The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is back for its 33rd year
Summer getting boring out there in the heartland? Does it feel, at times, like it's all just too much and you need to get away?
So how do forty performances, a film festival, an artisan/craft show and a full roster of workshops, parties and dances are all slated for one glorious week in August on 650 lush green acres in wilds of Northern Michigan sound good to you?
The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is back for its 33rd year, August 5th thru 10th.
A party without parallel, this six-day event features performances spanning every genre, every generation, and a world mix of sounds plus hundreds of workshops, a film festival, dances, sporting events, and a crafts bazaar, along with delicious meals, campgrounds with hot outdoor showers, and a full range of support services.
Joining many long-time audience faves, one-third of this year's performers are festi-virgins.
Making its Festival debut in a setting that's hosted thousands of vagina dialogues is Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues. Directed by Alix Olson in honor of the 10th anniversary of V-Day, the Tuesday and Thursday Acoustic Stage performances feature Elvira Kurt, Marga Gomez, Staceyann Chin, and other special guests.
This year's Singer Songwriter Spotlight includes the Malaysian indie-folk of Mei Chern, Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competition winner Julie Clark, Pittsburgh native Nicole Reynolds, and Detroit folk rocker Sista Otis. Chinese musical virtuoso Yang Ying returns to Michigan after her 1996 performance with Cobra, the first women's rock and roll band to travel outside of China. Also on the intimate Acoustic Stage: crowd pleasers Natalia Zukerman, Jambalaya, and Ellis with Ann Heaton.
Saturday night at the Acoustic Stage has Emma's Revolution opening for the legendary Holly Near. Closing the show is Laura Love's new bluegrass band Harper's Ferry, exploring the intersection of African and European traditions.
And that's just the Acoustic Stage! The sun-kissed Day Stage kicks off Thursday with Angie Evans' political grooves, Garrison Starr's gorgeous vocals, and the sultry stylings of Patrice Pike. Friday's Hip Hop at High Noon brings together some of the genre's most groundbreaking female artists: Medusa from LA, Yo Majesty from Tampa, and the Bay Area's JenRO. If you have anything left over after these MCs tear up the stage, you can throw yourself into Boyskout's mosh pit. Saturday's Day Stage swings with salsa impresarios Mayra Casales and CoCoMaMa, along with Canadian hip hop troubadour Kinnie Starr, and Blame Sally, considered San Francisco's answer to the Dixie Chicks.
After Wednesday's spectacular Opening Celebration, the Night Stage kicks into full gear with blues powerhouse Ruthie ÒPhenomenal WomanÓ Foster, followed by L Word superstars BETTY. Thursday night displays the full genius of Michigan's genre-bending mixed bills: Brooklyn performance artist Hanifah Walidah, the old-school-new-school combo of Ferron with Bitch, and dance punk divas Von Iva.
Friday night kicks off with the klezmer mania of Isle of Klezbos, followed by rising star Erin McKeown, and the full-on force of Toshi Reagon and Big Lovely. The Chix Lix review is back, this time featuring our favorite movie scores. And the Night Stage closes Saturday with two of the country's hottest acts: Patty Larkin and Antigone Rising.
But Sunday is another day, opening with Ubaka Hill's Drumsong Orchestra and Aleah Long's One World Inspirational Choir. The ever-popular Comedy afternoon features Marga Gomez with two comics new to Michigan but well known to Logo and Comedy Central viewers: Poppy Champlin and Sandra Valls. Ruth Barrett's Candlelight Concert puts the week to bed.
So now, more than ever, don't you agree? You don't just want to be there. You need to be there.
Ok lesbians, stay with me. I know we have oodles of gay icons within mainstream media these days. I know we have straight girls singing chart toppers about kissing girls. And while having lesbianism validated as an acceptable and fun way of cheating on your boyfriend is really empowering for us all, I think its very important we remember where our lesbian entertainment came from.
A long time ago, before Ellen even, the little folk singer from Buffalo became the face of the "lesbian" music genre. It was the early 90's and Ani Difranco was playing her way to lesbian superstardom in colleges and bars across america, with songs like "The Whole Night" and "She Says". Women's studies dykes from Syracuse to Berkeley where beside themselves with pronoun delight. With her very own independent music label, Righteous Babe Records, Ani was the perfect symbol of female empowerment. And let's not forget that she can fucking play.
In 1998, Ani solidified her status as gay royalty with the songs "Two Little Girls" and "Little Plastic Castles". It was all over. From here on out, you could be sure to run into each and every one of your ex girlfriends at an Ani show, you were lucky if you could even see the stage over all the huge masses of dreadlocks pilled on top of vegan heads, and you wouldn't dare show up without your Feminist Majority or Food not Bombs T-shirt on. Ani became synonymous with all things lesbian culture. Oh sure, straight girls were listening too. But it was always a clear indicator that you had at least a six pack lesbo on your hands if you could get them to name their top 3 favorite Ani songs.
