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Under Construction - Article About Mackenzie MacBride - Musician

Mackenzie MacBride is a singer, songwriter, performer and outsider musician known for her counterculture singing style and unique stage performances. She was nominated as Entertainer of the Year by Captial Xtra Magazine in 2007. Her 2008 album, “An Outsider’s Heart” was voted Honourary Mention – Best Country Album in the Ottawa Xpress Magazine’s Best of 2008 Readers Poll.

MacBride has released five recordings independently: Glam Rock Revelations (2003), Didn’t Want To (Had To) (2004), Hollywood In the Morning (2005), Eccentric By Accident (2007), and An Outsider’s Heart (2008).

Quotes I have found so far about the reclusive artist behind some of the most unique and imaginative heart music and rock opera I've ever heard!:

2009

1.

Mackenzie Called "Refreshing" on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning

Mackenzie's song "Im Not Marilyn Munroe" was featured on the popular CBC Radio show "Ottawa Morning" on February 26, 2009, the day of her "An Outsider's Heart" album release and Music Video premiere.

Being featured on the Ottawa Morning put Mackenzie in the company of Juno Award winning Leonard Cohen and Melanie Doane for the show's week of Music.

CBC's Music Programmer referred to Mackenzie's music, " I think her music is superduper! Her countertenor voice and lyrics are so refreshing."

Mackenzie's Debut Music Video Screening was featured on the CBC's Weekend Picks on February 26, 2009 with host Amanda Putz.

Link:

http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/OTTAWA_MORNING/20090226.shtml

2.

Music Video Premiere

Mackenzie's official album release and premiere music video screening received city wide press in the Ottawa Citizen's February 26, 2009 Arts Section where she was referred to as, "the rock songstress with the hoarse voice and heaping side of humour."

Link:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Entertainment/South+Keys+country+gotta+Lovett/1330100/story.html

3.

An Outsider's Heart - Album Release

Mackenzie mentioned citywide in the Ottawa Xpress's February 26, 2009 community Music Section

Link:

http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=16706

4.

Mackenzie On CHOU University Of Ottawa Radio

Mackenzie was interviewed about her Upcoming Music Video Premiere and Album Launch on the show "Anything But Vanilla" on February 17, 2009,

Youtube Video Of Interview (Part 1):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk8tFOursiI

5.

Ottawa's 10 Heros of the Indie Universe

Mackenzie was named one of Ottawa's 10 Heros of the Indie Universe in Capital Xtra's Feb, 2009 issue and was included in a special "download CD" for readers. Article refers to Mackenzie's, " distinctive voice, instinct for melodic construction and brimming sense of humour."

http://www.xtra.ca/public/Ottawa/Heroes_of_Ottawas_indie_universe-6266.aspx

2008

1.

Best Country Album Nod (November 2008)

Winner of Honourary Mention for Best Country Album in Ottawa Express 2008 Readers Poll for the advance release of "An Outsider's Heart."

Link:

http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=16031

2007

1.

"Mackenzie's mix of sincerity and temerity, of high drama and high camp, the relentless humour and the wonderful melodic lines weave themselves into a complex and engrossing tapestry. Those who are fans are superfans."

Nov 15, 2007

- Marcus McCann /Cap X Magazine News Editor Blog

http://marcusmccann.blogspot.com/ ___________________________

2.

"She has an amazing voice. I always think of Klaus Nomi!"

- Pride West 2007 Promoter in Fab Magazine # 321 with colour photo

June 11, 2007

www.fabmagazine.com __________________________

3.

"Self-Made Glam Girl Rocks On

Don’t ever tell Mackenzie MacBride she doesn’t have the right stuff to be a singer. She’ll just laugh in your face, pull out a mic and belt out another glitzy glam rock tune. Perseverance is what’s kept the self-styled “cruise-ship Vaudeville glam rocker” sane all this time, she admits. “I’ve been at this over ten years and it’s only in the last year that anyone has paid attention,” says MacBride, a self-taught musician and dirty-blonde Cyndi Lauper type.

But after what’s seemed an eternity of brush-offs and Cheshire smiles from promoters and fellow musicians alike, the singer – who this past year alone has birthed numerous Ottawa shows alongside high-profile acts like Hilotrons, The City Above and Lesbians on Ecstasy – is finally getting what she considers her just desserts.

She just rocked the Russian-styled Avant Garde Café this past Saturday with Night of Knights and Emile Pelletier, and is set to lay down another set of “story-songs” at the CRIAW Conference with slam poet Oni the Hatian Sensation at the Elgin Street Church this May 5.

The act itself is completed by backing band The Super Model Syndrome and is one of sheer sonic mayhem, a wave of guitars, liquid synths and oddly belligerent, operatic vocals ripping holes in conventional stage performance like runs in old pantyhose. “It’s New York City balladry, or glam rock,” she explains, adding she draws on influences like Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart to write her offbeat songs.

“My music is from the days of bleeding ballads and eloquent words,” she says. “The concept of telling my own truths, and my own stories came to me over time… but I think what people are picking up on now is that I’ve emerged from what we could call a musical bunker.”

That bunker, she explains, was her experience growing up in rural Nova Scotia. A land of conservative views and predominantly Celic-style tunes, MacBride says she couldn’t find a single musician to work with for years.

Over time she grew more comfortable with her eccentricity, she recalls, playing electro-lounge sets on “B-grade cruise ships” for a while. As her comfort level rose, however, so did kudos from critics and fans alike.

“I like to titillate people’s senses, and that includes their laughter button as well as their soul button,” she says. “I like to get onstage and tell the truth as I see it, and in my case I’m trying to share universal truths of heartache, hope and perseverance.”

Indeed, jaded lyrics like “Everyone’s sending out their press kits and promos/begging the papers to run their front-page photos” from her tune ‘There’s a Rock Band on Every Corner’ go over well with the indie rock crowd, and MacBride has garnered a local following of fans of late.

It’s through a celebration of truth and emotion in all its facets, from sublime revelations to rock-bottom depression, she says, that she's able to connect with audiences. “I try to present that for people so they can see that life is full of highs and lows,” she philosophizes.

“Some people it grates on like sand in a shoe, but ultimately people tell me they ended up feeling comfortable with their own uncomfortableness.

“And that’s what people come out for. It’s a gritty, angstful evening.”

By Jim Donnelly The City Journal, Ottawa

May 2, 2007

http://www.cityjournal.ca/article-100327-Selfmade-glam-girl-rocks-on.html

4.

Mackenzie MacBride, Singer/Songwriter/Bandleader

After taking in three shows since the beginning of 2007 (at the Avant Garde Bar, Barrymore's Music Hall, and the Saw Gallery) by Centretowner Mackenzie Macbride backed up by the The Supermodel Syndrome, I got together with her at Elgin Street's Bridgehead coffee house on Good Friday. While the WiFi crowd tapped away, we had an old-fashioned chat. Mackenzie has lived in Centretown for the past five years, having moved to Ottawa from the Annnapolis Valley, where she grew up, including picking apples and strawberries. She graduated from St Mary's University with a Bachelor's degree with a majoring in Industrial Psychology. After a fruitless job search in Nova Scotia, coupled with wanting "new musical opportunities" ("creative ambition and mercenary practicality") as she puts it) she was offered a job in our fair city, where she works as a government communications officer. Her first two-and-a-half years in Centretown were spent in a MacLaren Street apartment overlooking Somerset Street with a prized view of the Library of Parliament, "which made me feel I had come a long way". She now lives nearby in the Abiwin Coop. Music is clearly Mackenzie's passion, a love she discovered early on, starting with the piano (which she played on the Bar Harbour to Yarmouth ferry), moving on to the alto saxophone and then the singer/songwriter's favourite instrument, the guitar. She started to write songs, in order "to find my own voice...to find my own pure light and my own creativity". She describes her style as being "New York balladry" a la Lou Reed and Annie Lennox, agreeing that her voice resembles that of Cyndi Lauper. What does she sing about? "I deal in truths...my own personal observations of the world. I deal in pain and hope and continuing on". She's had four CD releases so far, the last full-album "Eccentric by Accident". Songs on them include "Hollywood in the Morning" - about an office worker who wants to be a star-- "Curtains Come Down" (on a 10-year friendship), and the autobiographical "This is My Story". Mackenzie works hard on her musical career, contacting clubs, postering for her shows (which is what got my attention, incidentally) and putting together The Supermodel Syndrome (mostly Carleton Music graduates, including "musical partner" Emile Pelletier), who back her up. She's been interviewed by Capital Xtra, but refuses to be "labeled" and wants to develop a fan-base. Want to see Mackenzie MacBride and The Supermodel Syndrome in action? They play The Avant-Garde Bar (Besserer Street) on Saturday, April 28th and, in a bit of a coup, WestFest on June 10th. In May, they'll be playing clubs in Toronto and Montreal. Check out www.mackenziemacbride.com for more info and/or to contact Mackenzie.

