Eleven PDX Magazine July 2014 by Eleven PDX

contents

ELEVEN PDX MAGAZINE ISSUE NO. 2

THE USUAL 4 Letter from the Editor 4 Staff Credits

VOLUME 4

FEATURES Local Feature 11 Talkative

Cover Feature 15 The Donkeys

Columns 5 Aural Fix PHOX Little Tybee Clipping.

FILM Watch Me Now 20 Film Editorial: The Strange and Wonderous Violence of Wes Anderson Instant Queue Review

new music 7 Short List 7 Album Reviews White Fence Cloud Boat Shabazz Palaces Landlady

COMMUNITY Literary Arts 23 Portland poet Kelly Schirmann July Literary Events

Neighborhood of the Month 25 NE/SE 28th Avenue

LIVE MUSIC 9 Musicalendar

Visual Arts 26 Portland artist Matthew Hopkins

An encompassing overview of concerts in PDX for the upcoming month. But that’s not all–the Musicalendar is complete with a venue map to help get you around town.

more online at elevenpdx.com

HELLO PORTLAND! We're in the heart of summer, and though winter is coming, we've got a few good months 'til then. So let's be good! If there's one thing I've learned about summertime in Portland, it's that the choices are endless. From sippin' cold craft brews at the best watering holes to thriftin' at the coolest shops [NotM p. 25] to kickin' back on the porch and listening to rad music [Album Reviews pp.7-8], we've got it made in the Cascade. In the spirit of how incredibly much is given to us, by the sheer nature of residing in the valley, let's find a few extra moments to give back! There are countless opportunities in your day to help others, if you just look for and pursue them. Maybe it takes the form of donating one day a month to a Big Sibling program, or volunteering to teach your craft at a local school, or helping clean up a nearby park. Acting selflessly inspires yourself and others. Skip potato mode and make life hot! Do you even need a reason? Âť

- Ryan Dornfeld, Editor in Chief

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EXECUTIVE STAFF EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Dornfeld CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dustin Mills SENIOR STAFF SENIOR WRITER Wendy Worzalla VISUAL ARTS Mercy McNab graphic DESIGN Dustin Mills Alex Combs COPY EDITING Megan Freshley COVER PHOTO Christina McCord

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P.O. Box 16488 Portland, OR. 97292 get involved getinvolved@elevenpdx.com

GENERAL INQUIRIES info@elevenpdx.com ADVERTISING sales@elevenpdx.com online www.elevenpdx.com twitter.com/elevenpdx facebook.com/elevenmagpdx online editor Kim Lawson kim@elevenpdx.com

CONTRIBUTORS Brandy Crowe, Billy Dye, Eric Evans, Gabriel Granach, Veronica Greene, Rachael Haigh, Alisha Kelsey, Scott McHale, Aaron Mills, Kela Parker, Matthew Sweeney, Charles Trowbridge

eleven west media group, llc Ryan Dornfeld Dustin Mills

photographers Justin Cate, Michael Herman, Mercy McNab, Aa Mills, Todd Walberg

SPECIAL THANKS Our local business partners who make this project possible. Our friends, families, associates, lovers, creators and haters.

DISTRIBUTION / PROMO The Redcoats

And of course, our city!

www.elevenpdx.com | ELEVEN PORTLAND | 4

columns

AURAL FIX

UP AND COMING MUSIC FROM THE NATIONAL SCENE

PHOX

Photo by Jade Ehlers

Baraboo, Wisconsin is not what you’d call a cultural mecca. A rural town known primarily for its large press houses, it's the type of place where you have to make your own fun. It’s no surprise, then, that PHOX hails from those wooded hills. They sound as if their sound developed in relative isolation, the product of disparate personalities meshing their tastes and their families’ record collections, irrespective of whatever trends might be developing in Brooklyn or L.A. PHOX’s new track “Slow Motion” is something of a marvel, and a fitting microcosm of the band’s sound in general, which can juxtapose dixieland with folk with heavy rock grooves. It careens from sound to sound, somehow balancing Mumfordy rock-folk elements, whistling, handclap percussion, and hints of ‘70s sitcom themes in harmony with Monica Martin’s breathy yet soulful vocals, which themselves flirt with comparison with everyone from Alison Krauss to Roberta Flack. This description might make it seem like a mess, but what they do sounds effortless, organic, singular, and new.

An opening gig for The Lumineers at 2013’s iTunes Festival reveals the band to be as good live as their music promises, rollicking and passionate and genuine. If your tastes run toward the folkier side of contemporary rock, PHOX are essential listening. » - Eric Evans

Lately it seems that record companies and the media have been fighting extra hard to steal the heart and soul from our music. Then there are bands like this that fight right back, unintimidated by formulaic norms. Their special brand of hallucinogenic folk is full of heart, and their approach is both solid and original. The brainchild of gifted frontman Brock Scott, Little Tybee furnishes an eclectic blend of uber hip, sexy jazz and gently spirited pop. Silky violin and twinkling keys round out the background while staying pleasantly present, and provide a down home familial feel. When bands endeavor to try and create something wholly

LITTLE TYBEE The Handbook For The Recently Deceased asserts that

unique, there can be a tendency to overdo it and extend an air of pretense. This music has a dangerous sense of fierce adventure and unafraid experimentation, but remains low key enough for the average listener to follow along for the journey.

the living tend to ignore the strange and unusual. This

They possess the rare ability to make technically intricate

is definitely strange and unusual, but certainly not to be

music that sounds like they are jamming on a porch on a

ignored. The Atlanta Georgia sextet known as Little Tybee has a sound all their own.

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Sunday, making it up as they go along. » - Aaron Mills

columns

JULY AT

1st

CLIPPING.

It’s Clipping., bitch. What else do you need to know? The group is made up of three associates who together use their respective talents to create their unique niche, a weird realm inside the world of rap and hip-hop. Jonathan Snipes composes music for film, and William Hutson works in noise music. The man in the middle spilling out fragmented lyricism is stage actor Daveed Diggs. The trio completed their first album Midcity entirely DIY and were quickly picked up by Sub Pop, who only minimally mastered this year’s release of CLIPPNG. Both albums are full of scraping imagery, dark places, and seedy situations. Diggs is extremely deft in his speed and poetry, which winds through stories about sex, murder, and déjà vu. Bass breaks down his spoken word narrative, so do collaborations with underground royalty such as Gansta Boo, Guce, and King Tee. There is noise of broken glass and fast spinning reels, and occasionally crashing drums. But there are also whispers, chirping birds, and echoing bells over buzz, such as the quieter “Dream”

Photo by Christopher Cichocki

(although it is thematically attached to the jolting alarm of following track “Get Up”). Clipping.'s style is an array of gritty prose and experimental sounds that are psychotic, but it is orchestrated with a precision that keeps the flow hypnotic. The result is an almost paranormal tale of fight, fetish, and fucked up situations. » - Brandy Crowe

HEY MARSEILLES HIP HATCHET

2nd SHARON VAN AND ETTEN 3rd JANA HUNTER 5th CLIPPING. COPY

8th ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO PETER BUCK FERNANDO

9th SPIRIT LAKE BLUE SKIES FOR BLACK HEARTS YOUNG VIENNA

10th SMALL SKIES

(FORMERLY STEPKID)

QUICK TRACKS A “work work” The chimes, heavy tings, and squirming electronic frequencies certainly light up the sensory areas of your brain on this track. When the bass drops it sounds familiar of early '90s club scenes, but it’s not quite a party atmosphere. Diggs advises “Get it how you live or live till you get it. Get it in.”

B “body and blood” This is more than a song about a bad bitch. It has a hard drum beat, surgical drills, and lyricism that notes tools, cleavers, and drugs. This song is about the girl who holds her own, and is fucking terrifying with her intensity and excess. If your inner sicko needs an additional visual fix of grinding meat, nude models, and torture, check out the video for the song directed by Patrick Kennely.

