Jan 30 - Cascadia Weekly

Transcription

Jan 30 - Cascadia Weekly
REPORTING FROM THE HEART OF CASCADIA
c
a
s
c
a
d
i
a
01.24.07 :: 2.04 :: FREE
DIRTY WATER:
GREGOIRE PLEDGES A CLEAN SOUND BY 2020, P. 8
WINTER TALES:
FILLING IN THE BLANKS AT IDIOM THEATER, P. 15
coffin
makers
OF
ghana
P.14
PAN’S LABYRINTH: FASCIST FORCES AND AN UNDERGROUND NETHERWORLD, P. 20
COCO MONTOYA: Bluesman creates his own tradition, P. 16
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
Where the Locals Go
Coupon Book
Pick up yours
Today!
Pays for itself
in your first 2 or 3 shopping trips
Over 200 coupons
for the best local businesses in
Whatcom & Skagit counties
There are two types of rocks in this world...
a) Those you’ve climbed.
b) Those you haven’t.
ON SALE NOW!
www.SustainableConnections.org
2
GEOLOGY 101
RE Store, Bellingham Public Market,
NW Computer, Boundary Bay Brewery,
Village Books, Community Food Co-op,
Greenhouse, Fairhaven Runners,
Southside News, Pastazza
And many more of your favorite
local businesses!
Come check out our wide selection of
rock climbing and other outdoor gear
214 W. Holly, Bellingham • 360.543.5678
Hours: [Sat - Wed] 10 to 6 • [Thu - Fri] 10 to 7
SUNDAY
DANCE
A glance at what’s happening this week
WEDNESDAY
Dance Works: 2pm, Performing Arts Center, WWU
Peter and the Wolf: 2pm, McIntyre Hall, Mount
Vernon
MUSIC
ON STAGE
Bill Anschell Trio: 4-7pm, Lucia Douglas Gallery
PuSh Performing Arts Festival: Continues
through Feb. 4 in Vancouver B.C.
WORDS
Christopher Moore: 5pm, Village Books
MUSIC
Joe Hickerson: 7:30pm, Roeder Home
COMMUNITY
Mountain Talk: 2pm, Whatcom Museum
Swans in the Skagit Valley: 10am, Breazeale Interpretive Center, Mount Vernon
01.25.07
THURSDAY
ON STAGE
A Winter’s Blank: 8pm, iDiOM Theater
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: at
7:30pm, “Upfront Unscripted” at
9:30pm, Upfront Theatre
DANCE
Dance Works: 7:30pm, Performing Arts Center, WWU
WORDS
Anne Brevig, Martin Vennesland: 7:30pm, Village Books
COMMUNITY
International Opportunities Fair: 10am-2pm,
Viking Union, WWU
Biologist Martha
Jordan will lead
a “Swans in the
Skagit Valley”
talk and field trip
Jan. 28 at Mount
Vernon’s
Photo by Chris Coffi n, coffi nphoto.com
Faculty and advanced students will perform originally choreographed pieces at “Dance Works” Jan.
25-28 at WWU’s Performing Arts Center
Breazeale Interpretive Center
VISUAL ARTS
Gendered Reception: 6-8pm, Viking Union
Gallery
01.29.07
MONDAY
01.26.07
WORDS
FRIDAY
Poetry Night: 8:30pm, Fantasia Espresso
COMMUNITY
ON STAGE
A Winter’s Blank: 8pm, iDiOM Theater
The Changelings: 7:30pm and Theatresports
at 9:30pm, Upfront Theatre
DANCE
Dance Works: 7:30pm, Performing Arts Center,
WWU
Dance Party: 9-11pm, U & Me Dance
MUSIC
KUGS Party: 7pm, Viking Union, WWU
WORDS
Bente Hansen: 7:30pm, Village Books
COMMUNITY
Mountaineers Banquet w/Helen Thayer: 7pm,
Squalicum Boathouse
Dr. Kristen Larson: 7pm, Blaine Library
Food Bank Benefit: 10am-6pm, Life Chiropractic
Viking Hockey: 10:15pm, Sportsplex Arena
Travelogue Talk: 7pm, Bellingham Public Library
01.27.07
01.30.07
SATURDAY
ON STAGE
MUSIC
A Winter’s Blank: 8pm, iDiOM Theater
The Changelings: 7:30pm and Theatresports
at 9:30pm, Upfront Theatre
Rocky Votolato: 8pm, Performing Arts Center,
WWU
TUESDAY
WORDS
Admiral Stuart Franklin Platt: 7:30pm, Village
Books
WORDS
DANCE
Dance Works: 7:30pm, Performing Arts
Center, WWU
Human Jazz: 7:30pm, Firehouse Performing
Arts Center
Let It Be A Dance We Do: 7:30pm, Leopold
Crystal Ballroom
Becky Kemery: 7:30pm, Village Books
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY
The Power of Clearing: 7-9pm, Unitarian Fellowship
Church
Winter Photography: 6pm, REI
Swedish Pancake Breakfast: 8-11am, Norway
Hall
For music-related events, see page 19
Do IT
it 33 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
DO
01.24.07
01.28.07
VISUAL ARTS
Native American Carvings Slideshow: 12:30pm,
Whatcom Museum
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
EEKLY
c.a.s.c.a.d.i.a
More event information can be found starting on page 12
3
Do it 3 | LETTERS
Letters 4-5
4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
4
INSIDE
letters
Contact
Cascadia Weekly:
D 360.647.8200
Editorial
After decades of providing Bellingham with a quality
newscast, KVOS-TV12 announced they have suspended
their NewsView morning programming. Clear Channel
Regional Vice President Cambra Ward said, “The expense
of producing a full length, weekday newscast far exceeds
the advertising revenue we receive. We will be creating
a Sunday-morning public affairs program that will focus
on community issues. We will continue to post news and
weather updates on our station Web site” (www.kvos.
com). We’ll certainly miss morning anchor Ty Ray (left)
and weatherman Greg Otterholt, a Broadcast Communication grad from WWU. Most of all, we’ll miss roving
reporter and all-around voice talent Joel Bates and the
many other behind-the-scenes pros who’ve covered
Whatcom’s news with grace and style.
Views & News
4: Smoke, war, politics
6: Bellingham vs. the Big Apple
8: A pledge for Puget Sound
11: Funny money and soused Sundays
Art & Culture
13: Helen Thayer ain’t your grandma
14: Vehicles of death
15: Filling in the Blanks
16: Passion + soul = the blues
17: Expiration date for The Cathoholix
20: Picks and Pans
Rear End
23: Crossword, Help Wanted,
Buy/Sell/Trade & Rentals
table of contents
Editor & Publisher:
Tim Johnson
D ext 260
{ editor@
cascadiaweekly.com
Arts & Entertainment
Editor: Amy Kepferle
Dext 203
{calendar@
cascadiaweekly.com
Music & Film Editor:
Carey Ross
Dext 204
{music@
cascadiaweekly.com
Production
Art Director:
Jesse Kinsman
{graphics@
cascadiaweekly.com
Graphic Artist:
Stefan Hansen
{stefan@
cascadiaweekly.com
Send All Advertising Materials To
Ads@cascadiaweekly.com
Advertising
Advertising
Director: Marc McCoy
D360.201.9760
{marc@
cascadiaweekly.com
Marisa Papetti
D360.224.2387
{ marisa@
cascadiaweekly.com
24: This Modern World, Mannkind,
Troubletown, Perry Bible Fellowship
25: Real Astrology
25: Real Estate
27: The spice of life
C
A
S
C
A
D
I
A
©2006 Cascadia Weekly (ISSN 1931-3292) is published each Wednesday by
Cascadia Newspaper Company LLC. Direct all correspondence to: Cascadia Weekly
PO Box 2833 Bellingham WA 98227-2833 | Phone/Fax: 360.647.8200
info@cascadiaweekly.com
Though Cascadia Weekly is distributed free, please take just one copy. Cascadia
Weekly may be distributed only by authorized distributors. Any person removing
papers in bulk from our distribution points risks prosecution
Submissions: Cascadia Weekly welcomes freelance submissions. Send material
to either the News Editor or A&E Editor. Manuscripts will be returned of you
include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. To be considered for calendar listings, notice of events must be received in writing no later than noon Wednesday
the week prior to publication. Photographs should be clearly labeled and will be
returned if accompanied by stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Letters Policy: Cascadia Weekly reserves the right to edit letters for length and
content. When apprised of them, we correct errors of fact promptly and courteously. In the interests of fostering dialog and a community forum, Cascadia
Weekly does not publish letters that personally disparage other letter writers.
Please keep your letters to fewer than 300 words.
Subscriptions: One year $70, six months $35. Back issues $1 for walk-ins, $5
for mailed requests when available. Cascadia Weekly is mailed at third-class
rates.Postmaster: Send all address changes to Cascadia Weekly, PO Box 2833,
Bellingham, WA 98227-2833
Newspaper Advisory Group: Yvonne Cartwright Bianchi, Robert Hall, Seth Murphy,
Michael Petryni, David Syre
credits
Distribution
David Cloutier, Robert
Bell, JW Land & Associates
{distro@
cascadiaweekly.com
Letters
Send letters to letters@
cascadiaweekly.com. Please
keep letters shorter than 300
words.
REPORTING FROM THE HEART OF CASCADIA
c
a
s
c
a
d
i
a
01.24.07 :: 2.04 :: FREE
DIRTY WATER:
GREGOIRE PLEDGES A CLEAN SOUND BY 2020, P. 8
WINTER TALES:
FILLING IN THE BLANKS AT IDIOM THEATER, P. 15
coffin
makers
OF
ghana
P.14
PAN’S LABYRINTH: FASCIST FORCES AND AN UNDERGROUND NETHERWORLD, P. 20
COCO MONTOYA: Bluesman creates his own tradition, P. 16
Cover: Photo & design by
Jesse Kinsman.
Theophilus Nii Anum
Sowah. “Cow, Crocodile, Fish and Onion,”
courtesy of Ernie Wolfe
Gallery, Los Angeles
SECONDHAND PERILS
I think it is totally righteous for people to stress that
smoking kills and that grocery
stores and mini-marts are the
biggest drug dealers of nicotine in our country.
My grammy died of lung
cancer two years ago, and she
even smoked while waiting for
the ambulance to take her to
the hospital after breaking her
hip from falling because of an
injury that happened because
of an operation from a smoking
disease.
My doctor told me that my
lungs looked those of a light
smoker after I fell and broke
a rib and had to have X-rays.
I have never smoked, even
though a lot of my friends do.
She said I probably got smoke
from living with my grammy
for two years before she died.
Don’t smoke and don’t buy
cigarettes or even shop at
stores that do.
—Ria Katz, Bellingham
Kudos to letter writers for
calling upon area businesses to
quit selling cigarettes. As they
pointed out, there is no law
requiring anyone to sell cigarettes and it would definitely
lower our health care costs
and contribute to the health
of the local community if they
stopped. The tribes could also
take steps to contribute if they
would stop selling cigarettes,
too, and adopted the smoking
ban in their casinos.
As the letter writers point
out, this is not a matter of
personal rights. It is simply
good common sense and citizenship.
—James C. Ruhl, Ferndale
GREGOIRE STANDS UP,
STANDS OUT
Since taking office, Governor
Christine Gregoire has demonstrated her willingness to break
out of the pack of me-too politicians and actually make decisions to shape a better future
letters
for Washingtonians. Her budget proposal is an example.
More than 150,000 jobs have
been created in Washington
since Governor Gregoire took
office. But, even with such a
strong economy, her first proposal is to start putting money
into a rainy day savings account. This shows fiscal discipline and common sense.
That being done, she proposes to invest, not just spend, in
things that will have a lasting
positive effect on the future
prospects and lifestyles of all
state residents. She proposes
a long-overdue plan to clean
up Puget Sound. The education
budget will improve our children’s math and science training to ensure job readiness for
the modern economy. And, she
is a leader who is intent upon
expanding Washington’s global
leadership in research and
job production in the fields
of technology and health sciences.
Politicians can talk, but it’s
their actions that mean something. Governor Gregoire’s actions show fiscal discipline and
wise investment.
—Phil Sharpe, Craig Cole, and
Steve Adelstein, Bellingham
WAR ON TRIAL
Thank you for “War on Trial”
(Jan. 10), about Army 1st Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first
commissioned officer to refuse
orders to deploy to Iraq.
The Iraq occupation is illegal
under international treaties,
Article Six of the U.S. Constitution, and U.S. military regulations that require soldiers to
follow only “lawful orders.”
Lt. Watada and George W.
Bush, POTUS, both swore an
oath to preserve, protect and
defend the Constitution of the
United States. President Bush
authorized the attack, invasion and occupation of Iraq,
a country that was no threat
to us. According to the Nurem-
THE WALK AND THE TALK
A fellow Woodstock “soul brother”
laments our “waste” of money spent
on the war in Iraq as NPR focuses
on our disunity in its segment on
our unity and Tony poses the question on what UK citizens want. Not
only should we too ask this question
(the talk), but what we are willing
do (the walk) to achieve our goal. In
the resolution time of year, it’s natural to buck up against the dilemma
of what it means to walk our talk.
While it may be sad that slogans such
as “make love not war” and “girls say
yes to boys who say no” and events
of “three days of peace and music”
have not changed human nature, war
will always be a part of our world.
Gandhi and the Dalai Lama lead the
way in nonviolent resistance and E.
B. White’s word “humble” written in
Charlotte’s web come to mind, but
I prefer Churchill’s emphasis on “we
shall prevail” and Lincoln’s “the last
best hope.”
Night & Day Bedframes
Sturdy, affordable,
hardwood
Single.... $186 Double ....$206
Queen.... $227 King ........$273
Cherry, Chocolate or
Natural finish
RS
25 YEA
DREAM
119 W. CHESTNUT ST. • BELLINGHAM • 733-4925 • M-SAT 10-6 • SUN 12-5
—Ron Horn, Bellingham
Free online
banking
at WECU...
no strings attached!
—Noel Collamer, Bellingham
At WECU, members enjoy free online banking
for their personal or business accounts.
No required minimum balance. No required
direct deposit. All we ask is that you have
money in your account!
PEACE NOT APARTHEID
The Israel Firsters (a.k.a. Zionists,
Israeli Lobby, AIPAC) are at it again.
Clearly their loyalities are with Israel and they seem willing to do
anything to subvert our American
freedom of speech and to bribe and
threaten our elected representatives
to do their bidding, and have been
exceptionally successful in doing
so. Witness their latest attempt to
discredit Jimmy Carter and his book,
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
On Jan. 11, the mass media were
exclaiming that 14 people had resigned from Jimmy Carter’s Carter
Center Foundation because of the
views he expressed in his book. As
Free online banking... no strings attached!
Tickets
Local singer/songwriter Robert Sarazin
Blake hits up the Green Frog Cafe Acoustic
Tavern for a pair of CD release shows at 7pm
and 10pm Fri., Jan. 26, before hitting the
road to tour in support of his new album.
If you’d like to celebrate with him, we just
happen to have a couple of tickets to one of
the shows. Email contest@cascadiaweekly to
be the lucky winner.
Bellingham
Blaine
Everson
ON
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
—Judith A. Laws, Bellingham
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explained, “most, if not all, of those
who resigned are Jewish.” According
to the article, they were members of
a 220-member advisory board that
has a very minor role in the Foundation’s policies and procedures,
the latter being under the effective
control of the 21-member board of
trustees. Most of the mainstream
media gave this very narrow coverage and provoked a considerable
amount of hate and slander articles
on various websites.
And it appears the Israel Firsters
have gotten to Jeff Bezos, CEO of
Amazon.com. If one looks up Carter’s
book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,
at Amazon.com’s website, one finds
a very long, extremely biased “editorial review” by Jeffery Goldberg.
Wikipedia reports that “while still
in college, he moved to Israel and
served in the Israeli Defense Forces,
serving as a prison guard during the
First Intifada.” I’ve also learned that
he holds both Israeli and U.S. citizenship.
If you are interested in helping to
preserve freedom of speech and press
in the United States (while so many
other freedoms are being legislated
away in the name of “fighting terrorism”), then I suggest you join this
campaign by signing a petition at the
following website. Join thousands of
others who want Carter’s book to receive fair treatment by Amazon.com.
Do it 3 | LETTERS
Letters 4-5
4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
www.futondreams.com
berg trials, an aggressive war is “the
supreme international crime,” since
it incorporates all of the other crimes
(including torture).
Believing it was his duty, and the
best way he could serve his men, Lt.
Watada made public his decision to
disobey all unlawful orders, because
obeying them would make him an accomplice to a criminal act.
On Feb. 5, 2007, he will be courtmartialed for his decision.
Nuremberg trials prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz said, “The best way to
protect the lives of courageous young
people who serve in the military is to
avoid war-making itself. One cannot
kill an idea with a gun, but only with
a better idea . . ..”
Support
Lt.
