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CC CHRONiCLES: CC featured in Ottawa’s Xtra! / Issue #255 May 9-June 5, 2013 / ‘Praire Rebirth’

Published by cctadmin on May 15th, 2013

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Last December I was contacted by an old pal of mine named Kaj Hasselriis, whom I’d met at the age of 17 when I first moved to Winnipeg. Kaj is a fantastic person & our friendship is unique and greatly valued. Not only is he a friend but a very talented and adventurous free-lance writer, who although is right now living in Paris, was at the time residing in Toronto. At the time he was writing for the publication Xtra! & he wanted to know if I’d be interested in doing a possible feature.

Though I’d done some previous media before with regards to projects I’ve worked on, I was particularly interested in taking him up on his proposal because, for one, I love and value Kaj, but two, because I appreciated the opportunity to share a little bit about my story. Kaj’s interest was primarily in asking me about my experiences in growing up queer in a small town, only to leave & return again almost 15 years later, in my case, for professional development. Something about timing of this year and all that I have experienced personally, professionally and creatively made the opportunity seem not only fitting but somehow serendipitous.

It was a lot of fun, as well as enlightening for me to consider his questions about my background & for that I’m really pleased. Also, while he made no promises that the article would even see the light of day, I felt a sense of accomplishment in having a platform to share but a piece of my life with a friend.

Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to eventually learn that the feature made it into the Ottawa publications. Thank you Kaj, for sharing the opportunity with me, as well to Darren Holmes for providing the photograph.

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Posted in MUSiC, PHOTOGRAPHY

Tags: cc trubiak, Flin Flon, gay, Kaj Hasselriis, lesbian, Manitoba, news, Ontario, ottawa, Prairie Boy, They Say I'm Different, Toronto, Xtra!

CC CHRONiCLES: THE FORMATiON of ‘FiVE EASY PiECES’

Published by cctadmin on September 17th, 2012

I’ve been fortunate since settling into life as I now know it in Manitoba, to be connected musically with some really talented folks here. I’ve mentioned DOUG & ANN before – they are the glue that has brought five of us together for these jam sessions, all which have taken place on Sunday evenings, up at their little log cabin in woods on the outskirts of town. In addition to DOUG & ANN there are a couple of very gifted musicians by the name of DEREK KEMP & CHAD PABiANEK – these fella’s have been collaborating as a singing/songwriter duo (who go by the name ‘NATURE’S CHiLDREN’) for a couple of years now. (Check out their video ON MY WAY below.) Rounding out the four of us is myself, ever happy to sit in & jam along with everyone. These sessions are very loose, yet the goal is to eventually take whatever end product these times bring & play them for a crowd here in town. DOUG has christened us ‘FiVE EASY PiECES’.

Last night was yet another great end to the weekend – like I said its interesting to see what kind of musical magic results from these inspired sessions & if anything I enjoy the opportunity to connect & let the sweet sounds take me away while I’m here up North. In addition to a few videos included here, check out some selected images taken from last night.

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Posted in MUSiC, PHOTOGRAPHY

Tags: acoustic, cc trubiak, Five Easy Pieces, folk, Manitoba, music, Natures Children, On My Way, Prairie Boy, They Say I'm Different

CC PRESS : 2B MAGAZiNE; Getting It Right : New Album and single by CC Trubiak / May 20th 2012

Published by cctadmin on May 20th, 2012

Music•

Getting it Right: new album and single by CC Trubiak

More : CC Trubiak, Dolly Parton, Ottawa Gay, queer folk music, Queer Music

by Jordan Arseneault on May 20, 2012

When you go to C.C. Trubiak’s website, the first thing you see is a Joe Dallessandro/Peter Berlin-inspired photographer of the musician’s lower torso and crotch. The “Enter” icon wittily appears as your cursor hovers over the fly in his jeans. What you see when you enter – as 2B did when we visited his charming apartment in Ottawa’s Gliebe for a private concert in his living room – is an artist living a trunk-full of paradoxes: the sensitive diva, the exhibitionist introvert, and perhaps the most contradictory of all: the gay folk musician…

When I arrive at C.C. Trubiak’s charming home in Ottawa’s historic Gliebe neighbourhood, it’s the morning after a big show with collaborator Danniel Oickle at the Mercury Lounge. Dressed as satyrs in vintage fur pants with ornamental horns, the sprightly Trubiak had sung and read in Oickle’s song cycle Corruption of the Flesh. Readers may recall Oickle and Trubiak as coverboys for the Capital Pride special issue in a sexy series shot by Dan Ziemkiewicz. Over the past year, the two have evolved in tandem, each singing on the other’s albums – Oickle sings on the track “Blue” – and supporting their live shows. Though their styles may differ, their drive to create is their common ground. While Oickle seeks inspiration in Kate Bush et al, Trubiak workships at the altar of one great diva: Dolly Parton.

