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November 12, 2020
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
It's been ages since I sent out a newsletter. I usually manage to write a bit of one each week, but lately it seemed like I was typing little more than "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," so I never bothered to send it out. I had promised myself to be positive in my communications with you, but with the uncertainty around the election and the rising number of Covid-19 cases, I often felt like I was drowning in despair and unable to see a way forward for me or the Clinton.
It didn't help that I've been incapacitated with the worst pain in my neck that I've ever experienced. I've had osteoarthritis in all my joints since forever, but now my cervical vertebrae have deteriorated so much in the past few years that there are days when I can't do much more than sit very, very still. I start physical therapy next week, and I have a referral for a pain management specialist, so, hopefully soon, I will no longer feel as if all movement is beyond me. Luckily, I'm adjusting to new anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication and my overall outlook on life has improved despite the constant pain.
And now there is good news to share with you! First, we are in a good place with our landlords and we will have a lease in place when we can reopen. Then, after the fiasco with the FB fundraiser (FB returned more than $10,000 in donations instead of giving it to us), the Oregon Cultural Trust AND the Regional Arts and Cultural Council grants came through with funds made possible by the Cares Act. Thanks to all of you who testified on our behalf. This means I have what I need to cover the remainder of this year's basic expenses, and make some substantive changes to the space that will provide adequate social distancing and improve air quality. Of course, there's nothing available for 2021 yet (who could have ever believed that this would drag on so long), but with the advent of a vaccine, maybe we'll be able to reopen by the end of the first quarter. I keep "Hang on, Sloopy, Sloopy, Hang on" on continuous replay as my ear worm, and I'm determined to fight for the Clinton and for you until we come to the day when we can with joy "shake it, shake it, shake it, yeah" at our reopening.
On the home front, we've had an incredible new addition to our family. Our great-granddaughter, Chanel, was born last Saturday. She was five weeks early, but it's been touch and go since late August, so we're so happy and relieved that she is here and healthy. We've been charged with extra care of the 2-year old, and I'm grateful that my overall schedule has been lighter so I can enjoy the additional time with him (isn't he just the most adorable grand baby, ever???!!).
I want to extend a huge thank you to all the unsung heroes who have helped us out in the past few months:
- Faux Film Festival and Guignolfest 2020 contributed all their filmmaker submission fees, which together came to almost $800.
- POWFest donated all the ticket sales from their virtual festival--more than $600.
- NEMO Design & the PDX Creative Support Club sent a check for more than $400 from the sales of their Clinton Street Theater t-shirt.
- Loren Thompson, Clinton Street Cabaret past president, created and sold the ingenious 3-D toy popcorn machine and sent us more than $300.
- Left Pebble Studios created a print of our storefront with a Malcolm X quote on the marquee, and donated more than $200 from sales.
- Kurtis Hough, local experimental filmmaker, put together an incredible experimental film festival, which ran for one week with donations for tickets going to CST.
And to you and you and you and YOU, who have continued to make donations, know that we wouldn't have made it beyond the first few months of the pandemic without your support. Thank you for the bottom of my heart!
Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and this poem I share in honor of my late father, John Lassiter, a veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. In a way it fits in with what we are experiencing these days, as we all try to bide our time and make do in the face of what is for some unspeakable suffering and for all an unbearable amount of uncertainty.
We Were All Odysseus in Those Days
Amorak Huey
A young man learns to shoot
& dies in the mud
an ocean away from home,
a rifle in his fingers
& the sky dripping
from his heart. Next to him
a friend watches
his final breath slip
ragged into the ditch,
a thing the friend will carry
back to America—
wound, souvenir,
backstory. He’ll teach
literature to young people
for 40 years. He’ll coach
his daughters’ softball teams.
Root for Red Wings
& Lions & Tigers. Dance
well. Love generously.
He’ll be quick with a joke
& firm with handshakes.
He’ll rarely talk
about the war. If asked
he’ll tell you instead
his favorite story:
Odysseus escaping
from the Cyclops
with a bad pun & good wine
& a sharp stick.
It’s about buying time
& making do, he’ll say.
It’s about doing what it takes
to get home, & you see
he has been talking
about the war all along.
We all want the same thing
from this world:
Call me nobody. Let me live.
WANT TO HELP????? WATCH/GIVE....
