DECEMBER 2011 ISSUE 98 • FREE magazine The Voice of Alberta’s LGBT Community Jann Arden Uncovered Again!
Four OH! Michael Lucas
Kaya Jones Boyfriend has a Boyfriend
PLUS: Kent Hehr Scott Thompson The Wizard of Oz Scan to Read on ...and more! Mobile Devices With Bells On http://gettag.mobi Ringing in the Season Business Directory Community Maps Events Calendar Tourist Information STARTING ON PAGE 17 Calgary • Edmonton • Alberta www.gaycalgary.com 2 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS
Publisher: Steve Polyak 5 Fishing Lessons Editor: Rob Diaz-Marino Publisher’s Column Sales: Steve Polyak Design & Layout: Rob Diaz-Marino, Steve Polyak 8 Pride Centre of Edmonton Recovers After
Writers and Contributors Summer Fire Chris Azzopardi, Dallas Barnes, Dave Brousseau, Jason Clevett, Andrew Collins, Rob Diaz-Marino, Janine Eva Trotta, Jack Fertig, Glen Hanson, 9 Attitudes at Work Robert Herman, Joan Hilty, Evan Kayne, Stephen Working LGB experience tolerance, yet still some discrimination Lock, Randy Myer, Allan Neuwirth, Steve Polyak,
Carey Rutherford, Romeo San Vicente, Jamie 10 PAGE Schneider, Ed Sikov and the LGBT Community of Calgary, Edmonton, and Alberta. 10 Scott Thompson: Photography Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino, Up Close & Personal B&J, BT McDonald Kids in the Hall comedian on why straight white men have it hard Videography and how bullied kids should ‘grow a pair’ Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino
Printers 13 J. Edgar: The (Gay?) Man Behind The Mask Transcontinental Printing Out screenwriter talks Eastwood’s ‘loving’ take on J. Edgar and Distribution DiCaprio’s turn as a powerful closet case Calgary: Gallant Distribution, GayCalgary Staff Edmonton: Clark’s Distribution 15 Lesbians Have a New Place to Meet Up Other: Canada Post
Legal Council 17 Directory and Events Courtney Aarbo, Barristers and Solicitors 13 PAGE
Sales & General Inquiries 23 World AIDS Day: Remembering Those We Lost GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine 2136 17th Avenue SW Calgary, AB, Canada 23 Help Us Make It A Happy Hamper Holiday T2T 0G3
Office Hours: By appointment ONLY 25 Multi-Colour Fun Phone: 403-543-6960 Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat comes alive at Stage West Toll Free: 1-888-543-6960 Fax: 403-703-0685 26 Why the Umbrella Failed E-Mail: [email protected] Part 4: Conclusions This Month's Cover Main: Jann Arden, courtesy of Universal Music, Top Right: Michael Lucas, Mid Right: Kaya Jones, Bottom Right: Paul Welch, photo by Ian Jackson 28 Ring in the Holidays With Bells On Guys in Disguise offers theatre goers a refreshing Yuletide comedic treat
Proud Members of: 25 PAGE 30 Deep Inside Hollywood
Edmonton Rainbow Business Association 31 Cocktail Chatter Drinking Alone with Friends: The Yankee Mint Julep 32 Kaya’s Boyfriend Has A Boyfriend International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association The Canadian ex-Pussycat Doll’s mutual gay adoration 34 Our Friend Dorothy ATP brings the Wonderful Wizard to life National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association PAGE 28 PAGE Continued on Next Page www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 3 Table of Contents
Continued From Previous Page 36 Out of Town Texas Coast: Galveston, Corpus Christi, and South Padre Island 38 Fundraising Photos Magazine Figures Monthly Print Quantity: 9,000–11,000 copies 40 MANLY MOSES Guaranteed Circulation: 8,500 copies Bonus Circulation: 500–2,500 copies
42 Hear Me Out… for the holidays Readership Michael Bublé, Glee Readers Per Copy: 4.9 (PMB) Print Readership: >41,650 Avg. Online Circulation: 150,000 readers 43 A Couple of Guys Estimated Total Readership: PAGE 32 PAGE >191,650 readers 44 Bitter Girl Frequency: Monthly Proof of monthly figures are 45 FOUR – OH!! available on request. Distribution Locations: Michael Lucas Enters His Fourth Decade Calgary: 160, Edmonton: 120 Other Alberta Cities: 15 47 ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM Other Provinces: 35 United States: 15 Please call us if your establishment would 48 Jann Arden like to become a distribution location. A conversation with Calgary’s favorite daughter History Originally established in January 52 Chelsea Boys 1992 as Men for Men BBS by MFM Communications. Name changed to PAGE 40 PAGE GayCalgary in 1998. Independent 53 Kent Hehr company as of January 2004. First edition MLA blazing the trail for the 99 percent of GayCalgary.com Magazine published November 2003. Name adjusted in November 2006 to GayCalgary and 55 Queer Eye Edmonton Magazine. 60 Classified Ads Disclaimer and Copyright Opinions expressed in this magazine are specific to the author, and do not 62 Q Scopes necessarily reflect those of GayCalgary Think ahead, Sagittarius! staff and contributors. Those involved in the making of this publication, whether advertisers, contributors, or the subjects of articles Scan for Scan for or photographs, are not necessarily gay, this Issue Latest Issue lesbian, bisexual, or trans. This magazine also includes straight allies and those who PAGE 45 PAGE are gay friendly. http://gettag.mobi No part of this publication may be reprinted or modified without the expressed written http://www.gaycalgary.com/RSS permission of the editor or publisher.
Articles • Recent News • Prize Draws • Events • Travel Info Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. GayCalgary is a registered trademark. http://www.gaycalgary.com/Twitter Follow us on Twitter for articles, weekly news and updates! JAN 2012 Print Deadlines Ad Booking: Thu, Dec 29th http://www.gaycalgary.com/Facebook http://www.gaycalgary.com/FacebookFan Submission: Tue, Jan 3rd Join us on Facebook for articles, weekly news and updates! In Circulation: Thu, Jan 5th Please contact us immediately if http://www.gaycalgary.com/i98 you think you may have missed the booking or submission deadline. PAGE 48 PAGE More articles and exclusive content online!
4 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Editorial Fishing Lessons Publisher’s Column
By Rob Diaz-Marino, MSc. we were still offering our services to help the ISCCA, ISCWR, In my monthly columns, I’ve enjoyed writing about the and Misc Youth put on the picture booth fundraiser, and our many success stories within our community: non-profit hope was that seeing these performers doing their thing onstage groups and businesses that have proven a little effort would create further demand for photos with them. applied smartly can overcome almost any obstacle. In The potential was awesome for our community to come fact, I have a few such stories to talk about later in this together, engage the show’s audience, give an upbeat impression column, but first I want to share something different – a of what Alberta’s LGBT community is all about, and raise some story of mostly failure. good money. I say “mostly” because there are still a few gems that deserve But the term “shit show” doesn’t begin to describe the diverse commendation for their efforts, who pulled something of a assortment of dysfunctions, failings, and excuses that we saw success from a losing situation. But I want this story to give the come up to defeat this idea. Steve and I have never been so right people a good kick in the ass for their shortsightedness, unimpressed with our community groups in general - it was poor planning, lame excuses, and self-defeating attitude. Yes a great opportunity mostly squandered. And it’s not like this this will be a rant…it’s been a while since the last time. opportunity just fell into our laps either; we put in our own time, effort, and resources to make it happen, and certainly We at GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine work hard to Taboo also made some concessions for us to do all of this in the create opportunities for local LGBT businesses and community hopes that it would add to the unique experience of their show. groups to help themselves. It’s the nature of our line of business to create potential, and that means the benefit of the space we In retrospect, Calgary’s show was not so bad. According to offer directly correlates to the amount of effort and thought that Joey the ISCCA signed up nearly 20 individuals to volunteer our customers and community partners put into developing it. at the booth, to raise funds by selling leis and to help push To borrow from the popular metaphor, we’re not giving anyone photos. To their own disappointment, most of those individuals a “fish”, only a fishing rod. didn’t show up. Instead of getting discouraged, those who did turn up worked a good deal harder. The frustrating part is that when a poor effort is made by any one of these outside organizations and they don’t see the Dale was a force to be reckoned with, tirelessly selling leis and response or returns that they hoped for, we are often blamed. It helping to line up photos for all 4 days of the show. Never once doesn’t matter that we’re going above and beyond in our job to did he complain or let on that he may have been feeling tired get them the exposure that we promise, and able to prove that – he kept a good face forward at all times, and his energy got we’re delivering on that promise. We’re giving them a perfectly people excited about the fundraiser and wanting to participate. good, tried and tested fishing rod, but we are blamed that it The dynamic duo of Joey (aka. Lucy Fur) and Marina were doesn’t catch enough “fish” when they’ve applied the wrong with us all days but Sunday. While Marina managed cash, Joey bait, or thrown in a bare hook. was actively chatting up passersby to sell photos or performing It all boils down to one simple cosmic rule: when you put songs on the stage to drum up interest. On Thursday, the first garbage in, you get garbage out. This month we witnessed a day of the show, he and Ruby had our photo printer backlogged microcosm of this play out for our whole community, at our by an hour compelling us to bring in a second printer to keep booth at the Taboo shows in Calgary and Edmonton. up with the volume. Many months in advance (in some cases nearly a whole year), we put out invitations and had discussions with the major non- profit groups that we deal with in both cities. We were asking them to send representatives to spend some time over the 3-4 days of the show to fundraise or otherwise promote their organizations. We stepped up our game at the show with an additional two booths opposite our usual double-booth space, where we had our own mini-stage and spotlight (courtesy of Club Sapien) for performances, and additional tables for groups to sell product and put out pamphlets. In addition to this all,
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 5 Over the course of the weekend we saw Ruby Hart, current Online Last Month (1/2) reigning Empress Makayla Quinn St. Asia, Dyna Myte, Dark Tear, April Showers, Electronica, Toby Continued, Bulldozer, Falling Backwards explores and Kiwi show up and contribute to various degrees by the life of Jann Arden performing on the stage and getting in on photos. We definitely Often people look at the contrast with Jann cannot criticize the effort from the ISCCA this year – and it was Arden the person – upbeat, warm hearted, and well worth it because they raised just over $2500 from selling hilarious – with her sad and... 308 photos, and we estimate 500 leis. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2582 Misc Youth had planned to sell their swag at the booth but their show at the Junction in Edmonton the week prior had “A Behanding in Spokane” completely cleaned them out. Members from the group still an Adrenaline Rush showed up to get in on the action by doing some performances A Behanding in Spokane is Ground Zero and photos, though they were fairly laid back. They took away Theatre/Hit and Myth Productions third play just under $100 for the couple of hours they spent at the show by Martin McDonagh after successful runs... on Friday and Saturday. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2583 Justine B. showed up on Friday and Saturday, representing The Tea Party Returns Pride Calgary, to sell rainbow-themed merchandise. Despite Iconic Canadian band returns being somewhat shy, she was able to bring in around $600 for her efforts, and even performed a drag number or two for fun. to Alberta this week The last time Calgary & Edmonton experienced Those were the gems that made the Calgary show worth all the Tea Party live in concert was a summer tour the trouble. As great as that is, if everything had gone as we opening for Def Leppard in 2005. Singer... had hoped, imagine how much more they and other groups http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2584 could have raised! So immediately after Calgary’s show was over with, we Book Marks redoubled our efforts trying to get Edmonton’s community Moffie organized for the Edmonton Taboo show two weeks later. Moffie, by Andre Carl van der Merwe. Europa Despite this push, Edmonton’s show was just about a total Editions, 368 pages, $15 paper. Young Nicholas write-off. Van der Swart, already scorned by his strict ... Running from Thursday to Saturday, there was no feasible http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2585 way around me missing work and so I had to take two days off at a very inconvenient time. We had to make arrangements Creep of the Week for our cats to get through three and a half days without us Proposition 8 Legal Defense team there to administer their daily medical treatments. We were Hey, did you hear the one about the judge late getting out the door because of incessant phone calls and who ruled against Prop 8 in California being a although we arrived ahead of time in Edmonton, the rush hour homo? And how his ruling shouldn’t... traffic swallowed up that lead and then some. My head was http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2600 about ready to explode from the stress by the time we arrived Deep Inside Hollywood at the Northlands Agricom building. It was difficult to put on a smile for most of the day, but I began to mellow out again once Jena Malone aims for “Lonely Hunter” Jena Malone aims for Lonely Hunter She was our booth was set up. married to a man, but Southern literary icon The conditions were not ideal. Our area was pretty dark. Carson McCullers, the author of The Heart... Our loudspeakers, which were perfectly sufficient for the show http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2590 in Calgary, were entirely drowned out by the sound from the stage to one side, and the seminar area to the other. Only Hear Me Out when cranked to full volume could one hear our music for drag Björk, Indigo Girls numbers. Björk, Biophilia Breaking down Björk isn’t easy. The ISCWR was the only community group that we were The Icelandic dancer in the dark’s unpredictable expecting to see that weekend. This still seemed promising output, ever since 1993’s electro-pop Debut... because they had done a stellar job in past years selling photos, http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2591 pom-poms and chocolates, and we were determined to see them do even better this year. But without drag queens for good Creep of the Week chunks of the weekend, the photo idea was lost on many that Keith Ablow came by our booth. With not a single extrovert amongst the Full disclosure: I do not watch “Dancing With the Stars.” In fact, I can’t even say I’ve ever intentionally viewed it unless you count... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2587
The OutField Gay Sports’ Hot 100 To John Amaechi’s long list of achievements – former NBA basketball player, gay activist, human rights advocate – add another: Order... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2593
Thinking Out Loud: Am I post-gay yet? Or am I just overcompensating for old gay stereotypes? Have you become complacent about being gay? I have. As LGBT rights evolve, and LGBT life becomes more normalized to mainstream America, some of us... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2594
6 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Online Last Month (2/2) volunteers that stayed with us loyally for most of the show, the leis did little more than decorate their arms as they stared off The Tea Party Steams into space and people walked by. Up Flames Central At first we allowed them some time to warm up to it on their It was -30 degrees outside on Stephen own, but as Steve and I watched them calcify into statues we Avenue on November 19th, but inside began to get slightly annoyed. We didn’t go through all this Flames Central The Tea Party had no trouble just to waste everyone’s time, so we started pushing issues heating up the packed room for... them to get out there into the aisle and start talking to people. When some of them made excuses that people looked like they http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2601 wouldn’t be interested, Steve tried leading by example to prove them wrong. In fact, more often than not those people were Rhythm Nation indeed interested - all Steve had to do was talk to them to STOMP makes music out of unlikely items explain why we had leis and drag queens, explain that we were Music can come from the most surprising fundraising for particular charitable causes, and how much fun of places. STOMP markes two decades a photo would be. since it was first created in the UK with a In one hour, early on the Saturday afternoon when tour that is running at the... attendance was still low, Steve probably sold more photos and http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2602 leis than the four ISCWR volunteers had done for the whole of Thursday and Friday combined. When Steve eventually Book Marks stopped demonstrating, a few of them continued for a couple The Art of Fielding more sales, but eventually they went back to gathering moss and our own apathy grew. The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. Little, Brown, 524 pages, $25.99 The ISCWR just didn’t rally the right people to be there for this. Those who did turn up seemed like they were there hardcover. College baseball is merely the more as a favor to us, or because they felt guilty that they surface subject of Harbach’s ... themselves had tried and failed to get more people out to help. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2586 We appreciated them being there so as to not leave us hanging, but still the whole lot of us looked pretty lame for the majority Creep of the Week of the weekend. At several points I thought to myself, “I missed John Boehner work for this? A weekend that we could have been working on The Defense of Marriage Act makes the magazine, and this is how we spent it?” John Boehner weep. Not because of how On the brighter side, Carmelle (I hope I’m spelling her sadistically cruel it is to gays and lesbians, name right), a queen who is not even part of the ISCWR, was nor how unconstitutional. No, ... kind enough to come by the show on Friday night when not a single ISCWR member could pull themselves away from an http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2588 engagement at Junction. She did a marvelous job of turning heads while she was performing on our stage, but pushing Thinking Outloud: Why photos for the ISCWR and its charities wasn’t really her job or My Marriage Matters obligation. Regardless, we were very grateful that she came by A marriage doubter changes her tune because it meant we weren’t twiddling our thumbs, it drummed It’s my wedding anniversary today and up some interest in our booth, and she and her boyfriend I’m 6000 miles away from my partner, seemed to enjoy themselves. sitting in an English café. Being all alone Otherwise the only true momentum we saw during the and so far away is making... weekend was when Vanity Fair stopped by Thursday evening, http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2595 and again on Saturday evening with Kitty LeBehr. The ISCWR owes most of the estimated $700 to $800 they raised to these Hear Me Out queens. Ladonna did her part for a few hours on Saturday Kelly Clarkson, Miranda Lambert night with stage performances to reel people in so that Vanity Kelly Clarkson, Stronger If Kelly Clarkson and Kitty could line them up for photos. As the token “leather boys” JJ Velour and I weren’t nearly as popular for the photos, wasn’t making music, you have to but JJ still performed the occasional number to keep people wonder: Where would she take out her interested. wronged-woman rage? It’s a scary... By the end Saturday, the brutal 12 hour day of the show, we http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2592 were exhausted and frustrated. Some ISCWR volunteers were angry at us for pushing them so hard and for harping on them Creep of the Week about leaving us in a lurch on Friday. I don’t think Steve and Linda Harvey I have ever felt so dissatisfied about doing something to benefit Your son just fell off the monkey bars, the community. It sucked out every last drop of good will from shattering a kneecap and busting out me. some teeth. Your kid is screaming in A few groups who could not be there were kind enough to pain, blood all over his face, and... still drop off materials for us to give out on their behalf. But while these materials were great for the sporadic LGBT people http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2589 that came by our booth, unfortunately they failed to provide And more... something relatable for the majority of straight people at the show. There needed to be someone there to tie it in for them on an individual level, or at least to offer them something of a souvenir that benefits the organization. As for the remaining groups that didn’t show up at all - some were paralyzed by indecision: poor internal communication or complete lack of community awareness outside of their own group meant that the Taboo show was a complete surprise to them and so they opted to do nothing; failure to properly
