Friday Night Fever
TNG is celebrating the art of dance this Friday (July 18th) at the Black Cat. Music will feature britpop, indie-rock, dance-punk and cutting-edge queer artists. Stephanie will be making her DJ-ing debut beginning at 9:30pm Eastern Standard Time. Zack and Michael will accompany Steph at the DJ table through out the night.
Feel free to invite your friends, lovers, ex-lovers, baby mama’s, mama’s babies, even the person at the coffee shop with a vegan sticker on their laptop.
RSVP on Facebook. Print out a flyer for your scrapbook.
Must be 18 or over. $5 cover. Free Fun. Free dancing.
Use the comment section below to make song requests, or e-mail Info@thenewgay.net.
Recap: Black Cat Backstage/9:30pm/18 +/$5 cover
16 comments:
In an effort to encourage TNG towards its goal of creating a racially *diverse* queer scene in DC, may I suggest more musicians of color in the music line-up for future TNG events? And, for that matter, genres of music that will appeal to an audience wider than that of, well, white people?
Thanks!
Of course, Anon. Please send us your requests and we'll see what we can do.
i won't come unless i hear like, lots of frank sinatra and like, TONS of john tesh. because that's what we white people like! (seriously though, i really want you to play the new annie song. at first almost cloyingly sugary, but with a tart/bitter center)
What sort of "danceable" music do alterna-queer people of color in DC listen to? Do definitions of danceability differ along with musical taste?
lz: Please help us define "danceability" by sending us your song requests. We can discover this together..
Hi, it's Anon again.
Well, this is already being tagged as "punk/brit pop/indie rock event." And by doing that you have (rather consciously or not) made it clear who your targeted audience is. At this point, requesting songs of other genres would do nothing to attract more queers of color tonight (look at the sea of white faces on the facebook rsvp list!).
...which is why I suggested that this be kept in mind for *future* TNG events.
Thanks!
Anon, does music transcend race? You seem to think it does not, which would make an interesting post. Care to send it in to us?
hey anon,
you seem to be saying that POC artists are/were not involved in making punk, indiepop, or danceable music. i respectfully disagree! here are just a few examples i like, feel free to add!:
x-ray specs "identity"
general public "tenderness"
black box "everybody everybody"
bad brains "sailin on"
neneh cherry "buffalo stance"
bizarre inc. "i'm gonna get you"
miranda "el prof"
"Anon" again. But I'll use my real name this time. ;)
I'm not saying that people of color *do not* listen to brit pop and indie rock (I listen to Of Montreal, for example, and I'm black). What I am saying is that tagging this event as indie rock/brit pop/punk will attract hordes of white middle-class folk. There's a difference; music does transcend race, but not in this context. I commend you Zac (and the rest of the TNG crew) for wanting to change the DC Queer scene, even though you are white, male, and middle class. But if you want to attract a wider audience, you need to stretch beyond these parameters - beyond your comfort zone.
I'll consider writing an article on white privilege, queers, and the local scene. Great idea. :)
coach: I'm not saying that people of color have nothing to do with the making of these genres. please read my above post. i'm talking strictly about the audience this music attracts.
(anon/melody)
anon,
i agree with coach, that you imply that QPOC weren't involved in making "punk/brit pop/indie rock" music.
so, i'm just wondering if you can clarify:
are you looking for "black/people of color genres"- in which case i think that is a very debatable topic.
or are you looking for more queer artists of color to be listed in the artist playlist?
most importantly, does missy elliott count or does she have to stop rapping about lickin dick first?
i'm too late!
hey melody--i hear ya. hopefully more dialog on this will bring about some positive change / smash the state.
I think the real question here is how can TNG create a space attractive to QPOCs as well as everyone else that will still be authentic. You don't want me to DJ a hip-hop night, trust me. How can we be accommodating without seeming to be pandering? One way would be to invite QPOC DJs to help us out, and we're looking into that.
The reason Homo/Sonic is planned as such is that, while there are many opportunities for QPOCs to dance to music appeals to "an audience wider than that of white people," there are very few alt/indie queer dance nights in DC, and none on weekend nights. We want to be welcoming to all w/o ignoring our core mission for this party.
If any members of the TNG community would like to work with us to host dance parties for persons of all colors, incorporating a wide variety of musical genres that transcend race, please let us know. But as you've correctly pointed out, Melody, that's not the primary mission of Homo/Sonic.
also, melody - i still encourage you to come out tonight. yr use of the smiley face emoticon, and yr ability to hold back the snark suggests that you are quite a nice person. i'd be great to meet you!
Okay, we're into queer theory and so forth but we still don't have a QPOC (best queer acronym ever, by the way) playlist! Come on, people!
If we are united in nothing else, I hope we all can agree that Journey is NOT dance music.
Probably we can also unite in George Clinton. Who can resist dancing to "Mr. Wiggles"?
What are some alterna-QPOC dance staples? What are some emerging alterna-QPOC dance numbers?
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