THE GRISTLE, P.06 + FUZZ BUZZ, P.09 + FUN WITH FIREBALL, P.14 c a s c a d i a REPORTING FROM THE HEART OF CASCADIA WHATCOM SKAGIT ISLAND COUNTIES 12-26-2017* • ISSUE:*52 • V.12 DUBIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS Alan Rhodes' year in review, P.08 RESOLUTION RESET The nature of things, P.12 CHILLING OUT DANCEFLOOR Snow cones A New Year's Eve roundup, P.16 for everyone! P.26 WORDS Saturday Story Time: 10:30am, Village Books, 26 A brief overview of this Bellingham Saturday Story Time: 2pm, Village Books, Lynden FOOD week’s happenings THISWEEK COMMUNITY Deck the Old City Hall: 12-5pm, Whatcom Museum’s 21 Old City Hall GET OUT B-BOARD Christmas Bird Count: 8:30am-2:30p, Lake Padden Nooksack Ski Ambassadors: 10am-2pm, SnoPark at Salmon Ridge 20 The Lights of Christmas: 5-10pm, Warm Beach Camp, Stanwood FILM Brace yourself FOOD for 2018 by Fiesta Bowl Viewing Party: 12:30pm, Boundary 16 Bay Brewery taking part in MUSIC VISUAL Bill Ball Reception: 5-7:30pm, Lincoln Theatre, the New Year’s Mount Vernon 14 ART Day Lake SUNDAY [12.31.17] 13 Padden Polar ONSTAGE Sylvia Center NYE Soiree: 7pm, Leopold Crystal Ballroom STAGE or the Dip New Year’s Eve Improv Shows: 7pm, 9pm and Polar Bear 11pm, Upfront Theatre 12 DANCE Plunge in NYE Dance Bash: 1pm-1am, Lookout Arts Quarry GET OUT Salsa New Year’s Eve: 8pm-1am, BAAY Theatre Birch Bay NYE Contra Dance: 8pm-1am, Sacred Heart Social Hall NYE Dance Bash: 9pm-1am, Boundary Bay Brewery 10 MUSIC High Jazz NYE: 9:30pm-12:30am, Lovitt Restaurant WORDS Trabin: 9:30pm, Grahams Restaurant, Glacier 8 COMMUNITY New Year’s at Noon: 11:30am-12:30pm, Lynden WEDNESDAY [12.27.17] Library Deck the Old City Hall: 12-5pm, Whatcom Museum’s CURRENTS MUSIC Old City Hall Van Bebber Quartet: 7pm, Sylvia Center for the Arts 6 Manhattan NYE: 5:30-9:30m, Jansen Art Center, Make like you’re Lynden WORDS Mario Kart New Year’s Party: 8pm-1am, Best Buds VIEWS Note of Thanks: 10:30am, Bellingham Public Library in the big city at a Gaming Lounge 4 Manhattan New Year’s COMMUNITY GET OUT Deck the Old City Hall: 12-5pm, Whatcom Museum’s Eve celebration Sun., MAIL Last Chance Marathon: 9am, Fairhaven Park Old City Hall Dec. 31 at Lynden’s Ring of Fire and Hope: 7pm, Birch Point to Point 2 Whitehorn 2 GET OUT Jansen Art Center The Lights of Christmas: 5-10pm, Warm Beach Camp, DO IT DO IT FOOD Stanwood New Year’s Eve Oyster Party: 11am-4pm, Slough Group Run: 6pm, Skagit Running Company, Mount Food, Edison Vernon FOOD GET OUT New Year’s Eve Open House: 5pm-1am, Miller’s Back Door 12.27.17 Anniversary Celebration: 7am-7pm, Cafe Velo Wild Things: 9:30-11am, Connelly Creek Nature THURSDAY [12.28.17] Ten for Ten: 5:30-7pm, Old World Deli Area NYE Eve Dinner and Dance: 6:30pm-1am, Semiah- The Lights of Christmas: 5-10pm, Warm Beach moo Resort, Blaine .12 ONSTAGE Camp, Stanwood Space Band and Pizza: 9pm-1am, Ciao Thyme 52 Good, Bad, Ugly: 8pm, Upfront Theatre FRIDAY [12.29.17] # Commons Holiday Mashup: 10pm, Upfront Theatre ONSTAGE FOOD Great Gatsby NYE : 10pm, Galloway’s Cocktail Bar DANCE My 3 Ghosts: 8pm, Upfront Theatre Coffee Tasting: 3pm, Camber Cafe Backyard Brawl: 10pm, Upfront Theatre Food Not Bombs: 4-6pm, downtown Bellingham Balkan Folk Dance: 7-9:30pm, Fairhaven Library MONDAY [01.01.18] GET OUT MUSIC DANCE SATURDAY [12.30.17] Youth Intensive Performance: 4pm, Firehouse New Year’s Ride: 10am, Fairhaven Park Brian Setzer Orchestra: 7:30pm, Mount Baker Theatre Performing Arts Center ONSTAGE Resolution Run: 10am, Lake Padden CASCADIA WEEKLY Padden Polar Dip: 11am, Lake Padden COMMUNITY My 3 Ghosts: 8pm, Upfront Theatre Backyard Brawl: 10pm, Upfront Theatre Polar Bear Plunge: 12pm, Birch Bay beachfront 2 Deck the Old City Hall: 12-5pm, Whatcom Museum’s MUSIC Cole Anderson: 7:30pm, Lairmont Manor Old City Hall MUSIC TUESDAY [01.02.18] GET OUT COMMUNITY Siyuan Li and Cole Anderson: 7:30pm, Lairmont Deck the Old City Hall: 12-5pm, Whatcom Mu- Manor ONSTAGE The Lights of Christmas: 5-10pm, Warm Beach Camp, seum’s Old City Hall Comedy Open Mic: 7:30pm, the Shakedown Stanwood THISWEEK 26 FOOD Contact Cascadia Weekly: 360.647.8200 21 mail TOC LETTERS STAFF Editorial B-BOARD Editor & Publisher: Tim Johnson ext 260 20 editor@ While 2017 sucked in many ways in America, it wasn’t all cascadiaweekly.com FILM bad. Alabama Senate hopeful (and alleged pedophile) Roy Arts & Entertainment Moore was bested by democrat Doug Jones, the Affordable Editor: Amy Kepferle Care Act survived numerous assassination attempts, the ext 204 16 teen pregnancy rate continued to fall, women who had calendar@ been harassed and assaulted in the workplace (and beyond) cascadiaweekly.com MUSIC spoke up (and were believed), and courts throughout the Music & Film Editor: land stood up to the