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Jedediah Aaker

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Jedediah Aaker
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Jedediah P. Aaker (born May 22, 1975)[1][2] is a musician, performer and a theatrical producer.[3] He is also the cofounder of the Portland Beardsmen.[4] He has worked as bartender for a failing club featured on the fourth season of Bar Rescue and as host of Barfly Bus Tours.[5][6][7] Alternative newspaper Willamette Week dubbed him a "beard-about-town".[8] In a 2018 feature article titled "Twilight of the Hipsters", the French edition of Rolling Stone introduced Aaker as an "actor, concert booker, chauffeur for rock stars, and distributor of the Lucky Egg vending machines that he installs in bars."[9]

Portlandia

[edit]

Portlandia first entered the global consciousness after satirical music video "Dream of the '90s" premiered online in December 2010 and thrust Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen between a motley assemblage of circus folk, exotic dancers, and idiosyncratically styled local luminaries.[10] Standing directly to the right of Armisen throughout the video while wearing only star-spangled swim briefs, black leather, and a sizable beard, Aaker stood out as the swiftly-trending clip sparked interest worldwide in the forthcoming sketch comedy series.[11] In the process, Aaker soon became widely known as, in the words of Willamette Week, "that guy in underwear and a leather jacket in the 'Dream of the '90s' clip."[12]

In addition to serving as a background actor on several episodes, Aaker has played a scavenger hunt umpire, a member of Spyke's wedding party, and a guest at Nina's birthday party.[13] Ranking the "Best and Worst" of the series' third season, Portland Monthly critic John Chandler determined the "hirsute man-about-town" tied with a veteran theater actress for "Best Performance By A Local". Although "Aaker plays himself (presumably)" in episodes four and five, Chandler wrote, "the man's beard has star quality."[14] By season four, Aaker had appeared in almost two dozen of the 37 episodes then filmed.[4]

Additionally, he served as Kumail Nanjiani's assistant on webisodes of IFC's travelogue series Kumail Tours Portland.[15] When the series finished its eighth and final season in the spring of 2018, its network IFC estimated that the collective number of Aaker's various performances ranked below only co-founders Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.[16]

"Portraitlandia"

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In 2013, during a month-long residency at Portland's Newspace Center for Photography, acclaimed San Francisco photographer Kirk Crippens sought out 45 PDX locals for a series of portraits eventually titled "Portraitlandia". Over the next year, according to Portland Monthly, the "series went viral, drawing millions of eyes to the site of its photographer."[17] Images from the Portraitlandia series would be exhibited at London's National Portrait Gallery in conjunction with the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize and toured the United States as part of the Photolucida exhibition.[18]

Although Crippens told Wired that he'd "expected his work to stand in sharp contrast to the fictions" of Portlandia, the artist found "significant overlap" – particularly so when the first episode he saw after beginning the project happened to showcase Aaker and another two planned subjects.[19] Aaker, "a man about town who owns his own lion suit," was among Crittens' favorite subjects.[17] For their shoot, Crittens said Aakers made available the roof of the nightclub where he tended bar and then asked the photographer "if I wanted him to curl up like a kitty in the ivy growing over the top of the roof. Yes, yes I did."[20]

Music

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Aaker has been involved with several NW rock bands. He spent years playing bass for the Fabulous Miss Wendy, a performer who has toured with Slash and was lauded as the "sexiest rock star ever" by Revolver.[21] He's a founding member and bassist of The Gnash, whose music he has compared to "a primer-gray broken down Camaro."[13] The group recently put out a split single on the Voodoo Doughnut Recordings label entitled "She Took My Doughnut (And Left Me the Hole)".[22]

He's currently a member of the re-united Lucky Thirteens with former Weaklings vocalist Bradly Battin.[23] Battins and Aaker previously played together in short-lived 00s group DARLINS.[24] One venue owner explained the Lucky Thirteens' sound as "fun, poppy-punk like you'd hear coming out of the jukebox ... back in 2000."[25]

