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2GQ AT THE HEATHMAN - THIS THURSDAY NOV. 3
2GQ & the Enteractive Language Festival present
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ REGARDING LANGUAGE ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
readings ~ word games ~ performance ~ music
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
November 3, First Thursday
at the Heathman Hotel Tea Room
1001 SW Broadway at Salmon
(the Tea Room is through the hotel lobby to the left)
7-10 pm ~ Please dress exquisitely
Free/suggested donation $5-15
featuring:
* Haiku Inferno
* Lauren K. Newman/LKN
* Word of Mouth
* Angelle Hebert & Philip Kraft
* Julian Tulip
* Yvette Tourangeau
* with your hosts, Tiffany Lee Brown & Nora McCrea
2GQ.org for info on 2 Gyrlz Quarterly
2gyrlz.org for info on the Enteractive Language Festival (EL-fest)
Sponsored by the Heathman Hotel and Plazm Media
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ABOUT THE PERFORMANCES: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* Haiku Inferno is Kevin Sampsell, Frayn Masters, Frank D'Andrea, and Elizabeth Miller -- The Ramones of Haiku.
* Critically acclaimed multi-instrumentalist/song-noise composer Lauren K.
Newman
(LKN) is known for her out-of-control stage presence and emotionally
resonant guitar technique. For 2GQ, the founder of Stellamarie and
former drummer of Vanishing Kids promises to do something a little
different.
* Angelle Hebert & Phillip Kraft -- known for
their work at Conduit, Performance Works NW, and others -- present
performance art involving language, movement, and music.
*
Yvette Tourangeau leads you, the audience, in an ongoing game of
Ahnamanna. This language was created especially for tonight's show, and
the booklets at your tables will help you speak it with each other. And
oh: it can also be played as a drinking game.
* Word of Mouth
is a found poetry project conceived by Scott Allen Smith. He recruits
people to collect words on a certain day -- this time, on Day of the
Dead. The resulting poems will be read by Scott himself and Zea
Ewert-Bean.
* Julian Tulip has a wicked way with singing, spoken
word, and neo-new wave stylings. At our show, this Julian Tulip's
Licorice and Cancer Fags founder will entertain from the bench of the
Tea Room's sleek grand piano. He'll also be creating a special
song/spoken word piece for infamous free speech advocate and arts
attorney Kohel Haver, who won the song as a prize at 2GQ's September
fundraiser.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 :
2005-11-01
: Permanent Link
Full Calendar Now Available for EL-fest 2005
The Enteractive Language Festival calendar is now available on the 2 Gyrlz website.
Join us for one last fantastic month full of performance, music, art,
workshops, readings! This is the very last EL-fest-as-we-know-it. The
Enteractive Language series will return in a different form in 2007.
And don't forget: 2GQ will host a very special night of readings, performances, and word games at the Heathman Hotel Tea Room on First Thursday, November 3. Dress exquisitely! For details, click here.
posted by magdalen
: Monday, October 17, 2005 :
2005-10-17
: Permanent Link
EL-fest 2005 Upcoming Events
This is your last chance to see the 2 Gyrlz Enteractive Language Festival
in the form it's taken the last four years: a month full of events
around Portland. Oct 27 through Nov 27, performers, artist-activists,
writers, and musicians will stun the city one last time. Hope to see
you there. Calendars are available around town (online version isn't
quite up yet, so stay tuned).
The 2GQ event, with readings and
performances, "Regarding Language," happens First Thursday, November 3,
at the Heathman Hotel in downtown Portland. Dress exquisitely! Photo of Tamara Yeskel by Steve Fritz.
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, October 13, 2005 :
2005-10-13
: Permanent Link
EL-fest Fundraiser this weekend at Holocene - plus Spacefairy's last show ever!
Thanks
for coming to the 2GQ reading/benefit and for buying raffle tickets.
This Friday in Portland you can support our festival of performance
& arts:
EL-fest Preview Party:
A fundraiser for the
Enteractive Language festival '05
Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St 21+
September 30, 8pm-1:30am
Sliding Scale Admission $5-$5000 (Whatever you can
pitch in!)
with:
SPACEFAIRY (THEIR FAREWELL SHOW!)
MICAH PERRY (interactive performance art)
SORIAH (Tuvan throat singing extraordinaire!)
THE ROSWELL SISTERS (1940's crooning trio from another world)
HEATH & FRIO (Senior Frio of Ainu) (live PA/electronica)
SARDONIK GRIN (post-Asiatic sound sculpture)
SOCIETAS INSOMNIA Nightmare Ensemble
plus
VISUAL ART from some of Portland's most respected photographers,
painters, and BODY ARTISTS on display and available for direct sale.
VIDEO of some artists involved in EL-fest will be mixed live by MurkVisuals.
Come
get a sneak peak at this year's Enteractive Language festival,
featuring live performances by local artists who have been part of past
fests, or will be joining us for the first time this year. Several
local body artists (tattoo, piercing, scarification, etc) will be
displaying their work in support of the festival's philosophy of
exploring the boundaries of identity and culture.
More about 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts and EL-fest: http://www.2gyrlz.org
posted by magdalen
: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 :
2005-09-28
: Permanent Link
2GQ RAFFLE + PARTY - NEW LINKS
posted by magdalen
: Monday, August 29, 2005 :
2005-08-29
: Permanent Link
Come to Our Party + Buy a 2GQ Raffle Ticket Online
Get your raffle tickets here!
2GQ Raffle Party
September 22, 8-10:30 pm
Free admission * DJ's
READINGS: KEVIN SAMPSELL + RICHARD SPEER + JEMIAH JEFFERSON
Ground Kontrol * 511 NW Couch Street, Portland
21+ * Beer, wine, & sexy retro arcade games available
DJ AFROBOT ('80s buttrock + electrofunk)
DJ CURATRIX (swirlygoth + ethereal + darkwave)
DJ TRY MY CABBAGE (far-out eclectic shit)
For raffle prize details, click here (new).
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, August 25, 2005 :
2005-08-25
: Permanent Link
Thanks for buying raffle tickets!
Thank
you for buying raffle tickets online -- 2GQ luvs yr support! If you
have questions about your order, email 2005@2GQ.org. And come to the
raffle party/reading on September 22 if you're in Portland.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 :
2005-08-23
: Permanent Link
The Gone Orchestra to Reunite on KBOO
This
Friday night July 1 at midnight, several members from the Gone
Orchestra will reunite to perform on KBOO 90.7FM. Performers to include
Mike Mahaffay, Scott Steele, Shannon Steele, David Heal, Eric Hausmann,
Tiffany Lee Brown,
Michael Walsh, Bill Larimer, Jamie Price, Joe
Niski, and possibly, Ric Stewart, Stan Wood, and Mike Lastra. It's
gonna be just like Coke Classic.
