Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

Latrice Royale

This year’s annual pride celebration, Pride Northwest (June 15-16), is getting an extra injection of fun, courtesy of local event organizer Samuel Thomas. The founder of the Portland Queer Music Festival, who’s in the process of creating a new LGBTQ club and music venue in downtown Portland, took time to plan a Big Gay Dance Party (June 16) aboard the Portland Spirit cruise ship.

The drag and dance party will pair Latrice Royale (fan favorite and Miss Congeniality from Season 4 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”) with performers and DJs from two of Portland’s most popular parties and should be a great follow-up to the big parade on Sunday.

If you could do it all over again, would you? Beware if you say yes, because you might end up seeing things quite differently the second time around.

In Anything But Brilliant – A Love Story, Sam, a middle-aged playwright, turns back the pages of his own life in the days following the death of his partner, Jesse. But the story he relives is two parts memories and one part fiction, an intoxicating tonic that stirs through him as he struggles to complete a script that, in many ways, holds his own personal narrative together. Running Thursday – Saturday through April 20 at Southeast Portland’s Profile Theatre, this rich yet earnest production interweaves multiple art forms, including music, poetry and experimental staging, to explore the love that exists — in life and in death — between these partners. Both sorrowful and seductive, Anything But Brilliant is as much about learning and loving as it is about letting go.

Every Thursday during its run, you can see the play for a “pay what you can” rate, and the April 13 show will benefit Basic Rights Oregon and will be followed by a discussion of marriage equality.

Tickets are available in advance at Lights Up! Productions.

Dorothy Parker, she of the wicked satire and wit, wrote, “I always saw, I always said / If I were grown and free, / I’d have a gown of reddest red / As fine as you could see.”

Every year, Portlanders dare to don red at the annual Red Dress Party (May 4). A yearly bash that requires all attendees (regardless of gender) to don crimson ladies’ wear, this party gets bigger and bolder each year, raising more than $100,000 for local organizations which help people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as gay youth.

At this year’s party, DJing activist and drag queen Nina Flowers will blow the roof off the high-wattage dance party. The nationally known figure should be right at home at the ”Caught Red Handed” themed event. And while the big night is getting closer every day, full event details, like the venue and ticket sales, have not yet been announced. But wherever the party takes place, there is already a round-trip shuttle scheduled from The Jupiter Hotel, which is also offering special rates for attendees.

So, start eying the racks for that those slinky red frocks. Because when the night’s over, sure, you’ll have plenty of memories, but as Parker’s poem “The Red Dress” concludes, you’ll only have a “silly gown” to show for it.

Update: The gala is now sold out, except for after-party-only tickets, which are still available for $35. Get yours now!

Slip into something slinky or brush off your best suit, because the Q Center’s “Fire and Ice” Winter Gala (Jan. 26) is about to heat up the city. This heartwarming night of music, dancing, food, drink and fun at Castaway Portland supports the Q Center, the hub for the local LGBTQ community, and will help melt away revelers’ winter blues. And this fifth annual event is packing in star power, with entertainment by two-time Grammy Award winner Matt Alber, and KGW Newschannel 8′s Reggie Aqui and Stephanie Stricklen hosting the evening.

The party’s “Fire and Ice” theme is a nod to Portland’s acceptance and the way locals come together as a community, regardless of their sexual orientations. Besides, gussied up to their ritziest, there’ll be only one kind of person at this affair: fabulous. Tickets are available in advance at www.pdxqcenter.org, and Hotel DeLuxe (an elegant example of classic style itself) is offering special rates and deals for attendees who want to make the glamorous evening last into the wee hours of the morning. How cool is that?

Every year brings complaints about holiday tunes being played too early — but they do help set the mood for the season. Just ask the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, who’ve been belting out festive numbers for weeks already, gearing up for their fantastic celebration of song, “The Most Wonderful Season” (Dec. 14-16).

With just three shows at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts’ Newmark Theatre, this concert captures all the razzle-dazzle of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the New Year and the solstice rolled into in one performance. The all-inclusive show mixes traditional holiday favorites with modern covers, all aimed at filling listeners with the spirit of the season.

For 33 years, these merry men have performed numbers that are equally heartfelt and toe-tapping, from the classic “Jingle Bells” to Louis Armstrong’s “Cool Yule” to a Lady Gaga “Bad Romance” inspired “Give Me Happy Holidays.” Get your tickets today — you wouldn’t want to  miss out on the holidays’ highest of high notes.

Ever feel like the holidays are a drag? Well, you’ll be in good company at A Very Joan Crawford Christmas (Nov. 28 – Dec.23) from Triangle Productions. The mad-cap mommy’s ramblings about everything from Pepsi and Vodka to Mamacita, her housekeeper, make for a new, alternative Christmas tradition.

