Holy Mackanoly! We're in the Independent!

According to Luiza Sauma in Talk of the Town (the first page of the ABC section), "There's a zine for everything, it seems; from the traditional comics, radical politics and punk music, to self defence and menstruation. (Indeed, I spent a good 15 minutes flicking through the genuinely excellent Adventures in Menstruating.)"

I've corrected two typos in the quote above.

Maybe my future lies in editing.

If anyone could save us a cutting, I have some American fridge space my relatives will want to fill back in New York.

The article was about the London Zine Symposium, and it was awesome. We had the best vegan cheesecake in the world, spent some quality time with old friends from around the country, met some awesome new peeps from around the world, and traded serious zine.

The venue wasn't suitable for readings, which is a shame cos there were some people there who were also hoping to read and we wanted to hear their stuff! Next year, though.

Thanks to Edd, Natalie, Chris, Eran and everyone else who helped get it together!

How does it feel to be immortalised in song?

Kinda like how Mulder and Scully would have felt, I reckon, if they hadn’t actually been fictional characters. Party Weirdo also performed at Ladyfest Berlin last summer. They played crazy good tunes – unpredictable, manic, and yet I enjoyed it…kinda like how I feel about menstruation.

So I contacted them about using one of their songs in a podcast I was planning. Cara, the guitarist in the band, said she’d do one better and write us a musical tribute. A few months later I got an email with the song link, and the day after that it was on the band’s myspace, which can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/partyweirdomusic.

Here are the lyrics:

CHART YOUR CYCLE
ADVENTURES WHEN YOU'RE MENSTRUATING
I FORGOT IT'S ONE OF A KIND
THE KIND I'LL FIND IS ALWAYS ON MY MIND

CHART YOUR CYCLE
MORE ADVENTURES MENSTRUATING
JEMILLA SHEMILLA
PROTECT YOUR WOMB, YOUR WALLS AND ALL INSIDE

CHART YOUR CYCLE
FEEL FREE TO DISCUSS AT ANY TIME
MENSTRUATING
LOVE IT HATE IT CRAMP IT ALL YOU WANT

The lyrics are one thing and the music is something else entirely – I really dig the sound and there’s loads of instrumental experimental grooviness. My favourite part is the end of the song, where you hear a little magical chime. Please listen to it if you can (if you’ve overcome your fear of the borg that is myspace), and show some love for this wicked band.

Oh yeah - I asked Cara who Jemilla Shemilla was.

She said it was her period’s stage name.

Awesome.