THE BIG SHE-BANG V
SATURDAY, AUGUST 14TH, 2010
11AM-10PM

@ CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH
129 RUSSELL STREET, LOWER LEVEL
GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN 11222

Please join us as we anticipate a bunch of really great participants this year, as always.

If you have yet to get in touch about doing a workshop, speaking on a panel, playing music, performing spoken word, tabling, showing your artwork, volunteering, or participating in any way, PLEASE DO! Keep in mind, we can always use more volunteers.

CLICK HERE for the call out for participation! (Or see below).

We are thrilled to announce our first collaboration and co-sponsored event with POC Zine Project: a screening of Afro-Punk. This is the first event we’ve booked since The Big She-Bang IV last August and we couldn’t be more excited. The good folks at Book Thug Nation will be hosting us and there will be snacks provided by POC Zine Project. As part of their mission, they’ll be distributing free zines by POC zinesters, too! We hope to have folks stay after the film is over for a discussion about why we chose to screen the film and any general reactions or interactions from fellow community members & audience participants. You can RSVP to the Facebook event here.

SUNDAY, MAY 30 at BOOKTHUG NATION
100 N. 3rd St., Brooklyn // 7pm // FREE
For the Birds Collective & POC Zine Project present a screening of AFRO-PUNK

From the website: Afro-Punk, a 66-minute documentary, explores race identity within the punk scene. More than your everyday, Behind the Music or typical “black history month” documentary this film tackles the hard questions, such as issues of loneliness, exile, inter-racial dating and black power. We follow the lives of four people who have dedicated themselves to the punk rock lifestyle. They find themselves in conflicting situations, living the dual life of a person of color in a mostly white community.

The style of the documentary inter-cuts interviews from scores of black punk rockers from all over the nation with scenes from our four protagonists’ lives. They come from different regions, generations, genders, and sexual preferences but their stories are amazingly similar.

Afro-Punk features performances by Bad Brains, Tamar Kali, Cipher, and Ten Grand. It also contains exclusive interviews by members of Fishbone, 247- spyz, Dead Kennedys, Candiria, Orange 9mm and TV on the Radio to name a few.

www.afropunk.com
www.forthebirdscollective.org
www.poczineproject.org

THE MESSAGE IS IN THE MUSIC is a 2-day event on Friday March 5th and Saturday March 6th at Sarah Lawrence College in the Monika A. and Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. Visual Arts Center.  This conference is so exciting because it incorporates a mix of many different feminist narratives and viewpoints, touching on race, sexuality, gender, and culture.  For the Birds partially grew out of a response to the sexism we experienced in the NYC Do It Yourself punk scene, so it will be exciting for us to hear about similar narratives from folks on the front lines of feminism and musical culture.  We are also super excited to see our own Kate Wadkins moderate the panel on Riot Grrrl!  We will be tabling on Saturday March 6th, so check out the schedule below if you are interested!  Map and directions can be found here.

The SCHEDULE:

Friday’s Opening Plenary: 6–8 p.m., Keynote Address from Carmen Ashhurst, former president of Def Jam Recordings and Rush Communications, and author of the forthcoming book Selling My Brothers: The Movement, The Media, and Me

Saturday’s Plenary Panel: 10–11:45 a.m.

Intersections: Music and Activism

• Mimi Nguyen [University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Missing Persons]
• Fiona Ngo [University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Punk in the Shadow of War]
• Christa D’Angelica [Assistant Law Clerk, New York Supreme Court, Beyond Bikini Kill: A History of Riot Grrrl, From Grrrls to Ladies]

Breakout Session I: 1–2:30 p.m. featuring several panels:

“Give Me Body”: Reading the Latina and Black Female Body in Popular Music

• Shanna Benjamin [Grinnell College, Hot Sex on a Platter: Lil’ Kim and Reconstructions of the Black Female Body]
• Lakesia D. Johnson [Grinnell College Black Queer Embodiment and Desire in the Music Videos of Me’shell Ndegéocello]
• Michelle Rocío Nasser [Grinnell College Reading Shakira’s Body: Signs of Colombianidad in “Hips Don’t Lie”]

