41 16 willamette week, february 18, 2015

NEWS AIRBNB’S CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’.

CULTURE SPRING FASHION PICKS. BAR REVIEW THE LIQuoR STORE.

p. 7

p. 18

p. 31

“COLONEL MUSTARD, IN THE LIBRARY, WITH THE CANDLESTICK.” P. 3 wweek.com

VOL 41/16 02.18.2015

WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

WHAT HE LEFT BEHIND emails ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office sought to destroy reveal tensions over power, money and former First Lady Cylvia Hayes. by nigel jaquiss page 11

2

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2014 wweek.com

JASON DESOMER

FINDINGS

PAGE 31

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 41, ISSUE 16.

Dr. Know has provided another non-answer to a diatribe thinly disguised as a question. 4 No one is going to stop you from making a living by subletting a $1,400 Pearl apartment for $300 per night on Airbnb. 7 Former first lady Cylvia Hayes’ plan for this month was to: “Speak a lot. Get published a lot. Set foundation for book/s.” 11 One Portland designer specializes in limited-run Japanese fabrics. 18

ON THE COVER:

Portland now has a festival to celebrate warm, flat beer. 21 The Left Shark now dances for Smokey Robinson. 30

At least one Portland bar is making its own Blue Curacao. 31 Turns out Portland hosts the nation’s oldest and largest tango festival. 33 Vancouver, Wash., has distinct, named “neighborhoods ” within its borders. 44

OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:

These boots were made for walking.

Photograph by James Rexroad.

Former Gov. John Kitzhaber wanted to delete work emails from his Gmail account.

STAFF Editor-in-Chief Mark Zusman EDITORIAL Managing Editor for News Brent Walth Arts & Culture Editor Martin Cizmar Staff Writers Nigel Jaquiss, Aaron Mesh, Beth Slovic Copy Chief Rob Fernas Copy Editors Matt Buckingham, James Yu Stage & Screen Editor John Locanthi Web & Projects Editor Matthew Korfhage Music Editor Matthew Singer Books Penelope Bass Dance Kaitie Todd

Visual Arts Richard Speer Editorial Interns Lucas Chemotti, Parker Hall, Anna Walters CONTRIBUTORS Nathan Carson, Rachel Graham Cody, Pete Cottell, Jordan Green, James Helmsworth, Jay Horton, AP Kryza, John Locanthi, Grace Stainback, Mark Stock PRODUCTION Production Manager Dylan Serkin Art Director Kathleen Marie Special Sections Art Director Kristina Morris Graphic Designers Mitch Lillie, Xel Moore Production Interns Kyle Key, Jennifer Plitzko

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Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

3

INBOX WHY WE LOVE/HATE PORTLAND

One thing is for sure, Portland is at a crossroads right now and needs to embrace density over history if the ultimate goal is affordability [“27 Reasons to Love Portland,” WW, Feb. 11, 2015].

We can bitch and moan about gentrification, past policy wrongs, the lost dive bar or historical home, but the word is out and more and more people are moving here every day.

You think it’s unaffordable now? Just wait 10 years and see what it’s like then.

“Tom Mcroy” I have no problem with this article—some of the “reasons” rose above the usual clichés and actually revealed lesser-known aspects of the city I love.

Almost anything is a welcome change from the character assassination by allegation just performed by WW and the formerly Big O. “Jim Gardner” Keep Portland weird? Not anymore it’s not. This is probably the most overhyped and overrated city in the United States. Get over yourselves, you are not that special.

“Jay Frazier” This was a great read. It made me cheer, sneer and laugh. Keep up the good work—intelligence with style. We love WW. “Heather Mash” This article was effective at making me want to move to Vancouver.

“Shad”

WooF, ArF, WooF… (hi, doc! Who is the misdogynist who designed the Fields Park in the Pearl? Crikey, dogs are only allowed inside a small double-fenced pen worthy of hannibal Lecter. Please help…) ArF, Grrr, AWooo…

—Rusty You know, I go to the mat for you guys. The editorial higher-ups at WW sometimes wish you’d all ask questions that are more topical and newsdriven, but I stick up for you: I say the questions I get are the ones the readers want answered, and I have a sacred duty to address them as they come.

But meet me halfway, people: Don’t send me talking dogs.

I suspect if Rusty really could talk, he’d happily trade a larger off-leash area for the chance to be reunited with his balls. Still, the dog area at the Fields Park (it gets its own definite article, like The Hague or the Edge) has drawn gripes 4

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

KITZ CALLS IT QUITS

What about the election? It seems to me there must have been some discussion about these issues prior to the election. Could it be that leaders of the Oregon Democratic Party urged John Kitzhaber to finish the election even though he might have to resign? The Democrats would then maintain a Democratic governor. It is not really to difficult to imagine this conversation.

“Stew Piddazzol” Has anyone started a pool so we can wager just how long it takes dear Cylvia to discover some “irreconcilable differences” or a bit of “we’ve grown apart” and trade Gov. Geezer in for a newer model after he isn’t the Most Powerful Man in the State? I’ll take 3 days, 2 hours, 6 minutes. Or Colonel Mustard, in the library, with the candlestick. Whatever.

“BSDetector”

NEW BOSS SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

Kate Brown sounds like a real winner [“Governor in Waiting,” WW, Feb. 11, 2015]. She backstabs her fellow legislators over PERS, gets cozy with the unions and their money, rigged the race for labor commissioner, and now wants automatic voter registration without proof of citizenship.

Not to mention the Comcast stunt.

Great for the elected, but not so much for the people. She is more corrupt than Kitzhaber.

“Stevie B.” 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.

from dogs all over the Internet, so let’s see.

The three main criticisms of the off-leash area are (1) it’s too small, (2) there’s no shade, and (3) the gravel surface is unappealing.

As to size, you’ll never be satisfied. Mark Ross of Portland Parks & Recreation says the off-leash area is “as big as we could make it and still include the park’s other features.” In other words, there’s more to life than Frisbees, Rusty.

It’s true that there’s not much shade at the Fields Park. But shade is provided by trees, and the ones at this brand-new park were just planted. This complaint boils down to “Parks bureau under fire for slow tree growth.”

Finally, the combination of gravel and metal fencing does invite comparisons to Gitmo. But that gravel keeps the area from turning into a mud bog. Dogs don’t care—their optimal play surface would be dead raccoons and pig feces—but your fancy Pearl District carpets should thank you.

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

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2014 wweek.com

5

SHARING ECONOMY: The city still isn’t policing Airbnb.

7 COVER STORY: The emails Kitzhaber didn’t want the world to see. 11 POLITICS: The first big challenge facing Gov. Kate Brown.

16

MAYBE A CUSTODIAN WILL TAKE THE JOB.

LEAHNASH.COM

Democrat Kate Brown, set to become governor Feb. 18, must choose her replacement secretary of state—a jumping-off job a lot of ambitious politicians would like to hold. Leading contenders have included Sen. Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin), House Majority Leader Val Hoyle (D-Eugene) and Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum (D-Portland).

Brown may also name a placeholder—someone competent to fill the office but who won’t seek to run for it in 2016. A decision not to name a politically ambitious Democrat to replace her would mollify critics who think she is excessively partisan. Brown is expected to name the new secretary of state within the next week.

The fight for control of the Portland Public Schools Board is heating up. Incumbent Bobbie Regan has announced she will seek a fourth term—the only current member whose seat is up seeking re-election.

Matt Morton, Greg Belisle and Ruth Adkins have said they won’t run again. Regan will have a challenger: Amy Kohnstamm, a former board member with the Portland BOBBIE REGAN (CENTER) Schools Foundation (now All Hands Raised), filed last week.

Two candidates say they will seek Morton’s seat: Emma Williams, a Metro employee, and José González, founder and executive director of Milagro Theatre. Paul Anthony, CFO of a financial services company, has already announced he’s running to replace Morton.

Mayor Charlie Hales hasn’t announced he’s seeking a second term in 2016—but he’s flashing a lot of campaign cash. Wweek. com reported Feb. 16 that Hales disclosed $21,000 in new campaign contributions, including $5,000 from Pearl District developer John Carroll, and $1,000 each from New Seasons Market co-founder Stan Amy and Pendleton Woolen Mills president C.M. “Mort” Bishop III. Hales wasn’t obligated to report the donations for nearly a month—but his rushing the news out suggests Hales is trying to ward off a potential opponents. Rumors in recent weeks have centered on former Portland Police Chief Mike Reese and Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek.

The Portland Trail Blazers want to host the NBA All-Star Game in 2017 or 2018. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told the media Feb. 14 that Portland’s bid hinges on the city gaining more hotel rooms.

That means the Blazers need the proposed $212 million, 600-room Hyatt hotel next to the Oregon Convention Center (“Heartbreak Hotel,” WW, Sept. 18, 2013). Two lawsuits by the project’s opponents, led by downtown hotelier Gordon Sondland, are holding things up. Metro President Tom Hughes says the clock is running out on landing the all-star game. “We are in danger of missing that window of opportunity,” Hughes says. “Every day the opponents delay the project makes it harder to meet the NBA’s deadline.”

Read more Murmurs and daily scuttlebutt.

6

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

NEWS

GOT A GOOD TIP? CALL 503.445.1542, OR EMAIL NEWSHOUND@WWEEK.COM

w w s ta f f

HOTEL CALIFORNIA THE CITY HAS DONE LITTLE TO CRACK DOWN ON AIRBNB HOSTS RENTING MULTIPLE APARTMENTS.

By AN N A WA LT E R S

awalters@wweek.com

Emily and Justin Steubs want you to spend the night in their Pearl District apartment.

The Steubs’ pad, which they call “Pearl Dreams,” features views of the West Hills, a rooftop hot tub and bathrooms stocked with L’Occitane soaps.

“Just kick back in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows with a cup of French press coffee,” the Steubs say of their $300-a-night rental, “and watch the world rush by.”

You can find the Pearl Dreams apartment on Airbnb, the short-term rental website. But you won’t find the Steubs. Records show they live in La Quinta, Calif., where they run Luxe Vacation Homes near Palm Springs.

It’s illegal in Portland to rent out your place with Airbnb or other home-sharing services unless you reside there at least nine months out of the year.

The Steubs routinely advertise three apartments in Portland on Airbnb, two at the 10th @ Hoyt Apartments.

Each listing says renters get the entire apartment—also raising doubts the Steubs live in any of them.

“Emily and Justin were very nice over email, but this is a vacation rental; they don’t live here,” wrote one Airbnb commenter. “They must manage lots of properties, as I started getting spam newsletters from their Luxe Vacation Homes company after booking.”

The Steubs did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls from WW. An examination by WW found 88 rentals offered by 16 hosts—some while living out of state.

City Hall says it’s trying to crack down on short-term rental scofflaws by increasing safety inspections. But the rise of multiple apartments run by a single host shows city Bureau of Development Services regulators are doing little to find many of the most flagrant violators.

And it presents a test for Mayor Charlie Hales: Can he get Airbnb and other companies to cough up the data on

“we just want to make as much money as we can. If I could make money by runnIng a cheese factory, I’d put one of those In.” —Bill wiese lawbreaking hosts?

“WW is ahead of us on this one,” Hales spokesman Dana Haynes says. “It’s a potential violation we hadn’t anticipated yet.”

Critics of City Hall’s policy say it’s ripe for abuse.

“It’s theoretically unenforceable unless you have someone sitting outside the door and checking the box that ‘Yes, they stay here 270 days out of the year,’” says Scott Breon,

PEARL DREAMS: The 10th @ Hoyt Apartments, shown here, is one building where single hosts are offering multiple units as vacation rentals on Airbnb.

chief revenue officer for Vacasa, a Portland vacation rental management company.

Some residents of 10th @ Hoyt say they’re surprised to discover some of their neighbors are tourists. “People sharing their own space that they live in is great,” says Derek Hurley, who just moved in this week. “But turning it into a way to monetize things and game the system—things could get a little nasty.”

Last summer, city officials, led by Hales, gave Airbnb unprecedented legitimacy by approving some short-term rentals and requiring Airbnb to collect lodging taxes (“City for Rent,” WW, July 9, 2014).

Last month, the City Council expanded its approval of short-term rentals, giving the green light to apartments and condos—so long as the hosts live in the units for nine months out of the year.

Hales and other officials talked last summer about legalizing vacation rentals—homes rented out by absentee hosts— but have not acted, and vacation rentals remain outlawed.

Airbnb’s search function makes it impossible to aggregate rental listings, so WW sifted through listings in areas of Portland with a high number of apartment buildings— the Pearl, downtown, places with waterfront views—and noted potential violations. Hosts also list the properties on Airbnb and other vacation rental sites like HomeAway, TripAdvisor and FlipKey. Jordan Allen, president of vacation rental company StayAlfred, advertises three units at 10th @ Hoyt and 10 others at nearby buildings on Airbnb: six at Mint Urban, three at Essex House, and one at the Indigo.

StayAlfred is based in Spokane, Wash. and has 120 Airbnb listings across the country—from New Orleans to Denver. Allen says that since June of 2012, roughly 6,000 guests have stayed in his Portland units.

Allen says he thinks curerent short-term rental rules

don’t apply to his business, but that he has obtained the proper permits and pays lodging taxes—an estimated $200,000 so far.

“This stuff changes daily, and trying to stay ahead of it is fairly difficult, but we do our best,” he says.

Other possible rule breakers are closer to home.

Butternut Condos lists 27 rentals on Airbnb. According to the hosts’ profile: “We are a family. We live in Portland.

Own an 8-plex of condos. Mom and Dad are chefs, our son and daughter are college students who help us run our businesses while pursuing adventure and higher education. We manage properties for friends.”

Butternut Condos are not registered with the state Corporation Division or the with the city’s Revenue Bureau.

A woman identified as Kim who manages Butternut Condos declined to comment.

Bill Wiese owns the building at 1734 NE Broadway, which is among the Butternut Condos units advertised through Airbnb. He believes the city’s restrictions on short-term rentals are unnecessary.

“As long as my sewage or my battery factory isn’t draining on to your property or blowing smoke into the air that pollutes everything, then c’mon,” he says. “It’s just crazy that they want to tell us what to do. And then when they tell us what to do, they go ahead and change it anyway.

“I don’t know why we have to apologize for making money,” Wiese adds. “We just want to make as much money as we can. If I could make money by running a cheese factory, I’d put one of those in.”

The rise of short-term rentals being marketed in clusters should concern City Hall, since Portland officials say they don’t want home-sharing businesses to squeeze the housing market.

“We have an affordable housing crisis in the city,” says cont. on page 8 Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

7

NEWS

CITY HALL

Amount of apartments in specified neighborhood with apparently illegal Airbnb rentals.

#

2 17

ALPHABET DISTRICT

SLABTOWN

11

10

LLOYD DISTRICT

PEARL DISTRICT

1

EAST BURNSIDE

27 7

DOWNTOWN 12

CLINTON-DIVISION

1

MACADAM

8

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

HAWTHORNE

John Miller, executive director of Oregon Opportunity Network, “and when folks from out of town buy units and convert them into Airbnb units, that has negative effects on the neighborhood.”

In New York City, backlash against Airbnb is ongoing, with that state’s attorney general reporting last fall that three-quarters of all listings in the city were illegal.

And last May The San Francisco Chronicle completed its own data analysis, revealing that nearly one-third of the hosts on Airbnb controlled more than one unit.

Christopher Nulty, an Airbnb spokesman, acknowledges that some hosts may be breaking the rules. “We ask all of our hosts to follow local rules and have outlined the requirements for Portland’s home-sharing regulations with our hosts on multiple occasions,” Nulty wrote in an email.

Landlords could crack down on people breaking the rules. Real-estate company Prometheus owns and manages the 10th @ Hoyt building.

WW called Prometheus’ corporate office in San Mateo, Calif., and was told, “We don’t comment on any of our properties,” by a manager who declined to give her name.

The City Council voted last month to crack down on hosts who don’t submit to safety inspections by fining Airbnb and other websites $5,000 for every host that doesn’t display a city permit. The deadline for those companies to comply is Feb. 20.

In addition, the city requires short-term rental companies like Airbnb to list the addresses of their rentals— information that could help the city crack down on hosts who don’t live in their apartments. The company has been reluctant to share information.

Haynes, the mayor’s spokesman, says the city may have to write new rules to find and penalize hosts renting out multiple properties. “We will come up a policy to try to find folks who are trying to game the system,” he adds. “We haven’t done it yet. And we don’t expect this to be the last time.”

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2014 wweek.com

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10

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2014 wweek.com

WHAT HE LEFT BEHIND STEVEN LANE

EMAILS EX-GOV. JOHN KITZHABER’S OFFICE SOUGHT TO DESTROY REVEAL TENSIONS OVER POWER, MONEY AND FORMER FIRST LADY CYLVIA HAYES.

BY N I G E L JAQ U I S S

njaquiss@wweek .com

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

11

KITZHABER

CONT.

E

Newly obtained emails reveal Hayes told Kitzhaber in late 2013 that she wanted to further leverage her access to his office into “lucrative work,” including an official state position, paid speaking appearances and book contracts.

The first lady proposed her expansive plans to Kitzhaber, even as the governor’s staff searched for ways to narrow Hayes’ official role and make sure she wasn’t violating state ethics laws.

Hayes’ big plans and the staff’s concerns are contained in emails that are among thousands of communications Kitzhaber’s office sought on Feb. 5 to have destroyed. (See sidebar page 13.) Neither Kitzhaber nor Hayes agreed to be interviewed for this story.

The emails obtained by WW provide an extraordinary window into Kitzhaber’s administration and the complexities Hayes’ ambitions presented.

The emails show that Kitzhaber’s staff was especially alarmed by Hayes’ role in the governor’s office after she signed at least $85,000 worth of private consulting contracts with three nonprofit advocacy groups in 2013.

The contracts prompted Kitzhaber’s then-chief of staff Curtis Robinhold in July and August of that year to get Hayes to sign conflict-of-interest forms that required her to abide by state ethics laws.

Those guidelines would have forced Hayes to change some of the ways she conducted her private business, including prohibiting her from using the title “first lady” when doing private work, and from holding client meetings at Mahonia Hall, the governor’s mansion.

Hayes pushed back. As WW has previously reported, Hayes wouldn’t go along with those guidelines until they were rewritten to allow her to continue operating as she had been.

The newly obtained emails show that, with Kitzhaber preparing for a 2014 re-election campaign, Robinhold suggested some ways to eliminate Hayes’ conflicts of interests without depriving her of income.

In a Sept. 26, 2013, memo to Hayes and Kitzhaber, Robinhold outlined six options that would allow Hayes to continue working on issues she cared about while elimi-

HAYES WROTE THAT SHE INTENDED TO “EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INCOME FROM NON-POLICY, NON-OREGON, NONTIME-CONSUMING WORK.” 12

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

JAMES REXROAD

x-Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned last week amid allegations his fiancee, former first lady of Oregon Cylvia Hayes, improperly used her access to him to influence state policy while benefiting financially.

From 2011 to 2013, Hayes collected more than $220,000 from private consulting contracts she landed while working as an adviser to Kitzhaber. Her dealings have sparked state and federal criminal investigations (“First Lady Inc.”, WW, Oct. 8, 2014).

But before Kitzhaber’s resignation and the investigations, Hayes had even grander plans for herself—in terms of influence and money— for the governor’s final term in office.

FORMER GOV. JOHN KITZHABER

nating outside contracts and the potential conflicts of interest they presented.

The possibilities included finding her a job at a university, such as Portland State, letting her work for a state agency, hiring her to work for the Kitzhaber re-election campaign or having the state hire Hayes as a consultant.

Robinhold said in his email the goal was a position for Hayes that “maintains clear lines of authority in the Governor’s Office and avoids confusion about Cylvia’s supervisory and staff management responsibilities.”

The ideal situation, Robinhold wrote, “avoids giving Cylvia responsibility for broad, overarching policy issues that cross over multiple policy advisors and state agencies” and “minimizes confusion around who Cylvia is speaking for.”

It’s not clear how Kitzhaber responded to the memo.

Robinhold declined to be interviewed by WW. Robinhold’s memo and other emails make it clear that Kitzhaber’s staff wanted Hayes out of the governor’s office.

That’s not what Hayes wanted.

T

he first lady was busy preparing her own proposal—one that embedded her more deeply in the governor’s office and put her in a position to make more money.

On Nov. 29, 2013, she sent a memo to Kitzhaber titled

“Cylvia Game Plan: Dec. 2013-Dec. 2018.”

Hayes summarized her goal at the top: “Intended Outcome: Build my policy and professional credibility and desirability so that I land lucrative work making big positive impacts at end of term.”

On the top of Hayes’ list: getting more publicity for her work. Or, as she put it in the memo to Kitzhaber: “Claim the work that is mine.”

That work included her role as “originator and one of the key authors of the Ten Year Energy Plan.” She wanted to be recognized for the environmental and economic consulting work she had done for her private clients, which dovetailed with her state policy interests.

The first lady wanted Kitzhaber to lend the weight of his office to her accomplishments: “Have John develop specific message about my substantive roles.”

Hayes’ work plan was at times contradictory. She said she wanted to end her existing consulting contracts and “go to full-time volunteer status.” In the next line, however, Hayes wrote that she intended to “explore opportunities for income from non-policy, non-Oregon, non-time-consuming work.”

After the campaign, Hayes expected Kitzhaber to formally name her to a staff position that she could leverage financially.

Here’s how she put it: “Jan. 2015: Get appointed to official policy positions.

KITZHABER JAMES REXROAD

CONT. Feb. 2015–June 2017: Work the policy areas hard.

Develop paid speaking and outside Oregon income opportunities. Speak a lot. Get published a lot. Set foundation for book/s – me, John, John and me (outline, generate interest, sample chapters).

“June 2017–Jan. 2018: Transition Phase: Line up next big work and significant income. Write book (maybe get grant to do it). Move out of Mahonia.”

T

he emails the governor’s office sought to destroy also show the relationship between Kitzhaber’s personal finances and Hayes’ income.

The first lady’s agreement to let her outside contracts lapse in early 2014 had financial consequences for the governor.

“Hey dear, well, I just paid bills with my own money for the last time in our current plan,” Hayes wrote Kitzhaber on March 14, 2014. “Attached is my best estimated monthly and annual expenses.”

Those expenses came to about $62,000 a year— and they would now be the governor’s responsibility.

Emails show Kitzhaber began making direct monthly deposits into Hayes’ bank account so she could pay her bills.

There’s been debate about exactly how Kitzhaber’s and Hayes’ finances intermingled. That’s an important question because the answer sheds light on whether the governor benefited from Hayes’ consulting work.

For four years, Kitzhaber stated on state financial disclosure forms that Hayes was a member of his household, which would suggest their finances were linked. But at a Jan. 30, 2015, press conference, the governor suddenly said he wasn’t sure that was the case.

Kitzhaber’s decision to begin monthly deposits into Hayes’ account when her contract work lapsed, however, shows money she had been earning from consulting was money the governor didn’t have to spend. Therefore, it appears that Kitzhaber benefited from her contracts.

Kitzhaber’s shifting position on whether Hayes was a member of his household was part of a legal strategy devised by lawyers hired to defend the governor and the first lady against complaints filed with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.

Kitzhaber and Hayes wanted to establish that neither was dependent on the other for money—a strategy intended to knock down the assertion that Kitzhaber benefited from Hayes’ contracts.

The strategy is spelled out in an email exchange between the governor and Steve Janik, a Portland lawyer representing Kitzhaber and Hayes before the ethics commission.

“As I understand it,” Kitzhaber wrote to Janik on Dec. 22, 2014, “we will make the case that: (1) Cylvia is not a public official, and (2) that she is not a member of my household — and therefore that the OGEC has no jurisdiction in the matter and that the complaints should be dismissed.”

Janik agreed. “We will argue,” the attorney wrote back that same day, “that because Cylvia is not a member of your household, her activities pursuing private income cannot be attributed to you.”

But the email exchange reveals something else: Despite the defense they were mounting, the governor and first lady had no interest in a long fight with the ethics commission.

“We will convey that we are willing to take this all the way and have a strong case for prevailing,” Kitzhaber wrote to Janik on Dec. 22. “But the end game is not actually to have the complaints dismissed but rather to negotiate a stipulated settlement agreement in which we might acknowledge some minor mistakes we may have made and have the matter resolved at the March [2015] meeting. Do I have that right?”

Janik’s answer: “Your summary of the strategy is correct.”

SEEKING ACCESS: News media fill the lobby of the governor’s office in the Oregon state Capitol on Feb. 13, the day Kitzhaber announced his resignation.

HIT THE DELETE BUTTON THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE’S EXPLANATION FOR A REQUEST TO DELETE EMAILS DOESN’T HOLD WATER. Did Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office seek to destroy his personal emails stored on state computers?

That’s what WW first reported Feb. 12, based on records obtained by the newspaper and 101.9 KINK/FM News 101.1 KXL radio.

That same day, state officials offered reassurances that no one was trying to destroy anything.

It ’s a cr ucia l question, given that the ef for t to remove emails came as investigators and the news media sought information about inf luence-peddling and conflict-of-interest allegations that had enveloped the governor’s office.

State officials claimed that Kitzhaber’s personal emails were inadvertently stored on state servers. They also claimed they had only recently discovered the mistake. And, they asserted, his staff was simply trying to separate Kitzhaber’s personal messages from those relating to state business.

“There was no blanket order to delete all records, and the emails are in the process of being sorted to determine which records are public records that are required to be kept,” says Kitzhaber spokeswoman Amy Wojcicki.

Records show none of those official explanations is true.

Kitzhaber elected to have his personal emails stored along with his government account more than three years ago. That allowed him to manage emails from various accounts—public and private—all at once.

In August 2011, Kitzhaber’s office requested that Oregon Department of Administrative Services begin archiving his personal emails on state servers, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Records show that from that point forward, Kitzhaber routinely used his personal email accounts for public business through this month. Those emails, even if they were sent from or received by his personal email accounts, would be public records if stored public servers.

Records show Kitzhaber routinely used his personal email accounts for public business for more than three years. Those emails, even if they were sent from his personal accounts, would still be considered public records.

In fact, Kitzhaber was concerned about the amount of

crossover between his accounts.

“I want to make sure we are all using the official governor email whenever possible,” Kitzhaber wrote in an email to his chief of staff, Mike Bonetto, on June 24, 2014.

“I am getting a lot of traffic on my personal email that should be official public record.”

Nobody seemed worried about Kitzhaber’s personal emails until two weeks ago. On Feb. 2, WW and The Oregonian filed new records requests for Kitzhaber’s emails.

