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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2003)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ fahruary 7, g003 » — * [ 4 ^ DIVERSIONS ..............▼ ................. Happy Anti-Valentine A h, the queer community and Valentine’s Day. and goth bands are Shift SS and headliner The Impotent Sea Snakes. Shift is a “performance body modi fication group” that, according to Stephanie M cShane, manager of Spartacus Leathers, “is not quite for the squeamish. But it’s really beautiful.” Expect some onstage piercing and sus pension from hooks. Impotent Sea Snakes may show you more of the same among its “futuristic rock ’n ’ roll circus,” but bigger and more, more, more. For those outside the leather community, this is your chance to plop down $20 to see how the other half lives. M cShane encourages those who don’t normally engage in this stuff to no t be afraid. “G o with a friend...and check it out,” she says. “It’s unbelievable, and you just really have to see it for yourself.” A nd don’t worry, nobody expects anything of you. “There’s... three bars, and upstairs has stadium seating. You can just hang out and be comfortable.” But don’t, for gosh sakes, wear your G ap lounge pants. If you’re unsure how to dress, stick to whatever you’ve got th a t’s black, M cShane suggests. T hen “maybe you can add a little of the gothic or Victorian look to that.” You’re just not cool if you’re into the lovers holiday wherein you buy a satin box of chocolates and red, red roses for that special someone. It’s everywhere, the smarm: “Singles Awareness Day,” reads a big sign in the window of In Other Words, and as the sun goes down, you can mosey over to the W hite Eagle Saloon for “Singles Awareness Night.” Ha! Take that, happy couples! All right, die embracing of alternative rela tionships and sexualities within the queer com munity, coupled with the lack of legal repre sentation in the form of marriage, allows for a reinterpretation of the oppressive con fines of traditional couplings. Yes, yes, I know all that. But what if I just want to snuggle up with my sweetie and drink bubbly out of heart-shaped cham pagne flutes? C an I still be hip? OK, I admit I’m mostly playing devil’s advocate. The pressures of V-Day do, indeed, get out of control, as does the tacky crap Fred Meyer wants to sell you to prove your love. So we all agree then. Screw Valentine’s Day! But it is a Friday night and some of us do have peo ple we love, after all. A nd some of us just want to get laid, but, The Impotent Sea anyway, the question is: W hat can parents always suspected you were seeing you do Feb. 14 that isn’t cheesy or expensive or requires you have an A nything leather, PVC or latex is good, too. LTR (yet, it’s OK if you do)? If you have trouble, just call her at the store or Well, first, there’s a very special episode of stop by. “We have clearance racks; you can actual Skervy— Q ueer to the Bone! which is moving ly get a pretty cool outfit for. . .under $50. Cer from its usual digs at Billy Ray’s over to N orth tainly not everyone has to go out and spend sev east Alberta’s W hatever Lounge, for the Black eral hundred dollars on chain mail for one event.” Hearts Dance. Well, th at’s good news. There will be the “large wine bottle painted But if this stuff just isn’t your thang, I red,” describes DJ Zanne, “should some bottle heartily suggest the rousing Rose City Swing spinning need to occur.” Even easier is the Band’s Moonlight and Melodies concert and Kissing Krew— roving kissers on the dance dance at Portland Metro Club. If you swing, of floor. “We may even bring back Pin the course, there’s no doubt this will be your Merkin on the Pussy with my large and lovely Valentine’s N ight destination. If you don’t lady life-size illustration on the wall,” says swing, don’t worry; the traditional 16-piece Zanne. (I had to ask, too. “M erkin” is a pussy band will give you plenty of ear candy. wig. T he things I learn working here.) Featured is vocalist Carol Reise, who, if you Also available, according to Zanne, will be a saw her performance at the Portland Gay crew of volunteers “to spank, paddle, whip, tie M en’s Chorus Adults Only Cabaret last fall, up or tickle any willing participants. I encourage will rev you up and send you ninning to event guests to bring implements of their own choos hostess Misha’s Make-A-Date. See? Couples ing, and we’ll put them to good use.” Also sug and singles co-habitating. gested are "scandalous and outrageous" outfits, W hat am I doing for V alentine’s Day? I’ll which could lead to a discount from the out be dressed as a giant heart in front of the landish $2.99 