April showers bring rubber boots and environmental concerns

Period Hessian boots.

It’s April, and no matter where you live, spring 2013 will be wet if not flooded in some areas of Canada (hello Saskatchewan). Rubber boots are your practical and stylish answer – but with environmental reservations.

Rubber boots as we know them today didn’t start as rubber boots. The style of boot derives from Hessian boots, a high style from the Regency Period. These 18th century boots were made of leather with a heel and slightly pointed toe, and decorated with a coloured tassel. This is the boot from which rubber and cowboy boots derived. (Click here for further period boot reading.)

Though also worn by Beau Brummel, the most famous of dandies, the Hessian boots were adopted by the military and favoured by officers.

One of these officers,  Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, modified the style and changed footwear forever. Wellesley wanted a boot tough enough for the battlefield but comfortable enough for evening wear. The resulting boot was  made of plain soft calf skin (possibly treated with wax to make them waterproof), cut closer to the leg, housing the trim stirrup trousers of the period.

Leather “Wellington” boots.

These Wellington boots became all the rage – civilians and soldiers alike wore this style to emulate their favourite war hero and statesman. It was the boot of 19th century aristocracy, synonymous with fox hunts and country life in Britain.

Rubber Revolution

According to Scientific American, rubber footwear originated with Amazonian Indians who lived amongst rubber trees in South America,  but it wasn’t until the mid-1800s that rubber boots appeared.

Natural rubber is composed of long polymer chains which, when uncured, move independently, giving an unstable substance that can get sticky when warm and brittle when cold. In the mid-19th century, Charles Goodyear discovered a process called vulcanization that linked the polymer chains, making rubber strong, elastic, and waterproof.

Goodyear used his invention to make tires and Hiram Hutchinson bought the patent to manufacture footwear, and the waterproof Wellington boot was born. (See pictures of rubber boot making in France.)

Wellingtons, wellies, gummies, gum boots, or  rain boots have been worn all over the world to keep feet dry and protected for mining, farming, fishing, food processing, chemical plants, and for those who live in wet climates.

The Chet by Hunter.

Remember the black rubber boots with red soles from your childhood?  They’re  still readily available at Canadian Tire, but for those who itch for a more stylish rubber boot, Hunter, the Scottish rubber boot company, makes all kinds of styles, long and short – featured here is their Chelsea-style rubber boot. For casual dress, Sweden’s Tretorn offers cool sporty, waterproof “rain sneakers”, along with other styles and lots of colour options. Further reading.

But there’ s a catch to these stylish waterproof numbers.

Environmental Considerations

Rubber decomposes, as anyone who grew up in the pre-Spandex era can tell you. I have a pair of lined, rubber Tretorn rain boots that cracked within two years. I don’t know if the lining had anything to do with it, but I can’t wear them anymore. Tretorn doesn’t have a recycling program. So what do I do with them?

Canadian-made Kamik rain boots.

Hunter sells care products with their boots to shine them up, but this doesn’t seem to affect the “long-term” ownership of these boots. I’ve looked at forums and blogs that complain about their wellies “crumbling” and “splitting” since the Scottish company moved their manufacture to China (read this blog for an excellent take on Hunter’s move to cheap labour).

A wonderful alternative to throw-away boots is Kamik‘s vegan footwear. The styles are similar to Hunters, but the boots are eco-friendly, and the Kamik waterproof footwear is vulcanized, unlike the China-made Hunters.  Kamik’s boots are recyclable and made in Canada. Kamik’s products can be found in Canadian Tire and various other locations throughout Canada and the U.S. Find dealers. Read more about Kamik.

Rubber boots are awesome in wet weather, so feel confident to roam the streets in the rain and splash through puddles, but do be mindful of the environmental impact of your choice in wellies.

Black History Month: Dressing for the life you want

Grant Harris, owner of Image Granted in Washington, D.C.

For the second Black History Month post, I am in conversation with Grant Harris, owner & Chief Style Consultant at Image Granted, a Washington, D.C.-based image consulting company dedicated to solving the complex image, style, and fashion issues of today’s professional man. Grant has featured in The Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, Men’s Health, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, CNN, and others.

LM: My first post for Black History Month 2013 put the focus on Hip-Hop as a form of blackface, perpetuating the negative black stereotype and the violent, sag-ass Hip-Hop culture. The costume, huge t-shirts, baseball hats, and low-slung baggy pants are based on farce, and an unstable and unsafe way to dress. Essentially, I see this costume as a rock tied around the neck, a uniform keeping young men stagnant and blind to any other reality. Can you comment on this, Grant?

GH: Many black men think of a suit and tie when they hear the word “uniform”, but there are many uniforms that African-American men can wear to present themselves as a competent part of society and to positively influence those around them – military-influenced uniforms, uniforms of higher education, medicine, aviation and others all have positive connotations for black men, but there is a deficit of modern black male role models for today’s youth to look up to.

Black History Month focuses on yesteryear and the men who helped shaped the present, but it rarely if ever focuses on men in the present helping to shape the future. Young black males with no direction or guidance end up with few choices, and turn to the streets, athletics, or music. Popular media rarely focuses on the positive black male, but instead shines the light on rappers, athletes, and entertainment moguls as if these lives are normal and customary.

There are other uniforms which degrade and decline the image of the black male in society.  The uniform of XXL t-shirts, sagging pants, sneakers, snap back hats and gold chains only displaces the positivity afforded to those before us.  Most of the African-American men wearing these “uniforms” have no idea of the culture from whence they came.

Sagging pants comes from prison where inmates aren’t allowed to wear belts due to the potential of violence, and therefore are left with sagging pants.  Wearing baggy clothes makes it easier to conceal weapons.  The uniform of gang members, prison inmates, ex-convicts and the like are detrimental not only to unsupported inner city youth, but to the overall growth of young African-American males in the U.S. impacting their ability to make a difference on an international level.

