Lesbian-fronted Band Releases 2nd Album

"Mourning Time" is NOW available right HERE!

Team Smile and Nod, lesbian-fronted synthpop anti-folk duo, is thrilled to announce the pre-sale of their second album, "Mourning Time". It's available for immediate download and shipping ONLY at our website. It will not be available anywhere else until it is officially released in March of 2011. Get your copy here and let us know what you think about it!

"Mourning Time" explores the constantly morphing state of mourning in an oddly uplifting and quirky manner. Many of the songs were written during Kara's grieving process for the loss of her mother. As depressing as that may sound, the album visits a wide range of themes and emotion, and ends with an empowered, upbeat song of healing that goes by the same name as the album. Listen to the title track here. In summary, many of the songs are upbeat, idealistic, and even danceable (this track, "Truth and Fact", will be the single). "Mourning Time" is released on Kara's indie label Thinkroot Records. The vocals and guitars were recorded in Kara's home studio. The electronic production, mixing, and mastering took place at Rich's Ostrich Studio. The amazing art is by Jesse Smith. It took us 2 years to make this album what it is. We're proud to finally share it with you. Get your digital and/or physical copy here.

Download "Truth and Fact REMIX" for free in exchange for one FB or Twitter post!

Montana Lesbian - High Profile Investigative Blogger, Crystal L. Cox, based in Montana Comes Barging Out of the Closet.

I use to think of Missoula Montana and the University of Montana as one of the most Open Minded, Tolerant, Lesbian Friendly and Gay Awareness places in Montana.

However, once that is put to the Test I NOW believe one hundred percent that the University of Montana enables, supports, justifies and covers up extreme Hate Crimes against Montana Lesbians, and seemingly - blatantly with No Remorse. As they wait for the Death of a Montana Lesbian to WAKE them the FUCK up.

Recently in the Montana Lesbian News, the Missoula Montana News we See "Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Proposed in Missoula " at this link
http://www.keci.com/Anti-Discrimination-Ordinance-Proposed-in-Missoula/6402625

and "Human rights group wants sexual orientation non-discrimination ordinance in Missoula"

at this link
http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/article_3549638a-183b-11df-8aaa-001cc4c002e0.html

The thing is Montana Courts, Law Enforcment and the Judicial Process does not uphold the law or protect the Victims in Montana in ANY way... but instead enables Crimes against Lesbians in Extreme Anti-Discrimination and Deliberate attacks on the life, the livelihood and the quality of life of Montana Lesbians. In fact the Montana Courts at ALL levels and the Montana Law Enforcement actively participates in Crimes and Deliberate Discrimination against Montana Lesbians.

This new Ordinance if it passes .. make sure it does not give you false illusions and make you feel Safe in Missoula Montana as a Montana Lesbian...

As if to suggest that Missoula Montana is a Lesbian Friendly, Gay Friendly sort of Town when in fact it is quite the opposite when it comes down to Real Civil Rights, Human Rights, Hate Crimes Against Lesbians and protecting the Rights of Montana Lesbians in any way really.

It does not Matter what so ever if there is feeble City Laws or Ordinances that ban Discrimination against Montana Lesbians...

The Missoula Police Department, the University of Montana Police, and the University of Montana President and Staff... well they HOP to it... to Aid and Abet in the Blatant Obstruction of Justice and Denial of Due Process to Do whatever other Corrupt Montana Courts tell them to do in the Blatant - Hate Crime Attacks Against Montana Lesbians.

Hate Crimes are Illegal in Montana, Lesbians are a Protected Class? Are They...?? The University of Montana and the Missoula Law Enforcment Task Force DO NOT seem to have to pay any attention to those Montana Laws or the Civil Rights of Montana Lesbians.

The University of Montana actively participates in Defamation, Hate, Attacks on Lesbians in Montana... this is a Fact..


Discrimination in the Missoula Montana Justice System is Blatant, Obvious, Deliberate, and there is No End in Site, Missoula Ordinance of NOT.

