Pieces of Performance: A slice of Cheesecake offered up with burlesque revueFor 20 hot years of sweat and happy tears, The Cheesecake Burlesque Revue troupe has been blessing stages and audiences from Victoria to Europe. Longtime Cheesecake performer Champagne Sparkles has deep pride in their small beginnings, which built to who they are today. “It started off as friends taking a workshop… [to performing] in a […] Continue Reading |
Pieces of Performance: Cherry Cheeks helps bring Shade Burlesque Festival to townLocal burlesque performer, producer, and educator Cherry Cheeks has been working hard behind the curtain to bring together an all-BIPOC show that will soon be hitting the stage. The Shade Burlesque Festival will take place Thursday, September 25 to Saturday, September 27 at the McPherson Playhouse. “All of our headliners are going to be teaching […] Continue Reading |
Pieces of Performance: Junk Male gets wacky, nerdy, and silly with a smileJunk Male is jumping into the spotlight with a mish-mash of positivity, seduction, and gut-hurting laughter. This non-binary bean lights up every room they walk into and has become one of the top producers to work with on the island. “I’ve been involved with the drag scene since 2018. [I] watched a couple friends in […] Continue Reading |
Lydia’s Film Critique: …And justice for the legal dramaIn a short-winded preoccupation with the legal drama genre, I watched innumerable of its films in the span of few afternoons. This sort of fling happens cyclical and is seldom fruitful in its sophistication—that is, of course, its express purpose. Indeed, to engross oneself in any singular variety of media is a kind of sedation. […] Continue Reading |
Pieces of Performance: Have your voice heardAs Pride season comes up, it’s increasingly harder to get performers to sit still for interviews. Between designing and filming submissions (and, frankly, the sheer mental toll it takes to prepare for the summer), I’ve decided to use this column to collect and share some prideful moments from within our own Camosun community. So, I […] Continue Reading |
Lydia’s Film Critique: Buffalo ’66Vincent Gallo’s Billy Brown is pathetic. He whines and shouts and contorts in frustration. He moulds his expression into a man-child tantrum in an abrasive defense to care. He entered prison this way and he exits it the same. Volatility was learned and loneliness is the by-product. Indeed, Billy needs what he isn’t owed: a […] Continue Reading |
Pieces of Performance: Decathlon Queen running for gold in designThe multi-talented Decathlon Queen has made a name for herself in the past three years of drag. From Ottawa to Vancouver Island, this decathlon-runner-gone-drag-queen has something to prove. “Sports is the main reason I got into drag… My name is the track-and-field event I competed in up to a national level,” says Decathlon Queen. A […] Continue Reading |
Dropping the Needle: The Beatles changed music foreverIn an industry as opinion-based as music, it’s hard for people to agree on anything. However, many do agree on this: The Beatles are the greatest band ever. But why? What makes these guys from Liverpool stand above everyone else? The answer is influence. The Beatles didn’t just dominate music in the 1960s and early […] Continue Reading |
Reasons to Live… In Victoria: Garden: a noun and a verbI love gardening. You might not guess that if you were to walk by while I’m cursing the weeds or momentarily blacking out as I stand up from the garden beds (low blood pressure), but despite the back-breaking spring cleanups and landscaping projects, it brings me joy and balance. Except on days when I find […] Continue Reading |
Lydia’s Film Critique: A Face in the CrowdIn his little old town of Riddle, that’s where scruffy vagabond Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes earned his southern Americana charm. His bluesman aptitude to carry a tune. His folksy witticisms. No, Riddle does not really exist. It’s more of a composite, or, rather, a compost heap, he says. Still, it runs deep through his very veins, […] Continue Reading |
