MOSH PITTIE!
The Brooklyn lawmaker behind new animal rights bills
played in a hardcore metal band with pitbull vocalists
INSIDE
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Girl problems
All- women cast takes on ‘Measure for Measure’
Center stage: The Public’s all-women production of “Measure for Measure,” shown performing in a gymnasium, will come to the Weeksville Heritage Center on Nov. 16. Joan Marcus
TBy Bill Roundy hey’re taking the Measure
of a man!
An all-female, allblack
cast is taking one of
Shakespeare’s so-called
“problem plays” on a tour of
the five boroughs, visiting
community centers, shelters,
prisons, and other spots that
rarely see live theater. The
all–women of color production
of “Measure for Measure,”
stopping at the Weeksville
Heritage Center on Nov. 16,
offers a uniquely clear-eyed
look at the Bard’s tale of sexual
harassment and abuse of power,
said its director.
“I think by having an allfemale
cast, it gives us the
opportunity to look at it from
the perspective of these women,”
said LA Williams, director the
Public Theater’s Mobile Unit
show. “We’re no strangers to
patriarchy and misogyny, but to
see what that looks like through
their eyes — to see them embody
these characters and show their
experience of it — the male
audience are really having a
chance to see it in a new way.”
The play focuses on a corrupt
judge, Angelo, who threatens to
execute the brother of a young
nun unless she agrees to have sex
with him. Many male actors try
to find Angelo’s softer side, said
Williams, but the women in this
play are ready to show him as a
straight-up villain.
“By having women play these
characters — especially these
bad characters — we tap into
the truth and ugliness of these
characters much quicker,” he
said. “They’re only interested in
the truth, and the craziness and
the violence, rather than trying
to soften it.”
“Measure for Measure” takes
places in a lawless city, and this
production is set in New Orleans
in 1979 — a year when Mardi
Gras was cancelled due to a
police strike, noted Williams.
The setting is conveyed through
second-line music, dancing, and
masquerade outfits, he said ,
giving the show a fun, freewheeling
vibe during its lighter
scenes. The setting also seemed
appropriate for the traveling
show, since the people of New
Orleans threw their own parties
in the absence of an official
parade.
“Although it was cancelled,
they still celebrated,” said
Williams. “They took to the
streets, and the idea of performing
for themselves, and for their
neighbors, seemed right for us.”
The traveling show will
perform at several correctional
facilities during its run. There
were some concerns about how
male prisoners would react to a
cast of women, said Williams,
but their experience has been
entirely positive.
“They completely understood
the commentary that we’re
trying to make on misogyny
and patriarchy and abuse of
power. It’s been really, really,
fascinating to watch the audience
get it,” he said.
After the tour is complete,
the production will settle at the
Public Theater in Manhattan
for a three-week run starting on
Nov. 18.
“Measure for Measure” at
Weeksville Heritage Center 158
Buffalo Ave. at St. Marks Avenue
in Brownsville, (718) 756–5250,
www.weeksvillesociety.org.
Nov. 16 at 2 pm. Free.
Your entertainment
guide Page 49
Police Blotter ..........................8
Healthy Brooklyn ................ 27
Opinion ...................................44
Letters ....................................45
Standing O ............................46
HOW TO REACH US
COURIER L 2 IFE, NOVEMBER 8-14, 2019
BY ROSE ADAMS
The Bensonhurst lawmaker
behind the suite of
animal rights bills approved
by City Council on Wednesday
once played guitar in a
hardcore death metal band
— which was fronted by two
pitbulls!
Vegetarian Councilman
Justin Brannan formerly
shredded with a New York
City grindcore band, called
Caninus, which featured
four-legged vocalists Basil
and Budgie, and he attributes
his activist leanings in part
to his furry band mates
“The hardcore scene in the
‘90s was a lot of people talking
about social issues and
animal rights,” said Brannan.
“I really got my start as
a teenaged animal rights activist,
and that’s something
that has never left me.”
Brannan introduced two
bills included in a package
of animal welfare legislation
that passed Council on Oct.
30, the fi rst of which requires
the formation of a new city
agency, called the Offi ce of
Animal Welfare, which will
oversee animal regulations,
propose animal-friendly
legislation, and host educational
programs on the humane
treatment of animals.
The second bill calls on
legislators up in Albany to
ban puppy mills from operating
throughout the state,
while legislation introduced
by other council members,
but approved alongside Brannan’s,
included laws that ban
horse-drawn carriages on
hot or humid days, prevent
people from capturing pigeons
and other wild birds,
and forbid the sale of foie
gras — a luxury dish of fatty
PAW-FULLY LOUD: Councilman Justin Brannan (right) founded a death metal band, Caninus, that starred two
pitbull vocalists.
goose liver — among others.
Brannan voted in favor of all
the bills, which he called “a
long time coming.”
“We’ve been talking about
doing this forever,” said
Brannan.
Brannan, a Bay Ridge native,
has long been a vocal supporter
of animal rights. In the
early 2000s, he and members
of his successful hardcore
punk bands Indecision and
Most Precious Blood, which
mostly sang about animal
welfare and human rights,
formed a spin-off group called
Caninus, whose two vocalists
were rescued pitbulls.
The human-animal ensemble
released songs including
“New Yorkie Crew (Loyal
Like a Stone),” “Bite the Hand
That Breeds You,” and “F---
the American Kennel Club.”
The group enjoyed some
success — one song, “No
Dogs, No Masters,” has
racked up over 700,000 views
on Youtube.
According to Brannan, he
and his bandmates wrote actual
lyrics for their various
tracks — but they were all
sung by dogs!
“We pretended like they
were singing the lyrics,”
Brannan said.
Caninus disbanded in
2011, but Brannan’s animal
activism is still going strong.
Two months ago, the vegetarian
councilman and his wife
adopted two greyhounds that
used to be race dogs named
Fiorello and Luna.
“These dogs were basically
disposed of once their
racing career was over,”
Brannan said. “We kind of
fell in love.”
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