OCTOBER 2011 ISSUE 96 • FREE
The Voice of Alberta’s LGBT Community
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Frankmusik Mixes It Up!
Ronnie Burkett
Penny Plain marks 25 Years
The Gospel According to
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Reaches out to the Gays STARTING ON PAGE 17
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Table of Contents
OCTOBER 2011
Photography
Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino
Videography
Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino
Printers
Transcontinental Printing
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Calgary: Gallant Distribution, GayCalgary Staff Edmonton: Clark’s Distribution Other: Canada Post
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Office Hours: By appointment ONLY Phone: 403-543-6960 Toll Free: 1-888-543-6960 Fax: 403-703-0685 E-Mail: magazine@gaycalgary.com This Month's Cover Frankmusik, photo by: Jam Sutton. Ronnie Burkett, photo by: Sean Dennie. Kristin Chenoweth, photo by: Jeremy Cowart. Gloria Estefan, photo by: Jesus Cordero.
Proud Members of:
Edmonton Rainbow Business Association
Publisher’s Column
8 Small Film, Big Heart Why Weekend isn’t just another gay movie
10 Penny Plain
25th Year Marked with Apocalyptic Puppet Show
PAGE 8
Chris Azzopardi, Dallas Barnes, Dave Brousseau, Jason Clevett, Andrew Collins, Rob Diaz-Marino, Janine Eva Trotta, Jack Fertig, Glen Hanson, Joan Hilty, Evan Kayne, Stephen Lock, Allan Neuwirth, Steve Polyak, Carey Rutherford, Romeo San Vicente, Ed Sikov and the LGBT Community of Calgary, Edmonton, and Alberta.
GayCalgary™’s Pride and Joy
12 Bear Yoga 14 Resumé Padding with a Gay Reality Show 17 Directory and Events 23 Holding Bullies to Account
24 Flogging Molly 26 This Year’s Exposure Festival
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Writers and Contributors
5
‘Raucous’ and Affordable Fun
27 ‘Footloose’: So Much Gayer Than You Thought
Director and star on updating a classic, its subliminal gayness and the making of a new heartthrob
30 Deep Inside Hollywood
PAGE 14
Publisher: Steve Polyak Editor: Rob Diaz-Marino Sales: Steve Polyak Design & Layout: Rob Diaz-Marino, Steve Polyak
31 Cocktail Chatter
Irene – a Category 5 Cocktail
32 The Gospel According to Kristin Chenoweth Singer talks country music, queers and Christians
34 The Return of Movember 35 Cazwell Comes to Calgary
National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association
NYC Bad Boy DJ Plays Saturday at Club Sapien
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International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Table of Contents Continued From Previous Page
36 Out of Town
Michigan Vacation: Saugatuck, Ann Arbor & Detroit Magazine Figures
38 Fundraising Photos
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9,000–11,000 copies Guaranteed Circulation: 8,500 copies Bonus Circulation: 500–2,500 copies
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43 A Couple of Guys 44 Bitter Girl
Readership
46 Gloria Reaches Out to the Gays
The Queen of Latin Pop talks conservative upbringing, gay marriage and controversial Target deal
Calgary: 160, Edmonton: 120 Other Alberta Cities: 15 Other Provinces: 35 United States: 15
PAGE 46
Suicide, Grief, and Unicorns
49 Frankmusik Mixes It Up
Pop music-maker on ‘restricted’ straight guys, teaming with Erasure and getting naked for the gays
52 Chelsea Boys 53 Queer Eye 60 Classified Ads
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Editorial
GayCalgary™’s Pride and Joy Publisher’s Column
By Rob Diaz-Marino, MSc. September was a reasonably quiet month, aside from the spikes of community activity that were Calgary Pride and the AIDS Walks across Alberta. Calgary Pride took place on the September long weekend, right at the beginning of the month. This year’s focus was inclusion of the T in LGBT. Along that vein, attendees of the Pride Dance on Friday were treated to an awesome performance by The Clicks – talented headman Lucas Silveira is a trans man. I was certainly excited. I’m definitely a fan of their music, as was apparent from the glowing music review I wrote on their first album Snakehouse several years ago. It has been a while since I’ve listened to it, but the tunes and lyrics came back to me quite readily. I was definitely proud to see how far the group has come, and excited to witness them live for the first time. The dance was well attended, with 350 tickets sold, according to organizers. It certainly wasn’t a male-dominated event, but that’s okay because the boys got their chance to party the next night at the much anticipated Pure PRIDE dance. The obvious pun was that Flames Central became FlamERS Central for the night. A predominantly male crowd packed the dance floor and surrounding area solid. Those who waited till that day to buy their tickets were simply out of luck – organizers estimate they had to turn away over 700 hopeful people at the door to favour actual ticket holders. There were some fantastic onstage performances, awesome lights and visuals, and hundreds of sweaty shirtless men! I’m not much of a dancer
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these days, but I definitely felt the pull...I might have gotten into the fray if it weren’t for my photo duties. On the other hand, I was glad to not be hurting so much the next morning. The Street Festival was held at Shaw Millennium Park, rather than Olympic Plaza where it has been for the past several years. While there was some resistance to the change during early discussions (as there always is), it was difficult to argue that it wasn’t a good move after seeing the outcome. The only bearing that this change of venue had on the Parade was that it went the opposite direction along 8th Avenue. We were treated to another healthy length parade with a great variety of colourful floats and walkers – in fact, organizers estimate the parade was 50% longer than the previous year. While the Calgary Flames didn’t march as many of us had been told, their street team showed face with a vehicle in the Parade. Mayor Nenshi didn’t disappoint as parade marshal, and had supportive and encouraging words for us all when he made his speech at the Street Festival. The weather that Sunday morning was gorgeous, and Shaw Millennium Park provided a huge open area for people to frolic in front of the stage, or sit and rest on the green grass. The vendor tents skirted the south and west edges of the park, and we certainly gave out a schwack of magazines at our booth. Of all the booths that we operate to promote the magazine at different events throughout the year, I seem to enjoy Pride’s the most – everyone is in such a happy mood and it’s easy to get into friendly conversations even with complete strangers. By the end of the day my face hurt from smiling so much, but that only made me want to
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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smile more. Organizers estimate anywhere between 13,000 and 20,000 people came out to celebrate that day. The new Beer Garden area at the park was a real hit. It consisted of a circular courtyard area with a spiral ramp along its back edge that made for a great viewpoint out over the park and toward the stage. Organizers were able to get this area licensed for double the number of people from last year’s beer garden, but that still wasn’t enough as there was a substantial line up to get in. It was quite a lively party out in the sun, and as if they hadn’t gotten enough from the night before, more shirtless guys! While there’s always room for improvement, the board and volunteers of Pride Calgary Planning Committee really deserve kudos for their efforts this year, and things look even brighter for the future. For all of us at GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine, as a sponsor of Pride through thick and thin, it was very gratifying (if not a little emotional) for us to see how far they have come.
The AIDS Walks As I’m sure we all know, AIDS Calgary and HIV Edmonton hold annual AIDS Walks in their respective cities. I spent a sunny Sunday morning the weekend of the 18th on my own in Edmonton to cover theirs. While the walkers were away, I had a chance to relax and poke around the vendor tents at Sir Winston Churchill Square, and even take some artistic photos around City Hall. After about an hour the walkers returned and gathered on the stone steps for a very wide group shot. Us guys with cameras had to retreat nearly to the other side of the square to fit everyone in. The total was announced on stage: $116,222, a new record for the organization. The Saturday morning of the following weekend, Steve and I made our way up to Red Deer to check out their AIDS Walk. It was our first time attending it, in fact, our first time sponsoring it too. As things were getting set up before the walk, Steve asked one of the organizers, “So do you have about a hundred people that show up?” She laughed. It’s a lot smaller than what we know from Calgary or Edmonton, plus it seemed there was so much other stuff happening that day. We practically had to plough through a busy farmer’s market to get to the park where the AIDS Walk was held. But in the end it was a beautiful day, a chance to meet people face to face and show our support. The day after, Steve and I had a booth at Calgary’s AIDS Walk where we spent another sunny Sunday morning taking photos, enjoying performances, and cheering on walkers. Another excellent event, raising a grand total of $171,834!
Some Calgary Culture For how busy we are, Steve and I rarely get the opportunity to see the latest productions by the many theatre groups in Calgary that we deal with. Last month however, we were invited to Media night for Theatre Calgary’s production of Tosca Café. While the production has already wrapped up as of October 2nd, I still want to say what a great job and beautiful story Theatre Calgary brought to the stage. Prior to the show, Theatre Calgary was excited to announce that they had already exceeded their expectations for season ticket sales. Our theatre-going readers should definitely check out what’s to come this season, if you haven’t already. GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine was proud to sponsor the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) again this year. We were in attendance for the opening gala movie, and the two LGBT theme movies that we sponsored. An Ordinary Family was a sweet, honest and heartwarming film. Cloudbursts was a raucous good time, with Olympia Dukakis doing an amazing job of playing an abrasive but lovable lesbian with great lines like, “If that dress were any shorter, you’d need another hair net!” If you missed them, I highly recommend you keep an eye out.
Online Last Month (1/2) Calgary Dyke March - Video Footage Video footage from the Calgary Dyke March on Saturday, September 3rd, 2011. www.gaycalgary.com/a2458
Calgary Pride Parade - Video Footage
Video footage from the Calgary Pride Parade on Sunday, September 4th, 2011. www.gaycalgary.com/a2459
Carlos Santana King of Solos
Santana is at an odd point in his career. Although the August 29th concert at the Saddledome was far from full, at about 7,000 people, he still draws... www.gaycalgary.com/a2373
No-Frills Godsmack A Great Rock Concert
“Check this out. No video, no pyro, just us, you, and some good old fashioned fucking rock n’ roll baby!” Those were the words of... www.gaycalgary.com/a2461
Josh Groban Lays On The Charm
Oh Josh Groban. You are so lovely. The 30 year old pop-opera singer has become loved for two reasons - his incredible voice, and his sense... www.gaycalgary.com/a2462
Calgary’s Mayor Nenshi shows his Pride
Calgary’s mayor Naheed Nenshi made history as the first of the city’s mayors to marshal the Pride Parade this past September 4th... www.gaycalgary.com/a2464
Blind Date Sends In The Clones
Show has Calgary warm up before tour I have a confession to make. I am addicted to the show Blind Date. No, not the TV show with the corny thought bubbles, but the... www.gaycalgary.com/a2465
Ke$ha Brings Glitter And Sleaze To The Dome
Pride has nothing on Ke$ha. Just days after glitter decorated the streets of Calgary during it’s Pride festivities, Ke$ha brought her... www.gaycalgary.com/a2463
Book Marks
The Two Krishnas The Two Krishnas, by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla. Magnus Books, 348 pages, $14.95 paper. A closeted husband, an unsuspecting wife... www.gaycalgary.com/a2473
Creep of the Week: Sally Kern
Haters gon’ hate, am I right? And according to Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern, the most hateful thing you can say to a gay person is that... www.gaycalgary.com/a2474
Hear Me Out
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Barbra Streisand, Joss Stone What Matters Most Five decades into her career and Barbra Streisand still doesn’t need much else to sell a song than her voice... www.gaycalgary.com/a2479
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Online Last Month (2/2) The OutField
Austin Snyder’s long run There are three keys to documentary filmmaking: a good subject, a good story line and good luck. Scott Bloom found all three. His goal... www.gaycalgary.com/a2482
The 12th Annual Calgary International Film Fest Makes a Multi Red Carpet Launch
This past Wednesday, fondue, gherkins, and Wurst champagne delivered by towering, square-coiffed babes, marked the launch of this year’s... www.gaycalgary.com/a2490
Creep of the Week: Rick Santorum
I have to admit, Rick Santorum has good reason not to like gay people. I mean, with the help of Dan Savage, one of the leaders of the Homosexual Cabal... www.gaycalgary.com/a2477
Deep Inside Hollywood
Darren Criss succeeds in Business and with Bridesmaids It’s good to be Darren Criss right now. Gleeks already know the news that the New Directions collective fantasy of starring in a Broadway show will... www.gaycalgary.com/a2478
Out of Town
New Orleans New Orleans has long ranked among the top destinations in the United States for gay travelers - it’s been the case for decades, and even following... www.gaycalgary.com/a2481
Hear Me Out
David Guetta, Natalia Kills David Guetta, Nothing But the Beat David Guetta has a way of bringing out the best in his collaborators, as he did with Kelly Rowland’s “When... www.gaycalgary.com/a2480
10 Tips for Cheap (But Fun!) Travel This past week, my boyfriend and I wanted to embark on a fun, easy and cheap getaway. Since I live in Rhode Island, we were sold on the idea of a short... www.gaycalgary.com/a2483
True Love Lies a fantastic kick off to ATP Season
In 1989, a production of Brad Fraser’s Unidentified Human Remains And The True Nature of Love ran at Alberta Theatre Projects. 22 years later the acclaimed... www.gaycalgary.com/a2505
Cazwell Comes to Calgary
If I was a gay boy my new love would be Cazwell, AKA the best thing to happen to the NYC party scene in the last five years. Luckily for all... www.gaycalgary.com/a2506
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Interview
Photos by IFC Films
Small Film, Big Heart
Why Weekend isn’t just another gay movie By Chris Azzopardi Gay films once overlooked how much we’re actually like everybody else. We live, we hurt, we love. And we don’t all know people who look ready-made for the runway. But director Andrew Haigh’s Weekend is the latest in a flood of queer cinema that know we’re just as capable of loving, hurting and screwing up as any character in a mainstream movie. It’s refreshingly outside-the-box with real-people characters who don’t live in some fabricated world where they only speak in dick jokes and only six-packs and a spray tan get you some. “I didn’t think too much about the other gay films out there,” says Haigh, whose only other movie credit is 2009’s Greek Pete. “I suppose in my head I made the film not thinking it was going to be seen alongside all the other gay films in the world. All I wanted to do was make a good film on its own merit and not fall into the clichés of a lot of gay films.” Oh, so it was made in opposition to them? “Yeah, maybe only in retrospect,” admits the British director, who carefully picked the film’s setting (the story is set in Nottingham instead of the what-might-be-more-typical London) and leads, relatively unknowns Chris New and Tom Cullen. Far from twinky, New and Cullen, as Glen and Russell respectively, engage with each other – sexually, intellectually and emotionally – over a brief period of 48 hours, after meeting at a bar on a Friday night. That’s it. The whole plot. And it’s a romantic slice-of-life that will stay with you longer than a weekend. How we affect each other, even in brief encounters, is at the core of Haigh’s realistically powerful rumination on human connection. In fact, Glen and Russell’s bond is so evident it’d make Jack and Ennis envious. “It’s about two people muddling through things and just not quite sure what to do and how to be,” Haigh says. “I suppose it’s just about the confusion of things. “There are a lot of people who don’t quite understand gay people and gay relationships, but we are all struggling with some of the same issues, as well – whether you’re gay, straight, bisexual or whatever.” The stubborn and fearlessly bold Glen (New) is experiencing post-relationship damage that leaves him set in his anti8
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boyfriend ways; Russell (Cullen), the sweet and semi-closeted one, isn’t nearly as freewheeling as Glen, even finding it awkward to recount their first drunken sex shenanigans. Really, the only thing about them that’s the same is their scruff. But for all their differences, both are two of the most relatable characters in gay film. “I’m probably somewhere in between the two of them,” Haigh attests. “When I’m angry, I’m more like Glen; when I’m not, I’m more like Russell. I’m certainly not as dogmatical as Glen.” Says New: “There are a lot of people who are quite similar to (Glen) who have had some sort of difficulties. I mean, it’s a hard thing to say now, because there are so many different ways for people to grow up being gay. It’s not just you’re in the closet and suddenly you come out of the closet and everybody hates it.” In the last few years, after 2005’s Brokeback Mountain set the gay-movies-don’t-have-to-suck standard in motion, filmmakers have tapped into a treasure trove of tales involving LGBT people that haven’t been done to death – many released to critical kudos. Last year’s The Kids Are All Right, awarded a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), looked at family dynamics when the children of a lesbian couple want to reach out to their sperm donor dad. Harvey Milk’s legacy was at the center of Gus Van Sant’s 2008 Oscar winner Milk. The next year, style icon Tom Ford made his directorial debut – an artistic masterpiece according to many critics – with A Single Man, starring Colin Firth as a gay man contemplating suicide after his partner’s sudden death. Now, Weekend joins the ranks of admired gay cinema. After being screened at the SXSW Film Festival, the indie walked away as the Audience Award Winner. “To be honest, it’s crazy,” Haigh says, flustered even just acknowledging it. “I don’t even like to think about that because it’s almost too odd for me. We made the film for not much money, and you don’t know if it’s going to resonate for anybody. I thought it’d be just my mom who’d see it!” New couldn’t be happier over all the positive buzz, which isn’t just building in the gay community – or among moms. “One of the best things about it is that it hasn’t been a totally gay audience,” says the British actor. “We never even dreamed that people would go see it, but to have a proper release and to have such good word of mouth is really surprising – and across all ages, all sexes, all sexualities. “Andrew told the story so well that all or any impediment just sort of falls away, because the story’s so strong. I mean, you don’t go, ‘Only beasts and pretty French girls would go see Beauty and the Beast.” It was Haigh’s intention all along. “I always wanted it to be a film that wasn’t just for a gay audience,” he says, “and www.gaycalgary.com
that’s important to me, because even though it’s about two gay people – I never wanted to pretend it wasn’t and not water it down to a straight audience – I still wanted it to be acceptable to a wider group of people.” So don’t worry: There’s sex, and the guys get naked like there’s not a camera in sight. Thankfully there was, though – because both gents can’t only act, but they look good doing it. New wasn’t sure about all the nudity at first, though Haigh assured him it wouldn’t be unwarranted nakedness. The actor laughs. “But it was to me because, you know, it’s me! But no, I think the balance is right – both in the way emotions are shared and all the other ways in the film. It never goes too far.” We do, however, see Russell’s post-climax stuff all over his tummy. It’s not what you think, though. The trick? Handsoap. “That’s it,” Haigh says. “We did lot of tests to find what looked the most appropriate. Soap was always the one we used, but getting the right color soap (was the issue) – because sometimes it looks a bit too white, sometimes it’s a bit too yellow. It’s gotta be a little bit off-white.” “We shouldn’t tell people these tricks!” New says. Orgasm fakers, though, might find it handy. “Right!” he says. “Just grab soap and throw it on your partner: ‘See, loads!’” Soapy sex or not, it was still awkward when it came to, well, shooting those scenes – even though they weren’t the hardest. “Tom is straight, but he had no problem at all with those scenes,” Haigh says. “They were in the script. Everyone knew they were going to happen. And they were just as difficult for Chris as they were for Tom. And they were fine. They were more nervous about the big dialogue scenes than they were doing sex scenes.” Those conversational scenes were worked out at the apartment the two of them shared, where Cullen and New stayed for the month-long shoot. (“Longer than a weekend,” Haigh quips.) The film was unusually shot in sequence, allowing for spontaneity and, in Haigh’s case, sanity. “It’s just the way my brain works,” he says. “I find it quite stressful shooting completely out of order.” It also helped the actors live out the experience of the relationship as if it were actually happening, though New admits how bizarre it is to go between make-believe and real life. “It’s very strange, actually, because you kind of feel as if you’ve got a very strong connection but know at the same time you don’t; it’s only pretent,” New says. “It’s a very strange thing that your mind does to you.” But it was worth some insanity – and not just because New was all about the script. He and Haigh also clicked immediately. “What really got me into the film was when I met Andrew,” he recalls. “We just got deep very, very quickly.” The film does as well, with intense chats – and sometimes heated arguments – on same-sex marriage and being openly gay. One particularly touching scene involves Glen role-playing Russell’s dad, as if they were reenacting a coming-out. “The gay struggle, if you want to call it that, changes as new issues arise,” Haigh says, “and I think it’s good to discuss those issues on the screen. I’m sure a lot of people have those same kind of discussions in their own lives.
