REBEL GIRLS, YOU ARE THE QUEEN OF MY WORLD

 

Though I should hardly talk, in light of the fact that I was actually visiting  friends in Hamilton and wandering around Niagara Falls during most of its concluding weekend, the increasing lack of politics at the Toronto Pride festival (not to mention at most others) is disconcerting to me.  However, I did make it into the city on Sunday afternoon, June 25, 2006, just because, well, I did want to see my friends there.  I’m quite glad I did.

 

And, as it happens, there were a number of bands that I wanted to see: Ginger Coyote, the front person of the White Trash Debutantes; Erase Errata, my favourite angular punk rock dyke outfit from San Francisco; and possibly Dandi Wind, a Montreal electro duo (who I’d seen before, so didn’t make it).

 

There were, I must say, some hopeful signs, both literally and metaphorically.  The presence of a number of activists around the native occupation in Caledonia, Ontario, and general bad attitude shown by a number of punks and street kids (always a good thing), were most reassuring, and then there were these placards (sorry to rain on your parade, folks, but, um, while you’re busy getting married and kicking prostitutes and drug users out of your nice gentrified neighbourhoods, some people do not quite have those bourgeois luxuries…)

 

Yes, it was nice to see perspective.  One does not want to be entirely joyless, even in the PISSED OFF AND PILOSE issue, though, so there WAS some entertainment and camaraderie to be found in not hyper planning – including meeting my number one fan from the 2004 Bear concert at Pride, who is young enough to be my son, if I had been a teenaged Daddy (oy).

 

Eventually, though, I went over to see Miss Ginger Coyote and her pick up band play.  For a group of musicians who had not met before that weekend and had little rehearsal time, they did quite well in a stripped down rock and roll/LA punk style show, with several covers from the likes of the Ramones and Jayne County, and, after a slow and somewhat awkward start, picked up speed and ferocity and attitude, with Ginger encouraging disobedience and looking very approvingly upon the ‘Anti Capitalist Ass Pirate’ sign one punk rock dyke was brandishing.  Any song list that includes a fond tribute to Susan Lucci and a somewhat less kind one to Ricky Martin is a classic to me, and I finally managed to get some CDs by her band in my collection, not to mention a t-shirt and a nicely purred ‘bye’ when she was leaving after the Erase Errata set.  Now, if only Peter Grudzien could get out of the hospital (ed. note – I certainly hope he has by now) and make it up here…

 

After a break for a supper best left as non-discussed as it was barely digested, I was on to the Erase Errata set, who had been on the verge of dissolving when a massive fan lovefest resulted in them deciding to continue and release a new album, which came out about two weeks after this show and was superspiffy (Night Life – seek it out…)

 

For various reasons, evidently related to noise complaints, they started quite late, and apologized for having to play so quietly.

 

Um, at the risk of sounding old, I am quite GLAD they played no louder, as the volume, politics and pleasure blasted out with a seeming lack of reserve. 

 

And so, ears ringing and fist pumping (in the air, gutter brains – in the AIR!), off I went back to the small city from the big city.