March 19, 2014

River Trout and Sour Cherry Jam

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Above: Brothers by Stan Peterson. Carved and painted basswood with faceted glass eyes. 34 x 9 x 9 inch. 2014. From the exhibit “Wild Hares and Other Tales” at Mark Woolley Gallery. To view the full version click on the thumbnail. River Trout and Sour Cherry Jam By Jessica Glenn It is often hard to get hold of Skadi because of her husband, Fenris’s sickness. His affliction touches on every aspect of their lives. Particularly since she is a doctor, I wonder if living with a disease that she can’t cure leaves her feeling helpless. Though truly, it must have been the disease itself, which attracted Skadi to him in the first place. I always felt lucky when I got a chance to see her. Today, I was lucky. Stirring her tea, Skadi cleared her throat. “When I was little,” she said, “I lived in a small box in the kitchen of my grandmother’s house.” “A box?” “A box,” she answered. “I was a complete surprise when I was born. My mother, Janine, never had any symptoms of pregnancy and no clear memory of a biological father. She’s been confused ever since. She really couldn’t account for my existence, but…

March 19, 2014

Portugal. The Man – A Portland Band?

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By Jef Krohn Photography by Guy Blanchard. Graphic design by Justin Mortzheim Portugal. The Man is arguably one of the greatest bands to have ever come out of Portland. Arguable not because of their sheer magnitude and immense popularity compared to the likes of the Decemberists or the Dandy Warhols, but because I’m not sure they are a Portland band to begin with. In most interviews, they’re quick to place their roots in Alaska. However, there is one overtly defining feature of this band, they are one of the hardest working  in the industry today, having been recording and touring constantly and consistently since 2004. Portugal. The Man’s most recent album Evil Friends has been steadily rising on the charts and is ranked #28 at the time of this article’s writing. Their eccentric-electronic retro-pop sound has even earned them a spot on Taco Bell’s “Nacho Wrap” national advertising campaign. I sat down with Zach Carothers, co-founder of Portugal. The Man, prior to their show at the Crystal Ballroom to discuss their success, the confusion over the band’s hometown, and the challenges involved in making it big in the music industry. There is no arguing the fact that Carothers, and other…

March 18, 2014

Seth Aaron: Running With Scissors

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By Darka Dusty Photos by Miri Stebivka I’m not going to lie. I watch some reality television. This admission would hardly impress most of my friends here in Portland, where it’s way cooler not to own a television than to own one. I even have friends who hide their tellies in their closets, or under batik sarongs when company arrives. But I must admit: I’m a sucker for certain reality shows. Yes, I know. It makes absolutely no sense to watch Top Chef since I’ll never taste the food. It makes no sense to continue to annoy myself by suffering through those copy-cat Adeles, with that now-generic singing style sweeping today’s young contestants of American Idol. It’s ridiculous that I used to watch Bear Grylls eat live, squirmy jungle creatures in Man vs. Wild. But there is one show I’d like to come out of the closet about. It’s the one reality show that has some real authenticity (I know, oxymoron). The emotions are real. The show is not scripted. There are really difficult creative challenges and there is superior talent—that show is Project Runway. The show centers around the world of fashion, which is foreign to me. I can…

March 17, 2014

Thiasus Part 1 of 3: The Descent

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Unreliable narration by Leo Daedalus Illustration by Ezra Butt So here I am, backroom of the Sidetrack, nursing the mother of all freeze-distilled Kumis hangovers with a lukewarm can of Pops Blue Father, the weakest beer modern science can brew. Must be two in the afternoon, or in the morning, or six p.m., or something like that. Vyacheslav Yerofeyev is slumped in the corner on a drift bank of damp sawdust brightened with a few drops of blood. I don’t remember if he’s dead or just sleeping it off. I don’t remember much, but I’ll try to wind it back for you. It started here, what—five days ago, let’s say. Days. Nights. Who knows? Kati and I were peeling back PBFs by the six-pack and drawing diagrams on bar napkins. That’s Kati Pellonpää, the best in the game. She’ll drink the table under the table. You always want a Finn or a Russian on your team. I worked with a Russian once. Things got partisan. Cleanup was a headache. So I stick to my Finns. Six years running, I stick to Kati. So. We’re diagramming our attack plan for the Thiasus, marking up napkins and drinking Pops Blue Father. Drinking?…