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“I wanted these characters to feel very real. They’re spending this short amount of time together, and I think they would discuss all of these things that go on in their heads as a way to get to know each other and define themselves to each other.” To critics who say there’s too much chitchat, who say show don’t tell, Haigh adds: “I’ve never really kind of understood that, because in real life people talk a lot. So it seems good to me to put that on screen
sometimes. Because people do talk.” They do, and many of them are talking about the sexuality of one of the actors, Cullen, who’s actually straight. Heterosexuals flip-flopping is nothing new in film (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal did it in “Brokeback Mountain”), but Haigh’s already getting hell for it. “We didn’t really want to say to anyone who was gay in real life and who was not, but obviously the question comes up so many times that in the end you just have to be honest,” he says, “and it usually pisses off someone. Some people are like, ‘Why didn’t you use two gay characters?’ You just go with the best people.” Similarly, he’s getting flack for the way Glen and Russell meet (at a bar), engage (in a bathroom) and then end up (in bed). The film addresses the difficulties of meeting other gay people, and so does Haigh, who defends their encounter: “That’s how I did it, and I think when you’re gay you don’t have so many opportunities to meet people. You kind have to go to bars to meet people” – or fire up Grindr, as the film notes – “so it’s an inevitable part of gay life for a lot of people.” But Cullen and New’s onscreen connection is so powerfully magnetic, breaking through all sexuality barriers, that Weekend doesn’t just feel restricted to gay life. Just life in general. “It’s a part of human interaction,” says New, who recently married his partner. “We meet people and some people have very strong effects on us and some don’t, but those strong effects are the ones we remember.” Even if just for a Weekend.
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Penny Plain 25th Year Marked with Apocalyptic Puppet Show
Photos courtesy of ATP
By Jason Clevett “Who’d think? It is kind of stunning honestly. When I started on that ATP stage 25 years ago I don’t think they or I thought that this would hit. There wasn’t really an audience or circuit for that sort of thing. The fact that people kept coming back is why we have a 25th anniversary, it could have been a very clever one or five year experiment otherwise. What is even scarier is I realized I started doing shows for cash around Alberta when I was 14 so it is 40 years of being a working puppeteer and 25 for the Theatre of Marionettes. That kind of depressed me.” Ronnie Burkett is on the phone from Edmonton, on an off day from his new show Penny Plain playing at the Citadel Theatre. The show, receiving rave reviews, was created to mark 25 years of his Theatre of Marionettes. The company has spawned shows like Tinka’s New Dress, Streets of Blood, Happy and Ten Days On Earth, as well as multiple awards and accolades. Much like a parent, Burkett is challenged to pick a favorite in the 25 years. “I think each one was what came out of me at the time. I have never been that guy who had a marketing mind where I would build up the strength of something that really worked. If I was more clever or Cirque du Ronnie I would have done Tinka Returns, Son of Tinka, that sort of thing what hit really well and worked. Each show is specific and a reaction to what I was thinking at the time. I don’t know if I could do a show like Street of Blood now because it was so of its time, talking about the blood crisis in Canada and the rise of the then reform party. It seemed to have a place in time as the others did. I think Tinka was the one where things kind of changed and there was more of a direction of what I did and what I could do.”
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
Those who have been longtime fans of Burkett saw a major change in style in his last show Billy Twinkle: Reqium for a Golden Boy. Penny Plain returns to the style he became known for. “Billy is very specific in my mind in it being different, there was a lot more me down there and it was brighter, fresher, a more in-your-face performance. Near the end of Billy Twinkle I wasn’t disliking the show but I realized that it had perhaps been a little sideways step to try something different. Ultimately I wanted to get back to what I think I do best, and Penny Plain is that on a bunch of levels. At first glance, the puppets for Billy looked like puppets with big heads and moving eyes, I wanted to get back to the naturalistic proportions and delicacy that I started doing with Tinka and Street of Blood. Penny Plain is back to that design of marionette that I feel happiest with. I was so present all the time in Billy I wanted to get out of the way and do a show where the puppets got all the focus. This is a bridge show where I am up above and the bridge is the highest I have ever done so the strings are stupidly long, so I can step out of their realm a bit more. This show is a weird, funny look at darkness which is what I tend to do. It is the last three days of mankind but there are huge laughs in this show. So I guess you could say, I’m baaaaack.” Twinkle ran at Alberta Theatre Projects in the spring of 2010, creating a show that was a lot of work, but worth it, Burkett said. “Billy closed last fall in Toronto on Halloween. So it was less than a year to opening Penny Plain. I had started preliminary work on this show last summer, all the design work and www.gaycalgary.com
principal sculpture was done. Then I had to put it down and do Billy because it was such an exhausting show to do every night and a long, hugely successful run. The minute Billy stopped, I had to take off the hat I had been wearing for a couple of years, performing guy, and go back into getting up at 5:30 and being workshop guy. It was a pretty abrupt dive back into building all these puppets. This is a big show, it has 35 puppets in it which is more than Billy had.” Burkett has mastered the ability to make puppets do unbelievable things, a trend continuing with Penny Plain. He admits sometimes what he conceptualizes just won’t work but when it does, it is magical. “One of the first images I had was of an old man walking across the stage with a suitcase, putting it down, taking a marionette out of it, doing a little show, and picking up the suitcase. I had it in my brain for years until we were actually building the show and I thought, that’s stupid, we can’t do that!” The rest of it was pretty straightforward. I had done so much work on this script and so many readings across the country, so I had a real handle on the story and the script and a straight ahead view of what we were building in the studio. I worked so much on the script all year that when we were building we all knew what that character and costume we had to do. There was a lot of collaboration and discussion about everything we were building and I really, really liked that.” Also important in creating the show was the workshop process, which saw Burkett do a read through of the script in Calgary in March. It helps streamline the process to the actual show. “What it is now is a leaner version of what you heard, after we spent a week just editing and doing timing of scenes. When we started rehearsals in Edmonton I thought it was the finished script, but I made edits every day. It is a leaner version, there is not a lot of fluff in this one. I was reminded that the first preview for Street of Blood in Winnipeg went two hours and forty-five minutes. That made my jaw drop. Penny Plain comes in at one hour and thirty-nine minutes. So I have learned how to shave off that time and still tell a good story. “ If you have tickets, give yourself plenty of time to make it to the theatre, the shows have a no late or re-entry policy.
“What I am doing is trying to get your focus down into this little world. The first five minutes of the show is the audience going who is up there, what has he got in his hand, how does that walk. There is always that opening few minutes of getting used to the form. Hopefully if the storytelling is good enough after everybody has digested the mechanics of what is going on they go into the story. If there is a disruption, or even an intermission to sell twizzlers and wine in the lobby then we all have to go back to square one and everything is broken. That is primarily the reason. It isn’t my arrogance, it is out of courtesy to the other 299 patrons who actually thought to pee before, or had the decency to just pee into their pants and sit there and be wet.” In writing a preview or review of a show like Penny Plain the challenge becomes not giving anything away. There are many twists and surprises and creative moments that are remarkable and shouldn’t be spoiled. So it is best left to the man himself to describe the show. “I think ATP used every word I gave them as an option for their marketing. A dark apocalyptic gothic comedy thriller. It is kind of all of those things; it is a Fantasia on the end of mankind. It is set in a rooming house run by a blind lady and it is the collapse of civilization and we witness the last three days through characters living in the rooming house. It is funny and dark and despairing and kind of hopeful in a weird way.”
www.gaycalgary.com
Penny Plain in Edmonton Citadel Theatre – Until October 8th www.citadeltheatre.com Penny Plain in Calgary Alberta Theatre Projects – October 18th to November 6th www.atplive.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2509
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
11
Community
Bear Yoga By Carey Rutherford Chris McBain runs Bear Yoga, but it’s not like he’s the CEO or anything like that. After all, his subtitle and tag line for the company is “The Travellin’ Yogi: There’s no place like OM.” In that persona, he instructs me about the niceties of Vedic Yoga history before we’ve even really introduced ourselves. He is definitely a teacher at heart, and all that poetic biographical history stuff on his website appears to be genuine. “I provide consulting and workshops to organizations, to local fitness groups, gyms around the city, tourist organizations, and I also provide substitute teaching to local yoga studios.” Chris fleshes out the details of that poetic biography, and his unguided, unending, search. He personifies the ‘hungry ghost’ of Buddhist philosophy, searching for enlightenment everywhere and anywhere, changing countries and jobs and social environments in the pursuit of what he eventually describes as a self-acceptance. ”When we talk about what yoga is, (it) is an ancient Vedic science of uniting the mind, body and spirit. So I guess my journey has happened since the beginning of my life, because of the hunger I have had; in searching for meaning: that union, that completeness. So to define yoga in its broadest terms, I’ve been practicing since I was a wee baby.” And this is not just because of his pursuit of some kind of physical perfection, by any means. “When we hear ‘yoga’, people often think of this workout, but it’s much broader than that… There’s Bhakti yoga which is devotional yoga (everything from meditation to prayer to religious activities); there’s also karma yoga, which is the yoga of selfless service. These (two forms) are the bedrock of Indian spirituality. They form what Indians would say is the truest of all yogas, because the physical practice of yoga began in Vedic tradition as a means of preparing the mind and body 12
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
to meditate, and in meditating to achieve a state of samadhi, which is that union with the divine, or the higher self, or the collective unconscious.” If it sounds like there’s a whole bunch of other stuff going on besides the image I get of people sitting on mats, sunlight streaming past their placid features, while their body is pretzeled into unimaginable knots. And I’m right. “In fact, in the most ancient Vedic scriptures, there are only really three physical postures described in yoga. It’s only really in the last 200 years that you see the hundreds of postures come into play, more accurately in the last 100 years, especially when yoga came to the west.” But Chris cautions that this doesn’t mean that the physical maneuvering is any less of a connection to the more metaphysical purposes from which yoga originated. “In the physical practice of yoga - hatha yoga ‘ha’ means ‘sun’, ‘tha’ means ‘moon’, and the literal translation is the unification of the masculine and feminine energies that are inside every person.” Chris explains that Hatha yoga encompasses all modern variations of the physical expression of yogic exercise, “whether it’s yin yoga or kundalini yoga, ashtanga yoga or power yoga, or even dude yoga, it’s all hatha: physical.
www.gaycalgary.com
“If you’ve ever seen ashtanga yoga, where people are moving really fast, and they’re sweating their brains out…they’re engaging tapas, which is a heat that builds in your body, a fire, and it burns off all of that monkey energy where your mind is racing and you can’t concentrate. And by the end you’re able to sit, and there’s just a stillness and a contentment that happens.” So where does Bear Yoga fit into all of this? “It’s for gay, bi, trans men of the beefy/hairy variety! I’m not a skinny little yogi, and that’s a misconception: that you have to be this perfect athlete with the V shape to engage in yoga and reach its benefits. There is a benefit to yoga that can reach anybody and everybody. “I came into yoga, maybe like every gay man, with a negative selfperception. We talk about women’s struggles with social perceptions and societal pressures creating eating disorders and the like, but gay men also face that… And so when I first engaged yoga I thought I was fat, I thought I was ugly, whether consciously or not. But as I started to engage with yoga with intention, I started to love my body just as it was. And I started to love myself, just as I was. And I don’t have a V! I’ve got a U!” “Yoga taught me to love myself.”
Bear Yoga Call 587-987-3768 for details. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2510
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
13
Resumé Padding with a Gay Reality Show
Photos courtesy of OUTtv
By Evan Kayne The reality show Don’t Quit Your Gay Job (DQYGJ) is in the middle of its second season on OUTtv. At first glance you might assume the set-up is gay guys try to do a job not traditionally known for employing gay men but it’s more than that. As Rob Easton, one of the two stars of the show puts it, “gay people are everywhere doing everything.” Whether it be bus drivers, models, hockey players, police officers or strippers. For those who have seen the first season, you may notice a different feel with the second . Rob told me, “as far as Sean and I as hosts, we definitely know what we’re doing now. We have our shtick. We also kind of know our characters...We’re portrayed in a certain light. Both Sean and I have embraced who we are in our show, and what our roles are, and what we can do to make it a better, more polished product.” It’s like any TV show, Rob continued. Much like how the first episode of Sex and the City was different from those in subsequent seasons, the first episodes of DQYGJ were different. Rob and Sean were nervous about the show and filming. Now, “The nerves aren’t to do with the television anymore or the cameras, it’s to do with whether we’re going to die getting body slammed in a wrestling ring.” Sean Horlor, the other host of the show, added, “I think part of the change that happened is when we started working with the police and the extreme wrestlers, they’ve had a chance to look at the episodes from the first season and they sort of came in as well realizing we are a reality comedy show. That helped change the tone because it didn’t have to be as serious because they knew what to expect.” Of course, in a reality show where you try on a different occupation for a week, there are some things you learn that change your perception of a job. This certainly happened in the episode where the boys worked with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). “I think with the police, at least with me, a lot of people have this idea that all cops are assholes,” Rob said. “Some of them 14
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
are, but most of them are just guys, and they’re trying to do their job.” In the episode with the VPD, the boys had to walk a fine line between cheerleading and behaving as people who have a lot of power over the average citizen. Sean and Rob know they wouldn’t actually ever apply to work as an officer, but going YYY through training and working with the VPD did give them an understanding of what some officers go through, and why they might seem like “assholes” when in reality they are just doing their job. “They’re kind of trained that way...to be authority figures...I think shit disturbers like me and Sean...we wouldn’t do well in that kind of situation,” Rob admitted. Sean did find it interesting the VPD actually reached out to DQYGJ, as the gay community and police forces traditionally have had a rocky relationship. “For them in Vancouver to actually have a Hate Crimes squad that was launched within the last few years and then now actually reaching out to a gay television show (to) drive up gay recruitment in the force...it’s pretty cool...I was flattered to be part of that.” As for the show itself, it’s fun to watch, not just because of the comedic interplay between Sean and Rob, but also because it’s not what you might expect. DQYJB plays more like a Canadian version of “the Simple Life” with politer, better looking hosts. Unlike Paris and Nicole, they actually do look like they are trying to accomplish the tasks and are even enjoying it. As to how they decide which jobs to do, Sean said, “Rob and I sit down and we get the first pick...a big part of why we created it and wanted to be involved is to go out and try those things that we’re interested in. I always find that going into these jobs I have a feeling whether I’d want to do them or not.” Adding to the tension, not only do they have to accomplish the job competently, they are competing against each other. The first season saw Rob and Sean evenly tied as to who was the better drag queen/model/stripper (etc.); and so far in the second season Rob has a slight lead. Besides all the jobs they try out for the show, they don’t have to worry about their real occupation as hosts of DQYGJ as that www.gaycalgary.com
looks to be secured. Sean mentioned there is enough interest for them to come back for a third season. Besides OUTtv, the show has been picked up in Europe, and in the United States on here! Network as well. This welcoming response has been a bit amazing for the boys, as Rob told me. “You’re always your own worst critic, and I’m always surprised how much people like the show... it’s bizarre how people have reacted to it...by and large positively...it’s really cool talking to people from all over.” They will admit that yes it’s on a gay channel, it’s got a gay name, and the stars are gay, but they wanted it to be something anyone can watch. Yet there are moments when they realize the show is actually helping make some change, Sean says. “I have people write me on Facebook from all over the world regularly to talk about the show.” This is one reason Sean wanted to do a show like this growing up (before there was the Internet) there wasn’t any kind of television program targeting the gay community. They also know people in small towns will get to see positive and inspiring LGBTQ role models. “I had a kid who wrote me probably about a year and a half ago from the middle of nowhere British Columbia
saying, I get this on my satellite channel, I’m a big fan, I don’t know any other gay people in my town. Thank you for having this show. It is really rewarding to get feedback like that.” As for the future, they still have two episodes left this season. Next year, they ask our readers to write OUTtv and push for a “Popstar” type of episode. Additionally, we may get to see them here in person, because the boys would like to come and try being cowboys at the gay rodeo, Rob told me. “If you can get the people in Calgary really stoked on us coming, that would help our cause for getting OUTtv to get us out there. We would love to do it.”
www.gaycalgary.com
Don’t Quit Your Gay Job http://www.outtv.ca/dqygj.php http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2511
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
www.gaycalgary.com
Directory & Events 24
DOWNTOWN CALGARY
61 37
43 41 4
55 9
60
2
34 33
16
1
35
36
3
5 6
62
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Calgary Outlink---------- Community Groups Aids Calgary------------- Community Groups Backlot------------------------ Bars and Clubs Calgary Eagle Inc.------------ Bars and Clubs Texas Lounge----------------- Bars and Clubs Goliath’s-------------------------- Bathhouses
9 FAB---------------------------- Bars and Clubs 13 Westways Guest House---- Accommodations 16 Priape Calgary------------------ Retail Stores 24 Courtney Aarbo----------------------- Services 33 Twisted Element-------------- Bars and Clubs 34 Vertigo Mystery Theatre------------- Theatre
FIND OUT!
GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine is the go-to source for information about Alberta LGBT businesses and community groups—the most extensive and accurate resource of its kind! This print supplement contains a subset of active community groups and venues, with premium business listings of paid advertisers. ......... Wheelchair Accessible
Spot something inaccurate or outdated? Want your business or organization listed? We welcome you to contact us!
403-543-6960 1-888-543-6960 magazine@gaycalgary.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/CalgaryTravelRss http://www.gaycalgary.com/EdmontonTravelRss
Local Bars, Restaurants, and Accommodations info on the go! http://www.gaycalgary.com/Directory
Accommodations 13 Westways Guest House--------------------✰ 216 - 25th Avenue SW 403-229-1758 1-866-846-7038 westways@shaw.ca www.gaywestways.com
Bars & Clubs 3 Backlot----------------------------------- ✰ 403-265-5211 Open 7 days a week, 2pm-close
209 - 10th Ave SW
4 Calgary Eagle Inc.----------------------- ✰ 424a - 8th Ave SE 403-263-5847 http://www.calgaryeagle.com Open Wed-Sun, 5pm-close Leather/Denim/Fetish bar.
Club Paradiso
1413 - 9th Ave SE, 2nd Floor 403-265-5739 www.clubparadiso.ca tracy@villagecantina.ca Fri: Garter Girls Burlesque. Sat: Carly’s Angels. Weekdays: Magic, Comedy & Music. 60 Club Sapien------------------------------ ✰ 1140 10th Ave SW 403-457-4464 http://www.clubsapien.ca Dance Club and Restaurant/Lounge.
