GayCalgary Magazine - November 2014

NOVEMBER 2014

® ISSUE 133 • FREE The Voice of Alberta’s LGBT Community

Interview with

ANNIE

Ivy Winters

Blows into Alberta

LENNOX Colby Melvin

Voter advocacy, political power

PLUS:

Mark Meer • Raphael Sbarge Theo Tams • Garrett Wang DJ Shane Stiel • Moist ...and more!

Business Directory

Lisa Kudrow

Scan to Read on Mobile Devices

Community Map

Calgary • Alberta • Canada

Events Calendar

On Valerie’s return

Tourist Information

STARTING ON PAGE 55

www.gaycalgary.com

2

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Table of Contents

NOVEMBER 2014

Videography Steve Polyak,Sales Rob Diaz-Marino Steve Polyak Printers sales@gaycalgary.com North Hill News/Central Web

Printers Distribution Web exPress

Calgary: Gallant Distribution GayCalgary Staff Distribution Edmonton: Clark’s Distribution Calgary: GayCalgary Staff Other: Canada PostFoo Edmonton: Farley Foo Other: Canada Post

Legal Council Council Legal

Courtney Aarbo, Aarbo, Barristers Barristers and and Solicitors Solicitors Courtney

SalesGeneral & General Inquiries Inquiries

® GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine GayCalgary Magazine 2136 17th 17th Avenue Avenue SW SW 2136 Calgary, AB, Canada Calgary, AB, Canada T2T 0G3 T2T 0G3 magazine@gaycalgary.com

Office ONLY OfficeHours: Hours: By By appointment appointment ONLY Phone: 403-543-6960 403-543-6960 Phone: TollFree: Free: 1-888-543-6960 1-888-543-6960 Toll Fax:403-703-0685 403-703-0685 Fax: E-Mail:magazine@gaycalgary.com magazine@gaycalgary.com E-Mail: This This Month's Month's Cover Cover Main: Annie Lennox, photo by Robert Sebree, Cher and Christina Aguilera courtesy of Sony Top Right: Ivy Winters, Mid Right: Colby Melvin, Bottom Pictures; Annie Lennox courtesy of Mike Owen; Right: Lisa Kudrow, photo by Gilles Toucas Rex Goudie.

Proud Members of: Proud Members of:

8 9

Publisher’s Column

Growing Forward

11 Years of GayCalgary... and Counting

A writer’s perspective

Whistler Pride in the Snow

Same festival, new name

10 The Calgary Chinook Fund A gift that keeps on giving

12 We Wish You A Measha Christmas

Opera Singer Measha Brueggergosman releases holiday album

14 The Talented Mark Meer

The voice of Commander Shepard from the game series Mass Effect

15 Wish Upon A Star Raphael Sbarge and Green Wish

16 A Droplet Does Not A Sea Change Make The Synod of Catholic Bishops’ Response to Homosexuality

17 Discussing Community Safety Reporting Sexual Assault

PAGE 18

Writers and Contributors

Mercedes Allen, Chris Dallas Barnes, Writers andAzzopardi, Contributors DaveAzzopardi, Brousseau,Dave SamBrousseau, Casselman,Constable Jason Clevett, Chris Andy Andrew Collins, Emily Rob Diaz-Marino, Buck, Jason Clevett, RobCollins, Diaz-Marino, Janine EvaJanine Farley Eva Trotta, JackStephen Fertig, Glen Joan Trotta, Foo Foo, Lock,Hanson, Lisa Lunney, Hilty,Polyak, Evan Kayne, Lock, Neil McMullen, Steve RomeoStephen San Vicente, Jim Scott, Krista Allan Neuwirth, SteveV.N. Polyak, Careyand Rutherford, Sylvester, Mars, Tonic, Winnick, the LGBT Romeo SanofVicente, Sikov, Nickand Vivian and Community Calgary,EdEdmonton, Alberta. the GLBT Community of Calgary, Edmonton, and Alberta.

Photography Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino, Mars Photography Tonic, Farley Foo Foo Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino, B&J Videography Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino

5

e n zi

18 Theo Tams Finds Happiness in his Back Pocket Alberta-born singer/songwriter returns with new EP

a g a

20 Mickey Wilson

On collaborating with the Alberta LGBT Chamber of Commerce, fund raising, and the essential role of the Pride Centre

m

22 Deep Inside Hollywood

Naked Nick Jonas. We repeat: naked Nick Jonas

23 Parenting Proud It Takes a Village… People

PAGE 29

Publisher: Steve Polyak Editor: Rob Diaz-Marino Copy Sales: Editor:Steve Janine Polyak Eva-Trotta Sales: DesignSteve & Layout: Polyak Rob Diaz-Marino, Design & Layout: Ara Shimoon Rob Diaz-Marino, Steve Polyak

PAGE 14

®

24 Wildlife Spotted in City

Oshawa’s Rising Stars Play the Province this Month

Edmonton Rainbow Business Association

26 From Greys To Gays Garrett Wang speaks about ‘Others’

29 Ivy Winters Blows Into Alberta

International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association

31 San Diego’s DJ Shane Stiel National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association

Gay European Tourism Association

on DJing at the recent HoneyPot Production’s Wild Pride in Calgary

PAGE 36

Season 5’s Miss Congeniality Coming for Battle Of The Seasons

Continued on Next Page  www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

3

Table of Contents  Continued From Previous Page

34 Out of Town

®

Napa Valley: Wine Country

36 Colby Melvin

Magazine Figures Monthly Print Quantity:

Voter advocacy, political power and the dirty business of oil

PAGE 38

38 A Comeback to Cherish

Lisa Kudrow on Valerie’s return, ‘superhuman’ gays and the future of Romy and Michele

40 The Sweet Dreams of Annie Lennox

Icon on her legacy, the ‘nostalgia’ of youth and why Beyoncé is ‘feminist lite’

42 Time to Get Moist 44 Queer Eye

Distribution Locations:

Please call us if your establishment would like to become a distribution location.

51 A Couple of Guys

History

PAGE 40

52 News Releases 54 Mr. GayCalgary November 2014 Rob Diaz-Marino 55 Directory and Events 60 Classified Ads

a m

PAGE 42

Scan for this Issue:

e n i

z a g

Scan for Latest Issue:

Originally established in January 1992 as Men for Men BBS by MFM Communications.

Name changed to GayCalgary in 1998.

Independent company as of January 2004.

First edition of GayCalgary.com Magazine published November 2003. Name adjusted in November 2006 to GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. February 2012 returned to GayCalgary Magazine.

February 2013, GayCalgary® becomes a registered trademark.

Disclaimer and Copyright Opinions expressed in this magazine are specific to the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of GayCalgary staff and contributors.

Those involved in the making of this publication, whether advertisers, contributors, or the subjects of articles or photographs, are not necessarily gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trans. This magazine also includes straight allies and those who are gay friendly.

No part of this publication may be reprinted or modified without the expressed written permission of the editor or publisher.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/RSS Articles • Recent News • Prize Draws • Events • Travel Info http://www.gaycalgary.com/Twitter Follow us on Twitter for articles, weekly news and updates!

PAGE 54

Readership

Readers Per Copy: 4.9 (PMB) Print Readership: >9800 Avg. Online Circulation: 310,000 readers Estimated Total Readership: >319,800 readers Frequency: Monthly

Proof of monthly figures are available on request.

Band Reunites With New Album and Tour

4

2,000–3,000 copies Guaranteed Circulation: 2,000 copies Bonus Circulation: up to 1,000 copies

http://www.gaycalgary.com/Facebook http://www.gaycalgary.com/FacebookFan Join us on Facebook for articles, weekly news and updates!

Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.

GayCalgary® is a registered trademark.

DECEMBER 2014 Print Deadlines Ad Booking: Wed, Dec 3rd

Submission: Fri, Dec 5th In Circulation: Thu, Dec 11th Please contact us immediately if you think you may have missed the booking or submission deadline.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/i133 More articles and exclusive content online!

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Editorial

Publisher’s Column Growing Forward

By Rob Diaz-Marino, MSc. Greetings everyone! It’s your friendly publisher Rob here.

It has been exactly a year since I last wrote a column, but it became necessary to do so once again this month because we have some important announcements.

First of all, this edition marks the 11th anniversary of GayCalgary Magazine, adding another year to our already impressive decade of operation. Of course, Steve and I can’t take all the credit for this when there have been so many writers, contributors, and advertisers that have made this long run possible. So much hard work goes into the magazine every month – just ask our writers Jason Clevett and Stephen Lock, who have written for us since day one! Jason wrote a touching retrospective for this edition, and I don’t think I can sum the experience up any better than he does. All Steve and I can do is give our most humble thanks to the writers, photographers, artists, advertisers, and readers who have filled in the pieces of GayCalgary Magazine every month.

Now, I have something of a personal announcement.

From my perspective, the years of working on the magazine have molded me into a skilled generalist. Every month I have switched gears from graphic design to writing to proofreading to print layout, then video editing, accounting, and occasionally website development. The work never seems to end. Between this and my day job as a software developer, there has been

precious little time in my life to do many things that I love, and precious little room for me to grow as a person. So a few months ago I made a decision and put a plan in motion to finally give myself the time and room that I need in order to move forward in my life.

A big part of that plan is my decision to bring my work with GayCalgary Magazine to a close as of this edition. The magazine will continue running in my fellow publisher Steve’s capable hands. In fact, for the past 2 editions I have gotten away with minimal magazine work as a practice run for when I’m “gone” altogether next month. Janine Eva Trotta has done a fine job of managing my editing duties during this time and will take over for me as Copy Editor, with Nick Winnick as Assistant Copy Editor. However, we are still looking for a capable graphic designer to handle in-house ad design in my absence, as well as a dedicated sales person to take some work off Steve’s plate.

And more writers are always welcome too!

Doing something as intensive as the magazine is wonderful when you are hitting your stride because you love it. But truthfully, I have no stride to hit in the publishing industry, so I have just been wearing myself out trying to keep up with Steve’s. That is not a pace I can maintain forever, and there needed to be a stopping point. After doing this for more than 10 years, I can’t be ashamed for bailing too soon or not giving it my all.

Continued on Next Page 

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

5

 From Previous Page Now seems like the ideal time for me to step back. The business is stable and running smoothly, turning enough of a profit that it can stay ahead of its bills. Our readership and social media presence is booming and we continue to be the most popular Canadian LGBT publication online. We’ve got a group of amazing writers and contributors that we can count on to keep a steady stream of content coming in each month.

Honestly, I couldn’t be leaving this magazine in much better shape.

As you can probably imagine it was a tough decision but, it is one that I’m glad I made. In my publisher’s columns from our first year or two of operation, I expressed some trepidation about my role here. The publishing industry has never been my passion and so I was reluctant to let myself become a fixture of the magazine. Still, I ended up resigning myself to it for the sake of helping Steve pursue his passion.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that I felt unhappy for the past 11 years, just that I was uncomfortable. I wrote several times in my columns about feeling like my own identity was slipping away and being blurred in with Steve’s. Despite my struggles to distinguish myself, to talk about myself and my unique views in my column, I didn’t feel like I ever truly succeeded in showing people the “real me”. So the discomfort came from my identity as a magazine publisher – not a bad identity, but not one that fits the person I want to be. My true self would only shine through when I found occasional shreds of time to exert my independence and explore my own interests outside of the magazine. But it was never enough time to do something sufficiently noteworthy for people to see me as something other than a publisher.

I can’t say I regret the past 11 years. It is ample compensation to know that my work made a difference in many people’s lives, and indeed to the face of Alberta’s LGBT community. I certainly don’t regret meeting all the amazing people that I did, and with my newfound time and freedom I hope to now form proper friendships with a few of them. Even the people I clashed with taught me some valuable lessons that I don’t regret learning.

Over the past decade +1 with the magazine, I have witnessed many people step back from their roles in the LGBT community, some less gracefully than others. Hopefully I can say I’m joining the ranks of those who are still able to hold their heads high in the community they worked in – those who didn’t piss in their own pool, so to speak. I will still be here in Calgary and you will still occasionally see me out in the community when something catches my interest, or if I just feel like hanging out.

Personally, without the experience of running GayCalgary Magazine, I would not have become the strong, balanced, and capable person I am today. Now I am practically bursting at the seams with creativity and the desire to express myself in my own ways. The past two months of partial freedom have already been exhilarating, so I’m excited to see where all this momentum is going to take me!

If you see me out, don’t ask where my camera is - from now on I intend to be in front of the camera, not behind it! *grin* GayCalgary Magazine - Going Forward I would be lying if I said my departure from GayCalgary Magazine won’t cause any ripples. That is why Steve and I made plans for how to continue operating the business in a way that he can manage on his own, and possibly even have some time for himself. This means some changes are coming in the New Year that we are now announcing officially. (Just remember, I am using the business “we” from this point forward, and so I’m not necessarily saying I will be involved.)

You can still expect to see a print edition next month, however it will be labeled our December/January edition. This issue will stay on shelves for a period of two months, and as you likely gather, will contain community information for both December and January.

This will be our final issue in print before we transition GayCalgary Magazine to be 100% digital. What this means is that new articles will be posted in full, as our writers complete 6

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

Online Last Month (1/2) Edmonton MLA Crusades for Gay Rights Bill 202 - What you can do to help this get passed

Alberta is an evolving province but on September 2, 2010, it did a very backward thing. It granted parents the permission to withdraw their kids from any “courses of study,... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4333 Screen Queen

Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, Y Tu Mamá También, Birdcage, Grand Budapest Hotel, Normal Heart, All That Jazz

Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me Even as her waning health led to her final bow this past July, thespian fireball Elaine Stritch remained an open book... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4336 XELLE Breaks A Sweat Summer may be over but XELLE aims to make this September the hottest month of the year with their exciting new single release. “Sweat” is a little bit dirty, a little... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4339 The Frivolist

7 Ways to Stick It to Etiquette By Wearing White After Labor Day (and Still Look Smashing)

I’ve never been a fan of clothing etiquette wherein somebody somewhere once decided when I can wear this and when I can’t wear that. The most annoying rule of them all? No white... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4343 Hear Me Out

Melissa Etheridge, Lee Ann Womack, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Lucinda Williams

Melissa Etheridge, This Is M.E. Since going indie, Melissa Etheridge must be feeling as free as when she first came out gay two decades ago. Throughout the punny, super-charged... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4345 EDM IN A GLASS

Glowing Mix Drink Electrifies Gay Dance Floors

The dance floor is about to get a little brighter. XUVO (pronounced ZOO-VOH) is an effervescent tablet that when added to vodka or rum, creates a delicious sweet drink that... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4348 The Frivolist

15 TV Shows with LGBT Characters That You Should Be Watching

While summer 2014 is cooling down, the fall TV season is just starting to heat up. Bittersweet, ain’t it? At least there’s

www.gaycalgary.com

Online Last Month (2/2) a silver lining to trading in lazing in the sand for... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4349 Hear Me Out

Jennifer Hudson, Tim McGraw, Perfume Genius, Broods

Jennifer Hudson, JHUD Jennifer Hudson has never needed the post-studio polish her contemporaries depend on. Hudson proved she had the pipes on American Idol, and then later,... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4340 Fundraiser for Critical Cause

Martyshuk Housing Raises Money for Edmonton’s Queer and Straight Homeless

In business for seven years now Martyshuk Housing takes a unique approach to tackling homelessness in Edmonton, combining the agility of a private company with the social conscience... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4350 A Beautiful View

Distinctively Canadian tale reveals two women awkwardly falling in love

How do two women put into words the feelings they are having for each other when neither has spoken these kind of words before? A Beautiful View is Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor’s... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4351

7 Gay-Friendly Fall Getaway Destinations That Are Easy on the Wallet Summer just bid us adieu, but that’s no reason to put your luggage away.

There are lots of great LGBT-friendly destinations to consider this fall, many of which are more affordable... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4352 NSFW - Cazwell Is the “Hot Homo” The Notorious G.A.Y. Rapper Aims to Top Bobby Shmurda with Free Digital Download of New Rap Jam

“Hot Homo”, the latest record from the indie gay hip hopper Cazwell, is a freestyle parody of the summer’s biggest rap jam, Bobby Shmurda’s “Hot N*gga”. Like... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4353 Stylish Subscription Services to Wake Up Your Fall Wardrobe There’s more to autumn than apple pie this and pumpkin spice that. One of the best things about fall, in fact, is that we get to unpack the sweaters, scarves and other cool-weather... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4354

them, on the GayCalgary.com website. At the end of each month, Steve will put together a magazine layout which, just like our print editions, will be available as a downloadable PDF or as an electronic flipbook via http://www.ISSUU.com. This will mean that advertisers continue submitting their ads in the same format they always have, while we continue distributing through online magazine channels.

The contents of these online-only editions will be slightly different from what you are used to seeing in our print editions.

It will be a digest of news, articles and event photos that went online over the past month, minus features such as Find Out (maps, directory listings, event listings) and Classified Ads these will be taken care of exclusively by our website.

Speaking which, our website will also be undergoing some changes in the New Year. The structure will be adapted to facilitate browsing of news and articles by category, independent of magazine edition. Furthermore, other sections of the website will receive a slight overhaul (business directory, photos, classifieds), be reinstated (events calendar), or removed (subscriptions).

I know a few of our readers might not be happy to hear this news, especially the ones who prefer reading a hardcopy to an electronic one. I myself have never owned an iPad, tablet or E-reader, and prefer reading from paper rather than a computer screen – and I’m a Computer Scientist by trade! Yet hardcopies have been very costly for us to produce and distribute, and had an environmental impact once people were finished with them.

Furthermore, being able to publish articles immediately as they come in makes us a lot more agile than we would be if we had to continue waiting for the next print interval. So we can respond to breaking news and other time critical information before it goes stale, and additionally build in richer multimedia content and interactivity. Our page count was also bound by the amount of advertising dollars coming in, forcing us some months to put off numerous articles we didn’t have room for.

Now, we’ll be able to expand our page count as needed with no extra cost.

This is the way the publishing industry is going, and hundreds if not thousands of publications have already made this transition before us. At one time we published and distributed 10,000 copies each month to meet demands, and there is barely demand for the 2,000 copies we print today – yet online readers are in the ballpark of 310,000 per month and growing. Also users to the website have an average stay of around half an hour where typical online magazines have users staying for about 1 to 2 minuites. So with the aforementioned changes afoot, now is the time that makes the most sense for us to take this step forward. In essence we are returning to our roots because GayCalgary started as a website long before the magazine.

That being said, there are still options for diehard “printies” (to coin a term) to get their hands on a physical copy - just not for free. Readers can still order past print copies from our online magazine store for $6 CAN per issue (plus shipping and handling) at http://www.gaycalgary.com/magazinestore, and hardcopies of our newer digest editions will be available on order for a somewhat steeper price, since they would be printed and bound individually. (We ordered some sample copies in this format and they look gorgeous!)

Change can be scary and even painful but it is a big part of life, not to mention business. Certainly there are times when strength means holding your ground but, when standing up to the test of time, strength is more often about the ability to adapt and evolve.

Sign up for a free digital subscription at www.gaycalgary.com/signup, plus follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/gaycalgary) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/gaycalgary).

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4355

View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

7

Editorial

11 Years of GayCalgary... and Counting A writer’s perspective

By Jason Clevett Few businesses of any kind survive the first five years. For any organization to reach over a decade is truly a remarkable feat.

While GayCalgary has been a forum for many writers to cut their teeth, gain experience and tell stories, this journey would not have existed if not for the tireless efforts of Steve Polyak and Rob Diaz-Marino who have been the heart and soul of this publication.

It does not seem like 11 years ago that I first met up with Steve. It was a cold November day and we connected at North Hill Mall to head across the street to SAIT to interview Ms. Rhonda about her annual Crowns for Kids drive. The magazine had just released its first issue, and I would be featured in the second, and have been lucky enough to be part of nearly every issue since. At first it was primarily local content – interviewing bar owners and community members. As the magazine began to get a reputation for quality writing more doors opened. Theatres asked us to review their shows. In August, 2005, we scored our first major celebrity interview with a cover story on Bif Naked. Since then, through music labels as well as our relationship with the Comic Expo, we have been lucky to interview many top celebrities. Jann Arden, Dolly Parton, John Barrowman, Lily Tomlin, Melissa Etheridge, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bill Paxton, Wil Wheaton, Bruce Campbell, Dallas Green, Nick Carter and Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys are just a few of the major interviews that I personally have been lucky enough to do. And it is all because of the magazine.

Looking at the past 11 years our community has changed so much.

We have said goodbye to bars like Boyztown and The Rekroom, Detours and The Calgary Eagle. We have seen Pride grow from a small parade down 17th Avenue and a street fair in a Tompkins Park to a massive event drawing over 30,000 people. Bars like Cowboys and Flames Central have hosted drag shows and pride events, which is something that would have been unthinkable in 2003. We have seen the fight for equality continue in the States, watched acceptance continue to grow in Canada, and seen our friends fall in love, get married, and have kids. We have grieved through the death of community members while celebrating their lives. Through it all, the magazine has been there.

The print industry is changing constantly. From e-books to websites like the Huffington Post, media is constantly at our fingertips and we are connected to news and events instantly like never before. It is with this knowledge that GayCalgary is undergoing a transformation that will see the concept of a print magazine evolve into a more up to date and frequent online publishing model. This is great for us. We will no longer be challenged by trying to get interviews before deadlines but can provide content immediately prior to an event. I, for one, am excited for the next step in GayCalgary.com.

Eleven years: of memories; of moments; of blood, sweat and tears.

What a ride it has been. I want to thank Steve and Rob for everything they have done over the past decade plus. Few truly understand everything that has been involved with this company and the tireless, and often thankless, work that they, as the face of the magazine, have put forth. Without them, and the magazine, the LGBT community in Calgary would be a very different place.

So here is to a remarkable 11 years. I am excited for the new vision for GayCalgary and many more years of bringing the community, arts and the world to you, the reader, and of sharing Calgary with the world.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4356 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

This has long been a labour of love for everyone involved. The amount of hours and time and money used to promote local events and organizations cannot be measured. But everyone who has been on this journey – whether from the first issue or having signed on in recent years – is incredibly proud of the legacy that has been created. Young members of the LGBT community can look through our archives and learn about important members of our history, of the community groups and bars and people that may no longer be around but live on in our memories and are immortalized in the pages of the magazine.

8

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Event

 Winter Pride 2014 by GayCalgary Magazine

Whistler Pride in the Snow Same festival, new name

By Krista Sylvester The name might have changed but the ever-expanding Whistler Pride and Ski Festival is bigger and better than ever. Formerly Gay Whistler’s WinterPride, this year the 23rd annual week-long event will take on a new name as it celebrates pride both on and off the ski hill, according to longtime festival producer Dean Nelson.

The name change was due to a rise in the number of ‘winter pride’ events across the world and, in order to prevent confusion, the organizers decided to create a new name. But don’t worry; everything that made people fall in love with the festival is still the same, if not better.

“The Whistler Pride and Ski Festival is more than just a gay ski week; it’s an eight-day festival that combines sports, culinary, wellness and spectacular social and cultural events,” Nelson says. “It’s a lot of fun and I think we have made something [where] there really is something for everyone, especially the last couple of years. We’re continuing to grow the event and it has been really successful.”

Whistler Pride and Ski Festival runs from January 24th until the 31st at the award-winning Whistler Blackcomb, which boasts over 8,000 acres of terrain, with the biggest and longest vertical mile in North America.

Every year about 75 per cent of the festival’s 3,000 annual attendees return for another year of celebration, which is a testament to just how much the festival has to offer, Nelson says.

“Travel writers and guests from around the world regularly refer to this event as the friendliest on the planet. We have a lot of people that travel here from all over the world and make it their big winter vacation. People come and stay for five or six days and get a taste of everything the festival has to offer.”

www.gaycalgary.com

This year Nelson expects more women and lesbians to attend the festival with headliner comedian Margaret Cho making a special appearance.

“Margaret Cho is amazing. We’re really excited to have her here and she’s excited to be coming out here. I think you’ll see a lot more women this year and we have a lot more programming for them,” he says, adding that a film component has been added to the roster too.

This year there is no shortage of fun events including a Cowboy Party, Night of Comedy with Margaret Cho, Splash Pool Party, women events, and mega dance events like Furrocious, WhiteOUT and the closing party Snowball. Other events include snowmobile tours, zipline tours, snowshoe tours, inner tube sliding, spa treatments, culinary adventures and, of course, some incredible skiing and snowboarding.

With the festival just around the corner, there are still great deals but Nelson says people need to take advantage of them soon.

The Whistler Pride and Ski Festival http://www.gaywhistler.com The Whistler Pride and Ski Festival Whistler – January 24 to 31 http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4357 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

9

Community

The Calgary Chinook Fund A gift that keeps on giving

By Lisa Lunney The Calgary Chinook Fund was established by a group of donors whom intend to make this world a better, more accepting place for the next generation. Kelly Ernst, treasurer for the fund, was delighted to chat with GayCalgary about the dynamics of the Chinook Lesbian and Gay Endowment Fund.

