TIM GUNTHER
BACK COVER
TO ADVERTISE ON WILLAMETTE WEEK’S BACK COVER CALL 243-2122 HIPPIE MODELS Male Seeking MAC REPAIR Seeking female models. Creative outdoor Female PORTLAND MAC TECH nude shots. 18+ slim/average/fit body. Adult Interested in BDSM, leather, kink, etc.
Free House Calls • Low Rates $25 diagnostic fee, $50 per hour. Call 503-998-9662 or Schedule an appointment at www.portlandmactech.com
$100-$10,000 Cash for Running & Non-Running Vehicles
Natural, completely unshaven/hairy. 971-222-8714. Minimal tattoos/piercings. $400. 503-449-5341. Hippiegoddess.com
Improvisation Classes Now enrolling. Beginners Welcome! Brody Theater 503-224-2227 www.brodytheater.com
Willamette Week
MAMA’S MEDICAL Marijuana Clinic
BEST of PORTLAND
Getting registered for medical marijuana needn’t be a counter-culture experience. MAMA: 503-233-4202. MAMAS.org
We pay Top dollar for any kind of vehicle! Free Towing 503-989-5834 503-989-2277
Bankruptcy Attorney
It’s not too late to eliminate debt, protect assets, start over. Experienced, compassionate, top-quality service. Christopher Kane, 503-380-7822 www.ckanelaw.com
2 Homes to pick from!
AA HYDROPONICS
9966 SW Arctic Drive, Beaverton 9220 SE Stark Street, Portland American Agriculture • americanag.com PDX 503-256-2400 BVT 503-641-3500
Anita Manishan Bankruptcy Attorney
UPCOMING CLASSES
A GUIDE TO BETTER ORGASMS WITH MIKAYA HEART WED, AUGUST 24TH • 7:30PM • $15 (INCLUDES BOOK) PLEASE RESERVE YOUR SPOT ONLINE AT SHEBOPTHESHOP.COM — SPACE IS LIMITED
Our nonprofit clinic’s doctors will help. The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation. www.thc-foundation.org 503-281-5100
Medical Marijuana Card Medical Exams
ALL MUSIC PAWN SHOP! Briz Loan & Guitar. Downtown Vancouver, WA 360-699-5626 www.briz.us
FREE Consultation. Payment Plans. Experienced. Debt-Relief Agency Scott Hutchinson. 503-808-9032 www.Hutchinson-Law.com
20% Off Purchase With This Ad!
The Best For CD + DVD Duplication. 503-228-2222 • www.cdpdx.com
Glass Pipes, Vaporizers, Incense & Candles
7219 NE Hwy. 99, Suite 109 Vancouver, WA 98665
(360) 735-5913 212 N.E. 164th #19 Vancouver, WA 98684
(360) 514-8494
Eating Disorders
Free Family and Sufferers Support Groups. 12 Week Treatment Groups. Individual Counseling. Call for free “Steps To Recover” brochure. A Better Way Counseling Center 503-226-9061 www.abwcounseling.com
6913 E. Fourth Plain Vancouver, WA 98661
8312 E. Mill Plain Blvd Vancouver, WA 98664
(360) 213-1011
1156 Commerce Ave Longview Wa 98632
(360) 695-7773 (360) 577-4204 Not valid with any other offer
IT’S MY PLEASURE
Feminist gift store for romance. Classes. www.itsmypleasurepdx.com 503-280-8080.
Fresh Start: Bankruptcy JiuJitsu FREE Consultation. Eliminate Debt. Experienced. Debt Relief Agency. Jake Braunstein 503.505.0411
1425 NW 23rd Portland, OR 97210 (503) 841-5751
Ground defense under black belt instruction. www.nwfighting.com or 503-740-2666
1825 E Street
Washougal, WA 98671
(360) 844-5779
Mayhem Tattoo
$40 Oregon with Heart 805 nw glisan | 503.230.8952
Therapy & Counseling Adam Zwig, Ph.D. NW Location 503-227-1439 www.Adamzwigtherapy.com
Subaru and Volvo Repair EST 1980
503-771-6701 • stevesimports.com First time visits. Excludes oil changes.
purchase of a new Surfboard
Hypnotherapy works. Jen Procter, CHt., M.NLP 503-804-1973 hello@jenprocter.com
Enhance awareness via moving meditation www.nwfighting.com or 503-740-2666
North West Hydroponic R&R
$244,000/879sqft/2Bdr2Ba OPEN HOUSE 12-3 July 30 Beautiful SW Park & Clay Jim Brunke Real Estate 503.223.2200
University Park Condo
We Buy, Sell, & Trade New & Used Hydroponic Equipment. 503-747-3624
WE BUY GOLD!
Opiate Treatment Program
Evening outpatient treatment program with suboxone. CRCHealth/Dr. Jim Thayer, Addiction Medicine www.transitionsop.com 503-348-2840
WWEEK.COM
• Select wetsuits up to 30% off • Rentals, lessons, repairs & more
503-738-7888
[Hwy 101]
cleanlinesurf.com
The Jewelry Buyer 2034 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland. 503-239-6900
Zipper Repair & Replacement
Boots, Shoes, Leather Goods JD’s Shoe Repair 3441 N Vancouver Ave www.jdshoerepair.com 503-287-7078
Medical Marijuana Card Services Clinic
CANNON BEACH 171 Sunset Blvd. 503-436-9726 SEASIDE 60 N Roosevelt
Your Summer Fun Starts Here!!!
Stop SMOKING, Already!
Listen to Ads & Reply FREE! 503-299-9911 Use FREE Code 5906, 18+
The NW's Original Surf Shop
• $50 In-store credit with
Free removal. Ask for Steve. 503-936-5923
MEET GAY & BI SINGLES TaiChi
BUY LOCAL, BUY AMERICAN, BUY MARY JANES
Bikram YogaMost Affordable in Town! $29 Intro Month
$Quick Cash for Junk Vehicles$
Grand Opening Special: $135 (Scheduled appts only, ends 8/5) SuperDigital Licensed in Oregon & Washington The Recording Store. Pro Audio. CD/DVD Walk-ins welcome Fridays until 2 PM Duplication. www.superdigital.com The Aurora Clinic | 1847 E. Burnside 503.232.3003 | www.theauroraclinic.com 503-228-2222
ATTORNEY- BANKRUPTCY
CDPDX
1712 E.Burnside Pipes, Detox, Scales, Hookah, Shisha Cream Charger Special 503-206-7731
Oregon & Washington $25 Acupuncture, Massage, Reiki Altmedchoices@gmail.com PH:503-288-5579/FAX:503-282-1272
MEDICAL MARIJUANA
20 YEARS EXPERIENCE. DEBT RELIEF AGENCY. www.nwbankruptcy.com FREE CONSULTATIONS, 503-242-1162
7070 SE 16th (Sellwood) 503-232-9642 3665 SW Hall Blvd (Beaverton) 503-526-8828
Poppi’s Pipes
Medical Marijuana Recommendation
EXPLORING BURLESQUE: STRIPTEASE SALON WED, AUGUST 10TH • 7:15PM • $15
30 MINUTE APPOINTMENTS
www.weedcardclinic.com 371729.031011 PP
$999 down. $1,049/mo! 3&4 bdrm. 1-2 bath. 30yr contract! No Balloon! SE Ptld or St Johns 503-793-8147 www.topnotchhomes.net
503.384.WEED (9333) Open 7 Days • FREE Medical Records Reviewing
Serving OR & WA • 4911 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland 97213
WWEEK.COM | VOL 37/38 | 07.27.2011
2
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
CONTENT SAVE
. 0 HOT 18 MEGA PIXELS PI
100Canon 7D with
$
7D BODY ONLY IN STOCK!
1599
18-135mm IS Lens KIT
1899
99 99 $ n New all cross-type 19-point AF system $ , , ** ** n Fast 8 frames per second continuous ** 7D Body reg price is $1699.99 - $100 instant shooting to catch all the action! rebate. Canon 7D 18-135 IS Kit reg price is n Captures Full HD video at 30p, 24p and 25p $1999.99 - $100 instant rebate. Rebates expires 9-3-2011. with an array of manual controls!
18 0 MEGA NEW PIPIXELS .
FLIP-OUT VARI-ANGLE MONITOR
SAVE n Flip-out Vari-angle 3" LCD monitor for $ Canon T3i with shooting at a variety of angles 18-55mm IS II Lens KIT n 3.7 frames per second continuous shooting 99* $ n Live View while shooting n Self cleaning sensor unit * Canon Rebel T3i 18-55 IS II Kit reg price is $899.99 -
50
849
$50 instant rebate. Rebate expires 7-30-2011.
THE BIG LIFT: Money trouble for the Columbia River Crossing. Page 7.
NEWS
4
FOOD & DRINK
56
LEAD STORY
14
MUSIC
59
CULTURE
54
MOVIES
79
HEADOUT
55
CLASSIFIEDS
84
EDITORIAL Managing Editor for News Brent Walth Arts & Culture Editor Kelly Clarke Staff Writers Nigel Jaquiss, Corey Pein, James Pitkin Copy Chief Kat Merck Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, Sarah Smith Assistant Arts & Culture Editor Ben Waterhouse Movies Editor Aaron Mesh Music Editor Casey Jarman Editorial Interns Natasha Geiling, Nathan Gilles, Shae Healey, Reed Jackson, Corey Paul CONTRIBUTORS Classical Brett Campbell Dance Heather Wisner Visual Arts Richard Speer
n Versatile 14x wide-angle zoom lens n Travel the world using GPS technology that’ll tag your photos with time & locations. POWERSHOT SX230 HS n 1080p Full HD Video SAVE $ 99†
20
$
† Canon PowerShot SX230 HS reg price is $349.99 - $20 instant rebate. Rebate expires 7-30-2011.
n
Erik Bader, Judge Bean, Nathan Carson, Devan Cook, Shane Danaher, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, Robert Ham, Jay Horton, Matthew Korfhage, AP Kryza, Hannah Levin, Jessica Lutjemeyer, Jeff Rosenberg, Matt Singer, Chris Stamm, Mark Stock PRODUCTION Production Manager Kendra Clune Art Director Ben Mollica Graphic Designers Melissa Casillas, Soma Honkanen, Adam Krueger, Brittany Moody, Carolyn Richardson Production Interns Jacob Garcia, Morgan Green-Hopkins ADVERTISING Director of Advertising Jane Smith Display Account Executives Sara Backus, Maria Boyer, Michael Donhowe, Drew Harrison, Janet Norman, Kyle Owens Classifieds Account Executives Ashlee Horton, Corin Kuppler Advertising Assistant Ashley Grether Marketing and Events Manager Jess Sword Marketing and Promotions Coordinator Brittany McKeever
Our mission: Provide our audiences with an independent and irreverent understanding of how their worlds work so they can make a difference. Circulation: 80,000-90,000 (depending on time of year, holidays and vacations.) Though Willamette Week is free, please take just one copy. Anyone removing papers in bulk from our distribution points will be prosecuted, as they say, to the full extent of the law. Willamette Week is published weekly by City of Roses Newspaper Company 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Main line phone: (503) 243-2122 fax: (503) 243-1115 Classifieds phone: (503) 223-1500 fax: (503) 223-0388
PIXELS PI
329
503-241-1112 800-835-3314 www.ProPhotoSupply.com 1112 NW 19th (at Marshall), Portland, Oregon STORE HOURS n MON 7:30-6:00 n TUES-FRI 8:30-6:00 n SAT 9:00-5:00
STAFF Editor-in-Chief Mark Zusman
. 1 NEW 12 MEGA
n
CANON U.S.A. ONE-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY
DISTRIBUTION Circulation Director Robert Lehrkind WWEEK.COM Web Production Brian Panganiban MUSICFESTNW Executive Director Trevor Solomon So Special and Sparkly Dan Winters OPERATIONS Accounting Manager Andrea Manning Credit & Collections Shawn Wolf Office Manager & Receptionist Nick Johnson Office Corgi Bruce Manager of Information Systems Brian Panganiban Publisher Richard H. Meeker
Willamette Week welcomes freelance submissions. Send material to either News Editor or Arts Editor. Manuscripts will be returned if you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. To be considered for calendar listings, notice of events must be received in writing by noon Wednesday, two weeks before publication. Send to Calendar Editor. Photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Questions concerning circulation or subscription inquiries should be directed to Robert Lehrkind at Willamette Week. postmaster: Send all address changes to Willamette Week, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Subscription rates: One year $100, six months $50. Back issues $5 for walk-ins, $8 for mailed requests when available. Willamette Week is mailed at third-class rates. A.A.N. Association of ALTERNATIVE NEWSWEEKLIES This newspaper is published on recycled newsprint using soy-based ink.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
3
INBOX WWEEK.COM READERS COMMENT ON “BAD NEIGHBOR,” JULY 20, 2011 “A scowling, vengeful, dishonest, narcissistic asshole in bad glasses who can’t pay his mortgage and runs around bullying people? Is this story about Sam Adams?” —Ironicaler “No amount of money can buy an ounce of class.” —Josh Miller “So, black gang voilence [sic] is on track to set a record in Portland, but that fact warrants only one page in the new issue. The top story, however, the thing that Portlanders most need to be informed of, is that WW has found one white guy who is kind of an a-hole? You guys give liberal guilt a bad name....” —BG in SE
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
“You are right. I guess it is a lot safer to report about a strange white guy. So he made mistakes, he is out there, building fences, fighting criminals. He shouldn’t have cut the trees, maybe but at least he is not leaving hypodermic needles everywhere for kids to step on. He is not threatening everyone he passes on the street like the criminals. Maybe he will hone his energy and do something good like save you someday. He is not writing weak, baseless negative opinion pieces about the governor. He doesn’t have stretched earlobes. Judge not lest ye be judged, toots.” —The One
“Racist pig much? Is it ‘black’ gang vilonence [sic] that so concerns you? Would you like some stories about how we might help prevent this violence, or are you more interested in publicizing it more to justify your fancy alarm system and your horde of Glocks? One rich puke has much more influence and is more newsworthy than groups of youths fighting over the scraps left to them by this ubercapitalist ‘society.’ There is always conflict at the bottom. It’s only news when they direct their rage in the right direction.” —Brad
“Can’t we just stop all the voilence? And maybe while we’re at it, can we stop the vilonence too?” —JVK
“BG, I think we have found just the right guy to be your next neighbor. We never had a single problem with black residents in our neighborhood. But we sure had a bunch of serious
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Fax: (503) 243-1115, Email: mzusman@wweek.com
In last week’s column, you quoted a source who said, “The Willamette’s water quality is excellent.” Oh, really? Look it up: The river is a designated Superfund pollution disaster. It’s not just sewage that makes it toxic. —Craig McP.
around in the portion of the river that runs from, say, Lake Oswego through downtown, not jumping off a container-ship dock by a metalfabricating plant in the industrial harbor. If you were dreaming of Jet-Skiing among the coal barges out by Swan Island, then yes, you’re hosed. But according to Travis Williams, mighty riverkeeper of Willamette Riverkeeper, the rest of the river is more or less fine: “Unless a person is wallowing in contaminated sediment”—Craig, is that you?—“the Willamette in the downtown area, absent any combined sewer overflow event, is safe to recreate in, and on.” As we discussed last week, a CSO event is when stormwater splashes poop out of our crappily designed sewer system and into the river, and it’s what the past 20 years of sewer construction projects—which will be complete this winter—are designed to fix. Once it’s done, we’ll have a decent river. Go us.
Oh, Craig, Craig…you know, I used to fantasize about having a mean-tempered toy poodle named Craig. I wanted to dye it pink and feed it treats and pretend not to notice that it was always trying to bite me. Oh, Craig, you little scamp! I’m sorry, what were we talking about? Oh, right; the river. I’m aware, as the link you sent me shows, that Portland Harbor is a Superfund site. However, as anybody who’s ever tried to moor a supertanker at the Riverplace Marina can tell you, Portland Harbor doesn’t include the entire Willamette River. When we talk about “swimming in the Willamette,” I think most people imagine paddling 4
problems with this guy. I’m sure you’re OK with him as your new neighbor, since he’s white. —One More
“Congratulations. You’ve successfully depicted a person with a personality disorder, not once acknowledging his obvious mental illness. This guy is textbook, his wealth and privilege notwithstanding. Do a bit more research next time if you actually want to create worthwhile journalism.” —Kristine
QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com
Public Memorial Service
Betty Roberts
Hero and role model for Oregon women in politics and the law. Thursday, July 28, 4 pm • Portland State University Third Floor, Smith Memorial Ballroom, 1825 SW Broadway Please use mass transit if possible. TriMet’s green and yellow MAX lines go directly to Smith Memorial Ballroom.
THE CITY'S BEST CORN MAZE!
(actual aerial image)
Celebrate the Portland Timbers inaugural MLS season. Visit (and get lost) Sept. 3 through Oct. 31 THE PUMPKIN PATCH ON SAUVIE ISLAND 503-621-7110 | portlandmaze.com Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
5
TRANSPORTATION: A big hole in a big bridge. TECHNOLOGY: Ron Wyden navigates on the Net. HOTSEAT: Harvard economist Edward Glaeser. THE LEAD: Best of Portland.
Portland's Alternative Outdoor Store New • Recycled • Closeouts
7 11 12 14
www.nextadventure.net
THE BEST OF PORTLAND SALE
New location inside the Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center
MOUNTAIN TRAILS TWIN PEAKS
AVERTING AN AMERICAN FINANCIAL CRISIS SINCE 1974.
Laura Palmer approved.
HIGH PEAK HYPERLITE
SALE $39.99
WENZEL ALPINE
2 person. Weatherproof.
Going fast.
MSR ELBOW ROOM 2
SALE $59.99
SALE $39.99
Live in it. LIST $350
KELTY GETAWAY 4
SALE $150
Bring the kids. LIST $199
SALE $99.99
LEDGE SCORPION Leave the kids. LIST $160
SALE $79.99
HIGH PEAK SUMMIT 20 Compare at $89.99
KELTY LIGHT YEAR XP LONG
ONLY $29.99
SALE $69.99
LAFUMA KAILAS 50+10 LIST $139
POE VANCOUVER PACK
SALE $69.99
Calling all fixies LIST $149
ALPS ORIZABA
SALE $59.99
LIST $129
SALE $59.99
DEUTER ACT LITE 65+10 LIST $189
SALE $149.99
STANSPORT 2 BURNER BADMINTON SET Go Iron Chef yourself. LIST $59.99
SALE $29.99
Fun! ONLY $19.99
64OZ. JUMBO FLASK! Easy Tiger.
SALE $11.99
COLEMAN 5 GALLON WATER CARRIER Stay thirsty. LIST $12.99
SALE $3.99
MSR BLACKLITE COOKSET Non stick! LIST $60
SALE $29.99
STORE HOURS: M-F 10-7 • SAT 10-6 • SUN 11-5 • CORNER OF SE STARK & GRAND • 503-233-0706 • NEXTADVENTURE.NET 6
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Last week the Seattle Weekly published a hard-hitting article that sought to shed a different light on a 2000 Oregon killing. Liysa Northon maintains she shot her husband, Chris, in the head at a Wallowa-Whitman National Forest campground because of his long history of abuse. She’s now serving a 12-year sentence at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in 2001. Famed truecrime author Ann Rule punctured Northon’s account in her 2003 book Heart Full of Lies. Last week, Oregon freelance journalist Rick Swart published a story in the Weekly that sought to shred Rule’s version. Now it turns out that Swart, in the 7,200 words he wrote, forgot to tell readers (and his editors) that he’s engaged to Northon, who is scheduled for release in October 2012. “It’s a freelance piece first of all. I’m selling you a product,” Swart told his red-faced Seattle Weekly editors after the fact. “So it’s not like you’re my boss and you need to know my personal life.” The alt weekly hasn’t taken the story down from its website—yet. “Needless to say,” the editors wrote, “it’s now clear that our philosophy and Swart’s differ. As a result, we’ll be double- and triple-checking the facts.” The first candidate to replace longtime Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk has officially jumped into the race. Kellie Johnson, a former deputy in Schrunk’s office who now works as a disciplinary counsel at the Oregon State Bar, sent an email to potential supporters July 25 saying she’ll make the DA’s office “a more active partner in taking on the public safety challenges we face as a community.” Speculation has been swirling this year that Schrunk—who has served as DA since 1981—is considering retirement. He would be up for re-election in 2012. Chief Deputy District Attorney Rod Underhill has expressed interest in replacing his boss and is seen as the most likely successor. Schrunk hasn’t yet said publicly what he plans to do. On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) said he plans to resign from Congress, an announcement that comes four days after The Oregonian reported allegations that the seven-term Congressman had sexually assaulted the teenage daughter of an old friend and campaign donor last November. It was the latest and most WU serious incident in a series of bizarre episodes involving Wu reported in recent months by The O and WW. But what will Wu do with the $343,000 in cash he’s got in his campaign account? (He also owed $41,000, as of June 30.) Federal law says he can’t spend it to benefit himself. “The bottom line is, he can’t take the money and run,” says Michael Beckel, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. He could give it to charity or other candidates. Wu’s donors can ask for their money back, but he’s under no obligation to return it. Among Democrats, Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and state Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie) are looking to run for Wu’s seat. Rob Cornilles (who lost to Wu in the 2010 general election) and state Sen. Bruce Starr (R-Hillsboro) may seek the Republican nomination. Read more Murmurs and daily scuttlebutt.
NEWS
GOT A GOOD TIP? CALL 503.445.1542, OR EMAIL NEWSHOUND@WWEEK.COM
BACKERS OF A NEW I-5 BRIDGE CAN’T HIDE THEIR FAULTY PLAN TO PAY FOR IT. BUT THEY HAVE AN EVEN BIGGER PROBLEM: CLARK COUNTY VOTERS. BY NIG E L JAQ UI SS
njaquiss@wweek.com
For years now, Oregon’s leaders have assured taxpayers that plans for a new interstate bridge across the Columbia River were financially solid. The bridge would in large part pay for itself, they said, by charging tolls to cover the debt necessary to build the $3.6 billion project. State officials have known for a long time, however, those statements weren’t true: Their projections of how many people cross the Columbia on I-5 have been way off. As a result, official claims about how much money Oregon and Washington can collect from tolls have been wrong. And the number is important: The states desperately need the money to pay off the $1.3 billion loan they want to take out to build the project (see “A Bridge Too False,” WW, June 1, 2011). Last week, State Treasurer Ted Wheeler issued a devastating report that for the first time made an official admission of how flimsy financial plans for the project, called the Columbia River Crossing, or CRC, really are. Wheeler’s report, based on analysis by two independent consulting firms, found that the CRC overstated projected tolling revenues by as much as $600 million. Last week, Wheeler and Gov. John Kitzhaber talked around the problem (see “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” page 8). The fine print of Wheeler’s report, however, has potentially bigger news: The whole project could collapse at the hands of voters in Clark County, Wash. Voters there must agree to increase sales taxes to help pay for the operating costs of the light-rail line that would extend from North Portland to Vancouver. That’s about $3 million a year. Without the locals’ show of support, the feds would likely turn down the project’s request for light-rail money, $850 million in so-called “New Starts” transportation cash. “Vote on tax to generate $3M in annual transit operating funds by Clark County residents is critical to getting the New Starts money,” the report states. “Failure to win Federal funding for the transit portion of the project may require rethinking of the overall project scope, time line and financing plan.” C-Tran will hold two key elections. The first, in November, will ask voters to raise about $8 million annually through a sales tax increase to keep buses running at their current levels. In the second, sometime in 2012, C-Tran will ask voters for a second sales tax increase to pay the $3 million annual cost of running and maintaining the lightrail line. Clark County voters rejected light rail 2-to-1 in a 1995 vote whether to extend MAX across the Columbia. There’s also plenty of opposition to the tolls the new bridge would charge. Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt won his 2009 campaign by opposing bridge tolls—only to flip-flop once
elected. US Digital owner David Madore, a well-heeled and vocal opponent of the CRC, and his allies have established a strong presence at public meetings and online with the website, notolls.com. Nancy Boyd, the CRC project director, acknowledges that delivering her project got tougher last week after Wheeler’s report and will again be challenged by the 2012 C-Tran election. Boyd adds that a “no” vote, however, would not necessarily kill light rail or the project. “There could be other ways of coming up with that money,” she says. “[C-Tran] could set aside a portion of their operating budget.” And that’s exactly what many Clark County residents fear: that regardless of the vote, C-Tran will find ways to cover light-rail expenses. “We think they’ll use the money from this year’s vote as a backstop so they don’t have to worry about next year,” says Josephine Wentzel, who works for Madore. Heather Stuart, the political consultant running the “yes” campaign for this year’s C-Tran measure, says the transit agency could shift bus funds to light rail. But she says C-Tran wouldn’t do that. “The critics are conflating the two [C-Tran measures], and that’s not fair,” Stuart says. C-Tran’s board of commissioners has debated whether to put the light-rail vote to a narrow portion of area voters. U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who represents Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, has told The Columbian she wants all voters in C-Tran’s service area to have a say. Without their support, she says, the project would have to be redesigned. Bob Stacey, the former director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, has been skeptical of the project, even though he supports extending light rail to Vancouver. He says Clark County voters pose a huge risk.
D E N N I S C U LV E R
DERAILING THE BRIDGE E MOR
!
FEDS
WA SHI NG TON !
!
GON ORE
TO L
LS!
THE
!
FEDS
CONT. on page 8
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
7
NEWS
“I think it could be fatal to the entire project,” says Stacey. “If you don’t have $600 million from tolling and you don’t get the [light-rail] money from the feds, you have to completely start over.”
DARYL HALL JOHN OATES
We only look expensive!
For Ticket Information:
The O’DYSIUS Hotel
www.friendsofthechildren.org/portland
an intimate retreat overlooking the ocean
LUXURY AT LINCOLN CITY AT 30% OFF 800-869-8069
Presented by:
odysius.com
A beneet for Friends of the Children www.hallandoates.com
Saturday, September 3rd Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
decisions decisions decisions 1000 1000 liquors 1000 500 beers 400 wines 300 300 cigars 300 We couldn’t decide either, so we got it all.
nw 9th + lovejoy pearl district p 503.477.8604 www.pearlspecialty.com hours Monday-Saturday -10pm Monday-Saturday10am 9am-10pm Sunday 12pm-7pm Sunday12pm-7pm 8
CONT.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Garbage In, Garbage Out Last week, state officials finally admitted that the most basic assumptions underlying the $3.6 billion Columbia River Crossing are wrong. Really wrong. State Treasurer Ted Wheeler’s July 21 report showed the project would fall $600 million short. This whopper of a mistake—which experts have been pointing out for a long time—boils down to this: Not enough people will cross the bridge and pay tolls. Those tolls are supposed to pay back the $1.3 billion Oregon and Washington must borrow to build the project. The lack of traffic means the states wouldn’t be able to make their debt payments. Here are the big lessons for Oregon taxpayers in Wheeler’s report: The model for predicting traffic on the bridge was wrong. It’s been painfully apparent for some time the traffic projections for the CRC didn’t match reality. As WW has reported, the number of cars now crossing the I-5 bridge is well below the numbers predicted by the CRC. The CRC assumed that traffic would steadily increase, but the number of cars crossing the current bridge each day has fallen since a peak in 2005. A consultant who provided an analysis to Wheeler, C&M Associates of Dallas, found that the CRC had relied on an old model using 1994 data (even though Oregon and Washington have spent $130 million planning the project). Second, the consultants noted, the model didn’t consider soaring gas-price increases since 2005, part of the reason traffic is down in the I-5 corridor and nationwide. The CRC hoped to stick drivers with increasing tolls. The traffic-modeling mistakes accounted for half the $600 million error. The other half came from assuming Oregon and Washington would automatically increase tolls every year. Long before Wheeler’s report, Washington’s state treasurer, Jim McIntire, had the courage to say raising tolls every year was unrealistic. Without regular toll hikes, the project would come up another $300 million short. Officials still aren’t being straight with Oregonians about why the numbers were so wrong. After Wheeler briefed him last week, Gov. John Kitzhaber blamed the $600 million miscalculation in the CRC plan on the bad economy. “The Treasurer’s updated work reflects a slower rate of employment; clearly, this recession has been deeper and longer than expected,” Kitzhaber said in a statement. Not so, Wheeler’s experts say: Evidence shows the traffic estimates missed a drop in use of the I-5 bridge that started long before the economy went sour. “Traffic volumes using the I-5 Bridge have flattened-off over the last 15-20 years; well before the current recessionary period,” wrote consultant Robert Bain. “The clear inference is that the flattening-off is a long-term traffic trend; not simply a manifestation of current circumstances.” Kitzhaber now proposes stretching out construction of the project to make it affordable. “It is time to start planning for a project that adapts to the available resources and fits into today’s economic reality,” Kitzhaber said last week. Oregon could have done that years ago. Virtually everything Wheeler’s consultants found—bad data, a failure to reconcile rosy projections to measurable traffic declines, and the wild overstatement of future traffic tolling revenues—confirms what Portland economist Joe Cortright has contended for the past three years. Cortright says the CRC’s leaders never really sought accurate assessments of the project’s financial viability. “My dad was a banker,” Cortright says. “He told me you never check to see if a bill is counterfeit after you’ve accepted it. [CRC staff] got the answer they wanted from their model—so they never checked it.”
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
9
We’ve moved to North Portland! New look, new location, new services! Portland’s first private cedar soaking tub, with sauna! Coming Fall 2011
Mention this ad and receive 20% OFF Voted Best Day Spa & Massage! bloomingmoonspa.com 1920 N. Killingsworth St 971-279-2757 / info@bloomingmoonspa.com
Call now to book appointments
Are you a woman seeking a new form of contraception? Women’s Health Research Unit is recruiting for a clinical research study evaluating an investigational new version of the female condom. To qualify, you should be currently in a monogamous sexual relationship (of at least 4 months) with a male partner, be between the ages of 18 and 40, and be in good general health. To find out more information and to learn if you are qualified to participate please contact the Women’s Health Research Unit confidential recruitment line, 503-494-3666, or surveymonkey.com/whru
Qualified participants will receive at no cost: • Study related physical & Gynecologic exams • Up to $450 in compensation for time and travel (over the duration of the study) • Investigational female condom
eIRB #6445
For more information call 503-494-3666
10
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
OHSU is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution.
NEWS W W S TA F F
TECHNOLOGY
CAUGHT UP IN THE NET OREGON SEN. RON WYDEN STANDS UP TO AN ANTI-PIRACY BILL HE SAYS THREATENS INTERNET FREEDOM. BY M AT T H E W SI N G E R
msinger@wweek.com
The Pirate Bay is a popular Sweden-based file-sharing hub that allows users to share music, movies and other entertainment with others on the Web. It’s also been busted by European authorities for illegal file sharing, and in 2009 four co-founders were convicted by a Swedish court. Yet the site remains online. Online piracy is big business—rather, big anti-business. Sites that host the sharing of copyrighted material are coming under increasing pressure to police their users. According to a 2007 report by the Institute for Policy Innovation, illegal downloading of music, movies and other intellectual property costs the United States economy $58 billion annually. Most losses are attributed to offshore sites that are tough to control. Powerful interests—from Nike to the Motion Picture Association of America to the National Football League—have put their influence behind a bill in Congress that would make such sites invisible inside of the U.S. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), sailed unanimously through committee and headed for passage until one man stopped it: Sen. Ron Wyden. Using a “hold”—a Senate parliamentary move he’s criticized in the past—the Oregon Democrat tied up Leahy’s bill, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, or PROTECT IP. He did the same thing to a similar bill last year. Oregonians might wonder why Wyden, known widely for his work on health care, is so deeply involved in an Internet issue, standing alone against a bill authored by a powerful member of his own party. But many bloggers, tech writers and free-Internet advocates see the efforts of corporations that want to control access as akin to censorship. The technology pirates
use to send stolen music, movies and books, for example, is also used to share ideas and documents. Activists worry the proposed controls look too much like those used in countries like China, where the socalled Great Firewall limits what hundreds of millions of people can see online. That’s made Wyden a hero of sorts with legions of the Net savvy. Although mainstream coverage of the bill has been minimal, it’s been widely mentioned on blogs and online media; Wyden’s stance gets discussed by the generation that lives on the Internet. It’s also won him powerful tech allies such as Google, which is fighting the bill. “There isn’t another lawmaker that’s been so much on the vanguard for protecting the Internet itself,” says Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digitalrights advocacy group in San Francisco. The bill’s supporters say Wyden is obstructing a solution aimed at stopping the theft of billions of dollars every year, solving a problem that now costs thousands of American jobs. Wyden’s position has put him in opposition to a wide array of powerful interests— including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the Recording Industry Association of America, Comcast, Dolce & Gabbana, and Pfizer, to name a few—who want to stop theft. “Illegal activity is not free speech,” says Hal Ponder of the American Federation of Musicians. Wyden also goes up against groups that have long supported him, including unions and Nike, a big campaign contributor. Many of these interests need Wyden on other issues and are careful not to criticize him. (Nike officials declined comment but offered a statement reiterating support for the bill.) Not so the Motion Picture Association of America, which has posted a blog, “PROTECT IP: Workers vs. Wyden?” “It is one thing to say that the Internet must be free; it is something else to say that it must be lawless,” First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams is quoted as saying on the MPAA’s page criticizing Wyden. “Even the Wild West had sheriffs.”
NET MINDER: U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden says he’s defending “the shipping lane of the 21st century.”
Wyden says he’s been a champion of Internet freedom for more than 15 years. “I think the Internet is the shipping lane of the 21st century,” he says. “The proponents of [the bill] are trying to give law enforcement tools to go after foreign websites. I’ve got no problem with that, but I’ve got a problem with the means.” Because the bill seeks to control what Internet service providers, or ISPs, allow to pass through their networks, Wyden says, these Web middlemen might be inclined to muzzle free speech. “Linking is the heart of the Internet’s architecture,” he says, “and what we have is a bill that would make it very hard to have linking in any kind of effective fashion.” Opponents say the bill would give commercial interests too much power to control the Internet. “Wyden understands the ultimate power the [bill] would place in the hands of private companies, to censor speech and to potentially destabilize the Internet,” says Lydia Pallas Loren, a Lewis
Have a look…
& Clark Law School professor and expert in intellectual property law. But backers of the bill believe that ISPs must be held accountable for allowing piracy sites to use their networks. “The Internet isn’t just a bunch of pipes,” says Daniel Castro with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, an industry-backed group that supports the measure. “There are intelligent intermediaries that are involved in building the Internet we use today. There is responsibility that goes along with that.” Wyden’s position strengthens his image as a Net freedom fighter. In tech-savvy Oregon, that’s a good image to maintain. “I’m sure he didn’t make any friends with your Comcasts of the world, or your Vivendis, the big copyright holders, but he certainly won political capital from companies like Yahoo and Google,” says Chris Shortell, associate political professor at Portland State University. “That’s not necessarily a bad trade-off.”
D I SD C IOSUCNOTU N T
Near Wholesale DesignerDesigner Frames, Frames, Near Wholesale Prices Prices
Low prices on
Acuvue
disposable contacts Now with UV protection box of six
$19
503-295-6488 • 134 NW 21st Ave • opticalbrokers.com
ERNEST HEMINGWAY • KENNETH COLE • RAY BAN • COLUMBIA • & more... Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
11
NEWS Beer, Pool & Darts
A HARVARD ECONOMIST SAYS WHAT WE THINK ABOUT URBAN LIFE MAY BE WRONG. than denigrated. Cities attract the poor with the promise of economic opportunity and with better social services and with the ability to get around without a car for every adult.
LO U I S E K E N N E DY CO N V E R S E
$21 Men’s Haircuts
azor Straight R es v Sha
EDWARD GLAESER How do cities actually help lift people out of poverty? [Cities] provide an opportunity for economic mobility, for acquiring the skills that enable poor people to move up. Wages go up by about 8 percent as the share of people with college degrees in a metropolitan area goes up by 10 percent. Having skilled neighbors is incredibly valuable.
Father’s Day is June 19th
$20 off a $50 Gift Card or $10 off a Men’s Haircut *
609 SW Washington | www.y-chromebarbering.com Walkin or by appointment 503.467.4667
BY B R EN T WA LTH
bwalth@wweek.com
* New Clients only please. Expires August 31, 2011. WW06.11
Go ahead, keep on thinking the world’s big cities are dangerous and unhealthy, that they increase alienation and poverty. Edward Glaeser wants you to know the truth. Glaeser, a Harvard economist, says cities— more than suburban and rural areas—foster innovation, protect the environment and create healthier, smarter people. More than half the earth’s population is urban, and more people crowd into cities every year. His book Triumph of the City argues governments often make the wrong choices for urban living with the incentives they create. Glaeser visits Portland later this week as keynoter of the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Cascadia Regional Conference. WW asked him about what is most misunderstood about urban living and what Portland can still learn. The interview has been edited; read a longer version at wweek.com.
Shoes are like friends. There’s always room for more.
Shop online at imeldasandlouies.com
12
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
WW: You cite research that—contrary to what many people think—urban living makes people healthier, and that goes for old and young. Edward Glaeser: Among younger people it’s pretty clear why cities are healthier. It’s the lower rate of suicide and motor-vehicle accidents. Taking the bus or subway after a few drinks is a whole lot safer than driving drunk. Gun availability is a big predictor of teen suicide. And hunting licenses are a big predictor of teen suicide. Gun culture and hunting culture tend to go together. Cities have a bit less of that. You also challenge the notion that cities foster poverty. Cities don’t make people poor. They attract poor people. That’s something about cities which should be appreciated and even celebrated rather
You write about the “death of distance”—how technology has allowed us to live anywhere we choose. Yet more people are moving toward urban areas. You might have thought the ability to telecommute across the world would have led people to disperse themselves to live in any sylvan spot that appeals to their love for nature. People like Alvin Toffler were saying that we were all going to move into electronic cottages and become even more dispersed. New technologies have brought people together. The most successful entrepreneurs to come out of Seattle over the past 30 years have reinvented that city: Microsoft, Amazon, Costco, Starbucks. The ones that are the most technologically savvy, Microsoft and Amazon, the most technologically intensive, are the ones that actually have the largest employment in that city in that cluster…. I think that enables the ability of people in cities to communicate ideas more effectively. Cities can be appealing to young people but lose their appeal as we age—especially when we look at schools for our children. There is a tremendous set of incentives for pushing people out to suburban living. We subsidize cars on the highway, and we don’t charge people for leaving an environmental footprint. We subsidize home ownership, which so often means living in a single-family detached house rather than living in a high-density dwelling. Most importantly, we’ve set up a school system that has very strong incentives for people to leave urban areas. These are things, however, which are not natural to cities. It’s not as if you can’t have great schools. In France, cities typically have better schools than many suburban areas. It’s the way we set things up in the U.S. which has pushed people out. Portland is smug because it’s held up as a model of success around the world. Where can a city like ours go wrong and wreck what we have going for us? Every time you say no to new [housing] development, you say no to a new family that would like to come live in Portland. If you do too much of that, your city will turn into a boutique town that’s available only to the wealthy and unavailable to the young people you’re trying to attract.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
13
TIM GUNTHER
BEST OF
14
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
2011
PORTLAND BEST
PEOPLE
“I have an idea,” our publisher said, charging headlong into my cubicle, “for Best of Portland. This is the 26th year. Why don’t we revisit the best Best from every issue we’ve done?” “Sure,” I said. “It’ll be fun.” Six weeks later I finally got around to hauling the dusty bound back issues out of the morgue—our combined library/ bike parking/distribution box storage room—and realized we’d miscounted. It has indeed been 26 years since we first devoted an issue to the people, places and assorted flotsam that make this city such a strange and wonderful place to live, but that makes this the 27th Best of Portland package. Whoops. Still, a good idea is a good idea even when it’s a year late. We’ve decided to ignore the numeric discrepancy and update our favorite stories from 1985 through 2009 and assume that those people we profiled in 2010 are still doing OK. I wish we had the room to reprint a dozen stories from each issue; the archives are full of personalities so wonderful and endorsements so laughable (1991: dreadlocks on white guys), that they deserve to be revisited. But space is finite, and besides, there’s loads of great new stuff we’ve been aching to write about all year. So let’s begin with the best Elvis impersonators, drag queens and soccer fans of 2011 with their past counterparts on page 38. There’s infinite space online, however, and we are working to digitize our back issues. Soon you will be able to browse every Best of Portland since 1985 at wweek.com/bop. The 2000 through 2010 packages are already there, and we should have the rest online by the end of the summer. —Ben Waterhouse
Jose Manuel Campos
BEST BEST PEOPLE
15
BEST PLACES
20
BEST READS
27
BEST BITES & NIGHTS
29
BEST SIGHTS & SOUNDS
32
BEST OF PORTLAND: THEN & NOW
38
EDITOR: Ben Waterhouse CONTRIBUTORS: Natalie Baker, Craig Beebe, Ruth Brown, Stacy Brownhill, Ashley Collman, Liz Crain, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, Natasha Geiling, Shae Healey, Reed Jackson, Casey Jarman, Matthew Korfhage, AP Kryza, Evan Sernoffsky, Matthew Singer, Ethan Smith, Ben Waterhouse, Heather Wisner. COPY EDITORS: Kat Merck, Sarah Smith ART DIRECTOR: Ben Mollica PRODUCTION STAFF: Melissa Casillas, Soma Honkanen, Adam Krueger, Brittany Moody PHOTOGRAPHERS: Robert Delahanty, Jacob Garcia, Tim Gunther, James Rexroad
C R A I G M I TC H E L L DY E R / P O R T L A N D T I M B E R S
THE PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS THAT MAKE THIS CITY GREAT—NOW, AND FOR THE PAST 26 YEARS
FAN
It’s the summer of the Timbers, as Portland’s new Major League Soccer franchise has finally replaced Portlandia and the Stumptown sale (but not the weather—never the weather) as the de facto topic of conversation at eastside barbecues. If you’re under 45 and went to college (there are some 180,000 of us), you almost certainly know a member of the Timbers Army, the team’s famously rowdy and obsessive band of true fans. Mine is named Ryan; you may have seen him on TV with an ax painted on his forehead. The Army is as ebullient and creative as any group of sports fans anywhere, and no member of the Army better represents the fans’ joyful devotion than Jose Manuel Campos, the man in the lucha libre mask. Campos, like much of the Army, is not a lifelong devotee of the franchise. “I’ve always had a passion for soccer, but I’ve never had a team to support,” he says. That changed on March 11, 2010, when Campos, a 31-year-old salesman for a distributor of Hispanic groceries, attended his first game at Jeld-Wen Field in the Army’s Section 107—a charity match against the Seattle Sounders, which Portland won 1-0—and was immediately converted. “That was my first game. From then on it was my big thing,” he says. “This year I decided to get season tickets…. I’ve gone to every home game ever since.”
