After the rain
Strawberry Pickle s art space/all-ages nightclub Rainbow City puts the we back in weird
On an otherwise dull Tuesday, while the rest of Portland is at home watching screens, Rainbow City hosts Sword Society.
Here, weapon nerds hold light-saber duels, only with the grunts and impact sounds drowned out by dance music. Sunday is spiritual night. Mass, hosted by DJ Antichrist, is a goth night with a drag show and dark vibe, which alternates weekly with Sacred Seshes, where belly dancers, tarot readers, light workers and starseeds take over. Other nights host hip-hop shows, African music, arts and crafts nights, ecstatic dance, hula hooping, or whatever a promoter can persuade the club owner Strawberry Pickle is a good time.
“As far as we understand, no-one has ever done a music festival of this scale for people with disabilities so it’s another feather in the cap for Falkirk.
“It’s really just to bring awareness to disability and what we found when we did the City Nightclub event was about 250 turned up and paid.
“These guys deserve to have the same experience as people who aren’t disabled in a safe environment. The general aim is to make it a mainstream festival going forward and also encourage these people to go to a festival on their own.
“Even though this is a disability festival, we also want people who don’t have a disability to buy tickets.
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Gutter Punks: On the Streets With Portland’s Lost Tribe Meet the latest outlaw nation to hit the streets of Portland. Call them road warriors, crusties or squatters just don’t call them hippies. Gutter punks, 1996. (Charles Gullung)
This story originally ran in the Sept. 11, 1996 issue of Willamette Week. If you’ve spent any time in downtown Portland this past summer, you’ve probably noticed a new band of vagabonds on the streets. They’re homeless, but they’re not exactly street kids. They’re wanderers, but they’re not exactly hippies. They’re not skaters, streetwalkers, drug dealers, gang-bangers, bag ladies, drunks, tramps or any of the other exotic species who have hollowed out a niche in the shady parts of town.