SEAN BATTLES GLITTERFOX KINGSLEY THE MACKS NIGHT HERON POOL BOYS
“I WAS A PLAYER. I DIDN’T BELIEVE IN LOVE. AND I FELL IN LOVE.”
PAGE 12
MEET 10 LOCAL ARTISTS WHO ARE RESHAPING PORTLAND’S MUSIC SCENE. WWEEK.COM VOL 48/33 0 6. 2 2 . 202 2
NEWS: WHO LET THE DOGS IN? P. 8 DRINK: JOLLY ROGER PREPARES TO WALK THE PLANK. P. 22
2
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
FINDINGS CHRIS NESSETH
JOLLY ROGER, PAGE 22
WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 48, ISSUE 33 Stickers jam ballot counting machines. 4
Four in five Portland families can’t afford to buy a home. 5 Traffic stops are down 90% from before the pandemic. 6
Thirty-one percent of Oregon children are overweight or obese. 7 Neighbors have used bolt cutters on the Hosford Middle School fence at least a dozen times. 9 When Sean Battles isn’t DJing, he’s working as a firefighter. 14 Glitterfox wrote much of their latest album while suffering from COVID-19 symptoms. 14 Kingsley chose her pop-star
moniker when she was 12 years old. 15 Pool Boys got started because of a series of text messages from Argentina. 18 For the first time ever, organizers of the Portland Pride Parade consulted with the Bureau of Emergency Management . 20
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When the Jolly Roger opened in 1962, its ads promised “free chocolate pieces of eight for junior pirates finishing their plates.” 22 The Redwood Theater in Brookings survived both the Spanish flu and COVID-19. 26
ON THE COVER:
OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:
Best New Bands 2022: singer-songwriter Kingsley, photo by Summer Luu.
Tires slashed, mirrors shattered along Laurelhurst street.
199.95
Mark Zusman
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
3
DIALOGUE
• •••• ••••
A T R E A LRBO S ER E T •••• A E H T SCIENCE ON TAP
JUN 24
JUN 23
Making Memories:
a gender bending burlesque cabaret
Using Neuroscience to Enhance Teaching & Learning
Kevin Burke JUN 25 Inna Kovtun Espacio Flamenco O.B. Addy Michelle Alany & the Mystics Andrea Algieri Jet Black Pearl Andre Temkin Darka Dusty & the Borshch Beatniks
an international show of support
THE WORLD IS WITH UKRAINE
legendary UK jazz guitar group
JUN 28
ACOUSTIC ALCHEMY JUN 29 Chamber Music Northwest
JUL 2
the world’s only light-up orchestra
JUL 16
Celtic Light Orchestra presents
SPACE INVADERS
Highway Troubadour Tour
Chamber Music Northwest
JUL 19
New@Night
Andy Akiho’s
one of the world’s most creative fingerstyle guitarists
JUL 23
MIKE DAWES
Grammy & Pulitzer nominated album
SEVEN PILLARS
+ Sandbox Percussion
JUL 29 Booklover’s Burlesque a midsummer
JUL 30
Frank Zappa tribute
night’s tease
featuring
Ike Willis
UPCOMING SHOWS
•••••••••••••
7/9 • AFTERGLOW: A POST-PRIDE EXTRAVAGANZA 7/14 • SCIENCE ON TAP: HOW DO SCIENTISTS SEE BLACK HOLES? 7/31 • WAIPUNA 8/5 • CALL ME A PUSSY - FEATURING LAURA STOKES
•••••
albertarosetheatre.com
3000 NE Alberta • 503.764.4131 4
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
AYAHUASCA-DREAMIN, VIA REDDIT: “Never heard of this
is a nasty regime, but so is China, and I don’t see the golf world up in arms about Nike’s connections there. I guess at some point companies get so big that the economic downside of doing the right thing is not feasible. China has the consumers, Saudi Arabia has the oil. Easier to be hypocritical.”
place, looks awesome. Guessing the LIV event and all the press is going to make memberships and tee times for the public course harder to get for a while. For every person that quits there will be many more that want to join.”
JON KOSKELA, VIA FACEBOOK: “Not good for Oregon to
this LIV golf deal is a megamillion-dollar shitshow. Not playing golf myself or paying much attention to it, I Googled to see if they have a television deal. This Saudi enterprise does not. Given the documented history of the principal players (pun intended) from the House of Saud violence and human rights, spectators should stay away from this league and any tournaments.”
have this kind of money linked to businesses. It is plain and simply wrong supporting Saudi human abuses that rise to real crimes against humanity.”
tour event in Portland, I would drive three hours to watch the best players in the world. I will be staying home.”
Rhapsodies + Alisa & Demons Amador
JESSE COLIN YOUNG
BIG BISCUIT, VIA WWEEK. COM: “Obviously, Saudi Arabia
JEFF BUTCHER, VIA TWITTER: “If there were an @pga-
PASCUALA ILABACA New@Night Y FAUNA JUL 15
Once again, the eyes of the nation are fixed on North Plains, Oregon. Actually, the arrival of LIV Golf marks a shift of media attention from Portland some 20 miles northwest to Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, where members are quitting over the June 30 arrival of a professional tour backed by the Saudi government. WW spoke to three former members who recently resigned the club (“Great Pumpkin,” June 15). It’s just the second stop of the tour, which has become a flashpoint in national political discourse. Here’s what our readers had to say:
KURT CHAPMAN, VIA WWEEK.COM: “Sounds like
Dr. Know
CHARLIE CRISPEN, VIA FACEBOOK: “They canceled by
calling on their iPhones wearing their super-cool Nike tracksuits and then congratulated each other over a nice meal of cartel-owned avocado salads.”
MAGGIE O’CONNOR, VIA WWEEK.COM: “Good for them.
I didn’t realize that Pumpkin Ridge isn’t locally owned. LIV is a disgrace. The players who have migrated from the PGA to the Saudi tour are exhibiting some of the worst traits of human nature: greed and an immoral disregard for human rights.”
CONSULTINGGIGJOB898, VIA REDDIT: “They are going
straight to heaven because they put their foot down on the LIV golf tournament and quit their private golf course that hosted their event. SAINTS.” BETSY LAREY, VIA TWITTER:
“My friend is a member, and he is resigning also. As a golf professional and a member of a private club, I will tell you it’s common protocol to discuss these things with members first.”
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: PO Box 10770, Portland OR, 97296 Email: mzusman@wweek.com
BY MARTY SMITH @martysmithxxx
Just saw your column [“Why Can’t Clackamas County Just Sticker Over Those Blurry Bar Codes?” WW, June 8] and, unfortunately, found your email [asking about this] in my spam folder. We’re starting to get questions about the sticker idea, and I’m concerned that misinformation is spreading. Would you consider writing an update? —Ben Morris, Oregon Secretary of State’s Office I would have gotten back to you sooner, Ben, but—would you believe it?—I only just now saw your message. Anyway, I’m happy to fight misinformation arising from the Clackamas County snafu; our electoral process gets enough grief when things are running smoothly. (On a related note, does anyone else find it ironic that grumpy old people who don’t trust postal voting are the same ones who still pay bills by mailing a paper check?) But first, in a spirit of public service entirely unrelated to the fact that a clarification won’t fill an entire column, I’d like to talk about spam filters. Who among us has not sent an important (to us, anyway) email only to have it mistaken for an entreaty to E@rn Bitc0in Whi£e Y0u S!eep? Vigorous spam defense inevitably produces
some collateral damage. (One government flack told me she checks her spam folder for mail from media outlets for this very reason.) If you’re concerned your messages aren’t getting through, there are two things you can do: (1) Stop signing emails “Yours in Free XXX Viagra Singles in Your Area”; (2) use a service like mail-tester.com to check your spam score. Who knew? Now, the clarification: Readers of that June 8 column (hi, Mom) will recall my observation that hand-copying each ballot—tedious though it was—was administratively the path of least resistance, since it required no initiative, only dogged adherence to protocol. However, there was another, less bureaucratic but probably more important reason: The ballot-scanning machines don’t like stickers. “Adding a sticker impacts the thickness of the ballot and can jam the machines,” says secretary of state spokesman Ben Morris, whom I guess I’m not addressing directly anymore. Morris said officials would also be concerned about the effect of the stickers’ adhesive on a large-volume scanning machine, which “works by moving paper quickly through a track. You don’t want adhesive anywhere near those things.” (Especially after midnight.) Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.
MURMURS MICK HANGLAND-SKILL
HIGHWAY EXPANSION FOES FOUR IN FIVE PORTLANDERS CAN’T AFFORD A HOUSE: It used to be high prices that made Portland housing unaffordable. Now, it’s high prices and rising interest rates. Until recently, a 30-year mortgage (3%) was the best deal in town after a Costco rotisserie chicken ($4.99). What a difference six months make. To cool the economy and tame inflation, the Federal Reserve has been raising rates. As expected, mortgage rates have followed, rising to around 6% for 30-year money. Combined with ongoing price appreciation, mortgage payments have risen by up to 50% in just a few months, says Josh Lehner, an Oregon state economist. He estimates that 168,000 Portland-area households have been priced out of the market. Now, only 1 in 5 can afford to buy a home here, down from an already terrible 1 in 3. Less demand will likely slow the rampant price appreciation that took hold during the pandemic, but without more supply, Portland is likely to remain unaffordable, he says. “Longer term, we know housing demand will be solid given income growth and demographics,” Lehner wrote in his blog June 21. “Oregon needs to see continued gains in new construction.” HIGHWAY CRITICS SAY TOLLS COULD REDUCE ROSE QUARTER TRAFFIC: Critics of the billion-dollar-plus project to expand Interstate 5 through the Rose Quarter are calling on the Portland City Council to negotiate a better deal with the Oregon Department of Transportation before signing on to an intergovernmental agreement. They ask the city to postpone a June 22 hearing and subsequent vote and instead require ODOT to prepare a full environmental impact statement that analyzes the option not to expand the highway and instead implement congestion pricing or tolls on that portion of the highway. While several groups skeptical of the Rose Quarter project were mollified by the addition of freeway caps, environmental advocates remain unconvinced. “Although ODOT has nominally expressed intent to toll the project area as part of the Regional Mobility Pricing Project, it is clearly dragging its feet, and is more interested in widening the freeway than using pricing to manage demand and reduce traffic and pollution,” states a June 20 memo to the City Council from No More Freeways, Allan Rudwick of the Eliot Neighborhood Association, and Mary Peveto of Neighbors for Clean Air. “It’s worth noting that ODOT’s own consultant studies
of road pricing indicated that pricing I-5 would be just as effective in reducing traffic as widening the freeway and could save hundreds of millions of dollars.” Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman Dylan Rivera says: “Everyone agrees that pricing is essential and that it is expected to be in place before the opening of the Rose Quarter project. With the agreement in place, the city will be able to engage and advocate for appropriate environmental study.” SEATTLE GOES WHERE PORTLAND WON’T: Two months ago, three Portland-area officials up for reelection in the May primary convened an “emergency meeting” to discuss using a portion of the Metro-owned Expo Center as a “safe parking” site for houseless Portlanders living in RVs or cars. They revived a year of discussions between the city and the regional planning agency Metro. Since that meeting, no progress has been made and discussions appear nonexistent. Last year, City Commissioner Dan Ryan declined to spend $1.5 million to rehab a gravel lot offered by Metro, saying it would be a fiscally irresponsible move. But it’s one that another Pacific Northwest city has decided is prudent: On June 21, The Seattle Times reported that the Seattle City Council had approved $1.9 million toward development of an RV park. Metro spokesman Nick Christensen says, “We have no update to the discussions over safe park.” BECKWITH SENTENCED FOR ROAD RAGE KILLING: Donald A. Beckwith, 31, was sentenced to 17 years in prison last week for the fatal 2020 road rage shooting of LaSalle J. Shakier in Northeast Portland. Beckwith was the lead figure in a WW cover story (“Spare the Jail, Spoil the Child,” May 6, 2014) about Oregon’s juvenile justice system. That story reported that Beckwith had been arrested three times as a juvenile before being shot during a 2007 home invasion. He served time in the juvenile and later adult correctional systems for that crime. In a February 2014 clemency petition Beckwith filed, he wrote, “Since being incarcerated, I’ve had time to prioritize my life and get a handle on my anger. The time I have spent in the Oregon Youth Authority correctional facilities probably saved my life.” But as The Oregonian first reported, he will now return to prison, after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
5
SAM GEHRKE
NEWS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
TRENDING
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop As traffic crashes and deaths continue to soar, traffic stops are way down. BY N I G E L J AQ U I S S
njaquiss@week .com
Last year, Portland recorded its highest number of traffic deaths—63—in three decades. Through June 16, 2022, when the Portland Police Bureau reported a single-vehicle fatal crash on Northeast Columbia Boulevard, there have been 27 deaths. That’s a little behind last year’s numbers and consistent with statewide figures: The Oregon Department of Transportation reports crashes are down statewide 9%. In its analysis of last year’s carnage, the Portland Bureau of Transportation identified two major factors in the jump in fatalities: “speed and impairment.” Another contributor: the lack of enforcement of traffic laws. Portland Police Bureau statistics show that traffic stops are down 90% from before the pandemic. PPB spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen says the bureau’s decision to disband its dedicated traffic unit in February 2021 is a big reason for the drop. “That was 18 officers and sergeants who were dedicated full time to addressing traffic safety,” Allen says, noting that the traffic unit had already been cut in half since he joined the bureau in 2008. Civil rights also play a part. Well-documented racial dispar-
CLOSER THAN IT APPEARS: Traffic deaths in Portland continue at a near-record pace.
ities in traffic stops led Mayor Ted Wheeler and Police Chief Chuck Lovell to announce in June 2021 that the bureau would discontinue many low-level stops. “The goal is to make our city both safer and more equitable, helping reduce the number of Black, Indigenous and people of color who are disproportionately impacted by consent searches and traffic stops,” Wheeler said then. Early results examined by WW showed that racial disparities in the first three months after the change in protocol remained mostly the same (“Traffic Jam,” WW, Dec. 22, 2021). The other issue, Allen says, is that the number of officers has declined as the numbers of shootings and homicides have increased sharply. PPB’s latest staffing report shows 774 sworn officers, with 108 vacant positions. “It’s fair to say that the current staffing is lower than anyone here can remember,” Allen says. Some officers are doing spot duty in traffic enforcement, but
TRAFFIC STOPS ARE DOWN.
