Xtra Toronto #757

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2 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

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SUNDAY NOV 10TH 6PM MISS CONCEPTION HOLLYWOODY BROADWAY 5TH ANNIVERSARY BLOW-OUT! FRIDAYS NOVEMBER 1ST 7:30-10:30PM SPARTAN VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION - WELCOME PLAYERS! MIDNIGHT MEN’S ASS CONTEST HOST GEORGIE GIRL WITH JADA HUSDON NOVEMBER 8TH DEVINE DARLIN’ BIRTHDAY BLOW-OUT NOVEMBER 15TH

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Gerrard East’s renaissance There’s more to Little India than some of the city’s tastiest food E20

Upfront Priape closes its stores Gay retailer blames its troubles on ban on poppers sales — but its predicament is more complicated E11 Local news Pride Toronto boasts surplus for second year in a row E12 Church Street Murals Project brings colour to the Village E14 National news Toronto students protest TWU’s bid for a law school E16 International news Montenegro Pride march a “success� despite injuries E17 New Jersey court green-lights gay marriage E17 MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

Out in the City Arts roundup Leslie Jordan’s Fruit Fly examines gay men’s relationships with their mothers E23 Cover story Tour de force Comedian Eddie Izzard is touring the biggest show of his career E24 Playlisp Patrick Cowley’s menergy

By Kevin Ritchie E27 Style Life French touch: Isabel Marant’s H&M collaboration

By Diego Armand E28 Xposed

By Anna Pournikova E31

What’s On E33 Club Scene E34 ClassiďŹ eds E35 Xtra Living E36 Xtra Hot

By Drasko Bogdanovic E37 COVER PHOTO BY N MAXWELL LANDER

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DENTAL CARE Dr. Elon Griffith Cosmetic & General Dentistry

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take to the streets for 11th annual Pride parade E The burden of

being gay and Arab in a world that doesn’t like difference

BLOOR ST. W. CHARLES ST. W. Our Office

YONGE ST.

Feedback E6 Xcetera E8

History Boys Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues

By Michael Lyons E19

BAY ST.

Editorial PR and the pope

By Natasha Barsotti E6

The brand-new Flying Pony cafĂŠ/ gallery is already well known for its homemade baked goods. ADAM COISH

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 5

Comment

Pope Benedict XVI once told us that homosexuality is an “objective disorder.”

On another occasion, he deemed it “a strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil.”

His predecessor, John Paul II, found it “legitimate and necessary” to ask if gay marriage is part of a clandestine and more insidious “new ideology of evil, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man.”

Juxtapose those choice statements with the reported words and actions of the latest successor of St Peter to take up residence at the Vatican.

Challenged about his stance on homosexuality, Argentina’s Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis I, throws the ball back in his interrogator’s court.

“Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?”

But his promising rhetorical start ends with an equivocal “We must always consider the person,” followed by a more obscure statement about “the mystery” of human beings.

More recently, an Italian Catholic LGBT group that reached out to Francis later claimed that he gave them “his blessing.”

What’s not to like from a cleric who has embraced the name of a saint heralded for his prayer about bringing faith where there is doubt, hope where there is despair and light where there is darkness?

In an era that is gluttonous about celebrity, Francis, with his friendly countenance, gregariousness in the presence of crowds and understanding of the importance of optics and the wellturned phrase, is poised to become a religious rock star.

And while his words and deeds thus far are flummoxing the Church’s more

Natasha Barsotti is Xtra Vancouver’s staff reporter.

The outcome that we seek is this — gay and lesbian people daring together to set love free.

Xtra is published by Pink Triangle Press, at 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto, M5B 1J3.

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#756 OCT 17–30, 2013

POSTERS BE GONE E 11

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conservative segments, they are giving its more liberal adherents a glimmer of hope that his tenure will bring about much-needed change, including bringing its disillusioned sheep — who’ve been departing in droves — back to the fold.

Moreover, in the context of contemporary rightwing nuttery, Francis’s outreach, if not substance, feels like a gale-force cleansing of the homophobic stench issuing from the likes of the American Family Association, the National Organization for Marriage, Pat Robertson and the unrepentant Scott Lively, now facing a human-rights trial over his alleged role in fostering a hostile environment for gay Ugandans.

But really, how different is Francis’s cajoling rhetoric from that of a corporation or PR firm pitching a client’s new and improved product as a real departure from its classic version?

As a number of Church observers have pointed out, especially in the wake of the short-lived hope invested in the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, the changes — such as what language should be used for Mass — were more cosmetic than revolutionary.

As much as I’d like to flirt with this latest successor to Obama’s Yes We Can–ism, I am as yet reluctant to fall for this smiling, twinkly eyed, avuncular man in robes who seems to be offering more than he realistically can, or really intends, to deliver.

Just recently, the Vatican announced that a synod of bishops will convene to discuss the “pastoral care of families.”

How far, if anywhere, will it go toward acknowledging families with same-sex parents or families with gay and trans children?

If asked, I hope, but truly doubt, that Francis will provide an answer that doesn’t rely on the ambiguity of a rhetorical question.

[The trans community] need[s] their own political voice, agenda and leaders, just as we did, and not filtered by the privilege of others.

(RE: INTERPRIDE AND DIVERSITY)

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Knockout

Savoy Howe’s Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club brings women and trans people into the ring E 20

QUEER WEB SERIES E 16

STRANGE SISTERS E 27

KILL YOUR DARLINGS E 29

John Greyson editorial I’m not sure why it’s always so shocking to hear people actually putting themselves at risk to expose injustices being called “grandstanders,” but it is [“John Greyson Is Gay,” Xtra #756, Oct 17]. The danger is real, the injustice is real, and activists such as this are the type of people who actually effect real change in the long run. How they put others at more risk than they already were in Egypt is a mystery to me. Equally a mystery is why pointing out hypocrisy within a government has anything to do with whether it supports gay rights.

I have many problems with how the Canadian government operates, but should I just shut up and let them keep doing what they’re doing simply because they’ve given gays so many rights and protections?

CASEY MCNALLY (FACEBOOK) TORONTO, ON

[Margaret] Wente’s piece [in The Globe and Mail] was highly accurate.

These two are grandstanders and career activists who make a living by going to dangerous places and put their own lives and those of innocent bystanders in danger so that they can get a few hours of good footage to sell back home. They make a career of putting others at risk and bashing the countries that actually guarantee their rights as homosexuals. Then they come crying to the Canadian taxpayer when they land in hot water.

JONATHAN LERNER VANCOUVER, BC

Protests against Trinity Western University Years ago, I knew somebody who was given a referral to an individual with an MA from this school. That person never went back because he could

detect the underlying religious bias [“Toronto Students Protest Trinity Western University’s Bid for a Law School,” dailyxtra.com, Oct 18]. If a straight male could pick that up, I hate to think what their attitude would be towards those who identify as LGBT. CAELAN TORONTO, ON

Priape closure Obviously these products do not appeal to gay consumers, by virtue of the bankruptcy [“Priape Closes All Four Canadian Stores,” dailyxtra. com, Oct 21]. Instead, this is more evidence that the “queer” theory promoted by the likes of members in Queer Ontario is a “fail.” Back in 1974, the hardcore queers tried to influence and determine a certain brand of being gay; they even got away with it for a few decades. But now, we see [they’ve] failed. LGB members of the community have clearly not gone in the direction “queerologists” had hoped. Yet, every new person that comes in on the scene must contend with these zealots who . . . make life difficult for anyone outside their marginalized group.

BARRY DENNISON TORONTO, ON

Pride Toronto Do any of the Pride TO candidates represent the kink/leather community? It seems Pride Toronto keeps forgetting this community exists.

EARL COUSINS (FACEBOOK) TORONTO, ON

I don’t know the co-chair, but his answers are shockingly inadequate [“Pride Toronto Facing Sharp Criticism Ahead of AGM,” dailyxtra.com, Oct 23]. While all the candidates seem qualified, dismissing community concerns as “pre-judging” — while heading an organization dedicated to celebrating identity — is absurd. Hopefully, the board will find some candidates with communications expertise who can give Hillier a

few lessons in the proper way to address legitimate community concerns.

JUSTIN STAYSHYN (FACEBOOK) TORONTO, ON

InterPride and diversity As someone who helped fight the battles against HIV discrimination, for marriage equality and against stigma, it’s my opinion that it may be time for the transgender community and their supporters to move forward on their own [“InterPride’s Lack of Diversity a Problem, Board Says,” dailyxtra.com, Oct 13]. The [gay movement’s] social and political agenda has matured and softened, by virtue of our own work. I see little in common with the transgendered (bi-curioustransvestite/drag) group and their supporters. They stay involved with the “community” at their own peril.

They need their own political voice, agenda and leaders, just as we did, and not filtered by the privilege of others.

GEOFF CHAULK TORONTO, ON

I’m inclined to agree that the genderqueer community should withdraw its support for InterPride. By virtue of our visibility . . . trans people have always been at the forefront of civil rights battles. InterPride appears to be populated by tone-deaf leaders who are pleased to accept resources in the name of trans people but who will not provide benefit. Depending on your politics, this [is] either a crap business model or a flat-out misappropriation of funds. Either way, it is unsustainable and unsupportable.

While I respect many of the people who espouse “change-from- within” strategies, history has demonstrated that these incremental strategies only work in systems that are fundamentally sound. Corrupt systems don’t work the same way. The pride movement was founded on social conscience and inclusion. InterPride has no substantive moral connection to that foundation.

NICKI WARD TORONTO, ON

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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A BIWEEKLY HELPING OF POP CULTURE, SERVED À LA CARTE

Alex Stepanov Russian man who auctioned off his virginity via an online contest.

FROM THE PTP ARCHIVES 15 YEARS AGO

XTRA #366, NOV 5, 1998 Cover boy Shyam Selvadurai returns to Sri Lanka in his hotly anticipated second novel, Cinnamon Gardens. The book’s protagonists are an early-20thcentury closeted gay man and his feminist niece.

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How do you plan to stay warm as the weather gets colder?

Nina Hagen The woman who inspired Anthony Kiedis to write the song (they dated in the ’80s).

‘God loves the homosexual’ According to a 2010 interview Hagen did with anti-gay GermanCatholic website kreuz.com.

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Willy Bogner Designer of Germany’s 2014 Sochi Olympics uniforms, hailed as a pro-gay fashion statement.

71 Bogner’s age.

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TORONTOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Upfront

What that means is if you are queer and you want to be a lawyer, you will have fewer opportunities to do so. Angela Chaisson E16

Priape closes its stores Gay retailer blames troubles on ban on poppers sales — but its predicament is more complicated

It’s not so much percentage of sales, but the gross profit it brought in, and proportionately it was very significant.

