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CONVERSATION

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DEEP DISH

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BELLINI AT LARGE

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TUNES

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LETTERS

@fabmagazine.com

Cunning Conservatives

Some of us have long memories and remember when the rights to

party and play were questionable, if

not illegal. The Toronto bath-

not illegal. The Toronto

bath-house raids were a glowing example of intolerance. And the

house raids were a glowing example of intolerance. And the

so-called rights we have

now can be

reversed. To

day, political gay

clout speaks loudly, so hopefully the

T

oronto gay community

will

use theirs to show

a condescending, rightwing Conservative Party

we recognize them when we see them.

The Conservatives were joined by the anti-gay R

eform Party, wh

ich

tried to repeal equal rights, including gay marriage. Do you really

believe this stance doesn’t still exi

st among Harper’s cronies? Julian

Fantino, no surprise, is one

of those responsible for

London’

s infamous

gay witch hunt, Project Guar

dian, in the ’90s. This hunt was purport-

dian, in the ’90s. This hunt was

purport-edly to expose a child-porn ring, b

edly to expose a child-porn ring, b

ut it uncovered only hustlers and

their adult clients. Dozens of men were unjustly charged, leading to

ruined lives and suicides. Wonder why Fantino’s a Conservative?

This party has long been

accused of hidden agendas. This is a

PM who refuses to cooperate with other parties, used the G20 as

a prop for his ego, uses the Mounties to oust you from his rallies

if you are not Conservative and repeatedly hides his business

behind closed doors.

T

oronto is a

major political riding in

this race, so let’s make the

gay vote more than count. We don’t want a Conservative majority

in power in what is supposed to be a liberal and free-thinking

Canada. Hard-won rights need to be prote

cted. Party, play and vote.

Remember, not all dictators are in

foreign countries.

— Gary Malott

Hirsute hot,

Gilletted not

Re: the Montreal photo in

“Last-Minute Gaycations,”

fab

#421, March 30.

How gross. How could

anyone ﬁnd the complete

shaving of the chest

attrac-tive? Their big nipples and

tive? Their big nipples and

the showing of their trendy

underwear — Marky Mark

did that in the ’80s — only

he had a body to look at.

— Daniel Daring

Don’t hold it against her

Re: “Britney’s Femme Fatale #FAIL?” on fabmagazine.com.

If you are not

a fan of B

ritney

, you are on no

solid ground to be

judging her music. Britney is not who she used to be, but she is

trying. We credit her effort and her music. We enjoy some of it; if

you don’t, you don’t. No need to

be sour toward her work. Nobody

can please

everybody

.

— Thien

the gay oasis

Palm

Springs

FREE FREE$$4.4. insomecities insomecities March 30,2011 — April 12,2011 March 30,2011 — April 12,2011 fabmagazine.com fabmagazine.com # #421421

YOUR OPINIONS

MAT

TER TO US!

Send your raves, rants and comments to:

6

(7)

Blood sp

or

ts

T

he world moves so quickly. It’s already spring and time or

an issue o

fab

that celebrates sports and the arrival o the

shirtless season. It eels like just yesterday that we were

trapped in the shrieking bowels o

a never-ending winter

. It seems

like only moments ago that Charlie Sheen was a reasonably

respected actor — and somewhat hot. It can’t be that long ago that

Britney released another mediocre album in a desperate bid or a

comeback. And didn’t we just have a ederal election?

Watching Charlie Sheen’s world implode is tragic but riveting.

As captivating as watching traditional gay

sporting events like gure

skating or Dieux du Stade? Possibly: ater all, one o the activities

that we gay men excel at is celebrity blood sports, where gossip and

innuendo is wielded with the dexterity o a Roman gladiator.

Peggy Orenstein, author o

Cinderella Ate My Daughter

, nds

Britney Spears’ infuence on preteen sexuality troubling.

