My Rock Hero: Joyce Raskin

Yesterday a dear friend and my rock and roll idol announced that the Scarce Kickstarter campaign they were ramping up for was cancelled because she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The only silver lining here is that they have caught it early and will be aggressively treating her starting with surgery next week. I am sending her every ounce of love and support I have and in the meantime would like to share just what it is about Joyce that makes her an icon in my eyes. I want everyone to know the gift that is her many talents.

Joyce Raskin was a member of a band called Scarce that featured a gentleman by the name of Chick Graning who had previously played in a band that I love called Anastasia Screamed. A friend who was also a fan of the band insisted that I HAD to check out this new band Scarce who were just as good if not better than A.S. and featured a women who could be my long lost sister. It was sold to me like it seeing them live was a religious experience. The first time I saw them play was in the early to mid '90s but honestly nothing could prepare me for what I saw. 

This three piece included Joyce Raskin, a pint size powerhouse of style and energy who also happened to be a ridiculously talented bass player. Scarce exploded on stage. Their was a palatable chemistry between the members that charged through the band and came through them like a sexually charged lighthouse. They were incandescent and communicated through each other somewhere between wild lovers and tender best friends. Most bands would kill to have a few great songs but Scarce not only knew how to write a memorable song, they shared an electricity that could charge an entire stadium with their energy.  

Decades later I can say with all confidence I have NEVER witnessed a better live performer. Anyone who ROCKS so hard that they need to place padding on the underside of their bass to protect themselves is a superstar in my book. Joyce doesn't just rock, she rocks hard. Fun fact, the actresses in the 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats needed to learn how to move on stage like rock stars studied footage of Joyce for inspiration. 

Check out the live footage in this video. I still get goosebumps. All the things I was told about what the band X was like, is for me what seeing Scarce was like. 

As a woman in music who was NOT tied into the Riot Grrrl movement it was always exciting for me to meet other women who had nothing to do with that scene. It was never a question of if I would meet Joyce, it was more like how quickly can I meet this woman and make her my friend. We were introduced backstage at a Scarce show at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J. You know those love at first site meetings in the cartoons when two character fall head over heels - that was us. Hearts and stars poured out of us in a strange chemical reaction. People throughout the '90s would often confuse the two of us, not because we look that much alike but because we are very similar in size and enthusiasm (think radiating sunshine). 

We rarely lived in the same city (I was in Seattle then) so we didn't get the opportunity to send a lot of time together in person but we were pen pals, sharing the stress of playing in busy bands through letters, art, and mixtapes. Scarce fell very quickly into a media  buzz spotlight  and her band found themselves in a huge bidding war between seemingly every record label in the world - A&M won. We were each other's confidents  for this decade and I still have many of those letters to this day. I felt less alone and less crazy for living a chaotic band life because of our letters and friendship. 

Then the unthinkable happened to Scare, a band on the track to be the next Nirvana. Member Chick had a brain hemorrhage and their world came crashing in. The band never recovered their momentum and eventually broke up. The important part of this story however is that while only 10% of people survive this medical nightmare, Chick did. 

At the end of the '90s both Joyce and I found ourselves living in NYC for a tiny window of time we finally had the opportunity to play in a band together. We were called Souvenir. We never recorded anything with Joyce (demos can be heard here) but we did play a small number of shows in the Northeast and had a very good time while it lasted. Around this time Joyce became a mom for the first time and moved out of New York. It is hard to believe we have only seen each other once in person since then but thanks to social media, we are still connected and I continue to be in awe of all she does. 

In 2007 Joyce wrote a band memoir called Aching to Be which led to Scarce reforming and recording new music as well as playing shows again. I should also add in here that she is a remarkable painter / artist and has been producing gorgeous pieces of art for as long as I have known her (much of their band art is by her too).

Joyce created another book that incorporates Scarce lyrics called The Fall and Rise of Circus Boy Blue. As you read the story and the songs unfold in print form there is a digital link to the songs that are performed by Scarce and the reader actually gets to hear the music that coincides with the book. She has also authored My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star and here is a terrific interview with her about it. She also has another new band called Reindeer which means we all get to enjoy even more music from Joyce.

If all this wasn't incredible enough, Joyce has also begun to post a series of videos to help girls learn how to play guitar. She continues to be a remarkable female roll model in my life and I am so excited to know she will influence and inspire hundreds if not thousands of more girls from a whole new generation. Truly awesome stuff.