DENIS LEBLANC, PRIAPE INC GENERAL MANAGER

BUSINESS NEWS ANDREA HOUSTON & BRANDON MATHESON

Priape, Canada’s leading gay store and sex shop, has closed its stores.

Denis Leblanc, general manager at Priape Inc, confirmed that Priape’s four stores across Canada — in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver — closed their doors Oct 21 at 8am Eastern Standard Time.

The company has been under bankruptcy protection since June 27. Leblanc says the closings affect 58 employees.

A fixture of gay villages, Priape has been struggling since Health Canada demanded retailers take poppers off the shelves, Leblanc says.

In June, just before the Pride season, Health Canada issued a warning asking retailers to stop selling and distributing alkyl nitrites or, as they are more commonly known on the party scene, the popular drug “poppers.”

“For us, that represented a huge amount of sales and profit, so that’s what triggered it all,” Leblanc says. “It’s not so much percentage of sales, but the gross profit it brought in, and proportionately it was very significant.”

Although poppers are not considered a narcotic in Canada and possession of alkyl nitrates is not illegal, they are considered a drug, and their sale is regulated by the Food and Drug Act. Unauthorized sales of the drug can be punished with jail terms of up to three years and fines of up to $5,000.

Leblanc says that he’s hopeful the company can be saved and that there is still a chance that the stores, or some of them, could remain open.

“That possibility exists. I can’t say any more about this right now.”

But it appears Priape’s financial woes and debt started long before the June ban on poppers sales.

On June 27, Priape sent a “Notice of Intention To Make a Proposal” to its list of creditors owed more than $250.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

A locksmith who did not want to be identified changes the locks on Priape’s Toronto store. BRANDON MATHESON

Traditionally, companies make such proposals to avoid filing for bankruptcy, hoping creditors will work out a pennies-on-the-dollar settlement for debts owed. The action sometimes provides a company with the opportunity and time to restructure.

As of the June 27 filing, Priape owed 106 companies $687,650.30 — debts that would have accrued long before Health Canada’s announcement in June cracking down on poppers sales.

Among the creditors listed on the June statement are many familiar brand names in gay retail: Mr S Leather, in San Francisco, owed $28,709; Nasty Pig clothing company, owed $11,985; silicone toy manufacturer Oxballs, owed $35,347; G-Star jeans, owed $13,504; and Timoteo underwear, owed $13,588.

Pink Triangle Press, publisher of Xtra and dailyxtra.com, was owed $4,200.

Debt to two large financial institutions totalled more than $143,000: American Express, owed $67,641, and Visa Desjardins, owed $75,634.

It is unclear if that debt standing had changed since the June filing; however, on Sept 9, Priape applied to Quebec’s Superior Court Commercial Division for a “Notice to Creditors for an Extension of Time.” It was granted a 45-day extension, making the new settlement deadline Oct 24.

The company closed its stores three days before the Oct 24 deadline.

Priape Montreal was the first to open, in 1974.

The company later expanded to Toronto, in 1998; to Calgary, in 2004; and to Vancouver, in 2005, selling DVDs, books, clothing, leather, sex toys and other products that appeal to gay consumers.

In June, the founder of Priape, Bernard Rousseau, was owed $4,167. Rousseau sold the chain to the current owners about 10 years ago.

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 11

Pride Toronto boasts surplus for second year in a row AGM elects three new board members, adding one more woman to 12-member body PRIDE NEWS ANDREA HOUSTON

Pride Toronto (PT) is marching into 2014 with a stable balance sheet, a new set of bylaws and a commitment from the board to make diversity and community consultation a top priority.

At the annual general meeting Oct 24, PT elected three new board members out of five potential candidates, which increases the number of women by one. The new members are Dana Suvagau, Aaron GlynWilliams and Chris Tremeer.

“We heard from the community that they want to see a greater diverse representation,” co-chair Sean Hillier says. “We now have five female board members out of 12, which is almost a parity and much better than other elected boards.”

Suvagau, a legal aid lawyer, says she’s already looking ahead to the “post– WorldPride years.” She says PT must continue to stay focused on its political roots and keep a strong connection to the community it serves.

“My background is activism and advocacy,” she says, adding that she is concerned that the city annually “holds Pride’s funding hostage” because some councillors oppose the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA).

For the last three years, in the weeks leading up to the festival, PT has held its breath as some Toronto councillors threatened to withhold funding unless QuAIA was banned from marching.

Ultimately, she says, Pride’s decision to stand with free speech was the right move.

Like Suvagau, Tremeer says he too is focused on what Pride will look like in 2015 and 2016. He hopes the annual battles with council will finally be settled.

In his day job, the third new board member, Aaron GlynWilliams, is part of the organizing committee for the Toronto 2015 Pan American and Para12 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

pan American Games. GlynWilliams says he is “passionate and dedicated” to both events and will remain committed to Pride long after WorldPride and the Pan Am Games are done.

Meanwhile, PT passed new bylaws that it updated in order to bring the organization in line with Ontario’s Notfor-Profit Corporations Act. After they passed, members of the Dyke March moved a number of motions for amendments, including a motion to incorporate language for mandated diversity and accessibility, which passed. Another motion for a commitment to community consultations throughout the year also passed. However, a motion to make the cost of membership a sliding scale, as opposed to a flat fee of $10, failed.

Hillier says the motions will go back to the board for discussion and “finetuning,” and if board members feel there is value in adding them into the bylaws, a motion to have the amendments added can be brought forward at the next general meeting, in the spring.

Dyke March team lead Laura Krahn says she feels the board heard most of the community’s concerns, raised earlier at an Oct 17 meeting. “I’m really happy that Pride has agreed to a commitment to diversity,” she says.

The AGM also approved PT’s audited financials. This is the second year in a row the organization has been in the black, finishing 2013 with an accumulated surplus of $652,297.

Hillier told members that Pride is trying to achieve charitable status in the hope that it can eventually move away from corporate dollars and government grants. To attain charitable status, an organization must show the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) that no more than 10 percent of its operations are “political.”

Hillier says the CRA seems to be under the impression that Pride is mostly just a party. “That’s something that we argue against. We don’t think the party

(Top) Pride board members, from left: Aaron GlynWilliams, Paul Saguil, Susan Gapka, Mark Smith, Lauryn Kronick, Dana Suvagau, Sean Hillier, Kerry Bell, Chris Tremeer, Chad Simon, Kent Churn and Shelley Craig. (Bottom) New Pride board members Aaron GlynWilliams, Dana Suvagau and Chris Tremeer. ANDREA HOUSTON

is a large part of what Pride does. That’s what they see during the festival, but we do many other things.”

The CRA has previously rejected PT’s application for charitable status, and PT is now in the final stages of an appeal process. Hiller and executive director Kevin Beaulieu recently met with members of the CRA in Ottawa.

Hiller says he doesn’t think achieving charitable status will depoliticize Pride. “I think the political and the educational go along together,” he says.

“Much of our political movement is also about educating the general public, and this is how we do it.”

PT also released its 2013 annual report, and PT WorldPride manager Chrystal Dean gave an update on the planning so far. Over the past year, she says, members of PT have travelled to Chicago, São Paulo, Detroit, New York City, Berlin and Uganda, promoting WorldPride and inviting activists to attend.

“We have also had a presence across Canada, trying to get to as many Pride celebrations as we could,” she says.

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Church Street Murals Project brings colour to the Village Murals will animate the community’s history, councillor says COMMUNITY NEWS ROB SALERNO

The Church Street Murals Project kicked off officially at an Oct 19 celebration at the Village Bank of Montreal, where the artists involved got a chance to talk about their monumental works.

The mural project sprang out of a desire to spruce up the neighbourhood and create a lasting legacy for next year’s WorldPride festivities. Local Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam says she’s been working for the past year to bring together the dozens of stakeholders involved in the project, from property owners to sponsors to artists to community leaders and curators.

“We felt that it had to be a legacy project that would stand in the public arena in the days and years to come,” Wong-Tam says.

Project curator Syrus Marcus Ware says there was a lot of interest from artists to get involved with the project, which allowed the selection committee to choose projects that reflect the community.

“There were 69 submissions — which for this project, you couldn’t get a better number,” Ware says. “It was really important that the murals we created weren’t just from one person’s idea, but actually out of the stories of the community.”

Most of the supplies needed for the murals were donated by Dulux Paints, Home Depot and Scafom Canada, while financial sponsorship was provided by

The beginnings of Lily Butter’s mural in the alley at 66A Wellesley St E. ROB SALERNO

Bank of Montreal, Tourism Toronto and StreetARToronto. The local BIA, the city, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, and the Art Gallery of Ontario provided logistical support.

Most of the murals are now in the process of being painted, and scaffolding has become ubiquitous around the neighbourhood. The only completed mural so far is Alexa Hatanaka and Patrick Thompson’s Happy 20th Anniversary, which can be seen at 552 Church St (on the third floor, behind Novak Pharmacy).

A total of 11 murals will appear throughout the neighbourhood at highly

We felt that it had to be a legacy project that would stand in the public arena in the days and years to come.

COUNCILLOR KRISTYN WONG-TAM 14 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

visible locations, including the TCHC building at 389 Church St, the facade of Crews & Tangos, the facade and alleyfacing walls on 66A and 66B Wellesley St E, and the 519 Community Centre, which will form a sort of gateway to the Village.

William Craddock will be painting a mural inspired by LGBT activist pins he found at the CLGA on the side of 66B Wellesley St; he expects to finish the work by early December.

“The mural is based on a project I did, and it’s a sort of exhibition and oral history project. I’ve been showing pictures of the buttons and collecting personal stories about them,” he says. “A lot of the histories collected from the community feature a select number of voices.

They’re usually the prominent activists who led the marches, who organized the groups and were at the start of all those rallies. And I wanted to hear the stories of the people who aren’t as well known but who were there.”

A whole new park . . .

The city has begun a long-awaited renovation to Cawthra Park, which will be closed to the community until next May. The renovation is part of a $1.45 million project meant to improve the area for WorldPride, which Toronto will host in 2014. For more on this story, go to dailyxtra.com. ADAM COISH

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Approximately 20 protesters gathered outside Osgoode Hall Oct 17 to call attention to TWU’s application for a law school. ANDREA HOUSTON

Toronto students protest TWU’s bid for a law school Decisions from Federation of Law Societies of Canada and BC government expected imminently NATIONAL NEWS ANDREA HOUSTON

) O ut re ac h (P YO Po si tiv e Yo ut h r , 4t h Fl oo 39 9 C hu rc h St M 5B 2J 6 N O o, To ro nt 8484 ext. 265 Phone: 416-340ro nt o.org to Email: py o@ ac outh.com ey Web: positiv 16 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

Law students, lawyers and concerned citizens gathered Oct 17 to send a message to members of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, which will soon decide whether Trinity Western University (TWU), a Christian school in Langley, BC, can have a law school.