Here we are 10 years later and I wanna know, where have all the gays gone? Last Saturday I made the slow crawl down the 5 freeway to see Ani at the House of Blues in Anaheim or "Aniheim" as we referred to it for a month prior. Now when I was a young eager Ani fan, we used to have to sleep on the concrete outside the concert venue in order to win our front row spot during general admission shows. If you didn't make it into the line by 8 am, forget it, you were seeing the show from the back with the straight people, in the "reluctant boyfriend holding pen" as Ani herself coined it.
But here it is 2008 and apparently one doesn't need to show up until mid afternoon to get the coveted spot front row, left of center. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the fact that dining at the House of Blues restaurant allows one to wait in the early entry line. We showed up at 3 for a late lunch, then took turns standing in line and ducking back into the bar for martini's until we were let into the venue at 7. And then to make my Ani dreams come true, the stage was surrounded by a bar on either side that served throughout the show. I used to be the really excited bouncy girl in the front row, now I'm the drunk excited bouncy girl in the front row. Oops.
But my enabled drinking habits aside, what stuck out during this show is that the dreadlocks and the dedication are long gone. Sure the show drew more lesbians than the House of Blues in Anaheim sees on any day but some fortysomething year old Orange County dykes dressed up in their best Polo shirts does not an Ani crowd make. Where are the squealing baby dykes? Where are college girls? Yes, maybe we have all grown up and grown out our hair but has lesbian culture really become that assimilated by heteronormative culture?
I'm just concerned that the more we see LGBT representations on prime time, on Mtv and at the Oscars, the lazier we get about remembering our roots. It is so important to have those images in those places but let's not forget that the mainstream is just that, the mainstream. Queerness is still "the other" within popular media. Tila Tequila is making a mockery out of lesbian and bisexuality for the sake of her own bank account and Katy Perry's pimping night life bi-curiosity on behalf of industry behemoth Capitol Records. LGBT youth today don't have to look far to have their lifestyle's recognized anymore, but is this kind of recognition really that positive and empowering? Furthermore, is it's immediacy disenfranchising queer youth from finding the good stuff?
Madonna Wants To Give It 2 Me.... and I want it
A Music Review by my main squeeze... Debbie Long
This week “Material Girl” Madonna announced she would begin her worldwide Sticky & Sweet tour on August 23rd in Cardiff, Wales, with stops in major European markets before heading here to the U.S. later this year
Madonna has come a long way from her days growing up in Detroit. Having sold over 200 million albums worldwide, Madonna has certainly earned her title of "The Queen of Pop" in the media.
The Guinness World Records listed her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time and the top-earning female singer in the world with an estimated net worth of over 400 million dollars.
Madonna's look, manner of dress, performances and music videos have always pushed the envelope.
Called sacrilegious by the Pope because of her works exploring religious symbolism and sexual themes and the original “pop whore” by many others, Madonna has also been long lauded as a talented artist who just knows what will work by music critics.
I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s listening to and lovin’ anything my “Material Girl” did and when her eleventh studio album Hard Candy was recently released, I rushed out to buy it and thought this CD was all of what I have come to expect from Madonna. With an overall hip-hop/urban pop ambiance, Hard Candy is at its heart a dance-pop CD, featuring vocal appearances by Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West and is a CD worthy of Madonna’s "The Queen of Pop" title and really goes back to her roots as an urban-disco queen.
Hard Candy, debuted to some very positive reviews and sold 100,000 copies in the United States on its first day of release. It also made its entrance at number one on the Billboard 200 with over 280,000 copies sold with the lead single "4 Minutes" reaching number 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
But this is a Madonna CD and Madonna always seems to have more then her share of detractors, and some have panned Hard Candy as simply another attempt by Madonna the “pop whore” to stay on top by exploiting the very popular urban market. If you think that as well then you need to listen to the song “Give It 2 Me”, because this song shows that Madonna still knows what works and even now has what it takes to be called the Queen of Pop and why I am after all this time still lovin’ my Material Girl.
And if Madonna wants to Give it 2 Me then I'm takein it.
The “Give It 2 Me” video, released as part of the promotion for the Sticky & Sweet tour, was filmed in London back in April of this year and is Co-written and produced with Neptune Hip Hopper, Pharrell Williams. It is a rhythmic dance track that offers up an appealing, vivacious beat and a sense of humor, with fun lyrics like “If it's against the law, arrest me, if you can handle it, undress me," and for those lovers of the “Material Girl” this song is pure Madonna Magic because it proves she can take the well worn urban sound and put her own unique Madonna mark on it.
USA Today's Elysa Gardner called the song "thumping" and "breathless", naming it one of the standout tracks of the album and Rolling Stone described "Give It 2 Me" as a "thumpy, self-empowerment anthem".
