Willamette Week, March 29, 2023 - Volume 49, Issue 20 - "Strange Budfellows"

By Sophie Peel. Page 11

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WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 49, ISSUE 20

The Menashe family boarded up a former KeyBank-turneddrug den. 4

Oregon denied parole to contract killer Robert King. 5

Grassroots environmental advocates seek to ban gas-powered leaf blowers 6

Multnomah County prosecutors are charging fentanyl pill dealers with counterfeiting a trademark of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals 8

The launch of a mobile library in a 38-foot RV was delayed by a leaky windshield. 10

Aaron Mitchell and Rosa Cazares were sued by the landlord of their Northwest hills rental shortly after throwing a party for Tina Kotek there. 12

Three former professional

skateboarders deny any association with La Mota. 14

Fettucine Shirley was a signature dish at Darcelle XV Showcase in the early ’80s. 20

Who Does That Bitch Think

She Is? is a new biography of Doris Fish, the Darcelle of San Francisco in the ’70s. 22

Speculative Drama is staging a “fully immersive” production of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play: Titus Andronicus 22

Multnomah Whiskey Library is rolling out a seven-ingredient martini 24

Ben Landsverk drives a VW Tiguan 29

White Lotus star Will Sharpe is directing a film adaptation of Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart. 30

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ALBERTA ROSE THEATRE

Last week, WW explored one of the most blighted properties in downtown Portland, a commercial complex at Southwest 4th Avenue and Washington Street. Washington Center, as it’s known, is owned by limited liability companies controlled by the Menashes, one of Portland’s most prominent real estate families. But with tenants gone, the property is in dire condition—squatters broke into a former KeyBank, and a fentanyl market operates in broad daylight (“Market Forces,” WW, March 22). Lauren Menashe said the family had no intention of paying into the local improvement district until surrounding conditions improved. In the days after our story ran, the Menashes boarded up the KeyBank and Downtown Clean & Safe hauled away trash. Here’s what our readers had to say:

HANNAH R., VIA WWEEK.

COM: “It’s validating to see someone finally acknowledge the open drug market at this property. I catch the bus across the street most days to and from work, and it is so scary. I try to avoid being hyperbolic about the state of downtown—some people seem have a lot to say but don’t appear to ever visit—but the area described in this article feels actively, profoundly dangerous.”

PDXMB, VIA REDDIT: “Regardless of how the Menashes feel about the city’s issues, there is no excuse for them to take such poor care of a property they own. Guess what? I own a property downtown as well, that was slated for a hotel construction start in April 2020. The current building is vacant, but I make sure to clean the graffiti and work to not make it an eyesore. I’ve run off people trying to squat, and respond to neighbors who ask me to keep my side of the street clean. If I took the same approach as the Menashes, there would be a nuisance in the heart of the Pearl as big as the one at 4th and Washington.

“The Menashes whining about ‘What have you done for me lately’ when they have been milking our city for decades is hypocrisy at its finest. Get off your asses and take care of your property. Once you have, then come back and we can talk about why the city has let us all down.”

SARAH IANNARONE, VIA TWITTER: “None of this is new. Urban planning emerged in the early 20th century in response to poverty in cities. Today, Portland’s big problem is uncritical leadership incapable of redressing neoliberalism’s failures. This sitch with the Menashes a *chef’s kiss* case study.”

MT. HOOD, VIA WWEEK. COM: “Businesses owners, the Menashe family and citizens of Portland are ‘perplexed’—not to mention furious and heartbroken—by how city officials have let the heart of the city itself disintegrate, turning it over to the extremists, anarchists and hyperprogressive ‘leaders’ to run directly into the shitter. Don’t forget, Mayor Wheeler stood in solidarity with those extremists and anarchists. He’s complicit.

“No sense reposting the last two paragraphs of this article here again. Please read them carefully. Lauren Menashe’s explanation of what’s happening with this property (and the city) is not only spot phucking on with regards to their situation, but it will be the same exact refrain that we’ll hear repeatedly from other business owners in very short order.”

MOSTLY-SUN, VIA REDDIT:

“They’re not maintaining the property or sidewalks, they’re not paying Clean & Safe, and they’re not pricing it at a level

Dr. Know

BY MARTY SMITH @martysmithxxx

When leftists chant slogans like “eat the rich,” have they really thought about eating, like, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk? How would you cook them? —Erin the Red

If you think activists who’d really eat the rich are rare, Erin, you should see how few of them are actually down to fuck the police. Anyway, I won’t presume to say whether the proletariat’s desire for an apocalyptic blood feast is genuine or just an act. However, I can use science—science, I tell you!—to show how such a thing might go down.

We’ll begin with one of our planet’s most enduringly popular questions: Who eats and who gets eaten? If our goal is to provide every diner with a full day’s worth of sustenance—in the U.S., about 3,500 calories—who should count as rich?

Let’s assume Americans are roughly the same as pigs—usually a safe assumption—and 57% of our mass is edible. With an average weight of 180 pounds, each of us should fur-

that is attracting any interest. Are they insolvent, incompetent, or just neglecting an unimpressive two-story downtown property that they intend to redevelop?

Sure, Portland has its issues, but so does every city, and this is just a failure to deal with common challenges. They’ve let it fester to a point that the building may need to be demolished, given that ‘amateur demolition’ has already taken place, whether that was their original plan or not.”

NICK CALEB, VIA TWITTER:

“In Portland, developers openly refuse to adhere to the law and then get whole articles to explain their rationale and call for more law and order.

“Anarchist jurisdiction indeed.”

IM_NOT_A_ROBOT, VIA WWEEK.COM: “A direct result from the article. This should show to the WW staff the power of pushing against corporate realtors/ developers to forestall a festering dystopia. Hell, we give them enough tax breaks. It is notable the Menashes finally did the necessary work, all the while complaining and asserting they were doing it all along…kind of like those legal settlements from horrible polluters where they agree to pay but do not accept any blame.

“Now, if only the City Council would do their job, and the cops, we might be able to see a downtown Portland that is a fun place to shop, stop off for a bite at a restaurant, and take a pleasant walk to see the lovely spring trees budding, flowering and leafing.”

SPEEDBAWL, VIA REDDIT:

“I used to hit Hush Hush Cafe in here all the time and always liked the zany architecture that came with it.”

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

nish just over 100 lbs. of meat (albeit of wildly varying quality), making each rich person worth about 130,000 calories. That’s enough to feed 37 of their until-recently-less-fortunate fellow citizens.

We’d only need to sacrifice the top 2.7% of the nation’s wealth distribution—folks worth $2 million or so and up—to give the world a barbecue it’ll never forget. Sure, it’s just for one day—but don’t forget that many of those recently devoured rich folks were worth much more than $2 million. Their heirs, and the heirs of their heirs*, will now be fair game. Why, Jeff Bezos’ fortune alone could trickle down to 60,000 different people and still not miss the $2 million cutoff. We’ll eat for weeks!

Of course, if the rest of the world finds out about our little game, things may not be so rosy: Globally, you only need a net worth of about half a mil to crack the top 2.7%—no danger for me, but uncomfortably close if you’re a homeowner with a 401(k) lying around. And, of course, if you calculate by income rather than wealth, it only takes about $39,000 a year to schlep your way onto the menu. I haven’t done my taxes yet, but until I do I’m going to be extra careful not to spill a whole bottle of A.1. sauce on myself just in case.

*Say THAT five times fast.

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

DOWNTOWN DRUG MARKET GETS A SCRUBBING: There’s been a flurry of action in recent days at Washington Center, the cluster of abandoned commercial buildings in downtown Portland that’s become an open-air drug market. Last week, WW reported on the efforts—or lack thereof—by the city and Menashe Properties, which controls the block through a series of limited liability companies, to clean it up. Within days, the wheels started turning. First came down the badly broken fence that circled the property, which appeared to do a better job keeping trash in than keeping people out. On Monday, workers hired by Menashe boarded up the shattered windows of the KeyBank on the complex’s southwest corner, which had become a hangout for squatters. Then, the following day, crews from Downtown Clean & Safe swarmed the block, pressure-washing sidewalks and hauling away hundreds of pounds of trash. The Menashes allegedly owe tens of thousands of dollars to the organization, which cleans up sidewalks with funding from local property owners. “We will be more than happy to pay when the city is clean and crime is properly attended to,” Lauren Menashe told WW last week. Clean & Safe director Mark Wells tells WW he’s been asking the Menashes to board up the alcoves, which have proven fertile hunting grounds for the city’s current crop of fentanyl dealers. Wells says this is the third time since October that his crews have focused on the block at the urging of nearby businesses and despite the Menashes’ lack of payment. Says Wells, “We went above and beyond.”

ROBERT KING DENIED PAROLE: The Oregon Parole Board announced March 23 that Robert King, the twice-convicted contract killer, will be imprisoned for at least three more years, adding to the four decades he’s already spent behind bars. It’s a turnaround from six months ago, when the board said it was tentatively planning to release King in May after concluding the 72-year-old man was rehabilitated. In January, a WW cover story detailed King’s crimes and the terror he’s instilled in the many people who have drawn his ire over the years. “I’m really relieved,” said Gillian Salter, the daughter of Julie Salter, whom King paid a hit man to kill in her Lake Oswego home while Gillian attended elementary school down the street. “I’m really grateful for the people who were brave enough to stand up with me,” she added. In its decision, the board cited King’s refusal to take responsibility for his crimes and his ongoing twisting of the truth. One

of his brothers, Daniel, submitted an affidavit to the board opposing King’s release to Alabama after being informed of King’s plans to work for the family firm there by a WW reporter. King had submitted a letter to the board bearing Daniel’s signature. In the affidavit, Daniel denied signing it. It is unclear whether King will appeal the board’s decision, as he has done in the past. His attorney, Venetia Mayhew, declined to comment.

COURT AFFIRMS BOY SCOUT BANKRUPTCY

PLAN: On March 29, Judge Richard Andrews of the U.S. District Court in Delaware affirmed the bankruptcy plan of the Boy Scouts of America. The judge’s ruling means the 82,000 men who filed sexual abuse claims against the BSA are one step closer to payouts that could range from $3,500 to more than $2 million in the most severe cases. The bankruptcy, filed in February 2020 by the Boy Scouts’ national organization, stems from a 2010 verdict against the BSA in Multnomah County Circuit Court, which led to the release of thousands of secret files detailing abuse in scouting. Crew Janci LLP, the Portland law firm that won the 2010 case, also represents more than 380 abuse survivors in the bankruptcy case, many of them from Oregon. The $2.5 billion total award in the bankruptcy, the largest ever for a youth-serving nonprofit, could grow substantially as additional insurers settle. Steve Crew, one of the lawyers in the case, cheered the ruling. “This is the best result for the most people given all the difficult circumstances there are in this case,” Crew says. “It gives survivors some closure.”

OFFICIALS SUPPORT CHRISTENING NORTH -

WEST DARCELLE XV STREET: Portland is poised to change the street name of one of its main drags. In the hours after the March 23 death of Walter Cole, beloved as the female impersonator Darcelle XV, pedicab driver Ryan Hashagen papered over a street sign outside Darcelle XV Showcase in Old Town. For the weekend, Northwest Davis Street became Northwest Darcelle XV Street. All five members of the Portland City Council tell WW they’re open to making the change permanent. “I love this idea,” says Commissioner Carmen Rubio. “Darcelle deserves recognition in our city so that future Portlanders know her impact.” Northwest Portland’s street names run in alphabetical order, giving the neighborhood its “Alphabet District” moniker. Davis Street’s namesake was Anthony L. Davis, Portland’s first justice of the peace and the first director of the city’s public school system.

Last week, we mistakenly printed the wrong photo for one of our Pet Pageant Winners: Sadie, who won Highest on Life. While the misprint did not seem to affect Sadie’s outlook on life, we wanted to get it right.

RYAN HASHAGEN NAMES NORTHWEST DARCELLE XV STREET

“The songs bring the house down.” –The Guardian

By Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Academy Award-winning writer of Moonlight

CHEAP BEER

The death of a proposed beer and wine tax highlights vast differences in Oregon’s taxes on intoxicants.

BY NIGEL JAQUISS njaquiss@wweek.com

The short life and predictable death earlier this month of House Bill 3312 to raise taxes on beer, cider and wine highlights the large discrepancy in the way Oregon taxes intoxicating substances.

Beer, cider and wine producers (and distributors of out-of-state products) pay an excise tax to the state of $2.60 per 31-gallon barrel for beer and cider, and 65 cents per gallon on wine. The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission marks up the wholesale price of liquor about 100%, resulting in an indirect tax. Cannabis retailers charge buyers a 17% state tax.

Mike Marshall, executive director of Oregon Recovers, the advocacy group behind HB 3312, wanted to raise beer, cider and wine taxes to discourage consumption and increase funding for substance use disorder. Marshall seemed to expect defeat even as he unveiled the proposed tax March 15, noting then it wasn’t scheduled for a hearing by the March 17 deadline.

And, sure enough, the bill died. That means the beer tax (last increased in 1977) and the wine tax (last raised in 1983) remain unchanged.

Marshall blames the bill’s arrival nearly two months after the session started on poor workmanship. “It’s up to Legislative Counsel to get bills out on time,” Marshall says. “But when alcohol is killing six Oregonians a day, you have to really wonder why they took so long on a bill designed to fund and provide immediate access to detox and treatment.”

The Oregon Beverage Alliance, which represents the beer, cider and wine industries, defends the current level of taxation on its members’ products, noting the state is in the liquor business specifically to generate revenue, while it is not in the other businesses.

“This is not an apples-to-apples comparison,” says Ramsey Cox, a spokeswoman for the alliance. The state now spends only 3% of liquor revenue on addiction, Cox adds, so it could allocate more liquor money to public health if that’s a priority.

Here’s how much revenue each of the substances is projected to raise for the state in the next two years:

Senate Bill 525

A fight over gas-powered leaf blowers and chain saws pits Portland against Oregon.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a bill that captures Oregon’s urban-rural divide more neatly than Senate Bill 525, which would phase out the use of gasoline and diesel to fuel leaf blowers and other power tools. Groups from the Willamette Valley, including Quiet, Clean PDX (which has chapters in Salem and Eugene) and Electrify Now, are facing off against landscapers and loggers in a Patagonia vs. Carhartt civil war.

It’s a big issue nationally: Dozens of cities have restricted or banned gas-powered leaf blowers, according to the Audubon Society. In 2021, California went further, banning new gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers statewide beginning next year. As is often the case in environmental regulation, Oregon is now trying to follow California’s lead.

CHIEF SPONSORS: State Sen. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland) and state Rep. Courtney Neron (D-Wilsonville).

