on facebook? the event is here.

Tennessee Jones is the author of the Lambda Literary Award nominated collection Deliver Me From Nowhere, a “cover” of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. He is the recipient of awards from the Jacob K. Javits Foundation, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, Phillips Exeter Academy and Hunter College, where he received his MFA in Fiction in 2010. His short fiction has appeared in various journals and anthologies. His current novel in progress is about generational trauma in an Appalachian town notorious for two brutal incidents: the hanging of an elephant and the expulsion of its entire black population. He grew up in the hollers of East Tennessee and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Zavé Martohardjono is a Brooklyn-based artist working in performance, movement, video, and text.

He has had the pleasure of performing for Lawrence Weiner, Mariangela Lopez/Accidental Movement, Ximena Garnica, Vanessa Anspaugh, and devynn emory.

He has collaborated in queer and trans collectives Theater Transgression, Into the Neon, and worked with MIX NYC. His videos and performances have shown in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Montréal, Berlin, London, Zurich, Amsterdam, and Jakarta. This reading is a continuation of his autogeography series that reconfigures classical Indonesian mythology into loosely autobiographical storytelling. He is thrilled to be joined by collaborating artists Mieke D. & Nyx. zavemartohardjono.com.
photo by Eli Brown

Amber Dawn is a writer from Vancouver, Canada. Author of Lambda Award-winning novel Sub Rosa, and editor of the anthologies Fist of the Spider Women: Fear and Queer Desire and With A Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn.

Until August 2012, she was director of programming for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. Amber Dawn was 2012 winner of the Writers’ Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers. She currently teaches Speculative Fiction writing at Douglas College.

Nicole Myles is a photographer currently living in Brooklyn.

Prof. Katia Perea lives in Brooklyn and spends her spare time placing toys in odd public locations; a form of 3D graffiti. She is a serious cartoon fan and has a PhD in Sociology from the New School specialized in popular culture and television cartoons. She is currently working on her book “Girl Cartoons” and will be presenting at BronyCon 2013. She is thrilled to be at Opentoe Peepshow!

WHAT’S HAPPENING

In Olympia, four Heels on Wheels touring folks were present during the tragic, though thankfully not fatal, accident that happened to our friend, host, and co-organizer femme badass extraordinaire Siobhan. She was hit by a speeding drunk/high driver that appeared and accelerated out of nowhere as we were crossing the street together. She is alive and going to survive, but she is in the ICU w multiple serious injuries, some of which have changed her physical reality forever. She needs/will need an incredible about of financial and many other types of support.

Immediately, community skills as street medics, space-makers, crisis interventionists, and caretakers materialized from the Olympia, Bay Area, and NYC folks present. We are so grateful for each person’s presence; it was also extremely upsetting. Being so close to the physical harm of our old friend [and for some, a person they'd just met] was and continues to be traumatic for all who were there.

As folks work together to help and support Siobhan, it’s with love that we request support for all of those in her networks, including the folks not present who are organizing for her, the folks who were there, and folks who love and care about Siobhan across the country. Because of the ripple effects of trauma, each of us will need various kinds of care and healing, even as we continue to give each other and Siobhan care and support.

Heels on Wheels canceled what was to be our Olympia show for Siobhan’s community to gather, collect donations for her long-term needs, and write her notes, and we are not doing our scheduled show on Friday in Seattle.

We are rescheduling our show in Seattle to Tuesday April 2 and keeping our other tour dates, after taking some healing time and discussing among ourselves.

ART, RESILIENCE, and TRAUMA

We are continuing to tour because the work we individually do and collectively create is about healing and communities, and we want to continue to share this art as we strive for healing among our group.

The Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow is deeply about resiliency — our performances, our transformative organizing, the magic that we femme-ifest for ourselves and the people around us. Our working-class-led tour harvests resilience to make art and to share it in the first place. As a group we honor and experience a wide range of oppressions, marginalizations, traumas AND creativity, prevailing, survival, community, and general badassery in all forms. So, we know about healing.

Image by D’Luxe / text by Heather Acs.

