Feminist Friday: A Weekly Round Up for July 15, 2016

Talent and beauty can't coexist according to so many male journalists. Seriously, when will women be written about as artists and not highly sexualized dolls?

And speaking of annoying press habits, how about a story on Juggalos being the new Ravers and the LA Weekly that needs to be proven by showing pictures of scantily clad women. Try harder LA Weekly.

Do all female event lineups actually help or hurt our cause since it stresses our gender over the art we make?

Grace Jones is replacing M.IA. as the Afropunk London headliner.

Public service announcement: There are "professionals" trying to use LinkedIn like Tinder. Check out when a "nice website for nice people" turns into shark infested waters.

As electronic music enters classrooms a a way to teach children about music making, what does this mean for the future of this genre in 10 or so years? I can't wait to find out.

Kenny and I are still mourning the end of our record label this year but I love reading about a couple who run one of my favorite American record labels currently, Trouble In Mind.

It is really hard to be your best at anything (music or otherwise) when our health and female bodies are grossly stigmatized and unserved. Girls also tend to be more anxiety prone, why is that?

Michelle Obama and Missy Elliott rocking out in a car with James Corden is the BEST THING I HAVE SEEN OR HEARD ALL WEEK.

Backyard report, get to know one of my favorite local musicians (that velvet voice!) and a fabulous feminist to boot Julie Karr. Also Sisterhood of Hip Hop season 3 includes an artist we booked at Richmond's Fall Line Fest, Audra the Rapper (from DC/ Virginia Beach)

And in things that have made my friend's week, I think The Julie Ruin covering Courtney Barnett is the best thing they have heard or seen all week.

In other riot grrrl news, you can wear a piece of its history - via an Ebay auction right now.

One more piece of grrrl news, you can help fund a film on this very subject, all 25 years of it.

My fluff piece of the week, play a record in a whole new way - like a guitar.

Gillian McCain talks Please Kill Me twenty years later.

Her story (IE women in music) is an important party of punk's HIStory. Viv Albertine to the rescue!

Goth at 40 is a nice reminder that age is a stupid thing and music we love is forever.

A Friday Flashback to Containe, a band that included Fontaine Toups from Versus and at one point Georgia from YLT on drums.

What could be more important to music fans than a scientific discovery that could reverse hearing loss?

Sharon Jones discusses the fight of her life (fuck cancer!) and isn't willing to give up hope via the Soul Sisters podcast.

Don't know anything about the Fluxus art movement? I have a remedy for that. Spoiler, it involves women doing amazing things in art, including graphic design, performance pieces, and sound.

I Live Inside : Memoirs of a Babe in Toyland

In feminist music circles bands like Bikini Kill get all the attention when it comes to women in music during the '90s. This drives me crazy. There were so many women playing music then who just by existing, putting out records, and touring, were advancing women in music without wrapping themselves into any sort of political agenda. Bands like L7, Velocity Girl, Babes In Toyland, Lunachicks, Superchunk, Hole, Jawbox, Breeders, PJ Harvey, Fire Party, Tsunami, and Babes in Toyland were inspiring to women like me who were not drawn in by the Riot Grrrl movement. I wanted to be like them. I screamed / sang along to their records and I watched them take to the stage with a confidence that at the time, I didn't know was possible. They twisted the idea of what a women could look or sound like. They were not men but they were unlike any women I knew in my life. They played instruments I had never had the opportunity to strum or hit. They were loud, fearless, and this was intoxicating to me coming out of high school. My peers talk about Riot Grrrl bands in the same exact way, but honestly both music scenes helped pave the way and inspire others. I wish the books and film documenting this underground world credited these women in a more balanced way. This is why an entire book written by a musician who didn't have a spotlight on her continuously really intrigued me. I knew very little about Michelle Leon's life up until this point. Babes in Toyland while having a brief rise to popularity never held mainstream interest the way Hole did (thanks Nirvana) and her two bandmates often stole the attention because the focus always falls unfairly on the singer (Kat Bjelland) or the outgoing member (Lori Barbero)

