by Tiff -

Peaches makes best of bad situation, performs kinky “Wheelchair Show”

Unless you’re a fan of the indie electronic & hip-hop scene, or a member of the GLBT community, you may have never heard of Peaches before.

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This 43 year old electronic musician from Toronto, Canada (with a penchant for svelte trannies and naughty lyrics <3) twisted her ankle stage diving at a show in Portugal last month. She Twittered, “i twisted my ankle at the beginning of the show last night in porto but still walked on people, scaled the rail and stage dove. adrenaline.”

And since Peaches (site) is a top-tier member of the bad ass club, she’s not hiding in some posh hotel somewhere, waiting to get better; no. She’s FIERCE and 43, and doesn’t give a shit if she’s seen in her wheelchair. What other musician would dare perform in a wheelchair? Hell, Bono and crew cancelled their entire 2010 summer tour this year because Bono’s bad back. LAME Bono.

Peaches has much bigger balls than you, my friend.

So behold! The kinky and the fanastical – The Wheelchair Show – (9 mins long) featuring a sexy naked tranny as a back-up dancer, funny backstage moments, and one of the most creative wheelchairs I’ve ever seen.

Peaches newly revamped show (which she’ll be doing for at least 6 more weeks as her tour progresses through Europe), makes my heart smile like a big dopey grandma.

Watch Peaches show how rockin’ a wheelchair is really done – here.

by Tiff -

Pledge, help make “Redneck Ninjas” a reality

Out of all the interesting people I’ve met online, Drew Bates is one of my favorites. A quadriplegic (C5, injured on a road trip in 2007), I adore this mouthy Southern boy for multiple reasons: 1) He makes me laugh (hard), 2) He’s foine (vs. fine), AND 3) He’s creative, like professionally creative. He is a voice-over actor and writer, with a super exciting project in the works. But he needs your help!  
 
 
His creation, Redneck Ninjas (think Blue Collar Comedy Tour, animated, and featuring a wacky family instead of whiny men), is an idea he’d LOVE to make into a 60-second short.
 
 
To make it happen: Help Drew raise $10,000 by September 30th, 2010. If he meets his goal, he will use the money to pay Powerhouse Animation (animation studio) in Austin, Texas, who will – using traditional 2D animation and Adobe Flash animation – bring to life Drew’s already written and produced 60 second short for Redneck Ninjas.
 
And have no doubt, IT WILL BE AWESOME. I don’t know about you, but it would be fucking cool to know a quad is behind an Adult Swim program one day. Just sayin’. 
 
Pledge and see Drew’s intro video here! Good luck Drew! 

 

Read more about Redneck Ninjas and it’s awesome characters on Drew’s official site here.

by Tiff -

Hate Chipotle’s high counters too? Wheelchair-user sues, wins

Whatever you do, don’t get between a man and his burrito. You’d think someone who makes burritos by the millions would know this truthitude, but no, Chipotle managed to make this faux pas with their truly thoughtless counter design. Their high counters have been getting off scott-free for years, violating every ADA law in the book, and FINALLY, finally they’re being (legally) chastised. But only in California, for now.

 

The pissed AND hungry wheelchair-user we have to thank is San Diego State University professor Maurizo Antoinetti, who became a paraplegic in the Italian army. He began his crusade against Chipotle in 2005 after he realized he couldn’t see a damned thing. He couldn’t see which ingredients he was picking, couldn’t see his burrito being made….nada. And might I add how much I hate this?? Fucking Chipotle. I’m lucky, my chair has an elevator seat if I really want to see my burrito being made, but the line is so fast and rushed, it just isn’t practical.

 

I love your burritos Chipotle, but your counters can suck it.

 

Professor Antoinetti in completely in the right. He believes every wheelchair-user has the GOD GIVEN RIGHT to see his burrito being made, and he’s right! And while California courts have been disappointing as of late (Prop 8), they finally got it right this time, with a Federal Appeals court in Pasadena ruling Chipotle violated the Americans with Disabilities Act at two of its San Diego locations. And Antoinetti didn’t do it for the money. He said he’s spent over $500,000 on the multi-year legal battle. Here’s what Chipotle had to say after the battle:
   
 
“We respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling, however, the matter is largely moot because several years ago, independent of this lawsuit, we retrofitted all of our California restaurants with a new counter design that eliminates concern regarding wheelchair accessibility.”

 

So let me get this straight – they knew the counters were too high, fixed them at two locations to appease Antoinetti, but why don’t they replace all of their counters across the country if they know they were too high?

 

See, this is total BS. Support your locally-owned Mexican taco stands people. Chipotle is evil.

by Tiff -

Custom Battlebot wheelchairs OMG

What’s a engineer with mad skills supposed to do after his stint on Robot Wars ends (and the rest of the year when he’s not working on his insane fire sculptures for Burning Man)?
 

I know! CREATE BATTLEBOT WHEELCHAIRS. And that’s exactly what Lance “aka Blaster” Greathouse did, from making a fire-spurting gun wheelchair to designing a beautiful gothic chair. His wheelchairs make being unable to walk look cool.
 
 
And I gotta say, no lie, this is the most amazing line of fantastical wheelchairs I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been writing about custom wheelchairs for years (years!). Here’s a taste of some of the Battlebot-esque wheelchairs from the MIND of Lance Greathouse: 
  

 

  • Fighter F-4 Jet ejection chair
  • NASCAR chair
  • Dr. Evil chair with rear video and stereo system (OMG!)
  • Lord Humongous most powerful chair with flamethrower
  • B-52 Bomber chair, w/ spinning turret and simulated working 50 Cal machine guns
  • Chairs with tank tracks
  • And in the works: A Queens Throne chair and Barbie chair (double WANT!)

Lance is obviously making the most out of his workspace down in Phoenix. <3 And now, the BEST part: He’s ready to not only share his designs with the world, he’s offering up his services & is ready to create the wheelchair of YOUR dreams.

Whether you are a person with a disability (or just a lazy millionaire), Lance will work with you. And he can even use your pre-existing chair and add to it. I don’t know about you, but I’m craving chrome add-ons and some sweet spinning rims for my chair like a crack-fiend!

Visit Lance’s official site: Greathouse Labs 

by Tiff -

How Do You Wear Your LegaWear?

This is the first entry in my new, Styling with LegaWear blog series, which is a partnership I’m doing with LegaWear (the Swedish adapted clothing company). It will be an ongoing stream of style entries, with a new outfit added each month. Each blog will feature a garment from LegaWear, and how it can be worked into a fabulous outfit idea. Each outfit will be seasonal, and I promise they’ll be easy-to-recreate (I‘ll try my best) and fashion-forward. Onward now to – The Urban Weekend look.