Features past and present
members of Smegma, the Gone Orchestra, Brainwarmer, Black Orchid, Tres
Gone, the Jesters Marching Band, and a bunch of other stuff.
Tune into KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, or find it online: kboo.fm.
posted by magdalen
: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 :
2005-06-29
: Permanent Link
Word of Mouth
Scott Smith
recently put together a lovely project called Word of Mouth. A couple
dozen writers, many in Portland, were asked to create a found poem of
sorts, out
of random conversational snippets and other happenstance sources during
the course of one day (Memorial Day plus a "make-up day" on summer
solstice).Writers including Scott, Katrina Arcadia the Rose, Jacob, Bob
Seitz, and yours truly gathered at the Red & Black Cafe to
read/perform the results. (Well, okay, I cheated because I thought
Scott was bringing my poem, so instead I wrote a new one out of
conversations around the cafe. Got a few dirty looks for that.)
Pictured here: Scott, Katrina. Keep an eye out for the next Word of Mouth. --Tif
posted by magdalen
: Monday, June 27, 2005 :
2005-06-27
: Permanent Link
Kaosmosis, How to Destroy the Universe, & Other Excellent Ways to While Away Yr Weekend
This weekend, June 24-25, some of Portland's most indubitably talented performers can be seen at Mobilization's How To Destroy the Universe Festival in Berkeley and San Francisco. Gyrlz including Soriah, Llewyn Maire, Lisa Newman, and Noah Mickens (with Thee 999 Eyes ov Endless Dream group) join forces with such notables as Skip Arnold, Savage Republic, Mike Watt, F Space, and The Extra Action Marching Band at the Shipyard. Expect fire, insanity, and mayhem.
Portland
sounds kinda tame in comparison, but we do in fact have some
interesting stuff to do if you can't make it to the Bay Area. Friday night offers a sneak preview
of a new non-smoking gothish club that will soon be opening in the old
I.C.Mummy/Backroom space. Details below. Or check out the McLibel movie at the Clinton Street Theater. Saturday finds Kaosmosis and the March Fourth Marching Band opening the new Wonder Ballroom space on NE Russell.
Sneak Peek:
Friday June 24th 2005 DJ's Carrion, Uberlush, NoN, & Curatrix. 9
pm. $5 (and a friend gets in free). 332 NE San Rafael. 21+.
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, June 23, 2005 :
2005-06-23
: Permanent Link
Pirate Authority -- Streaming or Radio Broadcast
The Portland Radio Authority broadcasts local micropower pirate radio on 96.7 FM,
but now you can check their site for online streaming, too. PRA
actively seeks local musicians to submit their warez for potential
play. Check 'em out!
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, June 16, 2005 :
2005-06-16
: Permanent Link
We Got Yr Pride *Right Here*
Arrr, mateys. Your friends from Portland's Booty
Queer Night present an alternative Pride party on Saturday the 18th at
the Bossanova Lounge, 722 East Burnside. Expect DJs and live music,
plus performance from Sissyboy and electronica/spoken word/improv madness from Cancer Fags (featuring 2GQ contributors Julian Tulip and Corban Lester). All the deets are on puppdx.com.
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, June 16, 2005 :
: Permanent Link
Defining Disjecta
 The Templeton Building on the Burnside Bridge is filled with visual art and events through June 19, as Disjecta shows Portland its new look.
Disjecta
brought life to NE Russell Street as an ad hoc live/work space hosting
various music, performance, and visual arts events. While the space was
known for putting the art in party, founder Bryan Suereth is heading in
a more ambitious direction with the latest incarnation of Disjecta. Now
a non-profit organization, the currently-homeless Disjecta hopes to
create an enormous arts center and a widely-respected curatorial
reputation.
They've found a beautiful, raw space in the
Southeast industrial district and invited curators such as Nan Curtis
(director of PNCA's Feldman Gallery), Stephanie Snyder (director of
Reed College's Douglas F. Cooley Gallery), and Cris Moss, who presents
the 9th edition of his Donut Shop series. If they meet their high
fundraising goals, the space may be theirs for a much longer stint in
the future. --Tiffany Lee Brown. Photo by Joshua Berger.
DISJECTA DEFINED * June 4-19 * 230 E Burnside
Entrance under the Burnside Bridge on SE 3rd Avenue
Music & performance events at disjecta.org
posted by magdalen
: Friday, June 10, 2005 :
2005-06-10
: Permanent Link
2 Gyrlz wins RACC Grant & needs your help...
2 Gyrlz just won a RACC grant! Yay, and huge thanks to RACC.
Fulfilling the grant does require us to raise additional funds and produce over 100 extra copies 2GQ. To help, DONATE ONLINE and specify "2GQ" in the Designation field. Every dollar helps!
Plus: Thanks to all who made our Powell's reading last night a freakin' blast.
And big thanks to our Boobie Auction supporters, who helped raise funds for this fall's EL-fest.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 :
2005-06-07
: Permanent Link
New Posts, No Posts.
2GQ.org
and the 2GQBlog will not be updated for the next several weeks. We're
working on a re-design & appreciate your patience.
In the
meantime, check out the Strategy review, performance announcements, and
other chewy nougaty goodness below on the 2GQBlog. Fiction and digital
arts are available in our Freezone section. And the 2GQ homepage
will set you up with interviews of Wipers frontman Greg Sage, Portland
poet Leanne Grabel, experimental musicians Smegma, and other fine
stuff.
Oh! We also have a NEW mailing list for sending out the
occasional announcement about our site & events we put on. Please
send mail to 2GyrlzQuarterly-subscribe@2GQ.org.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 :
: Permanent Link
Strategy: Drumsolo's Delight
Chicago-based Kranky--
one of the best indie labels in the entire universe-- trades mostly in
atmospheric, sometimes jazzy, experimentally-tinged, or quietly
interesting fare. They put out indie bigshots like Low and Godspeed You Black Emperor! along with lesser-known bands like the NW's Growing and Fontanelle. Portland-based Strategy-- solo project of DJ/laptop maestro, Emergency alum, and Nudge/Fontanelle collaborator Paul Dickow-- trades in airy layers, repetitive loops, and subtle rhythms. Live dub mixing and digital soundscaping combine on Drumsolo's Delight to create an entirely pleasant album.