Schedule a Virtual Magic Visit with Dan Kamin
Any time
Any amount
We've know Dan Kamin of Mt. Lebanon, PA, since 2014, when he was a special guest as part of the Clinton's year-long 100th anniversary celebration. That year he shared the program Funny Bones, featuring the humor of Charlie Chaplin. It was a one-of-a-kind event that took our audience on a magical excursion into Chaplin's enchanted comic world through film clips, live performance, and the screening of a newly restored version of THE PAWNSHOP, Chaplin's short 1916 masterpiece. We also commissioned local composer Philip Van Scotter to create an original soundtrack for THE PAWNSHOP, which he played live during the screening. Dan came back in July, 2019, and shared more of Charlie Chaplin's humor and superstar career, and we screened Chaplin’s blockbuster war comedy SHOULDER ARMS, released while World War One was still raging.
BUT Mr. Kamin is more than an acclaimed expert on all things Chaplin (he trained Robert Downey, Jr. for his Oscar-nominated performance in Chaplin and created Johnny Depp’s physical comedy routines in Benny and Joon). This multifaceted artist is also a magician extraordinaire, and if you would like to schedule a virtual magic visit, feel free to contact Dan by phone (412-563-6505) or email (dk@dankamin.com). He will either virtually visit with you himself or set you up with his of my friends from the local branch of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. There is no charge during the pandemic, but he would appreciate you making a donation to the Clinton Street Theater, his home-away-from-home in Portland.
Virtual Cinema
New stuff is available! BUY A TICKET, WATCH AT HOME, AND SUPPORT THE CLINTON!!!
THE GERMAN LESSON
This is a cerebral piece of work which tackles some of the war's longer, lingering questions in Germany and beyond, made flesh by some wonderful performances...
Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International
NYICFF Kid Flicks One
NYICFF Kid Flicks One keeps the dynamic of work and play lively with these tales and more from around the globe. Cat Lake City has you covered if you, like its loveable feline, feel like you just can’t catch a break in this hilarious tale of a hard-won vacay. But if you’re fortunate, you know that effort and fun can happily co-exist as they do in the short doc The Magic of Chess. Finally, meet another hard-worker who gets a little lost dawdling in the countryside in the beautifully hand-animated Boriya.
NYICFF Kid Flicks Two
Challenging expectations and reflecting growth and resilience, NYICFF Kid Flicks Two is a fantastic trip on the road to growing up. Surprises in a dumpling bring good luck, and many reflections, in the beautiful stop motion animation The Coin. In The One You Never Forget, a young teen tries to keep his first date under wraps, but his parents have other ideas. In Home Away 3000, a space traveller’s funky space van konks out on an unknown planet with plenty of surprises.
NYICFF VIVA KID FLICKS
The brilliant Spanish-language tales in Viva Kid Flicks, with a range of kids’ perspectives, speak volumes in any tongue. NYICFF jury-award winner 3Feet kicks things off in style with Gonzalo, who tries his hilarious best to keep things clean to stay in the game; then orbit around Ailín and her mom, who work through love and challenges in the charming stop motion Ailin on the Moon. And see things grow curiouser and curiouser in a moving take on magical realism in the gorgeously filmed tale The Size of Things.
IT CUTS DEEP
Nicholas Santos' It Cuts Deep uses a heady mix of character comedy and slasher tropes to skewer a crazy kind of toxic masculinity.
Anton Bitel, Projected Figures
From November 11 through November 19
DOC NYC
DOC NYC, the largest documentary festival in the US, is streaming across the country Nov 11-19. Use this custom ticket discount code: DOCNYC-CLINTON to receive $2 off the regular ticket price of $12 for any individual feature or shorts program in the festival. In turn, DOC NYC will contribute $2 of each $10 ticket sold directly back to the Clinton.
The 2020 festival includes 107 feature-length documentaries, including 23 World Premieres, plus 15 shorts programs. 53% of the features are directed or co-directed by women and 34% of features are directed by BIPOC. Almost all films will also be accompanied by an exclusive filmmaker Q&A included in the ticket.
WATCH NOW:
Guignolfest 2020
The 12th Annual GuignolFest proudly presents the movies from the 72-Horror Movie Contest. Teams had 72-hours to produce a movie under their assigned horror genre and required elements to include in their movie. In these challenging times to maintain safe movie making, these teams shined through. We are grateful for the contest and festival teams for keeping the horror community strong.
AND Bonus Movies
The 12th Annual GuignolFest proudly presents Festival Movies (Parts 1 & 2) for your enjoyment. For the first time, GuignolFest expands the movie watching experience with showcasing work done separately from the competition. In Part 1, film makers from around the Pacific Northwest and California in this collection present a wide range of horror from gore to atmospheric and everything in between. Part 2 is a full length feature movie.