WHAT IT WOULD DO: Prohibit new, nonroad engines that produce “emissions or evaporative exhaust” after Jan. 1, 2026. In other

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

Plans for nightlife on Northeast Sandy faded.

ADDRESS: 6520 NE Sandy Blvd.

YEAR BUILT: 1950

SQUARE FOOTAGE: 1,659

MARKET VALUE: $496,830

OWNER: Joel Leoschke

HOW LONG IT’S BEEN EMPTY: Two years, at least

WHY IT’S EMPTY: A home never became a “cool little hangout spot.”

The green house in the 6500 block of Northeast Sandy Boulevard is, as a friendly neighbor put it, an “oddball.” It’s on a tiny triangle of land ringed by three streets, protected from the busy boulevard by a row of towering evergreens.

For most of its life, the building has been a residential home. In 2017, a beat-up Chevy pickup and a silver minivan wrapped in tarps

words, say goodbye to gas-powered leaf blowers, lawnmowers, chain saws, generators and other devices. The plan: Replace them all with electric-powered engines.

PROBLEM IT SEEKS TO SOLVE: There are two. Environmentalists want to reduce emissions from gas-powered engines broadly, as part of working toward the state’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% below 1990 levels by 2035 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. More narrowly, many residents of urban areas hate gas-powered leaf blowers with a passion that makes the Timbers Army look like civilians.

WHO SUPPORTS IT: Grassroots environmental groups. “Electrifying outdoor power equipment is a sensible and practical way to reduce air pollution, reduce unnecessary noise pollution, and reduce climate warming carbon pollution,” testified Brian Stewart, co-founder of Electrify Now. That group is pushing for Oregon to pay more than lip service to its ambitious emissions reduction goals.

Many who testified in support cited the health effects on workers around high-decibel machines that kick out sooty exhaust. Other urban residents testified to more personal objections. “Gas-powered leaf blowers have ruined the quality of life in my neighborhood,” testified Jesse Hargus of Southeast Portland. “I don’t think it’s right for citizens of this city to listen to this cacophony all day long three seasons out of the year from inside their houses.”

WHO OPPOSES IT: A broad coalition of industries that depend on small engines, including recreational vehicle dealers, landscapers and loggers. Many RVs carry gas-powered generators for use when the vehicles are at rest; landscapers mow and trim with gas-powered tools; and much of Oregon’s timber harvest depends on gas-powered chain saws, blowers, firefighting water pumps and other devices powered by petroleum products. Like the landscapers, the loggers argue that electric replacements for the tools they currently use either don’t exist or are inferior.

Amanda Astor of Associated Oregon Loggers testified the regulations would hamstring her group’s members: “Small nonroad equipment makes up a negligible quantity of Oregon’s emissions and a regulation like the one laid out in SB 525 would do much more harm to the state than good.”

The Senate Committee on Energy and Environment held a public hearing on the bill March 23, and the measure now awaits further action. NIGEL JAQUISS.

were parked in the driveway, photos show. For years, the landscaping has been minimalistic: a hodgepodge of large granite boulders set in dirt beneath the shade trees.

Now, it’s boarded up and decrepit.

In December 2019, Joel Leoschke bought it—and the lot’s generous, developer-friendly zoning—for $750,000. He planned to turn the building into some sort of bar, restaurant or entertainment venue.

It’s not clear which. Leoschke declined to discuss his plans, or anything else for that matter, when reached by WW by phone.

City and state records offer hints, however. In 2019, Leoschke and two others filed incorporation papers for “Sandy Pines LLC.” They listed the Sandy Boulevard address as its principal place of business.

In 2021, Leoschke filed for a “change of occupancy” permit to convert the house into a commercial business and outlined plans to build a “game room,” kitchen and lounge.

B ut that never happened. Sandy Pines LLC was dissolved last month. The building is now up for sale again. A recent listing priced the “great development opportunity” at $650,000, a substantial discount from what Leoschke paid in 2019.

Friends’ plans to create a “cool little hangout spot” were thwarted by the pandemic,

says the property’s broker, Cory Stevens. Efforts to sell the building were then hampered by rising interest rates and the conditions of Portland’s streets, Stevens says.

“ This is a rough area,” he explains. “It’s become a dumping ground—and Sandy has a lot of that.”

This isn’t the first time Leoschke has been featured in this newspaper. The experimental music producer founded Kranky Records in Chicago before moving to Portland in the 2010s.

The label’s 25th anniversary party, held over two nights in a Portland church, offered a glimpse of what could have been on this quiet stretch of Northeast Portland. “The bill is full of Oregon folk and experimental legends,” WW reported at the time.

Stevens says there are signs Leoschke may soon be able to move on from his latest business venture. A buyer nearly closed a deal on the property recently, but the finances fell through. There were a few showings earlier this month.

“ We have people circling,” Stevens says. LUCAS MANFIELD.

Every week, WW examines one mysteriously vacant property in the city of Portland, explains why it’s empty, and considers what might arrive there next. Send addresses to newstips@wweek.com.

BLAKE BENARD

CHAIN SAW MASSACRE: Gas-powered tools are on the chopping block.

Pill Piracy

Multnomah County prosecutors are charging fentanyl dealers with counterfeiting a Big Pharma trademark.

BY LUCAS MANFIELD lmanfield@wweek.com

Multnomah County prosecutors have employed a novel tactic in the past three months to increase the criminal penalties for drug traffickers who push fentanyl on Portland’s streets. They are charging dealers with counterfeiting the trademark of a pharmaceutical company that helped spark the nation’s opioid crisis.

In other words, prosecutors say, when dealers sell powdered fentanyl in a blue pill stamped with “M30,” they are infringing on the copyright of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, long one of America’s largest painkiller manufacturers.

At least eight defendants now face charges of trademark counterfeiting, a felony that alone can carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. None of the defendants has yet pleaded guilty, and no case has made it to trial.

The idea, which harks back to the feds indicting Al Capone for tax evasion in 1931, was the brainchild of a line prosecutor named Cody Linderholm. He’s adamant that the extra charges are warranted, noting the extent to which fentanyl has fueled Portland’s rise in homelessness and property crime.

“I’m trying to find ethical ways to proactively prosecute,” Linderholm says.

The idea came to Linderholm as he prepared to fly to Chicago in December for a professional conference on counterfeiting.

In Oregon, like nearly everywhere else in the country, “trademark counterfeiting” is illegal under state law. In the past, Multnomah County prosecutors have used it to go after music pirates and sellers of knockoff luxury handbags.

But those cases aren’t common. In fact, until this January, no one had been charged under Oregon’s most serious criminal counterfeiting statute for several years. With a skyrocketing murder rate, the

Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office had bigger fish to fry.

Linderholm, a deputy DA assigned to drug and property crimes, wasn’t familiar with the details of Oregon’s counterfeiting statute. He hadn’t had much opportunity to use it. Prada knockoffs weren’t showing up in the police reports crossing his desk.

What was, however, was fentanyl.

The pills, known on the streets as “M30s” or “blues,” have flooded Portland streets, and Linderholm was being assigned a steady flow of cases involving suspected dealers. It occurred to him that the distinctively designed pills might be trademarked. So he pulled up the United States trademark database on his computer and punched in “M30.”

Nothing. Undeterred, he removed the dosage and queried simply “M.” Bingo.

The trademark that popped up on Linderholm’s computer screen was filed in 1999 by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Mallinckrodt was founded in St. Louis more than a century and a half ago, joined the Fortune 500 in the 1980s, and by 2019 had $3.2 billion in annual revenue.

For years, Mallinckrodt sold the opioid oxycodone under the brand name Roxicodone, a 30-milligram blue pill with a distinctive trademark: a square containing the letter M.

That pill helped fuel the opioid epidemic. In 2019, The Washington Post revealed that Mallinckrodt had distributed nearly 30 billion of its opioid pills across the United States—80 for each and every

person in the country.

The yearly number of overdose deaths nationwide from opioids has doubled three times since 1999, an epidemic that the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention says now takes more than 70,000 lives every year.

Mallinckrodt recently reached a $1.6 billion settlement in a nationwide lawsuit alleging its aggressive marketing of opioids fueled an epidemic of addiction. (Multnomah County sued the company in 2017.)

The company filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Meanwhile, illicit drug dealers have flooded the market with knockoffs of the blue pills, replacing the oxycodone with the cheaper, more powerful fentanyl.

Because fentanyl looks so similar to more familiar drugs (oxycodone when sold as pills and cocaine when sold as a powder), it is very easy for an unsuspecting user to overdose. “The kid at the party— or whomever is the purchaser— really doesn’t know what they’re getting,” Linderholm says.

So he’s begun charging the dealers with trademark counterfeiting.

There’s an irony here. Five years ago, Multnomah County was suing Mallinckrodt. Now, the county’s prosecutors are defending the company’s trademarks.

To understand why, take a stroll downtown.

On a stool in the cafeteria of Blanchet House in Old Town, a 44-yearold lifelong heroin addict told WW he ended up in the hospital after inhaling a few hits of fentanyl last week. It took four doses of the overdose-reversal drug Narcan to revive him.

In Oregon, 280 people died from opioid overdoses in 2019. Two years later, the death toll was 745.

MARKETPLACE: Fentanyl is sold on the steps of Washington Center in downtown Portland.

JORDAN HUNDELT

And the victims aren’t just longtime addicts.

In 2020, two teenagers at Northeast Portland’s McDaniel High School died from fentanyl overdoses within 24 hours. Their parents say the kids believed they were taking prescription opioids. Police say they were counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, nearly identical in appearance to Mallinckrodt’s Roxicodone.

Last month, the drug took the life of another Portland teenager, this time a student at Franklin High School. Sgt. Danny DiPietro of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office now tells parents to keep a dose of Narcan handy at home.

Police trace the fentanyl supply to armed pill dealers now roaming the streets of Portland.

on Southeast Stark Street at 185th Avenue.

Five of those, including Savignon’s, were felonies in the first degree. It was the first time that level of counterfeiting charge had been used since 2007.

In March, Valle failed to appear in court. Linderholm filed a civil forfeiture order for the $499 seized from his backpack, and a warrant is now out for Valle’s arrest. Savignon remains in jail, and his case has been handed over to federal prosecutors.

Not everyone was enthusiastic when WW asked around about Linderholm’s new tactic.

“In most cases, severity of sanctions does not shift behaviors,” says Bryce Pardo, a policy researcher who has studied U.S. drug law extensively and now works for the United Nations in Vienna. “We went down this road with crack some 30 years ago.” he wrote in an email to WW

Kevin Sonoff, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, says federal prosecutors in Oregon aren’t using it. “We prosecute fentanyl dealers as drug traffickers, not as counterfeiters,” he says.

7:30 p.m. | Portland Center Stage at The Armory

HOSTED

On Feb. 20, Ramos Valle led Portland police on a foot chase after they attempted to stop him near the open-air drug market at Southwest 4th Avenue and Washington Street (“Market Forces”, WW, March 22).

Valle tossed a gun and ran before being tackled by officers four blocks east. The gun was a loaded .38 Special. In his backpack were nearly 4,000 blue pills, each marked with a square containing the letter M.

Linderholm was assigned the case. The probable cause affidavit makes no mention of Valle actually selling the pills. So Linderholm charged him with, among other crimes, attempted delivery and first-degree trademark counterfeiting.

News of Linderholm’s tactic spread quickly around the office.

District Attorney Mike Schmidt nodded his approval. More prosecutors followed suit.

On March 2, cops knocked on the door of a suspected drug house in the South Tabor neighborhood of Southeast Portland.

Michael Sa vignon and his roommates were at home. One pointed police to the gun that “lived in the kitchen.” Police found 45,000 pills, an AR-15, a .380-caliber rifle, and four pistols. Savignon was arrested and charged with, among other things, trademark counterfeiting.

The charge has been used in at least a dozen cases, stretching back to a Jan. 3 arrest of a man seen selling pills at the Taco Bell

Still, while prosecuting street dealers for counterfeiting may be novel in Portland, it’s certainly not the first time drug sellers have been charged with violating trademark laws.

Michigan State University’s Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection keeps a database of product counterfeiting convictions. (A-CAPP ran the training Linderholm attended in December.) A recent study of that database found 16.7% of convicted counterfeiters had also been charged with drug-related offenses, primarily drug trafficking.

Kari Kammel, the center’s director, says the rise of e-commerce has focused more attention on counterfeiting. “Prosecutors need to use every tool they have in their toolbox,” she adds.

The extra charge doesn’t necessarily translate to more prison time in Multnomah County. It’s generally tacked on to more serious drug distribution charges, which carry stiffer sentences than property crimes.

Still, it can be used as leverage when negotiating plea deals, or as evidence of dishonesty during a future prosecution, Linderholm says. And a judge could consider it an aggravating factor during sentencing.

Linderholm s ays it helps demonstrate that the Multnomah County prosecutors are taking Portland’s fentanyl problem seriously. “We’re being creative,” he says, “and trying to come up with solutions.”

PDX Jazz Thursdays at the Hoxton

“The kid at the party—or whomever is the purchaser—really doesn’t know what they’re getting.”

The mission of PDX Jazz is to evolve the art of jazz by engaging our community, celebrating live performance, and enhancing arts education.

| The Hoxton, Portland 15 NW 4th Ave, Portland

But the Mobile Library, which cost $464,434, hasn’t rolled.

“The Mobile Library arrived in June of last year, and we discovered damage and defects that required repair,” Cunningham explains. Those repairs occurred slowly because of pandemic disruptions and the staff’s recent discovery that the vehicle’s windshield leaks.

Another problem: finding a place to park.

“The library ’s goal has been to first site this vehicle in East Portland to serve patrons affected by the closure of Midland and Holgate libraries,” Cunningham says. “The library and county partners reached out to dozens of landowners and prospective partners, private and public.” So far, no dice.

Books on Hold

A lone picketer channels the frustrations and fears of Multnomah County Library patrons.

BY NIGEL JAQUISS njaquiss@wweek.com

For 10 days earlier this month, Bruce Charles stood protesting on a downtown sidewalk. It wasn’t the Portland Police Bureau, Dobbs v. Jackson or Donald Trump that galvanized Charles. It was the temporary closure earlier this month of the Multnomah County Central Library—and what Charles fears he’ll find when the building reopens.

Charles, 70, a downtown resident who says he visited the library almost every day prior to its closure, is upset at what he feels was a lack of notice and alternative resources. But he’s most upset about the plan to cut the number of books, reference materials and periodicals on Central’s shelves by about half.

“It just fills me with dread,” says Charles, a music buff who checks out materials to feed his passion for the guitar. “I take home scores, books on counterpoint, books on fugue. It’s an incredibly deep collection.”

After a recent story about the closure of Central for a $21 million “refresh,” part of a $387 million bond that voters approved in 2020 (“Shhh,” Feb. 8, 2023), WW heard from numerous patrons and a few staffers who share Charles’ concerns.