I think it has one hell of a good sound and is song that get turned up when it come on the speakers of my car.
But give it a listen and you decide if Madonna is just the Queen of Rip-Off or if she is still the Queen of Pop.
And so did Katy Perry. But, she wasn't always singing about kissing girls. First she sang about God. Then she kissed a girl — and she liked it (as it goes with most Christian girls. Just watch "Loving Annabelle"). Such is the contrast between Katy Hudson, Christian singer, and Katy Perry, chart-topper. Same girl, two stage names, two vastly different personas. And fans who loved the Katy who billed herself as the God-loving daughter of two pastors aren't pleased with her new image: Hip-shaking, lingerie-wearing, pseudo-lesbian pop star. But that's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, WE like it!
Born Kathryn Hudson, the now name-settled Katy Perry scored the dance song of the summer with "I Kissed a Girl" — not to be confused with Jill Souble's 1995 hit of the same name — currently at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Perry's debut album with Capitol Records, "One of the Boys," dropped June 17 to similar success.
But this isn't her first foray into music. Back in 2001, at the tender age of 16, she released "Katy Hudson" with the now-defunct Christian music label Red Hill Records. Russ Breimeier, who reviewed the album for Christian Music Today, thought she showed promise.
Instead of sticking with Him (Jesus Christ, Superstar) on the road to righteousness, the newly minted Katy Perry, 23, hopped on the highway to pop stardom (and who can blame her?). First, she took on a new stage name to avoid confusion with the other Kate Hudson of the silver screen.
Then, after picking up on mainstream music she recorded with production team The Matrix and released on her MySpace page, Blender magazine named Perry "the next big thing" in October 2004. In her interview with Blender, Perry confessed she wasn't "a typical Christian" and revealed she had done "lots of bad things" as a teenager. Finally, a Christian girl that's actually admitting to their bad-girl side. Maybe more Christians will follow suit and come out of the closet with tales of naughtiness.
And perhaps those bad things provided the inspiration for "I Kissed a Girl," which she released in April 2008 after signing with Capitol Records in early 2007. Now Katy sings:
No, I don't even know your name
It doesn't matter
You're my experimental game
Just human nature
It's not what good girls do
Not how they should behave
My head gets so confused
Hard to obey
I kissed a girl and I liked it
Perry's Christian fans aren't sure what to think.
According to ABC News:"I just think it's interesting that seven years ago she had a Christian album and what she's doing now is clearly not Christian," said Joanne Brokaw, who blogs about Christian music for Beliefnet.com. "I get the sense that maybe she was engaged in rebellious behavior back then. I just wonder what the decision was — did people not really know or were they looking the other way?"
"It seems like ever since the name change, she's gotten this rep as a party girl," Breimeier added. "You can still hear some of the talent that was there before, but it just sounds like she's doing whatever she can to get noticed," he said. "And that's unfortunate. I feel bad for her folks."
Katy's publicist declined ABCNEWS.com's repeated requests for comment.
Of course, it's not unusual for musicians to start out in the Christian circuit and later flee for mainstream success. Alternative-rockers Evanescence did it; so did the band Lifehouse and, perhaps most famously, '90s pop princess Amy Grant.
But while all of them maintained a straight-laced image in the music industry — at least compared to their counterparts who didn't cut their teeth in the Christian circle — Perry seems to be jumping at the chance to be a sexpot pop star, the next Britney Spears or Cristina Aguilera.
"The thing about her is that she decided to leave that scene behind," said Joe Levy, 
editor in chief of Blender magazine. "I don't think she fits in with other Christian music artists who transition to pop success. She didn't transition — she stopped dead, reinvented herself, became an artist who has nothing to do with Christian music. It's a footnote in her career. It looks like who she is now is who she wants to be, slightly outrageous and very cute. And right now that's working." (ABC News)
Whatever the motivation is for her transformation, she's obviously doing something right. I like the song and plan on downloading more from her new album. Plus, just watch the music video. It's hot. Even if Katy Perry is just experimenting, or even if she never comes out, she's one piece of eye-candy that I will be savoring down to the very last drop. Enjoy girls!
True Colors Tour 2008 Kicks Off in Boston and Really Shines
I was lucky to attend the opener to the True Colors Tour kick-off in Boston, MA on Saturday, May 31, 2008. It was at the beautiful Bank of America Pavilion in the historial waterfront section of Boston. Although the weather that day was rainy, the gods were on our side because the skies cleared up just in time for the 6pm start time. Read on for my full review and photo diary of the awesome event.
