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DIVERSIONS
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Then, reflecting the Dresden Dolls’ way of
cutting seriousness with humor, she playfully
adds, “O f course, it probably doesn’t hurt that
the drummer is an occasional cross-dresser
with a rocking hod, either.”
Count Zero and the Ditty Bops open for the
Dresden Dolls 9 p.m. Nov. 15 at Aladdin T he
ater, 3017 S.E. Milwaukie Ave. Tickets are $12
at the door and $10 in advance from the box
office or Ticketmaster.
Doug Fir grows
queer roots
wo new queer nights in town promise to
pull queer Portland out of the provincial
mud and show the rest of the country that
we know how to play queer. Jack and Snatch
are trading off Sundays at the new Doug Fir
Lounge, intending to party on the cutting
edge of the entertainment scene hy featuring
nationally recognized DJs and hands, go-go
dancers and performance artists who will lift
the Rose City’s queer nights to a national par.
Jack: Queer as F **k is brought to you the
second and fourth Sunday of every month hy
the parents of Porky’s perpetually rocking
night, B(X)ty. While DJs Puppet and Stormy
will continue to pump out their ever-popular
hip-hop, electroclash and rock, they intend
Jack to focus on national names and queer acts
in addition to showcasing community talent.
Proving they mean business, Jack will kick off
with electroclash creator Larry Tee on
Nov. 14, follow with DJ Boy on Nov. 28, then
fly in some queer hip-hop from L.A.
The organizers of Jack want its audience to
tmly embody “queer,” which is to say a gender
spectrum willing to screw sexuality’s neat bi
furcated boxes, not to mention anyone in those
boxes. Jo doesn’t want to pick a fight with
Holocene’s two favorite dyke nights, Tarr and
Diva (second and fourth Sundays, respec ive-
ly), so expect a mixed crowd, possibly with a
slight leaning toward the hoys.
On the other hand, as the not-so-subtle
name implies, Snatch: A Dyke Knight wants
to seduce the queer ladies on the first and third
Sunday of every month. Each week will offer
something special, he it a hand, perfonnance
artist or crazy contest, in addition to a number
of rotating DJs, with the intention of show
casing new queer talent both local and nation
al. Lesbian hands Take the Blame and Excuse
Me, Sir (fresh out of Austin) will rock the
stage for Snatch’s dehut Nov. 7. It’s about time
Portland remembers its dyke rock past.
The Doug Fir’s fancy duds at 830 E. Bum-
side St. offer both nights the opportunity to
play at a performance and club level other
queer nights can’t reach (not to mention the
Jupiter Hotel offers overnight package deals for
any Doug Fir event, promising a new shag
poter*; M Jack and Snatch’s crowds are un
determined, hut Portland’s voracious queers
continue to eat up queer nights like candy.
And these two nights offer something particu
larly sweet.
T
Lady, make a noise!
D
Both Jack and Snatch will be held from 5
to 11 p.m. and cost $6 at the door. For more
information vl .. i www.jackpdx.com and
www.snatchpdx.coi i i
Silent voices
brought to light
t’s the year of the ” >man for Wade McCol-
lum’s fledgling theater company.
I
Insight Out— \ nich was founded hy the
Portland star of Hedwi ; and the Angry Inch
along with Julianna 1 e and Lindsay Lucas—
opens its first f ni seas l, themed “Women in
Time,” with the olay ( om ered in the D ark.
Written hy East Caa^ lesbian performer/play-
wright Lenelle N YL se, Cornered runs
through Nov. 20 at rrehouse Theatre,
1436 S.W. Montgome.y St.
Billed as a “choreopoem,” the play melds
poetry and dance Ntozake Shange-style to
explore the psychological aftermath of sexual
assault. Four anonymous characters— played hy
Moise, Jaffe, Lucas and Chandra Curtis— meet
in a dream.
“Through a series of ceremonial slam
poems, testimonials, music and movement,
[they] begin a process of individual and collec
tive healing,” Moise told Just Out.
The play’s 24-year-old Haitian American
author is a recipient of the James Baldwin
Memorial Award in Playwriting and co-screen-
writer of the award-winning feature film Sexual
Dependency.
Moise says she wrote Cornered because she
“wanted to create art that went a little deeper
than the typically voyeuristic film angle of a
naked woman weeping in her shower after an
attack. I wanted to write something that wasn’t
just about facts.”
She notes that a woman is raped every two
minutes and that 66 percent of rape victims
know their assailants. She says she wanted to
explore how those facts affect women’s psyches.
Cornered runs at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays
and Saturdays. Tickets are $ 15 from
503-234-0973 or www.insightouttheatre.org.
