Bombs Away

Back in April, Melissa Lion and Frayn Masters laid
out to the Mercury what they vowed to do. The two founders of
Back Fence PDX, Portland’s answer to storytelling nights like New York
City’s The Moth and San Francisco’s Porchlight, promised to keep it
unique, aim for a broad audience, and to never stop changing. So, after
a summer-long hiatus, Back Fence is back with something different,
simply and aptly titled Entertainment for People, a new series kicking
off this week with an all-star roster of stories and performances from
guests that include The Moth fixture Dan Kennedy and Porchlight
co-founder Beth Lisick. And yes, it marks an evolutionary step for Back
Fence, which will also continue in its established form, recommencing
at the Mission Theater on September 23.

“We want to produce events that shine the light on specific
communities,” explains Lion of the new venture. “Entertainment for
People spotlights writers and comedy—two groups that, we feel,
tend to preach to the choir. We want to change that. The writers at
Entertainment for People are performing, storytelling, and connecting
with the audience, instead of standing behind a podium.”

In contrast with most of the contributors at a Back Fence
event—who, while gregarious, are usually not professional public
speakers—Kennedy and Lisick are seasoned performers. In addition
to his work with The Moth and its spin-off, StorySLAM, Kennedy is well
known for comedic memoirs, most notably Rock On: An Office Power
Ballad, and Lisick for her yearlong documented self-help experiment
Helping Me Help Myself. They are to be joined by award-winning
beatboxer Fogatron and auGi, a veteran of Mortified and the creator and
star of an in-development one-man show called SexyNurd, “an
autobiographical exploration of a rock star trapped in a nurd’s
body—full of painful stories, original songs, and highly
titillating PowerPoint slides.” Rounding out the evening’s
entertainment will be the sketch comedy duo Eastland Academy, one half
of which is Masters, joined by Shelley McLendon.

Whereas the Back Fence events retain the original everyman appeal of
storytelling’s folksy roots, where civilians are only lightly peppered
with interspersed ringers, Entertainment’s forthright professionalism
is still tempered by a de-emphasis on rehearsal.

“I’ll tell the same story at The Moth twice if the places are far
enough apart. But really far apart—like Seattle and Australia is
one example,” explains Kennedy of maintaining a balance between polish
and spontaneity. “I’m a writer and I guess I’m a performer but I hate
that word… I’m not trying to act like I’m not complicit in doing this
stuff and getting some attention for doing it. At the same time, if I’m
ever rehearsing my stories over and over or trying to figure out
how I should stand at the mic to look my best when photographers are at
the gig, fucking shoot me. Just pay the 10 bucks and bring a gun.”

As for what to expect at the inaugural night, audiences might well
be in for a sneak peek at the subject matter of Lisick’s next book,
along with music by her husband Eli Crews, who as a recording and
mixing engineer has worked with Deerhoof, Why?, and Mike Watt, among
others. Kennedy, meanwhile, is undecided, mentioning both material from
his books and contributions to McSweeney’s online, as well as recent
writing assignments for GQ that have had him defying death by
way of a homemade submarine and spelunking with Indonesian
pythons—now that’s entertainment, people.