GC: For readers not familiar, can you explain what the Chinook Fund is and whom it benefits?

KE: The Chinook Lesbian and Gay Endowment Fund is a fund of the Calgary Foundation designed to support gay and lesbian charitable projects, community and causes. It is the only fund of its kind in Alberta and unique in Canada.

GC: What sparked the idea to implement the Chinook fund?

KE: A group of former presidents of the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Association (now Calgary Outlink) and a couple of its supporters decided to create the endowment.

While on the GLCSA’s board, we realized that no funder in Calgary would give it, or any project of it, any funding. So we created a fund that would start funding LGBT services in Calgary.

GC: What have been some the greatest accomplishments?

KE: Times have changed in Alberta. Funding GLCSA allowed others in the community to look closer at what was going on in the city. Although the initial funding was very small, it helped, and GLCSA was able to leverage funds originally from the United Way and then through a Casino. Funders in Calgary now don’t shy away from gay or lesbian causes.

Our fund has grown, and we have been able to fund GLCSA/ Oulinks, Fairytales Presentation Society, Calgary Sexual Health Centre and others – all gay and lesbian projects.

GC: What have been some of the biggest obstacles that you have overcome?

KE: When we first got started it was a tough slog getting people to give. The biggest barrier was fear of discrimination.

Many people said ‘no’ because they did not want to be outed.

We often got asked to find a way to accept funds without having any mention of ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ attached to any cheques. This has changed, and now people want to give, and we no longer have this issue. Now the barrier is acting responsibly. We have to act as extremely good stewards of people’s money. It is a responsibility that we take very seriously, and we have been very careful to establish a granting review process, creating review guidelines, and then being very careful to direct the use of the money for good causes.

GC: How do members of the group interact with one another?

KE: Our advisors meet monthly to plan the next event, review the fund, and address issues as they arise. We also try to keep on top of what is needed in the community. We try to encourage people to have their own parties, hosted in their homes, as ambassador parties. A small get together can go a long way to raising funds for the endowment. The biggest way to keep funds flowing into the endowment is holding an annual event. We started with a dinner at Fleur de Sel. In the last few years we have had annual dinners and, in October 2014, we held a cocktail cabaret with live performers. This year we raised over $40,000 in one evening – people we very generous.

GC: Why is the Chinook fund so important to the success of the community as a whole?

10

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

KE: Having a fund that gives exclusively to gay and lesbian projects is unique. It ensures that some support to LGBT people will forever occur in the community. Our community faces very unique needs and, if we don’t support ourselves, we cannot guarantee others will. In the past others did not and we could easily move back to this time without our own community being vigilant about our rights and supporting one another. For example, this year we funded Outlinks’ LGBT program for recent immigrants and refugees. No one else in Calgary was doing this, but the needs are great for LGBT refugees especially. We are also helping to fund Gay Straight Alliances. GSAs in schools will likely forever be needed for youth. Again, who else is funding such things?

Very few people and funders. So, someone has to pave the way.

GC: Can you tell readers a bit about the minds behind such a great cause?

KE: The founders of the fund were Gord Sombrowski, Kelly Ernst, Kevin Allen, Gael McLeod (former city counsellor), Martin Harvey and Stephen Franklin. Our current chairperson is Chris Post and additional advisory members are Sue Cress, Troy Mayes, Michel Bourque and Gary Courtney. No one person can be credited for the fund – it has truly been a team effort in so many ways.

GC: Moving forward into 2015, what changes do you hope to see?

KE: For the fund, we hope to keep increasing the amount of the asset. Because only the interest on the fund is used, the fund will give forever. So, we would like to increase the fund assets to far greater amounts so that the grants we award are increasingly substantial.

GC: What exciting events are already in the works for the new year?

KE: Our cabaret this year was a great success. Part of the appeal for annual events is to have one event each year where people can have fun and mingle. This won’t change.

Next year we will likely be having more food at whatever is planned. We are already starting to plan our 2015 event, so keep in touch with greater details to come later.

GC: How can Albertans reach out and get involved?

KE: People can give to the fund at any time through the Calgary Foundation. The easiest way is online. Just remember to designate your Calgary Foundation donation to the Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund. If people want to host an ambassador party they can do this too. Just contact us and we will help ensure the event is a success.

GC: Where do you see the Chinook fund in five years?

KE: I hope that we can say we help sustain LGBT organizations in Calgary and that the community knows we exist for them. That would be a great success.

Calgary Chinook Fund http://www.calgarychinookfund.ca http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4358 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments www.gaycalgary.com

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

11

Interview

We Wish You A Measha Christmas

Opera Singer Measha Brueggergosman releases holiday album

By Jason Clevett One of the planet’s most acclaimed and loved opera singers hails from right here in Canada. Fredricton, New Brunswick born soprano Measha Brueggergosman has toured the world and amazed audiences in opera and concert performances. On October 27th she released Christmas – an album of holiday songs.

The singer performs in Alberta for three dates as part of a tour behind the album: November 22nd at Festival Place in Sherwood Park; November 27th at the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat; and November 29th at the Eric Harvie Theatre in Banff, the place where the concept initially began.

“I was invited by the Banff Centre to do a concert in July, 2013,” she says. “They gave me carte blanche of the facilities and Aaron Davis, who co-music directed the album with me, we decided to start thinking about a Christmas album. As I go deeper into non-classical projects I think I still like to maintain a foothold on pre-existing repertoire, and Christmas music seemed like a good intersection. Maybe that sounds more clerical than just gee, I love Christmas music. Because we started conceiving the album in July we were only interested in picking songs we could live with for a long time that, to us, had compositional and musical merit, and that we felt we had something to say in arrangements and interpretation.

“It is great because it is a renewable resource but it is also, for me, a repetoire that touches a large portion of the population and a time of year that varies from person to person. I celebrate Christmas in the Christian tradition with my family. We also wanted to acknowledge that there are people for whom it isn’t a Christian holiday, or people for whom Christmas isn’t a time of joy or peace or celebration. The tune I cowrote with Royal Wood (“Let Joy Reign”) addresses that. It can be a very difficult time for people, and we didn’t want to not serve them in this album simply because the banner of Christmas has some preconceived notions, when it is more varied than we think.”

Recorded in Madrid, Spain and Claremont, Ontario in the spring and summer, it was an odd time to be thinking about Christmas Carols when the sun was blazing outside.

“I wouldn’t say that we focused on getting into the merry spirit,” Brueggergosman says. “We sketched out the rough ideas and, in the spring of 2014, I was singing at the opera in Madrid for four months.

So Aaron and our producer, Michael Phillip Wojewoda, came to Madrid and we started working in this tiny apartment. We kind of came together with songs we like, and wherever we intersected we started throwing around ideas. Aaron and I have worked together for close to a decade so we have a shorthand when it comes to arranging and figuring out where a tune is going to go. I have never worked with the concept of demos – in classical music you show up and sing it. So I was like press record this will probably be a take that we keep. There are a lot of takes on the album that are original that we recorded in Madrid. A couple of months later we lived in the chalet out in the Ontario countryside. I had heard about people who lived in a house and recorded and ate together.

For me this album represents a methodology of album making that I had never been privy too. My friends like Jann Arden and Leslie Feist and Ron Sexsmith – who create from scratch and need as conducive an environment as possible to do their work. I felt richly blessed to be given this kind of freedom and space to embark on this kind of project.

It represents a time that I knew we were really trying to serve the music and say what we wanted to say. The result is this album.”

Brueggergosman was on the line from Utrecht, Holland where she was preparing for an opera concert. She has adjusted to the differences in performing in a concert setting as compared to a traditional opera.

12

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

“In a concert I can choose what I get to wear. In opera I have to be in a specific place at a specific time, and wearing very specific things.

The repertoire – whether it is a classical concert like I am doing here in Holland or opera, which I was doing in Madrid – it is a different life. You settle in with opera. I am looking around my hotel room and have two suitcases that look like they have thrown up. I am not an unpacker; I just throw everything on the floor to find things and then I am out the door. In opera you take an apartment, you set up shop for two or three months. The daily grind is like having a job where you go to the same place every day. When I do a concert I have to make sure I get enough sleep, that I get enough vocal rest between rehearsals. And the show and the audiences are also different. The operatic audience is there for a different journey from the concert audience. The concert has a ‘greatest hits’ feel to it.”

The Christmas tour will feature a band, which is a recent addition to her solo career.

“It is still as challenging and I am invested just as much. The energies are just redirected in ways I have not had to exercise before. In opera, you don’t have to think about repeats or key changes or arrangements or how long a solo is going to be. It is preconceived – you are the vessel there to bring it to life, but it had a life before you and will have a life after you. The thing that I really respect about non-classical live performance is it can’t be the same twice. In classical music, that score and the notes are the same once I put it back in my library. But I can look at a score of a song and know what the notes are but realize, if I see this chord sheet, it is not indicative of what our version of that tune sounds like.

Depending on the day – how Aaron plays his introduction, what my monitors are doing, what hall we are in – it can be very different. It has been humbling to have been able to experience this amount of variety in one lifetime all under the umbrella of being a singer.”

When the tour wraps up December 20th in St. Johns Brueggergosman will celebrate Christmas with her family, including husband Markus and two-year-old son Shepherd. Seeing the holidays through the eyes of her son and nieces and nephews brings the singer back to her own holiday memories. “[Shepherd] is two, so neither Christmases are ones he will remember.

But my siblings’ kids are older and I see the effect Christmas has on them. For my sister, brother and I, it is still very fresh in our memory the excitement you have waking up at the crack of dawn. We have strong traditions and adding the Swiss component to my family is a whole other set of traditions. Wild game and everything celebrated on Christmas Eve, and lit candles on the tree. It is a whole other kettle of fish celebrating Christmas in Switzerland. It is nice to have that breadth

www.gaycalgary.com

of experience. Es Ist Ein’ Ros’ Entsprungen is really a tip of the hat to my Swiss-Germanic Christmas experience. For anybody who likes the holiday you are regressed to a time when you, yourself, were feeling this excitement. I still feel it because I know my family will be in one place and the dynamic that creates. My family is 16 strong, and I have now moved to the country in Nova Scotia, so we can make as much noise as we want.”

Brueggergosman is instantly likeable and talking with her is like catching up with a friend. She asked about Mayor Nenshi and chatted a bit about her trip early in the interview. On stage – whether hosting a Juno awards gala dinner, performing a concert, or judging Canada’s Got Talent she is both charming and hilarious. It seems to be a trait among Canadians. Artists like Jann Arden, Michael Buble, Dallas Green, and Tegan and Sara are known as much for their sense of humour as their stage presence.

“That is a group I am extremely proud to be a part of! I feel like we are willing to tell the truth and sometimes the truth is hilarious. In its devastation it can be a real head scratcher and belly acher, and make us feel that much closer to each other. If there is one thing these artists have in common it is a desire for a sense of intimacy with their public, and there is real humanity in a sense of humour. I would think that humour is probably rooted in the very genuine humanity of what it means to be Canadian.”

is done from hardship. Sometimes you have to come to the realization that you are morbidly obese and you have to do something about it.

Sometimes your aorta explodes and there is not much you can do about it, but you feel like your body has betrayed you. Who hasn’t struggled through a relationship, or grief, or loss, or all of these things that – if I am asked a question, and am in a unique and humbling position that sometimes the words that I say can reach more than a few people – I think it is very important to impress upon people that they are not alone.

It never feels ok or is a joyous thing to lose babies. There is no benefit to being part of that club. It is just horribly painful.

“When you come out, the other side, it is a part of being human – that we can decide how we feel about things... I have my son Sheppard and we long to continue growing our family. The only genuine truth in this life is nothing lasts forever – good or bad. Finding the balance between helps me weather the storm. I remain rooted in my faith, and my family, and in the fact that I have people that love me despite my myriad of flaws... There have been storms and laughing and crying, anger and ecstasy. The extremely good and extremely bad have to be tethered by a core of consistency. Otherwise, you are just going to be tossed to and fro, and always wonder where up is.”

Brueggergosman has had many challenges in her 37 years. She lost over 160 pounds, nearly died from a dissected aorta, lost twin children, and had a year-long separation from her husband (they reconciled prior to the birth of her son.) Through everything she has faced her struggles head on, coming through stronger.

Measha Brueggergosman Christmas Album Tour http:// www.Measha.com Sherwood Park - Festival Place - November 22nd Medicine Hat - Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre - November 27th Banff - Eric Harvie Theatre - November 29th

“It is funny, in the same way that somebody who does not have to follow my schedule and [would] look at mine and think it is totally insane, I would look at the life of somebody else and think wow that is tremendously impressive or something I can’t relate to, but am inspired by. I feel like we are all superheroes in our own realm. I am trying to carve out an existence that allows me to learn and expand. That, sometimes,

www.gaycalgary.com

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4359 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

13

Interview

 photo by J. Linto

watch the video interview 

 photo by Matt Villeveuve

 photo by Ian Jackson

The Talented Mark Meer

The voice of Commander Shepard from the game series Mass Effect

By Mars Tonic No one has really just ‘heard of’ Mark Meer. They either know exactly who he is or haven’t the foggiest idea.

Despite the fact that he is very much Alberta-centric, he has accrued a very international fan base, which tends to happen when you’re involved in something as big as Bioware gaming.

While Meer has voiced many characters, Commander Shepard in the popular video game series Mass Effect is probably one of his most well known roles, as he knows too.

A couple of years back, when a friend of his made him a set of Commander Shepard’s space-age badass astronaut armour, Meer wore it gleefully to Dragon*Con, no less. Dragon*Con is one of the largest geek conventions in North America, and the four day outing has managed to turn into a six day party by its members. There is a well-documented moment on YouTube where a fan, videotaping the costume parade, realizes that it’s Meer cosplaying as his own character, and freaks out.

“I’m not going to pretend that I don’t have that bookmarked, because it is pretty awesome,” Meer admitted. He is a striking and angular man, but affable enough that you almost don’t notice it. He emanates friendly vibes, and is enthusiastic about what he does and the industry he is in. He is a nerd, first and foremost, and he says he’s lucky to be in the position where work and pleasure overlap. “I have been going to Dragon*Con since 1998 as a fan. A few years ago, I started going as a guest.”

When we asked him about his main draw in going to conventions, and if he looks forward to the other guests, he answered that he has “always been more of a merch guy. In my first years of Dragon*Con I would hit the dealer room. Now that I’ve got this gig I’m fortunate enough that I get to share the green room with the other guests, and I get to meet them that way. I do still line up for comic creators’ autographs.”

While pop culture and comics are all well and good, maybe that’s not where you know Meer from. You might know him from a couple of years back, when he had a monthly stint in 14

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

drag. Oh Susanna! was a monthly variety talk show hosted

by Mark as the titular character, Susanna Patchouli, and ran at Edmonton’s Varscona Theatre for 14 seasons. “It was a combination of a talk show and a variety show. We had jugglers, animal acts, puppets – all kinds of things. We usually taught the audience how to make a cocktail and then handed that cocktail out to the audience. It was a lot of fun.”

Unable to commit to the show any longer, Oh Susanna! has since been replaced by That’s Terrific!, which runs with a different set of hosts, still on a monthly basis.

More recently Meer has been involved in live recordings of a sketch comedy show called The Irrelevant Show. “Almost every comedy show on CBC always had something to do with current events and politics. All great shows – but we wanted to do a show where, say, I wanted to do a sketch about Darth Vader getting a performance review from his boss; sketches that weren’t tied directly to Canadian politics.”

Meer’s sense of humour is full swing; he is also one of the principal characters on Canadian TV Show Tiny Plastic Men, a sketch comedy surrounding the lives of three toy and game testers. The show involves madcap adventures, many references to ninjas, and general self-mockery of fandom and its subcultures. For those interested, don’t fret: episodes, promos and much more are available on Tiny Plastic Men’s official YouTube channel.

Suffice it to say, Meer has certainly accumulated a varied resume. He has donned both armour and lipstick in his line of work, and so naturally we wanted to know how it was learning to get into the dress. “Usually it was a miniskirt,” he corrected.

“I had to show off my legs. The least comfortable, hardest part of it was definitely the shoes. Luckily, Susanna Patchouli mostly sat down and interviewed the guests.”

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4360 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments www.gaycalgary.com

Interview

watch the video interview 

Wish Upon A Star Raphael Sbarge and Green Wish

By Mars Tonic Jiminy Cricket is a moral compass, forever aiding Pinocchio in his quest to become a real boy, by urging him away from wrong and towards what is right. In ABC’s Once Upon a Time, that character – portrayed by Raphael Sbarge – is given a bit of a makeover. Jiminy is written a soiled past that he does his best to correct.

You will find that Raphael Sbarge isn’t all that different from his character. Not to say his past is soiled, or that he would even think to pretend that he knows all about what everyone should and should not do, but he certainly has concerned himself with the state of the world. When he attended Edmonton Expo this year to meet his fans, he gave people the option to pay for autographs or photos with him. All of these moneys went straight to the new Edmonton chapter of Green Wish, a non-profit organization he started up in the US. While Green Wish has been spreading through the States, it has finally made its way to Canada.

Green Wish operates differently than other non-profits in that it seeks to spread funding to local charities already in place. Volunteers set up shop in a city, seek out local organizations that are already hard at work, and aim to fund them. It is a very grassroots approach, which was important to Sbarge.

“We have figured out a way to be able to give people the ability to work within our infrastructure, and set up chapters around the country,” he says. “We have them now all over the States, and [Edmonton] is our first international chapter. Once a chapter is formed, the board identifies a bunch of local, green non-profits. Earth, air, water, sustainable education are all being supported. It’s community helping community, and that is what this Green Wish chapter’s going to do.”

In this manner, less of the money goes to operating costs for the charity – most of it funnels straight back into the community.

I’m painfully aware of how precious the resources we have are. I have to say, Canada is much more thoughtful about the environment than the States are, in general. Anything that people can do, even the small things, really adds up. If you can buy a hybrid, turning off lights when you go out of the room, recycling, buying local... There are 75,000 people here: if a quarter of them all made the decision today to make a whole series of decisions that were conscious about the planet – that would be a huge thing. And it would continue to offset what is essentially a troubling trend, which is going in another direction. What I’m trying to encourage is not perfection, but progress.”

With the Edmonton branch just set up, it is a careful balance between spreading further internationally, and expanding too fast. “We just had a request from Hawaii, and got a request from Mexico. It’s a little bit more difficult, internationally, at the moment. There are certain laws, obviously, [for non-profits] that don’t translate from the States to Canada, but we are figuring that out. When we call and say the board has identified you, so-andso non-profit, and we want to give you money – and these are the small nonprofits who really need the money, who don’t have the big shiny buildings in London, the ones who are really doing community work and spending 70 per cent of their time fundraising – they literally burst into tears in some cases.”

In this way, Green Wish is providing funds to people that they know are passionate about what they are doing. They don’t pick ‘favourites’, either – every 24 months they rotate through to a whole new slew of non-profits to help fund.

Green Wish could always use more helping hands. Edmonton’s chapter was, after all, set up in part by a local fan whom was interested in what Sbarge was doing. Information can be found on the official website, as well as on Sbarge’s Twitter feed and Facebook page, where he posts fresh updates about what Green Wish is doing.

Sbarge will never take a salary for Green Wish. “I have got my day job. It keeps me plenty busy,” he says. His drive to spread awareness comes from personal passion, not monetary gain.

“Whatever you do,” he says, “if you can’t give money, give time.”

“The concept is somewhat simple, but answers that itching feeling we all have if you read the paper or go online and read the news. There is a lot to feel uncomfortable about. It’s very easy to get to a place where you sort of go Oh, to heck with it. It is all so bad, why do anything?.” It’s easy to get to a state of apathy, Sbarge says, and his hope is that with Green Wish people are able to see, feel and know tangibly that they are giving back directly.

Green Wish http://www.Greenwish.com or greenwish@greenwish.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4361 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

“I never imagined myself as being an environmentalist. I mean, I planted a garden, I composted, I recycled, biked when I could – all those things. But

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

15

Politics

A Droplet Does Not A Sea Change Make The Synod of Catholic Bishops’ Response to Homosexuality

By Stephen Lock Perhaps it is a Sign of Armageddon, and there are those who would argue it is, or perhaps it is symptomatic of a Church that, however slowly and ponderously, is moving into the current century. Or maybe – if one adheres to such ideas – it is divine revelation through an enlightened Pope but, regardless of its origins, the recent announcement from the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that homosexuals may have an unique gift to give to the Church is a revelation.

The previous Pope, Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, caused quite a stir, at least within the LGBTQ community and amongst supportive liberals when, in his then-capacity as head of the Congregation for The Doctrine of The Faith, he issued an official statement stating that homosexuality was “intrinsically disordered” and a “grave depravity” incompatible with a Catholic way of life.

The statement, as I recall, was part or was to be part of the catechism of the Catholic Church and had the effect of being, in essence, ‘official policy’. It was a particularly nasty and condemnatory piece of work. It certainly coloured my own perceptions of Cardinal Ratzinger and, later, Benedict XVI as a cold, doctrinaire individual who existed in a realm of policy and ‘Church teachings’, and totally out of touch with anything approaching humanity or compassion and love for his fellow beings. Neither position was the whole picture. There is no doubt more to the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI/Joseph Ratzinger than what his public persona would have us believe.

Pope Francis I, on the other hand, quickly established his pontificate to be quite different from the previous one. A far more outreaching, caring, compassionate and, dare I say, even loving one. He appears to have gone out of his way to reach out to the disenfranchised, including the LGBTQ community or, more specifically, to gay men. Early in his pontificate, during a media scrum aboard the Papal plane, he stated it was not up to him to judge homosexuality. He appeared to be distancing himself from his predecessor’s position, both as a sexual entity as well as a cultural and social one.

This declaration from the Synod, which caused some of the more conservative bishops within it to predictably throw a fit, really doesn’t amount to much. It may be somewhat indicative of a growing awareness within the Church that homosexuality, and therefore homosexuals (by which the esteemed Fathers usually mean gay men – like Queen Victoria it is reported they have once said they simply cannot imagine what lesbians do, and so lesbianism is rarely considered – it’s all about sodomy and the other things gay men do with each other) should be respected and treated better by the Church. It does not mean, however, the Church doesn’t continue to see what we do as a ‘grave sin’ and ‘against the natural order’.

Even under Benedict and previous popes the state of being homosexual was not a sin; it was acting on it. That has not changed.

What did the Synod say about homosexuality then? In Part III of the official document of Synod 14 - Eleventh General Assembly entitled Relatio post disceptationem, beginning at paragraph 50, it states: Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community. Are we capable of providing for these people, guaranteeing [...] them [...] a place of fellowship in our communities? Oftentimes, they want to encounter a Church which offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of this, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?

The question of homosexuality requires serious reflection on how to devise realistic approaches to affective growth, human development and maturation in the Gospel, while integrating the sexual aspect, all of which constitute an important educative challenge. Moreover, the Church affirms that unions between people of the same sex cannot be considered on the same level as marriage between man and woman. Nor is it acceptable that the pastor’s outlook be pressured or that international bodies make financial aid dependent on the introduction of regulations based on gender ideology.

Without denying the moral problems associated with homosexual unions, there are instances where mutual assistance to the point of sacrifice is a valuable support in the life of these persons. Furthermore, the Church pays special attention to [...] children who live with same-sex couples and stresses that the needs and rights of the little ones must always be given priority.

This is what caused the uproar amongst conservatives in general and conservative Catholics specifically; the suggestion that homosexuals could possibly possess “gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community” and that the Church should “accept and value” a homosexual orientation. To even suggest, as it does in paragraph 51, any accommodation is an ‘educative challenge’ for the Church. To conservatives homosexuality was a sin. Full stop. It was not up to the Church to educate itself around homosexuality, it was up to the homosexual to turn from sin and embrace the Church. Paragraph 51 seemed to be suggesting the Church not only needed to learn and adapt but to “integrate the sexual aspect” in that process. Good Lord!

This was all balanced out, with pressure from conservative bishops it has been rumoured, by reinforcing that such acceptance of homosexuals does not and cannot be on the same level as the acceptance of truly married heterosexual couples.

In other words, the Church continues to reject the whole idea of ‘equal marriage’ and, while appearing to accept the ‘union’ of two people of the same sex as “a valuable support in the life of these persons”, flat out refuses to see it as being on the same level as a marriage between a man and a woman. No surprises there.

The section isn’t particularly radical or extraordinary, at least not to those who live outside the confines of the Vatican walls (and here I refer not just to the physical parameters

Continued on Next Page  16

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Community

Discussing Community Safety Reporting Sexual Assault

By Constable Andy Buck Well the clocks have gone back – the temperatures have dropped – yes, winter is on the horizon. I have just got back from vacation, having been lucky enough to spend two weeks in Mexico, so I am finding it hard to readjust. Just the thought of those sun-kissed beaches and lazy days are driving me crazy! That should serve as motivation to get back in the swing of things and earn enough money to be able to go back.