Watada
at
ThankYouLT.org.
Ferndale Lynden
Live, work, or go to school in Whatcom County? That’s all it takes to join!
THIS CREDIT UNION IS FEDERALLY INSURED BY THE NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION.
5
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | VIEWS
Views 6-7
6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
6
The Gristle
views
AIR FORCE: So many airlines, so little planning.
We’ve groused before about the Port of Bellingham’s haphazard forays into economic development—the very mission of this agency—that mostly
focus on the enhancement of the Port’s own properties, such that any economic development dollars
created get ferried on a one-way journey right back
into that agency’s own bulging bank book.
A notable exception is the Port’s financial assistance to Western Washington University’s Small
Business Development Center. In their first meeting
this year, Port commissioners approved $80,000 to
the SBDC’s Rural Business Outreach Program. The
program allows the SBDC to provide free business
counseling services throughout Whatcom County, a
great asset to entrepreneurship. The Port has provided funding for this program since 2002, along
with state and federal grants. Way to go, Port!
And yet apart from this, and for all the Port’s
activities as a (tax exempt) property developer
and landlord, nowhere is the agency more clumsy than in administering those areas where one
might expect a Port Authority might have, cough,
authority—namely, in the transportation of people and objects.
OK, we’ll give ’em a free pass on longshore activities. Shipping over the decades has seen only
stagnation and decline in smaller ports throughout North America. The amount of subsidy and
giveaways (both financial and environmental) our
Port would have to ladle out to attract freight
here is numbing. Indeed, the agency lost money
on every aluminum ingot Alcoa Intalco floated out
of here in the Port’s latter days as manager of a
(dys-)functional shipping terminal. They deserve
our thanks, really, for making a realistic assessment of the future of a faded industry and deciding to, hell, let Bellingham’s federal channel silt
over… or let the feds pay to dredge it.
Less forgiving are we of the Port’s conduct of
its airport.
Years ago this column wondered why a city the
size of Bellingham—unlike so many similar-sized
cities elsewhere—offered no airport services outside of connection to Seattle. Airports in comparable cities like Boulder, Colo., and Burlington,
Vt., routinely link direct to places like Cincinnati
and Houston. At last the gullible Gristle chalked it
up to some economic rubric in competing against
Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport.
Now the Port this week celebrates new service
of not one, but two major airlines out of the Subdued City.
Allegiant Airlines began nonstop flights to Palm
Springs, with round-trip fares so low one wonders
how they can turn a profit. Beginning in February,
the airline will also increase weekly flights to Las
Vegas.
Allegiant dipped its toe into the frosty and
murky waters of Bellingham’s air market first, with
a duly cautious package of flights into senior Playland. We credit Allegiant for their courage in this
untested market, while observing that they’re still
not flying anywhere “real” for the bulk of Bellingham travel.
Drowning out our complaint with the roar of turbofans, Western Air also jetted its inaugural flight,
your opinion
the gristle
BY PETER GUNN
Apples to Apples
Meet Bellingham’s newest sister city
CURRENTLY Bellingham has
four sister cities: Port Stephens,
Australia; Punta Arenas, Chile;
Nakhodka, Russia; and Tateyama,
Japan. The City of Bellingham and
its four siblings sit on four continents in four hemispheres.
Punta Arenas, our newest family member, touts itself as the
earth’s most southern city. It
sits equidistant between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and has
a population of about 120,000.
Port Stephens, with more than
63,000 inhabitants, is situated on
Australia’s east coast 2-½ hours
north of Sydney. Nakhodka has
150,000 people and can be found
on Russia’s east coast just north of
Vladivostok. Tateyama was Bellingam’s inaugural sister city (1958)
and sits on Japan’s east coast 2-½
hours southeast of Tokyo and has
more than 50,000 people.
These east coast cities share
trade, culture and goodwill.
A search is underway for a fifth
sister city. Perhaps here in the
City of Refined Enjoyment (I hope
that one’s not taken), we could
appeal to an older, wiser sister as
a candidate for a new sibling—a
city that has dealt with issues like
growth, crime and waterfront development. A city from whom we
can benefit as a result of their successes as well as missteps. These
choices can pose unforeseen quandaries and should be thought out.
Los Angeles found that out in 1979
when it tossed Tehran out of the
family unit; Beverly Hills’ choice
was more logical with Monte Carlo
as its sister. What’d you expect?
Kosovo?
So if one is to dream, let those
dreams be big, and New York, New
York is the biggest.
There is a small but strong New
York fl avor allready in our burg.
Those having been either born
or grew up or has connections in
Gotham, and its environs include
Whatcom County Executive Pete
Kremen, Fairhaven bootlegger
Dirty Dan Harris, downtown business owners Ira Stohl (The Newsstand), Ken Ryan (The Bagelry),
Susan Albert (Pepper Sisters),
Democratic party activist John
A search is
underway for a
fifth sister city.
Let’s adopt a
really BIG sister.
McGarrity, and Radio Museum
board member Joe Yaver. Big Apple roots transplanted to the Evergreen State.
Our own U.S. Senator Patty Murray stated in a speech at Maritime Heritage Park that, in light
of their recent tragedies, the two
U.S. cities that had suffered the
most over the last few years were
New York and Bellingham.
The music scene in both cities
suffered casualties this past year
with the closing of New York’s
punk mecca CBGB’s and our own
legend, the 3B Tavern.
New York has Alphabet City. Bellingham has the Lettered Streets.
New York has Hillary Clinton.
Bellingham has Hilary Swank.
Views expressed here are not necessarily those of Cascadia Weekly.
New York has the Flatiron Building. Bellingham has VECO.
New York has Radio City Music
Hall. Bellingham has the American
Museum of Radio and Electricity.
New York has Isaac Mizrahi.
Bellingham has Ty McBride.
In New York during the late
1800s, the Democratic Party,
known as Tammany Hall, was
controlled by a corrupt political
figure called Boss Tweed. Bellingham’s culinary tastes have been
shaped by a restaurant named
Boss Tweed’s.
Bellingham developer Doug
Tolchin at one time felt that the
biggest deterrent to a dynamic
downtown was a plant called Georgia-Pacific. New York developer
Donald Trump (same initials) at
one time dated a Hawaiian Tropic
model named Georgia Pacific.
A 1930s cinematic reflection of
New York was that of King Kong
going up the side of a building.
In 2001, during the “Pit Protest,”
The Bellingham Herald printed an
image of protester Monkey Vomit
repelling down the side of a wall.
Two loveable simians passing
each other in the vertical. Yo,
King! What up, Monkey! (Also,
whatever happened to Monkey?
Better question, why did Mr. and
Mrs. Vomit choose that moniker?
What’s wrong with Mary? Mary
Vomit has a nice, All-American
ring to it. Condoleeza Vomit. Paris
Vomit—now that’s hot.)
Finally, in Bellingham if you are
lost or disoriented a citizen will
graciously point out where you are
on a map. In New York if you are
lost or disoriented, a citizen will
graciously point out what you can
do with your map.
Start spreading the news.
Humorist Peter Gunn writes a regular column in Cascadia Weekly.
CASCADIA WEEKLY IS INTRODUCING
NEW FEATURES. LOOK FOR DETAILS
HERE NEXT WEEK.
360-733-2610
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | VIEWS
Views 6-7
6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Quicksilver Zip $10
American Eagle Khakis $17
T-Shirt $8
Hikers (not pictured) $25
$60 to Look like this!
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
providing nonstop service from Bellingham to
Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Diego. Ah yes,
Western, these are destinations the Gristle
considers “real.” These are hubs, thanks.
We confess mixed feelings about this new
air force.
On the one hand, it is surely a sign that
Bellingham has “arrived,” and is a destination and departure of consequence.
On the other, Bellingham stumbles—as we
do so often—without a plan: Without a plan
on how to mitigate noise and similar impacts
in neighborhoods we myopically permitted
adjacent to the airport: These were the new
urban growth areas approved by City Council
last time that group decided to rubberstamp
a land expansion. Yet, the Port also exercised poor leadership by failing to strongly
object to UGA expansion into the vicinity of
its “port authority” (we recall one meek [but
intriguing] comment from a Port employee
about how mixed use zoning might endanger
unrestricted airport operations).
The Port has also, abandoned its role in
regional transportation planning, abdicating to the affable-but-sluggish Whatcom
County Council of Governments. The wellmeaning yet unelected COG holds occasional
forums, where corpulent corporate interests
declare just how much of the transpo treasury they intend to plunder.
With Abbotsford airport expecting to
triple its flight volume over the next decade
(rural county residents already cringe from
the overflight blast of Abbotsford’s buildout) and the City of Blaine ready to slather
its airport capacity with Homeland Security hog fat, who should determine what is
enough and where it should go? Alas, the
Port is absentee authority on these issues.
Now the Port serves more unfortunate
news: With new Allegiant, Western, and
Delta expansion, its terminal is over capacity. Was this deficiency disclosed when these
businesses originally sought Bellingham as a
destination?
The Port says a $700,000 expansion project will use portable buildings with restrooms to create a 250-person waiting area
for passengers who have cleared security.
A $1.7 million parking lot expansion will
add about 370 spaces, bringing the total to
about 1,100.
The expansion will increase the terminal
size to about 37,000 square feet. Ideally,
Port officials say, it would be 45,000 just
to serve today’s passenger loads. While Port
officials think it likely that more airlines
may want to launch Bellingham flights, as
of now the airport has no room for additional ticket counters.
Thus we return to our original question—
can this Port Authority guide regional economic development when it cannot master
its own area of expertise? If a Port can’t
competently administer its own backyard,
dare we trust it with ours?
11-6 Mon.-Tues. 11-7 Wed.-Sat.
The Gristle
7
news
S
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | CURRENTS
Currents 8-11
8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
8
currents
commentary
G
N
I
V
A
u
P
briefs
e
g
d
n
u
o
S
t
Governor
pledges healthy
waters by 2020
BY MIKE SATO
“I THINK the goals for Puget Sound cleanup
are pretty simple. I want families
to be able to swim in it, fish in it, and dig shellfish from its beaches.”
That’s pretty straight talk from a politician,
and the politician is Governor Christine Gregoire
in her State of the State message this month before the start of the 2007 legislative session.
Straight talk like that is refreshing. Especially
from a politician who won a razor-thin election
to office. Bolder yet, the governor says the Sound
is going to be well on the road to health by the
year 2020.
“Fishable and swimmable” was the goal of the
1972 federal Clean Water Act.
Twenty-six years later, Puget Sound Chinook
salmon and Southern resident orca whales are
listed under the Endangered Species Act. Accumulations of toxic chemicals like fl ame retardants
are found in the tissues of Puget Sound seals and
fish in concentrations many times higher than
seals and fish outside the area. Oxygen-depleted
“dead zones” in Hood Canal and the South Sound
arise with the decomposition of algae that flourishes from excessive nutrients in sewage and water running off the land. Shellfish harvested in
areas near population centers are unsafe to eat
because of toxins and bacteria from human and
animal wastes from the land.
Fishable and swimmable it isn’t. The state’s
2007 State of the Sound issued this month reports
that, of the 25 indicators of Puget Sound’s health
(water quality, toxic contamination, eelgrass loss,
Photo courtesy of People for Puget Sound
etc.), 14 indicators show decline, three remain in
the negative range unchanged from past years,
four remain in the neutral range unchanged, and
only three show positive improvement.
As the governor says, you wouldn’t put your
child in this bathtub.
Yet we live in this bathtub, all 4.5 million of
us. And there will be more than a million more
residents by the year 2020. The freeways and
commute times through the metropolitan areas
are nearly unbearable now. The hills are alive
with the sounds of housing developments. Many
farms and timberlands in the Puget lowlands are
memories. There’s very little available waterfront
to build on anymore.
What will our favorite beach or trail or dog park
look like with more souls to share it with? Our
morning commute, the morning latté line, the
checkout at the market?
But, if public attitude polling is right, most
think the health of the region is good or excel-
lent. That’s understandable since the changes
and declines are incremental and, on the surface,
the waters of the Sound still look pretty good.
But some people know things aren’t good,
people who have lived here long enough see the
changes, folks who have been touched by the
changes. If you fish or Scuba or harvest shellfish
or bird watch or even pay attention to the warning signs along some public beaches, you know
things aren’t so good along the shores and under
the waters of the Sound.
The governor, who once headed up the state
Department of Ecology and was responsible for
the health of the state’s shorelines and wetlands
and water quality, decided to make restoring
Puget Sound to health by the year 2020 a priority
of her administration.
For more than 20 years, we’ve had Puget Sound
initiatives and plans. What made this Puget
Sound initiative different was that, for the first
time, someone in leadership put a deadline on
showing results—the year 2020.
As a starting point, the governor appointed in
late 2005 a blue-ribbon panel called the Puget
Sound Partnership and asked them for bold recommendations that she could take to the 2007
legislature with her budget request to begin the
recovery of Puget Sound.
The Partnership met its deadline last November
and gave the governor its recommendations—not
necessarily bold but with a direction forward—
and the governor made her legislative priorities
known to the legislature.
Alcoa Intalco Works
Alpha Technologies, Inc. (GBE)
Anvil Corporation
Bellingham Cold Storage
BP Cherry Point Refinery
City of Bellingham
ConocoPhillips
Haggen, Inc.
Heath Tecna, Inc.
Madrona Medical Group
Mount Baker Planned
Parenthood
Olympic Health Management
Systems
Ryzex Group
S.P.I.E.
thanks
They encourage their employees to walk, bicycle,
carpool, vanpool, and ride the bus. Learn more at
WhatcomSmartTrips.org
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | CURRENTS
Currents 8-11
8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Our community is healthier
thanks to the following
Smart Trips Employer Partners.
St. Joseph Hospital
T-Mobile
VECO USA, Inc.
Washington Dept of Ecology
Washington State DSHS
Western Washington University
Whatcom Council of
Governments
Whatcom Counseling and
Psychiatric Clinic
Whatcom County
WTA
Yamato Engine Specialist, Ltd
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
Her first steps toward getting to
a clean Sound by 2020 is to create
a new state agency in place of the
Puget Sound Action Team and to request $220 million for Puget Sound
programs in the biennial budget.
The governor is also looking for
more immediate results. She’s proposing to carry out stricter septic
system requirements, to require local governments to take remedial
actions when shellfish harvest areas
are closed, and to ban the sale of
toxic flame-retardant products.
The new agency the governor proposes would be called the Puget
Sound Partnership. Its members
would be appointed by the governor
and supported by a staff. At issue is
what authority and tools this Partnership will have to meet the deadline for a clean Sound by 2020. How
independent will the Partnership be
and how much money will be invested in this long-term effort?
On Jan. 17, the governor’s accountability and governance bill
for Puget Sound, sponsored by Rep.
Dave Upthegrove (HB 1374) and Sen.
Phil Rockefeller (SB 5372) was introduced.
On first hearing, the opposition of
businesses, local governments and
other powerful interests were already lined up to keep any cleanup
plan advisory and optional and set
to further weaken the already weak
accountability measures in the bill.
Everybody says they want a clean
Puget Sound, but clear cleanup
goals, timelines and accountability
have plagued cleanup and protection
since the effort began more than 20
years ago.
In 1984, the state legislature and
then-governor Booth Gardner responded to reports of toxic pollution
causing liver cancers in fish in urban
bays and shellfish beds being closed
by fecal pollution around the Sound
by establishing a citizens board
called the Puget Sound Water Quality
Authority and a support staff.
The Authority identified all the
public entities—from governments
and tribes to junior taxing districts
who had some responsibility for the
Sound’s water quality—and with
extensive public involvement developed the first comprehensive Puget
Sound management plan, identifying what needed to be done and who
needed to do what.
Saying what needs to be done
and getting it done are two different things. If you asked what the
“authority” of the Authority was,
the honest answer was that it was
“moral” authority.
9
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | CURRENTS
Currents 8-11
8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
10
currents
Puget Sound,
from page 9
So when the Authority raised
too much fuss about how some
Puget Sound businesses like Boeing and Weyerhauser were not
complying with water quality requirements, big business pushed
back and the legislature in 1990
clipped the Authority’s wings and
moved its functions into the state
Department of Ecology.
In the mid-‘90s, the moribund Authority was disbanded and replaced
with a panel of state agency directors and legislators and renamed
the Puget Sound Action Team and
provided support staff. The hope,
it seemed, was to achieve some accountability by having those being
held accountable hold themselves
accountable. Citizen and local government representatives were reorganized as an advisory group called
the Puget Sound Council.
Will things be different this time
around? What may be different is
the strength of the governor’s and
legislators’ leadership and how seriously the 2020 deadline is taken.
There were lots of fancy words and
good intentions when the blue-ribbon Puget Sound Partnership came
down to the difficult task of making recommendations on whether
anybody was going to be made to
do anything to restore the Sound.
The Partnership punted and left it
to the issue of governance to the
governor.