For several years throughout the 2000s, Aaker served as frontman of glam metal group Diamond Tuck & The Privates – "an eight-piece band carefully culled from the lifers of the Portland rock scene."[26] Willamette Week referred to their appearance on a (local punk mainstay) Club 21 compilation as "epic … buttrock."[27]

Theater

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In 2009, Aaker and Diamond Tuck guitarist "Private" Mike Albano led the live band during performances of writer/director/producer Jeffery "Wonderful" Wilson's rock opera Chariots of Rubber during performances at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center.[28] A review from the Portland State University Vanguard, described the original score as "1980s metal with a dash of Rocky Horror Picture Show."[29]

The following year, Aaker and Wilson again joined forces as, respectively, producer and director of Hot Gun.[30] The "rock 'n' roll re-imagining of the iconic blockbuster Top Gun" was performed live on stage at PDX nightclub Dante's.[31]

In a review from Portland Monthly, their critic admired the multimedia production's deft manipulation of the original film – inserting previously shot scenes of the stage actors into aerial battles – but found the comedy's "laughs were loudest with the in-crowd. The novelty of seeing friends dressed funny, and/or comically incorporated into video footage, was the bulk of the fun."[32] Willamette Week, however, raved Hot Gun's "summer stock-'n'-roll aesthetic, artfully unchoreographed and shruggably brilliant, resembles an old movie naval pageant (coconut bras on bearded men, absent camp or shame) blessed with the underutilized talents peculiar to Portland ..."[33]

A year later, Aaker brought John Walterich's online-dating satire Brie to the stage of the Tonic Lounge for a brief run. Willamette Week critic Jonathan Frochtzwajg described the production as "a largely amateur, very tattooed cast ... scored live by rotating punk-rock acts."[34]

Film

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Aaker acted in the 2017 film Neil Stryker and the Tyrant of Time alongside TV icons Walter Koenig and David Ogden Stiers.[35] That same year, he was a central figure in the 2017 documentary Thank You for Supporting the Arts, which also features Gus Van Sant.[36] The doc explores the physical and emotional trauma suffered by author and exotic dancer Liv "Viva Las Vegas" Osthus following her fight against breast cancer and subsequent mastectomy.[37] Osthus and Aaker were in a relationship for many years.[38] As the first to discover her disease, he plays a significant role in the film's coverage of her struggles.[39]

Hosting

[edit]

As a judge for the 2011 West Coast Beard and Mustache Championships, Aaker appeared in a 2011 episode of the Whisker Wars cable reality series. "You're not judging on what's the biggest or the longest but ... the grandest," he told the Oregonian. "It just has the magic glow ..."[4] He's also regularly called upon to help select the winners of various events around the Portland area such as the Bacon Cup, the Iron Bartender competition, the horror short GuignolFest, and Portland's inaugural Pudding Wrestling Massacre.[40][41][42][43] In a Vice article that takes its title ("Every Vagina Is A Snowflake") from a quote given by Aaker, the magazine noted that the "returning judge" brought his own props overseeing the beauty pageant for exotic dancers' nether regions.[44]

Bearding

[edit]

Aaker has been cultivating his beard for more than ten years.[9] He's become a notable figure in competitive bearding events, winning several freestyle awards, and can be seen in the first season of IFC series Whisker Wars.[45]

At the 2014 World Beard and Moustache Championships held inside Portland's Keller Auditorium, which hosted 300 contestants from ten countries, Aaker emerged as a fan favorite.[46] The Oregonian reported that he "somehow got extra time, walking onstage in short shorts and a white fur coat, his red beard shaped into a flying V guitar, gyrating his belly to the roar of the crowd. He walked away with sixth place, but he stole the audience's heart."[47]

In 2012, Aaker helped found the Portland Beardsmen – a band of facial-hair enthusiasts who compete for prizes awarded on the merits of beard size, grooming, style, creativity, and other characteristics.[48] The nonprofit group raises funds for transportation to far-flung tournaments, and they also organize charitable efforts such as beard-wielded car washes.[49] For their annual Beards N Roses drive each Mother's Day, hirsute members don brightly colored tights and tutus for delivering bouquets to Portland-area moms. Aaker helped originate the program six years ago to benefit the Uprise Books Project.[50]

