They read from their debut novel Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl yesterday at Prairie Lights Bookstore. Taking place in the 1990s, the novel follows Paul Polydoris, a shapeshifter that transforms his body.

“He is able to change his appearance and gender on demand and in a manner of minutes. Switching from Paul to Polly, he is the kind of mythical character,” said Michael Valinsky. “We quickly learn that Paul’s gender is mutable and that he’ll transform his body any time he thinks he might get something from the person he is interacting with, be it a sexual release or conversation.”

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl has a strong sense of place, taking the reader on adventures, “through New York City at the height of the aids crisis, Iowa City’s queer punk scene, off-season Provincetown, a women’s festival in Michigan, and, finally, San Francisco,” said The New Yorker. “Lawlor successfully mixes pop culture, gender theory, and smut, but the great achievement here is that Paul is no mere symbol but a vibrant yearning.”

During the Q&A portion of the program, Lawlor discussed the importance of small presses as LGBTQ representation in literature.

“Like many queer and trans people, I’ve been attracted to stories about shapeshifters my whole life, Lawlor said. “I wanted to explore, through art, what it felt like to navigate different spaces and demands around gender.”

Unferth is an associate professor at the University of Texas in Austin. She also runs the Pen-City Writers, a creative writing program at a penitentiary in southern Texas. Her fiction can be found in magazines such as Granta, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, NOON, and the Paris Review. Deb Olin Unferth has received four Pushcart Prizes, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Unferth read from her collection Wait Till You See Me Dance: Stories, which features fiction that, “lures you in with a voice that seems amiable and lighthearted, but it swerves in sudden and surprising ways that reveal, in terrifying clarity, the rage, despair, and profound mournfulness that have taken up residence at the heart of the American dream,” said Greywolf Press.

Unferth read “The First Full Thought of Her Life,” a short story about a shooter getting ready to kill a child ascending a sand dune. The short story shifts perspectives and warps time.

The post Mission Creek Festival: Andrea Lawlor and Deb Olin Unferth @ Prairie Lights 4/5/2018 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The band name was based on, “those sort of old movies that were called weepies, where you could basically be guaranteed that if you needed a good cry, you could go and see one of these and bring your hankie and have a good time,” said Talan. “We want to make music that touches them and moves them in that way; the place where tears come from, for joy and for sorrow.

Two years after releasing their debut album Happiness in 2003, The Weepies recorded their sophomore album in their bedroom in Pasadena California. Shortly after performing a sold-out show at The Living Room in New York City, The Weepies signed with Nettwerk Record Label. With a widening fan-base and label support, Say I Am You peaked at number one for most downloaded folk albums in eight countries.

Their third album Hideaway found immediate success by selling 14,000 copies in the first week. A few of the tracks from the album were featured on Sex and the City, Life Unexpected, and The Fosters, among others. Their fourth album Be My Thrill emulated their previous success by peaking at number 34 on the Top 200 Billboard Charts.

The Weepies have sold more than a million records and have accumulated over 30 million views on YouTube and 90 million streams on Spotify.

After Talan announced she was in remission from stage-three breast cancer, The Weepies released Sirens which stands as their most successful album to date. The 16 songs hang together as, “a musical photo album.”

“We didn’t write specifically about anything that happened – it’s much more satisfying and interesting to just be open in the moment and see where the music goes,” said The Weepies. “The songs that made it to the surface are all informed by what went on below.”

Talen and Tannen describe working together as musicians while being married to one another as, “the best of times, it is the worst of times!” they said. “There’s really nowhere to hide – everything comes out in the open quickly, so things can’t fester.  It makes for a healthier life overall probably, but there is also bloodletting.  We still enjoy each other, and making music together, and raising kids.”

The post Mission Creek Festival Promo: The Weepies appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The new wave band released two singles, “White Boy” and “I’m Afraid of Me” that were unsuccessful on British single charts. Their international breakthrough came with the release of their third single “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The reviews were unfavorable at first but they it did not stop Culture Club from solidifying their place in the Second British Invasion.

“Do you really Want to Hurt Me” laid the foundation for Kissing to Be Clever—their 1982 debut album that featured a multilayered sound that transcended the boundaries of pop.

George said the song was about his relationship with drummer Jon Moss and all the other men he dated. Therefore, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” synthesized the feelings of insecurity and expression.

“I always had these awkward relationships, which only became awkward when other people became involved,” George said. “Jon was fine shagging me until his mum met me. He lived in a posh house in Hampstead and I was invited round for dinner. His mum answered the door and went ‘Oh!’. I ended up having to eat with the servants in the kitchen.”

Culture Club was asked to perform on Top of the Tops, a BBC weekly program that featured popular musicians, when Welsh rock and roll singer Shakin’ Stevens suddenly backed out. After the performance, Boy George received heavy criticism from Radio 1 and the press for his exotic self-presentation. George recalls newspapers asking, “Is it [Boy George] a boy or a girl?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pgu9TP618E

Throughout his career George embraced his androgynous style that was often publicized as a visual gimmick. His look was largely popularized in Culture Club’s eccentric music videos.

“ I did use a lot of make-up at the time, and it really freaked people out, George said. “People couldn’t deal with my sexual energy when they met me, and I loved that. It was my life’s work.”