The legendary showbiz star from Hollywood’s golden age gabs about boys and booze and shares her tips for holiday hostesses. Want to host a dinner party with style? Seat your hairdresser next to a professor, dammit.

Complete with a tour of her home (wire hangers and all), and plenty of dish on the bitter old cranberry’s ex-husbands, the show is just like spending the holidays with family — well, family that you happen to despise.

Photo by Marty Davis, Just Out

If Cheers is the bar where everybody knows your name, Blow Pony is the party where nobody cares what it is — so long as you’re dancing. Held the fourth Saturday of every month at Branx and Rotture in the city’s Southeast warehouse district, this four-alarm rager is like the inside of a piñata — colorful, fun, and explosive.

Started in 2007 as a place where “all our brothers and sisters felt welcome and loved,” the two-floor, hot and sweaty glitter-fest usually has four or five different DJs, mixing up a wide variety of music — basically anything with a beat. It’s a wild time where everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender, is allowed to be their deep-down self, whether that’s a wallflower sporting jeans and a T-shirt, or an outlandish dance queen wearing DayGlo panties and body paint. Be sure to get there early, and make no other plans, because at this monthly event, you’ll get to admire everything that keeps Portland weird as you party until the house lights come on.

An image from "We Were Here," one of the 2011 festival's featured films.

Though the Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (starting Sept. 28) may be at the point where it can star in its own coming-of-age story, the annual collection of shorts has really served more as a documentary, chronicling an era of unprecedented progress for equality and rights. Now in its 16th year, the festival, which takes place at Northwest Portland’s Cinema 21, will continue to educate and inspire with more than a week of moving films. Event coordinators are currently in the process of setting the dates and selecting the films, making this a great time to look back on the works that have shined brightest on the festival’s silver screen.

Update: As of Sept. 9, the schedule is now online!

The event took a bold stance as far back as 2000, when it showed the 1995 documentary Ballot Measure 9, which explored the anti-gay amendment proposed by the conservative group, Oregon Citizen’s Alliance in 1992. Including anti-gay clips produced by the Citizen’s Alliance and interviews of those who successfully fought passage of Measure 9, the film moved viewers of every orientation. In 2007, For the Bible Tells Me So explored the Bible as it applies to homosexuality, revealing the church-sanctioned anti-gay bias to be based on a misinterpretation, and how people of faith — including former House Majority leader Richard Gephardt — reconcile having a gay child. And last year, We Were Here documented the AIDS crisis in 1980s San Francisco, probing the political and social impact of the disease on the LGBTQ community. With director David Weissman in attendance, the screening was both heartbreaking and informative — a perfect example of what makes this event so important.

Stay tuned as the festival nears for more updates, including this year’s dates, selected films and ticket sales.

Around the country, there are fairs for everything under the sun: arts, athletics, food and even Renaissance culture — but surprisingly, it’s rare to see one dedicated to the LGBTQ community. Since 2009, Portland’s Gay Fair on the Square (Sept. 16) has been one of the only such events in the country, and this year, the city will again welcome dozens of gay and gay-friendly groups into its living room, Pioneer Courthouse Square.

This event invites people to gather, share passions and showcase talents. Timed to precede National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), the fair is a perfect starting point for the just-out and those considering coming out. Groups ranging from athletic teams and art communities to HIV support groups and gay youth groups will be on hand, spreading the word about their organizations. The fair is a great way to get involved with local groups like Cascade AIDS Project and the Q Center.

But it isn’t all business — performances by the the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus and others create a festive atmosphere worthy of a visit, regardless of your sexual orientation. Last year, the event featured more than 60 groups and hundreds of attendees, showing there’s space for everyone in Portland’s living room.

Imperial Teen, photo by Marina Chavez

In Portland, you can toss a dart at a calendar and you’re likely to hit a music festival. From blues to bluegrass, there seems to be a set list for everyone — even more so, now that the Portland Queer Music Festival is in full swing. Launched last year, this full day of LGBTQ talent hits its stride on Sunday, July 22, when two dozen bands take over Backspace, for an all-ages set, and the Someday Lounge, for a 21+ celebration of song.

Founder Samuel Thomas started the festival last year, and word spread like wildfire for the follow-up effort. More than 600 people attended 2011′s shows, and this year more than 80 artists asked about joining the fray.

Headlined by San Francisco-based, indie-pop favorites Imperial Teen at Backspace and L.A. singer-songwriter Sacha Sacket at Someday, the all-day event is an incredible value for all music fans, with admission for both venues at just $12, or $10 for the underage-friendly shows alone. In addition to the national names, plenty of Portland talent will be in on the act, including post-funk darlings Magic Mouth and electric rockers Mattachine Social. Music links us together like nothing else, so let loose and dance the day away, together.