The group is angry about the bid because TWU, Canada’s largest privately funded Christian university, discriminates against gay people and forces all students to sign a covenant prohibiting any sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage. All students, staff and faculty at the school must adhere to the pledge.

Approximately 20 people took part in the event at Osgoode Hall.

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada is the federal body of law societies that, along with the BC government, will decide whether TWU can have a law school designation. Both decisions are expected imminently.

“Right now, the federation is meeting in secret to discuss the proposal,” says Ella Henry, co-chair of the University of Toronto’s Out in Law student group, noting that TWU’s covenant seems to indicate “that queer students are not welcome on campus and not

welcome in the legal profession.”

Members of the federation, including the treasurer, Thomas Conway, did not respond to Xtra’s request for comment.

Angela Chaisson, a lawyer at Toronto’s Ruby Shiller Chan Hasan law firm, is part of the team fighting the proposed accreditation. “[The covenant] violates the core dignity of who you are as a queer person,” she says, noting it also limits the number of coveted law-school spots available to queer students in Canada. It essentially creates a “quota system” for gay and lesbian students, something that would be abhorrent for any other marginalized group, such as Jewish students or students of colour, Chaisson says.

“What that means is if you are queer and you want to be a lawyer, you will have fewer opportunities to do so,” she says. “You will have fewer places available to you than your straight counterparts. This is unacceptable.”

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada is currently reviewing TWU’s application for a three-year program, which it hopes to offer to students starting September 2015.

Jessie Legaree, a TWU graduate, attended the protest to stand in support of the school and its bid for a law school. She defends the covenant and

says there are gay students at TWU who signed it.

“While it’s true that there is not a huge number of gay students that go to Trinity Western, and I don’t know whether they are open or not, but [if they are] they don’t get expelled or anything like that,” she says.

Regardless, Chaisson says, the covenant forces queer students to stay in the closet. “So if you are a married queer couple, you can’t have sex.”

Chaisson says there is a fundamental difference between holding antigay views and openly discriminating against gay people.

Legaree defends TWU’s right to discriminate, arguing that religious freedom must also be protected. “It’s biblical,” she says.

“Canada has protected Christian higher education,” she says. “It’s the same as any other field. There’s nursing shortages, so there’s spots at Trinity Western. I don’t see why the legal field thinks it’s above anything else.”

If TWU is accredited — which many suspect will happen — Chaisson says the decision can be challenged. “It is challengeable, and I anticipate that will happen.”

For more on this story, go to dailyxtra.com.

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

New Jersey court greenlights gay marriage

Montenegro Pride march a ‘success’ despite injuries Approximately 2,000 police officers clad in riot gear protected Pride marchers in Podgorica, Montenegro, from being attacked by counter-protesters armed with Molotov cocktails and stones, BuzzFeed reports.

The heavy police presence was in anticipation that the violence that occurred during a Pride event in Budva earlier this year would be repeated at the Oct 20 event. While the government did not have a representative at the Budva march, Montenegro’s human and minority rights minister, Suad Numanović, attended the event in Podgorica, Montenegro’s capital.

The Balkan country is seeking mem-

bership in the European Union, and BuzzFeed quotes Numanović as saying that the EU bid hinges in part on Montenegro’s ability to show progress on the LGBT rights front. Among the attending dignitaries was Mitja Drobnič, head of the European Union’s mission to Montenegro.

As Podgorica marchers, wearing T-shirts imprinted with the words “Proudly Montenegro,” strolled through a well-buffered zone, authorities held off their opponents, who pelted stones at police, who in turn used tear gas and billy clubs against them.

The Associated Press noted that 60 people were injured, including 20 police officers.

Under heavy police protection, Podgorica Pride marchers walk through the streets of Montenegro’s capital.

At the end of the rally, march participants were ferried away to safety in police vans, while officers continued to contend with protesters, dozens of whom were eventually detained.

Danijel Kalezić, president of Queer Montenegro, called the event a success despite the violence that unfolded

outside its boundaries. “As of today, gay people are no longer invisible in Montenegro,” Kalezić told media.

“From today, these streets are ours as well.”

He says planning for next June’s Pride march is already taking place.

— Natasha Barsotti

Gay marriages in New Jersey can proceed after the Supreme Court ruled Oct 18 against the governor’s motion to stop them, Lambda Legal reports.

“Like Judge Jacobson, we can find no public interest in depriving a group of New Jersey residents of their constitutional right to equal protection while the appeals process unfolds,” the court says.

On Sept 27, Judge Mary Jacobson ruled that New Jersey had to allow samesex marriage, beginning Oct 21. Chris Christie’s administration asked for a stay of the ruling and appealed it at the state Supreme Court. But Jacobson rejected the request, saying it would allow the state to continue violating gay couples’ rights. The Supreme Court agreed.

“The long wait in New Jersey is finally over,” said Lambda Legal’s Hayley Gorenberg, the lead attorney on the case. “The door is open for love, commitment and equality under the law.

This is a huge victory for New Jersey’s same-sex couples and their families.”

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a final ruling in the case next year.

— Natasha Barsotti For more on these stories, go to dailyxtra.com.

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TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Empress of the Blues The life and bisexuality of Bessie Smith HISTORY BOYS MICHAEL LYONS

A young woman named Eleanora Fagan first heard Bessie Smith’s music in the parlour of a whorehouse. In Fagan’s autobiography, she explains that although she was picky about who she’d run errands for in her Baltimore neighbourhood, she would do anything for the brothel owner and her girls. “When it came time to pay me, I used to tell [the owner] she could keep the money if she’d let me come up in her front parlor and listen to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith on her victrola.”

Smith was born in April 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. By the time she was eight she was an orphan being raised by her older sister. From the age of nine until she was 18, she sang on Ninth Street in Chattanooga, then was taken on as a dancer in a travelling show. She was dropped as a chorus girl because she was “too black,” but this didn’t deter her. After getting her start at Atlanta’s 81 Theater, a vaudeville club that was her home base in the early years, she became one of the big names of blues “race” records, a term applied to all recordings by black performers, considered a novelty until the industry realized how popular blues was with white customers.

In 1922 Smith met John “Jack” Gee, an illiterate night watchman, and they married a few years later. The abusive relationship continued even after Smith became famous, and secret affairs were common. Smith enjoyed prolonged affairs with both men and women, though she preferred lovers with darker complexions. Violent fights between her and Gee were frequent; during one tour, Smith heard a rumour that her husband had slept with a chorus girl, and she found his gun and chased him away.

During that holiday season, in 1926, Smith took up with a chorine named Lillian Simpson. Shortly after the New Year, Smith tried to kiss Simpson in front of Smith’s niece, chorus girl and confidant Ruby Walker. Simpson pulled away, embarrassed, angering Smith, who spat, “I got 12 women on this show and I can have one every night if I want it. Don’t you feel so important, and don’t you say another word to me while you’re on this show or I’ll send MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

ERIC WILLIAMS

Gee had the habit of showing up at the worst time, which included finding Smith in bed with one of the girls after a party. you home bag and baggage.” After a few days of being ignored, Simpson attempted to kill herself, barricading herself in a hotel room and filling the room with gas. Handed the suicide note after her show, Smith rushed to the hotel room and broke in, saving Simpson. The chorine was less ashamed of the relationship after that, though she eventually ran away from the tour, out of fear of Smith’s husband.

The night after Simpson left, Smith took a few of the showgirls out to a local “buffet flat” in Detroit. These establishments, sometimes called good-time flats, were privately owned clubs that often featured gambling, sex shows and live sex, catering to regular clients and thrill seekers. As Walker remembers, “It was nothing but faggots and bulldykers, a real open house. Everything went on in that house — tongue baths, you name it. They called them buffet flats because buffet means every-

thing, everything that was in the life.

Bessie was well known in that place.”

The buffet flat’s main attraction was a young man making expert love to another, but Smith was apparently mesmerized by an obese woman who performed a trick featuring her vagina and a lighted cigarette, then repeated the trick with a Coca-Cola bottle. As a true Southerner, Smith had always been a big fan of Coke.

A closing-night tradition for Smith and her pyjama-clad girls was to drink, eat Smith’s cooking and talk into the wee hours at their hotel. Unfortunately, Gee had the habit of showing up at the worst time, which included finding Smith in bed with one of the girls after a party. Everyone was justifiably afraid of him, especially Smith, whom he threatened to kill. Everyone managed to hide until Gee had left the hotel, then they packed up and left town before he could track Smith down.

Eleanora Fagan would eventually change her name to Billie Holiday. Like many other artists of the 20th century, she named Smith as one of her major influences. Interestingly enough, three days after Smith, known as the Empress of the Blues, made her last recording of “Down in the Dumps,” at an OkehColumbia Records studio in 1933, an 18-year-old Holiday, who became known as Lady Day, made her first recording in the same studio, her first step on the path to becoming musical royalty.

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 19

There’s more to Little India than some of the city’s tastiest food

Gerrard East’s

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based collective also offers classes, hosts special events and features work from both visual and performance artists.

Like most shopping hubs, Little India has begun to succumb to the coffee house phenomenon. But in a refreshing change of pace, it’s the independent java joints that seem to be pulling in the most customers. Lazy Daisy’s Café 9 (1515 Gerrard St E) is lots of fun, with its cow motif and nicely designed interiors.

Chalkboards are filled with options that put Starbucks to shame, and the tasty lunch menu is both reasonable and varied. They even offer classes for budding kiddie pop stars out back.

But my favourite stop has to be the Flying Pony 10 (1481 Gerrard St E), a brand new café and gallery with a genuine neighbourhood feel. I love the huge wooden harvest table, smack dab in the middle of the shop, replete with free books and magazines for people waiting to start up a conversation with a pleasant stranger. Big comfy chairs, eclectic décor and the sunny gal behind the counter make this an attitude-free place with fantastic locally roasted coffee. Oh, and the aged cheddar scones, baked in-house like all the other pastries, are to die for.

The owner is an artist named Andrew Horne, a 10-year neighbourhood

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Twenty years ago, anyone with a hankering for the city’s best curries would head over to Little India, that pocket of South Asian restaurants and shops lining Gerrard Street from Greenwood to Coxwell Avenue. After getting your fill from any of the area’s outstanding buffets, you might casually browse the exotic wares, fingering silk saris and maybe picking up some fragrant spices.

