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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2002)
♦ W a n te d : A f e w g o o d le a th e r m e n a n d le a th e r w o m e n B lackout Leather Produc tions of Oregon, the state’s only all-volunteer non profit leather organization, is looking for community input and interested peo ple to attend its 2002 public board meeting. Spots are open for new board members as well as other chances to help within the leather, sadism, masochism and fetish communities. Blackout’s main focus is the production of Leather Pride Week each August, as well as the Oregon State Mr./Ms. Leather Contests. The titleholders sponsor fund-raisers for chari ties throughout the year. The meeting will start 3:30 p.m. Jan. 13 in the back bar at Embers, 110 N.W. Broadway. Questions can be directed to Blackout presi dent Don Hood at PoohBoots@aol.com. — Andy Mangels L C P o ff e r s q u e e r A S L c la s s e s Last spring marked the arrival of a new little rocker by the name of Marshall Tucker Bangs, son of hi band member Corin Tucker and her spouse, Portland-based video director Lance Bangs. The kid arrived a bit sooner than expected, Tucker says, “because he is a rock ’n’ roll cowboy and came out early so he could steal the show.” However, baby gained weight quickly and is doing fine. Meanwhile, lesbian lead gui tarist Carrie Brownstein was working on stealing her own show, landing a major role in the new movie Group. Shot on digi tal video, the film follows the lives of eight women who meet each other in therapy. Many of the characters will be on the screen at the same time in their own little video square. The indie flick, which is seeking a distributor, also does nothing to hide the camera equipment in shots, thereby revealing and incorporating the art of film- making into T he Lesbian Community Project will again sponsor American Sign Language classes this winter and spring as part of the organi zation’s outreach to the deaf community. Port land has a large queer deaf culture, including some active members in the Northwest Rain bow Alliance of the Deaf. The LCP’s Kristan Aspen notes that one of her goals is to “provide services and program ming of interest to deaf and hearing women, so they will come together and learn about and from each other.” The McKenzie River Gathering Foundation issued a grant to the group last year for the A SL classes and for a Deaf Culture Night, pre sented by deaf people for hearing people. The successful evening was “an opportunity to learn about folks we may have seen but not known over the years,” Aspen says. Winter Level 1 ASL classes begin Jan. 7, and Level 2 begins Jan. 8. The cost is $40-$65 on a sliding scale. Call 503-235-0840 or e-mail queerasl@yahoo.com to register. You also can register now for the spring sessions. nominations, which were announced Dec. 20. The movie is up for Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. Not bad for a guy largely ignored by award ceremonies directing an art house film, which are largely ignored by award ceremonies with a plot that is...well, you know. The prize for Most Deserved Nomination goes to actor/director John Cameron Mitchell for his portrayal of the title character in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. It is with a sigh of relief to queer audiences nationwide that this somewhat surreal film turned out as brilliantly as it did, pushing multiple transsexual issues (not to men tion wigs) to the forefront of pop culture. Con sidering the other nominees for Best Musical or Comedy Actor— Hugh Jackman for Kate & Leopold, Ewan McGregor for Moulin Rouge, Gene Hackman for The Royal Tenenbaums (please) and Billy Bob Thornton for Bandits (maybe)— Mitchell should be a shoo-in. But will the angry inch be an inch too much for Globe voters? The luminescent Tilda Swinton garnered a Best Drama Actress nomination for her role as the protective mom of a closeted young man in The Deep End. The Scotswoman is no stranger to queer roles, playing a lesbian in the biopic of artist Francis Bacon, Love Is the Devil; a bisexu al in Female Perversions ; and the title character in the fabulous gender-bending Orlando. Hayden Christensen, who played Kevin Kline’s teen hustler son in Life as a House, was nomi nated for Best Sup porting Actor. N BC will broad cast the 59th annual the story. Brownstein, who has little acting ex perience (save a heck of a lot of stage carousing, and let’s face it, that’s no act), auditioned for the movie in respoase to a 1. Weirdo David Lynch public casting call. Tim Jenson of Olympia gets the golden nod media studio Wovie says he believes