Pleasant
isn't always what you're looking for in music, however, and it's hard
not to be disappointed by the way Dickow quickly plunges brief moments
of expert noise tweakage and unusual sound exploration into
predictable, e-friendly fare. "Final Super Zen" establishes a base of
minimalist hush, then seemingly incongruous beats with a hollow, wooden
sound stagger around the reverb chamber. All too soon, they're
swallowed up by standard-issue bleepy-bloopy noises and whorls of
melodic repetition. A similar buildup pattern is repeated on many
tracks; on "Walkingtime," which features the vocals of CARO, it
actually works, grabbing with emotional and melodic hooks lacking
elsewhere. And Dickow's vague sketches transform into confident
sculptures on album's dreamy closer, "The Jazzy Drumsolo."
Close
listens turn up neat-o synthesized or sampled sweeps of sound, but they
tend to be used in a generic background fashion. Half the album could
be the easily-ignored soundtrack to an evening of drinking Piafs and
gabbing with friends at Holocene; a shame, because the rest deserves
the listener's full attention and a pair of top-notch speakers.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 :
: Permanent Link
SRS: Stations Remain Structure
Our own Gyrl Grip performance group, as embodied by 2 Gyrlz directors Llewyn Maire and Lisa Newman, will perform Wedesday as part of the Gender in Conflict
presentation at Lewis & Clark College. The piece is described as "a
conceptual/endurance score, exploring the medical, cultural, and
psychological endurance of a transsexual male(?)-to-other(?)
process....through action, video and sound."
23rd Annual Gender Symposium. 10 MAR 2004, Lewis & Clark College, 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Rd., Portland... 3:30 P.M., Council Chamber. FREE.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 :
: Permanent Link
Spalding Gray's Body Found
Influential
performer and writer Spalding Gray has been missing for weeks. His body
was found in the East River today. As his self-penned epitaph put it:
"An American Original: Troubled, Inner-Directed and Cannot Type."
posted by magdalen
: Monday, March 08, 2004 :
2004-03-08
: Permanent Link
Write Dangerously
The Dangerous Writers community includes Northwest author Tom Spanbauer (The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon) and workshop leaders Joanna Rose (Little Miss Strange),
Joe Ponce, and our own Stevan Allred. Alumni of their workshops, held
in and around Portland and out at Cannon Beach during the delightful
Haystack program, include such dignitaries as Chuck Palahnuik (Fight Club), Jennifer Lauck (Blackbird), and local writers like Monica Drake. (And let's not forget ME.)
Anyhoo,
they've finally put up a web page. Find out about upcoming workshops,
events, buy special editions of books, and all manner of good stuff at www.dangerouswriting.org.
posted by magdalen
: Saturday, March 06, 2004 :
2004-03-06
: Permanent Link
CC Future now available online, retail
 The groovy anthology in which you will find my fish story is now available at Buy Olympia.
The Clear Cut Future includes contributors Stacey Levine, Charles
D?Ambrosio, Steve Weiner, Emily White, Rebecca Brown, Robert Gl?ck,
Pravin Jain (a former Enron executive), Casey Sanchez (a fish slimer),
Wouter Vanstiphout (winner of the 2002 Masskant Prize for young
architects), photographers Robert Adams and Ari Marcopoulos, and
painter Michael Brophy.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 :
2004-03-02
: Permanent Link
Call for Performers & Artists at The Ohm in Portland
Sunday nights at the Ohm are dedicated to showcasing up-and-coming DJs in the Portland area. With an early start at 8 pm, there's no cover charge, and artists and performers will present their work gratis.
"We would like this night to turn into a literal circus of performers
all to the tune of electronica beats throbbing with the pulse of our
hearts," says Jason.
He's looking for visual artists, fire performers, artistic dancers, stilt walkers, pole dancers, and any imaginable performance-related thing you can do with music happening. Email jandrews@columbia.comif interested.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 :
: Permanent Link
Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons & Ted Berrigan's Sonnets
Coming
March 1, a team of "twelve tenacious tellers to twine together these
two terrific texts" make their way to Kalga Kafe for a marathon
three-hour reading. Eat organic international veggie food while
listening to the good stuff! Featuring Lisa Radon, Chris Piuma, mARK oWEns, Michael Nicoloff, Matthew Marble, Maryrose Larkin, Laura Feldman, Ashley Edwards, Amanda Deutch, Joseph Bradshaw, Linda Austin, and David Abel .
Presented by Passages and Spare Room; organized by Joseph Bradshaw and David Abel,
who will also be reading. Monday night, March 1, 9:00 pm to midnight.
Kalga Kafe, 4147 SE Division. Free. Beer & wine for 21+.
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, February 26, 2004 :
2004-02-26
: Permanent Link
Clear Cut: Followup
You
shoulda been there at Powell's last night: good readings, good turnout,
and even a bit of drama. Yep, one of the readers, wrestling with that
giant weird goofy Powell's podium, flung his water bottle to the floor
and it erupted into great wateriness. A pretty awesome, well-acted
piece of theatre.
It was Grant Cogswell, whose demi-epic poem
"Pacific Bell" will knock yr socks off. Howard Robertson read from his
new book about long-haul truck driving; dreamy stuff, speaking of
Western roads and places I know well, interspersing trucker talk with
the literary and philosophical musings characteristic of Robertson's
previous job: librarian. Casey Sanchez, a Portland native, was visiting
from Chicago and read some gripping but funny stuff about working the
"slime line" in an Alaskan salmon cannery. (He'll also read at Fisher
Poet's in Astoria this weekend; see previous entry.)
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, February 26, 2004 :
: Permanent Link
Clear Cut Readings & Fisher Poets
Poet Howard W. Robertson will be reading at Powell's downtown with fellow Clear Cut authors Casey Sanchez and Grant Cogswell,
whose excellent, hand-bound poem you may've seen in "The Hanged Word"
installation at The Language of Print or in the 2GQ Hail Santa
fundraiser last year.
The Powell's reading celebrates the publication of Robertson's Ode to Certain Interstates and Other Poems on Astoria, Oregon's own, incredibly fabulous Clear Cut Press. Chicago-based Casey Sanchez will also read at Astoria's annual Fisher Poets Gathering, which sees hundreds of fish workers coming to Astoria for three days of events.
Feb 25 at Powell's, 1001 W. Burnside, 7:30 pm, free. Sanchez at Fisher Poets: February 27th at 7:40 pm.
posted by magdalen
: Saturday, February 21, 2004 :
2004-02-21
: Permanent Link
Dark Arts Festival on Valentine's Day
Wend your way to Astoria for the Dark Arts Festival this weekend, which sounds more shpooky than it is. This annual fundraiser for Astoria Visual Arts features music from Mesmer and Passiflora, along with Tarot readings, fire performance, belly dance, and palm readers. Dark Arts Fest also celebrates the black magick of tasting yummy Stouts microbrewed around the Northwest, thanks to Jack Harris, master brewer of the much-beloved Bill's Tavern in Cannon Beach. AVA Gallery is currently showing Roger Hayes
and other outsider artists. Saturday, February 14, 3-8 pm, at AVA
Gallery in Astoria -- 160 Tenth Street (at Commercial, along the
Columbia River).
posted by magdalen
: Monday, February 09, 2004 :
2004-02-09
: Permanent Link
Gyrlz, Licorice, Smashing Televisions... Feb 6th
2 Gyrlz presents another fabulous, free event with music, performance, art, and the smashing of televisions. It's Perpetuating Response VI at the CO7 Gallery Cooperative, on February 6th. Come by as you experience the east side First Friday festivities.
