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  Pride season is summatime, the season of short shorts and no more teachers, dirty looks. But colleges and universities love a queer too, so they start the season off early. And PSU’s week of LGBT Pride starts tomorrow with Dawn of the Day of the Living Queer. It has quite the lineup, (including li’l ol’ me with a tiny pile of last year’s stickers). It’s supposed to be a sunny and beautiful day in the park blocks from 4-9p as Tender Forever, play/start, NO/HO/MO and more take the stage.
I just recently saw Tender Forever, aka Melanie Valera, kill it at Saratoga. With a new album and all over her emo-electro charisma, Valera is sincere and swoon-worthy. Even I was charmed by her slight French accent as she convinced the audience to catch her crowd surfing. And I did see someone filming my favorite performance trick of hers, controlling the beats with a pair of WiiMotes, but they disappeared before I could commandeer the recording for the site. (But I have another chance, and with better light!)
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  Tristan Taormino Well known sex writer, columnist, and pornographic film director Tristan Taormino was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at Oregon State University’s upcoming Modern Sex Conference in February. Taormino is the well known author of such books as The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women and the series editor for fourteen volumes of Best Lesbian Erotica. She is also an advocate of non-monogamy and has written the book Opening Up: Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships.
However, just last week OSU cancelled Taormino’s visit to the school because the school administration said it wouldn’t pay Taormino to come speak because she is a pornographer.
Money to pay for Taormino’s visit, (about 3,000 dollars) came from the school’s general fund which is public money paid into by statewide taxpayers.
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  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.
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  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.
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  Palo Verde's Lauren K Newman (left) and Terrica Kleinknecht
C.L.I.T. Fest (Combating Latent Inequality Together) is a DIY punk fest with music, workshops, discussions, a flea market and picnicking organized to address sexism, homophobia, and transphobia in punk and to celebrate the strengths and potential of our community.
And it’s a big community. The lineup includes a vast array of local and international bands (I think about 25…and 1 is from Sweden) including Palo Verde featuring the guitar god(des), long hair-swinging, riffs of Lauren K Newman, who is at once frightening and awe-inspiring.
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  From the baby dykes to the BDOCs Portland State University is celebrating their Queer Pride week starting today. Here’s a schedule of all the college fun!
All week long:
Mask Making Party in QRC- Make your masks for prom!
Graffiti Wall in QRC- Write about your pride!
Love Makes Family- Art display at the Millar Library!
Monday May 24, 2010
6:00pm: Hip Hop Dancing<
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 The Lovers play Friday night at Someday Lounge The Siren Nation Festival is a celebration of woman-fueled art, music, film, and knowledge. If that sounds like a lot, it is. Beginning with a kick off festival this Thursday the 5th at Olympic Mills Building (107 SE Washington). This free, all ages event from 6-10pm will feature the DJ talents of DJ Safi and DJ Tender and some spontaneous performance art throughout the night. “The Journey” is Siren Nation’s annual fine arts exhibit. Through a variety of media “The Journey” expresses, both the overall journey of women and the personal journey of over 50 Portland Artists.
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