Their engagement makes sense. County residents love the library: It’s got the second-largest circulation in the nation among counties with fewer than 1 million people. Patrons also support it with their wallets. In 2012, voters overwhelmingly approved a measure that created

a library taxing district, which now generates $100 million a year to support the system’s 19 branch libraries. Despite the pandemic, voters in 2020 also passed the $387 million capital bond by 60% to 40%.

Now some express doubts about what they’ll get in return when the Central Library reopens in November or December.

Patrons’ fears stem from the vision that library director Vailey Oehlke has sketched out for Central: more computers and flex space; less furniture; and about 50% less materials than were previously on the shelves. “We take pride in our obligation to make it a space that is useful, relevant and welcoming in keeping with its historic legacy as our community grows and needs change,” Oehlke said last month.

If Charles and others are alarmed about what the end result will look like, that’s in part because the story Oehlke and other officials have told about the closure period keeps shifting.

Here’s what frustrates library lovers:

NO ALTERNATIVE SPACE

In 1994, the Central Library closed for two years of renovation. To mitigate the disruption, officials opened a temporary library called Transcentral on Southwest Columbia Street between 4th and 5th avenues. “They moved a lot of the substance of Central there,” Charles recalls. “It was great.”

Since then, the Central Library has in part morphed into a computer lab, with dozens of devices supplied for patron use. Prior to closing Central, officials planned for an alternative site, a “pop-up” downtown.

But on Feb. 15, Kirby McCurtis, one of the library’s top managers, told staff in an email that the plan had been scratched.

“Library leadership made the decision late last Friday to stop work on the Mead Building [at 421 SW 5th Ave.] for use as a technology popup during the Central closure,” McCurtis wrote.

“We’ve started working with our partners to identify alternate locations for consideration, but we don’t have a definite timeline for that process yet.”

Library spokesman Shawn Cunningham says the library is closing in on another location, just a block from Central.

“The second site better suits the overall range of needs to provide essential technology and internet access, devices and assistance during the closure,” Cunningham says.

NO MOBILE LIBRARY

Last summer, library management touted one of the ways it would mitigate pending closures: through the purchase of a mobile library. Last July, the library communications team released a photo of a brightly painted 38-foot RV—with 54 linear feet of shelf space—decked out for service.

“Along with space for storytimes and programs, the Mobile Library features bookshelves to browse, computer stations, Wi-Fi access, printers with scanning and faxing abilities, AC and heat,” the announcement said.

“This is a unique opportunity for the library to expand our reach into the community,” David Lee, mobile and partner libraries manager, added. “Expanding our library services with the Mobile Library to communities that have barriers coming in is just another way we will be able to do this.”

The new plan is for the vehicle to go into service April 15 and park on county property near Northeast 122nd Avenue and Glisan Street.

LIBRARIANS IN EXILE

Charles says part of the reason he picketed for 10 days was that the bond campaign never really talked about closing Central—and it already closed for three months last year for preliminary work.

Now, Central’s 95 staff members are dispersed to the system’s 18 other branches—four of which are also closed for renovation. That’s led to staff and patron fears about how many of the library’s deeply knowledgeable staff will have jobs at Central after the renovation.

“ What will they do when they come back and half the books are gone?” Charles asks.

A veteran staffer at Central who requested anonymity for job protection claims that’s part of management’s plan. “The reduction of the collection is aimed at reducing the labor costs associated with collections,” the staffer says.

“Simply put, it’s a lot cheaper to maintain comparatively empty (they like the phrase ‘flexible’) space than shelves of books or other materials.”

Personnel costs are 64% of the library’s budget, and Central is labor intensive. “Multnomah County Library is the only large urban public library to do nearly all of its materials movement work by hand,” Cunningham says.

Fewer books and more automation after the refresh will change staff duties, he adds, but Central’s librarians won’t disappear. “They are being paid full wages as they continue working in their classifications and will return to Central shortly before the building reopens in winter 2023 for training on new automation equipment, processes and building changes.”

OLD WINE: Multnomah County Central Library cost $480,000 to build in 1910.

CHRIS NESSETH

MULTNOMAH COUNTY

“It just fills me with dread.”

IMMOBILE LIBRARY: The library used federal pandemic bailout funds to buy its troubled mobile unit.

By Sophie Peel. Page 11

The power couple of Oregon cannabis bankrolled top Democrats even as their companies’ taxes and bills went unpaid.

n a crisp evening last May, Rosa Cazares threw a party.

It was a fundraiser for Oregon gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek, hosted in an 7,048-squarefoot home in Portland’s Northwest hills. Gathered around a glass and oak stairway that spiraled to the second floor, guests sipped from champagne flutes and sampled charcuterie.

The gathering was thanks to La Mota, the second-largest cannabis dispensary chain in Oregon.

Cazares 34, and her longtime partner Aaron Mitchell, 45, have a high profile in the cannabis industry. La Mota, the chain they founded, grows weed on Oregon farms, makes extracts and vapes, and sells products at 32 La Mota-branded dispensaries across the state.

Between them, Cazares and Mitchell are listed in business filings as manager, registrant or member of 72 limited liability companies, or LLCs, many bearing the La Mota name. Each dispensary operates under its own LLC.

An industry expert estimates companies under the La Mota brand have sales of more than $40 million a year. Cazares regularly adorns the covers of weed magazines in an industry dominated by men.

Her involvement in politics is equally noticeable: She serves as vice chair of Emerge Oregon, a training academy for women seeking elected office—and has told people she has an eye on high office herself.

“She is really smart and thoughtful,” says former House Majority Leader Barbara Smith Warner (D-Portland), who attended Cazares’ parties. “She seems like a smart businessperson.”

Cazares hosted several fundraisers and political gatherings at the Northwest Portland home— two for Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, one for Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, and another for Kotek. She co-hosted a black-tie gala for Kotek at Hotel DeLuxe on the brink of her winning the governor’s office. During the election year of 2022, La Mota became a regular sponsor of events for Democratic Party

Ocandidates.

“She’s kind of a unicorn,” says Meghan Walstatter, a friend of Cazares’ and a fellow cannabis business owner. “There’s only one Rosa.”

But the party that May evening illustrated the central mystery of La Mota and its owners. On the one hand, the chain and its founders exude success, a willingness to expand quickly, and a history of being generous with political contributions.

But WW has learned that beneath the trappings of success, there are problems.

Many guests at the party that night said they believed the home was owned by Cazares and Mitchell. But the couple were, in fact, renting the house from Eric Breon, the founder of Vacasa, who since that event has sued them twice in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleging seven months of unpaid rent and extensive damage to the home. The most recent lawsuit alleges Mitchell and Cazares left cat urine and feces strewn across the floors.

More troubling, the Oregon Department of Revenue has issued tax liens of more than $1.6 million against Mitchell, Cazares and La Mota companies since 2018, including at least $621,000 in cannabis taxes dating back to 2016.

And, on the federal level, the IRS placed liens on Cazares and Mitchell in March and November last year, totaling $1.4 million for nonpayment of personal income and employment taxes.

Determining the scale of Cazares’, Mitchell’s and La Mota’s troubles is complicated by its maze of LLCs.

Altogether, Cazares, Mitchell and several La Mota entities have faced 30 lawsuits filed in Oregon circuit courts since 2017 that collectively allege more than $1.7 million in unpaid bills from cannabis vendors, handymen, testing labs, and even the accounting firm hired to complete 2021 tax returns for all of the LLCs.

While the entire cannabis industry is reeling from too much supply and not enough demand, observers say La Mota is in a different league.

Some think it’s approaching a day of reckoning.

“It’s really easy to run a successful business when you don’t pay bills to vendors you buy from,” claims Colin Hobbs, chief revenue officer for cannabis product company Buddies. “You can only burn so many bridges.”

In Oregon, perhaps you can burn quite a few. The story of La Mota isn’t simply one of a company’s struggles. It points to serious lapses of oversight by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. While the embattled state agency endures a media circus over a few bottles of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon, it also appears unwilling to carry out a central purpose of its existence, which is to regulate the cannabis industry and protect small businesses and Oregonians.

ACCORDING TO INTERVIEWS CAZARES

and Mitchell gave to journalists years ago, the two moved to Oregon from Florida in 2009 to break into the medical cannabis world, six years before the state legalized recreational cannabis. Cazares dazzled those who met her. A slim woman with long brown hair, she favored black pencil skirts and exuded confidence.

By contrast, Mitchell dressed like the skate-

boarder he once was: loud sneakers, baggy jeans and oversized hoodies.

In the early 2000s, Mitchell spent time skateboarding competitively, hanging out with skateboarding legends like Jeron Wilson, co-owner of clothing brand Diamond Supply Co.

But much of Cazares and Mitchell’s past remains a mystery.

The couple’s LinkedIn profiles are notable for what they don’t include: educational background, prior work history or much of anything. That’s unusual in an industry where people are usually eager to establish their bona fides.

During reporting for this story, WW received a letter from Amy Margolis, La Mota LLC’s attorney. Margolis threatened legal action against the newspaper if it continued asking questions that Margolis considered inflammatory and inappropriate, and published information it received.

Willamette Week’s reporting, Margolis wrote in her letter to WW, was harming her client. “The negative impact is already being felt by them. Ms. Cazares, as a first generation American and woman of color, feels targeted as this would be the second [WW] story about La Mota since the beginning of 2023,” Margolis wrote. “If the paper should continue, or any information is published that places my clients at any personal risk of injury, we will take immediate legal action.”

RISING STAR: Rosa Cazares is often profiled in cannabis publications for being a young woman of color dominating the industry.

WINED AND DINED: Cazares and Mitchell hosted frequent political fundraisers at a Northwest mansion they rented.

SOURCE: INSTAGRAM

She also sent a letter to one former contractor, threatening legal action if they shared certain information with WW

On March 8 and again on March 24, WW sent written questions to Margolis. She and her client have declined to respond. As a consequence, the reporting for this story is a result of examining hundreds of public records and conducting more than three dozen interviews.

some for as little as $10,000. (He purchased others prior to the recession.)

According to tenants’ testimony filed in court, roofs leaked, electrical systems failed, wires stuck out where home appliances had once been, and sewage flowed into yards.

am having no luck with any of it.” Five days later, the judge instructed the local sheriff to remove her.

It’s unclear how many of the Daytona Beach homes Mitchell still owns.

IN FLORIDA,

MITCHELL

APPEARS TO HAVE spied a business opportunity in the mid-aughts. Property records show he purchased at least 20 homes, most in one of the poorest sections of Daytona Beach, in the wake of the 2008 recession,

Over a span of four years, court records show, Mitchell and an associate filed eviction complaints against 28 people from those homes. Six of them handwrote letters to the judge disputing the evictions. Three claimed they’d never signed a lease.

“I’m five months pregnant and cannot work anymore,” one woman wrote. “I’ve been trying to find another job, or find housing assistance, but

Mitchell told the trade magazine Marijuana Venture in 2017 that he had sold all of the couple’s assets in 2014—including his and Cazares’ cars— to buy an old laundromat in Southeast Portland to turn into their first medical cannabis dispensary. Mitchell said he and Cazares slept on the floor of the building for a time as they fixed it up.

Mitchell purchased several properties across Oregon and gave each a face-lift, painting the showrooms of each dispensary a bright white. “I’m aiming to have the most retail stores in the world,” Mitchell, then operating 15 stores, told the same magazine in 2017. “And I want to have that title for a while.”

During that time, the couple bought a modern home in North Portland; Mitchell had already purchased a home in Shady Cove, Ore., in 2011. Mitchell drove a rented 2015 Maserati Ghibli; over the next three years, he and Cazares cycled through the newest Mercedes-Benz models, according to DMV records. Mitchell later drove a Ferrari.

By 2019, the La Mota chain held 20 dispensary licenses.

COZY

While Cazares became the face of the company, Mitchell continued accumulating properties. According to an examination of Multnomah County property records, Mitchell spent $3.7 million between 2017 and the end of 2022 buying at least nine properties in Portland alone. (Mitchell, and entities controlled by Mitchell and Cazares, came to own at least 39 properties across Oregon.)

Property records show only one of the properties had a recorded mortgage, suggesting Mitchell usually paid in cash.

In fact, according to six cannabis vendors that did deals with La Mota, Mitchell paid in cash when restocking the stores, too.

Mitchell asked one vendor in a text to keep La Mota invoices under $10,000.

“Aaron’s model is different from other large companies’,” says Joel Klobas, a top executive for Chalice Brands, a large cannabis company, “because a lot of his deals are done with cash.”

That puzzles some. “It’s hard to imagine at this point why someone wouldn’t have banking, be-

UP: Mitchell and Cazares speak to Sweet Home, Ore., officials about supporting local businesses in June 2022.

“If the paper should continue, or any information is published that places my clients at any personal risk of injury, we will take immediate legal action.”

COURTESY THE NEW ERA

DANIEL BERMAN

UNDER THE GUN

Former employees allege La Mota failed to protect them from armed weed bandits.

As vendors sued La Mota and the feds demanded back taxes, employees complained, too.

Records show that 21 former employees have filed complaints against La Mota with the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries since 2019. They allege unpaid or late wages, unsafe working conditions due to health hazards, and allege the company did not implement safety precautions after armed robberies.

Robbers targeted three La Mota stores in Portland in the fall of 2022. Video that WW obtained from one robbery shows five masked men entering the store, one holding an assault rifle to the young budtender’s head as the others pillage the shop.

A Roseburg budtender wrote last November to BOLI, “I quit without much notice due to HR’s lack of empathy with safety.”

Seven former employees WW spoke with said utility bills went unpaid. “They wanted me to put thousands of dollars on my debit card to pay the bills,” says a former store manager, Meagan Roberston.

Four former employees have sued La Mota: One alleged sexual harassment and gender discrimination; another alleged the company failed to accommodate her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder after she was assaulted by a customer. Both cases go to trial in 2024.

After WW began reaching out to former La Mota employees, at least one former contractor received a letter from La Mota’s attorney, Amy Margolis, reminding them of a nondisclosure agreement they signed when hired.

“ My clients are shocked by the inflammatory and inappropriate questions posed by the reporter and believe any response to this inquiry could, and most certainly will, place my clients in significant danger,” Margolis wrote. “Any information you may have learned while contracted with, or on behalf of my clients… is privileged and confidential.”

Another employee who initially agreed to an interview cited a text to all La Mota employees from a manager on March 3 about the nondisclosure agreement as the reason for her decision not to speak. SOPHIE PEEL.

ORIGINS: “La Mota” means “the weed” in Spanish.

cause it’s available,” says Stuart Wilson, co-owner of the edibles company Drops. (More than one credit union on the West Coast now accepts deposits from cannabis companies.)

