SCENE March 2023

Women in Lust

DIRECTOR BRINGS ETHICAL EROTICA OUT OF THE SHADOWS

CONTENTS

COVER

16. Things are getting steamy as the female film community gets set to celebrate International Women’s Day with some Lusty celluloid offerings

FFWD

4. As we head into St. Patrick’s Day, it’s a good time to remember boozy Calgary landmark the Shamrock and what it meant to the city for a century

LIVEWIRE

6. Calgary struggling with how to tamp down on hate protests, City sees some good come from Alberta budget

BOOZE

13. Breweries giving a little love to the under-appreciated lager with festival

LITERATURE

14. Calgary comes alive with poetry in the month of March

MUSIC

18. Interviews with local jazz act Redline Trio, retro rock act The Lovebullies and Canadian weirdo Andy Shauf

SCENE AND HEARD

26. Calgary Folk Music Festival’s annual winter extravaganza as seen through the lens of local photographers

MATT BERRY

26. The future of touring could be via the intimate and inclusive Side Door Access

27 “Cool your jets”

30 Alerts to some party planners that their guests have arrived?

33 Red tide bloom

34 Drag show accessory

35 Puts in

36 __ tie

enterprise, or a way of reading thispuzzle’s long answers?

118 Rummikub pieces

119 Familiar turf

120Hyper

121 Rich rocks

10 Set of values

11 When the sun is highest

12 Bank acct. addition

13 “I’mnormally more humble than this ... ”

14 Gas additive

45Steinway instrument

46 Above-the-street trains

48 Scale divs. 51 Pro or con 53Basketball commentator Rebecca

draft

81 Great __

83 Sheep trills

84 “You’retoo kind!”

85 Rotund stove

86 “Glass Onion” filmmaker Johnson

115 “__ Raining Them”: Mila Jam remake celebrating the gender spectrum

116 Sign for a crowded house

117 Guy

3. L.A.TIMES CROSSWORD ANSWERS

37 Skating biopic starring Margot Robbie

29. L.A.TIMES CROSSWORD

40 Ending for subor ex-

30. CAM HAYDEN

42 “Nailed It!” host Nicole

43 “Over the Rainbow” composer

Editor

MIKE BELL

44 One searching for a river crossing?

Design

KRIS TWYMAN

47 __ blues: genre that originated in Mississippi

CONTRIBUTORS

49Actor Mahershala

50 Yale grads

Cyana Jo. Andalis

52 “Look on the bright side!”

Tom Bagley

Aaron Navrady

Jay Nelson

Sebastian Buzzalino

Autumn Fox

56 Troves of getting-to-knowyou questions?

Nicole Gruszecki

Adora Nwofor

Rick Overwater

Mike Platt

64 Audio giant

Kim Guttormson

Shea Proulx

Cam Hayden

Leah Hennel

65 Passage cleared by a neti pot

Nick Johnson

66PBS-funding org.

Jeanne Kwong

Darren Krause

67Play-__

Hamish MacAulay

68 Like lechón asado

Michelle Magnan-McIvor

Gwendolyn Richards

Caroline Russell-King

Jenna Shummoogum

John Tebbutt

Don Tse

Krista Sylvester

Zoltan Varadi

David Veitch

69 “No ifs, __, or buts”

Teresa Maillie

Joe McFarland

Mary-Lynn Wardle

Ian Wilson

70 Flipped bar tables?

Nathan Millar

Lori Montgomery

75 Private aye

77Daredevil Knievel

Cover: Erica Lust

78 “Beach House” singer Carly __ Jepsen

Photo: Monica Figueras

79 Fawned (over)

For general questions or concerns, please contact Mike Bell at mike@theyyscene.com

82 Veto a very large corsage?

For advertising enquiries please email info@theyyscene.com

2/26/23

We acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta. And we thank them.

©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

ANSWER TO TODAY’S PUZZLE 2/26/23

LA TIMES CROSSWORD ANSWERS

Last of the breed

100 years later the Shamrock keeps pouring the St. Patrick’s pints

When you’re tunelessly singing what you wrongly assume are the words to Danny Boy and raising a pint or 11 of green swill this St. Patrick’s Day (a.k.a. amateur hour, a.k.a. day for people who actually need an excuse to drink, a.k.a. Irish Stampede-in-a-Day), maybe give a thought to its history in Calgary.

Specifically, give a thought to its messy, messy history, and a beloved, dearly missed bar that, for almost a century, was the go-to place for shillelagh and drunken shenanigans on March 17. The Shamrock Hotel.

If you’re over the age of, say, 25, it holds a great deal of memories — be they actual or perceived or imagined — and you’ll know what’s meant by that. If not, we’re here to help.

Though it closed its doors abruptly in December of 2015, having been sold to the city, and then demolished two years later, the one-time Inglewood/Ramsay watering hole and hotel still holds a special place in many hearts and livers of local imbibers — especially at this time of year. In 2012, on the occasion of its 100-year anniversary, Fast Forward writer Brendan Harrison went to the Shamrock, soaked up the ambience, history and Old Stock for a pretty great piece about the infamous, much-missed landmark.

Enjoy.

And kiss a blarney, lick a leprechaun or whatever it takes to prove you’re not even remotely Irish.

March 15, 2012

by Brendan Harrison

It’s 4 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon at the Shamrock Hotel pub, but to look around the dimly lit tavern it could just as easily be midnight. The house band is already playing blues at a volume that dissuades all but the most determined conversationalists. The 292-capacity room looks to be about half full populated by one of the more motley congregations you’re likely to find in the city. There are bikers shooting pool with cowboys, suburban moms laughing with day labourers, bluesmen conversing with engineers. Even a bespectacled weirdo like me barely warrants a passing glance.

Though St. Patrick’s Day is still a week away, the walls are already covered in glittering shamrocks, green flags and plastic banners seductively urging “Kiss Me I’m Irish.” Green and gold beads dangle from every available surface and it doesn’t take much of an imagination to picture what this place will look like come St. Patrick’s Day.

“It’s the oldest and original place to party for St. Patrick’s Day,” says Darcy Clendenning, a well-known Calgary booking agent who’s been working with the Shamrock for the past 14 years. “Long before the first Irish pub in Calgary, they were celebrating it for many, many years.”

One hundred years to be exact. William Cummins established the precursor to the Shamrock in 1913, when the expatriate Irish harness-maker opened a hotel to serve the stockyards, lumber mills and meat-packing plants of East Calgary. Due to an unfortunate bout of prohibition, the hotel remained dry until 1924 when Cummins applied for and received a beer licence that stayed in the family for more than 50 years. The bar was almost as well known for serving green beer every St. Patrick’s Day as it was for a culture of surly drunkenness. Mention the Shamrock to any longtime Calgarian and they’re more likely to recall the latter.

“I remember years ago you’d sit down and have a beer and your feet would stick to the floor because the carpet was so saturated with beer,” says Clendenning. “You’d try to get up and your feet would stick to the floor — you’d have to break the seal to get going. It was a different place … It had Plexiglas in front of the stage area because it was that kind of place. It was pretty dumpy. And that would have been about 20 years ago. When the new owner took it over — Louisa Ko, about 18 years ago — she built that annex across the street from the hotel with about 24 modern hotel rooms over there, and renovated all of the rooms on the old side and has spent certainly

“I see it all the time, people walking in looking a little apprehensive, and on their way out they always have smiles on their faces.... It hasn’t been that kind of rough and tough fights every night, watch-out-you-might-get-stabbed place for probably 20 years. But back in the day, granted it was a pretty rough joint. When you had the meat-packing industry in full swing, it was rough and tumble.”

a lot of money on the hotel in general, from the mechanical to the interior upkeep, carpeting … everything really has been replaced.”

I can’t speak to the quality of the hotel rooms (which I’m told are nicely appointed with modern amenities), but the bar certainly compares favourably with many establishments thought to be of a higher calibre than the lowly Shamrock. Entering through the lobby there’s a modest bar with oak cabinets to your right and a sun-drenched room with views of 11th St. and 21st Ave. S.E. to the left. Standing at the bar there’s a clear view of the stage which is ringed first with banquettes and then by a cluster of tall tables. Across from the stage is a wide open room with two pool tables and a hunting video game. The bar is clean, the service is serviceable and the beer is cold and cheap. I’ll be the first to admit I was surprised by two out of three of these observations, and when I confess my initial preconceptions of the place to Clendenning he nods knowingly.

“I see it all the time, people walking in looking a little apprehensive, and on their way out they always have smiles on their faces,” says Clendenning. “Unfortunately, it’s a justly deserved reputation but from years ago. It hasn’t been that kind of rough and tough fights every night, watch-out-you-might-getstabbed place for probably 20 years. But back in the day, granted it was a pretty rough joint. When you had the meat-packing industry in full swing, it was rough and tumble.”

In its heyday the ’Rock was the go-to bar for employees at the Burns & Co. meat packers (whose brand not coincidentally was Shamrock meats), labourers at the Revelstoke sawmill, and railway workers with the CPR. But it was also the local for residents of Bonnybrook, Ogden, Ramsay and Inglewood, which was significant in the days before widespread car ownership. One former resident, a relative of mine, remembers that in the ’40s and ’50s the tavern was divided by sex into two separate sections. She said the male section was the one most frequented by locals, but quipped that the female section was the place to go if you were looking for a fair fight.

