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

PERFORMANCE WORKS NW & 2GQ PRESENT "HOUSE BOUND"

A kinesthetic salon of performance, installation, food, and drink by the artists of Works Corps. Tickets cost $5 less if purchased in advance from Brown Paper Tickets online; price includes tea, snacks, and beverages for grownups.

13 April 2008, Sunday
Showtimes 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:00, 3:30, and 5:00. Advance reservations recommended.
Tickets: $10-20, advance at  Brown Paper Tickets.

At Performance Works NW
4625 SE 67th Ave, Portland
(half-block north of SE Foster Road).
Reservations & Info: 503 475 2306, housebound@2GQ.org, www.2GQ.org

The artists of Works Corps are (l. to r.): Nora Robertson, Clare Carpenter, Lilian Gael, and Emily Stone; front: Tiffany Lee Brown. Photo by Steve Fritz.

Co-presented by 2GQ and Performance Works NW's Alembic series. 

TONIGHT: 2 GYRLZ BRINGS RON ATHEY TO PORTLAND

2 Gyrlz Performative Arts is proud to present legendary performance artist, Ron Athey, for the first time ever in Portland. This will truly be a rare and exceptional event, in which performance is taken to an edge that 2 Gyrlz and other presenters in this city have rarely dared to visit. This is not about shock, this is about exposing truths and presenting new possibilities.

RON ATHEY (L.A.), SAMANTHA SWEETING (Britain/France), and Portland's own ARIA BENNER and MICAH PERRY of Cliché Au Lait.

First Thursday 03 April Hippodrome, PDX (SE 3rd & Oak)
$8 | 21 + Performances run 8 - 9:30 pm

After Party next door @ BRANX, 320 SE 2nd Ave., with PAN!ZEN Soundsystem (Chromosome 23/Acroyear, Try My Cabbage, Rudement, and b0t23 of Buried in Time/ELM). 21+, 9:30-close, $5 suggested donation or come in from the Ron Athey/ 2 Gyrlz show.

THE GYRLZ ARE BACK IN TOWN: Rock Fest at Rotture Feb 9th

2 Gyrlz Performative Arts returns to Portland! Our fearless leaders, co-directors Lisa Newman and Llewyn Maire/Yhi, have returned from their year-plus in England, and they've brought us some tasty European treats to savour: Tex Napalm, Dimi Dero, and Anthony Malat. Keep reading for deets.

UPCOMING 2 GYRLZ SHOWS:

Feb 9, Saturday ~ Tex Napalm/Dimi Dero/Anthony Malat; Magick Daggers; and special guests at Rotture, 9 pm, $8

April 3, Thursday ~ Ron Athey performance followed by PanZen party, at Rotture

April 13, Sunday ~ Works Corps performs "HOUSE BOUND" at Performance Works NW, co-presented by 2GQ

2GQ co-presents "HOUSE BOUND" at PERFORMANCE WORKS NW

The Works Corps invites the 2 Gyrlz community to experience the group's very intimate and unusual new performance, "House Bound," at Performance Works NW on April 13, 2008. The work delves into the tension between individuality and relationship, between selfhood and family, between freedom and claustrophobia, between private and public.

2GQ is delighted to co-sponsor this rare opportunity for audiences to visit a very different kind of house. We'd like to give a big shout-out to the show's current donors, including the Cooley Gallery at Reed College, Plazm magazine, P!x Patisserie, Vanessa Renwick/Oregon Dept of Kick Ass, and Steve Fritz Photography.

THE GYRLZ ARE BACK! Programming for 2008 + Holiday Gifts of Luv

HELLO, GYRLZ: Most of you know by now that 2 Gyrlz founder/directors Lisa Newman and Llewyn Maire have returned from their year-plus of performing and living in Europe. Portland is ready for a new round of innovative performance programming from our favourite gyrlz. The new season promises to bring some excellent international artists to town; we will soon update this site and 2gyrlz.org with confirmed shows.

COMPENDIUM BOOKS AVAILABLE
We also have signed, numbered, limited edition books on sale; click "Compendium" on the Plazm Books site.

DOMESTIC TERROR: Freezone at 2GQ

We live in our bodies. We live in our little lives. We live in our homes.

Sometimes these realities are not reflected in the creative literature associated with taking risks, presenting challenges, engendering innovative fiction, and going out on the occasional experimental limb. Sometimes, we want our "edge" to be so "edgy" that it falls completely away from how we live. Sometimes we invest more inventiveness in form and style than we do in the emotional honesty of a work. As for subject matter: sometimes we're afraid to engage with the mundane truths of home and domesticity, fearing that our work will turn out like all those hyper-workshopped hausfrau short stories set in Connecticut, the ones you see all the time in New York magazines and Midwestern literary journals.