FOREIGN ORANGE AMENTA ABIOTO

17th LITTLE TYBEE GOOSE & FOX

18th CALLAGHAN 19th WEINLAND

HOOK & ANCHOR PETER RAINBEAU

20th PICKIN' ON SUNDAYS FEATURING

3PM FREE

ROADKILL GHOST CHOIR HOLLOW WOOD MELVILLE

20th AU REVOIR SIMONE

THE LOWER 48

25th BROTHERS AND SISTER 26th MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?

WE MISS THE EARTH 11th PORTLAND CELLO AND PROJECT'S WRAY 12th EXTREME DANCE 27th PICKIN' ON 3PM PARTY SUNDAYS FREE FEATURING 13th PICKIN' ON 3PM THE TUMBLERS SUNDAYS FREE FEATURING

ST. EVEN

BARRY BRUSSEAU

14th WYE OAK

RUN ON SENTENCE

29th JAY BRANNAN TERRA NAOMI

PATTERN IS MOVEMENT

15th RICH ROBINSON (OF THE BLACK CROWES)

PROPHET OMEGA TANGO ALPHA TANGO

happy hour 3-6pm

Download our 830 E BURNSIDE / 503.231.WOOD FREE iPhone App! www.dougfirlounge.com

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All shows 8pm doors/9pm show • 21+ unless noted • box office open ½ hour before doors Serving Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night Covered Smoking Patio, Fireplace Room, Free WIFI

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new music

ALBUM REVIEWS This Month’s best R Reissue

L Local release

Short List NONONO We Are Only What We Feel Braid No Coast Morrissey World Peace Is None Of Your Business Jenny Lewis The Voyager Talkative Hot Fruit Barbeque

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Hypnotic Eye

White Fence To The Recently Found Innocent Drag City Garage rock cannot be stopped. In the past four years, Tim Presley has released five studio albums under the moniker White Fence. In many genres, it seems that the DIY nature of bedroom projects in their early stages give way to over-produced, synth-heavy pop that has no remnants of what made the music so great in the first place. Tim Presley still writes at home, still records songs on a 4-track in his

Mike Stud Closer Manic Street Preachers Futurology La Roux Trouble In Paradise Sia 1000 Forms Of Fear Just Lions Great. Okay.

L Buy it

Steal it

Toss it

Cloud Boat Model Of You Apollo Records

facebook.com/elevenmagpdx @elevenpdx

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From London comes another pleasant sleeper that shouldn’t be overlooked, Cloud Boat’s new album Model Of You. Tom Clarke and Sam Ricketts’s project is gloomy art pop influenced by their teenage interest in post-rock, and perhaps also by modern electronic dance music. Clarke’s warm, soulful voice fascinatingly contrasts

bedroom, and churns out incredible garage psych album after album. For The Recently Found Innocent begins with Presley crooning in the distance over a disjointed guitar lick, slow thumping bass line, and some wacky circuit sounds that would have no place “recently found” if they weren’t disjointed in such an incredibly poignant way. Presley ends the tune repeating the line “This is for the innocent” several times, which ends abruptly before launching into “Anger! Who Keeps You Under?”—a garage banger that requires listening in a busted ass El-Camino with no heater on a 95-degree day. For The Recently Found Innocent boasts fourteen tracks in total, and while many of the songs are quick and to the point, Tim Presley gives himself loads of room in pockets throughout the album. Tim Presley and White Fence offer an intelligent, fun, and fantastic composition here. The album continues Presley’s upward trajectory as one of the prominent figures in garage rock. Fortunately, at the rate White Fence puts out records, we won’t have to wait more than a few months for another. » - Gabriel Granach

with the coldly beautiful keyboard swells, beats, and guitar riffs. The duo were wise to name the album from a line off its most memorable song, “Hallow,” the majestic closer. In the ballad, a heartbroken man bitterly swears he will labor in seclusion to replace his lost lover with an image, a feeling. The song sums up perfectly the despairing tone of the album—and while that tone could stand to relent a little, it is clear that Clarke and Ricketts are indeed very sincere craftsmen. Listening to this album, I can see what These New Puritans’ Field of Reeds ought to have sounded like, if only they had just ditched those showoff and needlessly convoluted arrangements. The album’s repetitive sense of melancholy makes it unlikely to build up too much crossover appeal, but it is a mature work—chilly but not without sensuality or conviction. For their live dates, Cloud Boat remain across the Atlantic, but we should take note. » - Matthew Sweeny

new music

Shabazz Palaces Lese Majesty Sub Pop Halfway through the first track of Lese Majesty, the newest album from experimental hip hop group Shabazz Palaces, you start to wonder where the fuck you are. And for a group that’s made its name by pushing the boundaries of hip hop, that’s a strong statement—and a legitimate question. It’s safe to say that Shabazz Palaces is the Frank Zappa of the hip hop world.

Landlady Upright Behavior Hometapes When blending together a sonic concoction from the likes of TV on the Radio, Dirty Projectors, and Maps & Atlases in the world-renowned (and not completely made up) 'Audio Amalgamator,’ the outcome is really something quite pleasant—a somewhat new band out of New York called Landlady. The band, whose frontman Adam Schatz has played saxophone for

Lese Majesty is unlike any hip hop album out there. It’s a concept album, but plenty of groups have made concept albums. It is a series of “astral suites” (as described by the group itself)—seven suites, to be exact, and each a little more out there than the last. Grasping around for a popular comparison, this album sounds like Outkast on a couple hits of acid and launched on a never-ending space cruise to the outer reaches of the solar system. But, somehow, Shabazz Palaces make it work. Lese Majesty is a refreshing blast of different. The first suite, made up of “Dawn in Luxor,” “Forerunner Foray,” and “They Come in Gold,” eases into the weird. These tracks all have some continuity: an identifiable beat, some lyrical flow, and some semblance of structure. You’ll never hear these tracks in a club, and you definitely won’t hear them on the radio (unless it’s an exceptionally awesome radio station). But by Lese Majesty standards, these are bangers. “Dawn in Luxor” fades in with a drowsy beat, and the vocals drip in and out, conjuring that astral imagery. It segues right into

“Forerunner Foray,” and you hardly notice the difference. From the opening suite, though, shit gets dense. This is not an immediately accessible album. “#CAKE,” part of the suite titled “Pleasure Milieu,” is easily one of the more bizarre hip hop tracks you’d come across, but it’s not even the trippiest of the album—an honor that goes to “Colluding Oligarchs,” a meditation on price-fixing and, well, collusion in the industry. It’d be tempting to give this album a single listen and chalk it up as “too weird” to ever return to. But once that stardusted veneer is cracked a little, there is some legit hip hop to be found here, such as “Motion Sickness,” the second track of the “High Climb to the Gallows” suite, which breaks down to reveal some strong rapping and unexpected visceral lyrics. Lese Majesty is a solid addition to the Shabazz Palaces discography, and it’s certainly going to be interesting to see where they go from here. » - Charles Trowbridge

both Vampire Weekend and Man Man, will release their sophomore album, Upright Behavior, July 15 through Hometapes records. While Upright Behavior lacks certain elements of the Man Man-esque spookiness that drew me to Landlady’s 2012 debut album Keeping To Yourself, the new album introduces a cleaned-up production of Schatz’s striking sense of composition. Lead single and opening track “Above My Ground” begins with the old-timey twinkling of a piano buried in heavy delay, but is quickly washed away by a march of drums and carried straight into a catchy vocal hook that dominates the song. For nearly five minutes, vocals echo and instrumentation builds pressure before a fog of distortion lifts, and the same march of drums that introduced the song brings it to a close. Though the tune is powerful and poppy, it appears that lyrically Schatz is mourning the loss of something for which he once was heedless: “I didn’t know I needed you always then / but I need you always now.” Equally as tenacious of an earworm, “Dying Day” shows just how dynamic

and powerful Landlady can become with two drummers filling out their rhythm section. Starting with a playful and mathy medley of interweaving drum beats and guitar, the song completely shifts directions into the chorus behind a steady growl of bass, swirls of synthesizer, and a commanding vocal melody—only to stop dead quiet before rolling back into the humorous verse. Perhaps a less obvious favorite for some, “Under the Yard,” which, aside from an awkwardly experimental drum click and vocal part in the beginning, has the feel of a tune by the chops of the one and only Randy Newman. This Newmanian influence is most noticeable during the dreamy verse that drifts in at the 1:20 mark, before the final climactic chorus—where for the first time on the track the full band plays together. Landlady’s Upright Behavior might not be a “must have” for everyone’s record collection, but I imagine if it winds up in there it would end up on repeat more than a lot of its competition. » - Travis Leipzig

