|
|
  Big Freedia will make sure the azz is ever'where on Friday Thursday
Claudia Meza presents New Musics: A Night of Modern Classical and Avant Garde Exploration – Explode Into Color’s Claudia Meza helms this foray into experimental musical hipsterdom. Can queer drummer extraordinaire usher in Portland’s own version of a John Cage era? Tomorrow’s first night of acts including bearded electro-knight Copy, internationally renowned and absurdly prolific sound artist Daniel Menche, and Classical Revolution PDX, who will tackle Philip Glass’ dizzying String Quartet No.5 suggests so.
Cabin Project CD release party – Two experimental music happenings in one night? We are a blessed city. The yearlong “cabin project” comes together this night to showcase the amazing congregation of cello, synth, drums, banjo, violin, and lots of voices.
Continue reading »
  Pork chops with mustard sauce. Photo by Diana Edwards. Last night’s gastronomic get down was a culinary delight for queers and West Hillians alike. The atmosphere of Ethical Butcher Berlin Reed‘s meat meet-and-greet was the appropriately casual fancy that Portland so enjoys, and local farmers were rock stars and guests of honor. Diana Edwards and I caught the ‘Primal Cuts’ action on camera.
Bloodhound Photography‘s Ally Picard was also there to catch some snaps of food partygoers, but her real triumph was the small exhibition she displayed of photographs of Berlin and local farms.
Continue reading »
  Tara Jane O'Neil performs Friday at the Someday Lounge Portland is no stranger to alternative and women-centric music. But for a while little sister Olympia seemed to have the best fests, Homo-a-gogo, Ladyfest, Yo-Yo. All of those have evolved beyond the PacNW but Portland has taken on its own women’s festival. Now in it’s 4th year Siren Nation, is no longer a fledgling fest but the real deal.
Music is a big part of Siren Nation, taking up Nov 5th and 6th Friday and Saturday nights at Someday Lounge (125 NW 5th) with folks like sultry folkstress Erin McKeown, experimental multi-instrumentalist Tara Jane O’Neil and bhangra bright spot DJ Angiali.
But it’s actually visual art that kicks off the festival, as well as representing a true northwest flavor, with Thursday Nov 4th’s “Sometimes a Great Notion” group art show.
Continue reading »
  Kaj-Anne Pepper is ':Shorn' Local avant-garde dragster Kaj-Anne Pepper has been all over town this year winning top-homo at Homo’s Got Talent, the Gagadonna edition of Miss Thing, and generally being an all-around drag superstar. In reflection Kaj-Anne has thought of himself as taking over Portland until ChiChi and Chonga burst onto the scene, but I think he can still claim some monarchy over our alterna-drag loving community.
Is is this balance of confidence and humbleness that compliment his amazing works of art. His upcoming installation and performance art work :Shorn – Cuts, Guts and Glamour at Half/Dozen Gallery (625 NE Everett #111) should be quite a feat of hair and amazement. With collaboration from Eric Sellers, Dallas Oliver and Nandi LaSophia this staged ritual will be nothing short of queer art religion.
Continue reading »
  Little Tommy Bang Bang host Mrs Sloppy Seconds Thursday
Culture Machine @ Disjecta – That oh-so-hip warehouse art space by the Dancin’ Bare and the Paul Bunyon actually is as cool as it seems. It certainly doesn’t hurt that one of our head homos, Kaj-Anne Pepper, will be part of the invading troupe. Culture Machine is a dance performance (and research tank) that is performed and created by Tahni Holt along with Kaj-Anne Pepper, Robert Tyree, Sallie Garrido-Spencer, Thomas Thorson, Suzanne Chi, and Dicky Dahl. It’s like a big queer DJ combined with a Reed thesis expressed through dance.
Drop Shop – Sultry new queer/stripper love hip hop night goes around for its second week. Was there any booty bouncing last week? Cuz I’m in the mood to shake my laffy taffy.
Continue reading »
  Ivan Coyote, Anna Camilleri and Lyndell Montgomery perform Swell Bringing together a grand spectrum of masculinities Butch Voices Regional Conference comes to P-Town this weekend as part of its four state tour. The gathering butchies celebrate a vast array of identities.
