FIERCE RULING DIVAS BALL - Video by Marina Maclean

TRANARCHY Part 1

So the Fierce Ruling Diva's Ball was AMAZING!! Thanks to everyone who came down and to all the amazing children who walked - you were all FABULOUS!

We are still waiting on pictures from the night, but here's a wee video shot by Style Scanner that should give you a taste of what it was like - COMPLETE TRANARCHY!

FIERCE RULING DIVAS BALL Music Pt 2

And now for some more voguing classics - consider this stuff "Vogue Music - New Way".

MASTERS AT WORK The Ha Dance



KENLOU The Bounce



STEVE POINDEXTER Work That Motherfucker



ROBIN S Show Me Love



yes, it's cheesy but it has to be done:
MADONNA Vogue



And even though he'll hate us for saying this, this is TOTALLY going on the list.
This is a produtcion by none other than Daniel Wang, and it's fucking fierce:

CHROMA OSCURA Glow Worms



Oh, and I left "Deep In Vogue" by Malcolm McLaren & The Bootzilla Orchestra (William Orbit & Mark Moore Banjee Realness Mix) off this list because I posted about it below, but THAT is the ultimate vogue house track.

FIERCE RULING DIVAS BALL Music Pt 1

Our good friend, legendary producer and DJ Daniel Wang says

"There are three anthems that you must have and play at a ball:

No.1 MFSB Love Is The Message



No.2 DIANA ROSS Love Hangover



No.3 LOOSE JOINTS Is IT All Over My Face (Female Vocal)

"

There's a few more we'd like to add to that list:

CHERYL LYNN Got To Be Real



THELMA HOUSTON Don't Leave Me This Way



SALSOUL ORCHESTRA Love Break (Ooh I Love It)



And that's JUST the disco stuff - more house on its way soon...

VOGUING - House Of Ninja

Probably the most famous voguing house in the world is the House of Ninja, formed by the legendary Willi Ninja back (I'm guessing here) in the early 80's or late 70s. Even though drag balls already existed, as did the dance, Willi Ninja is regarded as the godfather of voguing, and is featured heavily in both the Paris Is Burning film and the "Deep In Vogue" video by Malcolm McLaren. In anticipation of our own Fierce Ruling Divas Ball on Saturday, here's a selection of some of the best moves by the house, that can also serve as a kind of introduction to how voguing (and "houses") work.

First here's "Overall Mother" Willi Ninja in Paris Is Burning. This is the perfect introduction to this dance style:



And here is the "Deep In Vogue" video, though I have to say, the quality of this upload sucks, and the extended 9 minute mix is much better (with more dancing in the video). Still, it's worth a watch as it's some of the best voguing on film, IMO:



Here's another clip of Willi doing his thing in a club, and the catwalk/fashion connections are more clear here (as are the clubby origins of the dance):



Unfortunately Willi died in 2006. Thankfully, the house is still going strong - here they are in a group performance, and this clip also gives some insight into the voguing scene and its participants.



There are three main types of voguing, "new way", "old way" and "femme". Here is Aus Ninja demonstrating old way vogue, the classic style as seen in the late 80's videos:



In a nutshell, new way is more athletic and faster, and came to prominence after 1990. Here is rising star Javier Ninja showing some new way moves:



The third type of voguing is "femme" and has to do with extreme posing (in a very feminine style), coupled with some more acrobatic moves. Here is a clip of Danielle Ninja at the House of Mizrahi's 2006 Willi Ninja-tribute Latex Ball. (Note the signature vogue "dip" move where the dancer falls on to her back but with her leg tucked up under her bum):



Voguing is also closely related to "waacking", in which hand and arm movements are the focus. Here is Javier Ninja again with an amazing performance from the same House of Mizrahi's Latex Ball. Note how the MC Selvin Mizrahi is left speechless - THAT is how you dig status:



Perhaps the most famous current memnber of the House of Ninja is Benny Ninja, after his appearnace on America's Next Top Model teaching the contestants how to pose. This clip makes explicit the links between voguing and modelling, and the dance and fashion scenes. Benny appears around three and a half minutes in (so skip to that if you're not interested in some serious mega-bitchery).



Benny was given the title of Father of the House of Ninja by Willi himself before he died. And as the saying goes, "boys learn, men teach". Here's Benny giving a demo at a workshop in Paris:



And here's one of my favourite clips of all - House of Ninja performing at a party thrown by the SoBe drinks company, with Benny Ninja dressed in a giant lizard outfit (after the company's logo). With him are Javier and (I think) Aus, and they work to Madonna's "Vogue". What starts off looking like just some people messing around soon turns into an incredible routine:



So, hopefully this will teach all you budding children what you need to know for Saturday - doors open at 9pm (fashion show at 10pm) and the voguing/drag ball takes place at midnight. So come down, look fierce, throw shade and BRING IT!

