2 THE OPENING ACT MARCH 9�16, 2022 STAFF follow us ONLINE www.goeasternoregon.com TWITTER twitter.com/GoEasternOregon FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/ goeasternoregon INSTAGRAM www.instagram.com/ goeasternoregon contact us What we’re into ‘HOW TO WITH JOHN WILSON’ I ’m not sure how to describe the HBO television series “How To with John Wilson,” but if I’m going to recommend it, I’ll give it my best shot. Before each season, fi lmmaker John Wilson captures thousands of hours of public life in New York City. He then whittles those hours down to a small series of half- hour episodes organized around a seemingly instructional theme: “How to Improve Your Memory” or “How to Throw Out Batteries.” But this isn’t a series of mundane tutorials you might Google in a pinch. Instead each episode plays out like a visual essay, Wilson’s thoughts and musings acting as a soundtrack to a montage of the streets and homes of New York. It turns out living in a dense urban area with nearly 9 million souls lends itself well to commenting on the absurdities and inanities of everyday life. But what really sets apart “How To” is Wilson’s willingness to pull the thread of each theme as far as it will go. In “How to Im- imdb.com prove Your Memory,” he travels to Ketchum, Idaho, to attend a conference on The Mandela Ef- fect, a series of falsely remem- bered facts that some people mistakenly attribute to alternate realities. Wilson meets plenty of odd RAISING THE CURTAIN ON THIS WEEK’S ISSUE people in his journeys, but he’s never cruel. Wilson’s presence is awkward but insistent, and he sometimes brings out genuine emotion from his subjects. “How To with John Wilson” is fascinat- ed with people and that means it’s equal turns hilarious, dra- matic, shocking and poignant. I’m not sure I’ve done a good job selling the show, and “How To” is not going to be every- one’s cup of tea. But in a world where mainstream entertain- ment is rigidly dictated by a handful of studios, something as strange and humane as “How To” is worthy of celebration. — ANTONIO SIERRA, REPORTER, EAST OREGONIAN Lisa Britton Go! Editor editor@goeasternoregon.com 541-406-5274 Sarah Smith Calendar Coordinator calendar@goeasternoregon.com SUBMIT NEWS Submit your event information by Monday for publication the following week (two weeks in advance is even better!). Go! Magazine is published Wednesdays in the  Wallowa County Chieftain and Blue New releases ‘LOVE SUX,’ AVRIL LAVIGNE A vril Lavigne is known for being a pillar of pop-punk in the early 2000s, who paved her own path in the male domi- nated alt-rock world. It’s been almost 20 years since her debut Mountain Eagle. It publishes PORTRAITS Thursdays in The Observer, Baker City Herald and East Oregonian. Oil or Pastel • By Artist Sam Collett ADVERTISING AND SUBSCRIPTIONS Baker City Herald 541-523-3673 The Observer 541-963-3161 East Oregonian 541-276-2211 Wallowa County Chieftain 541-426-4567 Blue Mountain Eagle 541-575-0710 Hermiston Herald 541-567-6457 album, “Let Go,” was released in the summer of 2002. But the Grammy Award-nominated artist is reminding everyone that she is still the master of the genre in her seventh album, “Love Sux.” This new album transports us back to those days when teen angst was palpable and above: Oil, right: Pastel SamCollettFineArt Details and pricing scoll to the bottom of the portaits tab on my website View my work or contact me visit: www.samcollettfineart.com alt-rock was playing on your MySpace page. Lavigne is not trying to ap- pease anyone. Many of the tracks on the album explore an edge to pop-punk that’s not typical to mainstream Top 40 radio. Electric guitars are blast- ing through almost every track. The fi rst song, “Cannonball,” you hear feedback amp and an elec- tric guitar, then she sings, “Like a ticking time bomb I’m about to explode.” You can hear the punk-rock sounds all over the album, the power chords and loud riff s. But Lavigne is still very much a pop star in all the best ways. “Bite Me,” “Love Sux” and “Love It When You Hate Me” with black- bear lean into the alternative rock vibe, but they still have catchy addictive pop hooks.