And we know that art heals hearts.

It has healed each of us, and as performing artists for many years we’ve seen it heal rooms of people. We know that many permutations of folks immediately affected by this specific tragedy need healing, and also that each of us, including those not touched at all, moves through the world affected by trauma, harm, and the pains of living; and its for that and for each of us and for the many communities we are part of that we tour in the first place.

We need each other in many ways, and one way is to inspire resilience. This is one way to, in Heather’s words from her piece, “hold each other tightly.” This tour is one small healing gift.

WHAT YOU CAN DO & SHOULD KNOW

Heels on Wheels touring folks are physically ok, but we are collectively and individually in various states of shock, PTSD, and just fucking sad for our friend. We are also individual humans who are full of many kinds of feelings — you’ll also see us cracking jokes and aiming for some fun. We might not all be excited to talk about our experiences.

At our remaining shows we will be collecting donation$ for Siobhan*.  We are also open to accepting healing items for ourselves, including: essential oils, crystals, jewelry, snacks, and/or talismans/gifts from whatever your practice may be.

As a tour, we look forward to sharing dialogue and our witchy and powerful selves with folks on the west coast.

xo,
Damien Luxe, with Heather Acs, Shomi Noise, Lizxnn Disaster and Vagina Jenkins

*Donations of items/checks/money orders can be mailed to: 1411 8th Ave SE, Olympia WA, 98501. Checks can be made out to: Dusty Weber Lamay, her housemate.

We don’t yet have a financial donation link to share, but we will be involved in further fundraising efforts.

Location: The Village @ Gureje, 886 Pacific St, Brooklyn, NY 11238. Between Washington & Underhill, enter thru the little shop!

FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/380338642065410

MERRIE CHERRY sparkingly leads the monthly drag night at the Metropolitan Bar in Williamsburg, BK!

CRISTY C. ROAD is a Cuban-American Artist and Writer. Blending her political principles, sexual identity, and social inadequacies- Road lives to testify the beauty of the imperfect. Her endeavors in illustrating and publishing began when writing a punk rock zine, Greenzine, for ten years. The eventually included narratives on race, gender, and eliminating oppression the punk and activist communities. She resumed to illustrate countless record album covers, book covers, political organizations, magazine articles, and more. Road has published an illustrated novel about high school, mental health, sexuality, and Miami entitled INDESTRUCTIBLE, a postcard book entitled DISTANCE MAKES THE HEART GROW SICK, and BAD HABITS, an Illustrated love story about healing, drugs, gay nightlife, and her telepathic connections to the destruction of New York City.  Road’s work has also been featured in the Baby Remember My Name: New Queer Girl Writing Anthology, Live Through This Anthology, Reproduce and Revolt, and countless other published works. She’s toured nationally and internationally on her own, and with SISTER SPIT, an all-queer spoken-word road-show. She is currently working on a TAROT CARD DECK with Author, Michelle Tea and her band, THE HOMEWRECKERS. Her latest novel, SPIT AND PASSION (A graphic novel about coming out, maintaining her Cuban cultural roots, and an obsession with Green Day) is due out on Feminist Press in the fall. She hibernates in Brooklyn, NY.

Lotus eater machine is a queer dance punk collective currently working out of new york city.  by exploring the nature of ritual as simultaneously a product of collective memory, individual experience, and cultural context, the group works to reframe queer identity politics as a dynamic and ongoing dialogue, acknowledging the frequent tension between fulfillment of the individual self as a fully realized/differentiated sovereign entity and coexistence within a more expansive view of sustainable, interdependent communities/cooperative individuals holding their own agency.