Mugler Inspiration

Hey bitchezzzz, channel the gals of Thierry Mugler in this video here for Saturday's catwalk vogue-off at THE FIERCE RULING DIVAS BALL!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfDqdRFMeUs&feature=player_embedded

Age of Consent Free Download

Xpost from Shallow Rave.



Age Of Consent is the new project from Joe and Darren of Shitdisco. This time their disco is not shit, and it sounds like it comes from a gay club at some time around 1986. If you know your Hi-NRG you should get the name reference (Bronski Beat's 1st album, hetties). Here's a free download of their track "The Beach", remixed by the equally awesomely named "Valis" (look it up, non-Philip K Dick fans).

Age Of Consent "The Beach (VALIS Remix)"

Happy Halloween! Free spooooky mixes

Crosspost from Shallow Rave.

Yes, its that time of year again, when darkness spreads across the land and the midnight hour is close at hand, etc etc. Due to the venue we had hired going out of business, we have been forced to cancel this years Rock'n'Shock festivities, which is a shame, but there's lots of other options for Samhain revelling (personally I highly recommend the Cry Parrot Art School party with Gary War, Ben Butler & Ultimate Thrush, and the return of Optimo Espookio). To get you in the mood, here are some free spookilicious download-able mixes.

The first two are from our own Menergy gang. We made these mixes back in May to promote the Italo Horror Party, but they seem more relevant at this time of year. Mine is a comp of all your favourite disco versions of horror themes while KZ's is a more brooding, modern take on John Carpenter atmospherics. But with some gay disco thrown in for good measure.



Halloween II - John Carpenter
Cannibal Ferox - Fabio Frizzi
Zombi - Goblin
Amityville Frenzy - Lalo Schiffrin
Prom Night Theme - Zaza & Zitter
Phantasm - Captain Zorro
Phantasmagoria / Silver Sphere Disco - Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave
NYC Theme - Budy-Maglione
Demons (Disco Beard Edit) - Claudio Simonetti
Friday The 13th Part III - Manfredini & Zager
Lust - Rinder & Lewis
Doin' It In A Haunted House - Yvonne Cage
Disco Blood - The Vamps
Soul Dracula - Hot Blood

THE NIALLIST Disco Argento Mix by Menergy Mixes



Actress- Paint Straw and Bubbles
Tobe Hooker- Haddonfield Fear Factory
Mr Pauli- The Crunch
Black Devil Disco Club- Timing, Forget The Timing
Pat Hodges- Fly By Night
Telespazio – Galileo – Rodion Mix
Goblin- Tenebre
Lory D – Bank Robbery
Bunker 2 – Dark Side of The Moon
Gique- Fulci's Rotting Children
Patrick Cowley – They Came At Night
Ajello and Daniele Baldelli – Cosmogony
The Immortals- Ultimate Warlord
Goblin- Suspira
Solenoid- Suspiriosm
Porn Darstellar- Holocaust

KID ZIPPER Cannibal Italocaust Mix by Menergy Mixes

Next up we have a special festive mix from our chums at the disco/house blog Feel My Bicep. The whole thing is three hours long and available from their website. There are loads of great tracks up on the to download too, so get over there and get clickin'.



There's no tracklist for this yet.

HORROR MIXTAPE by Bicep

And finally here's an epic four hour mix from the producer Frenchbloke. Put together for a friend of his who had only just discovered Cabaret Voltaire, it features lots of cold-wave and minimal electronics form the early 80's. This is not specifially Halloween themed, but it is great, and some of these tunes are deliciously creepy!