Browse our complete directory of over 600 gay-frieindly listings! www.gaycalgary.com
One Yellow Rabbit-------------------- Theatre ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects-------- Theatre Pumphouse Theatre----------------- Theatre La Fleur-------------------------- Retail Stores Lisa Heinricks----------Theatre and Fine Arts Marquee Room--------------- Bars and Clubs
CALGARY
LGBT Community Directory
✰....... Find our Magazine Here
35 36 37 41 43 55
58 60 61 62
Theatre Junction--------------------- Theatre Club Sapien------------------- Bars and Clubs Holidays on the Hill------------- Retail Stores Concept Bar & Lounge------- Bars and Clubs
60 Concept Bar & Lounge---------------------✰ 908 17th Ave SW 403-228-1006 www.facebook.com/ConceptLounge Premiere crossover lounge. Entrance on 16th Ave. 55 Marquee Room-----------------------------✰ 612 - 8th Avenue SW www.marqueeroom.com Alternative night every Wednesday. 9 FAB--------------------------------------- ✰ 1742 - 10th Ave SW 403-263-7411 www.fab-bar.com Closed Mondays. Bar and restaurant. 5 Texas Lounge-------------------------------✰ 308 - 17 Ave SW 403-229-0911 www.goliaths.ca Open 7 days a week, 11am-close 33 Twisted Element----------------------------✰ 1006 - 11th Ave SW 403-802-0230 www.twistedelement.ca Dance Club and Lounge.
Bathhouses/Saunas 6 Goliaths-------------------------------------✰ 308 - 17 Ave SW 403-229-0911 www.goliaths.ca Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
Community Groups 2 AIDS Calgary---------------------------- ✰ 110, 1603 10th Avenue SW 403-508-2500
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
17
Directory & Events Lesbian Meetup Group------------- 7:30-9pm
Calgary Events
At 1 Calgary Outlink
Mondays
1st
Fake Mustache Show------------------ 7:30pm
Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------- 8pm Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW
By Miscellaneous Youth Network Quincy’s (609 7th Ave SW)
1st
Tuned Out Music Trivia---------------- Evening
Bonasera (1204 Edmonton Tr. NE)
Inside Out Youth Group---------------- 7-9pm
Fake Mustache Show---------------------- 9pm
Go-Go Boy Competition--------------- Evening
ASK Meet and Greet---------------- 7-9:30pm See 1 Calgary Outlink
Karaoke-------------------------------- Evening At 60 Club Sapien
Calgary Networking Club-------------- 5-7pm See 1 Calgary Outlink
1st
Between Men--------------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Calgary Outlink
2nd, 4th
Karaoke------------------------------ 8pm-1am At 5 Texas Lounge
Fetish Slosh---------------------------- Evening At 3 Backlot
2nd
Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------- 8pm Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW
At 4 Calgary Eagle
BBQ Fundraiser------------------------- 5-9pm ISCCA at 3 Backlot
Rec Volleyball------------------------------ 7pm See
Knox United Church
Women’s Healing Circle--------------- 1:30pm AIDS Calgary
Free Pool------------------------------- All Day Prime Timers Calgary
Mosaic Youth Group-------------------- 7-9pm Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW)
Illusions-------------------------------- 7-10pm 1st
2nd
New Directions-------------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Calgary Outlink
3rd
Heading Out----------------------- 8pm-10pm See 1 Calgary Outlink
4th
Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------- 8pm Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW Saturdays
Running------------------------------------ 9am
Thursdays
See
Lesbian Seniors---------------------------- 2pm Kerby Center, Sunshine Room 1133 7th Ave SW
Apollo Calgary
See 1 Calgary Outlink
3rd
Swimming------------------------------- 7-8pm
By Different Strokes SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)
Worship Time---------------------------- 10am
Apollo Calgary
Coffee------------------------------------ 10am
See
Deer Park United Church
Alberta Society for Kink
403-398-9968 albetasocietyforkink@hotmail.com http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/ group.albertasocietyforkink
Apollo Calgary - Friends in Sports
www.apollocalgary.com www.myapollo.com A volunteer operated, non-profit organization serving primarily members of the LGBT communities but open to all members of all communities. Primary focus is to provide members with well-organized and fun sporting events and other activities.
• Western Cup 30
www.westerncup.com Easter long weekend, 2012.
• Badminton (Absolutely Smashing) 6020 - 4 Avenue NE badminton@apollocalgary.com
• Biking
bike@apollocalgary.com
• Boot Camp
Platoon FX, 1351 Aviation Park NE bootcamp@apollocalgary.com
18
Saturday, October 16th Great Chili Cook Off-------------------- 6pm At 4 Calgary Eagle
Scarboro United Church
Turnabout-------------------------------- 10pm By
ISCCA at 33 Twisted Element
Saturday, October 22nd
Kinky Flea Market----------------- 11am-5pm
Sunday Services--------------------- 10:45am
By ASK Forest Height Community Centre 4909 Forego Ave SE
Worship Services------------------------- 11am
Dark Knight-------------------------------- 9pm
Int/Comp Volleyball----------- 12:15-1:45pm
Saturday, October 29th
See See See
Hillhurst United Church Knox United Church
Apollo Calgary
BBQ Social Sundays----------------------- 2pm At 4 Calgary Eagle
Church Service----------------------------- 4pm See
Rainbow Community Church
Swimming------------------------------- 5-6pm
By Different Strokes SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)
At 4 Calgary Eagle
Halloween Party--------------------------- 9pm At 4 Calgary Eagle
PURE Masquerade---------------------- 9pm By PURE Pride at 60 Club Sapien Halloween Howl Dance---------------- 8pm By Girlsgroove Inglewood Venue (1008 14th Street) November 2011
Women’s Volleyball---------------- 7-8:30pm
Loud & Queer Cabaret By Guys in Disguise
Sunday Socials---------------------- Afternoon
Taboo Stampede Park Upper Big 4 Building
See
Apollo Calgary
At 4 Calgary Eagle
Free Pool------------------------------- All Day
Nov5Nov6 Nov10Nov13
At 4 Calgary Eagle
December 2011
Saturday, October 8th
Mad World--------------------------------- 8pm
By Prime Timers Calgary Midtown Co-op (1130 - 11th Ave SW)
Value Village Party------------------------ 8pm At 4 Calgary Eagle
By Calgary Men’s Chorus Rosza Centre, U of C
Curling------------------------- 2:20 & 4:30pm
Thursday, October 13th
Christmas Dinner & Show----------------- 6pm
See
Apollo Calgary
Risen------------------------------------- 7pm Arrata Opera Centre (1315 - 7 Street SW) Oct13
By
Dec3
ARGRA
Dec3
Legend: = Monthly Reoccurrance, = Date (Range/Future), = Sponsored Event
Calgary Contd. info@aidscalgary.org www.aidscalgary.org
Halloween Dance----------------------- 8pm By ARGRA
Friday, October 21st
Sundays
Worship------------------------------ 10:30am
Leather Night-------------------------- Evening By
1st, 3rd
At 60 Club Sapien
See
Fridays
See 1 Calgary Outlink
Communion Service------------------ 12:10pm
At 4 Calgary Eagle with
Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------- 8pm
Womynspace---------------------------- 7-9pm
Wednesdays
See
3rd
Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW
Tuesdays
See
By Miscellaneous Youth Network At 60 Club Sapien
At 9 FAB
Saturday, October 15th
• Bowling (Rainbow Riders League) Let’s Bowl (2916 5th Avenue NE) bowling@apollocalgary.com
• Curling
North Hill Curling Club (1201 - 2 Street NW) curling@apollocalgary.com Will return in September 2010. Sign up at myapollo.org to receive updates.
• Golf
golf@apollocalgary.com
• Squash
• Monthly Dances------------------------------
• Tennis
403-890-1261 linda@afqol.org
Mount Royal University Recreation squash@apollocalgary.com All skill levels welcome. tennis@apollocalgary.com
• Volleyball (Beach)
beachvb@apollocalgary.com
• Volleyball (Int/Comp)
• Lawn Bowling
lawnbowling@apollocalgary.com
West Hillhurst Community Center 1940 6th Avenue NW vb@apollocalgary.com
• Outdoor Pursuits
• Volleyball (Recreational)
outdoorpursuits@apollocalgary.com If it’s done outdoors, we do it. Volunteer led events all summer and winter. Hiking, camping, biking, skiing, snow shoeing, etc. Sign up at myapollo.org to get updates on the sport you like. We’re always looking for people to lead events.
• Running (Calgary Frontrunners)
YMCA Eau Claire (4th St, 1st Ave SW) calgaryfrontrunners@shaw.ca East Doors (directly off the Bow river pathway). Distances vary from 8 km - 15 km. Runners from 6 minutes/mile to 9+ minute miles.
• Slow Pitch
slow.pitch@apollocalgary.com
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
235 - 18 Ave SW recvb@apollocalgary.com
• Volleyball (Women’s)
YWCA Calgary (320 - 5th Avenue SE) vbwomen@apollocalgary.com
• Yoga
World Tree Studio (812 Edmonton Trail NE) Robin: 403-618-9642 yoga@apollocalgary.com $120 (10 sessions); $14 Drop-ins open to all levels. Apollo membership is required.
Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA)
www.argra.org
Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association 1320 - 5th Avenue NW
Artists for the Quality of Life
www.afqol.org
Calgary Gay Fathers
calgaryfathers@hotmail.com http://www.calgarygayfathers.ca Peer support group for gay, bisexual and questioning fathers. Meeting twice a month.
Calgary Men’s Chorus
http://www.calgarymenschorus.org
• Rehearsals
Temple B’Nai Tikvah, 900 - 47 Avenue SW
Calgary Sexual Health Centre---------- ✰
304, 301 14th Street NW 403-283-5580 http://www.calgarysexualhealth.ca A pro-choice organization that believes all people have the right and ability to make their own choices regarding their sexual and reproductive health.
1 Calgary Outlink-----------------------------✰ B1, 1528 16th Avenue SW 403-234-8973 info@calgaryoutlink.ca http://www.calgaryoutlink.com
www.gaycalgary.com
Directory & Events Calgary Contd. • Peer Support and Crisis Line
Mystique
1-877-OUT-IS-OK (1-877-688-4765) Front-line help service for GLBT individuals and their family and friends, or anyone questioning their sexuality.
mystiquesocialclub@yahoo.com Mystique is primarily a Lesbian group for women 30 and up but all are welcome.
• Calgary Lesbian Ladies Meet up Group • Between Men and Between Men Online • Heading Out • Illusions Calgary • Inside Out • New Directions • Womynspace
• Coffee Night
NETWORKS
networkscalgary@gmail.com A social, cultural, and service organization for the mature minded and “Plus 40” LGBT individuals seeking to meet others at age-appropriate activities within a positive, safe environment.
Parents for Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Calgary Queer Book Club
Weeds Cafe (1903 20 Ave NW)
Deer Park United Church/Wholeness Centre
77 Deerpoint Road SE http://www.dpuc.ca
Second Cup (2312 - 4th Street SW)
403-278-8263
Different Strokes
http://www.differentstrokescalgary.org
Don’t Buy In Project
http://www.dontbuyin.ca This Calgary Police Service Initiative aims to encourage youth to working towards an inclusive environment in which diversity is embraced in their schools and community.
FairyTales Presentation Society
403-244-1956 http://www.fairytalesfilmfest.com Alberta Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
• DVD Resource Library
Over a hundred titles to choose from. Annual membership is $10.
Gay Friends in Calgary
http://www.gayfriendsincalgary.ca Organizes and hosts social activities catered to the LGBT people and friends.
Girl Friends
girlfriends@shaw.ca members.shaw.ca/girlfriends
Girlsgroove
http://www.girlsgroove.ca
Hillhurst United Church
1227 Kensington Close NW (403) 283-1539 office@hillhurstunited.com www.hillhurstunited.com
HIV Peer Support Group
403-230-5832 hivpeergroup@yahoo.ca
Sean: 403-695-5791 http://www.pflagcanada.ca A registered charitable organization that provides support, education and resources to parents, families and individuals who have questions or concerns about sexual orientation or gender identity.
Positive Space Committee
4825 Mount Royal Gate SW 403-440-6383 http://www.mtroyal.ca/positivespace Works to raise awareness and challenge the patterns of silence that continue to marginalize LGBTTQ individuals.
Pride Rainbow Project
Primetimers Calgary
primetimerscalgary@gmail.com http://www.primetimerscalgary.com Designed to foster social interaction for its members through a variety of social, educational and recreational activities. Open to all gay and bisexual men of any age, respects whatever degree of anonymity that each member desires.
Queers on Campus---------------------- ✰
279R Student Union Club Spaces, U of C 403-220-6394 http://www.ucalgary.ca/~glass Formerly GLASS - Gay/Lesbian Association of Students and Staff. 2nd Cup, Kensington
Miscellaneous Youth Network
http://www.miscyouth.com
• Fake Mustache
Quincy’s (609 7th Ave SW) Club Sapien (609 7th Ave SW) Calgary’s ONLY Drag King Show. Early show 7:30pm, late show 9pm.
• Mosaic Youth Group
The Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW) For queer and trans youth and their allies.
www.gaycalgary.com
Marnie Campbell (Maxwell Realtors)
403-479-8619 http://www.marniecampbell.ca
Restaurants 4 Calgary Eagle Inc.--------------------- See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.
✰
60 Club Sapien------------------------------ ✰ 1140 10th Ave SW 403-457-4464 http://www.clubsapien.ca 9 FAB------------------------------------- See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.
403-607-8215
✰
Halo Steak, Seafood & Wine Bar
Free and confidential HIV/AIDS and STI testing.
• Calgary Drop-in Centre
Room 117, 423 - 4th Ave SE 403-699-8216 Mon-Fri: 9am-12pm, Sat: 12:15pm-3:15pm
Retail Stores
• Centre of Hope
Adult Depot-----------------------------
✰
140, 58th Ave SW 403-258-2777 Gay, bi, straight video rentals and sex toys. 61 Holidays on the Hill----------------------- 210 - 7th Ave SW 403-263-3030 Christmas, Halloween, and much more. 41 La Fleur------------------------------------ 103 - 100 7th Avenue SW 403-266-1707 Florist and Flower Shop.
The Naked Leaf----------------------------
305 10th Street NW http://www.thenakedleaf.ca Organic teas and tea ware.
403-283-3555
16 Priape Calgary------------------------- ✰ 1322 - 17 Ave SW 403-215-1800 http://www.priape.com Clothing and accessories. Adult toys, leather wear, movies and magazines. Gifts.
Services & Products Calgary Civil Marriage Centre
Scarboro United Church
Sharp Foundation
Unity Bowling
Let’s Bowl (2916 - 5th Ave NE) sundayunity@live.com
Cruiseline
403-777-9494 trial code 3500 http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.
DevaDave Salon & Boutique
810 Edmonton Trail NE 403-290-1973 Cuts, Colour, Hilights.
MPs Catering SafeWorks
Canyon Meadows Plaza 13226 Macleod Trail SE 403-271-4111 www.halorestaurant.com
24 Courtney Aarbo (Barristers & Solicitors) 1138 Kensington Road NW 403-571-5120 http://www.courtneyaarbo.ca GLBT legal services.
403-272-2912 sharpfoundation@nucleus.com http://www.thesharpfoundation.com
MFM Communications
403-543-6970 1-877-543-6970 http://www.mfmcommunications.com Web site hosting and development. Computer hardware and software.
403-246-4134 ca.ca@shaw.ca Marriage Commissioner for Alberta (aka Justice of the Peace - JP), Marriage Officiant, Commissioner for Oaths.
134 Scarboro Avenue SW 403-244-1161 www.scarborounited.ab.ca An affirming congregation—the full inclusion of LGBT people is essential to our mission and purpose.
10:30am in July and August.
CJSW 90.9 FM yeahwhatshesaid@gmail.com
Safety Under the Rainbow
Knox United Church
• Worship Services
Lorne Doucette (CIR Realtors)
403-461-9195 http://www.lornedoucette.com
“Yeah...What She Said!” Radio Show
• Coffee Night
http://www.safetyrainbow.ca Mission: To raise awareness and understanding of same-sex domestic violence and homophobic youth bullying.
506 - 4th Street SW 403-269-8382 http://www.knoxunited.ab.ca Knox United Church is an all-inclusive church located in downtown Calgary. A variety of facility rentals are also available for meetings, events and concerts.
Wild Rose United Church
www.pridecalgary.ca
prp@planet-save.com http://www.priderainbowproject.com Youth run project designed to show support for same-sex marriage in Canada and elsewhere. A fabric rainbow banner approximately 5 feet wide - goal is to make it 3.2km (2 miles) long, in order to break the world record.
Duncan’s Residential Cleaning
Jim Duncan: 403-978-6600 Residential cleaning. Free estimates.
1317-1st Street NW
Pride Calgary Planning Committee
403-797-6564
ISCCA Social Association
http://www.iscca.ca Imperial Sovereign Court of the Chinook Arch. Charity fundraising group..
gay men’s domestic violence and the services available to them.
Room 201, 420 - 9th Ave SE 403-410-1180 Mon-Fri: 1pm-5pm
• Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre
1213 - 4th Str SW 403-955-6014 Sat-Thu: 4:15pm-7:45pm, Fri: Closed
• Safeworks Van
403-850-3755 Sat-Thu: 8pm-12am, Fri: 4pm-12am
Theatre & Fine Arts 36 ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects 403-294-7402 http://www.ATPlive.com
AXIS Contemporary Art--------------------
107, 100 - 7 Ave SW rob@axisart.ca
403-262-3356 www.axisart.ca
Fairytales
See Calgary - Community Groups.
Jubilations Dinner Theatre
Bow Trail and 37th St. SW 403-249-7799 www.jubilations.ca
43 Lisa Heinricks (Artist)--------------------- Art Central, 100 7th Ave SW, lower level http://www.creamydreamy.com 35 One Yellow Rabbit------------------------- Big Secret Theatre - EPCOR CENTRE 403-299-8888 www.oyr.org 37 Pumphouse Theatre------------------ 2140 Pumphouse Avenue SW 403-263-0079 http://www.pumphousetheatres.ca
✰
Stagewest-------------------------------
✰
58 Theatre Junction---------------------- Theatre Junction GRAND, 608 1st St. SW 403-205-2922
✰
727 - 42 Avenue SE 403-243-6642 http://www.stagewestcalgary.com
Urban Sex Radio Show
CJSW 90.9 FM http://www.cjsw.com Focus on sexuality; gay bisexual lesbian trans gendered and straight issues here in Calgary and around the web.
Vigor Calgary
403-255-7004 www.vigorcalgary.ca Violence in Gay Male Relationships (VIGOR) is a committee of professionals dedicated to increasing the awareness of
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
19
Directory & Events DOWNTOWN EDMONTON
1
5
7 11 6 12
3
N
4 14
1 Pride Centre------------- Community Groups 3 HIV Network------------- Community Groups 4 Edmonton STD---------- Community Groups
5 The Junction------------------ Bars and Clubs 6 Buddy’s Nite Club------------ Bars and Clubs 7 Down Under Baths--------------- Bathhouses
8 Prism Bar & Grill------------- Bars and Clubs 11 Steamworks---------------------- Bathhouses 12 Woody’s----------------------- Bars and Clubs
13 PLAY Nightclub--------------- Bars and Clubs 14 FLASH------------------------- Bars and Clubs
Calgary Contd. info@theatrejunction.com http://www.theatrejunction.com
Prism Bar & Grill (closed)-------------
34 Vertigo Mystery Theatre------------------ 161, 115 - 9 Ave SE 403-221-3708 http://www.vertigomysterytheatre.com
EDMONTON Bars & Clubs 6 Buddy’s Nite Club--------------------------✰ 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6636 14 FLASH---------------------------------------✰ 10018 105 Street 780-938-2941 flashnightclub@hotmail.com 5 The Junction---------------------------- ✰ 10242 106th St 780-756-5667 http://www.junctionedmonton.com
PLAY Nightclub (closed)-------------------✰
10220 103 Street info@playnightclub.ca http://www.playnightclub.ca
780-497-7529
10524 101st St http://www.prismbar.ca
✰
780-990-0038
12 Woody’s-------------------------------------✰ 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6557
Bathhouses/Saunas 7 Down Under Baths (temp. closed) *RELOCATING* 780-482-7960 http://www.gayedmonton.com 11 Steamworks--------------------------------✰ 11745 Jasper Ave 780-451-5554 http://www.steamworksedmonton.com
Community Groups
Book Worm’s Book Club
Howard McBride Chapel of Chimes 10179 - 108 Street bookworm@teamedmonton.ca
Buck Naked Boys Club
780-471-6993 http://www.bucknakedboys.ca Naturism club for men—being social while everyone is naked, and it does not include sexual activity. Participants do not need to be gay, only male.
