Issue 9 Oct 2009
Interview with a
Funeral Director
UNMASKED! Horror Queen
Scare Tactics The Sinful Works of
Transformation Imagery
Emily Haack
Fear & Publishing
News, Rants & Politics 2. Fear and Publishing 3. Truth Between the Sheets 4. Examining Future Prospects 5. Weapons of Mass Distraction 6. Piper’s Pit 7. Sexting: How Legal Is It? 8. Scare Tactics
Vacations & Vaccinations Independent publishing is more of a Guerrilla format than it is actual publishing, meaning there is little-tono money behind the project and that it is one done mostly for kicks, not finances and fame. The idea that “Guerrilla” only refers to publishing of books and pamphlets by employees who use their employers’ office supplies to produce their zines is no longer accurate. While publishing in general is the same technical process, the only aspect of Guerrilla Publishing that remotely resembles professional publishing is the weight of the work that comes with it, making that everyday “monkey on our back” feel more like a circus. Beyond the obvious differences in the two, like a paid staff of writers, editors, proof readers, spell checkers, sales people and a delivery crew, the most draining aspect of Guerrilla Publishing is the lack of paid vacations, or vacations at all for that matter. We’ve all heard and read somewhere that it’s a straw that breaks a camel’s back, if so, then a mere breeze can shatter a guerrilla’s spine. It’s a tough gig, this independent publishing Biz. While most people in this country debate whether or not to get a flu vaccination, whether or not the vaccine is safe or even effective, Guerrilla publishers debate whether or not they can afford to take a few days off, financially and mentally. The vaccination a Guerrilla publisher needs to protect his mind and body from certain disease, death and madness is not produced by a pharmaceutical company, it’s purchased at the gas station when you fill the tank for a two thousand mile road trip across country or at the airport when you purchase that ticket for two to Amsterdam. After seven years in this Biz, let me tell you those days are few and far between, unlike the flu shot that you get offered for free every year. Most independent publishers, artists, musicians, actors, writers, etc. need a day job to cover the real world expenses of living: food, shelter, clothing, electricity, internet, booze, pot, etc. Taking on the extra workload of independent publishing becomes the difference between the monkey on your back weighing 35 or 40 pounds and it weighing a few tons. It’s because having two or three jobs to survive is not “uniquely American” as George W. Bush sold it in 2003 to frightened conservatives. Only starving fathers ass-deep in back chid support take on two or three jobs, and that’s hardly American; or was. There’s certainly something wrong with the Guerrilla publisher. We’re too often deemed an anarchist, a terrorist of sorts to the modern capitalist society. Our loyalty is to free speech and truth, not wealth and notoriety, and that seems to be a bit dangerous to some people. This is why we stand up and take the extra load, and then ask for more. It’s why we sacrifice family and friends to pursue what we believe to be divine, the belief in a true and fair system of government and community. Like I said, there’s something wrong with those who make these sacrifices. Most people hardly consider Guerilla publishing any type of sacrifice, but that’s because they barely understand it, much less have ever lived it. For myself, it was the decision to leave my children, my family and decade old friends behind and move to Seattle. When I embarked on that journey, I really had no real plan or idea of what I was doing, other than pursuing a hobby of creative writing in a location that had much more to offer an amateur writer like myself than Tampa, Florida did. It was a decision that did not come lightly, and one that has caused much
pain and grief. I have in some ways lost my two girls, who have replaced me with a new daddy; daddy’s girl is now another daddy’s girl. So know that in this Biz there’s little time for vacation and even less for regret. I know I’ve did a lot of good for others and myself, so I sleep well, but to say there are no sacrifices, is an outright lie, or just the ignorant rambles of an envious jackass.
Music, Film, Art & Entertainment
Transformation Imagery
Religion, Sex, & Other Sinner Shit So in the midst of day-to-day operations, while budgeting and scheduling this vaccination to fend of death, disease and madness, you can expect to make a few mistakes – sometimes several. Then expect a few mind-aches. Last month we forgot to credit the photographer on the cover shot with Plastic, one talented Crystal Rolfe. That issue was like having two artist on the cover, something we rarely do. Our apologies Crystal. Then to make matters worse, we threw a show at Broadway Bistro Zoo, which we advertised happening on September 26th. The “worse” is that we had moved the show to the 25th and forgot to change the new ad. And all of this is on top of the little typos and questional grammar that most literary nitwits like to pick at. But that’s OK, too, because most of those fuckers don’t have a life to begin with, so I’m glad to provide the scab for them to pick away at. Please continue and enjoy. After all these mistakes and mind-aches, I think I feel a bit of the Guerrilla flu coming on. My God, I think I’m already in need of another vaccination. Lucky for us, we’re heading back to Seattle next month for our seven year anniversary party – just what the doctor ordered! And that is just another tale of fear and publishing in two cities!
11. Wayout Anniversary 12. The Hail Marys poster 14. Sleaze Rawk From Trashville 15. Say Uncle Unmasked 16. The LuBriCaTour @ the Firebird 17. Mamacitas Music Fest 18. Art Potion 19. Transformation Imagery
10. Our Sinful Community 17. Huggy Talk 20. St. Louis Horror Queen: Emily Haack 21. Butcher’s Block Interview with a Funeral Director 23. This I Shamelessly Tell You 23. Dr. Dick Sex Advice
Mistakes & Mind-Aches
2
Publisher: Chuck Foster Layout: Terri Daniels and Danielle Correll Sales: Chuck Foster Cover Art : Transformation Imagery Writers, Ranters, Opinionists & Other All-Out Freaks: Matthew Gorman Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid Saab Lofton Henry Nicolle Mark Taylor-Canfield Jeff Diggs Danielle Correll Matt Pachmyer Kimberly Peters Joshua Merrit Dr. Dick Chet Chesterson John Cole Robbie Hays
The Sinner is a group of contributing writers. A forum of opinions, rants and ideas which do not necessarily reflect the views of The Sinner itself. The Sinner encourages contributions from its readers but retains the right to edit material due to content or length of submission.
CRYROLFE PHOTOGRAPHY
For advertising or submission information, contact us at chuck@theseattlesinner.com.
myspace.com/stlouissinner
written by Joshua Merritt
W
Separtment of Defence
Truth between the Sheets
ell everyone, this being my second to last story before I begin my report on my time in Afghanistan, I have chosen to discuss an issue that not many people know about and is probably mildly insignificant to most except for those of us who use their services. To keep from causing any issues, the name of the organization won’t be stated but those who have patronized it will know. This company, while owned by a former service member, generates a general income that breaks down to every soldier in the United States paying in roughly $229 a year. They offer many services for soldiers to use, tax free, and sell products that are slightly less than what they are in civilian stores. However, this company is facing several lawsuits for things ranging from improper billing of credit cards to false credit claims. See, when you deploy to a combat zone there is no Wal-mart, no Dollar Tree, no other means to purchase items, except from one company. While we are thankful for having the chance to get some of the basic needs and a few of the extras in some of the most remote areas of the world, there still should be a certain degree of business ethics demanded. While claiming to keep the price the same from post to post, in Iraq there were a number of times that the prices of different items were lower or higher. One could say, “Well, it was a more remote location.”, but who do you think hauled their goods to be sold to the soldiers? Soldiers who have no other companies to patronize, to spend the little bit extra they made. See, as a specialist in the US Army, I make an extra $1800 a month while being in a combat zone, which cane up during a conversation with a gentleman from a group known as Black Water. The job that I had done for a little under $4000 a month, was being done by these men for over $12000 a month. Granted they were taking more of a risk because they didn’t have quarter-of-amillion dollar vehicles to ride in, that are completely armored and contain almost limitless ammunition, but it still didn’t make much sense to me. Also, while being in Iraq, having internet access and phones to reach your loved ones is a necessity, to stay sane, but there were a lot of bad business practices going on with this that bothered more people than just myself. One story that I recently heard about military internet access was most appalling. See, sometimes you find nice locals in different areas where your stationed that might sell you a satellite that lets you get an internet connection for only $400 a year to be shared by everyone. Three dollars a person for the year is good when you want to reward yourself with a new car and a big screen or maybe fix up your old car when you return home, but it seems that this company had an issue with that. They cut the cable that the service members had hooked up and opened their own internet café for 9 dollars an hour. Now the general standard for internet over there was about 5 dollars an hour in most places. Well, for some guys, after being on the road for several weeks straight, getting the chance to speak with their wives and kids or to play World of Warcraft after experiencing bad incidents, were more than willing to shell out the money. Really, what choice did they have? Then when you use the phone, they have these AT&T phone booths for us to use. Not a bad deal, right? Well, after you spend $30 on a 550 minute calling card and scratch off the number to hear your balance is only 65 minutes, you get suspicious. I got curious and went exploring on different posts and found these KBR phone centers, which have more phones and more privacy to call home. I sat down and typed in my code, and to my surprise, I found I received a one-for-one exchange, 550 minutes. While the need for a company to provide us with our basic necessities is needed anywhere we go, I hope that one day that too will be decided by the lowest bidder, like all other things in the military. We need an organization who can provide the goods that the military needs at a price that will be consistent, providing services that no one else can provide better for us, and in our best interest. Spc. Gunney
E s s a y | Examining Future Prospects by Henry Nicolle
T
he future as I see it, cannot be imagined from our perspective. We presume too much that isn’t so and never was so. We never look back. The past is a mirror through which we could view the future, were we so inclined. And we are not so inclined. Humans are beings trapped in the present, incapable of going back to prevent the damage we do and playing blind-man’s bluff as we march or scurry day by day into the unknown. If we would remove our blindfolds, the future could b e a lot more rational and probably one hell-of-a-lot less painful. As the wing mirrors say, “Objects are closer than they appear in the mirror”. Our society’s future is a train wreck in process which we can only see in our rear-view mirror. A mirror at which we refuse to yield a single glance. Too bad for us and for our future. Our society is falling apart from over-indulgence, convenience and complaisance. Do I need mention that these are abetted by rampant hypocritical selfishness, fraud, treachery, betrayal, murder and theft? It is the inevitable result of that ersatz freedom we have bought with the surrender of our Rights and Liberty. There are the pithy remarks about this condition. You may have heard a few. One goes something like, “One who would surrender Liberty for security will find that he has neither.” Social Security, Medical Security, Job Security, National Security, Homeland Security, Food Security and in the wings, Ego Security in the guise of Protection from Hate Speech for Protected Minorities. We are willing to buy, beg or steal for our convenience. We couldn’t give a fig for the fact that our thefts are accomplished with violence, so long as we get what we believe are our “Entitlements”. There are the others of us who will gladly give us what we think is ours by right, even if it is owned or should be owned already by some other man or woman. We are so adept and ruthless that we are even able to steal from the labor of people yet unborn. We have a benevolent excuse for every crime we authorize to advance our personal conveniences and benefits stolen or seduced from our neighbors. Our will imposed upon the innocents who must sacrifice for our pleasure, we have learned to call “collateral damage”. One of our recent highest national leaders mentioned that “We don’t do body counts.” when measuring the success of government conduct. The scales by which we measure the present are frontloaded by our presumptions of future prosperity and willing sacrificial victims. It may surprise a lot of us to learn that we are the future sacrifices which will serve the alters of present security and convenience we have constructed. An old fellow once commented that he and his friends would sell us the rope
4
they would hang us with. He had the right idea, but the wrong context. We are our own worst enemies and we pay well for that ignorant privilege. The time may be ripe for a change of mind and to seize our opportunity to dump our false presumptions, take off our blindfold and look back in time and experience to see our future folly . . . and unwarp the strings which bind us to a stupid end. I cannot see into the future, but I am willing to look into the rearview mirror at what we have done, compare what we do now and project into our future the calamities which always followed our former and repeated ambitions and selfish hubris. The present is a monkey-trap from the future. Once a monkey grasps the bait, he is stuck by his own unwillingness to loosen his grip, release the bait and withdraw from the trap to safety. He can see the hunter approach, but the monkey will not accept that he cannot keep what he has in hand and live to enjoy it. He becomes lunch, even though he has seen the same ritual play out upon his brethren. We are as not far advanced as we might be, for we are caught in the monkey trap and cannot let go the fruit of our selfishness even as we see financial collapse, violent social restructuring and other calamity ripping through the pavement of our home street. If we still have a year of peace and a functional election next November, perhaps we will take control of our future away from the ambitious and rebellious morons of our current governing institutions and offices. Perhaps we will understand that Liberty is more important than the various securities which we covet like the bait in the monkey traps set by our Owners and Masters.
