Garth Stein – Racing in the Rain

Our best best friend Garth Stein is #22 on the New York Times bestseller’s list, #42 on Amazon, #45 on Barnes & Noble, and #6 on BookSense, the ABA listing.

Yay!

See the new Art of Racing in the Rain website with an excellent clip of Garth reading from the book.

Submitting Grants – Spirit Mountain

We’ve submitted a grant to the Spirit Mountain Community Fund to support Alien Boy.

The Spirit Mountain Community Fund is a philanthropy of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde, making gifts to nonprofit agencies in 11 Oregon counties.  The tribes of the Umpqua, Mollala, Rogue River, Kalapuya and Chasta join together to at a reservation in the heart of Oregon’s beautiful coastal range.

Wish us luck!  We’ll know the results in a couple of months.

Submitting Grants – Funding Exchange

We’ve submitted a grant to the Funding Exchange and the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media for $11,700 to support Alien Boy.  This amount represents approximately 5% of our expected costs to finish the film.

The Funding Exchange is a consortium of foundations interested in many things, including supporting independent media, and has a history of supporting activist documentary filmmakers.  The organization representing Oregon at the Funding Exchange is the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation.

Wish us luck!  We’ll know the results in a couple of months.

First Week Shooting Wrap Up

The intrepid Alien Boy film crew finished the weeks filming with a cheer of success! Nineteen interviews finished and fifteen hours of solid material on the hard drive.

After every interview director Brian Lindstrom would give a sly grin and say, “That was so great!”

Here’s the rundown – Steve Doughton, filmmaker and a teen friend of Jim’s, Eva Lake, visual artist and friend of Jim’s, Jamie Marquez who took photos of Jim after he was beaten and bravely shared them with newspapers, Sam Henry ace drummer for the Wipers, the band which created the song Alien Boy about Jim, Jay Auslander, program manager for Project Respond, Portland’s psychiatric urgent care outreach team, Michael Hopcroft who is a columnist for Street Roots newspaper, Roy Silberstein and Jason Renaud from the Mental Health Association of Portland, State Senator and mental health advocate Avel Gordly and her son Tyrone Waters, Reverend Dr. W G Hardy of Highland Ministries who followed what happened to Kendra James and James Jahar Perez closely, Alex Bassos who represents individuals in civil commitment cases for Metropolitan Public Defenders, Steve Snyder, a psychiatric investigator for Multnomah County, Dan Handelman of Portland CopWatch, Alex Kigrel who has schizophrenia and is studying criminal justice at Portland State, David Lilligard who witnessed Jim being beaten on September 17, 2006, Matt Davis, investigative reporter for the Portland Mercury, Randy Moe, a friend of Jim’s who kept posters, artwork and mementos Jim made, and Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard.

Thanks everyone!

We will shoot another full week in June, and perhaps a week in July, then shoot stills and landscapes during a week in August.

Learn more about Alien Boy, a documentary about the life and death of James Chasse at www.alienboy.org

Shooting Begins!

Shooting started on Alien Boy Monday, May 16 at Alien Studios out in the wilderness of Southeast Portland.

Director Brian Lindstrom and Director of Cinematography John Campbell shoo’ed out the resident raccoons and laid out the equipment last night. This morning they arrived with crew of Russ, John and Alan to start filming interviews for our film. Four informants to the story about what happened to James Chasse were interviewed today. Twenty more interviews will take place during this week.

Brian and company will shoot during a week in June and a week in July. We’re still actively seeking folks who knew Jim – especially from 1985 – 1995. If you have photographs of Jim, we’d like to use them for the film. Send them to the Mental Health Association of Portland, PO Box 3641, Portland, Oregon 97208. We’ll make copies and return them immediately.

From what I’ve heard from the set (very little) everything went well. Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow so Brian and John may temporarily decamp from the Quonset hut seen in this picture to an adjoining house.

Special thanks from the production team of Alien Boy to Perry Loveridge of Picture This and Joel at Gearhead Grip & Electric for our camera and equipment package. Everything’s working great!

