This week on "State of Wonder," we talk Sleater-Kinney and "Portlandia" with Carrie Brownstein, get a preview of the Bend Film Fest, paint some eyeballs with ocularist Fred Harwin and more.
Harry Dean Stanton, in a scene from his final film, "Lucky".
courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
Bend Film Festival Preview - 1:11
Work from regional movie makers is on screen alongside some of the smash hits from the Cannes Film Festival and other premier venues at this year's Bend Film Festival, running Oct. 12–15. We invited in jurists Selin Sevinç Bertero, a screenwriter and script consultant, and Ian McCluskey, a filmmaker and producer for "Oregon Field Guide," to talk about the films they're most excited about, including Harry Dean Stanton's swansong, "Lucky;" the documentary "Dealt" about a blind card magician; "The Square," starring Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West in an art world send-up that won the prestigious Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival; and the shorts program.
Carrie Brownstein
Riverhead Books
Carrie Brownstein on Sleater-Kinney, 'Portlandia,' and her memoir - 7:06
The sixth season of Literary Arts’ Archive Project series launched this week on OPB with a conversation that had people lined up around the block: Carrie Brownstein talking to author Jon Raymond at Wordstock 2016 about her memoir, “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl.” We’ve picked some highlights from their talk, which ranged from the memoir to her band Sleater-Kinney to, of course, "Portlandia."
They went on to talk about Brownstein's acting on "Transparent," how the Amazon show's story paralleled her own father's coming out late in life, how she went about writing the memoir, and why she never read the Mötley Crüe biography "The Dirt," although she knows about that notorious scene where they snort ants. You can find their full conversation at the Archive Project.
Exterior of Jackpot Records in downtown Portland
Courtesy of Issac Slusarenko
Jackpot Records Turns 20 - 18:39
A record store can change your life — just ask any John Cusack character — and in Oregon, we are blessed with so many great shops: Mississippi Records, Music Millennium, Ranch Records, House of Records, to name but a few. Today, though, we’re going to talk about Jackpot Records. The store stands out not just for its collection, but because it releases albums under its own label — everything from the classic Portland punk band the Wipers to a re-release of Etta James’s debut LP and Howlin' Wolf. KMHD sat down with founder Isaac Slusarenko on the eve of their 20th anniversary bash to look back at some of their biggest releases.
Ocularist Fred Harwin holds a prosthetic eye he's hand-painted for a patient.
Nick Fisher / OPB
A Painter with an Eye for, Well, Eyes - 25:47
Fred Harwin paints eyeballs. He’s what’s called an ocularist, and he runs the Center for Ocular Prosthetics in Portland. He spends hours with his patients, painstakingly matching his hand-painted prosthetic (which also incorporates red thread for capillaries and clear acrylic for reflection) to their remaining eye.
Harwin is profiled in the season premiere of "Oregon Art Beat," dedicated entirely to the Science of Art.
Artist Hampton Rodriguez at the East Portland Arts and Literary Festival
April Baer / OPB
The Search for Portland's Lead Arts Administrator Heats Up - 33:05
The former director of the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC), Eloise Damrosch, retired in June, and the search committee for her replacement has been active for the better part of eight months, yet no one has seen a job description yet. What gives?
Equity is part of the answer. We look at how RACC is struggling to live up to its equity mandate (three-quarters of its staff is Caucasian) and how arts leaders across the city are pushing to make sure that the position attracts a diverse pool of candidates.
Wendy Willis and David Biespiel
Biespiel photo by Marion Ettlinger / Courtesy of Wendy Willis and David Biespiel
Married Writers David Biespiel and Wendy Willis - 41:05
Not all creative couples work in dialogue — some don’t even like talking to each other about their work — but the writers David Biespiel and Wendy Willis create poems and essays that often entwine and contrast. They navigate politics, language, and the stories we tell about ourselves and our country.
Biespiel, a poet and critic who runs the Attic Institute, just released his literary memoir, “The Education of a Young Poet.”
Willis, who served as a federal public defender and director of the City Club of Portland and now leads Oregon’s Kitchen Table, an experiment in collaborative democracy, just published a poetry collection, “A Long Late Pledge,” that builds on her prior poems and essays considering America.