Punknews.org is a website founded by Aubin Paul which launched in 1999. The website publishes music news and album reviews relating to punk rock, hardcore punk, ska, alternative, indie rock, heavy metal and hip hop. It features user-submitted and editor-evaluated articles, through a publishing format much like popular technology-related news website Slashdot.

News coverage[link]

Punknews.org generally posts between 15 and 20 news articles a day^{[citation needed]}, covering such topics as tour dates, label signings, album releases, new media, band break-ups and member changes.

While Punknews.org does often spotlight relatively obscure bands, the editors cite fan interest as deciding how much coverage an artist warrants, rather than deferring to genre politics (major label/indie label preference or how close a band reflects the traditional punk subculture).^[1]

According to Epitaph Records, label head and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz has been known to scan Punknews.org to find new punk artists. Specifically, Gurewitz signed The Getaway after researching the band's music and growing popularity.^[2]

The site has also won the Alternative Press Reader's Poll ^[3] and has been mentioned in the New York Times,^[2] The Washington Post,^[4] Billboard Magazine,^[5] East Bay Express,^[6] and many other publications. Other online music news resources and blogs make frequent reference to coverage on Punknews.org. For example Canadian online radio station CBC Radio 3 regularly links the site in its "Music Notes" news summaries.^[7] Record labels have also picked up on the Punknews.org RSS news feed to augment their own websites, such as the Union Label Group in Montreal.^[8]

CBC Radio 3 featured Punknews.org in its 2011 Searchlight poll to determine the "Best Music Website In Canada." Public voting saw the site make it into the top 20 (from a field of 60).^[9]

Punknews Records[link]

On January 1, 2006, Aubin Paul, Adam White and Scott Heisel, who comprised the website's primary editorial staff in the early part of the 2000s, launched Punknews Records, an imprint under Epitaph Records.^[10] When it was active the label released albums from Somerset and Ryan's Hope.

The label is currently inactive (Somerset broke up in early 2008^[11] and Ryan's Hope is no longer a part of the label).^[12] On Punknews.org's formspring.me site, Adam White responded to the question of what happened to the label with the following:

Ultimately PNR was the result of a distro deal Aubin, Adam and Scott struck with Epitaph. Epitaph was fantastic about the whole thing, but in the end we didn't feel it was right to keep sinking our and their money into a venture that we weren't able to make sustainable.^[13]

During their years of activity, they released two albums: Somerset's Pandora and Ryan's Hope's Apocalypse in Increments.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Punknews.org
• Punknews Records

The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues, acting as a media clearinghouse service putting journalists in touch with experts, and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns against digital rights management (DRM), the extension of the term of copyright protection afforded to sound recordings, e-voting, and numerous other issues.

History[link]

The organisation was started by Danny O'Brien, Cory Doctorow, Ian Brown, Rufus Pollock, James Cronin, Stefan Magdalinski, Louise Ferguson and Suw Charman after a panel discussion at Open Tech 2005.^[1] O'Brien created a pledge on PledgeBank, placed on 23 July 2005, with a deadline of 25 December 2005: "I will create a standing order of 5 pounds per month to support an organisation that will campaign for digital rights in the UK but only if 1,000 other people will too." The pledge reached 1000 people on 29 November 2005.^[2],[3] The Open Rights Group was launched at a "sell-out" meeting in Soho, London.^[4][5]

Work[link]

The group has made submissions to the All Party Internet Group (APIG) inquiry into digital rights management^[6],[7] and the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property^[8],[9].

The group was honoured in the 2008 Privacy International Big Brother Awards alongside No2ID, Liberty, Genewatch UK and others, as a recognition of their efforts to keep state and corporate mass surveillance at bay^[10].

In 2010 the group worked with 38 Degrees^[11] to oppose the introduction of the Digital Economy Act, which was passed in April 2010.^[12]

Goals[link]

• To raise awareness in the media of digital rights abuses.
• To provide a media clearinghouse, connecting journalists with experts and activists.
• To preserve and extend traditional civil liberties in the digital world.
• To collaborate with other digital rights and related organisations.
• To nurture a community of campaigning volunteers, from grassroots activists to technical and legal experts.

