It’s mind-boggling to think that a structured set of sounds that change over time can have such a deep impact on us. Even without the obvious meaning of lyrics, music can shape the way we think by dredging up memories and moving us to feel joy, sorrow, anger, excitement, anxiety - practically on cue. It’s a powerful craft that singers and songwriters wield, and not an easy one to master either. The Juno Awards came to Calgary this past month to honour some of today’s best and brightest in the field, and we got to be right in the middle of it!
It all started with the Juno media launch, where the slogan “Music Lives Here” was introduced, along with the extensive list of events and bands that were planned as part of Juno weekend in Calgary. Within the next few days we saw an explosion of Juno T-shirts all over town, and it was clear that the city was a bustle of activity and excitement in anticipation of this event.
A few days prior to the Junos, we attended a media conference to unveil the new stage nestled in the Saddledome. A small set of fold-up chairs were deployed on ground level directly in front of the massive set-up, for invited media to gather for interviews, stills and video. The event was hosted by Canadian Idol’s Ben Mulroney, and we sat front row as they did lighting demonstrations and brought a number of celebrities out for interviews. Among others, the band Hedley came out to take questions, and lifted the covers to give everyone a peek at their bright red piano. Also this year’s Juno host, comedian Russell Peters, came out and had the audience of media professionals roaring with laughter.
Later that evening we attended a party at the downtown Hyatt, where media and artists mingled for cocktails, interviews, and live music. Though Steve and I were admittedly unfamiliar with most of the artists there, it was a great opportunity for us to make new contacts especially with other local media. The news that night had footage of the two of us at the Juno stage, and wandering around with our writer Jason at the media party in the background of CTV’s Jocelyn Laidlaw giving her evening report. Although we steer clear of showing too much of ourselves in our own magazine, being on TV, even in the background, is still an exciting novelty for us.
When the day of the Junos came, we arrived early on site to try and find the media pit. In the confusion we were misdirected by event staff so badly that we ended up on the red carpet for about 30 seconds before being redirected back off again. The crowd gathered at the sidelines looked at us wide-eyed, trying to figure out if we were celebrities or not. I chuckled, wondering what they would have done if I had smiled and waved.
In this process of muddling around we found our writer Jason, and together we managed to locate the media entrance. Unexpectedly, when we got there we found that my name was on the list with his, and rather than look a gift horse in the mouth Steve gave me his camera and I went along with it. We were whisked through the back area which was funneled and partitioned by tons of cloth room dividers, ending up in an area with rows and rows of desks and laptop hookups reserved for the bigger newspapers and TV stations. All of this was facing a stage with a podium, and a large plasma display showing the live television coverage. We hunkered down in the chairs in the front row – the only places that weren’t reserved – and waited in anticipation for the award winners to make their appearances.
We sat there watching things unfold on TV. Although we weren’t lucky enough to get a Red Carpet pass, Jason snuck off for a brief while and managed to get photos from an angle just as good as those who did. We could hear the bands starting to play off in the distance down the hall, and a few seconds later the TV broadcast would catch up. At one point Russell Peters spoke to Kid Rock, who was wearing a hideous outfit with skeletons and fire that he justified as being in support of the Calgary Flames. Russell commented that there were other ways to be “flaming”, and shortly afterward related the remark to an 11-year old kid who admitted he wasn’t interested in girls (yet). We felt a little sorry for young Teddy - in fact, when Russell arrived on the media stage in front of us, Jason asked in good fun if he would be footing the school counselor’s bill for the Teddy’s inevitable teasing…but not before Peters branded Jason “Big Gay Jay” - officially the biggest gay person the comedian had ever seen. Aside from Russell, during the interviews we were no more than a meter away from Juno award winners Michael Bublé, Paul Brandt, Feist and more. Jason managed to get questions in with just about all of them, while I used the camera to take video clips of their responses. By the end of it I had filled my entire 6 GB store of memory card space, and we were beaming.
But our night wasn’t over just yet – we had received invites to attend the Warner Music party at Murietta’s downtown, and we weren’t going to miss that for the world! Though we had to stand in line outside for 15 minutes, the wait was well worth it. It was our first time being in this beautiful venue, normally a restaurant but the tables were removed to make space for the hundreds of people that were there. As we mingled with the crowd, we kept seeing all sorts of familiar and famous faces: Canadian Idol judges Jake Gold and Zack Werner, Michael Bublé, Finger 11 guitarist James Black, Kid Rock (still in that hideous “flaming” suit), Lucas and the gang from The Cliks, MuchMusic and MusiquePlus founder Moses Znaimer, Russell Peters once again, and even NDP leader Jack Layton. I really wanted to get my picture taken with Michael Bublé since Steve and I consider his song Everything to be our song, but after waiting for a rowdy swarm of girls to clear off I decided to give the poor guy a break. I probably missed the opportunity of a lifetime - I’m the worst celebrity stalker ever!
