It's been one of those weeks when we almost got lost in the sheer enjoyment of the prep.

1:10 Books With Pictures - Portland has a new comic book shop, officially open for business. Books With Pictures is a cozy storefront in southeast Portland with a mission to be Portland’s most welcoming comic book shop for the people outside the industry’s marketing plan — the LGTBQ community, families, women, people of color — complete with gender neutral restrooms and comics with female protagonists and protagonists of color.

7:10 Excalibur Books & Comics: A Personal History - Of course, it’s not an entirely new thing to have women running comic book stores. We also stop in and chat with Debbie Smith, the co-owner of Excalibur Books & Comics (her parents opened it 42 years ago).

11:40 Summer Cannibals Barrel Us Into Summer With Addictive Poppy Punk - Summer Cannibals are a hard rocking punk band in an acoustic-loving town, and their lyrics and videos play sardonically on the anger and angst of this modern life. The band stopped by the OPB studio to play a few songs from their new album, “Full of It.”

20:31 Architect Brad Cloepfil On The State Of Portland Architecture (And His Amazing National Music Centre) - Last week we took a stroll through the Portland Art Museum’s new exhibition, “Case Work,” with architect Brad Cloepfil. The show features the sketches and sculptural concept models of Cloepfil’s firm, Allied Works. This week we bring you more of that conversation, moving from his current slate of projects to the state of Portland’s building boom.

31:12 The Lost Boys Of Portlandia - This week, a group of homeless youth debuted a film that takes an iconic childhood story and puts it in the gutter — literally. Called “The Lost Boys of Portlandia,” it uses the story of Peter Pan as a vehicle to tell their story.

36:20 Rhe Benefits of Gusbandry - Portland-based photographer and director Alicia J. Rose finds something magical about the relationship between a woman and her gusband (that’s short for gay husband) — a modern relationship she plumbs to hilarious effect in her new webseries, “The Benefits of Gusbandry.” Think Out Loud's Dave Miller talked with Rose and co-creator Courtenay Hameister just as their national spotlight was heating up. If social binge-watching sounds fun, check out the screening of season 1 at the Clinton Theater on June 11 for a Pride kickoff.

44:22 WPA At The High Desert Museum - The High Desert Museum has a very interesting exhibition on through Oct. 2: “Art for a Nation” tells the story of creative projects in the Works Progress Administration. In addition to historic works of art, the museum commissioned three new works in the spirit of the WPA by contemporary artists, including Allan McCollum, who shows around the world at prestigious places like MOMA, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney. For the show, he teamed up with one of Bend’s busiest makers, Delia Paine. This is the story of their collaboration.

The International Youth Silent Film Festival challenges people 20 and younger to take a step back in time. Using one of ten original organ soundtracks and whatever equipment they have access to, whether 8mm cameras or cell phones, the aspiring filmmakers create everything from an animated film about the Mars rover to Western-style gun battles, post-apocalyptic tales and, of course, love stories. The finalists are then screened with live organ accompaniment.

Jon Palanuk started the festival in 2007 in Portland, and it quickly spread to schools and theaters in Australia, New Zealand and the Midwest. This year’s big global competition is June 8 at the Hollywood Theater.

Our producer Aaron Scott sat down with Palanuk and the reigning Pacific NW regional champions, the brothers Austin (20) and Connor (18) Fitzpatrick, who used cutting-edge CGI to create a black-and-white-and-red film noir tale of love and kidnapping.

Before architects make buildings, they make tiny buildings.

You’ve probably seen architectural models: they’re made of wood, are generally nice looking, and offer an idea of what’s under construction.

But the exhibition "Case Works," on view at Portland Art Museum through Sept. 4, offers a much more elaborate, dreamy, often jewel-like kind of architectural model. These are buildings designed by Allied Works, the firm founded by Portland native and rock star architect Brad Cloepfil. With just a few drawings and a lot of elaborately crafted models, these works offer a window into the high-concept process that’s made Allied one of the most sought-after firms in its field.

We walked through the exhibition with Cloepfil as the museum was putting on the finishing touches to discuss the models and some of the most famous buildings in his career — Wieden+Kennedy's headquarters in the Pearl, the Clifford Still Museum in Denver, the National Music Center in Calgary — as well as the state of architecture and design in Portland today.

See a slide show of Cloepfil's work: http://www.opb.org/radio/article/architect-brad-cloepfil-portland-art-museum-case-works

This week, State of Wonder's all about the journey: we travel the world with starchitect Brad Cloepfil, meditate on environmental disaster with installation artist Vanessa Renwick, tromp through the war memories of Vietnam vet Mark Waszkiewicz, go on a pilgrimage with writer Ellen Waterston, and more.