Campos drew our attention when we saw him wearing a bullfighter’s uniform and wrestling mask at the June 19 home match against the New York Red Bulls. The matador getup was a one-off, rented from Hollywood Costumers—Campos adjusts his costume to best antagonize the visiting team—but the mask is constant. “My parents are from Mexico. I was born here. Lucha libre is the second-most-watched sport in Mexico, so I put the two sports together,” Campos explains. “I just love to get out there and support the team, chanting for 90 minutes.” Like many of his fellow fans, Campos is an evangelist. “I’ve taken friends who have never been to a Timbers game, and I tell them beforehand, ‘Know your chants, know that you’re going to stand for 90 minutes, know that you’re going to wave flags,’” he says. “They were addicted.” Campos’ faith remains unwavering in the face of the team’s worrisome midseason slump. “It happens. You have winning streaks, you have losing streaks,” he says. “Win, lose or tie, the Timbers Army is always by your side.” BEN WATERHOUSE. BEST PEOPLE cont. on page 16
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
15
PEOPLE CONT.
BEST
Saxy KJ
It’s a quiet Wednesday at the Spare Room (4830 NE 42nd Ave., 287-5800, spareroompdx.com), a former bowling alley converted into a massive lounge on the border between Cully and Concordia. Thirsty patrons chat at the bar, while in the dimly lit, banquet-hall-sized dining area, most seats are empty. On the bar’s stage, a thin man in a sequined vest plays air guitar on a Guitar Hero controller as a man sings a country song. The KJ sits with his back to the audience. He summons the next singer, and the sounds of Wham!’s “Careless Whisper” fill the bar. The singer coyly works through the first verse. Suddenly, the KJ walks to the front of the stage, whips out a sax and begins to blow the song’s signature riff. All eyes are fixed on the stage. It’s just another night for the Danny Chavez Karaoke Show, in which KJ Chavez and sidekick Rockin’ Raymond transform karaoke into a spectacle every Monday through Wednesday. A trained musician and son of the late Tex-Mex musical pioneer Poli Chavez, Danny’s musical accompaniment has become legend. Whether blowing his trademark sax or shaking maracas, Chavez is a true showman, and for the past three years he has transformed Spare Room into one of Portland’s best, albeit least known, karaoke venues. Chavez and air guitarist/singer Rockin’ Raymond—who befriended Chavez during one of his first KJ gigs at the now-defunct Grandma’s Restaurant and has been by his side ever since—have become an institution at the Spare Room, figureheads that have drawn others into the fray with their showmanship, with Raymond front and center providing energy and Chavez working as the ace in the hole—sometimes, he says, to his own detriment. “A lot of times people give [Raymond] more credit for my show,” said Chavez. “They’re like, ‘Give it up for Rockin’ Raymond and… Danny.’ Rockin’ Raymond and Danny!? I see where they get it. I’m basically pretty quiet, and he gets all the spotlight. Sometimes I say, ‘Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.’” AP KRYZA. The Danny Chavez Karaoke Show takes place 9 pm-1 am Monday-Wednesday at the Spare Room.
BEST
Comic
BEST
If there’s one joke that best encapsulates the comedy of Ron Funches, it’s probably this one, about his in-laws: “We mostly don’t get along because they don’t think I should smoke pot anymore now that I have a child, and that I should be more responsible. I don’t believe those things relate. In fact, I believe if we’re going to sit around watching cartoons all day anyway....” He then goes on to deconstruct the Muppet Babies theme song, like only a true pothead can. In that single bit, Funches, 28, hits on a lot of the characteristics that have made him Portland’s most charming comedian—mainly, the juxtaposition of his childlike demeanor against his status as a married man raising an 8-year-old son. Oh, and also his love of getting high. Although there are only a handful of references to weed in his act, it’s led some to classify him as a “stoner comic,” a label he doesn’t completely accept. “I accept that I smoke marijuana, but I wouldn’t say I’m a stoner comic,” he said a few hours before headlining a sold-out show at the Hollywood Theatre. “I talk about me. If it’s easier for someone to go, ‘He’s a stoner comic,’ I don’t mind, I guess. I just want to be a great comic.” Indeed, the only real connective thread in Funches’ set is himself. In his deliberate, relaxed delivery, he discusses growing up on the South Side of Chicago as “the only brother on the block into bumping Alanis Morrisette,” the cruel irony of a black man being forced to take a cotton-swab drug test to apply for a job, and eating Oreos and bacon with his son, who is autisic—a fact he doesn’t shy away from, either. “I never knew how to describe raising a child with autism until recently,” he tells the crowd at the Hollywood. “It’s like taking care of someone who is on way too many ’shrooms, while you yourself are on a moderate amount of ’shrooms. I’m not confident in all my decisions, but I know you shouldn’t be eating a mouse pad.” MATTHEW SINGER.
Ron Funches
Choreographer
Angelle Hebert is a fearless explorer. The dances she makes for Teeth, the company she created in 2006 with partner-composer Phillip Kraft, seem to be searching for what’s inside, whether that exploration takes place in an oversized tube of fabric, a trough of slime, a mirrored box, under a blanket or in someone’s mouth. Hebert and her collaborators construct fascinating multimedia pieces with outrageously costumed dancers—or no costumes at all. The dances integrate pedestrian movement (grappling, writhing, twitching) into solos, duets and unisons that speak, subtly, to group dynamics, intimacy and alienation. The dance world has taken notice; Teeth won a $10,000 prize at Seattle’s 2011 On the Boards festival, and makes its White Bird debut in January. HEATHER WISNER. 16
Ass-Kicking Pioneer
“I classify traditional martial arts as superstition, like religion,” says Matt Thornton. It’s an opinion that has led the Portland resident and owner of Straight Blast Gym International to be one of the most polarizing figures in the international martial arts community. Some consider him a visionary; others see Thornton, a hulking, tattooed 6-foot-7-inch former soldier, as an “aggressive jock.” You may disagree with his ideas—that you can’t learn to fight or defend yourself with karate katas and goofy Asian mysticism—but it’s hard to lump the guy in with the cliché of a Tapout-wearing MMA redneck. At his gym in the Hollywood neighborhood (1812 NE 43rd Ave., 230-7924), men, and a few women, of all ages—some have tie-dyed their uniforms— grapple competitively but sociably before a class. Thornton, a laid-back California native, slips in quietly and puts a jazz album on the stereo. A former Jeet Kune Do instructor at the now-defunct Portland Martial Arts Academy, Thornton started rebelling against those “traditional” training methods after meeting legendary Brazilian jujitsu fighter Rickson Gracie in 1993. “There were 18 or 19 other guys—big judo guys—and he’d tap them all out without using his hands!” says Thornton. “I wanted a gym where people actually sparred, doing what was essentially mixed martial arts…. But everyone was telling me: ‘You’re never going to make it. Nobody wants to spar, nobody wants to sweat.’” Fortunately, Thornton says, he proved them wrong. He left the academy and started the first Straight Blast Gym in Salem in 1993, later becoming Oregon’s first Brazilian jujitsu black belt, and began selling videos demonstrating his methods and ideas around the world. There are now 12 other Straight Blast and affiliated gyms across the U.S., as well as in nine other countries, while Brazilian jujitsu and MMA have exploded in popularity in Portland. When we met, he had just returned from a teaching tour of Ireland, Sweden and Iceland. Despite fans, students and critics around the globe, Thornton acknowledges that the average Portlander has no idea who he is. He’s not even the biggest name in local martial arts—cage-fighter-turned-Republican politician Matt Lindland gets all the press. But he is certainly the most influential. “I think, one way or another, you can trace 90 percent of the competition that I have [in Portland] back to my own gym,” he says. RUTH BROWN. VIVIANJOHNSON.COM
Danny Chavez, right, with Rockin’ Raymond
BEST
RAQUELLE KRELLE
JAMES REXROAD
BEST
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Matt Thornton
The Quality is
Unsurpassed! The University of Western States has been a leader in evidence-informed health science education and research throughout its long history. Our integrated health care services are designed to complement the human body’s self-healing properties. We are committed to being your equal partner in achieving optimal health.
Visit one of our clinics today!
.
Integrating Health and Science Columbia Integrated Care
5847 NE 122nd Ave, Portland, OR 97230 503-808-7979
1304 NW Civic Drive, Gresham, OR 97030 503-512-1040
Gresham Integrated Care
West Burnside Chiropractic Clinic
chiropractic acupuncture therapeutic massage naturopathy
chiropractic acupuncture therapeutic massage naturopathy
chiropractic
221 West Burnside, Portland, OR 97209 503-223-2213
www.uws.edu Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
17
Are you planning a pregnancy?
WIN TICKETS TO
Are you… • Under 40 years of age, planning to have your first child? • Not yet pregnant? • Planning to become pregnant in the next year?
SCAN TO ENTER
8.06 @ HAWTHORNE BRIDGE
If so, you might qualify for a study to find out what changes occur to the muscles and nerves of the pelvis after delivering a baby. If you are interested in participating, please contact the Women’s Health Research Unit confidential recruitment line, 503-494-3666.
eIRB #3196
Qualified participants will receive at no cost: • MRI of pelvis • Pelvic nerve & muscle studies • Up to $710 compensation for time and travel
GO TO WWEEK.COM/PROMOTIONS
SAVE $1O
ON YOUR MFNW WRISTBAND COURTESY OF
For more information call 503-494-3666 OHSU is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution.
HERE’S HOW: STEP 1. GO TO ANY PARTICIPATING JACKSONS FOOD STORE
(for location info go to Jacksonsfoodstores.com)
LOOK FOR THE DISPLAY AND GET YOUR $10 OFF COUPON STEP 2.
STEP 3. (OPTIONAL)
GRAB A 12 PACK OF BOTTLES ON SALE FOR $12.99* GO TO Heineken retail price valid TINYURL.COM/ Through 9/02/2011 MFNW- COUPON, TYPE IN THE PROMOTIONAL CODE AND PURCHASE YOUR DISCOUNTED WRISTBAND! STEP 4.
Must be 21 or older to redeem.
*Offer good from 07/18/11 through 09/02/11 or while supplies last. Only Valid on wristbands purchased at tinyurl.com/mfnw-coupon. Price may vary. Full details available at www.musicfestnw.com/promo 18
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
BEST
Indianpreneur
Annie LaVerdure-O’Brien is a self-proclaimed urban Indian. “I’m a feather, not a dot,” she says, placing three raised fingers on top of her head while pointing her index finger toward her forehead. Annie, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, is also the owner of LVD Media, a Portlandbased marketing agency specializing in branding, logos and website design. Her firm focuses on small businesses in the Pacific Northwest (she is also a self-declared “Portland snob”) as well as various Native enterprises including the Siletz Tribal Business Corporation. Annie is also on the tourism task force for the Portland Area Business Association, a tri-chair for Portland’s Human Rights Campaign Gala, a member of the South Portland Neighborhood Association, a volunteer cook for Our House, and a dog walker for the Oregon Humane Society (yes, even in the rain). “I don’t have to run off to Kenya to make a difference,” she says. As a subscriber to the “go big or go home” philosophy, LaVerdure-O’Brien is impressively able to manage both extremes all in one day. SHAE HEALEY.
BEST
Kemo Sabe
He has no black mask—no Silver or Tonto, either—but for Portland Parks & Rec, he’ll do just fine. Bob McCoy is Forest Park’s lone ranger—the first and only PP&R ranger dedicated exclusively to the crown jewel of the city’s parks system. The extroverted 56-year-old was hired last fall amid increased concern over how well the 5,170-acre urban forest was holding up under the ecological pressures of its metropolitan location. Now several months into the job, Ranger Bob spends his workdays the way your average Portlander would feel lucky to pass a summer Sunday: Hiking Forest Park’s more than 70 miles of trails as “the eyes and the ears for the park.” By and large, McCoy says, Forest Park is “amazingly problem-free”; the biggest issue he sees is off-leash dogs, which can disturb wildlife, spread invasive species and trip up bikers. Better yet, most park users need only a friendly reminder to toe the line. “They may not be doing the right thing at the moment,” McCoy says, “but they have in common with almost everybody else in the park that they’d like to see their children and grandchildren…be able to enjoy it the way they did.” Interacting with people to cultivate that dual sentiment of appreciation and responsibility for the park comes naturally to McCoy, who, though a lifelong outdoorsman, has worked mostly in editing, writing and teaching. “A lot of what I have done in my life, the strengths that I had, were strengths of working with people, resolving conflict,” he says. “That’s what urban rangering is…. You’re dealing with quality-of-life issues that have to do with people’s behavior, and how [to] negotiate with people so that everybody gets a little piece of the pie.” JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG.
BEST
Goat Delivery
In early July, Naomi and Neil Montacre, owners of Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply in Sellwood, which opened in fall 2009, were forced to move shop quickly so property owner Les Schwab Tire Centers could demolish their shop and build a tire store and parking lot in its place. Pave paradise and put up a parking lot. You can read all about the controversy surrounding the move on the Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply website (naomisorganic.com), but the upshot of it all is that Naomi’s is going mobile this summer. The Montacres will deliver retail urban-farmstead products and livestock to drop sites around town in upcoming weeks as they sniff out a more permanent plot for their plants, gardening supplies, g o a t s, d u c k s, h e n s, b e e s, w o r m s and more. What do you tip for goat delivery? LIZ CRAIN. C O U R T E S Y O F N A O M I ’ S O R G A N I C F A R M S U P P LY
BEST
Naomi and Neil Montacre, with goats
Bookmaker
In a town that likes its success stories artisan and small-batch, Patricia No represents a kind of ideal: She co-founded and runs day-to-day operations for Publication Studio, a micro-printer of books where a typical launch consists of 20 copies. Her co-founder, Kevin Sampsell, gets more ink, but No is the Studio partner with her hands on the press. “I am the person that actually makes the books,” says the 27-year-old Bard graduate, giving a tour of the four machines that produce each paperback, including a tabletop binder and a guillotine paper cutter that “slices through 500 pages like it’s butter.” Publication Studio has spread to six cities, printed a new translation of Walter Benjamin and partnered with Yale, but No is most excited by the imprint’s new storefront (717 SW Ankeny St., 360-4702), where a sidewalk sandwich board proclaims what’s hot off the presses. AARON MESH.
BEST
Annie LaVerdure-O’Brien
PEOPLE CONT.
Renaissance Man in Drag
On her business card, Zora Phoenix presents herself as a sort of jill-of-all-trades: a singer, emcee, graphic designer and burlesque producer. Nowhere does she use the phrase “drag queen”—even though, when she gets off her day job as a red-haired, bespectacled advertising executive named Chris Stewart, she changes out of her black slacks and gray shirt and into fake eyelashes, a dark bob wig and shimmering red dress. Instead, she prefers the term “gender illusionist.” “I’m not really trying to be what most people think of as a drag queen,” says Stewart, 31. “I’m not transgender, I’m not a transvestite. But if you take drag queen, transvestite and transgender and put them in a triangle, I’m in the center.” Stewart began entertaining at age 8, as a square-dance caller in his hometown of Louisville, Ky. When he moved to Southern California in 2004, he picked up a gig hosting a bingo night at a piano bar in Long Beach, where he began to develop an act combining music and comedy around his Zora Phoenix persona. He describes Zora as “a seemingly promiscuous, dumb girl who’s really acerbic and witty and quick to catch you off-guard,” but insists that under the makeup, “it’s really just me.” Since moving to Portland i n 2 0 0 7, S t e w a r t ’s j o b description has expanded. In addition to putting on Zora Phoenix burlesque events all around town—including Burlesque S’il Vous Plaît at Crush and Phoenix Variety Revue at Kelly’s Olympian—he runs the burlesquepdx. com website, uses his marketing background to teach performers how to better brand themselves: to, in his words, “use your T&A to help your S&L”). MATTHEW SINGER.
BEST
Bash Builder
Samantha Swaim’s background is in theater and TV production, but these days she’s the financial guru for nonprofits from the American Heart Association to the Willamette Writers Conference. Swaim’s business, Samantha Swaim Fundraising, specializes mainly in fundraising consulting, producing events, and classes that help Portland nonprofits maximize revenue. “I always call it human economics,” Swaim says, explaining that her goal is to help nonprofit organizations capitalize on the limited amount of time that a fundraising event allows. Swaim’s productions include such highlights of the nonprofit gala calendar as Basic Rights Oregon’s Strut fashion show, Children’s Relief Nursery’s first Iron Bartender competition in February and Central City Concern’s luncheon honoring Portlanders working to end homelessness. This year, she also produced a Glee-themed dinner for BRO, with over 50 singers and 900 attendees. “I believe that the people that are running nonprofits are the people that are affecting the most change. By educating them and giving them the right tools, we can make them much more impactful,” Swaim says. NATASHA GEILING. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
19
TYLER SPENCER OF COFFEE FOR DREW PRODUCTIONS
JAMES REXROAD
BEST
BEST
DOGGIE DAYCARE
BY WW READERS
PLACES OMFGCO
www.wagportland.com
VOTED
BEST
In Portland, no Subaru is complete without an elaborate after-market system of bars and clamps to transport the boards, bikes, kayaks, skis, unicycles, kites and stilts that complement the Outback’s corresponding bumper stickers. Recognizing this demand, ReRack (2240 NE Sandy Blvd., 875-6055, rerackpdx.com) offers racks for n e a r l y e ve r y r o a d - , s n ow- o r watersport need. And all with a very Portland twist: The shop sells used racks and components (along with new models from Yakima, Inno and Swagman), and even accepts trade-ins when your rack needs to evolve. ReRack has accumulated a vast library of used clamps, clips and bars, and is happy to help customers cobble together a workable alternative to the far more expensive new racks. Apply the savings to a powder-coating or stilt wax. ETHAN SMITH.
Daycare • Boarding • Behavioral Counseling 2410 SE 50th Avenue 503.238.0737
Discount Bike Rack
BEST
7am-7pm weekdays 8am-5pm weekends
rigorous education Sparks fly at ADX
BEST
Take your dreams of an MBA. Add in a healthy dose of ethics, a focus on sustainability and working instructors who help you think critically and broadly. Bring it all together and what does it equal? You venturing
You hear it on the news, or you heard it from Michael Keaton in Gung Ho: America just doesn’t make things anymore. The cars and iPhones are all offshored or downbordered, while the bombed-out factories stand hollow against the New Jersey sky. Well, here’s some good news: At the brand new 10,000-square-foot ADX building (417 SE 11th Ave., 915-4342, adxportland.com), they make things. And they want you to make them, and they will teach you to make them if you don’t know how. For membership plus shop fees—plus some real assurance you know what you’re doing or are willing to learn—you get to play with all of their toys. And boy oh boy, do they have a lot of toys. ADX is basically a full wood and metal shop with all the tools of the trade, from hammers and band saws to MIG and TIG welders—plus some more esoteric fixings like laser cutters, a CNC router and an industrial sewing machine. Within a month of their opening on June 6 of this year, they already had 60 members signed on to use their vast workspaces. So, you want to make an engraved multistory birdhouse, a precision-routed door or a sculpture of your own head in tungsten? You do it here, among people who like that you’re doing it, and leave your poor neighbors in peace. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
into any business and becoming successful.
BEST
MBA Information Sessions Thursdays, Aug. 4, Aug. 25 and Sept. 8 at 6:30 p.m. in Flavia Hall. mba@marylhurst.edu | 503.675.3960
You. Unlimited. www.marylhurst.edu 17600 Pacific Highway (Hwy. 43) ~ One mile south of Lake Oswego
20
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Total Toolbox
Faux-seum
In the window of the pink-colored building that houses Northwest Portland’s Peculiarium (2234 NW Thurman St., 227-3164, peculiarium.com), there are signs advertising its contents with adjectives such as “Bizarre” and “Shocking.” The ones to pay attention to, however, are those reading, “We Promise Nothing” and “Not So Unusual, Actually.” Although it sounds like a knock-off of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, or the title of a kids’ movie about a kooky museum curated by an eccentric collector named Dr. P.Q. Peculiarius, the Peculiarium is actually more of a parody of those kind of curio tourist attractions, featuring such exhibits as a cage of poisonous lizards from “Idiotsville, Oregon” and the true contents of Al Capone’s vault, complete with a visually referenced Rickroll. It’s an ongoing prank, perpetrated by Laika director Mike Wellins, but one pulled off with such enthusiasm you don’t mind being tricked. MATTHEW SINGER.
BEST
Mallrats
Most people who’ve spent the better part of the year at a shopping mall have a sort of defeated air about them: They are secondmortgage shoe junkies, perhaps; g ot h - l i n e r a n e m i c s ; m a l l c o p second-chancers; perfume-counter asthmatics. Up on the third floor of downtown’s Pioneer Place Mall, however, it feels a little different. In one corner there might be a woman cutting up old letters from her mother for a wall installation, while a man nearby paints ink onto a massive polyester sheet; in the adjacent room, someone else is conducting a seminar on “leisure.” Place Gallery (placepdx.tumblr. com) is “basically an arts residency in a shopping mall,” according to Palma Corral, one of the gallery’s three curators/directors. Perhaps it’s a tax write-off, perhaps some retail executive’s genuine notion of synergy, but Place (along with its adjacent counterparts “Store,” “People” and “Vehicle”) has existed there essentially for free since last September, aside from minor-league sales commissions and partial utility bills. So in one bifurcated 4,000-square-foot space there are constantly evolving installation pieces, in another room there’s a gallery with work from local art students and in another there’s an arts retail store. In a fourth, the art faces the unsuspecting street from two stories up. And as for the equally unsuspecting mall patrons who wander into the very contemporary galleries? “They ask a lot of very interesting questions,” says Corral. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
21
PLACES CONT. JACOB GARCIA
Antoinette
BEST
Antique and Estate Jewelry
2328 NW Westover Rd New Location in NW Portland (503) 348-0411 AntoinetteJewelry.com
WTF Bikes
BEST
Rocking Bike Shop
Two cornerstones of Portland culture are brought together at WTF Bikes (1114 SE Clay St., 232-4983, wtfbikes.net), a repair shop by day and all-ages music venue by night. The fusion occurred organically (of course) over time as owner Tom Daly’s in-shop parties gained Internet popularity and folks began stopping in to hear his band rehearse. After Boy Gorilla Coffee—operated in part by members of local musical institution Typhoon—parked its coffee cart outside the shop and joined forces to throw an epic New Year’s bash in December, there was no turning back. Bands began calling up the bike shop to see if they could host shows and Daly kept bringing them in. The recent Females Of Color Fest, which featured local crowd-bringers like Purple Rhinestone Eagle, Magic Johnson, Forest Park and Kusikia, kept the shop filled for two long and memorable nights. The party’s coming to an end, though: The shop’s future may be headed in the same direction as other eastside institutions that fall to the continuing wave of gentrification. WTF Bikes occupies only a third of its property, and the building’s landlord, who has been losing money, posted a “for lease” sign to attract additional businesses. As Daly tells it, a member of the U.S. Forest Service biked by the shop, thought the whole building would make a great storage facility and made the landlord an offer. WTF Bikes will be forced off the property unless Daly can find a co-signer to share his lease. “Me and one other business owner could probably make this happen,” said Daly in a recent phone interview, explaining that he has until December to find someone to share the building before he loses it for good. If any food-cart owners are in the market for a place to set up shop, the ultimate Portland bike-music-food tripartite could be in the works. For the rest of you: Stay tuned. NATALIE BAKER.
Place to Talk to Strangers
BEST
Step into Legare’s (1532 SE Clinton St.) and you’ll soon find yourself deep in debate with the crowd of regulars who congregate daily in the small cafe to drink coffee and discuss everything from global politics to motorcycle repair. Proprietor Jonathan Legare presides imposingly over the scene—he looks like he might tell you to fuck off, but is more likely to offer you a free sample of his guava cookies and introduce you by name to each of his customers. The menu includes bison, elk, alligator and something called a “man’s plate” (“if you have to ask, it’s not for you”), while a French press comes served on a silver platter with a paper doily. It’s all tasty, but food isn’t the real selling point: it’s interesting people having intelligent conversations with total strangers. RUTH BROWN. 22
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Community Garden
BEST
It’s a typical Portland sight: a row of four new cedar raised beds, planted with a variety of crops and surrounded by burlap sacks to hold back the weeds. But this isn’t your run-of-the-mill vegetable patch. In fact, some see it as the front line in a largely invisible battle in Portland: fighting the “hidden hunger” and malnutrition of the city’s seniors. The squash, kale and tomatoes grown here will feed seniors at the Hollywood Senior Center, providing fresh organic produce to folks who regularly go without. Bob Reynolds, 78, a stooped and soft-spoken Tennessee native with a cottonwhite beard, has lived in this modest yellow house for 20 years. Though he once loved to garden, his mobility and strength are too limited to keep it up. He spends most of his days inside, listening to the radio and practicing his singing. His yard had long been overgrown, and somewhat of an eyesore for neighbors. But Bob now has an attractive little garden again, thanks to a dedicated effort from Elders in Action, Multnomah County, Hollywood Senior Center, and a wide array of volunteers and businesses who built the beds and maintain the crops. That means Bob also has regular visitors to check in and chat for a bit, an activity he certainly enjoys. Bob’s garden is just the beginning for the program. Organizers hope its example will spread among Portland’s large senior population, many of whom have lots perfect for gardening but aren’t able to do it themselves. Bob, who says in his soft drawl that he’s thinking about becoming a vegetarian “because it’s the best way to eat,” is pretty pleased to have a garden again, and he’s got some expansion plans. “I’d like to see more tomatoes,” he says. “Maybe in the backyard. There’s more sun back there.” CRAIG BEEBE.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
23
2011–2012 SeaSon Oklahoma!
Music by Richard Rodgers; Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; Based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs; Original dances by Agnes de Mille September 20–October 30 on the Main Stage
The Real Americans
By Dan Hoyle September 6–November 6 in the Ellyn Bye Studio
PLACES CONT. R O B E R T D E L A H A N T Y. N E T
BEST
Subscriptions on sale now! 2011-2012 Season
Subscriptions begin at $224.40 for a full season, with smaller packages available. Call the box office at 503.445.3700 to subscribe!
A Christmas Story
By Phil Grecian; Based on the motion picture written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown & Bob Clark November 20–December 24 on the Main Stage
The North Plan
Signs of the times in North Portland
BEST
By Jason Wells January 10–February 5 on the Main Stage The North Plan was an audience favorite at JAW 2010.
Always trust Portland to make its metaphors stunningly concrete. At the intersection of North Going Street and North Commercial Avenue—from a diagonal viewpoint, the sign reads simply “Going Commercial”—Going Street abruptly, well, stops going. More to the point, it continues about 20 feet past Commercial until dead-ending into an undeveloped lot of grass covered over in dry hay. And so, at a frontier edge of the stalled gentrification of North Portland, three years into a real-estate free-fall, a wonderful reminder of the limits of hubris: The bold march of progress oversteps the threshold of the commercial and strands itself in a hayfield. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
Shakespeare’s Amazing Cymbeline A new adaptation by Chris Coleman
January 31–April 8 in the Ellyn Bye Studio
Red
Way to Prepare for Any Kind of “What If ?”
By John Logan February 21–March 18 on the Main Stage PCS and the Portland Art Museum are working together to celebrate Rothko during the run of this production.
BEST
Anna Karenina
Adapted from Tolstoy by Kevin McKeon April 3–May 6 on the Main Stage
Black Pearl Sings!
By Frank Higgins April 24–June 17 in the Ellyn Bye Studio
The Doors The Universal Mind
Visit pcs.org for more information.
2012 Conceived by Randy Johnson; Choreography and Musical Staging by Debra Brown; Featuring the music of The Doors May 22–June 24 on the Main Stage
The Santaland Diaries By David Sedaris November 29–December 31 in the Ellyn Bye Studio Not on subscription, but subscribers have first chance to order tickets to this holiday hit!
24
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Economic Indicator
Top to Bottom: Tim Sampson and Gretchen Corbett in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. David Margulies and Christine Calfas in The Imaginary Invalid. Joseph Graves in An Iliad. Valerie Stevens and Michael Cline in A Christmas Story Story. Cat Stephani in One Night with Janis Joplin. Photos by Owen Carey.
“Every generation thinks it’s the end of the world,” crooned Jeff Tweedy on a recent Wilco album. That may be, but with doomsday running rampant from solar flares to Planet X, there’s plenty out there to give an apocalyptic-minded insomniac near-endless hours of anxious Internet surfing. Yet to Michael Knight, a bespectacled New Zealander who runs Portland Preparedness Center (7202 NE Glisan St., portlandprepared. com, 252-2525), the more prosaic disasters, natural or manmade, should be enough to keep Portlanders up at night. “What if?” seems to be the refrain the center trades in: “What if” an earthquake knocks out all of Portland’s bridges? “What if ” a simple wintertime power outage becomes a weeklong ordeal? Ultimately, Knight says, it doesn’t matter what causes a crisis; the important thing is that you have what you’ll need to survive— food, water, shelter and medicine. The Center aims to provide those necessities and much more to provide self-sufficiency for 72 hours, 30 days or (gulp) longer. It also publishes a newsletter on recent developments in “what-if”-ology, and offers classes in topics like edible plants, basic first aid, and concealed weapons handling. Knight can describe a lot of ways that things might go to hell, such as a recent uptick in global seismic activity implying we’re in for something big. Whether or not that disaster arrives on schedule, PPC is prepared to supply Portlanders and Internet shoppers with everything from survival kits, MREs and medical supplies to full-on underground shelters (some assembly required). It may seem like a gloomy outlook, but Knight is remarkably even-tempered. “I’m absolutely not pessimistic,” he says. “I consider myself a common-sense person.” As evidence, he points out that he lives 100 miles out of the city, where he feels safer and more self-reliant: “I practice what I preach,” he says. “What, Me Worry? I’m PREPARED!” the center’s cautionyellow business card declares. Are you? CRAIG BEEBE.
“...the best piano store in the Portland area, and possibly the northwest.”
Reason to Risk Breaking Your Legs
BEST
So that recurring dream, the one with hundreds of square feet of trampolines covering the floors and the walls, and a pit of foam beckoning from the side? It’s real, my friend, and it’s in Tigard. Sky High Sports (11131 SW Greenburg Road, por.jumpskyhigh. com), part of a national chain of trampoline gyms, is a gravitydefying paradise for the young and young-at-heart alike. If it’s aimless bouncing you’re after, the tramps are yours starting at $10 for the first hour and $7 for each additional hour. For the ambitious, AIRobics workout classes are $7 for 50 minutes of synchronized jumping, and for the bravest of bouncers, there are monthly dodgeball tournaments. Despite the safety pads covering the joints and springs, tramp-burns, achy knees and occasional injuries are a given, especially when you’re trying to remaster that off-the-wall somersault. Mom always said those trampolines were an E.R. visit waiting to happen—but they’re just so darn fun. STACY BROWNHILL.
BEST
–PI A NO WORLD FORUM
Worst-Kept Secret
Maybe it happened to you once. You’re walking along the lightly inhabited North Overlook neighborhood some brisk afternoon, and then you see it: the sun settling into the West Hills across the river, rich pink and orange spilling thickly back into the air. No one is in sight, save the fascinating whir of industry at the river’s edge, far below your grassy cliff-top promontory. You have discovered the Best. Secret. Viewpoint. Ever. You tell a friend, and they smile knowingly: “Oh, the Bluffs?” they say, and they ruin your whole day. Because, of course, it’s no secret at all. Once the weather gets warm and the sun dips low, they come: scores and scores of dreamy-eyed girls and T-shirted boy-men carrying nary an ounce of fat nor muscle—people who have seemingly transcended their own wispy bodies. They come, pretty much every day, to watch the light expend itself on the far trees. (The police and city, by the way, have discovered it, too; it is now, as of this summer, a regulated municipal park.) And yet once a week or so—because it was raining that day, cold or cloudy—the Skidmore Bluffs (2206 N Skidmore Terrace) are re-found by some latecomer who thinks it is theirs alone, and they call you up and whisper to you about the Best. Secret. Viewpoint. Ever. “Oh, the Bluffs?” you say, and ruin their whole day. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
Affordable Housing Development
BEST
The American family system works this way: Boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy and girl have kids and then move to the suburbs. It’s tradition, and it’s also economically mandated—housing is more expensive in the city. However, one new Portland apartment building is giving families the option to stay at an affordable price. The Ramona (1550 NW 14th Ave., theramona. com), located in the Pearl District, was built using city, state and federal financing, which allows the building’s operators to keep the rent low for 60 years. Developer Ed McNamara made sure the architects designing the building had young children, so they knew what features to include. There are more closets with shelves for storage and more bedrooms than usual. There are laundry rooms on each floor, with views of the courtyard, and space for children to hang out. Security was another priority, with access keys needed to enter the building and use either the elevator or stairs. There’s even going to be a public school on the ground floor, beginning in the fall. The building was also built with sustainability in mind. McNamara says he believes that decreasing the building’s environmental footprint with the state-of-the-art green engineering “was just the right thing to do.” He reckons the air quality in the building is better than any other in the city. The building has only been open since March 15, and McNamara is already seeing the fruits of his labor. “I sit out in the courtyard in the afternoon and there are 15 to 20 kids roaming around. There’s a lot of single parents, single mom and dads, and they’re starting to get to know everyone on the floor. They have this network of support that they wouldn’t have living in the suburbs, which was all they could afford before...I don’t think there’s another block in the city with 75 kids on it.” ASHLEY COLLMAN.
I
Classic Pianos has received top honors from Bösendorfer, Schimmel, Yamaha, Blüthner, and Mason & Hamlin.
t has been over 10 years since Classic Pianos first appeared on the official Web site of Piano World Forum as “...the best piano store in the Portland area, and possibly the northwest.” Now, a decade later, Classic Pianos has grown to national and international prominence as one of America’s premier piano stores.
Visit our historic “Brooklyn Neighborhood” showrooms where you will find over 300 new and used pianos in stock — plus beautifullyrestored vintage Steinway & Sons instruments.
Winner of every major North American dealer award for sales, customer service, and contribution to the community,
Go to www.classicportland. com and read the complete Best of Portland Collector’s Edition feature story.
3003 SE Milwaukie Avenue (East end of the Ross Island Bridge at SE Powell and 12th) Portland, Oregon 97202 503.239.9969 w w w.cl a ssicp or t l a n d.com Cp WW 072111 draft.indd 1
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
25
7/22/11 9:25 AM
26
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
READS
Why wash it yourself, home car washing is actually R O B E R T D E L A H A N T Y. N E T
BEST
Joel Gunz and Amanda Westmont
BEST
Divine Dilettantes
If you’re in the market for a religious experience, Amanda Westmont and Joel Gunz might be able to lend you some wisdom. The pair has been attending a different Portland church every Sunday since January and writing about their experiences in their shared blog, “A Year of Sundays” (blog.beliefnet.com/yearofsundays). No spiritual gathering, from Buddhist services to Scientology, is off limits. (They’re currently trying to get a mosque into the works.) Following a landmark personal year, Westmont felt compelled to embark on some kind of project. “One of my New Year’s resolutions was to figure out spirituality,” she says. Westmont, who had been raised agnostic, felt disconnected from spirituality, and wanted to see religion from an up-close perspective. When she announced her intent to start visiting different churches, readers of her personal blog responded with an overwhelming number of recommendations. “My life policy is to say yes, so if you send me to a church, I’m going to say yes to it,” she says. Gunz, who had been dating Westmont for four months before they began the project, brought a different perspective. Raised a Jehovah’s Witness, Gunz remained fiercely connected to his church until seven years ago. After leaving the church, Gunz wanted to see what else was out there. The pair attends each service together but write separate responses, allowing for a multifaceted and sometimes discrepant take on the experience. “I’m kind of approaching it journalistically,” Gunz explains. “Like an anthropological study.” Westmont, on the other hand, feels less objective toward the experience. “I’m looking at it emotionally,” she says. Blogging about religion has its perils; being so candid about such a personal subject has drawn flak from some readers. “Before we even went live with the site I thought, ‘Are we going to piss everyone off?’ and then I thought, ‘So what?’’ Westmont says, explaining that while they avoid putting down members of the churches they visit, they view many aspects as fair game for their honest observations. There are no movie-set epiphanies to be found here, however, as the pair remains realistic about the project’s outcome. “Maybe that’s the journey itself: that I’m not going to find anything. And that’s OK,” Westmont says. “I don’t feel any closer to finding religion, but I think I feel closer to people in general.” NATASHA GEILING.
“NOT FOR
Local Twitter Account Part 1
BEST
Comedy Twitter accounts as a genre haven’t been funny since @ TheFuckingPope, but sometime in March this year, @ancientportland came along, and the Twittersphere suddenly became hilarious and relevant again. The mysterious tweeter behind the moniker concocts fake facts, anecdotes and quotes about “ancient” Portland, creating an entire alternate history to explain how our fair city became the place it is today: “In antiquity, Mall 205 was a lively trading post, busy with Clackamites, Greshamites and Portlandians. It’s now a sad ruin. With a Target.” And the real story behind Willamette Week? “Willamette Week began in 1697 as Rev. Eli Willamette’s Weekly Broadsheet,” @ancientportland informed us. “Every issue dedicated to sins of Drunkenness, Vulgarity and Onanism.” You can’t argue with the facts. RUTH BROWN.
Indie iPad App
BEST
Drop into any publishing industry conference this summer and you’ll hear one word, repeated over and over: iPad. Print media’s oddly singleminded obsession with Steve Jobs’ magic tablets has mounted to a shrill keening, driving magazines from People to The New Yorker to pour millions into developing iPad apps that look and feel more or less like their print counterparts, but with more annoying ads. But you know what iPads are really good for? Not magazines—zines! The indie publishing spirit that gave birth to the Independent Publishing Resource Center and Reading Frenzy has found a new outlet in the iPad, and the local leader of the pack is Letter to Jane, a journal of film essays, photography and interviews with interesting people published by Portlander Timothy Paul Moore. Moore’s plenty ambitious—his first issue included an interview with Aziz Ansari and Yoko Ono—but what really sets it apart is design. Since the second issue (the first was printed just before the iPad’s debut in January 2010), Letter to Jane looked and felt not like a ho-hum export of a product designed to look good on paper but something altogether new and beautiful. Want a look at the future of digital publishing? Download Moore’s third issue, “Moral Tales,” for your iPad or iPhone (or do like I did and borrow a coworker’s). At 99 cents, it’s cheaper than a copy of The Oregonian and far more pleasant to look at. BEN WATERHOUSE.
THE BIRDS”
WASH IT at
WASHMAN!
Help Save Water, Help save the Rivers and Streams & Enjoy your Sparkling Clean Car in only 3 minutes!! The local and federal governments promote washing your car so the discharge goes into the sewer system and not the storm drains to protect the rivers and streams. Gresham:
Milwaukie/Oak Grove:
24161 SE 242nd & Stark 1655 NE Burnside(off Division) 11838 SE Division St. & 119th
14373 SE McLoughlin Blvd.
Sandy: 37055 Hwy 26 at Sandy Marketplace
Portland: 315 NE 82nd & Glisan 1530 NE MLK & Weidler 2920 SE 10th & Powell 416 SE Clay & MLK 1461 NE Holman & Airport Way
washmanusa.com
503-255-9111
Open 7am to 8pm, Sundays 8am to 8pm
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
27
BEST
READS CONT.
BEST
Congressional Earmark
U.S. Rep. David Wu made an $800,000 appropriations request this spring for an “urban battlefield robot” for the Oregon National Guard: “Supports the procurement of the TALON SWAT/MP robot to perform explosive/forced entry of buildings, reconnaissance, and improvised explosive device disruption and destruction. The robot is specifically equipped for scenarios frequently encountered in urban areas and can be configured with equipment including a loudspeaker and audio receiver for one- or two-way communications or night vision and thermal cameras.” If he can get us a test drive, we’ll forget the whole unwanted sexual behavior thing. BEN WATERHOUSE.
Place to Send Used Dictionaries and Dating Guides
BEST
Every Tuesday night, the volunteers of Portland Books to Prisoners (pdxbookstoprisoners.org) gather in a Northeast Portland garage to respond to literary requests from inmates around the country—like a Santa’s Wo r k s h o p f o r c o nv i c t e d f e l o n s. Dictionaries are the most requested books, says Alex Fish, the group’s longest-serving volunteer, followed by s c i - fi , We st e r n s, h i st o r y a n d instructional guides for trades. Less predictable are requests for Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, as well as dating and travel guides. Finding the books isn’t a problem, says Fish—the program receives well over a hundred books every week through donations or drop boxes around the city—but finding enough money for postage is a constant struggle. Even if people don’t want to support Books for Prisoners out of compassion, he says, they should do it out of selfishness. “Anything we can provide them with—whether it’s entertainment or an opportunity to educate themselves—is worthwhile,” says Fish. “Because most of them are going to get out and be, if not your neighbor or my neighbor, someone’s neighbor. So it’s in everyone’s best interest.” RUTH BROWN.
Local Twitter Account Part 2
BEST
As a reporter for KEX and KPOJ, Felicia Heaton spends a lot of time listening to police and fire scanners. She picks up a lot of entertaining gossip, most of it not newsworthy. What to do with the 800 megahertz one-liners? Well, what else is Twitter good for? Heaton posts the best of the scanner chatter to @ShitMyScnrSays. A sample from one week in June: “There’s somebody there who says his pants are on fire.” “Report of a man with a stick violently beating on a bunch of bushes.” “We’re trying to get a vehicle description but they’re too busy screaming and yelling at each other.” “Says he was attacked by 3 transients. He doesn’t know why. They threw a can at him.” BEN WATERHOUSE.
Scare Tactic Inspired by a Children’s Song
BEST
There’s nothing like a catchy childhood tune with politically modified lyrics to remind you of your legislative obligations— and the high likelihood of your impending plummet to a watery death. That seems to have been the mindset of the quiet activist who plastered the Sellwood neighborhood and surrounding area with all-caps stenciled signs proclaiming “Sellwood Bridge Is Falling Down” just in time for the highly anticipated (and failed) May vote on Measure 3-372, which would have funded a replacement bridge. To really get the message into people’s heads, each initial “Sellwood Bridge Is Falling Down” sign was followed by a subsequent trail of “Falling Down...Falling Down... Falling Down,” so just as you had finished the last little sign, you were suddenly crossing the crumbling infrastructure. Who knew it could be so easy to hum a political ditty while holding your breath and praying for gravity’s mercy? NATALIE BAKER. 28
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
BITES
& NIGHTS PETER WOODMAN
BEST
Midnight Mystery Ride
Late-Night Game of Follow-the-Leader
BEST
It was not a typical night at the Copper Rooster, a biker dive on East Burnside Street. A twentysomething guy wearing Cleopatra eye makeup was singing karaoke to Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl,” and a crowd with a median age probably 20 years below the Rooster’s average clientele was thronging the bar. Everybody was trying to get one last drink, because at midnight, we would ride. This evening, the Copper Rooster was the unlikely staging area for the Midnight Mystery Ride, a monthly happening that combines bikes and whimsy to quintessentially Portland effect: Participants meet at a drinking establishment (announced on the MMR blog, midnightmysteryride. wordpress.com, only on the day of the event) and bike to a top-secret location—someplace unexpected and known only to that month’s volunteer ride leader. According to an anonymous operative in the ride’s shadowy organizing cabal, Team Midnight, the MMR started over eight years ago, “after the death of Critical Mass. And fun. And the love of mysteries. And bikes. And Portland.” Since then, turnout has climbed from the tens to the hundreds. The Copper Rooster ride, which coincided with Pedalpalooza, was even bigger than usual; at the witching hour, when the riders finally rolled out, they were perhaps 300 strong. Pretty much the whole menagerie of KeepPortland-Weird types was represented: There was a dude with a mohawk wearing only a leather jacket and bright green underpants. There was a girl in all black who yelled, “Break your addiction to oil!” at a passing car. There were tall bikes, bikes rocking speakers and a bike with a vintage Schlitz keg built into its frame. The ride ended in a field across from Rocky Butte, where six-packs were produced and a party, illuminated by the glow of bike lights, got under way. JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG.
