Dana Jade
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  • Little Sister
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0 Why I Started Clit Rock

  • September 26, 2013
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

I created Clit Rock out of sheer rage. For me female genital mutilation (FGM) culminates all the misogyny in the world into a single act. It speaks volumes about the fear of women in patriarchal societies. It is oppression on steroids.

I wanted to help raise awareness and funds for anyone already fighting on the  front lines of this cause. I found Daughters Of Eve online, and I have learned a lot from its inspiring founders Nimko Ali and Leyla Hussein from the start. I never try to speak for survivors of FGM; I seek only to support in any way I can.

Living in a country where FGM affects some not all we might hesitate to get involved. As Nimko always says, “We are all responsible.” So I am committed to playing my part. To quote Daughters of Eve, “If you save one girl, you save a Generation.”

If you want to help save countless generations of young women then come join us! Clit Rock events are an easy introduction to playing your part. Perform, donate, spread the word, host an event  or just come down to one of ours to support and enjoy the music.

The next Clit Rock event will be on Wednesday October 23 at The Workshop, Hoxton with Deux Furieuses, Dana Jade, The Pearl Harts and Club Motherf*cker DJs

Oh yes, there will be dancing at this revolution! See you there…

Advanced Tickets Here

0 Dad

  • July 25, 2013
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

It’s been forever since I blogged and I’m sure this is not the kind of blog people mean when they constantly tell me I “should be blogging,” but what is the purpose of a blog if not to share your most personal feelings with strangers? Call me old fashioned! This is just a snippet, a snapshot of my relationship with my Father but it’s a start.

I lost my Dad, Shaffick “Gigs” Mohammed in March earlier this year and it’s been weird, it’s been real, it’s been real weird. I’ve learned a lot about life, throughout the lengthy process of this loss. Bereavement is a beeyatch, kids! It’s not something you could ever prepare for, so don’t try. Just know that you will miss that person more than you ever thought possible when they were alive.

My Dad lived in New York for the last 20 years. I spent a lot of my formative years there with him. That’s where I was first exposed to the guitar music that would go on to influence what I now do with this earth life of mine.

He was a jockey as a lad and he worked in the world of horse racing his entire life. He went on to become tutor of the Trinidad & Tobago Jockey School and after emigrating, assistant trainer to bigwig Alan Jerkins at New York’s Belmont Park. He used to sneak out of school to head down to the track as a boy. It was in his blood. My grandfather, a truck driver by day, stick fighter by night, and local “bad john” owned a horse called “Gigolo” and my Dad inherited this moniker (shortened to ‘Gigs’) on his first day at the track. He was very well known in racing circles and certainly very accomplished. I remember people constantly asking him for tips on race days, he was usually dead on. He knew everything there was to know about horse racing and thoroughbreds. It was pretty awesome listening to him talk shop. I too love horses and the thrill of the races.

BTW if you’ve ever seen a promo photo or video of me holding a crop, now you know why. It’s in my blood too! Why, what did you think it meant? ;-)

It was SO cool having a Dad who had access to horses. As a kid, I even had my very own horse called “Michael Be Quick” who was previously owned by former President Ellis Clarke. Well, technically he belonged to the racing authority and he lived at the track but Dad said he was mine. So he totally was! Totally.

I wanted to be just like my Dad, do everything he was doing, go where he was going, learn everything there was to learn from him. He was my hero. He gave me my first guitar and always pointedly told my brother Perry and I  to ”do what you love” and we grew up and did just that. His love turned out to be medicine, mine music.

My Dad tried to be an insurance salesperson shortly after getting married, for the stability, the normal working hours, the higher salary, but he found it to be unethical and he missed the horses too much so he went right back to his first love. Do what you love he would say, until we got it.