Our heads were still spinning the next day, and it was interesting to see how signals can get crossed in the media foray. For instance, my mom reports that on the radio there was mention of a “local gay publication” asking about Russell’s cowboy attire. Actually that question came from someone else right after our question about Teddy, but Russell related it back to our magazine.
What an amazing opportunity! We were so impressed that the event organizers treated us on par with all of the other mainstream media, instead of making us fight to be taken seriously as has been all too common in the past. I reckon that our presence covering this event made a splash here in Calgary, and in the meantime we have received an influx of big-name CDs for our monthly music review that could last us to the end of the year!
Anyway, Jason tells a parallel story to mine in his article on page 9, but with much better knowledge of the music scene subject matter, and quotes from a wide range of artists. Check it out – especially Michael Bublé’s comments!
Coronation 32
Our main challenge during April was the itinerary of the ISCCA Coronation events spread over the good part of a week. Thursday started off innocently enough with the State Dinner at Money Pennies, and the Imperial Roast at the Texas Lounge. In a moment of inspiration, I got up on the mic and roasted Emperor Conrad for being so difficult to get a smile out of when taking photographs…seriously, I had to exercise restraint and not Photoshop a smile in for him on last month’s cover. He sort of grinned when I said this, but damn, the cameras weren’t on him. At the end of the night, Lonnie reported only three sleeps left.
Money Pennies was packed for the In Town Show the next evening. Izora Jackson Jones made a rare appearance as host of the show, and had us all rolling on the floor with laughter. Stewart is kitchen manager at MPs, and took his night in drag as a great opportunity to poke fun at his employers, the Wheeler family. As the evening wore on, Izora for some reason started appending “dot com” on the end of every sentence.
The final set had a large blank backdrop for each queen to sign as they did their performances. I was an evil bitch and teased poor Makayla for her signature, which by some cruel twist of fate looked like it read “Makayho”; the ‘l’ had an extra loop after it, and the ‘a’ finished at the top. Honestly it did! After the event finished and people started to clear out, I smiled at Lonnie and she reported only two sleeps left now.
The Out of Town show was the next day at the Eagle, and we set up our video camera to record and broadcast the show on a big-screen projector closer to the middle of the bar so the front area wouldn’t be crowded. The monarchs apparently had a stark commitment to finishing the shows on time this year, and performances without a steady tip line were shortened to keep the momentum. One more sleep for Lonnie.
The next day was the Coronation, and although the event wasn’t until 6pm there was still a lot of preparation to do. We showed up in the early afternoon for protocol and to set up our video camera to film the Coronation as we have done for the past 6-8 years…it feels like so long we’re not even sure any more! The event organizers deserve a pat on the back this year for having the coronation finish the closest it ever has to midnight – 6 hours of drag is enough without going overtime, and my sore back behind the video camera thanks you. There were a lot of really good performances but the show stopper was the tribute to Flora Tron featuring Mr. Devon Mills, Zaza, Justine Tyme, Bianca LaBouche and others, with outfits by Flo DelRocko.
The donations were handed out in the second set, and the year-end fundraising total of $23,000 was announced. It’s a bit hard to follow up after Dyna and Wolfgang’s amazing year, but Conrad and Lonnie still did very well for the ISCCA during their reign.
With so many candidates for Empress, the introduction of the newly elected monarchs was particularly exciting. Emperor 30 Wolfgang Von Bearstein disappeared from the ball room to retrieve the winners and left the whole audience in suspense for several minutes as, I’m told, he gave a pep talk to the candidates in waiting. Finally he walked through the doors with Nina Tron and Ashley Carmichael in tow to begin the crowning ceremony and the event came to a close fifteen minutes after midnight. Steve and I headed home at this point, but we are told that the new monarchs went on to make their introductory rounds at some of the bars.
The Victory Brunch is always a unique event – I mean, where else can you find a room full of slightly/severely hung-over drag queens, mostly out of makeup and in broad daylight? Lonnie and Conrad handed out their personal awards (one of which was a plastic toilet seat with eyelashes glued onto it…inside joke I guess), and I was tickled pink to get a picture of Conrad smiling as he gave these out.
As tradition dictates, the newly elected monarchs decide a thematic name for their reign, and in this case it was announced as “The 32nd House of Style, Sophistication, Supermodels and Super Trannies”. This gave Ashley and Nina their first opportunity to banter on the microphone and there seems to be some chemistry; though we’ve come to expect Nina’s strength on the mic, Ashley surprised us by delivering some really charming jokes too.
