Hercules' Epic Disco Battle

Hercules’ Epic Disco Battle
By Raven Usher

So… You thought disco was dead, did you? Well not so fast! It seems that disco is seeing a resurgence at the dance clubs and on the air waves. In the front pew of this resurrection is a band named Hercules and Love Affair.

With their self-titled debut album Andy Butler, Antony Hegarty and Nomi set out to fuel the fire of the disco revolution using some fast beats and lively rhythms. It is not the pure disco of circa 1975, however. Hercules and Love Affair takes the basic disco philosophy of the unwavering dance beat and use twenty-first century techno sound to bring on a hybrid that certainly can keep a dance floor moving.

Usually when I review music I like to get some background on the band. Unfortunately information is woefully missing from Hercules and Love Affair’s web page, myspace page and face book page. All three of these pages have been dedicated to the sole purpose of selling the album and not in promoting the band or the band members. I finally had to dig up interviews from more than a year ago just to find the full names of the band members. I still did not find a last name for Nomi, so I assume she is making a go for Cher’s path to fame.

Despite the single moniker Nomi definitely has the best voice of the group and the three songs she takes the lead vocal on are the best tracks on the album. “You Belong”, the new single, which came out on July 7, has the strength to catch and keep the listener’s attention. If disco could make the charts, it would be a top-notch contender. “True False” and “Iris” top out the top three tracks of the album. “True False” is the best dance mix on the album with the most sustainable beat and “Iris” is a softer heart strings plucker that is reminiscent of a late 60’s protest song. A for all three songs.

The disco/techno marriage peaks with “Hercules’ Theme.” This song should be the rallying cry for the whole disco revolutionary movement. It has the best representation of the good old-school disco format. The innovation comes in when that old sound is remade in the light of the new techno spirit. B+.

There is only a couple of low points in the whole album. First is the song “Blind.” Although it has a good beat and is performed well, it has an eerie, creepy feel that conjures images of Jayme Gumm’s basement in Silence of the Lambs. All it is missing is a six foot tall nut job asking me if I would f*** him. It probably deserves a better grade but I could only bring myself to give it a C-.

The bottom of the well is the song “Time Will.” The percussion line is SO techno that it sounds 200% synthetic and it does not mix at all with and of the other music. Who ever mixed the track was either high or drunk or both as is evident in the choppy mismatching of all the components of the song. To top it off the vocals for the piece are a Hollywood cliché of the swaggering vocal lilt of flaming drag queen. This song barely squeaks by passing grade at D-. Some tight harmonies are the only thing that saves this song from getting an F.

Overall Hercules and Love Affair’s debut album earns a solid B. It is good dance music that is an easy feet mover. It is strong enough to be entertaining and yet smooth enough at to not intimidate less experienced dancers.

You can hear sample tracks and see videos on their web page, http://herculesandloveaffair.com/us/. There are also links there to where you can purchase the album or download individual tracks.
Blessed Be

Tension in Memphis

Tension in Memphis
By Raven Usher

An incident in Memphis, TN involving a police officer beating a trans-woman was recently brought to my attention. Here are the facts. Duanna Johnson was arrested on a prostitution charge. She was in the booking area waiting to be processed into jail. That is where officer Bridges McRae struck her several times. The incident was caught on video by the police surveillance cameras.

According to Johnson, what started the incident was McRae calling her "faggot" and "he/she" when he asked her to stand up and be fingerprinted. She told him that that was not what her mother named her and that she would not respond to him until he called her by her name. That was when McRae initially came over and began to beat Johnson according to her.

The video clearly shows that Johnson is NOT a defenseless victim during the incident. She did not curl up into a ball and endure a beating. She fought back while in a seated position, even kicking at McRae’s knee. She then stands up and attacks McRae after he backs off. Also, refusing to stand and be finger printed regardless of how she was addressed is a serious offence. That alone is enough to make a police officer use physical force to make a suspect do as told.

Over the last decade since I came out as transgendered I have seen a lot of trannies do a lot of stupid things. I have seen them put themselves in harms way; by getting intimate with men who do not know they are TG. By exposing themselves to people or groups they know to be hostile towards TG’s. And by attracting unnecessary attention from law enforcement agencies and risking their very lives by facing prison time by breaking the law.

