Over the Edge + March, 30 2011 11 Upcoming Events in Prince George Explore the arts in your community DARCIE SMITH ARTS EDITOR Friday, April 1 Eco Fashion Show NUSC Event Space — UNBC 5-7pm Admission by donation A fashion show with a twist! Fashion show raffles and light appetizers provided. This will be an event to showcase recycled and unused clothing donations from local businesses and community members from around Prince George. Models and volunteers wanted. Contact: setter@unbc. ca This is an event put on jointly with the Women’s Centre, PGPIRG, the PC, and SGU. Friday, April 1-16 Spoil: Art Exhibit, Northern Perspectives on People, Places, Pipelines Third Ave Collective — 1157 3rd Ave An anti-Enbridge art exhibit! Submissions WELCOME! All art due March 30th! Tuesday April 5 The Restarts, The Rebel Spell, and Illicit Dissent Third - 1157 3rd Ave Music at 8pm All Ages $10 Coming to Prince George for the first time is the UK punk band the Restarts. The Restarts have been based out of London, England for nearly two decades, and have toured Europe and North America extensively with their politically charged Oi! Punk. Joining the Restarts on tour are Canadian punk rock stars the Rebel Spell, from Vancouver. The Rebel Spell are touring in support of their newly released full-length album, It’s a Beautiful Future. Local political punk band Illicit Dissent will be opening the show. Come on down and check out the biggest punk show to happen in Prince George in years! www.restarts.co.uk www.therebelspell.com radio3.cbc.ca/bands/lllicit-Dissent Saturday April 9 Gender is a Drag: Variety Fashion Show NUSC Event Space — UNBC 6-10pm $5 Come on out and have some gloriously awesome fun! Tickets sold at NUGSS, a table in UNBC’s Wintergarden, Pride Centre, and at the door. There will be huge raffle cash and gift prizes, games, cool patches and “Gender is a Drag’ t- shirts on sale, yummy food, and musical performances by: The Bricks!, Members of the PC, Members of PGSS, and GLOW Jay from 3rd Ave Collective. Extra Special performances by: Foxy de Rossi, lvana, Austin Tacious, as well as some other surprise guests. We will also be debuting Prince George’s first-ever Queer Zine: “Somewhere Under the Rainbow.” Come have fun at this crazy awesome event. Our big raffle prize is a priced $500 Ducks Unlimited picture. Saturday April 9 Rated PG Roller Girls VS Oil City Tank’er Girls Roll-A-Dome Doors at 6pm, First whistle at 7pm $8 for members, $10 for non-members $5 for kids aged 5-12 (under 5 are free) Our second home bout of the season!! We are ready for this rematch against Edmonton’s Tank’er Girls! Tickets are available at Books and Company, Handsome Cabin Boy Tattoo or your friendly Rollergirl. Once again there will be a trackside Beverage Garden (19+). See you there! “Somewhere Under the Rainbow” in Prince George Northern Pride Center Society to release first queer zine DARCY SMITH ARTS EDITOR On April 9, 2011, the Northern Pride Centre Society will release Prince George's first and only Queer Zine, aptly titled “Somewhere Under the Rainbow.” The zine will be making it’s debut at the upcoming “Gender is a Drag: Variety Show Fundraiser” at the NUSC Event Space at UNBC. Reeaana Bradley who answered some questions below, and Ley Fraser have been the two individuals spearheading the creation of the highly anticipated zine, with a strong support and promotion coming from the Northern Pride Centre Society at UNBC. An early glimpse into the final product will be given to all attendees of the Pride Centre’s “Positive Space” workshop on Monday, March 28, 2011. OTE: How did the idea for the Queer Zine come about and whose idea was it? RB: Zines have had a resurgence recently. They’ve always been about deviating from the norm and circumventing the patriarchal capitalist paradigms. So many queer collectives have chosen to publish, too, as a way to let alternative stories out. We have many unique and shared stories from our perspective in Northern BC, so we decided to help them get out there. It was an idea that we’ve been throwing around quite a while, because we like to trade other communities’ zines when we get them. OTE: What have been the challenges, if any, in trying to put it together? RB: There haven’t been too many challenges, because there aren’t too many rules. People who write for zines aren’t necessarily on-time kind of people, but with zines coming out every season, we’re always taking submissions. It’s also nice to have such loose formatting, too. OTE: What is the purpose and the message you want to send with its publication? RB: | guess every contributor has their own message but the common purpose is to prove that the mainstream script isn't the only thing people are saying. The zine network is so dense and can now be circulated even easier through the Internet. I's amazing how many copies can be disseminated solely