Eleven PDX 3.11

contents

ELEVEN PDX MAGAZINE ISSUE NO. 11

THE USUAL 3 Letter from the Editor 3 Staff Credits Columns

VOLUME 3

FEATURES Local Feature 12 Souvenir Driver

Cover Feature 15 Warpaint

5 Aural Fix Sleeper/Agent Tokimonsta A Tribe Called Red

FILM Watch Me Now 19 new music 7 Short List

Film Editorial: Bright Lights, Big Sissies Instant Queue Review

7 Album Reviews Cloud Nothings Manchester Orchestra Eels Wye Oak

COMMUNITY Neighborhood of the Month 21 SE Division Street

LIVE MUSIC 9 Musicalendar An encompassing overview of concerts in PDX for the upcoming month. But that’s not all–the Musicalendar is complete with a venue map to help get you around town.

11 Previews

Visual Arts 22 Portland artist Ben Adams

more online at elevenpdx.com

HELLO PORTLAND! Spring is in swing and the days are getting longer.

So what? So let's dance! In the park! It's time to roll your bike over to the local shop for a tune-up, buy some new frisbees and bust out the bocce balls. If the mood strikes, you could even bring an instrument or boombox of some sort. Ah, Portland spring!

In honor of nature, here are my ELEVEN favorite nearby parks: Laurelhurst Washington Park Pier Park Forest Park Colonel Summers Waterfront Park Mt Tabor Oxbow Regional Park Cathedral Park Overlook Park Rocky Butte Did I neglect your fav'? Holler at me @elevenpdx or ryan@elevenpdx.com Don't forget Earth Day is April 22 - Plant a tree! Âť

- Ryan Dornfeld, Editor in Chief

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EXECUTIVE STAFF EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Dornfeld CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dustin Mills SENIOR STAFF SENIOR WRITER Wendy Worzalla FILM SECTION Bex Silver VISUAL ARTS Mercy McNab graphic DESIGN Dustin Mills Alex Combs COPY EDITING Megan Freshley COVER PHOTO Robin Laananen CONTRIBUTORS Brandy Crowe, Billy Dye, Elizabeth Elder, Eric Evans, Gabriel Granach, Kelly Kovl, Scott McHale, Aaron Mills, Kela Parker, Rachael Haigh, Rob de la Teja, Morgan Troper, Charles Trowbridge photographers Justin Cate, Michael Herman, Mercy McNab, Aa Mills, Todd Walberg DISTRIBUTION / PROMO The Redcoats

eleven magazine mail us stuff!

P.O. Box 16488 Portland, OR. 97292 get involved getinvolved@elevenpdx.com

GENERAL INQUIRIES info@elevenpdx.com ADVERTISING sales@elevenpdx.com online www.elevenpdx.com twitter.com/elevenpdx facebook.com/elevenmagpdx online editor Kim Lawson kim@elevenpdx.com eleven west media group, llc Ryan Dornfeld Dustin Mills SPECIAL THANKS Kev, Jim, Steph, Matt, Tali, Vargas fam, EastBurn fam, M.W., Tixie fam, Meeses, PLA, Vince, Skot and Karla, Phil and Corrie, PH+BG, Nalin Silva, Treefort, our partners, families and friends!

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columns

AURAL FIX

APRIL

(Every month, our expert team seeks out the newest and most exciting musicians in the world. After searching high and low, we’re proud to bring you the result of our concentrated efforts.)

AT

1st

1

ASHLEIGH FLYNN 17th URAL THOMAS & THE PAIN SWAN SOVEREIGN

(FORMERLY DIRTY MARTINI)

SNEAKIN' OUT 2nd LYDIA LOVELESS

THE STUBBORN LOVERS

3rd BEAR HANDS 4th MARCO BENEVENTO OLD LIGHT

5th FUTURE ISLANDS ED SCHRADER’S MUSIC BEAT JASON URICK

6th DUM DUM GIRLS BLOUSE

7th LA FEMME

THE SUICIDE NOTES SEX CRIME

8th THE CREEPSHOW THE PHENOMENAUTS

9th FACTORY FLOOR 10th FISHBONE 11th KATIE HERZIG AMY STROUP

12th RAMBLE ON : A TRIBUTE TO LED ZEPPELIN ROOT JACK

14th THE AFGHAN WHIGS

ANCIENT HEAT

18th GREYLAG 19th WILD ONES

SUMMER CANNIBALS TEEN SPOT

20th MOBB DEEP 22nd JUANA MOLINA 23rd SLEEPER AGENT HOLYCHILD PAGIINS

24th POLECAT

BIG E TRIO THE MOONSHINE

25th BARRACUDA: THE ESSENTIAL TRIBUTE TO HEART METTS, RYAN, & COLLINS

26th TOKYO POLICE CLUB 27th TRUST MOZART'S SISTER

28th HIGGINS WATERPROOF BLACK MAGIC BAND CHRIS BROKAW

30th WHITE FANG

MEAN JEANS AMERICAN CULTURE

EARLY WINTERS

15th JENI WREN BROWNISH BLACK DJ N-ABLE

16th SLOW MUSIC

happy hour 3-6pm

Download our 830 E BURNSIDE / 503.231.WOOD FREE iPhone App! www.dougfirlounge.com

daily

Twitter@dougfirlounge Instagram@dougfirlounge

Advance tickets at ticketfly.com and Jackpot Records

All shows 8pm doors/9pm show • 21+ unless noted • box office open ½ hour before doors Serving Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night Covered Smoking Patio, Fireplace Room, Free WIFI

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SLEEPER/AGENT

While thumbing through albums, you might mistake Sleeper/ Agent’s recent release, About Last Night, for a Keisha (she dropped the dollar sign in case you haven’t heard) album. The cover features singer Alex Kandel with faded orange and magenta hair that looks like it has survived a few bars and a hurricane. The album, however, sounds far from that.

The band is from Bowling Green, Kentucky, which isn’t immediately obvious, but soon makes itself apparent through Kandel’s throaty, back-roads vocals. Sleeper/Agent is also a young band that has barely crossed the legal drinking age. This doesn’t mean they are new to the game though. This is their second fulllength on Mom+Pop Music and they’ve shared the stage with Cage The Elephant and Weezer.

About Last Night is danceable and bright, but it is also hard to pinpoint as it alternates from bluesy tracks like “Haunting Me” and anthemic group harmonies that are more in line with Of Monsters and Men. Tracks like “Good Job” channel guitar lines that sound like My Morning Jacket, but are followed with the popsynths of Passion Pit. This is a band that isn’t instantly warm, but after a few listens you find yourself humming the tracks as you do dishes. It will be interesting to hear how they manifest and expand their youthful pop-punk sound. » - Elizabeth Elder

2

TOKIMONSTA

In the standard rock paradigm, the producer is someone who steps in, typically after songwriting and rehearsal, to record an artist’s music in a certain way. The term is much broader in electronic music, often describing someone who creates and performs their art using sequencers, software, and turntables. L.A.’s TOKiMONSTA exemplifies the role, crafting futuristic yet unmistakably R&B-tinged beats. As part of Flying Lotus’s BRAINFEEDER crew, she’s helped define Los Angeles as a city on the edge of electronic music and toured the world nonstop since 2011. Her tracks are often augmented by disparate samples set to Northern Soul-worthy beats. The shuffling hand-claps and blue note brass of her Midnight Menu LP evolved into the clicks and chirps of 2013’s Half Shadows. Her newest—“The World Is Ours,” downloadable on Soundcloud—crystallizes her previous work into a clean yet warm thing all its own. Her music is equally appealing at work as in the club, a distinction untrue of much electronic music.

As in any genre, superior electronic music sounds unique to the artist creating it. Play any track from Natasha Kmeto’s Crisis and it’s immediately obvious that the track is part of a larger artistic whole.