There is no Protection for the Rights of Montana Lesbians in the Missoula Law Enforcement at any level. It is not about the Law, but about the pressure from the Corrupt Courts to Keep Victims in their place... the facts of a case DO NOT matter in Missoula Montana, the Law Enforcement in the Missoula Police Department and the U of M Security Department - They answer to a Higher Power, and that is the Obstruction of Justice, Denial of Due Process, Attack on Civil and Human Rights in Other Montana Counties, Courts at all levels.....

The Truth is NOT a Defense or a Factor in Missoula Montana in ANY way when it comes to the Rights of a Montana Lesbian. There are No Civil Rights for Lesbians in Missoula Montana.

Yes I Am
montana hate crimes
For those of you Who Did not Know
that Investigative Blogger,
Crystal L. Cox
was and is,
in Fact a Montana Lesbian -
Well Here is Your Breaking
Montana Lesbian News.
Yes I am a Lesbian...
AND
the Truth Remains to Be the Truth.

Whether I am a Lesbian or NOT

Crystal L. Cox
Investigative Blogger
Crystal@CrystalCox.com
Industry Whistleblower

Missoula Montana Lesbian News

Houston voters elect first openly gay mayor

"HOUSTON – Annise Parker made history Saturday by becoming Houston's first openly gay mayor, seizing 53.6 percent of the vote in the city's hotly contested election.

"This election has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. Just as it is about transforming the lives of all Houstonians for the better, and that's what my administration will be about," Parker told supporters after former city attorney Gene Locke conceded defeat.

Of the more than 152,000 residents who turned out to cast ballots in the fourth largest U.S. city Saturday, 81,652 chose Parker — some 11,000 votes more than were placed for Locke.

The election battle leading up to Saturday's balloting was marked by fierce campaigning and anti-gay rhetoric.

Parker is a lesbian who has never made a secret or an issue of her sexual orientation. But that orientation became focus of the race after anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups endorsed the 61-year-old Locke and sent out mailers condemning Parker's "homosexual behavior."

Meanwhile, gay and lesbian political organizations nationwide rallied to support the 53-year-old Parker by raising money for her campaign and making calls urging people to vote.

Locke tried to distance himself from the anti-gay attacks while courting conservative voters who could tip the race in his favor.

Although Locke condemned the divisive rhetoric, two of his key supporters contributed money to a conservative political action committee that sent out an anti-gay mailer earlier this month, urging voters not to pick Parker because she was endorsed by the "gay and lesbian political caucus."

Campaign finance reports show Ned Holmes, finance chairman of Locke's campaign, and James Dannenbaum, a member of the campaign's finance committee, each gave $20,000.

Late Saturday, Locke offered his congratulations to Parker and urged the city to move on from its most recent battle.

"Here's what our city needs now: It needs unity. It needs us to come together and heal like we've never healed before, and to move forward under a new administration," he said.

Parker will replace Bill White, who is term-limited after serving six years and is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

Several smaller U.S. cities have openly gay mayors, including Portland, Ore., Providence, R.I., and Cambridge, Mass.

Houston, the country's fourth largest city, is predominantly Democratic and about 25 percent black and one-third Hispanic. About 60,000 of its 2.2 million residents identify as gay or lesbian."
lesbian politics
Source
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091213/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_houston_mayor
r

Experiment- an ode of hypocrisy and LGBT marriage

If you like what you hear/see, you watch more videos here: http://www.youtube.com/TeamSmileandNod

Or check out my band, Team Smile and Nod, here: http://www.teamsmileandnod.com/

Thanks for listening!!!

Lesbian Musician Takes A Stance

Hello!

A couple weeks ago, Rich and I met with Alexandra Kelley from Columbus Underground. We had a great chat. She was very interested in why we market our band, Team Smile and Nod, as "lesbian-fronted". I was jazzed to be asked that question. Here's the article that she wrote:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/lesbian-musician-takes-a-stance

KELLIE MANIER PHOTO

If you'd like to learn more about our band, please go here: http://www.teamsmileandnod.com/
Also, you can find us on Facebook and Myspace.