BEST
BEST
Americano
When news broke that a private equity firm was spraying cash at Stumptown, coffee snobs across Portland were thrust into the success/selling-out mindbind that pervades this city. Can one still sip Hairbender while maintaining indie cred? Better to simply avoid such a thorny ethical (Jesus-you-are-sogoddamn-white) dilemma. Enter Heart Coffee Roasters (2211 E Burnside St., 206-6602, heartroasters. com). This micro-roasting upstart on East Burnside Street, opened in October 2009, is independent as fuck. But more importantly, it pours Portland’s best Americano. Ruddy crema swirls above complex flavors that belie the simple espressoplus-hot water formula. The shop’s Stereo espresso blend and rotating single-origin beans, sourced in Latin America and Africa, have their own distinctive charms, from tealike herbal notes to nutty sweetness. But if the Kenya Kaiguri returns, pounce on it. This clean-finishing cup is evidence that Heart has elevated the Americano—and proof that, whatever happens, there is great coffee after Stumptown. ETHAN SMITH.
Low-Rent Alternative to Portland City Grill
Where do Portland’s elite go to swap iPhone snaps of their last holiday in Monaco? Well, no one like that lives in Portland, and if they did, they wouldn’t go to Windows Sky Lounge (1021 NE Grand Ave., 235-2100, redlion.com), the glass-wrapped bar perched six floors up, atop the Convention Center Red Lion. Windows is where Tri-Cities vinyl-siding salesmen unwind after a long day manning a convention booth/waiting to die. The decor evokes an off-Strip Vegas casino. Or perhaps the waiting room of Donald Trump’s personal orthodontist: faux-marble bar, whimsically patterned carpet to whimsically camouflage the odd vomit stain, recessed mood lighting to flatter what appear to be once-expensive prostitutes. Yet Windows is far more charming than its rooftop competition, Departure and Portland City Grill. Those over-designed eagle’s nests may trumpet “class” through more expensive horns, but they’re playing the same tacky song as Windows. ETHAN SMITH. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
29
“BEST MARRIAGE OF
GRILLED CHEESE AND BEER”
Get a Grilled Cheese and a Frosty Craft Beer On Our Newly Opened, Shared Outdoor Patio
“BEST NEW BREWER: Bruce MacPhee” 2011 Reader’s Choice Award Beer West Magazine
2010 Willamette Week Best Of Portland Reader’s Poll
“BEST NEW BREWERY 2010”
“BEST USE OF A DOUBLE DECKER BUS THAT’S NOT A DRESS SHOP”
2724 SE Ankeny 503-894-8080 Coalitionbrewing.com
113 SE 28th Ave 503-206-7018 Grilledcheesegrill.com
Open: Tues-Fri 3pm-12am Open: Sat-Sun 12pm-12am Happy Hour: 3pm-6pm Tues-Sun
Open: Tues-Thurs 11am-10pm Open: Fri-Sat 11am-12am Open: Sun 11am-8pm
WEDS $2.50 Pints SUN $10 Pitchers
ALBERTA LOCATION STILL OPEN TILL 2:30AM ON WEEKENDS
New School Beer Blog
30
“BEST PLACE TO TAKE A DATE”
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Some Lady Named Jennifer, 2011
BITES & NIGHTS CONT. C O U R T E SY O F T R U C K FA R M
BEST
Organic Artisan Pizza Rotating Craft Beer Selection
Neighborhood Bar 8105 SE 7th Ave, Portland, OR muddyrudderpdx.com (503) 233-4410
Truck Farm
BEST
Meal on Wheels
Forget your Prius or vegetable-oil-powered van, because Tom Myers may just have the greenest vehicle in Portland: Truck Farm ( facebook.com/TruckFarmPDX), a pickup with a living, edible farm in the back. A food and garden teacher at Abernethy Elementary School, Myers was inspired to fill the bed of his 2002 Ford Ranger with potting soil and chicken manure after reading about a similar project in New York. He and his third- and fourthgraders are now successfully growing snap peas, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco broccoli, arugula, lettuce and herbs inside the tiny space, to be eaten by visitors or go into the salad bar at Abernethy. Myers drives the farm, which doubles as his personal vehicle, out to visit farmers markets, camps and neighborhood events, but he says curious urbanites also make impromptu visits in parking lots, on his block and at red lights. RUTH BROWN.
BEST
Brunch Binge
The sounds of glasses clanging in endless toasts. People giggling endlessly in a pitch that can only be obtained with a head full of Champagne. And, of course, the sweet voice of Kylie Minogue drifting from a barside TV playing a concert video. This is the symphony surrounding Starky’s (2913 SE Stark St., 230-7980, starkys.com) on Sunday mornings; the soundtrack to a breakfast that’s pure bliss for people who like to get shitfaced in the morning. For a scant $7 on top of a breakfast order, Portland’s most unassuming (and accepting) gay establishment delivers bottomless mimosas, served with a bottle of Champagne and a carafe of orange juice. The mix-it-yourself method allows more hardcore morning drunkies to skip the fruit and go straight for the bubbly, which just keeps on coming until you’re too bloated to drink more or too hammered to lift the bottle any longer. It’s one of Southeast Portland’s best-kept secrets, and one of the liveliest breakfast benders in town. AP KRYZA.
BEST
Cheap Date
After the second wettest spring on record, the sun is finally making brief public appearances in Portland. And so Portlanders are tentatively emerging from their holes, tattoos stark against green-white rainy season complexions, eyes blinking spastically behind Wayfarers, groins tingling at the first glimpses of each other’s exposed flesh. These mole-ish citizens flock to the city’s green spaces to bask in this strange warm light and glance furtively at the limbs and mounds peeking from V-necks and cutoffs. And there is no better spot to shake off the mildew with an attractive partner than on the pier at Cathedral Park (North Edison Street and Pittsburg Avenue), under the suggestive gothic thrust of the St. Johns Bridge. Yes, even bridges seem sexual after the m a t r o n l y g r ay m o n t h s. B r i n g a bottle—it may even be warm enough for something bubbly—and a blanket and reacquaint yourselves with that vaguely familiar yellow orb reflecting off the water—and with any other sources of heat within a wandering hand’s reach. ETHAN SMITH.
Lots of outdoor seating! Happy Hour Every Day 4-6 Live Music
‘‘
OCOM’s curriculum and renowned faculty, along with strong clinical experience, have provided me with the skills and knowledge to succeed as a practitioner. ...Here is where you begin to take part in the health and well-being of patients.
’’
Third-Year Master’s Student, Viecynt Nelson
BEST
Drunken Munchies Mistake
Drive-thru Mexican has been a refuge for famished drunks since this nation was founded. Or at least since Taco Bell was founded. However, even drunken palates mature, and post-college, only the mightiest binge can make the Bell appetizing. But take heart, you disgusting lushes. Muchas Gracias (707 NE Weidler St., and other locations) has split the difference between Taco Bell and taqueria: It’s cheap, open 24 hours, boasts a drive-thru (not that you should be driving) and offers bleary approximations of actual Mexican food. Given Portland’s plethora of legit taquerias, there’s no reason to visit Muchas in the daylight. But when the bars close, this gaudy, stuccoed siren will silence the gurgles from your booze-poisoned insides. In particular, the chips and guacamole are a gloppy heap of unholy satisfaction, presenting colors not found in nature. The uranium-green glare of the guac suggests laboratory origins. And the garish orange “cheese” looks like it would not melt in the heat of a thousand suns. But, dios mio, that shit is good. ETHAN SMITH.
Accepting Applications for Fall 2011 Call 503-253-3443 x175 to begin your career as an acupuncturist.
www.ocom.edu
The science of medicine, the art of healing
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com WW_4unit_072111.indd 1
31
7/21/2011 3:58:31 PM
SIGHTS
& SOUNDS JACOB GARCIA
BEST
AN INTERNATIONAL MARKETPLACE
Vegan & Vegetarian Meat Alternatives Fubonn Supermarket has a large selection of classic Asian vegan and vegetarian meat alternative dishes from Verisoy, Vegefarm, & VegeUSA. Choose from favorites like: Orange Chicken, BBQ Pork, Sesame Chicken, Roast Duck, and many many more. Check the freezer isle to find your favorite vegan & vegetarian Asian dish.
Andrew Wightman’s forearm
BEST
OREGON’S LARGEST ASIAN MALL Portland’s Best Selection of Asian Foods, Seafood, Meats, Produce, Housewares and MORE! 503-517-8877
2850 S.E. 82nd Ave.
9am-8pm seven days a week
www.fubonn.com
*Restaurant Hours may vary from mall hours
illustration by www.alliarnold.com
BEST
MOCHA
6TH
BEST
CHOCOLATE CHIP
coffee
COOKIE
house-made ice cream
Portland Tattoo
In a town as overflowing with civic pride as Portland, there’s no shortage of citizens eager to show their dedication to the city by branding it into their flesh. We’ve seen Portland etched across knuckles and lower backs, silhouettes of bridges from the Hawthorne to the St. Johns, multiple renditions of the White Stag sign, outlines of Oregon in rainbows and bike chain and countless tributes to the Trail Blazers. Nob Hill studio Art Work Rebels offers two dozen Portland-themed designs, and earlier this year The Portland Mercury even persuaded some poor schlub to get a tramp stamp of the paper’s logo. But Andrew Wightman’s Portlandthemed sleeve beats even Nickey Robare’s beautifully rendered Benson bubbler that we featured in last year’s Best of Portland. Created over the course of eight months by Amy Cole (formerly of Hollywood’s Tigerlily Tattoo, who will soon open Little Tattoo Shop at Northeast 13th Avenue and Fremont Street), Wightman’s montage of Portland icons includes the Hawthorne and Fremont bridges, KOIN and Wells Fargo Centers, US Bancorp Tower, Pioneer Courthouse Square’s “Allow Me” statue, the “Made in Oregon” sign, Union Station, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall’s “Portland” marquee, Mount Hood and trees and cyclists winding through it all. Wightman, a 26-year-old native of Eagle Point, Ore. who made the trek to Portland at age 18, says his tattoos celebrate the things he loves. “My sleeve on my right arm is just about me. On the top I have where I grew up in Eagle Point, and I have my football team, the Packers.” A former cook (he worked at Taqueria Nueve, D.F. and Hood River restaurant Nora’s Table) and current civil engineering student, Wightman says he devoted the lower portion of his sleeve tat to the city because, “ever since I moved to Portland, I’ve felt like it was home.” BEN WATERHOUSE.
BIGGEST
Fan
ANYONE who has played a show in the main room at Rontoms (600 E Burnside St.), or just sipped a beer near the fire there for that matter, has found themselves spacing out and looking upward, hypnotized by the slow-spinning death machine suspended from the vaulted ceiling above by a thin, fragile-looking metal bar. For five years this ominous, medieval-looking device (what is it made of, fucking stone!?) has spun, and for almost five years I’ve envisioned it snapping loose and crashing down on the patrons below, dismembering and crushing them in a jumble of bloody and deafening violence. Sure, this monstrosity technically qualifies as a fan (rotor: check!; blades: oh, Jesus, check!), but I prefer to think of Rontoms’ giant fan—a retired propeller, it turns out—as a death clock, winding its way toward the final reckoning hour. The Stones at Altamont? A mere scuffle. The Great White fire? Child’s play. When the fan falls at Rontoms, the date shall be written in blood in every Moleskine planner in Portland, and all shall bow before a new metal god! CASEY JARMAN.
toast & baguettes 150+ magazines R SUPEEE COFF CAKE
lamy ink pens sketchbooks cards & gifts
1740 SE Hawthorne • 503-384-2160 (in the same building as Castagna restaurant)
32
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
BEST
Multicultural Sports League
The former British Empire can be criticized for a lot of things—plunder, slaughter, incest—but at sporting fields around the greater Portland area, you can also witness one of the few great contributions (next to IPA, of course) Mother England has made to the world: cricket. Since 2005, expat South Africans, Jamaicans, Brits, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Afghanis, Australians, New Zealanders—and yes, even a few Americans—have been playing the world’s second most popular sport under the auspices of the Oregon Cricket League (oregoncricketleague.org). It’s basically baseball for nerds: less physically demanding and more strategic, with cable knit sweaters and periodic breaks for tea. Despite the sport’s relative obscurity in the U.S., the league hosts eight teams, seven of which are based in the Portland metro area—that’s more than we have roller derby teams. Head down to John Deere Field in Gresham some Saturday, and clap politely for them. RUTH BROWN.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
33
34
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
SIGHTS & SOUNDS CONT. JAMES REXROAD
BEST
Elvis Nagel
BEST
Eastside Elvis
Like his idol, Milwaukie-based Elvis Nagel has burst back onto the scene after more than a decade of retirement, and he’s chosen a rather unlikely place to do it: The Pink Feather (14154 SE Division St., 761-2030, pinkfeatherrestaurantandlounge.com), a charmingly divey restaurant with a tiny, boomer-populated bar plopped in outer East Portland. But on Friday and Saturday nights at 10 pm, it’s Vegas, and Nagel, a dead ringer for Presley in image and voice, is the King. A successful impersonator who spent years touring the globe with a 25-piece band and whose moniker is his birth name, Nagel packs the bar each weekend. His act, custom built by nightly audience requests from his catalog of 489 songs, lights up the floor and keeps the patrons swooning, particularly the ladies. Nagel says it’s all about giving the audience what it wants. “It brings me great joy to bring joy to others. I see someone who’s hurt, or it’s her birthday or anniversary, and I want to see them smile,” says Nagel. “I treat them as if this were their last day on Earth.” Nagel boasts a wardrobe of more than 60 outfits, including a $32,000 jumpsuit and glasses worn by the King himself. Each night, he slow dances with a lucky lady and doles out 10 scarves, 16 roses and one teddy bear to audience members. Nagel, who dedicates his show to his late mother, Elvira, plans to take his show back on the road soon. For now, though, he’s happy to sit on his throne at the Feather, creating a time warp that has become legend at the tiny bar. “I feel that somehow, when Elvis passed away, his spirit was transported into me,” says Nagel. “A metamorphosis occurs. It’s like when Superman puts on his cape. I put on the sunglasses and change.” AP KRYZA.
BEST
Anonymous Public Art
Were they the sole remnants left behind by the raptured few on May 21? Or did a few World Naked Bike Ride enthusiasts strip a bit early? The potential explanations could be listed out forever—all we know is that clothes laid out in the shape of a person started popping up on benches around downtown Portland in May. The empty outfits, complete with classy shades and blue camouflage shoes, sat carefully placed as if a 2-D invisible man were resting by the PSU farmers market, and later down at the waterfront during the Rose Festival. The effect was both eerie and humorous, and the outfits became a sort of performance art as passersby snapped photos of themselves with the piece or uncomfortably glanced back as they walked on, lives momentarily interrupted. NATALIE BAKER. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
35
Our customers are the
BEST
Bike & Ride
people in the world!!
So we give them The BEST prices The BEST quality The BEST service Ready to finish • Since 1975
800 NE Broadway (503) 284-0655 NaturalFurniturePDX.com
THURSDAYS All You Can Eat
Spaghetti $6.95
Mon - Thurs 11am - Midnight Fri. & Sat. 11am - 1am Sun. 11am - 11pm
50 SW Third Ave. 503-223-1375
Four Seasons
v
Five Senses
v
One Extraordinary Experience
Business in the Front...
Restaurant
8115 SE Stark
Party in the Back! Open Daily in Washington Park 611 SW Kingston Ave v (503) 223-1321 v www.japanesegarden.com Photos by Allan Bruce Zee, Jonathan Ley, Bob Eddings
36
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Bar
410 SE 81st Ave. Directly behind the Observatory
SIGHTS & SOUNDS CONT. R O B E R T D E L A H A N T Y. N E T
BEST
Birkenstock Arizona Sandal in Stone Birko-Flor $79.95
SCOOP GOSSIP SHOULD HAVE NO FRIENDS P54
& Over 96th 300 r of ale Hwy style e n r s! Co Hillsd n t 503-626-8413 • Summer Hours Mon-Sat 9am-7 pm, Sun 11 am-6 pm v B
Spike Kinsey’s grand jeté
BEST
Dancer
Spike Kinsey hasn’t spent a lot of time in Portland, but he feels more strongly about the city than some who have lived here their entire lives. “Portland is one of my favorite cities ever, especially when it doesn’t rain,” Kinsey says. Kinsey originally hails from Turtle Ridge, Minn., a town that he describes as “having no one in it.” Kinsey is a dancer, and an unconventional one: Self-taught through dance videos and aerobics classes and influenced by Paula Abdul, he describes his style as “great and based off of animal movements and emotions.” It’s an eccentric equation, but Kinsey’s moves have been met with considerable success and a very supportive fan base. After flexing his dancing chops at last year’s MusicfestNW (see video at wweek.com), Kinsey says he felt supported enough to take his dancing to the Internet (spikecandance.com). In just a week, his YouTube videos had over 300,000 hits; they now have over 1.3 million, all in less than a year. Kinsey has even been touring, recently returning from dancing for a DJ show in Amsterdam. “Dancing at MusicFestNW is what gave me the courage to dance in Amsterdam, to dance in public,” Kinsey says. “It really changed my life forever.” NATASHA GEILING.
BEST
Kid Rock
Put a cork in that baby beluga, Raffi. Portland musicians Johnny Keener and Jason Greene have a message: Just because you’re making music for kids doesn’t mean it needs to be lame. Parents should not be driven to insanity by the repetition of your googoo-ga-ga bullshit. Under the moniker Johnny and Jason, Keener and Greene have released Go, Go...Go, Go, Go, a “family rock” album catering to parents who don’t want their kids to listen to pablum. Keener and Greene, who are two-thirds of poppy space-rock trio Yoyodyne, have crafted an ambitious, genre-hopping indie-rock album with traces of country, folk, Jim Croce-style storytelling anthems and old-fashioned rock. But the songs are about pets, toys, wagons, counting, family, eating pancakes and other goofball topics. (On second thought, that doesn’t sound too far away from your typical Portland band’s subject matter.) “There’s a song called ‘What’s Your Pet’s Name?,’ that kind of thing, and you might ask, ‘Is that a kid’s song, or is it an absurd, surreal, slightly psychedelic folk song?’” said Keener, who performs regularly at the Portland Children’s Museum. “There’s a place in the world for music everybody can dig.” For the two stay-at-home dads, writing music for kids was natural in a city where the hip are entering mid-life and the next generation of Portland musicians is growing up right beneath their noses and tattooed forearms. “I’m at a party and I look around and there are 10 kids, and I don’t want to have to pick up the guitar and play ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,”’ said Keener. “I do that, but I don’t want to do it all day. I find myself more and more in situations where I’m in a group and there happen to be 30-year-old hipsters and 3-year-olds all around, so my own life is dictating this progression. That’s why I make these records.” Go, Go...Go, Go, Go is available at Johnny & Jason shows, and at the Portland Children’s Museum. AP KRYZA.
New Programs for Medical Professionals! MASTER OF ACUPUNCTURE Classes begin in September 2011 The Master of Acupuncture program is designed for students having a special affinity for classical acupuncture and moxibustion, but desiring a more streamlined educational experience. The foundation of the MAc program is similar to that of the Master of Science in Oriental Medicine (MSOM) program, but with fewer hours of theory and without the focus on herbal instruction. An increased emphasis is placed on the refinement of palpation skills used in acupuncture diagnosis and treatment.
POST-GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN BOTANICAL MEDICINE Classes begin in October 2011 NCNM’s new Graduate Certificate in Botanical Medicine provides a foundation of knowledge that bridges the knowledge and clinical uses gap for health care providers. Especially urgent is the need to address safety and efficacy. Common uses of herbs will be addressed as well as their potential for interactions with pharmaceutical medicines. The curriculum is centered on the integration of traditional herbal wisdom and modern scientific knowledge.
DOCTORATE OF NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE FOR CHIROPRACTORS Classes begin in January 2012 Courses for the DC Professional Track program are consistent with courses from the full-time ND curriculum, but specifically designed with the training of the DC in mind. Course content will build upon and advance the academic education DC’s received in their chiropractic training, as well as providing the knowledge, clinical experience and competencies required to be a family care physician.
APPLICATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR ALL PROGRAMS.
Contact us for details or apply online! admissions@ncnm.edu 503.552.1660 / 877.669.8737 www.ncnm.edu 049 SW Porter Street, Portland, Oregon 97201 Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
37
FUN IN THE SUN
sandals•clogs•shoes•boots•socks
THEN&NOW
Compiled and reported by Ashley Collman, Natasha Geiling, Reed Jackson, Evan Sernoffsky and Ben Waterhouse MARTIN THIEL
follow your feet to footwise
BEST OF PORTLAND:
1433 NE Broadway • 503.493.0070 Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6; Sun 11-5 Facebook.com/footwiseportland
iPod Integration 95 $149
*
* iPhone Integration from $199.95
· Take your music on the road! Our friendly expert techs will guide you through all your car audio upgrade options. · We are your local authority in car electronics including audio, bluetooth integration, GPS systems and mobile video.
BEST
To Broadway Bridge NE 2ND
www.mobilewestpdx.com
NE BROADWAY NE 1ST
140 NE Broadway 503-257-0488
Then: Timbers fans in 2002
NE WEIDLER To Rose Quarter
Car Audio/Visual · Navigation · Security · Remote Start · Wireless Solutions · iPod · Factory Integration
Fashion Show Masquerading
20 As Sports Spectation 02 Green face-paint. Intensely questionable green-and-white Cat-in-the-Hat lids. Green-
tipped triple mohawks. Kilts, denim, shaven skulls, Fred Perry shirts. Language that skirts the bounds of bourgeois taste. What is this, some local DIY designer’s spring runway walk, thrown together in a suitably “guerrilla” warehouse space? No, it’s Section 107 of PGE Park (Southwest 18th Avenue and Morrison Street) during Portland Timbers soccer games. While the minor-league pro futbol club attracts its share of soccer moms and nuke-families, the fans who congregate behind the north goal are a concertedly colorful lot. It is a convenient perch from which to question the ancestry, professional abilities and sexual proclivities of the opposing team’s goalkeeper and advocate medieval punishment for the referee. And, maybe most of all, the section is a carnival of eccentric threads, as skinheads mingle with punx and urban professionals turn into masked, flag-waving tribalists for two hours. All with the help of Sweet Mother Beer, of course. UPDATE: The Timbers’ major-league debut has not diminished the fashion sense of the Timbers Army at all. See our cover for proof.
19 86
BEST
Promoter
Violent Femmes, Hüsker Dü, Los Lobos and the Replacements are not hopelessly obscure groups, but in a town shy of alternative media such as college radio and underground press, one might not get exposed to these bands without the efforts of Monqui. Mike Quinn had booking experience from three years on the University of Oregon’s cultural-affairs board, as well as a stint at the Keystone in San Francisco, when he met former Portland policeman Chris Monlux at Satyricon in 1984. The duo formed Monqui (the name derived from the first three letters of their last names) and began promoting concerts in Portland and Seattle. Pine Street Theater, the site of their offices and the majority of their shows, now is leased by them as well. When remodeling is completed, the venue, (now called simply Pine Street) will have a capacity of 1,000, with balconies and a video bar as new amenities. Quinn and Monlux are personable, accommodating and dedicated to providing Portland with quality rock-music alternatives. UPDATE: The Pine Street (which later became La Luna) is long gone, but Monqui is still going strong, booking around 275 shows each year from Bend to B.C., including the Edgefield Concerts on the Lawn (this summer’s lineup includes Neko Case, John Prine and Willie Nelson). Quinn is a co-owner of Doug Fir Lounge (which produces an additional 315 shows), and he and Monlux own Wonder Ballroom with Mark Woolley. “I don’t have to put up posters in the middle of the night, do the catering shopping, load gear or make deals on thermal fax paper anymore, which is nice,” Quinn says. “It’s still a tough racket, but it really helps to have good venues to work in.” 38
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
BEST
Retro
19 Recall 99 Remember life as a kid in the ’80s? Back then, video games weren’t all violent fight scenes and turbo action. You won the right to enter your initials by helping a frog cross a busy highway unscathed, gobbling up ghosts or firing at alien invaders. Thanks to Portland’s newest arcade, Ground Kontrol (610 SW 12th Ave.), the salad days are back. Owners Kneel Cohn and Betty Farrier collected more than 30 ’80s pinball and video games—Tetris, Star Trek, Dig Dug, Space Invaders and Centipede among them—and corralled them in a revamped downtown space. Besides 25-cent games galore, the store buys and sells new and used CDs, Atari units and cartridges. Visit the window nook, where a couch, Atari unit and TV setup assuage your joystick jones. UPDATE: Cohn and Farrier sold Ground Kontrol in 2003 to a group of loyal customers who in 2004 moved to the arcade’s current home, at 511 NW Couch St., and started serving beer. Ground Kontrol now claims 125 pinball and video games and, after a Tron-inspired remodel early this year, glowing bar tables.
BEST
Rage Against
19 the Establishment 94 From his rooftop message of “Growth Sucks” to the
severed heads that dot his front lawn at 0115 SW Arthur St., Jim Skinner refuses to conform. Skinner is a carpenter by trade and an avant-garde artist by choice. His living room is occupied by a life-size Jesus Christ on a cross. The back of his pickup truck sports a plaster cast of Lon Mabon’s face with the command, “I’m Lon Mabon, Punch Me!” The outer back wall of his house is dominated by a fully erect, 6-foot fiberglass penis. Skinner knows gentrification is coming to his short block near the west end of the Ross Island Bridge. Skinner wants no part of it. “It is trying to chase me out,” complains Skinner of the city’s rapid growth. “But I’m going to be that sore itch on the face of yuppiedom.” Skinner, who owns his home, says he started to do political art in 1988 when he constructed a 6-foot penis and dressed it up as then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, complete with a blue suit and red tie. Crosses and penises are Skinner’s favorite art tools. In fact, he is currently hard at work trying to mass-produce crosses made of crisscrossed penises. “Who needs a gallery? I’ve got my own,” says Skinner of his front yard and home, which are viewed by commuters who park along the street each day. In Skinner’s view of the world, his home is an oasis of sanity in a world gone mad. “If you try to inject something sane, then they label you insane,” he theorizes. UPDATE: Skinner now lives on North Sumner Street, near
Interstate Avenue, in a house as fully decorated as the one on Southwest Arthur. The centerpiece of his front yard is the “Tree of Shame,” a 25-foot decorated trunk adorned with the heads of Kissinger, Reagan, the two Bush presidents and others of his political enemies. “The heads are starting to rot up there,” he says. “I wish the real ones would too.” Other than moving from downtown, little has changed for Skinner. “People say Portland is a good place, but to me it’s just less raped than other places—whatever,” he says. “Now that I live in the suburbs, I can’t piss off of I-5 like I used to be able to.” R O B E R T D E L A H A N T Y. N E T
Love your skin! Explore State-of-the-Art Treatments
Skin Cancer & Mole Evaluation with Dermoscopy Photodynamic Therapy for Pre-Cancerous Spots & Acne Excimer Laser & Light Therapies for Psoriasis, Vitiligo, Eczema, Urticaria & Itch Treatments for Skin Cancer, Rosacea, Acne, Warts, Scars, Keloids & Rashes Multiple Laser Modalities, Botox & Dermal Fillers to reverse signs of Aging & Skin Damage Bernard Gasch, M.D. • Beata Rydzik, M.D. Board Certified in Dermatology Holly Chandler, PA-C Urgent Care Appointments Available
503-297-3440
Now: Jim Skinner and his “Tree of Shame”
centerdermlaser.com facebook.com/pdxdermatology
HILLSBORO 5880 NE Cornell Suite B
PORTLAND 9427 SW Barnes Suite 495
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
39
40
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
BEST OF PORTLAND:
If there were a list of the 10 most awesome jobs, Lee Medoff claims his would be No. 1: brewer of beer. For the last 2 1/2 years, Medoff has made some of Portland’s incredible ales at the Fulton Brewery, the hip little psychedelic brew pub in Southwest, and people from all over town go to savor his work. “My grandfather taught me the whole process,” Medoff explained. “He had a lot of tricks left over from Prohibition.” Medoff doesn’t quite fit the stereotype of the perpetually red-nosed German brewer. He’s tall and stocky, yes, but the young brewer wears his black hair in a ponytail, sports sharp sideburns and speaks with a decidedly twentysomething surfer twang. But he can articulate the fine points of brewing with impressive eloquence. Q u i c k t o a tt r i b u t e h i s success to his grandfather, Medoff said the most important qualities in a brewer are patience and a willingness to experiment. He said his best beers are Hammerhead, a malty, highly hopped, bitter ale with 5 percent alcohol; Wit, Then: Medoff at McMenamins Fulton Pub a “white” Belgian wheat ale; and Pale Fire, another malty, highly hopped ale. Medoff’s advice to young brewers? “Drink more of my beer.”
Then: Kevin Sampsell in 1996
BEST
Slam t a ke s p o et r y r e c i t a l s t o another level by pitting poet against poet in a war of words. Though some writers are sickened by the thought of cheapening their art with competition, others find the slam a great opportunity to popularize poetry and bring their work to the people. For the past two years, Kevin Sampsell has earned a position on the team that represents Portland in the national slam competition. His “in your face” poetry has the power to last through round after round of brutal image-throwing and verse-breaking. When Sampsell isn’t slamming, he’s working at his espresso cart, caring for his 11-month-old son and publishing books such as Poetry Is Dead and Lose Your Mind With the Lights On. Here’s a sample of the kind of poetry Sampsell will throw at the rest of the country in Ann Arbor, Mich., later this summer:
UPDATE: Medoff ’s ponytail may be long gone along with
the rest of his hair, but he’s still devoted to making excellent booze. From the Fulton, which is part of the McMenamins empire, Medoff moved to Seattle in 1995 to help open two McMenamins pubs there. After a sabbatical in Europe, he returned to Portland to open McMenamins Edgefield distillery. In 2005, he left to found House Spirits with partner Christian Krogstad. At House, he helped develop the distillery’s wildly successful Aviation Gin, but soon found himself wanting to move on. “My family’s very entrepreneurial,” he said. “I just got this itch to start my own distillery.” In 2010 he sold his share of House to Krogstad and started work on Bull Run Distilling Company, a new venture devoted to making rum and whiskey in volume. While Bull Run is still awaiting federal approval to start distilling, Medoff says he eventually hopes to move 15,000 to 20,000 cases of rum (made from Hawaiian turbinado sugar) and whiskey (made from Oregon malted barley) per year. His first release, though, will be as a distributor: A rye-heavy bourbon, distilled somewhere out East (Medoff isn’t telling where), sold under the Temperance Trader label, should hit shelves in early August.
Now: Medoff at Bull Run Distilling Company
Poetry
19 Slammer 95 The Portland Poetry
Bus stops at light. Safeway strikers throw rocks at bus windows and tires. Thirteen scruffy hounds and one alley cat form blockade While chanting: No more leash law! No more leash law!! Bus driver continues, notching eight more marks On his second quivering chin… From “The Last Bus Ride” by Kevin Sampsell
UPDATE: Sampsell retired his slamming jersey in 1996, citing the medium’s stress on competition as the primary factor. “I got burned out on it,” he says. His departure from slam did not mark his departure from the Portland literary scene, however. After leaving poetry, he spent some time working in short stories, before publishing his memoir, A Common Pornography, last year. (WW excerpted the book for a cover story prior to publication on Jan. 10, 2010.) Currently, Sampsell heads up the small press section at Powell’s Books, where he has worked since 1997. He dips into event coordinating, putting together some of Powell’s events and readings. Additionally, Sampsell owns his own small press, Future Tense Books. He’s still exploring different literary mediums, and is currently working on a novel, which he says is nearing completion.
BEST
Goal to Achieve
20 a Golden Glow 03 That’s an easy one.
A rainy day in Texas. The 2002 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship game. Sudden-death overtime: Santa Clara 1, the University of Portland Pilots (in the hunt for their first national title) 1. Enter the boot of Christine Sinclair, UP sophomore striker and Canadian national team member. “Oh, that goal,” Sinclair says now. “A Santa Clara player had the ball‚ and tried a square pass all the way across the field. Our left back, Kristen Moore, just read it so well: She took off...barely intercepted it and then made this unbelievable run. Then she served me a cross, just the perfect cross,” Sinclair recalls. “I tried to get a foot on it, tried to force their goalie to make a save. Anything. And she made the first one, but the ball came back to me. It was the perfect bounce. You could play that same situation a hundred times and it would never take that bounce again. And so I got the ball back and scored. That was it. The season was over.” UPDATE: The 2002 championship-saver was not Sinclair’s only memorable goal. Since graduating from University of Portland in 2005 (where she scored a total of 110—39 in her senior year alone, an all-time Division 1 record), she played three seasons for the Vancouver (B.C.) Whitecaps Women (10 goals) and two for California’s FC Gold Pride (18 goals). The 28-year-old forward currently plays for the Western New York Flash and was the captain of the Canadian team in the 2011 Women’s World Cup. Her most recent feat came this June: Against doctor’s advice, Sinclair returned to the field in the opener of the FIFA World Cup after having her nose broken by a defender’s elbow, and scored an 82nd-minute free kick in a 2-1 loss to Germany. Now: Christine Sinclair
20 07
BEST
Sister Act
Portland’s Two Tarts (call 910-6694 for orders) know that size matters. Well, small sizes, especially when it comes to perfect, tiny cookies. The Tarts in question are sisters Cecelia Korn and Elizabeth Beekley, a pair of crumb pushers who credit their sweets chops to growing up baking in the claustrophobic confines of an 11-child family in California. Their appropriately downsized cookie operation, which flaunts rows of silver-dollar-sized wares at the Portland Saturday Market as well as the Wednesday Park Blocks and Thursday Ecotrust outposts, is new to the market this season, but is steadily gaining a super-sized legion of fans. That’s because even though these two may bill themselves as tarts, holy angels couldn’t bake better nibbles. Their Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies are spiked with spicy candied ginger. Cinnamony hazelnut linzers burst with marionberry jam. And the peanut butter creams...sweet Jesus, just eat one. Not that you can stop at one. Rarely more than an inch and a half in diameter, only 50 freakin’ cents each, and with 10 to 12 miniature flavors available each day, the temptation to eat yourself into a heavenly, wee cookie coma is dangerously high. Although they currently sell their dynamite cookies (they’re baking around 400 to 600 dozen a week nowadays) to Busy Corner and PastaWorks, Beekley let WW know that the pair is currently looking for a retail storefront to turn into Two Tarts HQ this fall. And how does one become a cookie queen? Well, Beekley—who also owns PDX’s Square Deal Wine Company with her husband, Dan—trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, but admits that she’s still behind her sister, who, “being six years older, has the advantage of six additional years of being a tart.” UPDATE: Korn moved to Australia in 2008 (“We continue to leave messages with the world’s worst songs on each other’s voice mail,” Beekley says), but Beekley soldiered on, opening a retail bakery and cafe on Northwest Kearney Street with new partner Anna Phelps the same year. Between the bakery, four farmers market stands and wholesale accounts all over the city, Beekley says Two Tarts now turns out about 36,000 cookies (which now cost 80 cents) every week during the height of market season. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
41
CANADASOCCER.COM
Brewer
C. GULLUNG
BEST
JAMES REXROAD
G E O R G E K E L LY
19 92
THEN&NOW CONT.
E V R E S D L O C D L CO H T O O SM D L I W 42
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
BEST
19 88
THEN&NOW CONT. BEST
Fuller’s Coffee Shop
Elvis Impersonator
The place to go for ‘Eggs & Things”
Wearing dirty, mismatched tube socks and tattered plaid cutoffs, John Schroder looks—and sounds—as if his head has been all shaken up as he jitters and croons on downtown Portland’s sidewalks. Schroder has listened to the King for more than 20 years and has developed an enchantingly wretched Elvis impersonation act, which he performs every weekend at Saturday Market. The tall, rail-thin busker, who has wispy brown hair and thick eyeglasses, strums a “guitar” made of cardboard and yarn and shouts about 30 Elvis numbers in an off-key, raspy voice. He occasionally enhances his act by wearing a tinsel wig and collapsing, bare knees and all, to the pavement.
French toast made with homemade bread Pigs in a blanket
Music calendar
UPDATE: Schroder, who calls himself a “sound-alike, not look-
alike” impersonator, has now been singing Elvis songs longer than the King himself. You can find him every week, just like we did 23 years ago, strumming his guitar at Saturday Market, belting out Elvis tunes. And he’s not stopping anytime soon: Schroder says he’ll keep the act up “until I’m too old to do it, I guess.” At this rate, he’ll be in our next Best of Portland anniversary issue.
136 NW 9th • 222-5608 • M-F 6 - 3 • Sat 7-2 • Sun 8-2 • Breakfast served all day
R O B E R T D E L A H A N T Y. N E T
page 71
Portland’s legendary stool-at-the-counter 1940’s coffee shop!
Now: John Schroder in Old Town
MOST
Inspired Public
20 Endorsement of 05 Intoxication
“Drink ’til you want me.” That five-word phrase catapulted 34-year-old Portlander Phillip Ross from mildmannered PSU student to a blogger’s wet dream. Ross’ online T-shirt shop started off as a way to pay off college debt (he’s made enough to cover a full term and then some), but has since taken on a life of its own. Ross started small, but when he shilled the shirts at local wine festivals, people went “nuts.” “They never buy them for themselves. They always buy them for someone who they know will wear them,” he says. “[Customers] are always totally thrashing whoever they’re buying it for.” UPDATE: Ross has moved on from the T-shirt business. In
2007, the former reference librarian launched Metrofiets, a manufacturer of hand-built cargo bicycles, with partner Jamie Nichols. The bikes have proven immensely popular for their easy ride and massive cargo box, especially among the bike-basedbusiness crowd. Metrofiets’ custom-build jobs include a mobile coffee shop; a rolling bike service station; and a mobile bar, complete with two kegs and a solar-powered stereo. Want a beer bike of your own? Metrofiets will rent you one for $150 per night. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
43
6 “Brew on Premises” kettles.
THEN&NOW CONT.
Brew classes. Expert advice.
Brew it here, Ferment it here.
“P.U.B.” House beers & guest beers on tap.
Bottle or Keg it here.
Bottled beer & growlers to go. 6237 SE MILWAUKIE AVE PORTLAND, OR 97202 503-943-2727
WWW.PORTLANDUBREWANDPUB.COM
Then: Elwood Johnson
BEST
Female
19 Impersonator 89 It’s not easy being a female impersonator. It
takes more than specially designed costumes and makeup to convince an audience that a man is really a woman. It takes an attitude, a sense of style, and a total commitment to carrying off an illusion that few males would even attempt in public. In Portland, the best female impersonator is widely recognized as Elwood Johnson, 28, who can be seen most weekends at Darcelle XV, the cabaret at 208 NW 3rd Ave. in Old Town. That’s where Johnson exhibits his talent for impersonating celebrities such as Eartha Kitt, Dionne Warwick and Lena Horne—as well as his own creation, the dazzling Lady Elaine Peacock. Johnson has also competed in numerous competitions for female impersonators, and last year won the coveted title of La Femme Magnifique 1988 in a regional contest held in Portland. “I love traveling and entertaining, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do both,” says Johnson, who describes his stage work as a hobby. To pay the bills, he does graphic design work and operates Peacock Deliveries, which runs flowers around to a variety of downtown businesses. Out of costume, Johnson is a soft-spoken young man who could easily be mistaken for a college student or a Meier & Frank clerk. But for the full effect, catch his special appearance at this year’s La Femme Magnifique contest, at the Melody Lane Ballroom, 615 SE Alder.
. t s e B e T h ys. A lw a ❤ 1811 NE Broadway • 503.281.7430 722 NW 23RD • 503.274.4190 www.ohbabylingerieshops.com 44
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
UPDATE: In 1986, Johnson put on the first drag variety show at the Washington Park Amphitheater and dubbed the production Peacock and the Roses. The following year, the event changed its name to Peacock in the Park, and became the primary fundraiser for the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund, created by Johnson in memory of his mother, who had died that year. “It was important to Woody to continue his mother’s legacy,” says Kimberlee Van Patten, a friend of Johnson’s. “Audria was a big advocate for the gay community when we had few.” Johnson died in October of 1993 of complications from AIDS. Peacock in the Park and the scholarship fund continued, morphing into Peacock Productions Inc., which Van Patten founded with her partner, Maria. They continued to operate Peacock in the Park until 2004. After a few years’ hiatus, Peacock Productions created Peacock After Dark, a night of performance at the Newmark Theatre aimed at celebrating Johnson’s legacy and raising money for the scholarship foundation. To date, Peacock Productions has awarded over $172,000 worth of scholarships, and plans to award another $10,000 on September 25, at the 2011 Peacock After Dark. “I’m sure he’d be thrilled,” Van Patten says. “Our dream was to continue giving scholarships every year, and we’ve done that.”
BEST
Labor
20 of Love 09 When John Chandler
bought a dilapidated shophouse at 3039 SE Stark St. on March 7, 2007, he got a little more than he bargained for. Along with four 40-cubic-yard Dumpsters of junk and dead cats, rats and mice, Chandler and his wife, Heather, found sterling silver, what appears to be a Nazi dagger, and walrus-tusk scrimshaw. “The guy who owned the building for decades before us was a hoarder,” Chandler says. “It’s been a renovation of discovery.” The Chandlers also got an 1891 building that leaned 20 inches to the southeast and had the first 20 feet of a 70-foot elm growing out of the basement. (The tree had to be cut down, but Chandler saved slabs of it to make tables and benches.) Over the past three years, Chandler, 38, an Intel construction contractor, has poured all of his spare time and a considerable amount of money into the building, which formerly housed a brew-andsmokes emporium named Sindee’s Market. To correct the Pisa-like lean, Chandler dug out a new foundation; adding a new iron fence around the building triggered a city requirement that he install a new sidewalk. This being Portland, Chandler is most excited about the building’s green features and energy efficiency. “We spray-foamed the entire building [for insulation],” Chandler says. “My gas bill was only $5 last month.” The Chandlers live on the second floor. Next month, they hope to start test-roasting coffee for their new company, Oblique Coffee Roasters. “It’s what gets me out of bed in the morning,” Chandler says of the new venture. “You’ve got to follow your dream.” UPDATE: The Chandlers finally opened Oblique Coffee Roasters in early 2010. A table in the seating area is hewn from the tree that was growing into the basement. The shop appeared in the first season of Portlandia. In 2010 Hanna Neuschwander wrote in WW, “Six weeks after opening, the Chandlers are hitting their stride. The smallbatch-roasted beans have been good from the get-go.” OBLIQUE COFFEE ROASTERS
Portland U-Brew & Pub Home Brew & Wine Supplies
BEST OF PORTLAND:
WW FILE PHOTO
Grand Opening August 5th!