What moves me most Babes In Toyland bass player Michelle Leon's book I Live Inside is how brutally honest it is. As an outsider who looked at their world in awe and wonder, she pulls the curtain back to reveal a very imperfect and emotionally complicated band chemistry. A band projects this illusion of a better, out of this world environment that is easy for fans to want to escape to and get lost in. They are so far removed from the mundane 9 to 5 world of school, desk jobs, and dull responsibilities. From the audience perspective Babes in Toyland was bold, raw, and shared a bond that couldn't possibly be anything less than sacred sisterhood. The truth is that like any family, it was dysfunctional and often chaotic and maddening. It is hard to fathom the real life happening behind the scenes of these songs that are as familiar to me as any photo in my family albums, but the transparency of her words found in this memoir are as as pure as the music she once made. A band's life is a private and I Live Inside reveals many of their secrets.

It was and continues to be a brave thing to join a band and put yourself out into the world for all to hear, see, and judge. You live in three worlds at the same time: the private world that is you outside of the band in the real world, the one that is a member of a band family who spend most of the time off stage in a bubble, and then the band chemistry as musicians who write music and perform it together and this is the facade given to strangers. These world's all affect each other and become a tangled, complicated knot. Michelle Leon moves back and forth between childhood and her time in the band to reveal how these different worlds connect, influence each other, and often clash. Leon moves between the past and present like a masterful storyteller.   

All people carry insecurities yet playing music is one of the few times and places one can feel untethered and free. The weight of the world slips away behind an instrument or microphone. Music offers the unique experience of being able to lose and find yourself all at once. We become the essence of ourselves through music and creating this non tangible version of self becomes addicting. It can feel like a safe place but it is also an easy place to drift off course in. Musicians often end up floating helplessly between between the real world and band world. This is where the story often gets messy. To pin this invisible energy to the page isn't an easy task but I Live Inside rebuilds this journey in a one of a kind way. We travel with Michelle back in forth in time, strapped into the passenger seat unsure of where we might arrive ncxt. Just like music, her book is the safest vehicle to to experience a terrifyingly wild ride without collecting any of the bumps and bruises along the way.

If you are not familiar with the band, here is a top 10 from their catalog to get you started.


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Tears of Joy

Photo by Jake Cunningham 

It can be alarming when a stranger approaches you at the merch table and breaks down in tears. This was my Saturday evening. I quickly discovered these were tears of joy. This woman went on to describe why the Beach Slang / Potty Mouth / Dyke Drama / Positive No line up was something she had waited decades to see. This rock show was not the usual a boys club, it was all inclusive. Women shared the stage with men as equals. LGBTQ musicians were front and center. The age of the musicians spanned between three different decades. There was so much love and respect on display between all the bands that it overwhelmed her. When a sexist heckler was called out and removed like a splinter by members of multiple bands from the venue, it was obvious the entire line up were allies to one another. It was a safe place. It was at atmosphere of overwhelming respect. The evening was how in her mind shows should have always been but sadly have rarely ever been. 

In short, this kind of line up is a very important step in the right direction of acceptance, tolerance, and equality.

For many of us who grew up going to shows in an oppressive environment where sexism, homophobia, and racism were the norm, this show is a shock to the system.  As a fellow middle aged women, I understood EXACTLY how she felt. I cried for joy with her. I expressed this later to other members in the various bands and cried some more like a sentimental fool. I have been waiting my entire adult life for this moment.

A lot can happen in two decades. Twenty plus years ago I was playing in a heavy indie rock band and I was so FUCKING lonely. 

It was straight white men as far as the eye could see. I met a handful of amazing women who came to see our shows but mostly it was a sea of dudes in the audience with no women sharing the stage with me. I felt like a freak of nature because I wanted to play loud music and be a part of this creative community without being a Riot Grrrl. In 1996 however you were either preaching to the choir in the bubble that was feminist music scene or you took your chances in a male dominated rock world that could be very cruel. If some men didn't walk out of the venue because a girl was in the band they would stick around to make fun of me and shout rude things. After shows I was treated like I had the plague. A lot of people were scared to make eye contact with a girl in a hardcore band no less befriend one or go out of their way to balance a show line up by booking a show with other women on a bill. I can't stress how humiliated this left me feeling. I honestly never cared if people liked the music I made, I just didn't want to feel like I was crashing a private sausage party all the time. I wanted to be given the space to be me, to create music, and given the equal opportunity to be heard. I am so thankful my fellow band members were willing to give me this safe place because the world outside them was often not nearly as generous to women.  

