The lineup for PICA’s 2008 Time-Based Art Festival (TBA:08, which runs September 5-14) won’t be officially announced until tonight at Tada, but the press embargo on festival deets was lifted this morning—so let’s talk TBA!

As expected, it’s an exciting lineup, with a notable concentration of both international acts and Portland-specific projects. This speaks to one of TBA’s goals: to “highlight locals without ghettoizing them,” as TBA Performing Arts Program Director Erin Boberg Doughton put it; to profile local artists on the same platform as international ones, which often results in local artists becoming more engaged in the global scene.

In the same way that local and international artists can cross-pollinate, “the visual arts and performing arts worlds have a lot to learn from each other,” said Visual Art Program Director Kristan Kennedy; this is the third year that the festival has included a visual arts program, and the lineup includes boundary-defying work by video/sculpture artists Ryan Trecartin and Lizzy Fitch.

While Mark Russell, TBA’s artistic director, doesn’t identify any particular theme to this year’s festival (“A theme would bore me. Ask me after it’s over.”), Boberg Doughton notes that many of the performers share an interest in audience manipulation, and questioning the notion of “what entertainment means.” She also notes that, while PICA “didn’t set out to make an overtly political festival, [they] would’ve had to work hard to make it not political,” ‘cause that’s what the artists are making these days.

TBA organizers seem to have heard and taken to heart criticisms of last year’s fest. The Works (TBA’s space for late-night shows and schmoozing) will be once again created out of a found space—it was at the Wonder Ballroom last year, a largely unpopular choice that attendees complained was out-of-the-way and lacked the spontaneous feel of years past. Wherever the Works ends up, they’re aiming to have it open all day, and considering bringing back Family Suppers, a feature of past TBA festivals (though I’m guessing this one won’t be helmed by Michael Hebberoy). The popular kid-oriented tiny tba (which Chas Bowie last year memorably dubbed “MILF Central”) will also be back, along with Ten Tiny Dances and live music from Parenthetical Girls, Root Beer and French Fry, Ethan Rose, and more.

This year, organizers are aiming to make it possible to see every show; and, by limiting how long shows run, to facilitate shared experiences among audience members. Last year, scheduling was kind of a nightmare—I think it was physically impossible to see everything—and longer show runs meant that it was less likely that folks on any given night had seen many of the same shows, making it harder to drunkenly argue about their merits at the Works.

We’ll be launching another Mercury TBA blog in coming months, with full coverage of the festival as well as more info about all the participants. But dip your toes in after the jump, with a quick rundown of the full catalogue.

PROGRAM

ONSTAGE

Antony and the Johnsons with the Oregon Symphony.

The addition of the gender-bending Antony and his Johnsons to the program was breathlessly confirmed only last Thursday; the British-born, Mercury Prize-winning Antony is a good choice for full symphony treatment, though I am concerned about the potential emotional devastation-factor:

Jerome Bel: Pichet Klunchun and Myself

A staged conversation between controversial French choreographer Jérome Bel (the New York Times called him a “dance metaphysician”) and traditional Thai dancer Pichet Klunchun, in which Klunchun explains to Bel, via word and dance, the codified dance he practices; and then Bel gets a chance to explain his own “conceptual choreography” (check out clips from his 2003 The Show Must Go On here, and you’ll understand why a highly trained and traditional dancer like Klunchen might have trouble appreciating Bel’s work). I didn’t write down her exact words, but I remember Erin saying something to the effect that this performance essentially justifies the existence of contemporary art. It sounds pretty amazing.

LeeSaar The Company:Geisha

The Village Voice had this to say about the Israeli troupe’s “Geisha,” which they will be presenting at TBA:

In Geisha, [Saar] Harari and [Lee] Sher worked with ramifications of a single idea—that of the expectations and role-playing that gender induces. It begins with a stunning solo by a stunning woman... Jye-Hwei Lin, tall and lean with longish black hair, wears only a pair of jeans. Lin’s timing and dynamics are impeccable. She’s able to strike out, fists clenched, then melt. One minute she’s a martial arts princess; then the bold, thrusting move slips from her body, and she’s bending backward, her head hanging, her long-fingered hands drained of strength. Sometimes, she does convey the image of a geisha —delicate, eager to please, forming her body into a succession of curves. But you’ve barely grasped that when she modulates into something more powerful. As her pace increases and the steps flow together, she never loses the specificity of being in the moment—aware of the space around her and how she fits into it. She can do something as small as touch her fingers to her mouth, and meanings explode in your mind.

Tim Etchells/Forced Entertainment: Sight is the Sense that Dying People Tend to Lose First and Quizoola

This acclaimed six-person company from Sheffield, England sounds promising. Their Quizoola is a “durational performance”—six hours long, though the audience can come and go as they please—in which three performers have a list of 2000 questions, ranging in subject from pop trivia to personal secrets and twisted philosophical searches,” with which they interrogate one another. After Elevator Repair Service’s absolutely amazing 7-hour production of Gatz last year (essentially a staged reading of The Great Gatsby), I’m far more open to the idea of marathon performances like this one—although I do appreciate that at this show you can wander in and out if you absolutely must have a cigarette. Sight according the the TBA press release, is a monologue “which fails in the attempt to describe the world and marks a personal, deliberately imprecise and badly organized taxonomy.”

Mike Daisey: Monopoly and If You See Something, Say Something

You may remember monologuist Mike Daisey from this classic YouTube of a group of high schoolers walking out of his show en masse. Or maybe you’ve read his persuasive Stranger article about how the death of the repertory theater model has hurt American theater (if not, you should); or caught his popular show “21 Dog Years,” about working for Amazon.com, when he was in town a few years back. Daisey is currently performing “How Theater Failed America” in New York. For TBA, he’ll bring two monologues: “Monopoly,” and the new piece “If You See Something, Say Something.”

Reggie Watts

The Mercury’s love for Reggie Watts is well-documented, and he hasn’t disappointed us yet. Dude is kind of a genius. Watch this:

It’s from a posh PICA fundraiser at Aura in Decemember, and the audience was on the older side, folks who could actually afford to pay $50 a head and didn’t have to scam free tickets off PICA (thanks, PICA). Reggie told me afterward that he was terrified to look down at the audience, because he had no idea how his act would go over with an older crowd, so he played to the back wall and avoided eye contact the whole time. Watch the clip and you will understand why.

Daniel Beaty:Resurrection

Actor/singer/writer/composer Daniel Beaty, who performed the ridiculously titled solo show Emergence-See! at the IFCC in February (about which I heard very good things; here’s a clip from that show [wait out the intro]), will be performing a new work called Resurrection. Beaty’s got a 2007 Obie (for outstanding writing and performance) under his belt, if you’re impressed by those sorts of things...

Vivarium Studio

Philippe Quesne’s Vivarium Studio—a “labratory for theatrical innovation—is back after a TBA:06 run of La Demangeaison Des Ailes (“The Itching of Wings”). L’Effet de Serge is a play about a man named Serge, who lives alone and likes to gather friends over every Sunday for a two-minute performance of a “one man show,” which may or may not involve small, ineffective rockets:

Bridget Everett and Kenny Mellman Sexercise Live! A Tribute to the Potty-Mouthed Millie Jackson

Is that homepage not kind of terrifying? Kiki & Herb’s Kenny Mellman joins Bridget Everett for an “uncensored R&B revue celebrating the trash-talking diva Millie Jackson.” That is to say, this lady:

“Is anybody curious about why I haven’t said ‘fuck’ all night? We’ll make up for it now.”

