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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 2004)
mvembeí i l 2004 Ju st out 37 MUSIC "Don't you stop. We won't stop." Le Tigre moves up in the world by C o ri T a r a t o o t From left, JD Samson, Kathleen Hanna and Joanna Fateman are the feminist crime fighters known as Le Tigre T hat’s why the latest chapter in Le Tigre's biography promises so much— and scares the hell out of mainstream America and (un-douhtedly) the religious right. Amid the turmoil of 9/11 and Iraq, “red” states and “blue” states and an emerging fascist state, Le Tigre is upping the ante. T o me, the heart and soul of the Pacific Northwest beats loudest in Portland and Olympia. rom her sonic beginnings in Bikini Kill, one Maybe it’s the coffee, or the tattooed masses, of the early riot-grrl bands to achieve name maybe it’s the native rock bands, but all I know recognition outside the Pacific Northwest, is I’ve never danced harder and felt less inhibited Kathleen Hanna has been a loud voice of than in a dark hole in Portland or Olympia, at revolt. Now as a New Yorker and a primary the feet of some punk-rock trio or two dykes vocalist in Le Tigre, she’s taking her megaphone and a DJ. and blasting her view of things to the largest So that’s why it makes sense to me that Le audience yet: Planet Earth. Tigre can get my ass in motion like no other When independent, feminist-run Mr. Lady band can. Le Tigre : Kathleen Hanna. Kathleen : Records folded last year, Le Tigre found them- Hanna : Bikini Kill. Bikini Kill : Olympia. As is : selves looking for a new record label to call often the case, we can thank our fine Olympians home. Consistently selling out shows at for helping Portland get our patty on. medium-sized venues, the band knew they had • When I hear Le Tigre, my entire world a steady following, but they wanted more. changes. I can’t help it: My body reacts in Hanna had spoken freely in interviews voluntarily. It’s a physiological response, about yearning for mainstream success and whether I like it or not. And I know other wanting it for her peers, like Sleater-Kinney. To people, like me, who don’t dance yet find misunderstand her motives as greedy reveals the themselves in the crowd at a Le Tigre show, ignorance of any critic who makes that accusa moving closer and closer to the stage, until tion— Hanna is fighting for social justice; if she they’re lost in the crowd, shaking their shit. can get her music out to moré people, then Part of what makes Le Tigre so substantial, right has a chance of winning out over wrong. unlike most electronic-punk-dance music on So she and her bandmates signed to iPods these days— Ratatat and !!! come to Universal/Strummer, a major label with global mind— is their message. You can call them fem reach, and this month released their third full- inist crime fighters, you can call them queer- length album, This Island. During the recording friendly champions of social justice. Whether process, “I was, I still am, politically depressed. it’s the complicated issues surrounding sexual I really need to cling to the sound of people abuse or the inherent misogyny of the marching,” Hanna said in an October interview American political and judicial systems, Le Tigre with PopMatters. “And this record is going to go forces the audience to remain awake and wide- all over the world. It’s gonna be really easy for eyed to the injustices of txir daily lives. people to get their hands on...and I really want F eatinciout eatincfout eatingout g e a eatinc out o people all over the world to know that every one in North America does not agree with this administration.” So if you’re going to drag yourself out to one show this winter, if you find yourself plummet ing into a post-election funk, or if the darkness and rain are starting to sink into your hones, heading to the Roseland on Nov. 22 might just shake you up. Because not only will Le Tigre be headlining, but here’s your chance to surround yourself for an entire night with kindred spirits. The audience, the queer openers (Robosapien and Lesbians on Ecstasy) and the heroic head liners will be creating a safe space for you. Girl, boy, grrl, boi, transitioning, transi- tioned, bisexual, bi-curious or nothing at all. Whoever you are, if you need communion, if you need to feel like yourself again, if you feel like you don’t belong in your own country, come join the dance party and sweat it out of you. J H L e TlGRE plays 8 p.m. Nov. 22 at Roseland Theater, 8 N.W. Sixth Ave. Tickets are $15 from TicketsWest. C or i T aratoot is a record collector, a PDX'POP Now! organizer, a Wilco stalker and a music writer. She can be reached at ctaratix)t@c(jrmcast. net. How more than ever, we need Queercore Blitz by C ori T aratoot T he Clash and the Sex Pistols in the mid- 1970s. Bikini Kill and L7 in the early 1990s. There are times when the world needs punk rock, with its revolt and anger and liberation. And, more often than not, punk rock delivers. Right now it feels as if we’ve never needed anything more. Anna Jacobsen-Leong, the organizer and founder of Queercore Blit:— a seven-city West Coast tour of queer-identified punk bands— knows the power of outrageous music. She’s lived it. “I’ve been into the punk scene since I was a kid,” says Jackobsen-Leong, a native Oregon ian. “And I’m queer, and there’s not too many places where those two things intersect any more. In the early 1990s I felt like things were happening, with the riot-grrl stuff. Then 1 felt a void. So as I found myself managing queer punk bands and taking them on the road, bringing a bunch of bands together for a tour just seemed like a natural evolution for me.” Speaking to Jacobsen-Leong via telephone at her home in New York, it’s clear that Queer- core Blitz is a labor of love. Hauling six bands’ gear down the West Coast, playing for dirt- cheap in all-ages venues— it’s the kind of work eating out eatinejout fJJke ¿Italian Joint Legendary Brazilian hardcore feminists Dominatrix are part of the first tour to showcase an all-queer lineup of punk, rock and hardcore bands from around the world that pulls you into debt, the kind of work that derails your day job. But Jacobsen-Leong feels uniquely com pelled to follow her dream. “I want to get us to Texas. I’m pissed off about the election, and I want to take the music to the kids, bring it to them, all ages, so the kids who can’t afford to travel can still see us and know that there’s something better out there.” Performing will be Brazilian hardcore femi nists Dominatrix, N YC metal-grrls Triple Creme, art-rock, trio The Dead Betties and Portland’s own Jack Queen featuring Emily Kingan, formerly of The Haggard. After a suc cessful East Coast leg in April, Queercore Blitz will tour the Midwest and Canada in May and June 2005. J H Q ueercore B litz starts 8:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Meow Meou’, 320 S.E . Second A ve., and 8 p.m. Dec. 5 at Eugene's WOW Hah, 291 W. Eighth Ave. Tickets are $7-$8 at the door. eatincfout eatingout Regular ÇV og / ? ...on Hawthorne Italian food like you remember it 24 am azing flavors of freshly m ade^elato -ItTvchoose from^New*flavors everyday.-— •w W ” n Gelato, Espresso & Panini 9 3 1 NW 23rd & Lovejoy. Open 7 days, 11am -1 0 pm Full Bar, W ine, and Italian Beer 4-10 Tues - Thurs • 4-11 Fri - Sat 3145 SE Hawthorne Portland, OR 97214 503-234-3004 Madison s Grill. A regular place for regular people. SE 1 lth & Madison 3 0 3 . 230.2471 meet -at madisons.com