Take care and cause ruckus,
Kara

Lesson 3- Teaching You to Teach YOU Guitar

Here is the 3rd video in the series. Go here to view the other parts: http://www.youtube.com/user/TeamSmileandNod

Go here to listen to some Team Smile and Nod tunes: http://www.teamsmileandnod.com/

QUEERICS' Gay GIVEAWAY!

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!
To celebrate, QUEERICS, Team Smile and Nod, and Elizabeth Gearhart have joined forces to bring you a super-fun give-way!

Want to win a Team Smile and Nod CD??? A glow-in-the-dark tee? Buttons? Stickers? A custom small watercolor painting by

Elizabeth Gearhart!?! You have until 11:59 pm PST on June 28 to enter! Follow the link to learn how to enter:
http://chesh.lmfao.org.uk/queerics/giveaway.shtml

While you're there, check out the QUEERICS website. It is a wonderful resource for those of us looking for LGBT musicians, bands, and songs. FURTHER, the creator of the site, Chesh, is flippin' fun and hilarious. Check out the QUEERICS blog so you can see what I mean: http://community.livejournal.com/queerics

11 people will win! Why not you??? Enter! Tell you friends to enter! It will be fun for everyone to read how everyone answers the questions!

www.teamsmileandnod.com

Lesson 2: Accessories (Teaching You to Teach YOU Guitar)

Here I go into some of the accessories that you will need for playing guitar. Here's the list:

PART 1
1. Guitar Case
2. Capo
3. Tuner OR Pitch Pipe
4. Picks
5. Strap
6. Spare Strings
(7. String Winder... I forgot this in the video... they are cheap and very very helpful)

PART 2 (this will be covered next time)
8. Chord Book
9. Humidifier

*Check out www.teamsmileandnod.com to get a feel for our tunes...

Columbus PRIDE 2009

If you are near Columbus, Ohio, please consider checking out Columbus PRIDE Festival this year... It is a 2 day festival at Goodale Park on June 19th and 20th. Columbus has one of the largest PRIDE festivals in the midwest. There will be tons of performers... including my band, Team Smile and Nod. We will be rocking some very lesbian songs... oh yes. If you have any questions, you can drop me a line here: kara@thinkrootrecords.com I'll try to help. Oh... and check out my band here: http://www.teamsmileandnod.com/

The flyer was created by Jesse Smith... he also did the artwork on our CD. Thank you to Jesse!

Out Lesbian Chatter - some tidbits, rants, info and well hey I am Outside...

Lessons from a Lesbian Musician: Teaching You to Teach YOU Guitar

Wanna learn to teach yourself guitar? I'm putting together a little video series to help get you strumming. Check it out here:

http://www.lesbianguitar.com/

Wanna know about who's giving the lessons? Check out my band, Team Smile and Nod, here: www.teamsmileandnod.com We are a lesbian-fronted electro anti-folk duo.

Out Lesbian

Lesbians in the Military

Rachel Maddow ~ Happy New Year Gals

Rachel Maddow ~ Happy New Year !!!

Rosie and Barbara

Barbara Walters "wanted everyone to believe and think and act as if [the women on 'The View'] get along and are really good friends and happy and hang out together, and, you know, that's just not the reality. "I'm not saying they loathe each other, but the fact of the matter is, there was not a lot of camaraderie off camera." Rosie ...

"There are some people who have done this show and then for years feel like they have to dump on it, maybe for their own publicity. And that not only hurts me, but I resent it, so if the shoe fits, lady, get on, ladies, get on with your lives. We are not perfect, we are not always happy, but we're pretty good." - Barbara Walters on "The View"

Steph - Parady

Callie Confides in Bailey - Grey's Anatomy

Out Lesbian

Callie and Erica

Callica

Why McCain - Palin

Religious Beliefs - Civil Rights

If you cannot see the video Click Below
http://www.gaywired.com/video/index.cfm?showID=1073479

Fringe's Out Lesbian Jasika Nicole

"For fans growing tired of the gang from Lost’s Oceanic Flight 815, the show’s creator J.J. Abrams offered something equally compelling when he plane-crashed into prime time this fall with Fringe. In typical Abrams fashion, the show quickly introduced a dozen unrelated events and characters in as many minutes. Left to figure out the common thread?

