NEWS: Molotov Cocktail Shopping at Goodwill. P. 9 WILLAMETTE WEEK
WEED: Spring Flowers Hit Dispensary Shelves. P. 24
FILM: Resisting Patrick Stewart Is Futile. P. 26
PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY
“LESS TALKIN’ & MORE TRICKIN’!” P. 19
The Kotek Puzzle The most accomplished lawmaker
in recent Oregon history struggles to gain traction with some Democrats. WWEEK.COM VOL 48/21 03. 30. 202 2
Why?
BY NIGEL JAQUISS. PAGE 12
Gregory Grenon was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where he worked as an artist in the city’s Cass Corridor neighborhood after studying at the Center for Creative Studies. He then worked at Landfall Press, a major printmaking workshop in Chicago, before relocating to Portland, Oregon, in the late 1970s. Soon after he arrived in Portland, my late mother Arlene Schnitzer, who operated the Fountain Gallery of Art for 25 years, met him and was so impressed with his work that she asked him to join her gallery. Over the years, being represented by the gallery, he had many solo exhibitions, which always sold out quickly. His technique of painting images on the back of glass was revolutionary, and he also worked on many found objects. He and his wife, artist Mary Josephson, were an artistic power couple in Portland and added so much to our art scene! While the majority of his images were of women, he also loved baseball as well as other sports. His work has always captivated audiences. Tragically, he passed away unexpectedly February 6. I know all of us in the community express our sincere condolences to Mary and their daughter, Aurora. The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation operates an art exhibition space, and we are mounting a retrospective exhibition of Gregory’s work as a memorial to this incredible human being and artist. – JORDAN D. SCHNITZER
Gregory Grenon: In Memoriam 1948 - 2022
Opening Reception in memoriam Sunday, April 10 • 12:00-3:00pm
Closing Reception in honor of Gregory Grenon’s birthday Sunday, May 8 • 12:00-3:00pm
Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation Exhibition Space 3033 NW Yeon Ave • Portland, OR 97210 Proof of vaccination required for entry.
Please direct inquiries to: Julia Oswald, JSFF Director of Research and Engagement | juliao@jordanschnitzer.org | 443.857.5583 LEFT: Gregory Grenon, And These Lips Are Mine, edition 44/60, 1992. Lithograph, 45 1/2 x 55 1/2 in. Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer. Image: Aaron Wessling Photography RIGHT: Gregory Grenon, Like the Opening of a Flower, 2015. Oil on glass, 37 x 31 1/2 in. Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer. Image: Aaron Wessling Photography 2
Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
FINDINGS CHRISTINE DONG
TAKIBI: PAGE 22
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 48, ISSUE 21 Sharon Meieran hopes voters will divert tax dollars to homeless shelters. 7 Malik Muhammad forget to remove the price tag from a baseball bat he handed out at a protest. 9 Top earners in Portland could pay a combined 14.6% in local income taxes. 11 Barbara Roberts and Tina Kotek have beef over Special Olympics Oregon. 15 Kotek kept a Captain America shield in her office. 16 Sock puppets actually do make Titus Andronicus more palatable. 20
The Unipiper’s collaboration beer with Gigantic Brewing will be released on April Fool’s Day. 21 You can watch a traditional wheat field planting at Champoeg State Heritage Area. 21 Takibi’s dining room smells like a Les Schwab tire showroom. 22 The most complex cannabis cultivar to hit dispensary shelves this year is Apples and Bananas, a cross of four different strains. 24 First Contact takes place on April 5, 2063. 27
ON THE COVER:
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:
Democratic frontrunner for governor Tina Kotek, photo by Brian Brose.
Mall 205 is no longer a mall, strictly speaking.
Masthead EDITOR & PUBLISHER ART DEPARTMENT
Mark Zusman
EDITORIAL
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3
DIALOGUE
• •••• ••••
A T R E A LRBO S ER E T •••• A E H T MAR 30
MASTERS OF HAWAIIAN MUSIC
George Kahumoku, Jr. Sonny Lim • Jeff Peterson
APR 1 + 2 Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side of the Moon album performed in its entirety with aerial dance and all-star band
DARK SIDE
a piece for assorted lunatics feat. LOVE GIGANTIC
APR 6
THE GREATEST GENERATION
APR 7
NPR radio show live taping
CECILY WONG GREGORY GOURDET NO-NO BOY
The Double Dumbass Tour
SCIENCE ON TAP
APR 8
RISE UP
APR 9
The Music of Hamilton and Broadway
DIFFERENT Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist APR 14
APR 15
ALAN DOYLE
+ Chris Trapper
APR 16
MICHAEL NAMKUNG Good Pain: The Art of Being Hurt
JUDY BLUE EYES
APR 21 APR 22 Crosby, Stills & Nash Tribute with members of
The NowHere Band + CSN guitarist Jeff Pevar
with
Steven Gosvener
APR 23
LADY SINGS THE BLUES
a tribute to Billie Holiday
feat. LaRhonda
Steele Danielle M. Barker Arietta Ward + more
UPCOMING SHOWS
APR 27 infused with the spirit of Hawai‘i
MAKANA •••••••••••••
4/28 • CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST IMANI WINDS: WE CANNOT WALK ALONE 4/29 • BOOKLOVER’S BURLESQUE: THE SCI-FI EDITION 4/30 • THEY MYSTERY BOX SHOW
•••••
albertarosetheatre.com
3000 NE Alberta • 503.764.4131 4
Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
On March 24, the U.S. Census Bureau released new population estimates that fueled the ominous mood surrounding Portland’s future as a desirable place to live. For the first time in a decade, the population in the metro area declined in 2021 by 0.2%, driven by a 1.5% decrease in Multnomah County. The population decrease reported on wweek.com arrives amid deep voter dissatisfaction with the city’s direction, and reflects more people leaving than arriving in the past year. But it’s actually a less dramatic exodus than what was recorded in many major U.S. cities (such as San Francisco, where the population dropped 6.3%). Experts tie the decline to a tight housing market, which has driven Americans to flee the nation’s most expensive cities. Here’s what our readers had to say:
PANDEMIC_STYLE, VIA REDDIT: “And yet, the price of
homes continues to skyrocket.” BOONWATTHRLY, VIA WWEEK.COM: “Yeah, it’s
a national issue for blue cities because of the absolute shitholes they have become. I know at least 30 people who have moved from Portland in the last three years, not due to a national trend of people wanting to seek a rural lifestyle, but because of the absolute precipitous drop in Portland’s livability. You gotta love how these leftist journalists always blame Portland’s issues on national trends, when one can easily find policy problems for our city’s growing problems.”
ANDY ZUCKER, VIA TWITTER:
“It’s a national trend and it makes sense. With more companies going permanently to working remote, you no longer have to live in a major city. Zeropoint-two percent is nothing compared to most big cities.”
FRAZZLED CATS, VIA REDDIT: “I mean escalating crime,
dirty city, homeless explosion, increase sense of unease and lack of safety, closure of so much stuff, relentless hypochondria (neurotic populace isn’t any fun to be around), escalating cost of living…not shocking. It’s also become an inhospitable city to be a parent. It’s telling that Portland Public Schools lost 20% in K-5 enrollment;
Dr. Know
between the complete lack of child care and endless COVID school closures (some of the longest in the country), lots of families hightailed it out of here.” GRAHAM HACKETT, VIA WWEEK.COM: “This is good.
Portlanders moving to Idaho might help to fix both places. Population loss or not, cities will bounce back. Asking ‘Will it ever be the same again?’ every time something goes wrong is humanity’s favorite pastime.”
JORDAN PAPÉ, VIA TWITTER:
“Portland has crossed a threshold where the tax rates are higher than many will tolerate and the quality of city services is lower than many will tolerate. In a progressive tax system, you have to pay attention to who’s paying and what they are telling you.”
SCRAPPYMUTT, VIA WWEEK. COM: “Reminds me of one of
my favorite local standup bits. Portland is the only city where people get upset when you move here and then get upset again when you move away.”
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 MARTY SMITH @martysmithxxx
Lately, some of my Bay Area-based co-workers have gotten into “microdosing,” using small amounts of psychedelics to boost creativity and mood. I prefer to avoid controlled substances—is there a way to get similar benefits legally? —Straight Edgelord Sadly, one man’s mindfulness-enhancement technique can all too easily become another man’s parole violation. Don’t worry, Edgelord; your secret is safe with me. Microdosing promises a safe, scaled-down version of psychedelics’ mind-expanding effects, leading devotees of other intoxicants to wonder if those substances might also benefit from the “Honey, I Shrunk the Drugs” treatment. After all, today’s microdosers are drawn, by and large, from the ranks of yesterday’s macrodosers— years of tripping balls have primed their brains for psychedelic transformation. What about those from a different background? Take Rob Tuttle: In college, while campus acidheads were expanding their minds with LSD and psilocybin, Rob and his fraternity brothers were enthusiastically exploring inhalants like gasoline, hair spray and certain types of metallic
paint. (He still recalls one memorable Halloween party he attended as the Ether Bunny.) Then life intervened. “After I got married, I figured my days of solvent-fueled, pants-wetting stupor were over,” Rob recalls. “I missed the thrill of pitching headfirst down a flight of stairs without ever extending my arms, and it’s a bit dull having the pupils of both eyes the same size all the time—but that’s adulthood, right?” Then, however, Rob discovered microhuffing, and everything changed. Adherents say that even with dosages so small that a single bottle of Wite-Out can last a month, they enjoy many of the same benefits as full-scale huffers. “I don’t do enough to feel an effect consciously,” says Rob, “but then, as the day wears on, I gradually realize that I’ve had a headache the whole time. Or I’ll be in a long meeting, and I’ll notice that I’ve wet my pants a little. It’s just a few drops, but it reminds me I’m alive.” Rob’s wife Sharon is glad he’s happy, but isn’t sure microhuffing is for her. For now, she’s content with occasionally spinning her body one-quarter of a turn, which causes her to get very, very slightly dizzy.* *WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS COLUMN BEFORE APRIL 1. Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.
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A WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER AT THE THE BOOTLEG FIRE IN 2021.
WYDEN DECLARES WAR ON CRYPTO BROS: U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has long had it out for Opportunity Zones—low-income areas that offer heaping tax cuts to wealthy investors if they put money in things that might bring economic activity to struggling communities. Ever since the zones were created in 2017, Wyden has questioned whether such zones help anyone but the rich. Wyden recently wrote letters to two cryptocurrency mining firms, asking for information about their operations to help him determine whether they are bringing anything to the zones beyond a lot of computer hardware and electrical wire. “I am…concerned by recent reports that companies involved in cryptocurrency mining may be seeking to avoid taxes without meaningfully benefitting distressed communities,” Wyden wrote to Redivider Blockchain Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, based in Dover, Del. The senator’s inquiry arrives as Carrick Flynn, a candidate for Oregon’s new congressional seat, is being bankrolled by a cryptocurrency billionaire. JESSICA GOMEZ BETS ON HERSELF: Republican gubernatorial candidate Jessica Gomez, a
Medford businesswoman, has loaned her campaign $300,000. That means she has more than $455,000 on hand for outreach and advertising in the weeks leading up to the May 17 primary. That’s more than at least two of her higher-profile opponents. Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam has raised more than $1 million but has only $279,000 on hand. Salem oncologist Dr. Bud Pierce has just over $100,000, but is expected to self-fund his campaign as he has in the past. Gomez did not respond to a request for comment. OREGON FACES PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE SHORTAGE: Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role public health officials play in Oregon. But a new report released this week says the state’s 32 county-based health agencies are facing a staffing crisis. The study found Oregon’s licensing system makes it difficult for nurses from other states to come here to work. An even bigger problem: Public agencies have to compete directly with private health care providers who can pay their employees much more. Starting pay for nurses, for example, is less than $30 an hour at public health agencies, a fraction of what they can make at hospitals. “Nurses can go to the hospital ICU and can make $100 per hour,” Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, Douglas County health officer, said in a statement. “When a public health department offers $27.30 an hour, they think we must have missed a digit.” CITY REMOVES 50 CAMPS ALONG HIGHWAYS: Since Feb. 5, when Mayor Ted Wheeler enacted an emergency ban on camping along highways and the city’s most dangerous streets, city workers have swept 50 homeless camps. The mayor’s office provided a list of swept locations to WW on March 29. Many of the camps were along Interstates 5, 205 and 405, including on- and off-ramps, and most were located in North and Northeast Portland. A number of camps along Southeast Powell Boulevard were also swept (see the full list at wweek.com). Wheeler says the highway camping ban is intended to reduce the number of unhoused people being hit by cars. This past Sunday, a drunken driver on Highway 99E in Salem crashed into a homeless encampment on an adjacent grassy bank, killing four people.
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2022
JOURNALISTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO ENTER WILDFIRE ZONES: Oregon is bracing for another historic wildfire season, with 95% of the state abnormally dry and half of it in extreme drought, according to federal reports. Similar conditions left the state a tinderbox the past two summers. But one aspect of the state’s climate catastrophe will be different this year: You’ll be able to see images of it. On March 23, Gov. Kate Brown signed into law House Bill 4087, which requires officials to “grant credentialed or documented representatives of news media organizations access to scenes of wildfires or natural disasters on public lands that are otherwise closed to the public.” Previously, reporters and photographers were only allowed to visit the scenes of blazes under the escort of firefighters or other first responders. The bill, which had bipartisan sponsorship, was championed by the Oregon chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Rachel Alexander, chair of the chapter’s public records committee, says the new law will help journalists “provide some of those striking images that show people that fires are serious and underscore the need for evacuations.”
