Ladyfest Dublin in the Media PLUS Art & Film Update! (1 Viewer)

[jane]

Okay, so it was a totally made-up, "lets-slag-off-the-Ladyfest" lie that organisers of the festival were talking about sponsorship from a ladies hair salon for free haircuts, and sponsorship from big phone companies? That was all totally made up? Wasn't even mentioned?

I thought that was a joke. I, for one, didn't think anyone would accuse us -- except in jest -- of outright lying about sponsorship. We don't have any. We made a decision at the beginning not to look for any, and even if we had, we would not be looking for money from phone companies. I answered that, by the way, on a previous page. And the haircuts? That one is so ridiculous, I don't know where to begin. So yes, both of those things are made-up lies.

If people want to make constructive criticisms, base them on the context of what the festival is, not how you personally see DIY. Because it might embrace a version of DIY that isn't exactly what you might do, it does not mean it undermines the integrity of independence itself. It's just a different way of doing things. My definition of constructive comment does not extend to ridiculous statements phrased as accusations.

That it is not just for punks, or organised by only punks does not make it less punk, it makes it more diverse. It is a broad range of acts and events organised by a broad range of people. The way I see it is that no single one of us would have chosen the exact set of events we have means that it reflects an amazing group effort. You can choose to see it as diluting the 'punkness' of the punk bands, or you can see it as an opportunity to see all sorts of things you might not otherwise see. That's how I -- and a lot of others -- see it, anyway.

 

[krystal]

I bleedin' WISH we got free haircuts! Cos lordy lord knows, I need one!

 

[Shorty]

i also enjoy easy, relentlessly adversarial, self-righteous moralizing. can i join your gang?

Oh please, there's no need for this.

"this costs a lot of money to put on. they could have charged a lot more but they went out of their way to ensure a decent price. do you have any positive, practical suggestions to make as to how to reduce the ticket price to a level you consider appropriate? if so, can we hear them, rather than just complaints about how things should not have been done?"

It seems to me that the main thrust of this argument is based on the descrepency over whether or not this is a decent price. And I think a lot of any argument on how the price and costs could have been kept down would have been about how things should not have been done.

"maybe what looks to you like 'bullshit hype' looks to most other people like coherent promotion."

Who said 'bullshit hype'? Noone on eirecore has criticised the promotion, it was only on the general board that someone mentioned 'glossy magazine'.

"sorry it doesn't fit with 'your idea of d.i.y.'. maybe you could tell us of a similarly-sized event that has happened in ireland that does fit with 'your idea of d.i.y.' - has there ever been one?"

A similar sized one day event was, as has been pointed out, Basta's DIY fest in the project arts centre, which I might add had bands that were quite diverse in their genres and 2 of the 3 bands that played had female members.

"it's good to hear that you think it's cool that this is going on. have you considered the possibility that the concerns you are highlighting are being phrased in such an unendingly negative way that it could end up having a practical effect on the motivation and patience of the organisers, and that something you consider to be cool would end up worse off as a result of your actions?"

This is a very good point. I don't really have any response, but I do think that most of my own replys on this thread have been positive and supportive of lady fest and the fundamental idea behind it, that of female empowerment, and so far I haven't seen anyone criticise the idea of ladyfest, or anyone say they don't support it. Do you really think so many ppl would be getting worked up about this if they didn't see it as being positive, and I find it rather belittling and derogatory that so many are claiming ppl are being argumentative because of some need to fit into a punk image or identity. See corm's quote below, ppl do actually care about this. I'd just like to point out that Alan's post is the first post by any 'punk' ( sorry alan ) to even come anywhere near resorting to stereotype of 'indie' kids or those who use the general board. And these claims of punk posturing are skirting ( tee hee ) the issues.

"that's called graphic design. pretty, isn't it?"

Yes, pretty and cute.

"haircuts?"

I don't know where this has come from. But the idea of corporate sponsorship was entertained in the preliminary stages of planning and was a point of contention, but it isn't happening now and as such is irrelevant.

I think it's cool that this is going on, my point is that AS I THOUGHT it was a DIY punk festival that I had certain expectations of it. So had many others that I spoke to, and they were disapointed with how things turned out. If it's not a DIY punk festival, grand, I don't give a shite, end of story. But if it is, then I've a few things to say about it -big fuckin deal, so DIY means a lot to me. But fine, if it's not, fine, forget about it.

All in all, I think this thread has run it's course, and conor has pretty much summed it all up.