Brad Cloepfil Normally Designs Museums; Now He's Featured in One - 1:01

Portland's preeminent living architect, Brad Cloepfil, the founding principal of Allied Works, is not just an architect, but also an artist. A new exhibit at the Portland Art Museum, "Case Work," demonstrates this with over 60 sculptural works that are far from the sterile blueprints or uptight models you might expect. Cloepfil walks us through the exhibit and his globe-trotting buildings, from the Clifford Still Museum in Denver to the Museum of Art and Design in New York to the National Music Center in Calgary to Wieden+Kennedy here in Portland, the building that started it all (thanks to a gig he did designing Saucebox for $2,000 plus a $2,000 bar tab).

Art Glass Moratorium Extended by the State as Glassmakers Struggle to Install Pollution Controls - 11:01

Earlier this year, a study revealed dangerous amounts of heavy metals around Bullseye Glass, whose factory is located near residential areas in SE Portland. Now Governor Kate Brown has extended a moratorium on the processes that require these metals into June, despite impassioned pleas from Bullseye.

International Youth Silent Film Festival Winners Declared - 16:43

Started in Portland, the International Youth Silent Film Festival is a global competition that brings a unique challenge to aspiring filmmakers under 20: create a silent film using bare-bones production resources and one of ten original organ scores. The films are screened in theaters with live musical accompaniment, and regional champions travel to Portland to compete for the global prize on June 8 at the Hollywood Theater (it's open to the public). We speak with festival founder Jon Palanuk and the reigning NW regional winners, brothers Austin and Connor Fitzpatrick, about their incredible CGI noir short.

Vietnam Vet Pulls Together Film, Photos, Memoir and Music in His Quest to Document the War - 25:41

Marc Waszkiewicz is a former US Marine who did three tours in Vietnam, beginning when he was 19. But even though he is now retired, the experience is far from over. While deployed, Waszkiewicz gathered more than 4,000 photographs and hours of 8 millimeter film footage, and has been creating art from this raw material ever since. With a book of photographs, a memoir, and an album of original songs under his belt, he is now in the process of producing a documentary film on the experience.

Vanessa Renwick's Next-Level F---ed Up at the Portland Art Museum - 36:33

Installation and film artist Vanessa Renwick has created a sound and video piece that rapid-fires both a sense of impending disaster and a zen-like acceptance of change. "Next-Level F*cked Up” plays on our fears of environmental, social and cultural change, orphan seal pups and abandoned dog poop bags commingling with Portland gentrification and Hurricane Katrina footage in hodgepodge of horribleness loops — although fret not: it's not all lost. On view at the Portland Art Museum through July 19.

Following A Spiritual Path, Literally - 44:02

Following a medieval tradition, Bend-based writer Ellen Waterston undertook to walk one of the most famous Christian pilgrimage routes in Europe, the Camino de Santiago. Her journey inspired a verse novel, “Via Lactea: A Woman of a Certain Age Walks the Camino,” which has now been adapted into the opera "Via Lactea." Opera Bend will premiere it June 10–12 at the Tower Theater.

Visual artist Vanessa Renwick has created a new installation that speaks to the “hodgepodge of horrible” we meet in modern life — a multi-screen installation featuring everything from tsunamis to coal train fires, neighborhood demolitions to cats killing songbirds — the things that leave you unable to do anything but shake your head. The work also deftly addresses how we reel ourselves back from that edge.

We can’t actually say the full title of Renwick’s installation at Portland Art Museum’s APEX Gallery (“Next-Level F—ed Up”) on air, but we can tell you how affecting and oddly poignant it is. Here’s a bit of our conversation.

Read the full story: http://www.opb.org/radio/article/tsunamis-demolitions-and-dog-poop-vanessa-renwick-takes-it-to-the-next-level

This week on State of Wonder, the city's plans to enforce pot policy puts many marijuana-related events on hold, the comedian Curtis Cook on what it takes to be brave, writer Andi Zeisler on the commodification of feminism & more.

Portland Just Says No To Many Marijuana-Related Events

Since the legalization of recreational marijuana in Oregon last year, there’s been an explosion or pot-related events: from big celebrations like Weed the People and the Cultivation Classic, to yoganja classes and house concerts. But now all these events are up in the air due to a confluence of clarifications from state and city authorities, including the city's pot officials saying they will begin to crack down on events that sell tickets and then give away marijuana, meaning a major buzz kill for a number of events already in the works.

Tales of the Portland Jazz Scene: Lorna Bracken Baxter - 5:45

Our friends at KMHD Jazz Radio have been working on a special series of stories you will want to check out: Tales of the Portland Jazz Scene. This is in connection with the great "Jazz Town" documentary recently broadcast on Oregon Experience. This week, we isten to a personal story from Portland vocalist Lorna Bracken Baxter, who offers up a window into the values identified with blackness in Portland during her childhood years.

Writer Andi Zeisler on the Commodification of Feminism - 9:42

As a founding editor of Bitch Media and an astute observer of popular culture, Andi Zeisler has noticed a curious trend over the past two decades: Feminism went from being ridiculed or reviled to being embraced, and it even turned into a kind of cottage industry. But what happens when a political and social movement becomes a brand? Just another way to sell a celebrity, a yogurt or a pair of underwear? Zeisler explores that question in her new book “We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement.” Listen to the full Think Out Loud interview here.