Written by David Gladstone The Centretown Buzz, Ottawa

Friday April 20, 2007

http://www.centretown.net/news_detail.php?news_id=176

5.

The Alexander Parkette "Alterna-Queer" Stage has a LOT going for it. First, you have Mackenzie McBride at 3:30 pm. Mackenzie is a terrible, terrible singer. I'm talking worse than William hung, and like the man himself she has a lot of die hard fans. She's so bad, she's awesome, or at least entertaining. For a few minutes...

http://www.blogto.com/music/2007/06/pride_toronto_concerts_from_friday_to_sunday/

6.

Mackenzie MacBride Stages A "Carnie"

OTTAWA — Mackenzie MacBride is putting on a carnie show. Not a display of carnival games and their employees, mind you, but what she says is the musical equivalent.

"A carnie is an evening that celebrates oddball, non-conforming, yet wonderful, musicians and performers," MacBride explains.

MacBride herself certainly fits this description. A singer of "theatrical balladry," MacBride channels eccentrics from Tiny Tim to Cyndi Lauper, but her music defies definition. It doesn't fit in too well with any of Ottawa's singer/songwriter, indie rock or even experimental scenes, and MacBride uses it as something to celebrate rather than bemoan.

"I keep bringing it back to my guiding belief," MacBride says, "which is that the world would be a better, safer and more dynamic place if everyone could see and appreciate the beauty that lives inside the bizarre."

To that end, MacBride has invited a wildly diverse lineup to join her upcoming carnie evening — the new wave-ish sounds of Mike Dubue, the folky songs of Emile Pelletier, and the hard-to-pin-down rock of The City Above.

"The performers at the show will be making their own unique and sometimes counterculture music," MacBride says. "Performers like this share a lot in common with carnie workers.

"They are both sought out by audiences interested in unique arts and looked down upon by mainstream types. There's a beauty and a loneliness associated with carnies. The fine line between being celebrated and ostracized… we're not sure where we are on these fine lines, but we keep going on with our art and music."

MacBride's evening also addresses another oft-stigmatized section of society — children of gay, lesbian, or transgendered parents. All the proceeds from the show will go to Camp Ten Oaks, which provides week-long summer camps for these kids, where they can enjoy a supportive environment and some sunshine.

The carnie takes place on Friday at Ottawa's SAW Gallery. MacBride will release her Eccentric By Accident album at the end of April.

By Caitlin Crockard, ChartAttack.com Staff

Thursday March 29, 2007

http://www.chartattack.com/news/43282/mackenzie-macbride-stages-a-carnie __________________________

7.

The Charlaton (Carleton University Newspaper)

Counter Culture Carnie fest a refreshing alternative

The Counter Carnie Culture show at the SAW gallery March 31 was a night to remember.

The event was organized and hosted by musician Mackenzie MacBride and was a carnival-themed show with spoken word performances and a few local performers such as City Above. It was the second of three planned shows. In December they performed in Toronto, and the group plans to perform again in Montreal in May.

Compared to other cities MacBride says Ottawa is a difficult place to find a crowd to come out, but she says the show surpassed her expectations.

She says the event was mainly about "transcending being stopped by the 'meat and potatoes' template of rock and live music scene in Canada." In other words, it aims to give lesser-known performers more exposure.

Her own band, the Super Model Syndrome, has been playing since 2003 and has a theatrical pop rock sound to it.

The show was small but the atmosphere was cozy, much like a living room.

Sean Zi, a spoken word performer and a former Carleton student, says he was very happy with the turnout and was excited to perform for his friends.

