Opening Feb 21st, 2009.

Also featuring “The 3rd Act” exhibition. Paintings by Dan Quintana.

Last Rites Gallery
511 W.
33rd Street, 3rd floor
New York, NY 10001
212.529.
0666

http://www. lastritesgallery. com/

http://www. myspace. com/stephenkasner

http://www. myspace. com/scapegoatbooks

http://www. stephenkasner. com

In an article on the downturn of GLBT book sales (“In a bind: GLBT publishing’s back is breaking, but it’s still got spine”), Jack Malebranche’s Androphilia: A Manifesto: Rejecting the Gay Identity, Reclaiming Masculinity is mentioned as a strong seller by Obelisk’s manager Mark Hernandez…

Emerging non-fiction titles can also be good sellers. “Every once in awhile there is something new and fresh that comes along, like … Androphilia [Jack Malebranche]. The author is putting out the idea that loving other men doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the gay subculture. So his book has been getting a lot of attention.”

In pursuit of manhood

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

The argument for a new gay identity is examined by S.V. Koumakis.

‘Gay is dead.’

So begins Androphilia: a Manifesto by Jack Malebranche, in which the American author expounds his uncompromising views of modern gay identity; and his vision of a masculine ideal of excellence that recalls the warrior ethos of ancient Greece.

“The word ‘gay’ describes a whole cultural and political movement that promotes anti-male feminism, victim mentality, and leftist politics,” says Malebranche, who advocates use of the term ‘androphilia’ to express ‘a sexual love and appreciation for men as it is experienced by males’. He also uses the word ‘androphile’ to identify men who desire other men.

The first print run of Androphilia was almost sold out less than a year after its release. Readers’ feedback on Malebranche’s website describes how the book resonated with them. Yet the author has also met with criticism; even accused of homophobia.

“To accept homosexuality in oneself is now equated with accepting an intrinsic effeminacy, and any denial of this is widely believed to be symptomatic of ‘internalised homophobia’ … The real ‘internalised homophobia’ is the belief that you can’t truly be a man simply because you love other men,” Malebranche argues in his manifesto.

The author, who describes himself as “an unrepentant masculinist,” also admits to having once been a go-go dancer in New York’s club scene.

“I’ve challenged gender constructs. I’ve done drag. I talked the talk and fagged out with the best of them,” he says. “My critique of gay culture doesn’t come from an outsider’s ignorance; it comes from an insider’s knowledge.”

Malebranche, who speaks in his book of his decade-long relationship with his male lover, whom he acknowledges as the most important person in his life, is far from the ‘perfectly vile queer’ his detractors would present him to be. His views, though blunt, are candid and to the point, and his depth of vision is exceptional.  

Feminists might claim that Androphilia: a Manifesto encourages men to become misogynists. How would you respond to this?
Androphilia is often labelled ‘misogynist’ because it does not serve a radical feminist agenda. Androphilia does not in any way advocate the abuse of women or hatred of women, and it takes no position on the role of women in society. It is a book written by a man specifically for men.

Critics suggest there are statements in your manifesto which would break up the gay community if taken to heart.  What is your view?
Gay leaders frequently talk about a need to ‘build coalitions’ but these coalitions always seem to pit homosexual men against straight, white men – the scapegoated universal enemy of all minorities. What homosexual men really need is to work on building a coalition with straight men. They need to start building a history of friendships and positive interactions with straight men that will give straight men cause to stand with homosexual men and stand up for them, instead of against them.

Some would argue that androphilia would push homosexuals back into the closet. How would you explain to them that this is not the case?
I am not ‘in the closet’. I wrote a book about homosexuality and put my picture on the inside flap. I’m not asking anyone to be secretive about their sexuality. There’s a difference between prancing around like a fruit with a rainbow striped t-shirt on, proclaiming your sexual preference to everyone you meet; and simply being ‘out of the closet’. The root question here is ‘does being ‘out of the closet’ mean being honest about your sexuality when asked, or does it require an exhibition of effeminacy?’