“La Mota expanded quickly,” says economist Beau Whitney, who follows the cannabis industry. “They set up warehouses and distribution, and because they were buying in volume, they could demand lower prices. They were price makers, not price takers.”

Today, La Mota entities hold a combined 37 retail licenses. That’s five fewer than Nectar, the largest dispensary chain in the state, and 20 more than Chalice. Like other large cannabis companies, La Mota does it all: grows cannabis at its indoor and outdoor farms, processes bud into extract, and sells dabs and vapes under La Mota brands.

Nectar and Chalice are also vertically integrated: They grow, process and retail cannabis. But there’s a big difference: Those two companies explicitly tapped outside investors for their capital. (Chalice is publicly traded.)

Where Cazares and Mitchell got their money still baffles those around them. On multiple La Mota forms filed with the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission in which Mitchell is listed as the primary contact, “other” is listed as the funding source. The application for its Johnson Creek dispensary lists three former professional skateboarders in Los Angeles as managing members. Reached by WW, one of them said they had never invested any money in La Mota—and hadn’t spoken with Mitchell in years. The spouse of a second said the same. The third did not return calls.

Another investor Mitchell cited in 2017, when reached by phone, said curtly he was no longer involved. “Early on, definitely,” said Jeron Wilson of Diamond Supply. “But not anymore.”

RECORDS SHOW THAT SINCE 2018, THE

Oregon Department of Revenue has filed at least $621,000 in liens for unpaid cannabis taxes against Cazares, Mitchell and LLCs of which the two are listed as members or managers. (Taxing authorities file liens to secure a claim against the assets of taxpayers who fail to pay their taxes.)

The state also issued liens totaling $893,000 against Mitchell for personal income taxes dating back to 2014 and another $355,000 against Mitchell and several of the LLCs of which he is a member for miscellaneous taxes.

The IRS issued two tax liens last year totaling $1.4 million, including for Mitchell’s personal income taxes between 2015 through 2019.

It is unclear why the couple and the entities they control have failed to pay their taxes on time, according to tax authorities, but it’s a longtime problem. In an email to the OLCC in May 2018, Cazares wrote that two special agents from the IRS contacted her and Mitchell “accusing us of tax crimes.” She called it a “nightmare” and wrote that “we feel we have not committed any tax crimes that we know of.” The IRS declined to confirm any current or past investigation.

It’s unclear from public records what portion of the back taxes have since been paid, though records show at least $137,000 in delinquent cannabis taxes have been paid. The state Revenue

Department will not answer questions specific to any taxpayer.

While tax authorities asserted liens for allegedly unpaid taxes, vendors filed lawsuits seeking payment for allegedly unpaid bills. Court records show that Cazares, Mitchell, and entities they control have been collectively sued 30 times in Oregon circuit courts since 2017, including by five cannabis companies that allege failure to pay more than $1.2 million for products. Thirteen cases remain unresolved; three have trials scheduled for this year or next.

Buddies, a vapes, oils and flower company, first sued Cazares, Mitchell and 27 LLCs they control in November 2019, alleging failure to pay for $717,000 worth of product. Midway through the lawsuit, La Mota’s attorney at the time—Alex Tinker of Tonkon Torp—withdrew. (The parties eventually settled.)

Tinker wrote in a filing that his clients “insisted on taking actions related to this matter with which I have fundamental disagreements, and have failed to fulfill their obligations to me.”

Chalice sued La Mota LLC five months later, alleging the company failed to pay for $137,000 worth of delivered product. The case remains open.

Last fall, the gummy company Drops alleged in a lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court that Cazares, Mitchell and separate La Mota LLCs failed to pay $390,000 for product delivered over a span of two years. Drops also alleges fraud and unjust enrichment. “Defendants have a pattern and practice of building their business by defrauding vendors,” Drops’ filings read, “with no intention of paying invoices that demonstrates Defendants’ fraudulent conduct and longrunning scheme.” The case remains open.

Nathan Howard, co-founder of East Fork Cultivars, claims the company has a reputation for not paying for product.

“Instead of closing up shop because the fundamentals of their business don’t work,” Howard says, “they decide to stay in it and abuse their power.”

Rose City Laboratories, which tested La Mota’s products for pesticides, filed suit through a collections agency in November 2022, claiming $31,000 in bills had gone unpaid.

So did a couple who performed handyman work on more than 10 La Mota stores, a labeling company, and a heating and cooling business.

The landlord of La Mota’s Hollywood dispensary recently sued it for nonpayment of rent, alleging in filings that the “defendant entered upon the premises with force or is unlawfully holding the premises with force.”

Even the firm hired by La Mota to file its 2021 taxes, the Michael Larson Company, sued in Clackamas County Circuit Court. The lawsuit paints a picture of a company in disarray.

The tax firm alleged La Mota’s financial record-keeping was “in shambles” and that many

SEED FUNDING

Starting in 2019, Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell began contributing to the most powerful politicians in Oregon. Here are the largest combined contributions made by Cazares, Mitchell, La Mota and Cazares’ political action committee to candidates for Oregon elected office.

FRIENDS OF TINA KOTEK

Office sought: Oregon governor

Total contributions: $68,365

Date of first contribution: Sept. 18, 2020

GROWING FOOTPRINT: Mitchell spent $3.7 million buying Portland properties in recent years to turn into dispensaries.

COMMITTEE TO ELECT

SHEMIA FAGAN

of La Mota’s subsidiary companies had “missing or incorrect” financial records. “Defendants had engaged in a number of questionable business practices,” it asserted.

The tax firm alleges La Mota refused to pay $154,000 for work completed. Trial is set for May. While cannabis companies of all sizes are hurting, La Mota’s similarly sized competitors do not face the same scale of legal difficulties. Records show Chalice has been sued three times in Oregon circuit courts; Nectar four times. Neither

Office sought: Oregon secretary of state

Total contributions: $45,000

Date of first contribution: Dec. 16, 2019

PACS BENEFITING VAL HOYLE

Offices sought: Oregon labor commissioner, U.S. representative

Total contributions: $25,300

Date of first contribution: June 11, 2021

DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF OREGON

Total contributions: $15,000

Date of first contribution: Aug. 27, 2020

FUTURE PAC, HOUSE BUILDERS

Office sought: Funds Oregon House candidates

Total contributions: $20,000

Date of first contribution: Sept. 18, 2020

FRIENDS OF ROB WAGNER

Office sought: Oregon state senator

Total contributions: $12,500

Date of first contribution: Oct. 30, 2020

SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP FUND

Offices sought: Funds Oregon Senate candidates

Total contribution: $10,000

Date of first contribution: Oct. 28, 2020

FRIENDS OF LACEY BEATY

Offices sought: Beaverton mayor

Total contributions: $10,000

Date of first contribution: Dec. 16, 2021

CHRISTINA STEPHENSON FOR OREGON

Office sought: Oregon labor commissioner

Total contributions: $7,500

Date of first contribution: Oct. 14, 2022

ASHLEY HARTMEIER-PRIGG

Offices sought: Beaverton City Council

Total contributions: $5,000

Date of first contribution: Aug. 27, 2021

TEAM BARBARA SMITH WARNER

Offices sought: State representative

Total contributions: $5,000

Date of first contribution: Sept. 18, 2020

company appears to have been issued tax liens by the Oregon Department of Revenue.

TO SOME OBSERVERS, THE CENTRAL question is why the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission—the cannabis regulatory agency with a $200 million annual budget and 380 employees, including sworn enforcement officers— would keep granting a chain like La Mota more retail licenses despite its owners allegedly owing government agencies and vendors millions.

OLCC board chair Marvin Révoal, appointed to his post by Gov. Kotek last month, says he had no idea whether La Mota was in financial disorder, and was “surprised” by the amount of money La Mota allegedly owes, but Révoal stopped short of saying the agency should take that into account when considering an application for a new license.

Révoal says La Mota’s situation has renewed questions about what authority the OLCC has over licensees—and if it’s enough: “How far can we look, legally, morally?...That’s a top-of-theline question, now, to ask. Should we be looking at this?”

The other five OLCC commissioners would not return WW’s phone calls or emails. The agency did not make its interim director, Craig Prins, available for an interview because he’s traveling.

Agency spokesman Mark Pettinger says the OLCC is bound by statute in what criteria it can use to deny a license application. But several administrative rules would appear to apply to La Mota entities, including “financial responsibility.”

And Oregon law states the OLCC can revoke a license if it fails to “pay the tax as required twice in any four consecutive quarters” and if the Department of Revenue “has issued to the licensee a distraint warrant.” The department can contact the OLCC when a licensee is delinquent on its taxes. Neither the OLCC nor the Department of Revenue would say if any La Mota licensee had ever been the subject of such outreach.

State Rep. Pam Marsh (D-Ashland) says the OLCC’s job is to protect the industry from businesses with histories of alleged nonpayment.

“If people who are expanding in the industry don’t have a good record of operation and aren’t paying bills, we should be looking at them,” Marsh says. “If the OLCC doesn’t have the ability to look more broadly at the company’s record, I think they should.”

The agency has opened and closed 196 investigations of La Mota licenses since January 2019.

In 2018, an OLCC investigator found 163 pounds

of what he alleged was unaccounted-for weed at a La Mota warehouse in Jackson County. OLCC staff asked its board to cancel that warehouse’s license.

Instead, the case ended in 2020 with a settlement. The OLCC issued a $16,000 fine for a

cords. But Cazares told lawmakers and fellow businesspeople that she wanted cannabis to be respected as the moneymaker it is for the state.

And, she told people, she wanted to one day run for Oregon governor.

“She is frustrated with the way that cannabis is treated and viewed,” says Walstatter, the friend of the couple. “That’s her big motivator.”

There was another potential advantage to donating big checks to these candidates: Each sought an office that oversees agencies with regulatory power over the cannabis industry.

The governor oversees the Oregon Department of Revenue and the OLCC. The secretary of state has the power of audit. And BOLI investigates workers’ claims against employers.

REGARDLESS OF THE REASON FOR THE

contributions, they came from business founders who allegedly owe back taxes.

All of the officials expressed surprise at La Mota’s financial situation, but little else. None said they would return the money, though Stephenson said she didn’t plan to keep it. U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) and Stephenson said they’d stop accepting future political contributions from La Mota, Cazares and Mitchell. Kotek and Fagan would not say whether they would continue to accept contributions.

number of violations, including failing to retain camera footage for 90 days. The commission destroyed the weed.

WHILE MITCHELL AND CAZARES MAY BE struggling to pay bills, the couple have been generous in opening their wallets to politicians.

Since late 2019, Mitchell and Cazares and entities they control have given at least $225,000 to local politicians and candidates, including $38,000 to Kotek and $45,000 to Fagan. Cazares formed a political action committee that donated an additional $30,000 to Kotek. Oregon Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson, who runs the Bureau of Labor & Industries, received $4,000 from Cazares. (See “Seed Funding,”page 15.)

Colin Hobbs of Buddies says Cazares and Mitchell are the only cannabis entrepreneurs he knows of who individually contribute large sums to candidates rather than give as part of the industry guild. “We can’t afford that,” he says. “None of us can afford that.”

It’s not entirely clear what the purpose of their giving is. Neither of them appear to have voted in Oregon since 2014, according to election re-

Much of the state’s cannabis tax is supposed to go to addiction treatment services. That’s a requirement of Measure 110, which decriminalized the personal possession of small amounts of some hard drugs.

Cazares sits on the city of Portland’s Cannabis Policy Oversight Team. She offered a policy idea at a May 12, 2022, meeting of that body.

“Cannabis businesses cannot afford to pay any more than we already do,” Cazares said. “I know there’s a lot of pushback regarding the increase in crime after Measure 110, so I think it’s a great opportunity for the industry to maybe advocate to decrease our taxes.”

Meanwhile, La Mota is crossing state lines. Mitchell purchased three properties in New Mexico in the summer of 2022. He’s seeking three cannabis licenses there.

Back in Oregon, OLCC chair Révoal says he believes the commission is doing an adequate job of regulating cannabis.

“From my perspective, I would say yes…I don’t know if it’s appropriate for me or the OLCC to monitor people’s taxpaying practices,” Révoal says. “I come from an era where you don’t want Big Brother involved in your personal life.”

“She is frustrated with the way that cannabis is treated and viewed. That’s her big motivator.”

BIG BUCKS: Cazares and Mitchell bankrolled top Democrats last year, including then-gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek (above) and Secretary of State Shemia Fagan (inset).