Camp fYrefly
7-104 Dept. of Educational Policy Studies Faculty of Education, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G5 http://www.fyrefly.ualberta.ca
Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS)
Alberta Bears
http://www.edmontonpride.ca
AltView Foundation
edmontonpt@yahoo.ca www.primetimersww.org/edmonton Group of older gay men and their admirers who come from diverse backgrounds but have common social interests. Affiliated with Prime Timers World Wide.
www.beefbearbash.com #44, 48 Brentwood Blvd, Sherwood Park, AB 403-398-9968 info@altview.ca www.altview.ca For gender variant and sexual minorities.
Edmonton Prime Timers
Edmonton Rainbow Business Association
3379, 11215 Jasper Ave 780-429-5014 http://www.edmontonrba.org Primary focus is the provision of networking opportunities for LGBT owned or operated and LGBT-friendly businesses in the Edmonton region.
Edmonton Illusions Social Club
5 The Junction 780-387-3343 groups.yahoo.com/group/edmonton_illusions
20
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
4 Edmonton STD 11111 Jasper Ave
Edmonton Vocal Minority
780-479-2038 www.evmchoir.com
sing@evmchoir.com
3 HIV Network Of Edmonton Society---- ✰ 9702 111 Ave NW www.hivedmonton.com
Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose
http://www.iscwr.ca
OUTreach
University of Alberta, basement of SUB outreach@ualberta.ca http://www.ualberta.ca/~outreach Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender/transsexual, Queer, Questioning and Straight-but-not-Narrow student group. 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton-------------- ✰ *RELOCATING* 780-488-3234 admin@pridecentreofedmonton.org
• Community Potluck
TBA tuff@shaw.ca A potluck open to all members of the LGBTQ community. A time to get together, share a meal and meet people from the community.
• Free School
TBA monika\penner@shaw.ca Free School provides workshops on a variety of topics related to local activism.
• Get Tested for STIs
Free STD testing for anyone interested. For more information please contact the Pride Centre.
www.gaycalgary.com
Directory & Events Edmonton Events Mondays Team Edmonton
Pride Centre of Edmonton
2nd
Tuesdays
GLBT Seniors Drop-in------------------ 1-4pm See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
TTIQ------------------------------------- 2-4pm See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
2nd
Youthspace------------------------------ 3-7pm See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
Community Potluck--------------------- 7-9pm See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
Last
Martial Arts--------------------- 7:30-8:30pm See
Team Edmonton
Wednesdays
PFLAG--------------------------------- 12:10pm See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
1st
Youthspace------------------------------ 3-7pm See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
Youth Sports/Recreation------------------ 4pm See
Youth Understanding Youth
Youth Understanding Youth------------ 7-9pm At 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Pride Centre of Edmonton
See
Monthly Meetings---------------------- 2:30pm
Buck Naked Boys Club
2nd
Get Tested for STIs---------------------- 3-6pm
AA Big Book Study-------------------- 12-1pm
Youthspace------------------------------ 3-7pm
Monthly Meeting----------------------- 2:30pm
See
Men’s HIV Support Group-------------- 7-9pm See
Saturdays
Naturalist Gettogether
See
Boot Camp------------------------------ 7-8pm See
Thursdays
GLBT Seniors Drop-in------------------ 1-4pm
See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
Last
Pride Centre of Edmonton
Youth Sports/Recreation------------------ 4pm See
Youth Understanding Youth
Youth Understanding Youth------------ 7-9pm At 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Book Club------------------------------ 7:30pm See
BookWorm’s Book Club
3rd
See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
By Edmonton Primetimers Unitarian Church, 10804 - 119th Street
2nd
Pride Centre of Edmonton
Rocky Horror Picture Show------- 9-10:30pm By
Fridays
Free School---------------------------- 11-5pm
Edmonton Illusions-------------------- 8:30pm At 5 The Junction
2nd
Youthspace-------------------------- 3-6:30pm See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
Youth Sports/Recreation------------------ 4pm See
Youth Understanding Youth
Youth Movie Night------------------ 6:30-8:30 See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Youth Understanding Youth------------ 7-9pm
ISCWR at 5 Junction
Sundays
Team Edmonton
Running------------------------------ 10-11am
Team Edmonton
By
PURE Masquerade---------------------- 9pm By PURE Pride at 14 FLASH
See
Intermediate Volleyball-------- 7:30-9:30pm See
Sunday, October 23rd
Friday, October 28th
Martial Arts--------------------- 7:30-8:30pm Team Edmonton
Exposure Festival------------------- All Day By Exposure Oct2023
Bowling------------------------------------ 5pm
GLBT African Group
See
2nd
Thursday, October 20th
BigDaddy’s Perogy Dinner------------ 5-8pm
Youthspace-------------------------- 3-6:30pm See
Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) See Edmonton Primetimers
At 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See See
1st, Last
Team Edmonton
Pride Centre of Edmonton
2nd, 4th
Pride Centre of Edmonton
1st
Yoga--------------------------------- 2-3:30pm See
Team Edmonton
Men Talking with Pride---------------- 7-9pm See
Pride Centre of Edmonton
Ballroom Dancing-------------- 7:30-8:30pm See
Trick or Treat--------------------------- Evening At 14 FLASH
Womonspace Meeting--------- 12:30-1:30pm See
ISCWR at 5 Junction Oct2829
Saturday, October 29th
Annual General Meeting----------- 6-7:30pm By Womonspace Bellevue Hall (7308 - 112 Ave NW)
Halloween Dance---------------------- 7:30pm By Womonspace Bellevue Hall (7308 - 112 Ave NW) November 2011 Taboo Northlands Expo Centre, Hall A
Nov2426
Team Edmonton
At 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Legend: = Monthly Reoccurrance, = Date (Range), = Sponsored Event
Edmonton Contd. • GLBT African Group (Drop-In)
fred@pridecentreofedmonton.org jeff@pridecentreofedmonton.org Group for ALL gay refugees and their friends and families, from all around the world.
• GLBT Seniors Drop-In
SAGE building, Classroom B 15 Sir Winstone Churchill Square tuff@shaw.ca A social and support group for seniors of all genders and sexualities to talk, have tea and offer each other support.
• Men Talking with Pride
TBA robwells780@hotmail.com A social discussion group for gay, bisexual and transgendered men to discuss current issues and to offer support to each other.
• Men’s HIV Support Group
TBA huges@shaw.ca Support group for people living with HIV/AIDS.
• PFLAG
TBA 780-436-1998 edmontonab@pflagcanada.ca Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays: A support group for family members and friends of GLBT people. An excellent resource for people whose family members and friends have just come out.
• Prime Timers
See Edmonton Primetimers.
• Suit Up and Show Up: AA Big Book Study
TBA Discussion and support group for those struggling with an alcohol addiction or seeking support in staying sober.
• TTIQ
TBA admin@pridecentreofedmonton.org TTIQ is mixed gender open support group addressing the needs of transsexual and transgendered individuals.
www.gaycalgary.com
• Womonspace Board Meeting
TBA wspresident@hotmail.com Womonspace is a Social and Recreational Society in Edmonton run by volunteers. They provide opportunities for lesbians to interact and support each other in a safe environment, and to contribute to the broader community.
• Youth Movie
TBA brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org Movie chosen by youth (aged 14 – 25), usually with LGBT themes. Popcorn is served.
• YouthSpace
brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org A safe and supportive space for GLBTQ youth aged 13–25. Video games, computers with internet, clothing bank, and more.
Team Edmonton
president@teamedmonton.ca http://www.teamedmonton.ca Members are invited to attend and help determine the board for the next term. If you are interested in running for the board or getting involved in some of the committees, please contact us.
• Badminton (Mixed)
St. Thomas Moore School, 9610 165 Street coedbadminton@teamedmonton.ca New group seeking male & female players.
• Blazin’ Bootcamp
Garneau Elementary School 10925 - 87 Ave bootcamp@teamedmonton.ca
• Hockey
hockey@teamedmonton.ca
• Martial Arts
Ed’s Rec Room (West Edmonton Mall) bowling@teamedmonton.ca $15.00 per person.
15450 - 105 Ave (daycare entrance) 780-328-6414 kungfu@teamedmonton.ca kickboxing@teamedmonton.ca Drop-ins welcome.
• Cross Country Skiing
• Outdoor Pursuits
• Curling with Pride
• Running (Arctic Frontrunners)
• Bowling (Northern Titans)
crosscountry@teamedmonton.ca Granite Curling Club, 8620 107 Street NW curling@teamedmonton.ca
• Cycling (Edmonton Prideriders) Various locations in Edmonton cycling@teamedmonton.ca
• Dragon Boat (Flaming Dragons) dragonboat@teamedmonton.ca
• Golf
golf@teamedmonton.ca
• Gymnastics, Drop-in
Ortona Gymnastics Club, 8755 - 50 Avenue gymnastics@teamedmonton.ca Have the whole gym to yourselves and an instructor to help you achieve your individual goals. Cost is $5.00 per session.
outdoorpursuits@teamedmonton.ca Emily Murphy Park, west end running@teamedmonton.ca All genders and levels of runners and walkers are invited to join this free activity.
• Slo Pitch
Parkallen Field, 111 st and 68 ave slo-pitch@teamedmonton.ca Season fee is $30.00 per person. $10 discount for players from the 2008 season.
• Snowballs V
January 27-29, 2012 snowballs@teamedmonton.ca Skiing and Snowboarding Weekend.
• Soccer
soccer@teamedmonton.ca
• Badminton (Women’s)
Oliver School, 10227 - 118 Street 780-465-3620 badminton@teamedmonton.ca Women’s Drop-In Recreational Badminton. $40.00 season or $5.00 per drop in.
•Ballroom Dancing
Foot Notes Dance Studio, 9708-45 Avenue NW Cynthia: 780-469-3281
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
21
Directory & Events Edmonton Contd. • Spin
MacEwan Centre for Sport and Wellness 109 St. and 104 Ave Wednesdays, 5:45-6:45pm Season has ended. spin@teamedmonton.ca 7 classes, $28.00 per registrant.
• Swimming (Making Waves) NAIT Pool (11762 - 106 Street) swimming@teamedmonton.ca www.makingwavesswimclub.ca
Retail Stores Rodéo Drive
11528 - 89th Street 780-474-0413 brendalee@rodeodrive.ca http://www.rodeodrive.ca His and hers fetish wear, toys, jewelry, etc.
Products & Services Cruiseline
• Tennis
780-413-7122 trial code 3500 http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.
• Ultimate Frisbee
10209 - 123 St. NW 780-482-1587 jravenscroft@rwuc.org www.rwuc.org Worship: Sunday mornings at 10:30am People of all sexual orientations welcome. Other LGBT events include a monthly book club and a bi-monthly film night. As a caring spiritual community, we’d love to have you join us!
Kinsmen Sports Centre Sundays, 12pm-3pm tennis@teamedmonton.ca Sundays Summer Season starts July 12th ultimatefrisbee@teamedmonton.ca E-mail if interested.
• Volleyball, Intermediate
Amiskiwacy Academy (101 Airport Road) volleyball@teamedmonton.ca
• Volleyball, Recreational
Mother Teresa School (9008 - 105 Ave) recvolleyball@teamedmonton.ca
• Women’s Lacrosse
Sharon: 780-461-0017 Pam: 780-436-7374 Open to women 21+, experienced or not, all are welcome. Call for info.
• Yoga
Lion's Breath Yoga Studio (10350-124 Street) yoga@teamedmonton.ca
Womonspace
780-482-1794 womonspace@gmail.com www.womonspace.ca Women’s social group, but all welcome at events.
Youth Understanding Youth
780-248-1971 www.yuyedm.ca A support and social group for queer youth 12-25.
• Sports and Recreation
Brendan: 780-488-3234 brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org
Restaurants 5 The Junction------------------------------- 10242 106th St 780-756-5667 12 Woody’s-------------------------------------✰ 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6557
Robertson-Wesley United Church
• Soul OUTing
Second Sunday every month, 7pm An LGBT-focused alternative worship.
• Film Night
Bi-monthly, contact us for exact dates.
• Book Club
Monthly, contact us for exact dates.
Theatre & Fine Arts Exposure Festival
http://www.exposurefestival.ca Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival.
The Roxy Theatre
10708 124th Street, Edmonton AB 780-453-2440 www.theatrenetwork.ca
BANFF/CANMORE Community Groups Mountain Pride
BOX 4892, BANFF, AB, T1L 1G1 Brian, 403-431-2569 1-800-958-9632 members@gaybanff.com www.gaybanff.com Serving the GLBTQS community in Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise and Area.
GRANDE PRAIRIE ALBERTA Community Groups GALAP
10113 - 103 Ave, T8V 1C2 780-512-1990 Gay and Lesbian Association of the Peace. • Wednesday Coffee Nights
LETHBRIDGE Community Groups GALA/LA
403-308-2893 http://www.galalethbridge.ca Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Lethbridge and Area.
• Monthly Dances
Henotic (402 - 2 Ave S) Bring your membership card and photo ID.
• Monthly Potluck Dinners
McKillop United Church, 2329 - 15 Ave S GALA/LA will provide the turkey...you bring the rest. Please bring a dish to share that will serve 4-6 people, and your own beverage.
• Support Line
403-308-2893 Monday OR Wednesday, 7pm-11pm Leave a message any other time.
• Friday Mixer
4611-50 Avenue, Red Deer, AB http://www.caans.org The Central Alberta AIDS Network Society is the local charity responsible for HIV prevention and support in Central Alberta.
Western Canadian Pride Campout
www.eventmasterinc.net
YouthSafe
http://www.youthsafe.net Alberta’s website for youth with sex-and-gender differences. Youthsafe.net lists the resources, information and services to help youth find safe and caring spaces in Alberta.
Theatre & Fine Arts Alberta Ballet
http://www.albertaballet.com Frequent productions in Calgary and Edmonton.
CANADA Community Groups Alberta Trans Support/Activities Group
http://www.albertatrans.org A nexus for transgendered persons, regardless of where they may be on the continuum.
Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition
The Mix (green water tower) 103 Mayor Magrath Dr S Every Friday at 10pm
Gay & Lesbian Integrity Assoc. (GALIA)
University of Lethbridge GBLTTQQ club on campus.
Community Groups Central Alberta AIDS Network Society
galia@uleth.ca
• Movie Night
Room C610, University of Lethbridge
Gay Youth Alliance Group
Betty, 403-381-5260 bneil@chr.ab.ca Every second Wednesday, 3:30pm-5pm
Lethbridge HIV Connection
1206 - 6 Ave S
PFLAG Canada
1-888-530-6777 lethbridgeab@pflagcanada.ca www.pflagcanada.ca
Pride Lethbridge
lethbridgepridefest@gmail.com
RED DEER
P..O. Box 3043, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3S9 (306) 955-5135 1-800-955-5129 http://www.rainbowhealth.ca
Egale Canada
8 Wellington St E, Third Floor Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1C5 1-888-204-7777 www.egale.ca Egale Canada is the national advocacy and lobby organization for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transidentified people and our families.
Products & Services Squirt
http://www.squirt.org Website for dating and hook-ups. 18+ ONLY!
Theatre & Fine Arts Broadway Across Canada
http://www.broadwayacrosscanada.ca
OUTtv
http://www.outtv.ca GLBT Television Station.
Community Groups Affirm
Sunnybrook United Church 403-347-6073 2nd Tuesday of the month, 7pm Composed of LGBTQ people, their friends, family and allies. No religious affiliation necessary. Activities include support, faith and social justice discussions, film nights, and potlucks!
22
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
www.gaycalgary.com
Politics
Holding Bullies to Account By Stephen Lock A year ago I wrote a column entitled “Bullying is Deadly” in which I wrote about the effect of anti-gay harassment and bullying resulting in the death by suicide of a Rutger’s freshman named Tyler Clementi. Celementi jumped off a bridge after his roommate, Dharum Ravi, posted a ‘hidden cam’ video of Clementi kissing another male in his dorm room. Ravi has pleaded not guilty to the charge of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation. His co-accused, hall mate Wolly Wei, who viewed the video, has not been charged in exchange for testifying against Ravi. On April 20th, 2011, Ravi was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury on 15 counts, including the charges of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering and evidence tampering. His defense has launched an appeal. Wei’s charges were dropped in exchange for her testimony and the completion of a 3-year counseling and community service program. In the same month that Clementi killed himself, four other young males also suicided as a result of harassment over being gay; Asher Brown, 13, Billy Lucas, 15, Raymond Chase, 19, and Seth Walsh, 13. To this list can now be added Jamey Rodemeyer, 14, who killed himself outside his home in Buffalo, New York after being bullied and abused by at least three other students following a post online in which he talked about his “confusion” over his sexual identity. In May 2011, he recorded a YouTube video for the It Gets Better campaign in which he self-identifies as bisexual, talks about his lack of “guy friends” and how all his friends are girls and how he has been bullied for that; how happy he was with the support he had received from strangers via the Internet who encouraged him to hold his head up high, be proud, and carry on. Four months later he was dead. Police have opened a criminal investigation. The Amherst Police Department’s Special Victims Unit has said it will determine whether to charge the students with harassment, cyber-harassment or hate crimes. The Police said three students in particular might have been involved. In a recent interview with Anderson Cooper on Anderson 360, Rodemeyer’s sister, Alyssa, spoke about how the harassment continued even after Jamey’s death. On the day of Jamey’s wake, she and a group of friends, with the encouragement of her parents, attended a Home Coming dance at the school she and Jamey attended. When the Lady Gaga song “Born This Way” came on, she and her group started chanting Jamey’s name in tribute to him. The three individuals who had harassed him, and apparently some others, reacted by chanting “We’re glad you’re dead!” and “You’re better off dead!” referring to Jamey. The three boys had, over the previous year, posted several comments to Jamey’s Formspring page, writing things like “JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND [sic] UGLY. HE MUST DIE!” and “I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!” Jamey had just started his freshman year at the high school but the bullying predated that, starting in middle school. He had told his parents and school counselors about it. Jamey did everything he was supposed to, even reaching out to others online in support. By all accounts, he was a nice kid, open, friendly, intelligent and caring of other people. One need only view his It Gets Better video to see that. And now he’s dead, at 14. And his tormentors continue to torment and apparently are of the opinion they did nothing wrong. According to Captain Michael Camilleri of the Amherst Police Department no bullying laws exist in the state of New York. Even though the Special Victims Unit is investigating the circumstances leading to his death, Camilleri has stated it is not clear if “there is anything criminal or not.” That being the case, police would have to determine whether aggravated harassment charges were appropriate. Whether or not the three suspects would be tried in juvenile court would depend on whether the alleged bullies were 16 years of age or older, Camilleri said. Donna Zimpfer, an assistant criminal justice professor at Hilbert College, has stated it is extremely important that bullying charges
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be severe enough to send a clear message because, as it stands now, there is a significant amount of ‘grey area’ where the law pertains to bullying and harassment. “Harassment here in New York state is a violation....[I]t’s important to understand that a violation is really no different than a traffic ticket. It’s most likely something that the family court would not even entertain, unless it escalates to something bigger where we see some true physical injuries on a person,” she said. Based on the type of bullying Jamey allegedly endured, such as cyber bullying, charges could be limited to harassment or aggravated harassment. Hate crime or aggravated suicide charges would be more severe. Bullying has evolved beyond mere schoolyard teasing and taunts. It is not “teasing”; it is a form of harassment which, in any other circumstance, would be illegal. The National Center for Educational Statistics, a program within the United States Department of Education, reports 28 percent of students aged 12 to 18 reported being bullied in school during the 2008-2009 school year. Despite bullying appearing to slow down as children get older from a high of 39 percent of all sixth graders to 20 percent of high school seniors, harassment of students based on sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity remains at 90 percent. Ironically, Jamey’s suicide coincided with National Suicide Awareness Week as well as the United States Department of Education’s first national conference on bullying on September 21st in Washington D.C. His death has garnered international attention. Celebrities ranging from Lady Gaga, one of Jamey’s icons, to Ricky Martin, Perez Hilton and Dan Savage, founder of It Gets Better and a well-known openly gay sex columnist, to Anderson Cooper and Diane Sawyer have expressed outrage, sadness, and support for his family and called for tougher harassment and anti-bullying laws. That’s wonderful and such calls should be applauded. But each time we hear of these suicides-due-to-bullying deaths, we hear the same calls for action and nothing is done. School districts speak out against bullying and talk about their anti-bullying programs, but nothing significant is done. Bullies are never held accountable. Parents too often turn a blind eye to it, refusing to believe it is their child who is engaging in this or, if the little darling is involved, “it’s just kids being kids.” It’s not. I worked on a program through Planned Parenthood a number of years ago trying to get anti-bullying material, specifically that aimed at sexual orientation, into schools throughout Southern Alberta, both urban and rural. Some school districts did take the material and “made it available” through guidance counselor offices to those who asked. Others flat out refused to accept the material, citing “parental concerns.” When various right-wing groups, posing as “concerned parents” learned of the material, they immediately launched a campaign denouncing “the gay agenda” and how we were attempting to infiltrate the schools with our “pro-homosexuality propaganda.” Considerable energy, that would have been better spent in reaching out to the youth who needed reaching out to and in refining and updating the material, was spent in debate at school board level with these people. And when some of us finally refused to continue meeting or debating with them, refused to continue to supply them with a platform to spew their misinformed views and arrogant refusal to learn, were accused of stifling “healthy discussion”! Somehow, because we refused to be subjected to this vitriol, we became antidemocratic! That was over ten years ago. And we haven’t progressed very much, have we?