Proceeds from the event went toward Camp Ten Oaks, a camp in the Gatineau area for children of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer families. The money will go towards renting the camp and transportation for campers.

Overall MacBride says the show was a success.

"A lot of awareness was raised," she says. "The best person to be is yourself, there is beauty in the bizarre, and never let others shut down your dreams."

She says dreams are important and the event was a good way to keep encouraging new musicians and performers. The next show will be held at the Avant-Garde Bar April 28.

Written by Meghan Callaghan Thursday, 05 April 2007 http://www.charlatan.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18729&Itemid=31

8.

Mackenzie MacBride @ Barrymores

Mackenzie MacBride led off the evening with her glam rock meets stand up meets performance art. Mackenzie is able to swallow her audience whole, with an audacious personality with a haunting, almost whiny, yet romantic voice. Picture the most glamourous of glam rockers hitting you full throttle while being backed up by a Hank Williams ensemble, bizarre indeed! Her lyrics also packed a punch. So all of you hispters who decidied to show up late, you this: you missed an impressive show by a unique artist.

Upfront Ottawa Magazine By- Derrick Ruston

March, 2007

9.

February 15, 2007

It's the second-last day of the year and Mackenzie MacBride and her backing band, the Super Model Syndrome, are playing to a sparse house at the Avant-Garde Bar, the Besserer Street cafe that calls itself "The Russian Place."Married With Children re-runs play on a corner TV. The mood is intimate and MacBride is feeding off the living room atmosphere with long preambles to her pop songs.She's dressed in a sparkly shirt with arm warmers, a white belt and ankle-length "cougar boots." She laughs into the mike, "my outfit is worth the cover charge alone." The crowd agrees, hoots and claps their $3 worth. Best pal Angie Neatby, of Muffler Crunch, sits on a stool at the front of the stage and hollers responses to every story like, "forget him, he's a douchebag," to laughs from the audience.MacBride's off-the-cuff, TMI banter deals with urinary tract infections, workin' for the man and the fact that "there's a rock band on every corner."She deconstructs cool scensterism, calling hipster twits on their BS while interjecting gong-worthy show standards like: "it ain't easy being this sleazy."Overall, her standup routine is funny, refreshing, even.And then she starts singing in what could be best described as an operatic screech, leaving many wondering if this campy cut-up is for real or is her whole act a novelty?

No, she says. There is "beauty that lives in the bizarre" and she's the mascot for her own movement. "I try to convey a depth of humanness you cannot get from every McAct," she wrote in an e-mail exchange ahead of the Rare Women for Wild Birds event she organized in October. "It's not pretty, but it's honest. I'm out to perform for people who realize that if I'm humble enough to take the risk to get up on stage and sing in that sexless voice, which could be thought of as social suicide, even by myself on some nights, then I must have something important to share."That something is the truth, based on her experiences from mundane worklife to feeling like an outcast, because she's an admitted eccentric. She plays up the oddity.MacBride subtitled her Eccentric By Accident album (to be released April 28) "subversive audio trash without the plane fare to NYC" and says on her press pack "if you don't get it, you're almost as weird as she is!!!"The eldest of two, MacBride grew up on a Christmas tree farm near Wolfville, N.S. She studied opera at Acadia, but finished two degrees in psychology and HR at St. Mary's University in Halifax. She worked on the ship that travels between Yarmouth, N.S., and Bar Harbor, Maine, playing pop songs by Elton John, Bette Midler and Dolly Parton.

"My job was dazzling tourists and generally keeping them otherwise distracted when they were trying not to puke."Music kept her company. She would listen to Melissa Etheridge and Jann Arden to pass the time."I wasn't the most socially sought-after person, so music was a way to make sense of the world around me."She came to Ottawa for a fresh start and for a good office job. Since then, she's played a handful of shows in the city and in Toronto. Saturday's show opening for the Hilotrons will be her biggest yet.She's not nervous about going on in front of discerning music fans. "In the music business, there are a lot of people who take themselves very seriously," she says. "I'm not trying to do that. I'm trying to have fun and show people that being yourself is the best person to be. It's absolutely not a joke. I think they thought that of Boy George and Janis Joplin and other artists through the years."Mackenzie MacBride opens for the Hilotrons and the American Devices Saturday at Barrymore's, 323 Bank St., 8 p.m. $10 advance, $12 at the door.

by Fateema Sayani

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/columnists/story.html?id=08639932-53ec-49e6-99cb-7ea28eb83fc8

10.