Featuring Alysa Volpe (paintings), Nate Hudson (charcoal), and "Passion/Obsession Quilt," selected works from the students of Horatio Law at PNCA.
The Feb 6th opening of this month long exhibit will feature performances from Julian Tulip's Licorice, Hellebore, Legerdemain, Pecos B, Analogue Priest & Alex Lily's Television Smasher...
First Friday 06 FEB...7:30 - 1 pm...CO7 Gallery Cooperative (2000 SE 7th Ave)...Beer with 21 + ID courtesy of Pike Brewing.
posted by magdalen
: Friday, January 23, 2004 :
2004-01-23
: Permanent Link
ANOMALOUS SILENCER 6
Any
discriminating noise fans out there - and don't you dare ask whether I
mean harsh noise, ambient noise, breakcore, noise-rock or industribal.
I won't have it.
Anyway, these and many other miniscule
sub-divisions of the Noise genre are represented on a spruce new comp
CD called Anomalous Silencer 6. This is the 6th and possibly final
installment in Radek Kopel's lauded international series, pressed in
the Czech Republic and featuring artists from 12 nations. Radek made
exactly 1000 copies of this CD, and sent 20 of them to each artist on
the comp. With 7 U.S. bands on the comp, that means there are 140
copies of Anomalous Silencer 6 available in the United States. Only one
of these 7 bands is from Portland, Nequaquam Vacuum (HEL-LO
everybody!); which means there are exactly 20 copies of this CD
available here in town. Actually, I already sent three more on the road
with Scott Nydegger; and of course I'm keeping one for myself. So I
guess that makes 17 copies available, two of which are at Everyday
Music and one of which is at Ozone UK. If any of you are curious,
groove your way down to one of those fine emporiums and score a copy.
It's real, REAL good. I direct your attention in particular toward
Ultretomba, K2, and Discotheque Gronland.
5000. - N.
posted by Noah
: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 :
2004-01-21
: Permanent Link
Sultry Sounds at the Sapphire
 The subtly swank, seductive Sapphire Hotel, where the temps feel terribly, terrifically perdu and the drinks spill down smoothly, hosts the sultry sounds of Tim duRoche & his Sang-Froid Trio every Thursday night, beginning January 8. What a perfect way to chase the winter greys and Mean Reds...
Witness the poster for more details.
posted by magdalen
: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 :
2004-01-14
: Permanent Link
Pipe Bomb at Powell's
Detonate a PIPE bomb with us at Powell's tonight!
The Portland Independent Press Experiment presents short readings & introductions to area publishers and publications. I'll be representing for 2 Gyrlz Quarterly (2GQ).
I'm not sure who-all's on the slate tonight, but i think Verse-Chorus
Press, Gobshite, Motion Sickness, Pinball Publishing, and Too Much
Coffee Man may be involved.
Monday, Jan 12, Powell's downtown Portland Oregon, 7:30 pm, W Burnside at 11th; free.
and if you're into the whole text/word/lit thing, you may be interested in our new list of resources & links. Check "Word & Media" here on the 2GQ weblog.
posted by magdalen
: Monday, January 12, 2004 :
2004-01-12
: Permanent Link
Portland Gamers on MTV this Week
 Portland's super-awesome-rad-bitchin' retro arcade, Ground Kontrol, hosts the premiere of MTV's Ultimate Video Game Countdown tonight at 8 pm. How can you resist the lure of Galaga, Frogger, King Pin pinball circa 1973, and two Tetris machines?
Seanbaby officiates the proceedings. Can't catch it tonight? Fear not, the show re-runs on MTV and M2 throughout the week. Check the links above for specifics.
posted by magdalen
: Friday, January 02, 2004 :
2004-01-02
: Permanent Link
Online Audio Luv -- at Diagram
 You gotta love the sparse, smart, delicate stylings of Diagram, the online magazine and print book. This issue they're up to something special: an all-all audio format featuring MP3s of various intriguing sound compositions and tone poems.
"Like
the schematic/diagrammatic work we present, these pieces are intended
to function as poetry, rather than addressing poetry, or (god forbid)
relaying it. They describe and illuminate and confuse and thresh and
hum and re-read and snowmelt and annotate and re-describe. They do not
illustrate or translate (though some pieces attend to illustration or
translation as a subject of inquiry or soft pink plaything)." Thus
spake Diagram's Sonics Editor, Shannon Fields.
posted by magdalen
: Friday, January 02, 2004 :
: Permanent Link
Born Free
Born is giving birth again, so head on over to bornmagazine.org to see their beautiful, interactive interpretation of literary arts in action. It's cool & it's free.
Born is also accepting proposals for installations for their interactive literary arts event, slated for May 2004 in Seattle, WA. Contact gabe@bornmagazine.org.
posted by magdalen
: Friday, January 02, 2004 :
: Permanent Link
Satellite Video
 What's tiny and makes you weep if you're in an autumnal mood? The beautiful, simple new video from Human Genome Project, that's what. Sniff.
HGP is the electronically-enhanced side project of piano-wielding singer-songwriter Amoree Lovell, mistress of "goth ragtime," a feminine Cole Porter/Kurt Weill for 21st century Portland. Come hear her play at our HAIL SANTA 2003 fundraiser on Saturday, Dec 13 at The Jasmine Tree (info below). Hit the headline above to check out the viddy.
posted by magdalen
: Monday, December 08, 2003 :
2003-12-08
: Permanent Link
Dec 13: HAIL SANTA!
 Featuring
Live Music, Santa Babes, Bellydancing, Raffle, Pirates, CD Grab Bag,
SantaCon Special, Twisted Xmas Mashups, and Portland's Only Real Live
Raffle Elf!! Holy smokes, can ya beat that??
Saturday, Dec 13, 8:30 pm - closing
The Jasmine Tree Tiki Lounge
SW 4th & Harrison near PSU
21+, $5 admission benefits 2GQ.org
LIVE MUSIC: Captain Bootybeard, Amoree Lovell, Tim DuRoche, Morgan Grace, Glamourous Pat, & more more more. It's Super-Santa-Fragilistic!!
