International Know Your Straddler Week
International Know Your Straddler Week is the time-honored, first-annual, second chance to make a good first impression on your local Autostraddlers. It’s the perfect opportunity to be more charming than you were the first time you met everyone. Or maybe wear that blazer you like so much.
autostraddle meet-ups look like this
So International Know Your Straddler Week will take place between February 23 – March 5, which you may notice is actually a week and a half. This time around, really make an effort to get to know your neighborhood Straddlers! Plan to meet somewhere exciting and new. Possibly you could bring a friend along, perhaps an ex-girlfriend or two. Maybe play a game of Never Have I Ever, otherwise known as All the Sanctimonious Gold Stars Stay Sober While Laneia and Riese Get Plastered.
In the spirit and style of the much loved International Meet an Autostraddler Week, some editors have already arranged dates and times in their cities. If you’re interested in coordinating something locally, email laneia [at] autostraddle [dot] com and I’ll put your contact info on this fabulous shiny website. Then hoards of intelligent, quirky, sexually charged queer people will hunt you down and wait for you to tell them where to go. Sounds fun, right?
Only share meet-up details via email, not in the comments!
PHOENIX
Wednesday, February 23
7pm
contact: laneia [at] autostraddle [dot] com
BOSTON
TBA
contact: rachel [at] autostraddle [dot] com
SYDNEY
Thursday, March 3
contact: crystal [at] autostraddle [dot] com
OAKLAND
12pm
Saturday, March 5
contact: edieirons [at] inthefire [dot] com
ANN ARBOR
TBA
contact: sarah [at] autostraddle [dot] com
NEW YORK
TBA
contact: caitlinmae [at] gmail [dot] com
CHICAGO
a brunch situation
Sunday, February 27
contact: eabwritesdesigns [at] gmail [dot] com
PHILADELPHIA
TBA
contact: laura [at] autostraddle [dot] com
MONTREAL
TBA
contact: emilychoo19 [at] gmail [dot] com
DC
TBA
contact: katrina.casino [at] gmail [dot] com
LOS ANGELES
Saturday, March 5th (Location and Time TBA)
contact: alex [at] autostraddle [dot] com
SINGAPORE
TBA
contact: yan [at] wooooo [dot] sg
LONDON
Evening
Friday, March 4
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Afternoon
Saturday, March 5
contact: pluraliser [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot] uk
OTTOWA
TBA
contact: cstreeting [at] gmail [dot] com
GLASGOW / EDINBURGH
Saturday, March 5
contact: heathergfroehlich [at] gmail [dot] com
COLUMBIA, MO
TBA
contact: masonjar.9 [at] gmail [dot] com
AMHERST / NORTHAMPTON
TBA
contact: agregister [at] gmail [dot] com
BRIGHTON
TBA
contact: mattimatti [at] gmx [dot] eu
VICTORIA, BC
TBA
contact: quix-ot-ry [at] hotmail [dot] com
ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND
TBA
contact: kristin_fardy [at] hotmail [dot] com
LIVERPOOL / NORTH WALES / MANCHESTER, UK
TBA
contact: lindsayeanet [at] gmail [dot] com
AUCKLAND, NZ
1pm
Saturday, February 26
contact: hayley.e.ware [at] gmail [dot] com
DALLAS
TBA
contact: desireedermody [at] yahoo [dot] com
PARIS
TBA
haricot.vert [at] hotmail [dot] com
ORLANDO
TBA
contact: ajmartucci [at] comcast [dot] net
NASHVILLE
TBA
contact: jgl8011 [at] gmail [dot] com
CENTRAL EUROPE
TBA
contact: daphne_duck [at] hotmail [dot] com
PROVIDENCE
TBA
contact: notquitestarving.artist [at] gmail [dot] com
53rd Annual Grammy Awards: Are You There World, It’s Me, Esperanza Spalding
Last night a musical extravaganza took place in Los Angeles, California, occasionally punctuated by various well-dressed, unusually attractive humans announcing the “winners” of assorted musical awards and then handing a large statue to the winner of the award. As I believe we touched on last year, the Grammys are total nonsense.
This year’s ceremony included excessive quantities of country music, hyperbolically hyped performances (hope you caught Dr.Dre/Eminem because it’s going to show up in your AP History class next year, seeing as it is so f*cking HISTORICAL), an especially smarmy-looking John Mayer, a plethora of gratuitous Nicole Kidman-centric crowdscans, a cornucopia of “upsets” (Best New Artist, Album of the Year, etc), Adam Lambert not winning a Grammy or making out with anyone on stage, and Lady Gaga arriving inside a giant egg.
Ten Things Worth Noting About the 2011 Grammy Awards:
1. Esperanza F*cking Spalding, Y’all
Who the hizell is Esperanza Spalding? Well, it’s not Justin Bieber, that’s all we needed to know.
No but for real, Esperanza Spalding surprised everyone by winning Best New Artist — making her the first Jazz Artist to do so. I haven’t been this surprised since the last time Taylor Swift won a thing.
However this win didn’t go over as well backstage as it did in our living room:
When Spalding made her way back to the media room at the Staples Center, she had no mercy for the competition, especially Justin Bieber. “He’ll have many more years and many more nominations, so he’ll be straight,” she said when asked about beating the teen pop sensation.
Bieber’s devoted acolytes didn’t take her victory so lightly. In dozens of changes to Spalding’s Wikipedia page, Beliebers attacked the singer/bassist, with the most glaring being this gem: “JUSTIN BIEBER DESERVED IT GO DIE IN A HOLE. WHO THE HECK ARE YOU ANYWAY?” On top of that, people changed her middle name to “Justin” and then “Quesadilla.” Another Rhodes Scholar among the vandals went on to call Spalding a “reatard,” which probably has nothing to do with the late Jay Reatard.
A Little Bit More About Esperanza: Esperanza Spalding is a half-black, half-Welsh/Hispanic/Native American 26-year-old jazz singer and bassist. Growing up in a rough part of Portland, Oregon, raised by a single mother, she was inspired to become a musician when she saw Yo-Yo Ma on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. She studied and taught at the Berklee College of Music, released her first album in 2006, and her 2010 record, “Chamber Music Society,” is currently holding court in the iTunes Top Ten following last night’s win.
Here she is performing at the White House. You know this song because of Lauryn Hill.
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2. Lady Gaga Just Got Born This Way
I’ve got “Born this Way” stuck in my head for life now — and as usual, Lady Gaga’s performance warmed me up to this tune in a way I’d not felt prior. Thoughts?
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3. Glee
These kids are at everything now. It’s like a thing. Is Glee a thing? We hadn’t noticed.
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4. Why Does Katy Perry Exist
You know when your friend fancies him or herself a singer and starts singing along to some ballad on the radio in a way that makes you feel both bored and strange? You know when your friend subjects you to their wedding photos even though you already saw all the parts you cared about on facebook? Katy Perry combined both of those things last night and called it a “performance.” Katy, go get a giant lollipop and a short skirt and some hyper-pop beats from hell and some gay back-up dancers and show us what you can do because what you can do is not “sing ballads,” it’s “be in music videos.”
