A Cup of Hot Fuck
There's a line in Carey Ross's article on the Bellingham Ladyfest that I think is interesting. She takes issue with the Ladyfesta assertion that "expertise is too often a male-defined concept," and states that she believes "some things are good, some things aren't, and the ability to decide and judge isn't necessarily a gendered thing."
All of which is well and good, as far as I'm concerned. Certainly, anytime you haul something out into the air, you're exposing yourself to criticism, and that can be valuable in producing quality work. However, I think Carey is misreading the Ladyfesta -- which, to me, isn't arguing that artists and performers shouldn't be exposed to criticism, but that
(a) work doesn't have to be perfect (or even good!) to be produced; and,
(b) no one will ever come to you and beg you to produce something.
Which, if you look around, is where everyone starts out, anyway. Every single musician out there has a history of shitty failed and obscure bands where they learned how to play. Every writer produces shitty first drafts. Every painter has horrifying student work. There are exceptions to this -- Isaac Asimov, for instance, was famous for never needing to edit any of his stories -- but there are exceptions, not the rule. But they go out and put it out to the public anyway: they book gigs in somebody's backyard, they start a blog, they have a couple of shows in high school, or college, or (again) in their living room. And lots of times people sneer at it, because it is awful, and lots of time people drop out and give up. And lots of times people take their lumps and learn from it and get better. That's how you learn. That's really the only way you can learn what works and what doesn't.
It's interesting that Carey says that she didn't "[make] noise and [claim] space," then immediately explains that she "earned [her] right to be here, one word and column at a time." How did she get the job, then? Did the editors just come up to her randomly on the street and offer it to her? "Making noise and claiming space," as the Ladyfesta has it, isn't the goal of the movement, it's the beginning. There are lots of other festivals and venues that carve out space for the new and the shitty -- Battle of the Bands, for example, or any under-21 festival -- that aren't particularly controversial. I guess because Ladyfest so ardently embraces its DIY (or DIT) ethos (Kimya Dawson's performance was powered by an exercycle generator), it might seem like the festival as a whole is a celebration of the untalented and the amateurish, but the proof of that argument is in the festival itself.
Making the argument that all of the work presented at a festival has to be good seems baffling to me. The whole point of a festival is getting to see a whole slew of stuff that you wouldn't otherwise have access to, including and especially the shitty. That's the whole point of independent film festivals! People make these low-budget movies that they think might not be terrible and then they show them and maybe they are terrible and maybe they aren't. But the fun of going to these festivals is finding the new and the strange and the malformed.
Obviously, you should judge what you see and hear. The audience is totally responsible for liking or disliking something. My friend Brian left halfway through the first Kimya Dawson song, grateful that at least he hadn't paid for the performance, and that's cool. It was a free show! Heck, even if it was a ticketed event, walking out on terrible performances is always part of the fun. But that's the audience's responsibility, not the artist's. The artist just has to be as entertaining as possible -- whether that's "entertaining" or "meaningful" is left up to the reader. They don't have to care what you think. The Ladyfesta just underlines that point, and, I think, makes the larger statement that male performers are allowed to be shitty in a way that female performers aren't; that shitty male artists can have an easier time getting displayed than mediocre or brilliant female ones. You can disagree with that statement, I suppose, but it's also pretty easy to put to the test. Go to a bunch of concerts (like, say, if you're a concert reviewer). See how many of them are male groups. See how many are female groups. (Actually, even less strict than that, since I believe you only have to have one female member in the group to perform at Ladyfest, but that's beside the point.) See how many of each you like. See how many you don't like. Are the shitty male bands getting booked more than the quality female bands? Yes or no? Be specific; cite examples. Interview some of the female bands you like, if you're ambitious. See what you discover.
But that's beside the point. The idea of an independent music festival -- one that explicitly encourages beginners, amateurs and independent acts to perform alongside more established artists -- should be totally exciting. Something to wallow in, to wade through gleefully looking for hidden treasures, not something to shun because you're not sure everything's going to be great.
Marissa adds that claiming space doesn't mean excluding other people from that space. It's not like there are other summer festivals that Ladyfest is preempting. Did the Subdued String Jamboree get canceled when Ladyfest started? Was there some other robust four day gathering of musicians and artists that died on the vine last year?
