Posted by: Anne Adams on Sep 02, 2010 at 12:00AM0 Comments
Stalagmites? Petals? Epithelial cells? Whatever these forms may seem to be, they’ve got something to do with a Dragon’s Mouth.
Adam Sorensen’s drawings and oil paintings simultaneously reference natural terrain, and psychedelic planes. Hence, his recent works, opening tomorrow at 925 NW Flanders Street, feel both familiar and alien. In other words, trippy topography in technicolor hues.
Al Fresco concert promises a sparkly season-start.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Sep 02, 2010 at 12:00AM0 Comments
The Oregon Symphony will look totally different in daylight!
Ballet dancers! Fireworks! The bombast of brass and the swoon of strings! Two conductors! Musical homages to Paris, Vienna, Rome, St. Petersburg and New York! All for free. Tonight, at 7pm, wander your lucky spoiled self over to at Tom Mcall Waterfront Park to see it. Or arrive at five to catch the Portland Youth Philharmonic and claim a close-in spot, from which you might get a glimpse of Jun Iwasaki, Concertmaster, and Fall Arts Package featuree.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Sep 02, 2010 at 12:00AM0 Comments
Prepare once again to get stuck at this corner, behind people taking pictures.
The iconic, placard reading, “Hung Far Low,” is scheduled to be re-hung in Chinatown today! If you’re not already elbowing your way around Tom McCall Waterfront Park, you might swing by NW 4th Avenue and NW Couch Street for the sign’s dedication ceremony. The 200-lb sign, which lorded over its neighborhood location from 1928 to 2005, serving as a conversation piece, a landmark, and a testament to Chinese-American history, was eventually removed for safety reasons—but area tenants lobbied hard for its return.
By the way, “Hung Far Low,” in Taisan dialect, means “Almond Blossom Fragrance.” So stop snickering.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Sep 02, 2010 at 12:00AM0 Comments
Part man, part beast, all parts!
The Attic Gallery (206 SW First Avenue between SW Oak St. and SW Pine St.) presents a few Joe Warren reclaimed-steel sculptures. Imagine you’re at a scrapyard, and all the spare parts reconfigure into man and animal shapes. Should be a trip for fans of Transformers.
Recently released female felons photo-document their journeys.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Sep 02, 2010 at 12:00AM0 Comments
When you get out of prison, you get a bus ticket and the clothes you wore going in. You may miss your inmate “family,” and rewards for good behavior. You have to check the box on every form forever, that says “convicted felon.” Psychologist and recalcitrance researcher Joni Kabana brings these post-prison hurdles to light, as she supplies women who’ve just been released from prison with journals and cameras, and then displays their combined images and writings. Brace yourself for a surge of empathy. Mercy Corps Action Center, 45 SW Ankeny Street.
Someday Lounge raises the bar for campy summer pub plays.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 30, 2010 at 12:00PM0 Comments
You know it’s hard out here for a vamp! Alba dances around the fringes, hungry for blood and love.
Last night, Culturephile hopped into Someday Lounge for its $12 theater two-fer: Beach Blanket Beyond, and Alba The Vampire. Pleasantly shocked by the level of entertainment these two pieces provide, we suggest catching them next weekend before they close.
Beach Blanket Beyond is so beyond 60’s surfer campy, you expect someone to actually jump a shark. Ripped from the pages of Jason Squamata’s comic book; the “hunky” lead wears a soft-sculpture muscle-suit, the beachy beauties shimmy around in bright sarongs and drape themselves submissively on the males, and the players repeatedly “freeze-frame,” chime in some cheesy narration, and then resume their movements to illustrate the action. Undoubtedly an homage to the writer’s nerdiness, the cameo character is a teenaged H. P. Lovecraft, hefting a musty book of magic spells and hamming discomfort in his trunks. It’s all very self-aware and stylized and silly—and if it weren’t well executed, it would fall totally flat. Luckily, all cues, props, pauses, freezes, and fake muscles are tucked impeccably into place, for a piece that achieves every laugh it intends, and uses its minimal, low-budget setup for more than it’s worth.