TOKiMONSTA’s records aren’t quite as idiosyncratically hers. But there’s a world of style and technique in her work that elevates it from the mundane. There are touches reminiscent of Portishead, Saint Etienne, and ‘90s hip hop—yet it’s not derivative and never boring. » - Eric Evans

columns

3

Photo by Pat Bolduc

A TRIBE CALLED RED An often untapped and lesser known

crew began touring the festival circuits,

world music has long lived in North

showing pride and visiting urban native

America, full of the culture of our

communities and city clubs, throwing

continent’s first people. Ottawa, Canada’s

wild powwows. Their acclaim sparked

First Nations DJs Ian “NDN” Campeau,

nominations for Canada’s Polaris (Long-

Dan “Shub” General, and Bear Witness,

List) Music Award for both albums

along with collaborations with varying

consecutively.

tribal artists from across the country,

The live shows both mesmerize and

have put a spotlight on Native American

have enduring rhythms both live and

music and life as A Tribe Called Red.

digital. The high vocal calls may be totally

On their 2012 self-titled debut

different for some, but their power and

and 2013’s Nation II Nation, they spin

history run deep—and the harmonies

samples of traditional inter-tribal music.

are on another level. The intensity of

Over high-cry chanting and heavy drum

the EDM mixes are shared with personal

beats, they skid, scratch, build, and break

statements about a people, the name

down tracks overflowing with techno

itself encompassing all tribes. The power

and hip-hop constructs. The quick tempo

of the drum, undeniable dance-beats,

dance beats are dubbed "rez-tone." They

visual performances of film clips and

drop heavy dub and add hand-claps and

traditional dancers (that show what

multiple synth sound effects.

original hoop dancing is all about), and

ATCR has definitely gained attention by exposing listeners to the unique sound they've created, as well as increasing indigenous visibility in the EDM scene. With sold out shows, the

some humor from the crew make a rounded-out experience. » - Brandy Crowe

Catch A Tribe Called Red live this month APRIL 3 at Holocene

QUICK TRACKS A “ELECTRIC POWWOW DRUM” What may be the flagship single from their debut in 2012, the song begins with electronic dance sounds that unleash into a war-cry. The dub-step turns everything inside out, and the cries break into unison with a dance stretch that scratches and keeps pumping rhythms. It’s easy to get lost in.

B “RED RIDDUM” Midway through 2013’s sophomore release Nation II Nation, this track scurries over a cool melody, featuring samples of vocalist Eastern Eagle as well as choppy female vocals that are sped up.

It then bottoms out and begins revolving around groovy breakdowns that feature coin drops, clanging bottles, and deep, deep bass drums. It’s just plain smooth.

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reviews

NEW MUSIC This Month’s best R Reissue

L Local release

Short List

Cloud Nothings Here And Nowhere Else Carpark Records

Chevelle La Gargola Neon Trees Pop Psychology Band of Skulls Himalayan Nickel Creek A Dotted Line Thievery Corporation Saudade

Great albums are like a doubleedged sword; the more accolades you get, the more that's expected on the follow up. With Attack on Memory, Dylan Baldi transformed his Garageband project into a real band and blew everyone away. The new album is

an angry, punk-ish collection of songs that at first sound very much alike. But upon turning the volume to full blast, you can catch the nuance of Baldi’s talent. My only question would be what is he so angry about? Even if it’s a false angst, all the screaming and distortion works well.

The first song sets the tone for the album with some fuzzy guitar and quick beats. While it could be argued that earlier Cloud Nothings projects were much more creative, this is a straightforward noise-rock album, and the raw energy and intensity that Baldi was seemingly going for here was achieved. The most creative song on the album is "Pattern Walks." It’s this album's "Wasted Days"—with its nihilistic drone synths, chants, and a trippy transition into a dark drum solo.

Then it comes back with some echoing vocals and a triumphant finish. The album ends nicely with the anthemlike "I’m Not Part of Me," positively finishing a solid piece of work. » - Scott McHale

Timber Timbre Hot Dreams Shonen Knife Overdrive

doesn’t drown out the emotions in the

The Afghan Whigs Do to the Beast

songwriting. The tinge of country flair

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Days of Abandon

band from Georgia comes along for the

one would expect from an indie rock ride and makes for a really interesting mix. Singer Andy Hull’s low-key

Green Day Demolicious

sensibilities and haunting voice light

Damon Albarn Everyday Robots

the fuse for this incredibly explosive music.

King Dude Fear Buy it

Steal it

I’ve found that a lot of albums have a boring section somewhere near the middle. This album is literally epic

Toss it

Manchester Orchestra Cope Loma Vista Recordings

jam after epic jam. You might want to stretch first before listening to this, as you may end up with a sore neck by the end of it. At this point, I would normally point out the parts of this album that don’t work. I can’t think of

Manchester Orchestra is set to

anything. Seriously—it’s that good. This

release their fourth studio album Cope

is definitely one of my favorite albums

on April 1, but this little gem is no joke.

of the year so far, and I can’t wait to see

From start to finish, everything is put

it live at the end of month. »

together really well while remaining beautifully rough around the edges.

facebook.com/elevenmagpdx @elevenpdx

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These guys have cultivated a sound that is both hard driving and fast but

- Aaron Mills

Manchester Orchestra plays in Portland April 30 @ Roseland

reviews

Eels The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett E Works/Pias

Mark Oliver Everett has been making music under the moniker Eels for the better part of two decades, rotating band members for each album in order to find a different sonic signature. Since the early 2000s, most all of Eels music has been obvious in its

Wye Oak Shriek Merge Records Wye Oak has been categorized as synth indie-pop since it slithered onto the scene with 2009’s The Knot. Technically, that’s an accurate descriptor. But once you’ve drilled down a little more, it’s clear that there is much more to this duo than simply synthesizers and reverb.

Shriek, Wye Oak’s latest after

content and is downright depressing.

And without shock, very little of the recent catalog has been met with critical acclaim.

Mark Oliver Everett has never been much for subtlety when it comes to lyrical content, and this certainly has not changed in Eels' latest release, The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett. “Agatha Chang” tells the heartbreaking story of the dismantling of a relationship, and while the content is worthwhile and decidedly disheartening, Everett’s incredibly literal A-A-B lyric structure detracts and distracts from any imaginative interpretation of the tale.

The album finally finds its stride by track seven, “A Series of Misunderstandings.” It’s a classically Eels track in its depressing content wrapped in sultry and melancholy retrained instrumentals akin to a lullaby of missed connections and regret. “Kindred Spirit” follows with a much-needed timbre of hope, and while this track would be the lone slow love

song on any other alt-rock album, it’s one of the loudest most instrumentally up-front tracks of the set.

Overall, the album is fraught with a lack of metaphor or implied meaning.

Each track takes a very literal approach to the content and follows a seemingly rudimentary pattern in lyrical structure. It’s hard to know whether to construe this approach as lazy, bad songwriting, or to consider it a victory of distilled storytelling.

Rather than offering images or pieces of the puzzle that a listener might need to digest and connect, Eels offers the lyrical equivalent of storyboards from high school English classes offering only major plot points, rising action, falling action, climax, and conclusion in plain English.

If you don’t like working for a rain cloud, The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett is yours for the taking.

If you prefer a little subtext with your alt-rock coffee, keep spinning The National and Bon Iver. » - Gabriel Granach

a three year hiatus, still has those identifiable Wye Oak tenets: buzzing synth lines, grabbing guitar hooks, and, of course, Jenn Wasner’s haunting vocals. But Shriek is big. Make no mistake. Shriek is loud. It’s Wye Oak on fantastic music steroids.

While “timid” wouldn’t be a word used to describe previous WO albums, one would not be wrong to hedge with “restrained.” But from Andy Stack’s opening jagged synth rhythm on “Before,” it’s clear that the duo has more juice than they’ve ever let on. Wasner’s vocals, which often felt like complementary pieces on earlier tracks, are integrated into the whole construction as a forward driving force—powerful, encompassing and defining.