OK, there's definitely something to fear in that. But there's much to celebrate and explore, as well. Family and home are not the opposite of things fascinating, dark, gripping, hilarious, or glamourous. Hell, no. Family and home are the very source of the best neuroses, the kind that turn people into writers...

Welcome DOMESTIC TERROR. This series of short literature & other fun stuff will be published on the 2GQ.org Freezone throughout 2008. On deck we have Kristy Athens, John Barrios, Nora Robertson, and hey, I'll probably make an appearance myself. If you would like to submit material, which can include memoir, poetry, fiction, hypertext, visual works, comics, multimedia presentation, and documentation of performance/visual works, please READ THIS FIRST (www.2GQ.org/DT-submit.html). Thanks. --Tiffany Lee Brown

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.

COMPENDIUM OF MINIATURES: PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE

A Compendium of Miniatures
by Tiffany Lee Brown
(Tiger Food Press * 2GQ Press)

Miniature narratives and rhythmic metaphors redefine the words that tell life's big stories. Limited edition of 50 signed, numbered books hand-bound in silk; case-bound. Hand-set in Deepdene and letterpress printed in two colors on 100% post-consumer recyled paper using soy-based inks by Clare Carpenter.

Books begin shipping September 23, 2007. Pre-orders accepted; reserve a copy today via:

Purchase online with credit card at plazm.com ($55 plus shipping & handling). US, Canada, international.

Purchase via mail order: $58 includes shipping & handling. Make checks out to "2GQ" and send to PO Box 2863, Portland OR 97208. Includes a splendid mailing box you will want to crawl inside. Price includes all applicable taxes, shipping, etc. USA and Canada only.

Email the authors at 2007@2GQ.org with inquiries or to be notified about our September installation and performance at Cathedral Park Place in Portland.

COMPENDIUM OF MINIATURES AT PACIFIC UNIVERSITY

Yr everlovin' editrix Tiffany Lee Brown and 2GQ book artist Clare Carpenter of Tiger Food Press have been working hard on "A Compendium of Miniatures" for nearly two years. Friday June 29, they bring a performance-based literary reading of the work, along with a participatory installation, to Pacific University's MFA in Creative Writing program. Clare will also give a presentation about book arts, and the two will lead a discussion about how collaboration and multidisciplinary exploration can lead to an expansive writing practice. 1:00 pm at Pacific; open to the public.

The book of the Compendium will be available this fall. In September, a new installation of the Compendium will be unveiled at Cathedral Park Place (the St. Johns building where Modern Zoo happened). We'll also bring it to PNCA. See ya then!

EXQUISITE LANGUAGE FOR SALE...

Musicians from bands like Low and the Decemberists joined in with writers from Elissa Schappell to Lance Olsen in 2GQ's "Exquisite Language" project.  Seventy contributors from around the world co-constructed a series of exquisite corpse stories and songs; the results were published in our special Exquisite Language issue of 2GQ and also interpreted as performance and song at an EL-fest event at the Heathman Hotel.

Fun times! Anyway, we still have a few copies of Exquisite Language. To get one of your very own, please  send a check for $13 made out to "2GQ" to: Tiffany Lee Brown, 2GQ Editor,  PO Box 2863, Portland OR 97208. Includes a splendid letterpressed mailing box you will want to crawl inside. Price includes all applicable taxes, shipping, etc. USA and Canada only. Keep reading for details about contributors and other items in the issue.

ARTIST BIOS: PUBLIC WORKS

Find out more about the Public Works Corps: Tiffany Lee Brown, Clare Carpenter, Lilian Gael, Nora Robertson, and Emily Stone...

...and about this week's guest artists, Sarah Dougher and Josh Berger.

PUBLIC WORKS: THE SPRING FINALE

PUBLIC WORKS reveals works-in-progress by local musicians, artists,
and writers.

With good food & delicious cocktails, in one of Portland's most
beautiful, intimate venues.

Join us this Wednesday, May 9 for the final evening of this Public
Works series. Guest artists SARAH DOUGHER (music) and JOSHUA BERGER
(visual art) will join our regular writers, performers, and
interdisciplinary artists: TIFFANY LEE BROWN, LILIAN GAEL, NORA
ROBERTSON, and EMILY STONE.

2GQ presents Public Works
Wednesdays, April 4 through May 9
5:30-7:00 pm
Free, at Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave between Couch and Davis

PUBLIC WORKS CALENDAR

===  2GQ presents  ===

    PUBLIC WORKS

Six weeks of live, raw works-in-progress, rough cuts, & experiments
being of a literary, performative, musical, & artistic nature

Click "continue" below to see the whole calendar & meet the artists...