Alba The Vampire, an original play by Jason Ferte, makes light of a modern Single White Vamp with a major cross to bear: the inability to interface her love life with her…erm…dietary needs. The leading lady is tasked with a stream of monologues, and she kills! She delivers a perfectly toned mix of bravado, comic timing, and nervous, urgent physicality that Culturephile hasn’t seen since Artist Rep’s Gracie & The Atom. Resultantly, this caustic comic vampire is highly humanized. You can’t help but care about her fate, and hope she’ll be able to stave her many appetites. Minor characters also hold their own, with spot-on comedy stylings, while a smattering of original music makes the play feel musical, but not quite like a musical, per se. That’s actually okay—while the singing is undistractingly competent, it’s the believable speaking and dynamic blocking that really sell this show.
Of the bar-hosted theater productions we’ve seen this summer, this double-header should take home a two-headed blue ribbon, for taking its silly material seriously, playing equally well to friends and strangers, donating a portion of proceeds to Outside In, and never missing a beat.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 27, 2010 at 10:59AM1 Comments
Does that say “readings 4 dorkz?” Read at your own risk.
What happens when just anyone can publish their own book or magazine? As you might imagine, many elements slip into the mix at Portland Zine Symposium.
Rebels
Content that would normally get nixed by a publisher, becomes fair game for the printed page: incendiary rants, unauthorized cut-and-pastes of copyrighted content, and a barrage of unedited, indulgent diary confessionals. Some of this stuff is cathartically irreverent, or awkwardly humorous. Some of it is intriguingly “outsider.” And some of it is illegible, or otherwise un-readable, point blank. (Caveat emptor: if you can’t read the cover, may as well put it down.)
Artisans
On the other hand, with little economic incentive, and no third-party directives, many zine-makers feel free to create something more wonderful than the market demands. Handmade touches emerge, like letterpress impressions, screen-print, hand-coloring, and crafty binding. Illustrations abound. Some authors who don’t try to “market,” prove nevertheless quite compelling to read. One gets the sense that the content is purer, unchecked by an editor’s agenda-pen.
Professionals
Some small publishers, like recent Culturephile featuree Brandon Seifert, writer of Witch Doctor, self-publish with one eye on the prize of a mainstream deal. They bring slick, shelf-ready books to the zine scene, providing readers a sneak preview of work that will eventually “go big.”
So what does the zine world offer? Variety. Freedom. Risk. Rarity. Enough stuff, that there’s probably something for you. Head over to PSU, browse the tables and meet the makers.
For a more comprehensive list of upcoming events, visit the Arts & Entertainment Calendar! Next week, click back here for a list of local year-round zine suppliers.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 27, 2010 at 10:00AM0 Comments
Ever thought to yourself, “Any day now, I’m gonna get dolled up and go to a five-dollar salsa dance lesson at one-a-them local clubs…?”
Sure you have. But maybe it has yet to happen. Consider this weekend your wakeup Calle.
Instead of dipping one peep-toe in the shallow waters, why not plunge shoulder-deep into Sunday’s waterfront extravaganza, Salsa En La Calle? This year’s event features twelve hours of live music from local and international Latin acts, unlimited dance lessons, and succulent Latin foods, sure to satisfy all your salsa appetites.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 27, 2010 at 09:00AM2 Comments
A god’s-eye by designer Rachelle Waldie. Gaze into it, and find “AEQUANIMITAS!”
Tonight, fair friends, we usher in the age of AEQUANIMITAS, the most unspellable new art/fashion studio space in the Central Eastside complex erstwhile known as Grass Hut Gallery Row (8th and E Burnside, north side of the street).
The invitation is in all-caps, and wildly poetic. But this is is what we know:
~Designer Rachelle Waldie costumes experimental art-rockers. Her client list includes Deelay Ceelay.
~The word “aequanimitas” refers to the transcendent calm that a physician experiences in the face of life-and-death circumstances.
