Arts

[June 21st, 2006]

^The End of the World As We Know It?

This summer's high-profile releases battle it out for the destiny of Planet Earth.

By Mark Baumgarten

The Dixie Chicks struck first last month with their take-back-of-the-take-back-of-the-Bush-bash album Take the Long Way. For those who believe in the power of music to change the world, the Chicks' first blow against evil in the form of a No. 1 spot on Billboard is a hopeful sign that we might just get out of this season alive. But the battle has only just started, and with a healthy flow of good and evil releases hitting shelves in the next three months, the summer promises to heat up (and not only because of Bushie's bunk energy policy).

Evil will make a subtle first stab, coercing potential protestors against evil to just get drunk, high and apathetic when covert agent of evil Afroman releases Drunk 'n' High on June 27. On the same day, good will take another blow when it counters with Dashboard Confessional's Dusk and Summer. The sound of Chris Carraba's voice will only make more people want to get drunk and high. Score: Good 1, Evil 1 .

On July 4, Johnny Cash's posthumous American V: A Hundred Highways comes out. Good gets 2 points for that. Good 3, Evil 1 .

Also on July 4, Toby Keith will say something idiotic masquerading as patriotic. Millions of well-meaning drunks will cheer because they like beer. Evil gets 3 for that. Good 3, Evil 4 .

On July 11, Peaches will release Impeach My Bush, which will at first appear to be a victory for good, until everyone realizes that Peaches sucks. Score 1 for evil. Good 3, Evil 5 .

Good will own the late-July schedule, throwing out new albums by Thom Yorke, Michael Franti and Spearhead, the French Kicks and Jurassic 5. That's one point to good for each album. Good 7, Evil 5 .

August will be a toss-up as good releases from the Mountain Goats and Outkast go head to head against evil releases from the Gin Blossoms and Christina Aguilera. The deadlock will be blown apart, though, when Billy Ray Cyrus releases the most evil album of the summer, Wanna Be Your Joe, on Aug. 22. Good 7, Evil 15 .

September will close with a mighty battle as the irreprehensible Beyoncé releases B'Day. Good will rejoice, booty dance and score 9 points, while evil will weep after foolishly placing all its hopes on the midmonth release from "P. Diddy" Combs. Combs will retire from music, which ultimately means that good wins, 16 to 15 .

^Actors at Work

The Chuck Mee Challenge gets theater audiences out of the sun and into the dark.

By Johanna Droubay

Though every summer sees its share of big-budget touring shows and low-budget Shakespeare in the park, experimental theater usually makes itself scarce as umbrellas and turtlenecks during these warmer months. Why? 'Cause edgy theater artists can hardly put butts in seats when the weather sucks, let alone when the sun's out. Blue skies be damned, Portland playwright Francesca Sanders has big, messy, experimental plans for one night in June. Why should you care? Because some of the city's hottest directors have jumped on board Sanders' project, a.k.a. The Chuck Mee Challenge. And did we mention it's free?

The idea is this: Accomplished American playwright and historian Charles Mee was recently commissioned by Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater to write a play about, well, America. But since America isn't finished, he thought the play should be unfinished, too. So he challenged other writers to rewrite and add on to his work, titled Under Construction. (The cool thing about Mee is that all of his plays are copyright-free.) Sanders accepted his challenge and emailed him a draft, and, much to her surprise, soon Mee was as interested in her work as she'd been in his. He even workshopped some of her scenes at the Guthrie.

For one night only you can catch Sanders' Mee-inspired scenes on stage as interpreted by eight daring directors, including Drammy winners Kristan Seemel (Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights) and Olga Sanchez (Lorca in a Green Dress). Anyone familiar with these A-listers knows their styles are wildly different. While Sanchez's work tends to be steeped in folk tradition, Seemel seems stoked on nonlinear, avant-garde scripts. Sanchez says she signed on to the project because she admires Sanders' work. And she selected her particular scene because "in three pages it's subversive, disturbing, has a dance number and a British accent. It's about colonialism, power, and it's funny."

So stow your sunglasses and spend just one balmy evening in a dark theater with a bunch of strangers. It'll give you something to talk about at the beach.

Check out The Chuck Mee Challenge at Theater! Theatre!, 3930 SE Belmont St., 493-2955. 7:30 pm Monday, June 26. Free. Or, to read the full text of Under Construction and write your own ending, visit www.charlesmee.org/html/construction.html.

