Radius & Helena launch album (into space) at Massey Hall, Centuries Lounge

Ryan and Borg

Toronto band Radius and Helena released their album, ‘Precious Metals’ with a sold-out show at Massey Hall’s Centuries Lounge. The night was made special with a unique lineup of supporting acts, starting with arpeggio dungeon master, Discordant Euphony. Following that brutally awesome set, hip-hop’s cleverest, Wordburglar treated the crowd to his fantastic freestylin’ superhero sound, and Uncut delivered a high-energy set that sent the contents of the liquor cabinet chattering in their place. Radius and Helena took to the stage close to midnight and greeted the crowd with gold battle paint and dress shoes. Their set was like a whirlwind gravitron (without the ensuing motion sickness!), holding you up against the wall, and only letting you slide down every now and then just to remind you who’s in charge. The creepy, black magic groove of City of Fingers was made bad ass when Wordburglar jumped in to freestyle over the break, and at that point, I wondered how long it will be before this band is playing the Hall proper. I didn’t think this band could top their BSG promo vid, but it turns out, they did.

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RAH do BSG: a Radius and Helena tribute.

CAUTION! SPOILER ALERT! This BSG tribute is so grand, it may be worthy of its own show…

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Apologia, not apology

First, I’d like to apologise to anyone who might actually read this blog.  I’ve been away for a while after becoming disillusioned with the amount of hate mail I was receiving for one Zac Efron post and one Fergie post.  Both of these posts were in the spirit of distaste for these particular cogs in the entertainment machine, but of course, they have their followers who defend them in droves.  That’s fine.  KIFY was never meant to be a celebrity-bashing or gossip blog: there’re too many of them out there.  Instead, my passion is taking the everyday CRAP we are fed (through TV, ads, music, film and at the mall) and turn it upside down to get a different view.  Oprah and her unflinching consumerism become the icon of what disgusts me.  And ads that aim to target that “spiritual”/”quality of life” side are enemy no. 1.  All other product ads are enemy no. 2.  Still, I can’t deny that our entertainment is caught up in this advertising circus and so it is with this truism that I continue to consider celebrities on this blog.  So I leave you with this, an article that sums up why I felt the urge to make fun of Fergie.  She’s not the only one, but she is, for now, on the top of my list.  Enjoy.   OMG! Like, she’s, like, someone I, like, wanna be like…!

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Morrissey: No, No, No, Yes, No.

Still choosing the greater of two evils, Morrissey announces his Fall Tour Dates. Implicit in the itinerary is his preference for a country whose government has instigated war, okayed torture, rape, civilian deaths, of tens of thousands of Iraqis – women, children and men – over one that has said ‘no’ to that war but who still sanctions the clubbing of young seals for pelts that are exported to countries like Norway, Denmark, Germany, China, and South Korea.

Then again, we could only provide him with a fraction of ticket sales that the U.S. could…

Oh, and 10 dates in LA?

Morrissey – 2007 Tour Dates
September 20 TIJUANA, MEXICO : El Foro
September 21 LAS VEGAS, NV : The Pearl
September 23 SAN FRANCISCO, CA : Fillmore
September 24 SAN FRANCISCO, CA : Fillmore
September 26 SAN FRANCISCO, CA : Fillmore
September 27 SAN FRANCISCO, CA : Fillmore
September 29 SANTA BARBARA, CA : County Bowl
October 1 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 2 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 4 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 5 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 6 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 8 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 9 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 11 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 12 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 13 LOS ANGELES, CA : Palladium
October 15 SALT LAKE CITY, UT : Thanksgiving Point
October 17 WAUKEGAN, IL : Genesee Theatre
October 19 ROYAL OAK, MI : Royal Oak Music Theatre
October 20 MERRILLVILLE, IN : Star Plaza
October 22 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 23 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 26 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 27 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 28 NEW YORK, NY : Hammerstein Ballroom
October 30 BOSTON, MA : Orpheum
October 31 BALTIMORE, MD : Rams Head
November 2 WASHINGTON, DC : Constitution Hall

* Kristeen Young supports on all dates

Still I’ll beg again:

MORRISSEY:
Come to CANADA,
PLEEEEEEEASE?

