Reduce, Recycle, Red Dress

[April 9th, 2008]

Getting dressed can be a bitch. Especially when you’re a man trying to find the right dress for the evening. Such is the drama of the 8th Annual Red Dress Party .

This small shindig was started years ago as a way for gay guys to wear girlie gowns and get stinkin’ drunk. But this much-loved party has evolved over the years. Now one of the most colorful fundraisers out there (last year the group gave away more than $25,000 to local nonprofits supporting queer youth or helping people with AIDS), it attracts over 1,500-plus attendees, including straight men and women, state legislators and anybody else who likes to rock on with their frock on.

And this year’s soiree, “Red Sea,” is sure to attract an ocean’s worth of party-goers with the inclusion of Storm Large and her Balls at a big Northeast PDX warehouse.

There’s only one rule: You have to wear a red dress to attend. No culottes. No kilts.

“The exciting aspect of this party is getting people outside the box and seeing their interpretation of a dress,” says Cheri Betts, a Red Dress board member. “It’s not about dressing in drag…but creating a costume that fits your personal style. Making everybody wear a dress levels the playing field for all genders.”

That’s why this time of year it’s pretty hard to find a red dress…especially if you’re a size 24. And then there are stares as you scan the racks at Red Light looking for the right li’l number.

Knowing this town is all about the DIY, we decided it was high time to make our own. On the Web, at mywoodenrobot.org/blog, we found “How to Make a Dress Out of a T-Shirt.” It looked easy, so we thought we’d share it.

^Headout Picks

[SCREEN] MATT MCCORMICK

The local experimental filmmaker behind The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal and Peripheral Produce treats the NW Film Center to a new batch of short movies. See preview, page 55. Whitsell Auditorium, Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park, 221-1156. 8 pm. $4-$7.

THURSDAY APRIL 10

[SCREEN] GI JOE STOP-MOTION FILM FESTIVAL

Everybody’s favorite 12-inch soldiers stand at attention for a night of stop-motion movies—along with their 3 3/4-inch counterparts, who are in no way inferior. Enough with the jokes: These are serious action figures, flown in from Denver to kick serious ass on the big screen. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 281-4215. 7 pm. $6.

FRIDAY APRIL 11

[MUSIC] BUCKMAN BASH: STEPHEN MALKMUS, JAMES MERCER

Tonight’s for the children—the ones who need a good arts education and those, uh, kids who can’t help but smile at the thought of rare, back-to-back solo performances from two Northwest pop legends. Jupiter Hotel, 800 E Burnside St., 230-9200. 7 pm. $50. 21+.

SUNDAY APRIL 13

[MUSIC] EELS

Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett (known simply as “E”) knows loss. And his alternately gentle and rockin’ pop examines it in a more personal-yet-universal, affecting way than any other songwriter’s. Ever. Wonder Ballroom, 128 NE Russell St., 284-8686. 8 pm. $19. 21+

[STAGE] HOUSE BOUND

Work Corps’ debut House Bound makes us feel at home, plying us with drinks and hors d’oeuvres. And we can get close to the performers—that is, until they start getting a little too close to us. Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave., 475-2306. Various times, 11 am to 5 pm Sunday, April 13. $10-$20.

TUESDAY APRIL 15

[MUSIC] BRAILLE CD RELEASE

Local MC Braille gives more than a cursory shout-out to the big man upstairs (the one that makes rocking those diamond-studded Hummers possible), but he also reminds us that Jesus threw the money changers the fuck out the temple. Berbati’s Pan, 231 SW Ankeny St., 248-4579. 9:30 pm. $10. 21+.

[WORLD] MASTERS OF PERCUSSION

Meet India’s most celebrated percussionist, tabla master Zakir Hussain. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 224-4400. 8 pm Tuesday, April 15. $21-$53.