Trump administration when it issued Carey Ross 14 questionable orders on everything from the travel ban to ext 203 defunding sanctuary cities and prohibiting transgender ART music@ people from serving in the military. Let’s hope 2018 brings cascadiaweekly.com more victories, and less hate. 13 Production Art Director: STAGE Jesse Kinsman Views & News jesse@ 12 04: Mailbag kinsmancreative.com 06: Gristle & Rhodes Design: Bill Kamphausen GET OUT 08: Last week’s news Advertising Design: 09: Police blotter, Index Roman Komarov roman@ 10 cascadiaweekly.com Arts & Life Send all advertising materials to [email protected] WORDS 10: A familial ascent LET THEM EAT CAKE name. But if you aren’t part of the 1 percent, do 12: Resolution reset Advertising 8 Why call it the “Corker kickback?” Yes, it seems check what will happen to your taxes. Sales Manager: passably strange that Sen. Bob Corker changed his Remember this in the 2018 midterms. 13: Setting the stage Stephanie Young tax cut vote to ”yes” after we all learned about the —Jayne Freudenberger, Bellingham 14: Fun with Fireball 360-647-8200 CURRENTS advertising@ late addition of a huge real estate provision that 16: Out with the old cascadiaweekly.com will benefit him (and, don’t forget, the Trumps). THREE DS EQUAL AN F 6 18: Clubs Distribution And yes, it doesn’t matter if he actually scripted Four words best describe the failed Republican this himself, because, darn it, it is hard to doubt leadership in the other Washington: dishonest, VIEWS 20: Film Shorts Distribution Manager: it made a difference in changing his mind from ”I disingenuous, disloyal and immoral. Erik Burge 4 4 Rear End 360-647-8200 will not vote for this bill if it adds even one penny Dishonest, because their tax plan is upside distribution@ to the deficit“ and then did. down—lower- and middle-income taxpayers will MAIL MAIL cascadiaweekly.com 21: Bulletin Board, Free Will But, hey, it is not just the Corker kickback. Who benefit little while the wealthy and corporations Whatcom: Erik Burge, 22: Wellness 2 among the 1 percent does not benefit from “kick- cash in big time. Stephanie Simms Crossword backs” on this bill? Let’s call it what it is—“I am Disingenuous, because despite the populist Re- 23: Skagit: Linda Brown, DO IT a rich Republican congressperson and I can get publican rhetoric, our nation is creeping closer and 24: Comix Barb Murdoch away with championing a bill that makes me rich- closer to becoming an oligopoly—embracing poli- 25: Slowpoke, Sudoku Letters er.” Or, for short, ”the Let Them Eat Cake Kickback” cies that further concentration of corporate power. Chilling out for NYE SEND LETTERS TO LETTERS@ because these guys will be dead anyway when our Disloyal, because Russia is welcomed at every 26: CASCADIAWEEKLY.COM 12.27.17 kids and grandkids have to pay for this. turn and their leaders continue to stroke the gi- THE GRISTLE, P.06 + FUZZ BUZZ, P.09 + FUN WITH FIREBALL, P.14 c a s c a d i a REPORTING FROM THE HEART OF CASCADIA This bill takes millions from Medicare over the gantic ego of the despicable individual currently WHATCOM SKAGIT ISLAND COUNTIES .12 12-26-2017* • ISSUE:*52 • V.12 52 ©2017 CASCADIA WEEKLY (ISSN 1931-3292) is published each Wednesday by DUBIOUS years, makes health care more expensive, opens occupying the White House. # Cascadia Newspaper Company LLC. Direct all correspondence to: Cascadia Weekly ACHIEVEMENTS Alan Rhodes' year in review, PO Box 2833 Bellingham WA 98227-2833 | Phone/Fax: 360.647.8200 P.08 ANWR to oil and gas development, punishes blue Finally, Republican leadership is simply immor- [email protected] Though Cascadia Weekly is distributed free, please take just one copy. Cascadia states for proving that, yes, helping the poor and al. American is not a country that turns its back Weekly may be distributed only by authorized distributors. Any person removing middle class is good for the GDP of their states and on hard-working Americans struggling to make RESOLUTION papers in bulk from our distribution points risks prosecution RESET The nature of things, SUBMISSIONS: Cascadia Weekly welcomes freelance submissions. Send material P.12 still does not bring back CHIP, the children’s health ends meet. As FDR said in 1932, “Never before CHILLING OUT to either the News Editor or A&E Editor. Manuscripts will be returned if you DANCEFLOOR Snow cones A New Year's Eve roundup, P.16 for everyone! include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. To be considered for calendar list- P.26 program that has long enjoyed bipartisan support in modern history have the essential differences ings, notice of events must be received in writing no later than noon Wednesday for nine million children who will now go without.