Happy Holidays!

From all of us at V-Rag, have a great Christmas and we will see you all in the new year! Until then, let Mitch from Numbers and Nelson from Celebrities get you in the holiday mood with a hot cup of cheer!

Photos by Sarah Hamilton
http://lebeastphotos.carbonmade.com

V-WEB: Our Weekly Obsession (Dec.10/09)

With Lady Gaga in town yesterday, today and tomorrow it's only fitting that she's this week's obsession. More like our obsession of the year. Personally, we like that she says "fuck" a lot and credits a majority of her success to her rabid gay following. Gaga praises the bond between her and audiences, particularly the Marys, in her interviews, so when those two forces collide in her live show we hear the result is nothing short of breath-stopping and frantic.

V-Rag is on the scene for tonight's performance at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. What could be more suitable than that venue, seriously? First of all the actual Queen Elizabeth just met Lady Gaga. Second of all, the Queen E has played host to so many fabulous and spectacular shows Lady Gaga's carnival will feel right at home. We're excited. Here is the first of five clips of a really good interview Gaga did with Noisevox that, if you're at all interested in who she is and what she represents, speaks volumes.

Love Fame: The Lady GaGa After Party

Enter to win your chance to go to the best Lady GaGa After Party in town, Love Fame at Celebrities Nightclub on December 10, 2009! Just answer the famed question below to be entered into a draw for you and a friend! Keep checking in for new updates, music, videos, news and exclusive content you won't even see in the magazine! GaGa Ooh La La!!

Q: What diva does Lady GaGa team up with for her new track "Video Phone"?

Email your answer to info@v-rag.com. The first 5 correct answers will each receive tickets to the party at Celebrities!

December "Food & Drink" Issue

December is sort of like gay Christmas... Oh no wait, it is gay Christmas! And gay Chanukah gay Kwanzaa and even gay Muharram! So whatever holiday our readers our celebrating, this is the issue of V-Rag to get it off with a bang. We have a great food and drink spectacular, with profiles on some of our favourite local bars and restaurants. And just as a little early Christmas present, these fine establishments have provided their signature food and drink recipes so you can make your own gourmet holiday meals. Also in this issue, we catch up with local superstar Bif Naked and talk about spirituality, surviving cancer, marrital bliss... oh and lots of bananas! We've added yet another monthly column to our already packed roster with Wasted Thoughts, a regular from Don't Quit Your Gay Job's hottie Rob Easton. And speaking of hot bar boys, that's the theme of our latest photo spread, Hot Cup of Cheer. We've rounded up some of the hottest bartenders from around Vancouver for sexy Santas, reindeers, elves and... Mrs. Claus? Oh dear, where did it all go wrong?

V-WEB: Our Weekly Obsession (Dec.3/09)

This week the thing we're gagging on is really big. Like, wouldn't even fit down our throats.

That's because it's a party, called SPIT, and it's going down tomorrow night at the Anza Club in East(ish) Vancouver. The organizers are calling it a sex-positive event. In other words, be prepared for lots of making out and, well, other stuff. But there's also going to be sensuous performances from Rasputin R. Gray and Vital Divine.

With all the fun alternative queer events going down at the Anza lately, this should be a good one.

House of Dangerkat Exclusive

House of Dangerkat is the definition of style. Really, they are. What other group of people can claim to be dominating the dance scene internationally while launching their own fashion house and gaining respect amongst performance artists everywhere? Nope, didn’t think so. Oh, and did I mention they have their roots here in Canada? Kaiti Dangerkat, the founder, choreographer and Mother of the House of Dangerkat is a native of Calgary, Alberta. I got to catch up with this upcoming legend when she was here this month and find out about voguing, waacking, deathdrops, and a day in the life of a Dangerkat!

HOUSE OF DANGERKAT: UPCOMING LEGENDARY CHILDREN
Interview by Cole Johnston

You guys have been keeping very busy this last year. What have been the highlights so far?

Massive highlights have included performing as Barbie and the Rockers for Mattel’s 50th Anniversary Party in Paris during Fashion Week held at Colette with co-exhibitors Karl Lagerfeld and Jeremy Scott; being featured dancers for Diplo, A-Trak and Nick Catchdubs at the Central Park Summerstage in New York City; performing all throughout London Fashion Week in September for designer/stylist Nova Dando; opening up for La Roux and dancing at the Vivienne Westwood party and PPQ fashion show; touring Europe solo to teach workshops, compete and perform for 3 months... I met so many amazing artists that led to collaborations and opportunities to go back for more projects. We also spent time hosting and performing regularly at Mr. Black's nightclub in New York with DJ Kingdom. Also in New York, we created Addicted for one month straight with all my Calgary dancers, co-choreographers and DJ’s, where we premiered it at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. We brought the Addicted show home to Calgary where we took over the Calgary Tower with a massive dance/fashion/film/photography/music exhibit!

What brings you to Vancouver for November?

I’m teaching dance classes throughout the city.

How does it feel coming back to Canada after traveling around the world for the last little while?

It’s really good to come back home after traveling around the world because even though it’s amazing to being abroad, home will always be home! Canada represent!

How is your new work Addicted different from previous works?

I do urban styles, and my co-choreographer, Jenn Doan, does contemporary. We’ve taken two completely different styles and fused them into something that is both visually entertaining and rich with personal meaning.

Can you tell us about the new fashion collection? How did working with designer Hege Edvardsen come about?