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5. This Year was The Year of the Most Annoying Fucking Songs Of All Fucking Time
If you thought “It’s a Small World” was difficult to get out of your head after tripping balls through China and Russia and the USA in Disneyworld on a raft, then the Grammys have probably turned your head into a psychotic pulsing mound of I CAN’T GET THIS FUCKING SONG OUT OF MY HEAD.
Songs I Can’t Get Out of my Fucking Head:
Train “Hey Soul Sister” (winner, Best Pop Performance)
Bruno Mars “Nothin’ on You” (nominee, Record of the Year)
Justin Bieber “Baby” (nominee, Best New Artist)
Lady Antebellum “Need You Now” (winner, Song of the Year)
Gweneth Paltrow and Cee-Lo, The “Forget You” version of “F*** You” (nominee, Song of the Year)
Katy Perry, “Teenage Dream” (nominee, best Female Pop Vocal Performance)
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6. It’s Not Gay, It’s Fashion
I don’t know anything about fashion, as is evidenced by the two fashion articles I have penned for this website: Top Ten Sweatpants and How to Not Dress for Success: Top Ten Fashions For Being Alone in Your Apartment. But that won’t stop me from trying. Nobody wore sweatpants, btw.
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These Fashions Seemed Real Good:
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These Fashions Seemed Real Bad:
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These Fashions I Am Unsure About, Open to Input:
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7. Muppets Take the Cake
Want your musical performance to be not only bearable, but impressive? Try a muppet. Cee-Lo as Elton John meets the Enchanted Tikki Room meets Muppets in Space was the highlight of the evening.
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8. CUTIES
Let’s be real clearly I didn’t pay attention to the Grammys last night. But I found some cute photos:
9. combos
These are my favorite Combos:
But I also enjoyed these combos:
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10. FYI These Are the Winners
Record of the Year: Need You Now, Lady Antebellum
Album of the Year: The Surburbs, Arcade Fire
Song of the Year: Need You Now, Lady Antebellum
Best New Artist: Esperanza Spalding
Best Female Pop Vocal Perofmance: Bad Romance, Lady Gaga
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: Just The Way You Are, Bruno Mars
Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Hey, Soul Sister (Live), Train
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: Imagine by Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare
Best Pop Instrumental Performance: Nessun Dorma, Jeff Beck
Best Pop Instrumental Album: Take Your Pick, Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto
Best Pop Vocal Album: The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga
Best Dance Recording: Only Girl (In The World), Rihanna
Best Electronic/Dance Album: La Roux, La Roux
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Crazy Love, Michael Bublè
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: Helter Skelter, Paul McCartney
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals: Tighten Up, The Black Keys
Best Hard Rock Performance: New Fang, Them Crooked Vultures
Best Metal Performance: El Dorado, Iron Maiden
Best Rock Instrumental Performance: Hammerhead, Jeff Beck
Best Rock Song: Angry World, Neil Young
Best Rock Album: The Resistance, Muse
Best Alternative Music Album: Brothers, The Black Keys
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: Bittersweet, Fantasia
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: There Goes My Baby, Usher
Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: Hang On In There, John Legend & The Roots
Best Urban/Alternative Performance: F*** You, Cee Lo Green
Best R&B Song: Shine, John Stephens, songwriter (John Legend & The Roots)
Best Rap Solo Performance: Not Afraid, Eminem
Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group: On To The Next One, Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz
Best Rap Song: Empire State Of Mind, Shawn Carter, Angela Hunte, Alicia Keys, Jane’t “Jnay” Sewell-Ulepic & Alexander Shuckburgh, songwriters (Burt Keyes & Sylvia Robinson, songwriters)
(Jay-Z & Alicia Keys)
Best Rap Album: Recovery, by Eminem
Jess’s Team Pick: Broadway Benefit Concert For Autostraddle in NYC
A few weeks ago I received an amazing email from music composer/writer/Auto-reader Tiffany Schleigh explaining that in lieu of gifts for her upcoming birthday, she wanted to hold a benefit concert for Autostraddle in New York City and pack it with performances by Broadway stars and her favorite local singer/songwriters.
See, Tiffany found out about Autostraddle via Haviland Stillwell when she came out last year and wanted to show her appreciation in some way. So, if you are in New York City on February 21 you obviously need to head down to Tiffany’s birthday / Autostraddle benefit concert at Rachel’s and $1 from every drink will go straight to us. ISN’T THAT INCREDIBLE? The entire team was taken aback by her generosity and ambition for putting this amazing show together!
Tiffany’s Birthday / Autostraddle Benefit Concert:
Date: Monday, February 21
Time: 8-11pm
Place: Rachel’s in NYC (608 9th Ave. btwn 43rd & 44th St.)
FREE! *$1 from every drink will benefit Autostraddle
Performances by:
Allison Strong (Bye Bye Birdie)
Marina Lazzaretto (West Side Story)
John Arthur Greene (West Side Story)
Emily Kinney (Spring Awakening)
Paul Scott Pilcz (Bye Bye Birdie)
Drew Gasparini (Singer/songwriter)
Becky Gulsvig (Legally Blonde)
Daniel Lincoln (singer/songwriter)
Molly Pope (Our Hit Parade)
Samantha Souza (Great White Way Report)
Tracy McDowell (Rent)
Ben Cameron (Wicked)
Trevor McQueen Eaton (a rockstar)
Maggie Glassman (PACE University)
Will Van Dyke (singer/songwriter)
Lauren Elder (Hair)
Brynn Williams (Bye Bye Birdie, Thirteen)
Bethany Tesarck (Bye Bye Birdie)
Rhett Gerren George (Memphis)
Mel and El (comedic singing duo)
Grace N Michelle (Youtube superstars!)
Marti Cummings
Libby Servais (Wicked)
Leave Tiffany some birthday love in the comments & visit her Facebook and Twitter!
VIDEO! Julie & Brandy at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival: The Lost Footage
Last summer, somebody told Brandy Howard that the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival featured a lot of chicks with their tits out and so Brandy Howard asked Julie Goldman if maybe just maybe she could get a gig at Michfest so Brandy could see “the titties” for herself.
Unfortunately, Julie told Brandy, Michfest is one of many fine lesbionic venues where Julie Goldman had offended some uptight PC lesbian at some point and therefore was no longer welcome. But whatever, Julie said, I’ll fucking call them because you know, when Brandy Howard asks you to do something, you f*cking do it.
Lo and behold, Julie was offered a spot at Michfest! Therefore, despite Julie’s aversion to sleeping in a thing that is not a hotel, the duo set off for a fun weekend in the wilderness.
Autostraddle’s default video editor Riese was about 24 hours away from finishing the masterpiece film of Julie & Brandy at Michfest when her computer, which was invented by a man, decided to totally fuck her up the ass and make her lose everything long story.
