Le Tigre- FYR
“Feminists I’m calling you!”
It’s International Women’s Day, but I don’t feel all that celebratory. FYR (Fifty Years of Ridicule) is about the backlash the follows women’s progress, and my goodness if we aren’t in the midst of an incredibly awful period of backlash right now. And there’s no guarantee that the backlash loses.
This picture always makes me feel better about things because, like, don’t we all just want to be told, or feel like, we’re terrific kids, no matter what society tells us or treats us like? And as JD is sort of a big influence on my art and in constant rotation on my iTunes, I tend to side with her shirt. (Also she is playing a DJ set at Tammany Hall on Tuesday.)
1. Radical or Pro Parental- Julie Ruin
2. Did It On Em’- Niki Minaj
3. Deceptacon- Le Tigre
4. Off Our Backs- MEN
5. Fortunate Son- Sleater-Kinney
6. Heart of Steel- Galactic (featuring Irma Thomas)
7. Rock Me Baby- Etta James
8. Back in Your Head- Tegan and Sara
9. Sadness is a Blessing (Gold Panda Remix)- Lykke Li
10. Rosa- Grimes
11. I Wish I Was Him- Kathleen Hanna
12. You and Me- Penny and The Quarters
13. Private Dancer- Tina Turner*
Approx 45 minutes of awesomeness, best listened to in that exact order.
* How Peaches ended her DJ set when I saw her.
“Just please hold onto your pride and…
So don’t let them bring you down
And don’t let them fuck you around cuz those are you arms,
That is your heat and no no they can’t tear you apart.”
Happy pride to everyone who has been told that they should not be proud of who they are, for any reason.
Credit Card Babie$- MEN
In honor of Pride Week, MEN is giving away the demo for Credit Card Babie$. They’ve also been asking their fans to pass the link on to at least five people in an effort to spread pride around the world. I, for one, am happy to help get music that references experiences outside the heteronormative sphere, out and into the world. Especially as said music is totally rad, danceable (like so danceable), and smart. And even if heteronormativity is your thing, you can should be an ally.
Also, may I just add that “Sontag in the crib,” is vying for my favorite lyric of the year, if not best lyric about parenting ever.
Download here and then spread the good word.
“We really came of age as a band in the horrible Bush era. We started right as that Woodstock ‘99 thing happened and the rapes and all that stuff. For us, it felt really radical to be positive. We were like, we could write all this angry stuff, we’re totally pissed off, fuck men, fuck rapists. But we were like, you know what we need to do way more than talking to straight white men who are clueless? We need to talk to people who are in our actual community and hang out with them and get closer to them and write songs from us to them.” - Kathleen Hanna on Le Tigre in a really great interview on CNN.
(Image from the also awesome Riot Grrrl article that was recently in the NYtimes. Photo Credit: Kirsten Luce)
On Wednesday I got my haircut at The Seagull Salon, which is partially owned by the one and only Johanna Fateman of Le Tigre. When summer humidity strikes, I tend to look frazzled at best, with one exception in July of last year when I woke up with the most glorious curls. However, that seems to have been a one off occurrence relating solely to shower sex and not my hair’s triumph over the oppressive heat of a New York summer.
I have wavy hair but prefer to wear it straight which is doable about 8 months out of the calender year. I asked Luke (pictured above) to chemically straighten my hair, but he wisely counseled me against applying the same chemicals used for embalming to my scalp (especially as it wouldn’t combat humidity) and instead suggested I try a haircut that would skip straightening and presuppose I wear it curly. I was nervous, and I think Luke may have known because I said “I’m really nervous.”
However, my haircut rocked and still looked great today (If I do say so and actually my friend Melanie did too).
Bonus: l have a good 3 months (at least) to test out my shower sex theory.
simultaneously we look up to the sky
simultaneously we will ask each other why
simultaneously
everything you do
you try to do two
carry another move it all along
she looks up and your eyes down
almost ripping at the seams can it be
with pain, we grow
cut your hair
you’re not there
you are invisible
change
simultaneously we look up to the sky
simultaneously we will ask each other why
simultaneously
now its time to grab a breath
don’t let silence turn to death
do your dance to stand up tall
take a chance and don’t you fall
double strength can not get old
people watch you on the streets
change direction with their feet
stop that rhythm and repeat
put your head down and relax
pick you head up don’t look back
cuz today the world has changed.
(Listen)