Those days are long gone. While the train tracks still run right past the Shamrock’s back door, a lot has changed. Workers at the Lilydale meat-packing plant next door are more likely to be African Muslims than Irish Catholics. The former Burns Foods and Canada Packers’ slaughterhouse at the end of 11th Ave. has been home to the Crossroads Market since the late ’90s. Once derelict warehouses are now home to Internet start-ups and publishing companies. The Shamrock has been forced to evolve along with its surroundings.

Since being brought out of receivership in 1996 by current owner Ko, the Shamrock has been spruced up while trying to preserve its character. In an attempt to attract fresh blood to the moribund bar, it started regularly booking bands and it’s since become known for its strong live music scene. Today the distinction is capped by the Saturday afternoon King

On this particular jam afternoon I sneak backstage between sets to ask keyboardist and Canadian Songwriter Hall of Famer Kelly Jay if he recalls his first visit to the Shamrock. “I do, yeah. I was just visiting here, and you know this place had a reputation of, uh, desired results.

“We’re here right now and, please, dear God, quote me on this, we’re in the centre of the free world right here … Right of assembly! Our boys are over there in Afghanistan being stupidly put in harm’s way by idiots that aren’t on our side, and here we are celebrating that freedom at the speed of sound. This is the centre, dead centre of the free world. It changes — sometimes it’s St. Louis, Missouri, sometimes it’s Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but this today …” He trails off.

While you might disagree with his politics or question his statement’s relevance to the question, his is the kind of rambling declaration that seems tailor-made for a conversation at the Shamrock. Granted, I’m a few Extra Old Stocks into my afternoon by this point so you’ll have to take my observations with a grain of salt, but looking around the room I

can’t help but feel that while the crowd is here partly for the music there’s also something deeper than that. In a city that all too often sees historic buildings as latent parking lots and condominiums, lifting a glass in a place like the Shamrock is an act of solidarity. With the National in Inglewood sitting empty. the York demolished to make way for the Bow, and the King Eddy boarded up, the Shamrock stands as one of the last connections we as Calgarians have to our saloon-town past. One

wonders if we’re not so busy mourning the loss of some institutions that we’re overlooking the presence of another.

“You know, I hear lots of things about King Eddy, King Eddy, King Eddy,” says Québécois blues fan Mario Beaudoin, who’s been coming to the Shamrock every Saturday for the past five years. “I never saw the King Eddy at its peak with their musicians and everything, but I think they brought them here. You know, the King Eddy was the King Eddy, okay? Today, I’m sorry it is the Shamrock. They got the guys and they do the job and that’s what it is for me. I may be wrong, you know what I mean, but …” I do know what he means. Unlike certain dearly departed drinkeries, the Shamrock is alive and well, and quietly preparing to celebrate a milestone that few places in Calgary will ever see. It’s remained true to the working-class community that’s kept it going for the past 100 years and thrown its doors open to the refugees from taverns lost to memory. In short, the Shamrock has become an unsung Calgary landmark. Heady stuff. I sidle up to the bar and order another high test.

I look over and notice Clendenning sitting in the front room eating some late-day breakfast. I pull up a chair and ask him to describe a typical Shamrock St. Paddy’s Day. “Well, the place is decorated of course to the nines,” he says gesturing around. “We have Irish bands all day long, we have Irish stew on the menu and serve a lot of it, we have Irish dancers in during the day, we have the Calgary Firefighters Pipes Band come in and do a show for us amongst all the Celtic and East Coast rock bands … It’s one hell of a party, I tell ya.”

Surely they’ll be doing something special in honour of the milestone? “Well, no,” he says. “We couldn’t really do anything more special than what we do. Saturday is typically a very busy day because that’s our King Eddy jam. With St. Patrick’s Day falling on a Saturday this year being a typically super-busy day anyway I can only imagine it’s going to be even more busy ’cause it’s usually full on Saturdays. We’ll probably be full to capacity probably by noon and stay that way all day and all night long.”

Over the course of an evening spent speaking with many Shamrock enthusiasts I try to get someone to tell me an anecdote from a St. Paddy’s Day past to give me an idea of why it’s become such an enduring tradition. Though they all tell me what a great time it is, details are scarce. I get the impression the Shamrock is something like Vegas — what happens there stays there. Before I head home for the evening I corral bandleader Dowey, who tells me his early memories of the Shamrock were St. Paddy’s Day related. By this point, the brew has washed away my journalistic subjectivity and I decide to ask a plainly leading question: is it messy?

“Oh, it’s hugely popular, so let’s just put it that way,” he says with a laugh. “You can use your imagination to visualize the rest. Lots of green beer and green-looking people. It’s a cool time, though.”

Eddy blues jam hosted by Bill Dowey, which the ’Rock took over when the Eddy shut down.

One former resident... remembers that in the ’40s and ’50s the tavern was divided by sex into two separate sections. She said the male section was the one most frequented by locals, but quipped that the female section was the place to go if you were looking for a fair fight.

Alberta needs workers (and their Moms)

Sorry

Premier, jobs is not another word for labour

By Hamish MacAulay

Our United Conservative Party of Alberta has a worker problem. Alberta now needs workers more than the vaunted job-creators of election platforms past and present. Yet, the very word, worker, seems to stick in the UCP’s craw like a stale glazed donut.

UCP MLAs rarely utter the “w” word in the legislature. It is barely mentioned in any UCP policies. When asked about replacing the Minister of Labour title with the smooth sounding Jobs, Economy and Northern Development, Premier Smith said, “Jobs is another word for labour.”

It isn’t. As any worker knows, a job is a position, a title. Politicians and bureaucrats love counting jobs, classifying them, and boasting about creating them. Work is what workers do, usually as part of a job. It is central to other beloved government stats such as GDP and productivity but work itself is hard to count or classify in ways that help you get elected.

This is not just semantics. For the UCP, it is

politics with a sprinkling of union-bashing. For workers, and the businesses that hire them, it is fundamental to surviving the economic changes being forced on us by technology, the global economy, and climate change. For the Alberta economy, it is central to keeping people in Alberta at a time when workers are harder to find than jobs.

Governments must understand the difference between work and jobs to provide economic or workforce leadership. This is especially true for provincial governments. As the Premier likes to remind Justin Trudeau, the provinces have constitutional responsibility for the labour force.

It was the only time she mentioned labour in her response to the federal government’s Sustainable Jobs Plan. Which, despite the UCP’s efforts at hype, ended up being another federal Liberal dud of a plan to make a plan.

Workers also get short shrift in our Premier’s mandate letter to her Jobs Minister. Highly skilled workers are mentioned only as a means to attract investment. Job training gets its mandatory mention in the same tired language the UCP has used for years.

Hopefully, they really mean work training. If the Party’s aversion to workers stems from a fundamental confusion between jobs and work, Alberta Conservatives would be unwilling, or worse, incapable, of leading the economy through the changes ahead. Set aside the existential angst that fills the room when Albertans try to talk about our changing oil and gas economy. Economies change all the time. If the nature of work itself changes with them, workers and their families suffer deteriorating health and social wellbeing. External help can reduce the harm, but the winds of economic change are harsh. When North American companies shifted high-paying manufacturing jobs overseas, workers suffered. Their skills did not transfer to the few available jobs, and governments were slow to respond.

Economies also change without seismic shifts in the work that underlies them. Call centres and IT work also shifted overseas, but many redundant workers effectively moved on. For some, their skills easily transferred. Sadly, for others it is easier to move from low-paid call centre work to something similar than it is to find equivalents to well-paid manufacturing work.

Alberta faces elements of both situations. Oil and gas jobs pay well, and many have low entry requirements. Fortunately, the nature of much of the work is transferable into the massive project of shifting our power generation and transportation away from fossil fuels. But a government cannot smooth out what will be a bumpy transition (yes, the “t” word) if it refuses to accept its role in helping workers adapt their skills to the emerging work.

Calgary anti-trans protests continue; counter-protesters say event postponement not a win for protesters

By Aryn Toombs

In what has become a regular occurrence in the city, anti-drag and anti-transgender protesters were met by large numbers of pro-LGBTQ2S+ counter-protesters outside of City Hall and Olympic Plaza.

Approximately 50 individuals gathered to protest over allegations of indecent exposure at a local Calgary pool, the Calgary Public Library’s Reading with Royalty Program, and what they believe to be the degradation of traditional moral values by the public’s acceptance of drag events and transgender individuals.

They were met by more than 200 counter-protesters, who by and large said they were supporting the Library’s literacy program, and the rights of the LGBTQ2S+ community.

Alissa Vradac, one of the organizers of a counter-protest that occurred several weeks ago at the Guthrie Family Library in defence of the Reading With Royalty program, said that the Library’s decision to cancel an upcoming reading event due to safety concerns wasn’t a win for protesters.

“I think it’s the right thing to do,” she said.

“They are taking the necessary precautions to keep people safe and at this point, that’s what we can do, and I have faith that they’re gonna bring the program back when they and [Calgary Pride].”