LM: I used to volunteer with an agency that pulled wardrobes together for people entering the workforce, and every month, I dressed at-risk youth from Eva’s Phoenix, a wonderful organization that helps street kids get their lives together, in clothes appropriate for job interviews.

One day, I worked with a young African-Canadian man who arrived in baggy clothes and no idea what he should wear. We found a good-fitting suit for him, some shirts, shoes, and I taught him to tie a tie. He had never seen himself look like this before, and he was stunned.

“I look exactly like Jay-Z,” he said, eyes wide.

I really felt blessed to give this young man a different perspective of himself which hopefully opened his imagination to where he could be, and make him realize that he didn’t have to exist in the life he currently lived.

Grant, are there any organizations in the U.S. that help youth turn their lives around with clothing and presentation?

GH: There are organizations around the world helping to improve the lives of men and women through their appearance and presentation.  The goal of these organizations is not to supply the masses with fast fashion, but instead to equip them with the necessary basics that will build a foundation for the future.  In Washington, D.C., there are several non-profit organizations that provide presentation services:

MenzFit An educational non–profit organization ensuring long–term gainful employment and financial fitness to low–income men with little formal education. Clients receive professional interview clothing, career development and financial literacy services.

Martha’s Table  Martha’s Table deals with the immediate effects of poverty and finds long-term solutions with education, nutrition and family support services. At the core of Martha’s Table family support services is a clothing operation where everyone can shop together and choose how they will present and express themselves to the world.

Strive DC STRIVE DC was established in August 1999 to combat unemployment in Washington, DC, and fill the void of effective programs seeking to accomplish this.  Although independently funded and governed, STRIVE DC is one of a network of centers modeled after the acclaimed East Harlem, New York STRIVE employment program, established in 1984.

LM: What is your best style advice for young, at-risk African-American men?

GH: All African-American men are at risk.  Not only because of hostile surroundings or because they come from broken homes.  Black males are at risk of becoming no more than the status quo, or even worse, becoming an average statistic.

At-risk doesn’t always mean gang violence, and drugs.  It also means that black men are at risk at losing their place in society.  Black men are no longer the minority in the US, and we do not earn as many privileges as we have in the past.  We are at risk of becoming obsolete not just from black-on-black crime, but by the threat of upper class America becoming the only class.

The best way to keep pace with progress is to dress, not for the life you have, but for the life you want.

Further reading: Please pull up your pants.

My knotty error

I’ve made a mistake. I’ve made a mistake and this is the public admission of my error.  No, I don’t have to publish this, but I want people to know that I’m not afraid of being wrong.

The last thing a professional wants to do is pass on incorrect information, and it seems I’ve done so. In a 2010 blog post, The new royalty, I explained that in centuries past, it was royalty who set the fashion, now, movie stars and musicians are key influencers.

In that post (now edited), I give the examples of kings’ conditions that cued historical clothing: Henry VIII was said to have gout which moved him to wear non-restricting footwear, thus dictating the shoes of Tudor times, and prematurely bald Louis XIII of France introduced men’s wigs to the world.

I made an assumption that Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor upon abdication, was the originator of the Windsor knot.  It made a tremendous amount of sense to me that the Duke, a small man, would wear a knot that took up more tie so it could graze the waistband of his high-waisted trouser, but it turns out that it was his father, George V, who (may have) originated the Windsor. But as I dig deeper, I’m finding information that refutes the George V theory. Looking at photos of George, he opted for silk cravats tied into four-in-hand knots – a traditional British necktie knot. So if George and Edward didn’t wear the Windsor knot, where did it come from?

I belong to a professional costume group and we’ve been discussing his topic. One of the costumers says, “Suzy Menkes in her book, The Windsor Style, says the Duke of Windsor had his neckties made by Hawes and Curtis, who always used a very thick lining.” (Hawes and Curtis is an old tailor shop favoured by royalty on London’s Jermyn Street.) The thick tie was too much for the multi-step full Windsor knot, so the Duke tied a four-in-hand knot. Though he didn’t wear it, he’s synonymous with the Windsor knot.

Another costume designer believes the knot may have originated in the U.S. when the Duke visited in the 1930s. In their attempt to emulate the stylish Duke, the Americans, in much thinner ties, took extra steps to create a wider tie knot, and with the help of the U.S. media, this knot was dubbed the Windsor knot.

Interestingly, the Canadian Armed Forces has adopted this knot. My military contact sent me the Armed Forces regulations handbook, in which chapter 2, section 2 explains dress. Two tie knots are allowed in the Canadian military: the four-in-hand and the Windsor knot. The funny thing is, the illustration of the Windsor knot in the handbook looks like a half Windsor knot, not a full Windsor.

The more I find out about this knot, the more confused I am. Perhaps this argument is simply a matter of semantics.

Further reading: The Mystery of the Windsor Tie Knot Revealed

Gentlemen’s Cravats – The Necktie: A Brief History

Error

In our culture, people have a deep fear of being wrong. I used to be one of these people, and then as I delved further into understanding the human condition, I realized that it’s natural and inevitable that we’re going to be wrong sometimes – it’s part of what makes us human. Knowing that humans are more prone to mistakes than to flawless victories, I’m okay with being wrong and I’m willing to tell the world about my mistake.

Many of us have experience with people who love being right all of the time and will rub your face into their (self) righteousness. But what does it amount to?  More stress for one thing – the chips on our shoulders can weigh us down and make us defensive. This black and white way of seeing the world as right and as wrong is, to my mind, limited, because there is so much to know, so many different perspectives, and the issues are often much more complex and require a different angle of logic.