Portland Beardsmen

[edit]

On the evening of August 28, 2012, Aaker was among 13 bearded men detained at gunpoint by officers from the Portland police on the Burnside Bridge during what the Oregonian termed "a military-themed photo shoot for breast cancer awareness."[51] After an unnamed observer's 911 call alerted authorities about suspicious characters wearing camouflaged body armor, both sides of the bridge were closed for nearly an hour as the police investigated the situation. Two men were taken into custody for disorderly conduct and carrying an (unloaded) AR-15 assault rifle through a public space.

According to KPTV News, the group was organized by Aaker to aid a national fundraising campaign entitled "Beards for Breast Cancer" that was assembling a calendar featuring pictures of boarding groups from around the country.[52] Since the Portland contingent was designated to appear alongside July, Aaker thought the resulting photo should feel especially patriotic, which led several of the beardsmen to don militaristic garb.[53] (KATU News reported that Aaker himself had on an NSYNC T-shirt.) "We are the good guys," Aaker told the station, "just a bunch of dudes walking across the bridge wearing camo getting rad."[54]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23DC-WMG[user-generated source]
  2. ^ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJPH-DMYK[user-generated source]
  3. ^ "15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Portlandia". IFC. December 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Jamie, Hale (23 October 2014). "Portland beardsman Jedediah Aaker prepares for the World Beard and Moustache Championships". The Oregonian. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Panic Room on Bar Rescue: "They were setting us up to fail."". Willamette Week. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  6. ^ "BarFly Bus Tours of Portland Oregon". BarFly Bus Tours of Portland Oregon.
  7. ^ "Bar Rescue - Ants With Wings, Bro! - Paramount Network". Paramount Network. 27 July 2015.
  8. ^ Brown, Ruth (20 March 2012). "Headout: Puddin' Slam Ladies rassle in white goop: "It's empowering."". Willamette Week. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  9. ^ a b Saferis, Camille (April 2018). "Le Crepuscule des Hipsters". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  10. ^ Wappler, Margaret (6 January 2011). "'Portlandia': Where the dream of the '90s lives on..." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  11. ^ Scott, Aaron (24 January 2018). "Portlanders Bid Mixed Goodbyes To 'Portlandia'". OPB. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Willamette Geek: The Week in Geek". Willamette Week. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  13. ^ a b Locker, Melissa. "The Citizens of Portlandia: Jedediah Aaker". IFC. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  14. ^ Chandler, John (31 January 2013). "Portlandia Season 3: The Best and Worst So Far". Portland Monthly. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  15. ^ "Kumail Nanjiani visits Portlandia's tiniest house".
  16. ^ Hutchinson, Sean (29 December 2014). "15 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Portlandia". Mental Floss. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  17. ^ a b Scott, Aaron (17 January 2014). "Portraitlandia Asks Us: What Do We Look Like (NSFW)". Portland Monthly. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  18. ^ Rosenberg, David (14 November 2013). "Up-Close and Quirky Photos With the Glorious Residents of Portland". Slate. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  19. ^ Brook, Pete (10 July 2013). "Portraitlandia Confirms and Refutes Everything You Think About Portland". Wired. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  20. ^ Jones, Gregory Eddi (29 October 2013). "Interview with Kirk Crippens, the Artist Behind 'Portraitlandia'". PetaPixel. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  21. ^ Cavuto, Robert (17 September 2017). "The Fabulous Miss Wendy – No One Can Stop Me!". Guitar International. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  22. ^ "Scuzz Rock Split • Voodoo Doughnut Recordings".
  23. ^ "The Lucky Thirteens". Discogs.
  24. ^ "♫ A Last Time For Everything - Darlins. Listen @cdbaby".
