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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2007)
The original horror series The Lair debuts June 1 on Here. The Men's Wellness Center screens The Opposite of Sex, a scathing comedy that has it all: a self-absorbed teenager, a hunky teacher and his even hunkier, often shirtless boyfriend. Yummy snacks and sodas, too! (7-9 pm. 928 SW Stark St.) / gc A Confluence: Willamette Valley Mixed GALA Chorus performs in concert with Jubilate! The Women's Choir of Corvallis at Unitarian Univeralist Fellowship in Corvallis. Repeats June 9 at Chemeketa Community College in Salem. (7:30 pm. 2945 Circle Blvd. NW [Corvallis] and 4000 Lancaster Blvd. NE [Salem]. $12- $15 from 503-587-SING.) Clinton Street Theater screens The Pornography of the Bicycle: Sexy Cyclists You Want to Ride! featuring several pieces from nonstraight filmmakers, followed by the Pedalpaloosa Midnight Mystery Ride. (8:45 pm. 2522 SE Clinton St.) Tart is where the queer girls party every second Sunday at Holocene. SAT • JUNE 9 The Adventure Group goes whitewater rafting on the White Salmon River. (Jim 503-760-3814.) Look ma, no hands! Learn how to orgasm with your breath during a fully clothed workshop at BJuicy Studios Stripper 101 founder Isis Leeor will utilize her training in body psychotherapy, energy work and Tantra to show you how to tap into your potential. Level 2 workshop June 16. (11 am-7pm. 1417 NE 72nd Ave. $125 from 503-334-8578 or isis@becomingjuicy.com.) Life coach Jill Nelson explores how you can create the energy and excitement you are longing to experience dur ing Bring More Joy to Life at Q Center. Learn how to make simple but powerful changes in your life and leave with tools to help get you where you want to go. (Noon- 3 pm. 69 SE Taylor St. $5 donation.) A Call to Arms Being politically active is now, more than ever before, everyone’s responsibility. Whether it is for equal human rights or against inhumane wars, change happens when concerned citizens become activists. Admittedly, if Otep Shamaya weren’t the front woman for the band Otep, she’d be an activist, too. Fervent about the current state of the United States and its politics, as well as the opportunities for artists to be spokespeople for their communities, she is convinced that her activism only takes on a dif ferent voice. “We as people, as women, as minorities, have the opportunity in this country to speak up. If we don’t, who will?” says the out lesbian musician. Touring with more mainstream bands like Static X, her message of political responsibility is reaching the masses and changing perceptions. Otep’s debut disc, Sevas Tra, is “a call to arms” to anyone outraged by the political climate our country has been submerged in, while its latest release, The-Ascension, allows its creativity to shine and shares the outspoken vein of its earlier music. Writing material in post-Katrina New Orleans, Shamaya says The-Ascension got the band’s Otep Shamaya "learned exactly what is right heads into the art that is writing and recording. with this country, and exactly what is wrong.” With members bringing everything including jazz style to the process, the work reflects the powerful experience of writing material in post-Katrina New Orleans. Seeing the aftermath caused by the storm—and the delayed response from the government— the band left inspired, ready to record in Los Angeles. “Being in that atmosphere, I learned exactly what is right with this country, and exactly what is wrong,” Shamaya says. “At home it’s so easy to phase in and out; I need to live in a constant state of creativity.” Overall, the album’s mood is a refreshing reflection of the “tide turning toward the positive” among Americans who are ready to vote in new power and move in a new direction. The_Ascension also reflects Otep fans’ need to speak up. “We’ve been hijacked by the conservative mind. We can’t let politicians get lazy or apathetic,” says Shamaya. “Tolerance doesn’t mean you agree.” Catch the conversation—and the music—June 5 at the Roseland. Listen