March 17, 2014

Grandma’s Girl

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By Viva Las Vegas Above: Bright Bouquet by Jennifer Mercede. Ballpoint pen, arcylic paint on panel. 12 x 36 inch. 2011 I’ve been a performer in these woods for over seventeen years, and I have a reputation to uphold. As Viva Las Vegas, I’m a bonne vivante, an habituée of the darker corners of town, a gal who loves Manhattans and eschews clothing. My rock ’n’ roll persona, Coco Cobra, also eschews clothing, and is even more of a bonne vivante. I don’t think there’s anything that Coco, that mythical creature, hasn’t shot or snorted or smoked. Both of these ladies write, primarily about their debaucherous experiences. But there’s a little known other character, the cat behind the curtain who shall, for this telling, remain nameless. That’d be the real me: the preacher’s daughter who, after performing all-nude at Mary’s Club, then caught the red-eye to Duluth, Minnesota, to sing a capella in my father’s church on Christmas Eve, less than 24 hours later. My parents are true bons vivants. Though they appear to be a Lutheran minister and a Lutheran minister’s wife, the fact is they like to party. My dad’s an expert mixologist, and my mom is his biggest fan. Long…

March 17, 2014

March Music Moderne: An interview with founder Bob Priest

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By Christopher Corbell Photo by Chris Leck Bob Priest is an avant-impresario in hippie-zen clothing, a champion of noise and synesthesia giving his all to keep Portland’s rainy spring soaking in modern sounds. He’s the founder and organizer of March Music Moderne, Portland’s prolific and densely packed contemporary-classical music festival. I met Bob near his downtown abode on a late February night to talk about his background as well as the history and gist of the event. Christopher Corbell: How did the idea of March Music Moderne germinate? Bob Priest: The inspiration came from the Warsaw Festival in 1980, which I was invited to attend by Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, whom I had met earlier. I had never seen anything like it: the variety of music, the global talent that they brought in… CC: Who were some of the artists? BP: Pianist Stanislav Richter was there, and Oleg Kagan—probably the best violinist I’ve ever seen in my life. Yuri Bashmet, the superstar viola player, Heinz Holliger the great Swiss oboist and composer. Alfred Schnittke was there, it was my first exposure to his music. There were so many others, it was just amazing. CC: How did your connection with Lutoslawski…

March 17, 2014

Flagon & Vine: The Punt

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By Mugroso Illustration by Justin Mortzheim For the uninitiated, you may not even know it’s there. The punt is the inverse indentation at the base of a wine bottle. Some people use the punt to assist in pouring wine gracefully from the bottom of the bottle instead of choking the bottle about the neck to pour. Some wines use a punt to give the bottle glass greater structural integrity in avoidance of breakage. But despite being part of the wine bottle structure for hundreds of years, the punt remains a deeply mysterious and controversial innovation in glass. Punt historians (you know who you are) have suggested that the punt was a derivative of the glass-blowing process eons ago. When a glass bottle was blown, the process of handling the soft glass resulted in a spur or scar of glass where it was removed from the blowing instrument. The glassblower indented the scar to prevent the spur from scratching tables or cutting the hands of those handling the bottles. There is some logic in this line of reasoning. However, it is just as often suggested that more talented and experienced glass blowers could have mitigated this imperfection and the indentation by…

March 17, 2014

Saturn’s Picnic

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By Mike Allen Illustration by Pete Soloway The basalt column supporting this parking lot slants backwards, creating a slight fold between itself and the mountain behind it. The column slopes up toward a really breathtaking view of the Columbia. Even in the damp dead of winter, every day in the gorge has its high times. After admiring the view, I put on my pony costume and we all head west on an old road bed descending under a dense canopy of old growth. We follow the road up to the left, away from I-84, and climb a bit before making a quick right onto a path marked simply “Trail,” splash through a muddy brook, and begin to climb in earnest. This kid is heavy. A downed tree crosses the path with a foothold axed into the top. It points straight down a hillside slick with sword fern and Mahonia nervosa, like a chute with no ladder. We climb over and walk a few score more before we encounter another. Then another and another. The deeper we go, the thicker the boles get. I stop trusting my footing with my load—“Thirty-five pounds of the most precious thing I’ve got,” I’ll joke…