When she talks, I hear the revolutions

None of us seem to update this blog anymore and that sucks, I'm sorry. But maybe we'll revive it someday? That would be cool. Though these days I've been working on starting up my own zine, this blog will always have a little place in my heart. So I'm sure I'll return to it from time to time. So keep an eye out!

But anyways, for now I just have to use this as a place to talk about and document the amazingness that was The Kathleen Hanna Tribute show at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, NY this past Saturday night. So if anyone is actually reading this...now you know.

I seriously don't even know where to start, I had such an amazing time! The tribute show was put together and filmed for an upcoming documentary about Kathleen Hanna being made by the wonderful director Sini Anderson. So for the first half hour or so of the show Sini filmed the audience doing various dances to a handful of different Kathleen Hanna songs. Which was actually a lot of fun, I busted out some pretty smooth dance moves if I can say so myself.

Then the show started; a bunch of different bands and artists came up on stage to performed their renditions of Kathleen Hanna songs. Anything from Julie Ruin, to Bikini Kill, to Le Tigre. There was such a wide range of performers that night, which was probably one of my favorite things about the show. Everything from local artists like Hilly Eye (Who I fell in love with that night, might I add. Their sound is awesome!), to big names like Toshi Reagon. Young 16 year old girls on guitars, to older men on keyboards. Dance performances, acapella groups, xylophones; there was seriously a little bit of everything. It was just so fucking interesting to see all the different kinds of people that have been influenced by Kathleen Hanna's work. It really blew my mind.

Care Bears On Fire. These young girls are so fun and talented! I've listened to them piror to this show, so it was great to get the chance to see them perform live.

Electric Child. Another band that I heard for the first time that night and fell in love with.

JD Samson (from Le Tigre) with her new band MEN.

Besides the great music and performances, there was another magical moment of the night. When Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth fame) came out to read Kathleen Hanna's Riot Grrrl Mannifesto. I seriously think I teared up at this point, no joke. It was just really beautiful and aw-inspiring. 

And then SURPRISE! Kathleen Hanna herself came out with her new band The Julie Ruin (which features Kathi Wilox of Bikini Kill and The Frumpies) to perform a few songs!! They played a few of the hits and one of their new songs from an upcoming album (can't wait for that!!). Finally getting to see Kathleen Hanna perform live was like a dream come true for me. I've always wanted to, but was unfortunately wayy too young to during her Bikini Kill days. I feel like I can die happy now, heh. And, of course, they were astounding.

 

First the Hilarious Murray Hill introduced The Julie Ruin. Trust me, this video is worth watching!

Kathleen Hanna!

All in all it was a really wonderful night, one that I'll never forget. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to go, seeing as how the tickets sold out so damn fast. I've never been to a show with that many talented women on the stage before, it was super inspirational for me. And just to be surrounded by so many like-minded individuals and a real sense of sisterhood was heartwarming. There were great vibes in the venue that night!

Anyways, I'm going to end this dragged out entry with a kick-ass video of Bridget Everett's performance from the night! I wish I got pictures of that one, but I guess I was just too busy dancing hard. 

All photos taken by me- Valerie Amaral

Videos  from- http://allisonmichaelorenstein.posterous.com/