^The Wait Is Over

This year's Oregon Biennial showcases more than just art.

By Richard Speer

For art lovers, it's the biggest event of the year—make that the biggest event of two years—no, make that an astounding three years, due to construction on the Portland Art Museum's new Mark Building: The Oregon Biennial '06 is long awaited and long overdue—but wait no more! The crème de la crème of regional artists have won a chance to showcase their works in this survey of the most groundbreaking paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, video projects and other polyglot creative endeavors. Art lovers, collectors, curators and scenesters will line up to view the fruits of 34 talented and lucky artists, including Chandra Bocci and Michael Brophy, winnowed down from a daunting 760 applicants. Even though the Biennial is arguably no more than a highly subjective freeze-frame of Oregon's state of the art, it's perceived as an "it" list of who's hot and who's not. This year, there's even more Biennial buzz than usual, because this is rookie curator Jennifer Gately's first outing as art arbiter. Hers will be a highly visible trial by fire: If she gets the artist mix and physical layout right, her status as ascendant star is assured; if she miscalculates, public and critical reaction could be brutal. Will Gately sink or swim? You decide, July 29!

Oregon Biennial '06, Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 226-2811. July 29-Oct. 8. $6-$10.

^Cinema Heaven

Look up in the sky! It's a movie!

By David Walker

Once upon a time there were these places called "drive-in movie theaters." As the name suggests, these were giant, outdoor theaters where you actually sat in your car and watched a movie. Actually, you usually watched at least two movies, and since most drive-ins were only open during the summer and early autumn, you were just as likely to sit outside, sprawled out on the roof of the family car. Sadly, most drive-ins have gone the way of cheap gas. Although there is one in Newberg that's open Friday through Sunday for those willing to make the drive (99W Drive-In, www.99w.com). My point is that it can be difficult to watch movies on a large, outdoor screen. Which is what makes Top Down film showcase such a treat.

Presented by the Northwest Film Center, and hosted by the Hotel deLuxe (the Mallory's new incarnation), Top Down is a seven-week series that shows a different movie every Thursday night from July 20 through Aug. 31 atop the parking garage of the deLuxe (Southwest 15th Avenue and Yamhill Street). It is a somewhat surreal experience watching a film under the night sky, with the sights and the sounds of the city surrounding you on all sides, but it just can't be beat. And just think of how much you'll save on gas.

What makes this year's Top Down the best showcase so far is that it comes closer to re-creating the outdoor drive-in experience with its eclectic collection of films. The series kicks off with Harold Schuster's 1957 Portland Exposé (July 20), a B-movie potboiler about vice and corruption in the City of Roses that provides an interesting glimpse of Portland 50 years ago. For laughs—both intentional and unintentional—there's Jerry Lewis' The Bellboy (July 27), the kung fu comedy From Beijing with Love (Aug. 3) from the director of Kung Fu Hustle, and the Olivia Newton-John stinker Xanadu (Aug. 10). Gus Van Sant's Mala Noche (Aug. 24) lends an artistic, not to mention local, touch to the outdoor screening series. But the two biggest highlights of Top Down, and the films that best represent the drive-in experience are Jack Hill's Coffy (Aug. 17), starring Pam Grier as a shotgun-toting nurse turned vigilante who goes on a murderous rampage, and Monte Hellman's cross-country drag-racing classic Two-Lane Blacktop (Aug. 31).

For more information, go to www.nwfilm.org.

^Easy Readers

Don't sweat the small print: This summer's hottest titles are easy on the eyes.

BY KARLA STARR

It's hot. Lava hot. Your brain is officially fried, and your attention span is as long as a midget's eyelash.

Try looking at pretty pictures :

Life as a Night Porter by Chris Shaw (Twin Palms, $60) is stuffed with the beautiful weirdness that Shaw photographed during his night-shift tenure.

The Transportation of Place, by Andrea Robbins and Max Becher (Aperture, $50), features some incredible photography from random places, all of it breathtaking: Call it "traveling without leaving the shade."

Everything Is Complicated by Sempe OR Nothing Is Simple by Sempe (Phaidon, $24.95 each) showcases the work of the French cartoonist and darling of The New Yorker—you can at least read captions, right?