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Robert Brands

Daniel Brasuk

Katherine Breeden

Nikki Breitbarth

Renee Brewer

Jacqueline Briggs

Thomas Briles

Nedra Brill

Jonathan Brinckman

Lori Brocker

Charles Brod

Marianne Brogan

Clark Brooks

David Brown

Jamie Brown

Kenneth Brown

Phyllis Brown

Solye Brown

Wilson Brown

Tyler Browne

John Bruce

Virginia Bruce

Elizabeth Brune

Leslie Brunker

Richard Bruno

Jeff Bryner

Nancy Bubl

Richard Buck

Catriona Buhayar

Tina Bull

Judy Bumbarger-

Rebecca Burwell

Robin A. Burwell

Caleb Bushner

Sara Butcher

Bryce Butler

Catherine Butler

Meikelo Cabbage

Josh Cabot

Barbara Caggiano

Maria Margarita

Caicedo

Patrick Cain

Lisa Cairns

Martha & Tom

Callahan

Brenda Camacho

Abraham Cambier

Leo Campbell

Victoria Campbell Ballan & Dina

Campeau

Max Campos

Rick Canham

Joe Cantrell

Katherine Cantrell

Ellen Cantwell

Annie Capestany

Teddi Carbonneau

Kevin Carbonnier

James Carey

Ellen Carlin

Steve Carnine

Geoffrey Carr

Joan Carroll

Paula Carson

Gene Carswell

Chris Carvalho

Anonymous Cash

Agnes Cassel

Amy Casselman

MaryAnne Cassin

Jim Cavanaugh

Joseph Ceratto

Will Cervarich

Christine Cha

David Chachere

Melanie Chadderdon

Elizabeth Chadwick

Noland Chambliss

Benjamin Chan

Natasia Chan

Edwin Chapin

Bruce Chaser

Helen CHauncey

Daniel Cheney

Gabriele Chodosh

Ilze Choi

Paul Christensen

Larry Chusid

Carol Anne Clark

Mindy Clark

Topher Clark

Will Clark-Shim

Cary Clarke

Loren Davis

Sherry Davis

Shana Davis Ralls

Nagisa Day

Susan Day

M. Susan Dean

Margo DeBeir

Raymond DeBuse

Elizabeth Decker

Adrian Dee

Mark Deffebach

Joey Dehnert

Marjorie Elliott Barnes Ellis

Laury Ellis

Mat Ellis

Michelle Elpusan

Grace Emanuel

Suzanne Emel

Richard Empie

John Emshwiller

Laural Engeman

Linda Enger

Rachel English

Aileen Cohen

Eric Cohen

Steve Cohen

Anne Coleman

Brian Coleman

Carie Coleman

Lorra Colette

Margaret Collett

Hexum

Kara Shane Colley

Corky Collier

Linda Collier

Aaron Collins

Fran Collins

Sandra Collins

Liana Colombo

Craig Shambaugh

Kimberly ConnellCroston

Carol Connelly

Phil & Melinda Conti

Tim Conway

Ryan Cook

Thomas Cooksey

Kelsey Coolidge

Matt Coolidge

Rob Coppedge

John Cornyn

Melynda Cortez

T’ien Corum

Marilyn Couch

Christopher Cournoyer

Lynne Coward

Graham Craft

Adam Crane

William Creger

Jeffrey Creswell

Craig Crispin

Liz Cronin

Jill Cropp

Caryn Crosthwait

Jack Crowder

Linda Crum

James Crutcher

Cath Cuff

Mark Culley

Edward Culp

Sheryl Culver

Joan Cummings

William

Cunninghame

Terry Currier

Jake Curtis

Wendy Curtis

Debra Custer

Sara Custer

John D’Avolio

Melanie & Tim

Dabareiner

Glenn Dahl

Eric Dahlin

Jessica Dalpiaz

Terry Dalsemer

Theresa Deibele

Ben DeJarnette

Mike Delman

Christine DeMars

RJ DeMello

Jamey Dempster

Robin Denney

Kelly Derr

Norman DeValliere

Adam DiCarlo

Bill Dickey

Laurel Dickie

Thomas Dietz

Shannon Diez

Frank DiMarco

Thomas Dingwall

Katharine DiSalle

Thomas Disrud

Rebecca Dittmar

Ken Doctor

Ann Dodds

Mike Dodds

Victor Dodier

Marina Doering

Zachary Domer

Tabitha Donaghue

Jean Donnelly

Sue Donora

David Donovan

Robert Dorer

Bill Dougan

Justin Douma

Sherri Dow

David Dowell

Denise Dowless

Elizabeth Dowling

Scott Downing

Elisa Dozono

Lee Draper

Michelle DuBarry

Paul Duden

Michael Duey

Eli Duke

Teri Duncan

James Dundas

Carla Dunn

Debra Dunn

Niani Dunner

Nancy Goss Duran

Jo Durand

Bob Durgan

Bob & Linda Durston

Diane Durston

Jenny DuVander

Kristie Duyckinck

Kitt Dyer

Randall Eastman

Carolyn Edgett

Bryan Edgington

Tom Edmonds

Jane Edwards

Ken Edwards

Peter Edwards

Rachael Edwards

Thea Enos

Lisa Epperly

Mary Erbaugh

Karen Erde

Bill Erickson

Erika Schuster & Clay Biberdorf

Pamela Eros

Grace Ettinger

Joseph Eustaquio

Colin Evans

Pamela Evans

Rowan Everard

Maria Everhart

Mickey Ewoniuk

Eli Fabens

Eva Fagan

Megan Fairbank

Mary Fallah

Larry Farin

Gardner

Sherielyn Gardner

Patricia Garner

Judith Quinn Garnett

Kelly Garrison

Robin Gault

Alan Gay

Fellene Gaylord

Patrick GazeleyRomney

Julie Gehlbach

Debbie Geiger

Lee Ann Gekas

Roger Geller

Barbara Geltosky

Mark Gentzen

Harmony George

Rachel George

Aris Georges

Barbara D. Hatten &

Gerald B. Oorthuys

Patricia Germann

Francesca Ghinassi

Michelle Giacalone

Anthony Giardina

Gary Gibbs

Ivy Gibson

Victoria Gideon

Nick Gideonse

Victoria Gilbert

Beth Gilden Russo

Christina

GildersleeveNeumann

Keith Giles

JoAnn Gilles

Tom Gilles

Ian Gillingham

Al D. Gillis

Cyndy Gillis

Robert & Eliza

Gilman

Kylo Ginsberg

Daniel Gipe

Matt Giraud

Judith Glawe

Cassy Gleason

Bruce Blank

Cathy Blaszak

Kathy Blaustein

John Bledsoe

Beth Blenz-Clucas

Kathy H Bleyle

Steve Bloch

Victor Bloomfield

Carl Boehm

Enright

Wendy Bumgardner

Kelsey Bunker

Suzanne Burdette

Zoe Burke

Sherry Burles

Charlie Burr

Tracy Burridge

Chris Burton

Molly Clarke

Ann Clarkson

Celia Clause

Holly Clearwater

Joseph Cleary

Loren Clevenger

Joseph J. Clyde

Ryan Coakley

Bradley Coffey

Mike & Sarah Dalton

Duane Damiano

Nancy Daniel

Blair Darney

Anne Darrow

Jo Ann Davich

Michael Davidson

Amie Davis

Linda Davis

Anthony Effinger

Rachel Effros

Nancy Ege

Dana Eggerts

Lennart Ehn

Janice Eisen

Diane Eklund

Andrew Ekman

Melissa Elkinton

William Glenn

Ed Glennon

Bruce Goldberg

Estelle Golden

Paula Goldie

Harold Goldstein

Tobias Goldstone

Holland Golec

Elinor Gollay

Darcelle and Me

BY SUSAN STANLEY susanpdx@aol.com

Fettucine Shirley.

Not a drag name, but Chef Shirley’s signature dish created in the basement kitchen at Darcelle XV. As usual, she weeps silently as she stirs the pot. The kitchen’s hard-and-fast rule: Leave Shirley the Fuck Alone.

Clad in my waiter getup, I wait for platters of nachos. A performer glares at me from a doorway to the dressing room. Let’s call her Doris. She wears a tight wig cap, lush black chest hair shaved halfway down for a low neckline. Her guy giblets are tidily tucked in, her long skinny legs in fishnet tights.

“Bubbles, or whatever your name is, you could look almost as good as me if you’d do something with that shitty hair.”

It’s 1982, and I’m still rocking the high side ponytail. I’m scared to death of Doris. I skulk back upstairs, balancing my four platters of nachos. The show hasn’t started yet, and recorded music is blasting.

Love! Love will keep us together!

In 1975, I wrote a lengthy article for Willamette Week, the first time an “establishment” newspaper featured Darcelle XV and her nightclub. Intrigued readers, straight and gay, soon came banging on the doors, forming a new generation of customers who’d return again and again.

Two years later, I was arts and entertainment editor for The Oregon Journal, Portland’s afternoon daily. And there I wrote another lengthy Darcelle article, hiring animator Bill Plympton to produce a caricature, an image that quickly showed up in the club’s ads, as well as on paper napkins and matchbooks—the latter now collector’s items.

That year, I appeared on the club’s stage as Bubbles Wolkofsky and Her Amazing Flying Buttress. Hair and makeup done by my drag queen pals, I was a vision: long black sequin gown (low neckline, side cut up to here) and, of course, a feather boa. Backed by a chorus line of prancing faux showgirls, I warbled, bumped and ground my way through “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.”

Over the years to come, Darcelle and I would remain friends. She lent a red sequin gown to wear at my wedding at the Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas. She and Roxie came to our housewarming. They met my first grandchild.

But by March 1982, I was divorced with two young daughters, with neither child support nor alimony. I’d just been unceremoniously dumped by a lover of eight months. There was no job for me at either of Portland’s two dailies. I had neither the heart, nor equilibrium, to root around for local freelance work. My ex-husband

suggested I apply for food stamps.

Then I had The Dream: I was working for Darcelle! Calling her, I was immediately summoned to her home. As I perched on a tufted red Victorian chair, I told her about The Dream. She was appalled.

“ Darling!” she said. “I’ll give you money! How much do you need?”

Nope. I wanted a job.

“OK,” she said, sighing and gazing off into the distance. “OK. Show up Friday at 6. Wear black pants and a white shirt.”

Thus was born Bubbles, a minister’s daughter doomed to demurely slinging cocktails in a drag club.

I was working for the circus. Bright lights! Blaring music! Brilliant colors! The cheerful spirit was contagious. Darcelle and Roxy, her partner, were kind to me. I had no car, and they chauffeured me home in the wee hours, ensuring I was safely inside before driving off.

The club was located near several Chinese eateries, whose leftovers departed the restaurant (and were carried into the club) in those little cardboard boxes with the metal handles. Like the ones ’50s dime stores provided for their 15-cent takeout pet goldfish.

For a number of reasons, I was not all that great at the job. But Darcelle tried her best for damage control.

“ Stop chasing non-tippers down the street, yelling, ‘Sir! Sir! You forgot your goldfish!’”

And “For the love of God, quit telling patrons you’re a widow with eight kids!”

Program from a production of Dames at Sea, date unknown.

There were small blessings from my fellow workers.

Mister Michelangelo of Male Stripper Tuesdays took pity on my mystifying life of, you know, not getting laid. One night, post stripping, he took me aside to murmur kindly, “I do girls too, you know.” I thanked him for his presumed offer but, well, no.

The beautiful, excruciatingly shy lesbian Melissa, who ran the lights, materialized another night, thrusting a paper bag into my hands. Inside were a low-cut leotard and a slinky skirt opening on the side. “Wear this,” she whispered, “you’ll get better tips.”

Melissa was right. Tips increased dramatically, patrons asking, “Are those real?”

With the food stamps, increased tips, a little freelancing, teaching a writing class or two and, sadly, vacating our lovely family home, I was making ends meet, sort of. I’d met the curly-haired, bearded law student I’d eventually marry. I wanted my evenings back. And so, after eight months I quit working at my friend’s nightclub, quit the best job I would ever have.

COURTESY SUSAN STANLEY

Susan on stage in 1977. Roxy is left, Darcelle is right.

Illustration by Bill Plympton in The Oregon Journal, 1978.

Roxy left and Darcelle right with Susan’s granddaughter in 1997.

Darcelle photographed in a 1975 issue of WW

TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

The Portland Trail Blazers are trying to thread a very fine needle: rebuild the roster in 24-ish months after trading away an entire bench of veteran role players (including the beloved CJ McCollum) at last year’s trade deadline. This season, the Blazers needed players to exceed expectations. They haven’t. Yet despite everything that has gone wrong, the Blazers could somehow still turn this around. Damian Lillard’s window is still open. Shaedon Sharpe might be the All-Star teammate Portland has dreamed of since 2015. A lottery pick could be the ticket out of purgatory. Plus, uh, we have a Sasquatch mascot now? Read more analysis by Eric Griffith at wweek.com/sports.

Photos by Blake Benard On Instagram: @blakebenard

GET BUSY

29-APRIL 4

SEE: Pas de trois

Sure, the Armory is equipped with two stages, but did you know you can see more than just plays in the historic building? Jingzi Zhao’s photo exhibit Pas de trois is on display in the Ellyn Bye Studio lobby for a few more days. The works are part of an ongoing collaboration with Xuan Cheng and Brian Simcoe, two principals from the Oregon Ballet Theatre. Created by a unique printing process called dye sublimation, the images’ durable finish, high resolution and ultra-vibrant colors must be seen up close and in person. Portland Center Stage at the Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave., 503-445-3700, pcs. org. Noon-6 pm Tuesday-Sunday, through March 31. Free.

LISTEN: Craig Seligman in Conversation With Silvana

Nova

If you thought the recent conservative anti-drag campaign was a new phenomenon, writer Craig Seligman has news for you: History is repeating itself. His new book, Who Does That Bitch Think

and immediately consider going, well, what the hell is wrong with you? This cabaret-style production by StageWorks Ink Fringe Theatre has everything: sexy cheerleaders, rebellious youth, evil aliens, ’80s music, roller derby. Seriously, if you haven’t already stopped reading this by now to buy a ticket, then you’re not a true Portlander fulfilling our mission to keep things weird. The Chapel Theatre, 4107 SE Harrison St., Milwaukie, 503-888-5141, stageworksink.com. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, March 30-April 1 and April 6-7; 2 and 7:30 pm Sunday and Saturday, April 2 and 8. $21-$28.

WATCH: Hairspray

Good morning, Baltimore! Hairspray, based on John Waters’ 1988 movie that became a cult classic, returns to Portland this week. Journey back to the ’60s, long before people took to TikTok to flaunt their moves for attention and dancing actually had the power to change the world. This all-new touring production reunites

But let’s chalk up this pick to curiosity. The company’s modernized take on the Bard’s tragedy promises to fuse the genres of cyberpunk and horror. Bring on the blood. The Steep and Thorny Way to Heaven, Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and 2nd Avenue, patreon.com/speculativedrama. 7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, March 31-April 22. $32.

GO: Video Dance Attack

Presents: Beyoncé vs. Rihanna vs. Lady Gaga

the run in the big city after inadvertently killing her rapist. The incomparable John Waters described the gutter-noir crime drama as being “like Godard in drag.” Screens in its newly restored 2K format. Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 971-808-3331, cstpdx.com. 7 pm Monday, April 3. $8.

GO: 2023 Oregon Book Awards

Awards season isn’t over quite yet! This annual competition, organized by Portland Literary Arts, recognizes the best work in multiple genres: poetry, fiction, graphic literature and more. Thirty-four finalists vie for awards, including playwright Sara Jean Accuardi and Jon Raymond, best known for his acclaimed screenwriting for films like First Cow, Meek’s Cutoff and the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce Live Wire Radio’s Luke Burbank hosts. Portland Center Stage at the Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave., 503-227-2583, literaryarts.org. 7:30 pm Monday, April 3. $12-$65.

She Is?:

Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag, explores the life of the titular performer, who died of AIDS in 1991. The timely biography of Fish, the alter ego of Australian-born Philip Clargo Mills, follows his rise to prominence in San Francisco in the 1970s, documents the public’s simultaneous embrace and rejection of drag, and explains how drag queens became heroes in the battle for queer recognition. Seligman, whose husband is a former drag performer who worked with Fish, will discuss all of that and more during his West Coast tour stop in Portland. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323, powells. com. 7 pm Thursday, March 31. Free, $29 to preorder the hardcover.

WATCH: Varsity Cheerleader Werewolves From Outer Space

If the title alone didn’t cause you to pause

Broadway’s award-winning creative team, led by director Jack O’Brien and choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who tell the story of Tracy Turnblad, a high school misfit with the dream of dancing her way onto TV’s The Corny Collins Show. Andrew Levitt, aka Nina West of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame, plays anxious mother-housewife Edna Turnblad. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 503-248-4335, portland.broadway.com. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday, through April 2. $39.75-$154.75.