Video Vixens

• Loron Benton [Georgia State University, “Shake What Your Mama Gave You”: The Representation and Performance of the Female Body in Hip Hop Videos]
• Zoe Spencer [Virginia State University, Shake Dat Azz: Deconstructing the Sociopolitical Foundation of the Neo Jezebel]
• Marita Buanes [University of Agder, Norway, Flip It and Reverse It: Gender and Race in Missy Elliott’s Video “Work It”]

Riot Grrrl [MODERATED BY OUR OWN FTB MEMBER AND SARAH LAWRENCE WOMEN'S HISTORY STUDENT KATE WADKINS!]

• Julia Downes [University of Leeds, “Resist Psychic Death”: The Cultural Politics of Riot Grrrl and Queer Feminist Subculture]
• Marisa Meltzer [Freelance Writer, The Girl Power Revolution]
• Jamielynn Varriale [SUNY Albany, Embodying Riot Grrl: Fleshly Representations and Bodily Experiences and Images in the Work and Career of Corin Tucker]

Round-Table Discussion The Cultural Mode of Masculinity in the American Pop Patriarchy: An Interactive Round-Table Discussion [Jared Demick, Kristin Evans, Amber West, Jeffrey Wickersham, University of Connecticut]

Breakout Session II: 2:45–4:15 p.m. with the following panels:
Women Rap

• Emma Carmichael [Vassar College, Female Subjectivity within Hip Hop: Rappers, Lyrics, and Performance]
• Iresha Picot [Temple University, Doorknockers: Black Female Rappers Knockin’ on a New Intellectual Discourse]
• María Santana [University of Central Florida, Her Sexy Stilettos Give a Women’s Point of View to Reggaeton: Ivy Queen and Latin Urban Music]

Performing Gender

• Nafeesa Nichols [University of The Witwatersrand (South Africa), Gendered Identities in Black South African Creative Expression: Are We Running in Circles?]
• Barbara Anna Panuzzo [London South Bank University, Writing Performative Identities: Discursive Traits of Femininity in Hip Hop Journalism]
• Malaena Taylor [University of Connecticut, Gender and Activism in the Punk Subculture]
• Jessica Ronald [University of Louisville, Potential Feminist Performances of Masculinity in Music: The Hip Hop Subculture of Nerdcore]

Divas

• Brian Q. Torff [Fairfield University]
• Hilary Torff [High School Academic Core Teacher, Marymount Academy, Montreal, Canada, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Rosetta Tharpe: Black Women Who Shaped a Musical Future]
• Elisabeth Wronzoff-Dashkoff [Independent Scholar, Who’s That Girl?: Pop Stars as the Apogee of 1980s Feminist Discourse]

Say What: The Message in the Music

• Vankita Brown [Howard University, Me’Shell Ndegeocello and Womanist Music]
• C. Chic Smith [Howard University, African American Women in Hip Hop Music and Videos]

Breakout Session III: 4:30–6 p.m. :
Workshop: Sophie’s Parlor Radio Collective, Facilitated by: Lakeisha R. Harrison, Kimberly C. Gaines & Andrea Thompson

Panel
Love, Sex, and Magic: Hip Hop Feminism as a Tool for the Creative Renegotiation of Black Female Desire

• Emily Unnasch [University of Alabama, “F Love”: Sex, Violence, and Hip Hop’s Turbulent Struggle to Define Love against the Grain]
• Brittney Cooper [University of Alabama, “She’s a Movement by Herself”: Black Sexual Politics and Independent Black Womanhood in the Hip Hop Feminist Era]
• Maigen Sullivan [University of Alabama, “They Dykin”: The Commodification of Lesbian Desire in Mainstream Hip Hop and Underground Attempts at Reclamation]
• Tammy Owens [University of Alabama, “It Must Be Your Ass”: The Commodification of the Female Booty from Slavery to the Present]

Round-Table Discussion
Rhymes of Dissent: Identity Politics within Underground Hip Hop with

• Viviana Bernal [Sankofa Institute for Youth Development Inc.]
• Katie McGhee and Maria Roumiantseva[Montclair State University]

WomynSong

• Amity Bryson [Avila University, Women’s Music Festivals, Politics or Commodity?: The 1970s Experience vs. Lilith Fair]
• Elizabeth K. Keenan [Columbia University, If Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville Made You a Feminist, What Kind of Feminist Are You?: Heterosexuality, Race, and Class in the Third Wave]
• Andrea Fehring [University of Northern Iowa, “Womyn Only Space at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival Is Separatism Based on Biological Sex, in Fact, Feminist?”]

