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N.Y. Scene March 2011: Snapshot Finale, Dot 429 Women’s Launch, LGBT Expo, Rainbow Book Fair and the Dinah

N.Y. Scene is a monthly column that chronicles events of interest for lesbians in New York City. Grace Chu has come out of lesbian scene retirement to navigate the vast and ever-evolving New York City scene, so you don’t have to.

This month, as well as highlighting events of interest in New York City, I headed to Club Skirts The Dinah, otherwise known as lesbian spring break, where 10,000 women from all over the world congregate in Palm Springs for a weekend of dancing, drinking, and yes, debauchery. I have the videos to prove it.

Snapshot Finale – March 1, 2011 – Bar 13

Snapshot, held on Tuesday nights at Bar 13, has had an impressive run. Whereas many lesbian nights that crop up in the city have the life span of a mayfly and disappear overnight, Snapshot lasted seven years. Some of the happy lesbian couples nesting on the Upper West Side with their cats and gaybies may have met as rapscallion babydykes at Snapshot almost a decade ago. Founded by DJ Nasty in 2004, Snapshot attracted a team of promoters that contributed to its longevity and artsy appeal, including Ellie Conant, who eventually founded Choice C—s, and Sir Sabrina, who would eventually end up promoting everything. Here are some photos from the farewell party.

Dot429 Inaugural Women’s Event – March 4, 2011 – Hotel on Rivington

Dot429.com, a professional network for the LGBT community, held its inaugural women’s event in the penthouse of the Hotel on Rivington on March 4. Known for their networking brunches with impeccable food spreads and impeccably dressed queer professionals, Dot429 brought a touch of class to the NYC lesbian scene. Hosts included, among others, Gloria Bigelow, Setup Squad‘s Meredith Schlosser, and of course, Sir Sabrina who, as stated earlier, promotes everything.

Afterward, the ladies headed to the Stonewall Inn for an impromptu after party because, as Ke$ha said, the party don’t start ’til we walk in.

Original GLBT Expo – March 12-13, 2011 – Jacob Javitz Center

Now in its 18th year, the Original GLBT expo presents products and services from companies wishing to target the GLBT market. Exhibitors included Fortune 500 companies such as Anheuser-Busch, touting Bud Light, to local bakeries and other mom and pop shops. Usual suspect Voli Vodka, seen all over the New York City lesbian scene, had a booth giving away samples of its low calorie electrolyte-pumped and purportedly hangover free spirits. There was also a mechanical bull in the center of the cavernous space, which is always a fine addition to any event.

Rainbow Book Fair – March 26, 2011 – LGBT Center

The Third Annual Rainbow Book Fair took place March 26 on the third floor of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center and featured over 100 authors, publishers, booksellers and poets. As tables in an exhibition space offered volumes of gay literature, readings took place on the fourth floor and in an annex, which served as a poetry salon.

IPPY Award winner and Lambda Literary Award nominated author Rachel Kramer Bussel (above) curated the reading.

Authors Nell Stark (L) and Trinity Tam (R) read an uncommonly steamy passage from their lesbian vampire romance novel Everafter. (You can’t tell from this angelic photo, but what goes on in these ladies’ minds is pretty randy and cannot be published on AfterEllen. Naughty, naughty!)

I spoke to local poets Sam LaRoche and Joanna Hoffman about the poetry slam scene in NYC. A poetry slam is a competition at which poets read or recite original work, and these performances are then judged by a panel selected from members of the audience. Both LaRoche and Hoffman have been composing poems since early childhood. “I composed my first poem when I was four,” said Hoffman. Since college, both have been performing their work on stage.

Writing for the stage often takes a different form from writing for the page. “[T]o score well at most venues, you need to write poems that are easily accessible, that people don’t have to think too much to understand, that grabs them, moves them, inspires them, all in three minutes or less. As for the writing, yes, it is completely different. I have hundreds of poems I know I will never perform, but I will probably submit to journals,” said Hoffman. LaRoche added, “Spoken word poetry is meant to be powerful. You only have three minutes to really grab the audience. And three minutes attention span is all people usually have to grasp your concept.”

Poetry slams are designed to be interactive. Invented in the 1980s by a construction worker named Marc Smith who was disappointed with the passivity and disengagement of audience members at poetry readings, slams involve the audience in the outcome of the slam and encourage vocalization. “As a performer, there is nothing I hate more than a silent room,” said Hoffman. “The energy of the crowd ramps up the performance. Great audience members will snap when they like a line, or say stuff like ‘Word!’ ‘Whaaaaaat?’ and ‘Preach!'”

Each certified venue conducts poetry slams slightly differently, although typically five people in the audience are chosen and receive score cards. One of the main goals of competing at a local venue is to gain a spot on a slam team that competes nationwide. The slam venues in NYC are Louder Arts at Bar 13, Urbana at Bowery Poetry Club, Nuyorican at Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Intangibles at Lolita Bar. “NYC teams have a great reputation, have won nationals many times, and are almost always in the top five teams,” said Hoffman, who recently competed in the Women of the World national slam competition and placed 9th.

While some academic poets have criticized the numerical scoring of artistic expression and have gone as far as deriding slam as not a real art form, slam poets disagree. “The competitive nature of slam forces us to be better writers and performers,” said Hoffman.

LaRoche said that it’s only natural that queer people would be attracted to the poetry slam world. “It’s a safe haven to express yourself without feeling judged about who you are,” she said. “I think it makes sense for queer people to be attracted to slam and spoken word poetry. It’s a great outlet for everyone, if you ever felt something and wanted to share it out loud. Writing it down and getting up on a mic feels amazing. It’s like the best therapy minus the large bill.”

LaRoche’s work can be found at this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/LilSam11.

Hoffman’s work can be found at this link: www.joannahoffman.wordpress.com.

Club Skirts The Dinah – AfterEllen Pool Party and Red Carpet @ The Hollywood Party

During NYC Pride 2010, I ran around the city with my new camera taking photos of every event I could squeeze in over the weekend. Remember that? Then I noticed that at every event these other two miscreants – Jodi and Sarah – would always show up with an impressive array of A/V equipment. Over the course of the weekend, the three of us would share close quarters with one another taking footage of Pride, I for AfterEllen, they for GO Mag. What happens when three lesbians end up rubbing up against one another for 48 consecutive hours? They become friends of course!

When I obtained an extra pass to Dinah this year, I asked Jodi if she wanted to take footage of 10,000 women in bikinis. “Sure!” she said. Sarah was already going, so I asked Sarah if she wanted to talk to famous people. “OK!” she said. And the NYC Dream Team was in effect once more, even though Jodi lives in Chicago, Sarah moved from Queens to Los Angeles, and all three of us would be doing this in Palm Springs. But it doesn’t matter. New York is a state of mind. That’s what Jay-Z said anyway.

Here is Jodi’s footage of the AfterEllen Pool Party on Saturday, April 2. If your boss can see your screen I would advise not pressing “play” at this juncture.

Here is Sarah doing red carpet interviews at the Hollywood Party. In order of appearance: Natasha Bedingfield, Gabrielle Christian and Mandy Musgrave of South of Nowhere, Tiffany Dunn, Tatum from Cherry Bomb, BG5, and the don of Club Skirts The Dinah herself, Mariah Hanson.

Don’t get your hopes up, ladies – Christian and Musgrave are still straight. But most of the other 10,000 women in the joint are not, so will we be seeing you in the desert next year?

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