Thursday performances are sliding scale and are
followed by a talk with the playwright.
Dolled up
Lenelle N . Moise wrote the “choreopoem”
Cornered in the Dark to explore the psycho
logical aftermath of sexual assault
on’t say don’t to Diane Syrcle and Susan
nah Mars because they’re sure to turn
around and do.
The two well-known Portland vocalists—
and anointed “divas” of the Portland Gay
Men’s Chorus— have teamed up to bring you
Everybody Says Don’t, a spirited, eclectic
evening Nov. 16, 23 and 30 at W ilf’s Restau
rant and Piano Bar, 800 N.W. Sixth Ave.
Syrcle, the director of Portland Youth Phil
harmonic, has lent her soprano talents to the
Portland Opera, the Oregon Symphony and
others. Mars has been wooing regional audi
ences with Broadway numbers for years.
Last year, they found themselves sharing the
stage at a PGM C benefit wearing gigantic
bouffant wigs and singing a tune from
Hair spray.
“It was a turning point,” said Syrcle. “I was
belting, she was singing high...our worlds final
ly collided. We decided it was time to do a
show.”
f you’re looking for emotionally charged
decadent theatricality, you’ll find it on
Aladdin Theater’s stage Nov. 15, when the
Dresden Dolls— a Boston-based musical duo
I
who recently conquered their hometown hy
winning a handful of Boston Music Awards,
including Best Live Act— bring their “punk
cabaret” act to Portland.
The two Dolls— Amanda Palmer (song
writer, vocalist, keyboards) and Brian Viglione
(drums, the occasional guitar)— put on make
up, don anachronistical^' formal, dandified
attire and use incongruous whimsy and insane
ly catchy nursery-rhyme rhythms to explore
themes of loneliness, mental breakdowns,
sex/gender rebellion and the malaise of
encroaching conformity. The result, as heard
on their self-titled album, is an intense balanc
ing act between the literally hysterical and the
mordantly hilarious that could easily draw lis
teners from the fan bases of Tori Amos or
Fiona Apple.
The Dresden Dolls’ aural and visual style
stands in stark contrast to the dressed-down
earnestness of much of today’s “alternative”
music scene, hut, according to Palmer, their
focus is more on following their own artistic
path than on making aesthetic statements.
“I consider myself, first and foremost, a per
former,” she says. “Then a songwriter, musician,
singer.. .there are plenty of artists out there
who feel a kind of cultural or political responsi
bility. I’d prefer to inspire our audience to take
that job on themselves.”
But Palmer does acknowledge the group’s
attention-grabbing visual presentation.
“1 [used to have] a real aversion to costumes
and makeup on stage,” she says. “But to say it
works is an understatement. There’s a freedom
in wearing ‘performance’ clothes. In an age
where costumes and makeup are suspect and
jeans and T-shirts on stage are the uniform of
authenticity, we do stick out like a sore thumb.
But I’believe the music cuts through that very'
effectively...our image enhances our sound,
rather than distracts from it.”
Although both Palmer and Viglione are
straight, their progressive, cheeky take on sex
and gender has fueled a kinship between the
Dresden Dolls and the queer community, and
Palmer unequivocally considers her group
queer-friendly.
“Brian and I straddle different so-called
‘gender roles’ depending on the weather,”
Palmer says, “and our early core fan base in
Boston was the performance art and queer
scenes. Some of our most devoted fans have
come from the gay and trans communities,
which doesn’t surprise me at all considering the
identity/gender-crisis nature of some of our
songs.”
Diane Syrcle lets the fur fly this month in her
cabaret with Susannah Mars at Wilf’s
With a little help from pianist Carol Lucas,
Syrcle and Mars set about combining their
repertoires. When it came to finding a title for
the show, Sondheim’s “Everybody Says Don’t”
was a shoo-in with lyrics like “Laugh at the
kings or they’ll make you cry...Fall if you have
to/But lady, make a noise!”
“Here we are a straight woman and a les
bian, coming together to make beautiful
music,” said Syrcle.
But before you get misty-eyed, Syrcle also
promises “there will he a real catfight, blowout,
fur-flying extravaganza— musically speaking,”
including a duet from A venue Q.
Syrcle will sing a love sting to her sweet
heart, Susan Leo. Plus she says she’ll gladly give
up the limelight for a moment to listen to
“Blue” hy William Bolcum “sung by the divine
Ms. Mars."
Shows are at 7:30 p.m. with a $15 cover.
Reservations recommended from
503-223-0070. j n
Compiled by M eg D aly , C hristopher
M c Q uain and A aron S oott