Portland Police Bureau traffic stops have fallen 90% since Q1 2020.
4,678 1,467 471 Q1 2020
Q1 2021 Source: Portland Police Bureau
6
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
the bureau’s priority for the time being, Allen says, is responding to calls. “If an officer is on his way to an emergency call, or even a non-emergency, the officer might not address a traffic violation,” he says. “People are too often waiting long periods to get a police response. So officers want to get there to serve the caller who’s asking for help, and that means that speeder might not get a ticket.” In a joint statement, Ashton Simpson of Oregon Walks and Sarah Iannarone of The Street Trust say they would prefer more education and better infrastructure in underserved neighborhoods to more traffic cops: “PPB could have a greater impact with fewer officers by implementing data-driven, systems-based approaches to Vision Zero and concentrating their efforts where they are needed most, for instance deterring speeding and reckless driving in high-crash intersections and corridors.”
MEANWHILE, DEATHS HAVE SOARED. 2019
49
2020
54
2021
63 27
2022
(AS OF JUNE 16)
Q1 2022 Sources: Portland Police Bureau, Portland Bureau of Transportation
HENRY CROMETT
WHERE WE’RE AT
Diagnosis: Oregon A new report offers a look into Oregon’s good, bad and ugly rankings on health care. Oregon has weathered the pandemic in relatively good health, according to a new report out June 16 from the Commonwealth Fund, a century-old foundation that advocates for better health care policy. The state scored 14th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia for overall health, judged by a variety of measures, including health care services provided and avoided, and residents’ general health. That’s in the top one-third of the country. That picture fractures a little on closer examination. By some measures, Oregon is the picture of good health care, given its long-term policy efforts to improve cost savings in its use of hospitals. But the state earns low rankings by several metrics related to mental health and addiction. Notably, Oregon’s low vaccination rate for children had risen sharply—at least before the full brunt of the pandemic was felt. But its
GETTING SHOTS UP: Childhood vaccinations increased in Oregon prior to the pandemic.
mental health care for kids had worsened by some measures. Jason Renaud, secretary of the board for the Mental Health Association of Portland, decries the state’s mental health ratings. “Oregon has been inexcusably last for a long, long time,” Renaud says. “And I haven’t seen it have much of an effect on the sense of urgency on the part of the providers or the government.” The numbers give an interesting perspective on where Oregonians should expect to see gaps in the health of their fellow citizens. R AC H E L MONAHAN.
HOW OREGON RANKED AMONG THE 50 STATES AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FOR BEST PERFORMANCE ON HEALTH INDICATORS:
1st
for two measures of hospital use (admissions of patients 18-64 with employer insurance for ambulatory care, and avoidable ER visits by the same group)
(Oregon’s rate vastly improved to 23% in 2020, down from 42% in 2016.)
15th
for adult obesity
for children who did not receive needed mental health care (Oregon worsened from 10% in 2016-17 to 16% in 2019-20.)
27th
39th
10th
for children overweight or obese (The problem notably worsened. Oregon went from 22% of children with obesity in 2016-2017 to 32% in 2019-20 while the national average only increased from 31% to 32%.)
13th
for children without all recommended vaccines
for suicides per 100,000
43rd
for adults with any mental illness reporting unmet need (29%)
44th
for alcohol-related deaths per 100,000
SAFE REST SITE
WeShine in Parkrose In search of land to place tiny house villages, a nonprofit is taking a different tack than the city of Portland: It’s looking to private land. It’s been 13 months since City Commissioner Dan Ryan pledged to open six “safe rest villages” across the city as an alternative to street camping. Last week, Portland officials opened the second of those villages, in the Multnomah Village neighborhood. (Most of its residents were moved from another pod village in Old Town, which its operator says was closed due to gun violence.) As the clock ticks on Ryan’s pledge, we examine a nonprofit attempting a different model. Location: Parkrose Community United Church of Christ Status: A nonprofit called WeShine is close to finishing a tiny house village at a church parking lot in the Parkrose neighborhood. The nonprofit hopes to open the low-barrier village in mid-July and offer priority placement to homeless LGBTQ and BIPOC Portlanders. The Portland-based nonprofit, founded only last year, has an ambitious plan: build 10 tiny house villages in 10 different neighborhoods, each with a maximum capacity of 12 residents. Each village will offer pods to specific groups most likely to slip through the cracks of homeless outreach, and each will be outfitted with kitchenettes, restrooms and showers. WeShine is currently in contract negotiations with the Joint
Office of Homeless Services to fund operations and building costs for its first two villages. Not entirely unlike the city of Portland’s planned tiny house villages, the nonprofit has been shopping around for leasable plots of land for the past year. But unlike the city, it’s seeking private rather than public land. “We spent nine months fruitlessly looking for private landowners to work with us,” says Jan McManus, co-founder and executive director of WeShine. “Now I’m getting calls almost weekly from faith communities and private landowners that are interested. We’re getting calls from businesses, too.” WeShine has had particular success so far with churches. Parkrose Community United Church of Christ is the location of the village close to accepting residents. Board chair Chris Tanner showed WW around the site on Sunday. Four pods are nearly complete, each adorned with a stenciled sun on the side. The church’s community garden abuts the village. A 16-page manual with dozens of drawings shows the pod structure designed by a retired architect. Who stands in the way: One barrier the nonprofit seeks to circumvent is obtaining a commercial permit for the Parkrose village’s other planned amenities: a shared kitchen, restrooms
and showers. It’s meeting with the city’s Bureau of Development Services this week to discuss. That’s the same barrier Commissioner Ryan, who oversees BDS, has encountered with the safe rest villages too. “What we’re hoping for is for them to reduce the requirements and waive some requirements that we don’t need,” McManus says. “We intend to populate it before the community buildings are in, with a rudimentary fashion: a grill and porta-potties. I guess we’ll figure out something with the permit sooner or later.” WeShine is in preliminary talks with another church in Southeast Portland as a potential site for its second village. Another entity WeShine approached that owns significant land across the city: the Archdiocese of Portland. “It just felt like they had their own channels to help the homeless, and that WeShine are new, and they didn’t necessarily feel a need to do a partnership with us,” says David Weaver, co-founder of WeShine—and he acknowledges that there’s significant bureaucracy in churches, too. Weaver has formed a theory he thinks WeShine’s model will follow. He calls it “the gumball theory.” “Sometimes there’s a gumball machine, and they get stuck and won’t come out. And then maybe you stick your hand in there and they all fall out. I think that’s going to happen with villages,” Weaver says. “We think we’ll get to a point where the churches are competing with each other to have villages.” What local officials say: The Joint Office says the contract is likely to be finalized as soon as next month. Margaux Weeke, a spokeswoman for Ryan, says he’s highly supportive of WeShine. “Government cannot do it alone: We need partners from all sectors to step up.” S O P H I E P E E L . Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
7
MUSIC MILLENNIUM
NEWS BRIAN BROSE
PRESENTS
LAURA VIERS PERFORMANCE & SIGNING! SUNDAY JULY 10TH AT 3PM NEW ALBUM
‘FOUND LIGHT’
OUT JULY 8TH! “It’s a cathartic experience that embraces her process for shedding skin, stretching into personal liberation after a painful split...channeled through the sound of fuzzy guitars and punk energy.” -
LOCKED OUT: Basil Costandi and his dog Cassius have visited the Hosford field every day for nearly two years.
Freedom Fido
A Southeast Portland middle school field has become a battleground for greenspace. BY S O P H I E P E E L
Get Busy Tonight OUR EVENT PICKS, E M A I L E D W E E K LY. 8
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
speel@wweek .com
For over a decade, people living in the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood of Southeast Portland had a handshake agreement with a series of principals at Hosford Middle School. Dog owners could use the school’s vast field as an off-leash dog park after school hours so long as neighbors picked up their pooches’ poop and ensured that no holes dug by dogs were left for children to trip on. When the pandemic hit, that unofficial dog park became a social lifeline. Basil Costandi had just adopted Cassius, a terrier-Lab-boxer mix. He went to the field each day to run Cassius and says he met upward of 50 of his neighbors there. Then, this spring, the school enclosed the entire field with a chain-link fence. Soon, Hosford locked its five gates night and day. What ensued blocks from Southeast Division Street is a heated dispute—an anti-government rebellion, even—over access to greenspace in a growing city. The fight manages to embrace many of Portland’s most tender grievances: social isolation during COVID, people with mental illness and addiction creating friction in public spaces, and rapid development that makes everyone feel jammed together without a re-
laxing way to socially interact. (City officials say 345 apartment units have opened in the Hosford-Abernathy neighborhood and in blocks directly east of the school since 2017, making it among Portland’s fastest-growing areas.) But most of all, the conflict demonstrates just how deeply attached Portlanders are to their dog parks— even ones that don’t officially exist. Portland Public Schools says it has no legal obligation to leave the field open to neighbors. Portland Parks & Recreation tells WW the bureau “does not have any agreement with [Hosford] that would prevent the school from installing fencing or placing conditions on access.” The school district argues its land is meant for kids, and that it’s entitled to restrict use whenever it deems appropriate for safety reasons. Neighbors retort that their taxpayer dollars helped pay for the field, and that taking away such a valuable greenspace is a death knell for their community. “For so many people, that was their only sense of community during COVID,” Costandi says. “I was there every day. It’s really sad, it’s really depressing. It’s almost like the school takes pride in shitting on us.” After the school district locked the gates this spring, neighbors organized.
BRIAN BROSE
Julian Bermudez spearheaded that movement. He collected video testimony of neighbors locked out of the field and others who said they’d been yelled at or intimidated by two school custodians tasked with keeping people off the field; video of a youth soccer team climbing over the fence to practice; and video of a mother boosting her baby over the fence. One neighbor described on camera how a school custodian came to her home to question her about cut locks. “He knocked on my door, he had a PPS badge. He asked if I knew anything about the locks being damaged and then asked if I would be a scout for him and gave me his phone number,” she said. “It was intimidating.” Another woman said a janitor locked the gate while she was inside and refused to let her out. A man warned in a video that such security is how so many people died during the 1912 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. (He fudged the details a bit; workers were locked in the upper floors of a burning, 10-story building, not a large grassy field.) The district says it’s received no complaints alleging such behaviors, but custodians have reported being harassed by neighbors. The locks have been cut at least a dozen times, according to neighbors who spoke with WW. (One neighbor posted a photo on Twitter in April of a locked gate: “Nothing a bolt cutter can’t liberate.”) Portions of the fence have been cut so people can squeeze through. One gate is now completely disconnected from the fence on both sides, and only three locks keep it from falling over. A sign posted in the neighborhood reads in part: “Are you concerned about the safety of children being locked inside the yard and unable to escape in the event of an emergency like the Texas tragedy?” The district tells WW it locked the fences because of after-hour parties where drug and alcohol paraphernalia were left behind, “a child bitten by an off-leash dog, a child breaking a limb after tripping in a divot made by dogs…[and] students returning from recess covered in dog feces.” Multnomah County spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti says between 2017 and June 2021, eight dog-related incidents at Hosford were reported to the county, “including two loose, aggressive dog calls, three other loose dog calls, two bite incidents, and one stray dog.” Parks bureau spokesman Mark Ross tells WW it does not plan to add off-leash dog areas to the parks system because of resource constraints. David Menschel, a dog owner nearby, says “99% of what goes on there is benign, if not actively good.”
“It’s almost like the school takes pride in shitting on us.”