But Julie and Brandy knew they had a story that needed to be told, especially because cameras aren’t really allowed there and even as the event faded into herstory, the story STILL NEEDED TO BE TOLD. For closure. You guys, closure is important. That’s right, Julie Goldman & Brandy Howard edited this motherfucker themselves.
Join us on our pioneering journey.
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Golden Globes 2011: Radical Gay Feminist Agenda Has Taken Over Hollywood
Last night, January 16th 2011, The Golden Globe Awards took place in Sunny California. Ricky Gervais began the show with a poorly-received monologue which included a reference to Scientology protecting homosexuals from being publically known as homosexuals. Luckily I believe John Travolta and Tom Cruise were not present, probably they are preparing themselves to become aliens. (This is not Travolta’s best month w/r/t that?)
“Also not nominated was ‘I Love You Philip Morris,’ Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. Two heterosexual characters pretending to be gay. So the complete opposite of some famous Scientologists, then. Probably. My lawyers helped me with the wording of that joke. They’re not here.”
Before any of that happened, though, we had a red carpet. Here’s some people on it:
Whenever I see Angelina & Brad at these things, I feel like we’re being visited by royalty. You know what I mean?
Natalie Portman is going White Swan tonight. I just accidentally wrote “White Swine.” She’s not swine. She’s not even pulled pork. She’s probably a human girl or something expensive and fancy who sometimes makes questionable comments about lesbian sex scenes and is now pregnant, so I guess that ship has sailed.
Here’s Olivia Wilde. She sometimes plays bisexual characters on the television screen, so she’s pretty popular with you people.
The Show
This year was a big year for the homosexuals and a terrible year for straight white men, who fumbled almost every opportunity they were given to speak. (Paul Giamatti was the only eloquent one, and I mean — he thanked Canada. So.)
First: the gay parts.
Chris Colfer looked adorably stunned when presented with a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, which he dedicated to all the queer kids sitting on their thumbs waiting for things to get better. At this point I cried and my heart grew three sizes. The show peaked before dinnertime:
“But mostly importantly [a thank you] to all the amazing kids that watch our show and that our show celebrates and are constantly told ‘no’ [by] people and environments and bullies at school, that they can’t be who they are or can’t have what they want because of who they are. Screw that, kids.”
Colfer kicked off a new Golden Globes tradition where homos get the biggest applause. My heart was so warm it practically caught on fire.
Jane Lynch picked up a Golden Globe for Best Actress in Glee, which is a gay show, and also, Jane Lynch is gay.
The next big queer moment happened when Annette Benning won Best Actress for The Kids Are All Right. Annette Benning and Julianne Moore kissed on the lips and then they flashed right over to Jane Lynch. IS THE LESBIAN HAPPY ABOUT THE LESBIAN MOVIE. HOW DOES SHE FEEL ABOUT THAT.
THEN GLEE WON FOR BEST TV SERIES COMEDY/MUSICAL. This meant we got to listen to Journey again, Mr. Shue is probs LOVIN IT. Every single Glee cast member was on stage, like all of them. Every single one.
graphic by jezebel.com
THIS: “Thank you to public school teachers. You don’t get paid enough, but you’re doing the most important job in America.”
Then, The Kids Are All Right took home Best Movie Comedy/Musical. At that point the Gays officially had taken over Hollywood. But also, they cut it off before Lisa got to speak, which made me feel very oppressed as a feminist.
Also, Justin Bieber looks like a lesbian.
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Other important happenings:
+ TRENT FUCKING REZNOR won Best Original Score for The Social Network.
+ Jennifer Love Hewitt was nominated for The Client List, which also starred Haviland Stillwell, and Dianne Warren who had some role in Haviland Stillwell’s debut album HOW I ROLE, won a Golden Globe for best song. Six degrees.
+ Claire Danes won Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie. She’s dating Hugh Darcy, from the book Pride and Prejudice.
Do you remember the last time Claire Danes won a Golden Globe?
This is what she said in 1995: “Wow. Um, wow. I thought this would be good to be natural and spontaneous but that wasn’t a really good idea,” and then later, “thank you, it’s a huge honor to be acknowledged at such a young age. Thank you everybody.” I don’t remember what she said this year.
+ Tina Fey & Steve Carrell had a cute/funny bit presenting Best Screenplay – Motion Picture. It was like Thursday Night Live.
When the writing awards were announced, I said “Sorkin’s gonna win that thing” and then guess what happened. HE DID, for The Social Network. Let Sorkin be Sorkin. (He’s my second-favorite TV writer of all time, after Alan Ball). Also, Aaron Sorkin thanked females for being female in his speech. FEMINISM IN EFFECT.
+ Angelina Jolie seemed ready to bust that pop stand.
+ This:
At the end of the show, The Social Network won a big prize. I actually saw that movie, so I feel like we were all big winners in general this evening.
How did you feel about this relatively inconsequential night of weirdness and homos?
Video! Interviewing Out Lesbian Amber Heard, Others, at GLAAD’s 25th Anniversary Party
“The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation’s LGBT media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, marked 25 years of service to LGBT Americans.”
Autostraddle design director Alex Vega and Autostraddle Calendar girl Miss April (and Host-with-the-Most) Sarah Croce hit the grey/blue carpet in Los Angeles on December 3rd to talk to the likes of Chaz Bono, Wilson Cruz, Amber Heard (obviously), and “Pioneer Award” recipient Jonathan Murray (executive producer of The Real World, Road Rules and Project Runway) about gay things and GLAAD.
Richard Jennings, former President & Executive Director of GLAAD, was also honored at the event with the GLAAD Founders’ Award.
It was a great event for an organization that we still very much need on our side, fighting for our community in the media. As it said on the screen at GLAAD’s event: words and images matter.
In between the honorees and guests speeches, they played video clips of GLAADs history since 1985. Sounds boring? It was not. I almost cried and I never cry.
American Music Awards Happened, Adam Lambert Didn’t Make Out With Anyone
Well, last year at the American Music Awards, Adam Lambert and his special friend Tommy swapped spit onstage and everyone died. That’s why this year nobody was alive to watch or care about the American Music Awards, which happened last night. Actually nobody who works here has a television or cable, more or less.
But luckily other people watched it, like the smartie cleverpants ivyboys of my second-favorite website, The Awl. These are my favorite parts of The Awl’s Liveblog:
8:02 p.m. Now, Rihanna is traveling through a kudzu field of glowsticks while wearing a bikini top that looks like it was crafted from dip-dyed dish towels while performing her version of Beyoncé’s interpretation of Axl Rose’s snake dance.
8:20 p.m. Stomp meets Jersey Shore meets my living room being about 95% brighter than it was before this performance started.
8:23 p.m. Oh, no, my bad, next up is Miley Cyrus’ homage to Alanis Morrissette Unplugged.
8:33 p.m. There is also the matter of the callback to Bobby Brown’s outfit from the “My Prerogative” video.
