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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2011)
•thearts OREGON'S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE year to celebrate the Pagan holiday o f Belt ane and were inspired to spread the word even further. However, when asked about the Faeries, Mitchell makes one thing emphati cally clear: “I am not a hardcore hippie guy.” Even if he’s not fond o f the look, the sen sibility is there: “[It’s] definitely in me and in my work, a kind o f belief that things can be better for society as a whole and for the community that you commune within.” Mitchell will not be moving full-time to the Faerie sanctuary anytime soon, though. “I’m more about creating communities than join ing them,” he explains, “but Fve had really good experiences with the Faeries, despite my not being as Faerie-ish as some. I’m just 29 JULY 15. 2011 not much o f a joiner, especially because gay culture. sometimes it reminds me o f church.” “Being queer used to be a passport to non Along with his co-promoters, Mitchell conformity, to finding your own gender and has succeeded in forming a vibrant com your own specialness,” Mitchell observes, munity around M attachine that he hopes and perhaps Mattachine can bring back this will also manifest when it swings through old-school passport to a generation that lost Portland. “ [The party] attracts very creative it. Still, all high-minded goals aside, M itch people, very productive people, and that’s ell offers the best reason to throw a party in who we promote towards,” he says. “When the Rose City. “I always have a blast in Port you’re around creative people, your creative land,” he says, “and I can’t wait to see all my side comes out.” Just as his films celebrate buddies again.” it] the freakiest o f the freaks as they struggle to connect with others, the Mattachine With Amber Martin, P J DeBoy and Paul tour is a celebration o f queer identity— an Dawson; Sat., August 6, 10 p.m M ississippi invitation for queers to re-embrace creativ Studios, 3939 N. Mississippi; $5; mississip- ity and tenderness in an ethical vision o f pistudios.com. June drinks - d in n e r |jjfc LL i o w ine 1 Lut mul< ^ 0 3 4 77 v.' .v \v . 11 o * r I uesday k U> * » , f 1 >< 1 x n u n Saturday Bunny, “The Heifer” Lady Bunny hops into Portland BY DANIEL BORGEN Pioneer, legend, high-profile fixture— it’s all a matter o f semantics when it comes to an icon like Lady Bunny. With wigs and fake eyelashes to the sky and flawless, glitzy dress es, Lady Bunny, born Jon Ingle, has come a long way from her modest beginnings in Chattanooga, Tenn. First a major star in A t lanta alongside the likes o f RuPaul, she soon took on New York City— and won. There she remains a queen-of-all-trades, a wildly suc cessful deejay, singer, promoter and actress. Perhaps best known for founding Wig- stock, the NYC drag festival that now boasts 40,000+ attendees each year, Bunny is also a notable journalist (Star) and comedienne— her routines and infamous parodies keep her ever the jet-setter, as Bunny books venues from L.A. to Paris. Just Out chatted with the legendary Bunny ahead o f her upcoming Portland show. Ju st Out: Bunny, when were you last in Portland? W hat’s the weirdest thing that happened to you here? Lady Bunny: I spun at Mitchell Gold’s {grand reopening] event [in 2010] and after ward went to visit Darcelle at her place. I loved meeting those girls and Darcelle couldn’t have been sweeter— and it wasn’t that weird hut it was hilarious: A black female customer in a wheelchair was ruling the joint. She was wearing a wig and told me that be cause she had wigs in three different colors and her senile husband thought he had two other girlfriends on the side. I also performed a couple summers ago with Taylor Dayne at your gay pride—the crowd was amazing and I really hit it off with the emcee, Poison Witers. Until I got back to my hotel and realized that she’d stolen my crack pipe! JO : What can Portland fans expect from your show? Music? Comedy? LB: All o f the above. I do have some new material like my parody o f [Katy Perry’s] “Firework ” and [Far East Movement’s] “Like a G 6.” JO : Any special requests from us? LB : Horse-hung drug dealers, meet me backstage. JO : Your parodies kill. Tell me a bit about your process. Any one song you’re most fond of? LB: I ’m a twisted heifer. My humor can be so inappropriate that when you see me on stage, my number has usually been tried out several times. I don’t trust my own instincts anymore— after I made crowds at Wigstock uncomfortable with a parody o f “Dance With My Father” called “Suck O ff My Father,” which was performed too soon after Luther Vandross’ death. Maybe it’s time to resurrect it! JO : When I re-watched the trailer for your D VD, Rated X (For Extra Retarded ) , it reminded me that you’ve literally been ev erywhere. Sex and the City cameos, you name it. W hat specifically inspired the making o f the D VD? LB: Angel dust! Seriously, I’ve loved hav ing cameos on SATC, the Pamela Anderson Roast, To Wong Foo — but it was time for a starring vehicle o f my own. And my humor is so raunchy that no TV show is going to air it, so I came up with something I could sell my self without censorship. JO : W hat’s your favorite celeb or T V mo ment so far? LB: Pamela is outrageous— so gorgeous and fun. But Patti LaBclle, Carol Channing and Charo are three o f my favorite perform ers ever. I’ve gotten to work with all o f them and even got video footage o f Charo from the set o f Drag U saying, “Lady Bunny is the big gest puta in the United States.” Chaka Khan was another idol who guest judged on Drag U. Barbara Eden once told me she wished she could get her hair to look like mine— and she inspired all o f my hairdos with her looks on I Dream of Jeannie .” JO : You make headlines for making even Republicans (like the Bush twins) have 4 6 3 5 SE Hawthorne Blvd 5 0 3 .9 5 4 .3 1 3 3 3 5 2 4 N. Mississippi Ave 5 0 3 .4 6 7 .4 1 4 9 porquenotaces.com Patti LaBelle, Carol Channing and Charo are three of my favorite per formers ever. I’ve gotten to work with all of them and even got video footage of Charo from the set of Drag U saying, “Lady Bunny is the biggest puta in the United States.” -LADY BUNNY fun. W hat’s the sexy secret to your cross over success? LB: It’s easy to make Republicans have fun—just take away someone’s rights or slash vital services in a recession! It’s funny you ask that because many o f my deejay gigs are in ultraconservative Texas. While I do have a passion for politics, I take a break while I’m spinning and focus on partying. I think people hire me because they get a clown and deejay for the price o f one— it surely isn’t because of my mixing skills. Speaking of clowns, I just decjayed for Lady Gaga at the after-party for her C FD A fashion award. Did you hear her give me a shout-out during the song “Teeth” on l\er Monster Zto//HBO Special? Suddenly, I’m relevant again! JW The always-relevant Lady Bunny appears at Red Cap Garage, 1035 SW Stark, at 10 p.m. Fri., July 29. She'll perform, spin and stick around for a meet-and-greet. Cover is S3. Palin Dining. Prit air*Dining. Fun Dining. Fine Dining # M i N G 0 in Beaverton 503 646 6464 WWW.MiNGOWEST.COM