For years, the relationship between the school and dog owners has been uneasy. As far back as 2009, the school district threatened to crack down on unleashed dogs. In 2014, a few neighbors tried to broker a truce, starting a bank account where neighbors could chip in maintenance fees. Versions of this had been tried before, but this particular system worked fairly smoothly. The neighbor who championed the initiative, Ashley Henry, removed herself in 2019. In early 2020, Portland Public Schools informed dog owners at a meeting held at Hosford that their pets would have to be leashed while on school grounds or fines would be enforced. The meeting was hostile, and the district brought one of its attorneys. When the school district decided to lock all the gates to the field this spring, the battle found new life. In an April 2022 newsletter to Hosford parents, interim principal Joe Mitacek wrote that “custodians who try to enforce [the leash rule] have been subject to harassment by dog owners.” Another concern for the district: mentally ill and homeless people wandering onto the field. In March 2019, a naked man with a hatchet and knife ran onto the field. The school went into lockdown, and he stabbed a police officer during his arrest. In an email to staff for state Rep. Rob Nosse, whose district includes Hosford, Mitacek was candid: “The fencing project is one that was requested some time ago due to homeless people coming onto the campus.” WW visited the field two times in the past week. Dog owners tossed balls across the grass, chatting with one another amicably. Gates had been cut on both occasions. On the first visit, Bermudez walked by one of the school’s custodians. “Hey!” he called to the janitor, addressing him by his first name. The custodian lowered his head, shook it and kept walking, not acknowledging Bermudez. Bermudez says he and his neighbors are willing to help maintain the field, and all they want is to meet with the district and discuss finding a middle ground: “Those are things that we’re willing to negotiate,” Bermudez says—but he says the district has been unresponsive to their pleas. “Collaboration is a really basic thing to ask for,” Bermudez says. District sources tell WW entitlement to a space meant to serve Portland children is selfish and tone deaf. Meanwhile, PPS is strapped for cash. Next year, it plans to cut 88 teaching positions due to budget shortfalls. District sources tell WW the last thing they have is money to maintain a campus trampled by offleash dogs. On Tuesday morning, a construction worker replaced two of the most commonly used gates with permanent fencing. A handwritten sign on one of the gates, reading “Communities die without green space,” had been taken down. Angela Uherbelau, an education advocate and public school parent whose Irvington community is also negotiating with the local elementary school to provide field maintenance, says she empathizes with the need for greenspace but thinks the neighbors should take a less destructive resistance tactic than cutting locks. “The time and labor that’s spent continuing to replace locks could be going to other things that our kids desperately need,” Uherbelau says. “The district might seem like a faceless behemoth, but the impact is really on kids.”
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
LAKE OSWEGO
PORTLAND
NEWS
Hotseat: Donnie Oliveira
He was quietly placed in charge of Portland’s most controversial project. He explains his strategy.
CHRIS NESSETH
“Many of these organizations have operating budgets of $200,000, and we’re like, ‘I don’t know, do you want a million?’” money. It’s completely appropriate for people to be looking around for how to solve housing or other problems. We’re in a housing emergency. I don’t begrudge people who see what looks like a stagnant pot of money and say, “Well, let’s use that.” I understand that. And I have a responsibility to remind everybody that we’re building something in response to a ballot initiative. And the ballot language was really restrictive.
HOT TOPIC: Donnie Oliveira (below) will lead Portland’s preparation for devastating heat waves, like the one that baked the city one year ago this week (above). BY ANTHONY EFFINGER
aeffi nger@wweek.com
Before voters approved the ballot measure that created the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, the agency that oversees the fund was just a little policy shop that drew up 20-year plans for the city’s growth and regulated trash haulers. Then, in 2019, PCEF began taxing big retailers to fund green jobs and drive climate projects in low-income communities of color. The pandemic hit shortly afterward, and people redirected money from travel to stuff. Instead of buying plane tickets from Alaska Airlines, they bought patio furniture at Target. Taxes on those purchases created a cash tsunami at PCEF and, by extension, its caretakers at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. The fund has almost $300 million to spend in the fiscal year that starts July 1. By comparison, BPS’s budget is just $22 million. Spending the PCEF money has been tricky. A series of high-profile setbacks in the first round of grants delayed the second. Those will be approved July 13. The man now tasked with wrangling the PCEF elephant is Donnie Oliveira, 42. He took over BPS on June 3, two months after director Andrea Durbin left to spend more time with her family. Oliveira had been Durbin’s deputy for two years, and before that, he was BPS’s communications head. His promotion occurred without fanfare—
in fact, the bureau didn’t publicize it for two weeks, until hours after WW broke the news. Oliveira is a native Californian. Thinking he would go to law school, he got a degree in anthropology with an emphasis on medieval studies from the University of California, Davis, in 2003. But while in college, he got hooked on energy politics and policy. He moved to San Francisco and started a program to recycle waste from concert venues. A huge San Francisco Giants fan, he did the same thing at what is now Oracle Park, diverting 90% of its waste from landfills. In 2014, he co-authored San Francisco’s climate action plan. He moved to Oregon in 2018 to work at the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. We got the first interview with Oliveira since his promotion to what is certain to be a challenging position. Here’s what he had to say. WW: Why didn’t BPS announce your appointment with a press release? Donnie Oliveira: I’ve just been heads down. From a bureau perspective, nothing’s changed since Andrea left. We were on the same page on strategy. It’s not like a new director coming in. It was more “just
keep the work going.” We’ve got some really big stuff coming up this summer. The stakes are getting higher. I haven’t been focused on my own moment. How did PCEF change BPS? PCEF came in and completely upended what we do. All of a sudden, we were one of the biggest fund administrators in the state. We had an additional $90 million annually when we were planning for $44 million. We had to build all the scaffolding to catch that money and give it out. It’s a pretty big deal to get $90 million out the door once. But this is $90 million, then $90 million, then $90 million. Organizations in Oregon haven’t seen resources at this scale, and they have to catch these dollars. It’s a good problem to have, but it’s a problem. Many of these organizations have operating budgets of $200,000, and we’re like, “I don’t know, do you want a million?” We’ve heard some other city agencies are sniffing around PCEF’s pot of money, trying to find a way to get a piece of it. Is that the case? My most diplomatic version of that story is that a lot of really talented people have really good ideas about how to spend money in the city, and PCEF is not off-limits to those ideas. So people are knocking on the door? Yes. It looks like we’re just sitting on a lot of
How has PCEF changed its vetting and approval system in response to the $11 million heat pump grant that had to be withdrawn? We added a layer. I apologize to Biko Taylor, the city’s chief procurement officer, but our systems as a city are broken. We need an entire overhaul of how we do contracts and grants. BPS shouldn’t have been holding the bag on coming up with a system this important. There was no guidance. One proven method of fighting climate change is to plant more trees. But last year PCEF denied a grant to Friends of Trees. Should you be doing more to get new trees in the ground? We spend a lot of time working with organizations to help them pivot from doing landscape work to becoming tree planters and arborists. It’s just taking a little more time for us to build up that scaffolding with our community partners. I’m really confident that we’ll see more organizations ready to put forward meaningful programs. Every time we do a PCEF story, we get email from people saying it’s a colossal waste of money because the projects don’t appear to have an immediate climate impact. What do you say to those readers? People need to see a thing, a tangible object. We hear that. But the idea that just because the money’s there, it magically turns into stuff? That’s not how it works. The cool thing is that the results are starting to show up. The heat pumps [to cool low-income homes] are getting installed. We turned dollars into installations in less than six months. For government, that’s pretty aggressive. Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
MEET 10 LOCAL ARTISTS WHO ARE RESHAPING PORTLAND’S MUSIC SCENE. Photographs by Summer Luu
band Glitterfox got COVID-19. Yet with sickness came a symptom never reported by the CDC: the urge to create music. For Glitterfox, downtime meant having more hours to work on the songs that would eventually form their most recent album, Night. And their pandemic-defying desire to create wasn’t an outlier. COVID-19 may have slowed Portland’s bands, but it didn’t stop them. Over the past few years, a new class of musicians has solidified, bringing enough passion and invention to cheer even the most jaded listener. That’s where WW’s 2022 Best New Bands Issue comes in. This year, we partnered with MusicPortland, a grassroots nonprofit that advocates for local music. We then asked creatives, music insiders and well-informed clubgoers to vote on the city’s finest emerging groups. In this issue, we profile Portland’s 10 best new bands (from an original list of 165), an impressive lineup that ranges from the overlapping melodies of Sean Battles to the next-generation blues of The
Macks. The top six will play July 18 at Mississippi Studios in a battle of bands to see who survives and is chosen Band of the Year. We will also announce a special audience favorite. Best New Bands means something more in 2022. It’s not just a celebration of the talented musicians who have risen from the ashes of the pandemic. It also calls attention to the importance and vitality of the music industry in our city. Prior to COVID, Portland had 330 spaces where live music was hosted and more than 700 small businesses related to the music industry, from clubs to gear makers to sound engineers to recording studios. The music business is central to this city’s DNA. So this year’s showcase is a fundraiser for MusicPortland’s Echo Fund, which makes grants to local artists. The bands we’re spotlighting vary in genre and style. Yet they all have one thing in common—they took one of the hardest times to make music and made it their time. These are their stories. —Bennett Campbell Ferguson, Assistant Arts & Culture Editor
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
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https://bit.ly/3biLnWM Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
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Glitterfox It’s indie folk with rock ’n’ roll and Americana DNA. BY B E N N E T T C A M P B E L L F E R G U S O N
Sean Battles He has the ear to bring genres together. BY M I C H E L L E K I C H E R E R
On a typical night with Sean Battles, aka DJ Battles, you might hear some Kate Bush synching with Italian disco, The Cure blending seamlessly with sweet synth-pop beats, Prince in the same groove as Judas Priest, or Selena and post-disco jams. “I try to mix aggressively,” Battles says. “I want to hit people hard track after track so they’re stimulated and, hopefully, singing along.” To keep dancers on their toes, he never stays on one track too long. Just as one mix hits right, you’re hurried on to the next. Part of what makes Battles so beloved is his ability to jump from era to era. When he’s spinning, a modern funk vibe might give way to breakdancing beats, disco, Spanish tunes, or ’90s hip-hop. Battles, who studied music at Portland State University and has a background in songwriting, brings genuine artistry to his sets. “I’m always listening to what key each song is in, which allows me to mix, say, Blondie with a hip-hop song,” he says. The results are surprising, energetic and exciting mixes that get people moving—and for Battles, the energy is happy-making and contagious. For several years, Battles tended bar at Dig A Pony, where he became known for finishing 14
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his shift and then hopping over to the DJ table. “They were 12-hour days, but it was really fun,” he says of the now-closed bar. Battles used the 2020 service-industry shutdown as an opportunity to shift direction. He joined Portland Fire & Rescue as a firefighter, and while he waited to get back into DJing, he spent a lot of time focusing on what he wanted to do next: write and produce his own music. That led to his 2022 EP, Roni, a four-track pop collection with a lot of his signature energy and a little cheekiness. Roni, which is also available on cassette at Future Shock Records, is replete with worthy collaborators. The EP was mastered by Portland’s own Aaron Bergeson (who also did the cover art), you can hear guest guitar work by Kevin Rafn (of Seance Crasher), who is also Battles’ partner for live shows, and DJ Lamar LeRoy pops up on “The Perfect Crime.” “‘The Perfect Crime’ is about a torrid love affair, infidelity, and how one tends to stay in a messy situation when it feels good,” Battles says, noting the “gilded cage” mentioned in the second verse. Battles is excited to start recording and playing more of his own music, but his love of DJing will always remain. “I don’t want listeners to get too complacent,” he says. “I want to surprise them.”
For Glitterfox to be born, Solange Igoa had to meet Andrea Walker at a party in Long Beach, Calif. “The next day, I told my girlfriend, ‘I don’t know who that was, but I gotta find that person,’” Walker says. She and her girlfriend broke up, and eventually, she and Igoa married and forged their professional partnership. “It didn’t take any time at all,” Walker says. “I was like, ‘I write songs, you’ve got that voice. Why don’t we team up and see what we can do?’” To underscore the momentousness of the occasion, she speaks in the stentorian tones of a suave radio personality: “The rest is history!” Glitterfox (which features Igoa on vocals, Walker on guitar and backup vocals, and Eric Stalker on bass) is one of the most successful Portland bands of the pandemic era. By blending Americana and rock into an indie-folk cocktail, they have created a singular sound that can both rouse and soothe, as fans of their ferociously emotional EP Night can attest. “There’s always an element in the songs of going through troubles, going through struggles or challenges, but just trying to keep your head up—and trying to keep going and not give up,” Walker says. “Each song was written from just a very real place.” Since Glitterfox was formed in 2012—back when Igoa and Walker played backyard house parties in Long Beach—they’ve toured up and down the West Coast in a van, moved to Portland, and added Stalker to the group. “Eric is very much a storyteller,” Igoa says. “I think Andrea and I tend to be a bit more ambiguous with our songwriting.”