FBI agent Astrid Farnsworth, is played by the adorable Jasika Nicole, whom you may recognize from her role in Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas. Nicole, a theater, voice, and dance major, relished the jump into the supernatural. “I think that we as actors are as excited to get the scripts as people are to watch the show to see what happens. Usually when you start a project you have a pretty good idea of who your character is and how they fit into the story, but each episode I get a little more information about who I am. It’s an ongoing practice in character development,” she says.

For Nicole, who lives in Brooklyn with her partner of more than three years, being in the closet was never an option: “I came out about 3½ years ago. When I went on my first date with a woman, it was so exciting that I wanted to share it more than anything because it was such a big deal to me,” she recalls. So isn’t prime time ready for an out lesbian detective already? “You’re absolutely right. Who knows? We’ll need to see how that all plays out. I definitely want Astrid’s personal life to show up a little more, she told Out.com."

http://www.shewired.com/Article.cfm?Section=2&ID=21204

Obama - Rick Warren

Well Folks, it was the VP Debates where my heart first sunk, I even changed the Channel, when Biden said what he did about Gay and Lesbians. So we knew then that Obama was not pro gay. We can hope that there is not an all out war out on us. I am saddened on the Hate Crimes in California involving Lesbians and hoping for Justice though I know this will not take away the pain of the Horrific Crime that have happened Recently.

Obama Picking a Lesbian and Gay Hater to Speak is Of Course Sad and Will most like bring out more "justified" hate our way.

The LA Gay and Lesbian Center Responds to Rick Warren's Selection
By:


Jim KeyChief

Public Affairs Officer

323-993-7623

L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Calls on Obama to Disinvite Homophobic Rick Warren From Delivering Inaugural InvocationPresident-Elect's Big Tent of Hope Stretches to Include BigotryLOS ANGELES, December 18, 2008-In response to President-Elect Barack Obama's selection of homophobic mega-church minister Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration, L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Chief of Staff Darrel Cummings has issued the following statement:"

If President-elect Obama's selection of Rick Warren to give his inaugural invocation is intended to send a message to America that he will be an inclusive leader, then he has clearly made a decision that the exclusion of the LGBT community is acceptable.Inclusion is generally a term referencing the involvement of those who have been historically underrepresented, the subject of historic discrimination, or unrecognized altogether. The inclusion of people with disabilities in public policy decision-making related to housing and building codes, for example, is vital and a relatively new trend. T

his kind of action not only sends an important symbolic message to people with disabilities and to the larger community, it contributes to better policy.Mega-church multi- media stars and religious "leaders" like Rick Warren have been overrepresented in government decision making for many years and have brought their narrow, exclusionary brand of theology into the oval office, Congress and the Supreme Court. They amass great wealth, own powerful financial empires, and preach division on the public airways. Yes, they and their followers are part of America-a relatively large part-but they are redundant as messengers of inclusion since they have always had influence over government, especially since 1980.

The unfortunate consequence of this "big tent" approach is that Obama is not really sending a message of inclusion, at least not the kind that invites into the tent those who have been historically and intentionally locked out for so long. Instead, on the first day of his presidency, he plans to send a very clear message that LGBT people are only welcome if we are agreeable to our own oppression, as represented by his choice of spiritual leader on inauguration day. Obama's response to press inquiries on the subject rings hollow.

He talks about others like Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Joseph Lowery who will share the spotlight and bring alternative views to the stage, as though it's important to have "balanced" representation regarding the issue of our civil rights. Joseph Lowery does not represent an alternative viewpoint to Warren.

He represents an ethical and just choice on behalf of people historically oppressed and left off the presidential stage. Is it important to "balance" the work of a person who has spent his life fighting racial bigotry and discrimination with someone who opposes those ideals? Are these the politics of hope we have heard so much about?Continuing his defense, Obama spoke eloquently about his campaign's support for full equality for lesbians and gay men as an indication of how he will govern. Unfortunately, he did not and does not now stand for our full equality since he has made it clear that he opposes marriage equality. In this regard, he walks in lock step with Warren, even though Obama opposed the passage of Prop 8.Warren played an important role in helping to re-write the California constitution to eliminate our rights. So now it is clear.