Areas of interest[link]

The organisation, though focused on the impact of digital technology on the liberty of UK citizens, operates with an apparently wide range of interests within that category. Its interests include^[13][14]:

Access to knowledge[link]

• Copyright
  • The public domain
  • Free and open source software
  • Creative Commons
• Digital Restrictions Management
• Software patents
• Crown copyright

Government and democracy[link]

• Electronic voting
• Freedom of information legislation

Privacy, surveillance and censorship[link]

• Automatic Vehicle Tracking
• Police DNA Records
• NHS patients’ medical database
• Communications data retention
• Identity management
• RFID
• Net Neutrality

Structure[link]

ORG has a paid staff^[15], whose members include:

• Jim Killock (Executive Director)
• Peter Bradwell (Campaigner)
• Javier Ruiz Diaz (Campaigner)

Former staff include Suw Charman-Anderson and Becky Hogge, both Executive Directors, e-voting coordinator Jason Kitcat, grassroots campaigner Katie Sutton and administrator Katerina Maniadaki^[16]. The group's patron is Neil Gaiman^[17]. As of February 2011 they have 22,000 supporters of which 1,400 are paying contributors^[18]

Advisory council and board of directors[link]

In addition to staff members and volunteers, there is an advisory panel of over thirty members, and a Board of Directors, which oversees the group's work, staff, fundraising and policy^[19]. The current board members are Emma Byrne, Simon Collister, James Cronin, Ben Laurie, Neil McGovern, Harry Metcalfe, Danny O'Brien and Vijay Sodiwala.

ORGCON[link]

ORGCON was the first ever conference dedicated to digital rights in the UK^[20], marketed as "a crash course in digital rights". It was held on 24 July 2010 at City University in London and included keynote talks from Cory Doctorow, politicians and similar pressure groups including Liberty, NO2ID and Big Brother Watch.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Open Rights Group website

See also[link]

• Digital Rights Ireland
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Electronic Frontiers Australia
• Electronic Frontier Canada
• Internet censorship
• Open Genealogy Alliance
• OpenMedia.ca

The Classic (Hangul: 클래식; Keulraesik) is a 2003 South Korean melodrama / romance film directed by Kwak Jae-yong.

Plot[link]

The film tells the parallel love stories of a mother and daughter. The story of the mother is told partially in flashbacks.

The movie starts in the present day. The daughter, Ji-hye (Son Ye-jin), is cleaning-up around her house when she comes across a box full of old letters and a diary that detail the story of her mother, Joo-hee (who is also played by Son Ye-jin). Periodically in the movie, Ji-hye reads one of these letters, which starts a flashback scene in which the story of the mother is told. These flashbacks are intertwined with Ji-hye's own story, in which she falls for a fellow student, Sang-min (Zo In Sung), who is involved with the school theater.

The movie tells the story of both relationships. The mother, Joo-hee, visits the countryside as a student one summer and meets Joon-ha (Jo Seung-woo). Together they explore the countryside, playing near a river which they both will always remember as their special place. When a storm starts they take shelter together under a tree, but not before Joo-hee twists her ankle and is rendered helpless. Joon-ha carries her on his back and they struggle home, only to be confronted by her angry parents. Before they separate, Joo-hee gives him a necklace, which he keeps close as a precious reminder of their time together.

Unfortunately, as often happens in affairs of the heart, a third party prevents any deepening of their relationship. Joo-hee has been promised by her parents as a bride to Tae-soo, Joon-ha's friend. But Tae-soo, a noble friend, finds out about Joo-hee and Joon-ha's attraction for each other and helps the two communicate secretly by letting them use his own name in place of Joon-ha's in their letters. When Tae-soo's father finds this out, however, he beats Tae-soo. Tae-soo tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide so that his two friends can be together.

Meanwhile, in the present, Ji-hye falls for Sang-min in whom her friend Soo-kyeong is also very interested, but he seems not to notice. Then, in a sweet scene, they take shelter from the rain together under the same tree. He uses his coat to cover both of them and escorts her to where she needs to go. The moment, while magical, does not go anywhere as she feels his help was only due to his generous nature and not from any feelings for her on his part.