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GranadaTheatreTheDalles.com 221 E Second St. The Dalles - 815-993-6585 Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
5
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
FIVE QUESTIONS FOR
Ted Wheeler We asked the mayor about his plan to hire 200 new police officers. BY T E S S R I S K I
tess@wweek .com
WW: In terms of public safety, what are your areas of focus for the upcoming budget cycle? Ted Wheeler: By any objective measure, the Portland Police Bureau was understaffed when I got here, and it’s more critically understaffed today. And that is officers per capita, by precinct, call response times—the bottom line is we need more staff. I will be looking in the near term at the public safety support specialist [PS3] program. I think that is our best opportunity in the near term to bring in more personnel. The work they do then frees up sworn, trained, armed officers to focus on serious criminal activity. How many police personnel do you want to hire? We’re looking at least 100 PS3s and potentially 200 sworn officers. The math may not work out exactly like that, but that’s the goal we’re working towards. What would make someone want to become a police officer in Portland? There’s one kind of individual who looks for the security and the
BRIAN BURK
Public safety in Portland has undergone significant upheaval in the past two years, including six months of racial justice protests, the establishment of an unarmed crisis team called Portland Street Response, contentious contract negotiations between the city and its police union, a new voter-approved community police oversight board, and a historic rise in gun violence. In response to those conditions, Mayor Ted Wheeler has coined a slogan to summarize his budget proposals: “Reform, refocus and restaff.” The Portland Police Bureau is asking for a net increase of $15 million in its operating budget for the next fiscal year. So WW sat down with Wheeler, who oversees the police, to gauge this vision. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
safety of coming into an organization that’s at the top. There are those who see an opportunity to be part of a changing, evolving organization that’s taking the steps necessary to lead the kind of changes that the public wants to see with regard to policing in the future. We could eventually be in a position, with enough of these changes taking hold, where people say, “You know, Portland is leading the way in terms of showing what an evolved, successful, effective Police Bureau looks like.” We’re not there yet. I’m not declaring victory. But when you see the dynamic between our elected leaders and our police leaders improving markedly, all of those things should be seen as a good bellwether of future opportunity for people who want to join the Police Bureau. How would you grade District Attorney Mike Schmidt’s handling of gun violence cases? My conversations with him have been very productive. For his district attorneys to be able to close cases, they need good investigative follow-up and good evidence. That’s why we strengthened the Enhanced Community Safety Team. If he gets garbage input, there’s nothing he can do about it at that point. So that was our pledge to him. Now, where he’s struggling a little bit right now, and he’s said so publicly, is he’s chronically understaffed. His duty is to lobby the county commissioners to get whatever resources his folks need in order to prosecute the cases that we are investigating, and I have pledged to work with him to do that.
You recently fired the former president of Portland’s police union, Officer Brian Hunzeker. Did that affect your relationship with the union or the rank and file? Terminating somebody is always a difficult thing to do. In this case, I have absolutely no qualms about the decision I made. Policing is a special profession, and it requires people with a strong sense of ethics and a willingness to take the responsibility that they are entrusted with very seriously. They are the only public officials who have the authority to use lethal force. And as such, I have no qualms about holding those individuals to a very high standard of conduct. I believe whilst there has been some grumbling amongst the rank and file, who feel that I was too harsh in the accountability that I meted out, I think it’s also important that officers respect civilian oversight of policing. And over a period of decades, the Portland City Council ceded much of that authority to the Police Bureau itself. When I was here originally, I rarely met with the president of the Portland Police Association. When I did, it was very unproductive. The communications between the Portland Police Association and the City Council were toxic when I got here. That has changed significantly under Aaron Schmautz, the new PPA president. He has been a problem-solver who’s been willing to work with members of the Portland City Council. What I hope is, all of these things combined will lead potential candidates around the nation to say, “Portland’s getting it right.” Portland has a Police Bureau that can evolve, that can innovate, that can lead in terms of defining what policing looks like in the future.
ONE QUESTION
Do You Support a Rehaul of the Homeless Services Tax? With business leaders attempting to divert tax dollars to shelters, we asked Multnomah County chair candidates where they stand. Last Friday, advocacy group People for Portland filed paperwork to place a measure on the November ballot that would redirect a huge chunk of existing tax dollars to funding emergency shelters. The tax revenue the business-backed group 6
Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
seeks to divert comes from a ballot measure passed by Metro voters, who in 2020 approved a 1% income tax on individuals in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties making more than $125,000 a year and couples making more than $200,000, and from a 1% tax on
profits from businesses with gross receipts of more than $5 million. The tax remains in effect until 2031 and is expected to raise a total of $2.5 billion—largely dedicated to funding permanent housing. People for Portland’s new measure would
require that 75% of revenue from the tax go toward erecting emergency shelter, mandate that cities enforce anti-camping laws if they want to remain eligible for ongoing funding, and require a yearly audit of all measure spending. (It would also allow any citizen to sue a local government that didn’t comply.) The effort sets a match to one of the most combustible political debates of the past several years: What proportion of city and county dollars should be spent on permanent housing and what proportion on emergency and alternative housing? Perhaps no local government will be as greatly affected by the measure as Multnomah County, whose chair controls much of the social services spending in Portland. Already, the race to succeed Chair Deborah Kafoury had been a referendum on homelessness spending. That proxy battle will only intensify. So we asked the three candidates currently serving on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners to pick a side. S O P H I E P E E L .
ONE QUESTION
BUDGET ITEM
Fender Bender The Kerby Garage is where 140 city workers repair and store the city’s 4,000 vehicles. But the bureau that owns it says it’s unsafe.
sent a coherent real estate strategy and capital investment plan, there will be a substantial spike in quickly needed, unplanned capital investment in the coming years and decades.” One option: a capital project bond measure. But Merlo says the likelihood of getting voter support for a deferred maintenance bond pales in comparison to the appeal of, say, a parks bond. “I don’t know how well supported going out for a bond to upgrade police facilities would go over.” SOPHIE PEEL .
The city of Portland repairs and maintains its automotive fleet—more than 4,000 vehicles ranging from small sedans to utility trucks—in a beige building under the Interstate 5 and 405 interchange in North Portland. But city officials are warning the Portland City Council that the building, called the Kerby Garage, is so hazardous to its workers that it should be vacated swiftly. That takes money, either to purchase or lease another suitable building or to build a new one. In budget documents, city officials identify the Kerby Garage as the most dangerously deteriorating property in the city’s possession. “We’ve not been able to secure a location and certainly haven’t yet come up with a funding strategy,” says Carmen Merlo, deputy chief administrative officer for the city. “We’ve been actively looking at options for at least two or three years.” The current garage has an off-kilter floor, is in a landslide zone, and doesn’t have a modern fire suppression system. The Office of Management and Finance, which owns the building, recently described the risk in a city budget document: “A catastrophic event could immediately render the Kerby Garage unusable.” The city estimates it will cost $120 million to buy a parcel of land and build a new garage, or more than $100 million to lease a new space. Merlo says the situation is now bad enough to justify spending such an enormous sum: “I think we’re there. I think the situation is dire enough that we’re actively pursuing this.”
OMF is asking for more than $9 million in annual ongoing funds for the project from city bureaus whose vehicles are repaired at the garage, including the transportation, police, water and parks bureaus. But the City Budget Office did not recommend that the proposal be funded, saying it “has not been sufficiently vetted for bureaus and council.” “The project as requested requires CityFleet’s customer bureaus make large budget cuts to fund the project which would have significant service level tradeoffs,” the document reads. While the Kerby Garage is the building in most dire condition in the city’s real estate portfolio, it’s not the only one that’s causing city officials worry. As in many U.S. cities, decades of deferred maintenance have left city buildings in Portland to decay. OMF issued a warning to city commissioners in a recent budget document: Invest now or risk the consequences in the not-so-distant future. “Over the past few years our facilities leadership elevated this issue to a present service impact concern, not just a distant risk for future consideration,” the budget document reads. “Ab-
We asked: Do you support the ballot measure by People for Portland or any aspect of it?
Lori Stegmann: “This crisis has two issues to address: homelessness and housing affordability. This measure solves neither. It’s time to get real. “For decades, influence over policy has come from wealthy neighborhoods, where cars are luxury, houses are historic instead of just old, and alma maters don’t include community colleges. The problems facing those of us in neighborhoods where kids are still at risk from gang activity, where parents have to work multiple jobs to support their families, and our schools with the highest need continue to struggle with inadequate staffing and overall disinvestment have been ignored. We need long-term strategies and measurable outcomes with built in accountability to meet goals. “I will be relentless in the pursuit of solutions, uncompromising on the values of dignity and respect, and accountable directly to voters, not to those who have been influencing and making decisions for the last two decades.”
Sharon Meieran: “I support much of the proposal. As an ER doctor and volunteer providing medical care to people living outside, I see firsthand the trauma they experience, and the public health and safety crises that have escalated in our communities. I’ve been the only commissioner calling for us to urgently address the humanitarian crisis, and the only one who put out a viable plan over a year ago that, unfortunately, was rejected by my fellow commissioners and the chair. I do not support sweeps, but believe that my plan would provide what many living outside would actually prefer, meet the needs of our entire community, and be a win-win. “We have the resources. We have the moral imperative. There is more we can and should be doing, right now. It is unconscionable that people continue to live in squalor and die in increasing numbers on our streets.”
Other city-owned buildings in need of major repairs and, in some cases, total renovations or retrofits include: 1. Portland Fire and Rescue’s training center at Northeast 122nd Avenue and Sandy Boulevard has no running water or restrooms and does not meet seismic codes. Estimated cost of replacement: $33 million. 2. The fire bureau’s logistics facility on Southeast Powell Boulevard is structurally unsound and does not meet seismic standards, and the roof leaks. Estimated cost of replacement: $44 million. 3. Police precincts at the Penumbra Kelly Building and the Multnomah County Justice Center. The Kelly Building has structural deficiencies, and the Justice Center needs an overhaul of its electrical wiring (at a cost of $12 million from the city and even more from the county, its co-owner). Deferred maintenance at the Justice Center is estimated at $100 million. 4. Veterans Memorial Coliseum needs updated plumbing, electrical and air conditioning systems. Estimated cost: At least $80 million.
“ A catastrophic event could immediately render the Kerby Garage unusable.”
Jessica Vega Pederson: “The situation on our streets is painful and unacceptable, but this ballot measure is more of a straitjacket than a solution. We do need to accelerate shelter expansion—and just since July we’ve added 312 shelter beds—but requiring an arbitrary 75% of the Metro money to go to emergency shelters would come at the expense of the kind of mental health, addiction and other services that people on the streets desperately need. Voters approved the supportive housing services measure because they believe not only in helping folks off the street but also in helping people secure affordable, safe places to call home. We can and we must do both to break the cycle of homelessness and create lasting change. Finally, this measure uses the same mechanism as the Texas anti-abortion law, allowing anybody to sue if they don’t agree with how the program is being implemented. That’s a recipe for chaos.”
CONTRIBUTION OF THE WEEK HOW MUCH? $250 on March 3 WHO GOT IT? Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Thielman WHO GAVE IT? Dan Tooze, a self-identified Proud Boy who is running to be the Republican nominee for Oregon House District 40. WHY DOES IT MATTER? Thielman hasn’t been among the five leading GOP candidates to raise the substantial sums necessary for a blitz of TV ads or blanketing the state in mailings. But he’s received quite a bit of media attention, especially after he defied COVID-19 masking rules as superintendent of the Alsea School District, then resigned. Tooze represents the extremist edge of the Republican Party and wrote a Nov. 23 op-ed for Pamplin Media about his flag-waving protests outside that media company’s building: “When Proud Boys say, ‘I am a Western chauvinist,’ we are saying, ‘I am a proud and unabashed proponent of Western Civilization.’ That is it. It has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality or even national origin. Only love of country.” Thielman is slated to speak at a fundraiser hosted by Tooze in Oregon City, alongside Clackamas County Commissioner Mark Shull and commission candidate Steve Frost, on April 15. (Versions of the flyer say it’s a fundraiser for Tooze, though Thielman, who hasn’t endorsed Tooze or his Republican opponent, says it’s a fundraiser for Republican candidates.) WHAT DO THE CAMPAIGNS SAY? Thielman says his campaign has been a grassroots effort: “I have almost 1,700 individual donors; I’ve had no Big Pharma corporate money, no special interest money. I don’t want to end up in the governorship beholden to someone. I welcome an individual who likes my message to donate. I know he appreciated my stance against masking.” Tooze did not respond to an email and a voicemail requesting comment. R AC H E L M O N A H A N .