Transgendered people have an extra responsibility to their personal safety that average people do not have. We know that we face extra danger just because we are indeed transgendered. It is OUR job to protect ourselves. Anything that puts an average person at risk of violence puts transgendered people at five times that risk. That includes things like breaking the law and getting into confrontations with cops. 99.99% of cops will go out of their way and even risk their lives to help transgendered people the same as they would for anyone else. That .01% idiot should not be used to influence your trust in the police. Unless you are a criminal.

The prostitution charges have been dropped since the incident made the news. Johnson’s lawyers claim that there was no just cause for the arrest to begin with and say that is why the charges were dropped. Johnson also states that since she is African-American and towering at a height of 6’5” that she was “profiled” not only as a prostitute but also a potential threat. It seems more likely however that the charges were dropped so that the police department could partially defuse an already ugly incident. This specially seems likely as Johnson’s legal team avoids the subject of Johnson working as a sex worker.

There is no way of knowing conclusively at this point if the incident between McRae and Johnson was or was not hate-inspired since there is no audio evidence to support Johnson‘s claim of name calling on McRae‘s part. Johnson surely should not have been struck for anything less striking out first. (Although, using physical force to move her to the finger printing counter would be acceptable.) A police officer, specially one who works in booking, should be above being moved to violence by even the most offensive verbal borage from someone they have in custody.

That would not excuse Johnson from some responsibility in the incident. It is way beyond stupid to mouth off to or cop an attitude with the police. An insult or a purposely misused pronoun from an officer is not justification to refuse to obey police commands. Following that up with physically resisting when the officer tries to move you is a very bad thing.

Seeing the full length video, not the edited-for-hype-and-ratings version that was initially aired, it does appear that Johnson did in fact resist McRae when he attempted to physically move her. You can clearly see her pushing his hands away when he tried to take her by the upper arm. This would be comparable to resisting arrest and the officer would then be justified in striking the suspect. Johnson’s behavior was totally unjustified as a response to an insult.

I am sure of one thing after my own look into the ordeal. In my opinion this was not a hate crime against a trans-person. It was a common conflict between a cop and a suspected criminal. The suspect was being combative and the cop overstepped his bounds. There were bad judgment calls and wrong actions on both of their parts. Yes, officer McRae went to far in hitting Johnson as many times as he did. But Johnson did provoke the incident by resisting the officer and refusing to obey commands.

As on-lookers we need to remember that transgendered people do stupid and illegal things just like everyone else. Just because this suspect is black and/or transgendered we should not be too quick to use those details as an excuse to claim wrong doing before we have the proof. Most importantly, let us not over react and scream “hatred” and “prejudice” when there is no due. Keep your wits about you. Be real and truthful. And for the sake of the gods do not add to the hype.

Blessed Be

See this and previous issues of “Raven’s World” at www.ravenusher.blogspot.com.

Healthy Sex Lives

Healthy Sex Lives
By Raven Usher

This is not necessarily an exclusively LGBT issue. A bunch of my friends and I got to talking about how much sex you have to have in order to consider it a good sex life. Of course there was the quality above quantity argument. But eventually we all agreed that no matter how great the sex is at the time you are doing it… if you are not getting it often enough you still have a bad sex life. It is the difference between good sex and a good sex life.

So that started the ‘how much is good, how little is bad, how much is great, how little sucks’ debate. And what was the time frame that should determine if the frequency of sex is good or bad? With all the things that can happen in life from day to day and week to week, we decided to measure by the year. We also decided to start in the middle with “good”.

We all agreed that once a week is good. But then there are those weeks when a couple with a woman involved in it would rather BBQ and eat her partner’s head than let that person touch her. So we figured 52 weeks in the year minus the 12+/- weeks that happen once a month when it just is not happening would be the “good” scale. So if you have sex between 40 and 52 times a year your sex life is “good”.

Then we had to figure out how to set the other categories. We decided to stay with the 12 point spread since that is the range in our original “good” category. We started by working down from good, figuring that those are the categories where most men would end up. (Sorry boys but this was a conversation between women.) That gave us 3 categories below good until we got to zero. Then, in the interest of balance, we decided to stick with 3 categories above good as well.

We know full well that a LOT of men, particularly straight men, are going to claim to be in the top category. We also know that 99.5% of those men are lying. Believe me when I say it, guys… the girls KNOW when guys are lying about their sexual exploits. So before you try to claim a spot in the top category, remember that we know better!

Anyway… here is the sex life scale. It goes by how many times you have sex in a year.

0 - 15 = in need of medical help
16 - 27 = bad
28 - 39 = needs improvement
40 - 52 = good
53 - 64 = exceeds expectations
65 - 76 = great
77 and up = porn star

(Remember that women know when men lie about sex.)