RAFFLE: Gift Certificates... Original artwork... Signed special editions of books & zines... THE C.D. GRAB BAG:
Pay a trifling donation, reach your hand in the bag, and walk away with
a lovely compact disc! It's Santariffic! (Let us know if you have
something fabulous to donate -- email 2003@2GQ.org.)
TWISTED XMAS MASHUPS ON CD: Courtesy of DJ Brokenwindow - Freaking hilarious! Bring five bucks for your own copy. It's a Santa Spectacular!
SANTACON:
Persons dressed in full Santa regalia receive a FREE raffle ticket!
Mention the SantaCon Special as you walk in the door.
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, December 04, 2003 :
2003-12-04
: Permanent Link
Kate Bornstein + Language of Print + Con$umption
EL-Fest continues unabated! The fabulous Kate Bornstein performs at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) on Friday and Saturday nights, Nov 21 & 22... The Language of Print offers prints, readings, installations, guerrilla readings, and of course, crepes, beer, & wine, at La Palabra this Sunday the 23rd...
The day after Thanksgiving, folks from Adbusters, the Cacophony Society, and 2 Gyrlz get together to help you celebrate International Buy Nothing Day. You can just guess how much it costs to get in -- and hit the Confessional Bar -- at The Language of Con$umption, Nov 28.
Click the headline for deets of all shows. Just hit the calendar links at the top of the page.
posted by magdalen
: Friday, November 21, 2003 :
2003-11-21
: Permanent Link
Jesus Has Two Mommies: SMYRC Benefit
The
Boston hit schlock opera "Jesus Has Two Mommies" written and directed
by Faith Soloway will be making its west coast premier December 10th at
the Hollywood Theater! The play was recorded live at the Sommerville
Theater in Massachusetts, and Faith has been kind enough to grant us
the right to show the film here in Portland as a fundraising effort for
SMYRC (Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center-click headline above for
info). Watch the movie trailer.
Advance
tickets $8 at In Other Words bookstore. Movie: December 10th at the
Hollywood Theater (NE 45th & Sandy). Doors at 7:30, movie at 8.
Raffle (with rocking prizes including a custom made harness and pussy
pucker pots vegan lip balm).
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, November 20, 2003 :
2003-11-20
: Permanent Link
SLUMBER, MOVE, & SPARE NOISE
 We've been so busy making The Enteractive Language Festival happen that no one's had time to update 2GQ
about it. In brief: the thing has been rockin'. Amazing performances
& freaking great times have been happening. Catch more this
weekend, Nov 13-16:
Thursday, Spare Room twists the word in delightful ways... Friday, members of Smegma and other West Coast noise collectives unravel The Language of Noise... Saturday, Kaosmosis (familiar to many a local Burning Man devotee) presents The Language of Movement
at Mt.Tabor Pub... and last but not least, slide into your pajamas and
bring a pillow on down to Itisness on Killingsworth on Sunday night.
Hit El-Fest.info for details.
The Language of Slumber features live trippy-spacey music (including Legerdemain, Mugwort, Rudement, Pulse Emitter, and me, Passiflora), dream machines, herbal elixirs, and a nice chance to come down from all the excitement of the week.
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, November 13, 2003 :
2003-11-13
: Permanent Link
KAISERPHILIA
 Yay for Portland! We get a free show November 25 with the extraordinarily talented Jeff Kaiser. Kaiser's last two releases, 13 Themes for a Triskaidekaphobic and 17 Themes for Ockodektet,
build shivering walls of sound around his luminous trumpet, creating a
lush, sophisticated mood that manages to remain lighthearted.
Both records were released on pfMENTUM and--bonus!-- come with really sweet packaging. Jeff Kaiser plays trumpet and electronics with Portland guitarist Tom McNalley for an evening of improvised music on Tuesday, November 25th, from 8:30-11pm, the Tugboat Brewery (SW Park and Ankeny).
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, November 13, 2003 :
: Permanent Link
FICTIONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
 The Pacific Northwest-based mutating anthology, Northwest Edge, has just dropped its second payload of innovative, experimental, and literary short fictions, with Fictions of Mass Destruction. 2GQ Advisory Board member and upcoming Guest Freezone Curator Lidia Yuknavitch and 2GQ contributor Trevor Dodge are editors; contributors include yr ever-lovin' gyrlz Llewyn Maire, Lisa Newman, and Tiffany Lee Brown. Special discount price at Amazon is $8, or support your local independent bookstore & buy it there.
What they say: "Edited by Andy Mingo, Trevor Dodge, and Lidia Yuknavitch, the book showcases works by established Northwest authors such as Jeanne
Heuving, David Shields, Rebecca Brown, Steven Shaviro, Shamina
Senaratne, Billie Livingston, Caitlin Sullivan, Lance Olsen, Doug Nufer, and Leon Johnson alongside new emerging voices such as Mia DeBono, Fern Capella, Grant Olsen, and Shannon Densmore.
Inspired
by the zip-lip, search and siezure, police state antics of the current
administration, Northwest Edge refuses to settle for the typically
overdone environmental salmon scenarios, memoirs of life set in a
Charlie Russell painting, or tired references to tree spirits. Fair
warning from the militant left: In Dubya's Amerikka, the pen is,
indeed, mightier than the sword. From the fringes of the Pacific
Northwest's salmon canneries, potato fields, and tree farms the
literary proletariat is calling a spade a spade.
Duck and Cover."
posted by magdalen
: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 :
2003-11-12
: Permanent Link
EL-FEST II KICKS OFF
 2 Gyrlz second annual Enteractive Language Festival, aka EL-Fest,
is ready to rock Portland beginning tonight during Last Thursday
Artwalk on NE Alberta Street. The festival brings local and
international artists, musicians, and performers together for 23 events
throughout November. Bonus: many are free and all are accessibly priced
(that means affordable for all us marginally-employed Bohos).
"The Language of Terror"
deals with citizens' responses to post-911/War on Terrorism America,
and is at Optic Nerve Arts (1829 NE Alberta, Suite 11). The opening is
this evening; show will be up all month. 2GQ photography editor
Christopher Rainone shows photography of PDX graffiti, Josh Berger of
Plazm presents an installation of Anti-War.us designers, plus MB Condon and Rhoda London. FREE
Friday night, we have "the French GG Allin", Jean Louis Costes, performing at "La Langue du Culte: Porno-Social Ritual,"
a H3llow33n-fest extraordinaire at IC Mummy (International Club Mummy).
If you like sex, blood, and mayhem, we'll see ya there. International
Club Mummy, 322 NE San Rafael, (3 blocks north of NE Broadway, west of
MLK/Grand Ave). Doors at 8 pm, 21+ with ID, $5 to $15 sliding scale.