Igoa and Walker’s work may be more enigmatic, but it draws directly from their lives. “I’m from North Carolina, and so writing folky Americana stuff, I always loved that because it made me feel like I was home,” Walker says. Similarly, Igoa’s style is rooted in their early years. “Solange is French Basque, and so they grew up singing and learning Basque folk songs and folk dances,” Walker says. For Igoa, that means invoking what they describe as the “typically masculine-sounding,” Stevie Nicks-style timbre of Basque women they knew during childhood. Glitterfox faced its greatest challenge when they all contracted COVID-19 in March 2020 (Walker tested positive while trying to donate plasma to the Red Cross). None of them could smell—and at the same time, Walker was losing a front tooth. “I was like, ‘I’m falling apart!’” Walker says. “That’s what we do, though—we take the struggles and turn them into art.” And so out of illness and despair, Night was born. Forty percent of the EP was written while the band was suffering from COVID-related symptoms, resulting in deely felt songs like “Married to the Ground” (which is about depression) and “Night,” the collection’s profoundly spiritual title track. “I’m not super religious or anything, but I wrote it as if God or the universe was talking to me in a hard time,” Igoa says. “I feel like I get emotional when I sing a lot of songs because it’s like acting, getting into character, going back to that feeling.” Therein lies the secret to Glitterfox’s success. Like all great performances, theirs are born of truth.
Kingsley Raw emotions are her rocket fuel. BY M A X TO P O G N A
The story of how Kingsley got her name goes back to when she was only 12 years old. Already in search of a pop-star moniker, and encouraged by her mother to choose her own unique name, she decided to research her options. At first, she was unimpressed with the girl names that came up. “So I started Googling boy names, and literally this name Kingsley pops up on the screen,” the singer-songwriter says. “It felt like Chicago when they’re singing ‘Roxie.’ I was like, this is it.” It was an auspicious choice. Today, Kingsley, who released her sophomore album, Crying On Holidays, in May 2021, sings with
the depth and poise that befit her name’s royal connotations. Yet her music deals in emotional vulnerability more than monarchical indifference—Holidays is a breakup album of sorts. “I was a player. I didn’t believe in love,” Kingsley says of the years leading up to Crying On Holidays. “And I finally fell in love. This album basically takes you on the process of my first heartbreak.” Recorded by Sean Berahmand of Sunset Digs Studio and produced by a roster of Portland collaborators, including Haley Johnson and several members of the band Motor Vue, the album ranges from emo to downright angry. Tracks such as “Loving You” and “Therapy” renounce Kingsley’s past relationship through introspective lines like “Was I always this fucked up/Or did you push me to be?/See loving you/Worst thing I could do.” The rawness of Kingsley’s lyrics is a product of her songwriting process. “It’s usually mid-argument I can hear what the song is going to be,” she says. “After I would get in a fight with my ex, I would go to my car and just scribble whatever I was feeling.” That’s the heart of Kingsley’s music: naming and processing difficult feelings by singing about them.
It’s usually midargument I can hear what the song is going to be. After I would get in a fight with my ex, I would go to my car and just scribble whatever I was feeling. Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
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The Macks They’re the masters of controlled mayhem. BY L I B BY M O LY N E AU X
Walloping heaviosity threaded with streams of blues and thrash (plus a large side order of Hendrix and the Doors) doesn’t begin to describe The Macks’ sound. This is music that takes you places—and it’s catchy, too. What more do you want? Hair? Well, there’s that too. And lots of it. The band’s new album, Rabbit, features 10 tracks, from the irresistibly bouncy “Dripping Off the Lip (“The Enema Twist)”— great title, right?—to “Sequel of the Times,” which is almost eight minutes of controlled mayhem. The album was created during the months of the pandemic that The Macks spent living together in North Portland after losing their day jobs. “It’s hard to say what Rabbit would’ve been without the pandemic, but I know that lockdown and no shows meant we had to really reckon with the music we were making,” says guitarist Ben Windheim. “We were forced to love the songs we wrote 16
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during that time, which I think is why we expanded the sounds we were making considerably. I think if there wasn’t a pandemic we would’ve written some similar songs, but we would’ve been thinking about our live show more and it would’ve kept us in a bit of a box.” The Macks—brothers Ben and Josef Windheim (drums), Sam Fulwiler (vocals), Jacob Michael Perris (keys) and Aidan Harrison (bass)—formed in 2015. They still practice in their basement where, Fulwiler says, they have thrown together “a couple of couches and added soundproofing. It’s also where we are recording the next record.” “Lyrics are tough in a pandemic,” Fulwiler adds. “Seeing the same things every day stuck in your house makes it hard to add any variety. Everybody was stuck and down. We didn’t want to dwell on the situation.” Fulwiler has a spitfire delivery that can easily shift from the lower register Axl Rose uses on “Mr. Brownstone” to a Johnny Rotten snarl. “Sam had panache since the day I met him on the basketball court in the fourth grade,” Ben Windheim says. For The Macks, songwriting is an ever-evolving challenge. “Recently, our writing process involves jamming on one or two small ideas and just taking swings at playing it,” Josef Windheim says. “If it’s compelling enough, we keep at it, and the ones that get finished are usually the most compelling. So really we think
we know it’s good before half the band has even figured out their parts. And if Sam wants to write words to it, we trust it.”
We were forced to love the songs we wrote during that time, which I think is why we expanded the sounds we were making considerably.
Night Heron They’re heeding the call of R&B. BY DA N I E L B R O M F I E L D
@bromf3
What would Sade do? It’s a rhetorical question, of course; the reclusive R&B singer isn’t likely to sit down for a Q and A. But it’s a question that Sade fan and Portland native Cameron Spies found himself asking often while recording Instructions for the Night, his first album with Night Heron, which was released last year on Literal Gold Records. While Radiation City, Spies’ former band, always bore a strong soul influence, Instructions for the Night immersed him almost completely into quiet-storm R&B. “I realized that I had never allowed myself to make very clear aesthetic decisions about how a record is going to sound,” Spies says. “And with this one, I was like, OK: slow tempos, warm, dark-synth patches. If people say it’s sleepy, I’m like, yeah, that’s the point!”
His voice has changed, too. He sings softly and gently, commanding the listener’s attention while expending minimal physical energy. Spies’ day job is engineer, producer, mixer and arranger, and his skill behind the boards is obvious—he treats his voice so it sounds like it’s occupying a vast space, despite how quietly he sings. Spies cites French pop artists like Air and Serge Gainsbourg as inspirations for his calmer singing style, but the change in his voice had as much to do with necessity as anything. “It’s born from having all this really intense chaotic stuff around me all the time and needing an escape from it,” he says. “The only thing that made sense to me was just singing quieter and quieter and quieter until it was basically a whisper.” In 2018, two years after the dissolution of Spies’ relationship with bandmate Lizzy Ellison brought an end to Radiation City, Spies and his current partner, Sara Bedau, welcomed their daughter Alma into the world. “Sleeping Boy,” Night Heron’s first song, is delivered to a child who “would have been 5 years old today.” Spies hesitates to elaborate whether the lyric applies to anyone specifically, but he doesn’t deny that his experience as a father shaped the subject matter: “It really came from having a child and seeing that human being in front of you and having a moment of reflection on the children or child that doesn’t exist.”
With the template for Instructions for the Night established by “Sleeping Child,” Spies enlisted collaborators from the Portland scene to help make it a reality, including bassist Grace Bugbee, synth player Andy Lawson, saxophonist Nicole McCabe, and percussionists Ian Hartley and Tyler Verigin. In the middle of recording, the pandemic hit and the music industry went into lockdown. With Spies and Bedau stuck together in their home, the latter played a major role on the record, singing on five of the album’s 10 tracks, despite having never sung on a record before. “She co-wrote one of our songs almost inadvertently,” Spies says of opening track “Dreamz.” “I was playing chords in one room, and she was across the house in another room, and I heard her humming this melody, and it ended up being the hook of the song.” The band’s currently finishing up a new album, which Spies describes as more upbeat while “still keeping it sleek.” Bedau sings on much of it, but Spies says she doesn’t plan to be an active member of the band. “That kind of comes down to logistics,” he says. “We have a kid together. So that means that if we’re both at rehearsal, somebody’s got to be watching the kid, and that’s really expensive and we just can’t afford it.” Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
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Pool Boys Not fitting into any one box is undoubtedly the box they’d pick.
It’s rare to get to create music with your friends and even rarer to be regularly blown away by the sheer talent of what they’re bringing each week.
BY S A R A G I Z A
By pairing loud instruments with haunting harmonies, Pool Boys (Emma Rose Browne, Caroline Jackson, Annie Dillon and Monica Metzler) explore dualities of all forms in spaces often overlooked. They don’t fit into any one genre—they use elements of grunge, punk, pop and alt rock, demonstrating skillfulness and fearlessness. “We formed just after the 2016 election,” says guitarist and songwriter Browne. “At the time, I was just thinking about feminism a lot, joining with women. I was also thinking about music and creativity and what art can contribute to society, especially in the face of a political regime that none of us agreed with.” She adds that “at the time, I had only been in a band with one other female. It kind of came from wanting to have the experience of what it would be like to be in a creative collaboration with other femmes.” While away in Argentina, Browne went out on a limb and texted three musicians she knew and respected back home in Portland about starting a band. Immediately, all three responded that they were on board. One was Jackson (songwriter, bass). “For me, part of my im18
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
petus was at the time I had been in a couple of other bands, but I was not the songwriter in any of them,” Jackson says. “I had a lot that I wanted to say and was sort of looking for a project where I could write, but also collaborate with writing, because I love that process.” While it is a rarity to have more than one musician in a band sing, Pool Boys have multiple singers on most of their songs. The result? Unique three- and sometimes four-part harmonies. It’s no wonder that when thinking about their band, the first two words that come to singer and guitarist Annie Dillon’s mind are camaraderie and creativity. “It’s rare to get to create music with your friends and even rarer to be regularly blown away by the sheer talent of what they’re bringing each week,” Dillon says. “I feel grateful to be in a band that challenges me regularly and pushes me to be a better musician.” Pool Boys were getting ready to release their first EP before the pandemic hit. Instead of pumping the brakes, they continued with their steadfast weekly practices and wrote more songs,
ensuring they’d be prepared to release both their EP and record a full-length album shortly after. “There’s a lot of variety,” Browne says. “I always like to joke that one thing you can’t say about Pool Boys is that all our songs sound the same. Each is different, but there’s some common threads and themes. We are super-addicted to harmonies and wandering guitar lines.” Drummer Monica Metzler agrees: “I believe we’re trying to express the more innovative and unexpected side of music, whether that’s being an all-femme band in a male-dominated industry or playing around with the form and structure of music and melodies.” Pool Boys will release their four-song EP Obviously, Doctor on June 21 (more at poolboysband.bandcamp.com). Like all their music, it speaks hard truths, but manages to do so in a fun and approachable way. “Pool Boys is not basic,” Metzler says. “When I started playing drums with them, I was constantly surprised at the form and dynamics of the tunes. We like to keep it interesting.”
Randall Taylor says the music he grew up on was “emo, post-hardcore, metal.” Yet another influence has slipped into Amulets, his solo project: movie soundtracks. The soft ambience of “Severed Seas,” for instance, evokes Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)—while the discordant, bordering on symphonic metal of “Heaviest Wait” echoes the time-slowing dreamscapes of Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010). For Taylor, channeling alternate worlds is the path to self-expression. He’s a one-man Glitch Mob who uses countless tape loops to create soundscapes that take listeners out of this world, yet reflect the world around him. It’s no coincidence that several of his compositions feature natural imagery in the titles, such as “Severed Seas” and “North Coast, Falling.” “I’ve lived [in the Pacific Northwest] for about five years,” he says. “There’s, like, a moodiness in the PNW. The rain, the clouds, the sun…it’s reflective of that, my music.” Taylor’s music seems to evoke both the present and the future, with the repurposed sounds of the past captured in an avant-garde industrial shower of synthwave. “Where words fail me…I’m definitely not a singer, a writer,” he says. “But I can write, musically, my emotions.” E R I C A S H .
COURTESY OF DIM WIT
Dim Wit
Some artists adopt onstage personae or wear costumes simply to add an extra layer of dramatic flair. For Jeff Tuyay, the creative force behind the eccentric pop project Dim Wit, wearing a lab coat and a wig when they play live has a far more practical purpose. “I used to have major stage fright,” Tuyay says. “After shows, I’d kind of run away and leave my shit on stage. The original drummer Tyler [Verigin] was like, ‘Why don’t we put on costumes? Maybe we’ll be more comfortable.’ Within the second or third iteration, it kind of stuck.” Though Tuyay’s stage fright has subsided, the mad doctor look remains—and it’s befitting for a project that takes a kaleidoscopic approach to pop and punk motifs. The songs on Dim Wit’s three releases to date rarely stay in one place, often ping-ponging from understated to frantic to winsome over the course of three minutes. Tuyay doesn’t want Dim Wit to remain in one mode. After recording two albums with Verigin, they recorded last year’s Self-Titled on their own, adopting a more electronic sound that has an almost carnivalesque vibe. But no matter how Dim Wit evolves, Tuyay insists that the wig will remain. “I used to have this one that was half-devil, half-angel, which was nice,” they laugh. “I feel like that’s a polarity in Dim Wit that’s silly and sweet but also kind of dark and sad.” R O B E R T H A M .
