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T he P ortland O bserver • N ovember 16, 1994
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ENTERTAINMENT
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Patrice Gaines author of “Laughing In The Dark”. Photo Credit:
Breton Littlehales, 1994
“For so many years, I thought
that the bad choices I’d made, the
missteps I'd taken, set me apart from
everyone else,’ says Patrice Gaines,
author o f Laughing In The Dark:
From Colored Girl to Woman o f
i Color-A Journey from Prison to
Power(Crown Publishers, Septem
ber 28, 1994). “Now, after years
spent reporting on other people’s
lives, I see that my experiences are
very similar to those o f many wom
en, regardless o f their color.”
Despite Patrice’s middle-class
upbringing and stable nuclear fam
ily, as a young woman she was lured
into a life o f risk-taking and crime
by a desire to gain power in a white,
male-dominated society. "I would
see the thugs and petty criminals
hanging out on the streets, doing
what they wanted to do and not
answering to anyone,” says Patrice.
“My fascination with them was part
adolescent rebellion, part a response
to being a second-class citizen’ be
cause I was black." With her deci
sion to ally herself with such men by
loving them, Patrice set the course
for a life o f violence and abuse.
After years spent hustling-and
being a victim o f hustlers herself-
Patrice was busted for heroin posses
sion and charged with a felony. While
in jail awaiting her trial, she reached
a turning point in her life. “ My par
ents came to visit me, but my daugh
ter, who was two, was too young to
be allowed in. After they left, I looked
out my tiny cell window and saw
Andrea down in the street, held up on
my grandfather's shoulders and wav
ing bl indly to the mommy she couldn’t
see,” remembers Patrice. “ It was a
heartbreaking moment, and I real
ized then that I owed her something-
the least I could give her was a
mother who was part o f her life.”
Vowing to change her ways, Patrice
began a rocky climb to redemption,
one marked by frequent slides into
her old ways.
In L aughing In The D ark,
Patrice tells how her serendipitous
entry into the world o f newspaper
reporting marked the birth o f self-
confidence and the chance for an
honorable kind o f power. Hired as a
secretary for the Charlotte O bserv
er, she was asked to write the em
ployee newsletter, an assignment
she found both difficult and invigo
rating. “I began trying to teach my
self all I could about writing,” says
Patrice. “My first byline was a ma
jo r victory, one that led me to where
I am in my career today.” Now a
nine-year veteran reporter at the
W ashington Post, Patrice writes
human interest stories for the Metro
section.
“I spent so much o f my life
hating myself, looking for power
through any number o f men,” says
Patrice. “After years o f struggling
to respect myself-both as a woman
and as an African-American-1 have
finally begun to make my way.”
P a tric e G a in e s w as bo rn in
1949 in N ew B ern, N orth C a ro
lina. A fter se rv in g ja il tim e in
C h a rlo tte , she got a jo b at the
C h a rlo tte O b se rv e r and began
her c a re e r as a re p o rte r. A fter
w orking for tw o y e a rs for the
n o w -d efu n ct M iam i N ew s, she
got a jo b at the W ashington Post,
w here she has been fo r nine
years. In 1992, P a tric e won the
N atio n al A sso c ia tio n o f B lack
Jo u rn a lis ts ' annual “ S alute to
E x c e lle n c e ” aw ard for co m m en
tary. She has one d a u g h te r, A n
drea, a g rad u ate o f S pelm an C o l
lege w ho now w orks for a p u blic
re la tio n s firm in Los A ngeles.
DIE HAUT
Call For Artists: Visual Chronicle Of Portland
The Visual Chronicl o f Port
land is a city-owned archival collec
tion o f paintings, drawings, prints
and photographs depicting city lif.
which are purchased annually. The
Chronicle is an important and unique
portrait not only o f Portland but also
o f its artistic vitality and the evolving
point o f view o f artists. Artists’ por
trait not only o f Portland but also o f
its artistic vitality and the evolving
point o f view o f artists. A rtists’ per
ceptions o f life in the last decade o f
this century will be an important leg
acy for future generations, and they
are encouraged to execute works spe-
cifically for submission to the Chron
icle.
Based on Amsterdam's topo
graphic Atlas, an archival art collec
tion that spans almost four centuries,
Portland’s Visual Chronicle, initiat
ed in 1984, is a rich visual document
o f the changing urban landscape and
A Low Down
Dirfij Shame
available on long-form VHS video
tape, featuring some different song
Jiv e
R e c o rd s/H o lly w o o d
selections and performances from
Records
announce
the release o f their
the CD.
C ave's involvement with Die joint venture soundtrack for the new
Hau, dates back to the European Keenen Ivory Wayans movie A Low
releases B untin' the Ice, (1983) and down Dirts Shame starring Keenen
‘88’s headless Body in a Topless Ivory Wayans, Jada Pinkett, and Sal
Bar. M eanw hile, DH drum m er T h ly Richardson.