Although disappointing, that
wasn’t surprising. The governor
nearly guaranteed as much by appointing a mix of elected officials,
business leaders and one environmentalist who could agree on the
problem and even some priorities
but would never reach consensus on
the tough issue of governance.
After all, there once was an Authority without real authority and
an Action Team that nobody held
accountable for its actions. The effort to recover endangered Chinook
salmon rests on reaching a broad
consensus of taking remedial actions without making anybody do
anything they don’t want to do.
Government itself in the last 10
years has wallowed in the rhetoric
of partnership and the efficacy of
voluntary compliance based on education and technical assistance.
Accordingly, the old model of “com-
CONTINUED ON PAGE12
Fuzz Buzz
SPECIAL REPORT:
AMERICA’S #1 CASH CROP
On Jan. 5, Rodney G. Benson, Special Agent in
Charge, Seattle Field Division, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Chief John R.
Batiste, Washington State Patrol, announced
the results of the Washington Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/
SP) for 2006. To date, the DCE/SP program has
eradicated more than 130,000 indoor and outdoor marijuana plants. Investigations stemming from the discovery of these marijuana
grows resulted in 342 arrests and the seizure
of 190 weapons. Batiste said, “this year’s success is a testament to the strong working
relationships between law enforcement at all
levels as well as with the National Guard.”
On Dec. 18, 2006 Jon Gettman, public policy
analyst and former head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws,
issued a report that identified marijuana as
the United States’ largest cash crop, with
growers producing nearly $35.8 billion of
the stuff annually, far outstripping corn and
wheat production combined. Within the past
25 years—the span of the so-called “Drug
War”—domestic pot harvest has increased
tenfold, he reported. “Marijuana has become
a pervasive and ineradicable part of the
economy of the United States,” Gettman told
Reuters. In September, the Federal Bureau
of Investigation’s annual Uniform Crime Report showed that 2005 exceeded all records
of arrest for marijuana possession, with pot
smokers being arrested at a rate of one every
40 seconds, and comprising 42.6 percent of
all drug arrests in the United States The total
number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. for
2005 far exceeded the total number of arrests
in the U.S. for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape,
robbery and aggravated assault. Of those
charged with marijuana violations, approximately 88 percent were charged with simple
possession. “Present policies have done little
if anything to decrease marijuana’s availability or dissuade youth from trying it,” NORML
declared, noting young people now frequently report that they have easier access to pot
than alcohol or tobacco.
According to the 2002 National Survey on
Drug Use and Health, about 26 million Americans—nearly 1 in 11—reported using pot in
the previous year. About 72 percent of users
are white; 60 percent under 26. Roughly 1.7
million teens between 13 and 17 become new
users every year.
While Gettman did not estimate possible tax revenues from the regulated sale
of marijuana, he suggested they would be
substantial. “
Enforcement costs taxpayers approximately
$10 billion and $12 billion per year.
commentary
briefs
ham’s north side. A new, 70-to-80,000 sq. ft. facility
could sit on top of a parking garage as part of a new
downtown library design, council members were told.
Once the site is approved, library supporters will
draw up more detailed plans and put a bond measure
to pay for the new building on an upcoming ballot.
Trial also began for a British Columbia pig farmer
who confessed to killing 49 women. Robert William
Pickton, 56, of New Westminster was originally charged
with killing 26 women, mostly prostitutes and drug
addicts who vanished from Vancouver’s impoverished
Downtown Eastside neighborhood in the 1990s. Prosecutors stunned the courtroom by declarin that Pickton told investigators, including an undercover officer
planted in his jail cell, that he had actually slain 49
women. “I was going to do one more and make it an
even 50,” Pickton was quoted as telling investigators.
“I made my own grave by being sloppy.”
BY TIM JOHNSON
The Week That Was
Send lawyers, booze and
money
01.17.07
WEDNESDAY
Puget Sound Energy continues to mop up after last
week’s harsh weather, but this week learns they’ll
also have to pony up $995,000 for violating consumer privacy laws. The power utility, accused of giving
information about thousands of customers to an outside marketing company, say they will permanently
abolish the program under a settlement approved by
the state Utilities and Transportation Commission.
Utility officials acknowledge transferring, through
a PSE Connections marketing program, more than
65,000 phone calls, as well as sensitive information
on new and relocating customers, to Georgia-based
Allconnect, Inc. between November 2001 and March
2006.
01.18.07
THURSDAY
Groundbreaking begins on a new emergency room
at St. Joseph Hospital. Officials say the Emergency
Department will nearly double in size by the time the
work is done next fall. The new ER will divide into
two sides—one for trauma and critical patients, and
the other for more stable patients.
01.19.07
FRIDAY
Police report that counterfeit bills have been popping up around Bellingham. Police spokesman Ken
Brown says his department has noticed an increase in
fake cash circulating this week. Brown explains funny money is easy to spot if you take a good look at
it. Bills, Brown explains, look like they were churned
out of a copy machine. Police have suspects; but be
wary—if you accept a counterfeit bill, you own it,
police say.
01.23.07
01.20.07
SATURDAY
TUESDAY
Freshies continue at Mt. Baker Ski Area, where officials there say snow is piling up at a near-record
rate. Ski area employees say the snowpack on the
mountain is more than 160 inches. An entire winter
normally creates more than a 175-inch base. Continued snow falls may soon topple the world record set
there in the winter of 1998-99.
Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo announces the
First Division Court of Appeals in Seattle has put
the brakes on arrest warrants across the state issued
for defendants who failed to appear in court. The
court found the process used in Marysville to issue
warrants was incorrect. Similar practices have been
used in Whatcom County, Elfo said, and will tie up
the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s for months as they
review each of more than 3,000 outstanding county
warrants individually.
Meanwhile, Skagit County Superior Court begins
taking depositions in a lawsuit filed by a former Bellingham family who say Whatcom County should have
been able to prevent the tragic murder of their 8year-old son in 2002. Michael (“Mikey”) Busby, Jr.,
was killed after being tortured and mutilated by
16-year-old Columbia neighbor Ryan Alexander at
the site of the old Pacific Concrete plant. In 2004,
Alexander was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his crime. But Busby’s parents says Whatcom
County’s juvenile justice system should have seen Alexander showed signs of mental illness and violent
behavior in a number of crimes he committed prior
to the murder. The lawsuit asks for Whatcom County
to pay for medical, hospital and funeral expenses;
to cover their son’s lost future earnings; and to pay
damages for the loss of their relationship with their
child. Trial is scheduled for June.
01.21.07
SUNDAY
Washington State continues its experiment with
Sunday liquor sales, which officials admit is a big
hit. Lawmakers may expand it to more stores in 2007.
Twenty state-run stores and 38 contract stores have
been keeping Sunday hours for the past 16 months,
with reported sales expected to top $18.5 million by
June 30, liquor control board officials report. Sales
are well above the original estimate of $9.6 million.
01.22.07
MONDAY
Bellingham City Council hear a report from library
board of trustees about the library system’s future.
The presentation focused on site evaluation and recommendations for the new library, improvements at
the Fairhaven branch, and library needs on Belling-
Call Today!
Home & Energy Solutions
303-5024
for cost-effective weatherization
HOMEEES947Q
!NENERGYFUTUREDEPENDABLE
MONEYTHATISSTILLSPENDABLE
WORKANDVOTETOUSELESSTOGETOUTOFTHISMESS
/RWE´LLALLBEIN)RAQEXPENDIBLE
INJURED? Auto Accident ‡Fall ‡Defective Product
)UHHFRQVXOWDWLRQ
QRUWKZHVWGUJ#
PKSURFRP
Michael Heatherly
Attorney
³,¶OOKHOSHDVHWKHVWUHVVRI\RXULQMXU\E\
SURWHFWLQJ\RXUOHJDOULJKWVZKLOH\RXUHFRYHU´
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | CURRENTS
Currents 8-11
8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
news
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
currents::
11
Puget Sound,
THURS., JAN. 25
from page 10
%HOOLQJKDP·VÀUVWODGLHVRQO\VKRHERXWLTXH
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get
12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
GET Out
OUT 12
outdoor EVENTS
New Arrivals
Weekly!
12
1315 Railroad Ave.
Downtown Bellingham • 715-2046
With
mand and control” regulatory action is dead.
Incentives—carrots—not sticks are the tools
of change. The mantra is that government is a
partner with its people, industries, developers and resource extractors. We are all in this
together and we are all responsible for the
problem and for the solution.
If this lie were true, Puget Sound today would
be getting better, not going down the drain.
Today we have the best available science and
we have consensus about what the problem is
with Puget Sound and what needs to be done to
fix the Sound. There’s consensus on approaching how to protect and restore the Sound as
an ecosystem where you can’t address things in
isolation but need to think in terms of a whole
system where land, water, plants and animals
and people go together. Those are pretty strong
points of consensus to proceed from.
But where the rubber meets the ground at
public meetings around the Sound last year,
two main themes emerged: Enforce existing
laws and provide more funding to get the job
done. If the laws aren’t enforced or if they’re
not enforced evenly throughout the Sound,
the result is public cynicism about government actions when it comes to land use, water quality and natural resource protections.
But it takes lots of money to protect the
Sound from further harm and to restore those
areas already damaged. The governor’s budget request of $220 million is a good start
toward the real money needed to get the job
underway. More than 80 percent of her budget
request is focused on on-the-ground and inthe-Sound programs such as toxic pollution
cleanup and prevention, shoreline and habitat
restoration, and local government stormwater
pollution programs.
What needs additional funding is more
funding to local governments for enforcement
and compliance activities, more funding to
engage the public in saving Puget Sound, and
more funding for habitat restoration. Another
$150 million over and above what the governor has proposed would provide a bigger kick
start toward recovery by 2020.
Even that’s a small down payment for the
major tasks before us. There will be real costs
associated with purchasing private properties
and development rights to protect important
habitat areas. Real costs for reducing pollution
from stormwater runoff. Real costs for restoring already degraded areas. Real costs associated with making sure our growth is managed.
And all this money is going to have to come
from somewhere and will have to come in a
steady stream through taxes and fees. People
will pay for something that’s worth paying for;
nobody, however, wants to pay for something
that doesn’t show results. So, the Sound has
to get better, over time, by a date certain.
That’s the year 2020.
Increased funding to local governments for
enforcement and compliance is one of the most
BIKE 101: A free clinic
dubbed “Bike Maintenance
101” happens from 6-7:30pm
at REI, 400 36th St. For more
info: 647-8955.
FRI., JAN. 26
Photo courtesy of People for Puget Sound
important “carrots” the governor can provide
to make saving Puget Sound a funded mandate.
Having clear goals, benchmarks and deadlines
ensures that local governments receive those
funds and get results or they lose the funding. To get to the results agreed upon by 2020,
the Puget Sound plan can’t be advisory or an
optional menu that agencies and local governments pick and choose what they do or not
do. Fiscal consequences are a fair “stick” to go
along with the “carrot” of funding.
Who’s going to make this happen? The
governor’s bill takes a first stab at the governance issue but needs to be toughened up.
The focus has to be kept on actions and results, something the governor herself wants,
and not more study and planning. The new
Partnership has to be given the authority to
be the final decision maker and has to be independent in its authority. It has to be able
to control funding to state agencies and local
governments so they can maintain the focus
on priorities and results to achieve a healthy
Sound by 2020.
There’s consensus on the problems the
Sound suffers from and what needs to be
done. We’ve been boldly given a deadline to
get the job done.
We need to pass a no-nonsense bill that puts
a new Puget Sound Partnership in charge of restoring the Sound by 2020 with tools and clout
to succeed. The legislature has to appropriate
serious money to start on the road to 2020. The
only way this effort has a chance of succeeding
is if the new Partnership can hold agencies and
local governments accountable for results—and
itself be held accountable for those results.
It’s an elegantly simple goal to clean the
Sound up so our families can swim in it, fish
in it and dig shellfish from its beaches.
Getting there will test every bit of our leadership and public resolve.
Mike Sato (msato@pugetsound.org) is director
of communications, education and involvement
for People For Puget Sound, a citizens organization established in 1991 to educate and involve
people in the protection and restoration of
Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits (www.
pugetsound.org). He lives in Bellingham.
VIKING HOCKEY: Western
Washington
University’s
Viking hockey team plays
its last home game of the
season against Washington State at 10:15pm at
the Sportsplex Arena, 1401
Civic Field Way. Entry is $3$5. For more info: wwuicehockey.com.
MOUNTAINEERS
DINNER:
Adventurer Helen Thayer
will talk about Three Among
Wolves A Year of Friendship
with Wolves in the Wild at the
Mountaineers Yearly Banquet at 7pm at the Squalicum Boathouse, 2600 Harbor
Loop. Tickets are $30 and include dinner. For more info:
319-7731.
SUN., JAN. 28
MOUNTAIN TALK: Mount
Baker Ski Area’s Gwyn Howat
talks about “Why the Mountains Are Good For Us” at 2pm
at the Whatcom Museum, 121
Prospect St. The event is
free. For more info: 676-6981
or whatcommuseum.org.
SKAGIT SWANS: Biologist
Martha Jordan leads “Swans
in the Skagit Valley” at 10am
at Mount Vernon’s Breazeale
Interpretive Center, 10441
Bayview-Edison Rd., followed
by a field trip. The event is
free. For more info and to
register: (360) 428-1588 or
padillabay.gov.
TUES., JAN. 30
SHOTS OF WINTER: “Winter
Photography” will be the
topic of a free clinic from 67:30pm at REI, 400 36th St.
No registration is required.
For more info: 647-8955.
HAWKWATCHING: Falcon
Research’s Bud Anderson
leads “Hawkwatching in
Northwest
Washington”
from 7-9pm every Tuesday through Feb. 27 at
the Whatcom Museum, 121
Prospect St. Field trips will
be part of the experience.
Cost is $125-$135. For more
info: 676-6981.
lectures
books
BY AMY KEPFERLE
Born to
Explore
Helen Thayer ain’t
your grandma
WORLD ADVENTURER,
educator and author Helen Thayer
doesn’t seem to know the meaning
of the words “no” or “can’t.” At 69,
an age when most people would
at least consider retiring, Helen is
instead planning her next voyage
with her equally intrepid husband,
Bill. This time, she says, they plan
to walk across China and Tibet.
That may sound extraordinary,
until you hear a partial list of Helen’s prior accomplishments: she was
the first woman to make a solo trek
to the magnetic North Pole in 1988,
was the American leader of the first
Russian-U.S.A. women’s Arctic expedition to Siberia in 1990, spent a
year with Bill and their dog Charlie
in the Canadian Yukon studying and
photographing three families of
wild wolves at their den site, was
the first woman to walk across the
Sahara Desert in 1996, celebrated
her 60th birthday on a solo trek to
Antarctica, and, again with Bill,
trekked on foot across the entire
length of the Mongolian Gobi Desert in 2001.
Helen will take a break from her
adventures to talk about her book,
Three Among Wolves: A Year of
Friendship with Wolves in the Wild
as part of the
Bellingham
M o u n t a in e e r s
yearly banquet.
Slides and stoWHAT:
Mountaineers
ries relating to
Banquet with
the time she
Helen Thayer
and Bill lived
WHEN: 7pm
among
the
Fri., Jan. 26
wolves will be
WHERE: Squalicum Boathouse,
part of the pre2600 Harbor
sentation.
Loop
Helen says it
COST: $30 (inwas because of
cludes dinner)
their Inuit dog
INFO: 319-7731
Charlie that she
and Bill were
able to cohabitate within sight of
the wild animals. “He was the reason we were able to live 100 feet
Go
from the den,” Helen explains. “He knew how to
act around wolves, and we
followed his lead. It took
time for us to be accepted
by the wolf pack.”
Helen says fear was the
furthest thing from their
minds while observing
the wolf den. Instead,
they were able to witness
amazing events, such as a
polar bear catching a seal
and allowing the wolves to
share in the feast. When
an injured wolf came back
to the den, other wolves
took care of it by licking
its wounds and bringing
it food. When the Thayers left their temporary
home, the wolves followed them.
“People tell me after
seeing this program that
they can see what loving,
caring families the wolves
are,” Helen notes. “A lot
of people are quite surprised.”
The New Zealand-born
adventuress says she also
knows that the types of
quests she and Bill take
on aren’t for everyone,
but wants to get across
the message that people
should take on their own
challenges. It’s a point
she wants to drive home
to both children and
adults.
“Whatever lifestyle you
have, wherever you’re at
in your life, you need to
set goals and look ahead
beyond the norm,” she
stresses. “Go ahead and
turn your dreams into
goals. Make the impossible happen. Make it
happen. People would be
surprised what they could
achieve if they just look
beyond the norm. We all
have the ability to do
great things.”
THURS., JAN. 25
ALL ABOARD: Anne Brevig
and Martin Vennesland,
authors of 9 Years on the 7
Seas, will host a slideshow
relating to their sailing adventures at 7:30pm at Village Books, 1200 11th St.