Superamas: Big, 3rd Episode (happy/end)

More cerebral Frenchy action, from the French-Austrian collective Superamas. I love shows that punish you intellectually for allowing yourself to be manipulated by popular entertainment; its like doing penance for how much I like The Biggest Loser:

BIG 3rd episode has this bitter taste of failure and death. Everything looks perfect though : the show is sort of smart and funny ; the women on stage are beautiful, healthy and sexy ; the men are mean and cynical ; the dialogs perfectly fit the image of a clever provocative Superamas´ entertaining program. But by using the strategies of repetition and decontextualisation Superamas digs under the surface of its representations. And what Superamas digs out is the power of this desire for happiness and at the same time its total vanity. These strategies applied to this topic create an auto-reflexive thinking process which leads the spectator to reflect its own parcours through the piece and its own expectations of happiness… and it occurres that those expectations are predictable and predicted.

Our more intimate desires are already calculated by social statistics and marketing. Therefore individual behaviour is nothing else than a copy of a cliché.
The modern vaudeville is statistics!

Tim Crouch: England

I’m having a bit of trouble finding much info about writer/performer Tim Crouch. He has written plays and won awards; England took home 3 at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Fest. The press materials for England have this to say:

Forget thoughts of skinheads or nostalgia, ENGLAND is about an empire of a different kind – one of transmigrations and transplantations. It’s the story of one thing placed inside another: a heart inside another person’s body, a culture inside another country’s culture, theatre inside a gallery, a character inside an actor, a play inside its audience.

Performed by two guides within an exhibition, ENGLAND travels the trade routes of art and human beings. It’s about a sickness and the search for health at any cost. It’s a tour through space and across borders: from an art gallery to a jam factory, from Edinburgh to Osaka, from a hospital bed to a hotel room.
It’s a tour to the end of the world.

Dael Orlandersmith : Stoop Stories

Orlandersmith is perhaps best known for her play Yellowman—about racism between dark and light-skinned African Americans—which was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer in Drama. She’s also an actress, and she’ll be performing a new work “multi-character solo piece” called Stoop Stories.

Tiago Guedes: Diverse Materials and A Solo

Portugese choreographer Tiago Guedes “transforms everyday material, including newspaper, tape, and string into a beautiful tableau.

TBA:08 ON THE ROAD

I could not be more intrigued by TBA’s “On the Road” lineup this year: They are very Portland-based, with an emphasis on architecture, and seemingly more focused than the hodgepodge of wackiness that was last year’s roaming events.

Khris Soden: The Portland Tour of Tilberg

Portlander Kris Soden created maps of the history and landmarks of both Portland and Tilburg, Netherlands, and he superimposed the map of Portland over Tilburg, and vice versa. He’ll be giving walking tours of Portland while pointing out the sights of Tilberg; he’ll be taking Portland’s landmarks to Tilberg the following week.

Third Angle New Music Ensemble: Halprin Fountain Sequence

This project really caught my interest. In the 1960s and ‘70s, the modernist architect Lawrence Halprin designed three Portland parks: The Keller Fountain, which everyone is familiar with; and the lesser-known Pettygrove Park and Lovejoy Fountain, as part of a now-overlooked. Halprin’s designs were influenced by his wife, the choreographer Anna Halprin, and this site-specific work brings performances inspired by the couple to the parks designed by Halprin.

Sojourn Theatre: Built

Sojourn Theatre has been working with the South Waterfront as part of their artists in residence program, on a site-specific work called Built. I am quite intrigued to see where they go with this: Sojourn is a sharp ensemble, and I have no doubt that this will be a highlight.

Linda Wysong

Standing at the intersection of community, urban design, and the environment, Linda Wysong creates opportunities to “re-see” the everyday world. Her practice is not centered in object making but utilizes place, space, and experience. The work addresses the cycle of building and demolition, waste, water, communications, transportation, and land use, examining each of these systems in relationship to human history and the natural world.

TBA ON SIGHT: VISUAL ART

When it comes time to cover visual arts at TBA, I will pay someone smarter than me to do it. (Email me, ahallett@portlandmercury.com, if you think you might be that person.) Here without commentary is the 2008 TBA visual arts lineup. Do your own homework.

Ryan Trecartin, elizabethdeegallery.com

Lizzy Fitch, boboson9th.com

Jacob Hartman, website

Jeffry Mitchell, pulliuamdeffenbaugh.com

Corey Lunn, urbanhonking.com/pictureswamp

Mike Kelley, gagosian.com

Sharon Hayes, shaze.info

Justin Gorman, buildproduction.com

PAINTALLICA: A local collective that will create a site-specfic installation in a Portland storefront.

Tamy Ben-Tor, website

The Yes Men, theyesmen.org

Fritz Haeg, fritzhaeg.com

We really fucked up. I totally forgot it was CAT FRIDAY. And this is a pretty weak showing, in that it’s only minimally catty. But the clock’s a runnin’, and I ain’t gonna hang ‘round this popsicle stand much longer diggin’ around the internet for cat posts. Luckily, my mama just came through with a cat photo forwarded from my aunt (yes, it’s hereditary):

I’m out. Seeya Monday.

Grand Theft Auto is one of the few post-Super Mario Brothers 1 videogames that I have actually played, but it still took a little ‘splaining on the part of my colleague Erik Henriksen to convince me that Karl Lagerfeld’s involvement in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 4 doesn’t mean you can play as the famously eccentric Chanel designer, running around smashing car windows and such (kind of a bummer, actually). Instead you can play the game to “DJ Karl“‘s soundtrack (he’s an avid music fan and collector), leaving the criminal acts to the game’s main protagonist. Still, it’s a testament to Grand Theft as more than mere video game that they cast such a wide net to diverse corners of the current culture, creating a kind of snapshot of the times. Look for Earnest “Nex” Cavalli’s review of the game in an upcoming issue of the Mercury.

LAGERFELD: not that I couldn’t picture him smashing car windows.

Have you been eating your End Hits every morning? End Hits is a viable source of vitamins, minerals, whole grain, fiber, and the “good” fat, to provide the healthy skin and glossy coat that every growing music listener needs. A steady diet of End Hits will keep your stool firm and buoyant—the way God intended it!

READ!!!
• A live review of French disco-popster Yelle’s super-cool Portland show!
• An extended interview with LA spaz-rockers the Mae Shi!
• Everything you wanted to know (and more) about the longest songs ever!
• Gone-but-not-forgotten ’90s alternative rock band Possum Dixon!
• All about Hot Chip’s recent show, with some really great photos!
• A review of local punk group Sleepwalkers R.I.P.’s brand new 7 inch single!
• And check out Nick Cave bassist Barry Adamson’s new CD!

LISTEN!!!
MP3s by:
• Spritualized
• David Dondero
• BARR
• Yeltsin
• Cut Copy
• White Denim
• Pacific UV
• The Night Marchers
• The Death Set
• Birds of Avalon
• Excepter
• The Old Haunts
And so much more!

CRY!!!
• The (debatably) awesome line-ups of music festivals far, far away!
• A gripping account of Team Mercury’s devastating loss to Menomena on the foosball table!
• Jay Reatard punches a fan in the face! Ouch!
• Waaa! Why can’t Portland have its own Obama star-studded concert/rally!
• Snoop Dogg sings in German! Really!!!

Launched in 2008, End Hits is already the No. 1 Portland Mercury music blog in the world! So don’t be an idiot, you idiot! Don’t miss out any longer: Go here, now.

