_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ fahruary 7, g003 »
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DIVERSIONS
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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