New Oregon Arts & Letters (formerly 2GQ)

PIMP OUT YR ZOMBIES FOR ANABEL, featuring Soriah

PIMP OUT YOUR DEAD (a benefit for Anabel Ramirez) this Friday in Portland features the one and only Soriah, along with Unknown Pleasures and the delightful Synchronicity Frequency, plus DJ's and zombie pimps & ho's.

100% of the proceeds from the door, auction and raffle will be going to help pay for Anabel's medical bills. She does not have insurance and is currently undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. Come dressed in your pimped out dead best, if you want, and bring your hos with you (or just acquire some while you're there!)

Anabel was Chair of the Board o' Directrices for our originating nonprofit org, 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts, and we love her.

Friday, November 20, 2009 at 9:00pm, Bossanova 722 East Burnside PDX
Facebook event link right here

VANESSA RENWICK ON HER "PORTRAIT SERIES"

Lovely piece by Vanessa discussing the Portrait Series, which focuses on Northwest sense of place and accompanying music. Scroll down to the Filmmaker Focus on the Ann Arbor Film Festival page.

Some of you may've been fortunate enough to see a screening one piece from the series, about the House of Sound formerly in North Portland, at our Light & Shadows event. Happy reading to you.

MANOR of ART OPENS THIS FRIDAY

100 artists, a bunch of bands, and a dilapidated nursing home. What's not to love?

Join Portland City Art, New Oregon directrice Tiffany Lee Brown and photographer Steve Fritz, and loads of others out at Milepost 5 in Eastern Oregon (a.k.a. NE 82nd Avenue in Portland).

Parties Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this weekend and next, Aug 14-23, plus regular gallery artists. Keep reading for more, or check out milepostfive.com.

SORIAH REVEALS A NEW SOUND, AND TWO INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

Projekt Records releases Atlan, a melodic and lush CD by Portland’s innovative Tuvan throat singer Soriah in collaboration with Ashkelon Sain.

by Tiffany Lee Brown

It’s been a busy year for Soriah. The solo project of Enrique Ugalde, a Mexican-American throat singer and ritual performer, combines his mastery of the khoomei Tuvan throat singing tradition with contemporary Western influences from noise to Goth. He received international awards in khoomei, finished his latest album, and signed to the long-standing independent record label Projekt.

The Atlan record release party happens August 21 at the Someday Lounge in Portland, Oregon.

 The new sound of Atlan

“Atlan is a contrast to my last album,” says Ugalde, “which was pure power noise, very intense and very harsh. Atlan is an evolution... 

NEW OREGON FILM NIGHT

AN EVENING OF CONVERSATION WITH THREE PORTLAND FILMMAKERS

HOST NORA ROBERTSON WITH ARTHUR BRADFORD, ALISSA NICOLE CREAMER AND ANDY BLUBAUGH

 The New Oregon Interview Series brought three prominent filmmakers together for an evening of intimate conversation. MTV’s How’s Your News? creator Arthur Bradford, experimental filmmaker Andy Blubaugh and cultural/human interest documentary-maker Alissa Nicole Creamer sat down to discuss their work and how our film culture is evolving on July 29th at Urban Grind East. A director and Sundance alumnus, Blubaugh’s experimental short films have screened at over a hundred film festivals worldwide and he was named as one of Filmmaker magazine’s 2007 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Debuting her first feature, NEVER TO CRY, with Barcelona’s TV3-Catalunya, Alissa Nicole Creamer has made numerous short-format documentary projects for NGOs in the U.S., Africa, Europe, and South America. Author of Dogwalker and an O. Henry Award recipient, Arthur Bradford’s feature film How's Your News? about adults with disabilities conducting man-on-the-street interviews was broadcast on HBO, PBS, and the British Channel 4 before an MTV series based on the documentary aired in 2009.The Oregonian's Barry Johnson remarked in Portland Art Watch "at this point, we don't know whether we're headed back where we left off 18 months ago or whether we're going somewhere completely new. That question is at the center of the New Oregon Interview Series."

NEW OREGON IN THE NEWS

New Oregon Arts & Letters and some of our core contributors have been popping up in local media lately. We're pleased and flattered! The subject of Portland's creative culture seems to be hot again, too. Here are some links, and do feel free to join in the blog comment conversations on these pieces, as many of them involve the arts and creative culture as a whole... which are not universally popular in these parts.

Plus: links to upcoming art/culture discussions + audio snippets from recent interviews. Keep on readin' this post for more.

