We Nominate Jim Lehrer As The New Katie Couric.

By WW Culture Staff
  1. KAVA PARTY: A business touting itself as “Portland’s first kava bar” has opened up on Southeast Division Street. Bula Kava House trades in the Polynesian herbal drink known for its alcohol-free intoxicating properties and making tourists visiting Pacific islands act like morons. The menu offers five different kavas from Papua New Guinea, Hawaii and Vanuatu paired with Hawaiian-inspired eats. With few laws controlling consumption, could this be the next hookah lounge?
  1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCANDALS: The Burnside Triangle may not be the thriving rainbow epicenter it once was, but one venue is still out and proud: Scandals—Portland’s self-proclaimed “gay Cheers”—celebrates its 32nd anniversary this week. As a birthday present to itself, the bar is launching a new “Thursday Night Live” series—with bands playing every Thursday night. And so say all of us! 
  1. KNUCKLE SHUFFLE: Amor Lounge, the divey Lebanese bar on Southeast Foster Road, is closing, to reopen as Knuckleheads, a biker bar. Previously, Knuckleheads was four blocks away, in the space that is becoming Gemini Lounge. 
  1. STOP THE MUSIC: After 15 years, Old Town Music—which has a history that dates back to the mid-’60s—is leaving downtown. And while spendy rent and the ever-expanding Chinatown douchebag district may factor into the shop’s relocation reasoning, longtime employee Hank Failing puts a brighter spin on things. “We need to expand to get a bigger store,” Failing says. “And, really, we want to be closer to local musicians.” The store’s new location, on Southeast 11th Avenue and Ankeny Street, gives Old Town Music (the name makes slightly less sense these days) a larger showroom and—gasp!—a parking lot. The new location opens Saturday, April 23, but faithful customers should keep their eyes peeled for a party just before the official opening.
  1. CELLULOID CLOSING: The end of 35 mm film as a movie format has long been impending, but now the triumph of digital projection has netted a local casualty: Portland’s only celluloid-film print distribution center is closing at the end of the month. Deluxe Film Services, better known in local cinema circles as the Portland “film depot,” is receiving its final first-run 35 mm reels for local theaters this weekend: the goofy-billionaire remake Arthur and the shark-survival drama Soul Surfer. After it ships those reels back to the studios next weekend, and handles a round of second-run films for the Laurelhurst Theater and some McMenamins theater pubs, the depot will shutter. “Definitely not a rumor,” says Deluxe Film Services manager Derek Sehorn. “35 mm film’s going away. It sucks.”

WWeek 2015

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