Growing up both he and Mum instilled in us good manners to the point of annoyance. I am grateful for that now. He taught me about discipline and spoiled me rotten at the same time. If I was ever in trouble and I was often in trouble with Mum; I would run to him and hide behind his legs as soon as he walked through the door and he would save me from the spanking that I probably deserved. These were just some of the perks of being Daddy’s Princess and there were many! Guitars, horses, time spent with the student jockeys at their school, which to me was magical, with its bunk beds, pool and ping pong tables, riding boots, crops and helmets. All access to the track on big race days and sporting press who sometimes wanted interviews with Dad, it was all very exciting for a wee lass like me. I would later grow up to realise and truly appreciate the uniqueness of this experience.

 I miss my Dad a lot, everything I read, hear, see or watch on TV reminds me of him. New York is constantly on the telly! Horses make an appearance more often than you would think too.

Today would have been his 68th Birthday and I wanted to celebrate his life in some small way… in any and every way.

Thank you for shaping me into the person I am, thank you for these genes, for these traits, both fantastic and flawed, thank you for the riding lessons and a horse named Michael, thank you for the guitars, and the support and for believing in me, thank you for the unconditional love and acceptance. Thank you for giving me the best Mum in the whole world! Thank you for all the perks of being Daddy’s Princess of which there are many. Until we meet again… Keep the saddle warm for me Dad.

P.S. I don’t know how people who don’t believe in a life beyond this one deal with death. I would be a thousand times more devastated and completely inconsolable.

Not that I’m claiming to know anything about anything, but I find this Einstein quote comforting:

“Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.” - Albert Einstein

0 You might as well live

  • August 1, 2012
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

This post first appeared in Mass Movement Magazine’s It Changed My Life series.

When I was first asked to do this piece I was extremely apprehensive. Mr. Impaler sent me the email asking me to write 500 words on ‘the one thing that changed your life completely, how it affected you, and why did it change your life?’…

DepressionI’m not sure I want to answer that, I thought to myself. Then I thought about it and I realised it was a great opportunity to speak honestly and openly about depression and suicidal tendencies. Are you still with me? Good. I promise it really does get better!
Before I moved to London I lived in tropical Trinidad, many visitors describe it as ‘paradise’ but depression doesn’t care where you live, how sunny it is there, or how much you have to live for and this time around depression wasn’t playing!

I’ve always been prone to bouts of melancholy but this time I hit rock bottom. I would wake up and immediately start crying because I was alive and still on planet earth – a place I came to loathe, I just didn’t feel right here. I couldn’t function in a ‘normal’ way, I couldn’t just get on with it, the way everyone else seemed to. I felt that just by breathing I was adding to the fuckery of this planet. The pain and injustice was always on my mind and that is no way to live. Even everyday tasks were the stuff of nightmares for me. Going to the bank would fill me with anxiety (actually going to the bank still gives me the creeps) – in fact anything to do with money made me feel a bit sick (actually anything to do with money still makes me feel a bit sick) but you know it’s bad when your shrink and your therapist are calling each other to discuss your case! Oh yes, they wanted me on suicide watch, I was high risk, I was textbook! I never actually tried to kill myself, I just lived recklessly like I didn’t want to see tomorrow.

Now, I look back on some of the stupid, really dangerous things I did then, when I was courting death, alone on the streets of POS & NYC and think ‘how did I get out of that unscathed?’ But something out there wasn’t going to let me come to any harm. Yes, I know how that sounds! This is the reason I’m not an atheist. I literally tried to be an atheist. I tried really hard and I claimed to be one once but, alas, it would prove to be a label that would never fit me. I’m not at all religious but I’m interested in developing my spiritual self. I was watching TV the other day and I came across a rather compelling interview with Robert Blake where he talks about taking his boat out in the blackness of the Pacific Ocean in the dead of night and hearing a voice that said ‘Turn around, asshole, the shit ain’t over!’… Just hearing him say those words made me burst into simultaneous tears and laughter because they rang so true to me. He called that voice God. I call it energy. I call it my fierce higher power. You can call it Science. But it’s all the same.

