♦
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