2GQ ~ 2 Gyrlz Quarterly ~ Portland, Oregon arts, literature, & madness

OPEN MIC FOR PERFORMERS AT SCRATCHPDX

ScratchPDX are calling themselves "Portland's performance lab" with their semi-open-mic-for-performers series at Hipbone Studio.  You just need to email them and explain what piece you'd like to do (2-10 minutes).

If you check out ScratchPDX and don't mind sharing what you saw or performed, email us at the current year @2GQ.org. For example, in 2001 you would contact us by mailing 2001@2GQ.org. Sorry for the convoluted email address procedure, there --- it's for spam reduction.

PLAZM at WORDSTOCK

Jonathan Raymond, Tiffany Lee Brown, and Lidia Yuknavitch appear at Portland's festival of books on November 11th in PLAZM reading.

PLAZM magazine has brought words to the page with a bold, unusual vision since 1991. From artist/writer collaborations to revolutionary experiments in typography and design, PLAZM provides a platform for local and international art, design, and culture, along with nonfiction, creative, and critical writing. PLAZM presents a reading, video, and slides at the Wordstock Festival to coincide with the release of its 29th issue...

AND SKY FUCKS TOBACCO... excorpse poem.

"Bored city, valentines day 1982.
I met a girl today...
I don't remember her name yet,
I'm calling her Halo..."

2GQ conducted a bunch of exquisite corpse experiments in 2004. The results were published in 2GQ #2 and in 2GQ #3, and were part of our "Exquisite Language" event at the Heathman Hotel as part of the Enteractive Language Festival.

Here's one by R. V. Branham (of Gobshite Quarterly fame), Mark Gunderson (aka ECC/the Evolution Control Committee), Joe Matheny (of STARE and other projects), Alaura O'Dell (formerly of Psychic TV, in another incarnation), Ninah Pixie (who produced the incredible 3-disc international collection, "Women Take Back the Noise," on Ubuibi Records), Julian Tulip (of Julian Tulip's Licorice and Cancer Fags), and dAS (of Big City Orchestra). Madness, I'm telling you, madness!

COME VISIT at WORDSTOCK

Together with Jonathan Raymond and Lidia Yuknavitch, 2GQ editroid Tiffany Lee Brown will be reading from Plazm magazine at the Wordstock Festival in Portland on Sunday, November 11, at 5 pm. 2GQ collab's Tif, Clare Carpenter, and Nora Robertson will also be on-hand throughout the weekend at Plazm's booth, #1030. Signed, numbered copies of Clare & Tif's A Compendium of Miniatures will be available for sale, along with other goodies from Plazm Books.

WORDIGO!

WORDIGO 2, Write Around Portland's annual benefit, is a celebration of writing like no other. This year's event features word games, collaborative novellas, and readings by Monica Drake (_Clown Girl_) and Tom Spanbauer (_Now Is the Hour_). All this verbosity is for the best possible cause -- bringing the transformative power of writing to those in Portland with the least access to opportunities to gather and write. Coming up Novermber 3rd...

DECLASSIFIED: Psychedelic Jesus vs. the Rude Flag

In the printed zine-journals of 2 Gyrlz Quarterly, DECLASSIFIED was a recurring feature exploring censored and suppressed artwork and literature.  From the journal archive, here's Cortney Harding talking to two Portland artists, Thomas Rude (creator of "American Standard," left) and Joshua Camozzi Milligan about psychedelia, religion, and political content keeping their work from its intended venues.

PHASE ONE: WORDS + MUSIC

With Ohioan & Native Kin, White Fang, Becca Yenser and Nora Robertson
9 pm on October 17th, Someday Lounge

Just a little public service announcement from Nora: "I'll be reading a new piece of fiction, "Bugsy and I", at the upcoming Phase One reading series.  No costume this time, just me, unplugged, telling a little story about a girl who just can't get enough of being in love and has the bad sense to do it with Bugsy Siegel, though she's not as much of a sugarpuff as some may think. Five dollars at the door, more details in the press release (click "continue reading" for all the details.)"

WIFE POWER!

What'd happen if a bunch of white separatist goose-stepper types were greeted by a bunch of clowns in bridal gear? WIFE POWER over WHITE POWER? WHITE FLOWERS over WHITE POWER? It happened oh-so-recently. Read more here at Neatorama. Thanks to Laiwan for the link.

QUEER & PLEASANT DANGER: THE KATE BORNSTEIN INTERVIEW

by Llewyn Máire & Lisa Newman
Originally appeared in 2GQ #3, Portland, 2005, pp. 24-26.

We recently performed at the 11th annual Performance Studies international conference at Brown University, alma mater of renowned transsexual writer, performer, and gender outlaw Kate Bornstein. Kate hirself was kind enough to facilitate discussion with our audience and ask some tricky questions about what we had just done.  We returned the favor after attending hyr brand spankin’ new and absolutely genius solo performance, “Queer and Pleasant Danger."

The show is Kate's first fully theatrical solo performance piece since Virtually Yours in 1996. She describes the full-length two act piece as "a solo performance exploring through story, video, and a couple of songs, the comedy and tragedy of a sadomashochistic transsexual dyke inhabiting the simultaneous identities of daddy, daughter, father, and son as put into motion through a fundamentalist lens." What follows is an interview about the new work.

NOW IS THE TIME TO BECOME ALARMED.

Review by the inimitable Pecos B. Jett

Alarm
By Mike Daily
(Stovepiper Books Media)

In Mike Daily’s new novel Alarm we travel along with his fictional otherself Mick O’Grady and the voice in both of their heads known as the Alter-Narrator, as they traverse the landscape of their early thirties, deteriorating relationships, fledgling sobriety, financial insecurity, and the omnipresent signage we’re presented with every day. If that soul-stew wasn’t already hearty enough, our protagonist faces these circumstances in Los Angeles, of all places, just weeks after the events of 9/11, of all times.