The strength of Shriek lies in its deceptive simplicity. It burns through a slow build, tracks piling on each other to create a writhing mass of pent-up energy begging for a release. “The Tower” starts as cleanly as “Before,” with just a beat, some

bass, and a rhythmically shifting synth line. Wasner’s melody seeps over the instrumental foundation, and a pulsating crescendo surges through, pushing the track into a space rarely explored by the band. It’s not complicated. There are not layers and layers of sound to try to grasp.

It’s gripping. It’s shiver-inducing. And it sets the album up to climb to an inevitable explosion.

That explosion never comes. There isn’t a “big,” album-defining track. And in the end, that isn’t really necessary.

Like a literal shriek, it comes in waves—a prolonged release where the real power lies in the choked-out stamina rather than a single moment of a punctuating bite.

Shriek makes one wonder if the time between album releases was spent by Wasner and Stack searching for that new ingredient that would fend off stagnation. It turns out, that new ingredient was simply to unleash themselves as never before. » - Charles Trowbridge

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live APRIL crystal ballroom

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6-7 Neutral Milk Hotel | Elf Power | TheMinders 8 Yonder Mountain String Band | Brothers Comatose

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Chvrchs Schoolboy Q | Isaiah Rashad & Vince Staples Lalah Hathaway & Ruben Studdard Darkstar Orchestra Switchfoot Jefferson Starship | The Windshield Vipers

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Lydia Loveless | The Stubborn Lovers Bear Hands | The Ecstatics Marco Benevento | Old Light Future Islands | Ed Schrader's Music Beat Dum Dum Girls | Blouse | Strange Babez La Femme | The Suicide Notes | Sex Crime The Creepshow | The Phenomenauts Factory Floor | Dva Damas Fishbone Katie Herzig | Amy Stroup The Afghan Whigs | Early Winters Jeni Wren | Brownish Black | DJ N-ABLE Slow Music | The Humans Ural Thomas & The Pain | Ancient Heat Wild Ones | Summer Cannibals | Teen Spot Mobb Deep | Brothers From Another Juana Molina Sleeper/Agent | Holychild | Pagiins Tokyo Police Club | Geographer Trust | Mozart's Sister Toy White Fang | Mean Jeans | American Culture

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The Neighbourhood | Kitten | Born Casual Waka Flocka Flame Mindless Self Indulgence Chromeo | Tokimonsta Caravan Palace | Bombino | Medium Troy Black Label Society | Devil You Know Gloria Trevi | La Heroine Divine White Lies | Frankie Rose | Together Pangea The 1975 Franz Ferdinand Mastadon Manchester Orchestra | Balance & Composure

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Roseland Theater

mississippi studios 3939 n mississippi

Big Freedia | Magic Mouth | Thanks Fanno Creek | Tomten | Animal Eyes The Mother Hips | The Parson Red Heads Charlie Parr | Betse Ellis No | Reuben & The Dark | The Darcys The Ghost Ease | Marriage & Cancer Kneebody | Grammies Shook Twins | Steve Poltz Mackintosh Braun | Barcelona Guitar Shorty | The Resistance Micky & The Motorcars Chris Speed Trio | Blue Cranes

Mission Spotlight | Holiday Friends | Hello Damascus

Shakey Graves | Crushed Out

Youngblood Brass Band | St. Paul & The Broken Bones

Souvenir Driver | Tender Age | Bubble Cats

Trans Am | Federation X | Life Coach | Hot Victory

Red Fang | Lord Dying | Norska | Black Pussy YOB | Black Cobra | Diesto | Drunk Dad | Honduran

Moon Duo | Kikagaku Moyo | Eternal Tapestry The Pizza Underground | Wampire | Tiger House Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra

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live APRIL wonder ballroom 128 ne russell

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G. Love & Special Sauce RAC | Ghost Beach | Joy Wave Chuck Ragan & The Wite Buffalo Little Dragon | Unknown Mortal Orchestra The Colourist | Night Terrors Of 1927 Graveyard | Bombus Goat The Infamous Stringdusters | Boston Boys Fruition | Otis Heat Bombay Bicycle Club | Royal Canoe

holocene

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Bill Of Goods: Mirth Grandparents | Turner Capehart | (((Boing))) A Tribe Called Red | World Hood | Global Ruckus Ecstasy Booty Bassment Golden Retriever | Litanic Mask | Valet HollywoodTheatreRedoSeries:OurRobocopRemake Adventure Galley | Wishyunu | Just Lions I've Got A Hole In My Soul Odesza | D33J | Kodak To Graph Verified Gridlords Phone Call | Magic Fades | Rap Class | DJ Portia Let It Whip Rockbox Gaycation The Hood Internet | Pictorials PNCA+Holocene: Good Idea!

Laid Out Snap! '90s Dancd Party Club Crooks I Break Horses

rontoms

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eastburn

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Dinner & Live Bluegrass (Thursdays) Wednesday Night Jazz w/The Byliners DJ Jesse Espinoza Ian Christensen DJ Rhienna Flor de Cana DJ Gregarious DJ Kenny Club Crooks | DJ Izm & Egg Impact Sound! | White Bear Polar Tundra

bossanova ballroom

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Basshunter 18 80's Uprise! 19

kelly’s olympian 426 sw washington

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Eye Candy VJ’s (every Monday) Down Gown | Gallow Swings | RLLRBLL Muriel Stanton Band Laughter In D Minor Greenluck Media Group Presents Nerds & Crafts The Phoenix Variety Review Shouter | Carmine

A Happy Death | Ladywolf | Foxy Lemon | The Mad Caps

Animal R&R | Lucy Gray | Brigadier Baby Ketten Karaoke Common Dear | My Brothers & I | Samsel & The Skirt Federale | Daydream Machine Mufassa | Surfs Drugs | Bleach Blonde Dudes

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SHOW PREVIEWS

1. SAY HI Betty Who | Zak Waters | Cardiknox The Woolen Men | Eyelids | The Verner Pantons WITH BIG SCARY APRIL 13 | BUNK BAR Vertical Scratchers | Bear & Moose Psychomagic | Mister Tang Our Seattle neighbor Eric Elbogen And And And | Brite Lines | Tiburones Aan | Ghost To Falco presents his indie rock for us this month Jenny Hval | Mark McGuire as the band Say Hi. Recording on his own, Say Hi | Big Scary

but possibly bringing in guests to play live with him, you’ll adore his live show. He’s a multi-instrumental musician with clever the know lyrics and captivating riffs that will earn 2026 NE Alberta your respect. 2008 saw him bridge the Bad Sports | Youthbitch | Piss Test transition from his inaugural days as Say USNEA | Drunk Dad | Honduran Hi To Your Mom to a position where he Damn Family The Silent Numbers | Soft Shadows | Firebats can now be compared with the sounds of CYNE | Bop Alloy | Maze Koroma Arcade Fire, Pedro the Lion and Cloud Cult.