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 7 Community discuss ahead of time how they would participate in the show left them defaulting to do nothing; members in the know who had prior engagement and hadn’t thought to arrange for the Pride Centre of Edmonton remaining available members to do anything. Some even turned their nose up at the opportunity, having decided they and their group didn’t want to have anything to do with a sex Recovers After Summer Fire show. It was pathetic, even a bit insulting to see these reactions By Dallas Barnes from so many groups that we regularly stick our necks out to support, and yet it was so totally typical. Garbage in, garbage On August 10th of this year, the Pride Centre of out; we’ve seen it happen time and again in the past and Edmonton was devastated by a fire that destroyed its somehow we kept forgiving them for it. It’s not like we can bend electrical panel, and electricity has yet to be restored to any of these people over our knee and spank them for not living the building. up to our expectations, I mean who are we to tell them what to Fortunately, the fire happened after operating hours and no one was do and how to do it? injured, and although it was determined to be arson, the Edmonton Police So what can we really do? Write a bitchy editorial that Hate Crimes Unit have not discerned it to be a hate crime. Determined attempts to shame them into doing better? We’ve seen how to continue on with its important work, the Pride Centre of Edmonton is well people in this community take criticism – like it’s a knife going full force with a new space and an expanding program. straight to their heart. Or perhaps we were expecting too much Ashley Matchem, Executive Director of the Centre since February is from people, and need to stop sticking our necks out so much. excited about the positive turn of events. “We are still in negotiation with our new space at Grant MacEwan, but funny enough we just got word from the City of Edmonton (who controls its permitting) that we have November 2011 been approved for the space.” The Centre is hoping to open by December Well I can’t let my negativity drown out everything - there 15th. were still some great things that happened in the community “The new space will more than meet our needs,” Matchem adds. “But this past month. it does require some renovations in order to make it move-in ready. These renovations include making the space accessible and the creation The Western Canada LeatherSIR, Leatherboy, and of a dedicated space of our youth programming.” Community Bootblack competition took place at the The youth programming will potentially involve a mentoring program, Calgary Eagle on the weekend between the Taboo shows. trans program, and an anti-bullying program. They are also putting a On the Friday there was a meet and greet, and leather swap call out for any youth from the ages of 25 and under to serve on the auction to raise money for the travel fund for the winning Youth Advisory Board. competitors. On Saturday the competition ensued, and On November 14th, the Centre launched a month long fundraising out of town dignitaries from the Leather and Fetish scene campaign to meet an external goal of $20,000. The Centre is in need judged our local contestants. Amongst the interesting of some upgrades to make the space suitable for its needs, and the demonstrations I thought the acronym behind the name conditional grants and small private donations will not cover it. of one of the judges, Pup Nitro, was clever: Needs Intense “Fortunately, the fundraising drive has exceeded expectations,” Torture to Reach Orgasm. Also I reveled at the volley of says Matchem, “but we are more than happy to accept donations from impromptu Jesus jokes told by last year’s winners and anyone.” hosts for the show, Sir Scott and boy René, while the judges “Our goal is ambitious, but our need is critical, and the new space conferred. Sir Marc and boy Daniel were selected as our is an exciting opportunity for the Centre to renew and improve our region’s new LeatherSIR and Leatherboy. On Sunday services,” says Wade King, Board Past President. afternoon there was a Victory Brunch for the two winners, Current programs the Centre offers are about as diverse as the which was a great opportunity to hang out with them and community, and rightly so. These range from Womonspace, Umbrella the judges from the night prior. Group (youth), Seniors Drop-In, an Art Group, an Alcohol Addictions Group, and even a Dinner and a Movie Night, to name a few. They also Furthermore, while we were away at the Edmonton Taboo house one of the largest queer libraries in Canada. show, we were regrettably missing a phenomenal World At this current juncture, staff are working from home or working in a AIDS Day fundraiser being put on at FAB bar by Dion temporary space at HIV Edmonton – even a space at a coffee shop can Boink and Jason Wheeler, which according to organizers make for a working space for the day. A familiar, consistent space is not raised a whopping $6500! The event happened opposite Mz. surprisingly a welcome notion. Rhonda’s annual Crowns for Kids event at Twisted Element, With this being said, you can also help by other means than donating. which according to organizers collected an estimated $500 The Centre wants and needs volunteers! “Volunteers are definitely in toys, and $3000 in donations. needed! They are a huge part of what we do,” adds Matchem. “We are expanding on our counselling programs as 40% of our calls are This Month counselling related.” Successful community centres are crucial to our queer community. It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just around the Drawing near the end of a year filled with teen suicides and global human corner, and of course that means the usual set of community rights at the forefront, a safe space to foster creative ideas and to support traditions: ARGRA’s Christmas Dinner and Dance on the 3rd those in need is exactly what our queer brothers and sisters need. Most at Club Sapien, and some good old Christmas drag shows in admirable are the dedicated staff and volunteers that, regardless of these both Calgary and Edmonton. Of course don’t forget about recent challenges, continue to make sure the Centre is running. But the the Living Christmas Tree fundraiser at the Calgary Eagle Pride Centre of Edmonton and its programs cannot survive without the on the 10th, and their Christmas Dinner on the 18th. Then assistance of its community. Take a look at their website and see how of course, check your local hangouts for info on New Years you can help. Eve parties. We’d like to wish our readers a Merry Christmas, or simply Happy Holidays if you prefer. Stay warm, stay sane, and watch out for falling trees! See you in 2012. Pride Centre of Edmonton www.pridecentreofedmonton.org
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8 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Editorial Attitudes at Work Working LGB experience tolerance, yet still some discrimination
By Evan Kayne include the age breakdown, Jaideep told me respondents Most members of the LGBTQ community believe over the age of 55 were more likely to say attitudes in the the workplace has become more tolerant over workplace have improved over the past 5-10 years. As for the past few years; however some discrimination younger respondents, they were more likely to be open with persists, a recent Angus Reid public survey has their peers than those over the age of 55. disclosed. The second omission from the survey were results from The good news is that the survey results indicate overt Transgender respondents. The survey only had 4 respondent discrimination is low. As Jaideep Murkerji, Vice President groups (gay, lesbian, bi-male, bi-female). Unfortunately, of Angus Reid Public Opinion told me, “...overall, I was as Jaideep informed me, there simply weren’t enough surprised to see the extent to which the respondents in the transgender folk in their panel to get a real accurate read, survey felt their workplace was tolerant. It’s a very high and they had to work with the information they had. number. But when you dig a little deeper, you realize that Angus Reid would like to revisit this survey again in quite a few people – especially when you start looking back the future, and they hope at that time they will have more over the course of their career – have had incidences of transgender respondents. This is a rare study, and they are discrimination.” hoping it is a precursor to more studies and surveys in a The actual numbers state 93% describe their employer’s similar vein. They are looking to run a similar survey in the overall attitude to be tolerant of LGBTQ people in the USA, so it will be interesting to see how Canada compares workplace. 72% feel attitudes towards our community have with our neighbours to the south. improved over the last five years. However, 34% of gays and 40% of lesbians said they have experienced discrimination during their professional lives. Additionally, over a quarter of the respondents who have Survey Results and Angus Reid not come out at their workplace said they fear negative Review the survey findings here: consequences. As well, the survey indicated something many of us have http://www.gaycalgary.com/u317 suspected over the years – overt, blatant discrimination Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF): has been replaced by a softer, more nebulous type of discrimination which is harder to prove: social exclusion and http://www.gaycalgary.com/u324 ridicule. You may think you’re being excluded when most of Methodology: The Angus Reid Forum consists of the department goes down to Starbucks on a coffee break, 120,000 Canadians who’ve agreed to take part in but you can’t prove it. Or, you might notice occasionally a surveys. These people are profiled over time, and at one colleague making a joking remark about your sexuality, but point forum members were asked about their sexual you’re not sure if he’s serious or just kidding around. orientation. From that information, they created a The other fascinating data arising from the survey are pool of 3-4 thousand LGTBQ respondents. For this the bisexual panellists’ responses. When asked about survey they randomly selected 983 people distributed co-workers’ overall attitude towards LGBT people in the across the country. These are people who are self- workplace, over 50% of Gays, Lesbians and Bisexual women identified as LGBTQ. People who were in the closet said attitudes were “very tolerant”. Bisexual men ranked or unwilling to share this information are of course that at 34%. Bisexual men and women tend not to be open not included (it’s one of the unavoidable limitations of with their sexuality at work. Bisexual men tend to maintain such a survey). the “my private life is private” rationale more than the other 3 groups. Depressingly, in the few instances where Further Surveys: It is free to join the Angus Reid a respondent admitted to having been gay bashed, 70% of forum at www.angusreidforum.com. Forum members Bisexual men would say nothing as their reaction. will get asked a range of different questions about different topics, but over time they will build a profile The response from Bisexual panellists was something of you which will include your sexuality. With more Angus Reid noticed, said Jaideep. “We had a lot of discussion respondents from the LGTBQ community, our opinions about this internally. It is an interesting finding. At the end may be used to help shape public opinion and policy. of all our surveys, we allow people to share their thoughts on the survey...anecdotally, we realized that there were quite a few of the bisexual men and women who filled out this survey who told us...they feel they would be ridiculed more being bisexual because people wouldn’t understand it or they would automatically assume they were just gay and not really fully out of the closet.” Consequently there’s a greater reluctance to come out at the office among bisexuals. Also, for those who do study the survey closely, you might http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2605 notice two obvious things missing. The first is how different View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments age groups responded to the survey. While they didn’t
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 9 Scott Thompson: Up Close & Personal Kids in the Hall comedian on why straight white men have it hard and how bullied kids should ‘grow a pair’
Scott Thompson (left) and Kevin McDonald (right) in a scene from Kids in the Hall.
By Chris Azzopardi During our recent chat, Thompson looked back at The Kids Scott Thompson is still a kid in the hall, but his outlook in the Hall and how it wouldn’t have existed without AIDS; on life – it doesn’t always get better, Queer Eye for the offered a solution to the bullying problem (“fight back”); and Straight Guy ruined our community and “the world isn’t talked about the difference between him and Kathy Griffin – kind to us” – is very much of a grown-up who’s been gay she makes you feel good about yourself, and he doesn’t. for a while. Thompson, 52, has been out publicly since Looking back, what do you think made The Kids in the Hall his career launched in the ’80s with The Kids in the Hall, so successful? a sketch comedy show that helped push homosexuality We were lucky. Society was being forced to confront into the mainstream with outrageously funny drag acts homosexuality because of AIDS, so we just came along at the and monologues. right time. If AIDS hadn’t happened I don’t think we would have happened. At least Buddy Cole (a character of his on Kids in the Hall) wouldn’t have happened. AIDS in many ways pried open that door. We were discovered in a fairytale kind of way; those things don’t happen very often. They happen almost never. GC: Was that show the high point of your career? ST: So far. The funny thing is, I’m still a “Kid in the Hall.” It was 22 years ago today that our special aired. How is that possible? We were just kids! GC: Hard to believe it’s been that long? ST: Yes, it is – because Kevin (McDonald, also of Kids in the Hall) and I are on stage, and we’ve known each other now for 25 years, and we’re still behaving like children. I mean, our show is so stupid! It’s weird, Kevin and I get off stage and we’re like, “What are we doing? We’re middle-aged men. We have no right to act this silly.” But it’s great! (Laughs) That’s what keeps you young. We’ll never get old at this rate.
10 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com GC: If you didn’t have that attitude, you may have not overcome some of what you did in your life, like cancer a couple years back. ST: I talk a lot about cancer in the show. What’s interesting is that I’ve discovered it’s a taboo. Now that homosexuality is completely boring I’ve been handed a new topic that people are uncomfortable with. I talk a lot about the side effects of chemo – like when I grew breasts! Suddenly I’m talking about cancer and hormones and transgenderism, and what could be more topical? I had bigger tits than Chastity... I mean, Chaz! (Laughs) I’ve been thinking a lot about this, the whole transgender thing. When I had cancer, the chemo converted my testosterone to estrogen, I grew little tits like Jodie Foster in “Taxi Driver,” I became very emotional, I became obsessed with “Twilight,” I lost my ambition and my sex drive. I’m thinking, “But that doesn’t make me a woman; I’m just a man with a hormonal imbalance.” GC: You were halfway there. ST: I was! And now I’m back, because I went through testosterone therapy. So I’m myself again and I can’t tell you what that was like. Well, I do – I tell it onstage. GC: You say homosexuality is boring. Did you ever think you’d see the day when you’d be saying that? ST: Never, no! You know, today I was sitting in Starbucks having my tea and I look at the story about what we were two years ago, what our targets were, and in many ways the targets were straight white men in suits – that was the enemy. Now I go, I feel bad for straight white men! (Laughs) I feel like they’re the new woman. Like, straight white guys can’t say shit. There’s this huge national dialogue going on about bullying, and I had a terrible time as a child. But women are bullying now! Let’s be honest, look at the role of gay men on television – for a gay male to be on television he has to be neutered, and who’s doing the neutering? Women. Straight men don’t do it; they don’t give a shit. They are jealous of how much sex we have. It’s women who are neutering us. They want us to be their shopping companions, but they don’t want us to be doing spit roasts or sucking cock in back alleys. GC: Which shows are you referring to? ST: Every show. Point to a gay male on television who’s a man and who’s sexual. (Modern Family) is a hilarious show but there are two gay men who aren’t really allowed to be physical or touch each other; it’s implicit that they’re monogamous, which we know is nonsense. They have to raise a Chinese girl! How feminizing is that? And on every makeover show, everyone talks about gay men like they’re little poodles. GC: We have Queer Eye for the Straight Guy to thank for that. ST: Exactly. I remember when it first came out and I went, “Oh god, stop – you’re going to ruin everything.” And it absolutely did. Every fucking show is full of that. I talk a lot in the show about my chemotherapy, about getting those tiny breasts and having to have a mammogram, and that’s when I was introduced into the world of breast cancer. Breast cancer is out of control. Not the actual disease but the program behind it. Seriously, the other day I saw a Pepsi truck that was painted pink and that had a ribbon on it and I’m thinking, “Pepsi, you fucking cause cancer!”
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www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 11 Interview - From Previous Page
It’s like a fist being the skills they need. That’s spokesperson for domestic segregation. That’s just violence. racism. So I don’t like any GC: You’ve addressed of those trends. I think bullying before, specifically that’s absolutely wrong. how the It Gets Better GC: Did you ever feel campaign is basically a lie bullied as a professional – it might not get better, comedian? Is labeling you say. What would you a comic “gay” a form of tell bullied kids, then? bullying? ST: Grow a pair. Here’s ST: Oh, constantly. the thing: The world is not That’s total bullying. It’s kind to us; it never really putting you in a category will be. The gay male is that makes you lesser. always going to be at the When you hyphenate bottom. I believe the things anything, that’s basically that happened to me as a lessening you. How about child scarred me terribly, just “comedian”? I reject and I wish somebody all those hyphenates. would have helped me with That’s just – no. I don’t some of the things that want any hyphenates. I happened. But you have don’t want any handicap. to fight back. So much of It’s like affirmative action these bullying campaigns – that’s not good. I don’t are part of the trend that need that. I can stand on we were just talking about my own two feet. – the recasting of gay men GC: Right. We don’t as eternal victims. And it’s call Kathy Griffin or like, fight back! Fathers Sarah Silverman “straight should start teaching the comedians.” boys how to punch. He ST: Exactly. And here’s does that to you, here’s the thing: Gay men almost what you do: You fucking never come to my shows. punch him in the face. GC: They don’t? GC: I could never do it as a kid. ST: Hardly at all, no. That’s always been an ST: I couldn’t either, but issue. The shows with with standup comedy you Kevin and I are packed have that microphone – with straight people and wow, is that powerful. a sprinkling of gay men – GC: Did your scarred and I mean a sprinkling. childhood lead you to Because I’m not a ghetto comedy? queen. I wish more gay ST: Yeah, absolutely. men would come out. I When I’m on that stage, think gay men are so used and if you come at me, to being victimized that you’re going down. You they think that a standup feel like the lion tamer. It’s comedy club is a place very powerful. where they’ll be attacked The vast majority of unless the standup people are sheep, but when comedian is a woman, like they get angry, they’re Margaret Cho or Kathy lions. They don’t think. Griffin. Those women – Mobs don’t think, so if one and I love them both – person does something make gay men feel good you gotta slap them down about themselves. because it will catch fire. GC: And you don’t? I think of a heckler as a ST: (Laughs) No! You cancer cell, so the moment hit the nail on the head. I see it appear I have to I never thought of it that destroy it immediately or way, but no, I guess not. that will spread. You got me. GC: And then you’ll have man boobs. (Laughs) That’s right! So if I don’t slap ’em down it will metastasize into a riot and they’ll attack me. ST: I’ll probably never get over my childhood. And my heart breaks for these boys, and I know it’s so sad. I was http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2606 reading the other day about these schools for gay kids and View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments I just think that’s the wrong approach. They’ll never get the
12 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com J. Edgar: The (Gay?) Man Behind The Mask Out screenwriter talks Eastwood’s ‘loving’ take on J. Edgar and DiCaprio’s turn as a powerful closet case
Photos courtesy of Warner Bros
By Chris Azzopardi closest colleague, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer of The Social No milk for Dustin Lance Black – the 37-year-old filmmaker Network), more than just his right-hand man? who says he feels 10 years older today – on this recent morning “Women were very interested in him and he didn’t respond, in a suite at a Beverly Hills hotel. Instead, the screenwriter is but he did like to show up to work every morning with Clyde nursing a hangover after last night’s premiere of his latest film, Tolson and drive home with him each night.” Black laughs. “And J. Edgar, with a bottle of water, joking that “it just means more this is well before it was fashionable to carpool! So it became honest answers; the filter’s down.” incredibly apparent that he wasn’t straight and I started to Even without the last drops of Jack and Cokes flushing from wonder, ‘Well, what did gay look like? Why was he behaving his system (proof: lots of bathroom breaks), Black’s always like that?’” spoke his mind. It’s how the writer has become one of the By interviewing gay men of the time – before Stonewall and most admired LGBT activists of our generation, passionately the sexual revolution, when homosexuality was so vague that speaking out on hot topics like Prop 8, being a lapsed Mormon gay people were called “daffodils” – Black was able to piece and curious dinners with Taylor Lautner (more on that later). together Hoover, who was never married and lived with his Today, however, all the talk, or most of it anyway, is around mother (played by Judi Dench) until she died. his big Clint Eastwood-directed, Leonardo DiCaprio-carried “This portrait of this man was a very complex one and a very follow-up to Milk, Black’s biopic about Harvey Milk’s life and interesting one,” says DiCaprio, in the titular role through a legacy that won the writer an Oscar. “It puts a lot of pressure half-century stretch, seen in his later years with makeup that on a lot of your work,” says Black, leaning forward on a sofa. took up to seven hours to apply. “I just loved the research that “It’s a dangerous thing to have around the house, so I wrapped (Black) did and the take that he had on J. Edgar Hoover’s life. him up and flew him to Virginia with my mother. I love him, but No matter what his sexual orientation was, he was devoted to he’s not allowed in the house while I’m working. I don’t want to his job and power was paramount to him. Holding onto that think I’m writing toward that. I want to keep taking risks, and power at all costs was the most important thing in his life.” this is a risky film.” Black’s screenplay, though, doesn’t slight the importance of It’s risky not just because of the controversial career of its Tolson in Hoover’s life. How gay does Black go with J. Edgar? subject, J. Edgar Hoover, the notoriously snaky FBI director “It’s not Milk,” Black explains. “Milk was gay from head to toe. who dominated the bureau for nearly 50 years, carrying his This is not that.” tenure through eight presidencies and three wars. What’s attracting the most controversy is the attention the film gives The men were nothing alike: “Milk came out and gave people the infamous G-Man’s mysterious private life: Was Hoover’s great hope,” he says, “but this man was incredibly closeted and Continued on Next Page www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 13 spread fear. I thought, ‘If I’m able to sell this thing, I might be was made more and more clear to me and I became obsessed able to finally examine why.’” with it.” He looked into the hearsay regarding Hoover’s hankering for Black was also consumed by it, and his research caused him drag, but that turned out to be just what many thought – a to get a “creepy feeling” for how much he started to empathize rumor. But this is what Black knew: Hoover was an emotionally with the historical figure. “Hoover was this young man who repressed mama’s boy who was smitten with Tolson; they had was incredibly promising and brilliant,” he says. “Hoover is the many meals together, up until their last moments alive, and ultimate cautionary tale of: Do not replace love and family and they traveled to attend horse races, often sleeping in the same your fellow man with admiration and fame. Don’t let your kids room to, you know, save pennies. grow up to be Hoovers, and the way you do that is to teach them J. Edgar, then, doesn’t ignore the love story. It’s there in the importance of love – and when they come to you and say the flustered face of Hoover the first time Tolson interviews for that might be someone of the same sex, you have to encourage associate director of the FBI, their affectionate handholding that and not discourage that.” and a tussle-turned-makeout scene. The poignant ending, as DiCaprio felt similarly. “Lance put it best when he said, ‘Look, the two are seen growing old together, is convincing on its own if we can better understand these people and their motivations that the men were more than just colleagues. Eastwood had and how their ambition manifested itself into their politics, we lots of inquiries regarding the script and the research behind it, can learn from them, we can learn from history.’” but he let Black run with all of it. History tells us that Hoover was driven, ruthless and “He never once asked about the love story or the gay manipulative in how he created a system of federal laws that relationship,” says Black. “I didn’t know what to think of that transformed our country into what it is today. He founded the until it got to production and I saw how he was treating these FBI in 1935 and remained director until his death in 1972, scenes. He was doing it in not just an incredibly respectable originating forensic laboratories and fingerprinting. Hoover was but loving manner.” as remarkably heroic as he was feared. Eastwood’s one suggestion came last-minute after Tolson “You look at the things he did in his teens and into his 20s professes his love to Hoover, who then reciprocates the and boy, what a mind and what potential,” says Black. “Can sentiment – but only after Tolson’s walked out. “That’s not in you imagine if this young man was allowed to love and love my script,” Black says, “That was Clint on take two or three openly and have a family and foster things like empathy and shouting out to Leo, ‘Tell him you love him.’” maintain a moral compass?” “As this is happening,” he continues, “I was reading on the He may have turned out a lot like Black, the posterboy for Internet that he was degaying the film. I don’t think so. People LGBT activism. He speaks regularly on issues concerning the assume that because he’s Clint he might, but he treated it gay community and recently wrote 8, a play about the battle incredibly loving.” against Proposition 8. Up next? Under the Banner of Heaven, Eastwood, a defender of marriage equality, says: “I had my an adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s bestseller that riffs on own impressions growing up with Hoover as a heroic figure in Mormonism, and next year’s release of his directorial debut, the ‘30s and beyond. We never knew too much about Tolson What’s Wrong with Virginia, starring Jennifer Connelly. Black or any of his close confidantes, but through researching this is not, however, linked to Twilight stud Taylor Lautner and movie… we’re putting our stamp on history. Sure, a lot of things filmmaker Gus Van Sant’s vague project, despite having a meal probably didn’t happen the way they happened in this film, but with both of them recently – food for too much thought that put they’re pretty close. Lance has done a great job researching.” Lautner’s sexuality in question. The first time Hammer looked over the script, he wasn’t sure About that brouhaha: “It wasn’t one,” Black says, laughing. what to make of the men’s codependency. He couldn’t get how “It was a nice dinner!” anybody would stay so dedicated to such a vile beast of a man like Hoover. “With Clyde, I thought that in order for it to make sense for him to be there and to stick around and to almost take that hot-and-cold abuse, it had to be a love story,” Hammer says. “I didn’t understand the love story; it didn’t make sense. After http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2607 having conversations with Fiona Weir, who cast the project, and several friends of mine, the complexities of their relationship View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments
14 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Community Lesbians Have a New Place to Meet Up
By Dallas Barnes “People should join this group if they want to have fun. It can Can I get an Amen? Are you a woman trying to find be scary coming out to something for the first time, especially something to do with other similar women, but find if your Queer identity is just developing! I have however, never the queer social scene a little too bar-oriented for your met a nicer and more accepting group of women than those liking? Have you logged onto Plenty of Fish lately and that come to our events! We aren’t a hook up group but I am realized that you already know everyone on the site? pleased to say that some of the women have met the love of their life through our events - sometimes when they weren’t looking Well, let me tell you, there is a group out there that may at all - who were previously feeling very isolated and like me... be your saving grace. Let me introduce you to Janine Cote, didn’t know there were other Lesbians living in town! I’ve gotten creator and organizer for the Lesbian Meet-Up Group, currently a few wonderful notes about the love that has come to their life rounding off its first year of operation. She took some time to talk through the group, the friendships that have been made and it to GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine about this ambitious makes the time we put into the running of the group more than venture. worth it. There are many couples who participate as well, like ”I was born and raised in Calgary, and then when I went to myself, and it seems to be a nice balance between the two. live in Vancouver for a year, I was blown away by the active “You can never have too many wonderful people in your life, queer community and the resources available for Lesbians,” and there are events for everyone!” Cote explained, regarding her motivations for starting the group. “When I moved back I sought out a community, first through sending an Email to Calgary Outlink, and then to the Calgary Sexual Health Center. Neither knew at the time of a group for Calgary Lesbian Meet-Up Group woman, or any kind of support available aimed towards Lesbians. I was leaving my husband, coming out to my family/friends and http://www.meetup.com/CalgaryLesbian felt a bit like... it wasn’t acceptable in Calgary, or that I was the only one. “When I started speaking to someone at the Calgary Sexual http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2608 Health Center about doing a fundraiser for them, and as an aside View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments explaining the situation, we started brainstorming. From that came the idea to just start something myself. I wanted anyone coming out to know that they weren’t alone, to have a place to go where others might understand, and for there to be an active social club for Queer women to participate in, and meet each other. I also needed reassurance that I wasn’t the only Lesbian in Calgary! I’m not! We will, at the end of January be celebrating our one year anniversary with an 80’s rollerskating party. I’m proud at the way the Community has jumped on board, and that there are 230 women on the site with more joining daily!” Often, lesbian themed events involve alcohol and dj-related adventures, which is fine when you’re in the mood for a fun night out. But this is where Cote’s group is different. “(The events) are aimed to just be good old fun. We have a variety of events offered each month. Upcoming for the month of December we have a Death by Chocolate Buffet, Night at a Blues Bar, serving lunch at the Calgary Drop in Center, a community party, our Monthly movie night, pottery painting, a pizza dinner, and Zoo lights. We have a monthly book club starting up in January and a monthly games night hosted for us at Club Sapien.” You may be asking yourself at this point, who are these 230 women that come to these events? Janine is quick to answer. “The people who come are varied as we have Lesbians who have been out for decades, bi-sexual woman, those who are questioning, and really anywhere on the spectrum. I love how every single person is welcome regardless of where they are in their journey or what they end up deciding is right for their life. The events are planned by multiple hosts, myself, as well as some of our regulars put events on the calendar - it is all volunteer run. We are also happy to post events from other groups in Calgary that might interest our members, such as events put on by GirlTalk, Calgary Outlink, or by other groups in the community such as the Bi-Sexual/Pansexual support group, The Smutty Writing Circle, GirlsGroove Dances etc. People are welcome to contact me through the meet up group - there is a contact us link - if they would like their related event posted on our calendar.” Let me guess, you are at the point of decision. Maybe you are asking yourself, why should I join? Or you may be asking, is this group really right for me? Janine hears you, and answers,
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 15 16 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Directory & Events
24 DOWNTOWN CALGARY
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37 55 4
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1 Calgary Outlink------Community Groups 9 FAB------Bars and Clubs 35 One Yellow Rabbit------Theatre 58 Theatre Junction------Theatre 2 Aids Calgary------Community Groups 13 Westways Guest House---- Accommodations 36 ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects------Theatre 60 Club Sapien------Bars and Clubs 3 Backlot------Bars and Clubs 16 Priape Calgary------Retail Stores 37 Pumphouse Theatre------Theatre 61 Holidays on the Hill------Retail Stores 4 Calgary Eagle Inc.------Bars and Clubs 24 Courtney Aarbo------Services 41 La Fleur------Retail Stores 62 Concept Bar & Lounge------Bars and Clubs 5 Texas Lounge------Bars and Clubs 33 Twisted Element------Bars and Clubs 43 Lisa Heinricks------Theatre and Fine Arts 6 Goliath’s------Bathhouses 34 Vertigo Mystery Theatre------Theatre 55 Marquee Room------Bars and Clubs
60 Concept Bar & Lounge------✰ 908 17th Ave SW 403-228-1006 FIND OUT! CALGARY www.facebook.com/ConceptLounge Accommodations Premiere crossover lounge. Entrance on 16th Ave. LGBT Community Directory 55 Marquee Room------✰ 13 Westways Guest House------✰ 612 - 8th Avenue SW 216 - 25th Avenue SW 403-229-1758 www.marqueeroom.com GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine is the go-to source for 1-866-846-7038 [email protected] Alternative night every Wednesday. information about Alberta LGBT businesses and community www.gaywestways.com 9 FAB------✰ groups—the most extensive and accurate resource of its kind! This 1742 - 10th Ave SW 403-263-7411 print supplement contains a subset of active community groups Bars & Clubs www.fab-bar.com Closed Mondays. and venues, with premium business listings of paid advertisers. 3 Backlot------✰ Bar and restaurant. 209 - 10th Ave SW 403-265-5211 5 Texas Lounge------✰ ✰...... Find our Magazine Here ...... Wheelchair Accessible Open 7 days a week, 2pm-close 308 - 17 Ave SW 403-229-0911 www.goliaths.ca Spot something inaccurate or outdated? Want your business or 4 Calgary Eagle Inc.------✰ 424a - 8th Ave SE 403-263-5847 Open 7 days a week, 11am-close organization listed? We welcome you to contact us! http://www.calgaryeagle.com 33 Twisted Element------✰ Open Wed-Sun, 5pm-close 1006 - 11th Ave SW 403-802-0230 403-543-6960 1-888-543-6960 Leather/Denim/Fetish bar. www.twistedelement.ca Club Paradiso Dance Club and Lounge. [email protected] 1413 - 9th Ave SE, 2nd Floor 403-265-5739 Bathhouses/Saunas www.clubparadiso.ca [email protected] Fri: Garter Girls Burlesque. Sat: Carly’s Angels. Weekdays: 6 Goliaths------✰ http://www.gaycalgary.com/CalgaryTravelRss Magic, Comedy & Music. 308 - 17 Ave SW 403-229-0911 www.goliaths.ca http://www.gaycalgary.com/EdmontonTravelRss 60 Club Sapien------✰ Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day 1140 10th Ave SW 403-457-4464 Local Bars, Restaurants, and Accommodations info on the go! http://www.clubsapien.ca Dance Club and Restaurant/Lounge. Community Groups http://www.gaycalgary.com/Directory 2 AIDS Calgary------✰ 110, 1603 10th Avenue SW Browse our complete directory of over 600 gay-frieindly listings! 403-508-2500
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 17 Directory & Events
Swimming------ 7-8pm Curling------ 2:20 & 4:30pm Holiday Dinner------ 7pm Calgary Events By Different Strokes See Apollo Calgary By Girlfriends SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW) Old Spaghetti Factory (222 - 3rd Str SW) Mondays Alcoholics Anonymous------ 8pm ASK Meet and Greet------ 7-9:30pm Lesbian Meetup Group------ 7:30-9pm Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) Sunday, December 11th At 1 Calgary Outlink 1st 1227 Kensington Close NW Bonasera (1204 Edmonton Tr. NE) College Show------ 8:30pm-1am By ISCCA at 60 Club Sapien Inside Out Youth Group------ 7-9pm Fake Mustache Show------ 7:30pm Tuned Out Music Trivia------ Evening See 1 Calgary Outlink By Miscellaneous Youth Network 1st At 9 FAB 1st, 3rd Saturday, December 17th Quincy’s (609 7th Ave SW) Karaoke------ Evening Go-Go Boy Competition------ Evening A Very Starlight Christmas------ 9pm At 60 Club Sapien Fake Mustache Show------ 9pm At 60 Club Sapien By ISCCA at 60 Club Sapien By Miscellaneous Youth Network 3rd Sundays Tuesdays At 60 Club Sapien Sunday, December 18th Worship Time------ 10am Calgary Networking Club------ 5-7pm Alcoholics Anonymous------ 8pm Christmas Dinner------ 5pm See Deer Park United Church See 1 Calgary Outlink 1st Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) By 4 Calgary Eagle 1227 Kensington Close NW Between Men------ 7-9pm Worship------ 10:30am Friday, December 23rd 1 See Scarboro United Church See Calgary Outlink 2nd, 4th Fridays Holiday Party------ 9pm-12am Karaoke------ 8pm-1am Leather Night------ Evening Sunday Services------ 10:45am By 1 Calgary Outlink At 5 Texas Lounge At 4 Calgary Eagle See Hillhurst United Church Old Y (223 12th Ave SW) Fetish Slosh------ Evening Rec Volleyball------ 7pm Worship Services------ 11am A Very Glee Christmas------ 9pm-12am At 3 Backlot 2nd See Apollo Calgary See Knox United Church By ISCCA at 5 Texas Lounge Alcoholics Anonymous------ 8pm Illusions------ 7-10pm Int/Comp Volleyball------ 12:15-1:45pm Saturday, December 31st See Apollo Calgary Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) See 1 Calgary Outlink 1st New Year’s Eve Dinner & Dance--- 7pm-1am 1227 Kensington Close NW By Girlsgroove BBQ Social Sundays------ 2pm Womynspace------7-9pm Big Rock Brewery (5555 76 Ave SE) Wednesdays See 1 Calgary Outlink 2nd At 4 Calgary Eagle New Year’s Eve Party------ 9pm Communion Service------ 12:10pm New Directions------ 7-9pm Church Service------ 4pm By 4 Calgary Eagle See Knox United Church See 1 Calgary Outlink 3rd See Rainbow Community Church New Year’s Eve Party------ 8pm Women’s Healing Circle------ 1:30pm Heading Out------ 8pm-10pm Swimming------ 5-6pm By 3 Backlot See AIDS Calgary See 1 Calgary Outlink 4th By Different Strokes SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW) Saturday, January 28th Free Pool------ All Day Alcoholics Anonymous------ 8pm At 4 Calgary Eagle with Prime Timers Calgary Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) Women’s Volleyball------ 7-8:30pm Sleigh Ride------ 3pm See Apollo Calgary LGBT Coffee Night------7pm 1227 Kensington Close NW By ARGRA at Griffin Valley Ranch See CAANS 1st Saturdays Free Pool------ All Day Saturday, February 4th At 4 Calgary Eagle Mosaic Youth Group------ 7-9pm Running------ 9am Chinese New Year Celebration------ 6:30pm Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW) See Apollo Calgary Saturday, December 10th By Girlfriends Thursdays Coffee------ 10am Living Xmas Tree------ 9pm Saturday, February 25th By Prime Timers Calgary By 4 Calgary Eagle Lesbian Seniors------2pm Midtown Co-op (1130 - 11th Ave SW) White Party------8pm Kerby Center, Sunshine Room 3rd By ARGRA 1133 7th Ave SW Calgary Contd. Legend: = Monthly Reoccurrance, = Date (Range/Future), = Sponsored Event
[email protected] • Biking • Outdoor Pursuits • Volleyball (Recreational) www.aidscalgary.org [email protected] [email protected] 235 - 18 Ave SW If it’s done outdoors, we do it. Volunteer led events all [email protected] Alberta Society for Kink • Boot Camp summer and winter. Hiking, camping, biking, skiing, snow 403-398-9968 Platoon FX, 1351 Aviation Park NE shoeing, etc. Sign up at myapollo.org to get updates on • Volleyball (Women’s) [email protected] [email protected] the sport you like. We’re always looking for people to YWCA Calgary (320 - 5th Avenue SE) http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/ lead events. [email protected] group.albertasocietyforkink • Bowling (Rainbow Riders League) Let’s Bowl (2916 5th Avenue NE) • Running (Calgary Frontrunners) • Yoga Apollo Calgary - Friends in Sports [email protected] YMCA Eau Claire (4th St, 1st Ave SW) World Tree Studio (812 Edmonton Trail NE) www.apollocalgary.com [email protected] Robin: 403-618-9642 www.myapollo.com • Curling East Doors (directly off the Bow river pathway). Distances [email protected] North Hill Curling Club (1201 - 2 Street NW) A volunteer operated, non-profit organization serving vary from 8 km - 15 km. Runners from 6 minutes/mile to $120 (10 sessions); $14 Drop-ins open to all levels. Apollo [email protected] primarily members of the LGBT communities but open to all 9+ minute miles. membership is required. members of all communities. Primary focus is to provide Will return in September 2010. Sign up at myapollo.org members with well-organized and fun sporting events and to receive updates. • Slow Pitch Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA) other activities. www.argra.org • Golf [email protected] • Western Cup 30 [email protected] • Squash • Monthly Dances------ www.westerncup.com Mount Royal University Recreation Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association Easter long weekend, 2012. • Lawn Bowling [email protected] 1320 - 5th Avenue NW [email protected] All skill levels welcome. • Badminton (Absolutely Smashing) CAANS LGBT Coffee Night 6020 - 4 Avenue NE • Tennis 403-346-8858 (Jenn/Jill) [email protected] [email protected] Calgary Gay Fathers • Volleyball (Beach) [email protected] [email protected] http://www.calgarygayfathers.ca Peer support group for gay, bisexual and questioning • Volleyball (Int/Comp) fathers. Meeting twice a month. West Hillhurst Community Center 1940 6th Avenue NW Calgary Men’s Chorus [email protected] http://www.calgarymenschorus.org • Rehearsals Temple B’Nai Tikvah, 900 - 47 Avenue SW
18 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Directory & Events
Calgary Contd.
Calgary Sexual Health Centre------✰ Hillhurst United Church Positive Space Committee 304, 301 14th Street NW 1227 Kensington Close NW 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW 403-283-5580 (403) 283-1539 403-440-6383 http://www.calgarysexualhealth.ca [email protected] http://www.mtroyal.ca/positivespace A pro-choice organization that believes all people have the www.hillhurstunited.com Works to raise awareness and challenge the patterns of right and ability to make their own choices regarding their silence that continue to marginalize LGBTTQ individuals. sexual and reproductive health. HIV Peer Support Group 403-230-5832 Pride Calgary Planning Committee 1 Calgary Outlink------✰ [email protected] 403-797-6564 www.pridecalgary.ca B1, 1528 16th Avenue SW 403-234-8973 ISCCA Social Association Pride Rainbow Project [email protected] http://www.iscca.ca [email protected] http://www.calgaryoutlink.com Imperial Sovereign Court of the Chinook Arch. Charity http://www.priderainbowproject.com fundraising group.. Youth run project designed to show support for same-sex • Peer Support and Crisis Line marriage in Canada and elsewhere. A fabric rainbow 1-877-OUT-IS-OK (1-877-688-4765) Knox United Church banner approximately 5 feet wide - goal is to make it Front-line help service for GLBT individuals and their family 506 - 4th Street SW 403-269-8382 3.2km (2 miles) long, in order to break the world record. and friends, or anyone questioning their sexuality. http://www.knoxunited.ab.ca Knox United Church is an all-inclusive church located in Primetimers Calgary • Calgary Lesbian Ladies Meet up Group downtown Calgary. A variety of facility rentals are also [email protected] • Between Men and Between Men Online available for meetings, events and concerts. http://www.primetimerscalgary.com Designed to foster social interaction for its members • Heading Out • Worship Services through a variety of social, educational and recreational • Illusions Calgary 10:30am in July and August. activities. Open to all gay and bisexual men of any age, • Inside Out respects whatever degree of anonymity that each member Lesbian Meetup Group desires. • New Directions http://www.meetup.com/CalgaryLesbian • Womynspace Monthly events planned for Queer women over 18+ such Queers on Campus------✰ as book clubs, games nights, movie nights, dinners out, 279R Student Union Club Spaces, U of C and volunteering events. 403-220-6394 Calgary Queer Book Club http://www.ucalgary.ca/~glass Weeds Cafe (1903 20 Ave NW) Miscellaneous Youth Network Formerly GLASS - Gay/Lesbian Association of Students http://www.miscyouth.com Deer Park United Church/Wholeness Centre and Staff. 77 Deerpoint Road SE 403-278-8263 • Fake Mustache • Coffee Night http://www.dpuc.ca Quincy’s (609 7th Ave SW) 2nd Cup, Kensington Club Sapien (609 7th Ave SW) Different Strokes Calgary’s ONLY Drag King Show. Early show 7:30pm, http://www.differentstrokescalgary.org Safety Under the Rainbow late show 9pm. http://www.safetyrainbow.ca Don’t Buy In Project Mission: To raise awareness and understanding of same-sex • Mosaic Youth Group domestic violence and homophobic youth bullying. http://www.dontbuyin.ca The Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW) This Calgary Police Service Initiative aims to encourage For queer and trans youth and their allies. youth to working towards an inclusive environment in which Scarboro United Church 134 Scarboro Avenue SW diversity is embraced in their schools and community. Mystique 403-244-1161 www.scarborounited.ab.ca [email protected] An affirming congregation—the full inclusion of LGBT FairyTales Presentation Society Mystique is primarily a Lesbian group for women 30 and people is essential to our mission and purpose. 403-244-1956 up but all are welcome. http://www.fairytalesfilmfest.com Alberta Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Sharp Foundation • Coffee Night 403-272-2912 Good Earth Cafe (1502 - 11th Street SW) • DVD Resource Library [email protected] Over a hundred titles to choose from. Annual membership NETWORKS http://www.thesharpfoundation.com is $10. [email protected] Unity Bowling A social, cultural, and service organization for the mature Let’s Bowl (2916 - 5th Ave NE) Gay Friends in Calgary minded and “Plus 40” LGBT individuals seeking to meet [email protected] http://www.gayfriendsincalgary.ca others at age-appropriate activities within a positive, safe Organizes and hosts social activities catered to the LGBT environment. people and friends. Urban Sex Radio Show CJSW 90.9 FM Parents for Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) http://www.cjsw.com Girl Friends Sean: 403-695-5791 Focus on sexuality; gay bisexual lesbian trans gendered and [email protected] http://www.pflagcanada.ca straight issues here in Calgary and around the web. members.shaw.ca/girlfriends A registered charitable organization that provides Girlsgroove support, education and resources to parents, families and Vigor Calgary individuals who have questions or concerns about sexual http://www.girlsgroove.ca 403-255-7004 www.vigorcalgary.ca orientation or gender identity. Violence in Gay Male Relationships (VIGOR) is a committee of professionals dedicated to increasing the awareness of gay men’s domestic violence and the services available to them. Wild Rose United Church 1317-1st Street NW “Yeah...What She Said!” Radio Show CJSW 90.9 FM [email protected] Restaurants 4 Calgary Eagle Inc.------✰ See Calgary - Bars and Clubs. 60 Club Sapien------✰ 1140 10th Ave SW 403-457-4464 http://www.clubsapien.ca 9 FAB------✰ See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 19 Directory & Events
DOWNTOWN EDMONTON 3 1
5
7 6 4 N 11 12 14
1 Pride Centre------Community Groups 5 The Junction------Bars and Clubs 8 Prism Bar & Grill------Bars and Clubs 13 PLAY Nightclub------Bars and Clubs 3 HIV Network------Community Groups 6 Buddy’s Nite Club------Bars and Clubs 11 Steamworks------Bathhouses 14 FLASH------Bars and Clubs 4 Edmonton STD------Community Groups 7 Down Under Baths------Bathhouses 12 Woody’s------Bars and Clubs
Calgary Contd.