Back in the past, Joon-ha is guilt-ridden over his friend's attempted suicide and Joo-hee's own guilt. Determined to prevent any more hurt to her, Joon-ha joins the army and goes to Vietnam. There he loses his eyesight while he tries to retrieve the necklace Joo-hee had given him. When he returns to Korea, he meets again with Joo-hee, and, trying to hide his blindness, convinces her he has married in the hope she will move on with her life. Though heart broken that their relationship cannot continue, she does move on and eventually marries Tae-soo, Joon-ha's kind friend. After they have been married for several years and have a young daughter (Ji-hye) Joo-hee is approached by friends of Joon-ha, who relate Joon-ha's last wish: that his ashes be scattered by Joo-hee in the river, now a reservoir, where they first met. She then finds out that Joon-ha hadn't married, but he later did after Tae-soo and Joo-hee were married. She was told that he had a son also. The heart-break is too much and she cries.

In the present, Ji-hye's own story unfolds. Sang-min reveals his true feelings for Ji-hye - feelings that mirror her own. It is also revealed that their taking shelter together during the storm was no accident: he had purposely left his umbrella behind in a shop so that he could join her under the tree. Then, when Ji-hye pensively reveals her mother's story to him, tears stream down his face. Silently he lifts a necklace from around his neck and places it around hers. It is the necklace that Ji-hye's mother, Joo-hee, had given to Joon-ha when they met. The circle is completed: Joo-hee's daughter and Joon-ha's son have fallen in love.

Cast[link]

• Son Ye-jin in dual role as Ji-hye and Joo-hee (Ji-hye's mother)
• Jo Seung-woo as Joon-ha
• Zo In Sung as Sang-min
• Lee Ki-woo as Tae-soo (friend of Joon-ha)
• Lee Soo-in as Soo-kyeong (friend of Ji-hye)
• Seo Yeong-hee as Na-hee (friend of Joo-hee)
• Lim Ye Jin as Shopkeeper

Development[link]

Several of the school scenes were filmed at various universities in Korea. Notably, the library was in Kyung Hee University. There are many parallels between the flashback and present day stories. In the flashbacks, Joon Ha writes letters in the name of his friend Tae-soo to their mutual love interest. In the present day, Ji-hye writes letters in the name of her friend to their mutual love interest. In the flashbacks, Joo-hee has an annoying female friend that Joon-ha is initially set up with. In the present day, Ji-hye also has an annoying friend that interferes with her relationship. Also, Joo-hee and Ji-hye both receive the same poem from the people they love: "When the sun shines...".

Reception[link]

The Classic was nominated at the Hong Kong Film Awards in the category Best Asian Film in 2004.^[3]

Son Ye-jin received several awards for her performance in the film:^[4]

• 2003 40th Daejong sang Awards: Best New Actress (The Classic)
• 2003 39th PaekSang Arts Awards: Best New Actress (The Classic)
• 2003 24th Blue Dragon Film Awards - Most Favourite Star (The Classic, Crazy First Love)
• 2004 9th Moscow International Love Movie Awards: Best Couple (The Classic)

Music[link]

The film relies heavily on music to help convey emotion.

Korean Songs in the film:

• 그랬나봐 ("Geuraetna pwa" - World without love) - performer: Kim Hyung Joong
• 고백 ("Gobaek" - Confession) - performer: Delispice - played during the art gallery scene
• 너에게 난 나에게 넌 ("Neoehgeh nan naehgeh neon" - Me to you, you to me) - performer: Jatanpung - played during both special umbrella scenes
• 너무 아픈 사랑은 사랑이아니었음을 ("Neomu apeun sarangeun sarangee anieosseumeul" - It wasn't love if it hurt so much) - performer: Kim Kwang Suk - played during train and last meeting scenes
• 사랑하면 할수록 ("Saranghamyon halsoorok" - If we are in love, then...) - Played in different instrumental versions throughout the film - always at emotional moments. It is sung in the final scenes by performer Han Song Min. There is also a Mandarin version of this song titled "Hui Se Kong Jian" (灰色空間 in Mandarin) which is sung by Taiwanese singer Show Luo in Taiwanese drama called "The Outsider II".

The piano piece performed by Joo-Hee on stage is Beethoven's Piano Sonata 8, movement 2 Pathetique Sonata.