Wednesdays, April 4 through May 9
5:30-7:00 pm
Free, at Someday Lounge
125 NW 5th Ave

FREE, BEAUTIFUL, WEIRD. BE THERE THIS WEDNESDAY.

Eric Hausmann and Lilian Gael (pictured left) will be this week's featured artists at Public Works. Come on down and see what they and the Public Works crew will do with some serious music!

Eric -- currently of Tres Gone, formerly of Spilling Static Orchestra, The Gone Orchestra, Locust Pudding, Brainwarmer, and Lions of Batucada -- will soundtrack a film he made entitled "Ramlee," a dedication to the 1950's Malaysian film actor and multi-instrumentalist, P. Ramlee. More about Eric at www.spillingaudio.com.

Lily Gael is a performing artist working with improv-movement, dance,
enviornments and sound. She is a recipient of a Soapstone writing residency in poetry, and recently performed "Revery/The Kitchen Project" at Oregon College of Art & Craft" for audiences of one.

Members of the Public Works Corps will also improvise with Eric (Tiffany Lee Brown, Nora Robertson, Emily Stone).

2GQ presents PUBLIC WORKS at the Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave between Couch and Davis.... Wednesday, April 18th, 5:30-7 pm.... FREE.

Click "continue" to see the PUBLIC WORKS CALENDAR.

WEEK 1 OF PUBLIC WORKS, and here comes Week 2.

The first week of Public Works was delightful. (It will happen every Wednesday through May 9.) Pecos B. brought words that rollicked and rocked, all of us Corps members did word + movement improvisation, I unveiled the world premiere of video "Log Baby," Nora Robertson read luscious poetry in progress, and Lily Gael topped the evening with a serious shot of energy in the form of a short dance piece.

And then there was Emily Stone (pictured left). She presented a deeply moving interdisciplinary piece involving the themes of growth and home, alternating reading with movements performed in front of projected photographs, her pregnant belly distending into the screen. Meanwhile, the rest of us attended to a series of instructions she'd given us: cleansing, writing on eggshells, planting seeds. Beautiful stuff!

Next week -- Wednesday, April 11 -- Leanne Grabel will be our featured poet, belly dancer Grace Constantine will be our guest artist, and I'll show a brand new experimental reading + video piece. Expect more explorations from the Public Works Corps as well. Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave, 5:30-7 pm, free. More details about the series is in the next post, below. --Tiffany Lee Brown

PUBLIC WORKS: coming up

2GQ presents PUBLIC WORKS

Six weeks of live, raw works-in-progress, rough cuts, & experiments
being of a literary, performative, musical, & artistic nature

Wednesdays, April 4 through May 9 ... 5:30-7:00 pm ... FREE .....
Someday Lounge ... 125 NW 5th Avenue ... in Portland's Old Town ... phone 503 248 1030

Works Corps:
TIFFANY LEE BROWN ..... CLARE CARPENTER ..... LILY GAEL ..... LEANNE GRABEL ..... NORA ROBERTSON ..... EMILY STONE

Guest Artists:
PECOS B. (April 4)  ..... GRACE CONSTANTINE (April 11) .... ERIC HAUSMANN (April 18) ..... JEMIAH JEFFERSON (April 25) ..... JULIAN TULIP  (May 2) ..... SARAH DOUGHER (May 9) ..... JOSHUA BERGER (May 9)

2GQ.org is kinda wacky right now...

2GQ.org is being switched from one host to another, and due to technical incompetence (that would be mine, thanks) it's taking a while to get stuff working. That means a temporary shift in the URLs you see on page of this website; they will be back to normal within a week. That means none of our images are coming up on blog entries. And that means all email to 2GQ.org is bouncing right now. Continue reading for alternate contacts. 

THANK YOU, 2GQ SUPPORTERS!

As 2006 lumbers to a bellowing halt, 2GQ would like to thank all of our supporters -- you who help us out, perform in our shows, read our stuff, whisper sweet nothings in our ears.

And a humongous shout-out to those who donate services and financial contributions to our little non-profit adventure. It's a tremendous shot in the arm. We'd like to give ultra-special thanks to:

COOLEY: Stephanie Snyder and Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery at Reed College

Q7: Joe Pruett and Q7.com

GREYLODGE: Joe Matheny and Greylodge/Gpod Radio

PUBLIC WORKS: Announcing the Participants

2GQ will present the Public Works series in April and May. We are superthrilled to announce the workshop participants/works-in-progress performers, writers, and artists:

Leanne Grabel            Nora Robertson (McCrea)      Sarah Dougher
Julian Tulip            Lily Gael            Emily Stone             Clare Carpenter
Joshua Berger            Jemiah Jefferson        Tiffany Lee Brown

Happy Fucking Holidays

What the heck is your dad going to do with another tie? Does your housemate *really* need another hand-crocheted potholder? And who's flush enough to buy their lover an iPod?