‘Alien Boy’ makes guest appearance in Portland lawsuit

From Chris Lydgate with the Portland Mercury, May 17, 2008

City attorneys say Chasse film could stoke hostility against police officers

Portland city attorneys worry that a documentary about the death of Jim Chasse Jr. (shown in a mug shot and performing at the Long Goodbye Club around 1980) could hurt the city’s chances of getting a fair trial for police in a federal civil lawsuit brought by Chasse’s family.

“Alien Boy,” a local documentary about a schizophrenic man who died in police custody in 2006 has been dragged into a legal tug-of-war between the victim’s family and the city of Portland.

Portland filmmaker Brian Lindstrom has only just begun shooting the project, which focuses on the life and death of James Chasse Jr., a 42-year-old Old Town resident who succumbed to blunt-force trauma after being tackled and tazered by police officers outside the upscale Pearl District restaurant Bluehour.

But city attorneys say the film, together with continued media scrutiny into the episode, could stoke hostility toward the officers involved and make it impossible for them to get a fair trial in the civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Chasse family in U.S. District Court.

At stake is a gag order imposed in October by Judge Dennis Hubel, who sealed key documents in the case, including an internal police bureau investigation; Independent Police Review records; records of previous disciplinary action against the officers; cell phone records; and medical records.

Lawyers for the Chasse family and the news media (including the Portland Tribune) have asked the judge to release those documents; lawyers representing the city have tried to keep them under wraps.

As long as the order remains in place, it remains unclear what information the documents contain. But city lawyers now argue that the documents could turn public opinion against the officers, even if they are ultimately withheld from a jury.

“Releasing irrelevant information, which is inadmissible at trial, could prejudice defendants by resulting in hostility towards them,” wrote Deputy City Attorneys James G Rice and David A Landrum in a May 6 court brief. “City defendants’ concern about potential hostility due to dissemination of irrelevant discovery material is exacerbated by the media scrutiny of Mr. Chasse’s death, including the documentary film, ‘Alien Boy,’ being made about Mr. Chasse.”

The brief was filed in response to a motion by Tom Steenson, the Chasse family’s lawyer, requesting that the documents be unsealed. Steenson had no comment about the motion, the lawsuit or the film.

Deadly encounter in the Pearl District

The deadly encounter took place on Sept. 17, 2006, when Portland police officers saw Chasse walking down Northwest Everett Street near the I-405 overpass. According to published accounts, the officers believed Chasse was “acting odd” and suspected him of urinating against a tree. They followed him for several blocks, catching up with him near the intersection of Northwest 13th Avenue, where they ordered him to halt. Instead, Chasse attempted to run away, prompting Officer Christopher Humphreys to knock him to the ground.

In the ensuing melee, Chasse was tackled, tazered, punched, kicked and hogtied as he struggled desperately against Humphreys, police Sgt. Kyle Nice and Multnomah County sheriff’s Deputy Brett Burton.

The altercation occurred near Bluehour, where several patrons dining al fresco – including developer Homer Williams – witnessed the struggle.

Chasse died in the back seat of a police cruiser of the injuries sustained in the encounter, which included a punctured lung, 16 broken ribs and multiple contusions.

The Multnomah County medical examiner ruled that Chasse died of blunt-force trauma to the chest, but declared the death “accidental.” A grand jury later cleared the officers of criminal wrongdoing.

The family, however, believes Chasse was beaten to death.

Documentary dragged into hall of mirrors

The Chasse case has become a flashpoint in the ongoing debate about police brutality and the larger issue of how police officers should approach people with mental illness, who sometimes react in unexpected ways, and whose symptoms may mislead officers into thinking they are drunk or high.

Chasse, who was also known as “Jim-Jim,” was a well-known figure in the Portland music scene who lived independently in an Old Town apartment building, and had no criminal history.

It was with the aim of rendering a more complete, three-dimensional portrait of Chasse, that director Brian Lindstrom embarked on “Alien Boy.” His last film, “Finding Normal,” a documentary about recovering addicts in Portland, won wide praise for its sensitive approach and has been screened in City Hall.

Other contributors to “Alien Boy” include reporter Matt Davis of the Portland Mercury, who broke crucial elements of the story; and advocate Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland, who knew Chasse in high school.

The film’s title comes from a song written about Chasse in 1979 by his friend, Greg Sage, lead singer of the seminal Portland punk band, the Wipers.

