WE DID IT!

[photos via for the birds collective]

Cross-posted with FOR THE BIRDS:

The Queer Eye for the DIY workshop we did at Visions in Feminism was a major success! There was super-smart audience participation, we received really great feedback, and we even got interviewed by The Nation and the Washington City Paper! We also met a bunch of nice folks and sold lots of stuff at the distro table. Thank you DC, for such an awesome Saturday. Photos from the workshop can be found on For the Birds' flickr, or on the gallery of our website.

FTB @ VISIONS IN FEMINISM CONFERENCE

I'm crossposting something I blogged about on FOR THE BIRDS. Myself and some other Birds will be presenting at a conference this weekend. Here's the info:

FOR THE BIRDS feminist collective + distro will be both tabling and presenting at the upcoming Visions in Feminism conference in Washington, DC on April 4th, 2009. Our workshop, "Queer Eye for the DIY," is in the 2:00PM-3:30PM timeslot.

More info on the conference can be found at: http://vifconference.wordpress.com/

From the website:

Visions in Feminism is a local conference held annually in the DC area since 2001. Originally hosted by the University of Maryland, the conference has been held at American University for the last three years. Each year Visions in Feminism seeks to provide a forum for diverse perspectives on feminist praxis.

RIOT GRRRL COVER SHOW

[Flyer by Jacki Sulley]

+ For the Birds will be tabling at the ANTI-VALENTINE'S DAY RIOT GRRRL COVER SHOW on February 14th. We are co-releasing the GIMME COOTIES compilation with Kathi K., which will be debuting at the show. I'm doing the cover art for the comp. Cynthia, Kathi, Krista and I are doing Bikini Kill.

Here's the info:

Saturday, February 14th, 2009: Anti-Valentine’s Day Riot Grrrl Cover Band SHOW!

This will also be the release for the GIMME COOTIES Comp!

We will be tabling with the FOR THE BIRDS distro @ THE 1087 LOFT[ www.myspace.com/the1087loft ]

8:00 PM SHOW with

BLATZ
HUGGY BEAR
EXCUSE 17
SLEATER KINNEY
BIKINI KILL
RAOOUL
LYDIA LUNCH
& THE GOSSIP

INFORMATION ON THE GIMME COOTIES COMPILATION:

"CD release of the GIMME COOTIES comp: featuring 18 live tracks of allgirl/girl fronted bands in brooklyn + the surrounding east coast area.these tracks were recorded throughout 2008-9 in basements and allages/diy spaces, and have been compiled to document a new wave ofbadass girls playing music and to reinforce the notion that the upkeep of grrrl punk love is contagious.
don’t get your cootie shots.

listen to this comp.

now go start a band with your girlfriends.

tracks include songs by:
carnal knowledge (RIP)
cheeky
bad dates (RIP)
screaming females
witches
trophy wife
each other’s mothers
the homewreckers
handjobs

get yr cooties at the show! co-released by FOR THE BIRDS COLLECTIVE.
available as CDs and tapes, 3 bux.

xo kathi"

+ Here's us with the For the Birds distro at the show at Purchase College last Saturday. Cheeky played, too:

[L to R: me, Jess, Sandra, Cynthia, Aria
photo from cynthia ann]

Check out my entry on the For the Birds blog about some of the new items we have in stock, and Cynthia's famous cupcakes!

SEE YOU ON THE 14TH!

BUILD YR OWN DISTRO

[NOTE: Check out my TOP 2008 post, below! I was editing it so it back-posted to the original date, January 2nd.]

Friend + co-conspirator Jeff Rosenstock asked me to contribute to the upcoming Bomb the Music Industry! zine that will be featured in the liner notes of their new album, Scrambles. What he forgot to tell me was all he needed was some text and not a "zine page," per se. The zine will be a sort of D.I.Y. how-to booklet. Based on my experience with For the Birds, I wrote up a short and pretty generic guide to starting a distro. The timeline was short, so check the mediocre layout and the vague ideas about building a distro. Also, the final product will not involve this layout at all. Jeff is doing his own thing and formatted my edited text (not the same as in the image above) to fit the layout he is working with.

Here is the text that will be in the zine:

BUILD YR OWN DISTRO!

by Kate Wadkins

FOR THE BIRDS NYC: A RELEASE SHOW FOR BAD HABITS

[Poster by Cristy Road]

This is the release show I've been working on with Cristy for Bad Habits. It's next Saturday! I'm pretty stoked about it. Cristy obvs made the poster.

FOR THE BIRDS

Myself and the other folks who brought you The Big She-Bang have finally settled on a moniker. We are now known as FOR THE BIRDS. We are a feminist collective & distro. We will book your feminist event, art show, punk show, whatever. We will distro wherever. Just get in touch!

Also: I drew the logo above.

::::::::::::::: MISSION STATEMENT :::::::::::::::

FOR THE BIRDS is a New York City-based feminist collective. We are interested in establishing alternative spaces that promote the creative interests of women and women-identified community members. For The Birds is a collaborative group of organizers with backgrounds in feminist social justice work and various artistic pursuits. Through DIY feminist cultural activism, For The Birds aims to empower and support radical women of action.

As a collective, we intend to connect with other groups to create a feminist network through a collaborative blog, shared resources, semi-annual zine, and future events. We aim to foster more of a visible presence of women at community events with a distro featuring feminist voices. We plan to host events like skill-shares, discussions, forums, art and music shows.

We are the collective that brought you The Big She-Bang 3. More information on that can be found at http://myspace.com/thebig_shebang

If you are interested in organizing or collaborating with us, please get in touch!

FORTHEBIRDSCOLLECTIVE@GMAIL.COM
HTTP://MYSPACE.COM/FORTHEBIRDSNYC