Halo Steak, Seafood & Wine Bar 24 Courtney Aarbo (Barristers & Solicitors) • Calgary Drop-in Centre 37 Pumphouse Theatre------✰ Canyon Meadows Plaza 1138 Kensington Road NW Room 117, 423 - 4th Ave SE 2140 Pumphouse Avenue SW 13226 Macleod Trail SE 403-571-5120 403-699-8216 403-263-0079 403-271-4111 http://www.courtneyaarbo.ca Mon-Fri: 9am-12pm, Sat: 12:15pm-3:15pm http://www.pumphousetheatres.ca www.halorestaurant.com GLBT legal services. • Centre of Hope Stagewest------✰ Cruiseline Room 201, 420 - 9th Ave SE 727 - 42 Avenue SE 403-243-6642 403-777-9494 trial code 3500 403-410-1180 Mon-Fri: 1pm-5pm http://www.stagewestcalgary.com Retail Stores http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY. • Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre 58 Theatre Junction------✰ Adult Depot------✰ 1213 - 4th Str SW 403-955-6014 Theatre Junction GRAND, 608 1st St. SW 140, 58th Ave SW 403-258-2777 DevaDave Salon & Boutique Sat-Thu: 4:15pm-7:45pm, Fri: Closed 403-205-2922 Gay, bi, straight video rentals and sex toys. 810 Edmonton Trail NE [email protected] 403-290-1973 • Safeworks Van http://www.theatrejunction.com 61 Holidays on the Hill------Cuts, Colour, Hilights. 403-850-3755 210 - 7th Ave SW 403-263-3030 Sat-Thu: 8pm-12am, Fri: 4pm-12am 34 Vertigo Mystery Theatre------Christmas, Halloween, and much more. Duncan’s Residential Cleaning 161, 115 - 9 Ave SE 403-221-3708 Jim Duncan: 403-978-6600 Theatre & Fine Arts http://www.vertigomysterytheatre.com 41 La Fleur------Residential cleaning. Free estimates. 103 - 100 7th Avenue SW 36 ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects 403-266-1707 Lorne Doucette (CIR Realtors) 403-294-7402 http://www.ATPlive.com Florist and Flower Shop. 403-461-9195 http://www.lornedoucette.com AXIS Contemporary Art------EDMONTON The Naked Leaf------ 107, 100 - 7 Ave SW 403-262-3356 305 10th Street NW 403-283-3555 Marnie Campbell (Maxwell Realtors) [email protected] www.axisart.ca Bars & Clubs http://www.thenakedleaf.ca 403-479-8619 Organic teas and tea ware. http://www.marniecampbell.ca Fairytales 6 Buddy’s Nite Club------✰ See Calgary - Community Groups. 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6636 16 Priape Calgary------✰ MFM Communications 1322 - 17 Ave SW 403-215-1800 403-543-6970 Jubilations Dinner Theatre 14 FLASH------✰ http://www.priape.com 1-877-543-6970 Bow Trail and 37th St. SW 10018 105 Street 780-938-2941 Clothing and accessories. Adult toys, leather wear, movies http://www.mfmcommunications.com 403-249-7799 [email protected] and magazines. Gifts. Web site hosting and development. Computer hardware www.jubilations.ca and software. 5 The Junction------✰ 43 Lisa Heinricks (Artist)------ 10242 106th St 780-756-5667 Services & Products MPs Catering Art Central, 100 7th Ave SW, lower level http://www.junctionedmonton.com 403-607-8215 http://www.creamydreamy.com Calgary Civil Marriage Centre PLAY Nightclub (closed)------✰ 403-246-4134 [email protected] SafeWorks 35 One Yellow Rabbit------ 10220 103 Street 780-497-7529 Marriage Commissioner for Alberta (aka Justice of the Peace Free and confidential HIV/AIDS and STI testing. Big Secret Theatre - EPCOR CENTRE [email protected] - JP), Marriage Officiant, Commissioner for Oaths. 403-299-8888 www.oyr.org http://www.playnightclub.ca
20 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Directory & Events
Martial Arts------ 7:30-8:30pm Bowling------ 5pm Sunday, December 11th Edmonton Events See Team Edmonton See Team Edmonton Community Children’s Party------ 1-5pm Mondays Intermediate Volleyball------ 7:30-9:30pm Sundays By ISCWR at 5 The Junction See Team Edmonton Boot Camp------ 7-8pm Running------ 10-11am Sunday, December 18th See Team Edmonton See Team Edmonton Fridays Christmas Dinner and Show------ 6pm Tuesdays Men’s Games Nights------ 7-10:30pm Yoga------ 2-3:30pm By ISCWR at 5 The Junction Martial Arts------ 7:30-8:30pm See Men’s Games Nights 2nd, Last See Team Edmonton Saturday, December 24th See Team Edmonton Edmonton Illusions------ 8:30pm Ballroom Dancing------ 7:30-8:30pm Homo for the Holidays------ 6pm Wednesdays At 5 The Junction 2nd See Team Edmonton By 14 FLASH GLBTQ Bowling------ 1:30-3:30pm Youth Sports/Recreation------ 4pm Monthly Meetings------ 2:30pm Saturday, December 31st See GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club See Youth Understanding Youth Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) See Edmonton Primetimers 2nd Le Bal De Nouvel An------ 8pm Youth Sports/Recreation------ 4pm Saturdays By 14 FLASH Saturday, December 10th See Youth Understanding Youth Naturalist Gettogether Thursdays See Buck Naked Boys Club 2nd Miss Mary Christmas Pageant------ 8-11pm By ISCWR at 5 The Junction Youth Sports/Recreation------ 4pm Monthly Meeting------ 2:30pm See Youth Understanding Youth By Edmonton Primetimers 2nd Dinner and Dance------ 6:30pm-1am Unitarian Church, 10804 - 119th Street By Womonspace Book Club------ 7:30pm Bellevue Community Hall (7308 - 112 Ave) See BookWorm’s Book Club 3rd
Edmonton Contd. Legend: = Monthly Reoccurrance, = Date (Range), = Sponsored Event
Prism Bar & Grill (closed)------✰ Primary focus is the provision of networking opportunities • GLBT Seniors Drop-In • Youth Movie 10524 101st St 780-990-0038 for LGBT owned or operated and LGBT-friendly businesses SAGE building, Classroom B TBA http://www.prismbar.ca in the Edmonton region. 15 Sir Winstone Churchill Square [email protected] [email protected] Movie chosen by youth (aged 14 – 25), usually with LGBT 12 Woody’s------✰ Edmonton Illusions Social Club A social and support group for seniors of all genders and themes. Popcorn is served. 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6557 5 The Junction sexualities to talk, have tea and offer each other support. 780-387-3343 • YouthSpace groups.yahoo.com/group/edmonton_illusions • Men Talking with Pride [email protected] Bathhouses/Saunas TBA A safe and supportive space for GLBTQ youth aged 13–25. 4 Edmonton STD [email protected] Video games, computers with internet, clothing bank, 7 Down Under Baths (temp. closed) 11111 Jasper Ave *RELOCATING* 780-482-7960 A social discussion group for gay, bisexual and and more. http://www.gayedmonton.com Edmonton Vocal Minority transgendered men to discuss current issues and to offer support to each other. Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton 780-479-2038 [email protected] 780-474-8240 11 Steamworks------✰ www.evmchoir.com 11745 Jasper Ave 780-451-5554 • Men’s HIV Support Group [email protected] TBA http://www.steamworksedmonton.com 3 HIV Network Of Edmonton Society---- ✰ Team Edmonton 9702 111 Ave NW 780-488-5742 [email protected] Support group for people living with HIV/AIDS. [email protected] Community Groups www.hivedmonton.com http://www.teamedmonton.ca Provides healthy sexuality education for Edmonton’s LGBT • PFLAG Members are invited to attend and help determine the Alberta Bears community and support for those infected or affected TBA 780-436-1998 board for the next term. If you are interested in running for www.beefbearbash.com by HIV. [email protected] the board or getting involved in some of the committees, Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays: A support please contact us. AltView Foundation group for family members and friends of GLBT people. An #44, 48 Brentwood Blvd, Sherwood Park, AB http://www.iscwr.ca excellent resource for people whose family members and • Badminton (Mixed) 403-398-9968 friends have just come out. St. Thomas Moore School, 9610 165 Street [email protected] GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club 780-474-8240 [email protected] [email protected] www.altview.ca • Prime Timers New group seeking male & female players. For gender variant and sexual minorities. Men’s Games Nights See Edmonton Primetimers. • Badminton (Women’s) Book Worm’s Book Club Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) 780-474-8240 [email protected] • Suit Up and Show Up: AA Big Book Study Oliver School, 10227 - 118 Street Howard McBride Chapel of Chimes TBA 780-465-3620 10179 - 108 Street OUTreach Discussion and support group for those struggling with an [email protected] [email protected] University of Alberta, basement of SUB alcohol addiction or seeking support in staying sober. Women’s Drop-In Recreational Badminton. $40.00 season Buck Naked Boys Club [email protected] or $5.00 per drop in. http://www.ualberta.ca/~outreach • TTIQ 780-471-6993 TBA •Ballroom Dancing http://www.bucknakedboys.ca Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender/transsexual, Queer, Questioning and Straight-but-not-Narrow student group. [email protected] Foot Notes Dance Studio, 9708-45 Avenue NW Naturism club for men—being social while everyone is TTIQ is mixed gender open support group addressing the Cynthia: 780-469-3281 naked, and it does not include sexual activity. Participants do 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton------✰ needs of transsexual and transgendered individuals. not need to be gay, only male. *RELOCATING* 780-488-3234 • Blazin’ Bootcamp [email protected] • Womonspace Board Meeting Garneau Elementary School Camp fYrefly TBA 10925 - 87 Ave 7-104 Dept. of Educational Policy Studies • Free School [email protected] [email protected] Faculty of Education, University of Alberta TBA Womonspace is a Social and Recreational Society in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G5 monika\[email protected] Edmonton run by volunteers. They provide opportunities • Bowling (Northern Titans) http://www.fyrefly.ualberta.ca Free School provides workshops on a variety of topics for lesbians to interact and support each other in a safe Ed’s Rec Room (West Edmonton Mall) related to local activism. environment, and to contribute to the broader community. [email protected] Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS) $15.00 per person. http://www.edmontonpride.ca • Get Tested for STIs Edmonton Prime Timers Free STD testing for anyone interested. For more [email protected] information please contact the Pride Centre. www.primetimersww.org/edmonton • GLBT African Group (Drop-In) Group of older gay men and their admirers who come from [email protected] diverse backgrounds but have common social interests. [email protected] Affiliated with Prime Timers World Wide. Group for ALL gay refugees and their friends and families, Edmonton Rainbow Business Association from all around the world. 3379, 11215 Jasper Ave 780-429-5014 http://www.edmontonrba.org
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 21 Directory & Events
Edmonton Contd.
• Cross Country Skiing • Women’s Lacrosse [email protected] [email protected] Sharon: 780-461-0017 www.gaybanff.com Pam: 780-436-7374 Serving the GLBTQS community in Banff, Canmore, Lake ALBERTA • Curling with Pride Open to women 21+, experienced or not, all are welcome. Louise and Area. Granite Curling Club, 8620 107 Street NW Call for info. Community Groups [email protected] • Yoga Central Alberta AIDS Network Society • Cycling (Edmonton Prideriders) Lion's Breath Yoga Studio (10350-124 Street) 4611-50 Avenue, Red Deer, AB Various locations in Edmonton [email protected] GRANDE PRAIRIE http://www.caans.org [email protected] The Central Alberta AIDS Network Society is the local Womonspace • Dragon Boat (Flaming Dragons) Community Groups charity responsible for HIV prevention and support in 780-482-1794 Central Alberta. [email protected] [email protected] GALAP www.womonspace.ca 10113 - 103 Ave, T8V 1C2 Western Canadian Pride Campout • Golf Women’s social group, but all welcome at events. 780-512-1990 www.eventmasterinc.net [email protected] Gay and Lesbian Association of the Peace. Youth Understanding Youth YouthSafe • Gymnastics, Drop-in 780-248-1971 www.yuyedm.ca • Wednesday Coffee Nights Ortona Gymnastics Club, 8755 - 50 Avenue http://www.youthsafe.net A support and social group for queer youth 12-25. [email protected] Alberta’s website for youth with sex-and-gender differences. Have the whole gym to yourselves and an instructor to Youthsafe.net lists the resources, information and services • Sports and Recreation to help youth find safe and caring spaces in Alberta. help you achieve your individual goals. Cost is $5.00 Brendan: 780-488-3234 per session. LETHBRIDGE [email protected] Theatre & Fine Arts • Hockey Community Groups [email protected] Restaurants Alberta Ballet GALA/LA http://www.albertaballet.com 5 • Martial Arts The Junction------ 403-308-2893 Frequent productions in Calgary and Edmonton. 15450 - 105 Ave (daycare entrance) 10242 106th St 780-756-5667 http://www.galalethbridge.ca 780-328-6414 12 Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Lethbridge and Area. [email protected] Woody’s------✰ [email protected] 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6557 • Monthly Dances Drop-ins welcome. Henotic (402 - 2 Ave S) CANADA Retail Stores Bring your membership card and photo ID. • Outdoor Pursuits Community Groups [email protected] Rodéo Drive • Monthly Potluck Dinners 11528 - 89th Street McKillop United Church, 2329 - 15 Ave S Alberta Trans Support/Activities Group • Running (Arctic Frontrunners) 780-474-0413 GALA/LA will provide the turkey...you bring the rest. Please http://www.albertatrans.org Emily Murphy Park, west end [email protected] bring a dish to share that will serve 4-6 people, and your A nexus for transgendered persons, regardless of where they [email protected] http://www.rodeodrive.ca own beverage. may be on the continuum. All genders and levels of runners and walkers are invited to His and hers fetish wear, toys, jewelry, etc. join this free activity. • Support Line Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition 403-308-2893 P..O. Box 3043, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3S9 • Slo Pitch Products & Services Monday OR Wednesday, 7pm-11pm (306) 955-5135 Parkallen Field, 111 st and 68 ave Leave a message any other time. 1-800-955-5129 [email protected] Cruiseline http://www.rainbowhealth.ca Season fee is $30.00 per person. $10 discount for players 780-413-7122 trial code 3500 • Friday Mixer from the 2008 season. http://www.cruiseline.ca The Mix (green water tower) Egale Canada Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY. 103 Mayor Magrath Dr S 8 Wellington St E, Third Floor • Snowballs V Every Friday at 10pm Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1C5 January 27-29, 2012 Robertson-Wesley United Church 1-888-204-7777 www.egale.ca 10209 - 123 St. NW 780-482-1587 [email protected] Gay & Lesbian Integrity Assoc. (GALIA) Egale Canada is the national advocacy and lobby [email protected] www.rwuc.org Skiing and Snowboarding Weekend. University of Lethbridge [email protected] organization for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans- Worship: Sunday mornings at 10:30am GBLTTQQ club on campus. identified people and our families. • Soccer People of all sexual orientations welcome. Other LGBT [email protected] events include a monthly book club and a bi-monthly film • Movie Night night. As a caring spiritual community, we’d love to have Room C610, University of Lethbridge Products & Services • Spin you join us! MacEwan Centre for Sport and Wellness Gay Youth Alliance Group Squirt 109 St. and 104 Ave • Soul OUTing Betty, 403-381-5260 [email protected] http://www.squirt.org Wednesdays, 5:45-6:45pm Second Sunday every month, 7pm Every second Wednesday, 3:30pm-5pm Website for dating and hook-ups. 18+ ONLY! Season has ended. An LGBT-focused alternative worship. [email protected] Lethbridge HIV Connection Theatre & Fine Arts 7 classes, $28.00 per registrant. • Film Night 1206 - 6 Ave S Bi-monthly, contact us for exact dates. PFLAG Canada Broadway Across Canada • Swimming (Making Waves) http://www.broadwayacrosscanada.ca NAIT Pool (11762 - 106 Street) • Book Club 1-888-530-6777 [email protected] Monthly, contact us for exact dates. [email protected] OUTtv www.makingwavesswimclub.ca www.pflagcanada.ca http://www.outtv.ca Theatre & Fine Arts GLBT Television Station. • Tennis Pride Lethbridge Kinsmen Sports Centre Exposure Festival [email protected] Sundays, 12pm-3pm http://www.exposurefestival.ca [email protected] Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival. • Ultimate Frisbee The Roxy Theatre RED DEER Sundays 10708 124th Street, Edmonton AB Summer Season starts July 12th 780-453-2440 [email protected] www.theatrenetwork.ca Community Groups E-mail if interested. Affirm • Volleyball, Intermediate Sunnybrook United Church Amiskiwacy Academy (101 Airport Road) BANFF/CANMORE 403-347-6073 [email protected] 2nd Tuesday of the month, 7pm Composed of LGBTQ people, their friends, family and • Volleyball, Recreational Community Groups allies. No religious affiliation necessary. Activities include Mother Teresa School (9008 - 105 Ave) support, faith and social justice discussions, film nights, Mountain Pride and potlucks! [email protected] BOX 4892, BANFF, AB, T1L 1G1 Brian, 403-431-2569 1-800-958-9632
22 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Politics World AIDS Day: Remembering Those We Lost
By Stephen Lock especially in New York City and San Francisco, decimating December 1st was World AIDS Day, certainly a day those communities in a matter of months. dedicated to AIDS Awareness, but also a day dedicated Even in Calgary, it was for many years not unusual for to remembering those we have lost and who continue to those of us in the community to attend at least one funeral live on in our hearts and memories. a month, often more. We all lost friends, lovers, and ex- UNAIDS, the United Nations’ committee dealing with the lovers. Many of us were involved in the care of these men world-wide fight against HIV and AIDS, recently stated in a and watched them become sicker and sicker, fading away report that “the unpararalleled global response of the past before our eyes, seeing once vibrant and vital young men decade has already forced the AIDS epidemic into decline.” shrivel and grow old before their time; their faces sunken It went on to state the total number of new infections in in and their bodies emaciated and wracked with pain sub-Saharan Africa, still the world’s most severely affected and scarred with lesions, suffering the indignity of being region, has dropped more than 26 percent from the height diapered and soiling themselves, then holding them when of the epidemic in 1997. South Africa has had its numbers they died. Others died, frightened and alone, in cold sterile drop by one third. hospital rooms, estranged from those who mattered most to them. In the Caribbean, one of the first regions to be identified as dealing with AIDS (specifically at the time in Haiti), new It was individuals within the gay men’s communities who infections have also dropped by one third since 2001. In launched education programs, safer sex programs, and South and Southeast Asia, there has been a 40 percent made a point of educating health care professionals, many of drop between 1996 and 2010 with India seeing a 56 percent whom did not understand how AIDS was spread and through decline. that fear and ignorance too often treated our people poorly, refusing to enter the hospital room of an “AIDS patient” However, the epidemic has recently taken a stronger unless decked out in some bizarre hazmat-like suit, covered hold in Oceania (Polynesia and Australia), Central Asia, the from head to toe in protective shielding and gloved. Food Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. trays would be left outside the room because housekeeping The report attributes these significant declines to what refused to enter. It was a devastating and horrible period it calls “historic political agreements” such as the 2001 and it continued that way for over a decade, even as the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 medical establishment formed a better understanding of the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. Both of them endorsed transmission of the HIV retrovirus and began to understand universal access to HIV prevention, treatment of the it could not be transmitted “casually”. disease, and the care and support of those with HIV and The transmission of HIV requires very specific AIDS. When world leaders met in New York City during environments in order to infect. The normal course of the United Nations General Assembly’s Special Session on events that cause its transmission during sex was of little AIDS in 2000, only three countries - Senegal, Thailand, and or no consequence until the Age of AIDS, when it suddenly Uganda - had any sort of national plan in place to respond became a concern. This is why condom use is so heavily to AIDS. Not even First World nations such as the USA or promoted by those involved in safer sex education work. Canada, Great Britain or the countries of Western Europe had any sort of coordinated plan in place, leaving it up We are now over 20 years into the epidemic and while to AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) and various other the news coming out of the UNAIDS report is good news... community organizations to formulate local or regional great news, actually....there is still no end in sight. Safer plans and engage in education and awareness, often with sex education is now, at best, taken for granted and has limited funds. lost much of its impetus and “edge” and is too easily dismissed by the very people it seeks to inform. At worst, it In North America, it was the gay men’s community which has ceased, having come under considerable attack by the spearheaded a response to HIV/AIDS and continued to do social conservatives and right wing for being ‘too graphic’, so for at least the first decade of the epidemic. The first ‘pornographic’, and ‘obscene.’ Some of the early, gay- cases of what became known as AIDS started to appear in created, safer sex initiatives were very creative, and yes, North America primarily within the gay men’s communities, graphic. They had to be. We were trying to save lives and ‘get through’ to people on how to protect themselves and
