I’ll just rip off the bandage:  The New Gay is shutting down.   It’s been a fun ride over the past four years.  But the site grew so much and so quickly that our rag-tag group of volunteers couldn’t keep up with it.  After wrangling with this issue for a while, we decided it was time to close up shop.   So now, it’s on to other things.
Thank you to all of our volunteer contributors who have helped out over our run, and to all those who have read, commented, attended events, etc.
We’ll keep the site up as long as we can to act as a library of sorts, for all our old content that is still relevant to anyone questioning gay culture, but we won’t be producing any new content.

We have a limited supply of TNG T-shirts still available at a super discount of $13, priced to cover production and shipping costs.

For DC folks, Beat City will continue out from under the TNG banner.  Check us out on Facebook to keep in touch with your beers, queers and rock & roll.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/beatcity/

Any further inquiries about The New Gay can be directed to me at meichler@thenewgay.net.

Thanks again!

–Michael

Field Music – (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing by memphisindustries

Right click to download “DIY.”

Thursday, October 27

HALLOWEEN! The Ballad of Michele Myers : OPENS TONIGHT thru SUNDAY!

Starring a bevy of local drag and performing artist talent, Halloween! The Ballad Of Michele Myers is musical parody of America’s obsession with slasher films mashed up with black comedy teen movies such as Heathers along with a heavy dash of one of TV’s scariest sitcoms from the 80s, The Facts of Life.

Tickets: $20, Students $15 or 1-800-838-3006

CounterPulse
1310 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA

8:00pm – 10:00pm

ROLLER DISCO @MIGHTY – HALLOWEEN EDITION!

Halloween is a week long SF tradition, so start the weekend early and break out your costumes show them off! Resident DJs Carey Kopp and Anthony Mansfield with special guest The GodFather will be throwing down old -school &  classic disco all night on the Mighty roller rink. $5 skate rentals (all sizes available) or you can bring your own!

$5 at the door

119 Utah St.
San Francisco, CA

9:00pm – 2:00am

Friday, October 28

BOBBITO + Whooligan & Wonway at SOM. Halloween Weekend.

Join Bobbito aka Kool BoB Love (formerly known as DJ Cucumber Slice & Bobbito The Barber) returns to SOM. for a night of intimate dancing and incredible music; Soul /House/ Afro- beat/ Batucada, Cumbya/ b- girl & b- boy classics & dance. Costumes Welcomed.

21+, $5 Discount tickets

SOM.
2925 16th St.
San Francisco, CA

10:00 pm – 3:00 am

ESCAPE w/ B.A.S.S. Lady DJs Zita & Pam the Funkstress

Taking you on a funky & soulful musical journey featuring the B.A.S.S./Bay Area Sistah Sound Lady DJs Zita & Pam The Funkstress.

21+, No Cover

The Layover
1517 Franklin St.,
Oakland, CA

9:30pm – 2:00am

LES BEAUX presents The H0m0 Halloween Ball

Kick off your Halloweekend at this freaky fright fest at The 2nd Annual Homo Halloween Ball with DJs Kidd Sysko, Ms Jackson & Natalie Nuxx plus GoGo Girls Angelina + Ashley. Costume Contest with $100 cash prize hosted by Per Sia.

21+ w/ID.,  Discounted Pre-Sale Tickets Available

DNA Lounge
375 Eleventh Street
San Francisco, CA

9:00pm – 2:00am

Rocky Horror Halloween Show

Hey East Bay, get ready for a horrifyingly huge Rocky Horror Party! On Friday, October 28, BL Rocky will bring The Rocky Horror Picture Show to life in a mega-Halloween celebration!

All ages, $10.50 / $8 with student ID

Albany Twin
1115 Solano Avenue,
Albany, CA

11:30pm -2:30am

Saturday, October 29

Halloween Freakout!

