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Sunday, 6 October 2013 – 5:19 PM | Comments Off on A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Bent Alaska’s blog will continue in hiatus indefinitely; but the Bent Alaska Facebook Group on Facebook is thriving — join us! A long-overdue update from Bent Alaska’s editor.

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Brandi Carlile in Fairbanks and Anchorage this weekend

Thursday, 14 July 2011 – 2:30 PM | One Comment
Brandi Carlile in Fairbanks and Anchorage this weekend

Brandi Carlile has two concerts in Alaska this weekend — at the Blue Loon in Fairbanks on Friday, and Saturday in Anchorage at the UAA Wendy Williamson Auditorium.

Hedwig & the Angry Inch at Out North July 8–30

Wednesday, 6 July 2011 – 2:15 PM | Comments Off on Hedwig & the Angry Inch at Out North July 8–30
Hedwig & the Angry Inch at Out North July 8–30

Hedwig and the Angry InchOut North Contemporary Art House presents, through the end of the month,  Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  With a two-year run after its February 1998 opening at New York’s Jane Street Theater, Hedwig and the Angry Inch has since been performed in hundreds of stage productions around the world — including a production starring Atz Lee Kilcher in Homer and Anchorage in 2009 — and was made into a film in 2001.

This groundbreaking, Obie-winning, Off-Broadway smash hit tells the story of “internationally-ignored song stylist” Hedwig Schmidt, a fourth-wall smashing East German rock ‘n’ roll goddess who also happens to be the victim of a botched sex-change operation, which has left her with just “an angry inch.” She performs her outrageous & unexpectedly hilarious story in the form of a rock gig/stand-up comedy routine backed by the hard-rocking band “The Angry Inch.”

Out North’s production is directed by Jonathon Minton. A special re-mix of the show by Out North’s artistic director Scott Turner Schofield will take place July 22 at 7 PM. Scott is calling it Hedwig and My Angry Inch — same music, one guy in a fundraiser for Out North Contemporary Art House.

  • Dates/times: July 8-30 on Fridays (7:00 PM show) and Saturdays (two shows at 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM).
  • Location: Out North Contemporary Art House, 3800 Debarr Road, Anchorage (see map)
  • Cost of admission: At the door $30 general; $25 students/60+/military (show ID); $25/$20 available in advance at www.CenterTix.net. This is part of Out North’s Live Art and MashUp season pass series.
  • Further info: See Out North’s event page.

Irina Rivkin in Fairbanks for three performances this weekend

Wednesday, 8 June 2011 – 1:48 PM | Comments Off on Irina Rivkin in Fairbanks for three performances this weekend
Irina Rivkin

Irina RivkinWorld-folk live-looping harmony singer-songwriter Irina Rivkin is back in Alaska, with three shows scheduled this weekend in Fairbanks. Local folksinger Inna — Irina’s twin sister — opens and collaborates. Inna performs visually creative acoustic folk with echoes of the Alaskan wilderness.

About Irina Rivkin

Outmusic Awards Recipient, top-10 winner in the Indiegrrl Songwriting Contest, & founder of Rose Street House of Music, Irina Rivkin’s compelling, powerful, poetic songs blend elements of folk & world music, with an all-original sound influenced by her Russian heritage. Irina layers her poetic lyrics with rich textured harmonies, swirling with vocal percussive beats, all created live on-the-spot using her loop station instrument. Her CD “upwelling” has received airplay on over 100 radio programs.

“Bobby McFerrin reminds me of you” — Bodhi Goforth, house concert co-producer

Rivkin “performs her own breathtaking act as a “live one-woman choir” (using digital looping technology to astonishing effect)” — Michael Dougan, SF Chronicle

“rhythm & sound would pass as a Russian Sweet Honey in the Rock.” — Angela Page, Sing Out! Summer 2004

About Irina’s music:

Irina Rivkin’s website
Live concert video on Youtube
Irina Rivkin on Sonic Bids

Irina’s performances in Fairbanks this weekend

Featured performer at the College Coffeehouse, Songwriter’s night

  • Date/time: Friday, June 10, 8 PM
  • Location: College Coffeehouse, 3677 College Road, Fairbanks (see map)

Performing at the 25th Annual Fairbanks Summer Folk Festival

  • Date/time: Saturday, June 11, 1:15-1:30 PM
  • Location: 25th Annual Fairbanks Summer Folk Festival, Pioneer Park Pavilion, Moose Creek Main Stage, 2300 Airport Way, Fairbanks (see map)

House concert

All are welcome! Local folksinger-songwriter Inna opens the show. Concert is followed by a short participative live-looping activity for audience members who wish to hear their own voices/instruments live-looped!

