Feminist Friday : A Weekly Round Up for July 8, 2016

St. Vincent covered The Golden Girls theme. Sure, I will take this ethereal distraction from my otherwise mostly depressing social media feed.

Is it that there are fewer women in music than men currently or do we blame the people of power in the industry for excluding us from venues, publications, festivals, offices, and label rosters? Meaning we are here, get used to it, and hire us damn it. The Guardian has some answers. Harvard Business Review also offers some related insight to confidence of women in the workplace. Apparently unless we also radiate competence and warmth, we will continue to be looked over. Damned if we do, damned if we don't.

Pittsburgh has a three day music festival that celebrates women in music called Ladyfest that kicks off today.

Music fan's interest in the long player continue to wane as singles and EPs cycle back to meet our ever diminishing attention span. I don't care about trends. As a musician who loves the creative process of creating a whole album; building a story that has a beginning, middle, and end, I will ignore this data and carry on as I please.

Did you know Jean Smith from Mecca Normal is also a stunning painter? I am obsessed with her very affordable portraits.

Indie record store owners are reminded that the major labels really don't give a crap about them. This week WEA will stop selling music to accounts who purchase less than 10k a year from them. Perhaps someone can tell me, does this mean ADA who is a part of that umbrella also cutting off these smaller record stores? For those of you who aren't familiar, ADA is a music distro that is one stop shopping tha represent some of the biggest and best indie music labels in the business and the very stores who have helped to make those record labels household names will no longer be able to purchase their catalog. Yikes. The music industry desperately needs more DIY distributors. Record stores need product to sell and it is impossible to go direct with every label or band they like. They rely on distributors to help keep their stores stocked.

The transgender community deserves a better voice says Genesis P-Orridge and Laura Jane Grace. I couldn't agree more.

Backyard Report! * Once upon a time Richmond, VA had a legendary large brick building called Garbers filled with band practice spaces spread over many floors. Our local creative community suffered a serious blow recently when it was announced the building was sold and was going to become condos. All bands renting a space there have been asked to vacate the premises. Our city lacks affordable practice spaces so more than 30 (I bet closer to 50 band) have lost their rehearsal spaces this month and now there is a small army of talent now looking for new places to call home. Local musician and filmmaker Allison Apperson (of the band Hot Lava) is working on a short documentary on this important piece of Richmond's music history. My band Positive No called this space home for the first three years of our existence and nearly all of the music we have released to date was written and worked out in a room there. * I can't get enough of GIRLS ROCK! RVA.

Nylon has selected 5 female fronted bands they think you should know about.

Enjoy visiting this LEGO record store created by the legendary artist Coop.

My favorite on the planet Sheila B is taking her act on the road. Europe, you have no idea how lucky you are.

LA Weekly has published a story on women smashing misogyny in the music industry. Behind the scenes there is a growing network of us coming banding together in person and on social media in private groups to help bring about change and support each other when sexism strikes which as you can imagine is a daily event. No more secret keeping. We are naming names and calling situations out in an effort to protect each other from those who abuse or oppress us.

Erykah Badu is donating concert funds to Detroit's rape kit process.

There is a Classical music tribute entitled Sing Her Name that commemorates women black women impacted by racial justice. #BLACKLIVESMATTER

I could look at Rock and Roll fashion portraits from the past all day long. Punks! Goths! Disco Queens!

Want to feel insecure about who you were as a 17 year old? Lindsey Jordan from Snail Mail is the kind of talented young musician that is decades ahead of her peers and she has only just begun. And I thought I was accomplished as a teen for learning how to drive stick shift.

Why can't electronic music festivals give us some love? Owning just  3% of a talent roster is not acceptable.

Feminist Friday: A Weekly Round Up

We recently said goodbye to Nadine and the music industry lost one dynamic lady.

This is the most inspiring thing I saw all week.  In an effort to protect themselves from mutilation, abuse, and potentially death by their husband's hands, these Kenyan women have broken off and created their own safe places, all female villages. This short film shows what is possible when we work together and make our lives what we think we deserve. Empowerment, respect, education, control, and enlightenment, these women are remarkable. Warning to those in the work place, there is some tribal nudity.

Grimes says music is a hostile environment for women and discussed male producers in her past that have tried to hold her songs hostage in exchange for sex. 

Thao on Song Exploder explains that even in personal song writing, we still can use a little help from our friends.

You love St. Vincent behind a guitar, how about behind a movie camera of this all female directed and female lead horror film series?

The Julie Ruin is back

Oh man. Remember how excited we were to learn that Furnace Record Pressing had purchased 10 record presses from Mexico, in theory to help get the record pressing industry caught up with the spike in clients trying to press records (around Record Store Day specifically)? Well shit didn't go as planned. Foiled again!

Erykah Badu, what exactly are you trying to say here about young women?

Goodbye Uber, hello Chariot for Women. Meet a new company who will make those late night rides (so common in music) a whole lot safer.

The equal pay gap debate continues.

Afropunk, the movie - you need to watch this documentary.

I recently visited the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore (highly recommended and don't miss the best gift shop on the planet) It inspired me to learn more about female outsider artists.

Hip Hop stylist Ian Conner has been accused of rape.

Is critical writing worth death threats? 

Women in music talk about female leadership for CNN with Taylor Brode, Molly Neuman, and Maggie Vail.

And a gift for your ears this weekend - a new PJ Harvey album!

Feminist Fridays: Reading Round Up

Here are the highlights for the week of March 14th, 2016:

Punk gave this Latina woman the freedom to be herself. This is her story.

Let 2016 be the year women no longer protect the men who beat, abuse, and rape them. Every week lately it seems the music industry has a new headline about a musician or a man in the industry accused of assault, harrasment, or rape and this week is no exception.

Why are female musicians picking up more guns than ever in their music videos? Fader has some ideas.

Just like many people miss the point of the Black Lives Matter movement, there are people who don't understand why women might want to create female only safe places. Here are 6 reasons why.

Cool, I make less in the professional world AND I make less when I as a woman sell stuff on Ebay. I sell records on Ebay often and this story tells me pay inequality has followed me there too.

Music does the mind good and there is science to prove it.

You think you are punk? Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's son is so disappointed in the 40th anniversary of punk as blessed by the Queen herself, that he is planning on burning his parent's record collection valued in the millions in absurd protest. You could be a dick and burn art belonging to a culture your parents helped shape and dress or you could sell that collection and make a donation to a charity you believe in that would potentially better the world. Read more about the boy wonder here. 

Can we talk about how cool it is that the President and the First Lady were speakers at SXSW? Michelle Obama talked about her Let Girls Learn initiative which "helps adolescent girls around the globe attend and complete school. She also introduced an impressive anthem with a little help from some friends.

What do St. Vincent, Iggy Pop, and Josh Homme have in common? This mix tape.

I'm so excited, I just can't hide it. I'm about to loose control because of this cool article on Anita Pointer (Pop star, civil rights activist, and collector of black memorabilia) and I think I like it.