Tag: diners

Port Lucian Uses Twitter to Curate ‘Trans Musicians and Allies for Change’ Compilation

Photo Credit: Julia Leiby

We all know that the internet can be a dark, scary place. But sometimes, it can also be a catalyst for beautiful projects that inspire change. Twenty-one year old college junior Portia Maidment (of Port Lucian) harnessed the power of the internet and used it to create a new compilation, Trans Musicians and Allies for Change, out via Ztapes on March 5th. The comp is made up of nineteen different artists from around the world, ranging from an acoustic Diners ode to chilling out, to the watery shoegaze of Floor Cry. All proceeds from the cassette will be donated to Trans Lifeline, a 24-hr hotline dedicated to offering support to trans and gender non-conforming folks.

Maidment, a pre-med student at Case Western Reserve University, was first inspired to make this project after taking a class on transgender literature. “That [class] sort of boosted my interest in transgender rights,” says Maidment. “So, I’m actually applying to medical school so I can eventually perform gender affirming surgeries and things like that.”

If you’re wondering how a pre-med student managed to organize an entire compilation album in the midst of a pandemic, you’re not alone. But Maidment said it was actually pretty easy. “I would hit people up on Twitter and ask if they were interested in this comp,” she says. “That’s honestly how I did the whole thing. A lot of people that are on the comp, I don’t know, but because I had support from a label and a cohesive idea, it just sort of came together.” And the power of the internet prevails.

Maidment’s patchwork approach to choosing the artists is evident in the diversity of sound on the record. Whether it’s an acoustic Joni Mitchell track from Philly indie pop band 2nd Grade or a trademark conversational narrative from Fred Thomas, all of the tracks are either previously unreleased demos or written specifically for it. While all of the songs feel vulnerable and personal, some speak specifically to the transgender experience.

Toronto-based indie group Little Kid explores the importance of defining your own identity in “What’s in a Name?” In the most gentle of voices, singer and multi-instrumentalist Kenny Boothby distills the emotional fallout that can occur after a person chooses to change their name. “Oh babe, what’s in a name?/Grew tired of the one that your parents gave/They heard that you wanted to change it like trumpets on judgment day.” Many transgender and non-binary folks experience pushback from friends and family members when announcing their name change, making the transition harder than it needs to be. Aside from the administrative cost of a name change – ranging from $150-$450 – the emotional cost can be huge. Having to remind your friends, family and strangers of your new name over and over again can be emotionally exhausting and invalidate your identity.

Boothby goes on to support the sentiment that these type of dismissive of reactions usually have nothing to do with the person they’re directed at, but rather, a deep-rooted resistance to change or anything outside of what they know. He sings, “Guess they still don’t know how to behave when they can’t place you anywhere.” The song is a validating, soothing reflection on affirming your identity, and an ever so tender fuck off to those who don’t respect it.

Unfortunately, the theme of people not respecting transgender or gender non-conforming folks’ pronouns, identities and safety is a global epidemic. This threat to safety and selfhood can undoubtedly drive people into dark places. And while organizations like Trans Lifeline are an amazing resource for folks that are struggling, sometimes it’s extremely difficult to take the first step in reaching out. In their song “Are You Doing Alright?” Kennedy Freeman of Highnoon addresses anxiety and depression and encourages listeners to reach out to their friends. Freeman says they wrote the song in December, a time when they were especially feeling the effects of being isolated during lockdown.

Although they tried recording the song a few different ways, they say that a voice recording felt the most natural. “Phone audio can feel really familiar and comforting in a way for me too,” says Freeman. “I wanted it to feel like a close friend reaching out leaving a message or something.” The feeling definitely comes across and feels poignant to this project in particular. “This song felt applicable to the compilation,” says Freeman, “specifically the idea of a lifeline people can access when they’re struggling and how important queer friendships and mutual support can be to gender non-conforming people.”

Much like the community it aims to support, Trans Musicians and Allies for Change is colorful, varied, and refuses to fit in any one box or description. The funds from this compilation will go straight to Trans Lifeline, where they will be used to provide direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis. Grab yourself a copy – today is Bandcamp Friday, so the streaming platform is waiving their revenue share – and proceed to listen in awe.