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Baby Björk Makes Me Happy Again

Okay, after that very saddening article, I thought I’d cheer myself up (and anyone else who might be reading..) with some Baby Björk Pictures!
ENJOY!

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My Life’s Work ~ a Radius and Helena plug

So when I’m not procrastinating I sometimes help with the visual arts side of the band, Radius and Helena. Here’s a picture I took from some of our artsy-er shoots:


and:

But our piece de résistance is this promo vid:

which is, of course, a shot-for-shot remake of Space 1999, episode 1. Oops, I’ve now revealed myself as a geek.

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Torn Between Love and Hate: Morrissey Chides Madonna, Praises PeTA

So at a concert in Norfolk, VA, Morrissey made a few on-stage pronouncements about Madge’s timely shift in public persona as ‘eco-friendly’:

According to 24Sizzler.com’s spy, the eco-friendly rocker told concert-goers about fur-loving Madonna, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she [Madonna] made that African boy into a coat and wore him … for 15 minutes, and then threw it away.”

And these sorts of pronouncements are why I love Morrissey and feel safe and at peace that he is somewhere, just doing things in this world! But wait…then he had to follow it up with advocacy for an organization I find absolutely, frustratingly hypocritical: PeTA:

Morrissey balanced his unkind words for Madonna, with kind words for PETA, which he supports: “You haven’t even heard what I’m gratified about yet,” said the singer, reports the 24Sizzler.com spy. ”I’m very gratified to be so close to the international headquarters of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.”

As a feminist (does that ‘f’ word still make people cringe? Fox News really did a good job of demonizing it in the late 80s/early 90s, didn’t they?) and an animal lover, I find myself cringing at the thought of supporting an organization that uses porn-star iconography, Hep-Cat Pam-Am, and stereotypes of ditzy blonde women for they’re ad campaigns. I’m also a little uncomfortable with the Ilsa-esque Aryan nature of their ‘spokes’ models…especially in the context of their downplaying the horrors of the holocaust and fascism by equating the slaughter of pigs with this historical tragedy. I’m all for a philosophical anti-humanism, but trading one kind of exploitation for another is still working within the lowest common denominators. And please don’t tell me the bleach that Pammy uses in her hair and the goo in her breasts have not come at the expense of animal rights or have not inspired a nasty strain of eco-trashing fem-bots chanting “das blonde ist besser”…

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Gratuitous Morrissey Pics

Photos by Linder Sterling

Billboard writes that Morrissey is considering a record deal with Warner Bros. as his former label, Attack Records “reverts to being a largely catalogue-driven label”…
I wonder how he feels about WB’s exploitation and mistreatment of animals?

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Is that tattoo an homage to her weak bladder?

GADS! I’m teleported back to that time in grad school when I sat, silently biting my fist, as my professor praised a student for her ‘brilliant’ idea of writing an essay on the ‘genius’ of the rhizomatic structure of Radiohead’s website.  And people wonder why red wine is my friend and confidante…

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Gay Bomb?

This is old news, but news to me.

CBS Headline: Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A ‘Gay Bomb’
(CBS 5) BERKELEY A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.

Gay community leaders in California said Friday that they found the notion of a “gay bomb” both offensive and almost laughable at the same time.

[...]

“Throughout history we have had so many brave men and women who are gay and lesbian serving the military with distinction,” said Geoff Kors of Equality California. “So, it’s just offensive that they think by turning people gay that the other military would be incapable of doing their job. And its absurd because there’s so much medical data that shows that sexual orientation is immutable and cannot be changed.”

Read the rest HERE!

I’m not so sure Geoff Kors is right about sexual orientation being immutable…I think it’s as fluid as the bowels of a vegan. Otherwise, why would hetero men be so squeamish at seeing homo-sexual affection or gay porn? Just like towel-snapping, trigger-pulling and football, it gives their willies a tingle they’d only dream of indulging.