MANE
M A N E deliberately stylized their name to be, well…stylish. “Kind of like it was imprinted,” says frontman Sam Wegman. The Google-thwarting moniker is also functional, as there’s a “Mane” in both Australia and San Francisco. It’s meant to evoke “the time it takes to grow one’s hair long” (as the band’s Instagram bio reads), a sense of passage and becoming that also feels like it is tied to the pandemic, which has encompassed the band’s public life span. Begun as more of a bedroom recording project, M A N E played its first show in February 2020 and has been releasing music at a steady pace since then, including last summer’s Leo//Lib//Bull EP (with a killer video for “Mood-Ring” shot at an empty Oaks Amusement Park) and this year’s single “Night Things….” It’s a band of veteran players: Wegman and drummer Jed Overly, both formerly of Astro Tan, keyboardist-guitarist Justin Chase (Pure Bathing Culture, Tango Alpha Tango), bassist Grace Bugbee (Black Belt Eagle Scout, Y La Bamba, Night Heron), and keyboardist Tony Pullig-Gomez (Mood Beach). With touring largely at a standstill, M A N E sold their beloved van, Goldfinger, to finance the release of Leo//Lib/Bull. But then Overly and Cameron Spies (of Radiation City and Night Heron) offered to release the EP on Literal Gold Records. Now, M A N E gets itself to gigs in the most Portland way possible: with two Subarus. Leo//Lib//Bull was mixed by Jake Viator of Los Angeles’ Stones Throw Records, whose L.A. neo-soul aesthetic seemed like a good fit for M A N E’s R&B-influenced and electronics-driven art pop. Wegman cites Stones Throw artist Jerry Paper as well as King Krule and Porches as kindred spirits. M A N E songs tend to be stream of consciousness and reverse-engineered, with the music taking shape around fragmented vocal melodies, GUI guitars and Roland Juno 106 pads, among other things. The dreaminess and groove exist in tension with Wegman’s sometimes profane lyrics, which he describes as “conversations with the id.” “Fuck this city, fuck this place,” he sings on the 2020 single “Deconstruction.” That lyric “could be for anyone anywhere feeling trapped,” Wegman says. “Feeling like you can’t step outside your skin. But yeah, I was totally talking about Portland.” J A S O N C O H E N .
COURTESY OF LO STEELE
COURTESY OF M A N E
COURTESY OF AMULETS
Amulets
Lo Steele
“I just kind of realized the power of laughter and joy and celebration even when things are tough,” says Lo Steele, adding that “of course there’s always going to be political undercurrents because I’m Black and Queer and a Woman.” By now, Steele is a familiar Portland presence. Audiences may know her from local stages (she recently starred in Portland Playhouse’s production of Bella: An American Tall Tale) and she has played in a gospel and jazz group with her family for years. While Steele is the daughter of LaRhonda Steele (the “First Lady of Portland Blues” and Oregon Music Hall of Fame inductee), she’s a force to be reckoned with on her own. Radiating a spirit of continual growth and community, her songs offer affirmations through self-reflection and a relatable humor, coupled with her vocal command and understated soul-jazz melodies. Putting a twist on her roots, Steele has released a handful of solo singles, and a new album is slated to arrive in August. It’s healing-through-boogie music that shouldn’t be slept on—joy, celebration, political undercurrents and all. N O L A N PA R K E R .
I just kind of realized the power of laughter and joy and celebration even when things are tough.
BEST NEW BANDS
BATTLE OF THE BANDS
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
We found the six best new bands in Portland. See them battle it out on stage. Mississippi Studios | July 18 | 6:30pm | $10
https://bit.ly/3biLnWM
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
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STREET
PORTLAND PRIDE Photos by Chris Nesseth On Instagram: @chrisnesseth
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
After a two-year absence, the LGBTQ+ community reunited on the streets of Portland for the return of the Pride Parade. Thousands lined the sidewalks Sunday, June 19, to cheer on the procession, many donning rainbow accessories as a sign of support and inclusion. This year’s event
went smoothly, but behind the scenes, organizers engaged with the Bureau of Emergency Management for the first time after members of a white nationalist organization were arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on charges of conspiracy to start a riot at a Pride celebration.
GET BUSY
STUFF TO DO IN PORTLAND THIS WEEK, INDOORS AND OUT.
PHOTO CREDIT
WATCH: The God Cluster
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the OUTwright Theatre Festival by checking out this production of Ernie Lijoi’s new play, which was inspired by two years he spent working in a COVID ICU. The Back Door Theatre, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., fusetheatreensemble.com. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and 3 pm Sunday through June 26. Free.
DRINK: New Brewery & Cidery Showcase
Get acquainted with some of the state’s newer brewers and cidermakers while sharing a drink with them. This tap takeover, presented by the New School beer news website, will feature nine of the most promising brands to open in Oregon during the past year. Each business will have two beers on tap, and the producers themselves will be on hand to answer questions. Imperial Bottle Shop & Taproom, 2090 SE Division St., 971-302-6899, pdxbeerweek. com. 5-9 pm Thursday, June 23.
Inclusive Oregon. Let’s grow together. Come visit for First Friday at ALSO’s inclusive art studio and gallery. Friday, July 1st from 5 PM to 9 PM in downtown Troutdale. 305 E Historic Columbia River Hwy, Troutdale. heartworkoregon.com
WATCH: The Cherry Orchard
Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble’s plays are always audacious, but this new take on Chekhov’s final play might be its boldest yet. Translated by Stepán Simek, the production moves the action from a Russian family estate to the Arctic tundra, allowing a fascinating meditation on the climate crisis. Diver Studio Theatre, Reed College Performing Arts Building, 3017 SE Woodstock Blvd., 971-2582049, petensemble.org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, June 23-July 9. $20-$30.
EAT: Brewers Burger Brawl
Founded in 2011 at the Hop & Vine, this burger showdown is back after a long hiatus. Five breweries will compete in the streetside cookout, and only one will emerge champion. But the real winners are the attendees, who get to try every single slider themselves, along with a 5-ounce beer selected specifically for each burger. StormBreaker Brewing, 832 N Beech St., 971-703-4516, pdxbeerweek.com. 5-8 pm Friday, June 24. $40.
� GO: Berry Bliss Watercolor Workshop There are few summer pleasures better than an Oregon Hood at the peak of ripeness. Montavilla coffee shop Zuckercreme seems to agree since it’s once again teaming up with the Portland Strawberry Museum this June to serve strawberry-themed pastries and drinks. You can also use the fruit as inspiration for art at this workshop where local artist Amy Wike will teach foundational watercolor techniques. All supplies are provided, including a coloring book-style strawberry design that you’ll paint and take home. Bonus: Refreshments will be available. Zuckercreme, 414 SE 81st Ave., 503-877-5226, eventbrite. com. 1-3 pm Saturday, June 25. $45. � WATCH: Jurassic Park at Rooster Rock State Park
Forget Jurassic World Dominion and go for the real McCoy…outside! Steven Spielberg’s 1993 dinosaur epic screens as part of a four-part series of events celebrating 100 years of Oregon State Parks. Presented by the Hollywood Theatre. Rooster Rock State Park, 503-493-1128, hollywoodtheatre.org. 9 pm Saturday, June 25. Free.
717 SW 10th Ave Portland, OR 97205 503.223.4720 www.maloys.com
Plenty of sunshine
For fine antique and custom jewelry, or for repair work, come visit us, or shop online at Maloys.com. We also buy.
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
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Top 5
Buzz List
WHERE TO DRINK THIS WEEK.
FOOD & DRINK
Editor: Andi Prewitt Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com
1. VON EBERT CASCADE STATION AND TIMBERLAND
10111 NE Cascades Parkway, 503206-5765; 11800 NW Cedar Falls Drive, #110, 503-716-8663; vonebertbrewing.com. 11 am-9 pm daily. Cascade Station closed Monday. The two tap houses under the Von Ebert umbrella have just launched a Power Hour, and no, this isn’t the brewery’s version of the drinking game you may remember from your early 20s. Every Monday and Tuesday, from 7 to 8 pm, draft pours cost only $3, which is more than half off the regular price. Hell, with pints at that price, you may want to go ahead and revive the pregaming tradition.
2. PORTLAND CIDER CO.
3638 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 971888-5054, portlandcider.com. 3-9 pm Wednesday-Thursday, 1-10 pm Friday-Saturday, 1-9 pm Sunday. 8925 SE Jannsen Road, Building F, Clackamas, 503-744-4213. 3-9 pm Wednesday-Thursday, 3-10 pm Friday, noon-10 pm Saturday, noon-9 pm Sunday. Back by popular demand, Portland Cider’s Tangerine Dreamsicle was designed to trigger summertime notalgia, with its bright, tangy fruit juice swirled together with rich vanilla from Singing Dog in Eugene. It’s one of the brand’s most requested small-batch beverages ever, and it’s only available for a limited time. Drink up. Summer is too short.
3. PAPA HAYDN
5829 SE Milwaukie Ave., 503-2329440, papahaydn.com. 11:30 am-10 pm Wednesday-Sunday. Papa Haydn is best known for its desserts—and its cafe on Northwest 23rd Avenue—but the original location across the river boasts both a charming patio and a long list of cocktails for those days when you want to end (or start) your meal with a liquid confection. Opened in 1978, the restaurant and its shaded terrace are a hidden Southeast Portland gem—the perfect place to sip on the Secret Garden (citron vodka, strawberry purée, muddled basil) while seated in an actual secret garden.
4. FLORA
4500 SW Watson Ave., Beaverton, 503-372-5352, exploretock.com. 6 pm-close Thursday-Sunday. You can now reserve a stool inside the hidden bar perched above the new Beaverton Loyal Legion taproom. Flora is an intimate and refined cocktail-focused venue, serving concoctions in crystal glassware in a swanky setting—here the lights are dimmed and the wallpaper depicts mythical creatures. Customers can expect an eclectic, plant-based drink menu that’s as playful as it is colorful.
5. SUCKERPUNCH
1030 SE Belmont St., 503-208-4022, suckerpunch.bar. 6-10 pm Thursday-Saturday, 6-8 pm Sunday. You will leave Suckerpunch as sober as you were when you walked in, but the thing is, Portland’s first non-alcoholic bar still works its magic: It’s a place where adults can enjoy some complex yet balanced cocktails in a cozy place and catch up with friends. Andy McMillan, who founded the business because he was desperate for better zero-proof concoctions around town, recently changed the three-item menu, so you’ll find some new options if you’ve already been.
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
ALL HANDS ON DECK: The party’s still going at Jolly Roger, even though the ship will eventually be scuttled due to development.
The Final Voyage The Jolly Roger, Southeast Portland’s iconic lounge, preps for the long dive. BY JAY H O R TO N
@hortland
P H OTO S BY C H R I S N E S S E T H
Fittingly, perhaps, for an iconic establishment that’s lazily drifted about Southeast Portland for 60 years without ever attracting much notice, the Jolly Roger has announced a fateful last call, but all relevant information regarding the date of departure remains shrouded in mystery. Rob Jackson, co-owner of the Jolly alongside wife Starr for the past 20 years, indicated a willingness late last year to amend their lease as needed in order to facilitate their landlord’s sale of the restaurant and bar’s long-standing location at 1340 SE 12th Ave. Soon afterward, the property was bought by developers whose plans for a five-story, 100-plus-unit residential complex await government approval, which leaves the business in a peculiar limbo. “We got destroyed during all the conflicts,” Jackson says. “No matter how much we tried to fix the building, people kept hurting it, and the police were unavailable to help. That just helped us make the decision. We were supposed to be here another year, but we came to an agreement with the landlord that shortened our lease by one
year so he could sell the building. At that point, we would’ve been done anyway.” One Jolly bartender told WW last month that the bar would stay open until the 2023 Super Bowl. If forced to make a prediction, co-owner Jackson’s best guess was a New Year’s scuttling, but stressed the futility of groundless speculation. “Everybody’s talking, but nothing has been decided yet,” Jackson insists. “The company that wants to put up the high-rise needs to get licensing for demolition beforehand. If the permits go through, they could call us tomorrow and start setting up a time for us to leave. As soon as they know, we’ll know, and then, giant parties every day.” The circumstances surrounding the Jolly Roger’s fate also complicate the emotional response for a local citizenry predisposed to rail against the heavens whenever a landmark disappears. Jackson was hardly forced out. This wasn’t the bar’s first location, after all, and its banner shall still fly across the river, where Jackson rebranded the former Stanich’s West as Jolly Roger at John’s Landing almost 15 years ago. Admittedly, civic preservationists may have reason to worry about the Jolly’s truly irreplace-
able feature. Jackson admits there’s no clear plan on what will become of the bar’s justly treasured signage—a majestic freestanding pylon sign shaped like a ship’s mast at a height no longer sanctioned—but it’s evaded the wrecking ball before. “I don’t like to see any of these places go away,” Jackson says. “This building is so old and beat up that a redo would be crazy. I’m 60 years old, and we have two successful operations going right now. The building’s owner’s 76, and business-wise, he’s making the right choice. It’s time to cash out. We’ve been here for 20 years, we made a lot of friends, and it’s been an absolute blast. Unfortunately, time marches on.” The Jolly Roger actually opened at the corner of Southeast 39th Avenue (now César E. Chávez Boulevard) and Powell Boulevard in 1962. Launched by Constantin “Guss” Dussin, favorite son of the restaurateurs behind downtown’s Virginia Cafe, initially marketed it as a themed eatery, and early advertisements depicted a peglegged, pistol-toting buccaneer mascot atop the sign’s topsail promising “free chocolate pieces of eight for junior pirates finishing their plates.” Don McGee, an older habitué of the current Jolly, recalls interiors drowning in nautical kitsch
Top 5
Hot Plates WHERE TO EAT THIS WEEK.