The soundtrack also hosts tracks
om as W ydler has long been a
m ainstay in C a v e ’s group the Bad from Keith Murray, Fu-Schnickents,
S eed s, and, along w ith C ave, will O rg an ized K onfusion, S m ooth.
be p a rtic ip a tin g in th is su m m e r's UGKz, Extra Prolific. Mz. Kilo, Hi-
L o lla p a lo o z a to u r. C ave is jo in e d Five, Changing Faces.
on Sw eat by o th e r long-tim e Die
H au t c o h o rts --L y d ia L unch,
Blixa B argeld, kid "C o n g o " Pow
ers, and A nita L ane.
The B e rlin -b a se d q u a rte t Die
H aut issued th e ir first d o m esti-
c a lly -a v a ila b le re le a se , head On,
in w in ter, 1993 on T rip le X. The
instru m en tal b a n d —w hose nam e
tra n sla te s to ‘the S k in ’—chose to
flesh out th e ir so ngs by e n listin g
the a ssista n c e o f v a rio u s guest
v o c a lists. T he re su lt w as an in
sp ire d c o lla b o ra tio n betw een the
band and a v e rita b le w h o ’s who
o f le ft-o f-th e -d ia l rock singers,
such as S onic Y o u th 's Kim G o r
d o n , G un C lu b 's J e ffre y Lee
P ierce, D ebbie harry o f B londie
fam e,
B lix a
B a r g e ld
of
E in s tu e rz e n d e N e u b a u te n . the
e v e r-b u sy L y d ia L inch, K id C o n
go P ow ers (w h o played a lo n g
side B argeld in N ick C a v e 's Bad
S e e d s and P ie rc e in the Gun
C lu b ), so lo a rtis t A nita Lane,
S u ic id e ’s A lan V ega, and C ristina
from New Y ork underground sen
sation B oss H og.
It pro v ed to be a form idable
S tatesid e in tro d u c tio n to a band
th at a lre a d y had a decad e-lo n g
histo ry beh in d them in Europe
life o f P ortend as it moves into the
21st Century. Two aspects o f Am
sterdam ’s historical Topographical
Atlas that are especially appropriate
to Portland’s Visual Chronicle are
the quality o f its artistic execution
and the breadth o f its aesthetic per
spective.
The S electio n C o m m ittee is
seek in g artw o rk that is to p ic a l,
co n te m p o ra ry and e x c itin g and
w hich p o rtra y s a sense o f the
p r e s e n t. T h e C o m m itte e has
draw n up a list o f to p ic s w hich
should serve as a guide to a rtists
and not c o n stra in them from a p
p ro a c h in g o th e r su b je c ts w ith
w hich they m ight fu lfill the se
lection c rite ria .
Suggestions include:
•how changes in the physical, or
built, environment affect economic,
social and cultural aspects o f neigh-
borhoods/com m unities (e.g., the
Disney/Caravan Pictures will
host four screenings and parties. Start
ing in Atlanta on November 9th show
casing the talent o f Raja-Nee and
Go
Hollow r eighl'orhood which
is being affected by construction o f
the new MAX line and renewal and
(tevelopment in the neighborhoods
o f the Albina community).
• social issues and their impact on
Portland (e.g., AIDS crisis, home
lessness, labor issues)
• the lives o f children in Portland
• the music scene
• parks and special events unique
to Portland.
This year the committee is espe
cially encouraging submissions of
paintings, drawings, and prints al
though all submissions will be con
sidered that meet the selection crite
ria.
Applications due in MAC office
by January 10, 1995, 5:00 p.m. (this
is not a postmark deadline)
For further information, call
Peggy Kendellen, Public Art Project
Coordinator, 503-823-4196.
Silk; then if so nto Washington, D.C.
on November 15th where the Fu-
Schnickens will join Raja-Nee and
Silk
Music
Millennium
32nd & E.
Burnside
231-8926
(L to Ft) Joschen Arbeit-guitar: Christoph Dreher-bass: Rainer
Lingk-guitar; Thomas Wydler-drums
Following their stateside debut
las, year. Die Haut is back with an
other set o f their expansive guitar
rock Entitled Sweat, it follows in the
style o f previous release Head On in
that it features the band alongside a
group o f some o f the best singers in
modern rock, led this time by influ
ential vocalist Nick Cave. Sweat is
Die H au l’s firs, live recording,
tracked during a pair o f Dutch con
cert performances, and will also be
23rd & NW
Johnson
248-0163
for BEST MU‘
ShovWfh
Portland Civic Auditorium
OPENS TUESDAY!
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