paint by Plastic
photo by Cyanide Studios©
Perhaps. We’ll soon see.
myspace.com/stlouissinner
Untold Stories of US History
A
mong the many books and articles written on US history, few have taken an honest look at where we came from and how we got here. Most are nationalistic appraisals of the country’s “manifest destiny”, full of metaphors and symbolic euphemistic phrases like, “melting pot”, or “rugged individualism”. But, alas, you will find that many important stories have been left out of our current renderings of our heritage as a nation. A few prime examples include the fact that President Abraham Lincoln revoked the right to habeas corpus during the Civil War – a direct violation of the US Constitution. As a result, many Confederate sympathizers residing in the northern states were arrested and held without trial. At the same time, guerilla attacks were being carried out on towns supporting the north by gangs of southern Confederate “bushwackers” and Union troops were burning Midwestern communities who had sided with the south. Another fine example is the fact that newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were instrumental in inspiring the Spanish-American War that gave the US control of Cuba and the Philippines. Their chains of newspapers promoted a military invasion of Cuba by spreading deliberate lies about the supposed severe mistreatment of Cubans by Spanish soldiers. Demanding intervention by US military forces, they printed stories claiming that a quarter of the entire population of Cuba had been exterminated under Spanish rule. The war became a cause celebe’ for Hearst and his colleagues in the US media. These powerful media moguls were eventually very successful in their efforts to drum up support for the Spanish-American war among the US population. They practiced mass media manipulation, pure and simple. It was, perhaps, the first media driven war. After a mysterious explosion destroyed the US Navy battleship “Maine” in Havana Harbor on January 5th, 1898, the newspaper publishers got their wish at last. Although no direct evidence was ever found that would link Spain to the disaster which killed 260 people, the US declared war in 1898. It was the birth of the US as a global empire, and a dream was finally fulfilled for the media moguls. One more addition to the story: Despite a popular misconception used as propaganda by warmongers of that era, Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” did not actually ride horses as they conquered San Juan Hill in Cuba. They Actually walked up that hill. The horses that were being shipped from the US never arrived in Cuba. It’s best to discard that old myth, as well. The “Rough Riders” were actually “Tough Talkers” and probably “Slow Walkers”. Oh, yeah – and few people realize that most of the “cowboys” of the western frontier in the US were a bunch of dangerous drunken hoodlums. These cattle drivers and ranch hands that the film industry has turned into heroic icons of American culture were in actuality a threat to many western towns. When the cowboys got their one big paycheck at the end of a long cattle drive, they all came riding into town, and trouble naturally ensued. Gambling, gunfights, drunken brawls, the molestation of women, and other crimes were the result. This was the reason that towns like Tombstone Arizona and Dodge City hired the fastest guns in the west as sheriffs and marshals in an attempt to stop the glorious cowboys from shooting up the town and
killing people. Many of the lawmen, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and others, were already suspected of multiple killings before they were given the job. In fact, it was pretty much a major requirement for potential local law enforcement employment in the old west to have killed somebody with a gun. Nobody cared if the act had been murder or self-defense, as long as you had shot someone and were quick on the draw.
Outlaws were welcome as long as they agreed to wear a badge. These are only a few of the seldom told stories of past US history. Among these true life tales, you will find pirates, spies and revolutionaries. Many of these characters loom larger than life only because their stories are so outrageous and dramatic. These facts are documented, yet most of the information isn’t included in US History textbooks. After reading these stories, you may begin to wonder why. First, I present a brief explanation of the motivation behind George Armstrong Custer’s last stand. Custer had actually been the only US soldier willing to testify against President Ulysses S. Grant during an investigation into the administration’s ties to cases of graft and corruption. Although President Grant, a former war hero, was never formally charged with complicity in the case, he continued to hold a grudge against Custer, who he considered to be a traitor to the administration. Time after time, Grant stubbornly blocked Custer’s efforts to secure lucrative and prestigious military assignments. Custer, a very ambitious man, even sought a personal meeting with the president to win him over. Reportedly, Custer arrived in Washington, DC to speak with Grant, but after being forced to wait at the White House all day, he was summarily dismissed and told that the president could not see him. As a result, the general came to believe that the only way he could regain the favor of the Commander In Chief was to become an even greater war hero. So, as commander of the 7th Cavalry, he led his men into an ambush at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Custer led his regiment into battle even though the US cavalry was vastly outnumbered by the enemy, and he had no reinforcements. Custer and the 7th Cavalry were sacrificed to warriors from the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho nations, whose leaders included Sitting Bull and Crazy
written by Mark Taylor-Canfield Horse. This act has been interpreted as a desperate attempt to impress the US president for the benefit of Custer’s own military ambitions, and possibly for his potential future political career. Custer had hoped he could win an important victory against great odds in order to further his personal aspirations. It’s a sad tale told as a lesson in history about how blind ambition can lead to the slaughter of an entire regiment of cavalry soldiers. Have you ever heard the real story about the writing of the US national anthem? Did you know that Francis Scott Key composed “The Star Spangled Banner” to
the tune of a paganinspired drinking song? During the War of 1812 (the second war between Britain and the US) William Beanes from Marlborough, Maryland was captured by the Brits and held prisoner on a warship in Chesapeake Bay. Francis Scott Key and John S. Skinner were granted permission by President James Madison to act as negotiators in an effort to secure Beanes’ release. Key was an attorney from Washington, DC. But unknowingly, the two US envoys had boarded the warship while the British were planning a fullscale bombardment of Fort McHenry as part of their plan to occupy Baltimore. The three Americans were transferred to another ship at the rear of the fleet and held until the battle was over. British naval authorities were worried that the Americans might be able to signal their compatriots on shore and warn them of the impending attack. At that point, Key and Sullivan also became prisoners. The bombardment of Fort McHenry on September 13, 1814 resulted in one of the most recognized pieces of music in US history. Key wrote it on an unfinished letter he had been composing earlier which he had stashed in his pocket. He wrote all the words of the first verse in only a few minutes. When he was released from the ship he finished the rest of the lyrics in Baltimore, most of which no one seems to remember. The part of the story that most people haven’t heard involves the origin of the melody for the US national anthem. This happened after Key had printed up handbills with the lyrics he wrote. He spread them all over Baltimore as part of the celebration of the US defense of Fort McHenry. During a performance in Baltimore an actor named Ferdinand Durang sang the words to the tune of an English song honoring the Greek hedonist Anacreon. Born in Teos in Ionia around 572 B.C., Anacreon
wrote poetry celebrating love and wine. The dude liked to party. It’s interesting to ponder the fact that the melody Durang appropriated for the US national anthem comes from a song inspired by a pagan lover and drinker. Here’s another part of US history which has received little recognition in the modern era. Anna Elizabeth Dickinson was a major US reformer, abolitionist and women’s rights activist during the Civil War. She was a prodigy from the beginning and her speeches attracted huge crowds. Anna’s oratories condemning slavery often brought her audience to tears. For this ability, she was referred to as the movement’s “Joan of Arc”. In 1860 Dickinson gave a rousing speech before the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. She was only 18-years-old at the time and the speech was so inspiring that she immediately became one of the most popular speakers on the east coast circuit. In 1861 she began a campaign for women’s rights, and in 1864, at the age of 22, she addressed the US Congress and Abraham Lincoln on the abolition of slavery. After the Civil War, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson championed the rights of women and African Americans. She gave lectures for many years for organizations called “lyceums”. These groups sponsored adult education programs across the country. You won’t hear much about her in the US public school textbooks, but she inspired an entire generation of political activism. It’s just one more example of a portion of our past that has been flushed down the “memory hole” as portrayed in George Orwell’s “1984”. And perhaps also, in the future, history buffs will point out the fact that President Barack Obama, while serving as a US senator representing Ohio, voted in favor of giving amnesty to telecom companies who helped the federal government spy on its citizens. One more little-known but shocking fact that future researchers may uncover: Obama also continued the Bush administration’s policy of “extraordinary rendition”, in other words – kidnapping. Oh, and did I mention that Obama supported the CIA when they refused to turn over information to the Department of Justice on the agency’s use of torture techniques on suspected terrorists? I suspect that iconoclastic historians of the next century will remark, “While President Barack Obama certainly represented a significant change in US politics, his first administration was marred by controversial compromises on issues of war, and on human and civil rights.” Every day a new story is being told. It’s up to us to discern which are merely tall tales told as political propaganda and which are actual fact. Decoding the projected messages of the media is a vital part of truly understanding our world. The real stories are usually hidden underneath a pile of boxes in some dusty old document at the back of the bookstore. Our goal should be to recover these stories as we rediscover our past and our actual cultural heritage. Our challenge is to deprogram ourselves from the influence of those hypnotic commercially controlled media images we see every day. Those images are meant to control our image of ourselves and our neighbors, whether they be right next door or half way around the world. Breaking free from that mass media control and cultural stereotypes should be everyone’s goal, so I suggest that we all keep digging for these untold stories – the ones that actually do define us as individuals and as a society.