This month I want to provide information about a subject that is sometimes hard to talk about but we all know that it can and does happen: sexual assault. This is a horrible crime that can have long-term physical and emotional effects on people.

It is never okay, and anybody who is unlucky enough to be a victim should be encouraged to report to police.

Sexual assault occurs if you have been kissed, fondled, groped or forced to engage in sexual activity without your permission or consent. It is an assault that is committed in circumstances of a sexual nature in which the sexual integrity of the victim is violated. Sexual assault is not defined by contact with any specific body part, or whether or not the victim and offender are known to each other, nor is it based on the gender of the individuals involved. Instead, the Criminal Code of Canada has identified three levels of sexual assault based on the circumstances of the case: 1. Sexual assault with a weapon: occurs when one is sexually assaulted by someone who has a weapon or imitation weapon and threatens to use it against them; the offender threatens to harm a third person, for example a child or a friend, if one does not consent to a sexual act with them; or the offender harms you or more than one person assaults you in the same incident.

2. Aggravated sexual assault: takes place when one is wounded, disfigured, beaten or in danger of losing their life while being sexually assaulted.

3. Sexual assault without consent: occurs if one has been kissed, fondled, groped or forced to engage in sexual activity without one’s permission or consent. Consent means you voluntarily agree to participate in the sexual activity in

question. In other words, you freely agree this is something you want to do.

In May of 2008, the ‘age of consent’ was changed to 16 years old, meaning that a person under the age of 16 cannot legally consent to sexual activity with anyone else unless the individuals are within five years of age and the sexual activity is consensual. A person who is under the age of 14 years cannot consent to sexual activity with another person who is two or more years older than them.

There is no consent when: You don’t freely or directly agree to participate in the sexual activity.

You are not capable of consenting to the activity; for example, you have had too much to drink or have passed out.

The offender abuses their position of trust, power or authority and influence, or convinces you to participate in sexual activity with them.

Through your words or actions you don’t agree to sexual activity with that person.

You consent to engage in the sexual activity but then, through your words or actions, you don’t want to continue to participate.

Now you can see that this offence is not limited to being a crime committed by a stranger. Someone you know and trust can sexually assault you. Do not be naïve, and do not accept excuses. You have the right to say “no”. Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns.

As always stay safe, stay warm and look after each other. I look forward to talking with you again soon.

Constable Andy Buck 403-428-8154 • pol4792@calgarypolice.ca http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4363 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

 Politics - From Previous Page of Vatican City but to the emotional walls surrounding the cardinals, archbishops and bishops who follow the dictates of the Vatican). There is a perceptual difference between those who look at the issues from outside the circle those walls make up and those who examine them from inside.

A friend of mine years ago repeatedly tried to enter a variety of monasteries. He felt called to be – not a priest – a monk. He was particularly attracted to the Franciscans, although at one point he did join a Dominican order. He never got beyond the postulant stage and was repeatedly rejected as ‘unfit’. To his credit he was always openly gay during his novitiate, believing he could be so while still accepting the requirement to be chaste and celibate. The various abbots and Superiors did not see it that way.

This individual was an intelligent, loving, gentle soul – someone any order should have welcomed. His orientation should have been recognized and accepted as any other aspect of his personhood. This is what the Synod statement seems to also now be saying, that gay men (and it is assumed lesbians)

can bring to the Church our unique perspective. It is because of our gayness that we hold an unique perspective and approach and this is something that should be honoured and welcomed, not vilified and rejected as has so often been the case in not just the Catholic Church but within society itself.

Western society has made some major advancements in recent years in its acceptance of homosexuality. The Church, on the other hand, is a ponderous thing when it comes to change. It does evolve, but at a much slower rate than the society around it. Perhaps this Synod has heralded the minute beginnings of change in regards to homosexuality. If so, it is a tiny droplet into the Church sea, but even a small drop can ripple a process of change.

www.gaycalgary.com

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4362 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

17

Theo Tams Finds Happiness in his Back Pocket

Alberta-born singer/songwriter returns with new EP

By Jason Clevett It has been nearly six years since Theo Tams was in the national spotlight. The final Canadian Idol winner in 2008 has seen his post-Idol life take him to Toronto, where he now resides, and continues to make music. His newest release is a six-song EP called Back Pocket, which was released in September.

GayCalgary.com last spoke to the former Albertan with the release of his debut album Give It All Away in 2009. A lot has has happened to Tams since then.

“It has been, in a way, just this incredible journey from Idol,” he says. “Idol was such a personal thing for me, being on that show, it is ultimately my coming out story really. I was touring for a couple of years and performed for the troops in Afghanistan – which was insane. Then I took a good year and a half off doing no music at all and reconnecting with who I was before the show. I was reconnecting with friends and family I had lost touch with. Being on a show like that – and getting thrust into the industry so quickly – it is very easy to lose yourself a little bit. It was important for me to reconnect with myself, and then start the process over again, but on my own terms. I have been writing my own material and working with producers and a team that I was able to hand pick. The strongest and most personal music I have released to date is the EP that just came out.”

Tams is now an independent artist, no longer affiliated with Sony Music which released Give It All Away. Leaving a label can be a difficult decision, but one that Tams was ready to face.

“For me it wasn’t necessarily a decision – it was the only decision.

They were a big part of the first couple of years of my career, but the decision to leave was 100 per cent mutual. They weren’t, necessarily, willing to let me grow artistically in the way that I needed to, and I don’t

18

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

know if I was willing to compromise my own artistic integrity enough to be the product they were looking for,” he said, adding that pursuing music independently is a lot more satisfying. “It is a bit harder of a path to take, but it is a lot more gratifying. I don’t have the cloud of a label to answer to, and can do my own thing, and tell my own stories while still having a team to take advice from. But it is a team I get to choose – not [be] thrust into. It has been a more organic process.”

Being without a label has been made easier by the Internet era. The ability to release individual songs through iTunes and engage fans through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been the key to success for multiple artists in the past few years, and Tams has utilized these tools to keep on the radar.

“It is the new way. Record labels are becoming less and less of a machine these days because the art of self-promotion has gone rampant.

There definitely is something to be said about that. It is such a balance between marketing your music, and also how far you want to go with letting people into the depth of who you are as a person, outside of a performer and a songwriter. That is what makes it really special and cool.”

With the release of Back Pocket and the first single “Stay” Tams is keeping busy, working in the studio with other projects while also promoting the new songs.

“It has been in the works a good two and a half to three years and it is only six songs!” he says of the EP. “There were so many times when I thought it was done and was like Ok, I am ready. Let’s go. There was this insecurity that it wasn’t quite finished yet. Then I wrote the song “Hang On For Tomorrow”, which was the final track we did. When that song was written, I felt we have the six songs that best represent where my life is at. Out of the six songs on that record five are about one specific

www.gaycalgary.com

person, and it tells the arc of this story that was important for me to tell.

It was nice to do a project that is smaller and more intimate. When you do a full-length record you end up with six of seven really strong songs and the rest are just filler. I don’t want to release that kind of project. I want every song I release to have its own life and breath, and not release something to meet a time commitment to a full release.”

With six years having passed since the final season of Canadian Idol, aside from Jacob Hoggard, who was runner up in Season 3 and now fronts Hedley, Season 4 winner Eva Avila and Season 5 third place runner up Carly Rae Jepson have had mainstream success. Others continue to make music independently or have had success in musical theatre. Tams looks at the positives of that experience and what he learned from the show.

“For me to say that expectations were met – whether mine or the public’s – would be a bit of a stretch. I had five seasons before me and I had seen what those winners had done, and [what] their career path looked like, and I knew that mine most likely wasn’t going to be that different. Idol was simply a very small stepping stone into this crazy industry. For me, that is what it was, and it fulfilled its purpose that way.

It is hard to look back in hindsight and wonder if I didn’t do the show where would my career be? Would it be better or would I have not even have had the opportunities I have now? It is almost a waste of energy to look back. It was such an incredible experience, for me personally, and I have to look back on it that way. Some of the friendships I made and the experience alone; being on a show like Idol or X-Factor is a crash course on being in this industry. If you accept it for what it is, rather than the glorious expectations that are not only suggested to the viewing audience but the participants of the show, if you strip it down to what you can learn being on it, then it becomes the program it was intended to be: to recognize talent and give it even the smallest kick start into the industry.”

Tams’s 2009 album Give It All Away was one of the strongest releases from an Idol participant. Despite not rushing the album, and Tams getting a number of songwriting credits on the album, it didn’t end up being the success that it should have been.

“I would say that there are a few factors. Just being branded as an ‘Idol winner’ immediately discredits the talent and artistry behind a product.

I was the sixth winner and Sony Canada was contracted to do eight winners of the show. They see you as a priority for maybe nine months and that’s it. Since I took nine months to make the record, I don’t know that it got the momentum and marketing behind it that it deserved. It had a couple of really great singles that established me on A/C radio. To ask myself the ‘what ifs’ about that record, I don’t know how helpful that is for my sanity or career moving forward. Focusing on this project – and projects in my future – is a much better use of my time.”

Tams is busy not only with the new EP but also with his band Beyond The Mountain. Along with Kyra Crilly (cello/viola/melodica), Jacob Mouka (vocals/guitar), and Rafael Rodriguez (percussion), the bands sound is very different from his solo music.

“I have never been in a band before, and while I definitely have experience co-writing, co-writing for a band is so different because every single opinion has to be validated and heard. Some of the songs in Beyond the Mountain would never be on my solo records. I think that is what makes them so special in both projects. It is interesting to see where my instincts as a solo artist takes me, compared to what I can contribute to other artists, and see what happens when we all put our own flair onto these songs. It is the exact same thing with Ali (Slaight, who Tams has released Christmas singles with). Her songwriting instincts are so different then mine. We wrote an original Christmas tune this year and I just heard the first mix of it and am really excited. It is so different, but that is what makes it really fun – to see where someone else is coming from, and mix it with where I am coming from, and find that sweet balance.”

my music let’s talk about the music; that is why I do it. It was a mountain to climb right after I won because, not only was I the winner of Canadian Idol, I was the first ‘openly gay winner of an Idol anywhere’. It was this role that I had to assume. If we are going to be promoting this record, and I am pushed into the role, how much attention is going to that instead of the music? That is just a balance, which is what has been so great about this project. It isn’t spoken so much about anymore because it is just known, which is more comfortable for me, and hopefully the listeners as well.”

With more and more artists out, like Sam Smith and Adam Lambert, Tams feels that there is a shift of perception of LGBT artists.

“I think that is what every gay artist out there is working towards – it being much more socially acceptable. Those little pro-noun shifts.

Why shouldn’t we be able to say ‘he’ instead of ‘she’? I think public acceptance is starting to shift, but we aren’t entirely there. But the start of the shift is a positive thing.”

While currently in studio with Slaight finishing off some Christmas songs, Tams is hoping to tour in 2015. Aside from an opening spot on tour with Matt Dusk and some appearances at the Lethbridge Exhibition, Tams hasn’t played his home province much and is excited to return.

“We probably won’t consider it until February. The band is releasing a project as well at that time and we are thinking of touring as well.

To be able to combine the two tours would be ideal. That is definitely on the horizon. We would probably split it into three smaller tours. Do Ontario and Montreal as one, and an East Coast tour, and then a prairie tour. I love playing back at home; it has always been such a welcoming audience. It is a shame that I haven’t been able to do it more. The focus has been on the EP. To be able to go back and showcase these new songs will be such a privilege, so I hope it will happen for sure.”

Having built a life in Toronto, leaving his friends and partner to hit the road is also something he is readying for.

“That is definitely something that I don’t know if it is a worry. It isn’t so much mentally preparing myself as preparing my partner for the fact that I am going to be gone. Just the foundation of any great relationship is communication. I know I am supported and encouraged by him in a way that I don’t think I ever have been. We are both really excited that this EP is out and seeing the single starting to chart. To have someone in my life for the last three and a half years, and having built this project together in a weird way, and celebrate the success of it is really exciting.”

Back Pocket is an upbeat and positive record. Often piano-driven music can be quite somber, but there is an energy to the songs that will make you smile. Talking to Tams, it is clear that he is in a very good place, and very happy with his career and life.

“I listen to songs that I wrote ten or twelve years ago and there is this underlying darkness and sadness to them. There is nothing wrong with that – it was a vice for me. I still think that I have a bad day and the first thing I want to do is sit down at the piano and turn the lights off and light candles and have a glass of wine and meditate with this instrument – try and find a way to sort through these emotions. What I have done, over the past couple of years, is to challenge myself to not just do that in challenging times, but also when I am feeling amazing and excited and really happy to sit down and express those feelings through music.

It isn’t something I instinctually do, and something I feel I accomplished on this EP. With songs like “When You’re Not Around” and “Mojave Sun” I kind of dove into a different way of approaching songwriting. I think I am much more secure in who I am as an artist and a person than I was six years ago, and I hope that is something that resonates with the people who listen.”

Theo Tams Back Pocket EP available now http://www.TheoTams.com http://www.BeyondTheMountainMusic.com

Before Adam Lambert made headlines on American Idol, Tams won his season and was the first gay winner of the show. He paid homage with a same-sex couple in the video for “Lazy Lovers” and was not closeted, but in interviews and with media his focus was more on the music and he did not discuss his sexuality much.

“It is because I had just won the show. It was never about being not as comfortable, but about trying to shift the focus, which is still something I am constantly trying to do. I am 100 per cent open and very proud, and in a great relationship that I love speaking about. But when it comes to

www.gaycalgary.com

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4364 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

19

Community

Mickey Wilson

On collaborating with the Alberta LGBT Chamber of Commerce, fund raising, and the essential role of the Pride Centre

By Lisa Lunney Alberta’s beloved Mickey Wilson, executive director of the Pride Centre of Edmonton, took a few minutes break from his busy schedule to chat with GayCalgary about his role and LGBT politics GC: When did you start to become such an influential and powerful voice within the Edmonton and area LGBT community?

MW: There are a many influential and powerful voices in the local and regional LGBTQ community and if I am able to add to that just a little, then I am happy to be part of an amazing team. I am committed to bring the Pride Centre’s important role and message to tables and forums where it has not been in the past. The LGBTQ lens is critical in so many areas: youth homelessness, addiction and mental health, violence, education, seniors, refugees and settlement and so much more.

There is so much to be done, so many needed supports, so much change and acceptance to mobilize that we need many voices speaking. I think I am just doing my part.

GC: What have been some of your greatest struggles?

MW: Struggles exist both personally and professionally for most people. My personal struggles are not unlike those of many people today, although as an open trans and queer person that brings extra layers of struggle sometimes. Trans people often do struggle to find places to belong and feel valued and accepted. But I am also acutely aware of the many ways that I am privileged as well… Professionally I can say that I have a great job, working with a great team, for an organization that is doing great things. I don’t know if it gets much better than that! The biggest challenge I think I have is getting people in Edmonton’s LGBTQ community to take ownership of the Pride Centre’s sustainability. There are so few available grants and funds for LGBTQ organizations, and even less dollars available to pay for core costs/operational expenses. The rent, lights and heat, administration, even the paper, ink and bathroom supplies. These expenses are not optional and yet extremely difficult to fund. I have said for two years that if every LGBTQ person and ally in the Edmonton area were to make a monthly commitment of just $20 it would cover our core costs and then some. And as Dr. Seuss would say, oh the places we would go! I get excited thinking about the work that could happen.

20

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

GC: Can you tell readers about the alliance between the Pride Centre and Chamber of Commerce?

MW: I have been friends with the Canadian LGBT Chamber for a number of years and he has been interested in getting something active in Alberta for a while. I simply facilitated that by contacting some folks and helping facilitate some initial meetings. I am the one of the board members that was appointed as we work to get all the details worked out and get a strong provincial business network mobilized. And I do believe the centre should be part of the Chamber. As the primary community resource and support provider, we play an important role in both Edmonton and the Alberta region. I also believe that the centre can only benefit from the potential relationships and networks that will unfold through our participation in the Alberta LGBT Chamber of Commerce. It is a very exciting venture.

GC: How have audiences responded to Queer Lens?

MW: Queer Lens is our weekly in-house education program.

It was the first program I initiated after joining the Pride Centre as executive director. It has been well received and remains one of our most popular programs. Queer Lens is a weekly education evening that features LGBTQ public talks about relevant issues, stories and histories from Edmonton and beyond, documentaries, community art projects and sometimes supports events as opportunities for education. Every Wednesday at 7pm, the program is free and open to everyone.

Some examples of different topics have been domestic violence, LGBTQ sexual health, Legacy series featuring Murray Billett, Michael Phair and others, suicide, politics and pride, election forums, dying with dignity, queer and trans 101s, all about bears, and more. I hope to add a lunch and learn program by early 2015 that will be brown bag bring your own lunch with a 45 minute talk once a week for $5.

GC: Can you tell readers the background behind the idea of Giving Tuesday and what it pertains?

MW: It was first launched in the US in 2012 and then in several other countries, including Canada in 2013. The idea is that there are two big, well-known days where consumerism is the focus: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And so Giving Tuesday was born, a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, December 2, 2014 charities, families, businesses, community centers and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give. We hope that many Edmontonians will choose the Pride Centre as one of their charities for a year end donation in 2014 or, better yet, take the leap and start giving monthly.

GC: What is most rewarding about working hands-on with the community of Edmonton as a whole?

www.gaycalgary.com

MW: Edmonton is an amazing city (in spite of the fact that winter simply dominates the annual calendar). There are so many great people, great initiatives and so much innovation.

And right now Edmonton is a happening place. Downtown is exploding with major construction projects, the arts community is thriving, the music scene is fabulous, and the festivals are unbeatable! And Edmonton’s LGBTQ community is still thriving and growing. Pop up parties, a growing drag scene, many events and groups. I have spent most of my adult life volunteering in the queer community and now, to be able to wake up everyday and get paid to work in this community, feels like I am living the dream. I get to participate in so many great projects and work to try to provide services that meet the vast array of needs that an LGBTQ presents to us on a daily basis – it’s a gift!

GC: Both November and December have quite a full roster of events; which are you anticipating most?

MW: I think two of my favourites are the Transgender Day of Remembrance, on November 20th, and World AIDS Day on December 1st. These days allow us to remember lives that were lost due to hate, stigma, violence and marginalization. They let us remember those that blaze trails – that courageously stand up to be authentic and pay too often with their lives. They are from years gone by and yesterday. They remind me that we tread on a precious history of lives, stories, pain and courage.

They remind me of how far we have yet to travel to reach true equality in so many places, and even here.

GC: What changes do you hope to see in 2015?

MW: There are so many things I hope for. Strong, meaningful community partnerships; sustainable funding from the government; better supports for our LGBT refugees; great education moments; an influx of monthly donations from the community. Most of all a community that cares about each other, gives to support each other, desires to learn and understand about each other, and values every part of who we

are… Those things that draw us together when the times get tough, when what matters is that in some strange, inexplicable and wonderful way, WE ARE FAMILY! GC: If readers want to get involved and volunteer, what is the best direction to take?

MW: The best thing to do is come by the centre and fill out a volunteer application. We can then get you interviewed, get a record check ordered and find the best fit for you. Support your queer community. So many lives count on it.

www.gaycalgary.com

Alberta LGBT Chamber of Commerce https://www.facebook.com/LGBTChamberAB http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4365 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

21

Gossip Tom Hardy as The Gay & The Straight Kray If you’re American, it’s understandable if you aren’t quite familiar with Reggie and Ronnie Kray. They were identical twins, one of whom was gay, and they were also notoriously violent British gangsters. In the U.K. they are the stuff of popculture legend. Morrissey wrote a song about them. A 1990 film called The Krays, starring Spandau Ballet’s twin brothers, Martin Kemp and Gary Kemp, won awards. So it was time to bring back their story for another go-’round with a film, nowshooting, currently titled Legend. It’s from writer-director Brian Helgeland and stars Tom Hardy (along with some prosthetic teeth and digital twin-making tricks) as the brothers, alongside Emily Browning, Christopher Eccleston and David Thewlis.

Hardy is really the perfect choice for these roles, having proven he can play gay (RocknRolla) and also romance Reese Witherspoon (This Means War); he can simmer with barely restrained rage (The Drop) and he can explode in similar fashion (Warrior). Versatile folks, that’s what actors are supposed to be.

This one’s due in theaters sometime in 2015, enough time to go catch up on the lyrics to “The Last of the Famous International Playboys.”

Keanu Reeves and Rolan Emmerich will take you to New Angeles Did you ever think you’d read the words “Stephen King” and “Lifetime Original Movie” in the same sentence? Well, you just did. And on Saturday, Oct. 18, you’ll get the chance to see how that peanut butter responds when it’s got Lifetime’s chocolate all up in it. Big Driver is the name of the project and it’s based on one of King’s short stories. It stars the fairly recently unheterosexualized Maria Bello, lesbian rock ’n’ roll icon Joan Jett and Olympia Dukakis in a thriller about a mystery novelist (Bello) and her battle with a drifter/serial killer. After her car breaks down and she’s sexually assaulted by the man and left for dead, she fights back revenge-horror style, a la I Spit On Your Grave. Except about 7000 percent less offensive and gruesome. Because Lifetime Original Movie. In other news, they have not run out of Stephen King stories to turn into films and they probably never will.

Franco’s wants to “Crash” into Fight Club’s Pahlaniuk

 Nick Jonas. Photo by Shutterstock

Deep Inside Hollywood Naked Nick Jonas. We repeat: naked Nick Jonas

By Romeo San Vicente Now you know why Nick Jonas has that body: he’s about to star on Kingdom, a series for DirecTV about MMA fighters.

The show, also starring Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights) and Jonathan Tucker (Parenthood), is about the lives and rough times of MMA fighters living in Venice Beach. Another thing Jonas wants you to know is that he’s going to be naked on the show – a fact he recently dropped in very close proximity to another expression of gratitude for his gay male audience – and his character may well turn out to be gay or bisexual.

So, to recap: a series about sweaty guys stripped to their shorts, beating each other up, where at least one of them is having sex with both genders. Send thank-you cards to the entertainment professional of your choice for this one, and prove your love for DirecTV by watching it all go down very soon, on Oct. 8.

22

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

James Franco, who keeps directing indie film after indie film – when he’s not busy jumping out of Jimmy Fallon’s birthday cake with a shirtless Seth Rogen – is going to make another indie film. He’s acquired the feature film rights to Fight Club author Chuck Pahlaniuk’s 2007 novel, Rant. He also may take the title role in the movie as Buster Rant Casey, a demolition driver who participates in something called the Party Crashing derby, where drivers intentionally crash into each other for the physical thrill of it (recalling J.G. Ballard’s novel and David Cronenberg’s film adaptation, Crash, about people who become involved in auto accidents as part of a sexual fetish). Filmmaker Pamela Romanowsky (Adderall Diaries, co-produced by Franco) may write and direct. It’s early days for this one, so expect more details to follow. Also expect to see Franco direct/write/ produce/star in several other projects in the meantime. Who needs sleep, anyway?

Romeo San Vicente jumps out of birthday cakes on request, at reasonable rates.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4366 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

www.gaycalgary.com

Editorial

Parenting Proud It Takes a Village… People

By Jim Scott With the Christmas holidays fast approaching, the first snows on the ground, and an ever growing list of family obligations to meet before the arrival of 2015, it suddenly has me thinking about how very different our lives are now than they were just a short 19 months ago when our son arrived. The time has flown by so fast that it’s really hard to grasp the gravity of the life altering changes, which have reshaped our household from the foundation up, and given us exciting opportunities to forge new connections with like-minded families.

It is a fascinating world we live in today where, at the click of a mouse, you can access an endless world of information and communities to help new parents with any topic imaginable.

We have used so many now that I’m constantly finding sites I had forgotten about and always say I need to get back to but, of course, never do because, if I did, I would never actually spend any time parenting. It has also been my observation that, in large part, nothing can replace actual experience, but having a few ‘go to’ places for advice and support can be a real relief at times too.

Now, more than ever, our community has the ability to reach out, teach its own, and help guide our families through the unique issues we all face sooner or later in a society. Even though we fought for decades to gain equal rights, many are still grappling with what they view as rapid change. The current baby boom in the LGBT community isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon so, if you have kids, or are planning on starting a family, here are some helpful resources.

From the beginning: looking for information about the various ways to start your journey? The LGBTQ Parenting Connection has information about adoption, surrogacy, egg donation, insemination and a wide variety of mental health topics for moms and dads to be. I have used their resource page on several occasions and come back to this site on a regular basis. Here’s the link: http://www.lgbtqparentingconnection. ca/.

Another option you might be considering is foster care.

