Put your money where your writer is

D.K. Holm needs your support

By James Walling

D.K. Holm has been a critical institution here in the Northwest for more than two decades. He's written for - and often about - a vast array of influential local and meta-arts organizations. More importantly, he writes for The Vancouver Voice.

And he's got cancer.

After many sleepless nights and fruitless doctor visits, Holm discovered the source of the discomfort that had been preventing him from eating solid foods for the past several months (he lost 40 pounds in the process!). Unfortunately, the cause of his suffering proved to be a hypochondriac's worst nightmare: cancer - esophageal cancer, to be precise.

The prognosis is good, but chemotherapy is unavoidable and invasive surgery seems likely. To make things worse, Holm finds himself without health insurance, a malady common to freelance writers and a great many other Americans as well.

At a recent benefit for Holm at Cinema 21 in Portland (organized most graciously by Pink Martini front man Thomas Lauderdale, Cindy Mason and Helaine Garren), a who's-who list of Portland authors and journalists gathered to participate in readings of Holm's work (and choicest bits of hate mail), accompanied by music performed by Lauderdale and The Oregonian's Karen Brooks.

There was also a silent auction with goods and artwork provided by a long list of notable restaurants, photographers, writers and artists.

Willamette Week publisher Richard Meeker (Holm served as principle film critic at WW for ten years) delivered a humble and touching address on the meaning of film criticism, proving what a mensch he is by anointing Holm a true example of the ideal film critic.

Clips were shown from various local TV spots featuring Holm, as well as a number of feature length and short films in which Holm appears.

The evening was emceed by Ed Goldberg, with whom Holm co-hosts a regular radio program on KBOO (on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 9 a.m.).

Oregonian film critic Shawn Levy pronounced the evening a roaring success.

"There were the people, lots and lots of 'em, coming out of the woodwork to do the right thing. Portland's old guard was well-represented, as Doug himself has been a straw stirring the drink in this town for decades."
He has indeed.

During a brief stint as Interim Screen Editor at WW, I was confronted with the myth of D.K. Holm during an editorial meeting with other members of the arts and culture staff.

Innocently, I explained that I had assigned a box review to Holm, as he was the only critic I knew of with direct access to a particular film director.

One of the editors - a former colleague of Holm's who shall remain nameless -erupted in fury.
"No way!" he roared. "Not D.K. HOLM! Under no circumstances!"

I stood my ground and we proceeded upstairs (literally) to lay our dilemma out before the boss. Mark Zusman - WW Editor and Holm's former boss - arbitrated the dispute.

He invited us to sit and told us a brief story.

Apparently when Holm left WW, he immediately started working for the now defunct newspaper PDXS. One day not too long afterward, Zusman was astonished to discover his own photo accompanying a cover feature titled, What's Wrong with Willamette Week, by none other than D.K. Holm!

You'd have thought such shenanigans would bias Zusman against using Holm in the pages of WW. Amazingly, once he'd finished his tale, Zusman threw his hands up and pronounced magnanimously, "Anyway, he's good copy. Go ahead and use him."

The anecdote was just one of a multitude of factors that contributed to my desire to hire Holm as principle critic for The Voice.

On top of his local journalistic pursuits, Holm has made a name for himself in the online arena.
Holm was co-founder of cinemonkey.com (based on a film magazine he co-founded in the late 1970s), and has been a regular contributor to filmmaker Kevin Smith's website, QuickStopEntertainment.com, Screengrab, and DVDJournal.

He's produced books on R. Crumb and Quentin Tarantino, as well as critical studies of film noir and independent cinema.

Now let's get down to brass tacks.

As Levy so aptly put it, "Portland's old guard was well represented" in their efforts to support Holm during his time of trouble.

But what about Vancouver?

Holm readily accepted our offer to write for The Voice almost two years ago. Right from the get-go, Holm began churning out reams of insightful film writing and countless blog posts (the man is almost single-handedly responsible for the steadily increasing traffic to our website).

Beginning with our very first issue, Holm has directed his considerable point of view at our Vancouver readership, and we think the time has come to ante up and show him some love.

Holm needs our support, and nothing says "I love you" like an influx of cash.

Donations in Holm's name can be made by contacting Cindy Mason at 503-866-7951 or mailing donations to P.O. Box 4146 Portland, OR 97209.