What advice would you give to an adolescent youth coming to terms with same-sex desire?
Let your own actions and interests define your character; don’t rely on the easy, one-size-fits-all comfort of the gay identity. Concentrate on personal achievement and development. Educate yourself. Choose a vocation and excel. Earn the respect of your peers. Make your mark on the world. There’s nothing wrong with sex, there’s nothing wrong with being homosexual, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to find a relationship. You can make your own rules and craft your own destiny. That’s what sexual liberation is really all about, isn’t it? Figure out for yourself what it means to be a homosexual man.

In your manifesto, you assert that ‘androphiles could become leaders of men in virtually any field’. This is truly visionary, and makes perfect sense. What led to your keen appreciation of the masculine ideal and potential?

In part, my appreciation for masculine idealism stemmed from a shift in personal philosophy that moved from ‘the world as I think it ought to be’ to ‘the world as it is’.

At some point I realized that what I really needed was a reality check and a kick in the arse. I needed to be challenged, not coddled. I needed discipline, linear thinking and goal driven, objective measures of achievement – not the endless circle of excuses, subjective evaluations and self-destruction.

I slowly began to appreciate the way men groom each other, the way they toughen each other up, push each other, and discourage weakness. When I was a teenager, I dismissed all of this as macho bullshit, but as a grown man, I started to understand the ‘why’. I started to appreciate the value of it and the role that it plays not only in making stronger men, but in making stronger, more durable societies. 

Stephanie Crabe is a Special Guest at Detroit’s Dirty Show! She will be displaying a piece from Motel Bizarre.

The Exhibition will open on Friday February 8th and run through February 16th.

BERT’S WAREHOUSE THEATER
2727 Russell St. Detroit (In Eastern Market)

February 8, Friday Evening “OPENING NIGHT”
6:00pm – 2:00am | 21 & Over

February 9, Saturday Evening
6:00pm – 2:00am | 21 & Over

February 10, Sunday “DAYTIME” Only
1:00pm – 6:00pm | 18 & Over

February 14, Thursday “Valentine’s Day “
4:00pm – 12:00 midnight | 18 & Over

February 16, Saturday Evening “Closing Night”
6:00pm – 2:00am | 18 & Over

December 16th, 2007 – Peter H. Gilmore, author of The Satanic Scriptures (ISBN 978-0-9764035-9-3) and High Priest of the Church of Satan, is back in the news this week. A Cortland, Ohio teen sent an e-mail to the Church of Satan last week in which he threatened to kill his grandparents and steal their guns and car.

Gilmore forwarded the e-mail to the FBI, and they contacted local police, coordinating efforts to investigate. After the teen was arrested, he claimed it was all just a joke. During a press conference following the arrest, the police credited Gilmore for his stepping forward to bring this to their attention.

“To send an e-mail making specific threats, to sign your name, that to me is not a joke,” Bazetta Township Police Chief Charles Sayers said.

If it was a joke or a serious threat is still under investigation, but the Church of Satan has been outspoken over the past 40 years about their supportive stance on law and order. Church leader Peter H. Gilmore reaffirmed this position in his just released book, The Satanic Scriptures. Writing on a range of topics in this collection of essays, Gilmore gives a Satanic perspective on related stories, such as the Columbine shootings, demonstrating that Satanism does not condone these murders.

Gilmore said his church discards most of the hundreds of e-mails it receives daily. But this teen’s message stood out, he said.

“I thought it could be a sick joke, but with recent events in Colorado and Nebraska, I thought it was best to play it safe,” he said, referring to mass shootings in an Omaha mall, a missionary school near Denver and a Colorado Springs church that killed a total of 13 people, including the gunmen. It should be noted that there has been no connection in any of those cases with the Church of Satan or its philosophy.

Gilmore said members of his group are epicurean atheists who see Satan as a symbol of liberty, pride, and individualism, not evil. “To the Satanist, he is his own God,” reads a statement on the group’s Web site from Gilmore.

Contact:
Kevin I. Slaughter
Scapegoat Publishing
info@scapegoatpublishing.com
Baltimore, MD

###

Originally posted to Jack Malebranche.com

Critical reactions to Androphilia tend to validate my most damning indictments of gay culture. If they’d read the book, they’d probably be a bit more crafty and sidestep making my points for me so directly, but my most vocal critics generally don’t read beyond the marketing blurbs.