Now: Oblique Coffee Roasters
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
45
THEN&NOW CONT. BEST
BASIL CHILDERS
BEST
Campaign by a Long-
19 shot Political Candidate 93 Quick, which recent U.S. Senate candidate included
the following reflections in one of his campaign press releases? “Only in theory can I believe that my interest in sex is any less than earlier in my life. As far as I can tell, I’m as routinely horny as I ever was. My equipment doesn’t function quite as reliably as it once did, but we all know that there are delightful ways to compensate for that, don’t we?.... Women of just about any age can be attractive to me. I’ve sometimes had sexual thoughts about a female child, but rarely (thank you God).” Well, you get a point for thinking it was Bob Packwood, but no, it was Marshall, who gave the word “longshot” new meaning in the last election. Marshall (don’t wait for a full last name—Marshall is his full, legal name, as he informed WW in his first press release) was a 63-year-old Kennewick, Wash., resident running for Brock Adams’ U.S. Senate seat. Starting more than a year and a half before last November’s election, Marshall faithfully sent to numerous Northwest newsrooms each week an “informational release” on subjects ranging from defense to education to agriculture. Sounds like a pretty standard campaign tactic, right? Except the content of his releases was not quite the bland, positive rhetoric we have come to expect from the average political candidate. Take his campaign platform: “In my mind, the centerpiece of my campaign is my TwentyFirst Century Principles Of Understanding,” Marshall explained in his first release. Then: Marshall in 1993 Here’s a sample principle: “infinity extends in all directions in spacetime; within each a smaller particle we discover, and outward in space; backward in time and forward.” No word in the release on how he planned to translate that principle into federal legislation. Not only was Marshall more metaphysical than most candidates, he was also more personal, as the above sex musings plainly show. And how about this: “One of the many surprises I experienced in the psychiatric ward was in seeing the profound happiness and peace that severely depressed patients can feel once they firmly decide to commit suicide; they no longer have any need to be afraid or worried about anything; all of their problems are taken care of. The staff people knew to watch for this as a danger signal. When this once happened with me at the UW hospital, a staff member was assigned to watch me around the clock, even when I slept, for about 72 hours; I suppose until I looked miserable again.” According to his press releases, Marshall’s career history included everything from military service to a position as a subcontract supervisor for Bechtel Corp. to a stint as a gardener for Love Israel’s commune on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. Despite his good intentions, Marshall was unable to add a U.S. Senate term to his résumé.
Then: Chester Yeom at Milwaukie Market
19 98
BEST
Tape Ball
When Sean Healy stuck two unused portions of duct tape together in the spring of 1995, no one saw any reason why they should not be eternally bonded. Now, three years and four crates of tape later (that’s 160 rolls), Healy’s pet project has the power to maim. With a circumference of 6 feet and a weight somewhere near 100 pounds, the duct-tape ball residing at 4th Dimension Studios (the studios are private, but you can call for an appointment to view the ball) is the largest known in the metro area—if not the world. moss—and neither does a giant ball of duct tape. Healy hasn’t seen his ball in a year, but it still resides at his old workplace, Fourth Dimension Studios in Southeast Portland. After our article was published, Healy and his co-workers tried to get the ball recognized as the largest of its kind in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records. However, Guinness required that they prove it was made completely of duct tape, a feat they could not achieve. “We tried all sorts of ways, but we couldn’t figure out a way to get to the center of it. It was too gooey,” Healy said. Since 1998, the ball has doubled in size, Healy speculates. Some 5,000 rolls of duct tape have gone into its making. When it got too heavy to roll, Healy moved the ball onto a cart and rolled it around the studio.
Now: Beware of the (tape) blob.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
UPDATE: Yeom and his wife, Tiffany, sold Milwaukie Market in 2002 to run Plaza Teriyaki & Barbecue in US Bancorp Tower. On March 4, 2007, Yeom was shot in the neck during a robbery of Belmont 34 Grocery, where he was filling in at the cash register so the owner, a friend, could go to church. Yeom was paralyzed from the neck down, and died 14 months later. His killer, Jimmy Kashi, was sentenced to 41 years in prison. According to a KATU news report on Aug. 7, 2008, “So many people showed up for Chester Yeom’s funeral that some had to stand outside, and the funeral home director said he had never seen so many flowers delivered.”
20 04
JACOB GARCIA
According to his obituary, the political career was just one aspect of his interesting life: He graduated high school at 15 and started college the very next day. In 1945, at age 16, he enlisted in the Marines. He served for 14 months before returning to college, eventually graduating from Baylor University. In addition to his job at Bechtel Corp., he also worked at Boeing and as a church groundskeeper. He was preceded in death by his wife, Margie Seawell (Seawell was Marshall’s original last name—we don’t know how he lost it), but survived by the “love of his life,” Becky Long-Swift. In true Marshall fashion, the man wrote his own obituary. “In my political adventures, I had the rare human experience of doing something big and important to me,” he wrote. “Exactly as I believed it needed to be done…I hope you will smile with me. I’ve had a grand time.”
Reason to Visit
“food” spinning on greasy metal racks at 7-Eleven next time you’re on a snack run in Sellwood, ditch the chainstore scene entirely and drive (or walk) a few blocks to the independently owned Milwaukie Market (4401 SE Milwaukie Ave., 235-0512). Owner Chester Yeom is far friendlier than the sulky cashiers at those other convenience stores, and he has an impressive Polaroid picture collection of his loyal, regular customers mounted above the checkout counter. It started with one instant shot of a customer about to move away; soon all the regs wanted a place on Yeom’s wall of fame. Some of the photos depict smiling patrons alongside the kindly owner, while others document the relationship histories of those who come here for beer and snacks on a daily basis. Saying cheese isn’t the only way to get involved, though; customers can also contribute old out-ofstate license plates to the growing collection on another wall.
UPDATE: A rolling stone gathers no
UPDATE: Marshall died May 1, 2006, at the age of 78 in Seattle.
46
BEST
20 Milwaukie Avenue 00 If you can miss out on mysterious, hot-dog-shaped
BEST
Burlesque Queen
A self-taught dancer, Lucy Fur started as a stripper while attending college in Portland and quickly began creating her own burlesque routines for cabarets around town. Her love of the early-’60s go-go era, along with “that cheesiness factor” of performers like Ann-Margret and Nancy Sinatra, inspires sets in which she takes on a multitude of erotic guises. They include a baton-twirling Rose Festival majorette, a rain-loving minx in see-through slicker and flower pasties, and a silver-skinned robot girl with blinking pasties in a crowd of dancing toy robots, to name a few. This 27-year-old (a busty 34-24-34 with a curvy-yet-fit look) aims for a feeling of spontaneity in her pieces. “It’s good when you’re sort of buzzing, ’cause you don’t know what’s happening next,” Miss Fur says. “It gives you a shot of adrenaline that’s visible to the audience.” Miss Fur dances weekly gigs at Dante’s Sinferno Cabaret and Mary’s Club (where she performs her more explicit routines); a complete schedule is available at lucyfurpresents.com. UPDATE: Lucy Fur’s drive to bring lighthearted suggestiveness to the masses has not slowed since she moved to California in 2006. In addition to her sold-out shows in LA, she now performs at comic-book conventions across the country, making nerds faint as Poison Ivy or a gender-bent Link from Zelda.
Take Your Initial Alcohol Servers Education Class and Exam Online! $21 Class Fee
Happy Hour Everyday 4 - 8pm Open Mic Comedy Every Tuesday @ 9pm
Karaoke Every Wed - Sat @ 9pm Best KJ in Portland by Barfly Magazine Free Pool All the time
open 7am for
BREAKFAST everyday
2401 SW 4th Ave 503-226-1181 sukisbargrill.com
OLCC approved online class
Moment’s Notice Oregon Testing Online training 24/7
www.asepdx.com
Shop for Summer Featuring: Cut Loose, Tianello & Salaam, all Made in the USA Plus locally made Jewelry Hillsdale Shopping Center 503-246-3417 Mon - Sat 10-6 Sunday 11-5 until 8pm every Thurs. palomaclothing.com
coal roasted pacific rockfish, dungeness crab risotto, sautéed pea sho preserved lemon, green garlic soufflé pudding, grilled outback farms a lechugas de murcia, feta and toasted almonds fresh bay leaf panna c lemon sorbet, huckleberries and anise biscotti grilled draper valley far paillard morel mushroom and crispy chicken confit panzanella pacific tuna crudo coarse sea salt, meyer lemon, calabrian chiles and red len ricotta cheese gnocchi brown butter, snap peas, nantes carrots, peco mint, torn butter leaf lettuces grilled halibut, aji dulce peppers, heirloo la quercia prosciutto wrapped gem lettuces mint, feta and crushed pis roasted delicata squash grilled puntarelle, smoky bacon, soft goat che daily menuWeek changes Willamette ad - since 1994 balsamic, confit of sweet briar farms pork belly, fork mashed fava bea 7-15-11 crispy muscovy duck confit, house made kimchi, crab and grapefruit, duck cracklings and spring x lettuces, Size.....3.772” 2.969”red wine cocoa braised short ribs balsamic risotto, orange gremolata and gorgonzola Diana braised Zapataradicchio, 503-292-7456 1221 NW 21st Ave wildwoodrestaurant.com 503.248.9663
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
47
New Patient Exam and X-rays
$49
New Patient Basic Cleaning
THEN&NOW CONT.
(exam required)
$59
Dr. Viseh Sundberg
WW FILE PHOTO
$74
BEST OF PORTLAND:
A L LW O M E N W R E S T L I N G . C O M
Dentistry In The Pearl That’s Something To Smile About!
Children’s Exam & Cleaning (new patients age 12 and under)
$99
Professional Home Whitening (exam required)
$299
(503) 546-9079 222 NW 10th Avenue www.sundbergdentistry.com
In Office 1 Hour “Zoom!” Tooth Whitening (exam required)
You deserve to enjoy your work space!
Then: Lorin, now Lori
Let us show you our quiet, relaxing office spaces in the heart of the Irvington/Lloyd Center District
BEST
19 Everything 96 Let’s see… Teamster, check.
This beautiful 100 year old craftsman house has been restored and remodeled to offer the charm of the old and the amenities of the new. • Flexible Terms • ADA Accessible • Sunny living room style waiting area • Full Service: Utilities and Wi-Fi included
The Broadway Building
19 91
2143 NE Broadway, Portland 97232 503-281-1172 info@dale-harrisonproperties.com
ARMOT • MERRELL • SMARTWOOL • BIG AGNES • WIG W
LIVINGSCAPE OUTDOOR Portland’s Newest Outdoor Store Local. Affordable. Exceptional.
3926 N Vancouver Avenue 503.248.0104 www.livingscape.com M-F 9-7, Sa-Su 9-6
C • LEKI • CHACO • KELTY • BACKPACKER’S PANTRY • 48
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
-T E
garden • kitchen • outdoor
AM • VASQUE • KLEAN KANTEEN • GSI OUTDOOR • SIERRA DESIGNS • HI
MSR • JANSPORT • DUOFOLD • OUTDOOR RESEARCH • LEATHERMAN • M
NOW OPEN!
livingscape
Then: Terri Power
BEST
Female Wrestler
This is one woman who doesn’t fake it—ever. Portland resident Terri Power takes issue with the popularly held idea that women’s professional wrestling is about as realistic as...well, as a woman who says she never fakes it. As one of 50 licensed members of the Ladies’ Professional Wrestling Association, Power wrestles to win. Ethical questions aside, “we get paid on who wins or loses,” she says. “Seventy-five percent of the pouch if you win, 25 percent if you lose.” She has worked her way through the ranks of wrestlers, and her championship bout against Lady X is scheduled in September on pay-per-view. Locally, you can watch the ladies duke it out on ESPN every Monday. She’s leaving soon for Japan to compete against Japanese professionals and is looking forward to the bettereducated (wrestlingwise) Japanese audiences. Detractors of the “sport” use the good-vs.-evil aspect of wrestling as evidence of its duplicity. Power asserts that it’s not different than most sports. “People enjoy the hype of football. They just don’t enjoy it without the personalities involved.” She’s a “good” wrestler (in Japan they don’t make such distinctions). Power started her athletic career as a bodybuilder and placed seventh in the 1987 Women’s National Bodybuilding Championships. She recently began training to climb back up the ranks in bodybuilding with a new trainer, Jan Harrell (weighs 198, lifts 385). Power has no plans to quit wrangling in the ring. “I get to be more athletic on a day-to-day basis and make money at it,” she proclaims. UPDATE: In May 2011, Power came out of a 10-year
wrestling retirement to make an appearance at the Legends of Wrestling Showcase in Philadelphia. After nearly a decade away from her WWE personality, Power had some reservations about returning to the ring. “I was so nervous to come out and say hey to everybody, because if they liked my persona then [in the past], it has changed,” she said. But to her delight, Power says fans came from all around the world to support her. Today, Power, who now goes by her given name, Terri Poch, owns her own studio, Body Aware: A Center for Structural Movement, where she practices Rolfing. A year and a half ago, she debuted her own practice of yoga, which she calls “yingtegration.” “I’m making bodies amazing after dismantling them for so long,” she says.
College professor, check. Zen master, check. Wait a second, is there anything Lorin Buckwalter hasn’t been? Well, come to think of it, no. Currently a systems analyst for a local trucking company, Buckwalter is sort of the ultimate combination plate. A super-heavyweight tae kwon do master (she has fought on U.S. world championship teams), she has also dabbed in the less-physical arts, singing in a professional classical choir and writing poetry. As if that weren’t enough, the big-boned blonde—who stands 6-foot-6 in her sensible shoes—does renditions of Marilyn Monroe and Barbra Streisand. Yes, Lorin is a genderbender, all right. A preoperative transsexual, she wants to be the woman on the outside that she has always been on the inside. Despite her mind-boggling background (she could stage a diversity fair single-handedly), Buckwalter is the definition of modesty. Here’s hoping her thoughtful charm and tasteful wardrobe will keep her family (girlfriend and two teenage kids) prospering in a world all too often locked into rigid categories. UPDATE: Fifteen years and one sex reassignment surgery later, Lorin Buckwalter is now Lori, and living in Vancouver. She’s had her ups and downs since 1996, serving as a civilrights advocate and running into prejudice along the way. Buckwalter worked as a cultural competency coordinator for Multnomah County and as an analyst for Kaiser Permanente, helping physicians treat transsexual patients and developing transsexual health policy. In 2004 she sued Cascade Athletic Club for canceling her membership after management learned she was a trans woman. “Ultimately I didn’t do it to be heroic, I did it to live a real life to be who I was,” Buckwalter said of her work.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
49
THOMAS COBB
Only $99! Exam and X-Rays (75% off the regular price) Good for new patients through August 2011
Call today to reserve your time!
Then: a horse, of course.
BEST
Horse of a
20 Different Color 06 By now we’ve all seen the results of Scott Wayne Indiana’s
Kelly J. Blodgett, DMD 522 SE Belmont www.blodgettdental.com
503 285 3620
Portland Horse Project (horseproject.net): little plastic horses tied with steel cable to the historic horse rings that dot the curbs along our sidewalks. The project is approaching its first anniversary with astounding success. Not only are the horses now everywhere you look, but herds of pigs have been popping up as well (and, last we heard, Urkel dolls on Southeast Belmont Street). Maybe Indiana was inspired by the large horse outside Dazzle at Northwest 23rd Avenue and Irving Street. Owner Faviana Priola found the unnamed stallion in 1990 at an antique market underneath London Bridge and liked him so much she shipped him home from the U.K. Indiana’s comment on the Dazzle Horse? “I think they should tie him to the nearest horse ring, so he doesn’t run away, but maybe he’s well trained.” Shouldn’t be a problem—Priola brings the horse in to sleep every night. UPDATE: Scott Wayne Indiana moved to New York in 2008 to attend the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, where he graduated with an MFA from the Interactive Telecommunications Program this spring, but the Horse Project has continued going strong in his absence. Indiana started a Facebook page for Portlanders to share horse photos in June (search “portland horse project”), and says, “I know first hand of several people who still install horses regularly.” He says he’s working in New York as an interactive designer for the foreseeable future. His latest project, Playground Society (playgroundsociety.com) sends participants “Play Missions” (“ask a few strangers for directions to the castle”) by text message to encourage them to bring more play into their lives. The Dazzle Horse still makes daily appearances on Northwest 23rd Avenue.
BEST
Failed Attempt to
20 Leave Roller Derby 08 It was September 2007, and Erin Vielock—better known to Portland roller-derby fans as November Pain—was determined to set off in a new direction. Formerly team captain of the Guns ’n’ Rollers, this 27-year-old was hanging up her skates to go to grad school. Erin recalls, “I thought it was time to grow up, time to focus on my education.” Who could blame her? She had been accepted into a high-intensity two-year master’s program at Lewis & Clark—for community counseling, no less—and she was ready to take things to the next level with Eddie Parker, her boyfriend of 2 1/2 years. But you know what they say: The best-laid plans of badass skaters often go awry. Within three months, she was back. “I missed being wiped,” she says. “I missed butt rock, high-fiving and throwing up my horns. I missed skating so hard you vomit in your mouth.” These days, she’s no longer the captain of GNR, but she remains one of the highest-scoring jammers in the league, scheduling her classes to fit in two practices a week. So far Erin’s return has yielded one very auspicious result: On the night of her first scrimmage after rejoining GNR, Eddie proposed. “He was down on the kitchen rug, and there were potatoes boiling on the stove,” she said. “I was totally stinky from practice. I still had my ass pads on.” UPDATE: Vielock—now Parker, post-wedding—finally quit
playing in 2009, but continued on as coach for GNR through 2010. She completed her degree a year ago, and now works as a mental health counselor in Tigard. 50
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
BEST OF PORTLAND: BEST
THEN&NOW CONT.
Junior-Sized
19 Marrying 87 Judge
KOBI5.COM
UPDATE: Don’t bother looking for Austin Reed in the NBA. “Too short,” he says of his unfulfilled hoop dreams. “I guess I chose the newsman path.” Reed’s cable-access show in Portland ran for “a few years.” When he was 17, he worked for Fox News. Later, he moved to New York City to appear in commercials and sitcoms. “I decided I wanted to get back into the news business,” Reed says, so he took a job as a reporter in New Mexico. He’s since returned to Oregon, and is now the morning news anchor and executive producer of a morning show for Medford’s KOBI TV 5. “I’m totally living my dream, it’s amazing,” Reed says. “I couldn’t be happier.” Now: Reed at 23
19 97
BEST
BASIL CHILDERS
20 Gianola 01 Tired of middle-aged news anchors spewing
out lame bloopers? Have no fear, wonder boy/anchor Austin Reed is here. Well, nearly here. At the tender age of 13, Reed has already managed to work for nearly every news station in Portland. It’s no surprise. For many years Reed played “pretend” news anchor in his basement pseudo-TV studio and even recorded video of his “broadcasts” with the help of his encouraging parents. This hard play has paid off. Reed began his official pre-pubescent news career as an anchor for the Junior Rose Parade in 1998. Since then he has reported on weather and cultural events, reviewed movies and games, and even interviewed Mayor Vera Katz and NBA pro Brian Grant. A determined newsman, Au st i n say s h e d o e s i t because he’s “outgoing, likes to express [himself ], and most of all loves to talk.” Even so, this seasoned journalist is facing his own Then: Reed at 13 difficult career choice: He would also like one day to play in the NBA. Until then, watch for him and his dad, Chris Reed, on a cable-access show in the near future.
HOST AN EXCHANGE STUDENT TODAY!
BEST
So you and your spouse-tobe “met cute,” to use the Hollywood lingo. Now you want your wedding to commemorate the occasion. You need a judge who will officiate at your wedding at the zoo, or in a plane, or in Pioneer Courthouse Square, where the two of you bumped heads while inspecting your bricks. Who are you gonna call? We suggest Multnomah County District Court Judge Thomas Moultrie. But give him plenty of advance notice—Moultrie performs as many as 100 weddings a year. An extrovert who has garnered a reputation for doing “fun” weddings, the affable judge’s philosophy of matrimony is simple: “If I can do it, I’d rather do it the way they want it done,” he says. The dress code is up to the couple: “I sometimes wear a tux. Sometimes a robe, sometimes a tux, sometimes nothing at all. Just my English Leather.” Hyperbole, perhaps, but the good judge has stripped to his bathing trunks to marry couples in the ocean (in March, no less) and donned skis to marry them on Mount Hood. It was Moultrie who married a couple at the edge of a coastal cliff, then watched with the family as the newlyweds adjusted their hanggliding gear and flew away. All his weddings have been memorable, he says, but his most exciting wedding was the one he conducted under Multnomah Falls. “I tell you,” he says, “that was kind of a soggy affair.” UPDATE: Moultrie retired from district court in 1999, but continues to serve Portland as a wedding officiant. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to assault in the fourth degree and harassment for shoving his wife, Lisa, causing her to fall and break her wrist. He was censured by the Oregon Supreme Court in July of 2006.
Case of Mistaken Identity
Portland cop John Minnis was caught off guard recently when he received a headsup from the FBI. Minnis, who doubles as a Republican state rep, was warned he has been targeted by a radical pro-life group out of Georgia that “is collecting dossiers on abortionists in anticipation that one day we may be able to hold them on trial for crimes against humanity.” Minnis, far from being an abortionist, is a pro-lifer who has tried to outlaw abortion in Oregon. Nevertheless, Minnis is listed on the website—called the Nuremberg Files—because he was photographed a few years ago arresting an Operation Rescue protester at one of the group’s local clinic assaults. The photo apparently caused the Nuremberg miscreants to make the intuitive leap that Minnis was “a law enforcement bloodhound for abortionists and their lackeys.” Also listed on the site are Portland Mayor Vera Katz, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, former state Rep. Gail Shibley and more than a dozen Portland-area residents. The site, christiangallery.com/atrocity, contains detailed personal information on many of the people listed, including home addresses, license plate numbers, vehicle descriptions and, in some cases, photos of the people, their homes and cars. UPDATE: Despite the best legal efforts of Planned Parenthood to shut down the Nuremberg Files
after the 1998 murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, the site remains active. (Creator Neal Horsley was arrested in 2010 for making “terroristic threats” against Elton John.) Minnis left the Oregon House of Representatives in 1999, and won a seat in the Oregon Senate in 2000. His wife, Karen, was elected to his former seat in the House and served as Speaker from 2003-2006. Minnis was appointed director of the Oregon State Department of Public Safety Standards and Training in 2004 but resigned in 2009 in the wake of a sex scandal; a subordinate charged that, on at least two occasions, he got her drunk during work trips and put her to bed, after which she woke up in some state of undress. Minnis denied going beyond consensual kissing, but told investigators, “My wife’s gonna freakin’ shoot me.”
(for 3, 5 or 10 months)
Patrick from France, 17 yrs. Loves the outdoors and playing soccer. Patrick's dream has been to spend time in America learning about our customs and attending an American high school.
Elisa from Italy, 16 yrs. Likes to play tennis, swim, loves to dance. Elisa hopes to play American softball and learn American ‘slang’ while in the US.
Make this year the most exciting, enriching year ever for you and your family. Share your world with a young foreign visitor from abroad. Welcome a high school student, 15-18 years old, from Italy, France, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Thailand or China as part of your family for a school year (or less) and make an overseas friend for life. Call Christie at 360-773-8839 or Paul at 503-602-1865. Or call Marcy at 1-800-888-9040 (toll free) or email us at info@world-heritage.org
www.whhosts.com
World Heritage is a public benefit, non-profit organization based in Laguna Beach, CA.
MOLDAVITE
for transformation rings, earrings, pendants, and loose stones
jewelry • crystals • carvings • meteorites • fossils
We will rock you!
Pioneer Place • Concourse Level • 340 SW Morrison (503) 228-6998 • www.fossilcartel.com
Self-alignment with the positive energies of the universe Simple changes can bring more meaning to your life Create happiness and wellbeing
ALWAYS FREE Sant Baljit Singh, the spiritual Master teaches meditation on inner Light & Sound to anyone who is searching for a deeper meaning in life.
7pm - Aug 8th & 25th Center for Natural Medicine 1330 SE César E. Chávez Blvd (SE 39th Ave.) Portland *Talk given by an authorized speaker info@knowthyselfassoul.org 1-877-633-4828 www.santmat.net
2327 NW Kearney Street
Neighborhood Appreciation Night
Test Kitchen Tuesdays
(503) 228-5553
www.northwestpublichouse.com
Hump Day Happy Hour All Night
Vino! Vino! Vino!
Brunch 10 am to 2 pm
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
51
ALL LOCAL NON-PROFITS
Apply Now! WWEEK.COM/GIVEGUIDE
GET YOUR SKIDMORE PRIZE NOMINATIONS IN NOW! The Skidmore Prize honors four Portlanders whose work for local nonprofits helps make this a better place in which to live, work and play. Winners will receive $4,000 and automatic inclusion in Give!Guide.
Nominations end July 31st.
K EV I N FA R R I SPHOTO G R A PHY.C O M
* LAST CHANCE* Application deadline July 31st.
Give!Guide is a compilation of 100 worthy non-profits in the Portland Metropolitan area. We make it easy for readers to find the perfect organization for their charitable donation.
THE SECOND ANNUAL
POP-UP
Exploring the intersection between fine art and disability.
POOL PARTY JULY 30TH // NW 23RD AND SAVIER // 2 - 7 PM // 21+
PERFORMANCES BY
DAFT HUNKS SERIOUS BUSINESS DOC ADAM CLUB CROOKS LAWN GAMES & SLIP-N-SLIDE
FREE WITH FACEBOOK RSVP ($5 COVER AT DOOR WITHOUT RSVP)
PARTY BENEFITS FRIENDS OF TREES
PRESENTspace Gallery 939 NW GLISAN July 7 – 30, 2011
July 21, 5 – 6 pm Artist Talk with Erik Ferguson: “A Wobbly Line: from Improv to Ink and Back Again.” A free event! July 26, 7 – 9 pm ADA 21ST BIRTHDAY PARTY! The Americans with Disabilities Act turns 21 and we are throwing a celebration to mark it. At the door tickets are $21 for two. For discount tickets go to A Somewhat Secret Place Facebook Event page. July 30, 12 – 2 pm – Artist Talk and storytelling with Joy Corcoran “FEEDING THE DRAGON” A storytime that will nurture children’s appetite for the arts, and inform children about people with disabilities A free event! Children must be chaperoned. July 30, 6 – 9 pm Closing Party: A performance by Elie Charpentier and several author readings will celebrate the conclusion of the exhibition. A free event with refreshments!
asomewhatsecretplace.wordpress.com 52
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
BEST
19 85
THEN&NOW CONT. BEST
Pizza Thrower
Dave Hite is something of a hero among workingclass eaters. Before the bespectacled young man from Spokane, best known as the dapper saxophone player for the Fabulous K-Tels, began to get serious about twirling flattened rounds of pizza dough in the air, the prospect of finding a decent pie crust in this city was downright grim. In the 15 years since he began delivering pizza in his hometown and was promoted to chef after totaling a car during a mission (life works in strange ways), Hite has developed a style that has influenced some of the best pizza in Portland today—that produced by Hot Lips Pizza, Escape From New York and Hite’s current home base, A Pizza the Pie. There’s nothing revolutionary about the Hite crust; it is wholly consistent (no mean feat), perfectly crisp on the bottom, and puffy and chewy on the rims. In short, just a damn good product. Hite himself can shed little light on his culinary art. “It’s all in the technique,” he says. “You’ve got to know how to make it fly, to hover perfectly in the air like a Frisbee for a minute. You’ve got to have a knack for it. There’s no question about it: It’s a calling.”
Come, try my gyros!
An American Diner with Mediterranean Flair
10765 SW Canyon Rd 503-601-8522
UPDATE: Dave Hite no longer tosses the pizza, but he’s still working in Portland, as a sound engineer at Ted’s, the music venue formerly known as Berbati’s. (When that club closed, WW’s Casey Jarman called Hite “a decidedly old-school soundman.”) He says he got into sound engineering in the 1980s and he’s enjoying the work. Though he doesn’t think he’ll go back into the pizza business, he says he misses pie making: “I did it a couple of times at Christmas for my parents, but I haven’t had my hands in the dough much. I miss it.” These days Hite outsources his pizza-making. His choice for best pizza in Portland? “I haven’t had Escape From New York in a long time, but they’re probably still good. I go to Hot Lips every now and then, and I like that. I don’t want to say Papa John’s is the best, but at night, when that’s all you can do, that’s all you can do.”
19 90
BEST
Tavern Owner
Vivian McCarty is exactly like Linda Hunt’s character in the movie Silverado. Except not as short. If you haven’t seen this 1985 western, the reference won’t mean a damn thing. Suffice to say that McCarty—Viv to anyone who’s been in the place more than once—is a Hollywood classic: a saloon keeper with a heart, and feisty as hell. Having tended her bar at the Yukon Tavern (5819 SE Milwaukie Ave.) since 1950, McCarty has a legendary rapport with her patrons; many of them have come to regard her as kind of a surrogate aunt, and a favorite one at that. McCarty won’t reveal her age—(“Do you want to get thrown out of here?”)—but she will admit to catching Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey when those musicians came through town. McCarty’s interest in music is not surprising, considering she’s led her own all-woman big bands, appearing with them at the Multnomah back when that downtown Embassy Suites was the best hotel north of San Francisco. Her most recent gig was the Yukon, where her band, Vivian McCarty’s Four Femmes, held sway until three years ago. Although the band is no longer together, McCarty’s jukebox selection is superb (with a latest favorite being the Robert Cray Band). McCarty is a classic, and like all classics she improves with age. UPDATE: McCarty kept pulling pitchers at the Yukon until
two years before she died, at age 98, on July 10, 2000. Of her memorial at the Yukon, WW’s Kelly Clarke wrote, “On the night of July 14, the volume of voices of those who knew her best swelled as the free beer continued to flow. Vivian’s nephews Tom and Rol Worth, who organized the celebration, reminisced about their aunt’s days as a no-nonsense bartendress and her stint as a singer with a circus in Hawaii in the late 1930s.... As the evening wound down and the old regulars retreated, the bass on the stereo cranked up a notch. A waitress shouted out, ‘OK, it’s time to party.’ But she was wrong. The party was already over, carried away with McCarty and her clan’s quiet charm.
Dine Out. Dig In. Make A Difference.
Eat at participating restaurants throughout the month of August, and 10% or more of your check will be donated to Sisters!
AT THESE PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS*
Dining With Dignity Kick-Off Costello’s Travel Cafe Grain & Gristle Il Piatto Lincoln Restaurant Addy’s Sandwich Bar 3 Doors Down Pacific Pie Company Laughing Planet Cafe Jade Lounge ¿Por Que No? DeNicola’s Restaurant Green Beans Coffee & Tea Hamburger Mary’s Dovetail Bakery Mississippi Pizza Tin Shed Cafe Nell Havana West Prasad Escape From NY Pizza The Original Proper Eats
7/31 8/1 8/2 8/3, 8/17 & 8/31 8/4 & 8/14 8/6 8/7 8/8 8/9 8/10 8/10 8/11 8/15 & 8/16 8/15-8/18 8/19 8/22 8/23 8/24 8/24 8/26 8/28 *Certain hours 8/29 may apply, please Sisters’ 8/30 see website for details.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
53
Since 1974
Special
SUMMER BOWLING Rates
Monday - Thursday
4 Games • Open - 9pm $ 2 Games • 9pm - Close
$
June - August
Never a cover!
Buffalo gap Wednesday, July 27th
“Buffalo Bandstand” (3 live Bands)
presented By: live artist Network Thursday, July 28th • 9pm
“Siren Soul Sessions” w/ acoustic Minds (pop soul)
friday, July 29th • 9pm
This Not This (alt pop rock)
Saturday, July 30th • 9pm
alicia Broussard & gem Tones (pop rock)
Sunday, July 31st • 5pm
“Dinner Show”
w/ 2nd Time Through (folk surf rock)
Tuesday, august 2nd • 9pm
opEN MIC NIgHT
Hosted By: Scott gallegos
WIN $50!!
6835 SW Macadam Ave | John’s Landing
FOOD & DRINK: Secret sausage. MUSIC: Epic theremin riffs. THEATER: Sam Shepard’s rock opera. MOVIES: This is probably Rupert Murdoch’s fault.
57 59 75 79
SCOOP GOSSIP THAT SHOULD HAVE GONE TO REHAB. FUTURE DRINKING: The owners of newish St. Johns restaurant Cathedral Park Kitchen have applied for a license to open a distillery, Pure Lush Spirits, in the same building. The infrequently updated blog mentions calvados. All together now: Ooooh! >> Sapphire Hotel co-owner Shannon McQuilkin and her husband, Eric, have applied for a license for a bar called the Box Social at 3971 N Williams Ave.—the space at the corner of North Shaver Street that recently held an art installation of twigs and red twine by Cascade Aids Project. >> Ground Kontrol wants to serve more than wine and beer. I may finally be able to sip a Manhattan while destroying Manhattan in Rampage World Tour. >> Steakadelphia has applied for a beer license. Beer! At Steakadelphia! I’m gonna get in line right now. >> Bonus: in eating news, Southwest Portland maple-bar slinger Coco Donut just opened its second shop at 814 SW 6th Ave. Now you can get an old-fashioned a block from Jeld-Wen Field and Pioneer Courthouse Square. CURTAINS: Excellent free-beer-loving theater company Portland Playhouse is being forced by the city to vacate its space on Northeast Prescott Street because the company’s venue, according to board chair Harold Goldstein, is “not zoned for a community space.” The building, a 105-year-old church, is zoned residential. BAAA FEET: This weekend’s second-annual Sock Summit at the Oregon Convention Center (Thursday-Sunday, July 28-31, socksummit.com) will play host to more than hand-knitters of footwear. It will also host three live sheep. Organizers are promising the first “Foot to Fleece” challenge Sunday in which teams will compete to see who can card, spin and knit the sheeps’ woolly goodness into socks the fastest. Shearing starts at 9 am sharp. Admission is $5. There’s also knittingtechnique demos, vendors, a fastest sock-knitter competition, a $25 “sock hop” party and a sock museum. But come on. You’re going for the sheep. PDX POPPED: The PDX Pop Now! festival went off without any major hitches this past weekend, debuting a bigger, badder outdoor stage and new indoor digs at Refuge. Still, the minor hitches proved interesting: Nurses singer-guitarist John Chapman had broken his hand before the show, so he subbed Motown-style dance moves for riffs (at one point he led the crowd in a one-armed clap) as Wampire’s Rocky Tinder took guitar duties. During Guidance Counselor’s fest-closing set, frontman Ian Anderson announced he’d be moving to the Bay Area, citing sexual frustration as a reason for his move. Then, as if to serve as a punch line, the band experienced extended technical difficulties. Up-and-coming rock acts the Reservations, Blouse and Radiation City each lived up to their respective buzz, but honorable mention should be awarded to the Chicharones, Dusu Mali, Purple & Green and Brainstorm— all of whom got festival-goers dancing en masse.
54
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
HEADOUT MORGAN GREEN-HOPKINS
WILLAMETTE WEEK
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK IN ARTS & CULTURE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27 [MUSIC] ETERNAL TAPESTRY, BARN OWL lt’s not often one gets to catch two excellent psychedelic/experimental acts (both signed to Thrill Jockey) at such an intimate (yes, we called The Know intimate) venue. Do it. The Know, 2026 NE Alberta. 8 pm. Cover. 21+.
THURSDAY, JULY 28 [BEER] OREGON BREWERS FESTIVAL The sudsy celebration that started Portland’s obsession with gathering to slurp tiny tasters of the country’s finest craft brews is back for its 24th year. Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Southwest Naito Parkway between Southwest Harrison and Glisan streets. Noon-9 pm ThursdaySaturday, noon-7 pm Sunday, July 28-31. Free entry. $6 souvenir mug required to drink; taster tokens $1. Info at oregonbrewfest.com. [MOVIES] TOP DOWN: FEMALE Michael Curtiz’s sharp little number about slutting around was released in 1933, a year before the MPAA prudes began enforcing the Hays Code. Hotel deLuxe garage, Southwest 15th Avenue and Yamhill Street. 8 pm. $9.
FRIDAY, JULY 29 [DANCE] FARM DANCES Degenerate Art Ensemble cofounder Haruko Nishimura takes dance farther afield—literally—with Farm Dances, an evening of sitespecific performance using the local landscape as both stage and creative springboard. Prior Day Farm, 9233 N Bristol Ave. 7 pm. $10-$15. [MOVIES] THE ARBOR This prismatic docudrama-cum-oralhistory delves into the short and sad life of playwright Andrea Dunbar and the fractured family she left in her wake. Living Room Theaters, 341 SW 10th Ave., 222-2010. Multiple showtimes. $5-$9.
CAN YOU TAKE ME ARTISTICALLY HIGHER?
THIS IS A BOTTLE OF WINE. WE DRANK IT. IT’S ART. Everybody who’s anybody in Portland’s art scene has been buzzing over YU Contemporary, and doubtless they’ll be even more abuzz after the final show of the inaugural season, Tom Marioni’s The Act of Drinking Beer With Friends Is the Highest Form of Art. The title is somewhat misleading: Marioni in fact will be hosting three evening parties for invited guests, and then on Saturday, July 30, he will invite the public to look at displays of the empty beer bottles from those parties. Admission is a donation to YU starting at $5, for which bartenders will serve more beer. So, technically, it is not the act of drinking beer that is the highest form of art so much
as the act of showing people that you were drinking beer without them, which is an even higher form of art if you charge $5 to drink in the same room as the chosen friends who were drinking the beer previously. Marioni first debuted this installation in Oakland, Calif., in 1970, which means he has been charging people to see the beer bottles he drank from for 40 years, which means that he has reached the undisputed highest level of something. We probably shouldn’t try to compete with that. But you see that bottle above? We drank that bottle. And that’s not just beer. That’s motherfucking sparkling wine. Yes. It costs $12, and we did not pay for it. Bar raised, Tom Marioni. We are artists. We have friends. We are high. We are buzzing. AARON MESH.
GO: The Act of Drinking Beer With Friends Is the Highest Form of Art, YU Contemporary, 800 SE 10th Ave., 236-7996. 4-7 pm Saturday, July 30. Donations begin at $5. 21+. Beer provided by Pacifico, Ninkasi and Trumer Pils.
SATURDAY, JULY 30 [MUSIC] MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES MUSIC FESTIVAL Missed PDX Pop Now!? Why not catch And And And, World’s Greatest Ghosts and more of Portland’s best indie rock acts for free this weekend? There’s a beer garden! PALS Clubhouse, 2334 SE 8th Ave. All day. Free. All ages.
SUNDAY, JULY 31 [MMMPIE] PORTLAND PIE OFF Laurelhurst Park hosts the fifth Portland Pie Off, where local bakers vie for flaky-crust bragging rights— often bolstered by beer, detailed pie-related costumes and pastry-themed bands. Laurelhurst Park, Southeast 39th Avenue and Stark Street. Free. Email portlandpieoff2011@gmail.com or call 3135692 or 709-9223 for details. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
55
BEST BREAKFAST
river dining at its best
BURRITOS in PDX!
arrive and relax in minutes from downtown
Sundays 9:30-2:30
Enjoy family recipes (vegan & gluten-free, too)
503. 543. 8765 www.marksonthechannel.com
Happy Hour all day Belly Dancer Fri & Sat 221 SW Pine • 503-459-4441
SELL YOUR SOUL
Our drinks are pretty awesome too.
C RU Z RO OM NE 24th & Alberta • cruzroom.com
BREAKFAST SERVED ALL DAY
FOOD & DRINK = WW Pick. Highly recommended. PRICES: $: Most entrees under $10. $$: $10-$20. $$$: $20-$30. $$$$: Above $30. Editor: KELLY CLARKE. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.
DISH EVENTS THIS WEEK
July 29. $50. Call for seats. Info at originaldinerant.com.
Glendi Greek Festival
Pix Ice Cream Social
Get an eye-, ear- and bellyful of Greek goodness at the third annual “Glendi� (Greek for “fest�) to benefit Beaverton’s St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church. There are custard-filled phyllodough bougatsa, Greek wedding cookies, souvlaki and gyros plus folk dancers, live bands and pony rides. Yes, I said pony rides. KELLY CLARKE. St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, 14485 SW Walker Road, Beaverton, 481-4367. 4-10 pm Friday, 11 am-10 pm Saturday, noon-8 pm Sunday, July 29-31. Free entry. Info and schedule at glendigreekfestival.com.
The Original Hot Dog Beer Dinner
Downtown’s disconcerting “dinerant� celebrates Oregon Craft Beer month with what sounds like a pretty amazing idea: a four-course hot-dog dinner featuring weirdness like a maple-bacon dog and a barbecue-brisket dog with fried mac and cheese. All the beer comes courtesy of Astoria’s Fort George Brewery. KC. The Original, 300 SW 6th Ave., 546-2666. 7 pm Friday,
There is only one day of the year that you can get “The Foghornâ€?: a 22-scoop sundae served in a hollowed-out watermelon. And that day would be Saturday, as part of Pix Pâtisserie’s eighth annual Ice Cream Social. Pix’s Division location devotes its entire space to housemade ice cream concoctions, from blood-orange sherbet Push-Up pops to a cognac banana shake (which sounds like a really good idea, doesn’t it?). KC. Pix Pâtisserie, 3402 SE Division St., 232-4407. 11 am-midnight Saturday, July 30. Free entry; menu prices.
Portland Pie Off
Laurelhurst Park hosts the fifth annual Portland Pie Off, where local bakers vie for flaky-crust bragging rights—often bolstered by beer, detailed pie-related costumes and pastry-themed bands. KC. Laurelhurst Park, Southeast 39th Avenue and Stark Street. Sunday, July 31. Free. Email portlandpieoff2011@gmail.com or call 313-5692 or 709-9223 for details.
