Sister Spit was a lesbian-feminist

spoken-word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation ...

and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

collective based in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, signed to Mr. Lady Records. They formed in 1994 and disbanded in 2006. Founding members included Michelle Tea and Sini Anderson, Other members included Jane LeCroy and poet

Eileen Myles Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is an American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. Novelist Dennis Cooper has des ...

. The group were noted for their ''Ramblin' Roadshow'', performing at feminist events such as the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. The ''

Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the now defunct ''Boston Phoenix'', '' ...

'' described it as "the coolest (and cutest) line-up of talented, tattooed, pierced, and purple-pigtailed performance artists the Bay Area has to offer.""Great expectorations: San Francisco's Sister Spit heads east"
, ''

'', July 1997. The ''

Independent Weekly ''Indy Week'', formerly known as the ''Independent Weekly'' and originally the ''North Carolina Independent'', is a tabloid-format alternative weekly newspaper published in Durham, North Carolina, United States, and distributed throughout the Re ...

'' magazine described the group as a "literary celebration of outspoken and courageous feminists"."Feminist/Queer Entrepreneurs: Mr. Lady Music and Videos"
''

'', June 27, 2001. Sister Spit performed on numerous occasions at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, as well as on multiple tours across the United States, chiefly to

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

audiences, including the

Castro Street Fair The 'Castro Street Fair'' is a San Francisco LGBT street festival and fair usually held on the first Sunday in October in the The Castro, Castro neighborhood, the main gay neighborhood and social center in the city. The fair features multiples st ...

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

and

Ladyfest Ladyfest is a community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for feminist and women artists. Individual Ladyfests differ, but usually feature a combination of bands, musical groups, performance artists, authors, spoken word an ...

.Lynnee Breedlove's CV
, includes Sister Spit festival appearances. They played at such locations as

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

."Eileen Myles is an unregenerate punk at 50"
Article on Sister Spit in the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

''. Michelle Tea revived the tour in April 2007, calling the new incarnation Sister Spit: The Next Generation. The new group includes original Sister Spitters

and Ali Liebegott, as well as younger writers such as Cristy Road, Nicole Georges, and Rhiannon Argo."Quirky women spice up literary reading at Jake's"
Article on Sister Spit in ''

The Olympian ''The Olympian'' is a daily newspaper based in Olympia, Washington, in the United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and publishes a daily printed edition. History Olympia was home to the first newspaper to be published in modern-da ...

''. For a month on the road, Sister Spit: The Next Generation traveled across the U.S. and Canada, and occasionally through Europe, performing mainly at universities and art centers. In order to reflect changes in gender identity and sexual orientation, the line-up no longer includes only women. Performers have included Nicole Georges, Cristy Road,

, Beth Lisick,

Blake Nelson Blake Nelson is an American author of adult and children's literature. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Wesleyan University and New York University. He lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. Biography Nelson ...

Justin Vivian Bond Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and actor, who is transgender. Described as "the best cabaret artist of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

generation" and a "tornado of art and activism", they first achieved prominence under the pseud ...

and Ariel Schrag. In 2017, the 20th Anniversary Sister Spit tour included Denise Benavides, Virgie Tovar, Maya Songbird, Celeste Chan, Cathy de la Cruz, Juliana Delgado Lopera and Joshua Jennifer Espinoza.

Sister Spit and City Lights Publishers

In 2012 Sister Spit made the long-desired leap from promoting and supporting up-and-coming queer, feminist writers to actually shepherding them into print via a collaboration with

City Lights Publishers City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected t ...

. The new imprint, City Lights/Sister Spit, began by publishing the anthology ''Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road''. Subsequently, it has published works by Ali Liebegott, Beth Lisick, and others. In their 40th-anniversary issue, ''

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

named the anthology a "great read" of the season that honors the cultural institution that is the Sister Spit roadshow. The mission of the City Lights/Sister Spit imprint is to publish primarily but not exclusively writings that are informed by a queer, feminist outsider perspectives. Editor Michelle Tea wishes to nurture work from people who struggle to find a place.

Membership

Sister Spit had a rotating membership. Members for many or all shows includedMichelle Tea shrine
features line-up of Sister Spit. * Michelle Tea - writer; co-founder and co-host of Sister Spit * Sini Anderson - performance poet, producer, and director; co-founder and co-host of Sister Spit * Ida Acton - author * Kirk Read - writer and performer * Marci Blackman - novelist,

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbo ...

winner * Cooper Lee Bombardier - writer and visual artist * Lynnee Breedlove - lead singer of Tribe 8 and writer * Tara Jepsen - performance artist, actor, and writer * Rocco Kayiatos (Katastrophe) - poet and

beatboxer Beatboxing (also, and sometimes, called beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (usually a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

* Beth Lisick - writer, filmmaker and musician * Shar Rednour- author, filmmaker, podcast host *

Miranda Mellis Miranda Mellis is the author of ''Demystifications'', ''The Spokes'', ''None of This Is Real'', and ''The Revisionist''. Her fiction, reviews, and essays have appeared in various publications including '' The Believer's The Logger'', ''Ha ...

- dancer,

trapeze artist A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes, metal straps, or chains, from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or ...

, and poet *

- author * Sara Seinberg - photographer * Anna Joy Springer - professor at UCSD * Samuael Topiary - filmmaker, performer, PhD candidate at UCSC * Ali Liebegott - author *

Amos Mac Amos Mac (born 1981) is an American writer, photographer and a publisher from Augusta, Georgia. Mac is based in Los Angeles as a writer for television and film . Early life He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ''Original Plumbing'' As a ...

- photographer * MariNaomi - cartoonist * Myriam Gurba - author *

- author * Nicole J. Georges - cartoonist * Sash Sunday - heckler/roadie * Kat Yoas - author

Releases

*''I Spit On Your Country: Words From The '97 Roadshow'', Mouth Almighty Records, 1998 *''Sister Spit's Ramblin' Road Show - Greatest Spits'', Mr. Lady Records, May 29, 2001. *''Tribe Spit Deep'', 2002

Bibliography

* Tea, Michelle. ''Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road'' (

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American synchronized sound film, sound romance film, romantic comedy drama, comedy-drama film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a ...

, 2012). , editor: Michelle Tea. Collection of essays, stories, poetry and comics from Michelle Tea, Rhiannon Argo, Cooper Lee Bombardier, Harry Dodge, Nicole J. Georges, Myriam Gurba, Tara Jepsen, Ali Liebegott, Elisha Lim, Beth Lisick, Tamara Llosa-Sandor, MariNaomi, Ben McCoy, Lenelle Moïse, Eileen Myles, Blake Nelson, Kirk Read, Cristy C. Road, Sara Seinberg, Cassie J. Sneider, Samuael Topiary and Kat Marie Yoas. *Felix, Dia. ''Nochita'' (

, 2014). * Moïse, Lenelle. ''Haiti Glass'' (

, 2014). {{ISBN, 978-0-87286-614-0

References

External links

Sister Spit website
- selected members of the original group touring with new members
5 Reasons To See Sister Spit in 2011 (LAist)
Feminist organizations in the United States Feminist collectives Lesbian collectives Lesbian feminism Culture of San Francisco American spoken word artists LGBTQ organizations based in the United States History of women in California