So, was the motion inspired by R.E.M.’s release of their single “Sex Bomb” in 1994 (same year the gay bomb idea was drafted)???

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Mariah Carey and The Cowardly Lion from “The Wizard of Oz”

+

EQUALS…

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De-Evolution of Retro Style

Retro is always in. But in the past year, it’s been in in a very particular way. Doo-wop and 50s girls style defines musicians like Amy Winehouse (signature beehive) and the Pipettes (another female-fronted band); Christina Aguilera goes further, evoking the Company B style of the WWII era. I can’t help but feel, however, that in this era of Googlism, and complete lack of historical contexts off which to play, the irony of retro is now lost. Just because Winehouse says ‘fuck’ in her best Nina Simone impersonation, or just because the Pipettes look like they’re sassy chicks who say the other ‘f’ word (feminism), doesn’t make the parody subversive (not that they’re necessarily setting out to do so). In fact, I feel like this fake nostalgia we all have for poodle skirts and red lipstick is part of a seething, bubbling fascism that is a ‘no-no’ to discuss in the enlightened West… Thus I present my De-Evolution of Retro Style: A Descent into Fascism, Racism and Mysogyny, Again.

So the following are lyrics from Doris Day, Amy Winehouse and The Pipettes. They all confirm that notion that “boys will be boys” and, well…can’t live with them, can’t live without them…tee hee!

Read the lyrics to “A Guy is a Guy” by Doris Day (1951)

I walked down the street like a good girl should
He followed me down the street like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
So listen and I’ll tell you what this fella did to me

I walked to my house like a good girl should
He followed me to my house like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
So listen while I tell you what this fella did to me

I never saw the boy before
So nothin’ could be sillier
At closer range his face was strange
But his manner was familiar

So I walked up the stairs like a good girl should
He followed me up the stairs like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
So listen and I’ll tell you what this fella did to me

I stepped to my door like a good girl should
He stopped at my door like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
So listen while I tell you what this fella did to me

He asked me for a good-night kiss
I said, “It’s still good day”
I would have told him more except
His lips got in the way

So I talked to my ma like a good girl should
And Ma talked to Pa like I knew she would
And they all agreed on a married life for me
The guy is my guy wherever he may be

So I walked down the aisle like a good girl should
He followed me down the aisle like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
And now you’ve heard the story of what someone did to me

And that’s what he did to me

Amy Winehouse’s

“What It Is About Men”

Understand once he was a family man
so surely I would never, ever go through it first hand
Emulate all the shit my mother hated
I can’t help but demostrate my Freudian fate
My alibi for taking your guy
history repeats itself, it fails to die
and animal agression is my downfall
I don’t care ’bout what you got I wanted all

It’s bricked up in my head, it’s shoved under my bed
and I question myself again: what is it ’bout men?
My destructive side has grown a mile wide
and I question myself again: what is it ’bout men?

I’m nurturing, I just wanna do my thing
and I’ll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing
and I’ll save my tears for uncovering my fears
for behavioural patters that stick over the years

It’s bricked up in my head, it’s shoved under my bed
and I question myself again: what is it ’bout men?
My destructive side has grown a mile wide
and I question myself again: what is it ’bout men?

Feminist Complaints, The Pipettes

Broke my heart, what a shame
Played the field, but all game
Your hands lingered for too long
Teasing touch was very strong

That night you left with her in tow
Contributing to my feminist woes

Feminist woe, feminist woe
For feminist cunts, feminist cunts, feminist cunts
Oh, oh, oh

Broke my heart, what a shame
Played away, but all game
That night you left with her in tow
Contributing to my feminist woes

Feminist woe, feminist woe
For feminist cunts, feminist cunts, feminist cunts
Oh, oh, oh

That night I knew that you had been untrue
So what? What? What can I do?

Broke my heart, what a shame
Played the field, but all game

He broke her heart

COPYCATS!

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