The C.I.A. Tapes was recorded live at the Fallout Shelter and Ildiko's, and features poetry and musical performances by Dick Lucas (of the Subhumans), Mecca Normal, Nick Toczek, Rhythm Activism and Mourning Sickness.
The Fallout Shelter recordings are from the Toronto postscript to the Black Wedge tour on September 5, 1987.
The Fallout Shelter was a "nuclear free" performance space and coffee house run by the peace organization A.C.T. for Disarmament on Harbord Street.
The Black Wedge was a tour of activist resistance culture organized by Jean Smith of the band Mecca Normal, which set out to "spread the word of how to combine poetry, music and politics and have a fun time doing it."
The liner notes for the cassette include the following dedication:
"This tape is dedicated to all exceptionally oppressed people, but particularly to those whose entire lifestyle is being destroyed... Romany, Amerindian, Aborigine, and all other proud tribal people whose culture won't readily bow down before the all-consuming gods of western 'civilization,' social 'progress' and cash-culture."
This show was one of a series of benefits for ACT for Disarmament and took place after a demonstration to protest the 1991 Gulf War.
Nicole Tanguay is a Two-Spirit poet, playwright, musician and advocate for Indigenous rights. Their work has appeared in the anthologies The Colour of Resistance: A Contemporary Collection of Writing by Aboriginal Women (Toronto: Sister Vision Press, 1993), Miscegenation Blues: Voices of Mixed Race Women, ed. Carol Camper (Toronto: Sister Vision Press, 1994) and Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer, eds. John Lorinc, Jane Farrow, Stephanie Chambers et al. (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2017).
A studio recording of "By Any Means Necessary" appears on the unreleased Mourning Sickness CD Nihil Obstat and is included here. The full album is available on the band's Soundcloud page.
This show was one of a series of benefits for ACT for Disarmament and took place after a demonstration to protest the 1991 Gulf War.
"Cells" is a poem by the Seneca writer Mary Bennett, which appeared in Sinister Wisdom: A Gathering of Spirit 22/23, ed. Beth Brant (Iowa City: Iowa City Women's Press, 1983). It was later reprinted in the anthology A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian Women, eds. Michelle Cliff and Adrienne Rich (Ithica NY: Firebrand Books, 1988).
Mourning Sickness was invited to do a musical interpretation of the piece for the Queeradio special feature "Cells and My Girlfriend," which was produced by labour and prisoners' justice activist Gay Bell and broadcast on CKLN in 1990. The handbill for the program is included here.
This show was one of a series of benefits for ACT for Disarmament and took place after a demonstration to protest the 1991 Gulf War.
"The Rubber Rap" was originally written by The Fuckheads (aka Michael Smith, Tracey Tief, Kenn Quayle and other residents of the queer punk house Kathedral B) and was performed by Mourning Sickness in Smith's play Person Livid with AIDS. Here, they are joined by members of the band Steal This Book.
Lyric page, with performance notes, from the zine Coming On (Fall 1988).