Consider this a reminder to help local film writer Doug Holm on Sunday, April 27. Doug has cancer and needs expensive treatment. Friends, cinephiles, and well-wishers are gathering for a fun event at Cinema 21 this Sunday to help him raise money.

Image by Helaine Garren

A $10 to $10,000 donation will get you:

* Complimentary wine and hors d’oevres
* Musical performances by Thomas Lauderdale (Pink Martini), Karen Brooks, Dover Weinberg, Steve Cheseborough
* Portland luminaries reading Holm’s acid-tongued film reviews and hate mail
* Screening of a Patti Lewis short film
* Sukiyaki sing-along
* Silent action with items from Aalto Lounge, Cassidy’s, Katherine Dunn, Kenny & Zuke’s, Gus Van Sant, and much more

Sunday, April 27
6 pm, tickets available at cinema21.com

Check out Erik’s previous post about the benefit.

This has already made the Smoking Gun, but kudos to the kids who did it:

Oregon educators want law enforcement officials to probe who was responsible for mailing parents a letter on school letterhead suggesting that they supply students with alcohol at post-prom parties.

Our review of the latest Harold & Kumar—which screened for critics after our deadline—is now up, and you can read it here.

When film writers go to these advance screenings, there’s usually someone there with an official-looking clipboard who asks them what they thought of the film after it ends; this data, I can only assume, gets sent back to the publicists or the movie studio so they know what kind of reviews to expect when the film opens. When the lady running the Harold & Kumar screening asked me what I thought of it and I replied with “It was awesome!” she looked at me like I must have misunderstood the question, or was mentally incapable of writing about film. The latter might be true, actually, but I did understand the question, and I did think the movie was pretty awesome.

“What was frightening to me was the idea of a large creature who was spooked,” Cloverfield director Matt Reeves says in one of the DVD’s special features, adding later, “To me, there’s nothing more frightening than a wild animal—and if the wild animal is 300 feet tall, then you’re in trouble.”

Cloverfield has been one of the more interesting mainstream films so far this year—from the cryptic hype preceding its release to the people getting motion sickness while watching it to criticism involving the film’s 9/11 angle—and the fact it’s done all this while basically being an unapologetic ripoff of Godzilla makes it all the more fascinating. For me, the thing that really nails Cloverfield isn’t all of that, but the actual technique of the thing—it basically takes the Blair Witch idea and pretty brilliantly and skillfully amps it up to 11, and also institutes a cool flashback structure and sneaks in enough hidden Easter eggs to keep the obsessive fans of the film busy for months. There’s also just the fact that it’s this huge blockbuster-y type adventure flick that also happens to be kind of small and unsettling and creepy, which is cool. More on all that, and the lowdown on the DVD’s special features, after the jump. There’ll be spoilers.

“One of the things I thought would be very interesting is if it’s not a monster that’s come out of the water to just wreak havoc randomly and kill people,” says lead creature designer Neville Page, the guy responsible for designing Cloverfield’s ungainly and awkward monster. “It is an infant. It’s newly-hatched, newly born. And all the pain that goes with something being exposed to a foreign environment, and [being exposed to] temperatures and things and sounds and little pestilent, almost like ants, people…. Having the knowledge it was a baby really helped me understand a little bit more about what the creature would do.” For me, that kind of sums up what’s so creepy and clever about Cloverfield’s well-worn conceit: While Godzilla is either a furious behemoth or a good-hearted protector (depending on what film you’re watching him in), the one thing he never is is scared, and that goes for any number of city-destroying monsters: The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, the aliens in Independence Day, etc. But Cloverfield’s monster is weird-looking and in pain and confused and out of whatever its element might possibly be, and is all the more destructive and terrifying for it; when the thing crushes buildings and bridges, it’s usually because it’s flailing, and when the Statue of Liberty’s head bounces its way through a Manhattan canyon, it’s not an ideological symbol (though you could read it that way, if you tried hard enough) so much as it’s collateral damage from something huge and frightened that’s just tearing shit up.

None of this would be as effective if Cloverfield wasn’t conceived and shot as well as it is, with the handheld camera effect enabling the filmmakers “to play peekaboo with the monster,” as editor Kevin Stitt puts it. That style, combined with a pretty epic scope, also enables the film to feel like nothing else out there, and one of the most interesting parts of the DVD is seeing how the filmmakers pulled off the first-person technique so well. They readily admit that they used amateur footage of 9/11 on YouTube for inspiration, which is one of the more discomfiting and strange elements of the film. Exec producer J.J. Abrams tries to justify it at one point (“There’s this underlying fear that we all have everyday that something else might happen at every moment. The idea of a monster movie, it allows people to experience that kind of fear very safely”), but that doesn’t quite wash, and watching at least two or three shots that’re highly reminiscent of 9/11 in what basically amounts to a summer popcorn action movie is still fucking weird.

Other things that're interesting: Realizing how much blue- and greenscreen was used (like the smartest special effects films, Cloverfield hides its best effects in the background, and you never realize you’re watching them), realizing how little of the film was shot in the Paramount Backlot instead of New York (which is weird, ’cause the look of the film absolutely nails the feel of parts of that city), and discovering that the guy who plays Cloverfield’s cameraman, Hud (comedian T.J. Miller) is profoundly unfunny and irritating when he’s not in the film. “Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield” is well worth a look, as are the featurettes “Cloverfield Visual Effects” (about how the filmmakers pulled off the film’s incredible set pieces) and “I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge!” (about the creation of the monster).

There’s also some lame stuff: A couple of DVD Easter eggs lead to bloopers and the like (BLOOPERS MAKE ME WANT TO CRAM A LETTER-OPENER INTO MY THROAT), while the alternate endings and deleted scenes are, at best, underwhelming. I haven’t checked out Reeves’ commentary track yet, in part because I’m kind of angry it doesn’t also include the film’s writer, Buffy alumnus Drew Goddard (who also hinted a while back that there was at least some footage shot that would’ve pushed Cloverfield out of PG-13 territory--but this DVD, at least, is the straight-up theatrical cut). But those quibbles aside, the Cloverfield DVD’s worth checking out if you missed the film in theaters, or even if you saw it then: Technically, the film's impressive as hell, but it's also just fun, provided you're into the sort of movies where giant creatures smash things.

We don’t post a lot of baby videos on Blogtown, because… well, you hate babies. Babies remind you of responsibility and never going out again and never having a moments privacy and an empty bank account. HOWEVER. While most babies are intrinsically hate-able, I defy you not to flip head over heels over this Korean toddler singing The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” (Look, I hate babies AND the Beatles, yet I love this. Ergo, so will you.)

korean baby singing hey jude

Tip o’ the hat to Monet!

Jim Middaugh worked hard to differentiate himself from rival city council candidate Nick Fish at today’s city club debate. I’d recommend downloading it here if you can’t decide between the candidates—we’re still making up our minds at the Mercury, but you can read about who we choose in next week’s endorsement issue.

FISH AND MIDDAUGH: Tight race for position 2…

Some of the highlights of the debate included Middaugh challenging Fish on his promise to bring a “new voice to city council.” Middaugh said Fish has relied on donations from wealthy folks like developers Joe Weston and Homer Williams who have always had their voice heard in city hall. “I’m the clean money candidate,” he said.

When asked to describe their positions on Mayor Potter’s recent budget, Fish asked if Potter was in the room and said if he were, he’d describe it as “visionary.” Middaugh hit back, saying he’d say the same thing whether Potter was in the room or not, “because I speak my mind,” and criticized Potter’s failure to fund project Homeless Connect.

