By Lynn Rapoport

THE DAY I left Olympia, Wash., in early August 2000 at the end of Ladyfest, a five-day celebration of women's work in arts and activism, I had a lot on my mind. The long list of agenda items included such diverse topics as what I might contribute to my new friend P.J.'s zine, how I would find time to teach myself to play bass guitar, whether it was true you could use soy milk instead of wheat paste to put up flyers, and what it would take to get the Gossip to come play in my town.

Only a few hours earlier, after days of rock shows, drag shows, workshops, screenings, after-hours dance parties, and a weekend craft bazaar, the festival organizers – a gang of DIY artists, musicians, educators, and activists, many with roots in riot grrrl and the Northwest music scene – had climbed onstage at the Capitol Theatre, broken the news that they had no immediate plans to put on another such event, and told us to go home and start our own.

It seemed like a good idea, and yet not once did the thought flicker through my head that two years later I would be recuperating from Ladyfest Bay Area – after seven months of planning, theorizing, arguing, consensus-building, overshooting, facing reality, booking performers, throwing benefits, hashing out details, freaking out about money, freaking out about catastrophes, blowing off work, losing sleep, and yes, using soy milk to put up many, many flyers.

Given that imaginative failure, it's no surprise it also failed to occur to me that four years later more than 45 other individually organized Ladyfests, linked mainly by name and overarching ethos, would have taken place in locations as far-flung as Orlando, Fla., and Jakarta, Indonesia. Such is the power of Ladyfest.

Given the local landscape of DIY art makers, however, it's also no surprise that one more Ladyfest starts this week in San Francisco, as a whole new gang of organizers bring Ladyfest Bay Area 2004, a whole new festival of music, performance art, film and video, theater, spoken word, visual art, and workshops, to a cluster of performance spaces, galleries, one bar, two clubs, one public middle school, and an LGBT center in and around the Mission District. It still hurts my brain to ponder embarking on such a large-scale undertaking again, but I'm incredibly glad to see it happening. Especially because this time I can sit back and enjoy it, without those pesky sensations of dread and panic.

There's a lot to enjoy, from Thursday night's multigenre kickoff party at CELLspace to the last notes played by Boyskout at 12 Galaxies Sunday night. In between, to offer a sampling, you can catch a night of queer hip-hop at Balazo; an exhibit by Point Blank photo collective at Femina Potens; a full day of spoken word performance; a screening of Lourdes Portillo's Señorita Extravida; and workshops on self-defense, break dancing, beginner crochet, and the difficult task of committing to art and paying rent.

A rock show at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center starts with young Sacramento punks the Velvet Fury and ends with dyke pop-punk-rock heroes the Butchies, hitting Chi Chi Palace, Shevel Knievel, the Glamour Pussies, and Sputterdoll in between. A night at Sublounge devoted to the local DJ scene features Ellen Ferrato, Polywog, Charlotte the Baroness, Sharon Buck, FabuLiz, Jeniluv, and Cat on the decks. Film and video programs range from the narrative ("Lost Thoughts, Found Reels") to the experimental ("Frozen to Fluid"), with several stops at porn ("Doin' It: DIY Porn Panel and Discussion") and politics (workshop "Video Activism Now!," documentary program "Place Your Politics") along the way.

A concerted effort to draw more transgendered folks into the Ladyfest fold manifests in events like Charlie Anders's writing workshop "Gender Scrawl"; Pablo Espinoza, Bryan Burgess, and Julia Serano's "Trans Activism" panel; and Kight's "Tranz 201," on legal, employment, and health issues related to trans and genderqueer people. And the DIY focus shows up in a raft of workshops and panels on recording music, publishing work, making porn, producing events, and fixing bikes and cars, as well as silk-screening, Super 8 filmmaking, and pirate radio.

The sheer number of Ladyfests happening internationally might lead distanced observers to believe that the DIY third-wave feminist ethic has taken over, in which case why make such a fuss – the whole world is a Ladyfest. Unfortunately, other data – ranging from war, sexism, and transphobia to chain stores, imperiled arts organizations, and flyers continually getting ripped down from telephone poles – suggests otherwise. But just as Olympia put Ladyfest on the map, each festival that follows adds more points of entry, as new gangs of organizers commit to the concept and put it into action.

Info and highlights

Ladyfest Bay Area 2004 takes place July 29 through Aug. 1 at 12 venues in and around the Mission District. Two-day passes ($40 to $60 sliding scale) and four-day passes ($55 to $90) are on sale at the Web site as well as Modern Times Bookstore (888 Valencia, S.F. 415-282-9246), Needles and Pens (483 14th St., S.F. 415-255-1534), the Long Haul Infoshop (3124 Shattuck, Berk. 510-540-0751), and Mod Lang Records (2136 University, Berk. 510-486-1860). Proceeds benefit local art space Femina Potens and hip-hop collective Sisterz of the Underground. For venue and schedule information go to www.ladyfestbayarea.org. The following is a selective, subjective glance at the offerings.

The kickoff party Ladyfest is best experienced through total submersion, and the kickoff party at CELLspace – a night of bands, DJs, performance art, break dancing, fashion, visual art, and experimentation – is the logical place to start. Highlights include Sini Anderson's collaborative multimedia act Opening Band, featuring commissioned work by members of Le Tigre, Circuit Side, the Butchies, Killer Banshee Studios, Point Blank, and Tammy Rae Carland; break dancing by Sisterz of the Underground; and a fashion show by Eat Designs and Needles and Pens. Thurs/29, 8 p.m.-midnight, CELLspace, 2050 Bryant, S.F. $9-$12 sliding scale. (415) 648-7562.

The naughty bits Ladyfest has plenty to offer in the smut department, but I can't see missing film shorts program "Hott Cherry PopTarts," with works by New York City performance artist Penny Lane and S.F. jump-rope studs Double Dutchess, and SIR Productions' gloriously sticky Sugar High Glitter City, a tale of a town in which sugar is an illicit substance and the sex workers' currency of choice is candy canes, chocolate drops, and fresh-baked pie. Fri/30, "Hott Cherry PopTarts" 7 p.m.; Sugar High Glitter City 9 p.m., Artists' Television Access, 992 Valencia, S.F. $5-$10 a screening. (415) 824-3890.

'Litfest' A full day of spoken-word action provides heaven on Earth for poetry junkies, with readings by Diane DiPrima, Michelle Tea, Daphne Gottlieb, Wendy-O-Matik, Thea Hillman, Julia Serano, Charlie Anders, and others. Sat/31, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Femina Potens, 465 S. Van Ness, S.F. $5-$7. (415) 861-2240.

The rock All Girl Summer Fun Band bring the bubblegum and sugar-sweet harmonies; Tartufi bring the sexy, angst-ridden power pop; Veronica Lipgloss and the Evil Eyes bring the glamour, bad vibes, saxophone, and backup dancers; Tami Hart brings her new band, Gang-way; Squab bring the samples, the synths, and the sexual energy; and Double Dutchess bring the jump ropes. It's just a big potluck of excellent rock and roll (and rope). Sat/31, CELLspace. $9-$12.

The workshops There are so many good ones that picking and choosing makes me feel like I'm clubbing baby seals. Go to the Web site and check out the selection.

One Trick Pony Repositioning the genre outside the realm of the strip club, this pole-dancing trio's performance at the closing-night music show is likely to offer less Hungry I-style nudity, fewer drooling men, and more feats of athleticism and grace. 12 Galaxies, 2565 Mission, S.F. $9-$12. (415) 970-9777.

L.R.