But that was about it, really.

Things have certainly changed.

The last few years have seen a significant shift in the area, as the IndoCanadian communities began to carve out their own niches in places like Brampton, Mississauga, Scarborough and Markham. This left a bit of a vacuum in Little India — one that’s now being filled with a greater mix of services and stores reflective of the increasingly diverse neighbourhood.

There are still plenty of bargain silk and sari shops around. Places like 6 Kumars Silk House 1 (1400 Gerrard St E) and Maharani Fashions 2 (1417 Gerrard St E) still have retro ’80s signs and basic interiors, while the bright blue and fuch-

sia facade of Chandan Fashion 3 (1439 Gerrard St E) positively screams hip and trendy. If you’re looking for a stunning cobalt-blue sari or an embroidered Sherwani coat with Nehru collar, then any of these places offer a fabulous selection at quite reasonable prices.

There are also a slew of authentic Indian restaurants, ranging from the casual fast-food atmosphere of Bombay Chowpatty 4 (1386 Gerrard St E) to the sleek new Gautama 5 (see sidebar review). If you’re a vegetarian, then you will thank me for recommending Udupi Palace 6 (1460 Gerrard St E).

But even after you’ve picked up your new silken duds and gorged yourself on biryani, there’s still plenty to take in.

Perhaps the most unexpected of these is the Zero Gravity Circus 7 (1300 Gerrard St E), a production house and entertainment agency of the big-rednose variety. Their Circus Academy is situated next door and features classes for adults and kids ranging from basic clown and juggling to high-flying aerial acts and even tai chi and jujitsu.

But if trapeze work seems a bit ambitious after your huge meal, there’s the GAS (for Gerrard Art Space) gallery 8 (1390 Gerrard St E) just a few short steps up the street. This membership-

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TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

RESTAURANT REVIEW

GAUTAMA

Clockwise from above, the Flying Pony’s harvest table was built from wood salvaged during the renovation; The Swag Sisters is jam-packed with kids’ toys, costumes, party supplies and goody bags; browsing at Matter of Time Antiques can be very rewarding; the people at Zero Gravity Circus production house and entertainment agency also run the Circus Academy next door.

resident who only recently decided to get into food service. “It’s to subsidize the art, really,” he says, laughing and gesturing to the colourful canvasses that line Flying Pony’s walls. Horne is an artist by trade, creating vibrant paintings of storefronts, roller coaster rails and other everyday objects. He’s also quite the carpenter, having built the harvest table and gorgeous curved wood counter himself. “A lot of it is salvaged wood and materials from the building,” he says. “The building was derelict for more than 12 years, and we had seven months of renovation.”

Erin Salisbury owns The Swag Sisters 11 (1511 Gerrard St E), just a few doors down, and was thrilled to see another coffee place on the block. “We have been trying to encourage people to take a chance on Gerrard Street East,” she says. “It’s definitely worth a look.”

Swag Sisters is coming up on its second anniversary and is jam-packed with kids’ toys, costumes, party supplies and the delightful goody bags upon which MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

they’ve built their business. Salisbury also lives in the area and hopes the rest of the city gets on board with Gerrard East’s renaissance. “We feel like it can be yet another great pocket in the city with some good shopping and things to do. You can do some shopping, grab a coffee or a meal, and take a yoga class.

It’s getting better and better.”

SVA Yoga Studio 12 (1477 Gerrard St E) is another of the street’s newcomers, and, somewhat surprisingly, the only place you can get your downward dog on in the immediate area. Owner and teacher Meera ( just one name, like Cher, but in Birkenstocks) hails from Sarnia, has 14 years’ experience and says her studio offers enthusiasts something a little different. “We teach Sattva yoga,” she says. “It’s a combination of every branch of yoga in one class. It’s Kundalini, Hatha and Asana, all in one session.” SVA also offers classes in each individual yoga discipline.

Those familiar with my previous neighbourhood profiles know that I love me

some jumble stores. There’s just nothing better than foraging around in a packedto-the-rafters shop, seeking that one unexpected treasure that makes the dusty effort worthwhile. Matter of Time Antiques 13 (229 Jones Ave) offers a solid hour of browsing. There’s a wall of vintage cameras and radios (that still work!), Tiffany lampshades, stained-glass panels and aged furniture that bears the patina of something well made and dutifully used. I can only hope that someone hasn’t already bought the tomato-shaped coffee creamer set that I foolishly passed on the first time around.

Finding a good Indian restaurant in Little India isn’t a terribly exact science. Just close your eyes, spin around a few times, and try whichever one your eyes happen upon first. With occasional exceptions, they’re all pretty amazing compared to, say, the Eaton Centre food court. Gautama is one of the newest eateries to open on Gerrard East and manages to hold its own against more established neighbours — quite a feat when the excellent finedining of Siddhartha is just up the street.

But for buffet-goers, Gautama offers a solid selection of curries and some of the best tandoori chicken in the city. There are all the Indian buffet staples here, executed to varying degrees of success.

My favourites are the vegetarian options, beautifully spiced and decidedly non-oily. The vegetable curry is different from any I’ve had: small dumplings in a delicious sauce that has a nice little kick. There’s also a fantastic potato and eggplant curry that reminds me of diner-style home fries, with succulent chunks clothed in a sticky curry coating and fried to perfection. I also love the pakoras, with their crisp deep-fried coating and light fluffy insides. You might want to give the undercooked cabbage a miss, however.

Butter chicken is always a favourite among North American diners, its creamy tomato curry sauce appealing to even the most neutral of palates. While Gautama gets the flavour right, their makhani sauce is disappointingly watery and does no justice to the tender chicken pieces within. A lot of restaurants use leftover tandoori chicken for their curries, but I’d wager that these morsels are freshly cooked specifically for the dish. If only the sauce were more luxuriant. Ditto for the daal, which seems more soup than curry.

The palak paneer is also a letdown, if only for its complete lack of paneer cheese in an otherwise delicious spinach sauce. It’s a shame, given the dish’s perfectly balanced blend of cumin, cinnamon and cardamom. But if you’re not going to include the paneer, then you might as well just call it palak curry and be done with it.

Fortunately, Gautama’s biryani saves the day, mixed in with the yummy palak sauce and mopped up with the fluffy naan bread. By accident or design, there are some delicious garlic naan mixed in with the regular bread, a nice touch, considering these generally cost extra.

We finish our meal with a fragrant rice pudding and a soggy gulab jamun dumpling in honey sauce. Like most Indian desserts, it’s insanely sweet and utterly satisfying.

Given that this was a buffet lunch, GAUTAMA one can’t expect much in the way of 1416 Gerrard St E table service. But water refills and drink reorders are almost nonexistent, necessitating repeat trips inside to request another mango lassi and more H2O. But the staff are pleasant and are perhaps more attentive to the evening crowd.

Certainly the biggest attraction for summer diners has to be Gautama’s large, airy patio. I love that the entire patio is non-smoking, encouraging a leisurely meal amongst the tasteful greenery, canvas awnings and comfy chairs. Extra bonus: no wobbly tables!

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 21

HOSTED BY SHAWN HITCHINS CURATORIAL ADVISOR CHRIS IRONSIDE

VISUAL ART CURATORS DEREK SULLIVAN LAUCHIE REID MEERA MARGARET SINGH WINNIE TRUONG

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7

22 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

‘Buddy Peacock’ by Paul Robles | Design: lightupthesky.ca

TUCK SHOP CURATOR KEITH COLE

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Out in the City

This music reopens a window to the trailblazing scene San Francisco had in the ’80s, where everyone was looking to San Francisco for the next big disco hit. Josh Cheon E27

Mommy dearest Comedian and actor Leslie Jordan will soon provide Toronto with his answer to the age-old question: do gay men really become like their mothers? After a year and a half of touring, his one-man show, Fruit Fly, finally lands in Toronto as a benefit for the HIV/AIDS organization Casey House.

Jordan is most recognizable for his role on Will & Grace, as Karen Walker’s diminutive nemesis Beverley Leslie. In Boston Legal he was Bernard Ferrion, a villain who Betty White’s character bludgeons to death with a frying pan.

He will soon appear alongside Kathy Bates in American Horror Story.

Jordan refuses to say in advance of the show whether gay men become their mothers but will say that Fruit Fly is “an open love letter to mothers everywhere.”

Inspiration for Fruit Fly came from viewing the Jordan family slides. They show “this journey of a gay boy and his mother.” He developed that journey into a hilarious 90-minute autobio-

graphical performance, featuring many of the actual slides.

The show touches on Jordan’s strict religious upbringing in Tennessee.

When he was a teenager he was condemned for his homosexual urges and told, “The only way to be saved from hell is to make a public profession of your faith and be baptized.” But baptism never seemed to do the trick. “I’d think, ‘I was out in the woods with that boy; I’d better go get baptized.’ I was baptized 14 times and it didn’t take,” he says.

Despite being central to the plot, Jordan’s mother hasn’t seen the show.

“My mother saw me only one time in my entire standup career and said she never wanted to see me again, because she didn’t raise me to talk dirty.”

— Jeremy Willard

Leslie Jordan’s Fruit Fly is “an open love letter to mothers everywhere.”

Fruit Fly runs Fri, Nov 8 and Sat, Nov 9, 7:30pm at Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 231 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com

20 YEARS OF HOUSE Eleven Accords marks an unexpected full circle of Christopher House’s time with Toronto Dance Theatre. When selecting the music for his upcoming work, he rediscovered American composer Steve Reich’s seminal composition Music for 18 Musicians, the same score he used in 1980’s Toss Quintet, his first group work for the company.

Though the song remains the same, House’s approach is radically different.

“The first time I worked with this music, it was a much more traditional process,” he says. “I created steps, taught them to the dancers, and worked with them to make something very precise.

This time, we’re building a series of tasks, but it’s more akin to a jazz improv.

Every performance will be different.”

Heavily influenced by his work with choreographer Deborah Hay, House’s interest in hierarchical approaches to choreography has faded. Instead, he favours collaborative structures that give his dancers greater freedom.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

Christopher House celebrates 20 years at the helm of Toronto Dance Theatre.

of show the dancers can memorize and then be thinking about what they’ll have for dinner later while performing. It’s an all-in commitment.”

This year will be House’s 34th with Toronto Dance Theatre and his 20th at the helm, an unusually long tenure for any artist in his field. As he coasts toward retirement (he’ll be a spry 60 next year), does he have any plans to slow down?

“I’m not really sure what retirement age means,” he laughs. “I suspect I’ll take a break from doing major works after this one and focus more on my role as curator and producer.”