Blessed Be

It Is What It Is & It Ain’t What It Ain’t

It Is What It Is & It Ain’t What It Ain’t
By Raven Usher

I am always more than happy to avail myself to any body who has questions or needs advice on any subject under the transgender umbrella. It could be a person who has some unexplored level of gender dysphoria. Or it could be someone who is learning how to cope with a transgendered loved one. Or it could be an experienced TG who just wants a second opinion or needs help locating a resource. What ever the case I am happy to help. That is why my number is listed as a contact down at The Community Center. I am paying forward the help that others gave me.

Things get tricky with giving advice when it turns out that the person seeking said advice is not truly transgendered. It is a bit of a common misnomer to call any man who puts on feminine attire a tranny. But that is not the case. There are plenty of instances when that clothes do not make the she-male.

The most well known example of non-transgendered men in women clothing are drag queens. Drag is not a form of transgenderism. It is a performance art. And it is a time honored art at that. The history of drag goes back to when it was considered obscene to have a woman on display on the a stage. This forced men to take women’s roles. A good actor who portrayed a woman was a theatre idol. In today’s world the base intent of drag is in total contradiction to being transgendered. It is drag queens’ intention to be notice. Trannies want to blend in.

The trickier man in girl’s coverings to deal with is the one who is far more likely to confuse himself as transgendered when he is not. The forced femme sexual fetish. This is actually a form of BDSM called sissifcation (turning a man into a “sissy“). The man’s partner takes control of his life and puts him into a life style that is nearly identical to transgenderism and sometimes even progressing towards elements of transsexualism.

The man submits his willpower to his partner. He is then made to wear women’s under wear, clothing and to basically take on the gender expression of a woman. Some go as far as to end up living as a woman 24/7 and even having augmentation surgeries. This is where the confusion comes in. They are basically going through all the same procedures as a TG or TS.

The distinction is very specific and VERY important. The true tranny undergoes these procedures because there is an internal conflict between gender appearance and gender expression. Specifically being one gender being trapped in the body of another. The sexual fetish is undergoing those same procedures to fulfill external desires of physical and emotional pleasure sensations. In a nutshell, they are in it for the fun.

So when a man calls up and says his wife is turning him into a submissive girl who is expected to do as she is told… there is no advice on transgenderism from any source that is going to do this person any kind of good. He is not transgendered.

I am not trying to make any kind of good/bad judgment call on either condition. I am just straightening out what is and what is not because I have recently had an encounter with a fetish looking for guidance. Counseling a fetish as if he were a TG would be just as damaging as counseling a TG as a fetish. They are two completely different circumstances requiring two completely different approaches. Unfortunately, I am not much help with the sexual fetish genre`. I just have no advice to give.

Blessed be

All Polls Point North #1 & #2

See the rest of Adam & Steve's adventures on their own blog at http://allpollspointnorth.blogspot.com/

It Happens, Accept It

It Happens, Accept It
By Raven Usher

No your eyes do not deceive you. I am back. You may rejoice!
Pride is on us once again. It has me thinking about how lucky I have been to have found something so precious in the midst of some serious personal hardship.

Acceptance.

It is what we want. It is what we need. It is what we strive to achieve (especially during Pride). Acceptance is an elusive little bugger. You never know where it is going to pop up. Sometimes it seems like it has been purposely chased out of areas that should be its natural habitat. Some religious institutions have become notorious in their efforts to chase it from their ranks as if it was a plaque rat. Doctors offices, law enforcement, legal agencies, legislative bodies… all the institutions whose purposes are meant to help us all in our quests for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness keep showing galling examples of how acceptance can be a rare commodity.

Then, when you are not expecting it, acceptance pops up like a lone flower from a crack in a barren patch of pavement. It brings a spark of color and light to a place we suspect may be a tad bit inhospitable. It is always a wonderful thing when that suspicion is proven wrong.

I found acceptance in a place that has a reputation for unbridled violence among a gang of rough and tumble, high-speed, low-drag women (and a handful of men) who present an image that is down right formidable. The Treasure Valley Roller Girls (TVR) roller derby league.

You never know how things are going to go the first time you walk into a new group of people. The prospect of practicing a sport twice a week where one tends to get pretty butched up and the chances of staying dolled up and in passing mode are slim makes one even more timid about diving into the situation. From the first time that I witnessed the roller girls practicing I knew full well, even just standing on the sidelines, that I was going to be read. And I was.

