3 4 ▼ o c to b « r 1 8 . 1 9 9 6 ▼ ju s t o u t
Motherlode
E T *
TO PICAL TW A N G
Turns Sweet 16
For more than 17 years the only place to be an
Halloween weekend has been
Concert
Sat ., Nov. 9, 1996
m
horror
m
im
8 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 31st, 10:00 pm, $6
Friday, Nov. 1st, 10:00 pm, $5
Saturday, Nov. 2nd, Midnight, $6
Tickets $14 advance at
It's My Pleasure, 236-0505
and atl Fred Meyer Fastixx
outlets , 224-8499
Rocky Character Costume Contest,
Virgin Call, Special Pre-Shows
FREE SMALL POPCORN or SMALL SODA
POP WITH THIS AD <«P 12 / 96 )
Clinton Street Theatre-2522 SE Clinton Street
Portland, Oregon (503) 238-8899
CHOICE
NEWS
!!! NEW OW NER !!! NEW MANAGEMENT !!! NEW BARTENDERS !!!
CHOICES IS ONCE AGAIN, THE CHOICEST CHOICE.
TU ES. MOVIE NICHT.
THÜRS. 10/5 I HALLOWEEN PARTY
PRIZE FOR BEST COSTUME.
COUNTRY & WESTERN WITH DJ CRYSTAL
$2 00 COVER
I l/l COUNTRY & WESTERN HALLOWEEN PARTY
PRIZE FOR BEST WESTERN COSTUME.
SRT.
CLUB DIVA WITH DJ MEL
$5 .00 COVER
C
SUN. FREE POOL TO ALL APA LEACUE MEMBERS.
CHEN @ 4:CC E j H. HAILY.
(A ll JU i l / i
C
“One Of The Most Exciting Film Finds
Of The Year! Abounds With Attitude,
Energy, Frankness And Humor!”
- D a p h n e D a f t , . M O V IE S A N D V ID E O S
“A Warm And Funny Love Story.
Refreshingly Spunky
m
And Unsentimental!”
M ic h a t l M u « to . V IL I.A G E V O IC E
EAUT U
8 ÜÏÏ&» Wl
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616 NW21 st *223-4515
by Andy Mangels
ing insemination to have her child; she later wove
that information into a song.
“I don’t know of anybody that’s done a song
Fourth in a series on gay and lesbian
about donor insemination,” she says. “And that’s
issues in country western
the whole point of that song. Just about
music and culture
everything’s been written about in country west­
ern music, except there are these things about
lesbian lives that haven’t been written about.
Ever since I was little
That’s the gap that I’m trying to fill.”
People thought I was a boy
Using props and costumes ranging from stick
They said it was the way I used to play
horses to Sonny and Cher costumes, the Cowgirls
/ preferred jeans to dresses
present an odd look on stage.
Or football to playing house
“We’re more of a dyke country novelty act,”
That still holds true today
Buhr
says. “We’re performance artisis. We use
—Bevo Buhr, “You All Got Me All Wrong ”
country western music to bring humor about
lesbian life to people. One of the reasons we stick
ntil recently, the Cowgirl Sweethearts
to the country western music is that I think of
was Wisconsin’s best-known dyke
country as the music that reaches the masses. It’s
country quartet. They’ve recently
American music. It’s fun for me to play with that.
added a fifth member, but the Sweet­
Also, country western music historically lends
hearts are still performing their irrev­
itself
to humor. Not all the stuff we do is humor­
erent brand of danceable and genderflexed
coun­
ous,
but
much of it is.”
try standards, original lesbian love tunes and
The other Cowgirls aren’t really country fans.
corny country kitsch.
“It’s really my favorite kind of music,” Buhr
Bevo Buhr, the fun-loving lead singer of the
says. “For the other musicians, it’s something
Cowgirl Sweethearts, spent some time on the
they do because it’s fun, but it’s definitely not
their first choice.”
Buhr is backed by Anno O’Connor, who sings
and plays guitar and mandolin, as well as
keyboardist Barbara Chusid and drummer Maia
McNamara. Newcomer Jan Reich is a singer who
adds three-part harmony.
phone with me prior to leaving for the Michigan
“Jan can also yodel. I yodel a little bit, but she
Women’s Music Festival. The original four Sweet­
is very good. People love that western yodeling.”
hearts are a group of lesbians from Madison,
Asked how one learns and practices yodeling,
Wis., who joined in 1991 to create an entertaining
Buhr, who is self-taught, replies, “Whenever I’m
form of dykeabilly country that not only gets you
in the car driving by myself, that’s when I’m
scooting your boots but also tickles your funny
bone.
practicing my yodeling. It’s too harmful to other
people’s ears to practice it anywhere else.”
The Cowgirls came together to open a new
Buhr doesn’t really want the Cowgirls to go
women’s performance space in Madison.
mainstream, and has few dreams of signing with
“I had the idea of doing a western show, and
afterwards having some country line dancing. I
a major label.
“I’m not interested in trying to break into the
thought that would be a great way to open the
sp ace,” says Buhr.
“People enjoyed our
music so much that we
decided to keep playing
together.”
Buhr’s idea for the
country show came from
an argument at work. She
is a firefighter in Madi­
son, and a fellow
firefighter thought she
didn’t like country mu­
sic. She protested that
she did, but she didn’t
like the volume it was
played at in the station
house. Privately, there
was another problem.
“I like country mu­
sic,” she says, “but I
Bevo Buhr (left), Anno O ’Connor, Maia McNamara and Barbara Chusid
don’t like the words to
are the Cowgirl Sweethearts
most of the songs, be­
cause I can’t relate to them. Whenever I sing
general country scene,” she says. “I want to write
along to traditional songs on the radio, I have to
music that lesbians enjoy listening to, that reflects
change the words. I think that words and music
our culture. Basically, my own life is what I write
are so powerful that I don’t want to be singing
about, and I’m a lesbian. I think anybody can
about something that isn’t true for me.”
enjoy it and appreciate it, but I don’t want to sing
The fight led to Buhr writing “You All Got Me
to— or write songs for—the mainstream. We’ve
All Wrong,” a song about being mistaken for a
got plenty of music like that. My interest is giving
man because of her dykeish appearance.
to my own community. I think we need to hear
Another of the Cowgirl songs, “M-O-N-O-G-
about ourselves and laugh about ourselves and
A-M-Y,” deals with the “serial monogamy” of
have songs that we can sing all the words to.”
lesbian relationships, detailing the love lives of a
small intermixed group that all seem to date and
Andy Mangels is a Portland-based writer who
couple up with each other. Buhr wrote "The
has published in The Advocate, Drummer,
Donor Song” in response to a request for a women
Frontiers, Leather Journal and other magazines.
with AIDS benefit. She had already gathered
He has written dozens o f comic books and
information about AIDS when she was research­
edited the award-winning Gay Comics.
IP&tRtr 4 }
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uste
CHOICES P I E 2S4<5 S.E. STAKE STREET
I H h ' M u rjvA »
▼
sh o w
with the 20th Clinton Street Cabaret
Northwest Service Center, Portland
FRI.
Cowgirl Sweethearts brings lesbian life to light,
humorously, in song
N ightly 7 i OO ano 9 :0 0
PLUS SAT. AND SUN. Cl lO O !v 3 lO O v 5 l 0 0