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NEWS Document 1-1
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damage, prosecutors say. Now, a year and a half later, Muhammad faces what appears to be the longest sentence handed down to a Portland protester after the 2020 uprising: 10 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful possession of a destructive device in federal court on March 28, and 14 charges in state court on Tuesday for attempted murder, assault, unlawful manufacture of a destructive device and more. A judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison March 29. During the sentencing hearing, senior deputy district attorney Nathan Vasquez said it was fortunate that the Molotov cocktail that landed near PPB’s sound truck did not explode. “I can only say that good luck and fortune intervened and that for some reason it didn’t break and didn’t explode into fire,” Vasquez said. “It was that piece of evidence that really, in large part, was the undoing for Mr. Muhammad, as much evidence was obtained from that.” It would be tempting to make Muhammad 13. Using information from the Goodwill sticker, it was determined the bottle was into a parable of the rise and fall of the Portland protests, or the extremes of anarchist purchased from a Goodwill store located in McMinnville, Oregon. A Multnomah County he grand protesters. Indeed, appears to represent A baseball bat with a Goodwill sticker was collected by PPB officers in the area the prototype of the “outside agitator” that police lamented in 2020. Ave./SE Stark St. in Portland, Oregon, on September 5, 2020. Goodwill confirmed “I think it’s feeding into the overall narrative that they know people are trying to swallow, eball bat was also purchased in the transaction as theceramic, yellow growler from 2 Asame growler is a glass, or stainless-steel bottle generally used towhich transport draft beer. is that outside agitators were really the They are commonly sold at breweries and brewpubs to sell take-out craftproblem beer. in the summer of 2020 protests and 4, 2020. that there’s no needJune to change Page 6 – Affidavit of Christopher Schinnerer USAO Version Rev. 2020anything here,” says Juan Chavez, a Portland civil rights lawyer. 2020, a subjectfrom threw athe Molotov cocktail that landed in 13.On September Using23, information Goodwill sticker, itfront wasofdetermined the bottle was “It was this bogeyman that they had to create GOODWILL HUNTING: Price tags on a beer growler and a because they knew that people were in mass baseball bat led police to the Goodwill in McMinnville. B officers near the Multnomah County Justice Center (MCJC) (near the intersection support for the movement for Black lives.” ed from a Goodwill store located in McMinnville, Oregon. A Multnomah County grand But a review of hundreds of pages of court Ave. and SW Main St., Portland, Oregon) and subsequently shattered, creating a documents suggests Muhammad’s case was an outlier, largely because he has little connection e of flame that ignited the uniform of a PPB officer. Another officer utilized a fire to the region. In fact, prosecutors say he traveled to Portr to stop additional burning to the officer’s clothing. Open source media land for the sole purpose of wreaking havoc at wler glass,cocktail ceramic, ortostainless-steel bottle generally beer. s show is theaMolotov thrower be carrying a tan/yellow canvas-type cross-used to transport draft protests. “The defendant traveled to the Portland mete commonly sold at breweries and brewpubs to sell take-out craft beer. nd wearing a pink gas mask (depicted below). ro area for the specific purpose of engaging in 6 – Affidavit of Christopher Schinnerer USAO Version Rev. June 2020 the multiple criminal episodes and behavior Affidavit of Christopher Schinnerer USAO Version Rev. June 2020 that this case is based on,” Vasquez wrote in a May 2021 filing. “As he has shown time and time again, he will go to extreme lengths to exert his extreme ideology, up to and including building fire bombs and attempting to murder police officers.” BY T E S S R I S K I t e s s @ w w e e k . c o m who wore a black cowboy hat and jeans and was far from his home in Marion, Ind.: 23-year-old Born and raised in Chicago, Muhammad enPortland police officer Chris Burley was staMalik Muhammad, a U.S. Army veteran. listed in the U.S. Army in 2015, when he was tioned at the sound truck parked atop a Multapproximately 18 years old. He sustained inju“Muhammad’s trip to Portland does not apnomah County Sheriff’s Office building as a prories in the Army, leaving him partially disabled, pear to be an isolated event,” federal prosecuaccording to court filings. Three years after test swelled along East Burnside Street below. It tors later wrote. was a Monday night in September 2020, weeks Within weeks of purchasing the baseball enlisting, in 2018, he was honorably discharged. after the departure of federal agents who faced bats and growlers in McMinnville, MuhamIf the story prosecutors tell is correct, any off with the “Wall of Moms” and tear-gassed mad was arrested at another Portland protest, reverence Muhammad felt for the U.S. governthe mayor in downtown Portland. dubbed the “Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage.” ment was diminished or perhaps abandoned within a few years of leaving the Army. The feds were gone, but the protests were Plainclothes FBI agents alleged they witnessed not. Burley looked on as a burning object flew Muhammad smash windows at the Oregon When police searched Muhammad’s travel Historical Society, Portland State University trailer in October 2020, they found several firethrough the air like a shooting star and landed within 15 feet of the truck. He exited the sound and a Ben Bridge Jeweler using a baton. Muarms, including an AR-15 rifle owned by a man truck and inspected the yellow glass bottle, hammad fled as police tried to arrest him. After in Indianapolis. “[The witness] explained that while living a foot chase, police detained Muhammad, who which was still intact. It resembled a beer growler, save for the yellowish-green liquid allegedly carried a 9 mm pistol and 30 rounds in Indiana, he met Muhammad in the months inside and a burnt rag stuffed in its mouth. of ammunition. prior to his travel to Portland,” federal proseOn the bottom of the Molotov cocktail bottle: In the five-odd weeks that transpired becutors wrote in a November 2021 filing. “He a price tag from the Goodwill store in McMintween the Goodwill shopping excursion and explained that Muhammad was attempting to recruit people to engage in violent activities, his arrest, state and federal prosecutors allege, nville. About two weeks earlier, after another protest, police had found a baseball bat with Muhammad attended four Portland protests. including an armed forceful takeover of a radio a price sticker from the same Goodwill. The During some of those events, he threw Molotov or television station.” store’s security footage from Sept. 4, 2020, cocktails toward police—including one that The man described Muhammad as “a comshowed a young couple purchasing baseball “seriously burned” a protester, and another munist revolutionary who was attempting to gather people with firearms to engage in acts bats and growlers. that caught an officer’s pant leg on fire—and From the footage, police recognized the man handed out baseball bats to incite property of violence,” according to the filing.
The Curious Case of Malik Muhammad An Army veteran who traveled from Indiana to Portland and threw Molotov cocktails at riot cops receives a decade in prison.
Two weeks before arriving in Portland, in August 2020, Muhammad allegedly traveled to Louisville, Ky., with five associates. The purpose of the weekend trip, prosecutors allege, was to “conduct firearms and tactical support.” “Muhammad’s intent since he left Indiana has been clear,” federal prosecutors wrote. “He wanted to commit violent acts against law enforcement and advocate others do so as well.” It’s also worth noting that one of the Portland protests in which prosecutors say Muhammad threw a Molotov cocktail occurred Sept. 23, 2020—the same day a grand jury declined to bring charges against two Louisville police officers in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. Prosecutors claim that Muhammad’s actions “reveal a person driven to violence.” “He put the entire community—a community he is not even a part of—at risk while specifically targeting law enforcement,” federal prosecutors wrote late last year. Not everyone in Portland viewed him as an outsider. In late May, weeks after police extradited Muhammad from Indianapolis to Portland, he was out of jail again—for about 48 hours. A Multnomah County circuit judge had set Muhammad’s bail at $2,125,000. Then, on May 26, a community organization called the Portland Freedom Fund posted the requisite 10% bail amount—$212,500—and Muhammad was out. His freedom was short-lived. Two days later, on May 28, the feds arrested him on their own warrant. Court records do not provide any explanation directly from Muhammad as to his motivation. That makes it difficult to assess what role his mental health struggles may have played in his behavior. A psychological evaluation, excerpted in court filings, described Muhammad as having post-traumatic stress disorder as well as bipolar disorder. His defense attorney wrote that Muhammad had stopped taking his medication during the period that he was in Portland, which exacerbated a manic state. “He explained that when he enters this state, he feels ‘untouchable’: ‘I don’t think anyone can take me. I can’t die,’” prosecutors wrote, pulling from the evaluation. It said when he was manic, he heard “the voices of two or three men inside his head” giving him instructions. “Once the mania fades,” prosecutors wrote, “he is anxious about the things he has done when he was manic.” Now 25, Muhammad is slated to spend the next decade of his life in prison. His plea deal included 10 years in state and federal prison, but those sentences will run concurrently. “He’s grateful that he’s able to resolve this case,” says Gerald M. Needham, Muhammad’s defense attorney. For Multnomah County prosecutors—saddled with a reputation of being soft on protesters—the case is a victory: the longest sentence handed down stemming from the 2020 racial justice protests. Proud Boy Alan Swinney also received a 10-year sentence in December. “There are few things in this world more terrifying than being burnt alive,” Vasquez said March 29. “These things tear at the fabric of our community.” Chavez says the political implications of a dual state and federal conviction of a protester are not lost on him: “I think for the DA’s office, to me, I tend to think that this is solely because they are trying to buy back the confidences of the Portland Police Bureau.” Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
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NEWS “If this eviction measure makes the ballot, it might be the vote that tests the local electorate’s appetite for tax measures.” tures for what became Multnomah County’s Preschool for All measure. The bar for qualifying an initiative for the county ballot is 6% of county voters who cast ballots in the most recent election for governor. That comes out to 22,686 valid signatures, a fairly low threshold. The campaign evaluated a number of options before landing on a capital gains tax. The standalone funding mechanism is harder to redirect to other uses than a general fund program. Scribes, the spokesman for the Community Alliance of Tenants, says the measure could begin to level the playing field. “Right now, the system is designed in a way that creates barriers for tenants,” Scribes says. “The landlord is able to hire a lawyer and the renter is not.” If the measure passes here, Scribes adds, advocates will seek to roll it out statewide.
Boardroom Revolt Tenant advocates seek a new Multnomah County capital gains tax to pay for eviction-fighting lawyers. The PBA pushes back. BY N I G E L J AQ U I S S R AC H E L M O N A H A N
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The last week in March may have been a turning point in high-income Portlanders’ willingness to subsidize their less fortunate neighbors. The latest example: Tenant advocates and the Portland region’s largest business organization are preparing for battle over a proposed new tax measure. The “Eviction Representation for All” initiative, filed with Multnomah County on March 3 by tenants’ rights and social justice nonprofits, is aimed at the November ballot. The measure proposes to levy a tax of 0.75% on capital gains—which, generally speaking, are profits investors earn on the sale of assets such as stocks, bonds or real estate—to fund a new program, which would contract with five lawyers to provide free legal representation for tenants facing eviction. Proponents hope to raise $12 million to $15 million a year. “We see this protection as crucial to keeping people housed,” says Donovan Scribes, a spokesman for the Community Alliance of Tenants, which supports the proposed tax. “Tenants are under the impression that by the time they receive a court summons, an eviction is inevitable, even when this is not the case.” On March 28, the Portland Business Alliance filed a challenge to the ballot title and explanatory statement for the proposed measure. PBA
lobbyist Jon Isaacs says the tax is a bad idea that would make a tough economic situation worse. “The Portland region is already facing an affordability crisis driven primarily by the cost of housing and taxes,” Isaacs says. Proponents say they were “disappointed but not surprised” by the PBA challenge. “Our ballot measure would help stabilize a volatile housing market through a tiny tax increase,” campaign spokeswoman Colleen Carroll says. “Workers struggling to make ends meet would have a fighting chance.” Nobody disputes that housing instability is a problem in Portland, which has one of the nation’s lowest rental vacancy rates. But the proposal comes at a time when passing a new tax, even in tax-loving Multnomah County, might be a challenge. In 2020, voters passed a bevy of new taxes: a Portland Public Schools bond, a new Multnomah County Library tax, a Portland Parks & Recreation levy, a Metro homeless services measure, and a county Preschool for All measure. All that left high-income county residents paying one of the highest combined marginal tax rates in the country. And the ballot challenge by the PBA indicates that top executives at local companies may have lost their appetite for making concessions to progressives. The brewing flap comes on the heels of an unrelated group, People for Portland, filing a different ballot measure March 25.