~The event starts at five tonight in the rear parking lot. It promises libations, and hints at revelations.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 27, 2010 at 08:59AM1 Comments
Tonight, OBT alum and choreographer Rachel Tess presents Always, Always/Never, Never, a new work which showcases her progress toward a touring winter solo show. Tess has apparently been workshopping with Juliard grad Isaac Spencer and lighting designer Jennifer Linn, and will take her solo show on the road in December. Go peek in on their progress.
Meanwhile, as a broad point of reference, here’s some footage of Tess in a rehearsal with Bouand DanceCompany:
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 27, 2010 at 07:00AM0 Comments
You shouldn’t suffer for lack of options this Saturday night, as two critically-acclaimed local acts release new albums at two approachably-posh venues. Maybe try a quantum-physics feat, and put yourself in both places at once. Neither of these events are to be missed.
Famous comedian hits the Schnitz tonight, promoting new comedy songs.
Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 26, 2010 at 09:00AM3 Comments
Hilarious Margaret Cho wants you to take her musical side. Seriously.
“Margaret Cho” is a name you know. Inarguably the most famous queer Korean-American in comedy, she’s carved her own niche among gregarious greats, with riotous impressions of her mother, self-effacing declarations of sexuality (“I’m not straight or gay—I’m slutty!”), and off-kilter stoner observations (“I wonder what it would be like to braid Chewbacca….”) There is no question that Margaret Cho can talk your ear off, and you’ll laugh your a$$ off.
But how is she at singing?
Tonight at the Schnitz, Margaret Cho will appear, no doubt slinging a few jokes, but also strapping on a guitar to shill songs from her latest project—musical album Cho Dependent, featuring cameos from the following stars:
Tegan and Sara, Tommy Chong, Ben Lee, Brendan Benson, Fiona Apple, Andrew Bird, Jon Brion, Garrison Starr, Grant Lee Phillips, Ani DiFranco, Meghan Toohey, Rachael Yamagata.
Some of those names will undoubtedly get Portland’s attention, so Culturephile asked Ms. Cho a couple quick questions about how she plans to hold it.
You’ll be in Portland tonight—a town that’s almost as famously queer as your comedy. Have you partied much here? Any local scene stories to share?
You know, I haven’t!* I’ve been here a number of times, but it was always to work. I remember being in a bagel shop at 6am, and everyone singing along to Elliott Smith. That was the best.
That sort of thing happens here. Portland’s brimming with the musically-inclined. Will knowing that your Portland audience has tons of musicians in it, change the way you perform your songs?
Oh, I don’t know! I play in front of musicians all the time, but mostly I sing to tracks and play a little. It depends on my voice and what’s happening.
Does it seem easier, or harder, to play music for other musicians?
Well, I do it a lot since my work is mostly collaborating with people, so I’m always playing with, or in front of, great musicians.
Hearing a joke more than once, is usually less welcome than hearing a song more than once. Do you think that when you combine music and comedy, you shorten the shelf-life of the songs, or lengthen the shelf-life of the jokes?
I’m hoping to extend the life of both the joke and the song. Some joke songs just rock! Like [Weird Al Yankovic’s] Amish Paradise or [Flight Of The Conchords’] The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room – I can listen to them forever. So I’m hoping to have funny songs that also rock, and rocking songs that make you laugh!
Does Cho have the chops to stack up to her musicomical idols, and honor Cho Dependent’s A-list roster? You decide:
*Portland, you have your orders: Party tonight with Margaret Cho.
During her 10 year Portland residency, Anne Adams has contributed to local publications, including Barfly, the Portland Tribune, and Portland Monthly. In 2005 her serial zine, The Bookmark, was endorsed by Wordstock and Powell’s Books.
Anne’s horizons extend beyond pen and page, with an Art Department credit in the movie Coraline, and passionate participation in the indie music community. Anne is an avid arts appreciator who can zero in on a detail of gesture or craft, but cannot suppress a wistful tear when faced with expressions of human truth.
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Culturephile chronicles the vibrant world of Portland arts & culture, its movers and makers.
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