Ladies’ night
BY Sarah Liss October 29, 2008 - originally published in http://www.eyeweekly.com/
Ever since DJs and bartenders Sandy De Almeida and May Brand started their Hump Day Bump night a few years back at the Gladstone, Wednesday’s been a new Saturday for a certain sector of alternative T.O. queers. But as the neighbourhood evolved, the demographic did as well; by the time Hump Day Bump relocated to Wrongbar this past summer, the night had lost some of its community-minded atmosphere (though De Almeida and Brand weren’t to blame).
The loss of Hump Day left the Gladstone with a big hole on Wednesday nights. Gladstone owner and artist Christina Zeidler was wise enough not to go head to head with a straight-up DJ night. Rather, she had a number of specific goals in mind when she came up with Granny Boots, says Chelsey Lichtman, a local performance artist and co-founder of the Fat Femme Mafia, who’s now taken over Granny duties from Zeidler. In part, Zeidler was hoping to reach out to a less blithely youthful crowd by planning a weekly event that runs earlier in the evening. "
Another hope was to bring a radical queer politic back into the Gladstone," Lichtman says. "It was there at one point, but it’s been gone recently."
Lichtman hopes to achieve that aim, in part, by reaching out to T.O. cultural institutions that may have been overlooked or alienated by the surge of so-called alterna-queer culture that’s permeated the West Queen West area. She lists the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, the Asian Arts Freedom School and Shameless magazine as examples, and suggests that an absence of more marginalized voices (read: the dominance of privileged, white, able scenesters with normative bodies and genders) has contributed to the sublimation of more engaged queer politics.
"I think what’s been done at Granny Boots so far has been great," she says, "but I have a particular vision. I want to provide space at a desirable location for people who might not have access to, or be able to afford, that space. And they’ll be paid for it! The Gladstone has been really generous with this night.
"Lichtman’s own bent tends toward reclaiming a more rigorous old-school lesbian-feminist ethos — a recent night of womyn’s music featured performances by singer-songwriters Emma McKenna and Jen Markowitz (Dance Yourself To Death); the Nov. 5 version is a tribute to Riot Grrrl, featuring local garagey act Scandalnavia, Zeidler’s Tina Unt Ina act and others.
Is Granny Boots a sign that the West Queer West community is entering a more mature adult phase? Yes, no and maybe. It’s heartening to see a regular weekly event that’s geared toward engaging with politics and promoting live acts. The night is also a somewhat naïve throwback to grassroots lesbian community organizing, for sure. And while Zeidler may have originally intended Granny Boots to attract the older folks, the night seems to be attracting wide-eyed twentysomethings who aren’t into club culture.
What’s interesting about Lichtman’s approach to this night is how invested she seems to be in bridging the gaps between different generations of queers — or at least, dykes. It’s something close to her heart.
"I have a lot of older dykes in my life as mentors and friends," she explains. "So much of my identity has to do with the way that I’m prompted and checked by the people around me. It’s appealing to me to live in this lesbian utopia. People just want to make connections — and myself, as a dyke, I’m desperate to make connections with older dykes. That’s something I really thrive on."
BY Sarah Liss October 29, 2008 - originally published in http://www.eyeweekly.com/
Ever since DJs and bartenders Sandy De Almeida and May Brand started their Hump Day Bump night a few years back at the Gladstone, Wednesday’s been a new Saturday for a certain sector of alternative T.O. queers. But as the neighbourhood evolved, the demographic did as well; by the time Hump Day Bump relocated to Wrongbar this past summer, the night had lost some of its community-minded atmosphere (though De Almeida and Brand weren’t to blame).
The loss of Hump Day left the Gladstone with a big hole on Wednesday nights. Gladstone owner and artist Christina Zeidler was wise enough not to go head to head with a straight-up DJ night. Rather, she had a number of specific goals in mind when she came up with Granny Boots, says Chelsey Lichtman, a local performance artist and co-founder of the Fat Femme Mafia, who’s now taken over Granny duties from Zeidler. In part, Zeidler was hoping to reach out to a less blithely youthful crowd by planning a weekly event that runs earlier in the evening. "
Another hope was to bring a radical queer politic back into the Gladstone," Lichtman says. "It was there at one point, but it’s been gone recently."
Lichtman hopes to achieve that aim, in part, by reaching out to T.O. cultural institutions that may have been overlooked or alienated by the surge of so-called alterna-queer culture that’s permeated the West Queen West area. She lists the Toronto Women’s Bookstore, the Asian Arts Freedom School and Shameless magazine as examples, and suggests that an absence of more marginalized voices (read: the dominance of privileged, white, able scenesters with normative bodies and genders) has contributed to the sublimation of more engaged queer politics.
"I think what’s been done at Granny Boots so far has been great," she says, "but I have a particular vision. I want to provide space at a desirable location for people who might not have access to, or be able to afford, that space. And they’ll be paid for it! The Gladstone has been really generous with this night.
"Lichtman’s own bent tends toward reclaiming a more rigorous old-school lesbian-feminist ethos — a recent night of womyn’s music featured performances by singer-songwriters Emma McKenna and Jen Markowitz (Dance Yourself To Death); the Nov. 5 version is a tribute to Riot Grrrl, featuring local garagey act Scandalnavia, Zeidler’s Tina Unt Ina act and others.
Is Granny Boots a sign that the West Queer West community is entering a more mature adult phase? Yes, no and maybe. It’s heartening to see a regular weekly event that’s geared toward engaging with politics and promoting live acts. The night is also a somewhat naïve throwback to grassroots lesbian community organizing, for sure. And while Zeidler may have originally intended Granny Boots to attract the older folks, the night seems to be attracting wide-eyed twentysomethings who aren’t into club culture.
What’s interesting about Lichtman’s approach to this night is how invested she seems to be in bridging the gaps between different generations of queers — or at least, dykes. It’s something close to her heart.
"I have a lot of older dykes in my life as mentors and friends," she explains. "So much of my identity has to do with the way that I’m prompted and checked by the people around me. It’s appealing to me to live in this lesbian utopia. People just want to make connections — and myself, as a dyke, I’m desperate to make connections with older dykes. That’s something I really thrive on."
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