Soon after, Kitzhaber general counsel Liani Reeves mentioned to other members of the governor’s staff that Kitzhaber’s personal emails had been inadvertently stored on a state server, according to people present.

Some staffers warned Reeves at the time that those emails might be subject to Oregon’s public records law.

A few days later, on Feb. 5, Jan Murdock, Kitzhaber’s executive assistant, contacted the Department of Administrative Services with a request to remove emails.

A DAS staffer described Murdock’s request in a Feb. 5 email. “Governor’s office wants anything that is in [Kitzhaber’s] email account removed from archive,” wrote Tracy Osburn, a DAS support technician.

“Removing ” emails would have meant deleting them—that’s how DAS administrators saw it. Several state employees—apparently believing the request was inappropriate—refused to carry it out.

Murdock asked that the emails be deleted one day before the Oregon Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the allegations against Kitzhaber and Hayes, and long after the Oregon Government Ethics Commission had mounted an investigation.

Under Oregon law, it’s a crime to improperly destroy or tamper with public records or material that might become evidence in a criminal investigation.

A day after WW reported the effort to destroy the emails, the U.S. Department of Justice swept in with a wide-ranging subpoena, including for emails that Kitzhaber’s office sought to delete.

Federal officials won’t say whether WW’s story about the request to destroy emails triggered the subpoenas.

But one state employee whose records the feds subpoenaed was Tracy Osburn—the DAS technician who had first reported receiving the order to destroy the emails.

NIGEL JAQUISS. Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

13

KITZHABER

CONT. JAMES REXROAD

RELYING ON AN OLD MAN’S MONEY AFTER HAYES GOT NEARLY $40,000 FROM AN OCTOGENARIAN, KITZHABER BAILED HER OUT. Tom Bates could have warned former Gov. John Kitzhaber about getting mixed up with Cylvia Hayes’ finances.

Bates’ father, Whitney Bates, was 46 years older than Hayes when he became enthralled and then financially entangled with her before his death in 2006.

Bates says his father, a retired history professor who taught at Portland State University, took Hayes to Paris and loaned her nearly $20,000. He also invested another $18,500 to help Hayes buy a house in Bend.

Tom Bates says he spent years after his father’s death trying to get the money back from Hayes.

“She’s really good at manipulating the truth,” Bates says.

Neither Hayes nor Kitzhaber agreed to be interviewed for this story.

Documents that Bates provided to WW detail a complicated and sometimes contentious financial relationship between Hayes and the Bates family.

Whitney Bates was a keen fisherman and gardener, and an ardent Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for the Oregon House in 1970. He met Hayes in 2002, when he was a widower and she was running for an Oregon House seat as a Democrat from Bend.

He was 81; she was 35.

“He was really smitten,” says Charles M. White, a retired PSU professor who says he once had lunch with Hayes and Bates in Portland. “She talked a good game.

He’d talk about her all the time, telling people how wonderful she was.”

Hayes lost her legislative race but won a friend in Bates.

Tom Bates said his father had about 100,000 frequentflyer miles on Alaska Airlines when he and Hayes met.

Neither of them had ever been to Paris, so they decided to use the miles to go.

“There was nothing romantic between them,” Tom Bates says. “But they went over there for a week or so.”

Tom Bates recalls his father saying he wanted to loan money to Hayes, but he was unaware how much money Whitney Bates had given her until after the retired professor’s 2006 death. Only then did Tom Bates find out his father had loaned Hayes nearly $20,000.

“I told my dad it was OK to lend her a few thousand. I had no idea he had loaned her so much,” Bates says. “We got a lawyer involved and went round and round trying to get her to sign a promissory note—and she finally did.”

TIGHT FOCUS: Gov. John Kitzhaber (seen here with Republican Dennis Richardson during the Oct. 15, 2014, governor’s race debate sponsored by The Oregonian and KGW-TV) said in his resignation statement Feb. 15 that he had been “charged, tried, convicted and sentenced by the media with no due process and no independent verification of the allegations involved.”

Bates says Hayes slowly repaid the debt.

But he also learned his father had given Hayes another $18,500—money she told him was an investment in a house in Bend.

In 2004, records show, Hayes bought a home in Bend for $149,000. The property deed and a mortgage registered with Deschutes County show that Hayes claimed to be the sole purchaser of the house.

Hayes swore on her mortgage documents that nobody else had an ownership interest in the home. But records provided to WW by Tom Bates show that was not true.

Hayes had formed a partnership called Triple E Investments. (She never registered that business with the state Corporation Division.)

Records that Hayes sent to Tom Bates show Triple E Investments actually owned the house. Records show that Bates’ father had given Hayes $18,500 for a 40 percent stake in the house.

Hayes didn’t disclose any of this information on the mortgage documents or in county records.

The documents also show Hayes owned 30 percent, while two couples, Carol and Bob Tucker and Kathryn and Steve Gray, owned the remaining share of the house.

(Neither the Grays nor the Tuckers responded to WW’s questions.)

Tom Bates wanted Hayes to cash out his father’s investment, but it proved difficult to get Hayes to agree.

“Obviously your offer is a great deal for me,” Hayes wrote to Bates in a September 2008 email. “But I need to see if I can get the financing to work.”

Six months earlier, however, Hayes had drained most of the equity in the house by taking out a $50,000 second mortgage.

That left only $10,000 in equity for all the partners combined. So even though the house had increased significantly in value, Whitney Bates’ original investment had shrunk.

In September 2010, Tom Bates agreed to sell his late father’s stake back to Hayes for $7,000—a significant loss.

Bates says even then Hayes didn’t pay him. He says it was John Kitzhaber who wrote him a personal check.

Bates says he never shook the feeling that Hayes had taken advantage of his elderly father. He’s also troubled that Kitzhaber knew about her debts and the houseinvestment scheme.

“I think the whole thing with the house was kind of a sham, not on the up and up,” Bates says. “It does seem kind of strange that this was an investment—yet nobody’s name is on the deed except hers.” NIGEL JAQUISS. WW intern Anna Walters contributed reporting to this story.

ADAM WICKHAM

RINGING THE TRUTH

KITZHABER AND HAYES 14

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

One question swirling around former Gov. John Kitzhaber and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, concerns the status of their relationship: With criminal investigations ongoing, would getting married protect them from being called to testify against each other if prosecutors charge them with crimes?

The short answer is no. In Oregon, spousal privilege covers only “confidential communications” that took place during a marriage, not before.

“In any civil or criminal action, a spouse has a privilege to refuse to disclose and to prevent the

other spouse from disclosing any confidential communication made by one spouse to the other during the marriage,” ORS 40.255 reads. “The privilege created by this subsection may be claimed by either spouse.”

But Kitzhaber and Hayes have been in a committed relationship for a long time—since 2003.

Could that count as marriage?

Again, the answer is no.

Oregon does not recognize common-law marriage—the idea that two people can be “married” in the eyes of the state even if they haven’t formally tied the knot.

“If they get married now, everything from here on out would be covered,” says Tung Yin, a criminal law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School. “It probably wouldn’t protect anything of value in this situation.”

If Hayes and Kitzhaber want to protect each other, they have another avenue: Each has the right to avoid self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment.

Since the allegations against them are so intertwined, pleading the Fifth could help them as individuals and as a couple.

BETH SLOVIC.

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2014 wweek.com

15

CONT. CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: JAMES REXROAD, MICHAEL DURHAM, EDMUND KEENE

KITZHABER

KATE, HEAD OF STATE: Secretary of State Kate Brown—sitting next to former Gov. Barbara Roberts— made an appearance Feb. 14 at the Oregon Historical Society’s annual celebration of the state’s birthday.

The day before, Gov. John Kitzhaber announced his resignation, leaving Brown in line to take over the state’s top office. At left, Brown as a member of the Oregon House in 1993 (top) and 1995 (bottom).

CARBON COPY? A CLIMATE-CHANGE BILL WILL TEST GOV. KATE BROWN’S INDEPENDENCE. As Kate Brown takes office as Oregon’s governor, she’ll have little time to consider the whirlwind events that elevated her from her former job as secretary of state.

Her first big political test is already taking shape: How will Brown, a Portland liberal, cut a path away from scandalplagued ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber without harming her shot at the Democratic nomination for governor in 2016?

One way to do that has already become clear. Democrats are pushing for an extension of the state’s low-carbon fuel standard—rules that encourage oil producers and importers to offer fuels with lower carbon emissions.

The bill, which has become increasingly controversial, is working its way through the Legislature right now. And the issue offers Brown her first big chance to assert her independence.

Despite winning two statewide elections, many voters don’t know Brown well, says Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts.

“The stories have been written, fair or unfair, that she is a more dyed-in-the16

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

wool Democrat and liberal,” Hibbitts says. “Given the strength the Democrats have [in the Legislature], she has some strong ability to satisfy their desires and needs. Does she use the next legislative session to do that? Or does she try to position herself more as a statewide candidate, representative of the whole of the state?”

Brown spokesman Tony Green, interviewed before Brown’s swearing-in Feb. 18, says Brown will address her position as governor on legislative issues after she takes office.

The low-carbon fuel standard sounds incredibly wonky. But it has a pretty straightforward goal: to combat global warming. It’s controversial to start with because producers and importers who don’t comply with the standard would be forced to buy credits from producers of cleaner products.

That cost would be passed on to customers at the pump, leading some critics to call the standard a back-door tax.

House and Senate Republicans have opposed t he st a nda rd si nce it f i rst emerged as a goal in 2009 under thenGov. Ted Kulongoski. Since then, the state has been working on writing a standard, but the law that authorizes it expires this year. An effort to renew the standard died

in the 2013 session when state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) sided with all 14 Senate Republicans to oppose renewal.

But it’s even more controversial now because of its association with Kitzhaber and former first lady Cylvia Hayes, who signed contracts to represent advocates who want a low-carbon fuel standard.

Those contracts have been swept up in the criminal investigation that helped force Kitzhaber from office Feb. 18.

Rep. Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte) and others have called on Democratic leaders to suspend consideration of the low-carbon fuel standard, Senate Bill 324, saying the controversy around Hayes has meant the standard could “no longer be evaluated on merit alone.”

against the new governor, who faces a special election next year to decide who will serve out the last two years of Kitzhaber’s term.

The 2015 Legislature is separately looking at a major transportation funding bill that would include a gas tax increase that cities such as Portland want desperately for roadway improvements.

Brown doesn’t get to vote on the fuel standard or the transportation package.

But she does have veto power. Allowing two measures that raise fuel prices to go into law could give other would-be governors a hammer to use against Brown.

Longtime political consultant and lobby ist Len Bergstein says the f uel standard issue marks Brown’s shift from

“HER ROLE ALL OF A SUDDEN IS NOT JUST TO ADVOCATE.” —LEN BERGSTEIN Supporters of the bill say Hayes never touched it.

“Cylvia Hayes has never been involved in the clean fuels program,” says Doug Moore, executive director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, one of the standard’s chief backers. “It’s been a priority for the environmental community for the past three years.”

In many ways, Brown is a natural ally to the environmental cause. Moore says he expects Brown would be supportive of the fuel standard.

But support for the bill could work

policy proponent to governor.

“Her role all of a sudden is not just to advocate,” Bergstein says. “People will expect that she’ll have values and that she’ll apply them to her decisions. But her job is to make sure she creates a safe place where people can hash this stuff out and feel like they’ve had a chance to make their case.

“Obviously,” he adds, “the end result is that if somebody feels they didn’t like the process, they can take it to the voters.”

BETH SLOVIC.

!

P U R E BATT

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

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CULTURE

FASHION

SPRING FRESH A FEW FAVORITE PIECES FROM PORTLAND DESIGNERS’ SPRING LINES.

BY L U C A S C H E M OT T I

lchemotti@wweek .com

Portland’s fashion is uniquely utilitarian.

It’s a lifestyle thing: When you’re riding a bike in the rain, you can’t wear the precious high-heel shoes or spiffy designer suit. We don’t want imports from Italy or Paris; we want something that’s locally crafted, ethically sourced, and fairly priced. Influence-wise, there’s a real duality here—red flannel was passed down from a time when Portland’s biggest achievement was deforestation, and it mingles with techie Nike and Adidas gear.

You won’t find any outrageous couture on this page. Here are our favorite items from local designers’ spring lines: just practical, well-made and work-ready pieces.

Porteau shirt ($138), Lyra dress ($148) BRIDGE & BURN WHERE TO BUY: Bridge & Burn, 1122 SW Morrison St., 971-279-4077, bridgeandburn.com.

Downtown design studio Bridge & Burn focuses on limited-run Japanese fabrics. The Porteau shirt has a chambray dobby weave, while the Lyra dress has a smocked waist, natural drawcord neckline and linen polka dot-printed fabric. Bridge & Burn sends products to 16 states and six countries, but at the flagship retail store inside the studio, you’ll find all the accessories and pieces right where they were conceived. Feedback from customers goes directly upstairs to the sleek, modern studio where it’s integrated into the next round of designs. “We make clean, classic and approachable clothes with an intuitive approach instead of trend-driven approach,” says marketer Tayler Worrell. Both of these items are, she says, designed to go “from work to the river, and feeling comfortable doing so.”

Warner terry loop short-sleeve T-shirt ($60) TABOR MADE WHERE TO BUY: Machus, 542 East Burnside St., 206-8626, machusonline.com, tabormade.com.

Modern streetwear adapted to the rainy Pacific Northwest. Tabor Made’s Ira LaFontaine built his brand to fit an active lifestyle, featuring joggers, specially fit shirts, and fabrics that are made to be worn on Portland’s dreariest days. The Warner T-shirt returns from the fall collection with new fabrics, including terry loop and rayon. It’s baseball style, cropped on the sides, and the slim fit shows the brand is following where some divisions of streetwear are headed.

Call it Health Goth or sport luxury, Tabor Made wants to be ahead of the curve.

Fanno hoodie ($115) JAEFIELDS

The Sedgwick Blazer ($148) WILDFANG AND LUCCA COUTURE WHERE TO BUY: Wildfang, 1230 SE Grand Ave., 208-3631, wildfang.com.

Wildfang’s style is all tomboy, but its latest pieces have gone straight to business.

Think an androgynous Hillary Clinton.

This twill blazer is mostly made of polyester, and features black cuffs and a shawl lapel. “There is nothing more iconically menswear than the suit,” creative director Taralyn Thuot says. “A great suit is a wardrobe staple for the modern tomboy, but a perfectly tailored, classically inspired, and wallet-friendly suit for a woman is nearly impossible to come by.”

WHERE TO BUY: Compound Gallery, 107 NW

Carry-on chopsticks ($70) TANNER GOODS AND SNOW PEAK

5th Ave., 796-2733, compoundgallery.com,

WHERE TO BUY: Tanner Goods, 1308 W Burnside St., 222-2774,

jaefields.com.

tannergoods.com; Snow Peak, 410 NW 14th Ave., 697-3330,

The Fanno hoodie features a prominent zipper up each side. The simple and welldesig ned tech stretch polyester fabric repels water. The focus of ow ner a nd designer Wookie Fields is on the precise details of each piece. Fields’ studio in Old Town is part of a streetwear district that includes Compound Gallery, Kyoto PDX, Upper Playground and Ca l Skate Skateboards, all within several blocks.

The whole culture of the neighborhood is changing, and Jaefields is designing the look that embodies that change.

snowpeak.com.

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Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

So far, Tanner Goods has put out some of the cleanest leather accessories designed in Portland, but it also houses all the labor to produce these skillfully crafted products. The other half of these designs, Snow Peak, makes weatherproof campwear look as fashionable as any hip pseudo-outdoor Portland company, but with the utility its camp-life customers need. The collaboration isn’t unheard of, since both of these beard-appropriate woodsman companies front boutique stores in the city with larger out-of-state clienteles.

However, these eating utensils aren’t your Swiss Army knife’s flip-out fork. This pair of chopsticks will more likely be used by a germaphobe for an adventure to Little Tokyo than for a campfire teriyaki cookout.

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FOOD: Dim sum at Boke Bowl.

MUSIC: Portland’s rich history of jazz education.

BAR REVIEW: The Blue Monk is now just a cocktail.

MOVIES: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.

23 25 31 41

SCOOP JEREk HOLLENDER

ROCKIN’ THE SUBURBS THIS WEEK. TILT IT DOWN: The third location of Tilt burgers has been hit with an eviction notice before it even opened.

A sign on the door of the new restaurant at the east end of the Burnside Bridge includes a note from NFN Investments stating payments are past due, and that the “Landlord hereby terminates the Lease effective February 7, 2015.” The upscale blue-collar Tilt serves TILT towering burgers and a lot of craft brews, having expanded rapidly since its 2012 opening on Swan Island. In addition to this planned spot in the RJ Templeton Building, there’s a busy location in the Pearl District. Both Tilt and NFN Investments declined to comment.

DRAMA IN THE TRON: Beaverton may soon have its only professional theater company. Experience Theatre Project is a nonprofit, educationfocused company that doesn’t yet have a home—it will shop for locations after a planned May fundraiser—but is already planning a children’s summer theater camp and a 2015-16 season that will include an off-Broadway play in September, a holiday musical, a winter mystery and an “innovative contemporary play” in spring 2016. Spokeswoman Alisa Stewart says professional theater has long eluded Beaverton: “It jumps over Beaverton and goes to Hillsboro, or south to Tigard or Lake Oswego.”

TO INFINITY AND…: The Oregon Brew Crew homebrew club plans to test whether Portland beer is infinite. Inspired by the huge number of breweries, seasonal beers and one-off brews in Portland, the Crew has begun a project called the City of Infinite Beer, in which members review a different beer brewed within 10 miles of their home base at Buckman’s F.H. Steinbart Co. every day, forever. Reviews are posted to the City of Infinite Beer Facebook page. “There’s no plan to end it,” says Aaron Hanson of the Brew Crew. “When we run out of different beers brewed in Portland, then we’ll quit. But I don’t see that happening.” The first review was posted Feb. 9.

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Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

w w w. E x P E R I E N C E T H E AT R E P R O J E C T. O R G

FARM FOOD IN THE ’sHAM: Downtown Gresham will soon get its very first farm-to-fork restaurant, according to Dylan Hutter, owner of the forthcoming BlueBird Dining Hall as well as a popular locavore burger joint called the Local Cow. The sample menu from chef Molly Parker, previously of the Pearl’s Bluehour, includes pan-seared fish with truffle cream, and stuffed game hen with rose petal harissa and tea-smoked yogurt. An in-house baker is also planned. “We’ll have agreements with ranchers and farmers out this way, exclusive products you might not find at establishments in Portland,” says Hutter, a longtime Gresham resident who says the city’s downtown food scene is evolving away from chain restaurants. “The bounty of far east county—does that sound ridiculous or not?”

HEADOUT

WILLAMETTE WEEK

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK IN ARTS & CULTURE

h e t Firk t a h ?

W

WEDNESDAY FEB. 18 ELECTRIC FIELDS [VIRTUAL ART] Using computer algorithms to create faux “brushstrokes,” artist Jeremy Rotsztain layers myriad ribbons of color, which he distorts through digital tricks that mimic Cartesian grids, parallax errors and false perspective in one of the most intriguing art shows ever mounted in a Portland gallery.

Upfor Gallery, 929 NW Flanders St., 227-5111, upforgallery.com. Through Feb. 28.

THURSDAY FEB. 19 PHARMAKON [HELL’S HOUSE BAND] If seeing Margaret Chardiet live is half as frightening as listening to last year’s widely hailed industrial death march, Bestial Burden, then people are in for a total nightmare. Pharmakon makes those black-metal dudes burning churches in Norway look like a sewing circle. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

JOHN MULANEY [COMEDY] So yeah, John Mulaney’s TV show blows. But the SNL writer is still a delightfully entertaining comic whose expertly crafted stories—about childhood bullying, Xanax and the bewildering use of “bozo” in tabloid headlines—are sharp and spirited. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 7 and 10 pm. Sold out. Under 21 permitted with legal guardian.

FRIDAY FEB. 20 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FIRKIN FEST.

BY PAR K E R H A L L

phall@wweek.com

WHAT THE HELL IS A FIRKIN?

It’s a small cask—10 and three-quarters gallons of warm-conditioned goodness—the oldest still-in-use form of beer storage in the world. This is some serious Laura Ingalls Wilder shit. The firkins are either gravity-fed from atop the bar, or hand-pumped from beneath with a well handle called a “beer engine.” The firkin is not to be confused with the Firkin Tavern, which has no firkins.

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT FIRKINS?

It’s not just beer. It’s real ale. Because the Allies won the war, Europeans aren’t all German. And some of them—the ones who wear kilts, or the ones who hate people who wear kilts—prefer their beer in imperial pints, warm and basically flat. Real ale, they call it. Traditionally, these beers carbonate in a firkin with added sugar instead of being pre-carbonated, and they’re typically served directly from the cask at cellar temperature, about 55 degrees. It’s less carbonated, warm and silky smooth, with a fine foam. In the innocent pre-Guinness days of erst, they’re what nitro taps were made to mimic.

WHAT KINDS OF BEER CAN COME IN A FIRKIN? In theory, anything. In practice, English, Scottish and Irish styles, IPAs, and the occasional dark. Basically, anything but a lager. Our general advice is to pick the most archaically U.K.sounding style you can find, look it up on your phone, and drink it with a superior attitude.

WHAT THE FIRKIN FEST WILL HAVE:

Firkins from 40 breweries, plus cheeses, chocolates and meats.

Confirmed breweries include Deception, Thunder Island, Bunsenbrewer, New Belgium, Gigantic, Old Town, Base Camp, Double Mountain, Burnside, BridgePort, Hopworks, Fearless, Fat Head’s and, of course, Buckman Botanical and Green Dragon.

WHERE ELSE CAN I GET FIRKIN BEER IN PORTLAND?

Bailey’s Taproom, Burnside Brewery, Deschutes in the Pearl, Hair of the Dog, Horse Brass, Raven & Rose, Green Dragon, BridgePort, Lucky Labrador, Pause, McCormick and Schmick’s, Roscoe’s, Rose and Thistle, the Woodsman Tavern, Rogue, the Moon and Sixpence, Interurban, Belmont Station.

GO: Firkin Fest is at the Green Dragon, 928 SE 9th Ave., 517-0660, on Saturday, Feb. 21. 11 am-6 pm. $10 includes five tastes and a 10-ounce glass. Additional tastes $1. $25 for VIP tastes. 21+.

GIRAFFAGE [ELECTRO-POP] No Reason, San Francisco producer Charlie Yin’s debut EP, evolves from his previous SoundCloud remixes to an allegedly sample-free production showcasing Yin’s mastery of maximal, uplifting pop, and found a niche in the rotation of many big-name DJs. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

SUNDAY FEB. 22 JESSICA PRATT [FRAGILE FOLK] The L.A. singer’s songs are so delicate, melancholy and sparse, it almost feels like an intrusion listening to them. On Your Own Love Again, her new sophomore album, adds layers of harmonizing and lead guitar, but it’s still mostly just her and a nylon-stringed guitar alone in a room. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 2319663. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

MONDAY, FEB. 23 OREGON BEER AWARDS [BEER] The inaugural Oregon Beer Awards will hand out awards for best new brewery, brewery of the year, and 10 beer styles from lager to “island of the misfits,” plus WW’s top 10 beers of the year. Taste many of the winning beers, and get an early copy of WW’s Beer Guide.

Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 5:30 pm. Free. 21+.

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

21

FOOD & DRINK = WW Pick.

Happy Hour all day Monday & Wednesday

Highly recommended.

Springwater Farm

Wild & Exotic Mushrooms

I

La Calaca Comelona

2304 SE Belmont | 503-239-9675 4-10pm Mon–Sat

9-2 Sat Portland Farmer’s Market Nettles in Season

The Farmers Feast Wildeats@msn.com

By MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Editor: MARTIN CIZMAR. Email: dish@wweek.com. See page 3 for submission instructions.

FRIDAY, FEB. 20 Black Out Beer Fest

Nineteen black beers from 16 breweries, including four from host brewer Lompoc. Expect standbys like Upright’s Oyster Stout, plus new innovations in darkness like a 9.3 percent ABV Fort George Tuesday’s Lunch Stout brewed with roasted Spanish peanuts and blackberries.

Sidebar, 3901A N Williams Ave., 288-3996. 4-10 pm. $15 for entry, glass and 8 beers. 21+.

SATURDAY, FEB. 21 Chowder Challenge

Shandong

Shandong

A real good chowdah should be rich and fillin’, but not like a stew.

You know how you make chowdah is you get a whole assload a clams www.shandongportland.com in there, like a whole pile. But get it real creamy, like a gravy or somethin’, with potatahs so soft they almost taste as creamy as the soup.

Twelve contestants will duke it out, from Lompoc to Breakside to EaT oyster house. 5th Quadrant, 3901-B N Williams Ave., 288-3996. Noon-4 pm. $12 to taste the chowdah.

www.shandongportland.com

MONDAY, FEB. 23 Oregon Beer Awards

WW proudly announces the inaugural Oregon Beer Awards, with awards for best new brewery, brewery of the year, beer bar, brewpub, beer fest and 10 different beer styles from lager to “island of the misfits,” as well as WW’s top 10 Beers of the Year. You’ll be able to taste many of the winning beers and get your hands on an early copy of WW’s Beer Guide. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 5:30-9:30 pm. 21+.

AN INTERNATIONAL MARKETPLACE

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR! THE YEAR OF THE GOAT February 19, 2015

Lion Dance

11, 12 & 1 FIREWORKS SHOW AT 12PM

2816 SE Stark St., 922-1858, canteenpdx.com.

Canteen’s vegan bowls are the real prize at this juice spot, with ingredients such as house kimchee or baked maple tempeh. $.

2. Taste of Poland

28 NE 28th Ave., 232-6652, tapalaya.com.

Chef Anh Luu is making solid nightly Viet-French-Creole fusions, from spiced-up étouffée to lemongrass blackened catfish. $$.

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OREGON’S LARGEST ASIAN MALL 22

1. Canteen

3. Tapalaya

Fubonn Shopping Center

www.fubonn.com

Where to eat this week.

8145 SE 82nd Ave., 863-6924, cartlandia.com.

There’s a dearth of Polish food in Portland—this new cart from a farmers market fave fixes that with scratch-made kielbasa and pierogi. $.