xeno & oaklander - saracen
psychic youth - the future is now
ciaran harte - love is strange
deux - felicita
nightmoves - transdance (uk disco mix)
fad gadget - the box
the eurythmics - take me to your heart
metal urbain - panik
robert rental - a.c.c
rude 666 - the 1000 year storm
palais schaumburg - telefon
victrola - maritime tatami
rema rema - instrumental
the normal - warm leatherette (mathew stone remix)
cabaret voltaire - seconds too late
das boomerang - suzanne
oppenheimer analysis - the devil's dancers
futurisk - poison ivy
missing scientists - big city, bright lights
hiroshima chair - tu
eddie and sunshine - lines
moderne - indicatif
dark day - no, nothing, never
gorilla aktiv - spiegelbild
monte cazazza - kick that habit man
the passage - xoyo
ami marie - spiel mit mir
our daughters wedding - lawnchairs (dance club version)
daf - kebabtraume
blah blah blah - in the army
john bender - 06-27b4 (rainy day sunshine girl)
martin rev - mari
conrad schnitzler - auf dem schwarzen kanal
severed heads - adolf a carrot
emak - tanz in den himmel
soft cell - bleak is my favourite cliche
der plan - rot grun rot
the gist - iambic pentameter
yello - there is no reason
bourbonese qualk - lies
das kabinette - the cabinet
die krupps - goldfinger
klinik - moving hands
hula - poison (club mix)
chris and cosey - october (love song)
he said - a.b.c.dicks love
neon - lobotomy
portion control - go talk
john foxx - 20th century
front 242 - operating tracks
i start counting - my translucent hands
kas product - loony bin
spk - metal field
silicon teens - sun flight
dorothy - i confess
hard corps - je suis passee
daniel miller & boyd rice - cleanliness to order
malaria! - tod
holger hiller- jonny (du lump)
heaven 17 - i'm your money
voice farm - sleep
die doraus und die marinas - fred vom jupiter

The re-education of cartelmike by frenchbloke

Menergy Anthem: "Fly By Night" by Pat Hodges

A Kid Zipper favourite, from the late 70's vampire-disco-comedy Love At First Bite. I found a copy for 50p on the Isle or Wight - win!

Ball Culture

Since ball culture is somewhat of an alien concept here in Scotland, I thought it best we give you all a bit of an insight before THE FIERCE RULING DIVAS BALL on Nov 13th!

Ball culture, the house system, the ballroom community and similar terms describe the underground LGBT subculture in the United States in which people "walk" (i.e. compete) for trophies and prizes at events known as balls. Those who walk often also dance and vogue while others compete in various genres of drag often trying to pass as a specific gender and social class. Most people involved with ball culture belong to "houses" led by a single leader.


"Houses", also called "drag houses" or "drag families", are groups composed primarily of transgender people, the majority of which are African American or Latino, banded together under a respected "house mother" (sometimes a drag queen or a transgender person, but not always) or even a "house father".

The best known houses are New York City groups, especially those such as the House of Corey, the House of LaBeija, the House of Ninja, the House of Pendavis, the House of Garavani and House of Xtravaganza that were shown in the 1990 documentary film Paris Is Burning. Other houses function similarly in many United States but mainly focused in major cities on the East Coast, in the Midwest and South (i.e. House Of Infiniti , House of Mizrahi, House of Aviance, etc.)

According to the Village Voice:

...houses are loose-knit, typically same sex, confederacies of "children" who adopt a family name, usually swiped from a fashion designer, and adhere to rules set up by a presiding "mother" and "father."

Members of the house led by Willi Ninja, for example, adopt "Ninja" as their surname within ball culture, members of the house led by Anji Xtravaganza used the surname "Xtravaganza" and members of the house led by Avis Pendavis used the surname Pendavis such as Deborah, Kim, and Freddy and so on.

One theme discussed in Paris Is Burning is that people of color, queers, and poor people face certain disadvantages and are each a marginalized group; to qualify as all three makes one a pariah. In response, drag houses are:

...a whole new way of living, one that's highly structured and self-protective. The structure consists of system of houses where the young men function as apprentices. Reflecting a minority coping with hatred, the houses are associations of friends, presided over by a "mother," [...] that provide a substitute for biological families.

Under the house parents are:

...a big raucous band of "children": drag queens, butch queens, transsexuals - mostly MTF but some FTM, a few non-trans girls and one or two straight guys. The smattering of girls and straight guys notwithstanding, the houses are, essentially, cabals of young black and Hispanic men obsessed with being fashionable and fabulous.

House parents can provide wisdom, guidance and care for young people who otherwise might be homeless and without a parental figure. An exploratory study of two houses in Newark, New Jersey employed qualitative research methods including participant observation and in-depth interviewing to discern that:

Strategies employed by "house parents" have had an impact on the choices made by children of the houses regarding HIV risk behaviors. These strategies can be adapted for use by well-established community-based HIV prevention programs when they are comprised of staff who mirror the characteristics of "house parents" and engage in relationships that parallel this alternative family structure.

Competition

Besides providing a support system for its members, the main function of these houses is to "walk" or compete against one another in "balls" in which they are judged on dance skills, costume, general appearance, and attitude. Participants dress according to category in which they are competing and are expected to display appropriate "realness".
Dominated today by contemporary hip hop fashion and featuring much hip hop music, these events are actually part of a vivacious and ever-changing culture and are:

...a tradition dating back to the 19th century and going strong into the 21st. Balls continue to be held at bars or Masonic halls or other improbable venues. Across the country and throughout the five boroughs legends are still being born.