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live JULY

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crystal ballroom

Roseland Theater 8 nw 6th

Doug fir

830 e burnside 1 Hey Marseilles | Hip Hatchet

2-3 Sharon Van Etten | Jana Hunter

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mississippi studios 3939 n mississippi

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live wonder ballroom 128 ne russell

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holocene

1001 se morrison

rontoms

600 e burnside

eastburn

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Dinner and Live Bluegrass (Thursdays) DJ Ujjayi-Ujjayi Sound System DJ Jesse Espinoza | Alden Harris McCoy Trio Eric John Kaiser DJ Rhienna | Jameson Wandeling DJ Easter Egg Eric John Kaiser Kingston Club | DJ Green Mango DJ Kenny | JC & The Water Walkers DJ Gregarious | Unsafe Dartz! Hot Club Time Machine Kory Quinn

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9 kelly’s olympian 426 sw washington 10

bossanova ballroom 722 E Burnside

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features JULY

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the know 12 2026 NE Alberta 9 10 11 12 13 16 17 18 19 20 21 24 25

LOCAL FEATURE ELEVEN: How did your paths cross and come to form Talkative?

Photo by Mercy McNab

Casunn: We don’t know—we’re scared. Cody: The closet we practice in

knock back 13 the 2315 ne alberta THE SECRET SOCIETY 14 116 NE RUSSELL 5 11 18 19 25 26

Cody Berger: Me and Casunn used to play music back in high school, out in Hillsboro. Then when we were both in college, we started playing tunes again. I used to play music with Chad 1 [Davis]—he was in a band called Blast Majesty and we were kind of friends through that. I don’t actually know when Chad 1 joined the band—it just kind of happened randomly in Portland at some point. Me and Casunn knew each other first, so it was just us two for about 2½ years before everybody else joined.

white eagle 15 836 n russell 6 8 9 10 11 12 16 17 18 19 23 24 25 26 27 29 30 31

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11: How have the line-up changes impacted your sound over the years? Casunn: It gets heavier every time. 11: What happens if you add a fifth member?

wouldn’t be big enough for a fifth member. We’d have to take five cars to shows at that point. Chad Davis: I think we’ll build a fifth member—videotape a bunch of people’s faces and make a VHS. Then put a little TV on a body and then put audio on the VHS, and every now and then put the mike up to the TV. I’ve been considering that. That’s our potential fifth member. Cody: Chad 3 11: Chad-3PO Cody: Chad 3000 11: You got your start in Eugene. How does Eugene’s music scene compare to Portland’s? Cody: When we were there, it was a lot more thriving than it is now. We’ve since gone back to play a few shows, and it’s just really tough to find a single band in Eugene that’s even doing anything at this point.

features

Casunn: Let alone people who go to shows—people go there to go to college, and then they leave.

SLABTOWN

1033 NW 16TH

alhambra theatre 4118 se hawthorne

Cody: I miss how cheap it was to live.

Cody: We lived in this giant flat that we called The Grindhouse, and we could have band practice there late into the night. We threw shows there every once in a while. I pretty much just miss The Grindhouse— super cheap rent, and it was just really awesome to live there. Chad Heile: But there aren’t any jobs, so you can’t really live in Eugene and do the same thing that you can up here. I mean—you could, but it’s tough. Casunn: How does it compare? There’s not much to compare. It’s all. . . everything in it is so small. It’s just sort of always a really personal thing—which is cool and fun, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a scene. In Portland there are actually people who are congregating on a regular basis for more than a year just doing their thing.

hawthorne theatre Photo by Todd Walberg

our styles, once we found them, are pretty much the same. Around us things have changed—mostly heavier. Nothing really ever takes a big lead the whole time, so when you just add sound to it, it’s bigger— there’s more body. Cody: I think it started with just a

MOLOKO

drony. When it was just me and Casunn it

Taste the nightlife of Mississippi. Over 40 house infused liquors. Specialty absinth cocktails. Open until 2am every day.

was a noise band. We would play peoples’ acid-tripping parties and stuff like that. Then I think when we added a bass player it became a lot more rock’n’roll, but over the years we haven’t really changed our minds on being a noise band, so we put little sprinkles of that in there. There’s always some noise in there. I think that’s how it gets heavier—there’s more distortion, and we got really shoegazy for a minute there. 11: What about the visual effects? Cody: Our old bass player, Ali, projectionist. He did some cool stuff, and we had a bunch of experimental stuff where we hooked up all the amps to it and ran video through it so everything would feed through. Since he left the band, I

Casunn: Every person that’s come into the band has had their own sort of specialty, so when they leave that specialty is also gone. Cody and I have been in the band the longest, so I think

think we have been working on our visuals. They’ve gone from kaleidoscopic things to accented real life—alternate reality is kind of where we are going with the visuals now.

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bunch of keyboards, and it was really

originally joined just to be the 11: How have your live shows progressed or changed over the years between the line-up changes and moving toward a heavier sound?

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Chad 1: I thought you were going to say Pizza Research.

Chad 1: I miss my family.

Chad 1: We’d always just play heavy parties that were crazy. Now we’re too old and we don’t get invited to those parties. Maybe there’s something cool happening.

Cody: I thought I missed it, but they moved it to that new location. I don’t even want to try—doesn’t even look good anymore.

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N PORTLAND 3967 N Mississippi (97227) 503.288.6272 molokopdx.com

19 ALADDIN THEATER 3017 SE MILWAUKIE 20 VALENTINES

232 SW ANKENY

Strange Days: A Tribute to the Doors 2014 Full Draw Film Tour

EAST END

203 SE GRAND

DJ 60/40 East End Block Party (10 bands +DJ Dennis Dread) Usnea | Lycus | Hungers | Satyress

the goodfoot 2845 SE STARK

18 26

1 4 9

Sonic Forum Open Mic Night (Mondays) Asher Fuller Band (Tuesdays) Shafty: Phish Tribute Band (Wednesdays) Soul Stew w/ DJ Aquaman (Fridays) Dirty Revival Love Affair w/ Sex Life DJs | Rev. Shines McTuff Pre NWSS Party w/ Big E & The Stomp | Left Coast Country Turkuaz Funk N' Roses Jujuba Garcia Birthday Band

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features JULY

owl social club 23 white 1305 se 8th 4 Thai Celebration w/ DJ Ronin Roc | Bangkok Boy Collective

theater 24 star 13 nw 6th

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street saloon 25 ash 225 sw ash 1 2 3 5 6 8 9 10 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 24 26 28 30 31

Photo by Todd Walberg

Casunn: I want to do more lights rather than projections. I have always imagined a set with a bunch of desk lamps and weird one-off lights, like things that just light up because it was a toy you got at McDonald’s—a whole bunch of those things everywhere would be really cool. I used to have these ice cubes that blinked on and off—they had a blue LED and you could put them in drinks and stuff. Those would be really sweet at shows, because it would just be like all these little bits of light.