And they did not care. They treated me exactly like every other fresh meat (that’s what they call the new girls who haven’t been drafted on to one of the four teams) skater in the league. Not one of them, skaters or referees, ever gave me the slightest reason to feel uncomfortable for even a moment. Although quite a few of them are pretty good at making me feel old with how effectively they skate circles around me.

And I am not the only LGBT person who has found that same acceptance among the ranks of the TVR. I am not about to go printing names without people’s permission. Suffice to say that Pride will have its observers at the roller derby.

And as coincidence has it, the TVR will be having a bout (a game) against a visiting team from Bend, Oregon at the same time we will be celebrating Pride. The bout will be at the Idaho Expo Center on Friday, June 13th. The doors open at 6pm and the bout starts at 7pm. It would be a great gesture of reciprocal support and acceptance for some of us from the LGBT community took some time during Pride to go down to the Expo and watch some roller derby. That and it is a hell of a good fun. Ticket information is available on the TVR website, http://www.treasurevalleyrollergirls.net/.

Blessed Be

Rational.... or Not?

Rational… or Not?
By Raven Usher

Some fears are rational. That makes them useful because they help keep us out of dangerous situations. They keep us from walking on ice that will break below our feet. It keeps us from crossing the street into traffic. They keep us from getting too close to the edge of the cliff. With a healthy level of rational fear (and exercising some common sense) we can stay out of a lot of trouble.

Some fears are irrational. They simply do not make sense and if you try you can usually figure out why they are there. Most of them are left-overs from real intense scares from some other time in our lives. Being bit by one dog as a child can leave the grown adult afraid of all dogs. Witnessing someone have an accident can make someone avoid that same activity from then on out.

Some of them are given birth by our imagination. A six-year-old could hear a spooky story about the boogie man. Thirty years later there is a adult who can not go to sleep at night if the closet door is open. There is absolutely no danger in the closet. The person knows full well that there is no danger in the closet. But that imaginary fear has been engrained into the subconscious for so long that the impulse to close the closet door before getting into bed simply cannot be ignored.

These irrational fears are harmless. They do not have any kind of negative impact on our lives. So someone has a pet cat instead of a dog. The companionship is still there. So someone never goes skydiving. Some people would call that a smart decision. So someone takes three extra steps at night before going to bed. What do you lose for that?

What happens when irrational fears DO have a negative impact upon our lives? What if they stop us form being able to accomplish simple, every day tasks? What if they impair our ability to live a healthy life? What if an irrational fear goes so far as to become a verifiable threat to our own lives? Perdition must feel like a picnic after living with that kind of fear.

The North American Lexicon of Transgender Terms (http://www.glbpubs.com/lex.html) lists an entry; “Free-Shot Bull’s Eye” defined as “The fear of being a target for anti-transgender or transphobic violence while being without protection from law enforcement agencies.”

Rational or irrational? Harmless or negative effect?

There are transgendered people who suffer greatly from this fear. It stops them from coming out of the closet. It keeps them from the proper gender expression. It stops them from pursuing transition. In a nutshell, it keeps people from being their true selves. I believe that to be a very serious negative effect. It is like being so afraid of water that you are unable to leave the house if it rains. It is that much of an inhibitor to living a happy, healthy life.

Is it an irrational fear? That is harder to say. There certainly have been examples of law enforcement officers falling short of their duties to protect the public when it comes to transgendered individuals. I have seen reports of officers around the country turning a blind eye to the aftermath of violence. I have heard of accounts of officers being rude and abusive. (I do not have knowledge of anything like that happening in Boise specifically.)

I have also seen incidents of police men and women going to great lengths to be as sensitive as possible towards tranfolk. I myself have experienced first hand members of the legal profession going out of their way to accommodate my unusual physical circumstance. I have even seen officers be as helpful as possible to TG people on the TV show COPS.

That makes me think that the fear of “being without protection from law enforcement agencies” really is an irrational fear. I think we should hold the incidents of maltreatment and/or abuse by police against the individual officers who commit those failures in duty. I have found more examples of sympathetic attitudes from officers than those of hostility or indifference.

There are people in this world of whom transgendered individuals should be afraid. Every now and then one of those people will find employment in law enforcement. That should not make us afraid of all law enforcement agencies. And the dereliction of duty by that one cop should not be held as a blight against the agency. Trust the cops. It will save your life.
Bad apples do not spoil barrels.

Blessed be.