OREGON S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE
music *
APRIL 1. 2011
35
M
BEER
CHEESE
WINE
FOOD
Big Freedia works it
at the Santos House
in Manhattan.
11 A M - 11 PM
Tuesday - Sunday
6031 SE Belmont Street
Portland, OR 97215
503 . 222.6014
www.cheese-bar.com
“What the hell is Sissy Bounce? ... Take some of the most hypersexual,
bump and grind you can imagine, remove everything but the sexed-up
chorus, speed it up, and then remove the sexual identity of the artist
/jVoY mi no
performing it. What, what? That’s right. Sissy Bounce artists are purposely
^
androgynous, sometimes referred to as queer, sometimes transgendered, a
4-635 SE Hawthorne Blvd
5 6 3 .9 5 4 .3 1 3 3
very direct intent is to fuck with people’s heads about sexuality.”
-SEAN BONNER, BLOGGER
CAFFE
who like to watch them dance). But she
wasn’t always welcomed as an out, gender-
queer performer in hip-hop’s hypermascu
line world.
“When we first started, it was a little bit
rough.... As the years passed, people started
getting used to it because we wasn’t going
nowhere,” Big Freedia told The Corner in a
March 2010 interview. “We had people hat
ing on us and talking about us, trying not to
get us shows and things like that, but it’s
the music that got through. They couldn’t
stop the music.... And the girls really adore
us, that’s what really got us over, all the girls
just loving on all of us.”
Because most of Big Freedia’s sissy
bounce peers are also gay men, straight
women can identify with songs that talk
about guys and seem to feel safer expressing
their sexuality on the dance floor.
“It’s like we step into their shoes and they
can relate to what we’re saying and what
we’re going through,” Big Freedia told The
Corner. “We’re like girls, we’re going through
the same things they are with the boys, so
they really understand and can relate to us.”
That said, because Big Freedia’s songs are
light on the narrative and heavy on the crowd
participation, it may be the liberating effects
of shouting and shaking the night away that
keep people coming back for more.
“It’s as if punk had been reinvented for
women,” Rusty Lazer, who performs with
Big Freedia at Holocene’s upcoming Bounce
& Buck 5, told the New York Times. “It’s just
pure empowerment, physical aggression that’s
not spiteful or vicious. I think it’s no accident
that the slang term for a gay kid in New Or
leans is ‘punk.’It’s pretty rewarding.” J0]
L a w C ai
MI NGO
SIMPLE ITALIAN COOKING
3 5 2 4 N. Mississippi Ave
5 6 3 .4 6 7 .4 1 4 9
7 nights a week
807 NW Twenty First • Portland
503.226.4646
porquenotaces.com
dinner
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4 m -
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c irri <
Extended Hours With New Late Night Menu!
Mon - Thurs 12pm to 10pm
Big Freedia performs with Rusty Lazer and
Portland's DJ Beyondadouht at Buck & Bounce
5 on Friday, April S, 9 p.m.; Holocene, 1001
SE Morrison St.; $14; bigfreedia.com.
Fri - Sun 12pm to midnight
Ladies Night Every 3 Thursday
4612 se hawthorne
i-------------------------------------------------------
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Sfli-233-3996
www.dingosonline.com
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IvVre gotkvg to party Like It's 195
The Awesome 80s Prom is a brand new blast-from-the-past
interactive production set at Wanaget High's Senior Prom.Jn 1989!
All the best characters from your favorite 80s movies are there
and they are all competing for Prom King and Queen.
So, tease up your hair, pull out your parachute pants and join
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- ft
the breakdance circle.
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iJP'd
p.»
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F r id a y s & S a t u r d a y s
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'P o rtla n d Spirit
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Ken 'Davenport's