One repetitive theme in Androphilia was that gay males socialize each other to remain the perpetual victims of their straight male oppressors. Any suggestion that this oppression is a bit overblown will regularly be met with a barely lucid tirade of hysterical truisms and xenophobic exaggerations designed to maintain group identity and solidarity by reminding the objector that he will always be secretly despised by heterosexual men, and that his place is and will always be with the queens, whether he likes it or not.

Case in point. Jeffrey Ferrente. (His letter to the GLT was a response to this review by Matt Moody.)

I’ve been dealing with people online long enough to find Critical Thinking 101 vocab more than a little tiresome, but the catch-all-straight-man-as-secretly gay-hating homophobe is a major fucking straw man.

My book was published by straight guys who came to me and said, “we think what you’re saying needs to be said,” before the book was ever written. My happily married publisher will validate that claim any day of the week.

Many (though not all) straight men will tell you that while they don’t find homosexual sex appealing and would rather not hear about it in vivid detail, they really don’t care what people do in bed so long as their own sexual boundaries are respected. They do, however, object to pretentious, attention-whoring effeminate behavior. They find effeminate gay behavior degrading, if occasionally amusing, and would not want to associate themselves with such overt expressions of weakness and submission in males. They reject victim-based identity politics—because such strategies involve working from a position of weakness. Identity politics are reliant on polite language and evoking sympathy, not earning esteem through action, strength and objective achievement. They find gay culture and gay parades silly, funny, disgusting and pointless, in roughly equal measures—though if you seem to be sensitive about the topic they might be polite enough to censor that opinion down to something like, “whatever floats your boat, I just don’t get it.”

Here’s the thing, Jeffreys and Sister Queen Fatty Fatty Boom Booms of the world:

The boundaries of your prison, and THE MAN holding the keys, are for the most part products of YOUR own imagination.

YOU haven’t been rejected by all men. YOU opted out.

Your oppressor is a caricature of people who either made fun of you personally, or who you have seen attack others whom you perceived to be somehow “like you.” Your “straight man” is as much a stereotype as any turn of the century blackfaced coon, and he belongs in a teen movie or a goofy TV sitcom, not in any sort of rational discourse or worldview. His main concerns in life—since HE is really all about YOU—are drinking beer, sucker-punching, farting, gay bashing and date raping.

If you think I’m making this up, read another “thoughtful” essay from GLT on the subject that would be considered far, far beyond the pale were it written about anyone but straight white men. If the same derogatory things were written about black people or women, the article would likely be classified as hate speech by the very same people who published it.

YOU decided that you were going to be an effeminate outcast. So you are.

YOU decided your were going to be defined by your “oppression” (which is a joke by almost any sane definition of oppression). So you are.

YOU protect those decisions because you are afraid to deal with the real world on its own terms.

Being a gay man is easy. No one expects anything from you. As long as you make a show of being witty and cute—and you keep up with current fashion—you will always be able to find a woman or a gay male to affirm and validate your behavior, no matter how adolescent it is.

Growing up and being a man is hard. Men don’t think you are witty or cute. They don’t care about your great new outfit. They will expect more from you. They will test you and tease you, just to see if you can take it. They won’t respect you “just because you’re you.” You will have to earn their respect, and they will measure you against other men.

You know this. And it scares the shit out of you. So you opted out.

I know you are full of shit, because I used repeat the same nonsense.

I know you are full of shit, because I work with straight men every day in a virtually all male environment.

Here’s a recent scene between myself and a straight co-worker, who is a father of four, after he caught a familiar twinkle in my eye as I glanced at some random guy.

Straight guy: Just say it. You know you want to say it. You’ll feel better if you say it.

Jack: I would so fucking hit that.

Straight guy: **uncontrollable laughter** “I KNEW IT. I KNOW THAT FACE!”**uncontrollable laughter**

Yes, I feel deeply oppressed by his blatant homophobia. Actually, I’m consistently impressed by how well we get along and how much we have in common, given the fact that, on paper, we couldn’t appear to be more different.