Sunday, February 22nd

2850 S.E. 82nd Ave.

DEVOUR KYLE KEY

Now Serving

503-517-8877

9am-8pm seven days a week

*Restaurant Hours may vary from mall hours

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

4. Muscadine

1465 NE Prescott St., 841-5576, muscadinepdx.com.

Brunch and Southern fare are the twin towers of American comfort.

Combine them, and you might as well be auditioning as somebody’s replacement mom. $$.

5. Verdigris

1315 NE Fremont St., 477-8106, verdigrisrestaurant.com.

Dinners aren’t there yet, but for brunch Verdigris offers refined Continental fare such as mapleglazed trout. $$-$$$.

HEY, MACARON: Baker Laura Farina at work.

FARINA BAKERY The macaron is an unlikely feat of wizardry—tender and crisp in turns, a bright-hued confection every bit as stratified as Detroit economics. There is voodoo involved, folklore about whether and how long you must let the eggs and batter sit, and something about propping the oven open with a wooden spoon. Most attempts fail. The oldest makers in Paris remain among the best, with few challengers outside of Pierre Hermé.

Well, I will buy macarons from only one place in Portland, and it is Farina Bakery.

Each of Farina’s macarons ($2) is a marvel of texture and a satisfying journey across the whole of the palate. In our blind tasting of local macarons last year, nowhere else came remotely close to baker Laura Farina’s pastries—and that was before she even had her own kitchen. At the time, she was squatting at KitchenCru and delivering her creations to bank lobbies, able to serve only a few flavors at a time.

Now, at her cheerily appointed little bakery on Hawthorne Boulevard, with wood grain and streaming sun and a mural of aprons that Farina painted herself, there’s a rainbow of flavors—a double rainbow, even. The honey pecan tastes like I stuck my finger Order this: Honey pecan and marionberry macarons, in a beehive, but without the sting. ganache brownie.

The marionberry is positively juicy, the coconut airily transcendent, and the salty caramel a wash of flavor that hits late and hard. The Nutella was just plain nuts. Only the strawberry was too sweet for my palate—although it was the favorite of another writer in the office.

Meanwhile, a brownie came with an equal layer of ganache on top, a treat so rich it almost hurt to finish because I knew I wouldn’t feel that way again soon. If you screw up and ask for a macaROON at the register, there’s a bird’s nest cookie for that, coconutty and laden with jam. Farina also makes decadent cakes to order, and though we haven’t yet sampled one, we have every confidence. Like Kir Jensen of the Sugar Cube and Kristen Murray of Maurice and almost no one else in town, Laura Farina makes magic, and we will eat anything she bakes. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. EAT: Farina Bakery, 1852 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 971-340-9734, farinabakery.com. 7 am-2 pm Tuesday-Sunday.

DRANK

TROPICALIA (BREAKSIDE BREWERY) A good chili beer is the ultimate rope-a-dope. You drink a little beer, and the spice hits. You get a little tingle and want to quash it with more cold beer, then more spice hits. When the lasting note isn’t so much a sharp singe as a slow smoldering, so much the better. Breakside’s Aztec has long been one of my favorites, but the new formula of Tropicalia blows it out of the water. Instead of Aztec’s dry, herbal heat, which comes from serranos, habaneros and cocoa nibs, we get a sticky tropical jungle of spice from lychee and Peruvian yellow peppers.

There’s a nice, lingering burn, but it’s also refreshing enough to be it’s own chaser. Drink, feel the burn, drink… Recommended. MARTIN CIZMAR.

FOOD & DRINK C H R I S R YA N P H O T O . C O M

REVIEW

INDUCTED INTO CANTON: Boke Bowl aims for lighter dim sum.

SUM BOKE BRUNCH BOKE BOWL’S WESTSIDE LOCATION ENTERS THE DIM SUM GAME.

their designated portion size: $3.75 for small dishes, $4.50 for medium and $5.25 for large.

Though local produce supplies are at their midwinter ebb, freshly stir-fried vegetables get

BY M IC H A E L C . Z US M A N 243-2122 big play. Pea tips with garlic and black bean sauce are a simple and essential part of the mix that will No cuisine is pure and unadulterated. The walls surely grow with the turn of seasons. Another historically separating one group’s food cul- directional option are vegetarian or vegan variature from another’s have always been porous, tions of dim sum standards, such as a steamed riven and worn by prevailing trade routes and lotus leaf stuffed with the customary sticky rice battlefield conquests. What’s recent and a little but with added mushrooms, squash and black dizzying is the near-obliteration of traditional bean sauce instead of the usual Chinese sausage culinary boundaries. Everything from every- and other meaty bits, or steamed bao filled with where is available—the obscure ingredients, spe- curried squash rather than pork. For the omnicial equipment, even the folkways behind it all. vore, standard versions of these and other familSo, if you happen to be a couple of venture- iar delights are offered as well.

The last category of offerings are those that some Caucasian cooks in just-do-it Portland with a passion for, say, dim sum, there’s nothing aren’t Cantonese at all but fit well on a menu that to hold you back except fear of failure. Boke Bowl gives less weight to authenticity than it does to operators Brannon Riceci and Patrick Fleming quality and what tastes good. I’m a sucker for the spicy chicken wings, though must have conquered theirs somewhat less so for the when planning to bring dim Order this: Pea tips, spicy wings, stuffed chicken and waffles. sum to their Northwest Port- lotus leaf (traditional).

When service began, the land location. How would they tackle a two-millennium-old Cantonese inexperience was evident. Misshapen pieces, odd tradition involving labor-intensive production of textures and muted flavors were far too common.

Great news: Things are much improved over the dozens of types of small morsels?

In December, when Riceci announced his last two months, and the trend has been steadily plans, he told me he planned to hire experienced upward. An example: the evolution of the sesame Chinese dim sum cooks to anchor the kitchen, balls—seed-dappled, deep-fried spheres of rice and buy a couple of the carts the old-school dough filled with red bean paste. On the first visit, places use. Getting the carts took two months. the ball was uneven in thickness and the bean Finding wizened dim sum hands proved impos- paste was more like a coarse mash. Not good. The sible—none of the kitchen workers out on South- next time, the dough was fine, but the filling was east 82nd Avenue wanted in on this. still wrong. On my last visit, the balls were, in the When service began on a quiet Saturday immortal words of Goldilocks, “just right.” morning, Riceci and staff took turns pushing one Dim sum traditionalists may still find flavors steam cart filled with familiar treasure-laden less intense than desired. I’m unsure if this is bamboo baskets and a second, open-sided cart part of Boke’s lighter style or an element of a exhibiting sweets and a handful of other room- work still in progress. If you’re a hidebound type, temperature treats. The carts, supplemented by you’re unlikely to alter your HK Cafe or Ocean made-to-order items and others brought out on City habit. For the rest of us, Boke Sum presents trays, make the service feel traditional, although a pleasant weekend alternative that exemplifies Boke’s avowed intent was to deliver dim sum the primacy of passion over orthodoxy. lighter than the rigorously porky/salty/fatty trinity of old-guard Cantonese tea palaces. The menu EAT: Boke Bowl West, 1200 NW 18th Ave., 719-5698, bokebowl.com/dimsum. 11 am-3 pm has grown to include about 25 items, priced by Saturday-Sunday.

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J i M M Y K aT z

diane russell

MUSIC

TOP FIVE

VIJAY IYER TRIO

TOP FIVE SHOWS IN THE FIRST WEEK OF THE PORTLAND JAZZ FESTIVAL

RETURN THE GIFT HOW PORTLAND IS KEEPING JAZZ ALIVE AND RAISING ITS NEXT GENERATION.

BY PARK E R H A L L

phall@wweek.com

You can hear the tiny stampede well before it reaches the door.

It’s Monday afternoon, around 2 pm, when 20 or so Northeast Portland fifthgraders come barreling into the band room at King School. Inside the threshold sits their teacher, 68-year-old trumpeter Thara Memory, a hardened member of the jazz old school. He’s missing a few digits on each hand and walks on a prosthetic right leg—the ravages of diabetes.

As his students take their seats, Memory, balancing on a cane, makes his way to the front of the classroom.

“Band!” he shouts.

The students sit up straight on the front half of their plastic chairs, instruments down, staring ahead.

“Attention!” they shout back in unison.

And then class begins.

Memory, as soft-hearted as he is steelwilled, is one of Portland’s top jazz educators. In the past five years, nearly half the graduates of his high-school program, the Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra, have gone on to attend prominent conservatories across the country. His most famous student, singer-bassist Esperanza Spalding, has won four Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist in 2011. (Memory and Spalding shared a Grammy in 2013 for their arrangement of Spalding’s “City of Roses.”) He began teaching the in-school band at King to start kids playing even younger.

Music education has become increasingly important to the preservation of jazz, and Portland nurtures the future of the idiom better than almost any city its size.

Graduates of the city’s jazz programs have gone on to attend the Manhattan School of

Music, Juilliard, Berklee College of Music and other prestigious institutions. The Portland Youth Jazz Orchestra, American Music Program and Alan Jones Academy of Music, among others, amount to a sea of extracurricular jazz studies, where hundreds of students learn to, as Memory says, “get to the root of the matter.”

As jazz faded in popularity in the 1970s, players like Memory and drummer Mel Brown turned to teaching, out of fear the tradition might be lost. Jones, the drummer who founded the Alan Jones Academy of Music, was one of the early benefactors of the first systems.

“I had those mentors,” he says. “I played with them when I was 15, 16 years old, and traveled. But those gigs aren’t around anymore. You can’t just hop in a van and go on the road like you could. I think that we are filling in that style of education.”

Many educators in Portland keep the music close to its roots, focusing on the traditions of transcription and ear training. It’s not just the music that teachers try to keep it pure, but also the environment where students practice. In any given rehearsal, Jones says, “I’ll suggest that we are in the recording studio, and you’ve got one take to get it right because we are out of money. Ready, go! Or, I’ll say, ‘You’re now playing in front of 10,000 people at an international jazz festival.

Count it off.’”

These methods combine and snowball, says saxophonist Hailey Niswanger, an alum of Memory’s Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra, as well as the American Music Program and Portland Youth Jazz Orchestra. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music in Boston,

THAT’LL TEACH ’EM: Thara Memory (left) conducts the Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra.

she went on to perform with Esperanza Spalding, Wynton Marsalis and Ralph Peterson. Niswanger’s 2009 debut album, Confeddie, released was she was 19, was deemed one of the top jazz albums of that year by NPR. She chalks up her early success to the musicians who surrounded her in the programs she attended in Portland.

“I was getting inspired and turned on to music by my teachers and mentors, but also by who was sitting next to me in the sax section,” Niswanger says. “The caliber of the other musicians I was playing with was phenomenal. There are so many Portland students who have gone on to be really serious players. I mean, even back then, they were very serious players.”

The top players coming out of Portland are getting big gigs, and many are being hired by their former teachers. Farnell Newton, a trumpet player who performs with R&B singer Jill Scott and funk legend Bootsy Collins, recently hired a former student, trombonist Kyle Molitor, to tour with Collins’ band. “That’s what music education is for,” Newton says. “It’s not just for them to have knowledge, it’s for them to go out and achieve.”

“All we are really doing is cleaning up after what was in the schools years ago,” says Ben Medler, who runs the Portland Youth Jazz Orchestra with his saxophonist wife, Michelle. To him, the success of his program has little to do with how many Grammys his former students have won. “We’ve always said that if school programs became so stable again that PYJO failed, that would be success.”

Though he’s collected several awards himself, Memory agrees that achievement in the realm of music education cannot be measured in hardware. To a certain degree, it has nothing to do with music at all.

“These kids come with a whole lot of baggage, but we show them how to put it on the off-ramp,” Memory says. “I think that is the real thing that we show them: to put it on the off-ramp, so that they can make their way in life.” But, as he admits just before the wave of fifth-graders come storming through his door, “I bet you there are some Esperanzas in there.”

Taylor Eigsti Trio and Joel Harrison’s Free Country Ensemble Vocalist Becca stevens brushes her words over audiences with goose-bumpinducing ease, and she’ll do it here with two wholly different acts: piano prodigy eigsti and his bass-and-drums trio, then with eclectic guitarist Joel Harrison and his sax quintet, who perform abstract arrangements of classic country songs.

First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., 228-7219. 7 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. $30 general admission, $15 students.

Vijay Iyer Trio Pianist Vijay iyer’s intense odd meters and ever-shifting melodies are played with free-flowing grace, demonstrating how he earned his Macarthur grant, and why his group is considered one of the most important in modern jazz. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 248-4355. 9:30 pm Friday, Feb. 20. Sold out.

Lee Konitz Quartet alto saxophonist lee Konitz may be age 87, but the man can still swing with the best of them. The legend, who played on Miles davis’ Birth of the Cool sessions, spouts his bebop lines with an ageless confidence. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 248-4355. 3 pm Sunday, Feb. 22. $35-$45.

Noah Bernstein and Andre St. James sometimes it’s the smaller shows that prove the most compelling. sometime Tune-Yards saxophonist noah Bernstein and elder statesman bassist andre st.

James, whose resume includes stints alongside avant-garde heavyweights such as sun ra, pair up to perform what should be an interesting set. Pepe le Moko at the Ace Hotel, 407 SW 10th Ave., 546-8537. 10 pm Monday, Feb. 23. Free.

NYC to PDX Jazz Project Two quintets of Portland natives showcase their experiences during different eras of residency in the jazz mecca of new York—one from the bop, funk and fusion period of 1950-80, the other from the new-jazz present. Jimmy Mak’s, 221 NW 10th Ave., 295-6542. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Feb. 24. $13 general admission, $18 reserved seating.

MORE: The Portland Jazz Festival continues through March 1. see portlandjazzfestival.org for full schedule.

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MUSIC

FEB. 18–24 = WW Pick. Highly recommended.

Prices listed are sometimes for advance ticket sales. At-the-door increases and so-called convenience charges may apply. Event lineups are subject to change after WW’s press deadlines.

Editor: MATTHEW SINGER. 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: msinger@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18

sparkly now. KAITIE TODD. Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., 2250047. 9 pm. $25. All ages.

Lily & Madeleine, Shannon Hayden

Gregory Alan Isakov, Shook Twins

B R YC E T R O S T, GREEN LUCK MEDIA GROUP

[FOLK HARMONIES] There’s something about Lily & Madeleine’s folkinfluenced melodies that bring to mind those gloomy, hoodie-clad teenage years. Which is fitting, since sisters Lily and Madeleine are, in fact, teenagers—17 and 19, respectively. Together, they craft music heavy on dreamily intertwined harmonies, lazily driving drumbeats and speckled bits of piano. The songs on Fumes, the duo’s most recent album, are guided largely by their fluid and meandering voices, which mesh together so tightly it’s sometimes difficult to tell them apart.

Paired with the occasional burst of strings and sudden twangs of surfrock guitar, it’s like a sweetly miserable lullaby, where softly cooed “ooohs” are just as common as musings on the fleeting nature of life. KAITIE TODD. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

[SINGER-SONGWRITER] Gregory Alan Isakov is the kind of musician that frustrates other musicians. The South Africa-born songwriter plays with the nonchalance of somebody with inherent talent, the stuff others spend lifetimes practicing every day to achieve. When he’s not tending his garden in Colorado, Isakov, a trained horticulturist, is crafting emotive indie folk that’s at once uncluttered and serene. Newest record The Weatherman exemplifies his approach. Containing selfdescribed “simple beauty,” and with little more assistance than an acoustic guitar, hushed harmonies and Isakov’s own reassuring voice, the album finds him moving boulders, as delicately as humanly possible.

MARK STOCK. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 8 pm. Sold out. All ages.

THURSDAY, FEB. 19 Mope Grooves, Mean Jeans, Honey Bucket

FIND A PAPER

[GARAGE GUNK] Portland’s lovable, bong resin-soaked tape institution Gnar Tapes has since flown south to colonize SoCal in the name of goofy slacker glory, but it hasn’t dimmed the ADD-addled flicker of their local spotlight one bit. Mope Grooves topped their sticky-sweet pop hooks with a minimal amount of grody production gunk on last year’s Weird Girls, perhaps portending a slight swerve of the Gnar brand towards more accessible power-pop tunes about girls and weed and burgers.

PETE COTTELL. Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 2388899. 7 pm. $5. All ages.

Cold War Kids, Elliot Moss

Find all oF our WW Box locations at

wweek.com/findapaper

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[ARENA INDIE ROCK] The Cold War Kids who hit it big with their belting blues-rock sound might be long gone at this point. The polished, stadium-sized indie rock the group has released over the past four years is nearly unrecognizable from the gritty guitar and stuttering, staggering vocals found on its first album, 2008’s Robbers & Cowards. That’s not necessarily a bad thing—2014’s Hold My Home finds singer Nathan Willett maintaining the same catchy quaver he’s always had, now heightened with an infectious confidence, and the jaunty pounds of piano still make their way into most choruses. It’s all just bigger and more

Six Organs Of Admitance, Elisa Ambrogio

[FREAK FOLK] After several albums showing a masterful skill in a few guitar-centric genres, Ben Chasny, aka Six Organs of Admittance, has now devised “the Hexadic System,” a method of playing wherein notes and scales are decided in tandem with a pack of playing cards so as to randomize the results and, as Chasny puts it, “open yourself up to ideas from that other.” Of the 30 compositions he created, the nine best-suited to rock music made it to the subsequent record, Hexadic, and they are as jarring as you might imagine. So consider it basically a “best of” from a mad genius. CRIS LANKENAU. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., 231-9663. 8 pm. $12. 21+.

Pharmakon, Black Is Bright, Caustic Touch

[HOUSE BAND AT DANTE’S INFERNO] Last year’s widely hailed industrial death march, Pharmakon’s Bestial Burden, was a study in the grotesque hassle of having a human body, and if seeing Margaret Chardiet live is half as frightening, then people are in for a total fucking nightmare. With entire tracks dedicated to raspy gasping and what sounds like a demon being burned alive, it makes those black metal dudes burning churches in Norway look like a sewing circle.

CRIS LANKENAU. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 8 pm. $12. 21+.

FRIDAY, FEB. 20 Robert Cray Band

[DELTA HOUSE BLUES] Although collections like the recently released, Stax-soaked In My Soul play to an ever-diminishing faithful, Robert Cray spent the first third of his smoothly approachable, winningly mainstream career raging against the dying of blues as a popular music. Strong Persuader, 1986’s simmering, soft-rock-infused gold-selling album, represents the genre’s last stab at relevance. After

CONT. on page 28

INTRODUCING BIG MO Who: Rapper Mohammed Alkhadher.

Sounds like: An upper-echelon lyricist in the mold of Ras Kass and Nas, with superior beat selection and a socially conscious perspective that’s easy to digest.

For fans of: Lupe Fiasco, KRS-One, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, the Narcicyst.

Often in hip-hop, too many artists carrying the “conscious” banner suffer from mic skills that leave a lot to be desired. Conversely, a lot of top-notch MCs have bad taste in beats. Mohammed “Big Mo the Nomadic” Alkhadher is the rare artist who both beasts in the booth and excels in picking beats that hit hard.

Having dual citizenship in Kuwait and the U.S., the Portlandbased rapper’s worldview has been informed by a life spent shuttling between the Middle East and the Pacific Northwest, and he’s spent his career tackling issues both local and geopolitical. His new release, True North, is a neck-snapping headphone masterpiece, with East Coast-style boom-bap production helmed by local beatsmith Johnny Cool. “[True North] is a metaphor for my moral compass,” Alkhadher says. “Throughout my career in the last two, three years, I’ve focused on delivering the message and less on the entertainment side of it. So going into this project, I was trying to find the balance between [being] conscious and entertaining—so people can listen to the music, ride to the music, have a good time to the music, but at the same time get the message that I want to stay true to.”

Despite Alkhadher’s declarations of pop accessibility, don’t get it twisted. True North sounds like the best golden-age hip-hop, with immaculate rhymes and production so ill your mom will warn you about “your face getting stuck that way,” but it maintains a sharp edge, addressing the military-industrial complex, Islamophobia and the racism he’s experienced right here in Portland.

“This project is more poppy than anything I’ve ever done before,” Alkhadher says. “It’s purpose was to be catchy, but there’s still a conscious underlying tone. And it’s not hard to catch, it’s not like it’s deep, deep in there. It’s there on the surface. It’s easy to catch if you’re looking for it, but at the same time it’s easy to just ride to and enjoy.” T.J. LOVE. SEE IT: Big Mo plays Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington St., with Johnny Cool, Tope and Serge Severe, on Saturday, Feb. 21. 9 pm. $10. 21+.

MUSIC COURTESY OF GROUND CONTROL TOURING

PROFILE

JESSICA PRATT SUNDAY, FEB. 22 Jessica Pratt has to be sick of talking to reporters.

The L.A. singer-songwriter put out her self-titled debut in 2012, after her friend Tim Presley of psychedelic garage rockers Darker My Love and White Fence heard her ethereal, deceptively simplistic songs and staked his life savings on releasing her music. Ever since, she’s been compared to virtually every other woman who’s ever made a quiet, beautiful record about romance and being miserable. She’s been likened to Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez and Joanna Newsom, and prodded about her family, boyfriends and childhood. Through all this, she’s remained a pro, speaking openly and without pretension—even when asked something as silly as, “How do you do it?”

“I read a lot,” Pratt says. “I’ve always been very fond of words, and I like playing around with words and evoking things with a certain phrase. There’s lots of things I would love to do, in theory, lyrically, but it’s just whether or not it feels natural in a song that you write. That is a very delicate balance.”

Because her songs are so delicate, melancholy and sparse, it almost feels like an intrusion to ask about them. There are little eccentricities too subtle to be called “affected,” but they happen enough to warrant attention: the way she sings “try” as “troo-why,” or calling a song “Moon Dude.” It’s obvious this is the work of someone who isn’t afraid to play around, but who is also skilled enough to pull off those tricks. Unlike many of those other musicians she’s often compared to, Pratt manages to suss out with ease what feels natural in a song.

On Your Own Love Again, her new album, seems like a logical next step. Though there are elements of an elevated sound, it’s still just her and a nylon-stringed guitar, alone in a room. She can embody whatever best suits the moment, whether a smoky, Nico-esque drawl or a more childlike higher register that rises just above a whisper. There are added layers of harmonizing or lead guitar overdubs fortifying moments, but it’s always a soft, intimate affair.

On Your Own Love Again has already earned significant praise. Pratt has been featured in Interview and Vogue, and the album received a glowing review from Pitchfork. For an artist whose sound is so fragile, you can’t help but worry that she might falter under the scrutiny. Pratt admits to feeling a bit nervous about all the attention she’s receiving. But she’s continuing to do what comes naturally—which, in this case, is to enjoy being heard by a wider audience than she even hoped for.

“I’m not super self-conscious, but I am fairly cynical,” she says. “I’m really proud of the record and I love it, and I thought it would do pretty well, but mostly it would just appeal to a particular group of people, and I would be happy with that. I’m really shocked at the range of people that like it.” CRIS LANKENAU. It’s oh so quiet.

SEE IT: Jessica Pratt plays Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St., with Kevin Morby, on Sunday, Feb. 22. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

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friday–sunday

spending much of his Animal House shoot entranced by Cray’s Eugene gigs with Curtis Salgado, John Belushi was reportedly driven to form the Blues Brothers. Neither, it should be said, have aged especially well. JAY HORTON. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $42.50 advance, $45 day of show. Under 21 permitted with legal guardian.

Mike Mago, Ali Alavi Yonah, Crokoloko, Drexler

[BIG-ROOM HOUSE] Spinnin’ Records is the Walmart of the dance world: It has all the bigname brands your mom has heard of and none of the ones she hasn’t.

Like big-box inventory, the Spinnin’ catalog—think Tiesto, Garrix and van Doorn—is best visited intoxicated. One exception is Mike Mago.

Mago brings both pop sensibilities and bass influences to house music, and his catchy collaboration with indie-pop outfit Dragonette, “Outlines,” has lit up big clubs since its release in August. MITCH LILLIE. Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $15. 21+.

Rose’s Pawn Shop, the Maldives, Sam Fowles

[BLUEGRASSY] These days, some of the best Appalachia-influenced tunes come from west of the Mississippi. Gravity Well, the latest release from Rose’s Pawn Shop, is a prime example. It’s anchored by fast-picking banjo arpeggios, with frontman Paul Givant’s polished croon ringing throughout.

The countrified electric guitar and five-part harmonies recall a hardy rendition of “Sweet Caroline” at your neighborhood watering hole more than most modern-pop fanfare could ever muster—which, for once, is welcome. BRANDON WIDDER. Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3895. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

Giraffage, Spazzkid, Gangsigns

[ELECTRONIC POP] No Reason, San Francisco-based producer Charlie Yin’s debut EP, is an exercise in crossing over. Giraffage’s end product has evolved, from his previous SoundCloud remixes to an allegedly sample-free production, and from the Internet to emerging powerhouse Fool’s Gold. In his metamorphosis, Yin has mastered his maximal, uplifting pop and found a niche—especially with lead single and standout track “Tell Me”—in the rotation of many bigname DJs. MITCH LILLIE. Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Ave., 234-5683. 9 pm. $12. 21+.

Levon’s Helmet, the Zags, No More Parachutes, Mr. Bones

[POWER-POP] Levon’s Helmet are part of a core of young Portland upstarts playing straight-up, nofrills power-pop full of big chords and bigger melodies. Tonight, the band celebrates the release of its debut full-length, Have the Best Day. Sandy Hut, 1430 NE Sandy Blvd., 235-7972. 9 pm. $5. 21+.

SATURDAY, FEB. 21 Tango Alpha Tango, Old Wave, Us Lights

[PSYCH-SOAKED BLUES] It’s always revelatory when a band issues more live albums than studio albums. In the case of Portland’s Tango Alpha Tango, its recent live compilation captures the true strength of the band better than the studio ever could. Guitarist Nathan Trueb’s blistering solos are best when brimming with wayward fuzz, piercing through the melange of slinking bass and tight drums that have defined the blues rockers since the group’s inception in 2008. If droning new cuts like “White Sugar” are any indication, the sound is only going to get heavier and dirtier. BRANDON WIDDER. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E

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Burnside St., 231-9663. 9 pm. $10 advance, $12 day of show. 21+.

MNDSGN, Bones, Citymouth, Northern Draw

[BEATS] I don’t really smoke weed anymore, but I’m pretty sure Ringgo Ancheta does. The producer known as MNDSGN—it’s pronounced “mind design”—drops beats missing J Dilla’s trademark shuffle but that are equally as blunted. 2014’s Yawn Zen goes full Saturday morning melancholy on “Camelblues” and Sunday evening bliss with “Exchanging.” It’s like that weekend you forgot but didn’t want to. MITCH LILLIE. The Know, 2026 NE Alberta St., 473-8729. 9 pm. $5. 21+.

