lanuary 7.20Û5
DIVERSIONS
............... ▼................
Not your usual
grandma music
What a way to kick off the new year—with
a queer indie music extravaganza Jan. 13 at
Nocturnal, 1800 E. Bumside St., featuring
Nomy Lamm and her new hand, Tricotic.
Mirah, The Blow and Rigamortis will also
shake things up starting at 7:30 p.m.; tickets
are 10 bucks.
A radical voice for feminism, queer revolu
tion and ending fatphohia and other oppres
sions, Olympia-hom Lamm is now living in
Chicago. The self-taught musician has been
writing songs since she was 9. She is the co
creator of the epic rock opera The Transfused,
“a post-apocalyptic vision of multigendered
mongrel people finding community and
empowerment under the oppressive rule of
‘The Corporation.’ ”
Her latest musical project gets its name
from a tenn that means “three elevations to
one beat of the pulse.” The other members of
Tricotic are fellow Olympia queer girl Erin
Daly and her partner, Marcus Rogers, a trans
man and artist.
“We are all self-taught musicians,” says
Lamm. “We look at our music like an inven
tion. It has elements of punk, hip-hop, klezmer,
blues, gospel-y church music, vaudeville.
Sometimes we call it ‘grandma music.’ ’’
In addition to making inventive music,
Lamm is a dedicated activist. She lectures regu
larly at colleges and is working on a body
empowerment program for youth called Phat
Camp (www.morethanjustphat.com).
Lamm says there is much that queers can do
to make progressive change in the world.
“We need to...challenge the commodifica
tion of our identities and communities [and]
not be silenced and pacified by the few pieces
of privilege we are thrown,” she says. “Queers
need to be doing anti-racist work in the white
queer communities to understand how we are a
part of a much bigger world where the reality
is: Shit is hard. We need to see ‘queer’ as a
gateway into something bigger—an under
standing of life that is about the experience of
living it.”
A tainted love
off world music
DJ Yeah Yeah, the organizer of queer night
Taint, is up to new tricks. She is launching a
spinoff club starting Jan. 11 and running every
second and fourth Tuesday at the GixxJhxit
Lounge, 2845 S.E. Stark St.
Tainted Beats features electronica and
world music spun by queer DJs Paulanet,
Zanne and Fly, plus Yeah Yeah herself. Admit
tance is a mere $3-$5 sliding scale; you must be
21 or over.
“I’m an Argentine Amencan, and I always
want to play Latino music, but not many peo
ple will dance to music they aren’t familiar
with," says Yeah Yeah.
So she got together with some other DJ
friends and decided to start a club that would
bring together a racially diverse mix of queers
and straights.
“I know there are more racial minorities
and international music lovers out there that
need a place to go and hear authentic music,”
she says.
Zanne (whose day job involves pasting up
the publication you are now reading) says she’ll
be spinning bhangra, rai, ska, samba, salsa and
international hip-hop, plus a little klezmer for
kicks.
Yeah Yeah is more than just your average
club promoter. She hopes to spread a bit of har-
Crawford, Dawn and Cecilia; mother, Bonnie
Deneke; and son of her heart, Daniel Dziekan.
A memorial will be held 1 p.m. Jan. 15 in
the commons at Colton Middle School,
21580 S. Schleifer Road. A potluck will follow
the service.
Remembrances may be made to Washing
ton Mutual Bank for a scholarship fund for
Martin’s daughter.
An iconoclast
to her dying day
One of the most influential thinkers and
writers or our time passed away IVc. 28. Susan
Sontag—intellectual, cultural critic, lover of
both women and men—died at age 71 of com
plications of acute myelogenous leukemia.
Just last May, Sontag published an essay in
The New York Times Magazine, “Regarding the
Torture of Others,” on the abuse at rhe Abu
Ghraib prison. She examined the pornographic
nature of the photographs and made this inci
sive observation: “An erotic life is, for more
Activist/artist/organizer/amputee Nomy Lamm performs with her new trio, Tricotic, Jan. 13 at
and more people, that which can be captured
Nocturnal. Opening acts include queer musician Mirah (right).
in digital photographs and on video. And per
mony and understanding between people. In
So, how did the ladies fare on land? In
haps the torture is more attractive, as some
fact, proceeds from the first Tainted Beats will
keeping with national trends, the “winner”
thing to record, when it has a sexual compo
go to a relief fund for victims of the tsunami in
is...Miss Texas! Sizzling Rose Empress XLIV
nent. It is surely revealing, as more Abu
Southeast Asia.