The Library took the stance that their event at the Southwood Library would be postponed, after an incident involving Mission 7 preacher Derek Reimer occurred at the Seton Library. Hate-motivated charges were laid against Reimer following that incident by the Calgary Police Service.

Allegations the program isn’t safe is ‘beyond absurd’

Protests had been planned at the Southwood Library over the weekend.

“Because there’s been so many negative messages in the media, a lot of the reasons why we’re out here—at least why I’m out here—is for people to know that this program and the library have been amazing and that positive messages are needed because it’s not a one-sided story,” said Vradac.

“There are allegations that a program like this isn’t safe for children is beyond absurd. It’s now spurious and damaging and, and is impacting real people in a really inhumane way.”

The library’s literacy program, which has been operating for the past five years with Calgary Pride, was accused by protesters of sexualizing children and turning them transgender individuals—allegations that were

strongly countered as being false by Vradac.

“I think that to say that this isn’t a program for children, it was specifically designed for children,” she said.

“Everything is absolutely family friendly and built for early literacy. They’re trying to shut down a program that’s promoting literacy for children and which sees grownups playing dress up. What is so egregious about that?”

Vradac said that the cancellation of the weekend’s reading event wasn’t a win for protesters. It was instead drawing more attention to LGBTQ2S+ rights.

“If anything, I think that it’s a real opportunity for our city, for the people in our city and organizations, to let everybody know that Calgary is a place for queer people. It’s a place for trans people. It’s a place for all kinds of people,” she said.

“Everything is absolutely family friendly and built for early literacy. They’re trying to shut down a program that’s promoting literacy for children and which sees grownups playing dress up. What is so egregious about that?”

ALISSA VRADAC

PHOTO: ARYN TOOMBS / FOR LIVEWIRE CALGARY

City Hall in Calgary on Saturday, March 4, 2023.

Mayor finds some good things for Calgary in the latest provincial budget

Lack of support for city’s downtown revitalization still an issue

By Darren Krause

Alberta

Finance Minister Travis Toews

said the province’s latest budget secures the province’s position as the “economic engine of Canada.”

The province forecasts a surplus of $2.4 billion on $70.7 billion in revenue. That means their expenses come in at $68.3 billion in 2023/24, which is $2.6 billion more than forecast last year.

“Budget 23 secures Alberta’s future by growing and diversifying the economy, strengthening health care and education, improving the safety of communities across the province, and establishing a new fiscal framework,” said Toews.

“This plan achieves the priorities of Albertans, which include ensuring the government lives within its means.”

Toews said that their previous budgets set the stage for them to provide more resources to areas like healthcare, affordability and public safety.

The province predicts that $79 will be the price of oil over the next year. They also expect real GDP growth of 2.8 per cent in 2023, which would be the fastest pace in the country.

The province will net $14 billion in personal income taxes and $6.9 billion in corporate income tax.

The Alberta NDP said the budget included

fake projections and agenda items hidden within it. NDP leader Rachel Notley alluded to the upcoming provincial election.

“It hides Danielle Smith’s worst ideas, while sidelining the real priorities of Alberta families,” she said.

“Albertans don’t have to accept this budget. In just a few short months, you will have a choice and you can choose better.

Calgary gets project cash

The province’s capital plan is $23 billion,

with a sizeable portion allocated to Calgary projects. It’s likely to be the battleground in the upcoming provincial election.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek dismissed the idea that it was a pre-election budget designed to get votes in Calgary. She said it's a budget that signals clearly the projects the province is interested in moving forward.

"Tell you what, if I was trying to win votes, I'd be pumping a whole lot of money into the place I was trying to win votes from. This is not that," she said.

Hope of health facility for north Calgary boosted by Alberta budget

By Darren Krause

Citizens in north central Calgary could be a step closer to a long-awaited health facility with provincial funding proposed in Budget 2023.

The province announced $3 million over the next three years for planning and design of a North Calgary / Airdrie Regional Health Centre as a part of the proposed budget. There’s been a healthcare facility promise in the area going back nearly 20 years.

The lack of urgent care was highlighted last summer when AHS was forced to close the urgent care clinic in Airdrie. That forced many citizens to find health care at the Foothills or Peter Lougheed hospitals or points beyond.

This is also an area that has been void of civic or provincial infrastructure spends for years. It lacks a robust transit network, dog parks and adequate recreation facilities (Vivo is the only facility serving roughly 120,000 people). It was only recently that the area

got a long-awaited new North Calgary High School.

David Hartwick, a director with the Northern Hills Community Association, said he’s optimistic something will happen. He’s seen this story before, however. He said back in 2006, they’d proposed a healthcare centre for the area. It was even on the province’s major capital projects list.

He said it “quietly disappeared” in 2009.

“I’m optimistic. But putting a little bit of money into planning doesn’t mean a lot. We’ve seen money go to planning before and then disappear,” he said.

“We’ve seen this actual project approved before, and then disappear.”

Hartwick said there’s been a site set aside along Country Village Way that’s never been used. It’s not certain that would be the preferred site for this project.

‘Critical need’ said area councillor Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian it was great to see the province willing to make these kinds of investments. Seconds and minutes to get care make a lot of difference to citizens, she said.

Right now, if they need care they have “quite the commute.”

“It’s been an identified critical need for this area for many, many years,” Mian said.

“I think it’s fantastic news and I look forward to working with the province and the city on how we can make this a priority.”

Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who repped Ward 3

"It is an indication of where they would like to partner with us. I don't know that this is a budget that is seeking out voting opportunities."

The mayor was happy to see the film and tax credit boost in the budget. Film has been a boon to Calgary's economy in recent years.

She was also happy to see $5 million set aside for a design and engineering study to get the Blue Line one station further north and over to the airport to create a connection. The mayor said she also believes that would include a ridership study.

One area that she wasn't happy about was in the lack of cash to help with Calgary's downtown.

"I was disappointed that it was only $5 million in the last budget. This time it's zero million so I should have been happy the last time around," Mayor Gondek said.

The city had asked for funding to help with office-to-post-secondary conversions, and with matching funding for their current downtown office conversation project.

"None of that seems to have taken place in this budget," the mayor said.

She said that Arts Commons didn't see any funding, Olympic Plaza didn't either. (Nor the multisport fieldhouse.)

"Together with not matching any funding for the conversions, I think that's a missed opportunity for the province," she said.

before being elected as mayor, credited Mian with her advocacy on the project. The mayor is also very familiar with the plan.

The mayor was intrigued that there was also an announcement for an interchange investment of $1 million at QE2 and Highway 566. Tying the two projects together was speculative, she said.

“If you combine those two things together, it looks very interesting to me that we might be able to get a North Central Calgary healthcare facility that also assists Rocky View Country, as well as Airdrie,” the mayor said.

Though, the mayor wasn’t sure exactly where it might be located.

“I think it sent a pretty clear signal to the provincial government that Airdrie, Rocky View County and Calgary would all benefit from such a facility, and we weren’t at odds with each other competing for the same funding,” she said.

“We are happy to have it within a co-located area where we can all access it.”

“I was disappointed that it was only $5 million in the last budget. This time it’s zero million so I should have been happy the last time around.”

JYOTI GONDEK

Ward 3 Councillor Jasmine Mian

BITS

PEAK PRIDE IN THE POWDER

Usually peak Pride around these parts is in late August, early September, when the city celebrates with events that bring the community together and helps all of Calgarians embrace diversity.

Some, though, think, now, more than ever, as the 2SLGTBQ+ is coming under increasing attacks from the far-right and emboldened bigots, perhaps Pride should be celebrated all year round.

Which brings us to Peak Pride, which is taking place this year in B.C. at several ski resorts from March 2 to April 2, with a couple of the celebrations within driving distance from Alberta.

The 2023 circuit of fun began March 2-5 at Mt. Washington on Vancouver Island — the first time the event has been held at the alpine resort in the event’s six year history — with it then heading to the province’s interior to SilverStar Mountain Resort in the Okanagan

(March 9-12) and then wrapping up at Sun Peaks Resort (March 31-April 22) just outside of Kamloops.

“This year’s festival promises to be the biggest yet,” Peak Pride said in a release, “with a full weekend’s worth of events planned for each stop, including favourites like drag brunch, the rainbow pride parade, QUSIC, and the highlight of the weekend, our Fruitcake drag show and dance party.

“This year’s festival features a healthy mix of paid, free and family focused events. All events take place on the mountain, but most don’t require a lift ticket (or skiing ability!), so come on out even if you don’t do snowsports!”

Tickets and more information is available from the website of organizers Rebellious Unicorns, a Kelowna-based, 2SLGTBQ+

focused events, merch and production company, at rebellious unicorns.com.

FILM AND FOOTY TRIVIA TIME

Consider it Bend it Like Beckham for the brain.

The Calgary International Film Festival’s is bringing back its monthly Movie Trivia Nights at Brüch Bar while teaming up with new sponsors, local soccer club Cavalry FC.

Things kick off (see what we did there)March 23, with doors at 6 p.m. This year’s season of Trivia Nights is presented by Calvary FC.

“Last year’s Movie Trivia Nights was so much fun, we absolutely had to do it again! We are returning to Brüch Bar, who have been our hosts for Industry Week and other events

during our festival, although this year we are changing things up a bit with even more exciting prizes and new food partners for each trivia night,” said CIFF’s artistic director Brian Owens in a release.