For more info: 671-2626.
FRI., JAN. 26
SELF-HEALING: Bente Hansen talks about her book,
The New World of Self-Healing: Awakening the Chakras
& Energy Field at 7:30pm at
Village Books, 1200 11th St.
For more info: 671-2626.
SAT., JAN. 27
ROUND LIVING: Becky Kemery’s book, Yurts: Living in
the Round, will be explored
at 7:30pm at Village Books,
1200 11th St. For more info:
671-2626.
SUN., JAN. 28
MORE MOORE: Prolific author Christopher Moore reads
from his latest tome, You
Suck: A Love Story, at 5pm at
Village Books, 1200 11th St.
For more info: 671-2626.
MON., JAN. 29
POETRY NIGHT: Sign up to
read your words at Poetry
Night at 8:30pm every Monday at Fantasia Espresso,
1322 Cornwall Ave. (registration starts at 8pm). For
more info: 715-1632 or poetrynight.org.
TUES., JAN. 30
FRONT LINE LETTERS: Admiral Stuart Franklin Platt
reads from Letters from the
Front Lines at 7:30pm at Village Books, 1200 11th St.
The book focuses on letters,
emails and blog entries from
those serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan. For more info:
671-2626.
WED., JAN. 31
DRAGON THUNDER: Lynn
Householder talks about
Diana Mukpo’s book Dragon
Thunder at 7:30pm at Village Books, 1200 11th St.
For more info: 671-2626.
COMMUNITY
WED., JAN. 24
RAISING UP: “Raising Up
the Struggle: The Legacy of
Post-Levee Break New Orleans” features a variety of
events through Jan. 31 at
Western Washington University. Community talks,
music, poetry and more will
fill the week. For more info:
650-6804.
THURS.,
JAN. 25
INTERNATIONAL FAIR: Various organizations will be
represented at an International Opportunities Fair
from 10am-2pm at WWU’s
Viking Union Multipurpose
Room. For more info: 6503240.
FRI., JAN. 26
WINTER SKIES: All are
welcome to check out the
“Winter Skies” planetarium
presentation at 7pm and
8:30pm at WWU’s Haggard
Hall. Entry is $3-$5. For
more info: 650-3818.
UNIVERSAL HISTORY: Dr.
Kristen Larson will describe
our current scientific understanding of the history of
the universe at a free talk
at 7pm at the Blaine Library,
610 3rd St. The event is free
and family-friendly. For more
info: 332-2428.
FOOD BANK BENEFIT: From
10am-6pm, bring nine pieces
of nonperishable food or a
$35 donation for the Food
Bank to Life Chiropractic,
1400 King St. A free chiropractic exam will be offered
to the first 20 people. For
more info: 734-5433.
SAT., JAN. 27
PANCAKE BREAKFAST: The
first Swedish Pancake Breakfast of 2007 happens from
8-11am at Norway Hall, 1418
N. Forest St. Entry is $3 for
kids and $6 for adults. For
more info: 733-6618.
WALDORF LECTURE: Marla
Smith will kick off a free
lecture and workshop series
with “Learning Challenges
in Early Grades” at 10am
at Whatcom Hills Waldorf
School, 941 Austin St. For
more info: 733-3164.
TUES., JAN. 30
POWER OF CLEARING: A free
mini-workshop dubbed “The
Power of Clearing” happens
from 7-9pm at the Unitarian
Fellowship Church, 1708 I St.
For more info: 527-2796.
WORDS&&Community
COMMUNITY 1313 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words
community
WORDS
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
words
LISTINGS
13
galleries
openings
profiles
Theophilus Nii
Anum Sowah.
“Cow, Crocodile,
Fish and Onion,”
courtesy of Ernie
Wolfe Gallery, Los
Angeles
VIEW IT
WHAT: Coffin Makers of Ghana
WHEN: 10am-4pm Mon.-Fri; noon-4pm
Sat., through March 10
WHERE: Western Gallery, WWU campus
COST: Free
INFO: 650-3963
DEAD
ART 14
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art
14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
14
visual
ON
ARRIVAL
BY AMY KEPFERLE
Funeral
festivities
define
coffin
exhibit
“BURY ME in a can of Guinness” was the directive of my beer-loving companion as we perused
the “Coffin Makers of Ghana” exhibit currently on
display at the Western Gallery.
It wasn’t such a strange thing to say, considering
we were looking at long caskets in the shapes of a
cow, crocodile, onion and fish made by Theophilus Nii
Anum Sowah, a respected Ghanaian coffin maker.
Sowah is one of many woodcarvers who help make
transitions to the afterworld a little more stylish. Although the making of fantasy designer coffins is a relatively new practice in the West African country—it
began during the 1950s and was popularized in the
’70s through the vision of coffin designer Seth Kane
Kwei—it’s now seen as a sign of success to have a coffin that reflects what you did in your life on earth.
Western Gallery’s director, Sarah Clark-Langager,
points out that the crocodile coffin on display, which
is nearly 12 feet long and a few feet wide, was probably built for a fisherman or someone who spends a lot
of time on the water (it’s also the coffin
she’d choose to be buried in from among
the ones in the display). The green onion
coffin would likely be used for a farmer,
while a cattle herder might choose the bull
for his final resting place. Other examples
that aren’t part of the exhibit include a
shoe for a man who owned a shoe shop,
a saw for a carpenter, a beer bottle for a
serious drinker (see paragraph one) and a
“large pink object” for a gynecologist.
“The ones here are made to show,”
Clark-Langager stresses (belying the
suspicion that corpses might be nestled
inside the sculptural models). “There’ll
never be bodies in them.”
On loan from the Ernie Wolfe Gallery in Los Angeles, the coffins in the
“Coffin Makers of Ghana” exhibit will
return to California when the run ends
here. But Clark-Langager notes the
works of sculptural art typically go at
least six feet under after they’re built.
Text accompanying the exhibit points
out that, for everyday Ghanaians, the
coffins aren’t considered art. Instead,
they’re provided to honor the deceased
and assist them in their transition to
the next life.
Because the people of Ghana choose
to bid farewell to their dead in elaborate
ceremonies that can last for several days
and often include burying them with
many of the comforts of life—clothing, jewelry, money and prized possessions—it’s not a stretch for them to
include designer coffins as part of the
funeral festivities.
“There are so many different cultural traditions,” Clark-Langager notes. “You and I
are from a more puritanical tradition, but
someone who’s from Ghana is more likely
to celebrate death in this way.”
Still, though, if my companion meets
his demise in the near future, I’ll pass
the information about the can of Guinness on to his family, just in case.
LISTINGS
EVENTS
THURS., JAN. 25
GENDERED RECEPTION: A reception for “Gendered” happens from 6-8pm at WWU’s Viking Union
Gallery. The exhibit showcases the works of WWU
students who seek to visually represent gender
identity through the fine arts. See it through Feb.
2. For more info: 650-7490.
TUES., JAN. 30
WOOD CARVINGS: Marilyn Boysen presents a slide
program titled “Native American Carvings in Wood”
at 12:30pm at the Whatcom Museum, 121 Prospect
St. Entry is free. For more info: 676-6981.
CALL FOR ART: Plan now to contribute to this
year’s “Reaching for the Light” breast cancer art
show, which opens April 20 at the Blue Horse
Gallery, 301 W. Holly St. All mediums are welcome, and it’s preferred that they have a theme
relating to breast cancer awareness. Art is due
April 14. For more info: 224-0103.
EXHIBITS
BELLINGHAM RAILWAY MUSEUM: The museum
is open to the public from noon-5pm Tues. and
Thurs.-Sat. at 1320 Commercial St. For more info:
393-7540.
BLUE HORSE GALLERY: See works by painters
Dave Nichols and Joyce Prigot through January at
the Blue Horse Gallery, 301 W. Holly St. For more
info: 671-2305.
HANDPRINT ARTS: See the multi-artist “Fresh
Paint II” through January at Handprint Arts,
1611 N. State St. For more info: 647-9087 or
handprintarts.org.
IMPORT 12: Paintings by Todd Horton can be
viewed through January at Import 12 Gallery,
2711 Meridian St. For more info: 752-3233.
MINDPORT EXHIBITS: “Luminous Nature,” a show
of sculptures by Denise Snyder, shows through
Jan. 28 at Mindport Exhibits, 210 W. Holly St. For
more info: 647-5614.
MONA: “Range” and “CALIDO” are on display
through April 8 at La Conner’s Museum of Northwest Art, 121 S. First St. Entry is $2-$5. For more
info: (360) 466-4078 or museumofnwart.org.
RADIO MUSEUM: “The Dawn of the Electrical Age”
exhibit is currently being featured at the American Museum of Radio & Electricity, 1312 Bay St.
For more info: 738-3886 or amre.us.
STUDIO UFO: Illustrations by Ellen Clark and
acrylic paintings by Nancy Leshinsky show
through Feb. 3 at Studio UFO, 301 W. Holly St.
For more info: 671-8682.
WESTERN GALLERY: “Through the Kaleidoscope”
and “Coffin Makers of Ghana” are currently on display at the Western Gallery on the WWU campus.
For more info: 650-3963.
WHATCOM CHILDREN’S MUSUEM: “By the Bay:
Working on the Waterfront” is open from 10am5pm Thurs.-Sat. and 12-5pm Sun. at the Whatcom
Children’s Museum, 227 Prospect St. Admission is
$3.50. For more info: 733-8769.
WHATCOM MUSEUM: “Building Tradition: Contemporary Northwest Art from the Tacoma Art Museum” and “Heritage of Design: American Indian and
First Nation Treasures from the Maryhill Museum”
are currently on display at the Whatcom Museum, 121 Prospect St. For more info: 676-6981 or
whatcommuseum.org.
theater
dance
THURS., JAN. 25
GOOD, BAD, UGLY: “Upfront Unscripted” features Mainstage Players at 7:30pm at the Upfront Theatre, 1208 Bay St. At 9:30pm, see a
variety of improv by both new and seasoned
improvisers when “The Good, the Bad and the
Ugly” takes the stage. Entry is $5. For more
info: 733-8855 or theupfront.com.
profiles
JAN. 26 - 27
BY AMY KEPFERLE
THE CHANGELINGS: Bellingham improv ensemble the Changelings performs at 7:30pm at
the Upfront Theatre, 1208 Bay St. At 9:30pm,
competitive Theatresports matches ensue.
Entry is $8-$10. For more info: 733-8855 or
theupfront.com.
A
SAT., JAN. 27
DROP-IN ON IMPROV: Learn about the joys of
improv at a free beginning class at noon for
adults and 1pm for high school students at the
Upfront Theatre, 1208 Bay St. For more info:
733-8855.
REASON
for the
SEASON
WED., JAN. 31
PIE IMPROV: The Chameleons and Crazy Eights
& 2 Jokers—improv groups comprised of area
youth—perform at 7pm at the Mount Baker
Studio Theatre, 104 N. Commercial St. Tickets
are $6. For more info: 734-6080 or mountbakertheatre.com.
Filling in the blanks at
iDiOM Theater
DANCE
QUESTION: WHERE would you go if you
wanted to watch a couple hours of live, local theater that incorporated memory loss, talking (and
dancing) popsicles, the sun and earth, hit men, a
deadly bear and a lost ham in its lineup? Answer:
iDiOM Theater, of course.
Keeping with its tradition of debuting the greatest amount of original theater in the western hemisphere, iDiOM’s latest offering is a quirky smorgasbord of five plays created with the ambiguous theme
“A Winter’s Blank.” Local playwrights have filled in
the blanks and created short works that take the
topic and run with it in various directions.
Director Sol Olmstead’s A Winter’s Discontent
starts things off with a rumpled Tony Driscoll accidentally ending up on stage, where he’s forced
to interact with the audience and share his tale
of a Christmas ham gone wrong. Ben Eisner’s A
Winter’s Tale for Children features fully grown humans with no memories and a hankering to find
out who and what they are. A Winter’s Revolution
by David Cochran has notorious scene-stealer
Scott K. Seitz and Riley Penaluna portraying
coke-snorting popsicles planning a revolt (my favorite line: “All popsicles break: not all popsicles
truly freeze”).
All of the above plays are worth watching, but
Krissa Woiwod’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s
A Winter’s Tale is the play that I keep coming back
to. Woiwod takes the infamous stage direction from
the Bard’s original text—“Exit, pursued by bear”—
and crafts a play around that particular phrase.
There’s still a bastard baby, an edict from a king
See It
WHAT: A Winter’s Blank
WHEN: 8pm Jan. 25-27,
Feb. 1-3
WHERE: iDiOM Theater, 1418
Cornwall Ave.
COST: $10 (Jan. 25 show
is $5)
INFO: 201-5464 or idiomtheater.com
to kill the baby, a rescue by
a fella named Antigonus and
other background information, but Woiwod’s way with
words makes it so much more
than a play within a play. If
you’ve ever wondered what
a bear smells like or what it
feels like to be killed by a
bear, you’ll know by the end
of the adaptation.
“I like the challenge of
coming up with interesting
ways of presenting what’s
been written and fl eshing
out the characters,” Olmstead says of his directing
duties, which included making Woiwod’s play visually
compelling.
A rumpled Tony Driscoll shares
bygone tales of a Christmas ham in A
Winter’s Discontent
This is Olmstead’s second
bout directing “blanks.” Last
year, he helmed “Blank the
Musical” and he’s fresh off
writing, acting and directing
the recent “Hotbox,” a play
conceived of and executed in
just a week.
“The challenges with these
plays is working around other people’s—and my own—
schedules,” Olmstead notes.
“Getting sets and props for
five different shows, as opposed to one play, can be
overwhelming and daunting.
But it’s doable.”
The run-through I saw last
Sunday night was a little
rough around the edges and
still missing some props and
costumes, but I could tell
the actors and writers involved in “A Winter’s Blank”
haven’t just been spending
the chilly season drinking
hot chocolate and watching
reruns of CSI: Miami. They’ve
been busy creating, and it
shows.
JAN. 25 - 28
DANCE WORKS: Faculty and advanced students
will perform originally choreographed pieces
at 7:30pm. Thurs.-Sat. and 2pm. Sun. at WWU’s
Performing Arts Center Mainstage. Tickets are
$8-$11. For more info: 650-6146.
SUN., JAN. 28
PETER, WOLF: The Northwest Ballet and Skagit
Symphony performs Peter and the Wolf at 2pm
at Mount Vernon’s McIntyre Hall, 2501 E. College Way. Entry is free. For more info: (866)
624-6897 or mcintyrehall.org.
SAT. JAN. 27
HUMAN JAZZ: Dancer, mime, singer and clown
Christian Swenson performs “Human Jazz” at
7:30pm at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center, 1314 Harris Ave. Local poet and percussionist Kevin Murphy will also take part in the
show. Tickets are $10. For more info: 733-8375
or humanjazz.com.
SONG AND DANCE: “Let It Be A Dance We Do,”
an old-fashioned song and dance show for the
whole fan-damily, happens at 7:30pm at the
Leopold Crystal Ballroom, 1224 Cornwall Ave.
Entry is $6. For more info: 671-6327.
SUN., JAN. 28
SQUARES & STRINGS: Attend a monthly Square
Dance with local caller Lucas Hicks and a live
string band from 6-8pm at the YWCA Ballroom,
1026 N. Forest St. No experience is necessary,
and all dances are taught. Entry is $3. For more
info: 733-5960.
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
stage
ON STAGE
ON Stage
STAGE 15
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On
15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
LISTINGS
15
MUSIC 16-19
16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
16
music
previews
rumor has it
music PREVIEW
BY CAREY ROSS
Coco
Montoya
Late-bloomin’ blues
ALTHOUGH COCO Montoya has been
a musician for almost four decades, the
legendary guitarist is something of a late
bloomer. He got his start being mentored
by infl uential blues musicians and made a
career out of playing with other top-notch
bluesmen, but it wasn’t until about 10 years
ago that Montoya stepped out of the shadows to create a blues tradition of his own.
Born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif.,
Montoya became a musician early on. Except
his instrument of choice was the drums instead of the guitar and he used them to play
rock ‘n’ roll, not the blues. But his experiences with a pair of Alberts would eventually
change all that.
The first Albert to cross his path was that
other “King of the
Blues,” Albert King,
who Montoya saw perHEAR
form when he opened
WHAT: Coco Monfor Creedence Cleartoya, Fat James,
water Revival and Iron
Dave Payne
Butterfly in 1969. King’s
WHEN: 8pm Sat.,
set literally brought
Jan. 27
Montoya to tears, and
WHERE: Wild
Buffalo, 208 W.
thus began the shift
Holly St.
from rock to blues in
COST: $12 in
his musical outlook.
advance/$15 at
Enter Albert numthe door
ber two. A few years
MORE INFO:
later, when Montoya
wildbuffalo.net
was passing the time
still playing drums in
local rock bands, he unknowingly lent his
drum kit to the “Master of the Telecaster,”
Albert Collins. The two struck up a friendship, which turned into a working relationship when Collins, desperately in need of a
drummer for an imminent tour, tapped Montoya to sit behind the kit, a role he would
continue to fill for five more years. So be-
gan a mentorship that ended only
with Collins’s death in 1993.
