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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2012)
(y The Clackamas Print Wednesday, May. 1-6, 2012 aced@clackamas. .äuArt(>£ulture Killer bread maker shows how not to go a-rye By Patrick Q uinn The Clackamas Print Dahl was born into a family of bakers in Portland. Ip spite , of his self-admitted, colorful and dark past, baked, goods would be a part of his destiny. It would require traveling a long, painful road of self-dis covery before this man could finally return to his roots. His was an adolescence marked by depression, alienation, and experimentation with drugs ’ and alcohol. £ Interests in guitar and physical fitness were his sole “saving graces” during this time. These alone would prove to be inadequate tools- in beating back the thoughts of suicide that plagued Dahl in his teenage years. Instead of things getting better after high school, as it does for some troubled teenagers, being alive would only become more dif ficult for him. The middle chunk of Dahl’s life was a litany of excessive drug use,' violent encounters with law enforce m ent*. and incarceration. Ending up on parole, he was constantly in pursuit .of the, former and avoiding the latter. The story of the man behind the greatest bread ever made is-'f darker and seedier than any slice o f rye could ever hope to be. • On Tuesday, May 8, local bread guru Dave Dahl (usually just called “Dave” by associ-- ates), founder and namesake of Dave's Killer Bread, spoke to a crowd of adoring 'bread fans in Gregory Forum. His was a true’ story about drug addiction, prison sentences,- finding oneself, small busi ness management and how to change the world, one loaf of bread at a time. The mustached man play ing guitar on the bread bag isn't shy about his checkered past. H islocajlyadored prod uct comes complete with a shockingly true description of himself as a “four-time loser” who was “in the wrong game” for many, many years. Dahl has lived in and out o f prison for the better part of his life. His. story is presented with stark reinty’o n th e Back’ o f a T h e story in his ow n w ords Daves Killer Bread founder D ave Dahl, right, shares his trials an d successes in Gregory Forum M ay 8. To his left is L add Justesen, executive assistant o f the M ilw aukie company. could return to his roots as a crafter of artisan bread. D esp im ^ n a v in g ~ m e m b ir mSteriaT“ worth "publ’ishihg’ detailand insight into the life many times over, Dahl doesn’t of a real-life drug fiend, It tells use his remarkable life stoiv of a deeply troubled man who as some cheap ploy to sell shoots speed in the basement bread. By dis accounts this is o f the family bakery, commits a man reformed and reborn, grand theft auto and practices a man who walks every bit of his talk, and it- shows in his armed robberies. Dahl’s participation in business practices and his pub f P ortland’s ■ m etham phet lic appearances. In person, he amine explosion of the 1990s, does in fact resemble his. like included claims o f police ness on the bags of bread, save brutality, concealed weapons for the mustache (gone). His and pounds o f drugs. A long stature and musculature would sentence in a federal prison, make him a terrifying sight antidepressants and plenty of were he armed with a .380 brutally-honest introspection semi-automatic and amphet were in order before Dahl amine psychosis, but he speaks -Uieacl"iuag iw ■aH’ iire' wuild1 rer ■■"provide!» 1 n grueling see,-albeit in brief. A video presented at the event in Gregory Forum f along with the missive on the company website (Dahl’s .Story, available in video, PDF and plain text formats), delves further into the life of Dahl before the days of Killer Bread and reads like the memoirs o f a Hell’s Angel, with a hap pier ending. It’s the tale of a freewheeling career criminal without remorse or the abil ity to learn from his mistakes, who experiences humility and reform. with an earnestness and seren ity of mind one would expect from a Buddhist monk? 'D ahl "seems to" be’ com pletely and totally confident in his personal transformation and the potential for others like him to transform as well. Roughly a third of those under his employ are ex-felons like himself, which means his man agement position, as he admit ted during the question-and- answer period, comes with “some additional difficulties” -(subdued laughter from audi ence). Still, he surrounds him self with the reformed and the reborn, and the company has received numerous awards for its practice of giving the 1 incarcerated another shot at a healthy life by making healthy food. ' ' Dahl further’ expressed His generosity by hurling compli mentary loaves of bread like whole-wheat footballs toward those members of the audience brave enough to .ask a ques tion. Despite the arduous and agonizing route he took to get where he is today, Dahl has no regrets about his paSk^Ip fact, he probably wouldn't be making any of his most killer of baked goods if he hadn't endured a life qf, prolonged hardship and suffering. I t even says -so on the back of the bag. Wildman: Bigfoot may just be another mossy tree trunk By Isaac Soper Arts & Culture Editor Bigfoot has been discov ered. There, I hooked you. Many people claim to have seen the elusive beast, but other than seeing lookalikes in films such as “Harry and the Hendersons,” a true Sasquatch has never been located, even with fanatics and some scien tists looking for one full-time. Let’s go through a scenario: you’re driving, your car down the Molalla corridor not pay ing too much attention to the road ahead; I understand, you want to change the song on your iPod to “Union Hall” by Foreign Born. W hat can I say? I get it. So you’re playing around with that stupid little scroll-wheel when you look up and see something on the side of the road in the woods. What could it have been? It was big, you know that for sure. Could it have been a bear or perhaps a mossy tree? No, if- was s’o mething so incredible that no one will believe you:-if was a Sasquatch, it had to have been. Or that’s what you want to believe. Having something to believe in is a part of human nature, but why Bigfoot?' I mean sure, cryptozoology has its merits. It’s fun, and mythical beasts are cool. I’ve played Pokemon before, but that-doesn’t, mean that Charizardsare real. I Sasquatch, also called a Bigfoot, is a large hairy biped that supposedly lives in wood ed areas, with most- of the thousands of claimed sightings being in the Pacific Northwest (the creature is known as the yeti or abominable snowman m the Himalayas)TThough most . scientists tonsider Bigfoot to be more of a myth or hoax, many believe in the notion that the animal is real, and that, it may be the direct link between, humans and ■ apes. There is even a'television show on Animal Planet Called .“Finding Bigfoot.” Even with Animal Planet and its team of crackpot scientists or what ever those howling folks con sider themselves to be, there is still no proof of whether a Sasquatch;-actually exists — I’m sure you can guess how the show goes. - Some of the ideas behind Sasquatch are interesting, such as the fact that North America is the only continent to have no apes whatsoever, which makes one ponder the idea. Many of Earth’s animals have yet to be discovered, but you would think that an animal that size, wouldn’t have many predatory in which case you would think their-numbers would abound. Maybe this Sasquatch isjust a family b f'rlally h airy people. That would explain the low numbers. I know a guy who could take the mantle of yeti if he wanted to. For me, I don’t believe that I am descended from an ape, although there may be a direct link between me and Mr. Yeti,' especially if he is a hairy man or some guy in an ape suit, hell, maybe he’s my uncle! Preferably, when I hear about people seeing Bigfoot or doing ridiculous Bigfoot- howls, it makes me chuckle. At the same time Tt* gives me hope that one day, Chewbacca will pop out of the. woods, and then I’ll discover that Star Wars is real, at which point in time, I will fly off: in the Millennium Falcon. T h at' would be cool, and is probably just as likely as actual proof of Bigfoot being discovered. Whether or not you believe in Bigfoot, it I doesn’t really matter. If . you do, howl at the moon and searchfor him until your heart’s content, if you don’t believe in the hairy guy, crack open a cold one and get a good laugh at “Finding Bigfoot,’’Ton Sundays at 10 p.m. on Animal Planet.
