DISCOMFORTABLE.
  • DISCOMFORTABLE.

Well, well, well, we're nearly at the end of our mildly successful Discomfort Zone series, and who's left? It's Mercury arts/web editor Alison Hallett, whose likes are, in this order: 1) Cats. 2) Comics about cats. 3) Eating gelato from Alder while reading comics about cats.

But we don't care about that! What are her dislikes? In the few years that I've known Alison, I have been able to determine that they are as follows, in this order: 1) Hardboiled eggs. 2) Discrimination. 3) Shakespeare in the Park. Therefore, this week's Discomfort nominees were tailored with her dislikes in mind, and while the much-anticipated annual Easter Egg Hunt & Racism Ball unfortunately doesn't fall on this weekend, we found some choice events in the coming days that should make Alison distinctly discomfortable.

Knucklehead Blues Fest
SE Foster biker bar Knucklehead's is hosting a three-day festival of that most discomfortable of musical genres: the blues. While we can't make her go to all three days, we can definitely ruin her Sunday by sending her to a long day/night of white dudes singing, "Woke up this morning..." PROS: The blues; bikers. CONS: Alcohol. Alison might be able to drink her way through this one.
Knucklehead's, 6219 SE Foster, Sunday September 4

Jerry Garcia Celebration
More unfortunate music, this time performed by Jerry Garcia tribute band Cats Under the Stars. What makes this so discomfortable (other than the music)? Alison loves cats, which means she's automatically predisposed to love Cats Under the Stars based on their name alone—but I predict that she'll experience disorientation and confusion (in other words, DISCOMFORT) when it becomes apparent that these particular Cats are neither fluffy nor purr-y. Also, hippies.
The Goodfoot, 2845 SE Stark, Sunday September 4

Shakespeare's As You Like It performed out of doors
A-ha! Now we are getting somewhere. The otherwise likable Portland Actors Ensemble (their logo is of Shakespeare wearing sunglasses! Tubular, dude!) insists on blabbing their way through the gender-bending As You Like It, one of the Bard's most discomfortable plays, without the benefits of an indoor stage. This is certainly one of Alison's pet peeves. Also, it's at Reed, which means she'll be surrounded by Reedies. DISCOMFORTABLE.
Reed College, in front of Eliot Hall, Sunday September 4 & Monday September 5

A charming day at the Oregon State Fair
It's the last day of this year's Oregon State Fair, and there's plenty to see and do, including a concert by Selena Gomez at 4:30 pm! Alison must attend Ms. Gomez's performance in full, PLUS complete at least three of the following activities also taking place on this fine day of family and fun (here's a PDF of the full schedule):
• Warpaint International: Paintball Open Play
• Let’s Pretend Circus - Cutest Show on Earth
• Marion County Sheriff and Keizer Police K-9 Demonstrations
• GASCAR Crazy Animal Races
• Bi-Mart Presents Radio Disney
Oregon State Fairgrounds, 2330 17th St. NE, Salem, Monday September 5