Saturday evening, celebrate your ancestors and the Day of the Dead, at "The Language of Ancestors," at and behind Hi-iH Lamp Shop on NE Alberta at 29th. Food, music, fire dancers, and generally rocking good times. Bar with ID. FREE, starts 7:30 pm. Music and performance from Sikhara, Children of Paradise, Romulus & Remus, Zanne, Try My Cab?iste, Sati Fyre, and members of Proyecto Fuego with Soriah.
Early Sunday evening, it's everybody's favorite youngsters, The Black Peppercorns, courtesy of Rock & Roll Camp for Girls. P:ear teams up with 36 Invisibles to present "The Language of Youth," featuring artwork and performance by youth from P:ear, Outside In, and the Fuego project. this oughtta be fantastic. FREE, all ages. 809 SW Alder, 6:30 pm.
Hit www.el-fest.info for details and the whole month's schedule.
posted by magdalen
: Thursday, October 30, 2003 :
2003-10-30
: Permanent Link
NEWBORNS
Hey little dogies, git on over to Born
and check out their Autumn 2003 release. Five literary interpretations,
three new additions to The Birthing Room. Digital art + Lit = one of
Portland's best literary zines.
posted by magdalen
: Friday, October 17, 2003 :
2003-10-17
: Permanent Link
PARTY WITH THE BEAR. OR HIT THE GROUND RUNNING.
Yay! Enviro-art-lit freaks Orlo dish up a new issue of The Bear Deluxe, and have a launch party at Fez this Thursday Oct 16 to celebrate, featuring Reclinerland. Git on over there! Click the headline above for deets.
And walk uptown a couple blocks, also Thursday, for a free event at everybody's favourite retro-riffic hangout, Ground Kontrol. Kommander in Chief Anthony Ramos says this party, featuring the band CART, is a "trial balloon" for more bands at GK.
posted by magdalen
: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 :
2003-10-15
: Permanent Link
YUKNAVITCH, PINBALL NAMED FINALISTS FOR OREGON BOOK AWARDS
Participants in 2GQ's upcoming EL-Fest event, The Language of Print, have been named finalists for the Oregon Book Awards. Lidia Yuknavitch
-- current Guest Editor of 2GQ's Freezone and co-founder of our
predecessor, Two Girls -- is a finalist for the H.L.Davis Award for
Short Fiction for her collection, Reel to Reel (FC2). The Casey Kwang-authored Copia, published by Pinball Publishing, is up for the Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry.
Lidia
will read at our Nov 23 show, and Pinball will show printed visual art.
Congratulations to them and the other nominees for Literary Arts'
prestigious awards.
posted by magdalen
: Friday, October 10, 2003 :
2003-10-10
: Permanent Link
Gus's Elegant Elephant
 Shots
so pretty, so dazzlingly perfect, they make your skull ache. Kids so
real, you never wanna see another Hollywood-generated actroid on the
screen again. A simple, elegant presentation of an intricate play on
time and space. Violence on a slow boil. Hitchcock on Oxycontin.
Portland's homegrown genius filmmaker, Gus Van Sant,
has produced a calm, spacious masterpiece about American high school
students, American high school life, and American high school
shootings. Making a film about the Kip Kinkels and Columbines of this
world is right up there with miming about 911: aim for pathos and you
may hit melodrama; aim for objectivity and you might pay inadequate due
to the emotional immensity of the situation. Filmmakers run the risk of
glorifying violence by dealing with it in the first place.
Elephant
gently presents moments in the lives of students during one ill-fated
day, alluding here and there to the ultra-violence of films like A Clockwork Orange and Natural Born Killers,
but refusing to moralize in any predictable way. This emotionally
expansive, aesthetically mesmerizing approach slowly pierces the
psyche, leaving images and moments there which will take weeks to work
out. Van Sant's brilliant decision to use regular ol' kids from around
Portland, rather than actors, enabled the writer/director to create an
utterly self-defining and self-sufficient world.
Not only did the crowd at the North American premiere last night love Elephant -- so did the judges at Cannes, who awarded the film the Palme d'Or and also gave Van Sant props for Best Director. Van Sant's still the cool guy he was when he made the Portland premiere of My Own Private Idaho a benefit for the city's homeless youth agency, Outside In. Last night's screening at the Schnitz benefited the same cause.
Following
the usual boring, elitist, and generally annoying tradition of American
cultural purveyors keeping big city audiences ahead of regional and
smaller-town ones, Elephant opens in Los Angeles and New York on October 24. The rest of you should get a taste shortly thereafter. Don't pass it by.
posted by magdalen
: Sunday, October 05, 2003 :
2003-10-05
: Permanent Link
WowWee Zowee! October 8
 Yr friends at 2 Gyrlz
need a little love -- and money -- to grease the wheels of our 2nd
annual, month-long international festival of performance, music, and
arts. So come to the Enteractive Language Fundraiser, October 8th at Portland's Viscount Ballroom!
 Witness performances from WowWee Zowee Shadow Cinema, Acme Tiger Dance Co., Pete Kuzov & Edie Tsong...hear music by La Orquesta Lengua (featuring moi as one of the players) and To-Ka-Ge... see the trippy-ass live video mixing of Murk... purchase art at shocking prices in the Silent Art Auction... win cool stuff in the raffle... check out the verbiage of the incomparable Pecos B.... eat, drink (full bar), and be merry!
Wednesday, Oct 8, Viscount Ballroom at 722 East Burnside. Admission on a sliding donation scale from $7 to $70. Formal & Costume attire encouraged!
posted by magdalen
: Saturday, September 27, 2003 :
2003-09-27
: Permanent Link
Literary snap, crackle, and plop.
 The Cereal Box Review is a lovely zine cleverly shaped as a cereal box. Not only do you want one (available at La Palabra), but you might want to contribute as well.
Poetry,
prose, and photography are accepted; they're particularly looking for
philosophy and cultural criticism, cereal-style. Email
cbr@lapalabracafepress.org for more info. PS: I have a piece in the
current, fall '03 edition. Yay!
Technorati Profile
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 :
2003-09-23
: Permanent Link
Tribute to the Man in Black
 Guitarist Joe Patterson reports that Buck Dagger & the Big River Band have been rehearsing rehearsing a re-creation of Johnny Cash's Live At Folsom Prison for some time.
"What
was originally planned as a good time tribute is now a little somber
with Johnny's passing," says Patterson, who performs along with Buck
Dagger, Erik Clampett, Nathan Murphy, Jen Stefanick, and Marley Gaddis
doing June's vocals. "However, that won't stop us from having a blast
while celebrating one of the best live events ever. We will be
performing the actual show of 19 songs in sequence, not the shortened
13 song LP version."