Orenstein’s thesis is that Spears’ original schoolgirl persona

sexualized innocence while etishizing it, a dichotomy that

earned her many gay ans. Now that Spears has become a woman

(externally

, at least), while

clinging to her childlike

(or is she just

stoned?) mannerisms, she portrays “sexiness as something to do

or the pleasure and entertainment o others rather than as

something empowering.” That is indeed a

disheartening message

or preteen girls — and or Spears’ twink ans.

A lip-synching Auto-Tuned automaton is a tragic role model or

gay men, but what great sport can be ound in building someone up

and then knocking them down when they ail us. In contrast,

remember how empowering it was when Madonna urged us to

“Express Yoursel” (instead o expressing the antasies o whoever is

pulling Spears’ puppet strings)

. Gaga’s been slagged or her rewrite o

“Express Yoursel,” but at least there’s an injection o real human

personality and the empowerment message seems genuine.

I-want-a-majority Harper, who can also come across as

something o an automaton, was treated to a rendition o “Born

This Way” by internet prodigy Maria Aragon. What was surely

intended as a pu piece photo op becomes a curiosity piece as

Harper struggles to nod his head in a

semblance o rhythm, trying

not to finch at “Don’t be a drag, be a queen.” (By this point

Laureen Harper has been moved careully out o camera range —

no doubt because she understands the lyrics and is happily

daydreaming o dancing to a Gaga remix while out aghagging

with JB and the boys.)

Harper’s continued attempts to cast himsel as a blandly

benevolent gure is as utile a strategy as Spears’ desexualized

sexuality. But elections are sporting events where no quarter is given

until the opponents are bloodied and beaten, and Harper is playing

to win. Can we not slide our rapier gay wit between the chinks in his

armoured persona and expose the emptiness within? Seeing Spears

tumble is an empty-calorie thrill, but getting Harper to shave his

head or fash his va-jay-jay would be a game-winning score.

fab

April 13, 20

11

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LAUNCH

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FIERCENESS

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CROWD REACTION

_{leather bar turns literary}

The Black Eagle:

The Gladstone: Queer West

_{meets Canadian gothic}

Who will cater at

the Eagle? Wet or

Elbow Grease?

PERFORMERS

DJ Robotic Kid plus literary

heavyweights Zoe Whittall

and Lisa Foad

— women at the Eagle?

DJs Miss Brown and Maggie

MacDonald plus Zoe Whittall

(again), Marcus McCann and

GentleLady Regina

Alas, Smith’s alter ego,

Miss Cookie, is not

expected, but Smith will

wear his infamous red suit

POST-SHOW

PLEASURES

Kearney says, “It’s my

local. Things will

doubtlessly devolve into

a backroom group scene.”

Smith is notorious for crazy

stunts during readings,

and the Gladstone loves

crazy

Neither reading has

the faintest chance of

being dull

The birds and the spell

ing bee

s

Everyone wins at Strip Spelling Bee. When a contestant cocks up, there’s no booing, hissing

or “better luck next time” because lexical difﬁculty results in aggrandized entertainment.

“I try to pick words that are hard for even me. Hard as my cock, which is pretty hard,” says

organizer Sherwin Tjia. “The beauty of this event is that it’s pretty sexy when someone gets

it right but sexier when they get it wrong. In both cases, people cheer like crazy.” Tjia has a

reputation for fun and out-of-the-ordinary parties. His Queer Slowdance Night attracts plenty

of followers and Strip Spelling Bee has lots of fans wanting to partake in the cheering or get

onstage and impress (with either their orthographical talents or their personal assets). “Some

of our contestants are deﬁnitely exhibitionists,” says Tjia. “I think what happens, though, is

that if they get the word wrong, they realize they’re probably not going to win best speller of

the night, so they shift gears and try to win best stripper.” –

Eduardo Sabate

Strip Spelling Bee

takes place Fri, April 22 at Buddies, 12 Alexander St.

stripspellingbee.blogspot.com

Both books are can’t-put-it-down reads and both authors are compelling presences exercising their imaginations in the

service of promotion. Let’s count ourselves lucky to have two ﬁerce

nights of belles-lettres in a row. –

Drew Rowsome

Greg Kearney’s

Greg Kearney’s Pretty

Pretty

launches Tues, April 26, 8pm, at the Black Eagle, 457 Church St. blackeagletoronto.com. Michael

V Smith’s

V Smith’s Progress

Progress

launches as part of Granny Boots, Wed, April 27, 7:30pm, at The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W.

gladstonehotel.com

Boys of a feather

Stop asking international DJ Hector Fonseca to show you his Peacock, people.