8:35 p.m. Oh great, everybody get excited for Taylor Swift to pull her “omg I’m really popular I can’t believe it” act out for the 23,405th time.
8:49 p.m. I like how Fergie is embracing the Peas’ “cover every demographic base” aesthetic with an outfit that incorporates Gaga’s cage, Katy’s cleavage, and Ke$ha’s muddy glitter.
9:06 p.m. Uh oh… here comes the gospel choir…
9:33 p.m. REMEMBER THE ’90S?????????
9:46 p.m. And now here’s Taylor Swift to be the buzzkill. And continue with the “people descending from the sky” motif.
9:47 p.m. At least Taylor’s set is inspired by the cover of Fall Out Boy’s Inifnity On High.
9:51 p.m. Important question: What is love?
9:52 p.m. Justin Bieber thanks Michael Jackson: “Without Michael Jackson, none of us would be here.” OK, so his geography misstep is a bit understandable, but come on.
10:17 p.m. Oh man, a Dove ad just broke out on stage!
10:56 p.m. I didn’t even like the New Kids when they were a “thing” but that synchronized crotch-grab? Ticket, purchased.
Sucked, right?
Anyhow we made a gallery.
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These are our observations:
1. New Kids On The Motherfucking Block Y’all
I expected to like this but ended up feeling sad for everyone. Receding hairlines. Also, I’m not 8 anymore.
2. The Death of Fashion
Fashion died tonight. No really it did. Pull out your stirrups and turtlenecks ladies, the game is over, and fashion lost. It’s dead on the floor, where Jada Pinkett-Smith, who is, btw, a total lesbian and you don’t have to believe me but trust me one day this will come out in the open and you will be like, oh JUST LIKE AUTOSTRADDLE SAID, anyhow where Jada found it, birthed it, BELTED IT, and then put it on top of an innocent child who she then escorted to an awards show while wearing Xena’s training bra and some crepe paper.
3. Here’s who won:
Favorite Soundtrack Album: Glee: The Music, Volume 3
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Male Aritst: Eminem
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album: Eminem, Recovery
Favorite Latin Music Artist:: Shakira
Favorite Country Female Artist: Taylor Fucking Swift
Favorite Country Band/Duo/Group: Lady Antebellum
Favorite Country Album: Carrie Underwood, Play On
Favorite Alternative Rock Music Artist: Muse
Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist: Rihanna
Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist: Usher
Favorite Soul/R&B Album: Usher, Raymond v. Raymond
Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist: Lady Gaga
Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist: Justin Bieber
Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group: Black Eyed Peas
Favorite Pop/Rock Album: Justin Bieber, My World 2.0
Favorite Breakthrough Artist: Justin Bieber
Favorite Artist of the Year: Justin Bieber
Real L Word Ladies and Lesbian Comedians Do New York City, Keep It Real
Lesbian comedy shows and Real L Word parties are a dime a dozen in LA — why not bring some of that magic back east? I wanted A) Real L Word stars Rose Garcia and Stamie Karakasidis and B) an all lesbian comedy show. Stamie, a Philadelphia native, wanted to do a New York show, and Rose has strong family ties in Brooklyn & Long Island. I enlisted nightlife enthusiast Grace Chu to help slap this thing together and by 6 o’clock on Saturday night, The Stonewall Inn, was buzzing with frenzied energy and women (and approximately three guys) were already lining up outside.
Before the show kicked off, Rose and Stamie mingled with the packed crowd including girls who traveled from Philly, Jersey, Indiana and even North Carolina. Really, Papi. They engaged with the crowd, inviting whooping and hollering fans on stage to ask whatever their little hearts desired, bought them drinks, took photos and shared some inside scoop about the rest of the cast.
Rounding out the show were three out and proud New Yorkers who knew a thing or two about reality TV: Claudia Cogan (Last Comic Standing), Poppi Kramer (The Biggest Loser) and Jessie Richardson (avid RLW tivo-er). Stamie has expressed interest in making this a recurring event, with more RLW girls excited to co-host an evening of comedy [*cough Whitney & Tracy cough*]
Keep an eye on ourfifteenminutes.com for more RLW comedy shows and appearances.
L-R: Poppi Kramer, Stamie Karakasidis, Rose Garcia, Claudia Cogan, Jessie Richardson
photos by Grace Chu
Special thanks to Stacy Lentz of The Stonewall Inn
Phasefest: Come See Homogay Bands In Our Nation’s Capital
Do you like queer events and music, AND do you happen to live in the DC metropolitan area? If you leapt into the air and screamed “YES,” then check out this event featuring MEN (featuring JD Samson of Le Tigre), Hunter Valentine, and more!
Phasefest, DC’s Queer Music Festival, has something for everyone — from eletro-pop bands and singer-songwriters to producer/MCs. Also, lots and lots of lesbians, transmen, transwomen, gays, and presumably, even straight people! Check out the details below: (more…)
62nd Annual Emmy Awards 2010: Awards Shows Are So Gay These Days
Can you believe it’s been a whole year since The Emmys 2009? Well, it hasn’t been, actually. This year The Emmys are like three weeks early for reasons relating somehow to football. Regardless, the theme of this year’s Emmys is “radical liberal homosexuals control Hollywood, duh!” and the proof is in the pudding: if you want to earn an Emmy, you need to have gay people in your show. Also: HOLY CRAP THAT’S A LOT OF WHITE PEOPLE. I mean look at the white white whitey white whiteymcwhiterson faces! WAY TO GO TELEVISION, for Chrissake DIVERSIFY YOURSELF.
Watch The Emmys with us! Below you’ll find a periodically updated post reflecting the actions of the Emmy Awards ‘as they happen’ but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a live-blog, because we don’t care THAT much.
We’re pretty sure AfterEllen stuffed the ballot box because all the ladies that gay ladies who like straight ladies liked were nominated, like everyone from 30 Rock. I don’t like straight girls because I don’t want to like people who don’t like me back. Does anyone else feel that way?
Oh hay Jane Lynch what’s up?
Best Comedy Series:
30 Rock, NBC – Dorothy Snarker and DJ Carlytron love this show, so it must be about gay people.
Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO – Didn’t know this was still on the air, who cares NEXT.
Glee, Fox – Singing, dancing, homosexual characters, homosexual actors, we’ve been through this.
WIN! Modern Family, ABC – Actual gay couple with child.
Nurse Jackie, Showtime – Written by LESBIANS, has gay people.
The Office, NBC – Oscar is gay, Michael Scott has nothing against gay people.
Best Drama Series:
Breaking Bad, AMC – What the hell is this show even about? Idk.
Dexter, Showtime – Stars David Fisher from Six Feet Under, who was gay.
The Good Wife, CBS
Lost, ABC
WIN! Mad Men, AMC – I hear the people like this show.
Variety, Music or Comedy Series:
–>All of the nominees in this category work for the gay agenda.