Yeah, exactly. What you need is a gorgeous, warm, sweatshop-free, American Apparel, 100% cotton hoodie/hooded sweatshirt with a 2GQ logo smack front and center. Or a gyrl-cut t-shirt, or a big ol' XXL one. Buy yours now-now-now, from Catch23.com, our wild-ass pals in Berkeley CA.

Note that issues of 2GQ are not available for holiday delivery. We here at 2GQ HQ in PDX are headin' out. But the tees and sweatshirts rock.

PUSHCART POSSIBLE FOR PORTLAND POET

Word on the cold, rainy Portland street is that 2GQ's own Nora Robertson (formerly Nora McCrea) has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, the small press equivalent of an Oscar—or, better yet, a Palme d'Or. The perfectly delicious poem responsible, "How to Boil an Egg," appeared this year in Redactions. If you've been paying attention over the last few years, now you can say you knew her when. Warm, wet, sloppy congrats to Nora!

Left: Nora performs in the 2GQ event "Exquisite Language" at the Heathman Hotel during the 2004 Enteractive Language Festival. Photo by Steve Fritz.

Announcing: Public Works

2GQ presents for your consideration -- in conjunction with the esteemed Noah Mickens and his fantabulous Someday Lounge in Old Town Portland -- PUBLIC WORKS. This six-week workshop series of live literary and performance works-in-progress is curated by 2GQ's humble editrix, Miss Tiffany Lee Brown, and will occur every Wednesday night from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. from April 4 to May 9, 2007.

What has it to do with YOU?

Voyeur, drinker, arts maven or literary gadabout that you undoubtedly are, YOU get to watch the fabled artistic process unfold. You get to watch. Our workshop members will present new sketches, participate in experiments, and show works in progress, interspersed liberally with beer breaks. You get to watch the new sparks fly. You get to see all the edges, rough and unseemly.

So pencil it in. We'll see you in a few months.

Bon Voyage, Gyrlz!

Lisa Newman and Llewyn Maíre, exec direc's and founding luminaria of 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts, head off to Europe for the next year as of Tuesday. We'll post updates here as we hear news. Bon voyage and let it rip, L & L!

SOMEDAY IS NOW

Gyrl about town, cirkus ringmaster extraordinaire, noise musician, Butoh performer, and self-described "arts maven" Noah Mickens -- your friend and mine -- has been working hard to prepare an entirely new venue for Portland audiences, where acts are booked with a visionary's zeal instead of a capitalist's desire for predictable bands and old standbys. Get in on the opening action at Someday Lounge this week with Diego Piñon, Blinglab (Marne Lucas + Bruce Conkle), Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, 2 Gyrlz Bon Voyage Party, St Vitus Dance, and Societas Insomnia. Details follow.

Guillermo Gomez-Peña: Amazing Essay + Oregon Appearance

2 Gyrlz Performative Arts co-presents Guillermo Gomez-Peña of La Pocha Nostra this week in Portland -- a free event. Also, anyone anywhere who's interested in the current, hunkered-down, paranoid state of the arts in the USA should read Guillermo's essay on censorship. The piece will appear in an upcoming issue of TDR, but can be read now on Guillermo's "dialogues" blog.

Mobilize Fire & Noise Feb 1-2 in Portland

2 Gyrlz hosts Mobilization's "How To Destroy the Universe" festival of extreme performance and noise. Advanced tickets available now.

February 1 at Sabala's, 4811 SE Hawthorne: F-Space (doing a rare full fire performance) + Sixteens +  Synchronicity Frequency + Waldteufel (w/ Markus Wolff of Crash Worship) + others. 

February 2 at the Old Church,  1422 SW 11th Ave: Blixa Bargeld (of Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds), Jarboe (ex-Swans), and Soriah. The Old Church show is all ages, very limited seating; Sabala's is 21+. Both shows 8 pm.

Tickets at Ozone, 701 E Burnside, or available online. Read the details -- and some interesting history about how some of these performers blew a bunch of shit up in the desert in the early 1980s, along with the Minutemen, Survival Research Laboratories, Black Flag, Redd Kross, and Savage Republic -- at the 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts website.

Welcome to the New 2GQ Blog

Welcome to the new 2GQ.org. We've decided to focus on new experiments in print media & book arts -- plus our brand spankin' new weblog (you're soaking in it). We kick off with Critical Quandaries, a lovely piece from Richard Speer on the minefield that is Being An Art Critic. Plus new short fiction from Frayn Masters.

Unlike our old site and the old blog...

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. Thanks to those who joined 2GQ for our EL-fest show at the Heathman Hotel Tea Room on First Thursday, November 3.

EL-fest Preview Party

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. At Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St 21+, September 30, 8pm-1:30am...