The Griever State

A guide to Sufjan Stevens' Oregon.

By MATTHEW SINGER

"I forgive you, mother, I can hear you/ And I long to be near you," he sings on the hushed opening track, "Death With Dignity," whose title alludes to the state's assisted suicide law. "But every road leads to a dead end."

Welcome to the Beaver State: Everything here dies eventually!

Indeed, Carrie & Lowell is not a travelogue. It's an ordeal. Stevens' associations with Oregon are tied to the fleeting memories of vacationing with his estranged mother, who abandoned the family when Stevens was a child. Her death in 2012 triggered a deep, peculiar grief in the 39-year-old songwriter, mourning a woman he hardly knew. On Carrie & Lowell, Stevens processes that pain in part by returning to those places within the state he visited with his mother and stepfather, the album's respective namesakes. It's a beautifully wounded, wrenching record, abandoning the sprawling fantasias of his past few albums and returning to the understated folk of his earlier work, and ranks up with Elliott Smith's rawest recordings for sheer emotional heft.

Still, that surely won't stop some dedicated fans from treating the album as a literal road map. So we enlisted Doug Kenck-Crispin, host of the Kick Ass Oregon History podcast, for a brief guide to the sites referenced in the lyrics.


Spencer Butte (Eugene)

“Found myself on Spencer’s Butte/ Traced your shadow with my shoe/ Empty outline changed my view/ Now all of me thinks less of you.” —“All of Me Wants All of You”

Many of Eugene's citizens voted in 1938 to purchase Spencer Butte and preserve the wee mount at the edge of town as a park for enjoyment and recreation. The point of view from the summit is surely stunning—on a clear Saturday morning, you can almost see the sea of crushed red plastic cups and smoldering roaches that many of the current residents recreate with.

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES: Hiking, trail running, look for closure in the splendor of God's creation, mountain biking.


Emerald Park (North Eugene)

“Emerald Park/ Wonders never cease/ The man who taught me to swim/ He couldn’t quite say my first name.” —“Eugene”

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES: Swimming, water aerobics, chlorine baptism.


Tillamook State Forest

“Tell me, what did you learn about the Tillamook burn?/ Or the Fourth of July?/ We’re all going to die.”
—“Fourth of July”

Over two weeks in August 1933, more than 300,000 acres of beautiful forest burned, an event known as the Tillamook Burn. Today, the resulting dead forest is remembered as an ecological disaster. It was indeed a tragedy for the state of Oregon, but in that era, the biggest tragedy was mainly the loss of all the trees the loggers were going to cut down and turn into lumber, anyway.

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES: Camping, fishing, target shooting, contemplating the inevitability of death.


Sea Lion Caves (Florence)

“Signs and wonders/ Sea lion caves in the dark/ Blind faith, God’s grace/ Nothing left to impart.” —“The Only Thing”

The only thing you have to know about Sea Lion Caves is that it is the largest sea cave in America, and also happens to contain the largest, most horrific sea lion shit smell you could possibly imagine. Your nose will hate you for visiting.

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES: Observe sea lions in their natural habitat, sob at the miracle of their existence.


Cottage Grove

“Under the pear tree/ Shadows and light conspiring/ Covered bridge, I scream/ Cottage Grove shade invite me.” —“Carrie & Lowell”

In the 1870s, the citizens of Cottage Grove began a bitter debate about where to locate the post office, a conflict that raged for the next two decades. This was the most exciting happening in Cottage Grove's dull but picturesque history—until being mentioned in a Sufjan Stevens song, at least.

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES: Visit the town's many covered bridges, stand inside them and scream to exorcise your anguish.


The Painted Hills

“I’m painting the hills blue and red/ They said beware/ Lord, hear my prayer/ I’ve wasted my throes on your head.”
—“John My Beloved”

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES: Dig for fossils, pray for salvation.


The Dalles

“Drag me to hell in the valley of The Dalles/ Like my mother/ Give wings to a stone/ It’s only the shadow of a cross.” —“No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross”

The Army Corps of Engineers laid a concrete tourniquet across the majestic Columbia River at this storied location. In March 1957, they flooded the native people's traditional fishing ground, and to add to the injury, then-Vice President Richard Nixon in 1959 officiated the dam's dedication.

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES: Tour Oregon's oldest museum, find an NA meeting.


The Blue Bucket Mine

“My blue bucket of gold/ Friend, why don’t you love me?/ Once the myth has been told/ The lens deforms it as lightning.” —“Blue Bucket of Gold”

The story goes that in the fall of 1845, somewhere east of The Dalles, a multitude of shiny gold rocks was found and placed in a pioneer's blue-colored bucket. The bucket was supposedly lost, as was the location of the mythical “mine.” 

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES: Search for hidden treasure, search for meaning, search for something to fill the void, stop in at the Sagebrush Saloon in Vale for a SouthWest Chile Cheese Burger. 

SEE IT: Sufjan Stevens plays Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, with Helado Negro, on Monday, June 8. 8 pm. Sold out. All ages. 

WWeek 2015

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