Curve articles from August 2005

Curve archives from August 2005

What's in your CD player?(women musicians)(Editorial)
August 1, 2005... With so many talented women musicians, it's hard to imagine how we go about choosing which performers to profile in our annual music issue. Some artists are household names. Others are purely discovered by our staff--encountered in small, smoky...

Fan of Franco.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2005... I love getting your magazine--I smile when I see the black plastic cover. Second, thank you for [the interview with CURVE publisher/editor in chief Frances Stevens, Vol. 15, #3]. I was wowed!... I'm so used to some corporate white guy in New...

Fan of 15.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2005... I thought the "15 Years, 15 Lesbians" piece (Vol. 15, #3) was fierce, hilarious and brilliant! We perpetuate our own stereotypes, and as a community we seem to be obsessed with labels. CURVE didn't invent these categories; you simply covered...

Lay off The L Word.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2005... I have been really bothered by your frequent bagging on The L Word. This is a well-acted and well-written show that is, honestly, pretty addictive. It's the first TV show I've watched in eight years, and I don't know any lesbians who don't like...

Enough straight celebrity chasing.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2005... I have been subscribing to your magazine for roughly two years, and, to be candid, I am currently questioning your integrity.... I thought your magazine would primarily feature real lesbians and their families. Instead, I read articles about...

Yes, we take requests.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2005... Please, for the love of the goddess and all that's holy, do another Melissa Ferrick cover. Her career, life, tattoos, sound, everything have changed so much, and she's set to debut her long-awaited DVD soon! And? If you've got any influence...

Corrections.(Correction notice)
August 1, 2005... The credit for our May cover (Vol. 15, #3) was incorrect. The photo was taken by Pamela Hansen/Corbis Outline. CURVE regrets the error.

You really, really like us.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2005... Editor's note: For our anniversary (Vol. 15, #3) issue, we got more fan mail from celebrities than we could print. So we thought we'd toot our own horn again. CURVE called my first film, After the Break, the best-of in 1992, and it was...

Feed the rich.(Hez Norton )
August 1, 2005... When Hez Norton was working as an AmeriCorps volunteer in the North Carolina governor's office, she says, it wasn't entirely safe for her to be out: "I was out in the office, but when I was on the road and at high schools, with parents sitting...

Six rules for dyke tykes.
August 1, 2005... Editor's note: "Fag hag" is so 1980s. What's so now? "Dyke tyke." In urban lore, the concept of men who hang out with lesbians--and not the creepy kind seen on The L Word--is rapidly gaining attention. So we asked Dr. Richard Wassersug,...

Willow and Tara are back!(television characters)(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... BUFFY FANATICS REJOICE. NOT ONLY HAS ALYSON HANNIGAN CROPPED up again as a regular on a TV show with an ass-kicking, smarty-pants, crime-solving blond teen (aka Veronica Mars), but online retailer CineQuest (www.cinequest.com) has created the...

Andrea Dworkin: a tribute.(curvatures)(Biography)
August 1, 2005... ANDREA DWORKIN DIED APRIL 9, 2005, at 58, at home with her husband, John Stoltenberg. Dworkin died in her sleep, after reportedly suffering from several chronic illnesses over the last few years. Brilliant and beleaguered, Dworkin was the...

Not so pretty in pink.(curvatures)(sexual harassment scene from Pretty Persuasion )(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... THERE'S A LESBIAN MOMENT SO shockingly funny in the new film Pretty Persuasion that you'll want to sneak back into the theater again and again to see it. (No, I won't spoil it for you.) In Pretty, Evan Rachel Wood (a veteran of Sapphic scenes...

Rethinking our kitchen accessories.(curvatures)(Jonathan Adler's new handcrafted gift collection)(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT in my lesbian home words like therapy, Prozac and processing are pretty commonplace. And in this post-Queer Eye age, I'm looking for ways to maximize my inner dykehood with a more luxe interior decor. Which is why...