The show kicked off with Kat Deluna, although I was not personally familiar with her music, this bilingual pop diva gave a dazzling showcase for her unique talents, most notably her opera-trained voice, which bends and snaps with ease amid shiny club beats and tropical rhythms. You can sure bet that I was shakin' what my Momma gave me in the most bootilicious way possible. Teen pop-heads, Latin soulsters, anyone with a weakness for deliciously flirtatious beats will be sure to love this up-and-coming star.
After Kat, came The Cliks. I have recently become a Cliks fan, due in part to Lesbiatopia's own Sinnerviewer's intervew with Cliks drummer Morgan Doctor, which you can read here.
And what's not to love about Lucas Silveira? I love how there's just a touch of punked-out Elvis in Lucas, the trans female-to-male front man of this rockin' Toronto-based rock band. Silveira wears a studded belt, slung low on his hips—hips that glide along to the heavy-hitting guitar riffs and throbbing bass lines that The Cliks have become known for. You can see it (along with a smattering of Billy Idol) in Silveira's facial contortions when he sings. On stage, vulnerabilities are exposed through contagious chant-along choruses and bleeding verses that just make all the girls (and boys) go ga-ga for the edgy meets sexy rock group. They were both a pleasant and rockalicious experience for True Colors, continuing to prove that the line-up this year was fan-fucking-tastic.
Next to grace the stage, and one of my personal favorite female vocalists, was the indie singer/songwriter, Regina Spektor, who has an incredibly unique and whimsical vocal style that puts her in a class of her own. I was quite excited to see Regina perform live for the first time, and fully admit to swooning over this "sexy-ugly" talented Russian-American vocalist. There's a fearless, uninhibited confidence to Spektor's voice, and she delivered some of my favorites including Fidelity and Hotel Song from her latest album, Begin to Hope. She is sure to give artists like Tori Amos and Fiona Apple a run for their money.
Cyndi came out to introduce Rosie's stand-up act, with some inspirational words of her own about how the GLBT community needs to get out and VOTE! It is really, truly awesome to have someone like Cyndi Lauper in such strong support of gay, lesbians, transgendered and of basic human rights, in general. The of course there's Rosie, being, well Rosie. In all seriousness, she was fantastic; comedic, dramatic, and serious all at the same time. I just love the way Rosie tells a story, she may be out-spoken and over-the-top at times, but she is a really incredible person and a great performer and I am proud to have her batting for the all-girls team.
Then came Carson Kressley, the host and MC for the True Colors Tour. You probably remember Carson as the overly effiminate and hilarious famous diva from Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and who currently hosts Lifetime's newest makeover show, How to Look Good Naked. Caron did a bit of stand-up, which was actually really hilarious, to my surprise. He was so interactive with the audience, reaching down into the front row to shake some woman's hand, and even pulling a badly dressed guy out of his seat and onto the stage so he could give him a quick makeover/wardrobe change. It was all pretty entertaining and a great way to pass the time between set-changes for the bands.
The second to last band to grace the stage was the B-52's, which I was psyched to see perform live and if you have a chance to get out to the True Colors Tour, make this one of your #1 reasons. The B-52's sure are a party band that knows how to party. If you grew up loving "Roam" and "Love Shack", dancing your ass off and all that comes with glorified wild youth, than you would love to see these guys live. The feminine harmonies of Wilson and Pierson, could not compliment the sprechgesang male vocal counterpoint of Fred Schneider any better. You can't help but feel the wacky euphoria when those crazy B-52's step on stage and you know in a matter of seconds, you'll be shakin' your groove thing with the rest of the audience.
The final performer was Cyndi Lauper, herself, and boy did she shine. Being a child of the 80's, I have always had a great appreciation for 80's artists that can still 
rock your socks off, and did Cyndi ever! Her setlist included the following:
Change Of Heart
Good Enough
Rocking Chair (with Rosie)
Set Your Heart
When You Were Mine
She Bop
Into The Nightlife
I Drove All Night
Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Rosie on drums)
Same Ol' Story (acapella)
Time After Time
Money Changes Everything (with Lucas Silveira from the Clicks)
Everyday People (entire cast)
True Colors (entire cast)
and to top that off, Cyndi even jumped out into the crowd during Set Your Heart and Into The Nightlife to rock out with the audience. Cyndi Lauper is an incredible performer, she has so much energy and exuberance that you can't help but love her, and damn, after almost 30 years she's STILL putting out kickass albums and rockin' the mic like no other. You go girl!!!
All in all, it was an incredible concert experience, which I was able to attend with one of my best friends (who I don't get to see nearly enough because I live in LA now). I had incredible seats and was able to access some great photos right at the front of the stage which I am very excited to share with you. Here is a collection of my favorite photos from the show, I hope you enjoy them, and if you get the chance to go to the True Colors Tour in your town, I HIGHLY recommend it!!!
