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Cool Schmool: Bratmobile reunited at the first Ladyfest and will play this one. Three Times a Ladyfest Ladyfest Bay Area celebrates feminism with a DIY perspective By Traci Vogel Crouched behind a large pool table, three spiky-haired punk-rock dykes keep doing a my-foot's-asleep jig that makes them look like leprechauns in slow motion. It's a warm night, and the bar is packed, but no one is willing to take their eyes off the stage long enough to complain. The audience is enchanted. Drinks sit ignored. Nomy Lamm is playing the accordion. Those who've seen Lamm perform will recognize what might cutely be called the "Nomy Zone." It has to do with her innate stage presence, which has to do with her physicality (she's a large lady with one leg, kohl-rimmed eyes, and a deep vaudeville singing voice), but it also has to do with something that defines all successful underground art. Something that is hard to put into words, probably because it's that dreaded thing: an aesthetic. This indefinable DIY thing, which in no way will I attempt to define, is what Ladyfest is all about. "What six words do you use to announce yourself to the world?" is how Ladyfest participant Thea Hillman poses this question in her kick-ass book-length prose poem Depending on the Light (Manic D Press). Hillman's proposal -- if you could only use six words, which would you choose? -- highlights the underground artist's problems with multiplicity, with definition, and with otherness in ways that simple theorizing can not. Born in Olympia, Wash., in the summer of 2000, in, yes, the capital of all that is riot grrrl, Ladyfest is a volunteer-organized groundswell of "music, art, performance, workshops, films, adventures, debates, and laugh-until-you-cry or pee-your-pants-style fun," as the original mission statement puts it. Some of the artists slated to appear in the upcoming Ladyfest Bay Area are making the road trip from Olympia -- including Lamm herself -- but the roster also includes local favorites the Donnas, Tribe 8, Bonfire Madigan, Bratmobile, and Michelle Tea. Don't miss out on the workshops offered, where politics and art get up close and personal. Here is a brief and highly biased list of picks. Music All-Girl Summer Fun Band Every bit as fun to watch as its name implies, this pop band composed of four ladies from Portland got picked up by K Records because -- believe it -- its lo-fi summer jams are tight. The Bangs Juicy punk from Olympia, with a guitar that recalls '80s metal and a lead singer with a voice like Blondie, have toured with Sleater-Kinney. Bandmember Maggie Vail was one of the original Ladyfest organizers. Bleu A perfect pairing, Sondra and Skye of Bleu throw words and guitar into the realm of rhythm that'll have you nod-ding your head all night long. Jody Bleyle & Kate Schellenbach Any chance to see ex-Team Dresch and ex-Hazel drummer Bleyle sweat on stage should not be missed. She teams up with Schellenbach, of ex-Luscious Jackson, ex-Beastie Boys fame. Film and Video Miranda July Performance artist July seems to approach film as if it were a large sheet of fabric she can cut up and fashion to her will. Her last film, The Swan Tool, did in fact literally flow around her, as the camera moved through office cubicles while July stood in front of the screen, interacting. She debuts her newest, The Drifters. Linda Duvoisin Duvoisin's You Don't Know What I Got is a short film consisting of interviews with five American women who discuss their centers of strength and passion. Features an early interview with Ani DiFranco, when she still had dreads. MadCat Women's International Film Festival Retrospective For the past five years, the MadCat Women's film festival has been showcasing underground women filmmakers, and here director Ariella Ben Dov winnows down a selection of favorites. Includes Lyn Elliot's Cars Will Make You Free and Erica Cho's animated short Kimberly Bahp Makes Sushi for Two. Visual Arts Dame Darcy One dark and full-moon night, comix artist (and doll maker) Dame Darcy discovered the wormhole that somehow connects goth, Victoriana, and feminism, and it's a weird and wonderful place, with lots of bloody lace. Performance Art Erika Lopez I once heard Lopez read a personal monologue about waiting at the welfare office, and it made me laugh until I cried. And I'd always thought that was a cliché. Daphne Gottlieb Gottlieb performs equally well on the page and on the stage, which is a rarity. Her book Why Things Burn (Soft Skull Press) brings academic theories of women's literature full circle. Ladyfest Bay Area 2002 happens July 24-28, at various San Francisco venues. See www.ladyfestbayarea.org for schedule details. [ East Bay | Metroactive | Archives ]