You can reach Trans Lifeline at US (877) 565-8860 or Canada (877) 330-6366. The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255

RSVP HERE: Death Valley Girls Stream via Levitation Sessions + MORE

Photo Credit: David Fearn

Looking to unblock your pineal gland with some otherworldly guidance this fall? You’re in luck! Los Angeles proto-punk psych-rock band Death Valley Girls will open your third eye with their new space gospel soaked record Under the Spell of Joy due out October 2nd. Dipping their feet into the Akashic records isn’t new territory for the band, who are brave enough to write their lyrics the morning before they record with the help of spirits from other layers of our universe. Their latest record was inspired from the text of t-shirt that guitarist/vocalist Bonnie Bloomgarden wore every day for five years – its words ‘Under the Spell of Joy’ became a motto and inspiration for Bloomgarden to manifest her desires. With Larry Schemel on guitar, she wrote the record with the intention to bring people together with its hypnotic choirs and chorus’ to chant along to. The next chance to raise your vibration with Death Valley Girls live is the Levitation Sessions livestream via Seated on Saturday, September 5th! We chatted with Bloomgarden about her favorite alien race, connecting to alternate dimensions and the pandemic’s effect on her views of life, death and societal growth.

AF: What experiences, records, and other media forms inspired your upcoming release Under the Spell of Joy?

BB: The main sources of inspiration were studying the dream state, Terrence McKenna, trying to access the akashic records, the Duncan Trussell Family Hour podcast, his guest Mitch Horowitz, and learning about Neville Goddard.

AF: After writing a record that channels something from “somewhere in the future,” has your perspective on what the future holds changed?

BB: The more I think about it, I think what we channeled was not necessarily in the future or the past or even time as we understand it at all! I think we just connected to an energy, alternate dimension, or some type of higher being and that gave us access to these songs.

AF: Do you feel like the pandemic as a whole will lead to a greater spiritual evolution/awakening for society?

BB: We believe so, because we have to. It is horrible and terrible that anyone has to suffer or that our society seems like it has to completely implode for justice to prevail. However, the only way we can look at this all is as an opportunity for growth. When we grow we become strong and compassionate; this is just part of that journey.

AF: What have you learned in the past few months about yourself as a musician and how you operate as a band?

BB: Mostly the last few months I’ve realized I was only a musician the last few years, not really a human. We were on the road like five tours a year for I think three years. I built no life for myself at all! I basically gave everything I had energetically for a month on tour, then cocooned silently in my room until we had another tour, nothing in between. Now that we don’t have tour I’m learning how to not cocoon (while also quarantining, so that’s pretty far out!). I got my first plant! And got a printer so I can make art. Trying to get excited about stuff like that.

AF: Now that the fall is creeping up on us, do you have any accounts of paranormal activities you’d like to share? Are you partial to any specific alien race?

BB: Haha! I’m not actually a contactee! I’m involved with contactee and abductee support groups, but I’m not one myself. I definitely love the Pleiadians and their message. I would love to hear from them someday!

AF: I read in a past interview that you were kind of excited for end times because you really want to have a compound to be with your friends. Have you created or thought out your apocalypse compound or have any other doomsday plans?

BB: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it non-stop! I lived on a compound-esque farm in upstate New York so I kind of have an idea of what I would want. And if I were alone in the world I would definitely make it happen. But I live with my little nephews now, and being with them and them being safe is the most important thing. Freedom and compound will come when the world is safe for them!

AF: Have these past months in lockdown changed your views on life, death, the afterlife, and spiritual transcendence?

BB: That’s a good question! When I thought about the black plague or other major world altering events I never really thought of the individual people and their experiences. I think this time has given me a new perspective in the sense that we are like caretakers for the earth. We come and go and teach and learn, and in the end hopefully we leave the earth better than we found it.

AF: What are your plans for the rest of 2020 and beyond?

BB: Learn, grow, create, write, sing, fight, love, and on and on…

RSVP HERE for Death Valley Girls via Levitation Sessions on 9/5, 8pm ET. $3.98-100

More great livestreams this week…

9/4 Patti Smith via Murmrr Theatre. RSVP HERE

9/4 Long Neck, Cheekface, Shay, Diners and Pinkshit via Twitch. 7pm ET, RSVP HERE

9/5 Death to Museums: Organizing + Mutual Aid via YouTube. 12 ET, RSVP HERE 

9/5 I’m Talking to White People: Your Role in the Fight For Justice by Kenny A. Burrell. 11am ET, $50, RSVP HERE

9/7 The New Colossus Fest: Blushing, Ceremony East Coast, Elijah Wolf, Jelly Kelly, Michael Rault, Pearl Charles  via YouTube. 5pm ET, RSVP HERE 

9/9 + 9/10 Margo Price via FANS – Live from Brooklyn Bowl Nashville. 8pm ET, RSVP HERE