If President-elect Obama does not disinvite Rick Warren, then he is defining what inclusion in America will mean under his administration. It will mean that the practice of bigotry is acceptable, and that as president-in the name of "inclusion"-he will provide a place and platform for that bigotry to be expressed and grow. Apparently we are welcome into the big tent of hope, but if we choose to enter, we should do so knowing we are in hostile, yet "balanced" territory."

http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20225358&BRD=2729&PAG=461&dept_id=569342&rfi=6

Jerry Brown - Debates Continue

As the Saying Goes, the Majority Should NEVER vote on Rights for the Minority.

Jerry Brown's reverse on gay-marriage ban: Is it a game-changer?

Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's reversal on Proposition 8 -- he now is asking the California Supreme Court to reject it -- is the talk of the blog world today. Of course, the pro-gay-marriage forces are happy. But there is a lot of debate about whether Brown's rejection of the voters' will on gay marriage can fly. Jonathan Turley writes:

Brown's position between the earlier and current litigation seems hopelessly conflicted. It would have been more consistent if he refused to defend either the earlier law or current law. Yet, there is the problem of lawyers defending a law that they consider to be unconstitutional. Brown can argue that, once the Court recognize the constitutional right of same-sex couples in the Constitution, it became a problem to have it set aside by popular vote. The earlier law was the result of legislative consensus while this is the product of popular vote.

Yet, there status as "law" is the same for the purposes of the Attorney General's office.

Red County California sees a political motive in Brown's stance:

Jerry Brown, as the California State Attorney General, said that he would defend Proposition 8 if it passed. He is now asking those same black-robed dictators to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional. Heck of a democratic state we live in, when an attorney general with an eye on the next gubernatorial race will pander to an activist voting bloc to thwart the democratic process dutifully followed by a majority of citizens to express their will multiple times and in multiple ways.

-- Shelby Grad

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/12/jerry-browns-re.html?cid=143189014#comments

Sarah Waters - Lesbian Novelist

Sarah Waters is a British Novelist

Sarah Waters is best known for her novels such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.

Sarah Waters was born in 1966 in Pembrokeshire, Wales. She studied English Literature at the universities of Kent and Lancaster, after which she worked in bookshops and libraries, before returning to postgraduate study.

She then gained a Ph.D in English Literature, her field of study being lesbian and gay historical fiction, and also had articles on gender, sexuality and history published in a number of journals.

While working on her Ph.D thesis, she became increasingly interested in London life of the nineteenth century, and began writing fiction. She has since written three novels set in Victorian England, for which she has received high praise from both mainstream reviewers and the gay and lesbian press.

In 1998, her first novel Tipping the Velvet was published - a picaresque adventure based around Victorian music hall, with a lesbian love story at its centre.

This book was adapted into a drama serial by Andrew Davies, and received much press attention when it was shown on BBC TV in 2002. Her second novel, Affinity (1999), is a darker novel set in a London women's prison, and explores the Victorian world of spiritualism.

This book won a Somerset Maugham Award for Lesbian and Gay Fiction and a Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2000. Fingersmith was published in 2002, a thriller and love story set among petty thieves and criminals in 1860s London.

Its central character, Susan, is a pickpocket. This book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Sarah Waters was for a time an associate lecturer for the Open University and has also tutored on Creative Writing programmes, but is now a full-time fiction writer living in London. In 2003 she was nominated by Granta magazine as one of twenty 'Best of Young British Novelists'. Her novel, The Night Watch (2006), is set in London during and after the Second World War.

Before writing novels, Waters worked as an academic, earning a doctorate and teaching. Waters went directly from her doctoral thesis to her first novel. It was during the process of writing her thesis that she thought she would write a novel; she began as soon as the thesis was complete. Her work is very research-intensive, which is an aspect she enjoys. All of her books contain lesbian themes, and she does not mind being labeled a lesbian writer. She said, “I’m writing with a clear lesbian agenda in the novels. It’s right there at the heart of the books.”