1. DOUGH ZONE THOMAS TEAL
1910 S River Drive, 503-446-3500, doughzonedumplinghouse.com. 11 am-10 pm daily. Dough Zone, a Seattle dim sum darling with its first Portland outpost, must have come in with some industrial-sized sage sticks to cleanse the former Lucier space: Early on, it seems to have what it takes to lift the yearslong funk there. Despite the remaining opulence, this is a casual business—a place to go with friends and order a smorgasbord. Fill a table with spicy beef pancake rolls, Berkshire-Duroc pork-and-shrimp steamed dumplings, and xiao long bao, which at $7.95 for an order of six is the best deal in town.
2. POLLO BRAVO
with booths designed to resemble miniature ships—arguable inspiration for the trolley car dining areas parked inside the founder’s next venture, the first Old Spaghetti Factory on Southwest 2nd Avenue and Pine Street. By 1970, Dussin had sold away his stake in the Jolly and Virginia Cafe to afford the skyrocketing costs of outfitting the Old Town warehouse with its Victorian-era décor. Though considered a bizarre gamble at the time, the Old Spaghetti Factory became the flagship of an empire with more than 40 outposts around the globe. The Jolly Roger went a different path. Soldiering on as a downmarket fish-and-chips outlet, the family-friendly touches faded away. An adjoining Pirate’s Cove lounge was partitioned from the main dining room, and the business experimented with live music in the mid-’80s. At that point, the official record goes dark. Over the next decade, The Oregonian would mention the Jolly Roger just twice in a business story celebrating Old Spaghetti Factory’s new Japanese franchises and a Crime Stoppers story listing known locations of a recent stabbing suspect. By the early ’90s, when an incoming mini-mall forced the Jolly’s relocation to its current home, the original culinary ambitions of the enterprise had become so utterly irrelevant that the separate restaurant side felt like a vestigial limb. According to bartenders at the time, the retiring owner agreed to finally sell the business only under a contractual stipulation that the lounge remain undisturbed. In 2002, Jackson snatched up the Jolly and, after a few years of steady growth, took full possession with Starr. The incoming regime brought in a sea of flat-screens along with NFL Sunday Ticket and NBA League Pass. They also tore down the wall once separating lounge from restaurant and turned the ever-vacant former dining area into a bustling video poker alcove. Tacos and sliders replaced chowder and shellfish, and most every remnant of the old swashbuckling memorabilia gave way to a beach-bar aesthetic.
The place does engender goodwill among a dizzying cross section of Portlanders, but for reasons difficult to articulate. While the signal attractions of other favored haunts immediately spring to mind—the staff, the crowds, an architectural quirk—patronage at the Jolly seems each time a decision based upon convenience and practicality. You don’t visit the Jolly in search of something you love unique to this particular bar. You largely go to avoid all of the qualities you hate. Along the journey from a seafood restaurant whose clientele no longer ate to a neighborhood sports bar, the Jolly’s most salable feature (beyond that iconic signage) has been an easy adaptability to changing tastes and demographic shifts that would’ve crippled businesses more closely wed to a guiding vision. “Madison’s restaurant across the street might have looked beautiful, but their parking lot was empty and ours was full,” Jackson laughs. ”We didn’t try to change the world. We just wanted to play right to the people of the neighborhood—a little local church that believes in whatever you want. No regrets. It’s been wonderful being here. We have the most loyal customers you’ll ever see.” Why, though? What makes the customers so loyal? Amanda, one of a handful of mismatched patrons happily day drinking alone during a recent visit, credited the location, but there’s a dozen watering holes nearby. The Jolly hasn’t the best food, cheapest drinks or prettiest décor. What, precisely, will be missed? “Good memories, immediately, as soon as I walk in the door,” she says. “This is still where I’m most at home, even though I don’t really live around here anymore. It’s dark, you know? It feels a little more relaxed, more at peace. I guess… it feels like a bar.” DRINK: Jolly Roger, 1340 SE 12th Ave., 503232-8060, jollyrestaurants.com. Noon-midnight Monday-Thursday, noon-1 am Friday-Saturday, noon-11 pm Sunday.
1225 N Killingsworth St., 503-477-8999, pollobravopdx.com. 11:30 am-9 pm daily. During the pandemic, Pollo Bravo stuck it out for a while with takeout and delivery from Pine Street Market, but without downtown’s tourists and office workers, co-owners Josh and Sarah Scofield eventually decided to go on hiatus. Now the beloved brand is back in a standalone restaurant with its signature chicken and stalwart sides (radicchio salad, patatas bravas), as well as select tapas and a rebooted Bravo burger.
3. PIZZA THIEF
2610 NW Vaughn St., 503-719-7778, pizzathief. com. Noon-9 pm Wednesday-Monday. Mondays are slow at most bars and restaurants, but not at Slabtown’s Pizza Thief. During its de facto service-industry night, you’ll find a growing number of brewers, distillers and cidermakers who’ve made this spot their regular hangout. And they’re not just there to drink. Pizza Thief has found a way to tap into our city’s vast fermentation labor force and put members to work baking pies and pouring beers. The new collaboration series is called Meet the Maker Mondays, which features a different Sicilian-style pizza created by a craft beverage company every week.
4. RINGSIDE STEAKHOUSE
2165 W Burnside St., 503-223-1513, ringsidesteakhouse.com. 5-9 pm Monday-Thursday, 4:30-9:30 pm Friday, 4-9:30 pm Saturday, 4-9 pm Sunday. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, RingSide will be open seven days a week. The iconic steakhouse remained closed on Mondays and Tuesdays once it resumed indoor dining, but let’s face it: Sometimes you really need to carve into a dry-aged, bone-in rib-eye to get your week started on the right foot. And June just happens to be National Steakhouse Month, giving you another excuse to drop in.
5. DAME
2930 NE Killingsworth St., 503-227-2669, damerestaurant.com. 5-10 pm Thursday-Sunday. Dame may be the most wonderful, underpublicized restaurant in Portland. The intimate Italian meals served there nourish the body and elevate the spirit. Its chef, Patrick McKee, is an exemplary talent, leader and human being; the kitchen and floor staff reflect a constructive culture; and the food is simply superb. Typically, a half-dozen pastas are made fresh daily, and every dish is the product of painstaking flavor-building technique. Servings are generous, but order ravenously; these pastas are virtuoso performances.
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
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POTLANDER
Into the Woods Beta-caryophyllene, the woody, peppery chemical found in many cannabis strains, is more complex than other terpenes. BY B R I A N N A W H E E L E R
If knowledge is power, then understanding why you’re chemically attracted to your favorite strains is a nerdy path to self-discovery that every stoner should walk down. Take, for instance, beta-caryophyllene, -caryophyllene or simply caryophyllene: the woody, peppery terpene (also found in cinnamon and cloves) that gives many cannabis strains their trademark spicy, earthy funk. The way this terpene interacts with the human endocannabinoid system (the regulatory system that controls a great deal of our basic bodily functions) is remarkable for more than just psychotropic reasons, and whether you’re a varsity pothead or a ganja newbie, you likely want to know what makes this chemical stand out.
What Is Caryophyllene? Caryophyllene is unique among terpenes because the molecules are markedly larger than those of common terps like limonene (lemony smack) or myrcene (hoppy fruit), both of which are likely familiar to contemporary cannaisseurs. In addition to that, caryophyllene’s molecular structure contains a cyclobutane ring, a naturally occurring rare feature, which has the ability to bind to the CB2 cannabinoid receptors in the human endocannabinoid system as if they were cannabinoids, not terpenes. This makes the therapeutic efficacy particularly striking—many topicals already utilize this terpene due to its proven pain-relieving effects. Caryophyllene’s unique structure spotlights how terpenes can influence cannabinoid behavior. The entourage effect—or the cumulative effect of cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids on our bodies—is arguably critical to the cannabis experience, because terpenes can regulate the amount of THC that crosses your blood-brain barrier. And since studies have found that caryophyllene is an effective treatment for chronic, neuropathic pain as well as alcohol addiction, the distinct way that this terpene interacts with the brain is something all cannabis users should consider exploring. To get started, here is a lineup of some of the most popular caryophyllene-rich cultivars, both therapeutic and recreational, to consider adding to your dispo shopping cart.
Cereal Milk This balanced hybrid reportedly delivers a calm euphoria perfect for daytime smokers in need of both crystalline focus and a boost of mellow energy. Therapeutic users celebrate this strain’s efficacy in treating chronic pain, fatigue and stress, though the potency can sometimes lead to compound anxiety, so nervous tokers might
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Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
want to avoid this particular cultivar. Expect a creamy, fruity aroma that is, in fact, reminiscent of Froot Loops cereal milk, and a velvety, woody, exhale with lingering notes of black pepper.
Bubble Gum Bubble Gum is a genetically balanced (50% indica, 50% sativa) hybrid that somehow boasts a high that is both calming and creatively electrifying. Users report effects that are tingly and cashmere in the body, and inspirational in the head, resulting in highs that are uniquely perfect for daydreaming, vision boarding, cloud watching, or performing some very relaxed, spa-centric self-care. Therapeutic users say this strain is an effective treatment for arthritis, gastrointestinal disorder, chronic pain and loss of appetite. Expect a fruity, bubble-gum-skunk fragrance and a creamy, tropical-funk exhale.
Wappa Wappa’s highs are reportedly deeper and more cushiony than the rest of the strains on this list. We have to assume those effects are at least partly due to genetics, because Wappa’s breeders have kept this cultivar’s parent strains top secret. Though this strain delivers a more relaxing high, users have described the effects as both euphoric and sedative, making it a popular therapeutic choice for users looking to medicate anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and stress. Expect a fruity, gassy nose and a woody, sweet exhale.
Phantom OG For smokers who prefer a swooning, high-tolerance experience, Phantom OG is definitely worth a puff or two. This potent cultivar is genetically balanced, with reported effects that include high-octane giggle fits, a blissful, galaxy-brain head space, physical and mental relaxation, eventual power munchies and, lastly, couchlock sedation. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a perfect night to me. Expect a funky, woody aroma with faint notes of lemon and pine, and a thick piney exhale.
Northern Wreck Bred from a cross of Northern Lights and Trainwreck, this cultivar has the capacity to live up to its audacious name. With THC percentages averaging 30%, this strain is not for the faint of lung. Northern Wreck is a deeply sedative indica hybrid that delivers both soothing relaxation and a glassy, dreamy euphoria. The whole affair is reportedly the perfect panacea for insomnia, but also effectively manages attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder and inflammation. Expect a pungent, wet wood perfume and a bright, gassy, herbal exhale.
PERFORMANCE
MUSIC
Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson | Contact: bennett@wweek.com
The Strange Case of Aldous Harding
SHOWS
WEEK
WHAT TO SEE AND WHAT TO HEAR BY DA N I E L B R O M F I E L D @ b r o m f 3
FRIDAY, JUNE 24:
The New Zealand singer-songwriter brings her mystique to the Crystal Ballroom. COURTESY OF ALDOUS HARDING
Potential climate refugees and rap fans are looking to Michigan with equal urgency. The Pleasant Peninsula is home to one of the country’s most influential regional rap styles, defined by hurried flows, fast beats, dirty-money brags about credit card scams and the kind of self-deprecating humor that would lead a young rapper to call himself BabyTron. Looking like 100 pounds of tube sock and rapping like a hot-wired Terminator, this 22-year-old from Ypsilanti makes nerd rap for people who actually listen to rap. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St., 503-2067630, bossanovaballroom.com. 7 pm. $30-$250. All ages.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29:
SHADES OF GRAY: Aldous Harding.