Keeping documents from the public

Initially, filmmakers simply wanted to shoot a film about the tragedy. But now the project in being dragged into the legal battle.

“We’re disappointed, but not surprised,” says Renaud. “The city is trying to use the film as a rationale to keep these documents from the public.”

Renaud agreed that the film’s viewers might walk away from the theater believing that the officers involved in the incident were responsible for Chasse’s death. But, he said, the vast majority of potential jurors were unlikely ever to see the film; and those who were swayed by it would be excluded from the jury pool by the city’s lawyers.

No date has been set for arguments on whether the documents should be released.

Alien Boy – from Street Roots

From Joanne Zuhl of Street Roots, May 11, 2008

Portland filmmakers set out to document the life and death of James P. Chasse Jr.

On Sept. 17, 2006, in a tony Pearl District neighborhood, in the sights of police officers who saw something they viewed as “odd,” James P. Chasse Jr. stepped out of time. He was no longer in the Portland of his youth, and he wouldn’t live to see the city that might someday come to understand him.

In that moment, this odd-looking 42-year-old was chased by police, tackled to the ground, Tasered, hogtied, taken to jail, and placed in a holding cell. Less than half an hour later, he was shuttled to a hospital — by the arresting officers — after a jail nurse determined he needed medical care. He arrived dead at Providence Hospital with 16 broken ribs, a punctured lung and massive internal bleeding.

He was not a transient, nor was he violent or an illegal drug user, as was first suggested. He had a home, immense artistic talent, an active spiritual life and schizophrenia.

The story of Chasse’s life, and the circumstances surrounding his death, are the subject of a new feature-length documentary, “Alien Boy,” which is set to begin filming in mid-May. At the helm is director Brian Lindstrom, a Portland native whose film “Finding Normal” is receiving critical acclaim for its portrayal of recovering drug addicts in Central City Concern’s mentor program. In its initial showings across the country, Lindstrom says “Finding Normal” is striking a common chord among audiences about humanity in the misunderstood world of addiction and recovery. It is a chord he hopes to strike again with “Alien Boy,” this time about mental illness.

“I was fascinated by Jim’s earlier life, and I was also extremely interested in the onset of his mental illness, and the kind of gradual isolation that that seemed to create,” said Lindstrom. “I think that if people can understand Jim as a young person, with his incredible energy and creativity and artistic talent, they can see the kind of isolation that he had to deal with later in his life, and I just think it will be a very poignant story and help us explain how we deal with the mentally ill.”

Collaborating with Lindstrom on the project is Portland Mercury reporter Matt Davis, who has doggedly covered the Chasse case in print and blog reports. Davis also has become a student of Chasse’s life, following his career in Portland’s counterculture music scene of the 1980s. Chasse sang in a punk band and created his own punk zine, Organizm, covering the local music scene. The title of the documentary is taken from the punk classic of the same name written about Chasse by the Portland band the Wipers.

“We want to show what happened to him, we want to show why Jim was an important person and not just a nobody,” Davis said. “He was sophisticated, he had a lot of impact on a lot of people. And that’s not just ‘Alien Boy.’ He had friends, he was a poet, he made magazines, he was a significant person. The kind of person that if I knew in college or high school, I would have found really inspiring. He would have had a real impact on me, a person. I would have liked to have hung out with.”

Davis continues to monitor the case now as it waits the outcome of a civil lawsuit filed against the city by the Chasse family. In October 2006, a Multnomah County grand jury found the officers involved, Portland Police officers Christopher Humphreys, Sgt. Kyle Nice and Sheriff Deputy Brett Burton not criminally liable for Chasse’s death. Davis has been unabashed in his contempt for police union protectionism and his desire to see the police officers involved with the Chasse arrest fired.

“I want people to be aware of the silencing that goes on around issues like this, and the way that they’re played and manipulated to avoid the attention on what’s really important, which is firing the individual officers who were involved.”

As much as the documentary will focus on Chasse, it is also about the changes Portland has experienced in his lifetime, according to Lindstrom, who thinks that it is more than incidental that Chasse’s end begins in the Pearl District.

