CAP ART Auction: Absolutely One of the Best EVER!
Tim Hershey, Michael Kaplan, Mayor Sam Adams, Lucille McAleese, Barclay Hedinger, Jennifer Yocom, Michael Phillips, Stephen Cassell and Storm Large
ARTY PARTY: It was a busy and very memorable weekend. In between the pageantry of a royal wedding and the stunning news that Bin Laden is dead, there is one more moment from the last three days that I will likely recall for years to come.
It was Saturday night, at around 7:30 pm. That's when I walked into the seating area and onto the floor of the Memorial Coliseum which, for the night, had been transformed into an extra-large banquet hall. But not just any banquet hall. With just a bit of foam-core, some well-placed lighting and a well-placed black-tux-wearing orchestra hovering on the west end of the Coliseum floor I had the same reaction to the space that Princess Catherine when she stepped out onto to the balcony of Buckingham Palace: "oh, wow."
And that "oh wow" event was the 22nd Annual Cascade AIDS Project Art Auction.
And really wow, is the only way to describe the night. First off, having it in the Memorial Coliseum was genius. The sports venue-friendly space was enormous, allowing room for the various artworks spread throughout the concourse to "breath" and be enjoyed by all who attended. And the attendees who took part in the dinner and live auction portion on the Coliseum floor had room to breath too. And speak—loudly. In fact, for a room not known for its acoustics the volume both on and off the stage seemed to hit the right mix.
The absolutely right mix seemed to happen during the bidding for the live auction artworks too. A Dale Chihuly painting created a frenzied bidding war and was ultimately purchased by a very young looking man named Michael Phillips for $11,000. That stunner was followed perfectly by performances by the Portland Gay Men's Chorus as well as the always incredible Storm Large and Thomas Lauderdale (who were joined onstage by Stephen Marc Beaudoin for their now infamous rendition of "Happy Days Are Here Again").
Producing sponsor Howard Hedinger was so taken by Ms. Large he even purchased a piece during the live auction by Kevin Kadar of a Portuguese landscape and turned around and gave it to Storm.
"It's funny," Storm told me later. "I'm learning Portuguese so I can perform [in that language] when I join Pink Martini in Brazil." That night I learned that Lauderdale and Large will not only perform in South America soon, but Large will also join Pink Martini at this year's Sasquatch Music Festival.
Yes, it was quite a weekend.
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Thanks Byron for the glowing review--the comittee members had a great time putting this together. It is always fun to see the "birth" of your baby turn out so beautiful!
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Last Updated (Monday, 02 May 2011 12:08)
