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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2007)
JULY 20, 2007 jUStfiUL» Six attractive dykes take time out from stressful careers to catch a wave in Curt Giris, airing 10 p.m. Mondays on Logo. Surf's Up The Logo channel, owned by MTV, has been a mixed blessing at best for queer media fans. For every worthy, challenging series like TransGenerarion, there’s a countering soap opera trashiest like Noah’s Arc. Based on a popular one-hour documentary from 2005, Curl Qirls shares genres with the former but has the same soapy, superficial instincts as the latter. This is Lesbian Surfers meets Babewatch. The “curl girls” are six attractive dykes in their 20s and 30s who take time out from stressful careers to catch a wave. The show starts with thumbnail sketches of each one. Michele is 33, a “soul surfer" who runs photo shoots and practices yoga. Clothing designer Vaneska, also 33, likes the “creative urban Middle Eastern photographer Amie Postic participates in Piece Process this month at Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center in Hillsboro. life” and the shock value of taking off her tube top in public. Erin, 29, is an attorney who surfs to free herself of responsibilities, to “be mellow and have fun." Jessica, 23, is a human relations exec for an international company and a self-described “bad-ass” and “hard-ass." She’s been seriously dating Melissa, In Other Words showcases Portland female performers during the Luna Music Series. (7 pm. 8 NE Killingsworth St. $5 donation.) Out Dancing's monthly Dance Social is every last Friday at Ankeny Street Studio. Lesson and refreshments included. (8:15 pm. Southeast Ninth Avenue and Ankeny Street. $8.) JoeyCub hosts the Oregon Bears’ monthly Double X Dance featuring music by DJ Peter Calandra at C.C. Slaughters. (9 pm-1 am. 219 NW Davis St. $2.) t Someday Lounge presents Snakes, Snails and Everything Nice, an evening of randy performance featuring Splendora and the Gender Fluids premiering the video ‘Voodoo DooDoo," the follow-up to the infamous ‘Piss in a Bottle,' along with sultry twilight duo Felina's Arrow, hypnotic cellist Adam Hurst and spoken word artist Garret Potter. (9:30 pm. 125 NW Fifth Ave. $5.) DJs Girlfriends and Linoleum spin during the queer party Thin Pink Line every second and fourth Friday at Rotture. (10 pm. 315 SE Third Ave.) SAT • JULY 28 29, a sales manager whoY“really competitive.” Gingi, 25, is a clothing designer and shameless flirt who “overcomes my fears by surfing.” The Adventure Group goes an all-day outing at Lost Lake. Choose between taking an easy hike around the old- growth forest or renting a canoe. Meet outside Starbucks at Hollywood Fred Meyer. (9 am. 3030 NE Weidler St. Jim 503-760-3814.) Barracuda throws another Hot Flash Dance Party for sea soned lesbians 36 and older featuring music from the '70s to today, a great dance bar and wall-to-wall sexy, gorgeous women! (5-9 pm. 9 NW Second Ave. $8.) The beach is little more than a scenic backdrop to the girls’ seemingly endless romantic problems. And it isn’t like there are any new insights here, although it might be naiveti on my part to expect any. Perhaps cluelessness is a given of the genre. Typical is Jessica’s solemn description of her Japanese tattoo as meaning “devotion to truth,” shortly before she’s exposed for cheating on poor Melissa. It doesn’t help that the women are simply not that interesting, certainly not enough to sustain a six-part show (mercifully only a half-hour each). Fans of beautiful female athletes having love trouble might find Curl Girls diverting, although they might be less approving of Logo’s constant censorship tactics. In addition to the bleeping of cuss words, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence present One Night Only: Show Tunes and Show Girls at Embers. Proceeds benefit Camp Starlight. (7 pm. 110 NW Broadway. $5 donation.) Pink Martini performs with The Buckles at the Oregon Zoo. (7 pm. 4001SW Canyon Road. $24 from TicketsWest.) it’s a little disconcerting to hear Vanessa talking about how much she enjoys shocking people when Logo won’t let her prove it. When she takes off her tube top, a black bar appears over her nipples to spare us this apparently too-shocking sight. —Gary Morris Acid-Capped Dinner Theater Fresh from bimonthly gigs at the Cutting Room in the Flatiron District of New York City, wacky character monologuist Amber Martin returns to Portland for two special performances Aug. 6 and 7. The Drammy Award winner will present Been on a Tram and Other Lofty Tales, described as “an intimately twisting, turning and rocking evening of meticulously chosen musically inclined pieces from Amber’s strange and fascinating repertoire, including mostly new works. The tales, a skewering of pop and music culture, occur on or near a series of trains.” The show will feature bonus guest appearances from members of House of Cunt, Martin’s recently disbanded performance art troupe, which The Oregonian hailed as “the funniest group in town.” According to Martin’s press materials, she “has left such celebrity audience members as Joyce Dewitt, Dina Martina, John Cameron Mitchell and Justin Bond screaming for more. Throughout the performance, Amber seamlessly morphs from character to character without leaving the stage. Been on a Train and Other Lofty Tales introduces us to a bevy of characters on a journey of salvation. Some are on the ‘Poverty Train’ lookin’ for quarters, while others are simply lookin’ for some conver sation and a little acceptance. Blending monologues, movement, music, heartfelt reminiscences and acid-capped comedy with a pristine, multioctave-range singing voice, Been on a Tram and Other Lofty Tales is Amber Martin’s own seriocomic multiple personality trip without the broken glass.” The performances will be staged at the intimate, gay-owned Wild Abandon Restaurant and the Red Velvet Lounge, 2411 S.E. Belmont Ave. Dinner (which is not required) begins at 7:30 p.m., followed by the show at 9. Tickets are $20 from 503-232-4458. The shows will kick off the world premiere of the documentary film House of Cunt: Together and Alone, which Clinton Street Theater will screen at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 8 and at 7 and 9 p.m. Aug. 9. Martin will answer questions from the audience on opening night. —Jim Radosta Amber Martin seamlessly amrabe frem iihmsctm te character wftbeat leaving the stage.