Busy Scissors | Moon Debris Fresh material will abound, as a new album Life & Limb | Two Hands | Brother Joseph Lunch | Darling Chemicalia | Landlines is expected by the end of the year. » Burials | Hazards Cure | Spectral Tombs - Kelly Kovl

Rick Bain & The Genius Position | The Hugs | Norman

Deleted Scenes Party Boyz Presents: Sama Dams | Genders

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Big Black Cloud | CCR Headcleaner | Unifried Smoke Rings | Happy Noose | Oi Polloi | Wartorn | Vindictive | Raw Nerves 3. THE AFGHAN WHIGS WITH EARLY WINTERS The Shivas | Super 78 APRIL 13 | DOUG FIR Ghetto Ghouls | Coma Serfs Company | The Damage Done | Pageripper The Afghan Whigs made their hay Zyanose | Warcry | Bi-Marks | Reactor The Suicide Notes | The Tripwires | The Fucking Eagles in the mid-to-late 90s, launching off

Griswold | Beach Party | Hemingway Absolut

Sunday Jazz Series (every Sunday) Pagan Jug Band (every Tuesday) Dear Drummer | 1000 Fuegos SnowAple | Denim Wedding Alexander Robotnick Kithkin Cyndi Harvell Brakemouth | William Ingrid Samarei | Lunchtime Legends | Aviel | Xmas

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Singer Songwriter Showcase (Mondays) Garcia Birthday Band John Nilsen & Swimfish | Charlie Shaw Wildish | The Colin Trio | Avery Hill Buckle Rash | Outpost Seth Glier Garden Goat | All The Apparatus The Dusty 45s Rocket 3 | Pete Kronowitt Class M Planets | Martyn Leaper Snowblind Traveler

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WITH

ISAIAH RASHAD & VINCE STAPLES

APRIL 13 | CRYSTAL BALLROOM Right out of South Central, ScHoolboy Q has followed Kendrick Lamar by busting out hits for Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), the indie label that has dominated the West Coast scene for the last few years. Tonally, the new album Oxymoron is ominous throughout, underlying the lurid lyrics about gangbanging and growing up hard in L.A. ScHoolboy Q got his name from excelling at a young age at Crenshaw High, and now that high IQ has him poised to be a gigantic hip-hop star—a new-age gangster. » - Scott McHale

Berri Txarrak | Order Of The Gash | Ape Machine

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2. SCHOOLBOY Q

the acoustic guitar driven sound made popular by grunge. When they broke up in 2001, it was newsworthy but not earth-shattering. As their catalog grew in popularity over the next four years, the group decided to reform for another round. The best part about the Afghan Whigs is that as distinct as the 90s altrock influence is, it never takes over the actual music. For a group 27 years in the business on and off, that is a rare feat. » - Charles Trowbridge

4. TINARIWEN WITH

THE MELODIC

APRIL 15 | ALADDIN THEATER “More of a social movement than a desert rock 'n’ roll band,” Mali’s eightmember Tinariwen were long cherished in the south Sahara before earning recognition on the international stage in the early '2000s. Their sound is a combination of traditional Touareg music and mid-20th century Western cowboy songs, spun together to express the post-colonial disenfranchisement that had the group’s founding members living in exile in their own homeland. But it's laced with a strong love of their country, their land, and its people. This is not your average indie rock show. » - Kela Parker

5. FEDERALE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

6. THE PIZZA UNDERGROUND

APRIL 25 | KELLY'S OLYMPIAN

APRIL 29 | MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS

WITH

DAYDREAM MACHINE

A traditional hard rock band with a western accent, the local heroes have been consistent and strong contributors to the unique and renowned Portland music scene; in not many cities can you walk into virtually any bar or venue and find good music. The reason we can do this in Portland is because of quality bands like Federale, who provide a creative music experience. In this instance, your experience will be something along the lines of being a fist of whiskey deep, rocking on your bar stool in some psychedelic saloon. » - Billy Dye

WITH

WAMPIRE, TIGER HOUSE

A pizza-themed Velvet Underground cover band. Yeah that's a thing. Been wondering what ever happened to Macaulay Culkin? Yep, it's this. I am going to file this under "too weird NOT to be true." I'm not sure how a person comes up with an idea like this, but I feel they must be full of equal parts genius and insanity. Even if you don't like The Velvet Underground, I think I still have to recommend you go see this.

Even if only for the chance that there may be free pizza. » - Aaron Mills

features

LOCAL Souvenir FEATURE Driver

(continued)

APRIL WHITE EAGLE 836 N russell

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The Highgates | Jenny Don't & The Spurs Bombadil | Maxwell Hughes Rivera | Joytribe Jim Creek The Fire Weeds Sammy Witness & The Reassignment Add Love Showcase Martin Gershowitz (of Iron Butterfly)

SLABTOWN

41033 NW 16TH

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LiquidLight | Here Come Dots She Preaches Mayhem | The Globalist | Divides Headsplit Rekords Presents Foreign Talks | ManX | Ladywolf | Rat Party Predatory Light | Urzeit | Rohit | Hungers Solid Gold Balls | The Runs | Piefight The Cool Whips | Michele Ari Master | Dead Conspiracy | Fisthammer

8 10 11 12 19 24 26 28 Uzala | Ephermeros | Chron Goblin | Blackwitch Pudding 29 Tiny Moving Parts | Frameworks | Gates 30

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Photo by Mercy McNab

t was a beautiful day, too nice to sit inside a noisy café so we took the purveyors of bliss-pop to the most obvious place to conduct an intimate interview—the industrial SE train tracks. We laughed, we cried, and we nearly died. Only we will really know what really happened that day, but for a glimpse into the lives of Souvenir Driver, do yourself a favor and read on…

ELEVEN: Souvenir Driver has slowly evolved over the years, but keeps pushing forward. Tell us about your journey from the band’s incarnation until now.

Nate Wey: I think one thing that we all like about the band is that whenever we finish recording something or when we finish an album that we have in mind, we kind of immediately start writing the next one. We don’t like to just sit on one thing for too long. We always like to push ahead and keep pushing our sound. When we finished Lifts The Curse we almost immediately started writing Living Water, and I’m sure that we’ll start writing the next one soon.

Travis Hendericks: We kind of already did—we started crushing songs right away. For me, it’s interesting to see after the recording process what we’re going to do next. You just naturally evolve without

thinking about it—it’s real organic.

NW: We all kind of listen to different styles of music, too. We have shared favorite bands, but I think all of us bring something unique to it that the rest of us wouldn’t normally think of. So there’s a nice collective thing going on with that.

11: Your sound as a whole has influences of shoegaze, psych, pop, etc.

What are some of your musical and nonmusical influences?

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Gift Of Gab | Speaker Minds | Bad Habitat Cunninlynguists | J-Live | Sadistik | Sonreal Illmaculate | Nacho Picasso The Grahams Slick Rick Still Caves | People Under The Sun Light Creates Shadow | The Mercury Tree

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MOLOKO

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N PORTLAND 3967 N Mississippi (97227) 503.288.6272 molokopdx.com

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Dead Meadow | Grandparents | Billions & Billions | Still Caves Spring Hip Hop Showcase TesseracT | Intronaut | Cloud Kicker | The Odious Natural Vibrations | Ras Attitud | Indubious | Steady Riot Sevendust (acoustic) Anvil | Cemetery Lust | Spellcaster | Maniak You Me At Six | Deaf Havana | Stars In Stereo Miggs | Open Air Stereo | Man On Earth

TH: Well for me, I was a DJ for a long time—house music, techno music, etc.—so the electronica scene was always big for me. I think that’s something I bring— dance sensibility.

Ethan Homan: I started out playing VALENTINES rockabilly and punk rock, then went into 232 SW ANKENY indie and slowly added heavy metal and ALADDIN THEATER other aspects.

3017 SE MILWAUKIE TH: How do you slowly add metal?

Abba Mania Bob Mild: I was always a fan of Nate’s Bruce Cockburn Dan Croll | Panama Wedding music. I used to be in a different band The Wailin' Jennys before I joined Souvenir Driver. Nate Tinariwen | The Melodic used to open for our band, and I’m just a Arlo Guthrie Hurray For The Riff Raff | Clear Plastic Masks huge fan of his music. It’s awesome to be Jake Shimabukuro playing with him in a band now.

Los Lonely Boys NW: I’m really influenced by books and Keb' Mo' movies—probably more than music. When EAST END I read, I start hearing melodies kind of 203 SE GRAND swirl around. I’m more influenced by that Boson Geschopf | Tempest & The Daspora | Lumus DJ Shauna Fay & Corsh kind of thing.