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 23 From Previous Page Community when dealing with a population within which the primary mode of transmission was certain sexual behaviours, clearly the message needed to be sexual as well. As ASOs Help Us Make It A evolved into health service providers, heavily dependent on government funding, a definite conservatism crept into the delivery and bit by bit, the voices of gay men were lost. Part of this, of course, was the reality that HIV/AIDS Happy Hamper Holiday was no longer a “gay men’s disease” - a message many of us fought hard to dismantle - and that many of the new infections were to be found amongst those who shared By Jamie Schneider, AIDS Calgary Awareness Association needles and other drug paraphernalia in which the virus could incubate, or those infected via transfusions, or other Now that it is coming closer to the holiday season, AIDS nonsexual means. New messages needed to be developed to Calgary Awareness Association (ACAA) is preparing for reach these populations. And funds were limited. Something its Hamper program. had to ‘give’ and, predictably, it was our concerns that took On December 16th the Hampers will be distributed to a back seat. ACAA clients in Calgary, Medicine Hat and Bow Valley. This is not to minimize the work agencies such as AIDS “The Holiday Hamper program provides clients with a Calgary or certainly The SHARP Foundation, both of grocery card and a gift. The gift card allows clients to choose which I was heavily involved with at one time, have done grocery items that fit their cultural, religious and dietary and are doing. But between serving on the first Board of needs. Around the holidays, there are often extra expenses Directors of AIDS Calgary and working as the Coordinator such as gifts, insulated winter items, higher utility bills, of Volunteer Services a couple of years or so later, I could transportation costs, etc,” said Capri Rasmussen, Team see a definite swinging away from the grassroots, one Leader of HIV Support Services at ACAA. “The Holiday might even say radical, messaging those of us who got the Hamper program provides additional support to many of organization up and running had put out and what was the individuals and families we serve who are living on low then being promoted. The process of playing it safe in order incomes.” to not alienate funders had begun and continued despite According to Rasmussen, about 140 Hampers are expected the resistance of some of us. to be given out this year. HIV/AIDS no longer carries the same stigma it once To collect donations for this program, ACAA is asking the did. Those who are HIV-positive live with a chronic health community to make a difference in the lives of people they disorder, not the death sentence being sero-positive once serve by donating to this program. heralded. People living with HIV/AIDS are living for years, even decades, whereas in the early years it was a matter of One ACAA client remarked, “Holiday Hampers help me months between diagnosis and dying. HIV/AIDS is simply tremendously! What I get, I use to a great extent and [it] a part of modern living, like cancer or diabetes. That is lasts me a long time! Keep up the great work [in] helping a not necessarily a bad thing, if it has to be in our lives at lot of others during the joyous Christmas season.” all. However, we now have a whole generation, even two Those wishing to make a difference are asked to visit generations, who have been born into and grew up with the ACAA’s website at to donate online. Directions on how to reality of HIV/AIDS and who tend to be complacent about it mail donations are also available online. as a result. We can never afford to be complacent. This will be a fantastic opportunity to make a donation For those of us who came of age in the early years, lost during the holiday season. entire friendship circles and chosen family members to this disease, World AIDS Day is a time to remember, to bring back the faces of those we will not see again in this life, and to once again feel them touching our lives, if only by a shadow. I will always love you guys. AIDS Calgary Awareness Association [email protected] • www.aidscalgary.org
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24 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Multi-Colour Fun Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat comes alive at Stage West
Photos courtesy of Stagewest
By Jason Clevett The show also includes a children’s choir courtesy For forty years, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Storybook Theatre, a nice touch to see another local theatre Dreamcoat has been one of the most popular shows group included. The kids play their roles well as part of the created by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Based show. If there is one flaw to the production, I would say on the “coat of many colors” story of Joseph from the it is the “megamix” at the end which basically recaps the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Genesis, this was the first Lloyd entire show with snippets of song. Added to the book in the Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly. 1990’s it is repetitive, and drags down an otherwise great production. Having had a wildly popular run at Stage West in the past, the show returns for the holidays, running until Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a story of redemption and forgiveness, to a fun soundtrack. It isn’t January 22nd. going to change the world (although none of Webber’s shows Theatre fans have a love-hate relationship with Webber, would), but it is an enjoyable night out that will leave you but Joseph is arguably one of his best shows. The story humming to yourself for days after. - of a young man favored by his father, cast aside by his brothers and sold into slavery, and his journey in Egypt - is easy to understand and the music is catchy. David Cotton has a fantastic voice, and he portrays a very likeable Joseph. The fun thing about the show is that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat virtually every cast member gets a chance to shine, and Until January 22nd Joseph boasts an incredibly talented ensemble. It includes a variety of musical styles, so just when you think they have Stage West Calgary • www.stagewestcalgary.com done it all they throw in a new twist. The show is funny as well, a nice blend of humor and song. An amusing moment was watching dancers in black spandex shorts gyrating http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2612 almost in the faces of the people at the front row tables – not View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments quite what they were expecting I am sure.
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 25 Trans-Identity Why the Umbrella Failed Part 4: Conclusions
By Mercedes Allen Clarity on what gender identity and gender expression are and I’ve written previously about the need for clarity between why two terms are needed makes it easier to clarify that there the terms “transsexual” and “transgender,” but also why were two sets of needs, and why. it makes sense to seek rights and inclusion as allies. Having an umbrella made it easier for medical professionals, This is similar to how trans* differs from lesbian / gay, legislators, media, employers and the public at large to engage but shared discrimination and characteristics make it with transsexual and other trans people, and find reasons sensible to empathize and ally. I want to conclude that to care about the issues faced by them. Some fear that by thought with ideas on how to ally while respecting those changing how we frame things, we’ll be destroying everything differences. we might have accomplished and need to start over. This is not the case. But we need to reassess and refine our message How: Listen to make it clearer and more comprehensive. “Gay” doesn’t adequately cover lesbians and bisexuals — we can’t expect any The mistake that some often make is in thinking that in order one word to adequately do the same for all trans people. for their narrative to be heard, another’s must be silenced. We This does affect how we approach questions affecting do not each have to trump “The Other”, in order to be heard. By overlapping communities. This comes up when we say things separating characteristics in naming, we make clear that we’re like “intersex is a trans issue.” That implies ownership, and defining multiple identities, and that is enough. is obviously wrong. There are certainly areas of overlap and This will mean reassessing our own views to see that others’ reasons to empathize and ally. In the case of intersex, there experiences can be different from our own, and equally valid. may even be forthcoming science to bolster that. But alliance This means being conscious of language that is often used to is the better solution, done by empowering intersex people judge or invalidate others. This means listening to how others to speak to what they’ve experienced, and also educating describe themselves. We can communicate without generalizing ourselves by listening so that in those moments that intersex about a person based on their membership in a perceived perspectives are not available, then (and only then) we can fill group. Keep personal issues separate from the dialogue on the void (with caveats that make clear that we’re not the final characteristics. We cannot define for someone else who they authority). It also means being conscious of those areas where are, what they need and what their life experiences mean. transsexual and / or gender diverse activism can actually harm Invalidation is not simply limited to words. The opinions intersex people. that “you can never become completely male or female” or conversely that “anything short of this form of transition means Are Transsexual and Gender Diverse Issues LGB(T) Issues? a person isn’t real” are equally invalidating of different trans* As within, so without. Lesbian and gay advocacy functions people. That’s why it makes sense to clearly delineate the as alliance, and periodically, it happens that gay men speak difference in the first place. Invalidation is triggering, and why for lesbians and get called on it, and vice versa. But because the arguments can get so heated. It doesn’t always excuse the bisexual, transsexual and gender diverse groups don’t have ferocity of a response, but it is a large part of why it happens. the same visible numbers and the same number of overlaps, they’ve often been likewise victim to umbrella thinking, and How: Respect it has caused deep rifts and bitterness. Which is a road I Which leads to a related principle: according respect. Every hope transsexual and gender diverse activists can commit functioning relationship must have that, and alliance is no themselves to avoiding. Are trans issues LGB issues or aren’t different. The idea that “respect must be earned” harkens to the they? Neither answer is correct: we should be thinking in terms idea that someone needs to meet your prerequisites. Instead, of alliance, rather than ownership. each individual needs to start out being respected, unless their individual deeds warrant a change to that. And if / when How: Mutually Empower someone does something that merits disrespect, it should not Which leads to the next logical step: if disempowerment is the then be extended to everyone else who shares a characteristic problem, then empower. This means providing opportunities with that person. for diverse voices to speak, acknowledging clear distinctions and Respect needs to be a part of the equation, but it has to be recognizing that there isn’t a single solution to trans struggles. a kind of respect that doesn’t imply a need for conformity and There are in fact more than simply two voices (“transsexual” conversion. and “gender diverse”) that need to be represented, too — for example, I as a transsexual woman cannot claim to speak How: Realize That Nothing Happens in a Vacuum for transsexual men. As capable people become active and By defining ourselves narrowly, we are turning away more available, invite them into the levels of advocacy that shape than we realize. Our “communities” are often fissured by the movement. This is both true without and within our own ability or disability, family circumstances, age, economic movements. status and employment. The differences are profound, and Any organization aiming to undertake transsexual and the consequences of not seeing and not listening to them are gender diverse advocacy does need to invite available, capable that our communities are defined by narrower visions than we and willing trans people to be at the forefront of that, and realize. But recognizing these fissures and reaching out with understand that they need to have a place in shaping the script. many of these same principles help to bridge divides with allies we never knew we had -- and understand the universal struggle How: Preemptive Resolution against oppression more clearly. We can’t simply attempt to make the gains that are within our reach now and let the conflicts that later arise sort themselves How: Revisit How We Frame Our Struggles out. We need to consciously drill down to find where our “Transgender” as an umbrella implies that we are one issue, conflicts are, and shape what we’re asking accordingly, to with one solution. We’ve seen now that that isn’t the case.
26 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com ensure that the gains we attain now will not harm others later. Some of those conflicts we’ll need to examine include: • Clarity on when accommodations in gendered spaces is needed and when third-gender accommodation is appropriate, • Clarity on the existence of two or more narratives when lobbying legislators or addressing the public, • Clarity on when identification as men and women is needed and when third-gender identification is appropriate Can we advocate for transsexuals’ integration into a binary world and for non-binary spaces at the same time? I’d think it should be easier and make more sense to the public from an allied “transsexual and gender non-conforming” position and language than otherwise. This is where an alliance makes far greater sense than an umbrella.
Envisioning Alliance In envisioning an alliance, I’m not picturing simply changing terminology, although the clarity of giving name to multiple communities is a part of that improvement. But there also needs to be a wholesale rethinking of how we take ownership — often without realizing it — and voice one narrative without making it clear that one narrative does not represent the whole. Anything less than a commitment to clarity is half-hearted at best. Words are absolutely important. When “transgender” was used as an umbrella term, it was meant to be a union of purpose, not a union of narratives or an intent to erase. The trouble is, the latter still happened regardless of what we intended, by the faulty language we’d adopted. That language has to evolve in a meaningful way. At the same time though,”The Community™” needs to be seen as communities, neighbourhoods of people who don’t always need exactly the same things that we do, and to whom we should do no harm — or better, when there is the opportunity, with whom we should work together. And if we do choose to build those alliances, then it will sometimes mean standing up for • How do you feel about doing so, without the sameness that things that don’t directly affect us sometimes. Because that’s an umbrella implied? what alliance is. • What do you require from others to be able to ally with An alliance is a compromise, but a compromise on an equal them? footing, entered into with conscience. There is a reason that the last question was placed last. In Thank you to everyone who read through these long and alliances, that question can’t be your first and only concern. sometimes pontificating columns. In the end, this series needs This is why they can be difficult. Better isn’t always easier. to be a conversation starter, and not an ender. But I believe it’s where we need to go, in order to avert growing I’d like to challenge readers now: stalemate and division. • What would you envision an alliance or alliances to look like? • Should there even be an alliance? • If so, what are you prepared to do to forge those alliances? http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2613 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 27 Ring in the Holidays With Bells On Guys in Disguise offers theatre goers a refreshing Yuletide comedic treat
Photos by Ian Jackson / Epic
By Janine Eva Trotta accountant en route to blur his divorce sorrows and a Marking their 25th Anniversary Season, celebrated drag 7-foot glamazon decked out to reclaim her Christmas troupe Guys in Disguise brings to Edmonton’s Roxy pageant crown. The two become trapped in their apartment Theatre a refreshing take on an old genre, all in good building’s elevator, and so the hilarious tale to get the belle Christmas cheer. to her ball by midnight begins. Written and directed by Darrin Hagen, author of Queering “I knew I wanted to put a huge drag queen and a smaller the Way, his production With Bells On takes audiences into straight guy on stage, but didn’t know much more,” says a stalled elevator ride not soon forgotten. James Hamilton Hagen. “Then my friend Neon (stage manager) was visiting and Paul Welch play an unlikely duo: a mild mannered my apartment and as we left the elevator landing was rough, as it usually is.”
28 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com “Neon said, you should write a play about the scary “With Bells On embraces all who watch it, and breaks down elevators in this building. Having been in many an elevator in a few stereotypes as well.” drag, I knew immediately that it would be instant comedy.” Hagen says of all of his theatre experiences this is the one And an instant success. With Bells On was nominated he’s enjoyed most. for two Betty Mitchell awards including ‘Best New Play’ “Creating this play has been an amazing gift…– start to in Calgary where it was performed to sold out houses finish, it has been a real joy to see it come together,” he last winter season. The show’s Christmas theme wasn’t says. “At last night’s preview I got to see the audience leave planned, but manifested when Hagen was work-shopping after the show, and every one of them had a huge smile on the script at Lunchbox Theatre and ironically quipped of the their face.” lead femme’s ensemble, “She is dressed like a giant sparkly “And when a full audience laughs out loud at something I Christmas tree”. have created – well, that’s the best gift of all.” “I had never considered writing a Christmas play before, but as soon as it was said out loud, it was almost inevitable,” Hagen recalls. With Bells On This year the show will bundle audiences with the warm spirit of togetherness at the Theatre Network’s Roxy from Roxy Theatre, Edmonton • Nov 29th to Dec 11th November 29th to December 11th, with Tuesday through Saturday shows starting at 8pm and a Sunday matinee at Tickets can be purchased at the Roxy Box Office by calling (780) 2pm. 453-2440 or at TixOnTheSquare.ca. Tuesday, December 6 offers a While Welch will be reprising the role of the towering two for one admission deal. glitzy “She” Edmonton’s Hamilton has taken on the more demure role of “He”. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2614 “James is the actor who originally inspired me to write View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments this two hander – I saw him onstage in a staged reading a few years ago and thought Oh my god – he would look hilarious standing next to a giant Queen,” Hagen says. The director promises that this is the Christmas show for all of those whom usually loathe the cheery season’s program list, stating himself a usual Grinch. “The show made Calgary audiences grin from ear-to-ear, and I predict the same fun reaction in Edmonton,” he says. “Plus it’s one of my most family-friendly plays – seriously. I’m talking g-rated.” Hagen wrote the script aiming to make the amusing plot and drag character appealing to a wide range of audience. Attendees of all ages are sure to be dazzled by the ‘out of this world’ costume (designed by Norman J. MacDonald) donned by the equally zany She. “The audiences love seeing a tired genre like a Christmas play revisited with a fresh and new point of view,” he says.
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 29 Gossip
Queen Latifah needs to talk to you about… Back in 1999, Queen Latifah was still transitioning from a hip-hop career, where she was known primarily as a rapper, to a film and singing career. And around that time she got her own talk show, The Queen Latifah Show. It didn’t last long, but that was before Oprah left the field wide open for a successor and the last 11 years saw Latifah’s career skyrocket to the A-list (even though her sexual orientation remains the subject of public speculation, prompts discussions of “glass closets,” and, to this moment, isn’t quite 100-percent confirmed). So now a new show is in the works, produced by Latifah’s Hollywood pals Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, and their business plan is a shrewd one: it’s not hitting airwaves until the fall of 2013, which ought to give the current crop –Anderson Cooper, Bethenny Frankel, Steve Harvey, Ricki Lake and Jeff Probst – time to thin their own ranks via cancellations.
Watch out, the Original Dragon Tattoo Girl is coming back Rooney Mara may be the woman American audiences eventually recognize most in the role of Lisbeth Salander after the English-language version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo hits theaters in December, but it was Noomi Rapace, the star of the original trilogy of Swedish films, who carried those movies to this side of the world in the first place. As the hard-bitten, crime-busting lesbian computer genius, Rapace shocked audiences with her character’s capacity for violence and her charismatic chilly presence left an indelible mark on every minute of the series. Now Rapace is re-teaming with Dragon Tattoo director Niels Arden Oplev for an English language film co-starring Colin Farrell. In Dead Man Down, she’ll play a woman who seduces a gangster just so she can blackmail him afterward. The film starts shooting in early 2012, with a probable 2013 release date to follow. Sounds like another role that calls for a strong woman, and Rapace is more than capable of it. Just don’t call it typecasting; think of it as building a brand.
Cheyenne Jackson and Nathan Lane, playing it straight? What kind of sitcom would you expect to see from two gay actors like Nathan Lane and Cheyenne Jackson? How about one where there’s no mention of any overly gay plot? No? Well here goes: USA has greenlit an untitled comedy pilot from Oscar nominee Douglas McGrath (Bullets Over Broadway) that will star Lane, Jackson and Scrubs vet Ken Jenkins. Centered on an unlucky actor (Lane) whose fledgling Broadway career is derailed when his elderly father becomes ill, he’ll return fish- out-of-water-style to his Texas hometown, befriending his father’s doctor (Jackson) in the process. Obviously, one or both of the characters could turn out to be gay, but right now that’s not information anyone’s been given. Frankly, it would be an interesting development if neither character were written gay. Jackson already plays a heterosexual character on 30 Rock, and it would provide further proof that openly gay actors can take on any role they’re asked. Neil Patrick Harris and Zachary Quinto can’t be expected to carry that burden alone, right? Romeo San Vicente has role-played convincingly in a variety of scenes.