Something you may not know is that the gay community has been a kind of unsung hero to the foster care system in the US, Canada, and Europe for many years now. It can be an inexpensive road to permanent adoption, depending on the local laws where you live, and for those who don’t mind giving up a few weekends or evenings to qualify for your local system, you could be well on your way to creating a permanent family in hardly anytime at all. A friend of mine has written a wealth of information on this topic. Check out Rich Valenza and his foundation called Raise a Child, at https://www.raiseachild. us/.

Here in Alberta, as well as other provinces, in addition to adoption, fostering, or surrogacy there is still another option available to potential parents and that is permanent guardianship of a child. This is actually how my husband and I are going through the process and we have found the Queens Bench Family Court to be fair, easy to access, and really fast too. If you think you might find yourself in this situation

www.gaycalgary.com

here’s the link to the information for guardianship: http:// humanservices.alberta.ca/guardianship-trusteeship/child.

Another type of family situation that is unique to our community is that of the recently divorced with kids from a heterosexual marriage. For many, coming out doesn’t happen until later in life. These people often find themselves pariahs not just in their own families, but in both the gay and straight communities. It’s unfair, and can add untold additional stress and anxiety to the already overwhelming experience of coming out. There are many support groups online like Calgary Outlink at http://www.calgaryoutlink.ca/ and, for Calgary men in particular, a local group has monthly meetings and a help line you can access at http://www.calgarygayfathers.ca.

Finally, if you’re serious about starting a family, what’s stopping you? These days all you need is the love for a child, a willingness to take them in, and a little bit of determination.

With all the resources and tools available to anyone who takes the time to research them, starting your family could be right around the corner and easier than you thought. It just takes our village… people.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4367 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

23

Interview The band’s last album was produced by Peter Katis (Interpol) and Gus Van Go (The Stills). The group has played with acts like Hollerado, The Giant, and Boy & Bear, and joins Lights on this tour. Though he wouldn’t say they are on the verge of an explosion, he would say more people are listening to their music.

“It’s great having people who might not normally see your band come out because of that.”

Povinsky believes its always the least expected that actually happens. In fact, the entire album is writ with the lessons the singer has been learning along the way, namely looking for the positive within all the “shitty”. Usually he would describe the band’s sound as ‘romance and violence’, but he wouldn’t say that now.

 Photo by Alyssa Reid

Wildlife Spotted in City Oshawa’s Rising Stars Play the Province this Month

By Janine Eva Trotta They have been in the industry almost ten years but many of us are just hearing of Ontario band Wildlife now. Their track “Lightning Tent” hit top 10 charts and won them the SiriusXM Indie Award for Rock Artist/Group or Duo of the Year 2014.

Their sound is very Canadian: anthemic, with the lyrical sensibility of Metric and the kind of rockiness that makes Kings of Leon so popular. Their 2013 sophomore album On the Heart is a pleasant listen and, if heard live, lead singer and guitarist Dean Povinksy promises an energetic experience.

“We always make sure we’re pouring as much into it as we can; we never go cavalierly into a show,” he says. “We’re just actually playing music and jumping around and sweating buckets because we love it.”

Founded in 2005, the friends who started Wildlife, while in Glasgow actually, have managed to maintain their amicability; something Povinsky says has contributed to their longevity.

“That’s gotten us through a lot of heavy times,” he says. Though bass player Graham Plant is taking a break in Vancouver, the group has worked collectively to achieve the sound they bring on tour today. “[Song writing] definitely changed from something that was me doing the majority of the writing to, now, I generally come with a main idea, or a song idea, that I have and want to make happen and the other [guys contribute]… whether its lyrics or melody…we basically argue about it for two months and then there’s a song.”

“It is very collaborative now.”

That sense of working together is also what the band wants their fans to feel when they listen to their music.

“We always really hope that [listeners] come away with a sense of inclusion,” Povinsky says. “That there’s not a lot of separation between the band and them…

They’re aloud to let loose and have fun.”

That feeling of abandonment – getting lost in the rawness of the music – is enhanced at a live show. Povinsky wants the audience to leave with “that sort of just raw feeing of remembering that they were there.”

For Albertans that experience will be possible when Wildlife’s fall tour brings them to Red Deer’s Memorial Centre November 22nd, Edmonton’s Myer Horowitz Theatre November 24th, and Calgary’s Mac Hall November 25th.

Despite the newfound fame, and the release of a documentary on the making of On The Heart entitled Born To Ruin, not a shred of arrogance can be found in Povinsky’s character. He’s honest, friendly, and astoundingly humble about the up and down path his music career has taken over the years.

“It has definitely been gradual – I’d never call it a consistent – crescendo,” he says. “We had a lot of luck and a lot of cool opportunities over the last few years.”

24

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

“[On The Heart] is a push and pull of pairing really dark things with really promising things, and showing that there is always good stuff in the bad stuff, and you can learn from every mistake that you make. There is always hope, and you just have to stay true to your heart and you can figure it out.”

If this sounds mature for a rock star, we might credit his upbringing.

Povinsky didn’t list big name artists or an extensive record list when asked who his musical inspirations are. He named his parents.

“Especially early on my parents were pretty big musical inspirations,” he said, reflecting on a childhood full of mom’s piano playing and dad strumming the Everly Brothers on his acoustic guitar. His mom taught him to play when he was young, and she still sits down to hammer through the same repertoire she has been playing for the last 30-odd years. “They are definitely rock starts in their own kind of way; their retired, Oshawa kind of way.”

Working hard and staying true to his roots have kept Povinsky grounded, and a voice worth listening to. “I really like non-preachy lesson-orientated songs,” he says.

He knows better than to take anything for granted, and appreciates all he has. Where his first album came from a place of naivety and youth, his latest comes from a place of lessons learned.

“Always be conscientious of what your doing and how that’s having effect on other people,” he says. “Never expect that your experiences are the same as everyone else’s… There are a lot of people, at any point, that would trade places with you in a heartbeat. In two seconds.”

He’s acceptant of the flux that has been his career. “Certainties aren’t always the best things,” he admits. “Knowing that you have got a few things in your life, like friends and love, and those things are the most important…

As long as you are balancing those things out, you should be ok.”

That said, don’t expect the same sound in the album Wildlife has slated for release next year. After wrapping this current tour the band will take a break, re-group and start recording some tracks they are really excited to lay down. “[We want to] tackle some stuff that we have talked about doing the last few years that we haven’t really gotten around to,” he says. This means going bigger, adding instruments, more guest musicians, and exploring genres. We are warned to expect the unexpected.

Povinsky concedes that being a Canadian musician it can be easy to get sort of stuck on the same circuit, playing the same kind of music with the same people, and though that hasn’t worn thin yet it would be fun “to reinvent what we can do as a live band.”

“Almost any kind of song could be on one of our records within reason,” he says. The band has talked about doing gospel, country or soul. “ Embracing some of those different things I think is where we’re going to go with it.”

As for a message for their gay fans, Povinsky says just one thing: “Bring the party.”

Wildlife http://www.wildlifemusic.ca Red Deer - Memorial Centre, November 22nd Edmonton - Myer Horowitz Theatre, November 24th Calgary - MacEwan Hall, November 25th http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4368 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments www.gaycalgary.com

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

25

Interview

From Greys To Gays Garrett Wang speaks about ‘Others’

By Farley FooFoo For veteran Star Trek Voyager actor Garrett Wang, life has been a journey of exploration. From his earliest days as a young actor, challenging himself to understand and portray characters that may have seemed vastly different to him, to his travels around the world, meeting fans of his work and critics of his nation’s government. Indeed his years portraying the role of Ensign Harry Kim aboard the star ship Voyager have ultimately brought Wang one thing; an ineffable sense of perspective. And, when trying to understand a person of a different race, culture, sexuality or an alien species, perspective is the answer to not simply viewing them as an ‘other’. We had the chance to talk about this perspective with him.

GayCalgary: One thing I wanted to talk to you about today is, have you spoken to Kate Mulgrew about the whole controversy over her voice work on the geocentrism documentary?

GW: No I haven’t. I first found out about it via Twitter. One of my followers had it posted.

GC: I haven’t heard her part, but I know she has come out after, and said she was very much misled about what the project was about. She didn’t know that those were the kind of claims they were going to be making.

GW: I would honestly say she didn’t even know what she was getting

into. It probably snuck up on her in a way. I don’t fault her for that at all. It’s just unfortunate that it happened. Who, in this life, has not been duped? Everybody has dealt with it in one shape or form. I don’t think anyone should hold that against her. She was hired as a voice over; she was a hired hand. The views of the people doing it [don’t reflect hers].

That’s wrong for people to [be upset with her].

GC: Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that – where you were offered work or a role and there was something that felt like everything wasn’t on the up and up?

GW: Well yeah – years ago when I was on Voyager there was talk of this German production company interested in me in feature film and I started reading through [the script] and it was about playing a Buddhist Monk, and there were scenes where he was masturbating, and I was thinking Oh my God, what am I doing? It was really graphic. It was like and then the camera pans from there to there and I thought No. I don’t think so. So I kind of backed out of that one. That would have given my mother a heart attack! [laughs] GC: Aw, well, Garrett Wang fans will have to live without seeing you as a Buddhist monk masturbating.

GW: Yeah – as a Tibetan monk in a cave! It was in a cave [laughs].

Other than that, I haven’t really been offered anything too outrageous.

But I’m definitely not afraid of controversy, especially if it has a basis in truth. One of the first plays I did was a play called Porcelain. Porcelain is written by a Singapore-Chinese playwright named Chay Yew, and in this play I played a gay Chinese teenager living in London who – the play itself mirrors the structure of Equus, because Equus is about this boy who kills all these horses and you see a psychologist interviewing him.

Porcelain is really interesting because, as the audience files in for the play, I’m the only actor in the center of the stage and the ground is strewn with hundreds and hundreds of red origami cranes, and I’m sitting there folding them one by one, then throwing them on the floor. So once everyone is in the house they turn the lights down, and all the actors come in, and they turn the lights up and we’re sitting on five stools. I’m in the centre and there are two actors to my left and two to right, and all the other actors are playing three to 11 other characters, and I only played one. I played John, the main character. John is the gay Chinese teenager. And the criminal psychologist in our play is interviewing me because in the play I meet an older blue- collar Irishman in a bathroom in England, when gay men meet in public restrooms for sex. It’s called ‘cottaging’. So basically I meet him cottaging, but he’s just experimenting.

26

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

He’s not looking for a relationship, he’s just looking for sex. And he is very aggressive and rough, but my character falls in love with him. And once he tires of me he dumps me and I follow him back to the same restroom where we met, and he is in there for hours and hours, and it drives me crazy and I end up shooting him. That play put me on the map, for being straight and playing a gay character. To play this character of John Lee, I really had to step it up.

GC: And this was early in your career before Voyager, so it was probably a hard decision for you to make. There had to have been some fears that you could be labelled as a ‘gay actor’ for playing a gay role, and you might get passed up for future opportunities. So was there some inner monologue happening for you before playing that role?

GW: Most definitely but, for me as a young actor, I was very much open to exercising my acting abilities and stretching myself as much as possible. And up to a week before the opening the plan was for my wardrobe to be nothing! So it would have been an hour a half of me butt naked on stage! Literally one week before the play opened the director says to me We are now dressing you in white pants and a white shirt to convey your virginal, youthful side. The subject matter is so hardcore that we decided that you being nude is absolutely hitting the audience with way too much. The play itself will be strong enough to move the audience and, at this point, the nudity is gratuitous. So they took it out. But I don’t have any issues with playing a character with a different sexual orientation than myself.

GC: Well gay fans will be sad they didn’t get to see you masterbate on film or naked on stage! [laughs] So I was wondering, when you are watching the news and see these stories like the missing Malaysian airlines plane, do you go to thinking of Voyager episodes, like that Amelia Earhart episode where it is portrayed that her disappearance was due to an alien abduction?

GW: Yes because you also have to understand that even before Star Trek I believed that the universe is way too big for us to be the only intelligent life form. The 37s [is the episode] where we find Amelia Earhart.

And with the Malaysian airlines plane, for something that big to vanish without a trace... could it have been some type of alien abduction? Yes it did cross my mind, or some kind of Bermuda Triangle-like force. With that story though, I really do hope they find closure because those families are absolutely devastated.

GC: Do you find with other news stories you mentally make a Voyager reference or connection?

GW: Often it is in the back of my mind, but yes there is occasionally some correlation at times [between news stories and episodes]. Have you, yourself, ever had any experiences that you have personally had with your own eyes that makes you consider the possibility of extraterrestrial life?

GC: Me personally? I have not, no. But I still believe that we are not the only life form [in the universe].

GW: Well I’ll tell you mine! It happened about, probably my guess is around the late ’90s. I was invited to the Celebrity Sports Invitational in

www.gaycalgary.com

Puerto Rico. It was an event that ended up on ESPN2, and it was basically a bunch of celebs invited to compete in beach volleyball, wave runner races, tennis, basic little fun things to have a little competition among the different celebs. There were Olympic athletes – Buzz Aldrin was there, as well as a slough of TV and movie actors, and some musicians. And we were staying at a hotel that was away from San Juan by about an hour.

It was located on the beach, but right next to the El Yunque Rain Forest, which is the largest rainforest on US territory. And they say that if you’re hiking in the El Yunque rainforest, if you hike too deep you’ll come upon armed guards that are dressed in all black; no insignia, no patches; very similar to Area 51. And this area, there’s a lack of light pollution from San Juan, so you could see a lot of stars. l remember looking up at the sky and all of a sudden I saw one star move! Now it wasn’t like a drifting thing, where I could have been deceived by the clouds. No. It was this one point of light, and it moved in one direction and then went completely off in an opposite 320 degree different direction, and then shot off in a flash.

It looked like it was going 40 mph one way, 100 mph the other way, and then 5000 mph at a right angle, and was gone. It wasn’t moving at a curve, or a bend, so it wasn’t an airplane, fighter jet or helicopter. So there was no technology known to man that has the capacity to move at those angles and those speeds. It was like it literally went to warp and was gone and I was like what the hell? I was beside myself with regret that no one else was with me to corroborate that. It could have been the El Yunque Rain Forest base – or whatever was in there experimenting – or maybe an alien craft observing El Yunque going OK, what are those guys doing down there? So that is my one and only view of a UFO. It was definitely an unidentified flying object that I observed in Porto Rico.

GC: If we are being observed by some alien race, what do you think their intentions would be? Do you think they would be nefarious or do you think they would be altruistic?

GW: I think that there are both out there. Can I tell you another story? This is stuff I cannot make up. [laughing] I was in a metaphysical bookstore in Sedona, Arizona. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Sedona, but other parts of Arizona can be insanely hot, but Sedona is actually 20 degrees cooler, always, than any other part of Arizona. Sedona has all these beautiful rock formations, but it’s also known for its energy vortexes. Some people think it has an extraterrestrial reason and others say it is just the way it is there. So I am walking around the bookstore, looking for stuff, looking for a book, when I noticed this woman starring at me and eventually she comes up to me and tells me that she works there and that she is a dimensional clairvoyant. So she is clairvoyant across dimensions. So I sit down with her and she says, Can I look at your hand?

She says I just want to look at your energy vibrations. So I said ok and she looks and says, Oh! You have been visited by aliens before in your subconscious. And I said Wow, so you believe that there are aliens out there? And she says Oh yes, there are. So I ask her, are there one specific type, and she says there are more than one type of species out there. So I ask her what are the different species? And she tells me about “The Greys” who have no mouth and those big kind of eyes, the ones that are in [the movie] Close Encounters of the Third Kind and that we see everywhere. So she tells me they are on our side; that they are friendly and very much known by the government. She says that they are trying to help us, and I said help us with what? and she says with what is coming! [laughs] And I ask her Other than the Greys, who else is kicking around? and she says

www.gaycalgary.com

“The Reptoids”, and she said they are not good. And I ask What do they do? and she explains that they are all around us but that we can’t see them because they project a psychic projection of another human. And I ask her Why are they bad? and she tells me that they basically are energy vampires – meaning they suck the energy and life force from human beings. That when we are in our natural state – meaning when you wake up and are conscious – you have a natural aura around you that protects you basically, but when you drink alcohol, when you take any type of mind altering drug, that puts your natural aura down and these Reptoids can go to any concerts, bars etc. where people get drunk off their butt, and they stand right next to you and they suck your energy out. That, when you wake up the next day and have a hangover, it is really because you have been sapped of your energy.

She then tells me the Greys are here to help us from these aliens from the deepest reaches of the galaxy that are on their way, and they are called “the Dark Ones” and she says they are like the Borg in Star Trek – they try to take over every part of the universe – and that we have to repel them to the best of what we can. So I ask her Can anything can be done? and she says Oh yes! All the answers lie within your episodes! [laughing]

GC: [laughing] So there we are! Everyone needs to go back and watch all the old Voyager episodes just in case!

GW: [laughing] Exactly! And the thing is, I know that with Star Trek, when you watch an episode there is an actual story. Like we meet an alien race, and they have a problem, and we help them, or whatever, but because of the way Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, it’s all about the underlying messages. That legacy has continued through from past Star Treks. The writers stayed true to [the idea of] dealing with these other issues like racism, classism – not just what you see. So I have always known that to be true, but in terms of knowing about “the Dark Ones”... I don’t know that to be true. [laughs] But if everyone was to be of one mind, in terms of taking on all the messages of Star Trek to be better humans, then we would be unified and be better able to repel evil. If there was a unification of mind and spirit, and the abolishment of money, then all the deaths and murders and wars would disappear without profit. If we have the universal consciousness to do good, that will make us stronger. This is also touched about in The Fifth Element. So maybe she is right in that regard.

GC: That speaks to one of the things that I have always loved about the Star Trek cannon; that they did kind of have hopeful messages that were dealt with nicely and wrapped up, and we were given an inspired feeling at the end. So I was wondering what you think of the shift to some of these shows today like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead, where it is the exact opposite, and all is not hopeful?

GW: What that tells me is that people need to watch more reruns of Trek shows [laughs]. No, but you have got to balance out the views. It can’t all be these fatalistic shows where every week somebody dies and it all starts to feel the same. We have this morbid fascination with death. I don’t know if you have been in L.A., but any time there’s a horrific accident on the freeway, all traffic goes to a standstill because people want to see the gore. It’s ridiculous. We have this crazy fascination with death but it has to be balanced out. You have got to balance out the fatalistic view. So someone always watching those shows, along the same lines, they need to watch one episode of Star Trek for every three episodes of Walking Dead to balance [their] soul. [laughs]

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

27

GC: Maybe it should be the opposite. For every one Walking Dead episode you need to watch three episodes of Voyager! [laughs]

my back yard for security purposes? No; we don’t like that. We’re going to try and get you out.

GW: [laughing] Doctor’s orders! Take three episodes of Trek and call me in the morning. What I was going to talk about was, do you remember the movie Galaxy Quest? So Galaxy Quest is funny in that there is that one scene where they are talking about... everything on that ship operates according to what the processes of the buttons that they pushed on their own TV show was, including the driving of the ship and transporting of people, and so on. When I watched that I was like Oh my Lord! If aliens ever watched Voyager and thought that that is how you re-route energy from one relay to another... I did that stuff all the time, so if they copy what I did, I’m screwed! [laughing] When I pushed buttons I would push buttons and make designs. Like little Christmas trees and happy faces, and there was never any consistency with my button patterns. So if aliens ever abducted me and expected me to know what buttons to push, I would probably set off the self-destruct sequence! [laughing]

I personally think for the US to get a better image there needs to be a president or a secretary of state that can speak every major language.

Think about that – that is something that has always been a dream of mine. I speak a lot of different languages: I speak Mandarin and Chinese, I speak Russian and some German, a little French and Spanish. If I could get Arabic down pat, and I was secretary of state or president and could walk into these countries and speak their language fluently – everyone would turn their heads and be like Whoa! That would be the most respectful thing to do. They would say the American president talks just like us! That’s the thing – you don’t want to kill people that are like you.

And, at that point, I would shut down every overseas military base if I was president. I would bring all those soldiers back home and put them in construction jobs, rebuilding all the damage from say, Hurricane Katrina.

We spend billions and billions of dollars overseas yet we can’t fix some of the problems in our own country.

GC: That would be a really funny way to go back and watch episodes: to watch for the various patterns you’re making when operating the ship!

What do you think about the concept of a possible colonization of Mars?

GW: I think it’s necessary the way the population is increasing. One day there will not be enough room on Earth; it will be so overpopulated that it will be rough. There needs to be a moon base and Mars colony. Any other planet that we can get to and put a colony on, we need to. The only other way is if we, say we pick a lotto ticket and at birth it’s random, like who gets to live on the surface and who has to live in subterranean cities.

There are just too many people on the planet.

GC: It could be an opportunity to do things more sensibly – where we don’t have a huge bounty of resources and where everything matters. It all has to be renewable.

GW: They would have to use solar and wind turbines – anything other than burning fossil fuels. That would be the most green residential area known to man; just environmentally friendly and utilizing what you’ve got there. Totally.

GC: I saw that you completed a project called “Alongside Night”. Could you tell us what that was like?

GW: Alongside Night may turn out to be a project which I don’t share the views of the writers. The movie is based on the book that the director also wrote. A lot is anti- government – how the government is doing this and that and talking about having to go to the gold standard, and going back to gold because of the riots that are going to happen in the streets, because of all kinds of negative economic forces. It’s a bit conspiracy theorist but it definitely warns people against the ‘Big Bad Government’.

GC: You can understand why that speaks to people today – with all the economic instability on the planet.

GW: In a way there are parts of it that I definitely agree with, because I agree with the notion that power definitely corrupts. Because if you talk about Russia and the Crimea and you talk about mainland China – these were the two most pre-eminent communist countries: China and Russia.

And the concept of communism is valiant. It says – unlike in India where it’s a caste system, where if you’re born to the wrong caste you can’t own a store; if you’re born to a family of beggars, you stay a beggar – communism erases that crap. We are on the exact same level, and that basic tenet is amazing, but, unfortunately, over time power corrupts. The ruling party, a communist party leader of a province or of a major city, there is no way they are equal to the peasant who is in the rice field plowing and doing just hard, hard, farm work. You cannot tell me that guy is the same as the communist party leader. And if you look at Putin, my God. He is practically a dictator at this point. It is just sad how governments have just completely lost it and don’t get it anymore. It’s all about How can we make more money or profit right now? It is so sad, and makes me so upset that that’s the way it is. I wish there was some type of way to change that...

It’s like when Bush was in office. Everywhere I went overseas people would look at me, after I told them I was American, they would be like Oh, we don’t really like what you guys are doing. I would be like, I’m sorry but I am not part of that. I don’t agree with the fact that he is president. Don’t put this crap on me. I feel that a lot of these terrorist activities are brought upon America. Nobody grows up and just wants to kill Americans, it just doesn’t happen that way. But when you see some of the foreign policies the US government has undertaken, or how they treat people, or how they bring troops in and strong-arm people, then people get pissed. You know what I’m saying? Like, Wait a minute – you’ve got a hundred thousand people in

28

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

GC: I can’t help but draw a connection between that woman you met in the bookstore talking about “The Dark Ones” coming to take over, and that maybe – for a lot of other people in the world – the Americans were like these dark entities coming from far away to take over their lands, quite often for exploitation of resources or to install puppet governments for their benefit.

GW: Oh definitely! The most insightful thing I ever saw was on a cable television show, and it was a live satellite feed between two high school groups. It was a group of 20 American high school students and 20 Iraqi high school students – and this was back during the Persian War when Saddam Hussein was still alive – so the U.S. had already invaded and had troops in Baghdad and all over the place in Iraq. The students were talking, and the American students said that we had to come over there because they had ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and the Iraqi students were like, What weapons of mass destruction? We don’t have anything!

They said You Americans don’t understand what we are going through.

How would you feel if all of a sudden 500,000 Iraqi soldiers were posted in every major U.S. city? And they’re on every street corner with a machine gun. As you’re going to school, going to the grocery store to buy some food, there are dudes with guns from another country just looking at you as if you were guilty, as if you might be a terrorist. How would you feel? It was an eye opener to the American students. Because, as Americans and Canadians, we have not experienced having foreign troops in our lands. It is such an invasion of space. You fear for your life as an innocent civilian.

It is always a perspective that people need to see. Too often people look at one side of the coin but not the flip side of the coin. That’s why I feel people should travel as much as they can and live in another country at some point. Then you get to see it’s not just about you and your little neighbourhood. There is a whole world out there, and you get to see the other side with a different perspective. When you see things from another perspective you gain wisdom.

GC: That’s really what empathy is. Being able to put yourself in another’s position.

GW: Yes! And we still have issues with people not allowing themselves to be empathetic with gender and sexual orientation issues. You know what I’m saying? We still have issues where people can’t see the other side or another’s perspective. When Voyager came out in 1995 we had bomb threats. People could not stand that we had a woman in command.