That measure would redirect money from the 2020 Metro homeless services tax, prescribing that 75% of the $250 million a year it raises in three counties be spent on homeless shelters—and requiring local governments to enforce anti-camping laws to get their cash. That tax also falls on higher-income earners. So the effort by a business-backed advocacy group to wrest control of how the money is spent suggests Portland boardrooms are no longer willing to write blank checks. Although business groups have often lost at the ballot box, they handily defeated a multibillion-dollar Metro transportation measure in 2020, and some observers think voter attitudes toward funding new services have shifted. A variety of recent polls show voters are far crankier than they were two years ago. “There’s a really a growl in the electorate against measures sponsored by folks who want to expand government activity,” says political analyst Len Bergstein. “If this eviction measure makes the ballot, it might be the vote that tests the local electorate’s appetite for tax measures.” Backers of the eviction lawyers initiative, including the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, hope to replicate programs they say have reduced evictions in New York, San Francisco and other cities. They are working from a successful playbook. In 2020, the DSA successfully gathered signa-
Deborah Imse of Multifamily NW, which represents landlords, says her group doesn’t have a position on the proposal, but she’s not sure it’s the right solution. “We do know from court filings that most evictions in Portland and Multnomah County are due to nonpayment of rent,” Imse says. “A robust rental assistance program for people who need help would likely be more impactful in eviction avoidance.” (There were 287 evictions filed in Multnomah County last month; 174 were for nonpayment.) PBA hopes the idea never reaches voters. The group filed objections Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, saying “all portions of the ballot title are insufficient and unfair.” It argues the ballot title and description of the measure do not capture the broad range of legal services the measure would provide. Another PBA concern: The measure does not define “capital gains,” and the 0.75% tax rate “may be increased or decreased based on annual reports.” That’s alarming to a group representing the CEOs of regional businesses—who could see their tax bills fluctuate depending on what bureaucrats say is needed. A 2020 study by the accounting firm Ernst & Young found with all the new taxes passed that year, top income earners in Portland could pay a combined 14.6% in income taxes, a percentage point higher than San Francisco and nearly two points higher than New York. The reactions of the three Multnomah County commissioners vying to become the next county chair suggest officials are well aware of concerns about the high tax rate and may prefer other mechanisms for helping tenants. Commissioners Sharon Meieran, Jessica Vega Pederson and Lori Stegmann all expressed support for the concept of legal representation for tenants but object to the mechanism. “Using this kind of tax measure to raise $15 million a year seems like using a sledgehammer to pound a nail,” Vega Pederson says. “This isn’t the right solution.” Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
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The Kotek Puzzle The most accomplished lawmaker
in recent Oregon history struggles to gain traction with some Democrats. Why?
BY N I G E L JAQ U I S S
njaquiss@wweek .com
P H O T O S BY B R I A N B R O S E
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With less than two months to go until the May 17 primary, Tina Kotek is the Democratic front-runner to be Oregon’s next governor. Yet she faces an unusually challenging path to an office her party has held for nearly four decades. As the longest-serving speaker of the Oregon House, Kotek, 55, delivered on an ambitious agenda with steely efficiency. But for some reason, nobody who’s done the job Kotek now seeks is endorsing her. Nor is her counterpart in the Senate. Not former Govs. John Kitzhaber, Ted Kulongoski or Barbara Roberts. Not Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem), who led the Legislature alongside Kotek since 2012. (Kitzhaber and Roberts have endorsed State Treasurer Tobias Read, Kotek’s chief opponent in the primary. The others are staying on the sidelines.) And all are Democrats. Of that group, only Roberts would discuss her reasoning. But interviews with legislators, staffers and lobbyists—people who love and fear Kotek—reveal a complex portrait of a formidable operator and help explain why some Democrats feel uneasy about her. For many elected officials, the best way to succeed is to do little and advance through attrition. Not Kotek. Under her leadership, House Democrats won passage of a progressive wish list ranging from a minimum-wage increase and health care for nearly all to criminal justice reform and the nation’s most aggressive housing legislation. Kotek led the way in a calculating, sometime ruthless fashion, pushing hard to the left. Her success made her both the favorite of most progressive interest groups and perhaps Oregon’s most beatable Democratic front-runner for governor in decades. The prospect of challenging Kotek enticed the most formidable unaffiliated candidate in 90 years—former state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose)—and an unheard of 19 GOP contenders to enter the race. Here’s what makes Kotek effective—and vulnerable. 14
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SHE CUTS DEALS
SHE IS VERY LIBERAL During the course of Kotek’s tenure, Democrats consolidated power and moved aggressively on such measures as granting driver’s licenses and publicly funded abortions to undocumented immigrants and one of the nation’s most aggressive green energy mandates. They also passed statewide rent control and abolished single-family residential zoning—first-in-the-nation policies aimed at relieving the state’s housing crisis. Such policies played well in deep-blue Portland. “She’s done more than any other leader in the state, maybe the country, on housing and homelessness,” says Keny-Guyer, who represented a liberal Southeast Portland district. But some Democrats say Kotek’s prioritization of social justice and environmental issues put her to the left of the average voter in a statewide race. In 2021, Kotek was chief sponsor of House Bill 3115, which enshrined in state law the right to camp in public
spaces—over pushback in Salem from critics who saw the bill as exporting Portland’s policies to the rest of the state. In 2018, Kotek abruptly removed a longtime moderate as chair of the House Judiciary Committee—Rep. Jeff Barker (D-Aloha)—to achieve a top progressive priority: criminal justice reform, including the abolition of Oregon’s death penalty. “We used to get along well,” says Barker, a retired Portland police lieutenant and ex-president of the Portland Police Association. “We were very aligned on abortion and organized labor. I supported her for speaker, and she came out to my house for dinner.” But Barker opposed lawmakers overturning the death penalty without a vote of the people. (The public had approved the death penalty with a 1984 ballot measure.) So Kotek yanked Barker’s gavel as chair of House Judiciary Committee, a position he had held for 15 years. “I was shocked,” says Barker, who retired from the Legislature in 2021. Barker was “not interested in entertaining criminal justice reform in a moment where we had to have different conversations,” Kotek says. “And so Jennifer Williamson took over.” And in the 2019 session, Williamson and Senate Judiciary Chair Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene) effectively ended the state’s death penalty. “As we gained more seats, she went back to her true philosophical positions,” says former state Rep. Brian Clem (D-Salem), who served with Kotek for 15 years. “She started her career as a lobbyist for hungry kids, and she went back to her roots—progressive activist Tina.” (See “Hammer of the Gods,” page 16.)
SHE DOESN’T ALWAYS KEEP HER WORD The two most common criticisms of Kotek—that she’s too pragmatic and at the same time too liberal—don’t really square. What kind of inflexible leftist ideologue cuts a deal that outrages public employee unions? What the two conflicting characterizations reflect is how often Kotek got what she wanted, and how many egos she left bruised in the process. Like Michael Jordan on the basketball court, she’s more revered than loved—because she would do anything to win. “If you are in her way,” McLane says, “you are going to be roadkill.” Supermajorities in her last two sessions as House speaker gave Kotek the power to dictate terms. She wasn’t shy about using it. Over time, Kotek gained a reputation as a politician for whom the ends justified the means.
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During her tenure as House speaker, Kotek successfully engineered an ambitious agenda with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker. She passed massive new taxes, yes—but also pushed the envelope on abortion, housing, the environment and workplace laws. “She’s been a very strong and very effective speaker,” says former Senate President and Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. “She’s shown over a long period of time that she can deliver on key Democratic priorities.” Kotek has been so effective in part because of her willingness to cut deals. After a failed attempt to raise Oregon’s minimum wage in 2015, Kotek agreed to a compromise that some Democrats opposed: lower minimum wages for rural Oregon. The bill passed in 2016. And in 2017, Democrats passed the biggest single tax increase in state history, a massive $5.3 billion transportation funding bill, with significant concessions to Republicans, such as a new rail terminal near Ontario and the widening of Interstate 205 near West Linn. “The transportation package in 2017 was incredibly difficult,” says Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle, who was then House majority leader. “It was something that people didn’t think we would be able to pass.” Kotek’s partisan rivals appreciated her pragmatism. “No speaker can be effective without being transactional,” says former House Minority Leader Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte), who often battled Kotek. “I counted on that. I needed her to be that way.” But the dealmaking that clinched the most consequential bill of Kotek’s career required her to betray a central segment of her party’s base: public employee unions. In 2019, Kotek spent months navigating between interests, who wanted to scale back the state’s underfunded Public Employee Retirement System, and progressives, who wanted a big corporate tax increase for schools, called the Student Success Act. She was able to achieve both, even though it meant strong-arming Democrats, including Reps. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland) and Andrea Salinas (D-Lake Oswego)—who came to the House floor in tears after Kotek “persuaded” her to vote yes on the pension cuts. “There’s no way that the Student Success Act would pass without [the PERS cuts],” says then-state Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer (D-Portland). “I give Tina huge kudos for standing up to the labor unions. They made it incredibly painful for all of us who voted for the bill.” That grudge persists. “Some of our folks are still really upset about that vote,” says Joe Baessler, political coordinator for the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 75, which joined the United Food and Commercial Workers in not endorsing Kotek in the May primary. Kotek says when she made hard choices, it was always for better outcomes. “I bristle at the word ‘transactional’ because it does seem to imply that you’re making choices to get things done that aren’t good choices,” she says. “When people ask for things and I think they’re a bad idea, I don’t do them.” Kotek’s transactional nature also cost her the support of former Gov. Roberts, who for years has bestowed the individual endorsements most coveted by Democrats. Roberts says she’s backing Read because of the broad perspective he gained in six years as a statewide official. But her choice rekindled chatter about what both women acknowledge is some “history.” In 2017, Special Olympics Oregon needed a financial bailout. Roberts, a longtime supporter of the organization who left office in 1995, approached Kotek for help. The conversation went badly. According to people familiar with the exchange, Kotek said she’d consider an appropriation, but only if Roberts would help convince a reluctant Democratic lawmaker to support a crucial housing bill. That annoyed the ex-governor, who left Kotek’s office empty-handed. “To be honest, I had had a long day,” Kotek recalls. “I made a flip comment that she mistook as transactional. It was not. And I thought we had lunch and made up and had resolved our conflict.”
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HAMMER OF THE GODS To all but a few intimates, Tina Kotek remains a cipher. Tina Kotek steered legislation through the Oregon House with the same no-drama efficiency that she’s piloted a 2004 Honda Civic—methodically—to Salem since first winning election in 2006. The vehicle now has 250,000 miles on it. State Rep. Barbara Smith Warner (D-Portland), Kotek’s top deputy for four years, says it’s still in mint condition. “You could eat off the floor of that car,” Smith Warner says. When the two traveled together, however, Smith Warner always drove. “Tina will not go a mile over the speed limit,” Smith Warner says. “She’s a very cautious driver.” Of the triumvirate that ran Salem, Gov. Kate Brown is known for her bubbly, warm nature, Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) for his emotional style and reverence for tradition, and Kotek for her steely, robotic efficiency. Kotek calls herself a “private person” and an introvert. She’s most comfortable sipping unsweetened Lipton black tea in her office with a small inner circle (mostly long-term staffers and labor leaders) or road-tripping around the state with colleagues, Prince or Abba on the stereo, a bag of Swedish Fish at the ready. She grew up in York, Pa., a blue-collar town of 45,000 about 85 miles southwest of Philadelphia. (Kotek always kept a supply of York Peppermint Patties in her House office.) In high school, Kotek played three sports, edited the yearbook and school newspaper, and graduated second in her class. Kotek began college at Georgetown, but as an emerging lesbian from a working-class town, she says she felt out of place at the elite Catholic school. A foray in commercial diving left her with a damaged ear and unemployed. She then worked as a travel agent for two years and enrolled at the University of Oregon in 1990, earning a degree in religious studies. After finishing her master’s in international studies and comparative religion at the University of Washington in 1998, Kotek moved to Portland and worked first as an advocate at the Oregon Food Bank and, after that, for Children First for Oregon. In 2005, she and her now-wife, Amy Wilson, bought a modest, 1,089-square-foot home in Kenton where they still live. A lapsed Catholic, she now attends an Episcopal church and for years was part of a Capitol prayer group along with former House Minority Leader Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte) and others. The district she represented, HD 44, a working-class area that includes Kenton and St. Johns, contains fewer Republicans than all but two of the state’s 60 House districts. Kotek loves her dogs, Rudy and Teddy, and will sip the occasional bourbon (Portland’s Freeland is her favorite). She loves watching superhero movies in a darkened theater with a small group of friends, all of whom often wear T-shirts promoting the films they watch (Kotek particularly likes Thor: Ragnarok and kept a Captain America shield in the speaker’s office). “Once I got into office, my moviegoing was escapism,” Kotek says. “So thank God, Marvel decided to make a whole bunch of movies.” N I G E L J AQ U I S S .