“Quick tip — we’ll also have one soccer movie question per game, so fans can start studying up in advance!”

The remaining schedule for the Thursday night events are Apr. 27, May 25, and June 22

Price of admission is $40 per team (teams of four or less), and prizes include everything from Cavalry FC tickets to cash and drinks. For more information, go to ciffcalgary.ca.

MORE STAR POWER ADDED TO CALGARY EXPO

Squee go the geeks.

This year’s Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, which runs from Apr. 27-30 on the Stampede Grounds, continues to add a whole lot of incredible celeb guests to its roster, including many first-timers.

Some of the biggies include: legendary director Sam Raimi of Evil Dead fame; Christina Ricci, who’s impressive and lengthy career has spanned from The Addams Family films to TV hit Yellowjackets; David Harbour, who’s an integral part of the Stranger Things series; Star Wars actor Hayden Christensen; fellow Wars star Gwendoline Christie, known to many others as Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones; established Scot actor James McAvoy, whose been in such fare as and X-Men films and Oscar-winning flick Atonement; and the two leads from the Daredevil TV series, Carlie Cox, who played the titular superhero, and Vincent D’Onofrio, whose extensive and sensational career has also included memorable roles in other such films and programs as Full Metal Jacket, Men In Black, The Cell, The Player and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

For a full list of announced guests — including voice talent, illustrators and writers — as well as Expo passes, tickets for photo ops and special events, go to fanexpohq.com/ calgaryexpo.

Christina Ricci

Sam Raimi

BLISS, BLASPHEMY & BIZARRE NIGHTS AT THE BALLPARK

New book offers baseball fans spring training in getting ready for another season of the wild and wacky

By Ian Wilson

Abarefoot pitcher, a chimpanzee chasing players around the diamond, a missing mascot head and much, much more.

Minor-league baseball really does have it all and Tim Hagerty knows that better than most people.

As the broadcaster of the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, who has been calling baseball games for nearly two decades, Hagerty has seen a lot of crazy things happen at the ballpark.

With his new book Tales from the Dugout: 1,001 Humorous, Inspirational & Wild Anecdotes from Minor League Baseball, the author is sharing his findings on some of the more unusual things that have happened at the ball diamond. Some of those abnormal occurrences took place in Alberta and Canada, as well.

We caught up with Hagerty to pick his brain about the book and baseball’s odd events over the decades. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: Let’s start with the origins of this book. Where did the idea come from for Tales from the Dugout?

A: In 2012, when researching something else, I came across an 1880s newspaper article about a wild bull running on the field during a Texas League game in Austin. I thought, if I’ve never heard this story, most fans probably haven’t either. So I spent the next decade compiling the craziest minor league stories of the past and present.

Q: There’s a lot of information in the book. How did you go about your research for this project and how long did that take?

A: I had an ongoing document I’d add to whenever I heard a wild story or read about a unique game that had just happened. For stories from minor league history, I used newspaper archives, Spalding & Reach annual guides, Baseball Digest archives and baseball books. SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) member Al Arrighi helped with research, as well. I started actively working on it in 2013.

Q: You are a Triple-A broadcaster with the El Paso Chihuahuas. Were you able to witness any of the anecdotes you shared in this book first hand? If not, what are some of the crazier scenes you’ve seen on the minor league baseball beat?

A: I’d say about 20 of the 1,001 stories are from games I witnessed in person. The book’s foreword is from Billy Butler and he shares what it was like to play third base in Casper, Wyoming with a snake in front of him in the grass. I was the broadcaster for that rookie-league game in 2004.

I also filled time on the air when Double-A Mobile pitcher Matt Elliott locked himself in the dugout bathroom in Montgomery. He was upset about allowing a home run, slammed the door and broke the lock. He had to leave the game and Montgomery’s fire department had to come and get him out. That story’s in the book, as well.

Q: Alberta has a rich history of affiliated minor league baseball, including rookie-level Pioneer League baseball in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Calgary and Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL) action in Calgary and Edmonton. You explore some of the unique baseball history from our province. Do you have

a favourite bit of Alberta baseball trivia you can share with us?

A: I loved discovering that Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat hosted night games in 1907, long before ballpark lights were the standard. They were able to do it because of your late sunsets.

I also got a great story from broadcaster Steve Klauke about the sprinklers coming on one night in Calgary in 1997 and the grounds crew was unable to shut them off. That’s when a priest emerged from the stands with a bucket, put the bucket over a sprinkler, and sat on the bucket to contain the water. The headline above that story in the book is “Holy Water.”

Q: One of the bits of information you shared was the rare triple-header, which happened for the Calgary Cannons at Foothills Stadium in 1988. I was intrigued by this so I looked up the game story and box scores. In doing so, I discovered that future MLB stars

Omar Vizquel and Edgar Martinez played in all three games. Did you have any anecdotes that sent you down a rabbit hole that led to further interesting discoveries?

A: Absolutely. I love that you checked the box scores! I know the feeling. When a former player told me about a fly ball that disappeared from a Double-A game in New Jersey in 1978, I had to know the details. I spoke to players who were on the field, employees at the park and a fan who was there. The ball just vanished. The umpires decided to give the batter a double.

Q: Baseball seems to have a knack for odd happenings. In particular, minor league baseball is a familiar home for the unusual. Why do you think the minors are such fertile ground for strange occurrences?

A: I think it’s because so many cities have had minor league teams throughout the years and those teams played so many games every season. There have been so many opportunities for strange occurrences.

Q: Your book includes a lot of instances from a long time ago, but it also includes very current trivia, which I really enjoy. Do you keep tabs on bizarre baseball experiences? Is this an ongoing obsession that will lead to another volume or updated version of Tales from the Dugout?

A: I love baseball stories and feel they’re the most interesting and fun part of the game. When deciding if a story was worthy of being in the book, I asked “would a non-baseball fan find this interesting?” I don’t think there will be a sequel to Tales from the Dugout. I want to focus on letting people know how great the illustrations and stories are in this one.

Q: What’s next for you as both a broadcaster and an author? What can we look forward to from Tim Hagerty?

A: I look forward to the next El Paso Chihuahuas season. We’re the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. It’s a tremendous ballpark and fan base here.

I also look forward to talking to more people like you and giving potential readers a flavour of the book. I think casual fans and passionate fans will both like it. I got to go on MLB Network to talk about it recently, which was a great thrill.

This story was excerpted with permission from a story that originally appeared on albertadugoutstories.com.

NVR NUDE pop-up at LA CHIC showcases jewelry for the modern woman

By Erika Ravnsborg

Are you looking for that perfect piece of jewelry that makes a statement but also has a wonderful story to tell?

On Feb. 23, NVR NUDE (pronounced Nevernude) had a pop-up shop in LA CHIC which showcased for the public just how high quality these exquisite accessories truly are.

NVR NUDE is a Calgary-based brand that isn’t just about the finest jewelry a person can get but is made with great care, love, and with the modern woman in mind. Female owned and operated, all pieces are made by ethically sourced materials and found in Canada.

The artisans of this jewel-based business understand that each woman is unique. She could be playful and delicate but also sensible and timeless. She cherishes all things chic and is completely unapologetic about it. She is brave and powerful. This is what NVR NUDE puts into their work and it shows.

The creative director and lead designer, Kelsey Merkeley, was inspired to create something magnificent for this particular event. She creates many pieces out of extraordinary inspirations from her travels and connecting with people from other cultures. But this time she has come up with something extra special: the Queen Elizabeth II ring. Made in celebration of her longstanding reign, 50 per cent of the proceeds go to the Canadian Cancer Society which the Queen herself had supported for many years.

“The Queen was a remarkable woman,” Merkeley says. “She has made many sacrifices to help her country and the world. She has strong leadership skills, a great deal of diplomacy, and yet was still a humble person.”

This is why Kelsey created such a stunning piece of art. The ring itself is a dazzling round and princess cut white and blue cubic zirconias that are paired with fresh water

pearls on a sterling silver band. Each ring has its own engraved sequence number that any jewelry collector would be proud to own. There are only 70 rings and are on sale until April 30, 2023.

Along that special ring, NVR NUDE at the pop-up also showed off some other captivating pieces like rings, earrings and necklaces from the Signature Stripes Collection. This event was held at the LA CHIC clothing store, which is in downtown’s Banker’s Hall.

LA CHIC was founded in 1976 and it became one of Calgary’s most prominent fashion destinations for all to explore. Customers can find many exclusive designer clothing and the finest articles all the way from Europe. Known for its elegant storefronts and knowledgeable staff, LA CHIC prides themselves on creating a shopping experience like no other. Brands you can find at LA CHIC include Akris Punto, ETRO, Fabiana Filippi, Marc Cain and so much more.

There was no better way to spend an afternoon than to meet the savvy, innovative owners of LA CHIC and NVR NUDES. To celebrate local entrepreneurs, creating brand awareness for small businesses, and helping all of those who were touched with the horrible disease that is cancer is a good if not great reason to engage.

“The small things are worth celebrating,” is another quote from Kelsey that she hopes others will take with them when they see her pieces.

Complimentary food and beverages were provided at the pop-up and it was that much easier to find a gem that a person will always treasure.

