Bitch
April 20th, 2022
By Mace Griffin
Bitch looks like she just got finished painting a rainbow canvas, donning a white jumpsuit covered in colorful splotches and shapes. Her black and green hair is piled up on her head, with a single braid cascading over her shoulder. A broom, bedazzled and sparkling, is in her grip, flying her onto the small stage in the basement of Manhattan.
Waiting for the witch onstage are three oversized notebooks, a pencil the size of my forearm, a guitar, and an electric violin. There is a small rug on the ground, and another broom, this one has yet to be covered in gemstones. Bitch puts them side by side.
Bitch waves her hand around, twirling the air around her, palms open and ready to catch a fairy. She theatrically looks around the room, before walking toward her violin, which has a sparkling sticker of a uterus on the backside. She places it on her shoulder and begins playing a few ominous chords.
“We will get into some heresy, let’s hope. A revelation or two. And of course, much bitchcraft.” She continues to play staccato with her bow. “I’d like to dedicate this entire set to mother earth. The ultimate life-giver. The mother of us all.”
She begins with a call and response in the song “Hello Meadow!” that she raps over a track being played. Bitch begins the show full of energy and emotion, giving her all into the performance.
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Each song is rife with fun. Bitch grabs her keytar and plays one of the beats that come in the machine to perform one of her earliest pieces “Pussy Manifesto.” All the while she gives commentary about her younger self on top of the song. “I was so cocky then.”
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Bitch has gone her life, being corrected and changed by the standards around her. Eventually, she said, “enough is enough” and became her full true self. It is impossible to not get lured into the storytelling she does, using it as a transition between songs. In her stories, she talks about her own life and how she came to be the bitch she is. She uses her props on stage for full effect, writing manifestos, and casting spells with the pencil. Her emotional-support broom is in use frequently, dancing with it, sweeping things under the rug, and using it as a symbol of herself.
By fully embracing herself, she still gets the “tsk tsk” from society but has been able to give herself more power. She uses her self-love as a lesson to teach everyone that they, too, should love themselves and not care about rejection. Her name, Bitch, appropriately is the reason why she can’t market her shows, why venues won’t market her shows, and has made it very hard for her to rise up in this industry.
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When meeting her after the show, you learn she is anything but a bitch. All the fans that were in that room stayed late just so they could meet her in the lobby by her merchandising that was selling mini brooms, stickers, and a bolo tie. She talked to every person that was there and is so uplifting. While she was able to grow and become herself after facing rejection, she makes sure to pour back only love to people to help them.
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