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Roller derby made its triumphant reemergence in Winnipeg on Saturday, and in a big way. The bout between the Winnipeg Murder City Maidens and Thunder Bay’s Babes of Thunder played to a capacity crowd of 2000 (TWO THOUSAND!) at the Convention Centre.

Let’s just consider this feat for a moment. Getting two thousand people out a) in Winnipeg, b) in February and c) during the Olympics is a pretty awesome feat. Alas, I was not one of those 2000. Jeff Monk was, though, and he stopped by my office today and we talked about the event and how “every punkette in the city was there” and that the energy in the room was positive and amazing.

There are a lot of factors that contributed to this incredible first success from the WRDL. Obviously, roller derby has been growing in mainstream profile over the last number of years, with lots of ink spilled on the subject as well as a (rather excellent) Major Motion Picture last year. But it’s not just that. The women of WRDL have been hard at work getting ready for this for two years, building their skills and their marketing savvy. I mean, this organization has local youth-oriented top 40 radio station HOT 103 on board, as well as our daily paper of record, the Winnipeg Free Press on board as sponsors. What’s really put the WRDL over the top, though, is the fact that its participants are very involved and present in the existing indie/underground community — a blanket term I’ll use for the combined spheres of music, art and culture here in town. If you’re in any of those communities, or heck, if you sometimes shop for vintage clothing, you’ll recognize at least one face in the MCM team photo. And that counts for a lot in the age of Facebook  and viral marketing.

So congratulations to the Murder City Maidens on not only their victory in competition on Saturday (apparently the Babes were thoroughly whipped), but on the achievement of building something like this in a city where so many lofty ideas never get off the ground.

Leif Norman took some great shots, and he said I could share them with you here.

Portage ‘n’ Maim

More pics behind the cut!

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My pal Mama Cutsworth is a DJ who also has crafty tendencies. “Drop the Needle” is a name she hatched years ago, but now she’s got the event to go with the moniker — a monthly series of music + craft nights at the Lo Pub!

This is the second installment. Unfortunately, I was out of town for the first (though, to be fair, so was Mama C — it was a very last-minute thing she threw together before taking off for NYC for a holiday), but we’re both back in full action for Drop the Needle: the Book-Binding Badge.

Chantale Maynard will drop the book-binding knowledge; I will curate a special set of craft-related music.

Here are the details per Mama C:

Drop the Needle is Winnipeg’s new monthly crafting and DJ party at the Lo Pub!!!!!

This month, learn how to make hand-bound books with paper, needles and thread with artist Chantale Maynard while Mama Cutsworth plays the night’s soundtrack! We’ll have a curated music set with Jenny from CKUW’s The Book of Right-On at 7:30!

We kick off each party around 7pm and feature a mini workshop with a local artist between 8 and 9. Live DJing begins a bit later, dancing and prizes topping off the night!

Bring your friends and your own projects to work on too – any form of handicraft is welcome! Embroidery! Collage! Puppet making! We’ll have desk lamps on most tables to light your crafting. For this workshop, we will provide some materials, but we will send out a note to all attending soon regarding materials.

SUNDAY, February 21st
Lo Pub, 330 Kennedy street
Doors are at 7, the workshop begins shortly after.
Admission is 5 dollars.

Drop The Needle is brought to you by Mama Cutsworth, Kerri-Lynn Reeves, Sew Dandee, MAWA, Kustom Kulture and UMFM 101.5

If you have a business that is interested in sponsoring future Drop The Needles or have a crafty prize to donate, contact sarah at mamacutsworth.com

>>> Facebook event

>>>mamacutsworth.com

>>>thebookofrighton.com

Sunday is for riverwalking. Ruth, Mel, Epiphanie and I tromped down the riverbank and off to the Forks. Along the way, we checked out some of the new Warming Shacks, functional art installations that are new since our last trip down the Assiniboine. They’re great! And, as I see it, a good first step toward Art Shanties in the vein of Medicine Lake.