WATCH: Titus Andronicus

Stabbed, buried alive and baked into pies—the number, and manner, of deaths in what is probably Shakespeare’s most reviled play is what sets it apart. So when Speculative Drama announced it was staging a “fully immersive and viscerally haunting” production of Titus Andronicus, we were naturally hesitant to recommend it.

Don’t be a fool this April 1 and miss Video Dance Attack’s very special showdown between three amazing divas hosted by VJ Kittyrox. Beyoncé, Rihanna and Lady Gaga are the stars of this edition of Portland’s longest-running video dance night. The singers’ music videos will play on a giant screen throughout the evening, so you can mimic those moves and pretend you’re onstage with them as backup. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3895, mississippistudios.com. 9 pm Saturday, April 1. $15. 21+.

LISTEN: Emma Donovan and The Putbacks

Acclaimed Australian vocalist Emma Donovan and Melbourne rhythm combo

The Putbacks will bring their Aboriginal rockish soul/soulish funk to Portland as part of a U.S. tour. Donovan and The Putbacks began collaborating on the 2014 album Dawn, which featured Indigenous language and rhythm and blues. Since then, they’ve released two additional LPs and have helped define the sound of Indigenous protest music. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. 7 pm Sunday, April 2. $25$40.

WATCH: Bad Girls Go to Hell

This 1965 sexploitation classic—written, directed and produced by Doris Wishman—follows the plight of a housewife on

LAUGH: Girl God

Trans comedy duo Girl God—not to be confused with the spiritual apparel line Girl+God—are best known for their joke-riddled social media accounts and irreverent online sketches that have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. April Clark and Grace Freud have now made the leap to live performance, and it turns out their Twitter personas have successfully adapted to the stage. The two have been selling out venues in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, so don’t wait around to get tickets to their Portland show. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE 39th Ave., 503-233-7100, hawthornetheatre. com. 8 pm Tuesday, April 4. $20-$35.

WELCOME TO THE ’60S: Everyone in Hairspray wants to be on The Corny Collins Show, even The Dynamites.

FOOD & DRINK

Editor: Andi Prewitt Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com

Drink From Home

BY JASON COHEN @cohenesque

When life gave Brett Adams and Jacob Grier lemons, they made whiskey sours. And Corpse Revivers. And sidecars.

After getting laid off from their jobs at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic—Adams, formerly of The Hoxton, was about to take over Submarine Hospitality’s bar program; Grier, a freelance writer and founder of Portland’s Aquavit Week, worked for a Norwegian spirits company—they went to work full time on Raising the Bar: A Bottle-by-Bottle Guide to Mixing Masterful Cocktails at Home (Chronicle Books, 304 pages, $24.95).

The book was already under contract in 2019 and certainly would have been extra timely in 2020. But even if you’ve got a bigger home bar and more cocktail-making experience now than you did then, Raising the Bar will help you go further. The two longtime bartenders, who first met and can still be found at Multnomah Whiskey Library (where Adams is the education manager and spirits curator), have created a primer on what they consider the most essential (and non-arcane) cocktail ingredients. The book’s 233 recipes using 25 different bottles (14 for “the classic bar” and 11 more for “the advanced bar”) progress from the simplest old fashioned or Manhattan to more deeply flavored drinks with maraschino liqueur, absinthe or Cynar (which, as the book explains, are still basically old fashioneds or Manhattans).

We caught up with the authors to ask them about the project’s origins and explain why there are really only three types of cocktails.

WW: So what inspired the book?

Jacob Grier: This mostly came about from frustration. Brett and I both work at the Multnomah Whiskey Library, which has over 2,000 bottles, and we both also have ridiculously big home bars. Yet we would still get modern cocktail books, and we’d be flipping through, and like, even we can’t make these. There’s so much emphasis in high-end cocktail bars on creativity and using the weirdest ingredients or the most cutting-edge techniques. You can kind of lose sight of just how good a simple three- or four-ingredient cocktail can be.

Brett Adams: Which is also the way we bartend at home. Like, I’m about to give a one-hour talk with our team about our new seven-ingredient martini that we’re diluting at 21%. That’s really fun to do in a professional bar. But at home, I don’t make seven-ingredient martinis. I make two-ingredient martinis. So what this book does is talk about how we make cocktails at home and how you can make cocktails at home—taking mostly three- or four-ingredient cocktails and balancing them well and understanding why each component is there.

You make the case that there are only three kinds of cocktails, in terms of the most basic formula: an old fashioned (liquor with sugar and bitters), a Manhattan or martini (liquor with fortified wine), and a sour (liquor with sugar and citrus).

Adams: Exactly. I think that applies to every single one of our cocktails in the book. I’m sure if I put that on Reddit there’ll be a million people arguing over whether or not that’s true, but when you break it down to three cocktails it makes it really simple to

understand. “Hey, I’m making a sour cocktail. And when I shake this cocktail, you can connect [that to] a sidecar and a margarita and a white lady and every other cocktail that uses those ingredients.” Simplifying it allows people to understand what they’re using, which then allows them to be more creative in the future.

And you guys aren’t ideologues. There’s a Manhattan with bourbon long before the rye chapter. And you say there’s no right way to make a martini.

Adams: When you dive into the first recipes printed for things like martinis and Manhattans, the dogma goes out the window really quickly. You realize that these are just fundamental beginnings of learning how to mix a spirit and a fortified wine, and that’s all it is. There’s no “it has to be rye,” which is not even listed in the first recipes. All those recipes change over time. The core understanding of a martini and a Manhattan is a spirit and fortified wine, and understanding that balance. Any dogma outside of that is, I think, misunderstanding the point of the cocktail, and just trying to be pretentious. I’m happy to be pretentious, but I want to be a little more informed about my pretensions.

Some readers might find it surprising that after bourbon, gin and vermouth your No. 4 choice was orange liqueur.

Grier: Yeah. We had a couple of reasons for that. Early in the book, we really wanted those fundamental styles: How to stir a cocktail like an old fashioned, how to shake a cocktail like a sour, how to balance a cocktail with vermouth. So that’s the first three chapters out of the way right there. And then the fourth chapter, we wanted to teach you how to balance a cocktail with a liqueur. The other consideration was, you really need orange liqueur to make classic cocktails with tequila and cognac. We didn’t want to say to someone, “Go out and get a bottle of tequila, but surprise! You can’t make a margarita.” And likewise with cognac in the sidecar. So when you’re stocking your bar, you want to get that orange liqueur. And from that point on, we’re just expanding your bar and making things more fun, more complex and more interesting.

So how are you supposed to not make three cocktails in one night while reading this book?

Grier: Invite friends over! It’s usually more fun than drinking alone anyway.

Adams: One thing that’s not mentioned enough in drinking spaces, for real, is “drink responsibly.” I want people to be able to get this book when they’re 25 and still be making great cocktails from it when they’re 60.

These two recipes from Raising the Bar demonstrate Brett Adams and Jacob Grier’s premise that all cocktails are ultimately variations on one of three basic formulas. The Fancy Free, made with bourbon and maraschino liqueur, is an old fashioned in the same genre as The Fancy cocktail (made with orange liqueur) and the Improved Cocktail (made with absinthe), while the gin-based Physically Forgotten falls into the Manhattan/martini category.

JASON COHEN.

Fancy Free

If you recall The Fancy (page 77) and Frisco (page 115) cocktails, you’re hopefully recognizing a trend. Take a slug of whiskey, a small pour of liqueur, and perhaps a dash or two of bitters, and you’ll likely end up with a pretty good drink. The Fancy Free is another testament to the success of this simple formula. A straightforward

mixture of bourbon, maraschino liqueur, and a couple dashes of bitters, it’s a drink for those nights when you want an Old-Fashioned with an interesting twist or, if you’re like us, are just out of rich Demerara syrup and can’t be bothered to make more.

Ingredients

2 ounces bourbon

1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur

1 dash Angostura bitters

1 dash orange bitters

Orange peel, for garnish

Directions

To a mixing glass, add the bourbon, maraschino liqueur, both bitters, and ice. Stir and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice or a single large cube. Garnish with an orange peel and serve.

Physically Forgotten

You can never have too many simple, stirred cocktails in your repertoire. When you come home after a

long day and you don’t want to be bothered with squeezing citrus or making syrups, a cocktail that can be made with bottles taken right off the shelf is just what you need.

The Physically Forgotten from Alise Moffatt, former owner of Portland’s much-missed Shift Drinks bar, fits that profile perfectly. It’s dark, bitter, and quick to whip up, but rich and complex on the palate.

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces gin

3/4 ounce Cynar

1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur

2 dashes orange bitters

Lemon peel, for garnish

Directions

To a mixing glass, add the gin, Cynar, maraschino liqueur, bitters, and ice. Stir and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon peel and serve.

Recipes courtesy of Chronicle Books.

A new book by local mixologists Brett Adams and Jacob Grier tells you how to stock your bar cart, one bottle at a time.

Summer Camp Guide

WW’s Annual Summer Camp Guide is a great resource for Portland parents who are deciding where to send their children for summer activities. Check out our selection of camps that your kids will enjoy!

WIZARD

Heavily Meditated

Relieve your stress with these four relaxing cannabis strains.

BY BRIANNA WHEELER

How stressed are you today?

Almost assuredly, you are experiencing some level of nervousness, if not a general sense of panic due to everything from a three-year pandemic to untenable living costs. I, myself, am included. For instance, my dentist recently told me that teeth are not supposed to touch while in repose, but most of us are absentmindedly grinding them all the time because…life. We are all, like, seriously stressed out. It’s no wonder so many people out here are popping like overheated kernels of corn.

There are no easy answers to stress management, (well, apart from universal income, accessible health care, equitable education, and abolition of the police state, to start) but, hey, there is stoned meditation. Stoned meditation can help clear your mind and relax your body, jump-starting your journey within and helping you access some necessary stillness and inner peace. And cannabis-assisted introspection doesn’t necessarily require astro traveling; plenty of low-THC or nonpsychotropic cultivars can ease users into meditative relaxation without a magic carpet ride. Whether it’s guided, transcendental, or mindful meditations you’re practicing, there’s a strain for that. Just puff, focus on your breath, and roll with the wave.

Here are a few cultivars that support the kind of bone-deep meditation necessary to see the evergreen wonderland just beyond our current late-capitalism hellscape. But fair warning: Go too deep and it may lead you to file for candidacy for local office, which is probably going to result in just a ton of arguments with your constituents; i.e., more stress.

Obama Kush

Speaking of getting too high, being idealistic and ending up in politics, Obama Kush is a super-mellow cultivar that delivers effects that are both sweet and transcendental. Rec users describe highs that soothe their mind and bodies without sedation. Creative stoners might even feel inspired, in which case, meditating with an instrument or a sketchbook might maximize the calm, pacifying effects. Therapeutic users report relief from migraines, insomnia, chronic pain and stress. Expect a sweet, sharp pine aroma and woody, berry-infused exhale.

BUY: Eden Craft Cannabis, 7420 NE Sandy Blvd., 50-347-74368, edencraftcannabis.com.

Future

This rare cross of Gorilla Glue #4 and Starfighter delivers exquisitely balanced head and body highs. Users describe effects that include a third-eye-opening, borderline-enlightening euphoria and soothing body buzz—making for an easy meditation sesh. Therapeutic benefits may include treatment for muscle spasms, depression, headaches and stress. Expect a dank citrus funk in the nose and a grassy, lemony exhale.

BUY: Green Gratitude Marijuana Delivery, 10322 SE Holgate Blvd., 503-444-7707, greengratitude. us/cannabis-delivery-portland.

Pennywise

Transcendental stoners looking for a cultivar that’s a bit less potent than average might consider Pennywise, a 1-to-1 THC-CBD cross of Harlequin and Jack the Ripper that is a favorite of recreational and therapeutic users alike. Expect a creeping onset that eventually develops into a super-chill allover buzz as well as a glittering cerebral high. Therapeutic users report relief from fibromyalgia, inflammation, spasms and stress. Expect an earthy, bitter chocolate nose and a sour-peppery exhale.

BUY: Mongoose Cannabis Co., 3123 SE Belmont St., 541-933-8032, mongoosecannabis.com.

Northern Lights

This popular contemporary strain is a cross of Afghani landrace, or wild cannabis, and Thai, which may explain its lasting acclaim. Its genetics have stood the test of time, maintaining their popularity even as more complex breeds of hybrid hit the scene. More than its staying power, Northern Lights is beloved for its intensely potent effects, including a euphoric head high and powerfully relaxing body buzz. Therapeutic users report relief from anxiety, migraine, insomnia and stress. Expect a sweet pine aroma and an earthy, woody exhale.

BUY: TJ’s on Powell, 7827 SE Powell Blvd., 503-719-7140, visittjs.com.

24 Hours With Ben Landsverk

No one has ever said a bad word about this guy. What’s his deal?

BY LIBBY MOLYNEAUX

This “day in the life” doesn’t start bright and early. Musicians don’t live like us. We tagged along with multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Ben Landsverk for a night and the following day to witness his musical lifestyle. Landsverk keeps his plate full with a heaping helping of projects, including Wonderly, in which he and partner Jim Brunberg write harmony songs and music for The New York Times’ The Daily podcast, film scores, and more. Then there’s the beloved Low Bar Chorale singalong jamboree, plus working with such artists as Ruby Friedman, Rachel Taylor Brown, Box Set, Storm Large, Alma Mater and the avant-classical-prog trio Well.

6 pm Thursday

Landsverk pulls his VW Tiguan into the small parking lot of the White Eagle. He has three guitars, one mandolin, one keyboard, one viola, a pedalboard, and a small Fishman amp to unload, not to mention his super-disco sequined jacket and trucker hat for later. His girlfriend Jennie arrives and helps out with the lugging.

“Did you bring my stool?” he asks her. “I’m always forgetting that.” He speaks briefly to the sound guy about sound things.

Tonight is special for Landsverk. It’s the first time he’s performing solo, which is surprising since he regularly plays for crowds large and small as part of Low Bar Chorale and other ensembles. As people start to fill the club well before the 8 pm showtime, there is palpable anticipation.

Landsverk’s work with the Low Bar Chorale is treated almost like a religion among its followers. That’s largely due to the warm and inspirational nature of his personality; he encourages even the worst singers to belt their hearts out. Come to think of it, his long straight hair, rumpled style, and beatific demeanor do bring to mind a certain son of you-know-who. But tonight is all about Ben Landsverk the solo artist. He looks nervous. Jennie gets him a beer from the bar.

6:45 pm

Landsverk’s Wonderly partner Brunberg arrives and the two start tuning up while patrons eat dinner. It’s a salad kinda crowd.