SILAS HOWARD (writer, director, musician), co-directed his first feature, By Hook Or By Crook, with Harry Dodge. The indie classic was a 2002 Sundance Film Festival premiere and five-time Best Feature winner. See a preview here. Howard’s next feature film in development, Exactly Like You, (co-written with Nina Landey) is based on the life of Billy Tipton. What I Love About Dying, Howard’s short documentary based on Kris Kovick, premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. You can check out Howard’s music videos, short musical and documentaries which have aired on MTV and LOGO networks and at Disneyland, Anaheim.
For eight years, Howard toured with his band Tribe 8, the notorious queer punk band (a band boycotted by republicans and women at Michigan womyn’s music festival). The band has been featured in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and The Los Angeles Times. Howard’s writing is also featured in the anthologies, “Without a Net: Growing Up Working Class” and “Live Through This,” as well as the artists’ journal, “LTTR.” Silas intervewed on Live Through This. Currently Silas is working on a novel set in San Francisco’s mid-90′s homocore scene.

Location: The Village @ Guerje [aka the Yes Ma'am space] on 866 Pacific Ave., between Washington & Underhill in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

Time: Doors 7p, show 8p, Q&A 10p.

Cost: $3-10.

Performers:

Cal Trumann has been performing drag professionally since 2007, and lip-synching in strange outfits onstage and in living rooms since childhood.  Liminal states of identity make up the bulk of Trumann’s work, drag and otherwise: a transgender, mixed-race, queer from the woods living in the big city, Trumann takes their role as a bridge and a jester very seriously, but tries to keep seriousness out of their performance.  Trumann’s alter ego LeRoi Prince can be followed on Facebook & Tumblr: leroi-prince.tumblr.com

Emmet Rugburn has been prancing around Brooklyn for the last 7 years. He has pranced on or near a number of stages, mostly with a musical instrument on or behind him, and is incredibly pleased to prance around an instrument-free stage in Brooklyn for the first time ever at Open Toe Peep Show. An enthusiastic feminist, Emmet’s work attempts to explore concepts of family/love, mortality/health and the ridiculousness/silliness of it all.

Glittered and Mauled is a queer, anti-folk band with a cabaret influence. Both cheeky and macabre, Glittered and Mauled has a sound that has been described as dark, ferocious, heartfelt, and swelling. Glittered and Mauled is comprised primarily of two best friends, Tova Katz and Rose Emily Quinn, but is often accompanied by various rascals around Brooklyn. They’ve played dozens of shows raging from the gutters of the Gowanus to the Brooklyn and Manhattan stages.

Sabina Ibarrola is a dancer, bruja, and burlesque artist on the path towards becoming a writer and healer, too. She is an alumna of the New York School of Burlesque and The Femme Show. Sabina performs regularly in New York and anywhere else they’ll let her onstage. Ask her about the glitter in her Diva Cup.

Jaime Shearn Coan lives in Brooklyn, New York, teaches creative writing and literature at The City College of New York, and leads writing workshops through the NY Writers Coalition. His poems have appeared in journals including the Mississippi Review, Drunken Boat, and The Portland Review and are forthcoming in Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry. His artist book, dear someone, the product of a collaborative queer letter-writing project, is distributed through Printed Matter. Jaime has been awarded fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Saltonstall Arts Colony, Lambda Literary Foundation, Tin House Writers Workshop, and Poet’s House’s Emerging Poets Fellowship.

Each first Sunday of the month October–June, the Heels on Wheels continue to create space for queer performances that transcend genre and gender, presenting magical and powerful artists who inspire, delight, and educate.

Where: Branded Saloon, Vanderbilt Ave. and Bergen St., Brooklyn, $3-$10.

When: Doors at 7pm, Performances start at 8pm *sharp*, and there is a *special surprise* involving Patti Smith. We’ll say no more…

Featured artists for January 2013 are:

  NCN  is the stage name of a believer in collective liberation, hater of capitalism, and conductor of storytelling experiments for children and adults. Tigerlad, the baby donkey, and all NCN’s other characters (NCN personifies everything he sees) inhabit worlds where Newtonian physics and cause and effect logic have been replaced by desire, emotion, and SM fantasy. On their off-hours they inhabit www.tigerlad.com

Photo by Nogga Schwartz

Kit Yan is a Brooklyn based performance poet from Hawaii. He is interested in the every day, in love, and in story telling. He is a touring artist whose work has been presented globally and reviewed in New York Mag, Curve, Bitch, and Hyphen. Kit loves to write while driving and talk to people on airplanes.

