I am in love with a girl who loves what she referred to on our first date as fem-punk. She was driving us to the park and had a CD in her car of a band I'd never heard of called X-Ray Spex. I've got pretty diverse tastes in music and this band appealed to me and so I got their CD from the library and listened to it, and, friends, it's pretty incredible stuff. (It's the saxophone that does it for me – a lot of this music can sound pretty similar to the untrained ear, but add one element that sets it apart, and it just works.)
Naturally, when I realized what I was going to be writing about today, I had to tell her immediately about this documentary starting today at Village 8 Theaters as part of the Louisville Exclusives series. It is entitled The Punk Singer and it tells the story of Kathleen Hanna, she of the bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and the progenitor of the riot grrrl movement, which encompasses female-fronted punk bands addressing issues such as feminism, sexual issues, racial issues, etc. For many, it's not just a musical genre, it is a lifestyle. The documentary follows Hanna's early life and her start in her musical career and focuses on the influence she had on this world.
The Punk Singer is scheduled to play at Village 8 until next Thursday, December 26. Village 8 is located at 4014 Dutchmans Lane. Further theater information and showtimes can be found at the Village 8 website.
(For further thought: in my readings for this article, I came across an old favorite I've not thought of for a while. Check out the band Jack Off Jill [specifically the songs “Strawberry Gashes” and “Author Unknown”] and the frontwoman's current band, Scarling.)
Image; Internet Movie Database