THE FIRKIN TAVERN Located on the west side of Ladd’s, the Firkin Tavern features an astounding selection of craft beers to enjoy inside or on our patio. Art enthusiasts will enjoy a variety of local artwork on display and sold comission-free! SE LADD'S 1937 SE 11th Ave (97214) 503.206.7552 | thefirkintavern.com

26 ROTTURE/BRANX 315 SE 3rd

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LOUNGE 27 TONIC 3100 NE SANDY 3 6 7 10 11 12 13 17 19 21 26

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Cody: We’ve got some set pieces coming, too, but we’re not going to talk about it. It’s coming. Chad 1: There’s a secret prop that will be unveiled June 29th. It’s being constructed right now. If we can fit it in the building, we’ll use it. . . as long as the fire marshal doesn’t have anything against it. Human rights activists have already been emailing us. I don’t know—I think it’s going to work out.

Casunn: Yes, also for some reason everything up until now sort of feels like a demo—which is kind of why it feels like it's four years in the making. I don't know if all of the songs are four years old—some of them are pretty old. A hot fruit BBQ was originally a party we had planned. We would make dancy drony loop music and have a whole bunch of BBQ set up. We’d ask everyone to bring their own ice cream and then we’d grill up fruit for them while we played music. We thought it would just be really fun. I don’t know that Hot Fruit BBQ is slapped on there because there was a specific theme or motif of the hot fruit BBQ, but it was definitely a celebration. It only worked out all too well that we could do an outside set at Rontoms at the end of June when it’s heating up.

11: Four years in the making, what have been the trials and tribulations of Hot Fruit BBQ? Chad 1: Paying the rent. Photo by Todd Walberg

be frustrated for whatever reason and the guy you’re working with is like, “It’s cool.” Chad 1: And he likes when you do weird stuff—he likes getting weird. He’s a weird guy in a very good way. Cody: Very prompt at bringing water into the room. I was never thirsty at the Odditorium.

Photos by Mercy McNab

Chad 2: The whole album definitely sounds like a celebration. Four years in the making for me is definitely nailing those sounds down. Everything we’ve recorded so far is just home recordings and this is the first time we got to go to a studio. Hearing everything come back and be full spectrum in-your-face-loud, we had a lot of room to work with that. Finally, it just kind of came to fruition.

Casunn: It was fun! It was a really good time. It’s got a cool vibe, and there are a lot of fun and creative people running around. It’s a cool place to hang out at—really secluded. It was nice to be able to pump thirteen or fourteen hours in a day—just go at it and break for lunch and dinner and that’s it. 11: Talkative quietly released Hot Fruit BBQ in May to those who preordered the album—what’s the response been like so far? Casunn: Positive.

Casunn: Hot Fruition BBQ 11: How was recording at Odditorium with Jeff Bond? Chad 1: Jeff rules. Jeff is an angel. Cody: Me and Casunn have known Jeff since we were like sixteen. I think our old band in high school—that was the first band he ever recorded. We’ve been in contact with him ever since, and he really wanted to work with us. He’s really quick and he knows what he’s doing—the dude rules. Casunn: Very encouraging. He’ll let you go off on tangents and pretty much do exactly whatever you want. There was definitely some times where we [the band] had no idea what was going on, and he never got frustrated. That kind of stuff was really helpful—when you may

Cody: Yeah, I get a text or an email every once in a while, and people have been finding individual tracks that they really like—that’s kind of the response I’m getting. I think at first everybody was like, “This album rules!” Then slowly people started saying they like this one song or this one part. I can imagine how it might be a lot to take in all at once. Casunn: Probably mostly a lot for us. Chad 1: It’s a busy album. There are a lot of sounds happening at the same time— very fast. It will take quite a few listens before you find your bearings. Every time you listen to it, you’ll hear something you didn’t hear before. »

Talkative plays live this month July 25 at The East Portland Eagles Lodge for the Rigsketball show

features JULY dantes

350 w burnside

FIRKIN TAVERN 1937 SE 11TH

Coloring Electric Like The Tamed West | Psychomagic Sam Densmore Sam Densmore Chanterelles

the waypost 2120 n williams

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HOLLYWOOD THEATRE A not-for-profit organization whose mission is to entertain, inspire, educate and connect the community through the art of film while preserving an historic Portland landmark. NE HOLLYWOOD 4122 NE Sandy Blvd (97212) 503.493.1128 | hollywoodtheatre.org

Laurelthirst pub 2958 ne glisan

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Photo by Christina McCord

t’s hard to make an album. Even when it’s easy, it’s still hard. When The Donkeys started work on their newest album, Ride The Black Wave, back in 2012, no one had any idea that album wasn’t going to see the light of day until 2014. That’s two years. Two years of sitting on a record that they knew kicked serious ass. You want to talk about hard? Try pouring yourself into a project, finishing the project, and then being forced to kick back and wait for the stars to align or the moon to pass through Jupiter or whatever the fuck. Fortunately, The Donkeys are a pretty chill group of extremely talented dudes, and even though the wait was hellacious, they came out the other side for the better. The California quartet has seen its share of success, taking home “Best Rock Album” in 2011 from the San Diego Music Awards for Born With Stripes, and following that up with a “Best Rock Band” award in 2012. They’ve been touted on NPR. They’ve been featured alongside the Dum Dum Girls and shared a stage with Cass McCombs. Suffice it to say, they’ve followed the 'how to make it as a band' blueprint fairly closely. Of course you have to be on top of your shit musically as well, and these guys have that down. On a given song, you’re bound to hear a cluster of genres bent and twisted to fit seamlessly together; The Donkeys ELEVEN: How are you guys doing? You said you were rolling up to a show? Anthony Luken: We’re stylin’ man! We were just talking about our show last night, and how we had a stage diver, and how that was super sweet. So yeah, vibes are high. 11: So how’d you deal with that—the stage diver? AL: It was nice; he waited and made sure people were ready for him. It was very polite stage diving. It was at the very end of the last song—it was like an encore, actually. It was pretty exciting. 11: I’ve had a chance to listen to the new record a couple times—really digging it. What’s the feedback been like so far for it? AL: So far it’s been really positive. It’s been really exciting— everyone’s been super stoked on it. It’s good—so far it’s been great. And it’s been good for us, too. We’re just so excited to be able to finally share it, because we’ve had it under wraps for like—I mean, we haven’t let anyone hear it . . . It’s been under wraps for like 15 months or something. We recorded it like two years ago. 11: Oh wow, so what’s with the time lag?

features national scene can write a damn song. They’ve got a unique blend of laid-back surfer vibes, some garage fuzz, some indie pop, and some Eastern influences. You might also pick up on some tinges of country western here and there as well. The ability to constantly shift musical gears is an enviable talent. It doesn’t happen overnight, obviously, and over the course of our interview, band member Anthony Luken pointed out that the development of their always-burgeoning sound was both difficult and rewarding. The Donkeys approach music with an eye toward constant collaboration and improvement, and spreading all that around four people is a challenge. Fortunately, they’ve managed to keep it working. From the roots of the self-titled debut—a strong, defining record—it’s been a bit of a journey, both as musicians and as people. It’s clear they know who they are and what they want as a band, and if Ride The Black Wave is any indication, what they want is to rock some of the most unique and best music coming out today. Flying down the freeway toward Escondido, Anthony took a few minutes to give Eleven the rundown on how they deal with stage divers, super tall mic stands, and why George Harrison was a poser.

time it up with the summer, but to get that general feel? Stylistically, how did you end up where you did with Ride The Black Wave? AL: Consciously, I think there was kind of something. . . We originally recorded these tracks was in the summer two years ago. We definitely had beach themes and ocean themes and water themes we were working with lyrically. Stylistically, I think it just kind of fell into place, you know? Like, we have a song called “The Bahamas” and “Ride The Black Wave,” and I think that kind of pushed out the theme of “ocean.” And also just knowing that, and riding with that. No pun intended. 11: Are you guys all from California? AL: Pretty much. Jesse’s the only one that was born in California. Tim and I were both born in Michigan, and we moved to California really young. Dan I think moved to California when he was five. So we all kind of grew up here, and, you know, in the ‘burbs—the Orange County suburbs. We all grew up going to the beach on the weekends, and we all grew up with the same radio stations as kids, so we all listened to the same oldies station and just kind of that California sprawl. So we share that in our DNA.

