Suck My Mic!
There are literally dozens of venues for open mic night in Portland, but I hold a special place in my heart for the Alberta Street Public House. It’s been the home of Chervona on Last Thursdays and Irish Jams on Fridays. Their happy hour food is cheap and amazing (with lots of vegetarian options), the … Read more
Feminine Masquerade: Cleo from 5 to 7
The Song from Agnes Varda’s 1962 film Cléo 5 à 7: Sans toi/Without you/Sin ti Toutes portes ouvertes With all doors open wide Todas las puertas abiertas En plein courant d’air With the wind rushing through Llena de correintes de aire Je suis une maison vide I’m like an empty house Soy una casa vacía Sans toi, sans … Read more
Organ Grinders: The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari
Not long after relocating to Portland, I became aware of Filmusik through an ad in the Portland Mercury for Planet of Dinosaurs. It promised a performance of folly artists, voice actors, and live music to totally recreate the soundscape of a film live. I was in love. On top of that, they were offering a Spanish-language … Read more
Get rid of your muffin top! Life in the Girl Demographic
Last I checked, the average thirty minute program actually runs between 17 and 21 minutes. That means for every hour of television you watch about twenty of the worst in gender indoctrination. While commercials are the worst, the programing itself is meant to be alienating in order to “capture” the adequate demographic. The thing about … Read more
Reconstructing a Song: Part 2 (crap happens)
Crap happens. I had today off from work in what it’ll likely be my last weekday off in a long while. I spent the majority of it trying to remember how to play bass and working on the aforementioned song and made some crappy progress. I was trying to work on too many ideas at … Read more
Transvestite Pet Peeve #2: The “Weirdo” Transvestite
…again with the weirdo transvestitite? While discussing Marwencol I wanted to express the need for inclusiveness in the transgender community due to the “radical othering” we face from the rest of the population. I am still, however, annoyed by certain “weird” ways gender-variant males end up expressing their femininity, such as collecting and obsessing … Read more
The Many Ways of Being Queer
While this video serves only as tiny introduction to an incredibly large volume of ideas regarding gender and sexual identity, it nonetheless creates the chance to explore specific ways we think about our identity and how one ought to communicate it to others. Often times, people think there’s only one way to being queer, and … Read more
Bottoms Up! By Chervona
This is the first cut of the video I got to partake in. If you haven’t read it yet, a great write-up of the shoot if also available at American Robotnik. Most of the people who participated in the shoot will also come together tomorrow at what promises to be the first big local show of the year: (Russian) Old … Read more
Reconstructing a Song: Part 1
As I mentioned in a previous entry I will be recording a cover version of an old song I’ve been obsessing over and I thought It’d be an interesting project to share how to recording process is coming along. Unfortunately, I have not made much progress. One, I am rusty from not being involved in … Read more
Embracing Your Inner Girl: “I am an emotional creature”
I Am an Emotional Creature By Eve Ensler I love being a girl. I can feel what you’re feeling as you’re feeling it inside the feeling before. I am an emotional creature. Things do not come to me as intellectual theories or hard-pressed ideas. They pulse through my organs and legs and burn up my … Read more
