7th Annual
Portland
Film Festival
The Northwest Film Study Center s 7th
Portland International R im Festival will take
place March 9-25. The selections this year
include 30 feature films from 19 countries, all
making their Portland premieres. Films will
be shown in the Berg-Swann Auditorium of
the Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park
Avenue.
Opening the Festival will be an American
film, H eart L ik e a Wheel, which stars Bonnie
Bedelia in the true-life story of Shirley
Muldowney and her rise from housewife to
one of the great champions of the male-
dominated sport of drag racing. Directed by
Jonathan Kaplan, the film also stars Beau
Bridges, Leo Rossi and Hoyt Axton. It will be
shown at 8:00 pm on Friday, March 9 as a
PGMC'S
Love Song
Spicy
Tomatoes
b y Renee LaC hance
female — femme, frail, dame, skirt, broad,
S ISTER , TO M A TO
Roget's Thesaurus
The name was an inspiration of Roget, and
in some it inspires images of a tomato in
nun’s drag, yet in reality, Sister Tomato is a
group of four women who light up a stage
with ’30s and ’40s lowdown boogie woogie,
blues, and swing.
Playing the Portland area for the last two
years, the Tomatos were absent from the
stage for six months searching for a replace
ment for Judy, their piano player who left
because of different priorities.
Barbara (B J .) Castleman saw their ad but
was apprehensive about joining the band be
cause she didn’t feel that she could play in a
“tomatoy way." Coming from a ragtime and
boogie woogie background, B J. played solo
at Wilde Oscar’s and led sing-a-longs at
senior centers sharpening her Bessie Smith
style that has complimented lead vocalist
Paula Elliott well.
Since each of these women are experi
enced musicians they have been able to
J u it O ut, March 2-March 16
The Portland Gay Men’s Chorus will pre
sent two concerts in March, the first at the
Huit Center for the Performing Arts in
Eugene on Sunday, March 11, at 2 pm. The
same concert will be presented the following
Saturday, March 17, at 8 p.m., at the Benson
High School Auditorium, 546 NE 12th
Avenue, Portland. Tickets ( $6) are available at
the door or in advance from Sensorium, For
ward Gear, Roxy Heart’s, Somebody’s Place,
Dugan’s, C.C. Slaughters, or any Huit Center
outlet in Eugene.
These concerts, Louesong, a S p rin gtim e
Serenade, are the Chorus’ 19th major pro
duction and will feature a rainbow of Ameri-
mesh together their talents and energies to
spark new capabilities in each of them.
Paula began singing folk music in the six
ties and was later influenced by Dixieland,
ragtime, and blues. An accomplished com
poser, the Tomatoes perform many of her
original tunes which have a unique style that
can take an audience through a deep range
of emotions. Cat Perry, the drummer, began
playing drums at the insistence of her mother
who felt Cat would become a social outcast if
she were allowed to continue drumming on
her thighs. The silent one who plays electric
bass is Donna. The spiciness of B J .’s per
sonality has helped bring out some of the
humor in Donna, most apparent when B J.
serenades Donna with “Feet’s Too Big.”
With an ever-expanding repertoire, Sister
Tomato plays a balance of older tunes, and
originals. Though they could stand alone on
the innovativeness of Paula’s originals, it is
refreshing to hear heart-wrenching blues like
“Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime," and “Heart,
Heart Heart,” along with mean and nasty
boogie woogie like “Hey, Misbehavin’," and
“Lola."
As the founding mothers of last year's Gay
Prom, they are allowing Just Out and A Wo
m an’s Place Bookstore to produce this
year’s prom during Lesbian and Gay Pride
Week. If you haven’t caught Sister Tomato s
new act you can attend their upcoming
dance at Reed College Commons April 7th,
or see them at the YWCA International Wo
m en’s Day celebration, Saturday, March 10
as part of the entertainment there.
One would think that a person would treat
kindly their namesake, but nothing is sacred
to these women, least of all tomatoes. They
urge everyone to "Be there o r be ketchup!"
Festival benefit The $7.00 admission permits
attendance at a reception following the film.
While all of the films will be receiving their
Portland premieres, several films will be hav
ing their American premieres, as well.
Included in this special group are: The
S p rin g R iver F low s East (China), a 1947
classic set during and just after World War II;
The G o Masters (Japan/China), a co-pro
duction epic symbolic of the two cultures
which have been at odds for centuries:
B ro n te (Ireland), a film version of Julie Harris’
one-woman show on the life of novelist
Charlotte Bronte; and D ust o f Em pire
(France/Vietnam), a stunning visual essay on
the many empires of Vietnam.
A highlight of the festival is Robert Altman s
producton of David Rabe's Streamers, the
Broadway hit dealing with three men thrown
together in a Southern army barracks while
awaiting assignment to Vietnam. Integral to
the plot is the confrontation between a gay
man and other men in the barracks. S tream
ers will be shown Wednesday, March 14. at
8 pm.
can lovesongs. Selections ranging from Cole
Porter’s Let 's D o it to Buffy Sainte-Marie's
U n til It s Tim e fo r You to Go. and nostalgic
showtunes from the Big Band era of the '40s
to a ballad by Benjamin Britten will demon
strate the growing musical skill of the Chorus.
Special guests include B. Gail Hillyer,
dancers and instrumental accompanists who
will assist the Chorus in this musical tour
through the world of amour.
The Portland Gay Men's Chorus will cele
brate its fourth anniversary later this year and
is now composed of 94 volunteers who carry
on a unique and important part of America’s
musical heritage. Men’s choruses waned as a
musical form for several decades until the
rise of many groups composed primarily of
gay men during the 1970s. Most major
metropolitan areas in the United States now
support such musical groups. And the Port
land Gay Men’s Chorus is one of the finest in
the nation.
Storefront Theatre
m HOUSEWIVES
presents
Through May 26.
Reservations
W ed. thru Sat.
8:00
M -F 11-6 224-4001
Sun
7:00
SW 3rd at Burnside
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