aprii 20.2001 * Jaast 001*37
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Singing
/'Our Lives
/""i.""' 4 'A urora
C horus
J
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S C H N IT Z E R C O N C E R T H A LL
SPECIA L GUESTS
MAY 5 • 7 : 3 0 pm
L inda H ornbuckle
N ancy K ing
J anice S croggins
J osie M oseley
V iriditas
RESERVED: $16, $20
SPONSOR: $50
NW PREM IERE
A.pril 21
"W here I L ive ,
A BREAST CANCER ORATORIO
guest soloist D iane S yrcle
zym ko director
A benefit for thè Oregon
& SW Washington Affiliate of
THE SUSAN G. KOMEN
BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION
PCPA Box Office
FASTIXX 5 03 . 224.8499
Aurora Chorus 5 0 3 . 721.0262
(sponsor tickets through Aurora)
>
O
NO ONE TUNNED »W M DUE T0
LACK Of FUNDS SPACE AVAILAILE
I
from
rig h t!
Which Hazel?
E rotic A dventures for the 5 oul
“Celebrating the Body Erotic”
Come alive to the power of your erotic
energy. Open your body, mind and spirit
to a world o f ecstasy. Discover deeper levels
of communication with yourself and others.
Honor yourself with the gift o f touch.
As she prepares for a reunion show,
Jody Bleyle returns a different drummer
by
K aty D avidson
girls,” she says. “I needed a way to combine
ny young lesbian living in Portland during
music and dykes.”
the 1990s probably caught wind of Jody
She managed to strike a balance throughout
Bleyle s name somehow— not only was she
the mid-’90s by keeping active in both bands.
i the spunky, balls-out, in-your-face drum
She also started her own record label, Candy
mer for Hazel (an otherwise all-male rock band,
Ass, which co-released records by Team Dresch
a group she still fondly describes as “grunge”),
and small handful of Portland’s trip-hop acts.
but she was one-quarter of the now-seminal
Bleyle relocated to the Bay Area at a seem
dyke entourage Team Dresch. Besides knowing
ingly odd moment: It was 1997, and her two
all of this, 1 felt an odd sort of personal connec
bands
were rockin’ and gaining prominence.
tion with her because 1) someone once told me
She describes her departure as a kind of escape.
I kxik like her and 2) another someone once
“I ran away from Portland,” she says. “I
told me she had a dream that I had a crush on
wanted
to take everything apart and put it
Bleyle, so she punched me in the stomach.
back together in a different way.”
Although 1 lived in Portland at the end of
W hat exactly does this mean? Well, four
the ’90s, I somehow managed never once to
years
ago, Bleyle fell into synch with the San
see Hazel or Team Dresch play, so my percep
Francisco punk-reggae scene.
tion of her was formed merely through
“It was a direction I was already mentally
friends’ stories of her onstage high jinks ("I
heading
in—polyrhythms, polyphony, the spiritu
was on a mission; 1 used to yell a lot,” she
ality of certain chordal structures,” she says. “This
says) and the tastefully topless photo of her
was what was really exciting me about music."
and her band members on the cover of the
Bleyle befriended several punk-reggae bands.
Hazel record.
Inspired by their commitment to music, nature
So, what the hell was I supposed to ask this
and womanly love, she began collaborating
sort-of-familiar stranger? This, my friends, was
with the five members of Reggae Mentality.
not the task of the journalist. It was the task of
Despite the name, Bleyle
the human being.
assures me the group is
I approached Bleyle in
“
120 percent punk.”
anti-interview style: We
“Even though we play
l " I ran away from Portland.
just hung out.
I punk music, we do it with
Interestingly, 1 met her
I
wanted
to
take
everything
a reggae mentality,” she
away from the wet stomp
says. "That’s how we came
ing grounds of Portland,
opart and put it back
up with the name.”
at her “deceptively nice”
together
in
a
different
way."
Reggae Mentality recent
apartment in San Fran
ly recorded a three-song
ciscos Mission District.
— Jody Bleyle
demo in Bleyle’s home studio
She made this disclaimer
and
completed a comprehen
as the man living upstairs loud
sive tour of California’s central
ly, forcefully and repeatedly attem pted to
valley. Despite her admitted “new direction," she
clear some lodged debris from his throat. “Its
says
she’s excited to take a short break from these
compulsive,” she says.
musical endeavors to prepare for a Hazel reunion
After discussing San Franciscos freaky housing
in Portland, the band’s first show in two years.
situation (soon to flee Portland for Frisco myself, I
However, she promises the crowd will find a
admittedly eyed her apartment’s extra bedrcxim
much calmer, more spiritual drummer behind
like a hawk), Bleyle reminisced for a while about
the set. “I just want to spread love and absorb
playing in Hazel. "It seems funny to talk about it
love,” she says. JH
now because things have changed so much, but it
really was odd to be a girl in a band then," she
HAZEL plays with Quasi and Harivy Danger
says. “It was kind of lonely, scary at times.”
9
p.m. April 21 at Pine Street Theater, 215 S.E.
At one point she was spending so much
Ninth Ate. Tickets— $10 in advance, $12 at the
time with Hazel, she never saw any women. In
door— are available at the venue, 503-231-1530,
fact, she was driven to co-found Team Dresch
or through Fastixx.
because she wanted to meet other dykes and
collaborate musically.
KATY D a v id so n is a musician and free-lance tenter.
"1 wanted to hang out with girls, kiss
f
Bodij Electric School
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