Bent: A Queer Rock Festival
Wed Oct 10-Mon Oct 15
at the Crocodile/ Sit & Spin.
See Calendar for complete listings. The phrase "queer music festival" conjures up images of distinctly mono-feminine gatherings, like the Michigan Women's Music Festival and Lilith Fair. While these events were once essential to creating safe and viable spaces for female artists and their audiences, many queer musicians and their fans legitimately complain that the festivals are redundant in content and low in artistic diversity. Anyone making plans for Michigan knows they have a good chance of seeing at least one Indigo Girl (along with half a dozen aspiring ones), and almost no chance of seeing non-folky femmes, queer male artists, or anyone running along the riskier parts of the gender-identity continuum, be they dragged out or truly tranny.

Such a narrow cultural precedent makes the Bent schedule all the more refreshing. Crocodile publicist/booker Frank Nieto and local promoter/Sit & Spin booker Dave Meinert had the good sense to pull together a festival that offers a much broader view of the gay musical spectrum, with respect to both gender and genre. Stretching over four days and straddling two venues, Bent features an impressive lineup of gay and lesbian acts, including high-visibility stalwarts like the Butchies, the Gossip, and Pansy Division as well as promising lesser-known artists like San Francisco's queer "it" band Erase Errata, USAsexual, and the Little Champions. And the event closes with what is certain to be a damn good time: a Queen cover night, hosted by drag superstar Dina Martina.

Things got underway at the Crocodile this past Wednesday (October 10) with El Vez, the reliable hybrid of Latin/Las Vegas lampoonage and kitschy-but-smart queer politicking. And momentum won't be lost for a moment on Thursday, since the night's highlight is a very special edition of Sit & Spin's Faux Bang!, the notorious terror-drag cabaret. Faux Bang!'s Bent installment features the bayou-ballsy blues-punk of the Gossip and the cranky artcore of the Chromatics.

Fans of the Northwest's well-cultivated queercore conglomeration would be ill-advised to miss Friday's show. The Sit & Spin bill marks the debut of Infinite Xs, a new project fronted by Longstocking's Tamala Poljak and the almost-iconic Jody Bleyle, best known for her drumming in Hazel and multi-instrumentalism in Team Dresch. According to Riot Grrl godmomma (and Chainsaw Records label owner) Donna Dresch, the Xs just finished recording their first record (with production help from Versus' Richard Balyut), and Ms. Dresch herself will be releasing it this January. Just as impressive is the fact that for a mere $8 you're also getting the twee metal of the fabulous Sick Bees, shim- shammy showing off from the Turn-Ons, and an opening set from Olympia's Tracy and the Plastics.

Saturday afternoon at the Crocodile, all-ages slots have been allotted for a whole lot of sensitive indie fags--including, in an acoustic set, Terry Picknell, the talented former frontman of Five Gears in Reverse and owner of queer-centric Montesano Records. Also worth checking out is Barry Ingle, a boy and his piano who gets compared to Tori Amos probably more than he likes, but is nevertheless in possession of a sweet, emotive voice and a promising catalog of gutsy songs.

The rambunctious Mr. Lady Records roster presents an all-ages showcase at the Crocodile on Sunday, featuring label owner Kaia Wilson's emo-tinged pop-punk outfit the Butchies. This is the place for folks to be if they find Sunday's Pansy Division bill at Sit & Spin to be on the preciously annoying side. For example, Mr. Lady band the Haggard, in the vein of the Mukilteo Fairies and Behead the Prophet, will give you a very un-cutesy bludgeoning if you stand too close.

Above recommendations aside, audiences should really pace themselves, because the closing night show at the Crocodile is such a perfect idea for a finale that Nieto and Meinert must have fallen out of their chairs with glee when they confirmed it. The night of Queen covers will be hosted by the inimitable Dina Martina, a brilliant, tone-deaf drag queen so hip and smeared-lipstick scary it's surprising that John Waters hasn't kidnapped her yet. And regardless of your opinion about Freddie Mercury, Queen songs practically beg for campy covers. The lineup of local participants includes Nick Garrison, a stellar presence who is well loved for his smashing portrayal of Hedwig in the Seattle production of Hedwig & the Angry Inch. Furthermore, what could be more truly Bent than closing a festival devoted to a delicious composite of outspoken, fresh young artists and respected, uncompromising veterans by staging a tribute to rock's most sadly closeted homoerotic cliché? Nothing, I say. So get your ass downtown and celebrate the queer chaos with the rest of us.