Mackenzie MacBride Presents Counter-Culture Cruise Ship Cabaret

Friday October 06, 2006

Mackenzie MacBride is one rare bird. It's impossible to avoid that metaphor when mentioning her most recent endeavour, a benefit concert for the Ottawa Wild Bird Rescue Centre. And to take it even further, we could describe MacBride as having a bright, colourful plumage, but one that disguises a fragility underneath.

For those who haven't seen a MacBride show — and you don't get too many chances, even in Ottawa — a description can easily come across as pure kitsch. She doesn't shy away from such descriptors herself.

"I'm seeking people who are fans of the subversive — the smart, the counter-culture, people who agree that the Canadian music scene needs more characters, fans who want to have a laugh with me as I hopefully exemplify that the time for a new Tiny Tim, Little Richard and Janis Joplin hasn't come and gone."

MacBride embodies qualities of those notorious musicians, as well as those of two of her other inspirations, Boy George and Cyndi Lauper. She's flamboyant and stands out in a community where, she says, "sometimes I'm too wild even for the queer scene. That can make me feel alone at times."

The music is wild, too. MacBride says it "fuses the angst of glam with the intimacy of lounge, and layers it over slowed-down four-on-the-floor beats. Refusing to take myself too seriously, I then get on top of this lo-fi musical kick in the pants and belt out the typos of my life with Dolly Parton-meets-Tiny Tim novelty vocals. It's a counter-culture cruise ship cabaret."

It's this sense of humour about her act, combined with the genuine emotion behind the songs, that makes MacBride so compelling. Behind the painted colour of the music is someone who takes her art quite seriously. "I hope to inspire people," she says.

"I know as soon as I sing my first note that I've 'failed' as far as many 'mainstream-or-bust' listeners are concerned. But I do it anyway. I hope that my tenacity will inspire the audience to not let others shut down their dreams, and to celebrate their imperfections as assets."

MacBride has invited three other women with rare-bird music qualities to play her Wild Bird Rescue Centre benefit. Check out MacBride at Cafe Dekcuf on Saturday October 7 th.

By: ChartAttack.com Staff

http://www.chartattack.com/news/42157/ottawa-buzz-mackenzie-macbride-presents-counter-culture-cruise-ship-cabaret

"My life has been one big journey through corners on two-wheels and somersaults and near-death experiences," says Mackenzie MacBride, the Ottawa-area singer-storyteller.

"I am a woman who got short-changed. I like to think that I have two angels and one of them is Patrick and the other one is Damian, and Damian is this rock and roll angel who temporarily forgot about me and ran off with some chick," says MacBride. "All I ever set out to be in my life was a woman.

No prefixes, no suffixes, no multi-syllable qualifiers. And that disappoints some people when I talk like that. But I understand the difference between defining myself and being in the closet. I define myself but I am not in any closet."

MacBride is certainly the character she purports to be. She is wearing a tight, frilly, orange and black, three-quarter length shirt, khaki capri pants and clunky oxfords, tied together vividly with a string of lime-green beads.

Hailing from the secluded shores of Minas Basin in rural Nova Scotia, MacBride is quick to explain that she was a poster child for all things queer while growing up. MacBride recalls attending Acadia University where she was menaced and intimidated by the general populace while walking through campus, and was eventually given security guards to escort her from the residence to the dining lounge. She also describes attending St Mary's University in Halifax, where she spent her time alone in her foggy residence room listening to Melissa Etheridge. No one ever called her except her mother and one girlfriend. It was at this low point that MacBride decided that she was going to have to "give up or stand up."

"The movie Hedwig And The Angry Inch paints a very brash, 'snap-snap' type of got-it-all-together bravado, but in real life it's hard to be a person on the margin day in and day out," says MacBride.

Moving to Ottawa was a wake-up call that helped MacBride realize that her eccentric character went far and beyond being part of the queer community.