The river and the Forks weren’t as busy as they were last time, probably due to the clouded-over sky and the fact that it was actively snowing.

Sunday afternoon I took a stroll down the frozen Assiniboine River with friends (i.e. the stylish mama pictured below and her adorable offspring, in pink, running away from us. Don’t worry, we didn’t let her go far!).

The unseasonably beautiful weather made the Forks a great place to be! Lots of other people had the same idea as us, and the whole thing had a festival vibe to it, though it’s not a festival per se (though there were some Festival du Voyageur folks there, as well as a kettle corn truck!),

Our pals DJ Co-Op and DJ Hunnicutt were spinning tunes in the centre of the skating rink. (Rink pictured below.)

The young ones ate mini-donuts! (A Forks essential if ever there were one.)

I didn’t take too many pictures — mostly video, which you will see in the January Video Scrapbook, due to arrive in a scant fortnight. I will leave you with one photo of DJ Co-Op demonstrating why he really needs a better iPhone case. And to be fair, one of the stellar DJ Hunnicutt, betoqued, beheadphoned and hard at work!

NB: THOSE WHO ARE NOT NERDS FOR BOOKS OR FANTASY IN GENERAL CAN SKIP THIS POST

On Tuesday, for the first time since 1995 (or 1996, he can’t quite recall), Neil Gaiman came to Winnipeg. (Click here if you have no idea who this guy is.)

And we came to Neil Gaiman.

He did a reading from his newest book, Odd and the Frost Giants, which I regret not buying, because it involves Norse god characters and I’m a sucker for that sort of thing (which is why I went out on a very cold Tuesday night to see Neil Gaiman in person, I suppose). He was quippy and answered pre-selected questions with with and grace and flair.

Quotable Neil:

“Nobody can stop me! They’ve handed me the microphone. I am now king!”

-On his acceptance speech for the Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book at the Indies Choice Book Awards, where he announced, off the top of his head and spur-of-the-moment , a continent-wide contest where the independent bookseller that threw the best Graveyard Book Halloween party would receive a personal visit from him. McNally Robinson was one of the winners; the other was a store in Decatur, Georgia.

“If I pick randomly, it’s not going to be Winnipeg in December.”

-On his decision to visit both front-runners in the competition instead of flipping a coin or picking “randomly.” Over 40 parties were held throughout Canada and the U.S., but none in Alaska or Hawaii. Neil expressed his great disappointment there were no submissions from the latter, and with temperatures like ours, who can blame him?

“I don’t know if you have been at a signing at 10 o’clock at night with hungry eight-year-olds, but trust me, the right thing to do is get them to bed.”

-On why the kids in the audience would get their books signed first.

“I was fascinated by the way women would fall in love with him and he would not notice.”

-On Richard Curtis, whom Gaiman says was the basis for the character of Richard Mayhew in Neverwhere (though the character’s appearance as described in the book is that of the actor who played him in the simultaneously produced/written BBC miniseries).  Gaiman went on to claim that Hugh Grant’s entire public persona is basically that actor “doing Richard Curtis,” who directed Grant’s star turn in Four Weddings and a Funeral. He suggested we watch interviews with Grant from before that movie for proof of the change.

“I hate the expression ‘be good.’ It implies, ‘You sit there and don’t cause trouble’… I think people should make a mess.”

-In response to the question, “What do you feel it means to be good?”

“She’s like that, but turned down.”

“I’m convinced the Amanda Palmer who gets on stage is unembarassable.”

-On girlfriend (and Dresden Dolls singer) Amanda Palmer in real life, as opposed to her stage and public persona.

“Audiences expected someone who talked in flawless iambic pentameter.”

-On why, after his 1999 book tour for Stardust, Gaiman started blogging — to strip away the mystique surrounding him as a public figure.

“You can pour them, like pizza sauce.”