written by Saab Lofton
How Much is Life Worth? “Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life and that to destroy, harm, or to hinder life is evil.” --Albert Schweitzer “Do you want to know what power is? Real power? It’s not ending a life; it’s saving it. It’s looking in someone’s eyes and seeing that ... they realize something they’ll never forget: They owe you.” --Batman: Black and White, Volume Two In the movie, Star Trek: First Contact, a scientific Bust out your calculator and do the math – I genius by the name of Zefram Cochrane broke guarantee yo’ ass neither al-Qaeda nor Saddam the light barrier – just as Chuck Yeager broke Hussein ever killed that many people, so tell your the sound barrier in 1947 – and Humanity was conservative brother-in-law at the Thanksgiving finally able to colonize other worlds as a result. Dinner that Saab Lofton said to SUCK IT! To This meant the Human race could hump and paraphrase those old kung fu movies, “Your spit out youngins to its heart’s content – secure threat assessment is really quite pathetic!” in the knowledge that once one planet became And yet, what difference does it make? overpopulated, we the people would simply hop What’s the point of saving lives by sharing the in a faster-than-light starship and settle down on white man’s wealth as Robin Hood would if there’s another. no place to put the living? I wholeheartedly agree Unfortunately, N.A.S.A. is a far cry from Gene with the esteemed physicist, Professor Stephen Roddenberry’s Starfleet (Hell, some folks actually Hawking: “The Human race has no future if believe the 1969 moon landing was an elaborate it doesn’t go into space. I therefore want to farce), so where does that leave us? encourage public interest in space.” That’s why I’ve been telling fools for years that God I’m a Trekkie for life. created homosexuality in order to keep Charlton Feminists often claim that – if women were Heston’s Soylent Green (a dystopic flick from actually in charge of their bodies – then they could 1973 about overpopulation in the future) from better regulate how many newborns there were. becoming a reality, but the homophobic Religious Fair enough, but I don’t see too much being done Right has a MUCH bigger audience than I do (free about the women who define themselves BY giving speech ain’t just a quality, it’s also a QUANTITY) birth instead of judging their lives by how much and gays are CONstantly told to have families of a difference they’ve made (Xena, NOT Barbie!). befitting a 1950s sitcom... Maybe the practice of throwing celebratory baby ...also too, despite the success of golf champ showers should be suspended until after a real Tiger Woods or Oscar winner Halle Berry, white life equivalent of Zefram Cochrane hits the scene. supremacists are STILL And please, doN’T say unconvinced that mixed that the very next scion blooded progeny can might be The One who handle the reins of power. cracks the secret of Therefore, all too many interstellar travel – not whites work overtime when y’all could donate to keep from being bred the quarter-of-a-millionout by having as many dollars it takes to raise a kids as possible when babe to the United Negro they could just as soon College Fund and help a adopt one of the MANY brothah/sistah become discarded brown-skinned an astronaut! children across the soHow much is a called third world (check Human life worth? out the favelas of Brazil Well, there’s a line in to see what I mean). Huey Newton’s poem, All this has made me Revolutionary Suicide, Guion Bluford - The first Black Astronaut wonder whether the lack which goes like this: of free, universal health “By having no family care is some sick form of population control? I have inherited the family of Humanity.” That According to Steve Sternberg from U.S.A. Today accounts for my stance against the death penalty (05/22/2002), “More than 18,000 adults in the and why I’m for free, universal health care (I’d even U.S.A. die each year because they are uninsured be pro-life were it not for those inbred imbeciles and can’t get proper health care.” who insist that women carry babies to term but According to Joshua Holland, editor and lack the class consciousness to acknowledge senior writer at AlterNet, “In its 2002 report, the that a parent’s bills MUST be paid). Institute of Medicine estimated that 18,000 adults The ship Zefram Cochrane flew in First nationwide died in 2000 because they did not Contact was called The Phoenix, so let’s all hope/ have health insurance. That estimate was later wish/pray that someone builds something similar updated by the Urban Institute, which reported and soon. At last count, the Earth’s population that at least 22,000 adults died in 2006 due to a was fast approaching seven billion, and despite lack of health insurance.” the hate-filled ravings of FOX News, Al Gore’s An And according to John Pilger, one of the Inconvenient Truth won an Oscar AND a Nobel most acclaimed journalists of all time, “More than Peace Prize FOR A REASON. If Human life is in 24,000 children die every day from the effects of fact priceless, then ACT like it! poverty.”
6
myspace.com/stlouissinner
Sexting: How Legal Is It?
photo by Guitar Doug
written by Jeff Diggs
Sexting is a hybrid word formed from sex and texting. It is the act of sending a sexually explicit message or photo electronically primarily between cell phones. Most teenagers have cell phones with a camera and the ability to send and receive photos and record videos, which seems harmless. Teenagers also experience their first sexual desires and begin talking about sex with their boyfriends or girlfriends, which also seems harmless and normal. Teenagers today use text messaging to communicate with friends rather than voice phone calls. Those text conversations often turn sexual. It’s much easier to send a text message with explicit sexual content then it is to verbaly say it in a conversation. Teenagers are using text messaging to push the conversation beyond the traditional bonds or causal flirting. It is quite common for teenagers to take self nude photos and send the photo to their boyfriends or girlfriends. In most cases, the girl is sending nude photos to her boyfriend, generally in response to her boyfriend’s request. On the surface it seems relatively harmless and not a big deal, but think again. It’s actually illegal and can ruin a teenager for life. How is this illegal? If you’re under 18 years of age and sending a nude photo of yourself, it’s classified as child pornography. A person taking a photo or recording a video is considered to be creating and manufacturing child pornography, even when taking self photos. A person sending a photo or video is considered to be distributing child pornography. A person receiving a photo or video is considered to be in possession of child pornography. All of these crimes are felonies and carry a minimum 7 year prison sentence for each offense under Federal law with life time sex offender registration. Vermont and Utah have passed recent legislation in 2009 to reduce the penalty to a misdemeanor. Ohio and Wisconsin have proposed legislative changes in 2009 but are not finalized. All other states still consider images of minors to be child pornography felony offensives, even when the image is taken by a minor and sent to another minor. Six teens in Greensburg , PA , were charged with possession of child pornography after 3 girls
sent nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves to their 3 boyfriends. One girl took a bunch of pictures of herself and sent them to a boy electronically in the hopes of seducing him. Now, she could get life in federal prison under current sentencing guidelines. If she does manage to get out, she may have to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. A 13-year-old boy in Middletown , OH, is facing pandering obscenities charges after taping a sex act and showing it to friends at a skating party. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a teenage boy was indicted on felony obscenity charges for allegedly sending a photo of his genitals to several female classmates. Another boy was charged with child pornography in a similar case. In October a Texas eighth-grader spent the night in a juvenile detention center after his football coach found a nude picture on his cell phone that a fellow student sent him. I think we can all agree that these kids need to be punished but should we be charging 13 and 14-year-old kids with felony child porn crimes and lumping them in with the adult pedophiles and labeling them as sex offenders for life? Sexting is wide spread. Roughly 20 percent of teens admit to participating in sexting, according to a nationwide survey by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. More than 50% of girls said they felt pressured by boys to send sexual messages and pictures in order to get or keep a boyfriend. The bottom line is we need to educate teens, not incarcerate them. The education starts at home with the parents. Parents need to take an active role in their teen’s lives and monitor their teen’s texting, IM and e-mail activities. Imagine in the year 2063, a 70-yearold woman must post a notice that she is a registered sex offender because of a camera-phone picture she snapped of herself in 2009. The combination of poorly drafted laws, new technologies, draconian and inflexible punishments, and teenage hormones make for potentially disastrous results. Why do we even have legislators creating laws for us when they clearly can not think outside the box when drafty legislation?
