www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
May 30. 2007
M etro
‘r i ' c ^ S o r t l a u ò
Q O b s e ru e r
SECTION
/community
L a le n d a r
Praise and Worship
Local singer/songwriter Gloria Stidum
performs a free admission concert at
Emmanuel Temple Church, 1033 N.
Sumner, on Saturday, June 9 at 6:30 pm.
Call Coreinne Peters at 503-758-4556.
Youth Summer Sports
July 5 through July 27, the summer youth
sports program is held on the Portland
State University campus, providing low-
income youths ages 10-16, with sports
instruction, field trips, a free medical exam
and two free meals daily. Registration is
open now. Visit palkids.org.
Interstate Farmers Market
A farmers market is held each W ednes
day through Sept. 26 from 3 - 7 p.m. just
off Interstate Avenue between Overlook
Park and the Interstate Kaiser Permanente
Campus The market is known for its va
riety of quality fresh local produce, baked
goods, cut flowers, artisan cheese, meat
and fish.
‘Our Violent Sun’
On the second Monday of each month
through August, at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., the
MHCC Planetarium Sky Theater explores
the unpredictable behavior and flame
like geysers of our violent sun. Admis
sion is $1.
Feminist Organization Meeting
Monday June 11 at 6:30 pm, there will be
achance to learn about Radical W omen’s
activities and how to get involved. The
meeting will take place at the Bread and
Roses Center, 819 N. Killingsworth St.
Juneteenth Celebration
Saturday, June 16, from 12 p.m. to dusk,
the public is invited to this free event at
Peninsula Park in north Portland.
Community Support
The African American Health Coalition,
a non-profit that touches the lives of
millions of African Americans each year,
reminds you to support your community
organization. AH donations, grants, and
gifts are tax deductible. For more informa
tion, visit aahc-portland.org.
Help Loaves & Fishes
The T wo Rivers Loaves & Fishes Center,
9009 N. Foss St., needs volunteer drivers
for m eals-on-w heels to ensure that
homebound seniors in St. Johns receive
nutritional meals and a bit o f companion
ship. Call 503-988-4088.
African American Council
You’re invited on the third Tuesday of
each month from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
when the African American Advisory
Council meets at the King Facility, 4815
N.E. Seventh Ave. Call 503-823-0000.
I-----
Rude, Crude
and Hilarious
Portland braces fo r racially
charged insult comic
by N icole R onal H ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
With a city as PC as Portland, are we
ready fora woman who refers to people
in certain racial or homophobic slurs?
The New York Times dubs come
dian Lisa Lampanelli the Queen of Mean.
She’s made a name for herself as the
insult comic and no group is exempt.
And anyone sitting in the front rows of
her sold out shows better be able to
take a joke at their expense.
The 45-year-old white woman hails
from Connecticut and looks like any
regular soccer mom. But this chick has
a potty mouth and doesn’t apologize
for it.
Lampanelli chimes in to the Portland
Observer about interracial dating and
why she can drop N -bom bs and
Michael Richards of the sitcom Friends
can’t.
Nicole: Has your com edic act
changed since the Michael Richards
tirade at the Laugh Factory? And why
do journalists keep asking you about
it?
Lampanelli: How muchdoyou think
it’s changed? Not a lot and what do I
care. I don’t know what his motivation
was behind saying those racial slurs.
but it was for the wrong reasons. I make
fun of all stereotypes and my inten
tions are never to hurt anyone. He and
I are coming from two different angles.
Nicole: What about Don Imus? He’s
been hung out to dry after using the
phrase “Nappy Headed Ho.” What is
the difference in context between you
and him?
Lampanelli: I am funny and he’snot.
Perhaps if there was a joke attached he
could have gotten a laugh out of it.
Unlike him, I don’t work for anyone but
myself so I can’t get fired. I have no one
to answer to except my own gut and
intention. He apologized for what he
said and the flood gates opened. I have
been protested and people come after
me but I know that I love and hate
everyone equally.
Nicole: What was it I ike the first time
you went on stage and told a seem
ingly racist joke?
Lampanelli: It’snot a racist joke it’s
a racial joke. I remember years ago I was
nervous about it, but 1 had to do what
works for me and hope that people
understand and laugh for the right
reasons.