Pachelbel's Canon in D was also used as the background music. This same music was featured in the director's earlier film, My Sassy Girl.

Some American songs were used as well.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Classic at the Korean Movie Database
• The Classic at the Internet Movie Database
• The Classic at HanCinema

Laura Stevenson (born April 25, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter based in Long Island, New York and keyboardist for musical collective, Bomb the Music Industry!.

Biography[link]

Laura Stevenson was raised in Nassau County, New York, where she was introduced to music at an early age. Her grandfather, Harry Simeone, was a successful pianist and composer whose works included "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?". Simeone's wife (and Laura's grandmother), Margaret McCravy was a singer for the jazz bandleader Benny Goodman. Not until leaving her home for college, did Laura begin both playing guitar and writing songs.

Growing up in Rockville Centre, Laura befriended members of The Arrogant Sons of Bitches. After they disbanded in 2005, Laura was appointed as a keyboardist for lead singer Jeff Rosenstock's new project, Bomb The Music Industry!. At this point, Laura had written a number of her own songs and was performing solo. While recording and touring with Bomb The Music Industry!, Laura began to piece together her own band, which was dubbed Laura Stevenson & the Cans.

Initially, Laura Stevenson & The Cans consisted primarily of members of Bomb The Music Industry!. In the summer of 2007, Laura recruited Michael Campbell of the Long Island punk band Latterman to play bass for The Cans.^[1] Alex Billig was added on trumpet later that fall, and a year later Laura began working on her first studio recording.

Asian Man Records released "A Record" on April 13, 2010 on LP and CD. The group spent more than half of that year on tour in The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Western Europe in various lineups: sometimes being as small as just Stevenson and Campbell on acoustic guitars, and other times fully electric with a three-piece horn section. The group toured with Bomb The Music Industry!, Maps & Atlases, Cults, and Cheap Girls.

The band officially signed to New Jersey-based independent label Don Giovanni Records in November 2010,^[2] and their sophomore LP, Sit Resist, was released on April 26, 2011.^[3]

Members of Laura Stevenson & The Cans[link]

• Laura Stevenson: Lead guitar/vocals
• Mike Campbell: Bass guitar
• Alex Billig: Accordion/trumpet
• Peter Naddeo: Guitar
• Dave Garwacke: Drums

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website for Laura Stevenson & The Cans
• Laura Stevenson @ MySpace
• Laura Stevenson @ Last.FM
• Laura Stevenson @ Quote Unquote Records
• Beets Untitled - Laura Stevenson

Tom Gabel
Gabel performing with Against Me! in 2011
Background information
Birth name	Thomas James Gabel
Also known as	Laura Jane Grace
Born	(1980-11-08) November 8, 1980 (age 31) Fort Benning, Georgia, United States
Origin	Gainesville, Florida, United States
Genres	Punk rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, singer, guitarist, record producer
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Misanthrope, Crasshole, Plan-It-X, No Idea, Sabot, Fat Wreck Chords, Sire, Total Treble
Associated acts	Against Me!
Website	ifeelsicktomystomach.blogspot.com

Thomas James "Tom" Gabel (born November 8, 1980) is the lead vocalist, songwriter, and a guitarist for the American punk rock band Against Me! Gabel started the band as a solo act in 1997, expanding it into a quartet a few years later. Against Me! have released five studio albums, experiencing breakthrough success with 2007's New Wave and its follow-up, 2010's White Crosses. Gabel released a solo EP, Heart Burns, in 2008, and in 2011 opened the Total Treble recording studio and launched an accompanying record label, Total Treble Music.

Gabel married visual artist Heather Hannoura in 2007. The two had a daughter, Evelyn, in 2009. In 2012 Gabel publicly came out as transgender, having dealt with gender dysphoria since childhood. Gabel plans to transition to living as a woman and eventually take the name Laura Jane Grace.

