Albeit with a more modest goal in mind, Ladyfest Ottawa and Toronto's Shameless Magazine (www.shamelessmag.com) will be joining forces this Saturday July 16 to co-present A Shameless Nation, an all-ages rock show with headliners Lesbians on Ecstasy (Montreal)-who play your favourite lesbian folksongs, electronic-style-as well as SS Cardiacs (Toronto), Les Alumettes (Ottawa) and Jayda (Ottawa). The purpose? To rock out, to have fun and celebrate ladies of all kinds! It'll be truly, truly, truly outrageous!

So skip out of the Bluesfest for an hour and head down to Saw Gallery, 67 Nicholas Street, just a stone's throw from City Hall anyway. Tickets $8 advance, $10 door at 7:30 p.m. All ages.

The fabulous all-girl line up is a fundraiser-taster for Ladyfest Ottawa, which takes place September 16, 17 and 18 this year for a weekend of music, workshops (last year's offerings covered the gamut from "How to strip for your lover" to book-binding), a craft sale and other neat things.

Sure, all this won't save the galaxy but by creating strong women, would you agree, you're helping create strong leaders? Leaders who could play some part in helping win even the smallest battles like increasing girls' self-esteem and obliterating the fear behind trying something new and, or, something typically reserved for boys.

"Ladyfest Ottawa does an amazing job of supporting women artists and musicians," says Nicole Cohen, co-editor and co-publisher of Shameless, about why the collaboration for the July rock show was so important. Ladyfest and Shameless have similar outlooks on femme-positive initiatives.

Like Ladyfest, Shameless has a growing following, proving that young women want more from their magazines than tips about beauty and boys. The Summer 2005 issue features interviews with comics creators, as well as articles on Montreal's "skirtboarders" all-girl skateboarding team, video games, being your own bike mechanic, becoming a DJ, a hot new sport called footbagging and much more. Their aim is to "bring independent, alternative media to as many young women in Canada as possible."

Having enjoyed the first issue of Shameless released last year on a shoestring budget and volunteer help, Sarah Brown, volunteer organizer of Ladyfest told Shotgun that "it seemed like such a good fit" also to have the magazine on board.

Brown says girl-positive events create "a space where women feel comfortable." For example, with the Ottawa music scene that is largely made up of men, Ladyfest "is that early place where girls can try things out. Ladyfest can help pull them [girls] out of their shell and give them a forum."

But despite Ladyfest's focus on ladies, "we're always really clear that this is a festival that is open to everyone," Brown says. Being an all-girl, indie event with "alternative" acts can be a bit intimidating to those girls who don't fit in the scene, no? But Brown assured Shotgun readers this is a friendly event, very open to receiving everyone and all.

Ladyfest has been a success. While there has been a Ladyfest East and Ladyfest Toronto, Ladyfest Ottawa has outlasted them both. This year is the festival's fourth consecutive run, thanks to a committed group of volunteers and the money raised at shows like the upcoming July gig, which helps pay for the bands, feed guests, rent facilities, run workshops and advertise.

The typical timeline for Ladyfest is: March is planning time, June is a craft sale, July features a show and August will hold "Boys Night Out," where local guys-in-bands donate talent to raise money for the September festival. It's not too late to celebrate your ladyhood-be a part of Ladyfest Ottawa 2005! Applications for performers and workshops can be found at: www.ladyfestottawa.com. And, you're invited to join the girls every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Second Cup at the corner of Elgin and Lisgar for weekly meetings.

The number of opportunities in Ottawa and Gatineau for girls to cultivate a skill or craft is on the rise. Take Spins and Needles for example. They make then sell nifty arts and crafts, getting people to rethink the traditional shopping experience. McNabb Community Centre hosts a special all-girls skateboarding slot. R9 Connections have their all-girls snowboarding team. Local female musicians are adding up, with Tanya Janca, Red Fey and Leslie Dishslayer grabbing the mic. And local author Aviva Cohen (Sex and Sublimation) has injected fresh blood into, and I predict will dominate, the female literary scene around here.

With so many broads on the beat, who would want to miss this chance to catch the latest and the greatest in girl-power?