07/07/2009: Our director, Tiffany Lee Brown (photo left) wrote a piece for the front page of the Opinion section of the Sunday Oregonian. Check out the online version right here.

NEW OREGON LAUNCHES INTERVIEW SERIES

 AN EVENING OF CONVERSATION WITH THREE PORTLAND MUSIC-MAKERS
TONIGHT AT URBAN GRIND EAST, 2214 NE OREGON, 7-8:30PM, $5 ADMISSION

MORE INFO HERE

The New Oregon Interview Series brings three influential Portland music-makers together for an evening of intimate conversation. Kill Rock Stars founder Slim Moon, Mississippi Studios co-owner Alicia Rose, and rap artist Mic Crenshaw sit down to discuss their work and how our music culture is evolving. Said interviewee DJ Anjali, “It’s still like the Wild West here. People are coming from other parts of the country to live here because they might be able to do what they want to do.”

An influential punk musician, Moon has toured with Kathleen Hanna and Bikini Kill, and under his direction, Kill Rock Stars released such artists as Elliott Smith, the Decemberists, and Sleater-Kinney. Dubbed “one of the best hiphop artists in PDX” by the Portland Mercury, Crenshaw has shared stages with the Fugees and the Wu-Tang Clan and his recent release hit number four on the college radio hiphop charts. Rose was the talent buyer for the Doug Fir before she partnered with Jim Brunberg to transform Mississippi Studios into a driving music venue, and is well-known for photographing local performers.

LIGHT & SHADOWS: Party & Multidisciplinary Art Event June 20th

LIGHT & SHADOWS PARTY KICKS OFF "NEW OREGON" WITH MUSIC, ART, & FILM
June 20 event at Yoga Shala of Portland features over two dozen artists, writers, and performers

Portland, Ore.---On the longest day of the year, Portlanders will celebrate Yoga Shala of Portland's birthday at a benefit event for New Oregon Arts & Letters. Featuring music from the likes of Grey Anne and Meaghan Gannet with Michael Stirling, and films by Vanessa Renwick and Andy Blubaugh, the Light and Shadows party brings together talent in many artistic disciplines.
  

Screenwriter ("Wendy and Lucy") Jon Raymond and author Lidia Yuknavitch are among the evening's readers. New installations, performances, and videos were commissioned for the show from Seattle's Vanessa DeWolf, London transplant Lena Munday, and local artists including Linda Austin, JC Schlecter, and Meg McHutchison. Please keep reading for the incredible full list of participating artists.

THIS WEEKEND: THE EASTER ISLAND PROJECT IN PORTLAND

Performance Works NorthWest and New Oregon Arts & Letters present:
MAKE, PLAY, BE: THE EASTER ISLAND PROJECT IN PORTLAND

Tiffany Lee Brown & Eric Hausmann
with help from Gary Wiseman

June 6, Saturday, 7 pm
    Bring wine for post-show free reception
June 7, Sunday, 2 pm w/ Tastebud Bagels

Performance Works NW:4625 SE 67th Ave, half block north of Foster Road

Featuring live music, video installation, and the option to participate and make your own DIY writing, music, sound, or artwork, each creation a "seed" that Tiffany will take to the South Pacific isle of Easter Island next year. AGES 15+ only please.

Tiffany is director of New Oregon Arts & Letters and an editor of Plazm magazine. She has performed at PICA, Enteractive Language Festival, Dark Arts Festival, and Performance Works NW, among others. The Easter Island Project has been to New York, Oakland, Arizona, and various other spots. This is its first appearance in Portland. Tiffany is online at magdalen.com

NEW OREGON PARTY APRIL 22ND AT BLACKBIRD

WITH JULIAN TULIP AND BABIES GOT RABIES, WEDNESDAY 6-9PM, BLACKBIRD WINE SHOP, ADMISSION FREE

2GQ's New Oregon Interview Series brings artists, chefs, and other instigators of creative culture into conversation.  The new series celebrates Portland's evolving creative culture with a fundraising party at Blackbird Wine Shop featuring wine, music, and chocolate----and limited edition letterpressed artifacts. 

Lounge impresario Julian Tulip (left) and electropop imports Babies Got Rabies will play special sets. Guests will nibble chocolates from Pix Patisserie and sample regional wines by the glass or in flights. Letterpress artist and book maker Clare Carpenter of Tiger Food Press will be on hand to discuss her work. Admission is free. Donations and sponsorships will be accepted; wine and limited edition prints and artist-bound books will be available for sale.