Will Munro
[5] Born in Australia, Munro grew up mostly in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and moved to nearby Toronto to study at OCAD University, graduating in 2000.
Influenced by such artists as General Idea and the queercore movement, he received critical attention for his work with men's underwear, a medium he used eventually to create collages of colourful performers he admired such as Klaus Nomi and Leigh Bowery.
He created silkscreen posters to advertise Vazaleen—his monthly nightclub party that was unusual for being a queer event where punk and other rock music was prominently played, and for being one of the first to exist beyond the confines of the gay ghetto.
The party was known for attracting a diverse crowd, and at its peak brought in such performers as Nina Hagen; international "best-of" nightclub lists took notice.
For many years, he volunteered as a peer counsellor at the Toronto Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line,[7] where an annual award was established in his honour after his death.
"[10] In addition to its stereotype-countering incorporation of punk and other rock music, his club night was also noted to be unusual for being located outside of the Church and Wellesley gay neighbourhood.
I put lots of images of women and dyke icons on the posters and flyers—groups like The Runaways or singers like Nina Hagen and Carole Pope.
"[21] It began in the downstairs space at El Mocambo in late 1999,[22] moved to the upstairs space in January 2000, and in late 2001, when El Mocambo was threatening to close, to Lee's Palace, where it continued as a monthly event until 2006;[21] it continues to this day as an annual event as part the city's Pride Week festivities, to raise money for the Will Munro Fund for Queer and Trans People Living with Cancer.
[23] In a lengthy article about Vazaleen in Toronto Life, critic R. M. Vaughan wrote, "In its lewd, spontaneous, hysterical and glamorous way, Vazaleen defined a new Toronto aesthetic, a playful and endlessly inventive mode of presentation that encompassed everything from lesbian prog- rock to tranny camp to vintage punk revival to good old-fashioned loud-mouthed drag.
[7] At the height of the event's popularity, Munro appeared on the cover of Now magazine (made up to look similar to David Bowie's Aladdin Sane album cover),[21] musical guests included Carole Pope, Tracy + the Plastics, Vaginal Davis, Glen Meadmore[4] and Nina Hagen,[24][25] and Vazaleen appeared on "best-of" nightclub lists internationally.
[21] Munro produced other Toronto club nights such as Peroxide, which featured electro music, No T. O., which showcased No Wave, Seventh Heaven Dream Disco, and the amateur stripper party Moustache.
Arts columnist Murray Whyte of the Toronto Star wrote, "Will's virtual status as hub took bricks-and-mortar form: The Beaver quickly became that cozy, everyone-in-the-pool house party, a sort of community hall/mini dance club, and an alt-culture oasis".
[1] "Love Saves the Day" became Munro's dance music night at The Beaver, which he continued to organize even as his illness began to prevent him from leaving home.
What makes Will Munro so extraordinary as an artist and as a person is that he has not only remained true to such a harsh mistress, but that he has also contributed so substantially to the fabric and heft of this often maleficent metropolis.
[28] The book is divided into three parts (Mississauga Goddam, Rock Show, and Heaven), which all work to highlight what an extraordinary talent Munro had for community cultivation.