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“I don’t think that’s a very helpful way to learn leadership—to have absolute power,” says Roberts. “I just don’t think it’s healthy.” Some adversaries she bested even feel she lied to them. In January, she alienated state Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Clackamas), one of the state’s few Black lawmakers. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, Bynum led her colleagues in passing a package of police reform measures. Afterward, she told Kotek she thought it was time for a person of color to be House speaker. Bynum left the conversation believing Kotek had pledged to support her for speaker in the future if Bynum didn’t mount a bid to challenge Kotek for the post in 2021. It didn’t work out that way. After Kotek announced she would run for governor, Bynum put her name forward as a candidate for speaker. But the Democratic caucus that Kotek ran with iron discipline for almost a decade fell in behind now-Speaker Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) instead. Bynum told WW at the time she felt betrayed. Kotek says Bynum (who declined to comment for this story) misunderstood Kotek’s intentions. “I believe she’s a strong leader, and I have a lot of respect for her, but I don’t believe I made the commitment that she thinks I did,” Kotek says. In 2021, Kotek irked Democrats in April when she gave Republicans an equal say in the once-per-decade process of redistricting to keep the GOP from blowing up the session. Then, in September, Kotek infuriated Republicans by reversing herself and telling House Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby) she was changing the deal to give Democrats a majority on the panel drawing congressional maps. “They didn’t hold up their end of the bargain,” Kotek says. So, having convinced Republicans not to block their agenda, Democrats now got the congressional district maps they wanted too. Former state Rep. Margaret Doherty (D-Tigard), whose gavel as chair of the House Education Committee Kotek yanked in 2020, says the Bynum and redistricting episodes reflect Kotek’s willingness to say anything to get what she wants. “I worked with both of them [Kotek and Read],” says Doherty, a retired teachers’ union official who served with Kotek for a decade, “and I’m endorsing Tobias because I want somebody in that office who has integrity.” The ultimate question about Kotek is whether the longest-serving speaker of the House in Oregon history has made the state better. Some indicators, such as K-12 test scores, the housing
shortage, and inadequate provision of mental health services, suggest the state remains deeply troubled. Portland pollster John Horvick of DHM Research says Kotek is the “strong front-runner” for the Democratic nomination but also notes that Oregon voters’ unhappiness has reached historic levels. “We’re seeing the most negative numbers Oregonians have expressed in the past 30 years,” he says. “We are a high-tax state with low services,” adds former state Rep. Jules Bailey (D-Portland), who is endorsing Read. “Shit’s not working.” Opponents label Kotek “Kate Brown 2.0,” hoping Brown’s low approval ratings will taint Kotek. Both are Portland liberals who emerged from legislative leadership, both identify as LGBTQ+, and both have held power as Oregon descended into its current funk. But Brown is endlessly consultative. Kotek, by contrast, moves decisively. “Their leadership styles are wildly different,” says Felisa Hagins, political director of Service Employees International Union Local 49, whose members back Kotek. Kotek is less outgoing and more liberal than Brown— and perhaps more focused on an agenda and clear-eyed about Oregon’s problems. She concurs with Bailey’s assessment that “shit’s not working.” “I agree,” Kotek says. “I don’t think things are working the way they should be working.” Of Democrats’ major accomplishments on her watch, Kotek says increases in the minimum wage have made a substantial impact, benefitting hundreds of thousands of Oregonians. Other victories—including the Student Success Act, statewide zoning changes and $1 billion in new funding for housing, and a half-billion dollars in new money for mental health services—will take more time to show results. Yet Kotek is on the ballot now—not when those results arrive. She blames COVID-19 for much of the state’s malaise. “Prior to the pandemic, we had the biggest economic numbers we’ve ever seen,” Kotek says. “We were bringing prosperity to more parts of the state, and then the pandemic hit.” COVID-19 exposed underinvestment and poor management at the Oregon Employment Department and other state agencies. Kotek says if she were to be elected governor, the skills that made her an effective speaker would make the state function better. “To treat me fairly, people should look at my record,” she says. “My job was to make sure the Legislature functioned and pass important legislation. And I think anybody who is going to be honest will say, that’s an A+.” Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
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PDX Magic Jam returned to the Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel on March 25-27, which drew magicians from across the country for a weekend of learning and camaraderie. Illusionists at all levels—from hobbyists to pros— attended close-up card work shows, lectures on magic theory, and stage performances to keep up with the latest developments in their craft. Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
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STARTERS
T H E MOST I MP ORTANT P O RTLA N D C U LTU R E STORI E S OF T H E W E E K—G RA P H E D .
R E A D M O R E A B O U T TH E S E STO R I E S AT WW E E K .CO M .
RIDICULOUS
COMFORT SHOES FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
The Canon Shakespeare Company releases its version of Titus Andronicus starring sock puppets.
Mon-Sat 10-6pm Sunday 11-5pm
1433 NE Broadway St Portland • 503 493-0070
Moberi is the latest Portland-based business set to open in Beaverton’s Cedar Hills Crossing.
Astoria’s Pilot House Distilling will open a third tasting room in Cannon Beach.
Get Busy Tonight OUR EVENT PICKS, E M A I L E D W E E K LY.
Clinton Street Theater is getting new owners who are raising money to make improvements to the venue.
The Mystery Box Show, Portland’s longestrunning live storytelling event, ends in April.
Bottle and can deposits can now be donated to Mercy Corps efforts to help Ukrainians.
The Oregon Music Hall of Fame offers a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the recovery of 72 stolen guitars.
A rare plant that grows in the coastal dunes of Southern Oregon may soon be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. SERIOUS
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AW F U L
AW E S O M E
Iconic Portland short The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal begins streaming for free.
GET BUSY
STUFF TO DO IN PORTLAND THIS WEEK, INDOORS AND OUT.
☛ GO: Sip & Shop
This monthly event originally launched last March as a largely outdoor market, making gatherings a low-risk possibility following an isolating year. Turns out, roaming around the 82-acre Abbey Road Farm is delightful even when COVID rates are low, since there is a family of happy animals—llamas, pigs, donkeys and 40 chickens all named Betty—that call this place home. You can enjoy a flight or an entire bottle of wine while you browse locally crafted goods. Don’t forget to grab a smash burger prepared by farm chef and innkeeper Will Preisch of Holdfast fame. Abbey Road Farm, 10280 NE Oak Springs Farm Road, Carlton, 503-687-3100, abbeyroadfarm.com. 11 am-5 pm Sunday, April 3.
SEE: Queens Girl in Africa
Clackamas Repertory Theatre (which produced Popcorn Falls, WW’s pick for the best Portland-area play of 2021) is staging the second installment in playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings’ Queens Girl in the World trilogy. Set in the ’60s, the play stars Lauren Steele as Jacqueline Marie Butler, who decides to move to Nigeria following the assassination of Malcolm X. Clackamas Community College’s Osterman Theatre, 19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City, 503594-6047, clackamasrep.org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and 2:30 pm Sunday, March 31-April 24. $30-$40.
Oregon Beer Awards
LISTEN: Step by Step: The Ruby Bridges Suite
In 1960, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges made history when she became the first Black student to integrate an elementary school in the South. Her legacy is alive in Darrell Grant’s epic composition, which combines choral and instrumental music with speeches by W.E.B. Du Bois and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the words of Bridges herself. First Unitarian Portland, 1211 SW Main St., 503-2286389, firstunitarianportland.org. 7 pm Saturday and 4 pm Sunday, April 2-3. $25-$30.
WATCH: In the Mood for Love
Like a dream that lingers long after you wake, Wong Kar-wai’s 1962-set Hong Kong romance starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung clings to your soul no matter where you witness its beauty. But for the love of God, see it at Hollywood Theatre, which is screening a brand-new 35 mm print. There’s no better arena to appreciate Wong’s lush colors of Leung and Cheung’s exquisitely repressed yearnings. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 503493-1128, hollywoodtheatre.org. 7 pm Saturday-Sunday, April 2-3. $8-$10.
“The Emmys of Oregon Beer”
☛ GO: Living History Program at Champoeg
Oregon State Parks scrapped all in-person events during the pandemic, but now it is starting to slowly but surely bring back ranger-led experiences just in time for the agency’s centennial. Load up the kids and drive down to Champoeg State Heritage Area, where they can learn how food was once procured the hard way. Four teams of horses and mules will be hitched to authentic 19th century plows in order to plant wheat in a field behind the site’s historic Manson barn. A trip to the grocery store should never again seem like an arduous task after watching this demonstration. Champoeg State Heritage Area, St. Paul, 800-551-6949, stateparks. oregon.gov. 9 am Saturday, April 2. $5 for parking.
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April 6th, 2022 Revolution Hall
DRINK: Gigantic Weirdtastic Unipiper Hazy IPA Release Party
Yes, this event takes place on April Fool’s Day, but the beer release is no joke. Gigantic teamed up with Portland’s favorite flame-throwing, bagpipe-blowing unicyclist to create an IPA with tropical aroma and a yeast that biotransforms compounds in the malt and hops, intensifying the fruity scent. The hazy will be available on tap and in bottles, which the Unipiper is more than happy to autograph that day. Gigantic Brewing Company, 5224 SE 26th Ave., 503-208-3416, giganticbrewing.com. 4-6 pm Friday, April 1. Free. 21+.
Produced by Willamette Week
Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
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Top 5
Hot Plates WHERE TO EAT THIS WEEK.
THOMAS TEAL
1. GABBIANO’S
FOOD & DRINK
Go Fish
Thanks to experienced seafood chef Cody Auger, Takibi’s fish dishes shine, but much of the land-based fare falls short. 5411 NE 30th Ave., 503-719-4373, gabbianospdx. com. 4-10 pm Wednesday-Sunday. Certain restaurants are just like certain people: You know you’re gonna like them from the first moment you lay eyes on them. We clicked with Gabbiano’s right away thanks to its warm, bustling interior with hand-painted Italian fresco walls and a “When you’re here, you’re family” vibe that Olive Garden can only fake. The classics (chicken Parm, chitarra, calamari, the Caesar) are all dialed in. But you must order the mozzarella cups— breaded and fried cheese served as a molded shot glass and then filled with marinara.
2. PACIFIC CRUST PIZZA COMPANY
400 SW Broadway, 503-719-5010, pacificcrustpizzaco.com. 11 am-10 pm Sunday-Thursday, 11 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday. The pies at this outdoors-themed pizzeria blur the line between New York and New Haven styles, which is a delightful hybrid for those who like to fold their slices as easily as a book yet appreciate a hefty rim for its chew and crunch. However, Pacific Crust’s greatest strength is its ability to allow each topping to have its moment. Nowhere is that better exhibited than in the Traverse, a crimson-andgold disc of lightly smoked tomato sauce and corn kernels adorned with a tuft of peppery arugula.
3. RIPE COOPERATIVE
4. REPÚBLICA
721 NW 9th Ave., 541-900-5836, republicapdx. square.site. À la carte menu served 9 am-3 pm, chef’s tasting menu served 5-9 pm daily. República has introduced Portland to another thread of Mexico’s complex gastronomic tapestry: the modernist-leaning tasting menu, which the Pearl District restaurant began serving in 2021. Packaging indigenous Mexican ingredients with sophisticated technique in a town known for its disdain of pretension was bold as hell. But it has been pulling it off with aplomb. And the idea of simultaneously serving each twosome one vegetarian-leaning tasting menu and one with a meatier bent is brilliant, especially for good eaters who share.
5. PICCONE’S CORNER
3434 NE Sandy Blvd., #400, 503-265-8263, picconescorner.com. 9 am-7 pm Tuesday-Saturday, 9 am-5 pm Sunday. This combination butcher shop-restaurant continues to fill a hole in the city’s dining scene that was left when Old Salt Marketplace closed. Now, Piccone’s Corner is serving all-day breakfast, setting our ham-loving hearts awhirl. The updated menu includes a substantial plate of two eggs, polenta cakes and bacon or sausage links, mushroom toast, and an obligatory grain bowl. But our eyes are set on the breakfast sandwich topped with your choice of house-cured pork from Wallow & Root farms.
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Takibi is Japanese for bonfire. In its Northwest Portland iteration, it is also a cross-marketing maven’s fantasy come to fruition: a pricey Japanese-ish restaurant that serves as a sales platform for even pricier camping gear. As originally conceived, Takibi was a joint effort by “outdoor lifestyle creator” Snow Peak USA and Joshua McFadden’s Submarine Hospitality, which oversees multiple, disparate Portland restaurant concepts. If this sounds like a formula for dismal, dispassionate fare, that would be a solid conclusion. Fortunately, Submarine scuttled off sometime after last spring’s opening, and though executive chefs have come and gone, Takibi is now anchored by Cody Auger, whose deft touch with seafood is peerless in Portland, and Jim Meehan, an acclaimed mixologist. Takibi occupies the east half of the larger, rectangular Snow Peak space facing Northwest 23rd Avenue. The retailer and restaurant are joined by two short hallways. Try wandering into the store a few minutes before your reservation time and check out the $2,000 tent and $700 iron grill table, among an array of fireside tchotchkes you didn’t know you needed. Take note that many items ($45 bamboo-and-titanium collapsible chopsticks and $10 titanium sporks in rainbow colors) will appear on your table next door. Brilliant. Urban laggards can park their cars in a small lot off Flanders and walk directly into the restaurant. Oddly, the dominant aroma inside is not food, but rather something like the showroom of a Les Schwab tire store. Perplexing, but you get used to it. The dining room is pretty, all gussied up in blond wood and white upholstery. On one side is the open kitchen and bar. The other end features booths that curve around the perimeter of the room. Be forewarned that the temperature on the dining room side hovers toward the bottom of the thermometer. Dress accordingly, or buy the $200 flame-resistant Takibi blanket— yes, that’s really the name—next door. The menu is broken into several sections. For best results, focus on fish. Auger’s long experience sourcing and serving sashimi at Hokusei and then Nimblefish pretty much guarantees top quality. Delicate pink slices of trout ($17) and Hokkaido octopus ($18) divided into portions of thin-sliced suction cup and lightly cooked leg meat were excellent. Also on offer: tai ($19), called sea bream or snapper, and saba, slices of cured Norwegian mackerel ($9). Sashimi is served with a small ground mound of floral, sharp Oregon wasabi root. Speaking of mackerel, if you love this boldly flavored fish as much as I do, saba shioyaki ($11), salt grilled and generously portioned, is as good a value on this menu as you will get. As you move away from the water, Takibi becomes a more perilous proposition. Mixed pickled vegetables, tsukemono ($6), epitomizes the problem. Of
the four items on the plate, two—soy-cured daikon and pinkish-orange radish quarters with a sweet-tart cure—were a delight. Watermelon radish slices and carrot sticks, on the other hand, tasted as raw and uninteresting as a Safeway crudité tray. Takibi has sold Japanese fried chicken, karaage ($11), since the outset. It is an izakaya standard. At its best, the chicken arrives blistering hot, extravagantly salted and spurting juice with every bliss-inducing bite. Takibi’s take is from the opposite universe: tepid, timid and desiccated. On one early visit, the braised pork belly called kakuni ($17), served with soft cooked egg and a sprinkle of numbing sansho pepper powder, was almost entirely unappetizing hunks of fat. More recently, fat and meat were in perfect equipoise, the highlight of the non-seafaring sections of the menu. An upward trend, perhaps? Nope. A lamb chop ($17) on my final visit was another fatty-cut phobic’s nightmare. And a recent menu addition of cured salmon roe atop a blini of sorts ($15) rimmed with a ribbon of liver mousse was even worse. After one bite, two of us shook our heads in unison, aghast at what tasted like fish egg shortcake. If I could untaste this somehow, I would. Meehan’s libations are also a mixed bag. One dining companion, a longtime industry insider, swears by the top-shelf bottles and consistent creativity of the drinks menu. A second designated drinker, also in the industry, was less effusive about the rum-forward, citrus-heavy Shochu the Magic ($17), a riff on a Singapore sling. The sexy-sounding matsutake-washed cherry brandy in this drink was a dud, the piney mushroom indiscernible. On the short non-alcohol slate, the Queen Garden Swizzle ($19), anchored by Seedlip Garden, tasted broadly botanical, but that was about it. Give me club soda and bitters for a quarter of the price. Great restaurants tend to be fired by passion. Takibi emerged from a marketing plan. It may have its high points, but it’s hard to walk away without feeling burned. EAT: Takibi, 2275 NW Flanders St., 971-888-5713, takibipdx.com. 5-9 pm daily.