-On bees. Gaiman is an amateur beekeeper, a hobby he put off taking up for years due to his assistant Lorraine’s fear. He told the story of how his first shipment of bees arrived in the mail on a day he was out of town (as Lorraine had feared). Gaiman’s friend and co-beekeeper poured out the first package of bees (they in a docile state when transported) while Lorraine watched. She insisted on pouring out the second packet and ever since then, Gaiman says, has been “one with the bees.”

Another question concerned his response to the amazing dolls and sets created for the film adaptation of Coraline. Gaiman said that at first he felt guilty about all the work that went in to creating a visual representation of what originally formed effortlessly in his mind. This changed, however, after he did a signing at Laika, the film’s production company. He met a carpenter who had seen the DVD extras for the film version of Stardust, where Gaiman tours the sets and remarks on his “guilt” surrounding the thousands of hours and millions of dollars that go into bringing his ideas to the screen. The carpenter said he shouldn’t feel guilty, because “If it wasn’t for people like you, I’d be making shelves!”

+++

In summary: what a treat.

We stuck around for awhile after the reading in hopes of getting our books signed; while Neil and Co. promised that every single person who wanted a book signed would get it (and I believe them!), we weren’t sure we wanted to spend several hours in line to make that happen. For us, a fleeting face-to-face moment and a scrawl of ink wasn’t the main draw. The reading itself, and the excitement surrounding it, was the nerd-rush we were looking for!

Other highights:

- seeing lots of friends and familiar faces

- overhearing a couple of super nerdy guys (you know, the kind who would correct you on a small detail from panel three of page 45 of Watchmen at the slightest provocation) pronounce Neil’s surname incorrectly (it rhymes with “layman,” not “pieman”).

-the families with younger children who were in attendance, and their varying levels of hippiedom (Long hair. Beards. Embellished felt vests. Plus some Scatterbained Professor types).

Beforehand, I wondered if the below-normal temperatures would put any sort of damper on this year’s This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Craft Sale. I should have known the answer to that question. The answer is no. There were 500 people through the doors… in the first hour alone! And everyone’s $2 admission fee went to Art City. Win!

I have prepared this image for you. Click to see a larger version.

TAYGCS is held each year in the Park Theatre — an old movie theatre transformed into a concert venue, coffee shop and movie rental place. In between some of the rows of seats there are tables (back in the day when you could set your snacks on a flat surface in front of you rather than balancing them on your knees!), and vendors set up their wares there as well as on tables brought in for the occasion.

Last year was my first year at TAYGCS, and I made the mistake of thinking I could run my table alone. This year I brought help, and good thing, because it was even busier than last year! Also, having a helper meant I could browse the other vendors more. I bought a couple of gifts, but of course I indulged in items for myself, including this:

Manatee stuffie by marathon1981

I love manatees (they are so fat!), and Kami sold me a sweet ornament (actually, her husband Mike did).

Adding to the festive and fun atmosphere: Wanda June’s clutch of little girls, who would appear from beneath the rack displaying her wonderful handmade clothing. Also, Grumble Toy’s adorability was in full effect even with the absence of Ainsley, one half of its two person creative team. Still, Chris was there with his big smile and fantastic plush as well as his Japan-made, self-designed, hand-painted plastic toys!

Grumble Toy plush

Speaking of plush, a thrilling new discovery for me at this year’s sale was Jill Zurzolo. A maker of bags and handmade buttons (right up my alley, obvs!) she has recently ventured into doll-making, and the results are nothing short of wonderful.

Drew Bear by Jill Zurzolo

As I write this now, I’m kind of regretting not buying one of these rice-bag weighted dolls. She also makes girl-shaped and rabbit-shaped ones!

Last year’s sale was such a success, I couldn’t imagine anything topping it, but Roy, Dallas and Kylie continued the tradition with force, curating a diverse and fantastic combination of crafters. No wonder people flock to this sale — it’s solid gold in terms of content, and you’re guaranteed no sellers of Norwex or gourmet dips. (Don’t get me wrong: I love Norwex and dips are delicious, but they don’t belong at a “craft” sale.)

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