Unleash your demons on the dancefloor amidst intergalactic costumed insanity, space funk, electro glam, and circuit bent pop featuring Planet Booty, Hottub DJ’s, Easystreet, The Glowing Stars.

21+, Presale Tickets

Cafe Du Nord
2170 Market Street
San Francisco, CA

8:30pm – 1:30am

Go BANG! With Glenn Rivera + Mattski + DJ Emils! COSTUME PARTY!

Disco freaks, art school boys & girls, drag queens & kings, boogie-heads, fierce dancers, flashy dressers, sexy girls, hot boys, DJs, dancers, photographers, artists, fashionistas; gay/straight/bi/tri/whateva! Bring your flashiest, trashiest, classiest, sexiest, craziest style; but bring an open mind, big smile…. Costumes strongly encouraged.

San Francisco, CA

9:00pm – 3:00am

Uptown & Hubba Hubba Revue’s Halloween Bash 2011!

Experience haunted burlesque and titillating terrors with the amazing, bendable, posable Dolls of Doom, bump & grind with musical guests Los Shimmy Shakers & their SEXY Shakettes! and enter to win the cash-prize costume contest.

21 & Up w/I.D., 12 before 9:30PM, $15 after 9:30PM

The Uptown Club
1928 Telegraph Ave,
Oakland, CA

9:00pm -  1:30am

thePeople Halloween Costume Ball featuring DJ Cali

A perfect place for a Halloween celebration, because its always been a place to show a side of yourself that you normally keep hidden. And, like Halloween, dancing is a way to explore the spirits waiting in the dark to be discovered.

$5 before 11 / $10 after

The New Parish
579 18th Street
Oakland, CA

Alex Testere will be playing the role of THE INGÉNUE in this year’s performance of “Why Do I Live in New York?”.  You may find him tucked safely inside a sweater on his fire escape, or talking to a Stevie Nicks record over a concoction of cardamom pods.  He revels in voracious daydreams, opaque paint, Oxford commas, and the clumsy stumbles of a tongue with a task.

_____

At the end of my first five months in gay ol’ New York City, among encounters with men of all shapes and sizes (heh), with razor blade lips and high-fashion pouts, with glistening eyes and affectionate brows; after inviting into my home countless opportunities for romance and profound mutual discovery, I have reached this ultimate conclusion: I’m better off with bread.

My restless Monday (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday?) evenings with empty shot glasses and the lofty arrogance of personal politics always lead to the same question: how am I ever going to fall in that perfect pit of love with a man who feels the same, and when am I going to get laid, G-d damn it?! (Liquor loosens the lips.)

So I stumble, liquid, into the trite realization that love is private, unique, personal, and ultimately, a one-sided endeavor. What solace could there possibly be in this realization, you might wonder?  That my love is a warm, malleable mess that I have the power to put into anything I please! I can fall in love with my Fleetwood Mac record, my needlepoint portraiture, my Tuesday nights on the couch with my newfound Netflix account. Love will live wherever I leave it, and I’ve left mine to leaven in a loaf of sourdough.

Right now, it’s a simple concoction of complex carbohydrates sitting on my countertop. A little lukewarm water and a little bit of flour form a beautiful pair.  In up to my elbows, I formed it for myself, turned it in my hands until it was smooth, and left it to ferment.  My little, sludgy friend is taking on a life of its own. Natural bacteria in the flour are now mating and multiplying—there’s an orgiastic microcosm in this little bowl.

Now, why the hell am I in love with this? This stinky schlop is the starter for a loaf of sourdough. Once it starts to smell like the inside of a piss-filled beer bottle, it needs feeding. I’ll fill it with more flour and water—and rid it of its excess—in the same delicate routine every morning until I’m ready to act. One teensy tablespoon will make it into the final loaf.

