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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 2000)
38 ju st « i t • September tS. 2000 © PAIAMO/ G a y D ads ßun Zen C e n t e r 2539 SE Madison Portland, Oregon 97214 503-239-4846 Fax: 503-239-5217 E-mail Staff@Dharma-Raln Org D iscussion / S upport G roup M eetings T wice monthly Book 'em, Tam Portland woman creates her own perfect career by O r ia n a G r een www Dharma-Ram Org Dharma Ram Zen Center is a Soto Zen Temple for Lay practice, bringing P e r t in e n t T o p ic s : C o m in g O ut D iv o r c e C ustody R e l a t io n s h ip s w it h K ids C o m m e n t s f r o m K ids people together to build community and wisdom through practice DRZC offers retreats classes, intro ductory workshops, and sesshins The Zendo space is shared with groups in the Vipassana. Tibetan. & Zen traditions, creating a unique atmosphere and oppor tunities for learning about Budd hism and its daily application Kyogen and Gyokuko Carlson, resident teachers For information call: M ike / D on T e r r y 667-9159 697-7004 Help form a GALA Mixed Chorus Open house, Sunday, Sept 24, 3-5p.m Gay, lesbian, bi, trans, and allies invited to sing each Sunday afternoon, 3-5pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation o f Salem, 5090 Center St. NE. For Information call 541-754-4144, or e-mail UUTUNES@AOL.COM= ju stm n needs your ELP W e’re looking for our area’s best employers. In a future issue we will feature readers whose companies honor and value their individuality. Please contact marty@justout.com Think of the money you’ll save on shaving cream. H air R emoval • S kin C are They'll tune your engine. They'll fix your car. And as an added bonus, they'll save the planet. F acials * P roducts M en and W omen Utilizing the most advanced laser an the market tar sett luxurious HAIB FREE shin. N.W. Laser Specialists 909 N. Tomahawk Is. Dr. at Jantzen Beach (Conveniently located across from Safeway) P D X Autom otive is a certified Eco-Logkal Business. 282-3315 Consumers Bewsrel All lasers are not creates equal. Call Bowl 1 - 800 - 589-6414 503 - 289-8912 222 Over 10 000 Satisfied Customers! A U T O M O T I V E Mechanics With A Conscience (and x-ray vision) IMO) Gerard Lillie *5934 N.E. Halsey et s say you’re putting; on Pride 2000 in Dubuque or Des Moines and you need a lesbian headliner for your bash— who ya gonna call ? Only one answer: the Queen of A-list lesbian entertainment, Tam Martin. Where ya gonna call her? At her Beachfront Productions office in Portland. As the name of her company hints, it didn’t start out 60 miles from the sea hut a whole lot closer— in Long Beach, Calif., to he exact. Martin’s life began far from the sea as well— in Spokane, Wash., which she tied for California as a young adult. Her first job out of college was a plum: kxiking artist tours for Olivia Records, the womens music pioneer. “Olivia was a little grassroots company, and they made it up as they went along— and they got really good at it," Martin explains over a recent alfresco lunch. “Out of that, all kinds of women’s businesses grew—distributors, man agers, producers, festivals.” Martin and her position at Olivia evolved together as she took on more and more publici ty and kxiking duties. “The highlight for me was getting to know the performers and work ing with them,” she says. But by 1987, she’d outgrown the job and hungered to he her own Hiss. A t the time she started Beachfront Productions, most of Olivia’s performers had no agent or manager, so it seemed natural for Martin to he the one to offer those services. She initially had just a few clients, includ ing Cris Williamson and Tret Fure. Through the years she added many more, until she was Uxiking most of the touring lesbian musicians. It rankles Martin a hit when she reads in the national media what an innovative idea Lilith Fair was, or even the recent Ladyfest, because she ran her own music festival for five years in the early ’90s: the Pacific Northwest Womens Music and Cultural JamNiree. That mouthful came to he known as "Tam’s Jam.” Martin had to work really long hours during the first three years running Beachfront and had eight full-time clients on her list last year, which caused her to work harder than she real ly wanted to at this point in her life. So she’s scaled hack to four full-time clients: Williamson, Holly Near, Ferron and Suzanne Westenhoefcr. For that stellar quartet, Martin acts as agent, which involves doing the deals for all their gigs, making travel arrangements, snag ging interviews and so on. That adds up to 100 dates a year for Westenhoefer and aH>ut half that number for the rest. As with most kinds of agents, Martin earns a percentage of whatever her clients earn. But what’s unusual is she’s never had a con tract with her performers; all her agreements with them are oral. “In 20 years, I’ve never had a problem— we just do it. We believe in each other, we’re all friends, and we’re gixxl for our word.” Martin also prtxluces some events, especial ly fund-raisers. She brought Westenhixifer to Portland earlier this year as a benefit for Equity Foundation. “1 love doing it,” she enthuses, “hut it’s more lucrative for me to kxik than to prcxluce because there’s no risk.” (The prixlucer rents the hall, pays for advertising plus other upfront costs and, if tickets sales are sluggish,, could lose money on the deal.) Although Martin jokes that her job is to “Sell, sell, sell— Do I have a show for you!”— the amazing fact is, akuit half of the gigs she kxiks for her clients are fund-raisers for such causes as AIDS, breast cancer, Greenpeace, No on 9 and so forth. T hat means k ith she and her performers work for reduced fees. “As long as audiences keep coming, I’ll keep doing it,” she says, not ready to retire her dialing finger anytime soon. Martin has also worked with Robin Tyler on k ith the Marches on Washington, D.C., for gay and lesbian rights. Another fun thing she has done for the past decade is kxik artists on all the Olivia cruises. Then, gee, someone has to take the cruise to act as stage manager for the performances, so Martin often wears that hat, tcxi, which has taken her to some far-flung places. In fact, she just returned from Greece, Egypt and Turkey. Nice work, and she can get it! “My passion is traveling all over the world,” she admits, eyes gleaming with visions of a future trip to Thailand. Martin organizes her day so she has free time to pursue her latest hobby, French lessons. “Mornings are hustley,” she says, “but 1 love having control of my time.” Her main rule is: If it’s not fun, stop doing it! Good words to live by. One gets the sense Tam Martin has figured out how to have plenty of fun in her life. She and her partner of nine years recently celebrat ed their anniversary in Paris. Does it getting any better than that? Well, maybe— they’re already planning their 10th for Australia. 1 love what I do, and my clients truly are my friends, Martin reiterates. “We’re a team and we have fun and we do work for gcxxi causes that we all believe in. I feel so lucky, because I just made this job up!” We all should he so lucky! in