I was on antidepressants for a couple of years, and I went to therapy, but it was always MUSIC that made me want to stick around. I moved to London in a daze, but slowly the smog lifted and I started getting back in to life. The city gave me a home and I will be forever grateful! I started studying music production and went from there to recording my album and getting a band together. All painfully slowly, mind, but hey – I managed to complete it and finally put it out into the Universe in May of this year. On said album there’s a track called ‘Little Sister’ that I wrote for myself from the point of view of my big brother, for those times when I struggle and I feel like giving up. Everyone needs a little positive affirmation for days like these. If you’re reading this and all of this sounds familiar to you, my advice is to NEVER give up. You never know what kind of greatness is around the corner….

I still get down. There is nothing easy about this DIY independent artist’s lifestyle. But I manage it all a lot better now because I realised somewhere along the way that happiness is a choice. I believe it was Einstein that said ‘There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.’ That did not come naturally to me, and I still struggle every now and then, but there’s still so much to learn and so many ways left to grow that now I’m eternally grateful for every single day in a way that I’m not sure I’d be able to appreciate if I hadn’t gone through that much darkness.

So depression might’ve ruined my life, but it in a fucked up way it also enriched my life! So, now whenever you hear me say ‘give thanks’… you know why.

I also find this Dorothy Parker quote amusingly helpful:

Razors pain you; rivers are damp;
Acids stain you; and drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful; nooses give;
Gas smells awful; you might as well live.

0 Little Sister Video

  • May 20, 2011
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

I have never thought of myself as a visual artist but being an independent artist means being your own pretty much everything! So I donned my art direction hat and came up with these visuals for Little Sister a song that is a very emotional one for me. It was written for myself from the point of view of my big brother (my rock) for those tough times when a girl needs positive affirmations and reinforcement.

The video has a theme running through it. It features my real life “sistren”  friends, allies, some members of  Gaggle including leader Queen Deborah Coughlin, dynamic design duo Schwange (it was their own idea to wear full on white body paint) and the ridiculously talented and super lovely Laura Kidd of  She Makes War fame. I wanted to spread that Gaggle ethos of solidarity, support and positivity amongst women. That shit really needs to go global! I am bored of women whose default setting is to hate each other on sight! BORED!

I am so blessed to know so many badass femmes! I don’t think it would have had the same impact if I used models and actresses.

Also, I got to play guitar in a sari! Something I’ve always wanted to do that I’m pretty sure no one else has ever done before, not even Madonna and that is really saying something!

Hope you dig! And if you do please feel free to spread the love!

Xoxo
DJ

Special thanks to:

Nana Dankwa – Director & Editor
Fouad Gaber – Director of Photography
The Low Fidelity Disconnect

0 Happy Birthday Club Motherfucker

  • March 12, 2011
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

I am honoured and grateful to have been a part of the 8th birthday party for the legendary London club night that is Club Motherfucker!!

I had a blast!! Much love the The Daughters of The Kaos as always!! Thank you guys!

 

0 Galang M.I.A Cover

  • February 11, 2011
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

It is always nerve-racking doing a cover, but for me this is more than a cover, it is an homage to Ms. MIA herself. I’m a huge fan! Hope you dig and if you do, spread the love! Xoxo

0 Artwork by Strick

  • August 22, 2010
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

http://www.rebeccastrickson.com/

A very talented fellow Gaggle made me this! I love it, it’s equal parts punk rock / manga / riot grrrl zine culture of the 90s. Grrr! Check out the link for more samples of her genius!

I am working on a  text logo myself and although I am no artist, I sometimes have moments of ever so rare visual inspriration. Stay tuned…

0 Supporting John Frickin’ Parish

  • July 16, 2010
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

Is a gift… Fact. We are honoured and grateful. Give thanks…

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=140806499268244&ref=mf

0 Bridal Nath: My Severe Nose Piercing

  • June 23, 2010
  • Dana Jade
  • · Blog

People are always asking me about where I got my nose chain from, or of its significance, so I decided to blog about it; yes, my very first “word blog” if you will.

In my culture, too much emphasis is placed on marriage, (in my humble opinion) and although I am fifth generation Trinidadian my ancestors are from India.

The nath I wear onstage is usually worn by Hindu brides and is just my way of saying “I am married to my guitar and my music, so, fuck off yeah?” Or something to that effect…

Now you know kids.
Peace, Love and Riddim.

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