Fish said Middaugh’s efforts, under Sten, to divert urban renewal money into the David Douglas school district could well be illegal, and challenged him to provide a plan b, if that doesn’t work out.

On racial profiling, Fish said “race is the great problem in our country,” but said we shouldn’t “target police or any other professionals, but work together as a community” to solve the problem. Middaugh said: “Whatever the data shows, I’ve knocked on enough doors in Portland and had people tell me they are scared of the police. That’s a priority.”

Middaugh also challenged Fish to say why he hasn’t listed homebuilders and realtors as key contributors to his campaign, anywhere on his website. Fish said he understood why Middaugh was trying to “divide us,” but said he wanted to “inspire” people.

Middaugh asked Fish to clarify his positions on three issues: A takeover for Portland General Electric, the Columbia River Crossing, and Private Police. Fish said he’d work in the public interest to protect PGE, he said he didn’t have all the facts to make a judgement on the Columbia River Crossing, and ducked the question about rent-a-cops downtown.

cat manga courtesy of Dark Horse’s What’s Michael? by Makoto Kobayashi.

Last night at the Ogle Gallery, Baker’s Mark Literary Agency and Bowler Hat Comics threw a benefit for Friends of the Library and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), called Librarians “Get” Graphic. The event’s objective (other than raising money for two great organizations) was to bring together comics industry folk and Multnomah County librarians: As the popularity of comics grows, so does the demand for them in libraries, presenting a new set of challenges (and opportunities) for librarians. Reading Comic author Douglas Wolk and CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein spoke at the event; read my notes on their speeches after the jump!

Charles Brownstein from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund spoke first, talking about how in the past few years, comics and graphic novels have "turned the corner from being an obscure and maligned art form" to one with an increasingly broad mainstream appeal. This poses a challenge for librarians, who are called upon to both provide more material and to address concerns that adults might have about the appropriateness of that material; he then went on to talk about a recent Rome, Georgia legal case, wherein a comic book retailer was prosecuted for allegedly distributing pornographic material to minors (in the form of a comic about cubism which featured an image of a naked Pablo Picasso). After over three years and $100,000 in legal costs, all charges were recently dismissed: "A simple mistake took three and a half years of this man's life. It took an art comic about the birth of Cubism as a work of pornography," said Brownstein. He went on to note that "as the hunger for the medium grows stronger, these challenges are going to become more frequent." The services that the CBLDF are here to provide, he said, include support for librarians when these challenges arise. "Nobody should go to jail for comic books," and it's up to the people who loves comics to "put our heads together to figure out the best way to present them to the community at large."

Big round of applause. Next up, Douglas Wolk, who first noted that he noticed that the crowd wasn't doing much mingling. Librarians and creators need to "talk to each other's cliques," he said. "What I'm going to talk about is why you need to associate with each other."

Libraries are a potentially huge market for comic publishers, he explained, mentioning that when Jeff Lemire's Top Shelf-published Essex Tales won the American Library Association's "Alex Award," which recognizes adult books with a specific teen appeal, the book promptly sold 10,000 copies to libraries—that's a pretty significant boost in the indie publishing world.

There's a "ravenous demand" for good comics (graphic novel sales have quadrupled since 2001) and "this is where libraries come in." He quoted the publisher of DC comics at recent panel, who observed that the best case scenario for comics right now is that they become as ubiquitous as they are in Japan; worst case scenario, "they just keep getting bigger. Shelves are only going to get higher, the only question is 'how high.'"

Certain markets are starving for good comics, particularly "what some people call the 'less literate audience': kids." The kids really want books about robots. And ninjas. And princesses." He encouraged creators to get to work on a robot/ninja/princess comic.

Some great prizes were raffled off, including loads of autographed comics; not sure how much they ultimately raised; I'll update when I hear back.

• Will former pop idol Hillary Duff be starring in the new Beverly Hills, 90210 remake? (More importantly, will she revive her Mercury column, “Stuffin’ Your Muff with Hillary Duff”?)

• Was American Idol contestant Carly Smithson voted off for blaspheming the name of Jesus Christ? Orrrrr maybe because she’s really just unlikeable?

• Former SNL douche Jimmy Fallon will be taking over Conan O’Brien’s chair in 2009. Oh… were we supposed to somehow like him better next year?

• Tom Cruise is returning to Oprah! (Insert couch jumping joke here.)

• Hey! Prince is on the Tonight Show… tonight!

• Ready for some fake TV that is more real than most real TV? Check out this hilarious/sad-because-it’s-true clip from the ONION NEWS NETWORK—sponsored by Home Depot. “Honoring our fallen heroes… with power tools!”

Home Depot Honors Fallen Soldiers With Great Prices On Tools

I’ve already given some coverage to Covet (429 SW 10th), the little boutique that opened its doors simultaneously (and quite conveniently for those already drawn to nearby shopping destinations like Odessa and The English Dept.) with Frances May around the corner. If you’ve yet to check it out, heres the perfect opportunity to: They have scheduled a grand opening on Saturday, May 3rd, 5-8 pm, with champagne and hors d’oeuvres, and a chance to check out goods, like killer accessories from Calleen Cordero, collection pieces from smaller lines like Geren Ford, and easy everyday pieces from sly edits of lines like Splendid.

(Calleen Cordero clutches, both available now at Covet. Fill your schedule with local fashion happenings over on M.O.D.)

New Yorker reporter Patrick Radden Keefe writes in this issue about the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, the Ashland chapter of which was designated a terrorist organization by the government, based on classified evidence.

We covered the case in Federal Court on April 14, but Keefe’s story does a good job of bringing out the inherent dangers of the government’s ability to rely on secret evidence in order to designate people terrorists. There’s an Orwellian scene in a government facility where lawyers for a designated terrorist have to draft a response to classified evidence, not having seen it, on a secret computer. Afterwards they have to destroy their own arguments, because they relate to presumed classified arguments, even though they’ve never actually seen them. They do so by destroying a computer:

After the drafting session, Hogarty and Eisenberge met once more, to wipe his computer of any classified information. As it happened, the laptop had died of its own accord; Eisenberg and Hogarty agreed to destroy the hard drive. Hogarty had brought a technician with her, an he extracted the hard drrive and memory board from the laptop. Then he and Hogartyy placed the hard drive on the floor and pounded it with a table leg.

1. Everyone Slap Yourself on the Forehead. The cops that shot unarmed Sean Bell 50 times (!) on his wedding day just got acquitted.

2. Remaining schedule for the Democratic nomination:

May 3 - Guam caucuses
May 6 - Indiana, North Carolina
May 13 - West Virginia
May 20 - Kentucky, Oregon
June 1 - Puerto Rico
June 3 - Montana, South Dakota

In the latest polling, Obama is up by 15 points in North Carolina, 3 in Indiana.

3. Meanwhile, Hillary is going around telling people she’s winning the popular vote (…she’s counting Michigan - a state where Obama’s name wasn’t even on the ballot, and Florida, another disqualified state).

4. Wesley Snipes finally defeated by blood-sucking vampires!

cool.

5. Making The Case: Why Guillermo Del Toro Should Not Adapt the Hobbit

6. Wall Street Journal: Barack is your candidate.

7. Rupert Murdoch, owner of every media outlet in the world, is about to buy another newspaper.

And lastly, BumBot!!

Forsooth and rejoice, sons of Aragost and daughters of Celebrían! Sure, all you Tolkien nerds knew it was only a matter of time until this happened, but still. The Hollywood Reporter has the news story that’ll get your elven panties all in a twist.

After protracted negotiations, Guillermo del Toro has closed his deal Wednesday to direct The Hobbit and its sequel for New Line and MGM.