TIMOTHY R. HORN
PREVIEW
$
$
FOR ANY & ALL USED CDs, DVDs & VINYL
Sell your old music & movies & try something new. We have more than 100,000 new & used cds, dvds & vinyl in stock!
USED NEW &s & VINYL VD CDs, D
2 - 5 pm, Mon. - Fri.
DOWNTOWN s 7 7 "URNSIDE s EASTSIDE s .% 3ANDY "LVD s BEAV A ERTON s 37 #EDAR (ILLS "LVD s AV
Op pen Every yday ay 9 a.m. ay
Mimosa & Bloody Mary Specials Open 8am - 5 pm
128 NE 28th 503-517-0347
The geeks, sportos, motorheads, dweebs, dorks & buttheads all adore us. They think we’re one righteous wing joint.
1708 E Burnside • 503-230-9464 & 4225 N Interstate • 503-280-9464 56
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
OREGON BREWERS FESTIVAL The sudsy celebration that started Portland’s obsession with gathering to slurp tiny tasters of craft brews is back for its 24th year. These days it has metastasized into a juggernaut of an event featuring more than 80 breweries from across the country, live bands, food, home brewing, and drunken frat brahs. But at its heart, it’s still just about more than 70,000 local and visiting beer lovers communing with their favorite beverage on the planet. Since 2009, Preston Weesner has given the fest’s most committed Ăźbergeeks a more intimate set of sips in OBF’s “Buzz Tent.â€? That’s where the local beer industry insider and “chugmasterâ€? houses one-off kegs of the craft brew world’s weirdest and wildest beers—the kinds of expensive, experimental suds that brewmasters have held onto for a number of years but don’t have in enough volume to sell commercially. Weesner says he’s excited to tap the lone keg of Full Sail’s Old Boardhead Barleywine Ale, which brewmaster John Harris (the man behind McMenamins Terminator Stout and Deschutes Black Butte Porter) made back in 1995. Weesner is tasting more than 60 “buzz beersâ€? in the course of the four-day fest, tweeting the names of the beers as he starts serving them. But he warns that when each special keg runs out, they’re gone for good. “If you’re not there when it gets tapped you might not get it at all‌,â€? he warns. “You might just hear how good it was.â€? KELLY CLARKE. GO: Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Southwest Naito Parkway between Southwest Harrison and Northwest Glisan streets. Noon-9 pm Thursday-Saturday, noon-7 pm Sunday, July 28-31. Free entry. $6 souvenir mug required to drink; taster tokens $1. General info at oregonbrewfest.com. Buzz Tent tasters costs two tokens. Follow the Buzz Tent on Twitter: @OBFBuzzTent to find out what they are currently pouring.
FOOD & DRINK MICHAEL THANHOUSER
PROFILE
MEAT MEN: Mike Malone and Bryan Rudd grind sausage in Malone’s Southwest Portland home kitchen.
SAUSAGE FEST Malone is a self-taught cook; Rudd spent a year working on a pig farm in Iowa and later manned the deli at Portland’s Piazza Italia. They say they try to stay true to the flavors of the BY NATAS H A G E I L I N G NGEILING@WW EEK.COM meat, which is especially clear in their hickorysmoked guanciale, which they season with salt It’s 2 pm on a Wednesday afternoon and Bryan only, preserving the deep, almost sweet flavor Rudd and Mike Malone are hanging out: drinking of pig cheek. Their sausage recipes are more white wine, listening to Eurythmics and shov- imaginative. Among the current lineup of six ing pounds of fat-flecked ground kielbasa into a sausages, the “Cheeky Thai” shines with citrusy sausage stuffing machine that looks like the off- lemongrass and the palpable heat of bird’s eye spring of a button maker and a Tudor-era torture chili. An herby Greek sausage made from Carlton Farms pork shoulder bursts with feta, lemon zest device. “It’s kind of a show,” says Malone, gently and roasted Anaheim peppers—the natural caspulling frozen pig entrails apart in a bowl. The ing adding a satisfying snap. And a “boarberry” pair slip the sausages’ natural casings onto the sausage, though more traditional than the Thai, machine’s nozzle, debating the length of a single is sweet with actual berries. The wild boar neck meat makes for a lean, meaty intestine. (“It could easily stretch floor to ceiling.” “No, Order this: Guanciale; Greek sausage. sausage. So far, their business is mostly it could go from here to that Best deal: A pound of “Cheeky Thai” window.”) Malone cranks the sausage ($7). underground. They don’t have machine’s handle, pushing I’ll pass: The kielbasa just isn’t as a storefront, but others are the vibrant red mixture into exciting as Gorilla’s other wares. slowly jumping on the Gorilla bandwagon: Food cart Lardo the casing as Rudd guides the sausage onto a table, expertly flicking his wrists in the Good Food Here pod currently serves their to twist the alien-looking tube of meat into indi- guanciale in a sandwich with asparagus, ricotta vidual links. and preserved lemons. “If I can shake the hand It is a show: Rudd and Malone, the master- of the guy who’s producing my food, that’s good minds behind Gorilla Meats Co., make all their for me,” Lardo owner Rick Gencarelli says. “I like sausage and charcuterie by hand in batches supporting those little guys.” no larger than five pounds. It’s just the two of “We consider ourselves a meat club, but them—grinding the meat, inventing the recipes really what we’re doing is online selling to our and stuffing the sausages, fueled by a soundtrack friends, family and people we meet on a nightly of ’80s hits, bottles of wine and a passion for basis,” says Rudd. They’re not in any rush to hands-on, high-quality charcuterie. The pair has expand their business quite yet; experimenting steadily built an underground following for their with a more underground approach allows them sausages, which they prepare guerrilla-style in to build a following without risking the capital on their home kitchens and sell online and at “sau- a storefront. They eventually hope to open storesage parties” where friends have paid to sample fronts in locations such as Seattle, San Francisco their wares since they launched the business in and Detroit. January. The two friends, who have cooked with Then again, that doesn’t mean they’ll quit one another recreationally for eight years, say throwing those meaty soirees: “I’ll have sausage they stumbled upon the charcuterie business. parties until the day I die,” says Rudd. “I wanted to learn to make bacon, and then we all tried it and thought, ‘Think of all the other EAT: Find out about Gorilla Meats Co.’s sausage parties and meat offerings at gorillameats.com. bacons we could make…’” Rudd explains. “And Sausages $7-$10 a pound, charcuterie $6-$30. then it turned into duck prosciutto and sausage.”
GORILLA MEATS CO. TAKES CHARCUTERIE UNDERGROUND.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
57
58
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
MUSIC
JULY 27 - AUG. 2 PROFILE
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
ROBERT WELLER
MUSIC
Prices listed are sometimes for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and socalled convenience charges may apply. Event lineups are subject to change after WW’s press deadlines. Editor: CASEY JARMAN. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, go to wweek.com/ submitevents and follow submission directions. All shows should be submitted two weeks or more in advance of event. Press kits, CDs and especially vinyl can be sent to Music Desk, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Please include show or release date information with all physical mailings. Email: cjarman@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27 Water and Bodies, The Days the Nights, Priory, The Crash Engine
[PDX ROCK SHOWCASE] Of all the entrepreneurial mish-mashes to frequently befall the music industry, Octopus Entertainment, for all its insane ambitions, seems to be one of the most level-headed. The company offers just about every promotional service you could imagine, and founder Brooklyn Baggett has the kind of exemplary hustle needed to pull off such minor miracles as convincing the Crystal Ballroom to host a monthly hometown showcase. This month’s show—the second in the Octopussponsored “Local Flavor” series— favors rock writ large, with Water and Bodies delivering an adult variation on the serpentine post-rock of Incubus, and Priory laying out another energetic helping of its exuberant, contortionist pop. SHANE DANAHER. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 225-0047. 8 pm. $5. All ages.
Pierced Arrows, Stay Calm, Ilyas Ahmed, Golden Retriever, Sad Horse, Orca Team, Derek Moneypeny, Marisa Anderson, DJ Eric Issacson, DJ Future Horse, DJ Troubled Youth
[POST-ROCK BENEFIT] Mike McGonigal should be familiar to fans of outré sounds and fringe genres. He’s the publisher of the music and arts quarterly Yeti, has put together a pair of amazing gospel compilations for Tompkins Square Records and helped curate the lamented Halleluwah Festival. The good people of Holocene are fans, so they have given one night over to Mike to let him bring his favorite DJs and musicians together as a benefit for the Independent Publishing Resource Center. Highlights include sets by jazz guitarist Marisa Anderson, garage icons Pierced Arrows, and the debut of a new act featuring Claudia Meza of Explode Into Colors renown and lead Parenthetical Girl Zac Pennington. ROBERT HAM. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 8 pm. $7. 21+.
Green Noise Records Night: Eternal Tapestry, Barn Owl, Vestals, DJ Ken Dirtnap
for reveling in the three-chord joy that is garage rock and punk, but this evening things are a little more psychedelic in flavor. This night brings together one of Portland’s best freeform freak outfits Eternal Tapestry and one of its Thrill Jockey labelmates, the lost-in-space instrumentalists Barn Owl. Hailing from the Bay Area, Barn Owl uses gently swaying drones of harmonium and organ as a foundation on which to lay wandering guitar lines and cymbal splashes. Its latest album, Lost in the Glare, is often beautiful but also carries moments of startling intensity. ROBERT HAM. The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., 473-8729. 8 pm. Cover. 21+.
THURSDAY, JULY 28 De Cajon Project
[AFRO-PERUVIAN PERCUSSION] The cajon looks deceptively simple—it’s a box you sit on and hit on—but in the right hands, it’s a vehicle for powerful virtuosity and in the ’70s became a symbol of Peruvian identity, especially the contribution from Afro-Peruvian slaves who developed a vibrant musical culture around the instrument in the 19th century. Tonight De Cajon Project, the Seattle-based sextet (part of a larger educational and cultural organization) and dance ensemble, celebrates Peruvian independence day at the city’s scrumptious Peruvian restaurant with music that reveals the African influence on Peruvian music. BRETT CAMPBELL. Andina, 1314 NW Glisan St., 228-9535. $65 (includes three-course dinner). All ages.
Au, Blouse, DJ Zac Eno
[NEW AND SHINY] If you’re going to open a new bar in Portland, you really need at least one new band to help out. That’s where Blouse comes in. The fast-rising Portland trio, recently signed to Sub Pop, plays atmospheric and sexy pop with a slightly gothy/ mechanical tilt. Replace the gothiness with an insane ear for sonic detail and I may as well be talking about Au, a jaw-dropping local experimental mathrock outfit that has been lying low as of late. This is the only show on the horizon for Dig a Pony, as the rustic and homey new bar plans to focus on DJs spinning pre-’80s vinyl during normal business hours, but if things are fun and bonkers, who knows?
CHICARONES.COM
[DOOM PSYCHEDELIA] Green Noise Records Nights are usually reserved
TOP FIVE
CONT. on page 61
BY C AS E Y JA R MA N
ACTS I CAUGHT AT PDX POP NOW! The Chicharones Haters gon’ hate, but this newly expanded live hip-hop band completely killed it, creating a sea of dancers out of the PDX Pop crowd. Radiation City This new Tender Loving Empire signee’s mix of tender and abrasive space-pop worked despite the fact that its atmospheric tunes are more suited to midnight than mid-afternoon. Blouse I only caught the shimmering final song of Blouse’s set (I blame tacos). It still made my list. I can’t believe how pro this young band sounds. Dusu Mali This exciting local afro-pop band generally plays low-key spots like the Goodfoot, and I can’t wait to see it in that kind of intimate setting. Wizard Rifle Just an insanely fun metal set with some really awesome guitar faces.
PUNK ROCK JAM-BAND FROM HELL HORROR FLICKS AND THEREMIN SQUEALS BRING BLOOD BEACH TO LIFE. BY R OBERT HA M
243-2122
For many young musicians, “jamming” is one of the worst things a band can do. When I spoke to Nucular Aminals a few weeks back about their music-writing process, bassist Jheremy Grigsby was adamant on this point. “We. Don’t. Jam. We may do it for a little bit, but only as a joke.” The Aminals’ comrades in Blood Beach, on the other hand, couldn’t conceive of writing music without it. “I think bands like Phish or the String Cheese Incident have turned ‘jamming’ into a dirty word,” says Blood Beach bass player Ethan Jayne in between bites of a chicken-strip basket at the Florida Room. “We don’t jam. We write our songs. But there’s something to be said for locking in with your friends as you’re jamming on a riff or an idea.” Drummer Cody Seals picks up on this thread, “You jam so you can write the song.” Singer/guitarist Shayne Wright continues, “At our first show, people were calling us a ‘jam band’ and I didn’t know what to think of that because it’s such a negative thing. You just picture dudes doing some shitty noodling.” Listening to the band’s new Stankhouse Records-released EP, Return of the Curse of the Creature’s Ghost, you can hardly accuse it of being noodly. There is a psychedelic tinge on offer—a trait often associated with the kinds of jam bands Jayne mentioned—but it is plopped roughly in the middle of an excitable garage-pop racket. And then the formula gets weird: All of this noise punctuated by the squeals and honks of Camella Weedon’s convincing theremin and sax playing, two instruments that give the songs a sinister U.K. punk edge. As you might anticipate from a band that took its name from a 1980 cult horror flick, there’s also a creepy side to Blood Beach’s music (check out the haunting theremin wails and dire guitar lines on “Go Forth On Vacation”). Jayne fills many of the songs with themes that read like they should be matched up with furious death metal instead of the band’s short, unshackled punk. But the dark themes are tempered with a distinct sense of humor, thanks in part to Jayne’s adorably nasal
vocals, which add an unintentional irony to lyrics like “The sarcophagus finds its way to Mars/ Shattering the portal to ancient stars.” The new EP takes its title from a particularly goofy skit from Mr. Show With Bob & David, and one of the best songs on it, “2: Adam (Heart): Mother,” is a pun on the name of a Pink Floyd record. “That came to me when I was looking through Shayne’s records and just goofing on the titles,” remembers Jayne, laughing. Wright leans forward and interjects, “The lyrics came right out of that. It’s all about a mom writing a really mean letter to her kid.” (Sample lyric: “If only I had known about abortion/ Before I knew the afterbirth/ Oh, and how’s your wife?”) Jam as they do, the members of Blood Beach say that much of their songwriting is also informed simply by what they’re listening to obsessively at the time. Jayne and Wright met while working together at the downtown Everyday Music, where they are always grabbing new records to geek out over. (The rest of the band connected in Denton, Texas, before collectively moving to our fair city three years ago.) “All of us are music nerds,” says Jayne. “Camella and I were talking today about all these records she likes that she can’t pronounce because they’re all Brazilian, Greek and Italian psych compilations.” Some of that influence does pop up on Return of
“YOU JAM SO YOU CAN WRITE THE SONG.” —CODY SEALS, BLOOD BEACH the Curse, as does the swaggering, noir-ish sound of the previous infatuations with the Cramps and Gun Club. What does that mean for future Blood Beach recordings? “We’ve been listening to a lot of metal,” says Jayne, eliciting knowing laughs from his bandmates. “I think that’s the only way to be a cool band when you’re older is to be a metal band. Three albums from now, we’ll be droning and chugging away. You heard it here first!” SEE IT: Blood Beach releases Return of the Curse of the Creature’s Ghost on Saturday, July 30, at East End. 9 pm. Free. 21+. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
59
60
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
THURSDAY Maybe great booking like this will turn into a regular thing. CASEY JARMAN. Dig a Pony, 736 SE Grand Ave. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
MUSIC
PROFILE
Ty Segall, Audacity, Mean Jeans, Cyclotron
[ACID WASHED] Melted, San Francisco ruffian Ty Segall’s 2010 breakthrough record, was one of those albums people like to call a “glorious mess”: a bleary-eyed collection of lo-fi psych-garage floating aimlessly in a distorted haze that actually benefits from its lack of true focus. For new record Goodbye Bread, Segall cleans things up—well, a little bit, anyway. His melodies still come mired in brilliant guitar fuzz, but they’re delivered via tighter arrangements that move at a more deliberate midtempo pace. If that makes it sound sleepier, it’s not. In fact, it might be even more drugged out than its predecessor—the high is just a tad more blissful this time. MATTHEW SINGER. East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. 9 pm. $11. 21+.
RX Bandits, Maps & Atlases, Zechs Marquise
[THIRD-WAVE SKA] RX Bandits formed in Orange County, Calif., in 1995. The group has been peddling its post-ska for a solid 16 years, which was, I’m pretty sure, how long most of the group’s members had been alive when the Bandits first hit the road. After a successful early-aughts run on Drive-Thru Records, the group first lost its label and then its horn section. But the Bandits somehow toughed it out through both these calamities to reinvent itself as a rock quartet that thrived on obtuse time signatures and Warped Tour side stages. This tour is going to be the last for the RX Bandits, whose tenacity has never earned it an artistic or commercial breakthrough, but has nonetheless gained it the designation of “well-fought warrior.” May the wind be forever at your back, RX Bandits. SHANE DANAHER. Hawthorne Theatre, 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 233-7100. 7:30 pm. $15 advance, $18 day of show. All ages.
Kate Bush Tribute: Parenthetical Girls, Neal Morgan, Rocky & The Proms, Prescription Pills, The Crow with Breakfast Mountain and more
[RELEASE THE HOUNDS OF LOVE] Critic Rob Sheffield once wrote that the fan base of English art-pop chanteuse Kate Bush is split between two divergent camps: lonely male lit majors and crazed feminist punks. “Bush’s refusal to be pinned down has given her a strange cultural presence, and part of her music’s vitality is the wildly diverse responses it provokes,” he concluded. For proof of Sheffield’s theory, look no further than the lineup of this Holocenecurated tribute show. At one end are the Parenthetical Girls, who clearly took from Mrs. “Wuthering Heights” her conceptual songwriting and flair for the dramatic. At the other, the scuzzy basement electro of Prescription Pills beats with the pulse of her bombastic New Wave period, albeit way broken down and covered in grime. Outside of the Parentheticals, none of the bands displays an obvious debt to Bush— which, of course, means they’ve studied her enough to know her greatest strength was her undefinability. MATTHEW SINGER. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 8:30 pm. $5. 21+.
Impressions of John Coltrane: The Devin Phillips Quartet
[COLTRANIAN] Among all the tribute projects in town this month— reinterpretations of J.S. Bach, Stephen Sondheim, Kate Bush and more, by both local and national composers and performers—Phillips’ PDX Jazz-sponsored take on John Coltrane (abetted by pianist Ramsey Embick, bassist Eric Gruber
CONT. on page 62
PAPER/UPPER/CUTS THURSDAY, JULY 28 [SPACE JAMS] When you spend time with David “Papi” Fimbres, two things quickly become apparent: First, the 31-year-old is extremely talented—he plays everything from drums to tuba as part of his alleged 14 different bands, which span every genre from psychedelic soul to calypso pop. But secondly— something more immediately noticeable—Fimbres has an overwhelmingly positive attitude that makes you want to share both a beer and a hug with him. Indeed, everyone seems to like Papi—his friends even gave him that fatherly nickname for being “such a sweetheart.” Of course, Fimbres is also a bit of a weirdo. “I want people to realize that we’re not just in this planet…we can take ourselves to another place,” he says of his music. And on his newest project, a solo outing under the Paper/Upper/Cuts moniker called ILLA KILLA YELLOW SPACE, his spaced-out mix of organic and electronic sounds—see the complex percussion on “Pura” and the wailing synths on “Slowercase Letters”—indeed takes the listener to another dimension, one where obscure funky jazz of the past lives happily alongside the blistering indie rock of the present. This is exactly what Fimbres wants—he excitedly describes his songs as “something you can relate to but still make you say, ‘Oh, what the fuck?’” If Fimbres seems content in multiple musical dimensions, maybe it’s because he has lived in so many different worlds. Growing up between Los Angeles and Juárez, Mexico—one of the most violent cities in the world—he used music as a way of getting away from the conflicts of the world outside. His father, a Fresno-born weed-dealing hippie, and his mother, a polite Mexican woman who didn’t speak English, had him playing drums and piano by age 5 and introduced him to everything from German polka to the Talking Heads at an early age. “It was pretty fucking cool because I got to understand both languages so well, but also got to grasp their cultures,” he says. “They were two totally different cats.” Fimbres’ love for playing eventually led him to Portland, where he works at Trade Up Music on Alberta, swapping and selling instruments and accessories in order to support a sometimesspendy career in music (he spent hundreds of dollars to dye the vinyl version of ILLA KILLA yellow to match its title). With such devotion to the art, Fimbres’ projects are laced with a true genuineness. He’s a passionate, sweaty live performer who punctuates his playing with hoots and hollers, and his teddy-bear face glows with excitement when talking about the new record. Being the sweetheart that he is, Papi wants the listener to be a part of all this excitement. “What I love the most is when I incorporate everyone and we’re all in this together,” he says. “We have this form of energy together; we’re all just feeding off it. We’re all doing this at the same time— you are Paper/Upper/Cuts.” REED JACKSON. David “Papi” Fimbres is a big, sweaty, teddy-bear genius.
SEE IT: Paper/Upper/Cuts releases ILLA KILLA YELLOW SPACE on Thursday, July 28, at Mississippi Studios with 1939 Ensemble, Yeah Great Fine and DJ Rumtrigger. 9 pm. Free. 21+. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
61
THURSDAY - FRIDAY POD
MUSIC
Maritime Café An OMMP Patients Café Highest quality Medicine and Medibles
Please come visit us. Opens August 8! 17415 SE McLoughlin Blvd 503-305-8307
13 topless bartenders and 70 dancers each week! Open Every Day 11am to 2:30am
LET IT RAIN: Pierced Arrows plays Holocene on Wednesday, July 27.
www.CasaDiablo.com (503) 222-6600 • 2839 NW St. Helens Rd
and drummer Alan Jones) is singularly intriguing. If any horn man in town has the chops and spirit to board the ’Trane, it’s the dynamic Portland-via-New Orleans tenor man, who’ll apply his similarly astringent tone to sheetsof-sound Coltrane classics from his early-’60s modal jazz peak. Expect selections from the influential and still-flabbergasting Chasin’ the Train, the epic Impressions, the languidly beautiful Naima, and the unexpected breakthrough My Favorite Things—and more. BRETT CAMPBELL. Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan St., 223-4527. 8 pm. $15. 21+.
Matisyahu, Tea Leaf Green
[TIN ZION LION] Emerging in the national consciousness six years ago with the release of Live at Stubbs, Matisyahu appeared thrillingly new. The novelty of a Hasidic rapper who took himself deathly seriously—he refused to allow opening acts to smoke backstage at Dante’s that first national tour— seemed at least as important as his professional but hardly distinct flow and reggae-tinged backing. Does the relatively cold reception of this winter’s Live at Stubbs, Vol. 2 reflect ever drearier wordplay and increasingly indulgent jam band tendencies, or has the meme of a capable beatboxer honoring the Sabbath run its course? . JAY HORTON. Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Road, 220-2789. 7 pm. $22. All ages.
FRIDAY, JULY 29 The Chicharones, Alphabet Stew, Destro, L Pro
[HIP-HOP] I expected to see the best minds of my generation blown by the Chicharones’ insane PDX Pop Now! performance (when did Doo Doo Funk All-Star Tony Ozier join the group!?), but some were just a bit confused by the doo-wopabilly/rap-rock outfit’s technicolor dreambeats—so I hereby offer a defense of one of my favorite Portland bands: The Chicharones are often campy, cheesy and downright silly. But Sleep and Josh Martinez are also insanely talented MCs, entertaining and able to flip a switch between over-the-top shit-talking (“When I see ugly babies/ I think of you”) and earnest lyricism (“There’s no role model the kids can follow/ What’s the point when it’s all hollow”). So if you respect the Black Eyed Peas’ post-genre trailblazing but can’t stand their mindless, endlessly repetitive songs, the Chicharones are the band for you. Expect a new disc to blow up come October, and a thrilling live show tonight. CASEY JARMAN. Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430 9:30 pm. $8. 21+.
Black Sheep Family Reunion: Monophonics, Quick & Easy Boys, Zelly Rock with 45th Parallel Zulu Nation, Gov’t Issue, Kermit Eats Pork and more [FUNK] San Francisco sextet Monophonics harks back to the
62
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
days of the Funk Brothers, Average White Band and other golden-era masters who made asses shake with reckless abandon. Mostly instrumental (though keyboardist Kelly Finnigan occasionally lends a soulful growl), Monophonics is funk at its purest. The group, which has a new album in the works, has spent five years cultivating a sound that takes the best elements of all its influences—punchy horns, thumping bass, nasty guitar riffs— and smashes forth with a sound that is at once indebted to its roots and shimmering like a shiny new sequined vest. AP KRYZA. Black Sheep Family Reunion, Tidewater Falls Vacation Resort, E Tidewater Road. All day. $125 for adult threeday pass. See blacksheepfamilyreunion.com for details. All ages.
Tu Fawning, Radiation City, Wild Ones
[SWEET SHOWCASE] Tu Fawning is just back from Europe, where the band played Denmark’s Roskilde Festival along with a laundry list of world-famous artists (we hear they hung out with Outkast’s Big Boi) in support of eclectic, powerful 2010 record Hearts on Hold. So coming home to play with two young Portland-famous groups, Radiation City and Wild Ones— both coming off strong showings at the PDX Pop Now! festival. Expect emotional highs and lows from three groups equally capable of rocking out and singing sweet, sweet lullabies. CASEY JARMAN. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
Willie Nelson
[LONE STAR] According to Willie, 2010’s aptly titled Country Music is his first “traditional” record. If that’s the case, the 78-year-old luminary had us fooled for the better part of 50 years. Shamefully, America has been more obsessed with Nelson’s pot smoking than his powerful collaborations with country mega-producer T Bone Burnett—a relationship that has led to new standards and great country covers alike. Like Paul Bunyan and Babe, Nelson and his trusty guitar Trigger seem too big for real life. Yet, as his later work suggests—bolstered by added patience and bluesy hangups— he’s just a man with the same vices as the guy next to you at the bar. MARK STOCK. McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale, 669-8610. 6:30 pm. $59 advance, $63 day of show. All ages.
Rachel Taylor Brown, Brothers Young, Michael the Blind
See album review, page 64. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Chris Isaak
[WICKER GAME] What do the kids think of Chris Isaak? Do they think of him at all? Too young to remember the “Wicked Game” video gyrating across VH1—adult oriented rock, in every sense—or appreciate the importance of anyone handpicked
CONT. on page 64
ALADDIN THEATER
CHARLES BRADLEY & DENNIS COFFEY
TI C K E O N S TS ALE NOW !
F ALL O E TH E S R E SA W O SH G E S! ALL A
CRYSTAL BALLROOM
PIONEER STAGE AT PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE
IRON & WINE
SEPT. 8 WITH MONARQUES DOORS 7 PM
SEPT. 9 WITH MARKÉTA IRGLOVÁ & SALLIE FORD & THE SOUND OUTSIDE
HORSE FEATHERS
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY
SEPT. 9 WITH JOE PUG & ANAIS MITCHELL DOORS 8 PM
DOORS 3:30 PM
SEPT. 10 WITH THE ANTLERS, TYPHOON & ELUVIUM
DOORS 2:30 PM
PORTLAND CELLO PROJECT SEPT. 10 WITH LIFESAVAS & EMILY WELLS DOORS 7 PM
THE KILLS
SEPT. 7 WITH ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER & MINI MANSIONS
DOORS 7 PM
BAND OF HORSES
SEPT. 11 WITH CASS MCCOMBS BAND, MORNING TELEPORTATION & BOBBY BARE JR
DOORS 2:30 PM
ARCHERS OF LOAF SEPT. 8 WITH SEBADOH & VIVA VOCE DOORS 7 PM
ROSELAND THEATER BUTTHOLE SURFERS SEPT. 8 WITH THRONES & DIRTY GHOST
DOORS 8 PM
MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS SEPT. 9 WITH SHABAZZ PALACES & TXE
DOORS 7:30 PM
BLITZEN TRAPPER SEPT. 9 WITH SHARON VAN ETTEN & WEINLAND DOORS 8 PM
BLIND PILOT SEPT. 10 WITH AVI BUFFALO, ALELA DIANE & BLACK PRAIRIE DOORS 7 PM
NEUROSIS SEPT. 10 WITH GRAILS, YOB & AKIMBO
DOORS 7 PM
FOR TICKETING AND WRISTBAND INFO GO TO MUSICFESTNW.COM/TICKETS LIMITED NUMBER OF ADVANCE TICKETS FOR THESE SHOWS ARE AVAILABLE THROUG H TICKETSWEST.
$70*
WRISTBAND PLUS A GUARANTEED TICKET TO ONE SHOW AT PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE: IRON & WINE, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY OR BAND OF HORSES
$115*
WRISTBAND PLUS GUARANTEED TICKETS TO ALL THREE SHOWS AT PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE: IRON & WINE, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY AND BAND OF HORSES *Service Fees Apply
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
63
MUSIC
FRIDAY - SATURDAY
to stroll through Fire Walk With Me and Married To The Mob in those pupal days of indie rock, Isaak must seem just another adorably masculine troubadour who’s mastered a vocal shtick: Orbisonian warble absent that difficult business of emoting, “Crying” without tears. 2009’s Mr. Lucky, Isaak’s first set of originals in seven years, sounds exactly as you’d expect, and older listeners may wish to imagine Isaak muttering the title to Demme and Lynch ’midst their weekly bridge night with half-smiles all around. JAY HORTON. Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Road, 220-2789. 7 pm. $39. All ages.
Oakhelm, Druden, Burials
[BLACK METAL] Portland loves black metal but produces disgracefully little to fulfill the Transylvanian hunger of its fan base. Once a freezing moon, Oakhelm appears from the darkness to right this balance. With half its members residing in Seattle and Tucson, the group has a good excuse for its selective appearances and output. The band’s first release, 2007’s Betwixt and Between, displayed a penchant for folk melodies, nature worship and Viking aggression. More (and better) has been expected of the group’s long-awaited sophomore effort, Echtra, which will finally be available at tonight’s show. Take note: Oakhelm’s impeccable drummer, Eli Bloch, is about to move to Switzerland to become a tectonicplate geologist, so this is going to be your last chance to see the band for some time. NATHAN CARSON. Plan B, 1305 SE 8th Ave., 230-9020. 8 pm. $7. 21+.
SATURDAY, JULY 30 Ali Wesley, Light Creates Shadow, Shoeshine Blue
[SINGER-SONGWRITER] At her most playful, Ali Wesley strikes her listeners with an Amelie-esque sense of wonder, delivering songs like “da da da da da” that almost seem written on the spot. Which isn’t a far cry, as each song on new album The Ups was recorded in a single day (and sometimes in the front seat of a Honda Accord). Other songs, like the breathy “Walking Underground,” feel deep and rewarding despite the aforementioned one-day rule. Sometimes Wesley, whom you may know from her work with Super XX Man, has a little too much fun, and the resulting silly love songs are too weightless to make an impression— but then, too light is always better than too heavy. CASEY JARMAN. Alberta Street Public House., 1036 NE Alberta St., 284-7665. 9:30 pm. $5 (or $10 with CD). 21+.
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
[GREAT WHITE NORTH] Rumor has it, Rosanne Cash cried tears of bliss upon hearing Tom Wilson cover her late father’s masterpiece, “Folsom Prison Blues.” If Kings & Queens is any indication, the feelings are mutual. The frontman for twangy all-star Canadian act Blackie and the Rodeo Kings wrote his new record specifically for and as an homage to iconic women of country. Cash, Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris won’t be present for this live show like they are on the record, but the band’s star-studded cast—including songsmith Stephen Fearing and the bayou-inspired sounds of guitarist Colin Linden— will offer barrel loads of countrified ear candy. MARK STOCK. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 719-6055. 8:30 pm. $15 advance, $18 day of show. 21+.
The Accüsed
[THRASH] I don’t know if it was the gratuitous umlaut, the goofiness of the Allroy-meets-Eddie mascot, or simply a matter of clogged distribution channels, but the Accüsed’s spastic crossover thrash managed to escape the notice of every blast beat-loving speed freak I knew in
CONT. on page 68 64
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
ALBUM REVIEWS
COOL NUTZ THE COOK-UP (FREE DOWNLOAD AT RAPHATER.COM) [RAP TO THE FUTURE] With each new release, veteran Portland MC Cool Nutz believes he is completely reinventing himself. He’s only partly right. The Cook-Up indeed represents a change in direction for Nutz on the musical front: By taking on young local producers like G_Force, Tope and Lawz Spoken and extending a hand to fresh-faced MCs, Nutz is staking a clear claim in the Rose City’s future and embracing a soulful new sound. But what remains intact on this, his first foray into the free download album, is Nutz’s signature halting, impressionistic flow. That’s evident from the first bars of the opening title track, where Nutz talks drugs and money while embracing the semi-abstract, free-association rhymes that make his voice recognizable (“Cop work, get money and the swag nice/ Talk birds, talk guap and it’s real life”). And when Nutz trades bars with Mikey Vegaz on “Superman,” or with Illmaculate and OnlyOne on “Killin,” his clearthroated, familiar flow is only underscored by way of juxtaposition with breathy young rappers that came up in the Kanye era. None of which is to suggest that Nutz gets outmatched by his collaborators. If anything, The Cook-Up proves just how adaptable Nutz’s diamond-sharp grocery list assaults are to all kinds of production, from DJ Quik’s boom-bap/classical fusion on “The Good Life” to Tope’s psychedelic soul on “Black Music.” It’s hard to age well in hip-hop, but Nutz has survived multiple eras by packing a few prized possessions in his toolkit and walking away from the rest while it burns to the ground—a skill duly demonstrated on smart, soulful closer “The Greatest.” As much as Nutz wants to believe he has evolved into a new species altogether, he should be proud of growing by leaps and bounds as an MC within his unique rap blueprint. One wouldn’t ask Slick Rick to start rapping like Gucci Man, and by the same token, it’s time Portland appreciated Cool Nutz for being a true original. CASEY JARMAN.
RACHEL TAYLOR BROWN WORLD SO SWEET (PENURY POP) [PIANO SONGS] Rachel Taylor Brown knows how to make an entrance: With a roomful of 50 pianos playing the same notes for two minutes straight. After that, one half expects Liza Minnelli to jump out from behind a curtain to sing a hammy version of “At Last.” But instead, Brown uses an elaborate choir to sing a Christmas carol-sounding variation on the title of her record: “Sweetness on Earth/ Sweetness on Earth/ And all the world rejoices.” This is the kind of ambition that can sink an album: How are the next 12 tracks supposed to measure up? Brown’s immediate answer is to craft a Beatles-meets-ELO slice of theatric rock called “Sister Jean,” which enlists help from local musical mainstays Leigh Marble, Danny Seim and Justin Harris—and some blues yelps from Brown—to tell the story of a girl who died from relentless parental abuse. Yup, World So Sweet is going to get pretty inscrutable. Not that Brown has ever shied away from boundary-pushing, but everything here—from the ghostly voices of strangers on the striking “How to Make a World Class Gymnast” to the shocking marching band explosions of “Mercy in Nebraska”—smacks against the ceiling of what’s possible on a production budget and what one songwriter should realistically put herself through, emotionally. “Scotland,” for Brown’s friend, deceased Portland songwriter Scotland Barr, is the most striking and bare example of this. “There’s no telling when will any of us go/ And for most of us we’d rather never know,” she begins darkly, reminding of a kinder version of Randy Newman’s “Old Man.” Even when contrasted with Brown’s slightly more digestible moments (see the rocking “Your Big Mouth”), these gut-wrenching tunes can be difficult to swallow. But for those who like their music to challenge their ears, hearts and minds, Rachel Taylor Brown remains a seemingly inexhaustible resource: This is her at her most present and personal. CASEY JARMAN. SEE IT: Cool Nutz’s The Cook-Up comes out Tuesday, Aug. 2, as a free download at raphater.com. Rachel Taylor Brown plays Mississippi Studios on Friday, July 29. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
UPCOMING IN-STORE PERFORMANCES OTIS HEAT
Bumblebees and Other Small Heroes
SATURDAY 7/30 @ 5PM Otis Heat - singer-songwriter Sean O’Neill, guitarist Mike Warner and drummer Scotty Gervais - are known for delivering energetic and animated live performances distinguished by warm danceable grooves, impassioned vocals, dirty rhythms, and high voltage analog instrumentation. The band has earned a reputation as a recognizable musical force throughout the Pacific Northwest. Otis Heat have just released their latest album, ‘Yoon.’
RECORD RELEASE EVENT!
KEB MO
Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery will be showing new work by Portland artist April Coppini. Artist Reception on First Thursday. Also, see Meyer’s new work and enjoy wine tasting by K&M Winery.
Gallery: Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery Opening Reception: First Thursday, August 4, 2011, 6-9 pm Address: 120 NW 9th Ave., Suite 102, Portland, 97209 Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11-6 p.m. Dates of Exhibition: August 4-27, 2011 Contact: Linda Kiley, 503-282-5388
TUESDAY 8/2 @ 7PM
*Pre-Buy The Album And Get A Certificate For Guaranteed Admission*
‘The Reflection’ is the first new studio album by Keb Mo since Suitcase in 2006. These twelve songs are the product of an important period of personal and professional growth for the artist formerly known as Kevin Moore. ‘The Reflection’ is not, in essence, a blues album. In sound and spirit, it’s closer to the work of African–American “folk soul” singer/songwriters like Bill Withers, Bobby Womack and Terry Callier.
NEKROMANTIX
April Coppini
Images: Left: Bombuslucorum, female Right: Bombuslucorum, male
AUTOGRAPH SIGNING!
WEDNESDAY 8/3 @ 6PM
Revered psychobilly trio Nekromantix have emerged from the depths of isolation to unleash their latest sonic creation, a monstrous slab of demonic rock & roll entitled ‘What Happens In Hell Stays In Hell.’ Led by Kim Nekroman and his legendary coffin bass, the Nekromantix have emerged as preeminent purveyors of a powerful and haunting psychobilly sound, an intoxicating mixture of surging anthemic punk and seductive reverb-soaked rockabilly.
FRUIT BATS
WEDNESDAY 8/3 @ 7PM With the 2001 release of the Fruit Bats’ debut album, ‘Echolocation,’ Eric D. Johnson embarked on a career in music that has, to date, included ten years with the Fruit Bats, sideman duties for bands including Califone, Vetiver and The Shins. ‘Tripper,’ the new and fifth Fruit Bats full-length, was recorded at WACS Studio in Los Angeles with Thom Monahan, best known as producer for the last four Vetiver albums, Devendra Banhart’s Cripple Crow, and the Pernice Brothers.
Willamette Week’s
POP-TOGRAPHY presented by
PDX Pop Now! 2011 for photos of where we've been or to find out where we're going visit wweek.com/poptography or follow us on twitter @wweek #wwpop
friends don’t let friends eat fried Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
65
PERFORMANCE PAGE 75
66
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
PROFILE
MUSIC R O TA M
PROFILE
DATES HERE
CandleLight Room
Sunday Andy Stokes
Live Music 7 Nights a Week!! No Cover!!
Monday Soul Mates
Portland’s Best Music Venue for over 28 yrs. is coming to an End. The Max stops here.
Tuesday Gretchen Mitchell
CandleLight Room
503-222-3378
2032 SW 5th Ave., Portland, OR 97201
www.candlelightroom.com Facebook! New Location? We R Looking!
Wednesday Elite Thursday LaRhonda Steele Fri & Sat Best Bands!
The Flame Goes Out FEB. 28th, Blow Out Party All Day!!
Special Guests all Month of February!
POCKETKNIFE SUNDAY, JULY 31 [JUST DANCE!] Portland’s Pocketknife has more than one thing in common with Lady Gaga. For starters, its overriding philosophy is “just dance.” Case in point: the jumpy, synth-sparked “Space Invaders,” from the band’s debut EP, Tough as Snails. Although the quartet’s communal lyric-writing process often involves each member pooling childhood memories, this song—its first—is not about spending an afternoon at an arcade blasting hordes of digitized interplanetary attackers. “The concept was aliens coming down to Earth, just wanting to dance,” says babyfaced singer-guitarist Marlin Gonda, 25, laughing on the couch in the living room of the North Portland home he shares with bassist David Chase, 23, and drummer Karen D’Apice, 25. “Every time I listen to that song, I just picture this giant ballroom full of spacey aliens waltzing and dancing,” D’apice says, with slightly more seriousness. “I picture them adorned in beautiful ballgowns.” Along with its desire to create the music that makes the universe cut loose, what the four-piece also shares with Our Lady of the Meat Dress is a deep appreciation for the art of the great pop earworm. It’s evident on Tough as Snails: Each of the record’s six tracks pulsates with hooky, keyboard-driven energy. Its antecedents are easily detectable—’80s club-fillers such as New Order and swooning New Romantics like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark—but more than an era, the group is most interested in perfecting a timeless infectiousness. “More so than specific bands, I’m intrigued by the idea of pop music,” Gonda says. “I like things that stay in your head,” D’Apice adds. “That is what is most appealing to me. It’s like, I want to be happy singing this for days and days.” After spending a few years playing in navel-gazing indie rock bands and a college punk band “that no one liked,” respectively, in 2009 Gonda and D’Apice were looking to do something more upbeat and danceable, even though they didn’t know each other yet. Gonda asked his co-worker Chase, a classically trained cellist, if he had any interest in starting a pop group. They began kicking around ideas, then linked up with native New Yorker D’Apice via Craigslist. When the band’s original keyboardist left to continue school, Jennifer Boudreaux, 20, was urged to join—even though she hadn’t played keyboards since childhood—at the urging of her boyfriend, who became a fan of Pocketknife through its first house shows. Not long after solidifying its lineup, three-fourths of the band moved in together—into a house perpetually decorated as if it’s Christmastime, complete with fake tree and stockings, where the group likes to say it’s “living the Pocket-life.” Even with its heightened sense of camaraderie, the band didn’t feel legit until it started recording Tough as Snails last year at Klickitat Studios. As often happens, these “new” songs are now are a few years old, and Gonda says the band has gotten better since, inching closer toward his pop ideal. But the EP still represents a confirmation that he’s on the right track. “Once we put this out,” Gonda says, “we’ll be a real band.” MATTHEW SINGER. Some kids play video games, some kids make videogame-inspired dance music.
SEE IT: Pocketknife releases Tough as Snails on Sunday, July 31, at Mississippi Studios with Vanimal and Pegasus Dream. 9 pm. Free. 21+. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
67
SATURDAY - SUNDAY AAGOO.COM
MUSIC
Thursday, July 28th
LAST THURSDAY with
The Old Town Bohemian Cabaret Friday, July 29th
Karmacoda
• Oracle • Sutro
Saturday, July 30
CANADIAN SUPERGROUP
BEST FACES FORWARD: Au plays Dig a Pony’s grand opening on Thursday, July 28. the ’90s. Boy, were we missing out. I wish I could get the old gang together and go back in time to properly worship Blaine Cook’s unhinged screech and Tom Niemeyer’s nimble shredding, which merged into a thing of vicious beauty that is this close to growing claws and tearing through your speakers with an aim to make meat of your neck. Sadly, Cook’s no longer with the Accüsed, so caveat emptor. CHRIS STAMM. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 9:30 pm. Cover. 21+.