9/9 Devendra Banhart via Noonchorus. 9pm ET, $15, RSVP HERE

9/10 LA Witch (album release party) via DICE. 10pm ET, $11.30, RSVP HERE

9/10 DEHD via KEXP at home. 4pm ET, RSVP HERE

The Most Musical Diner in Manhattan

We here at AudioFemme recognize that music isn’t necessarily something everyone seeks out, and we certainly believe that everyone experiences it in their own way. We try to be as inclusive as possible, though our own proclivities certainly skew the genres we cover here. There’s a whole segment of the population we rarely come into contact with while show-hopping at CMJ or partying at SXSW. In fact, after living here for three plus years, I’ve never been to a Broadway show (with the exception of seeing Cats on a field trip in 9th grade) so I’ve only ever come into contact with one particular segment whilst doing karaoke, and even then, I admit, I usually meet these types of music enthusiasts with a bit of eye-rolling skepticism. I hope my honesty here will be appreciated and an apology for my gut reactions rendered unnecessary. The type of which I speak is the musical theater hopeful, a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed iteration of music fan willing to belt out a tune from Fiddler on the Roof with a moment’s notice. It’s not that I have a particular disdain for the showy-ness of this action, rather for the showy-ness of showtunes themselves. And yet somehow, I found myself in Ellen’s Stardust Diner, renowned for a singing waitstaff who idolizes Adele, and between her repertoire, a back catalogue of jazz standards, and songs from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, showtunes were the best way to showcase the raw talent of these struggling artists (quotation marks around raw talent and struggling artists are implied, but excluded because I don’t want to seem like too much of a snob).

After my roommate’s commencement (she’d just gotten a masters from SVA’s DCRIT program), we stumbled into this Midtown tourist trap based on the fact that they served the shitty diner food we craved and also the fact that the graduate’s mom’s name is also Ellen (though in our house she’s also known as Optimist Prime). What transpired upon entry was less dining experience and more like Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief. First, denial: I’d sort of glossed over the fact that Yelp reviews of Ellen’s Stardust Diner made mention of a singing waitstaff, and I straight up ignored the banner emblazoned across the entrance announcing the same. I figured that, at worst, the staff would assemble en masse once every hour or so to perform a song or two 1950’s barbershop quartet style (which has potential to actually be kind of nice). At best, I thought maybe our waiter would improvise all ordering conversation in a sing-song manner, rattling off the specials to the tune of Frere Jacques and providing updates on our orders metal-style the way Domino’s online service does when you get a pizza.

Sadly, neither scenario turned out to have a basis in reality. The waitstaff here do not just sing, they are all trying really really hard to impress both the customers and each other. They remind you of the fact that they are trying to “make it” every fifteen minutes by passing around a bucket asking for additional tips (besides the ones you’re gonna give them for bringing you food and boozy shakes) and expressing their deepest Broadway desires between ditties. Denial quickly turned to Anger. We considered walking out, unable to handle the onslaught. But then I saw a fellow diner’s plate, which included a hefty portion of golden waffle fries. Everyone knows waffle fries are the most delicious and under-rated type of french fry. Plus, there was booze in my shake, even if it wasn’t much booze and carried an 11$ Midtown-inflated pricetag.

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this guy’s star is rising so fast his face is blurry, but I’m sure he’s got a headshot somewhere

Lots of show choirs from the Midwest come here as an addendum to their Big Apple field trips and while it’s all in the spirit of fun, I secretly hope it serves as more of a sobering realization. Who better to emphasize to these kids that coming here and hitting it big on Broadway doesn’t just happen – that they’ll be lucky to perform their shitty showtunes while also carrying around a tray of overpriced entrees, and most of the time they’ll just be waiting regular old tables and struggling to pay rent and wondering why they ever left the safety of Iowa. It was kind of a reflection of my own struggles as a writer, and the food had yet to arrive, so Depression set in.

That Depression deepened when the food arrived because besides the waffle fries, everything was abysmal. But here’s the thing – eating at Ellen’s was somehow still hilarious. Though we could barely believe where we’d ended up there that afternoon it’s one of those places that can only exist in New York City. It’s so outrageously over-the-top that you are helpless to write it off totally, and even if you can’t actually enjoy yourself, there’s ample opportunity for ironic enjoyment of the kitsch factor. The staff wants you to have a good time, and you can sit there like a snobby asshole or you can fucking request a song and get into it. We passed into Acceptance while gnawing our overcooked burgers, and even cracked some jokes about how this would be a great place to take someone coming down off hallucinogens, but only if you didn’t tell them what was about to happen, and/or pretended no one was singing at all.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]