It's this Saturday night at Duff's Garage in Portland on SE 7th Ave, about 2 blocks south of Hawthorne. $5; Lisa Miller & Her Kin open.
posted by magdalen
: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 :
2003-09-17
: Permanent Link
More on TBA...
PICA's
TBA Festival invoked all sorts of opinions, from festival media sponsor
Willamette Week's glowing raves to 2GQ's decidedly erratic views. While
yours truly found the ultra-hyped The Badger King to be an
abysmal experience, thanks primarily to the vocalist's incompetent
whinging & irritating lyrics, Godfre Leung previewed it favorably
-- see our REVIEWS section. That's where you'll also find Melissa
Logan's praise for Vijay Iyer and Co. Scroll down on this weblog page for more thumbs up (David Greenberger and 3 Leg Torso), thumbs down (the opening party), and half-n-half reviews (Shelley Hirsch).
As for the rest? We couldn't pry full reviews from the rest of our gossip squad, but here's the summary of their reports:
- Eiko and Koma: amazing.
- Bill Shannon aka Crutchmaster: cool, but overrated.
- Ros Warby: beautiful and complex.
- Silt: bland and uninspired.
- Coco Fusco: obvious.
- Peripheral Produce: greatest hits couldn't be greater...
And
that's erratic opinion for you. As part of an organization that also
puts on an ambitious performance festival, I can assure you that this
kind of thing ain't easy to pull off! While the shows may have been
hit-or-miss, TBA in general was an impressive event for Portland.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 :
2003-09-16
: Permanent Link
Rhizomatica II in Portland Sept 20
Sometimes a press release is so delicious, you just gotta let it speak for itself:
"Expect
a succulent blend of celluloid fantasy, curveball cubism, flying reams
of paper, careening trombones, a mobile audience, ferocity,
friendliness, vituperative poetry masquerading as a cozy sweater, and
galvanized 10-penny nails. The evening features interdisciplinary,
sometimes improvisational, sometimes interactive (and other words that
begin with the letter "I") performances that leap/straddle/grow from
the cracks between movement, music/sound, word, images--The poem might
be silent. In fact it might move. The dance might be a sound
piece…things might just go boom. Many of the performers are
accomplished improvisers who walk that high-wire with aplomb and often
breathtaking results- cannonball headfirst into a pool of new
experience!"
Dig the second installment of Rhizomatica: An Occasional Cabaret
on Saturday, September 20 at 8 pm at Pacific Switchboard, 4637 North
Albina St. Five bucks gets you in. Collaborations & performances by
acclaimed LA-based poet Dorothea (Dottie) Grossman and local flavorites of the musical, dance, video, sound, & word arts: Rob Blakeslee, Michael Vlatkovich, Tim DuRoche, Lisa Radon, Elizabeth Ward, Andrew Blubaugh, Joseph Bradshaw, and Jonathan Sielaff.
posted by magdalen
: Monday, September 15, 2003 :
2003-09-15
: Permanent Link
Speaking of Performance Festivals...
...This year, I'm co-curating the November 23rd event at 2 Gyrlz' second annual, month-long performance fest, the Enteractive Language Festival.
The Language of Print happens at La Palabra Cafe-Press. Our visual art and readers are booked, but we are still looking for Northwest-based zines, chapbooks, and book arts to feature in a show entitled "The Hanged Word".
Qualifying works must be published, written, and/or illustrated by
creators living in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, or BC. Please
send mail to 2003 (at) 2GQ.org if you're interested in participating. Thanks!
posted by magdalen
: Monday, September 15, 2003 :
: Permanent Link
World Premiere: Legibly Speaking
 Men in black appear calm behind their accordions, horns, drum kits, xylophones. Sheet music is rustled. Writer and monologuist David Greenberger gives an unamplified introduction before fading into shadow. Courtney von Drehle's accordion grins, Bela Balogh's trumpet swoons, and we're off on another dizzyingly delicious evening with 3 Leg Torso.
It's
more than that, of course: it's also the world premiere of
Greenberger's "Legibly Speaking," a delightful reading of characters
developed from interviews with residents of Portland area senior
centers. Brilliant, short snippets of life stories rapidly unveil a
world of humor (especially in women who didn't much care for their
long-gone husbands), absurdity (one subject's pajamas catch on fire),
and grace (a centenarian's moving homilies). Greenberger's characters
speak of pets, snooty in-laws, airplanes, art, and beauty. His plain
vocal delivery carries the stories with perfect grace, bouncing off the
impeccable skill and rakish musical charm of 3 Leg Torso.
 While
Greenberger claims to be concerned with presenting the elderly as
individuals, rather than as "the elderly," the work could be
interpreted as exploitative. What to make of it when someone else's
dead husband is your source for a cheap laugh? But the overall effect
is humanizing and triumphant -- and, miraculously enough, Greenberger
avoids sounding corny. Aided by 3LT's ability to segue effortlessly
between the touching and the wry, "Legibly Speaking" is no after-school
special. Still, only the most deadened heart would fail to be moved by
the immigrant who says, "Tomorrow, I ask for poison. This is no life.
This is very unhappy life."
Greenberger developed this work during a residency at PICA,
producers of the TBA Festival and Friday evening's invigorating
performance at Portland's Scottish Rite temple. According to
percussionst Gary Irvine, the band worked intensively with Greenberger
during the previous week, using both composed material and new themes.
3 Leg and Greenberger will record the piece this week; 2GQ.org will let
you know if a CD is released. --Tiffany Lee Brown
3 Leg Torso, pictured top, is online at 3legtorso.com. David Greenberger, pictured right, has published The Duplex Planet since 1979 and can also be heard on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. (Full disclosure: I've had the honor of playing music a few times with members of 3 Leg. And I am not worthy. -Tif)
posted by magdalen
: Monday, September 15, 2003 :
: Permanent Link
Vilkommen to Portland!
 What is this, Berlin?
Nope, just lil' PDX. But it is an unusual opportunity to catch some
top-notch local and regional talent doing hopefully top-notch,
cool-weird stuff all in one week. And yes, there are parties.
PICA has taken over a warehouse at NW 15th & Northrup for parties & cabarets during the TBA festival. While the opening party was unimpressive -- my high point was playing one of Johnne Eschleman's Casio SK101 keyboards on the sidewalk outside, where he was busking for the party's entrance fee -- the Cabaret lineups at the Machineworks warehouse look to be excellent. Hip-hop poet and multimedia artist Tracie Morris shakes up Sunday night with "Afrofuturistic" at 10 pm, followed by avant composer John Moran and dancer Eva Muller. Monday finds the much-ballyhooed Portland duo The Badger King unveiling "The Showering Dragons," listed as a conceptual electronic art-pop opera.
