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MI/OH Show and Release Calendar
There is a decent amount of overlap between the music scenes of the Great Lakes states, and despite our sports rivalry, I’ve noticed a significant crossover between Ohio and Michigan. As is such, there is a MI/OH Show and Release Calendar! It was created by @tsouth_mgmt over on Instagram, and now has 5 editors, including myself.
Check out the calendar here, and DM an editor on the form to get yourself added if we missed you.
Pride, Punk, and the Joy of Rebellion
Pride and Punk are movements that go hand in hand- an alliance with deep roots in rebellion and the rejection of societal norms. The first pride was a riot, with a black transgender woman at the forefront of the movement. I am not exaggerating when I say we owe everything to Marsha P. Johnson.
Punk music was born to an underground movement full of what were considered societal rejects, mothered by genderqueer folks and DIY aesthetics dreamed up by drag queens. A “punk” is defined as someone who was deviant to the standards of society, and at the formation of punk communities, queer people had found their calling inside the bars and basements where shows were happening. After a while, the genre started to evolve, and LGBTQ+ people had created their own branch of punk, Queercore.
Queercore music touched on similar subjects to that of more mainstream punk: sexuality, political rage, and an overwhelming frustration with the expectations placed on our shoulders. But this was a different kind of fury, this one was often laced with fear. The violence LGBTQ+ folks experienced along with legislation outlawing their existence set them apart from cisgender and heterosexual individuals. Their rebellion was a different flavor to that of the core punk movement, and you can taste it in the modern punk scenes today.
There will be a bad egg everywhere you go- skinheads exist, with neo-Nazi ideas, who have nestled themselves into punk scenes. What they fail to recognize is who opened up the space to begin with. Penny Arcade has been quoted saying “Losers, freaks, and deviants started this movement, not these control freaks” in the documentary Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution (2017). Another questionable movement lies in certain Riot Grrrl scenes, who were exclusionary of transgender women, although TERFS have started to get pushed out of those scenes. True punks are making it uncomfortable for these radicals to exist, with public shaming and boycotting. Even those not in the community are showing their allyship by being a voice for the silenced, using a platform they are given as a birthright to protect the less fortunate.
To ignore the history of LGBTQ+ folks in punk, and music as a whole, is to ignore the roots of this movement. Although being queer is more accepted in society today than it was in the past, it is still essential that we uplift LGBTQ+ voices and music. It is more than adding a rainbow flag to your logo or posting a picture of an icon, it is showing up. It’s listening to music, sharing it, going to shows, and paying attention.