The Oregon Donors Variety Show
The Oregon Donors is a shadowcast performance group, performing REPO! The Genetic Opera, and for the CST CoVideothon fundraiser, they put together an amazing variety show!
Coming on November 14!!!
Eva D'Luscious of ShowGirl Temple presents
Whole Lotta Love for Clinton Street Theater.
Each February ShowGirl Temple presents its tribute to love, loss and our favorite rock band: Zeppelin! This time, the Portland team came together for a special encore to raise funds for the Clinton Street Theater with a flashback to the February show, along with new videos and personal tidbits about their love of Zepp.
All funds raised will support our historic venue -- one of the oldest continuously operating American movie houses -- and ensure we remain around to bring you another incredible year of Whole Lotta Love Burlesque live in person.
Online Viewing Date: Saturday, November 14, 6pm PT
** Viewing link emailed day of show
18+
TICKETS: https://www.showgirltemple.com/.../whole-lotta-love-for...
*Contributors at $20 ticket level will be invited to join a chat with the performers at show time
IN OTHER NEWS
Reminder--Portland's Black Owned Businesses Need Your Support. These businesses are part of what makes Portland great and your support is more important now than ever.
Support Black Owned Businesses
Distractions
Local filmmaker and friend of theater, Tara Johnson-Medinger, has a new film out on AMAZON PRIME and other digital platforms! MY SUMMER AS A GOTH, which screened last year at the Clinton, is set in present-day Portland, and it will resonate with anyone who survived the social alienation of adolescence--and that first summer heartbreak.
The Everyday & the Fantastic
Written & Performed by Steven Henegar
November 14, 2020 - 5 pm PST - Online
Sure, you figured the world would go on just like the day before, didn’t you? But then, that everyday ground under our feet shifts, and we find ourselves stumbling into the unexpected.
Who knew there’d be demons waiting at the doctor’s office; that you’d end up dancing with the cat lady in the hallway; or that maybe your family had figured out that immortality thing without realizing it. Better watch your step.
Tickets: $10.00
Kino Now is celebrating its one year anniversary by offering 8 films for free streaming.
Between now and November 15, you are invited to watch the following films at no charge:
Beanpole by Kantemir Balagov
The Complete Metropolis
Boy by Taika Waititi
It Felt Like Love by Eliza Hittman
Dawson City: Frozen Time by Bill Morrison
Variety by Bette Gordon
The Hitchhiker by Ida Lupino
Walk With Me, a documentary about Thich Nhat Hanh
PDX Free Fridge is a network of wood-framed outdoor fridge/freezer combos, powered by volunteer businesses or individuals. Many have small adjacent pantries. Community members keep them stocked. Did you make too much soup? Label and date frozen quarts, stick em in the fridge. Have tons of fruit from a tree in your yard? Put it in the fridge. Costco run? Dollar Tree? An extra flat of water for the fridge, some wet wipes to go, snack packs of string cheese. Take what you need, leave what you can.
Melanie DeMore, Eve Decker, Kate Munger and Betsy Rose
invite you to a Post- Election Gathering of Song and Community
Saturday November 14, 5-6:30 PM (PT)
We all know that this election is like no other, but we stand on the shoulders of countless peoples, around the world, and throughout time, who have faced crises, radical social transformation, and risk/opportunity. So, show up and meet what these times ask of us! Courage, faith, action, and wisdom will be vital resources. Let's build up our emotional and spiritual immune systems. Singing together is a powerful source of strength and unity for these times. Let's sing out songs of liberation, songs of justice, and the songs of wisdom and healing that will get us through this time and into the times to come. Any and all voices welcome!!
One of the professional organizations I belong to represents the Independent Venues of America. NIVA has joined National Independent Talent Organization (NITO), ExtendPUA.org (xPUA), Live Events Coalition (LEC), League of Historic American Theaters (LHAT), The Main Street Alliance, National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), International Health, and Racquet & Sportsclub Association to demand a comprehensive pandemic relief bill. Congress must acknowledge the vast financial impact on the American people! Learn more at DoNotAbandonUS.com. Use your social media platforms to help us spread our message and be sure to tag @nivassoc and use hashtags #DoNotAbandonUS and #SaveOurStages. PLEASE!!!
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
― Plutarch
Don't be a stranger. Write until we can meet again.
Kind regards,
Lani Jo
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