SUNDAY, FEB. 22 The Church

[NEWISH WAVE] Roughly as old as the place of religious practice it’s named after, the Church has released a staggering 25 records in 35 years. Started in Sydney, the prolific group has evolved from a New Wave startup to an experimental alt-rock mainstay of international proportions. Steve Kilbey and company’s latest LP, Further Deeper, is more than just another product from a prolific act, expertly merging the drones and echoes of shoegaze with the noodling and complexity of prog rock. Newest member and former Powderfinger guitarist Ian Haug enters the fray without so much as a single audible seam. MARK STOCK. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 8 pm. $25 advance, $30 day of show. Under 21 permitted with legal guardian.

Gothic Tropic, Lucy, Hands In

[JUNGLE ROCK] Cecilia Della Peruti, leader of Gothic Tropic, prefers to keep things playful, and I’m not just talking about her penchant for performing barefoot. The band’s take on psychedelic pop leans toward high-energy while entangling a distinct tropical influence with distant, angelic vocals and persistent surf-guitar melodies. Latest EP Underwater Games lacks the silly song titles of its debut but carries the same sense of abandon, along with a noticeable growth in songwriting.

COLETTE POMERLEAU. Rontoms, 600 E Burnside St., 236-4536. 9 pm. Free. 21+.

Flight Facilities, Beat Connection

[REMIX RENAISSANCE MEN] Building sizable cachet on the strength of star-studded guest vocalists and banger remixes is a double-edged sword with regard to a group’s live show. Australia’s Flight Facilities certainly knows its way around the retro grooves that make kindred spirits like Classixx and Chromeo top-flight attractions on the festival circuit, but what does one do in the downtime between cameos from the likes of Reggie Watts and Emma Louise? On 2014’s Down to Earth, the answer is a little bit of everything, with Flight Facilities massaging your soul on the comedown tracks and limbering it up on the come-ups that punctuate the headphones-friendly production that makes the album so remarkably enjoyable. Pure Moods for club kids may not have worked in the ravey Astralwerks-dominated ’90s, but times have changed, and nothing has sounded this sublime in years.

PETE COTTELL. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 9 pm. $20 advance, $22 day of show. All ages.

tuesday/classical, etc.

The Autonomics, Animal Eyes, Arlo Indigo

[DISTORTED DANCE ROCK] It only took the Autonomics a day and a half to record their latest EP, Keep Tulsa Ugly, but that was plenty of time to craft a collection of incredibly satisfying lo-fi indie rock. The Portlanders’ 13-minute, five-song play-through record covers topics as diverse as insulting the state of Oklahoma and stalking Oprah. The quickly paced, heavily distorted new songs are certainly infectious enough to hold their own against Animal Eyes’ complicated structures and off-kilter instrumentation and Arlo Indigo’s twinkly electro-pop. SHANNON GORMLEY. Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave., 8949708. 9:30 pm. $5. 21+.

CLASSICAL, JAZZ & WORLD PDX Jazz Festival: Bebel Gilberto

[TROPICALIA BALM] Flirting with respectability throughout an undistinguished career, never meeting the expectations her sparkling lineage commands, eternally borne aloft through the undimmed affections of legion well-wishers—we can’t imagine a more appropriate poster girl for the Portland Jazz Festival than Bebel Gilberto. Last September’s Tudo, her first album in five years, sambas around the Brazilian jazz idioms perfected by her legendary parents, capo di tutti bossa nova Joao Gilberto and singer Miucha, while largely avoiding the electronica backdrops that chilled turn-of-the-millennium clublands worldwide. But the gentle mix of standards and originals only veers from the dully decorous on her rendition of “Harvest Moon,” which singularly showcases the charming awkwardness long the royal birthright. JAY HORTON. Newmark Theatre, 1111 Southwest Broadway, 248-4335. 7 pm. $30-$38. All ages.

PDX Jazz Festival: Christian McBride Trio & Lou Donaldson Quartet

[SOUL JAZZ] Saxophonist Lou Donaldson has probably had as many honorifics levied upon him as diatribes aimed at his experiments leading to the jazz deflation of the 1970s. But in 1958, Donaldson led an ensemble, accompanied by a conga player, for Blues Walk. It’s a prehistoric take on what would become soul jazz a decade later. But by the time jazz caught up with the saxophonist, he was leading hyperarranged and mellowed recordings.

Whatever the setting, Donaldson has been swinging for more than 60 years. His group is set to open for Christian McBride, a bassist crawling with credits alongside everyone from Paul McCartney to the Roots. DAVE CANTOR. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 2484335. 7 pm Saturday, Feb. 21. $32$62. All ages.

Probosci

[ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC CHAMBER DUO] It took 15 years and a move from his native California to Brooklyn for guitarist-composer Gyan Riley to become known as more than the son of minimalist pioneer Terry Riley, but his work with such diverse musicians as Zakir Hussain, Mike Marshall, Dawn Upshaw, the San Francisco Symphony, Iva Bittová and, yes, his dad has established Gyan as one of the 21st century’s rising contemporary classical stars. Violinisttrumpeter-composer Timba Harris is best known for his work with the fascinating modern proggers Secret Chiefs 3 and has ventured into collaborations with avant-jazz-

ers such as John Zorn and Sunn O. Together, they create surprisingly sweet, sometimes assertive sounds fueled by Middle Eastern, Eastern European and other wide-ranging ingredients. BRETT CAMPBELL. Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave., 777-1907. 8 pm Saturday, Feb. 21. $12-$20 sliding scale. 21+.

PDX Jazz Festival: Nicholas Payton Trio & Billy Childs’ Map to the Treasure

[JAZZ] Trumpeter Nicholas Payton rose to jazz fame as part of the Wynton Marsalis-led parade of “Young Lions” who emerged from New Orleans in the 1980s. In this new trio with bassist Vicente Archer and veteran drummer Bill Stewart, Payton also sings and plays electric piano. Pianist Billy Childs, a protégé of Freddie Hubbard who has collaborated with Chris Botti, classical ensembles and orchestras, this month picked up his fourth Grammy Award for his surprising 2014 album which featured a wide range of singers (Alison Krauss, Esperanza Spalding, Renée Fleming, Shawn Colvin). The album inventively covered the music of the venerated folk-pop singer Laura Nyro, whose songs ruled the late-’60s and ’70s pop charts. Here, they’ll be sung by rising vocalists Becca Stevens and Alicia Olatuja. BRETT CAMPBELL. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7 pm Sunday, Feb. 22. $32-$52. All ages.

For more Music listings, visit

PREVIEW RON MCGREGOR

TUESDAY, FEB. 24

MUSIC

Blue Cranes, the Lost Trio

[MODERN JAZZ] The Lost Trio has, for two decades, been one of the Bay Area’s most respected jazz ensembles, with tenor saxophonist Phillip Greenlief drawing on the classic tradition of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins while forging an entirely original approach. While their albums have included both original songs and music from sources as diverse as Hank Williams, Nino Rota, Steve Lacy, Mel Tillis, the Grateful Dead and PJ Harvey, a constant has been the influence of that most revered of jazz composers, Thelonious Monk, to whose music their splendid new album, Monkwork, is entirely devoted. Portland indie-jazz fixtures Blue Cranes, who combine the melodic appeal of rock with deep knowledge of jazz’s roots, will offer a few glimpses of their upcoming album, along with new takes on their ear-catching current book. BRETT CAMPBELL. Alberta Street Public House, 1036 NE Alberta St., 284-7665.

7 pm Saturday, Feb. 21. $10. 21+.

Beethoven’s Fifth

[CLASSIC CLASSICAL] Dun dun dun dunnnnn! The first four notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 are locked in the psyche of just about every living human, and for good reason—the symphony is a masterpiece of early 19th-century classical music. But it is the company it keeps on this program that has my ears quivering in anticipation. The concert opens with Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead, a funereal dream inspired by Arnold Böcklin’s enigmatic painting of the same name.

The percussion section works up a sweat on Lutoslawki’s Partita for Violin and Orchestra, and Dvorak’s Romance in F Minor provides the melodic glue between the modern Polish piece and Ludwig himself.

NATHAN CARSON. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7:30 pm Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, 8 pm Monday, Feb. 21-23. $35-$150. All ages.

Napalm Death, Voivod, Exhumed, Iron Reagan, Black Crown Initiate, Southgate [KILLING TECHNOLOGY] In the ’80s, French-Canadian sci-fi thrash quartet Voivod was a contemporary of Metallica and Slayer, infusing progressive themes borrowed from King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator into its jazzy take on metal. The band flirted with the mainstream, headlining shows over Soundgarden and Faith No More, signing to a major label in 1989 and enjoying some MTV rotation just as grunge knocked the bottom out of the metal market. Voivod went back underground for the duration of the ’90s, as core members jumped ship and a devastating van wreck spun the group to a career low. By the turn of the millennium, however, bassist Jason Newsted quit Metallica and joined Voivod, giving the band enough of a shot in the arm to procure a new record deal and a slot on Ozzfest. Though original guitarist and songwriter Denis D’Amour succumbed to colon cancer soon after, and Newsted has since left, Voivod has never been short on tenacity, and its latest album, Target Earth, has been hailed as a return to form. This show will be Voivod’s first Portland-area gig since 1999. Its current live set is heavy on early material, and the band, which features original drummer Michel Langevin and vocalist Denis Bélanger, is more than capable of delivering the goods. All systems go! NATHAN CARSON. Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 SE Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., 233-7100. 5 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. $15 advance, $18 day of show. All ages.

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

29

MUSIC CALENDAR

[FEB. 18-24] Jimmy Mak’s

= ww Pick. Highly recommended.

Editor: Mitch Lillie. TO HAVE YOUR EVENT LISTED, send show information at least two weeks in advance on the web at wweek.com/submitevents. 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.

221 NW 10th Ave. Freda Payne, 2015 Portland Jazz Festival

LaurelThirst Public House

2958 NE Glisan St. Sink and Swim, Piano Shoppe (9:30 pm); Lewi and the Left Coast Roasters (6 pm)

For more listings, check out wweek.com.

CAMERONbROWNE.COM

LAST WEEK LIVE

Magnolia’s Corner

4075 NE Sandy Blvd Geraldo Calderon

Mississippi Studios

3939 N Mississippi Ave. Pharmakon, Black is Bright, Caustic Touch

Aladdin Theater

3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Robert Cray Band

Alhambra Theatre

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Midnite, DJ Yt Small Axe

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

1037 SW Broadway Tommy Emmanuel

Ash Street Saloon

225 SW Ash St. She Preaches Mayhem, Vigil Wolves, Divides, Nova Eyes

bunk bar

1028 SE Water Ave. Audios Amigos, Phantom Ships, Pity F**ks

Clinton Street Theater 2522 SE Clinton St. Waver, Clamor, Bellow

Crystal ballroom

Alberta Rose Theatre 3000 NE Alberta St. The Fred Eaglesmith Traveling Steam Show

Analog Cafe & Theater 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Salsanova

Ash Street Saloon 225 SW Ash St. Marla Singer

branx

320 SE 2nd Ave. Dodge & Fusky, Wolfkin, Torrent

dante’s

LaurelThirst Public House

2958 NE Glisan St. Ships to Roam, New Zoos (9 pm); Wilkinson Blades (6 pm)

Mississippi Studios

3939 N Mississippi Ave. The Suffers, Tess Henley

Newmark Theatre 1111 SW Broadway Bebel Gilberto

350 W Burnside St Brothers Gow, Spynreset and South Saturn Delta

The GoodFoot Lounge

doug Fir Lounge

The Lodge bar & Grill

830 E Burnside St. Lily & Madeleine

duff’s Garage

2530 NE 82nd Ave Blues Jam, Arthur Moore’s Harmonica Party

30

2845 SE Stark St. Shafty

6605 SE Powell Blvd.

Pete Ford Band

The Secret Society 116 NE Russell St. Susan McKeown

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

wonder ballroom

128 NE Russell St. Gregory Alan Isakov, The Shook Twins

THuRS. Feb. 19 Alberta Rose Theatre 3000 NE Alberta St. An Evening with Slaid Cleaves

Alberta Street Public House

1036 NE Alberta St. Jon Ransom, LP Release Show

Alhambra Theatre

4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers

Analog Cafe & Theater 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Thursday Sessions

Clinton Street Theater 2522 SE Clinton St. Mean Jeans, Mope Grooves, Honey Bucket

Crystal ballroom

1332 W Burnside Street Cold War Kids

dante’s

350 W Burnside St KD and the Hurt

doug Fir Lounge

830 E Burnside St. Six Organs Of Admittance, Elisa Ambrogio

Hawthorne Theatre

1507 SE 39th Ave. Napalm Death, Voivod, Exhumed, Iron Reagan, Black Crown Initiate

Star Theater

13 NW 6th Ave. Scott Pemberton

116 NE Russell St. Fernando, Jon Dee Graham, Mike June, Pete Krebs and His Portland Playboys

The Tonic Lounge

3100 NE Sandy Blvd.

Reagan Youth, 13 Scars, Rum Rebellion, Faithless Saints

white eagle Saloon

1937 SE 11th Ave. Pinehurst Kids, When We Met, SIN City Ramblers

The Know

2026 NE Alberta St. MNDSGN, Bones, Citymouth, Northern Draw

2530 NE 82nd Ave Hank Shreve Band

1111 SW Broadway Vijay Iyer Trio

SAT. Feb. 21 Aladdin Theater

3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Stuart

Alberta Street Public House 1036 NE Alberta St. Blue Cranes, The Lost Trio

Analog Cafe & Theater

1111 SW Broadway The Bill Charlap Trio Swings Sinatra

SuN. Feb. 22 Al’s den

303 SW 12th Ave. Harmed Brothers

Aladdin Theater

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

1037 SW Broadway Beethoven’s Fifth

1037 SW Broadway Beethoven’s Fifth

Ash Street Saloon

830 E Burnside St. Tango Alpha Tango, Adam Brock, Us Lights

eastburn

1800 E Burnside St. Tuck and Daisy

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

doug Fir Lounge

830 E Burnside St. Kevin Morby, Jessica Pratt

duff’s Garage

2530 NE 82nd Ave The Rhythm Renegades

First united Methodist Church 1838 SW Jefferson St. Lovers: The Music of Samuel Barber

Habesha Lounge

1111 SW Broadway Lee Konitz Quartet

wonder ballroom

128 NE Russell St. Flight Facilities, Beat Connection

MoN. Feb. 23 Al’s den

303 SW 12th Ave. Harmed Brothers

dante’s

350 W Burnside St Karaoke From Hell, The English Language

doug Fir Lounge 830 E Burnside St. Asher Fulero Band

Jimmy Mak’s

221 NW 10th Ave. Network Trio, 2015 Portland Jazz Festival

Kaul Auditorium

SE 28th Ave. & Botsford Dr. Jordi Savall

LaurelThirst Public House

2958 NE Glisan St. Kung Pao Chickens (9 pm); Portland Country Underground (6 pm)

Mississippi Studios

3939 N Mississippi Ave. Ryan Montbleau, Cris Jacobs

Reed College

3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.

Friends of Chamber Music: Jordi Savall

white eagle Saloon 836 N Russell St. Singer Songwriter Showcase, Eric John Kaiser

TueS. Feb. 24 Al’s den

303 SW 12th Ave. Harmed Brothers

Aladdin Theater

3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. Steep Canyon Rangers

2126 SW Halsey St. Jet Black Pearl

Hawthorne Theatre

Hawthorne Theatre

Analog Cafe & Theater

221 NW 10th Ave. Young Lions Revisited

LaurelThirst Public House

2958 NE Glisan St. Ron Rogers and the Wailing Wind, the Lonesomes (9:30 pm); Redray Frazier (6 pm)

1507 SE 39th Ave. Tory Lanez

Jimmy Mak’s

221 NW 10th Ave. The Dan Balmer Trio

LaurelThirst Public House

221 NW 10th Ave. NYC to PDX Jazz Project, 2015 Portland Jazz Festival

LaurelThirst Public House

Mississippi Studios

Mississippi Studios

1111 SW Broadway Christian McBride Trio & Lou Donaldson Quartet

Roseland Theater 8 NW 6th Ave. Lotus, Pan Astral

bunk bar

1028 SE Water Ave. The Autonomics, Animal Eyes, Arlo Indigo

Lincoln Performance Hall

4075 NE Sandy Blvd Eric John Kaiser

Newmark Theatre

720 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Tar Plains, St. Jacks Parade & Die Robot

doug Fir Lounge

1620 SW Park Ave. Think Lincoln Noon Concert Series: Dianne Hammack

3939 N Mississippi Ave. Doug Seegers

3000 NE Alberta St. Lee DeWyze, Leslie DiNicola

2958 NE Glisan St. Open Mic (9 pm); Freak Mountain Ramblers (6 pm)

Magnolia’s Corner

2958 NE Glisan St. Lynn Conover and Gravel (9:30 pm); Michael Hurley and the Croakers (6 pm)

winningstad Theatre

Alberta Rose Theatre

221 NW 10th Ave. Frank Catalano, 2015 Portland Jazz Festival

Jimmy Mak’s

836 N Russell St. Rob Johnston, Blue Flaggs Black Grass

801 NE Broadway St. Eaton Flowers, Volcanic Pinnacles, James Curry IV, Glo Globes

edgefield

Jimmy Mak’s

1001 SE Morrison St. Grape God, PDX Mandem, Blaxe x Motherwell

winningstad Theatre

3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. The Church

Hawthorne Theatre

Holocene

836 N Russell St. Speaker Thief, Rule of the Bone

720 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Weresquatch CD Release, Magnabolt, Warkrank, Toxic Witch, Bewitcher

2126 SW Halsey St. The Old Yellers 1507 SE 39th Ave. Pierced Arrows, Mean Jeans, Exacerbators

The Tonic Lounge

white eagle Saloon

1507 SE 39th Ave. Suicide Silence, Emmure, Within The Ruins, Fit For An Autopsy

edgefield

116 NE Russell St. Devid Gerow, Everything’s Jake

winningstad Theatre

doug Fir Lounge

830 E Burnside St. Zion I, Los Rakas, Locksmith

The Secret Society

836 N Russell St. Marca Luna, Matt Lande

dante’s

doug Fir Lounge

4260 SE Hawthorne Blvd Oh My My’s

white eagle Saloon

225 SW Ash St. Kingdom Under Fire, At The Seams, Chronological Injustice, Dead Last Place

350 W Burnside St NW Hip Hop Fest: 4 Pigeon John, Bad Habitat, Cool Nutz, Sleep

615 SE Alder 20th Annual Blues Harmonica Summit

3100 NE Sandy Blvd.

Church of Hate & Devilation, Truculence, Hillbilly, Bitchsplitter, Taco Ninjas

1332 W Burnside Street Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Brownout

duff’s Garage 225 SW Ash St. Lo There Do I See My Brother, The Union Trade, Amos Val

315 SE 3rd Ave. Giraffage, Spazzkid, Gangsigns

The Tonic Lounge

The Firkin Tavern

The Ranger Station PdX

FRi. Feb. 20

836 N Russell St. Reverb Brothers

Rotture

600 E. Burnside St. Gothic Tropic, Lucy 3100 NE Sandy Blvd.

Amy Bleu & Airon GhostRadio, Spare Spells, Scorpion Warrior

The Secret Society

836 N Russell St. The Fire Weeds

1001 SE Morrison St. Bleach Blonde Dudes, Jackson Boone, Rosa Sharn

10350 N Vancouver Way Haywire

Rontoms

13 NW 6th Ave. Eminince Ensemble, T Bird & The Breaks

The Secret Society

white eagle Saloon

Ash Street Saloon

Ponderosa Lounge

Star Theater

The Melody ballroom

8 NE Killingsworth St. Hearts & Tigers, Big Feelings & Thousand Arrows

white eagle Saloon

1111 SW Broadway Elling Swings Sinatra

315 SE 3rd Ave. Enabler, Call of The Void, Transient

2026 NE Alberta St. Super Brown, Kingdom of Smooth, Funeral Gold

Turn! Turn! Turn!

Holocene

Newmark Theatre

Rotture

The Know

116 NE Russell St. The Ukeladies, Last Century Boys

wed. Feb. 18

3939 N Mississippi Ave. Rose’s Pawn Shop

Roseland Theater 8 NW 6th Ave. Iration, Stick Figure

SMOKE SIGNALS: Smokey Robinson is the quintessential Motown artist—more than Stevie, Marvin, the Supremes or the Temptations. For one thing, he wrote songs for almost all of them. And whereas those other legends’ greatest achievements came in defiance of Berry Gordy’s well-oiled machine, Robinson’s trove of hits defined the sound of the label, if not the entire classic-soul era. At the Schnitz on Feb. 14, the 74-year-old Robinson, backed by a relatively small touring band and, for half the show, the Oregon Symphony, touched on the major points of his songbook, from those epochal Miracles singles (“I Second That Emotion,” “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” “Ooo Baby Baby,” “The Tracks of My Tears”) to a medley of Temptations tunes bearing his credit. Throughout, Robinson, dressed in a satin lavender suit that’s probably been hanging in his closet since the ’70s, was charming and gregarious, bantering with the audience, the backing singers and his two dancers (one of whom was totally left-sharking some of the routines), impersonating Stevie Wonder and dancing like your uncle at a wedding after too much prosecco. His famously crystalline voice had a few extra cracks in it—the ravages of a lingering flu, he confessed late in the night—and once the symphony exited, the band’s layers of casino-grade cheese started to show, but Robinson overcame it all with sheer force of personality. It was Valentine’s Day, but aside from septuagenarian couples slow-dancing in the aisles, the biggest love affair in the room was between Robinson and his music, still burning hot after all these years. “Writers ask me, ‘How do you react when you hear your songs on the radio?’” he said from the stage. “I say, ‘I turn it up.’” MATTHEW SINGER. Read the full review at wweek.com/lastweeklive.

Mississippi Studios

3939 N Mississippi Ave. The Year of the Goat, The Slants

Newmark Theatre

1111 SW Broadway PDX Jazz Fest: Nicholas Payton Trio & Billy Childs’ Map to the Treasure

830 E Burnside St. Peter Bradley Adams

Jimmy Mak’s

LaurelThirst Public House

2958 NE Glisan St. Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons (9 pm); Jackstraw (6 pm)

The Know

2026 NE Alberta St. Divers, Nude Beach, Brave Hands, Pass

FEB. 18–24

MUSIC CALENDAR JASONDESOMER.COM

BAR REVIEW

Where to drink this week.

1. St. Honoré

3333 SE Division St., 971-279-4433, sainthonorebakery.com.

This excellent bakery is secretly also one of the best cider bars in town, with 11 taps and a cider happy hour featuring a lot of Asturian, French and local ciders.

5. Savoy Tavern

2500 SE Clinton St., 8089999, savoypdx.com.

Peter Bro recently brought his recipe for the All-Way burger, a “pre-McDonald’s” take on the fast-food classic, to Savoy. It instantly becomes one of the best bar burgers in the city. At $4.50 for the original (you want the 2-Way for $5.75), it’s a steal.

Mo Phillips at Noon

The Peculiar Tales Of The S.S. Bungalow at Two

Visit the Hawthorne Burgerville on the 21st from 5-8pm and 10% of your purchase will be donated to the Oregon Music Hall Of Fame’s Scholarship Fund!

LUKE SWEENEY Thursday, February 19th at 6

Fresh from festival appearances at Noise Pop, Make Music Pasadena, and CMJ with a full cast of accomplished players, Sweeney’s band is whipping up the vast spectrum of his songs into a magnetic force, drawing ears who hear something familiar yet mysteriously new.

3. Loowit

2637 SE Hawthorne Blvd., prettymansgeneral.com.

Guess what twee, friendly bar just started a Sunday brunch? This one did. Way to justify your morning drinking habit, Portland.

LIVE MUSIC

Free gift bags to first 250 kids (under 18)

10-6 (store open until 10 pm) 3158 e Burnside

8409 N Lombard St., 283-2243.

In this beer bar on the fringes of St. Johns, there are blacklit restrooms, grandma couches that smell of OMMP, a huge collection of obscure board games, thrift-store T-shirts and a mess of obscure local brews such as those from Awesome Ales. Make it a “4:19 Got a Minute IPA.”

4. Prettyman’s General

BRING YOUR KIDS TO MUSIC MILLENNIUM DAY

SaTurday, FeBruary 21

2. Plew’s Brews

507 Columbia St., Vancouver, 360-566-2323, loowitbrewing.com.

Vancouver has really blossomed as a beer town in the past year, and downtown’s most-happening spot on a Saturday night is this cavernous brewery, which smells like a hop farm and has live music.

Music Millennium Presents The 4th Annual

CAPTAIN WAILS

Friday, February 20th at 6

Captain Wails and the Harpoons is a project created to capture important moments in time and pragmatic relevance. Smooth tones, punchy drums, heartfelt words, and cutting hooks make up the sound of this eclectic, reflective music.

HOUSE OF BLUE: There’s something bittersweet about a shiny new bar naming a drink after the previous occupant. In the case of the Blue Monk, doubly so. Formerly a jazz club, it ran into problems after hosting a hip-hop show in a city where police don’t cotton to that sort of thing. So the Blue Monk is now a cocktail with housemade blue curacao and lime served in a bar that spins LPs from Bob Dylan’s acoustic years. Let’s not hold it against The Liquor Store (3341 SE Belmont St., 421-4483, theliquorstorepdx.com).

On Saturday nights, the basement is a cramped dance club. But on weeknights, the homey upstairs bar joins with Aalto Lounge across the street to create the best living room/den combination you’ll find outside a Hillsdale split level. The Liquor Store’s walls are lined with shelves holding a collector’s stash of vinyl, everything from the Hornets’ Motorcycles U.S.A. to David Bowie’s Scary Monsters. There’s a DJ spinning as the bartender pours the Blue Monk into a coupe. The balanced cocktail is just a little on the sweet side, but with an acidic bite from lime juice. On another wall hangs an old rack with yellowed newspapers from the days after Lennon was shot, Nixon resigned and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. “They’re meant to be read; check them out next time,” says the bartender. “It’s pretty cool— like, remember newspapers?” Sigh. MARTIN CIZMAR.

LOST LANDER Tuesday, February 24th at 6

If DRRT, the group’s first album, was about the confluence of nature and technology, Medallion, it’s latest, concerns dualities – love and loss, impermanence and longevity, death and rebirth.