As a music fan who during some decades was seeing 10 to 25 bands perform a week, I can promise you my show going experience was more of the same. White men ruled and minorities were nearly invisible. If I wanted diversity, I would have to seek out a splinter scene show where these groups had created their own majority rule. For every outsider who felt pushed out of the mainstream world of music, there was a tiny subculture bubble and rarely did these worlds overlap and share a bill. 

Fast forward twenty years and nearly every show I play now includes bands with female members. In fact it is rare when that doesn't happen and if it is an all male bill, it feels wrong and dated. I still can't believe how different it is now. There is no longer a reason to feel lonely or like an outcast because women are more accepted than ever on a stage. I know it still isn't perfect out there. There are still assholes who say and do inappropriate things to women in bands but I promise you, it is 1,000 times better than it was. 

I am currently watching the LGBTQ music community facing many of the same barriers women did years ago and in turn they coping in the same ways to manage / fight that discrimination. It is only natural that insular communities are popping up to create safe places for themselves. Much like the activists among the Riot Grrrl community, they are creating insular worlds for themselves to perform within. I get it, I really do but I personally never wanted to cut myself off from the rest of the world. I want to celebrate diversity and learn from as many different kinds of people as possible. I feel stagnant when I surrounded myself by people just like myself. I feel richer, wiser, and like a more well rounded human being when I take the time to get to know everyone around me. This is why I stubbornly never let the boys club of the rock world win and don't want any of the other outsiders to give up.  It is important to push back and create a new normal. By sticking around, we forced people to accept that we exist in their world. We can't go away just because a few losers don't believe we belong here. 

We belong just as much as anyone else does in this world. 

I have however fallen into a new position of alienation. It is no longer my gender I feel set back by, it is my age. Music audiences want very little to do with someone over 40. There are so many outrageous and disappointing stereotypes that are associated with being older. I didn't work this hard to become invisible again. So here I am, an outcast all over again. I've got terrible news for the haters. I am still stubborn and I am atill not willing to go away. I will continue to make music because this is who I STILL am and whatever your preconceived notions of who is old and what that actually means should be reevaluated.  

I am still here so get used to it. 

Thank you Beach Slang, Potty Mouth, Dyke Drama, fellow members of Positive No, and those who came out to support the shows this past weekend. Those 48 hours gave me new hope.

Feminist Fridays: A Weekly Round-Up

Emily Flake entered my world through music. We slung records together at the independent music distributor Caroline what feels like a lifetime ago. She had always been a gifted cartoonist and illustrator, not to mention owning the quick wit of a comedy God, but she ditched the world of music sales to make art full time. The good news is her career choice has a really happy ending. Well not ending as Emily is still very much going as a member of the prestigious member of the New Yorker Magazine staff as a cartoonist. She is also in a current documentary entitled Very Semi Serious about "the humor, art, and the genius of the New Yorker cartoon. Her art is also featured in a ton of other publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journals, MAD Magazine, and if that isn't ridiculously impressive, she has also released a hell of a funny book called Mama Tried.

On a personal note Emily is also married to one of my oldest friends John Pastore, another once upon a time Caroline Distribution employee and has most recently a part of Outer Battery Records (Sleep figure, Dino Jr, Chelsea Wolf, and Notwist to name a few releases).

Alice Bag, the original Riot Grrrl

Ted Talk : Why risk for women is worth it by Reshma Saujani  (hint: because trying to be perfect isn't possible)

Auntie Maureen makes a mean mix

Diamanda Galas terrifies me and I respect her for that. She is fearless, has a razor tongue, believes the music industry is dishonest, and just like her extremity in performance, she has many a bold opinion about composing music with integrity.

Cat (riona Sturton) power! She may sing like an angel and play like a beast but she is also incredibly down to earth, humble, and multi-taltented musician. I was fortunate enough to share a stage last year at Hopscotch Fest with Cat last year and was not only impressed with her live performance which is tender comedy as much as it is kick ass Blues, but damn this lady has stories. She was a member of Plumtree (Scott Pilgrim the comic & film was inspired by them/includes them), has worked for Dolly Parton, and her passion for poutine runs deep. Get to know this charming Canadian and enjoy getting to know this woman who rules the mostly male dominated harmonica blues scene.