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features APRIL THE GOODFOOT

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I Know You (Morphine tribute) McTuff | Skerik's Bandalabra Radula Dusu Mali | Publish The Quest Pleasure Drones Zach Deputy

owl social club 23 white 1305 se 8th theater 24 star 13 nw 6th 4 Joe Ely | David Ramirez 9 I am The Avalanche | Diamond Youth

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Soul'd Oout Music Festival

22 Charlie Worsham 24 Petty Fever 26 DJ Anjali & The Incredible Kid THE FIRKIN TAVERN Located on the west side of Ladd’s, the Firkin Tavern features an astounding selection of craft beers to enjoy inside or on our patio.

Art enthusiasts will enjoy a variety of local artwork on display and sold comission-free!

SE LADD'S 1937 SE 11th Ave (97214) 503.206.7552 | thefirkintavern.com

street saloon 25 ash 225 sw ash 3 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 18 20 22 23 24 29 30

Darsombra | Thrones | Eight Bells | Prizehog Gorgon Stare | Scythia | Terraclipse Bell Witch | Ephemeros | Hell Kahn | E3 | SPF666 | Ben Tactic | Lincolnup Eat The Turnbuckle | Schroeder Bomb | Headless Prez

Missing Persons | The Breakup | Third Gate The Untouchables Taurus | Nether Regions | Bastard Feast Grrl Front Item 9 | Valley Green

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NW: It goes from really dark to really sugary, and kind of back again. Some of it is heavy psychedelic thoughts, and others are a bit lighter and have more of a physical feeling.

EH: I feel like this record is a full spectrum of color changes. It deals with a lot of different emotions and a lot of different human scenarios—you can have really good days, you can have really bad days, and all of those things combine into your life. I feel like this record is very allencompassing of that.

TH: I would say light and dark versus good and bad. There’s nothing that’s angry about it—even the songs that are dark are dancey.

NW: And they're still kind of optimistic—even the dark ones.

The New Division | Fringe Class | Moon Mirror Motrik | Hedersleben | Tonen Kill Paris & Candyland | Cory O Rum Night Revolution King Parrot | Vattnet Viskar Dance Gavin Dance | Capture The Crown Scuba | Graintable | Ben Tactic 11: The new album sounds Gladness | Beach Party | Temper & Hold | Youth Debut particularly good on nice pair of Shlohmo Grieves | Son Real | Fearce Vill headphones. You can really hear the

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11: Speaking of color, you describe the album as exploring ten different colors and moods. What are the colors and the corresponding moods?

B Fifty-thousand | Cement Season Opie | Members Only Nagas | Warkrank | Condor Chainbound | Stepper | Battle Axe Massacre Aux79 | Dakota Max | Benjamin Scott Davis The Shrike | Akkadia | Amelia Circle The Rodeo Clowns | Marca Luna | Mad Moniker River Pool | Stoning Giants The Lucky Loser SHow | Deep Fried Dingleberries VIS 11: What color is a good day and what Muffaluffagus | Necktie Killer | Smash Bandits Sleep | Bad Habitat | Kinetic Emcees | Das Leune color is bad day?

Usless -N- Pointless Dreizehn EH: It’s all gray.

Young Splender | Endless Loop | Larrabee NW: I think this one had a lot of blues Tae Phoenix | Mbrascatu | Jeni Wren and purples.

Zorakarer

26 ROTTURE/BRANX 315 SE 3rd

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EH: I would say I am also very influenced by colors, and this band is a very colorful band. Also, animals. I typically describe songs as combinations of colors and animals.

TH: Influenced by colorful animals!

EH: Basically. It’s really just generally an interesting process—seeing what happens and what colors show up.

NW: On this new record, for me, a lot of influence came from Latin American literature. A lot of the lyrics were influenced by the language that Latin Americans write in.

production value. Tell us about working with Greg Williams.

TH: That guy’s a master. He’s been around for a long time. He’s worked with a lot of big artists and he completely understood what we were going for from the beginning. He listened to some of our music and he liked it. As soon as we plugged in, he had us dialed—he had us ready.

EH: He fit in, personality-wise, perfectly with our band so it was very casual.

NW: Sonically, he did so many cool things. He would use different microphones on different songs so it wouldn’t be the same vocal mic or same vocal compressor pre-amp. He was always changing the sound. Every song he would change the sound of every single instrument.

BM: He would change the drum set almost every song—different snares, different cymbals.

EH: Working with him gave us an opportunity to really focus on the music and not have to worry about it sounding good. It was full trust—total confidence.

TH: I felt that we grew a lot, which goes back to what I was saying before about the evolution after recording an album and being really excited about what’s going to come next. I felt like we really grew during that process with his input. He helped us reach a higher benchmark of what we’re going for artistically.

NW: After we recorded, he and I had some really intimate mixing sessions. I’m a big audiophile so it was really fun. We got pretty deep into it—making effects come in and out and doing subtle panning effects that we aren’t even sure if people are going to hear.

EH: It’s fun to have a record where’s a lot of little treasures in there—where you can listen to songs several times and hear something later that you never heard before.

TH: It’s great when you’re just listening to it on a stereo, but it’s a whole other trip in the headphones.

11: The songwriting is a cohesive process. Describe how the band works together during this process.

EH: The majority of it really just pops out of us.

TH: It’s really organic.

EH: One of us will start playing something and then someone else brings a different aspect. Like, one of us starts and it starts like a particular genre, then someone comes in and it starts to sound less like that genre and more like something else. That in turn inspires the other person to come which changes that and then it all just happens. I’ve never actually been in a band where it’s this easy to have songs just show up.

features TH: It is nice that we don’t have to put any pressure on the process of making songs. We just come in and start doing it, and then we realize we just wrote a song.

'Ok, cool. Glad we were recording!'

NW: Yeah we never plan it or anything. Normally when we do record an album it’s after we already have the songs so we just wait until there’s enough songs written and then we start thinking about when to do a record. We never have songwriting sessions, it just kind of happens when we’re rehearsing.

BM: When we rehearse for shows, there’s usually a song per practice—an idea per practice.

TH: Except for when Nate brings in songs, but it’s still 90% I’d say.

EH: There have been different things that have happened—there’s been times when we’ve been on break and talking about different bands and then we pick up our instruments and what we start playing sounds somewhat like the band were just talking about, sort of inadvertently. Also, I’ve found that whatever kind of day I’m having, whenever we play, that translates into the songs. It’s a very interestingly satisfying feeling.

TH: We always inspire each other, too. Nobody’s ever fighting when we are doing these jam sessions. No one’s fighting trying to get their thing—it’s always, ‘Oh, that’s exciting! I’m going to do this!’

EH: Also, there’s a lot of trust that we have with each other. If I’m working on a particular part and I can’t get it, no one is

going to stop me and say, ‘Why don’t you try to play a correct note, sir!’

TH: I am going to do that now.

11: Onto a slightly weirder question…when Googling Living Water the only thing that comes up are faithbased organizations whose mission is to provide clean water to those in need. Is Souvenir Driver secretly a faith-based organization? What does “Living Water” mean in the context of your record?(Editor’s note: before the question can even be asked, the band collectively bursts out laughing.)

TH: So many inappropriate answers!

NW: Yeah, that’s just a coincidence.

I like the name, it just seems really mysterious to me. It is actually an indirect reference to a Portuguese novel.

I can’t remember the title of the novel, but it’s a Portuguese title that means both jellyfish and living water—the song “Jellyfish” is in reference to it as well.