entry fee. Any and all queers and Immigration and Naturalization Service on their friends are welcome at any Skervy event. N orthw est Broadway as part of the Lesbian Across the river at the Roseland Theater that and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force’s same nigfrt is the annual Fetish Masquerade Ball, protest against discriminatory immigration where the vibrant fire, belly and go-go dancers policies. Yep, pretty sexy. JH mix it up with other rather unforgettable perform ance options. Two of note among the hard rock A child of pleasure ortland playwright William “ Sam” Gregory has penned another piece about a remark able woman from a distant century. His previous play, M ary Tudor— about the 17 th century English queen know n as “Bloody Mary”— won three Drammy awards in 1999, including best new play. His latest, Child of Pleasure, runs through M arch 15 at C 0H 0 T h eater. It’s actually the first work in a trilogy about N in o n de L’Enclos, a 17th century French Epicurean, philosopher and courtesan. T h a t last one means a high-priced call girl. “H er father had gotten involved in a trem endous scan dal,” explains Gregory, “and was exiled from Paris.” T his made poor N inon unmarriageable, which m eant “she and her m other were left with n o thing.” So N inon looked at her two choices— “the church and the street,” Gregory explains. Being “a free thinker, she was not inclined to go into the church.” She d id n ’t exactly take to th e streets, though. A courtesan, Gregory continues, is “a successful and high-priced prostitute, more like a geisha— som eone w ho is valued no t only for th eir sexual skills but for their intelligence, th eir wit and their conversation.” Gregory was inspired to investigate her life because “as a gay man I was so impressed how she managed the issues of her own sexuality and the sexuality of her day. She decided from a very young age...that sexual morality...was so wildly different between men and women and that...she would live in the sexual arena for a man.” This meant N inon called the shots. “Her sexual partners were, for the most part, although not exclusively, men, but she would...take on what...society sanctioned as male attributes,” Gregory explains: She chose her partners, she set the terms of the affair, she was the one to terminate it. “This was all con sidered very scandalous. They were very much into the idea of the woman as the passive flower.” She turned these decisions into a philoso phy, deciding never to carry on a love affair for more th an three months. “She truly believed th at friendship was the highest ideal and that sexual passion, although every excit ing, was a transitory experience,” Gregory muses. A fter three m onths, “they were never allowed back into her life as a sexual partner. Many of them continued to be her friends...but it was a v e i\ strictly regimented arrangement. I was very interested in how P March is queer comic month 17th century courtesan N inon de L’Enclos has been quite an inspiration to Portland gay playwright William S. Gregory this seemed to parallel some strata of contem porary gay society.” The play covers three days in the life of Ninon upon the return of her father. Gregory’s interest in the lives of women from a very differ ent time and place stems from “the experience of people who find themselves in such dramatic situations. Both Mary Tudor and N inon are peo ple put into extreme situations. Mary is unsuc cessful in dealing with her society.. .Child of Pleasure is a comedy; [Ninon] more successfully negotiates the traumas inflicted on her.” Tickets to Child of Pleasure are $16-$ 18 from 503-220-2646. What a month for comics wo fabulous queer comedians are coming back to Portland in March. M argaret C ho will delight audiences with her new Revo lution Tour (no doubt rowdy and lewd) March 13 at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets are on sale now for $29.50-$39.50 from Ticketmaster. Ellen D eG eneres follows M arch 22 with her new show, H ere & N ow , also at the Schnitz. Those tickets are $29.50-$42.50, available by Internet presale only until 5 p.m. Feb. 7. They go on sale to the general public 10 a.m. Feb. 8 at all Ticketmaster outlets. D eG eneres has also made a pact w ith N B C to produce The Ellen DeQeneres Show, scheduled to begin running this fall. Taking Rosie O ’D o n n ell’s place as top les bian daytim e talker, D eG eneres will play host to celebrities, musical acts and field segments. A lthough n o t yet slated to air in the Portland area, Ellen’s W eb site en co u r ages us n o t to worry— more cities will be announced in the com ing m onths. J H T C om piled by L isa B radshaw