And that’s 1995! And when it comes to issues of sexual orientation, there are still people getting beaten and killed because of their sexuality! Gay bashings are something that is still happening in 2014. It’s ludicrous! It’s like God dang it, everyone needs a dosage of perspective. I would love to take every single bigoted person that is racist and make them live with a black family or an Asian family or in another culture for a few months.

Take every person who is anti-gay and make them live with a gay couple for a few months. Then you understand what these people are like. That they are like you. Perspective is the key to everything – whether it’s world peace, or understanding between people of different genders or sexual orientations. It’s all about perspective and understanding how the other half lives. That is the answer.

GC: I think so too. Thank you for your time.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4369 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments www.gaycalgary.com

Ivy Winters Blows Into Alberta Season 5’s Miss Congeniality Coming for Battle Of The Seasons

By Jason Clevett

GayCalgary will be presenting interviews with most of the queens that will grace the stage these evenings, and Ivy Winters was the first to call in despite fighting a cold. The whirlwind 30plus date North American tour gives an idea of the whirlwind that is the life of one of the Drag Race stars post-show.

“My life has completely changed. Before Drag Race drag, for me, was more of a hobby. It really wasn’t a money maker at all.

Since the show I get to travel and do it full-time, which I never in a million years thought I would be able to do. To share my talents around the world was a dream of mine and Drag Race made that happen.”

For Drag Race fans it is torture watching the show unfold and waiting for the winner, especially when they often slate two-week breaks, including a recap show between the final

three announcement and the finale. It is worse for the queens who have to agree to confidentiality and can’t tell anyone what happened. It can be almost a year between filming and the finale which makes it difficult, Winters said.

“Oh my god that was the hard part! I was gone for a month and it was hard because you had to completely forget about Drag Race during the time between filming and when it airs. You really have to keep quiet and can’t say anything to anybody, so I tried to forget about it until they announced who was on that season.

I can’t even remember when we filmed it feels like ten years ago.

From the time that we film it, we come back to our regular lives, and no one knows that we were on. You get thrown back into society after and are like what just happened? What did I just do?

It is almost a year until it is done and you have this huge chunk of time to mentally prepare yourself for what is going to happen.

You have to prepare yourself for gigs and traveling. I was lucky at that time – I had Manila and Zahara and Jiggly and Milan that were on past seasons on Drag Race that were helping me out in getting myself prepared. Waiting every episode – because we don’t know how they are going to edit us and how we are going to look in each episode – and you kind of forget what had happened. You are watching it with millions of people chewing your fingernails off. It was stressful, and the wait was hellish” Ivy Winters is a unique performer. Her background in circus work and clowning has lead her to possess a different style from

www.gaycalgary.com

You could almost hear the collective gasps of Alberta’s drag race fans on November 3rd when the bomb was dropped by Pure Pride and Union Events. For the first time ever in our province seven of RuPaul’s fiercest girls, along with Michelle Visage, will be together under one roof. RuPaul’s Drag Race – Battle of the Seasons: The 2015 Condragulations Tour will invade Flames Central in Calgary February 13th, and heat up Encore West Edmonton Mall on Valentines Day, February 14th.

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

29

other queens. We got a glimpse of her talents on the season when she walked the runway on stilts. She also includes juggling and fire-eating in her stealthy talent repetoire.

“I have been doing it for 12 years now. I started when I was eight-years-old, learning different skills in different stages while I was young. I learned to stilt walk, juggle and eat fire. I used to do magic tricks and was a clown for eight and a half years.

The circus and performing and theatrical stuff always inspired me. I had the worst grades in school because I was constantly practicing tricks and stunts. When I was 18 I started doing drag and I wanted to stand out. I wasn’t the best dancer, and wasn’t a comedy queen or a host. A friend said why don’t you do all your clown stuff in drag and stand out that way? and I was like that is the best idea! So it has clicked ever since.”

It certainly garners a reaction when Winters eats fire on stage in drag. “[The audience] loves it. Either they get really nervous and back away or have this blank look on their face like, what is happening?! It is fun, especially in drag. You don’t see a lot of drag queens doing it. There is a lot of danger with hairspray and wigs, and pretty much everything we wear being flammable. It is a big thrill to do.”

As a boy, Dustin Winters had a great deal of support when he came out. He was the first of three siblings to do so.

“I am the middle child, but I came out first at 16 as a freshman in high school. About a year later my sister, who is two years younger, came out, and then a couple of years after that my oldest brother came out. My parents were like, whoah – we knew Dustin was, we didn’t know you two were! My parents were really cool with it. When I came out it was super late at night and I told my mom, and she pretty much knew, but we had this heart-to-heart conversation. She was crying and worried about me going through high school and being made fun of; she was just worried about me. It was completely fine – when I came out

everyone was like duh! When all of us came out my parents were cool with it. My mom worked at a travel agency and two of her best friends were gay so they were fine with it. I was very lucky and blessed with my family.”

While supportive of their gay children, when Winters began his drag career his parents were unaware of what drag entails and, initially, had reservations.

“When I came out to my parents as a drag queen they were really worried about it, and didn’t care for it because they didn’t know a lot about it. They didn’t know what it meant or if I was getting ready to have a sex change. They weren’t educated on what drag is, and what it meant to me. I told them it is just like clowning: I am putting on make up, a face and a costume, and am being paid to entertain people; I am just entertaining adults. Instead of being a funny character I am trying to convey a woman. It is very much the same thing. When they came to their first drag show to see me perform they completely understood why I wanted to do it and what an artistic outlet it was for me.”

With gay siblings and accepting parents Winters had quite the cheering section.

“It was funny; my brother and his boyfriend, at the time, would watch Drag Race every week before my season. When they found out I was on they freaked out and had viewing parties every week.”

Although eliminated from the show, Winters was crowned Miss Congeniality on the finale.

“It was an amazing feeling. There were a lot of really nice queens on my season so I was very honoured to get that – it was nice. I hate confrontation and am happy that people saw that in me. I don’t want to be recognized as a bitch. The drama was really hard to. We know the producers love drama and it is air time for the girls, so a lot were kind of making shit up and picking fights just to get air time. I was like you are going to go home and watch and realize how stupid you are going to look.

That was hard for me to decipher: … what was important for me to be a part of regarding confrontations, and knowing what was worth speaking up for.”

Winters had a big tip for queens looking to achieve drag stardom in future seasons.

“The biggest thing for auditioning is to show as much personality as possible. You could be the most amazing, talented drag queen but, if you don’t have a personality to go with those talents, you won’t make it on. It is a reality show. They are not going to have someone who doesn’t have a personality, so make sure that is the first thing they notice... How do you survive the show itself? Pure luck. You can still be nice and have a personality, just not a negative one.”

The Battle of the Seasons tour is playing large venues, allowing Winters to really bring her A-game.

“This is my fun time to really do what I like to do... We get to perform on these huge stages and I am able to bring my stilts and giant props, and a million costume changes... A lot of the time I am not able to bring my stilts to clubs so I go for the big extravagant numbers that I love to perform. A lot of people have asked me to sing live, but a lot of girls sing live and do comedy in the show and the girls are really good at what they do. So I stand out by doing my circusy tricks, so you will see a lot of that.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race Battle Of The Seasons http://www.PurePride.ca http://www.RuPaulBots.com Calgary - Flames Central - February 13, 2015 Edmonton - Encore West Edmonton Mall - February 14, 2015 http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4370 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments 30

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Interview

San Diego’s DJ Shane Stiel

on DJing at the recent HoneyPot Production’s Wild Pride in Calgary

By Farley Foo Foo If you were one of the lucky partiers who made it through the massive lineup outside and into the Pint for HoneyPot Production’s first foray into Calgary, then you likely found yourself dancing the night away to the delicious beats of San Diego’s own DJ Shane Stiel. Stiel was here for the Wild Pride event that took place last August, Not one to jump on the current mainstream EDM bandwagon, Stiel took time out from his hectic touring schedule to express his thoughts on what is currently missing from the electronic dance scene and its musical offerings, his future plans – including relocating and stepping away from the decks and into the studio – and his time spent in Calgary.

GC: Can you tell us a little bit about your past and your upbringing?

SS: Ever since I came out of my mothers’ womb I knew I was destined

to be a DJ! Just kidding. I was born in Colorado in June of 1980. My upbringing was one of a lot of love, and I was continuously surrounded by music. My parents were not rich but not poor either. They worked extremely hard to provide the best for my sister and I. A lot of [my] hard work and determination I learned from my parents. My mother has shared stories with me that they had to do the most odd jobs in order to send us to school and have a happy life. My mother worked so hard at the bank that she went from a position as a teller to a vice president position without ever receiving a college degree. My dad was a car salesman and extremely good at it. He worked numerous hours in order to make sure we had food on our plates every night at dinner. Now that is hard work! I was the typical kid: played baseball and soccer, played the trumpet and French horn, and also sang in choir. I loved music so much and it showed. I just wish I still had that Michael Jackson record player that I used to listen to 45s with! As a teenager I enjoyed hanging with friends, learning to drive, and also attending raves, which my mom called “boom boom music”. All in all I had a wonderful upbringing full of love, respect and learning how to become the man I am today.

GC: Where were all the places you moved around to growing up?

What made you finally decide to choose San Diego as your home base?

appreciate the things I had, and the lessons I learned as a child. I moved there because I had to take a break from the rave scene and figure out my life as an adult. I chose to join the Navy and clean my life up a bit. Once I joined I successfully graduated from boot camp with high honours and proved to my parents, as well as myself, that the lessons I learned from them really sunk in. I was then shipped off to the beautiful city of San Diego, California as an aviation electrician at a helicopter squadron and attached to the U.S.S. Lincoln aircraft carrier. I was honourably discharged in 2008 and moved back to Denver for a short time before returning to San Diego after an extremely cold and snowy winter. Now I am planning on moving from San Diego to Los Angeles.

GC: I understand you first got into electronic music going to raves in Denver at the age of 15. What was it about the rave scene that first drew you into it, and how did you handle yourself being around a somewhat older crowd?

SS: Yes I got into the rave scene at 15 years of age, which some might think is quite young. However I always associated myself with an older demographic, but there were also kids my age as well. What drew me in was the sense of love and unity that you experienced at these parties. Everyone knew each other and everyone cared about each other just the same. Peace, love, unity and respect – or PLUR – was what we were all about. Being [that] my astrological sign [is] Cancer, I found the community and energy around me matched what I believed in. I believe that a lot of that good energy is lost in the events these days, which is quite sad to see. It wasn’t about being commercial or trying to be the hottest person there; it was about having a good time to music that we all shared a special bond with. I would give anything to go back to those days and live them once again.

GC: Do you ever spin at parties now and see 15-year-olds dancing to your music?

SS: I don’t really see many of the younger generation at my events, as they are mostly 21 and up events. I go to the occasional “massive” and see the young kids and think to myself, when I see the girls, did their parents approve of the way they look?. It has turned into who-looks-theskankiest and Jersey Shore fist pumping. The uniqueness is lost, but when I find that rare dancer that is popping and liquid dancing I give him or her much props on keeping it real.

SS: We moved around a lot as I grew up until we finally settled in Lakewood, Colorado in 1991. I lived there for about 11 years until my family decided they wanted to live in a very small town called Lewellen, Nebraska. This was a town with a population of only 280 people. This was a huge change for me, but an extremely good lesson to completely

GC: You were dating a woman for a long time before you came out and became a DJ. When did you come out, and did you find it hard to come out while you were still serving in the US Navy?

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

31

SS: I was dating a few women before I came out – poor girls! LOL! Although I did not fully come out until I came to San Diego and sought it out. My first club I went to, as an out gay man, was Rich’s in San Diego. Boy was that a time in my life I would never forget. I was so nervous, and immediately ran up to the closest bartender to get a drink.

His name is Kekoa, if that is how you spell it. He was so sweet and had the biggest smile on his face. I immediately was drawn to him and he introduced me to a lot of people I still call friends today. At first I was afraid to be out and in the Navy but I quickly found a large amount of gays in San Diego who were also in the military that I could relate to. I never actually came out to my commands but they knew and didn’t care in the slightest. I did my job and did it well so they never said anything.

In fact, over time, many of them joined me at the gay bars and enjoyed being part of my lifestyle.

GC: Do you think the American military has come a long way since the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell? Or is it still, in your opinion, often a very homophobic institution?

SS: It is hard to answer this question as I was already out of the Navy once that ridiculous law was abolished. As I stated before, I never had any issues, however I know many people whom were either discharged for being gay or used being gay to get out of the Navy themselves. I think that the military is somewhat still homophobic, but not based on a written standard, but in the mindset of many of the military members who do not agree with our lifestyle. Although I think this younger generation is growing up to be more comfortable with the gay lifestyle, and that should help to change the way things are currently in the military.

GC: For those who may not have heard you play before, tell us a little bit about your sound. People might be surprised to learn that you’re not the biggest fan of the current EDM that has become so mainstream.

SS: I originally started playing progressive trance and eventually developed into house. Currently I spin a variation of styles, from house to tribal to circuit to tech house. I like to keep it unique and interesting so that everyone can enjoy himself or herself. I am not a fan of EDM and I have been involved in many debates about this. The acronym EDM spelled out is electronic dance music. There are many genres of electronic dance music, and I believe a lot of those genres have been lost once this EDM culture came about. I have found it quite sad that many of the DJs and producers I once loved before have sold out of their original styles to play this form of music in order to play the big events and to make the big money. Now I know that I said that my sound transitioned from trance to house, but those are two separate forms of electronic dance music. Also when you go to these EDM events, as I said before, it’s nothing but a bunch of fist pumping, and I believe it has lost the whole feel of dance. I say this because, quite honestly, you cannot even dance to it at all. It’s just a bunch of shit noise that is way overproduced. I am a true house head at heart and I plan to remain loyal to my sound.

GC: Where would you like to see electronic sounds go moving forward? What do you think the future of electronic music will look like?

SS: Honestly it is hard to say where electronic music will go.

Computers do everything digitally, so I suppose the sky is the limit.

However I would like to see dance music come back to its roots. I would like to see the kids these days get a real experience [of] what the scene was like 15 plus years ago. Many of them have no understanding or respect for where this lifestyle was created from, and that would be a great education for them all.

GC: The progression from disco to house was a very important

step in electronic music. House built upon disco but definitely took that sound in a novel direction. Do you find that the current genres of electronic music haven’t really evolved, or haven’t been as innovative?

That trap and glitch and EDM are really just a slight variant of techno, dub, garage, breakbeat and house?

SS: I would say you are exactly right on that point. I can give you an example of an experience I had with this. There was once this amazing jungle DJ named Dieselboy that I once loved to see every time. Now jungle wasn’t my first choice in dance music, but I loved the way he used to throw down those records and create some of the most amazing sounds I have ever heard. A group of friends and I caught wind that he was performing here in San Diego recently at a venue called 4th and B. We were so excited and decided to go check it out. I was so excited to hear him and dance like I used to while listening to his sets. [But]

32

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

the night was disappointing. He played nothing but dubstep to the fist pumpers that were in front of him. I was so pissed that we had to leave so I didn’t have to listen to that noise any longer. I give credit to Skrillex for creating a different sound but for Dieselboy to sell out to it was utterly disgusting. Disappointed!

GC: You have spoken before about moving from the DJ side of the industry into the production side. Can you give us an update on how that’s going and when/where we might be able to hear some Shane Stiel originals?

SS: Yes, I have been DJing for 16 years now and it is time for me to take it to the next level. This is why I am moving to Los Angeles, so that I can engulf myself around musicians, and really expand the creative genius that lives inside of me. I have a great deal of support as well from names such as Paulo, Abel and especially Alyson Calagna. I was going to attend a school to get some more education on it, but I have found someone that is going to teach me one-on-one. I’d rather spend $17,000 on an amazing studio than have to pay that off the rest of my life. I am planning on having my own original mixes out some time next year, so be on the lookout for my label, STIEL REKORDZ! GC: Any artists you would really love to work with or remix, and

why?

SS: Oh man that is a hard question. There are so many artists I would really love to work with. A few are Chus and Ceballos, Jerome Robins, Deko-ze, Hazzaro, Hot Since 82, Mark Knight and DJ PP. There are also a few singers I would love to work with including Lisa Shaw, Samantha James, Jes from Motorcycle, and my dear friend Luciana. I am looking forward to so much more in the future!

GC: As one of the most sought after DJs for gay parties and festivals right now, you have done a lot of traveling. Is that something you enjoy as opposed to a residency? Any places or parties you consider as favourite?

SS: I have been so very blessed with the travels and experiences I have had. I thoroughly enjoy the travel and getting to see friends in other cities, as well as spreading my love for music around the world.

Although I travel a lot I still hold residency in a few clubs in the states including Beatbox in San Francisco, Hydrate in Chicago, and Heretic in Atlanta. I also loved being part of the legendary White Party in Palm Springs, One Mighty Weekend in Orlando, WILD in Vancouver, Lazy Bear, and the one and only gay and lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia – to name a few. I have some huge announcements to make coming up for NYE and 2015, so people can keep their eyes open for that on my website and Facebook page.

GC: Did you enjoy playing Wild Pride? Any particular experiences or recollections from Calgary you remember most?

SS: Are you kidding me? I think you know that I had a blast that weekend. Gingerbear Todd and the HoneyPot Productions crew are some of my favourite people in the world and have become some of my best friends and supporters. Calgary was such a fun city, and the people there were quite lovely! I think my best experience there was the Friday night at The Pint for Wild Pride. Todd put together that event in only three weeks and it went off extremely successfully. I had such a fun time spinning that room and I sure hope everyone else did as well.

GC: For anyone who wants to check out your mixes and sets, where can they find you, both online and live, at upcoming gigs? If we ask nicely, would you consider coming back to Alberta again?

SS: Anyone who wants to hear me can go to my website at http:// www.shanestiel.com as well as my SoundCloud page at http:// soundcloud.com/djshanestiel. 2014 is wrapping up in Atlanta for HAUS OF STIEL with my wifey, the one and only beautiful bearded bitch Grace Towers! As far as my upcoming gigs for NYE, you will have to keep an eye on my site for 2015 to be announced! Let’s just say my future is looking quite like a Purple Pit Bull!

Thanks for having me Farley. BIG LOVE to all my Alberta haus hedz!

Keep haus’n!

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4371 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments www.gaycalgary.com

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

33

Out of Town Napa Valley: Wine Country

 Tasting at prestigious Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, one of the wineries that helped launch Napa into viticultural stardom in the 1970s. Photo by Andrew Collins

by Andrew Collins Northern California’s Napa Valley (visitnapavalley.com) is by no means solely about wine-touring. You’ll find soothing hot springs spas and smartly furnished B&Bs, scenic opportunities for hiking and biking, and some of the country’s most celebrated restaurants. This sunny, temperate valley bracketed by rugged ridgelines is first and foremost simply a gorgeous place to spend a relaxing weekend. Of course, having an appreciation for Napa’s world-class Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay doesn’t hurt.

Just a 50-mile drive north of San Francisco, the region’s largest community, Napa (population 80,000) also lies just 15 miles east of the town of Sonoma. The Napa and Sonoma valleys both compete with and complement one another. Collectively, they’ve become favorite destinations among LGBT travelers for everything from spa- and epicurean-themed getaways to destination weddings. And they’re close enough to each other that it’s easy to spend time in each valley over the course of a weekend.

Highway 29 runs north through the Napa Valley, starting in Napa itself and then linking the smaller, charming towns of Yountville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga. Each of these communities contains an abundance of prominent wineries, plus stylishly rustic restaurants and romantic country inns. You can drive the entire 30-mile valley in an afternoon, but it’s best to set out early to give yourself time for tastings – and lunch – at a few wineries along the way.

A scenic alternate route, the Silverado Trial provides a more visually alluring introduction to the valley – this winding road through the foothills passes a number of fine wineries and avoids much of the traffic along welltraveled Highway 29. One other way to explore the region is by booking a trip on the Napa Valley Wine Train, which offers lunch and dinner rides from Napa to St. Helena in 1952 dome trains, classic 1915-17 Pullmans, and – in summer – open-air railcars. These 36-mile round-trip excursions through the beautiful valley take about three hours and include first-rate food and wine.

Napa has a relatively compact and easily strolled downtown that abounds with diverting fashion boutiques and specialty food stores, winery tasting rooms and bars, the historic Napa Valley Opera House and Uptown Theatre, and several lively cafes and restaurants. Much of the action is along Main and First Streets, which intersect near Napa Creek

34

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

and its attractively landscape waterfront. A 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook downtown in late August 2014, causing extensive damage to dozens of downtown buildings as well as more than 200 injuries, but the majority of Napa’s businesses have reopened. Still, as some businesses were still making repairs as of this writing (October 2014), it’s best to call ahead to confirm hours.

Beyond downtown, there are a couple of notable arts-related attractions.

Out on Carneros Highway a few miles southwest of downtown, di Rosa is a dramatic lakeside art museum and wildlife preserve on some 200 acres of carefully tended grounds. You can visit the indoor art galleries, wander the sculpture meadow, and tour the 125-house on this former winery and estate. Also well worth a visit is the Hess Art Collection, a fine assemblage of contemporary art at Hess Winery, where you can also taste the acclaimed Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Gewurstraminer.

For some fresh air and exercise – always a good idea to offset all that time you spend drinking fine wines and eating delectable meals – consider visiting Skyline Wilderness Park, a breathtaking 850-acre wilderness a few miles southeast of downtown. You’ll find some 25 miles of trails for biking, hiking and horseback, and when the weather is clear, you can see as far west as San Francisco Bay and Marin County’s Mt. Tamalpais.

Beyond Napa, each of the towns in the valley has a wealth of wineries.

Yountville and Rutherford are small, quaint communities with a handful of notable restaurants and inns, and bustling St. Helena has a lively downtown with a particularly robust and sophisticated business district.

At the northern tip of the valley, unpretentious and low-Calistoga is famed for its curative hot springs – it also cultivates a somewhat more countercultural vibe than the rest of Napa. About 10 miles north of town, you can visit one of the county’s best spots for outdoor recreation, Robert Louis Stevenson State Park – the 5-mile hike to the 4,343-foot summit of Mt. Saint Helena offers spectacular views.

As for the most popular exercise in Napa County, wine-touring can involve anything from dropping by one token tasting room during your visit to planning each day around stops at four or five wineries (anymore than that tends to become exhausting). Regardless of how many you visit, consider appointing a designated driver or even booking a trip with one of the region’s many winery-touring companies – you can view a full list at http://www.visitnapavalley.com/transportation_tours.htm.

www.gaycalgary.com

At last count, there were more than 450 wineries in Napa Valley. Some favorites, both for the quality of wine and the experience of visiting the tasting room and grounds, include: • Beaulieu Vineyard, Rutherford: founded in 1900 and set in a stately building offering full tours and tastings.

• Castello di Amorosa, Calistoga: the owner of esteemed V. Sattui Winery opened this incredible 121,000-square-foot castle in 2007. The artwork and architecture makes for a truly memorable experience.

• Chimney Rock, Napa: set in an ornate white building in northern Napa along the Silverado Trail.

• Clos Pegase, Calistoga: Michael Graves designed this striking, contemporary winery that produces high-caliber wines.

• Domaine Chandon, Yountville: one of Napa’s preeminent destinations for sparkling wine.

• Franciscan Estate, St. Helena: among the prettiest of the wineries along Highway 29, with tastings offered in the tranquil courtyard during the warmer months.

• Rutherford Hill Winery, Rutherford: occupies a handsome barnlike building; bring a lunch to enjoy an alfresco meal at the winery’s lovely Olive Grove Picnic Area. It’s just up the lane from the sumptuous wine country resort, Auberge du Soleil.

• Stag’s Leap, Napa: beautiful patio and gardens, famous for its Cabernet Sauvignon having beaten out several top French wines in a blind taste test in 1976.

• Sterling Vineyards, Calistoga: the experience here involves taking an aerial tram up to the hilltop villa and winery.

Notable Napa Valley restaurants The unassuming village of Yountville is home to one of the most famous restaurants in the United States – book far in advance for the opportunity to dine at Thomas Keller’s peerless French Laundry (frenchlaundry.com).

You can also opt for a meal of classic French bistro fare at Keller’s lessspendy and more casual Bouchon (bouchonbistro.com/Yountville).

Downtown Napa is packed with superb restaurants. A high-ceilinged, chatter-filled space on Main Street, TORC (http://www.torcnapa.com) serves beautifully plated contemporary American fare. Carpe Diem (http://www.carpediemwinebar.com) is one of the most inviting wine bars in town, offering up an eclectic menu of eminently noshable small plates, from flatbreads to ostrich burgers. Swanky Tarla (http://www.tarlagrill. com) serves flavorful Mediterranean cuisine in a compact, stylish dining room, while Celadon (http://www.celadonnapa.com) turns out exquisitely prepared, globally inspired fare, like five-spice duck breast and Moroccanstyle braised lamb.