There were a lot of water themes that were coming out lyrically. When we were searching for what the theme of the album would be—because every album kind of has its own theme and it seems like the theme sort of writes itself—the album sort of tells you what it wants its theme to be. It just seemed like water kept coming up over and over again. » - Wendy Worzalla

Souvenir Driver plays live this month APRIL 23 at Mississippi Studios for their record release party

APRIL dantes

350 w burnside

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Spellcaster | Blood Of Kings | Tanagra Mbrascatu | Dolomites | Chevrona Peter Case The Sorry Devils | Andrew's Ave. | Dogheart Mike Coykendall | Kenny Feinstein The Men | Gun Outfit Jim Jones Revue Fortunate Youth Fernando | MSarah Gwen | Hearts Of Oak Smoochknob

FIRKIN TAVERN 1937 SE 11TH

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Mack & Dub 8 Blue Lark Entertainment 15 Atlas & The Astronaut | Blood Panda | Manx 25

the waypost 2120 n williams

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HOLLYWOOD THEATRE A not-for-profit organization whose mission is to entertain, inspire, educate and connect the community through the art of film while preserving an historic Portland landmark.

NE HOLLYWOOD 4122 NE Sandy Blvd (97212) 503.493.1128 | hollywoodtheatre.org

Laurelthirst pub 2958 ne glisan

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Freak Mountain Ramblers (Sundays) Kung Pow Chickens (Mondays) Jackstraw (Tuesdays) Max's Midnight Kitchen BBQ Orchestra | Ian McFerron & Alisa Milner Tree Frogs | Baby Gramps The Yellers | Lyn Conover & Gravel The Debts | I Am The Lake Of Fire Jamie Leopold & The Short Stories John Henry Bourke's Birthday The Yellers | Garcia Birthday Band MacMinn/Bare | Donal Beaman Matty Charles & Katie Rose | W.C. Beck Spacebreath Reunion Show | Johnny Keener The Domestics | Matt Buetow | Mount Joy Honeybaked Hamm & The Choice Cuts Alison Rice | Kelly Brightwell Alice Stuart | Counterfeit Cash The Yellers | Jim Boyer Band

analog cafe & Theater 720 se hawthorne

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The Bottom Dollars | The Getdown Boys Bass Invasion SYNT Dubstep The Lovely Lost | Cedar Teeth | The Heartford Defiance Paul Johnson SYNT Dubstep Hip Hop Show Sleeping Machines Presents Grand Royale | Oubliette SYNT Dubstep Erotic City (Prince tribute) Flora & Fauna Kinky Salon SYNT Dubstep

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Photo by Mia Kirby

features national scene

S

second full length album on Rough Trade Records.

new road toward stardom wouldn’t be quite as glamorous as the

Flood (Mark Ellis—produced for Sigur Ros, Smashing Pumpkins,

Hollywood actress lifestyle could have been perhaps, with the

Nick Cave, U2, etc.), which is an absolute dream recording scenario

reality that being in a professional band meant spending terribly

for just about any contemporary musician without a stick up their

long stints on the road at a time and living on the edge of poverty

ass about “the industry.” But this record isn’t just engineering and

until you’ve really broken through, I think it’s fair to say that

hype. There are some honest-to-god beautiful songs, though it’s

Warpaint has successfully arrived under the spotlight.

the more up-tempo and less droney tracks that stand out the most.

etting aside the career fantasies of many-a-young-girl in America— becoming a successful actress in Los Angeles—the girls of Warpaint did the next best thing and started an all female band in an all too male dominated industry. Albeit this

Like the vast majority of musical outfits who aren’t more than

and 2010’s The Fool, the girls have just released their eponymous Warpaint was recorded in Connor Oberst and Jonathan Wilson’s A-frame home office studio in Echo Park and was produced by

The album’s lead single “Love is to Die” rides an 80s hip hop-esque

mere buzz bands that fall by the wayside just as quickly as they

drum beat, with haunting synthesizer and angelic coos backing

blew up, Warpaint has put in a lot of hard work and they are here

Wayman’s catchy vocal hook “love is to die / love is to not die / love

to stay. It took nearly six years of trial and error playing with

is to dance.” Other noteworthy tracks include “Keep it Healthy,”

different temporary drummers before guitarists Emily Kokal

which combines intricate reverbed-out guitar work and a stellar

and Theresa Wayman and Bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg found the

drum and bass groove, as well as the dark and dancey track “Disco//

current and permanent fixture of the band, Stella Mozgawa, whose

very,” reminiscent to some of the best work done by M.I.A.

phenomenal drumming is one of the more pronounced components

Just one day before flying to New York to begin a seemingly

to the group’s sound. Members of the band have gotten married and

endless tour in support of Warpaint, guitarist and singer Emily

had children. Now, at ten years since the band’s incarnation, and

Kokal was kind enough to chat with ELEVEN about composing

having spent much of that time overseas away from loved ones and

songs for the album in a vacation rental in Joshua Tree, their

the comfort of home while touring on 2008’s Exquisite Corpse EP

recording process, tour life, and about how great Conan O’Brien is.

ELEVEN: Congratulations on the January release of your new self-titled album, Warpaint. It’s pretty phenomenal! While it maintains cohesion, you explore a pretty wide variety of sounds throughout the album. Can you speak to some of the musical influences that you think have carried over into your songwriting and the unique blend of grungy space pop sounds created on the album?

have Stella, who learned to play the drums to Steely Dan’s records.

And we all love the Talking Heads, Brian Eno, ambient, Aphex Twin [laughs]. I could go on forever!

Emily Kokal: There are just so many different influences and ways we were all raised, as each individual. . . but you know, coming from the Northwest, we grew up with Nirvana, Cat Power, Elliott Smith—all those kind of lyricists and melodies, mixed with all of us being into hip hop and rap in high school and even trip hop and all those ‘90s girl R&B groups. Then you have post-punk and The Cure. . . Jen’s background, which is a lot of 4AD stuff [British record label responsible for a ton of indie-pop bigs]—you know growing up in Reno, Nevada in kind of the emo/skater world [laughs]. And then you

11: Do you guys have any particular formula or structure that works best for your songwriting?

EK: We’ve always been based around jamming. I mean that’s how the band started—we wanted to see what it was like to play our instruments with each other. And we weren’t seasoned vets by any means, so the way that we learned to play music was by jamming.

We just developed with each other and then developed our own language. . . which is that a lot of times songs start from jams, and when we sink into something that feels good, we’ll repeat it and move on—or if not we’ll try to change it. It’s kind of a pretty fluid experience in that way. And then we get heady on the back end breaking things down [laughs].

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features national scene 11: I read that you spent some time in a vacation rental in Joshua Tree National Park working on tracks for Warpaint. Were most of the songs on the album written during that time out there?

EK: Yeah pretty much. Actually, we had already started working on “Keep it Healthy” and “Hi” during sound checks while on tour, but pretty much everything else was written at Joshua Tree. After we finished touring The Fool, we took a couple months off. I went to Egypt. Jen got married. You know, normal life stuff. And then we all met up and rented this like vacation dome-home, and we set up a demo studio in the living room. It was just so beautiful and peaceful out there. We just kind of started to casually play, and make food, and hang out, drink and dance around at night. It was a really great way for us to reconnect after being on tour for so long. [They spent almost two years on the road in support of The Fool]. And we had never written a full album with Stella, so the four of us all writing together was actually really new.

11: That’s right—Stella is somewhat of a new addition. When exactly did she join the band?

EK: About a month before we recorded The Fool, so around December of 2009.

11: So after demoing the tracks out in Joshua Tree, where did you end up recording the finished products?

EK: We recorded it in a house in Echo Park, like a few blocks away

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from some of our houses actually. It was at Conor Oberst [Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, Monsters of Folk, and The Faint] and Jonathan Wilson’s studio in a little A-frame house. And we had Flood come out to produce the record, and he basically lived at the apartment and grew a beard [laughs]. Then we actually finished some of the tracking and mixed the album at Flood’s studio in London. So the album has a touch of tour life, Joshua Tree, Echo Park—our home—and London, which really is like our home away from home because we’re always there. So I think it represents a lot of sides of us.

11: There is a funny little mess-up that you guys left in the beginning of the “Intro” track that creates a collaborative feeling for the listener, like we’re in the studio watching the band track all the instrumentation live. Is that more or less what was the process like for you guys in the studio in Echo Park? Or did you track instruments individually and put songs together on a more piecemeal level?