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Flogging Molly
Photos by Dan Monick
By Jason Clevett With their unique blend of punk and Irish influence, not to mention their thought provoking lyrics and high energy live shows, over 14 years Flogging Molly has made a name for themselves. The band hits Edmonton October 8th at Rexall Place and Calgary at the Saddledome October 9th opening for Rise Against. The band – Dave King, wife Bridget Regan, Dennis Casey, Matthew Hensley, Nathen Maxwell, Robert Schmidt and George Schwindt – are touring behind Speed of Darkness, their 5th studio album. King, who is the primary songwriter for the group, lives part time in Detroit, and the state of the world today was a heavy influence on the new album. “When you walk on the streets of Detroit you can’t help but notice the abandoned buildings, something like 80% of the buildings downtown are abandoned,” explained bassist Nathen Maxwell. “Anyone who lives in the States, every time you turn on the TV you are constantly being bombarded with how shitty everything is. Most of us have friends and family who are out of work and hitting hard times. It is hard to escape it and a songwriter writes about what is going on inside of you, which is affected by what is going on around you. I have met people that are grateful we are singing about it. At the same time it is important to be said that it isn’t all woe is me look at how bad the situation is. It is really an album of hope and solution. Let’s stick together, maybe we can’t rely on our governments to help us so let’s get together and move forward.” GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine caught up with Maxwell on the phone in Moncton, a few days prior to them joining Rise 24
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Against on the road. It is a great opportunity to reconnect with long time fans and make some new ones while touring arenas, he says. “We are really looking forward to it, we have known Rise Against for 10 years and they are friends of ours, we respect them. Flogging Molly is the type of band that doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to support other bigger bands. We have done it a couple of times with The Foo Fighters and Green Day and both of them were great, we are looking forward to a similar experience. We were just with Rise Against in Budapest and hanging out backstage with them - it feels right, like a family. I am looking for a real good time. Also we usually play a 2 hour set every night, with them it is a 40 minute set so it should be a cakewalk in front of a big crowd.” It does pose a challenge, how to present the definitive Flogging Molly experience in such a short time frame. “We have so many songs with 5 studio albums out that we love, it can be difficult to pick a set to play. We aren’t a jam band playing a different set completely every night. We will find a set that works and tweak it here and there to make for a powerful experience. It is a work of art in itself, making a set list and that is usually left up to Dave as well. He takes a lot of pride in the way the set flows and is very particular about it. We have had a lot of experience through warped tour of short sets so it is nothing new to us. It should be a pretty high impact, high energy 45 minute set and a lot of fun.” You might look at bands like Flogging Molly, Rise Against, Foo Fighters and Green Day and see a common thread of
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“music with a message” whether political or otherwise. Maxwell sees things a little differently. “If you look at all three bands you will see three great rock bands who have been doing it for a long time and been soundtracks for a lot of our lives. I’ve been listening to Green Day for going on 20 years now. Is there a theme to how we all write songs? I don’t think so, we all have our politically motivated songs or social commentary songs but overall it is just great bands and we are thrilled to share the stage with them. Over the years we have genuinely developed friendships with these guys. Sitting backstage with Tre Cool from Green Day or Pat Smear from Foo Fighters it is still a thrill. They are normal guys but they have had a lot of success and hopefully that rubs off on you.” Music is a powerful tool. Rise Against has supported the It Gets Better Project, with their anti-bullying song Make It Stop (September’s Children). “Music saved my life, it is my church. You can’t underestimate the power of music. On our last record we did a video dedicated to those with post traumatic stress disorder. This is not a new story, it has been going on forever but a lot of people are coming back from war and having a hard time dealing with it all, so at the end of the video we had a message with a hotline reaching out to them. Everyone is trying to do the best they can. Even just putting on an old Bob Marley or Otis Redding record it soothes the soul and takes you out of the situation you are in. Music can take you away from your situation long enough that maybe you have a different point of view when you get back to your own reality. I don’t think musicians are preachers, we don’t have all the answers but we are just like every other human being – alive, aware, and have the right to speak our opinions through our music. In my life music connected to me when politics didn’t, when religion didn’t. The power is true.”
Flogging Molly Live in Concert with Rise Against October 8th - Rexall Place - Edmonton October 9th - Scotiabank Saddledome - Calgary www.floggingmolly.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2514
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
25
Event
This Year’s Exposure Festival ‘Raucous’ and Affordable Fun By Janine Eva Trotta Teeming with accessibility-focused events, this year’s Exposure Queer Arts and Culture Festival promises to “question, inspire, celebrate and expand the spectrum of Queer expressionism” from October 20th to 23rd in Alberta’s capital city. In its fifth annual run, Exposure has begun an ongoing partnership with the SPACE project, which promotes the assembly of community in sustainable, political, accessible spaces in Edmonton. As such, all Exposure 2011 events will be held in venues both physically and monetarily accessible to all, meaning pay what you can or suggested donation. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. “Partnering with the SPACE project is a natural extension of Exposure’s commitment to social justice, a commitment that extends beyond fighting homophobia to fighting racism, sexism, ableism and working for economic justice,” says Exposure Chair Catherine (Cato) Clune-Taylor. “We want this to be a festival for the community, that the community has a real hand in the making of, and a real investment in.” “Furthermore, we want the festival to be a vehicle for positive change, not only within the queer community, but within Edmonton and Alberta at large,” she continues. “For this reason we felt it particularly important to make clear that Exposure was not simply working for sexual justice, but for social justice for everyone.” Information on the accessibility features of every venue that will be part of this year’s festival will be available on the Exposure website. If you notice the website looking a little blank, that’s because the team has been hard at work finding suitable venues, a greater challenge over years past, but the festival program will be ready for perusal. “Happily [the site] is currently under construction and we do have a team of fabulous folks working on it,” Cato says. The festival does, however, require volunteers for other projects including preparation and hands for the events themselves. Those interested are asked to email Exposure volunteer coordinator Crystal (volunteer@exposurefestival. ca). In addition to new and exciting events 2011’s festival promises the return of old favourites. The festival will once again be partnering with the Jubilee Theatre Auditorium to present the Arty Carnival Redux, an interactive family program slated to take place the afternoon of Sunday, October 23rd. The Mindful Queer Body Workshop is also back – an opportunity for community members to “explore the issues of self care in the context of non-normative bodies and lives,” and, Cato says, “the festival closing party looks to be just as much raucous fun as in previous years.” Brand new to 2011, the festival is thrilled to be opening with Papirmasse-a-thon Exposure, a collaborative event led by Edmonton born, Montreal based artist Kirsten McCrea. “Kirsten’s commitment to making art accessible led her to found Papirmasse (www.papimasse.com), a monthly art subscription wherein subscribers receive a new print in the mail every month for only $5 a month,” Cato describes. “Over the course of this eight hour event, which will stretch from the afternoon into the evening, festival patrons are invited to come and take part in the printmaking process, with a new Papirmasse print being produced every hour.”
The eight Papirmasse prints will be exhibited at the closing party on Saturday, October 22nd, and prints of these will be on sale for $1 each. Thursday evening also offers a reading by Toronto based queer author Farzana Doctor from her new book Six Metres of Pavement. “Farzana’s first novel, 2007’s Stealing Nasreen, received immense critical acclaim and we are thrilled she is able to stop in Edmonton and spend some time with Exposure on her way to the Vancouver International Writers Festival,” Cato says. For anyone who has ever wanted to drag or vogue, a Drag and Vogue workshop will take place on Saturday, where participants can “get out there and strut their stuff with two seasoned veterans of the stage.” Added bonus: those who take part in the workshop will get to perform in the closing festival party later that evening. “This year, the board felt we really wanted to not only give back to the community that has supported us such that we can celebrate our fifth anniversary this year, but we wanted to queer the traditional passive art experience,” says Cato. “For this reason, you definitely see more of an emphasis in our program on interactive events; collaborative works.” As with most festivals, Exposure would not be possible without community fundraisers and good sponsors. A QueerCuts Dance Party, October 8th at the Ponytails and Horeseshoes Salon and the Jekyll and Hyde Pub, will mark the festival’s third fundraiser of the year. Attendees can get their coiffures cut for a suggested donation of only $10. While their first two fundraisers, All Bodies Pool Parties I and II, didn’t generate an overwhelming amount of funds for the festival, Cato still touts them “unqualified successes.” “We rented outdoor pools that were physically accessible, and made the washrooms gender neutral, providing a safe and accessible space for those members of our community who might not normally feel comfortable, or be physically able to go to a public pool. It gave them the opportunity to relax with friends, have some snacks, swim and simply enjoy themselves at a pool party,” she says. Keep your eyes open for more events like these throughout the year; to be held indoors of course. Exposure also thanks sponsors HIV Edmonton, TD Bank, VUE Weekly, GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine, and their volunteers. “Volunteering with the festival is an amazing way to get involved, to meet other wonderful, rad, queer folks in the community and to learn more about how the festival works from the inside,” Cato says. “We’re also going to begin board recruitment during the festival, so we would like to invite anyone who is interested in getting involved with the board to come out to the festival and chat with board members.”
Exposure Festival October 20th - 23rd www.exposurefestival.ca http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2515
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Interview
Photos by Paramout Pictures
‘Footloose’: So Much Gayer Than You Thought
Director and star on updating a classic, its subliminal gayness and the making of a new heartthrob By Chris Azzopardi Footloose is known just as much for its dancing as it is for the guy who did most of it – Kevin Bacon, who played Ren McCormack in the cult classic. But there’s a new heartthrob cutting loose on the dance floor in director Craig Brewer’s remake of the 1984 film. Meet Kenny Wormald, a professional dancer out of Los Angeles who knows what he’s in for with his first film: lots of gay fans. The 27-year-old, who stars alongside Burlesque actress/Dancing with the Stars winner Julianne Hough, takes on the star-making lead role, about a big-city boy moving to a small redneck town where the local community rules that the root of so many problems is dancing. So, they ban it. How could something so harmless be illegal? There’s more to it than you think, Brewer tells us, discussing how the point of Footloose may have more to do with gay rights. Sitting down in a Detroit hotel suite, the Hustle & Flow director – along with Wormald, who said he’s ready for all the gay adoration (if you saw him face-to-face, you’d know he has no choice) – also chatted about the missing shower scene, what was so gay about the ’80s and how you don’t have to be gay to get footloose. GC: Craig, what were important updates to make to a film that’s over 25 years old? CB: The biggest update was the thing that initially bumped with me about doing a remake, because I’m sure there are plenty of people who are angry and asking why we’re doing this – I was one of those people. The head of the studio called me to say, “I just refuse that you’re not going to do Footloose. You have the story, you have the music, you have complete creative control over this. What’s your Footloose?” That made me stop and think. Footloose was the most important movie to me in my young adult life; it really made me who I was. I was a kid in community theater, a singin’and-dancin’ kid, and seeing that movie was an important seminal moment for me when I was 13. I thought to myself, “If I did Footloose, I needed to make it less about god-damning kids to hell for dancing.” It wasn’t so much about the ban on dancing as much as – what’s kind of our new American pastime – overreacting. So if something happens, we make a bunch of laws. But sometimes those laws cause more www.gaycalgary.com
harm than they do good, and it usually takes somebody outside of the tragedy, outside of the whole town trauma, to say, “This is actually not right. This should be my right – I should be able to dance anyway I want.” GC: It’s another way of looking at the gay rights struggle. CB: There’s a good argument that that may have been part of the intention all along. Dean Pitchford wrote the original movie and the lyrics of the song, and I think there was something there – that you could be a guy who wore a skinny tie and spiky hair and go to a school that does not dress this way, that you know is going to make fun of you for being really into gymnastics. There is a defiance that Ren McCormack represented. As a kid who grew up in the ’80s with gay friends, Ren McCormack was a hero. People refer to it as a gay movie at times because of the dancing and the cheese factor, to some extent, and I understand that and I get it – but there’s a bigger theme there, which is, are you respectful and mature and confident in your own self that you can stand up in front of people and say, “Hello, my name is Ren McCormack”? GC: After giving us so much Justin Timberlake skin in Black Snake Moan, I was very sad to see the notorious shower scene cut out of this Footloose. CB: I am so glad you brought that up! So glad! (To Kenny) I don’t know if you know what he’s talking about, but let’s just say if the camera went down just an inch you’d see some junk. GC: It wouldn’t be a family movie. CB: (Laughs) It wouldn’t be! And they’re all talking about how to go up against the city council and they’re all dripping wet, fresh out of the shower – Chris Penn, Kevin Bacon, that big beefy dude. You can totally see pubes! My assistant always gave me shit, like, “What, you’re not going to do the shower scene?!” But yeah, it’s pretty erotic…for the right people. GC: Kenny, do you think most people still consider dance a “gay” thing? KW: When I was getting made fun of, I saw Footloose and the dance scene, and Ren was masculine and cool and it validated what I did. I was like, “Screw you!” Look at this guy – he’s
Continued on Next Page
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Interview - From Previous Page
awesome, he’s cool, he’s masculine. It definitely made me feel better about myself as a dancer. Nowadays with all the television shows, So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars, it shows that dance isn’t just for girls. Boys are doing hip-hop in the schoolyard and it’s cool; they’re not getting made fun of. It’s amazing how it’s changed in a matter of a decade or two. GC: When did you see the original Footloose? KW: I was probably 10, sometime in the ’90s. I was born in 1984. Me and Footloose came out together. (Laughs) GC: Footloose made Kevin Bacon a heartthrob – but not just for the girls. Gay guys fell for him, too. Are you prepared for the same kind of attention, Kenny? KW: Absolutely. It’s funny, I did a show called Dancelife on MTV and the majority of people who came up to me to say hey would be gay guys. I was flattered by that. But I embrace it. I love it. If it keeps happening and continues and they follow me in my career, it’s beautiful. CB: I’ve read some comments on Twitter. I think my favorite was, “I’m going to have to see Footloose because that guy’s kind of hunky hella hot.” I’m like, Kenny’s going to be huge in this community! It’s also, though, a testament to the role. I know a lot of people say it’s Kevin’s role and I understand that. Kevin did a lot for that role but, really, that role did a lot for Kevin. Back in ’84, I didn’t know who Kevin was, no one knew who Sarah Jessica Parker was, and that’s the great thing that actually doing a remake affords a filmmaker like myself – that the title of the movie is actually the biggest star. So how do I make people, especially young people, feel that same feeling that I felt when I saw it? Part of that is a fresh cast. When you have stars who’ve been in a bunch of movies now being the character that Kevin Bacon used to play, it just didn’t feel right to me. It felt like what people were assuming would be the worst of our intentions, which was we’re just doing this for a money grab. The biggest risk was that we took Footloose seriously. GC: When you look up Footloose and “gay” in Google, one of the links that comes up is, “Why does watching Footloose make me feel gay?” Did you ever feel that way watching it? CB: You know, per that comment, what’s funny about growing up in the ’80s is there are a lot of things that were kind of gay in the ’80s, but we didn’t completely know it. So yes, I was wearing fat-laced Pumas with neon shoelaces. Mousse was in my hair every day. And then, you’re even in a more difficult position because you’re a big Michael Jackson fan and you transition into being a Prince fan. But with Footloose, you can’t help it – you’re watching the angry dance scene and here’s a guy dancing with Jerome 28
GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
Robbins’ choreography. It’s like West Side Story. When I go to the angry dance scene and I’m seeing these guys in tight jeans and tight wife beaters and they’re flipping their head around and dancing, yeah, it may look gay, but boy, I loved it. And my dad loved it. And all the beefy Marines that were working down in Mare Island in Vallejo, Cali., they loved it too. (Laughs) GC: The language in the scene where Ren confronts his bully, Chuck Cranston, with a powerful comeback is changed from pansy to fag. Why that switch? CB: We actually said pansy and I was worried. I didn’t know if preteens were going to understand. We shot both pansy and fag. I was a little nervous about using the word fag – needless to say a lot of collaborators on this movie, even from the original, are gay, and I remember going to them, “I really want to make sure this comes off right. I need Chuck to say this but Ren’s reaction needs to show that he thinks it’s unacceptable, but it needs to be in a cool way.” So I played Footloose in Memphis, Tenn., and the line gets applause and I remember turning to my wife with a grin on my face going, “Could we be changing things with Footloose?” Like, I can’t believe I’m sitting here in a red state and the whole audience just reacted that way. GC: As a dancer yourself, how did you relate to Ren McCormack? And what did saying that line mean to you? KW: I used to get it pretty bad in school. They knew I danced and they were kind of cool with it because I was on the baseball team, but all the new kids found out and it was hell, man. I’m at the water fountain and it’s like, “fag,” “ballet boy” or “pussy.” It was pretty rough, specifically in junior high. I’m a dancer in L.A. and I’ve been there for eight, nine years now, so I’ve become friends with literally some of the most flamboyant humans on the planet, and I love them and we’re like brothers. They would – pardon my French – fuck someone up for me and have my back. My dancer teacher growing up is a gay guy, and he’s like my second dad. He’s probably going to get a little choked up at that part. To have their back and to get to say that line in the film is very powerful. GC: You’ve also danced in videos for some major gay icons like Mariah and Madonna. KW: I love what they’ve done for the community, so if I can get a little credit in that community, too – how great. CB: You got a good start with Footloose. (Laughs) KW: Even without the shower scene! That’ll be in the next one. CB: The European version.
