Music News: August 27th, 2016

The New Yorker reminds us that nostalgia is what really drives the music industry these days.

There is an all lady tribute to Devo called We Are Not Men. Thank you universe.

I spy a lot of old friends in this traveling photography exhibit curated by Mark Beener called Still Screaming. It also reminds me that the world of punk and hardcore through the '90s was a lot of dudes but glad to see Toko from The Van Pelt and Arabella from Jejune among the images.

Apple doesn't no jack. Industry talk says the new iPhone won't support the typical headphone jack. Music fans have yet another reason to be frustrated with a brand that feels less cutting edge and more like a dying cult these days. And if you don't believe me, here is reminder that iTunes turned 13 and "it is still awful".

Two bad ass ladies of color in punk from two different generations talk over tacos.This short film with Michelle from Spitboy and Christine of Try the Pie is tremendous.

Pitchfork schools us on the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

We continue to have a sexual assault problem at music festivals but what exactly are we doing about it?

We can always use a reminder that Pylon is one of the best bands to ever come out of Athens, GA. Don't worry, even R.E.M. and the B-52s agree.

Did you know there is a book that compiles every film that includes punks or new wavers? It exists and it is called Destroy All Movies. The celebration of the 40th anniversary of punk also carries on in London. While we are talking the U.K., hero status, Poly Styrene. Lastly the Amy Winehouse foundation opened up Amy's House, a 16- person home for women recovering from drugs and alcohol.

I know they are cute but you really, really should not buy a Crosley turntable if you care about fidelity or your records. Keep them away from your record collection at all cost!

Turn your favorite ticketstub into a swank doormat.

The great news is 29 private sector companies including Apple and Facebook have signed a pledge to commit themselves to helping close the gender pay gap for their employees. The bad news is that this is still an issue at all. Thanks guys?

Backyard report, my friend and favorite local DJ Sara Gossett talks Richmond in giving us the perfect "staycation"  via a wonderful Anna Goldfarb piece on Kitchn.

Our band recently played a benefit in Philly to help end rape culture. In between bands Kevin from Mercury Girls DJ'ed and at no point during the day was I ever disappointed. He has been kind enough to post his entire set (links for every song!) which is seriously a must check out for fans of girl groups spanning the past 60 years from all over the world.  

Inspired by the pages of fashion magazines, self taught artist Helen Rae who now at age 77 is both deaf and non verbal, had her fist solo art show. Not only did all of her detailed colored pencil pieces sell out immediately, she has become an outsider art sensation and with good reason. Up next, a show in Paris.

Hey! You! This is a reminder that you can be a mother and still be a successful artist.

Touring as a musician with a chronic disease is exhausting but it allow you to channel pain and frustration in important ways. Rachel Browne of Field Mouse shares her personal experience.

Folk music's answer to Billie Holiday; get to know Karen Dalton.

Australia's feminist music convention LISTEN returns in October.

UMG doesn't like Apple after another one of their artists (Frank Ocean) has worked out an exclusive deal that limits digital sales and marketing with a larger group of partners, the stuff that big businesses don't appreciate when they have heavily invested in them. UMG has decided to ban the practice of exclusive streaming which seems ironic since they were the ones who love giving major chains like Best Buy or Target exclusives in the physical world of CDs.

Beverly Watkins is a 77 year old Blues guitar player that says slowing down is not an option.

This is a half fast but well meaning collection of NYC venues/clubs that no longer exist in a photo form was a nice trip down memory lane regardless.

Speaking of Frank Ocean, could visual album releases be music's newest format?

Copyright violations are the flesh eating bacteria of the music industry with sites like YouTube (tech companies) acting as the filthy germ spreaders.

Ending with this beautiful Santigold video, a collab with Kara Walker.

Angela Owens, Girls Rock, and an Accidental Backyard Report

Boston music photographer Angela Owens has owned my Facebook feed this week; a welcome change from people yelling at each other about politics. Everyone I know is obsessing on this series of photos she took at a recent show (more like a fest) in Boston that reminds me of the old youth crew photos from CBGBs, only this time the bands and crowd are predominantly ladies. This was a benefit for Girls Rock Boston and it wins the award for the best thing I have seen all month.

Before you scroll down any farther, seriously check out her photos first. Get to know the photographer in this interview.