It was under the tutelage of Collins that Montoya learned to play
the guitar. The two spent hours
between shows, holed up in various hotel rooms, Collins not only
passing his practical knowledge
and style on to Montoya, but also
teaching him to trust his musical
instincts and find his inspiration
from within.
It was a good education, but
when disco unceremoniously
booted blues out of the musical
limelight, it was looking like Montoya, who had been forced to take
a job behind the bar as opposed
to onstage, would never get the
chance to use it.
However, he continued to practice his newfound skills, which
paid off when John Mayall walked
into a Los Angeles bar where
Montoya was jamming. Mayall
left impressed, and when he went
to reform the Bluesbreakers, he
asked Montoya to play guitar—
essentially asking him to take
on the part once played by Eric
Clapton, Mick Taylor, and Peter
Green. They were big shoes to fill,
but Montoya did so admirably for
a decade, becoming, along with
Walter Trout, featured performers
in the band.
Even with all this musical success, Montoya, it seems, still had
not come into his own. It would
take a reassessment of his aims—
along with gentle nudges from
both Collins and Mayall—but Montoya finally struck out solo during
the mid-’90s. Despite the fact that
he’d made a name for himself with
the Bluesbreakers, Montoya was
not certain his solo efforts would
be met with the same enthusiasm
on the part of his fans.
He needn’t have worried. Montoya learned his lessons well
from his legendary teachers. His
guitar technique, certainly, is
fl awless, but it’s the passion and
soul with which he plays, not
to mention the intensity of his
vocals, that set Montoya apart.
With each of his solo releases,
he has consistently wowed critics, and his fan base continues
to grow in both size and fervor.
These days, you’ll find Montoya touring constantly, playing more than 200 shows a year.
One of those shows takes place
Sat., Jan. 27 at the Wild Buffalo.
Come see what a late bloomer
can do.
Rumor Has It
EVERYONE’S FAVORITE college radio station,
KUGS, is gearing up for a birthday, and, as is
their wont, plans to throw a pretty big party
to celebrate. Local bands No-Fi Soul Rebellion, Boom Bap Project, and 10 Killing Hands
will take the Viking Union stage Fri., Jan. 26
to help KUGS celebrate. I think it should be
pointed out that, at 33 years old, the radio
station is now officially older than the vast
majority of people who listen to it.
In other news of on-campus shows, it appears that both the Presidents of the U.S.A.
and the Thermals
will team up for a
Feb. 23 show, also
at the Viking Union.
While this is not the
rumored “big show”
(now looking more
and more dubious
as days go by) ASP
Pop has been working on, I’m certainly not going to
complain.
In further proof
that pretty much
BY CAREY ROSS
any space in town
can—and often does—double as a music venue, Kendrick’s, they of the pool tables and panini sandwiches on Cornwall Avenue, has been
playing host to a variety of local musicians every Wednesday through Friday for the past six
months or so. This now means you can eat, grab
a beer, chase it with a cup of coffee, get your
local music fix and further your career as a pool
shark, all under the same roof.
Carly Henry of Starbird Promotions tells
me she plans to start putting together more
shows in and around town. This is unusual,
because while Carly has a well-deserved reputation as a booking agent extraordinaire,
she spends a good amount of time signing up
local bands for out-of-town shows. Now, in a
crazy twist, she’s also going to be booking
out-of-town bands to play local shows. She
claims the strategy arose out of her desire
to not have to log so many travel miles to
see her favorite bands. While I certainly appreciate Carly’s efforts in this area and will
be more than happy to reap their rewards, I’m
also fairly impressed by her using laziness as
a motivating factor for hard work.
The artist now known as Robert Sarazin
Blake has emerged from the wilds of Arlington with a new album in tow. He will celebrate this considerable accomplishment
with back-to-back shows at 7pm and 10pm
Fri., Jan. 26 at the Green Frog. The price of
admission is a little steep at $13, but becomes a deal when you consider that it also
gets you the new CD—proving that revising his moniker isn’t the only lesson Blake
has learned from Prince. I can’t wait until
he starts referring to his band as the “New
Power Generation.”
BY GRAHAM ISAAC
The Cathoholix
One last hardcore mangle
IF YOU haven’t noticed, the average lifespan of a straight-up punk
rock act in Bellingham seems to fall
somewhere around two years in this
town. Some bands make it longer,
others are brief fl ashes of speedy
glory, but there isn’t a ton of punkrock institutions left. Scheize Geist,
Axes of Evil, and Thurman Merman
have all waved their goodbyes, leaving fewer straight-up old-schoolers
around. Which makes it all the sadder that local boys the Cathoholix are
calling it a day.
Formed in 2002, the Cathoholix play
dirty, fast and sloppy punk rock—no
hyphens or apologies needed. The
band’s loose energy is equally influenced by early ‘80s hardcore—Black
Flag, Bad Religion—as it is by modern crust and punk styles. The band
eschews the pop and emo overtones
trendy in much of today’s corporate
“punk”—the phrase “keeping it real”
may or may not be applicable any
more, but if it is, the Cathoholix do.
The band kicks out the jams, as
it were, and this has earned them a
solid following among the punk-loving kids in Bellingham. Their sound
is one that flourishes in dank basements and dark rooms; preferably
ones packed full of kids.
Given the busy schedules of its
members (most are in other bands or
projects as well) the Cathoholix have
not been as active during the past
year, and have decided to disband in
order to allow for the members to pursue other musical avenues. That said,
they’ll be bringing the pain one more
time inside the warm confines of the
Old Foundry—an appropriately rock
‘n’ roll space that can pack in lots of
punks coming to say goodbye.
HEAR
WHO: The Cathoholix, Karate Kitchen,
Brunette Sweat
WHEN: 8pm Fri., Jan. 26
WHERE: The Old Foundry, 100 E. Maple
St.
COST: $5
MORE INFO: whaam.org
Preceding the Cathoholix are local up-and-comers Karate Kitchen.
Formed from the ashes of popular
pop-rockers Deadly Sinclair, Karate
Kitchen (which also features the entirety of the math-rock duo Sweaty
Sweaters) are tougher and more technically apt than Sinclair was. The bass
is thick and heavy while the guitars
are sharp and angular, creating a
sound that swirls darting guitar lines
around hummable power-pop hooks.
A recent show at Chiribin’s found the
place packed to the gills with fans,
all of whom danced and crashed about
manically. A promising sign for a
promising young band that is currently working on its debut full-length.
Kicking off this frenzied rock ‘n’
roll dance party will be local mischief-makers Brunette Sweat, who
occasionally want to get your ass on
the floor with their clanging guitar
grooves and synth stutters, but just
as often are content to bludgeon you
with them. Either way, frontman Garrison Marr is always entertaining as
he climbs, swings the microphone
and generally freaks out while the
rest of the band play their fractured
synth-rock behind him.
Show up early and get your stutters out before the slam-dancing
begins.
Robert Sarazin Blake, in rare, full-band mode, will share stories and songs from his heartfelt and honest new album at two CD release shows at 7pm and 10pm Fri., Jan. 26 at the
Green Frog Café Acoustic Tavern.
FOLK FUN: Joe Hickerson, a self-described “vintage pre-plugged paleo-acoustic folksinger,” performs at
7:30pm at the Roeder Home, 2600 Sunset Dr. Entry is $8-$12. For more info:
671-3480.
CALLALOO PARTY: Celebrate one year
of business tonight at the Callaloo Caribbean Kitchen, 1211 N. State St. Seattle reggae funksters Aesense of Time
will perform, as will The Matt Peters
Trio, and The Blessed Coast Sound System. For more info: 676-5375.
FRI., JAN. 26
SUN., JAN. 28
WED., JAN. 24
KUGS PARTY: Celebrate 33 years of
broadcasting at a KUGS Birthday Celebration starting at 7pm at WWU’s Viking Union Multipurpose Room. No-Fi
Soul Rebellion, Boom Bap Project, and
10 Killing Hands will provide the tunes.
Entry is $8 for students and $12 general. For more info: 650-6146.
ANSCHELL TRIO: The Bill Anschell Trio
holds a CD release for More to the Ear
Than Meets the Eye from 4-7pm at the
Lucia Douglas Gallery, 1415 13th St.
Entry is $10 general, free for Jazz Project members. For more info: 650-1066
or jazzproject.org.
SAT. JAN. 27
ANNE FEENEY: Social change music activist Anne Feeney performs at
7:30pm at the Union Center, 1700 N.
State St. Traditional tunes, folk music, labor songs and more are on the
roster. Entry is a suggested $10. For
more info: 647-1752.
ROCKY IS HERE: Acoustic singersongwriter Rocky Votolato performs
at 8pm at WWU’s Performing Arts Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $6. For
more info: 650-2846.
WED., JAN. 31
.VTJD4XFFU.VTJD7JTJUXXXXJMECVõBMPOFUGPSPVSGVMMTDIFEVMFPGFWFOUT
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music
16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
MUSIC 16-19
misc. MUSIC
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
show PREVIEW
17
MUSIC 16-19
16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
18
Now Serving
Theater Simple Presents:
’52 Pick Up’
MBT Studio Theatre
Friday, Feb. 2, 8pm
Friday, Feb 9, 8pm
Friday, Feb 16, 8pm
One Woman
+ One Man
= A Relationship
One deck of cards.
52 scenes of that
relationship.
A combination of astutely
scripted observations
and improv, 52 Pick Up
can swerve from bellybusting comedy to quiet
1320 Cornwall Ave
738-0405
kbilliards.com
heartbreak at the literal
“Experts at shoestring epics!”
turn of a card, as the
The Seattle Weekly
characters navigate their
way through the events of
their relationship.
ines
alent
Win V
ding
inclu
gifts
nner,
us di
b
m
i
N
or
lates
choco
UV
ÀRZH
“… within moments, these two actors have created a bond
so intimate that the audience actually cares about these
hapless, bumbling lovers. During a couple of scenes, if
I closed my eyes, I could almost believe I was listening
to a recording from my own life. Yikes! Perfect show for
anybody who’s ever been destroyed by love.”
The Stranger (Seattle)
7 3 4 -6 0 8 0
w w w. m ou n t b a ker t h ea t re. c om
01.26.07
FRIDAY
01.27.07
SATURDAY
01.28.07
SUNDAY
Boundary Bay
Wilson Project,
$Millions$, Stabbin’
Hobo, L-Agua
Chiribin’s
Fairhaven Pub
Karaoke
Phil Saylor Wisor
Karaoke
Nightlight Lounge
Richard’s on
Richards
Rockfish Grill
Rumors
Karaoke w/Poops
Jim Beam Medicine
Show
College Night
Papa Roach, It Dies
Today, Art of Dying
Karaoke
The Chryslers
US
Comedy
Open Mic w/Chuck D feat.
Ten O’Clock Scholar
Cicadas, The Americas,
Stationary Legs, The
Braille Tapes
Project Mayhem, Trutones,
Zooey!
Typical Ace, Speaker
Speaker, Patient Patient,
Mitchell Sheldon
Jenni Potts, Kids on the
Couch
Poetry Night
Diverse Divas Showcase
Robert Sarazin Blake
Barton Carroll, Lesser
Lights
Lucas Hicks
Fritz and the Freeloaders
Open Mic w/Chuck D
Spaceband
Spaceband
Karaoke
’80s Night
Save Darfur Tour feat.
Visionaries, Greyskul, Sleep
Rocket One, more
Industrial Dance a Go-Go
Keller Williams
Hoss
Line Dance Lessons
w/Bev Ollerenshaw
DJ Deerhead and Friends
Cathoholix, Brunette Sweat,
Karate Kitchen, Graham Isaac
Marvin Johnson
Gypsy Lou Band
Subtle, Pigeon John
Stanton Warriors
Fidalgo Swing
Firkin Friday
Paul Green and Straight
Shot
Bradbury Press, Massy
Ferguson
76 Charger, Star Spangled
Bastards, Loyal Sinners
Rogue Hero
Royal
Invitational Jazz Jam
Mad Professor, Dr. Israel
The Old Foundry
Poppe’s
The Brent Coalminers
No-Fi Soul Rebellion,
boat, Sincerely Elvis
Honey Moon
Main St. Bar and
Grill
TUESDAY
The Americas, Stationary
Legs, The Oregon Donor
Fantasia Espresso
Green Frog Café
Acoustic Tavern
MONDAY
The All Nighters, Neon Nights,
The Americas
Commodore
Ballroom
Department of
Safety
01.29.07 01.30.07
Rocky Votolato/Jan. 27/
VU Multipurpose Room
Gypsy Lou Band
Industry Night
College Night
Ladies Night
Party Night
Betty Desire Show, DJ
Velveteen
DJ F*
DJ Qbnza
DJ Marcus Purnell
Tony and the Tigers
Tony and the Tigers
Tony and the Tigers
Silver Reef Casino
Marvin Johnson
VonDisco
Keller Williams/Jan.
28/Nightlight Lounge
Karaoke
Fetish Night
Barton Carroll/Jan.
27/Green Frog Acoustic
Tavern
Skagit Valley Casino
Comedy Night
Society’s Child
Society’s Child
Skylark’s
Walt Burkett
Ray Downey & Tim Mathies
The Spencetet
Underground
Coffeehouse (WWU)
The Dub Foundry
The Dennis Zender Project
Viking Union
Multipurpose Room
(WWU)
Wild Buffalo
Acoustic Oasis Open
Mic feat. James Lee Harris
Misty Flowers
Down North, Armonikos
Open Mic
KUGS Birthday Bash feat. NoFi Soul Rebellion, Boom Bap
Project, Ten Killing Hands
Rocky Votolato
The Bow Diddlers
Coco Montoya, Fat James,
Dave Payne
Halleck Street Ramblers
Weekly Blues
Invitational Jam feat.
Brian Lee
Boundary Bay Brewing Co. 1107 Railroad Ave • 647-5593 | Chiribin’s 113 E. Magnolia St. • 734-0817 | Commodore Ballroom 868 Granville St., Vancouver • (604) 739-4550 | Department of Safety 1011 12th
St. Anacortes • (360) 293-8361 | Fairhaven Pub & Martini Bar 1114 Harris Ave. • 671-6745 | Fantasia Espresso & Tea 1324 Cornwall Ave. • 715-1622 | Green Frog Café Acoustic Tavern 902 N State St. • 7561213 | Main Street Bar & Grill 2004 Main St., Ferndale • 384-2982 | Nightlight Lounge 211 E. Chestnut St • 527-1531 | Poppe’s Bistro & Lounge 714 Lakeway Dr. • 671-1011 | Richard’s on Richards 1036 Richards
St. Vancouver • (604) 687-6794 | Rockfish Grill 320 Commercial Ave. Anacortes • (360) 588-1720 | The Rogue Hero 1313 N. State St. • 756-0069 | The Royal 208 E. Holly St. • 738-3701 | Rumors Cabaret 1119
Railroad Ave. • 671-1849 | Silver Reef Casino 4876 Haxton Way, Ferndale • 383-0777 | Skagit Valley Casino Resort 5984 N Darrk Ln, Bow • (360) 724-7777 | Skylark’s Hidden Cafe 1300 11th St. • 715-3642 |
Stuart’s at the Market 1530 Cornwall Ave. • 714-0800 | Wild Buffalo 208 W. Holly St. • www.wildbuffalo.net | To get your live music listings included in this esteemed newsprint, send pertinent info to
clubs@cascadiaweekly.com. Deadlines are always at 5 pm Friday.
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music
16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
MUSIC 16-19
01.24.07 01.25.07
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
See below for venue
addresses and phone
numbers
19
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film
FILM 20-22
20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
20
film REVIEW
film
reviews
film times
REVIEWED BY COLIN COVERT
Pan’s Labyrinth
GUILLERMO DEL Toro’s business card should
REVIEWED BY JOHN DEFORE
Catch and Release
A sweet, small film
SURE IT’S better to have loved and lost than not at all,
but what about loving, losing, then discovering your nowdead groom-to-be wasn’t at all who you thought he was?
That’s still not as bad as the not-at-all option, it turns
out, so long as that deceased fiance left you with some
true-blue pals to cushion the fall. So says Catch and Release, a likable romantic comedy that delivers enough
laughs and star appeal to fare reasonably well in the datemovie department, even if it doesn’t entirely live up to its
ambitions.
Jennifer Garner plays would-be bride Gray, whose caterers plan for a wedding but wind up feeding a collection of mourners—including two, her late fiance Grady’s
housemates, who are close enough to be her brothers, and
one, a shallow commercials director just in from Los An-
EXPOSE YOURSELF
Literature
LIVE!
