O REG O N'S LGBTO N EW S M A G A ZIN E
music
JU LY 15. 2011
2L J *
It’s On!
Introducing the First Annual Portland Q u eer M usic Festival
A fixture on Portland’s music scene, Samuel
Thomas may have been destined to spearhead
the First Annual Portland Queer Music Festi
val. W hile juggling gigs as director and founder
o f the Portland FREE Music Project, organiz
ing the Maricon dance night at The Matador
and judging this year’s Portland Idol, Thomas
somehow still found time to break more
ground for Portland queer culture.
O n Saturday, July 30, Red Cap Garage and
Boxxes play host to the city’s first festival
dedicated to queer music. The all-day, all
genre— sadly not all-ages— event spotlights
primarily up-and-com ing acts from the Port
land metro area, placing them on two stages
for the duration o f the day between the two
bars. Bands from as far away as Philadelphia
(Slutever) and St. Louis (Julie Schurr) have
also been confirmed, as have a few acts from
Seattle. Thomas sees the influx o f out-of-
towners as inherent to the spirit o f a queer
music festival.
“We discovered there’s a huge interest and
a need for music from outside Portland,” ex
plains Thonflas, who’d originally planned the
event to be Portland only. “There are a bazil-
lion music festivals, but not many queer music
festivals. So we had people begging, like, ‘Hey,
you guys have a festival, we wanna do it.’”
For its inaugural run, Thomas approached
the idea from a prophetic point o f view, dub
bing P Q M F the “first annual,” knowing it
would be a success. W hile that remains to be
seen, the event has thus far garnered some 300
promised attendees on its Facebook page, with
about the same amount o f those saying “maybe”
they’d attend. W hat should be noted, also,
within the queer festival canon is the emer
gence of the Not Enough! Queer Music and
Arts Festival, which pits performance art, film,
music, visual and all manner o f artistic under
takings September 18-19 in North Portland.
As that festival generates more steam on a
DIY, subculture level, Thomas’
sights are set in a more main
stream, marketable milieu, with
the focus just on music. He esti
mates the day’s total attendance
at between 800 and 1,000 festival
goers.
“In terms o f the amount of
bands and performers we have,
we will be the largest in the
Northwest,” says Thomas, who’s
booked all 30 bands himself. The
30th act to round out the lineup
will be filled by the winner o f Red
Cap’s Portland Idol. “If everybody shows up,
and we have a really good turnout,” Thomas
says, “we could easily be the largest queer mu
sic festival on the West Coast.”
That confidence isn’t surprising given the
talent assembled for P Q M F ’s first install
ment. Representing PDX is a spectrum -rang
ing sample o f everything from drag queen
electro (CJ and the Dolls) and piano-ballad-
eers (Zach Zaitlin) to burgeoning rappers
(Jeau Breedlove, SistaFist) and beloved dee-
jays (Moisti, Lunch Lady). Similarly engaging
acts from Seattle include the indie-dance
confessionals o f Noddy, the pop
o f Secret Shoppers and more.
Despite the meshing o f singer-
songwriters with rappers, back
pack electro kids with sexy in
dustrial rock, et cetera, the
performers are relishing the op
portunity to do it all under the
“Queer Music Festival” banner.
“Most queer art or music events
focus on one genre of perf ormance
like drag or deejaying or rock,”
Zaitlin explains. “It’s rare to see an
event where queer artists working
in a variety of styles are all together under one
roof.”
It seems a unanimous sentiment that an
event like the P Q M F will almost certainly
unify and empower the queer arts community,
especially what with prevailing stigmas o f
queer music and homophobia still rampant in
music industry circles.
“Being queer and in a band is a hard place to
be,” explains Reese Umbaugh o f Noddy. “M ain
stream gay culture doesn’t really embrace inde
pendent music and the usual genres involved.
Local music indie scenes are still primarily
white, straight and male, and I am still surprised
at the amount of homophobic, sexist and racist
attitudes I have witnessed over the years playing
in bands in the local music scene.”
Portland rhyme-stylers SistaFist agree, and
see a huge opportunity in the event.
“We deserve a safe space to create and share
our work,” says EmSnatch. “W ith a queer
festival there will be zero tolerance for ho
mophobia, which is unfortunately not the
case at many other festivals.”
As the P Q M F nears, the final touches are
being put on the production— largely by
Thomas alone, but also with help from spon
sors Absolut Vodka, Pants-O ff Productions,
SUBMITTED PHOTO
BY RYAN J. PRADO
Morel Ink, QPDX.com and Sherman Clay/
M oe’s Pianos o f Portland. But even with that
kind o f muscle, the infancy of the festival
coupled with Thomas’ ambition are making
lessons in event undertaking easy to come by.
“W hen I was planning it, I was like, ‘Oh,
30 bands isn’t that much,”’ Thomas jokes.
“And now I’m like, ‘W hoa, 30 bands!’ I’ve got
to be the point person for everyone who
comes in all day. And they all have a lot o f
questions. I t’s almost like a full-time job right
now, just doing this, as opposed to all my
other jobs I ’m supposed to be doing.”
m
W hat lies ahead following the first annual
fest is anyone’s guess. Thomas is already
thinking big— bigger acts, more bands. In
fact, he’s already working on the Second An
nual Portland Queer Music Festival.
“I ’m already planning next year’s. I’ve got
some o f the basics down, I’m in contact
with certain people,” T hom as promises.
“I t ’ll happen.” it]
*
The First Annual Portland Queer Music Festival
takes place Saturday, July 30from 3 p. m. to 2 a. m.
at Red Cap Garage and Boxxes (J035 SIV Stark
St.). Admission is S3. The event is 21 and over.
For a fu ll list o f performers and updates, search
"Portland Queer Music Festival" on Facebook.
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