There is no escape

Did I mention that I'm back? Started up doing regular weekly karaoke at Belvedere's Ultradive every wednesday again. Almost a year to the day after I went on hiatus to, y'know, have a baby and some other wild stuff. And I need to say that it is really nice to be back! I think I'm going to try to post some of my thoughts about karaoke (theory, praxis, potentialities, etc.) in the near future. In the meantime, please come out every wednesday 10pm-2am, free as always, lose yr inhibitions and tip yr dusty. Here are some new and old photos just to prove how much fun you can have:

March benficiary is G.L.I.T.Z Fest

The month is almost over and funds raised this month will go towards set-up costs for Pittsburgh's G.L.I.T.Z. Fest 2011, a queer music/performance festival happening this summer. Stay tuned. Hoping to have a few new songs before my birthday in May, and few new photos too, so please come out and act crazy...and tip your Dusty.

February beneficiary is The Brown Boi Project

As of this month, we've been rocking Stowaway Soundsystem weekly at Belvedere's for a whole year! How crazy is that? Raised lots of $, had lots of good times, and popped a lot of karaoke cherries. For this month, I wanted to send money to The Brown Boi Project out in the Bay Area. They're not local (I met the director, Cole, at the Social Forum) but they are down with something very close to my heart, which is wrestling with male privileges and its intersections. "The Brown Boi Project is a community of masculine of center womyn, men, two-spirit people, transmen, and our allies committed to transforming our privilege of masculinity, gender, and race into tools for achieving Racial and Gender Justice." So there.

If you know anyone who might be interested, they offer all-expense paid skill-building retreats for young masculine of center womyn, trans men, and straight/queer men of color. Check it out. Lots more to come, and we'll just keep this thing rolling.

THIS weekend, for instance, Stowaway Soundsystem is doing a special set at Belvedere's 90's night, which will be a benefit for a friend's cancer treatment. THIS is what community support can look like. Please come out to Belvedere's (karaoke from 10-midnight, dancing from midnight on...), or go to the dance party at Brillobox which is also a cancer support fundraiser. And donate blood if you can.

January benefits Justice For Jordan Miles

This month, money raised from wednesday nights at Belvedere's will go to the Justice For Jordan Miles campaign by the Alliance For Police Accountability. A year ago, 18-year-old Jordan Miles was attacked on his street after dark by 3 men who did not immediately identify themselves as plainclothes Pittsburgh police officers. They severely beat him (the pictures are extremely disturbing), arrested him and left him in jail for 22 hours, and fabricated a story to justify their actions. The bogus charges against Jordan Miles were dropped, but the 3 officers involved in the attack have been on paid administrative leave. No criminal charges have been brought against the officers, and internal investigations have neglected to provide a full account. Keep the pressure on! Let's get justice for Jordan, and make the police understand that they cannot act with impunity in our communities.

December funds to Pennsylvania Prison Society

My friend Kati is doing an internship with The Pennsylvania Prison Society, working with their Building Bridges initiative to connect volunteer mentors with soon-to-be-released prisoners. Good project, good organization, please stop by in December.

Also, here's some of the best pictures from the last few months:

September / October beneficiary - Organizing against Marcellus Shale fracking

We're gonna add these months up and put all the money to some organizations/collectives that are organizing against fracking/drilling natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. If you haven't seen the movie GASLAND yet, do so, it's a great starting point. Also, check out www.marcellusprotest.org which is a clearinghouse for digital information and action going on in western pennsylvania.

This coming wednesday, Oct. 13th, karaoke night at Belvedere's is gonna be part of the Marcellus Shale Trail bar crawl in Lawrenceville. And later this month, Dusty and I are gonna organize a halloween/costume themed fundraiser for Marcellus Shale organizing. Stay tuned for that.

More importantly though, is that I'm back after the recent interruptions and most certainly better than ever. I've got upwards of 130-140 new songs, and they're ALL GOOD. Even filled a few requests finally. So please come out, you've got a lot of rock star pent up inside you that needs to be let out...

August beneficiary is On The Spot + some photos

Money from Belvedere's wednesdays in August are going to a great grassroots organization called On The Spot. From their facebook page: "On the spot is a project of Desiree VanTassel and Jennifer England to address the scarcity of menstrual products for many young girls in low income communities in and around Pittsburgh." You can find out more on their blog at http://pghonthespot.wordpress.com and also by their first annual Back-To-School Fundraiser at Remedy on Sept 10th. I've been thinking a lot about intersections of race and gender and class lately, and the work that this group does is crucial.

And below, I've posted some of the best photos I've taken over the past few months. Thanks to everyone who drops by and makes it an awesome time. See you on wednesdays.

July Beneficiary is Rustbelt Radio

"News from the grassroots, news overlooked by the corporate media." Rustbelt Radio is Pittsburgh's Indymedia-based weekly radio show. They cover local news and issues, as well as national and global news reports as well. I usually try to listen to it live on Monday afternoons at 6pm on WRCT 88.3 FM, but you can check out a bunch of other broadcast times as well as archived episodes at http://radio.indypgh.org/. They are also always on the lookout for stories/story ideas, help with copy editing, interviewing, and hosting. Find out more at the website above or by emailing radio@indypgh.org.

And if anybody is interested, I think I'm teaming up with Project 53 Music Resource Center to do karaoke at the West Penn rec center pool on wednesday from 5:30-7:30pm before my regular night at Belvie's.

May Beneficiary is Human Rights Coalition - Fed Up!

Alright, I know the month is over, but proceeds from May went to help Human Rights Coalition - Fed Up! Chapter get to the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, MI in late June. I'll be heading up to the USSF myself, and I'm looking forward to it a great deal.

HRC - Fed Up is a great SW Pennsylvania organization focused on ending prisoner abuse in prisons, particularly in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and ending the prison-industrial complex everywhere. Awesome folks doing awesome work.

Human Rights Coalition -FedUp! Chapter (a project of the Thomas Merton Center)
5125 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15224
Phone - 412-361-3022 xt.4
Email- hrcfedup@gmail.com

Welcome to Stowaway Soundsystem!

Okay, so this is the first post. It's a test post. I've never done one of these before. I hope it works. Stowaway Soundsystem is a karaoke project to have fun with my friends, make new friends, allow people to cut loose and express themselves on a microphone, and also provide some very inexpensive fundraising for awesome (mostly local) grassroots projects. Get in touch if you're having a party or want to do a fundraiser, via email at stowawaysoundsystem@gmail.com, otherwise, i'll just see you at Belvedere's (4016 Butler St.) every wednesday from 10pm-2am. Its free and out of control.