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Gossip Zachary Quinto’s gay for Horror While Zachary Quinto (Heroes, Star Trek) has maintained what we might call a “respectful silence” about his private life, he’s certainly never shied away from taking on gay roles, most recently in the acclaimed Broadway revival of Angels in America. (Or from making an “It Gets Better” video, for that matter.) Now Quinto’s about to take on another gay role, this time on Ryan Murphy’s much-anticipated scary show for FX, American Horror Story, where he’ll portray the man who sells the haunted Victorian manor to the show’s lead characters, played by Dylan McDermott and Connie Britten. Quinto and Britten are slated to become pals on the show over the four episodes in which Quinto is slated to appear – he’ll first turn up on a two-part episode airing Halloween week. So if you like getting spooked by Spock (and really, who doesn’t?), tune in. Billie Piper’s Love Life is all student/teacher–y
Blake Lively, photo by Warner Bros. Pictures
Deep Inside Hollywood Ready for The Young Carrie Bradshaw Chronicles? By Romeo San Vicente From this summer’s X-Men: First Class to the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man, youthful reboots are all the rage – but prequels aren’t just for superheroes anymore. And while first there were just rumblings, there are now more definite plans for HBO’s developing series (that would probably air elsewhere, most likely the CW) focusing on younger versions of the Sex and the City quartet. Imagine something along the lines of Smallville, only with Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha instead of Clark Kent. With two recent “Teen Carrie” books by Candace Bushnell, The Carrie Diaries and Summer in the City, freshly ready for adaptation, this could all get moving quickly. Early casting news buzzing about Blake Lively has now grown to include talk of Emma Roberts. Who knows, maybe Selena Gomez is looking to change her image; if so, then there’s your Charlotte. And if the show wanted to incorporate a genuine element of the surreal into the proceedings, they could just let Kim Cattrall keep playing Samantha. OK, maybe Samantha’s slutty grandmother.
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
Once known as a ’90s British pop princess, Billie Piper has successfully leapt the wall into acting with her acclaimed turns as a companion on Doctor Who and as an entirely different kind of companion on Secret Diary of a Call Girl. But now Piper will be getting an apple (at the very least) on a new BBC drama called Love Life. Her character is described as a schoolteacher who, after a disappointing fling with a married man, discovers herself being attracted to one of her female students. TV schoolboys have gotten hot for teacher on everything from Dawson’s Creek to Degrassi, but getting a lesbian spin, from the instructor’s POV no less, helps level the pop culture playing field of inappropriate romance. We’ll see how it works out when Love Life – which also stars Ab Fab’s Jane Horrocks and Piper’s fellow Doctor Who alum David Tennant – premieres next year. Sundance hit Shut Up Little Man! heads for Theaters Two Midwestern punk rock dudes moved to San Francisco in the late ’80s, only to be kept awake at night by the loud and boisterous arguments of their drunken neighbors, one gay, one straight and both very familiar with alcohol. The fascinated new tenants tape-recorded the fights, which later led to zines and duplicated cassettes and staged readings that became an underground cultural phenomenon. That’s the story of Shut Up Little Man!, the darkly hilarious (and also remarkably sad) documentary that premiered at Sundance this year, and now it’s heading to theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Sept. 16. (The film is currently available on-demand as well.) It’s a fascinating portrait, not just of the battling boozehounds next door but also of pre-Internet culture, when something going “viral” was a process that took months and years, the products of cassette tape or copy paper. Given how today’s YouTube sensation becomes tomorrow’s has-been, it’s a strangely retro reminder of the extremely recent past.
Romeo San Vicente is ready for sweater weather. He can be reached care of this publication.
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Lifestyle
Cocktail Chatter Irene – a Category 5 Cocktail by Ed Sikov “Jack Fogg started it,” I whined. “You sound like a 6-year-old,” Dan replied. “But he did! It wasn’t my fault.” “Oh yes it was,” Dan said with finality. “He held out the bait, but you’re the one who made the choice to bite.” I hate this kind of conversation – where you begin in satisfying moral outrage and end in abject shame. This one flipped in 15 seconds. I had no time to vent before Dan terminated the discussion with his wise observation, which was a line I’d used on him about eight months ago. There had been un petit scene at the beach house. It was mercifully short – no blood, no corpses – but only because I bit my tongue and didn’t point out to Mr. Harvard C. N. N. Aging Prepster that he was the most obnoxious ass I had ever plowed, and that he’d taken quite a different tone with me when I rammed my etc. etc. etc. We were all lined up on loungers around the pool: Jack Fogg, Sammy, Paolo, Chipper, Dan and me. Having finished sweeping up the leaves and branches that littered the deck, we stripped down to our swimsuits, and were happily watching in lust as the shirtless, straight, but turnedon-by-gay-gawkers pool boy skimmed and vacuumed more leaves out of the pool. Each of us had un cocktail du weekend in hand, and life was beautiful. Then Jack Fogg cleared his throat portentously. My back was up even before he said anything. “Don’t you think you’re being, uh, a little obvious?” “About what?” I snarled. “I mean, really. Hurricanes?” He snickered smugly. “It’s a theme drink,” I said with forced merriment – “the bartender’s answer to occasional verse.” “Every queen on this island is drinking Hurricanes this weekend,” Jack Fogg barreled on. “You made us trite.” I noted with bitter amusement that he was polishing off his second Hurricane at the time. “I told you,” I said, irritated. “They are not Hurricanes. They are Irenes.” “You only used guava juice instead of passion fruit because the Pantry sold out of passion fruit. Their entire stock of passion fruit juice had already been snapped up by every other cliché-prone cocktail dominatrix in the Pines.” Dan’s hand shot over and held my arm down. He knew that I was about to throw my Irene in Jack Fogg’s face. “Boys,” said Paolo. “Girls,” said Chipper. “Dudes!” said Sammy. “You’re both out of your friggin’ minds! I don’t care what they’re called or what’s in them or whether they’re named ‘Michele Bachmanns.” “Wait a minute,” Dan objected, but Sammy steamrolled through. “They’re awesome!” “I named them,” Chipper announced. “What? You think ‘The Irene’ is clever? That was the goddamn storm’s name!” This came not from Jack but from Paolo. “I didn’t call them ‘the Irene.’ They are simply, chicly named ‘Irene.’ Just one diamond-solitaire word. Like Adrian or Travilla. In fact, like Irene!” I high-fived Chipper for his command of one-named costume designers from the 1930s. “Who?” asked Sammy. “Never mind,” I said, winking at Chipper. “You’re too young. And that’s why we adore you.” I got up, knelt next to Sammy, kissed him squarely on his rock-like six-pack, and headed for the kitchen to make another round.
Pernod and Roses “I went out with Jennifer and the gals last night,” Ramona said just before she dug into her salad Niceoise. A little bistro had opened on West 18th Street – Le Quai à Nice. All very lovely and evocative, until Ramona made a face after tasting the tuna. She shrugged and took another bite. “We went to that awful ‘Kittens’ place in Soho on Saturday. Blecchhh! Lily wanted to go. Never again. Anyway, for the first time in like forever I got really wasted. Margaritas.” She leaned toward me confidentially. “So I did something I never did before: I took the bus home!” “So?” I said. “Well, I made it home safely, which was surprising, since I never drove a bus before.” She spread out her arms in a “ta-da!” gesture, which caused me to laugh so abruptly that I choked on a bit of frisee and briefly wondered if Ramona could be trusted to actually perform the Heimlich maneuver rather than just take my gagging literally – as a gag. The joke was pure Ramona. I’ve adored her for 35 years. “So Mo,” I said. “What am I going to do about Dan?” “Dan who?” It’s not that she didn’t like my partner. She was just wildly jealous of him. If I hadn’t come out during our senior year in college, I’d have married Ramona. She was stunned and hurt by my big revelation, which I accomplished involuntarily when Mo caught me getting blown by an all-but-blind physics major. After the operatic and very public first week (the spectators being the entire student body of Haverford College, the opera reminiscent of Lucia di Lammermoor), she recovered quickly. Her rampant sex drive saw to that. She didn’t exactly set out to plow her way through the soccer team, but she didn’t leave many guys out in the cold. Her mother hasn’t spoken to me since. “Come on, Mo,” I said. “This isn’t funny.” New York State had just legalized same-sex marriage when Dan stopped speaking to me over my fling with Jack Fogg. The timing wasn’t ironic. It felt more like inescapable fate – dark and portentous, kind of like Oedipus but without me screwing my mother and gouging my eyes out. “Guiltyflora.com?” She smirked at her own wit. I giggled. “Please?” I begged. “OK,” she said through a mouthful of green beans. “Here’s whatcha do. One night when he’s at home working into the wee hours, get out of bed, go to the secret place where you’ve hidden a dozen red roses – long stem; you’ll look bad if you cut corners – and surprise him. Be naked. It’s both sexy and abject, both of which you are.” She forked another bunch of beans and delivered them to her still-chewing mouth. “Mmm, ‘n get down on one knee. Act chivalrous.” So I did. I hid the roses in a vase in the closet where I keep my toolbox; I’s bet his life he’d never go in there. Naked, I offered my apology, roses and love to my life partner, and he accepted it. I also brought out a bottle of Pernod and two glasses. Then we… well, it’s actually too personal to write about, even for me. Pernod, the legendary anise-flavored aperitif, is mixed with a little water and served in what are called longdrink glasses – tall liqueur glasses that flare out beautifully at the top. I bought ours on eBay. I remember the items’ description vividly: “Rare and Superb Pernod Glasses.” I got two for $1.98 each plus shipping.
“Irene” – a Category 5 Cocktail 2 oz. dark rum 2 oz. light rum 1 oz. guava juice .5 oz. orange juice 1 squirt lemon juice
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Add all the ingredients to a tall glass, stir, add some ice, and serve. Makes one drink.
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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The Gospel According to Kristin Chenoweth Singer talks country music, queers and Christians
Kristin Chenoweth, photos by Jeremy Cowart
By Chris Azzopardi One of the most happy-go-lucky ladies in showbiz, Kristin Chenoweth doesn’t get miffed very easily. But when she does, she does. And last year she did, after Newsweek published a commentary on the inability of gay actors to play straight roles. It upset the 43-year-old actress/singer so much she wrote an extensive letter to the magazine, calling the article “horrendously homophobic,” which was published shortly after the debacle – and which she spoke about during this interview. Chenoweth’s allegiance to the gay community goes way back to being a child and growing up in the South – a place she returned to for her latest album, Some Lessons Learned, her first of four to fully embrace her country roots. But her success hasn’t been confined to just the music business; Chenoweth broke out on Broadway, where she originated the role of Glinda in Wicked and most recently starred alongside Will & Grace star Sean Hayes in Promises, Promises. There’s also been a book (2009’s A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love and Faith in Stages), and several TV spots: Pushing Daisies, Glee and, coming soon to ABC, Good Christian Belles. So we had lots to talk about when we recently caught up with Chenoweth, who was on a dinner break from shooting her upcoming sitcom. During it, she discussed her history of dating gay men, her opinion on Michele Bachmann’s support of gay conversion clinics and being a little bit wicked. GC: I can’t get over your character’s last name on Good Christian Belles: Cockburn. Carlene Cockburn. 32
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KC: (Laughs) You can’t?! I can’t wait for my family to hear that one. GC: I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s thought this. KC: Oh no. Are you kidding? I was like, “Wait a minute!” But I just think the most important thing for me as an actress, because of the lines that come out of my mouth, is to just have to speak them and keep going, because they’re so funny and her name is so funny and the whole thing is just so great. I love it. GC: Does your character have anything in common with April Rhodes, who you play on Glee? KC: (Laughs) Probably not on paper, but they’re both pretty outlandish people. Carlene, though, is the antithesis of April. GC: Speaking of April, when do you think we’ll see her on Glee again, considering the ban on guest stars for the third season of the show? KC: I don’t know! Nobody’s mentioning it, so I’m hoping it happens. I certainly love her. She’s so fun to play. GC: You grew up in Oklahoma, so country music is your roots. How is this album a reflection of that? KC: It’s so funny, because I get asked, “Why a country album now?” But that’s how it all began for me – and, of course, why would anyone know that? It’s not something I’ve been talking about a lot, but it’s the music I grew up listening to. One of my biggest influences is Dolly Parton, and when you look at the history of songs in musical theater and in country, they’re both usually great storytellers.
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I know just how lucky I am to do this kind of music. Getting to go to Nashville and sing this music that feels like home to me was a real gift, and one that I don’t take lightly. GC: “What Would Dolly Do?” reminds me a lot of Dolly herself. KC: I co-wrote that, and (producer) Bob Ezrin asked, “Who’s had the biggest influence on you country music-wise?” I said, “Dolly, without question.” And he said, “How would she approach it? Let’s think: What would Dolly do?” I said, “Bob, why aren’t we writing that song?” There’s something about her that I feel very attuned to. There’s only one Dolly. I’m not comparing myself, but I’m just saying her spirit and the way she looks at life is pretty similar to me. And the cover I did of hers (“Change”) is actually a very emotional thing and it reminded me – of course, how could I ever forget? – what an amazing songwriter she is. You know, I didn’t do a lot of covers. I did two covers, one of Carrie (Underwood’s) and one of Dolly’s, and I just love both of them. I love their music, I love their spirit; everything they stand for. GC: It makes total sense, because, to me, both you and Dolly epitomize happiness. KC: Oh my god, thank you. That’s the biggest compliment you could give me. GC: It’s true. You are two of the happiest people I know of. So, tell me… what pisses you off? KC: (Laughs) Oh gosh. I don’t really get mad that often. But I’m not going to lie, when I do, there’s a quiet that comes over me that is a little like whoa, and that happens when I don’t feel other people are prepared or doing their job or pulling their weight. I come from a family where my dad came from nothing and worked hard to
get where he is, and he said, “Work hard, play hard, Kris,” and I guess that’s kind of been my motto in life. So when I see people squandering opportunities or having a sense of entitlement, that really makes me crazy. Because I don’t understand it. It’s not a world I get. GC: You’re driving, so how about something that ticks you off about other drivers? KC: You know what, I don’t get road rage! I just don’t. I’m like, “OK, you cut me off – you must need to go somewhere a lot quicker than I do. Go on then.” And also, I’ve had so many people in my life be affected by car wrecks, and I’ve had a few myself, that I just have realized, “Eh, you know, life’s too short.” GC: I know one thing that makes you upset, and that’s homophobic people. KC: I don’t like that, you’re right. GC: Your letter in response to that Newsweek column said it all. Why was it important to address your feelings on that issue? KC: To be honest with you, I wasn’t prepared for what was going to happen. I was on Broadway doing Promises, Promises, and I read the article and I actually thought it was pretty irresponsible. I’m not even talking about whether a person agrees with being gay or not, I’m talking about artistry and gay actors trying to play straight. It just made me mad, because I thought, “Well, I’ve played a prostitute, does that mean I am one? No.” I just thought it was a little bit of a bullying thing, and I honestly prayed about it – no kidding, I prayed about it. I wrote that letter in one fell swoop and I gave it to a good friend of mine to proofread, because the last thing I wanted to do was sound like an idiot, which I can do as well. So we sent it on and the next thing I know, they printed it. And by the way, I’m a big fan of the magazine, which is why I was so bummed. But I think that they felt bad and hopefully there’s been some discussion about it and some learning, because that’s what we’re here to do on this Earth, to learn our purpose. Well, one of my purposes in this life – since I’m a believer and a Christian –
Continued on Next Page
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Interview - From Previous Page is to help people realize that not every Christian thinks that being gay is a sin. GC: To reinforce your stance that gay actors can indeed act straight, you made out with your Promises, Promises co-star Sean Hayes at the Tonys last year. KC: It might’ve been a little jib. It might’ve been a little one. (Laughs) GC: What was it like to make out with a gay man, and was that your first time making out with one? KC: Well, let’s face it, my high school boyfriend is gay, so I don’t think it’s my first time making out with gay men – and I bet a lot of women don’t even know they’ve done it! And Sean Hayes is just a darn good kisser, what can I say? GC: Wait, so you dated a gay man in high school? KC: Yeah, and I’m like, “Well, that’s why we were such a great couple!” He didn’t pleasure me in any way but he helped me pick out my prom dress! GC: Was he one of the first gay people you knew in Oklahoma? KC: Yeah. I want to tell you something I know about myself: When I was in the second or third grade, I first heard the word “dyke,” and it was in reference to a girl in our school who was very, very tomboyish – and I didn’t really understand what the word was, but I knew I didn’t like the way it was said. And for some reason I’ve always been drawn to the person that was alone, and I don’t mean to make me sound like I’m Mother Teresa, because I’m not, but I’ve always been drawn to people who felt left out or different, and maybe it’s because I too felt different and unique. People would not think this of me, because there’s this perception of me that, “Oh, life’s been perfect and things have come so easily.” But let’s face it, my speaking voice is very interesting. Yes, I was a cheerleader but I also wanted to do all the plays, I was in renaissance choir, and I too felt a little bit like an outsider. I was always drawn to people who felt that way too. And sure, some of them were gay and I never did understand – I guess the word is fear. God made us all equal. He made me short, he made someone gay, he made someone tall – whatever it is, it’s not a sin; it’s how we’re made. And that’s the way I feel about it. It flies in the face of a lot of what Christians believe, but as I’m finding out there’s a lot of Christian people who think the same as me. So that’s my deal, and I think we should not be careful of the unknown but rather accepting and loving of it. GC: As someone who’s Christian and supports the gay community, how do you feel about the pray-away-the-gay program that Michele Bachmann supports? KC: (Long pause) Um, you know what – you can have your opinion. One of the great things about being in this country is we get to freely say what we believe. I just don’t happen to agree with that. I like the pray part! (Laughs)
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Event
The Return of Movember By Carey Rutherford Prostate Cancer Canada is running off with the month following October. They are swapping it for Movember, and focussing our awareness on men’s health initiatives. With that in mind, the PR firm that is helping them in this effort supplies an information sheet with some of those wonderfully scary statistics that we all love to read, and hate to be. Occurrences of prostate cancer in men is comparable to the rates of breast cancer in women; 1 in 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime; 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime; men of African or Caribbean descent are 65 per cent more likely to develop prostate cancer than Caucasian men. There is an unfortunate, and unexpected, fact underlying these stats: you’ve probably heard about breast cancer checkups, but how often do you hear about prostate cancer checkups? Women have addressed and organized a response to their major health concern of the late 20th century, and men have fallen behind. As the information above mentions, prostate cancer claims a comparable number of victims to breast cancer, but it is a hidden disease. We (men) don’t talk about it, we don’t have it monitored, and so like other cancers, we become victims. Jack Layton was unfortunately, simply a reflection of a general men’s cancer statistical trend. And he would have been a perfect Movember poster boy, with his infamous mustache. Let’s be honest, man to man: have you ever even said the words “prostate cancer”, to anyone, let alone another man? We thought not. Movember was begun in Melbourne by a group of beer drinking men looking for a cause, and believing, more importantly, that “it was time to bring back the moustache.” In order to justify their “Mo” (Aussie slang for moustache), the astonishingly successful Movember Movement was started. And despite these humble roots in 2003, “this November will mark the 5th Movember campaign in Canada, which will continue to raise funds for Prostate Cancer Canada. In 2010, almost 119,000 Mo Bros and Mo Sistas used the power of the Mo to raise $22 million for our beneficiary partner… The funds raised are directed to programs run directly by Movember and our men’s health partner, Prostate Cancer Canada.” As an internet-focussed campaign, Movember is both a lot viral and a little irreverent. Whether you’re picking up Mo grooming tips, checking out the ‘Moscars’ (videos by participants celebrating, bemoaning, or fantasizing about their Mos), or registering online as an individual, a team or a company, it’s no surprise that so far 1.1 Million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas have agreed to participate. Formal campaigns have cropped up in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and Ireland. “Movember believes that a moustache crafted with pride is a sign of (a) true gentleman.” Let the Mo-ing (and the conversations) begin.
