“For people like you and me that see the DIY cultural work as a form of political or proto-political organizing, maximum geographic reach is a crucial step towards maximum impact. It’s just so crucially important, politically, that people have access to these ideas and sounds, not just in the cool cities, the blue states, the college towns.”
— Kevin Erickson of the All-ages Movement Project/Future of Music Coalition, re: the value of geographically diverse micro-scenes and fests like Total Bummer. More @ Thephoenix.com.
All kinds of stuff going on this weekend at Lorem Ipsum.
Thursday 5/17- the Sig Amet reading series returns feat. Greg Lawless & Tanya Larkin: http://on.fb.me/KYYSI8
Friday 5/18- a five-band caravan of traveling michiganders makes a stop at the bookstore on their way home from Total Bummer 3D on the Zen Tapes Traveling Sleepover Tour with Kowhi, Sad Souls, Dreampeter & Fthrsn: http://on.fb.me/IUkmzw
Saturday 5/19- the Papercut Zine Library celebrates it’s 9th birthday in human years, with the release of BayState Badass #2 (a lady-centric bike-zine taking the streets by storm) and live music: http://on.fb.me/KZacE6
plenty more events coming up in the next few weeks! stay tuned.
“WAIT A MINUTE. IT SAYS HERE WE NEED TO REDEFINE PATRIARCHY CATEGORICALLY TO ALLOW ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLICATIVE INTERSECTIONAL DOMINATION STRUCTURES FOCUSED AROUND (AND POSSIBLY FILTERED THROUGH) NODAL POINTS OF SUBJECTIVE PRIVILEGE, ALLOWING US TO UNDERSTAND AND HOPEFULLY INVERT MYRIAD HEIRARCHIES OF SYSTEMICALLY INSTITUTIONALIZED AND INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION.
“The fear of subculture being co-opted, repackaged, and sold back to the masses as a watered down, inauthentic version of itself, has been realized several times—in the case of hip hop, originally an underground political and arts movement hijacked by commercial promoters and record executives and re-sold to the general public as mostly devoid of its political content, and then in the case of Riot Grrrl, a grassroots feminist rebellion by adolescent girls that was converted by the mainstream media into a fashion trend, and also, in the case of punk itself, which has been co-opted and commercialized and sold to us for so many years that most people argue it’s already dead. As In Every Town makes clear, however, punk—or at least, the spirit of punk is still very much alive—not in the form of individuals, but in the form of communities. In the form of organizations that foster the growth of authentic youth culture as a form of resistance to the dominant, commercial, whitewashed, masculine, and inauthentic cultural ideologies of our day … . . . . Some may fear that publicizing information that was previously available only through private relationships with others in “the scene” may contribute to the further weakening of underground culture. But the fact is that the Internet has changed everything about underground music, and about who can access it, and how. Whether we like it or not, ours is a new, open source culture, where sharing information doesn’t necessarily mean selling out.”
“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is universally important about fests like Total Bummer, but my immediate reaction is that it’s exciting to see kids in a place like Orlando focusing on building their creative community rather than just moving to places like Brooklyn and LA. (Like most people in Boston do after four or five years.) … Because to move towards an underground culture that is more sustainable and less commercial in general, it’s important to build up authentic micro-scenes in geographically diverse locations.”
I actually just shrieked with excitement watching this video of Real Estate play “It’s Real” at a hotel on Long Island, to a crowd of bros who are like “whatever bro.” Best Video Ever. Thx Nathan Albert. See you Saturday LI xox
Oh Fortuna This band is pure gold. Seriously, all their songs are good. Oh Fortuna -St Bernadino’s Fire (mp3)
I saw this band at Total Bummer fest and it was one of the most spirited performances/crowds I’ve seen at a show in recent memory. Same goes for the show I saw by Michael Parallax, who is in Oh Fortuna too, and brothers with Oh Fortuna’s singer JT. (They also helped start/organize the festival.) There was something seriously spiritual and exciting about both sets, it’s really hard to pinpoint or put into words. I hope these people all come to Boston at some point this year and perform at Lorem Ipsum or Dreamhouse or something for all of my friendz here, everyone would be so psyched.
“Just because something’s uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s wrong. And just because you have your doubts about what you’re doing, or you don’t trust yourself 100 percent, that’s normal. There’s this illusion that people who do stuff are totally confident, and I’ve never been. I’ve been riddled with doubt through the whole thing. You know, with a few flashes of maybe, MAYBE this will be great.”
- play music by bands who are playing shows i recently booked
- play my friends’ new music which they usually just email to me or something
- play music by bands i’ve seen recently who i thought were cool
- look at the counter cultural compass and look at what rando DIY/punk/traveling bands are coming through boston soon
- go to my facebook events and look at who is playing/opening shows at 285 kent, shea stadium, glasslands, etc this weekend (thnx guys you #curate# good stuff)
- go to bands’ facebook pages who i like and look at what bands they “like” on facebook
- also look at their event pages for shows on tour and see what bands in other cities are opening for them and stuff
- sometimes look @ these muzic blogz: i could die tomorrow, get bent, raven sings the bluez, zones/ad hoc, etc.
“Creating memes is a major component of the practice of “culture jamming,” a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements — and used by Adbusters since its beginnings. Culture jamming practices can range from creating “subvertising” — subverting/re-figuring mainstream/corporate advertisements to challenge their main ideas. Other modes of cultural jamming also include street parties, public protests, and — with the help of online networking, the most relevant here — flashmobs. Culture jamming tactics are largely influenced by the Situationst International group, a revolutionary group founded in France in the 1950s. Culture jamming is discussed by Naomi Klein in “No Logo,” her critique of consumerism.”
This is a quick piece I wrote for the current print issue of the Boston Phoenix re: a fun May Day action that went down last Tuesday night in Boston — a funeral for capitalism (!) with puppets, costumes, instruments, etc. It was organized by activists from Occupy Boston + beyond.
This is a 2500 word article about the Occupy Wall Street meme war that I started writing in December and forgot about for a few months and revisited/posted in coordination with May Day and ROFLcon falling on the same week.