Adelaide Windsome, a Heels on Wheels touring artist! and an LA-based multimedia fabulist. artist, and organizer. Windsome utilizes dark & whimsical fairy tales to confront themes of trauma and grief, depression and suicide, and the beauty of survival. Her work as been described as “cryptic vaudevillian surrealism” on bitchmedia’s SM{ART} and as “somewhere between Kate Bornstein and Edward Gorey” by Julia Serano, author of Whipping Girl. Windsome has been featured nationally with Fresh Meat Productions, Tranny Roadshow, Puppet Uprising, and Painted Bride Art Center, among others. She has facilitated workshops on gender, art, and activism at various colleges and universities including Western Washington, James Madison, and Harvard Law. Above all else she believes in embracing melancholy with magical. See more of her work at Stitching Tentacles Productions: http://stitchingtentacles.com

WITCH CAMP is NATH ANN CARRERA and AMBER MARTIN.

Photo by JILL PANGALLO!

Acclaimed vocalist and comedic performance artist AMBER MARTIN’s new show, Hi!, January 10th and 17th at 54 Below, is an arousing, if not mind-altering hour of meticulously chosen musical and comedic vignettes from Amber’s strange and fascinating toy box of characters. Blending music, raunch, stories, movement and acid-capped comedy with a pristine, multi-octave solo singing voice, Amber has seasoned her previous performances with rotating celebrity collaborators Bridget Everett, Justin Vivian Bond, Casey Spooner, John Cameron Mitchell, Jake Shears and Karen Black, to name a few.

NATH ANN CARRERA presents original songs, covers, and sincere sensationalistic storytelling! Cultish Lesbian Separatist Murder Ballads! Sacred Prostitutes Align Their Mirrors! Consensual A-Moralism! And BEYOND

Sunday December 2, 2012, 7-11pm
Branded Saloon, Vanderbilt Ave. and Bergen St., Brooklyn, $3-$10

Artists [performances start at 8pm *sharp*]

daniel rosza lang/levitsky is a cultural worker and agitator living in Brooklyn’s Glitter House.  Can’t stop picking things up on the street and making other things out of them – outfits, collectives, cabarets, barricades, meals…  Never figured out how to make art for art’s sake; rarely wants to work alone.  Third-generation radical; second-generation queer: just another oysterlish gendertreyf apikoyrus mischling fem who identifies with, not as.

Recent projects have included production midwifery and dancing for J Dellecave’s “Micro Mini Maxi Mystery Theater: En Total”; “The Tomb of the Unknown Pederast” installation in the 2012 Pop-Up Museum of Queer History exhibition; an evening-length toy theater production, “do not spare”; and co-editing the anthology “Dreaming In Public: Building the Occupy Movement”, with Amy Schrager Lang.  Ongoing work includes Just Like That (a Culture Push Practical Utopian Fellowship project); dancing with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra’s Tactical Spectacle; and an investigation of the queer scrapbooks of Carl Van Vechten.  Coming soon: http://meansof.org

Marci Blackman  is the author of two novels and several short works of fiction. Blackman’s first novel, Po Man’s Child, received the American Library Association’s Stonewall award for Best LBGT Fiction and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Best Fiction. In addition, Blackman co-edited the anthology, Beyond Definition: New Writing from Gay and Lesbian San Francisco, a Lambda Literary Award finalist and was one of the original members of Sister Spit, a touring queer spoken word troupe recently turned publishing company. An avid cyclist, Blackman’s first nonfiction title, Bike NYC: The Cyclist’s Guide to New York City was published in the summer of 2011 by Skyhorse Publishing. Blackman lives in Brooklyn.

The Kandake Dance Theatre for Social Change started in March 2011, The Kandake is a dance-theatre collective that combines social activism and philanthropy with folkloric, modern, theatrical and experimental movement. The original Kandake were the queens of ancient Ethiopia, Sudan, and parts of Egypt who were the political, military, and spiritual leaders of their societies. The women of The Kandake aim to continue the legacy of their predecessors with modern relevancy by generating active community leaders and joining the frontlines of diverse humanitarian efforts as part of their collective higher purpose. Thus, a percentage of Kandake-run productions is given to a humanitarian cause, project or 501c3.