Biography[link]

1980–96: Early life[link]

Gabel was born in Fort Benning, Georgia to a military family: Tom's father, Major Thomas Gabel, is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served 20 years in the United States Army.^[1][2] The family moved frequently between military bases, living briefly in Fort Hood, Texas; Pennsylvania; Ohio; Germany; and at a NATO post in Italy during the Gulf War.^[1][2][3] Gabel experienced feelings of gender dysphoria from an early age, playing with Barbie dolls and fantasizing about being Madonna.^[2]

Gabel's parents had an acrimonious divorce when Tom was 11 years old, and never spoke to one another again.^[2][4] "I think Tommy became the catchall for the anger of the split", said Gabel's mother, who moved with her son to Naples, Florida to live with Tom's grandmother.^[2] Gabel felt severely depressed during this time, recalling it as "a period of extreme dysphoria – of just not wanting to be male."^[2] Picked on at school and called a "faggot", by age 13 Gabel was experimenting seriously with alcohol and drugs including marijuana, LSD, and cocaine, and was arrested for possession of marijuana at 14.^[2][4] Gabel would go on to struggle with addiction for years.^[2] Other coping mechanisms included skipping school to cross-dress at home.^[2]

While in junior high school Gabel became a fan of punk rock, attracted to the nihilistic and anarchistic ideals of the genre.^[1][2] An arrest at age 14 crystallized Gabel's aversion to authority: Having gone to the beach on Independence Day 1995 to watch fireworks, "I walked up on the boardwalk, and a cop was like 'Hey, get off the boardwalk; you're blocking the flow of traffic.' So I turned around and got off, and he came up to me again and was like, 'Get off the boardwalk.' And I was like 'I'm off the boardwalk.'"^[1] Gabel claims to have then been slammed into a police car, thrown face-first to the pavement, jumped on, hogtied, carried "like a suitcase", put in a holding cell, charged with resisting arrest and battery, and placed under house arrest for the summer, all because "I was a dirty, grubby little punk kid with black spiky hair who hadn't washed his pants in a year."^[1][4] Gabel later said the experience "changed my life. [It] politicized me."^[5] "I have an inherent trust of mankind. I think authority and government base their power on violence. I refuse to recognize anyone's power over me."^[1]

After the incident, Gabel came to identify with British anarcho-punk band Crass, calling them "to me, the best band to ever blend music and politics":^[3] "I felt like Crass' music legitimately made a change. They really backed up what they were doing. I saw that writing a song against something was just as valid as standing on a street corner holding a sign."^[1] Gabel befriended James Bowman when they met on their first day of high school; the two have been close ever since.^[2] "We were both punk rock kids with spiky hair and more belts than necessary", recalls Bowman. "We just hung out and smoked pot and did normal kid things."^[1] Gabel's first tattoo—a Crass logo on the right ankle—was done by Bowman, though Gabel later covered it up with a tattoo of the Rebel Alliance symbol because Bowman had been drunk and inked it sloppily.^[1][2][4]

1997–2005: Forming Against Me! and first marriage[link]

In 1997, at age 17, Gabel dropped out of high school and began writing songs, naming the musical project Against Me!^[2][6] Moving to Gainesville, Florida at 18, Gabel began performing as Against Me!, either alone on an acoustic guitar or with friend Kevin Mahon accompanying by drumming on pickle buckets.^[1][2] Gabel's songs drew influence from early acoustic protest music, covering topics such as class struggle.^[1][7] Early Against Me! shows were played at dive bars, laundromats, and anywhere else that would allow Gabel to perform, to audiences of a few or even zero.^[2][7] Making ends meet by working odd jobs, dumpster diving, selling blood plasma, and living in a low-rent house with twelve roommates across the street from an experimental waste dump, Gabel also volunteered with nonprofit socialist groups such as Food Not Bombs.^[1][2] Gabel was arrested again at 18 for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest without violence: "I was picking up [Mahon]. He was like, 'Pop the trunk—I want to throw some stuff in there.' I was waiting in the car and I saw two cop cars come up behind me. I got out and they had my friend on the ground. I went up to the first officer I saw and said, 'Excuse me, officer, what’s going on?' He's like, 'Down on the ground—you're going to jail.' I started to ask another question and he grabbed me, slammed me into the cop car, and arrested me."^[4]