My True Colors Tour Photo Blog
It seems like, over the past couple of years, the U.K. has been not-so-gently reminding the U.S. that we used to create great music but that we have lapsed. As the U.S. fell into the increasingly repetitive and unimaginative abyss of the looped drum machines and hoarse screaming of Southern crunk rap, the U.K. has imported gems like Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, The Streets, Lady Sovereign, M.I.A., and Mika. Enter Duffy, the newest import from the U.K., who, even before she released her album yesterday in the U.S., has already been nominated for a LOGO NewNowNext Award.
Duffy has been touted as the second coming of Winehouse, except without the crack addiction. Last year, Amy Winehouse sang the memorable words "No, No, No!" in her breakout single "Rehab." But this year, Duffy's first words in her inaugural release "Mercy," which has been in constant rotation on VH1, were "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Perhaps she is the anti-Winehouse.
Duffy released her album "Rockferry" in the U.S. on Tuesday, and it has already reached #3 on iTunes. She also sold out her show at NYC's Apollo Theater. Most of the tracks on the album are a bit more soulful and loungey than the danceable "Mercy," so this is definitely an album to unwind to after a long day. The vocals are powerful, and the production is retro-fabulous. I predict a Grammy nomination.
The Cliks, a 4 member band from Toronto, Canada is making some big damn waves in musical pools. Besides churning out the hits from their latest CD, Snakehouse, (the videos for “Oh Yeah” and “Complicated” were both at #1 on Logo), The Cliks were also hand-picked by Ian Astbury of The Cult to support them on their recent American and Canadian tours.
Another music icon, Cyndi Lauper, also took notice of them and added them last year as well as this year to the True Colors tour lineup. True Colors is produced in conjunction with HRC and presented by Logo. HRC and this year’s other non-profit partners – CenterLink (the nation’s LGBT community centers) and Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National - are joining with the tour to bring together Americans across the country to voice their solidarity for LGBT equality and raise public awareness about the issues that face the LGBT community. The tour kicks off in Boston, MA on May 31. “Part of my mission with the True Colors tour was to provide a platform for some new and exciting acts. A band like The Cliks are all that and more. They are a force to be reckoned with and I am really excited to be sharing the stage with them.” said tour producer and creator, Cyndi Lauper. Lesbiatopia’s special projects editor, Sinnerviewer, recently spoke with Morgan Doctor, drummer for The Cliks:
Shannon: You just finished doing the long Jaegermeister tour opening for one of my favorite bands, The Cult. I read that they hand-picked you to open for them because they loved your sound. I’d love to hear your thoughts about that tour and share any good stories that you have.
Morgan: We sort of did 2 tours with them. One in the states and then, we just got finished doing a Canadian tour. We started in Portland and went all the way across Canada. We went into some really remote places like Grand Prairie. There were some really off the chart places in Canada. It was nice to do the tour with them and then, we went off to do our own thing, and then came back to tour with them again. They are really great guys. We had an amazing time with them. I think what we loved the most was being able to tour with just another rock band whose audience is , well, most of them hadn’t seen us. They didn’t know who we were. To just get up on stage and be received well every night just for our music and our live show - it was really rewarding.
A story? Let’s see… this last tour, there was one. We were in Calgary. We were there for 3 or 4 days because of the Juno’s (awards). We played 2 shows there. The next stop was Edmonton, an 8 hour drive. We were fartin’ around Calgary trying to leave and we were a little bit lost. I got this text from the bass player from The Cult and it said, “Hey, How’s it going? Where are you guys? I’m still in Calgary.” And I was thinking, “Oh, it’s a really nice day to stay in Calgary.” So he calls me up and says, “I missed the bus. I need to get to Edmonton. Can you guys give me a ride?” So he drove with us in the van. The difference between a bus and a van is enormous. It was sort of funny to have this rock star in our van, crashed out and then hanging out with us for the whole day. It was totally fun.
Shannon: You probably won his respect and reminded him of what it used to be like.
Morgan: Yeah, absolutely. I think they all really admired us as players and they really loved the music. We each kind of bonded with one of them. I really got along with the other drummer, Johnny. He played with Helmet and all kinds of incredible bands and people. It was a real honor for me to hear him say “I love your playing”. It was a great experience overall.
Shannon: Cyndi Lauper, she also hand-picked you for her True Colors Tour this year. I thought that was interesting because it shows an obvious pattern here. How does it make you feel to know that you’ve won the respect of all these accomplished musicians?
Morgan: It feels great. It’s really rewarding and it feels like things are happening at the right time. We’re ready for it. What seemed to happen was that Cyndi’s management got a hold of our stuff and really liked it. They played it for her and she really liked it. We were only scheduled to play something like 4 dates on last year’s tour. She had this press time meet-n-greet during the time that we were supposed to play. She moved it to another time so that she could watch us play. She saw us play and that was it! They started changing their schedules and started to move people so that they could add us to more dates on the tour. We seem to really win people over with our live show.