AL: We just didn’t really know who was going to put it out. There was some of that, and we’ve just kind of been hiding it, you know? We’re just stoked that it’s here, and it’s good that it’s here in the summertime—it feels like it’s appropriate, and we’re just stoked.

11: Yeah, you can kind of hear, on some of your songs, that oldies influence. I was thinking about it, listening to some of your music—not to go too overboard here, but some of it reminded me of The Beatles a little bit: you have those distorted vocals, you have the Eastern ragas, and you just have stuff that, sonically, is a little bit different than what you typically hear coming out today.

11: Yeah, it feels like a pretty laid-back, summertime album. Is that something you guys did on purpose? Not to necessarily

AL: Oh, yeah, we all love—I mean, who doesn’t—we all love The Beatles. We all go through periods of Beatles obsession. But [about]

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features national scene the Eastern stuff, the thing that’s so cool is that Jesse is actually Indian. He grew up not only listening to KS101 like the rest of us, but with his parents and the ragas all the time. So he’s got like an actual Indian genome in him musically—that’s part of his DNA. So when he got his first sitar, we were all so obsessed. Of course, we would all listen to the Beatles and smoke weed and try to get sounds off the sitar. And as he got better and better at it, good enough so we could all jam together, that was kind of the secret weapon— something that would be unique to us. It was this kind of “East meets West” kind of thing. And kind of worked because, you know, the Beatles made that a thing, so it kind of brought it back to this West Coast-hippie-surfing kind of thing. It kind of felt like this cool surf thing. I mean, I don't know, there’s sort of a Beatles thing, but just because they did it, too. The thing that makes it kind of cool is that we actually have an Indian playing sitar as opposed to a white guy wishing he was Indian. George Harrison, RIP. No disrespect, George. We’re actually in his old stomping grounds in Escondido right now. I mean, Sam is a major record hoarder, and there’s just constantly music that we’re shuffling through, garage ‘45s. I mean, we all love that garage, dirty fuzz rock. We love music.

have definitely grown musically. It seems like your sound has opened up quite a bit—from the record you put out in ’06 to Ride The Black Wave– it’s kind of cool to listen to that stuff and hear all the different directions you guys are capable of going in. Has your writing/composing process changed over the years? Is it a democratic process, or how do you guys go about that? AL: Well, I don’t think our process has changed much since we’ve been doing it, but it’s probably the same thing as far as like riffing off everybody’s ideas, and kind of trying to take a riff or something that someone brings and constantly try to improve it and make it better. But yeah, it is a really democratic process—which is really challenging, but it’s awesome because, I mean, I could never make a record on my own that sounds like Ride The Black Wave; it’s everybody’s effort together. Everybody’s got their own talents and shines in a different way, and that’s kind of my favorite part—even though it can be really challenging, because sometimes there’s just so much material that it’s hard to figure out how to present something. With this last record coming out after two years, it was tough because we had all these garage-y riffs and didn’t know how it was all going to fit. But yeah, the writing’s the same; the process is the same. But I would agree, listening to the old stuff —I haven’t actually listened

"It was an experience that I’d have to describe as loving every second of it."

11: I guess you’re probably in the right business. So it seems like, from listening to some of your older stuff, that you guys

ALL SHOWS ARE $5 AND START AT 9PM UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE: 7.1: DJ FLIGHT RISK FREE 7.18: SDM 7.3: FAULT LINES YEARS YUKON GOLD (CA) 7.19: WIZARD BOOTS WE ARE TRAITORS (CA) 7.23: A HAPPY DEATH 7.4: LIPPOPBOOKING CADAVER DOGS PRESENTS 7.24: ROWYCO 7.5: DEER LODGE PAY WHAT U CAN SURROGATE SUR HAPPY HOUR SHOW BROKEN ARROWS 7.11: SPIRIT LAKE 7.25: LIL ASS BOOM 7.12: SAMA DAMS BOX FESTIVAL SUNDAYS: EARLY EARLY 4PM FREE ADAM BROCK 4 COMEDY OPEN MIC BOYS BEACH MONDAYS: BUNKER SESSIONS 8PM FREE 7.13: PHOENIX VARIETY OPEN MIC REVUE 8PM $10 7.15: THE CHARLIE DARWINS MONDAYS: EYE CANDY VJʼS 9PM FREE IN THE BAR BLISS OBSCURED BY THE SUN THE NEW JANGLIES

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features national scene to the oldest record in a while—but I can just remember how challenging certain things were, musically, that are so much easier now because we’ve just dedicated so much time to it. 11: So then for Ride The Black Wave, what was the hardest part? You said it can be challenging, and that makes total sense. But for this record, you said you guys made it and then had to sit on it for a while—which, I’m sure, was shitty. So aside from having to wait, what was the hardest part about putting it together? AL: Definitely the hardest part was waiting on it. There was a lot of confusion and a lot of grief, just sitting around and knowing we had this rad record and not knowing what was going to happen. That was really challenging. And you know, kind of heartbreaking, too, to know that you put in so much work on something and we weren’t really sure what was going to happen. So it was tough. So it makes it extra exciting to know it came out, and we have so much support. I think the actual recording of it was a breeze, and it was so much fun. It was the first time we really recorded in a fancy place— it was a beautiful studio. The recording itself was so fun; I just really didn’t want it to be over. It was a real treat, a real pleasure to do. So fun. All the challenges were mostly administrative—figuring out how it was going to work, and making the costs work. It was awesome—our booking agent was kind of our pseudo-manager and a real cheerleader to just keep going. He kept us motivated to keep working, keep making it happen. 11: You said this was the first time you guys were able to record in a “fancy studio?” AL: I mean, we’ve probably dabbled—had little moments here and there in a fancy place that we never would have been able to afford off the street. All the wood, all the ridiculous gear, the mic stands that were like 20 feet tall. . . The most impressive part was how tall the mic stands were. I’ve never seen mic stands so tall [laughs]. 11: So you get in there, and all of a sudden you have access to some different equipment, maybe some different speakers, just a different space than you might normally be used to. I was wondering if maybe you went in there with your songs, and then you heard some new sounds that came out and we’re like, “Oh, well, let’s try this,” or something? AL: Oh, totally. It was like being in a toy shop, absolutely. We were just giddy. I mean, I was, like, giggling the whole time. It was amazing. It was a lot of fun. And, yeah, we also had access to really, really talented people that all worked at that place. It was an experience that I’d have to describe as loving every second of it. We would hang out there in the evening an rehearse there—it was the kind of room where you could just open up the door and people would say, “Wow.” Just hanging out in there with all our gear, jamming, drinking beer in there—it wasn’t even like we had to be in there by nine and out by five.