He’s given it up for Lent. But when he

spins at ﬂy on Easter

weekend, all gloves

and T-shi

rts will be off. He just ﬁnished showing it in Miami f

or Carnival and the

resident DJ of Matinée NYC a

t Pacha club has put lots of mileage on his passport

recently, hitting Brazil, Mexico, Italy and Vancouver

. Known for starting

the electribal

trend, Fonseca gives the crowd circuit-thumping sounds with bitch-loads of vocal

attitude. His sultry Puerto Rican good looks are yet

another reason to see

Fonseca

do his thing. With current remixes like Haldamaxx & Danny Verde’s “Pushin’ to

the Top” and Katy Perry’s hornithological song asking for cock, cock, cock, the

boys will be ﬂocking

each other on

the danceﬂoor. –

Eduardo Sabate

Hector Fonseca

spins on Sat, April 23 at ﬂy nightclub, 8 Gloucester St. ﬂynightclub.com

202

202 Archie

Archie

comic book issue in which gay

character Kevin Keller ﬁrst appeared

— it became only the second issue

ever to need reprinting and has earned

Keller a spinoff comic.

US$3.99

Suggested list price for upcoming

biographical comic books

Female

Force: Rosie O’Donnell

and

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Force: Kathy Grifﬁn

.

GIRLIE

The supervillains (Gangsters,

Imposters, Racketeers, Liars and

Irredeemable Ex-cons) who will battle

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new comic

book character, The Governator.

“I feel like I need to go

home and

buy a Barbie’s magical dream

house and play

with myself.

”

Actress Blake Lively is inspired by the

prototype Barbie based on her

Green

Lantern

character.

12

12 Percentage of

Percentage of

Vanity Fair

poll

respondents that believes Justin

Bieber will be “fat and bald” by the

age of 30.

“One part of my heart soared. The

other part broke for the

thou-sands of hungry souls being fed

sands of hungry souls being fed

something that didn’t nourish

their spirit, but fed their ﬂesh.”

A Katy Perry concert is reviewed by

the singer’s mother.

“Ron de Jeremy tastes perfect

naked with nothing added and

works equally great

as a

mixer

.”

Actor/author/porn legend extols his

new “adult” rum.

5,000

Age in years of a male skeleton found

buried in a traditionally female manner,

leaving scientists to posit that he was a

gay or transgendered caveman.

Lascivious lit

Summer beach-reading season is almost upon us, and two works of literature

that are also delicious reads are heading our way. Greg Kearney’s

Pretty

is a collection of darkly hilarious short stories; Michael V

Smith’s

Progress

is an epic Canadian novel with several gay twists.

Their launch parties are back to back, but which is ﬁercer?

SUSHI

8

8 April 13, 20

April 13, 20

1

1 fab

fab

F

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fab

April 13, 20

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10 April 13, 2011 fab April 13, 2011 fab fab fab April 13, 201April 13, 20111 1111

I

n the early ’90s, Gregg Araki becamen the early ’90s, Gregg Araki became

queer cinema’s resident bad boy director

with the release of

with the release of The Living End The Living End , a ﬁlm, a ﬁlm

about two gay men with HIV on the

about two gay men with HIV on the runrun

from the law after killing a

from the law after killing a homophobichomophobic

cop. He followed that up with his teenage

apocalypse trilogy (

apocalypse trilogy (Totally Fucked UpTotally Fucked Up,,TheThe

Doom Generation

Doom GenerationandandNowhereNowhere), which), which

deﬁned an angst-ridden sexually charged

generation with the help

generation with the help of soon-to-be-starsof soon-to-be-stars

like Margaret Cho, Traci Lords, Parker Posey,

Scott Caan and Ryan Philippe. With the

release of his newest ﬁlm,

release of his newest ﬁlm,KaboomKaboom, (which, (which

won the ﬁrst ever Queer Palm Award at the

Cannes Film Festival), Araki is again out to

create the ultimate queer mind-fuck ﬂick,

but this time for a new generation.

