Singer/songwriter decides to follow his heart. He leaves everyone and everything he knows behind, packs his bags and moves to another place to be with someone. He doesn't speak the language, and all of his previous social and musical connections are an ocean away.

In Ryan MacGrath's case, this isn't a movie script; it's his life. 

MacGrath moved to Austria after falling in love with a man who was leaving the country to go to Innsbruck. His upcoming EP, The Pink Lark, is a collection of songs about that experience. Down East chatted with MacGrath via email about the new album, which will be released on March 4.

It's called The Pink Lark. It's essentially a collection of songs that follows my moving here to Innsbruck from Halifax. They were all written here over the past year. The one exception is "Speechless," which was written a couple of years ago. It just made sense somehow to include it with this group of songs. The songs are very stripped down and sparse, something of which was a bit of a challenge for me in the studio. I love layering melodies and instruments, so when I decided to approach the songs more acoustically, I really had to shift my brain and trust in the bare bones of the songs -- that they could carry themselves without all the support of additional treatment/production.

I worked with a young gentleman named Chris Vano on the project. He's a native of Austria and an established piano/keys player. We recorded it in his studio over a three-week period, on and off. I had expressed to Chris prior to making the record that I wanted to KEEP IT SIMPLE (that's been my new motto as of late), and he was up for approaching the songs with restraint. He also reined me in when I might have otherwise had a tendency to want to add more to the songs.

What was it like to leave Nova Scotia, and Canada, for a new country, a new culture, a new language.

It was pretty fucking scary! And exciting. I was in need of a change of scenery after having lived in Halifax for 15 years, and this opportunity couldn't have come at a better time.

Of course, the language difference was (and is) the biggest obstacle in the move. Also, I was faced with the fact that no one here knew my music, and I was essentially starting from scratch as far as promoting myself went. Over the last year I've met some great people who are helping to get my music out there into the Austrian and EU scenes. Just takes a bit of patience and work. 

Another major obstacle is being away from family and friends and the support network of fans and fellow musicians in Halifax. There isn't the same kind of musical community here in Innsbruck as I was used to being a part of in Halifax. You know, musicians collaborating on each others' records and shows and writing . . . that singer/songwriter scene just doesn't really exist here. But, there are people who want to hear the music, and that makes things better.

I'm playing more and more shows, thankfully, and I have some people helping me to book a tour in Germany in June as well as a UK tour in July and August. I'll also be playing at the World Out Games in Antwerp, Belgium, this summer. During the rest of the winter and in early spring, I'll be playing shows throughout Austria, one in London and a few more in surrounding countries.

What about distribution? How will your fans get access to it?

The EP will primarily be released online via Bandcamp. There will be physical copies available, as well, through CD Baby and in select stores in Canada and over on this side of the pond. The best place to keep track of how to get a copy is on my website, ryanmacgrath.com.

Also, I'll be selling the EP at shows! And I plan to tour Canada in September/October. Date will be posted in the near future on my site.

Graham Kolbeins, the blogger and filmmaker from Future Shipwreck and Thrash Lab fame, has waved his magic fairy wand once more and come up with a new video series and a new project.

Entitled Rad Queers, the project is a way for Kolbeins to combine his favourite things: queers and storytelling. "There are a lot of amazing queer people out there, and I wanted to use 'Rad Queers' as a sort of spotlight for them," he says via email. "I also just love meeting new people and getting to know their stories, and making documentaries is a great excuse to do that."

Kolbeins jokes that his spirit guides for Rad Queers are RuPaul and Ira Glass. "I'd been mulling over Rad Queers in the back of my mind for a while. I wanted to make something that explores the lives of queer people leading fiercely individual lives and doing good things."  

When Kolbeins was introduced to the Los Angeles group the Payasos, he knew he had found what and who he was looking for. Payasos are a group of gay Latino men who -- through sexy and imaginative events, as well as a little bit of clown makeup -- create a space that Kolbeins says "make the world a better place for future generations."

"I met with Leo (the founder of the Payasos) to see if he'd be interested in the documentary and he was absolutely gracious and inviting," he says. "I shot some preliminary footage with the group and presented it to a production company I'd been working with to see if they'd be interested in doing a single-day shoot with the group. The company was a little terrified of the subject matter, so I decided to film it myself without a crew or budget. It actually worked out great that way! Instead of rushing it into a single day, I hung out with the Payasos over several months and attended a wide variety of their events. I ended up getting a much more intimate and multi-faceted perspective on the group than if I'd come in with eight crew members and a van full of equipment."

When asked what he likes about the Payasos, Kolbeins is enthusiastic in describing the sheer amount of fun that he was able to view and experience during filming. "When you're in clown face, it's kind of hard to have a bad time! Random strangers on the street get excited to see you. I had my makeup done a couple of times and it was almost jarring how different people's reactions are towards you . . . it's a simple gesture that makes you feel almost like a superhero, and encourages communion with those around you."

You can find almost anything on Craigslist: antiques, furniture, apartments, sex.

But what about art?

Some (so far) unknown artist has put up a website entitled Craigslist Project.  In it, he posts images of individuals he claims to be real Craigslist posters in the casual encounters section.  

The ease which the online world helps people gain access to one another - and their wants and desires - is a subject that very few artists have dealt with in a refreshing, let alone interesting way. This series of portraits range from the ho-hum ("Snugglemonster wants to ParTY") to the intense ("Uncle Seeking Nephew").

"Unhappy Married Man ISO Unhappy Married Man"

Check out the rest of the very NSFW images at CraigslistProject.com

An introduction to The Artists Speak:

I've always been a fan of visual art, especially queer visual art and art done by queer artists. Some of it is glorious and some of it is paltry and bland. But no matter what, I think it's important to discuss and share. Like Popping Culture, Love Letters to the Past and Open Letters, The Artists Speak will be a series of posts on Down East about a specific work of art or artist. If you know of any interesting art and or artists that you think should be mentioned here, let me know.

*Warning: some content may be considered NSFW*

In 1962, a group of police officers carried out a sting operation in Ohio. They filmed and photographed a number of men who were congregating and meeting to have sex with men in a local restroom, colloquially known as a T-room. Many of the men who were photographed were prosecuted for their actions. 

In 2007, William E Jones created Tearoom, a silent film running close to an hour that he made by editing together portions of the footage taken during the sting.

Tearoom has been shown around the world, from the Whitney in New York to the Pornfilmfestival in Berlin. It is a time capsule, bringing forth sexuality both open (men having sex with men in public/private spaces) and closed (sex taking place in secret due to fear of persecution/prosecution). 

Still from Tearoom, William E Jones

This work is a not-so-subtle reminder of persecution, ostracization and eroticization within the gay male experience. In an interview about the piece, Jones said:

"The authority figures who arranged this surveillance operation, who later sent the men to jail, and who controlled what this footage meant for society had an agenda, mainly the eradication of homosexuality from their fair city. My goal was to appropriate their film as something other than a pure instrument of domination, to make the film be about the men who are its subjects. I hope people can see more than oppression in TEAROOM."

You can view an excerpt of the film on Sukme, a Tumblr Blog (content NSFW).