Like a helpless little monster, this bowl of shit needs me to survive. But it’s not an exasperating dependency. He provides for me as well: companionship on a dreary Sunday morning (what else can make me laugh as heartily as sneaking a peak beneath his raggedy blue towel!), a sense of urgency to return home at the end of the workday (I hope he hasn’t toppled out of his bowl!), and when the time comes, a smell like a crackly harvest morning filling my kitchen while I recline in bed with a book.

I may sound like a crazy person—and I am, to be sure—but there’s still something to be learned from this. Romance and beauty should be fostered wherever they can be claimed. Sure, there’s nothing in a loaf of bread like the clasp of a lover’s hand (though the uplifting aroma may parallel that mystifying cologne which always goes straight to my head), but there is certainly romance. There is romance in any private act of creation and discovery. And it is profound, it is beautiful, and it is my own; and I am blissfully, unabashedly, foolishly in love with a loaf of bread.

Right click to download “The Unsinkable Fats Domino.”

Right click to download “Nuclear Seasons.”

Thursday, October 20

Theophilus London live @ popscene

“Thanks to a number of artists (not excluding Jay-Z), rap feels new again in 2011. And the 24 year-old Theophilus London is one of the biggest reasons for this….” Catch the Trinidad-born, Brooklyn-raised rapper with popscene DJs on decks.

18+, Advance tickets

Friday, October 21

‘The 45 Sessions’ V.20 W/ DJs J-Boogie and Mr. E

DJ J-Boogie with Aima The Dreamer, celebrating the release of his brand new 7″ release in collaboration with OM Records, FTC and Recordbreakin’. Aima The Dreamer will also be joining J-Boogie for a strictly 45 based performance. Along with your resident DJs Platurn, E Da Boss, and Enki.

Future of the Left – ‘Polymers are Forever’ by Xtra Mile Recordings

Everyone dresses up like skanks.

It started to get really ridiculous in the 90′s and, now, it’s just gotten worse and worse.  The girls lead the pack when it comes to provacative outfits but, increasingly, the guys are following suit.  I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I live in Chicago which includes Boystown, the main gayborhood within the city, where every Halloween you can be certain to see an endless parade of male and female flesh popping out at all angles.  Some people find it obnoxious and annoying.  Bumping into an infinite number of 20-something trixies made up as Sexy Little Bo Peep, Sexy Strawberry Shortcake, Sexy Cat, Sexy Angel, Sexy Devil, Sexy Alice in Wonderland, Sexy Dorothy Gale, etc., etc. can be exhausting.  Maybe for some people, but not for me.  I truly enjoy staring at everyone looking like sluts because it just seems more natural and fun.  Plus, I’m a huge pervert so that kind of helps.

What makes Halloween truly impressive, to me, is what it unleashes within the male psyche.  It’s difficult to tell the difference between the gay boys and the straight ones.  Many girls’ boyfriends will go in drag and other “completely hetero” guys will appear in some suspiciously revealing costumes and will encourage being molested by their straight (enough) buddies throughout the evening.  And it will seem like a joke until the fondling continues on past the 20-second grace period and re-emerges throughout the evening.  Things can get weird.

“No homo”?  Well, not on Halloween.  Halloween these days has a very murky sexual fluidity to it and it’s completely fantastic.  Yes homo.

I hate calling myself a spiritual person because I tend to want to smack the shit out of spiritual people.  But I still have faint traces of spirituality (even typing that word makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit) and I recognize that Halloween serves as a time of literal and personal harvest, of memorial, and end-of-year reflection.  It also serves as a subversive death festival which our culture needs (we have some serious death-denial issues going on, especially in America).  I hate admitting it but I am a reflective person and autumn brings out the best (and worst) in me.

We Americans can only deal with a certain amount of reflection, seriousness, and darkness however.  Enough is enough!  So we turned our death festival into a fucked up fertility festival while we were at it.  It may be tempting to believe that Halloween is “meant for the kids” which it never truly was if you’re willing to scratch the surface–usually, in our culture, we take that out when we’re looking to explore something absurd while attempting to avoid the risk of embarassment.  Halloween may be a time for kids in some respects but, let’s face it, it’s also an excuse for adults to hang up paper skulls on their doors and parade around in kinky roleplay outfits.