to new tracks from TheAscension by visiting www.otep.com. —West Duncan Celebrate size positivity during FatGirl Speaks 2007 at Portland State University's Smith Ballroom. (7pm. 1825 SW Broadway $16.50 from Ticketmaster) Metropolitan Community Church of Portland presents Road to Denver Gold: The Dean's List Benefit Concert featuring The Dean's List, 2006 Evergreen District Quartet Champions, and other top area quartets and choruses. (7:30 pm. 2400 NE Broadway. $20 donation.) "Gemo" (gay emo) artist Logan Lynn, whose video "Burning Your Glory" video has been a big hit on MTV Logo’s Click List, performs during the PDX Electronic Showcase at Rotture. (9 pm. 315 SE Third Ave.) SUN • JUNE 10 The Adventure Group takes an easy 22-mile bike ride from Sellwood to Gresham and back along the Springbrook Corridor. Meet at Oak Pioneer Church. (9 am. 455 SE Spokane St. Sarah 503-341-6226.) The Adventure Group takes a moderate 1.3-mile hike through old-growth forest to Memaloose Lake and South Fork Mountain. Meet in Starbucks at Hollywood Fred Meyer. (9 am. 3030 NE Weidler St Laurent 503-227-2914.) Bridgeport United Church of Christ presents Daddy Sang Bass, an uplifting, lively concert of inspirational songs with music ranging from gospel to showtunes. Proceeds benefit the Friends of People with AIDS Foundation. (2 pm. 621 NE 76th Ave. $10 donation.) OJs Harmony, Beyonda and Saffronica lay down the hottest world, Latin, house and old-school beats during Tart, a monthly party for queer girls at Holocene. (5 pm. 1001 SE Morrison St. $5.) Clash of the Titans In 1960, two of the greatest screen and theater legends of the 20th century collaborated on a London stage production, and quickly discovered that the spotlight is only big enough for one egomaniacal genius. Still riding on the fumes of fame from his 1941 classic Citizen Kane, Orson Welles agreed to direct Laurence Olivier in the absurdist play Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco. Playwright Austin Pendleton envisions the catty exchanges that ensued in Orson’s Shadow, a biting comedy that brings Artists Repertory Theatre’s season to a close. Associate artistic director Jon Kretzu helms the show. “It was a marriage made someplace in hell,” says Kretzu, who is gay. “They were both used to getting their own way.” Olivier’s lover and Rhinoceros co-star Joan Plowright also figures prominently in Orson’s Shadow, along with British theater critic Kenneth Tynan and Oliver’s mentally ill wife, Vivien Leigh. Todd Van Voris and David Carey Foster lead the cast as Welles and Olivier, respectively. Though the play contains Director Orson Welles (Todd Van Voris, right) battles actor no explicit gay content, Kretzu Laurence Olivier (David Carey Foster, center)—all under the explains why it should have watchful glare of theater critic Kenneth Tynan (gay thesp plenty of appeal for queer audi Michael Mendelson)—in Orson's Shadow. ences. “Aiiytime there’s a play about theater folk, there’s a certain gay sensibility,” he says. “This is one of the best cocktail parties you can be at. The gay audience will have a field day.” On a juicier level, just about every celebrity depicted in the play is rumored to have indulged in same- sex escapades. In reference to Olivier’s sexuality, playwright and musician Noel Coward said he possessed “a puppy-like acquiescence to all experiences." Some biographers have speculated that Olivier had an affair with entertainer Danny Kaye, but these claims are meagerly substantiated. “Vivien Leigh supposedly had her share of lesbian experiences,” Kretzu says. “She pretty much screwed anything that breathed.” He adds that Welles—who had three wives, including Rita Hayworth—is rumored to have done some switch-hitting in his younger days. Pendleton captures these icons at crossroads, collaborating on a play none of them likes in the hopes that it will lead to film deals. “It’s a remarkable and clever play,” Kretzu says. “It’s so dangerous to wTite about these people, and on top of that it could easily have been just a string of in-jokes.” —Stephen BI oit