7:25 pm

A group of about 10, known as the So So Singers, joins Landsverk and Brunberg on the cold patio to rehearse their part on “Bayocean,” a gorgeous song about the coastal town that fell into the sea. The choir adds an ethereal harmonic lift to the composition.

“That sounds beautiful,” Landsverk tells them. It’s going to be the fourth song of the set. “I just want you to wander up onstage when it’s time,” he instructs the choir, adding, “Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening.”

8:50 pm

Showtime. Landsverk takes his seat onstage. “I’ve never done a solo show in front of people,” he tells the crowd. He opens with the jaunty “Starfucker.” Brunberg joins him for “Hey, Steve,” followed by the Warren Zevon gem “My Shit’s Fucked Up.”

The choir quietly moves onto the stage for “Bayocean.” The broken-dreams story moves people (me) to near tears with such emotional lines as “Gonna take it back/Make it great again” that Landsverk sings with the voice of an angel. He again goes for the tear ducts with the stirring “Little Wrecking Ball.” So So singer Jay Cosnett plays roadie, handing over instruments to keep the pace moving.

The sequins come out for the powerful and eerie “Words to Say Goodbye,” performed after improvising a loop on his viola “through various effects on my pedalboard and a Line 6 DL4 looper.” The lyrics and melody were written in advance, but the loop was improvised onstage. By the last number, Felix McTeigue’s “517,” people are swept away.

9:15 pm

For headliner Shawn Brown’s set, Landsverk dons the trucker hat and bright pink scarf for the full rocker look. He’s switched gears from solo artist to backing band, where he’ll add dramatic sounds on the viola, searing guitar

solos, nifty melodic keyboard playing, and background vocals, making it all look easy. Landsverk’s gut-wrenching, bluesy guitar solo on Shawn’s “The Rain Parade” is arena-worthy, and once again, his viola completely takes other songs into space.

10:30 pm

“It was a really good night,” Landsverk says after the show. “So varied.” Was he nervous? “Oh, yes. If I don’t still get nervous playing music, that’s the day I’ll quit. There needs to be an edge—there needs to be some danger.”

After loading up with Jennie’s help, Landsverk drives home to St. John’s, stopping at Canary for fried chicken. “The best in Portland.” He’ll get home about 1 am and curl up on the couch with Jennie to watch Poker Face. He’ll finally get to sleep around 3 am.

9:30 am Friday

Landsverk gets up, mixes a track and arranges a song for the next Low Bar Chorale.

4 pm Friday

He arrives at singer Ruby Friedman’s apartment to work on a new song called “When the Hangman,” with lyrics by Friedman. Landsverk’s switching between banjo and viola. When Friedman adds her distinctive vocal phrasing to the Southern Gothic piece, it’s chilling.

The two discuss doing a residency, or maybe a house concert. They’re excited about a recent video they made for “Family Man of Tigard,” a rollicking song they’ve entered in a contest for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. All musical business is halted when Friedman’s scene-stealing blind French bulldog Clovis attempts to roll over. “I’m so used to this,” cracks Landsverk.

The rehearsal evolves into a spirited mini-concert on the couch and winds down with very un-rock admin-related talk about business affairs, singing contracts and the current state of the artist class.

SEE IT: Low Bar Chorale: Jesus Tommy Superstar plays at Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 503-719-6055, albertarosetheatre.com. 7:30 pm, Friday, April 6. $25, $30 at the door. Minors OK with parent or guardian.

WHAT TO SEE AND WHAT TO HEAR

BY DANIEL BROMFIELD @bromf3

THURSDAY, MARCH

30:

Yeat is the hottest rapper out of the Portland metro area right now. Throngs of fans flock to his ragerap style, which favors blown-out beats optimal for mindless moshing, while detractors characterize his music as derivative—and local rapper Swiggle Mandela, who once rapped, “Hip-hop don’t live in Lake Oswego,” is no doubt seething. But Yeat’s music is best approached the way you’d approach a B-movie or a can of Four Loko: To think too much about it is beside the point. Theater of the Clouds, 1 N Center Court St., 503-235-8771, rosequarter.com. 8 pm. $35.50. All ages.

MONDAY, APRIL 3:

Yes, “A Thousand Miles” is one of the great pop songs of the early 2000s, but Vanessa Carlton originally intended it as an interlude; she never meant it to be a hit. What the singer-songwriter does with most of her time is make dusky art pop with a dash of the theatrical, best understood as a precedent to latter-day indie stars like Perfume Genius and Weyes Blood. Her recent albums, like Liberman and Love Is an Art, ought to be mentioned with those artists’ best work. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 503-2349694, aladdin-theater. com. 9 pm. $25. All ages.

TUESDAY, APRIL 4:

“Death to all but metal!” scream Steel Panther in their mission statement, singling out Blink-182 and Papa Roach for the chopping block. Are they serious? Not at all. But that’s what’s made this motley Los Angeles crew one of the most popular and enduring hair metal bands from this side of the ’90s: ramping everything up to uncomfortable extremes while honing the genuine chops and tightness that were as crucial to their forebears’ success as all that Aqua Net and Spandex. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 503-2250047, crystalballroompdx. com. 8 pm. $27.50. 21+.

JORDAN HUNDELT

JORDAN HUNDELT

IT’S BEN A MINUTE: Ben Landsverk.

MUSIC Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson | Contact: bennett@wweek.com

A Memoir to Understand

Two years after its publication, Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart continues to resonate.

BY MICHELLE KICHERER

IG: @MichelleKicherer

It’s been a big month for Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart (Knopf, 256 pages, $26.95).

The 2021 New York Times bestselling memoir was released in paperback March 28, and it was recently announced that Will Sharpe (The White Lotus) will direct a film adaptation of the book.

Zauner, a Eugene native best known as the Japanese Breakfast singer and guitarist, penned the memoir shortly after her mother died of cancer. Detailing the experience of caring for her mother in plainspoken prose, Zauner is a storyteller of the finest caliber, bringing readers into one of the most difficult experiences of her life.

thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” In other words, she writes in order to understand, and for readers to understand.

“People needed to know how sad that experience was and how hard it was for me to really know who I am after the fact,” Zauner said in an interview with Jessica Hopper at an Illinois Libraries Present event.

As the only child of a white father and Korean mother, Zauner worries in H Mart that if she loses her mother, she’ll lose her connection to her Korean identity. “Am I even Korean anymore if there’s no one left to call and ask which brand of seaweed we used to buy?” she writes.

With H Mart, we read to understand the harsh realities of caregiving for a severely ill person. Zauner bears her soul, capturing what she wants (her mother’s recovery) and what she fears (her mother’s death, and whom she will become after). In doing so, Zauner prods readers to ask, how is our identity shaped? Who are we as individuals and how does our identity shift as we become isolated from certain people and parts of our lives?

“Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart,” reads the opening line. There will be no suspense around this aspect of the story. We know going into the narrative that Zauner’s mother will die. What we don’t know is what that journey will look like.

I teach a class called Fiction Technique in Memoir, where we examine memoirs that pull from literary techniques fiction writers use: story arc, memorable characters, effective dialogue, a narrator who is in some way affected by the story’s events. H Mart is a favorite memoir we look at for its ability to do all of that and more.

The first time I read H Mart, I thought of a Joan Didion quote I often share with my students: “I write entirely to find out what I’m

After those opening lines, we’re given a literary tour of H Mart, the supermarket chain specializing in Asian food. Zauner’s connection to Korean food is important in the book. She uses food as connection and as nourishment in the fight against her mother’s cancer.

Zauner chronicles everything her mother consumes with extensive logs, detailing medication and food intake, bodily functions and bathing. During a particularly difficult day at the hospital, she writes, “There was no embarrassment left, just survival, everything action and reaction.”

For the film adaptation, Zauner said in a statement, “It was a daunting task, to find someone I

could trust with the retelling of such a personal story. Someone who could honor my mother’s character and respect the darkest days of grief, and still make the coming of age of a half-Korean artsy outsider in a small Pacific Northwest hippie town seem real and cool.”

However the film turns out, H Mart is an honest look at how we connect to our families and ourselves, exploring grief and intimacy in a way that is so captivating and honest that it’s worth a second read. And it’s just the beginning:

Zauner is now working on a book that chronicles her journey learning the Korean language.

GO: Michelle Zauner speaks at Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323, powells. com. 6 pm (signing 7-9 pm) Friday, March 31. Free. If event space reaches capacity, people can still join the signing line in the Red Room.

LEAN IN: Michelle Zauner.

COURTESY MICHELLE ZAUNER

COURTESY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

MOVIES

Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson Contact: bennett@wweek.com

STREAMING WARS

YOUR WEEKLY FILM QUEUE

BY BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON @thobennett

Aliens in Azalea

In Alex Lehmann’s drama Acidman, Thomas Haden Church looks for UFOs in rural Oregon.

BY CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER @chance_s_p

Acidman has neither the budget nor the inclination to “prove” alien contact à la Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). But the new Rogue Valley-shot indie does feel like one possible epilogue to the Spielberg classic, asking how an adult child might connect with a parent who picked the aliens over their family.

When Maggie (Dianna Agron) tracks her reclusive father Lloyd (Thomas Haden Church) to his unkempt double-wide near Azalea, Ore., she finds him trying to signal UFOs nightly and staring vacantly in ways that have inspired locals to spray-paint “Acidman” on his trailer. How can a daughter with a posh coat, rental car, and questions about generational reconciliation fit in?

Those are the human conundrums director Alex Lehmann (Bluejay, Paddleton) sought to explore in Acidman The filmmaker spoke to WW about rural Oregon privacy, firework safety, and convincing Church to pitch up his distinct baritone for a father-daughter sock puppet scene.

WW: How’d you decide to set this movie in Oregon?

Alex Lehmann: The script was originally meant for the Pennsylvania woods where I grew up. But Oregon just makes sense. So many people go to Oregon to live freely and have their own beliefs. They want the privacy to do it.

I learned that the hard way scouting locations. I would go down a private road I thought was public, and someone would come out and say, “Hey, we’ve been watching you on our cameras for the last mile; turn around right now.” I immediately was like, “I’m in the right place.” I mean, I was in the wrong place, but in the bigger sense, I was in the right place.

Did anything in the script change once you had the Azalea location?

The biggest one was [Galesville Reservoir] where [Lloyd and Maggie] go to make contact. Trees were growing out of the water. It felt like an old episode of Star Trek, where they find cool places to shoot and make it look like a different planet. That wasn’t originally scripted.

Lloyd tries to signal UFOs with fireworks in that scene. How’d you manage that safely?

That was another reason the reservoir made sense. Let’s shoot them over a big body of water. I was also nervous. We had three local fire trucks volunteer to be there. I guess it’s not that surprising that the guys working in the fire department are also kind of pyros. I was asking them for help designing a fireworks display that would be used to communicate with aliens. And this guy was like, “Oh, I know exactly what to do! The first shot crosses this way. And then you need to send a red one and blue one in this pattern!” He lit up like a kid…and he’s got the fire extinguisher.

How did you want to position aliens and questions of their existence in your script?

The original story didn’t have UFOs, but it was still a relationship between two people who don’t totally get each other. To connect with other people, you can’t just believe in being right or wrong. You have to believe in something bigger. Even if you don’t necessarily believe UFOs exist, you should understand why [Lloyd] wants them to exist.

Dianna has very poised energy; Thomas is often more subversive. How did you know they would play off each other interestingly?

I don’t usually operate this way—it’s usually a more heady thing—but the first time we got on a call, I was just hearing their deep, full voices. Dianna is this amazing jazz singer. And I found it really fun to ask Thomas to do a high-pitched voice for the sock puppet scene. It was so absurd, but I was in Oregon, man. I was feeling things, not thinking things.

How do you direct great sock puppet acting? Thomas did all the work. I just had to convince him it was going to work. I think he wasn’t so sure. Good directing is casting talented people and constantly reminding them you have all the faith in the world they will do a fantastic job. Let’s be honest: Thomas is a sexy man. He’s got an even sexier voice. For me to say, put a sock puppet on your hand? He’s a cowboy! It took a little leap, and that’s a really generous moment.

SEE IT: Acidman is available on demand Friday, March 31.

Cinemagic’s recent screenings of the Star Wars prequels prompted a question from one of my friends: Has Hayden Christensen ever given a good performance? The answer lies in Billy Ray’s Shattered Glass (2003), which stars Christensen as infamous New Republic journalist Stephen Glass.

Most of the movie unfolds in 1998, when Glass was an associate editor at the magazine. As embodied by Christensen, he’s a smug showman who swaggers around the office in his socks, mesmerizing colleagues who envy his lurid articles.

“I want a Miata!” Glass cries, imitating the subject of his latest story, a teenage hacker named Ian Restil. There’s just one problem: Editor Charles Lane (Peter Sarsgaard) doesn’t believe Restil is a real person, and Forbes Digital Tool reporter Adam Penenberg (Steve Zahn) is eager to embarrass The New Republic by exposing Glass as a charlatan.

Christensen’s Glass actually has a lot in common with his Anakin Skywalker; they’re both whiny, self-pitying morons. “Are you mad at me?” Glass moans every time someone questions his integrity. It’s an infuriating question, spoken by a grown man who masquerades as a mewling child when it suits him.

As reticent as Christensen is theatrical, Sarsgaard stealthily steals the show, playing Lane as a man whose apparent coldness belies a deep reservoir of integrity. He’ll never outcharm Glass, but he’s the only one at the magazine who understands the depths of his phoniness.

“He handed us fiction after fiction, and we printed them all as fact!” Lane roars when he finally casts off his cloak of stoicism. “Just because we found him entertaining. It’s indefensible.” That scene should be shown in journalism schools around the world—and it’s a reminder that as (shockingly) good as Christensen is, Sarsgaard is better. Free on Amazon Prime, Tubi and YouTube.

WATCH THE SKIES: Thomas Haden Church and Dianna Agron.

HOLLYWOOD PICK:

On the Waterfront (1954)

“I coulda been a contender!” protested the man who was about to become champion of every conversation about acting for the next half-century.

On the Waterfront is a crown jewel in the legend of Marlon Brando, who won his first Oscar for playing washedout prizefighter Terry Malloy. When we meet him in Elia Kazan’s classic drama, Malloy is entering the actual fight of his life. Having accidentally helped a murderous union boss (Lee J. Cobb) silence a rebellious longshoreman, Malloy ends up caught between two moral compasses—a pro-labor priest (Karl Malden) and the murdered man’s sister (Eva Marie Saint)—and the inertial forces of corruption, bolstered by Terry’s own enforcer brother (Rod Steiger).

Brando’s performance remains magnificent nearly 70 years on. The iconic “contender” monologue is pitched with a softer, aching nuance than many might remember, and Terry’s constant eye-contact avoidance, beneath lumps of scar tissue, suggests a man who cannot bear to confront what he’s done and still may have to do.