The Mexican helmer will move to New Zealand for the next four years to work with The Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson, who is exec producing, and his Wingnut and WETA production teams.

Del Toro will helm the two films back to back, telling the story of The Hobbit, and its sequel, which will deal with the 60-year period between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the Rings trilogy.

The Hobbit was one of the first books I remember genuinely loving as a kid, and Del Toro is just fucking awesome. It’s pretty hard to not see this as excellent news.

As for what’s going to be covered in that second film—you know, the one not based on an actual Tolkien book, but rather pieced together to shamelessly empty the wallets of Legolas wannabes tell a rewarding and necessary story? Who knows? Keep your fingers crossed for some more vaguely homoerotic hobbit action, and perhaps an explanation as to why the only people who direct live-action hobbit movies bear creeeeeepy resemblances to hobbits themselves.

I like to predict who, in this race, will be the first to respond, based on the question. I’m often right, as I was with this one—Charles Lewis, who runs an arts non-profit (one of the few toward which RACC chips in part of their annual operating expenses), was my pick as the first responder to a question on arts funding.

In a year with $33 million in additional revenue to work with, Mayor Tom Potter’s proposed budget did not include any funding for new arts related requests—like a $200,000 request for Arts Partners, which funds art programs in schools. Moreover, despite Portland’s reputation for arts and culture, we’re far behind other cities in per capita funding of arts. Are the arts a priority for city funding? Should we increase that funding? If so, what would you do as a city commissioner to make that happen?

(As noted yesterday, $150,000 has since been granted to Arts Partners… but we’re still behind overall!)

Charles Lewis
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: charleslewis.com
Financial status: $150,000 in public funding, $95,469.78 currently in the bank

I have spent the last ten years developing Ethos Music Center into a nationally recognized arts nonprofit that reaches over 2,200 children in our community. Ethos was founded in response to massive budget cuts that decimated funding for music education in Portland Public Schools. Currently, only half of all public schools in Portland have a certified music instructor. This is simply unacceptable. Funding for the arts needs to be increased, particularly in our public schools.

The Portland region ranks 24th in the nation with regards to government arts funding. We should set a goal of breaking into the top ten nationally. In order to do this, we will need to work with the Washington, Clackamas and Multnomah County governments. As Executive Director of Ethos Music Center, I have built connections with private donors who are interested in funding grassroots level arts programs. I have a decade of experience finding creative ways to fund crucial arts programs. As a City Commissioner, I will bring together elected officials from all levels of government in the region to find a way to increase government spending on the arts.

The question brings up the topic of a specific program that the Mayor chose not to fund. On the surface, I agree with the goals of the “Arts Partners” collaboration. I certainly believe that every child deserves to have access to the arts. This belief was what drove me to create an arts nonprofit for underserved children. However, the Arts Partners collaboration has failed to provide an adequate blueprint for what they will do for the Portland Arts Community and our children. I have spoken with a number of people who work at small and medium sized grassroots arts organizations who are confused as to the intentions of the Arts Partners collaboration and concerned about what this apparently top-down initiative will mean for the future of our organizations. In addition, several of Ethos’ staff members attended Arts Partners meetings and came away with the feeling that this project was being forced on the community and that it is not a true partnership whatsoever — that’s not acceptable.

Portland has a unique artistic culture that would benefit from increased government funding. However, we must make sure increased funding does not come at the expense of what makes the Portland arts scene unique. What worked for the Arts Partners collaboration (Big Thought) in Dallas won’t necessarily work in Portland. We should use additional resources to strengthen Portland’s existing nonprofit arts organizations. Funding top-down and bureaucratic projects like the Arts Partners collaboration won’t help bring more arts education to Portland youth — directly funding and supporting grassroots arts organizations will.

John Branam
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: john4pdx.org
Financial status: $150,000 in public funding, $61,210.24 currently in the bank

Yes the arts are a priority for city funding and it is extremely unfortunate that RACC’s $200,000 request for Arts Partners funding was not included in the Mayor’s budget.

The arts and culture play a critical role in the life of a city. Both literally and figuratively, they are important threads that run through us, connect us, define us, and inspire us. They also provide us with opportunities to both collaborate and have conversations and they challenge what we think we believe, while also helping us to form our beliefs. They give us pause, encourage us to be tolerant, confuse us, and help us dream. They are, in a nutshell, both who we are, and who we aspire to be.

As the Director of Development for Portland Public Schools, I have been deeply involved with the Arts Partners collaboration. More than one year ago I was one of six Portlanders who visited Dallas, TX to explore the Arts Partners model. Despite stiff competition from more than fifteen other cities, our collaborative effort convinced the Dallas to adopt Portland as the city they would mentor. Since then I have spent countless hours trying to make the Arts Partners model here in Portland a reality.

Arts Partners represents an essential step forward for helping Portland's children have equitable access to the arts. Presently the arts are not taught widely in Portland's schools. In most cases the presence of arts and music, and the degree to which the arts are integrated into "core" classes, parallels the socio-economic standing of the schools (our wealthier ones have greater access.) This trend, which is not unlike that of other cities, is particularly disconcerting, however, because studies show that the arts are highly effective at helping to close the achievement gap between white students, and kids of color. In an era of relentless pressure on student achievement and in a world that is becoming less forgiving of those who fall below benchmarks, investments in arts education and in arts integration are proving to be particularly smart.

In addition to being good for our kids, the inclusion and expansion of the arts in our schools is also good for Portland's economy. Clear evidence has emerged that the ability to be creative within the workplace is not only a skill employers value highly, but it is one of the few qualities that distinguishes an employee as one who is "highly valued." As we in Portland continue to position ourselves as a mecca for the creative industries, ensuring that we're home-growing our talent makes sense. After all, what a tragedy and how unsustainable it would be if we relied (or continued to do so) on the outside world for our creative talent. Developing a pipeline of young Portlanders who are themselves creative and innovative is essential to the sustainable growth of our creative industries. Ensuring all of our kids, regardless of the color of their skin or the names of their neighborhood schools, have access to the arts is the primary, and most critical, step forward.

And let's not forget, developing talents in the arts does not happen by accident. Few, if any, "artists," are born prodigies. Developing such talent takes time. Portlanders value the rich and ever-growing array of artistic offerings around town, but those offerings do not happen accidentally. In contrast they're rooted in those early finger painting, clay making, recorder classes and elementary school plays. Fast-forwarding to adulthood, on any given evening our city is full of concerts, plays, exhibits, etc. that are offered by artists who likely had robust childhood experiences with the arts. Their home city, and schools, supported the arts. So too must we.

As a "founding" member of this collaboration I have already committed, on behalf of Portland Public Schools, significant time and money to Arts Partners. If elected, I will continue to offer significant resources both by serving both as an ambassador for the program as it works with the school districts, the counties, the philanthropic community and the private sector to raise additional dollars, and as a funding advocate for city dollars. Doing so will be a distinct pleasure as we work to make sure we're living up to our mantra of being a city that is passionate about the arts, passionate about our kids' education, and passionate about the belief that ALL of our kids should have access to meaningful artistic experiences.

In terms of funding, RACC currently receives approximately $3.6 million from the city's general fund (including $424,000 from the Percent for Arts Program.) In contrast, investing $15 million per year would put us in the top ten among major American cities in terms of per capita spending for the arts. Obviously it would be difficult for us to allocate such an immediate and significant increase in funding, but knowing where the bar is remains useful. While the goal, and my commitment, would be to make modest but meaningful increases each year towards joining the top ten, it seems clear we'll have to identify alternative dedicated sources of funding to augment the city's general fund support. As someone who believes strongly in the value of the arts, I would work actively to both support such increases, and to acquire alternative dedicated sources of funding for the arts.

