Declaring war on bars
Andrea Simms-Karp
|
Kids On TV...er, On Ghettoblasters?
|
This year Pride celebrates inside galleries
Between financial strains and worrying about the weather, Ottawa's Pride festival has had its ups and downs. In the past, the event has been saved by a resilient community and some creative thinking. This year is no different, with a week full of activities and some good old-fashioned smut to top off the weekend. A quick glance at the Pride schedule will give away its wilder side. Holy Fuck III is back this year, and it's donating the proceeds of its Friday night show to the festival. Early this year calls went out to the queer community after the festival was plagued by money problems, leading to the near-cancellation of this summer's Pride events. Thankfully businesses and citizens alike answered the call, including Guy Bérubé of La Petite Mort Gallery.
Although Bérubé has held his show, Holy Fuck, as an event separate from Pride in past years, he says he was happy to help out.
Having Bérubé plan a Pride-related party is an event on its own. He has built a name for himself and his gallery by throwing wildly popular weekly showings for his artists as well as a host of other events. The buzz around his parties, including this year's instalment, is turning into a loud roar.
This year Holy Fuck III will be two nights long, giving everyone a chance to drop in on the festivities. Friday night it will be held at Bérubé's gallery with proceeds going to Pride and will feature a silent auction, provocative art and the wild musical stylings of Toronto band Kids On TV. The group, known for
their queer-positive, politically charged performances, have no reservations about playing in an art gallery."We deal with the idea of manipulating performer space," says Scott Kerr, both a member of the band and a DJ, a.k.a. Minus Smile.
"We have performed in video arcades, farms and bathhouses. Once we performed on a traffic island in front of the Royal York Hotel. We declared war on performing in bars."
Saturday night (fundraising for Alzheimer's research) promises to be as entertaining as Friday, with more art, more smut and a slew of queer music videos that have been carefully compiled by Matt Thomas. Thomas has taken his collection of videos to queer festivals and film events alike, and has been returning with reports of record-high attendance and undying support from his audiences.
His videos range from the Scissor Sisters, Le Tigre and Final Fantasy to the more obscure and underground queer artists of the day. Thomas says he started to seek out and collect the videos when he realized that nobody else had done it yet.
"Growing up as a queer kid, there wasn't a lot of media that reflected the kind of person I was... there were no queer rappers or rockers," he adds.
"So for me, it has always been about finding out what's best and putting it out there for people to see. If you want to be a queer rapper, you can be a queer rapper, because all these people are doing it."
To top off the lineup, Holy Fuck III will also feature the art of Bruce Eves at both the Club SAW and La Petite Mort events. Eves creates a mix of video, photography and digital art that is designed to provoke. His latest set of photos deals with scenes of sex, torture and wrestling, arranged in a way that will make you guess which one is which.
"In one direction you have repression, the other direction you have perversion," says Eves, describing his work. "It's pretty dark. But if it can bring people in to raise some money, then that's the point."
One thing is clear: If Ottawa Pride is going the direction of Holy Fuck III, we welcome the wild party. Bérubé puts it best: "This will demystify the cliché of a gallery being very upscale. Ottawa needs this. By coming out, you'll be helping two causes, and you'll probably get laid."
| Toronto queer music download site |
|
Dtdmusic.com was founded in 2006 to provide artists with digital distribution, very generous artist compensation and a wide selection of music genres for the customer to choose from. DTD is also a great site for those seeking new and fresh music outside the commercial mainstream offerings and it is great way to support 'out' artists. DTD Music.com the first ever online digital music store serving the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community is legitimizing "Queer music" and provinding a retail distrubution platform. DTD provides a home for artists to sell there music and get exposure.
|
|
Evan Plete
|
|
|
|
