I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event! (page 2)

morrisamb

Thanks Talesin...yes, very excited. Look forward to meeting you mortons68

Sargon

Talesin is right, Carole is not imposing at all. i met her 22 years ago when Rough Trade were at the height of their fame.

They performed at our university in '82, and since I was staff at the campus radio station I got to party with the band after the show in the campus pub. Carole was a howl, laughing and joking with everyone. You should be in for a good time morris.

Valis

Dang Donald...you are way busy...w00t! w00t!

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

morrisamb

Thanks Sargon & Valis..it's pretty amazing!

sf

Go get 'em tiger.

sKally

pettygrudger

I'd love to go as well, but unfortunately it's a work day for me.

Have a great time guys!!!

Big Tex

Fantastic Donald! Is it okay to wish you luck for a reading or is that bad luck? Maybe I should stick with the tried and true: Break a Leg!

morrisamb

Thanks Pettygrudger and Big Tex...I will break a leg!

SheilaM

That is awesome....break a leg....wish we could be there

morrisamb

in today's London Free Press:

I'll be the last reader before Carole Pope.... Pope wants to get London all heated up

JAMES REANEY, Free Press Arts & Entertainment Columnist

2004-02-19 03:25:34

Gender-bending Canadian rock icon Carole Pope is willing and chilling to make her first London visit in years. Pope is leaving her Los Angeles home to perform at a benefit event here next week.

"Let's do that, let's work on that," Pope commands in ordering more Californian temperatures to be in place when she arrives.

"I just can't live in that any more. It's OK to visit for a minute, but I like summer."

Pope and guitarist Tim Welch are part of a benefit for a gay-friendly London literary trust on Wednesday at the Bacchus Lounge.

She'll sing some songs, including blasts from her past as the woman at the front of 1970s and 1980s Toronto band Rough Trade. She'll also read from Anti-Diva, her autobiography, published in 2000. That is the book Random House dragged out of Pope after she began the project, intending to write a series of essays on her life. The publisher wanted a more conventional read.

"Random House wanted that and I had to go there," she says. "It was very cathartic and then I couldn't actually stop . . . in fact, I thought I would get another go at it. But then it was out."

Critics and fans jumped on Anti-Diva's confirmations of long-rumoured Pope liaisons, including her affair with late British soul legend Dusty Springfield. Pope discussed her thoughts on AIDS, sexuality and sexual politics -- not a bad way to bare your inner self.

Pope also reflected on partying with the Saturday Night Live crew, starring with the outrageous Divine in Restless Underwear and touring with David Bowie.

Like many great divas, Pope regrets nothing.

"You do expose yourself. But I just don't care. It was cathartic and kind of freeing and it's not necessarily something I would do again," she says.

As a fan of Rough Trade's glory days at Toronto clubs in the 1970s, I already felt I knew Pope's secrets. There was an era when Rough Trade looked and sounded like the best rock band in the universe.

Its songs -- Birds of a Feather, Surrender (Give Up), Butch, No Control -- were like an instant autobiography set to great dance music. Nobody wrote funkier or funnier songs about love and sex than Rough Trade. Maybe you had to be there. I know I was.

This time out, Pope is in no mood to give it up for Rough Trade. The band will get together occasionally "for money," but she is much more likely to talk about having some songs on the cult TV hit, Queer as Folk, and about being a National Public Radio-loving Canadian in Los Angeles.

"All the Canadians I know are just horrified by what's going on here. We try and do what we can. I'm pretty sure we'd all be Democrats if we were allowed to vote," she says.

Still, the Bush administration has been good for the arts in one way, she says, because it's getting cultural types off their butts.

"I'm not an anarchist. I do believe there should be some kind of control. There's not much that difference between the parties . . .

"I don't think the Democrats are that much better. It's just an immoral person is running the country right now."

IF YOU GO

What: A reading and performance by Carole Pope; Londoner Carole Allison is also performing and the evening includes readings by Christie Corlett, Donald D'Haene and more; benefits to Matching Accessories Literary Trust

When: Wednesday; doors open at 8 p.m., show starts at 9 p.m.

Where: Bacchus Lounge, 545 1/2 Richmond St.

Details: $15; call 438-3046 or e-mail [email protected]

I've been asked to read at a Carole Pope event!

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