Shannon: That’s pretty impressive to do that. And not just with one person, but with so many people. The True Colors Tour – it’s a special tour. I really see the value of this tour very clearly right now.
I went to see Bon Jovi last week in Atlanta. The thing that struck me was how the band adjusted their pricing structure to their fan base growing older. None of us are 16 year old kids anymore. Most of the audience was suburbian soccer mom-types. Everything from ticket prices to shirts to programs was out of the ballpark when it came to cost. It was disgusting to me how they went from being a Jersey-boy rock band to this huge, corporate entity… a machine. I have to confess, it rubbed me the wrong way.
When I was reading the press release about The True Colors Tour and it’s affiliation with HRC, I learned that the proceeds from the shows will get into the hands of the organizations that work for the rights of all GLBT people. It made me wonder if, besides just promoting your music and expanding your fan base, was there anything that you all hope to accomplish as an act on this tour in that regard?
Morgan: Yeah. Well, I think it’s an honor to be asked to do a tour with such great acts that are on the bill like Cyndi Lauper, the B-52’s, Tegan & Sarah, Joan Jett. To be in that kind of company alone is an honor. I think it makes it even more special to be doing it for such a great cause. The last time we did the tour, it was a really powerful experience at the end of the show during the encore, everyone comes out and we sang “True Colors” together. It was just a very emotional moment when the song would stop and everyone would raise their fists on stage and then they’d shine the light on thousands of people in the audience. It was just this moment of, like, “Oh my God. We’re in this together. You guys are here and we are here on stage. We’re together in all of this.” It was so empowering. It makes it that much more rewarding and takes it out of the realm of being a job… to have a purpose that’s bigger than you.
Shannon: That’s a perfect way to phrase it. One thing that I do know about The Cliks and that is your reputation of having a huge rapport with your fans. You are known for, when your shows are over, to go out there and hang out with your fans. You guys also take an active role in maintaining your MySpace page. You always put up cute little home videos and sending out blog posts and bulletins. It got me wondering: why do you think so many other bands don’t bother to try to make and keep those connections with their fans?
Morgan: Hmmm… it is a lot of work, for one. It can be… when you’re out on the road. That’s pretty exhausting as it is. You’re with all of these other people in the band, you’re traveling all day and you haven’t eaten well. And then to put yourself out there where you have to be social and engaging with people – it can sometimes be a little too much. I don’t know why people don’t do it except for maybe it’s just a lot to manage. I think we’re lucky enough right now where we can sort of manage it. I can see maybe if things continue to grow, we might get to a place where we won’t really get to be out there with our fans as much as we’d like to. It just wouldn’t be possible, you know?
The MySpace is really the best tool to get out and connect to our fans as much as we can. To put up videos and stuff like that…that’s kind of what MySpace is all about – connecting with people. So I don’t know why other bands don’t do those things that help them connect (on a personal level) with their fans. Other than they just might be tired.
(Laughs)
Shannon: You all definitely use that tool well. I am fascinated by the fact that pretty much everybody I know who is a Cliks fan has at least one photo of them with the band.
Morgan: I think we’re also pretty humble people. We’re just down to earth. Maybe it’s just a Canadian thing. It’s just who we are as people. We’re not in it to boost our egos or to be some sort of stars or whatever and I think that when you get off stage and you walk down there and you’re selling your own merchandise, it’s just like, “Here we are. We’re just normal people, too.” I think that it’s just natural for us to engage with people that way.
Shannon: I gotta ask about the song.
Morgan: Okay.
Shannon: Nobody can stop talking about it: the SUV song.
Morgan: Right.
Shannon: I keep hearing about this song and it’s just creating a huge buzz. Can you tell me what’s going on with that?
Morgan: Well, this is a song that Lucas (Silveira, the lead vocalist for The Cliks) wrote for an album of a different incarnation of The Cliks years ago. It was self-titled and put out independently. That song was on there. We decided to just try to play the song again but we totally changed it. It’s a whole other song, basically. Lyrically, it’s the same. Musically, it’s totally new. I think that he wrote that in response to seeing a high-profile band that had done really well and they stopped playing for a while and then they came back to playing and they were riding around in L.A. with their big SUV’s . This is a “socially conscious” band. And he was like, "What's going on here?" - that's how it came about.
Shannon: That one is going to be on the next CD, you think?
Morgan: Yeah, hopefully.
Shannon: Speaking of that next CD (even though I know you all are currently promoting your latest CD, (Snakehouse), when can your fans expect that?
Morgan: Well, if all goes as planned, which often it doesn’t, I can tentatively say that we’re going to try to record it in the fall, which means that it would probably be out in the early spring like February or March.
Shannon: What’s in your iPod, Morgan?
Morgan: What’s in my iPod?
