[Blacklabcollective] Divide and Dissolve show

Tue May 24 12:25:37 PDT 2016

I will say, however, that busting my ass for almost seven hours and then
being lectured by an able bodied person because my efforts weren't good
enough REALLY FUCKING PISSED ME OFF. I'm STILL limping today, and my boss
wants to send me home early, so this show is now officially costing me
money.

I mean, I'll also totally get over it, it's just another indication of
where this particular scenes head is at.
On May 24, 2016 12:20 PM, "Austin Simpson" <waustinsimpson at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sorry, that was unnecessary and bitter. I shouldn't have said that.
> On May 24, 2016 12:19 PM, "Austin Simpson" <waustinsimpson at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> The entire conversation felt assumption,  and an erasing of experiences
>> by someone who's had their ass kissed so much they honestly think they shit
>> gold.
>> On May 24, 2016 11:54 AM, "Megan Speers" <speers.megan at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, Tekiaya is a poc.
>>> and yea, what happened was that she said that our collective is "a bunch
>>> of white people" and i responded by saying that not everyone in our
>>> collective was white. she then called into question me responding in that
>>> way by asking how many poc are in the collective, and when i said one
>>> currently, she said i was being fucked up and tokenizing by responding in
>>> that way. i said that i did not think it would be ok to erase the work and
>>> contributions of poc collective member(s) (anju) and that that was why i
>>> clarified that our collective isn't entirely white. she then said she feels
>>> bad for you for being on this collective. which i thought was very fucking
>>> shitty considering that she doesn't know you nor does she know anyone on
>>> the collective. i couldn't really get a word in edgewise tbh. it sucked.
>>> and yea, i think if she really wanted to speak to you about your
>>> experiences as a poc on a mostly white collective that would make sense but
>>> she seemed more interested in making assumptions. so. i dunno.
>>>
>>> On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 11:47 AM, Anju Singh <aanjusingh at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I find it pretty fucking offensive that this person is bitching about
>>>> racial diversity in our collective. I have tried, and my contributions are
>>>> still very valid and take up lots of space and I work really hard to take
>>>> up that space, if that person (who - are they a poc??) has concerns maybe
>>>> they can talk to me about my experience in the collective and my work and
>>>> efforts to maintain diversity and that voices are heard.
>>>>
>>>> The rest sounds awful too. The race thing is a personal point.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tuesday, 24 May 2016, Austin Simpson <waustinsimpson at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> The whole thing about race, while a VERY REAL THING in the wider scope
>>>>> of punk rock, in the context of the conversation felt like a red herring.
>>>>> This wasn't about race, it was about Tekiaya's friend fucking up big time,
>>>>> and we got the shit end of the stick because they didn't want to yell at
>>>>> Kim.
>>>>>
>>>>> On May 24, 2016 9:43 AM, "Megan Speers" <speers.megan at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>> > yea. just echoing austin's sentiments. I'm pretty pissed about how
>>>>> that played out, and once i cool down a bit i'll be getting in touch with
>>>>> Kim to let them know that it was super not ok.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > to be clear, what happened was that Kim did not check in with or ask
>>>>> about what our money policy is at all. i think because they've done shows
>>>>> at black lab before we probably assumed that they had an understanding of
>>>>> that already, but evidently they either forgot or didn't think it was
>>>>> important to ask/communicate this.... so when the end of the night rolled
>>>>> around, they asked what the money policy and paid the bands, and the guitar
>>>>> player from divide and dissolve, tekiaya, was quite unhappy with the amount
>>>>> that they were paid. i tried to have a conversation with her and explain
>>>>> why we take a cut of the door, etc., and apologized that the policy wasn't
>>>>> communicated in advance (though it wasn't my actions that caused this...).
>>>>> she then had a litany of complaints, felt that the policy isn't
>>>>> sustainable, that we as a mostly white collective should have access to
>>>>> money through grants and so forth and basically felt that we are sketchy,
>>>>> that we have bad sound, and that she would never play at black lab again.
>>>>> she was extremely unhappy with the situation, and ranted at me for a pretty
>>>>> long time about a variety of things. I guess the most relevant thing she
>>>>> was upset about is the lack of racial diversity on the collective, that is
>>>>> definitely something that rung true in among the other things she was upset
>>>>> about. anyways as far as that actual conversation goes, i can debrief in
>>>>> more detail when we have our meeting (she requested that i do so).
>>>>> >
>>>>> > HOWEVER. having said all that. kim fucked up big time and it really
>>>>> wasn't ok. obviously as the promoter it was their responsibility to check
>>>>> in about money, to communicate this to the bands, and to ensure they were
>>>>> comfortable with it. had they asked, we could have easily let them know
>>>>> that monday night shows are pretty tough and don't make a lot of money,
>>>>> they basically dropped the ball repeatedly (not to mention what austin said
>>>>> above). they also chose to put on purple hearts social club, despite them
>>>>> needing to also get paid, which they didn't tell us til the end of the
>>>>> night (they are a local group and there were already two touring bands,
>>>>> monday night, would have advised against that for sure). on top of that,
>>>>> while this conversation was happening with tekiaya, they completely lacked
>>>>> any accountability for their actions, and just wandered around dealing with
>>>>> gear instead of speaking up (they definitely were aware of the fact that
>>>>> that was what tekiaya was speaking to me about) and admitting that they
>>>>> were responsible for the money communication... leaving me holding the bag
>>>>> and apologizing for something that wasn't my doing. they came up to me
>>>>> after tekiaya had walked away and dismissively said "i guess that's my
>>>>> fault, sorry" but considering the dynamics of the situation it wasn't
>>>>> really an appropriate response.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > i'm sorry for the long and ranty email, but i'm very upset at how
>>>>> that played out, because of kim's actions i basically got to get reamed out
>>>>> by a total stranger. and they at no point attempted to have my back or
>>>>> mediate the situation, which they are in a very good position to do as the
>>>>> promoter of the show and a friend of the person who was unhappy with the
>>>>> outcome of the show.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > basically i am never going to work with kim again, and am probably
>>>>> going to avoid even attending any more of their events. it sucked. im
>>>>> bummed.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 9:17 AM, Austin Simpson <
>>>>> waustinsimpson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> >>
>>>>>
>>>>> >> So, last night we made $169. I picked up beer and cider, and we
>>>>> didn't sell that much so we're pretty stocked up.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> I'm pretty angry about how this show went. Kim didn't contact me
>>>>> until the morning of the show, did NOT have enough volunteers,  and
>>>>> basically just dropped the ball hard. At the end of the night they left
>>>>> Megan and I to be yelled at by the members of Divide and Dissolve because
>>>>> we took 50% of the door, and took no responsibility for their shitty
>>>>> promoting. I'm not particularly interested in doing shows for that band or
>>>>> for Kim any more.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> _______________________________________________
>>>>> >> Blacklabcollective mailing list
>>>>> >> Blacklabcollective at lists.resist.ca
>>>>> >> https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/blacklabcollective
>>>>> <https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/blacklabcollective>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>>>> > https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/blacklabcollective
>>>>> <https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/blacklabcollective>
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Anju Singh
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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