  • Date/time: Sunday, June 12, 7 PM (potluck at 6 PM)
  • Location: Goldstream Valley area of Fairbanks. For address/directions/RSVP, please email idrivkin@alaska.edu, or call 455-6947 (between 10 AM and 10 PM).
  • Cost of admission: $8-15 sliding scale donation helps cover tour costs

Listen to Irina perform her song “Hold the Moment,” and see live-looping in action!

Fairbanks Rainbow Prom: Born This Way

Thursday, 5 May 2011 – 8:21 AM | Comments Off on Fairbanks Rainbow Prom: Born This Way
Fairbanks Rainbow Prom: Born This Way

Fairbanks Rainbow Prom showThe Imperial Court’s Grand Duke and Duchess of Fairbanks would like to invite you to the 2011 Rainbow Prom show and dance…We Were Born This Way!

Your Duke and Duchess, Lynnette and Kara, did a survey at the very first event. We asked everyone to comment in the theme section and an overwhelming request for a prom was given.

We hope you come out in one of the PRIDE colors, or all of them. Be creative, be fun, be daring like Lady GaGa! If wearing a Tux/Prom dress is not your thing, come dressed head to toe in PRIDE colors and we will give you a $5 discount. (Michael will be at the door and he will be expecting a bright Lady GaGa all-OUT type outfit.)

Our host is Empress Paige Pila Boho Langit!
DJ 50/50 is spinning the tunes.

When: Saturday, May 7, from 8pm to 2am. Doors open at 7pm. Show starts promptly at 8, with dancing afterwards.
Sponsored by: The Imperial Court of All Alaska
Where: The Blue Loon, 2999 Parks Hwy Fairbanks, Alaska
How much: $15 cover; $10 if you come dressed for a prom (or in Pride colors!) 21+ only.
Further info: See the Facebook event page.

Note: This is not a youth prom, it’s a prom-themed drag show and dance for 21+ only. However, the Duke and Duchess are planning an all-ages step down show on July 30. Put it on your calendar.

Keep track of this and other events in LGBTQ Alaska at Bent Alaska’s new & improved events calendar.

Brandi Carlile returns to Alaska

Wednesday, 4 May 2011 – 4:04 PM | One Comment
Brandi Carlile returns to Alaska

Both Anchorage and Fairbanks are on Brandi Carlile’s summer 2011 tour!

The Who’s “Tommy” at Mad Myrna’s

Friday, 29 April 2011 – 6:30 AM | Comments Off on The Who’s “Tommy” at Mad Myrna’s
The Who's

The Tony-Award winning Tommy, Pete Townshend’s tale of a young a “deaf, dumb, and blind boy” is now an ambitious local production with performances being held at Anchorage’s Mad Myrna’s every Friday and Saturday through May 14.

Sunrise to Sunset: Juneau Pride Chorus concert

Monday, 18 April 2011 – 7:39 PM | Comments Off on Sunrise to Sunset: Juneau Pride Chorus concert
Sunrise to Sunset: Juneau Pride Chorus concert

Juneau Pride Chorus concert - Sunrise to SunsetThe Juneau Pride Chorus had the honor of opening the Alaska Folk Festival last week, and announced their annual concert will be on Saturday, April 30 at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC). Chorus member Marsha Buck describes the songs they will sing at the concert and a goal for 2012:

We are singing 12 songs during the upcoming concert on April 30, including the coming out song “Annie” by Fred Small in which a teacher comes out to the rest of her faculty, the two songs heard at Folk Festival (“Over the Rainbow” and “Breakaway”), a set of three mostly humorous songs about relaxation and meditation including “Uh Huh” by Holly Near, two complex environmental songs entitled “The Peace of Wild Things” and “Sky Dances,” and we will end our concert with two jazz numbers accompanied by saxophone and percussion and bass – joined by local jazz singer Vicky Van Fleet. Other pieces include “Thank You” in several languages by Elise Witt and the gorgeous “Arise My Love” by Joan Szymko.

For this performance we are a chorus of 30 women and we have an additional 8 members who are unable to sing this concert because of schedule, family, or health conflicts.

We are beginning plans now to travel to Denver in July 2012 to sing in the GALA Choruses Festival (Gay And Lesbian Association of choruses) so the funds raised by ticket sales, donations, and the baked-goods silent auction will go toward our Denver travel fund.

We only do one major concert a season but perform in the Juneau community when asked throughout each season.

Last year’s concert was “Eye on Chicago,” a Chicago-themed concert and a fundraiser for the Chorus to participate in the 2010 Sister Singers Network Festival in Chicago. Previous concert themes were “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Strength” in 2009, and “Songs for the Soul” in 2008.

Juneau Pride Chorus is sponsored by PFLAG Juneau, and this year’s concert is cosponsored by Pride Foundation. Tiffany McClain, Pride Foundation’s regional organizer for Alaska, will be in Juneau for the concert. Stop by her table and nominate your favorite nonprofit for a mini-raffle. If your name gets pulled, the group will receive a $100 donation in your name from Pride Foundation.

Juneau Pride Chorus concert – Sunrise to Sunset
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Baked Goods Silent Auction at 6pm
Concert at 7:30pm
JACC, 350 Whittier Street

Tickets at the door:
$15 adults, $30 family
$12 students (K-12) and seniors (65+)

Celebration of Change 2011

Saturday, 16 April 2011 – 8:41 AM | Comments Off on Celebration of Change 2011
Celebration of Change 2011

RAW's Celebration of Change 2011Celebration of Change: “Asking, Telling, Celebrating!” will be held on April 23 at 7pm in the UAA Wendy Williamson Auditorium. The after-party is at Mad Myrna’s, and your Celebration of Change 2011 ticket stub gets you into Myrna’s free that night.

This year’s Celebration theme is inspired by the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military’s gay ban, and honors Alaska’s women service members.

Celebration of Change is the annual fundraiser for Radical Arts for Women (RAW), a Lesbian and Feminist philanthropic organization that funds Alaskan women art projects.

Although it is respectfully an all-women produced and performed show aimed to give Alaskan women a venue to learn skills in event production and encourage their individual artistic talents, ALL are welcome to attend so invite your friends, partners, boyfriends, girlfriends, wives, and husbands! Just keep the children at home, for this is an ‘at your own risk’ performance for the mature audience.

Tickets are $15 at Metro Music & Books, the GLCAA, and at the door.

Celebration of Change 2011
Saturday, April 23, from 7-10pm
UAA Wendy Williamson Auditorium
Anchorage, Alaska

Homer: Rockabilly Ball with the queens of Anchorage

Saturday, 9 April 2011 – 10:01 AM | Comments Off on Homer: Rockabilly Ball with the queens of Anchorage
Homer: Rockabilly Ball with the queens of Anchorage

Rockabilly Ball for KBFPCWhat’s buzzin’, cuzzin? The Rockabilly Ball, that’s what!

All cats and daddy-o’s are invited to the Rockabilly Ball, a benefit for Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, on April 16, 2011 at Alice’s Champagne Palace! So slap on your boss threads, coif your pompadour and join KBFPC for this rockin’ bash!

Don’t be a square, come and dance to the sounds of Iron Mermaid, eat scrumptious morsels from Maura’s Cafe, gawk at the babes from Mad Myrna’s and fork over your bread at the live auction.

Tickets are $25 in advance, available at KBFPC and Two Sisters Bakery, or $30 at the door. For updates, check out the Rockabilly Ball event page on Facebook.