7
Scare Tactics
written by Kristen Ivy
T
he outcry over the swine flu vaccine makes for interesting reading. Suddenly, people are concerned with quarantines, government intervention, and the prospect of martial law in case of a pandemic. Suddenly, people were paying attention. There’s a reason for this – it’s hard to get upset about losing a right you never thought about using in the first place. Unless the government starts intervening in our daily lives, many people just don’t care. But if you are in the habit of exercising your freedom to speak out against the government, to assemble and protest, then the loss of these Constitutional rights is cause for alarm. The treatment of protesters alone shows a sobering loss of rights. Seattle-dwellers can recall the Battle of Seattle. Most recently, the treatment of protesters at the G20 Summit in Pittsburg has brought media attention to the rampant use of force against dissidents. Meanwhile, Obama has not reversed the Bush administration’s policies to spy on Americans. He supports ongoing warrantless wiretaps, and wants to continue the Patriot Act provisions to gather personal information from third parties. When it comes to unreasonable searches and seizures, the government does not have our rights in mind. How about the right to a speedy and public trial? Due process? Not for detainees in Guantanamo. Or for anyone who seems dangerous enough to lock up without charge. No cruel and unusual punishment? The Constitution wasn’t relevant when interrogation methods were determined. Time for some alarms to start ringing. These issues aren’t easy to think about, let alone try to fix. It’s so much easier to get upset about abortion (one way or the other), same-sex marriage, global warming, or swine flu than deal with Constitutional rights. And lately, the fear of swine flu and push for vaccination have reached epic proportions. This is what gives me hope – these vaccines are a threat to our health, our bodily autonomy. The threat is immediate and visceral, and has a chance of provoking a backlash that a thousand incidents of ‘preventative detention’ do not. Fear of terrorism cloaked the Bush-era power grabs. Once we let the government take our rights away, they are not going to give them back because we ask nicely or vote for Obama. They got us to live in fear, to pay attention to scary
8
news stories instead of realizing the freedoms we lost. Fear of pandemic is poised to do the same thing. The swine flu vaccine contains higher levels of mercury, as well as an adjuvant called squalene. Squalene can cause autoimmune disorders such as lupus and multiple sclerosis, but the media won’t tell you that part. I lack the space to list the research here, and everyone should do their own investigation. We the people have been led by the government and swayed by the media for far too long. They are masters of manipulation, experts at using our fears against us, to find reasons why we should give our rights away. It’s so much easier if we trust the government to take care of the terrorists, the drug dealers, the economic woes, the viruses. But when faced with an untried vaccine, and the threat of quarantine if we don’t comply, we feel something more personal. This isn’t some terror suspect across the country, this isn’t your weird anarchist neighbor, this is you and your body. People who don’t care about detentions, interrogations, or the use of tear gas on crowds can care about this. Swine flu isn’t any worse than the thousands of cloaks, distractions, and fear-mongering stories we’ve heard before. But maybe this one will force people to look past the smokescreens of panic and see how the media distracts us from the real problems. How the government, inch by inch, has plowed over the Constitution. How waves of panic convince us to sign our rights away. Next time the news tries to panic us, let’s dig a little deeper. Fear and trust in the government won’t get us our rights back. Neither will skeptical, independent research, but at least that’s a start.
Greg Correll Photography model: Clarissa
SINNER myspace.com/stlouissinner
HELLO, ST. LOUIS!... AND WELCOME TO THE THIRD EPISODE OF
OUR SINFUL COMMUNITY! I’m still your host St. Louis, Chet Chesterson, and what I do is feature some of your local businesses with a bit of sinful flare to them every month. So all you in the audience please stand up and give yourselves a round of applause for supporting your sinful community, and all you folks out there watching on the boob-tube, give yourself a pat on the back, too. You all deserve it!
St. Luniverse Video W
ell folks, we have a real treat for you tonight on the show. First, before I bring our guest out, who out there in the audience loves local music? Man, that was some response. It got as loud as a Kiss concert in here for a second. Well then, you’re going to come out of your seats for Darrel Blankenship, the man behind St. Luniverse Video. OK folks, settle down... so Darrel, how you doing tonight? Great, Chet. It’s just great to be here on Our Sinful Community. Darrel, you know the people behind this show at The Sinner are huge supporters of local music and very familiar with what you do, but explain St. Luniverse Video to the folks in the audience? Well Chuck, St. Luniverse Video is built around the idea that EVERY band, regardless of how big & popular they may or may not be,deserves a chance to further their career with good quality professional services that they can actually afford. I give the bands all the decisions & control over what they get, instead of forcing them to buy a big package deal that they may not want or need. I also show them how to do as much as they can do for themselves instead of just taking their money to do simple services that they can easily do themselves. I tell you Chet, the industry needs a lot more people in it taking that approach... for that matter, so does this country, but we won’t go there – at least not live. So Darrel, that sounds like a lot of work on your end, is it? More than you know, Chuck, hahaha. I sometimes film every night of the week and I regularly go to 2 or 3 different shows a night to film bands. Sometimes I’ll go to Just Bills & film the opening band then hurry out to Pops to film another band, then quickly back to Just Bills to film the closing band... it’s a lot of miles, hahaha. WOW! I knew you were busy, Darrel, but nothing like that. I see a lot of folks out in the audience shaking their heads in awe, too, and I bet everyone of them is asking, “Why?”. So Darrel, why do you do it? Well Chuck, because I love filming, I love editing & I love music. I think St. Louis has A LOT of really good bands that deserve to be signed & touring the world & I’d like to help them in any way that I can. You know, when I was growing up in bands, everyone was always telling me what a great guitarist I was & how I was gonna be famous someday but it never happened. Not because I wasn’t good enough but because I didn’t have the money to get good recordings or video or to travel on the road or any of the things that you need to have money for so you can invest in your career... I don’t want this to happen to any of our bands here today. Alright audience, settle down a bit so I can ask Darrel the question everyone wants him to answer. Darrel, what’s the top five shows in St. Louis this October? Well Chuck, that all depends on what type of music you like, haha! The Metal Heads top 5 shows will definitely be different than the blues guys’ top 5, but here’s a few big shows coming up: On Friday, Oct. 16th Pops has 12 bands on 2 stages, some of the bands are Barrel Proof, Metal Sanity, and Parrelell 33. That will definitely fulfill your metal fix for the evening. On Saturday, Oct 17th Pops has Defiance Pointe, Bullshed, Counterfeit Diarys, and The Faded Truth. That will be another good show. The following Friday, Oct 23rd, Pops has Strych9hollow, Make Me Break Me, MJs mistakes, Trayswire, Break These Walls and From Ashes Of Fire. Wow this is the hardest question, because for every good show I mention, I know of another good show at another club the same night. Seriously, St. Louis has A LOT of great shows at any given time and I get so sick of hearing people say that all local bands suck because I guarantee the idiots saying that are the people who never go out & see any local bands. If they did, there’s no way they could say that! Well folks, that’s our show for tonight. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Everyone give Darrel a big round of applause for coming out and be sure to check out St. Luniverse Video at: myspace.com/stluniverse & youtube.com/ stluniverse. So until next month, be sure to get out and support your sinful community, it’s the heart and soul of every neighborhood.
The Sinner Invades Broadway Bistro Zoo!
review by Kimberly Peters
There’s nothing like a nailbitter before a show, like when performers are running late, but when it’s The Bon-Bons and Gravity Plays Favorites, it’s always worth a few nails. And that it was! These gals took the stage and made up for every single minute.
15TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY Drunkabilly, The Hail Marys, Craig Daddy & The Car Bombs, Sheena, the Rock N Roll MaSheena, Laurie, two ladies with impeccable style & flare and many, many familiar faces.
I
And having the charming Lola Van Ella host an event is a certain crowd pleaser, regardless of venue, crowd or unforseen circumstances. Her seductive demeanor only compliments her witty temper while she dazzles crowds and fellow performers with ease. And this was a night that demanded such talent after so many goofs by us at The Sinner!
They say, ”The Saw is Family!”, and that it is for this close-nit group of veteran performers. It’s no secret, either, that this group has become one of my favorite bands to catch since moving here to St. Louis. But the blade that shines above all others for this band, above their rockin’ singalong tunes, stage appearance, professionalism, and roaring chainsaw, is their character. When we threw this Sinner show together at the last minute, as we do too many shows, we knew there was one band here in St. Louis that would stand up to the plate and shred a curveball to pieces for us, The Saw Is Family. Even after we goofed and put the wrong show date on our ad, they committed to playing both nights, just for those who missed our online change of date. Now that’s Character, with a capital C!
love this place, it’s felt like HOME since the first night we came out to see The Trip Daddys play all those years ago. Bob and Sheri have been welcoming locals and tourists alike into their cozy little bar for 15 years now. This is a bar where you’ll find local musicians just hangin’out with their friends, the southside crowd comin’ in for a night out, and frat boys up to no good. The atmosphere alone takes days to absorb. As you wander around and gape at the walls, kitsch is everywhere, behind the bar, in the windows, even the ladies restroom has pinup girlies in them. 15 years later Drunkabilly, the first band to play The Way Out, opened once again. Orange County has Mike Ness, South County has Al Swacker, host of Greaser’s Lunchbox on 88.1, singer/guitar genius/ legendary songwriter, and guitarist for Devil Baby Freak Show and The Unmutuals. This guy is pretty freakin’ cool. Drunkabilly was followed by Haddonfields, who were having their CD release party. These guys kicked some serious ass, too! The band we came to see, The Hail Marys, is another band we saw here first at The Way Out Club many years ago. It’s like coming home and being able to demand a damn happy song, right fucking now, and get it! I love this band!! Katie, her husband Ryan, Pinky and the other guys are fun to watch, and fun to listen to. They’re Punk like there’s no tomorrow and a stage performance you won’t soon forget. And this was just FRI NITE… SAT NITE... it was CRAIG DADDY & THE CAR BOMBS! Imma big fan of fiery explosions: a shiny black upright bass, a gleaming silver Gretsch drum kit, and of course, Craig Daddy with his big orange Gretsch guitar… did I mention imma big old sucker for a Gretsch? The Car Bombs are Rockabilly with a porn flavor, or maybe it’s just me… some of my favorite Trip Daddys’ songs mixed with some other ones I don’t usually hear from Craig. For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Car Bombs, they are Craig from The Trip Daddys on guitar and vocals, Upright Bass Player du jour and Whatever Drummer Craig Can Find… always a good time. The bass player for this one was from Coffin Kings. He was quite the stunt man, slingin’ that thing around over his head, bouncing it all over the place. True talent. The drummer he found was Everybody’s Favorite Greaser, Dennis, aslo from The Trip Daddys… so I knew we were in for a good time. I hope these bands will be around for another 15 years. I hope they don’t lose heart and stop playing one day. Support your local scene, shag your ass to a show, buy some merch, keep our boys playin’, so they, too, can get away from the real world for awhile. Bob and Sheri, Thank You for making us feel at HOME every time we drop in. Thank you for providing a home for our local boys both on and off stage, because everyone needs to get away from the world for awhile, and everyone needs a place to call HOME. All of my pics are posted on facebook and myspace, drop by and see for yourself what you’ve been missing…. THE WAY OUT CLUB : A SOUTHSIDE PARADISE
Photo by Chuck Foster
Platinum Rose is Charlie Wayne Morrill’s latest incarnation. You may remember him from The Bullet Boys – “Smooth Up”, one of the BEST sleazy songs EVER – and Hawk, an early metal band from the 80s. He’s had a stellar career and things are only getting better! Charlie used to be in The Scream with John Corabi (I fucking LOVE John Corabi), and he recently made an appearance in the new video “Water Makes her Clothes Stay On” by three time Grammy Nominee David Frizzell. There are lots of fan sites out there, loads of places where you can buy his books (he’s written several books in his career), and his entire body of work is still readily available. On board with Charlie is guitar hero, James Holland, a very good friend of mine who has given me so much to work with. He’s very friendly, personable, down-to-earth, and very well spoken – not to mention he’s so freakin’ gorgeous it just hurts my hormones. Platinum Rose is bringin’ back Old School Cock Rock…the sound of metal powerhouses from the early days that you don’t hear much of anymore. Great dirty songs with raunchy lyrics, gritty vocals, muscle bound musicians, hair and ink for days and daze and days, and sheer, RAW talent. They hold a broad appeal for both men and women, not just a band for groupies or metal heads. They produce a sound you can get lost in, soft ballads with some grit, hard driving in-your-face anthems for today’s youth, a little Priest, a lot of KISS, something for everybody.