Lita Ford gets real. I can't say this enough, BELIEVE WOMEN.

My band Positive No has a new song (yet to be recorded but is being played live now) called "Reinvent the Space". Our goal is to make our creative community safe and welcoming for all. We are playing a series of shows in the months to come (w/ Beach Slang) and we will be taking our BELIEVE WOMEN message to the stage in a serious way.

Music videos often objectify women but the new Blake Shelton video gets called out in a big way.

If you come across interesting reads, podcasts, or videos about women in the arts (especially music) - leave them in the comments section for me to check out!

Huggy Bear Member Goes Minimal

Electronic meditations may not be what you were expecting from Jo Johnson, the guitar player of the cacophonous Huggy Bear but she has an entire solo identity based around minimal soundscapes.

If you aren't familiar, Huggy Bear was England's version of Bikini Kill in the early '90s and truly fantastic.

The boy/girl revolution before:

The ambient after:

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. 

Cause & Effect : Jigsaw Youth

The cause : "Jigsaw Youth" by Bikini Kill - a song from their 1992 Huggy Bear split 10" .

The effect: Jigsaw Youth, a current, feminist NYC punk band.

Throwback Thursday : A.C. Temple

Here is a little something I wrote about the band back in 2008.

Artist - A.C. Temple

Catalog
Songs of Praise 1987  - Further / Mute
Blowtorch - 1988 - Torso
Sourpuss - 1989 - Blast first (Jon Langford produced)
Belinda Backwards - 1991 blast first (and I am sure I am missing some!)

Singles :
Band of Susans split 7" 1989 - Blast First
Wedding Present split flexi 1993 Ablaze! Magazine insert

Hometown- Sheffield, UK

They are a perfect blend of so many genres and bands I love…only A.C. Temple was doing it before many of these newer groups. I was undeniably an old school emo indie rocker kid (still am I suppose minus the kid part) so my point of reference here is the early to middle years of Dischord Records. Some of the great guitar bands to come from San Diego like Pitchfork and Drive Like Jehu. The classic Chicago / Touch and Go sound. American and British variations of Riot Grrrl. Anything Sub Pop from the late 80’s up until the mid 90’s. UK and US 90’s shoegaze and last but not least the more slightly dissonant noisy groups like Sonic Youth.

In high school I didn’t know about groups like Lilliput, Kleenex, Delta 5, The Slits, The Au Pairs,Th' Faith Healers, The Raincoats….but I have discovered these artists between 1988 and now and still I wonder how A.C. Temple records didn’t make their way into my collection sooner. This band and their catalog of music is equally as poignant and pertinent as any of these other groups yet for some reason A.C. Temple never made it to the underground music hall of fame.

Does A.C. Temple really fit into the same musical family as ALL the groups mentioned above?

YES! (I suspect for some people this group might sound a little too derivative of that decade but they were ahead of their time damn it so be nice!)

You Know What Punk Is?

Punk isn't being 20 something and angry / willing to do wild things in the name of rebelling against society. Punk is being over 40, tied to the system with adult responsibility of raising a family and or buried by a career, and rather than buy into the stereotype that women of a certain age are supposed to be invisible, take to the stage all over again (or in some cases never stepping off the stage).

This 30 minute documentary shows us the the ladies who helped paved the way for punk (The Slits, The Raincoats, Siouxsie, Chrissie Hynde) the first time in the '70s are on the cutting edge again by showing the world that aging doesn't have to mean playing dead.

Heads up ladies, you think sexism sucks? Wait until that seamlessly blends with ageism too. #olderwomenvoices

2015 Favorite : Hurry Up

This debut self-titled release by Hurry Up combines all my favorite things. They are a trio, no frills, from the Northwest, carry two members of The Thermals and one from Bangs, and mix two favorite styles of angst; Pitchfork/Jehu/Hot Snakes when the male vocals take over and Riot Grrrl when the female vocals are leading the way. PUNK LIVES!

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. 

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.