This is what your relationship with straight men could be like. Some guys, some people will always be assholes, but in many cases you could end your “oppression” right now, because 75% of it is in your own head. You can enjoy a sense of camaraderie with plenty of regular guys and leave them with a better impression of homos than they had before.

But you have to make the first move. You have to build that. You have to deal with your own bullshit and be the big one. You have to acknowledge the fact that YOU are the one who is different, and that THEY don’t owe you any special considerations.

You can dream of some politically correct Star Trek future where gender has become meaningless and where everyone treats everyone else with respect and dignity and empathy no matter what. But that is and has always been a space cadet’s dream, untethered to even the most basic understanding of human nature.

What, exactly, ever made you think that 95% of the male population was going to change to accommodate your special needs, in deference to some moral obligation that you invented?

To put it in your own vernacular: “Bitch, please.”

I’ve been saying this for a while, but if homosexual men really want to feel like valued members of society, if they want to take the next logical step in the process of homosexual liberation, they need to build bridges with straight men.

C’mon. Let’s be real. You boys know you can wrap half the women in the world around your little finger without even trying. Straight women can’t wait to “girlfriend up” with and any dude they even think might be a homo. Aligning yourself with women is hiding. And it’s easy. And you know it.

You’re going to have to prove to men that you’re worthy of their respect. You’re a male; you can’t wield feminine power over them, and they won’t cut you the same slack. You will always be on the “boys” team, whether you like it or not. You can’t train all of the straight men in the world to think you are fabulous. You have to make a conscious decision to put your gay identity aside and allow yourself to be socialized by them. You have to drop the pretense of being some special gay snowflake and learn deal with men as they deal with each other.

If you do, I guarantee that your perception of both who you are and who straight men are will change dramatically.

And then maybe, just maybe, you’ll see this “oppression” for the self-reinforcing hype that it is.

“Feminine-identified” gay males who reinforce the division between gay males and straight males are working against acceptance of homosexuality in society, not for it. Alienating and demonizing 50% of the population is no strategy for winning “hearts and minds.”

And so long as you can only deal effectively with a small portion of the population—ghetto gays and their female admirers and a few extremely liberal cherry-picked straight men—YOU are the one who is handicapped. YOU are the one who is missing out. The world is what it is.

It is in your rational self interest to learn how to socialize effectively with the other 95% of males. This should be obvious.

Your idea of what freedom should be is your cage. You classify yourself as “oppressed” according to some half-baked utopian vision. Your problem lies in your flawed assumptions about what the world ought to be like and how people ought to treat you.

I am often accused of attempting to “limit” gay males, because I criticize them and advocate a masculine ethos.

But the truth is, no one limits gay males more than…gay males.

Jack Malebranche
jackmalebranche.com

Click here to order Androphilia from Amazon.com.

Utech Records will invoke a connate soul next year in visual artist Stephen Kasner to develop a second fine art series of cd releases for the label. The series, as yet unnamed, will comprise nine volumes of 750 copies each over the course of 2008 beginning in April. Kasner has committed the bulk of his next year’s output to painting original and exclusive canvases. His subject matter has yet to be disclosed, but the artist has spoken in general terms of a new direction he wants to explore in his work. A package unique to the series has been designed to highlight Kasner’s residuum and the accompanying music.

The foundation of the series is the belief that a visual device can bind a disparate body of music in a meaningful way. The genesis of this idea was first explored with photographer Max Aguilera-Hellweg in 2007 and the result was Utech Record’s acclaimed Arc Series. Fruit borne from that venture has led to this stab at further examination. Kasner immediately saw value in the theory and agreed to help cultivate and refine it.

Artistic study aside, the guts of this series is the music and the conviction that it alone will give rise to its life. Utech and Kasner discussed at length the curatorial undertaking and a virulent battery of musicians was selected. At this time the list includes:

Skullflower
The Vulture Club
Aluk Todolo
Heavensore
Fuyuki Yamakawa
Runhild Gammelsaeter

Sure to be an archetype for the music/art proposition in the coming year, the series has been intentionally left open ended. The two have agreed to let ideas evolve naturally and it will remain to be seen just how far things will go. There is a lot on the table and not all of it is being revealed at this point.