From Fags to Bitches

For the folkster and photographer, Dolly represents the contradiction “between something glittery and shiny to look at, but underneath there is so much more depth.” On this, he picks up a copy of Dolly’s autobiography, My Life and Other Unfinished Business, and reads a passage about her rags to riches story. “Materially lacking but more than rich in spirit,” is the mantra that Trubiak returns to when he’s mustering up the fire needed to make it as a queer musician. (We decide that our shared middle class semi-rural stories aren’t so much rags to riches as fags to bitches, possible title to a memoir, depending on who writes theirs first!). Icons like Dolly, mixed in with some Joni Mitchell and Peter Berlin, were the inspirations that helped the pensive songster overcome his emotionally difficult childhood in remote Flin Flon, Manitoba.

“The primary message that I learned from growing up in Flin Flon was ‘you’re different, you’re not welcome, you make us uncomfortable,’” Trubiak recalls. “What I learned from that was ‘don’t express yourself.’ That was where the birth of my art and writing started in high school, soaking in books and film, alone.” Trubiak describes growing up in the 80s in rural Manitoba as “living amongst the cultural detritus of the end of the Seventies,” which may be why so much of his music is imbued with a deliberate anachronism. Trubiak’s preoccupation with the analogue past is reminiscent of the nostalgia and eccentricity of certain other Prairie visual artists with tendencies toward the pre-digital. Is it about reclaiming the tough times?

“Back then, my influence musically was with folk and country: Joni Mitchell, Dylan, the confessional aspect of their music.” The otherwise mild-mannered empath says he sticks to folk because he loves the idea of being able to tell a story. “I’m in pain, are you in pain?” he asks in his plaintive but rich tenor. The pain of being a queer boy in an unforgiving rural place could have made Trubiak into a statistic: in high school, like so many who feel different, he struggled with feeling suicidal. “Prairie Boy” was written for the occasion of Victims’ Voices Matter, a conference he was invited to perform at by the GLBTTQ Community Centre and the Department of Justice. The pun on “fairy boy” is a part of healing his teenage self, much as his photographer side expunges any thoughts of shame around his sexuality. (Seriously, folks: check out his photos.)

The transition from loner to performer was a decade-long process, and one that paralleled Trubiak completing a social work degree, which may take him back to Flin Flon some day. The country influence on his music stays low-fi, including a Tammy Wynette cover – “Till I Get it Right” – that he sang to me live, finishing with the wet eyes of someone who lives the emotions of the song every single time. “One of the toughest things about performing live is that I feel like I could cry every time I sing,” he says as I wipe my own eyes.

Check out CC Trubiak’s “Lonely Blue Waves (I Want You)” on Youtube.

They Say I’m Different is available on iTunes or at www.cctrubiak.com

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CC TRUBiAK / PRAiRiE BOY

Published by cctadmin on January 29th, 2012

PAiNTiNG BY SYLViA STOKEK.

LYRiCS BY CC TRUBiAK.

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Posted in MUSiC, PHOTOGRAPHY

Tags: anti-bullying, bullying, cc trubiak, conference, GLBTTQ, poem, Prairie Boy, song, Sylvia Stojek, They Say I'm Different, Victims Voices Matter

MUSiC JOURNAL : HAPPY BiRTHDAY (to me) & RECORDiNG w/ iSAAC & JENNY

Published by cctadmin on January 29th, 2012

Well, today is indeed my birthday. I’m 33 years old – and beyond that I just want to take a moment to really thank everyone for their wishes and kind words. Not one to focus on my birthday, I do appreciate the out pour of love from friends, family and acquaintences alike – I’m lucky.

One more thing about aging: I’m not opposed to aging at all; life looks and feels better the older I get. So far my 30′s have been the brightest and most rewarding years – and while I have many dreams and goals to accomplish, I’m blessed to see what I’ve seen, experienced what I’ve experienced, and loved the people I have loved . And continue to love! I guess going forward I hope to even get back into University to work towards a Masters in Art and/or Music Therapy – but in the meantime grow creatively and just have fun with people.

Speaking of which – yesterday iSAAC and JENNY came over to jam and record music – mostly just hang. The three of us continue to enjoy our weekly sessions together as it would seem that we all seek connection and opportunity to flex our creativity in the company of friends. Needless to say, my home is my sanctuary, so to have my friends enter it and feel comfortable enough to sing and share and laugh – is very nice. JENNY shared a solo song for us and sounded lovely – and if you’re reading this JENNY I encourage you to continue sharing your voice because it is a beautiful instrument! Singing for or in front of people, even friends is not necessarily an easy thing to do – for everyone; so I’m especially honored to hear her sing solo because I know she is letting me in and that’s a beautiful thing. Part of these jam sessions and recordings is about connecting and extending ourselves – as much as it is about making beautiful music.

