doing the types of biking I was doing,” she says.

All Bodies on Bikes is revolutionary in the way any sensitive acknowledgment of size inclusivity in sports is revolutionary. It features a shot of Kornhauser cruising through ferns and old growth on her mountain bike, confident and strong. Even when she wipes out at one point, she triumphantly gets up, dusts off her hands, and says falling makes her feel like “a real mountain biker.”

In a very literal sense, the film is a way for Blonsky and Kornhauser to embody the visibility they’ve found lacking within their own cycling experiences. Seeing them in action is an instant rebuttal to limited thinking that suggests people in larger bodies can’t enjoy sport for its own sake, but must do so as punishment, or only once they’re thinner.

Or as Kornhauser puts it: “I’m not out here to fix my body or make it look a certain way…the primary reason that we go is to have fun.”

And it does look fun. All Bodies on Bikes may focus on Kornhauser and Blonsky’s advocacy, but it also captures a different milestone: their first bike trip together.

That’s right. Despite their collaboration, Blonsky, who’s based in Seattle, and Kornhauser in Corvallis hadn’t actually ridden together until this year. All Bodies on Bikes documents their first bike camping trip together on the Corvallis-to-the-Sea Trail, as they dance to Meghan Thee Stallion and tame 7,500 feet of elevation on the way to a triumphant dip in the Pacific.

“I want people to feel empowered that they can ride a bike wherever they want to go,” Blonsky says in the film’s joyful coda. “I think there is about to be a really big movement happening, and it’s really exciting because fat people? We’re done hiding.”

That “really big movement” is one Blonsky and Kornhauser are instigating themselves. In Seattle, Blonsky co-organizes Moxie Monday, a cycling series just for women, nonbinary, trans and femme cyclists. The social, no-drop rides—rides where no one is left behind— build community among riders who aren’t thin white men on bikes, and send a clear message that if you want to bike, you should, regardless of social messaging that might suggest otherwise.

There’s only one situation where this doesn’t apply: smoke season.

In that scenario, says Blonsky, “my best advice is to take your workout indoors.”

“ FOR A LONG TIME I WASN’T SEEING ANYONE THAT LOOKED LIKE ME DOING THE TYPES OF BIKING I WAS DOING.”

All the Seed Things We ate every nutrition bar we could find in Portland’s health food sections. Here’s a rundown of the standout bars.

Picky Bars Balanced Energy Moroccan Your World Bar Too many energy bars have a sickly sweet taste, meant to impersonate unhealthy goodies like chocolate and candy—it doesn’t work. Picky Bars’ immediately set itself apart from the other seed bar brands by adopting a savory turmeric, pistachio, ginger flavor profile.

Quantum Energy Squares Dark Chocolate Pink Himalayan Salt Bar The Pink Himalayan variety of this brand edged its Coconut Almond counterpart out of the running because—unlike its brother bar—it does not have a mysterious banana taste unsupported by the ingredients list. We added points to Quantum for the inclusion of caffeine, but this one was on the low rung for taste.

GoMacro Macrobar Maple Sea Salt Bar You know how eating too much health food can lead to strange taste approximations? Well, GoMacro’s Maple Sea Salt Bar is like a Nestlé Crunch of the seed bar world. The bar’s smooth texture and pops of rice puffs account for this comparison. Also the maple syrup flavor is a sweet taste that actually works.

Perfect Bar Lemon Poppy Seed

Bobo’s Lemon Poppyseed Oat Bar While we expected seeds in this bar, it’s really more of an oat situation.

Possessing a similar texture and crumbly quality to cake, this bar also sneakily includes a serving size for two—as if you’re going to split an energy bar after a workout or on a clandestine deadline.

Although we’re taking points off for necessary refrigeration, Perfect Bar is a snacky delight. It possesses a texture of halva and cookie dough, and the poppy seeds add the requisite bursting texture pop.

Epic BBQ Chicken Raisins and Sesame Bar Kind Fruit & Nut Bar Don’t overthink it! Kind has been knocking it out of the park with its flaxseed-filled bars for years.

There aren’t any hidden bells and whistles—vitamins, extra protein and caffeine—involved with this bar. Kind will take the edge off your hunger with natural ingredients in their most basic state.

We really wanted to like this bar because of its similarity to jerky, but the unmistakable cat food aftertaste cannot be denied. Too bad.

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LE AR N I NG TO PL AY TH E G U ITAR CALLE D YOU R B R AI N

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Neurofeedback is a noninvasive therapy that teaches patients to control their brain waves.

BY MORG A N T ROPER

@mo_troper

To the uninitiated, neurofeedback—commonly abbreviated as NFB and also known as neurotherapy—can look like something out of an early science fiction film.

Typically, a patient sits facing a monitor with a tangle of sensors attached to their head. These sensors detect the small brain wave signals emanating from the scalp (Delta, Theta, Alpha, SMR, Beta and Gamma, in order of ascending frequency) and then feed these signals into an amplifier.

That amplified signal is then recorded by a computer, which displays the patient’s brain wave information on a second monitor for the doctor.

At first blush, the entire procedure might seem a bizarre cross between a polygraph test and a mind-reading device, but nothing sinister is actually occurring here. Dr. John McManus, who administers neurofeedback at his Lake Oswego practice, even employs a lighthearted analogy when attempting to describe the treatment in “the least scientific way possible.”

“Basically, I’m teaching you how to play this guitar called your brain,” McManus says. “Play those six different frequencies so that they are now producing the music that you want. That’s about as easy of an explanation as I can come up with for what we’re doing.”

Neurofeedback’s proponents suggest certain psychiatric disorders stem from aberrant brain wave activity. The treatment itself aims to encourage some types of brain wave activity and discourage other types through reward-based conditioning. For instance, McManus says a treatment plan for a patient with an attention disorder might be geared toward rewarding Beta, a higher-frequency brain wave associated with feelings of arousal, and blocking Theta, a low-frequency brain wave associated with daydreaming or passive mental states.

The way this reward system works varies slightly among different neurofeedback clinics, but it almost always involves a patient interfacing with an image on a monitor. Older neurofeedback software was more expressly gamelike—a helicopter would scroll across a screen, for example, corresponding to the patient’s brain wave patterns; when it fell below a specified altitude, the patient would be subjected to an irksome “ding,” unconsciously encouraging them to normalize their brain wave activity.

A typical neurofeedback session is probably a little less mind-numbing today. Atari 2600style representations of action scenes have been replaced by actual films.

“If you create the frequency that I’m trying to reward, the volume of the movie goes up, and if you don’t produce that frequency, then the

volume goes down,” McManus says. “Also, the screen will shrink or grow larger depending on how much Theta frequency you’re producing.

We’re trying to reduce Theta, increase Beta, and that’s kind of the standard protocol for [treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]. And for other conditions, like anxiety, we’re training more in the Alpha range. So the condition you’re trying to treat determines which brain waves we’re going to reward or inhibit.”

Modern neurofeedback was “popularized”— if you could call it that—in the 1960s. Dr. Barbara Brown coined the term “biofeedback”—a family of treatments that monitor and modulate autonomic biological processes—and had her own colorful, albeit comically outmoded, analogy for it, likening the process of brain wave modification to the relays on a functioning train.

Dr. Barry Sterman was the first to effectively treat epilepsy and attention disorders with neurofeedback, paving the way for future neurotherapists like McManus.

“ The condition you’re trying to treat determines which brain waves we’re going to reward or inhibit.”

“He did his original research with cats and trained them to relax and focus, and then exposed them to a chemical agent,” McManus says. “The cats who had been trained with neurofeedback actually went into seizures at a lower rate than the cats who weren’t treated.”

Before becoming a neurotherapist, McManus worked with patients who suffered from adult ADHD, a condition he shares: “And they started bringing in literature about neurofeedback, so I decided to explore it. I was able to train myself to no longer need Ritalin. I noticed I was on the right track. If it worked for me, it would work for others.”

Despite an endless number of anecdotal endorsements and a huge volume of supportive research on the effectiveness of neurofeedback compiled by the International Society for Neuroregulation & Research, the medical community remains skeptical.

“With good cause,” McManus concedes.

“They don’t want to recommend a therapy that doesn’t have a scientific basis.”

And even though it’s been around for decades and is relatively noninvasive, neurofeedback doesn’t possess the crystal-licker cachet of acupuncture, chiropractic and naturopathy. It’s also no surprise that most insurance companies are reluctant to foot the bill—especially since the requisite number of sessions falls somewhere between 20 and 40.

It might be hyperbole to suggest neurofeedback is on the cusp of having a moment, but neurofeedback apps and equipment starter kits have cropped up online in recent years, giving patients the opportunity to experiment with the treatment before committing to the real deal.

“It can be very expensive,” McManus says, “but I think I view that as an investment in my health, and I’m worth the investment. It’s my well-being, my productivity, and my own sense of calm and peace with myself.”

WHICH MASK IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

Whether you’re exercising, buying local or trying to look like a cat, I have some strong opinions on masks to share with you.

BY SU Z ET T E SMIT H

suzette@wweek.com

BEST FOR RUNNING: UNDER ARMOUR SPORTSMASK

One day that Nike mask that makes you look like Bane will come back in stock. Until then, the Under Armour Sportsmask is the second-best option. The Sportsmask’s solid design keeps the mask from touching your mouth, which keeps it from getting sucked in on a deep inhale.

Sportsmask comes in about five different sizes.

GET IT FROM: underarmour.com

BEST FOR COLD WEATHER: BILIOMASK KOALA

Biliomask’s knitted Koala masks are so cute—they make you look like a cute Bane. Although the recycled polyester yarn blend is breathable, I found them a little too stuffy for summer. But now that it’s fall, these are just the thing.

GET IT FROM: biliomask.com

BEST LOCALLY MADE MASK: NORTH ST. BAGS COTTON FACE MASK

One of the first local brands to immediately switch over to mask making, North St. Bags not only makes terrific bike bags, but it was one of the first I saw putting a nose wire in its masks to keep your glasses from fogging up. These locally manufactured masks are still high on my list.