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features national scene 11: You mentioned before that you guys are into those garage ‘45s. Do you guys spend a lot of time combing through record stores anymore looking for obscure stuff that you might be able to goose the sound a little bit with? Do you consider yourselves record-store junkies? AL: Oh, yeah, always. We already know we’re going to go to Mississippi Records when we’re up in Portland because it’s near your venue there. Every town—we go to them everywhere. For better or worse, we spend a shit-ton of money on records. 11: You guys are getting ready for your tour. What are you looking forward to most? Any specific locations that you’re pretty pumped about? AL: Oh yeah, I mean, I’m super pumped about our show with you guys—that’s going to be super rad. Portland used to be. . . we had a rough couple of times at first, going to Portland. But then we started to make more friends, and as we’ve gone more around there, it’s been better and better every time. We always love being in New York because the food’s so good and we have a lot of friends there. It’s always fun. Louisana’s always fun—just all the friends we’ve made on the road. It’s really fun to be able to go back and see them, especially when it feels like you’re doing something cool— and share this record with a lot of people I haven’t gotten to see in a while, you know? 11: I gotta ask—what was so rough about the first couple trips to Portland? AL: [Laughs] I don’t know, it just never felt like we were in the right room at the right time, or something. My first memories of there were of it being cold and gray. We would happen to be playing at the one club that nobody wanted to be at, or the one bar that would seem like on most other nights there’d be at least ten people there. We would just happen to clear out a room the minute we walked in. I’m trying to remember when the turning point was. I think I was playing a show with The Paper Cuts and then all of a sudden we just started making friends, and then now it feels like we have family there. And you guys have all this good food and stuff. Yeah. It’s rad. 11: Sounds like you’ve gotten your legs under you up there. We’re pumped. It’s going to be a great show. So, real quick, off the top of your head, what are your favorite songs on this new album— the ones you just had the most fun doing? AL: Um, that’s a tough one. That’s a good one. Mine might be “The Manx.” [Asks around]: T, what’s your favorite song off the new album? “Scissors.” T’s is “Scissors.” [Ed note: “Scissor Me Cigs”] Jesse, what’s your favorite song off the new album? “Bahamas,” from Jesse. Sam, what’s your favorite song on the album? Oh, he says “Ride the Black Wave.” Four different answers, I like that. »

The Donkeys play live in Portland July 24 at Mississippi Studios 19 | ELEVEN PORTLAND | www.elevenpdx.com

film

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FILM AND TELEVISION

FILM EDITORIAL

THE STRANGE AND WONDEROUS VIOLENCE OF WES ANDERSON written by Scot Olsen

along with the aforementioned fingers being lopped off. All of it punctuates what seems like a darling film about young love, pastries, a pink hotel, and the virtues of loyalty; the violence is used as a grounding device to reel the audience back into the pre-war context it inhabits. It’s the exact opposite of what we get in the vast majority of serious filmmaking, wherein the

wee" is the adjective most commonly associated with director Wes Anderson's output, and there is of course a thread of preciousness in the majority of his work. Many words

have been spilled about his iconic aesthetic (90º turns, diorama-like sets, use of Futura, etc.), but little about his use of violence to balance out the sometimes saccharine milieu of his films. Anderson’s world is surprisingly violent in a way that harkens back to fables and fairytales, where the negligible stakes of his characters are raised by the savage reality they seem to inhabit. While watching Anderson's latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, there is a scene in which the lawyer (played by the always affable Jeff Goldblum) has his fingers amputated rather unceremoniously by Willem Defoe's henchman, Jopling. It took me by surprise due to the suspense of the scene, a Hitchcock-ian thing that hitherto I had not seen Anderson attempt. However, it was not the type of thing I felt like I was used to seeing in his works, though I found that the director has, in fact, a history of violence. The Grand Budapest Hotel is certainly host to some of the most explicit violence in Anderson's oeuvre: a room full of guards being slaughtered and several off-screen executions,

director saddles the audience with a gritty, sullen atmosphere and storyline, sprinkling the runtime with just enough hopes and dreams to keep us afloat. In almost all of Anderson's films, a startling moment of violence occurs. Moonrise Kingdom offered a pair of grim moments of all-too-real violence in the form of a stabbing involving left-handed scissors and man's best friend getting pierced with an arrow. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou has a woman maimed by a machete during a pirate attack. The Royal Tenenbaums seems to have some of the most horrific off-screen violence: a mother killed in a plane crash wherein only a dog survives (only to later be crushed to death by a car), the amputation of a half a finger at the hands of an estranged parent, and father-on-son gun violence—though the firearm in question is a lowly air rifle. To what end is all this violence shown in what otherwise amounts to films full of minute visual details, charming music, childlike illustrations, and a sense of whimsy unmatched by its peers? The aforementioned balancing of these traits with surprisingly grisly violence certainly might explain Wes Anderson's choice to include it. However, I think the answer goes deeper into the themes he explores with both narrative and character. Other than the accusations of being overly twee, Anderson's films are often noted for their inclusion of a man-child as a character (or in the case of The Darjeeling Limited, all three

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film

main characters along with their deceased/absent father). This trope is economical, as it offers us the notion of stunted emotional growth along with a host of other psychological issues. Anderson explores these themes throughout his canon, often centering his stories on the pursuit of adulthood by overcoming the emotional roadblocks constructed by eccentric childhoods, both by the world they were born into and the idiosyncratic parents that reared them. The violence, then, seems to occupy the same space that it does in the tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Aesop, and the Greek myth-makers: offer brutal consequences to an otherwise civilized world. The wolf is perpetually at the door, ready to set teeth to naive flesh should you stray from your journey to (belated) adulthood. For example, Pagoda’s stabbings bookend Royal’s life in Tenenbaums—one in the exotic, unseen streets of Calcutta, the other thirty years later in a banal, domesticated New York, all brownstones and elegant lobbies. There’s a transference of responsibility back to Gene Hackman’s character, a responsibility seemingly left in that bazaar in India. And so it goes throughout his films, as characters are seemingly baptized by the violence around them—a kind of catalyst to the change that needs to take hold in their lives lest they never emerge from their adolescence. After a gun battle in which his nemesis is critically wounded, Zissou lets go of his revenge fantasy and emerges into a more measured way of life. Mr. Fox domesticates and embraces the actual notion of family after enduring multiple attempts on his life, along with the near-annihilation he foisted upon his whole community with his actions. The children of Moonrise Kingdom sprint past the aborted adulthoods of their parents and teachers, as they’ve weathered lightning strikes, dead dogs, pierced ears, and the wars we wage as kids, coming out the other side enlightened by the harsh realities engendered by such violence. Anderson’s films are not nearly as violent as your average blockbuster, or even other art house films—not by a mile. However, they utilize the violence they do have, whether on-screen or off, by juxtaposing it against the idyllic, mistyeyed nostalgia of their inhabitants. All those whimsical and yes, twee, sensibilities would be aesthetic masturbations of the worst kind if there wasn’t any weight to the world. Unlike his imitators, Wes Anderson’s films resonate deeply instead of simply drifting away into the sky, unexceptional and unremembered. The stories of our childhood showed us the violence of the world, and that the path to adulthood is often times savage and capricious; Anderson reminds us that the world is still feral, no matter how much we think we’ve tamed it. »

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film

Instant Queue Review Many thanks to my guest writer this issue, Scot Olsen! I—like many of you I’m sure—am a big Wes Anderson fan. This month I dived into Netflix to see what other auteurs I could uncover. » - Rachael Haigh

PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS

(SHOHEI IMAMURA, 1962)

Wes Anderson stated that this is one of his favorite films, and Imamura’s dazzling style and sense of absurdity has clearly influenced Anderson. A set of three films, it follows a young couple navigating post-war Japan—thwarting corruption and navigating an unsure future.

PERMANENT VACATION

(JIM JARMUSCH, 1980)

The forever-cool, single-minded mystique of Jim Jarmusch has made for one of the most iconic art house/independent films of the past twentyodd years. Permanent Vacation is his first major release, wherein a young slacker traverses New York City trying to find some meaning to his existence. Jarmusch and I also share a birthday!