He pauses and smiles. “Or maybe I’m just saying that because I’m overwhelmed with this project right now.”

— Chris Dupuis

DAVID LEYES

“The audience isn’t watching something people practised and made perfect,” he says. “Everything is unfolding moment by moment. It’s not the kind

Eleven Accords runs Wed, Nov 6– Sat, Nov 9 at Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay W. harbourfrontcentre.com

A selection from Ceremony,

by Kris Knight.

HAVING AN

ART ATTACK Kris Knight’s fantasy boys will be very sad if they aren’t snatched up at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s ArtAttack fundraiser.

A Toronto-based, internationally exhibited painter, Knight was commissioned to create a series of limited-edition prints for the theatre’s annual art auction in his signature melancholic-erotic style.

This year’s curatorial team, headed up by Chris Ironside, includes Tuck Shop curator Keith Cole, painter and illustrator Lauchie Reid, painter Winnie Truong, and visual artists Derek Sullivan and Meera Margaret Singh.

“I started curating this collection by selecting artists whose work deals with the body and a further merging of human and ‘otherness,’” Singh says. “I was interested in having a group of works that were transgressive in their exploration of the body and that flirted with the definition of ‘portraiture.’”

Flirtatious portraiture is something of Knight’s specialty. The print series he has donated, titled Ceremony, explores his predilection for

subtle sexual imagery, inspired by “mythology, ritual and celebration.

It’s a work that’s both innocent and erotic, that harkens back to notions of ancient Greece when sexuality was celebrated and decorating your home with images of sexuality was considered good taste,” he says.

The laurels decorating his 20 prints are hand embellished by the artist, giving each of the blushing, poutylipped, smooth-chested boys that one-of-a-kind touch.

For Singh, ArtAttack has the additional purpose of bringing attention to the talented artists selected.

“More than anything,” she says, “I’m looking forward to gathering and celebrating artistic communities and their power to congregate and support one another.”

Knight’s prints are available for sale on the Buddies website for $500 each. If there are any left they will be auctioned off at ArtAttack.

– Michael Lyons ArtAttack is Thurs, Nov 7, 7pm at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St. buddiesinbadtimes.com

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 23

TOURDEFORCE Comedian Eddie Izzard is a straight man who identifies as a transvestite — and he’s touring the biggest show of his career COMEDY PHIL VILLENEUVE

Eddie Izzard doesn’t make any sense. The 51-year-old standup comedian and actor rambles on for hours onstage on subjects ranging from squirrels with tiny guns to short-tempered Greek gods. He leaps from one topic to the next, one foot set deeply in history, the other in modern-day philosophy and hilarity — most of the time in English, sometimes in French and German.

Izzard also identifies as a transvestite. He shouldn’t be one of the most well-known standup comics on the planet, but he is. In November, he’ll bring his latest show, Force Majeure, to Toronto. Xtra sat down with the funny-man in heels to talk about his most extensive tour yet, Russian politics and nail art.

XTRA: Hi, Eddie. This is your most exten-

sive comedy tour ever. Are you nervous?

I don’t do nerves. If you’re a transvestite, you don’t really do nerves. Everywhere from Kathmandu to Halifax, Nova Scotia — Nova Scotia being Spanish for New Scotland. It’s Latin, yeah? — I was looking to play some towns right up in the Arctic Circle.

EDDIE IZZARD:

Do your tours evolve as you travel along?

Yes! Because you get bored . . . I always start with human sacrifice. That’s my starter topic, and I end up with Lord of the Rings and pipe smoking and Greek gods and the kraken. I went to a boarding school and I had a matron, and they’d give you pills when you’re ill. And Miss K, she was always smoking — she probably would have been smoking two at once if she could. She lived to a ripe old age. I tried to kill her once with nitroglycerin.

For real?

Yes! We had chemistry lessons, when you had a book and you’d mix things, but at the back of the book it taught you how to make nitroglyc-

24 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

erin. And I thought, we had to try it. We made this liquid and went around gingerly with it and poured it on the floor; if she stepped in it, she might go up! But she didn’t.

That’s what the Nobel Prize guy did — the nitroglycerin in those sticks so that you could blow stuff up mining, but also people. And do you know why he started the Nobel Prize? Because he died but wasn’t dead. He read his own obituary; they mistook him for his twin brother, who died, and he read it and thought, “I better put my money into something positive.”

How do you think you want to die?

Shot out of a cannon! Running! I don’t know. In the middle of a French gig. “Merde” and then drop.

You’ve been doing this 15 years and proudly identified as a transvestite . . .

I’m just a comedian. Who happens to be a transvestite.

Has that part of you evolved?

lion, and transgender people have come a long way, too. We now have the T in LGBT, which I keep calling MGBGT, after the sportscar. As a member of the T group . . . how did lesbians get the front letter, by the way? Do L and G always get along okay?

The more trans people that are out and successful for something else, like an accountant, is good. We in the alternative sexuality community need to get good stuff.

Don’t be a bad one. Don’t be a bad trans bookkeeper or banjoist.

I CAN GO ON WITH PAINTED NAILS, GIRL MODE OR BOY MODE, A MIXTURE OF MODES AND NOT REALLY GIVE TOO MUCH OF A DAMN ABOUT IT.

It’s an interesting side to you, and people seem to constantly ask about it. Do you get tired of explaining yourself?

No. I know I have to deal with it. I’m very pleased.

Ethnic minorities have gone through this hell, so we have to continue to fight. Maybe there always will be quite a lot to be done. If you draw the graph from ancient Egypt to now, we’re getting somewhere.

You’ve toured in Russia.

What are your thoughts on the struggles of gay people there today? Do you deliberately choose to tour there?

It’s gotten to the stage where I can go on with painted nails, girl mode or boy mode, a mixture of modes and not really give too much of a damn about I want Russia to get into a betit. If someone screams abuse at ter place and change its laws.

FORCE MAJEURE me, then I just move on from it.

It has to come through Russia.

Wed, Nov 13–Sat, Nov 16 I used to scream back, but that You want them to be in a better Massey Hall 178 Victoria St didn’t seem to get me anywhere. place, and a lot of younger people masseyhall.com So as a human being I’ve moved want that to change. Countries forward from a place where I can go forward politically, and didn’t want to tell anyone to coming out — I’ve sometimes they go backwards. I just played been out since I was 23 — and now I’m a bilSt Petersburg and Moscow to a crowd of about

1,000 in each. I’m going to learn Russian and do it in Russia. It’s tough, but the wall came down, and I want it to be better. I want it to change, but I can’t tell them. In the meantime I’m going to keep doing gigs and being a transvestite there.

You are a very busy man, having just finished filming [the TV series] Hannibal, this tour and a film for BBC next year. You also run marathons and get your nails did . . .

They’re a political statement, you see [he lifts his hands to show his nails]. My nails say “British-European transvestite.” They scream quietly, you see. What I’m saying is you can be both; you can be British and European, you can be Italian-American, you can be African-American, and you can even be African-American and become president!

I just do these flags because they politically say where I am.

I get them done all the time. It’s not part of the thing; it’s just me. They are hand painted at a place in London called The Illustrated Nail — she does amazing nail art.

And your other projects?

I’ve done Hannibal, which is shot in Toronto!

It’s technically quite hard to pull someone’s organs out of their body; it gets very technical. I think my character is getting very interesting.

I’m also filming Castles in the Sky, in which I’m playing a Scotsman: Sir Robert WatsonWatt, who invented the radar in 1935, before Britain went to war and Canada came and helped us. I’m playing him and he was a meteorologist. Thank you for coming to help us, by the way.

You’re welcome. What’s next, Eddie?

It’s good being busy, and in six years I have to stop this and go into politics and run for mayor of London.

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

PHOTO: N MAXWELL LANDER MAKEUP: EARL SIMPSON

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 25

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TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Patrick Cowley’s menergy The disco DJ’s legend is set in stone with a new compilation of his gay-porn soundtracks PLAYLISP KEVIN RITCHIE

Patrick Cowley defined the hi-NRG dance sound of the early 1980s with his exuberant hits “Menergy” and “I Wanna Take You Home.”

The San Francisco disco producer’s window of creativity, sadly, was very brief — he was an early victim of AIDS, dying in 1982 at age 32 — but his influence lives on through such classic club jams as Sylvester’s “Do You Wanna Funk,” Paul Parker’s “Right On Target,” and his 18-minute remix of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.”

An introverted character who spent his days in the studio and his nights in the bathhouses, Cowley has since become a revered figure among San Francisco DJ collective Honey Soundsystem.

Every October, the group throws a party in celebration of Cowley’s Megatone Records label, but this year the event doubled as the album release for School Daze, a collection of Cowley’s long-lost work for gay-porn soundtracks.

Released via Honey member Josh Cheon’s boutique imprint Dark Entries Records, School Daze provides a glimpse of the late producer’s darker, cerebral side. The songs, recorded between 1973 and 1981, range from squiggly cosmic soundscapes to hyped-up punk-funk and sparse proto-techno.

Cheon, who hopes to make a documentary about Cowley, first heard about the porn music at Honey Soundsystem’s Megatone party in 2009.

That year, the collective had unearthed and reissued Catholic, a previously unreleased 1976 album by Cowley and Indoor Life vocalist Jorge Socarras.

Cheon was in charge of interviewing Cowley’s friends and family for audio stations set up at the album release.

Through those interviews he started to get a sense of the reclusive producer’s personality and work ethic.

“He was in the studio all day, every day. He would smoke a lot of pot and get lost in his compositions,” he explains. “I MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

found this rich music history connected to the jazz scene, Sylvester and the new wave scene. Eventually, the porn music came to me.”

In 1981, John Coletti, head of gay-porn producer Fox Studios, contacted Cowley and asked him to compose music for his films. Cowley sent him reel-to-reel tapes of unreleased ambient work he’d created in college, which Coletti then synched to the on-screen action. Coletti loved the music so much he later asked Cowley to compose original material.

“John was in love with Patrick’s music,” Cheon says. “He would call Patrick on the phone when he was sick — when he didn’t want to do anything — and John would give him a boost. He’d say, ‘Hey! I’m down here in Miami and there’s all these hot muscle guys everywhere and I’m thinking of you! And you have to do this with the next song!’”

At the 2009 Megatone party, Cowley’s friends kept asking after the porn soundtracks. Intrigued, Cheon hit Google and eventually tracked down Coletti in Los Angeles using an address on an old videotape. He flew to LA, picked up the reel-to-reel tapes from Coletti’s garage and returned to San Francisco, where he restored and digitally transferred the recordings at Berkeley’s Fantasy Studios.

