It has now officially been too long since the Pie has spent a weekend night doing anything other than (a) watching a movie, (b) eating an elaborate meal, or (c) both of the above. Not there’s anything wrong with these thrilling activities, but Spring is soon upon us, and it’s high time we stripped off the fleece pajamas and went out dancing among our people.
For homos who think outside the pink triangle, nightlife in "Gay Paree" leaves something to be desired. Most of the bars and cafes in the Marais feature wall-to-wall bourgie (boozhee) fags -- skinnier, Eurotrashier versions of your typical Chelsea/Castro/WeHo/SoBe clones. Okay, so there are plenty of sex spots for the guys (it’s just so much easier, like, logistically, for them), plus at least a few decent dyke bars and a smattering of lesbionic nights at dance clubs. So it’s not like there’s nothing to do; it’s all just a bit...predictable.
For all the queer boys, girls and trannies of Paris who actually want to *gasp* hang out together, while listening to music that does not sound like a jackhammer or a back hoe, it is all about the PopinGays, the city’s only indie-pop-and-rock-lovers’ gay and lesbian association.
PopinGays members and their friends meet every Thursday night at a divey bar in the 11th called the Pop In (from whence the name) to geek out about their current musical obsessions. They also plan fabulous soirées around town, like Faster Pussycat Dance Dance, and Queer As Pop, where members spin tracks from the likes of Bjork, Bowie, The Smiths, Anthony and the Johnsons, Futureheads, The Kills, Le Tigre, and a million other bands and artists I’m just not cool enough to have heard of yet.
C. and I used to go to these parties all the time, thanks to our friend (and yours, if you’re lucky) Johnny T., a card-carrying PiG member, but we seem to have been sucked into the lesbian domestic vortex and haven’t attended an event since, um, a really long time ago. That is all about to change, as there are TWO soirées coming up this month and I am determined not to miss both of them.
Who's with me?
Saturday, March 19th
Pop Time at the Pop In
C'est la soirée des les filles qui aiment les filles qui aiment les
garçons qui aiment les garçons qui aiment la musique indépendante...
9pm - 1:30am
Pop In - basement
101 rue Amelot (11th) Metro St-Sebastien Froissart
Climb up the stairs to the right of the entrance, then down the next flight into the firetrap basement.
Monday, March 28th
Pink & Purple Pop Festival
featuring Lesbians on Ecstasy, Gravy Train and Toxic Kiss LIVE!
7pm
Nouveau Casino
109 rue Oberkampf (11th) Metro Parmentier or Menilmontant.
PIE!
can't actually believe that lesbians on ecstasy will be playing in paris!
the bf and i are headed up to paris that weekend (he's never been)..if you know of any good places to stay for cheap that won't be full would you email me? we had planned on staying with a friend, but it just fell through.
Posted by: zach | March 10, 2005 at 11:55 AM
ALSO. were you aware that OMFG le tigre is going to be in paris on the 25th? at the montmartre elysee? hmmm?
where is this place?
email if you know anything.
Posted by: zach | March 10, 2005 at 12:00 PM
Well, then we must all go to the Pink and Purple Pop fest together, Zach ;D I'll email you with some accomodation suggestions!
Sadly, I'm going to miss Le Tigre on the 25th, for I will be on a train to Holland.... I saw them last year in Paris and they were GREAT. It was so cute to see all the little french hipsters and riot grrls bopping out and singling "My Metrocard"....
Posted by: pie | March 10, 2005 at 12:23 PM
not sure if my email address went through alright. but it should be there now!
ahhh holland. lovely. although prbably still bitterly cold.
the last time i was living over here le tigre decided to visit the city i was living in back in the US, and they have not returned. harumph
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nice site, what do you think about this one
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