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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 2, 2004)
MUSIC ...... ▼...... I f you get excited at the wide-open prospect of the rich, presumably heterosexual- dominated body of 20th century popular culture being proved readily available to queer reinterpretation, then Remembering Patsy Cline and Just Because I’m a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton will definitely pique your curiosity. These tributes honoring the legendary country music stars are a veritable Gay Straight Alliance of women artists, and the spectrum, though heavy on the delicate introspection (no PJ Harveys or Courtney Loves here), is broad enough; anything that finds com mon ground between Amy Grant and k.d. lang, as Remembering Patsy Cline does, intrigues. Both Cline and Parton wrote songs that, for all their depth and resonance, are simple, effortless and so human that anyone who’s ever had an emotion can find empathy in them. More queer- specifically, Parton enjoys a huge gay following and has been dogged for as long as anyone can remember by speculations that she, ahem, enjoys the company of women. Cline, too, has a history with the gays; she’s a long-standing drag idol whose sophisticated emotional phrasings sparked a torch-song flame in the heart of a young k.d. lang, who recruited Cline producer Owen Bradley for her 1988 album Shadowland. The Cline album is the less interesting of the two; the country diva’s songs are deserving of veneration, but many of the arrangements are so safe, they merely serve as static monuments. Too eatingout eatingout Finding the queer in country Queen of Scots Tribute albums spark new interest in down-home divas by C hristopher M c Q uain many of the artists seem to be whis O’Connor’s fiery “Dagger Through the pering to themselves as they tiptoe Heart” explores American country music’s through a Cline museum, and too fiddle-heavy Celtic roots. many of the songs are perfect Melissa Etheridge has the unenviable task of copies wherein the singer seems reclaiming “I Will Always Love You,” and unconcerned with finding the though her trip-hop-tinged take is a vast emotion for herself: Natalie Cole, improvement over Whitney Houston’s schmaltzy version, it still lacks the innate plaintiveness that Rebecca Lynn Howard and Martina McBride all offer note-perfect can be heard on Parton’s 1974 recording. renditions that lack inspiration. If it’s the function of tributes to re-engage There are a few exceptions: longtime fans of musicians by filtering their lang’s smoky “Leaving on Your beloved compositions through new voices, the Mind” conveys the song’s under reverse, particularly in the case of Just Because stated devastation, Michelle I’m a Woman, is also Branch does a surprisingly convinc true. If you haven’t heard the classic < ” * ing “Strange,” and Patty Griffin’s “Faded Love” gets that heartbroken Parton or yet determined Cline flavor just right. Cline The Parton disc has more to offer, both in recordings its song selection and strength of vision. that Remembering Patsy Cline contains exactly the inspired same track listing as Cline’s original Greatest these Hits album, but the artists on Just Because I’m a versions, Woman have dug up gems from all over Par- you’ll be ton’s huge, decades-spanning catalog. left eager to The ultrapopular Norah Jones (who also seek them appears on the Cline disc) does a sparse, out. jn lovely “The Grass Is Blue,” Franz Ferdinand Me’Shell N’Degeocello serves up an almost menacingly low-pitched enjoys a sexy gender mix-and-match “Two Doors Down,” and Sinead eatingout s q u eatingout e e z Specializing in fresh squeezed cocktails lounging bass laid back beats every wed thurs fri & sat nights down tempo style 1403 se belmont 503-239-5144 open @ 5pm eatingout eatingout Franz Ferdinand is a bandwagon worth jumping hey’re huge, they’re hyped, they’re.. .queer? The Scottish band Franz Ferdinand—a music press juggernaut in the United Kingdom who recently finished a U.S. tour that caused mass hipster hysteria—consists of four rather fetching young men in vintage clothes who thoroughly transcend their cute but conventional indie-rock image on their eponymous debut album. Franz Ferdinand is brash, fresh, accomplished and heavily laden with the kind of catchine« that only comes from pure pop inspiration. The sound hearkens back to the great post-punk hybrids of Blondie (especially on “Darts of Plea sure” and “Take Me Out”) and New Order, it’s danceable without being effete, artistic without being pretentious and “rocks” without being macho. Marrying delicate, bittersweet melodies and poiyrhythmic stops and starts, the lads freely stretch the limits of what can be done with a four-piece guitar band. They also play a game of sexual mix-and-match that puts them in . league with classic U.K. gender- hoppers like The Smiths and j Suede. Midway through the album (on “Cheating on You”), singer Alex Kapranos is intoning “goodbye girl” and three songs later (“Michael”) he’s growling and panting for a male object of desire to leave his “stubble on my sticky lips.” T eatingout eatingout Portland’s Great Food original low carb res tn it rant Just Happens to be LOW CARB CRf ATIONS Lou- C«<* Complete menus are available at www.unclebutchys.com 3728 NE Sandy Blvd. • 503-288-5955 N orthwest and C ontinental C uisine L unch • D inner J azz C abaret E very T uesday L ivi J azz T hurs S at dinner NW 6 th & I rving • U nion S tation • 503 22 3 0070 WWW AVILES.( ITYS1 YRCH.COM castagna Wednesday...Saturday café castagna 7 nights a week 5W.23/.737.1 . 1752 sc hawthomc. portland