LIFE DURING WARTIME

(TODD SOLONDZ, 2009)

The inimitable Todd Solondz has taken psychosexual domestic absurdity to new cinematic heights for decades. A kind of sequel to his 1998 film Happiness, Life During Wartime depicts a family grappling with past and present demons with the wry, confrontational wit only Solondz can deliver.

making waves at Portland State since 1994

KPSU

Portland’s College Radio broadcasting 24/7 at kpsu.org

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community literary arts

Photo by Mercy McNab

LITERARY ARTS Portland poet Kelly Schirmann

met Kelly as she opened the doors of ADX, a community workshop for woodworkers, metal fabricators, and artists. She helps coordinate the Bad Blood poetry reading series there, which has become a can’t-miss event for the local poetry community. We were lucky to hold the interview before the buzz of the shop’s machinery filled the room. Kelly is a prolific writer, and has published several chapbooks (small-sized books of poetry). She’s also a musician who sings in the band Young Family, a long distance collaboration similar to the Postal Service albums. Black Cake Records is her most unique project, a web label for spoken word poetry by some of the most talented contemporary poets. ELEVEN: What do you think of the current lit scene in Portland? Kelly Schirmann: Well last night I went to LitHop, which was a whole community going out to bars, listening to poetry, listening to all kinds of writing. It’s amazing that that can happen here. . . there’s definitely a special thing going on with the writing community right now—writers are making and sharing their work and publishing it. And most people seem really welcoming and inclusive. To me, it seems like that effort is encouraged, which makes me very happy to see and also makes it easier to participate in, and want to keep putting your work out there. 11: Even so, some aspiring writers might be afraid to start reading their work in that kind of environment. What got you started, and where was your first reading?

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KS: Well I’ve always written poetry, and took a poetry writing workshop in college, but never considered it a serious thing that I would spend my life pursuing. I just wasn’t ready to say “I’m a poet” or “I’m a writer.” But when I started the program, I had had some things published already—some internet journals and stuff like that. I had my first reading at the IPRC as a part of our final presentations. I had written a chapbook called What I Can Prove and read a bunch of poems from that. One of the best things to come out of that was that I met my writing partner and really good friend Tyler Brewington. We still work together and have a fulllength collaboration coming out with Poor Claudia this fall called Nature Machine. 11: How would you describe your poetry? KS: [laughs]. That’s the hardest thing to do, but an interesting question. . . I like poems that are accessible. I want people to say the big things, but I want them to say it in a way that feels real and doesn’t feel clouded. And obviously there’s an art to making things subtle, or in shrouding it a little bit with language. That’s what’s fun about poetry. The ones that really do it for me are the ones that communicate clearly and let that sentiment speak for itself. So I want to do that. But, like music, we read things because we want to experience what that medium is trying to communicate. So hopefully my poems are just imprints of how I’m feeling—and I’m not really concerned with narrative so much, but just transmitting that feeling. 11: Well that does comes across in Activity Book. The poems seem very personal, yet accessible. Can you tell me about that? KS: I wrote that over a period of a few weeks, and I was really interested in the idea of writing in the second person, and writing something accessible which felt like instructions to myself. I was almost doing it as an exercise, and really love the way they turned out, and really loved their brevity. . . kind of an exercise in cutting out the extra. I kind of just wanted to pare it down and to get down to these base ideas that I believed in. I think that the length of the poems has contributed to its ability to travel easily. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from it, and I believe that it’s because they’re just kind of bite-size—but also heavy, I hope. 11: That book is online, just like your project Black Cake Records. It’s a really novel idea—making poetry available for people who usually wouldn’t pick up a book of poetry. And I’ve heard that you’ve recently had one of the members of Typhoon record with one of the poets? KS: Yeah! Black Cake is a project I started because I think there is an interesting disconnect, or a difference, between reading a poem on the page and hearing it read aloud. And if I could include video I would, because seeing someone perform is a huge part of who they are as an artist. So I started Black Cake Records to allow people to listen to poems as they were walking or riding their bike to work or driving. . . and selfishly because I love listening to poems and wanted to have those available. I’m hoping that kind of morphs into whatever the artists want it to be. I really don’t have any guidelines for the recordings. And that’s exactly what happened with our most recent release. It’s a chapbook by Amy Lawless, who’s a Brooklyn poet and is really amazing. And the one you were referring to is by Zack Schomburg, who is a local poet who has

community literary arts a book forthcoming called The Book Of Joshua. He read a large segment of that book, calling it Blood [blackcake.org/album/blood], with his friend Kyle Morton from Typhoon playing the guitar along. If you haven’t listened to it, I recommend it. It’s really beautiful and exactly what I wanted for the project—to see people experimenting with sound and spoken word forms. Because to me, there’s not really a big difference between poetry and music. Poetry is just the way that it’s transmitted. That’s really exciting, and we have some exciting things planned for Black Cake in the future. 11: So you also sing. Is this a side project, or something more? Tell us about Young Family. KS: I’ve been singing and recording songs since I was eighteen or nineteen. I’ve been recording them under the name Headband, and they’re all corralled on my website. The way that Young Family happened is that I had been admiring the work of Sam Pink, who’s my band-mate now. He’s a great writer from Chicago. I emailed him to tell him how much I liked his work, and he knew that I had recorded some things and liked my voice, so he suggested that we should collaborate sometime. Basically he said “I made some beats, would you sing over them?” So I did about four songs, and I think we were both surprised by how well it turned out. That became our first EP. It was called You Ruined It—which is kind of a joke about long-distance collaborations [laughs]. That came out as a cassette from Dazzleships Records, and we finished our second EP, King Cobra, maybe a year later, which is seven songs and just came out also as a cassette from Spork Press. Most of the things I do is because I like to do them. I don’t really have an interest in becoming a professional musician. It’s definitely an outlet that I feel is necessary in my life, and I feel better when I’m singing or writing or making art. So I’ll continue to do that, and I hope to have more Young Family projects in the future. Now I’m working on a covers album of Zack Schomburg’s Fjords poems. I took them as text and am translating them into music and will be performing that live soon. 11: What is Boyfriend Mountain? KS: That’s the title of the manuscript that Tyler [Brewington] and I are working on now. It will be full length and split between us. I’m really excited about it. Nature Machine was pretty small, and we’ve evolved separately a lot since then. He’s still a writer I admire so much, and I’m proud to be working on it with him. That will be coming out later this fall/winter. 11: Unfortunately we’re going to be losing you for a few years. You’re pursuing a graduate degree in Poetry, but will you still be involved with the scene here?

KS: I feel like this is definitely, far and away, my community, and has been incredibly supportive. I was offered a two-year degree, and it’s something that I just couldn’t turn down. So I’m looking at it as heading out to Tucson and taking a couple years to work on my art, but I’ll definitely be back. This is my home. I’ll continue with the things that I established here and continue to work with that community, and return a little more able to participate. » - Scott McHale

Scan the QR code for a free download of Kelly's Activity Book. Find out more at www.blackcake.org

LOCAL LITERARY EVENTS written by Billy Dye

BECAUSE BECAUSE 1 JULY 12 | FORD FOOD & DRINK Readings by Maya Weeks, Anthony Cinquepalmi and Travis Meyer in a casual setting that can provide all the comforts your luscious heart desires: fried egg sandwiches, champagne, and some poetic seduction that will not only enlighten but also impress your friends and get those kids at the smoking table riled up.

INK NOISE 2 JULY 20 | THE JADE LOUNGE Perhaps the most intimate reading environment hosted by the friendliest guy in the literary world, Curtis B. Whitecarroll. Readings are held in a unique format, comprised of 2-3 headlining writers who in turn hand select 2-3 writers to open their sets, which expose listeners to veteran writers who’ve performed before while providing an audience for those new to the scene. Bonus: the cocktails and small plates are some of the best in Southeast Portland.