What I’d like to leave you with is this: if we’re right all of the time, we’re not going to experience mistakes; mistakes are things we learn from. Insisting on being right keeps us from learning and growing, and a hard-headed, stuffing-opinions-down-throats style of communication rarely scores points. A dash of humility on the other hand, will.

Movember Mustache: The Frank Zappa

Welcome to Movember! Our last mustache of the series is an ode to a man who himself died of prostate cancer, known for both his complex and satirical music, and his mustache-soul patch combination, Mr. Frank Zappa.

Zappa, an Italian-American with Greek and Arab heritage, emerged in the late 1960s as an anti-authoritarian musician, critical of American society and opposed to formal education as much as he was to organized religion.

In 1966, Zappa founded The Mothers of Invention and recorded Freak Out!, an album that, according to  Barry Miles in Zappa: A Biography, immediately established Zappa as a “radical new voice in rock music, providing an antidote to the relentless consumer culture of America”.

The infamous tobacco-smoking, coffee-drinking, multi-faceted musician was one of the most influential musicians in rock and roll history.  The 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide says Zappa “dabbled in virtually all kinds of music—and, whether guised as a satirical rocker,  jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronics wizard, or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was undeniable.”

From belches to bicycles, Zappa loved sound and organizing sound, and during his amazingly busy career, recorded over 60 albums as a solo artist and with the Mothers until his death in 1993.

Frank Zappa’s facial hair is recognizable enough to stand on its own.

In one of his last interviews, he said, “give a guy a big nose and weird hair and he’s capable of anything.”  Frank Zappa’s unique sound and style remain a stronghold in rock music, and his iconic mustache and rectangular soul patch are unmistakably his – Frank Zappa was a freak in his own right.

For more Zappa stuff, visit Zappa.com.

TIP: When you shave your mustache off on Saturday, trim the long whiskers with an electric clipper or scissors before taking the razor to yer lip. For inspiration: watch a guy lose his 45 year old mustache!

Movember Mustache: The Hitler

Welcome to Movember! This year, we’re doing a famous mustache series. For our mid-Movember Mustache, the Toothbrush, 2 -3 centimeters of whiskers, synonymous with one of the most criminally insane minds of modern history, Adolf Hitler.

The Toothbrush was a popular American mustache style starting in the nineteen-teens, brought to life by entertainers of the day like Oliver Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. Once brought to Germany, the younger generation immediately took it on to replace the full ornate styles like the Kaiser, the Handlebar, and the Walrus, worn by their fathers.

Hitler, 1916.

Why Hitler took the Toothbrush style on in the first place has been argued for decades. Some believe that the neat, efficient style of the period was simply adopted by Hitler out of personal preference. His sister-in-law claimed that it was she, with her dislike of his bushy, unruly mustache that urged him to cut it.

It’s now understood that Hitler preferred a fuller Prussian style as a younger man during World War 1, but had to compact his mustache to wear a gas mask, when the British developed mustard gas during the Great War. Toothbrush mustache or not, Hitler’s gas mask proved ineffective – he was gassed and temporarily blinded in 1918.

Hitler’s “ugly slit”.

Alexander Moritz Frey, who knew Hitler in the Bavarian infantry, explained his first impression of him: “At that time he looked tall because he was so thin. A full moustache, which had to be trimmed later because of the new gas masks, covered the ugly slit of his mouth.” (Source: The Telegraph)

After the war, it’s no surprise that the Toothbrush mustache style disappeared; to this day, it is the infamous symbol of one of the most evil minds the world has ever witnessed, whipping up the same emotional response as seeing a swastika.

Strangely, the Hitler style ‘stache hasn’t died out entirely. Zimbabwe’s dictator, Robert Mugabe, wears a mutation of the Hitler, called a “Philtrum”, named after the place it grows, in the groove of the upper lip.

Mugabe started out okay, voted into power in 1980 and at first, “delivered on promises of peace, reconciliation with the white minority, and social development.” (Source: PBS) But as history has shown us, Mugabe terrorized, abused, and murdered his own people.

“Mugabe must be viewed as the 21st century Hitler because of the deaths and suffering of Zimbabweans under his rule,” Anglican bishop of Pretoria said in 2008. Another South African bishop explained Mugabe was a “person seemingly without conscience or remorse, and a murderer”. Sound familiar?

I found in my travels a story of Frank Spisak, convicted Ohio murderer who, in 1982, shot three people to death, and wore a Hitler mustache at his trial. For you old school Spiderman fans, J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker’s angry, screaming boss at the Daily Bugle, out to squash the web-headed Spiderman, was another nasty figure who wore the Hitler style mustache.

Could the Hitler and pseudo-Hitler mustache styles have drawn out their delusional cruelty?

In his excellent 2007 Vanity Fair article, Becoming Adolf, Rich Cohen explains his take on the Toothbrush as being “the most powerful configuration of facial hair the world has ever known. It overpowers whoever touches it. By merely doodling a Toothbrush mustache on a poster, you make a political statement.”

But just when a pattern begins to form, along comes Michael Jordan.

No one but basketball star himself knows why he chose to wear this mustache for a 2010 Hanes underwear commercial, but he caused a furor when he sported the ‘stache of der Führer:

Ironically, the mustache helped to increase Hanes’ sales, according to CBS, but since Jordan’s been called on it, it hasn’t been seen since. No surprise there.

But it’s still not dead. British comedian, Richard Herring, sports a Toothbrush in his show, Hitler Mustache, to draw attention to voter apathy in the UK, and to see if he can associate the mustache style with something other than the leader of the Third Reich.