This also doubles as a backyard report because as it turns out, a lot of these bands are from my hometown of Richmond, VA.

There are a ton of videos to check out via the event page. Watch them all here. 

It got me wondering who all these bands in the photos were, so I have compiled all the links here:

LEATHER DADDY (Boston)


FIREWALKER  (Boston)


DAME  (Boston)


RINGER  (Richmond)


KOMMUNION (Richmond)


NOSEBLEED (Richmond)


METER FEEDER (Hadley, MA)


IRON CAGES (DC)


RARE FORM - I can't find much on this band so if anyone has a link, please send it to me.


CROSSFIRE (Boston) 
 

Throwback Thursday : Lunachicks

Bands like Kiss, The Stooges, and the Ramones never appealed to me as a kid mostly because it seemed like a boys club. I liked heavy music but by the late '80s most of the hardcore and metal scene felt almost exclusively made by men and for men. The audience included women however at shows women were rarely up front by the stage where the pit was often violent or targeted any girl who dare enter that frenzied male dominated arena. 

It was frustrating to like a style of music, have the same aggression and teenage hormones as the boys in the room, but still feel pushed to the back of the room and unwelcomed. It wasn't until 1990 that I discovered bands like L7, Babes in Toyland, STP, Hole, and Lunachicks who were the first women I had ever seen not just play heavy music but dominate it. These bands were a tight unit of girls that looked like a gang (minus Hole who had a male member) and I wanted to be a part of. They were tough, loud, could play their instruments, drank, spit, cursed, screamed, had tattoos, performed in filthy dark clubs, and proved to me that there was room in punk / grunge / metal for ladies too. 

These women all seemed fearless and each member took on a slightly different shade of rebellion so there was room to be as feminine, masculine, or anything in between you felt best fit you. This is the stuff of awe to a teenage girl who didn't think there was room for women in hard rock. Riot Grrrl was just starting to bubble up on the other side of the country so for those of us who were teens in the '80s looking for women to inspire us on a stage who were loud and angry, these were our heroines and they came first. 

The Lunachicks were perhaps the biggest influence to me because I could see them perform the most often. They were a New York City all female band who played NY and NJ relatively often from the late '80s through the '90s. I enjoyed that they played heavy / fast music and looked tougher than any guy I knew. I mean this was a band that looked tougher than any local male musicians I knew and they were heavily tattooed before this was cool or accepted in popular culture. Hell, one of the members was a tattoo artist, something incredibly bad ass to teenage me.  

Their vocalist Theo Kogan depending on her over the top theatrical costume choices could also rival an exoctic runway model. She could magically morph herself into any freak character, had a sense of humor, carried kitsch like an extreme version of the B-52s, but was still insanely strong. I had never seen a women present such a intense balance of feminine and masculine characteristics.

I worshipped the Lunachicks but sort of feared for my life in their presence too. It was a lot to process while I was in high school trying to feel comfortable in my own skin but they were the perfect storm of bold to give me the inspiration to join a band a few years later. They are also probably why I got my first tattoo as a senior in high school much to everyone's horror. They and L7 are also why I had dreads in 1990. They were also the first band to deliver a mosh pit that welcomed women which is something to this day I rarely see. Thanks ladies.  

Girl in the Pit

Five teen girls have recently started an awareness campaign to help eliminate sexual assault at concerts. Their twitter account is called GirlsAgainst .

The call to action is quite simple. First make people aware that it happens. Then offer a few different tactics to cope with it as the situation unfolds. Even better, you can help prevent it from taking place at all. The most important thing in any sexual assault situation is to let the victim know they are not alone so the GirlsAgainst site also serves as a place for music fans to share their experiences. These tweets let a band know that a fan has experienced a horrific trauma during their performance. It make venues aware that their bouncers should not only be on the look out for these situations but remove those committing the offense from a show immediately. For me the most important piece of this puzzle is educating fellow audience members and alerting them to the fact that they have the power to help in this situation. If you see something that looks like sexual assault or abuse, say something. Ask the victim if they need help. Get them away from the person (or sometimes persons) assaulting them. Get security involved. Just whatever you do, don't ignore the crime. THIS IS A CRIME. Sexual assault at a show happens all the time and I am not sure which is more maddening, the fact that it happens at all or that people stand by and let it happen. If you are someone who is being attacked, let everyone know around you what is taking place and ask for help. People's attention are often at the band and not around them so it may take screaming to make those around you aware of what is happening. Do not be embarrassed or ashamed. You have not done anything wrong.