CHRISTINE DONG
5425 NE 30th Ave., 503-841-6968, ripecooperative.com. Noon-8 pm Thursday-Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday. The lasagna at Naomi Pomeroy’s cafe-market is richness upon richness, with what is currently a duck Bolognese, ricotta and, per the website description, “lots of mozzarella and Parmesan.” That’s no lie: This is more or less a white lasagna, and something of a dairy bomb, with a big layer of ricotta, béchamel and a three-cheese blend, plus mozzarella. You won’t need bread for sopping at the end, but you could probably fry a few potatoes in the slick of duck fat that’s left over.
BY M I C H A E L C . Z U S M A N
Editor: Andi Prewitt Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com
Top 5
Buzz List WHERE TO DRINK THIS WEEK.
1. DESCHUTES BREWERY PORTLAND PUBLIC HOUSE CHRISTINE DONG
210 NW 11th Ave., 503-296-4906, deschutesbrewery.com. 11:30 am-10 pm Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday. In a town filled with top-notch craft beer, it can be hard to settle on one place to drink. Next time you need to make a decision, keep it simple: Go with the most recent award winner. Deschutes won five medals—three of them gold—and was given the title of Brewery of the Year at the Best of Craft Beer Awards in early March. If you can find it on tap, order the Bines & Sunshine, which won top honors in the Juicy or Hazy IPA category, one of the most competitive in the contest.
2. PUNCH BOWL SOCIAL
340 SW Morrison St., #4305, 503-334-0360, punchbowlsocial.com/location/portland. 11 am-11 pm Sunday-Thursday, 11 am-1 am Friday-Saturday. If you’re looking for a bar to hunker down in and watch nonstop NCAA basketball, head to Punch Bowl Social. Sure, the 32,000-square-foot gaming palace may be in a mall, but it fills a wonderful niche in downtown Portland—there’s something on the menu for everyone, a deep beer list and creative cocktails, to boot. New brunch items like chicken and biscuits, raspberry waffles and Southwest green chorizo fries should also help you fuel up for those early morning matches.
3. STEEPLEJACK BREWING COMPANY
2400 NE Broadway, 503-206-8880, steeplejackbeer.com. 9 am-10 pm daily. Like so many beloved Portland buildings lost to redevelopment, the 1909 Metropolitan Community Church appeared to be destined for the backhoe. But a pair of old college buddies looking to open their own brewery stumbled across the real estate listing and decided it would be the perfect place for Steeplejack. The breathtaking architecture and stained glass are reason enough to visit, but for a limited time you can also find a rare beer on tap: a Dortmund-style lager made with oysters and seaweed. Collaborator Flying Fish is also pouring the brew while it lasts.
4. 503 DISTILLING LOUNGE
4784 SE 17th Ave., Suite 150, 503-975-5669, 503distilling.com. 3-9 pm Thursday-Saturday, 1-7 pm Sunday. Portland has a new outlet where you can sample draft cocktails right next door to the source. 503 Distilling recently opened a lounge adjacent to its distillery inside the Iron Fireman Collective building. That’s where you’ll find six rotating cocktails on tap, plus made-to-order mixed drinks, beer and wine. The draft options offer visitors first tastes of some of the newest concoctions coming out of the distillery, acting as something of a laboratory. And once you’ve had your fill of spirits, Ruse Brewing is a short stumble away.
5. SUCKERPUNCH C A R LY D I A Z
HIGH SEAS: Takibi’s ocean-sourced offerings, such as Norwegian mackerel, sashimi and Hokkaido octopus, are top quality.
1030 SE Belmont St., 503-208-4022, suckerpunch.bar. 6-11 pm Thursday-Sunday. Suckerpunch, the local business that started as a no-booze cocktail kit vendor in 2020, has launched an experimental pop-up in the Goat Blocks—further proof the alcohol-free trend is gaining steam after a well-documented spike in pandemic drinking. Here, you’ll find a regular rotation of zero-proof, seasonally inspired cocktails along with events like tasting flights and dessert pairings.
Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
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POTLANDER
Spring Flowers Here are eight new strains to experiment with this season, whether you’re looking for a relaxing body buzz or a perk-meup high for wildflower hikes. BY B R I A N N A W H E E L E R
Daffodils ain’t the only spring flowers worth singing about. In Oregon, when spring has officially arrived and the cherry blossoms begin to bloom, the season’s newest cannabis products also begin arriving on dispensary shelves just in time to be enjoyed while gazing at a double rainbow. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mellow flower puffer, more of a sativa party type, or a cannathusiast who indulges in all kinds of products, there are several fresh cultivars that should be of interest to everyone this year. Here are some of the strains we’re looking forward to auditioning, double rainbow or nah.
Strawberry Cookies The sleep-inducing genetics of Strawberry Cookies come courtesy of parent strains Animal Cookies and Strawberry Fields, both of which have a reputation as relaxers. In addition to a flowery, berry-sweet terp profile, users should anticipate effervescent body highs that low-key tranquilize, as well as a potent euphoria with the potential to make an evening of couchlock positively sublime. Therapeutic consumers may find Strawberry Cookies eases symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia. BUY: Eden Cannabis, 4124 SE 60th Ave., 503-388-7663, edencraftcannabis.com.
Orangeade This cross of Tangie and Purple Punch is humulene heavy, despite a citrusy perfume and taste. That could make it an effective appetite suppressant, or at least offer a departure from strains that trigger epic munchies, which feels appropriate after a long winter of bingeing more than just Netflix. The balanced genetics of this cultivar reportedly make for a super-responsive daytime smoke that’s neither too cerebral nor too stoney for prime time. Medicinal tokers may find relief from depression and anxiety, as well as acute and chronic pain. BUY: Power Plant, 2384 NW Thurman St., 971-803-7970.
La Bomba
Jokerz
La Bomba was created by crossing Wedding Cake and Jet Fuel Gelato, and the resulting flowers bloom in tight, ultra-frosty clusters peppered with fine red filaments. If the genetics are any indication, users should expect a gassy, funky fragrance, a creamy exhale, and a potent euphoric onset that melts into a deep relaxation. Consumers seeking strains for therapeutic use may want to skip this cultivar until more data rolls in on its specific medicinal applications. BUY: Green Muse, 5515 NE 16th Ave., 971-420-4917, gogreenmuse.com.
Another mellow hybrid worth checking out is Jokerz, a cross of White Runtz and Jet Fuel Gelato that exhibits the most dominant qualities of both, yet doesn’t overwhelm users. Expect a potent onset that eases into something velvety, serene and maybe even a bit giggly. Novice users should tread carefully. Although the cannabinoid levels may be a bit lower (less than 20% on average) than other strains, Jokerz can still pack a stiff psychotropic punch. BUY: Electric Lettuce, multiple locations, electriclettuce.com.
Zelato Cake
Rainbow Belts
Apples and Bananas
For smokers who prefer a balanced hybrid, this cross of Zkittlez and Moonbow may become your new stash box fave. With both parent strains known for their desirable exhales, Rainbow Belts delivers an expected fruity sweetness beneath an equally compelling skunk. The effects are reportedly euphoric and social, resulting in a tingly body buzz. Additionally, medicinal users may find relief from fatigue, headaches and stress. BUY: Potland, 503-432-8629, thepotland.co.
Possibly the most complex cultivar to drop recently is this cross of Platinum Cookies, Granddaddy Purple, Blue Power and Gelatti. Together, these parent strains produced a balanced hybrid with a soapy-sweet flavor profile that’s as dynamic as the cultivar’s lineage. Expect a blast of creative energy to arrive as the heady onset tapers off, and a sensual body buzz that lingers, especially when used in, ahem, more arousing settings. Therapeutic applications reportedly include relief from cramps, chronic pain and muscle spasms as well as appetite loss and depression. BUY: Cookies Portland, 16102 NE Halsey St., 503-764-9863.
Zelato Cake is one of PDX Organic’s many thoughtful hybrid cultivars created by crossing Gelato 33 and Zkittlez Cake, placing the genetics of the resulting strain squarely on the easy-listening end of the spectrum. It reportedly leads to both a state of deep relaxation and a potent head high. The nose is sweet, creamy and funky, and the exhale is similarly complex. The jury is still out on therapeutic uses, so for the time being, this heady cultivar may be best suited for varsity stoners. BUY: Gnome Grown Dispensary, 5012 NE 28th Ave., 971-3462098, gnomegrownorganics.com.
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Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
Hella Jelly For users looking to round out their cannahumidor with a
fiery sativa hybrid, Hella Jelly is the energetic flower you need. Bred from a cross of super-flavorful strains, Very Cherry and Notorious THC, this cultivar reportedly delivers a sparkling head high and a motivating body high, perfect for an afternoon of working on a creative project or going on a mellow, wildflower-hunting hike. Stoners seeking therapeutic strains to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, chronic pain, fatigue or mood swings may find relief with Hella Jelly. BUY: Pur Roots Dispensary, 5816 NE Portland Highway, 971865-5176.
MUSIC
Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson | Contact: bennett@wweek.com
COURTESY OF TOM ODELL
Now Hear This Listening recommendations from the past, present, Portland and the periphery.
BY DANIEL BROMFIELD // @BROMF3
SOMETHING OLD Long before Lil Nas X, mischievous gay men were using electronics and puckish humor to simultaneously celebrate and skewer America’s Wild West mythos. Longtime personal and professional partners Matmos’ 1999 album The West achieves a genuine saloon dustiness even as it flaunts its electronics. Though the flashes of steel guitar are no surprise given its title, it’s just as delightful as a grandiose name for an only sort of epic album that tickles the funny bone as much as the brain.
TOM’S TRIALS: Tom Odell’s music reflects his struggles with anxiety.
Monsters for the Masses English singer-songwriter and pianist Tom Odell will bare his soul at Doug Fir Lounge as part of his Monsters Tour. BY S A R A G I Z A
Over the past two years, have you felt you’ve been oscillating between internal and external chaos? If so, you may have something in common with English singer-songwriter and pianist Tom Odell. As the pandemic imposed limitations on our daily lives, it never hindered our collective desire for connection. There are few things in life that have the potential to create connection on a macro level as much as music does—and Odell is doing just that as he embarks on an international tour. Created and recorded during lockdown, Odell’s fourth studio album, aptly titled Monsters, was released in July 2021. It is perhaps his most personal yet, as it reveals to the world his struggle with anxiety and panic attacks, as well as other challenges he’s faced. He’ll begin the North American leg of The Monsters Tour at the end of March, including a Portland show on April 2. With Monsters, Odell took a sharp turn from his previous sound and style. Introspective, experimental and raw, the album is written like a diary entry—he says exactly what he wants to, with no glitter or filter. Gone are his romantic ballads, much like all of our social lives. The songs on Odell’s previous albums felt like close-knit siblings. In contrast, the songs on Monsters feel like random relatives—your favorite aunt or uncle on one track and the cousin you can’t stand on another. The disconnection is a perfect correlation to the collective trauma we have all been dealing with. In the end, Monsters may not be a “love it or hate it” album, but a “love it and hate it” album. You’ll adore one song and slam the door on another. While Odell has mentioned his anxiety at random and to a small degree, he appears to have largely dealt with it alone, as is often the case with anyone who has faced mental health challenges. As much as we’d like to think we’ve progressed as a society, stigma still
surrounds those struggles. But in February 2021, Odell made an in-depth and bold post about it on Instagram: “I have been suffering from anxiety and panic attacks for years now. I never liked speaking about it publicly, because, I dunno, it felt indulgent when I knew so many people had things so much worse.” Then he wrote that he realized that “maybe if I had known lots of other people were going through the same thing, and it even had a name, well maybe it wouldn’t have been quite so bad as it was,” adding, “for that reason, I’m going to start talking very straight with you all.” Much of that emotional honesty can be found in Odell’s lyrics. In “Numb,” the first single released from Monsters, he sings, “I hold my hand over the flame/to see if I can feel some pain…” “Monster v.1” is equally expressive. In the song, Odell uses the chorus to explain an experience that plenty of people know too well—knowing logically that there is nothing wrong but, at the same time, being unable to stop painful thoughts: “And you’re just a monster/ Just a monster/ And I’m not scared/ You’re only in my mind/ Tomorrow I’ll be fine…” If you want to treat yourself to some classics, some new tunes and a whole lot of feelings, catch Odell at Doug Fir Lounge. It’s probably time to start getting acclimated to seeing each other again and chances are you won’t have many opportunities to see him this side of the pond. In the end, Odell’s latest creation feels like a loosely woven tapestry of both hope and despair. Which seems fitting, after living through over two years of a pandemic. An overly polished, posh anything would be unauthentic. SEE IT: Tom Odell plays at Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 503-231-9663, dougfirlounge.com. 9 pm Saturday, April 2. $25-$28.
