December 1999 December 1 December 8 December 15 December 22 December 28 back to Archives home Volume 26, issue 4, December 1, 1999 NEWS 500 Words Going Both Ways: Opponents of homosexuality have adopted a surprising weapon: the First Amendment. Lead Story Why The Outrage? This ain't no party, this ain't no Frisco. This is late November in Seattle. And yet, 50,000 protesters, including busloads of Portlanders, showed up this week to say "Hell, no" to the current state of the WTO. Politics Fax Checking: The city's probe into abuse at its 911 center includes a look at a manager's side job in the cruise industry. Politics The 'Burbs Strike Back: East County officials don't see why they should pay to bring Triple-A baseball to Portland. Labor Nursing A Grudge: A personal relationship between two negotiators is causing a stir on Pill Hill. Law Tokin' Gestures: A year after Oregon's medical-marijuana law went into effect, the visions of a law-enforcement nightmare seem to have gone up in smoke. Letters "We could recapture our dignity and our right to privacy tomorrow if American workers would just collectively say no to the next escorted trip to the john. " NewsBuzz WW Reader Contest: Hai2k | Chief Complaints | Seven Deadly Omissions | Corrections Scoreboard This week's winner and losers Rogue of the Week When you take on a powerful health-care industry, it's nice to have researchers at one of the world's top teaching hospitals on your side. LIFE Willamette Week's 25th Anniversary Party Pictures from our birthday bash Feature House Party: The habanero-hot real-estate market has designers jumping to get their names stitched across your bedspread, not just your breast pocket. Q & A Jan Brett Shop Going Places CULTURE Feature Gotta Catch 'Em All: Sarah Ellen Taylor shuffles the deck and puts her cards--local artist trading cards--on the table. Dinner Palace of Love Suey Chow's personals column Music Music Column Daydream Nation Profile A pack of Cigarettes, Four Cans of Pabst and Thou: Lisa Miller and the Trailer Park Honeys play honky-tonk music about love, loss and drinking. And no, they will not apologize. CD Reviews Visual Audio: Some of this fall's most prominent movie soundtracks make statements; others are just trying to make bank. Recorded Music Reviews of new releases from Mogwai, Rob Zombie, and Thrill Kill Kult. Screen Review Setting The Standard: Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 masterpiece, North by Northwest, is quite simply one of the most entertaining action movies ever made. Review End of Career? Please? Arnold battles Satan in End of Days. Don't be surprised if you root for the Devil. Performance Stage Interview Enter Stage Center: There's a hunger in town. Portland Center Stage's new artistic director may very well be what the theater community is craving. Volume 26, issue 5, December 8, 1999 NEWS 500 Words Ways of Giving: How you can help those in need this holiday season. Lead Story Seattle: Voices from the Streets Healthcare Fill In The Blanks: A Task Force finds Multnomah County's mental-health system in disarray. Crime Cliff Notes: Last month, Cliff Frey was sprung from prison early. His release gave his family reason to celebrate, but also cause for concern. Letters "Did these six teachers ever stop to think how incredibly uncomfortable it must make some of their own students feel, just to know that their teacher believes that their lifestyle makes them "severely abnormal" or "sick"? " NewsBuzz WW Reader Contest: Hai2k | Striking It Rich | Straining Relations | The Party's Over | Dueling Measures | Watch and Learn Scoreboard This week's winner and losers Rogue of the Week When it comes to prudish backstabbing and sanctimonious politicking, it's hard to top this week's Rogue, Washington County Commissioner Kim Katsion. LIFE Feature Gimme The Boot Q & A John Cosgrove Shop Ring My Bell CULTURE Feature Twenty-Six Things About Local Poetry Guru Dan Raphael: Perhaps you've seen the hulking Dan Raphael lead a writing workshop or MC a poetry reading. Or maybe you've caught him working at the DMV. Lurking beneath his smiling, woolly exterior lies a man obsessed with numbers--specifically, the numbers 2 and 6. Dinner Palace of Love Suey Chow's personals column Music Music Column Daydream Nation Preview Spanish Bombs: Portland's Al-Andalus explores the 15th-century ethnic melting pot of Andalusia and finds a minefield of music, history and identity. Preview The Kid Is Alright: Jeremy Wilson almost became a rock star, only to suffer band breakups, major-label failures, spiritual crisis and emotional