We All Die Alone, by Mark Newgarden (Fantagraphics, $29.95), the first collection of assorted comics and drawings from the Garbage Pail Kids creator, may have words, but they just add to the sublime, eccentric brilliance on each page.

Teun Hocks (Aperture, $40), Hocks' first portfolio published in the U.S., showcases the work of the surreal, innovative and unforgettable Dutch artist.

It's hot. You want to take a clue and turn up the heat on your lifestyle?

Grab Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World's Most Colorful Despots, by Peter York (Chronicle, $24.95), for inspiration. Who knew that Slobodan Milosevic had a kick-ass pool table? You do, now.

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, edited by Robert Dimery (Universe/Rizzoli, $34.95), will make you cool.

It's hot. While everybody else does keg stands, become an expert on an arbitrary topic, so no one can dispute your sizzling statements.

Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish, by Tom Shachtman (North Point Press, $25), explores the Amish rite of passage.

Drawn to Extremes: The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons, by Chris Lamb (Columbia University Press, $19), is an arresting look back at editorializing.

Why?, by Charles Tilly (Princeton University Press, $24.95), explores the ways we give reasons and explanations and what they mean.

The Spotter's Guide to the Male Species, by Juliette Willis (Quirk, $12.95), explores the most arbitrary topic of all.

^Noteworthy Birthdays

Chamber Music Northwest's summer festival celebrates the double b-day of Wolfie and Dmitri.

By James Bash

When the rain finally stops dripping and the sun muscles through the clouds, it's time for Chamber Music Northwest's summer festival. This year, CMNW presents five weeks of stellar musicmaking at Reed College and Catlin Gabel School. Once again, the festival relies on a core of terrific artists from Lincoln Center in New York, such as Cynthia Phelps, who also happens to be the principal violist with the New York Philharmonic, and augments them with outstanding musicians from around the nation, plus a select group of locals, including Oregon Symphony members Niel DePonte, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Yoshinori Nakao and John Cox.

In honor of Mozart's 250th birthday and Shostakovich's 100th, the summer festival is studded with gems by both composers in programs that usually feature a variety of works from composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi as well as contemporary pieces by Aaron Jay Kernis, Stephen Hartke and Michael Daugherty. Pianists Anne-Marie McDermott and André-Michel Schub will play pieces for two pianos in a unique program that pairs the music of Mozart and Shostakovich. This program is especially interesting when you consider the personalities of these two composers. Mozart was an extroverted musical genius who said that he could write music as easily as cows can piss. Shostakovich was an introverted, painfully shy musical genius who poured out a massive number of works that include 15 symphonies, 15 string quartets, six operas, and film music.

Among the most anticipated concerts of the series are three evenings of Shostakovich string quartets, performed by the Emerson String Quartet. Awarded six Grammys, the Emerson String Quartet is at the top of the pyramid of string quartets in the world. They can play Shostakovich's difficult and at times undecipherable music in a way that makes it meaningful and poignant. You might have painful memories of listening to a Shostakovich piece, thinking that it had peeled the facing off your refrigerator, but the Emerson String Quartet is one of the few ensembles that can change your perception.

Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at Kaul Auditorium, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. Tuesdays and Fridays at Catlin Gabel School, 8825 SW Barnes Road. June 26-July 30 (July 21 concert is at Kaul Auditorium). All concerts start at 8 pm, except July 23 and 30 at 4 pm. 294-6400 or www.cmnw.org. $10-$40.

^Bedhead vs. Deadhead

Hipster and hippie summer fests in and around P-town.

By Amy McCullough

If there are a few things Portland has in droves, it's greasy-haired hipsters and dread-heady hippies. And if there are a few things you can count on during an Oregon summer, it's sunny days and more fests than you can shake a white belt or a patchwork pant leg at. So roll up that reefer or grab a half-rack of PBR: Let's go festing.

If roots music is what you're after, then the Eight Annual Pickathon 2006 is the place to get your hoe down. Closer to Portland than ever (just east of Mount Scott at Pendarvis Farm), this two-day fest—featuring the likes of kick-ass blues guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps, legendary folkstress Iris Dement and local faves Trashcan Joe and Ashleigh Flynn—benefits KBOO radio and encourages kiddies and instruments to come along, making it a family fave and something akin to a giant outdoor jam session.

