This Week's show- Listen now!

Pigtails and Army Boots 25th January 2012 by Dj Moonlight on Mixcloud

This week's show

Pigtails and Army Boots 17th January 2012 by Dj Moonlight on Mixcloud

Projects you can be part of!

First of all the lovely Sarah Rocks of Times Beach magazine wants to do an issue dedicated to women in the riot grrrl underground music scene, with interviews, photos and videos among other things. She's interested in hearing from Feminist groups as well.

if interested, send the following details to: Sarah@times-beach.com

Name/ Band Name:

Location:

A Link to your music:

musical influences

band bio (brief)

and if that's not enough Riot Grrrl Berlin are putting together their 2nd compilation and the deadline is

15th Feb

https://www.facebook.com/events/108199912626694/

if you haven't downloaded the first one yet, it's completely free and has TWO AND A HALF!! hours of great grrrl music on it

http://riotgrrrlberlin.tumblr.com/compilation01 it's really awesome so I highly recommend you get it :D

Last week's show

Pigtails and Army Boots 10th January 2012 by Dj Moonlight on Mixcloud

Want to promote your music, feminist project or anything else grrrl friendly?

If you're in a female fronted or all female band, or you are just doing something with a grrrl friendly or feminist vibe, I want to hear from you! Not only am I always on the look out for new inspiring music to play on the show, but for people that are happy to be interviewed, which can be in person or over Skype.

If you're interested, email me pigtailsandarmyboots@gmail.com with details

Thank you Riot Grrrl

Riot grrrl means a lot to me- sadly I was old enough when the real riot grrrl movement started- I was in a haze of pop and the diluted feminism the spice girls advocated- but ultimately they sort of led the way to finding riot grrrl, as my music taste changed to more rock and alternative, and I wanted to find the females in the scene, I found more and more, from the bands that influenced riot grrrl and eventually riot grrrl itself which I now consider to be a big part of my musical tastes and also a big influence on my political opinions.

I wish I could pinpoint the precise moment that I found Riot Grrrl, but I really can't. I think the song that probably led me to it was 'Rebel Girl' by Bikini Kill. There was something about this song, that I had never heard before, that somehow spoke to me. It wasn't a song about love, and it wasn't a song about friendship in the way that Spice Girls used to sing it. This song was different, this song had power, this song had ATTITUDE. I have heard this song many, many times now and I can never get bored of it. I know it may be a bit of an obvious choice but it really sums up Riot Grrrl for me, and because of this song, I eventually discovered other bands that Kathleen Hanna was involved in like Le Tigre, and I realised more and more, how much I admired this woman. She sang songs about rebel girls, told you to 'suck her left one' was passionate about being pro choice and spoke about issues female musicians never used to dare mention.

Because of riot grrrl and Kathleen Hanna, I could finally understand that I definitely did identify as a feminist and why. It was because of Riot Grrrl that I understood the need to do a show like Pigtails and Army Boots. It was because of Riot Grrrl that I became an activist for causes I believe in. It was because of Riot Grrrl that I felt able to do Ladyfest last year. It was because of Riot Grrrl that I felt inspired to read zines and write my own.

So Thank you Riot Grrrl for making me who I am..

This Week's Show

Pigtails and Army Boots 6th January 2012 by Dj Moonlight on Mixcloud

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

Well I don't often write personal-ish blogs on here, but to be honest now my life is so integrated with both music and feminism, that it would be impossible not to have some personal angle on some of my blogs.

2011 was an okay year for me for the most part, I felt like I didn't have too much of a social life like I used to, and my best friend moved to another country, BUT I did have much more involvement with music and feminist politics and not just through my radio show.

I started doing lots of writing for music blogs including Wears The Trousers, thegirlsare, JoyZine, The F Word and also for the Le Monnier Fan Blog which resulted in lots of good writing practice as well as quite a bit of free music and a couple of free gigs!

I tried to set up my own feminist group but didn't have much luck

I saw MEN at the Lexington in Feburary

I released the first two issues of my zine 'Dancing Barefoot'

In March, I went to my second Million Women Rise March this time as a steward, also the first protest I went to alone.
I also went to see The Australian Pink Floyd and on the same day I met Dee Plume, of one of my favourite bands Robots in Disguise!

I went to my first Roller Derby bout, and I loved it!

I went to see Robots in Disguise (for the third time) in May and possibly one of my favourite gigs ever, as I was right at the front, I headbanged with Dee and managed to nab their set list :D

I organised and put on Ladyfest Essex, which was really exhausting and had lots of problems, but was a fun and satisfying thing to do. Sadly it clashed with the London SlutWalk although I did help them get a band to play at the event and then booked one of their books for their fundraiser in November.

For my 27th Birthday in June, I went to the British Music Experience and went to my first zine fest

In August I went to the Ladygarden fundraiser in Cambridge and discovered lots of awesome bands including We Rock Like Girls Don't

September was an active month, I saw Amanda Palmer for the third time, this time at Heaven (see the Joyzine link earlier in this post) I did the Adidas 5k Women's Challenge, (walking) and raised a further £100 for Refuge in addition to the £130 raised from Ladyfest Essex
I also saw Saint Jude and UT in this month

November was a very feminist month, as I went to FEM11 my first feminist conference and also to the Fawcett Society Don't Turn Back Time March, and then met Josie Long afterwards!

The final gig of the year was Gaggle, review to come soon on The F Word!

Lots of other things happened too-like finally having a tooth taken out, and having my xbox hacked...
but now it's gone and it's time to look forward to 2012, here is my resolutions for 2012:
To Start or Join a Feminist Group
To Volunteer at a women's shelter
to do more interviews on my show
to jog in the adidias 5k
organise another ladyfest/other charity events
-this is just a few, I have others but these are probably the most relevant to put here.
Happy New Year!