Later that afternoon was the infamous Alaska Bird Water Party at the Eagle – in essence a drinking game that helps the monarchs to get to know their fellow community members and vice versa (perhaps a little more intimately than they’d like) while raising funds to help cover the new monarch’s travel expenses for the upcoming year. The host Eldon, or other past and present monarchs, basically pour the shot into your mouth for you. Steve and I still haven’t figured out what ingredients Eldon uses to make the “Ice Water”/“Bird Water” – whatever it is, it’s blue and tastes almost bearable…ALMOST. Even we weren’t safe from the stuff, as you might have already seen on Facebook. Makayla got roped into doing a hideous amount, and that was the last we saw of her that day.
The final event in this long procession was the Tough Drag show. I was personally amazed that some of these queens still had the energy to be out, nevermind participate. All I could do was take a seat on the bench beside Steve as he photographed. Conrad appeared as Tina Trash and got me back for my roast by rubbing my face in his unshaven bosom. Mrrrow!
Last Month
The April 2008 edition of GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine was severely tight on space and we had to do a lot of juggling to fit in all of the essentials. As it stood, we decided to pull the Music Review, Movie Review, Book Review and a few others (appearing this month instead) to try and make space. Even so, there wasn’t nearly enough room to nicely accommodate the sheer volume of photographs from Apollo Western Cup and Calgary Cares, which was heartbreaking because there were so many amazing photos we couldn’t publish! Luckily they will be making their debut in the online photo gallery soon.
The Priape Mr. Rubber competition at the Calgary Eagle came only a few days after press for us. Attendance was strong even though there were only two contestants, but when we saw how seriously these guys took their rubber wear we understood why. Both contestants made appearances in full-body rubber suits and other rubber gear that must have cost a small fortune, never mind the mental resolve it took to wear the overly warm garments in the bar. Between sets, I commented that the guys took way more time to get changed than even your average drag queen, and the event organizers informed me this was because they had the additional task of polishing the rubber after they had put it on. Apparently it took the cooperation of a few audience members to expedite the process.
April the 12th was a particularly busy day. The ISCCA candidate elections went from noon to midnight, but we showed up early to vote and snap a few photographs. In the evening we went for the first set at the GLASS Gender Bender at the Den, the campus bar at the University of Calgary, where we enjoyed performances by Bruce Lee, the Fake Mustache drag king troupe, and many more. From what I saw, GLASS had a very solid turn out this year, but the Den needs to remember that gay people like to drink…a lot. The end of the night had us catching the tail end of Theatre Junction’s social/fundraiser called “Shanghaied”, with great food and amazing performances in the theatre hall.
This Month
We are excited to bring our readers an interview that GayCalgary conducted with George Takei, a famous actor who came out of the closet in 2005. Takei is most widely known as Sulu from the original Star Trek TV show, but he also does voices for the Simpsons, and appeared recently in the TV series Heroes as the father of main character Hiro Nakamura. Takei was in town this month for the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo (www.calgaryexpo.com), and the event organizers were kind enough to accommodate our request for an interview with him. The article appears on page 63.
Just when we thought we could get a break, the ISCWR in Edmonton is having their Coronation 33 closer to the end of May, round about the same time as Fairytales Film Festival in Calgary. As the community roller coaster goes, we have started the steep drop that will last us through until July. The scary thing is that we’re sponsors of the major events throughout this period, so we can’t even sluff off for a day to catch our breath!
Pre-Pride Guide
GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine is back to being the Official Pride Calgary Pride Guide this year, and as usual we are publishing our Pre-Pride guide in May’s edition. The purpose of the Pre-Pride Guide is to give readers the heads-up about Pride events in early June, but also encompasses the Fairytales Film Festival at the end of May, and the ARGRA Rodeo Weekend. As part of our sponsorship with Edmonton Pride, our guide contains Edmonton Pride information as well. Because event information can still be incomplete or subject to change at this time, make sure to pick up the final Pride Guide in next month’s edition of GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine for a comprehensive listing of Pride Month events. If you are a business, don’t forget to book your advertising with us to show your support to the hundreds of Pride attendees that will pick up the June edition of this magazine!
GayCalgary Online
Trust an already flawless fag to still go for a face lift! The entire GayCalgary site will have a brand new and much tidier look by mid-May, with lots of new and improved interactive features – including the photo gallery that we’ve been promising for so long. When you see it, you’ll know why we had to go for it. Fashion can be fickle, but we hope to settle in with this sexy new outfit.
We want to hear what YOU have to say about the topics in this article, and any other articles in our magazine. Visit the chat forums at www.gaycalgary.com and write your heart out! Or write us a letter to the publisher by E-mailing publisher@gaycalgary.com, and we may publish or respond to it in the magazine!