Shannon: Yeah. I always have to know because I’m so interested in what everybody is listening to.
Morgan: I’ve been listening a lot to the new Stars album. A band from Canada. I’m a big Death Cab for Cutie fan. I have some Dave Brubeck stuff… some jazz. The Cocteau Twins, The Pretenders. The Cure.
Shannon: I like The Cure but they’re kind of depressing. Not something you can listen to in the winter.
Morgan: (laughs) Yeah, you don’t want to. It’s dangerous.
Shannon: Tell me about how you got involved with The Canadian Council of Jury for Grants and what kind of work you did there?
Morgan: I was asked to be on the Jury for granting musicians who are professional musicians in the non-classical category. It’s a peer-assessment committee. I’ve gotten a few grants on my own when I went to study in California with my guru and I got another grant to compose my own work. I have a solo album out and it was to compose music for my second album which I am finishing up right now.
They ask people who have gotten grants to be the peers on the assessment committee. They flew me out to Ottawa and it was a great experience. There were just 3 of us and we juried a bunch of applicants who were trying to get some music either to compose or to do travel grants. A lot of them want to go to far away places like India or Mumbai to study more their art form. Usually, it’s in the World Music category so people are studying all kinds of instruments and things that are non-traditional and harder to learn about. You can’t just go to a university for it. I found it really rewarding. I’m also just amazed at the talent that there is in Canada. It’s just really incredible.
Shannon: So was that a one-time deal or do you get invited back later?
Morgan: It was a one-time deal so far but they may ask me to come back. But they try to pick different people for different juries.
Shannon: What a great way to handle that – to leave those decisions in the hands of other professionals who’ve received grants and not in the hands of bureaucrats. (Nice system, Canada.)
You are working on your solo album. What projects are the other members of The Cliks working on right now?
Morgan: I don’t think much, actually. We’ve been really busy focusing mainly on this band. We don’t have time to do much else. Jen plays in a folk band called “August”. Nina, the band that she was playing with, she basically had to drop that so she could play in The Cliks. We haven’t really been home for really a month or two at the longest period of time so it makes it really hard to get into something and then have to leave it. Sometimes, I’ll pick up gigs when I’m in town, but it’s tough to do much else.
Shannon: My girlfriend really wants to know if you and Jen are an item…
Morgan: (Laughs) No.
Shannon: She said, “Well, when I saw them, Jen was playing with Morgan’s hair.
Morgan: (laughs) Jen does that to everybody.
Shannon: Since our readers are mostly lesbians, I’ve got to ask… is there anybody who is single among you Cliks?
Morgan: Nina is single. The rest of us are in pretty long-term relationships.
(Hear that, ladies? Nina is single! Go buy your True Colors tour tickets and introduce yourself!)
Shannon: Who are the chicks that you find smokin’ hot?
Morgan: PJ Harvey & Jennifer Garner.
Shannon: I could not agree more with Jennifer Garner…very nice. The last burning, pressing question that I have for you is what is your favorite junk food?
Morgan: I’m a really healthy eater so even my junk food is sort of healthy.
Shannon: I watched the video on your MySpace page of you all going through your groceries and saw all of that healthy stuff. It is important for everyone who reads this to know what you consider junk food.
Morgan: I’m really into these wheat-free, dairy-free Oreo-type cookies by Newman’s Own. Those are great. I’d have to say that right now, those are my favorite.
Shannon: I shall have to try them. Thanks for your time, Morgan.
The Cliks have been nominated for Logo's New, Now, Next Awards in the "Brink of Fame: Music Artist" category. You can click HERE to cast your vote.
Enjoy Sinnerviewer's favorite Cliks video, Complicated:
Alanis Morissette Promotes "Flavors of Entanglement"
Could there be a cooler name for an album? And I’m not a giant Alanis fan… but damn! That’s creative. I don’t know what it means….but, damn! That’s creative. “Flavors of Entanglement” is the latest release from Alanis Morissette and is due out on June 10th.
We here at www.Lesbiatopia.com recognize that Alanis certainly has her lesbian fan base.
And with good reason - she’s a very talented vocalist. Let's face it: she isn't ugly, either.
For those of you out there who are absolutely pregnant with anticipation over her new tunes, we have made a handy guide to help keep you from missing any Alanis opportunity!
SET YOUR TiVo’s!
Alanis will make the following televised appearances:
May 20 – Ellen
May 23 - The Today Show
June 9 - The Today Show
June 10 - Late Show With David Letterman
June 12 - Howard Stern (radio)
July 18 - Jimmy Kimmel Live!
June 11 - The View
A Personal Message to Lesbiatiopia Readers About The True Colors Tour From Cyndi Lauper
Exciting News for the True Colors Tour FREE Ticket Giveaway!