“This music reopens a window to the trailblazing scene San Francisco had in the ’80s where everyone was looking to San Francisco for the next big disco hit,” Cheon says.

For dance-music nerds, School Daze is tantalizingly suggestive of how Cowley’s sound might have developed.

“The track ‘Pagan Rhythms’ was one of the first tracks we heard that made us realize Patrick was tapping into this future techno and house sensibility,” explains Honey Soundsystem member Jacob Sperber (aka DJ P-Play). “It really does sound like a house track way before a house track really was something people understood as a musical genre.”

School Daze offers a chance to consider the music in the context of Cowley’s contemporaries, such as Giorgio

School Daze is tantalizingly suggestive of how Cowley’s sound might have developed.

He was in the studio all day, every day. He would smoke a lot of pot and get lost in his compositions.

JOSH CHEON, HONEY SOUNDSYSTEM

Moroder and Wendy Carlos, as well as his own life. The sprawling dreamlike tracks could reflect Cowley’s experience in the bathhouse scene in the late 1970s, while the psychedelic flourishes likely connect to the jazz session players he often recruited for his 12-inch disco singles.

Sperber also sees Cowley as a rare example of an out queer musician who succeeded in the pop mainstream without hiding his sexuality.

“Not to say that Patrick Cowley was

the next Elton John or Liberace, but, for the people who roll in circles like I do, he could’ve been that person who continued to move up and work with bigger artists,” he suggests. “Most likely, he would’ve brought some queers with him. I don’t know if that’s a lot of future projecting, but it’s important to consider this guy as another story that hasn’t been told.”

To purchase School Daze, go to darkentriesrecords.com.

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 27

French touch

On Sammy: sweater, $50; pants, $60 On Charlie: T-shirt, $35; sequined pants, $199 Hat and necklace, Charlie’s own

Isabel Marant’s H&M collaboration is a French fashion frenzy First-time visitors to Paris quickly fall in love with two things: the beauty and romance of the city and the effortless style of Parisians.

This fall, you’re going to want to be in line to get your hands on a piece of that easy elegance as part of the Isabel Marant collection for H&M. The French designer known for dressing Parisian it-girls is collaborating with the high-street chain to inject some chic into your everyday wardrobe.

Although I’m not a fan of lineups, I’m a huge fan of these collaborations, which have included Versace and Maison Martin Margiela. They are a big deal to fanatics — some of whom wait outside the stores overnight — as the collections often reissue or reference the designers’ greatest hits, offering access to clothes that your wallet couldn’t otherwise swing.

Don’t get me wrong: I am a firm supporter of buying the original designs if you can afford them so you don’t lose out on the workmanship and high-end fabrics that go into the original pieces.

But the H&M collaborations always come close.

The lineups can leave you anxious and terrified, but in the end, whatever you get your hands on you’ll wear and keep for years.

What makes the collection extra special is Marant’s first-ever men’s capsule line. It’s a smart mix of multi-culti meets urban cowboy. Envision the dark, brooding Parisian man of your dreams and he will be dripping in Marant. My personal favourites include the overcoat, the print sweatshirt and the chunky knit sweaters.

For women, you’ll see the fierce but wearable looks with attitude that Marant is known for. Think messy hair, skinny pants, heels and a smoke. Also, look out for some sickening sweaters and easy T-shirts.

I cast DJ Sammy Rawal (of Yes, Yes Y’all and Business Woman’s Special) and Charlie (69 Vintage shop girl) because their awesome personal styles mix perfectly with the collection, and their allaround je ne sais quoi gives life to these clothes.

Isabel Marant for H&M is available at the Eaton Centre, Bloor Street and Yorkdale stores starting Thurs, Nov 14. hm.com 28 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

PHOTOS: KAREN ROZE MODELS: SAMMY RAWAL AND CHARLIE

STYLE LIFE DIEGO ARMAND

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Left: Sweater, $129 Skirt and hat, Charlie’s own

Turtleneck sweater, $129

Right: Men’s coat, $199 T-shirt, $35 Pants, $99 Necklace, Charlie’s own

Coat, $199 Shirt, Sammy’s own

Sweater, $60 Leather baseball cap, Sammy’s own

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 29

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ANNA POURNIKOVA PHOTOS BY BECCA LEMIRE

1E So much is happening in

5E The Dank Cave Pussy

this picture. First off, there’s a superhero in the middle that looks like a cellphonead superhero guy. His name is David, and he’s flanked by JJ to the left and Mike to the right, drinking suspicious blue drinks. Also, there is a huge age gap here. I think they are part of a boy-band revival project and David is their hype man.

Clearly, that’s what’s going on here.

2E I don’t even know what’s going on in this picture, like why Sevvy Skellington is half naked on a stage at Nude 52, but here’s what I do know: Sevvy is being really babelicious with those Super nipple pasties and her fist in the sky like the original Man of Steel. She is happy and proud and providing a feast for our eyes. I like this young lady and her style a lot.

She can stay.

3E It’s not often that you see a full-figured superhero nailing it! If I’ve ever seen it, it’s been in sloppy Halloween costumes that were not very polished and dress size was an afterthought. Miss Eva kills it in the sex department, onstage for Nude 52, a superhero-themed burlesque performance event put on by Underground Peepshow.

4E “Deep Lez” is the slogan that really got me at Kill Joy’s Kastle on Lansdowne. Not since Will Munro have I seen something so in-your-face, both hysterically political and hysterically funny at the same time. The haunted house filled with lesbian-feminist rhetoric was incredible start to finish, and here’s some scary-ass period zombies to illustrate that.

Dweller was also stellar. Of

course she’d have two long fingers for getting dank with as many caves as possible. There’s been a lot of name calling online about how this haunted house didn’t include enough POC, so I have chosen pictures of the whitest participants on purpose. Because I’m an asshole like that. And also, that accusation is ridiculous, just flat out. There was nothing racially divided or segregated about this haunted house. I even went with a straight man as my date, and he was fine with it . . . even with the ball busters and man-hating jokes. Lez-behonest here and just admit — that shit was so so good!

6E Here’s a white brain eater, crying, of course, because her pussy has more rights than she does. Boo hoo.

7E Allyson Mitchell is wearing an incredibly beautiful knit balaclava that mimics the shape of the owl on her knitted shirt — 10 points on fashion choice right there. But, if you take your attention to the background, you’ll notice that she’s surrounded by Octopussies, too. Allyson is the brains behind this art installation, it should be noted. Once again, lesbians are having the last laugh, except this time we were all invited along for the ride.

8E Andrew Harwood, the absolute queen of craft drag, is both white and male, so a double devil. His sparkle beard and hair-scrunchy armband are really quite lovely. I also like that he’s posing in my mom’s yoga zip-up under the “Lesbians Rule” entrance. Long live lesbian feminist killjoys!

8 XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 31

32 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

WHAT'S ON

Launch of Strip

All Our Happy Days Are Stupid — Videofag, until Sun, Nov 3

Andrew Binks launches his novel about a stripper struggling with substance abuse and regrets about his ruined career. Fri, Nov 8, 6–8pm. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St. Free. buddiesinbadtimes.com

David Bowie Is This exhibit features hundreds of objects and costumes from Bowie’s personal archive and a multimedia presentation on his contributions to arts and culture. Runs until Wed, Nov 27. Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas St W. $21.50 and up. ago.net

Lorraine Hewitt — Good for Her, Sat, Nov 9

COMEDY & CABARET If I Had a Dick, I’d Be Headlining The one-night-only standup debut of Angela Maiorano-Thurston, a struggling actress who was in a David Cronenberg film for 2.6 seconds. Sat, Nov 2, 9pm. The Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St. $10 advance, $15 door. pubaret.com

Singular Sensation: A Musical-Theatre Open Mic Jennifer Walls invites amateur crooners to perform their favourite songs accompanied by a live band.

Every Monday, 9:30pm–12:30am.

Statlers, 487 Church St. No cover. statlers.ca

Queer Cab

FOR MORE EVENT LISTINGS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM

ART & LITERATURE Call for Submissions Breakwater Books is accepting essays by queer people on such topics as pride, courage and social justice in Canada. Selected essays will be published in a book called Speak Out! For more information, contact douglasg@nipissingu.ca. Submission deadline is Fri, Nov 15. norccrea. nipissingu.ca/submissions.htm

ArtAttack This annual fundraiser features art by Canadian artists, including Kris Knight’s limited-edition series of uniquely embellished prints.

Thurs, Nov 7; 7pm preview and silent auction, 8pm live auction.

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St. $25–100. buddiesinbadtimes.com

Conscientious queers skip the film version of homophobic author Orson Scott Card’s novel in favour of entertainment by writers JM Frey and Gay Nerds creator JP Larocque. Fri, Nov 1, 7pm. Glad Day Bookshop, 598 Yonge St. Free. gladdaybookshop.com

The creator of Laughs at Slack’s presents a twice-monthly comedy night in the west end. Featuring Robert Keller, Zabrina Chevannes and Daniela Saioni. Wed, Nov 6, 9pm. The Steady Café, 1051 Bloor St W. PWYC. thesteadycafe.com

Comedian and actor Leslie Jordan, best known for his role as Karen’s nemesis on Will & Grace, performs his one-man show. Fri, Nov 8 and Sat, Nov 9; 7:30pm. Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 231 Queens Quay W. $64.50–101.50. harbourfrontcentre.com

Gay Men’s Art Project Artists of all skill levels drop in to create and schmooze in an informal environment. Sat, Nov 2, 2–4pm.

The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. gmaptoronto.org

HEALTH & SUPPORT The 519 Legal Clinic

Colour Coded: Queer Abstraction Meets Fruity Frosting

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

Queer as Fuck: Comedy Open-Mic

Fruit Fly: Do Gay Men Really Become Their Mothers?

Skip Ender’s Game

Jamie Q and Ian Phillips’s series of paintings addresses the question “What makes an object queer?”

Runs until Sun, Nov 3. Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, 34 Isabella St. Free. clga.ca

Queer youth 25 and under share their special talents — anything from drag to juggling — at this monthly open mic. Wed, Nov 6; 7:30pm sign-up, 8pm show. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St. PWYC. buddiesinbadtimes.com

Angela Maiorano-Thurston — The Flying Beaver, Sat, Nov 2

A free, accessible service for lowincome people. Volunteer lawyers provide legal advice, referrals and help with forms and letters. The confidential and private visits are first-come, first-served. Bring any necessary documents. Every Thursday; registration 6–6:30pm.

