Time to meet our September guest DJ - let's hear it for C Man who will be playing some records for us in 2 weeks at Bad Rep Sat 8th Sept.
DJ Name: C Man Favourite move on the dancefloor:Something that in my head looks like a Bobby Brown move but in reality probably looks more like Mr Bean Top 5 songs you'll play for us at Bad Rep: 1. The Bloodhound Gang - The Ballad of Chasey Lain
Summer fun is winding up and it's time for new beginnings and new stationery as the new school term starts. THE SCHOOL OF PARTY THAT IS! Bad Rep is back Saturday 8th Sept. 10pm - 2:30 am £3 entry. We are a disco for queers + grrrls + punx + geeks. For more info see our event page Here's our special back to school bedroom dancing playlist
Deftones - Back To School
OBVS! We can't have a back to school playlist without it. Deftones = FEELINGS. We like FEELINGS on our dancefloor.
The Runaways - Schooldays
I want detention with Joan Jett and I want it NOW!
Bis - Ninja Hi-Skool
Ooh I do love a good Bis B-side!
Zombina and the Skeletones - Horror High School
The lectures are horrific but playtime's outta sight!
Atom and His Package - Punk Rock Academy
Everyone hated high school, that's a fact. But Atom & His PAckage imagines a perfect world where what if you and all your rad friends that you know and love now somehow knew each other back then and went to school and made it SO MUCH FUN?
Harry and the Potters - Back to School
I bet going back to school wouldn't suck if you were going back to Hogwarts.
Rondelles - Cafeteria Rock
The best thing that could ever happen at school would be a FOOD FIGHT!
The Donnas - High School Yum Yum
Can The Donnas also attend detention with me and Joan Jett? THANKS.
My Chemical Romance - I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
Well this song is kind of about school, I mean the video is set in a school and everything! Fuck it, you probably had a bad time in high school, these guys certainly did.
Today Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, of Pussy Riot were found guilty and sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Many of us feel angry and sad and fired up. The trial itself has been utterly absurd and bizarre to say the least, and the outcome is very real and very scary. Other news also seems to suggest that gay pride in Moscow is to be banned for 100 years.Terrifying. And whatever your stance may be, it's actually been pretty great to have such public interest in this news story. It's not often I get to have conversations with my family and co-workers about politics and feminism etc. It's rare that something I'm angry or sad or upset about is headline news in such a way that my Nan has heard about it and wants to voice an opinion. Whether you think Madonna's publicity stunt, and other celebrities like her, had real substance to it is beside the point ( I thought it was ace!), my Nan is talking about it, that means something!
I'm really interested in the 'We are all Pussy Riot' element of this story. Pussy Riot have encouraged their supporters to don balaclavas and to spread the idea of Pussy Riot. The idea is that when Pussy Riot are sentenced, that there are more of them. You can't kill the idea, and the idea of Pussy Riot is now global. It's been pointed out that no, we are not Pussy Riot. We don't live in fear of expressing ourselves to such an extent and we are not facing prison for our art or our activism. We enjoy certain amounts of privilege, and we will never experience what they have experienced. And that is true, and that is why Pussy Riot are heroes and very brave indeed. Absolute. Fucking. Heroes.
But I kinda disagree. I think the WE ARE ALL PUSSY RIOT is an important statement to make. I wouldn't assume for a second that my experience matches that of Pussy Riot, but the overall message is something that I believe and I love the way that through our different experiences we are appropriating it in solidarity. I enjoyed seeing it on so many banners and t-shirts and posters today at the demo in London and also in pictures from around the world. I think it carries real strength. I think it allows the idea to grow beyond a group of individuals and become something bigger. It goes towards desconstructing ideas of hierarchies in activism. It would be very easy to put Pussy Riot on a pedestal and think 'I could never do what they did'. By saying we are all pussy riot I like to think it encourages people to think beyond those hierarchies.
Although it was a small turn out at the London demo, it was amazing to see lots of very enthusiastic people at the demo. I really don't want to make assumptions, but there were quite a few young girls who I'm assuming that it was possibly the first demo they had attended. If so, then that's brilliant. Whatever your entry point is to activism, then that's brilliant. A lot of us wore balaclavas, some didn't, some wore bright colours, some didn't. Whether you shout and have a placard, whether you stand in silence and create visibility by your presence, it's all ace.
The WE ARE ALL PUSSY RIOT slogan is also a useful tool to think about localised versions of oppression whether it be the blatant racism in stop and searches in the UK, or whether it's the way our own government and justice systems deal with specific crimes such as for protesters or those found guilty of taking part in the UK riots last year. It's very easy and misguided to think that we live in a 'free' society where this could never happen, as though it's just Russia that is fucked, and not everywhere else. We are all Pussy Riot is just another way of making these things accessible to us here in the UK.
Pussy Riot still need your help. You can donate money to go towards the cost of their legal feeshere
There are also some benefits coming up in London soon, such as the Savages and Power Lunches Pussy Riot benefit on August 22nd, and also the Positive Action benefit Positive Action benefit in September.
Guys, I've got some FEELINGS. Ok, so I'm a bit sleep deprived and I don't want to come across as mushy but WE BLOODY LOVE YOU. We started Bad Rep a year ago because we wanted a place to dance with other queers, we wanted a dance party for grrrls, we wanted a place to be messy and earnest and weird, and we wanted to have fun. For a whole year now you guys have been coming to dance with us and you are probably the best people we have ever met. Everyone that has ever danced on the Bad Rep dancefloor is out of sight amazing and we've loved making friends with you. Bad Rep wouldn't be possible without Garry and everyone who works at the Resistance Gallery.