Herring admits that when he first grew the Hitler, he got paranoid and feared being assaulted by someone in the street, but eventually became comfortable with it for his paying audience and for a reclamation of the mustache style “as a political protest against the BNP (British National Party)”, saying he was “using the Hitler moustache to oppose fascism.” (Source: BBC)

Creating a positive connection with the Hitler mustache will take a lot of work. And many generations.

TIP: For those of you in mid-Movember mustache depression, check out this great Movember video for support from Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation)!

Movember Mustache: The Billy Dee Williams

One of the coolest brothers of all time: Billy Dee Williams.

Welcome to Movember! This year, we’re doing a famous mustache series. To start off the month, Billy Dee Williams, American actor.

You might remember Billy Dee from such roles as Lando Calrissian from Star Wars films, portraying Louis McKay, Billie Holiday’s husband in Lady Sings the Blues, or maybe even from ads for Colt 45 malt liquor beer, but Billy Dee’s career goes all the way back to 1959 (The Last Angry Man), and his career is astonishing. For his talent and his good looks, he was named “the black Clark Gable”.

Billy Dee is known for his signature mustache, smooth hair, and sex appeal. In an 1981 interview with Ebony magazine, he talks about love-making as his ultimate expression:

Ebony: A lot of women …consider you as the epitome of what a man is supposed to be, and most assume that you are a terrific lover. Are you really as good in bed as they think you are?

Williams: Yes! Definitely! I’m even better than that!

Billy Dee is a confident man in a mustache, but his mustache isn’t striking because of the shape – it’s the split down the middle that makes it distinctive. He also keeps his facial hair neat and groomed – a must if a man wears facial hair!

TIP – regular use of a facial exfoliator is a must for black men whose whiskers grow curly – kinky whiskers can grow back into the skin which can develop into ingrown hairs.

Want to know more about Billy Dee? Here’s a great post written in honor of his 75th birthday.

Next Movember Mustache post: a forbidden iconic mustache – can you guess who immortalized it?

MAO-A: The “warrior” gene

 

DNA fingerprint

In the early 1990s, geneticist Dr. Han Brunner studied a Dutch family whose male relatives were prone to violence. He discovered that the MAO-A gene, a gene crucial to managing anger, was inactive in the male relations.

The MAO-A gene controls the production of monoamine oxidases (MAOs) enzymes that break down neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine, and adrenalin, and are capable of affecting mood.  The MAO-A gene acts as a mop to clean up the serotonin, bringing us back to normal. A mutation in this gene, as seen in the males in the Dutch family, cannot control serotonin levels, and this results in violent behaviour.

The MAO-A gene is present in all of us, carried on the X chromosome, giving women two copies and men one. The second copy in women is believed to result in increased happiness, but the one copy in men has very different results.

The genetic mutation is surprisingly common – 1 in 3 men carry a shortened, less active version of the gene, considered as the cause of anti-social behaviour in Caucasian men if they suffered childhood abuse, and responsible for violent behaviour in some males.

“Warrior gene”

In 1993 when the gene was first studied by Dr. Brunner, the MAO-A mutation and it’s related behaviours became known as the “criminal gene”.

“That was picked up by the media to be called a “criminal gene,” and even the senior author on the paper publicly stated… that it was ridiculous to call it that,” explains Jonathan Beckwith, professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

“When the media presents these findings in a dramatic way, there are at least hints from the scientists themselves that it should be taken that way. That’s not always the case, though sometimes scientists who produce the work become quite dismayed at its interpretation by the media,” he says. (Source.)

Time passed. The “criminal gene” became the “aggression gene”, and in 2004, through misquotes and miscommunications, the genetic mutation got a new title, the “warrior gene”.

The name derived from testing a very small sample of Maori men from New Zealand, a tribe with a history of warfare.  Unfortunately, the press got a hold of it and the Maoris became known as genetically predisposed to violence and criminal acts, but there is no direct evidence to support this. (See this article from the New Zealand Medical Journal for more information.)

The choice of the term “warrior gene” has huge implications because “warrior” conjures a strongman who can stoically protect and provide for his people. It seems to me that naming a genetic mutation associated with violent behaviour after an appealing masculine archetype is to glorify it. And this can be dangerous.

Born to Rage

National Geographic produced a documentary in 2010 about the “warrior gene”, hosted by Henry Rollins, front man for the American punk band, Black Flag. Henry believes he carries the “warrior gene” because his anger is always simmering just below the surface.

The doc focuses on men from diverse backgrounds and their genetic makeup, testing to see who carries the mutated MAO-A gene. Bikers, Buddhist monks, ex-gang members, mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes, and a Navy Seal participated in the program.

Some of the guys self-identified as warriors and expected to carry the mutation, even boasted about it. A flash of disappointment crossed their faces when they heard the news that they’re genes are normal.

The bikers’ DNA results were split right down the middle – the quiet ones carried the shortened gene. One described himself as “battling a demon”, another “in constant anger”, like Henry.

Shortened gene carriers from violent backgrounds often turn violent themselves, as seen in the two ex-gang members, initiated into gang life at the age of 10, and becoming two of the most feared “enforcers” in Los Angeles.

However, violence is not always the outcome of this combination. The Buddhist monks, all from violent or difficult backgrounds carry the mutation, but dedicate their lives to peace and enlightenment.

All MMA fighters, men in their 20s, expected to carry the gene because they are in top physical condition and know how to fight. Through their training, these are fighters are in physical and emotional control of themselves, and do not fly into the sudden “warrior gene” rage. None of them carried  the shortened gene.

A MAO-A gene  mutation isn’t always associated with violence – the Navy Seal, a man from supportive parents and a good education carried the shortened gene. He channels his internal aggression into a productive use as a successful entrepreneur. He maintains that he overcame the negative effects of the shortened gene through his military training, where he learned to “control the fuse and the anger”.

Henry’s parents divorced when he was young and I understand that his mom’s boyfriend beat him and mentally abused him. Kids beat him up in the school yard. He described himself as a “nervous kid” until the day he snapped and became what he feared. Almost 50 at the time of filming, Henry says he’s still aggressive.

Find out Henry’s DNA results in the 45 minute documentary.

Implications

MAO-A is only one of thousands of genes expressed in the brain with the potential to affect behavior.The MAO-A gene is not an explanation for violence, but it does move us closer to understanding what drives violence in some men, and further understanding of the gene will tailor rehabilitation programs to individuals.

It will also alter the law.

A really interesting paper from the National Judicial College of Australia examines the MAO-A gene as evidence in sentencing. The author states that there is not enough scientific understanding of the gene for it to play a part in criminal proceedings, and warns about the moral issues of testing all males for the gene mutation and the possibility of racial profiling because of a man’s ethnic heritage.

The argument over using genetic determinism as a legal defense continues to rage (this paper focuses on genetic determinism and the law). Through our understanding of the MAO-A gene, we will come to understand ourselves better, but we must be careful not to treat the violence associated with the mutation as an excuse, and shirk off responsibility for our actions.

Violence is a choice.

Scott Thompson, revised

Scott Thompson, Canadian comedian

I like to see people enjoy their food. The day I met Scott Thompson, he had just come from the gym and we met for lunch. He ordered tea and fish and chips and talked to me about his life and his career as a comedian. As I listened and watched a heavily-peppered, spade-sized piece of fish disappear down his throat, I realized that this guy is a loose cannon; a self-proclaimed loudmouth and contrarian.

Lucky for us, he’s got a voice and an influence.

Scott believes in equality for everyone and his opinions are sharp – he’s got a bone to pick with helicopter parents and people who stuff themselves with psychomeds, and he has no respect for people who don’t like bananas. Scott doesn’t pussyfoot around the issues that most people are afraid to face, let alone discuss, including the social inequality of men, a favourite topic of mine.

He wants to change the world as an artist, not an activist. And you know he’s alright because he’s from North Bay, Ontario, eh?

Now, as Scott says, it isn’t really possible to be famous in Canada, agreed, but this Canadian is better known than most of us. He spent six years with the iconic sketch comedy series, Kids in the Hall (KITH), featured regularly on HBO’s Larry Saunders Show, lent his voice to The Simpsons, appeared in many films and television shows, and currently has his fingers in several creative pies. Even for a Canadian, I’d call that pretty famous.

“I’ll always be a Kid-in-the-Hall.”

Scott is buoyant with a burning passion for his creative projects, but as he says, none of them pay. “I just want to be heard,” he says, “It keeps me sane. It’s an act of arrogance.”

He talked about the old stand-up days in Toronto and being paid a pittance.“One club used to pay me in meat and pot,” he recalled.

Old passions die hard – he’s slated to do a North American stand-up tour in the fall, and a western Canadian tour with fellow comedian and former Kid-in-the-Hall, Kevin McDonald, under the name, Two Kids, One Hall, combining stand-up and sketch comedy.

I admitted to him that I sometimes sit for hours watching KITH sketches on YouTube. He admitted the same thing. I found this particularly charming. Kids in the Hall is hilarious and wildly entertaining, and for me, points out the  absurdity of people and society through characters and comedy. When Scott talked about the reaction of Toronto’s gay community to his fabulous gay character,  Buddy Cole, I was shocked. Apparently the  gay community didn’t recognize the satirical handling of gay stereotypes and they turned on him, leaving Scott feeling betrayed.

“I wanted to be a mermaid when I was five.”

Now he wants to tell stories of a polarized world at war with itself, laughing at the worst face of society. A book, a play, and a TV show are in the works, and Scott, a master of satire, is very excited to work on the second of a three-part graphic novel series called Hollow Planet, with illustrator, Kyle Morton. It’s the story of KITH character, Danny Husk, the straight, middle-aged, moustached corporate employee on an epic comic journey to the centre of the earth where he’s a common sex slave in the savage fantasy world of Cargol, a place of half nudes and a telepathic mammoth – it’s Scott’s gay Game of Thrones. Oh, and it’s dirty, he assures me.

In 2011, his short film, The Immigrant, won at the Los Angeles Short Film festival, and will open the Manhattan Short Film festival later this year. It’s an autobiographical story about a Canadian comedian who once had a TV show but is now off the map. He has no money and no papers, and he has to cross the Mexican border.

“The film is about life, liberty, the pursuit of stardom, and how Canada can’t support it!”

He’s made himself available on demand at scottfree.podcast.com, and he also does the online Fruit Blog, where he and a group of cast-offs, including former KITH writer, Paul Bellini, video blog around a light narrative that has them learning about and eating fruit.

Scott’s favourite fruit is mango – very sensual. “I like fruit that mimics genitalia,” he says. 

By the end of the meal, Scott talked about his cancer. He’s beaten the stomach cancer soundly by now but the experience was harrowing. During the six months of writing and shooting the 2010 CBC KITH series, Death Comes to Town, Scott was in chemotherapy, his hair fell out, and he was tired and nauseous. All of this topped off by an unrelated calf muscle injury. Somehow he remained focused, but then came the radiation. This stage of treatment messed up his hormones to the point that he began to grow breasts. He was horrified. Eventually the breasts were surgically removed.

Now that the estrogen has subsided, he’s experiencing a powerful surge of testosterone that’s helping him rebuild his body and that’s not all it’s doing, if you know what I’m saying. Oh, don’t be shocked. In the immortal words of Buddy Cole,“My goal is not to shock and horrify, but to tell the truth. And if that truth shocks and horrifies, well …maybe you should get out more.”