Perv alert: Selma Blair.(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... OK, SELMA BLAIR ALREADY HAS HORDES OF LESBIAN FANS. THAT'LL happen when you make out with Sarah Michelle Gellar in Cruel Intentions and then at the MTV Movie Awards (where the girls took top prize for best kiss). Since then, Blair's had a...

All hail Connecticut (almost).(curvatures)(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... WITH THE WHOLE COUNTRY WATCHING, OPPONENTS and supporters of gay marriage met face to face in Connecticut, one side desperate to make history, the other hoping the matter would wane. On April 6, 2005, a bill offering same-sex unions in...

Amanda Bearse gets a new Sperm Donor?(television program)(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... SCREW TV RERUNS. MY JULY INDULGENCE is going to be the fantastic and addictive new Bravo series Situation: Comedy. From executive producer Sean Hayes (you know, the really really gay guy from Will and Grace) and powerhouse show runner Maxine...

Tattooing your pride.
August 1, 2005... RAINBOW BUMPER STICKERS AND pride rings aren't the only ways to proclaim your sexuality this summer. Now, more lesbians are turning to needles and ink to do the job. Tattoos have always served as a way to warrant membership into a tribe, and...

Open studio.(women photographer- Susan Scott)(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... Artist Susan Scott's obsession with images began with stop-motion animated short films starring children's dolls and other strange objects she found at flea markets. Scott's focus shifted when, rather than trashing her latest film set, she...

Amazons on the water.(Amazon Dragons, boating team)
August 1, 2005... IT'S A RAINY SPRING EVENING and Portland, Oregon's, Barb Pallari wants nothing more than to settle in with a good book. But it's practice night for the Amazon Dragons dragon boat team, so she heads down to the Willamette River. With 20 other...

Why won't she commit?(lipstick & dipstick)
August 1, 2005... Dear Lipstick and Dipstick: I am a 49-year-old lesbian dating another lesbian my age. My lover's previous relationships were awful, and even though I'm nothing like her exes, she's afraid to make the same mistakes with me. We've been together...

Parsing the packing question.(ask fairy butch)
August 1, 2005... Dear Fairy Butch: I'm 18 and I'm beginning to get comfortable with the idea of being a lesbian (though I have yet to come crashing through the closet door). As I gain more exposure to the lesbian community, I find it is, like most things, full...

5 reasons: to unplug.(online dating)
August 1, 2005... If you want to go online to find a mate, you'll be sorrier than George W. at a radical lesbian potluck. The five good reasons to avoid dating on the net involve five kinds of women you should avoid at all costs. 1. Crazy sexy cool......

Summer lovin' happens so fast.(lesbofile)(heat is driving the celebs out of the closet)
August 1, 2005... IT'S SUMMER, AND THE HEAT IS driving the celebs out of the closet. From rappers to housewives, more and more women seem to be exploring their Sapphic side--and we're not complainin'! Model Behavior? Radio shock jock Wendy Williams...

She said, she said.
August 1, 2005... "I actually had the privilege of going to their church. It was my lucky day because it was Support the Amendment Sunday, Call Your Senator Monday. At first, I started to laugh, because it just reminded me of a bad Saturday Night Live skit,...

Turks and Caicos Islands: the perfect place for the perfect lesbian Caribbean vacation.
August 1, 2005... About an hour south of Miami, across the clearest blue-green water you are ever likely to see, is a tiny chain of islands and lots of mostly uninhabited small cays known as Turks and Caicos Islands, or TCI. This Caribbean hot spot for the rich...

Troublemaker Irshad Manji: reviving Islam's lost tradition of independent thinking.(Interview)
August 1, 2005... Irshad Manji has spent the better part of the past year and a half in a whirlwind of controversy. After the 36-year-old Canadian television host published The Trouble With Islam Today, she received death threats and was forced to travel with...