All of that aside, Rhombus was un-fuck-believable. Best free show I've seen in ages.
All of which is well and good, as far as I'm concerned. Certainly, anytime you haul something out into the air, you're exposing yourself to criticism, and that can be valuable in producing quality work. However, I think Carey is misreading the Ladyfesta -- which, to me, isn't arguing that artists and performers shouldn't be exposed to criticism, but that
(a) work doesn't have to be perfect (or even good!) to be produced; and,
(b) no one will ever come to you and beg you to produce something.
Which, if you look around, is where everyone starts out, anyway. Every single musician out there has a history of shitty failed and obscure bands where they learned how to play. Every writer produces shitty first drafts. Every painter has horrifying student work. There are exceptions to this -- Isaac Asimov, for instance, was famous for never needing to edit any of his stories -- but there are exceptions, not the rule. But they go out and put it out to the public anyway: they book gigs in somebody's backyard, they start a blog, they have a couple of shows in high school, or college, or (again) in their living room. And lots of times people sneer at it, because it is awful, and lots of time people drop out and give up. And lots of times people take their lumps and learn from it and get better. That's how you learn. That's really the only way you can learn what works and what doesn't.
It's interesting that Carey says that she didn't "[make] noise and [claim] space," then immediately explains that she "earned [her] right to be here, one word and column at a time." How did she get the job, then? Did the editors just come up to her randomly on the street and offer it to her? "Making noise and claiming space," as the Ladyfesta has it, isn't the goal of the movement, it's the beginning. There are lots of other festivals and venues that carve out space for the new and the shitty -- Battle of the Bands, for example, or any under-21 festival -- that aren't particularly controversial. I guess because Ladyfest so ardently embraces its DIY (or DIT) ethos (Kimya Dawson's performance was powered by an exercycle generator), it might seem like the festival as a whole is a celebration of the untalented and the amateurish, but the proof of that argument is in the festival itself.
Making the argument that all of the work presented at a festival has to be good seems baffling to me. The whole point of a festival is getting to see a whole slew of stuff that you wouldn't otherwise have access to, including and especially the shitty. That's the whole point of independent film festivals! People make these low-budget movies that they think might not be terrible and then they show them and maybe they are terrible and maybe they aren't. But the fun of going to these festivals is finding the new and the strange and the malformed.
Obviously, you should judge what you see and hear. The audience is totally responsible for liking or disliking something. My friend Brian left halfway through the first Kimya Dawson song, grateful that at least he hadn't paid for the performance, and that's cool. It was a free show! Heck, even if it was a ticketed event, walking out on terrible performances is always part of the fun. But that's the audience's responsibility, not the artist's. The artist just has to be as entertaining as possible -- whether that's "entertaining" or "meaningful" is left up to the reader. They don't have to care what you think. The Ladyfesta just underlines that point, and, I think, makes the larger statement that male performers are allowed to be shitty in a way that female performers aren't; that shitty male artists can have an easier time getting displayed than mediocre or brilliant female ones. You can disagree with that statement, I suppose, but it's also pretty easy to put to the test. Go to a bunch of concerts (like, say, if you're a concert reviewer). See how many of them are male groups. See how many are female groups. (Actually, even less strict than that, since I believe you only have to have one female member in the group to perform at Ladyfest, but that's beside the point.) See how many of each you like. See how many you don't like. Are the shitty male bands getting booked more than the quality female bands? Yes or no? Be specific; cite examples. Interview some of the female bands you like, if you're ambitious. See what you discover.
But that's beside the point. The idea of an independent music festival -- one that explicitly encourages beginners, amateurs and independent acts to perform alongside more established artists -- should be totally exciting. Something to wallow in, to wade through gleefully looking for hidden treasures, not something to shun because you're not sure everything's going to be great.
Marissa adds that claiming space doesn't mean excluding other people from that space. It's not like there are other summer festivals that Ladyfest is preempting. Did the Subdued String Jamboree get canceled when Ladyfest started? Was there some other robust four day gathering of musicians and artists that died on the vine last year?
All of that aside, Rhombus was un-fuck-believable. Best free show I've seen in ages.