Kissing to Be Clever featured other prominent Culture Club hits such as “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” “White Boy” and “Time (Clock of the Heart). These songs served as constant interchanges between traditional soul, synth pop, and disco funk. The blending of various cultural sounds and musical textures was not just a trend started by Culture Club but an obsession.

Their sophomore LP Colour By Numbers was a smash hit, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. Boy George responded to Colour By Numbers being ranked in the Top 100 Best Albums of the Eighties by saying, “Well it should be.”

Recorded with Steve Levine in Red Bus Studios, Culture Club sought to build off the success of their debut album by collaborating with various English artists. Backup singer Helen Terry helped save Colour By Numbers from the tropes of Tropipop found in Kissing to Be Clever.

Colour By Numbers featured their most coveted single “Karma Chameleon” which peaked at number one on 17 weekly charts around the world. Furthermore, “Karma Chameleon” became the biggest selling single of 1983. The anthem-like pulse of the melody subdued the dark lyrical message.

“The song is about the terrible fear of alienation that people have, the fear of standing up for one thing,” George said. “It’s about trying to suck up to everybody. Basically, if you aren’t true, if you don’t act like you feel, then you get Karma-justice, that’s nature’s way of paying you back.”

Colour By numbers paid homage to an Elton-John-like sound in “That’s The Way (I’m Only Trying to Help You)” borrowed from the melodies of Gilbert O’Sullivan in “It’s a Miracle” and mimics Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight” in the opening of “Church of the Poison Mind.” Geroge had a rather non-chalant response to the album by stating, “I thought some of the singing was out of tune […] definitely the best Culture Club album, but I don’t know if it’s my best record.”

With tension mounting between the band mates, alleged physical and verbal abuse spurring between lovers George and Moss, and rampant drug consumption, Culture Club depended heavily on their critically-anticipated third album Waking Up with the House on Fire.

Although Waking Up with the House on Fire served as their third consecutive platinum album in America, it was viewed as a rushed. The only single to gain traction was “The War Song” which stood as an allegory for emotional conflict. The single cracked the top 20 Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Excess of drugs, relationship struggles, and fame, very well could have contributed to the disappointment.

As Culture Club split, Boy George’s illustrious career was tarnished by his cocaine and later heroin addiction. His youngest brother David O’Dowd said George had a $1,200-a-day habit that made him lose 56 pounds.

“We’ve just been waiting for a phone call from a reporter to tell us George has been found dead from a drug overdose,” said David “The only reward I want is my brother back—his habit is destroying my family.”

His addiction came as a shock to the public. Once “the harmless, lovable windup doll of pop, a cartoonlike fantasy figure […] who preferred a cup of tea over sex” was transformed into a shadow of his old self.

George was often outspoken against drug consumption. He responded to his own addiction by stating, “I’m an out-and-out heroin junkie […] you don’t have to be a doctor to know that I’m dying.” George would later revoke this statement on live television.

At the pinnacle of pop Culture Club fell and never really got back up. While pursuing a solo career, George was a part of numerous short-lived Culture Club reunions. George called a 1998 tour a, “nostalgia trip” featuring not type of, “Oprah Winfrey-type confessionalism” between band mates. The release of their new album Tribes has been delayed on numerous occasions.

The post Ode To Protest Music: Culture Club appeared first on KRUI Radio.

RADinc. harnesses their creative energy well.

Their attire is nothing to celebrate. The drummer, Kevin Shea, wears a red baseball cap that casts a shadow over half his face and a black oversized shirt. The keyboardist, Matt Mottel, wears a blue bucket hat that covers his long brown hair and a loose button down.

They feed off their energy, glance at each other for cues, manage a few quick laughs, and immerse themselves in their own Antarctica.

Their multi-textured music is hidden underneath a clattering ensemble of sound. It seems at times to have no intention. Their two-part set features eight instrumental songs that make us feel something before they can make any sense of their own.

From Talking Heads’ synthesizers that waver and distort, to Sonic Youth’s percussion that sustains and frustrates, Talibam! is able to, “confront the establishment of culture.”

This streamline performance immerses the audience into Antarctica. The disoriented- pixilated- and saturated pictures on screen crackle like an old newsreel. Their meaning is very much up for interpretation. It leads us along in some hazy form of retrospect.

From tranquil mountain peaks- dancing Oompa Loompas- and waddling penguins- to fist-bumping soldiers- floating baby dolls- and drunken hippies- Talibam! creates an out-of-body experience.

The disoriented, pixilated, and saturated pictures on screen crackle like an old newsreel. Their meaning is very much up for interpretation. It leads us along in some hazy form of retrospect. From tranquil mountain peaks, dancing Oompa Loompas, and waddling penguins; to fist-bumping soldiers, floating baby dolls, and drunken hippies, Talibam! creates an out-of-body experience.

Mottel calls their performance, “An alternative political vision, which was matched by our cultural determination to provide an alternative to the landscape of music and performance we were surrounded by.”

Formed six months after the start of the second war in Iraq, Mottel and Shea have developed a unique sound that dares us to ask the age-old questions, search for a resolve, and work towards political change, without mouthing a word. Mottel and Shea are interconnected with the audience. The show ends with Mottel throwing a baby doll into the crowd.

The post Witching Hour: Talibam! Endgame of the Anthropocene @ RADinc. 10/20/2017 appeared first on KRUI Radio.