Utech Records
Stephen Kasner

Originally broadcast from 11PM to 1AM, October 30-31st, the podcast is now available for download.

DISSONANCE is a weekly music and talk show broadcasting Tuesday nights at 11:00 pm on community station Radio CPR, 97.5 FM in Washington, DC.

Each episode features a different guest from the DC punk community who serves as guest DJ, picking the show’s playlist and answering questions.
New episodes are available for free download here every Wednesday.

DISSONANCE: 97.5 FM Radio CPR

Visions in the dark
Stephen Kasner’s art (call it ‘creepy-mysterious’) has lots of fans. But it isn’t for everyone.
By Rachel Leibrock – rleibrock@sacbee.com

At the time, it stung. But Stephen Kasner now remembers the moment with a rueful laugh.

It was a summer evening in 2004, and Kasner was making his Second Saturday debut at the Exploding Head Gallery on 12th Street.

Hanging back in the shadows, the Cleveland expat watched as a 60-something couple examined his paintings – including one of a giant, macabre, dark-hued oil on canvas titled “Woman With Arm.”

The female patron tilted her head one way, then another. She stepped up close to get a better view, then moved several feet back for a different perspective.

Finally, she declared: “No, I just don’t like anything about it.”

Nothing.

“It would have been a relief if she’d liked the colors or technique,” Kasner says, retelling the story recently.

“But she couldn’t find a thing. She just hated it. That was my trial by fire.”

Welcome to Sacramento.

Of course, Kasner, 37, hasn’t let such an inauspicious beginning stand in his way. Three years ago, he moved to Sacramento with his wife, Rebecca, and 11-year-old daughter, Madeleine, to be closer to Rebecca’s family.

He even likes it here, he says. Even if the city doesn’t quite get his bleakly enigmatic sensibilities, which he has showcased around the world.

His works are also famous among fans of underground heavy-metal music, with a new oversized coffee-table book, “Stephen Kasner WORKS: 1993-2006″ (Scapegoat Publishing, $29.95, 160 pages), chronicling his oeuvre.

So, Kasner is confident that local art aficionados will, eventually, open up to his efforts.

“At least (the woman at the Exploding Head Gallery) tried,” Kasner reasons. “I was just happy that she put forth some kind of effort. She wasn’t blatantly disgusted; she didn’t just walk away.”

And that’s a start.

(Not so) dark shadows

Kasner doesn’t really like the term “dark,” although even he stumbles when he tries to think of a more fitting term to describe his murky, surreal work: oversized oil paintings, ink illustrations and heavy-metal album covers.

“It is dark, but it’s also something else,” Kasner says. “It’s ethereal – I think there’s beauty in them, too.”

Relaxing at home with Rebecca, a freelance Web designer, it’s clear Kasner is finely attuned to the thin line between the beautiful and the grotesque.

The Kasners’ Victorian flat, perched on the edge of downtown, is a rich, Gothic tapestry of overstuffed furniture, framed butterfly corpses and Kasner’s looming works. The effect is intriguing, yet foreboding.

Kasner, however, is more of a study in contrasts. Although he cuts an imposing figure, with long, dark hair and a goatee, he is unfailingly polite, warm and approachable.

Certainly, if there are any gloomy personal subtexts to his work, Kasner keeps them private. It appears his is art for art’s sake, with no unhappy childhood woes to spur on inspiration.

Indeed, Kasner’s earliest memories place him, at age 3, beneath his seamstress mother’s workshop table, scribbling away on an illustration.

Looking back, Kasner says, that untitled piece of crayon on wood depicting a ghostly figure with a gruesome smile represents art’s purest intentions.

“That was this beautiful time,” he says. “Just a period when I simply sensed the power that comes from within when drawing. There was no conception of commerce or money – that meant nothing to me.”

Kasner got his first notion of turning his love into a career when an uncle tipped him off to the idea of art school.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wait – you can go to school for this?’ ” Kasner says. “From that moment on, I didn’t set my sights on anything else.”

OK, wait, he admits, that’s not quite true. There was a love of music, too, fueled by lessons and his first acoustic guitar, a present from his father.

After high school, Kasner studied at the Cleveland Art Institute, where he searched for a voice while trying to fight the intimidation of attending classes with kids who grew up on a steady diet of museums and art galleries.

Kasner slowly built up his confidence and, the summer before his final year, dived into his thesis, shaping the distinctive style that now personifies his work.

It paid off – big time – when, on graduation day, Kasner was approached at his senior art exhibit by the members of one of Cleveland’s most popular metal bands, Craw. The band was searching for someone to do its new album cover – they had even held a contest – but one look at Kasner’s work and, well, would he be interested?

He was. For Kasner, who just happened to be a Craw fan, it was a fortuitous moment. The album went on to do well in metal circles, and established Kasner as a go-to guy for eerily provocative album covers.

“It was just unbelievable,” he says. “It was the crystallization of fine art and media.”

It was also a timely boost after rejection from several commercial illustration companies.

“They told me I’d be better off on my own,” Kasner says with a shrug.

So, following his experience with Craw, Kasner hunkered down, nabbing a few freelance gigs and setting about to perfect his images: beautiful birds frozen in near-death poses, ghostly dreamscapes populated with skeletal figures and demons, spooky portraits swathed in filmy light.

And, his work started to get noticed, netting reviews from such art and music magazines as Alternative Press, Vice and Obscura. There were exhibits in New York, Washington, D.C., and Australia.

Then, a few years ago, Baltimore-based Scapegoat Publishing approached Kasner about showcasing his work in a full-color art book.

“It had a darkness that fascinated me,” says Kevin Slaughter, Scapegoat’s co-publisher, on the phone from Baltimore. “It was kind of dreamlike, with a beautiful sensibility.”

Slaughter’s business partner, Chris X, admired Kasner’s work as well, especially the way the artist rendered shadows and light into exquisite reveries.

“Some of the images are nightmarish, (but) some are peaceful,” he says. “For some, ‘dark’ comes with connotations of evil or violence, and I don’t think his work embodies that at all.”

Artist, rest and motion

Today, Kasner crafts a comfortable living with commissioned projects, freelance illustrations and work as a tattoo artist. Small paintings sell for $2,000 to $3,000, while a 7-foot-high piece commands as much as $20,000.

Downtime is spent noodling around with his experimental noise band, Blood Fountains.

For now, work and play coexist in the space he shares with Rebecca and Madeleine, who – although very proud of her father’s art (the fifth-grader included Kasner on a recent list of “favorite celebrities,” right up there with the likes of Hannah Montana) – prefers Kelly Clarkson to Dad’s experimental tastes.

He’s consumed with upcoming projects, which will include exhibitions in San Francisco and Los Angeles, plus two new versions of his book.

With all that, Kasner says, he’s too busy to pursue local shows – at least for a while.

When he does, Jodie deVries, co-owner of the since-shuttered Exploding Head, thinks that Sacramento will take notice.

“His work is strong and definitely, for the lack of a better word, has a creepy edge to it,” deVries says. “But it’s not creepy-scary, it’s creepy-mysterious.

“His bird and figural images are just so intense, so enigmatic and dreamy. It’s not work to be taken lightly – it’s serious. You can’t just walk by it and smile. It’ll hit you over the head.”

The way Rebecca Kasner sees it, people just have to respond to her husband’s work. There is, she explains, a little bit of his aesthetic in all of us.

“Stephen’s work is representative of something deeper that everyone knows something about,” she says. “I watch people examine his art and … inevitably they (talk about) how his work evokes memories they’ve forgotten or places they’ve only visited in dreams.”

But, if, in the end, they decide that, well, there’s just not anything to like about it?

Well, that’s OK, too, Kasner says with a good-natured sigh.

“I have a good sense of humor about such things – I don’t brood,” he says. “I’m open-minded enough to know that my work isn’t for everyone.”