Touching Paul Bellini

Bellini releases The Fab Columns this month.

Canadians fell in love with the brilliant CBC series, the Kids in the Hall (1988 – 1994), a hallmark of Canadian comedy.

We all had our favourites, the Chicken Lady, Sausages, the Pit of Ultimate Darkness, the salty ham, the head-crusher, Gavin, the Kathies, Buddy Cole, and Bellini, the portly, hairy-chested man in the white towel who walked out of a condom box and sparked the “Touch Paul Bellini” contest. If you’re straight and live outside of Toronto, you probably don’t know what happened to Bellini after he dropped his towel.

When I met with him for coffee in the gay village of Toronto, I was expecting a deep voice for some reason, but what I got instead was a very pleasant speaking voice, lovely blue-green eyes, and a beautiful round face. There is a softness to Bellini that I wasn’t expecting – sometimes these comedy types can be bitter and hard-boiled but Bellini’s got a maternal Old World aura about him – he prefers rosé varietals, movies make him cry, and he loves to cook (bouillabaisse no less). Bellini is the type you’d want taking care of you.

Comedy

Bellini poked with a stick.

He surprised me when he said he wore the towel on air to get over his shyness about his body, to get a break from the “adolescent horror” of self-consciousness. Amazingly, the man walked semi-nude in front of a TV camera and become a mascot for the best comedy show Canada has ever seen. Bellini’s white-towelled image is forever burned in our memory, “but it never got me laid,” he says.

People still recognize him from the Kids in the Hall (KITH) days, with the odd die-hard Bellini fan here and there. “I met one guy in Buffalo, NY, a modern primitive covered in tats and piercings who had Bellini emblazoned on his forearm,” he says. Bellini has had his share of psycho stalkers too but he doesn’t go into details.

We talked about the state of comedy in Canada and Bellini went off on a tirade.

“Political correctness is destroying comedy,” he said, “comedy is born from suffering, ugliness, and anger.” It sounds like a recipe for bitterness, but surprisingly, Bellini says that the Kids applied deep thinking to even the stupidest of their characters because they were interested in the human condition. Scott Thompson’s characters for example, are all figures that want to be desired (Kathy, Fran, or Buddy Cole).

Canada is the birthplace of sketch comedy but like Bellini says, “the arts are under fire and artists are treated terribly in Canada”. He says that KITH was an anomaly because CBC was never supportive of the show – it only happened because of Lorne Michaels (SNL) and US dollars.

“I love fame,” Bellini wrote in 2004, “It’s the coolest thing, even though it’s not available in Canada. You still have to go to the States to get it.”

It’s sad and strange that we’re perfectly willing to consume, share, and sometimes steal entertainment – comedy, music, literature, and film – but no one is willing to pay for it.  It’s a stinging disregard for the artists who put so much passion into their work.

“Marry money if you’re an artist in Canada,” Bellini says.

Film snob

Paul Bellini has a BFA in film from York University and when he talks film, I see a side of Bellini that was never depicted in KITH – this man’s passion and knowledge  of film is remarkable. He goes on about John Ford’s Pilgrimage, Rosselini’s Stromboli, and Fellini’s Stray Dog moving him to tears.

“I want to watch as many films as possible,” he says, “then I want to write about them – film appreciation from a fan’s point of view – their dimension, stylization, and what they say about humanity.” He wants to broaden the public’s knowledge of film, explaining that “lesser” films need to be acknowledged and respected.

He works his love of film into his stage work. I attended his one-man show, Biopic recently, a depiction of his life as a Hollywood movie. He built the performance around the nostalgic vignettes of Fellini’s Amarcord, and Night and Day, the musical biopic of composer, Cole Porter (homosexuality was illegal in 1946 when the film was made, and so a fictitious reworking of the gay composer’s life starred Cary Grant in a str8 relationship with Alexis Smith). In his show, we were treated to bits of Bellini’s life as a youth in the 60s and early 70s in Timmins, Ontario, proving that there is glamour anywhere you look for it.

 The Fab Columns

Since the demise of KITH, Bellini wrote for This Hour Has 20 Minutes, won a few Gemini awards, received a few Emmy nominations,wrote, produced, worked on animated productions, puppet shows (Bit & Bob), and appeared in film and television productions. He hosts award shows, festivals, and does a radio show Sunday afternoons on Proud FM.

He’s been writing a column for Fab, a gay lifestyle magazine, for the last 10 years. To celebrate this milestone and a hefty body of work, Bellini is giving himself a little party by publishing The FAB Columns, a 90,000 word book featuring his favourite columns.

“It’s a good bathroom read,” he says, “people can read a couple of columns while they’re taking a dump.”

While seated, you can read Bellini’s interviews with some of the most interesting people in entertainment – Tab Hunter (Bellini had a crush on Tab as a boy), Petula Clark, Bea Arthur (“My favourite TV show as a fat gay kid was Maude…”), Bob Mackie, John Waters, and Jim J. Bullock (“I’d blow a monkey to be back on Hollywood Squares…”).

While not exactly fun for the whole family, Bellini’s columns face the issues that other people are scared to talk about – relevant things like the size of Milton Berle’s dong, sex cabarets in Amsterdam, gay rodeos, and male prostitutes.

Of his column, Bellini says, “It gets me out of the house and allows me to meet people. It brings me free booze and theatre tickets, and it has made me famous for something other than wearing a white towel on The Kids in the Hall show.”

Paul Weller: Modfather

Paul Weller at the Sound Academy, Toronto, May 21, 2012

Paul Weller started life fronting the wildly influential new wave group, The Jam (1976 – 1982), then moved in to a smoother soulful/ jazzy/R&B sound with the Style Council (1983 – 1989). He heavily influenced the guitar-based Britpop movement of the 1990s and since that time has been a successful solo artist. I was lucky enough to see his show last week.

