Hi! Welcome to the last newsletter for this year! We laughed, we cried… honestly it’s a feat that this newsletter is even materializing so ty to Saturday night writers. Love u and see u next year.
Last night a DJ saved me a draw.
MARTYN BOOTYSPOON | GROCERIES B2B HOTMAIL SUMMER | COREY CLOCKSY | VJ: AUGUR’S WAND
Just before midnight, I stroll into Velvet, and feel time and space collapse. I’d attended a Queer History Walk earlier, hosted by Rhea Rollman, author of A QUEER HISTORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND, and spent the morning walking around town and seeing ghosts. Not for the first time, I think about how the city is a palimpsest, with everyone who has ever been here literally doing everything everywhere all at once. Did you know, by the way, that Velvet used to be called FRIENDS? It was so gay back then that you needed a membership card to get in – to prevent would-be bashers from knocking down the door – but also maybe just to let others know you were a Friend of Dorothy too. These cards have long since faded, and the gates are open to everyone (even, gasp, straight people) but the essence of all those queers who tore it up before us is still here. In the bathroom, I talk to a couple gays who are heading to Toronto for Pride later this month. They’re discussing if they should go on Doxypep to make the most of the week, or maybe just stick to PREP. I think, yet again, about all the queers who fucked around, found out, and then fought back so we could love who we want to without fear of a terrible, godawful death in the process. And of course, of all the ones who didn’t make it, who I can never stop thinking about, and who are so missed.
Record scratch: Do you guys ever think about dying?
From Donna Summer to HOTMAIL SUMMER, from Supermarket Sweep to GROCERIES, we’ve come a long, long way from the days of the 1970s and 80s. We’re so lucky to be born when we were born, I think. Taylor and Annie, I should say, are two of my very best friends. So I’ll be upfront and say I’m incapable of saying a bad word about their performance, which is good because it would have been really awkward if they had bombed up there like Dua Lipa’s recent album (sorry). I arrived to the sounds of Nelly Furtado, currently in the midst of a career renaissance of sorts, beckoning me to the dance floor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two women who are this fucking hot and talented. It should be a crime to look this good, I think. The energy is off the charts, even as the smell wafting from somewhere deep inside the crowd is sometimes not. A reminder next time, perhaps, to include a little unscented deodorant next to the earplugs.
When the girlies exit stage left, MARTYN BOOTYSPOON assumes control of the decks. Earlier, I’d watched him hold a glittery steering wheel, and pantomime a Sunday drive, as he bopped to Groceries and Hotmail Summer. Now, I see, he was just warming up. At this point – the crowd is packed. Everyone seems locked in. And it’s time to really let it all hang loose. I dance and dance and dance and then, damnit, is that my Sciatic nerve pain? Tragically I’m 32. So somewhere around here, I exit to the deck, and spend the rest of the night gabbing on and on and on and on. God, I just love hearing dance music, somewhere near, but not too near, and talking to old friends. It’s 3AM and I’m not lonely. I end the night eating burritos with my friend Dan, trading off songs on the HI-FI, thinking about how lucky I am to know so many beautiful and talented people.
- Andrew Sampson
TAUPE | TUNNEL VISION | INDIAN GIVER AT THE ROCKHOUSE
Tonight at the Rockhouse three bands played: Taupe, Tunnel Vision and Indian Giver.
This was Taupe’s third show ever. I talked to them outside of Velvet and asked them about their trip to Newfoundland so far. They traveled to Salmonier Nature Park on their way into town from Montreal and wanted to talk about the duck conspiracy. They said at the pond there’s a big sign that says DON’T FEED THE GEESE but when you actually use binoculars you can see that all the ducks and geese they have positioned around the pond are fake. They’re plastic. This brought me to talking about their song Open Season which they say — despite the name — is about going out, around now, in the springtime, and looking at birds in new and healthy ways. “We saw a caribou at the nature park,” Heather tells me before they go inside to dance. Before she leaves, Jess Barry tells me that Rock Song #2 is about an amusement park — “you know the feeling of being suspended in the air and not knowing how you’re gonna feel when you come down.”
After Taupe played, it was Tunnel Vision. Tunnel Vision is my four best friends so I feel biased (but not really) when I say they’re the best in this city. Becky Gibson plays guitar, Pepa Chan plays bass, Walt Earle plays drums, and Catherine Roberge sings. I have worked in St. John’s at various service jobs with these four for the last decade but Catherine wants me to resist saying that Tunnel Vision writes about mundanity. She told me not to say they’re writing about work even though so much of why the lyrics resonate in such a severe way is because these songs are about the frustration of what you cannot change — they’re about the ordinary. They’re about staying attached to things that aren’t working. Catherine tells me she tries to be critical of herself when she’s writing these songs. “I’m always analyzing myself too, and thinking about hypocrisy while living in this little place,” she says.
The final band of the show was Indian Giver. This is a group of men who’ve come together to create something massive. Later on in the night I spoke to Evan, the front man of this project, and he told me they’re from all over the country. I asked him how they jam and he said we don’t really. Given the tightness of their set I thought this was wild but he said the guys were just that good. This band talked about colonization and genocide. They spoke about representation about reconciliation. The lead singer — who wore a goalie mask the entirety of the set — told me he’s been playing in hardcore bands since he was fourteen. We talked about playing hardcore music and how important it is to us as we drank a Dayboil and the sun came up right behind his head.
- Allison Graves
Love u see u next year!! Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo