Pussy Riot Rules
Pussy Riot, the Russian performance art collective that espouses various causes including freedom of speech, prison reform, and gay rights, has been in the middle of the news over the last four days in Sochi. They are decidedly anti-Putin who is strangely and inadvertantly their biggest promoter. Horsewhipped by Cossacks, beaten, and sprayed in the face with irritants when they were playing their latest song "Putin Will Teach You How to Love the Motherland"yesterday in a small square in downtown Sochi, 20 miles from the Olympics, news cameras caught the event. How could they be offered a better platform for international attention than that.
When Pussy Riot first emerged in 2011 with their unapproved song in a Moscow cathedral, one could have seen them as annoying attention seekers. No longer. Two members of the group then, and still members of the collective, spent almost two years in prison for "hooliganism" related to that event and when released picked right up where they left off although they no longer perform. Continuing their campaign in 2014 shows that they do not intend to be passing fad, or just a publicity seeking stunt. Their brazen acts could have significant negative consequences for them.
Today they left the Sochi Olympics, but released a video of some of the events during their days in Sochi. The video includes the song "Putin Will Teach You..." and here it sounds like a reincarnation of the 1970's New York Dolls, David Johanson's group at that time. In other words, from this perspective they sound like an exceptional band, with only one guitar and five vocalists. That was a surprise. They can play, and have a sense of humor attached to their seriousness.
Having seen one of the group members interviewed on some television channel last week, she was articulate, thoughtful, and what else can I say but "normal". Here's a wish for their safety.
When Pussy Riot first emerged in 2011 with their unapproved song in a Moscow cathedral, one could have seen them as annoying attention seekers. No longer. Two members of the group then, and still members of the collective, spent almost two years in prison for "hooliganism" related to that event and when released picked right up where they left off although they no longer perform. Continuing their campaign in 2014 shows that they do not intend to be passing fad, or just a publicity seeking stunt. Their brazen acts could have significant negative consequences for them.
Today they left the Sochi Olympics, but released a video of some of the events during their days in Sochi. The video includes the song "Putin Will Teach You..." and here it sounds like a reincarnation of the 1970's New York Dolls, David Johanson's group at that time. In other words, from this perspective they sound like an exceptional band, with only one guitar and five vocalists. That was a surprise. They can play, and have a sense of humor attached to their seriousness.
Having seen one of the group members interviewed on some television channel last week, she was articulate, thoughtful, and what else can I say but "normal". Here's a wish for their safety.
posted by John Borden at 2:57 PM
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