SONG OF MYSELF READING 3 JULY 31 | INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING RESOURCE CENTER A reading from various writers performing on the rooftop of the epicenter of Portland’s literary scene! If you’re looking to get involved as a writer, publisher, and editor–or just down right love the spoken word– then this is the place to sprout your roots. It’ll undoubtedly be a special event. »

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community neighborhood of the month

NE/SE 28TH AVENUE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE MONTH E N

1 7 6

28TH AVENUE

4 2

SE ANKENY ST

E BURNSIDE ST

NE COUCH ST

NE DAVIS ST

NE EVERETT ST

NE FLANDERS ST

NE GLISAN ST

Location photos by Mercy McNab

2. NAUGHTY VINTAGE

Smut Vintage - 7 SE 28th Ave

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Holman's - 15 SE 28th Ave

BEST OF NE/SE 28TH AVENUE

1. LOCAL CHOCO

Alma Chocolate - 140 NE 28th Ave

3. PATIO DRANK N' GRUB

4. DECO YOUR INTERIOR

Atomic Antiques - 2742 E Burnside St

5. THAI COMFORT FOOD Paadee - 6 SE 28th Ave

6. SPORTSBAR, PDX STYLE

Beulahland - 118 NE 28th Ave

7. ALL DAY BRUNCH

City State - 128 NE 28th Ave

8. TRIM 'YO WIG

Bishops - 210 NE 28th Ave

9. CLASSIC DATE

Laurelhurst Theater - 2735 E Burnside St

10. PURE KARAOKE

Chopsticks Express II - 2651 E Burnside St

11. THE CUBAN CONNECTION Pambiche - 2811 NE Glisan St

community visual arts

11: What helped you make the transition between puppetry and taxidermy? MH: An art show. I was going to be part of an art show, and I was going to paint these pictures. It just wasn't coming out right, and so I decided to take the idea of a puppet and stretch it over a board. So it was basically these monster puppets that I just stretched over squares. I don't have any more of those unfortunately, because they all sold. 11: What drew you to puppets and puppetry?

Photo by Mercy McNab

VISUAL ARTS Portland artist Matthew Hopkins

atthew Hopkins is one of those people who is just easy to like, and his puppets follow suit. Actually, after I spent a few moments around him, I was starting to ask myself: what's not to like? Again, same for the puppets. ELEVEN was invited into his artist studio to discover a whole world created by Matthew. There was a John Lennon gargoyle in the room guarding over us, so I felt safe to ask anything that came to mind. To call Matthew a mere puppeteer would never do him justice. He is a man with the insight of a modern storyteller and the savvy of an authentically creative and intuitive individual. ELEVEN: What is your medium? What materials are you using? Matthew Hopkins: Foam, faux fur, faux leather, some repurposed leather. . . I try not to incorporate animal products, but sometimes I do. I started out doing puppets and it turned into these sort of taxidermy creatures, so it's somewhere between sculpture and puppetry. I call my company Nightmerriment because the creatures are frighteningly cute. I got really frustrated after like a year of trying to think of a name. And then one afternoon as the sun was setting last september, it just snapped into my head and was all like "Knock knock knock I'm here!" 11: Where did you go to school? MH: I went to Western Washington University and majored in theater and film.

MH: I have always really liked puppets. I grew up with Jim Henson and The Muppets. But to me as a kid those were always characters. I mean, like Kermit was—well, that was Kermit. I think the first time I realized puppets were puppets was I was watching a video by Genesis called “Land of Confusion.” The characters are of the band and of Ronald Reagan and of pop culture icons of the ‘80s, and that was the first time that I saw that [and thought], "Oh, hey! Those are puppets." I became fascinated with how they were made. That’s what kind of got me started liking puppets as an art form. I really got into puppet making in earnest with a company here in town called Action Adventure Theater. They were going to have these puppets made, and I said, "I can do that." I made these alien puppets for a show called Captured By Aliens. That's really how the ball started really rolling. 11: What is different about three-dimensional art versus two-dimensional art, like painting or drawing? MH: It's easier [laughing]. I find it easier, anyway. It's easier for me to wrap my head around something in 3D rather than on a 2D surface. 11: Tell us where we can view your work! I think people really need to see this! MH: I have pieces going up at Paxton Gate on June 12. It's going to be up for I think a month. I also have work going up in The Maker's Dozen show at the Peoples Art Gallery downtown. You can view some stuff online www.nightmerriment.com 11: How are monsters significant to you? MH: You can kind of express different ideas and different emotions through the monsters. Especially within the puppetry, and in some of the puppet shows I've done with them. It makes it easier and more palatable for an audience to explore harder topics with something that's not "real" (living, breathing). There is a puppet show that I am currently creating where all the monsters sort of live on the fringes of society. They take the sort of garbage of human culture and

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community visual arts create their own culture. They're very hidden from societyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I

and what an audience responds to. People respond to different

mean from human society. During the course of the show, the

monsters for different reasons. A lot of people might connect

monsters are faced with the conundrum of staying hidden,

to one or another because [they'll think], "This looks like my

being persecuted, or coming out to live freely and like "normal"

dog," or "This one just looks oh so cute and innocent." Or, "I like

people. So themes of acceptance and accepting yourself.

this one because it has big teeth and it's scary." So yeah. . . it's

Sometimes monsters just don't cooperate [laughing]. They

all different things and I think you get to see parts of different

really just will be and do what they want to do. Sometimes

people's personalities by seeing what they relate to.

if I'm creating something, it just turns into its own thing. A fish will suddenly have wings and then it

11: Is there a puppet that stands out as

is a bird. Sometimes they are uncooperative, but

a crowd pleaser?

at least they are always true to themselves. So the art shows contain characters that could

MH: Agnar. He has sort of

potentially develop into a full-blown puppet

a Cheshire grin. He's the first

show. Art shows for me are almost like

picture that you see on my website.

a staging ground for what I might

There is something that people

create and put into a puppet show.

like about him a lot. That one, and the bird creature people really like a lot. My personal favorite is my puppet Greg. I can

11: Almost like a practice round for character development?

introduce you if you'd like to meet him. I have a hard time saying he's my favorite because they are all kind of like my kids, you know, but really Greg is the favorite. He was

MH: Yeah, Exactly! I get to see what's possible

in a benefit show until recently. He read some poetry with some of his friends.

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community visual arts 11: Puppets reading poetry. This night just got so much better! If you could be doing anything with your puppetry, what would you be doing? MH: If I could do anything with the puppets, I would love to have a television show. Like a puppet show. I might make a movie—I don't know. I think it's a great medium, and it reaches a lot of people. I mean, the puppets just want to be stars! 11: Do you have a favorite mythological creature or story of folklore? MH: Ah yes, well I always really liked Bigfoot because it's, you know, regional. I always really liked Baba Yaga too. That's a Russian folktale about a witch that rides around in a house with chicken legs. It's so weird and so good though. Mermaids are good too. I haven't made any mermaid puppets yet, though. 11: Because they all grow wings and turn into birds, right? MH: Haha yeah, that's right! Oh, I forgot about the Brownies. Are you familiar with those creatures? 11: Nope, what are those? MH: They are a little house-type creature that if you're kind to them and leave them goodies, they will clean your house for you. If you're rude to them, they will do terrible things like eat

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your cat and steal your things. I believe they are Scottish or Norse. Sometimes there is a carry-over with folklore in that area. 11: What's your experience being an artist in Portland? MH: It's an amazingly accepting and responsive community. Everybody is so nice and warm and welcoming and kind. I lived in Seattle for many years before I moved here about 8½ years ago. It was fine, but it wasn't nearly as kind as Portland is. Also, there are a lot of truly amazing artists here. 11: Shout out time, Matthew! Anybody who deserves special recognition? MH: Tim Oakley is the name that comes to mind. He is one of the reasons that I'm doing what I do now. He's been so supportive and so generous letting me come in and work on his different projects. He works in film and television, and I got to do a lot of great things because of him. I also want to give a shout out to the universe—or the muse, or whatever it is, because it really helps me so much when I put out what I want and it mysteriously comes back to me. I feel weird taking credit for all of my ideas, because they truly are coming from somewhere unknown. » - Veronica Greene

Find more from Matthew at www.nightmerriment.com

THIS RIPS! THIS RIPS! THIS RIPS! THIS RIPS! THIS RIPS! THIS RIPS! THIS RIPS! THIS RIPS! THIS RIPS!

@ ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

@ THE CRYSTAL BALLROOM

@ THE WONDER BALLROOM

@ THE CRYSTAL BALLROOM