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Lady Gaga. photo by Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments Deep Inside Hollywood A Very Gaga Thanksgiving
By Romeo San Vicente Leave it to Lady Gaga to avoid the typical when it comes to holiday specials. Instead of joining the Christmas onslaught and risking getting lost in the shuffle of one-off TV events, Gaga’s A Very Gaga Thanksgiving will not only allow her to get the jump on every other entry but put her in the more rarefied atmosphere occupied by very few other Thanksgiving-themed holiday specials. In other words, she’s chosen the esteemed company of Charlie Brown over Kathie Lee Gifford. The ABC special will feature Gaga performing her new single “Marry The Night” as well as her recent duet with Tony Bennett, “The Lady Is A Tramp.” She’ll be interviewed by Katie Couric, perform her version of “White Christmas” (it never hurts to hedge your bets) and help chef Art Smith make deep-fried turkey with waffles – presumably, while dressed as a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup. Set your DVR for Thursday, Nov. 24, Thanksgiving night.
30 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Lifestyle Cocktail Chatter Drinking Alone with Friends: The Yankee Mint Julep
by Ed Sikov Chablis, a healthy tea, a drink that’s free, a tonic for thee… you get Oh, Lord – give me the strength to change that which I cannot accept. the drift. Like closing the beach house while my hottest housemates screw their brains out upstairs. Before you stop reading, I assure you that this column’s featured cocktail is not urine based, nor does it contain half a teaspoon of Dan was in St. Bart’s on a junket, bought by a big pharma behemoth and paid for by you and me. I couldn’t go because I found it morally urine-infused syrup, nor does urine float on top like a yellow Tequila objectionable, I had to close the beach house, and I wasn’t invited. Sunrise. This column is actually about water, which those of us So while Dan sunned at some gorgeous resort, I washed out bottles of who drink alcohol regularly should consume in large quantities. chutneys from the refrigerator and felt sorry for myself. Hydration! Hangovers are less severe if you drink water while Then the “Porn’s Greatest Hits” playlist started blasting on the audio tying one on. Water flushes out those nasty toxins they’re always system. Kyle and Robbie spent the weekend with me, in a manner of mentioning – those vaguely criminal substances we’re said to be full speaking. Until they showed up groping each other I had no idea that of in our natural state and must rid our systems of daily. (Silly me. I they’d changed the middle word in BFFs. It was excruciating. And hot, in thought urine contained the toxins, and getting rid of them involved a tragic, out-in-the-cold kind of way. They were trying out new material peeing them into the toilet and not a tumbler. Boy, am I dumb!) while I emptied out the refrigerator. I’ve been drinking a lot lately: friends have been taking us out Me (in the kitchen, thinking): “Nam pla sauce – out.” to celebrate our marriage; I spent some boozy days drowning my Robbie (in an upstairs bedroom, shouting): “Yeah, man, there!” sorrows at closing the beach house; it’s getting colder and darker Me (heading for the liquor cabinet, thinking): “It’s 5 o’clock in by the day, which led to sneaky passes by the liquor cabinet on my Greenland.” way anywhere in the apartment. So, I decided to take a week off and Kyle (from his core): “Oh God give it to me baby unh unh unh unh drink water. No flavored stuff. Just plain water. yeah yeah unh unh unh….” I regret to say that I felt better immediately. No, I’m not staying Life Lesson #26: swigging straight from the bottle never affirms one’s “on the wagon,” an expression that comes from horse-drawn water self-image. I held a magnum of Jack Daniels high and started gulping. wagons at the turn of the 20th century. I felt good but bored. Oh, Robbie: “Aaaaaaahhhhhhhnnnnnnnnn! Aaahhnnn! Ahn!” sweet Sauterne, sobriety is dreary! Your mind improves – never Kyle: “Here it comes! Unnnhhhhhhhh! Yeah!” a good idea. Reality comes into sharper focus – big mistake in This was more than a man should be asked to hear unless also he’s these wretched times. You gain clarity, both mental and spiritual. in the cast. I stomped out of the house and around the deck, but as Dullsville. But for this brief period it was worth the painful monotony I passed under the guest bathroom windows I heard running water, of better health. I kept imagining those nasty toxins exiting my body slapping noises and giggles. “So soon?” Kyle said with surprise. “Unh! through my favorite organ, my overworked kidneys bathing in a Hey, you’re getting shampoo all over my… Oh? Yeah, sure, why not? Unh!” Was there no sanctuary? clear wash of something other than vodka – something cleansing and healthy and tedious as hell. A straggly patch of mint inspired me to make myself a vast mint julep to get me through this ordeal. The traditional mint julep consists of a The Best Plain Water: Ignore the know-it-alls who insist that tap small handful of mint leaves and a little sugar or syrup, which somebody water is as good as bottled water. It isn’t. It may start out dandy (see below) bruises with crushed ice and a fork to release the mint oil in the hills upstate or the underground springs that serve your before adding bourbon. This is just plain dumb – another Southern community, but after it passes through all those corroded pipes and discomfort masquerading as antebellum swank. Traditional mint juleps lands in your glass, it’s acquired a distinct tang. So drink Deer Park are easy to make if you have slaves. Bruising mint leaves with a fork or Evian. (Did you know that Dasani comes from municipal water to make six separate drinks? Hello, carpal tunnel syndrome. And it’s a dental comedy, since everybody ends up with bits of green leaves stuck supplies?) My vote goes to Poland Springs. to their teeth. The Best Sparkling Water: My vote once again goes to Poland My version is cleaner, easier and tastes just as good; you get the mint Springs, but only the plain, unflavored kind. Pellegrino and Perrier flavor without the interdental leaves or the arm brace. I drank them are too flat; Canada Dry is manufactured. Poland Springs is naturally to the rank, arousing sounds of puppy love – puppies in heat. They and generously carbonated. came down for dinner at some point, but by then I was shut tight in my And if you’re bored by a refreshing glass of chilled Poland Springs bedroom with headphones on, the iPod bringing Jay Brannan’s beautiful voice directly into my brain. “F*** this, this can’t be my life….” Sparkling? You can always pee into it, add some ice and call it an all-natural cocktail. The Yankee Mint Julep If you’re not able to try these recipes at home, then ask your favorite bartender to make them for you! Put fresh, washed mint leaves into a shaker with ice. Add a few drops of simple syrup, then dump in as much bourbon or Jack Daniels as possible. If anybody complains that Jack is sour mash, not bourbon, tell him to shove his snob traditions where the sun http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2616 don’t shine, then shake, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve. Or throw it in his face. View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments
Water of Life I once found myself at a meeting of urine drinkers. No, under no circumstances – including Chinese water torture and being strapped to a chair and forced to listen to Ke$ha – would I ever in a trillion years drink my own piss. But I was accompanying someone who was HIV-positive, and I swore there would be no outbursts, groans, or wretching noises. We both were willing to try anything to keep him healthy. The group called itself “Water of Life.” They believed, like the late Prime Minister of India Morarji Desai (he lived to be 100; something must have worked), that a glass of pee was like a good
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 31 Interview Kaya’s Boyfriend Has A Boyfriend The Canadian ex-Pussycat Doll’s mutual gay adoration
By Jason Clevett with Katy who is an awesome human being but, to work with a The world can seem a small place sometimes. Kaya Jones legend was very cool.” is on the line from her home in LA, and immediately Jones released an EP, Release on November 8th in advance of gets excited to learn she is speaking to a Calgary based a full length album in 2012. publication. “Release is a teaser. The full length album is “My mom actually created a logo for the Calgary called Electrified which is a lot of dutch house Stampede in the 1970’s! My Mom did graphic design electro music and dance, it is about having for years, a lot of the reason why my family is based a good time. Release is about letting out of Canada is because my mother migrated out your inner light, being who you from Jamaica. My Dad is American but I was are and letting people shine and born in Canada. She also did a Petro Canada not being scared of your gift and logo; she lived in Calgary for a little while uniqueness.” before I was born.” The current single The blonde beauty is a former member of the Boyfriend is about being Pussycat Dolls from 2003 to 2006, which was dumped for a man, and the jumping point for her solo career. that is ok. The song was “It was really a good learning experience shopped around for five professionally and personally. I wouldn’t be here years without a taker, on the phone with you if I hadn’t had that path until the opportunity and opportunity. Leaving was about me wanting to record it landed in to really express myself more as an artist and really her lap. be a part of everything in my art. It probably comes “I love going away from being around my Mom as an artist my from the grain and whole life. I have the opportunity now to doing something really be involved and write my songs, different. Travis approve my songs, be part of that Huff, the producer process of working hand in hand and co-writer of with the writers and producers.” the song, and I One of her first brushes with were recording mega-fame was alongside Katy another song and Perry as background vocalists talking about for Mick Jagger on the song Old doing something Habits Die Hard from the film different and Alphie. The song won a Golden he said Globe in 2005.
“When I was writing with (Eurythmics’) Dave Stewart for . It the Pussycat Dolls in London, is a song about a girl we were having dinner and he whose boyfriend dumps asked what my musical dreams her for another man were. I said I had two: to sing the and it was passed by national anthem at the Superbowl major artists and companies, and to sing with Mick Jagger. no one wanted to attack it. He played At the time those were it, it has it for me and it spoke to me in so many you changed since then. He said, ways. My cousin is openly gay now but have really good tone, I think Mick I have watched his struggle to come would love your voice . That was the out to friends and family, and seen end of the conversation. Six months some of my friends dealing with it. I have later I was in Los Angeles and he an opportunity to shed light on things called me and told me to come down that others don’t have a voice for. I loved to the studio and pop my head in. I the idea that Trevor thought I was good for walked into the studio not expecting the song, it made sense for me to tackle anything, he gave me no hint, and it. A good song is a good song regardless there is Mick Jagger in the recording of its message, if you like the message booth. It was very surreal and insane, you should share it with the world as more than a dream come true. I was much as you can. I am really happy able to meet him and the musicians I did that.” that evening. The following day Dave brought me in with Katy Perry who It is a subject that happens a lot was doing a different style of music in real life but is rarely dealt with in 2004, pre I Kissed a Girl and we in pop culture. For that reason, worked as backup singers for Mr. the subject has resonated with Jagger. So (it was cool) working fans who have heard it. “Every girl needs a gay! It is definitely something that
32 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com happens; a lot of my male gay friends have said that before they It is her way of giving back to the community that has came out they lied. Everyone in our family thought my cousin was supported her, she said. a major player with girls but it was a facade. Finally when he came “(My gay fans) have been really, really helpful. Coming from out and was able to be who he is and open it was wonderful and a girl group we had a lot of male fans and it was wonderful to beautiful. But he had a lot of pain and struggled with that. It is see the gay fans move with me on this journey of being a solo a message that it is not taboo, it happens, and everyone needs to artist. I feel really blessed that I have had such wonderful fans, relate to things. That is what art is about, finding that relationship gay and straight, that have been really welcoming. The gay fans with your audience. It is something I dealt with when I was 12 were the first to book me for things like LA Pride and give me the years old in school, and I didn’t realize it. My best friend was gay opportunity I didn’t have off the bat. I do have to say that my gay and we would hold hands but he had a boyfriend, we were all best audience means a lot to me, which is why it isn’t just about being friends and there was no judgment because we were so young and an audience but being there for them as much as they have been hadn’t heard people make fun of us. It is definitely something girls for me.” can relate to and I have had fans say thanks, I went through this.” Although the battle for gay marriage ended 6 years ago in Kaya Jones is on the Equality Tour promoting equal marriage Canada, Jones is making plans to return to her country of birth in the USA. as well. “A few years ago I wanted to do something with the armed “We are in discussions right now about a New Years Eve show forces. I went over to Iraq and performed for the troops which was and multiple dates within Canada. I was born and grew up in amazing. I realized when I went over there how many men and Toronto and I feel I am a mix of both – my mother was born women were closeted because they kind of had to be. I had a lot in Jamaica, moved to Canada at a young age and I was born of fans reach out to me and make me understand these issues in there - my father is American. I really do feel that I am American America a little bit more. Canada is so forward in this aspect, in and Canadian and I am very proud to be both. I miss things like America we are still struggling. If you can fight for your country ketchup chips and poutine, the mixtures of cultures and foods, and die for your country, you deserve as a human being to have so I am excited to come up and tour Canada.” rights in your country. They are putting limitations on what love is about. It is not about gender or being gay or straight, love is a gift and everybody deserves to give and receive love. The Equality Tour is not a party thing, and the gay community has been poorly represented in a lot of ways. It is about performing in the Kaya Jones communities and getting the message out there standing up for Boyfriend and other tracks available on iTunes my gay friends and fans, that I support marriage equality and who www.kayajones.com you are. Of course Lady Gaga is on the forefront of that and I have to take my hat off to her because she is doing something, actually standing up for what you believe in and these rights and issues.” http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2617 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 33 Our Friend Dorothy ATP brings the Wonderful Wizard to life
Photos courtesy of ATP
By Jason Clevett likes it. They may hate it – you’re no Garland, shut your face You may have wondered what that scream echoing through Thurgood! Worst Dorothy ever, I am becoming straight because Calgary earlier this year was about. The mystery is solved, it of you!” was local actor Ksenia Thurgood, screaming with joy at being Of course the rest of the cast is also fantastic. Bruce Horak offered the role of Dorothy in Alberta Theatre Project’s holiday (Scarecrow), David Leyshon (Tinman), and Kevin Corey show The Wizard of Oz. (Cowardly Lion) infuse aspects of the film versions into their “For this show I didn’t audition, I got the phone call. I was characters but stand on their own merits as well. Anyone elated, I screamed, muffled of course but I did scream. I was familiar with the skill and style of Elinor Holt would believe honestly just really honored and excited, I couldn’t believe they she is the perfect Wicked Witch, and she more than meets were offering me the role without auditioning, I had submitted expectations. From top to bottom The Wizard of Oz is superbly to be seen for it but that they wanted me was pretty humbling.” cast. Once the initial joy subsided, the pressure was on. One “Everyone is double cast except for Dorothy and the Toto’s. difficulty in playing as iconic a character as Dorothy Galeis One of the great things about this show is aspects are straight that people expect a replica of Judy Garland on stage. To her from the movie. It has been fun, throw stuff at the wall and credit, Thurgood doesn’t try to be Garland. She makes the see what happens. There have been parts specifically in character her own and does so fantastically (your heart will choreography where we watch the film to capture some iconic break when Ms. Gulch takes Toto). moments lifted from the film. …There are a ton of theatre tricks “Whenever I get freaked out about having to be her I think in this show which is pretty cool, I am a nerd that way.” about one of her most famous quotes - You have to be a first rate This is Thurgood’s third consecutive year in the ATP holiday version of yourself, you can’t be a second rate version of anyone show, also appearing in 2010’s Seussical: The Musical and else. From day one I had to take Dorothy and not think of it 2009’s Toad of Toad Hall. It means a lot to be part of the annual as Judy Garland and try to mimic her, I had to make her my tradition, she said. Dorothy. Some people might be coming with that expectation, “I am simply honored and grateful to have the work and they but I am not Judy Garland…to try and be her wouldn’t do are trusting me with this big part. There are times when I get justice to her or myself. It is rare that you work on a show that freaked out about it. Singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow?! is brand spanking new - it is a given on any production that you That freaks me out and I have to talk myself down from the don’t try to be anyone else and don’t watch their work so you ledge, you just have to be yourself and do your best job Ksenia. don’t unintentionally make their choices. It’s just innate to do That they want to keep me around to tell these stories, that they the best job you can in telling that story and hope the audience trust my work enough for a high energy show over Christmas means a lot.”
34 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Also meaningful is the chance to meet the kids from the audience after the show. “I had one little girl during Toad of Toad Hall who was so charming. I was Ratty, so kind of asexual. She wanted to talk to me. When I went to my dressing room another actor came back and told me that the little girl really wanted my phone number. I went out and had to explain that Ratty doesn’t have a phone he lives by a river. She just wanted to call Ratty and hang out and wanted to know if he would be into that. She was like 7. That will always stay with me. “Other little kids are super shy, little girls like to get really close and touch you, they like pretty costumes. There are others that literally launch themselves off the ground to get a hug, it makes you feel pretty special. To affect little people’s lives touches my heart in a way you wouldn’t believe. I think of it as, what is the best way for me to do my job in telling the story of The Wizard of Oz? and if the kids get taken away on a journey that is fantastic. Those little kids get sooo excited, they don’t care about Ksenia they just want to be near you and touch you and talk to you. That is part of what is special about the Christmas show, making a little person feel important. The Wizard of Oz has been done a million times from school productions to massive touring shows. Yet no matter how many times you’ve seen it, there is something special about it. Such is the case with ATP’s production. “It is a story that is well loved and known, and a story about what’s important in life and how all you truly need is people you love - that is your home no matter where you are in the world. You can expect to see some surprises and an amazing world that has been created. I am really hoping audiences will be taken away to Oz, literally,” Ksenia said, adding, “Also as someone with so many gay friends, playing a gay icon like Dorothy is pretty cool.” Understatement?