Saint, in her first acting role, is Brando’s on-screen equal in every way, emanating all the curiosity and focus that terrifies the ex-fighter. And the rest of the ensemble? In short, they’re all bona fide contenders.

Enjoy one of Hollywood’s all-time acting showcases at Cinema 21 on April 1, part of programmer Elliot Lavine’s “5 From the 5ifties” series.

ALSO PLAYING:

Academy: Porco Rosso (1992), Spider Baby (1967), March 31-April 6. Clinton: Lingua Franca (2019), March 31. Detour (1945), April 1. Drive (2011), April 2. Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965), April 3. Black Boots, Leather Whip (1983), April 4. Hollywood: Slumber Party Massacre II (1987), March 31. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), April 1-2. A Clockwork Orange (1971), April 1-2. Alien Private Eye (1989), April 4.

TOP PICK OF THE WEEK

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4

A 169-minute shootout may be as impervious to review as the tailored suits of vengeful assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) are to gunfire, but let’s compare the fourth installment in the Wick saga to its other blockbuster franchise contemporaries. Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it features a cipher of a hero defined by garish antagonists (Bill Skarsgård’s Marquis, Clancy Brown’s Harbinger, Shamier Anderson’s Tracker). Like The Expendables, it assembles an ensemble of allies (Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, Hiroyuki Sanada’s hotelmaster/warlord) with allusions to cinema past that are less homage than guiding purpose. Like in the Bond films, any emotional nuance has been bestowed on Wick’s rather more interesting opposite number (Donnie Yen’s blind assassin Caine), while specificities of plot have been sacrificed for extended slaughterings intercut with worshipful sequences glorifying the hyperluxe corridors of power so shamelessly that they may as well be commercials for wealth. Which poses the question: Is John Wick: Chapter 4 an obscene glorification of capitalism unbound or cutting satire that insists all money is blood money? A profoundly inane exercise in empty violence or a transcendent ballet replacing exposition with movement? A stillborn spawn of a deadened culture or the apotheosis of a self-referential interactivity rendering originality itself irrelevant? To quote Wick, “Yeah.” R. JAY HORTON. Academy, Bagdad, Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Eastport, Fox Tower, Joy Cinema, Laurelhurst, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Progress Ridge, Studio One, Tigard.

MOVING ON

On the heels of 80 for Brady, Jane Fonda embarks on another, far darker quest in Moving On. At an old friend’s outof-town funeral, Claire (Fonda) bluntly informs the widower (Malcolm McDowell) that she’s going to kill him…and he knows why. Alternating between conspirator and voice of reason, Fonda’s favorite screen partner, Lily Tomlin (9 to 5 Grace and Frankie), shines as Claire’s best friend in droll co-pilot fashion. And if the stars of Klute and A Clockwork Orange weren’t enough 1970s iconography, Richard Roundtree lends all the tender, still-gotit gravitas you’d want from octogenarian Shaft to his role as Claire’s ex-husband. Overall, Moving On ’s mission is as precarious as Claire’s. It foregrounds a heightened, ostensibly comedic premise but mostly seeks characters’ wistful realities within the exaggerated. And while major script contrivances link the murder threat’s ridiculousness to the unspoken insecurities of a failed marriage, Moving On does the splits more ambitiously than most American indies of this dramedy ilk. The lead cast’s combined 240 years of on-screen confidence smooth the tone shifts, and writer-director Paul Weitz (About a Boy, American Pie) smartly pins Claire’s revenge plot to inequities in memory and absolution that haunt our cultural conversations—essentially, who gets to “move on.” R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Bridgeport, Cascade, Clackamas, Lake Theater, Living Room.

CHAMPIONS

:

There’s a fatal flaw linking films like The Mighty Ducks, Hardball and The Way Back : They center on hard-drinking, hypercompetitive womanizers sentenced to reclaim their souls by nudging a ragtag bunch of disadvantaged kids toward victory, but show

little understanding of sports, alcohol or poor fortune. Yet for all the flaws of Champions, Bobby Farrelly’s new contribution to the subgenre, the tale of a jobless coach (Woody Harrelson) forced on a squad of intellectually disabled teens displays a solid familiarity with booze and basketball—as well as simplified narratives. Even the Dumberest Farrelly brothers comedies evoke a disarming sense of life as actually lived, given their fascination with people and places rarely seen on screen, absolute overcommitment to prepubescent gags, and a sloppily haphazard filmic style echoing cinéma vérité. While the same holds true for Champions, Bobby’s solo directorial debut, what’s the point of applying this patina of the real to the flimsiest imaginable adaptation of a supposed true story when every plot complication is papered over by hackneyed sitcom high jinks? And, for that matter, isn’t grounding a film in Iowa City’s bleak midwinter antithetical to a feel-good movie? Too foulmouthed for family viewing, too saccharine for the Farrellys’ usual fan base, and too shallow to let the measured relationship between Harrelson and team chauffeur Kaitlin Olson (deepening her weathered party girl protagonist from The Mick) take center stage, the film may well have been someone’s community service. Watching it, alas, feels much the same. PG-13. JAY HORTON. Bridgeport, Canby, Cascade, Cinema 99, City Center, Clackamas, Eastport, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Laurelhurst, Oak Grove, Vancouver Mall, Wilsonville.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES

Edgin (Chris Pine) is no hero—just ask Edgin. “Shut up, I’m a moron, you know that,” he

declares after being cheered for battling a dastardly wizard. His avowed stupidity makes him a perfect protagonist for Dungeons & Dragons, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s adaptation of Vin Diesel’s favorite fantasy role-playing game. In their last film, Game Night (2018), Daley and Goldstein cast Jason Bateman as a man who makes peace with his utter patheticness—and in D&D they’ve handed Pine a similar role. Edgin’s quest to steal the secret to resurrection from a foppish former ally (Hugh Grant) is a series of ghoulish misadventures, including a showdown with a corpulent dragon and a series of morbidly witty interviews with talking skeletons. These spunky, satirical scenes offer much-needed relief from Edgin’s endless brooding over his dead wife and adorable estranged daughter (Chloe Coleman), which threaten to drown the comedy in solemnity. While Game Night took the piss out of Fight Club by turning a David Fincher-inspired sequence into a game of hot potato with a Fabergé egg, D&D seeks to balance gleeful absurdity with Tolkien-style melodrama. It’s a numbingly tidy film—and a far cry from Daley and Goldstein’s Vacation (2015), which peaked when the Griswold family was nearly drowned by a deranged river rafting guide (Charlie Day). That scene may have been mean-spirited and distasteful, but it was an undeniably funny testament to a truth Daley and Goldstein used to understand: In comedy, it’s hard to score critical hits (to borrow a D&D parlance) by playing nice. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Pioneer Place, Progress Ridge, Studio One, Tigard.

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.

by Jack Kent

ACROSS

1. Absorbed

5. Emu or ostrich, e.g.

11. "The Ultimate Driving Machine"

14. ___ error

15. Bluegrass artist Krauss

16. Late July birth sign

17. Scientific group that includes limes and kumquats

19. Musician Yoko

20. Locale of a notable zoo

21. Icelandic electronic group with albums "Polydistortion" and "Lies Are More Flexible"

23. Put a stop to

24. "Beg pardon"

25. Aquarium buildup

28. "Best in Show" org.

30. Add, as a vocal track

34. Repeated marks after "F" that jokingly denote a really bad grade

37. ___ Chico (beverage brand)

38. "I love," in Latin

39. Aware of, with "to"

40. "Who Are You" was its opening theme

41. Video game humanoids since 1989

43. 1993 Halloween film with a 2022 sequel

46. Prepare, as mussels

48. Islands instrument

49. Opponent in Risk

50. It may be checked at the door

52. Special someone,

BY MATT JONES

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Sometimes, I give you suggestions that may, if you carry them out, jostle your routines and fluster your allies. But after trying out the new approaches for a short time, you may chicken out and revert to old habits. That’s understandable! It can be difficult to change your life. Here’s an example. What if I encourage you to cancel your appointments and wander out into the wilderness to discuss your dreams with the birds? And what if, during your adventure, you are flooded with exhilarating yearnings for freedom? And then you decide to divest yourself of desires that other people want you to have and instead revive and give boosts to desires that you want yourself to have? Will you actually follow through with brave practical actions that transform your relationship with your deepest longings?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You have done all you can for now to resolve and expunge stale, messy karma—some of which was left over from the old days and old ways. There may come a time in the future when you will have more cleansing to do, but you have now earned the right to be as free from your past and as free from your conditioning as you have ever been. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, you still need to spend a bit more time resolving and expunging stale, messy karma. But you’re almost done!

least one muse, even if we’re not creative artists. A muse can be a spirit or hero or ally who inspires us, no matter what work and play we do. A muse may call our attention to important truths we are ignoring or point us in the direction of exciting future possibilities. According to my astrological analysis, you are now due for a muse upgrade. If you don’t have one, get one—or even more. If you already have a relationship with a muse, ask more from it. Nurture it. Take it to the next level.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Dear Valued Employee: Our records show you haven't used any vacation time over the past 100 years. As you may know, workers get three weeks of paid leave per year or else receive pay in lieu of time off. One added week is granted for every five years of service. So please, sometime soon, either take 9,400 days off work or notify our office, and your next paycheck will reflect payment of $8,277,432, including pay and interest for the past 1,200 months. APRIL FOOL! Everything I just said was an exaggeration. But there is a grain of truth in it. The coming weeks should bring you a nice surprise or two concerning your job.

slangily

53. Version of a North African semolina dish in Turkish cuisine (it sounds the same)

56. "Say hello to my little friend" movie

61. Landing guess at LAX

62. Hit HBO show (adapted from a video game) that illustrates the six theme answers

64. Thanksgiving starch

65. Gasoline hydrocarbon with six carbon atoms

66. Mineral sources

67. "___ sells seashells ..."

68. Came down softly?

69. Errands list heading

1. Floor coverings

2. Sailing on the ocean

3. Teller's partner

4. Canadian Prime Minister Justin

5. Sped along

6. Character before Borat

7. One-fifth of the Jackson 5

8. Neighbor of Syr.

9. Not easy to crack

10. Happened next

11. Online journal

12. Item in a restaurant takeout bag

13. Courts

18. Certain trig functions

22. Blue material

24. Contact lens brand

25. Accumulate

26. "The ___ does not exist"

©2023 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.

("Mean Girls" line)

27. Bearded garden figurine

28. Dry on a line, perhaps

29. New York NBA player

31. Lawn bowling game

32. Lorem ___ (placeholder text)

33. Raucous

35. Abbr. on a speeding ticket

36. Part of DOS

42.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Businessman Robert Bigelow hopes to eventually begin renting luxurious rooms in space. For $1.7 million per night, travelers will enjoy accommodations he provides on his orbiting hotel, 200 miles above the Earth's surface. Are you interested? I bet more Geminis will be signing up for this exotic trip than any other sign. You're likely to be the journeyers most excited by the prospect of sailing along at 17,000 miles per hour and witnessing 16 sunsets and sunrises every 24 hours. APRIL FOOL! In fact, you Geminis are quite capable of getting the extreme variety you crave and need right here on the planet’s surface. And during the coming weeks, you will be even more skilled than usual at doing just that.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to become the overlord of your own fiefdom, or seize control of a new territory and declare yourself chieftain, or overthrow the local hierarchy and install yourself as the sovereign ruler of all you survey. APRIL FOOL! I was metaphorically exaggerating a bit—but just a bit. I do in fact believe now is an excellent phase to increase your clout, boost your influence, and express your leadership. Be as kind you can be, of course, but also be rousingly mighty and fervent.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In his poem "The Something," Charles Simic writes, "Here come my night thoughts on crutches, returning from studying the heavens. What they thought about stayed the same. Stayed immense and incomprehensible." According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you Leos will have much the same experience in the coming weeks. So there’s no use in even hoping or trying to expand your vision. APRIL FOOL! I lied. The truth is, you will not have Simic's experience. Just the opposite. When your night thoughts return from studying the heavens, they will be full of exuberant, inspiring energy. (And what exactly are “night thoughts”? They are bright insights you discover in the darkness.)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): If there will ever come a time when you will find a gold bullion bar on the ground while strolling around town, it will be soon. Similarly, if you are destined to buy a winning $10 million lottery ticket or inherit a diamond mine in Botswana, that blessing will arrive soon. APRIL FOOL! I was exaggerating a bit. The truth is, I suspect you are now extra likely to attract new resources and benefits, though not on the scale of gold bullion, lottery winnings, and diamond mines.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Do you have a muse, Libra? In my opinion, all of us need and deserve at

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827) was a hardworking visionary prophet with an extravagant imagination. His contemporaries considered him a freaky eccentric, though today we regard him as a genius. I invite you to enjoy your own personal version of a Blake-like phase in the coming weeks. It's a perfect time to dynamically explore your idiosyncratic inclinations and creative potentials. Be bold, even brazen, as you celebrate what makes you unique. BUT WAIT! Although everything I just said is true, I must add a caveat: You don’t necessarily need to be a freaky eccentric to honor your deepest, most authentic truths and longings.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Some of my friends disapprove of cosmetic surgery. I remind them that many cultures throughout history have engaged in body modification. In parts of Africa and Borneo, for example, people stretch their ears. Some Balinese people get their teeth filed. Women of the Indigenous Kyan people in Thailand elongate their necks using brass coils. Anyway, Capricorn, this is my way of letting you know that the coming weeks would be a favorable time to change your body. APRIL FOOL! It’s not my place to advise you about whether and how to reshape your body. Instead, my job is to encourage you to deepen and refine how your mind understands and treats your body. And now is an excellent time to do that.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I invite you to make a big change. I believe it’s crucial if you hope to place yourself in maximum alignment with current cosmic rhythms. Here's my idea: Start calling yourself by the name "Genius." You could even use it instead of the first name you have used all these years. Tell everyone that from now on, they should address you as "Genius." APRIL FOOL! I don't really think you should make the switch to Genius. But I do believe you will be extra smart and ultra-wise in the coming weeks, so it wouldn't be totally outrageous to refer to yourself as "Genius."

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your body comprises 30 trillion human cells and 39 trillion microbial cells, including the bacteria that live within you. And in my astrological estimation, those 69 trillion life forms are vibrating in sweet harmony with all the money in the world. Amazing! Because of this remarkable alignment, you now have the potential to get richer quicker. Good economic luck is swirling in your vicinity. Brilliant financial intuitions are likely to well up in you. The Money God is far more amenable than usual to your prayers. APRIL FOOL! I was exaggerating a bit. But I do believe you now have extra ability to prime your cash flow.

Homework: What’s the best blessing you could give someone right now? Newsletter. FreeWillAstrology.com

"We Made It to the Finish Line"--just you and me.