For a quick lunch, stop by cozy Melted (http://www.meltednapavalley. com), a mod cafe serving creative sandwiches (try the one with pork loin, apple cider butter, wasabi slaw and bourbon cheddar). Or take a stroll through Oxbow Public Market (http://www.oxbowpublicmarket. com), with its bustling array of small restaurants and fine food vendors, including Gott’s Roadside for gourmet burgers and garlic fries, Hog Island Oyster Co. for fresh seafood, Ritual Coffee for single-origin artisan-roasted

www.gaycalgary.com

brews, and the Model Bakery for mammoth cinnamon buns, gooey cookies and chewy pizzas.

In the county’s northern climes, Longmeadow Ranch Winery & Farmstead (http://www.longmeadowranch.com) is one of the most romantic special-occasion restaurants in the valley, and Tra Vigne (http://www.travignerestaurant.com) in downtown St. Helena serves impeccable modern Tuscan food. Up in Calistoga, both JoLe (http://www. jolerestaurant.com) – a lively farm-to-table bistro in the center of town – and brunch favorite Calistoga Kitchen (http://www.calistogakitchen.com) should be on any foodie’s “must-try” list.

Where to stay in Napa Valley A great base for exploring the entire region, Napa is home to a mix of upscale resorts and artfully restored small inns. Among larger properties, the inviting River Terrace Inn (http://www.riverterraceinn.com) is close to downtown but with a quiet setting along the Napa River (it’s within walking distance of Oxbow Public Market). Rooms are handsomely decorated, and some have balconies overlooking the river and whirlpool tubs. The sleek, five-story Andaz Napa (http://napa.andaz.hyatt.com) – part of Hyatt’s rapidly growing luxury brand – is right in the heart of downtown and contains 141 cushy rooms with hickory-hardwood floors, plush linens and waterfall showerheads.

Two neighboring B&Bs of particular note are the Beazley House (http://www.beazleyhouse.com), a hip-roofed beauty with blue-and-white awnings and 11 warmly appointed rooms, and the gay-owned Inn on First (http://www.theinnonfirst.com), an Arts and Crafts-style mansion with 10 sophisticated rooms, marvelous gardens and spectacular breakfasts.

Calistoga has several wonderfully romantic, gay-owned inns, including the Chanric Inn (http://www.thechanric.com), which has seven luxuriously furnished rooms, a landscaped pool area and a tranquil massage room. Gracious Chateau de Vie (http://www.cdvnapavalley.com) overlooks gardens of lavender and rose and contains four opulent rooms with such classy perks as L’Occitane bath products, iPod docks and Cabernet Sauvignon made from grapes grown on vineyards surrounding the property.

Another favorite, located just off the main village street, is Luxe Calistoga (http://www.luxecalistoga.com), a stately 1873 inn that mixes oldfashioned elegance with modern convenience. Note the iPads (with menus from local restaurants bookmarked), gas fireplaces and flat-screen TVs in each of the five roomy accommodations. If you prefer a more countrified setting, consider Kurt Stevens’ and Richard Flynn’s Meadowlark Country House (http://www.meadowlarkinn.com), a 10-room hideaway located on 20 serene and secluded acres a few minutes’ drive from town. Rooms at this cushy retreat have marble whirlpool tubs and private decks, and amenities include a clothing-optional mineral-fed pool, hot tub and dry sauna. It’s an idyllic setting for unwinding after a day of exploring this gorgeous valley.

Andrew Collins produces the website GayTravel.About.com and writes about travel for a variety of LGBT and mainstream publications.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4372 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

35

Colby Melvin

Voter advocacy, political power and the dirty business of oil

By V.N. Winnick “Here I am,” says Colby Melvin, “just a man in his underwear. But I still have a voice, and I can still reach people... It doesn’t matter who your are – what your circumstance is – you do have a voice, and it does matter.

You are absolutely entitled to share it. And fight for it.”

He has come a long way from the young man working in Alabama’s oil and gas industry to the model, advocate and progressive idealist he is today. I had a chance to speak with Colby Melvin recently, on how he threaded the needle from conservative industry to progressive community, and what he has learned along the way.

36

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

GC: You have been pretty heavily involved in turn-out-the-vote campaigns recently. Tell us a bit about your big push.

CM: It’s a bigger campaign that we’re doing – there are many facets to it. The overall campaign is called Clickbait. This specific project for it was called ‘I Love to Vote/Fuck’. The whole idea of Clickbait is, nobody voluntarily is, yeah, let’s talk about voting... It’s taking the things that people are spending time [on] when they’re online, when they’re on Facebook – they look at pictures of cats, and hot guys, and stuff like that – so finding a way to make these topics appealing, through baiting them with things that they already like.

GC: Not to be a wet blanket, but it doesn’t look like it worked too well. This was the worst voter turnout for an American midterm election since the Second World War.

www.gaycalgary.com

CM: Yeah, it was not good. I think, in general, the buzz around this election... people just haven’t been talking about it. I don’t even think the candidates were campaigning as much. That, and everything else that’s currently going on news-wise and in the world, people just get distracted. Or they... feel helpless or overwhelmed by everything else politically.

In what world... would it be okay to say, because of who you love, you cannot do this job that you’re good at? That doesn’t sound like freedom to me.

GC: Do you think a lot of it has to do with voter disenfranchisement too? There is a prevailing attitude that voting doesn’t really change anything.

CM: Being a professional party boy, if you will, it does take a lot of energy. It’s days and days of high, intense energy, and dancing... it’s a lot. It is definitely a lot different from sitting behind a desk. But I’ve been doing it for so long it’s kind of like stamina training. [I am] constantly active. People always ask me, Oh, I hate working out, I hate cardio, what should I do? Honestly, find any activity that is enjoyable for you…I love dancing. Whenever I do it I can do it for hours and hours and hours. It doesn’t feel like I’m working out – it’s not such a struggle. Now, when it comes to running? I hate running. I have flat feet, and it’s really painful, and it is just not my thing. But... there are so many different ways to stay active and make it still enjoyable.

CM: I think a lot of times people just feel that they’re going to get the short end of the stick no matter which way they vote. Because I do think that our political system has gotten turned into this monopoly, this machine that runs on its own, and people [will say], Okay, I’m going to vote for this candidate because this is what they stand for – this is what they do. Well, they get into office, and all that goes out the window. I think there’s a lot of distrust in the system.

GC: Is that justified?

CM: Oh, absolutely... but I think that... information is so free-

flowing now that people can share ideas, can share these grievances, can talk about these things, and realize that they’re not alone. But when it comes to Washington and politics... it’s not that what needs to get done is getting done. It’s a power struggle. People feel like the government has forgotten that they are supposed to be protecting the people, not just their careers.

GC: It’s pretty well-known that the industry you used to work in – oil and gas – is part of the problem as far as that’s concerned. They have a lot of money that they can, and often do, use to hold lawmakers over a barrel. Did you have to swallow your politics when you first started working in that sector, or did your political consciousness evolve after you left?

CM: I kind of just fell into the industry. I had family connections that allowed me to get my job, and once I [had it] I worked my way up.

Now that industry, it’s very dirty. I saw a lot of things and was asked to do a lot of things that weren’t exactly legal, or moral, and that’s around the same time that I also figured out I was gay. So I was going through this sort of identity development of my own, about what I actually stood for, and who I was as a person. It was really challenging my character. And then one day, it was like, this was not me, and this was not the person that I want to be, no matter how much money I’m making. This is not life, because I was miserable! I was surrounded by very toxic and devious people. When I was fired I said... I need to make it my mission to not let this sort of world take over.

GC: Let’s switch gears a bit. You have spoken before about how you overcome chronic fatigue through physical activity and exercise. How does that manifest every day for you?

GC: For those who haven’t seen you in person, what is a Colby Melvin appearance like?

CM: High energy. It’s one of those check the attitude at the door, we’re all here to have a good time type of experiences. It’s about everybody being friends and coming out together. It’s one of those southern ideals that I picked up on growing up. They can expect a lot of crazy fun – I know it’s going to be a lot of dancing, smiles, and probably a lot of pictures.

GC: What do you do that makes you happy?

CM: Surrounding myself with people who are happy, and driven,

and motivated in their own regard, but also will be supportive and will encourage me. When I moved to California I realized how little support structure I had. I moved out here and all my friends, behind my back, took a bet about how long it was going to take me to do porn.

And, you know, that was really hurtful – that the people that I thought would be there for me weren’t there. And now whether it’s one person, ten people, or a hundred people, I’m a lot more mindful of who I let into my life. It’s not having friends for the sake of having friends, it is having friends for the sake of them actually adding to your life.

Colby Melvin Find Colby on Facebook at facebook.com/colbymelvinmodel and on Twitter @colbymelvin

GC: Speaking of that, you mentioned in other interviews that you

were outed pretty violently by your employers. How did that go down?

CM: The people I was working for found out, and they told me that it was not acceptable. They had... obtained my phone records and text records, and threatened to send it to my family if I didn’t go quietly, that they would out me and embarrass me and my family. You can’t take anything, you can’t work in this industry, you just have to go. And that was it. And after I helped turn that company from a one million dollar company to a ten million dollar company in less than a year. It wasn’t because I wasn’t doing my job. The even more fucked up part is, it’s completely legal. There’s no workplace protection in Alabama.

www.gaycalgary.com

Colby Melvin Presented by Evolution Edmonton - Friday, November 21st,10pm http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4373 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

37

A Comeback to Cherish Lisa Kudrow on Valerie’s return, ‘superhuman’ gays and the future of Romy and Michele

 photos by Gilles Toucas

By Chris Azzopardi Ten years without our favorite cupcake-wearing gonzo, Valerie Cherish, is 10 years too long. But the wait’s over. You were heard.

A decade after The Comeback first premiered, the hilariously cringe-y HBO trailblazer that lasted just one season in 2005 – and starred Lisa Kudrow as Val, a D-lister reaching for (everything underneath) the stars – returns to the network with the Friends actress back as our beloved hot mess.

GC: Lisa, you don’t know how tempting it is to say “hello” three times to you right now. How often do people quote Valerie in your presence? And how often are they gay men?

LK: (Laughs) Frequently and frequently. You know who the next group is after gay men? College students.

GC: Are you surprised by that?

LK: I was surprised… until I got used to it! But it’s fantastic. That’s

really thrilling, and then it struck me: “Well, of course! They grew up with Housewives of everywhere, and people humiliating themselves on reality TV.” When The Comeback first came out, I think that gay men were the only ones who were like, “Yes. I understand. I get it. It’s great, and I understand.” (Laughs) You know, those are the people I care about the most – the people who really loved the show. That was my only fear after it was all done. Doing it, writing it, shooting it, it was, “Yeah, this is right, this is right.” Then afterwards, “Uh oh, what if it’s not?”

GC: When it comes to Valerie Cherish, what is it about her exactly that we gay men are so drawn to?

LK: I’ve been asking myself that too – not cause it’s a mystery, but I wonder why. I was watching Will & Grace once and there was this hilarious

38

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

episode where Karen’s at a theater and she throws her flask and it hits someone in the head, and there’s this joke that gay men wouldn’t care because, “Eh, all in a day.” (Laughs) Getting, like, smacked with something is “all in a day.” So I wonder if that’s what it is – because Valerie gets, you know, humiliated – or humiliates herself – all the time. And it’s like, “Yeah, well, that’s the world.”

The other thing that I love about Valerie is, “All right, someone said something not nice, but you know what, can’t use that. Got this other thing I gotta do.” She just ignores that that happened and keeps going.

GC: That’s what it is too: She perseveres.

LK: Completely perseveres! You can agree with her goal or not, but

she’s got it and nothing is getting in her way. There’s something admirable about that; there just is. Except, you know, she’s willing to put up with a lot.

GC: When was it first apparent to you that gays were on board with The Comeback? Did you know instantly?

LK: Yeah, pretty much. (The Comeback co-creator) Michael Patrick King said, “You understand how this will go: First it’s gonna be the gays, then the women, then everyone else.”

GC: RuPaul makes a cameo in the pilot episode…

LK: I know. Oh my god – so good!

GC: This means that Valerie could appear as a guest judge on RuPaul’s

Drag Race, right?

LK: You know, I’ve been asked to, but I don’t know how Valerie works on a talk show or as a judge. I don’t know. I’m thinking about it. I’m trying to figure out how it works. I don’t wanna say no!

GC: And you obviously shouldn’t. All I’m saying is that I see many opportunities for you to say, “Note to self: I don’t need to see that!”

www.gaycalgary.com

LK: (Laughs) But she could say all kinds of – I don’t know what we’re allowed to (say on Drag Race). I mean, she’s indelicate and gets things wrong and, you know, I don’t know how offensive she’s gonna be.

by having to do something about that.

GC: Which is exactly a Val characteristic.

LK: Right. And then it’s just exaggerated and heightened in her.

GC: Valerie is surrounded by gays, and so much of your career has been gay adjacent. You did Happy Endings. You turned Meryl Streep into a gay conversion therapist for Web Therapy. And then, of course, there’s The Comeback. Are you as immersed in the gay community as your career would lead us to believe?

GC: Could you ever imagine turning your own life into a reality show?

LK: No. (Laughs) The closest I came was doing an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? GC: Do you watch reality shows? Are you a fan at all?

LK: I do watch them. They’re so fascinating to me. I like Top Chef, Project Runway – still like that. I watch America’s Next Top Model. And then I watch the Housewives. I watch certain Housewives of places.

LK: Yes and no. The people I

work with are gay. I don’t know who I’m going to offend by leaving them out, but I need to say that I think gay men are superior beings in my mind. I do believe that.

GC: I would love to hear why.

LK: It’s all so tricky. I studied

biology and the brains are anatomically different. They just are. There’s a stronger connection with the corpus callosum (in gay men). The two sides of the brain communicate better than a straight man’s, and I think that has to be really important. They’re not women – they’re still men – and women also have thicker corpus callosums, so I think it’s the combination of those qualities that makes them like a superhuman to me.

GC: Even more apparent during this season of The Comeback is

the inherent commentary on celebrity culture and age and gender discrimination. When it comes to ageism in the industry – the fact that there are so many talented older actresses not getting starring roles – what do you hope The Comeback accomplishes in spotlighting that issue?

LK: I don’t know what to say about that. It’s something that just is. I think it’s gonna be a much longer process. I’m really not a revolutionarytype personality, you know what I mean? I’m not the activist type, but mmm, my god. I’m really bad at this – communicating this stuff. But we still… we still… (Laughs) Women still have a different place in our society, and it’s changing slowly but it’s still real slow. Because we’re so interested in the male audience more than the female audience, the requirement for women in entertainment is that she turn men on. That really hasn’t changed much.

GC: That’s particularly the focus of the third episode when – spoiler

alert – you simulate oral sex on Seth Rogen.

LK: Right! And then you have the two (completely naked) girls standing there for an uncomfortably long time.

I am fascinated with the level of criticism young people can handle. I could not have handled it. I think I would’ve shriveled up in a ball, so on one level I really admire the Teflon part of them that’s able to say, “OK. Thank you. Good note.” I constantly try to work against that judgmental part of me, and it’s not (easy), especially when it’s the judgmental part that gives you your sense of humor.

GC: And all this is research for The Comeback, of course.

LK: Well, yeah, I can’t really say that. (Laughs) It’s not research, but

I am fascinated. I also do have this other theory that, thanks to those Housewives, we finally do have a point of reference for how women behave.

We need to. It can’t just be reasonable, good behavior, because that’s how we depict the downtrodden so that no one thinks we’re sexist or racist, so you end up with all of these subgroups in our society that have to be dull. They’re not allowed to have any flaws, otherwise whoever wrote (that depiction) is accused of having bad feelings about them. To me, that’s when things are finally OK – when everyone’s allowed to have flaws depicted in entertainment.

GC: Mira Sorvino recently brought up a sequel to Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. What are your thoughts on one, and do you think it’ll happen at this point?

LK: I have no idea. Robin Schiff wrote and produced Romy and Michele, and we all did get together years ago with a great idea: Romy and Michele Get Married. And yeah, Disney wasn’t interested in it at the time. Now, I don’t know what it would be. My worry is, you know, wouldn’t it involve plastic surgery? (Laughs)

GC: Did it feel uncomfortable for you on set?

LK: Well, the girls seemed OK. But, you know, (it’s) always just about

GC: With a sequel like Romy and Michele Get Married, does that mean they end up being lesbian lovers because of the pact they made to marry each other in the original?

GC: Have you ever experienced the ageism that Val experiences in your own career? Roles you didn’t get because of your age?

LK: No, they’re not, but that’s always the other meaning. Because that’s the relationship. That is the relationship. But I think by now it’d have to be Romy and Michele Get Divorced… Again.

making sure everyone’s being treated with respect, right?

LK: Not that I know of. I don’t know how to put it, but one of my biggest failings is that I accept things the way they are, and then I just try to adapt.

I think it’s incredible people who say, “No, no. It doesn’t have to be this way, though.” It’s like, “Oh. Well, wow.”

GC: Have you worked with someone like Valerie Cherish?

LK: Yes! These people exist. There were people who were like, “Oh, I

think I know who this is,” and the answer is, “You don’t know who this is, because this isn’t one person.”

GC: Did you have anyone in mind when you created the character?

LK: No, not one person, because it’s an amalgam of people – men and

women.

GC: What do you have in common with Val? LK: Well, a lot. I think I do have a thing where, if something negative

GC: In the spirit of the meta show a la The Comeback, if you could play a version of yourself playing Phoebe from Friends years later, what would that character be like?

LK: Well, I did play a version of myself playing Phoebe. (Laughs) Phoebe is a version of myself. Valerie’s a version. And Fiona Wallice (of Web Therapy) is a version. And, well, Michele Weinberger is not a version, I have to say. I don’t know. I have a feeling if Phoebe had to be revisited, she’d be closer to me.

GC: Why do you say that?

LK: I don’t know about you, but I don’t wanna see a woman my age

saying “floopy,” trying to be cute. No, uh-uh. It’s too Baby Jane.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4374 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

is happening and it’s not serving me, then I’m really not gonna let it in and address it because I gotta keep going. If something’s happening that’s negative, I try to think, “What’s OK about this?” so that I don’t get distracted

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

39

The Sweet Dreams of Annie Lennox

Icon on her legacy, the ‘nostalgia’ of youth and why Beyoncé is ‘feminist lite’  photos by Robert Sebree

By Chris Azzopardi They don’t make hearts bigger than the one beating inside of Annie Lennox.

Despite the icon’s legendary recording career, dating back to the late ’70s, music has taken a backseat to another passion: people. While still dedicated to philanthropic work focused on causes like HIV/AIDS and global peace, the singer-songwriter returns with her first disc in four years, a covers album called Nostalgia.

On the heels of its release, Lennox called from London for a frank conversation about loathing her “gender bender” label, the reframing of feminism (Beyoncé is “feminist lite,” she says) and being uneasy with the superficiality of the music business.

GC: During a recent Q&A in London, you mentioned that you stopped writing because, and I quote you, “I’m too happy.”

AL: I said a lot of things that night! To be honest, looking back on being creative and what that was about and where the impulse lies to express yourself – there was a lot of darkness in my life. For everyone, we have our own darkness and our light, and I even wrote about that.

You know, I’ve been through a lot. It’s coming up on my sixth decade now, and I have less of the impulse to express myself in that way. I feel as if I express myself very well in other ways. I branched out, you know? Since I started campaigning a decade ago, I’ve got this need to voice myself and place myself into a certain kind of activism. I find that so inspiring and such a great thing to do, but for the last year I’ve also decided, “OK, I wanna make some music and that is Nostalgia.” So, I haven’t been able to be as proactive (philanthropically) this year as I normally am. I’m one of those people who, when I do something, I have to do it all the way.

GC: You mention “the darkness,” something you seem to have been attracted to for a good part of your musical career, and also one of the reasons people are drawn to you.

40

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

AL: I don’t know if I’m attracted to darkness. I couldn’t say “attracted.” I pick up on that because it is interesting, isn’t it?

Maybe we are drawn to it. Maybe it’s already a prerequisite within ourselves. I mean, humans have this capacity to be so joyful and so full of love, and sweet and light and all of those innocent things – like when you see children, you see how we are before we become adolescents, and we’re different.

I see children every day because they pass my house as they go to play in the park – 6 year olds who are skipping, and they’re dancing and they’re singing and they’re playing together. If you saw adults doing that, you’d think they were mad – you’d think they were completely bonkers! That joy should be our inheritance, but a lot of that gets hammered out of us, I think, because the world is a fucking dark place – excuse my French – but it truly, truly is. But there’s also beauty in it.

GC: It sounds like you’ve found a lot of beauty in your own life lately. Why not a write a joyous album?

AL: (Laughs) Ehh. It’s funny; it’s really strange. You’re talking about this thing called the “muse” in a way. There’s something called the muse that people refer to – writers and poets – and I don’t know what that is. It’s kind of an urge, an itch you have to scratch, and right now I’m very inspired – truly inspired – and this album for me has been an absolute pleasure and a real joy.

I love the songs. I love the music. I love translating them into my own kind of arrangements and sounds.

Recently, when we went to LA, I made nine really amazing performance videos with this wonderful filmmaker, Natalie Johns, and I’m so proud of what Natalie has done with me collaboratively. I think it’s beautiful, and I’m a bit like, “Wow, getting the chance to still do this, it’s great.” Like I said, I struggle a lot. And life – it just never stops being interesting in a way.

GC: While we’re talking about life and Nostalgia, what about your own life makes you feel nostalgic?

www.gaycalgary.com

AL: If I look back at my own life, it goes right back to the ’50s. I was 6 years old when it turned into 1960, you see, so I still have very strong memories of my childhood in Scotland – my upbringing, how that was.

There was a lot of hardship, and my background – I don’t come from a silver spoon. It was never handed to me. It was working class, and you had to work damn hard; I’m talking about my parents and their grandparents before them.

I remember a time when there were hardly any motor cars on the road. I remember the man coming to light the gas lights on the street.

Stuff like this – it’s really nostalgic. I don’t want to go back, obviously. Anyway, one can’t. There is no turning back, but sometimes I just kind of yearn for a gentler time. I say it was “gentler,” but looking back through Nostalgia, through this American Songbook, I also understand that going back to the ’30s in the United States and in so many parts of the world – this is pre-civil rights, before the movement had really got up and running. It’s like the voice of the civil rights movement was not being really acknowledged and the platform wasn’t as big as it became through Martin Luther King and all the work of these incredible activists.

If you think about it, it’s really not that long since people were in the closet about gay rights. It’s been extraordinary.

I think that it’s accelerating in the West. I think that things are changing radically, and some things – many things – for the good. Other things I think will be challenging for people because now we have a whole new paradigm and it’s complex, as human beings are. There will be upsides and there will be downsides, and it won’t just be heaven on a stick.

GC: Because you’ve always embraced your LGBT audience, your music has been a safe place for many people who identify as such. What do you attribute to the loyalty of your gay fan base?

AL: You see, that’s a question you have to ask the people that you’re describing. I can’t answer for the gay community. I truly can’t. I just make music, and I have no idea who is going to listen to it. I’m just the person that I am.

When I was given this label of “gender bender,” I really felt it was diminishing in a way. It was very simplistic. I wasn’t bending gender; I was making a statement in a kind of subtle way. I thought it was subtle, but to some people it might have seemed overt. I was saying, “Look, as a woman I can be equal to a man,” and in this partnership with the Eurythmics, where I was in a partnership with a man (Dave Stewart), the two of us felt so connected that my gender didn’t matter. In a funny sort of way, ultimately I was coming out to say, “Look, I’m not going to be what you think I am. I’m intelligent. I’m not a dancing doll just because I’m female and I’m singing. I’m not singing for your pleasurable entertainment. It’s not about that. It’s cerebral and it’s heartfelt and it’s intelligent.”

This is something I’ve been saying to a lot of my gay compadres: One day we’ll get rid of this word “gay,” because it’s irrelevant. Of course it’s terribly relevant when you are trying to create a campaign. During a human rights movement, it’s terribly important to have labels and to have platforms that are very identifiable, but ultimately we should just be fine with everybody no matter what our sexual orientation is. It’s nobody’s effing business.

GC: Our use of labels is evolving. So many people are resisting them or calling themselves “queer” because it’s a broader term.

AL: Even that – no. It’s diminishing. Broaden out.

And it will come.

GC: As a longtime feminist, how do you feel about the way the term “feminist” has been reframed in contemporary culture?

