I
CULTURE
........v ........
The way we wepe
Relive the misty water-colored memories
of Just Out's year in arts and culture
by
fle r n ite i ®
L isa B radshaw
January
Were the stars right?
Just O uts first cover story of the year was all
abtxit you and your stars: Astrology made easy,
tarot cards explained, where can you find a wiz
ard, and who is this woman who calls herself a
saint? Did you consult them? Were they right? Or
did you spend yet another year stumbling around
without a cosmic plan? Thank G od (or Goddess
or your lucky stars) you can make it all right
again with the coming of a new year. If you
need the Jan. 4 issue of Just Out, just call.
compositions. The gala served as a reminder that
it was nearly impossible to be openly gay in pre
vious years and, more importantly, that it would
still be that difficult if these normal, average
folks hadn’t worked so fervently on authenticity
in their own lives. Just Out says thanks.
February
Queering the stage
February brought a slew o f gay and lesbian
theater to Portland, most notably Artists
Repertory T heatre’s My
C astle’s Rockin’ : The Alberta
Hunter Story. T he one-
woman show, easily carried by
Portland actress Demene Hall,
followed the colorful
life o f Hunter— the
Q ueen o f Jazz for
three decades and
then the comeback
queen in the
1970s and ’80s.
And the always-
queer-friendly the
ater group not only
didn’t leave out
Hunter’s long-term les
bian relationship, they
actually highlighted it.
• Ornaments
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St. Helens
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Narry Hay documentary opens
Portland filmmaker Eric Slade opened Hope
Along the Wind: The Life of Harry Hay March 3
at Hollywood Theatre. Hay penned the mani
festo that essentially
began the gay rights
movement back in the
1940s and later founded
Radical Faeries. O ne of the
most dedicated civil rights
activists in the United States,
he told his own story in 1997’s
Radically G ay: G ay Libera
tion in the Words of Its
Founder but had never
been the subject o f a
film, to which Slade com
mented, “ It amazed me that no one
had done this documentary.” The
90-year-old Hay died o f lung cancer
O ct. 24 in San Francisco.
Thank heavens
for White Bird. The
gay-run nonprofit that brings
internationally renowned
dance troupes to Portland cer
tainly didn’t let us down
this year, and they g it
off to a hell of a start
with Les Ballets Trockadero. The
mostly gay, all-male ballet com
pany sold out Arlene Schnitzer
G incert Hall for its one-night-
only performance, which easily
could have sold two nights if
they, alas, only had the time.
But after swishing and pranc
ing around the stage in their
rendition of Su*m Lake, the
m jm S I
boys headed off to contin
ue their exhausting— and t.
hilarious— tour.
The Trucks swished into
a sold-out Portland show
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On March 15, our cover story on
bondage, dominance, submission and
masochism ran with surprisingly few
hate mail responses. Can the queer com
munity as a whole finally accept other
forms of alternative sexuality? Or is no one
reading the paper? We’ll get back to you.
April
Jews are gay, ten
Trembling Before G-d, a documentary about
gays, lesbians and Judaism, opened to an
extended run at Hollywood Theatre.
T he moving film followed the con
flicted and often painful lives of prac
ticing Jews who are queer. Director
Sandi Dubowski spoke with the Port
land audience April 7 in an event spon
sored by Jewish Family & Child Service.
T IC K ET S
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May
The Laramie Project
Artists Repertory Theatre opened The
Laramie Project for a successful four
weeks appropriately running through
Gay Pride Month. Joining the shining
cast was Jedadiah Schultz, now a drama
student at Yale, who traveled to Port
land to play, among other characters,
himself. He was one of the Wyoming
residents interviewed by New York’s
Tectonic Theater Project during
Vintage Voice*
its challenging mission to record
It was t<xigh to find a
local reactions to the death of
Lesbian love in Artists
dry eye in the audience
Matthew Shepard. His memorable per
Repertory Theatre’s
when the Portland Gay
formance included the late-in-the-play
My Castle's Ruckin': I be
Men’s Chorus performed
admission: “I just can’t believe I ever
Alberta Hunter Stars
Vintage Voices last March.
__________
said that stuff about homosexuals, you
The show, honoring senior
know? How did I ever let that stuff make
gay men and lesbians from the Portland area,
me think you were different from me?"
included documentary footage of interviews with
Continued on Page 42
the subjects and both period songs and original
March
M ore T h an
C an dy... |i
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Parents! Leave
ids at home and co
BT
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