The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. the519.org

FTM Support Group Trans men share their experiences in a supportive environment. Takes place the first and third Friday of each month. For more information, contact ftmtoronto@yahoo.ca. Fri, Nov 1, 7:30pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. the519.org

Positive Routes to Recovery A peer-led support group for gay men working through substance abuse issues. Takes place the first and third Tuesday of each month.

Tues, Nov 5, 6–8pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. pr2r.org

Bisexual Women of Toronto A peer-support and discussion group focused on community and solidarity. Thurs, Nov 7, 8–10pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. torontobinet.org

LEISURE & PLEASURE Gaymers Social Videogame enthusiasts play a variety of PS3 games, including Skullgirls, Journey, Machinarium and Jetpack Joyride. For more info, contact torontogaymers@ gmail.com. Sat, Nov 2, 1–9pm.

O’Grady’s, 518 Church St. Free. torontogaymers.ca

Kissing for Couples Lorraine Hewitt introduces couples to spine-melting techniques. For more info or to register, call 416588-0900. Sat, Nov 9, noon–2pm.

Good for Her, 175 Harbord St. $60 per couple. goodforher.com

Bigger, Better and Multiples Carlyle Jansen shows folks of all orientations how to vary and improve their orgasms. For more info or to register, call 416-5880900. Wed, Nov 13, 7–9:30pm.

Good for Her, 175 Harbord St. $33. goodforher.com

THEATRE All Our Happy Days Are Stupid Sheila Heti’s play follows two vacationing families in a hilarious critique of the pursuit of happiness.

Runs until Sun, Nov 3, various showtimes. Videofag, 187 Augusta Ave. $25 adults, $20 seniors. videofag.com

Les Misérables Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of the musical about the redemption of ex-convict Jean Valjean. Features the stirring songs “I Dreamed a Dream” and “Do You Hear the People Sing?”

Runs until Sun, Dec 22, various showtimes. Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St W. $35–130. mirvish.com

Hauntings & flauntings Rocky Horror Halloween Halloween is a time for timewarping. The Excited Mental State shadow cast presents a night of Rocky Horror. Thurs, Oct 31, 7pm and 10pm. Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor St W. $13.27. bloorcinema.com

Hart House of Horrors Revellers enjoy two floors of fearsome festivities, including tarot readings, a séance, horror films and a costume contest.

Thurs, Oct 31, 9pm. Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle. $12 advance, $17 door. harthouse.ca

Six Small Sermons about Satan A screening of the short film Lucifer Rising is followed by a succession of brief talks about Satan. Thurs, Oct 31, 10:30pm. Videofag, 187 Augusta Ave. PWYC. videofag.com

The Woman in Black When a junior solicitor is sent to Eel Marsh House to attend to the affairs of a recently

deceased woman, he is unaware of the house’s tragic secrets or the terrible purpose of a young woman dressed in black.

Runs until Sun, Dec 1, various showtimes. Lower Ossington Theatre, 100 Ossington Ave. $39– 49. lowerossingtontheatre.com

Redrum: A Shining-Themed Halloween Party Two floors come alive with Danny’s chilling premonitions.

Includes a hedge maze recreation and dancing in the ballroom.

Fri, Nov 1, 9pm.

Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W. $20 advance, $25 general. gladstonehotel.com

Strip Spelling Bee: Halloween Edition It’s like strip poker, but it’s a spelling bee and there’s a horny audience of hooters and hecklers. Fri, Nov 1, 10:30pm–2am. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St. $10, free for competitors. buddiesinbadtimes.com

XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 33

CLUBSCENE Thurs, Oct 31

Remington’s Halloween Strippers dress up to take it off, with a staff pumpkin-carving competition and other surprises. 5pm. Remington’s, 379 Yonge St. Regular rates, no cover in costume. remingtons.com Girlplay: Glamour DJs Sticky Cuts and Delicious throw down for the Halloween girl party. 8pm. The Vic, 580 Church St. $5 before 11pm, $7 after. thevicpubtoronto.ca Curse of the Daddy DJ Mark Falco spins for the Halloween blowout.

8pm. Woody’s, 467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com Mighty Real Halloween Igby Lizzard performs live and hosts the cutthroat competition for best costume, while DJs John Caffery and The Robotic Kid spin beastly beats. 9pm. The Marquis, 418 Church St, 2nd floor. $5. marquisofgranby.ca Hallomania Heroine Marks, Ivory Towers, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Carlotta Carlisle, Lady G and Tyler Uptight take to the Halloween drag stage, with DJ2thestars on decks. 9pm.

Crews & Tangos, 508 Church St. crewsandtangos.com Pitbull Psycho Circus DJ Sumation spins spooky beats for the hirsute men and their admirers, with prizes for best costume. 9:30pm.

Fly, 8 Gloucester St. $10 advance. pitbullevents.ca Halloween Party Trent Ruban, Fabulous Russella and Barbie Jo BonTemps perform wicked drag on the dancefloor. 10pm. El Convento Rico, 750 College St. elconventorico.com Random Play Goth Jenna Syde performs a Halloween special, while scary movies play on the wall and the DJ spins ghoulish ’70s and ’80s tunes. 10pm. WAYLA Bar, 996 Queen St E. No cover. waylabar.com Animal House Wear an animal mask or costume and do things to get you sent to the doghouse.

DJ Phil V spins alongside hostess and performer Demona Deville.

Big, boozy prize for the best beast.

10:30pm. The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. No cover. beavertoronto.com

$14 DAY $17 NIGHT

BIG JUGS 465-467 CHURCH ST. 416-972-0887 34 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

Lydia Lunch Live — The Steady Café, Sun, Nov 3

Fri, Nov 1 Crews & Tangos Friday Fierce and Flawless, with Heroine Marks, Ivory Towers and Katherine Dior, at 8:30pm; Indigo Vibes in Tangos, with DJ Roxanne, and Club Lite Fridays in the Zone, with DJ Relentless, both at 10pm; Bitchapalooza, with Daytona Bitch and special guest, at 11:30pm.

Crews & Tangos, 508 Church St. $5. crewsandtangos.com

Fri, Nov 8 Truewind Video Dance Party DJ Truewind mixes top 40, house and hip-hop videos on the dancefloor wall. 10pm. WAYLA Bar, 996 Queen St E. No cover. waylabar.com Her: In-Her Eye 3rd Anniversary DJs Riviera, Regina, omgblog.com and guest get in your head with psychic disco and holistic house.

Hosted by Miss Margot. 10:30pm.

La Perla, 783 Queen St W. $5. herherher.com

Were-House DJs Baby Joel, Jamal and Aeryn Pfaff throw down deep, tech and soulful house; hosted by David Kraft and Sean Star. 10pm. Church, 504 Church St. $5 before 11:30pm, $10 after. churchonchurch.com

Leather & Bear Night Steve Buczek’s monthly night for big hairy leathermen and those who love them. No dress code. 10pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com

Tapette Celine Dion album-release party! DJ Phil V spins Frenchy-licious beats and Celine hits and gives away CDs and other swag. 10pm.

Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com Rise Hunky DJ David Picard spins house and tribal beats. 10pm.

Church, 504 Church St. $10.

El Convento Rico Saturday Fabulous Russella, Yumi Yumi and Anahi Batista take the drag to the dancefloor. Early show 11:30pm, main show 12:30am. El Convento Rico, 750 College St. elconventorico.com

Reveal Me Daytona Bitch hosts a burlesque social night the first Wednesday of every month.

8pm. Rivoli Back Room, 332 Queen St W. $10. facebook.com/ revealmeattherivoli

The Dirty Hustle DJ Blackcat spins old- and nu-school hip hop and R&B every Thursday night. 10pm.

The Steady Café and Bar, 1051 Bloor St W. No cover. facebook.com/ thesteadycafebar

Tits and Toques DJ Ailsa and Krystle on decks for the queer alternative dance party. 10pm.

Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com

Motown Party DJ Magnificent spins old faves and rare grooves, from Stevie Wonder to Diana Ross.

9:30pm. The 751 Lounge, 751 Queen St W. $5 until 11pm, $10 after. goodkids.ca

Wed, Nov 6

Retro Night Dancers and bar staff gear up in retro threads, and patrons in ’70s, ’80s and ’90s style have a chance to win prizes. 5pm–2am.

Remington’s, 379 Yonge St. remingtons.com

Fetish Funhouse BDSM demonstration and coaching from experienced players before the boys try out something fun and new. No dress code. 10pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com

Sat, Nov 2

Varsity Tuesday Sofonda Cox hosts the amateur So You Think You Can Strip? competition, featuring a $100 cash prize. 11pm. Remington’s, 379 Yonge St. $5; no cover with student ID before 11pm, $2 after. remingtons.com

Thurs, Nov 7

Redrum The spirit of The Shining haunts, with the Daft Punk Tribute Band performing in the Ballroom and DJs, creepy corridors and VIP rooms on the second floor. 9pm.

The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W. $25, $20 advance, Creepover package $199. gladstonehotel.com

DND DJ Dwayne Minard spins house for all the daddies and their admirers. 10pm. WAYLA Bar, 996 Queen St E. $5. waylabar.com

NO COVER!

(limited number available), email bearsinexcess@gmail.com. 7–11pm.

Spa Excess, 105 Carlton St. Regular rates. spaexcess.com

Sun, Nov 3 MIR/IPC Sendoff Pup Ego (Toronto Puppy 2013) and Andy Coatham (Mr Rubber Toronto 2014) are heading to competitions in Tampa Bay and Chicago, and the men are throwing them a sendoff party. No dress code. 4–7pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com

showtunes and perform with a live band every Monday night. Hosted by Jennifer Walls. 10pm–1am. Statlers, 487 Church St. No cover.

Tues, Nov 5 Bears in Excess: Leather Edition Folks into leather, fetishes and kink gather in the bathhouse. For a 50-percent off locker coupon

Black Eagle Friday DJ Neill MacLeod throws down a mix of tribal, electro and rock. 10:30pm.

Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com Cub Camp Third anniversary party and leather night. DJs Scooter and John Caffery spin; A Bearded Boy hosts. 11pm. The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. $7. beavertoronto.com

Sat, Nov 9 Crews & Tangos Saturday Superfly Saturday in Tangos, with

The Need to Feed: Lydia Lunch Live Writer, actress, singer and art terrorist Lydia Lunch reads from her cookbook and presents new work, followed by a Q&A. Dinner music courtesy of DJs Dislexia and Betti Forde. Stay for a punk-infused dance party after the show. Dinner reservations recommended. 6pm.

The Steady Café & Bar, 1051 Bloor St W. $20 (dinner not included). lydialunchlive.eventbrite.ca

Business Woman’s Special DJs Nino Brown, Phil V and Sammy spin the fourth birthday party, with a drag performance by Mozza Fierce.