PADDINGTON

ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK Sale Priced At $13.99

Having been the subject of countless books and TV episodes, Paddington Bear is coming to the big screen for the very first time in a magical adventure film! The film’s tuneful Original Score is composed by Nick Urata (‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’, ‘Ruby Sparks’), with additional songs on the album from Lionel Richie, James Brown and Steppenwolf, plus 4 original Cuban-style tracks from D Lime feat.

Tabago Crusoe.

Sale Ends March 18th

Moloko Plus

3967 N Mississippi Ave. Hans Fricking Lindauers 21st Century Rhythm & Soul Review

WED. FEB. 18 Bar XV

15 SW 2nd AVE Deep House Wednesdays

Moloko Plus

3967 N Mississippi Ave. The Diamond stylus with

The Lovecraft

421 SE Grand Ave. Event Horizon, Industrial Dance Night

The Whiskey Bar 31 NW 1st Ave Party Favor

THURS. FEB. 19 Crush Bar

1400 SE Morrison St. Club Pop

Dig a Pony

736 Southeast Grand Ave. Aan DJs

Holocene

1001 SE Morrison St. #Testify: DJ Honest John, New Dadz DJs

Moloko Plus

3967 N Mississippi Ave. Brazilian Night

The Lovecraft

421 SE Grand Ave. Shadowplay

The Know

The Lovecraft

The Lovecraft

2845 SE Stark St. Soul Stew: DJ Aquaman 421 SE Grand Ave. Electronomicon

SAT. FEB. 21 Dig a Pony

736 Southeast Grand Ave. Mikie Lixx and Dirty Red

Branx

320 SE 2nd Ave. Mike Mago, Ali Alavi Yonah, Crokoloko, Drexler

Holocene

1001 SE Morrison St. ROCKBOX, DJ Kez, Matt Nelkin

1001 SE Morrison St. Gaycation: Mr. Charming, DJ Snowtiger

Moloko Plus

3967 N Mississippi Ave. The Central Experience with Gulls & Mr. Peepers

SUN. FEB. 22 Star Theater

13 NW Sixth Avenue Trance to the Sun: Saturay, DJ Skully

DANIEL LANOIS - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH, 3PM

225 SW Ash St. DJ Blackhawk

The GoodFoot Lounge

Holocene

FRI. FEB. 20

MON. FEB. 23 Ash Street Saloon

2026 NE Alberta St. DJ Northern Draw 421 SE Grand Ave. Departures, DJ Waisted and Friends

TUES. FEB. 24 Analog Cafe & Theater 720 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Boombox

The Lodge Bar & Grill 6605 SE Powell Blvd.

DJ Easy Finger

The Lovecraft

421 SE Grand Ave. Bones with DJ Aurora

#WWEEK NEVER MISS A BEAT.

Beyond the Print

@wweek

@WillametteWeek

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

31

Willamette Week presents

sunday, march 1 Registration Party noon Race Begins 2:00 P.m.

After Party 6:00 P.m.

Race around Portland, defy winter weather, complete crazy challenges, eat at food carts, and solve riddles for your chance to win HONOR, GLORY, and a FOOD CART TOUR with Food Carts PDX. Prizes for: First Place, Best Team Name, Best Team Costume

Teams of 5 | $60/Team To regisTer: wweek.com/cartathlonv QuesTions? cartathlon@wweek.com

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Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

feb. 18–24

= WW Pick. Highly recommended.

FEATURE JOLENE MONHEIM

PERFORMANCE

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: MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Theater: MATTHEW KORFHAGE (mkorfhage@wweek.com). Dance: KAITIE TODD (dance@wweek.com).

TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LISTINGS, submit information at least two weeks in advance to: rjacobson@wweek.com.

THEATER OPENINGS & PREVIEWS The Night Alive

Irish dramatist Conor McPherson writes plays marked by muck, menace and loneliness. But he’s compassionate, too, as in The Night Alive. The celebrated 2013 play centers on Tommy, a middleaged, slovenly Dubliner who takes in a young woman—a sometime prostitute with an abusive boyfriend—and gets a tad more than he bargained for. With the dynamic Bruce Burkhartsmeier and Michael O’Connell in the cast, this Third Rail production should be resonant and rewarding. CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 235-1101. 7:30 pm Wednesdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Sundays through March 14. $22-$29.

Other Desert Cities

Portland Center Stage presents a drama by Jon Robin Baitz about a wealthy family with a thorny past— because we’ve never seen any of those sorts of people onstage before.

Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Sundays, 2 pm Saturdays-Sundays and noon Thursdays through March 22. $39-$69.

Ruthless! The Musical

A schmaltzy spoof of Broadway musicals, Ruthless! follows an 8-yearold who will stop at nothing to snag the role of Pippi Longstocking in her school show. This Stumptown Stages production is directed by Paul Angelo, who’s been racking up a lot of credits around town. Brunish Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Saturdays-Sundays through March 8. $29.65-$38.65.

What Makes Sammy Run?

The fifth year of The Lost Treasures Collection, a series of musicals rarely performed, done up cabaret style under director Ron Daum. This year the theme is “Of Men and Supermen.”

Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S. State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901, lakewood-center.org. 7 pm Friday, Feb. 20, 2 and 7 pm Saturday, Feb. 21. $20.

Cottonwood in the Flood

A staged reading of a play by Rich Rubin about the Vanport Flood. The Little Church, 5138 NE 23rd Ave., cerimonhouse.org. 7:30 pm Thursday, Saturday and Monday, 2:30 pm Sunday through Feb. 23. $5-$15.

NEW REVIEWS Little Gem

Irish playwright Elaine Murphy’s humblebrag of a title gets it right. Her multi-generational study of three Irish women and the mixed bag of men they contend with eschews the brilliant chatter and beautiful failures that make Irish theater a recognizable brand. Instead, this understated set of interwoven monologues focuses on the quotidian: young Amber (Lauren Mitchell) confronts a blonde who’s after her boyfriend; her mother Lorraine (Sara Hennessey) screams at an annoying customer. Bigger dramas turn up over the course of the play, but they stay rooted in the everyday details of these three lives. Murphy can be very funny: the struggles of Kay (Michele M. Mariana), Lorraine’s mother, with a new vibrator (her “alien willie”) reliably broke up the opening night audience. That bit’s a testament to the strength of the writing; the laughs come not at Kay’s expense, as they might in some Apatow comedy, but in sympathy with her complex humanity and rueful self-awareness.

Little Gem is an actor’s showcase, and all three performers transform the bare

second floor of Kells Irish Pub into a lively slice of urban Irish life. Gemma Whelan’s production is as modest as the play itself, and as quietly revelatory. JOHN BEER. Kells, 112 SW 2nd Ave., corribtheatre.org. 7:30 pm Mondays-Thursdays through Feb. 26. $15-$25.

Precious Little

“I chew. I swallow. I recognize the vegetable.” As Precious Little begins, an uncostumed actress playing an unnamed ape crouches low on the Defunkt Theatre’s unadorned stage to gnaw on stalks of celery. Although the simian poetry slam seemed an oblique prelude to whatever Madeline George’s 2009 play wanted to say about the inability to communicate, Jane Vogel clearly relished her performance, savoring each syllable with game-day bombast. Compared to the empty pantsuits and conceptual placards otherwise populating Precious Little, the gorilla may well be the most fully realized character—more sympathetic than the lesbian linguistics professor Brodie (Lori Sue Hoffman) examining her latelife pregnancy complications through the prism of benumbed self-absorption, more believable than the ditzy genetic researcher (Christy Bigelow) mining chromosomal abnormalities for shtick. Whether nearing a career triumph or first gazing on a sonogram of her unborn child, Hoffman gives our protagonist the benumbed wince of an imminent migraine. Christy Bigelow, chirping through each of her characters like a sketch-troupe diner waitress, suggests the reason why.

Where Vogel’s talents in multiple roles (she’s also granted a tasty scene as the last speaker of dying tongue) and Defunkt’s unshowily-excellent sound design and stagecraft neatly prop up the zoo scenes, Hoffman and Bigelow’s varying pitches would demand just the right script to work in tandem. But the play is filled with academic talking points and soap-opera banter. Maybe the hamfisted dialogue itself was meant to emphasize the limitations of language? We chew on this. We do not swallow. JAY HORTON. The Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 4812960. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Sundays through March 21 (no shows Feb. 15 and 22). $15-$25 Fridays-Saturdays, “pay what you can” Thursdays and Sundays.

ALSO PLAYING Becoming Dr. Ruth

In this solo show at Triangle Productions, local theater stalwart Wendy Westerwelle stars as Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Before she became a wonderfully frank and funny sex therapist, Westheimer was whisked away from her family on the Kindertransport, spent time as a sniper in Israel and taught at the Sorbonne. Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 2395919. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Sundays through Feb. 28. $15-$30.

How to End Poverty in 90 Minutes

One thousand dollars isn’t going to end poverty, but it will do something.

And what it does is up to you—you and, like, 100 other people.

At Sojourn Theatre’s How to End Poverty in 90 Minutes, $10 of every ticket goes toward a pile of cash, which will be spent by various Portland organizations toward only one of five purposes: daily needs, education, making opportunities, system change or direct aid. The cast informs the audience’s decision with monologues, short scenes, quizzes and interpretive dance. Much of the play takes on a game-show tempo, including panelists from partner organizations (the Feb. 7

CONT. on page 34

CLAY MOTION: Nelson, with Nancy Heyerman.

HOLD ME CLOSER, TANGO DANCER CLAY NELSON BUILT THE LONGESTRUNNING TANGO FESTIVAL IN NORTH AMERICA—IN PORTLAND. by ka itie todd

ktodd@wweek.com

Clay Nelson knows all about the Portland tango.

After all, he’s the main reason it exists. Each year, dancers and instructors come from all over the world to the ValenTango festival he founded here 18 years ago, the longest-running and by some measures the largest tango festival in the United States.

Though the 72-year-old danced rumba, waltz and cha-cha for 30 years, he says he has committed to no other dance since catching the tango fever in 1993.

Nelson founded the festival while still a dance instructor at the newly opened Crystal Ballroom back in 1997, and it has since grown to a regular attendance of 600 to 700. This year, there will be 14 teachers, 49 tango classes and 22 milongas— events where tango is danced. More milongas will be danced here than at any other festival in North America this year.

But it wasn’t always this way.

“When we first started,” he says, “I would know everyone by name who showed up. At the very first ones, it was pretty much local people who showed up.

It just felt like a real community, knowing everybody.”

The first Portland ValenTango took place largely in Multnomah Village, with classes and milongas held in Nelson’s 1,800-square-foot studio and the Multnomah Arts Center. The festival’s grand ball— which now takes place on an 8,000-square-foot ballroom floor at the DoubleTree Hotel—initially took place on the tiled floor of the arts center.

Nelson played a lot of his own music during the festival, thinking that people might want to dance to other kinds of music besides the traditional bandoneon music common to traditional Argentine tango dances. “I quickly found out that people just wanted to dance tango only,” he says with a laugh.

The same was true of Nelson. Once an instructor at the Arthur Murray School of Dance in Champaign, Ill., he started teaching ballroom dance to help pay his way through college. But the

rigid structure and firm emphasis on competition grew tired for him, and he went on hiatus from dancing. For the next 20 years, Nelson worked as a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Portland and Texas A&M. But he returned full time to dancing after his first brush with tango at a workshop in Corvallis, falling in love with the spontaneity and the social aspects of the dance.

“In tango…you’re dancing heart to heart,” Nelson says of the difference his first Argentine tango instructor pointed out between the ballroom “frame”—where partners hold their upper torsos bent away from each other—and the tango “embrace.”

“He said, ‘That’s because you’re dancing for your partner.’ It was that moment when I said, ‘Of course, that’s what dancing ought to be about.’”

There are five things in tango you can’t get from any other dance, Nelson says. “Or really in anything else that I can think of—not in playing golf, not in skiing or anything.” It is the dance as an art form, improvisation, angst, humor and, especially, the connection between partners.

“This dance is created by introverts who were lonely for their home country,” Nelson says. “Every once in a while you see a little glitch or smile come over their face because something happens that makes them laugh. Most of the times, they’re sad.

But every once in a while there’s humor.”

This led him to found not just ValenTango, but the Portland TangoFest in October, the TangoMagic festival in Seattle and the Burning Tango in McCloud, Calif. He has since handed off festivalplanning duties for TangoFest and TangoMagic, but holds on to ValenTango himself due to its size and the trust he’s built with it over the years.

“When I started, I never thought these festivals would become international; they just kind of did on their own,” he says, attributing this in part to Portland’s tango-friendly community, where different styles of teachers and dancers get along even though they have different ideas. “It’s a good place to catch the fever.”

SEE IT: ValenTango 2015 is Feb. 18-23 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, 1000 NE Multnomah St., valentango.us. Classes $25, pack of six $138; milongas $10-$25, pass $155; everything pass $385.

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

33

PERFORMANCE

FO

RW AR

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there’s more to

tu

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than depression.

When symptoms persist, there may be more you can do.

If feelings such as depressed mood or lack of energy are keeping you from the things that matter to you, you may be eligible for this research study. It’s evaluating an investigational drug designed to work with antidepressants to see if it can help address unresolved symptoms of depression.

All eligible study participants will receive at no cost: Consultation with study doctor

Study drugs

Study-related care and visits

TO LEARN MORE: Oregon Center for Clinical Investigations, Inc. 503-276-6224

feb. 18–24

show included Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury) who have a frantic 30 seconds to field questions. It’s a lot to handle, but director Liam Kaas-Lentz manages to pull actual emotion from the fray with scenes and character work.

How to End Poverty in 90 Minutes is like all plays: an invitation to think.

But what’s singular is that it invites the audience to think together.

JAMES HELMSWORTH. Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott St., 488-5822. 7:30 pm WednesdaysSaturdays and 2 and 7 pm Sundays through Feb. 22. $40; $20 rush tickets.

Opción Múltiple

Imagine sharing an apartment with four roommates who have no sense of personal space. There’s the overly aggressive guy, the childish drama queen, the mom type who tries to make everyone get along, and the slut. Now imagine these four people follow you everywhere because they live not in your apartment but in your mind. If this sounds incredibly annoying, it is, as the production of Opción Múltiple makes vividly clear.

Directed by Nelda Reyes, Milagro Theater presents the American premiere of the Spanish-language play (shown with English supertitles) by Luis Mario Moncada Gil. Diana is a woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder. This is played to mostly comic effect in the first act, but forays into heavy-handed melodrama in the second, with dialogue that is almost exclusively shouted. Diana’s sanity is not the only one left in question. PENELOPE BASS. Miracle Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm ThursdaysSaturdays and 2 pm Sundays through Feb. 28. $16-$24.

Romeo and Juliet Whether or not you are currently taking an antidepressant, you may be eligible to participate.

Students from Portland Actors Conservatory, joined by a few guest artists, take on Shakespeare’s classic tale of doomed romance— with a little original rock music.

Portland Actors Conservatory, 1436 SW Montgomery St., 274-1717. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Sundays through March 1. $5-$25.

The Jungle Book

In collaboration with the Anjali School of Dance, Northwest Children’s Theatre presents an original adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic adventure tales. NW Neighborhood Cultural Center, 1819 NW Everett St., 222-4480. Noon and 4 pm Saturdays-Sundays through March 1 (no 4 pm show March 1). $17-23.

The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940

North End Players, based in St. Johns, present a farce by John Bishop that tries to poke fun at both murder mysteries and musicals while not really being either of those things. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 7600 N Hereford St., 7052088. 7:30 pm Friday, Feb. 20; 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, Feb. 21; 7:30 pm Thursday-Friday, Feb. 26-27 and 2 pm Saturday, Feb. 28. $12.

The World Goes ’Round

Tigard’s Broadway Rose Theatre presents a musical revue of songs

by John Kander and Fred Ebb, who contributed tunes to Cabaret and Chicago, and crafted the theme song to Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York. Broadway Rose New Stage Theatre, 12850 SW Grant Ave., Tigard, 620-5262. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Saturdays-Sundays through March 1. $30-$42.

Threesome

It only takes about 10 minutes for the first penis to appear. But that’s hardly the most shocking moment in Threesome, a richly scripted world-premiere production by Seattle playwright Yussef El Guindi.

Under director Chris Coleman, the bed is the centripetal force grounding the action—the titular threesome rotates around it, dressing, undressing, moving from under the covers to the room’s farthest

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Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

corners. Couple Rashid (Dominic Rains) and Leila (Alia Attallah) make up two-thirds of the three. Both are Egyptian-American artists—he a photographer, she a writer. They’ve invited over their acquaintance, Doug (Quinn Franzen), for a night of horizon-broadening fun. But instead of becoming a sexual playground, the couple’s spartan bedroom plays host to a mess of neuroses. As flesh is gradually revealed, so are secrets about the couple’s history that suggest this night might not be the lighthearted romp it would at first seem. But that’s is the thing about threesomes. In practice, twice as many partners offers double the opportunity for humiliation. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Sundays (excluding Feb. 22 and 24 and March 3 and 8); 2 pm select Saturdays-Sundays; noon select Thursdays. Through March 8. $20-$55.

Tribes

Nina Raine’s Tribes follows Billy (Stephen Drabicki) and his arrogant, intellectual family. Set almost entirely in their living room, we watch as the group flings words around like throwing stars. That is, everyone does except Billy, a 20-something who was born deaf and has never been taught sign language. But when he falls in love with Sylvia (the enthralling Amy Newman), who is losing her hearing, she introduces him to the deaf community. Later, when Billy announces that he’s leaving his family, Kristeen Willis Crosser’s lighting design thoughtfully taps into his surreal emotions by slowly brightening the lights to an unbearable sharpness, and director Dámaso Rodriguez is able to reveal character through blocking, grouping the family tightly around the table or scattering them stubbornly around the room. The lively wordplay and fast pacing carries the play through an examination of how speaking the same language—literally or otherwise—can mean everything. KAITIE TODD. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm Wednesdays-Sundays and 2 pm Sundays through March 1. $25-$55.

Christopher, Andrew Rivers, Laura Anne Whitley and Ben Harkins in the basement of a bike shop.

Kickstand Comedy Space, 1969 NE 42nd Ave., 937-219-1334. 8:30 pm every Wednesday. $5 suggested.

Hell or Highwater

Curtis Cook hosts a monthly standup showcase featuring a consistently good lineup of comedians. The one-year anniversary will feaure Ben Harkins, Andie Main, Sean Connery, Christian Ricketts, and Kristine Levine. The High Water Mark , 6800 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 286-6513. 9 pm every last Monday. Free. 21+.

Joe Rogan

Standup from a man who both hosts a chatty podcast—The Joe Rogan Experience—and provides commentary for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 7:30 and 10 pm Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21. $35$43. 21+.

John Mulaney

So yeah, John Mulaney’s TV show blows. But the SNL writer is still a delightfully entertaining comic whose expertly crafted stories— about childhood bullying, Xanax and the bewildering use of “bozo” in tabloid headlines—are sharp and spirited. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 234-9694. 7 and 10 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. $27-$30.

Kevin Smith

The man behind Clerks (and also Dogma and Red State and Cop Out and a whole lot of other things we don’t have space to name here) takes the Helium stage to gab about his world. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 7:15 and 9:45 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. $35$43. 21+.

Love Struck

In the spirit of the season, Brody Theater presents a love-themed improv show. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, Feb. 13-14 and 7:30 pm Friday, Feb. 21. $9-$12.

COMEDY

DANCE

Bam!

Burlescape!

The Brody folks present a new improv show, in which the performers begin the show blindfolded—and thus unable to see how the stage is set or how they’re being costumed.

Once the blindfolds come off, the ad-libbing begins. Brody Theater, 16 NW Broadway, 224-2227. 9:30 pm Saturdays through Feb. 28. $8.

Comedy Bull

Portland comics are generally loving and supportive. The churlishly avuncular Anatoli Brant brings some heat to the scene with this competitive show, which requires standups to respond to surprise topics and improv challenges. The funnier they are, the longer they remain onstage. Brant’s recently expanded the show to Helium, which is where the six strongest comedians of the past three months will duke it out tonight. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669. 8 pm Wednesday, Feb. 18. $10-$18. 21+.

Comedy at Crush

Belinda Carroll and Crystal Davis team up to produce a comedy show that doesn’t believe in homophobia, racism or sexism (hey, that sounds like something we can also get behind). Tonight’s showcase features Sean Jordan, Barbara Holm, Adam Pasi, Jeremy Eli and Devin Monahan. Crush, 1400 SE Morrison St, 235-8150. 9 pm Wednesday, Feb. 18. Donation. 21+.

Earthquake Hurricane

An army of impressive Portland comedians—Curtis Cook, Alex Falcone, Bri Pruett and Anthony Lopez—host a weekly standup showcase. Tonight’s features Jacob

This monthly show produced by Zora Phoenix promises plenty of tease with its burlesque and boylesque performances. Featuring singing stripteaser Satira Sin, this month’s lineup also includes the classic burlesque stylings of Holly Dai, co-founder of All That Glitters Burlesque Academy, naked dancer Tod Alan and boylesque newcomer Jaxin Yoff. Crush, 1400 SE Morrison St, 235-8150. 9:30 pm Saturday, Feb. 21. $10-$15. 21+.

Flesh for Fantasy: A Theatrically Sensual Exploration of Fantasies This show is centered on sensual fantasies from a woman’s perspective. Produced by Miss Kennedy and Jay Lieber, the show was inspired

by Cirque du Soleil’s half burlesque/ half cabaret show “Zumanity,” and will include fire performances

by Johnny Nuriel, Rummy Rose dressed—sort of—as a nun, and a 15-foot barge making its way onstage during Nina Nightshade’s Cleopatra-inspired act. Dante’s, 350 W Burnside St., 226-6630. 8 pm Sunday, Feb. 22. $12-$20. 21+.

Physical Education

Physical Education is a new dance collective comprised of local experimental choreographers Keyon Gaskin, Allie Hankins, Lucy Lee Yim and Takahiro Yamamoto, who say they strive to offer a space for artists of all different mediums— things like dance, film, poetry, sculpture and so on—to create and collaborate together. The local collective kicks off its first round of performances (and dance parties following the show) with a piece

by Gaskin. Called “It’s Not a Thing,”

FEB. 18–24 Gaskin purposely doesn’t rehearse this piece in order to learn more about it in the present moment.

Centered around both the abstract concept of blackness and the conflict that he feels with performing, the piece is performed with poet Nour Mobarak and filmmaker Julie Perini. S1, 4148 NE Hancock St., s1portland.com. 8 pm Saturday, Feb. 21. $5-$20 sliding scale.

Skinner/Kirk Dance Ensemble

Skinner/Kirk Dance Ensemble returns to the stage after nearly three years. The group blends ballet, aerial and modern dance styles, with an emphasis on fluid strength and theatricality. For this performance, the company revis-

PERFORMANCE

its one of Skinner’s earlier works, Urban Sprawl, which examines the romance and the isolation of city life. Later, the ensemble premieres “Nat’s Farm,” a piece inspired by Skinner and Kirk’s favorite spot on Martha’s Vineyard set to an original score by composer Tim Ribner. BodyVox Dance Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave., 229-0627. 7 pm Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 18-21 and 2 pm Saturday, Feb. 21 . $25-$59.

Beyond the Print

MOBILE

For more Performance listings, visit

GERY NORMAN

PROFILE

SHAKING THE TOM: Actors Leif Norby and Laura Faye Smith.

THE GOD GAME (SHAKING THE TREE)

STAY CONNECTED

No G-bombs for T-Dawg.

The God Game premiered only hours after Gov. John Kitzhaber’s resignation announcement. Shaking the Tree Theatre could hardly have planned it, but it was an uncanny moment to examine the role personal discretion plays in politics. Unlike Kitzhaber, Virginia’s junior senator, Tom (Leif Norby), is careful about how his private life will affect his career choices. He gets what may be the offer of a lifetime on the night of his 20th wedding anniversary. During a quiet night in with his wife, Lisa (Laura Faye Smith), he is interrupted by the seemingly unexpected arrival of Matt (Kelsey Tyler), campaign manager for the Republican presidential nominee.

But before his arrival comes Lisa’s awkward attempt to seduce her husband, a “Happy Birthday, Mr. President”-style venture seemingly ripped from the pages of O Magazine. In hindsight, the gesture will become something more poignant. It is a play for normalcy after a year marred by the death of Tom’s beloved brother, Jay, who is Matt’s former partner.

Smith plays Lisa with a veneer of control, and no one seems to hold her wedding anniversary nearly as sacred as she does.

But piety is her bread and butter; she is a good, church-attending Christian wife irritated by her husband’s sudden default to agnosticism. Matt sees Tom’s crisis of faith as easily smoothed over. He’d already sold his own chance at legal marriage up the river in order to work for a right-wing blowhard.

With excellent direction by Brandon Woolley, the verbal sparring ricochets seamlessly among the personal, political and ideological. And scene designer Demetri Pavlatos gives us a domestic space with all the trappings of a neat political family: vaguely colonial furnishings, leather-bound books and a rather ominous, inky globe prominently displayed on the mantle.

But the central conceit—that a Republican senator from Virginia suddenly has reservations about pandering to the base by dropping G-bombs—is questionable to the point of absurdity.

One wonders how he got so far, and why his wife only now has objections. Though it’s beautifully delivered, playwright Suzanne Bradbeer has given us a play with a conflict that rings as false as the too-tidy sound bite that closes it. RIHANNA WEISS. SEE IT: Shaking the Tree, 823 SE Grant St., 235-0635, shakingthe-tree.com. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 pm Sundays through March 7. $15-$22.

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

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VISUAL ARTS

FEB. 18–24

= WW Pick. Highly recommended.

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.

four experimental sound artists will invite guests to blow a Breathalyzer; the aggregate blood-alcohol level of the room will determine the pitch and rhythms of the music. Regular viewing hours 2-5 pm, Feb. 6-8, 13-15, 20-22, 27 and 28. Details about entertainment events at www.darrenorange.com.

Astor Hotel Building Lobby, 1421-A Commercial St.

Dianne Kornberg: Madonna Comix Project

A decade or so back, in a city other than Portland, Dianne Kornberg’s racy Madonna Comix Project would probably have had right-wingers lined up to protest. These photo-based prints, based on poems by Celia Bland, dispense gritty commentary on womanhood and motherhood. In Education of the Virgin 4, a nude torso and pregnant belly (presumably the Virgin Mary’s) are encircled in a nimbus.

