I managed to snap these shots of a mother Egret and an amazingly huge nursery of juvenile egrets. they couldn't quite fly yet but could leap into the air and flap like mad and hover for a moment. They were rambunctious and kinda mystifying. Though crouching in alligator infested waters was a tad bit disconcerting.

As some of you may know I am in Georgia tending to a small family emergency. My mother may have had a small heart attack. We won't know for sure until she sees a specialist , who has booked her in JULY! hence my flying down to yell at people until I get her seen sooner. I'm more than a little jet lagged and suffering from insomnia and missing my husband who couldn't come this trip do to it's insanely last minute nature and length of stay (10 days). This really is the middle of nowhere. I flew 10 hours on 2 planes and then drove/road 4 hours more to get to my family farm. It's a weird place to be, especially without all your cylinders firing at their prime, but this was home for roughly 20 years. A decade of transcontinental drifting later I appreciate things better when I am here and yet I have so firmly planted roots in Portland that I am now for the first time in my life homesick. More posts and pics shall follow and promise to be perkier but its been a long two weeks. I had a friend spiral out of control and take a kitchen knife and attempt to mutilate themselves before attacking me for trying to do the right thing and seek professional help for them, my mother collapsed, 6 days later my father passed out behind the wheel of a vehicle and hit a tree, since I have been home I have seen a sever accident (my dad is EMT trained) with a young man with severe head trauma, and a local boy (a friend of the family's son) was killed in an accident.
Fashion meets Art and then gets all mixed up
Posted by Taylor in craft, crochet, knit, Mandy Greer, museum of contemporary craft, the silvering path


Weird Performances.....but we love them....
Posted by Taylor in drag queen, ellen, fashion, gay, gyro hat, Lady gaga, music, poker face
Alright people, let me preface by saying that although everyone has heard this I needed to put the first clip on because although we have all heard and drunkenly danced to poker face, I don't think as many people have heard that Lady Gaga has that classically trained set of pipes that can take a pop hit and turn it into a cabaret/ballad song that would have most torch-song singers covering it. The second post is for the fact that I am so glad designers are still making things that have pageantry to them. I hate boring fashion and people talking about it because it simply has a name to it. Give me fanfare, give me production, give me pageantry!!!!! If it doesn't look like something RuPaul would consider as an accessory then don't show it to me. Here Gaga has a totally impossible hat that mimics a gyroscope matched with a paint on patchwork suit with shoulder pads. Hell yeah that 80's are creeping their way back in. So enjoy the clips for both the interesting takes on the music and for the lovely fashion that goes beyond your boring everyday crap.
What: THE SHRUNKEN HEAD OF PANCHO VILLA
When: May 8-30, 2009
Where: Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark Street, Portland, Oregon 97214
Admission: $20 - $22 depending on date; $16 for students and seniors any performance;