I am speaking from personal experience here. I have been going to shows nearly weekly since 1990. I am very well aware of crowd behavior, how quickly a group of people can ignite into a frenzy as soon as their favorite band plays their first note, and when the adrenaline kicks in, frightening things can happen.

There are multiple situations that can make a very large standing audience threatening in a flash. A very packed venue means a lot of strangers pressing up against each other and shifting positions regularly in order to move closer or farther away from the stage, gets drinks, or go to the bathroom. Some people take advantage of this situation as they pass through the crowd. They grope at breasts, asses, and before you can say something or hit them off of you, they are gone. Unfortunately some people also get off on these close encounters with strangers and they will begin rubbing themselves on you in a disgusting dry hump. It seems impossible that this could be happening in front of so many people but when all eyes are on a band and the venue floor is dark, it goes unnoticed but DOES happen.

I was actually once pinned against the stage of Wetlands in NYC at a metal show by a man I vaguely knew from a local band. He started dry humping me and placing his hands all over me. When I told him to stop touching me a number of times, the situation ended with me throwing numerous punches at him and me leaving the show. There wasn't a security person to tell so rather than enjoy the show somewhere else, I removed myself from a space I no longer felt safe in. When I began telling people about the crime this man committed against me, nobody wanted to get involved. It wasn't their business. Every single man in the metal / hardcore scene that also knew him, didn't have the courage to help me or let him know what he did was not only wrong but that it was a crime. It was a genuine sex offense. I was a victim twice.  Not only was I attacked at a show by this monster but then my peers made me feel like I was making a big deal out of nothing. I was devastated. It still enrages me to this day. Who knows how many other women this man has done this to or is still doing it to.

There are more experiences like this, especially during my years of going to shows around the tri-state area through the '90s. It wasn't just hardcore or metal shows either; it was all shows. Especially after Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video came out, people (mostly men), decided moshing must happen at every show. I am not kidding when I say every show. The Sundays who are about as calming as a rainy cold day in winter, had to stop their show NYC because the crowd had whipped them into a violent frenzy. As a crowd builds energy and the adrenaline kicks in, almost anything is possible. The strength of this kind of group can move mountains and it can be very easy for a person to fall victim to numerous attacks - not all just sexual.

Again, speaking from personal experience I have had every possible combination of things happen to me at a show and only once was I ever helped.  I kept going to shows, standing close to the stage because I felt it was my right as a fan of the band. I refused to be bullied but pushed, punched, picked up and moved, and groped I was. At a Mudhoney show a group of men made fun of me for being in what they considered a girl free zone at a show (IE the pit) and they picked me up like a bowling ball reaching under my dress, and lifting me from my crotch to then throw me into a crowd surfing situation. By the time I came back down I was far away from those creeps buy it had all happened so quickly that I am not sure I could easily pick them out of a line up or be able to find them among 500 plus people on the floor of the venue with security.

At many of the hardcore shows the attitude by some men was that women shouldn't be in the front area near the stage at all. As a pit began to build, no matter how careful you were to remain on the outer edges of it, there were some people who took great joy in targeting women by pushing them into the pit. Yes, ritual and accepted violence is already taking place in this area but then some people use this opportunity to cop a feel before shoving you as hard as they could in another direction. Again, things happen so quickly, the crowds shift and churn endlessly, so it can be very difficult to deal with an attacker or find security to try your best to try to pick out a person or persons who blend into a uniform look of that music scene. It feels hopeless so you either get used it or you end up standing in the back and avoiding these confrontations all together.

The sad reality is this happened to me so many times that I have lost count. There are thousands of victims just like me who have felt or still feel powerless about it. I believe it is possible to have bands, fellow music fans, and music venue's security working together to stop sexual assault from happening at concerts. We know this crime isn't acceptable under any circumstance so why would the music community want to turn a blind eye to this? Women buy music. Women attend concerts. Women buy merch. Women share and like your music related content. If you won't listen to our voices asking for help, perhaps losing us as a fan, an unpaid marketing tool, and paying customer will be what the music industry finally reacts to.

Read more about women fighting against sexual assault at shows here.