Below, a caption ironically offers: “Anybody can have a baby.” Education of the Virgin 6 shows the lower half of a nude woman, squatting above a caption that begins, “Virgin Mary is not hairy down there,” and continues with equal irreverence: “It’s God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in there— swallowed, perhaps, and passed with a kiss through nether lips.” In these and other pieces, Kornberg winningly marries feminism with blasphemy.

Through Feb. 28. Augen Gallery DeSoto, 716 NW Davis St., 503-5465056.

It’s Raining Cats and Dogs EVERYBODY’S GOTTA BY DAN NESS

Dan Ness

For 15 years, Dan Ness has exhibited his artwork at Mark Woolley Gallery, with many other shows at local bars, coffee shops, and alternative spaces.

Ness is eclectic in his output, equally adept at painting, printmaking, drawing, collage, animation, photography and film/video. He’s one of those artists (along with Mona Superhero, Bruce Conkle, Walt Curtis and dozens of others) who “hide in plain sight.”

Well known among the art-hipster “in crowd,” he deserves wider exposure among the not-so-in crowd. His wry, jittery compositions reflect influences as diverse as illustration, advertising, graphic novels, fashion and cult films, all jumbled up together in witty but not-quite-snarky distillations of the collective unconscious. On the heels of a two-month show at Scandals, he’s had work up at Nebraska Art Gallery.

It’s a good, representative introduction to the work of an artist whose appeal shouldn’t just be limited to cognoscenti. Closes Feb. 23. Nebraska Art Gallery, 5001 NE 30th Ave., 282-6552.

Dark Ecologies

The first thing you see when you walk into Bullseye’s three-artist show, Dark Ecologies, is Carolyn Hopkins’ beautiful and disturbing sculpture, Cascade.

It depicts a strung-up dog with stylized entrails spilling out of its belly and looping over a tree limb. Glass beads link the dog to an eviscerated

bird underneath it, which appears to leak blood into a red pool on the floor.

This violent, virtuosic piece is left wide open to each viewer’s interpretation.

Emily Nachison’s Diver is equally allusive, with its succession of oysters opening up to reveal crystals and geodes inside. Finally, Susan Harlan’s kiln-formed glass panels are diminutive masterpieces of exquisitely nuanced textures and wave forms in blue, beige, black and orange. Dark Ecologies is a strong, haunting show. Through March 28. Bullseye Projects, 300 NW 13th Ave., 227-0222.

Darren Orange: Orange on Blue

By turns refined, organic and downright gnarly, Darren Orange’s paintings have made their way around Portland galleries such as Lovelake, PSU’s Littman Gallery, Mt. Hood Community College and many a Cascade AIDS Project art auction. His Portland fans will be heading to Astoria this month to see an eerie new installation he’s putting up in the derelict lobby of the once-grand Astor Hotel. Orange is stringing up eight large-format paintings—all blue, all abstractions of the Columbia River—from the columns of the 1920s-era hotel and illuminating them with LED lights. Thirty-six more paintings will be displayed on the walls. Each weekend of the month, different entertainers will add their interpretations to Orange’s paintings.

We think the wildest iteration will be on Valentine’s Day (5-11 pm), when

Animal-themed art shows should be granted a special rung in hell. In 2008, Froelick devoted a show to horses and so did Butters. Yes, that was seven years ago, but the statute of limitations is far from up on cutesy showcases of our fun ’n’ furry friends. Now comes Charles Hartman’s paean: as the show’s subtitle puts it, A Group Exhibition of the Canine and Feline.

There are important historical artists represented here—André Kertész (1894-1985) and Arnold Newman (19182006), for example—but really? Do those of us who love pets really need to keep vintage photographs of pets around the house to remind us how much we love pets? Maybe so. Maybe we’d also like Anne Geddes photos in the living room to remind us just how adorable cherubic little babies wearing funny outfits are. If that sounds good, Charles Hartman has just the show for you. Through March 15. Charles A. Hartman, 134 NW 8th Ave., 287-3886.

Jeremy Rotsztain: Electric Fields

UPFOR continues an impressive run of new-media art programming with Jeremy Rotsztain’s digital prints and software-generated animations.

Using computer algorithms to create faux “brushstrokes,” the artist layers myriad ribbons of color, which he distorts through digital tricks that mimic Cartesian grids, parallax errors and false perspective. But do his animations and prints rise above the novelty of their high-tech method and present new media in a way that’s not trite or cheesy? Check this space next week for a capsule review. Through Feb. 28.

FEB 28TH

BASSANOVA BALLROOM WWW.CASCADETICKETS.COM A benefit for Childrens Cancer Association www.joyrx.com

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Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

Upfor Gallery, 929 NW Flanders St., 227-5111.

Jo Hamilton: Whom

After a thoughtful and poignant show last year at Q Center, Jo Hamilton unveils a new body of work at Laura Russo Gallery. This artist works in crochet, yet her work transcends ghettoization into the subgenre of “fabric art.” Working in portraiture, she achieves uncanny realism, which she simultaneously undermines and heightens by letting the fabric hang down from the subjects’ faces, bodies and clothes. This stalactite-like effect suggests the decay we all succumb to over time. It’s a sumptuous, sobering show. Through Feb. 28. Laura Russo Gallery, 805 NW 21st Ave., 226-2754.

Joe Rudko: Picturesque

It’s heartening when an established blue-chip gallery such as PDX Contemporary takes on an artist for his first-ever gallery show. That’s happening this month when Joe Rudko, a recent graduate of Western Washington University, makes his debut with the exhibition Picturesque.

Spartan and elegant, Rudko’s works on paper exude minimalist savoir-faire.

He creates them by ripping, cutting, folding and reconfiguring photographs and other images into new compositions, challenging the viewer to reconsider the dynamic between component parts and overall gestalt. Through Feb. 28. PDX Contemporary Art, 925 NW Flanders St., 222-0063.

Joseph Kucinski: Color Works

Joseph Kucinski is a gifted artist best known for his rhapsodic works in ink on paper, often bordered with gold or silver. He sets off on a new path in his latest body of work, mostly by incorporating more color. Many of the new pieces succeed compositionally and chromatically but seem less individuated than his prior work. An exception is the vivacious painting Reaching Back, with its fluent vocabulary of splatters, drips and washes. Kucinski also debuts a new series of paintsoaked assemblages of crumpled paper, which look a little too much like, well, crumpled paper. There are some basic technical problems with how the work is presented in the gallery.

The label for a rectangular painting incorrectly states its dimensions as a 36-by-36-inch square (the piece is not square). That same piece’s title, listed as Hemmingway’s Thirst, misspells author Ernest Hemingway’s name.

Finally, the gallery’s website states that Kucinski’s previous paintings were “monochromatic black and white compositions.” Of course, anything with two colors is by definition not monochromatic. These quibbles aside, Kucinski’s vision is strong; the important question for him is how far afield he aims to travel from his strengths as he continues his stylistic evolution.

Through Feb. 28. Gallery 903, 903 NW Davis St., 248-0903.

Kevin Kadar and Takahiko Hayashi

Froelick offers a strong pairing of

shows for February. A standout in Kevin Kadar’s show, Portals and Puzzles, is the acrylic painting Firewall.

With its flame-licked, scorched-earth landscape, it looks like the unholy love child of James Lavadour, Alex Lilly and Hieronymus Bosch. Another standout is Paint Portal, Paint Puzzle, in which two nude women stand beside an upside-down nude man, whose penis and scrotum dangle comically. In the back galleries hang Takahiko Hayashi’s impossibly intricate etchings and drawings on paper. The astonishing series of 12 pen drawings, collectively entitled In a Swirl of Many, Many Small Circles, shows a geometric cyclone of circles floating like snowflakes or fairydust. Some of the pieces are scored with tiny pinpricks inside the circles’ centers, emphasizing the fastidiousness of these miniature masterpieces.

Through March 14. Froelick Gallery, 714 NW Davis St., 222-1142.

Skinny Dip

Lisa Rybovich Crallé’s sculptures are a little bit taller than a person, and some of them look like they’re stretching out their candy-colored arms to give you a hug. Made of steel, resin and acrylic, these fundamentally anthropomorphic works have a child-like insouciance, evoking the creatures in classic kids’ shows like Fraggle Rock and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

Similar visual motifs adapt to a twodimensional mode in the artist’s Fresh Clippings, a series of ink collages that makes much of organic shapes recalling trees, shrubs and flowers. They’re borderline precious and more than a trifle too aware of Henri Matisse’s famous gouache cut-outs. Through Feb. 28. Hap Gallery, 916 NW Flanders St., 444-7101.

Words, Words, Words: An Exhibition of Text-based Artwork

The relationships between text and image have given artists fodder for exploration for a long, long time.

That’s what hieroglyphics were about, as well as illuminated manuscripts, petroglyphs and the traditions of Chinese, Japanese and Islamic calligraphy. It’s also what inspires the artists displaying their work in February and March at Elizabeth Leach Gallery. Jenny Holzer’s scrolling electronic messages have made her an international art star. Ditto for Ed Ruscha’s enigmatic words painted in typeset fonts across mountain and desert vistas. And then there are the text-and-map sculptures of U.K.born, Ashland-based artist Matthew Picton. Picton, who used to show at Mark Woolley Gallery and Pulliam Deffenbaugh, joins Elizabeth Leach’s roster with this exhibition. His sinuous mixed-media sculptures map both geography and time, for an overall effect that is both political and deeply personal. Through March 28. Elizabeth Leach Gallery, 417 NW 9th Ave., 2240521.

For more Visual Arts listings, visit

BOOKS

FEB. 18–24

= WW Pick. Highly recommended.

By PENELOPE BASS. 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.

Beyond the Print

Dark Horse Mega Signing

Like superheroes with the power to ignite the frenzy of fanboys everywhere, comic creators Mike Mignola (Hellboy, B.P.R.D.), Matt Kindt (Mind MGMT, PastAways), Eric Powell (The Goon, Chimichanga) and Brian Wood (The Massive, Rebels) will join forces for one mega-signing. The event will be split in two parts: Mignola signs between 6-7:45 pm, followed by Kindt, Powell and Wood from 8-9:30 pm. Tickets required for each session. Visit facebook.com/PortlandTFAW/ events for details. Things From Another World, 2916 NE Broadway.

6-9:30 pm. Free; tickets required.

TUESDAY, FEB. 24 WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18 Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

What would the history of America look like as told by its indigenous peoples? Probably a lot less New World wonder and a lot more “WTF?” Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, longtime indigenous-rights activist and scholar, will share perspectives from her newest book, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Portland State University Native American Student and Community Center, 710 SW Jackson St., 725-9695. 6 pm. Free.

Kelly Link

Praised by literary peers such as Michael Chabon and Neil Gaiman for her wit and darkly comic style, Kelly Link will read from her new collection of short stories, Get in Trouble. The eight tales weave between astronauts and evil twins, iguanas and Ouija boards, all of them with a wry sense of humor and generous spirit that will surely convert any nonbelievers to the power of short fiction. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm. Free.

THURSDAY, FEB. 19 Mark Doten

Author Mark Doten’s debut novel, The Infernal, is being hailed as “insane” and “deranged”—in a good way, of course. His pseudosci-fi exploration of the War on Terror begins with a mysterious and badly burned boy who is mercilessly interrogated, revealing the voices and stories of everyone from Osama Bin Laden to Mark Zuckerberg. Intrigue! Powell’s on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 800-878-7323. 7:30 pm.

Free.

FRIDAY, FEB. 20 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired from the NBA in 1989 at age 42, he had scored more points, won more MVP awards and played in more All-Star games than any other player. In addition to being one of the most accomplished basketball players of all time, AbdulJabbar also writes inspirational books. He will sign copies of the second book from his Streetball Crew series, Stealing the Game.

Geek out all you want, but leave the memorabilia at home because he is only signing books. Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, 800- 878-7323. 7 pm. Free.

Peter Stark

Lewis and Clark get all the credit for putting the Pacific Northwest on the map. What’s sometimes forgotten are the contributions of John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson, who sought to establish a Jamestown-style colony on the West Coast. The 1810 Astor Expedition ended (surprise) in Astoria, and author Peter Stark will recount the voyage and share from his book, Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire. Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 284-1726. 7 pm.

Free.

Oregon Encyclopedia History Night

Portland resident Charles Erskine Scott Wood was a soldier, attorney, poet, artist, raconteur and “philosophical anarchist.” Exploring Wood’s influence on the region will be filmmaker Laurence Cotton and poet Tim Barnes for the Oregon Encyclopedia presentation C.E.S. Wood: Frontier Humanist.

McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale, 669-8610.

6:30 pm. Free.

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JVNW presents Willamette Week’s

Poetry Out Loud

With all the makings of a dancecrew movie except the dancers (think Step Up 5: Literary Smackdown), the 10th annual Poetry Out Loud competition will host nearly 4,000 Oregon students memorizing and reciting classic poetry and competing for $50,000 in college scholarships. Get ready to throw down some iambic pentameter like a boss. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800878-7323. 9:30 am. Free.

Palestine Speaks

Although we constantly hear about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, we rarely are granted a view of the personal level of the multi-decade humanitarian crisis.

Editors Cate Malek and Mateo Hoke spent four years in the West Bank and Gaza interviewing people—from a fisherman to a settlement administrator to a marathon runner—about their lives and how they have been shaped by conflict. The result is the new book from McSweeney’s, Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation. Hoke will read from and discuss the collection, and will be joined in a Q&A by Casey Jarman, former editor of The Believer and former WW music editor. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 800-878-7323.

7:30 pm. Free.

For more Books listings, visit

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23 | 5:30 - 9:30 P.M. DOUG FIR LOUNGE | 830 E BURNSIDE You’re invited to Willamette Week’s inaugural Oregon Beer Awards!

Fifteen breweries, beer bars, and outstanding beers will be recognized as gold medalists.

Taste award-winning beers and get an early copy of Willamette Week’s Beer Guide.

LIVE MUSIC @ 10 • Asher Fulero Band

RSVP at bit.ly/OBAinvitation2015

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

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Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2014 wweek.com

MOVIES

piff COURTESY OF NW FILM CENTER

IF YOU REALLY LOVE PIFF...

PORTLAND’S THREE WEEKS OF DARK AND DREARY FOREIGN FILMS FLIES OFF INTO THE SUNSET. The Portland International Film Festival comes to an end this week.

There are only 10 new films—and some shorts from Spain—showing this week, but this is more of a time to reflect on what we’ve seen.

Choices have headlined PIFF from the onset of the festival as well they should. Every person faces difficult choices in life: whether to help a strange woman who snuck into your cab, whether to murder the man who killed one of your cattle and how much column space to request for an article wrapping up a film festival. Choices are the source the dramatic tension that give films the sustenance they so desperately need. And, as PIFF, has shown us, while the specific details may vary, decision-making is a universal problem. While our neighbors may never throw a fishing spear into one of our oxen, we still go through the same thought process—What should I do? Should I retaliate? How will my daughter react to this? Are readers OK with a little padding here?— as the Tuareg nomad in Timbuktu.

Speaking of which, 2015 PIFF featured films from places most Americans have little more than passing knowledge of: Mauritania (Timbuktu), Palestine (Eyes of a Thief) and Cuba (Conducta, Hotel Nueva Isla). We are not completely foreign to these countries, but rare is the opportunity to see films made by the inhabitants of these countries.

At times, the film selection at PIFF felt like an endless parade of dark subjects—including two films this week highlighting Spain’s astronomically high unemployment rate. Even the comedies involved humor about dynamiting a fox (The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared), hanging yourself (Rocks in My Pocket) and ditching your paramour in a foreign town with little money, no transportation and no idea that you were tired of her (All the Women).

But if you take a peek at this week’s Oscar nominees, they don’t look that much lighter. Hell, Eyes of a Thief (D+) is pretty much American Sniper (D) with a little more subtlety.

Here’s what to see and what to avoid this week:

FLY AWAY: Conducta

All the Women

B+ [SPAIN] Nacho has an interest-

ing relationship with the fairer sex. All the Women begins with Nacho and his 20-year-old sidepiece at a cattle sale. Then his wife leaves him. Then we find out he stole the cattle from his father-in-law. A compulsive liar and manipulator, Nacho then tries to solve this problem by calling his ex-wife, mother, sister-in-law and a psychiatrist.

A poorly planned attempt to solve one problem leads to the creation of many more problems. Despite being set entirely in Nacho’s house, All the Women never feels claustrophobic.

With each new conspirator, we get a new Nacho, alternately cruel, remorseful, incompetent, intelligent, forgetful and with a memory like a steel cage.

What could have been a hagiography of a master manipulator working his charm is instead a portrait of a pathetic man trying to save himself by reaching out to all of the important women in his life…and being called out on his shit. JOHN LOCANTHI. FT, 9 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. WH, 7:30 pm Saturday, Feb. 21.

Darkness by Day

PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL TICKET OUTLET: Portland Art Museum’s Mark Building, 1119 SW Park Ave., 276-4310, nwfilm.org.

General admission, $12; Art Museum and OMSI members, students and seniors, $11; children 12 and under, $9; Silver Screen Club memberships from $400.

THEATERS: C21: Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave. fT: Regal Fox Tower, 846 SW Park Ave. HT: Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd.

MT: Moreland Theater, 6712 SE Milwaukie Blvd.

RT: Roseway Theater, 7229 NE Sandy Blvd.

WH: Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave. WTC: World Trade Center Theater, 121 SW Salmon St. WW was unable to screen some films by press deadlines; visit wweek.com for full listings.

B [ARGENTINA] Vampires and lesbianism often overlap in the Venn diagram of genres, and when you throw in a forested, isolated locale on the Argentine coast, you’ve got the makings for a moody thriller. Indeed, Darkness by Day is an exercise in wellpaced pastoral dread. Virginia holds down the familial fort as her father, a doctor, responds to reports of strange, sudden illnesses he vaguely describes as “mutated leukemia” and which the movie hints, via radio voiceover, might be rabies. Her goth-chic cousin Anabel is sent to stay with her.

Homoerotic tension abounds even as Anabel sleeps through most of the day and ambles through the woods at night. Beloved horror tropes such as downed phone lines and mauled animal carcasses don’t always amount to much, and characters that seemed doomed to disappear into obscurity often return. Which isn’t always for the best. RIHANNA WEISS. HW, 10:30 pm Saturday, Feb. 21.

In a Foreign Land

B [SPAIN] With an estimated 20,000 Spaniards living within its city limits, Edinburgh is the Portland to Spain’s California. These immigrants, many of them highly educated, have moved to the Highlands for work. Any kind of work. An ornithologist works in a

chicken takeaway stand. A chemical engineer works as a housekeeper.

The pay isn’t good, but it’s better than they could get at home. It might not be in their field, but it’s something.

These workers repeatedly say they are treated better in Edinburgh than they ever were at home. In a Foreign Land juxtaposes interviews with these émigrés with a lecture in Madrid about what led to the terrible economic situation in Spain. But the documentary is at its strongest when the interviewed workers turn their focus inward. Spain was not particularly welcoming to nonEuropean immigrants. “We thought they came to take our jobs,” says one Scottish Spaniard. “But we are just like them. We’re just looking for jobs.” This is a powerful reflection on immigration and identity, so long as you ignore the overly heavy glove symbolism. JOHN LOCANTHI. WH, 9:30 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. FT, 9:45 pm Saturday, Feb. 21.

Yvy Maraey, Land Without Evil

B [BOLIVIA] In the opening minutes of Yvy Maraey, the camera cuts from the eyes of an indigenous child to the eyes of a white man. What follows is as direct an exploration of identity politics as that sequence would lead you to believe. Andres Caballero (Juan Carlos Valdivia, the film’s director) is a philosophically-minded white Bolivian who lives a lonely life in his 16-room mansion. Dreaming of “a land without evil,” he wants to see what the country is really about. He has an indigenous congressman that he knows introduce him to a guide, Yari (Elio Ortiz), who takes him through some of the landlocked country’s indigenous communities in an overpacked jeep. Yari and Andres quip about sex, the power dynamic of their relationship and Bolivia’s changing political structure.

There’s not much in the way of plot, but Valdivia makes up for it with gorgeous shots of of Bolivia’s fauna and the chemistry between Andres and Yari. JAMES HELMSWORTH. FT, 6:30 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. WH, 9:30 pm Friday, Feb. 20.

Magical Girl

B- [SPAIN] Alicia, 12, is dying of leukemia, and her father Luis, decides to grant her a single wish: to own the couture dress of her favorite anime character. Unfortunately, Luis is one of the approximately 24 percent of Spain that is suffering through unemployment in a place where capable tailors, crowdfunding, and charities of the Make-A-Wish sort don’t exist.

Luis strives to give Alicia the experi-

ences she’ll never age into—a cigarette here, some gin there—as he gets ever more creative with bankrolling. But if you are familiar with director Carlos Vermut, you know Hallmark filmmaking this ain’t. This surreal but stark tale forges unlikely run-ins through such elements as the vomit of a burdened, wealthy housewife. Alicia becomes a plot-driving afterthought, and as worlds collide, Vermut teases us with the promise of humanity, connection and redemption—and almost without fail, gives us sex, guns and blackmail instead. RIHANNA WEISS. WH, 4:30 pm Saturday, Feb. 21.

Conducta

C [CUBA] For American audiences, Cuba is an exotic, little-seen land.

From Buena Vista Social Club, we know of Cuba’s beautiful collection of antique cars, but we rarely see the endemic poverty. Conducta lives in the slums of Havana. The film—translated to “behavior”—is a fairly rote “at-risk youth saved by benevolent teacher” story, except the focus is switched from the teacher to 11-year-old Chala.

This blustery braggart of a teen comes from a cartoonishly troubled upbringing: His mother is an addict, his (potential) father is alternately absent and physically abusive, and Chala, the breadwinner of the household, takes care of fighting dogs for money.

“You can move the kid,” Chala’s sage teacher tells his social workers, “but reality will always be waiting outside.” Conducta has a point about dealing with troubled children, but it repeats the point every 10 minutes or so instead of developing narrative momentum. JOHN LOCANTHI. WH, 8:30 pm Wednesday, Feb. 18. FT, 4:15 pm Friday, Feb. 20.

I’m Still

C [PERU] Highlighting several distinctive Peruvian ethnic groups, this film follows several older Peruvians as they journey to the villages and landscapes of their youth in a quest to pass their cultural traditions onto the next generation through music and dance. Along the way, the elders reflect on the changes they have experienced, both in their lives and in the environments in which they have lived. This grade is for anthropological value only. KAT MERCK. WH, 6:30 pm Thursday, Feb. 19. FT, 9:30 pm Friday, Feb. 20.

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

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MOVIES

FEB. 18–24 FEATURE

= WW Pick. Highly recommended.

OPENING THIS WEEK All the Wilderness

B- All the Wilderness was originally titled The Wilderness of James, which more accurately refl ects the head space of its forlorn protagonist. James (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is still reeling from the loss of his father.

Other than cataloguing his unhealthy morbidity in a journal devoted to the deceased creatures he comes across in the woods, the boy spends his time wandering through town, bailing on therapy appointments, and getting a black eye after telling a bully exactly when the jerk is going to die (in 279 days, to be precise). Debuting writerdirector Michael Johnson wrangles uniformly solid performances from his cast, which includes Virginia Madsen as the distant mother and Danny DeVito (rocking wizard-white hair that makes him look 10 years older than he does on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as the therapist. All the Wilderness is fi lled with moody grace notes, namely Malick-infl ected nature shots and poetic asides delivered via voice-over. The material is undeniably shopworn—James meets cute with a troubled girl in his shrink’s waiting room and befriends a cool older kid en route to becoming more “socially adjusted,” as his mother would say—but Johnson’s spin on it is low-key and vivid. MICHAEL NORDINE . Living Room.

The Duff

DUFF (“designated ugly fat friend”) is apparently a thing kids say these days. Screened after press deadline. PG-13 . Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

The fi rst one wasn’t bad, so boom, here comes the sequel the public never knew it wanted. It screened after press deadlines, so look for James Helmsworth’s review at wweek.com. R . Showing at most Portland-area theaters.

The Last Five Years

C It’s got to be a montage. The

Last Five Years, originally a musical

by Jason Robert Brown, chronicles the arc of a romance over (drumroll, please) fi ve years. The fi lm adaptation takes place in yin-yang order from the perspective of each character. Cathy Hiatt (Anna Kendrick) gets a song about the horrible end, then Jamie Wellerstein (Jeremy Jordan) gets a song about the happy beginning, each going forward or backward in time until they meet in the middle and get married. In the stage version, each character appears only separately until the wedding. Not so here. Director Richard Lagravanese seems to have realized Kendrick wouldn’t get enough screen time otherwise. The musical numbers are done right, but the timeline is made more confusing without the stage’s separation of cast. Emotional leaps between characters who are constantly in every scene together, at diff erent points in their own timeline, are jarring (if not downright confusing) if you haven’t seen the original.

Worst of all, Lagravanese apparently missed the memo that fi lms about tumultuous relationships between 20-something artists living in unrealistically expensive New York apartments are the beige of 21st-century love stories. And that’s something the best lyrics in the world can’t fi x. PG13 . PARKER HALL . Living Room.

Leviathan

C Leviathan is a genre-defying take

on guilt and fate that rewards both the eye and heart. Much praised after premiering at Cannes, it’s now up for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev centers on Kolya, a hapless but tena-

40

cious handyman who lives with his wife and son in the far northwest of Russia. When the government wants to bulldoze their home for development, Kolya calls on old friend Dmitri to appeal the case and eventually blackmail the corrupt mayor. Yes, there’s a portrait of Putin above the mayor’s desk. And yes, every adult character drinks copious amounts of vodka. But this isn’t heavy-handed commentary. Zvyagintsev—far more Oliver Stone than Michael Moore anyway—is no demagogue seeking to incite revolt. The dialogue is as (mis) calculated as any drunken dinnertable chat, while quieter scenes swell with wonderful detail. Though bitter in tone at times, Leviathan exists on such a grand scale—it juggles elements of thriller, drama and beautiful nature doc—that its political jeering and cautious pacing get a free pass.

Most politically conscious fi lms out of Russia have tried to reinforce the regime or throw darts at it. Leviathan does neither. R . MITCH LILLIE . Fox Tower.

Timbuktu

A Timbuktu opens with pack of

tagelmust-clad jihadis fi ring assault rifl es: First at a gazelle, then at a pile of masks, and then statues and pottery. Only the gazelle escapes.