Not only do I dig his music, I appreciate Paul’s sense of style – he is one of the best-dressed musicians on the planet. Never ostentatious, trendy, or outlandish, his style is simple, distinctively British, and always well done.

In a recommended Observer interview, Paul explains his style beginnings: “I come from a time when every kid dressed up. Everybody. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to hang out. It was very tribal. There’s nice things in that. It’s culture, it’s roots for me. Maybe I just never grew up, mate.”

Paul’s dad was a Teddy Boy in the 50s so early on, his perception of style would be influenced by what I think is of the coolest looks of the 20th century. Teddy Boys were a cohesive group of teenage boys in Brylcreemed quiffs, stove pipe trousers, skinny ties, and Edwardian-style coats with velvet collars.  These kids grew up during strictly-rationed WWII, but now they earned their own money and spent it on clothes and rockabilly records. Teds made it okay for young men to express himself through his clothes, and this attitude set the stage for future styles in Britain, namely the “Mods” or Modernists, of which Paul Weller says, “I’m still a mod, I’ll always be a mod, you can bury me a mod.”

Though the mods have dubious beginnings, I like the sound of Shari Benstock and Suzanne Ferris’ explanation in On Fashion: “[At the] core of the British mod rebellion was a blatant fetishising of the American consumer culture” that had “eroded the moral fiber of England.” In this act, the mods “mocked the class system that had gotten their fathers nowhere”, and created a “rebellion based on consuming pleasures.”

The mods were obsessed with clothing and style and wore skinny, tailor-made Italian suits with short jackets (dubbed “bum freezers”), button-down shirts, Chelsea boots or “winklepicker” long-toed shoes, and military parkas to keep everything clean as they drove their Lambretta scooters, and popped speed while listening to the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, and Small Faces, leaning into blue-eyed soul and R&B sounds.

In the late 60s and early 70s, “we were all post-skinheads – suedeheads… too young to be proper skinheads.” Weller explains, “The main strand that forged it together was that American-college look, the Brooks Brothers look: the cardigans and sleeveless jumpers and the buttoned-down shirts and the Sta-Prest trousers. That was the common ground. It was a way for people who haven’t got much to make a show.”

Style

One source calls Mods “ice-cold, up-to-the-second hipsters”, so trying to make a show on a modest savings was difficult for a young style-conscious teenage boy from Woking, Surrey, a small city 25 miles from London.

I had to really save for my first Ben Sherman. We used to buy Brutus shirts, which were much cheaper – second best. But Ben Shermans were the sought-after item. The first one I ever got was a lemon-yellow one. I must have been 12, 13, and it was a bit too big for me. But being a kid I didn’t realise you could take it back to the shop. I wore it till it fitted me.

He says that shirt meant everything to him and speaks at length about his love of Ben Sherman shirts, how the line’s aesthetic strikes him, the colours, and their “statement of intent”. That really sums up Paul’s style – beautiful clothes worn with intent; for him, style is “like a code in my life, a religion”.

The skinny mohair or shark skin mod suits of the 60s worn by the soul artists Weller listened to were adopted by The Jam in the 70s, their signature black suit-white outfits echoed the black and white colour contrast that dominated the new wave period. It was during this time when Weller began to discover the pleasures of bespoke suits.

When the Jam disbanded and Paul began the Style Council, his look changed radically but he doesn’t have a lot of good things to say about the period. “The Eighties were a pretty rough time. There are too many [fashion faux pas to] mention. I used to think I came out of the Eighties unscathed but no one did… I don’t know if anyone had a decent haircut then… we all had stupid haircuts of varying nature. Mutant quiffs and angular cuts!”

Weller adds interest to his toned down stage gear with an interesting shoe.

It was during the Britpop movement that Weller earned the name “Modfather” – his Jam and solo work were hugely influential to the biggest names of the period: Blur, Lush, and Oasis. Through his work with Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Paul and Liam recognized their mutual love of clothing. Now, Paul is guest-designing for Liam’s clothing line, Pretty Green, an excellent line of Mod-influenced gear for men (that happens to be the name of a Jam song).

“I’ve been into clothes as long as I can remember. It’s great with this thing with Pretty Green – I can do my designs but I don’t have the headaches of manufacturing.”

Paul’s suits are late 60s – early 70s-inspired three-piece suits. “I wouldn’t want to be involved in anything that I wouldn’t wear myself,” says Weller in a UK GQ interview. “It’s been a dream really – I brought reference pictures, graphics, sketches, vintage things I’ve collected over the years and stuff from my own wardrobe.”

In his wardrobe, you would find five double-breasted pinstripe suits because as he says, “you can’t really go too far wrong with a pinstripe”. He stresses that a jacket fit well in the shoulders and to buy suits according to your body shape. For Weller, it’s the details that count – he’s always wearing an interesting pair of shoes and a silk stuffed into his breast pocket. All that while rocking an iconic textured Mod haircut.

Hair

Paul Weller’s haircuts, like his clothes, have always stood out. He has been wearing variations of the mod haircut for years. I asked Dubliner, Aaron O’Brian, stylist at Kearns & Co. in Toronto about Paul’s specific and distinctive cut.

“Mod haircuts involve texturizing and slicing the hair to give it a feathered look with lots of movement,” Aaron says, “there are lots of variations on the mod cut, for men and women, as long as they have the confidence to go with this funky style.”

Regina stylist, Levi Carleton, adds “no Weller haircut is without this great shattered end texture that screams a sort of high-end perfected distress.”