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
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Event
Cazwell Comes to Calgary NYC Bad Boy DJ Plays Saturday at Club Sapien
heterosexual one. I want stars to come out without a worry. I believe by performing as a gay person about gay topics I am helping with that.” So, for all those who complain that Alberta lacks in gay entertainment (you know who you are), it’s time to think again. With class acts such as Cazwell making his debut in both Edmonton and Calgary this year, we have only just begun.
By Dallas Barnes http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2521
If I was a gay boy my new love would be Cazwell, AKA the best thing to happen to the NYC party scene in the last five years.
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Luckily for all you guys in Calgary that had the chance to see him play a live DJ show at Club Sapien the night of this past October 1st, it was tremendous. This was the first time he has been to Calgary, and he couldn’t have been more excited about seeing what and who Calgary had to offer. “Canada has always been good to me,” says Cazwell as he takes time to talk to me from New York City. “I plan on performing while DJing,” which is definitely his style. Check out his videos on YouTube, especially Ice Cream Truck, which is also full of eye candy from what I can tell. Speaking of eye candy, Pure Pride, co-sponsor of the event provided their own cast as “Ice Cream Truck Boys” and scouted out potential guys to join their team. Cazwell was definitely looking forward to this part of the event. “I am looking for boys that can smile and shake their ass,” mused Cazwell, “I love go-go boys that smile.” Opening for the show were Calgary faves DJ JayFraid and DJ Goldstar. For Mike Gray, owner of Club Sapien the night was perfect. “We are building a positive gay culture and community with sold-out shows like Miami Heat and Cazwell. What an awesome night! Calgary has really responded to our positive high energy events.” This is the type of operation that Cazwell seeks for his performance venues. “In New York City there are some amazing smaller parties that are replacing the ambience of big clubs that were popular years ago, such as BCBG and The Roxy,” Cazwell explained. “It isn’t the drug vibe that was popular before. Now the worst I see is generally alcohol and pot. These are smaller parties in smaller locations and there is a real sexy vibe going on.” Cazwell explained his motivation behind the homoerotic nature of his music. “I like to talk about my life in my songs and in my performances. I want gay men to feel just as entitled to have sex with other men as a straight man is to have sex with women.” And why not? Straight men have been singing about women since the beginning of time. “I remember playing a show and there were about 100 bears that were singing along. They knew all of the lyrics! I felt really cool to be gay!” He continued to elaborate on his theory of queerdom. “I am not a political person by any means, but I am very political in the way that I live my life and perform. I want the queer conversation to be just as comfortable as a
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
35
Out of Town
Michigan Vacation: Saugatuck, Ann Arbor & Detroit
Oval Beach, in Saugtauck
By Andrew Collins As the cooler weather of early autumn settles in, southern Michigan becomes a particularly enchanting spot for a vacation. Here’s a look at three very different communities in this part of the state: artsy and coastal Saugatuck, collegiate and progressive Ann Arbor, and scrappy and culturally rich Detroit. Each makes an appealing weekend destination, or you could easily visit all three of these places as part of an extended road trip through the region. Here’s the skinny on what these three Michigan destinations have to offer, from friendly gay bars and stylish restaurants to some of the Midwest’s most acclaimed cultural attractions. Saugatuck The charming town of Saugatuck (www.saugatuck.com), in combination with the neighboring village of Douglas, offers a bounty of urbane restaurants, handsome B&Bs, funky boutiques, and highquality art galleries, as well as some of the most picturesque beach frontage on Lake Michigan. The towns are separated by a wide expanse of the Kalamazoo River, which empties into Lake Michigan. From one village center to the other, it’s just a mile’s drive or stroll, and it’s also a mile from either community to the sweeping Oval Beach (gays and lesbians tend to congregate more at the northern section of this sandy sunbathing mecca). If you’re in an outdoorsy mood, consider paddling around town in a kayak - Running Rivers Kayak Rentals offers tours and rentals. For a little more exercise, climb the 282 steps to the top of the area’s highest sand dune, Mt. Baldhead, which affords stunning views. Worthy dining options in Saugatuck include Wicks Park Bar & Grill (www.wickspark.com), an attractive gastropub that presents live music many nights, and convivial Uncommon Grounds (uncommongroundscafe.
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GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #96, October 2011
com) coffeehouse, a good place to pick up an over-stuffed sandwich, slice of carrot cake, or espresso. In downtown Douglas, the outstanding Everyday People Cafe (everydaypeoplecafe.com) serves beautifully prepared contemporary fare and has a lively bar following among the local gay set. And for a light lunch or decadent snack, try Cookies on Call (www.cookiesoncall.com), noted for its white-chocolate-and-caramel or dark-chocolate-and-dried-blueberry cookies. Considered the Midwest’s largest gay hotel, the Dunes Resort (dunesresort.com), is also the area’s top nightlife draw, with a large dance floor, piano cabaret, and a huge fenced-in sundeck and bar with a large pool and lush foliage. The rambling 20-acre compound has 65 hotel units, ranging from cottages to conventional rooms; some rooms have fireplaces and hot tubs. You’ll find no shortage of historic B&Bs in the area, many of them gayowned, including the elegant and inviting Kirby House (www.kirbyhouse. com), a stately 1890 Queen Anne on the edge of downtown Douglas. Talented gay author Salvatore Sapienza (Seventy Times Seven) and his partner Greg operate Saugatuck’s wonderful Beechwood Manor (www. beechwoodmanorinn.com), which has three lovely rooms and a petfriendly three-bedroom cottage. It’s close to downtown but on a quiet, tree-shaded street. A bit farther afield is the gracious Belvedere Inn (www. thebelvedereinn.com), a regal 1913 mansion designed by a colleague of Frank Lloyd Wright - it’s about 3 miles northeast of Saugatuck. The Belvedere’s superb restaurant, which serves such rarefied Continental cuisine, makes a perfect setting for celebrating a special occasion. There are also a few affordable motels around the area, including the gay-owned Pines Motor Lodge (www.thepinesmotorlodge.com), a rustic but retro-hip, pale-green motor court that’s been beautifully restored, its 13 rooms with simple but stylish decor. The owners also rent a guest house and cottages.
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An absolute must-see is the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), whose central foyer contains spectacular Depression-era frescoes by Diego Rivera. The museum, whose collection holds 65,000 works, anchors the Cultural Center district - near the campus of Wayne State University. Nearby you can visit such notable attractions as the Detroit Historical Museum as well as the Motown Museum, which celebrates the careers of such R&B legends as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, and the Jackson 5. Walk along downtown’s main drag, Woodward Avenue, and you’ll come upon a stellar theater district, a highlight of which is the fantastically elaborate 1927 Fox Theatre. Within walking distance is the Bonstelle Theatre, where Lily Tomlin got her start; Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, home of the Detroit Symphony; and the impressive Detroit Opera House, which boasts one of the world’s largest stages.
The 73-story GM Renaissance Center is one of the icons of the Detroit skyline
Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, which is anchored by the University of Michigan (U of M), has long been a beacon of liberal politics, high culture, and vibrant campus living. For the city’s many gays and lesbians, the great sense of community and tolerance make it a wonderful place to live. The city’s human-scale downtown and spirited campus meld together almost imperceptibly. You can get a feel for area by strolling across the campus green - known as the Diag (short for “Diagonal”). Be sure to set aside time to visit the of U of M Museum of Art, whose collections span 13,000 years; the U of M Museum of Natural History, one of the best such-museums in the state. Ann Arbor’s downtown is characterized by brick sidewalks, oldfashioned gas lamps, diverse architecture, and an abundance of boutiques, art galleries, and restaurants. It’s a short walk to the funky Kerrytown neighborhood, where you can stop by one of the most acclaimed gourmetfood markets and delis in the Midwest, Zingerman’s (www.zingermans. com), and grab a seat on the sunny terrace to enjoy a memorable lunch or breakfast. Other notable eateries around Ann Arbor include the contemporary West End Grill (www.westendgrillannarbor.com), which draws raves for its deftly prepared seafood and steaks. For stellar mod-Asian cuisine, consider Pacific Rim by Kana (pacificrimbykana.com). Seva (www.sevarestaurant. com) vegetarian eatery is a great spot for bountiful salads and garden burgers, and Grizzly Peak (grizzlypeak.net) turns out terrific hand-crafted beers and interesting food. If you’re in town at breakfast of brunch-time, check out Zola Cafe and Bistro (www.cafezola.com), which is also quite popular for lunch, dinner, or even just a latte or fresh smoothie. Ann Arbor has one gay bar, Aut Bar (autbar.com), a welcoming venue with a diverse crowd - it’s set inside a converted 1916 house in Kerrytown, next to the GLBT bookstore, Common Language. The city’s favorite dance club, the Necto (www.necto.com) is also fun and has a gay party on Tuesdays. Ann Arbor contains a typical mix of chain motels and hotels as well as a handful of smaller, more distinctive properties. Right on campus, the Bell Tower Hotel (www.belltowerhotel.com) occupies a handsomely preserved building with reproduction antiques. And the Burnt Toast Inn (www. burnttoastinn.com) has seven moderately priced rooms, a great location in a historic neighborhood, and - despite the name - tasty Continental breakfasts.
To get a full sense of metro Detroit, venture out of downtown. A bit east you’ll find 1,000-acre Belle Isle, an urban retreat in the middle of the Detroit River - it’s home to a fine beach and good jogging and biking paths. Drive northwest along Woodward Avenue to Ferndale, a formerly working-class community that’s become something of a gay stronghold over the years. Its main drag, West 9 Mile Road, has a few cool boutiques and vintage stores. The next town north, Royal Oak, is another bastion of hip dining and retail. And still farther up Woodward Avenue, you’ll find upscale restaurants and shops in attractive Birmingham, and the acclaimed and recently renovated and expanded Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills - it was designed by modernist architectural legend Eliel Saarinen, whose nearby house is open seasonally for tours. Head west to Dearborn, the heart of the America’s auto-manufacturing heritage, to tour the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, a fascinating 81-acre complex of historic homes and structures moved here from across the country as well as an incomparable museum that traces the development of American technological innovation over the generations. When it comes to dining, metro Detroit has a number of highly regarded options. One of the most famous is Opus One (www.opus-one.com), set inside a former taxi garage built by Louis Kahn in 1916, and serving superb contemporary food. A funky eatery on the edge of the Cultural Center, the Majestic Cafe (majesticdetroit.com) scores high marks for its art exhibits and eclectic comfort food, while lesbian-owned Avalon International Breads (www.avalonbreads.net) is renowned among foodies for its fine coffees, artisan breads, and delicious sandwiches and salads. And Slows Bar-B-Q (slowsbarbq.com) is one of the top urban barbecue joints in the country, earning raves for its St. Louis-style ribs and sliced brisket. In Ferndale, snag a table at the atmopsheric Fly Trap Diner (www. theflytrapferndale.com) to sample heavenly gingerbread waffles or one of the best BLTs in the area. Long-time gay favorite Como’s (comosferndale. com) is a good bet for red-sauce Italian fare. Royal Oak restaurant notables include the dapper Town Tavern (towntavernroyaloak.com), and the charming Cafe Muse (www.cafemuseroyaloak.com), which serves a delectable grilled cheese that’s been featured in Esquire Magazine. Fans of clubbing will find plenty of options in these parts. The most popular spots include Royal Oak’s gay video bar Pronto (www. prontorestaurant.com), which adjoins the lovely restaurant of the same name; Ferndale’s sophisticated yet friendly SOHO (www.sohoferndale. com) lounge; and such Detroit mainstays as Menjo’s Complex, where Madonna used to party back in her early days; Gigi’s (www.gigisbar.com), which employs a stable of hot male dancers. Among lodging options, consider the upscale Marriott Detroit (www. marriott.com), which is set inside the soaring 73-story main tower of the GM Renaissance Center, and - across the street - the more moderately priced Courtyard Marriott (www.detroitdowntowncourtyard.com). Also excellent is the sleek Atheneum Suite Hotel (www.atheneumsuites.com) all of these are close to Detroit’s festive Greektown and that neighborhood’s popular Greektown Casino. A short drive from downtown, the charming and historic Inn on Ferry Street (innonferrystreet.com) offers inviting accommodations - it comprises four meticulously renovated Queen Anne homes plus a pair of Victorian carriage houses.
Detroit The country’s 18th largest city is difficult to get a full grasp of on a short visit, but with a couple of days, you do at least have enough time to see some incredible museums, dine at some outstanding restaurants, and check out a few of Michigan’s best gay bars.
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Photography Aids Calgary Aids Walk
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Photography HIV Edmonton Aids Walk
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Photography ISCWR Investitures at the Junction - Edmonton
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Photography Gong Show at the Texas Lounge - Calgary
CAANS Aids Walk - Red Deer
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Onyx’s Beswick Fundraiser at the Texas Lounge - Calgary
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Interview
Photos by Jesus Cordero
Gloria Reaches Out to the Gays
The Queen of Latin Pop talks conservative upbringing, gay marriage and controversial Target deal By Chris Azzopardi Gloria Estefan isn’t called the Queen of Latin Pop for nothing. Over three decades – and counting – she’s earned it. Since needing a “Dr. Beat” to control her feet in the ’80s, then as part of Miami Sound Machine, Estefan has amassed seven Grammy awards and released 25 albums (selling over 90 million copies of them worldwide), spawning hits like “Conga,” “Reach” and “Rhythm is Gonna Get You” – which it did, many times over. And it will yet again with Miss Little Havana, her first English-language release since 2003 that returns to her Latin-dance roots with producer Pharrell Williams’ urban flair. The album, though, isn’t just getting buzz for being her longawaited comeback – but the way it’s being released. Estefan partnered with Target, known for its recent support of anti-gay politics, for the release of Miss Little Havana (it’s also available through iTunes). In this exclusive chat, the 54-year-old performer opened up about the deal, why she hopes you’ll give the corporation another chance and just how deep her everlasting love for the gay community goes. GC: Have you done an interview with gay press before? GE: Oh yes, many times. (Laughs) That’s my core audience. These are the people that broke me in a lot of clubs. My gay following has always been cutting edge in music and discovered my stuff before it ever became big on radio. The very first remix we did of “Dr. Beat” was done by a guy named Pablos Flores who became huge in the dance market after that, but he used to spin at a gay club in Puerto Rico and we found out he was a big fan. So they’ve always been a big part of my career. GC: Ever got down and done the conga in a gay club? GE: Not the “Conga,” because in that gay club we were unknown at that time, but I did a lot of dancing there in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, for me, I haven’t been able to go to any clubs, period – gay or straight – because I’ve been working since I was 17 in a band, so usually I was the one performing when everyone else was having a good time. But I would love that – they’re the most fun clubs, I’m sure. GC: Who does a better conga – gay or straight men? GE: (Laughs) Are you kidding me? You’re actually asking that question? I mean, who dances better, period?! GC: When you look back at your career – the hair, the fashion, all of that – why do you think you make such a great drag queen? GE: I don’t know, but I got to tell you: I love it! Every time I see them, I say, “They do me much better than I do,” because I’m the reluctant diva. I didn’t like being the center of attention, but I had
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different looks that they were able to reenact – the one in the chaps and the “Mi Tierra” dress – and “Everlasting Love” celebrated all those different looks. I just feel fortunate that somebody would want to do me. (Laughs) GC: It’s been eight years since your last English-language studio album, Unwrapped. Why did you decide to step back from music and showbiz, and what prompted your return? GE: Well, stepping back was easy – I had (my daughter) Emily and I know how quickly time goes by. That’s why my last English album was in 2003 – then in 2007 we did 90 Millas – and I purposefully only went out promoting in the summer when she was available to go with me, because she really loves school. My son wasn’t too fond of it, so I dragged him all over the world and he didn’t care. (Laughs) I don’t like to just go into the studio to just go into the studio. I really want to have a musical idea, some creative spark that makes me excited about doing what I’m doing. Pharrell called me – he had written a song for me called “Miss Little Havana” – and he wanted to delve into that Hispanic world and even go further than he already has. It was really a very interesting idea. We clicked so well in the studio that I think this album is a real example of how much we clicked – creatively and on many levels. After we had done the nine tracks with Pharrell, we took it to the club in the last four tracks with different remixers and producers that are on the cutting edge of the clubland side. I wanted to give fans not just the nine concept-y tracks that we did with Pharrell – although they didn’t start that way, there was a storyline I discovered after we finished the songs – and really take it to hardcore dance. GC: Zumba fanatics will love it. GE: (Laughs) While we were doing “Wepa,” Pharrell said, “You have to take it to all those Zumba clubs!” It’s so fast. It’s like a nuclear merengue with the urban sensibility from Pharrell and the drunk guy on trombone in the street festival, so we kept thinking, “They’re going to sweat to this one!” GC: You said your 2004 world tour would be your last. Have you changed your mind? Are you going to pull a Cher on us? GE: I don’t have a tour planned. What I’ve been doing is just going to places worldwide, little by little. And I’ll always do something. I never ever said that I was retiring. I said I was just going to stop doing those world tours and that was going to be the last one, and it did end up being that. You never say never, but I really don’t foresee doing that kind of thing again. I will do different, interesting and unique stuff, but it’s like boot camp for me. It’s hard on me. GC: Your song “Always Tomorrow” was a lifeline for so many people, especially your gay fans – including myself. How does it feel knowing that?