EK: For a lot of the songs we did start with at least drums and bass and sometimes guitar or whatever. So yeah we tracked a lot of things live. But that part [the “Intro” mess-up] was just in there since we first recorded the song. And afterward, every time we’d listen to the demo, it was on there—so it just seemed really contrived to cut it out [laughs].

But it wasn’t live. We spent a lot of time in that room looking at each other with headphones on.

11: So now you’re about to take off on a pretty huge tour in support of the new release?

features national scene EK: Yeah, it’ll kind of be broken up and we’ll be home here and there, but we are basically on tour for the rest of the year playing in the US through summer and then heading over to the UK and Europe.

11: That’s intense! Are there some favorite cities or countries that you guys like to play while on tour?

EK: I love playing in New York, where we’re going tomorrow. And Portland. I really like touring the US in the spring and summer. It’s a really fun way to see where we’re from, especially because we play overseas so much. I’m just excited to tour the US right now because we play in Europe more than we do here. . . we’re more popular over there [laughs]. We sold out our last show in London with 5,000 seats, so that’s why I’m like, “I want to play the Crystal Ballroom!”

11: Some members of Warpaint are from here right? Or used to live here?

EK: Theresa (Wayman) and I are from Eugene. Last summer we got to play at the Oregon Country Fair. I’d been going to those since I was a little kid, so that was really fun for me. Oh yeah, and we’re playing at the Pickathon Music Festival up there this summer—that should be a lot of fun too! We love it up there.

11: You guys just played on Conan. How was that? I’ve read that some of you have been involved with acting, being from L.A., but was that your first appearance on nationally broadcast TV as Warpaint?

EK: Yeah, that was awesome. He’s really tall and funny. He came up to all of us after we played and was like “That was fantastic,” “that was fantastic,” “that was fantastic” [laughs]. We’ve also played on Later... with Jools Holland, but again that was overseas, so this was our first American TV appearance. It was really fun—Conan is the best! Especially when he’s hosting Dave Chappelle as a guest. They make a really good duo!

11: So what’s in store for the future of Warpaint? You will be touring on the new record for the rest of the year, but are you guys thinking about a next album at all yet? I know it’s really difficult to find the time and space to write new music while touring.

EK: I think we’re all on it now more than we ever have been as far as just thinking about the next album, because we want to have a faster turnover between our next album—and we all have just so much more that we want to progress as a band. So the plan is to just find time while we’re on tour—maybe make a little studio on the bus for demos.

11: Sounds like a lot of hard work, but fun! Well, thank you again Emily for spilling the beans with ELEVEN. I wish you the best! Have a fun and safe tour, and I look forward to catching Warpaint at Pickathon this summer!

EK: Thank you for having me. Maybe I’ll see you in Oregon this summer! »

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film

WATCH ME NOW FILM EDITORIAL

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG SISSIES: THE TROPE OF THE SISSIE IN EARLY CINEMA

Depictions of male homosexuality in cinema are about as old as cinema itself. Silent film is rife with arguably queer motifs, from the effete foil for the hero to the obligatory drag performed by virtually every silent comic.

The Sissy was also one of the first gay stock characters in the history of film. The Sissy accentuated the masculine affect of the heterosexual male character and heightened the femininity of the heterosexual female characters by occupying the space between heterosexual and the hypersexed homosexual male—a source of fear and derision. He was almost devoid of sexuality, and so was allowed to thrive as the accoutrement of the heterosexual characters.

The first film to feature same-sex relations between two men is the 1895 Edison short The Dickson Sound Experiment, which features two strapping young men fancifully dancing to recorded music. The film historian Vito Russo, in his highly influential work on the subject of homosexuality in film The Celluloid Closet, was

2014 RON MATT KUMAIL APARNA Funches Braunger Nanjiani Nancherla

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the first to make the assertion that this is an intentional display of homosexual behavior, although no one can be truly sure of the filmmaker’s intent. Whether or not it is truly a depiction of a homosexual couple, the film scandalized audiences with its subversion of traditional masculine behavior.

Soon after, the earliest known surviving film containing what we now call the “sissy” is Algie The Miner from 1912. Algie The Miner tells the story of Algie (who just so happens to be rather effeminate), who is sent away by his girlfriend’s father to prove himself a man within a year; if he fails the marriage cannot proceed. In order to make something of himself, Algie heads West and encounters various cowboys including Big Jim, with whom he becomes friends. Once the year is up, Algie returns to claim his girl, having slowly changed from a naive, effeminate sissy into a gun-wielding, ‘masculinized’ man. Film historian Richard Barrios writes that Algie has a “dandified air, fluttering hands, pursed and apparently rouged lips, sly smile and eyes that he bats while fondling the barrel of a pistol” (Barrios, 2003: 17). He goes on to suggest that “Algie is heterosexual in only that he has a girlfriend” (ibid). Algie is a character who is depicted as choosing a safe, heterosexual life despite obvious homosexual inclinations. If Algie had pursued any homosexual impulses, it would have possibly resulted in being ostracized from his social circle.

The Sissy stereotype brazenly countered the heterosexual hero's often foolish attempts to sate their lust with an arsenal of arched eyebrows and rolling eyes. Sissies were an instant signifier of everything sophisticated and pleasurable, albeit transgressive, about modern urban culture.

In the early Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film The Gay Divorcee (1934), comedian Edward Everett Horton plays Fred Astaire's pompous friend Pinky, who enjoys some quick banter with another comedian of the day Eric Blore. Using innuendos, he insinuates that Blore has an “unnatural passion for rocks.” The homosexual-ness of these sissies lies in their easy association and their comedic, conspiratorial conversation compared to the edgy air between would-be lovers Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Other kinds of 1930s sissies were strictly static window dressing, brought in as novelties to liven up the "real" characters' lives. The film Call Her Savage (1932), a Pre-Code film starring Clara Bow, features a scene in which two flagrantly homosexual waiters—The Rocky Twins, who were drag performers in real life— perform a salacious song and dance number to raucous applause.

The Hays Code (also called Motion Picture Production Code) was the set of morality censorship guidelines that directed the production of most United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. With the implementation of said code, directors and producers had to find more clever and subtle ways to include homosexual/queer male characters. The overt depiction of The Sissy had to be completely invisible, in effect “written off the screen.” The Sissy who was previously played for comedic (and non-threatening) effect was now evolving into a sinister predator—a pernicious counterpart to the Femme Fatale.

In John Huston’s famed noir The Maltese Falcon, Peter Lorre’s character Joel Cairo, awash in gardenia perfume, first appears in hero Sam Spade's office heralded by his engraved calling card. As Lorre enters, some vaguely cliche Asian music plays, and Lorre’s features are almost a parody of the physical markers that make

film up the cultural stereotypes of the thirties toward homosexuality: swarthy, bedecked in jewelry, fastidiously dressed, crimped hair.

Cairo is a criminally-minded dandy, a palpable threat to our hero due to his Otherness, as well as his peccant aspirations.

It is important to note that the idea of the homosexual male and queerness in a grander sense did not have the same definitions or ramifications in the early part of the twentieth century as it does today. The term homosexual/homosexuality did not enter the modern lexicon until the nineteenth century, and the performance of homosexual acts as a performative act of entertainment was semi-ambiguous and broadly defined. That said, with the constricting sexual mores of the Victorian era leading into the more carefree period of the inter-war period, definitions for what was an acceptable and unacceptable sexual act (homosexual or otherwise, really) were defined and redefined ad infinitum.