If that special someone in your life is looking for something unique and memorable, you can look at their website nvrnude.com. You might just find something in the collections or they also do custom-made jewelry as well. The options are endless.

The Queen Elizabeth II ring.

Made in celebration of her longstanding reign, 50 per cent of the proceeds go to the Canadian Cancer Society which the Queen herself had supported for many years.

LAGERPALOOZA: THE BEER FESTIVAL FOR COOL CATS

By Don Tse

The craft beer industry was built on ale. Made with top-fermenting yeast, ales are (generally) more flavourful and ferment more quickly than lagers, so they stand out better from mass-market beer and more of it can be made in the limited number of tanks owned by small breweries.

But as craft beer has gained broader acceptance, tastes have changed. More palates in the craft beer world now appreciate the (generally) cleaner, subtler, but sometimes more complex, flavours of lagers. Brewing technology has also changed, making it easier for small breweries to make lager faster and control the fermentation process with the type of precision previously reserved for large breweries.

On April 1, two Calgary breweries will celebrate lagers with Lagerpalooza. Two sessions (an afternoon and an evening session) will be held at neighboring Annex Ale Project (4323 1st St. S.E.; annexales.com) and Establishment Brewing (4407 1 St. S.E.; establishmentbrewing.ca). Ticketholders will gain admission to both venues, get two beers (extra beers can be purchased) in a commemorative glass they can keep and enjoy live entertainment.

Sixteen beers, all lagers, will be available, all made by the two breweries, though each has also collaborated with two breweries on two of their respective beers.

“The consistent necessity for all great lagers is time. Usually, time is the resource craft breweries lack,” says Andrew Bullied, cofounder of Annex. “We have used our winter lull to devote an immense amount of time, effort and care to these beers. The results will be an exciting event that highlights the commitment of time to exploring different aspects and variations of a particular brewing style.”

“Lagers are the cool cats of the beer world. Literally … fermented cold, and slow. They chill out at those cold temps and create very clean, crisp flavours that let the delicate high-quality ingredients (malt, hops) to shine through,” says Mike Foniok, co-founder and head brewer of Establishment. “These classic styles are all about fine balance of delicate flavours, exemplifying the highest quality ingredients and meticulous process. With little flavour to hide behind from a brewing perspective, brewing a clean lager is often revered as one of the hardest styles to pull off technically, and brewers take great pride in creating a clean,

well-made lager.”

For their collaboration lagers, Establishment has partnered with Luppolo Brewing of Vancouver and Calgary’s Dandy Brewing, while Annex has partnered with 4 Winds Brewing of Delta and Calgary’s Tailgunner Brewing. Tailgunner has earned a reputation as being Calgary’s lager champion and recently hosted its own Lager Fest on Feb. 24 featuring 12 local lagers. “Lager beers are known for their replay value,” says Blake Enemark, head brewer of Tailgunner, referring to the high drinkability of lagers. Festivals like his Lager Fest and the upcoming Lagerpalooza are “a good opportunity to compare, contrast and explore what kinds of lagers are out there,” he says.

“We want to push what people can expect of lagers and showcase high-quality beers,” says Erica O’Gorman, Co-Founder of Annex and Lagerpalooza organizer.

Don Tse has sampled over 26,000 different beers. He is the Official Beer Taster for Craft Beer Importers Canada Inc. and Far Out Exporters Inc. which work with many of Alberta’s breweries. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

People’s Poetry Festival celebrates 10 years with an event for all Calgarians

By Jeanne Kwong

Laurie Anne Fuhr started The People’s Poetry Festival 10 years ago. A poet and musician, Fuhr started the festival with artist Neshali Weera. They met each other through Calgary Arts Development, when Weera had the idea of pairing poets and artists together.

“I named it after Milton Acorn, named The People’s Poet, whose poet friends gave him the People’s Poet Award when he didn’t win the Governor’s General Award they felt he deserved,” Fuhr says. “Acorn wrote poems about being part of the working class, and believed poetry was for everyone, not just academics and the elite.”

At the first People’s Poetry Festival, events happened throughout Kensington — at the bookstore, coffee shops, and outside with stations set out for passersby to interact with. There was a poetry walk in the alley, an open mic, and a poetry movie at The Plaza.

After a few years, Lisa Murphy-Lamb began to manage the festival holding it in the fall at Loft 112 in East Village. Now that Loft 112 has closed, Murphy-Lamb has handed the festival back to Fuhr.

Through a partnership with the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society, Fuhr is once again hosting the three-day festival as an event to help kick-off National Poetry Month in April.

The festival will take place at cSpace King Edward in Marda Loop, in a year when the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society is celebrating its 40th Anniversary.

This year, the to goal is to redefine the People’s Poetry Festival as the poetry festival for all of the people of Calgary. The festival will present poetry of all styles, from the page to the stage, that will include members from the BIPOC and LGBTQ2S+ communities.

Calgary Poet Laureate Wakefield Brewster will be part of the festival, performing at key events and sharing words of wisdom.

The festival will have its kick-off with an Open Mic on Friday with Brewster, Okechukwu Nnamchi and Pam Medland. More poets are still waiting to be confirmed for that evening.

On the Saturday, The Photo Synthesis are expected to showcase art and poetry pairings. They are a poets and artist collective who will be conducting readings and host artist talks, and display poetry and art on the walls of the 4th floor of cSpace. A poetry workshop as well as a poetry contest will also be held,

as well as a Poetry on the Fly stations where guests can try their hands at poetry.

There will be events suitable for all ages with The Poetry Rocks! Youth Showcase on Saturday afternoon, which will feature Em Williamson and Rogue Poets, who are a group of talented youth poets at AWCS. Stephanie Omorotionmwan is the first place national high school recitation winner for 2022. She will be available to showcase her poetry through sponsorship by Poetry In Voice. Miss Brianna and West Hillhurst Grade 6 poets will also perform along with Tyler Perry and Bishop Carroll High School students who are part of the Can

You Here Me Now? youth slam team.

Speaking of slam poetry, on Saturday evening, the festival will have their first ever People Slam at the cSpace Treehouse featuring poets from Calgary Slam.

On Sunday, the festival will have their first PPF Micropress Fair featuring small and micropresses based in and around Calgary.

Later on Sunday afternoon, Adrienne Adams will feature and help bring a Woolf’s Voices inspired event for women, female-identifying, queer, and trans poets.

The People’s Poetry Festival runs from March 31 to April 2.

Calgary Poet Laureate Wakefield Brewster

Erin Dingle

ARTS

Women of words

The Witching Hour spotlights Calgary’s poetry community

March Music Event Listing

Mar 1 WedIronwood Open Mic

Mar 3 FriJack Semple

Mar 4 SatPrime Time Big Band Brunch

Mar 4 SatJack Semple

Mar 5 SunRattle ‘n Strum

Mar 6 MonAlberta International Band Festival

Mar 7 TueAmbrose Jazz Ensemble

Mar 8 WedIronwood Open Mic

Mar 9 ThuRed Hot Hayseeds w/ Brent Tyler

Mar 10 FriLovebullies CD Release w/ Emily Triggs

Mar 11 SatSteve Fisher Bluegrass Band Bluegrass Session

Mar 11 Sat Lovebullies CD Release w/ Police Squad

By Jeanne Kwong

Literary events in Calgary have continued over the course of the past few years despite the pandemic. But this spring, they are returning in a way that shows that they are back as part of the everyday art and culture life of Calgary, providing platforms for many established poets as well as to emerging poets as they hone their craft.

March 8 is International Women’s Day. To celebrate, the Alberta Writer’s Guild is hosting The Witching Hour at cSpace King Edward on March 8 at 8 p.m. It’s a good opportunity to catch up on the poets in Calgary who may have spent much of the time away from the spotlight, sometimes being part of shows and workshops that continued through the support of the local arts community, and other times working at their writing and performances.

Adetola Adedipe began writing poetry when she still lived in South Africa. Back then, it was a way for her to learn to express herself. After moving to Calgary, she joined a student poetry club at the University of Calgary, when Bethel Afework was the president. Adedipe connected with Sheri-D Wilson, the former Calgary poet laureate, through her POP Anthology project.

“I find inspiration from the poetry community in Calgary,” Adedipe says. “In particular, the Black poets in the community, such as Wakefield Brewster, the current Calgary poet laureate, and the many who are part of the scene today.”

“It is important to celebrate women all year. Just like with Black History Month, an event

to celebrate International Women’s Day is to recognize the women in our lives,” Adidepe says.

In the time leading up to a poetry night, Adidepe has received advise about how to stay motivated for each performance. She learned from fellow local artist MelVee X the importance of staying grounded and not get too far ahead when thinking about all the possibilities that can happen when reading.

She also knows to have the pages of the poems ready to read from, making sure to edit any typos and each reading of the poem will not entirely be the same as the previous time.

Erin Dingle is another heavy hitter who is expected to bring her poetry to the game. She has represented Calgary on many of the Slam teams over the years. She recently released a chapbook called Yummy Mummy which is a parody of the many parenting magazines that can be found a the doctor’s office. She is a founding member of the Ink Spot Collective, which runs the official Calgary Slam.