The Colbert Report, Comedy Central
WIN! The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central
Real Time With Bill Maher, HBO
Saturday Night Live, NBC
The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien, NBC
Actor in a Comedy Series
WIN! Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Steve Carell, The Office
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Matthew Morrison, Glee
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Actress in a Comedy Series
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures Of Old Christine – Wanda Sykes is on this show and Wanda Sykes is gay.
Lea Michele, Glee – I’m not saying that she’s gay or anything, because she definitely is not. La la lalalalalaalala #internattack
WIN! Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie – Nurse Jackie is written by a lesbian, so it’s basically a lesbian brain winning.
Tina Fey, 30 Rock – GGWLSG (Gay Girls Who Like Straight Girls) LOVE Tina Fey with a fervor and passion which, to be honest, I have never quite understood.
Toni Collette, United States Of Tara – Gay alter, gay son.
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation – GGWLSG (Gay Girls Who Like Straight Girls) LOVE Amy Poehler.
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series:
WIN! Jane Lynch, Glee
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Kristin Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Holland Taylor, Two And A Half Men – If she wins this, we’ll all know she’s really winning for her role as Helena Peabody in The L Word.
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:
[This is possibly the gayest group of nominated persons in the history of gayness, which as we all know, is the history of humanity. I know John Cyrer isn’t technically gay, but as I’ve said a million times before, Duckie and my Mom are basically twins and my Mom is a lesbian.]
Chris Colfer, Glee
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
WIN! Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Jon Cryer, Two And A Half Men
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Rose Byrne, Damages
Sharon Gless, Burn Notice
WIN! Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
This opening number is probably giving a lot of you emotional tremors because it combines Betty White, the entire cast of Glee, Sue Sylvester, that Tina Fey woman again, and other people on television programs.
Here’s a photo:
Eric Stonestreet plays a gay person on Modern Family but is not gay in real life, which is like playing a retarded person in a TV show or movie. Gilbert Grape Award. It’s really hard to act gay, they have to touch each other! He won an Emmy.
laneia: things that will never be funny: twitter jokes
Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd won an Emmy for writinga show that features two gay people and an adopted baby.
riese: it’s too bad lindsay lohan isn’t there
laneia: i was just thinking that?
JANE LYNCH WHO IS GAY won an Emmy for being in a show called Glee which has gay people in it, and she thanked her gay wife. I feel like this post will be good for SEO.
The Gilmore Girl’s Mom bombed a gay joke with Chandler Bing, and then a bunch of gay jokes happened in a row, too fast for us to know if they were offensive or not. UPDATE: Laneia liked it. Then Ryan Murphy won something for Glee and thanked his boyfriend which makes this the second gay partner thanked of the night.
Some more gay jokes, some more sex jokes, and people who are super grateful, it’s like Oliver Twist or something.
Mad Men wins something. Also Top Chef won something. Cutest Ashley Merriman? I like singing and dancing.
I think they are trying to be cool by telling ‘self-referential jokes’ and being ‘deprecating’ and ‘snarky’ and also using the words ‘gay’ and ‘sex’ is often as possible. I guess that’s kinda what this website does. I hope we pull it off better than they do.
Things have continued to happen: that actress who looks like Julia Roberts read words from a scroll of paper. She wears reading glasses and has a professional facial expression.
A video montage reminded us that not only are these people good looking, but they also gave money to charity following natural disasters.
There was a musical montage where Jimmy Fallon, dressed as Elton John meets Barbie Dream House meets Perez Hilton, sang an ode, I believe, to Law & Order.
‘What? Law and Order is cancelled?’ I said to Laneia.
‘We talked about this already.’ She said.
‘Oh,’ I said.
Later on in the program, Ricky Gervais, a cherub humorous man from The Office UK, addresses the audience about a lack of backstage alcohol. He makes a few good jokes and then gives everybody a beer. The attractive men & women in the few front rows eagerly accept cold bottles from cheery usher/servers in white waistcoats.
One of the awards goes to an award show. Not this one, but the Tonys. So what happened was an award show gave an award to another award show.
Another theme of the program was “people behind the scenes have feelings.” People we’ve never heard of as well as some famous-looking people answer questions about studio memos and childhood dreams.
‘I don’t like awards shows,’ Laneia says. “I don’t understand. it’s like, they’re giving out their own awards. it’s not like getting an award from your teacher. A teacher is relatively unbiased. but this is like, from your peers. Like ‘best dressed.’ I was awarded ‘best dressed’ in high school and do you know why? Because a group of 5-8 girls got together one weekend and decided who would win what, so everyone important would be included in the superlatives in the yearbook. and then they told ppl who to vote for, and they did.’
‘These dresses are more expensive,’ I say.
I wonder to myself, ‘I wish The Real L Word was on.’
Later, I think: ‘I wonder how many people will want to sell for Avon tomorrow.’ I decide to wait to call Avon until everyone else has already tried it and quit. I’m not a quitter.
Juliana Marguelis says television is important because we look to it when we want to know what has happened. I look to it when I want to see people act out stories. Everyone is cheering for George Clooney because he made a lot of money and gave it to people who deserve it, which is nice.
Time goes on. We age, and seasons pass. Summer blends into winter and becomes spring, in that order.
This show is the worst show ever, this is like pre-schoolers picking National Merit Scholars. What happened. Do they realize it’s ten pm, and now ‘the cast of true blood’ has to compete with ‘True Blood’ and ‘the cast of Mad Men’ has to compete with Mad Men?
I think Jim (the one who married Pam) decided to pretend he couldn’t read, rather than read the line he was being fed.
As time went on, we found ourselves loosing interest in the program. We asked ourselves if perhaps the reason marijuana might be legalized in California this year is because it will encourage people to sit through programs like this one whereas they ordinarily might get up and do something else. But the only competition here is SANDWICH. And SANDWICH JUST WON Y’ALL! HAPPY SUNDAY!
UPDATE: Apparently after we left to go do arts & crafts because we’ve been working pretty much nonstop this weekend, other things happened. This included:
– Angela Chase won an award for something we didn’t see
– Mad Men won Best Drama, but everyone was watching Mad Men so they missed the big reveal, also I think it has a gay character.
– Modern Family won Best Comedy, it also has gay people in it, therefore gay people have won.
BlogHer? But I Just Met Her! Internet Worlds Collide at the Blogher ’10 Conference
“Hi, everyone. It’s 2:48. We’re three minutes late and we’d like to start. Hi! My name is Alex. [over-enthusiastic applause.] Thank you. I’m a graphic designer, I’m not a blogger like many of you are. Is anyone not a blogger? Where my non-bloggers at? Probably shouldn’t encourage [that]. I’m a graphic designer, the site I work on is Autostraddle.com…”
I actually asked ‘where my non-bloggers at?’ in a room-full of bloggers. And here I am writing a blog about the BlogHer ’10 Conference. None of this makes sense! Except clearly the (lack of) timeliness of this here post is pretty telling with respect to my blogging skills.
I WAS ON A PANEL SPEAKING ABOUT DESIGN YOU GUYS. HOW COOL IS THAT? I was so excited. I just wanted to say everything at once!