Call in with the correct answer to the following trivia question, and you could win 2 tickets to the True Colors Tour concert location of their choice (listed below):
There is a scene in "The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love" when Evie's three friends are driving to the hotel near the end of the movie, what book, by Rita Mae Brown, is one of them reading outloud?
Leave your name, your answer, the concert location you would like to attend, and a phone number where you can be reached.
Callers can phone in their answers until Sunday, May 18th at 8pm PST.
Everyone with the correct answer will then be entered into a drawing and the the winners will be chosen during that drawing by our panel of impartial judges, (our Managing Editors 2 year old twin daughters, Halie and Kyma) "live" on camera, on Monday morning.
The winners will be announced and the answer posted on Monday May 19th at 12pm PST so stay tuned... Good luck!!
05.31.08 Boston MA US Bank of America Pavilion
06.01.08 Wantagh NY US Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre
06.03.08 New York NY US Radio City Music Hall
06.04.08 Toronto ON CA Molson Amphitheatre
06.06.08 Mashantucket CT US Foxwoods Casino
06.07.08 Washington DC US DAR Constitution Hall
06.09.08 Minneapolis MN US US Bank Theater at Target Center
06.10.08 Chicago IL US Chicago Theatre
06.11.08 Clarkston MI US DTE Energy Music Theatre
06.13.08 Atlantic City NJ US Borgata Hotel and Casino
06.14.08 Bethel NY US Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
06.16.08 Atlanta GA US Chastain Park Amphitheatre
06.17.08 Atlanta GA US Chastain Park Amphitheatre
06.18.08 Clearwater FL US Ruth Eckerd Hall
06.19.08 Fort Lauderdale FL US Sinatra Theatre at the Bank Atlantic Center
06.21.08 Houston TX US Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion
06.22.08 Dallas TX US Superpages.com Center
06.23.08 Oklahoma City OK US Zoo Amphitheatre
06.25.08 Phoenix AZ US Dodge Theatre
06.27.08 Alpine CA US Viejas Casino - Concerts in the Park
06.28.08 Los Angeles CA US Greek Theatre
06.29.08 Berkeley CA US Greek Theatre
07.01.08 Seattle WA US WaMu Theater
07.02.08 Vancouver BC CA Deer Lake Park N/A
07.04.08 Salt Lake City UT US USANA Amphitheatre
07.05.08 Morrison CO US Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Read why we decided to change the video submission contest Read More......
Enter Now to Win True Colors Tour 2008 Concert Tickets!!!
Call in with the correct answer to the following trivia question, and you could win 2 tickets to the True Colors Tour concert location of their choice (listed below):
There is a scene in "The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love" when Evie's three friends are driving to the hotel near the end of the movie, what book, by Rita Mae Brown, is one of them reading outloud?
Leave your name, your answer, the concert location you would like to attend, and a phone number where you can be reached.
Callers can phone in their answers until Sunday, May 18th at 8pm PST.
Everyone with the correct answer will then be entered into a drawing and the the winners will be chosen during that drawing by our panel of impartial judges, (our Managing Editors 2 year old twin daughters, Halie and Kyma) "live" on camera, on Monday morning.
The winners will be announced and the answer posted on Monday May 19th at 12pm PST so stay tuned... Good luck!!
05.31.08 Boston MA US Bank of America Pavilion
06.01.08 Wantagh NY US Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre
06.03.08 New York NY US Radio City Music Hall
06.04.08 Toronto ON CA Molson Amphitheatre
06.06.08 Mashantucket CT US Foxwoods Casino
06.07.08 Washington DC US DAR Constitution Hall
06.09.08 Minneapolis MN US US Bank Theater at Target Center
06.10.08 Chicago IL US Chicago Theatre
06.11.08 Clarkston MI US DTE Energy Music Theatre
06.13.08 Atlantic City NJ US Borgata Hotel and Casino
06.14.08 Bethel NY US Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
06.16.08 Atlanta GA US Chastain Park Amphitheatre
06.17.08 Atlanta GA US Chastain Park Amphitheatre
06.18.08 Clearwater FL US Ruth Eckerd Hall
06.19.08 Fort Lauderdale FL US Sinatra Theatre at the Bank Atlantic Center
06.21.08 Houston TX US Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion
06.22.08 Dallas TX US Superpages.com Center
06.23.08 Oklahoma City OK US Zoo Amphitheatre
06.25.08 Phoenix AZ US Dodge Theatre
06.27.08 Alpine CA US Viejas Casino - Concerts in the Park
06.28.08 Los Angeles CA US Greek Theatre
06.29.08 Berkeley CA US Greek Theatre
07.01.08 Seattle WA US WaMu Theater
07.02.08 Vancouver BC CA Deer Lake Park N/A
07.04.08 Salt Lake City UT US USANA Amphitheatre
07.05.08 Morrison CO US Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Read why we decided to change the video submission contest Read More......