New movie Whip It! with Drew Barrymore and (rumoured gay) Ellen Page is out this Friday.  Click here for playtimes. Check out the article about the photo session here.

 
1.     Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Sarah the Mangle. I am an amateur queer archivist song writer story writer illustrator radio maker. I just released a new album called "We Wanna Know". I'm playing little tours.

2.      What is your favourite video on the innernets?

3.      Boxers or briefs?
Boy's underwear from Chinatown screenprinted with images made at the Robert Street Social Centre in Halifax.

4.      What’s your fav Montreal spot for hangsies?
The traintracks/Turcot yards in St. Henri.

5.      Half-full or half empty?
Spilling all over myself

6.      Skill testing question: 45 + 99 x 88 – an arcade fire =
Um... my friends? People I hold dear? People I don't know very well, but had breakfast with once.

7.      Cat or dog?
One dog: Logan, the love of my life, and Sweep the cat, who found us.

8.      Leopard, zebra print or pleather?
Neon stripes

9.      Are you dating someone right now?
James baldwin, sarah schulman,  michelle tea, linda barry, marge percy...  they're all my girlfriends.

10.     Name your number one dating pet peeve:
Fighting the desire to pay for everything. i get really into paying for everything, but i can't always afford it.

11.     Next time Montrealers can come admire your beauty in a live setting yet at a reasonable distance:
December 1st, at a puppet cabaret, i'm playing a show... details tba.

12.     something else of your choosing:
I need a haircut. i haven't had time to get one.

The Craig-o-sphere erupted with queer infighting this weekend. Starting Saturday, post-Faggity Ass Friday my Facebook was peppered with comments after a post from Craigslist's Missed Connections.

It all started with an anonymous posting kinda dissing the FAF, kinda making it sound like the village is better... (I might be wrong, i find queer ramblings confusing.) Here's a sample:

On the dance floor, one could not help but contemplate the ridiculous nature of the venue and those who frequent it. The V-Neck wearing, black rimmed glasses donning, body dysmorphic disordered, queers bumped and grind feigning their superiority.

Among the poster's crits against the FAF were:

• lack of wheelchair access (The Playhouse venue IS non-accessible, steps everywhere)

• crowdedness and sweatiness of venue (it's true but that's kinda what you sign up for when you hit up a FAF) and;

• “feigned superiority” of attendees (hmm. No comment. Plus I think most humans have incredibly low self-esteem)

And then a shit storm brew. Man, it really is autumn and we queers be BORED. Bored enough to follow this online soap opera (guilty!)

[FAFs] were started for a niche group as an antidote to the Village bars where they didn't feel welcome. Students and recent grads with too much money in their pockets, who wanted a co-ed dance venue that wouldn't throw them out for fucking in the bathrooms or holding hands in the corner table. If that isn't your scene, then throw your own party.

The best part was this little gem of constructive crit on the queer scene in the city (drama queers take note)

I'd like to see a dance party that didn't start at midnight on a Thursday (ie: Mystique and Il Motore), a sex-ed fundraiser that my kid brother could attend (ie: without the word 'cum' on every ad and banner), without Meow Mix's steep $10 ticket price. If radical queer events want to expand beyond their niche, they should take a lesson from Vancouver's BENT, which has day care for parents and wheel chair/stroller access. Or, they could translate their posters. Not everyone speaks English here.

I think, well,  I think ALL sides have vitriol and all make valid points. Firstly, the FAF parties are not completely inclusive. I've heard a bunch of people say they don't fit in there because of X reason (body issues, ability issues, age issues, etc). Second, if this turned into a shitstorm, then OBVS the poster touched on a touchy subject: could there be some truth to their rant? It sounds like the poster really wants to fit in, or at least have a fucking good FAF-ing time. But the passive-aggressive nature of the rant kinda puts sticks in that wheel. Point is, there needs to be more queer venues, more queer crowds and more parties. What the FAF is wrong with that?

 Now. When do we stop talking and start fucking? Let Lindsay Lohan show us the light!

Briefs

• Celebrated feminist writer Nelly Arcand, has died at the age of 35. [CBC]
• The city has voted (45 to 5) to go forward with the plans to build two structures on St-Laurent Blvd, making the future of the Café Cléopatre, uncertain. [cyberpresse]
• In town tonight: Queer signer and awesome lady all-around, Sarah Mangle Buys a Bear at the Cagibi  (5490 St. Laurent) at 9 pm, $6.
• Cirque Boudoir this Saturday with the theme of Weimar Berlin in the 1920s. [211 Notre Dame W.]
  
• Gris-Montreal (homophobia fighters) has a new public service announcment video out (in French).
• The fun, young parties started by Christina for Head & Hands is tonight. Faggity Ass Friday is back after a long summer break.
  