spin-out. He's happy everything worked out so well. Recorded Music Reviews of two new releases. Screen Review Wild at Heart: After lying dormant for almost 10 years, Léos Carax's notorious Lovers on the Bridge (Les Amants du Pont-Neuf) has finally been released. Is it worth all the hoopla? Dish Mash beer column Review Fireproof: Rebounding from near death in a recent fire, the Veritable Quandary shows why fate pardoned the downtown fixture: It serves excellent food. Performance Review From Fiasco to Filigree: Aaron Copland's operatic masterpieceThe Tender Land was at first written off as a disaster. Then Oregon Symphony's Murry Sidlin rescued it from the fire. Visual Art Review Monet Shot: Portland Art Museum celebrates two new galleries masterfully. Volume 26, issue 6, December 15, 1999 NEWS 500 Words Ebony and Ivory: Vera Katz chooses the white guy. Lead Story West End Story: There's a rumble brewing on the edge of downtown. Healthcare Killer On The Loose: A Multnomah County task force is finding some clues to Portland's heroin epidemic, but no easy answers. Crime Sticking To Their Guns: Washington County's parole and probation officers want the option to carry sidearms--something their colleagues in every other Oregon county enjoy. But their bosses say packing heat would only endanger the county's largely female PO corps. Reader Response The Lessons of Seattle: Now that the smoke--and tear gas--have cleared from the WTO protests, what have we learned? Four readers weigh in. Letters "A manager for the City of Portland, stated, "There needs to be an arm's length relationship...I wouldn't do it, I would never put the city in that position." The question that must be raised is why did OHSU managers put these negotiations in that position? " NewsBuzz Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow | The Final Word | Marshaling Support | Ways of Giving | Seen But Not Heard | Déjà News Scoreboard This week's winner and losers Rogue of the Week It's one thing when a company holds a lavish party at shareholder expense. It's another when the perpetrator is a front for the Oregon Health Sciences University, whose shareholders are better known as taxpayers. LIFE Feature The Dawning of the Age of Schlep: Say bye-bye to the shackles of Martha Stewart: The slovenly life is your new master. Q & A Jack Tackle Shop Stuff This CULTURE Feature Hard-Boiled Portland: Think all the City of Roses does is smell sweet? Well, think again. Portland is a hotbed for fans of hard-boiled lit and menacing noir. Music Music Column Daydream Nation Seasonal Cheer Black and Blue Christmas: Record companies pummel Christmas shoppers with tinsel-clad seasonal CDs each yuletide. We undergo this year's round of punishment. Recorded Music Reviews of two new releases. Screen Review It's Too Easy Being Green: Director Frank Darabont's long-awaited follow-up to The Shawshank Redemption is a powerful epic dulled by familiarity. Review Slow Ride: Despite its intriguing subject matter, director Ang Lee's Civil War epic is tedious and stilted. Dish Mash beer column Review Stick to Your Bones: Barbecue isn't strictly a summertime food; consider Yam Yam's Southern Barbecue to warm you up this winter. Performance Review From Fiasco to Filigree: Aaron Copland's operatic masterpieceThe Tender Land was at first written off as a disaster. Then Oregon Symphony's Murry Sidlin rescued it from the fire. Words Words Joy To The Word: Who says Christmas fiction has to wallow in the saccharine sentimentality of the season? BiblioFile Reviews of two new books Volume 26, issue 7, December 22, 1999 NEWS Lead Story Jackpot Nation: Seventeen years ago, the Grand Ronde Indian tribe didn't exist. Now, with gambling's help, it's becoming a powerful political force. Lead Story Sidebar Dividends Of All Kinds: Financial security helps, but the success of the Grand Ronde also provides more important forms of security. Lead Story Sidebar As Indian As He Wants -And Needs- To Be: Justin Martin says his experience outside the Grand Ronde world will benefit the tribe. Education The Rich Get Richer: Portland's system of teacher transfers is creating a brain drain at some of its neediest schools. Labor Tidings of Protest and Joy: The owner of the Mallory Hotel faces a Wobbly-voiced revolt from a small group of his employees. Urban Pulse Cleaning House: Portland's best-known anti-gang progam is getting out of the residential treatment game. Letters "There are lots of losers due to the steep price of concerts these days (I venture some CSN&Y fans will feel that way), but Randy Newman fans weren't