Despite their outsider status, sissies were not above service to the needs of the heterosexual world, sometimes taking on the burden of bringing together a warring heterosexual couple (which became a critical part of the process of denying their own sexuality). The Sissy, in yesteryear as today, serves as a distorted mirror of contemporaneous masculinity. The Sissy fascinates audiences as both a challenge to the rigid masculine norms of Western culture and a reinforcement of them. His mere presence in close proximity to the heterosexual male—valet, decorator, faithful friend, or later, in the confusion that erupted around the image, romantic rival—subtly reminds the audience that there are other, perhaps more satisfying ways of being than conventional heterosexuality. » - Rachael Haigh

Instant Queue Review The great thing about queer cinema is that offerings are as diverse and unique as the queer community itself. Here are a few select picks. » - Rob De La Teja

PARIS IS BURNING

(1990)

This documentary follows the hard-knock lives of New York's inner-city drag queens at the tail end of the 80s. Both funny and sobering, the cast of characters ranges from a sassy aging queen with a dead body in her closet to a young transgender prostitute who was murdered by one of her johns. Complete with lessons in vogueing and throwing shade, this one has it all.

BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER(1999) When Megan's family and friends figure out she's a little too interested in Melissa Etheridge, they ship her off to homosexual deprogramming camp True Directions, run by Kathy Moriarty and RuPaul (in a rare dragfree role). Soon she's losing her virginity to Clea DuVall, making out with Julie Delpy at The Cocksucker, and ruining graduation—just like any good homosexual should.

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR

(2013)

On the less campy end of things, we have this French standout. Featuring some of the most explicit lesbian sex scenes ever committed to film, Blue follows the sexual development of 15-year-old Adèle. She tries things out with a boy, enters a relationship with the blue-haired girl of her dreams, and it all goes on for three hours of Palm d'Or-endorsed Frenchness.

TRANSPARENT

(2014)

This standout from Amazon Prime's recent slate of free pilots was just picked up for a full season. Helmed by Six Feet Under creator Jill Soloway, the dramedy follows Jeffrey Tambor as the closeted transgender patriarch (matriarch?) of three self-interested adult children (Gaby Hoffman, Jay Duplass, and Amy Landecker). As a cherry on top, one of them is a lesbian!

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community

NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE MONTH:

SE DIVISION STREET 6

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Location photos by Mercy McNab

3. TRINKET TROVE

1. VINTAGE REVIVAL

The Foundary - 3557 SE Division St.

2. HOT TOWEL, STRAIGHT RAZOR

Rooks Traditional - 3580 SE Division St

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BEST OF SE DIVISION ST

Artifact - 3630 SE Division St.

4. PERFECT POUR-OVERS

Coffee Division - 3551 SE Division St

5. TURN A NEW LEAF

Townshend's Tea - 3531 SE Division St

6. VAST VINE KNOWLEDGE

Division Wines - 3564 SE Division St

7. PET PROTECT

City Pets - 3521 SE Division St

8. WAX ON, WAX OFF

Urban Waxx - 3103 SE Division St

9. SE BBQ

Clay's Smokehouse - 2932 SE Division St

10. LEGENDARY FRIED CHICKEN

Reel 'M Inn Tavern - 2430 SE Division St

11. TURNING JAPANESE Sushi Mazi - 2126 SE Division St

community visual arts

VISUAL ARTS Portland artist Ben Adams

Pac-Man or looks at one of my paintings, I like getting the reaction of "how did he do that?” or “Wow, that was amazing!"

11: For those unfamiliar, what types of art do you create?

BA: I'm a little bit of a jack of all trades. I love art.

I've worked on feature animation films and commercials as a designer, animator, director, art director, sculptor, development illustrator, voice talent, etc. I've worked as a children's book illustrator and I've also carried the titles Mold and Model Engineer as well as Enlargement Specialist. In addition to my commercial career as an artist, personally I like to paint, sculpt, and do other multi-media projects for myself.

Photo by Mercy McNab

ELEVEN: What is more difficult: creating art or turbo speed Ms. Pac-Man? Ben Adams: Ms. Pac-Man for sure. That game will chew you up and spit you out. I've been playing it since 1982 and never beaten the game, even though I'm ranked 6th in the world! I've been doing art my whole life and successfully completed many projects, on the other hand.

11: More rewarding?

BA: I would say it’s a tie on this one. I take great pleasure in having an awesome game or making a cool piece of art. If someone happens to see me play Ms.

Tee-shirt design for local Portland band Red Fang

11: Does developing a skill in one medium stimulate skill development in another?

BA: Yes! Once you first have a passion for creating art and learn a few fundamentals and basics, you quickly apply those skills to whatever you are undertaking.

Whether it is carving foam for a giant rhinoceros in a biplane bursting out of a building, making ceramic bowls

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community visual arts

on a potter’s wheel, or painting sexy girls from famous movies like Barbarella and Tron.

11: You've created many different projects sculpting and animating. Are there particular projects that stick out for you in your career?

BA: Sure. Working at Will Vinton's back in the day on California Raisins.

Doing my animation internship at Disney Florida on Beauty And The Beast. Painting my first children's book.

Having my first art show and now working on stop-motion animated movies like Para Norman and The Boxtrolls at Laika twelve miles from where I grew up as a kid!

11: Who are the characters in your work?

BA: Hmm, interesting.

They are characters I find to be sexy, badass, funny, scary, and intriguing. Not necessarily me, but attributes that get me jazzed or excited are usually not ordinary or everyday. I like myself and my audience to be transported or taken away to somewhere else.

him to do more and maybe do a show. A month later, I was up in Astoria at Lunar Boy Gallery (no longer in business unfortunately) and got in a conversation with the owner. I ended up showing her my work online and she asked me if I wanted to do a show.

I mentioned doing a two-man show, which she was into. I decided to rope Mr. Burch into the show, and we decided to both paint birds—except do our own interpretation of the subject matter. That's when I came up with the name for the show Flip The Bird. We ended up doing the show five years in a row. I just want to point out that this was before the whole "put a bird on it" thing came around.

11: Let’s say for some reason tomorrow you somehow get in a bad way with a witch, where she forces you to choose between losing your hands or losing your eyes; which would you choose and why?

BA: Could I lose one of each? I'd probably say hands. I'm a very visual person and pretty good with my mouth and feet at most things.

11: Along those lines, when creating, what is more "3 Leaves" (acrylic on board) 11: Do you have a thing for birds, important: the shape of something or or is it just coincidence that they appear so much in the color of something? your work?

BA: Depends on the medium, but silhouette and BA: Almost ten years ago, my buddy Ben Burch shape are what really make a piece strong—but color showed me a painting he had done of some cartoonygets your attention and helps you feel more. looking birds. I really liked the piece and encouraged

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community visual arts

"Zombie Cage Fighter" (urethane casting with acrylic paint)

"Dia De Los Muertos" (acrylic on board)

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community visual arts 11: Where do you go to see art?

BA: First Thursday. I love Compound Gallery and Everett Street Lofts (Pony Club). Really I see art everywhere; if my eyes are open, I see artistic value in everything—kinda like the kid in The Sixth Sense. . . just not dead people.

"Hide And Seek" (acrylic on board)

11: Where can our readers see more of your art?

BA: I have a lame blog that I don't post as much work as I would like to on, which I will probably update after this interview. You can see my art in galleries once in a while and watching movies from Laika and Disney.

Beauty And The Beast, Mulan, Brother Bear, Coraline, Para Norman, and The Boxtrolls. Hopefully [there are] many more to come.

11: As a Portland area native, how has living in this city fostered your development as an artist?

BA: I was born just north of the Fremont Bridge. I grew up in Mountaindale Oregon, 25 miles west of Portland. I went to College at Pacific Northwest College of Art. My first job was at Will Vinton's in NW Portland, and now I work in Hillsboro at Laika on feature stop motion movies.

Portland and I go back to 1969, the year we landed on the moon! I'd say it's given me quite a lot. Âť - Billy Dye

Please enjoy Ben's painting "Jem Brite" (acrylic on board) decorating our inside back cover this month.

Find more from Ben at mentalben69.blogspot.com

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