What keeps you grounded when your world falls apart and it all goes to Hell? James: I learn from all past mistakes and sometimes I remind myself I have been through worse. Charlie: Magic and the power of positive thinking... and my kids. What do you do to escape the insanity of traveling on the road? James: Honestly, I sleep a lot on the road and text (lol). Charlie: Great sex, good movies, or fishing. What’s the WEIRDEST thing you’ve ever been asked to sign? James: Women will ask, “Hey do you have something I can have?” And I’ll say, “hmmm... I’m not sure. I don’t have any guitar picks.” And they will say, “Well, can I have a kiss or a pic with our tongues touching (lol). Charlie: PUSSY.
Describe for me the rituals you go through to prep for a stage performance? James: Hmm... well jager bombs def gives me stage confidence (lol). Charlie: Shot of jack, 2 bud lights... A hug between the band...Then Straight to the stage.
What is YOUR view of SUCCESS? James: INSPIRATION Charlie: Just to keep my career going as is. It’s pretty great to be able to sale records world wide for all these years as well as sell out venues and be able to talk to people like yourself. I’m blessed to still have the fans I got and they have been loyal for all these years and that there is success.
What motivates your music? James: I am and will be the nirvana of modern rock but when I kill it, it will be to bring the 80s style back!!! Charlie: Love and real life... Maybe someone I meet. But mostly it’s something I’m born with. A drive that I wake up with every day. I wrote a lot about it in my book Enchanted Life.
Is it tough keeping your personal life together when you’re surrounded by all the trappings of stardom? James: YES! Cuz you want to give all your friends the same attention and not let them feel left behind but sometimes you can’t help it. Charlie: Sometimes.
Who were your childhood influences? James: Kiss and Motley crue for sure. Also the movies Eddie And The Cruisers and Trick Or Treat. Charlie: Zepplin, Zabbath, & Deep Purple.
How does your wife/significant other feel about all the attention you receive from overzealous female fans? James:I am single but I have dated and that is always a test to see if they make it to the next round (lol). Charlie: She’s not jealous, she knows I go to work. Fire men put out fires, cops put folks in Jail; I sign tits and ass and rock. That’s my job. She gets it, I’m lucky.
How old were you when you got started playing music? James: I could just walk. I got a mickey mouse guitar. I saw Paul Stanley break his on the Anamalize MTV concert we had and I broke it that night (lol). Charlie: 5-years-old.
photo by Angie Collins CATCH PLATINUM ROSE THURSDAY NIGHT, OCT. 22, AT THE LIBRARY (706 LAFAYETTE AVE). GO SAY HI AND TELL ‘EM MALICE SENT YA!
James Holland - photo by Clark Muhlenkort
14
myspace.com/stlouissinner
UNMASKED
“I asked the band what the toughest challenge has been for them to overcome, Katie laughed and said, ‘Still playing and not killing each other after all these years.’ Ironically, that also was her answer when I asked what had been their greatest reward.”
W
hen we ventured east from Seattle to St. Louis I worried about the music scene here, that I might be confined to Honky-Tonk and Blues. Not that I dislike either, but I take my music like I do my booze, in numerous flavors and excess. Those worries have long been eased after covering bands like Sons of Black Mass, The unmutuals, The Trip Daddys, and Say Uncle. Now I find myself bouncing from club to club picking up fliers for upcoming shows, looking for new acts to keep the demons of staleness at bay. This month it’s The Hail Marys battling those demons. This is hardly a groundbreaking discovery on my end, these cats have been kickin’ out tunes since 2002. They were the featured band a few months ago in Full Throttle Midwest Magazine, and their last album released in 2007 had several zines giving them mad shouts. Here in St. Louis Christian Schaeffer of The RFT wrote, “...the Hail Marys play aggressive punk with noticeable traces of pop — the sheer speed of these songs makes subtlety an impossibility, but the record is littered with tossed-off solos, bass guitar runs and sing-song background vocals.” The band also has received raving reviews from Playback STL, Organ Magazine (UK),
and Devolution Magazine (UK). The Hail Marys consist of Katie on vocals, the driving force behind their uniquely raw sound, Ryan on bass, Jason on drums, and Pinky and Hercules on guitars. The name of the band origins from that all-or-nothing last shot at the End Zone, the Hail Mary. Selfdescribed as drunk punk rock-n-roll, this gang of five causes pits of mayhem and madness through its fist-raising, anarchic tunes wherever it goes. With influences that include Social-D, Rancid, U.S. Bombs, and The Beach Boys, it may not seem to add up, but nothing about true Punk and Anarchy ever should. The original plan was to catch them at The Way Out Club’s 15 year anniversary show on the 25th, but the plans fell through as plans often do. This had to do with our Sinner show that was first scheduled and advertised for the 26th, but later moved to the 25th to avoid splitting heads with the big shows at The Way Out and Mamacita’s that same night. The end result was sacrificing the Hail Marys, the one show in September that I desperately wanted to catch. But that’s the typical blood a publisher and promoter must often shed for the show. So I contacted The Hail Marys about an interview days later, admitting to having only experienced the band’s sound on online, explaining we had missed their show for this piece. Instead of blowing us off, they invited us to come down for a Sunday rehearsal and hang out for a bit. So we hit Map Quest, grabbed the camera and shot out the door. We’ve hung out with a lot of musicians over the past seven years, probably too many for the mind to digest at one sitting. Some became good friends, others were discarded as cocky jackasses we wished we had never met. Entertainers are a strange ilk of people to begin with, often vain and suffering
from some God complex. Sometimes it’s nothing more than an act, as that’s what they do, entertain; sometimes it’s not. You never know what to expect when you join them at a club for a drink, run into them at a party, or get invited to a rehearsal to chat and take photos. It can quickly become an awkward setting for an in interviewer or fan, like swimming with hippos in shallow waters. This wasn’t the case with The Hail Marys. Their bass player, Ryan, met us outside the fence of the home where the group practices, while the band sat around a patio table smoking cigarettes and chatting trivial bullshit amongst each other. No one was slamming brews or getting high, nor was anyone dressed out of the norm for the interview and photos. There were no egos, no complexes, no “who the fuck are you?” attitudes. Everything from top to bottom about these cats was pretty chilled. Entering the basement to hear The Hail Marys rehearse may not posses the same unhinged power that their on stage performance bears, but the intimate setting amongst friends just jammin’ out tunes – often goofing up, and off – was like no other for us. And standing beside Katie while she wailed “I’ll Be Okay” was simply intoxicating, leaving us craving more than song. During the break we shot photos, joked, talked St. Louis music, and even discussed how each of our lives have changed over the years, like now spending Halloween with their kids instead of performing. With instruments and mic out of hand, it was as if Hyde had retuned to Jekyll, the show was over. Speaking of their show on the 25th, they call The Way Out Club a home away from home. When I asked the band what the toughest challenge has been for them to overcome, Katie laughed and said, “Still playing and not killing each other after all these years.” Ironically, that also was her
answer when I asked what had been their greatest reward. And for advice to the kids out there diving into this pit, she says, “Just have fun playing music you love with your friends...” I could have stayed the rest of the day, but overstaying a welcome has never been my thing, not even amongst the best of friends. As we were packing up they wanted to shout a simple thanks to everyone who has stuck with them and put up with them. Having spent a few hours with the group, I left thinking their fans are equally grateful. I know we are. You can find more about The Hail Marys on MySpace at: www.myspace. com/thehailmarys. And you can catch them live with Satan’s bad boys, The Sons of Black Mass, on October 30th at The Fox Hole.
text and photos by Chuck Foster
15
The LuBriCaTour @
T
here are only a few venues left in town that The Sinner has yet to invade, and the new Firebird happened to be one of them until Sunday, October 4, when The LuBriCaTour hit St. Louis. The word on the street about this new venue is it’s a first-class joint for live music, complete with a sound system that could blow your heart out the back of your chest if so desired by the sound guy. I’ve also heard not to be fooled by Firebird’s exterior from Olive street, that its new sleek interior is concealed from the street, like a bomb shelter beneath the ground, supplied with enough booze to withstand the Big One if ever dropped. I’ll lay all rumors to rest here and now, the word Left Spine Down on the street is true about Firebird, and The LuBriCaTour with Left Spine Down, Blownload, Revolting Cocks and the infamous Jim Rose was the perfect test to judge all that I’ve heard from bands and attendees. Under normal circumstances, The Sinner isn’t a rag to cover mainstream or touring bands, but when Revolting Cocks and Jim Rose come to town, even I burn the rules. Opening this night was Left Spine Down (or LSD), a five piece Cyberpunk whose speciality is the fusion of Industrial, Metal, Punk and Electronica. These guys are industrial strength, with or with out the aid of a megaphone, and will knock you on your ass if you get in their way. Blownload hit the stage next, and as titled, they are a mix of Tenacious D’s raunch with Rancid’s mayhem spewed all over the stage. Jim Rose hosted this ensemble of madness and perversion while incorporating his freak show antics of old and new between sets. There was the human dart board, the cinder block smashing on the guy’s nuts, Jim’s wife eating a live scorpion, and Rose’s own trick of placing four razor blades in his mouth and tying a string around them with his tongue. Like I said, a fucking Freak Show! Last was Revolting Cocks! Revolting Cocks, need I really say more?