“The gentrification plays a role in all of this,” says Lindstrom. “He was first spotted by the police on the corner of 18th and Everett, and then, in pursuit, he ended up near Blue Hour in the Pearl District, and it seems like this is a collision between the Pearl District and Old Town. What does it mean when an industrial neighborhood becomes an upscale Soho of Portland? I don’t think this would have happened 10 years ago. I think if you take gentrification out of this story, Jim is not even arrested that day and his life goes on.”

Jason Renaud, a mental health advocate and founding member of the Mental Health Association of Portland, went to high school with Chasse. Within days after Chasse’s death, Renaud’s organization was speaking with the mayor’s office about how to proceed: apologize to the family; create a committee with the community to make sure it doesn’t happen again; make crisis intervention training mandatory for all patrol officers; and fire the officers involved. All but the last request was fulfilled within a month, said Renaud said, who is working as a consultant on the film.

As Chasse’s illness progressed, Renaud saw how he lost friends and became more isolated. But Chasse maintained his independence, living in a one-room apartment and staying on medications to manage his illness. It was an existence that a man in his condition wouldn’t have had only a few decades ago, Renaud said. For Renaud, the responsibility lies squarely on the three officers involved in Chasse’s arrest, not the mental health system.

“James was an example of how the mental health system worked really well,” says Renaud. “James was really sick. And 20 or 30 years ago, James would have spent his life in an institution, heavily drugged, often restrained, away from his friends and family, away from the library he loved, the music he loved, the people he enjoyed being around. Because of our outpatient mental health system and better medication, and because of our generous housing system, Jim was able to live independently, live alone, and care for himself, which he was able to do for the most part. That would have all been gone 20 years ago without this mental health system. He was a big success. Even though he had really bad times, and when people look at the way he looked or the way he acted, they’d see someone who was very ill, he would have been much more ill without this system.”

Ultimately, Renaud thinks the movie will have an upbeat message; one that shows the response of the city to date, and what still needs to be done, including creating a sub-acute care facility that could take people in crisis.

“It’s Jim’s legacy that these things occurred. I don’t think Jim was a mental health advocate, he was not a person who spoke out about anything except his undying love of the Velvet Underground. He was a very shy, very frightened person who had a strange gift and had a hard time sharing it with people.

“Everybody in Portland knows the story of what happened to Jim,” Renaud says. “And a lot of people know, who care to know, the things that the city and the county did to make sure that what happened to Jim doesn’t happen to anybody else. Who doesn’t know is the city of Phoenix, Chicago, New York, Paris and London. We need to make this film to tell the rest of the world what happened to Jim, and what the city of Portland did to address concerns.”

Lindstrom hopes the film goes beyond words and images and prompts action.

“It can be a model of how a city reacted to this terrible tragedy,” Lindstrom says. “And also make sure that, God willing, nothing like this will happen again.”

City Cites Alien Boy In Prolonging Gag Order

Lawyers for the City of Portland have cited the production of Alien Boy in arguing why the media and public should not be able to see certain documents about the officers involved in James Chasse’s death, which are currently covered by a gag order, in the case filed by Chasse’s family against the city.

The original gag order, signed on October 23, 2007 by Judge Denis Hubel, prohibits the release of broad categories of documents associated with the case to the public. Now, attorneys for the Chasse family are asking that the gag orders be reviewed so that the following documents can be made public: Internal affairs documents; documents from Officer Humphreys and Nice’s personnel files; PPB training documents; PPB after action reports; and City of Portland records involving in-custody deaths.

On page seven of its response, the city says Alien Boy’s production presents a safety risk to the officers involved:

Releasing the requested evidence, says the city, could result in hostility towards the defendants that is prejudicial to the trial. This begs the question: What’s in those documents, exactly? In addition, the city has attached two pages of posts from this blog as exhibits, intending to suggest the supposed dangerousness of Alien Boy.

It’s hard to know whether to be flattered or surprised by the city’s lawyers, although mainly, I think, we’re surprised.

Alien Boy is Front Page News

Homeless newspaper Street Roots gave Alien Boy a 1500 word write-up today. Buy a copy for a dollar and support the homeless, or go to the paper’s website tomorrow to download the article..