The Kandake is also active in the community constantly hosting free shows, street art, and workshops.Interaction with the audience and storytelling is characteristic of our work. While some of what we do may be disturbing, absurdist, graphic, or “dark” our purpose is to rupture comfort zones, wake the unconscious, and inspire critical thinking. Just don’t fall into the habit of trying to find “meaning” in every show–sometimes we just want to dance!Our collective embraces talented performers of various ethnicities, religious (or non-religious) backgrounds, and sexual identities. If you are interested in working with The Kandake please visit us at www.TheKandake.com.

PHOTO by Stephen Freiheit

Mette Loulou von Kohl presents Grieving for the Undesirable. It is is a two-tiered exploration. On one level I open up the intersection within myself, of my identification as a queer woman and as a Palestinian/Arab. I investigate how these identities shape my body and the way I choose to wear these histories.

Sunday November 4, 2013, 7pm-11pm
The Spectrum, 59 Montrose Ave, Brooklyn, $3-$10

7pm: Skillshare: Jade Payne, setting up a PA
8pm: Performers: Kirya Traber, M. Lamar, T.L. Cowan,
9pm: Special Election Season collaboration: Drae Campbell/Ariel Speedwagon. [SEE FOLKS BIOS BELOW!]

Heels on Wheels is thrilled to announce the second installment of our new monthly Salon Series: The Opentoe Peepshow. This event is dedicated to revealing new works by queer artists of all persuasions, with a focus on performance art and feminine-spectrum folks.

On Sunday Nov 4th this all-ages event takes place at The Spectrum, 59 Montrose Ave, Brooklyn, NY. The cost is $3–$10, and there are three steps up into the venue.

The skillshare will be ongoing from 7-8p as Jade Payne shares how to set up a PA [that's a sound system]! Performances start at 8pm sharp and go until 9:30, including new works by Kirya Traber, M. Lamar, T.L. Cowan, and a Special Election Season Binders Full of Women Full of Binders collaboration by Drae Campbell/Ariel Speedwagon. There will be Q&A/feedback time afterwards, and then we’ll hang out and perhaps even dance.

Hostessed by Heels on Wheels femmes Shomi Noise and Damien Luxe, this series is about creating space for performers we believe in. We hope you can join us for this event, and the first Sunday of every month through June 2013!

The event is on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/events/293670237413418/

BIOS

Drae Campbell has had an eclectic career as a comedian, rock singer, director, breakdancer, choreographer and actor. Drae has appeared on many stages all over but mostly in New York city. As a director Drae has proudly created and developed several pieces including NERVE,a theatrical dance piece at HERE and MUMIA,a one-man show that toured New York,Iceland and San Francisco.

Jade Payne is a queer musician, performer, DIY educator, and audio engineer/sound enthusiast currently residing in Brooklyn. She has performed in various femme/inist-centric events such as Ladyfest and Nashville Femme, in addition to teaching sound/music workshops with the Rock & Roll Camp For Girls in several cities. She recently did sound mixing for the screenplay of Michelle Tea’s Valencia, Chapter 14. Jade currently plays in Force Fields, a conceptual, cosmic-witch-house band formed under mysterious circumstances with the intent of channeling sacred tales and unknown pleasures, in hopes for finding a way back home (wherever that may be).

Photo by Amos Mac

 Lamar is a countertenor, pianist, composer, songwriter and multimedia performance artist whose work draws heavily from African American Spirituals, Opera, late 20th century avant-garde music as well as popular forms such as blues and rock.

n February 2012, Lamar’s requiem focusing on the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade   :  SHACKLED TO THE DEAD was presented at Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York.

amar’s work has been presented extensively throughout the US, Canada and Europe, appearing at The International Theater Festival Donzdorf, Germany, HBC Berlin, Nacht Boulevard Potsdam, PS122, Joe’s Pub, Abrons Art Center, The Biennale d’art performatif de Rouyn-Noranda in Quebec, Canada, The Chocolate Factory, Galapagos Art Space, Center for Performance Research, and Washington Center for Performing Arts, Soho Theater London, as well as touring North America and Europe.

