36 . JUStOUt QÇTQBER 29.2999
Another Openin', Another Show
You gotta have art
top me if you’ve heard this one: A naked
woman walks into a har and pulls an
American flag out of her ass.
Actually, it’s no joke; it really did
happen at last month’s Time-Based Art
Festival. Sponsored hy the Portland Institute for
Contemporary Art, TBA brought 10 days of avant-
garde performances to Portland, including Miss
Exotic World 2006 Julie Atlas Muz, who, covered
in white glitter paint, performed “1 Am the Moon
and You Are the Man on Me” with James
“Tigger!” Ferguson. For the finale, she lay down
on the stage and put her legs behind her head while
Tigger, painted black to represent outer space,
planted the Stars and Stripes in her sphincter.
God bless America.
The piece was part of Ten Tiny Dances, an
ongoing series created by local choreographer Mike
Barber that challenges artists to reinvent dance
moves to fit the confines of a 4x4 foot stage.
TBA was especially queer this year. From the
understated same-sex coupling performed by several
dance troupes to the in-your-face antics of Sissyboy,
gay material informs much of the avant-garde.
Sissyboy was the edgiest, portraying burka-clad
women rapping rhapsodically about car bombers
(“We love the cars, the cars that go boom”) followed
by Laura Bush mouthing “It’s Raining Men” as dolls
were thrown from the top of two skyscraper props.
By comparison, Kiki and Herb, the deranged
lounge act creation of Justin Bond and Kenny
Mellman, seemed positively respectable, having just
completed a triumphant nin on Broadway. The pair
performed several encores for the enthusiastic
audience, which included Charlie Frasier, taking a
night off from raising money for Portland Center
Stage’s new theater at the Armory (buddy, can you
spare a million?), busy Grant Butler covering the
festival for The Oregonian and Jim McVittie, who
was preparing to scuba dive in St. Lucia with Dive
for Life.
Other gay artists of note in the festival included
the haunting vocalist Holcombe Waller, the wry
and insightful Taylor Mac and filmmaker Todd
Haynes, whose Barbie-doll-cast film, Superstar: The
Karen Carpenter Story, showed as part of an exhibi­
tion of Illegal Art. Photographing the festivities was
sexy Serena Davidson, who recently snapped a
beachfront wedding. Now Is the H out author Tom
Spanbauer was there with his main squeeze, tattoo
artist Sage Ricci, who inked a
client’s ass that week. And
everywhere 1 went, 1 ran into
the delightful (and delicious)
David Banyan, who diligent­
ly worked on festival duties.
1 also spied Brian Langford
sporting a red man bag to
match his red boots. Even
more fashionable was Peter
Anderson, owner of Dress
Code, the upscale men’s retail
store I mistook for the TBA
office when 1 went to pick up
Floyd weathers the
my passes.
But TBA wasn’t the only show in town.
Theater openings abounded, including Artists
Rep’s Metamorphoses, infused with a gay camp
sensibility and sensible enough to put Noah Jordan
in a thong. Also scantily clad were Jordan’s partner,
Wade McCollum, and Andy Alcala.
There’s also plenty of eye candy in Portland
Center Stage’s sublime West Side Story, but the
show is much more. Artistic director Chris
Coleman has outdone himself with his best produc­
tion yet. At the preview I attended, I chatted with
“the Joes,” Joe Durr and Joe Hooker, who’ve been
together for 32 years. They met in a production of
Godspell where one played Jesus and the other
Judas. I’m sure that’s not what the Bible had in
mind when Judas kisses Jesus.
1 also took in the delightful Too Much Coffee
Storm at Dante's.
Man Opera, based on the comic book and featuring
Jasmine Presson as a surly barista. Jasmine recent­
ly moved out here to Portland with her girlfriend.
As exciting as all these performances were,
nothing rocked me as much as meeting Portland
rocker Storm Large, who’s in bold because she
told me she’s actually a gay man. “Dave Navarro
says 1 have a bigger dick than he does,” she boast­
ed during her homecoming party at Dante’s. Then
she pulled an American flag out of her ass.
OK, she didn’t, but she did flash her boobs and
feel my chest, which is the kind of thing you can
expect when you live in Portland and you’re Out
Going. ©
F loyd S klaver wants to know about your event.
E-mail him at floydsklaver@comcast.net.
OREGONBALLETTHEATRE
BBRRES^NOBIE
CHRISTOPHER STOWELL I ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
//Z/
OCTOBER 20 & 21 AT 7:30 pm / KELLER AUDITORIUM
WITH THE OBT ORCHESTRA
COMPANY PREMIERE THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS
Hindemith / George Balanchine
ADIN
B rickman
IN
LIVE!
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COMPANY PREMIERE THE CONCERT
Chopin I Jerome Robbins
CONCERT
Special guest appearance by Portland’s own
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