among them last week. " NewsBuzz Mayor's Ball | 2000: Still A Space Odyssey | Seeking Shelter | The Little Thaw | Bragdon Rights | Ways of Giving Scoreboard This week's winner and losers Rogue of the Week Authorities believe that an unidentified man will attempt to fly into Portland the night of Dec. 24 and seek unauthorized access to an undetermined number of residential dwellings... LIFE Feature Windows With soul: gutsy getups that reward the penniless browser Q & A Jake Oken-Berg Shop Good Bubbly, No Ballyhoo CULTURE Feature Jump, Clarence, Jump! Without fail, the holiday season rolls around and we get an overdose of traditional celluloid dreck. Here's a guide to help you subvert the dominant movie paradigm. Dinner Palace of Love Suey Chow's personals column Music Music Column Daydream Nation: A Quiet Word With... The Dolomites Profile Wonder From Down Under: Aussies-turned-Portlanders Georgie and Simon Honisett lead the meditative Marvel-Ann down America's lost highways. Nightlife Last Night, Last Minute: Although millions of Americans will opt for home and hearth on New Year's Eve, here are three picks for those who want to brave the millennial maelstrom of downtown Portland on that magic night. Recorded Music Reviews of two new releases. Screen Review Raggedy Andy: In Man on the Moon, Jim Carrey brilliantly re-creates the mysterious Andy Kaufman--if only director Milos Forman could have followed his lead. Review God Bless...Canada? Don McKellar's Last Night celebrates a decade of great Canadian filmmaking--and the end of the world. Dish Mash beer column Review Merchant of Hillsboro: Four years ago, the popular Northeast haunt Merchant of Venice closed its doors. It recently reopened in Hillsboro to a suburban enclave hankering for some citylike options. Words Words Joy To The Word: Who says Christmas fiction has to wallow in the saccharine sentimentality of the season? BiblioFile Reviews of two new books Visual Art Review Still Life with Bureaucrat: City workers like to do more than follow the rules and enforce codes. Some of them even draw outside the lines. Volume 26, issue 8, December 28, 1999 NEWS Lead Story Top 5 Reasons For This Issue: lists of this year's best, from food trends to public art Urban Pulse Homeless For The Holidays: Seven months after three homeless women were found murdered, social service advocates say the city's shelter plan still isn't working. Politics Training Grounded: A manager in the city's embattled 911 center quits, saying his boss has no desire to revamp the Bureau of Emergency Services. Letters "You listed smokers as losers when clearly they should have been placed in the winners' column. This ordinance will provide an opportunity for these smokers to stop smoking." NewsBuzz Bev Stein vs. Bill Sizemore | Bill Bowerman's devilish side | Jo Ann Bowman does jury duty | Ney Year's Eve at Pioneer Square | Hai-2K Contest | Corrections Scoreboard This week's winner and losers Rogue of the Week State Farm insurance demonstrated a Houdini-like ability to make files from a damaging Oregon lawsuit briefly disappear. LIFE Feature Get A Room: We're not talking about a quick throw at the Motel 6. Step inside Portland's most unusual luxury suites--you'll want to linger. Q & A Clive Charles Shop Write On: pens are small, ubiquitous and very, very important. CULTURE Feature Listing Life: One of the Top 10 Centuries of All Time winds down, and we're buried under an avalanche of best-of, worst-of, Top-10, Top-100 and Top-1,000 lists. As we add to it, we have to wonder: What's the point? Dinner Palace of Love Suey Chow's personals column Music Music Column Daydream Nation: End Days Hits! Millenial Manifesto Less Than '00: The '90s saw once-bilious underground rock invaded, co-opted and partitioned into bite-size commercial chunks. A look back (in anger) at life during wartime. Artist of the Decade The Microphone Fiend: Twelve years after he and Eric B. dropped Paid in Full, Rakim Allah remains the master of hip-hop in the '90s. Recorded Music Reviews of three new releases from The Knitting Factory. Screen Decade Wrap-Up 10-Year Time Lapse: Our film writers practice the highly cleansing ritual of summing up the decade in film. One caveat: If you asked them to list their '90s favorites again next week (or, oh, in an hour), it would probably be a completely different list. Dish Review The Battle Of Sweet & Sour: Phad Thai might get you in the door, but Being Cheoew will bring you back to House of Asia, a new restaurant that promises the greatest hits of the region. Words BiblioFile Reviews of two new books