AL: It’s a process. It continues to be reframed, and necessarily so, because people’s relationship to the word has been a bit ambivalent over the last few decades. According to who you speak to, they don’t sometimes quite know what to do with the word. I did one event in particular called (Barclays) Women of the Year and they select certain people for certain kinds of recognition, and I was given an award not so long ago. I was so touched to have this award. I felt like I’m with a certain kind of camaraderie here and we’re all together in this room – 400 women from all walks of life – and I said at the podium, “I’m proud to be a feminist; let’s everybody stand up.” Half of the room stayed seated. It was such a hard moment for me because I realized that some women, many women, still have issues with the word and almost distance themselves from it because they’re afraid it’s synonymous with hating men.

GC: Which is something you don’t believe to be true, right?

AL: Not at all. I think that what happened over the years, and quite rightly so, is that women had to be incredibly radical, stringent and strident about the voice of feminism. They had to do that, but I think that nowadays it’s a more subtle thing.

But we need men to be onboard with us. That’s my view. Some women might disagree with me. I’m not saying I hold the key to the absolute truth – I’m not saying that at all – but I also feel very much that the LGBTQ movement and the women’s movement need to get together far more frequently because we’re coming from the same place of human rights and civil rights.

GC: So what do you make of someone like Beyoncé? She recently performed on the MTV Video Music Awards and proclaimed herself a “feminist” during her set.

AL: I would call that “feminist lite.” L-I-T-E. I’m sorry. It’s tokenistic to me. I mean, I think she’s a phenomenal artist – I just love her performances – but I’d like to sit down (with her).

I think I’d like to sit down with quite a few artists and talk to them. I’d like to listen to them; I’d like to hear what they truly think.

I see a lot of it as them taking the word hostage and using it to promote themselves, but I don’t think they necessarily represent wholeheartedly the depths of feminism – no, I don’t.

I think for many it’s very convenient and it looks great and it looks radical, but I have some issues with it. I have issues with it. Of course I do. I think it’s a cheap shot. I think what they do with it is cheap and ... yeah. What can I tell you? Sex always sell. And there’s nothing wrong with sex selling, but it depends on your audience. If they’re 7-year-old kids, I have issues with it.

GC: For years, you’ve resisted the “celebrity” moniker. You don’t like to think of yourself as that.

AL: No, I don’t. Again, I feel quite diminished by it. Obviously, I’m sometimes given that moniker, but every time it happens I feel reduced by it. I cringe inside.

www.gaycalgary.com

Continued on Page 43  GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

41

Interview

Time to Get Moist

Band Reunites With New Album and Tour

By Jason Clevett For six years Moist ruled Canadian rock radio. Based on the strength of singles like “Resurrection”, “Push” and “Breathe” they released three albums between 1994 and 1999. That period saw the band visit Calgary multiple times, headlining tours like Edgefest, playing large arenas and even some appearances on the Stampede Coke Stage. But gradually Moist seemed to disappear.

Singer David Usher stayed in the spotlight with multiple solo albums while everyone else worked on other projects.

Then seemingly out of nowhere the band announced a few select concerts in December, 2013. Fifteen years after the release of their previous album Moist has returned with a new album, Glory Under Dangerous Skies, and a tour that brings the band to the Grey Eagle Resort Centre in Calgary November 28th, Union Hall in Edmonton November 29th, and Better Than Fred’s in Grande Prairie December 1st.

“All of us are in a really good head space,” guitarist Mark Makoway told GayCalgary recently on a break from rehearsals for the tour. “When we got together to do the shows at the end of last year we didn’t totally know what to expect. Being out and playing together again was really, really good and the fans’ feedback was so positive. It pushed it forward and we are really stoked to go out on the road. It was so energizing, and the vibe was so positive, it really drove us. We all looked at each other at some point during the tour and went this thing is starting up again, this isn’t just a tour. We are definitely moving on to the next step. It is an all-consuming proposition. You come off a tour and go into writing and recording and the album cycle and media – it takes over your life in the best possible way. I honestly felt that we would play together again and do more music; that was always the intention. So I never really dealt with the idea that it wouldn’t happen. I think if we had let it go any longer it might not have happened, which is part of what brought us together as well. Nobody was prepared to just let it die.”

With the success of the tour, the band reunited to create Glory Under Dangerous Skies. Driven by the first single “Mechanical” the style of the record is similar to 1994’s Silver and 1996’s Creature.

42

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

“We didn’t know what it was going to be going in. Our last record (Mercedes 5 & Dime) was painful to make. It was painful to write. We really focused on that being a ‘studio’ record and got away from the approach we had with Creature and spent an awful lot of time in the studio slaving over things. We were worried that this record would be a similar process. Having been away from each other for a bit, we were in a place where it felt really fresh, and there were a lot of ideas. It came together really smoothly and surprisingly quickly. We got together in Montreal for a four or five day intensive songwriting junket and by the end of it we had eight songs. Of course we threw out half of those songs, but we did a couple more sessions and the record really came together. With this record we went in and recorded while the songs were new and fresh, and it is the sound of a band playing live. There are some overdubs and extra things on it, but it is quite a simple record that way. And I think that is what I like best about the newest record – we have gone back to that. When you spend a bunch of time and make a new record you have a certain sense of nervousness. The minute it comes out there is a sense of release. We feel really good about it honestly. With Facebook and Twitter there has been a lot of immediate response and feedback from fans and the reception has been fantastic.”

The line-up for the band has changed as well. Drummer Paul Wilcox left the band in 2000 with a back injury and bassist Jeff Pearce, who reunited with the band for the initial tour and played on some of the album, left earlier this year. Original members David Usher, Kevin Young (Keyboards) and Makoway are joined by guitarist Jonathan Gallivan, drummer Francis Fillion, and Louis Lalancette on bass to round out the current band.

“It is hard to say goodbye to some of your brothers. We have always been a very close band. But, by the same token, Jonathan, Francis and Louis are all great musicians and they all come with ideas that pushed in a few different directions and positively moved us forward creatively. They are all really great guys. You live in close quarters on the tour bus and, seeing each other all the time, you have to be really tight as a unit in terms of the vision and the people. We are really fortunate that everyone is on the same page and is a unit.”

This year has seen the release of new albums from Moist, The Tea Party, GOB and Bush, among others, that first achieved success in the ’90s. It seems that there is a desire for fans and artists to reconnect with music that defined a special era of their life. While Moist never officially broke up, it was a long 15 years for fans who were longing to see the band again.

“I can only really speak for us, and the timing for us was personal. Over the years we have remained great friends and we would get together and talk about is this the right time to do a Moist record? and for some reason it never was. Just recently we all got together and there was no reason for us not to do it, www.gaycalgary.com

 Annie Lennox - From Page 41 and there was a sense that we had to do it now or it might never happen. When we took our break it wasn’t with the intention of taking a 15 year break, it was just to step away and take a breather, and we all went in separate directions. There was something cool going on in the ’90s that I think music has gotten away from a little bit – an authenticity of it in some ways. I think fans are responding to that.”

During their first run together, Moist almost literally played everywhere in Calgary. From the Silver Dollar Action Centre to the Saddledome, fans have seen them in many different environments. The 2014 Resurrection Tour saw the band play Flames Central, and they are one of the first bands to play the new event centre at the Grey Eagle. Makoway reflected on the many fond memories he has of Calgary on stage and off.

“We have had some fantastic times in Calgary just as a place to go and run amok. It seems like for, whatever reason, we have always had a day or two off around shows there. So aside from live venues we have sampled much of what Calgary has to offer. I have fond memories of the Republik, a few places that I can’t even remember, so it was certainly a good time. We played in a roller rink once too if I remember correctly. One of our first shows was at Frank Sisson’s Silver Dollar. There was the Mercury Lounge as well; it was a place we would run amok with martinis.”

The tour also features a VIP sound check opportunity that includes merchandise, a vinyl copy of the new record, an intimate three song sound check and Q&A with the band, as well as a photo opportunity. It is a must have experience for Moist fans and means a lot to the band as well.

“The best thing about it is having the barrier down. You do a show, and you have interaction with the crowd, but you don’t have that one-on-one interaction. At every VIP people are telling personal stories and memories of how we have fit in their lives.

It is amazing to have that kind of feedback and connection – it often doesn’t happen. The VIP this time around has the vinyl. It is the first time we have done a proper vinyl release of an album.

It is really special having that vinyl.”

After re-launching with a greatest hits type tour, Moist is excited to feature new material live on this tour.

“People want to come out and hear their favourites. There will be old songs – you will still hear “Push” and “Resurrection” – but to play this new stuff is quite a trip… Plus, creatively, we want to change it up…We have designed a very different show, putting a bunch of new songs into the set really changes the flavour of things in a way. We are looking at different outside the box things, like dramatic lighting, and a full-pressed show from top to bottom. The new record is really about a band playing live and the songs really work well in the set. I think people will be really surprised how it has changed and developed and will be a surprise. I am excited to get it out there and see what the feedback is like. It is very gratifying when you put out a record and people really like it.”

Moist http://www.MoistOnline.com Calgary – November 28th, Grey Eagle Events Centre Edmonton – November 29th, Union Hall Grande Prairie – December 1st, Better Than Fred’s http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4376 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GC: When somebody sees you on the street and reacts to you in the way some people react to a “celebrity,” how does that make you feel then?

AL: It depends on how it’s done. Sometimes people are so, so sweet and it’s so touching, and it’s very human because they approach me in a way where I don’t feel uncomfortable. It’s just a human exchange. Of course I try to just go in the street and be like everybody else. I’ve always done that. I don’t want to be singled out, but of course being a person in the public eye, from time to time, you will be. People will see the projection that they know you to be. In that sense, I’m who I am as a person and I’m also this projection for people, so I cannot be tough on people that recognize me because I’ve been doing this for years now. The only time when it becomes incredibly uncomfortable is when people are just a bit thoughtless and invade in such a way where they really don’t think. They kind of treat you like a species in a safari park, and really, it’s awful. It’s so terrible.

GC: Camera phones haven’t made things any better in that regard, have they?

AL: I think it’s far worse when people are paid to steal your image. They pay money for that stolen image of you and you have no control over it – but they’re making money out of it! I mean, I haven’t played into that paparazzi thing – I’ve just tried to completely and utterly downplay it – but you can play it up if you want. You can have them following you 24/7 if you want that kind of life. Some people do. I mean, bizarrely, people seem to want it. I’ve never understood why.

GC: Is it true that you may never write again and that this may be your last album?

AL: Who knows. I don’t know. I say this because I’m aware that I’m not a young person, but I’m so spirited in myself – it’s really strange. Just because I’m almost 60 now, it doesn’t mean that I’m less passionate or less intensely curious about the world around me. In fact, I’m even more curious about it in another kind of way.

There’s this youth culture that is really, really powerful and really, really strong, but what it does is it really discards people once they reach a certain age. I actually think that people are so powerful and interesting – women, especially – when they reach my age. We’ve got so much to say, but popular culture is so reductive that we just talk about whether we’ve got wrinkles, or whether we’ve put on weight or lost weight, or whether we’ve changed our hair style. I just find that so shallow. Because it’s a shallow place, it’s one of the reasons the music industry and the music scene is really not truly for me and never really has been.

GC: Have you thought about the legacy you want to leave?

AL: I can’t think about legacy. I guess if you go onto the Internet you can find many things that were created over all of these years, and I guess that is the legacy. It is the music that’s been made, the interviews, the video, the photo shoots, and there were so many creative things that happened and they’re there. I have no control over what people think about it. They may love it; they may hate it.

GC: But your legacy is more than just music. You’re a humanitarian. It’s beyond just creating albums and making videos, right? You’re part of the bigger picture.

AL: Well, thank you; that makes me feel complete, because to feel like an intelligent, rounded person with integrity, I don’t think that you can just be an entertainer. I think there’s another side – to me, anyway – that needs to be satisfied, and that is through contribution. I do it because I feel so despondent about the world at times. I feel I must do something, otherwise I feel useless. I’m not going to ever save the world, but because I have resources, I can at least make a contribution.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a4375 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

43

Photography

44

Calgary Chinook Fund

Fruit Loop at Yellowhead Brewery, Edmonton

http://gaycalgary.com/pa865

http://gaycalgary.com/pa875, photos by Farley FooFoo

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Photography Joslyn Fox at Evolution, Edmonton http://gaycalgary.com/pa873, Photos by Farley FooFoo

Colton Ford at Evolution, Edmonton http://gaycalgary.com/pa874, photos by Mars Tonic

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

45

Photography Banff Pride at Aurora Nightclub Wild Bill’s Saloon http://gaycalgary.com/pa866

46

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Photography Once Upon a Drag at Cowboys Nightclub, Calgary

Homo-cidal - Return of the Living Dead at Evolution, Edmonton

http://gaycalgary.com/pa869

http://gaycalgary.com/pa876, photos by Farley FooFoo

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

47

Photography

48

Halloween SuperHeroes Pre-Party at the Backlot, Calgary

Hot Mess Halloween with Milk at the Republik, Calgary

http://gaycalgary.com/pa870

http://gaycalgary.com/pa872, Photos by Farley FooFoo

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Photography Halloween SuperHeroes and Villains Gala Party, Calgary http://gaycalgary.com/pa871

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

49

50

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

51

News Releases Brazilian Gay Sauna and Hotel was included in Louis Vuitton Travel Guide

Trending: New Country Love Song is the Cat’s Meow... Literally!

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1581

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1593

Flashdance - The Musical | Tour makes its Calgary premiere at the Jubilee Auditorium Nov 18 - 23

GLAAD launches #spiritday app to support LGBT youth, powered by Toyota Financial Services

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1582

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1594

Palm Springs Pride Weekend Entertainment Line-up at Purple Room

GLAAD TV report: ABC Family, HBO, MTV get excellent grade in historic first

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1583

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1595

NSFW - Workout wars breakout in Steam Room Stories

WildBear Weekend Oct 1013 - Charity Fundraiser for Camp Moomba

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1584

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1597

NSFW - VIDEO ‘Penthouse’

by Cheapundies.com

Naked Highway – “Cannibal”

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1585

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1599

NSFW - New Andrew Christian Video! HOT N’ BOTHERED

Kickstarter Campaign launched for Gale Harold and Van Hansis’ West Hollywood murder mystery

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1586

History Made In Las Vegas - First International Gay New Year’s Eve Celebration Ushering In 2015

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1603

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1588

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1604

Manila Luzon Releases Debut EP ‘Eternal Queen’ a song dedicated to the late Sahara Davenport

The Notorious Cho sets off an avalanche of laughter at Whistler Pride

New Halloween Creations and Returning Favourite at LUSH

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1605

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1590

Alberta Ballet Presents David Nixon’s the Three Musketeers

Whistler Pride and Ski Festival celebrates 23rd Annual Gay Lesbian Ski/Snowboard week http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1606

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1591

52

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

News Releases Living Spirit United to join ‘affirming’ network with Celebration Concert by performer Kate Reid

NSFW - NEW Andrew Christian Video: BLOW!

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1611

NSFW - Steam Room Stories: Halloween Costume Competition

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1627

National Coming Out Day Special- Surprising a gay Texas Mormon

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1628

NSFW - NEW Andrew Christian Video! Forgive Me, Father.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1612

ABC Family stars go purple for Spirit Day in support of LGBT youth

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1632

Versatile Hunk Gabriel Clark stars in I’m a Stripper Too! Premiering on OutTV Canada

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1614

VIDEO: Great BEAR Movie Trailers and Why Are Some Gay Men Called Bears?

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1633

NSFW - Man Meadow – Take It (All) Off

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1616

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1634

MOVIE REVIEW: This Is Where I Leave You

MOVIE REVIEW: The Imitation Game

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1617

MOVIE REVIEW: Gone Girl

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1635

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1618

RECIPE: Coffee Jelly with Cream

World OutGames Miami to Launch Crowdfunding Campaign

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1636

RECIPE: Pumpkin Soup

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1619

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1637

NSFW - New titles from the Bruno Gmünder Group in November 2014

RECIPE: Chicken “Coal” http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1638

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1624

RECIPE: Spider Eggs (Devilled Eggs with Smoked Bacon)

BARBA Collection of Backpacks for the Season Summer/Autumn 2014

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1639

RECIPE: Beef Chilli with Black Rice

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1625

The 8th Annual Bras Across the Bridge in support of the Alberta Cancer Foundation

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1640

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n1626

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

53

Rob Diaz-Marino is a born and raised Calgarian. He is first generation Canadian – his mom and dad, of German and Spanish heritage, met in South Africa and travelled the world prior to settling in Calgary where he has lived all his life. He is currently 33 years old and recently single.

While he was still in Elementary School, Rob took an interest in computer programming with the goal of developing video games. He pursued a balance of both science and art throughout his education - and even in his spare time.

He graduated from the University of Calgary with his MSc. in Computer Science.

Today he works full time as a Software Developer at SMART Technologies, where he has specialized in computer graphics and 3D rendering.

54

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

Rob has worked part time for over a decade as a publisher of GayCalgary Magazine, where he applied both his technical and artistic sides to help give Alberta’s LGBT Community a voice in the media. As of this month he has retired in order to pursue his own interests.

In his spare time Rob enjoys playing video games, staying fit by working out and running, following his wide variety of creative interests, and exploring nature both nearby and elsewhere. He says he feels a strong spiritual connection with the ocean, although he rarely gets to see it. He is also an animal lover, and adores his 3 cats.

http://gaycalgary.com/pa877

www.gaycalgary.com

Directory & Events DOWNTOWN CALGARY

11

10 12

2

6

3

7

15

1 8

4 5

13

1 2 3 4

Calgary Outlink---------- Community Groups HIV Community Link---- Community Groups Backlot------------------------Bars and Clubs Texas Lounge-----------------Bars and Clubs

5 6 7 8

Goliath’s--------------------------Bathhouses Twisted Element--------------Bars and Clubs Broken City-------------------Bars and Clubs Cowboys Nightclub-----------Bars and Clubs

FIND OUT!

LGBT Community Directory GayCalgary 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.

✰....... Find our Magazine Here

......... 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 Browse our complete directory of over 750 gay-frieindly listings!

CALGARY Bars & Clubs (Gay) 3 Backlot---------------------------------- ✰  403-265-5211  Open 7 days a week, 2pm-close

 209 - 10th Ave SW

4 Texas Lounge------------------------------ ✰

 308 - 17 Ave SW  403-229-0911  Open 7 days a week, 11am-close

www.gaycalgary.com

6 Twisted Element

 1006 - 11th Ave SW  403-802-0230

 http:.//www.twistedelement.ca

9 10 11 12

Dickens Pub------------------Bars and Clubs Flames Central---------------Bars and Clubs Local 522---------------------Bars and Clubs Ten Nightclub-----------------Bars and Clubs

13 The Pint-----------------------Bars and Clubs 15 The Blind Monk--------------Bars and Clubs

8 Cowboys Nightclub------------------------  421 12th Avenue SE  403-265-0699

 http://www.cowboysnightclub.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.

9 Dickens Pub

 1000 9th Ave SW  info@dickenspub.ca

 http://www.dickenspub.ca

7 Broken City

 613 11th Ave SW  info@brokencity.ca

 http://www.brokencity.ca

 403-262-9976

 403-233-7550

• Western Cup 31



http://www.westerncup.com

10 Flames Central----------------------------  219 8th Ave SW  403-935-2637

 http://www.flamescentral.com

• Badminton (Absolutely Smashing)

11 Local 522----------------------------------  522 6 Ave SW  403-244-6773

 http://www.localtavern.ca

• Boot Camp

12 Ten Nightclub

 1140 10th Ave SW

• Bowling (Rainbow Riders League)

15 The Blind Monk

 918 12th Ave SW  12thave@blindmonk.ca

 http://www.blindmonk.ca  Mon-Sun: 11am-2am

 403-265-6200

• Curling

 North Hill Curling Club (1201 - 2 Street NW)  curling@apollocalgary.com

• Golf

 golf@apollocalgary.com

14 Vinyl & Hyde (CLOSED)

 213 10 Ave SW

 http://www.vinylandhyde.com

 587-224-5200

• Lawn Bowling

 lawnbowling@apollocalgary.com

• Outdoor Pursuits

Bathhouses/Saunas 5 Goliaths------------------------------------ ✰

 308 - 17 Ave SW  403-229-0911  www.goliaths.ca  Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day

Community Groups Alberta Society for Kink

 403-398-9968  masdenn@yahoo.com  http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/ group.albertasocietyforkink

Apollo Calgary - Friends in Sports

 Platoon FX, 1351 Aviation Park NE  bootcamp@apollocalgary.com

 Let’s Bowl (2916 5th Avenue NE)  bowling@apollocalgary.com

 403-384-9777

 http://www.apollocalgary.com  http://www.myapollo.com

 6020 - 4 Avenue NE  badminton@apollocalgary.com

 403-457-4464

13 The Pint

 1428 17th Ave SW  calgary@thepint.ca

 http://www.thepint.ca/calgary

Bars & Clubs (Mixed) These venues regularly host LGBT events.

N

 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

• Squash

 Mount Royal University Recreation  squash@apollocalgary.com All skill levels welcome.

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

55

Directory & Events Calgary Events

Wednesdays

Womynspace---------------------------- 7-9pm

Church Service----------------------------  4pm

New Directions-------------------------- 7-9pm

Flashlight Night---------------------  6pm-6am

Communion Service-----------------  12:10pm

See 1 Calgary Outlink

Student Night------------------------  6pm-6am

See 1 Calgary Outlink

ASK Meet and Greet----------------  7-9:30pm

Mosaic Youth Group--------------------  7-9pm

See 1 Calgary Outlink

Inside Out Youth Group---------------- 7-9pm

Thursdays

 Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW

Mondays

See

Buddy Night-------------------------  6pm-6am At 5 Goliaths

At 5 Goliaths

 Bonasera (1204 Edmonton Tr. NE)

 Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW)

See 1 Calgary Outlink

Lesbian Seniors---------------------------  2pm

Tuesdays

Calgary Networking Club-------------- 5-7pm See 1 Calgary Outlink

 1st

Beers for Queers--------------------------  6pm By

Knox United Church

YYC Badboys at 13 The Pint

 Kerby Center, Sunshine Room 1133 7th Ave SW

 3rd

Uniform Night-----------------------  6pm-6am At 5 Goliaths

Lesbian Meetup Group-------------  7:30-9pm

Student Night------------------------  6pm-6am At 5 Goliaths

At 1 Calgary Outlink

 1st

Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------  8pm

Between Men--------------------------- 7-9pm

 Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW

Karaoke-------------------------  8pm-12:30am

Karaoke-----------------------------------  7pm

See 1 Calgary Outlink

 2nd, 4th

At 4 Texas Lounge

Fetish Slosh----------------------------  Evening At 3 Backlot

 2nd

Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------  8pm

 Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW

Saturdays

By Prime Timers Calgary  Midtown Co-op (1130 - 11th Ave SW)

Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------  8pm

 Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW

ISCCA BBQs--------------------------------Dinner

 2nd

Illusions-------------------------------  7-10pm See 1 Calgary Outlink

 1st

Deer Park United Church

Worship------------------------------  10:30am Scarboro United Church

Sunday Services---------------------  10:45am See

• Peer Support and Crisis Line

 tennis@apollocalgary.com

• Yoga

 Robin: 403-618-9642  yoga@apollocalgary.com

Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA)

 www.argra.org

✰

Calgary Expo

 http://www.calgaryexpo.com

Calgary Gay Fathers

Knox United Church

At 4 Texas Lounge

Saturday, November 15th

Leather Night---------------------------- 10pm Saturday, November 22nd

Boy&GuRL Live!------------------------- 10pm At 3 Backlot

Friday, November 28th

DJ Redneck Homo------------------------  9pm Saturday, November 29th

Crowns For Kids------------------------- 10pm At 3 Backlot World Aids Day Show------------------  10pm At 3 Backlot Sunday, December 7th

A Choral Christmas-----------------------  7pm At St. Gerard’s Parish, (8944 Elbow Drive SW)

 girlfriends@shaw.ca

 members.shaw.ca/girlfriends

• Calgary Lesbian Ladies Meet up Group • Between Men and Between Men Online • Heading Out • Illusions Calgary • Inside Out • New Directions • Womynspace

 http://www.girlsgroove.ca

✰

 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---------------------------- ✰

 Old Y Centre (303 – 223, 12 Ave SW)  403-234-8973  info@calgaryoutlink.ca  http://www.calgaryoutlink.com

 M-F, 8:30am - 12:30pm + 1:30pm - 4:30pm

Different Strokes

 403-230-5832  hivpeergroup@yahoo.ca

 403-278-8263

FairyTales Presentation Society

 Temple B’Nai Tikvah, 900 - 47 Avenue SW

• Telephone Support

Hillhurst United Church

 http://www.differentstrokescalgary.org

• Rehearsals

2 HIV Community Link------------------- ✰

 110, 1603 10th Avenue SW  403-508-2500  1-877-440-2437  http://www.hivcl.org

Deer Park United Church/Wholeness Centre

 77 Deerpoint Road SE  http://www.dpuc.ca

 http://www.calgarymenschorus.org

Girlsgroove

 1227 Kensington Close NW  (403) 283-1539  office@hillhurstunited.com  http://www.hillhurstunited.com

 Weeds Cafe (1903 20 Ave NW)

Calgary Men’s Chorus

Girl Friends

 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.