A little further out at Pudding River, followers of Jah and ganj can get their dreads in full swing at the Northwest World Reggae Festival. This three-day fest nabbed KRS-One and Junior Reed (to name just a few) to bolster up its rasta-infused music lineup, and—along with organic food, bevvies and Oregon brews—has added a "Children's World" this year to keep the little ones busy with creative crafts while you step away to toot the reefer.

If strings are your thing, get your pick on with a three-day weekend at Horning's Hideout for the Fifth Annual Northwest String Summit. The Yonder Mountain String Band plays three foot-stompin' nights in a row; there's also a band competition, music from punk-pickers Split Lip Rayfield, alt-country rockers Son Volt doin' it acoustic-style, and tons more.

Heading farther down the I-5 corridor toward Eugene puts you smack in the middle of hippie heaven. The acid-dropper's best friend, craft and music fest the Oregon Country Fair (now in its 37th year!), offers some of the coolest handmade hippie goods this side of the Cascades, naked bodies and crazy stilt-walkers, plus all sorts of awesome stoner grubbage—from killer samosas to frozen, chocolate-and-nut-covered nanners. A little to the west at the mythical Secret House Winery, you've got the Faerieworlds Festival, an imaginative collection of everything faerie, from live world and folk music to artists and faerie experts Wendy—who designed Yoda and some of Jim Henson's Muppets—and Brian Froud. Then there's Hempfest, a spiffy festival of "you really made this from hemp?" crafty wonders and perplexing hemp food that promotes environmentally positive products and takes place right in the Euge alongside the lovely Willamette. Just heed this advice: When they tell you to eat only half of that green, stem-infused cookie, listen.

More on the hipster end of things? Oregon didn't forget about ya. From Seattle's three-day, Labor Day extravaganza, Bumbershoot, featuring loads of good music (from Kanye West and Mates of State to Portland's own the Gossip), as well as cool films and DIY urban crafts, to P-town's own local all-ages music fest, the volunteer-run PDX Pop Now! Festival, we've gotcha covered. There's also Olympia's Homo A Go Go, where you can head north and get anti-everything. This queer music, art, film, spoken-word and radical activism festival is anti lots of stuff, but it's bad stuff like war, racism and sexism. Plus, proceeds benefit Olympia's Gender Variant Health Project, so your open-mindedness helps out a good cause, too.

Need something everyone can agree on? That's not hard, either. In a land of hopheads, it doesn't matter who you are or what you listen to: You love beer, so get your ass on down to Bend for the Third Annual Bend Brew Festival, where you can lap up over 60 craft and international brews amid the beauty of the Deschutes River valley. So, you see, whatever your bag is, there's something a reasonable distance away from P-town designed specifically to tickle your festing fancy.

Vital Info:

Pickathon 2006 Friday-Saturday, Aug. 4-5. Pendarvis Farm near Boring. Info at www.pickathon.com.

Northwest World Reggae Festival Friday-Sunday, July 21-23. Pudding River near Woodburn. Info at 288-1310 or www.nwworldreggae.com.

Northwest String Summit Friday-Sunday, Aug. 25-27. Horning's Hideout in North Plains. Info at www.stringsummit.com (Ticketswest).

Oregon Country Fair Friday-Sunday, July 7-9. Near Veneta. Info at 541-343-4298 or www.oregoncountryfair.org (Ticketswest).

Faerieworlds Festival Saturday-Sunday, July 29-30. Secret House Winery near Veneta. Info at www.faerieworlds.com.

Hempfest Friday-Sunday, July 14-16. Washington-Jefferson Park in Eugene. Info at 541-434-2377 or www.oregonhempfest.com.

Bumbershoot Saturday-Monday, Sept. 2-4. Seattle Center in Seattle, Wash. Info at 206-281-7788 or www.bumbershoot.com.

PDX Pop Now! Festival Friday-Sunday, July 28-30. Loveland in Portland. Info at www.pdxpopnow.com.

Homo A Go Go Tuesday-Sunday, Aug. 1-6, Capitol Theater in Olympia, Wash. Info at www.homoagogo.com.

Bend Brew Festival Friday-Saturday, Aug. 18-19. Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend. Info at 541-322-9383 or www.bendconcerts.com.