Blood Beach, Dark Entries, Hausu
See music feature, page 59. East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
8 DJs: Copy, E3, Genevieve D, Lifepartner, Matt Nelkin, Snakks, New Dadz, Invisiboy
BLACKIE & THE
RODEO KINGS Sunday, July 31
The Aladdin Theater presents
MATT SCHOFIELD
Thursday, Aug 4th
THE
COLLECTIVE SOUND with special guests
Adventure Galley Friday, Aug 12th
Hargo Catherine MacLellan Adrienne Pierce coming soon... 8/13 New Monsoon •
Quick and Easy Boys
8/18 Luisa Maita 8/19 Classical Revolution PDX 8/20 The Upsidedown 8/21 Strangers in Harmony and the Uptown 4
8/25 Last Thursday with
Old Town Bohemian Cabaret
8/26 Celilo “Buoy Bell” Album Release
Alberta Rose Theatre (503) 764-4131 3000 NE Alberta AlbertaRoseTheatre.com
68
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
[DJ MASH-UP] For this sporadically recurring dance party, Holocene brings together eight local DJs with virtually nothing in common except the club’s approbation. Copy’s Marius Libman has lately been experimenting under his Christian name with a more ambient style, but he will top this bill with his Copy-brand Nintendonostalgic sound. Also featured are E3, the resident DJ of Holocene’s global dance-music night ATLAS; New Dadz, the DJ project of White Hinterland’s Shawn Creeden; and mash-up maven Invisiboy. JONATHAN FROCHTZWAJG. Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., 239-7639. 9 pm. $3. 21+.
Tally Hall, Speak, Casey Shea
[OK PAUSE] Lo, the wages of fun. Effervescent pop eccentrics Tally Hall never had all that much momentum on the heels of their 2005 debut, but the timing was right for adorably clever, fashionbackward Midwestern troupes equally fond of the arena-rocking riff and the geek-chic couplet to plant their (cheekily colored) flag on the musical landscape. After four years of recording and another two wrangling away the rights, the band’s just-released follow-up, Good & Evil, can’t help but seem a tad mannered and beside the point. JAY HORTON. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. All ages.
Multiple Personalities Festival: And And And, World’s Greatest Ghosts, Yeah Great Fine, Turbo Perfecto, Hello Electric, Sons of Huns and more
[ECLECTIC STREET FAIR] While all of us music geeks have been fussing over our schedules for PDX Pop Now! and MusicfestNW, another musical event featuring sundry local acts has crept up on us seemingly out of nowhere. The PALS Multiple Personalities Festival is a free, all-ages block party taking place around Southeast 8th Avenue and Division Street, with two stages given over to folks like this year’s WW Best New Band Poll winner And And And, the young pop-punk quartet Bubble Cats,
everyone’s favorite sword-and-sorcery prog rockers World’s Greatest Ghosts and garage rockers Sons of Huns. Bring your sunscreen—hopefully you’ll need it—and your ID for the beer garden. ROBERT HAM. PALS Clubhouse, 2334 SE 8th Ave. All day. Free. All ages.
Ted’s Grand Reopening: Akbar Sami with Non Stop Bhangra, Jai Ho! Bhangra Revolution and Prashant
[BORN AGAIN] At the end of 2010, the Portland music scene had taken a serious hit. In October, Satyricon, perhaps the city’s most legendary club, shuttered its doors for good. Then, downtown institution Berbati’s announced it, too, would be closing; even more tragic, in November, Berbati’s cofounder Ted Papaioannou passed away. Needless to say, it’s been a rough few months. Finally, however, there’s something to celebrate: Just seven months after its alleged last show, Berbati’s is reopening under the name Ted’s, in honor of its late owner. It’s smaller—thanks to the expansion of neighbor Voodoo Doughnut— and that’s actually a good thing; plenty of shows at the original venue would have benefited from a more intimate setting. Although known in its previous incarnation as a rock club, Ted’s is kicking off its new life with the inaugural edition of its monthly bhangra night, beginning with a headlining set from pioneering Bollywood DJ Akbar Sami. Now, somebody get to work on getting Satyricon back up and running. MATTHEW SINGER. Ted’s/Berbati’s Pan, 231 SW Ankeny St., 248-4579. 9 pm. $20 advance, $25 day of show. 21+.
SUNDAY, JULY 31 Archers, Fling, Deep Sea Diver
Archers has become quite the sweethearts of Portland rock fans. The band’s fast-paced, no-gimmick power punk is a refreshing shot to the crotch for those tired of the reverb-drenched dream pop that has engulfed the area’s indie music scene. The band recently released a self-titled tape on Eggy Records, and it’s a keeper: a head-banging collection of speedy riffs best served with at least 6 PBRs. It’s not all thrash, though; Archers offers a distinct catchiness in the midst of its chaos that keeps the music tied to earth. REED JACKSON. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 894-9708. 10 pm. Free. 21+.
Pocketknife, Vanimal, Pegasus Dream
See profile, page 67. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, Bruce Hornsby and Noisemakers
[AMERICANA PLUS] Not content simply to be one of the greatest banjo players on the planet, Béla Fleck had to be a dick and recruit one of modern history’s best bassists, Vic Wooten, as his partner in pluck. He then added multi-instrumentalist
SUNDAY - TUESDAY Howard Levy and weirded things up with Vic’s brother, Roy “Future Man” Wooten, on percussion both electric and analog. After 23 years, 11 albums (including this year’s Rocket Science) and an assload of accolades later, the Flecktones are still pulling the same shtick: an eclectic mix of rock, classical and experimental music performed by true masters whose propensity for goofy stage banter, acrobatics (ever seen a bass become a hula hoop?) and goodwill remain a spectacle to behold. AP KRYZA. Oregon Zoo, 4001 SW Canyon Road, 220-2789. 6 pm. $26. All ages.
MONDAY, AUG. 1 Ben Sollee, Thousands
[THE SOUND OF SILENCE] It pains me to admit it, but Seattle may just hold the spirit stick for Northwest folk at the moment. Kristian Garrard and Luke Bergman of Thousands are the evidence behind this theory, their band being a soft-spun acoustic twosome that strums with the careful conviction of an elder seamstress. What’s more, the two harmonize vocally in all registers, sending chills down spines and calling neck hairs to attention. Debut The Sound of Everything is only five months old, but Thousands is already attracting the type of praise normally reserved for a band on its fourth or fifth release. It’s pretty, placating and respectably unvarnished. MARK STOCK. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
Misery, Murderess, Lebanon, Peroxide, DJ Smooth Hopperator
[CRUST] What year is this? Misery? Minneapolis’ Misery? As in so-crusty-there-are-probablyhomeless-punk-dogs-named-afterthe-band Misery? This isn’t like that hip-hop Tragedy that keeps fooling me, is it? Like, am I gonna show up with my bullet belt and carefully begrimed Amebix backpatch on, only to find some shiny synth pop where classic crust should be? And it’s only six bucks? The eminently punk-friendly price of six bucks? Only one dollar removed from the ancient five-buck rule? And you’re telling me I didn’t bump my head on a spiked jacket and woke
MUSIC
up back in 1996? Oh, that sucks, because I really want to see Aus Rotten. But Misery circa 2011 will do just fine. CHRIS STAMM. East End, 203 SE Grand Ave., 232-0056. 9 pm. $6. 21+.
TUESDAY, AUG. 2 James Dean Kindle & The Eastern Oregon Playboys, Tent City, Christopher McFetridge
[MUTANT AMERICANA] Hailing from the land of rodeos, whiskey, high desert and crystal, James Dean Kindle and the Eastern Oregon Playboys boast the rare ability to genre hop without losing steam. Both live and on its album, Campfire Pop Abstraction, the Pendleton quartet shifts effortlessly between freak folk, fuzzy guitar rock, psychedelic pop, alt country, eerie waltzes, blaring Mexican-style ballads and everything in between. It’s rare that a band can evoke everything from Tom Waits and Nick Cave to the Pixies and Lou Reed in one set, but Kindle and company never miss a beat in crafting a sound that is at once entrancing, exciting and wholly original. AP KRYZA. Backspace, 115 NW 5th Ave., 248-2900. 9 pm. $5. All ages.
Those Darlins, White Arrows, Motopony
[HOT COUNTRY JUNK] The sleeve art for Those Darlins’ Screws Get Loose—released this March— features a black-and-white glamour shot of an extremely pretty girl having a finger shoved unceremoniously up her nose. Now this is a band that definitely knows how to work a media cycle. Hailing from Nashville, the quartet plays a fuzzy, countrypunk mélange, unified beneath a banner of riot grrrl posturing. The group’s three female members (its drummer provides the lone Y chromosome) have all adopted the surname “Darlin” and a “showers optional” punk-rock wardrobe. Add to that the fact that Screws Get Loose is a fantastic, dingy pop record and you can start to get an idea of this band’s significant staying power. SHANE DANAHER. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 894-9708. 9 pm. $10. 21+.
PRIMER
BY NATH AN CARSON
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE Formed: In Palm Desert, Calif., 1997. Sounds like: Innovative corporate rock with pop hooks that shoots from the hip. Yup, that used to happen. For fans of: Kyuss, Devo, ZZ Top, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, White Stripes, Black Keys, Masters of Reality, Quicksand, et al. Why you care: When desert-rock icon Kyuss folded in 1995, guitarist Josh Homme took all he had learned from his near miss with stardom and poured it into Queens of the Stone Age. The band’s self-titled debut album was released on Stone Gossard’s Loosegroove label, and to date remains one of the greatest road-trip records of all time. By 2000, the majors took note, and Interscope released Rated R, which gave Queens its first stab at radio airplay. Flash forward two years and none other than Dave Grohl was sitting on the drum throne for breakthrough album Songs for the Deaf and its subsequent tour. From here on out, it was in the bag: Homme was dating Brody Dalle, jamming with Billy Gibbons, and in mainstream rotation—but the remarkable thing is that he could do all this while still writing great music. No mainstream band of the modern era (save perhaps Tool or Radiohead) has quite managed to have its cake and eat it too, but Homme—despite shedding all of his original bandmates and quite a few friends along the way—has set an example of what most people thought was a lost art. The dude is legit. The voice, the tone and the songs will all be in full effect this evening. SEE IT: Queens of the Stone Age play the Roseland on Thursday, July 28. 7 pm. Sold out. All ages.
LAST Thursday of each MONTH
BABY KETTEN
Thu
july
28 KARAOKE
free
ACCOMPLISHED ELECTRIC INDIE POP FROM SF...
birds & Batteries
fri
WITH
july
dope be ds
29
6
$
and
p R OM Q U E E N
THINK YOU’re lucky?
MON sat
AUG
the B-I-N-G-O winebirds free
apr $ hosted skate by 6 1 &w/theBslow 30 R I singleman A N J . P E R Eaffair Z
8:30pm
h o m eta p e s r e c o r d i n g a r t i s t . . .
THU
AUG
4
The caribbean pluS
5
$
SPECIAL GUESTS A the NIGHT woods’ OF WEST monthly COAST soul INDIE-POP night
mon sat
july aug
18 6
the AUinDUNES
RANGE OF jar LIGHT cooky
WITH
6
$ free WILDERNESS cooky parker 8:30pm
WITH ***FIRST SATURDAY and YE THIS S WA MONTH Y ONLY***
UPCOMING SHOWS 8/9- LAURA GIBSON, BRIGHT ARCHER, RAUELSSON 8/10 - darren smith + guests 8/11 - team evil, houndstooth, stacy clark, the four edge 8/12 - no kind of rider album release with tango alpha tango 8/13 - sam humans & the light, paper/upper/cuts 8/14 - cave country album release show Doors 8pm, shows 9pm (unless otherwise noted)
6637 Milwaukie AVE. PORTLAND — served by bus lines 19 & 70 — ticketS available at:
thewoodsportland.com
LIVE MUSIC FULL BAR FOOD FUN
Wednesday July 27th Arabesque Bellydance – 8pm Thursday July 28th Alan Jones Jam – 8pm Friday July 29th 3 Leg Torso – 9pm Saturday July 30th Midnight Serenaders – 9pm Sunday July 31st Ken Ollis Group – 8pm Tuesday August 2nd Pagen Jug Band – 6:30pm
every wed - Arabesque & Belly Dance 8pm Now serving home made NY pizza!
MUSIC 7 NIGHTS A WEEK
Portland’s best happy hour 5 - 7 pm and all day sunday 3341 SE Belmont thebluemonk.com 503-595-0575 Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
69
BENEATH THE HISTORIC
RIALTO POOL ROOM
4th & Alder Downtown Portland
Thursday • July 28th Seantos Showdown! Variety/talk show! 9pm, free
Friday • July 29th
Shut up and DANCE! DJ Gregarious 10pm, $3
Saturday • July 30th Subterranean Soul Dance. DJ Drew Groove 10pm, free
Every Monday: Shanrock Trivia 8pm, free
OPEN NIGHTLY AT 7 FOR COCKTAIL HOUR 529 SW 4th Ave Portland Oregon
70
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
MUSIC CALENDAR
[JULY 27 - AUG. 2] O’Connors
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. Editor: Jonathan Frochtzwajg. TO HAVE YOUR EVENT LISTED, send show information at least two weeks in advance on the web at wweek.com/submitevents or (if you book a specific venue) enter your events at dbmonkey.com/wweek. Press kits, CDs and especially vinyl can be sent to Music Desk, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Please include show or release date information with all physical mailings. Email: music@wweek.com.
ADAM KRUEGER
For more listings, check out wweek.com.
7850 SW Capitol Highway Kit Garoutte
Andina
PCPA Antoinette Hatfield Hall
Andrea’s Cha Cha Club
1945 SE Water Ave. OMSI After Dark - Kazum, Blake Hicks, William Batty
PCPA Music on Main Street
SW Main St. & SW Broadway Water Tower Bucket Boys
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. Swing Papillon
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. VX36, Truculence
Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave. Stonehaven, Cemetery Lust, Only Zuul, Echoic, DJ Impaler
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. Puertotierra Soundsystem
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Woody, Wiseman and Sprague
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Tree, Razors
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Green Noise Records Night: Eternal Tapestry, Barn Owl, Vestals, DJ Ken Dirtnap
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Ave. Ogo Again
Thirsty Lion
71 SW 2nd Ave. Kory Quinn
Tiger Bar
317 NW Broadway Julian’s Ride, Secure Sounds
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. The Mark Simon Trio, Tony Starlight
Touché Restaurant and Billiards 1425 NW Glisan St. Nancy King, Steve Christofferson
Vie de Boheme
WED. JULY 27 Afrique Bistro
102 NE Russell St. The Javier Nero Quintet
Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Honeymoon
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Open Mic
Alderbrook Park Resort
24414 NE Westerholm Rd., Brush Prairie, Wash. Ramsey Y Los Montunos
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Scott Head
Ash Street Saloon 225 SW Ash St. The Sindicate
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. So Good, A Gentlemen’s Picnic, Slenderman
Beaterville Cafe
2201 N Killingsworth St.
Lowell John Mitchell and the Triplets of Beaterville
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Fairweather (9 pm); Little Sue (6 pm)
Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. Buffalo Bandstand
Camellia Lounge
510 NW 11th Ave. Dasha and The Bear, Patti King
Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. Water and Bodies, The Days the Nights, Priory, The Crash Engine
Dawson Park
NStanton St. and N Williams Ave. Lisa Mann and Her Really Good Band
Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St. Hello Electric
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Suburban Slim’s Blues Jam (9:30 pm); High Flyer Trio (6 pm)
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Soft Metals, Tunnels, Xander Harris, Sick Jaggers
East India Co.
821 SW 11th Ave. Josh Feinberg
Goodfoot Lounge 2845 SE Stark St. Thunder Body
Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge 625 NW 21st Ave. Laura Ivancie
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Filter, Saliva, Anew Revolution, Heart-Set Self-Destruct
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Pierced Arrows, Stay Calm, Ilyas Ahmed, Golden Retriever, Sad Horse, Orca Team, Derek Moneypeny, Marisa Anderson, DJ Eric Issacson, DJ Future Horse, DJ Troubled Youth
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Sam Adams (7 pm); Darren CdeBaca (6 pm)
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown Quartet
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Lynn Conover and Little Sue (9 pm); Portland Country Underground (6 pm)
McMenamins Edgefield Winery 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale The Old Yellers
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Redwood Son with Gabby Holt
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Tasha Flynn Band
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. The Tumblers, Vandella, Melville
9920 NE Cascades Parkway Koloku Holt
OMSI
1111 SW Broadway Brooklyn Street Jazz
BRAID ALL NIGHT, BRAID A LITTLE LONGER: Willie Nelson plays the Edgefield on Friday, July 29.
Aloft
1530 SE 7th Ave. Transcendental Brass Band
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. 6bq9
Wilfs Restaurant & Bar Union Station, 800 NW 6th Ave. Ron Steen with Greg Goebel and Dennis Caiazza
Willamette Park
SW Macadam Ave. & SW Nebraska St. Malea and the Tourists
THUR. JULY 28 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Honeymoon
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St. The Old Town Bohemian Cabaret
Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. Chervona (9:30 pm); The Sour Mash Hug Band (6:30 pm)
1314 NW Glisan St. Borikuas, De Cajon Project
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Kate Bush Tribute: Parenthetical Girls, Neal Morgan, Rocky & The Proms, Prescription Pills, The Crow with Breakfast Mountain, Golden Spun, Ultimate Woman, DJ Bill Portland
Lauren Kinhan with the Pete Petersen Septet
Touché Restaurant and Billiards 1425 NW Glisan St. Danny Romero, Nat Hulskamp
Tupai at Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. The De Cajón Project
832 SE Grand Ave. Dina and Bamba Y Su Pilon D’Azucar with La Descarga Cubana
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. The Mel Brown B3 Organ Group
Twilight Café and Bar
Artichoke Community Music
Kennedy School
Vie de Boheme
Kenton Club
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar
3130A SE Hawthorne Blvd. Songwriters Roundup
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. The Strange Veins, Sad Face, Sleepwalk Kid
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Beautiful Lies, The Morning On Fire, In Bloom, The Routine, Pheasant
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Biddy’s Bluegrass Jam
Branx
5736 NE 33rd Ave. Freak Mountain Ramblers 2025 N Kilpatrick St. Julie Sometimes, The Gams
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Jake Ray, Tim Acott and Paul Brainard, The Deadstring Brother (9:30 pm); Lewi Longmire Band (6 pm)
McMenamins Edgefield Little Red Shed 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale The Quick and Easy Boys
Mission Theater
320 SE 2nd Ave. Her Death and After, Ocean of Mirrors, Ethics, Conflict, Above The Broken
1624 NW Glisan St. Impressions of John Coltrane: The Devin Phillips Quartet
Buffalo Gap Saloon
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Boa Saida
6835 SW Macadam Ave. Acoustic Minds
Camellia Lounge 510 NW 11th Ave. Andrew Goodwin
Chapel Pub
430 N Killingsworth St. Steve Kerin
Corkscrew Wine Bar 1669 SE Bybee Blvd. Boy and Bean
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. The Leaders, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S., Buck Williams, The King Is Dead, Alabama Black Snake, The Highmen
Dig a Pony
736 SE Grand Ave. Au, Blouse, DJ Zac Eno
Doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St. Thomas Dybdahl
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Legendary Superstars; Portland Playboys (6 pm)
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Ty Segall, Audacity, Mean Jeans, Cyclotron
Ecotrust
Mississippi Pizza
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Paper/Upper/Cuts, 1939 Ensemble, Yeah Great Fine, DJ Rumtrigger
Mock Crest Tavern 3435 N Lombard St. Lew Jones
Mount Tabor Theater
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. The Belmont Brothers
Oregon Zoo
4001 SW Canyon Road Matisyahu, Tea Leaf Green
Original Halibut’s II 2527 NE Alberta St. Terry Robb
Pioneer Courthouse Square 701 SW 6th Ave. The Matthew Lindley Commission
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. American Roulette, Key of Solomon, No More Parachutes, Winterus, Conzalescence
Roseland Theater
8 NW 6th Ave. Queens of the Stone Age, Le Butcherettes
721 NW 9th Ave., Suite 200 The Dimes, The Greater Midwest
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
Ella Street Social Club
3341 SE Belmont St. Alan Jones Jam
714 SW 20th Place Still Caves, Permanent Collection, Welsh Bowmen
Ford Food and Drink 2505 SE 11th Ave. Ezra Holbrook
Goodfoot Lounge
2845 SE Stark St. Water Tower Bucket Boys, The Bell Boys
Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge 625 NW 21st Ave. Kory Quinn
Hawthorne Theatre Lounge
1503 SE 39th Ave. Savoir Faire Burlesque
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. RX Bandits, Maps & Atlases, Zechs Marquise
8635 N Lombard St. Blue Iris, Olina
The Blue Monk
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Bryan Minus and The Disconnect, Shotty
The Hobnob Grille
3350 SE Morrison St. Open Mic
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Mike Midlo (of Pancake Breakfast), What Hearts, Great Wilderness
Thirsty Lion
71 SW 2nd Ave. Jordan Harriss
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Dopebeds, Hellokopter, Bonneville Power
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd.
1420 SE Powell Blvd. Razors, Tree
1530 SE 7th Ave. Gretchen Mitchell Band
2929 SE Powell Blvd. Jerry Zybach Duo (8:30 pm); Robert Rogers (6 pm)
Wallace Park
NW 25th Ave. & NW Raleigh St. Signatures
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Garcia Birthday Band (9 pm); Will West and the Friendly Cover Up (5:30 pm)
Wilfs Restaurant & Bar Union Station, 800 NW 6th Ave. Sean Holmes and Fred Stickley
FRI. JULY 29 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Honeymoon
Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. DJ HWY 7
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St. Karmacoda, Oracle, Sutro
Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. Zoe Child, Emily Otteson and The Doubleclicks (9:30 pm); Mikey’s Irish Jam (6:30 pm)
Aloft
9920 NE Cascades Parkway Ian James
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Na Mesa
Artichoke Community Music
3130A SE Hawthorne Blvd. Friday Night Coffeehouse
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. The Chicharones, Alphabet Stew, Destro and L Pro
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Paulie Think, DJ Instigatah, Demune, Scotty Preston, Bloodmoney, Abadawn, Juicy Karkass, EMC; School of Rock showcase (5 pm)
Beaterville Cafe
2201 N Killingsworth St. D.C. Malone and the Jones
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Funk Shui (9 pm); Billy Kennedy and Jimmy Boyer (6 pm)
Black Sheep Family Reunion
Tidewater Falls Vacation Resort, E Tidewater Rd., Tidewater, Ore. Black Sheep Family Reunion: Monophonics, Quick & Easy Boys, Zelly Rock with 45th Parallel Zulu Nation, Gov’t Issue, Kermit Eats Pork
CONT. on page 72 Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
71
MUSIC
CALENDAR The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
VIVIANJOHNSON.COM
SPOTLIGHT
426 SW Washington St. The Chemicals
The Woods
Camellia Lounge
8105 SE 7th Ave. Tim Acott and Billy Kennedy
Music Millennium
Thirsty Lion
Canvas Art Bar & Bistro
71 SW 2nd Ave. Johnny Smokes
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Verso/Recto, Unicorn Domination, Purse Candy
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. The Bureau of Standards Big Band
Touché Restaurant and Billiards 1425 NW Glisan St. The Gaea Schell Trio
Twilight Café and Bar
1420 SE Powell Blvd. Race of Strangers, Angry Lions, Steak Knives, Blow Up Dolls, Joey Whiting
Vie de Boheme 1530 SE 7th Ave. Rachichi
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. Bill Rhoades Duo
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Reverb Brothers
Wilfs Restaurant & Bar Union Station, 800 NW 6th Ave. Tony Pacini Trio
SAT. JULY 30 Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. This Not This
Camellia Lounge
510 NW 11th Ave. David Friesen, John Gross
Canvas Art Bar & Bistro
1800 NW Upshur St. Open Mic
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Hopeless Jack and The Handsome Devils
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Tu Fawning, Radiation City, Wild Ones
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. New Iberians, Atomic Gumbo (9 pm); Honey and Hamdogs (6 pm)
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Deathcharge, Ice Age, Cult of Youth, The Prids, Arctic Flowers, Atrocity Exhibition, DJ Ahex
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place Father Figure, Held Up Hands, Leo London
Fernhill Park
Northeast 37th Ave. at Ainsworth St. Lisa and Her Kin
Greeley Avenue Bar & Grill
5421 N Greeley Ave. Seven Year Tango
Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge 625 NW 21st Ave. Merrill Lite
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Down is Up Up is Down, Almond Buds, A La Mode, Blind Lovejoy, Scott Austin and The Everyones Band
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Amie Hexe (8 pm); Annie Vergnetti and Julie Schurr (6 pm)
Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Thee Headliners, The Tattoo Boys, The Royals
72
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Jimmy Boyer (9:30 pm); Michael Hurley (6 pm)
McMenamins Edgefield Winery
2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale The Mustachioed Bandits and the Damsels in Distress
McMenamins Edgefield 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale Willie Nelson
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Brownish Black
Mission Theater
1624 NW Glisan St. The David Mayfield Parade, Sassparilla
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Melao d’Cuba (9 pm); Whiskey Puppy (6 pm)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Rachel Taylor Brown, Brothers Young, Michael The Blind
Mock Crest Tavern 3435 N Lombard St. The Adequates
Morgy’s Pub & Grill 5245 NE Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro Billy Hagen Band
Mount Tabor Theater
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Jerry Garcia Celebration: Cast of Clowns, Cats Under The Stars
Muddy Rudder Public House 8105 SE 7th Ave. The Sportin’ Lifers Trio
Nel Centro
1408 SW 6th Ave. Mike Pardew with Scott Steed and Todd Strait
Noho’s Hawaiian Cafe 4627 NE Fremont St. Traditional Hawaiian Music
Oregon Zoo
4001 SW Canyon Road Chris Isaak
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
Original Halibut’s II 2527 NE Alberta St. Suburban Slim
Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli
2314 SE Division St. Lynn Conover
Pints Brewing Company
412 NW 5th Ave. Nilika Remi (9 pm); Pickpocket Eloquence (7 pm)
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. Oakhelm, Druden, Burials
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. The Old Yellers
Proper Eats Market and Cafe 8638 N Lombard St. Arnaz
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. The Idealist, Stepper, Chloraform, Filthy Face, The Smoking Mirrors
Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave. Here Come Dots, Lubec, Sucker For Lights, DJ John Lewis Lookingglass, Theolonious Crunk
Secret Society Lounge 116 NE Russell St. AnnaPaul and The Bearded Lady
Sellwood Public House 8132 SE 13th Ave. Aaron Baca
Slim’s Cocktail Bar
8635 N Lombard St. Intercept, the Autonomics
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. 3 Leg Torso
The Foggy Notion 3416 N Lombard St. No More Parachutes
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. The Touchies, Dandelion Massacre, Ghost Town Waltz
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar 1001 SW Broadway Johnny Martin
Van Halen Tribute: Drop Dead Legs
6835 SW Macadam Ave. Alicia Broussard and Gem Tones
6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. Birds and Batteries, Dopebeds, Prom Queen
YOUNG MAN’S GAME: The pizza pub is really a college-town thing. It takes a teen-to-twentysomething’s barbed-wire stomach lining to process a large, greasy “Schmeatza” pie and gulp down enough happy-hour dollar Pabst to fully appreciate the pizza pub experience. Of course, the Schmizza Pub & Grub (320 NW 21st Ave., 688-5394) is what you make it: A tasty pizza shop or a cozy, full-scale bar (with $3 well drinks for happy hour and $3 micros at seemingly random intervals). Hell, there’s even karaoke on Friday nights. The folks at Pizza Schmizza nailed the sneighborly feel of those bygone hangouts (you remember—they all had names like “Blinky’s” or “Winky’s” or “Winky-Blinky’s”) from your college days, and there really is something to be said for having a college experience—face-stuffing, pinball-playing, sports-watching—without all that awful college. CASEY JARMAN.
Buffalo Gap Saloon
Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Shocks of Sheba (10:30 pm); Honeymoon (7 pm)
Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St. Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
Alberta Street Public House
1036 NE Alberta St. Ali Wesley, Light Creates Shadow, Shoeshine Blue (9:30 pm); Phillip Gibbs, Rayland Baxter (6:30 pm)
Aloft
9920 NE Cascades Parkway The Andre St. James Trio
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Dan Diresta Quartet
Andrea’s Cha Cha Club 832 SE Grand Ave. Dina and Bamba Y Su Pilon D’Azucar
Artichoke Community Music 3130A SE Hawthorne Blvd. Hans York
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Aranya, Lickity, Tombstalker
Bagdad Theater & Pub
3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Rock N Roll Camp for Girls Showcase
Beaterville Cafe
2201 N Killingsworth St. Carolina Pump Station
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. The Resolectrics
Black Sheep Family Reunion
Tidewater Falls Vacation Resort, E Tidewater Rd., Tidewater, Ore. Lettuce, The Bridge, Wahnderlust, Acoustic Minds, Maca Rey, Carrie Nation and the Speakeasy
Branx
320 SE 2nd Ave. Hype Louis, Delta!Bravo, Kimosabe, The Brightest, Project Sign, So Good
510 NW 11th Ave. Carlos Severe Marcelin
1800 NW Upshur St. Sam Densmore
Centaur Guitar
2833 NE Sandy Blvd. Centaurpalooza: The Vacillators, Wave Sauce, thebrotheregg, Crimson Dynamite, 8-Foot Tender, The Primitive Idols, The Pity Fucks, Cootie Platoon, The Warshers, Don’t, East Side Speed Machine, Boo Frog
Clyde’s Prime Rib
5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Andy Stokes
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. The Accüsed
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Razorblades, Verbtones, Wavesauce
Duke’s
14601 SE Division St. Christian Kane
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Blood Beach, Dark Entries, Hausu
Goodfoot Lounge 2845 SE Stark St. Marv Ellis and the Platform
Hawthorne Hophouse 4111 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Dismal Niche Orchestra
Hawthorne Theatre Lounge 1503 SE 39th Ave. Canoofle
Hawthorne Theatre
3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Cole Reese, Quadrivia, The David Samuel Project, Pseudophiles, The Bottlecap Boys, Left Off Davis, Mr. Crabfeathers, Precision Machine, Rocktaku Opera, Jon Fro
Muddy Rudder Public House
3158 E Burnside St. Otis Heat
Nel Centro
1408 SW 6th Ave. Mike Pardew with Dennis Caiazza
Noho’s Hawaiian Cafe 4627 NE Fremont St. Traditional Hawaiian Music
Oregon Zoo
4001 SW Canyon Road Brandi Carlile, Ivan and Alyosha
Original Halibut’s II 2527 NE Alberta St. AC Porter
PALS Clubhouse
2334 SE 8th Ave. Multiple Personalities Festival: And And And, World’s Greatest Ghosts, Yeah Great Fine, Turbo Perfecto, Hello Electric, Sons of Huns, Porches, Old Age, The We Shared Milk, The Angry Orts, Skip Roxy, Bubble Cats, Animal Eyes, Fanno Creek, Patti King, Ash Reiter
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. A((wake)), Ninja, Gladiators Eat Fire
Powell Butte
16160 Powell Blvd. Toque Libre
Press Club
2621 SE Clinton St. Whistlepunk, Luminous Things
Ravenz Roost Cafe
11121 SE Division St. Music To Read Books By
Red Room
2530 NE 82nd Ave. Ditchdigger, Kingdom Under Fire, Betrayed By Weakness
Secret Society Lounge
Jade Lounge
116 NE Russell St. Celilo, Great Western, Ezza Rose (9 pm); The Portland Playboys (6 pm)
Jimmy Mak’s
Sellwood Public House
2346 SE Ankeny St. Dogtooth 221 NW 10th Ave. King Louis and Sweet Baby James
Katie O’ Brien’s
2809 NE Sandy Blvd. Centaurpalooza: The Disciples of Rock and Roll, The Anxieties, The Food, Thee Chemicals, Dr. Stahl
Kenton Club
2025 N Kilpatrick St. Beyond Veronica, The Caps, The Nickel Slots
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Mighty Ghosts, Whiskey Rebellion, Twisted Whistle (9:30 pm); Tree Frogs (6 pm)
8132 SE 13th Ave. Dick Lappe and Friends
Slim’s Cocktail Bar 8635 N Lombard St. Bumpin’ Nastys
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. We’re From Japan!, Palo Verde, Diaeresis, Lamprey
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave. The Catillacs
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Midnight Serenaders
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. World Club, The Disappointments
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
The Heathman Restaurant and Bar
Mississippi Pizza
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Renegade Minstrels
1001 SW Broadway Halie Loren
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Saloon Ensemble, Ukeladies (9 pm); Supervisor (6 pm); Mr. Ben (4 pm)
426 SW Washington St. Paper Brain, The Buttercream Gang, Growler
Mississippi Studios
71 SW 2nd Ave. The Remasters
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Tally Hall, Speak, Casey Shea (9 pm); Kasey Anderson, The Glorious First of June (4 pm)
Mock Crest Tavern 3435 N Lombard St. Will West and the Friendly Strangers
Mount Tabor Theater
4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Thirsty Lion
Tiger Bar
317 NW Broadway Alabama Black Snake, Deth Proof
Tonic Lounge
3100 NE Sandy Blvd. Xploding Boys, The Band Who Fell To Earth
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. The Tony Starlight Show
Touché Restaurant and Billiards
1425 NW Glisan St. Estrojazz: Kelley Shannon, Laura Cunard, Belinda Underwood
Twilight Café and Bar
1420 SE Powell Blvd. Bryan Minus and The Disconnect, Black Market Sunday
Vie de Boheme
1530 SE 7th Ave. Andy Harrison Band
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar 2929 SE Powell Blvd. Belly Dancing Uncorked
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Billy Kennedy and Tim Acott with Jake Ray
McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern
10000 Old Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro Colleen Raney
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Modal Tease String Band (9 pm); Ladytown, The Disappointments (6 pm)
Mississippi Studios
3939 N Mississippi Ave. MBilly, Sam Cooper
White Eagle Saloon
Mississippi Studios
Wilfs Restaurant & Bar
Muddy Rudder Public House
836 N Russell St. Ben Jordan, Kasey Anderson (9:30 pm); The Student Loan (4:30 pm) Union Station, 800 NW 6th Ave. Devin Phillips Quartet
Zombie Stock 2011
1681 NW Panther Creek Rd., Carlton, Ore. Smoochknob, Toxic Zombie, Rogue Shot, Criminal Mastermind
SUN. JULY 31 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Ruby Hill
Alberta Rose Theatre 3000 NE Alberta St. Matt Schofield
Andina
1314 NW Glisan St. Danny Romero
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Top Dolla, Illa J, Cashis Game, Young Moe and Mikey Vegas, Jlew, DJ Set the Tone
Biddy McGraw’s
6000 NE Glisan St. Felim Egan
Black Sheep Family Reunion
Tidewater Falls Vacation Resort, E Tidewater Rd., Tidewater, Ore. Melvin Seals with JGB, Cast of Clowns, Alice DiMicele Band, Lulacruza, Sugarcane String Band
Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. “Dinner Show” with 2nd Time Through
Bunk Bar
1028 SE Water Ave. Archers, Fling, Deep Sea Diver
Centaur Guitar
2833 NE Sandy Blvd. Centaurpalooza: The Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, Burnside Heroes, Avenue Victor Hugo, The Decliners, Somerset Meadows, Bombs Away!, Flight 19, Dartgun and the Vignettes, 48 Thrills, The Hot LZs, The Welfare State, Minty Rosa, Blue Skies for Black Hearts.
Clyde’s Prime Rib
5474 NE Sandy Blvd. Ron Steen Jazz Jam
Dante’s
350 W Burnside St. Sinferno Cabaret
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. The Alternate Routes, Scattered Trees
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Stolen Sweets
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Sistafist, DJ Sloppy Joe
Ella Street Social Club 714 SW 20th Place Busman’s Holiday
Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Professor Gall
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Pocketknife, Vanimal, Pegasus Dream
8105 SE 7th Ave. Irish Music
NEPO 42
5403 NE 42nd Ave. Open Mic
Oregon Zoo
4001 SW Canyon Road Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, Bruce Hornsby and Noisemakers
Rontoms
600 E Burnside St. Dirty Mittens, Ash Reiter, World’s Greatest Ghosts
Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave. Party At The Moontower, Absent Minds, Faithless Saints, Heart Full of Snakes
Secret Society Lounge
116 NE Russell St. Hanz Araki, Cary Novotny
Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave. Saint Warhead, Sapient, State of the Artist
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Ken Ollis Group
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Karaj Lost Coast
The Slate
2001 NW 19th Ave, Suite 104 Portland Bridge Festival Kick-Off: And And And, Wax Fingers, Housefire, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Solovox (inside); Farafina Foly, Nuestro, Joy Now Foundation, Andrew Gorny, DUSU African Drums, The Amazin’ Jerks (outside)
Tillicum Club
8585 SW BeavertonHillsdale Highway Johnny Martin
Tube
18 NW 3rd Ave. Basement Animal, Honduran
Vie de Boheme
1530 SE 7th Ave. Amedei Cello Ensemble
White Eagle Saloon
836 N Russell St. Open Mic / Songwriter Showcase
MON. AUG. 1 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel 303 SW 12th Ave. Ruby Hill
Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Songwriter’s Circle: Cal Scott, Richard Moore
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Blackhounds, Spooky Moon, The Bumpin Nastys
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. Battery-Powered Music (8 pm); Stereovision, Solovox (7 pm)
CALENDAR Beauty Bar
111 SW Ash St. Van Go Lion, Pink Noise
Doug Fir Lounge
830 E Burnside St. Ben Sollee, Thousands
Duff’s Garage
1635 SE 7th Ave. Lily Wilde Orchestra
East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Misery, Murderess, Lebanon, Peroxide, DJ Smooth Hopperator
Goodfoot Lounge 2845 SE Stark St. Open Mic
Hawthorne Theatre 3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd. This Is Hell, Decoder, Proven, Unrestrained, From Ashes to Grace
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Dan Balmer
Kells
112 SW 2nd Ave. Cary Novotny
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Kung Pao Chickens
McMenamins Edgefield Winery
2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale Skip vonKuske with friends
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Mr. Ben
O’Connors
7850 SW Capitol Highway Kit Garoutte
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery 206 SW Morrison St. Tasha and Kaloku
Sellwood Riverfront Park SE Spokane St. & SE Oaks Pkwy. The Strange Tones
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Hank Hirsh’s Jazz Lounge and Open Jam
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Evan Churchill Band, A La Mode
TUES. AUG. 2 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. Ruby Hill
Ash Street Saloon
225 SW Ash St. Memory Boys, Babyguns, Hornet Leg
Backspace
115 NW 5th Ave. James Dean Kindle & The Eastern Oregon Playboys, Tent City, Christopher McFetridge
Buffalo Gap Saloon
6835 SW Macadam Ave. Open Mic
Bunk Bar
Mississippi Studios
1028 SE Water Ave. Those Darlins, White Arrows, Motopony
Muddy Rudder Public House
Duff’s Garage
3939 N Mississippi Ave. Gabe Dixon, Jarad Miles
8105 SE 7th Ave. Lloyd Jones
1635 SE 7th Ave. Dover Weinberg Quartet (9 pm); Trio Bravo (6 pm)
Ella Street Social Club
Plan B
714 SW 20th Place Here Come Dots, Translation Audio
1305 SE 8th Ave. Heathen Shrine, Scourge Schematic, Compulsive Slasher
Fernhill Park
Rotture
NE 37th Avenue at Ainsworth St. Ty Curtis Band
Goodfoot Lounge
2845 SE Stark St. Scott PembertonTrio
Gypsy Restaurant & Lounge 625 NW 21st Ave. Kent Smith
Jimmy Mak’s
221 NW 10th Ave. Andre St. James, He Said She Said
Kells
112 SW 2nd Ave. Cary Novotny
LaurelThirst
2958 NE Glisan St. Jackstraw
McCoy Park
N Trenton Street & Newman Ave. Home Brew
McMenamins Edgefield Little Red Shed
2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale State and Standard
Milagros Boutique 5433 NE 30th Ave. Mr. Ben
Mississippi Pizza
3552 N Mississippi Ave. Jobo Shakins
Music Millennium
3158 E Burnside St. Keb Mo
Pioneer Courthouse Square 701 SW 6th Ave. Tyler Stenson
315 SE 3rd Ave. The Hunting Accident, System and Station
The Blue Monk
3341 SE Belmont St. Pagan Jug Band
The Globe
2045 SE Belmont St. Bill Coones and Larry Adair
The Knife Shop at Kelly’s Olympian
426 SW Washington St. Beards of Yeast, Tiny Knives
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Eye Candy Music Video Night with Broken Water
Tony Starlight’s
3728 NE Sandy Blvd. Piano Bar with Bo Ayars
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Orca Team, Cafeteria Dance Fever
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar
2929 SE Powell Blvd. Arthur “Fresh Air” Moore Harmonica Party
White Eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Kory Quinn
DJ Roxie Stardust
Spare Room
4830 NE 42nd Ave. Ms. Ms. Get Down
The Crown Room
WED. JULY 27 East End
203 SE Grand Ave. Last Wednesday on the Left with DJ Dennis Dread
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. TRONix: Logical Accession
Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St. Psych Night with Pippa Possible
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. Alex Yusimov
THURS. JULY 28 Al’s Den at the Crystal Hotel
303 SW 12th Ave. DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid
Beauty Bar
111 SW Ash St. Shameless Thursdays: Easter Egg, DJ 3X
Element Restaurant & Lounge
1135 SW Morrison St. Labworks: DJ Apolinario Ancheta, DJ Sappho, DJ Team Sexy
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. DJ Squee, Adam Nicewonger, Punkbaba, Dhug, Hara Isis, The Musturd Hardcrew
Someday Lounge 125 NW 5th Ave.