And on the subject of Calgary Slam, their regular nights have returned with their regular monthly nights at Dickens. Poets taking part in the Slam are encouraged to arrive early to sign-up. Prepare to have three poems ready to perform and each poem must be three minutes or less. The Slam Master will be in charge on the format of the evening on the night of the Slam. The audience will determine the winner of the Slam through the scores they give to each performance.

The next Calgary Slam will be on March 13 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Sign-up to Slam at 7 p.m.

Mar 12 SunChris Greve

Mar 12 Sun Pearl: The Voice of Janis Joplin

Mar 15 WedIronwood Open Mic

Mar 16 ThuFox Big Band presents The Songs of Phil Collins

Mar 17 FriWandering V’s St. Paddy’s Special w/ Chris Greve

Mar 18 SatPrime Time Big Band Brunch

Mar 19 SunWestwinds Music Society

Mar 19 SunWestwinds Music Society

Mar 22 WedIronwood Open Mic

Mar 23 ThuRob Skeet’s Elton John Tribute

Mar 24 FriRob Skeet’s Elton John Tribute

Mar 25 SatRob Skeet’s Elton John Tribute

Mar 25 SatRyan McMahon

Mar 26 SunErin Ross’s Blue Gospel Revival

Mar 29 WedIronwood Open Mic

Mar 30 ThuKyle McKearney CD Release

Mar 31 FriKyle McKearney CD Release For

Adetola Adedipe

A Night of Lust A League of Their Own ,

Calgary feminist film series to showcase the work of artful pornographer Erika Lust

PHOTO: ADRIANA ESKENAZI

By Autumn Fox

It’s hard not to automatically associate the seedier side of things with the term “adult theatre.” Neon matinees shrieking “PEEP SHOW” and “LIVE! NUDE! GIRLS!” on a smoky New York street, as leather-jacketed, bell-bottomed, late night denizens of the ’70s city bustle by hawkers trying to lure latenight lotharios inside.

Calgary itself housed various adult theatres right up until the 1980s — the Tivoli Theatre (now Beebop Doughnut Shop) in Mission boasted of its “raunchy film-fare” in a 1977 Calgary Herald article, while the Garry Theatre (now the Ironwood Stage and Grill) in Inglewood, the Globe Cinema (formerly the Towne Cinema), and even the long gone Sunset Drive-In all allegedly featured slasher, kung fu, Blaxploitation, spaghetti westerns, and softcore porn films from the 1960s ’til the early ’80s.

It’s a cinematic concept of a bygone era that arguably died the day Paul Reubens (alias: Pee-wee Herman) was arrested for masturbating in a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre in 1991 — and when the ‘90s crusade for “family values” began.

was kind of normal — you could go out and see porn, but now it’s not. I think that’s interesting that we’ve kind of regressed in a weird way,” she says.

Cairns, who took film studies at the University of Calgary, wanted a way to showcase often overlooked female filmmakers, and began monthly programming at the Globe Cinema in December 2020, screening everything from cult hits like Clueless, to more obscure B-list classics like The Love Witch, independent foreign cinema like A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and contemporary endeavours like Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Never before, though, has A League of Their Own hosted a series of pornographic short films.

“It was always a dream of mine to show Erika Lust films — I just never thought that I’d have the chance,” says Cairns.

Then, in December, Lust, the feminist porn director, producer and educator, screened a showcase of her films for the first time for a public audience in Barcelona, where she’s based.

Cairns, having caught wind of the screening’s positive reception, inquired about distributing the films to screen publicly abroad,

directors, filmmakers, artists and performers producing pornographic films that break the mold of mass-produced porn, and instead offer inclusive, esthetically engaging, and ethically produced content for viewers.

“I discovered fantasies from the public that I might never have thought about before and realized that people’s imagination is brilliant and creative. At some point, I thought these stories could make perfect films,” says Lust via email.

For many who submit their confessions, part of the fantasy itself is the possibility that their erotic daydreams could be “translated into a captivating and explicit short film.”

Ten years on, there is still a lot of enthusiasm for the project — Lust still receives enough submissions to select two a month to inspire her next XConfessions productions.

Ethical porn

But what exactly is “ethical” porn? What makes Lust’s films so different than say, your standard, free, Pornhub fare?

“A lot of people have been asking whether it’s explicit, you know? Is it porn porn? So yes, you will see penetration up close and very large on the screen,” says Cairns. “I want to

cast and crew about sexual health, testing, safety, boundaries and consent, comfort and protection.

Lust is a major advocate for the role — even petitioning the Academy Awards and BAFTAs to recognize the necessity of the work of intimacy coordinators in mainstream film production.

“Ethically produced porn ensures that what you are watching was made with respect to performers’ working conditions, rights and dignity, and with their previous consent to everything that happened on the scene that day. This also means that everyone involved in making the films is compensated and treated fairly,” says Lust.

Fair compensation means that most ethically produced porn is only accessible behind a paywall. Porn that is produced with proper steps in place to ensure the safety of all cast and crew simply costs more to make.

“Ethically produced porn also means that the dignity of the people involved is respected in how the films are distributed. We don’t use fetishizing, racist or misogynistic language when titling and promoting our movies, but rather focus on encouraging a positive approach to sex,” says Lust.

But some modern-day porn producers and cinephiles are actively trying to bring porn from out of the shadows and back into the mainstream with public screenings and events in celebration of ethical porn production and consumption, autonomous empowerment, and the body beautiful.

Celebrating feminist film

Count Morgan Cairns, founder and curator of Calgary’s own monthly feminist film series, A League of Their Own, among those hoping to once again create a space for porn in polite society.

“Being uncomfortable around sex leads to misconceptions about sex. People used to watch porn in public a lot. And that’s kind of been lost — maybe because of the Internet. I think it’s one of those weird ways in which people almost move backwards, where once it

and now Calgary will play host to the world premiere of Lust’s latest, along with five other short films from her XConfessions series on Wednesday, March 8 at the Globe Cinema.

“I think that porn is something that, again, going back to my film education, is a kind of medium or genre that is really underexplored. And I think it’s a really powerful genre. I think we have kind of an idea of what porn is, and we kind of think of it as being, you know, lowbrow, low production, crude production. But Erica’s films are the total opposite. They’re beautiful works of art. For the most part, this is just more filmmaking, right? This is just another woman director and her work that I want to showcase,” says Cairns.

The XConfessions series began in 2013, when Lust created a blog where people could anonymously confess their kinks and sexual fantasies. It’s since evolved into a collective of

make sure that there’s no confusion about what this is — it’s porn. But I don’t wanna say it’s like regular porn, because again, it’s beautiful, more intentional, well thought-out porn.”

Lust says there’s “an understanding of consent between everyone on an adult film’s set, including the whole crew, who must be aware of the inherent complexities of sex work.”

While the role of “intimacy coordinator” is a relatively new one in mainstream Hollywood feature films and big-budget TV productions, many people might be surprised to learn that they’re earning a prominent place in the porn industry, too. No longer is porn production simply fluffing, fucking and filming.

Intimacy coordination on a porn set is a multi-faceted position that offers support to performers, manages sex scenes with the director, and communicates regularly with all

In fact, Lust’s films are classified not by the physical characteristics of their performers, but by the scenarios and the themes within their storylines.

“We see different body types — not just the same, thin, white body that is common in porn. It’s really empowering,” says Cairns. “I’m fat, and so it was one of the first places that I saw fat bodies having sex in a way that didn’t feel like it was fetishizing or gross. It was like, ‘Oh, there’s a fat woman, and she’s having sex, and she’s OK with her body and her partner, and the person she’s having sex with is into her body,’ so it made me feel really good in that way. It’s just people having sex and enjoying sex.”

A night of big screen sex

A Night of Lust will feature five of Lust’s

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

“I think that porn is something that, again, going back to my film education, is a kind of medium or genre that is really underexplored. And I think it’s a really powerful genre.”

MORGAN CAIRNS

PHOTO: MONICA FIGUERAS

previously released short films, and the world premiere of her latest (and top secret) release.

• Dirty Martini Sex Party is a ’60s swingers-inspired romp, which Cairns described as, “highly stylized, with very bright colours. Very Wes Anderson-looking, but then, you know, group sex, which is fun.”

• Impregnation Nation centres on a couple trying to conceive, who take part in a beautiful, but erotically charged fertility ritual.

• My Moaning Neighbour suggests a creative way to deal with that one obnoxiously loud upstairs neighbour we’ve all had to endure.

• Gender Bender is a gorgeously shot blackand-white film about a couple exploring outside of their relational, gender and identity roles.

• And finally, there’s Don’t Call Me a Dick, a purposefully shot homage to the body beautiful — in all its various shapes, sizes, parts and forms.

It’s a risqué proposition: publicly screen six short adult films in a city gaining a reputation for even more increased intolerance? One has to wonder if Calgary’s self-appointed morality police will find time in their busy schedules to

one of the most sexually liberated cities in the world. Calgary … not so much.

Local backlash expected

At time of interview, Cairns says she hadn’t

Own’s Instagram account appears to be under a newly imposed shadowban, preventing users from finding their page in the Instagram search function. This can be imposed as a result of their page being reported for “offen-

For sex workers and other sex industry professionals, social media censorship can stifle self-promotion, in turn, affecting their livelihoods and incomes. Some sex workers are unable to open bank accounts, and for Lust herself, an unfinalized lease on a studio property that had taken months to negotiate was unceremoniously cancelled after someone at the property management company objected to her occupation.