She calls it “incidental,” because of her own sexual orientation. “That’s how it is in my life, and that’s how it is, really, for most lesbian and gay people, isn’t it? It’s sort of just there in your life.”

Alison Bechdel

Two years ago Alison Bechdel seemed to come out of nowhere with a graphic memoir, “Fun Home,” that knocked a lot of people, myself included, right over. You didn’t have to go quite as far as Time magazine, which called “Fun Home” the single best book of 2006, to recognize Ms. Bechdel’s achievement. Her memoir, about coming of age as a lesbian in her secret-filled family’s rural Pennsylvania funeral home, was moody, astringent, microscopically observed. “Fun Home” belongs on that same small, high shelf of comic books where “Maus” dwells.

Plenty of readers, however, needed no introduction to Ms. Bechdel. For more than 20 years she has been the creator of “Dykes to Watch Out For,” a weekly comic strip, printed mostly in college-town alternative newspapers, about the fractious lives and loves of an articulate group of lesbians in a city that resembles Minneapolis. The strip is sexy, sometimes in an R-rated way — imagine “Doonesbury” with regular references to sex toys — and it’s political, in a feisty, lefty, Greenpeace meets PETA meets MoveOn.org kind of way. Ms. Bechdel’s lesbians wanted to impeach the first George Bush.

Taken together, these comic strips don’t have the tightly coiled impact of “Fun Home,” but in some ways they offer greater consolations — they’re looser, more funny, and they offer the chance to watch a group of very appealing women grow and change (and struggle to have better sex) over the course of more than two decades. Ms. Bechdel calls her strips “half op-ed column and half endlessly serialized Victorian novel,” and that’s not far off. I suspect that, over the years, “Dykes to Watch Out For” has been as important to new generations of lesbians as landmark novels like Rita Mae Brown’s “Rubyfruit Jungle” (1973) and Lisa Alther’s “Kinflicks” (1976) were to an earlier one.

As Ms. Bechdel observes in her introduction to this new anthology, “The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For,” it was not especially easy to be openly lesbian back in 1983, when she published her first cartoon. “We had no ‘L Word,’ ” she writes. “We had no lesbian daytime TV hosts. We had no openly lesbian daughters of the creepy vice president. We had ‘Personal Best,’ and we liked it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/books/03garner.html?ref=arts

Toni McNaron -

Toni McNaron, Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, is a multiple award winning teacher and scholar who worked joyfully with graduate and undergraduate students for over 35 years at the University of Minnesota.
Her passion as a writer led her to explore topics ranging from diversity in the academy, gender and genre, the works of Virginia Woolf and Emily Dickinson, to the contours of her own life as a white Southern lesbian.

In recognition of her accomplishments, the Steven J. Schochet Center for GLBT Studies was pleased to inaugurate its Distinguished Lecture Series in April 2000, by introducing the Toni McNaron Lecture in Arts and Culture.

The Sister Bond : A Feminist View of a Timeless Connection (Athene Ser., No. 6)

Inquiry Set

Mormons... Loving that Sanctity of Marriage...


"California officials will investigate accusations that the Mormon Church neglected to report a battery of nonmonetary contributions — including phone banks, a Web site and commercials — on behalf of a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage.

Roman Porter, the executive director of the Fair Political Practices Commission, which oversees California campaign finance laws, signed off on the investigation after reviewing a sworn complaint filed on Nov. 13.

The complaint, filed by Fred Karger, founder of the group Californians Against Hate, asserted that the church’s reported contributions — about $5,000, according to state election filings — vastly underestimated its actual efforts in passing Proposition 8, which amended the state’s Constitution to recognize only male-female marriage.

Broadly speaking, California state law requires disclosure of any money spent or services provided to influence the outcome of an election.

Mr. Porter said the announcement of the investigation was not “a determination on the validity of the claims or the culpability of the individuals,” but that the claims had been reviewed by a lawyer for the commission and its chief of enforcement and deemed worth pursuing. "

Full Article Click Below

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/us/politics/26marriage.html?ref=us