BY M I C H E L L E K I C H E R E R
Aldous Harding has been referred to as cryptic, unreachable and uncategorizable. She creates music that has been dubbed folk, alternative, gothic folk, and surreal pop. Her voice is a shifting tremolo, stretching toward a compact muffle and back again within the space of seconds. Yet one thing about the New Zealand singer-songwriter is beyond debate: Since her 2014 self-titled debut, she has undergone a Bowie-ish transformation that she has taken a step further with her new album, Warm Chris. Following 2019’s acclaimed Designer, Warm Chris arrived on 4AD Records this March. Once again, Harding joined forces with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Eels, Parquet Courts, and many others), continuing a partnership that started with 2017’s Party, which helped Harding push into a new realm of artistry. If you go back and listen to Aldous Harding (Lyttelton Records), you’ll hear a completely different version of Harding, whose given name is Hannah Sian Topp. Aldous Harding is a collection of haunting folk songs with pastoral themes (and the occasional singing saw), while Party saw her dipping into a distorted croon with songs like “Imagining My Man.” Harding is also known for trippy music videos like “The Barrel,” which depicts her dancing around birth itself with signature shoulder shifts and wild eyes. Not only is the imagery cinematic, but it offers a taste of what she brings to her live performances. When Harding is on stage, she appears possessed. Her eyes look around as if to say, “Where is this voice coming from?” She’s a delightful trip, sometimes looking half worried as
When Harding is on stage, she appears possessed. she channels untamed energy to get the words out. Harding recently told Pitchfork that much of her songwriting emerges from an indescribable process. Typically, she can hardly recall how it happened—why she thought of those words, where she was at the time, how certain thoughts came to her. Above all, Harding is a shapeshifter, especially when it comes to songs like “Leathery Whip,” which allows her voice to creep to a goblinesque pitch. Or “Passion Babe,” in which she belts out lyrics about an adulterous event while accompanied by a sexy-cheery bassline and jazzy piano. According to her manager, Harding doesn’t do any tour press and rarely speaks with media. Yet in the Pitchfork interview, she shared how uncomfortable it is to talk about her songwriting process: “It’s like somebody who doesn’t like to dance because they don’t like their body. Suddenly, I’m in the middle of the floor, and I’ve got my hips working, and I just feel awful. You know?” Fair enough. We don’t need a peak behind the curtain. Harding refers to herself as more of a “song artist” than a musician, but what she’s called doesn’t matter. What matters is that her music is enough. SEE IT: Aldous Harding plays the Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 503-225-0047, crystalballroompdx. com. 8 pm Monday, June 27. $26-$30. All ages.
Capable of scoring a mainstream-hit video game (Max Payne 3) and making plaster dust rain from the ceilings of venues, Health made a big noise in the late 2000s and early 2010s by simultaneously straddling the worlds of abrasive industrial music and the kind of sparkling synth pop that made Passion Pit and MGMT festival headliners. The L.A. band’s gift is understanding how hooks and harsh noise offer the same release, and in the age of nu-metal revival and speaker-subsuming SoundCloud beats, they sound as ahead of the curve as ever. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th Ave., 503-233-7100, hawthornetheatre.com. 8 pm. $22.50. All ages.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29:
Los Bitchos is a multinational, all-instrumental band that melts down cumbia, Anatolian rock, and psychedelia into a condensed version of either a trip to the record shop or a YouTube rabbit hole. If that sounds a little like Khruangbin, you’re not far off the mark, but rather than something you could conceivably zone out to while getting your hair cut, Los Bitchos are a party band to the core. Their hotshot debut from earlier this year is called Let the Festivities Begin!, a title that doubles as a promise for whenever you walk into one of their gigs. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895, mississippistudios.com. 8 pm. $18. 21+.
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
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MOVIES
Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson Contact: bennett@wweek.com
STREAMING WARS YOUR WEEKLY FILM QUEUE BY B E N N E T T C A M P B E L L F E R G U S O N @ t h o b e n n e t t
PORTLAND PICK:
IMDB
C O U R T E S Y O F E LT R Y M T H E AT E R
SCREENER
CRIMSON DAWN: The Eltrym Theater in Baker City.
Secret Screens Your guide to Oregon’s best unsung movie theaters. BY C H A N C E S O L E M - P F E I F E R
@chance_ s _ p
While Portland’s moviegoing culture runs famously deep, there’s a much wider landscape of Oregon film exhibition. The National Association of Theatre Owners estimates over 60% of the state’s cinemas have five or fewer screens, and many such locations exist far away from cineplexes and arts hubs. For the cinephile’s summer road trip, we’re highlighting some of the best Greater Oregon movie theaters, particularly those that are independently owned, historic and distinctive.
Fantastic Façade: Eltrym Theater (Baker City) In the history of Oregon theater design, one name pops up repeatedly—Day Walter Hilborn. The prolific architect designed more than 30 Pacific Northwest theaters in the ’30s and ’40s, including the Cameo in Newberg, the Odem in Redmond and the Kiggins in Vancouver, Wash. Baker City’s Eltrym is among the most striking still around, with its aqua and burnt-orange color scheme and art deco leafing. Named for founder Myrtle Buckmiller, the Eltrym currently shows first-run films on three screens. A Hidden “Gem”: Bijou Theatre (Lincoln City) A half-century ago, the word bijou (or jewel) was such a common theater name that it appeared in Stephen King’s Children of the Corn as a quintessential rural example. Moreover, the theater-tracking website Cinema Treasures estimates at least 230 defunct American theaters were once Bijous. The last one standing in Oregon is the Bijou in Lincoln City (RIP to Bijou Art Cinemas in Eugene, 1981-2021). Co-owner Keith Altomare is as proud to carry on the Bijou name as he is to frequent the theater lobby asking for audience feedback on films. 26
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
Cinema Oasis: Desert Historic Theater (Burns) The only way to defeat a movie desert…is to screen movies in the desert. From Eastern Oregon’s Burns, it’s over 100 miles in any direction to the next silver screen, which only amplifies the significance of the Desert Historic Theater and its bubble gum-pink exterior. Built in 1948, the theater is currently owned by “Tiny” Pederson, who told NW News Network in 2016 he hardly turns a profit and keeps the theater open mostly for local kids.
INDIE PICK:
Unlikely Exterior: Sisters Movie House (Sisters) Art deco, pillbox brick and ’80s mall-core are all standard theater aesthetics. A big red barn? Not so much. But owner Drew Kaza says Sisters Movie House fits so seamlessly with the Central Oregon town’s “faux-Western” vibe that many passersby never realize it’s a theater. “We couldn’t have a big neon marquee,” Kaza says, though he can operate five screens that show blockbusters, indies, docs and “any movie with a horse in it.” It’s safe to say it’s the only theater in Oregon with ax handles for door knobs.
Insomnia (2002) is one of Christopher Nolan’s least idiosyncratic films—and one of his best. Remaking a 1997 Norwegian thriller, Nolan crafts a queasily engrossing noir about a bedraggled detective (Al Pacino) pursuing a child murderer (Robin Williams) in Alaska. “I have great respect for your profession,” Williams tells his pursuer with a smirk. His performance, like the film itself, sends chills straight to the soul. HBO Max.
Based on a novel by Nikolai Leskov, William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth (2016) sews its meditation on misogyny and white privilege into a tapestry of sinister thrills. Florence Pugh stars as a woman in 1860s England who is both victim and tyrant—the actress gives a performance with the same fearsome air of authority that she would later bring to Little Women. Amazon Prime/MovieSphere, free on Roku.
HOLLYWOOD PICK
INTERNATIONAL PICK NEON
Daring Programming: City Lights Cinemas (Florence) Most small-town Oregon theaters show blockbuster films, while college towns and larger cities have the art houses. Bucking that trend, City Lights Cinemas screens everything from David Cronenberg to music docs to livestreams of the National Theatre. “Even smaller communities have diverse populations— and many of those folks are looking beyond the mainstream,” says City Lights co-owner Michael Falter, whose theater boasts a membership of over 1,000. “We want to be a part of the arts landscape on the coast, and we have to look beyond the blockbusters to do that effectively. But I’ll happily put dinosaurs on screen any day.”
“We believe in the philosophy that the ‘show starts on the sidewalk’ and try to entertain from the second you reach the front door,” he says. “The moniker Bijou is and always will be part of history.”
Filmed partly in Portland and the Columbia Gorge, Mahalia Cohen’s The Last Hot Lick (2017) is a beautifully rugged and true road movie. The late Jaime Leopold (of the band Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks) plays a lonely, roaming folk musician who seeks salvation in his creative partnership with a talented stranger (played by Short Stories singer Jennifer Smieja). Free on Tubi.
Uninterrupted: Redwood Theater (Brookings) Dozens of Oregon movie houses are 75 and up, with familiar stories of closing in the ’70s, breaking up larger auditoriums, and surviving via crowdfunding. But dating back to 1909, Brookings’ Redwood Theater is among the very oldest still showing films regularly. Per its website, the Redwood (formerly the Pine Cone) has never ceased operation in 113 years, weathering both the Spanish flu and COVID-19. Honorable mentions: Obviously, this isn’t an exhaustive list of Oregon theaters. Dozens of undersung movie houses keep cinema alive despite economic and technological challenges. Cheers to a few more: Columbian Theater (Astoria) Pix Theatre (Albany) Kuhn Cinema (Lebanon) Rio Theatre (Sweet Home) Pine Theatre (Prineville) Granada 3 (La Grande) Columbia Theatre (St. Helens)
Indomitable French star Adèle Haenel has said she’s quitting the film industry, calling it racist and patriarchal. All the more reason to watch her purportedly final film, Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), a 1770s-set romance between two women that conjures more chemistry with a single glance than most movies manufacture with two hours of romance. Hulu.
MOVIES G ET YO U R R E P S I N IMDB
TOP PICK OF THE WEEK
UNITED ARTISTS
The Birdcage (1996)
The dream team of director Mike Nichols, screenwriter Elaine May, and stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane highlights this comedy about a flamboyantly gay couple attempting to hide their sexuality for a dinner with the ultra-conservative parents (Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest) of their straight son’s fiancée. The rare remake that outshines the also-great original (1978’s La Cage aux Folles)! Clinton, June 23.
MAD GOD
All About Evil (2010)
From Star Wars to Jurassic Park to RoboCop, visual effects master Phil Tippett’s creatures and contraptions have captured millions of imaginations. Now a 70-year-old director, he’s back to turn all your clay dreams into cataclysmic nightmares. For three decades, he labored over Mad God, a barely narrative steampunk fantasia of a stop-motion world laid waste by a wrathful Levitical deity. We follow a masked soldier in the post-apocalypse descending into a realm of beasts, golems and reapers so textured they’d make Dante Alighieri and James Blake envious—the film is epic and scummy, like Ray Harryhausen taken to a psychedelic extreme. There are also traces of Metropolis’ socio-industrial brutality and Eraserhead’s gawky viscera, but while Tippett impressively sweeps the camera across his practically animated 3D worlds, anyone who argues Mad God is just corpses and critters being intermittently squished would be mostly right. Yet behind the mayhem lies Tippett’s conviction that true creation is an act of unrelenting authority, solipsism and propagation. Why else would one work for 30 years to render an exquisitely hopeless night terror? Mad God believes hell is worth not only seeing but assembling—entrail by entrail. NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Cinemagic June 22-23, Hollywood.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande deconstructs expectations with fascinating storytelling that speaks to our fluid modern age. Director Sophie Hyde and writer Katy Brand begin by gender-swapping the traditional May-December romance, focusing on Nancy Stokes (Emma Thompson), a widow who hires Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) for an evening of intimacy she hopes can make up for a lifetime of sexual neglect. Nancy and Leo’s story is told through a series of three encounters that gradually expose their true selves. There are fully nude sex scenes, but the movie shines during quiet, chemistry-building conversations that take us to unexpected (and sometimes uncomfortable) places. Despite offering few glimpses beyond the hotel room where most of the story unfolds, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande presents a compelling contrast to the scores of coming-of-age movies. Because it’s not about misguided youth blossoming into self-actualization. It’s about self-actualization after a life of regret. R. RAY GILL JR. Hulu.
ELVIS
Early in Elvis, Baz Luhrmann’s bejeweled biopic of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) hires Col. Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) to represent him exclusively. When the pact
is made, the Ferris wheel they’re sitting on creaks to life and then, via movie magic, seems to transform into a spinning record. That jazzy juxtaposition is Elvis in a nutshell—it’s always in motion, surging through space and time like the Millennium Falcon in hyperspace. In 159 minutes, Luhrmann chronicles Elvis’ evolution from gyrating idol to Vegas sideshow, rarely stopping for a breath along the way. The film’s preference for speed over soul is exhausting and irritating, but it’s not without its pleasures. There are inspired edits—one sequence elegantly cuts back and forth between Elvis striding onstage in his legendary pink suit and experiencing spiritual ecstasy in a revival tent—and brazen performances, particularly Hanks’. Jowly and growly, his Tom Parker is a bloated Merlin to Elvis’ gleaming King Arthur. Despite his title, the real Parker never served in the military, but Hanks uncovers mesmerizingly grotesque truth in his charlatanism. When Elvis vows that his career won’t come between him and his mother, the Colonel smiles nastily at the audience and asks, “Wanna bet?” His crudeness and his cruelty bring shape and texture to Luhrmann’s stretchedout film, daring us to wonder who the real king is. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Cedar Hills, Cinema 21, City Center, Clackamas, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Laurelhurst, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Mill Plain,
Studio One, Tigard.