Who's your favorite Osbourne? Her rocker father made her famous, but TV made her a star. Now crooner Kelly Osbourne talks with Curve about lesbian marriage, drug addiction and what every 12-year-old girl needs to know about love and sex.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(interview)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... Kelly Osbourne wants you to know she's not the spoiled harpy the tabloids make her out to be. She's actually a very sensitive and intelligent woman, fiercely independent and incredibly real. Fearless and forthright, she is shockingly honest and...

Amy Ray should have been my prom date: dyke music icon Amy Ray takes us all the way back to high school with her second solo album.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(interview)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... Since coming out of the acoustic folk closet as a punk rocker on her 2001 solo debut, Stag, Indigo Girl Amy Ray has proven it wasn't just a phase with Prom, a potent, 32-minute follow-up that hones Stag's blend of rock, punk and folk, as well...

One-woman wonder: P-town's Zoe Lewis is a band in a body.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(interview)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... THE THING I REMEMBER MOST ABOUT sharing a flat with the irrepressible Zoe Lewis in Northampton, Mass., is the endless stream of hippies, queers and gypsies who accepted her open invitation to park in the driveway, live out of their cars and use...

Ballroom Blitz: Sugarpuss, Triple Creme, the Dead Betties and more edgy queer bands make Queercore Blitz the concert of the year.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)
August 1, 2005... QUEERCORE BLITZ, THE FIRST AND only organized tour to showcase an all-queer lineup of punk, rock and hard-core bands from around the United States, is set this summer to honor the DIY spirit of the anarchist underground movement of the late...

Spinning sadness into success: DJ Irene turns a hardscrabble childhood into a tale of triumph.(Irene Gutierrez)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... IRENE GUTIERREZ SPINS AT THE hottest clubs in the country; her mixes are flying off the shelves at record stores; her latest CD, Rockstar, debuted to critical acclaim. But despite being crowned the best-selling female DJ in the country,...

Bring it: rap duo God-Des in Eminem territory.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... "I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WORKS against me more--being white, female, Jewish, a lesbian or claiming Wisconsin," jokes rapper God-Des, who's now based in Brooklyn and is trying to break into the mainstream hip-hop market. Indeed,...

Scarlet fever: Milwaukee's Dropmore Scarlet is on the scene.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... THE WORD THAT COMES TO MIND WHEN ONE THINKS of the lesbian band Dropmore Scarlet is "melodious." From the highly danceable bop of "Pretty Lip" and "Jake" to the haunting harmonica chorus of "Lately" or the soaring "Desdemona," these women...

The Preacher's daughter: feminist songstress Tori Amos re-examines her Christian roots.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... IF YOU WERE OUT IN THE EARLY 1990s, chances are you overplayed a copy of Tori Amos' hauntingly personal pop album Little Earthquakes. Her moving, feminist stories--about the consequences of rape, our rites of passage and women's personal...

Chicken soup for the soul: anarcho punker Athena Reich does the poultry squawk.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... "BOCK BOCK BOCK, BA-CAW!" My sides ache from laughing and I can barely keep my shaking hand gripped to the phone receiver. I am convinced that there is no way this is actually happening, that instead I have been mysteriously transplanted...

Taking Root: Green and Root prove that couples who play together stay together.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... FOLK FAVORITE GREEN RECENTLY FOLLOWED UP HER rewarding first album, Multiheaded Heart, with a mature offering: Down That Road, recorded in collaboration with her lover, Root. Influenced by the death of Green's mother from cancer, and by their...

Anything goes: Kinnie Starr sets the stage for TV sex.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Interview)
August 1, 2005... THERE'S LITTLE DENYING THAT KINNIE STARR'S music is hard to pigeonhole. Starr herself thinks of it as an eclectic mix of pop, rock, and hip-hop, and plans never to get stuck in one repeating pattern. One thing's for sure, though: Her tunes are...

The kid's got rock: PETA's little sister gets lesbian musicians on board to help get the message out.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... BESIDES TOPPING OUR FAVORITE MUSICIANS LIST, what do Ember Swift, Melissa Ferrick, Le Tigre, Sleater-Kinney and Tegan and Sara have in common? They've all teamed up with PETA's youth-focused division, PETA2, to tell legions of fans around the...