the film directors didn’t know who she was. 2. Will a Golden Globe “She was a bit nervous,” he recalls, pacify Hedwig’s anger? “but that seemed to work to her advan tage.... She did an incredible job; they 3. Queer film goddess were captivated by her.” Yeah, we know Tilda Swinton what they mean. Golden Globe Awards As for our favorite straight girl Janet live from the Beverly Hills Hotel at 8 p.m. Weiss, she went ahead and released Sword of Jan. 20. Pull out those Hedwig foam wigs, and God with her other band. Quasi, keep your fingers crossed. the duo’s fifth album. Rave reviews followed along with a popular tour, including a crowd A n d th e R a s p b e r r y A w a r d ed show in October at the Crys g o e s t o ... tal Ballrcxim. The dmmmer also 'he makers of the biopic A Beautiful Mind, collaborated with queerific who chose to delete any reference to the Northwest singer Sarah main character’s bisexuality, which is an Dougher on her latest release, element in the book from which it was adapt The Bluff. (Tucker lent guest ed. The film was nominated for six Golden vocals, too.) Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture What more can we say? Drama, Best Director and a Best Drama Actor Oh, the punkers were nominat- nomination flit Russell Crowe. Ü ed by the Gay and Lesbian An anonymous source from the production Alliance Against Defamation crew was quoted on Gay.com as remarking: for Outstanding Album of 2000 “American audiences don’t care to see Russell (Ail Hands on the Bad One) and Crowe getting it on with a man! It would just named Best Rock Band by Time kill us at the box office.” Guess it depends on magazine, a glorious achievement by main which American audience you ask. stream standards. (Reportedly, the group finds Reportedly, Crowe is unhappy that bisexual the distinction swell, if somewhat amusing.) references were not adapted to the film. In any case, those of you who do care to see him get it G o ld e n G lo b e s a c tin g on with a man should go out and rent 1994’s a lit tle q u e e r The Sum of U s, in which he plays a gay Aus tralian rugby player on the prowl. jH avid Lynch’s freaky lesbo thriller Mulhol- land Drive pulled in an impressive (and Compiled by L isa B radshaw surprising) four major Golden Globe Award T! S le a t e r - K in n e y b a b e s p la y C r y s ta l t was a good 2001 for those enduring and endearing queer rock grrrls, Sleater-Kinney, who play the Crystal Ballroom on Jan. 11 with Tracy + the Plastics. (See Page 26 for details.) No new album, hut the Olympia, Wash., trio wasn’t resting on its laurels by any means. I D What's popped and what's (lopped, in a theater near you. dud, bottom of the bag only if you’re really hungry good effort, pass the salt mmmm, tasty! get the big tub o’ com A B eautiful M ind Russell Crowe gives another Oscar worthy performance as a brilliant mathe matician who overcomes schizophrenia to win the Nobel Prize. Ed Harris plays a gov ernment official who needs to borrow this tortured cranium to crack Commie codes, and Jennifer Connelly is stunning as the supportive wife. Director Ron Howard uses clever techniques to help us under stand the couple’s suffering. —Jim Radosta T he B usiness of S trangers Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles play, respectively, a middle-aged corporate she-warrior and her mysterious protégé. The two become embroiled in a dubious revenge scheme that opens the dtxu to sparring, solidarity and palpable sexual tension between them. Imagine the mis anthropy and mistrust of a David Mamet or a Neil LaBute applied to a more direct ly feminist theme, and you’ll get an idea of what writer/director Patrick Stettner is up to here. —Christopher McQuain G o T igers ! This documentary about the town of Massillon, Ohio, and its obsession with high school football could entertain some and frighten others, depending on your adolescent experiences. Fortunately, direc tor Kenneth A. Carlson also talks with outcasts who hate the beloved team. And one can’t help but notice the homoerotic undertones as the sweaty boys bond. -JR T he R oyal T enenbaums Director Wes Anderson (Rushmore) twirls Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Stiller through a lighthearted drama regarding an absen tee father’s attempt to reconcile with his offspring, who are spending their adult lives recovering from childhixxd genius. The actors are given unusual, affectionate ly written characters to work with. But Anderson’s attention to detail is the real star; his is a style both precise and unpre tentious. As an added bonus, Paltrow is allowed a quick lesbian kiss before the credits roll. — CM