Go out on Halloween, to any place of partying and adult congregation, and this will be brutally evident.  Cassie from Human Resources wants to show the world that she’d make a really saucy Laura Croft.  So here she is with countless Becky’s, Jennifers, and Brianna’s strutting around like we’re trapped in red light district sponsored by Walt Disney.  And all the hot and semi-hot guys want to wear hot pants and weird wigs.  I wouldn’t change a thing.

Is Halloween the time when we see the real you?  Are you trying to tell us that your secret self is actually a whorish-looking cyborg?  Maybe we should have known all along.

Whether you want to celebrate it as a candlelit bummer/mope-fest, a tacky excuse for rubber spiders, or as your one-night chance to wear fetish outfits and be an exhibitionist, All Hallow’s Eve is everyone’s best hope for personal expression.  I see it as insightful and honest.  But maybe that’s being too serious….

What does a Dom wear on Halloween?  This year I’m going as an animal cracker werewolf.  What that says about me is anyone’s guess.

The Postelles – ‘White Night’ by plus one

The Postelles – ’123 Stop’ by plus one

10/19 New York, NY Webster Hall (CMJ) w/ The Wombats
10/21 Washington, DC 9:30 Club ”
10/22 Brooklyn, NY Prospect Park-Rock ‘N Roll Marathon-free 10am set
10/22 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s w/ The Wombats
10/24 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theater ”
10/25 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506 ”
10/26 Atlanta, GA The Loft ”
10/29 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s ”
10/30 Austin, TX The Parish ”
11/1 Dallas, TX Granada Theater ”
11/2 Kansas City, MO Record Bar ”
11/4 Columbus, OH Outland on Liberty ”
11/5 Chicago, IL Subterranean ”
11/7 Minneapolis, MN The Varsity Theater ”
11/10 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom ”
11/11 Vancouver, BC The Venue ”
11/12 Seattle, WA Crocodile Cafe ”
11/15 Philadelphia, PA The Trocadero w/ The Kooks
11/16 New York, NY Webster Hall ”
11/17 New York, NY Webster Hall ”
11/19 Boston, MA House of Blues ”
11/20 Washington, DC 9:30 Club ”
11/22 Montreal, QC Club Soda ”
11/23 Toronto, ON Sound Academy ”
11/25 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall ”
11/26 Chicago, IL The Vic Theatre ”
11/27 Uncasville, CT Wolf Den-Mohegan Sun Headlining
12/6 Los Angeles, CA Bootleg Theater “

Bleached, “Searching Through The Past” by The FADER

10/19 – Noisey.com Showcase – Santos Party House
10/19 – Lost Angeles Showcase – Cake Shop
10/22 – Village Voice/Panache Showcase – Cake Shop
10/22 – Panache Showcase – Public Assembly

Right click to download “Oblivion.”

(via Gorilla Vs Bear)

Thursday, October 13

#OCCUPY The Mic – Oakland

Occupy Oakland will be having a FREE event where you can step to the mic and express your concerns, build with some like-minded folks, listen and be heard. Ideally they’ll have some organizers from the local event/protest/occupation in the house to answer questions and help you to be at least more informed if not more involved.

FREE, ALL AGES

Frank Ogawa Plaza
14th & Broadway (Downtown)
Oakland, CA

8:00pm – 11:00pm

Friday, October 14

HELLO WEEKEND at SOM w/ Shortkut, Dstrukt, Prince Aries and Boogie Brown

Party with the people from Hello Weekend this Friday and hear Hip -Hop, R&B, Soul, club classics, and future classics all night long by DJs Shortkut, Triple Threat, DSTRUKT, Prince Aries, and Boogie Brown.