The Wizard of Oz Alberta Theatre Projects • Until December 31st www.atplive.com
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www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 35 Out of Town Texas Coast: Galveston, Corpus Christi, and South Padre Island
Downtown Galveston’s historic Strand District. Photo by Andrew Collins
By Andrew Collins Galveston Bay. This warren of palm-shaded cobblestone lanes is Although America’s Gulf Coast doesn’t have any major punctuated by a few tall buildings. gay beach resorts, the Texas barrier island of Galveston There are numerous attractions to keep you busy around has steadily become a popular destination with GLBT Galveston, the most famous being the Moody Gardens, a dazzling travelers. About 220 miles south, the coast’s largest city, nature-oriented complex consisting of three huge pyramidal Corpus Christi, contains a number of notable attractions buildings housing a vast tropical rain forest, an aquarium, and as well as the coast’s only gay bar south of Galveston. a science museum. Other points of interest include downtown’s And at the southern tip of the Texas coast, scenic Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum, in which you can South Padre Island has developed increased cachet as a explore an actual retired oil rig; the dramatic 1894 Grand Opera House, which now presents theater and music events; and the getaway, thanks in part to biannual Splash South Padre Texas Seaport Museum, which is home to 1877 Tall Ship Elissa. Island gay parties. If you start to feel a little peckish, downtown’s festive Yaga’s Here’s a look at these three classic coastal getaways in Texas. Cafe (www.yagaspresents.com) is a longtime favorite for casual Caribbean-inspired fare. For extremely tasty Latin American and Galveston Mexican fare, including delicious Gulf snapper ceviche, head The historic and charming city of Galveston (www.galveston. to Rudy & Paco (www.rudyandpaco.com). A spacious, elegant com) is a haven of sandy beaches, opulent Victorian houses, restaurant overlooking Galveston Bay, Willie G’s (www.williegs. and touristy but engaging seafood restaurants and souvenir com) serves huge and rich portions of seafood, including lump shops. Gays and lesbians – many from Houston, 50 miles inland crab au gratin and snapper Kathleen (blackened with shrimp, – regularly visit here. With colorful architecture, a small but crab, mushrooms, and lemon butter). Gay-popular Mosquito discernible arts scene, and a laid-back demeanor reminiscent of Cafe (www.mosquitocafe.com), despite its pesty name, might Key West and New Orleans, this city of 48,000 is a bit more open- just serve the most sophisticated and polished contemporary minded and offbeat than any other on the Texas Gulf Coast. cuisine in town. This charming space with tall windows exudes Galveston occupies a narrow, 32-mile-long, windswept coastal understated elegance. Gay-friendly MOD Coffeehouse (www. island. Several historic neighborhoods abound with stately old modcoffeehouse.com) is one of the best places in town for mansions and cheerful clapboard cottages, and the main drag espresso and tea drinks, plus decadent desserts. along the shoreline, Seawall Boulevard, bustles with seafood The city has a few gay bars. The friendly and festive 3rd Coast restaurants, chain hotels, and shops selling postcards, seashells, Bar (www.3rdcoastdowntown.com) overlooks the Gulf and has swimsuits, and sunglasses. a small deck outside. Robert’s Lafitte is another neighborhood If you’re a beach lover, you’ll want to hang out around the bar with an easy-going personality. A relative newcomer that’s shorefront neighborhoods, but the city’s vibrant and quirky quickly become popular, Stars Beach Club (starsbeachclub. personality reveals itself most strongly a couple of miles north, com) is a great spot for dancing. And the Pink Dolphin in the downtown Strand Historic District, which overlooks (pinkdolphingalveston.com) is a low-key neighborhood gay bar
36 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com that’s a favorite with locals. The dapper Bacchus Wine Bar (www. website for dates, as they’re usually announced a few months in bacchus-wine-bar.com) serves a nice range of wines (and beers) advance of these parties. by the glass - this mixed hangout is a fun place for drinks before A word about the geography of the area, which can be confusing or after dinner along the Strand. for outsiders. Padre Island is the world’s longest barrier island Galveston claims a pair of Texas’s most renowned historic and the second-largest island in the Lower 48 (after Long Island). hotels, and both of them are quite gay-friendly. Anchoring the It extends for some 130 miles from just east of Corpus Christi, heart of downtown’s Strand Historic District, the Tremont House where it’s generally called North Padre Island, all the way down (www.wyndham.com) captures the elegance and warmth of a to the tip. Because the central section of the island is preserved European boutique hotel. The hotel’s 119 rooms have marble wilderness, you can’t drive from the northern to southern baths and fluffy pillow-top bedding. A 10-minute drive south, parts. The town of South Padre Island is the only substantially the imposing Hotel Galvez (www.wyndham.co) offers a more developed part of the island, and from Corpus Christi you get peaceful setting overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Although rooms here by taking U.S. 77 south to Highway 100 east - it’s about a have every amenity, the period decor thoroughly recalls the 3.5-hour drive. city’s gilded era. You can sip cocktails at the pool’s swim-up bar Splash South Padre Island is a fun time to visit, drawing or relax to piano music over the Sunday champagne brunch. revelers from throughout the South and increasingly from Among mainstream B&Bs, the gay-friendly Avenue O B&B (www. all over the country. With a mild climate, a couple of miles of avenueo.com) is a romantic, imaginatively decorated inn set in beautiful beachfront, and a restaurant scene that’s become the city’s historic Silk Stocking District. The 1923 Mediterranean steadily more sophisticated, this narrow island community is Revival house overlooks beautifully landscaped grounds. a terrific destination year-round, especially from fall to spring, when the weather is mild (it can be a little toasty in summer, Corpus Christi although Gulf breezes moderate the temperatures). With a population of just over 300,000, Corpus Christi (www. The preferred activity in these parts is relaxing: you can laze visitcorpuschristitx.org) is the largest community along the on the beach, ride horseback at Padre Island National Seashore, Texas coast - it’s about a 4.5-hour drive south of Galveston, and enjoy the usual sorts of recreational activities you’d find at and it’s just a 2.5-hour drive down I-37 from San Antonio. The the seashore: fishing, boating, kite-boarding, surfing, snorkeling, city enjoys a sheltered setting on Corpus Christi Bay, which and even dolphin-watching cruises. Fans of nature should check separates it from Padre Island. From downtown Corpus Christi, out the fascinating South Padre Island Birding Center, which it’s an easy drive to the island, which is home to popular seaside comprises both a nature center and a network of boardwalks attractions like Mustang Island State Park and the scenic town that lead out along the bayfront (and from which you can spot of Port Aransas. everything from alligators to least sandpipers). Just across the A fairly conservative city with a strong military presence, Queen Isabella Causeway on the mainland, the historic village Corpus Christi has a limited gay scene but is home to several of Port Isabel contains shops, restaurants, a marina (with boat noteworthy attractions. At the north end of downtown, the tours), a historic lighthouse, and other amusements. outstanding Art Museum of South Texas and Museum of Science Seafood is a highlight in the area, with the Dirty Al’s/ & History anchor a waterfront cultural district that also includes Daddy’s (dirtyals-daddys.com) restaurant group among the top the first-rate Harbor Playhouse Theatre as well as a complex of contenders - they have locations both on the island and across restored historic houses known collectively as Heritage Park. the bay in Port Isabel, and fried shrimp, oysters on the half shell, Just a bit north, the Harbor Bridge leads to the North Beach and blackened fish are all outstanding. The low-frills Manuel’s neighborhood, which is home to the world’s oldest surviving in Port Isabel is a good bet for outstanding Tex-Mex fare, aircraft carrier, the World War II-era USS Lexington, which is including enormous breakfasts. More upscale, urbane options now an impressive floating museum. Next door, you can tour the include stylish Cafe Kranzler (www.cafekranzler.com), where excellent Texas State Aquarium, home to sea turtles, river otters, specialties include lobster omelets at breakfast and marinated piranhas, and three graceful bottlenose dolphins. sesame-crusted ahi at dinner; and Zeste, a gourmet market Downtown’s upscale Omni Corpus Christi Hotel Bayfront and restaurant known for creatively prepared tapas, salads, Tower (www.omnihotels.com) as well as the stylish and more sandwiches, and other healthy fare. intimate V Boutique Hotel (www.vhotelcc.com) are reliable, gay- There are no gay bars on South Padre Island, but friendly lodging options close to local attractions - they’re both a establishments like Mooncussers (www.mooncusserspi.com) short walk from Water Street Market (www.waterstreetmarketcc. and Louie’s Backyard (www.lbyspi.com) are always welcoming com), a lively hub of restaurants, shops, bars, and a cool little and often host GLBT parties during Splash weekend. And inland, museum dedicated to Texas surf culture. Here you’ll find an you’ll find gay bars in some of the border cities, like Studio 69 excellent coffeehouse, Agua Java, as well as the Water Street in Brownsville (30 miles southwest) and PBD’s in McAllen (75 Seafood Co. and Oyster Bar and the Executive Surf Club - all miles west). good places for drinking and dining. The main gay club in town, South Padre is lined with beach resorts and condos, many of the Hidden Door (thehiddendoorcc.com), is on the south side of them facing the Gulf and others set along the bay (it’s just a few downtown and has good drink specials, a cheery patio, and a blocks from one side to the other). Most properties are moderately side bar called the Loft with piano cabaret. priced, with one of the nicest being a relatively new Hilton Garden If you’d rather stay outside of the bustle of downtown and near Inn (www.hiltongardeninn.com) across from the Birding and the beach, Anthony’s by the Sea (www.anthonysbythesea.com) Nature Center. A small, friendly spot on the beach with spacious, is a terrific, lesbian-owned B&B in Rockport, just 30 miles up nicely updated suites, Palms Resort (palmsresortcafe.com) is the coast from Corpus Christi. This comfy six-room property is one of the best values on the island - rooms have kitchenettes just a few blocks from Aransas Bay, and rates include a hearty and nice-size sitting areas, and the on-site cafe overlooking the breakfast, which you can enjoy on the shaded patio. water serves tasty, casual food. There are also a few value-priced properties that offer special rates during Splash and are always South Padre Island very gay-welcoming: Comfort Suites, La Copa Inn, and Suites at The southernmost Gulf Coast town in the United States, Sunchase. bustling South Padre Island (www.sopadre.com/island) has long Andrew Collins covers gay travel for the New York Times-owned website been famous as a family vacation spot, more recently as a Spring GayTravel.About.com and is the author of Fodor’s Gay Guide to the USA. Break destination flooded with college students, and in just the past few years as the site of two raucous and fun gay circuit parties, known as Splash South Padre Island (splashsouthpadre. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2619 com) - it’s held twice a year, once in late April and then again in the fall (usually late October or early November). Check the View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 37 Photography
Crowns for Kids at the Junction - Edmonton Crowns for Kids at Twisted Element - Calgary
38 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Photography
World Aids Day Show at Fab Bar - Calgary (photos by B&J)
The Gong Show II at the Texas Lounge - Calgary
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 39 MANLY MOSES
By Randy Myer Adam of Moses, “When I first met him, I was impressed by Moses is not afraid to turn conventional on its ear. In his his talent and charisma. His artistry is unconventional yet new album, Predictions, he sets his sights on pushing his look is commercial.” buttons and changing minds. The first single off the Together, they are hoping that rare combination – along record, “I’m Your Man”, features pop sensation XELLE. with Moses’ pop oriented sounds, driving beat and strong Driven by a dirty synth sound, a heavy beat, and Moses’ message - will propel the out artist into mainstream. And unique voice and harmonies, it’s destined to become a why not? Moses is one superstud who deserves to be a dance floor staple. superstar. The album features ten songs that whisk listeners on a GC: The idea of freedom seems to be an underlying theme journey through the inner world of Moses and his multiple in much of your music. layers of personality. It draws inspiration from 80’s bands M: I grew up in Israel in a strict family with stringent like Depeche Mode, The Cure, and Erasure, however its expectations. My dream was to be an entertainer but when message is completely Moses’ own with much of it stemming I told my parents, they literally laughed at me and said “No, from his arrival in New York. “It was tough starting over in really. What do you want to do for a living?” They hoped I a new city with no money and no friends,” recounts Moses. would become a lawyer or a doctor. “But what’s great about New York is it’s a city of artists GC: How did you break free from their demands? facing similar struggles and so we were able to build our M: It wasn’t until I moved to NYC that I was finally able to own community.” break the chains and become my own person, creatively and Moses’ big break came when he met record producer Zach sexually. The wheels of freedom were set in motion as soon Adam who helped him create the ambitious album. Says as I took the first step to explore, discover and define myself as a man on my own terms. GC: That’s what your new song, “I’m Your Man”, is all about. M: Yes, it’s about playing with standard conceptions of what a real man should be. GC: Is it correct to assume the music video was inspired by George Michael’s, “Freedom”?
40 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com M: The video is being compared to the ‘Freedom’ video, which is humbling and flattering, but in all honesty, it was not something we ever discussed or planned to do. It just sort of happened that way. George Michael is an amazing artist with an equally amazing career, so I’m fine with people making that comparison. GC: But is George Michael a role model for gay men? M: I can’t really say. He is definitely a role model for me as a performer. GC: The ladies in your video aren’t ladies at all… some are actually the gender-bending girl group XElle. M: We have a wide variety of personalities from the NYC nightlife world represented in the video. Our aim was to present something less to do with gender bending, more to do with bending the definition of gender. GC: Does “I’m Your Man” follow the same path as Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Ke$ha’s “We R Who We R”? M: I can definitely see the parallels with other outspoken artists, but my sound is a bit darker than that of the pop princesses. Message wise, I think we share some common elements. GC: Is the world ready to accept Moses as their man? M:L Pop culture is always on the look out for something new. I believe the world is ready to accept me as their man. I’m definitely ready to be their man. GC: What is your main message to fans? M: Be true to thyself. It is the only way to achieve ultimate happiness and success.
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www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 41 Music Review Hear Me Out… for the holidays Michael Bublé, Glee By Chris Azzopardi “Extraordinary Merry Christmas” isn’t extra ordinary; it’s Christmas-through-Katy Perry trash. Same goes for “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” originally a 1984 charity song that just sounds hokier in their hands, and the ’80s romp Christmas “Christmas Wrapping” is completely lacking in melody. And By: Michael Bublé they wonder why Sue Sylvester hates them. My Rating: Also Out The crooner’s sex appeal isn’t just surface hotness, though no one’s going to Ultimate Christmas fault his boyish features. By: Dave Koz It’s all over “Santa Baby,” taking the typically-for- ‘Tis the season for the saxophone. Dave Koz’s fourth chicks tune and adding Christmas album is essentially a cash-grab compilation some machismo to it – gleaning tracks from his three previous holiday albums baby becomes “bubby.” And instead of a sable, he wants a manly – December Makes Me Feel This Way, A Smooth Jazz watch. With his deep drawl, and his tongue firmly placed in his Christmas and Memories of a Winter’s Night – that tacks on cheek (don’t get any ideas about getting your bells jingled), the two newbies: an intro and an outro (woopty doo!). Definitely time-traveling troubadour pulls off the Eartha Kitt classic most not for people who get enough of this on the elevator, charmingly. Then again, he does justice to most of the classics – this smooth-jazz collection still offers some nice twists in 14 of them, and a new one called “Cold December Night” – on his composition, taking “Please Come Home For Christmas” first full-length Christmas album, a project the Frank Sinatra- into a bluesy direction with Idol finalist Kimberly Locke’s meets-Dean Martin singer was made for. It’s why songs like singing. But it’s a package that, despite tradition, needs “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like some shaking up. Christmas,” both beautifully orchestrated by schmaltz master David Foster, fit his classic-sounding voice like hand and glove. To play up his old-soul appeal, he invites the Puppini Sisters for A Very She & Him Christmas a very merry ’60s-styled swing on “Jingle Bells.” He stretches By: She & Him his chords on a divine “Ave Maria,” has a “White Christmas” with Shania Twain and does a lovely, for-the-fireside version of She & Him make this Christmas their own with carols that “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” Most surprising is his poignant aren’t cookie-cutter, taking gentler approaches to the same- change-up of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You,” old. Part of why it works without sounding monotonous is pulling back on the pep and zeroing in on the lonely lyrics of Zooey Deschanel’s darling, no-frills voice, a force that pulls desperation for a lover who’s away during the holidays. But not you in with just the first few notes of “The Christmas Waltz,” Bublé. He sounds right at home for Christmas. tiptoeing in softly with guitar and a beautiful lilt that’s delicately matched. More standard fare is just as solid: the intimacy on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” captures the song’s nostalgia and “Silver Bells” is performed Glee: The Christmas prettily just with a ukulele. A Very She & Him Christmas Album, Volume 2 is a very nice surprise – even for the hipsters who hate My Rating: Christmas music.
Not to be a Grinch, but is A Holiday Carole more Glee music really at the By: Carole King top of anyone’s Christmas list? But here you have it The legend shows her age on her first studio album in 10 anyway: 12 tracks from a TV years, disappointedly without a single new tune from the show so in love with itself that songwriting prodigy. Even her voice, ironed flat throughout, every few months we must be is a let down. “My Favorite Things” tries to recapture King’s reminded of how awesome piano-pop work but comes off as a note-flubbed hack job. they think they are. The McKinley High kids are best when The over-enunciated ding-dongs on “Carol of the Bells” they’re not being themselves – you know, gleeful. A standout do it a disservice, though the choir helps conceal King’s on the second disc of Christmas songs from the glee club weathered voice. Laughably awful, “Sleigh Ride” sounds is, predictably, Rachel’s (aka Lea Michele) appropriately more suited for an episode of Mister Rogers. Not until the gloomy reading of Joni Mitchell’s “River,” just her peerless coda, “New Year’s Day,” is there a truly memorable song voice and a piano. Moments of minimalism trump all else: that isn’t upset by a completely off-key vocal. A Holiday “Let It Snow” is a charming duet between Chris Colfer’s Kurt Carole, unfortunately, is the coal of Christmas. and Darren Criss’ Blaine, with ad-libs, finger snaps and a similar whimsy to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” from the first set. But the strongest of all the songs doesn’t even belong to a New Directions gleek. Instead, that honor goes to Glee Project runners-up Lindsay Pearce and Alex Newell, who sing “Do You Hear What I Hear?” like they’re trying to win http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2622 their way in (this stirring tour de force should do it). The View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments rest? As tacky as those Christmas sweaters grandma knits.
42 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 43 44 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com FOUR – OH!! Michael Lucas Enters His Fourth Decade
By Robert Herman ML: Through every stage in life there is pressure to stay in Hitting the two-score mark is a biggie and something shape. In my teens, I felt too skinny. In my twenties, I wasn’t most gay men are not eager to rush into. built enough. Then I became busy running a company, so Psychologists say we face two life-changing events that there was less time to go to the gym. The pressure is to find chart the course of our lives. The first is adolescence, that time. time when hormones run wild and life enchants and evades GC: What do you do to stay looking good? us, all at the same time. ML: I lead a very healthy lifestyle. I never touch alcohol, The second is the moment most of us dread. That singular drugs or cigarettes. I also don’t spend my life in clubs. I life changing moment: turning 40. eat right and I try to get at least seven hours of sleep every Just as when we crossed the 18-year milestone (that gave night. the right to vote and the ability to drive a car) so goes forty GC: Does lots of sex keep you youthful? in the diary of our lives. But think back to when you were ML: I think a healthy sex life is important to feel good eighteen. What did you think of forty then? If you were like mentally, but not physically. It’s not about quantity, it’s most, you thought one word: old. about quality of sex for me. Youth – and gay men under thirty - believe forty is the end GC: Is forty really fabulous? Or is it just something old of life. The good news, though, is that when most reach it, people say to make themselves feel better about being old? they realize forty is just the beginning. Michael Lucas has ML: It depends. Your twenties can be tragic and your made his fortune from his youthful looks and body, yet he forties can be fabulous. I was happier in my thirties than in still says he is embracing the big four-oh. my twenties and I look forward to being even happier in my GC: It’s hard enough for most gay men to turn forty, but forties and beyond. you’re in an industry that thrives on youthful male beauty. GC: What is the best thing about turning forty? ML: For me, it isn’t hard at all to turn forty. Age is just a ML: You are still very young, but you are experienced number and I never think about it. Also, millions of other and you know exactly what you want and hopefully how to gay men have done it before me and if you look at Hollywood achieve it. today, most men we consider ideal are well into their prime: Tom Cruise, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt… GC: What is the worst thing about turning forty? ML: You are obligated to throw a spectacular birthday GC: Do you feel pressure to stay in shape? party.