But one thing remains; what is this 'luxury' of living in dublin? !bing !cheezy !bog .|..| !ninjaaaa

!baggyyyy !baggyyyy !baggyyyy

 

[jmlcomp]

But one thing remains; what is this 'luxury' of living in dublin?

compared to cork tis a utopian metropolis

 

[Alan Remorse]

the luxury of living in dublin is not having to spend about a hundred quid anytime you wanna see a band that's too lazy to go anywhere else in the country.

and im pretty sure that not even diana ross has demanded a hairdresser on her rider

 

[D0njo]

"for people who don't have the luxury of living in dublin...."

i thought that was kinda funny..

come on, we're talking about cork and dublin here.. they're both awful

...sigh... another useless post... sorry everyone

 

[Bryan Insano]

compared to cork tis a utopian metropolis

Its true. Whenever I hear bout gigs in Dublin its usually when im broke & cant afford it. Its all about the gigs otherwise id stay happy down south!

 

[Bryan Insano]

"for people who don't have the luxury of living in dublin...."

i thought that was kinda funny..

come on, we're talking about cork and dublin here.. they're both awful

...sigh... another useless post... sorry everyone

Thats your opinion. Dublin is a great place! I always enjoy my stay with friends up there. Corks not the worse place in the world but I am sick of the same ole, same ole life style.

 

[Alan Remorse]

i love the cork scene and all the comradery that we have here. i dont think anywhere else has the same atmosphere.

the only place we played on our tour that had anywhere near the same attitude was ballina. dont get me wrong, all the gigs were class, but cork just rules, plain and simple.

metal!

 

[pete]

Who said 'bullshit hype'? Noone on eirecore has criticised the promotion, it was only on the general board that someone mentioned 'glossy magazine'.

that would be

But it really stood out to me too that the punk bands on the flyer seemed like an embarrassing footnote while the rest of it was spent on over-the-top Hot Press style bullshit hype.

 

[Corm]

I thought that was a joke. I, for one, didn't think anyone would accuse us -- except in jest -- of outright lying about sponsorship.

Jane, I wasn't accusing you of lying about sponsorship...I heard from others involved that people involved in the organisation of the festival were into the idea of sponsorship from various (what I would think of as not-so-cool) sources, and was asking if that was a lie.

I wrote a big response justifying my ideas on all this earlier and when I went to post it I'd automatically logged out and lost the whole thing...

As others have said, it's run it's course all the same, and it would just be tedious to return to the back-and-forth bickering. Yeah, I thought that the flyer I saw had a lot of bullshit hype on it, I just started typing out my reasons but fuck it, I couldn't be arsed. The whole thing just reminds me of why internet forums piss me off.

It seems I perhaps had an unclear picture of what the festival was about and it's aims, so I apologise for subjecting you all to my DIY-elitism, or whatever stereotype it's easiest to think of me as. Hopefully the Ladyfest will be deadly and some new kids will get into DIY.

 

[bohs punks]

The end...?
wow. what will the punks complain about next eh? on thumped they are bitching about eamonn dorans and some promoter there thats a "rip off", can the world not just get along?

 

[therealjohnny]

The end...?
wow. what will the punks complain about next eh? on thumped they are bitching about eamonn dorans and some promoter there thats a "rip off", can the world not just get along?

You know what I hate? Bohs football club! the fuckers, they stole the anarchist flag!cunts

 

[tomahawk]

You know what I hate? Bohs football club! the fuckers, they stole the anarchist flag!cunts

oh,oh... somebody's cruisin' for a bruisin'...

 

[desertedvillage]

I'm not looking to get into a slagging match with anyone but I think this thread raises some interesting issues.
People should realise that DIY ideals are not the sole preserve of the punk music, eg;
Even though group free improvisation embodies anarchy more than any other type of music, I don't see any punks around when we when we put on free all-ages improv gigs in venues with no alcohol.
People who put on Beach parties by dragging equipment over rough terrain and risk getting shut down by the cops are DIY too even if they do play Dance music.

Ladyfest is a rare chance for different DIY scenes to converge and check each other out. How many people from the DIY punk scene in Dublin would go to see an independently promoted Mira Calix gig with a local electronica artist supporting? About zero and vice fuckin' versa. Anything that breaks up the rigid boundaries between all the insular scenes in Dublin is good.

About the Glossy magazines, The Ticket, Hot Piss etc are utterly wretched mainly because their writers work off press releases rather than seeking out exciting music and telling us about it simply because it rocks.
These days, even to see/hear the words "DIY" and "non-profit" in mainstream media is a little crack of light getting through to the dumbed-down public.
Like it or not, we're up against 24 MTV feeding kids a cut-out culture and lazy journalists who won't usually give a column inch to DIY music. Sadly it seems to take a novel and politically correct angle to get these fucks to pay attention - "Girls playing music, sounds like a lark!!". I used to actually read HP to find out about cool music when I didn't know any better, the more people who get curious about events like ladyfest, the more DIY events we'll get, with perhaps cheaper tickets in Future. Anyway, 30 quid for 3 days is cheap, any disagreement is whinging.

