30 just OUt » januaiy 21.2ÛÛ5
DIVERSIONS
Suzy La Follette (left), Andrea Gibson (center) and Excuse Me Sir are making noise to support In Other Words Women’s Books and Resources,
America’s only nonprofit feminist bookstore
Siren's Iris makes
Rose City debut
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sangria, soda and Pabst Blue Ribbon; free
munchies; and tables selling merchandise from
the bookstore and the camp. Tickets are
$5-$5O sliding scale from In Other Words.
—Kathy Beige
Take two queer/radiciil/feminist perform­
ance artists/poets and combine their energy,
and you just might be blown over from their
force.
Out cold
Andrea Gibson and Suzy La Follette, both
•
champion slam poets, have combined their
Altitude, the largest international gay and
prose and their politics and are heading out on
lesbian ski and snowboard week, is right
the road to bring their firestorm free verse to
around the comer—and only seven hours
Portland in support of In Other Words.
away, if you’re driving from Portland.
Gibson, a 29-year-oid from Boulder, Colo.,
The 13th annual festival kicks off Jan. 29 in
and La Follefte, a 25-year-old from Austin,
Vancouver, British Columbia, followed by out­
Texas, met at a poetry slam in Arizona and
door adventure and indoor festivities from
became fast fans of each others work. They’ve
Jan. 30 to Feb. 7 in Whistler, one of North
teamed up and formed Siren’s Iris as a way to
America’s top ski destinations.
collaborate on some pieces and take their com­
This year boasts an expanded lineup of pop­
bined messages on the road.
ular features such as skiing and snowboarding,
La Follette says audiences should expect an
world-class dining, nonstop entertainment and
entertaining evening of hard-hitting poetry. But
special themed parties along with new stuff like
not t<x> hard. “With the dual poetry pieces, our
fireside breakfasts and health and wellness
voices meld into a beautiful harmony,” she says.
options such as yoga and men’s and women’s
Although some of their poems are overtly
wine and spa activities.
political, Gibson assures they will not preach.
“Altitude 2005 is presenting 40 events this
“If you’re preaching, people can’t hear what
year compared to last year’s 29, as we aim to
you have to say.”
meet a wide range of interests and continue to
While they may rant about all the stuff
, build this unique, world-class event,” says Lee
that’s wrong in the world, they make sure to
Bergeron, president of Out on the Slopes Pro-
include a healthy dose of hope and, of course,
ductions. “The fact that Altitude...continues
love. “Love poems can save the world," Gibson
to grow in scope and profile pays tribute to the
says. “Our relationships with people are
memory of the event’s founder, the late Brent
metaphors for our relationships with the world.”
Benaschak.”
La Follette says performance art has the
ability to change hearts and minds. “People
have said I’ve changed them on stage. That’s
something this show can do.”
Gibson says the difference between a Sirens.
Iris show and a traditional poetry reading is all
in the delivery. “A lot of time when I’m con­
nected with an audience, I feel they’re speaking
half for me. It’s almost like they’re pulling it
out of me.”
Portland performer Marie Fleischmann will
kick off the free reading, which will be held
from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 3 at 3734 S.E.
Hawthorne Blvd.
Come to help pull the poetry out. Come to
Queer skiers party hard at the Altitude
support women’s art. Come to see La Follette
Snowball
perform “Suzy Strap-on.” Or, as Gibson says,
come because “we both have really clx >1 hair.”
Altitude gets warmed up Jan. 29 in Vancou­
If poetry isn’t your thing, you can still support
ver with the Avalanche Party, an action-
the independent feminist hxikstore by attending
packed event that bl ings out hundreds of local
the R<x:k and Read benefit from 7 to 10 p.m.
and international revelers to set the m<xxl for
Jan. 28 at Hip Chicks Do Wine, 4510 S.E. 23rd
the week. Festivities culminate Feb. 5 with
Ave. In Other Words will share pnxeeds from
Snowball, a legendary party that, we’re told, is
the ikxir and 10 percent of beverage sales with
the apex of Altitude. Finally, the week wraps
the Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls.
Feb. 6 with the Recovery Party.
• The night of fun and frivolity features
For more information about the event, reg­
rockers Excuse Me Sir, bluegrass band Cocks
istration, accommtxJations, lift tickets, passes,
in the Henhouse and gypsy punks Myshkin’s
travel and special air/hotel package deals, visit
Ruby Warblers; a cash bar pouring wine,
www.outontheslopes.com.
If you’d rather stick close to home, Lesbians
Enjoying Nature and Science and the Oregon
Bears are taking separate excursions to Mount
H lxx J on Jan. 29. Will the LENS ladies cross
paths with the furry creatures? You won’t know
unless you go. Details are on Page 25.
—Jim Radosta
Oh, Mary!
Wade McCollum, best known for Drammy-
winning title performances in Hedwig and the
Angry Inch and Bat Boy: The Musical, returns
this month to the Portland spotlight as a
lesbian Victorian explorer in Insight Out
Theatre Collective’s comedy On the Verge.
But it’s not about drag, he says.
It’s about courage of three sister sojourners
braving the unknown, crossing cultural bound­
aries without prejudice and, in so doing, fulfill­
ing their deepest yearnings as they travel on a
serendipitous safari across space and time to
the 1950s. Along the way, they encounter
slang, Cixil Whip® and other curious pieces
of cultural flotsam.
“The women in On the Verge defy many of
the fundamental societal doctrines of their
era,” remarks McCollum. “They are well-
educated, courageously exploring the unknown
reaches of our world. They are intrepid souls
who outgrow their era and have to move on.
They machete through the constricting, corset­
ed expectations of women in 1888, and in
doing so travel through terra incognita to
palaver with characters from the future."
Palaver? A discussion of differences
between, say, three female Victorian anthropol­
ogists and a 1950s lounge lizard.
I)irector Tiffany Cole says: “These women
experience this process in this totally outra­
geous way, and they embrace what they
encounter with arms wide open. You never
know—that different or unknown thing may
be just the thing for you.”
And, incidentally, how these three societal
surveyors (McCollum and Insight Out co­
founders Julianna Jaffe and Lindsay Lucas)
measure themselves against the “natives”
(played by chameleon Andy Lindburg) is the
wit of yet another award-winning former Port­
lander, playwright Eric Overmyer.
As for that bit of cross-casting? Cole sees
the choice as “more of an enlightenment into
the character rather than a bit about a man
dressing up as a woman. Mary is a really
inspiring, mcxJem human being, and a woman
born at the wrong time. Overmyer liberated
her to find a future where she can revel in her
true nature.”
On the Verge through fcb. 5 at West End
Theater, 1220 S.W. Taylor St. Showtime is
8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, along with