Still the one: thirty years and many pounds of tofu later, Michigan still offers the sweetest grooves.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Michigan Womyn's Music Festival)
August 1, 2005... YES, THERE ARE TOPLESS WOMEN of all shapes and sizes everywhere. Yes, Camp Trans activists picket the festival every year. Yes, they actually serve something called "nut loaf" to 4,000 women. But in the midst of all the hype about the infamous...

Mary quite contrary: country crooner Mary Gauthier makes room at the table for lesbians.(2005 MUSIC SPECIAL)(Interview)(Brief article)
August 1, 2005... "NEVER WAS 'IN,' NO NEED TO 'COME out,'" quips lesbian singer-songwriter and Louisiana native Mary Gauthier ("go-shay") on the phone from her hotel room in Toronto, where she's set to embark on a cross-Canadian tour via train. "I don't write...

Gwen and the art of flight.(Gwen Stefani)(Interview)(Cover story)
August 1, 2005... GWEN STEFANI IS ON THE PRECIPICE OF BECOMING A STAR OF STAGGERING PROPORTIONS. THE MID-1990S INTRODUCED STEFANI AND HER SKA-PUNK BAND NO DOUBT TO THE WORLD--AND TO THE HORDES OF QUEERS WHO ALMOST IMMEDIATELY BECAME DIE-HARD FOLLOWERS. THE...

Natural Disasters.(sapphic screen)(Memento Mori )(Producing Adults )(Brushfires)(April's Shower )(Brother to Brother )(Kinsey)(Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events )(Suspect Zero )(The Lost Angel )(Birth)(Bandit Queen )(Anatomy of Hell )(Movie review)
August 1, 2005... FOR OSCAR HOUNDS, DECEMBER is the month of lofty films: the tear-jerkers, the epics and the avant-garde sleepers with their complicated mise-en-scenes. But for lesbians, summer is the time to discover queer film. Gay and lesbian film festivals...

Music to hit the open road.(music watch)(These Things We Say)(Scream)(Surrender Dorothy)(Life's a Ball)(Brown County Waltz)(The First Lady)(Adapt or Die)(Martha Wainwright)(Danca Ma Mi (Dance With Me) )(Verve Remixed 3)(Bye Bye Beaute)(Pearl-Legacy Edition)(Sound recording review)
August 1, 2005... SUMMER'S IN FULL SWING, AND regardless of where your musical tastes fall along the punk-rock-pop-folk continuum, Ms. Led, Sarah Bettens and Alana Davis are three independent artists whose new releases are worth keeping an ear out for this...

Our song.(dyke drama)
August 1, 2005... EVEN BAD RELATIONSHIPS have a song. Part of the magic of music is that it often makes you find meaning where meaning did not exist. When you are in love, every love song reminds you of her. When you are hurting from a breakup, every song...

The music of our lives.(Column)
August 1, 2005... AS IT DOES FOR MOST PEOPLE, MY love affair with music began early. My mother loved music, and some form of it was always playing in our house--classical, opera, pop and show tunes as well as agitprop songsters of the 1960s like Bob Dylan, Pete...

Would you like fries with that?(tech girl)(Web site offerings from: MEA Fashions, THQ Wireless, Viator.com, BeyondMainstream.com and PostSecret.com)(Column)
August 1, 2005... AH, THE TEENAGE SUMMER JOB. Who can forget spending a few sweaty months mowing the neighbor's lawn or scooping ice cream at the local creamery for minimum--or lower--wage? Well, all that may finally be a thing of the past, at least for three...

Top ten: reasons we love Kate Rigg.
August 1, 2005... KATE RIGG IS LIKE A TRIPLE espresso spiked with a shot of dainty and garnished with a shaving of wit. She's hard to resist, with a mischievous smirk that opens into a genuine smile and a delightfully satirical tongue--often in cheek when she's...