SOMETHING NEW Lavender Country just put out their first album since the ’70s. Patrick Haggerty has spent decades in Seattle as a social justice activist and frontman for the archetypal traditionalist gay country band. Any time anyone suggests to a queerdo that country belongs to the Toby Keiths and Morgan Wallens of the world, Haggerty will be there, just like Tom Joad. Blackberry Rose is more jocular and less heartbreaking than the band’s 1973 debut, but hey—maybe that’s a sign of progress. SOMETHING LOCAL After the personal turmoil chronicled on this year’s I’ll Look for You in Others, Patricia Wolf offers a first taste of her more “playful” new album for Balmat. SeeThrough drops May 13, and its debut single “Springtime in Croatia” is the most complete fusion yet of her synth work and her ability to obtain the crispest field recordings imaginable. Though it first appeared on a 2021 comp from Seattle label Secondnature, Wolf’s insistence that See-Through is its “spiritual home” is promising. SOMETHING ASKEW May Philip Jeck’s memory be a blessing; the British turntablist, who skewed old vinyl records into melancholic memory collages long before anyone had ever heard of vaporwave, died this week at the age of 69. Though Vinyl Coda is the work he’ll be most remembered for, his releases on the Touch label are uniformly great—not least of all 2002’s ingenious Stoke, which corrals more sounds previously unheard to human ears than just about any other record in history, and the gothic-ambient sweep of 2004’s 7. Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
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SCREENER
MOVIES
Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson Contact: bennett@wweek.com
G ET YO U R R E P S I N
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
TREK WARRIORS: Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner in Star Trek: First Contact.
Contact High Hollywood Theatre is screening 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact. The world needs the film’s utopianism more than ever. BY BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON @thobennett
Near the end of Star Trek: First Contact, Dr. Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) beholds Earth from space for the first time. “Oh, wow,” he murmurs. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), on the other hand, has seen it all before. “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” he says with a knowing smile. In that line is a promise made not only by the film, but by Star Trek itself: When the world is drowning in hopelessness, wonderment is never beyond reach, even if you’re battling an army of monstrous cyborgs who insist, “Resistance is futile!” Released in 1996, First Contact—which screens next Wednesday at the Hollywood Theatre—is one of the most brutal incarnations of Gene Roddenberry’s original TV show. It is also the most optimistic of all the Star Trek films because it shows how the bright future that Roddenberry’s creation depicts was forged. Set in the 24th century, First Contact pits Captain JeanLuc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the Enterprise-E against the Borg, a race of cybernetic creatures hellbent on stripping humanity of any trace of individuality or independent thought. When they first appeared in a 1989 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Borg wanted to absorb as many species as possible into their own. In First Contact, they have a more sadistic ambition: to travel back to the 21st century and stop humanity’s first encounter with alien life, which ended an era of post-apocalyptic misery on Earth and ignited a utopian age of exploration. Desperate to prevent history from being rewritten, Picard and company follow the Borg back in time to ensure that First Contact takes place. “It unites humanity in a way no one ever thought possible when they realize they’re not alone in the universe,” says counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). “Poverty, disease, war. They’ll all be gone within the next 50 years.” While recent Star Trek films have mercilessly raided plot points from 1982’s The Wrath of Khan—the first truly great Trek film—First Contact harks back to an age when each installment in the series belonged to a unique subgenre. In the wake of 1994’s Star Trek: Generations, a dopey buddy film that teamed Picard with Captain Kirk (William Shatner), director Jonathan Frakes (who also plays Commander William T. Riker) engineered First Contact to be 26
Willamette Week MARCH 30, 2022 wweek.com
a slam-bang zombie movie in space—and an emotionally lacerating glimpse into Picard’s psyche. While Frakes offers an effectively nightmarish depiction of Picard’s post-traumatic stress (six years earlier, he was assimilated by the Borg and rescued by his crew), the film’s finest scenes focus on the embittered Cochrane, whose warp-speed rocket flight will be the catalyst for First Contact (unless the Borg have their way). Worn down by years of war, Cochrane isn’t the idealistic savior Picard’s crew wants him to be. “You wanna know what my vision is?” he declares. “Dollar signs! Money! I didn’t build this ship to usher in a new era for humanity. You think I wanna go to the stars? I don’t even like to fly. I take trains.” The pandemic has made Cochrane’s pessimism more haunting than ever. He may be living in 2063, but his time now comes across as an exaggerated version of our own. “Most of the major cities have been destroyed,” Riker says. “There are few governments left. Six hundred million dead. No resistance.” It’s a bleak reality. But what if something better could emerge from it? What if the apocalypse wasn’t the final word in the story of humanity? What if it could be the beginning of a beautiful new chapter? In previous Star Trek films and television shows, that possibility was an everyday reality. The series gave us ideals to strive for, but First Contact achieves something greater: It shows how those ideals rose from rubble. First Contact ends with—spoiler alert!—Picard triumphing over both the Borg and his destructive inner demons. But before he departs for his own time, he says goodbye to Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard), a courageous 21st century woman with whom he forms a brief but beautiful bond. “I envy you,” she says. “The world you’re going to.” With tenderness in his voice, Picard tells her, “I envy you. Taking these first steps into a new frontier.” In Star Trek lore, First Contact takes place on April 5, 2063. Fittingly, the Hollywood is screening the film on April 6. It’s excellent timing, but might also be a reminder to audiences that it’s never too late to, like Lily, take your first steps into a new frontier—and to believe that we haven’t seen anything yet. SEE IT: Star Trek: First Contact screens at Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-493-1128, hollywoodtheatre.org. 7:30 pm Wednesday, April 6. $8-$10.
Horror pioneer Wes Craven wrote, directed and edited his sophomore feature, which follows a suburban family who, while on a road trip to California, becomes targeted by a brood of cannibals in the Nevada desert. This new restoration screens in 4K as part of the Clinton’s Ghosts, Gore, Guns and Guilt horror series. Clinton, March 31.
Traxx (1988)
Originally released directly to home video (though screened at Portland’s own Hollywood Theatre in 2012), this underseen action comedy stars Shadoe Stevens as the titular Traxx, a mercenary who cleans up his Texas town to fund his cookie-baking business. A must-see for ’80s B-movie completionists! Cinemagic, April 1.
Orlando (1996)
Adapted from Virginia Woolf’s groundbreaking 1928 novel, Tilda Swinton stars as Orlando, a nobleman granted the gift of immortality. After a couple of centuries pass, he’s transformed into a woman, and subsequently treated like one (not well!). Director Sally Potter’s sublime exploration of gender and power screens as part of PAM CUT’s Tilda-Whirl series. PAM CUT, April 2.
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Wong Kar-wai’s romantic masterpiece stars Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung as star-crossed neighbors in the same Hong Kong apartment building. As they’re both married to different spouses (who are themselves having affairs), the lonesome pair communicate through longing stares in the hallways. Screens from a new 35 mm print. Hollywood, April 2-3.
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
One of Martin Scorsese’s all-time favorite films, this Academy Award-winning psychological noir centers on acclaimed novelist Richard (Cornel Wilde) who marries Ellen (Gene Tierney), a socialite who he soon discovers is prone to violent, obsessive jealousy. Vincent Price costars as Ellen’s ex-fiancé. Hollywood, April 2-3. ALSO PLAYING: Cinema 21: The Godfather (1972), April 1-7. Clinton: Peau de Peche (1929), March 30. The Shooting (1966), March 31. Hollywood: The Lure (2015), March 31. Grease (1978), April 4. No Escape No Return (1993), April 5. PAM CUT: Teknolust (2002), April 2.
MOVIES TOP PICK OF THE WEEK OUR KEY
: THIS MOVIE IS EXCELLENT, ONE OF THE BEST OF THE YEAR. : THIS MOVIE IS GOOD. WE RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT. : THIS MOVIE IS ENTERTAINING BUT FLAWED. : THIS MOVIE IS A STEAMING PILE.
unfiltered performance that you won’t soon forget. Overall, the film indulges a bit too much in the morose to be considered entertaining, but it still delivers an effective and powerful examination of grief and the value of life. R. RAY GILL JR. Bridgeport, Clackamas, Cornelius 10, Fox Tower, Movies on TV, Progress Ridge, Studio One.
TURNING RED
THE LOST CITY Though it relies on premise more than plot, The Lost City stands tall among its rival predators in the catalog of action comedies. The story begins with author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) reluctantly going through the motions of a press tour for her latest romantic adventure novel in which she’s forced to work with the book’s cover model, Alan (Channing Tatum), whose earnest portrayal of her leading man “Dash” puts them instantly at odds. Loretta is then kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) who believes she holds the key to finding the lost treasure featured in her novel. From there the film becomes much less about story and more about the comedic chemistry between Tatum, Bullock and the hilarious supporting cast. Brad Pitt provides the type of scene-stealing punch that’s made him one of the best bit players we’ve ever seen, and the fact that the story doesn’t get mired in the friction between Loretta and Alan lends an authenticity to the chemistry that anchors the film. Even though the story falls apart in the third act, the characters build enough goodwill it doesn’t matter. The Lost City is a film designed simply to entertain—and it succeeds. PG-13. RAY GILL JR. Academy, Cedar Hills, Cinemagic, City Center, Eastport, Fox Tower, Joy Cinema, Laurelhurst, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Pioneer Place, St. Johns Twin, Studio One, Wunderland, Wunderland Milwaukie, Tigard.
DEEP WATER
Vic (Ben Affleck) is rich. By designing a computer chip used in drone warfare, he bought himself ample time to pursue his favorite hobbies— biking, cultivating a snail colony, and quietly murdering the many lovers of his wife, Melinda (Ana de Armas). Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith and directed by Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction), Deep Water savors the thrills of sadistic foreplay. “Finally, some emotion,” Melinda sneers when Vic confronts her about one of her affairs. Cuckolding him turns her on, but they’re both aroused by his vicious hunger to control her. Melinda’s conquests may think that they’ve captured a slice of her soul, but they’re merely pieces on the chess board that is her marriage to Vic—just like Lionel (Tracy Letts), a snoopy acquaintance who knows too much about their relationship for his own good. All of this is sick, slick fun, thanks to Lyne’s mastery of the film’s menacing atmosphere and the peerless pairing of de Armas and Affleck. Her teasing cruelty clashes delectably with his sinister stoicism, creating a confounding balance between their performances. Deep Water could have been a hysterical thriller about the horrors of having an unfaithful wife or a post-#MeToo indictment of a deadly husband, but it’s neither. Lyne, Affleck and de Armas have instead created an erotic game in which
man and wife have an equal stake in the inevitably twisted outcome. Progress? Possibly. Entertainment? Undeniably. R. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Hulu.
DRIVE MY CAR
After you see Drive My Car, you will never look at snow, suspension bridges or stages the same way again. When you see the world through the searching eyes of director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, there is no such thing as mere scenery. There is only the living fabric of the places and objects that envelop Yûsuke (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Misaki (Tôko Miura), whose compassion and complexity are a world unto themselves. Most of the film is set in Hiroshima, where Yûsuke is directing a production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Misaki is assigned to be his driver, but their relationship transcends the divide between the front seat and the back. During drives, conversations, and surreal yet strangely believable adventures, their reserve gradually erodes as they reveal their losses and their inner lives to each other, building to a cathartic climax that leaves you at once shattered and soaring. The film, based on a novella by Haruki Murakami, isn’t afraid to face the agony of grief and loneliness, but Hamaguchi’s obvious love for his characters suffuses the entire journey with life-giving warmth. A tender, hopeful coda set during the pandemic could have been cringe-
worthy, but like every moment of the movie, it’s worth believing in because Hamaguchi’s sincerity is beyond question. “We must keep on living,” Yûsuke tells Misaki. With those words, he speaks not only to her but to us. NR. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. HBO Max.