The Fix: Rev. Shines, KEZ, Dundiggy
The Crown Room
205 NW 4th Ave. Whoo-Haa Hip-Hop with DJ Wels
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. DJ Alonzo Mourning Sickness
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Magic Beans
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Tender, Love ‘n Care Country Night: DJ Gordon Organ, DJ Split Ditch
205 NW 4th Ave. Blown
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Ave. DJ Horrid
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJs vs. Nature
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. DJ E*Rock
SAT. JULY 30 Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Copy, E3, Genevieve D, Lifepartner, Matt Nelkin, Snakks, New Dadz, Invisiboy
Rotture
FRI. JULY 29 Beauty Bar
111 SW Ash St. Fa$t Life: Yo Huckleberry, Danny Merkury
Fez Ballroom
316 SW 11th Ave. Ultragroove: DJ Non, DJ Encrypted
Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. Samuel DJ Jackson
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison St. Snap!: Dr. Adam, Colin Jones, Cosmo Baker
Lola’s Room at the Crystal Ballroom
1332 W Burnside St. ‘80s Video Dance Attack in Lola’s Room
Record Room
8 NE Killingsworth St.
315 SE 3rd Ave. Slutwalk Portland--The Pre-party: DJ Bruce LaBruiser, DJ Kasio Smashio, DJ Linear
Pan
Ted’s/Berbati’s
231 SW Ankeny St. Ted’s Grand Reopening: Akbar Sami with Non Stop Bhangra, Jai Ho! Bhangra Revolution and Prashant
The Crown Room 205 NW 4th Ave. Massive
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Ave. Hong Kong Garden: DJ Paradox, DJ Horrid, DJ Nevermore
The Whiskey Bar
31 NW 1st Ave. Worthy, Simon Says, Dudabank, Swagla
MUSIC
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Maxamillion
SUN. JULY 31 Matador
1967 W Burnside St. Next Big Thing with DJ Donny Don’t
Plan B
1305 SE 8th Ave. Hive with DJ Owen
Valentine’s
232 SW Ankeny St. Light House, Stacian, ExtrAlonE, DJ Remy the Restless
MON. AUG. 1 Ground Kontrol
511 NW Couch St. Service Industrial Night with DJ Tibin
Star Bar
639 SE Morrison St. DJ Blackhawk
The Know
2026 NE Alberta St. Going Mental Mondays with DJ Just Dave
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. DJ Valkyrie
TUES. AUG. 2 Jade Lounge
2346 SE Ankeny St. Zia McCabe
The Crown Room
205 NW 4th Ave. See You Next Tuesday
The Lovecraft
421 SE Grand Ave. DJ Horrid
Tiga
1465 NE Prescott St. Mild Child
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
73
presenTs
roseland theater
neurosis sepT. 10 wiTH grails, yOB & aKiMBO
, OR SE PTE M B E R 7 -1 1, 2011 • P ORTLAN D
Band Of HOrses • iron & wine
explosions in The sky • THe Kills
BuTTHOle surfers • archers of loaf b r an d n ew* • M sTr K r f T* • n e u r o s i s b li n d Pi lot • B liTz e n Trappe r • s e badoh MackleMore & ryan lewis • HandsOMe furs liT Tle d r ag O n • the Vaccines • TH e anTle r s CHarles Bradley • yacht • sHarOn Van eTTen thee oh sees • THe jOy fOrMidaBle* • horse feathers
THe THerMals • dennis coffey • THe HOrrOrs • glass candy Off! • cass MccoMbs band • pHanTOg raM • aVi buffalo r H eTT M i lle r • Mar kéta i rg loVá • Ty s egall • b ig fr e e dia g iVers • kylesa • pOrTland CellO prOjeCT • Pig destroyer the oliVia treMor control • daM-funK & MasTer BlazTer
dOOrs 7 pM
all ages, entry with musicfestnw wristband* or $20 advance ticket
stage at dante’s
kylesa
sepT. 8 wiTH BlaCK COBra, wiTCH MOunTain and neTHer regiOns dOOrs 7 pM
CrOOKe d fi ng e rs • te d leo • r e pTar* • e leanor fr i e db e rg e r grails • eManciPator • TypHOOn • you aM i • sHaBazz palaCes • tennis bobby bare jr. • CenTrO-MaTiC • e Ma • dan Mangan • talkde Mon ic TH e HOOd i nTe r n eT • salli e for d & th e sou n d outs i de • z e Ke THe MOOndOggies • twin sister • THe gaslaMp Killer • Ps i loVe you eluViuM • TH e s O f T M O O n • P u r it y r i n g • Mad r ad • th r o n e s d i rt y b eac h e s • MOr n i ng Te le pOrTaTiOn • aki M bo • an d an d an d yOB • ViVa Voce • unKnOwn MOrTal OrCHesTra • anders Parker ale la dian e • B laCK prai r i e • wh ite ar rows • s le e py s u n yOung BuffalO • white hills • jOe pug • lifesaVas • eMily wells pierCed arrOws • heaVy creaM • riCHMOnd fOnTaine • y la baMba natas ha kM eto • r e B eCCa gaTes • Poison i dea • B laCK COB ra • rtX BOaT • the ladybug transistor • TH e M i n de rs • th e M us ic taPes we i n lan d • rab b its • dOlOr ean • th e M i racles clu b • Bar e wi r es a stor M of lig ht • z u z u Ka pOde rOsa • 80’s Vi deo dance attack HOlCOMBe waller • suuns • dj anjali, THe inCrediBle Kid, e3 & CHaaCH!!! dirTy MiTTens • anais Mitchell • jared Mees & the grown children uMe • Mini Mansions • and Many MOre...
21+, entry with musicfestnw wristband* or $13 at the door
* niKe pr es e nTs
* tic kets & wr istban ds on sale now at all tic ketswest locations i n f o avai l ab l e at m u s i c f e stnw.c o m /ti c k ets
74
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
JULY 27-AUG. 2
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. Most prices listed are for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and so-called convenience charges may apply, so it’s best to call ahead. Editor: BEN WATERHOUSE. Stage: BEN WATERHOUSE (bwaterhouse@wweek. com). Classical: BRETT CAMPBELL (bcampbell@wweek.com). Dance: HEATHER WISNER (dance@wweek.com). TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit information at least two weeks in advance to: bwaterhouse@wweek.com.
THEATER As You Like It
The debut performance of Michael Mendelson’s Portland Shakespeare Project is a triumphant success, presenting one of Shakespeare’s most problematic comedies on an intimate, human scale with an exuberant focus on wordplay. Like almost all directors, Mendelson fails to make much sense of the play’s dour first act, in which the usurping Duke Frederick banishes his daughter and niece from the court on pain of death and then disappears from the story more or less entirely. The production’s 1930s Paris theme is completely incongruous for the first 20 minutes—who is this guy threatening to murder Parisians by the dozen with impunity?—but the show finds its groove as soon as Rosalind and Cecilia settle into their exile in the rainbowhued forest of Arden. Casi Pacilio is sharp and spunky as the cross-dressing Rosalind, and Melissa Whitney makes the eye-rolling most of the underwritten Cecilia. Jill Westerby is enjoyably grouchy as the cross-cast melancholy lord, Jaques, and Andy Lee-Hillstrom and Dana Millican find some over-the-top comedy in the peasant couple Silvius and Phoebe, who are usually given short shrift. The real standout, though, is Darius Pierce as the sardonic fool Touchstone. Pierce doesn’t let a single line go to waste as his elastic face seems to fill the stage with sheepish grimaces and devilish grins. It is a lovely production, and bodes well for the company’s future. BEN WATERHOUSE. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 313-3048. 7:30 pm ThursdaysSaturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays. Closes Aug. 7. $24, $15 students.
Boeing-Boeing
Set in a snazzy Manhattan pad, Boeing-Boeing, a 1960 farce by Marc Camoletti, is centered on the superficial fiancée-juggling of a three-timing joe (Ben Plont) who thinks he’s got it all. Lakewood Theatre Company’s production, directed by Alan Shearman, seeks to follow the current pop-culture penchant for simultaneously fetishizing and subtly mocking ’60s-era society by bringing back laughable male egoism, innocent misogyny, daytime drinking and a handful of Barbie’s muses—as if we have evolved so far that the mere presence of such phenomena constitutes a commentary on them. Make no mistake: Boeing-Boeing is a funny play. Filled with airlinepun innuendo, entertaining portrayals of a militantly German flight attendant (Christy Drogosch) and a dopey 40-Year-Old Virgin-esque Minnesotan (Leif Norby)—not to mention an excellent bra-straddling dance by the aforementioned couple and much-needed snarkiness from a sharp-tongued housekeeper (Lisa Knox)—BoeingBoeing doesn’t disappoint in the laugh department. But in between the gut busts and giggles is a substanceshaped hole that is only highlighted by the very jokes upon which the play’s simple, farcical nature rests: the persistent sly references to the protagonist’s “international harem” or the ease with which such supposed male dunces dupe and seduce the three stewardesses who are known more by their employers’ names than their own. Go to Boeing-Boeing prepared to laugh, but leave your thinking cap at the door. NATALIE BAKER. Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Aug. 21. $25-$28.
Les Misérables
(Sing with me!) Do you hear the people sing? They haven’t stopped in 25 years. It’s a good thing that the show’s good or we’d all be bored to tears. Sure the tickets cost a heap, but have you seen
that massive set? It’s the best musical show you’ll ever geeeeeet. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Tuesday-Friday, 2:30 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday, Aug. 2-7. $28.50-$117.90.
The Miser
Masque Alfresco performs Molière at various locations in the western suburbs. See masquealfresco.com for details. Multiple locations, 422-0195. 6:30 pm Fridays-Sundays through Aug. 28. Free.
Much Ado About Nothing
Are you sick of outdoor Shakespeare yet? Too bad! Asae Dean directs that one with Keanu Reeves in it at various parks around Portland. See portlandactors.org for the full schedule. Multiple locations 3 pm Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 4 and Monday, Sept. 5. Free.
My Name Is Bill
Poet and performer William Alton performs an autobiographical solos show about his awful childhood: His dad shot his dog and beat his mom (with a coffee table!), he nearly died of a brain injury, he was addicted to heroin, he he was homeless, he was crazy, his loved ones died. ‘Least they didn’t name him Sue. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St. 7:30 pm Saturday, July 30. $15.
An Oak Tree
In 1973, an artist named Michael CraigMartin put a glass of water on a glass bathroom shelf and insisted it was an oak tree. In 2006, the playwright and actor Tim Crouch responded to CraigMartin by conducting a psychological experiment and calling it a play. It is a work for one performer and one victim: The performer is Dennis Kelly, who plays a hypnotist whose mesmeric chops have failed him ever since he struck a 12-year-old girl with his car, killing her. The victim, who is played by a different actor each night of the run, is the girl’s distraught father. The actors do not know this. Indeed, for the piece to work as Crouch intended, they must know nothing whatsoever about the performance. Each night, the actor playing the father enters the theater with the rest of the audience, takes the stage when the hypnotist asks, and does whatever he tells him (or her) to do. The hypnotist does not realize, at first, that his volunteer is the father of the girl. As the situation slowly dawns on him, the distinctions between what is stage direction and what is hypnotic command grow fuzzy. At one point, he breaks to ask the actor playing the father what he thinks of the whole endeavor, but the answers are scripted. Ultimately, An Oak Tree is not about a dead girl but about power dynamics and control. I assume that the performance you see will not be the one I saw (with Matthew Kern, who was very game, as the father), but it will definitely be a strange and maybe mesmeric experience. BEN WATERHOUSE. Lincoln Hall, Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Ave., osarlab@gmail.com. 8 pm Wednesday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, July 27-31. $10 suggested donation.
Original Practice Shakespeare Festival
Nothing says summer in Portland like free theater in the park. The Original Practice Shakespeare Festival performs the Bard’s plays the way they were purportedly done four centuries ago at the Globe—outdoors, with little rehearsal, in front of a boisterous audience. Actors rehearse only their own lines before being thrown onstage (grass, technically) where they must improvise their blocking on the fly. A god-like prompter rescues actors’ missed cues and salvages interruptions from public park noise with demands for actors to waltz, sing and invent.
Now in its third year, the company is performing A Midsommer Nights Dream, Much Adoe About Nothing and Twelfe Night in parks around Portland and Oregon (the spelling is as originalist as the performances). Fastpaced plots full of crossed identities, crude humor dressed in Old English, and a vocal audience wielding blankets, boxed wine, “boos” and “ahhs”— this is Shakespeare at its finest. STACY BROWNHILL. Multiple locations Times vary, see opsfest.org. Free.
Staged! Birthday Bash
The musical theater company throws a big fundraising cabaret, with performances from Susannah Mars, Tobias Anderson, Todd Tschida, Elizabeth Klinger, Eric Nordin and Jeffrey Childs. Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E Burnside St., 971-322-5723. 8-11 pm Thursday, July 28. $50. 21+.
The Tempest, or The Enchanted Isle
The Tempest is a play I always remember fondly but never enjoy when I actually read or see it. It was Shakespeare’s last solo work (three awful collaborations with other playwrights followed), and his mind seems to have been wandering as he vacillated between comedy and tragedy. It has none of the verve of his early comedies, and many of its speeches are leaden. While modern directors produce the play far more frequently than it deserves, Shakespeare’s contemporaries realized it was a promising failure. In 1667 his godson, William Davenant, and the poet John Dryden rewrote the play to give it a royalist bent (the monarchy had just been restored) and, more important, adding a lot of bawdy comedy. Among their additions were several new characters: sisters for Miranda and Caliban and a foster son for Prospero, plus a sidekick for Stephano named Mustacho. Dryden and Davenant’s take was the preferred version until the 1840s, when the original regained popularity. Now Bag&Baggage director Scott Palmer, himself a prolific adapter of Shakespeare, has taken the Davenant/ Dryden script, shaved off some 2 1/2 hours and given the whole affair a glam-rock theme. If you’re sick of over-reverent or, worse, awkwardly conceptual productions of the Canon, this one should be a welcome break. BEN WATERHOUSE. Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza, 164 E Main St., Hillsboro, 345-9590. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays through Aug. 13. $14.
Trek in the Park
Seating space: the final frontier. Rapidly growing and ever more eclectic crowds have overwhelmed the smallish amphitheater within Northeast Portland’s Woodlawn Park to catch a performance of the third season of Trek in the Park. Refashioning a different voyage of the Starship Enterprise each year, Atomic Arts this summer chose parallel universe potboiler “Mirror, Mirror,” a fan favorite renowned for equating trimmed facial hair with palpable evil. Thanks to broad performances and a cheekily DIY aesthetic, the stripped-down spectacle remained shamefully captivating from a distance, aided by source material containing little more than inexplicably exultant expository passages. Much as the well orchestrated flourishes of kitsch-chic smartly nudged proceedings away from empty camp hijinks, the most revelatory moments came about when the crowds quieted and helplessly began to pay attention. No matter the dopey grandiloquence of the orations or absurdity of the setting, the physicality of the actors ennobled the stupidest of story lines, particularly when set against the ham-fisted edits and fixed camera shots we all dimly remember from the original program. The weaknesses of some portrayals momentarily seemed an inspired artistic decision. As Spock, Jesse Graff commanded the park with a magnetic portrayal of the malevolent doppelganger. Through force of presence and a considerable height advantage, Graff literally towered over Adam Rosko’s empty swagger until, at once, the captain came thrillingly alive during an extended and near balletic brawl between the two that
silenced even the corgis. For better or worse, these characters still hold a lingering resonance for generations of Americans; sometimes, to rediscover all that was once vital and incandescent of myths too often told, you have to explore strange new worlds. JAY HORTON. Woodlawn Park, Northeast 13th Avenue and Dekum Street, trekinthepark.com. 5 pm SaturdaySunday, July 30-31. Free.
You Don’t Know What Art I$
Prolific vandal Joey Krebs, he of the first Rage Against the Machine album cover, exhorts over and over that we don’t know what art is, or various things that rhyme with “art” are, as the conclusion of his month-long show at Milepost 5. Eat Art Theater, 850 NE 81st Ave., 548-4096. 6-10 pm Saturday, July 30. Free.
COMEDY
talent. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8:30 pm Fridays through Aug. 5. $8.
Mice-tro
Put 16 improv actors onstage with a voice-of-God maestro pitting them against each other and the audience voting them off, and what do you get? The actors take cues from the audience, asking them to shout out a hardware object (“hammer!”) or scenario (“rehab intervention!”) or sentence (“do not step on my begonias!”), which they instantly incorporate into their skits. STACY BROWNHILL. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 8 pm Saturday, July 30. $8-$12.
Mixology
A monthly late-night comedy variety show with sketch, improv and standup. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 477-9477. 10 pm the last Saturday of every month. $5.
Fly-Ass Jokes
Ian Karmel and Tom Johnson headline a weekly showcase of West Coast
CONT. on page 76
REVIEW GORILLA BOMB PRODUCTIONS
PERFORMANCE
THE TOOTH OF CRIME (SECOND DANCE) (CONTAGIOUS THEATRE) Sam Shepard’s rock-’n’-roll homicides.
Rock ’n’ roll and stage drama haven’t always made the best of pairings, but, despite a snarling bluesbar-of-the-damned T Bone Burnett score ably wrangled by live band Outland Prey, The Tooth of Crime isn’t really about rock (nor crime, nor dentistry). Sam Shepard’s 1972 play, currently presented by Contagious Theatre at the Hostess, employs the devil’s music as the fundamental signifier of a culture not so much bankrupt as endlessly mortgaged, torn between a fundamental regard for the purity of its origins and the addictive grasping for novelty as an end to itself. Set in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic United States, the play’s recurrent nods to distant cities ground narrative flights of fancy while shaping the wisps of lyrical delirium as a peculiarly American obsession with (and acceptance of ) self-mythologizing. Hoss, our antihero (a callow Chris Cornell in this telling), flits from cowboy to gangster to petulant, preening frontman amid dizzying wordplay that only vaguely defines the parameters of a dystopian elsewhere governed by blood lust and notions of expressly quantified fulfillment. After laying waste to areas of the Southwest and proving himself time and again through “sanctioned” kills evaluated by professional referees sent for the purpose, he’s near the top of…someone’s charts, though uneasy lies the head that wears the nu-metal Van Dyke. Consumed with fears his moment has passed, begging perspective from a raved-up DJ and a steampunk astrologer, doubting reassurances of groupie and gang (and drugs administered by a pointedly hoarse opera doctor), Hoss eventually embraces the challenge of a young interloper to mortal combat by beat poetry slam. None of it’s meant to be taken terribly seriously, so far as plot and characters are concerned, but the helter-skelter effluvia of jargon and rhythmic certainties of bop monologues shrug an addled gravity of intent. Precisely irrigated streams of consciousness reward the notes they don’t say, and the streamlined production nastily evokes the shadows looming over a society born to value only rock ’n’ roll but not, perhaps, like it. JAY HORTON. SEE IT: The Hostess, 538 SE Ash St. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, July 28-31. $15. All ages.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
75
JULY 27-AUG. 2 MAUREEN FREEHILL
PERFORMANCE JUL
27 JASON FELCH / Chasing Aphrodite (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) Exposes the layer of dirt beneath the polished facade of the museum business. WED / 27TH / 7:30P DOWNTOWN
TONY FAVILLE / Kings of the Dead (Permuted Press)
A swine flu virus mutates and begins to reanimate the dead. THU / 28TH / 7P CEDAR HILLS
COLLEEN MORTON BUSCH / Fire Monks (Penguin Press) A group of monks who summoned the intuition and wisdom to face a crisis with startling clarity. THU / 28TH / 7:30P HAWTHORNE
NICK GILLESPIE / The Declaration of Independents (PublicAffairs)
A manifesto on behalf of a libertarian system based on free minds and free markets. MON / 1ST / 7:30P DOWNTOWN
DEVON MONK / Dead Iron (Roc) Men, monsters, machines, and magic battle for the same scrap of earth and sky. TUE / 2ND / 7P CEDAR HILLS
ELIZABETH MATTIS-NAMGYEL / The Power of an Open Question (Shambhala)
Proposes that we access our deepest intelligence by asking better questions. TUE / 2ND / 7:30P DOWNTOWN
BRIAN BOONE / I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll (Except When I Hate It) Celebrates the music worldís flashes of genius as well as its entertainingly bad ideas. WED / 3RD / 7:30P DOWNTOWN
FIRST THURSDAY: No Dust Here Fifty artists interpret the cover art of discarded record albums. THU / 4TH / 6:30P DOWNTOWN
CHRISTINE SHEARER / Kivalina: A Climate Change Story (Haymarket) Account of the danger to an Alaskan village as a result of climate change ñ and corporate greed. THU / 4TH / 7:30P HAWTH
Visit POWELLS.COM/CALENDAR for further details and to sign up for our EVENTS NEWSLETTER.
FARM DANCES: Haruko Nishimura.
DANCE A Month of Sundays
Linda Austin dances her way through a work in progress every Sunday in July, accompanied by a different choreographer each time. This week: Philippe Bronchtein, plus a reprise of Combo No. 2 with Austin, Jin Camou and Esther LaPointe-Jensen. Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave., 777-1907. 7 pm Sunday, July 31. $8-$25.
Farm Dances
Degenerate Art Ensemble cofounder Haruko Nishimura takes dance further afield—literally—with Farm Dances, an evening of sitespecific performance using the local landscape as both stage and creative springboard. Nishimura will be joined by local butoh specialists Mizu Desierto, Tracy Broyles and Kestrel Gates, as well as students from PSU’s Permaculture and Butoh Course, a collaboration between the university’s Center for Japanese Studies and Institute for Sustainable Solutions. Find out first-hand the many ways movement and nature intersect; audience participation is encouraged. Prior Day Farm, 9233 N Bristol Ave. 7 pm Friday, July 29. $10-$15.
CLASSICAL MUSIC, ETC. 3 Leg Torso
I’ve seen at least a dozen performances by Portland’s favorite world-chamber-pop outfit over the years, yet there I was, with about 50 other damp fans, standing in the drizzle at Portland Farmers Market a few weeks ago to hear their ever-fresh sounds and banter again. They’re that delightful, and that durable. The revived jazz club will be a more congenial setting. The Blue Monk, 3341 SE Belmont St., 503-595-0575. 9 pm Friday, July 29. $10. 21+.
Abbey Bach Festival
At the idyllic monastery, the 40th annual service and concert series opens with Wednesday’s organ music by Debra Huddleston at 6 pm, followed by a Bach-BeethovenBrahms program by cellist Hekun Wu and pianist Elise Yun at 8 pm. Thursday, the sublime women’s vocal ensemble In Mulieribus takes the early slot, followed by guitarist Daniel Bolshoy and cellist Paul Marleyn playing J.S. Bach, Villa Lobos, Falla, Granados, Jobim and Bonfa. Israeli pianist Alon Goldstein follows In Mulieribus again on Friday, playing music from Bach’s cantatas plus striking 20th century works from Gyorgy Ligeti and Alberto Ginastera and Chopin preludes. Dinner included. Mount Angel Abbey, 1 Abbey Drive, St. Benedict, 845-3066. WednesdayFriday, July 27-29. $45-$125.
NEWS 76
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
PAGE 7
Amadei Cello Ensemble
An eclectic program of music from
Bach to Beatles. Vie de Boheme, 1530 SE 7th Ave., 360-1233. 6 pm Sunday, July 31. $5. 21+.
Filmusik
The good: It’s about time this enormously popular series that straps live original music to moldering old movies got around to ’70s spaghetti westerns. This time, it’s 1972’s The Grand Duel, a.k.a Storm Rider, featuring music by Federale, a band that includes members of Brian Jonestown Massacre and dedicated to recapturing that early-’60s Italian western cinema sound. The lush live soundtrack employs male choir, timpani, flutes, guitar, drums, harmonica, rattles trumpet, keyboards and of course ominous whistling. The bad: no Ennio or Sergio. The ugly: Lee van Cleef, you’re no Clint. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 281-4215. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, July 28-30. $10-$12.
Loveness Wesa and the Bantus
Zimbabwe meets China in Portland as the bubbly band’s Afro-pop sound closes the Tuesdays by Twilight series at the Chinese Garden. Lan Su Chinese Garden, Northwest 3rd Avenue and Everett Street, 228-8131. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Aug. 2. $21-$24.
Portland Festival Symphony
Lajos Balogh’s annual summer ritual—family-friendly free concerts in the park—feature The Toy Symphony, which may or may not have been composed by Haydn, and Prokofiev’s kid favorite Peter and the Wolf. Saturday’s show also includes Arban’s Carnival of Venice, Weiner’s Divertimento and excerpts from Goldmark’s popular Wedding Symphony. Sunday’s show has von Suppé’s famous Cavalry charge, brass music by Gabrieli and Lombardi and Berlioz’s Hungarian March. Cathedral Park, North Edison Street and Pittsburg Avenue 6 pm Saturday. Peninsula Park, North Ainsworth Street and Albina Avenue, portlandfestivalsymphony.org.. 6 pm Sunday Free.
Portland Summer Sings
The month-long series concludes with Steven Zopfi conducting members of Portland Symphonic Choir and anyone else who shows up in Carl Orff’s ever popular Carmina Burana. Oh four tuna! Moriarty Fine Arts Center at PCC, 705 N Killingsworth St., pschoir.org. 7 pm Wednesday, July 27. $10.
Portland Summerfest
Veteran opera bass and Portland native Gustav Andreassen sings opera and musical theater favorites, accompanied by pianist Rodney Menn. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 147 NW 19th Ave., portlandsummerfest.org. 3 pm Sunday, July 31. Free.
For more Performance listings, visit
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
shark, fox, otter, moose, pelican and chimpanzee. That this frothy silliness is the highlight of the show tells you something about the lowlights. Compound, 107 NW 5th Ave., 796-2733. Closes July 30.
Nancy Lorenz
Opulence is the key to Nancy Lorenz’s mixed-media paintings. Using silver leaf, amethyst, rock crystal, and mother-of-pearl, she crafts luxuriant fantasias that reference the natural world using natural materials in a way similar to that employed by Walla Walla-based artist Ian Boyden, who shows at Augen. Still, although Lorenz’s works are materially rich, they are chromatically restrained, creating an appealing dissonance between effulgence and subtlety. PDX Contemporary, 925 NW Flanders St., 222-0063. Closes July 30.
Find us at our two new locations: Taste the Woodstock Difference Farmer’s Market, Sundays between CASA 9-1pm; Milwaukie’s A Farmer’s Market, LE Sundays 9:30-2pm SR
M TA
There is something eerie and otherworldly in Brad Carlile’s photographs. The prints in Tempus Incognitus show hotel rooms around the world photographed on slide film. Long exposures impart a richly saturated, thoroughly unnatural, and perversely arousing panoply of hues. The Independent, 530 NW 12th Ave. Closes Aug. 7.
& Wine
M
Brad Carlile
Beer
AR
By RICHARD SPEER. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit show information—including opening and closing dates, gallery address and phone number—at least two weeks in advance to: Visual Arts, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: rspeer@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115. Emailed press releases must be backed up by a faxed or printed copy.
New Hours: Open Tues-Thurs, 11-3pm; Fri, Sat, 11-9pm, SPARAGUS and Sun 10-8pm. A F Closed Mondays. Y
40
Varieties of Gourmet Tamales
DE
AN T
Now Serving
JULY 27-AUG. 2
CAN B
VISUAL ARTS
UR E S TA
• Vegan & vegetarian tamales • Weekly specials • Catering Available
503.654.4423 • 10605 SE Main St. Milwaukie, OR www.CanbyAsparagusFarm.com
Delivery & Shipping Available
Contemporary Northwest Art Awards
BERENICE ABBOTT’S NIGHTVIEW, NEW YORK, 1932 AT CHARLES HARTMAN
NOW SHOWING Cynthia Mosser
Cynthia Mosser’s paintings stay on the cute side of the slippery slope separating cute from cutesy. Past shows have featured imagery evoking the world of plants and protozoa, but in this new body of work, Eggs Obsession, she combines drippy, droopy, gloopy hanging motifs with ovular forms that hark back to Carl Fabergé and the Easter Bunny. How can work this whimsical avoid toppling over into the cloying? We have no idea, and we’re not asking why. Sometimes you just have to trust your eye. Augen DeSoto, 716 NW Davis St., 546-5056. Closes July 30.
Recent Graduates Exhibition
For the 15th year in a row, Blackfish presents a group show featuring work by recent visual arts graduates of Oregon colleges and universities. Thirty artists from 15 schools present work across a gamut of media, and while much of the exhibition looks like you would expect recent graduates’ work to look like (formative, transitional and just plain green), there are some exceptions. The most notable is Willamette University grad Chelsea Ibarra, whose sumptuous black-and-white nighttime photograph of a lone park bench uses all the bells and whistles in a photographer’s arsenal in the service of an overarching mood. With its heightened differentials in light scale articulating each of hundreds of tree leaves in the glow of lamplight, the piece is a haunting, melancholy nocturne. Blackfish, 420 NW 9th Ave., 224-2634. Closes July 30.
Ming Fay
If you’ve been to the Oregon Convention Center, you’ve seen Ming Fay’s mobile sculpture hanging from the ceiling, looking like a gargantuan opium poppy. In Butters’ 20-year retrospective, Fay presents smaller versions of his gloopily organic pieces, which, according to your taste, will strike you either as droll, fantastical artifacts from
the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or as oversized chewing-gum wads that have been eaten by a dog, shat out three days later, and strung up on tree branches to slowly petrify. Butters, 520 NW Davis St., 248-9378. Closes July 30.
Berenice Abbott
An assistant to legendary artist Man Ray in Paris during the 1920s, photographer Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) came into her own as an artist in her own right the following decade in New York City. Her works from that place and period stand among the most accomplished of her career. Immaculately composed, the prints capture the twinkly city grids and diffused light of the “city that never sleeps.” Their sole drawback is that they are so immaculate that something of the city’s heart gets lost; there is much of New York’s scene and “seen” communicated here but little of its cacophanic sounds, smells and claustrophobic bustle. Charles A. Hartman, 134 NW 8th Ave., 287-3886. Closes July 30.
Joe Bartholomew
In Girih Extended, Joe Bartholomew uses computer programs to riff on medieval “girih” patterns of traditional Islamic tilework. After altering the patterns and programming them into an incising tool, the artist lets a digitally controlled spinning drill bit cut them into blocks made of plastic, paper and resin. However, it is in his glass pieces, which are hand-cut, that Bartholomew shines most brightly. The works’ surface irregularities—which is to say, imperfections—impart a soul that a computer program never could. Chambers, 916 NW Flanders St., 227-9398. Closes Aug. 27.
Group Show
In an otherwise mediocre group show, Ryan Berkley’s colored-pencil and marker drawings stand out for their impish humor. In the style of late-1800s portraits and political banners, Berkley has cast a menagerie of whimsical animals, clothed in period dress: a hammerhead
At its mission—cherry-picking a handful of mostly superlative, mostly thematically unrelated artists from around the region— the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards succeeds as a dynamic and thoroughly compelling show. Chris Antemann’s porcelain sculptures nod to Jeff Koons and Rococo painters such as Fragonard and Boucher, while reversing the Rococo taste for placing scantily clad women in the role of carnal playthings. Antemann, by contrast, casts men in that role, stripping them of all clothing and giving them cute little porcelain erections with goldplated pubic hair. Among the other artists, Megan Murphy contributes gauzy waterscapes with a silvery, pearlescent finish, while Jerry Iverson’s sumi ink works evoke tree branches and Susie Lee’s HD videos add a poignant contemporary spin on characters drawn from ancient Greek mythology and the paintings of Francisco Goya. Spatially and conceptually, this is an engaging and dynamic show. In short: Bravo, and more, please. Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-2811. Closes Sept. 11.
Matthew Picton
Blending his update of 1960s and ’70s Land Art with an interest in text-based work, British-American artist Matthew Picton creates a kind of topographical-typographical hybrid in his latest wall sculptures and prints. A piece titled Portland is based on Ursula Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven and incorporates text from the novel, which is set in Portland around the hypothetical eruption of Mount Hood. As always, Picton’s approach is obsessively detailed and conceptually rigorous. Pulliam, 929 NW Flanders St., 228-6665. Closes July 30.
Ellen George and Jerry Mayer
Ellen George and Jerry Mayer collaborate on the installation Splace, an intriguing title that intimates the splicing of a space according to spontaneity and chance. These artists have long histories in the Northwest, so it will be a treat to see what they come up with working together in Nine Gallery, a small and boxy space that is inventively curated almost without fail. Nine Gallery (122 NW 8th Ave., inside Blue Sky Gallery). Closes July 31.
For more Visual Arts listings, visit Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
77
BOOKS
JULY 27-AUG. 2
= WW Pick. Highly recommended. By NATASHA GEILING. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit lecture or reading information at least two weeks in advance to: WORDS, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: words@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27 Chasing Aphrodite
From its earliest days, the acquisitiveness enabled by the J. Paul Getty Museum’s almost unbounded wealth was a curse rather than a blessing for the institution. Chasing Aphrodite by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino of the Los Angeles Times traces how the Getty knowingly bought classical antiquities looted from countries like Greece and Italy for decades while at the same time pushing for museum reforms to end the illegal trade. It’s a masterpiece of classic investigative journalism, which the Pulitzer Prize finalists pieced together from internal documents leaked to them by confidential sources within the Getty. With these documents, the reporters, like museum conservators, have meticulously restored a breathtaking story of institutional hubris as arresting as any Greek sculptures. MATT BUCKINGHAM. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free. Read a full review of this book on wweek.com.
Rough Copy Reading
This month’s Rough Copy reading will feature Indigo Editing editorial staff members Ali McCart, Kristin Thiel and Susan DeFreitas. Canvas Art Bar & Bistro, 1800 NW Upshur St., 206-6964. 7 pm. Free.
THURSDAY, JULY 28 Diane Simmons
Diane Simmons stops by Broadway
Books to read from her new collection of short stories, Little America—an ode to the summer desire to jump in the car and take a drive down the road to anywhere. Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 284-1726. 7 pm. Free.
Fire Monks
Colleen Morton Busch’s Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire at the Gates of Tassajara chronicles the story of five monks who risked their lives battling a wildfire that surrounded the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California. Powell’s on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free.
SATURDAY, JULY 30 NW Book Festival
More than 50 local authors, publishers and bookstores stake their claim to Pioneer Courthouse Square for the Northwest Book Festival. Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th Ave. 11 am-6 pm. Free.
MONDAY, AUG. 1 The Fabulous Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison has led a life worthy of his novels, from joining a carnival at age 13 to marching on Selma with Martin Luther King Jr. Join Portland actor David Loftus as he brings Ellison’s fantastical fiction and nonfiction to life during this month’s installment of Story Time for Grownups. Grendel’s Coffee House, 729 E Burnside St., 595-9550. 7:30 pm.
Nick Gillespie
In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned the nation to be wary of polarizing political parties. More than 200 years later, Nick Gillespie echoes this forgotten advice in his new book, written with Matt Welch, The Declaration of Independents, a manifesto aimed at forging a government that doesn’t rely on party politics. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm. Free.
Poetry and Jazz
Break out your horn-rimmed glasses and prepare to be transported back to an earlier time when poetry and jazz waltzed hand in hand through smoke-filled bars and bistros; poets Dan Raphael, Laura Winter and Christopher Luna will each team up with jazz saxophonist Rich Halley and drummer Carson Halley for an individual performance of words and riffs at Shemanski Park. Shemanski Park, Southwest Park Avenue & Southwest Salmon Street. 7 pm. Free.
TUESDAY, AUG. 2 The Portland Plan
In March, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability revealed its three-year strategic plan for the city, which set the framework for everything from waste reduction to solar technologies. Join Susan Anderson, the director of the Bureau, for a discussion of the plan, how it will affect you and what you can do to influence future planning. 6 pm. $35. Email amy@pdxcityclub. org to register or for details.
For more Words listings, visit
REVIEW
ANDERS NILSEN BIG QUESTIONS It’s hard to explain Anders Nilsen’s Big Ques- their curiosity over the mysterious human world tions (Drawn and Quarterly, $69.95) without feels very much like human questioning of God: confusing people, because Big Questions leaves Some birds are reverent while some just want to the reader with so many Little Questions, all of keep their distance from the chaos the humans which sound entirely crazy. “Is the pilot really bring to the table. on the lam after murdering someone? How does But that’s about where the thing stops making he talk to geese, and what are the geese saying? sense in any traditional way. Those familiar with Why does the snake feel such an allegiance to Nilsen’s previous works for the Fantagraphics the finch named Alger? And the imprint (which can look and underground lair—is that aniread a bit like vastly expanded mal heaven? Animal hell? Why versions of Stanley Donwood’s isn’t the finch named Charlotte liner notes for Radiohead’s there in the caves, sleeping with OK Computer) know that he the other birds?” enjoys playing with the tension There, you see? Crazy. And between philosophical crises on one hand, Nilsen’s graphic and everyday bullshit, a torch novel is as absurd as those Big Questions grabs and runs questions—it’s a 585-page story with, even if it makes some con(notably bulkier than your cessions in the way of plot resoaverage motel Bible) that took lution to keep the reader from Nilsen 15 years to complete. It going insane. Still, the book features about a dozen finch ends with some fortune cookieprotagonists who are, confusstyle wisdom and a belch. ingly, all drawn exactly the same Of course, that’s what’s so way and set against a wide- The bird gods must be crazy. special about the medium of screen rural landscape. To keep comics. Big Questions doesn’t the finches company, other animals drift in and have to tie all the loose ends together to make for out of frame: There are the eternally teenaged, a satisfying read: The satisfaction comes from shit-talking crows, the nervous squirrels—who watching Nilsen’s talent grow with each passing always suspect foul play—and a few key humans page and knowing that the epic comic you’ve just who speak far less often than the finches (all of finished is the artist’s first, and also most recent, whom are quite intellectually capable and self- work of art. CASEY JARMAN. aware, if often anxiety-stricken). While much of the book is idle chatter between GO: Anders Nilsen presents a slide show, reading and signing for Big Questions at birds—a sort of Seinfeld of the trees—the finches Floating World Comics, 20 NW 5th Ave., No. do have large-scale dramas to contend with, and 101, 241-0227. 6 pm Friday, July 29. Free. 78
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
JULY 27-AUG. 2 REVIEW
= WW Pick. Highly recommended.
BEN GLASS
SCREEN
Editor: AARON MESH. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, send screening information at least two weeks in advance to Screen, WW, 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: amesh@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.
NEW
The Arbor
87 A prismatic docudrama-cum-oral
history delving into the short, sad life and death of playwright Andrea Dunbar (Rita, Sue and Bob Too) and the fractured family she left in her wake, Clio Barnard’s The Arbor throws it all at the wall: “interviews” with performers lip-syncing to monologues by the real Dunbars, archival BBC footage of the doomed writer, and street-theater versions of the play that gives this odd and transfixing film its name. The uncanny ventriloquism, which recalls a profoundly depressing liveaction version of Aardman’s Creature Comforts, is as thrilling to witness as any expert parlor trick, but Barnard’s up to something more important than throwing voices around the room—the film is ultimately a probe into the documentary form, a harsh light swung onto the embellishments and fabrications that allow real lives to sing on screen. When the unwaveringly solemn tone meets a tragic tale of addiction, the final act veers into maudlin antidrug PSA territory, but the film is a risky high-wire dance, and Barnard earns a few sways and stumbles along the way. CHRIS STAMM. Living Room Theaters.
Bad Teacher
32 It should have been a riot: Potsmoking, binge-drinking, cleavagebaring Cameron Diaz corrupting junior-high kids and getting down and dirty in the teacher’s lounge sounds like a decadent blast. Trouble is, Bad Teacher is neither dirty enough to make the shtick work as an exercise in shock vulgarity, nor rich enough in character to make its small moments of sentimentality seem anything but forced. It’s an SNL skit stretched out to 90 minutes of forced predictability: Watch Diaz don Daisy Dukes at the school car wash. Watch her drug a standardized-testing official while promising to let him ball her on his desk. Listen to her say “fuck” in front of children (something the film relies on heavily for laughs). Or, better yet, just don’t watch her. Rent Bad Santa. If you really need another Cameron Diaz semen joke, just pop in a copy of There’s Something About Mary and save yourself the trouble of watching her make Timberlake splooge in his pants during a dry humping session. R. AP KRYZA. Forest, Lloyd Mall.
NEW Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
74 Anyone coming into this documen-
tary on hyper-influential rap foursome A Tribe Called Quest expecting mad drama is going to be disappointed. It’s almost false advertising: In the run-up to its release, much of the publicity for the film focused on the beef between director Michael Rapaport and group leader Kamaal “Q-Tip” Fareed, who refused to endorse the finished product. It’s hard to see what he was so upset about. Yes, Rapaport plays up the ongoing passive-aggressive tension between Fareed and his boyhood friend, Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor, and neither one comes across looking particularly mature. In between the talking-head segments of the pair bitching about each other, however, is a pretty standard music doc, one made with such obvious adoration it borders on hagiography. Rightfully so: In the early ’90s, the quartet—rounded out by DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad and rapper Jarobi White—released three visionary albums (the group now more or less disavows its last two records) that persuaded even 14-year-old rockists such as myself to appreciate hip-hop as an art form. Beats Rhymes & Life gets its energy from that music, not Fareed and Taylor’s squabbles. And hey, there’s even an “it’s all good now” coda to send everyone home happy. MATTHEW SINGER. Cinema 21.
Beginners
56 For all the big topics director Mike Mills addresses in this little dramedy—
death and grief, repressed homosexuality, the idea that life starts whenever we’re ready for it—the thing most people will leave thinking is, “Boy, that dog sure was cute.” They’re not wrong. Arthur, a clingy Jack Russell terrier Ewan McGregor inherits after his father (Christopher Plummer) passes away, is the fourth most important character in Beginners, the second most interesting and definitely the most adorable. It’s probably not what Mills would want audiences to take away from the film, but then, he shouldn’t have had the dog “speak” to McGregor in subtitled pearls of wisdom. That kind of irksome preciousness, of which there are many other examples, undermines the genuinely moving story—apparently semi-autobiographical for Mills—of a thirty-something graphic designer coming to terms with the fact that his dad has come out of the closet at age 75. Plummer and McGregor salvage some true heart from underneath the piles of quirk, but as the timeline skips around McGregor ends up spending half the movie stuck in a tepid romance with a sexy mound of tousled hair named Anna (Melanie Laurent of Inglorious Basterds). Mills would’ve been better off cutting the girl and focusing solely on the father-son relationship. Keep Arthur, though. Boy, is he cute. MATTHEW SINGER. Fox Tower, Hollywood Theatre.
Bridesmaids
60 There is something a little labored about Bridesmaids, as if director Paul Feig and star Kristen Wiig were trying to compensate for a decade of Judd Apatow’s dong jokes by bypassing the genitalia and going straight for the universally scatological. I don’t think it makes me a chauvinist if, when a movie climaxes with two people screaming in public about their bleached assholes, I feel a little sorry for them. R. AARON MESH. 99 West Drive-In, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Bridgeport, City Center, Lloyd Mall.