The fi rst movie from a West African country to be nominated for an Oscar studies the relationship between the peoples of Timbuktu and a neighboring Tuareg encampment and the jihadis who have taken over. They are grim, cloaked specters walking through the streets with rifl es slung over their shoulders. There’s a lingering sense that violence could break out at any moment, like when a fi shmonger waves a knife at jihadis for demanding that she wear gloves. Or when a group of kids get arrested for playing soccer with an imaginary ball.

Or when a woman gets 40 lashes for being caught singing about the glory of God. “Where’s leniency?” a priest asks the leader of the jihadis.

“Where’s forgiveness? Where’s piety?

Where’s God in all of this?” We’re left with a haunting look into daily life under the reign of militant Islam with a depth absent in American depictions of the struggle. PG-13 . JOHN LOCANTHI . Living Room.

STILL SHOWING American Sniper

D Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) shoots people . R . JAMES HELMSWORTH .

Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Movies on TV.

Big Eyes

B- For Margaret Keane, “eyes are the window to the soul.” At least, that’s the drivel the artist (a blondwigged Amy Adams) has to deliver in Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, a biopic that winds up wanting for both vision and soul. Art critics lambasted the work as sentimental kitsch, but the public adored it. And Margaret got none of the credit. Her husband, Walter (Christoph Waltz)—a charming huckster and self-deluded egotist—presented himself as the artist. Big Eyes is often tiresome, and Burton skims over thorny questions—the populist craze for kitsch, gendered expectations in art, the line between highbrow and lowbrow. PG-13 . REBECCA JACOBSON. Academy Theater, Laurelhurst Theater.

Big Hero 6

A Shelving wordy cleverness for its

own sake, ignoring parental intrusion, and allowing moral lessons to develop organically through a simplifi ed storyline, Big Hero 6 is that rarest thing: an animated children’s

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

CONT. on page 41

P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F C O H E N M E D I A G R O U P, I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y K E N N E T H H U E Y

Editor: JOHN LOCANTHI. 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: jlocanthi@wweek.com. Fax: 243-1115.

WHITE STAG: Timbuktu wins coveted Palme du p’Ortland.

THE FIRST ANNUAL PIFF AWARDS WILLAMETTE WEEK PLAYS JUDGE, JURY AND AWARD-GIVER-OUTER.

BY WW STA FF

243-2122

The Portland International Film Festival comes to a close this week. Normally, this is the time when a jury of expert film critics hands out awards to deeply deserving films. There are some awards handed out by the audience but alas, there are no official awards to give out. There isn’t even a jury.

Until now. Cannes has the Palme d’Or. Portland has the prestigious Palme du p’Ortland, presented

by Willamette Week.

Best Corpse Mutilation Set to Song: Alléluia Gloria has just choked a woman to death for giving her partner-in-crime a blowjob.

Instead of lingering on the horrific event, Gloria turns to the camera and starts singing a love song.

And then she whips out a hacksaw.

JOHN LOCANTHI. Best Use of Unnecessary Ventriloquism: Horse Money A Cape Verdean immigrant finds himself in an elevator with a man dressed as a soldier and painted entirely in golden brown. The soldier’s voice comes from offscreen and he shifts through a bunch of different plastic army man poses.

JAMES HELMSWORTH. Best Five-Star Homeless Camp: Jalanan The bus buskers of Indonesian doc Jalanan can’t even afford to get within sight of Jakarta’s gleaming Grand Hyatt. Instead, they built their own, clearing debris from a river running under a bridge, pouring cement, spreading a carpet of fake ground cover and painting “HYATT” on it. MITCH LILLIE. Best Instruments Made from Detritus: I’m Still Random wooden gift boxes with attached lids?

Open and shut them to the beat for an innovative percussion device. No money for a güiro? Score a plastic afro pick, carve some notches along a dried-out gourd, and scrape away. Recycling never sounded so good. KAT MERCK.

Best Wannabe Wiesenthal: Mr. Kaplan When he suspects the Boys from Brazil have infiltrated Uruguay, the titular septuagenarian immigrant in this strange comedy decides to take a cue from the famed Nazi hunter, score a tranquilizer gun and take the accused to stand trial in Israel.

What could go wrong? AP KRYZA. The Liam Neeson Award For Geriatric Badassery: In Order of Disappearance Stellan Skarsgard taps into his old-man strength in this dark Coen-Tarantino-Guy Ritchie-Ben Wheatley hybrid, leaving a sea of pummeled bodies and red snow in his wake. It’s as funny as it is disturbing, which is remarkable considering how disturbing it really is. AP KRYZA. Prix du Jury: R100 R100 is a bondage-sex farce gone batshit and a full-throated ode to the joy-sucking tedium of life—the tale of a sad, bored Japanese sarariman swollen with orgasmic joy only when humiliated, before being forced to transcend even pain. One of the smartest dumb movies I’ve seen in ages.

MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Grand Prix Winner: Come to My Voice In order to free her son, who’s being held as a terrorist, Berfe and her granddaughter must find a gun to turn in.

Come to My Voice bears plenty of the artsy foreign-film cliches: big scenic shots, understated performances, hard livin’. But it doesn’t just show its audience what a place looks like. It demands that viewers empathize with its residents. JAMES HELMSWORTH. Palme du p’Ortland: Timbuktu As one of five nominees for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, it is no surprise that Timbuktu takes home the Palme du p’Ortland. This Mauritanian masterpiece stands out by providing a glimpse behind the curtain of a country ruled by a militant Islamic group. We often view these places from afar through the prism of American interests.

Timbuktu shows it from within, with the struggle and hardships of its people left bare for all to see.

JOHN LOCANTHI.

feb. 18–24

Birdman

B- If Birdman’s message is that the theater, specifically Broadway, is the home of high art and Hollywood a place of debased, greed-driven entertainment, Alejandro González Iñárritu doesn’t make a convincing—or even amusingly satirical— argument. R. REBECCA JACOBSON. Cedar Hills, Cornelius, Hollywood Theatre, Movies on TV.

Black or White

Kevin Costner plays an alcoholic lawyer who suddenly gets custody of his biracial granddaughter, and then winds up battling the child’s paternal grandmother (Octavia Spencer) to keep it. Grantland ’s Wesley Morris called it “tiresome” and “preposterous,” deeming it Tyler Perry’s Crash.

Not screened for Portland critics. PG13. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Movies on TV.

The Boy Next Door

D An unintentionally funny thriller starring Jennifer Lopez as a teacher sleeps with a student-cum-violent stalker, the Boy Net Door displays all the patience you’d expect from director Rob Cohen, the man behind xXx and The Fast and the Furious.

Exhibiting behavior equal parts Some of the groan-worthy double entendres—“I love your mom’s cookies,” for one—suggest the film realizes its own ridiculousness. (And that’s not to mention the “first edition” of The Iliad.) It’s a pity the film doesn’t fully embrace camp to become an awesomely bad movie. Instead, it’s just a bad movie. R. JOHN LOCANTHI. Movies on TV.

Boyhood

A Boyhood took 12 years, in film as

in life. For 12 years, director Richard Linklater shot the movie for a few weeks each summer as both the main character, a boy named Mason, and the actor, Ellar Coltrane, came of age, from 6 to 18. The epic undertaking has resulted in one of the most honest and absorbing representations of growing up ever put to film: all the tedium, all the wonder. R. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Cedar Hills.

Fifty Shades of Grey

D Fifty Shades of Grey is one of the landmark works of the new millenium, the novel that proved definitively Americans will suffer through anything for a few fleeting moments of titillation. Anastasia Steele is a virgin when she meets Christian Grey, the world’s most eligible 27-year-old billionaire bachelor. That doesn’t last long. The appeal of Fifty Shades of Grey is that it wasn’t just a romance novel; it was a romance novel with bondage, spanking and anal beads, which have been left out of the film.

But the R rating holds these scenes back. Quick cuts, strategic camera angles and body positioning make some of these scenes look like a badly choreographed fight. “I don’t make love,” Grey tells Ana. “I fuck… hard.” The film never follows through on that promise. You’re left with an oddly virginal—Ana’s a virgin; Grey has never slept with the women he fucks, until Ana—trite romance with a forced “why won’t you let me touch you?!” conflict. Fifty Shades turns what was supposed to be a torrid affair into an overly serious episode of Beverly Hills 90210 with some timid softcore erotica thrown in. The source material might have made a decent porno. Unfortunately, Universal sued the porn studio that intended to do this movie justice.

That’s a shame. R. JOHN LOCANTHI. Showing at most Portland-area theaters.

Force Majeure

A- Force Majeure is a disaster movie

only with casualties emotional rather than physical. Many have seen the film as a commentary on gender roles, and director Ruben Östlund indeed told The New York Times he wanted to create “the most pathetic male character on film.” But Mars/ Venus debates aside, Force Majeure is an incisive exploration of shame and cowardice. Östlund has applied slight CGI to the mountains, making them just a tad too impeccable, and the chic resort, with its blond wood and simple lines, is an IKEA answer to The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. R. REBECCA JACOBSON. Laurelhurst Theater.

Gone Girl

B+ Gone Girl might be David Fincher’s battiest work. The director has taken a lurid suspense yarn— the wildly popular novel by Gillian Flynn—and emerged with a film that deftly straddles the line between brilliant and stupid. It’s a media satire and a meditation on a volatile marriage that masquerades as the kind of plop you’d find Ashley Judd starring in back in the ’90s. It’s mesmerizing.

R. AP KRYZA. Laurelhurst Theater.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

B+ The unnecessary Hobbit trilogy comes to a close. PG-13. MICHAEL NORDINE. Eastport, Clackamas, Movies on TV.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1

B- The first half of The Hunger Games’ concluding installment. PG13. MICHAEL NORDINE. Academy Theater, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst Theater, Mt. Hood, Movies on TV.

The Imitation Game

B Full of childhood flashbacks,

handsome sets, sharp zingers and a careful dash of devastation, the Imitation Game takes a prickly prodigy—Turing pioneered the field of computer science and helped crack Nazi codes—and places him in an eminently (and sometimes overly) palatable picture. PG-13. REBECCA JACOBSON. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, CineMagic, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Movies on TV.

Inherent Vice

A In Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas

Anderson’s rollicking adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 2009 novel, the beaches of ’70s Los Angeles are populated with human flotsam. Hippies, Nazis, bikers, junkies, whores, Manson acolytes, dentists, cops, criminals and all manner of freaks commingle in the grimy tide pools. A pot-addled former doper named Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) whose ex, Shasta (Katherine Waterston), disappears before tipping him off about a plot to overthrow a powerful construction magnate. It takes very little time for the core mystery to take a backseat to the lunatic characters that Doc— played with ethereal charisma by a never-better Phoenix—encounters. R. AP KRYZA. Cinema 21.

Interstellar

C+ The McConaissance goes into outer space. PG-13. AP KRYZA. Academy Theater, Kennedy School, Laurelhurst Theater, Mission, Mt Hood, Valley.

Into the Woods

B+ Stephen Sondheim’s much-loved

musical has finally made it to the big screen. The film is divided into halves: the first full of payoffs and the second full of inescapable relationship truths and romantic boredom.

Though timid—it waters down forest sex to an agonized make-out scene in the pines—Disney’s long-shelved adaptation is still a beautiful compromise. And hell, the mash-up of cautionary fairy tales is fun, with the Witch (Meryl Streep) pushing a young couple (James Corden and Emily Blunt) to undo a family curse they inherited. PG. SAUNDRA SORENSON. Cedar Hills, Eastport.

Jupiter Ascending

B There’s not a recognizable idea

to be found in the whole of Jupiter Acending’s grand space opera/ cartoon. A plotline does exist, though the movie dispenses with the important bits as swiftly as possible.

We’re scarcely introduced to Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), plucky cleaning woman with a penchant for stargazing, before floating wraiths, bluehaired bounty hunters, and dashingly feral disgraced soldier Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) appear on her trail.

A wholly illogical fairy-tale denouement that leaves little expectation of sequels. Mad they may be, but the Wachowskis aren’t stupid.

PG-13. JAY HORTON. Bagdad, Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Movies on TV.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

A- Remember when spy movies were fun? Kingsman: The Secret Service does. “I like the older spy movies,” says Harry “Galahad” Hart (Colin Firth) as he dines in a blue velvet dinner jacket with the villainous billionaire Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson, with a lisp). “They weren’t so serious.” Galahad then takes a bite out of a Big Mac. In the grand tradition of early James Bond, Derek Flint and, to a lesser extent, Austin Powers, Kingsman just wants to have some fucking fun.The independent spy agency Kingsman is headquartered in a tailor shop on Savile Row, headed by Arthur (Michael Caine, because of course he’s in this movie) Every Kingsman is named after an Arthurian knight. After Lancelot is quite literally cut in twain by Valentine’s sword-legged right-hand woman, The agency is in desperate need of a new agent. Kingsman isn’t a send-up of the genre; it’s a rebuke of the relentlessly grim, faux-realistic modern Bond, Bourne and Batman, and the latter half of Liam Neeson’s career. The body count is high. The violence is cartoonishly over-the-top.

But when you’re watching an immaculately dressed gentleman spy fight a woman with swords for prosthetic legs in a secret mountain lair while the countdown clock ticks away and KC and the Sunshine Band play in the background, you’ll feel something you haven’t felt in quite some time: fun. R. JOHN LOCANTHI. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Cornelius, Mill Plain, Oak Grove, Movies on TV.

Mr. Turner

B+ Known as “the painter of light,”

J.M.W. Turner created some of the world’s most awe-inspiring artwork.

His landscapes are by turns frightful and beautiful, and the same goes for Mr. Turner. It’s a warts-and-all view of a frequently unpleasant man, as mired in the muck and disease of 19th-century England as in the arresting scenery that inspired Turner’s art.

There’s little Turner wouldn’t give to his art, including his own saliva.

Rather than looking down his nose at these philistines, director Mike Leigh is more interested in how this criticism affected Turner. He becomes an object of derision near the end of his career, a punch line for vulgar stage acts. R. MICHAEL NORDINE. Cinema 21.

Nightcrawler

B+ Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom is

terrifying. Not so much for what he does, but for what he represents: He’s sensationalistic and exploitative media personified. The title of Dan Gilroy’s debut feature refers to the lecherous freelance cameramen who prowl city streets, their ears trained to police scanners so they can get to gruesome crime scenes before help arrives and shoot the carnage, tragedy and response as it all unfolds. What makes Lou such a fascinating and terrifying beast isn’t rooted in traditional cinematic tropes of violence. It’s his extreme disconnect and lack of conscience: He sees nothing wrong with moving a stillbreathing victim into better light to improve his shot. R. AP KRYZA. Academy Theater, Laurelhurst Theater.

Paddington

The cuddly, floppy hat-wearing bear gets his own live-action feature. PG. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Movies on TV.

Penguins of Madagascar

The besuited birds are back, trying to prevent an evil octopus from taking over the world. Sorry, WW was too hung over to make the Saturdaymorning screening. PG. Valley.

Project Almanac

Teenagers build a time machine.

Things don’t go as planned. Not screened for Portland critics. PG13. Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Movies on TV.

Selma

A- Selma, Ava DuVernay’s drama

about three 1965 civil rights marches in Alabama, is not perfect, but it arrives at a historic moment that will leave only the most blinkered viewer feeling chuffed about the superiority of the present to the past. Violence here is never aestheticized for its own sake, but brought to life so that we might understand its escalation and impact. The film is transfixing, but not easy to watch. And it should not be easy to watch. PG-13. CHRIS STAMM. Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Hollywood Theatre.

CONT. on page 42

REVIEW COURTESY OF KINO LORBER

adventure designed purely to delight its target audience. Substantial swaths of the picture are devoted to nothing loftier than portraying just how unstoppably cool soaring on the back of your own robot would feel.

PG. JAY HORTON. Academy Theater, Kennedy School, Mission, Valley.

MOVIES

a light in the darkness: a vampire (sheila Vand) walks home alone at night.

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT Writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is an eclectic cinematic mishmash: a Iranian noirspaghetti Western-love story…with vampires. And yet, somehow, it all works. The score—including music from Portland’s own Federale— feels like it wandered in from a Sergio Leone movie. The stark blackand-white photography, smoke, prostitution and drug use paint it as the noirest of noirs. The sparing use of vampire behavior—just three necks are bitten—makes the vampire more human than many leads in conventional romance movies.

Arash (Arash Marandi), a handsome 20-something in a white T-shirt and jeans, is the son of a junkie in Bad City. His father is in a significant hole to his dealer. A vampiric girl (Sheila Vand) prowls the shadows— following, waiting and judging.

For all its spaghetti Western flourishes, this is a quiet film about loneliness at heart. The Girl with No Name wanders the streets alone.

Despite living with his addled father, Arash is just as alone. They meet on a well-lit suburban sidewalk when Arash, rolling on ecstasy, can no longer stand. The girl wheels him home on her skateboard. Amirpour leaves this romance understated: This isn’t true love, it’s two lonely people who met each other.

Amirpour the writer knows when to get out of the way of Amirpour the director. What could have been a trite love story or a generic vampire movie is instead a sombre, moody, beautiful piece of filmmaking. The characters move from place to place. They keep their thoughts to themselves.

From the scratchy, hypnotic electronica when the girl follows the dealer to his cocaine-filled apartment to Morriconean chantings, the score keys the offbeat dream that is A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.

The girl drifts in and out of the shadows under her black cloak, sometimes as a disembodied face, other times in a humanizing light with her horizontal-striped white shirt visible. The streetlights when Arash meets the vampire are bright and saturated as if the acid just started to kick in.

The minimal dialogue and nearly silent romance leaves the viewer with something rare: a movie quiet enough that you can soak in the imagery and be bowled over by the propulsive score.

JOHN LOCANTHI. Love and other things in bad City.

A- see it: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night opens Friday at Cinema 21.

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

41

MOVIES

FEB. 18–24

Seventh Son

AP FILM STUDIES COURTESY OF FOX SEARCHLIGHT

A fantasy that reunites Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore. We rewatched the Big Lebowski instead . PG-13 .

Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Movies on TV.

Slaughter Nick for President

B Since it fi rst aired, Tropical Heat has been a cult hit in the Balkan republic, with fans considering Slaughter a hero. Slaughter Nick for President follows the show’s star, charming and humble Rob Stewart, as he visits Serbia, where he’s greeted by mobs of adoring fans, appears on a game show, plays guitar with a punk band and is generally worshiped as royalty. Like the singer Rodriguez, who was . AP KRYZA . Clackamas .

St. Vincent

B- Under most circumstances,

his debut, St. Vincent, would be blasted for its contrived, overwrought plot. But luckily for director Theodore Melfi , that crusty bastard is played by Bill Murray.

PG-13 . AP KRYZA . Laurelhurst Theater.

Strange Magic

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

American Sniper

B Maybe it’s the titular charac-

ter’s manic—nay, demented—laugh.

Or maybe it’s the cavalier way the writers sneak in references to Mad Max and The Shining amid the wholesomeness. Let’s just say there’s a reason The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water will still be showing after your kids’ bedtime. The quest to recover the lost Krabby Patty Secret Formula

by SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) and Plankton spans time and space in what feels somewhere between an extended episode and a halfbaked animated feature . PG . JOHN LOCANTHI . Cedar Hills, Eastport, Clackamas, Mill Plain, Cornelius, Oak Grove, Movies on TV, St. Johns.

Project Almanac (PG-13) 11:25AM 2:10PM 4:55PM 7:40PM 10:25PM Seventh Son (PG-13) 2:40PM 8:00PM Paddington (PG) 11:15AM 2:00PM Wedding Ringer, The (R) 11:50AM 2:35PM 5:15PM 7:55PM 10:35PM Old Fashioned (PG-13) 11:00AM 1:50PM 4:40PM 7:30PM 10:20PM The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 3D (PG) 12:25PM 3:00PM 5:30PM 8:00PM 10:30PM The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (PG) 11:10AM 1:40PM 4:15PM 6:45PM 9:15PM The Duff (PG-13) 11:35AM 2:15PM 4:55PM 7:35PM 10:15PM Seventh Son (PG-13) 12:00PM 5:20PM 10:40PM

Paddington Call Theater For Showtimes Project Almanac Call Theater For Showtimes The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water Call Theater For Showtimes

Still Alice (PG-13) 11:10AM 1:50PM 4:30PM 7:10PM 9:50PM Kingsman: The Secret Service (R) 11:20AM 1:00PM 2:30PM 4:10PM 5:45PM 7:20PM 8:55PM 10:30PM Fifty Shades Of Grey (R) 11:25AM 12:05PM 2:25PM 3:10PM 5:25PM 6:15PM 8:35PM 9:20PM Black or White (PG-13) 12:30PM 7:00PM McFarland, USA (PG) 10:45AM 1:45PM 4:45PM 7:45PM 10:45PM American Sniper (R) 12:45PM 3:55PM 7:05PM 10:15PM Jupiter Ascending 3D (PG-13) 1:45PM 7:45PM Jupiter Ascending (PG-13) 10:45AM 4:45PM 10:45PM Imitation Game, The (PG-13) 4:25PM 7:15PM 10:05PM Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (PG-13) 3:40PM 10:00PM Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (R) 11:05AM 12:20PM 1:35PM 2:50PM 4:05PM 5:20PM 6:35PM 7:50PM 9:05PM 10:20PM

Fifty Shades Of Grey Call TheaTer For Showtimes Oscar 2015: Birdman Call Theater For Showtimes American Sniper Call Theater For Showtimes

Oscar 2015: Selma Call Theater For Showtimes Selma Call Theater For Showtimes Temper (Great India Films) Call Theater For Showtimes The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water 3d Call

Imitation Game, The Call Theater For Showtimes Jupiter Ascending Call Theater For Showtimes Kingsman: The Secret Service Call Theater For Showtimes

Theater For Showtimes Seventh Son 3d Call Theater For Showtimes Seventh Son Call Theater For Showtimes

Into The Woods Call Theater For Showtimes

Black Or White Call Theater For Showtimes

Jupiter Ascending 3d Call Theater For Showtimes

McFarland, USA (PG) 12:30PM 3:45PM 7:00PM 10:15PM Paddington (PG) 11:25AM 2:05PM 4:40PM Wild (R) 11:05AM 1:50PM 4:35PM 7:20PM 10:15PM Kingsman: The Secret Service (R) 10:55AM 12:15PM 2:00PM 3:25PM 5:15PM 6:45PM 8:30PM 9:50PM The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 3D (PG) 11:15AM 1:40PM 4:05PM The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (PG) 12:20PM 2:50PM 5:20PM 7:50PM 10:20PM Still Alice (PG-13) 11:00AM 1:45PM 4:30PM 7:20PM 10:00PM The Duff (PG-13) 11:20AM 2:15PM 5:00PM 7:45PM 10:30PM

Fifty Shades Of Grey (R) 11:10AM 12:45PM 2:30PM 4:00PM 5:45PM 7:15PM 9:00PM 10:25PM Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (PG-13) 6:55PM 10:10PM Jupiter Ascending (PG-13) 12:40PM 3:50PM American Sniper (R) 12:55PM 4:00PM 7:05PM 10:10PM Into The Woods (PG) 10:50AM 1:45PM 4:40PM 7:35PM 10:30PM Jupiter Ascending 3D (PG-13) 6:40PM 9:55PM Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (R) 11:30AM 12:50PM 2:10PM 3:30PM 4:50PM 6:10PM 7:30PM 8:50PM 10:10PM Imitation Game, The (PG-13) 7:25PM 10:20PM

FRIDAY 42

Willamette Week FEBRUARY 18, 2015 wweek.com

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO… This Sunday, Hollywood returns once again for its annual worship of middlebrow cinema, and no matter how much you hate to admit it, you’re watching the Oscars. How else will you know which story of white suffering will take home a golden naked man this year?

Here’s every movie nominated for Best Picture currently playing in Portland. (Check movie listings for theaters.)

An animated fi lm inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In other words, time to introduce your babies to the Bard . PG . Movies on TV.

Fifty Shades Of Grey (XD) (R) 10:45AM 1:45PM 4:45PM 7:45PM 10:45PM

PERHAPS OSCARMAN: Birdman expected to win.

The Theory of Everything

B- A brief history of Stephen Hawking’s 30-year marriage to Jane Wilde, The Theory of Everything fi ts a tad too snugly into the biopic tradition. Here, Hawking’s contributions to the fi elds of physics and cosmology take a backseat to the story of his and Wilde’s courtship, marriage and eventual divorce . PG-13 .

MICHAEL NORDINE . Cedar Hills.

Whiplash

B+ Whiplash clefts music from

dance, love and spirituality. What’s left is muscle, red and raw, beating faster and faster against a drum.

Damien Chazelle’s beautiful but troubling fi lm centers on a battle of egos and tempos, as Andrew (Miles Teller) must decide how much of himself and his sanity he’s willing to give to music. Teller gives a close-to-the-chest performance.

JK Simmons is certainly horrifying as his instructor. And here’s where Whiplash is most troubling: It views the abusive instructor as a necessary evil for creating great art. This fl ies in the face not just of morality but of history. R . JAMES HELMSWORTH . Cedar Hills.

Wild

A- Reese Witherspoon trudges north in Wild, the fi lm adaptation of Portlander Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling memoir about hiking 1,100 miles from scorched California to soggy Oregon. R . REBECCA JACOBSON . Eastport, Clackamas.

A rundown of the Best Picture nominees still playing in Portland theaters.

Chances of winning: Given the moblike backlash against critics who said the movie wasn’t very good, the Academy will probably give it at least one of the technical awards, just to stay safe.

Birdman Chances of winning: Michael Keaton is neck and neck with Eddie Redmayne for Best Actor, but Redmayne’s Stephen Hawking impression might be too tearjerky for Oscar voters to resist.

Boyhood Chances of winning: Boyhood would be nominated if it were simply a tender coming-of-age story.

But Linklater shot it gradually over 12 years.

I expect it to take Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress. [Birdman has become the favorite for Best Picture over the past few weeks—Ed.]

The Imitation Game Chances of winning: Its eight nominations are standard issue for a British period piece, especially one about a gay genius.

Selma Chances of winning: Selma suffered from its lack of privilegedwhite-people problems, instead focusing on the civil rights movement at a time when we need to learn lessons from that era more than ever.

The Theory of Everything Chances of winning: The only way this movie could be more pandering is if they rolled Redmayne onscreen with his acceptance speech taped to his forehead.

Whiplash Chances of winning: Whiplash is otherwise here to prove the Academy is still in touch with what those indie-film kids are into.