TONIGHT
SUNDAY DECEMBER 13TH, 2009

Benefit for Girls Rock Camp Alliance!
with

Death First
Layers/Quake (Philly)
The Homewreckers
Each Other’s Mothers

Tabling by For the Birds Collective

1087 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY

$5-10 sliding scale donation
8PM
See you there!

Hey folks! This event is gonna be awesome. It’s also the first event For the Birds has tabled since August, so come by and get your fill of feminist media. We have ALL OUR ZINES in stock, as well as all of the comps:

FTB-001: The Big She-Bang
FTB-002: Gimme Cooties
FTB-003: The Best of the Nest (with AMAZING artwork by Carolina Paquita)

That being said, this is officially the first time The Best of the Nest comp is available outside of The Big She-Bang IV. We are super proud of it & know you won’t be disappointed, so come to the show, support the Girls Rock Camp Alliance, and pick up some tunes by friends of the Birds!

Two of our collective members will be reading their contributions to the zine, “Sick: a Compilation Zine on Physical Illness,” Tuesday August 11th at Bluestockings. Please come to support those with physical illnesses and to learn the support that communities can offer to those who are ill.

Tuesday, August 11, 7PM @ Bluestockings Books, 172 Allen Street in New York City (www.bluestockings.com)

Release Party & Reading with several contributors from “Sick: A Compilation Zine on Physical Illness” (Microcosm Publishing, 2009)!

Join several contributors for a reading from Sick as well as a discussion on experiences related to physical illness and the importance of creating networks of support within our communities. Sick collects peoples’ experiences with physical illness to help establish a collective voice of those impacted by illness within left/DIY communities. The zine is a resource for those who are living with illness as well as those who have not directly experienced illness themselves.

For more information on the event: illnesszine at gmail dot com or http://sickzine.blogspot.com

For more information on the zine: http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/2764/

Hello all!

Us birds over here at FTB HQ have been non-stop planning for The Big She-Bang IV. We have a NEW COMP to be released at the event, and some newer surprises up our sleeves! We’re even presenting our original workshop, Queer Eye for the DIY. Here’s the press release!

THE BIG SHE BANG IV!

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15TH, 2009 @ JUDSON MEMORIAL CHURCH
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY

The Big She-Bang IV
A Celebration by Women, for Women

CONTACT:

thebigshebang@gmail.com
FORTHEBIRDSCOLLECTIVE.ORG
myspace.com/forthebirdsnyc

The Big She-Bang, organized by For The Birds Collective, is being held on Saturday, August 15th at Judson Memorial Church, located at 55 Washington Square South, New York, NY from 10 AM to midnight.
The Big She-Bang is an all-day event of workshops, panel discussions, visual art, and music by and for women and women-identified artists & community members. The Big She-Bang strives to cultivate a space for women to share creative endeavors, exchange ideas, and provide support in a safe and open-minded environment. It is a multimedia event that serves as a platform for women artists and activists. This year’s She-Bang festival will include workshops and panel discussions, live musical performances, an all-day art show and tabling by various feminist organizations from New York. The event is always all ages, and everyone is welcome. Childcare will be provided.

THIS YEAR, our theme is – A How-To Guide for D.I.Y. Feminism!