Chris Smith
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: citizensmith.us
Financial status: $150,000 in public funding, $41,280.51 currently in the bank

I’m delighted that Mayor Potter has changed his mind on this and recommended $150K to fund the Arts Partners program.

As a past board chair of Artists Repertory Theatre, I had the opportunity to participate in the development of ArtsPlan 2000, and I know that the arts are not just entertainment, but a vital part of the soul of our community and culture. The arts are also an important economic driver for our community, generating business for restaurants and hotels in our city. They are also a critical part of our creative economy and a driver for innovation.

The Arts Partners program is especially important since it focuses on bringing the arts to our schools, where the arts have been much less present since the funding constraints of Measure 5.

As a City Commissioner I’ll work to find a sustainable, ongoing funding source for public support of the arts in our region.

Jeff Bissonnette
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: portlandersforjeff.com
Financial status: $150,000 in public funding, $113,739.31 currently in the bank

The National Endowment for the Arts' slogan is "a great country deserves great art." We could adapt that same slogan for great cities as well.

While some may think of art as an "extra," we must realize that art is a core value, not just in a soft sense but having hard economic value as well. And to do this, we have to view "art" in its totality - not just paintings, sculpture, and museum pieces but also performing arts, film and video work and book publishing as well.

The economic value of art can be measured in several ways: the ability to attract artists of all mediums to the city; the ability to attract visitors to Portland to take part in arts events thus getting those outside dollars; the ability of artists to make a living and contribute to the local economy; the economic value of increased creativity in influencing improved business activities and the educational value of the arts with its ability to start conversations and explore new ways of thinking.

A recent poll commissioned by the Regional Arts and Culture Council (http://www.racc.org/resources/research/docs/2008PublicOpinionPollFMMA.pdf) found that a majority of Portland-area voters took part in arts and cultural activities at least a few times a year. It also found that voters thought that having arts offerings enhanced the "family-friendly" aspect of the region and that they perceived a threat to arts funding, particularly as part of school curricula. About half of those polled believed that arts funding was either stagnant or decreasing. And the poll found that about three-quarters of those polled thought that having a strong arts and culture community fueled creativity that helped the local economy. When it came down to dollars and sense, more than 70 percent of voters supported a dedicated source of funding for arts and culture organizations.

So, if we can acknowledge that arts and culture does have an economic value and we have broad public support for arts activities, what do we do? Here are some of my ideas:

1) Support a broad range of community arts organizations to connect art to the everyday life of Portlanders. As an example, Portland Community Media - a community non-profit whose board I've been part of for six years - has a program called OLLIE (Oregon Learning Lab for Information Education) where trained instructors work in classrooms and as part of other youth activities to assist students in making videos about the topics being covered in their classes and other activities. It teaches media literacy, critical thinking and communication skills. And isn't that what art is all about?

2) Enable artists to live and work in Portland. Affordability is a key concern across the city. And it also plays a role in helping those Portlanders who make their living in the creative arts. It often takes a long time to build the economic viability of an "arts practice" and artists of all stripes need to be able to have the time to develop their particular art. Having affordable living and working space is vital as well as having an overall affordable cost of living is crucial. The best thing is that affordability helps the rest of us too.

3) Support artists as business people. It's a cliche that artists are not good business people. While that may be true in some cases, it is more often the case that artists just have never learned the specific trade skills of business management. Providing the resources and support in management skills, or supporting business opportunities for non-artists to work in arts management will enable artists to both practice their craft and operate as the business entities they are.

4) Recognize that the arts community needs a strong business community. Increasing arts and culture availability depends on a strong and stable economy overall. Although art does have an intrinsic value of its own, the private sector can fully support the arts if the margin is there to do that. Thus, support for all locally-owned businesses and building the top two to four key strategic industrial sectors will enhance opportunities for support for the arts.

5) Increase arts funding. The city does have to lead the way in demonstrating support for the arts. The city council recently increased its commitment to arts funding from one percent for the arts to two percent for the arts. That's a step in the right direction but not enough. We are still well below per capita spending on the arts when compared to other great "arts cities" like Chicago, San Francisco and even Charlotte, NC. The city council should undertake a brief study of municipal per-capita arts spending, find a level that we can strive toward and set the policy goal to reach that level.

A great city does indeed deserve great art. More to the point, the great residents of our great city deserve great artists and those artists deserve our economic recognition and support.

Amanda Fritz
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: amandafritzforcitycouncil.com
Financial status: $150,000 in public funding, $51,998.48 currently in the bank

Arts are vital to the cultural, educational, and economic infrastructure of our region, as well as our city. Yet although both the cultural/entertainment aspects and the economic factors benefit the whole Metro region, the City of Portland already picks up most of the funding for arts and culture organization through the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC). I will work to encourage Clackamas and Washington Counties, Metro, and the State of Oregon to contribute their fair share to support the arts in the community and in schools.

The traditional reaction on support for cultural resources and activities is to consider arts for their aesthetic and soul-satisfying qualities. In 2008, however, "Creative Arts" is one of the known growth industries for Portland, the Metro region, and Oregon. We tend to think of "starving" and "artist" in the same phrase, but for thousands of Oregonians, Arts = Jobs. Graphic design and advertising fit well with our existing concentration of technology-based businesses. Arts industries generate over $300 million in spending in the Metro region, and support over 10,000 jobs. I will support economic development programs that promote good paying jobs in creative arts industries.

Right here in the heart of Portland, in the Central Eastside Industrial District, successful companies are producing films, commercials, and graphic art such as Nintendo games. If I am elected to the City Council, I will support not only leveraging funds for non-profits in the community via RACC, but also other ways the City can protect and add good jobs in creative arts industries. Keeping the Central Eastside's Industrial Zoning to ensure preservation of large warehouse spaces for production, is one example. Another is considering the impact of traffic flow changes in the Burnside-Counch couplet on sound studios nearby. I will work with the State to continue and enhance economic development incentives with proven success, to ensure that our film industry can compete with other locations.

My daughter is heading to Southern Oregon University in September, to try out for the Acting specialty in their Theater major. SOU hosts one of the premier drama programs on the West Coast, in partnership with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Knowing the odds of my daughter becoming a star are low, I'm glad I know there are many good-paying jobs off stage, in design and production. But hey, here's Ali's mom, with a good chance of winning a seat on the Portland City Council, thanks to Public Campaign Financing and my years of service in our community. Sometimes surprising things happen. Blogtown readers are warmly invited to see "Alice in Wonderland" at Wilson High School, May 7 through 10, to assess whether Portland's Public Schools are still producing stars.

My response to the Regional Arts and Culture Council's questions is posted here. Willamette Week made fun of my answer, saying the details I gave on the sources of funding put the reporter to sleep. I believe we need a new City Commissioner who will pay attention to important details, particularly when watching over taxpayers' money and looking for ways to bring more good paying jobs to Portland.

Mike Fahey
Position sought: Commissioner #1
Website: friendsofmikefahey.com
Financial status: $15,215.00 in contributions to date, $7,591.24 currently in the bank

Did not respond by deadline.

Oh, it’s on. In response to this:

Here’s a video of Celine Dion being interviewed on “Larry King Live” right after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. If you haven’t seen this before, I recommend watching the entire thing. It’s pretty incredible:

Wow. Just wow.