GET IT FROM: northstbags.com

BEST FOR WORKING: N95 DISPOSABLE MASKS

The best mask for work is still the regular N95 polypropylene mask.

The solid shape keeps it away from your face, and the disposable nature says, “I take your health seriously so I change this out often.”

GET IT FROM: Hardware stores or online.

BEST IN A PINCH: DISPOSABLE BLACK FACE MASKS

Let’s be real. You take a sip of coffee and then quickly pull your mask back up when your co-worker enters the lounge. But now there’s a brown stain on the front of your mask. Get a box of these black ones and keep them in your car or bag.

GET IT FROM: Drug and hardware stores, the occasional big box grocery store, or online.

PROBLEMATIC FAVE: GERMLESS PRODUCTS

Germless masks are the best masks out there. They’re sturdy and comfortable and stand up to multiple washings. The solid shape keeps the mask away from your mouth, and the foam around the sides forms a safe seal. But the company tanked its reputation earlier this year, when it couldn’t keep up with demand and started messing up orders. Still, I’d rather have a Germless mask than almost any other, so to me it’s worth the risk. A recent order of N235s (the best standard, everyday mask) and SP1s (a lightweight mask that works for running, but still provides a protective seal) came through fine. It seems Germless has ironed out its supply kinks, but if you can use a payment option that’s easy to reverse, I’d recommend it.

GET IT FROM: germlessproducts.com

BEST CAT FACE MASK: RISEBYSAMYOUWELL ON ETSY

A cute face mask is a tactical choice. This one, with a glittery, pink, embroidered nose, has seen me through many difficult situations in which someone might normally hate to see a journalist approach, but then they compliment my cat face mask and seem to relax a little.

Sign up for my Radical Vulnerability in the Face of Great Force TED Talk or see for yourself.

GET IT FROM: etsy.com/shop/RisebySamyouwell

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

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LOVE YOU CAN HE AR Ambient electronic duo Liila met in a Buddhist monastery three years ago and fell into a curious kind of relationship.

BY R OBE RT H A M

@roberthamwriter

Danielle Davis and Steven Whiteley can’t keep their hands off each other.

Over the course of an hourlong conversation, the two artists that make up the ambient electronic project Liila repeatedly embrace or lay hands on each other’s knees and shoulders.

It’s the kind of affectionate touch seen in new couples or between close family members.

However, Davis and Whiteley are neither.

“Our friendship is deeply intimate and romantic, even though we don’t have a sexual relationship,” Davis says. “We’re both interested in breaking the normative bounds of what it’s like to be a friend. I mean, we consider each other life part14

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

ners, in many ways.”

The close relationship, cultivated since crossing paths three years ago in a Buddhist monastery, fed directly into the luscious, compassionate sound of their debut album, Soundness of Mind.

Whiteley was living in New Mexico when they spotted Davis’ modular synth in an Instagram post from Green Gulch Farm, a Zen center located just outside San Francisco. Hungry for the creative community they couldn’t find at the time, they took it as a sign and relocated there.

Davis spotted Whiteley instantly.

“It’s funny how social signifiers work,” Davis relates. “I saw their pant cut and was like, ‘Oh yeah, I want to hang out with them.’”

Both members identify as nonbinary and use they/them pronouns, further

eradicating the distance between them.

But at that moment they were bumping into each other at the center’s snack table where they bonded over their mutual love of Pauline Oliveros: the late composer who created the meditative approach called Deep Listening.

The two were soon jamming in Davis’ yurt, where they quickly developed a creative and interpersonal harmony. “ When we’re connecting, both in music and in our life, it feels like our spirit beings are dancing in space,” Davis says.

“There’s this aspect of ourselves—as we’re really meeting each other. That’s what was developing [while we were] sharing the intimacy and intensity of living in a Zen center. I think a lot of very particular relationality developed in that setting; that

then comes out in what we make together.”

The seven tracks on Soundness of Mind bear out Davis’ theory. There’s no clear delineation to reveal which musician is playing a particular instrument or creating a particular sound. The balmy drones, keyboard trills, and steely plucks of various acoustic instruments seem to come from everywhere—a blur of sound that is somehow both soothing and energizing.

The album is also marked by a playfulness that’s reflective of the joy that is at the heart of Whiteley and Davis’ creative practice.

Soundness of Mind was developed when the pair relocated from Green Gulch to Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie.

Attracted to the community for both its monthly silent retreats and its openness to musical expression, the two got into a regular routine of practicing and performing.

It had an in-house marimba band and a gymnasium full of instruments. Plus, one

4

OTHER LOCAL AMBIENT BANDS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:

PATRICIA WOLF Formerly of the L.A. group Soft Metals, Patricia Wolf is better known these days for her experimental and electronic solo forays. In May of this year, she released Life on Smoking Mountain, a series of breathtaking field recordings of bird chirps and other gentle soundscapes taken on Mount St. Helens. Wolf probably won’t play birdsong at her upcoming Oct. 13 Holocene gig, but it would be pretty cool to see the crowd response if she did.

VISIBLE CLOAKS of the monastery’s teachers, Jogen Salzberg, was also a DJ specializing in lush mixes of meditative sounds.

“His taste in ambient music is really obscure,” Whiteley says. “A lot of it is only vinyl and tape from before ’90s.

He’s a true weirdo audiophile.”

Some of the material they recorded during that period made its way onto Soundness of Mind. A truncated version of a 30-minute piece, composed of birdsong field recordings and Keith Jarrett-like piano improvisation became the track “Not One Not Two.” Whiteley and Davis also spent some time together in Joshua Tree, Calif. “We did another very cliché thing,” Davis says. “We rented a cabin, took psychedelics and wrote music.”

What comes out of spending time with Soundness of Mind is a sense that Whiteley and Davis have—through drugs, meditation or music—glimpsed a hopeful future.

They’ve seen a time when technology and humanity can comfortably coexist, and they’re already living in a place where two nonbinary musicians can have an intense connection and an intimate relationship that goes far beyond heteronormativity.

When the pair finally moved to Portland, they shared the same room and the same bed in a small house for five months, coordinating with one another their lives and liaisons with their respective partners—“both of whom were named Chloe,” Davis recounts.

“It was very, very cute and funny,” Davis says. “We really got to know each other. [Stephen] has seen all corners of myself, and somehow they still seem to love me.”

The two share a giggle and a knowing glance.

“I mean,”Whiteley says, “likewise.”

Another longtime Portland group, Spencer Doran and Ryan Carlisle have always been more renowned in other cities and countries than their own. Since it began as a solo project for Doran to explore his fascination with Japanese ambient music from the ’80s and ’90s, Visible Cloaks has always held a touch of that genre’s sensibilities as well.

GOLDEN RETRIEVER Long-standing, gentle kings of Portland’s ambient and experimental music scene, the duo of Jonathan Seilaff on bass clarinet and Matt Carlson generally working a modular synth are prolific in their artistry and album releases. Just this past June, they dropped an expansive 20-minute track called “Sense of Place,” but if you’re listening for the first time, every good Portlander starts with the 2014 Seer’s “Petrichor.”

DANIEL LICHTENBERG Also known as Saturn Finger, Daniel Lichtenberg is an ambient musician “hermit synth wizard” and classically trained pianist. At the start of the year, he released Swan Island Tapes, which our music columnist Daniel Bromfield said sounded “a little like if the organ on ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ was allowed to meander into post-acid life thoughts.”

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

15

SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

OR residents scramble to get last Walking Liberty Rolls OREGON - Once Oregon residents got wind that Oregon State Restricted Bank Rolls filled with Silver Walking Liberties dating back to the early 1900’s were being handed over, there was a mad dash to get them. That’s because some of these U.S. Gov’t issued silver coins are already worth hundreds in collector value.

“It’s like a run on the banks. The phones are ringing off the hook. That’s because everyone is trying to get them before they’re all gone,” according to officials at the National Mint and Treasury who say they can barely keep up with all the orders.

In fact, they had to impose a strict limit of 4 Oregon State Restricted Bank Rolls. So, if you get the chance to get your hands on these State Restricted Bank Rolls you better hurry because hundreds of Oregon residents already have and you don’t want to miss out.

You see, the U.S. Gov’t stopped mint-

ing these Silver Walking Liberties in 1947 and there can never be any more which makes them extremely collectible.

And here’s the best part. The rolls are unsearched so there’s no telling how much they could be worth in collector value.

That’s why at just the $39 state minimum set by National Mint and Treasury it’s a deal too good to pass up.

But you better hurry because these Oregon State Restricted Bank Rolls are the only ones known to exist and Oregon residents are grabbing them up as fast as they can.

That’s because they make amazing gifts for children, grandchildren and loved ones. Just imagine the look on their face when you hand them one of the State Restricted Rolls — they’ll tell everyone they know what you did for them.

■ GOT ‘EM: Residents all across Oregon who get their hands on these State Restricted Silver Walking Liberty Bank Rolls are definitely showing them off. That’s because they are the only ones known to exist. And here’s the best part, these Bank Rolls are loaded with U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberty coins some dating back to the early 1900’s and worth up to 100 times their face value so everyone wants them.

Last State Restricted Silver Walking Liberty Bank Rolls go to Oregon residents Oregon residents get first dibs on last remaining Bank Rolls loaded with U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties dating back to the early 1900’s some worth up to 100 times their face value for the next 2 days

STATE DISTRIBUTION: A strict limit of 4 State Restricted Bank Rolls per OR resident has been imposed OREGON - “It’s a miracle these State Restricted Bank Rolls even exist. That’s why Hotline Operators are bracing for the flood of calls,” said Laura Lynne, U.S. Coin and Currency Director for the National Mint and Treasury.

For the next 2 days the last remaining State of Oregon Restricted Bank Rolls loaded with rarely seen U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties are actually being handed over to Oregon residents who call the State Toll-Free Hotlines listed in today’s newspaper publication.

