In the Mood For… Pussy Riot Vodka
Two, no THREE, of my favorite things combined: femmepunk + booze + political art. Behold: Pussy Riot Vodka, “a PUNK sensibility, with a higher price point.”
Artists Gordy Grundy and Michael Delgado have teamed up to craft a series of “marketing materials” for a hard liquor with a message. They use satire and legit graphic design skillz to express their discontent over the ridiculous 2-year sentence imposed on Russian punk collective Pussy Riot. And while the artists seem genuine in their support for the band, I think their more important message here is about corporate exploitation of real issues of government injustice, and the hypocrisy mega-brands trying to appeal to and/or appropriate from minorities and subcultures.
So, well done. Now if only I could drink it. If you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend browsing PVR’s brilliant “marketing site.”
In related news, I saw Patti Smith perform at Hardly Strictly last weekend. At the end of her set, she victoriously sang-spelled: G-L-O-R-I-A… P-U-S-S-Y R-I-O-T. Incredible as usual, that woman.
Ribbon Around A Bomb 
JUST NOW update to this story: Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich set free:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/world/europe/one-member-of-pussy-riot-is-freed-by-moscow-court.html?_r=1&