Now, if Celine only stuck to angry, tearful interviews, I would certainly be a fan. No question. But towards the end of this interview, she sings a song to soothe the troubled people (and look how nice she gets when Larry asks her to sing!)—and good god, what an awful, facile, predictable, artless piece of shit it is.

My point is this: Celine Dion makes crappy music. Everything else about her is a weird delight (even if it makes one borderline uncomfortable). But if we’re taking the music on its own merits, it’s schmaltz: rendered chicken fat, which I do not have a taste for.

Yes, Celine’s enthusiastic. But that’s not enough. I saw French electro-popper Yelle’s enthusiastic, joyous performance last night, and she was clearly having more fun than anyone else in the room. And she was terrific. She was truly great! She was so good that everyone in the room wanted to BE Yelle, singing in French and jumping to robotic disco beats.

Probably nobody watching that video Steve posted of “Proud Mary” wanted to be Celine. So what’s the difference between Yelle and Celine? Yelle makes good music. As a result, people who watch Yelle want to be Yelle. It’s that simple. (And Steve, if you really want justification in your love for Celine, I have a book you can read.)

The Garden Party:

We here at the Mercury don’t always understand the work put out by defunkt theatre. But frankly, after three years of reviewing theater in this town, I’ve seen enough blandly “thought-provoking” productions to appreciate the fact that defunkt doesn’t shy from genuinely difficult material. Their newest show, Vaclav Havel’s The Garden Party opens this weekend, and the two opening shows (Friday and Saturday) are FREE.

Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne, show opens April 25, runs Thurs-Sun 8 pm, Fri &S at $10-15, Thurs & Sun pay what you will

Nobody Here But Us Chickens:

The consistently excellent Third Rail Repertory presents Nobody Here But Us Chickens, their last show at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center before they move to the World Trade Center Theater downtown. Based on the press release, Film Editor Erik Henriksen was under the impression that the show was actually performed by chickens. ("Chickens will have a signed performance for the deaf on Thursday 5/1/08 at 8pm. Chickens will have an audio performance available for the blind on Sunday matinee 5/4/08 at 2pm.") It is not. It's three comedic pieces about people with disabilities, by British playwright Peter Barnes. ("The disabled are not a different species but, like the rest of us, absurd and ridiculous; only they have it harder.")

Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate, opens Fri, runs Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, $25 ($16 students)

The Ed Foreman Show, with ME! ED FOREMAN!:

Local funnyman Aaron Ross has a fictional alter ego—motivational speaker Ed Foreman—who will be joined onstage by none other than our future mayor, Sam Adams.

AudioCinema, 226 SE Madison, Sat, April 26, 7:30 pm, $10

Shakespeare Party:

In what must be the most endearingly nerdy theatrical event of the year, the Northwest Classical Theatre Company present their fifth annual "Shakespeare Birthday Bash," at which the Bard's b-day is celebrated with tea and cake, a Shakespeare open mic, and highlights from the NWCTC's upcoming season. I'm not sure I believe actors should be allowed access to open mics, but otherwise it sounds pretty fun.

PLUS! It's still "Clown Month" at Theater! Theatre! Click here for more info; and don't forget to check Found It! for complete reviews, listings, and more.

Last night, Commissioners Sam Adams, Dan Saltzman, and Randy Leonard filed an ordinance to move the now-infamous Sauvie Island Bridge to NW Flanders. Saltzman had earlier voted against the idea, saying he was uncomfortable that it was the city’s largest sole-source contract to date. He and Adams worked with the contractor, Kuney Construction, to split the contract in two, and put part of it out to bid.

So it’s going to happen—that’s three votes to move the bridge. Mayor Tom Potter, who originally opposed the idea because he hates cyclists he says the money could be put to better use elsewhere in the city (never mind that it really can’t), is outvoted.

Nevertheless, Potter just sent out this protestation:

Mayor Potter Statement on Proposed Sauvie Island Bridge Ordinance

“The debate isn’t about sustainability, our commitment to bicyclists and pedestrians, or safety. The debate is about our priorities and how we spend at least $5.5 million when our streets need basic maintenance, and some neighborhoods still can’t get sidewalks built.

“This bridge will give the Pearl District three overpasses in a three-block span - while Cully still waits for sidewalks. And while one accident anywhere is one accident too many, the N.W. Flanders site is not on PDOT’s list of dangerous intersections for either autos, bikes or pedestrians.”

And, in the mayoral equivalent of sticking out his tongue and scowling, Potter attached a list of the top crash sites.

Indeed, NW Flanders isn’t on it—which proves Adams’ point in wanting to put the bridge there in the first place. The proven-to-be-safe NW Flanders street is an ideal candidate for becoming NW Portland’s bike boulevard—if only people had a way to cross the highway. Potter didn’t attach the documents that say as much (including the one directing System Development Charges cash toward a list of projects that include the crossing, a list Potter voted to sign off on), because he’s content to remain intellectually dishonest on this politically-charged project.

Andrew R. Tonry and a very special guest deliver a brand new episode of Easier Than Reading, the musical podcast that gives you a sneak peak at the live music happening around town this week. In addition to hearing a lot about Pepsi and Hilary Clinton (have you guessed the guest yet?), hear tunes from the Bugs, Yeltsin (pictured), Black Kids, the Mae Shi, and MORE. Listen here.

Olympia is a bizarre little town and you couldn’t pay me enough to live there again, but this Independent Publishing Resource Center-sponsored daytrip to check out their ‘zine scene sounds fun. I used to work at the Starbucks in downtown Oly (where my uber-conservative boss insisted that we stop carrying The Stranger because it wasn’t “family friendly” enough), and the Procession of the Species Parade was always my favorite day to work. Everyone dresses up like animals and marches through downtown. Elephants drinking caramel macchiatos! It was the best. And then I got fired for stealing and had to move back in with my parents.

Anyway. IPRC field trip:

DIY in OLY: Field trip to Olympia, WA
We still have a few spaces if you want to join us Saturday for an all day field-trip. Registration will close Friday at 1 pm. Call the IPRC at 503-827-0249 to register.

What’s not to like about Olympia, Washington? From Evergreen College, to an awesome arty downtown, Oly is all about DIY. A full day of activities is planned. We’ll meet up with the local zine librarian who’s getting the zine library going again and visit the Community Print Center (at the back of a thrift store called Dumpster Values!) that offers screenprinting and letterpress. The trip will culminate at the annual “Procession of the Species” community art parade. Transportation included.
Sat, Apr 26, 2008, 9 am – 7 pm, $25

Plus, Dumpster Values is the shit! I got my favorite belt there for $5.

Pride Northwest has just announced the headliner for this summer’s pride-a-thon in Waterfront Park (June 14 and 15, mark your calendar, and stay tuned for the Mercury’s official guide to Pride, due out June 5!).

With a theme this year of “Pride. Bring It.”—I think it’s fair to say this headliner means it’s been brung. Broughten? Brought on?

It’s Lady Kier, self described as “the former lead singer, co-writer, co-producer and butt shaker for Deee-lite.” Indeed!

Check out Deee-lite’s infamous “Groove Is In the Heart,” and get ready to gay it up this June.

READ THIS POST FIRST, in which our own Ned Lannamann reviews the Celine Dion book from Continuum’s 33 1/3 series. Ned is very smart, and his post is very good—except for his central thesis which a steaming pile of poopy.

“Dion’s steamrolling histrionics allow no such subtlety of interpretation.”