Lisa Lampanelli is one o f America's hottest comics. The equal opportunity offender
continued
on page H3
MWMN
Production Launches for Globetrotter Story
Meadowlark
Lemon weighs
in on biopic
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
Celebrities never look perfect in dra
matic portrayals on screen. This is becom
ing increasingly true in biopics that have
recently come out portraying Muhammad
Ali, Ray Charles and Johnny Cash.
These three films are the “comparables”
that Portland producer Billy Moore is us
ing for a movie about Meadowlark Lemon,
a former Globetrotter great who still plays
professional basketball and preaches in
Scottsdale, Ariz.
By waitinguntil the death of Ali, Charles
and Cash, producers of these previous
films avoided much legal scrutiny. But
Vancouver Outdoors Market
Saturdays and Sundays, through Oct. 27,
the Vancouver Outdoor Market will fea
ture fresh produce, food, and arts and
crafts. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sun
days.
Diabetes Support Group
Legacy Emanuel Hospital hosts a diabe
tes support group the first and third
Thursdays of every month, from 7 p.m. to
8p.m., in Room 1027.
Bradley-Angle House
The Bradley-Angle House needs volun
teers to help its outreach against domes
tic violence. Women of color and bilin
gual women are encouraged to call. For
more information,call 503-282-9940.
Work against Abuse
Community Advocates invites those in
terested in protecting children from abuse
to become an event volunteer, event
outreach, technology expert, graphic art
ists or office support team member. For
information,call 503-280-1388.
Women in Community Service
Volunteer female mentors are being
sought by Women in Community Service
to work with incarcerated women at the
Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. The
women provide support and encourage
ment for inmates transitioning from prison
back into the community. For informa
tion, call 503-570-6614.
Food Bank Seeks Volunteers
The Oregon Food Bank seeks volunteers
on Mondays from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
and Tuesdays, 9 a m. to noon, to sort and
repack perishable foods. Call 503-282-0555,
ext. 272 or visit Oregonfixxlbank.org.
4
o f insults doesn’t tiptoe around issues o f race. She is coming to Portland fora
performance on Saturday, June 9 at the Newmark Theater.
Portland producer Billy Moore (left) and former Harlem Globetrotter
Meadowlark Lemon work together on a movie about the basketball
legend's fraught life.
Moore wants to release Lemon’s story lesson for the benefits of finding God.
during the next three years when it is I ikely
“I’m a minister," he says. "I use joy, I
that the septuagenarian will remain healthy. use comedy, I use songs, and I use Christ
Even with Lemon around to complain to eradicate racial prejudice; that’s the
about the dramatization of juicy bits, only way that I know."
Moore will be banking on the fame of
Moore thinks the movie will still bring out
all the fa sc in a tin g a sp ects o f one the person he calls "the Bob Hope of
G lobetrotter's fraught life. Lemon’s story comedy basketball."
c o n ta in s
all
of
Hollywood's prerequi
site s: tro u b le s w ith
women, the law, politics
and coworkers, Moore
said.
Lemon doesn't think
he has anything to hide.
"W e’re going to make
a good movie,” he says.
“In terms of the drugs
and alcohol, I didn't do
any of that, but I have
been poor, although I
like being rich much bet
ter.”
L em on’s nem esis.
G lo b e tro tte rs o w ner
Manny Jackson, pro
vides the dramatic ten
sion that most interests
them in this story of a
basketball performer’s
early moral and finan
cial poverty.
Mix,re says is com
mon for anyone to re
sent the ascension of
others to the top and
that these powerful men
apparently could not
find a way to rise peace
fully together.
The Globetrotters of
Lem on's era were also A book on Meadowlark Lemon s life is part of
the subject of constant Portland producer Billy Moore's research for a movie
racial scrutiny. When he is developing on the former Globetrotter great.
Lemon first signed on,
they provided one of the few professional
Lemon isoneofonly fourGlobetrotters
outlets for black basketball players that to have his number retired and is second
were frequently barred from playing dur only to Wilt Chamberlain in terms of name
recognition.
ing that era in the U.S.
As the NBA began to accept black
The elite and predominantly white
talent later on. Lemon’s team was accused
Multnomah Athletic Club has provided a
of “Tomming for Abe" by continuing the key venue for Mix,re to solicit financial
support for his film.
act in a supposedly minstrel-like fashion.
“Controversy is just something that
"You know how these white MAC
comes ou, of that kind of life." says Lemon.
people arc." Mix,re says, “they like celeb
As a bom-again Christian, Lemon w ants rity, and I get to headline w ith big coaches
to use the struggles of his past as an object
so I get a different level of respect."
*