Human Dart Board Jim Rose
Blownload
Revolting Cocks
Revolting Cocks
16
myspace.com/stlouissinner
Valor skateboarding before Say Uncle’s set
On Saturday, September 26, Mamacita’s threw a highly anticipated music fest, featuring 10 bands, tattoos by Eastside Tattoos and $1 PBRs. Our intentions were to stay the entire day, but our show the night before at Bistro Zoo shot those plans all to Hell and back. Before the $1 PBRs sent us on our drunken way, we did catch some amazing acts from the bands listed below, a lot of kick-ass skateboarding, and the Arch Rival Roller Gals hanging out! Now that’s one Hell-of-a The Arch Rivals enjoying $1 PBRs music fest!
by Paul Ace Diamond “Huggy” Blow
Have you seen this hat?
SAD TO SAY I lost my favorite NY Yankees hat (as seen in my photo) last month at the El Chupacabra bar. Yeah, I may have been a bit toasted and mislaid it somewhere but it did not turn up in the lost and found. Since then I’ve spent a hundred bucks on three replacement hats that just don’t fit as nicely as the $12 hat I lost. If anyone has found my black NY Yankees hat at the El Chupacabra I am offering a reward of one PBR sixpack and one autographed PDB 8x10 glossy for its safe return -- no questions asked. Now then, people sometimes ask me, “Mr. Paul Diamond ‘Huggy’ Blow, why do you continue to play in a rock band these days? You don’t make any money, your ears ring all the time, and nobody buys your CDs... plus rock bands are out of fashion these days anyways. Why do you do it, man? Why don’t you become a DJ instead?” Those are all valid points, and I could be one heckuva DJ, but there still are some good reasons to play music in an old fashioned rock band these days and these are my favorite ones: 1) It’s a good excuse to drink beer: I must admit, the biggest reason I had to join my first rock band was so I’d have a good group of like-minded guys to drink beer with. You know -- drink some beer, make some noise, drink some more beer, make some more noise... it goes hand in hand, and it’s a lot more fun than just drinking beer and throwing darts or drinking beer and playing poker, or what have you. I fondly remember my first band (RPA), how’d we meet at the practice place once a week, each of us with at least two 40-ouncers in hand, and we’d drink beer, get a buzz on, and make loud rock’n’roll noise to our hearts content. Let the good times roll! (Note; these days my limit at band practices is two beers, after which I switch to 40 ouncers of Arizona green tea.) 2) For the chicks: Being in a rock band is a great way to meet the ladies, and let me tell you a notso-secret secret: there are scores of women out there who are attracted to rock musicians, and it helps if said musician actually plays in a band. Being in a rock band is a great ice breaker with the ladies: you’ve just played a show at the local dive bar and a young hottie makes her way to you and says, “You rock!” You say, “Thanks, babe. What’s your name?” You’ve got it made now, and being in a rock band was the catalyst. The hottie would never have talked to you if she hadn’t seen you rocking your heart out on stage. It’s also always cool when a young hottie comes up to you and says, “Are you in a band?” And you say, “Yeah, babe, I am.” You then give her a sticker, hand bill, or a CD, and the hottie is impressed. If you play your cards right you may even go home with the hottie, or at least get an honest phone number. (Note to female rock musicians; please substitute “hot dudes” for “chicks”) 3) Because you like to act crazy: This applies mainly for rock singers. As a rock singer/front man in a rock band you get to run around stage like a wild man. You sing, yell, scream at the top of your lungs, throw your body across the floor, stage dive, wear outrageous clothing, make a fool of yourself if you like, maybe even cut yourself with broken glass ala Iggy Pop. Let’s face it, you could do this by yourself out on the street but you’d probably have the cops called on you and be carted away to the funny farm. In a rock band you can act as crazy or wild as you like on stage and people will love you and applaud for it. You may even get paid!
Eastside Tattoos givin’ some pain Say Uncle burning the last bit of daylight!
➜
Minions of the Moon ➜ Bridgeton Air Defence
HUGGY BLOW’S ROCK STAR OF THE MONTH:
Mamacita’s Crew gathering between sets
Joey Ramone: Joey Ramone is probably the least successful of all the rock stars on my list, at least in terms of financial gain or number one hits, etc. However, the Ramones were one of the most influential and hard working bands of all time and pretty much single-handedly invented punk rock. The Ramones are one of my personal favorite bands of all time, not only because their blitzkrieg style rock music and songs were actually GOOD but also because they put on one of the most energetic shows in the history of rock. I’ve seen the Ramones live a few times and they were indeed another band that inspires one to want to play in a rock band. Joey Ramone, to me, was the heart and soul of the Ramones and one of the coolest looking front men ever, what with his torn jeans, his black leather jacket, and his huge mop of black hair, plus his very cool stance on the stage. Joey Ramone didn’t have to run around the stage like a wild man, no, just standing there in his stance with the mic stand was sexy hot. Not to mention the man was a great singer with an almost crooning style voice all his own. Sadly, Joey Ramone passed away in 2001 at the age of 49 but his music and his legacy live on and he makes it as my Rock Star of the Month. Joey Ramone and friend
17
18
myspace.com/stlouissinner
The Sinful Works of Transformation Imagery T
he ancient Celts believed that on October 31st the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved, and that Evil Spirits roamed the land on this hallowed night to bear harm to the living who did not protect themselves with bonfires, animal sacrifices and masks. I don’t know about the boundary between the dead and living dissolving and the need for protection from Evil Spirits, but I certainly have a hunger for the macabre nature of the month, which brings us to the ghastly works of Alexandria McCabe, better known as Transformation Imagery. Alex began her career in front of the camera as a model, but says that she wanted to be in charge, to transform other people and models into amazing images – hence, the name Transformation Imagery. She began shooting with a Kodak point-and-shoot several years ago but says that she traded that in for Sony Cybershot, “a glorified point and shoot.” Like most up-and-coming photographers, Alex plans to purchase a DSLR in the future, but says that for now she prefers her camera over any others because she has learned all its tricks. I picked this shot for our October cover several months ago after friending Demona Murder on MySpace, where I was taken back by the very sinful photo of her in the tub. The image wreaks of sin, madness, transgression, lunacy – all the arcane qualities of Halloween rolled into one shot. Alex explained that the shoot in question started when Amanda (aka: Demona Murder) moved into her new house, that they just had to get her bloody in the tub. Once in the tub with blood
written by Chuck Foster
their fiendish foolery took control, leading to the Sins being written on the wall. As far as editing, Alexandria doesn’t do much of it, saying that a good shot is a good shot or it’s not, and that she only ups the saturation, boosts some contrast, and there ya go. Done. As far as other works go, Alexandria says she loves her Cheetah Set and doing pin-up shoots, but her favorite shots so far have been the Sins, “Amanda + blood = fun.” Alexandria has just recently stumbled upon the St. Louis art scene. She has found this new venture to be “amazing” with many talented artists through out and new ones continuously emerging. She says there’s a wide variety of talents found inside it where everyone plays a part and that she would love to find her place along side the artists at the top one day. I asked her how difficult it has been for her as an upcoming photographer? “You know, it is really hard. People critique your stuff like they think they are gods but you have to be yourself and do your own thing. You can’t lis-
ten to what other people say because they just wanna bring you down.” As far as words of tough wisdom go, she says to keep your head and make your own name for yourself. Presently, Alexandria doesn’t have any art on view, but says that she has already been invited to participate in a couple at the beginning of the year, and that she’s very excited about it. Her website is currently in progress, but for now you can find a portion of her works on MySpace at: www. myspace.com/aemphotography. Last, Alexandria wanted to thank her Bestie, and MUA, Amanda, “You make working with you a breeze!” She also wanted to thank all her fans, “Without you, this isn’t possible!”
St. Louis’ Horror Queen:
Emily Haack written by Chuck Foster
I
’m sure that many of you may have walked through the doors of FiFi’s to find the unassuming Emily Haack sitting behind the counter with her hubby Dennis, chatting about the latest fashion, music or film, never giving much thought to who Emily actually is. Emily Haack has been a star of cult-film giant Wicked Pixel for 12 years now in lead roles such as Clara in the critically-acclaimed and award-winning feature film Scrapbook; Sandy in Spit On Your Corpse; Mary in Bizarre Lust Of A Sexual Deviant; Mia in The Undertow; Ashley in Savage Harvest 2; & Crystal in the upcoming Ratline. As a huge fan of her work for years, it was mere luck that I met her and Dennis. And now, it is my privilege to introduce you to the other side of Emily Haack. How did you get involved with Wicked Pixel Films and the horror genre? You know, the horror genre just kind of fell into my lap. I didn’t choose it, per se, it chose me! I happened to meet Tommy Biondo, Eric Stanze, and Jeremy Wallace in the summer of 1997 and I just really clicked with them! At the time we met, Eric was editing his film Ice From The Sun, and I was so intrigued and interested in what he and his company were doing. I do love horror movies, don’t get me wrong! But I just never thought I would ever have been involved in them…and now that I am, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. What has been your favorite role, and which has been your most difficult? My favorite roles have been Clara, from Scrapbook, and Crystal, from Ratline. They were both physically demanding roles but they also challenged me emotionally. Playing Clara, I really had to come to terms with what Leonard [the villain] was doing to me and it took a toll on me. My character goes through some horrific stuff at the hands of her captor. But it was a very cathartic experience for me. Playing Crystal, I really had to toughen up. The role was very physically demanding and it also put me in a place that I had never been in a film: in a relationship with another character. So I had to work on the emotions that come with that, as well. But the physical work was one of my favorite things about playing Crystal! The fight sequences, the weapons, the interactions with my foes…it was all awesome! You mentioned my favorite shock-horror film Scrapbook as being challenging. How tough was it to get into character for the brutal rape scenes, and what kind of reaction did you receive from that film? Playing Clara in Scrapbook has definitely been my most controversial role. I’ve gotten a lot of flack from female viewers mad because they think we are condoning rape and violence towards women. Just because we are showing something terrible that really happens to people, doesn’t mean we are supporting that behavior! It wasn’t very difficult go get into character…I have never been in the exact situation my character was in. However, I have unfortunately been in violent situations where my life has been threatened. So I found it easy to tap into that part of myself and go from there.