The new fashion collection is like an Egytpian sphinx clad in armor, riding in a Back To The Future spaceship haha. I met Hege when I was doing a workshop in Stockholm Sweden, and she was among the spectators who were there. I soon learned that she also shared a passion for dance and wanted me to represent her work. Collaboration felt so right!

House of Dangerkat seems to draw from so many styles and mediums. Do you see dance and fashion as two sides of the same coin?

Definitely. Considering the fact that there is a dance style (voguing) that is derived from the fashion world, it’s easy to see that connection. I believe fashion is just a continuation of the expression. If we as dancers are using our bodies to communicate, why wouldn’t we complete the picture with the clothing we wear? When I create, the costumes affect the choreography, and visa versa. They are always holding hands, and are best friends in my world.

How has the NYC vogue and Ball scene affected your work and style?

It has affected my work immensely as I have great respect for the home of voguing and the masters that created it there. You can see NY in my style in so much as I had to learn and research the New York scene because that’s where this all began! However as an artist its my job to not repeat what has been done before but to expand upon it.

The music you choose seems to fit so perfectly with your style. How do you pick the tracks for your performances?

I don’t, the tracks pick me!

Your 100% of Dissin' You video employed photography and stop-motion animation. Are you interested in getting into different kinds of media like that in the future?

Yes I'm very interested in to further use multimedia to spread our art and that could be through experimental film, animation, photography, graphic design, fashion design and music.

What can Canada and the world expect from the House of Dangerkat?

The House of Dangerkat is completely committed to putting on amazing shows that are multi-sensory and multimedia across the board. We want to suspend reality and create an experience unlike our audience has seen every place we visit.

For more information on the House of Dangerkat, check out www.dangerkat.com. Also, be sure to watch their awe-inspiring videos on YouTube!


100% of Dissin' You - House of Dangerkat


Opulence - House of Dangerkat

Pansy Division Exclusive

In the early 1990s Pansy Division emerged out of the post-punk grunge era and became the poster band for the queercore music scene. The band gained international success and were out loud and proud, representing us gays in a straight-dominated male arena. They inspired many gay rockers around the world and will remain immortal as a part of queer history. V-Rag chatted with Pansy Division frontman Jon Ginoli on Davie Street.

PANSY DIVISION: QUEERCORE LEGENDS
Interview by Michael Venus

You’re here, and you’ve got some really exciting things going on. I mean, you’ve been part of Pansy Division. You’re one of the founding members of the legendary all-gay band who were the poster people for queercore. And now you’ve got three kind of multimedia you’re promoting. Tell us about those.

First, I wrote a book called Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division. And that’s a memoir I’ve been working on for a while. I started telling a lot of stories to people about things that had happened over the years, and they said “you should write a book”. So I wrote a book. It has some tour diary stuff in there, a lot of Canadian stuff in it. Um, and yeah. Canadian content.

Manada.

It talks about why we formed, the need for having a gay band and what it meant to have one, and what it meant to be really out and try to push the envelope in a milieu which, you know, alternative, punk, rock and roll... is pretty overwhelmingly heterosexual. So to be doing that, from our standpoint, where we’re really in your face, there’s a lot of good stories.

So you’ve been taking stories along the way, and then thought now is the time to put it together?

Yeah, I’d been writing it for a long time... I thought ‘well, I’ll finish it someday’. It didn’t really have an end-date on it. But at a certain point, I thought, it’s time to get it finished. But in the meantime, we got the album done that we had been working on for a while called That’s So Gay. Also during this period, starting a couple years ago, there was a documentary film done on the band called Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band. And that played festivals all over the place last year, but it did not play Vancouver’s festival, which was disappointing.

That’s wrong, damn it!

It was wrong! I know. But one of the things I’m trying to do on the book tour that I’m doing now is arrange screenings in cities where it hasn’t been shown, and try and get some folks out to see it.

You guys kind of came out of a time when there were no out gay rock-and-rollers at all, and you did the whole rounds of it. What does it feel like to have so many younger people be out and be able to do what they’re doing and look at you guys as icons and legends?

It’s great. I’ve heard other gay musicians say "well, I don’t mind being out, but I don’t want to be a role model". And I’m like, why not? I want to be a role model. Not that I want everybody to act like me, or that I’m perfect or anything, but I did something. And the reason I did it was because it hadn’t been done before. It was something I wanted to see. It was something I wanted to hear. So, if that inspires people, you know, great.

What’s the main difference between coming out now and being a musician to, say in 1991, when you guys first worked together?

Yeah, it’s a lot different, in part because of Pansy Division and other bands who came out from that time who um knocked down some walls, broke some barriers. But also, you know, we really sang about being gay. And that wasn’t something that all gay musicians do. A lot of them didn’t. I don’t think it’s a litmus test; I don’t think people have to, but I think it’s one of the things that makes us interesting. And as time has gone on, we’ve had more songs that I guess would have more universal appeal or at least are less directly about gay stuff. So it became more of a mix. We didn’t want it to all be gay gay gay all the time. Although at first, it was like, okay this? This is something new. Now that we’ve done it a while, we don’t really want to repeat ourselves. The album took a year and a half to put together, because we all live in different places now – two on the east coast, two on the west coast, no one in the same city. And the fact that it... it all seemed to be coming together about the same time, so we thought let’s just take all this stuff, and put it out at the same time to try and get the maximum exposure, because it’s hard to get people’s attention these days. So instead of spreading it out, we tried to condense it, so all three coming out in the same month!

To find out more about Pansy Division's brand new projects, check out www.pansydivision.com


Manada - Pansy Division


Homo Christmas - Pansy Division