Which is jazz, apparently. AP KRYZA. ALSO SHOWING: Weird Wednesday has found Bigfoot, a 1970 trash nonclassic with echoes of King Kong. Joy Cinema. 9 pm Wednesday, Feb. 18.

The Portland Black Film Fest continues its Soul Train Express tradition. Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Wednesday, Feb. 18. ’80s classic Better Off Dead still wants its $2. Kiggins Theatre.

Opens Friday, Feb. 20.

Dirty Harry’s titular hero became the fantasy identity of every cop.

That is not a good thing. Laurelhurst Theater. Feb. 20-26.

Nearly 50 years later, few films capture the sense of pure crazed romance of Bonnie and Clyde. Academy Theater. Feb. 20-26.

Speaking of Oscars snubbing landmarks of black cinema, the Clinton Street is reviving Malcolm X. Clinton Street Theater. 7 pm Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 21-22.

MOVIES

c o u r T e S y o F Wa r n e r b r o S .

FEB. 20-26

dO yOu FEEL LuCky?: Dirty Harry plays Feb. 20-26 at Laurelhurst Theater.

Regal Lloyd Center 10 & IMAX

1510 NE Multnomah St. JUPITER ASCENDING: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 01:00, 04:05, 07:15, 10:20 SEVENTH SON: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES: RECORDED LIVE FROM DUBLIN HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2 Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:10, 02:40, 05:10, 07:45, 10:15 FIFTY SHADES OF GREY Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:00, 12:40, 03:10, 03:50, 06:20, 07:00, 09:30, 10:05 KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:30, 02:50, 03:40, 07:20, 10:30 JUPITER ASCENDING SEVENTH SON THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 11:45, 04:40, 10:00 THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 02:10, 07:30 AMERICAN SNIPER Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:55, 03:20, 06:30, 09:50 PADDINGTON SELMA THE IMITATION GAME MCFARLAND, USA Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:25, 03:35, 07:05, 10:10 THE DUFF Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 12:50, 03:55, 07:35, 10:25 EXHIBITION ONSCREEN: REMBRANDT Tue 07:00 KING LEAR (STRATFORD FESTIVAL) Wed 07:00 FOCUS: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE Fri 01:10, 04:10, 07:00, 09:45

Bagdad Theater

3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-249-7474 JUPITER ASCENDING HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2 FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:45, 04:15, 07:00, 09:45

Cinema 21

616 NW 21st Ave., 503-223-4515 MR. TURNER Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 03:45, 07:00 INHERENT VICE Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 03:30, 06:45, 09:35 MOTHERING INSIDE A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT Fri-Sat-Sun-Tue-Wed 04:15, 06:45, 09:00

Clinton Street Theater

2522 SE Clinton St., 503-238-8899 NO FILMS SHOWING TODAY Fri-Mon THE ROCKY HORROR

PICTURE SHOW Sat 12:00 MALCOLM X Sat-Sun 07:00 DEATH MAKES LIFE POSSIBLE Tue 07:00 AMERICAN BEAR: AN ADVENTURE IN THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS Wed 07:00 21 YEARS: RICHARD LINKLATER 1971 Fri 07:00

Laurelhurst Theater & Pub

2735 E Burnside St., 503-232-5511 HAROLD AND MAUDE INTERSTELLAR Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:15 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1 FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:30 NIGHTCRAWLER Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:40 FORCE MAJEURE BIG EYES Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 07:00 GONE GIRL Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 08:50 ST. VINCENT Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:30 FOXCATCHER FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:45 DIRTY HARRY FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 09:15 BOYHOOD Fri-SatSun 03:30 BIG HERO 6 Fri-Sat-Sun 01:30, 03:45

Eastport Plaza

4040 S.E. 82nd Ave. JUPITER ASCENDING FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:40, 03:50 JUPITER ASCENDING 3D Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:40, 09:55 MCFARLAND, USA Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 12:30, 03:45, 07:00, 10:15 THE IMITATION GAME Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 07:25, 10:20 WILD Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:05, 01:50, 04:35, 07:20, 10:15 THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 06:55, 10:10 INTO THE WOODS Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 10:50, 01:45, 04:40, 07:35, 10:30 PADDINGTON Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 11:25, 02:05, 04:40 AMERICAN SNIPER Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 12:55, 04:00, 07:05, 10:10 PROJECT ALMANAC SEVENTH SON SEVENTH SON 3D THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER Fri-Sat-Sun-MonTue-Wed 12:20, 02:50, 05:20, 07:50, 10:20 THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER 3D Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-TueWed 11:15, 01:40, 04:05 KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE Fri-Sat-SunMon-Tue-Wed 10:55, 12:15,

02:00, 03:25, 05:15, 06:45, 08:30, 09:50 DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES: RECORDED LIVE FROM DUBLIN FIFTY SHADES OF GREY Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:10, 12:45, 02:30, 04:00, 05:45, 07:15, 09:00, 10:25 HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2 FriSat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:30, 12:50, 02:10, 03:30, 04:50, 06:10, 07:30, 08:50, 10:10 THE DUFF Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:20, 02:15, 05:00, 07:45, 10:30 C’EST SI BON STILL ALICE Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 11:00, 01:45, 04:30, 07:20, 10:00 CLASSIC MUSIC SERIES: AEROSMITH THE LAZARUS EFFECT FOCUS

Indoor Twin Cinemas

Highway 99W, 503-538-2738 NO FILMS SHOWING TODAY Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 1 FriSat 07:00 BIG HERO 6 FriSat 07:00

Empirical Theatre at OMSI

1945 SE Water Ave., 503-797-4000 WALKING WITH DINOSAURS 3D Fri-Sat-Sun 11:00 WILD OCEAN JAMES CAMERON’S DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D Fri-SatSun 02:30 ADRENALINE RUSH: THE SCIENCE OF RISK FLIGHT OF THE BUTTERFLIES Fri-SatSun 10:00 PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR INTERSTELLAR SECRET OCEAN Fri-Sat-Sun 12:00, 03:30 BEARS Sat-Sun 01:00

5th Avenue Cinema 510 SW Hall St., 503-725-3551 NO FILMS SHOWING TODAY LOVE SONGS FriSat-Sun 03:00

MUSIC AT THE MOVIES Sat 07:30 DARKNESS BY DAY Sat 10:30 OSCAR NIGHT Sun 03:30 ARRESTING POWER: RESISTING POLICE VIOLENCE IN PORTLAND, OREGON Mon 07:00 THE MOVIE QUIZ Mon 09:30 PIECES Tue 07:30 STOP/WATCH Wed 07:00 DEMON KNIGHT IN HECKLEVISION

NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium

1219 SW Park Ave., 503-221-1156 XENIA GüEROS THE JAPANESE DOG I’M STILL YVY MARAEY, LAND WITHOUT EVIL THE FOOL A GIRL AT MY DOOR ALL THE WOMEN IN A FOREIGN LAND MAGICAL GIRL PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Fri-Sat NO FILMS SHOWING TODAY Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed

Regal Pioneer Place Stadium 6

340 SW Morrison St. KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2 JUPITER ASCENDING MCFARLAND, USA THE DUFF SEVENTH SON SEVENTH SON 3D THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER JUPITER ASCENDING 3D THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER 3D AMERICAN SNIPER PADDINGTON

St. Johns Theater

8203 N Ivanhoe St., 503-249-7474-6 THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed 01:00, 04:00, 07:00, 09:30

Forest Theatre

1911 Pacific Ave., 503-844-8732 NO FILMS SHOWING TODAY Mon-Wed THE LAST FIVE YEARS Fri-SatSun 04:30, 07:05, 09:10 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Fri 12:00 BEYOND THE LIGHTS SatSun-Tue 07:00

Hollywood Theatre

4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-281-4215 THE OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2015: ANIMATED THE OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2015: LIVE ACTION SELMA BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 07:15, 09:35 STILL ALICE Fri-SatSun-Mon-Tue-Wed 06:45, 09:00 HORSES OF GOD Fri 07:00 BLACK GIRL IN SUBURBIA Sat 02:00

SubjecT To change. call TheaTerS or ViSiT WWeek.coM/MoVieTiMeS For The MoST up-TodaTe inForMaTion Friday-ThurSday, Feb. 20-26, unleSS oTherWiSe indicaTed

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MAJOR E. SKINNER

END ROLL

YOUR BUDDY’S HOUSE Remember when you used to go an old house in a run-down neighborhood to buy weed? There was a couch, a lazy dog, a big TV and, quite possibly, a Jimi Hendrix poster.

Well, that’s an bygone world. Weed dealers don’t invite you over these days—if your guy isn’t someone you see socially, they deliver. And the staff at most recreational dispensaries is remarkably professionalized, more focused on dealing with the crowds than steering customers toward their favorite strain with a grin and a well-placed weed pun.

So there’s something instantly nostalgic about Vancouver’s third and newest recreational dispensary, High End Market Place (1906 Broadway St, Vancouver, Wash., 360-695-3612, highendmarketplace.com). Situated in a century-old craftsman just north of the downtown ’Couv, this little shop feels a lot like an old-school dealer’s house, except without the couches or video games or dog. The staff here is refreshingly jokey, and Jimi’s here, hanging by the fireplace.

High End is in the Arnada neighborhood (Vancouver has neighborhoods!) on a relatively quiet street that’s has plenty of parking even if it’s not totally pedestrian-friendly (passing truck to me: “GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE STREET!”).

It is right next to a lawyer’s office, Vancouver’s pre-eminent hipster dive bar, the Elbow Room, and a comic-book shop.

It’s all very domestic, from the rhododendron bushes around the front porch to the woodfloored foyer, where there’s a desk and paintings of an owl and various woodland creatures on the walls. (Also, a really nice Jerry Garcia painting by a local artist—a Jerry Garcia painting so nice you’ll briefly consider whether you could hang a Jerry Garcia painting in your home.)

The walls have been torn out of the ground floor, their shells forming see-through bookshelves that’ve been stocked with glass.

The flower selection is relatively limited compared to the other shops in the ’Couv—the cheapest offerings include Obama Kush and Blue Dream for $15 a gram. The selection of edibles is larger and comes from three makers, including special chocolates for Valentine’s Day and Green Chief ’s buzzed-about Wake & Bake cannabisinfused instant coffee ($20 for one serving).

Unlike a lot of shops, they’ve got the prepackaged goods out on the counter for inspection, so you can actually look over the leaves you’re buying to make sure it’s not all stems and seeds.

Remember that? I once had a dealer who insisted on it, in an era that now seems so long ago.

MAJOR E. SKINNER.

For more information on John Callahan’s memorial, see ffojohncallahan.tumblr.com.

44

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CLASSIFIEDS DIRECTORY 45

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45 PETS

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45 MUSICIANS’ MARKET

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LEGAL NOTICES Estate of Jackson Hubbard NOTICE TO INTERESTED PERSONS Case Number: C14-0556PE Notice: The Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, for the County of Washington has appointed the undersigned as Personal Representative of the Estate of Jackson Hubbard, deceased. All persons having claims against said estate are required to present the same, with proper vouchers to the Personal Representative at the address of his attorney, 312 NW 10th Ave., #200B, Portland OR 97209 within four months from the date of first publication of this notice as stated below, or they may be barred. All persons whose rights may be affected by this proceeding may obtain additional information from the records of the court, the Personal Representative, or the Attorney for the Personal Representative.

Dated and first published Feb. 4th, 2015.

PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE Michael Hubbard ATTORNEY FOR PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE Maret Thatcher Smith 312 NW 10th Ave #200 B971-284-7129 maret@thatchersmithlaw.com OSB # 105103

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$1000 WEEKLY MAILING BROCHURES From Home. Helping home workers since 2001. Genuine Opportunity. No Experience required. Start Immediately www.mailingmembers.com AIRLINE CAREERS begin here Get trained as FAA certified Aviation Technician. Housing and Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance 877-725-1563 1GENERAL MANAGER (EUGENE, OR) For the Oregon Country Fair. Complete job description available at www.oregoncountryfair.net. Salary commensurate with experience. Resumes must be received by 5pm March 6th, 2015, by mail to GM Hiring Committee, OCF, 442 Lawrence Street, Eugene, OR 97401 or email to pc@oregoncountryfair.org. 501(c)(3) non-profit, EOE, preference will be given to OCF participants. 541.343.4298

TRUCK DRIVERS-OTR/CLASS A CDL Ashley Distribution Services in Wilsonville, OR seeks: ïLTL TRUCK DRIVERS (Multiple stop loads to retail stores!) Ability to Enter Canada ïHome Weekly ïPaid Vacation ïFull Benefit Package Class A CDL & at least 1 year current OTR exp. Clean MVR/PSP Reports. Call 1-800-837-2241 8AM to 4PM CST for info & app or email: jobs@ashleydistributionservices.com or www.ashleydistributionservices.com to apply under jobs.

HOSPITALITY/RESTAURANT MCMENAMINS CORNELIUS PASS ROADHOUSE AND IMBRIE HALL is now hiring LINE COOKS!

Qualified apps must have an open & flex sched including, days, eves, wknds and holidays. We are looking for applicants who have prev exp or related exp and enjoy working in a busy customer service-oriented enviro. We are also willing to train! We offer opps for advancement and excellent benefits for eligible employees, including vision, med, chiro, dental and so much more! Please apply online 24/7 at www. mcmenamins.com or pick up a paper app at any McMenamins location.

Mail to 430 N. Killingsworth, Portland OR, 97217 or fax: 503-221-8749. Call 503-952-0598 for info on other ways to apply. Please no phone calls or emails to individ locs! E.O.E.

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Solve Like a Pirate–and sound like one, too.

REAL PEOPLE REAL DESIRE REAL FUN

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Across 1 Cavatappi and capellini 7 Poe title word 10 Rejections 13 Detach, in a way 14 “Free Willy” creature 15 Decide (for) 16 The color of believing you can fly?

18 Dead heat 19 Airline since 1948 20 Drags 21 Stood 23 Flag thrower

24 Extreme 25 Not often 27 Garfield’s call when Jon has fallen?

30 Come from behind 33 “Get away, stranger!” (from a cat) 34 “Transformers” director Michael 35 “Y” wearers 36 Hit 38 Harrowing 39 Meadow sound 40 Epps of “Resurrection”

41 Feeling of insecurity 42 Creature surrounded by bamboo and other trees?

46 Bathroom buildup 47 1963 Paul Newman movie 48 “___ with Lovin’” (McDonald’s promo of February 2015) 51 Free-for-all 52 Utah city 54 Formally give up 55 Mean Amin

Down 1 Less contaminated 2 Foot holder 3 Wheat amount 4 Driving money 5 “You’ve Got Mail” company 6 1970s space station 7 Media packet 8 “Riunite on ___, Riunite so nice” 9 Comb challenges 10 Comfortably sized 11 Conflicts in China 12 Instructions part 14 Nonprofit’s URL suffix 17 Knowledgeable sort 22 Like unmatched socks 24 Make onion rings 26 Apart from that 27 Ice Bucket Challenge cause, for short 28 Bird sound 29 Turgenev’s

turndown 30 2000s sitcom set in Texas 31 Worried by 32 It’s no asset 36 “Peter Pan” role 37 Tears for Fears hit redone for “Donnie Darko” 38 Evidence with a twist?

40 Demand that someone will 41 Hit the plus button 43 “Bravissimo!’

44 Throat clearing sound 45 Three or five, but not threeve 48 Gunpowder alternative 49 Expert 50 Positive feedback 51 Word before any U.S. state 53 Wish you could take back 54 Lightning McQueen’s movie 57 Ironman Ripken 58 Maestro’s signal

last week’s answers

©2015 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle #JONZ715.

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Week of February 18

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): There are many different facets to your intelligence, and each matures at a different rate. So for example, your ability to think symbolically may evolve more slowly than your ability to think abstractly. Your wisdom about why humans act the way they do may ripen more rapidly than your insight into your own emotions. In the coming weeks, I expect one particular aspect of your intelligence to be undergoing a growth spurt: your knowledge of what your body needs and how to give it what it needs.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): What is the proper blend for you these days? Is it something like 51 percent pleasure and 49 percent business? Or would you be wiser to shoot for 49 percent pleasure and 51 percent business?

I will leave that decision up to you, Taurus. Whichever way you go, I suggest that you try to interweave business and pleasure as often as possible. You are in one of those action-packed phases when fun dovetails really well with ambition. I’m guessing that you can make productive connections at parties. I’m betting that you can spice up your social life by taking advantage of what comes to you through your work.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1900, the world’s most renowned mathematicians met at a conference in Paris. There the German whiz David Hilbert introduced his master list of 23 unsolved mathematical problems.

At the time, no one had done such an exhaustive inventory. His well-defined challenge set the agenda for math research throughout the 20th century. Today he’s regarded as an influential visionary. I’d love to see you come up with a list of your own top unsolved problems, Gemini. You now have extra insight about the catalytic projects you will be smart to work on and play with during the coming years.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Spanipelagic” is an adjective scientists use to describe creatures that typically hang out in deep water but float up to the surface on rare occasions. The term is not a perfect metaphorical fit for you, since you come up for air more often than that. But you do go through phases when you’re inclined to linger for a long time in the abyss, enjoying the dark mysteries and fathomless emotions. According to my reading of the astrological omens, that’s what you’ve been doing lately. Any day now, however, I expect you’ll be rising up from the Great Down Below and headed topside for an extended stay.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): When faced with a big decision, you might say you want to “sleep on it.” In other words, you postpone your final determination until you gather more information and ripen your understanding of the pressing issues. And that could indeed involve getting a good night’s sleep. What happens in your dreams may reveal nuances you can’t pry loose with your waking consciousness alone. And even if you don’t recall your dreams, your sleeping mind is busy processing and reworking the possibilities. I recommend that you make liberal use of the “sleep on it” approach in the coming weeks, Leo. Revel in the wisdom that wells up in you as you’re lying down in the dark.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 1962, Edward Albee published his play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It won numerous awards and is still performed by modern theater groups. Albee says the title came to him as he was having a beer at a bar in New York City. When he went to the restroom, he spied the words “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” scrawled in soap on the mirror. I urge you to be alert for that kind of inspiration in the coming days, Virgo: unexpected, provocative, and out of context. You never know when and where you may be furnished with clues about the next plot twist of your life story.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Edward III, a medieval English king, had a favorite poet: Geoffrey Chaucer.

In 1374, the king promised Chaucer a big gift in appreciation for his talents: a gallon of wine every day for the rest of his life. That’s not the endowment I would have wanted if I had been Chaucer. I’d never get any work done if I were quaffing 16 glasses of wine every 24 hours. Couldn’t I instead be provided with a regular stipend? Keep this story in mind, Libra, as you con-

template the benefits or rewards that might become available to you. Ask for what you really need, not necessarily what the giver initially offers.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): To make the cocktail known as Sex on the Beach, you mix together cranberry juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, peach schnapps, and vodka. There is also an alternative “mocktail” called Safe Sex on the Beach. It has the same fruit juices, but no alcohol. Given the likelihood that your inner teenager will be playing an important role in your upcoming adventures, Scorpio, I recommend that you favor the Safe-Sex-on-the-Beach metaphor rather than the Sex-on-the-Beach approach. At least temporarily, it’s best to show a bit of protective restraint toward the wild and sometimes erratic juvenile energy that’s pushing to be expressed.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” a lawyer hires a man named Bartleby to work in his office. At first Bartleby is a model employee, carrying out his assignments with dogged skill. But one day everything begins to change. Whenever his boss instructs him to do a specific task, Bartleby says, “I would prefer not to.”

As the days go by, he does less and less, until finally he stops altogether. I’d like to propose, Sagittarius, that you take inspiration from his slowdown. Haven’t you done enough for now? Haven’t you been exemplary in your commitment to the daily struggle? Don’t you deserve a break in the action so you can recharge your psychospiritual batteries? I say yes. Maybe you will consider making this your battle cry: “I would prefer not to.”

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”

That’s what American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson advised. Even if you’re not naturally inclined to see the potential wisdom of that approach, I invite you to play around with it for the next three weeks. You don’t need to do it forever. It doesn’t have to become a permanent fixture in your philosophy. Just for now, experiment with the possibility that trying lots of experiments will lead you not just to new truths, but to new truths that are fun, interesting, and useful.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The art of the French Aquarian painter Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927) appears in prestigious museums. He isn’t as famous as his fellow Impressionists Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro, but he wielded a big influence on them both.

His career developed slowly because he had to work a day job to earn a living. When he was 50 years old, he won a wad of free money in the national lottery, and thereafter devoted himself full-time to painting. I’m not saying you will enjoy a windfall like that anytime soon, Aquarius, but such an event is possible. At the very least, your income could rise. Your odds of experiencing financial luck will increase to the degree that you work to improve the best gifts you have to offer your fellow humans.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “It isn’t normal to know what we want,” said pioneering psychologist Abraham Maslow. “It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement.” That’s the bad news, Pisces. The good news is that you may be on the verge of rendering that theory irrelevant. In the coming weeks, you will be better primed to discover what you really want than you have been in a long time. I suggest you do a ritual in which you vow to unmask this treasured secret. Write a formal statement in which you declare your intention to achieve full understanding of the reasons you are alive on this planet.

April

Hi, I’m April! Pleased to meet you! I am an extremely loving 7 year old Lab/Pit mix, 48 lbs. I have a very lustrous coat and expressive eyes and a loyal heart. I have doggie friends and lot’s of hobbies (sniffing, playing, sitting, laying, snuggling..) but am not much of a dog park kinda girl, I’d looove to be your one and only! It’s clear that I received a ton of training in my formal life and I’m great with the kiddos! I come spayed, microchipped, current on all vaccines and my adoption fee is $220. I can’t wait to meet you! Just FILL OUT an application at pixieproject.org so we can set it up!

Homework Where in your life do you push harder than is healthy? Where do you not push hard enough?

Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes & Daily Text Message Horoscopes

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Paying up to $30/box. Help those who can’t afford insurance. Free pickup in SW WA and Portland Metro.

Call 360-693-0185

EVEN MORE PLEASURE, POWER & PAIN: EXPANDING YOUR BDSM EXPERIENCES / FEB 19 - 7:30 - $20 BACK THAT ASS UP!: ANAL SEX 101 / WED, FEB 25 - 7:30 - $20 BON APPÉTIT! THE FINE ART OF CUNNILINGUS / WED, MAR 18 - 7:30- $20 RENAMING DESIRE: TRANS/NON-TRANS SEX REVISITED / THURS APRIL 23 - 7:30 - $20

Guitar Lessons

NOW AT TWO LOCATIONS! 3213 SE DIVISION ST AND AT 909 N BEECH ST PORTLAND SHEBOPTHESHOP.COM

Personalized instruction for over 15yrs. www.portlandguitar-lessons.com 503-546-3137

$100/OZ Flower $5/G Flower $20 BHO $8 Kief

Comedy Classes

Improv, Standup, Sketch writing.

Now enrolling The Brody Theater, 503-224-2227 www.brodytheater.com

NOW OPEN!

WHERE SINGLES MEET Browse & Reply FREE! 503-299-9911 Use FREE Code 2557, 18+

Glass Pipes, Vaporizers, Incense & Candles 5425 NE 33rd Ave. Portland, OR 97211 (971) 279-5050

Ask for Steven. 503-936-5923

AA HYDROPONICS

CASH for INSTRUMENTS Tradeupmusic.com SE - 503-236-8800 NE - 503-335-8800

JiuJitsu

Ground defense under black belt instruction www.nwfighting.com or 503-740-2666

Nonprofit Attorneys Bankruptcy

Tax, Tenants, Small Business, More Payment Plans - Sliding-Scale (503) 208-4079 www.CommunityLawProject.org

albertagreenhouse.com

BUY LOCAL, BUY AMERICAN, BUY MARY JANES

$Cash for Junk Vehicles$

9966 SW Arctic Drive, Beaverton 9220 SE Stark Street, Portland American Agriculture ï americanag.com PDX 503-256-2400 BVT 503-641-3500

New Year� Sal�

Top Portland Agent

Stephen FitzMaurice, Realtor Sell your home fast, for less.

Full service. Unbeatable marketing program. Join hundreds of satisfied Portland home sellers.

Licensed Broker in OR, Premiere Property Group, LLC. 3636 NE Broadway St. 503-975-6853 RealEstateAgentPDX.com

Stephen’s Home of the Week 5527 SE 71ST AVE, 3bed, 2bath, 1432sq, $267,000 RealEstateAgentPDX.com

1425 NW 23rd Portland, OR 97210 (503) 841-5751

503-954-3900

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Mon-Sat 11am-7pm • Sun 12pm-6pm

BANKRUPTCY

Do you want to be debt free?

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Scott Hutchinson, Attorney www.Hutchinson-Law.com

Oregon Medical Marijuana Patient Resource Center ROSE CITY WELLNESS see our ad on page 45 *971-255-1456* 1310 SE 7TH AVE Open 7 Days Eskrima Classes www.ommpResourceCenter.com

SMOKE SIGNALS ON SANDY

Vaporizers, hookahs, glass pipes, tobacco, gift items 3554 NE SANDY BLVD. 503-253-0504

W W E E K D OT C O M

Mary Jane’s House of Glass

Glass Pipes, Vaporizers, Incense, Candles.

10% discount for new OMA Card holders!

1425 NW 23rd, Ptld. 503-841-5751 7219 NE Hwy 99, Vanc. 360-735-5913

NORTH WEST HYDROPONIC R&R

We Buy, Sell & Trade New and Used Hydroponic Equipment.

503-747-3624

Personal weapon & street defense www.nwfighting.com or 503-740-2666

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

OMMP CARDHOLDERS GET 25% DISCOUNT!

Quick fix synthetic urine now available.

Your hookah headquarters. Vapes. E-cigs, glass pipes, discount tobacco, detox products, salvia and kratom Still Smokin’ Tobacco For Less 12302 SE Powell 503-762-4219

FOOD SCAVENGER HUNT: MARCH 1 wweek.com/portland/cartathlonv

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVANCED NUTRIENTS

30% OFF!

Free Sample With Every Purchase

Hydroponics-Organics-Grow Lights

www.urbangardensupply.net 12115 SE 82nd Ave Ste. B • Happy Valley, OR 97086 • (503) 305-6531

503 235 1035

Card Services Clinic

503-384-WEED (9333) www.mmcsclinic.com 4911 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland Mon-Sat 9-6

New Downtown Location!

1501 SW Broadway www.mellowmood.com

4119 SE Hawthorne, Portland ph: 503-235-PIPE (7473)

Pizza Delivery

Until 4AM!

www.hammyspizza.com