by Monica Heisey
Want to use words like ‘post po-mo’  and discuss paradigmatic shifts in our cultural framework? Want to get crunk and listen to some sweet tunes? Want to get your dance on and watch some performance art? This Thursday night you can do all of the above at the Steel Bananas Art Collective’s inaugural Artichoke Review salon at the Bread and Circus. Steel Bananas Editor-in-Chief Karen Correia Da Silva took some time to explain the online culture zine’s plans for their first of three 2010 nights of art and mayhem. 

How would you describe the Artichoke Review series? How did it come about?  
The Artichoke Revue is a new variety show/ salon series geared toward providing an outlet and meeting place for independent artists. The shows are curated by Steel Bananas to reflect diversity in both Canadian culture, and in genres of art. We invite readers, performance artists, small theatre companies, musicians, and people who are interested in marginal, independent or avant-garde art to participate. We also provide free hors’d’oeuvres for our loyal supporters. 

How does the salon series tie into your zine? 
Steel Bananas was founded as a sort of online variety show, featuring local writers and artists discussing a wide range of topics relevant to contemporary urban culture, theory, and art. The Artichoke Revue is sort of a live version of what the zine strives to do through writing. 

Describe your ideal party. 
Ideally: We’d all be eating pineapples while on horseback, everyone’s wearing silly hats, and the Beach Boys are blasting from the heavens. Also, everyone is totally down with the food. 

What are your top five albums? 
This year, last year, or all time? Tough question. If I had to choose: 

1- La Mia Vita Violenta – Blonde Redhead
2- The Brave and the Bold – Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy
3- Happy Songs for Happy People – Mogwai
4- Music for 18 Musicians – Steve Reich
5- Devotion – Beach House 

What would you recommend for summer reading? 
Definitely selections from my literary trinity: Thomas Pynchon’s ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’, David Foster Wallace’s ‘Infinite Jest’, or James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’. They’re all really long and time consuming, perfect for a leisurely summer. For CanLit summer reading, I’d recommend any of Margaret Christakos’ poetry, especially the collection ‘Sooner’, which swept me off my feet, or ‘Double Helix’ micro-fiction by Stephen Cain and Jay MillAr. 

How would you define ‘post po mo’? 
Post-pomo is the culture we inhabit today, the ever shifting ground created by the end of postmodernism as our dominant cultural trend. Sounds wordy, but it basically covers the range from art movements like Neoism, to the Alter-Modern, to Re-Modernism. It’s a period in transition, rejecting the darker aspects of postmodern art and looking for a new, brighter cultural paradigm. 

What can attendees of the Artichoke Review expect in terms of atmosphere, other guests, potential hook ups, etc? 
They can expect Food critics in artichoke costumes, lots of wigs and face paint, colourful everything, delicious food from Daniel et Daniel – the best caterer in Toronto – and a welcoming upbeat atmosphere. We’re also so pleased to have Bain & Bernard Comedy, CanaDADA, The Body Electric, and the beloved Gravity Wave performing at the first revue. DJ Ghaleon will wrap up the night with tunes that will get any booty to shake uncontrollably. We like to keep things fun, inclusive and positive with a pronounced hint of the bizarre. Plus, we’re all party animals. 

What alcoholic drink are you most like and why? If ‘the Steel Banana’ was a drink, what would be in it? 
Hmm, if I were a drink, I’d have to say I’d be a splash of Boulard Grand Solage brandy in a snifter. I can’t get enough of that stuff. If Steel Bananas were a drink, it would be something that appears to be flowery and delicious, but is in fact just J.D. with a splash of soda, garnished with fruit. Goes down harsh and memorable.