“Biased banning reflects the dominant values in our society,” says Lust. “A suggestive picture of a white, non-disabled woman will be in magazines and on TV, while if that picture is of a BIPOC person with a diverse body size, it will be frowned upon.”

Cairns says she would be both surprised and not surprised if there was pushback from the public, but noted that it’s a paid, ticketed event, for adults only.

“You can come or you don’t have to. I would never push someone to do something that they’re not comfortable doing. I know that sex and sexuality is incredibly personal, and if you don’t want to sit in a crowded theatre and watch porn, I understand that.

“I think for events like this, it’s just making sure that people understand that this kind of

protest this, too.

In December, Lust hosted a similar screening at the Phenomena Experience in Barcelona and sold out the 500-seat theatre.

“To see such a big audience watching porn on a big screen the same as they would any other movie (as it only happened during the short Golden Age of porn in the ’70s) was truly rewarding and inspiring. It gave my team and me much insight into what people seek in sexually explicit content,” Lust says of the event.

“Our mission is to inspire people to redefine their relationship with porn. Encouraging them to see it as something enjoyable that has the power to raise crucial questions and a shared debate about how we live sex, intimacy and consent in society and our everyday lives.”

But of course, Barcelona is known to be

yet received any public pushback, but acknowledged that her promotional reach was limited due to the sexual nature of the event. Censors at both Facebook and Instagram would not allow A League of Their Own to purchase any online advertising.

Since speaking with Cairns, the event has started to attract some unwanted negative response.

A League of Their Own posted an Instagram story reminding commentors that fatphobic and misogynist language would not be tolerated — presumably in response to negative comments on a Feb. 28th post featuring Don’t Call Me a Dick, which stars Heidi Switch, a porn performer and size diversity advocate, who, at 5’10” and wearing a size 20, does not fit the porno hardbody waif stereotype internet trolls have come to expect.

At time of publishing, A League of Their

sive” content, or for using commonly flagged words in their posts such as “vagina” and “sex” without conveniently censoring some of the spelling with asterisks, lest they offend someone — be it human or algorithm — who is not familiar with human anatomy.

This is an example of “biased banning,” a term coined by Lust to denote patriarchal bias and coding that affects our everyday life and interactions.

“If I post a picture of someone taking power over their sexuality mildly suggestively, it’s seen as harmful according to social media community guidelines. But on that same feed, I will see a picture of a white, skinny female body, with very little clothing, posing for a perfume or a retail advertisement. The problem with the current biased banning is that this unfair censorship causes a ripple effect in our offline, everyday lives.”

work, yes, it’s porn, but it’s still art. It still took a lot of work. It still requires a lot of creativity and innovation and talent to make it, and again, I think it’s a very unexplored or, you know, kind of hidden in the shadows art form.

“Like, I’m like in film school. I’m sick of talking about Hitchcock. We’ve talked about Hitchcock, talked about Orson Welles to death. Let’s see some new things that we can talk about.”

And for the brave souls who dare to experience this one-night-only porn house revival?

“It’s still porn and it’s really sexy,” says Cairns. “Hopefully you’ll leave a little turned on.”

Tickets to A Night of Lust, presented by A League of Their Own and the Globe Cinema can be purchased at: www.eventbrite.ca/e/aleague-of-their-own-and-erika-lust-present-anight-of-lust-tickets-529654640287

“I would never push someone to do something that they’re not comfortable doing. I know that sex and sexuality is incredibly personal, and if you don’t want to sit in a crowded theatre and watch porn, I understand that.”

MORGAN CAIRNS

PHOTO: MONICA FIGUERAS

PHOTO: MONICA FIGUERAS

PHOTO: ALEIX RODÓN

Brass Transit: The Music of Chicago

14 + 15 April 2023 / 7:30PM Jack Singer Concert Hall

Enjoy the ultimate Chicago experience with this crowd-pleasing tribute to the iconic American rock group. You won’t want to miss hits like If You Leave Me Now, Saturday in the Park, and more performed by the award-winning musicians of Brass Transit alongside the Orchestra.

Tickets at calgaryphil.com

PHOTO: MONICA FIGUERAS

Not Quite Normal

Andy Shauf unites God, stalkers and strange moments on new album Norm

By Mary-Lynn Wardle

Audiences, by regions, have personalities. Who knew? Ontario singer/ songwriter Andy Shauf, that’s who. Speaking from Fort Worth, Texas, four days into his tour as his six-piece band and their crew load into Tulips, he says audiences in Columbus, Ohio, are very midwestern and polite, and though he hasn’t yet played Philadelphia this tour – which supports the release of ninth album, Norm, on the -ANTI and Arts & Crafts labels — it’s one of the cities with “an incredible vibe.” Well, after all, it is billed as the city of brotherly love.

“Everywhere is a little bit different. (In) Nashville everyone’s a little bit more open, everyone’s a musician so they’re kind of cheering for different things than the people in Columbus would be cheering for.

“It’s the same when you go overseas; you play in Norway and you end up thinking that everybody hates you because they’re so quiet, very politely applauding, but after the set they’ll tell you how much they loved it. Everybody’s a little different everywhere. Americans are probably a little bit more open; Canadians are more polite.”

Take his word on these things. After all, Shauf, who plays all the instruments on his albums and produces them as well, has toured Europe and North America extensively for a decade and a half. Before this tour, there were weeks of rehearsal and “a lot of getting ready” to travel, which is done in style on the tour bus. “It’s nice, but living with 10 people in close quarters its different.”

Different, too, is this year’s release Norm — 12 songs that sound like a saunter through 1970s radio featuring gentle, sensitive male vocals, catchy arrangements, and sweet, skillful instrumentation, including clarinet and trombone, all played by Shauf. However, as the album progresses that saunter gets more like a slither, taking a musical turn past the cemetery as it slows down like fading heartbeats and flirts with dreamy dissonance mirroring the listener’s perceptions.

The themes, too, at first seem like an amble through the everyday, catching a glimpse of someone in a grocery store, wishing a love interest would call, then calling them and not saying a word as you watch them hang up and close the blinds, then there’s a person lurking behind a tree, covering up their shoulder with leaves... Oh, wait. Maybe not so everyday after all as the lyrics, too, sink further below the horizon.

In fact, Norm is a pretty fucking creepy

album, right down to the play on words of the title. Not much normal about this Norm guy at all, especially when a mundane drive to the Halloween Store starts with him forgetting to lock the house, locking the keys in the car, and then locking eyes with… um, himself in the rearview mirror? God? The object of his desire, er, obsession? All tells about his stoner persona.

As the album progresses, the music gets darker, and it seems this stoner is going to have to go to the Halloween party alone, alone because, well, what happened to that object of desire? Hmmm. It’s hard to believe the whole album came about from Shauf reading The Bible and trying to tell stories from God’s perspective. So, how does one write music this, um, interesting?

“My technique lately has been to just

compile a list of the songs that I have and I’ll kind of just run down the list and fix things until I can’t really find anything left to fix. So, I’ll work on a song at the top of the list, I’ll get stuck on it, move on to the next one, (and) fix things until I can’t really figure out what to fix, and then I’ll move on. When I get to the bottom of the list, I’ll go back to the top and do the same thing kind of going through that list top to bottom until I eventually am going through all of them without finding anything to fix or change.” Whoa! No wonder the album is so dark; when he get’s to the bottom he goes back to the top of the slide! Helter Skelter, Charlie!

Shauf finds some rare songs feel right within an hour of starting to write them, while others demand months. Despite morphing

into a concept album, Norm started as an unrelated batch of songs.

“They were kind of all over the map and I had this idea creep in (creep indeed!) about this guy who was kind of a stalker-esque type character and I wrote him into one song. I had this idea to keep including him, and then when I got the end of all the music and had all the arrangements the way I wanted them to be I went through all the lyrics and changed details here and there. And they all worked together in this sort of overarching narrative that has a lot of space in it.

“There’s a little bit more room for the listener to do some interpreting and it’s not all from the same point of view. I crafted it more like a puzzle this time around than a linear story.”

If you’re wondering what kind of music influences a creepy stalker God album, well: “I am honestly not the biggest music listener. I really enjoy silence. The one thing I’ve been listening to is kind of a couple of years old, it’s called, I don’t know what it’s called actually but it’s by this guy named Dijon (Baltimore’s Dijon Duenas) actually.”

One massive influence on Shauf’s musical prowess is his upbringing in a Christian family in Estevan, SK, although he later left the fold. “Yeah, I kind of decided that it wasn’t something that was really real for me, or it didn’t work the same way as it did for other people. I lived in a town that was just a Bible college, essentially, and a gas station. It was really important because there was so much music around and so much opportunity to play music. You know, I grew up playing drums on the Worship Team with my parents, and my parents would make me and my brother sing the special music at church so we’d be up in front of people singing. Yeah, it was an important part of my upbringing.”