SPIDERHEAD
Joseph Kosinski’s Spiderhead imagines a world where prison inmates volunteer as lab rats for experimental mood drugs in exchange for Silicon Valley-style office perks like appetizers, arcades and free run of the building. That may sound far-fetched, but we already live in a world where this movie was released four weeks after Top Gun: Maverick (also directed by Kosinski), Chris Hemsworth shines as a villain, and Netflix is willing to squeeze a speculative George Saunders short story into a glossy, half-decent thriller. Miles Teller stars as Jeff, a prisoner in the oceanside pharma-carceral overseen by Hemsworth’s chiseled, buddy-buddy warden, who prefers that inmates call him Steve. Spiderhead is set mostly in the shadow of a two-way mirror, with Steve observing his subjects and mining Jeff for feedback. Unfortunately, Kosinski too strongly prefers the deluded, borderline satirical vantage of Steve to Jeff’s interrogation of this dystopia. Teller spends most of the movie deflated, while Hemsworth burns every ounce of available charisma to ensure we keep watching his snide, too-familiar science bro. Letting a streaming service swap emotions and data for stimulation and comfort seems like a safe bargain, right? R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Netflix.
Natasha Lyonne headlines this campy horror, playing a mousy librarian who takes over her late father’s movie theater. After making and screening a series of films featuring real and grisly murders, her legions of rabid gore fans crown her the new queen of indie splatter cinema. Hosted by drag clown Carla Rossi and featuring a post-film meet-and-greet with writer, director and star Peaches Christ. Hollywood, June 24.
Jurassic Park (1993)
Go back to a land before time (when stale mega-franchise sequels didn’t roam the earth) with a free outdoor screening of Steven Spielberg’s unbeatable original Jurassic Park! When dinosaurs run rampant at a theme park, it’s up to a trio of two paleontologists (Sam Neill and Laura Dern) and a hotshot chaos theorist (Jeff Goldblum) to save the day. Rooster Rock State Park, June 25.
Velvet Goldmine (1998)
Loosely based on the life of David Bowie, this dazzling glam-rock biopic co-stars Christian Bale as a music journalist and Ewan McGregor as a leather-, glitter- and oilclad amalgamation of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. Screens in 35 mm, along with a post-film Q&A with director (and Oregonian) Todd Haynes. Hollywood, June 26.
Something Wild (1986)
In Jonathan Demme’s screwball road-trip rom-com, a repressed yuppie banker (Jeff Daniels) takes a walk on the wild side with the free-spirited Lulu (Melanie Griffith), winding up in a series of misadventures (the most notable of which involves the late Ray Liotta in a star-making role as Lulu’s convict ex-husband). Hollywood, June 28. ALSO PLAYING: Cinema 21: The Room (2003), June 24-25. Clinton: The Mystery of Alexina (1985), June 22. I Am Divine (2013), June 27. Desert Hearts (1985), June 28. Hollywood: Hairspray (1988), June 25. PAM CUT: UHF (1989), June 26.
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. Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
27
JONESIN’
FREE WILL
B Y M AT T J O N E S
"Any Day Now"--just not that day.
ASTROLOGY ARIES
(March 21-April 19): In her poem "Two Skins," Bahamanian writer Lynn Sweeting writes, "There is a moment in every snake’s life when she wears two skins: one you can see, about to be shed, one you cannot see, the skin under the skin, waiting." I suspect you now have metaphorical resemblances to a snake on the verge of molting, Aries. Congratulations on your imminent rebirth! Here's a tip: The snake's old skin doesn't always just fall away; she may need to take aggressive action to tear it open and strip it off, like by rubbing her head against a rock. Be ready to perform a comparable task.
TAURUS
(April 20-May 20): "Imagine a world 300 years from now," writes Japanese novelist Minae Mizumura, "a world in which not only the best-educated people but also the brightest minds and the deepest souls express themselves only in English. Imagine the world subjected to the tyranny of a singular 'Logos.' What a narrow, pitiful, and horrid world that would be!" Even though I am primarily an English speaker, I agree with her. I don't want a world purged of diversity. Don't want a monolithic culture. Don't want everyone to think and speak the same. I hope you share my passion for multiplicity, Taurus—especially these days. In my astrological opinion, you'll thrive if you immerse yourself in a celebratory riot of variety. I hope you will seek out influences you're not usually exposed to.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Imagine you're not a
ACROSS 1. "Super" campaign orgs. 5. Bullwinkle, for one 10. Dr. Zaius, e.g. 13. "Nope" 14. Gazelle relative 16. Palindromic sibling 17. French scammer's "find the potato" activity? 20. Olympic bike event since 2008
58. Zero, in British scores
manager J¸rgen
59. Prods fitness instructors?
30. Secretly tie the knot
64. Poetic word for "before"
34. Choose
65. Fairy tale finish 66. "Cabaret" actor Joel 67. Appeared in print 68. Lhasa _ _ _ (Tibetan terriers) 69. Conditional suffix?
DOWN
31. Flavorful 35. Norah O'Donnell's network 39. Tanks, based on the noise they make 40. "I'm buying!" 41. Road mark cause, maybe 43. Best for harvesting
1. Word with "well" or "shot"
44. "Lemon Tree" singer Lopez
2. "That makes sense"
45. More thought-provoking
3. Like some pandemic-era pickups
46. Illinois hometown of Wayne and Garth
4. Curly's replacement
47. Malfunctioning
5. Rap battle prop
51. Pindaric poem
28. Accepts, as a challenge
6. U.A.E. neighbor
32. Some tech grads, for short
7. "Grand Ole" venue
53. Supergroup leader with "His All-Starr Band"
8. "No Ordinary Love" singer
33. Motto of the Really Long Word Club?
9. Santa's helper
21. "Science Guy" Bill 22. Actress Tierney of "American Rust" 23. Grinding tooth 26. Sinclair Lewis preacher Elmer 27. "Thrilla in Manila" boxer
36. Drain slowly 37. Like some pomades 38. Upcoming Billy Eichner rom-com with an almost entirely LGBTQ main cast 42. Result of a Benedictine losing at Battleship?
55. Fitbit unit 56. Sport vehicles, for short
10. Eagle-eyed
57. Rubik of puzzle cubes
11. Title Maurice Sendak kid whose name rhymes with his catchphrase "I don't care"
60. "Busted!" 61. Show streaming interrupters
12. Persuasive pieces
62. Co-op retailer for campers
15. Italian fashion designer Giorgio
45. 2010s dance fad
18. They're marked at the auditorium
48. Hindering sort
19. Actor McKellen
49. 21st-century starter
23. Cornfield noises
50. Second-smallest continent
24. Peter Fonda's beekeeper role
52. Inflated accommodation 54. Wear away
25. First half of a doubleheader, usually
55. Former "Great British Bake Off" host Perkins
29. Liverpool football
26. Travel via ship
©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.
63. Pt. of iOS
last week’s answers
person, but a medley of four magical ingredients. What would they be? A Gemini baker named Jasmine says, "ripe persimmons, green hills after a rain, a sparkling new Viking Black Glass Oven, and a prize-winning show horse." A Gemini social worker named Amarantha says she would be made of "Florence and the Machine's song 'Sky Full of Song,' a grove of birch trees, a blue cashmere knee-length sweater, and three black cats sleeping in the sun." A Gemini delivery driver named Altoona says, "freshly harvested cannabis buds, a bird-loving wetlands at twilight, Rebecca Solnit's book Hope in the Darkness, and the Haleakala shield volcano in Maui." And now, Gemini, what about you? Identify your medley of four magical ingredients. The time is right to re-imagine the poetry of YOU.
CANCER
(June 21-July 22): Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard believes there's only one way to find a sense of meaning, and that is to fill your life to the bursting point; to be in love with your experience; to celebrate the flow of events wherever it takes you. When you do that, Godard says, you have no need or urge to ask questions like "Why am I here?" or "What is my purpose?" The richness of your story is the ultimate response to every enigma. As I contemplate these ideas, I say: wow! That's an intensely vibrant way to live. Personally, I'm not able to sustain it all the time. But I think most of us would benefit from such an approach for brief periods now and then. And I believe you have just entered one of those phases.
LEO
(July 23-Aug. 22): I asked Leo readers to provide their insights about the topic "How to Be a Leo." Here are responses that line up with your current astrological omens. 1. People should try to understand you're only bossing them around for their benefit. —Harlow Hunt. 2. Be alert for the intense shadows you may cast with your intense brightness. Consider the possibility that even if they seem iffy or dicey, they have value and even blessings to offer. —Cannarius Kansen. 3. Never break your own heart. Never apologize for showering yourself with kindness and adoration. —Amy Clear. 4. At the moment of orgasm, scream out your own name. —Bethany Grace
VIRGO
(Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It's your birthright as a Virgo to become a master of capitalizing on difficulties. You have great potential to detect opportunities coalescing in the midst of trouble. You can develop a knack for spotting the order that's hiding in the chaos. Now is a time when you should wield these skills with artistry, my dear— both for your own benefit and for the betterment of everyone whose lives you touch.
Willamette Week JUNE 22, 2022 wweek.com
LIBRA
(Sept. 23-Oct. 22): One of my heroes died in 2021: the magnificent Libran author bell hooks (who didn't capitalize her name). She was the most imaginative and independent-minded activist I knew. Till her last day, she articulated one-of-a-kind truths about social justice; she maintained her uncompromising originality. But it wasn't easy. She wrote, "No insurgent intellectual, no dissenting critical voice in this society escapes the pressure to conform. We are all vulnerable. We can all be had, co-opted, bought. There is no special grace that rescues any of us. There is only a constant struggle." I bring this to your attention, Libra, because I suspect the coming weeks will require your strenuous efforts to remain true to your high standards and unique vision of reality.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You now have the
power to make yourself even more beautiful than you already are. You are extraordinarily open to beautifying influences, and there will be an abundance of beautifying influences coming your way. I trust you understand I'm not referring to the kinds of beauty that are worshiped by conventional wisdom. Rather, I mean the elegance, allure, charm, and grace that you behold in old trees and gorgeous architecture and enchanting music and people with soulful idiosyncrasies. PS: The coming weeks will also be a favorable time to redefine the meaning of beauty for yourself.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): It's the Season
for Expressing Your Love—and for expanding and deepening the ways you express your love. I invite you to speak the following quotes to the right person: 1. "Your head is a living forest full of songbirds." —E. E. Cummings. 2. "Lovers continuously reach each other's boundaries." —Rainer Maria Rilke, 3. "You're my favorite unfolding story." — Ann Patchett. 4. "My lifetime listens to yours." — Muriel Rukeyser.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the coming
weeks, make sure you do NOT fit this description articulated by Capricorn novelist Haruki Murakami: "You’re seeking something, but at the same time, you are running away for all you’re worth." If there is any goal about which you feel conflicted like that, dear Capricorn, now is a good time to clear away your confusion. If you are in some sense undercutting yourself, perhaps unconsciously, now is the time to expose your inner saboteur and seek the necessary healing. July will be Self-Unification Month.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): A Tweeter named
Luxuryblkwomen articulates one of her ongoing goals: "bridging the gap between me and my ideal self, one day at a time." I'd love it if you would adopt a similar aspiration in the coming months. You're going to be exceptionally skilled at all types of bridge-building, including the kind that connects you to the hero you'll be in the future. I mean, you are already a hero in my eyes, but I know you will ultimately become an even more fulfilled and refined version of your best self. Now is a favorable time to do the holy work of forging stronger links to that star-to-be.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A blogger named Lissar
suggests that the cherry blossom is an apt symbol for you Pisceans. She describes you as "transient, lissome, blooming, lovely, fragile yet memorable and recurring, in tune with nature." Lissar says you "mystify yet charm," and that your "presence is a balm, yet awe-inspiring and moving." Of course, like all of us, you also have your share of less graceful qualities. And that's not a bad thing! We're all here to learn the art of growing into our ripe selves. It's part of the fun of being alive. But I suspect that in the coming weeks, you will be an extra close match for Lissar's description. You are at the peak of your power to delight and beguile us.
Homework: Make amends to a part of yourself you have neglected, insulted, or wounded. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
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TRADEUPMUSIC.COM
Buying, selling, instruments of every shape and size. Open 11am-6pm every day. 4701 SE Division & 1834 NE Alberta.
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Sunlan cartoons by Kay Newell “The Lightbulb Lady” Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Google
For all your lightbulb fixtures & parts
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O U R E V E N T P I C K S , E M A I L E D W E E K LY.
THE FIRE Your lungs
WOOD SMOKE IS A HEALTH HAZARD AND MAKES IT HARD TO BREATHE.
multco.us/WoodSmokeStatus