In 2000 Gabel convinced Bowman to move to Gainesville and began teaching him how to play Against Me! songs on guitar.^[1] Gabel also married at this time, though the marriage would end in divorce four years later: "It was more of an embarrassing thing", Gabel later stated. "I was 20—I was way naive and shouldn't have gotten married that young."^[1] After some early EP releases, Against Me! developed into a full band consisting of Gabel, Bowman, bassist Dustin Fridkin, and drummer Warren Oakes. Their debut album, Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose, was released in 2002 through local independent record label No Idea Records.^[7] With Fridkin replaced by Andrew Seward, the band signed to Fat Wreck Chords for 2003's Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy and 2005's Searching for a Former Clarity.^[1][7] The latter sold over 65,000 copies and was their first album to chart on the Billboard 200, reaching no. 114.^[1][8] Against Me! supported it with a tour of all 50 U.S. states.^[1][7]

As Against Me!'s popularity increased, Gabel felt alienated from the male-centric punk scene: "With the band especially, I felt more and more like I was putting on an act – like I was being shoved into this role of 'angry white man in a punk band.'"^[2] The stresses of the band's tour schedule, coupled with going through a divorce at age 24, contributed to Gabel's addiction: "I was just getting fucked up all the time: drinking, drugs, whatever. I felt unhealthy and depressed about so many things."^[1] Throughout this time Gabel made oblique references to gender dysphoria in song lyrics, including "The Disco Before the Breakdown" ("I know they're going to laugh at us / when they see us out together 'holding hands' like this"), "Violence" ("You've been keeping secrets [...] Nothing but shame and paranoia"), and "Searching for a Former Clarity" ("In the journal you kept by the side of your bed [...] confessing childhood secrets of dressing up in women's clothes / Compulsions you never knew the reasons to").^[2] To help escape the stress and depression, Gabel spent 18 months living in hotels on the outskirts of Gainesville while writing the next Against Me! album.^[1][9]

2006–11: Second marriage, mainstream success, and solo EP[link]

Gabel performing with Against Me! at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

In December 2005 Against Me! signed to Sire Records, a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group.^[1][2][7] With increased mainstream exposure, Gabel swore off cross-dressing and other expressions of femininity: "You go through periods of binging and purging. I was 25, we were about to go on a long period of touring, and I was like, 'That's it. I'm getting rid of all this. I'm male, and that's it.'"^[2] In March 2006, while touring as an opening act for Alkaline Trio, Gabel met artist Heather Hannoura, who designed merchandise for Alkaline Trio and other bands.^[2][10] The two spent the summer together on the Warped Tour, began living together, and got tattoos of each others' names.^[2] They married in December 2007 after a year-long engagement.^[1][2] At the time Gabel had firmly committed to living as a man, saying the gender dysphoria "wasn't completely overwhelming. There wasn't any malice in terms of withholding anything. Our relationship completely consumed my thoughts."^[2] Gabel also became a vegan in 2006.^[1]

Against Me!'s first major-label album, 2007's New Wave, brought the band mainstream success: It debuted at no. 57 on the Billboard 200; featured their first charting single, "Thrash Unreal", which reached no. 11 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart; and was named as Spin's album of the year.^[8][11][12] The song "The Ocean" directly referenced Gabel's gender dysphoria, with the lyrics "If I could have chosen, I would have been born a woman / My mother once told me she would have named me Laura / I would grow up to be strong and beautiful like her / One day I'd find an honest man to make my husband".^[2][13][14] Though Gabel anticipated "completely outing myself" with the song, no one involved with the band seemed to pick up on the lyrics' literal meaning.^[2] Gabel wanted to cross-dress in the music video for "Thrash Unreal", but the label's A&R representative vetoed the idea.^[2]

In August 2007 Gabel was arrested in Tallahassee, Florida on charges of battery, following a confrontation with a coffee shop patron after Gabel tore down an article about Against Me! that had been hung up and defaced to mock the band.^[15][16] Gabel allegedly knocked a cup out of the man's hand, then forced his head into the wooden counter.^[15][16] Gabel admitted to intentionally knocking over the cup but denied hitting the man, and was released on bail the following morning.^[16] "We were playing at this place The Beta Bar," said Gabel, "and this coffee shop next door was having a protest show against ours. I mean... go protest the fucking war!"^[15][17]