While these competitive walks may involve crossdressing, in other cases the goal is to accentuate a male participant's masculinity or a female participant's femininity so as to give the (almost always false) impression that the walker is heterosexual.

Taken from Wikipedia.

Fierce Ruling Divas Ball - Tickets Now ON SALE!

Tickets for Menergy's Fierce Ruling Divas Ball - our first birthday party - are now on sale at Tickets Scotland, Hellfire, Rub-A-Dub and the MarCHE @ Che Camille. Go get 'em!
x

Fierce Ruling Divas Ball - Entry Form

If you're thinking of catwalking in the Fierce Ruling Divas Ball then please take a minute to fill in your details and submit them on this form.
Thanks!

Lady Munter ranked in Attitude Mag list!

Our own Lady Munter is ranked among the 66 most influential gay people in the UK in this months Attitude mag! GO GIRL!

Fierce Ruling Divas Ball - NEW VENUE!

We can finally reveal that the new venue for Menergy's FIERCE RULING DIVAS BALL will be Che Camille @ The Barras Centre!



For those of you who have yet to be acquainted with Glasgow's latest hip and happening creative hub, check it here:

http://stylescanner.blogspot.com/2010/10/obscure-couture-fashion-show.html

For a map reference, check here:


View Larger Map

ALSO, we have some very exciting news in that professional make-up brand ILLAMASQUA are going to be sponsoring the event, which means prizes and make-up artists on-hand throughout the night to touch up your macquillage or give you a whole new look!

BRING IT!

Happy Birthday Divine!

Today would have been the birthday of Harris Glenn Milstead aka the one and only DIVINE!! She would have been 65 today - I wonder if that meant Harris would have been hanging up those heels for good? Happy birthday gurl wherever you are... xxx



Thx to Bear Magazine for the tip off!

Obscure Couture

Last night I attended the Obscure Couture launch party at The Barras Centre; a great alternative space and new home to our friends at Che Camille. The clothes were great and very wearable, with lots of leather, lace, lamé and bodycon silhouettes. A lot of effort went into the collection and insider info tells me that they were still putting it together at 7am the morning of the launch! Now that's dedication. I was even recruited last minute to help apply fake tattoos to the models, which I was more than happy to. After all, I do LOVE branding...
Check them out at The Barras Centre, Glasgow and online at www.obscure-couture.com.

Menergy FIERCE RULING DIVAS BALL

IT'S ON!!



More details to be announced very soon...

Check the Facebook event page...

And...

BRING IT!

Qaadir Howard aka Timaya

I know nothing about Timaya except that she is FIERCE! I discovered these vids last night randomly on Youtube and now I'm hooked. The music is like a more way-out-the-closet version of Cajmere or something. With a minimalist, Afro-centric feel. You can buy the music on iTunes, the artist name is Qaadir Howard.



This is the first video I found, after searching the term "throwing shade".



I really wanna work with Qaadir!!

Halloween = Cancelled

Bad news peeps, but due to the sudden closure of the venue we've had to cancel our Halloween event. :-(

Still, plans are afoot to find a replacement venue for our first birthday Divas Ball. Watch this space...

More Divine David

Here's another post that's just for Peaches Christ - some clips of Brit drag legend Divine David, from the self-titled late 90's Channel 4 series. David is still working in London and Manchester (he's dropped the Divine and is now just David Hoyle), if you ever get the chance to check her out then do, she's excellent.

Christeene [NSFW]

After a tip-off from Peaches Christ I have been checking out the videos of US alt-drag sensation Christeene. This is like so wrong it is right. In fact, it goes beyond concepts of wrong and right, it goes waaay beyond concepts of puny human morality. And it is TOTALLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

She has four videos in general circulation at the moment, and I am gonna post them all cos they are excellent. I'll break you guys in gently - here's the vid for "Fix My Dick":

CHRISTEENE- "Fix My Dick" Music Video - watch more funny videos

Here is the R&B slowjam "Tears From My Pussy".

CHRISTEENE "Tears From My Pussy" Music Video - watch more funny videos

Here's the ridiculously rude "Bustin' Brown" - guess what it's about?

CHRISTEENE "Bustin' Brown" music video (HD) - watch more funny videos

This is my favourite, the dub-steppy "Slowly/Easy":

CHRISTEENE "slowly/easy" music video (HD) - watch more funny videos

Christeene's debut EP "Soldier of Pleasure" is available to buy now from her website, and for more info check out this interview.