Showing posts with label feminism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label feminism. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Flashback Thursday : Mecca Normal
There is something so impressive about a powerful two piece band, especially when it doesn't follow the traditional rules of what we think a band equals. In this case we have a remarkable guitar player named David Lester and vocalist Jean Smith. Together they make Mecca Normal, a band who have managed to prove that no other instrument is needed. The communication between fretted instrument and voice is more than enough. This Vancouver duo has been producing music from 1984 that evokes thought and expels energy. In this stripped down form the power of each instrument, guitar and voice, are poignant. Lyrics are highlighted by the nature of this beast and are delivered through dramatic flashes. Captured in raw form, this kind of intensity isn't for everyone but being pushed to just outside my comfort zone on occasion gives music the kind of exciting dangerous element that rock and roll was invented for. Life is a balance of ugly chaos and moments of beauty, Mecca Normal manages to deliver both and if Patti Smith had a secret sister, I think Jean Smith might be her.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Discwoman : Girls to the Tables
A few days ago I decided my turntables were in need of new slipmats. I didn't know what I was looking for other than I wanted them to be colorful and not feature a logo of a band or gear brand name. Our record players are located in our dining room so these slipmats are something we (my boyfriend and I) need to live with daily. What I wasn't expecting in my Google search was a sea of images that mostly screamed horny, stoner dude. Meaning if it wasn't a picture of a pot leaf in some form on the slipmat, there were breasts and more breasts.
My takeaway from that experience was that the expected customer for these items are not women, they are predominantly men. If you spend much time attending DJ nights you will know that this is a fair assumption. Where the number of women playing in bands seems to be on the rise, the number of female DJs and club promoters is not. We are a very small number and the sexism I have faced while playing in band is nearly two fold as a DJ. The expectation is that I don't know anything about my gear, how a PA works, and most insultingly to me, that I don't know anything about music. There is also a frustratingly high level of sexual harassment and abuse from people in the crowd. Some men find no issue with randomly touching a female DJ's body, getting handsy with our turntables or mixers (IE let me show you how it's done or if you can do it, it must be easy and I will try it right now without your permission), flipping through our records without asking as if they are browsing at a store, or shouting at us comments relating to our bodies and what they would like to do to them. This is our work space and it, as well as our bodies, are being violated by strangers who occasionally look at female DJs like we are strippers soliciting lap dance.
Needless to say, whenever I discover fellow female DJs or women who operate in this male dominated music world at all, I take note.
NPR recently wrote an article about the the NYC based Discwoman, a trio of women who operate a DJ booking agency focused on showcasing female-identified DJs. Discwoman however aren't just curating events where women are the talent and running the show, they are also actively encouraging women to become involved in their world. It doesn't have to mean making or playing electronic music, they are helping teach others how to book events, run sound, and all the other various aspects that go into making a DJ night happen. It is inspiring to know that they are leading by example. The more of us there are doing these things, the less fetishized and alien women in this scene will be treated. There is comfort, safety, and power in growing our number. We all know learning a particular skill isn't the first hurdle, it is finding the courage to try at all. If we create a womb of nurturing support, there is so much talent to be born from this.
Here is a video I found that further expands on this subject. Maybe you will find it as illuminating and encouraging as I did.
My takeaway from that experience was that the expected customer for these items are not women, they are predominantly men. If you spend much time attending DJ nights you will know that this is a fair assumption. Where the number of women playing in bands seems to be on the rise, the number of female DJs and club promoters is not. We are a very small number and the sexism I have faced while playing in band is nearly two fold as a DJ. The expectation is that I don't know anything about my gear, how a PA works, and most insultingly to me, that I don't know anything about music. There is also a frustratingly high level of sexual harassment and abuse from people in the crowd. Some men find no issue with randomly touching a female DJ's body, getting handsy with our turntables or mixers (IE let me show you how it's done or if you can do it, it must be easy and I will try it right now without your permission), flipping through our records without asking as if they are browsing at a store, or shouting at us comments relating to our bodies and what they would like to do to them. This is our work space and it, as well as our bodies, are being violated by strangers who occasionally look at female DJs like we are strippers soliciting lap dance.
Needless to say, whenever I discover fellow female DJs or women who operate in this male dominated music world at all, I take note.
NPR recently wrote an article about the the NYC based Discwoman, a trio of women who operate a DJ booking agency focused on showcasing female-identified DJs. Discwoman however aren't just curating events where women are the talent and running the show, they are also actively encouraging women to become involved in their world. It doesn't have to mean making or playing electronic music, they are helping teach others how to book events, run sound, and all the other various aspects that go into making a DJ night happen. It is inspiring to know that they are leading by example. The more of us there are doing these things, the less fetishized and alien women in this scene will be treated. There is comfort, safety, and power in growing our number. We all know learning a particular skill isn't the first hurdle, it is finding the courage to try at all. If we create a womb of nurturing support, there is so much talent to be born from this.
Here is a video I found that further expands on this subject. Maybe you will find it as illuminating and encouraging as I did.
Sidenote: For clarity sake, I am not a DJ that creates electronic music in a live setting. I have made a solo record that merged electronic music and indie rock (Ringfinger) but as a DJ, I play other people's records. I pride myself on my large and varied record collection. I do not use a laptop, I cultivate a DJ set using vinyl records from my personal collection.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra was among the first women I began obsessively collecting records by. I have always been drawn to the complex layers at work behind her image during the '60s and '70s. She was a strong woman yet was also daddy's good little girl (Frank Sinatra to be exact). She was a sex kitten with claws. She believed that a feminist could still be sexy and that the two were not mutually exclusive from each other. Here is a great read on "Female Empowerment, Nancy's Way" . This push and pull of sexy and strong appears time and time again in music (from Kathleen Hanna to Beyoncé) so while there were plenty of bad ass ladies that came before Nancy in music, it really all started with her for me.
I dig Nancy so much that I took my DJ and social media name from this hit Lee Hazlewood wrote for her.
I dig Nancy so much that I took my DJ and social media name from this hit Lee Hazlewood wrote for her.
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