Aaron mentions that Paul’s cut has “always been on trend but there are many variations now like textured mod styles with swooping fringes (bangs). Variations of Paul’s mod cut can be seen throughout the years on other UK bands like  Oasis, The Verve, even fashion icon David Beckam sported a variation of mod,  and we will continue to see this style for many more years to come.”

The mod style paved the way to many different hair and fashion styles. “The mod basically gave people the freedom to express themselves and experiment with fashion,” Aaron says.

Video

Some of my favorite Paul Weller videos spotlighting his style:

That’s Entertainment is a classy early video (1981) featuring The Jam in tailored mod gear.

Beat Surrender, The Jam’s last single. Paul sticks to the stovepipe mod-style trousers and simple sweater – check bass player, Bruce Foxton’s skinny sand-coloured suit.

Wake Up The Nation (2010) from Paul’s solo career features his cool, simple, and distinctive tastes – a tailored jacket and neck scarf for a bit of punchy interest.

Historical whiskers: Van Dykes and goatees

Flemish painter, Anthony Van Dyke, originator of the Van Dyke whisker style.

If you lived through the 90s and were old enough to grow facial hair, chances are, you wore a wrap-around mustache/beard combination and you probably called it a goatee. You might be shocked to know that in the modern era, this facial hair style, mistakenly called a goatee, is actually a 400 year old Flemish (Dutch) style called a Van Dyke.

Author, Victoria Sherrow, explains both types of facial hair in her historical study of appearance in For Appearance’s Sake:

Goatees are tufts of hair on the chin, trimmed to look like the beard of a male goat, which give them their name.

Some men wear a mustache along with this type of beard. Variations of this look include the Van Dyke beard, which was named for seventeenth-century Flemish artist Anthony Van Dyke (1599 – 1641), whose portraits showed men wearing goatees.

Men like King Charles I of England. Charles usually sported a long chin beard and mustache combo, and commissioned many Van Dyke portraits. Shown here,  Charles I from Three Angles by Van Dyke, was created  as a guide for Italian sculptor, Bernini, commissioned by Pope Urban VIII to make the bust of the king. (Bernini is the famous sculptor of the period who did breathtaking work with marble and created such pieces as The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, David, and Apollo and Daphne. See images of his work here.)

This style comes in many forms from the complete, solid wrap-around, to various detached mustache and chin beard combinations of various shapes and styles that go in and out of fashion. During the Grunge period of the 90s, for example, every guy I knew who could grow a beard wore a closed Van Dyke (but called it a goatee).

The great musicians of the period wore them well – Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, and sometimes Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. The Van Dyke is a strong characteristic feature of the 90s and it was a good look at the time, but that was 20 years ago (!). Gents, if you haven’t changed your facial hair since 1994, I strongly suggest you modernize and shave off or reshape your whiskers – there are many variations of the mustache-chin beard style and lots of style experimentation to do that won’t make you look like you’re clinging to your youth.

The face is like a canvas; women change their looks by applying cosmetics, men by shaving, growing, and shaping their beards.

Heavy Van Dyke fans

Founding Pantera guitarist, the late Dimebag Darrell.

Pantera's Vinnie Paul

Metal musicians seem to like the Van Dyke, and lots of rockers come to mind. The two different Van Dyke styles shown here are worn by Pantera members: guitarist, Dimebag Darrell, wore a long mustache, grew his chin beard out and dyed it red. Ian Scott, the guitarist from Anthrax, also has a long chin beard that he sometimes colours red (not sure which came first), but he wears it alone without a ‘stache. He also shaves his head which makes his goatee more prominent and obvious.

Darrell’s brother and drummer, Vinnie Paul, wears a closed Van Dyke style with fancy chops. Shown here, his cool three-section chop sets off his Van Dyke.

Goatee

Pan, the ancient Greek deity of the woods, shepherds, and flocks, among other things.

The goatee proper, is simply chin whiskers, as Sherrow says, so-called because of its similarity to the chin hair of the billy-goat. The origin of goatee beards is thought to have originated in ancient Greece, where Pan, god of the woods, of creativity, music, poetry, and sexuality, is usually depicted wearing a chin beard.

Over time, this image of a goatee-d deity morphed into an image of the occult, known as Baphomet, illustrated in Eliphas Levi”s Dogmas and Rituals in High Magic (below). According to Secret Arcana, a website devoted to occult symbolism, Baphomet is symbolic of alchemy “where separate and opposing forces are united in perfect equilibrium to generate Astral Light.”

This Baphomet image has become synonymous with Satan and associated with sin and  darkness. If one thinks along extreme lines and decides to split the world into good and bad, embracing the dark, bad side is, in a sense, a way to thumb one’s nose at the “good” establishment. Not surprisingly, many rock and rollers have embraced the bad-ass, bad-boy image associated with darkness and the rebellion against the mundane.

Metallica's James Hetfield

Metal musicians who favour the goatee include Metallica singer and guitarist, James Hetfield, who sometimes wears a long, two-piece goatee, and bassist and vocalist for Slayer, Tom Araya, favours a long one-piece goatee.

Tom Araya of Slayer (Photograph by Steve Appleford)

Abe Lincoln was known to sport a goatee, as did the beatnicks of the 1950s. When Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, Joel Hanrahan, shaved off his chin beard, it was an event – read this hilarious tribute to Hanrahan’s dead goatee here. And let’s not forget the most famous cartoon goatee of them all, the chin beard of Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, slacker and suspected stoner on Scooby-Doo.

For this post, it was simply my intention to clarify the Van Dyke and the goatee confusion, but what I found in the research is amazing to me. The historical, artistic, and occult lore of facial hair runs deeper than I realized and I am led to one conclusion: no matter how much things change, the more they stay the same.