Edgy Women Festival, Montreal, 2010

T.L. Cowan is  a writer, performer, activist and professor currently living in New York City. She says, “My artistic, activist and academic work are mutually informing extensions of each other. My research and teaching are importantly influenced by the cultural and political scenes that I inhabit; my artistic productions are invested in an odd-ball and fleshy approach to the theories of cultural expression I take up in my academic productions; and all of this work is shaped by my overarching belief that social justice for all is an achievable goal.”

Photo by Sophie Spinelle / Shameless Photography

Heels on Wheels Opentoe Peepshow Salon Series #1:
If the shoe fits…

Sunday Oct 7, 2012 6-9pm
Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, 53 Prospect Park West [at 1st St.], Brooklyn, NY

Featured Perfomers: Shomi Noise,  Bevin Brandlandingham
Opening Perfomers: Mica Sigourney [SF],  Annie Danger [SF]
Skillshare: Ivette González-Alé

Heels on Wheels is thrilled to announce a new monthly Salon Series: The Opentoe Peepshow. This event is dedicated to revealing new works by queer artists of all persuasions, with a focus on performance art and feminine-spectrum folks.

Sunday Oct 7′s all-ages event takes place in a beautiful mansion on Prospect Park West, generously shared with us by the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, which has 3-8 steps at its two entrances. The cost is $0–$10.

The skillshare will be ongoing from 6-7p as Marimacho‘s [and Queer of the Year!] Ivette González-Alé shares how to make dressing and pair wine! Performances start at 7pm sharp with visiting artists Mica Sigourney and Annie Danger, both from SF. Local features include DJ and zinester Shomi Noise and femmecee and writer Bevin Branlandingham will begin before 7:30, and there will be Q&A/feedback time afterwards until 8:45.

This series is about creating space for performers we believe in. We hope you can join us for this inaugural event!

On Sunday Oct. 7 we also recommend you check out the Lesbian Herstory Archives’ Dyke Action Machine book launch and poster show beforehand from 3-6pm, and the POC Zine Project show at Death by Audio afterwards, 8-11pm.

photo by Najva Sol

The last three days have been so exciting: we were in Jersey City, Baltimore and at the University of Maryland. We also got to hang out with friends in Baltimore and fulfil one of Damien’s life dreams: a VAN on VAN photoshoot!

We’ve determined that one of the themes of the tour has been ALLIES: straight allies, masculine allies, artist allies, radical allies …folks across the Northeast and Midatlantic are reaching out, helping out, participating, and taking care of us.

Our pieces are also touching on the other theme of the tour, FEELINGS! All our performers are telling stories in different ways and all these stories evoke feelings.

Heather’s piece is about presence, creative acts of survival, and our collective root in stardust.

Geppetta’s piece uses a tumbling teacup to examine mental health and mind-mapping.

Shomi talks about the wretched feelings of teenagehood and her ways of finding herself.

Damien’s piece uses creative, physical acts of resilience to explore healing from dissociation.

Photo by Najva Sol

Najva looks at the artistic process, breakups and first times — and the surprises and pitfalls of all these.

Photo by Shomi Noise

And we’re supported awesomely in our touring by violinist/merch-babe/yoga-teachervan-driver Lizxnn Disaster.

There’s a LOT more photos here — check them out.

Things are going so awesome, we really hope that folks in DC, Philly and NYC get a chance to come out to our last three shows! The events are:

DC 4/12 @ The Center at 7:30pm
Philly 4/13 @ Vox Populi @ 8:30pm
NYC 4/14 @ The Spectrum @ 8:30pm

You can support us by getting art or tshirts — and get presale tix — at our kickstarter, which has three more days on it and is almost completed — but we still need a lil more help!!