Our panel was called “Good Blog Design: The Role of Layout in an Online Medium” and I got to join the likes of Grace Bonney from design*sponge and Gabrielle Blair of DesignMom.com on this panel who were amazing and so informative about this stuff. I was seriously impressed. Go read their blogs. DO WHAT I TELL YOU – I was on a panel!
This thing was actually liveblogged. It’s hard to believe but 95% of what we said was captured by a unicorn stenographer with a computer and published on the internet immediately as/after it happened. Which for me is a little horrifying because while Grace and Gabrielle provided extreeemely useful information and a cohesive presentation to the audience, I pranced around the elevated platform like a monkey on meth.
(I stole this photo from Paris Breakfast which is an art blog by Carol Gillett who was in attendance at the panel wearing cute red-framed glasses! Hi Carol!)
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For those of you who are unfamiliar with BlogHer, I found this nifty little description:
“For the uninitiated, BlogHer, founded in 2005, is a network of over 2,500 female-centric blogs, a ‘curated selection of authentic voices,’ according to BlogHer’s About page. BlogHer is also a community for female bloggers, where they can find support, help, and inspiration. And finally, BlogHer is a yearly conference, which this year was held in New York City, August 6 and 7.”
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So let’s get on with my
Top 5 Feelings About The BlogHer ’10 Conference:
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Free Foodz & Swag
Food tastes better when it’s free, amiright?! No really though, excellent noms were provided. Plenty of coffee was supplied. I am a little bit of a foodie maybe, so this made me very happy.
And there was free stuff everywhere. My fave swag item is definitely a Pur water bottle I swiped off a table that looks something like this:
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Parties!
It was nice to feel like I was celebrating something, even if that meant I was in the hotel bar for the BlogHer Reception alone, drinking a beer I bought with my one-free-drink ticket. (You get drink tickets when you go these cocktail parties!)
Later on the kick-off night of the conference, Riese and myself mosied on over to the Queerosphere cocktail party where we finally met some of our fellow bloggers in person for the first time. Here we are:
From left to right:
Vikki of Up Popped A Fox, Polly of Lesbian Dad, Riese and Alex,
and Grace Yip of Grace The Spot.
Photo by Grace Chu of Gracethespot.com
I managed to eat every sandwich and dessert twice, which makes me the winner.
Here are some pictures from other fun parties that I somehow missed:
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Meeting These People
Ahh the internet became a smaller place this weekend. All of us bloggers and internet personalities brought our relationships to the 4th dimension by congregating in the same room to do what we do best: drink and discuss feminist theories and stuff.
Riese and myself had the pleasure of meeting Deborah of Peaches and Coconuts, which is her own personal blog of lezbolicious awesomeness. Riese and I had a team meeting and we agree: Deb is the funniest person we’ve ever talked to in our entire lives.
Look it’s Deb on the dance floor! (In the white.)
Deborah was actually one of BlogHer’s Community Keynote Voices of the Year, which makes her a big shot because her submission was one of the 15 chosen out of 1,000 to be read at the Keynote this year. Just saying.
Look it’s Deb! Second from the left.
Also, you guys… Riese and I finally met Autostraddle’s Den Mother in person: Up Popped A Fox! Look it’s Vikki! In person, Vikki is vibrant and I enjoy her energy. That sounds mystical and weird but it’s true. I wish she was around here more often to be our den mother in real life and not just on the internet!
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Lesbian Brunch
On Sunday, the queers set up a big brunch date. I was up north in the woods at the time. Because Riese spent most of the chain e-mails about said brunch whining about how she hadn’t been invited to speak on a panel and nobody would let her in to see my panel, nobody knew if she’d show up or not, but she did!
She has left me the following notes from which I am supposed to make into a paragraph but you know, it’s easier not to:
– Riese WOKE UP MOTHERFUCKERS and went to brunch at Cafe Forant b/c it is owned by LESBOZ and Riese wrote about it for GO! Magazine, you should read her article
– Jess was there and we had a lot to talk about w/r/t the Real L Word
– Deb on the Rocks amazingly made all this shit happen, sent emails and is clearly magical and very responsible, also was funny and I think is how alex got on the panel to begin with, says she reads AS on Sundays LANEIA WRITE THAT DOWN and has no issues with our navigation
-people asked Riese questions about Autostraddle and California she didn’t know what to say b/c our hands are tied until the redesign is up gahahhh need xanax
– Grace Yip but her real name isn’t Grace, she’s super cute also
– Grace Chu our weirdo friend from AfterEllen was there with her giant camera, she was on a panel btw, look she took an AMAZE photo of tinkerbell
– Lesbian Dad, Polly, has a photo of Riese in which Riese did not even recognize herself and also is going to find Riese a house in Berkeley and take care of her when she’s sad and sleep on her couch
– Alex, write words about the funny Peaches and Coconuts recap of BlogHer and how she read our palms BUT DON’T TELL THEM ABOUT MY POWERS ALEX – also mention that she is one of the funniest people I have ever talked to in my life k?
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NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM
BlogHer ’11 is already set to take place in the fine city of San Diego, which is SO convenient for Autostraddle because most of us will have relocated to the West coast by then! This is especially perfect because I am scared that Riese will get violent if she’s not invited to be on a panel next year, because apparently she loves being on panels.
See you at BlogHer ’11?
Lollapalooza 2010 Dispatch Day Three: Jesus Never Showed Up, but The Temper Trap Did
Day Three of my Lollapalooza Adventure was supposed to begin early with the Miniature Tigers at 11:30 a.m. Needless to say, that plan fell through pretty quickly. I’ll just have to watch them on Youtube or something. Anyway, when we finally rolled up to Lolla that afternoon, we saw this dude:
The day before, there were guys with signs reading “women shouldn’t be allowed to vote.” Personally, I feel that protesters are a barometer for how fun something will be.
Is there a dude with a signboard outside? Could be a good time.
Is there are giant group of really angry people yelling about how your souls will burn in hell? It’s probably gonna be a really awesome time!
Sunday was a rapid-fire day. I saw the most bands that day, so this recap is heavy on the photos, light on the detail.
The first band we saw that day was Hockey.
I found them on iTunes randomly a few months ago, and really liked their album. A lot of shirtless bros liked it, too, judging by the crowd. The lead singer seemed a bit full of himself, but their set was nice, so I’ll let it slide.
Lollapalooza 2010 Dispatch Day Two: Phoenix, Phoenix, Phoenix
Day two of Lollapalooza had arguably the best lineup of the whole weekend. I had been pumped about this day for weeks, and it was as fun as I expected. My fest-mates Christina and Emily (see their sexybacks in the photo below) and I showed up at the park around 2 p.m. to start our day.
Lollapalooza 2010 Dispatch Day One: Lady Gaga’s Revenge
The first thing I noticed when I walked into Lollapalooza Friday afternoon was the distinct smell I have dubbed “festival stench.” It’s a combination of mud, sweat, tobacco, marijuana, and vomit. Gross, I know, but it brought back a flood of Bonnaroo memories, which was kind of comforting.