Buck
78 “God had him in mind when He
made a cowboy,” a friend says of Dan “Buck” Brannaman, the country’s foremost “horse whisperer.” Maybe so, but when Hollywood made up its version of a cowboy, it certainly didn’t have a guy like Brannaman in mind. Exuding Zenlike calm rather than macho stoicism and speaking in a twangy monotone, Brannaman doesn’t make an obvious subject for a compelling documentary, but director Cindy Meehl achieves one anyway. She avoids mythicizing Brannaman’s gift, instead probing the deep childhood pain he transformed into powerful interspecies empathy. Abused by his father, he found solace in horsemanship, eventually coming to describe himself as a kind of therapist who assists “horses with people problems.” There’s a glint of lingering torture behind his eyes, suggesting the reason he stays on the road, away from his family, hosting clinics nine months out of the year is that he’s still using horses to work out his own people problems. Subtly underlining that current of anguish, Meehl elevates Buck above the cute, Disneyfied profile it might have been in someone else’s hands. PG. MATTHEW SINGER. Hollywood Theatre, Living Room Theaters.
Captain America: The First Avenger
70 Patriot, super-soldier and the most violent Ultimate Frisbee player in history, Captain America finally gets the proper big screen treatment after nearly 70 years with Captain America: The First Avenger, an obligatory origin story and extended commercial for next year’s The Avengers. With Chris Evans (previously the only watchable part of Marvel’s failed Fantastic Four) sporting red-white-and-blue tights as wimp-turned World War II icon Steve Rogers, First Avenger is
CONT. on page 80
A BUSHEL AND A PEC: Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
COLOGNE AGAIN, NATURALLY RYAN GOSLING WAFTS THROUGH CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE—AND IT EARNS THE TITLE. BY AA RON ME S H amesh@wweek.com
Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s favorite romantic move is the shocker. The directing team’s two films, both romcoms of a strange sort, have featured the kind of elaborately constructed third-act reversals more commonly associated with heist or horror movies. The ruse they attempt in Crazy, Stupid, Love may be even more brazen than the one in I Love You, Phillip Morris—and the one in Phillip Morris featured half of its gay couple maybe or maybe not dying of AIDS. The reveal this time, written by Dan Fogelman, is so good that I feel bad even mentioning that there is one; now you’ll be looking for what’s amiss. But you need to know that something’s coming, because otherwise you might lose your patience for the movie. Not that there isn’t plenty to like in Crazy, Stupid, Love, which stars Steve Carell as Cal, a complacent husband with his marriage in shambles. “You have trouble in reverse,” warns his straying wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), as he maneuvers out of the family driveway—but Cal, in fact, seems more than ready to back out. He immediately takes to sulking and sipping vodka crans in a chic singles lounge, where he attracts the mildly annoyed pity of Jacob (Ryan Gosling), the resident alpha male, who decides to take the 40-Year-Old Cuckold as a protégé. Where last week’s Friends With Benefits employed Justin Timberlake as an art director at GQ, this week’s picture features Gosling as a walking issue of Esquire—the one with the “Am I a Man?” quiz on page 170. You can practically smell his cologne ads. His performance is the Situation with a better wardrobe and a bigger vocabulary, and his situation is that he’s being a show pony: the real actor who returns to light entertainment again in an unlikely role. Still, he’s fun (my single favorite shot in Crazy, Stupid, Love is Jacob doing the crossword on the back of a cereal box during the requisite “everybody’s thinking” montage), and he
has great chemistry with eventual bravado-melting love interest Emma Stone, just as Carell develops an easy rhythm with Moore. There are scenes between each couple that delve past genre patter into something more vulnerable and tender. So the structure’s ingenious and the individual performances are good: What’s not to like? Well, it takes a lot of digging to get to the quality goods. Ficarra and Requa are getting comparisons to James L. Brooks, and that’s fair, if we’re talking about Brooks around the second season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Just as Phillip Morris pushed its acerbic tone too hard, Crazy, Stupid, Love reaches for sitcom punch lines whenever it
THE RAIN FALLS ON THE IRONIC AND THE UNIRONIC. feels a scene faltering. (A lot of this burden falls on a young actor named Jonah Bobo, who plays Cal and Emily’s kid, and gives more goofy speeches in two hours than most 13-year-olds utter words in a year.) The movie’s embarrassments and affection are genuine, but that singles bar is a fake—and so is Cal’s ability to sit there every night, watching Jacob score his evening bedroom buddy, without turning into a desperate alcoholic. Like Friends With Benefits, this picture is mortifyingly self-aware of how artificial its genre has become, and so it likewise wastes a lot of time protesting how much better it is than its tropes. This has the unintended but predictable effect of making the tropes seem more hackneyed. “What a cliché,” Cal moans as he gets drenched by rain after a disastrous attempt at marital reconciliation. But recognizing a cliché is not the same thing as transcending it. He still gets soaked. The rain falls on the ironic and the unironic. Ficarra and Requa show a gift for emotional outpouring in Crazy, Stupid, Love—now they just have to realize that we don’t care if they know that we know what’s coming. 70 SEE IT: Crazy, Stupid, Love is rated PG-13. It opens Friday at Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Fox Tower, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Tigard and Wilsonville.
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
79
WWEEKDOTCOM
JULY 27-AUG. 2
exactly what Cap should be: an oldfashioned Nazi beat-’em-up wherein the genetically modified hero twofistedly pursues the maniacal Red Skull (an appropriately menacing Hugo Weaving) and his army of laser-gun-wielding Gestapo, whacking heads with his invincible shield, blowing shit up on his motorcycle and romancing Brit agent/bombshell Hayley Atwell. Hack director (and George Lucas protégé) Joe Johnston reverts to Rocketeer mode to craft a gee-whiz actioner with nods to Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Evans spits one-liners with gusto, showing comic charm in a cheeky sequence that plays to Cap’s jingoist origins as a propaganda puppet on the USO circuit. Sure, the action’s as generic as its hero (and the ending is a rushed mess), but that’s just what Captain America needs to be: a fun piece of mindless escapism full of explosions and Nazi killin’ that earns its “Made in America” stamp by forgoing serious storytelling in favor of chest-thumping Neanderthal gestures and straightforward patriotic charm. PG-13. AP KRYZA. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy. NEW
Caravaggio
[THREE NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL] Derek Jarman’s time-twisting biopic of Renaissance artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio gave Tilda Swinton her first role (not as Caravaggio, though she could have swung it). 5th Avenue Cinema. 7 and 9:30 pm Friday-Saturday, July 29-30. 3 pm Sunday, July 31.
Cars 2
65 It’s not every day a kids’ movie combines elements of Machete and Inception. Unlikely as it may seem, though, Cars 2 does exactly that. OK, so there’s no intestinal rapelling—but remember that part of Machete where the lowriders all jump up and down pre-battle? That happens. And the set designs are nearly as gorgeous and intensely detailed as Chris Nolan’s magical Paris upside-down cake. Then again, Cars 2 isn’t exactly a kids’ movie. Like most of Pixar’s work, it’s clearly written by and for grownups; kids might like the talking cars and the (many) potty jokes, but it’s hard to imagine them keeping up with the plot. And you sort of have to hope that the moral of the story, such as it is, will fly right over their heads. Cars 2 takes doofy tow-truck Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) out of the backwoods desert town of the first Cars and plops him into the middle of an international espionage thriller. Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) brings Mater, a conspicuous bumpkin, along on the international race circuit. After making an embarrassing spectacle of himself and fighting with McQueen, Mater stumbles right into the whole spy thing. Valuable lessons are learned, including that true friends indulge each other’s bad behavior always, and that there’s no such thing as an environmentally friendly alternative fuel: Try it and you will probably explode. G. BECKY OHLSEN. 99 Indoor Twin, Clackamas, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Evergreen, Lloyd Mall, Sandy.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
88 The new Werner Herzog docu-
mentary is comparatively thin on the cuckoo German’s trademark perversity—except when you consider that he has made a 3-D documentary about motionless drawings on rocks. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
70 Up until last year, there wasn’t anything particularly interesting about Conan O’Brien. He’d always been funny and creative, but that’s pretty much all anyone needed to know about him. Losing his job in such a public and unfair manner gave him an edge (even if he still
80
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
MOVIES
BEATS RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST walked away from his abridged run as host of The Tonight Show an extravagantly rich man). In theory, anyway. Can’t Stop, a behindthe-scenes look at the live tour he embarked on while contractually blocked from appearing on TV, doesn’t present O’Brien as anything other than a funny and creative person with a compulsive drive to entertain. His backstage banter with sidekick Andy Richter and faux-bullying of his crew (along with a few jabs at NBC and Jay Leno) is funny enough to earn the film a recommendation, and perhaps the point of it wasn’t to be enlightening, but then, what is the point of making what’s essentially a 90-minute DVD bonus feature? MATTHEW SINGER. Living Room Theaters. NEW
Deep Red
[ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] A 1975 Dario Argento picture with a pianist tracking a serial killer. Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Aug. 2.
The Double Hour 76 Freshman Italian director
Giuseppe Capotondi builds his haunting debut, The Double Hour, around a twist that allows him to tell the story of a horrendous crime through the perspectives of the two people affected by it. But not content just to let the twist—which actually comes about halfway through the film—do the talking, Capotondi lets his narrative play out as a human story, and his film benefits from the extra care. While its second act can’t top its jarring setup, The Double Hour is a solid debut from a promising filmmaker. AP KRYZA. Living Room Theaters.
Friends With Benefits
75 The first question most casual
moviegoers will have about Mila Kunis’ fuck-buddy comedy is how it compares to Natalie Portman’s fuckbuddy comedy No Strings Attached. (It’s a little better, just as Kunis’ performance in Black Swan was a little better, though both movies are pleasant surprises.) But Friends With Benefits sets higher standards for itself, and should be judged against them. Director Will Gluck, who proved with Easy A that he has the touch for brittle, innuendo-laced patter, sets up this movie as a subversion of every Hollywood romantic shortcut. But as sexual frankness goes, this is less Last Tango in Paris than a smutty but ultimately conventional pre-Code gadget. The most intriguing aspect is Justin Timberlake’s lead performance, which includes him crooning Kris Kross and Semisonic, but also cleverly plants notes of boy-toy submissiveness (he’ll let you whip him if he misbehaves). Kunis uses her trademark sultry-panda eyes as a fine match, and the movie rises to the occasion more often than not, erecting something very close to a perceptive study of distant, selfprotecting urbanites. It’s possible
to completely forget how conventional it is, especially when Richard Jenkins in onscreen as Timberlake’s Alzheimer’s-stricken father. Like the movie, the role is manipulative, but fiercely played. R. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy. NEW
The Grand Duel
[THREE NIGHTS ONLY, LIVE SOUNDTRACK, REVIVAL] Filmusik provides a new, live soundtrack for a 1972 spaghetti western (complete with whistling and choir, as spaghetti-western soundtracks are wont to have). Hollywood Theatre. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, July 28-30.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
80 It is a gratifying resolution to J.K. Rowlings’ wand opera, even if resolution isn’t really what we want: The best movies in the series were the third through the sixth, which felt most like a semesterlong stroll through the Hogwarts campus. No time for that now; the first act of Deathly Hallows 2 is a roller-coaster ride through goblin caves, and everything else is dedicated to an all-out battle that, with its rubble and dusty light, looks like Saving Private Potter. This World War II tone is the finest thing about the film: Director David Yates and his set-design team have created an atmosphere that explicitly recalls London during the Blitz, with young lovers snogging goodbye as the cathedral towers rain down. It is a good stage for good deaths, and everybody shows a lot of grace under pressure, especially Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis), who gets the most noble bits. Everything almost makes sense, and the backstory of the Potter family and Severus Snape gets its deserved heft. (Also, we learn that Voldemort is an incredibly awkward hugger.) With the exception of a coda where makeup causes the protagonists to look less like they’re middleaged and more like they’ve contracted tuberculosis, it unspools like gangbusters. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Cinetopia, Lake Twin, Moreland, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Tigard, Wilsonville, Roseway, Sandy, St. Johns Twin Cinema-Pub.
Horrible Bosses
76 An occasionally sublime dollop
of silliness, Horrible Bosses plays like Adam McKay’s The Other Guys without the sincere workingman’s rage or the full courage of its absurdist instincts. It doesn’t need those higher qualities; it relies entirely on the chemistry of Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day, the motormouth from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia who looks and sounds like what would happen
JULY 27-AUG. 2
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front NEW
72 I can see why a person would want
to burn down Eugene. That squat, dingy city of bureaucratic lobbies and granola shops two hours south of here is the setting for much of this rigorous documentary on arson-inclined environmental group the Earth Liberation Front. Seeing Eugene in contemporary footage, as well as video from the ’90s, when it was somehow even worse, has the effect of illuminating a certain mind-set. Which goes like this: Here is this ugly little town inside this magnificent forest, and the people who run the ugly little town are tearing down the magnificent forest, and when we try to stop them tearing down the magnificent forest, they paint our eyes with pepper spray, so maybe—just a thought—we should set fire to the ugly little town? At any rate, it does not strike me as a coincidence that Daniel McGowan’s move to New York City coincided with a flagging desire to burn things. McGowan is the main subject of If a Tree Falls: a former ELF member wearing an ankle bracelet under a terrorism charge. Directors Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman are willing to engage a lot of perspectives (including those of some shit-eating, smug feds), but by the end, they’re pulling out songs from the National to escort McGowan to his fate, and a lot of that complexity leaches away. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
86 [ONE NIGHT ONLY, REVIVAL] Only the penitent man shall pass. Flicks on the Bricks, Pioneer Courthouse Square. Dusk Friday, July 29.
NEW
The Invisible Eye
[ONE NIGHT ONLY] A schoolteacher spies subversion during the Argentinian junta in Diego Lerman’s new drama. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Sunday, July 31.
Midnight in Paris
77 Sorry to break it to you, New
York, but Woody Allen is cheating on you. He’s had trysts in the past, but in Midnight in Paris his flirtation with the City of Light blossoms into a full-blown affair. If it’s any consolation, Paris isn’t about Paris in the way Allen’s classic New York films were about the experience of actually being in New York. It’s more about the idea of Paris, and really the idea of any time and place that aren’t our own. Owen Wilson, convincingly stepping into the “Woody Allen role,” stars as Gil Pender, a screenwriter and self-described “Hollywood hack” who thinks of himself as a novelist born in the wrong era. On vacation in Paris, he wanders into the streets one night and tipsily stumbles upon a rip in the space-time continuum that transports him to the 1920s to party with his literary idols: F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. It’s a fairy tale for lit majors, and Allen’s best work in years. That said, calling Paris a true return to form for Allen after the past decade’s mixed bag is an exaggeration. It’s more of a charming trifle.
PG-13. MATTHEW SINGER. Cedar Hills, CineMagic, Bridgeport, City Center, Fox Tower, Lloyd Mall. NEW
The Muppet Movie
92 [TWO DAYS ONLY, REVIVAL] In
the ’70s, the Muppets represented everything gentle and good in the world. Sure, Miss Piggy threw a punch now and again—but, at the heart of it, the Muppets were friends who got along despite their differences. The Muppet Movie (1979) is the one fulllength film that captures that innocent and slyly subversive spirit of the TV series—a show that refused to talk down to kids, but found ways to talk sense into adults. It follows Kermit and Fozzie on their musical journey to Hollywood, where they meet A-list actors (Telly Savalas!) and fight nobly to avoid selling out. Too bad we all know how that fight ended (cough, Muppet Babies!). G. CASEY JARMAN. Hollywood Theatre. 2:30 pm SaturdaySunday, July 30-31. Sunday screening is free to residents of the 97212, 97213, and 97232 area codes. NEW
Octubre
68 [FOUR NIGHTS ONLY] In Lima, the colors of despair are neutral: the dun-colored slacks and cream button down shirts of taciturn pawnbroker Clemente (Bruno Odar), the brown wooden table on top of which he enables tiny Peruvian men to hawk wedding rings in exchange for gambling money, and the color of the straw basket containing the mysterious baby unceremoniously left on his bed. It’s not the last unwanted visitor the silent moneyman grudgingly makes room for. Eventually the wearyeyed baker woman who tries to force him into the role of father (instead of committed john) invades his tidy home, along with a homeless old man who steals wheelchairs. Clemente’s also led on a wild goose chase for the baby’s mother through the disintegrating burrows of Lima by swollen, grandmotherly whores. (A side note: the professional women of Octubre are remarkable looking—all weathered olive skin, weak chins and fat arms spilling out of dirty tank tops.) There are counterfeit bills, head wounds and one of the more imaginative uses for soiled panties recently filmed, but most of all there is that oppressive neutrality. Directing team (and brothers) Daniel and Diego Vega Vidal uses bursts of color as a way to signal change rather than happiness in this slight but fascinating film: from the pink footie pajamas of the squealing baby and a cloud of purple balloons and a Christ icon the size of a VW bus in Lima’s Lord of Miracles procession (held every October) to a parade of candy-colored buses heading out town. And when those colors light up the dirty, drab sky you can finally take a breath again—even if Octubre’s characters never quite can. KELLY CLARKE. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium. 7 pm Friday-Saturday and Monday, July 29-30 and Aug. 1. 5 pm Sunday, July 31.
Page One: Inside The New York Times
70 Page One is propaganda on behalf of journalism. It is All the News That’ll Make The New York Times Look Good. It is a rousing defense of monoculture, which places it alongside World War I on the list of battles fought over a corpse. But most of all, Andrew Rossi’s documentary is the David Carr Show. The Times’ media reporter gets about 45 of the movie’s 88 minutes— not coincidentally, these are the good 45 minutes. R. AARON MESH. Living Room Theaters.
Pink Flamingos
[FIVE NIGHTS ONLY, REVIVAL] John Waters’ very filthy comedy. NC-17. Clinton Street Theater. 7 and 9 pm Sunday-Thursday, July 31-Aug. 4 (no 9 pm show on Aug. 3).
Project Nim
88 James Marsh, the director of Man
on Wire, has made his second terrific documentary using you-are-there simulations to approximate past events— though in this case I wonder if it really benefits from all the monkeyshines. The story is wild enough: A team of
Columbia University sociologists and linguists raised a baby chimpanzee (named, of course, Nim Chimpsky) like a human child, in hopes of learning whether it could communicate full sentences through sign language. In retrospect, it might have helped if all the researchers had known sign language. And maybe it wasn’t a great idea for Nim’s surrogate mother, Dr. Stephanie LaFarge, to breastfeed him. “It was the ‘70s,” one of LaFarge’s human children summarizes, and that explains a lot, though it hardly excuses anything. Project Nim becomes a chronicle of man’s cruel anthropomorphization and subsequent abandonment of a helpless animal. I can’t quite decide if that study is made more immediate or merely cheapened by the use of puppets and actors to re-create crucial moments. These scenes are startling, compelling and manipulative. If there’s one lesson Project Nim teaches beyond question, it’s that sometimes you shouldn’t get too close. PG-13. AARON MESH. Fox Tower.
Rockypalooza 9: Dressed to the Nines
very conceit, it is nothing you haven’t seen before. You just haven’t seen it recently. But you should still see Super 8. It is imperfect—Abrams occasionally trips over the thin line separating homage and cliché—but it is a movie infused with a love of the movies, and that carries it a long way. MATTHEW SINGER. Clackamas, Cornelius, Living Room Theaters, Lloyd Mall.
Terri
88 Terri Thompson (Jacob Wysocki)
lives with an uncle succumbing to dementia, he is unmistakably fat, and he’s so bullied and embarrassed about his weight that he has begun attending school in his pajamas, as if throwing himself the only slumber party he’d get invited to. Maybe you recognize the feeling: the uniquely hollow knowledge that you’re constitutionally incapable of facing social interactions most people breeze through without a second thought. Nothing
cures that, but Terri offers a balm, by knowing its characters’ weaknesses as well as they do themselves, but treating them far more generously. Director Azazel Jacobs (Momma’s Man) and writer Patrick deWitt—yes, Portland novelist Patrick deWitt, the one who hung out at Liberty Glass and just published The Sisters Brothers, longlisted this week for the Man Booker Prize—have pinpointed how the very admission of your weaknesses feels shameful, a body blow to your pride. The movie is also a radical inversion of the John Hughes formula—in which all the outcasts are secretly conformistsin-waiting—and a proof that elegant ’70s exploration of outsider lives can flourish in contemporary small-budget cinema. R. AARON MESH. Fox Tower.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
53 Watching Transformers movies, you can imagine a preadolescent,
CONT. on page 82
REVIEW
NEW
FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
if Bradley Cooper and Casey Affleck had a baby, and that baby, like Stuart Little, turned out to be a mouse. This is a labored analogy, I admit, but it’s in keeping with the movie’s delight in extended digression. (The single best scene is Jamie Foxx as a parolee explaining, in grave detail, how he received the street name Motherfucker Jones.) Yes, there’s a plot about our three pals conspiring to kill their loathsome superiors (Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey, still swimming with sharks after all these years). But you don’t care about the plot. The plot doesn’t care about the plot. The story is nothing but an alibi for hanging out with three very funny people and their foils. Horrible Bosses contains a kernel of advice for whoever makes The Hangover Part 3: Cast dudes we want to get in trouble with. R. AARON MESH. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, CineMagic, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Fox Tower, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
MOVIES
[TWO NIGHTS ONLY, COSTUME PARTY] A mini-convention for devotees of all things Rocky Horror. Clinton Street Theater. Friday-Saturday, July 29-30. NEW
Sarah’s Key
75 Thanks to the cinematic adapta-
tion of Tatiana de Rosnay’s New York Times bestseller Sarah’s Key, readers can now transcend literary isolation by experiencing soul-crushing quantities of human depravity in the open air of a darkened movie theater. In this book-to-film metamorphosis, director Gilles Paquet-Brenner emphasizes the emaciated elbows of suffering that jut from its harrowing plot. Sarah’s Key weaves the life of Julia (Kirsten Scott Thomas), a present day journalist investigating the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup of 1942, with the story of 10-year-old Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance), who is targeted by that roundup during the Nazi occupation of France. The film opens with the Starzynski children laughing and tickling each other beneath white bedsheets—a doomed image of fleeting innocence that has viewers holding their breath until the inevitable knock of the French police rattles the scene and drops the heavy-handed beat of the movie’s true tune. In a moment of panic and heart wrenching naivete, Sarah locks her little brother in the closet with the hope of protecting him from the fate of the 76,000 Jews that would be deported from France during the Holocaust. Her struggle to survive and forgive exposes the dark corners of collective memory in a manner that is horrifically depressing yet ultimately redemptive. PG-13. SHAE HEALEY. Fox Tower. NEW
The Smurfs
They take Manhattan, in CGI form. It might be harmless, but after seeing the trailer (“I just smurfed in my mouth”), no one on our staff could be persuaded to risk it. There are only so many things we are willing to do. PG. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Mall, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
Super 8
73 In a season of lazy cash-grab
sequels and more tired comic book adaptations, Super 8 is fun and cool and genuine in the ways summer blockbusters used to be. The way movies used to be is writer-director J.J. Abrams’ entire driving principle behind the project. As you may have already heard, the film is exceptionally “Spielbergian,” right down to the use of the E.T.-referencing Amblin Entertainment logo in the opening credits. Hell, Steven Spielberg’s name is listed just below Abrams’ on the poster, as a producer. All that is cause for excitement, and much of it is justified. But as an unabashed throwback to those universal cinematic experiences of the 1970s and ’80s, it can’t actually be one of those movies, which truly presented audiences with new, thrilling visions of the world. By its
CHINA GIRLS: Bingbing Li and Gianna Jun.
SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN Wayne Wang ’s long, decorous fade-out continues with an adaptation of Lisa See’s novel so overstuffed that it succumbs to a kind of food coma—there’s lots happening, but everything plays out in the background while the main characters stare impassively out the window. Things that parade past Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: a typhoid outbreak, opium addiction, a suicide, an attempted suicide, a child who freezes to death because his mother let him sleep in the snow and did not think to make a fire, spousal abuse (related to the freezing incident), an unnamed revolution, a great deal of bone-crunching foot binding, Hugh Jackman. That none of these things makes any emotional impact is a kind of achievement in pacific filmmaking. Part of the problem: Wang (who has receded from The Joy Luck Club to Because of Winn-Dixie) pairs the 19th-century China of See’s book with a contemporary framing device that takes an equal amount of screen time, and reduces the central tale to an allegory. This sort of excuses the two-dimensionality of the central figures, but not really. If you have trouble differentiating the people in the two stories, it is not because you’re racist, but because Bingbing Li and Gianna Jun play both sets of best friends. (You should really know that going in, otherwise you’re going to spend the whole movie worrying about your cultural sensitivity, and you might miss the opium addiction.) In the old times, the ladies are “laotong,” ceremonially bound BFFs, and in the present they are...the same thing, without the coded messages written on fans. Speaking of coded messages, it is possible that the laotong have sexy feelings for each other, as they spend a lot of time staring into each other’s eyes from three inches apart, but I’m told it’s different for women. It’s definitely different for these women, who are models of acquiescence, even in the present-day Shanghai scenes, taking their lumps and being ineffectually devoted to each other. Eventually the movie builds to the bummer line of the year: “My husband takes his sadness and stuffs it into his fists.” I let my thoughts drift to other matters, like doing laundry, or making another movie about a girl whose father ruins the family through his opium addiction. Mine would be called Papa Loves Poppies. PG-13. AARON MESH.
Unhappy feet! They’ve got those unhappy feet!
34
SEE IT: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan opens Friday at Fox Tower. Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
81
mett
ffff
(HIGHEST RATING)
ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR! There are a lot of movies about teenage misfits.‘Terri’ is one of the best, because it avoids so many of the usual clichés.” ROGER EBERT, Chicago Sun-Times
“‘TERRI’
IS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO LOVE.”
JACOB WYSOCKI CREED BRATTON and JOHN C. REILLY
NOW PLAYING! 3.825” X 3"
WED 7/27
WWEEKDOTCOM WWEEKDOTCOM WWEEKDOTCOM WWEEKDOTCOM PORTLAND WILLAMETTE WEEK
Artist: (circle one:) Heather Staci Freelance 2 Jay
REGAL FOX TOWER STADIUM 10 846 SW Park Avenue, Portland (800) FANDANGO
Steve
Freelance 3
AE: (circle one:) Angela Maria Josh Tim
McCool
JULY 27-AUG. 2
mulleted Michael Bay lording over other kids’ imaginations, demanding his classmates play the way he wants them to. But he has the coolest toys, so everybody obliges him, in the hope they’ll get their hands on one of his cutting-edge gadgets. And what cool toys they are. With Transformers: Dark of the Moon, he has delivered what we want: a dumb-as-rocks, rock-’emsock-’em popcorn flick without pretension. As the robot races square off around the globe (in such exotic locales as Angkor Wat and “Middle Eastern Illegal Nuclear Site”), Shia LeBeouf races to protect his new love interest (Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, introduced by a 3-D ass shot that makes Megan Fox’s debut in the original look like a Gloria Steinem book jacket) from falling debris. Alas, like most kids, Bay doesn’t know when to close the toy box. At nearly 160 minutes, the film is as butt-numbing as it is eye-popping, and no amount of chaotic action can mask the fact that Dark of the Moon is at least an hour too long. PG-13. AP KRYZA. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy.
“AN EMOTIONALLY POWERFUL TALE about female loyalty and love that know no bounds.” THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
97 “A man who writes of himself without speaking of God,” Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht wrote in his later days, “is like one who identifies himself without giving his address.” Terrence Malick gives precise geographical coordinates in The Tree of Life, a project that has gestated in the mind of the director for 32 years. It turns out that God—or at least little Terry Malick’s first stirrings of the divine—was hiding in Waco, Texas. The movie feels like an explanation for why Malick has been so reluctant to produce scheduled work. With the hero’s puberty comes a rebellion against the tyranny of earthly and heavenly fathers. “Why should I be good if you aren’t?” asks Jack, the young protagonist— and at this point, the movie had my number so completely that I feared it would come up with a reason. It doesn’t, thank goodness. In its final sequence, a grown Jack (Sean Penn) rides up a Houston skyscraper and—in a probably unintentional nod to Willy Wonka’s Great Glass Elevator—ascends to a healing vision of heaven. This is not very persuasive, and it doesn’t matter: What is so piercing about The Tree of Life is not that it knows life’s answers, but that it knows how the questions feel. PG-13. AARON MESH. Lake Twin, Fox Tower.
The Trip
85 Nothing much actually happens
in The Trip. Trimmed down to reasonable film length from a sixepisode BBC television series, it’s arranged by director Michael Winterbottom as a series of daily vignettes that all play out more or less the same way: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon eat dinner and do impressions. That’s pretty much the whole movie. And that’s all it needs to be. Coogan and Brydon, essentially reprising their barely fictionalized, largely improvised roles from Winterbottom’s Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, have the kind of comic chemistry where the only thing a director needs to do is point the camera at them to come away with the funniest film of the year. MATTHEW SINGER. Living Room Theaters.
TrollHunter
73 Norwegian creature feature
REGAL CINEMAS EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT FOX TOWER
STARTS FRIDAY, JULY 29 82
Willamette Week JULY 27, 2011 wweek.com
STADIUM 10
utterly original piece of tongue-incheek escapism. TrollHunter centers on a college film crew investigating illegal bear poaching in their area. They train their suspicion (and camera) on lone-wolf hunter Hans (Otto Jespersen), following him into mysterious and uncharted areas in an effort to find out whether he’s the culprit. Of course, Hans has bigger prey in his sights—gigantic trolls, which he eradicates for a secret government agency working to cover up the creatures’ existence. It’s ridiculous, and rookie director André Øvredal knows it, approaching the story with a bonedry humor. Citing folklore, Hans uses Christian blood as bait, while the conspiracy-theory plot gets laughs from a snarling field agent donning fake bear feet to create misleading tracks around slain sheep, and a dead-eyed Hans recalling the My Lai-style massacre of a troll village. When the trolls are terrorizing the people and the landscape, it’s a goofy treat, another Scandinavian fractured fairytale to set beside Rare Exports. PG-13. AP KRYZA. Hollywood Theatre.
ART APPROVED AE APPROVED CLIENT APPROVED The Tree of Life
Deadline:
ion #:
MOVIES
Portland (800) FANDANGO #327
TrollHunter is at once a clever parody of the increasingly tired “found footage” trope popularized by The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and [REC], and a slick thrill ride using the shaky-cam, first-person style to perfect effect. The low-budget, older-kid-friendly thriller takes a less-is-more approach to its tale of monsters rampaging through the icy countryside, and in so doing crafts a playful and
Winnie the Pooh
62 Let’s assuage some fears regarding the new Winnie the Pooh movie right up front. No, it isn’t computer animated. It wasn’t shot in 3-D. It doesn’t feature celebrity voice cameos from Seth Rogen or Jim Carrey or Angelina Jolie. At no point does Pooh rap or tell Christopher Robin to “chillax,” and it doesn’t end with the cast singing and dancing to a Beyoncé song. It is very much like the cartoons you remember from childhood: simple, unassuming and twee as all hell. It doesn’t launch fart jokes at you, and it won’t make you weep. In other words, it’s a bit of an anachronism. It’s so old-fashioned, its narrative device is framed around the reading of an honest-to-goodness, paper-and-ink book. A friggin’ book! It’s hand-drawn, with two of those classic, surreal Disney sequences that make you wonder if the animators were smoking opium. It’s even adult-funny in spots; there’s an exchange of “Who’s on first?”-style wordplay that’s more clever and fun than it should be.
PA R A M O U N T P I C T U R E S
elio
“
It just never justifies its existence, and that makes all its positives feel like a waste. A traditional animated film with no poop gags or obnoxious voice casting or incongruous song-and-dance numbers set to modern pop hits is rare these days—so why does this one have to be squandered on antiquated characters who, frankly, were never that appealing to begin with? Oh, bother. G. MATTHEW SINGER. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Bridgeport, Evergreen, Lloyd Mall.
Zookeeper
22 By now you’ve surely caught wind that Zookeeper is terrible— and it is, but it’s a reassuring kind of terrible, like cat poetry or Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies. If it weren’t terrible, you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself. It plays exactly like Grown Ups, but if all of Kevin James’ idiot pals were zoo animals. (Adam Sandler voices a capuchin; Judd Apatow does an elephant.) It’s also exactly like Hitch, but if Kevin James got relationship advice from zoo animals. It’s like anything with Kevin James you’ve ever failed to enjoy, but with zoo animals. Actually, it’s often a little surreal how bad Zookeeper is—you’d think that James filmed the menagerie scenes and then the comedians came in and dubbed the thing What’s Up, Tiger Lily?-style, but there’s CGI, so some of it had to be scripted. The closest it gets to pathos is Nick Nolte voicing an abused gorilla who just wants the unrivaled joy of a night at TGI Friday’s. I know I hector about this a lot, but these casual-dining intrusions are increasingly common in our national comedy, and are the most vile form of product placement, since they suggest that your life might have meaning if you revolve it around corporate dining establishments. Anyway, Zookeeper bombed, so I guess that means no one will ever eat at TGI Friday’s again. Kevin James has saved America!. PG. AARON MESH. 99 Indoor Twin, Clackamas, Forest, Cinema 99, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop.
PRIMER
BY KEL LY CL A RKE
JON FAVREAU Born: Oct. 19, 1966, in Queens, N.Y., as Jonathan Kolia Favreau. Signature move: As an actor, it’s staring morosely, berating himself. As a director, it’s AC/DC riffs, odd couples (Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel; Robert Downey Jr. and his computerized butler/mechanic). For fans of: Shiny metal things exploding, buddy comedies, Vince Vaughn, bears with these fucking claws and these fangs. Latest film: Cowboys & Aliens (opens Friday, not screened for critics by WW press deadlines). Why you care: Favreau actually wrote and co-produced his own best role back in 1996: In Swingers, self-doubting Mike’s postbreakup emotional wreckage was the fulcrum for one of the most charming, quotable romantic man-comedies ever. The actorwriter-director’s on-screen appearances have since congealed into beefy, forgettable sidekicks (Daredevil, The Break-Up) or husbands in trouble (Very Bad Things). But Favreau has emerged as a kindly chameleon behind the camera—directing the past decade’s only truly heartwarming holiday movie (Elf) and injecting both big-budget Iron Man flicks with bursts of quirky humor between explosions. Aliens fighting cowboys may seem like an oddball concept, but with Favreau at the helm there’s a chance this Western/ outer-space mash-up could contain a fair bit of humanity, too. Then again, he did write Couples Retreat. SEE IT: Cowboys & Aliens is rated PG-13. It opens Friday at 99 West Drive-In, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport, Cinetopia, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Broadway, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Division, Evergreen, Hilltop, Lloyd Center, Lloyd Mall, Movies on TV, Tigard, Wilsonville, Sandy and St. Johns Twin Cinema-Pub.
MOVIES
JULY 29-AUG. 4
BREWVIEWS
Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:20, 02:45, 05:10, 07:25, 09:45
NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium
“It’s this generation’s
‘When Harry Met Sally.’
You’ll love this movie!”
1219 SW Park Ave., 503-221-1156 OCTUBRE Fri-Sat-Sun 05:00 THE INVISIBLE EYE Sun 07:00
Portlander Cinema
10350 N. Vancouver Way, 503-240-5850 X-MEN: FIRST CLASS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed THE HANGOVER PART II Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed
Pioneer Place Stadium 6
HE SAYS IT SANG TO HIM: When Gregg Mottola and J.J. Abrams made their respective Spielberg pilgrimages this year with Paul and Super 8 in hand, they bypassed the most indelible quality of the master’s touchstone, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Can’t blame them; it was probably inimitable. Close Encounters is the movie that imagines Americans as we want to imagine ourselves, then allows that idealized version of us to meet something like the Romantic Sublime. Big words, sure, but not for nothing did Spielberg cast Francois Truffaut as the scientist who introduces the Other to the everyman. AARON MESH. Laurelhurst. Best paired with: Ninkasi Radiant Summer Ale. Also showing: Dick Tracy (Academy), X-Men: First Class (Academy, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst, Mission). THE HANGOVER PART II Sat-Sun-Mon 06:00 X-MEN: FIRST CLASS SatSun-Mon 08:15
Laurelhurst Theater
2735 E Burnside St., 232-5511 THOR Sat-Sun 1:30 WIN WIN Fri-Thurs 6:45 13 ASSASSINS Fri-Sun 4, 9 Mon-Thurs 9 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND Fri 7 Sat-Sun 1:20, 7 Mon-Thurs 7 HESHER FriSun 4:40, 9:45 Mon-Thurs 9:45 KUNG FU PANDA 2 Sat-Sun 2 X-MEN FIRST CLASS Fri-Sun 4:10, 9:25 Mon-Thurs 9:25 HANGOVER 2 Fri-Thurs 7:10 JANE EYRE Fri 4:25 Sat-Sun 1:45, 4:25 EVERYTHING MUST GO Fri-Thurs 7:25 HANNA Fri-Thurs 9:35
Regal Lloyd Center Stadium 10 Cinema
1510 NE Multnomah Blvd., 800-326-3264 CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. Fri-Sat-Sun 12:35, 03:50, 07:25, 10:20 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON Fri-SatSun 11:45, 03:10, 06:40, 10:05 HORRIBLE BOSSES Fri-Sat-Sun 11:30, 02:00, 04:30, 07:15, 09:50 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 Fri-Sat-Sun 04:25, 10:40 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2: 3D Fri-Sat-Sun 12:00, 03:15, 06:30, 09:40 FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS Fri-Sat-Sun 11:35, 02:20, 05:05, 07:50, 10:35 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER Fri-SatSun 01:10, 04:15, 07:30, 10:30 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER 3D Fri-Sat-Sun 12:25, 03:30, 06:45, 09:45 COWBOYS & ALIENS Fri-Sat-Sun 12:15, 01:00, 03:40, 07:00, 07:40, 10:00
Regal Lloyd Mall 8 Cinema
2320 Lloyd Center Mall, 800-326-3264 BRIDESMAIDS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:20, 09:10 SUPER 8 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:25, 03:30, 06:30, 09:20 CARS 2 Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:35,
03:20 BAD TEACHER Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:10, 09:30 WINNIE THE POOH Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 03:25 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 12:00, 06:05 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2: 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 03:05, 08:55 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 03:10, 09:00 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:20, 06:00 COWBOYS & ALIENS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:15, 03:15, 06:15, 09:15 THE SMURFS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:30, 03:00 THE SMURFS 3D Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:05, 03:35, 06:25, 09:25 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 06:35, 09:05 SUMMER MOVIE EXPRESS - TUES. & WED. 10AM Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL Tue-Wed 10:00 LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE Tue-Wed 10:00 SUMMER MOVIE EXPRESS - TUES., WED. AND THURS. 10 AM
Bagdad Theater
3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-249-7474 GREEN LANTERN FriTue-Wed 06:00 THE HANGOVER PART II FriSat-Tue-Wed 09:10 KUNG FU PANDA 2 Sat-Sun-Tue 03:30 NO FILMS SHOWING TODAY Mon
Clinton Street Theater
2522 SE Clinton St., 503-238-8899 PINK FLAMINGOS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:00, 09:00 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Fri-Sat 12:00
Mission Theater 1624 NW Glisan St., 503-249-7474
Roseway Theatre
7229 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-282-2898 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2: 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:00, 03:30, 07:00, 10:30
CineMagic Theatre
2021 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-231-7919 HORRIBLE BOSSES Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 05:30, 09:40 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:35
Kennedy School Theater
5736 NE 33rd Ave., 503-249-7474 KUNG FU PANDA 2 Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 05:30 THE HANGOVER PART II Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:30, 07:35 X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 09:45
Fifth Avenue Cinemas
510 SW Hall St., 503-725-3551 CARAVAGGIO Fri-Sat-Sun 03:00
Regal Fox Tower Stadium 10
846 SW Park Ave., 800-326-3264 CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:00, 02:30, 05:00, 07:30, 10:00 THE TREE OF LIFE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:55, 04:10, 07:00, 09:50 HORRIBLE BOSSES Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 03:00, 05:25, 07:45, 10:10 MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:05, 12:45, 02:15, 02:55, 04:35, 05:20, 07:05, 07:55, 09:35, 10:05 PROJECT NIM Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:20, 04:40, 07:15, 09:30 BEGINNERS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:55, 02:10, 04:25, 07:20, 09:40 SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:25, 02:50, 05:15, 07:40, 09:55 SARAH’S KEY Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:15, 02:40, 05:05, 07:35, 10:00 TERRI
340 SW Morrison St., 800-326-3264 TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON 3D FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:20, 03:40, 07:00, 10:30 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 12:50, 07:05 HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2: 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 03:50, 10:05 FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:40, 03:35, 07:20, 10:20 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:00, 04:20, 07:40, 10:35 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER 3D FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 03:45, 07:10, 10:10 COWBOYS & ALIENS FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:45, 04:15, 07:15, 10:00 RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed
Shawn Edwards,
FOX-TV
“A hilarious and sexy film” Heather Catlin,
WSB-TV (ABC)
“Crazy, Sexy, Fun.” Victor Diaz, Your
News Now
“Must see comedy of the summer” Éric Paquette,
SALUT BONJOUR! - TVA
Academy Theater
7818 SE Stark St., 503-252-0500 DICK TRACY Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 02:45, 09:40 MEEK’S CUTOFF Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 05:00 GREEN LANTERN Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:15 MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 04:40 X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 01:50, 06:45, 09:30 KUNG FU PANDA 2 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 01:30, 03:30, 05:30 THE HANGOVER PART II Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:30, 09:50
Living Room Theaters
341 SW 10th Ave., 971-222-2010 THE ARBOR Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 12:00, 02:20, 04:25, 06:35, 08:50 SUPER 8 Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 11:40, 01:50, 04:15, 06:45 IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:50, 09:10 BUCK Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:20, 05:20, 09:45 PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 03:00, 07:30 CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 05:10, 09:40 THE DOUBLE HOUR Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:40, 07:40 THE TRIP Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:10, 04:35, 07:15, 09:35 CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:50, 02:50, 04:50, 07:00, 09:00
SUBJECT TO CHANGE. CALL THEATERS OR VISIT WWEEK.COM/MOVIETIMES FOR THE MOST UP-TODATE INFORMATION
“Justin and Mila have incredible chemistry!” Scott Mantz, Access Hollywood
SCREEN GEMS PRESENTS A CASTLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT/ZUCKER/OLIVE BRIDGE ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION A WILL GLUCK FILM JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE MILA KUNIS “FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS” PATRICIA CLARKSON JENNA ELFMANEXECUTIVEBRYAN GREENBERG WISTORYTH RICHARD JENKINS AND WOODY HARRELSON MUSIC SUPERVISION BY WENDE CROWLEY PRODUCER GLENN S. GAINOR BY HARLEY PEYTON AND KEITH MERRYMAN & DAVID A. NEWMAN SCREENPLAY BY KEITH MERRYMAN & DAVID A. NEWMAN AND WILL GLUCK PRODUCED DIRECTED BY MARTIN SHAFER LIZ GLOTZER JERRY ZUCKER JANET ZUCKER WILL GLUCK BY WILL GLUCK
CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES
FRIDAY-THURSDAY, JULY 29-AUG. 4, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED.
2 COL. (3.825") X 12" = 24" WED 7/27 Week JULY 27, 2011 WEEK wweek.com 83 PORTLANDWillamette WILLAMETTE