Calgary Queer Book Club

 calgaryfathers@hotmail.com  http://www.calgarygayfathers.ca Peer support group for gay, bisexual and questioning fathers. Meeting twice a month.

Calgary Sexual Health Centre---------

Friday, November 14th

DJ Redneck Homo------------------------  9pm

Legend:  = Monthly Reoccurrance,  = Date (Range/Future),  = Sponsored Event

• Tennis

 Arrata Opera Centre (1315 - 7 Street SW)

At 5 Goliaths

Hillhurst United Church

Worship Services------------------------- 11am See

Rainbow Community Church

At 4 Texas Lounge

Sundays See

See

At 3 Backlot

Coffee------------------------------------ 10am

 Calgary Contd.

• Monthly Dances--------------------------

 4th

Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------  8pm

See

Fridays ISCCA at 3 Backlot

 3rd

Heading Out----------------------- 8pm-10pm

Worship Time---------------------------- 10am

At 3 Backlot

By

 2nd

 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.

HIV Peer Support Group ISCCA Social Association

 http://www.iscca.ca Imperial Sovereign Court of the Chinook Arch. Charity fundraising group..

Knox United Church

 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.

Lesbian Meetup Group

 http://www.meetup.com/CalgaryLesbian Monthly events planned for Queer women over 18+ such as book clubs, games nights, movie nights, dinners out, and volunteering events.

Miscellaneous Youth Network

 http://www.miscyouth.com

• Fake Mustache • Mosaic Youth Group

 The Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW) For queer and trans youth and their allies.

Mystique

 mystiquesocialclub@yahoo.com Mystique is primarily a Lesbian group for women 30 and up but all are welcome.

• Coffee Night

 Good Earth Cafe (1502 - 11th Street SW)

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)

 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 Calgary Planning Committee

 403-797-6564

 www.pridecalgary.ca

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.

✰

• Coffee Night

 2nd Cup, Kensington

56

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

Directory & Events  Calgary Contd.

Safety Under the Rainbow

 www.sutr.ca A collaborative effort dedicated to building capacity and acting as a voice for the LGBTQ community, service providers, organizations and the community at large to address violence. For same-sex domestic violence information, resources and a link to our survey please see our website.

Calgary Civil Marriage Centre

• Safeworks Van

Christopher T. Tahn (Thornborough Smeltz)

 4143- Edmonton Trail NE  403-226-7278  http://www.wheelpros.ca “Experts in Everything for Wheels”

Scarboro United Church

 11650 Elbow Dr SW  ctahn@thornsmeltz.com  http://www.thornsmeltz.com

Sharp Foundation

 3rd Floor, 1131 Kensington Road NW  403-571-5120  http://www.courtneyaarbo.ca GLBT legal services.

 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.

 403-272-2912  sharpfoundation@nucleus.com  http://www.thesharpfoundation.com

Unity Bowling

 Let’s Bowl (2916 - 5th Ave NE)  sundayunity@live.com

13 The Pint See Calgary - Bars & Clubs (Mixed).

Retail Stores

 140, 58th Ave SW  403-258-2777 Gay, bi, straight video rentals and sex toys.

✰

 10210 Macleod Tr S  403-271-7848

 #102 2323 32nd Ave NE  403-769-6177

 1536 16th Ave NW  403-289-4203

 4310 17th Ave SE  403-273-2710

 http://www.adultsourcecalgary.ca

Best Health

 206A 2525 Woodview Dr SW  403-281-5582  besthealthcalgary@hotmail.com  http://www.besthealthcalgary.com

La Fleur

 403-266-1707 Florist and Flower Shop.

The Naked Leaf----------------------------

 #4 - 1126 Kensington Rd NW  403-283-3555  http://www.thenakedleaf.ca Organic teas and tea ware.

Priape Calgary (CLOSED)

 1322 - 17 Ave SW  403-215-1800  http://www.priape.com Clothing and accessories. Adult toys, leather wear, movies and magazines. Gifts.

Pushing Petals

 1209 5th Ave NW  403-263-3070  http://www.pushingpetals.com

Services & Products

 633 10th Ave SW  403-239-5511  http://www.6thandtenth.com

 M-W: 12-6pm, R: 2-7pm, S-N: 12-5pm

Barry Hollowell

www.gaycalgary.com

 403-750-1128  www.DBBlaw.com Fellow, American Academy of Reproductive Technology Attorneys

Hardline

Adult Depot (CLOSED)

Bars & Clubs (Mixed) These venues regularly host LGBT events.

 http://www.ATPlive.com

 Calgary: 403-770-0776

 Edmonton: 780-665-6666  Other Cities: 1-877-628-9696  http://www.hardlinechat.com Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.

Holiday Retirement

 12 Deerview Terrace SE  403-879-1967  http://www.canyonmeadows.net

 10704 124 St NW

One Yellow Rabbit--------------------------

7 The Starlite Room

 10030 102 St contact@starliteroom.ca  http://www.starliteroom.ca

Pumphouse Theatre--------------------

✰

8 Yellowhead Brewing Co.

 10229 105 St  info@yellowheadbrewery.com  http://www.yellowheadbrewery.com

Stagewest-------------------------------

✰

Theatre Junction------------------------

✰

Hot Water Pools & Spas

 2140 Pumphouse Avenue SW  403-263-0079  http://www.pumphousetheatres.ca

 727 - 42 Avenue SE  403-243-6642  http://www.stagewestcalgary.com  Theatre Junction GRAND, 608 1st St. SW  403-205-2922  info@theatrejunction.com  http://www.theatrejunction.com

Third Street Theatre

 #3 306 20th Ave SW 

http://www.thirdstreet.ca

 403-703-4750

Vertigo Mystery Theatre--------------------

 161, 115 - 9 Ave SE  403-221-3708  http://www.vertigomysterytheatre.com

Webster Galleries Inc.

 812 11 Ave SW  403-263-6500  http://www.webstergalleries.com

 T-S: 10am-6pm, N: 1-4pm

 2145 Summerfield Blvd  403-912-2045  http://www.hotwaterpoolsandspas.ca

EDMONTON

Interactive Male

 403-355-3335  http://www.interactivemale.com

Bars & Clubs (Gay)

Lorne Doucette (CIR Realtors)

3 Buddy’s Nite Club------------------------- ✰

 11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6636

MFM Communications

6 Evolution Wonder Lounge

 10220 - 103 St  780-424-0077  http://www.yourgaybar.com

 403-461-9195  http://www.lornedoucette.com

 403-543-6970  1-877-543-6970  http://www.mfmcommunications.com Web site hosting and development. Computer hardware and software.

Hooliganz Pub (CLOSED)

Fairytales

 Big Secret Theatre - EPCOR CENTRE  403-299-8888  www.oyr.org

Ellen Embury

10 Flames Central---------------------------- See Calgary - Bars & Clubs (Mixed).

 403-819-5219  http://www.bcbhcounselling.com

 Calgary: 403-777-9494

 Edmonton: 780-413-7122  Other Cities: 1-877-882-2010  http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.

4 Woody’s------------------------------------ ✰

 11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6557

See Calgary - Community Groups.

 810 Edmonton Trail NE  403-290-1973 Cuts, Colour, Hilights.

Restaurants & Pubs

6th and Tenth - Sales Centre

Cruiseline

UpStares Ultralounge (CLOSED)

ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects

 403-294-7402

 780-938-2941

 4th Floor, Jasper Ave and 107th Street

Theatre & Fine Arts

Courtney Aarbo (Barristers & Solicitors)

DevaDave Salon & Boutique

Wild Rose United Church

 1317-1st Street NW

Adult Source----------------------------

 403-808-7147

 403-253-5678  http://www.maxwellrealty.com/craigconnell

Spectrum Volleyball Calgary

 10018 105 Street  flashnightclub@hotmail.com

Wheel Pro’s

Craig Connell (Maxwell Realtors)

 http://www.spectrumvolleyball.ca  spectrumvolleyball@gmail.com Join us for recreational, competitive or beach volleyball.

FLASH (CLOSED)

 403-850-3755  Sat-Thu: 8pm-12am, Fri: 4pm-12am

 403-246-4134 (Rork Hilford)  MarriageCommissioner@shaw.ca Marriage Commissioner for Alberta (aka Justice of the Peace - JP), Marriage Officiant, Commissioner for Oaths.

Bathhouses/Saunas 5 Steamworks------------------------------- ✰

 11745 Jasper Ave  780-451-5554  http://www.steamworksedmonton.com

Community Groups AltView Foundation

 #44, 48 Brentwood Blvd, Sherwood Park, AB

 403-398-9968  info@altview.ca  http://ww.altview.ca For gender variant and sexual minorities.

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 Expo

 http://www.edmontonexpo.com

Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS)

 http://www.edmontonpride.ca

NRG Support Services

 Suite 27, Building B1, 2451 Dieppe Ave SW

 403-471-0204  780-922-3347  nrg@shaw.ca  http://www.nrgsupportservices.com

SafeWorks

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

• Centre of Hope

 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

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

57

Directory & Events DOWNTOWN EDMONTON

1

8

5 4 3

1 Pride Centre of Edm.---- Community Groups 2 Edmonton STD---------- Community Groups

Edmonton Events Boot Camp------------------------------ 7-8pm See

Team Edmonton

TTIQ------------------------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

 3rd

HIV Support Group--------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

 2nd

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Martial Arts---------------------  7:30-8:30pm See

Team Edmonton

Swim Practice-------------------  7:30-8:30pm See

Team Edmonton

GLBTQ Bowling------------------  1:30-3:30pm See

5 Steamworks----------------------Bathhouses 6 Evolution----------------------Bars and Clubs

7 The Starlite Room------------Bars and Clubs 8 Yellowhead Brewing Co.-----Bars and Clubs

Counseling----------------------  5:30-8:30pm

Martial Arts---------------------  7:30-8:30pm

Bowling-----------------------------------  5pm

Knotty Knitters-------------------------- 6-8pm

Intermediate Volleyball--------  7:30-9:30pm

Sundays

QH Craft Night-------------------------- 6-8pm

Fridays

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Youth Sports/Recreation-----------------  4pm See 1 Youth Understanding Youth

See See

Team Edmonton Team Edmonton

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

 780-387-3343

 groups.yahoo.com/group/edmonton_illusions 2 Edmonton STD

 11111 Jasper Ave

Running------------------------------  10-11am See

Team Edmonton

QH Anime Night------------------------ 6-8pm

Men Talking with Pride---------------- 7-9pm

Movie Night----------------------------- 6-9pm

Ballroom Dancing--------------  7:30-8:30pm

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm

Men’s Games Nights--------------  7-10:30pm

Soul Outing-------------------------------  7pm

Youth Sports/Recreation-----------------  4pm

Youth Sports/Recreation-----------------  4pm

Monthly Meetings---------------------  2:30pm

QH Game Night------------------------ 6-8pm

Saturdays

Cycling---------------------------  6:30-7:30pm See

Team Edmonton

Yoga---------------------------------  7:30-8pm Team Edmonton

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Youth Understanding Youth

Swim Practice--------------------------- 7-8pm See

Team Edmonton

Women’s Social Circle------------------ 6-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

 2nd, 4th

Book Club-----------------------------  7:30pm See

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Thursdays

See

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

BookWorm’s Book Club

 3rd

See See

Men’s Games Nights

 2nd, Last

Youth Understanding Youth

Naturalist Gettogether See

See

Team Edmonton

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See

Team Edmonton

 Robertson-Wesley United (10209 123 St)

 Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) See Edmonton Primetimers

 2nd

 2nd

Friday, November 28th

Buck Naked Boys Club

 2nd

QH Youth Drop-in------------------  2-6:30pm

BEEF---------------------------------------  9pm At 6 Evolution

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Saturday, December 6th

Monthly Meeting----------------------  2:30pm

ISCWR - Miss Mary Christmas Pageant--  9pm

By Edmonton Primetimers  Unitarian Church, 10804 - 119th Street

 2nd

At 6 Woody’s

Legend:  = Monthly Reoccurrance,  = Date (Range),  = Sponsored Event

Edmonton Vocal Minority

 780-479-2038  www.evmchoir.com

 sing@evmchoir.com

Fellowship of Alberta Bears

 www.beefbearbash.com

GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club

 780-474-8240

 tuff@shaw.ca

HIV Network Of Edmonton Society----

✰

 9702 111 Ave NW 780-488-5742  www.hivedmonton.com Provides healthy sexuality education for Edmonton’s LGBT community and support for those infected or affected

by HIV.

InQueeries

 inqueeries@gmail.com Student-run GLBTQ Alliance at MacEwan University.

Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose

for members of the GLBTQ community and for their families and friends.

Living Positive Society of Alberta

• Counselling

 http://www.iscwr.ca

 #50, 9912 - 106 Street 780-424-2214  living-positive@telus.net  http://www.facebook.com/LivingPoz Living Positive through Positive Living.

 780.488.3234 Free, short-term counselling provided by registered counsellors.

• HIV Support Group

Come knit and socialize in a safe and accepting environment - all skill levels are welcome.

 huges@shaw.ca, curtis@optionssexualhealth.ca Support and discussion group for gay men.

Men’s Games Nights

 Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street)

 780-474-8240  tuff@shaw.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.

Pride Centre of Edmonton-------------

✰

 10608 - 105 Ave  780-488-3234  admin@pridecentreofedmonton.org  http://www.pridecentreofedmonton.org  Tue-Fri 12pm-9pm, Sat 2pm-6:30pm We provide a safe, welcoming, and non-judgemental drop-in space, and offer support programs and resources

58

Team Edmonton

Yoga---------------------------------  2-3:30pm

 Edmonton Contd.  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.

See

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Wednesdays

7

3 Buddy’s-----------------------Bars and Clubs 4 Woody’s-----------------------Bars and Clubs

See

Tuesdays

N

2

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Mondays

6

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

• Knotty Knitters

• Men Talking with Pride

 robwells780@hotmail.com Support & social group for gay & bisexual men to discuss current issues.

• Movie Night

Movie Night is open to everyone! Come over and sit back, relax, and watch a movie with us.

• Queer HangOUT: Game Night

Come OUT with your game face on and meet some awesome people through board game fun.

• Queer HangOUT: Craft Night

Come OUT and embrace your creative side in a safe space.

• Queer HangOUT: Anime Night

Come and watch ALL the anime until your heart is content.

www.gaycalgary.com

Directory & Events Red Deer Events Wednesdays

LGBT Coffee Night------------------------  7pm See

CAANS

 1st

Friday, August 15th

 Edmonton Contd.

• TTIQ

A support and information group for all those who fall under the transgender umbrella and their family or supporters.

• Women’s Social Circle

 andrea@pridecentreofedmonton.org Women’s Social Circle: A social support group for all female-identified persons over 18 years of age in the GLBT community - new members are always welcome.

Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton

 780-474-8240

 tuff@shaw.ca

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.

• 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.

 kickboxing@teamedmonton.ca Drop-ins welcome.

• Outdoor Pursuits

• Sports and Recreation

 Brendan: 780-488-3234  brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org

 outdoorpursuits@teamedmonton.ca

• Running (Arctic Frontrunners)

 Kinsmen Sports Centre  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.

Restaurants & Pubs 12 Woody’s------------------------------------ ✰ See Edmonton - Bars & Clubs (Gay).

Retail Stores Passion Vault

 15239 - 111 Ave  780-930-1169  pvault@telus.net “Edmonton’s Classiest Adult Store”

• Snowballs V

 January 27-29, 2012  snowballs@teamedmonton.ca Skiing and Snowboarding Weekend.

• Soccer

 soccer@teamedmonton.ca

• 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)

Products & Services Cruiseline

 780-413-7122 trial code 3500  http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.

Robertson-Wesley United Church

 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!

•Ballroom Dancing

 NAIT Pool (11762 - 106 Street)  swimming@teamedmonton.ca  http://www.makingwavesswimclub.ca

• Soul OUTing

 Foot Notes Dance Studio, 9708-45 Avenue NW  Cynthia: 780-469-3281

• Blazin’ Bootcamp

• Tennis

• Film Night

 Garneau Elementary School 10925 - 87 Ave  bootcamp@teamedmonton.ca

 Kinsmen Sports Centre  Sundays, 12pm-3pm

 tennis@teamedmonton.ca

• Bowling (Northern Titans)

• Ultimate Frisbee

 Ed’s Rec Room (West Edmonton Mall)

 bowling@teamedmonton.ca $15.00 per person.

• Cross Country Skiing

 crosscountry@teamedmonton.ca

• Curling with Pride

 Granite Curling Club, 8620 107 Street NW  curling@teamedmonton.ca

• Cycling (Edmonton Prideriders)

 Dawson Park, picnic shelter  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.

• Hockey

 hockey@teamedmonton.ca

• Martial Arts

 15450 - 105 Ave (daycare entrance)  780-328-6414  kungfu@teamedmonton.ca

www.gaycalgary.com

 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  http://www.womonspace.ca Women’s social group, but all welcome at events.

 Second Sunday every month, 7pm An LGBT-focused alternative worship.

 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  http://www.theatrenetwork.ca

Community Groups Jasper Pride Festival

 PO Box 98, 409 Patricia St., T0E 1E0

 contact@jasperpride.ca  http://www.jasperpride.ca

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

 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.

 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 Expo

BANFF

 http://www.lethbridgeexpo.com

Lethbridge HIV Connection

Community Groups HIV Community Link

 102 Spray Ave  PO Box 3160, Banff, AB T1L 1C8  403-762-0690

JASPER Accommodations

Youth Understanding Youth

 780-248-1971  www.yuyedm.ca A support and social group for queer youth 12-25.

Whistlers Inn

 105 Miette Ave  1-800-282-9919  info@whistlersinn.com  http://www.whistlersinn.com

Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge

 Old Lodge Road  1-866-540-4454  http://www.fairmont.com/jasper

 1206 - 6 Ave S

PFLAG Canada

 1-888-530-6777

 lethbridgeab@pflagcanada.ca  www.pflagcanada.ca

Pride Lethbridge

 lethbridgepridefest@gmail.com

RED DEER Community Groups Central Alberta AIDS Network Society

 4611-50 Avenue, Red Deer, AB  http://www.caans.org

Continued on Page 61 

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

59

Classifieds Event

140

The Fetish Slosh at the Backlot!

Come on down to the Backlot the 2nd Tuesday of every month for a no-cover Fetish party. Upcoming dates are November 13, December 11th, etc. You can dress up in Leather, Latex, cuffs, collars, or just your skivvies. Have the conversation you like without offending a vanilla in sight. The Backlot supports and promotes the alternative lifestyles of Calgary so feel free to express your KINK!

Wedding/Union

190

Employment

200

Looking to retain a live in butler to take care of household chores and prepare meals, and travel along on weekends.

Compensation is negotiable. Send resume to Emmersonbrando@yahoo.com

Sale

365

Lagotto Romagnolo Puppies...

A What??

Magical Music DJs

Help Wanted

240

GayCalgary Magazine is looking for salespeople, graphic designers, and writers in Calgary or Edmonton. For more info, contact: magazine@gaycalgary.com 403-543-6960

Internet

Rork Hilford MC

Officiant - Marriage Commissioner Commissioner for Oaths in Alberta WEDDINGS AND MARRIAGES at your venue or in my home studio.

445

www.ABS-Hosting.com Make your mark on the Web... Create a blog, register a domain, build you personal website at www.abs-hosting.com

Erotic Massage

Products/Services 500

420

Destination Location Style • Elopement Style • Quick and Legal • Formal or Stylish • Immediate or in the Future • Religion Free • Standard or Customized Ceremonies • Cross Cultural • Same Sex - LGBT-TTQ hilford@shaw.ca • 403-246-4134

Certified Personal Trainer

UltimateMaleMassage.com Specializing in LGBT Weddings and Unions.

Everyone deserves the wedding they’ve always dreamed of with the person they love! Call us for a quote today 403.254.9754 Email: magicalmusic@shaw.ca Website: www.magicalmusicdjs.com

McDougall United Church (Edmonton), an Affirming congregation proudly performing same-sex unions or same-sex marriages since 1998. http://www.mcdougallunited.com

Employment

200

Subway Canada located at 725 17 Ave SW Calgary AB is now looking for an experience manager for our busy location.

Minimum of 1 year subway experience required preferably in a supervisory or management position. You will be responsible to supervise the crew doing schedule and payroll inventory and ordering and serving clientele.

Salary is based on 24.75 per hour full time for ideal candidate. To apply please fax resume to 403-798-6170 or email to kevin@ richardsonperez.ca or bring your resume to our store attention Kevin.

Only applicant selected for an interview will be contacted. Please no phone calls.

Thought to be the most ancient and the possible ancestor of all the water dogs, the Lagotto is distinguished by his curly, water resistant coat. Since Etruscan times (7th Century BC) this little breed of duck retriever has existed as a distinct type of dog in the vast marshlands of Romagna in northeastern Italy.

In spite of being such an ancient breed by the early nineteen seventies it was estimated that there were barely a dozen pure bred Lagotto remaining in Romagna. Fortunately before the breed disappeared entirely a group of Romagnolo comprising breeders, veterinarians and dog lovers decided to rescue their only indigenous breed from extinction The Lagotto is a small/medium-sized dog, well proportioned, squarely built and hardy muscled. The Lagotto’s woolly coat is dense and curly which can be any color except black.

The Lagotto is a working dog and have an instinct for retrieving. It has a natural gift for searching and its very good nose has made this breed very efficient in searching for truffles.

The Lagotto is loyal, keen, affectionate, very attached to his owner and easy to train. It gets on well with other dogs and other pets

Best Erotic Male Massage In Calgary.

Studio with free parking. Deep Tissue and Relaxation. Licensed, Professional.

Video on website. 403-680-0533 mike@ultimatemalemassage.com

Consulting Models/Escorts

460

Alberta Escort Listings

A perfect companion • This breed sheds no hair.

• Happy disposition.

• Loyal, keen, and affectionate.

• Intelligent and willing.

• A rare and ancient breed Casa di Mia http://www.Exclusivelylagotto.ca

Upcoming wedding/event/trip/class reunion?

If you want to look/feel better, increase your strength/endurance/flexibility, I CAN HELP YOU! call/text me 4038263305 or email me j_d_short@hotmail.com

Check out www.Squirt.org for the Hot Escorts in Calgary, Edmonton, and the rest of Alberta.

New Improved Features. Free to Post and Browse. Videos, Pics, and Reviews. Join Now! Code: GCEE

527

Want to attract the LGBT local or traveler to your business?

It’s not about special treatment. You can’t assume the LGBT person, or the straight person will follow the pack anymore. The LGBT market is becoming more and more aware of what organizations support them, and which ones don’t, ultimately sending them away from businesses and communities that do not recognize them or their lifestyle. Does your staff need LGBT sensitivity training? Want to attract the market but unsure how to proceed?

Local, Domestic, International, We can assist.

Check us out at http://blueflameventures.ca, Email us at info@blueflameventures.ca, Call us at 604-369-1472. Based in Alberta.

Ads starting at $10/mo. for the first 20 words. Submit yours at http://www.gaycalgary.com/classifieds 60

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

 Find Out - From Page 59

Photography

572

Hire an Amateur Photographer Need new photos? Want something for LinkedIn, Facebook, holiday cards? Personal, couples, share-able or adult - no limits, you retain all rights. Creative Queer photographer, cheap rates. photo@chaoticwow.ca

Scan below to view Classified Ads Online!

Cleaning

517

GET A LIFE! Commercial Cleaning

The Central Alberta AIDS Network Society is the local charity responsible for HIV prevention and support in Central Alberta.

LGBTQ Education

 LGBTQeducation@hotmail.ca  http://LGBTQeducation.webs.com Red Deer (and area) now has a website designed to bring various LGBTQ friendly groups/individuals together for fun, and to promote acceptance in our communities.

Pride on Campus

 rdcprideoncampus@gmail.com A group of LGBTQ persons and Allies at Red Deer College.

Does your business need a professional cleaner? Steve is bonded/Insured. Flexible prices and brings all his own supplies. Steve is a part of the LGBT Community and has been cleaning for over 5 years in Calgary.

(403)200-7384 getalifecleaner@gmail.com www.getalifecleaner.com www.facebook.com/getalifecleaner

MEDICINE HAT Community Groups HIV Community Link

 356 - 2 Street SE, Medicine Hat, AB  403-527-5882  1-877-440-2437

• Telephone Support

 M-F, 8:30am - 12:30pm + 1:30pm - 4:30pm

ALBERTA 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.

Theatre & Fine Arts Alberta Ballet

 http://www.albertaballet.com Frequent productions in Calgary and Edmonton.

CANADA Community Groups Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition

 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.

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

61

62

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

www.gaycalgary.com

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #133, November 2014

63