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Mr. Lady Records

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by WJBscribe (talk | contribs) at 04:26, 11 February 2007 (→‎Involvement with the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival: typo). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

File:Mrlady.jpg
Mr. Lady logo

Mr. Lady Records (or Mr. Lady Records and Video) was a San Francisco based lesbian-feminist independent record label and video art distributor[1] founded in 1996[2] in Durham, North Carolina by musicians Kaia Wilson and Tammy Rae Carland, now defunct. The label was started because the duo "felt that there was a lack of enough women/ and or dyke run record labels. They also felt that there was/is an extremely limited amount of affordable and accessible means for independent artists to distribute their work."[3] Discorder magazine described the label in 2004 as "lead(ing) the way when it came to releasing music that was as politically significant as it was danceable."[4] OutSmart magazine noted that Mr. Lady was "queercore's strongest label".[5] The two formed the label to make women's music and videos accessible and affordable.

Background

(Our music is) feminist music: strong women-identified women playing music. That doesn't necessarily fall into a genre but describes the people playing. To me, we are women's music.

— Kara Wilson, [6]

The label signed a deal to distribute records nationally across the United States in 2001.[7] The label went defunct in June 2004.[4] The Independent Weekly described the label as having "grown from a community that perhaps needed it the most", comparing the scarcity of a gay/lesbian-oriented label in the southern United States at the time with the many in New York.[7]

Wilson stated the name "Mr. Lady" came from a trip to Italy whilst on tour with Team Dresch and Bikini Kill - "I saw a store called Mr. Baby, and it freaked me out. Then everyone started calling me Mr. Baby. Then I became Mr. Baby onstage. I had my own theme song and everything. I wore a little eyeliner mustache. From there it changed into Mr. Lady, which just seemed like a good name for a queer label."[2] It also related to Ladyman, Wilson's first solo LP, created with Melissa York after leaving "lesbian suprgroup" Team Dresch.

Artists and releases

Mr. Lady Records released recordings by groups such as Kathleen Hanna's lo-fi group Le Tigre (who released their first two records - Le Tigre and Feminist Sweepstakes - with Mr. Lady)[8], punk group The Butchies (of whom Kaia Wilson is the lead singer)[9], Tami Hart, British group Electrelane[10], Tara Jane O'Neil[11], spoken-word collective Sister Spit (Sini Anderson and Michelle Tea)[7], and others.[12]

In March, 2001, Calling All Kings & Queens, a sampler album, was released which featured eighteen tracks from various artists and friends of the label, including Sleater-Kinney and Team Dresch. It followed 1999's New Women's Music Sampler.

Involvement with the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival

File:MrSisterLogo.jpg
Mr Lady logo used for the Mr. Sister event

In 2001, Mr. Lady records (along with one of its artists, The Butchies, were involved in issues surrounding the debate as to whether transsexual women and men should be entitled to attend the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, which had a formal stance against allowing transsexual and transgendered people to attend the festival.[13] In response to a request from transgender activists to boycott the festival, Mr. Lady released a statement defended the festival, believing that they did not consider an event for "womyn born womyn" and the trans community to be mutually exclusive, but backed the right of the festival to exclude those not born as women.

Kaia Wilson released a statment confirming this in June 1999, stating "(W)e strongly believe that transgendered/transsexual people are an important part of the queer community and that they face an enormous amount of opposition. [...] We know that the MWMF started as a separatist event for womyn born womyn and we personally still feel the continued need for that kind of space and event. [...] We don't think that our support of the trans communities and womyn born womyn communities are in direct contradiction to each other."[14]

Formally backing the festival's trans-exclusion policy led to protests and boycotts aimed towards Mr. Lady acts, and Wilson and The Butchies in particular, from groups such as Camp Trans, who disagreed with Mr. Lady's stance and felt that the group and the label exploited transgendered images.[13]

Showcases

Mr. Lady Records sponsored numerous showcases of feminist and lesbian music, including events at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis, Minnesota (working with the Queer Student Cultural Center)[1] and "Mr. Sister", a showcase at the National Queer Arts Festival in 2003 at the Center for Lesbian Gay Bi Transgender Art & Culture in San Francisco.[15]

See also

Artists formerly on Mr. Lady

Sticker used on Mr. Lady vinyl releases.

References

  1. ^ a b Mr. Lady Presents - press release of a 2001 art show at the Weisman Art Museum including description of the label. Accessed 10 January 2007.
  2. ^ a b A home for homocore by David White for The Advocate (June 19 2001), accessed 13 January 2007.)
  3. ^ Mr. Lady info on www.mrlady.com via the Internet Archive. Accessed 10 January 2007.
  4. ^ a b Farewell, Mr. Lady - a tribute to the label from Discorder Magazine. Accessed 10 January 2007.
  5. ^ OutSmart magazine on Mr. Lady (2002). Accessed 13 January 2007.
  6. ^ Women's Music 101, Jennifer Baumgardner for Z Magazine, accessed 10 January 2007.
  7. ^ a b c Feminist/Queer Entrepeneurs - Mr. Lady music and videos, Independent Weekly (2001), accessed 10 January 2007.
  8. ^ Le Tigre's Mr. Lady albums on amazon.com. Accessed 10 January 2007.
  9. ^ The Butchies biography. Accessed 10 January 2007.
  10. ^ Mr. Lady add Electrelane to their roster from www.punkstop.com, accessed 10 January 2007.
  11. ^ Tara Jane O'Neil releases on www.aquariusrecords.org. Accessed 10 January 2007.
  12. ^ Mr.Lady website on the Internet Archive
  13. ^ a b Michigan/Trans Controversy Archive - Frequently Asked Questions - www.eminism.org. Accessed 13 January 2007.
  14. ^ i caught my skirt on your barbed wire - statement on Kaia Wilson's livejournal blog, made 11 June 1999, accessed 13 January 2007.
  15. ^ Mr Sister press release from the National Queer Arts Festival (2003), accessed 13 January 2007.
  16. ^ Sarah Dougher website. Accessed January 11 2007.
  17. ^ a b List of groups on www.mrlady.com. Accessed January 11 2007.
  18. ^ TKO press release. (2003). Accessed via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ The Quails website. Accessed January 11 2007.
  20. ^ Doria Roberts website. Accessed January 11 2007.
  21. ^ V for Vendetta website. Accessed January 11 2007.
  22. ^ Kaia Wilson biography on www.thebutchies.com, accessed 13 January 2007.
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