“I recently spoke with a numismatic expert in United States of America coins and currency who said ‘In all my years as a numismatist I’ve only ever seen a handful of these rarely seen Silver Walking Liberties issued by the U.S. Gov’t back in the early 1900’s. But to actually find them sealed away in State Restricted Bank Rolls still in pristine condition is like finding buried treasure.

So anyone lucky enough to get their hands on these Bank Rolls had better hold on to them,’” Lynne said.

“Now that the State of Oregon Restricted Bank Rolls are being offered up we won’t be surprised if thousands of Oregon residents claim the maximum limit allowed of 4 Bank Rolls per resident before they’re all gone,” said Lynne.

“That’s because after the Bank 16

(Continued on next page)

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

SILVER: one of the last silver coins minted for circulation

VALUABLE: minted in philadelphia, denver & san francisco

ENLARGED TO SHOW DETAIL: year varies 1916-1947

RARELY SEEN: minted by the u.s. mint in the early 1900’s R1043R-2

SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

(Continued from previous page)

Rolls were loaded with 15 rarely seen Silver Walking Liberties, each verified to meet a minimum collector grade of very good or above, the dates and mint marks of the U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberty Half Dollars sealed away inside the State of Oregon Restricted Bank Rolls have never been searched. But, we do know that some of these coins date clear back to the early 1900’s and are worth up to 100 times their face value, so there is no telling what Oregon residents will find until they sort through all the coins,” Lynne went on to say.

And here’s the best part. If you are a resident of the state of Oregon you cover only the $39 per coin state minimum set by the National Mint and Treasury, that’s fifteen rarely seen U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties worth up to 100 times their face value for just $585 which is a real steal because non state residents must pay $118 per coin which totals $1,770 if any coins remain after the 2-day deadline.

The only thing Oregon residents need to do is call the State Toll-Free Hotlines printed in today’s newspaper publication before the 2-day order deadline ends.

“Rarely seen U.S. Gov’t issued silver coins like these are highly sought after, but we’ve never seen anything like this before. According to The Official Red Book, a Guide Book of United States Coins many Silver Walking Liberty Half Dollars are now worth $40 - $825 each in collector value,” Lynne said.

“We’re guessing thousands of Oregon residents will be taking the maximum limit of 4 Bank Rolls because they make such amazing gifts for any occasion for children, parents, grandparents, friends and loved ones,” Lynne continued.

“We know the phones will be ringing off the hook. That’s why hundreds of Hotline Operators are standing by to answer the phones beginning at 8:30 am this morning. We’re going to do our best, but with just 2 days to answer all the calls it won’t be easy. So make sure to tell everyone to keep calling if all lines are busy. We’ll do our best to answer them all.” Lynne said.

The only thing readers of today’s newspaper publication need to do is make sure they are a resident of the state of Oregon and call the National Toll-Free Hotlines before the 2-day deadline ends midnight tomorrow. ■

HOW TO CLAIM THE LAST STATE RESTRICTED BANK ROLLS FACTS:

If you are a Oregon State Resident read the important information below about claiming the State Silver Bank Rolls, then call the State Toll-Free Hotline at 8:30 am: 1-800-979-3771 EXT: RWB2064

Are these Silver Walking Liberties worth more than other half dollars:

Yes. These U.S. Gov’t issued Silver Walking Liberties were minted in the early 1900’s and will never be minted again. That makes them extremely collectible.

The vast majority of half dollars minted after 1970 have no silver content at all and these Walking Liberties were one of the last silver coins minted for circulation.

That’s why many of them now command hundreds in collector value so there’s no telling how much they could be worth in collector value someday.

How much are State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls worth:

It’s impossible to say, but some of these U.S Gov’t issued Walking Liberties dating back to the early 1900’s are worth up to 100 times the face value and there are 15 in each Bank Roll so you better hurry if you want to get your hands on them. Collector values always fluctuate and there are never any guarantees.

But we do know they are the only Oregon State Silver Bank Rolls known to exist and Walking Liberties are highly collectible so anyone lucky enough to get their hands on these Silver Bank Rolls should hold onto them because there’s no telling how much they could be worth in collector value someday.

Why are so many Oregon residents claiming them:

Because they are the only State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls known to exist and everyone wants their share. Each Bank Roll contains a whopping 15 Silver Walking Liberties dating back to the early 1900’s some worth up to 100 times their face value. Best of all Oregon residents are guaranteed to get them for the state minimum set by the National Mint and Treasury of just $39 per Silver Walking Liberty for the next two days.

How do I get the State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls:

Oregon residents are authorized to claim up to the limit of 4 State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls by calling the State Toll Free Hotline at 1-800-979-3771 Ext. RWB2064 starting at precisely 8:30 am this morning. Everyone who does is getting the only State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Rolls known to exist. That’s a full Bank Roll containing 15 Silver Walking Liberties from the early 1900’s some worth up to 100 times their face value for just the state minimum set by the National Mint and Treasury of just $39 per Silver Walking Liberty, which is just $585 for the full Bank Rolls and that’s a real steal because non state residents are not permitted to call before 5 pm tomorrow and must pay $1,770 for each Oregon State Restricted Walking Liberty Silver Bank Roll if any remain.

R1043R-2

NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY, LLC IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE U.S. MINT, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, A BANK OR ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY. IF FOR ANY REASON WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM SHIPMENT YOU ARE DISSATISFIED, RETURN THE PRODUCT FOR A REFUND LESS SHIPPING AND RETURN POSTAGE. THIS SAME OFFER MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE AT A LATER DATE OR IN A DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. OH RESIDENTS ADD 6.5% SALES TAX. NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY, PO BOX 35609, CANTON, OH 44735 ©2021 NATIONAL MINT AND TREASURY. Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

17

STREET

OKTOBERFEST Photos by Chris Nesseth On Instagram: @ChrisNesseth

Whether you visited Mount Angel’s Oktoberfest for the biergarten, hopfengarten, prostgarten, or weingarten, all were looking lively last weekend. Traditional dirndls, lederhosen and knee socks on vendors and visitors were freshly pressed. Cheeks were rosy. Tiny dogs appeared content.

18

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

STARTERS

THE MOST IMPORTANT PORTLAND CULTURE STORIES OF THE WEEK—GRAPHED.

RE AD MORE AB OU T T H E S E STORI E S AT WWE E K .COM.

RIDICULOUS

• •••• ••••

BRIAN BURK

A T R E A LRBO S ER E T •••• A E H T SEPT 24

DUFFY BISHOP

ALEX WITTWER

Portland gets more rainfall the weekend of Sept. 17-19 than it did for the previous four months combined.

NW favorite blues diva

blues rock guitarist

SEPT 29

Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest begins allowing campfires again.

HELIOTERRA WINES

+ Tevis Hodge Jr.

SEPT 30 award-winning acoustic blues

RUTHIE FOSTER +

Mary Flower

OCT 3

genius AmericanaSEPT 30 songwriter

AWFUL

AWESOME

“The Remedy” album release

ANDI PREWITT

Oregon brewers take home 15 medals at the Great American Beer Awards.

TOO SLIM & THE TAILDRAGGERS

After the mayor of Sandy braggadociously offers to take Portland’s toppled presidential statues, the city’s arts program manager tells him to get in line.

All-woman winery incubator Helioterra Wines will open in the former Alter Ego Cider taphouse space.

DARRELL SCOTT

OCT 2

THE PETE IN FLESH CORREALE stand-up comedy OCT 8

TONY STARLIGHT 50th birthday party

with special guest Gary Ogan

OCT 9

OCT 12

CLASSIC FOODS

SOUVENIRS

featuring

Glenn Hughes

JOHN PRINE’S

of Deep Purple + special guests

Don Jamieson + The Black Moods

75th birthday tribute Restaurant distributors Classic Foods opens an outlet shop in response to home-cook customer demand.

OCT 14

SAM GEHRKE

Biketown for All expands free service to include all Portland-area college students on federal financial aid.

with

NPR radio show

TOM SCHARPLING MOHANAD ELSHIEKY KAVEH AKBAR

OCT 17

LOVE, DEAN album release

JUDY BLUE EYES

Crosby, Stills & Nash Tribute

with members of The NowHere Band + CSN guitarist Jeff Pevar

C A R LY D I A Z

UPCOMING SHOWS 10/22 10/23 10/24 10/29

• • • •

gory live comedy theatre OCT 21

+ Liz Vice Despite the pandemic, Killer Burger is doing just fine—and opens a new shop on Northwest 23rd Avenue.

OCT 15 OCT 16

•••••••••••••

BOOKLOVER’S BURLESQUE ALASDAIR FRASER AND NATALIE HAAS SMOOTH OPERATOR – SADE TRIBUTE SALOON ENSEMBLE HALLOWEEN PARTY

•••••

albertarosetheatre.com

SERIOUS

3000 NE Alberta • 503.764.4131 Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

19

GET BUSY

STUFF TO DO IN PORTLAND THIS WEEK, INDOORS AND OUT.

MIKE BENNETT

☛ DO | Crypto-Zoo Portland artist Mike Bennett’s homespun gallery of painted-plywood curiosities recently opened in St. Johns’ old Bank of America building.

Some might argue it’s a bit early for a Halloweenstyle, walk-through experience, but the museum isn’t expressly for the season, and a ton of visitors are going to want to make their way through. As Bennett is a fan of surprising, sweet and sometimes hidden installation art, his John Kricfalusi-esque creations have been popping up all over Portland for years. During the pandemic, Bennett’s A to Zoo Family Lawn Museum provided a joyful escape to all who walked by or eagerly awaited Bennett’s frequent additions. St. Johns’ Bank of America, 7410 N Chicago Ave., mikebennettart.com. 10 am-5 pm daily, through Nov. 5.

�GO | Open Mike Eagle Co-presented with X-RAY.fm, this show is not technically an Open Mike Eagle main billing. But he’s definitely the main draw for his dark, incisive raps on everything from the self-help spell-outs of his 2020 album Anime, Trauma and Divorce to the autobiographical personal trauma of destroyed community on his 2017 concept record Brick Body Kids Still Daydream. That all sounds really serious, and Open Mike Eagle is about as serious as they come, yet somehow he’ll also split your sides with his clever, sliding rhymes. He shares the show with Armand Hammer—two incredible rappers in their own right. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895. 9 pm Thursday Sept. 23. $20.

LETTERBOXD

QUIN N D

SEE | Nowhere

OMBR OW SKI W IKI COMM

The great Gregg Araki directs this 1997 genre-bending coming-of-age gem chronicling a group of queer L.A. teenagers as they party, indulge in sex and drugs, and experience a series of bizarre extraterrestrial events. It features some of the most memorable lighting and production design in modern cinema; a true relic from the ’90s that deserves more recognition.

Screens in 35 mm. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-493-1128, hollywoodtheatre.org. 7:30 pm Friday, Sept. 24. $8-$10.

ONS

�VIRTUAL | Dave Zirin

☛ DO | Widmer Brothers Oktoberfest

Nearly 40 years ago, back when Oregon’s modern craft brewing movement was just beginning, the very first beer the Widmer brothers decided to brew was a classic German altbier. Those ties to Deutschland made the brewery a natural place to launch an annual Oktoberfest, and this year the celebration returns to the original pub.

After its pivot to a takeout model in 2020, attendees can now sample an updated, small-batch version of Widmers’ Okto beer along with other favorites from the brewery’s tap list. Grab yourself a brat from the Altengartz food cart and you’ll feel like you’re in Munich. Widmer Brothers Brewing, 929 N Russell St., 503-281-3333, widmerbrothers. com. 2-10 pm Saturday, Sept. 25.

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Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

With his new book, The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing World, sports journalist Dave the World Zirin—who also authored A People’s History of Sports in the United States—traces NFL quarterback States Colin Kaepernick’s quiet but powerful protests in the National Football League and beyond. Through interviews with athletes, coaches and others both inside and outside the world of football, Zirin writes the still-unfolding history of “the Kaepernick effect,” which continues to reverberate in sports and contemporary society. Register for Zirin’s appearance on Zoom at powells.com. 5 pm Thursday, Sept. 23.

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S A N TA M O N I C A , C A Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

21

FEATURE

FOOD & DRINK Tulip Shop Tavern Fish Sandwich ($12) 825 N Killingsworth St., 503-206-8483, tulipshoptavern.com. Noon-midnight Sunday-Thursday, noon-1 am Friday-Saturday.

This list is in no particular order, but since it was also sort of Tulip Shop’s idea, it’s sad to say that this one was not the favorite. A classic fishwich in some ways, it’s an impressively large, crispy 4-ounce rectangle of panko-breaded, perfectly flaky, Blue North wild Alaskan cod, served on a Dos Hermanos milk bun with tartar sauce, shredded lettuce and pickle. The housemade tartar (capers, fresh dill, grain mustard, dill pickle and mayo) and savory dill pickle chips have the kind of zing I like. But the cod itself—both breading and fish—is something of a neutral canvas, perhaps in need of greater seasoning. Pro tip from the bar: Add two slices of American cheese for $1. “That’s the classic way to do it,” co-owner Tyler Treadwell says.

TULIP SHOP

YO N D E R

Fish Sandwiches Make a Splash Move over, smash burgers. Four Portland spots have made serious upgrades to the fast food-style fishwich.

BY JAS O N CO H E N

T

@cohenesque

ulip Shop Tavern makes one of Portland’s finest cheeseburgers, but the North Killingsworth beer and cocktail bar also serves an above-average fried fish sandwich. Earlier this year, when it seemed like every other food article and cart was devoted to the smashing of ground beef, Tulip threw a little shade from Instagram.

“The #smashburger craze was fun, and we ranked high among those mentioned,” bragged the post, captioning a massive foodporn stack of lettuce, tartar, fish and bun.

“But we’re still waiting on the #fishwich articles to come out...and no doubt, we’ll be near the top.”

Bait taken.

That’s not to say the fishwich hasn’t (almost) had its moment in the past. The highfalutin chefs of Nomad PDX paid homage to McDonald’s with a cod mousseline “Fileto-Fish” at Feast Portland’s Sandwich Invitational in 2016. It then went on the menu (as

22

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

the “motherf***in’ filet o’ fish”) at Nomad’s Ash Bar, but both spots unfortunately closed in 2020.

This past February, Popeye’s tried to replicate its fried chicken sandwich success with a similar, fried flounder approach, but the limited-edition item (timed for Lent, just like the first Filet-O-Fish was, in 1962) never quite took off. Burgerville typically has a wild Alaskan halibut sandwich, but at the time of this this roundup, it was not available—presumably because the Vancouver, Wash., chain needs all its buns for actual burgers. (“Due to an industrywide supply and staffing shortage, our hours and menu may be temporarily limited in some locations,” the company website says.)

For this brief, by-no-means-comprehensive survey, WW stuck with variations on the classic fast food-style fried fishwich—no salmon burgers, po’boys or baked filets—from places that don’t specialize in seafood. We went in search of fishwiches and came back with quite the catch.

Yonder Fried Tennessee Catfish Sandwich ($14) 4636 NE 42nd Ave., 503-444-7947, yonderpdx.com.

4-9 pm Wednesday-Sunday.

There’s also chicken overlap at Yonder, where you can—in much the same way that you can the chicken—get your catfish dusted Nashville hot or with lemon pepper. Breaded in both rice flour and cornmeal, the wild koji-cured Tennessee catfish (acquired via local provider TwoXSea) comes on America’s best fast food sandwich bun, the Martin’s potato roll, with a pile of iceberg lettuce and what Yonder has dubbed “tartar slaw”—julienned bread-andbutter pickles, chives, dill and Duke’s Mayo. The fish is tasty, tender and crispy, but what really makes this sandwich memorable is the cheese. This is no slice of American à la Mickey D’s nor something implausibly exotic but, rather, grated Tillamook white cheddar cooked into a lacy frico. It adds both extra crunch and a piquant note that hits you in the nose before you can even taste it.

TOP 5

TOP 5

BUZZ LIST

HOT PLATES

Where to drink this week.

Where to eat this week.

1. Advice Booth

S PA R K H O U S E STUDIOS

Holler Chicken Fried Trout Sandwich ($15) 7119 SE Milwaukie Ave., 971-200-1391, hollerpdx.com. 11 am-9 pm Monday-Friday, 10 am-9 pm Saturday-Sunday.

Holler was built on fried chicken. And while the restaurant’s choice to call its fish sandwich “chicken-fried” doesn’t mean it had to literally be made the same way, in this case the fish goes in the same dredge as the birds: buttermilk with a little Crystal hot sauce, then seasoned flour. The Texas-meets-Idaho two-hander comes on Texas toast with dill-and-fennel ranch, jalapeño jelly, butter lettuce and “Holler pickles.” The overall flavor profile of the jelly and the pickles ran a bit sweet for my taste, but the filet itself—Riverence farmed steelhead—was both seriously crunchy and impeccably cooked.

1. Kachka

C A R LY D I A Z

5426 N Gay Ave., adviceboothpdx.com. 3-11 pm Monday-Thursday, 3 pm-midnight Friday, 1 pm-midnight Saturday, 1-11 pm Sunday.

Settling nicely into the shell of the old Lost & Found space, this lovely little dive is barely visible from its cross streets of North Killingsworth and Gay. But for being such a little bar, it’s at least half-patio—with awnings and warming lamps. With a perfectly serviceable cheese-based menu and a delightful, unflappable staff, Advice Booth is holding down that lovely feeling of a secret neighborhood bar done just right.

2. Da’Hui

960 SE 11th Ave., 503-235-0059, kachkapdx. com. 4-9 pm Sunday-Thursday, 4-10 pm FridaySaturday.

At America’s best Russian restaurant, chef Bonnie Morales has combined classic Continental food training with vigorous Russian dishes in homage to her own nostalgia for her parents’ Soviet memories. Whether you spring for the rich clay-pot rabbit—the dish doubles down on umami with porcini mushrooms tarted up with sour cherries—or follow the menu’s advice to cover as much of your table as possible with zakuski (small plates meant to accompany vodka drinking), don’t miss out on Kachka’s soup dumplings: tender delicacies in “fancy broth” made with beef tongue and veal terrine, scallion and cheese, sour cherry, or caviar.

6506 SE Foster Road, 503-477-7224, dahui.bar.

Noon-2 am 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 Da’Hui’s sizable cocktails, like a Lava Flow or Oahu Sunset—both filled with fruit juices and silver rum. Pair that with a classic Hawaiian dish, such as kalua pork or kalbi ribs.

It might not be true paradise but it’s pretty darn close.

3. Rontoms

600 E Burnside St., 503-236-4536, rontoms. net. Noon-2:30 am Monday-Friday, 3 pm-2:30 am Saturday-Sunday.

Trends may change, but Rontoms stays cool.

The bar remains a popular pick for the young and hip, and it’s immediately easy to see why. The signature cocktail, Bruja, is a favorite, packing a surprisingly spicy finish thanks to the pepper-pineapple-infused tequila and chile-salt rim.

2. Nak Won

4. Shanghai Tunnel SCOTT KINMARTIN

MID CITY SMASH BURGER

MidCity SmashBurger SplashBurger ($5) 1015 SE Stark St., instagram.com/midcitysmashburger.

Noon-6 pm Wednesday-Monday.

Fortunately, you don’t have to patronize a giant multinational corporation—or a semi-local one that’s still the target of an active union boycott like Burgerville—to get a fast food-style fishwich at almost fast food prices. The first time MCSB owner Mike Aldridge rolled out his fish sandwich as a special, he sold 30 in 20 minutes on a weekday. It’s now a regular menu item at the Buckman neighborhood food cart and should also be at MidCity’s soonto-open St. Johns brick-and-mortar. The SplashBurger is a fish-and-chipssized parallelogram of locally caught, flash-frozen rockfish that’s battered in flour, fried and cemented to its Franz hamburger bun with “Smashy Sauce,” plus a half-slice of American cheese. As WW noted back in May, the Smashy Sauce resembles tartar sauce or remoulade, while the American provides that crucial creamy-salty element—as well as a McDonald’s wink. The rockfish is both crispy and flaky, as much as it pains me to use those words again.