  25. ^ "Labor Temple Bar Resurrects Portland Punk Scene". Coast Weekend. 30 May 2018. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  26. ^ Vegas, Viva Las (June 2004). "Stripper Sluts Hit The Road With Portland's Two Hottest Rock Bands: Diamond Tuck & The Privates and Starantula". Exotic Magazine. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  27. ^ Soule, Sam (15 November 2006). "VARIOUS ARTISTS Club 21, Fuck Yeah! (Self-Released)". Willamette Week. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  28. ^ "Chariots of Rubber". Portland Mercury. Archived from the original on 2018-08-17. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  29. ^ Kinney, Anita (29 October 2009). "The Passion of the Metal Areola Snatchers". PSU Vanguard. Retrieved 16 August 2018.[permanent dead link]
  30. ^ Williams, Lee (1 July 2010). "Original Performances on Unique Stages Reinvent Portland Theater". The Oregonian. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  31. ^ Hallet, Allison (9 April 2010). "Top Gun: The Musical". The Portland Mercury. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  32. ^ Adams, Anne (31 May 2010). "Between Theater and Bar". Portland Monthly. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  33. ^ Horton, Jay (8 June 2010). "Hot Gun (Wonderdiamond Productions) The Iceman Cometh". Willamette Week. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  34. ^ Frochtzwajg, Jonathan (7 December 2011). "Brie". Willamette Week. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  35. ^ "Neil Stryker and the Tyrant of Time". 11 April 2017 – via www.imdb.com.
  36. ^ "Thank You for Supporting the Arts". 19 October 2021 – via www.imdb.com.
  37. ^ Perry, Douglas (30 April 2017). "Documentary about iconic Portland stripper Viva Las Vegas screens for local audiences". The Oregonian. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  38. ^ Osthus, Liv (23 April 2006). "A Reality Show for Couples Therapy? Sign Us Up". New York Times. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  39. ^ Lion, Melissa (21 August 2009). "The Stripper Who Lost a Breast". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  40. ^ "July 16: Bacon Cup @ Ash St Saloon - Bacon Wrestling, Strippers, Music, Recipes". 15 July 2011. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  41. ^ "Iron Bartender 2010, Portland, OR". Yelp.
  42. ^ Vondersmith, Jason. "Bits & Pieces". Archived from the original on 2018-08-17. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  43. ^ "Headout: Puddin' Slam". 21 March 2012.
  44. ^ Shepard, Susan Elizabeth (5 August 2015). "Every Vagina Is a Snowflake: A Dispatch from Portland's Vagina Beauty Pageant". Vice. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  45. ^ Rob, Owen (31 July 2011). "IFC's 'Whisker Wars' Focuses on Competitive Beard Growing? Yes, It's an Oregon Thing, Too". The Oregonian. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  46. ^ Hale, Jamie (23 October 2014). "Hairy Controversy Surrounds World Beard and Moustache Championships, Coming to Portland This Weekend". The Oregonian. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  47. ^ Hale, Jamie (25 October 2014). "World Beard and Moustache Championships Draws Huge Crowd to Portland, Spirals Into Chaos Onstage". The Oregonian. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  48. ^ "Home". The Portland Beardsmen.
  49. ^ Staff, FOX 12 (25 October 2014). "Portland Beardsmen Surprise Moms with Flower Deliveries". KPTV. Archived from the original on 18 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  50. ^ Hale, Jamie (9 May 2015). "Portland Beardsmen Don Tutus, Deliver Mother's Day Flowers Around the City". The Oregonian. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  51. ^ Bailey Jr., Everton (30 August 2012). "Rifle, body armor on Burnside Bridge lead to arrests during 'Beards for Breasts' photo shoot". The Oregonian. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  52. ^ Webstaff, FOX 12 (30 August 2012). "Burnside Bridge scare suspects: 'We are the good guys'". KPTV. Retrieved 17 August 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  53. ^ KING Staff (30 August 2012). "Bearded men on bridge cause alarm, but it's all for charity". KING-TV. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  54. ^ Kalkstein, Meghan (28 August 2012). "'Just a bunch of dudes walking across the bridge wearing camo'". KVAL. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
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