NAfA fundraiser: online art auction

Niagara artist Jan Yates is donating a portion of her proceeds from online art sales to Niagara Action for Animals this holiday season. If you want to bid (this is an auction rather than shopping cart-style deal), or even just see what's up for the bidding, check out her website.

Some info about Yates:

For the past decade Jan Yates has been compelled to create work directly from the land. Inspired by Canada's Emily Carr, Yates paints almost entirely plein air, enabling her to engage in an intimate dialogue with our natural and agricultural world. She examines the correlation between her own practice and the cycle of harvest- each having faith in what the land will give. Protection and the importance of maintaining ecological integrity concerning protected land also informs her work.

Feb 5 is fundraising day: NAfA and Deaflympics (cont'd)

Two attention-worthy fundraising events going on this Saturday, February 5.

If you're in the Thorold, Ontario, area and you like karaoke, think about dropping by Niagara Action for Animals (NAFA) "Sing Your Heart Out for Animals" karaoke fundraiser. $10 gets you vegan snacks and prizes, starting 7:30pm at Brooklyn's restaurant.

In another corner of Ontario (Simcoe), Saturday's local fundraising has a more international goal: sending Dustin Wills and his snowboarding teammates to Slovakia for this year's Deaflympics. According to the Simcoe Reformer, "February Family Funfest (Help Send Dustin to Slovakia)" is planned as an afternoon-long winter carnival from noon till 4pm, including "street hockey on Sydenham Street and a snowboarding demonstration by Dustin in the Brick parking lot."

And then, if you're in need of something louder to reward your good deeds, you might head into Toronto on Sunday, February 6, where you'll find me checking out the Death Angel/Eluveitie show at the Opera House.

helix and the spca: helping the animals

Thanks to keew mom for this tip...

Next Saturday (September 12) hard rock / metal elders Helix are doing a hometown SPCA benefit and auction at Kitchener's Edelweiss Tavern.

Today's KW Record has the backstory on the benefit – involving a book on exotic animals and rockers and a supposed 'sanctuary' charged with keeping animals in poor conditions.

The same issue of the newspaper features a report that the region's SPCAs are bursting at the seams with cats and kittens. (oh, how I wish we had more education and affordable/free spay and neuter programs...) If you're in KW/Cambridge and in the mood for adopting a new cat (that you're going to keep for the rest of its life!) it sounds like now's a good time.

And since I haven't done it lately, now seems like a perfect opportunity to pump Burlington Humane (not an SPCA) and Niagara Action for Animals, which has a spay/neuter program.

banging heads for the animals

If you're around St. Catharines, Ontario, Thursday night I've already got your evening planned out for you: checking out some heavy live music and supporting animal protection all in one shot.

Here are the important details:

"Radio Action for Animals" Benefit Concert: MDM, OverfienD, Journey to Aspen, Randi Townsend & Running Scared

Thursday, March 26th
L3 NightClub, James Street, St. Catharines
Doors open at 7:00 pm
All ages
Door prizes / Sample free vegan food

Tickets are $8 adv. at the NAfA Office (682-4970) or $10 at the door.

I've seen MDM before - solid Canadian industrial worth the $10 just on their own. The others I can't vouch for but they sound like they're worth checking out. I've heard of OverfienD, and according to their myspace page they're "Metal / Metal / Metal".

The night isn't all about the noise - Journey to Aspen are of the "Indie /Pop / Rock" persuasion, for instance. The others I don't know anything about, but hell, it might be worth showing up just for the vegan goodies.

The show's a benefit concert for Niagara Action for Animals, hosted by the Brock Animal Rights Club.

autumn's for animals

Niagara Action for Animals sent out their fall newsletter this week, so I thought I'd dig into it and do my bit to distribute some animal-related information.

World Animal Day is October 4, and has been since 1931. It's also the day of the NAfA book sale, and of the Amorphis / Samael / Virgin Black show in Toronto (and my friend's birthday).

While World Animal Day was started for endangered species it's now a day for all animals. Feral cats have their own day though - National Feral Cat Day on October 16.

Apparently it was Hug a Vegetarian Day recently too...

And speaking of vegetarians... I made a last minute decision to eat at Fresh tonight before going to see Alpha Galates, Tub Ring and Three at the Mod Club. I like the venue - it was our first time there. My ears are a little tired; I don't think I've ever heard so much musical activity all in one night: layering, counterpoint, harmonies, speed, complexity, chaos... I have no previous Alpha Galates experience to compare their performance to but I was intrigued, particularly when they were all singing at once. Tub Ring was as crazy as usual, though I don't think they were as 'on' or enjoying themselves as much as when I saw them in Guelph last year. Three was amazing in terms of what they were able to pull off live and how well, but their set verged on showiness-over-substance at times. I'd see them again though (however, I highly doubt Trevorkian would join me).

keew still kickin' (in spirit, if not through the ether)

It's approaching the one-year mark since Kill Eat Exploit the Weak went off the air. Which means it's time for a few reminders that we're still alive in some dimension!

Recently Coral, formerly of Coral-FM, sent me the print version of an on-air interview she conducted with the bitter sidekick and me last July. So one year later, here's a little context and back story for the curious.

I haven't done anything about getting back on the air yet, but I still haven't ruled it out. For now (as you know if you've been reading recent posts), I'm putting in my volunteer time at the Burlington Humane Society. So far I've been cleaning cat cages and providing clean litter, food, water and a little attention for the cats. Next week I start my training to work at the reception desk, which is cool since I want to learn more about how the organization works.

On the music front, you can still read my reviews and/or interviews in Unrestrained! and Exclaim! (and in a much more informal context, here). Or check out the odd concert photo here.

I'm still keeping up with Niagara Action for Animals as well. Here are a few NAfA updates/events:

• Liberty Over Violence demonstration about the horrors of factory farming: Saturday July 12, 3pm - 4:30pm at the SE corner of Bloor and Spadina.
• NAfA Yard Sale: Saturday July 19, 9am - 1pm at 36 Thorndale in St. Catharines.
• Party for the Paws: Proceeds to SNIP (Spay/Neuter), Friday August 8 at Club Richelieu in Welland.

And if you're in Toronto tonight, stop by the Savage Garden for some live digital hardcore with Schizoid and Combat Exhaustion.