5 before 11pm if on guest list, $10 all night

SOM-Bar
2925 16th Street @ South Van ness
San Francisco, CA

10:00pm – 2:00am

{EP}: Extended Play BAY AREA DJ BLOWOUT!

This month, Extended Play decided to turn it up a notch with an Extended Play Deejay BLOWOUT!!!!!!!!
Featuring:  Ge-Ology, Patrick Wilson, Stephen Rigmaiden,  Jayvi Velasco, LadyRyan, Nina Sol and of course your {EP} resident selectors DJ Cecil & Cali. They’ll be opening both rooms for your dancing pleasure and passing out doughnuts at 2AM.

FREE before 11, $10 after

Bench and Bar
510 17th St.
Oakland, CA

10:00pm – 3:00am

Saturday, October 15

Home Movie Day

Home Movie Day at OMCA will include the premiere of home movie treasures from the collection of the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO). Renowned jazz musician Marcus Shelby will create an original score to accompany the films, performed by the Marcus Shelby Quintet. The films will be introduced by AAMLO Chief Curator Rick Moss and followed by a Q&A.

Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak St
Oakland, CA

11:00am – 5:00pm

Sunday, October 16

MEGATRON MAN : Celebrating the life of Patrick Cowley

Join in on honoring visionary San Franciscan Patrick Cowley’s 61st Birthday. From 8 to 9pm hear some of Patrick’s unreleased basement tapes (lovingly transferred at Fantasy Studios by Josh Cheon). Josh and Robot Hustle follow with sets curated especially for the night including guests Sergio and Steve Fabus from Go Bang!

Holy Cow
1535 Folsom near 11th
San Francisco, CA

8:00pm – 2:00am

]]> http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/sf-weekend-preview-occupying-the-bay-area.html/feed 0 http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/sf-weekend-preview-occupying-the-bay-area.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thenewgay/ydvY/~3/GcLUHWVUC8A/phantogram-dont-move.html http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/phantogram-dont-move.html#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:00:09 +0000 Rohan http://thenewgay.net/?p=67823 Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter are better known as the electro-pop duo Phantogram. The band released their debut LP Eyelid Movies last year and it instantly became the soundtrack of late nights and episodes of Gossip Girl and other trendy CW shows. “Mouth Full Of Diamonds” dark electro captivated the hearts of indie-mindied kids with a love of the dance floor, but one thing you could never call the group is sunny. On 11/1 the group will release a mini-LP Nightlife and today we have the album’s first single. “Don’t’ Move” is unlike the band’s debut as it is a straight-up pop song. The track has a beat that is remittent of UK basked producer Star Slinger with it’s cut up samples blending horns and a vocal bit slashed to hell. Barthel’s vocals have an added echo and reverb making them more dreamy and chill-wave then Eyelid Movie’s darker gritty tone.

Right click to download “Don’t Move.”

]]> http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/phantogram-dont-move.html/feed 1 http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/phantogram-dont-move.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thenewgay/ydvY/~3/7LImFHdp_Yk/joker-the-vision-let-me-breathe-ft-jessie-ware-freddie-gibbs.html http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/joker-the-vision-let-me-breathe-ft-jessie-ware-freddie-gibbs.html#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:00:43 +0000 Rohan http://thenewgay.net/?p=67819 Last week I dropped a tune by Jessie Ware who has had an incredible year after being featured on SBTRKT tracks and her commanding presence on another dustup track “The Vision (Let Me Breathe)” by Joker. Joker whose debut album for 4AD drops November 8th is an amazing twelve track record made up up singles like “My Trance Girl” and “Tron” with new bangers like “Lost” and “On My MInd.” “The Vision” is an immediate standout, and Ware absolutely nails the song. I mean you feel her when se says she can “play big on her own.” Joker has just released an alternative version of the highlight featuring up and coming rapper Freddie Gibbs. This new version gives Gibbs Ware’s second verse but still bangs like the original. Take a listen below and peep The Vision when it drops November 8th.