through people wanting their friends to read it. There are already a few other counter-culture and music zines coming out of Prince George, and we wanted to add a queer voice for visibility. We hope one day to be travelling in some no-name town and see our zine on a bus bench, or better yet, being read by some no-name little kid who finally finds himself written in someone else’s words. The Cottonweeds Played a Pink List (and that isn'ta metaphor!) TRAVIS HOLMES CONTRIBUTOR Mar 16. The Cottonweeds played a reunion gig advertised through word-of-mouth, and perhaps online, but | don’t know much about that. | was just pleased when the show found my ear. | make promises to myself, and personal rules; a Cottonweeds reunion is a must if | am aware of it. It was nearly show time, and my accomplice wasn’t around. | desired the pint of beer that was on my mind. The show was at 3rd Ave Collective (Anarchist book shop). The show was scheduled for 7:30. | had wasted my time, and | needed to get to the venue. | took my feet, and wisely headed downtown. | considered the various dives that | could slip into as | crossed streets and cut corners. | wanted that pint. | glanced through the brick walls and up to the wet wooden counters with the taps and the routine drinkers. | left them alone, and kept on my way. | was nearly on time. It was 7:38, and | hoped for my accomplice or a good friend to drag over to the Croft for that pint of beer. | was hoping for the casual start, or the late start, if only a few minutes. The right friends were there, but the show was getting under way as planned. | was pushed onto the coffee. | filled a cup and wandered in, past the couches and the faces | knew. | spotted my new friend, Raghu Lokonathan, sitting relaxed in a stiff wooden chair next to his accordion and banjo. I’ve known his music for years, but he has just officially met me. We exchanged the quips that | use to hide my admiration. Then | sat down at the nearest open seat, a rocker, and waited for the show that was about to start. Jeremy Stewart grabbed his guitar and sat down with his musical clout in the bright red swivel chair next to Raghu. Two members of The Transfiguration Good News Band standing behind them: Case Lettinga on tuba and Peter Stevenson on saxophone. | noticed a small pink set list on the ground with a large list of songs. The audience was shy with the lights on and made no requests, so the Cottonweeds started the show, unrehearsed and reunited. They brought us into the pink list by themselves. The show was a big deal, but it wasn’t feeling big enough. The players were without a raised stage and the lights were still on. | took a queue from past events, got up, and ditched the lights above the audience. Somehow it raised the stage a little, and the Cottonweeds grew a little. There became a stage, and they continued to play. They worked through the pink list and through memory, passing off songs and styles. Jeremy leaned into it on the edge of his red swiveling chair, perched slightly forward. He was dressed in show time black with his feet still and feeling the music his own way. Raghu sat in his earth tones, just a little further back on the wooden chair OTE : How can the community get involved? RB: We'll publish the zine on our website shortly after it’s released. If you like it, share it on Facebook or repost it on Tumblr or donate to our publications fund. If you want to be in it, submit your article, comic, sketch, black and white photo, poetry, question, etc to pride@unbc.ca. Remember to purchase your ticket to the “Gender is a Drag: Variety Show Fundraiser” on sale in the Wintergarden, the NUGGS office, the Pride Centre, or at the door to witness the debut of the zine and a fantastic celebration of diversity. The zine will be published seasonally and will contain “an assortment of visual media with recurring comics, stories, city comparisons, community-answered questions, and advice on how to make our communities stronger through diversity” says Bradley. with a casual lean and a foot stomping. Peter and Case filled in the songs. They juggled keys and showed their performing presence, spilling out the wit that only years of gigs can shape. | rocked my chair and tapped my foot to the tunes that we play on the stereos, in our homes, alongside our big label favorites. We got the classics we wanted like, Sugar Candy Mountain and Canaught Hill. They played cover songs I’ve never heard, and some notorious songs, all with the Cottonweed flavor. Then we took their escort outside onto the sidewalk. The guitar and accordion lit our third avenue. It felt bad, the bad that feels good, and the cold didn’t seem so cold. | wondered why that doesn’t happen all of the time, as | leaned on a lamppost. We were genuinely thankful. | walked home, having forgotten all about the pint of beer. | guess we don’t know what happens next.