INFINITE STORM
Pam Bales’ heroic story of rescue and survival on Mount Washington stretches well beyond the standard human-vs.-nature narrative—and director Malgorzata Szumowska isn’t afraid to go there. Based on an article in Reader’s Digest, “High Places: Footprints in the Snow Lead to an Emotional Rescue” by Ty Gagne, the movie centers on Bales (Naomi Watts), a climber and member of a local search and rescue team who finds John (Billy Howle), a stranger alone on the mountain, slowly succumbing to extreme wintry conditions and resigned to his fate. Bales snaps into action, taking John on a perilous journey down the mountain and into the teeth of an unforgiving blizzard. Szumowska doesn’t lean on sweeping shots, opting instead to use the camera to create a more visceral experience by lingering on Bales’ painfully human struggle—the trauma of losing loved ones to the mountain is the crux of the story—while Watts reminds us why she’s twice been nominated for an Oscar (for 21 Grams and The Impossible) with an
In Turning Red, the latest kinetic gem from Pixar Animation Studios, 13-yearold Meilin (voiced by Rosalie Chiang) howls, “I’m a gross red monster!” Given her age, you might think she’s talking about pimples, but Meilin is speaking literally—when her emotions rise, she transforms into a fuzzy red panda. It’s a metaphor, but for what? Puberty? Coming out? Discovering a furry fetish? Audiences are likely to put forth dueling perspectives, which is a sign of the film’s smarts—it’s too sweeping and mythic to be confined to a single interpretation. Meilin’s mother, Ming (Sandra Oh), wants to perform a ritual to banish the panda in her daughter’s soul, but Meilin cheerily and firmly tells her, “My panda, my choice, Mom,” a characteristically loaded line from a studio that specializes in serving up allegorical baggage for all ages. Both kids and adults will appreciate that Turning Red, directed by Domee Shi, revels in Meilin’s panda-mode exultation—she beats up a bully and bounds across rooftops—but above all, the film is for girls Meilin’s age. As a triumphant “Pandas, assemble!” climax suggests, Turning Red, the first Pixar film with an all-female creative leadership team, wants them to feel both entertained and seen. PG. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Disney+.
X
A skillful, clever, not entirely satisfying homage to the heyday of both skin flicks and slasher cinema, the latest left-field fearjerker by Ti West (The Innkeepers, The Sacrament) thrusts new meaning into grindhouse. It’s a bloodsteeped farmer’s grandmother yarn about a van full of overripe, reflective, Linklaterian Texas stoners renting a ramshackle cabin from a decrepit couple for an amateur hardcore shoot. An undersexed harpie and long-suffering codger might not seem especially terrifying on paper, but West expertly teases, say, the looming specter of Chekhov’s Alligator just long enough for audiences to walk straight into the business end
of a rusted pitchfork. If anything, the technical facility and lockstep set pieces can feel too perfectly composed. Given the sheer amount of gore on display, there’s an odd sense of restraint tempering the anarchic abandon that burbles throughout the classics of the genre. Halfhearted attempts at providing a psychological basis for the elderly couple’s homicidal mania weaken the lingering air of menace as swiftly an acoustic Fleetwood Mac cover kills any sexual tension. Like a cameraman/budding-indie-auteur character pointedly claims, every dirty (or scary) movie may as well strive for greatness. R. JAY HORTON. Cedar Hills, Cinema 21, City Center, Clackamas, Eastport, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Hollywood, Living Room, Laurelhurst, Lloyd Center, Mill Plain, Pioneer Place, Studio One, Tigard.
THE BATMAN
“What’s black and blue and dead all over?” In The Batman, the Riddler (Paul Dano) poses that question to the Dark Knight (Robert Pattinson), but blacks and blues don’t figure into the film much—visually, morally and emotionally, it’s a gray movie. While director Matt Reeves brought a majestic mournfulness to the Planet of the Apes series, he seems utterly lost in Gotham City. His nearly three-hour film is less a narrative than a mechanistic survey of a political conspiracy that the Riddler wants to expose—the story starts after the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents not just because we’ve seen it before, but because Reeves is more interested in plot than pathos. Even the soulful, sultry presence of Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman can’t liven up the film—she and the Batman flirt so chastely that if it weren’t for a few F-bombs and clumsily staged fight scenes, Reeves could have easily gotten away with a G rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. When Christopher Nolan was directing the Dark Knight trilogy, he tore into the Batman mythos with fervor, whereas Reeves just seems to be lackadaisically marinating in misery—especially when the film attempts an embarrassingly halfhearted critique of Bruce and the rest of Gotham’s 1%. What’s dead all over? The Batman. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Academy, Bagdad, Cedar Hills, Cinema 21, Cinemagic, City Center, Eastport, Fox Tower, Laurelhurst, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Pioneer Place, St. Johns, St. Johns Theater & Pub, St. Johns Twin, Studio One, Tigard.
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JONESIN’
FREE WILL
B Y M AT T J O N E S
"Can I Finish?"--yes I can.
ASTROLOGY ARIES
(March 21-April 19): To provide the right horoscope, I must introduce you to three new words. The first is "orphic," defined as "having an importance or meaning not apparent to the senses nor comprehensible to the intellect; beyond ordinary understanding." Here's the second word: "ludic," which means "playful; full of fun and high spirits." The third word is "kalon," which refers to "profound, thorough beauty." Now I will coordinate those terms to create a prophecy in accordance with your astrological aspects. Ready? I predict you will generate useful inspirations and energizing transformations for yourself by adopting a ludic attitude as you seek kalon in orphic experiments and adventures.
TAURUS
(April 20-May 20): I love your steadfastness, intense effort, and stubborn insistence on doing what's right. Your ability to stick to the plan even when chaos creeps in is admirable. But during the coming weeks, I suggest you add a nuance to your approach. Heed the advice of martial artist Bruce Lee: "Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves."
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini-born basketball
coach Pat Summitt won Olympic medals, college championships, and presidential awards. She had a simple strategy: "Here's how I'm going to beat you. I'm going to outwork you. That's it. That's all there is to it." I recommend that you apply her approach to everything you do for the rest of 2022. According to my analysis, you're on course for a series of satisfying victories. All you have to do is nurture your stamina as you work with unwavering focus and resilient intelligence.
CANCER
ACROSS
51. Commend highly
1. Popeyes side
53. Willingly obedient
5. "Surprise" subtitle in "The Price Is Right"'s "Hole in One" game
56. 22-Down variant 60. "Yeah, I get it"
14. Nautical prefix
61. Magazine for the discerning Abominable Snowman?
15. Ecstatic hymn
64. Lt. Dangle's city
16. "On Air with _ _ _ Seacrest"
65. Prolific writer Asimov
17. Cash cab, really?
67. Words of clarification when spelling
10. Sherman _ _ _, CA
19. Architect Saarinen 20. Construction worker on "Fraggle Rock" 21. Brand in the dairy aisle 23. Dumbstruck 26. Too inquisitive 27. On the clock? 30. Gary's st.
66. Finn on a raft
68. Lose intentionally 69. Accident-monitoring gp.
DOWN 1. Right _ _ _ Fred 2. Host of the recent "You Bet Your Life" revival
32. Doesn't give up
3. Gas brand that's also a musical direction
35. Recovered from
4. More dizzy
36. Make it through 38. "_ _ _ Junipero" (Emmywinning "Black Mirror" episode) 39. Petty peeve 40. Item near a litter box 41. _ _ _ nutshell 42. "Get _ _ _ Ya-Ya's Out!" (Rolling Stones album) 43. Like some wages
5. "Jerry Springer: The _ _ _"
28. Elite eightsome of higher ed 29. Author Morrison, when writing poetry? 31. Two-unit home 33. Team of judges 34. Like a winding road 36. "Foucault's Pendulum" author Umberto 37. "Curious George" author H.A. _ _ _ 40. Display unit 44. Word to a hound 46. Japanese radish 48. Means of escape 50. Ark measurement unit 52. "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" network 53. Bilingual explorer 54. Jake Shimabukuro instruments
6. Templeton, in "Charlotte's Web"
55. Phil who jammed with Jerry Garcia
7. Spilled drink
57. God, to Caesar
8. Like some cheese rinds
58. Carve in stone
9. Vegetable for which goggles may be used when prepping
59. "Morning Joe" cohost Brzezinski 62. Stuff in a pit
10. End of an ultimatum
63. Principle behind yin and yang
44. Long journey
11. Electronic assistant for a Madagascar lemur species?
45. Parenthetical comment
12. Byron of "MythBusters"
47. Lao-_ _ _ (Chinese philosopher)
13. Runny nose problem
48. "The _ _ _" (podcast hosted by Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise)
22. See 56-Across
49. Math subj.
27. Margot played her in 2017
18. Become well 24. Triumph in the end 25. Countersign
©2022 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.
last week’s answers
(June 21-July 22): In Britain, 70 percent of the land is owned by one percent of the population. Globally, one percent of the population owns 43 percent of the wealth. I hope there's a much better distribution of resources within your own life. I hope that the poorer, less robust parts of your psyche aren't being starved at the expense of the privileged and highly functioning aspects. I hope that the allies and animals you tend to take for granted are receiving as much of your love and care as the people you're trying to impress or win over. If any adjustments are necessary, now is a favorable time to make them.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): TV show creator Joey
Soloway says, "The only way things will change is when we're all wilder, louder, riskier, sillier, and unexpectedly overflowing with surprise." Soloway's Emmy Award-winning work on Transparent, one of the world's first transgenderpositive shows, suggests that their formula has been effective for them. I'm recommending this same approach to you in the coming weeks, Leo. It will help you summon the extra courage and imagination you will need to catalyze the necessary corrections and adjustments.
VIRGO
(Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain," wrote mythologist Joseph Campbell. I don't think his cure is foolproof. The lingering effects of some old traumas aren't so simple and easy to dissolve. But I suspect Campbell's strategy will work well for you in the coming weeks. You're in a phase of your astrological cycle when extra healing powers are available. Some are obvious, and some are still partially hidden. It will be your sacred duty to track down every possible method that could help you banish at least some of your suffering and restore at least some of your joie de vivre.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You know who Jimi Hen-
drix was, right? He was a brilliant and influential rock guitarist. As for Miles Davis, he was a Hall of Fame-level trumpeter and composer. You may be less familiar with Tony Williams. A prominent rock critic once called him "the best drummer in the world." In 1968, those three superstars gathered in the hope of recording an album. But they wanted to include a fourth musician, Paul
WEEK OF APRIL 7
© 2022 ROB BREZSNY
McCartney, to play bass for them. They sent a telegram to the ex-Beatle, but it never reached him. And so the supergroup never happened. I mention this in the hope that it will render you extra alert for invitations and opportunities that arrive in the coming weeks—perhaps out of nowhere. Don't miss out! Expect the unexpected. Read between the lines. Investigate the cracks.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Poet Anne Carson
claims that "a page with a poem on it is less attractive than a page with a poem on it and some tea stains." I agree. If there are tea stains, it probably means that the poem has been studied and enjoyed. Someone has lingered over it, allowing it to thoroughly permeate their consciousness. I propose we make the tea-stained poem your power metaphor for the coming weeks, Scorpio. In other words, shun the pristine, the spotless, the untouched. Commune with messy, even chaotic things that have been loved and used.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian
author Martha Beck articulated the precise message you need to hear right now. She wrote, "Here is the crux of the matter, the distilled essence, the only thing you need to remember: When considering whether to say yes or no, you must choose the response that feels like freedom. Period." I hope you adopt her law in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. You should avoid responses and influences that don't feel liberating. I realize that's an extreme position to take, but I think it's the right one for now. Where does your greatest freedom lie? How can you claim it? What shifts might you need to initiate?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I'm glad you have
been exploring your past and reconfiguring your remembrances of the old days and old ways. I'm happy you've been transforming the story of your life. I love how you've given yourself a healing gift by reimagining your history. It's fine with me if you keep doing this fun stuff for a while longer. But please also make sure you don't get so immersed in bygone events that you're weighed down by them. The whole point of the good work you've been doing is to open up your future possibilities. For inspiration, read this advice from author Milan Kundera: "We must never allow the future to collapse under the burden of memory."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian historian
Mary Frances Berry offered counsel that I think all Aquarians should keep at the heart of their philosophy during the coming weeks. She wrote, "The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can't be done." I hope you trust yourself enough to make that your battle cry. I hope you will keep summoning all the courage you will regularly need to implement its mandate.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What's the leading
cause of deforestation in Latin America? Logging for wood products? Agricultural expansion? New housing developments? Nope. It's raising cattle so people everywhere can eat beef and cheese and milk. This industry also plays a major role in the rest of the world's ongoing deforestation tragedy. Soaring greenhouse gas emissions aren't entirely caused by our craving for burgers and milk and cheese, of course, but our climate emergency would be significantly less dramatic if we cut back our consumption. That's the kind of action I invite you to take in the coming months, Pisces. My analysis of astrological omens suggests that you now have even more power than usual to serve the collective good of humanity in whatever specific ways you can. (PS: Livestock generates 14.5 percent of our greenhouse gases, equal to the emissions from all cars, trucks, airplanes, and ships combined.)Homework: Tell me your most important lesson of the year. https://Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology
Homework: What's the biggest good change you could imagine making in your life right now? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
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