Cryrolfe Photography
What was it like working with Tommy Biondo and Eric Stanze on Scrapbook? Working with Tommy and Eric was always a great experience. Eric is professional, respectful, and kind. He is one of my closest friends and I love working with him. Even though we lost Tommy too early [he passed away in 1999], while he was here with us he always gave 110% to every project he worked on and every character he played. With Scrapbook he wanted to go balls to the wall…so we did! What was it like on the set of Ratline? And do you have any details or secrets that you can reveal? Shooting Ratline was such an awesome experience! It has been my favorite shoot to date. Even though it was bitterly cold and difficult to schedule my shoots around my work, I still had a blast. The cast was wonderful, the crew was professional and respectful, as always, and I really learned a lot about myself on that shoot. Our locations were gorgeous, the people we encountered were kind to us, and we all worked our asses off! And yes, I have details and secrets… but no, I can’t reveal them! This is the first time we have been told to keep quiet about the plot. You’ll just have to wait and see it for yourself! It’s gonna rock! What’s been your most frightening moment on set? And have you ever been injured or witnessed an injury? I think the most frightening moment for me was shooting the very first rape scene in Scrapbook. Even though I knew that Tommy was not going to hurt me and that Eric and the rest of the crew had the shoot under control, I still had to go to a place in my head that I didn’t want to go. But I knew I had to if I wanted the scene to play correctly. I have never been seriously injured on a shoot. This is amazing in itself since I have wielded so many different weapons! I’ve run with chain saws, swung machetes and axes at people, had axes swung at me, fired guns, hit people with crowbars… and speaking of crowbars, I did witness an injury on set. It was during the shooting of I Spit and I was to impale Eric’s character with a crowbar. I swung a bit too hard and actually hit Eric in the chest with the hook-end of the thing and he was hurtin’! Oops! How do you unwind after shooting? Sleep! Lots of sleep! I also like to hang around and discuss the day’s shoot with the rest of the cast & crew. We talk about what we liked and what we can work on for next time. How can our readers find out more about you, your work, and your upcoming movie, Ratline? You can visit me at myspace.com/emilyhaack, follow me on twitter.com/emilyhaack, and become my fan on Facebook! To find out more about Wicked Pixel Cinema happenings, go to wickedpixel.com…and for the latest in Ratline news, go to wickedpixel.com/ratline. Any last thoughts, news or thanks? Thank you so much for your interest and your support! Local independent cinema needs all it can get! Be sure to check out Ratline when it comes out!!!
20
myspace.com/stlouissinner
Interview with a funeral director Directed by: Maija - Answered by: Evangelia Black-Kraft Dear reader, For those of you who noticed my absence the last several months, sorry for my long delay. As you should know by now, my plate is often overflowing with obligations, ambitions and other things of the like. And sometimes it’s just plum hard to find spare time or keep up with the constantly moving world and ticking clock. Speaking of ticking clocks, I have for you here an interview with an actual funeral director! You probably don’t know this (and wouldn’t be surprised) but some odd years ago, I had an interest in a death-related career. A career as a funeral director seemed an obvious choice. There is something so fascinating, beautiful and ugly about death that makes us stand in speechless awe. I also have a real ‘get my hands dirty’ mentality. I often take a weird sort of pleasure out of doing things no one else wants to do. But perhaps that’s a topic better left for the couch at some random psychiatrist’s office. Well, you better order that drink and prepare yourself for some cold hard honesty that might make you decide to pick out your own funeral director before you kick the bucket. I know I will. Greetings! And thanks for taking the time to answer a few of my questions. I always thought that a career in the Funeral field would be rather interesting and at one point was even seriously contemplating it. What made you decide to choose your profession? Was it planned since childhood or an idea that came to you in teenage-adult years? There were macabre elements surrounding my childhood that later progressed into a desire to immerse myself among the dead. The death of my grandfather sealed the deal at a tender age. I was unable to attend the funeral due to distance and legalities, so just like you see on those silly “all I got was this” gimmick shirts, my grandfather died and all I got was this lousy set of creepy photos. My parents and I received a number of photos from the funeral, as is custom in European culture. Everything from the flowers, the attendees, the freshly dug grave - to various shots of my grandpa lying in his casket. He was the first person that I ever loved, so his death struck a chord that would later lead me to consider a career in the mortuary sciences. I’ve suspected it started as a morbid desire to somehow reunite myself permanently with my final “memories” of him. From the research I have done in prior years, it seems a funeral director has many tasks besides just consoling family and planning the overall funeral. Some duties might include embalming, facial restoration and things of the like. Have you had to do all of this stuff? What all have you done so far? The extensive nature of the tasks involved in Funeral Directing and/or Embalming should be the first consideration of any and all persons interested in pursuing any career in this profession. Though it varies by state, the majority of states are organized to have a Funeral Director and Embalmer combo, so one is orientated to perform the tasks on both spectrums, simply labeled as a “Funeral Director.” Accredited mortuary schools discuss and explore all these elements in depth, offering a Practical in Embalming and Restorative Art, with a thorough coursework on merchandising, sales, legalities, and all the infinite and never-ending tasks involved in Funeral Directing. I can (to much dismay!) say that I’ve engaged in all aspects of the field, preferring backroom work of embalming to the arrangement of family funeral services. This is not to say that I “dislike” that element of it, but I’m at my natural best when dealing with people under pleasant circumstances, not when someone has just passed and emotions are running high. The emotional involvement becomes very intense for me and bringing it home with me after the work day results in a disruption of my own cycles. Not to mention, some firms do their
own removals, so it could for some be a 24 hour job! Ironically, prior to mortuary school while still debating this decision with my family, their argument was that the sight of the dead bodies would be traumatizing, when the reverse, which is dealing with the families, is what drained me the most! Some people are born salesmen; some people are very good with building things with their hands. It becomes its own endeavor when both are combined and expected of you. However, some states, such as Washington, California, and Oregon, have a separation between the titles of Funeral Directors and Embalmers. And lest we forget, county morgues, aftermath cleaning firms, and coroner’s offices are job options available for consideration if being a “FD” isn’t one’s cup of tea! Working with the dead, I’m sure you had to have seen or experienced some ‘disturbing’ things. Have you seen something... or smelled something that just made your skin crawl? Reflecting on the many reasons I decided to become a Funeral Director, one of my major considerations was to become completely desensitized to human death and decomposition. And could I not be any more off the mark with that one! The occurrence of tears and/or gagging from ghastly sights or foul odors is a consistent factor in day to day work, particularly of the morgue variety. What I can say is that there is no way to undo what has been done. Certain smells and sights have remained with me for years. Despite the occasional horror, I could never leave it - the consistent reminder of reality and the shock of these moments is extremely potent in the development and appreciation of my own life. A lot of people might think the only people interested in the dead are necrophiliac sorts. Would you consider yourself a necrophiliac and do you think that is a gross misconception or just a simple truth? I will admit that I’ve been on countless occasions accused of being of the necrophilia sort, though I’m sure my cliché corpse-like complexion, dark countenance, and morbid sense of humor make me fair game! I’ve always had a very profound interest in many of the cultural aspects of death and dying - stemming from death-worshipping subcultures to killers such as grave-robbing Ed Gein - eventually becoming so entranced by these
“aesthetics” that I opted to look, dress, and well, work - the part. I had already been warned that the stereotype of the macabre Mortician was a gross misconception while researching the profession. So, when I arrived to mortuary school I was not expecting to find any people like myself - and, I didn’t, so it proved in many ways to be a lonely experience for me. However, as “normal” as all the people I’ve attended school and worked with were, they all had their intensely dark and sometimes profoundly creepy sides, which I learned how to bring out for my own entertainment. But – there were a few oddballs here and there, such as
an underclassman that I never got to meet, while in my final semester! Let’s just say that I heard through the mortuary grapevine that he was definitely not into it for helping families create a meaningful memorial! Kind of a personal question here, but what the hell, when will I ever get the chance to interview a funeral director again, heh. Have you ever abused your position? Maybe touched a corpse in an improper way? Yes (while giggling like a rowdy school girl)! I was the “butt” of my embalming groups because I was always raring and willing to pack the body cavities with cotton. They sure thought I was a weird one! And this one time, at mortuary camp – ahem – Enough said! What do you think happens after death? Do you think we just rot in the ground? Or do you believe in ghosts, heaven, hell, etc.? Despite being raised around Orthodox extremism, I’ve as long as I can remember been under the persuasion that Schopenhauer had value in the concept that one ceases to exist after death, to be just as one was before birth. Again, this ties in directly to my persevering desire to surround myself with death and human decomposition - to use it as a spiritual tool. My experiences have strengthened my aforementioned belief, which was in its very essence a natural inclination, before I learned to read and discovered there were philosophers giving names to this stuff. So, in short, I will cognitively cease to exist and rot, being as I was before that condom broke oh so many ages ago! Taking into consideration that I have lived in funeral homes with my sleeping quarters near coolers and prep centers, I’m skeptical about ghosts. Never had any encounters, never anticipated any encounters. And yes, of course, I believe in Hell and Heaven - we’re all in one right now and the other is the name of a Bryan Adam’s song. What advice could you give to someone reading this who is contemplating a career in the same field? Research, Research, Research. Can you handle dealing with dead human bodies on a daily basis, some of which are far into the decomposition process? Are you attentive to detail and ready to stop what you’re doing any moment to assist a family that walks in through the doors of your facility? Can you separate your own compassion from business? Weigh the pros and cons before you decide if you would like to go further. Then, get in touch with a local funeral home to see if you can
arrange to “job shadow” a funeral director for a day. Legally, you won’t be allowed near human remains in most states, but it is an excellent opportunity to see the more psychologically demanding aspects of the profession. The last thing you want is to blow $20k on mortuary school to discover you can’t stand what you’re doing. I’ve been there and many of my colleagues have been there. If for some reason you have no luck with the job-shadowing aspect of it, request to apply for ANY sort of entry-position available - reception, janitorial, driving, etc. Use any hole to find your way in. Contrary to popular belief, the Funeral profession is not an abundant market for jobs. The fact that people tend to remain in this profession for the majority of their careers, along with its sensitive nature, makes it a much more selective realm than many. With ever increasing legalities and complex personalities of the clients to be worked with, funeral homes seek well balanced candidates who can handle a variety of tasks gracefully. Has the current bad economy been an issue for you as a funeral director? It would be appropriate to mention another misconception that I always hear from outsiders looking into the profession - that being of job stability, because “people are always dying.” The sad state of the economy has closed off most of the market, with funeral homes and preparation centers drafting up “waiting lists,” should any positions ever become open. Though people continue to die, this in most cases, now means that Funeral Directors/Embalmers are now undertaking (har!) a larger workload under the same salary or compensation. Most people, rather than losing their job, will coordinate their lives to the larger work load. In short, finding a job in the profession under current economic circumstance is becoming more difficult, and keeping one’s job means taking on a larger case load (“case” referring to each individual decedent.) The current economy also effects how much families are willing to spend on funeral services and what sort of disposition is desired, in the case of traditional burial families now find themselves considering cremation for their loved one. (PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Cremation of multiple bodies in a single retort is never legal, need I mention, unethical. If you have any suspicion of this, immediately report it to the Cremation Association of North America.) Thank you so much for answering my attack of questions. We are now at the almighty ‘money- shot’ question, your last words? Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (RIP) has always said it the best - Death is the most terrible thing; and to maintain its works is what requires the greatest strength.