We are woman-identified Butches. We are trans-masculine Studs. We are faggot-identified Aggressives. We are noun Butches, adjective Studs and pronoun-shunning Aggressives. We are she, he, hy, ze, zie and hir. We are you, and we are me. The point is, we don’t decide who is Butch, Stud or Aggressive. You get to decide for yourself.
This convention is part party, learning experience, performance and part art. It opens tonight with a A Taste of Butch Flavor art exhibition at the Q Center (4115 N Mississippi) with live music featuring a reunion of Portland’s all-womyn percussion troupe, The Rhythm Givers, with special guests. The exhibit will be up throughout the month.
Continue reading »
  Internationally recognized Photo- based Artist SD (Shaira) Holman is continuing to explore themes of queer identity in her latest work.
The Butch Project, seeks to explore, document and picture what Butch and female masculinity are in contemporary queer communities. The subjects I work with will include many sizes, shapes, ethnicities and styles of Butch. They will be bold, shy, extravagant, tough, pregnant, silly, sexy …etc. etc.
Verbal and literary definitions of Butch run the risk of stereotyping, as the linearity of language necessitates a one-at-a-time additive or exceptional reading: Butch is this and this and this but not that or that.
In the Butch Project I am positioning Butch as intrinsically queer. I am exploring the complex and contradictory natures of Butch, not trying to explain or dilute or apologize, but to glory in our mercurial and perhaps sometimes confusing natures.
Continue reading »
 Kate Bornstein Transsexual lesbian Kate Bornstein’s 1994 release of the first Gender Outlaw was a revelation. She was shockingly candied about fluid gender dating a woman who began to transition into manhood. This was groundbreaking stuff in the mid 90s.
Now in 2010 we may see pregnant men on Oprah, but trans and genderqueer identities are still a boundary-pushing subject. Nowhere is this more apparent than the continually forward thinking revamped Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, released this month by Seal Press. But this is not merely an update. Edited by the original outlaw along with coeditor S. Bear Bergman GO:TNG is an anthology of 50 varied artists and writers, each with a strong and socially edgy voice.
Continue reading »
  Dexter Flowers and Cooper Lee Bombardier perform Sunday at Not Enough! Festival Thursday
Bollywood Bike In with Qurbani – Giving Portland a little much needed cultural flavor local DJ Anjiali and Kid Sister are showing classic Bollywood films outside the Q Center (4115 N Mississippi) all month long. This week features Qurbani and I’m excited to see a South Asian take on the 80s…
Ratatat afterparty with Rude Dudes – Ratatat are not a gay band but they’re hipsters and isn’t that about the same thing in Portland these days? Don’t worry, they’ve teamed up with “Rude” homos for a spanktastic dance party and DJ set. This might be the most mellow Thursday I’ve seen in awhile.
Friday
Mendy’s Big Gay Boat Party – Do you need an excuse to bust out those Top-Siders and sailor hat? No, you don’t. But in case you want to fool around with others in sea garb this is your chance.
Forsorcerers with Hooray for Everything and Don’t – Didn’t think Portland could get any weirder? How about a queer fantasy metal band? Despite the schtick, hoever, Forsorcerers are incredibly talented drum and guitar heros that will aurally rock you into remembering why you love the rough stuff.
Continue reading »
  Rufus Wainwright plays tonight as part of the TBA Festival Tonight
Rufus Wainwright with the Oregon Symphony – Portland’s yearly Time Based Art festival is pretty epic and pretty gay in and of itself. But tonight’s opening act is sure to be one of the more memorable musical collaborations. This celebrated male vocalist has had immense success as a pop star but easily scored an entire opera, Prima Donna, as well. On the last stop in his North American tour Wainwright will entries from his latest opera, performed by local soprano Janis Kelly as well as some “classical” Rufus that will showcase the composer’s own vocal range when he sings two concert pieces by French composer Hector Berlioz.
Dirtbag – Jenny Bruso’s Alberta queer non-poppy sweat dance party this week with guest DJ Lick My Battery. It’s real. It’s raw. And it’s damn good.
Continue reading »
|
|