Clay Aiken- that bitter runner up who went from being the obvious, but closeted skinny boy with the big pipes to that guy who looked like a middle-aged doughy lesbian who reluctantly came out to the "shock" of his elderly fan base called "the Claymates". Not content with his tanking music career and stints on Broadway, nor the exploitive way he announced his homosexuality/showed off pics of his new born child, now the fat whiner from my former adopted home state NC (shout out to Greensboro! xo!) is attacking Adam Lambert and American Idol. I'm reposting his entire rant as I found it jaw droppingly arrogant and bitter to its tubby little core.
Now that it's all over, and for the record.... I couldn't be happier about the way AI ended this year. I only turn the show on once a season, and only to see what the set looks like each year. This year, I happened to turn it duringthe minute that Adam Lambert was singing "Ring of Fire" and, at that moment, thought my ears would bleed. Contrived, awful, and slightly frightening! I wasn't really a fan and found myself surprised whenever folks told me that they liked him. Granted, I never saw another performance (and many folks who I trust said that he was great) but I can't imagine I would have enjoyed it. Just not my cup of tea at all. To each his own. I never saw Kris sing on the show, but whether he was good or not is really relative. It's usually a matter of taste, right? But Idol is not always a matter of musical taste only. It's about the person you like. From what little I saw, Kris seemed likable. (That's not to say that Adam isn't just as likable as anyone.. maybe more so... I don't know) When Ruben and I were standing next to each other every night (many years ago) you had two equally talented, equally unlikely, equally unpolished contestants.... so it really was a matter of taste as to who was voted for. While some may argue that one of us was hyped more than the other, I don't feel that was the case. However, this year, there was an obvious bias. Not even having watched the show, I can tell you that I was WELL aware of the bias from the judges as to who should win. In my opinion, that is awfully unattractive. I don't think I am alone In my opinion, it all often comes down to that last night of voting.Until the finale, folks are voting for the contestant that they want to see continue. But, I believe that on that last night, the dynamic changes. No longer forced to choose one person that they want to see win, the audience can effectively vote AGAINST the person that they don't want to see win. In the case of season two this might have happened. There may have been some folks who voted for myself or Ruben because they didn't like the other of us. I was the nerdy little girly boy who some didn't want to see win, so they may have voted for Ruben. I don't know. .. But again, I feel that Ruben and I were fairly matched. We both had our detractors and negatives, but I feel we were both very worthy of being on that stage in that moment, and either of us would have been worthy of winning. The show was different then, and folks made it in seasons 1-3 because they were "real" people who happened to sing/entertain well. But, somewhere along the way, AI stopped being about real people.In a battle between David and Goliath, my money is on David!
I think many voters got sick of being "told who to vote for". I think many were turned off by the blatant favoritism shown towards one contestant. Therefore, on that last night, they used their votes against a contestant that they were tired of hearing about and for the contestant who had been written off. And, at the same time, I think they voted AGAINST an American Idol that has, for four years now, been more about the slick productions and polished contestants than it has been about finding the raw talent that it did in its first three seasons.
Those votes for Kris were also votes to return the show to its roots of finding "real" contestants with undiscovered talent and giving them the chance to grow and shine. They were votes that said "we're tired of seeing contestants who already seem to know it all".
Will American Idol choose to listen to the resounding and clarion call that those voters gave them?.... "Enough with the pretention. More Rubens, more Clays, more Fantasias and Tamyras and Kellys please." My faith has always been in the voters. I think they have gotten it right every year (mine included). It's now up to American Idol to decide.e if it will finally REALLY listen to the folks that keep it on thair.
Bitter Bitter Bitter. Clay do us a favor and shut the fuck up. No one buys your albums because they don't want to hear you sing, so that should give you the hint we don't want to hear you talk either.
Antony and the Johnsons- Aeon (Live)
Posted by Andrew Klaus in Aeon, Antony and the Johnsons, David Letterman, The Crying Light
David Letterman has been on a roll recently having some of my favorite genre redefining/transcending artists including Bat for Lashes, Marianne Faithful and this brilliant performance of Aeon from The Crying Light by the incomparable Antony and the Johnsons. Antony as always is a emotional powerhouse and who's vocals ring with a purity rarely seen in modern performers.
Amazing. I'd love to see Antony do a record of RnB and Soul standards personally re-imagining Motown as a temple of prayers to gods who care not for gender or definition, simply hymns of power and loss and above all, love.
"More" -Peaches
Posted by Andrew Klaus in Feminist, I feel Cream, music review, Peaches, queer music
Here's a promo clip of More by Peaches from her new album I Feel Cream.
The Secret Lives of Circus Animals - A is for Accident

The Porkgasm
Bacon strips, bacon sausage, ham sausage, ham slices, smoked pork sausage and roasted pork belly surrounded by ground sausage shaped into a pig, wrapped in bacon and roasted. Garnished with chili ears and tail.
(submitted Zach Spier via porktopia)
The Cornhole
Corn on the cob wrapped in hickory bacon with two hot dogs and two Colby-Jack cheese sticks wrapped in ground beef.
(submitted by Joe T. and EOB)

For those of you living under a rock, Ryan Murphy the man behind the absurdly watch-able and naughty Nip/Tuck has created a show of genius proportions- GLEE for FOX (which is a bad idea actually as Fox will cancel anything that seems remotely intelligent i.e. Firefly, Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles) Glee follows the trials and tribulations of a Ohio Glee club led by their embattled optimist (and totally adorably hunky ) teacher played by Broadway veteran Matthew Morrison (check out his turn at Broadway Bares below). The show has a brilliant cast of (soon to be stars) new comers along with Jane Lynch as a vicious lesbian cheer leading coach, a play at maximum volume soundtrack of Journey and Amy Winehouse and sharp biting dialogue and a gayest sense of irreverence this side of Ugly Betty.

