Articles in Arts
Wanda Sykes + k.d. lang = Best. Weekend. Ever.
OMG! Wanda’s coming to Anchorage! Tickets are on sale now for the Dena’ina Center on Sept 17… oh, wait… that’s the same date as k.d. lang’s second night at the PAC. Whose idea was that? Where is the Lesbian Coordinating Committee when you need it?
Well, if you’re lucky enough to have tickets for k.d. lang’s Friday concert, then get your Wanda tickets for Saturday and you’ll be ready for a weekend of amazing entertainment with a lesbian twist, right here in Anchorage.
Wanda Sykes has been called “one of the funniest stand up comics” by her peers and ranks among Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Funniest People in America.
Her HBO Special “I’ma Be Me” has been nominated for Two Primetime Emmys. She’s already won 4 Emmys for other projects. Watch the awards on August 29 to see if she wins again.
In addition to her three television specials – “Wanda Sykes: Im’a Be Me”, “Wanda Sykes: Sick and Tired”, and “Tongue Untied,” all available on DVD – she can also be seen on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and heard on Comedy Central’s “Crank Yankers” as the voice of Gladys Murphy.
In June, she was honored with the first Hope of L.A. award presented by Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa to celebrate the city’s LGBT Heritage Month.
Watch this hilarious clip from “I’ma Be Me” on coming out Black to her parents:
And this clip on how anyone could believe Sarah Palin’s “death panels” meme:
Don’t miss this show!
Wanda Sykes in Anchorage
Another Northern Stage Production
When: Sept 17 at 8pm
Where: Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center
600 W 7th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska
Cost: $48.50 and $68.50
(Actual price: $59.55 and $80.35 with the fees.)
Tickets available at Ticketmaster.com, the Sports Arena (named after the mayor who vetoed our rights), and Fred Meyer ticket outlets.
More Info: Wanda Sykes home page and the Anchorage event.
This weekend in LGBTQA Alaska (7/21/11): Fairbanks Pride 2011, a Toyota for 4A’s, Summer Osborne, Hedwig, & Raja
Fairbanks celebrates Pride 2011; Four A’s needs your votes to get a Toyota; Summer Osborne performs in Fairbanks and Anchorage; and RuePaul’s Drag Race winner “Raja” appears at Anchorage’s Kodiak Bar & Grill. Those events and more, plus a preview of what’s coming up next week.
Melissa Etheridge Radio Show on the air in Alaska
Melissa Etheridge has a new radio show, and an Anchorage station is one of the first in the country to pick up the full show.
KNLT Lite 105.7 in Anchorage, a light rock station, plays The Melissa Etheridge Show on weekdays from 7pm – midnight. Between songs, Melissa tells stories, answers questions from listeners, recognizes people who give to others, and chats with her cohost about the topic of the day. Email your questions to The Melissa Etheridge Show or call her at (855) 637-2346.
Listeners outside of Anchorage, Alaska can hear clips from the show online at The Melissa Etheridge Show or can hear the full show online at Lite 105.7 FM.
Melissa was asked about her new radio show in a recent interview:
Windy City Times: Tell me about this radio show that I saw on your website.
Melissa Etheridge: I am doing a radio show and I am on Bangor, Maine and Anchorage, Alaska. It is taking over the country right from the top down!
I am always looking for ways to reach out, be part of this whole entertainment world and yet not leave my home. That is the plan we are working on. I was approached about doing a radio show. I love to talk. I love to do music and like to be on the radio. So we started it. I am really enjoying it a lot. Hopefully we will get some more stations.
Windy City Times: Fans can listen to it on your website.
Melissa Etheridge: You can listen to it on the Internet at http:// www.melissaetheridge.com .
Windy City Times: Is it a time-consuming thing for you?
Melissa Etheridge: It’s not bad. It takes me about two hours a day. It is a music and talk so a lot of music. That’s why it only takes me about two hours to record it. The radio stations put in the music that they want.
Bent Alaska has a question for Melissa:
You’re performing in Bangor, Maine on July 23. As the only other town to pick up your show, does Anchorage get a concert too? Alaska loves you! Please come play here.
In June, Melissa called Lite 105.7 and talked with Program Director Justin McDonald about the midnight sun and salmon fishing. Listen to the short clip online HERE.
Lite 105.7 also promotes an anti-bullying campaign, and local ally Colleen Crinklaw is the DJ on Saturdays and Sundays from 7pm – midnight.
Lite 105.7 plays “light rock classics and today’s favorites” and is one of several local stations run by Alaska Integrated Media (AIM), including alternative rock station The End 94.7 which was at PrideFest this year.
Photo of Melissa Etheridge by Craig O’Neal via Wikimedia Commons; used in accordance with Creative Commons license.
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.
Judith Barrington, Valerie Miner, & other great writers in UAA annual reading series
Judith Barrington and Valerie Miner are among the writers participating in the Summer 2011 Northern Renaissance Arts & Sciences Reading Series from July 10–19 at UAA. This is the fourth year for the event, which is held annually in conjunction with the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing of the UAA Department of Creative Writing & Literary Arts (CWLA).