Comedian Curtis Cook - 17:21

The comedian Curtis Cook is not from Portland, but certain things about him seem made for this place: he excels at a kind of unassuming riff that doesn’t hit you so much as quietly steer you right where he wants you. He tells us why he didn't fit into the liberal crowd at Oberlin College, and how his view about what it takes to be brave in comedy has changed. Curtis performs in seven showcases at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival (June 1–5), including a special Earthquake Hurricane show on June 1 and New Negroes with Baron Vaughn on June 4.

We Work on Comedy - 26:22

In hanging around with Curtis Cook, we stumbled across a pretty interesting event he’s involved with: the Do What You Love Comedy Series at the We Work co-working space in the old U.S. Customs Building in downtown Portland. It's introducing a whole different crowd to comedy. The next show is June 16.

Tour Managers: An Interview with the Unsung Heroes of Rock - 30:21

With summer fast approaching, touring season is now in full swing with thousands of bands criss-crossing the continent. Out there, anything can go wrong: a van accident, broken gear, missing instrument, or sick band member. Something as basic as a simple lack of attention to detail can derail a tour. Often times, there’s only one person holding it all together: the tour manager. Here the extended interview at opbmusic.

Subversive Comics at the University of Oregon - 44:45

Ben Saunders has created the first in the nation academic minor program dedicated to comics and cartoon at the University of Oregon. Sanders stopped by Think Out Loud to talk with Dave Miller about why comics are worth studying academically, the early provocateurs at EC Comics and Mad Magazine, and "Aliens, Monsters and Madmen," the exhibition he curated at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art...

In hanging around with Curtis Cook, we stumbled across a pretty interesting event he’s involved with. The Do What You Love comedy showcase at We Work. Check it out - next edition is June 16th. Watch for full info on our website soon.

Comedian Curtis Cook excels at a kind of curveball - unassuming riffs that steer you right where he wants you.
Cook has been on fire lately, telling tales on his own post-feminist angst, calling out racial hang-ups, and generally skewering progressive Portland. He’s co-hosting several showcases around town, including Earthquake Hurricane and the new Do What You Love show at We Work. And he’s writing columns for Willamette Week.
We sat down with Curtis to talk about how working in Portland has affected his writing and style. Spoiler alert: this is the extra-long version of our conversation.

Just a few highlights:

On why Oberlin was good training for working stages in Portland: I grew up outside of Cleveland in a small, relatively conservative town. I spent a lot of time thinking one day I’d grow up and move to a place full of liberals and hippies and they’d get it. And going to Oberlin showed me that liberals and hippies can also be awful people. It was just a lot of people screaming about their beliefs, having very important meetings about nothing. We were all going through different phases — it’s college. Some people decided “I”-statements and trust falls were their thing. I decided Old Crow and PBR were my thing, and that I should have gone to a different school.

On how Portland has changed his performance style: I’m more relaxed. Before…there was this big push. We were post Richard Pryor, post-Bill Hicks, post-Lenny Bruce… everyone started leaning toward social consciousness [in stand-up]… I got suckered into this feeling that stand-up was inherently brave. Then I moved to Portland and I realized that it’s only brave if you’re taking your ideas to people who don’t necessarily agree with you.

On keeping his work fresh:
I’ve been doing stand-up for a little over five years now, which is nothing. It’s a drop int he bucked. But what I’ve started to realize is the performative aspect of [stand up] should be able to change for every performance. Maybe I tell this joke every time, but every single time, a person in one of the front three rows reacts and I can talk to them for thirty seconds. That thirty seconds is the magic of the performance for me. That’s thirty seconds you’ll never be able to duplicate. That’s something that’s just for you and the audience.

Curtis Cook is part of seven showcases at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival — five intense days of nonstop comedy with performers from around the country. It runs June 1st through the 5th. Check him out.

Since the legalization of recreational marijuana in Oregon last year, there’s been an explosion or pot-related events: from big celebrations like Weed the People and the Cultivation Classic, to yoganja classes and house concerts. But now all these events are up in the air due to a confluence of clarifications from state and city authorities.

Read the full story: http://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-just-says-no-to-many-marijuana-related-summer-events

When most Americans think of bonsai — the craft of pruning and shaping small trees — they probably think of an ancient gardening craft practiced by lovers of Japanese culture.

Ryan Neil thinks it’s anything but.

With a story ripped from the movie “The Karate Kid,” he founded Bonsai Mirai, a leading international school in the hills outside Portland, and he’s partnered with cutting-edge architects and designers in an effort to make bonsai cool for a new generation.

Read the full story: http://www.opb.org/artsandlife/article/portland-bonsai-mirai-movement-art-museum/