Morrissey is re-releasing trumped up new versions of his 90s (flops) albums Maladjusted (which I happen to really like) and Southpaw Grammar. each comes deluxe, packed to the gills with besides and more. Maladjusted alone gets 2 songs removed and 6 new ones added! This comes hot on the heels of his third "comeback" record and all its glowing reviews, The Years of Refusal. The just shy of 50 crooner is sexier than ever and rocking harder than I've seen before on his new tour. Kudos to you Moz!
AntiChrist ( Dir. Lars Von Trier)
Posted by Andrew Klaus in AntiChrist, Experimental film, Lars Von Trier

Check out this beautiful and moving photo-essay* about Paul Bockwoldt, a 28 year old straight man who joined a gay rugby league to bond with his gay brother John.
ASL (American Sign Language) is not exactly what I'd think of as Pop music ready but this DAMN sexy ASL interpreter has made Womanzer by Britney Spears tolerable (among many others). Kudos to him for bringing deaf culture to view. I wish it were more integrated as it is a rich an vibrant culture that simply is ignored by mainstream media. Also kudos to his parents-those were good genes they passed on aesthetically.
The cast are pitch perfect and it hits all the right notes to pay homage to past events and characters while thankfully moving forward. It's a surprisingly moving film at times as well. So much as been written lately about rising star and new Captain Kirk Chris Pine, who is lovely and quite good in the roll, that I decided to devote a second to the (allegedly gay-damn glass closets) Zachary Quinto (Spock). So sexy and dashing Quinto is mum on his personal life- does that really work any more? Regardless Star Trek is actually his feature film debut after an impressive resume of bit parts on television (oh and yeah that NBC show- Heroes maybe you’ve heard of it.) He actually has some rather smoldering onscreen scenes with Zoë Saldana (who plays Uhura), but really the "bromance" is the attraction here. It drives the plot and everything we know that is to come (or has it come before…) And I have to say Mister Quinto is a mighty fine man and this was really just an excuse to post these shots from the April GQ of him modeling-um- raincoats. 
Peaches- I Feel Cream
Posted by Andrew Klaus in Canada, I feel Cream, music review, Peaches, queer music, yoko ono

We have all come to expect certain things from ms. Merrill Beth Nisker, aka Peaches, sassy sexually explicit lyrics and a critique of the binary gender systems... check and check. But for her fourth album I Feel Cream Peaches has added something unexpected to the mix, real emotion and vulnerability. Its a welcome change up and adds more depth to her electro backdrops and political rants. She's like a neomarxist demanding a revolution in the bed room and the dance floor. Is Peaches now staging a coup to take over the mainstream? Talk to Me the lead single even addresses the dichotomy of the artist and the individual off stage:
"This aint a Peaches show /it's just me and you , me and you/ why don't ya talk to me."While its certainly not as revolutionary as The Teaches of Peaches it's a solid album by an artist willing to mature and evolve in a relevant way (as opposed to say the recent Madonna) Peaches has collaborated in recent years with everyone from Yoko Ono to Feist to Karen O showing the boys how the ladies set it off. It's a sexy and modern album that stimulates the brain as well as below the waist, whatever that may be.

Thank FUCKING G-D ! The unholy remake (for Fox no less) of Absolutely Fabulous, the smash British hit and cult fave in the states has shot its pilot and FOX as decided to NOT go forward with the series. The Remake looked TERRIBLE, VILE, and all sorts of very nasty and flamboyant terms to decry something that is just plain wrong. I feel bad for Kristen Johnston as I enjoy her and I'd love to see her back on television, just not in this.
Matthew Fox is Foxxy
Posted by Andrew Klaus in ABC, Jimmy Kimmel, Lost, Matthew Fox, Matthew Kern, Speed Racer

Matthew Fox has grown from the somewhat interesting Charlie on Fox's Party of Five to stud muffin Jack on LOST over on ABC (whom I still have not forgiven for canceling Pushing Daisies) along the way he also did a turn as Racer X in the totally underrated pop-art extravaganza that was Speed Racer (in which he fights ninjas in his underwear!) I have never really wanted to be Jimmy Kimmel but this would be a good reason to be, showering with Matthew Fox (though Sarah Silverman as your on-again-off-again Girlfriend would be a close second).
Dan Savage Vs Obama
Posted by Andrew Klaus in Barack Obama Speech, Dan Savage, gay family, gay rights
Lorenzo Lamas!!! Debbie- er I mean, Debra Gibson!!! a Giant CGI shark that eats airplanes! GIANT OCTOPUS (that swats airplanes)!!! HOLY CRAPTASTIC!