Lolla is dirtier than this photo would suggest
Lollapalooza Adventure Time: Autostraddle’s Summer Festival Tour Continues
Hey guess what, I’m going to Lollapalooza! Yeah, I know, three music festivals in one summer — Bonnaroo, Lilith Fair and now this. How does a girl fit it all into three months? Well, such logistical problems are the perks of volunteering your life to Autostraddle for a period of time. Perhaps you should apply.
Here’s the basics: Lollapalooza happens in Chicago’s Grant Park and will run from August 6 to 8. There are some three-day passes ($210) and some day passes ($90) left, so if you live near the city, consider picking one up. It’s gonna be a fun time.
Photo Gallery: Autostraddle NYC Rodeo Disco 2 Pride Party Photos
Hi everyone! How were your respective Pride celebrations?! We’re still recovering from ours. It was a fun weekend and it seems like it’s time to reminisce. So let’s do it with photographs!
As you may have heard, we held our 2nd Annual Rodeo Disco at Mason Dixon in NYC this past Sunday and man, you guys did not disappoint! Thanks for all who showed up and got down, and of course thanks to everyone there in spirit ’cause I know there are quite a few of you out there (wherever you are not in New York City). (more…)
Pride Guide 2010: New York City, San Francisco, Chicago
This is a big Pride Weekend, I hope you are REALLY PROUD OF YOURSELF FOR BEING GAY THIS WEEKEND, you ravaging lesbian beasts.
New York City Pride Weekend:
This is where we are right now – NEW YORK FUCKING CITY — so when you’re out there having fun for Pride, maybe you’ll notice a bunch of Autostraddlers trying to flirt you into attending Rodeo Disco 2: Back in the Straddle.
You should check out all the editor’s picks over at GO! Magazine for the best in New York City nightlife because basically everything you need to know is at GO! For reals.
OurSceneTV has a kickoff video for Pride and a pride guide, featuring a lot of famous people who may or may not be involved in NYC Pride whatever it’s a hawt video:
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Friday, June 26th:
Proposition is hosting its biggest party ever at Slate (54 W. 21st Street at 6th Ave) — they’re taking over the bar with special Guest DJ Tikka Masala and a 1,000+ capacity. 2-for-1 drinks from 10 to 11 and $3 Pride Shots all night! It’s $10 in Advance and $12 at the door.
LoverGirlNYC hosts Fierece at the Chelsea Brewing Company (Pier 59, West Side Highway @18th street) for $20 advanced with am meber card, or $25 at the door. Celebrity host Hot Wings from VH1’s ‘A Real Chance of Love 2″ with 1500+ women.
Saturday, June 26th:
The Dyke March steps off at 5pm from Bryant Park.
Harlem Pride’s first ever celebration starts at noon and goes ’til 6pm, on West 119th street between Fifth and Malcom X Blvd!
Choice Cunts Third Annual NYC Pride party will feature Special Guest Headliner DJ Princess Superstar at at Santos Party House (100 Lafayette St., trains to Canal Street) ($20 door/$15 with RSVP)
Los Angeles’ Legendary Truck Stop party is hitting New York City at Touch Nightclub on 240 Qest 52nd street, ($20 before 11pm, $25 after). DJ Brynn Taylor and the legendary Truck Stop Dancers, as seen on the hit reality TV show Gimme Sugar. Email info@fuse-events.com to get tickets/info before it sells out!
Henrietta Hudson’s Mega Pride Party, Pier Pressure, starts at 9pm on the Chelsea Piers (Pier 59, West Side Highway @18th street) with three awesome DJs, celebrity hosts Daniela Sea and Michelle Balan.
Sunday June 27th
The Big Pride Parade kicks of at noon with Grand Marshals Dan Choi, Constance McMillen and Judy Shepard. We may or may not be marching standby for more info.
Sunday, between the parade and our party, you can spend your afternoon at Cirque Du Stiletto at the Maritime Hotel Cabanas on 88 9th Avenue (at 17th Street). ($15 before 6pm, $20 after).
Bitches, buy your tickets now. Sunday night Rodeo Disco 2 is shapin’ up to be quite a little something. Basically everyone thinks you should go to our party! OurScene TV thinks so, Time Out NY thinks so (print issue! we’re a recommended pick!), Go Magazine thinks so. Even if you are also going to Snapshot, you can totes still come to Rodeo Disco TOO.
Chicago Pride
Guess who’s going to be hosting the Girl Blast party at Chicago Pride this Sunday… Autostraddle’s own Nat Garcia and Dani Campbell! So if you’re not able to make it out to Mason Dixon for Rodeo Disco 2 (for which tickets are still available!), you should definitely make your way over to Chicago for some Nat-Garcia-Dani-Campbell-realness. Nat promises an “Autotastic party” and you know she’s too lovely to tell a lie.
The 41st Annual Chicago Pride March happens Sunday June 27th starting at the corner of Halsted & Belmont, eventually going to Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park. The Grand Marshal is newly-out Country superstar Chely Wright!
San Francisco Pride:
San Francisco is being super special this year because EDEN is hosting the first all-lesbian pride weekend June 25-28th in addition to the typical festivities. ‘Cause there are a lot of lesbians in San Francisco btw. Like, a lot.
Friday June 25th:
And the best part is that tonight THIS VERY NIGHT, June 25th, you can catch our very own Julie Goldman along with Dana Goldberg, Sandra Valls and Gina Yashere at Eden’s Comedy Night at Parc55 (55 Cyril Magnin Street) at 7 PM.
Also, following the Trans Pride March which start probs like in an hour (Dolores Park, 17 Street and Dolores, SF. Rally at 3:30, march at 7 p.m.), our friend Amos Mac‘s Original Plumbing presents Unofficial! at the Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF; (415) 552-7788, www.elbo.com. 9 p.m., $10. A party in honor of trans pride and visibility — plus, it’ll be a blast. Rocco Katastrophe and Jenna Riot host, DJs Chelsea Starr and 100 spokes spin, furry photo booth, trans slideshow, performances by Glenn Marla and Ice Cream Socialites.
After you change the pants you peed in during Julie Goldman’s show, also check out the UNITY party with entertainment from San Francisco’s Hottest DJs. It goes from 9pm -2am. $30 with 5% proceeds San Francisco Pride at the 111 Minna Street: www.111minnagallery.com, www.in2uevents.com
Saturday June 26th:
The San Francisco Dyke Planet / Green Planet Dyke March kicks off with a 3pm rally and a 7pm march at Dolores Park on Dolores & 17th street. Over 50,000+ people will be presenting “our diverse dyke culture with a radical political edge” and marching through the Mission and Castro.
Sunday June 27th:
The Pride Parade kicks off at 10:30 a.m. at Market Street & Beale and ends at Market & 8th. Grand Marshals include The Backstreet Boys, Erasure’s Andy Bell, Lieut. Zoe Dunning and Pulitzer-Prize winning author Alice Walker.
