Where does this post belong?
This episode features a conversation with Casey and Core, cofounders of Barrie, Ontario’s independent music label Tarantula Tapes. They talk about releasing music they love and some of the problems they have overcome regarding quality control working at a DIY level. They recommend some of their favourite releases from the label’s first three years and future releases they are hyped to bring to music lovers.
The anticipation of a road trip to Philadelphia inspires a dreamland visit to Dead Milkmen Acres. Captured here in its half-formed detail is an incomplete work of fiction that leads nowhere, except perhaps, to the streets of Philadelphia.
In this episode, Barrie Ontario musician Earl Wyvern discusses their history and involvement in the DIY Arts Collective, which progressed to a deep involvement in music, promoting shows through Gay Ass Productions and slamming eardrums on recording and stages for the past ten years. They are currently playing with Angry Spells and digging deeper into what they refer to as their “horrendous progressive politics” with Earl Wyvern and Spare Parts.
Essentially, their horrendous politics, which they describe as “queer” and “militant,” are just a wish for people to be treated fairly and not single out specific segments of society with excuses not to be kind to them. Wyvern describes this as “what-aboutism” and that when people set out to do good for people, they don’t discriminate about who deserves help in times of need.
Gay-Ass Productions is presenting Stonewall 2: Fundraiser Boogaloo at the Simcoe Hotel in Barrie on October 15. Money raised will support transgender youth through Trans Wellness Ontario. This organization provides counselling, resources and peer support for Trans Youth in Ontario at a time when anti-2SLGBTQIA rhetoric is on the rise.
Six bands are on the bill: Morel, Chachi On Acid, Earl Wyvern with Spare Parts, Mercy, Speed Humps, and Not So Gentle at the Simcoe Hotel, 31 Bayfield St. Barrie, On for $15. It’s 19+, and the doors open at 7 p.m. sharp. The bands will be playing shortly after, and it will run like clockwork.
On this episode, award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer Joe Solo speaks about spreading his message of social justice, anti-fascism, and socialism in his music and books from Scarborough. Not the Scarborough that will jump into the minds of people raised in southern Ontario, but the one across the Atlantic on England’s North Sea coast.
Solo began his musical journey in 1987 and has seen him leaping around with pop-punk upstarts Lithium Joe or his solo albums hammering out his unique brand of Folk, Punk and Blues. His songs bring to mind great lyrical thinkers like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joe Hill, and Billy Bragg.
This is the second of three pieces of local media that dove into a strange incident that shook the foundations of Listowel, Ontario.
After the shit hit the fan following “Bandfest ’95,” the Listowel Youth Support Committee wrote an open letter to clarify their position, which was printed in the Wednesday, October 4, 1995, issue of the Listowel Banner.
In the letter, the committee established their innocuous involvement in the “distasteful” behaviour and that the needs of the many may have been in jeopardy because of the “actions of a few.”
This is the first of three pieces I am reprinting from local media that dove into a strange incident that shook the foundations of Listowel, Ontario. When this issue flared into a fervour of debate among the town council and local authorities, my father told me, “You are ahead of your time; this town is not ready for you yet.” It seems that this is still the case. Yet, I’m still here.
Originally printed in the edition of the Listowel Banner on Wednesday, September 20, 1995, this story had no byline attributed to it. Although the newspaper has gone through several ownership changes since then, it has been printed continuously since 1866, and back issues can be found at the archives housed in the Stratford Perth Museum.
The friendships that pulled the Yeastie Girlz together in the 1980s have stood the test of time. Although Cammie Toloui, Joyce Jimenez, Jane Guskin, and Kate (Rosenberger) Razo now live in four cities, making it tough to pull together gatherings in person, recent events brought them together online regularly.
The Yeastie Girlz have accomplished much in their life experiences over the past 35 years. In this episode, they talk about the group’s legacy – how the songs and ideas have aged, connecting to new fans via social media and old-fashioned postal mail, books, bookshops, bands, and the possibility of new raps.
Many bands were formed from friendships at the Gilman Street Project in Berkeley, California. The Yeastie Girlz was one of them that stood out from the crowd. Performing what they called vaginacore a cappella rap.
Most bands in the Gilman scene were made up of young men, with a smattering of women. So, although one of the club’s stated missions was to combat sexism, there was still much of it. During some shows, there were pits of aggressive males shoving and circling in front of the stage, and many women found themselves in the back of the club, excluded from the fun of the mosh pit due to overly aggressive behaviour.
In this episode, all four Yeastie Girlz speak about the impetus for getting up on the Gilman stage to start rapping, the elation and the terror of performing, and standing up to the violent misogyny of bands like The Mentors.
Episode ten features a discussion with Elza Kephart, director of the feature films, Graveyard Alive, Go in the Wilderness and most recently, Slaxx, a socially conscious satirical horror-comedy that sharply informs on the evils of fair trade, corporate globalization and, fast fashion.
Although we do discuss the films and series, Kephart is developing. Much of this conversation focuses on her climate activism with Extinction Rebellion, the Ministry of the New Normal, and as a member of SCALE (Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency), and the Directors’ Guild of Canada’s National Sustainability and Climate Action Committee.
Wood-stein.ca Media 