However you feel about Paying Mira Calix 300 quid, having her on the bill will bring money and punters, some of whom will check out lesser known bands. If it's non-Profit the money will surely go towards some charity or putting on more gigs which will involve local bands. I can't speak for the organisers here but I’m sure it’ll be worthier cause than haircuts.

Sorry if this all might seem patronising from some “indie” kid who doesn’t even go to punk gigs. One of my personal musical highlights of this year was supporting Rob Blake in the Warehouse. Our singer couldn’t make it so we did a weirder than normal improvised instrumental set to an audience mostly comprised of punks who shut the fuck up during the deathly quite bits and whooped and hollered during the rowdy bits. It meant a lot because that rarely happens playing in pubs to jaded Dublin crowds. In short, all these insular scenes have more in common than we might think. Anything Like Ladyfest which brings about a degree of crossover should be encouraged.

Good luck ladies.

 

[Space]

Well said Desserted Village.
I think more of a mix of musical styles is needed at gigs in Dublin. Pity I'm not gonna make it to Ladyfest as the boat from Wales is too expensive.

 

[bohs punks]

robbed their flag, pah, we had it first! ..probably

they had it in 1910 in spain
http://www.infoshop.org/faq/append2.html

bohs are older - though they possibly have been playing in kilkenny stripes back in the 1890s, it wasnt until 1908 i saw them first and they were defo in red and black then.

 

[sarah]

I'm not looking to get into a slagging match with anyone but I think this thread raises some interesting issues.
People should realise that DIY ideals are not the sole preserve of the punk music, eg;
Even though group free improvisation embodies anarchy more than any other type of music, I don't see any punks around when we when we put on free all-ages improv gigs in venues with no alcohol.
People who put on Beach parties by dragging equipment over rough terrain and risk getting shut down by the cops are DIY too even if they do play Dance music.

Ladyfest is a rare chance for different DIY scenes to converge and check each other out. How many people from the DIY punk scene in Dublin would go to see an independently promoted Mira Calix gig with a local electronica artist supporting? About zero and vice fuckin' versa. Anything that breaks up the rigid boundaries between all the insular scenes in Dublin is good.

About the Glossy magazines, The Ticket, Hot Piss etc are utterly wretched mainly because their writers work off press releases rather than seeking out exciting music and telling us about it simply because it rocks.
These days, even to see/hear the words "DIY" and "non-profit" in mainstream media is a little crack of light getting through to the dumbed-down public.
Like it or not, we're up against 24 MTV feeding kids a cut-out culture and lazy journalists who won't usually give a column inch to DIY music. Sadly it seems to take a novel and politically correct angle to get these fucks to pay attention - "Girls playing music, sounds like a lark!!". I used to actually read HP to find out about cool music when I didn't know any better, the more people who get curious about events like ladyfest, the more DIY events we'll get, with perhaps cheaper tickets in Future. Anyway, 30 quid for 3 days is cheap, any disagreement is whinging.

However you feel about Paying Mira Calix 300 quid, having her on the bill will bring money and punters, some of whom will check out lesser known bands. If it's non-Profit the money will surely go towards some charity or putting on more gigs which will involve local bands. I can't speak for the organisers here but I’m sure it’ll be worthier cause than haircuts.

Sorry if this all might seem patronising from some “indie” kid who doesn’t even go to punk gigs. One of my personal musical highlights of this year was supporting Rob Blake in the Warehouse. Our singer couldn’t make it so we did a weirder than normal improvised instrumental set to an audience mostly comprised of punks who shut the fuck up during the deathly quite bits and whooped and hollered during the rowdy bits. It meant a lot because that rarely happens playing in pubs to jaded Dublin crowds. In short, all these insular scenes have more in common than we might think. Anything Like Ladyfest which brings about a degree of crossover should be encouraged.

Good luck ladies.

DV you totally rock my world!aaand managed to say in a much more coherent way what I was trying to say!

 

[needtokill]

So I got this random email from someone today looking for accomadtion for 3 people from England who are coming over to stay this weekend.Why they were referred to me I have no idea BUT if anyone can put them up, drop them a line at

[email protected]

sorry if there's already been a post about this,I can't be arsed going through the thread to check.

 

[ed in mouth]

so, this is post modern entertainment? here, where abouts does stephen say something about birds and tits? im shitting a brik asking this but, what is the message of ladyfest? wheres the website? (is it on it?) i was under the impression we were all disempowered... (gulp)... just curious, sorry...