"When I came up to Ottawa I was like, 'Well, here everyone's a tranny and everyone's got a MySpace and there's nothing special about you.' It's not my queerness that defines me as an eccentric artist; that's just one little portion of me," says MacBride, whose je ne sais quoi sets her apart even in the queer community. Despite being a self-described oddball, MacBride says that she still feels a lot of solidarity within the community.

"What keeps me coming is back is I feel like I have something to share with other queers. What's true about me but not a lot of others in the queer community is that ... it's the queer way, to take our misfortunes and forward. The survival instincts, transcending these hardships, is how I feel such a commonality with that community," says MacBride.

MacBride says that one thing that hasn't changed from living in the Maritimes is that she's still a curiosity and still a source for scrutiny. And she still hears comments about the way she looks.

But major a conduit for MacBride is, of course, her music. The career was not easy to begin in Halifax - MacBride can remember calling every single performer in a pamphlet of musicians looking for gigs and being turned down by every single one. Being in Ottawa helped to advance MacBride's career, and she was able to develop into her own.

MacBride says that what sets her apart is her storytelling and her witty yet earnest delivery - her way of sharing her struggles, minus the clichéd Hollywood happy-endings. MacBride says that her act is a mix of Tiny-Tim style screeches and Dolly Parton kitsch and camp. At each show, MacBride invites her audience to transcend the homogenous and the mainstream, and to experience the outlandish, the "off-off Broadway."

"I do it with a style, and a depth of humanness you can't get from every dime MC act. It's not pretty, but it's honest. I'm humble enough to take the risk to get up on stage and sing in that sexless voice, which could be thought of as social suicide, even by myself on some nights," says MacBride.

MacBride hopes that her earnest vocals, lyrics and inexhaustible wit are enough to transcend all ages and social groups, and instill tenacity and perseverance in the face of hardship. According to MacBride, her music brings a lot of joy to those who have ever been "battered and beaten."

"I want them to start making lemonade out of lemons, to treat each day as a chance instead of a promise. The biggest reward for me is when people come up to me after a show and say something like, 'Wow, I don't feel so alone now.' I try to demonstrate beauty and love with honesty, outside of conventional clichés. Beauty as a barbed wire fence that has been cut open, not a kitten on a Hallmark Card."

MacBride has enjoyed touring the Golden Triangle circuit this year, but has begun planning her own gigs. MacBride's current project is a benefit called Rare Woman For Wild Birds for an Ottawa-area bird sanctuary that saves and cares for the injured animals.

By Hayley MacPhee

Capital Xtra

September 28, 2006

http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=2&STORY_ID=2139&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=2 __________________________

11.

Community Garden, Ottawa Xpress

I'll support a chick band just 'cause they're chicks. Bring on Ottawa's Bella Bombs, whore-core Pantychrist, Sarah Slean or Vashti Bunyan for all their awesome talent, not their biology. And if they're singing for a good cause, even better. That's why I'm not missing four of Ottawa's brilliant birds take flight this Saturday, October 7, for the second annual music benefit for the Ottawa Wild Bird Care Centre at Café Dekcuf (221 Rideau St.). For $7, you get Casey Comeau and former cruise-ship entertainer and benefit organizer Mackenzie MacBride (Dolly Parton meets Tiny Tim cabaret). Proceeds support the rescue centre, which works with thousands of Ottawa's distressed wild birds every year (www.wildbirdcarecentre.org). Ever think of how a disabled pigeon is connected to your own personal journey?

For MacBride, the story goes like this: Together with last year's organizer, Angie the Barbarian, the pair headed for the Wild Bird Care Centre one day with a maimed-wing pigeon. MacBride discovered the centre was in the same neighbourhood as one of her former tumultuous love interests. "I realized that you can be five minutes away from someone who you once loved, and yet never see them again for the rest of your life," she says. Overcoming the oddity, MacBride charged on with her pigeon, thinking of herself and Angie as two rare birds looking for love in the barren landscape of suburbia and homogenous men. "In a way, I see myself and so many others as birds bouncing around in cardboard boxes looking for salvation."

Best break out some Wild Turkey and set yourself free! Let Saturday's top flock o' female performers rescue them broken hearts and fix your broken wings.