EVENTS
Two FREE
Events!
geles (Timothy Olyphant), who never quite
fit into this little clan but has decided to
stick around a while nevertheless.
In tidying up Grady’s affairs, Gray makes
some startling discoveries: He was rich and
was sending someone $3,000 a month. That
someone is an unmarried woman (Juliette
Lewis) with a young son.
Some hurtful words and one halfhearted
suicide attempt later, these developments
prove a bit less disruptive than viewers
might expect. The story takes place in
sunny Boulder, Colo., where, one character
notes, people are unnaturally happy. Indeed a strong undercurrent of peace, love
and understanding runs through the film:
Characters introduced as louts or floozies
are soon shown to be sympathetic human
beings. Even their natural enemies come to
see the good in them.
read, “Fantasy Films for All Audiences and Occasions.” A few years ago he worked the raw materials
of Nazis and demons into the formulaic, shamelessly entertaining comic-book adventure Hellboy. Now
he has tapped the same ingredients for a serious
art film that is at once deeply personal and touchingly universal.
Pan’s Labyrinth uses the final days of the Spanish
Civil War as the nightmarish backdrop for a fable
involving an evil stepparent, occult beings and a
heroic, innocent child. The Fascist forces are exterminating the final remnants of the resistance in the
countryside, and Capt. Vidal, the new stepfather of
11-year-old Ofelia, is one of the government’s most
merciless brutes. His callous treatment of Ofelia’s
ailing pregnant mother, his new bride, is the mildest manifestation of his cruelty; his atrocities
against captured partisans are outbursts of truly
diabolical sadism.
If Vidal is the daytime face of infernal forces,
Ofelia’s dreamlike adventures among the fabulous
creatures of the forest represent its nighttime opposite. Wandering the grounds near the old mill
house where Vidal has relocated the family, Ofelia
encounters fairies, an underground netherworld, and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
THURSDAY • 7:30p
Anne Brevig & Martin
Vennesland
January 25th
SLIDE S
HOW
!
share the tales of their
56,000 nautical mile
excursion!
9Come
YEARS
here their tale
ON
THEsee
and
7 SEAS
NOR SIGLAR
WITH
-YURTS
LIVING
SATURDAY • 7:30p
IN THE
JOIN US!
ROUND
Becky Kemery
offers history and advice on
every aspect of these homes
that connect living and
nature.
VILLAGE BOOKS • 1200 11th St in Historic Fairhaven • 671-2626 • www.VillageBooks.com
January 27th
Alpha Dog: Nick Cassavetes coaxes a surprisingly capable performance out of Justin Timberlake in this based-on-a-truestory effort about one of the FBI’s most
notorious fugitives, Jesse James Hollywood. ++++ (R • 2 hrs. 2 min.)
Bellis Fair 7:30 | 10:20
CA97<97?CIH
CIF@=B9C:
&9HH9FDF9GG!F99H=B;
5F8G-H5H=CB9FM
IHHCBG
Babel: Starring Brad Pitt and directed by
the stunningly talented Alejandro González
Iñárritu, this story about the collision of
the lives of four groups of people might
just be one of the best you’ll see all year.
+++++ (R • 2 hrs. 22 min.)
Bellis Fair 12:55 | 4:05 | 7:20 | 10:30
*( ! +! & -+! & ++ ( *! &,! & / ! & ! &.!,,!'&+
& % ( ( * & - ! $,
''#+ ''#* (! *
Blood and Chocolate: The story of a 19year-old Bucharest native who must deal
with all the typical coming-of-age angst,
namely defining herself, finding love and
dealing with life as a werewolf. + (PG-13
• 1 hr. 38 min.)
Sunset Square 12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:45
| 10:10
. 3 4!4 %3 4" % , , ) . ' ( ! -
")3/."//+").$).'#/-
Car Sharing
Available NOW in Bellingham!
Charlotte’s Web: This live-action version
of the popular children’s book tells the familiar story of one radiant performing pig
and the spider who helps him avoid the
axe. ++++ (G • 1 hr. 53 min.)
Bellis Fair 12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00
which I’m guessing is a curse indeed. ++
(PG • 1 hr. 49 min.)
Bellis Fair 1:40 | 4:20 | 7:00 | 9:40
Children of Men: Clive Owen stars and Alfonso Cuaron directs this riveting, pitchperfect near-future sci-fi story about a
world in which all the women are infertile and Great Britain is the only “civilized” country left. +++++ (R • 1 hr.
49 min.)
Sehome 1:05 | 4:10 | 7:15 | 10:15
Notes on a Scandal: Nominated for four
Academy awards, this film starring Cate
Blanchett as a teacher involved in an illicit affair with a student and Judi Dench
as the keeper of her secret is both heartwrenching and thought-provoking. ++
+++ (R • 1 hr. 32 min.)
Sehome 1:20 | 4:25 | 7:30 | 9:50
The Departed: Martin Scorsese shows why
he’s the master in this film starring Jack
Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio that tells the story of the cops, the
mob and the moles that come between
them. ++++ (R • 2 hrs. 29 min.)
Bellis Fair 1:10 | 4:35 | 8:00
Dreamgirls: Beyonce Knowles and Jamie
Foxx are the marquee performers in this
musical saga of a Supremes-esque girl
group, but it’s Oscar nominees Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson who really steal
the show. ++++ (PG-13 • 2 hrs. 5 min.)
Sehome 12:50 | 3:55 | 7:00 | 10:00
Epic Movie: This movie, which spoofs
blockbuster and fantasy films, is crafted
along similar lines as Date Movie and the
Scary Movie franchise, so you pretty much
know what you’re getting. + (PG-13 • 1
hr. 26 min.)
Bellis Fair 1:00 | 3:10 | 5:25 | 7:40 | 9:55
Freedom Writers: Hilary Swank uses all
the might of her double-Oscar® clout to
help create what, for all the world, looks
to be a remake of Dangerous Minds, casting
herself in the role of teacher as redeemer.
% Save M oney
% Sim plify YourLife
Smokin’ Aces
+++ (PG-13 • 2 hrs. 3 min.)
Sunset Square 1:15 | 4:05 | 7:00 | 9:55
The Hitcher: Another totally unnecessary
remake of a horror movie that was really
only so good the first time around, when it
starred Rutger Hauer as a villain with his
thumb out and bloodlust in his heart. This
time, Sean Bean does the honors as the
murdering marauder, and what the remake
lacks in substance or style, it is sure to
make up for in sheer gore. + (R • 1 hr.
30 min.)
Sunset Square 12:50 | 3:10 | 5:30 | 7:55
| 10:15
Letters From Iwo Jima: The second of
two very fine WWII dramas directed this
year by Clint Eastwood (the other being
Flags of Our Fathers), this one explores
the battle for Iwo Jima in heartbreaking
beauty from the Japanese point of view.
+++++ (R • 2 hrs. 21 min.)
Bellis Fair 12:40 | 3:55 | 7:10 | 10:25
Night at the Museum: A night watchman
becomes trapped in a museum, where he
unleashes an Egyptian curse that brings
Robin Williams to life as Teddy Roosevelt,
Pan’s Labyrinth: See review previous page.
+++++ (R • 1 hr. 50 min.)
Pickford 4:00 | 6:30 | 9:00 | Sat. & Sun.
@ 1:00
The Pursuit of Happyness: Will Smith
plays a down-on-his-luck father who,
through a combination of smarts and perseverance, manages to parlay an unpaid
internship at Dean Witter into a financial
empire. +++ (PG-13 • 1 hr. 56 min.)
Sunset Square 1:00 | 4:15 | 7:10 | 9:45
Smokin’ Aces: Despite a slew of talented
cast members—Jeremy Piven, Alicia Keys,
and Ben Affleck, to name a few—this movie looks more than a little bit like a Guy
Ritchie movie—that is if Ritchie made it
while hooked on speed and suffering from
ADD. ++ (R • 1 hr. 48 min.)
Sunset Square 1:30 | 4:45 | 7:30 | 10:00
Stomp the Yard: I refuse to acknowledge that a movie featuring a dance-off
of any kind could be bad, no matter what
common sense and the film’s preview
might have me believe. ++ (PG-13 • 1
hr. 55 min.)
Sunset Square 1:05 | 4:30 | 7:05 | 9:50
% Be Environm entally Conscious
Join before Jan.31 and
save $20 on the initiation fee!
(360) 389-6551
www.communitycarshare.org
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film
FILM 20-22
20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
BY CAREY ROSS
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
Film Shorts
Notes on a Scandal
21
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film
FILM 20-22
20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
22
film ::
local
national
dvd REVIEW
Catch
and Release
Continued from page 20
Pan’s
Labyrinth
Continued from page 20
In part, that appears to reflect the
big-heartedness of screenwriter Susannah Grant (champion of underestimated
women in Erin Brockovich and In Her
Shoes), who is making her feature-directing debut. She’s sympathetic here
to characters that in another film might
be two-dimensional punching bags;
her warmth and her eagerness to make
something richer than a typical romantic comedy go a long way.
But those revelations of characters’
hidden depths also can be abrupt, particularly in the case of Olyphant’s womanizer, whose evolution into a decent
guy seems to happen off camera. Grant
has acknowledged that her cut of the
film started at two hours and 57 minutes. While one doesn’t long for that
extra hour’s reinstatement—this sweet,
small story isn’t meant to be an epic,
and already feels a bit long—these
cuts would explain a thing or two.
If not all its narrative and emotional
strands work perfectly, though, the
movie has its charms. Kevin Smith, as
Grady’s housemate Sam, proves he’s no
one-note Silent Bob. Although wearing
a tie-dyed shirt may be the biggest challenge he faces here, he fills his comicrelief duties easily and has time left
over to show a little tenderness. While
Smith gets most of the laughs, Garner
does turn a dinner-table outburst into a
comic highlight.
its towering, horn-headed lord,
the faun Pan. The ugly creature
is suspect, sometimes expressing concern for Ofelia, calling
himself “your most humble servant,” sometimes harsh or deviously manipulating. He tells her
she is a re-incarnated princess
of the underworld, and that if
she completes three dangerous quests she will regain her
powers; with no other options
to escape her painful life, she
agrees. She must believe. He’s
all she has.
Del Toro links Pan’s dark,
brooding magical realm to the
sunny real world, creating a
story that can be understood
from several points of view.
Ofelia might be taking refuge
in her imagination. Pan may
exist, but his promises could be
lies. Or the frightening creature
may really be Ofelia’s guardian
spirit. The film retains its enticing ambiguity until the final
shot, a scene as heart-wrenching as anything in the original,
unfiltered Brothers Grimm. Del
Toro understands that the correct, cathartic and emotionally
satisfying ending to a fairy tale
isn’t necessarily a happy one.
Pan’s Labyrinth is beauti-
fully shot and designed, but
it’s the acting that makes it a
remarkable emotional journey.
Talented mime artist Doug
Jones plays Pan so compellingly that you lose sight of the
prosthetic limbs and demonoid
makeup that have transformed
him into a demigod. It’s Pan’s
mercurial nature rather than
his grotesque form that rivets
your attention. He’s an Alicethrough-the-looking-glass reflection of the malicious and
arbitrary Capt. Vidal, a child’s
conception of unfathomable,
alien adult power.
Sergio Lopez makes Vidal a
searingly memorable villain,
morally subhuman yet with a
godlike power of life and death
and an apparent invulnerability to pain. A scene in which he
stitches up his freshly scarred
face will give some viewers
sleepless nights for months
to come. Of course, the film’s
success hangs on its brave,
suffering heroine, and Ivana
Baquero plays the lead impeccably, offering the kind of
textured, imaginative performance seen in the best work
by the young Jodie Foster or
Dakota Fanning. Even when
the story is deep in the realm
of the fantastic, she remains
rivetingly realistic.
REVIEWED BY KASEY ANDERSON
The Guardian
COSTNER! KUTCHER! An emotional thrill
ride jam-packed with latent homosexual tension!
No, that isn’t the tagline Buena Vista used to promote the release of The Guardian on DVD, but if it
had been, the film would have seemed a lot more
enticing. As it stands, one look at the cover and
most anyone would know exactly what they were
in for: Costner plays a grizzled Coast Guard vet and
Kutcher is the brash, cocksure hot-head with whom
he inevitably butts heads. The rest of the film plays
out in by-the-numbers fashion: the traditional giveand-take occurs, with both Costner and Kutcher’s
characters learning a little something from one another, and ultimately saving one another’s lives, be
it literally or metaphorically. The film isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just far too predictable to be very good.
We’ve seen and heard it all before, and usually with
a better cast. Special features include an alternate
ending and making-of featurette. (Movie ++) PG13 • 2 hrs. 19 min. (Buena Vista)
./$)2493(/43(%2%9/
A PICKFORD EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT!
"OOZEBELONGSINASHOT
GLASSBUTCOFFEEDOESNOT
7ESHUNTHOSETIREDDIRTY
SHOTGLASSESINFAVOROF
PULLINGEVERYDROPOFYOUR
ESPRESSOSHOTWHENEVER
POSSIBLEINTOACLEAN#50
#REMABELONGSINYOUR
MOUTHNOTACRUSTYOLD
SHOTGLASS
“A brilliant work of the
imagination capable of truly
seizing and igniting
our fantasies.”
— Michael Wilmington,
Chicago Tribune
Fri-Thr, Jan 26-Feb 1
@ 4, 6:30 & 9:00 PM
Sat-Sun, Jan 27-28 @ 1:30 PM
EVERYSTEPEVERYDAYOVERANDOVER
Mexico • 2006 • 112 min • Spanish with Subtitles • R
300 W. Champion Street, Downtown Bellingham 738-DROP
classifieds
100
Jobs
Help Wanted
DRIVER: Take care of your
family. Join ours. Swift offers excellent miles and
compensation. Regional and
dedicated runs available.
No experience necessary.
1(866)207-2980; www.SwiftTruckingJobs.com. EOE.
A TRAVEL job: 12 new
hires, over 18, travel coast to
coast with young co-ed business group! $500 signing bonus. Return guaranteed. Call
Shirley 1(866)786-3860.
DRIVER ASAP, 36-43cmp/
$1.20pm, + sign on bonus. $0
lease new trucks, CDL-A + 3
months OTR. 1(800)635-8669.
DRIVER $5K sign-on bonus
for experienced Teams, Temp
Control, dedicated (guaranteed miles), regional(home
weekly). Solos, Teams, CDL-A
Grads, L/P, O/Os. Covenant
1(866)684-2519. EOE.
EXCITING opportunity
to work with international
company in your hometown.
Compensated
volunteers
needed to work with international yourth. Travel incentives. 1(800)344-3566 or to to
www.icesusa.org.
Business
Opportunities
ALL CASH candy route.
Do you earn $800 in a day?
Your own local candy route.
Includes
30
machines
and candy all for $9,995.
1(888)771-3503.
EducationInstruction
ATTEND College online
from home. Medical, Business, Paralegal, Computers,
Criminal Justice. Job placement
assistance. Computer provided. Financial aid if qualified.
Call 1(866)858-2121; www.OnlineTidewaterTech.com
200
Services
Adoptions
ADOPT: A loving young financially secure couple will
love & cherish your baby.
Please give us a chance.
Expenses paid, Jenn & Joe,
1(800)471-9606.
PREGNANT? Considering
adoption? Talk with caring
people specializing in matching birthmothers with families nationwide. Expenses
paid. Toll free 24/7, Abby’s
One True Gift Adoptions,
1(866)413-6292.
Financial
LOCAL private investor
loans money on real
services
200
Services
rentals
000
Crossword
real estate
000
Crossword
buy sell trade
000
Crossword
estate equity. I loan
on houses, raw land, commercial property and property development. Call Eric
at 1(800)563-3005, www.fossmortgage.com
A^XZchZYBVhhV\ZEgVXi^i^dcZg
=VeenCZlNZVg
&%d[[
;^ghi&"]djg
BVhhV\Z
(+%''%"'-(Halau Kameleokalani
Beg.Hula: 7:15-8:15 pm
Basics, ukulele, mele Advanced:8:30-9:30 pm On going Learn hula history,songs
of my ohana, chants/mele,
talk story! Firehouse Performing Arts Center, 1314
Harris Ave., Fairhaven. 360
483-3736 info/registration
Kahu Hoakalei (Erna Woo)
Rapid Eye Technology
A Natural Safe, Way to Release Stress, negative patterns & Trauma stored in the
mind/body. Repattern Your
Life,Works with your bodies
own natural release system:REM sleep. Addictions,
Depression /Grief,PanicAnxiety,
PTS,ADD,AbuseAnger,
Skills
for
Life
taught,HEALTHLIGHT CENTER 360 483-3736
New
Snowboard
New
500
Rentals
500
Rentals
Lamar Impact snowboard.
168cm w/Liquid bindings.
Great beginner board in
new condition. Asking $150.
