Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2011)
OREGON'S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE arts* MARCH 18. 2011 33 J C “I was really shocked that the people who were asking for Sister Spit were all these different ages... it was really cool to see that we had made this impact on the culture.” — MICHELLE TEA Tea says. “It was really cool to see that we had made this impact on the culture.” It was at that point she realized that the name Sister Spit— despite, or perhaps be cause of, what Tea calls its unintentionally “funny second-wave kind o f granola lesbian” connotation— meant something to people. “The name recognition means a lot,” Tea says. “It suggests a certain type o f performance in terms o f both quality and content.” The van is Rill o f quality, all right. Take Nelson, who earned his Sister Spit cred by the mere fact that his first novel, Girl , was excerpted in Sassy magazine. It can’t hurt that he has since written Gender Bender , in which a teenage boy and girl switch bodies, or that his novel Paranoid Park was made into a film by Gus Van Sant. Nelson and Mac won’t be the only men in the van. They’ll be joined by Kirk Read, author o f the queer coming-of-age memoir How I Learned to Snap. Mac, who made an appear ance on the second half o f the European tour, will be sharing photos from Original Plumb ing as well as photos and a letter from the first issue o f Translady Fanzine , featuring artist and transwoman Zackary Drucker. “I am a huge fan of [Mac’s] whole deal,’’Tea gushes. “His photography is beautiful and tun and striking, his vision as a trans person of how he wants to place trans culture kind of front and center in the larger culture is completely excellent, and I think he’s really visionary.” The guys will joined by writer and teacher Ali Liebegott, author o f the book-length poem rIhe Beautifully Worthless and a four time Sister Spit veteran. “If I could take her on every tour I would,” Tea says. “She has such a great mixture of wisdom and she’s totally smart and a smart ass. You never know what you’re going to get from her, she’s like a loose cannon in the best way. And she drives.” It’s a good thing Tea can’t take her favorite writers on every tour, however, since she’s already booking future bills in her head. The lineup for 2012— featuring Dorothy Allison, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond and Kit Yan, among others— is already posted on RADAR Pro ductions’ website. This time around Tea was lucky to nab Myriam Gerba, whom she calls a “wacky and really smart” writer and high school teacher and Mari Naomi, a graphic novelist and visual artist. In addition to the folks in the van, Sister Spit’s two Portland shows will include performances by local writers and artists Nicole Jorges, Chelsea Starr and Matilda Bickers. While Tea has no problem rattling o ff the glowing qualities o f her fellow tour mates, she had not decided, just days before the tour began, what she would be performing. Will she share excerpts from her upcoming young adult novel featuring mermaids and talking pigeons, her apocalyptic memoir hybrid, her collaboration on the Beth Ditto memoir From Coal to Diamonds or some thing else entirely? There’s only one way to find out. When it comes to Sister Spit, Tea says, “You never know what you’re going to get but you kind of know you’re gonna like it.” JW Sister Spit: The Next Generation, Monday, March 28, 7 p.m., Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., $10 in advancefrom brownpapertickets.com, $12 at the door; Friday, April 1, 7p.m., Lewis & Clark College, Evans Auditorium, 0615 SW Palatine H ill Road, free; radarproductions.com. Oregon Convention Center Portland Oregon Fri Sat ~ April 22-23, 2011 Noon to 11 pm ADMISSION $5.00 » Voted Willamette Week’s TOP 100 Free Admission 1ST 1000 Each Day For more information please visit our website at www.springbeerfest.com Fundraiser fo r Muscular Dystrophy Association CAFFE MI NGO S IM P L E ITALIAN COOKING dinner 7 nights a week 807 NW Twenty F irst • Portland 503.226.4646 www.bellyrestaurant.com NE Fremont & MEK | PDX * 503.249.9764 happy hour • Sunday brunch • dinner Spring Beer 6» Wine Fest, Inc is a registered not-for-profit organization supporting scholarships and charities