I had previously mentioned our having recorded ‘iLLUSiONS’ last week – and this week we continued to add or tweak vocals and some percussion. I’m very happy with the results thus far; and it was interesting to hear JENNY and iSAAC mention that whenever the song begins they have a familiar sense of comfort attached to it – and I take that as a compliment in that I know I turn to music for comfort myself so to know we ignited something that can potentially comfort people is….nice (is that the only word I knOW?!)

Moving on, I recently felt inspired to take one of my original tunes (PRAiRiE BOY) and turn it from a song into an instrumental piece instead. PRAiRiE BOY is a very personal song to me that I wrote back in 2010 at the invitation to write and perform a song at ViCTiMS’ VOiCES MATTER, a two-day conference for Law Enforcement Organizations, Community Groups and GLBTTQ Communities. Bullying and having a voice were major themes of this conference, and so when I was invited to write and sing a song from the viewpoint of my own experiences, I did so as a way to support what the conference was about – HAViNG A VOiCE. BECAUSE MiNE MATTERS TOO.

Writing PRAiRiE BOY was somewhat cathartic – but challenging too in that I had never quite written a song under the same circumstances. The lyrics speak for themselves and are merely a snapshot of how I felt about that aspect of my life at the time I wrote it. But for me that’s how I view my past in a lot of ways; snapshots or embellished movie scenes. PRAiRiE BOY is a snapshot of what I like to remember most about being a teen, as we all know those are monumental years, emphasis on the word ‘mental’. I remember a very young and isolated boy who loved being outside in nature. By taking away my original lyrics, PRAiRiE BOY can now perhaps become a fresh and blank canvas to paint a picture of that sort of image; the sun shining down on a PRAiRiE BOYS face so much he has to squint. This will all be slowly teased out by the help and accompaniment of iSAAC and JENNY, singing and playing guitars and heck even a mandolin! We’ll see, we’ll see.

Finally, we tinkered with an AiLEEN MARTELLA poem by the name MiNE, MiNE, MiNE – now for anyone who remembers I have been singing another MARTELLA song by the name OPEN UP MY HEART (YOU’LL SEE A TiNY ARMY) but this time I recieved permission from her to play around with my own compositions to her poetry, as I not only love her writing, I also find it an exorcise for my own playing – having lyrics to structure a song around is much easier than writing an entire song. Her words make it easier to enjoy finding a tune to sing with – so MiNE, MiNE, MiNE stood out to me as this twisted, sort of love song. Together with iSAAC and JENNY we will use it as another opportunity to play around together. So far I think it has potential!

That’s it! That’s all! CC

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Posted in MUSiC, PHOTOGRAPHY

Tags: Aileen Martella, C.c., cc trubiak, country, folk, Illusions, Isaac Vallentin, Jenny Nasmith, music, Prairie Boy, trubiak

THE HUMAN BEHAViOUR of CLAUDE MARQUiS & THE PEPTiDES

Published by cctadmin on September 2nd, 2011

Singer/composer/instigator and founding member of THE PEPTiDES, CLAUDE MARQUiS is also a Painter and personality extraordinaire – and I ain’t just whistling Dixie. CLAUDE MARQUiS may have been responsible for producing 4 tracks off of my own ‘They Say I’m Different’ but make no mistake – he’s an artist and entertainer in his own right. After 13 or so some odd years of painting and exhibits, MARQUiS essentially traded in the easel and brush, reprogramming himself to make music with THE PEPTiDES; a band named after addictive chemical neurotransmitters.

Thanks in part to a lot of patience and the technology of a home-recording laptop purchased in 2006, MARQUiS was able to transfer his gifted skills as a visionary and painter over to the musical side of arts, spending hours perfecting his craft. By the time 2007 rolled around THE PEPTiDES released ‘I’M A SPY’, followed by ‘StereoStereo’ in 2008. With each album evolving ever so slightly (the band has reincarnated itself by showcasing different vocalists including PAM KAPOOR, DALE WATERMAN, OLEXANDRA PRUCHNiCKY, DAN VALiN, DOROTHEE ROY, MAUDE KOSTiNE, MiCHAEL STEVENSON and DEEDEE BUTTERS) they have particularly found their stride with 2010’s ‘For Those Who Hate Human Interaction’, a 60 minute/25 song concept album that spans copious music styles such as vaudeville, lounge and funk. ‘For Those Who Hate..’ explores the colossal theme of hate but as MARQUiS has said himself, “It’s not about hating humanity, it’s more about hating human behavior”, and with titles like ‘For Those Who Hate Salacious Fame’ and ‘For Those Who Hate This World’, you get the sense that his particular view of humanity – is only part of what makes him interesting and the music worth hearing. There is certainly no doubt that MARQUiS has a narrative of his own and fortunately for us he isn’t shy about sharing it. Original and known for their racy beats, baroque ballads and quirky presence in the Ottawa music scene, they’ve had quite the exciting summer, having played the International Ottawa Jazzfest, The Live Lounge and Elmdale House Tavern just to name a few.

