Ju s t o u t T d sc sm b o r 1, 1 0 0 5 ▼ 3 3
T O N G U E IN G R O O V E
No Ice Rink. No Food Court.
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Unique & Unusual Gifts for Home <fi Garden
2200 NE Broadway
288-9985
Open 7 Days a Week
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What is the incarnation of the
Bleached One this time? Madonna
has succumbed to the throes of
(gasp) singing ballads.
• V . '•
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M adonna
Something to Remember • Maverick/Wamer Bros.
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J o y E l e c t r ic
Five Stars fo r Failure 1 Tooth and Nail
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mmm, what is the incarnation of the Bleached
One this time? W e’ve done the ’80s-pop-
queen/dance-diva routine, right? The early ’90s
was the era to bare— as in, “Hi, my name is
Madonna, would you like to see my (fill in your
favorite usually clothed body part)?” Now the
Wild One has succumbed to the throes of (gasp)
singing ballads. The three pages of media infor­
mation that come with the promo CD really want
us to believe that, yes, Madonna is actually a
balladeer at heart.
Admittedly, I’ve always felt that “Crazy for
You” and “Live to Tell” (both included in this
collection) were nice songs in a bittersweet sort of
H
//s/r
way. What was noticeable on this CD is that—
besides the aforementioned tracks— everything
else (mostly her newer stuff) sounded, well, the
same. It’s the echo-ey vocals with a drum-
machine-and-bass beat accompanied by some
sort of a keyboard concoction that somehow leaves
me with a not-so-fresh feeling. I wonder what’s
next: Madonna the rapper? Yikes!
L o r e k n a M c K e n n it t
A Winter Garden: Five Songs o f the Season •
Warner Bros.
t seems like I’ve died and gone straight (er,
queer?) to hell— where the only thing they play
on the infernal stereo is Loreena McKennitt’s
Five Songs. The devils are
dancing about, wielding their
Celtic drums, mocking me as
I sit in anguish while the lyr­
ics of “God Rest Ye Merry,
Gentlemen” ring over and
over again in my throbbing
ears. If someone asked me to
buy this OK— in that Gen X,
“fruit” cola, let’s-be-hip ad­
vertising kinda way—-CD:
my reply? “When hell freezes
over.”
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here are times when you can tell whether a
CD is going to be good simply by the record
label that puts it out. This has been the case with
the Tooth and Nail products that have entered my
disc player. Having listened to quite a few bands
on this Seattle label during the past few months,
I wasn’t surprised that Joy Electric almost in­
stantly sent jolts of energetic weird funkiness to
every nook and cranny of my tiny Asian bod. The
brainchild of an obviously deliciously disturbed
Ronnie Martin, Five Stars fo r Failure succeeds
in becoming a beautifully strange melding of
sound and rhythm. The bizarreness and obscurity
of the tracks, most of which are accompanied by
Martin’s liquid voice, would make anyone’s ears
perk up like an aroused Chihuahua. Dancing is
not optional.
T
T a st y L icks
n the days of yore, there was no such thing as
recorded music. Yup, everything was live. My
nostalgic tendencies have compelled me to impart
to you the joyous occasions when I am lucky
enough to go to a show (sheesh, I sound like a
commercial). The point is, I believe that live
shows are often better than recorded music. Thus,
this section will be devoted to checking out per­
formances by local artists (perhaps some national
ones, but not a lot), with bits ’n’ pieces of candid
interviews with the musicians. I’m happy to an­
nounce that lately I’ve checked out quite a deluge
of shows by some local artists. So, expect an
auditory feast profiling Kaitlyn Ni Donovan, Maria
Webster, Ritsu, Frances Farmer Gals, Eva Festa,
October’s Gate and 151 in upcoming issues!
The Portland Gay Men's Chorus
I
Reviews by Rachel Ebora.
Don't hesitate to contact me
about shows that I should know
about.
Check the general Just Out info
fo r address and phone number.
For the cyber-heads out there,
I'm e-mailable at:
tongueout@aol. com.
proudly opens its 16 th Season
with a
<c/(o//c/atj
December 15th at 7:30 pm
and
December 16th at 7:00 pm
at the
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Advance Tickets
$16, $13, $9
At The Door
$17, $14, $10