Throughout the day, there will be an art show exhibiting different mediums of work created by various women in New York City:

Demostina
Heather Kelly
Neilie Meyer
Caroline Paquita
Anna Sgherzi
Kristine Virsis

Workshops and panel discussions will also be happening throughout the day, covering topics such as:

Feminist Urban Mobility
presented by Right Rides, Safe Walk, & Holla Back NYC

Women and Resistance in Prison
presented by Victoria Law

Queer Eye for the DIY
presented by For the Birds Collective, featuring Karen Soskin of Strength In Numbers

Sexual Assault and Accountability workshop
presented by Support New York

The event will end with performances by:

FULL OF FANCY
ZOMBIE DOGS
LITTLE LUNGS
INA INA
KATE FERENCZ
INERTIA

We are asking for a $6 to $10 sliding scale donation, although no will be turned away. A tape and CD compilation of the bands performing, as well as many more, will be available for purchase.

The Big She-Bang was previously a celebration thrown by the Long Island Womyn’s Collective. Information on The Big She-Bang 1 & 2 can be found here: http://myspace.com/liwomynscollective. All information on The Big She-Bang 3 & 4 can be found here: http://myspace.com/thebig_shebang

DIRECTIONS

Judson Memorial Church is on the south side of Washington Square Park between Thompson and Sullivan Streets.

SUBWAY:
We are accessible by subway from the 8th Street/NYU R and W stop, the West 4th Street A, C, E, F and V stop or the Christopher Street/Sheridan Square 1 and 2 stop.

BUSES:
NYC Transit bus # 5, Southbound, stops at 8th Street at Fifth Avenue. Bus #? (Northbound, stops on 6th Avenue at W. 4th St. Check MTA bus maps for other possibilities.

AUTOMOBILE (FROM THE WEST):
If you’d like to drive to Judson, from the West Side Highway exit at 14th Street. Drive east on 14th to 7th Avenue, turn right on Seventh Avenue and go south to West 4th Street. Turn left onto West 4th Street and go about 6 short blocks. Judson is on the Corner of West 4th Street (aka, Washington Square South) and Thompson Street. On Sunday mornings parking can usually be found along West 4th or on Thompson Street.

AUTOMOBILE (FROM THE EAST):
Those coming down FDR drive should exit at Houston Street, drive west and turn right onto 6th Avenue. Drive north to West 4th and make a right. Drive 2 1/2 blocks and we are on your right, across from Washington Square Park, at the corner of Thompson Street and West 4th Street (aka Washington Square South).

10AM – MIDNIGHT

In case you haven’t heard about it, The Big She Bang is an all-day event of workshops, panel discussions, visual art, and music by and for women and women-identified artists & community members. The Big She-Bang strives to cultivate a space for women to share creative endeavors, exchange ideas, and provide support in a safe and open-minded environment. It is a multimedia event that serves as a platform for women artists and activists. A typical She-Bang festival will include workshops and panel discussions on relevant community issues, live musical performances, an all-day art show and DIY flea market / craft fair. The event is always all ages, and everyone is welcome.

THIS YEAR, our theme is – A How-To Guide for D.I.Y. Feminism!
As a fairly new group, we have engaged in networking with other DIY feminist groups – as well as feminist authors, artists, and bands/musicians in this past year. We will be celebrating the DIY roots of other groups and artists in our New York feminist community, as well as offering workshops and panel discussions on the resources and tools that we have found helpful while forming our own collective. We will explore questions about how to better solidify this network, as well as how to acknowledge our differences while working together. Continuing to explore the themes we addressed in our workshop, Queer Eye for the DIY (more on that later), we will identify feminist groups past and present that have successfully “queered the queered,” and established safe spaces for feminist activists and artists – all while maintaining a more inclusive feminism. We want you to leave with the tools you need to start your own collective, we aim to provide you with the things feminists need in order to be empowered in their work, like self-defense, community, sexual assault & mental health resources. All this among simply showcasing the creative feminist community in New York.

SO PLEASE, if you are a woman-identified artist/music-maker (including full bands!)/writer/craftster/or feminist group, please apply to participate in THE BIG SHE-BANG! Similarly, if you’re interested in volunteering, let us know! E-mail contact is preferred.

We can be reached at: thebigshebang@gmail.com.

More information on the event can be found here: http://myspace.com/thebig_shebang – PLEASE use the Big She-Bang e-mail address for Big She-Bang inquiries only. Thanks!