Wayne Bund's photo series 'The Bathers' opens Saturday at East End
Check back for our preview of Siren Nation festival, which will encompass the entirety of the weekend. As if you didn’t have enough to work with below.
Thursday
Thursday may not see a whole bunch of new nights but there’s always the stellar, incredibly danceable and Smiths-loving Dirtbag! at the Know (with special guest DJ Ill Camino) and the mellower Bobby Jo Valentine just down Alberta street making his Portland debut and the popular St Johns Thursday night gay hangout Sweet Tea where you can drink in southern style for only 4 bucks.
Friday
Deep Cuts – Only in its second iteration, DP has already become a music conisseurs good time. Good music without pretentiousness this party is hip and fun without being the kind of hip and fun that makes you uncomfortable, nervous and…no fun. I think that’s proved well enough by this week’s DJ of the Week, which profiles Cuts’ special guest DJ L-Train.
Sadie Hawkins Sock Hop benefit for Femme Collective & Butch Voices – Sometimes you want all the 50s charm with the social and political consciousness of the 21st century. This poodle skirted and Brylcream DA haircut sportin’ dance is fun for greasers and socs alike and celebrates the butch femme dress up with a backdrop of 50s and 60s pop. Cool daddy-o.
Saturday
Our Stories: Fast Pitch: Lesbian women in softball – I love this new series brought to you by the Q Center that features great perspectives on our lives and bits of our history. And while softball has never been a lesbian stereotype I particularly fit, I find it a fascinating one and it will certainly be enlightening to hear from coaches pre-Title IX, a pitcher from the 70s, and ball culture throughout the last several decades.
Bathers photographic exhibition by Wayne Bund – That adorable bear behind the camera at some of your favorite party photobooths is ready to show you his own portraits. Sure to include some nudity in his sincere snaps of bathers in area hot springs, it’ll make you pine for the nicer weather and warmth of bubbling waters heated by the earth.
Fruitillion: A Glitterfruit debut – Accordian/violin duo Glitterfuit features multi-faceted performers Max Voltage and Riley Ciara La Roux, so it’s not surprising that they play unusual instruments and combine innovative mash-ups, cabaret-style camp, and just a pinch of circusy magic in what will certainly be not just a recital but a full fledged variety show for their full length debut. Look out for the review by a new contributor next week!
John cameron Mitchell spins at the first Portland Mattachine invasion. Photo by Ty Chance.
KPSU and the QRC present Tender Forever, STLS, and La Pump – Female fronted electronic and drumcore bands that killed it at the Electrogals conference a couple weeks ago will certainly do so again in the basement of the student union. And if you miss being a college radio DJ like I do it’ll bring you back to the good parts of college (music, not co-eds…).
Mattachine redux with John Cameron Mitchell and Amber Martin – A dance party fronted by the creator and star of Hedwig and former local performer returns to the Rose City to share some NYC style dance floor action.
Relauch: Party Foul edition – The hottest free Saturday night party in Vaseline Alley’s only remaining gay complex. Cheap drinks, good food, and DJ Nark in town from Seattle. Perfection.
