|
|
GYNOMITE:
Spoken
Word (1993-1997).
Featuring: duVergne Gaines, Liz Belile, El Rivera, Teresa Medoza,
Linda J.Albertano, Pam Ward, Nicole Panter, Jemela Mwelu, Molly Cleator,
Nancy Agabian, Terry Wolverton, Hannah Bleier, Jessica Pompei, Michele
M. Serros, Irene Borger.
Beyond Baroque Literary Center (Venice, CA)
LA the Bookstore (Santa Monica, CA)
LunaPark, Utero (Los Angeles, CA)
SXSW Music Festival 1995 (Austin, Texas)
I met Liz Belile and duVergne Gaines
through my political work with the Bohemian Women's Political Alliance,
a group founded by Exene Cervenka of X and Nicole Panter and blessed
by Jackie Goldberg. The BWPA would often present concerts with spoken
word and Liz was the mastermind behind asking poets and arranging
everything. Not only is she a wonderful poet but she also has a true
community spirit. I believe that it was Liz's idea to do an evening
of spoken word by women writers that focused on sexuality from a feminist
point of view. She even came up with the title GYNOMITE. DuVergne
and I were her co-producers and we called ourselves the Flaming
Viragos. We produced an evening at LunaPark with El
Rivera, Teresa Mendoza, Linda J.Albertano,
Pam Ward, Nicole Panter, Jemela
Mwelu, Molly Cleator, Nancy Agabian,
Terry Wolverton, Hannah Bleier,
Jessica Pompei, Michele M. Serros,
Irene Borger, and Fayette Hauser.
The place was packed to the rafters and even Betty Friedan
was in the audience. We were so inspired by the response that we produced
a CD and filmed a documentary, directed by Jonathan Dayton
and Valerie Faris.
Photo
credit: Mark Savage |