Right click to download “The Vision (Let Me Breathe).”

]]> http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/joker-the-vision-let-me-breathe-ft-jessie-ware-freddie-gibbs.html/feed 0 http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/joker-the-vision-let-me-breathe-ft-jessie-ware-freddie-gibbs.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thenewgay/ydvY/~3/C2RStbrlUnQ/sneaky-sound-system-cd-giveaway.html http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/sneaky-sound-system-cd-giveaway.html#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:00:43 +0000 Andrew D http://thenewgay.net/?p=67687 The New Gay has 5 copies of Sneaky Sound System’s new CD ‘From Here to Anywhere’ to give to you the reader!

TO ENTER:

In 1-2 sentences leave your best response to the following question:
“What one thing do you miss doing that you did ‘when you were young’?”
*Make sure to leave your actual email with your response or we won’t be able to contact you to let you know that you’ve won!

THE PRIZE:

1 of 5 copies of Sneaky Sound System’s new CD ‘From here to Anywhere’

THE TERMS:

This giveaway will run now through Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 at 6PM EST. At that time the staff of The New Gay will select our favorite responses and notify the winner by email. You will NOT be notified by email if you are not selected as a winners! THIS GIVEAWAY IS OPEN TO RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA ONLY!

_____
MORE INFO:

FROM HERE TO ANYWHERE

the third album from acclaimed duo

SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM

featuring the smash dance hit “We Love” with remixes by Bart B More, Pleasurekraft and more

plus new single “Big”

Available digitally October 18 from Modular Records

www.sneakysoundsystem.com

]]> http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/sneaky-sound-system-cd-giveaway.html/feed 4 http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/sneaky-sound-system-cd-giveaway.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thenewgay/ydvY/~3/Z_UENjK-UzM/the-weeknd-initiation.html http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/the-weeknd-initiation.html#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:00:01 +0000 Rohan http://thenewgay.net/?p=67816 Two mixtapes in and The Weeknd has taken over the dark R&B genre that fellow partner in crime Drake established with last year’s Thank Me Later. Thursday took the Weeknd’s style forward and now we have a new track “Initiation” which is like every Weeknd track, as it is about sex, drugs and self-loathing with a dark beat that is equal parts witch-house and dark R&B but the noticeable difference is the way someone has a permanent finger on the pitch-shifter. Only a few times in the four minute jam are the vocals left alone, instead the vocals go from super low to super high in waves. Weeknd supposedly have another free mix slated for this year, and this very well could be on it.

The Weeknd – Initiation by The_Weeknd

]]> http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/the-weeknd-initiation.html/feed 0 http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/the-weeknd-initiation.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thenewgay/ydvY/~3/Odrgt_14D0w/tng-review-isam-tour-%e2%80%93-amon-tobin-warfield-sf-10-1.html http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/tng-review-isam-tour-%e2%80%93-amon-tobin-warfield-sf-10-1.html#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:30:10 +0000 SPECTRA Network http://thenewgay.net/?p=67775 By Beatrice Lazar

The ISAM tour of Amon Tobin is a visual display of introverted guts. ISAM is the name of Amon’s latest album released on the famed British indie label, Ninja Tunes. The label is in its 20th year (that’s a HUGE feat for an indie label) and has a niche spotlight on all things abstract – eclectic – electronic. When Brazilian born DJ Amon Tobin steps out of his massive white building block structure that towers his entire concert stage, his body language is humble and he hardly strikes you as the wizard who has invoked the creation of the worlds one succumbs to in his show. Photographers in the pit seize the moment to capture the DJ who will only been seen in full view twice during his performance. Unless you count the part where he interacts with us from within the structure, real time,
via a Microsoft connect camera. At that point his body blows up over the height of the structure in the form of one of those 3-Dimensional pin sculpture toys. The effects are enormous and eerily astute.

