{"id":15765,"date":"2019-02-22T10:11:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T15:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=15765"},"modified":"2020-07-02T10:10:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T14:10:43","slug":"planet-hopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/planet-hopping\/","title":{"rendered":"Planet Hopping"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"issuuembed\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px;\" data-configid=\"37604829\/68738827\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/e.issuu.com\/embed.js\" async=\"true\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">By Evelyn Waugh<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-15843\" src=\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/FM19-AfterDark.jpg\" alt=\"FM19-AfterDark\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/FM19-AfterDark.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/FM19-AfterDark-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/FM19-AfterDark-200x134.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>T<\/span><span class=\"s1\">he three of us, myself and two friends, make our way downstairs into the dark, ambiently lit basement of Center Street\u2019s <strong>Aura<\/strong>. You can\u2019t miss it. Red light glows from the doorway. Hell? No. But somewhat inspired by it. We\u2019re headed to <strong>Plague<\/strong>, Portland\u2019s \u2018goth night\u2019\u2014think a Renaissance fair with a\u2026Black Death theme.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Founder <strong>Amy Black<\/strong>, wearing a feathered mask, works the door, taking $5 cover fees to the Midwinter Masquerade. My friends Amanda and Juniper, my \u2018seasoned goths,\u2019 lead the way.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>A DREAM WITHIN\u00a0A DREAM<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Inside we\u2019re greeted by a parade of corsets and full-body leather jumpsuits. Masks\u2014black, glittery, and feathered\u2014hide the faces of regulars. A pair of elf ears pass. It\u2019s as if I\u2019ve walked into Oz. We\u2019re not in New England anymore. I spy a girl wearing a tail and another in a ball gown. Tonight\u2019s the annual goth ball, and I\u2019m horribly underdressed. Lucky for me, there are masks scattered around the club\u2019s tables and bar. I choose one that suits me: dainty, blue, flowered.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Feeling out of place before, my mask eases any inhibitions. We head to the glowing, blue bar, and the cocktail selection doesn\u2019t disappoint. I sip a Death in the Afternoon\u2014heavy on absinthe, light on Champagne. We mingle with two women wearing cat ears and corsets. The men in kilts and tuxedos linger by the bar. Someone\u2019s dressed in white from the tuxedo to the boots and giant feather fan\u2014like an angel swimming in a sea of black. I\u2019m in awe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe try to offer a place for those who don\u2019t feel comfortable being themselves normally. They come out and get to be themselves, whatever that may be,\u201d Black says. \u201cIs Halloween your favorite holiday? Do you enjoy Poe and <i>Beetlejuice<\/i>? Are you into comics, sci-fi? Plague is all of these things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>MORTICIA&#8217;S NEW GROOVE<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Am I brave enough to industrial dance sober? The world may never know. We finish our drinks and hit the floor. It\u2019s a specific style, goth dancing, one that typically involves lots of arm movement. Add in a few hand twirls and a kick every now and then (used sparingly), and you\u2019re off. If all else fails, just do what everyone else is doing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">I\u2019m swallowed by twirls and stomps. \u201cIs this Tool?\u201d Amanda asks, bewildered that the 1990s alternative band would be playing. \u201cIt\u2019s like Tool but sexy!\u201d A woman in full leather and high platform boots with blunt bangs and winged eyeliner dances by herself. She\u2019s killing it. The music is eclectic\u2014Joy Division, Florence and the Machine, White Stripes, Echo and the Bunnymen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">We find ourselves dancing well past midnight. Turns out, sober or not, I\u2019m a natural. Because after all, the real secret to dancing like a goth is to go to the club and dance. And you can. Every Friday at Aura.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>WORDPLAY<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">F<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s1\"><strong>lask<\/strong>, the brick staple of Spring Street and one of the most welcoming bars you\u2019ll find in town, is home to <strong>Monday of the Minds<\/strong>. Zachary Mullin, better known as rapper <strong>Stay on Mars<\/strong>, started the weekly \u201ccommunity hip hop showcase\u201d in 2015. \u201cPeople need interaction,\u201d Mullin says. \u201cMinds isn\u2019t just going out to a concert to see an artist. It\u2019s going out to hang with friends and see hip hop.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">The vibe at Minds feels like a party of old friends. The regulars are welcoming and the newbies encouraged. From spoken word to poetry, even modern dance, Mullin has created an outlet artists as far as California and Seattle seek. \u201cIt\u2019s a growing city and very diverse compared to ten years ago,\u201d Mullin says. \u201cIt needed to happen. We bring in a lot of touring acts, people from all over the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">There\u2019s no stage at Minds. We stand in the \u201cpit\u201d with the artists, the bar and tables behind us. I\u2019m sipping a gin and ginger as Viva of Viva and the Reinforcements beckons us in. \u201cCloser, closer,\u201d she says. The boldest squeeze to the front. I\u2019m eye-to-eye with open-mic performers, who signed up only hours before. They rap about their lives\u2014the losses, the wins, economic oppression, drug abuse, mental illness. The pursuit of their dreams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A<\/span><span class=\"s1\">fter the open mic, Christina Richardson, local community organizer, leads us in a universal clap. She counts, \u201cone, two, three,\u201d and the bar claps in unison. It thuds somewhere deep in your chest\u2014that place where bass reverberates, where feeling happens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cFirst with power,\u201d she says. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cOne, two, three, power.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cNow with equity. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cOne, two, three, equity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">The DJ puts on a \u201cthrowback beat\u201d I don\u2019t recognize, but the whole bar starts moving.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>UPBEAT<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Over a beer, I talk with a fashionable woman in blue eyeshadow with a pierced cupid\u2019s bow. She\u2019s here to support her \u201cmaybe boyfriend.\u201d Ah, the maybe. Dating limbo. I don\u2019t miss it. \u201cTonight\u2019s awkward,\u201d she tells me. \u201cI can\u2019t dance as well as him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">He happens to be one of the rappers and kicks off a freestyle cypher, on-the-spot rhymes that come straight \u201cfrom the top of the dome,\u201d as Mullin says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThe good old days are long gone, they say,\u201d starts the rap. He\u2019s critical of our culture\u2019s tendency to retreat into nostalgia, but I\u2019m struck by the clarity of his optimism. \u201cHe seems nice,\u201d I tell his date before heading out. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">It\u2019s nearly midnight, and the beat is still strong. I carry it with me up Spring Street, brimming with energy. Portland\u2019s beat is one fueled by the people that can hear it and feel it, the people keeping the collective tempo while adding notes of their own. Different looks, tastes, scenes, and cultures merge each day into the city\u2019s cypher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We find ourselves dancing well past midnight at Aura.<br \/>\nBy Evelyn Waugh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[314,8],"tags":[316],"class_list":["post-15765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-after-dark","category-featured","tag-februarymarch-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15765"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18941,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15765\/revisions\/18941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}