\ Grease your wheels during Gay Skate
vsrvni Night presented by Just Out every third
Monday at Oaks Park. (7-9 pm. 1 SE
Spokane St. $5 plus canned food items for Esther's
Pantry.)
TUE • JULY 17
Blues musician Margo Tufo performs with
Portland's finest female musicians every Tuesday
this month at the Candlelight. Tonight's guest is Rae
Gordon. (9:30 pm-1:30 am. 2032 SW Fifth Ave.)
WED • JULY 18
Ainsworth House 8 Gardens in Oregon City hosts
Portland Area Business Association After Hours
featuring Noel Thomas of Meridian Natural
Medicine and Dan Pierce of Multi-Pure Drinking
Water. (6-8 pm. 19130 Lot Whitcomb Drive.)
Britt Pavilion in Jacksonville presents k.d. lang—
who has lent her voice during the past 20 years to
an astonishing range of material from Nashville
tearjerkers to Tin Pan Alley torch songs, from play
ful cow-punk tunes to sultry, grown-up pop—with
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. (7 pm. 350 S First
St. $38491 from www.brittfest.org.)
The In Other Words Feminist Reading Group dis
cusses Ntozake Shange s Sassafras, Cypress 8
Indigo at Vendetta. (7 pm. 4306 N Williams Ave.
RSVP to althea.laaaro@gmail.com.)
Femme Affinity Group PDX (F.A.G. PDX) unveils Creme de la Femme July 7 at In Other Words.
Ashleigh Flynn and many more musicians perform at Mississippi Studios
during the Mississippi Street Fair. (1-7 pm. 3939 N Mississippi Ave.)
"Gemo" (gay emo) artist Logan Lynn, whose video "Burning Your Glory" video
has been a big hit on MTV Logo's Click List, performs at Grapedrink. (8 pm.
4949 SW Landing Drive. $7.)
SUN • JULY 15
The Adventure Group takes a moderate five-mile hike on Wahkeena Falls trail
to Multnomah Falls, showcasing some of the most scenic viewpoints of the
Columbia River Gorge. Meet outside Starbucks at Hollywood Fred Meyer. (9 am.
3030 NE Weidler St. Steve 503-762-2385.)
Q Center hosts Tranz Guys—a group for trans men and intersex, genderqueer
and questioning people who were assigned female at birth—every third
Sunday. (6 pm. 69 SE Taylor St.)
In Other Words presents Women Writing for (a) Change, a monthly class
emphasizing authentic voice and the exploration of writing as a healing prac
tice and a tool of social change. (7 pm. 8 NE Killingsworth St. RSVP to
mfo@womenwritingwest.com. $5 donation.)
The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art celebrates its 12th birth-
day with an extravaganza party at Holocene featuring performances
from Panther, Plastic Little, Thunderheist and DJ Copy; treats provid
ed by Saint Cupcake; and other surprises from artists near and far. (8 pm-2 am.
1001 SE Morrison St. $5 members, $7 nonmembers.)
THU • JULY 19
The Edgefield Concerts on the Lawn Series in Troutdale welcomes back k.d.
lang with Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. (6:30 pm. 2126 SWHalsey St. $45-
$85 from Ticket master.)
Fez Ballroom hosts the Miss Gay Oregon America 2008
Pageant. (7 pm. 318 SW 11th Ave. $15430 from
www. missgayoregon. com.)
Darcelle XV Showplace presents the Regional LaFemme
Magnifique Pageant to crown Portland's most glamorous
female impersonator. This year's theme is "Notorious
Animated Villains." (8 pm. 208 NW Third Ave. $10.)
MON • JULY 16
In Other Words presents the Spanish class Espahol Sin
Fronteras! (6:30-8pm. 8 NE Killingsworth St. $5410.)
Gather around the Portland Polyamory Circle for infor
mal discussions of open relationships and commitment.
(7 pm. Laury 503-285-4848.)
The Portland Avalanche is recruiting players for a 2008 tournament in Ireland.
Rugby Club Scores Big in National Tournament
Lesbian legend k.d. lang performs July 18 in
Jacksonville and July 19 in Troutdale.
The Portland Avalanche, the Rose City’s gay-friendly rugby football club, recent
ly won two matches at the John W. Cook Memorial Rugby Tournament, also known
as Magnitude 15. The team beat the Phoenix Storm and the Dallas Diablos, both
tough contenders, with tries scored by two rookies and one veteran. The victory
against the Diablos was especially sweet, as the Avalanche lost to them at the 2006
Bingham Cup, an international gay rugby tournament held every two years. The hard
work the team put in during the past year made all the difference.
The Avalanche has been playing strong for three years. Ending its sixth season
with wins at a national tournament made this its best yet. With a mission to teach
rugby to diverse and traditionally underrepresented communities, the athletes pride
themselves on their accessibility and openness to players of all skill levels, fitness
levels, experiences, shapes and sizes.
The Avalanche is recruiting players for its next scheduled tournament, the 2008
Bingham Cup, which will be held in Dublin, Ireland. All interested players, regard
less of skill level or previous team sports experience, are welcome. For more informa
tion visit www.avalancherugby.org.
“After a long string of losses and forfeits, the Avalanche delivered its most
pivotal season ever!” says team member Albert Gapasin. “It was worth all my trips
to Kaiser Permanente’s emergency room.”
David Eckard's installations force the viewer “to confront them,
and you become conscious of your own body in the space.”
A Bold Statement
Gay Portland artist David Eckard's July show at Mark Woolley
Gallery stands out. Literally. The exhibit, Liveries (Summer Stock),
consists of nearly a dozen pieces of two-dimensional tableaus stacked
or leaning together to create three-dimensional installations.
“The viewer has to confront them, and you become conscious of
your own bsxly in the space," says Eckard. “You come at them almost
like characters in this implied narrative.”
Using wood panel, silver and gold foil, latex paint, charcoal,
cotton rope, leather, rhinestones and terry cloth, Eckard has created
a series that is both evocative and theatrical.
“Bride (Full Bloom)" is bold in both color (red, yellow and metal
lic blue) and stature (it stands more than 6 feet tall) with a flat piece
against the wall blossoming into a protruding bottom portion
attached with leather suspenders. Eckard describes this work as
“figurative, gestural...almost performative."
The artist says he was loosely inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s
“Large Glass,” a multidimensional work also known as “The Bride
Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even.”
Eckard created his series of pieces over a concentrated two-month
period and says he thinks of them as one body of work. The images
evoke some of his earlier three-dimensional compositions, blending
functional objects such as rope and cloth with ambiguously erotic
shapes.
Liveries is a departure from his work last year in the Portland Art
Museum’s Oregon Biennial and the Portland Institute for
Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival. Both of those pieces
involved Eckard himself as both artist and performer.
“I’m not strapping anything on or parading down the river or
anything like that," he says. “It’s very liberating to let these things be
a surrogate for my concerns. They’re visual triggers for the viewer to
come in and create their own story."
Eckard’s Liveries will share gallery space with Julia Stoops’
The Things in the Sky Are Coming Closer, the Holes in the Ground Are
Getting BiggeT. The exhibition opens with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m.
July 6 and closes July 28. Mark Woolley Gallery is located at 128 N.E.
Russell St.
—Julie Sabatier