According to those who care about such things, in Arizona and New Mexico there is a geological phenomenon known as the “crystal vortex”. Underneath the desert, such people claim, is the largest growth of crystals and gemlike things on the continent. Because crystals are known for their properties of vibration, aura-mending, and general healing, this area has a disproportionately large amount of, well, good vibes. This is why so many new-age type people are drawn to the place, and why so much strange rugged individualism and “alternative lifestyles” flourish there.

For a long time I was obsessed with wanting to visit the crystal vortex. But then I realized that all I had to do was listen to Black Mountain.

This video is for the song Wucan, off their latest album In The Future.

My first post ever for Picks from Planet Venus was about Sarah Mangle, the singer-songwriter who plays the mini-ukulele and writes curious, queerious campfire songs for city kids.

So it pleases me to no end to announce that, one year later, she’s acquired a terrific backing band of string-players and they will be launching their album, congratulations ha ha ha, tomorrow night. Here’s an idea of what said band, Wet NOSE Hero, is like:

Imagine you’re watching a string quartet. I don’t know enough about classical music to tell you the shape and colour of their skill, but I can tell you they are drawing sweet and urgent strains from their instruments. Standing in front of the string quartet is The Little Prince. She is wearing a sailor hat and holding a ukulele that is barely bigger than a toy. (Maybe you remember that, like Peter Pan, The Little Prince is always played by a young woman.) She bounces up and down on the balls of her feet and yells into the microphone like she’s enormously frustrated. Then she’s singing in a voice that’s startling clear and melodic. She’s singing about construction sites and bad ideas and how her mom taught her to write love letters. You start thinking that the last time you saw your dear and far-away friend she was doing karaoke - she jogged on the spot and looked like an adorable pony, and you forgot to tell her. Okay, I lied. That’s not what Wet NOSE Hero is like. That is Wet NOSE Hero, plain and simple.

Here they are playing Congratulations at Burritoville in Montreal.

The launch takes places tomorrow, Friday the 29th at 9 PM, at the Eastern Bloc, 7240 Clark Ave. In Montreal. $6 gets you in the door, or pay $15 for the door and the album together, which is obviously the more sane option.

Okay, so the RCMP spying on women’s groups in the 1970s isn’t totally hilarious, but the idea of them infiltrating Rita MacNeil concerts to catch potential dangerous feminist elements kind of is.

Witness Canada’s Most Wanted Folksinger, in this photo clearly trying to conceal her identity.

According to recently declassified documents, MacNeil was among a group of activist women the RCMP had under observation due to their feminist leanings - of course, back in the 60s and 70s feminism was only the gateway drug, which was sure to lead to worse things like Communism, hostile foreign takeovers, the complete collapse of society, and so on.

Part of the file also described a feminist conference in Winnipeg as “consisting of about 100 sweating, uncombed women standing around in the middle of the floor with their arms around each other crying sisterhood and dancing.” Kind of sounds like a typical Lesbians On Ecstasy show, actually.

What is maybe most potent to me about this story is that it reminds us of feminism’s potential for radical disruption. I mean, I joke about it, but wouldn’t it be cool if feminism actually did play a part in bringing down patriarchal structures, dismantling (or restructuring?) capitalism, and, well, unravelling the messed-up tangle of societal norms? These women believed it could. And so did the RCMP, apparently. (Though not as much as if men had been in charge - one point the CBC article makes is that the federal police did not treat the women’s groups as as much of a threat as other, male-dominated, movements.)

I actually had no idea that MacNeil was a feminist activist back in the heady days of the Second Wave (she apparently represented the Toronto Women’s Caucus at the aforementioned conference). I guess it just goes to show that subversive elements are often where you least expect them. Go Rita.

Thanks to Ted for the tip.

Astute readers may have noticed that I’ve missed a few installments of Picks from Planet Venus over the past few weeks, things being what they are. So to make it up to you, here is something epic in scope and length.

Jazz saxophonist Matana Roberts has started a video blog to address some ideas about feminism and creativity that have been buzzing around in her head (and cropping up in interviews) for a while. Like a written blog, she meanders casually and candidly around and through topics like distinctions between black and white feminism, the definition of gender, and the development of her own voice. It’s like she’s giving you the interview of a lifetime and you don’t even have to ask her any questions.

Roberts is involved in a veritable panoply of amazing endeavours, like teaching at the School for Improvisational Music, and working on Coin Coin, an ongoing musical project based around her ancestor Marie Thérèse Coin Coin, a Louisiana woman who, after being freed from slavery, became a businesswoman and founder of one of the earliest communities of freed black people in the United States. She’s also an incredibly engaging storyteller, and has hung out with Alice Coltrane!

Learn more about her continuous investigations of the links between her history and her art at her blog, Shadows of a People.

Watch parts 2, 3, and 4 of her musings on gender and creativity after the cut.

(more inside…)

It’s been two years, give or take a few days, since one of the best rock bands of all time decided to call it quits. Sleater-Kinney gave the world about a decade of music, and for that I respectfully pour out a virtual forty for them on the curb. A few key S-K points and/or moments:

- No one has heard a voice like Corin Tucker’s, before or since (though a friend once said that her distinctive warble reminded him of Buffy Ste-Marie). The combination of her punk-rock yelp with Carrie Brownstein’s more melodic counterpart - often with both women singing completely different lines - never fails to stop my heart.

- They rock so hard, man. Carrie Brownstein is a babe, and her stage presence is amazing, all Pete Townsend windmills and leg-kicks.

- In a Punk Planet interview, Carrie Brownstein once said

“It’s like they think they’re paying you a compliment by taking you out of the ‘girl-group ghetto’ and saying that you’ve transcended gender. But that’s never been our goal. I mean, how could we possibly transcend something that’s so experiential and part of who we are? And why would we ever want to be ‘Men in Rock?’ It’s not a history that we’re part of, nor would we like to emulate it.”

Did I mention she’s a babe?

- They never seemed content to rest on their punk-rock laurels, and each album was a step forward into new sound; their last album The Woods took envelope pushing to the next level.

- At their last show in Montreal, the opening band didn’t make it over the border, so S-K entertained the crowd by inviting people up onstage for Sleater-Kinney karaoke, with the band playing live behind them. So delightfully awkward.

This video for the song Get Up was directed by Miranda July, and it’s totally creepy and weird.

Ladies, I salute thee. The world is just a little less cool without you.

What do you remember?

Because she is apparently too modest to post about it herself, thought I should let you all know that Shameless blogger and publisher Stacey May Fowles has had her novel Be Good longlisted for a ReLit independent press literary award!

Way to go, Stacey May! You can’t see it, but I’m doing the Arsenio Hall arm-thing right now and going WHOO WHOO WHOO!

Thanks Stacey May and Mir for reminding me that national cinema doesn’t have to be cringe-inducing.

What does Richard Condie’s The Big Snit have to do with feminism? Nothing in particular. Except that it contributed greatly to the personal development of this particular feminist, at least.

Every time I play Scrabble I try to spell CARROST. If anyone actually succeeds in doing this, I will award them like eleventy million points, for life.

Ah summer, season of the construction project. No matter where I go, no matter how idyllic the park or peaceful the rooftop, there’s always some tool (and some person using it, har har) razzing up the neighbourhood. Oh well, all the more reason to stay indoors trolling YouTube for videos.

Some of the most curious and intriguing music I’ve heard in a while is being made by Montreal’s Elfin Saddle, a duo whose stage set-up could probably double as either a kitchen or toolshed - you got yer pot lids, saws, duct tape and what-all and somehow it all adds up to beeyootiful music.

Here they are playing live in Montreal at a showcase handpicked by music fans extraordinaire Said the Gramophone. I especially love Emi Honda’s skills on the singing saw; if only my neighbours’ backyard projects could sound so sweet.

You can also buy mp3s of Elfin Saddle and many other fine bands from the website Villa Villa Nola, an innovative “store” that releases rare recordings on the internet, meaning there’s a lot of opportunity to get a hold of stuff that may be too ephemeral or small-scale for a record label or large-scale distribution but still really ought to be heard. They cut out the middleman and pass the savings on to you! Um, okay, now that the spirit of Ikea has left my body, I leave you to your listening. Enjoy.

In celebration of Aboriginal People’s Day, and, you know, just because it’s awesome, the indigenous media production company Isuma will be hosting a live internet broadcast of the Alianait! Arts Festival in Iqaluit. That means that you can tune in from anywhere there’s an internet connection and check out music, storytelling, circus acts, and more from the northern community. Just go to the Isuma TV website starting tomorrow, June 21st - events run all the way to July. It’s a great opportunity to see what northern youth are up to, and to get acquainted (or more familiar) with an amazing Inuit-owned, Inuit-run film and video company. Full schedule of events here.

The Isuma team in Igloolik