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noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - noiZe Magazine Issue 60 May 2009 - Index

well known throughout Canada for
her keen eye for visual pageantry
and drama. She is constantly finding
new ways to “tell my version of the
song on stage through visual movement,
costuming, and interacting
with the crowd.”
She now finds herself among the
luminaries of the Circuit performance
world. She has worked with
Circuit legends such as Buck Angel
and RKM, and caused a minor
scandal in Toronto with Angel, an
infamous female-to-male erotic
performer. Being the “man with a
vagina” (the phrase that appears
on his business cards), he tends to
give quite an eye-popping show, as
those who attended the Black Party
a few years back well know. He and
Lena hit it off immediately, and they
decided to surprise the crowd with
a little fisting, with Buck as the fister
and Lena as the fistee. Toronto
wasn’t quite ready for that type of
rawness, which upset Lena, since
it was “such a small piece of what
the story offered.” A flood of calls
and emails expressing shock and
outrage had Lena quickly yearning
for more cosmopolitan stages—or
at least more accepting ones.
Lena’s plans for the future will no
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Happy Am I! Healthy Am I! holy Am I!
Courtesy of Brynne Kennedy
doubt be shaped by her increasing
restlessness with the scene as she finds
it today. What she sees as an influx of
harder drugs and a sense that the party
scene has become jaded and stale is
having an impact on her enthusiasm—
not to mention the fact that many
people simply don’t go out anymore,
instead preferring the relative proximity
and simplicity of cruising around online
for company.
But she stays upbeat about a scene that
she still loves and cherishes, and is using
this moment to take stock of how she
can continue to do what she loves and
feel that she is getting the most out of
her creative output. She has much to
be thankful for, “discovering as an artist
the best and worst of what comes along
with your passion.” But she is not afraid
to admit that she is at a “crossroads”
and yearns to “take Lena Love to another
level.”
This might take the form of moving to
Europe to seek out new audiences with
a thirst for her brand of boundary-pushing
aesthetics. She also hints that there
may be a “legendary musical” in her
life, and from the look of things, it would
certainly be a surprise if there weren’t.
Too bad the name “Taboo” is already
taken. It would fit her boundary-breaking
performance style perfectly.