• New interview with Dinah Thorpe [below]

Dinah Thorpe is a new queer singer on the scene, and with her latest album, Truths and Other Stories, out this fall,  it sounds like this  chick is here to stay.  With leathered beats from a seemingly seasoned pro (she's shared a stage with Buck 65, The Cliks, Eternia, and Melissa Ferrick) Dinah does vocals, and plays acoustic guitar, ukulele, keyboard, drums, while controlling MIDI and programming tunes (not at the same time). Truths and Other Stories is for reals and for truths an exercise in the enkindling of contentment. The double EP features one CD with deep lyrics and melodic beats that reminds of The Organ, or even a lighter Portishead but with more humour and more pop (does that make sense?). The other CD is the remixes, with a giggly rap about being 6 feet tall and playin' basketball (We Brought the Thunder), you're laughing and nodding to the music FOR PROMISE K? Kox & Kuntz took a second or two to ask this gentle lady about her faves, early career and BFFs.

How did you get started in music? Who were some of the influential people in your life that pushed you towards it: Nobody really ever pushed me towards music. But it has always surrounded me. My father has a beautiful singing voice and showed me the power of a good descant at a very early age. My sisters and I sang along with Motown 45s in the basement, sang in choirs, and sang Indigo Girls covers at high school coffee houses.

What artists or genres inspire you: Hard or soft, old or new, dirty or clean, what inspires me most is good and interesting songwriting - Joni Mitchell, Frazey Ford, Beethoven, K’NAAN, Dolly Parton, Pete Seeger, LAL, Final Fantasy, The Roots... A very close second for me in terms of inspiration is a good live show. I find that in this era of hyper-compression there is a widely held belief that as long as there is a wall of sound then it is necessarily good sound. Don’t get me wrong – I like loud music. But as live shows get louder and louder, whether or not the music itself is any good is becoming increasingly incidental. That is why it is so refreshing to happen upon good live music. Last weekend I went to a K’NAAN concert, where half the songs had me in tears and the other half had me dancing. He was the perfect combination of good musicianship, good politics, and good looks. I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.

Best song to make out to: The best sounds to make out to are the sounds of making out. Failing that, two of the sexiest albums of all time in my books are Portishead’s Dummy and The Miseducation of Lauren Hill. In terms of romance, I would go with a Portugese fado or some slow southern blues.

What’s playing on the old iPod these days: I try not to listen to MP3s or MPEG4s or other lossy audio formats too much because I like my highs, high, and my lows, low. Having said that, I do very much enjoy my iPod when I am at the gym or out running, when I listen to a lot of rap and electronica– songs with beats to keep me moving. Lately I’ve been enjoying tracks by The Roots, Lady Sovereign, MC Lyte, K’NAAN, and Missy Elliott.

making out. Failing that, two of the sexiest albums of all time in my books are Portishead’s Dummy and The Miseducation of Lauren Hill. In terms of romance, I would go with a Portugese fado or some slow southern blues.

Best song to break up to:  It’s a total cliché but it was on my jukebox growing up so I have to say “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.” I don’t know about actually breaking up to it but as a sing-along it’s hard to beat.

Best song to have a cool lemon drink on a porch on a hot summer day to:  “America” by K’NAAN or “Willow Tree” by Chad Vangaalen. 

Last book you read: I am currently working my way through A.S. Byatt’s The Children’s Book. As always with her work I am finding it difficult but satisfying. On Deck is an Emma Donoghue romance. On deck on deck is the Neil Young bio Shakey.

BFF: I am continually impressed by the true and deep friendship that I have with my partner, Zoë.

Best song for a union sing-along: “Election Song”

Best song for a brisk fall walk: “Working Title”

Next shows: Pride Follies and Dance, Peterborough Pride, 26 sept and in Toronto: oct 9, Bread & Circus - Indie Week Canada

Contact Dinah Thorpe directly --> dinahthorpe[at]hotmail.com

  Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon

Yesterday's Breedlove/Howard bill was kind of a treat, if filled with spurts of nostalgia and touching moments. Silas spun a humour-filled tale about his rise to Hollywood "fame," selling out, Billy Tipton, his film, meeting Kitty Tipton, and passing as a dude. Breedlove brought the usual eccentric persona he's honed over the years as a performance artist, complete with the pissing-in-a-bucket and purple dildo act many have grown to love. And he started out all sorts of naked. Talk about shedding inhibitions. There was a nice, intimate crowd and both performers interacted with the crowd with ease.

It brought all sorts of feelings out of me, like when Lynnee talked about the passing of Del Martin, lesbian activist who started the Daughters of Bilitis collective (in reaction to exclusion from the feminist circles at the time). Martin later published the quarterly issue of the Ladder, for lesbians, with her partner Phyllis. They were married in 2008, as California legalized gay marriage for a short spurt until they repealed prop 8. Isn’t it sad that Del passed away shortly thereafter, like 2 months later!?!?

It also made me reminisce about my own coming out experience, once as bisexual in 1996 and a few years later as total homo. I never actually read Breedlove’s Godspeed novel. I remember meaning too when it came out, but then for some reason, it slipped off my radar. Who would I be today if I had read it in time? Would I have felt not alone as an outsider? Then again, I read a lot of other novels and watched a slew of films, and read a ton of lezzie magazines.

All this heaviness for Hump Day! What are your thoughts on coming out? Were you around for the riot grrrl movement, Tribe 8 etc? And is it really over?