As I’ve said – CLAUDE MARQUiS and I are no strangers ourselves. Wearing only his producer hat, MARQUiS generously invited yours truly into the recording studio in 2009 for what initially started as one-time opportunity to lay down my own music. Well, specifically a folksy cover of DOLLY PARTON’S ‘The Grass Is Blue’. Prior to this, any singing I had done was strictly in the confines of my living room. What MARQUiS did was plant the seed for me to flex my own musical muscles as well as provide a much-needed bridge to communicate with a wider audience. I’ll never really understand why – but I’ll always be grateful and I say this as someone who relates to the narrative MARQUiS presents on ‘For Those Who Hate..’. As much as my own disdain for humanity at times has kept me a relatively introverted misfit, I do also have the desire to extend my hand out to society and have my own voice be heard within the chaos of humanity. The touch he lent to ‘The Grass Is Blue’, ‘Tomorrow Is Forever’, ‘After the Glitter Fades’ and my own ‘Prairie Boy’ certainly added warmth and velvety feel to the album as a whole and are something I’m personally proud of.

Stay tuned for more from THE PEPTiDES as they are gearing up to be a part of the inauguration opening of the new Centerpoint Theatre on September 12. Most importantly you can expect their new album ‘Love Question Mark’ to come out early next summer, and straight from MARQUiS himself he promises “it’ll be packed with non-stop one-hit wonders”! Excited! I am. In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open for them as they continue to record and revamp their live act.

Also included here is a selection of original MARQUiS Photos, taken in the Summer of 2005 – followed by the FOR THOSE WHO HATE SALACiOUS FAME video.

For more on THE PEPTiDES please visit www.thepeptides.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/forTHOSEwhoHATE

/watch?v=n_jlt_GdyGQ

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CC TRUBiAK : LiVE AT ELMDALE HOUSE TAVERN 2011

Published by cctadmin on August 2nd, 2011

The night in general was FANTASTiC – and full of many wonderful memories. First I would like to thank everyone who was able to come out that night in support of me and the album. From my long time Ottawa boys, to all my friends and co workers – and everyone in between : I’m grateful for the crowd of devoted people who were able to make it. The energy brought into the show was magnificent. To see the faces of my friends and loved ones was especially calming before the show itself, as leading up to it I was filled to the brim with nerves and anticipation! A special thanks has to be given to the following :

My sister EBONY and JAMES - I thank you for making a pit stop in Ottawa on your travels. Just having my sister in the audience made me feel a certain ease - the embrace you gave after the show is etched in my memory.

DANNiEL OiCKLE and OLEXANDRA PRUCHNiCKY - I have to thank you both for the time and energy you both put into not only the album, but the night in general. I LOVED getting to rehearse with you – we are BiRDS oF A FEATHER and I’m quite looking forward to working on future shows – be it YOURS, MiNE or OURS. You’ve very talented and creative people - WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MY WHOLE LiFE! In addition to the help with the show, all of the promotional help, such as bringing me on as a guest on ANYTHING BUT VANiLLA to share and discuss the project was incredibly appreciated.

ELMDALE HOUSE TAVERN – Thanks for allowing me to play in such an warm and cool atmosphere. Having previously played there last March before STONEY MARTiNS & THE OUTRiDERS I knew what I wanted and ELMDALE was the place that had it. I felt very at home there and the venue was the PERFECT spot for my music. I look forward to the chance of playing there again sometime!

DERREK PENNOCK - Thank you for your time and work on the event poster. You’re a talented man and the poster was beautiful. My FiRST LiVE SHOW POSTER !

Thank you to ALAiN and JULiE for helping me out in various ways such as greeting everyone at the doors and ensuring they know about the CD. I love you both!

BONNiE FiNDLEY – thank you for being present for such a momentous night, and for documenting it in such great style. You’re an amazing photographer and it has to be said that the photos from the night are greatly appreciated by me. (To check out more about BONNiE and her photography please go to : www.findleyfoto.com ). Check out the following photos: