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"100 Mile Riot takes aim at violence against women"

V-Day Guelph raises awareness with all-day music festival

One way to gain attention for a pressing issue is to stage a riot. V-Day Guelph did just that to raise awareness of – and funds for – women’s issues on Feb. 9, albeit without inflicting massive property damage and blockading the streets. Instead, the organization collaborated with Fortnight Music to host the second annual all-day 100 Mile Riot music festival at Van Gogh’s Ear.

The event – which draws its name from a play on the local food movement’s 100 mile diet – featured 12 hours of music performed by female-identifying, female-bodied and gender non-conforming artists, mostly from the Guelph area. It was conceived last year by Nicole Bilyea, a former member of now-defunct local band Your Neck of the Woods, who noticed a tendency for the local music scene to be dominated by male performers. The 100 Mile Riot aims to provide a space for female performers.

“Of course, there [are] men in the bands […] but it’s really to showcase the female talent that we have in Guelph,” said Keren Harvey, an organizer with V-Day Guelph.

Harvey and Alisha Halgren, who also organized the event, said their hope was to raise discussion on the culture of violence against women, the catalyst for which was Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues. Ensler created V-Day, which is observed on Feb. 14. The movement is now present in 167 countries.

“It’s turned into a whole movement about anti-violence. Violence is often, or at that point, was kept under wraps. So V-Day is a movement to tackle violence against women and children worldwide,” said Harvey. “They use primarily creative arts or performing arts,” such as festivals like 100 Mile Riot or plays like The Vagina Monolgues.

V-Day’s current campaign, One Billion Rising, refers to the staggering statistic that one in three women will experience rape or assault in their lifetime, the equivalent of over one billion women on the planet.

“So it’s a big movement to stand up and be strong – an awareness and advocacy movement,” said Harvey.

“What we’ve been talking about, and what we’re doing for One Billion Rising, is trying to create awareness that sexual assault isn’t just a thing that happens elsewhere, that it happens in Guelph and it happens on campus,” added Halgren.

With that in mind, proceeds from 100 Mile Riot will be going to a number of organizations. Fifty per cent will be donated to the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, a Toronto-based organization that provides services for and by indigenous people across Canada and the United States. Harvey pointed out that women of colour and indigenous groups are disproportionately affected by violence. Another 20 per cent will be allocated to the Wellness Centre at the University of Guelph, with an equal amount going to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. The remaining 10 per cent of the proceeds go back to V-Day.

The event kicked off shortly after 2:30 p.m. with an upbeat folk-rock performance by Dear Me and ended about 12 hours later with DJs Jungle Cat and Madame D. In between, 100 Mile Riot was host to a diversity of musical styles, from the thick piano chords and electronically looped beat-boxing R&B of Dee Eve Archer, to the folksy, country feel of Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, to the raucous punk sound of the Pheromones (an all-female Ramones cover band), to the synth-heavy dance-rock of Rouge, among numerous others.

In March, V-Day will stage a production of The Vagina Monologues as well as MENding Monologues. The latter explores the role of men in standing up against violence against women, as well as the often-neglected reality that men can also be victims of violence. - The Ontarion


"100 Mile Riot takes aim at violence against women"

V-Day Guelph raises awareness with all-day music festival

One way to gain attention for a pressing issue is to stage a riot. V-Day Guelph did just that to raise awareness of – and funds for – women’s issues on Feb. 9, albeit without inflicting massive property damage and blockading the streets. Instead, the organization collaborated with Fortnight Music to host the second annual all-day 100 Mile Riot music festival at Van Gogh’s Ear.

The event – which draws its name from a play on the local food movement’s 100 mile diet – featured 12 hours of music performed by female-identifying, female-bodied and gender non-conforming artists, mostly from the Guelph area. It was conceived last year by Nicole Bilyea, a former member of now-defunct local band Your Neck of the Woods, who noticed a tendency for the local music scene to be dominated by male performers. The 100 Mile Riot aims to provide a space for female performers.

“Of course, there [are] men in the bands […] but it’s really to showcase the female talent that we have in Guelph,” said Keren Harvey, an organizer with V-Day Guelph.

Harvey and Alisha Halgren, who also organized the event, said their hope was to raise discussion on the culture of violence against women, the catalyst for which was Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues. Ensler created V-Day, which is observed on Feb. 14. The movement is now present in 167 countries.

“It’s turned into a whole movement about anti-violence. Violence is often, or at that point, was kept under wraps. So V-Day is a movement to tackle violence against women and children worldwide,” said Harvey. “They use primarily creative arts or performing arts,” such as festivals like 100 Mile Riot or plays like The Vagina Monolgues.

V-Day’s current campaign, One Billion Rising, refers to the staggering statistic that one in three women will experience rape or assault in their lifetime, the equivalent of over one billion women on the planet.

“So it’s a big movement to stand up and be strong – an awareness and advocacy movement,” said Harvey.

“What we’ve been talking about, and what we’re doing for One Billion Rising, is trying to create awareness that sexual assault isn’t just a thing that happens elsewhere, that it happens in Guelph and it happens on campus,” added Halgren.

With that in mind, proceeds from 100 Mile Riot will be going to a number of organizations. Fifty per cent will be donated to the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, a Toronto-based organization that provides services for and by indigenous people across Canada and the United States. Harvey pointed out that women of colour and indigenous groups are disproportionately affected by violence. Another 20 per cent will be allocated to the Wellness Centre at the University of Guelph, with an equal amount going to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. The remaining 10 per cent of the proceeds go back to V-Day.

The event kicked off shortly after 2:30 p.m. with an upbeat folk-rock performance by Dear Me and ended about 12 hours later with DJs Jungle Cat and Madame D. In between, 100 Mile Riot was host to a diversity of musical styles, from the thick piano chords and electronically looped beat-boxing R&B of Dee Eve Archer, to the folksy, country feel of Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, to the raucous punk sound of the Pheromones (an all-female Ramones cover band), to the synth-heavy dance-rock of Rouge, among numerous others.

In March, V-Day will stage a production of The Vagina Monologues as well as MENding Monologues. The latter explores the role of men in standing up against violence against women, as well as the often-neglected reality that men can also be victims of violence. - The Ontarion


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Still working on that hot first release.

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The band formed organically through several jam sessions at a local open stage hosted by bass player, Daniel Richard. This helped the group develop a very natural way of working on new material, usually presented in the form of original works by lead vocalist Nikki Machin, in which each member would compose their own instrumentation. Very soon, they were being asked to play at various local venues and the offers just kept coming.

The band really began to hit its stride in the summer of 2012 when requests from larger and better known venues, such as Etobicoke's Rockpile, began to trickle in. Having had some experience with these types of venues the band realized that its sound was best suited to a slightly different environment. They decided to focus their efforts more directly on the festival circuit.

Since then Dear Me has spent its time working towards perfecting their live performance, expanding their repertoire and recording their first EP.