There are just not enough adjectives to describe fishwiches.

211 SW Ankeny St., shanghaitunnelbar.com. 5 pm-2 am Thursday-Saturday.

If downtown feels like…a lot right now, try on Portland’s gruff but lovable dive named for the city’s tunnels of urban legend. As it reopened this summer, Shanghai’s focus shifted from its basement to the small street-level bar and patio—located next to the breezeway of the front door. It’s possible that Shanghai is the last chill bar in Old Town where you can hole up—waiting out the weekend warriors—to play a little pool, pinball or Big Buck Hunter Pro.

5. Holy Goat Social Club

1501 NE Fremont St., 503-282-0956, holygoatpdx.com. 2-10 pm Monday-Saturday.

It’d be inaccurate to describe Holy Goat as a “new” bar. Longtime residents of the Sabin neighborhood will remember the tiny watering hole as Daddy Mojo’s, and though it’s undergone a change in ownership and name, the rebrand mostly amounts to more of an aesthetic upgrade than a full-scale remodel.

Regulars will still find what they’re looking for: a drink menu consisting of stiff takes on old classics, soul music on the stereo, and soul food in the kitchen.

4600 Watson Ave., Beaverton, 503-646-9382.

5-8:30 pm Monday-Saturday.

One of the area’s best Korean spots is back— finally. After a prolonged reopening process following the initial statewide pandemic lockdown, Nak Won has returned, now just a pot sticker’s throw from Old Town Beaverton’s impressive outdoor dining hall that features several Portland standouts. Despite the new neighbors, though, Nak Won remains the king of the ’hood, serving authentic, tasty bites, along with the best soup names in town: Comfort Buttercup, When Miss Piggy Met Hot Potato, et al.

3. Xinh Xinh Vietnamese Bistro

970 SE Morrison St., 971-229-1492, xinhxinhbistro.com. 11 am-8 pm Monday-Tuesday and Thursday, 11 am-9 pm Friday-Saturday, 11:30 am-8 pm Sunday.

Inside a small strip of businesses on Southeast Morrison, Xinh Xinh is best known for its banh mi and soups, but the real ones know that the move is the crunchy salad. Served with a slightly sweetened fish sauce dressing, you’ll find yourself slurping down the grated cabbage, onion and carrots. Peanuts add even more crunch, while basil adds depth. It is an epic salad.

4. Sari Ramyun

2713 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-841-5149, sari.smartonlineorder.com. 11 am-8 pm Sunday-Thursday, 11 am-9 pm Saturday-Sunday.

Typically, the phrase “ramyun” refers in Korea to instant noodles, the peninsular answer to Top Ramen. But chef Tommy Shin’s stall in the Zipper food court specializes in a chicken noodle soup—well, technically chicken and beef broth, with melt-in-your-mouth brisket slices floating on top. This is a heretical opinion, given the proximity of Basilisk, but Sari makes the best chicken in the Zipper.

5. Birrieria PDX

16544 SE Division St., 971-336-6804, birrieriapdxoregon.com. 11 am-10 pm Tuesday-Friday, 9:30 am-10 pm Saturday, 9:30 am-9 pm Sunday.

The birria boom has reached Portland, and this cart in deep Southeast is one of its main purveyors. Birria de res, like its sibling, barbacoa de res, has a long tradition in many parts of Mexico, but Birrieria PDX’s goes beyond classic applications to include a keto taco, made with crispy melted cheese instead of a tortilla, and birria ramen, the Japanese noodle soup made with the broth of the birria, resulting in something that tastes more like pho or Thai boat noodles.

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

23

FACE TO FACE

3ONLY !

SHOWS

October 15-16 • Keller Auditorium TICKETS START AT $24 • OBT.ORG

Holly Zimmerman, Mia Leimkuhler, Artur Sultanov, Candace Bouchard, and Andrea Cooper in George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert.

Need something to do?

Got a special event to share?

Check out

wweek.com/calendar to find out what’s happening around town.

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Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

PERFORMANCE

Editor: Andi Prewitt | Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com ADRIAN AGUILAR

MUSIC Written by: Daniel Bromfield | @bromf3

Now Hear This

Listening recommendations from the past, present, Portland and the periphery.

SOMETHING OLD

CULT CLASSIC: Simone McAlonen (foreground) used her childhood diaries as inspiration for a new show about her religious upbringing.

Girl Gone Wild

In Wild Wild Christian, Simone McAlonen recalls coming of age at the Oregon Rajneeshee compound-turned-summer camp.

BY JAY H O RTO N

@hortland

“I’ve kept a diary since I was 6—it’s the best therapy,” recalls Portland-born, L.A.-based comedian Simone McAlonen. “Going back to read old entries is like having a conversation with a different version of yourself.”

Three years ago, that conversation proved especially fruitful. Recognizing that the Netflix hit documentary Wild Wild Country had reawakened public interest in the ’80s cult community that once spanned more than 60,000 acres in rural Antelope, Ore., McAlonen harked back to summers spent attending an evangelical Christian youth camp located on the site of the former Rajneeshpuram.

Poring over old journals from that time, she ended up collaborating with her 12-year-old self on Wild Wild Christian: a lighthearted reverie following our young diarist’s adventures and revelations as she navigates early adolescence through the repressive haze of one religious compound built atop the bones of another.

While the actress and playwright readied the hometown premiere of her acclaimed show, WW spoke to McAlonen about returning to camp.

WW: How did this production come about?

Simone McAlonen: When I was 12, my dad started working for Young Life, a nonprofit Christian youth organization, and we started spending summer at their camp out in Central Oregon. We did that for a few years through middle school.

Was that fun?

Initially, I didn’t want to go. I was kind of sad because, like any kid, I wanted to hang out with my friends during the summer. That first summer in Antelope, we were the only people out there—some of the first people living there since the Rajneeshees left—so it was a little bit lonely with just us on this big 60,000-acre ranch. I ended up coming around and feeling like it was pretty cool because it was such an interesting, different experience.

What did the camp look like?

It was really almost like time traveling back to the Old West. We lived in an actual farmhouse from the 1800s that had been a stop on the Pony Express. There were horses, ranch hands, huge mountains, blue sky, rattlesnakes, tumbleweeds and, of course, tons of these weird abandoned buildings from when the Rajneeshees were there. As a kid, I’d go exploring. Nothing crazy, but I’d poke around and get into some mischief. My brother and I would ride our bikes over to the crematorium, and we’d make up stories about finding a finger, even though we really didn’t.

At the time, did you know anything about the Rajneeshees?

I was told that before the camp was overtaken by the Christian youth organization something bad had once happened out here. It was basically framed as God using something that was once bad for good. Everyone at the camp would talk about how it was crazy that not a lot of people knew this incredible story and how it would make a great movie someday. As I got older, no one really knew about the Rajneeshees until Wild Wild Country came out.

Then, suddenly, everyone did.

When was the last time you visited the camp?

In 2014 or 2015. It was nice to be back. I have so many happy memories from my childhood there, but it was also kind of sad for me to come back as an adult and get the full picture of how limiting and close-minded that culture can be. I remember last time I was there I saw a group of kids running around in the yard playing and just being happy and free. One of the kids tied up his shirt and started sashaying around playfully. I saw an adult who worked there come up to him and reprimand him for acting too feminine and made him untie his shirt.

Seeing someone so innocent shamed for playing with their gender expression, it broke my heart. I hate that the closed-mindedness of others could potentially deter a kid from exploring their own spiritual life. To me, that feels like a bigger sin than anything else, really.

Had you always planned on turning your experience at camp into a production?

Working as an actress and comedian in Los Angeles, I’d always in the back of my mind thought about putting together a show or writing something about growing up around this Christian summer camp. Growing up, Christian culture put in a lot of effort to make religion more appealing and relevant to young people. Every mainstream popular music artist would have a Christian counterpart that mimicked their style except all of the lyrics would be about God—like Nirvana or Britney Spears but Christian. It’s funny because for a long time I was embarrassed about growing up so religious, because it felt like something that was weird or different than a lot of my contemporaries. But now, I realize that it’s a really important part of my perspective, and embracing what makes us different or weird is actually really important.

Scott Walker’s “Thanks for Chicago Mr. James” is one of the best songs about a gay romance written by a straight man. It’s a sincere, string-drenched thank you from a country boy to his sugar daddy. And its subject is the least wholesome thing about it.

This is one of the only Walker songs where he treats gay sexuality as a fact rather than an abjection, and it was his last great song for a stretch.

He spent most of the ’70s making potboiler cowboy pop, prior to the full flowering of his powers on Nite Flights.

SOMETHING NEW The new Moritz von Oswald Trio is devoid of original members save for the titular German (and descendant of Otto von Bismarck!) who invented dub techno in the ’90s. It’s a shame we don’t get to hear the late Tony Allen behind the kit anymore.

And Heinrich Köbberling’s touch is lighter than that of his octopuslike predecessor, but Laurel Halo brings her usual, brainy sensibility to the piano playing. Dissent is as cold, steely and exploratory as you could want from your Northern European tech jazz.

SOMETHING LOCAL Book of Hours, the knotty new album from local musician Morgan O’Sullivan’s Boreen project, sounds like a field of static gradually arranging itself into a lost ’90s Northwest indie classic. The distortion isn’t the piercing punk kind but instead a billowing low end that wreathes even the shortest, most economical songs in atmosphere. It’s a rock album to get lost in, and if the first nine tracks don’t do the trick, the beatless eight-minute “Fantasy Suite” at the end will.

SOMETHING ASKEW Canadian drone conjurer Sarah Davachi moved tentatively toward songbased semi-pop on last year’s Cantus, Descant, but her comparatively obtuse Bandcamp Friday freebies are the best actual predictors for Antiphonals—one of her most austere and forbidding albums. Davachi has a knack for making music that sounds like ancient church ghosts bottled up and let loose on tape, and this is some of her most spectral music yet. So little happens that you start imagining things, and it’s spooky.

SEE IT: Wild Wild Christian plays at the Siren Theater, 315 NW Davis St., wildwildchristian.com. 7 pm Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-26. $15.

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

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Editor: Andi Prewitt / Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com

GET YO UR REPS I N REBECCA RHODES

SCREENER

MOVIES

Betty Blue (1986) Set in a coastal town nestled in the south of France, this erotic drama follows a handyman and aspiring novelist (Jean-Hugues Anglade) who falls for a beautiful but volatile woman (Béatrice Dalle). As she slowly loses her grip on her sanity, the pair’s love is tested. The 185-minute director’s cut.

Clinton, Sept. 22.

Adaptation. (2002) Nicolas Cage tackles dual roles in Spike Jonze’s wholly unique meta-comedy centered on a screenwriter (Cage, playing a fictionalized version of Charlie Kaufman) struggling to adapt The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) into a feature film and get along with his grating twin brother (also played by Cage). Academy, Sept. 22-23.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) F O C U S F E AT U R E S

HOOD TO BOAST: Hood River Valley High School’s diverse soccer team is a regular playoff contender, which is the subject of a new film.

They’ve Got Goals Hood River documents a high school soccer team’s struggles both on and off the pitch.

BY C H A N C E SO L E M - P F E I FER

@chance_s_p

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Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

SEE IT: Hood River streams on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube.

“I wish I knew how to quit you.” Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal star as two cowboys assigned to herd sheep together on Brokeback Mountain. What follows is one of the all-time greatest love stories, a secret but blistering romance that spans years of their lives. In a just world, it would’ve won Best Picture over the heinous Crash. Open-Air Cinema at OMSI, Sept. 23.

Nowhere (1997) The great Gregg Araki directs this genre-bending comingof-age gem chronicling a group of queer L.A. teenagers as they party, indulge in sex and drugs, and experience a series of bizarre extraterrestrial events. It features some of the most memorable lighting and production design in modern cinema; a true relic from the ’90s that deserves more recognition. Screens in 35 mm. Hollywood, Sept. 24.

Best in Show (2000) WA R N E R H O M E V I D E O

Where many Portlanders might see Hood River as an idyllic spot to kite surf the Columbia or knock back pints of pFriem, Robert Rodriguez sized up the Gorge community— and its high school soccer team—as compellingly divided.

More than three years ago, the director of Spy Kids and From Dusk Till Dawn was combing the country with his documentary producer hat on, searching for profile-worthy towns. Hood River co-director Steven Cantor recalls Rodriguez’s immediately intriguing pitch for a documentary: “There are wealthy scions of tech entrepreneurs and kids of Mexican farmworkers and laborers who all go to the same school and are on the same soccer team. If they can get over their socioeconomic differences, they have a chance to win the state title.”

If that sounds a bit like a Disney sports movie from 1996, perhaps it’s heartening to know that slivers of life seen in Hood River imitate cherished redemption narratives and reliable archetypes. The documentary features a slightly beleaguered but largehearted Hood River Valley High School soccer coach in Jaime Rivera. There’s a quiet loner hiding massive potential and family turmoil in player Domingo Barragan. Well-to-do captain Erik Siekkenen must learn to lead with compassion, not ego. And without spoiling the moment, there’s an on-field triumph you couldn’t possibly script, a kick the directors would have missed if they hadn’t teed up a wide shot just minutes earlier. “[Director of photography Casey Regan] looked up from the camera and at me with his mouth [hanging open],” recalls Cantor of the fateful goal. “You better have gotten that.”

In vérité style, Hood River eschews interviews but still captures savvy breakdowns of the namesake town, particularly from team captain Saul Chavarria.

“Hood River, it’s either one of two ways,” Chavarria lays out in the film. “You just work hard, worrying about the next bill, worrying about the next payment. Or, you live in Hood River, and then you’re worrying about the next biking trip or the next ski trip. It’s a good place to live if you have money.”

Both Cantor and co-director Jono Field have previ-

ously embedded themselves among high school athletes, on the crew of Step, which chronicled a Baltimore dance team. This time, in recording teenage rituals as private as basement parties and school bus rap battles, Field laid back initially to cultivate comfort.

“When we first got there, we just left the camera unbuilt on the sidelines and kicked the ball around,” says Field, who lived in Hood River for much of 2018. “I also really embarrassed myself trying to kick a ball around with these guys. I think that gave them a psychological up, like, ‘Oh we’re not threatened by this guy anymore.’”

That trust paid off when the documentary’s stakes skyrocketed. With their blessing, Field followed the despondent Domingo to a Washington detention center and eventually to Mexico after Barragan’s father was detained for a traffic infraction and then deported.

“There’s no way you don’t fall in love with Domingo and root for him,” Cantor says. “To have his dad torn away like that, it’s crushing.”

Despite the off-field anguish and sharp community divisions, Hood River is, at its core, a soccer story. Cantor sees the Gorge town as kindling a Friday Night Lightsstyle relationship with its beloved Eagles. Soccer is “far and away” the most popular Hood River sport, Cantor says, and the team is a perennial playoff contender, now 12 years under Coach Rivera’s leadership. Even Cantor’s “wealthy scions” characterization of the Eagles’ white players is just floating somewhere in the film’s background, since adults (besides Domingo’s parents and Rivera) barely appear. As the viewer, you’re left interpreting how gestures of unity—like tough team summits on race or Portland shopping trips to buy Domingo shin guards that aren’t made of cardboard—reveal themselves in free ball movement and clearer communication on the grass.

In this sense, Hood River left it all on the field in 2018.

Today, Chavarria plays soccer at Cornell, Siekkenen studies medical engineering in Colorado, and Barragan runs his own construction business in Hood River. As young adults, they probably embody their hometown in ways too complicated and disparate to document. But for a season, they lived a sports movie.

Improv extraordinaire Christopher Guest’s most well-known mockumentary skewers the peculiar world of competitive dog shows, utilizing its all-star ensemble cast with aplomb.

Among the standouts are the always brilliant Parker Posey, The White Lotus’ Jennifer Coolidge, the late great Fred Willard, co-writer Eugene Levy, and camp icon Catherine O’Hara. Clinton, Sept. 27.

ALSO PLAYING: Academy: Sometimes a Great Notion (1971), Sept. 22-23.

Clueless (1995), Sept. 22-23. Hollywood: Y Tu Mamá También (2001), Sept. 22. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Sept.

25. Demons (1985), Sept. 28. OMSI: Selena (1997), Sept. 24.

Mars Attacks! (1996), Sept. 25.

MOVIES NOW PLAYING TOP PICK OF THE WEEK

Blue Bayou

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 Big House Big House answers the question none of us were asking: What if mumblecore met The Real World? The film opens on half-sisters Claire (Ellie Reed) and Ali (Paige Collins) arriving at their father’s vacation house. It’s Claire’s birthday weekend, and they’ve brought their boyfriends along to celebrate. As the couples unpack, we learn more about this odd, tikithemed pad where the ladies have set up shop. They’re staying at their father’s “honey house,” the tropical beach abode where he once took his mistresses. Even juicier, we discover that history is repeating itself: Claire has a fiancé, but she’s left him at home while she cozies up with the nerdy, endearing co-worker she’s taken as a lover. Big House was shot in just two days with improv-heavy dialogue, and you can hear it in the mumblecore-style exchanges. Often shot at close—even claustrophobic— range, with audio that lingers even after the scenes change, the movie has a hazy, confined quality. It’s a tone that fits with the broader questions about monogamy and transparency that writer-director Jack Lawrence Mayer is raising through the sisters’ romantic arcs. The script is witty, and the acting is natural and often resonant, particularly Michael Molina’s turn as Claire’s awkward, unappreciated lover String. The finale does take a turn for the Real Housewives, but after shaking the proverbial soda can for 90 minutes, the explosion feels earned. NR. GRACE CULHANE. Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vimeo, Vudu, YouTube.

CODA Near the climax of CODA, audiences experience a much-foreshadowed concert from the perspective of a singer’s deaf family.

It’s not just sound’s absence that seals the Apple TV+ film’s best scene; it’s how the camera registers Frank and Jackie Rossi gauging the crowd’s reaction to their daughter Ruby (Emilia Jones) belting.

That’s the moment you know why CODA (or Child of Deaf Adults) won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and why, despite playing on a clear inspirational formula and remaking a 2014 French film, it’s a smart and heartfelt portrayal of deafness in mainstream American movies.

For one, there’s Ruby’s complex role as the only hearing member and de facto translator of her gruff yet charming New England fishing family. Playing her parents and brother, deaf actors Marlee Matlin (Oscar winner from Children of a Lesser God), Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant are grounded and multidimensional, signing with Ruby in rage, mockery, hubris and shame.

While some of the supporting performances pale—Ruby’s fastidious choir teacher is more irritating than aspirational and her love interest a classic doesn’t-deserve-her wet blanket—try not to be moved by this loving, needy, overwhelmed and surprisingly horny family confronting change. The formula works for a reason. PG-13. CHANCE SOLEMPFEIFER. Apple TV+.

The Alpinist This compelling profile of climber Marc-André Leclerc comprises a mountain of existential contradictions. Leclerc’s winningest attribute is his indifference to attention while The Alpinist pours

FOCUS

In a sublime scene in Blue Bayou, Antonio (Justin Chon) lets his friend Parker (Linh Dan Pham) ride on the back of his motorcycle without a helmet. Parker has terminal cancer, and as they ride through the night, the wind blows off her wig, leaving her head bare. It’s a moment of both freedom and vulnerability—two forces that define Antonio’s existence. He’s a Korean immigrant who was legally adopted and raised in the Louisiana bayou, but is now being threatened with deportation because of a cruel technicality that could tear him away from his wife, Kathy (Alicia Vikander), and his stepdaughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske). To watch Blue Bayou, which Chon wrote and directed, is to understand everything about the lives of its characters—the food they eat, the vehicles they drive, the emotions that ripple through their souls. Thousands of real-life international adoptees have suffered the same fate as Antonio, but the film conveys the horror of that reality through the beauty of its intimacy. How could anyone who has watched Antonio and Jessie running together at blissfully breakneck speeds believe they should be parted? Nothing in Blue Bayou—not family, not friendship, not work—lasts forever, but the film reminds you that the things that are finite are the things most worth fighting for. R. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, City Center, Clackamas Town Center, Eastport Plaza, Fox Tower.

it on. And against all odds, this is a gripping adventure documentary despite Leclerc defining his improvised solo climbs as completely solo, i.e., largely unfilmed. What’s more, can documentarians really tell an ethical nonfiction story in a retrospective present tense when the shallowest Google of the subject’s name transforms the story? In any case, The Alpinist is wise to invest so deeply in Leclerc that he can’t resist its affection and insights. The almost shamanistic British Columbian is depicted as a climber’s climber, practicing the purest expression of human movement and risk. Granted, some voice-over flourishes by directors Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen land as both pretentious and naive: “It’s hard to reconcile the ideals of his ascents with the tragic consequences.” Counterpoint—no it’s not.

Maximal life and instant death dwell together in each of Leclerc’s fearless steps. And though audiences who like to stay on the ground and, let’s say, watch a lot of movies may deem The Alpinist in the shadow of Free Solo, climber Alex Honnold is here too, repeatedly testifying to Leclerc’s mixed-method supremacy on snow, ice, rock and in the undiluted philosophy of climbing itself.

PG-13. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas Town Center, Fox Tower, Laurelhurst, Movies on TV, Vancouver Mall.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings In the 1970s, when a floppy-haired Bruce Lee lookalike named Shang-Chi first graced the cover of his own Marvel title, comic book crusaders seemed destined to follow radio cowboys and dime novel detectives into the dustbin of cultural oblivion. The struggling publisher responded by feverishly refashioning the heroes of trending genres (horror, blaxploitation, space opera) in the Mighty Marvel Manner, typically disappointing fans all around.

But Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, forged an odd yet successful kinship with bloodless ultraviolence, pulp

grandiosity and an inane origin story endlessly explained. ShangChi and the Legend of the Ten Rings completes the circle, bringing the dispossessed son of an alien-bracelet-empowered warlord to the big screen, and somehow, this latest iteration of a pointedly two-dimensional martial artist avatar reaches undeserved depths. Credit goes to the bulletproof MCU template, of course. But shove the equally athletic and comedic newcomer Simu Liu (as Shang-Chi) between the looming presence of legend Tony Leung Chiu-wai (playing Shang-Chi’s father) and comic relief Awkwafina (as Shang-Chi’s confidant/karaoke buddy), and you’ve got the makings of an excellent cast that propels the film to another level. True believers should be more than satisfied with the punch-’em-up choreography effortlessly pivoting from balletic bouts to Wick-ian technique to fated CGI spectacle. Somehow, still, director Destin Daniel Cretton (Just Mercy, Short Term 12) finds space to let blossom a genuinely touching emotive backstory for our immortal archvillain and a (however fleeting) fresh perspective on a martial arts master. PG-13. JAY HORTON. Bagdad, Cedar Hills, Dine-In Progress Ridge, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Laurelhurst, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, St. Johns Theater & Pub, St. Johns Twin Cinemas, Studio One, Tigard, Wunderland Beaverton.

Small Engine Repair Small Engine Repair is mostly set at an auto repair shop in Manchester, N.H., but its characters aren’t fixable—they’re broken men made monstrous by trauma.

After a dinner of barbecued steaks, Swaino (Jon Bernthal) and Packie (Shea Whigham) are surprised when their childhood friend Frank (John Pollono) wants to buy ecstasy from Chad (Spencer House), the son of a successful lawyer. Yet Frank has more in mind than a high—the ecstasy is part of a dubious revenge scheme.

Small Engine Repair is based on a play by Pollono, who directed the film and clearly struggled to adapt his writing. The screenplay has an

excess of time jumps and toughguy rants, but it also offers a biting meditation on American manhood.

Swaino, Packie and Frank—all of whom were abused by their fathers— treat Chad like a human punching bag who exists to bear their vengeful fantasies. House is spectacularly hateful as an entitled evildoer who has no compassion for people who don’t follow him on Instagram, but the true villain of Small Engine Repair is the cycle of violence that consumes the bodies and souls of its men. In the war against toxic masculinity, they’re all losers. R. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Cinemagic.

Black Magic Live: Stripped Within Las Vegas exists a single all-Black male revue called “Black Magic Live.” The owner, Eurika Pratts, and CEO, Jean-Claude La Marre, have released a behind-the-scenes documentary about the production, which tracks its four-year journey that began with the fictional movie Chocolate City to current-day Vegas.

Right away, you’ll notice the conflict of interest in having the film’s subjects also serve as executive producers. We’re told of their power struggle with actress Vivica A. Vox, who starred in their 2015 dramedy, but this fascinating conflict only gets a brief, one-sided explanation.

Things get more interesting as Pratts and La Marre touch on America’s complicated racial history and the impact it has on their business. But again, we are only given the producers’ perspectives rather than a more complete evaluation of the historical challenges and their modern-day influence. The standout portion of the film comes when we actually get to meet the dancers and hear their accounts of letting go of past dreams in order to embrace the one they’re currently living. But overall, Black Magic Live falls short since the interview setups with a rotating cast are too clinical. So while this infomercial-style documentary successfully provides interesting details and lets the dancers share their stories, it would have been nice to see it and not just be told about it. NR. RAY GILL JR. On Demand, Virtual Cinema.

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

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POTLANDER

THC-O My!

A new cannabinoid, manufactured from hemp, may lead to powerful, borderline psychedelic highs.

BY BRIA N N A W H E E L E R

For many cannathusuasts, a first reaction to learning about a cannabinoid reputedly three times stronger than THC might be blitheness, bemusement or straight-up bewilderment. For others, it might sound like a blessing. Either way, anyone with even a passing interest in therapeutic, alternative, hemp-derived or cutting-edge cannabinoids should know about THC-O, a cosmically powerful, borderline psychedelic derivative of cannabis that can be up to 300% more potent than even the most astronomical THC. Eager to map out the genesis of this relatively novel cannabinoid, WW took a deep dive into not just what goes into isolating a hemp-derived cannabinoid so potent it’s been compared to mescaline, but also how safe it may or may not be for consumers looking to legitimately medicate with something stronger than the standard dispensary fare.

Curious potheads, proceed with caution; even though THC-O is available online for purchase, whether or not it is truly a safe synthetic is debatable. That said, the promise of a cannabinoid with such potency is a potential boon for more than just varsity stoners. There are many patients who might consider such potent variation of their medicine a divine panacea.

What is THC-O? THC-O acetate, or THC-O, is a synthetic analog (or chemical twin) of THC. That means that although THC-O is indeed a cannabinoid, it’s not naturally occurring and can only be safely manufactured via contemporary cannabis tech.

A series of extractions must take place to generate THCO. First, cannabidiol (CBD) is extracted from less than 0.3% THC hemp (made federally legal by the 2018 Farm Bill).

Next, delta-8 THC is extracted from the CBD. Finally, the organic solvent acetic anhydride is administered to the delta-8 THC molecules, a process that eliminates all terpenes and flavonoids, leaving behind a flavorless, scentless, 28

Willamette Week SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 wweek.com

motor oil-thick THC isolate with polarizing potency.

Research, regulation and data around THC-O and its effects are scant, but researchers have concluded that THC-O is a “prodrug,” or a compound that must be metabolized to activate. Once THC-O is metabolized, what’s essentially left is a highly bioavailable variation of delta-9 THC, meaning the variation is absorbed and circulates well in the body. The bioavailability speculatively increases the potency. Which is all to say there’s at least a few somebodies out there eating THC-O getting higher than an eagle booty.

Is THC-O legal?

For the time being, yes, because THC-O is derived from federally legal hemp and contains no delta-9 THC. THC-O’s potency and chemical composition, however, do suggest an uncertain future. THC-O, though derived from hemp, is technically analogous to a Schedule I drug (cannabis), and could arguably be a Schedule I drug itself based on the 1986 Federal Analogue Act. As long as its supply chain can be traced back to federally legal hemp, though, THC-O exists in enough of a gray area to slip under the regulatory radar, for now anyway.

That said, there are a number of reputable hemp brands currently displaying their THC-O products as available for purchase online. And though the cannabinoid’s potency may elicit curiosity from more advanced stoner types, even they should proceed with caution. THC-O isn’t considered a naturally occurring cannabinoid, and the process by which it’s produced can be volatile.

Is THC-O safe?

It depends on whom you ask. In the early 2000s, synthetic versions of THC like Spice and K2 became popular but were completely unrelated to naturally occurring cannabinoids and shared nothing in common, chemically, with actual cannabis. As such, the words “synthetic can-

nabinoid” rightfully provoke caution, but, unlike those non-classical synthetics, THC-O shares a similar chemical profile to delta-8 and delta-9 THC. They’re all derived from cannabis plants, unlike those dangerously nasty, questionably produced smoking blends of the ’00s.

Furthermore, most information around THC-O discourages smoking altogether, suggesting the cannabinoid is a prodrug, a chemical that must be metabolized in order to take effect. Anecdotal data advises that THC-O has considerable potential as a therapeutic when used in place of an edible tincture. For cannabis patients with the types of ever-increasing THC tolerances that challenge chronic pain management, THC-O products might fit in with their lifestyles far more elegantly than products with more recreational doses. But while there is no data to suggest THC-O is particularly dangerous, there’s none to suggest it’s as safe as other cannabis derivatives either, so anyone interested in auditioning THC-O should proceed with caution, to say the least.

Who is THC-O for?

I once met a cannabis patient who told me he ingested over 1,000 mg of THC daily in order to manage his chronic conditions, and that it was something of a hassle to easily access daily doses of that potency. Imagining a target audience for a cannabinoid of THC-O’s strength is less challenging after interacting with users such as these, who live with debilitating, paralyzing and sometimes mortal conditions, and rely on cannabis therapy to prevail for another day.

Whether THC- O is a panacea for the extreme tolerance therapeutic user remains up for debate, but the existence of patients who rely on extreme doses of THC is undeniable. Data may be limited currently, but as companies race to commodify this new cannabinoid, new studies will surely emerge on its safety, efficacy and best applications. And I, for one, will be watching with eager anticipation.

JONESIN’

by Matt Jones

"Make Light Work"--paying respects with a notable joke.

Week of September 30

©2021 Rob Brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

Blogger AnaSophia was asked, "What do you find attractive in a person?" I'll reproduce her reply because it's a good time to think about what your answer would be. I'm not implying you should be looking for a new lover. I'm interested in inspiring you to ruminate about what alliances you should cultivate during the coming months. Here's what AnaSophia finds attractive: "strong desire but not neediness, passionate sensitivity, effortlessness, authenticity, innocence of perception, sense of humor, vulnerability and honesty, embodying one's subtleties and embracing one's paradoxes, acting unconditionally and from the heart."

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus author Roberto Bolaño confessed, "Sometimes I want greatness, sometimes just its shadow." I appreciate his honesty. I think what he says is true about most of us. Is there anyone who is always ready for the heavy responsibility of pursuing greatness? Doubtful. To be great, we must periodically go through phases when we recharge our energy and take a break from being nobly ambitious. What about you, dear Taurus? If I'm reading the omens correctly, you will benefit from a phase of reinvention and reinvigoration. During the next three weeks, you'll be wise to hang out in the shadows of greatness.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "Have fun,

even if it's not the same kind of fun everyone else is having," wrote religious writer C. S. Lewis. That advice is ten times more important right now than it usually is. For the sake of your body's and soul's health, you need to indulge in sprees of playful amusement and blithe delight and tension-relieving merriment. And all that good stuff will work its most potent magic if it stimulates pleasures that are unique to you—and not necessarily in line with others' tastes.

ACROSS

64 It's celebrated in May

31 Cone producer

1 Printer cartridge color

66 4, on some old clock faces

5 Sports reporter Andrews

67 Words often paired with "Come on!"

34 Baseball Hall-of-Famer Mel

9 Bee-related 14 Emmett Kelly persona 15 Dynamic prefix 16 "Death Be Not Proud" poet John 17 "Jane _ _ _" 18 Greek island and titular home of the Louvre's "Winged Victory" statue

36 Beetles, e.g.

68 Pot throw-in

37 Novelist _ _ _ Easton Ellis

69 Saint _ _ _ Bay, Jamaica

38 Pedal pusher

70 Braces (for)

39 The "R" of "Notorious RBG"

71 Yearn for 72 Insect found in the theme entries (and the subject of a famous joke told by Norm Macdonald)

40 Jacks _ _ _ (video poker variety) 41 Attila, for one 42 Catherine of "Schitt's Creek"

20 Extinct beast with a trunk

DOWN

22 Thurman of "The War with Grandpa"

1 Ruin, like a pet owner's favorite pillow

23 Dubai's country, briefly

2 His cello is nicknamed "Petunia"

50 "Hispanic, _ _ _, or Spanish origin" (U.S. census category)

3 On a gap year, maybe

51 Apply holy oil

27 Petco Park player

4 63-Down's brother and former bandmate

52 Sorta alcoholic and aromatic, maybe

29 Field figure

5 Class with little struggle

32 Leaves in the cup

6 Tool for enlarging holes

54 It means "struggle" in Arabic

33 Fourth word in the "Star Wars" opening crawl

7 "Garfield" waitress

24 "Who is, um, _ _ _Doo?" (response from Burt Reynolds, er, Turd Ferguson)

48 Road Runner's foe

55 Answers from a flock

35 "Lord of the Rings" actress Tyler 37 Sunlight unit

9 Committee type

62 Sharpen, as skills

38 Whence aliens originate, in some sci-fi works

10 _ _ _-Novo (Benin's capital)

63 4-Down's brother and former bandmate

43 Not just mine

11 Where travelers can be put up

64 "Top Gun" aircraft

45 Pronoun option 46 Place to play the ponies, briefly 47 Rockefeller Center setting, for short 49 Attorney-_ _ _ 53 "Town Called Malice" band 57 Regatta requirement

12 Anti-apartheid org.

13 "Born," in some notices 19 Many commercial logos (abbr.)

21 "Hasta _ _ _" ("See you later") 25 Necklace unit 26 Orange side dish

59 "As Is" singer DiFranco

28 Joe Namath's last pro team

60 "The Living Daylights" star

30 Poetic lament

©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.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Would you like to

deepen and strengthen your capacity to concentrate?

Cosmic rhythms will conspire in your favor if you work on this valuable skill in the coming weeks. You'll be able to make more progress than would normally be possible. Here's pertinent advice from author Harriet Griffey: "Whenever you feel like quitting, just do five more—five more minutes, five more exercises, five more pages—which will extend your focus." Here's another tip: Whenever you feel your concentration flagging, remember what it is you love about the task you're doing. Ruminate about its benefits for you and others.

56 Fez's country (abbr.)

8 Weight-loss app whose subscription fees got flak from the BBB in 2020

44 Barge puller

CANCER (June 21-July 22): "It is one thing to learn about the past," wrote Cancerian journalist Kenneth Auchincloss. "It is another to wallow in it." That's stellar advice for you to incorporate in the coming weeks. After studying your astrological omens, I'm enthusiastic about you exploring the old days and old ways. I'm hoping that you will discover new clues you've overlooked before and that this further information will inspire you to re-envision your life story. But as you conduct your explorations, it's also crucial to avoid getting bogged down in sludgy emotions like regret or resentment. Be inspired by your history, not demoralized by it.

58 Tossed in 61 More _ _ _ enough

65 "Cheerleader" singer

last week’s answers

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): What's your favorite feeling? Here's Virgo poet Mary Szybist's answer to that question: hunger. She's not speaking about the longing for food, but rather the longing for everything precious, interesting, and meaningful.

She adores the mood of "not yet," the experience of moving toward the desired thing. What would be your response to the question, Virgo? I'm guessing you may at times share Szybist's perspective. But given the current astrological omens, your favorite feeling right now may be utter satisfaction—the gratifying sensation of getting what you've hungered for. I say, trust that intuition.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):

In the English language, the words "naked" and "nude" have different connotations. Art critic Kenneth Clark noted that "naked" people depicted in painting and sculpture are "deprived of clothes," and embarrassed

as a result. Being "nude," on the other hand, has "no uncomfortable overtone," but indicates "a balanced, prosperous, and confident body." I bring this to your attention because I believe you would benefit from experiencing extra nudity and no nakedness in the days ahead. If you choose to take on this assignment, please use it to upgrade your respect and reverence for your beauty. PS: Now is also a favorable time to express your core truths without inhibition or apology. I urge you to be your pure self in all of your glory.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet Anne Sexton wrote, "One has to get their own animal out of their own cage and not look for either an animal keeper or an unlocker." That's always expert advice, but it will be extra vital for you to heed in the coming weeks. The gorgeous semi-wild creature within you needs more room to run, more sights to see, more adventures to seek. For that to happen, it needs to spend more time outside of its cage. And you're the best person to make sure that happens.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Sagittarian composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770– 1827) could be a marvelous friend. If someone he cared for was depressed or feeling lost, he would invite them to sit in his presence as he improvised music on the piano. There were no words, no advice—only emotionally stirring melodies. "He said everything to me," one friend said about his gift. "And finally gave me consolation." I invite you to draw inspiration from his example, Sagittarius. You're at the peak of your powers to provide solace, comfort, and healing to allies who need such nurturing. Do it in whatever way is also a blessing for you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): At age 23, Capricorn-born Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (1721–1764) became French King Louis XV's favorite mistress. She was not born into aristocracy, but she wielded her Capricornian flair with supreme effectiveness. Ultimately, she achieved a noble title as well as high prestige and status in the French court. As is true for evolved Capricorns, her elevated role was well-deserved, not the result of vulgar social-climbing.

She was a patron of architecture, porcelain artwork, and France's top intellectuals. She ingratiated herself to the King's wife, the Queen, and served as an honored assistant. I propose we make her your role model for the next four weeks. May she inspire you to seek a boost in your importance and clout that's accomplished with full integrity.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The bad news is that artist Debbie Wagner was diagnosed with two brain tumors in 2002. The good news is that surgery not only enabled her to survive, but enhanced her visual acuity. The great news is that on most days since 2005, she has painted a new image of the sunrise.

I invite you to dream up a ritual to celebrate your own victory over adversity, Aquarius. Is there a generous gesture or creative act you could do on a semi-regular basis to thank life for providing you with the help and power you needed?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A selfdescribed "anarchist witch" named Lars writes on his Tumblr blog, "I am a ghost from the 1750s, and my life is currently in the hands of a group of suburban 13-year-olds using a ouija board to ask me if Josh from homeroom has a crush on them." He's implying that a powerful supernatural character like himself is being summoned to do tasks that are not worthy of him. He wishes his divinatory talents were better used. Are there any resemblances between you and him, Pisces? Do you ever feel as if you're not living up to your promise? That your gifts are not being fully employed? If so, I'm pleased to predict that you could fix this problem in the coming weeks and months. You will have extra energy and savvy to activate your full potential.

HOMEWORK: Describe the status quo situation you're tired of, and how you're going to change it. https://Newsletter.

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SPOTLIGHT ARTIST ED T. EBERLE

Ed T. Eberle is a New York native, an LA transplant, and is now a Portland, Oregon-based artist working in acrylic, watercolor, ink, prints, and found objects. As a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York, he studied both Film and Fine Arts.

He has worked in various positions in the film and television industry including; as a Writer/Producer, Cameraman, and Post Production Executive. As a journalist, he was Senior Editor of LA-based ‘Film and Video Magazine’ writing on creative, technical, and business issues in the TV and film industry. In addition, his work has appeared in American Cinematographer, Variety, and Hollywood Reporter.

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