shotgun@ottawaxpress.ca

 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

Go, Girl-positive Events, Go!     It's great that there are opportunities like Ladyfest for females to explore the music scene here in Ottawa without having to try to break down gender-specific barriers (real or imagined). And of course, it's great that we have media such as Ottawa Xpress who publicize them! The rock scene certainly doesn't have a history of being kind to the ladies. Rock was firmly on the popular music scene by 1954, but totally male-dominated: Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, etc.. And then the girl groups started appearing. First it was the Chantels with the Dec. 1957 release "Maybe", which made it to # 15 on the pop charts in 1959. Then there were the other groups such as the Shirelles. Rock 'n roll by the end of the 1950s needed "new blood", & girl groups came to its rescue. But the girl groups all got in because they were being marketed (& exploited) by men like Berry Gordy Jr. (owner of Motown Records) & Phil Spector. These men made fortunes off these girls, & not surprisingly, the girls saw little of that money in return. So I hope Ladyfest is teaching women how to take control of their musical careers as well! By the mid-1960s, with the British invasion (the Beatles & the Rolling Stones), the girl group phenomenon was pretty much over, with the Supremes being among the very, very few survivors. (And the Supremes broke taboos too -- they were the first performers "of colour" to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show". There is indeed some interesting history to be learned.) And how have women in rock fared since then? Are there not still barriers to break down? As Bif Naked states in her "anti-credits" in her 1998 album I Bificus, "An extra-special suck me off (from ME & Gail G.) to all those EGOMANIACS who like to think that the only reason chicks are successful in the music business is because of our expert blowjobs! F**K YOU! YOU WISH! (We guess it's because you have to justify why your asses get KICKED on stage!)" Rock on, girl!
Brad Thomas	{7 votes}	July 19th, 2005
Shotgun!     "But is it truly possible to rid the universe of evil with just our Stratocasters?"--Sylvie Hill on the power of rock stars to make a real difference in the world, specifically the Live 8 gang. <> Well, they say that music can soothe the savage beast but what the question remains is if it can stirr the hearts of people into action and the minds of politicians to rethink their position on their global plans. If you go by previous events like Live 8 the you already know the answer. It's always a good excuse to get bands and artists together but realistically, when you strip it all down, what remains is the music. The line-up for Ladyfest Ottawa sounds intriguing if not totally great (not a big fan of 'Les Alumettes') so if nothing else it won't suffer the overhyped noise that made Live 8 a bit of a letdown.
Pedro Eggers	{2 votes}	July 20th, 2005
Shameless Magazine     Although Shameless is a very attractive magazine that has won the approval of many critics I cannot see how it can be a financial success. It has a circulation of only 3000 and appears only three times a year with full page ads going for about $1000. Layout on computer and production on high quality printing presses adds a lot of extra overhead. Maximum annual revenue is only about $50,000 which is just one full staff position. Right now nobody on staff is being paid but this charity cannot continue forever. I would suggest a much wider circulation and bimonthly issues to maintain reader awareness. A sister publication for teenage boys would be most welcome and help with the financing of fixed costs. It would be very sad if this hip publication had to fold.
Stephen Talko	{1 vote}	July 20th, 2005
R9 Connections!     Very well written article. To say the least, it caught me by surprise. I am Co-Founder of R9 Connections, and wasn't expecting to see my company written up in the Ottawa Xpress. Ever since the start, we wanted to make sure that we had girls on our snowboard team representing our company, and at first we only had 2 or 3 girls. since then we took on up to seven at one point, and unfortunately due to injuries and conflicts of interest, we are down to four girls who are still representing R9 Connections. Not to be confused, we also have a guys team that is also doing really well. I am really proud of all my girls and boys who go in day and day and give it their all to constantly improve. To check out the site go to: www.R9connections.com
Jeremy King	{19 votes}	July 15th, 2005
Woman is perfection     I think it's a great idea to have festivals like this because today's ladies need as many boosts to there confidence as they can get. Make-up is as thick as ever, beauty is a fake, and eating disorders need to be treated before they start. I'm surrounded by woman who think themselves worthless because they don't look like the anorexic models in the magazine, or because they look ugly without make-up on. I hear some people say that these things aren't reality but I say those people haven't been close enough to the girls in that situation. I'm much happier with a girl who doesn't look fake, smothered and covered in make-up, a girl who isn't boney and awfully thin. Unfortunately today that's exactly what's hard to find, because everybody thinks that beauty is this false image of perfection now a days. I think true beauty is a more naturel appearance and a confident woman, a girl who can face the world, and look and feel pretty without a full mask of paint and a nonexistent stomach. And in the end I can see myself being a lot happier in my life than a guy who needs a girl with a stomach that displays the imprint of her spine.
Tyler Mulligan	{7 votes}	July 15th, 2005
Ladyfest where?     in regards to this paragraph,"a space where women feel comfortable." For example, with the Ottawa music scene that is largely made up of men, Ladyfest "is that early place where girls can try things out. Ladyfest can help pull them [girls] out of their shell and give them a forum." Put the show on in a bigger venue. Try Barrymore's. Try Capital CIty musical Hall. Get some big organizers behind it. not a small dark crawl space. I'm sure the place is nice, but playing something so small is not the way to get something across that is big...ya dig?
Ger Madden	{2 votes}	July 14th, 2005
Lesbians deserve better     Sounds like a cool show, with the exception of the headliners. I saw LOE awhile back at Zaphod's, and although being surrounded by a bunch of gay people is pretty sweet (I wasn't hit on non-stop like usual), I can't see why anyone in their right mind would enjoy LOE. I can understand from their live performance why people are drawn to them: they're lesbians, they're strong, and they don't give a fuck what anyone thinks. It's just too bad their music is horrible. And to make matters worse, they take good music by artists like Tracy Chapman and KD Lang and destroy it. Maybe I'm missing something, but I think lesbians deserve better.
Steve Bragg	{5 votes}	July 14th, 2005
The Jury is Out     I have heard that Lesbians on Ecstacy are the best live act going. It may be that lampooning something you really like is a bit over the top, however, there is a lot of social commentary in this context and so Tracy Chapman will just have to suck it up/
Skeleton James	{1 vote}	July 18th, 2005

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