Buffalo Music: Daylong event will include three stages, drag and DJs

By Benjamin Joe

They Fest IV will start at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4 and run until 12:30 a.m. Sunday morningat Caffe at Amy’s on Main Street in University Heights.

Performers listed to play include Selfish Act, Stress Dolls, Science Man, Muddle, Cerebellum, Sweet Petunia, Bile Study, Havana Syndrome, Smitten For Trash, All Maine Points, Comfort Object, Pissguzzler, Torture Agenda, Ronnie Mae Valentine, Welks Mice, Ave Elliott, Jinzo, PJN, Blaised & Confused, Noah 2 & Pixie Dust, Visual Basic and Neftali. There will also be drag by Mister Rigormotis, Spike Vicious, Lite, Alley Gorey, Mx. Carnal Desire, Gendroid and Kerry Fee and DJ sets by Skendertron, Chango4 and DJIYKYK. Admission is $15 or Pay What You Can, and the event is all ages.

This yearly tradition started as a house party organized by the Lavender Room, a group made up of queer people.

“Lavender Room started as a basement venue in my house,” said Jare Curtis, the founder of Lavender Room. “Myself and my roommates wanted to throw shows. We wanted them to be inclusive. I had had a couple of experiences since moving to Buffalo that past summer where I felt that even inclusive spaces weren’t truly inclusive to everybody.”

Curtis, who is a trans-woman, shared an experience of being dead-named, called by her birth name, at a drag show by wait staff. She didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, but she felt the need to contact the owner and ask for a change of policy. She was told to mind her own business.

“(And) there were a lot of queer events that were happening that weren’t posted in queer spaces,” she continued. “Spaces that were run by queer people and a lot of the times it felt like they were in spaces that were centered for cis folks, straight folks or white folks, that was inclusive to queer folks and folks with different identities, as long as they were there to give them money. But that was the extent of the relationship.

“My idea was there should be some kind of space in the city that is run by trans-people and queer people and people of color that is for everyone, but has those people in the center.”

Seen as both an event to celebrate the group’s gains and at the same time continue the fight for them, They Fest IV will feature three stages, two inside and one outside, and include all kinds of music, from heavy hardcore acts, hip-hop to singer-songwriters and DJs, as well as other forms of entertainment (dare I say costume party!).

Also, the outside stage in back of the building will feature vendors and groups like the Democratic Socialist of America to pitch their cause to party-goers for free and in honor of Mickey Harmon and Jordan Celotta (Harmon was one of the leaders of Buffalo’s queer community before he and his partner, Celotta, were murdered last spring).

Curtis explained that through its entirety, Lavender Room has never promoted a “headliner band” to bring people to its shows. There’s not a need to have more hierarchy, she explained, that’s not what Lavender Room is about.

What Lavender Room, and They Fest, is about is creating community for those who want to create and celebrate together, and spread the message and skills for political and social organizing. In other words, people come to They Fest for the community that happens to also provide access to great bands and inspiring artists.

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“The name is based on the ‘Lavender Scare,’ which was around the ‘Red Scare’ where there was this fear that anyone who was in government and queer was a communist … and therefore couldn’t hold a federal position, which I found disgusting and also a little funny … Unfortunately history is slowly beginning to repeat itself,” Curtis said.

“It’s kind of tongue-in-cheek, but it’s a way for us to say, ‘here are the things we hold as values.’ … Do you believe everyone has the right to happiness? Do you believe people should be able to pay for their health care? Do you believe that people, regardless of where they’re from or where they are with their identity, should be treated with dignity, humanity and respect?”

With this mentality of “the show becoming a protest” and volunteers organizing crowds at shows become organizers for political rights, Curtis is enthusiastic about the future.

“You come to what you thought was a house party or you thought was a hot show or see a particular band, then you leave having a different opinion about different kinds of people or about your community. You become a little more involved in your community. You know people, so the next time you go out to the space, you know someone. When you go to a protest or something like that, you know you’re part of a larger community with people who have common interests.

“That’s really all we’re trying to do.”