Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has proclaimed today Riot Grrl Day on the occasion of feminist punk rock icon Kathleen Hanna’s speaking appearance at the Wilbur Theatre tonight. When I read about this yesterday I was a bit taken aback until I remembered that Walsh was also behind the push to get the Modern Lovers’ Roadrunner named the state song.
You can read about it here. You could also check out some of Bikini Kill’s material, although if you are not into punk and/or get easily offended by explicit language, I’d skip that. There is also the talk tonight @ 7:30 and a documentary about Hanna, The Punk Singer, is available digitally.
Somehow I can’t imagine this happening during the Menino era…
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I’m guessing that this was Joyce Linehan’s decision. It seems weird for Marty, but perfectly logical for Joyce.
in 1967, 25 years after Mayor Menino. He was a kid when this stuff was coming out. Agree probably Joyce’s idea.
A kid? Kathleen Hanna was born in 1968 and formed Bikini Kill in 1990.
It was definitely Joyce’s doing (as was the Roadrunner thing) but that is more due to her past than any age thing.
Bikini Kill came later. When he was all of 23.
Marty Walsh was still about 8 years old, and not a 30-something with children older than that, when the punk movement began. He was in middle school when the Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols, whatever, were at their height.