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GE: I love that. That’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written, so that makes me happy. You know, that was the idea. When I wrote that tune it was like a message of hope. I wanted to celebrate the hero in each of us and the fact that we can survive and be stronger. I’ve had fans tell me they were going to do themselves in and this song came on the radio and they felt better; they actually got through some really tough moments, so that to me is the best reason to do what I do – that I can somehow get into people’s brains and hearts that I may never meet, and get them through. That’s what music was for me. I had a really tough time growing up and other people’s music got me through those moments, so it means a lot to me that that was good for you, as well. GC: It’s a song that so many gay kids who are bullied into suicide should’ve heard before they took their own life. GE: I know. I did a video message for the It Gets Better campaign and I talked about that – that when I was 15 I felt so overwhelmed and everything was so heavy on me that, believe me, I thought about it. Kids think that problems are going to last forever and they need to realize that life changes in a second. I can understand where they get overwhelmed, but we have a short enough time as it is on this earth without having to end it early. GC: Considering how Target has supported anti-gay candidates and indirectly anti-gay causes, there’s been much controversy in the gay community surrounding your partnership with them for the release of Miss Little Havana. What do you have to say to gay fans who might question your support for them? GE: To my gay fans, I would say this: Always go with your heart and do what you need to do, because I think that every human being needs to stand on principle. But I’ve got to tell you: I would never work with someone who is anti-gay. I know that they donated to a third party who then donated to this candidate and – I did my homework – since then they donated $150,000 to that candidate. They apologized profusely for having done so, and they have established an actual committee that oversees all political donations to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. They’ve also donated a half-million dollars to LGBT organizations. They’re part of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. They give domestic partner benefits. They have 300,000 employees that are from all walks of life, and it’s very important for them to be supportive. They’ve extended family medical leave benefits and adoption benefits to their gay employees. They’ve really supported very much their gay peeps. Believe me, in my own life I’ve gone through a lot of these things. When I had Obama at my house, I got nailed by the Cuban community – even though I’m not affiliated politically. Sometimes the information you want to get out there doesn’t, because the first thing that blows up is what people hear. So I will always respect what (my gay fans) want to do, but I have a long history with Target. I’ve put out my children’s book, we’ve done programs for the troops – they really have been very supportive, so I would say: Do some more research, check out what Target has done to make up for its gaffe – and they know it was a gaffe. It was lack of information, not knowing everything about everybody that your money goes to. I was actually very surprised when that whole Target thing happened, but I know how these things happen. I’ve been on other side of that. So give them another shot and if not, I respect very much whatever they may want to do or need to do to stand up for whatever principles they’re upholding. I just want them to know that I’m so supportive of the LGBT community. They’ve been a big part of my success and they’ve always been there for me. I would not want to do anything that hurts them. GC: Your birthplace of Cuba has evolved a lot in the way it treats gay people. In the ’70s, many LGBT people were imprisoned simply for being gay. What do you remember it being like for gay people? GE: Well, I was a baby. I came over here when I was 18 months old, so I really have no real memories of Cuba. But I always stay on top of the news from Cuba and I know that Raúl Castro’s daughter is gay and she’s trying to do a lot for that community, but Cuba in general – just that macho mentality – was tough even though it was one of the wildest places in the world. They’ve come a long way, but they did horrendous things when the AIDS epidemic came out. And since nobody has rights in Cuba, imagine the gays in Cuba – just regular schmoes have no rights and can be jailed at a moment’s notice, so they were very, very rough. GC: Do you think it’s harder for a Latino artist, Ricky Martin for instance, to be gay and out? GE: I think it’s harder for anyone, to be honest. Even though fortunately we are definitely moving forward – you see all these states where it’s becoming legal to marry your same-sex partner, as it should be everywhere – and we’re heading in the right direction.
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But you have to realize that even the Equal Rights Amendment only happened in 1972 (Editor’s note: It was never ratified), so we’re still trying to grow rights for everyone. I think it’s still tough because there’s still judgmental people, there’s still racism, there’s still homophobia. It’s a human condition. So as we become more and more educated and people become more open, it’s going to go in a positive direction. GC: So you’re a gay marriage supporter? GE: Of course I am. I think everyone should be able to marry who they love, and it just should be. GC: Do you think you would’ve had that mentality years ago, considering you grew up in a very Catholic-conservative home? GE: I did, and I don’t know if my mom – I think nowadays she would, because my mom has grown a lot, but my mom was also raised in a very restrictive atmosphere in Cuba. She has a lot of hardcore ideas. I’ve never talked to her about this, but she’s very supportive of all her gay friends, and sometimes I go into her house and I tell her it’s like La Cage Aux Folles – all her best friends are gay guys! (Laughs) They’re over there always taking care of her and being really sweet with her. GC: We’re very nurturing. GE: Hey, listen, the best son a mom could have is a gay son. They’re not going to leave you high and dry, and they always watch their mothers and take care of them very much. GC: Does that mean you’re going to have more kids until you get a gay one? GE: Me?! I can’t! Are you kidding me? I would love a grandkid. Listen, the president of my corporation is gay and I see how he is with his mom, and I have a lot of friends who are just fantastic sons. GC: Very nice to speak with you, Gloria. GE: Thank you so much. A pleasure as well. Tell all my gay fans I love them.
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Book Review
Monoceros
Suicide, Grief, and Unicorns By Evan Kayne By the time you’re reading this article, chances are we will have heard of yet another LGBTQ youth who has taken his/her life because of homophobic bullying. The questions you should be asking yourself are What could I have done about it and How does it make me feel? Those two questions are what the absent protagonist asks of the other characters in Calgarian author Suzette Mayr’s new book Monoceros. Inspired by real life events in Suzette and her partner’s life, the book tells the story of a gay youth at a catholic high school who, because of bullying, commits suicide. The story doesn’t end with his death – that’s where it starts (literally). The death of the youth (Patrick Furey) hangs over the pages, tainting the lives and thoughts of staff and students at his high school – whether it be his closeted boyfriend Ginger, the closeted school principal and his boyfriend the equally closeted school guidance counselor, or a virginity and unicorn obsessed classmate who wishes she would have made friends with him. Rather than concentrating on those immediately impacted by Furey’s death, the book looks at how those who were peripheral to the boy’s life are yet still touched by the tragedy. It’s a book that’s frustrating for all the right reasons – Suzette Mayr has written very believable characters you want to confront in person for the mess in their lives, and for their indifference which helped kill the boy. Most of the characters in the book are not true mourners, but disenfranchised mourners – mourners who are forced to carry their burden alone. You have the situation with the closeted boyfriend Ginger – he as a griever isn’t recognized. You have the closeted principal Max trying not to recognize the loss, lest it lead to suicide contagion. And you have Maureen and Faraday, teacher and student respectively who represent grievers who are not recognized, yet still feel the impact of the boy’s suicide. In Monoceros, Suzette also shows characters who aren’t necessarily going to fall into that familiar paradigm of crying and then getting over the loss. The grief is as individual as each person, she told me. “I think there’s the official way in which we mourn, and the way we’re supposed to feel about how people die. But...people have their different methods of responding, they have their different methods of coping.” Unlike the mother or the boyfriend, so many of the characters didn’t actually know Patrick, so they’re not confronted with the immediacy of his absence every minute of the day. They have their other concerns and other lives; but nevertheless, they are impacted by his death. The particular structure of this book – the absent protagonist, disenfranchised mourners, each chapter almost like a short story focusing on a different character – was something Suzette struggled with; but the resulting novel comes together ideally. I was satisfied she also didn’t take the obvious route with two characters who, in another author’s book, might have been stock roles. The first of the two is Petra – the girlfriend of Ginger. Petra is single-and bloody minded about what she wants. Her behavior is shocking, yet plausible for a spurned lover, a teen without a grown adult’s common sense, and also as someone who seems to be used to getting what she wants. She’s probably closest to being the antagonist in the book and yet Suzette says she’s not the only villain. All of the characters were complicit. Petra is “...the one who’s the most explicit...the most aggressive about it, but Patrick faces all sorts of homophobia and indifference and apathy from all kinds of people who should know better. So I wasn’t interested in cultivating Patrick as the hero and she as the 48
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antagonist.” Suzette also found as a character there wasn’t much to her, so she didn’t give Petra much room. Her needs are pretty simple – her man, her musical education and university. If you get in the way, like Patrick Furey did with Ginger, you’re road kill. Petra can be forgiven and understood a bit if you step back and look at her from a distance. Suzette and I both discussed this and we both know with a lot of teenagers, to a certain degree they still haven’t learned or developed the sense of empathy, of knowing what lines not to cross. “That terrible lack of compassion...it’s partly because you just don’t have the experience to understand the consequences of some of those actions.” Another person I feared might have turned into a stock character was the drag queen Crêpe Suzette. After reading the blurb on the back of the book, I feared I would witness the appearance of the “magical” gay person. According to author Suzette, this did happen in early drafts. Yet she realized the drag queen needed more, so she was toned down and made into the uncle of one character, and the potential love interest of another. “I really wanted her to be whole... I sure didn’t want any of the characters to fall into stereotypes of the ineffectual gay man or the asexual gay man or any of that stuff...” That these characters are just people like you and I, is what’s best and hardest to read in Monoceros, yet it’s understandable because Suzette pulled from real life for this story. The inactivity of the school administration to aid Furey when he was alive, then the reluctance to recognize officially the boy’s death, mirrored the efforts of the real life school administration. “Just based on what my partner went through, there was a lot of inactivity. I think the adults were complicit with this - they certainly didn’t want it to end up in suicide...but...who knows?” Therefore, we do need to discuss events like this, not hide them. Unfortunately, like the rest of us, Suzette has no easy answers. “I think the It Gets Better campaign is terrific except that what it is relying on is for some people it does get better; that when you leave (high school) everything will be fine.” Yet that’s assuming these people make it better – many of the characters in the book, and many people in real life will closet themselves and shut themselves off from changing, evolving, accepting and growing. Suzette does agree we need to change laws. Much like bullying kids for other things in their life (race, creed, disability, etc) currently results in penalties like suspension and expulsion, there needs to be some penalty for bullying based on the actual or perceived sexual orientation of the victim. Speaking for all the victims, I do worry that the focus on students committing suicide because of bullying will eventually fade. The media and the public will find some new shiny toy and we won’t make any progress on solving this issue. Suzette doesn’t know of any easy answers either: “..kudos to Dan Savage for making a viral video phenomenon and writing a book, but the last death (Jamey Rodemeyer)...that was horrible because it was an It Gets Better kid, and those bullies sure aren’t learning anything. I don’t know...I hope it’s not just a trendy thing...but it sure would help if it was against the law.” I’m not sure even if that will help, but I can hope for the day when the Patrick Fureys, the Jamey Rodemeyers, the Tyler Clemetis, the Ryan Halligans of the world live and graduate and get a chance to try to make it better. Because there are far too many people trying to make it worse.
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Frankmusik Mixes It Up
Pop music-maker on ‘restricted’ straight guys, teaming with Erasure and getting naked for the gays Photos by Jam Sutton
By Chris Azzopardi Frankmusik goes where no straight man’s gone before. Just look at what he did in 2008, when he disrobed – and bared his bum – for a spread in one of the U.K.’s gay magazines. Then, recently, he got naked again – on a massage table, for a promo that has a bunch of bears giving him a rubdown. Clearly the guy’s an original, which isn’t just evident in his friendliness with the gays – but his music, too. With that, he’s proved that pop isn’t just a woman’s world, mixing music for Lady Gaga and Pet Shop Boys and releasing his first album, Complete Me, two years ago. The 25-year-old follows up his electro-pop debut with Do It in the AM, but it’s not the only project with his name attached to it – he also produced Erasure’s new album, Tomorrow’s World. On the road with the synth-pop legends during their first U.S. tour in five years, Frankmusik chatted about how working with Erasure was his “calling,” being an anomaly in the music business and why he wishes more straight men would let go of their inhibitions. GC: Hey, Frank, how are you? FM: Hot. Not hot in a physical sense. Like, it’s actually hot. GC: I already know you’re hot physically, anyway. FM: Thank you, sir. Compliments will get you everywhere. (Laughs) GC: Where does mine get me? FM: This is a recorded conversation. I’ll tell you off the record some other time. GC: How did the title track, “Do It in the AM,” come about? FM: It’s about losing it in my mind. I’ve never really spoken about this in an interview properly because I don’t really think anyone’s really been highbrow enough to engage with it but, being creative, I like having the creative freedom at night, because it’s like my little secret. I’m making the party in my studio, and I’m making the songs that people want to party to. GC: So do you keep an alcohol stash in the studio?
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FM: No, no. I don’t drink. Well, hardly. It just doesn’t agree with me. I used to drink like a fish, but I just get heartburn. I’m getting old, man. And the hangovers – I actually cannot stand the concept of a hangover. GC: What’s your a.m. routine? FM: Shower, shit, shave. No, wait – shit, shower, shave. You don’t want to shit after you’ve already had a shower. The three S’s. Sometimes you can do four S’s if you’re lucky, which is sex, shit, shower, shave. That is much more likely to happen these days since my missus has moved in. GC: How did your move from London to L.A. influence the album? FM: Just not being in London, being in a new city. I haven’t got any really massive circle of friends or anything. I came here to experience emptiness. European culture is very clustered, very pedestrianized and everyone is very closely knit. I love L.A. for its vastness. It’s devoid of any real sort of social integration because it’s so spread out, and I love that. I love the fact that I can be really anti-social and obnoxious in my studio and just concentrate on work.
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GC: You’ve gotten naked for the gays on a couple occasions. Do your gay friends call you a tease, because I think you might be? FM: I could be a tease; it depends on if you fancy me or not. The main thing is, I’m having fun. That’s such a shit thing to say, but it is actually that. Straight male artists are restricting themselves through their sexuality, and I think you should just be open to anything, especially in press. If someone has an idea and it’s tasteful, yeah, I’ll do it. Fuck it. When I did the nude photo shoot, that was for male eating disorders. I wanted to support that cause, and if it meant a few famous guys getting their clothes off and talking about their own experiences with eating and their health, then fuck – any day dude, any day. GC: Why is it such an issue for straight guys to open up like that? FM: You have to ask them, because I’m definitely not one of them. I think it was because I was brought up by my mom; I didn’t have a dad, so I didn’t have, like, this tenacious male figure in my life that was trying to make me fit a certain mold or anything. My mom sent me to ballet school and poetry recital classes. I mean, I was dancing around in a fucking leotard! I didn’t know any different. If you don’t know anything different,
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it doesn’t mean anything. It’s imposed on you, this kind of straightness. I feel so bad for guys, because you have this culture where people’s gender has to fit into a demographic, which is just stupid. Men are just as expressive as women. I was just lucky enough that somebody as intelligent as my mother brought me up that way. It’s a combination of common sense and not sort of digesting the bullshit that’s fed to you in culture. I wish more men were expressive because, I’ll tell you, there’d be a lot less trouble in the world. GC: Do people ever think you’re gay? FM: I hope so, because that means I’m surrounded by stupid people that I can manipulate. That’d be nice. GC: Who are your boy crushes? FM: George Clooney. He’s an absolute gentleman and a brilliant, brilliant human being and very good at what he does. And he’s just really classy about it. I love classy guys. Not being a gentleman drives me crazy. I think being respectful and wellmannered is one of the most attractive things that any human can be. GC: You’re an anomaly in pop music, because the genre is so dominated by young females – and you’re a straight white guy. Why do you think there are so few like you in pop music? FM: Once again, it goes back to what it’s like to be a man these days. Why is it that we feel that the only type of males that should succeed in this market are ones that come from a boy band? Or they’ve got to be a rapper, or they’ve got to be some beardy guy holding an acoustic guitar. Apparently dancing around and singing pop songs is only reserved for people like Usher and black culture, which I think is bullshit. White guys can do it too, but I think we’re having a huge identity crisis. I’m not a heavily political person, but I think there are some real plain facts staring us in the face that need to be dealt with – why can’t a guy dance and sing without being seen as queer? Does that say anything bad about me, or does that say something really bad about the culture? GC: Tell me about your relationship with Erasure’s Andy Bell. Has he ever tried to get into your pants? FM: No, no – not at all. The closest we got was when we were doing the new single and he enjoyed what I was making so much he said something like, “I could fall in love with you,” but I think he was referring more to the music that we were creating. (Laughs) He’s a wonderful human being and incredible to work with. I see Andy more as a family member than a sexual stranger. GC: When did your relationship with Erasure start? FM: Beginning of this year, I think. I met Vince (Clarke) at his house in Maine and I met Andy in London. I met them both separately – and I’ve yet to actually meet all three of them at the same time, so that will happen when I’m on tour with them. GC: How would you compare the sound of their album and yours? FM: I mean, it’s Andy Bell. The vocals are incomparable. His male tenor is like a freight train running through a china shop. I mean, the power! You believe every word he says, because he lives what he says. He is in the song. It’s not some cookie-cutter bullshit, and that’s what I love about him. They stand for actually creating so many things that have been imitated blandly since they first made it. They’re incredible, incredible pioneers. And I’m glad I could celebrate their originality once again. GC: Was it intimidating working with them? FM: No, no. It felt like my calling, it really did. I felt like I needed to make that album – for me and for them.
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Photography PURE Pride at Flames Central - Calgary
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Photography Calgary Pride Dance, Parade, and Street Festival
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Photography Pride Afterparties - Calgary
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Q Scopes
Get rocking, Scorpio! The Sun conjoins Saturn in Libra, clarifying the limits of relationship. Such reality checks can be unpleasant, but romance can’t last without work and realism. Work on it!
ARIES (March 20–April 19): Not getting the attention you
want, especially from the person you want, can make you especially cranky. Avoid angry and inappropriate outbursts “Brilliant” inspirations probably need some work, but your creative juices are high. Show what you can do.
TAURUS (April 20–May 20): If you’re not partnered yet you might meet that someone special by the end of the week! There’s no predicting true love, but exciting, challenging conversations can open doors to meeting amazing new people. Don’t be shy!
GEMINI (May 21–June 20): Fanciful notions can take a
dark turn, either delicious or morbid. If morbid, stay with it and see where that’s coming from. Focus on work! Your colleagues deserve some input on new ideas that affect them before you take any initiative.
CANCER (June 21–July 22): You’re shining at work,
although that might make you feel precarious, as on a tight rope or “king of the hill” needing to defend yourself. Acknowledging the effort and support of others will help you feel less lonely at the top.
LEO (July 23–August 22): Taking yourself too seriously is
sure to lead to arguments. If you’re really so smart, prove it by taking a class in something entirely new, or read a book that will challenge your mind.
VIRGO (August 23–September 22): Take conversations
to new depths. Challenging your own thinking is smarter than challenging others’. Someone you’re sweet on may be ready to get more intimate. Raise the subject, but be careful and read the signals carefully to know how.
LIBRA (September 23–October 22): Sex and money are
the biggest issues in relationship. Both are likely to come up. The actual argument would be over money; sex could even be the resolution, but either way, stay focused on what’s important and where your partner ranks on that list.
SCORPIO (October 23–November 21): Working your ass
off, but does anyone notice? It may not seem so, but they do. Keep your attention on your goals and don’t worry about the attention. Opportunities for love – or a rocking facsimile – are coming up. If you got love, get rocking!
SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 20): Boundary issues with co-workers need some discussion. Financial opportunities will be coming up soon, but they’ll need hard work and perhaps some sacrifice. Don’t screw it up by arguing with someone who wants to help. You can say, “No, thanks,” politely.
CAPRICORN (December 21–January 19): Friends who
challenge you can be the best friends around – or are they? Pay close attention. Are they really for you or against you? Be attentive, especially when you don’t like what they say. Even from enemies, harsh criticism can prove helpful.
AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18): Wanting to show off
your intellect could end up demonstrating your limits more than your genius. Don’t speak too soon and be open to teachers who can help you toward even clearer thinking. An open mind makes you a better partner.
PISCES (February 19–March 19): Hiding feelings of loss and dread only makes them worse. Sharing them with your partner can help increase emotional intimacy. Many others feel the same. This experience and your strong empathy will soon prove helpful.
Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer since 1977 teaches at the Online College of Astrology: http://www.astrocollege.com. He can be reached for personal or business consultations at 415-864-8302 or through his website at http://www.starjack.com
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