22
myspace.com/stlouissinner
The first step in coming out — owning your sexual identity and integrating it into your overall sense of self. Name: Craig Gender: male Age: 19 I decided that I’m gay, but I don’t know how to tell anyone. I’m afraid that I’ll lose my friends and family. I come from a very religious family and they’ll never understand. I don’t want to hurt them, but I want to be honest about who I am. Just wondering if u could help me. Coming out is never easy, or almost never, but having to do so to bigoted people makes things worse. There are a lot of different aspects to the coming out process. You’ve apparently laid the groundwork already by self-identifying as gay. But how much do you know about gay history? Are you involved with your local gay community? You see, knowing that you belong to something bigger and stronger than yourself will enhance your queer identity. Coming out means both owning and valuing who you are and sharing that information with others. Unfortunately, it also means learning to deal with the hostility many religious people have toward us gay folks. Of course we all can take some comfort from the fact that we are not alone. So many other segments of the population are marginalized and discounted because of their race, gender, age, religion, ethnic origin, you name it. Let’s face it, pup, our culture doesn’t do real well with diversity.
And ya know what else? There are a whole lot of us who are marginalized and who are discriminated against, but who turn right around and discriminate against and marginalize others. Just breaks my heart! Hopefully you’ll avoid the temptation to do this yourself. Being different in our society is a double-edged sword. Obviously it’s a challenge to the status quo, but it also frees us up to tread a less traveled path. To compensate for the difficulties of being a minority, we get to define ourselves in ways that are unavailable to the dominant culture. But there’s always the pull to sell out our uniqueness and conform. That’s why I am of the mind that coming out is a lifelong process. Remember I asked as we began if you knew your gay history? I did so because you will find positive role models in every era of human history and endeavor of human kind. And affirmative role models will help you achieve a positive sense of self. You’ll also be able to refute those around you who will try to label you as sick or sinful. Loads of gay women and men have enriched civilization through science, religion, music, politics, art, theater, sports and literature to name just a few. Long before you and I showed up on the scene they were paving the way for the freedoms and tolerance we currently enjoy. However, you’re gonna have to do some research, pup, because the dominant culture suppresses queer history. This often leaves those who are just coming out feeling isolated, alone and unsure of themselves.
This, I Shamelessly Tell You
Dr Dick’s Sex Advice
Richard Wagner, Ph.D., ACS Sex Therapist, Sexual Health Counselor and Sex Advice Columnist www.drdicksexadvice.com
Fear of rejection from the dominant culture is greatest for those who don’t know they belong to something bigger and stronger than themselves. A force that has contributed to making human kind civilized. Owning your sexual identity and integrating it into your overall sense of self is the first step in coming out. You probably know this already, but your sexual preferences are just a small part of who you are. It is indeed an important part, one that will probably color much of what else you say about yourself, but it’s not necessarily the defining aspect that some would make it out to be. In this instance, gay folks are not all the different from everyone else who is awakening to his/her sexuality. I don’t suppose any of us is ever really free of
all our own internalized homophobia any more than other oppressed and marginalized minorities can rid themselves of their internalized self-doubt. No one can completely escape the prejudices and biases that surround them. But most of us make our way regardless. That’s why coming out is so important. It empowers us. It increases our self-esteem. Honesty about our life increases our personal integrity. And when we stop hiding or denying this important part of our life we have greater freedom of self-expression. We become more available for happy, healthy and honest relationships. Good luck!
by Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid
My first real, but not last, statement on the whole healthcare scandal, and a Hallowe’en ending to get in the mood I sat on the edge of my seat, a position not good for an already out of alignment spine, with my partner (who is being treated by a chiropractor, so his spine’s much better aligned than mine) slumped in his seat next to me. Both of us were at the town hall meeting because I was covering the story for another paper I work for, and we also, being into the belief that natural medicine needs more coverage in this whole debate, thought we’d get a chance to express our opinions. Unfortunately, except for the fact that I did write a coherent story on Congressman Jim McDermott’s presentation, and the hecklers who tried to disrupt the proceedings, we were mostly disappointed and left to have our own voices heard by each other. That was over a month ago, and since then, I’ve lost my healthcare coverage, or rather it’s in that weird limbo that is called ‘meet your spendown and we’ll give you coverage for a few things’. Also, my honey and I have finally saved enough to have me see his chiropractor (who also now knows we’re both transgendered and is cool with that), so I can get ‘cleared out’ of a lifetime of things that have caused me to slump, thus misaligning my spine. Good news, and yet, in this time of economic uncertainty, the only thing we’re both certain of is that we’ll probably have to keep pinching pennies to have the healthcare we believe is best for our optimum health, both of being part of the working poor. Yes, I know this topic isn’t as sexy as me telling you that we’ve also started slowly working up to me doing some rear entry play as the ‘boy’ to his ‘girl’, and have had one delightful time visiting our local sex store
and buying new toys. Still, I can’t think about sex, safe sex, and being healthy enough to have the great sex life my male woman (his term for himself, and it does fit) and I enjoy without considering the factors that make that possible. Factors like having access to decent and affordable healthcare that also includes the choice of alternative medicine like the naturopaths we see and the chiropractor we’ll soon both be seeing. This doesn’t even get into the issue we had come up a few months back, which brought my blood to a boil again over how soldiers aren’t given the whole truth about their health risks overseas and how that can affect their partners upon their return. This sad fact came up when my partner ingested a bodily fluid of mine (no details here, but it wasn’t blood), and developed a similar rash to the one my naturopath and I had fought last year. My rash and my partner’s were cured, if one could call lasting scars, and the tendency for this same rash to pop up in little, red bumps in other parts of our bodies from time to time, making it necessary for us both to give ourselves over to our naturopath’s regimen of natural supplements and treatments all over again, cured. My naturopath determined after muscle testing me, that the rash is the result of toxins in my body that are most likely the lasting effects of my soldier having been exposed to depleted uranium over a period of time. This is something the military does tell them, that there is depleted uranium in the paint used on the vehicles they drive, and that it’s to deflect bullets (this is what my soldier told me when I mentioned I’d talked to a scientist
who told me the stuff would never be safe to be in contact with). They don’t tell them it’s likely to cause several kinds of cancer in several years, and that it might be passed on via bodily fluid to partners. They don’t know it can also infect via the partner, a third party. I now know that and so does my partner. All because of two swallows, mine of my soldier’s bodily fluid and my partner’s of mine. Because we believe in natural medicine we are still healthy, and have professionals to help us keep an eye on this bugger of a virus when it pops up. Still, we’re worried what’s going to happen if current situations with healthcare change and we can no longer afford our alternative supplements or have access to our alternative doctors. We don’t believe the current model will be as helpful as McDermott seemed to believe it would be and we don’t believe the Powers That Be want natural medicine to be in the loop of the discussion, realizing a lot of the huge dollars would drop out of that loop. I mean, would you pay huge dollars if you knew seeing a naturopath or chiropractor would cost less, and you’d be healthier than the Western medical system often leaves their patients? Trust me, I’ve seen both sides and I’m thinkng a new model needs to be looked at before anyone signs on a dotted line that makes longstanding legislations that change our system of broken healthcare forever. Just sayin’. Meanwhile, we continue to do things that make my neighbors hate us both, like making up pulp fiction Lesbian stories on the spur and acting them out in bed,
Model: Helene
to much giggling and then much moaning and groaning from sexual pleasure of the very kinky kind. We pinch our pennies and complain to each other about the evils of corporations and how we’d both like to be free to pursue our dreams of making money doing what we really do best, him astrology, me writing horror and being a psychic. We try not to worry too much about what the future holds for our healthcare practices, but we can’t ignore that we are very afraid. Still, we make each other laugh with his little jokey statements mocking a store ad where he works. Human blood, another healthy choice for those back to school lunches. This, I shamelessly tell you.
23