What: THE SHRUNKEN HEAD OF PANCHO VILLA
When: May 8-30, 2009
Where: Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark Street, Portland, Oregon 97214
Admission: $20 - $22 depending on date; $16 for students and seniors any performance;
Hands down- quote of the day! Wanda Sykes lambasted Rush Limbaugh while roasting President Barack Obama :
"I think Rush Limbaugh was the 10th hijacker but he was so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight. Rush Limbaugh. 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail. How about that? He needs a good waterboarding. That's what he needs."
REALLY Sean Hannity? This is the best you can come up with? REALLY? I'd also like to point out Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard is made by Kraft foods, an AMERICAN commercial foods company. This is really one of the lowest and most lamely embarrassing moments in recent memory. It's such a sad attempt at "news" that I'm genuinely shocked. Some how eating spicy mustard is to be considered elitist? If this wasn't so laughably pathetic I'd be furious, but to quote Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth (to David Bowie) "You have no Power over me."
more about "Obama Orders Spicy Mustard!", posted with vodpod
To my first thursday friends....
Posted by Andrew Klaus in Andrew Klaus, gaycondo, Jon and Paul, Matthew Kern, Taylor Vineyard
To my wonderful husband Taylor; to Matthew , Nance, Jon and Paul, and Em Brownlowe... thank you.
Last night Matthew and I were to attend a play I was to review but somehow missed curtain call (No finger pointing!!!-ok ok I had the wrong time written down-Thank you Tim for being so understanding) However I'm glad that actually happened as I headed down to Portland's First Thursday art event where a few friends were shopping for art. I drank, I smoozed, I bought a painting (with money I should not have spent and without consulting my hubby), but then the phone rang.
Amanda Lepore
Posted by Andrew Klaus in Amanda Lepore, Cazwell, gay fantasy, music review, queer music, transgender
Amanda Lepore's new single Cotton Candy from her upcoming album I...Amanda Lepore features Cazwell in a 1960 Rock Hudson Doris Day-esque fantasia. It's kinda terrible and trashy and sadly addictive all at once.
Two Portland theatre luminaries are set to drop their curtain on the city and move on to new endeavors on the east coast. defunkt theatre is sending off co-creative directors and actors James Moore and Frances Binder in style with the world premier of Gary Winter's Cooler. The episodic comedy tells the story of four damaged and eccentric individuals who seek refuge from the harsh realities of the outside world by living in a giant cooler. It also weaves stories and songs of the last Russian Cowboy, a rhinoceros with no desire for self-reflection, reading scripts for bad french bodice rippers, and a rather impassioned defense of Cher as a serious artist. While these disparate strands are woven together, the refugees try to make sense of their world and/or each other, which is not always an easy task with this delightfully off-kilter bunch. Rounding out the uniformly excellent cast are new-comer Cyndi Rhoads as sexually frustrated Pearl/ Cher (no really, THAT Cher) and defunkt theare company member Naomi Mos (whose brilliance is showcased in the aforementioned french bodice ripper section)
While the production is not always entirely successful with their endeavor, the sheer intensity of the cast's commitment shines through and when the nonsensical and jaw droppingly hilarious Rhino dance occurs any faltering is immediately forgiven, if not forgotten.
defunkt theatre has long been the champion of new works and avant guard productions and this is no exception. Bill Tripp's set and Josh Ailes sound design (in conjunction with Richard E. Moore's music) engage and alienate in equal measure. The play is otherworldly, satirical and occasionally profound. Lori Sue Hoffman once again proves that she is one of the best costume designers working in the city with timeless gorgeous costumes for the everyday apocalypse. Gary Winter should be proud of this odd and charming world premiere, next set to be stage in New York's Chocolate Factory in the spring of 2010.
At a lean 90 minutes , Cooler is the solid bet in town for a good time, oddly endearing and funny. It's a fitting close to James and Frances time in Portland. We wish them the best of luck in all their endeavors. Go see this show!

defunkt theatre proudly presents
the world premiere of
by Gary Winter
at the Back Door Theater. 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Portland, Oregon.
1 May through 6 June, 2009. Thursday – Sunday at 8.
Opening Fri & Sat are FREE. Pay What You Will Thurs & Sun, $10-15 Fri & Sat.
For reservations, call 503.481.2960 or go to www.defunktheatre.com.
4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd. www.defunktheatre.com
CONTACT: JAMES MOORE
Portland, OR 97215 503.481.2960 503.481.2960
For more on the process of our production of Cooler, check out our website’s journal page.
cast:
Frances Binder* (the Crowtet)
James Moore* (Mud)
Naomi Mos* (The Lesser Magoo)
Cyndi Rhoads
designers: Bill Tripp (set)
Lori Sue Hoffman* (costumes)
Frances Binder* & James Moore* (lights)
Zero Feeney* & Danika Stochosky* (props)
Josh Ailes (sound design)
Richard E. Moore (music)
stage managed by: Katie Ewing.
This production is funded in part through a generous grant from:
defunkt theatre (lowercase intended) is a nationally recognized, 501(c)3 ensemble theatre
company dedicated to creating innovative productions that challenge conventional ideals of society
and theatre at a reasonable price.
* defunkt theatre company member
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