Sorry, Ned, but to view Celine as simply “steamrolling histrionics” is a bit of intellectual snooziness on your part. You don’t like her; fine. You announced in the first part of your post that you have no intention of liking anything about her, which makes your hard-nosed line on histrionics a bit hard to swallow as far as objectivity goes.

There are actually a number of reasons a fairly sane person might like Celine Dion: 1) Her voice is weirdly amazing instrument, regardless of whether or not it suits one’s personal taste. 2) She’s a freak - her face goes into weird contortions when she sings (a hypnotic sight if there ever was one), and her dance moves are taken straight from any of the ’60s dance party shows (which I personally love). But most importantly, 3) Celine Dion is the epitome of enthusiasm, which many current musicians (and music lovers) seem to think of as the ultimate of un-cool. Her concerts are a freaky (and for me, totally unironic) joy, because unlike so many others, she goes BALLS OUT. She seems happily trapped in a past where entertainers are happy to entertain—regardless of whether or not they look like a participant in the Special Olympics. And while I might not always like the song choice, I definitely think the rest of the package has entertainment value.

And while I would certainly agree with you that not all art is of equal value, there is always value in an individual’s perspective. (Even if you’re a godless Canadian, you’re opinion should be validated, if not respected worldwide.) If they (or I) choose to like or dislike Celine Dion (or Vampire Weekend, or Yelle, or Waylon Jennings for that matter), being embarrassed about it is a waste of time.

In other words, Ned, if you’re looking for an easy fight, then why don’t you go tip a cow, you big bully?

You get it, girl! (I rest my case.)

Here’s a complaint just being filed against Portland Patrol, Inc. by Dale Hardway, a member of the Civic Action Group at Sisters of the Road.

RENT-A-COP: More allegations… (photo by Hardway)

4/24/2008, 12:57:32 PM, Complaint

On the above date, at approx. 11:40 a.m., I witnessed the attached Portland Patrol Incorporated officer tell 2 persons to leave from the sidewalk in front of Rite-Aid Pharmacy. The two persons were standing. I observed the same officer tell people they had to leave several days earlier that were standing. I walked by and took a photo of the officer with my camera, at which time he reached out as if to grab hold of me. I told the gentleman to keep his hands off of me and raised my hands above my head. This same PPI officer then demanded to see my identification, which I refused to show, and kept walking. This officer then followed me up Alder, then Broadway, then down Morrison, down 6th Ave and back up Alder to my place of employment on the 4th floor of the building I work in. I informed him he could not enter my office, as it is a locked office. My supervisor was coming out as I was going in, and I asked him not to identify me to the officer, which he did not. I consider this officer acting in a harassing manner because he did not want to be seen doing something he should not be doing, and as he was armed, I felt my safety was threatened.

So I pretty much love everything in Kill Bill, but that anime sequence in Vol. 1 is particularly striking. MTV Movies has word that we might be seeing more Kill Bill anime soon:

Two year[s] ago Quentin Tarantino piqued the interest of film fans everywhere when he promised two new anime companion films to Kill Bill, one supposedly about the origin of The Bride and the other about Bill himself.

We don’t know what’s happened to the story of The Bride, but the other animated film is going to blow you away, insisted star Uma Thurman.

“His anime stuff is strong,” she smiled….

“Right now he’s putting the two films together with an intermission with an added anime sequence he had already written,” she said of the ongoing saga of Beatrix Kiddo. “So additional stories are in there, in animation.”

Seems like ever since Kill Bill Vol. 1 came out—with the “House of Blue Leaves” sequence neutered into black and white to get an R rating—I’ve been waiting for Tarantino to release an unedited version on DVD. (In addition to the anime prequels to Kill Bill that he promised at one point, Tarantino has also talked about editing the two volumes together and releasing a special edition DVD to replace the bare-bones theatrical versions that’re currently available.) If I remember correctly, though (which almost never happens, but still), all of Miramax’s trouble started right about the time Vol. 2 wrapped up—which is maybe part of the reason that mega-DVD has taken so long to put together.

But this vague promise—that either Tarantino is either editing together Vols. 1 and 2 and putting new, animated footage in there, or that he’s actually getting down to producing the animated prequels—sounds great. Provided, that is, that it actually happens, and that it doesn’t just turn into another thing like Inglorious Bastards, which, at this point, I’m now 99 percent sure will never happen, and will just be one more project that Tarantino will perennially talk about maybe possibly doing someday.

Via Dark Horizons.

REVIEW:
Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste
By Carl Wilson
(Continuum)

Continuum’s 33 1/3 series has typically focused on albums that could be considered critical favorites – Forever Changes, Daydream Nation, Pet Sounds. However, in a recent volume, Carl Wilson (music editor at Toronto’s Globe and Mail) expands the scope of the series to an album that few rock journalists would admit to liking: Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love.

Yeah, the one with the Titanic song:

To Wilson’s credit, he doesn’t defend the album, or Dion’s oeuvre, but examines the factors of personality and environment that go into determining our individual tastes.

The premise of Wilson’s treatise is a good one: If Celine Dion is so incredibly popular, how come everyone I know hates her music? If I examine her music with all my critical faculties, will I uncover something of value? What does my hatred of her music say about me, and what does it say about the millions of people who love it? These are interesting and worthwhile questions, and I cautiously embarked on the book growling to myself, “Wilson, if you turn me into a Celine Dion fan, I will fucking kill you.”

Thankfully, no such tragedy occurred.

Instead, Wilson takes us on what is essentially a beginner’s course of aesthetics, and while it’s broadly interesting and well-presented, this reasonably scholarly exercise is not nearly as hilarious as one might hope. He charts the course of Celine’s global domination—she is horrifically popular in all parts of the world—and considers the philosophy of taste by citing David Hume and Immanuel Kant. These extended passages are brainier than your average music book—but, all told, they don’t really connect with the discussion of the music at hand in a satisfying way.

In one of the book’s more interesting stretches, Wilson provides an in-depth history of schmaltz (a word originally derived from the Yiddish for rendered chicken fat): he concludes that schmaltz is “an unprivate portrait of how private feeling is currently conceived.” With admirable intentions, he strives to level the critical playing field by democratizing art so that all of it is of equal value; the only quantifier is how much it jibes with the beholder’s personal tastes. Surely such generosity can’t end well, and it doesn’t: Wilson eventually finds himself in the audience at Celine’s live show in Vegas, sobbing about his recent divorce to the accompaniment of her maudlin caterwauling.

Yet by putting his hands in the fire (i.e. allowing himself to cultivate a personal relationship with Dion’s wretched music), Wilson overlooks a very important point. Fundamentally, some art IS worth more. One of the great abilities of art (and music) is to convey ambiguity, so that the specific meaning and significance of a piece can be shifted and valued in many different ways by various observers. Dion’s steamrolling histrionics allow no such subtlety of interpretation. Her songs are all about the sentiment she screeches; it’s impossible to listen to “My Heart Will Go On” and find room for any emotion other than the one she crams down our throats (except, possibly, revulsion to such force-feeding). Many listeners take comfort in such obviousness; Wilson should know better.

The District Attorney has decided not to prosecute a citizen journalist who had his camera confiscated by cops for videotaping an arrest downtown:

JOE ANYBODY: Films police…blogs about it…

Nevertheless, the citizen journalist, whose real name is Mike Tabor, plans to pursue a civil suit for nominal damages against the police bureau, asking for an official change of police bureau policy so officers know not to arrest people videotaping their activities. Mayor Tom Potter already told cops not to arrest people videotaping them in 1991, when he was police chief, in response to a query from the National Lawyers’ Guild:
POTTER LETTER: Take a second look at policy…

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