 Details about other shows, which include Sean Byrne (Bugsküll), Steve Doughton, "Ten Tiny Dances" with multiple choreographers, and inimitable singer/songwriterSarah Dougher (left), can be found in Willamette Week's TBA insert or at pica.org.
So
what was up with the opening party? It wasn't too bad: I saw some
friends, talked with artists, etc. But overall it just wasn't my
personal sort of thing: a few art patrons moving to hyper-loud dance
music, drinking five-dollar Cosmos in plastic cups. It lacked the,
well, FUN vibe you want in a party.
 On the occasion of PICA's last Dada Ball, an amazing party was happening across town on NE Alberta, at and behind the talented lamp artist Lam Quang's shop, Hi-iH.
Free of charge, promoted by word-of-mouth, piled with local art &
beautiful chill tents & choreographed fire performers, the Doo Doo Ball burst with creative chaos. Same thing happened last night: Hi-iH hosted the Blue Bash,
where inexpensive brews fueled blue-haired, blue-painted, and
blue-dressed partiers who spilled out into the street, dancing to the March Forth marching band. High-intensity astral travellers Spacefairy also played, and fire dancers performed.
TBA
has a whole week to whip festival-goers into a collective froth and up
the ante for its final cabaret and party on Friday night... aided by House of Cunt, pictured above right, who will perform that night at 10 pm.
posted by magdalen
: Sunday, September 14, 2003 :
2003-09-14
: Permanent Link
The Chirps of Shelley Hirsch
 Shelley Hirsch
combines birdcalls, staccato breaths, toning, and various vocal tricks
with melodic jazz and storytelling. Very personable and accessible, she
presented four rehearsed pieces at the Wieden + Kennedy atrium last
Saturday, as part of PICA's first performance festival, TBA.
Technically
adept at working within her self-defined medium, Hirsch entertains the
audience, but fails to consistently transfix and transform us. It must
be a tough row to hoe, however, since the strangely female
vocal-tweakers/song/story performance sub-genre is known to many of us
primarily through exposure to its utter geniuses. Modulated screams
invoke the gut-punching, cathartic intensity of Diamanda Galas; oddly-phrased stories punctuated by interesting sounds inevitably draw comparisons to the uncanny Laurie Anderson. Fun but emotionally uncommitted vocal noodlings sound tiresome by contrast.
Hirsch
shines when she takes herself out of comfortable, rehearsed zones,
especially when she stops worrying about giving directly to the
audience, and concentrates on simply making the music or telling the
story in the moment. "Home," a straightforward work-in-progress, works
effectively because its core narrative connects emotionally with the
artist, and therefore with us. Elements of the whimsical and banal
weave through an adventurous coming-of-age story, with a few oddball
vocal highlights thrown in to keep things interesting.
The zenith of the evening was a raw, improvised duet with Daniel Bernard Roumain
(performing solo later in the week), who played violin. The two had
never played a note together, and quickly found the supernatural place
traversed only by skilled improvisers who can listen, as well as play
or sing. The results were exciting and brilliant, with certain passages
sounding like long-lost Iva Bittova tracks.
Hirsch
would do well to bring that spirit of concentrated immediacy to her
solo act. In the meantime, her act is amusing, clever, and
self-conscious, but lacking in depth and power.
posted by magdalen
: Sunday, September 14, 2003 :
: Permanent Link
Dark Rain Festival this weekend
Well, we tried to hook y'all up with The Black Sun Festival
earlier this summer -- a rare opportunity to watch Goths and dark-clad
neo-tribal peoples laugh in the warm Northwest sun and splash in the
river, and to see lots of top-notch music, ritual, and performance. The
event was cancelled and returns this weekend, September 12-14, for $18
pre-sale or $23 (of course, 23) at the gate.
Gates open at noon
Friday, and campsites are first come, first served. In addition to DJs,
live performers at this year's festival include Circus Pandemonium,
Lovecraft Technologies, The Day of the Zombie, Mortal Clay, Entropic
Advance, Spaz Collective, Nequaquam Vacuum (featuring our own Noah Mickens), Abraxis, Cypher Sothis Ritual Theater, Red King, and many more.
posted by magdalen
: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 :
2003-09-10
: Permanent Link
Vintage shirts-cum-art
There're a coupla new fashion outlaws in town: art-shirt creators Bonnie Heart Clyde (aka
Shaun Deller and Emily Katz). They find vintage and modern shirts for
boys and girls and use them as the canvas for their embroidered
drawings. Drawings of what, you ask? Everything from rollerskating cowboys to anthropomorphic tables and chairs, girls walking dinosaurs,
fields of bottles, text-based creations -- an endless number of themes.
And since they don't use patterns in the process, each shirt is
one-of-a-kind. They are darling pieces of art+clothing, and you can get
one somewhere on Alberta street for Last Thursday or at Bonnie Heart
Clyde's gallery space in the E-Street Lofts where Nada Fine Arts used
to be on 625 NW Everett #110. I just want to eat them. Melissa BHC.
posted by mk.logan
: Thursday, August 21, 2003 :
2003-08-21
: Permanent Link
Soundvision, Blackbird To Go Silent
 Multimedia artist TJ Norris and his gallery, Soundvision, in the Everett Station Lofts,
have embraced unusual explorations of sound, form, media, gender
issues, and more, taking a much-welcomed role in presenting aural,
multimedia, and experimental work in often-traditional Portland and
bringing it to the public's attention.
We're very sorry to
report that SoundVision will close in its current manifestation on
October 18. You have nearly two months to seehear its final
presentations. Genometrics, a collaborative series between Norris and such luminaries as noise artist Illusion of Safety and the Netherlands' Beequeen, opens September 4.
After it's all over, don't try to drown your sorrows with Pabst and indie bands at Blackbird: the latest word is that they will close on August 29. No news yet on what the Mercury will write about instead.
posted by magdalen
: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 :
2003-08-19
: Permanent Link
Squeeze Box at Holocene in PDX
Holocene
hosts LA Holocene hosts LA's Ann Randolph, performing her award-winning
play "Squeeze Box," this Monday, August 18. The one-time-only show
benefits the Hells Canyon Preservation Council.
The PR sez "Ann Randolph, who has been compared to the late Gilda
Radner, wrote the one-woman show during an eight-year stint working at
a homeless shelter for mentally ill women. Using her elastic face and
few props, Randolph skillfully weaves together stories of characters
living on the edges of society. While primarily a comedy, this play
touches on deep issues of spirituality, self-acceptance and sexuality."
Sounds pretty hot, eh? That must be why it costs fifteen bucks pre-sale (by phone at 541-963-3950, or at Holocene),
and $20 at the door. At least it goes to a very good regional
environmental cause. Show at 8 pm, raffle & reception at 6:30.
&nbs |
