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
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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
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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.
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