Ottawa XPress Sylvie Hill & Matt Harrison

October 5, 2006

http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=10500

12.

"If you come to the show," Mackenzie MacBride vows of the Vaudvillian rocker's Saturday Avant-Garde Bar performance, "in two weeks, you'll remember where you were on December 30 th." "Everything in Ottawa this Saturday night, audeinces can see the following Saturday night. Except this." It's a helluva pitch. But then, MacBride is not known for being backwards about coming forward. Raised in small-town Nova Scotia where, the flamboyant performer says, "the ocean taught me to sing", MacBride spent some time working B-Grade" New England cruise ships before deciding to settle in Ottawa and unleash a unique blend of, well, self described mentors, cyndi Lauper and Dee Snider. "I'm out to perform for fans of the subversive and counterculture music," MacBride says. "I want to sing for people who realize that if I'm humble enough to take the risk to get up on stage and sing in that sexless voice - which could be thought of as social suicide - I must have somethig important to share - and that something is honesty. Honesty deleivered in falsetto, and with hard rock backing. Just the way Cyndi and Dee would have wanted. "I want people to feel what I feel," MacBride, who recently completed sessions for a debut album, concludes, "even for a moment." "I want people to catch a glimse of the beauty in the bizarre."

December 27, 2006

By Allan Wigney, The Scene

_________________________

13.

The Pre-Party Show

Mackenzie MacBride and her backing band, The Super Model Syndrome, play Vaudeville Rock with guest Emile Pelletier Saturday at the Avant-Garde Bar, 1351/2 Besserer St. 8 p.m. $10.

MacBride, a rising camp songstress, says her New Year's resolution is to get to Europe. "My goal is to walk naked on one of those nude beaches in the south of France. I'll be the only beach bum with a pink feather boa and a peacock on a leash."

Promises, promises. Look for MacBride again in March when she hosts the Counter Culture Carnie.

Fateema Sayani

The Ottawa Citizen

December 28, 2006

14.

Mackenzie MacBride's Hit Carnival Show

Carnival enthusiasts unite this evening at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre for The High Fashion Show, touted as a "runway cabaret" with the spirit of an antiquated midway. Part fashion show, part indie rock concert and part charity gala, all proceeds go to Camp Ten Oaks, a one-week summer camp for children with LGBTQ parents.

Admission to this big top is $7, or $5 with the donation of warm hats and scarves for youths in need.

Bands include After Party, Mackenzie MacBride and the Supermodel Syndrome, Lip Stick Machine, Coyote Peyote, and Hot Monogamy.

So where does the fashion come in? Expect DIY adornments from local designers on stage and for sale at display tables. Glam rock diva and event hostess Mackenzie MacBride explains, "The fashion theme was originally inspired from an experience I had applying to be a contestant on a CBC reality show in September of 2006. The point of the show was to find ten contestants to compete to be the new host of CBC's Fashion File. I realized that the CBC would be too frightened to have me on the show. But the truth is I would have been the best fashion hostess the CBC ever had. I'd start by getting George Stroumboulopoulos out of his black Adidas sneakers and leather wristbands night after night!"

Yeah, we think the wristbands are a little overdone too.....oh! I get it now...

-Torontoist Staff

December 15, 2006 Toronto, ON

http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/12/carnie_fashion.php

15.

Canada's only counter culture carnival is set to tour Central Canada starting with its first show at Toronto's Buddys In Bad Times Theatre on Friday, December 15th. Entitled "The High Fashion Show", it combines indie rock, disco bands, and high gloss glam rock bands on one stage in.

Internationally ignored glam rock song stylist and host Mackenzie MacBride is banking on it. Proceeds from the event go to Camp Ten Oaks, a weeklong camp for youths from queer families. Check out their website for deets!

- CBC Radio 3 Staff

Dec 12, 2006

http://radio3.cbc.ca/blogs/2006/12/Dont-Fear-the-Carnie

2005

1.

The Dallas News Religion columnist slammed - (along with the group Peter, Paul and Mary along with Raffi) for recording, in her case, a glam rock version of "Kumbaya". Columnist also refers to her as "an oddity" in the process. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/DN-kumbaya_11rel.ART0.State.Edition1.3e6da2d.html