You can check out the official schedule of SF Pride events at the San Francisco Pride website, where I hear that you lucky bitches will get to be proud along with the Backstreet Boys, super-hawt Hunter Valentine, Cleve Jones, Christine and most importantly the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits.
Autostraddle’s Rodeo Disco 2: Back in the Straddle
We’re happy to announce that we’re throwing our Second Annual Rodeo Disco Pride Party in New York City! Did you come last year? We had one last year, DJ Lady Starlight (of Lady Gaga‘s Starlight Revue) DJ’ed along with DJ Carlytron and DJ Boom Boom and this year it’ll be same time, same place, but better! Like 50 times better.
Also, your ticket purchase benefits the likelihood of our future. Ikr? Who thought we’d still be saying this a year later. The economy has not been kind to start-up media companies my friends. DAMN THE MAN CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS.
Ok cool, got it? Let’s discuss:
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Hosted by MTV’s Rachel Robinson
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Rachel Robinson first blew your little queer mind on Road Rules: Campus Crawl (which aired in the summer of 2002) and then continued to do so many subsequent Real World/Road Rules challenges thereafter, including “Battle of the Sexes,” “The Gauntlet,” “Battle of the Sexes 2,” “The Inferno II,” and “The Island”. Just talking about it makes us super nostalgic for the MTV reality challenges/shows of the early 00s. Rachel was among a batch of young, sexy, fierce, and out lesbians first brought to us by MTV’s original shows. These days Rachel has her own fitness company in Miami and is joining us as emcee for this years Rodeo Disco. We’re very excited to have her!
Also you can follow Rachel on twitter.
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DJ Saratonin:
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Saratonin is a resident DJ for “Club Skirts” Dinah Shore weekend and the very famous girl-party in West Hollywood “Truck Stop”. Her newest venture is a an all-female production company, PYT Productions, whose unique weekly theme parties in Hollywood are highly sought-after for LA’s A-list lesbians. We check out any and all Saratonin gigs when we make our one or two trips a year to Los Angeles and we’re happy to have her on the east coast to make you dance at the Rodeo Disco (and you will. Promise.)
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The Spangles:
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The Spangles is an 80s tribute dance company, we saw them at a Candy Slice Show and have been obsessed ever since. We love the 80s and we think you’ll love them too. Catch ’em on this season of America’s Got Talent and also at our Rodeo Disco.
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CandySlice Comedy:
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Hey remember when we had a fun and awesome photoshoot/interview with the funny girls of CandySlice Comedy? And then they modeled for us and were in this video and had all these videos go viral and do shows every month and YEAH catch them at the Rodeo Disco!
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Autostraddle.com… have you heard of it?
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So there’s this website. It’s called Autostraddle.com. I don’t know, people seem to like it and stuff. I hear it’s like a full-time job for approximately five different people, and a part-time job for about 30 more people, and we can hardly pay our bills and buy real food. This recession happened, bad timing, and bla bla bla, and yadda yadda anyhow listen, this isn’t an infomercial starring Sally Struthers or anything but seriously: if you come to this party, you are monetarily supporting us for this summer and we are forever grateful to you and will keep working diligently to keep bringing you executive lesbian realness.
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Anyone But Me
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Anyone But Me is the award-winning funny, edgy, smart, witty, webseries totally taking the internet and lesbian media by storm. Their second season takes it to a whole new level.
We love this show and it’s cast and creators so we invited them to come hang out at the Rodeo Disco (come say hi to the cast members!) and you can get your hands on ABM goods like the DVD from Season One and prepare to touch Rachael’s hair by watching the show online.
You can meet the two leading (and awesome) ladies Rachel and Nicole when we did a photoshoot and interview with them last August and check out Nicole Pacent, Autostraddle’s Miss June.
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GO Magazine:
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Obvs.
GO! Magazine is the first thing you read when you’re going gay in the city — they have the most reliable nightlife listings, and you can pick one up on the streetcorner without having to interact with a bookstore clerk who’s gonna tell your Mom that you’re gay. It rewards, enhances and enables NYC lesbian nightlife and so we are kinda thrilled that they’re working with us. And you should too.
Oh also, GO! is redesigning their website and it’s going to be amazing so keep your eyeballs peeled! (Whatever that actually means.)
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Guess what? T-SHIRTS.
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Hey remember when Alex hand-made these “AUTO / STRADDLE THIS” t-shirts for the team to wear when we went to Dinah Shore and everyone loved them so much that Taylor had two stolen right off her back? Well we decided to produce them FOR REALS to sell here on Autostraddle.
UPDATE: Emphasize-ation on “selling here on Autostraddle” — we made these shirts to sell via the internet to our readers around the world. It just happens that the first day they will actually be available for purchase will be at the party on the 27th. After that (if we don’t sell out!) you will be able to get them here. We would never deny you the opportunity to spend your money on us!
If you’re going to the party, you’ll be able to get them right then and there cause that’s when these babies are making their debut! We’re very excited about that and just thought we should let you know.
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Let’s reminisce about last year:
Rodeo Disco ’09
DJ Carlytron
Carlytron & Starlight
The future Miss April and Miss January! Sarah & Jennifer
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Facebook Event Page for Rodeo Disco 2
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Wanna promote the Rodeo Disco or just wanna put this on your page/blog/tumblr cause it’s pretty?
Here’s the official flier with all the info:
Feel free to use this wherever and however you want. And thank you!
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MTV Movie Awards 2010 Celebrate Lesbian Innuendo, Swearing, Twilight
Last night the MTV Movie Awards happened. There were lots of white girls there with long, shiny hair along with a lot of paunchy thirtysomething bromance buddy-flick “stars.” Also, Twilight: Mission to the Moon won everything.
Mostly, however, tonight was about homosexuality. (more…)
I’m Going to Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival 2010. Wild, Right?
**BREAKING UPDATE: Sarah will be accompanying me to Bonnaroo! Wheee!**
One week from today, 80,000 people will be gathering in a field in Manchester, TN, for four days of music, comedy, art, and questionable personal hygiene known as The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival! This little party’s been taking place every year since 2002 and for the first time in festival history, I’m gonna be there! I got myself a press pass, a backpack and I bet everyone’s really excited to see me, and I’m totally psyched to see them. Also? I’m a teensy bit nervous. Let’s talk it out.
There’ll be tents and peanut butter sandwiches and beer and music and art! Here’s the complete lineup and here’s the schedule. Here’s that music festival survival guide we wrote a long time ago. Conan O’Brian! Jay Z! She & Him! Chelsea Peretti! Showers for $7! Probably hummus and falafel!
I’ll be writing you love letters from Bonnaroo all weekend, so I hope you write back. Are there specific bands you think I should see? Let me know so I can plan my schedule accordingly and feel ambient intimacy. Brandi Carlile will be there, too. You guys love her, right? (more…)