While families often become fractious and judgemental, wishing hellfire to rain on their wayward apostate youth, Shauf has not experienced that in losing his faith. “I think it hasn’t really changed anything. I bet they wish I was still going to church but I think they understand that they wanted to raise me to be someone who thinks for myself so it hasn’t really changed anything. They’re pretty open minded and I have a lot of really good conversations with my brother who used to be a pastor and yeah, it’s an interesting dynamic but we haven’t really let it affect us in any sort of negative way.”

Sure, for now. But wait until they listen to Norm.

Andy Shauf plays March 15 at Jack Singer Concert Hall.

“There’s a little bit more room for the listener to do some interpreting and it’s not all from the same point of view. I crafted it more like a puzzle this time around than a linear story.”

The Lovebullies: Faster, Hotter, Funner

Calgary band update and expand their vintage sound with latest release Somewhere

By Mary-Lynn Wardle

Calgary’s The Lovebullies have always been fast and hot. Fast, well, maybe they just look that way — heck, check out those mini-skirts; they even had to lengthen them to be family-friendly for their appearance last month on Canada’s hallowed TV series, Heartland. Hot because their gigs sell out like, ahem, hotcakes, and their music sizzles with joy and fun. Thus hot, fast, and now — even faster.

Faster because it took these Calgary faves over a decade to release their first three albums, from 2008’s When I Get Through With You to 2021’s Friends, their first release after the death of long-time guitarist Kevin Friend Herring, who had already recorded guitar parts for the songs when he passed. And now, less than two years later comes new album Somewhere, to be released March 10 and 11 at the Ironwood. See, they’re getting downright speedy. No doubt hotter is right, cough, behind.

As songwriter, singer and guitarist Chantal Vitalis says, while the band were gutted by the loss of Herring and held him in their minds and hearts while recording Somewhere at National Music Centre’s Studio Bell in August, they also surmounted this unwanted change by stomping forward in their vintage go-go boots: “It’s kind of exciting to see us blossom in a different direction. This is a great representation of us, of how we sound without him.”

Another change for the band was working with producer Graham Lessard. “It’s interesting working with a different producer; he really teased out some stuff for us for sure. So maybe it’s not quite as guitar focused as our previous albums are. We always made room for a solo that Kevin had to play, so we took on a bit of a different direction and rolled the dice and I’m really glad where everything landed,” Vitalis says.

And listeners, too, will be glad, or more likely ecstatic, with where everything landed as lead singer Caroline Connolly’s addictive summer-sky-clear floating vocals – punctuated by occasional periods of smoky-barroom-cloudiness — shine on these 11 songs. Bassist Joni Brent and drummer Paul Jahn round out the lineup while returning Lovebully Andrea Revel is also featured on guitar and vocals. Vitalis has long written shiver-inducing tunes like More Captured Than Released from her 2007 solo album, Today’s Special, and as co-writer in Calgary’s mythical 1980s band Same Difference; their track Cigarette forever induces goosebumps of recognition of shared

human experience.

Together, Connolly and Vitalis dug into their creative garden for Somewhere. For a band billed as ’60s vintage rock and roll, and who hand out psychedelic candy-coloured covers of Nancy Sinatra, Dusty Springfield’s Son of a Preacher Man, and even Shocking Blue’s Venus along with liberal doses of their own songs each show, oddly, these new songs weren’t created by some kumbaya incense and peppermint moments, but, with a Calgary Arts Development grant that forced their hand and their hours to create a spreadsheet, which is not very 1969.

In fact, having an August deadline to record meant the band had to organize around their lives, spouses, jobs, children and beyond in order to be ready. “We sat down and wrote spreadsheets for all the charts for all the songs and every time a change was made to a lyric, we’d update the spreadsheets. I think artists tend to be ‘I’m not going to write it down; if I don’t remember it, it was probably a shit song.’

“I think I work well under pressure. (In her job as artistic associate at the Calgary Folk Music Festival, Vitalis shines at that.) As dry as a spreadsheet sounds, what it’s really good for

is you can see everything and it’s very clear what needs to be done and what has already been done. I think having that kind of pressure and deadline was good for us. It really made us trauma bond, I think,” she says, laughing.

First single London 1969, a co-write Connolly did with local writer, Emily Triggs, is proof the spreadsheet worked. “They were talking about stories from their past, and the first line of the song is ‘You’ll never forget this’ and that’s what Caroline’s dad said to her when she was three years old and the whole family was (in London, Ontario) watching the lunar landing on a TV that the whole family had rented just for that occasion.” The moment was so important the kids were called in from the swimming pool, and the line stuck with Connolly like the scent of chlorine sticks on skin.

Despite that 1969 theme, Vitalis, who tends to either take years or 20 minutes to finish writing a song, broke out of her traditional way of thinking about Lovebullies songs. “When The Lovebullies started, I think we had for so long stuck to that vintage 1960s inspired sound, so there were some songs from my back catalogue that I didn’t think were appropriate for the era of the sound of The Lovebullies. Except with this album,

there’s actually a couple of songs that I sort of resurrected, reintroduced them to the band, and for whatever reason, they really worked this time. With some of them I sat down and wrote new bridges or something, and all of a sudden, the songs seemed to make sense and work.

“The number one thing is, for me, is this a fun song? I think of the band as being super fun, so there’s a lot of songs I probably just would not send their way.”

One of those songs, Crush, the third single from the album was about a decade old when Vitalis re-worked it by finding a new bridge. “One thing I’m never really afraid of — I call it experience, some people might call it old age — but, I definitely honour that, especially as writer, when you can take an older piece of work and look at it objectively and say, ‘How can I make this better?’ and you’re doing it 10 years later. I think that’s really powerful. Crush in particular is a nod to my experience that I was able to put a button on it and finish it and deliver it. And the band really executed it just perfectly.”

The Lovebullies’ release Somewhere March 10 and 11 at the Ironwood. For information go to ironwood.ca.

”We always made room for a solo that Kevin had to play, so we took on a bit of a different direction and rolled the dice and I’m really glad where everything landed”

CHANTAL VITALIS

Hot, Hot Heater

Calgary folk fest’s winter event a wonderland of sights and sounds

Hawksley Workman PHOTO: JARRETT EDMUND

Milk Carton Kids PHOTO: JESSE GILLETT

Aysanabee PHOTO: JARRETT EDMUND

Margaret Glaspy

PHOTO:MITRA SAMAAVAKI

Sinzere PHOTO: JARRETT EDMUND Hayden Block

PHOTO: KYLE RIVA`

K-Riz PHOTO: JESSE GILLETT

Cold Specks PHOTO: KYLE RIVA

The Jayhawks PHOTO: RON SPARROW

Amy Nelson PHOTO: RON SPARROW

OMGBIIGIZI PHOTO: RON SPARROW

VailHailen PHOTO: MITRA SAMAVAKI

Deicha & the VuDudes

PHOTO: JESSE GILLETT Peter Kwenders PHOTO: JARRETT EDMUND

Kid Koala

PHOTO: JESSE GILLETT

Enter Through The Side Door

Touring is so damn expensive that I am honestly unsure of how any band makes it work nowadays. This is not to discourage you of course. Every band, for the most part, needs to tour in order to create a fan base and get more people to hear your music. But how does one make it work with the simple fact of owning a vehicle then paying for gas, insurance, food, hotels … errr rather floors of hostels, all added up. Much like everything else in this world, there is an alternate way of doing things. With that, enter Side Door Access.

First up I hope this doesn’t read like an advertisement. It’s not. I am truly just a huge fan of anything that makes it easier for musicians to tour and create a fan base. It’s also rad to note Side Door Access was co-created by indie legend Dan Mangan, along with CEO Laura Simpson, and was recently backed by the dragon Arlene Dickinson. Of course, those points are just gravy on the non-existent gravy train that is the independent music scene.

Side Door Access had been around prior to the pandemic, and pivoted successfully to the Zoom-style concerts we became accustomed to in early 2020 and onwards. However the

core feature of Side Door access is creating a community. It’s a site that allows artists to not only be paid fairly without any run around, but more importantly, it helps nurture the artistto-fan relationships. An artist can set up their rate per ticket, it can be split between other acts playing the gig, and with the host if they choose to take a cut. Along with this, people with unique spaces can invite bands to play in their venue, or store, or in their basement, or backyard, or throw a good old-fashioned kitchen party. And what this helps foster is a group of people who are all here to actively participate in the music that’s in front of them. This way of touring allows artists to meet fans directly, people who are passionate about their music, who will continue to support albums and buy records and T-shirts, and tell their friends about the show.

I truly believe the future of the live music industry, at least for our indie bands, and even moderately successful ones who got a couple songs on the radio but aren’t Taylor Swift kind of acts, it is the intimate experiences that will continue to help their careers thrive. There is something so powerful about the intimate, meaningful, sometimes random shows, that stick with people for life. And perhaps if

venues across the country, and around the world won’t book you because you don’t have enough Facebook likes, then you can connect directly with the friends and fans you do have, and curate something special.

If you have tips for touring musicians be it around Canada, the US, or overseas then please share for a potential future issue:

matt@x929.ca

In the meantime, drive safe and good luck out there.

Matt Berry is music director at X92.9, and host of Xposure. If you see him out after midnight at a show please do not drunkenly tell him about your band. Just send him an email to matt@x929.ca.

Los Angeles Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis

OPENING MARCH 9

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