Matt Thomas: What was the inspiration for

Kaboom

Kaboom??

Gregg Araki:

Gregg Araki:I really just wanted to make aI really just wanted to make a

movie that came from a completely creatively

free space that had a n

free space that had a naive creative sensibilityaive creative sensibility

to it. I knew I wanted to make a movie about

these characters that were at that phase in life

where everything is a question mark. You

don’t know who you’re going to be or what

your sexuality is; you’re just sort of being

formed. I’ve also always wanted to make a

sprawling, apocalyptic

sprawling, apocalypticTwin PeaksTwin Peaks-y mystery.-y mystery.

I didn’t in any way censor myself in terms of

things getting too weird or using too many

dif-ferent genres, or thinking things like, ‘Wait,

ferent genres, or thinking things like, ‘Wait,

this sex scene is getting too intense.’ They

don’t really make movies like that anymore.

MT: Is it easier now to ﬁnd young actors

willing to take on explicitly gay roles?

GA:

GA:It’s interesting seeing it from the stand-It’s interesting seeing it from the

stand-point of the beginning of my career,

point of the beginning of my career,

especially with, say,

especially with, say,The Living End The Living End in thein the

early ’90s. There’s definitely a lot more

openness and willingness now than there

was back then. Even doing

was back then. Even doingThe DoomThe Doom

Generation

Generation, those parts were provocative, those parts were provocative

and challenging to cast. I ﬁnd in general

there’s this generation of actors,

there’s this generation of actors, particularlyparticularly

in

inKaboomKaboomandandMysterious SkinMysterious Skin, that are, that are

very smart, very savvy and they’ve seen a

million movies and they are artists. They

get much more excited by something like

Kaboom

Kaboomthan they do aboutthan they do aboutGossip Girl Gossip Girl oror

whatever is being made available to them

as a 20-year-old actor in Hollywood. There’s

a limited amount of stuff for them, and a

lot of it is the same old shit, so they are

excited to take on the challenge.

MT: Do you have any directorial tricks

when it comes to helping actors (like hunky

Chris Zylka and Thomas Dekker in

Chris Zylka and Thomas Dekker in Kaboom Kaboom))

get through sex scenes?

GA:

GA:Sex scenes are never fun to shoot, but theSex scenes are never fun to shoot, but the

key for me is to make the actors as comfortable

as you can. The set is always closed, and it’s

really about them and their needs. I always

tell actors when we are doing scenes like that

that they can always take me aside if any red

ﬂags come out. And they know I’m looking

after them, not just throwing them to the

wolves. My films are very structured and

planned, so the actors always know exactly

what’s coming at them.

MT: Smith, the lead character in

MT: Smith, the lead character in Kaboom Kaboom,,

doesn’t really identify as strictly gay and

leans toward a label-free view

leans toward a label-free view of his sexuality.of his sexuality.

Do you think that is a reﬂection of how

a newer generation of gay guys see sex?

GA:

GA:My answer to that question has gottenMy answer to that question has gotten

a little more sophisticated over the years.

I’ve learned how to talk about this stuff. I

feel that sexuality is a grey area. There are

people who are 100 percent gay or 100

percent straight and that’s great, but I feel

like a lot of people aren’t. There’s room for

people who do not necessarily ﬁt in any

speciﬁc kind of

speciﬁc kind of category. My feeling aboutcategory. My feeling about

it is, though, it depends on who you are

talking to. If you are dealing with some kind

of Sarah Palin Republican-type, I understand

the huge importance of coming out and

being confrontational about it by saying,

“I’m gay,” and making people aware of that.