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 45 GC: Why do most gay men GC: What’s your advice struggle with getting older? to the new crop of young ML: I don’t think that’s men pursuing careers in true. If there are those that adult films? do, they shouldn’t. ML: Be disciplined and take it as a real job. GC: You haven’t noticed GC: Can they expect to the swarms of gay men last as long as you have? over thirty-five shopping ML: They can last as in Hollister and American long or longer as long as Eagle? they use their heads. ML: I think it’s not only GC: Where do you hope wrong but quite funny. to be in twenty years? There are certain brands like ML: Where I am right A&F that are represented now, in New York City. by 17-year-old models. If Being as happy as I am men think that by wearing today with the friends I these clothes, they will look have made and hopefully like a youngster, they are many more. I would also very much mistaken. In my love to have children. opinion, they should only GC: Michael Lucas be worn by teenagers and wants to be a daddy? college kids. ML: It has always been GC: What do you miss a dream of mine. most about your twenties? GC: If you could re-live ML: I miss the adventure. your twenties, would you? I miss the journey. I miss making mistakes that ML: Definitely. I was helped me to find out who I born in Russia and left am. when I was 23. I would have left much earlier. GC: What do you know now that you wish you knew GC: Would you do then? anything differently? ML: The difference ML: I would skip a between love and lust. Also, boyfriend or two. I would the difference between being spend more time with my vulnerable with someone family. and simple sexual desire. GC: What is your GC: How has your biggest accomplishment definition of success of your life? changed from when you ML: That I made it in were twenty? New York. This is a tough ML: When I was twenty, city and I made it! Also, I measured success by my I was able to bring my bank account. Now that I’m whole family to the USA older, I see success as being from Russia and give happy, being surrounded by them a good life. people I love and knowing GC: What’s your how to enjoy what I have and birthday wish? how to enjoy the moment. ML: An end to all wars, GC: Would twenty-year- but that’s impossible to old Michael Lucas be proud accomplish. Plato said two of where forty-year-old thousand years ago that Michael is today? wars will never cease to ML: Absolutely. I always exist because they come expected that I would be from human passions. successful and have money. GC: Is youth wasted on I worked very hard for it. I the young? am very proud of where I ML: That’s what the old am. say. They young don’t feel GC: Did you expect to still that way at all. be in the adult industry? ML: Yes. I always expected to be in the industry. It was never in doubt that I would be a director and producer and I worked very hard in order to make that my full-time career. I didn’t really think about whether I would be in front of the camera or not. It http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2625 was about the success of my company. View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments
46 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
By Randy Myers Angeles. While they were together in L.A. they discovered that Jackson and Coleman Vrana - of the angst-ridden, twin gay they shared a similar perspective on life. brother hip hoppers known as Elephant – return to the airwaves They say years of feeling like they couldn’t survive sober – or this month with the release of their new single, “Queer Nation”. high, for that matter - opened their eyes to a mindset of “not A call-to-arms for gay youth to claim their rightful place in pop giving a f*ck” about other’s opinions or judgments. Forming culture, the song is the band’s first track from their new record Elephant was their way of embracing their true identity. label, Scruffy Records. “Gay people have every right to be madder than hell about the “Queer Nation takes aim against the rampant homophobia unfair treatment we still receive from a society full of bigots,” that remains prevalent in hip hop today,” explained Coleman they say. “For the most part, gay men are still the butts of Vrana, from the band’s recording studio in Los Angeles. jokes. We aim to be authentic artists that break the mold on “Jackson and I decided it was time we emasculate those anti- what the world sees as cool. We call ourselves ‘queer’ before we gay rappers spouting their lazy stereotypical hate rhymes. call ourselves ‘gay.’” We’re calling it a sonic castration.” “In our minds, and the minds of many people we love, a Queer Better known for their tales of rowdy bathroom stalls, heroin Nation is already emerging,” continues Jackson, pointing to the binges, and month-long hunger strikes, “Queer Nation” is growing number of teenagers taking a stand against the views Elephant’s most confrontational track to date. Some say it of their parents and popular artists like Miley Cyrus speaking borders on activism. Elephant calls it their most honest work. out publicly in support of queer issues. “Teen fists are getting “Homophobia plays a huge role in keeping anger alive in an tighter. A backlash is on the way. We can feel it.” Elephant song,” continues Coleman. “But we’re careful not “A Queer Nation would be a nation of equality,” adds to take ourselves too seriously. Poking fun at our lifestyle is Coleman. “We’re sure it would look lovely.” important to make our point as impactful as possible.” Of course the twins recognize the irony of recording songs Still, the twins acknowledge the pain of discrimination is in a genre of music that has historically fueled the fire of real. Originally from Oklahoma, they came out when they were homophobia. They take a fight fire with fire mentality. 14 and recall getting beaten up every day. They were called the openly “hedonistic faggots.” Both of them left home when “Hip hop is arguably the most popular influence on music they were 18. Coleman went to New York and Jackson went to today,” says Jackson. “But apart from a few bands, there is no London. They lived separate lives until about four years ago great gay hip hop artist out there representing the community.” when Coleman paid a visit to Jackson, who had moved to Los Though disco – or club music, as it is more commonly known - is the genre of music most often associated with the gay Continued on Page 51 www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 47 Jann Arden A conversation with Calgary’s favorite daughter
Photos courtesy of Universal Music
By Jason Clevett want to bow out like a lady. So I am doing all these really fun “Toronto is good but I was just here 8 days ago and here I am things and having a blast.” again. This is insanity!’ Fans lined up for hours in Costcos and Indigos across the To say Jann Arden is busy would be an understatement. On country for a few moments of her time. With her faithful dog the phone from her Toronto hotel, she laments the fact that Midi by her side, she was gracious and warm to everyone who a week previous she had wrapped up an extensive book and saw her. album signing tour, had a brief return home, then made her “(People coming to the signings) means everything. Every way back to Toronto. Then after a private corporate gig it was author’s greatest fear is to do a signing and no one shows up. back to Alberta for signings in Edmonton and Calgary, followed It is very humbling when someone waits two or three hours in by a stop off at BC Place to sing the national anthem at the Grey a lineup. I don’t have a lot of time to hear their stories because Cup, and on to a signing in Vancouver. things move along pretty quickly but, the stories are the same. This is just a week in the life of Jann, who has become They have this string through them which is really quite Canada’s multi-media queen. This summer she hosted a wonderful, a commonality.” popular CBC radio program Being Jann, she judged on the Arden has always been true to her humble Alberta roots, Global TV show Canada Sings, she dangled off the CN Tower and it shows in her interactions with her fans. Her tweets with Rick Mercer, she completed her autobiography Falling and Facebook posts are often hilarious, and also honest; her Backwards, and she released her latest album Uncover Me 2. online journal entries have always been heartfelt, and she takes “Bruce Allen, Bruce Allen, Bruce Allen. I have been with him advantage of the benefits of social media that were not there as my manager for four years, he looks after Michael Bublé, when she signed her first record deal 20 years ago. Anne Murray, Bob Rock, and has looked after Bryan Adams for “The tendrils of any kind of social media are very far thirty years,” she explained, as the reason for her being so busy. reaching. Like anything in a public forum it can be a very good “He is a genius and knows what precarious times we live in. You and useful thing or negative thing. A lot of people get hurt can’t just sing anymore; downloads have changed the recording with cyberbullying and people ganging up on other people and industry and very few people are making money. Labels are leaving horrible messages. Because it is such a new technology collapsing, they are firing hundreds of people. Everyone has to human beings we are learning the parameters. There have been trying to do triage with it but it is an unstoppable force. I been serious assaults and murders from being taken off of a am going to be 50 years old, the clock is running down. I don’t friends list! Crazy people are crazy fucking people. want to be teetering around on stage reading a teleprompter, I
48 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com “I think it can be very funny, They don’t want to be I just say ridiculous things on stars, they are groups Twitter. With Facebook there is of baggage handlers and something very voyeuristic about doctors and teachers looking at pictures of someone that are scared out of you knew 30 years ago and they their wits, who are not … don’t look anything like they performers and wanted did in High School. I call it the to help their charities. keyhole prophecies because you For us it really tugged don’t know what you are going at our heart-strings, to see when you look in there, so we wanted them to all you have to be careful when you be tied but that doesn’t look, and understand when you make for good TV. So it look at that keyhole there will be had to be a democratic another eye staring back at you vote, we talked it out which is really creepy. I don’t – the costumes and read 99% of the responses, I just choreography and how don’t. When you see me respond they were singing and the to something it is really random. mash-up choice, all that I try to be really careful.” stuff factored into it. I am There is such a wide range of really looking forward to subjects to talk about with her. taping the next season.” We started with her time on Jann’s 9th studio Canada Sings, judging alongside album, and second cover Simple Plan’s Pierre Bouvier and album was released in rapper Vanilla Ice as groups of November. When iconic employees performed mash- producer Bob Rock ups to win money for charity. If (Metallica, Bon Jovi, you sensed a simmering sexual Michael Bublé and many tension between Arden and Ice, others) was announced you weren’t alone. as working with Arden, “Oh my god! Could you see many were curious if we it too? That is so funny Jason,” would be hearing Arden she said to me. “He was the covering Metallica’s one fellow I was worried about Master of Puppets. when I went in there. Pierre “Bob has a ton of pop Bouvier is not this commanding sensibilities, Rock and physical presence, he is a nice Hyde and The Payolas looking young man. Vanilla Ice in the 1970’s had some is this giant person of gristle and massive hits, the work muscle, plus I had seen him on he has done with Michael reality TV shows crashing things Bublé was extremely and throwing bodies around so poppy. He is not a one I was a little nervous to meet trick pony, he can do it them, but he is such a nice all. Everyone came to man.” the table with songs. The What appealed to Arden about Smiths tune Last Night I the show was its difference from Dreamt Somebody Loved other music competition reality Me, I had never heard in shows. It made it difficult to my life - I love The Smiths decide the winners. but had never heard that “It was nice because it song. He had me try a was philanthropic, they were Stones tune and a Mark fighting for their charities. Cohen tune and some
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 49 From Previous Page of it didn’t work but, the stuff really fair picture of life in that did… I grew up listening the 1970’s on the prairies to Fleetwood Mac and listening – crock pots and wagon to Doris Day singing Que Sera wheels and huffing gas Sera with my folks. There are and shooting shit and not five decades of music on there understanding my parents and probably an equal amount relationship and how I fit of songs from Bruce, Bob and in anywhere. To me it felt myself. That is why you end like really status quo stuff up with Peggy Lee and The and after getting a chance Beach Boys and The Motels. It to talk to people across the was very interesting working country that is indeed the with Bob and he pushed me to case. My childhood was really sing.” like that, I did that, that is Doing another cover album the kind of meals we had. allowed her to release new We are not so different music, as she hasn’t written for from each other.” quite awhile. This is something The reader may find she plans to remedy in 2012. themselves in the book for “I haven’t written one any number of reasons, note, one song. I have to get whether it is dealing through the tour which takes with an alcoholic parent, me to the end of March and I having crazy friends, or am dedicating three quarters something as simple as of next year to writing and buying soda from an old recording my next record. As pop machine. My mom, soon as I get through the tour also an Arden fan, found and Canada Sings taping I am a lot of herself in the book going to sequester myself in my as well. house, drag out my tambourine “I am glad to hear and notebook and see what I that because your Mom have to say.” is probably a few years In Windsor, Ontario Arden older than I am, not much signed for my friend Deborah. though. She and I are After mentioning me, she closer in age than you and bemoaned wasting 30 seconds I are. There is so much of precious time talking about common ground. What I me. Arden inscribed her book, really wanted to be aware “Jason – you owe Deb 30 sec!!” of was to make it funny, Deb asked me to use her owed you have to laugh through 30 seconds to thank Arden for some of this stuff and have the book, stating, “it is good to to see the humor in it, my know our heroes are as fucked Mom taught me that. She up as the rest of us.” It is an laughs in the face of sheer apt description, as Falling and total disaster and I Backwards is an honest look at just love that about her. her growing up in Springbank. She is so kind and funny “I liken it a little bit to and never feels victimized songwriting in that you are or that the world owes her honest in it. In pop music you anything. They worked basically have three and a half minutes to tell your tale. When I hard all their lives and built their house. My parents aren’t was writing it there are lots of things I decided not to write about famous, they haven’t written a book on physics or saved a baby because I would never want to do anything to hurt my family out of a fire, they have never done any grand gesture; they are any more then I already did. I just wanted to paint an accurate, just these really hard working, humble soldiers, the ones who
50 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com Interview - From Page 49 are not noted. I guess this is my way of making sure they were community, the twins say more young gay men are embracing noted.” hip hop. “Most all of my queer friends listen to hip hop or at The book ends with Arden signing her first record deal, at least some bubblegum variation,” says Jackson. He foresees the same time that her brother Duray is charged with murder. hip hop overpowering club music in the gay scene in the very It leaves the reader wanting more, and her life from that point near future. forward undoubtedly would make another amazing book. It’s However, when listening to bands like Elephant, it’s easy to not going to happen anytime soon, Arden said. notice certain elements common in traditional hip hop missing “I can’t even think about that right now, that scares the in their music. The twins don’t make any mention of money, hell out of me. Who knows what I will be doing 10 years from bling, or guns. Their war is not with the police but rather, now? If someone had told me I would be writing a book and intolerance. doing a radio show and narrating an ER Vet show for CMT and Even the sound is different. In place of record scratching judging Canada Sings and all this stuff that I am doing now I and hard pounding bass, the twins present an electro-based would have just said are you nuts?! I don’t know what’s ahead. hip hop, incorporating penetrating synthetic beats with punk- I think I have a good decade left in order to not look like a fool, laden melodies created from guitars and keyboards. and continue working and being creative and entertaining the “The name ‘Elephant’ really is about being that proverbial masses so to speak, and enjoy myself and then it will be time one in the room,” explains Jackson. “Our music tackles issues to tip my hat and move on. I trust Bruce will be looking at and releases statements that people are still too afraid to touch, retirement for himself sometime along the line and I really think but they’re issues that can no longer be ignored.” when he packs it in I will too. We will see how it goes. I am really Their message may appear scary to some, but they hold firm enjoying myself. Family and friends are everything to me and to the belief that once fans understand the message, they’ll depending on how my parents’ health goes that will negotiate realize there is nothing to fear. my path as well - I may just need to be at home. I don’t have anything definite, no, I couldn’t give you any clue. I am hoping The same is true with the twins, themselves. “We may look I survive to the end of March.” like hedonistic faggots,” laughs Coleman, “but inside we’re intelligent, friendly guys, and easier to approach than you Uncover Me Canada The tour kicks off in Victoria in February might imagine.” and wraps up in Montreal in March. Alberta dates include Calgary on February 23rd, Red Deer on February 24th, Medicine Hat on February 25th and Edmonton on February 26th. Her 2009 Free tour saw a bigger band and a video screen http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2626 for the first time. Planning is underway for the 2012 tour now. “I am not sure what to expect. We have yet to sit down with View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments the lighting and stage directors to talk about the set. I don’t go to lengths where I am being lowered on a plastic horse in the middle of the arena or anything like that. I think our shows always look nice and the band looks and sounds great. There will be some surprises, Bruce and I have been talking about trying different things. It makes me laugh even thinking about it. It gets harder and harder each time I do a record to fit things into a two hour context. People do need to pee at some point, you can’t be having them sit there for three and a half hours. I think we will have a lot of that sorted out in December with lots of phone calls back and forth and we will sketch it out. We have a week of rehearsals before we hit the road so we will sort it out then.” One of the biggest challenges is narrowing down a set list. Balancing popular songs like , Insensitive, and I Would Die For You with some rarities and songs off the new album becomes harder and harder. “I don’t know how I am going to do it. I have started making lists and sort through a master list of about 50 songs and work down from there. You are asking me all the questions that I lay awake about at night and think about, thank you.”
Jann Arden Uncover Me 2 and Falling Backwards available now. www.JannArden.com
2012 tour Calgary – February 23 Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium Red Deer – February 24 – Red Deer Memorial Centre Medicine Hat – February 24 – Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre Edmonton – Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
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www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 51 52 GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 www.gaycalgary.com People
Kent Hehr (centre) at the 2010 ARGRA Rodeo Kent Hehr MLA blazing the trail for the 99 percent
By Dallas Barnes Chances are you have met Kent Hehr. As MLA of Calgary-Buffalo, Hehr has been as much a companion to community functions as dip is to chips. In a time when the 99 percent are fighting for a piece of the remaining one percent, an MLA like Mr. Hehr may be just the companion Alberta needs. With election time happening again next year, Hehr puts it that he would like to ‘toot his own horn’, and with a track record like his, I would too. If you haven’t met him already, let me introduce you to this local MLA. He has been awarded the honour of Calgary Herald’s 20 Most Compelling Calgarians To Watch in 2008, and one of the Top 40 Under 40 by Calgary Inc. Magazine in 2006. He studied law at The University of Calgary, and followed after graduation as a lawyer at Fraser Milner Casgrain. During this time he was well known for his community leadership with a large number of public service organizations such as the Downtown West Community Association, the United Way of Calgary, the Canadian Paraplegic Association, and the City of Calgary’s Advisory Committee on Accessibility.
Continued on Next Page www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 53 Kent’s political and personal platform is as diverse as he is. He states that he understands Alberta’s financial prosperity lies in the energy sector and fosters that with plans for the future. He takes a firm stance on an adequate police presence in the Downtown core, and has proven successful in attaining this. Believing the root of much crime in the city is a lack of Family and Community Support Services, he advocates for more government spending on these programs. He works tirelessly to combat homelessness and supports the City’s “Calgary’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness” as well as “A Place to Call Home: Edmonton’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness” by keeping up with the Provincial Government’s plans, and ensuring they remains true to their word. Above all else, and perhaps most beneficial to the LGBTQ community is Kent’s assiduous plight for universal human rights for all Albertan’s. It is not a secret that Mr. Hehr has attended every Pride celebration for as many years as we can remember, gone to AGM’s, attended Dyke Marches, advocated for gender reassignment surgery, attended Trans-Day of Remembrance events, ARGRA events, and other queer events throughout the year. It is what we don’t see that is so intriguing about this political friend of the underdog. “One of the reasons that I got into politics was to fight the fact that personal characteristics determine who you are and where you stand,” he explained when he talked with GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. “There is no place for this attitude in Alberta. I speak as a disabled person in saying that if you allow discrimination against one person, you can do it for everyone that is atypically discriminated against.”
Kent Hehr at the 2011 Pride Parade
In his first term in office, Kent called on the Alberta Government to amend the Alberta Human Rights code to explicitly protect individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation. In the spring of 2009 that happened, but alas, at the same time, the Alberta Government set the queer communities rights back a few decades with the introduction of Bill 44 which is now law (giving parents the right to remove their children from classes that deal with sexual orientation or religion). Hehr understands that parents do reserve the right to determine what their children are being taught, however, he believes that making this a government decision reveals the Conservative government’s true colours. “(GBLT) Albertans deserve the equal protection under Alberta law. When considering the effectiveness of our human rights legislation, how does this minister explain to gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgendered, or transsexual individuals the current decision of this government?” he stated in the Legislature. “Bill 44 is a slap in the face for the LGBTQ community. We need to bring Alberta into the 21st Century and make all of Alberta conclusive,” he added while chatting with us. So, the next time you are at a major queer community event, keep an eye out for Kent Hehr as he most likely will be there. Take a minute to chat with him about what concerns you, and I’m certain he will be glad to lend an ear.
Kent Hehr www.kenthehr.com
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BearBash at the Junction - Edmonton (BT McDonald) Fake Moustache at the Junction - Edmonton
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Goiliath’s and the Texas Lounge 24th Anniversary - Calgary
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Western Canada LeatherSIR & Leatherboy Contest 2012
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Taboo Show - Calgary
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Taboo Show - Edmonton
www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 59 Classifieds
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www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine #98, December 2011 61 Q Scopes Think ahead, Sagittarius! This week’s lunar eclipse will be partially visible in New Zealand, but felt everywhere as brainstorms lead too easily to arguments. Rather than inadvertently showing off what you don’t know, think about what you need to learn. ARIES (March 20–April 19): Turn on the charm at work! Just be careful not to be too pushy about it. Jealous colleagues may accuse you of brown nosing. Be considerate of them, but don’t worry too much about it. If you can’t win, don’t play the game. TAURUS (April 20–May 20): Playful teasing can easily get out of hand. That could goad you into adventures that will test your limits. Be careful what you talk yourself into. You’re likely to discover things about yourself that you’ve tried not to admit. GEMINI (May 21–June 20): Conversations with friends can easily degenerate into arguments. What do you need to prove? In the larger sense, aren’t you on the same side? Sexual tension may be feeding into the stress. Keep your home neat and ready for company. CANCER (June 21–July 22): Pay attention to anxieties, especially those that may seem trivial or exaggerated. They can teach you a lot about yourself. New info from a distant relative or a spiritual teacher can help you better to understand family problems. LEO (July 23–August 22): Some playfulness is good for the soul. Worrying too much about the outcome inhibits your creativity and your growth. Get wild! What you release can offer insight into your work and your health. VIRGO (August 23–September 22): Burying problems at home will only make them worse. Go ahead, have the arguments and get them out of the way. Just remember that one of you is wrong and will realize it soon. Even odds on who that is! LIBRA (September 23–October 22): Work out any domestic problems with your domestic partner, especially where money’s involved. No partner? Down-home charm and fashions can help you find one. Some witty flirtation will help get things started. SCORPIO (October 23–November 21): As Shakespeare said, “Neither a lender nor a borrower be.” Arguments with friends over money can lead to betrayal, hurting you a lot more than you would expect. Don’t worry about the future. You’ll figure it out as it comes present. SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 20): Standing up to authority will only get you smacked down. Friends you expect to be on your side won’t be. It’s possible you could be wrong. Think ahead! Be very pragmatic about your goals and how you intend to make them. CAPRICORN (December 21–January 19): Working hard is necessary. Working too hard is dangerous. Proper breaks and rest help you work smarter, not harder. If you must tear apart authority figures, make sure they’re far away. Politicians are always fair game. AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18): Listen to that deep inner voice as you consider sexual adventures. Just trying to prove yourself can lead to injuries. Be especially careful of your mid and lower backside. Talking with a sibling about family history can be amazingly healing. PISCES (February 19–March 19): Turn lazy moods into times for creative reverie. Tough, honest introspection yields powerful insights. You may not like what you see, but remember you often go hard on yourself. Guard against crankiness with your partner. You may need to face some hard truths there, too! Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer since 1977 teaches at the Online College of Astrology. He can be reached for personal or business consultations at 415-864-8302 or through his website at http://www. starjack.com
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