Today on Boing Boing tv — a sneak preview of Heavy Load: A Film About Happiness, a new documentary about a UK punk band whose members include people who have developmental disabilities.
’70s punk star Wreckless Eric describes them as “a triumph of dysfunctionalness,” and even Kylie Minogue (they’ve covered a hit song of hers) has become a fan.
The band says their mission is…
…to demonstrate that disability rocks. There are few genres left in music that have yet to be defined. Heavy Load have unwittingly created a brand new one.
The band is also behind a campaign called “Stay Up Late” which advocates for the right of cognitively disabled people to be allowed to go out, supervised, to live music shows and — well, stay out late enough to actually see and hear the show. Again, from the band:
We play gigs all over the country and we have noticed that something strange happens at 9.00pm – people start to go home. Heavy Load are fed up with people with learning disabilities leaving club nights and gigs early because their staff finish their shifts at 10pm. This means they are missing out.
If this happens to you: You need to talk about this with your friends, support workers, family and advocates. Our ‘Stay Up Late’ campaign is to make managers and staff know that we want them to plan ahead and talk to us about what we want to do…
Link to Boing Boing tv post with discussion, downloadable video, and BBtv podcast subscription info.
The full-length documentary premieres on the US cable network IFC on June 23rd, 9PM ET/10PM PT, and again on 24th June. (Special thanks to BB’s Mark Frauenfelder, and to the film’s director, Jerry Rothwell)