I think that

I think that identity politics are super impor-identity politics are super

impor-tant in that context, but if you’re talking to

tant in that context, but if you’re talking to

people who are more educated and more

sophisticated, you can bring up those grey

areas and those questions about what is gay

and what is straight and why we need to

have these labels. Younger people who are

kind of the age of the cast of

kind of the age of the cast of KaboomKaboomfeelfeel

very much that way

very much that way about sexuality, that it’sabout sexuality, that it’s

not really about declaring yourself one thing

or another, but it’s about relationships,

desire and experiences. I think that’s great;

it’s an important part of growing up and

ﬁguring out who you are without having to

ﬁt yourself into any speciﬁc category.

MT: In terms of being a ﬁlmmaker, what

MT: In terms of being a ﬁlmmaker, what toto

you is sexy and erotic?

GA:

GA:There’s a lot inThere’s a lot inKaboomKaboomfor all audiences,for all audiences,

but there’s deﬁnitely a lot of eye candy and a

lot of provocative stuff going on that

lot of provocative stuff going on that wouldwould

appeal to a gay audience. As a ﬁlmmaker I’m

very interested in sex

very interested in sex and sexuality. Almostand sexuality. Almost

all of my ﬁlms have that theme and explore

that idea. My interest in sex

that idea. My interest in sex is not really sois not really so

much about eroticism and titillation. What

I’m interested in is that moment between

characters where, through that magic of

cinema, you’re allowed into these

cinema, you’re allowed into these people’speople’s

most private, intimate moments. It’s not like

I’m trying to be sexy with the venetian

blinds, lighting and the

blinds, lighting and the fake sweat. It’s reallyfake sweat. It’s really

those human moments that are fascinating

and sexy to me.

MT: In the early days of queer cinema, MT: In the early days of queer cinema, the ﬁlms only really existed on the the ﬁlms only really existed on the festivalfestival circuit, but now you can get circuit, but now you can getThe LivingThe Living End

End on Netﬂix. What’s it been like for youon Netﬂix. What’s it been like for you to see the evolution of distribution for to see the evolution of distribution for queer cinema?

queer cinema?

GA:

GA:I think it’s really exciting. It’s a double-I think it’s really exciting. It’s a

double-edged sword, though. Like Smith in

edged sword, though. Like Smith inKaboomKaboom,,

I’m a student of pure cinema and I lament

the fact that a lot of the people who see

Kaboom

Kaboomwill end up seeing it on DVD orwill end up seeing it on DVD or

streaming (hopefully not on an iPhone) and

not in a theatre. The ﬂip side is that some

kid in freaking Alaska can read about

Kaboom

Kaboomon the internet and watch it onon the internet and watch it on

VOD. I think it’s great in

VOD. I think it’s great in terms of accessibil-terms of

accessibil-ity, but I miss the idea of everybody watching

ity, but I miss the idea of everybody watching

it in a theatre.

Kaboom

Kaboomis in theatres is in theatres now. eoneﬁlms.comnow. eoneﬁlms.com

Matt Thomas is a

Matt Thomas is afabfabassociate editor who lovesassociate editor who loves

the many raw men in Araki’s ﬁlms, regardless

of where they ﬁt on the Kinsey scale.

Matt Thomas

talks to director

Gregg Araki

about his latest

gonzo pansexual thriller, Kaboom

Araki directs Thomas Dekker and Juno Temple.

Araki directs Thomas Dekker and Juno Temple. Sexy surfer Chris Zylka.Sexy surfer Chris Zylka.

Not-so-gay but still-hot sex scene. Not-so-gay but still-hot sex scene.

CONVERSATION

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April 13, 20

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1 fab

fab

OTHER T

E

AM

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PLAYING

Scott Dagostino

proves that no matter who

you are, there’

s a local gay

sports team for you

Spring! We thought you'd never get here. We've had some winter sports

to keep us busy, but now there are more opportunities to get outside, get active and

do it in groups of gays. But how to choose? Whether it's bone-crunching

rugby or genteel badminton, representatives from every gay and lesbian sporting group