On Saturday night Club 69 played host to a mini music and arts fest of sorts by way of the Lil Ladyfest. No, not a festival of female midgets, but a sort of homage to the original and bigger global phenomenon which is Ladyfest. And what was even cooler was that the fest fell on International Women’s Human Rights Defenders Day, giving the evening a special kind of significance.

On the main stage first were The Pips; a four-piece folk rock outfit consisting of Hanna on vocals, YoYo and Nunu on guitar and Ekin, also on guitar ( I think!). The girls did a stripped down acoustic set which felt very intense and intimate especially as many of the songs like ‘Ashes In The Wind’ a song about the ill fated Altantunya, were often unapologetically political and carried a social message. It was Nunu’s ‘Perempuan Merdeka’, played for the first time live that night, that seemed to move the crowd most, a song, although raw and innocent, was both incredibly poignant for the moment and heartfelt.

The second act for the night was performance poet, Mooza who’s poem about pishing almost had me pissing in my pants. I guess that was the point. Mooza came to the event with George Weilgus, also a well known name on the spoken word circuit and who, in the spirit of the event, dressed as a rock chick to become Georgette/Georgina. George’s performance was entertaining as always with his special brand of rasta-styled poetry, always hard hitting, always in your face. One might say, a little too much cock to bare but in that mini skirt, much easier to swallow.

Priya K, a darling of the poetry scene in KL and of the British Council was last in the line of poets and read her angsty self referential poems. The ‘intellectual’s poet’, Priya’s poems are thoughtful and are never without irony, often exposing her core which perhaps some may find a bit too heavy.

Last on the main stage was punk/electro duo, Sapphoric Acid. No guesses for where the band found inspiration for their name. Jules Kamal and Sara Dalina played a four song set of both covers and original tunes utililsing their talents on both guitar and keyboard.

With the performances done, Thilaga (Food Not Bombs) and I took the opportunity to screen a rough cut of our pet project ‘Article 8′, a short film about the LGBTIQ community in KL which featured the likes of Shannon Shah, Juelie Koh and Lainie Yeoh and a few other activists and/or movers and shakers in the community here. The film was shot and edited in two weeks with the intention to submit it for the Yogyakarta LGBT Human Rights Festival next week. Thanks to all the profiles, our editor Azreen and Malaysiakini, KOMAS for the camera, Tiltedworld for the support and Thilaga for making the film possible. I hope the film wasn’t too dry and boring, but as I said at the event; it’s a subject no one wants to take on and somebody’s got to do it. Hopefully the project will only be the start of a bigger campaign which will inspire more action and raise more awareness in the community about their rights so they can be empowered to stand up for themselves.

With the politics over with and after a short but sweet set by DJ Chris O, Miss Finesse rounded off the night with some pretty hard core techno (I think it was techno – minimalist house?) which was challenging, but hey, it was something different! I hope to work with Amazon again, an agency started by Stella Nutella, who works specifically with female DJs, for future parties. My question to you is – what kind of spinning machine do you want next time? I think I hear the quiet cry of “RNB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”. Noted.

Oh if anybody is interested to get a hold of a Munkao ‘Lesbian’ or ‘Tuhan Seks’ baby T please let me know. The artist lives and works in KL (and he actually turned up for the party) and can make the t shirts to order. Don’t be shy. Nothing like wearing your heart on your t shirt!

So that’s that. Can’t really say when the next party will be. Let’s tentatively say end of the year begining of January. There are plans in the making to hook up with the Little Black Book group. Mark that in your (little black book) diary as KIV…

Question – does the word ‘chick’ offend you?