Hedwig & the Angry Inch at Out North July 8–30
Out 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.
Bear Tooth Theatrepub presents two films for Pride tonight
The Bear Tooth Theatrepub in Anchorage is presenting two movies tonight in celebration of Pride: The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls and Making the Boys. Thanks, Bear Tooth, for joining us in celebrating Alaska Pride!
This weekend in LGBTQ Alaska (6/17/11): Pride Week begins!
Pride Week kicks off in Anchorage with a Pride art exhibit, a big Pink Dot for love in Town Square, the film Role/Play, the annual Mr/Ms/Miss Gay Alaska pageant (with a new title this year), the LGBT Memorial Service, a free BBQ, and Drag Camp! to teach us how it’s done: those events and more, plus a preview of what’s coming up next week.
Two Spirits airs tonight on PBS, with Yupik tribe member Richard LaFortune
A Native American LGBTQ film “Two Spirits” premieres on PBS’ Independent Lens tonight, Tuesday, June 14, showing on KAKM at 9 pm Alaska time. Two Spirits tells the story of Fred Martinez, his life and violent death, and the history of multi-gendered people in many Native American cultures.
“Two Spirits interweaves the tragic story of a mother’s loss of her son with a revealing look at the largely unknown history of a time when the world wasn’t simply divided into male and female and many Native American cultures held places of honor for people of integrated genders.
Fred Martinez was nádleehí, a male-bodied person with a feminine nature, a special gift according to his ancient Navajo culture. He was one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at 16. Two Spirits explores the life and death of this boy who was also a girl, and the essentially spiritual nature of gender.
Two Spirits mourns the young Fred Martinez and the threatened disappearance of the two-spirit tradition, but it also brims with hope and the belief that we all are enriched by multi-gendered people, and that all of us — regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or cultural heritage — benefit from being free to be our truest selves.”
The concept of Two-Spirit is explained in the film by LGBTQ Native Americans, including Richard (Anguksuar) LaFortune of the Yupik tribe, director of the media project 2SPR-Two Spirit Press Room and an early organizer of the International Two Spirit Gatherings. LaFortune was born in Bethel, and is currently living in Minnesota working on reducing the suicide rate of Native youth and revitalizing Native American languages.
The American Library Association (ALA) recognized Two Spirits in its 2011 list of Notable Videos for Adults, a list of 15 outstanding films released on video within the past two years that make a significant contribution.
Watch the Two Spirits trailer:
Watch the full episode. See more Independent Lens.
The Two Spirit film blog recently highlighted the contributions and unique history of the Two-Spirit community:
“Many indigenous peoples recognized centuries ago the natural complexity of sexuality and gender, and have identified multiple genders and held an honored role for people now described as “LGBT” as ambassadors, healers, counselors, matchmakers, parents to orphaned children, artists, and medicine people who are seen as having special gifts to contribute to the society because of their Two-Spirit status.
Native American scholars are reclaiming ancient beliefs about gender and sexuality that are found in Native cosmology, traditions and ceremonies, and cultural stories. Unfortunately, the research conducted in scholarly circles rarely, if ever, reaches the general public or the media and therefore has not been a focal part of the public advocacy done on behalf of LGBT and Two-Spirit people.”
Other challenges include the lack of funding for Two-Spirit projects, geographic isolation and homophobia:
“Native Two-Spirit people are more vulnerable to homophobic violence and also to self-inflicted violence and suicide than the general LGBT population. Native LGBT teen suicide is a particularly urgent issue, and clearly a major contributing factor is that many two-spirit youth lack a sense of connection to the inherent dignity and respect that should rightly be afforded Two-Spirit traditions and values. Many Two-Spirit people live in geographic isolation from LGBT resources and/or in cultural separation from their two-spirit traditions. Native LGBT people want to be more connected to each other, and they also want to be more involved in making a difference to LGBT equality work locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.”
The Two-Spirit community hopes to build on the awareness raised by the film to address these issues:
“The leaders and activists of the Two-Spirit movement are working to shape more progressive national attitudes toward gender and sexuality with the general public and within tribal communities. Two-Spirit people are making the most of the increased awareness generated by the film Two Spirits and other resources to build the framework for long-term development and by working with public sector partners, foundations, philanthropists, and tribal leaders.”
ITVS, the co-presenter of Independent Lens, is supporting the film Two Spirits with community cinema screening events and materials in support of the national broadcast. There are dozens of public screenings around the U.S. and Canada this month, free at libraries and community centers, and supported by the local PBS stations. No screenings are scheduled in Alaska. (Who wants KAKM to host one? Contact them HERE.)
Two Spirits
KAKM – Tuesday, June 14 from 9-10 PM
If you miss it tonight, you can set your DVR for one of the later showings of Two Spirits on KAKM:
Thursday, June 16 — 2:00am
Sunday, June 19 — 2:00am
Monday, June 20 — 1:30am
Irina Rivkin in Fairbanks for three performances this weekend
World-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!