253.948.2735
are currently running a special of $300.00 off of your first
months rent if you move in by
the 31st of January and sign a
years lease. email: manager@
villageatbakercreek.com
265423951@cascadiaweekly.
com
6KW SILENT Diesel Generator. Electric start. Sound
enclosure. New $3,850. Sacrifice $1,900. Never used. Email
if you can? 1(206)686-4774,
1(360)850-4311; homedays@
gmail.com. Just moved, live
locally.
National Lic#MA00017175
G]nhLZWW!ABE
300
Buy Sell Trade
SAWMILLS from only
$2,990.00 -convert your logs
to valuable lumber with your
own Norwood portable band
sawmill. Log skidders also
available. Free information:
1(800)578-1363, ext. 300-N;
www.norwoodindustries.com.
“Ah, Relief! That
tightness and stressed
feeling is gone!”
—M. Sperandeo
Belly Dance & Beyond
Classes Tune in and tone
up! Egyptian style BD, basics, music, history, zagats,
informative-innovative
teacher Erna Woo, with over
25 yrs. experience, takes you
on a experiencal dance journey. Tues. 6-7 pm, ongoingFirehouse Performing Arts
Center, 1314 Harris Ave. 360
483-3736 info/register
bulletin board
BAMBOO
DESIGNER
Flooring, 2317 sqft, sell all
or part. New $5.99 sqft, sacrifice only $2.50 sqft. Project
cancelled. Email if you can?
homedays@gmail.com. Just
moved, live locally, (206)6864774; (360)850-4311.
Mind Body
Spirit
Wu Style Tai Chi Long
form Tai Chi for balance, relaxation, strength, flexibility.
Firehouse Center for the Arts,
Fairhaven. Starts January
12th. Fridays, 3:30-4:30. Pay
by the class ($10) or for the 8
week session ($50. Humphrey
Blackburn, 366 5709
classifieds.cascadiaweekly.com
By Matt Jones
400
Autos
“Re: LAX”
Know the code, and you’ll land safely
Across
1 Succumbed
7 Tic ___
10 Some mags found
in salons
13 Narcotics Anonymous figure
15 Fragrant
17 Beginning of
a miniseries,
usually
18 Elvis song/movie,
upon landing?
19 Mo. Japan celebrates “Health
and Sports Day”
20 “Don’t do drugs!”
ad, for short
22 Monopoly card
23 Rice dish
nickname, upon
landing?
27 Lay down rhymes
30 De-classify?
31 Successful
quarterback sneak
results: abbr.
32 The Raelians, e.g.
33 Phrase seen after
a list of people
35 Some elements
36 Harry Potter title
phrase, upon
landing?
39 Self-satisfied
40 Paul Gauguin’s
island
41 Letters on Soviet posters and
rockets
42 Jean-___ Picard
43 Trumpet tools
46 LPGA golfer Se
Ri ___
47 American historical event, upon
landing?
50 James of “The
Godfather”
52 ESPN reporter
Paolantonio
53 “Ay, dios ___!”
(Fericito catchphrase)
54 Late folk singer,
upon landing?
57 Informant
60 ___ tract
61 Track marks
maker
62 Generational
divide
63 Mao ___-tung
64 Sites for strikes
Down
1 Elusive pleasure
zone
2 Military helicopter
3 Maelstrom
4 Doc for head colds
5 Bar introduction?
6 With even positive
and negative
charges, as some
molecules
7 “Mazel ___!”
8 Word on shoes and
t-shirts
9 Break a commandment
10 What people would
do for a Klondike
bar?
11 Sine ___ non
12 Cobra warning
14 Take ten
16 Singer Corinne
Bailey ___
21 Museum pieces
24 Accelerated
25 Honored with a
party
26 “Dingbat,” to
Archie Bunker
28 Trivial Trebek
29 Scorecard nos.
32 Word after “per”
34 Yoga position
35 Crazy-looking
outfit
36 Willzyx the whale
from a “South
Park” episode, e.g.
37 Windshield striker,
sometimes
38 Everest or K2
39 Angel dust
42 Unlikely partygoers
44 Weasel who’s
white in winter
45 Not sharing
47 Not so great with,
as with a sport
48 Prince Charles’s
really stand out
49 Symbols of
servitude
51 ___ Taylor LOFT
(clothing store)
54 Instrument in
backwoods bands
55 “...man ___
mouse?”
56 “Science Guy” Bill
58 Carson Daly’s
former MTV show
59 Chick-___-A (mall
eatery)
©2006 Jonesin’
Crosswords (editor@
jonesincrosswords.
com)
Last Week’s Puzzle
AUTOS FOR SALE $500
POLICE impounds, cars from
$500! Tax repos, US Marshal
and IRS sales! Cars, trucks,
SUV’s, Toyota’s, Honda’s,
Chevy’s, more! For listing call
1(800)425-1620, x2178.
500
Rentals
Rentals:
Bellingham
York / near downtown3br (2 large one small) 1 3/4
bath. Wood floors and high
ceilings,living room,dining,
kitchen and 3/4 bath on first
floor. 3 bedrooms and large
full bath up. Gas high efficency gas heat and hot water. Full
dry basement with inside and
outside doors(dry but only 6’
+ or - headroom. Fenced yard,
3 onsite parking places. Tenant pays w/s/g. Smaller dogs
ok. Currently for sale. Will
take off market when rented
email: anon-265771852@cascadiaweekly.com
$300.00 OFF OF YOUR
FIRST MONTHS RENTLarge 2 bedroom 2 bathroom
(945 sq ft) apartment for
rent. Full size washer / dryer
and dishwasher in every unit.
Newer quiet complex, close to
I-5 and shopping. Cats are Ok
with an additional fee. We pay
for sewer, water and trash.
Rent is $725.00 with a security deposit of $600.00. We
Reaching
thousands
of renters each week,
Cascadia Weekly is the
place to advertise your
rental property
Rambler on Barkley area
cul du sacSpacious and
bright 4 bed or 3 plus office/
den; 2 bath one level house
with newly refinished beautiful
hardwood floors. Very efficient
with gas heat & hot water. Fully
applianced including freezer.
Very quiet neighborhood on
dead end street. 2827 Queen
St. off E. Illinois from Orleans.
733-4220
$800 / 1br - Cute Secluded house at the end of a
country road. $800 / 1br - Cute
Secluded house at the end of
a country road. (Bellingham)
Secluded house at the end of
a country road. Rabbits birds
trees and flowers. Country living close to the city. House on
20 acres Mobile avaliable also
425 605 2101 or 425 773 2703
4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms, GARAGE, Great
Location! 6824 Vail Drive,
Lynden WA 98264 (Lynden
Address but half way to Bellingham) The home has been
totally redone. Real hardwood
floors, all new appliances,
carpet, paint. Rent is $1250 +
utilities and one month deposit. Available NOW! Call Yvette
(360) 739-2976 for more information.
Large Shop for Rent
40X40, 3-phase electrical, loading dockGreat
Location off Hemmi Road! The
shop is heated & bathroom
available. The shop freatures
12 foot bay door, 3-phase
electrical and loading dock.
Rent is $1,000 plus utilities,
and one month deposit available Feb. 1st. Call Yvette for
more information (360) 7392976.
3,900 sq. ft. house One
room available 6 bedrooms 4 baths 2 kitchens
email: anon-265424689@cascadiaweekly.com
Large 1600+ sq ft luxury
4 bedroom 2 bath 2 car
garage with hot tubRent Reduced!!! Available Now!!! One
month deposit!!! email: anon-
REPLYING
TO ADS
Certain ads have been
blocked by anonymous
posters who do not wish
to receive unsolicited
emails or attachments.
When replying to
anonymous ads (anon-),
please do not send
HTML or formatted mail,
or attachments. For best
results, send brief, plaintext messages under
150K in size. Include
contact information.
Lovely South HIll Home
with Bay View for RentFor lease is a grand home with
marvelous views on quiet
South Hill. Great touches
like an oval-shaped bath
with skylight, brass railings
on the stair, custom double
sink bathroom with separate women’s vanity, marble
fireplace and nicely styled
bedrooms with wainscoating,
custom paint, etc. Currently
set up with three bedrooms
as the den is partitioned off
from the living room. Full
bath upstairs and 1/2 bath
downstairs. Elaborate retaining wall in back with garden
beds built in...leads up to an
ocean view plot that would
make a lovely spot to hold a
barbeque. A special place to
live...prefer a one year lease.
email: anon-265318573@cascadiaweekly.com
Upscale Duplex with 3
BR, 2BA per Unit. email:
jillene@kw.com
2 bd, 1 1/2 bath 912 sq.
ft. Apartment Apex Property Management Benjamin
Court Apartments (3 years
old) - 2 Bedrooms/1 1/2 bath/
large spacious kitchen/large
living & dining room/W&D,
Dishwasher, and W/S/G paid,
nice deck w/outdoor storage.
- 2nd floor corner unit, little
bigger & more windows it’s
really nice! - Deposit negotiable (or $325) - Take over
lease till May 31st 2007 - and
can renew it for no fee at all.
(Money back when lease ends
as well!) - Near Bellis Fair
Mall, Cordata shopping center, many restaurants, Cost
Cutter, Fred Meyer, Costco,
WCC, etc. (all of these are
literally within a walk from
here) - One parking space
per unit, and on street parking - $30 app. fee - Looking to
move out when approved or
when you can. Very flexible.
- Call Brady(253.861.6344) or
Sara (253.318.3657)
2 Bedroom house for
rent. wsg included Cute
2 bedroom house next to bus
route. Has W/D and WSG
included. Nice yard and a
tool shed. Comes with riding
lawnmower. 6 month lease.
Available Feb. 1st. Call Emel
at 734-0691.
3br - 3 BD/ 1.75BA Sudden Valley Home3 BD/
1.75BA Sudden Valley Home,
Pergo Floors, Lanscaped back
yard, Dishwasher, Washer
and Dryer,1 Car Garage, Storage Shed, Quiet Neighborhood, No Dogs, N/S, $1,150,
Call 206-852-3642.
Rentals: Birch
Bay
Sealinks-3200 sq. ft of
custom home-Highest
on Hill2001 custom built
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
jobs
TO PLACE AN AD
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifi
eds 23-26
CLASSIFIEDS
23-26 | Food 27
broadcast
23
classifieds
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifi
eds 23-26
CLASSIFIEDS
23-26 | Food 27
broadcast
24
jobs
500
Rentals
home overlooking golf course
and water. 180 degree views
from Mt. Baker to Birch Bay.
Enjoy this beautiful home on a
monthly or longer term lease.
Pets welcome email: anon265742371@cascadiaweekly.
com
Sealinks 2004 Rambler3
bedroom/2 bath Allmar rambler in Sealinks. Like new.
1550 sq. ft. fenced back yard
perfect for small dog. Patio,
all appliances. Close to beach,
golf, restaurants. email:
anon-265740969 @ ca scadiaweekly.com
Beachfront Living on
Birch BayClean and cozy
beachfront cottage on Birch
Bay. Watch sunsets from your
own private sand beach. Utilities included. No smoking or
pets. References required.
Available immediately. 360920-0420
Rentals:
Ferndale
Charming Log House in
Magical Wooded Setting Beautiful,
completely
renovated log house for rent
just north of Bellingham. Bedroom with full bath and multicolored slate floor, washer/
dryer. Kitchen with tiled central island and gas range. Spacious main room has vaulted
ceilings, skylights, wood
floors, stained glass windows
and leaded glass door and a
roomy loft space for second
bedroom or office etc. New
pellet stove and electric heat
makes this lovely space cozy
and and comfortable.. Wildlife habitat so, sorry, no dogs.
Also no smokers.Call David at
(360) 201-1111
Rentals: Sumas
3+Br/2Ba LOG HOME
23Mi NE of Bellingham $1000 Mo/Dep, $975
if paid by the 25th of each
month. Av 02/01/07, mo-tomo or 6 month lease. Really
Nice Private and Quiet Custom Log Home in wooded
area amidst acreage at end of
country rd. Creek and garden
spot. Huge liv. rm. with high
ceiling, large kitchen, deck,
space for office, new W/D, D/
W, stove & new fridge, wood
burning stove, electric heat,
N/S, Pet negotiable. email:
anon-265474616 @ ca scadiaweekly.com
Lovely family home for
services
500
Rentals
great value! Less than 1
year old ,2 story house on
a dead-end cul-de-sac in a
quiet neighborhood of newer
homes, huge back yard, patio,
no smokers, prefer no pets
(consider with pet deposit).
Appliances: W/D, DW, Micro,
Gas forced air furnace, Refrigerator, Oven, (all stainless steel in large kitchen
w/breakfast bar) Bedrooms:
3 Bathrooms: 2.5 Sq Feet:
1,600 (Approx.) Garage: 2 car
w/ opener. Rent: $1,050 per
month, $950 deposit Wonderful open layout of kitchen,
dining and living rooms on
main floor for a comfortable
family home. Dining room
opens through sliding door
to patio. Back yard view of
horse pasture and Mt. Baker.
Quiet country living close to
Abbotsford shopping! 118
Roosevelt Court, Sumas, WA
Call (360) 988-4206, (360)
384-6990 or (360) 815-7683
for application and viewing
appointment.
Rentals: Skagit
Newly remodeled studioNewly remodeled studio
for lease. 600 square feet
including kitchenette & full
bath,
Semi-furnished,quiet
neighborhood. 550.00 per
month, utilities included.
Reply to: anon-265294821@
cascadiaweekly.com
Rentals:
Commercial
Really clean office/shop
workspace in convenient location! For lease
is a great office and shop
space...perfect for a contractor, builder or someone who
offers services which require
a lot of open space. 18 foot
ceililngs and gigantic garage
door. Three separate rooms,
like new. Heat on demand,
shower. It’s a great place and
a really good price for all of
this. Super landlord too. Call
me if you’d like to view this
place...available immediately.
David 360-306-1543
Rentals Wanted
Furnished house/apartment 2 week rental Mature couple exploring the Bellingham area Feb 17 - Mar 3,
2007 would like to rent a furnished house/condo/apartment in or near downtown
Bellingham for 2 weeks. No
pets, have own car. Smaller
rentals
real estate
500
Rentals
(1-2 bedroom) preferred.
email: anon-265301826@cascadiaweekly.com
Needed
Warehouse
or Shop with Holding
yard/Parking lotI need
a warehouse or shop building with a large parking area
or holding yard in whatcom
county, Ferndale or lynden
OK, Bellingham preferred
.email:
anon-265295612@
cascadiaweekly.com
Roommates
Wanted
Hamlet Apts. 10 min
walk to Western I moved
out in December and I’m trying
to find a responsible female to
move in to my vacant room.
January, February and August
are paid for so renter is only
responsible for March through
July. Looking for someone to
take over the lease as soon as
possible. Utilites are included
in rent, the only other bills
are Comcast(phone, wireless
internet and cable) and PSE
Energy, that total comes to
about $80 a month. If you are
interested please email one of
my former roommates to set
up an interview: Britnee and
Alex hamletroomie@yahoo.
com
buy sell
500
Rentals
Room in 2 Bedroom
Apartment near CampusNeed someone to move
into a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom
apartment real close to
campus and bus lines. Room
available ASAP pay rent as of
February, January is already
paid. Share apartment with
23 yr old female western student. Looking for either male
or female doesnt matter. Rent
includes all utilites except
electricity which is around
$20-30. Prefer students. No
LEASE, No DEPOSIT, No CREDIT CHECK OR APPLICATION.
email: anon-265830208@cascadiaweekly.com
Room in Two Bdrm
Apt. Hey, I’m a 21 year old
girl with two cats looking for
a cool, laid-back roommate
to move in by February 1st. I
have an apartment on Sunset
Drive in a four-plex with a
balcony overlooking a ravine.
There is no smoking in the
apartment, but I go outside.
There is a $350 deposit, but
I’ll accept in payments if necessary. The only utility is electricity. Movie and book-lovers
encouraged to write back.
email: anon-265795983@cascadiaweekly.com
SHARE ENTIRE HOME
with your bath in your
Bdrm.. Seeking mature,clean
500
Rentals
services
500
Rentals
and responsable person. Modern kitchen & utility room. NO
DRUGS,NO WILD PARTIES,lite
drinking fine,smoking on
covered
deck.
Monthley
rent 250.00 plus one half of
monthly electrical fee. Small
house trained dog fine. When
replying,please enclose your
phone number. email: anon265656221@cascadiaweekly.
com
Room in Bellingham
Duplex off of Woburn
downtown I am looking for
a person or persons to take
over my share of the lease
on a very nice new 2 story,
3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, /w
garage duplex. I would like to
move back down to skagit valley this or next month. There
are three people living in the
house a single male in the hall
across from my bedroom and
a couple living downstairs.
We were trying to keep a
party free house where one
can come relax, meditate
and study. We need someone
open minded to put it simply,
but with the care and responsibity needed when trying to
maintain a home with other
people. If you would like more
information please call Evron
at 360-303-0708.