10pm–2:30am. Round, 152 Augusta Ave. $5. roundvenue.com Trade DJ Scooter spins deep tech house for the frisky lads and bearded bad boys. 10pm.

Black Eagle, 457 Church St. $5. blackeagletoronto.com Bump N’ Hustle DJs Paul E Lopes and Mike Tull spin soul, funk, house, disco and boogie tunes the second Saturday of every month. 10pm.

Rivoli, 332 Queen St W. $10. rivoli.ca Bush Beat DJs Pony and Shoegayz throw down for the west-end ladies.

10pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com Fly Saturday DJ Deko-ze spins hard house beats all night. 10pm. Fly, 8 Gloucester St. No cover before midnight. flynightclub.com Bad Tuck: Sloven Coven DJs Stephen Schramm and Aeryn Pfaff pump beats from the dark side.

Hosted by Judy Virago and Igby Lizzard. 10:30pm. The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. $5, no cover in witch drag. beavertoronto.com

Sun, Nov 10 Woody’s Sunday Hollywoody Broadway Show special event, with Miss Conception’s fifth anniversary celebration, at 6pm; Old School, with Georgie Girl, Michelle Ross and Charo Batista, at 9pm; Five Smokin Hot Divas, with Georgie Girl, Devine Darlin, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Carlotta Carlisle and Camilla Taux, plus DJ Blue Peter on decks, at 11pm.

Woody’s, 467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com

Mon, Nov 11 Crews & Tangos Monday Glitz & Glam, with Carlotta Carlisle and Katinka Kature, at 9pm; Dirty Mondays, with Devine Darlin and Daytona Bitch, at 11:30pm. Crews & Tangos, 508 Church St. No cover. crewsandtangos.com

Tues, Nov 12 T-Girl Strippers DJ Todd Klinck spins for an evening of spontaneous T-girl pole shows and private VIP dances. 8pm–2am.

Club120, 120 Church St. No cover, $10 for all-night access to VIP booths. club120.ca

Wed, Nov 13 Toronto Wranglers and Drag Kings Square dance with the cowboys, 7–10pm, followed by the Toronto Drag Kings at 11pm. Zipperz/ Cellblock, 72 Carlton St. No cover. facebook.com/zipperz

Tramp DJ Jacqie Jaguar spins for female-identified folks and their friends. 9pm. The Steady Café & Bar, 1051 Bloor St W. No cover. facebook.com/thesteadycafebar

Mon, Nov 4 Singular Sensation: A MusicalTheatre Open Mic Amateur crooners bring their favourite

DJ Quinces, and DJ Craig Dominic in the Zone, both at 10pm; Femme Fatale, with Robyn DeCradle and Brooke Lynn Hytes, at 11:30pm.

Crews & Tangos, 508 Church St. $5. crewsandtangos.com

Her: 3rd anniversary — La Perla, Fri, Nov 8 FRANK GRIGGS

Submit your event listing to listings@dailyxtra.com.

Deadline for the Nov 14 issue is Wed, Nov 6.

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IN<<HEADER>> MEMORIAM

PROUD LIFE A.E. Gray Murray Died October 23rd, 2013 in his 73rd year. Long time resident in the Church Street Village. His many friends in Toronto will miss his dry humor and keen wit. RIP Alice.

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E indexdirectory.ca

Robert G Coates 416-925-6490 Timothy E. Leahy Forefront Migration Ltd. 416-226-9889

Legal Services Craig Penney, Toronto Criminal Defence Lawyer 416-410-2266

THE BEST OF GAY & LESBIAN TORONTO Accountants Ms Hema Murdock, CA 416-696-6653 Susan Calverley, MBA, MSc, CMA 416-605-1553 Yoannou & Associates, Chartered Accountants 416-487-3273 x24

Accessories — Men MensMarket.com mensmarket.com

Adult Stag Shop – The Adult Fun Store 416-323-0772

Community Groups & Services Enterprise Toronto 416-392-6646 Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (Toronto PFLAG) 416-406-6378 (Support Line)

Computer Sales & Service Contemporary Computers 877-724-9000

Concierge Services As You Wish Concierge 647-208-2884

AIDS/HIV Resources

Concrete – Contractors

Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance 1-800-686-7544

G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service–Since 1975 905-824-2557

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Automotive Sales & Leasing Ken Shaw Lexus 415-766-0055

Bars & Clubs (Toronto) Fly Nightclub 416-410-5426

Business & Professional Organizations Church Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area 416-393-6363

Butchers St Jamestown Steak & Chops 416-925-7665

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CM Painting & Decorating 647-588-1774 Newbright Painting 416-985-8639

Pet Care Tailspin Dog Spa 416-920-7387

Lighting

Pet Stores & Supplies

Living Lighting on King 416-364-9099

Helmutt’s Pet Supply 416-504-1265

Massage – Certified/ Registered

Pharmacies

gesund 416-913-5170 Japanese Male RMT 416-804-9248 The Power of Touch 647-330-ALEX(2539)

Meats & Delicatessens

Pace Pharmacy & Compounding Experts 416-515-7223 The Village Pharmacy 416-967-9221 Zaillan Pharmacy 416-216-6999

Printing

St Jamestown Steak & Chops 416-925-7665

The UPS Store 473 Church St 416-966-3008 112 Elizabeth St, Ste 5 416-971-5001

Men’s Accessories

Psychotherapy

MensMarket.com mensmarket.com

Mortgages Investors Group Financial Services –Kenton Waterman 416-860-1668

Bruce M Small, MSc, Psychotherapist 416-598-4888 Coming into Life 416-391-4986 x2 depth therapy 416-694-0015 x225

Linda Rudolph at The Mortgage Centre 416-282-1677

Nick Mulé, PhD, RSW, Psychotherapist 416-926-9135

Moving & Storage

Psychotherapy Depth Therapy

Agility Moving & Storage Ltd 416-654-5029 Avery Moving & Storage 416-239-9565 Marsh Movers 416-823-7512

Naturopathy gesund 416-913-5170

Matthew Kelly, M.A. Psychotherapist Depth Therapy 416-694-0015 x225

Xtra (Ottawa) 613-986-8292

Hair of the Dog 416-964-2708

Radio Stations

I Went to Philly 416-927-9090

Proud FM 416-213-1035

The Blake House 416-975-1867

Real Estate Great Gulf Homes – Yonge + Rich 416-499-8883 Nicholas Bohr RE/ MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd, Brokerage str8up.ca Philip Kocev – Sales Representative 416-364-2036 RE/MAX Baywatch Ltd, Brokerage 705-756-7629

Squirt.org squirt.org

Sex Shops Bed Time Toys bedtimetoys.ca Condom Shack 416-596-7515

Shipping The UPS Store 473 Church St 416-966-3008 112 Elizabeth St, Ste 5 416-971-5001

Real Estate Agents

Tax Services

Gaelen Patrick – Sutton Group Realty Systems Inc 416-801-9265

CJH Tax Services 647-270-8057

Roy Runions, Sales Representative, RE/ MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd, Brokerage royrunions.com

Renovations & Restorations Bryant Renovations 416-260-0818 Newbright Construction 416-985-8639

Restaurants & Cafés C’est What? Brew/ Vin Pub Restaurant 416-867-9499

Pink Triangle Press 416-925-6665 pinktrianglepress.ca Xtra (Toronto) 416-925-6665

Fire on the East Side 416-960-3473

Xtra (Vancouver) 604-684-9696

Sex

Theresa Forget, Sales Representative, RE/ MAX First Realty, Brokerage 905-686-3800

Cora Breakfast & Lunch 27 Carlton St 416-340-1350 277 Wellington St 416-598-2672

Publications

The Churchmouse & Firkin 416-927-1735

Yoannou & Associates, Chartered Accountants 416-487-3273 x24

Telecommunications Acanac 416-849-8530

Theatre Buddies in Bad Times Theatre 416-975-8555

Veterinarians Blue Cross Animal Hospital 416-469-1121

Waterproofing G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service–Since 1975 905-824-2557

Websites Squirt.org squirt.org dailyxtra.com 416-925-6665

Davenport Garden Centre 416-929-7222

Hair Stylists & Barbers Ragga Hair and Beauty Salon 416-368-8113

Health Foods & Nutrition The Big Carrot 416-466-2129

Home Improvement & Repairs

THE BEST OF GAY & LESBIAN TORONTO

Bryant Renovations 416-260-0818 G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service –Since 1975 905-824-2557 Lewco Chandelier 416-439-4999

Adelaide Dental 416-429-0150

Newbright Construction 416-985-8639

36 OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 XTRA!

Kenton Waterman Investors Group Financial Services 416-860-1668

Entertainment

Dental Services

Broadview Dental Clinic 416-466-6400

Insurance

Kenton Waterman Investors Group Financial Services 416-860-1668

Tailspin Dog Spa 416-920-7387

Gardening

Change4U2 416-827-7578

gesund 416-913-5170

Dog & Cat Grooming

Contracting & Renovations

Counselling

Chiropractors

Galleria Dental, Dr Iudita Costache 416-534-9991

Wilson Furniture 1-800-323-6705

Jones Pond Campground 585-567-8100 Leslieville Cheese Market 416-465-7143

Dr Kevin Russelo & Associates 416-966-0117

Newbright Construction 416-985-8639

Campgrounds

Cheese Shops

Dr Iudita Costache– Galleria Dental 416-534-9991

Painting

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TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

XTRA HOT

DRASKO BOGDANOVIC

NAME: GARY MAJOR, AKA THE HALLOWEEN SLASHER AGE: UNKNOWN SIGN: PISCES Gary, or The Halloween Slasher for the purposes of this special edition of Xtra Hot, was born and raised in various sanitoriums and released due to budget cuts. He says he’d love to take Jack the Ripper out for lunch to “pick his brain — literally!” His favourite places to hang out are at the Village’s annual Halloween Block Party and the After Dark Film Festival. The best advice he ever received was to “wear gloves,” and when asked what his favourite piece of clothing is, he says, “Clothing is a hindrance. I prefer the blood of my victims.”

Follow Gary on Tumblr at sgm72.tumblr.com.

To comment on or become an Xtra Hot guy or gal, email Drasko at xtrahot@dailyxtra.com.

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XTRA! OCT 31–NOV 13, 2013 39

Exploring: never stop Single Tablet Regimens (one pill, once a day) are a step forward in HIV treatment.

Explore more at exploreHIV.ca

While they’re not a cure, these treatment options are designed to be effective and convenient. If you’ve been exploring different HIV treatments, talk to your doctor about Single Tablet Regimens too. It’s good to know what is out there.