WHEELCHAIR SPORTS CAMP – Hard Out Here For A Gimp

Combining humor, playfulness, middle fingers, and an undeniable love for the groove, WHEELCHAIR SPORTS CAMP is certainly not your average hip-hop act. Fronted by Kalyn Rose Heffernan – a wheelchair using, profanely queer, tiny rapper with a very distinct high-pitched sense of humor, the band is a combination of live and electronic instruments provided by Joshua Trinidad on trumpet and Gregg Ziemba on drums that creates a more jazzy, noisey, funky sound than the traditional hip-hop group.

Their unconventional setup of live instruments and Kalyn’s produced beats presents a polished sound with old-school lyrics that maintain a sarcastic yet independent and heavy consciousness. The band unknowingly started in the summer of 1997 when Kalyn moved back from California to her hometown and was invited to attend and corrupt the 14th annual week-long Colorado Jr. Wheelchair Sports Camp. This noisy experiment was birthed by the DIY, combining beats with shredding face live. Playing shows in every place they could, the band has since stretched into theatre, performance art, public television, politics, prison tours, permanent installations, and who knows what’s next…. but already WHEELCHAIR SPORTS CAMP has been featured on the cover of the Village Voice as well as in SPIN Magazine, Huffington Post, High Times Magazine and more.

“Hard Out Here For A Gimp” originally appears on their LP “No Big Deal” on Strange Famous Records released in 2016.

Directed/edited by Chris Bagley Co-edited by Kalyn Heffernan Produced by Sam Wilhoite

Special Thanks: Dr. Frank Chang Children’s Hospital (CO) Ana Ortega Bree Davies Desiree Gonzalez Lily Farias Ashley Orr

Hair/Makeup: Alyria Salazar

Nurses: Joshua Abeyta Mark Bliesener Zoë Kutz-Davies Michelle “the Bossest” Rocqet Gregg Ziemba

Bae: Ru Johnson

Crips & Extras: Damian Alvarado Sylvia Alvarado Jordan Beyer Bree Davies Desiree Gonzalez Daevion Hill Djimon Hill Erica Kannely Stacey Kay Zachary Korbel Zoë Kutz-Davies Frank Kwiatkowski James Laurie Teresa Nguyen Gui Orvis Amy Rivera Kydd Savage Ed Sandoval Ali Snave Tammy Tramble Joshua Trinidad Thomas Williams Helen Ziemba

Color correction Jon Firestone P.A. Avery Rains