Kachemak Bay Family Planning ClinicRockabilly Ball
A benefit for Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic

Saturday, April 16 · 7:00pm – 11:30pm
Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door
Adults Only

Entertainers from Mad Myrna’s
Live Music by Iron Mermaid
Auction of paintings by Steve Collins
Junkyard Auction ~ auctioneer Dave Aplin!
Hors d’œuvres by Maura’s Cafe
Divine drink concoctions by Homer’s best mixologists

Alice’s Champagne Palace
195 E Pioneer Avenue
Homer, Alaska

2 Concerts benefit homeless youth in Fairbanks (this weekend)

Friday, 8 April 2011 – 1:07 AM | Comments Off on 2 Concerts benefit homeless youth in Fairbanks (this weekend)
2 Concerts benefit homeless youth in Fairbanks (this weekend)

Did you know there are between 500-800 homeless youth at any given time in Fairbanks, Alaska? About 300 of them are in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. Help us to help them!

FCA SOAP is holding two concert fundraisers this weekend to benefit homeless, runaway and at-risk youth in Fairbanks. The Concert & Silent Auction for adults 21+ is Friday night at The Pub, and an all-ages We Are Visible concert is Saturday afternoon at the 310 First Avenue Banquet Hall.

For both events, please bring new or gently used clothing for a clothes drive for the youth, and keep in mind that most of the clients are ages 15 to 21 years old.

Also, they’re selling a 14-track benefit album for $10:

WE ARE VISIBLE! is a compilation benefit album with 14 tracks donated by mostly local Fairbanks bands with an ultimate mission of supporting the clients we serve. It will be available at our SOAP Benefit Weekend events, April 8 & 9, 2011. After that, if you’d like a physical copy, please e-mail vista@fcaalaska.org or call 907-374-9913. All proceeds from this album go toward helping each one of our clients recognize his or her value as a human being in a world that seems to change faster with each passing day.

SOAP Benefit Concert & Silent Auction 2011

Friday, April 8
SOAP Benefit Concert & Silent Auction @ The Pub

Come to The Pub and help us create a better city for our youth!
$5 Students / $8 General Admission — Ages 21+
Silent Auction Starts at 7pm and Music Starts at 9pm

9:00 Danny & The Jampires
9:45 Phineas Gauge
10:30 The Avery Wolves
11:15 Alaska Redd

Silent auction items will be highlighted by some awesome photographs by Krista Heeringa. We’ll have door prize giveaways, as well. For more information, please e-mail vista@fcaalaska.org or call 374-9913.

Many thanks to our other donors: Pro Music, Grassroots Guitar, Music Mart, College Coffeehouse, Gulliver’s Bookstore, Sipping Streams, Forget-Me-Not Bookstore, McCafferty’s, College Town Pizzeria, Mona Vie, UAF Pub, KSUA, and others.

All proceeds benefit Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption’s Street Outreach & Advocacy Program. SOAP is brought to our community through FCA and United Way of the Tanana Valley.

Saturday, April 9
WE ARE VISIBLE: A Benefit Concert for Homeless Youth

Join us for the ALL-AGES version of our concert fundraiser
Saturday, April 9 · 12:00pm – 11:00pm
310 First Ave. Banquet Hall
310 1st Ave, Suite 100
Fairbanks, AK

$5.00 — Fun, Music, Arts, Crafts, Guitar Lessons, $10 Haircuts from noon-2 & 4-6, Soda/Water, Door Prizes, Raffle!! Oh yeah, FUN TOO!

Bands (subject to change):
12pm InVein
1pm Bernie Bousa (of Danny & The Jampires)
2pm Bryan Whitten
3pm Alex Beasley
4pm From The Ashes
5pm Not Enough Flannel
6pm New Teen Paranormal Romance
7pm Eating For Two
8pm Until Death
9pm Alaska Redd
10pm Phineas Gauge
(DJ sets if there’s time)

FCA SOAPFairbanks Counseling & Adoption: We Take Familes to Heart

As a program operated by Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption, the Street Outreach & Advocacy Program (SOAP) reaches out to 10- to 21-year-olds who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless. “Our goal is to protect these youth from abuse, sexual exploitation, assault, and criminal activity due to their lack of money and beneficial resources.”

Hours: Monday – Friday, 9am-6pm
Drop-in Center, 2pm-6pm

-Drop-in Services in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska
-Transportation to resources and shelter
-Survival supplies: food, hygiene, clothes
-Assistance using the Fairbanks justice, business, and social service system
-Mediation and Conflict Resolution
-Counseling Services
-Referrals to community resources
-Independent Living Skills classes
-Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Seasonal Activities