Facilitating Change

Tonight I saw Lydia Lunch at the Pop Montreal Symposium. Her performance was at the Mile End Cultural Centre, right across the street from Station C. So no excuse.

I first learned about Lunch from Angry Women, a book I bought in the early 1990s. In it, Vicky Vale and Andrea Juno (the editors), introduced me to Diamanda Galas, Avital Ronell, Annie Sprinkle, Sapphire, and Susie Bright, among others, who opened to me whole new world of ideas and expanded my sense of what is possible. The book included critiques of mainstream American culture and writing about women’s sexuality. Who we (can/cannot/decide to) have sex with, when, and how. The answers to these question define, in large part, the culture we live in. It’s one of my special books, and I should probably go back and read it, now that I’m older and have more to bring to it.

Lydia Lunch, photo by Bart D. Frescura

I had a hard time with watching her at first. I also thought it would be a lecture, but it was a performance combining spoken word, music, photography, and video. The texts often described violent and self-destructive behavior: drinking, drugs, offing lovers, burning oneself with cigarettes. Death and despair. And yeah, she’s angry. And loud. Think banshee. But as the performance went on I warmed up to her. She reflects our manytimes mad and violent world. Her screaming and defiance is appealing. Hopeful, even, in its enthusiasm and energy. I like her total refusal to give up or to give in. To keep fighting.