Since the early 90’s Amon has been known as an electronic sampling DJ and producer in underground rave scenes. In addition to the extravagant light show tour, he also collaborated an exhibit with London based visual artist Tessa Farmer “ISAM: Control Over Nature”. Tessa created miniature worlds with organic elements colliding with the futuristic; like tiny zapping flying skeleton fairies inhabiting a carcass of a cats body – Amon’s track “Kitty Cat”. The show was in London’s Crypt Gallery and reached people
who may not have otherwise been exposed to Amon’s music. With the Internet being a major experience source, it is easy to become a mere tourist of an artists music. I like this idea of new ways to more deeply engage with music using more than just the medium of
music itself.

For the live music tour, Amon performs from within a 5,000 lb apparatus made of secret trade ingredients that in the show has the appearance of being very lightweight. The relationship of this structure within its space is enthralling. It is a simple set of white
building bocks. Some blocks are piled up high upon each other and others protrude out into the abyss of space, insinuating endless creativity. Apparently it’s no easy technical feat to project images onto this dynamic material. Each track has such a range of dynamic imagery. There is the sense of endless ideas, creativity continuously building upon itself, breaking down, fizzling up, some resurfacing, some zipping in and zapping out never to be seen again. The visual clarity created with shading, glassy effects on transparent dancing cubes, billowing snowy smoke poufs, futuristic spaceship adventures and acute thin lines twittering into giant green and blue bouncy oscillating sound waves of heavenly glowing light – is all beyond mesmerizing. The lights don’t seem contained to their canvas. You feel spiraled in to a twizzling black hole where expansion is endless. I found myself having to take a step back to remind myself I was a spectator. The consensus of the audience was “ mind
blowing”, “never seen anything like that”, “can’t begin to imagine the technology that went into that!”

Every aspect of the music is expressed. It’s really so fucking satisfying. When I dance to experimental music I find myself making decisions about what aspects to grab on to. Some sounds get away before you can engage with them, others are too abstract to interpret or it’s physically impossible to respond to more than one at the same time. Therefore, to see such precise visualizations of each sound is ground breaking satisfaction for music as experimental as Amon’s.

There are unsettling feelings about this show. Audiences express resistance to the idea of a DJ show being so video centric. I think it’s admirable Amon takes on a whole new media extension to explain his music. Perhaps there is fear that the light show creates
something so unrealistic and so realistic at the same time, creating a whole new reality, which is so enticing that we will forget ourselves. I think this fear is a good sign about how this art reaches our humanity.

There is one larger cube that protrudes from the centre of the structure. Its material allows transparency at points in the show. Amon Tobin is in inside this cube and it is a comforting reminder that there is a human responsible for these theatrics.

The show ended with tinkering lullaby sounds and images of fluttering playful cubes falling up themselves and eventually fading away. You feel uplifted and safely returned from a very trippy dream. The work that went into this show was a true collaboration with
Vello and VSL Labs and Amon, himself. It wasn’t a case of just handing off music to a tech team. I was told Amon had loads of reference points from movies, visual art pieces and so on and that hours and hours of collaborative discussion went into this.

In true concert celebratory fashion a shower of white confetti brings the audience together near the end of the performance. The confetti pieces are not so tiny as standard confetti- being larger they seem to celebrate us, they are like small token pieces of the white building blocks – and I felt like we are them – the experience felt confirming of the utterly immersive experience … so immersive I felt a longing for flowers – a need for something that would bring me back to earth – a reminder so profound from a lost world. I did feel that this show gavea warning: “ What we create is much bigger than ourselves.” Like I said – display of introverted guts.