1 BR avail in 3 BR apt Rent
$275 (W/S/G paid) with other
utilities totalling around $60
(will be less as it gets warmer). The lease is through Aug
27th, 2007. A $25 fee would
be needed as well to change
over the lease. Looking for
18-24 year old female to take
it over whenever possible (we
would have to discuss details
further). There are 2 female
roommates (one goes to
WWU) who are nice, fun, and
respectful. The apartment
is part of a four-plex house
and is very close to campus
and downtown Bellingham. A
little street noise, but a good
area (very college-y). There
are 2 parking spots and lots of
parking nearby. The bedroom
itself is long and a little narrow with high ceilings, and a
huge (probably not working)
fireplace that adds character.
email: anon-265504374@cascadiaweekly.com
Room in large shared
homeRoom for rent, Available Feb. 1,2007. Home is
spacious, light & bright near
whatcom falls park. Currently
there are 3 professional easy
going male tenants. Spacious
fenced backyard, 2 car garage
and plenty of dry storage. The
home is 4 bedrooms, w/ 3
bath, and there is an office.
Water/sewer/garbage paid by
owner, washer/dryer in home
for shared use. We would prefer a 6 month lease and there
rentals
real estate
500
Rentals
buy sell trade
600
Real Estate
is a 400 damage/security deposit. Sorry no pets. If interested call 831-685-1825, 831295-3474, or 360-224-6122
Seeking
roommate
to share large 3br
house w/great yard &
views. Seeking roomate to
share 2100 SF house with great
backyard and views in Burlington (west of I-5, not far from
Burlington airport). $500.00/
month including utilities,
cable, and broadband wireless
internet. Must be ok with animals. email: anon-265318596@
cascadiaweekly.com
Unfurnished room in 2
bdroom near WWU female Bright room in large 2
bedroom to share with professional Christian female.
NS, NP Available 20th January. Share utilities. email:
anon-265149597@ c a sc adiaweekly.com
600
Real Estate
Condos:
Bellingham
3 Bedroom Condo in Desirable
Neighborhood
email: jillene@kw.com
1 Bedroom Affordable
Condo! email: jillene@
kw.com
Condos: Blaine
Condo Unit, 2 BR, 1.5 BA
- Sale PendingLook no further for easy living in this spotless 1-level condo home. Great
deck to enjoy a cup of tea in a
quiet area. On one above you.
This is not an age restricted
community. 1 car garage, RV
parking, gas stove/fireplace
for those cozy winter evenings.
Pergo floors in kitchen and dining room. Appliances included.
You can access The Call Hugh
Team web site by clicking here.
Offered by The Call Hugh Real
Estate Team at Prudential
Kelstrup, licensed real estate
agents. email: clist@callhugh.
com
2 Bd 2 Ba Condo with
Breathtaking Full Waterfront View! Breathtaking full
waterfront view. Top of the line
moulding, granite, hardwoods,
floors, tile heated bath floors.
Gas fireplace, garage, community Jacuzzi. Nicest unit
north of Seattle, 30 minutes to
Vancouver, 1-1/2 hours to Seattle, 5 minutes to golf course.
FOR SALE BY OWNER ñ Please
contact the property owner(s)
directly: Joel or Barbara Douglas 360-734-8191.
bulletin board
400
By Rob Brezsny
Rentals
400
Rentals
FREE WILL
ASTROLOGY
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In recent years, groups
of students at Yale and other Ivy League universities
have pioneered a unique cultural trend: naked parties.
Those in attendance at one of these invitation-only affairs agree to spend the evening in their birthday suits.
“The dynamic is completely different from a clothed
party,” reports Yale coed Megan Crandell, quoted in
The Scotsman. “People are so conscious of how they’re
coming across that conversations end up being more
sophisticated.” Your assignment, Aries—should you
choose to accept it—is to bring the phenomenon of the
naked party to your own locale. According to my reading
of the astrological omens, you’re meant to be a social
catalyst who inspires people to strip away their defenses
and practice the art of radical authenticity.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your web of allies is a
crucial part of your pursuit of happiness. The stimulation
and support you ask them for are vivid evidence that you
love life and have a strong sense of what’s good for you.
Every now and then, however, you need to remember
that it’s important to avoid falling completely under
their influence. You’ve got to resist peer pressure, and
declare your independence from the crowd’s power to
shape you. Now is such a time, Taurus.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Never eat food you
did not prepare yourself,” wrote journalist David Filipov
about the lessons he learned while traveling in the
Central Asian republic of Tajikistan, “and never eat out
of the same dish as 12 paramilitary stormtroopers you’ve
just met.” Draw inspiration from Filipov’s approach,
Gemini. Dare yourself to explore an exotic frontier, but
exercise great discrimination while you’re learning the
ropes and getting the lay of the land.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): It’s Be Your Own Muse
SILVER REEF CASINO EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Washington’s Newest and Best Casino is currently recruiting friendly, outgoing people for the following positions.
All positions require outstanding customer service. Please submit an employment application to the Human Resources
Department at the address indicated below. All employees must be able to pass a pre-employment drug screen and be able
to obtain a Class II/III Gaming License. All Salaries are Depending on Qualifications. The Silver Reef will offer a
comprehensive benefits package. The Silver Reef Casino Practices Native American Preference in hiring according to law.
Week of January 15, 2007
POSITION
STATUS
FACILITIES
Engineer
Assistant Engineer (High Duster)
Full-Time
Full-Time
GAMING*
Dual-Rate/Floor Supervisor
Dealer
Cage Cashier
Slot Attendant
Surveillance Observer
Full-Time
Part-Time
Part-Time/On-Call
Part-Time
Part-Time/On-Call
* must be able to pass written test, knowledge of all games or equal experience.
SECURITY
Security (Certified EMT)
Security
Full-Time
Full-Time
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Pavilion Server
Busser
Restaurant Server
Bartender
Cocktail Server
Steward/Dishwasher
Line Cook
Host Cashier (Panasia)
Part-Time
Part-Time
Part-Time
Part-Time
Part-Time
Full-Time
Full-Time
Part-Time
SPA
Receptionist
Part-Time
All positions do not
have closing dates.
Open until filled.
If you would like
more information call
(360) 312-2361
Applications may be
picked up at:
Silver Reef Casino
4876 Haxton Way
Ferndale, WA 98248
Resumes may be E-Mailed to:
applications@silverreefcasino
Completed applications and
resumes may be faxed to
(360)312-0559
FYI:
The Job Announcement
is updated every Monday.
You may also refer to our
Website address:
www.silverreefcasino.com
and click on the
Employment option.
Week, Cancerian. How should you observe this festival?
Here’s one suggestion. First, visualize in detail your
dream lover . . . your ideal soul mate . . . the embodiment of everything you find attractive. Second, imagine
that though this person feels the same way about you,
there is a very good reason why the two of you can’t
make love or be together as a couple for a long time.
Next, feel the sweet torment of your unquenched longing
for each other, the impossible ache of fiery tenderness.
Finally, picture all the ways you will work on yourself in
the coming years to refine your soul and perfect your
love, so that when the two of you can finally be united,
you will have made yourself into a gorgeous genius—a
pure blessing and exquisite gift for your beloved.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Chinese scientists have
discovered that the behavior of snakes is a reliable
predictor of earthquakes. In the lead-up to a temblor,
the reptiles act oddly, slithering frantically out of their
nests if they’re in their natural habitat, or hurling
themselves head-first against walls if they’re being kept
in laboratories or zoos. I mention this, Leo, because I’ve
had two dreams recently about snakes wearing party
hats, sipping cocktails, singing karaoke, and dancing on
tabletops. Each dream also featured several of my Leo
friends acting pretty much like the snakes. If I factor in
these nocturnal portents with my analysis of the current
astrological omens, I interpret them as prophecies that
the Leo tribe will soon be experiencing metaphorical
“earthquakes” of liberating pleasure and cathartic fun.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The swan is a beautiful
bird, right? If you see one gliding across a pond, it
evokes in you a feeling of calm. In fairy tales, it’s a
symbol of natural grace, an emblem of animal elegance.
But those lovely associations are becoming irrelevant in
England, where swan populations have grown so massive
and voracious that they’re threatening ecosystems and
damaging biodiversity. I guess we could say that their
destructive overabundance exemplifies the theme of too
400
400
much of a good thing. It’s an apt metaphor for the chalRentals
Rentals
lenge I believe you’ll face in the
coming days, Virgo.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You recently went
through a phase whose quality I might compare to a
dry, crunchy, bran-heavy breakfast cereal without milk.
It fed your hunger, though it wasn’t particularly tasty or
thrilling. It was highly concentrated and good for your
digestion. Now you’re slipping into a kind of Cracker
Jack mode, with lots of airy puffs of popcorny sweetness
and an occasional nut, climaxed by a toy surprise. The
Cracker Jack phase will be more like a snack than a meal,
though, and it won’t last too long. By next week at this
time, I’m guessing your life will have resemblances to
a hearty, organic, five-grain hot cereal sweetened with
maple syrup and cinnamon.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Don’t feel bad if you
come from a dysfunctional family. Studies done by The
Institute for the Study of Universal Addiction indicate
that 97 percent of all families are dysfunctional. You
should, however, feel bad if you pass up the opportunities you now have to heal the ravages caused by your
dysfunctional family. Here’s a good place to start: By
trying to dissolve your habit of feeling victimized, damaged, or burdened by the people with whom you shared
your original home, you could release yourself from a
curse you’ve been casting on yourself—and magically
set in motion overdue changes in your other family
members.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Man is least
himself when he talks in his own person,” observed Oscar
Wilde. “Give him a mask and he’ll tell you the truth.”
Using that as our hypothesis, Sagittarius, I urge you to
adopt playful disguises to help you express yourself this
week. You could go to a costume store and buy a mask of
one of history’s great communicators. (How about Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, or Eleanor Roosevelt?)
Or you could simply pretend to be a slightly different
person than your normal self. Speak in a foreign accent.
Take on the body language of a hip-hop artist or professional wrestler. Or imagine that you’re already the person
you’ll be three years from today.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): My analysis of the
astrological omens suggests that you’ll be more animalistic than usual in the coming weeks. Your instinctual
intelligence will be high, which means you’ll have a good
sense of who to trust and who not to trust. In fact, your
body will be offering you a stream of valuable information about other matters as well, from tips on how to
rise higher in the pecking order to clues about where to
find the best hunting grounds. It’s also likely that you’ll
be hornier and wilder than usual. That could be quite fun
or it could get you into trouble. Which way it goes will
depend on how well the human in you both respects and
controls the animal in you.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The cosmic powersthat-be are encouraging you to be a brazen instigator
of novelty, a pioneering magician who dares to initiate
inspired trends that may upset the status quo. If you
can summon the charismatic nerve to cooperate with
this prod, Aquarius, there’s no telling what drastic acts
of benevolent disruption you could conjure up. And they
would ultimately lead, I have little doubt, to constructive innovations. (P.S. Would you believe me if I told
you that a previously dormant section of your genetic
code is primed to spring into action?)
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In her book Frankenstein, Mary Shelley created a monster who was smart
and sensitive. He felt empathetic pain for the suffering
of Native Americans. He desperately wanted a mate. He
read Milton’s Paradise Lost, and felt a grieving kinship
with the struggles of Adam depicted therein. In accordance with current astrological omens, Pisces, I encourage you to acknowledge and express love for your own
inner Frankenstein monster—the tormented, disfigured,
and yet powerful part of your psyche that needs your
compassion. I’m sure that this will prevent it from doing
what Shelley’s fictional character ultimately did, which
was to go on a rampage—and will maybe even set it on
a course to become a force for good.
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifi
eds 23-26
CLASSIFIEDS
23-26 | Food 27
jobs
TO PLACE AN AD
classifieds.cascadiaweekly.com
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
classifieds
broadcast
25
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifi
eds 23-26
CLASSIFIEDS
23-26 | Food 27
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
26
Come Join Our Family
at Nooksack River Casino!
It’s Fun and Exciting!
Great Career Opportunities:
Cocktail Servers
Lounge Servers
Buffet Cashiers
Baristas
Dishwashers
Prep Cooks
Line Cooks
Food & Beverage Supervisor
Slot Attendants
Slot Technicians
Cage Cashiers
Keno Clerks
Winners Club Representatives
Custodians
Security Officers
Excellent Benefits:
One Free Meal per Shift
Free Uniforms Including Dry Cleaning
Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance
Paid Vacation and Sick Time Offered
Paid Holidays Including Your Birthday
401 (k)
On The Job Training
College Accredited Classes Offered On-Site
360-592-5472
Only 15 Minutes From
Bellingham
You may download an application from our website at
www.nooksackcasino.com. Send your completed application to
PO Box 248, Deming, WA, 98244 or apply in person at the
Nooksack River Casino Administration Building at 5061 Deming Rd,
Deming, WA between 8:30am and 5pm, Monday - Friday. All
employees are required to pass a pre-employment drug screen and be
able to obtain and maintain a Class II or III Gaming License. EOE
www.nooksackcasino.com
SIC p.m.
U
M 8
E t. at
LIV y Sa
er
Ev
reviews
profiles
BY DAWN LANDAU
Spicing Things Up
Turning cooking to alchemy
FOR THOSE who love to cook, many layers make the process enjoyable. Discovering new seasonings and ingredients
is a challenge that turns everyday cooking into true alchemy.
Bellingham offers a growing number of sources for fresh ingredients, from basic to exotic, to inspire cooks or lend a special
touch to any dish.
Mediterranean Specialties is a one-stop destination for an
excellent variety of seasonings, ingredients or accompaniments
for any Mediterranean-based recipe. The five-year-old store is
owned and run by the Boulos family, originally from Lebanon.
This gourmet’s delight carries dried spices from Lebanon, Syria,
Greece, Italy, and Turkey—and, stress the owners, they’re “getting more supplies from Spain all the time.” While many ingredients are common to recipes of several different countries of the
region, Dorine Boulos points out that “a little bit more of one
spice in a dish makes it more ethnically specific to a particular
country.” That is the magic in cooking.
This well-organized store carries a
variety of regional olives and cheeses,
including exceptional Fetas not sold
elsewhere in Bellingham. You can also
stock up on fresh yogurt, tahini, nut
spreads, phyllo dough, pasta, couscous, lentils, pitas, specialty items like
marinated octopus and Lavazza coffee
(the top-selling coffee in Italy), and a
reasonable selection of Mediterranean
wines. Adolpho extra virgin olive oil, a
store favorite, has a pungent, strong,
unfiltered taste that shines in recipes
of the region.
If the delicious smells prove irresistible, their small café serves many specialty dishes that are made fresh daily.
Spice It
MEDITERRANEAN
SPECIALTIES: 505
32nd St. For more
info: 738-6895.
SPICE HUT: 131 W.
Kellogg. For more info:
671-2800 or thespicehut.com.
FOOD 27
Do it 3 | Letters 4-5 | Views 6-7 | Currents 8-11 | Get Out 12 | Words & Community 13 | Art 14 | On Stage 15 | Music 16-19 | Film 20-22 | Classifieds 23-26 | Food
27
recipes
Cascadia Weekly #2.4 | 01.24.07
chow
They offer eggplant, kibbe, falafel, shawarma and homemade soups, and the
roasted tomatoes, stuffed with savory
rice, will have you craving more. Family
member Nahla Gholam, a local treasure
for both her divine cooking and ability
to teach it clearly and passionately, offers Lebanese cooking classes through
both the store and Whatcom Community College.
The Spice Hut, off Guide Meridian,
is a feast for the senses whether you
cook or not. Top quality spices and
teas of every variety make this a place
worth visiting. As you enter this elegant store, with its soothing colors
and artful design, you can’t help but
feel transported to some exotic location. Spice Hut offers more than 100
spices or spice blends for purchase,
and owner Harmundir Sidhu is always
available to knowledgeably answer
questions or make helpful suggestions
about this cornucopia for the senses.
The colorful “spice bar” allows
guests to view and smell the spices
and then have them ground while
they wait. Once you cook with freshly
ground spices, you won’t go back to
prepackaged again. The intense colors
and rich aromas are an inspiration for
anyone who loves to cook and an invitation to those who don’t. A pinch of
golden saffron will change plain rice
into something special.
The “tea bar” offers a spectacular collection of loose leaf teas from all over
the world, and will leave you questioning how you ever drank “regular” tea.
Select something new and have it expertly brewed at the tasting counter.
Among the offerings are simple jars of
Rooibos (S. Africa), Houjicha (Japan),
classic English flavors, Chinese, and
specially prepared Chai blends from Mrs.
Sidhu’s native India.
Spice Hut also carries a wonderful
supply of teapots, from artful Xixing
clay to simple varieties, as well as filters, cozies, travel mugs, modern spice
grinders and mortar and pestles, hot
sauces, a small assortment of cookbooks and a sampling of Samson wines.
The selection seems endless and the
friendly staff will help you find the perfect treat.
27