Gabel's solo EP, Heart Burns, was released in October 2008.^[6][18] Timed to coincide with that year's United States presidential election, the EP's songs addressed the country's political and economic climate, criticizing presidential candidate John McCain and the trial of environmental activist Eric McDavid.^[6][18] "I wanted to do something that was the complete opposite of [New Wave] in the sense of approach", said Gabel. "I didn't want to really think about it. I didn't want to obsess about anything. I just wanted to go in and play songs. I wanted to record because it'll be fun, and that's what this is supposed to be about."^[4] Gabel supported the EP by performing on The Revival Tour with Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, Tim Barry of Avail, and Ben Nichols of Lucero.^[18]

With Against Me! in 2009

The Gabels had a daughter, Evelyn, in 2009.^[2] Tom's feelings of dysphoria "started coming back really strong" about the time Heather became pregnant that February, but were not acted on.^[2] The family moved to St. Augustine, Florida in 2010, when Evelyn was about a year old.^[2] Against Me!'s fifth studio album, White Crosses, was released that year and became their most successful, reaching no. 34 on the Billboard 200.^[8] By that September, however, Gabel began taking week-long writing trips alone, checking into hotels dressed as a woman and writing a concept album titled Transgender Dysphoria Blues, about a transsexual prostitute.^[2] Against Me! cancelled a series of tour dates in October and November 2010 due to "a culmination of circumstances engulfing us", and left Sire/Warner.^[19] In 2011 Gabel purchased an abandoned post office in Elkton, Florida, converting it into a recording studio called Total Treble and launching an accompanying record label, Total Treble Music, through which to issue future Against Me! releases.^[2][20][21] The first album recorded at the studio was Cheap Girls' Giant Orange (2012), which also marked Gabel's first experience as a record producer.^[21][22]

2012–present: Gender transition[link]

Gabel publicly came out as transgender in May 2012, with plans to transition to living as a woman.^[2][23][24] Having been inspired to come out after meeting a transgender Against Me! fan, Gabel informed the rest of the band that February.^[2][24] She will begin the medical process of transition by undergoing electrolysis treatments and taking hormones to lengthen hair and increase breast size.^[2] She is considering breast implants and facial plastic surgery, but is apprehensive about chondrolaryngoplasty and vaginoplasty: "I don't give a fuck if I lose my penis. It's just fucking scary because of the surgery. I've needed to have my wisdom teeth removed for five years, and I still haven't."^[2] She plans to live as a woman and undergo psychotherapy for a year before considering full sex reassignment surgery: "Right now, I'm in this awkward transition period. I look like a dude, and feel like a dude, and it sucks. Be eventually I'll flip, and I'll present as female."^[2]

Once she begins fully presenting as female, Gabel will begin going by the name Laura Jane Grace: "Laura" is the name her mother would have chosen if Gabel had been born female; "Jane" was selected simply because she thinks it pretty; "Grace" is her mother's maiden name.^[2] She will remain married to Heather, who is supportive of the transition: "For me, the most terrifying thing about this was how [Heather] would accept the news," said Gabel, "but she's been super-amazing and understanding."^[2][23] Gabel plans to continue performing in Against Me!, saying "However fierce our band was in the past, imagine me, six-foot-two, in heels, fucking screaming into someone's face."^[2][24]

In response to Gabel's announcement, a number of figures in the punk community voiced their support, including musicians Brian Fallon, Brendan Kelly, Franz Nicolay, and Mike Shinoda; cartoonist Mitch Clem; and professional wrestler CM Punk.^[25] Herndon Graddick, President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, hoped that Gabel's public profile would increase public awareness and acceptance of transgender people: "Tom is displaying extraordinary courage by coming out as transgender after already establishing herself as a rock star. For many of the band's fans, this may be the first time they're actually thinking about transgender people and the bravery it sometimes takes in order to be true to yourself."^[26]

On May 25th in San Diego Laura Jane Grace performed with Against Me! for the first time (rather than performing as Tom Gabel.) ^{[27] [28]}

Discography[link]

With Against Me![link]

Studio albums

• Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose (2002)
• Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy (2003)
• Searching for a Former Clarity (2005)
• New Wave (2007)
• White Crosses (2010)
• Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2012)

Solo[link]

• Heart Burns (2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tom Gabel

• Against Me!'s official website
• Gabel's official blog