]]> http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/tng-review-isam-tour-%e2%80%93-amon-tobin-warfield-sf-10-1.html/feed 3 http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/tng-review-isam-tour-%e2%80%93-amon-tobin-warfield-sf-10-1.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thenewgay/ydvY/~3/a-c3EkBiH_A/jessie-ware-strangest-feeling.html http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/jessie-ware-strangest-feeling.html#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:00:05 +0000 Rohan http://thenewgay.net/?p=67787 Jessie Ware is best known for her breakout tracks on SBTRKT’s record and her lead on Joker’s “The Vision (Let Me Breathe)“, but all of that is changing. Ware is taking her act solo and she has released her first single “Strangest Feeling.” The cut is moody post-dubstep UK Funky of the likes of the fantastic and slept on Katy B record. The track starts slow but then blasts in the later part and is sure to launch a thousand remixes in the future.

Strangest Feeling by JessieWare

]]> http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/jessie-ware-strangest-feeling.html/feed 0 http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/jessie-ware-strangest-feeling.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thenewgay/ydvY/~3/RqPinI9C9_M/the-fears-of-our-past-don%e2%80%99t-scare-me.html http://thenewgay.net/2011/10/the-fears-of-our-past-don%e2%80%99t-scare-me.html#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:30:40 +0000 Levi http://thenewgay.net/?p=67743 “The world I used to be afraid of doesn’t scare me anymore
‘Cause I know the things that matter are behind another door
This world’ll keep on turning and the stars’ll always shine
And I started living on that night your heart became all mine”

–“The World I Used to Be Afraid Of” by Blanche

Some of the first gay films I ever saw dealt also with the subject of the early days of HIV/AIDS, films like Longtime Companion, Angels In America, and Love! Valour! Compassion!, and Jeffrey (this still continues today with viewings of The Witnesses, Parting Glances, and The Living End). I was a confused new teenager with cable and insomnia, so I would stay up and watch anything that had to do with homosexuality (with a particular fixation on gay men, even then I felt more akin to them than to lesbians). It just happened that most of the films I saw were a little before my time.

I am pretty fresh and sheltered when it comes to the history and realities of HIV/AIDS in our community; I wasn’t born until the early 90’s, have almost always lived in suburbia, and have never known anyone who has HIV/AIDs, let alone died from it.  According to Larry Kramer, that puts me in the league of the lazy, uneducated gays of my generation by default (after he admonishes me for calling myself queer).  However, I strive to be neither purposefully ignorant nor excessively fearful.

Dame, die sich die Hände wäscht by Gerard ter Borch, taken from Wikimedia Commons

As I try to enter the world of dating and sex, I find myself periodically asking the question, “Would I date someone who was positive?” “Would I still hook up with them after they told me?” Looking at the OkCupid and ManHunt profiles of cute guys who are brave enough to clearly admit their status in their profiles (because, it is hard to be upfront about things that are often considered “less than ideal”), it certainly doesn’t rule them out in my mind. If you want to be ruled out in my book then show an open dislike for intellectual pursuits or put something along the lines of “no fats or flamers” in your profile.

There is definitely still a lot of unfair treatment and generalizations made. I can relate in more than one way to being stigmatized for a medical issue and have it become an automatic disqualifier in people’s eyes. There is this judgment that you can see pass through people’s eyes, and often that appalling silence that follows or that damn “Oh…” followed by the silence and judgment.  I don’t have HIV/AIDS, so I cannot fully understand, but I’d like to think I can at least make an effort not to be prejudiced despite my unintentionally sheltered upbringing.

It is really interesting hearing what my peers think about HIV and people who happen to have it.  For the most part, it seems more like a punchline to them than anything else.  With the exception of some of the social justice types with their sights firmly set on Africa and Bono, it seems to have disappeared from the mindset of those around me except in the form of a joke or an eyeroll when adults lecture about the importance of protection.  Our thoughts seem so separate from the interpersonal side of things.  I wonder what their responses would be if I asked, “Would date someone who was positive?” If it is anything like the responses I hear from many people about the question, “Would you date someone who is transgender?”, then clearly we have some things we need to talk and think about these matters on a personal, human level rather than technical terms and afterschool specials.

 

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