Poison Waters (aka Kevin Cook) clawed her
Ghraib photographs enter public view, that tor
“If we don’t reunite ourselves more with
way to the crown eight times. Should she be
ture photographs are interleaved with porno
other great people, whether queer or straight or
unable to fulfill her duties, the runner-up is
graphic images of American soldiers having sex
bi or trans or black, Asian, Indian, Middle
Miss Industrial Northeast (Pepe Raphael of
with one another.”
Eastern, Latin, white and on and on,” Yeah
Bottle Blondes fame) with three wins.
Her critical eye was often sharply focused
Yeah wonders, “then how do we ever expect
Miss Deep South (Shaun Hennessey) and
on the role of photography in culture. She
change?”
Miss West Coast (Ammon Morris) each won
argued, “The camera makes everyone a tourist
twice, and once was enough for Miss Bible Belt
in other people’s reality, and eventually in
(Joe Healy) and Miss Great Plains (Kelsey
I one’s own.”
Tyler, the contest’s other gay hottie,
—
who made boys dnxil during last
Think about this for a moment: How many
summer’s 10 Naked Men).
opportunities do you get to watch a bunch of
The cast will stage two 90-
drag queens spoof beauty pageants while float
minute performances at 7 and 9 p.m.
ing down the Willamette River?
Fridays from Jan. 21 to Feb. 25.
Pageant, which just ended a successful run at
Boarding is 30 minutes prior to
Triangle Productions, now becomes the first
showtime from Salmon Street
musical prixJuction mounted by the Portland
Springs Fountain.
Spirit. For five weeks at Theater Theatre,
Tickets are $25 at rhe dtxir and
$20 in advance from 503-224-3900
judges were picked from the audience to rate
the gals based on a talent competition, pnxluct
or www.portlandspirit.com. Appetiz
demonstrations, evening gowns, swimsuits and
ers, desserts and drinks are available
physical fitness outfits.
at additional cost. If you want to get
■ a big group together to raise some
hell on high water, discounts are
available for parties^if 15 or more.
Whatever floats
your boat
Memorial planned
ffor softball player
Miss Great Plains (Kelsey Tyler) will compete
for the crown in Pageant Fridays from Jan. 21
to Feb. 25 aboard the Portland Spirit
In addition to her intellectual critiques. Susan Sontag
popularized the “so bad it's good” attitude toward camp
Former Portlander Dinah Lea Martin, who
played for an all-lesbian softball team back in
the ’80s, died from complications of lung can
cer Jan. 2. She was 46.
She was bom Aug. 7, 1958, and graduated
from Sunset High School in 1976. After
obtaining a two-year building technology
degree from Portland Community College and
attending Portland State University, she
worked for many years as a printer.
In the 1980s she was a member of the Les
bian Community Project and Women of the
Westside, a lesbian organization that brought
author Jane Rule to town from Canada. Martin
moved to Colton in 1989 and tixik up trout
fishing and gardening.
An avid sports fan, she was awarded numer
ous sport trophies from Beaverton schtxils, played
adult women’s softball, was on the women’s
basketball team at PSU and coached both girls
basketball and softball teams in Colton.
Survivors include her partner of 24 years,
Linda Huff; daughter, Mariah; sisters, Cindy
Yet her critiques did not prevent her from
becoming involved with Annie Leibovitz, the
noted photographer with whom she collaborat
ed on the photo and essay collection Women.
The two were longtime companions.
In 1978, Sontag published the seminal
work, Illness as Metaphor, during a bout with
breast cancer. She argued that diseases like
cancer are perceived in such a way to vilify
patients. A decade later, she published AIDS
and Its Metaphors, extending her argument to
the AIDS pandemic.
On the lighter side of cultural critique, Son-
tag began her career with the famous essay
“Notes on Camp,” which popularized the “so
bad it’s gixxl” attitude toward everything from
Tiffany lamps to Swan Lake. She wrote: “Camp
is a vision of the world in terms of style—but a
particular kind of style. It is the love of the
exaggerated, the ‘off,’ of things-being-what-
they-are-not.” |H
Compiled
by M eg D aly and J1M
RADOSTA .