Everyone at the Resistance Gallery totally loves and supports Bad Rep and they work so hard to create a positive queer space with us. They are the most supportive venue I have ever worked with and we are very happy that they have given us a home for the last 12 months. Look at the awesome things you guys made for our birthday...
Look at this! The amazing Johnny Lawton made us this birthday card. Yup, that's right, that is a homage to the cover art of Secret Vampire Soundtrack by bis. And why yes, the insert is in fact a reference to Kenickie. These mad artistic skills and 9T6 references totally overwhelmed us. Johnny GETS IT. Then there's these beauties...
Zak gave Bad Rep a special birthday gift by surprising us and having some Bad Rep patches made up for us! Wanna punk up yr denim jacket with awesomeness? Get yrself a Bad Rep patch! Well you can't actually, these limited edition beauties were handed out to the first 100 people at Bad Rep on Saturday and they went like hotcakes. AMAZING! Has everyone met Mike? Mike is our amazing door man. Here he is...
Total dreamboat, right? SWOON! Anyway, Mike is amazing in all kinds of ways but extra amazing on Saturday as he not only made us birthday cake (not pictured due to it being in my tummy) but he also made all the djs these pretty things...
Pretty damned special right! A low scrabble score but so utterly amazing! As well as the amazing stickers we had made up (which also went like hot cakes!), DJ Monx made some super special Bad Rep party hats!
These were super pretty and it was ace to see so many people breaking down on the dancefloor wearing these bad boys. These took forever to make and this picture doesn't do them justice. SO PRETTY!
Also not picture are the amazing vegan and gluten free birthday cakes made for us by Cat, one of our Bad Rep regulars. Parma violets were my favourite flavour cupcakes. We <3 you.
We had a great birthday party on Saturday, look, here's guest DJ Skulleena rocking out...
She came all the way down from Manchester and played a totally rocking set. Almost gave me a heart attack with all her hits! All killer no filler. From Discount to The Need, from Jimmy Eat World to Taking Back Sunday, and my personal favourite - Kidcut by bis!
Everyone who comes to Bad Rep is pretty damned wonderful. So here's a big thank you to Resistance Gallery, every guest dj we've ever had, and everyone who's ever come danced with us. Putting on a club night isn't anything too special and djs don't deserve any kind of reverence, at the end of a day it's just pressing play on some cds. What makes Bad Rep is having a totally fun, super postive, and queer friendly space to dance and party hard in, and all you Bad Reppers make that happen.
Bad Rep is back tonight for a birthday special. Come dance with us at Resistance Gallery, 265 Poyser St, 10pm- 2.30 am, £3 entry. Check out details here. Special guest dj tonight is DJ Skulleena all the way down from Manchester playing party songs for us. We are so so so excited. I love Bad Rep days. I spend the next hours bedroom dancing in my pants and then I head out the door and do the exact same thing in public with you guys later on. If you fancy a Bad Rep bedroom dance session too then you can party hard to our spotify playlist. See you on the dancefloor!
Bad Rep stickers! We'll be giving these beauties out at Bad Rep on Saturday. Who doesn't love a good sticker? You can stick em on yr ass, on a loved on, on yr pencil case, the opportunities are endless.
Dear Andrew WK, Please know that you have an open invite to Bad Rep whenever you want. We wish you could be here to celebrate our birthday with us on Saturday. We will be following your handy guide to celebrating birthdays to the letter.
I am becoming utterly obsessed and transfixed by the reporting of the current Pussy Riot trial, and just the very concept of Pussy Riot.
The trial itself has been completely nonsensical at times and the reporting of it just adds to the weirdness. Yesterday prosecutors made the statement "feminism is a mortal sin, like anything unnatural in human life" which is an absolutely fucking terrifying statement to make. Pussy Riot are making their closing statements today and I'm following Miriam Elder on twitter here https://twitter.com/MiriamElder who is the Guardian Moscow correspondent reporting live from the trial. The anonymity of Pussy Riot is something I'm completely fascinated by. I think anonymity in activism is such a brilliant non-hierarchical tool and the idea that we are all Pussy Riot is something that has been encouraged by this band and the international show of support. I love that most benefit gigs that have been organised in support of Pussy Riot have encouraged balaclava making workshops to encourage us all to don the mask and be a member of Pussy Riot. The optimistic side of me likes to think that these have not just been another exercise in twee feminist craft workshops. There's lots already written about Pussy Riot, and lots of celebrities have said or done various things, some to boost record sales, others because they seem to care, but it's right to be such a mainstream topic of conversation so whatever the motivation then I'm happy that this is being discussed so widely.
Now I love Kathleen Hanna, I really do. But I find it odd that in her piece on Pussy Riot she almost makes it sound like the WE ARE ALL PUSSY RIOT concept is kind of her idea, as though it's her solution to the problem of bringing back riot grrrl. Maybe it's just the clumsy phrasing of 'finally I have an answer' which makes it awkward for me to read. Also, I appreciate that her piece was written for her fans as a means of spreading news of Pussy Riot and making activism seem as accessible as possible to her audience and so maybe I'm just being a bit pedantic about that. But then there's the ALWAYS AWESOME Tobi Vail who gives us her thoughts about Pussy Riot and the trial too. I prefer this piece because when asked for her words of advice to the group she doesn't presume to have any words of advice but instead states that she stands in solidarity with Pussy Riot. I prefer that, it makes it seem less hierarchical.
There's already a creative response to Pussy Riot called Lets Start A Pussy Riot where you can submit your own responses, and a We Are Pussy Riot tumblr. Amnesty International have a petition for their release here The verdict of the trial is expected to be announced August 17th at 3pm. It's expected that the 3 members of Pussy Riot will be given a prison sentence but for how long remains unknown. Feminism has never seemed so dangerous.
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