Solange #TBT

In light of the recent resuscitation via Twitter of Solange Knowles’s feud with Jon Caramanica, and just to point out that white male critics did not invent coverage of R&B, here, in honor of Throwback Thursday, is my interview with her in Interview magazine, circa 2003. Now if only I could find my even earlier Interview interview with her big sis Beyonce, back when she was in Destiny’s Child.

Lautner in the News

At Midgaard, John Lautner’s childhood cabin, with Karol Peterson in 2010

John Lautner has been in the news lately. First, one of his most famous houses, the Elrod in Palm Springs, is up for sale. Yesterday, Jim Goldstein announced he was donating his home, aka the Sheats-Goldstein House, to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, meaning, hopefully, one of the architect’s buildings will finally be open to the public. This is significant, as one of the reasons Lautner has not always gotten his due for being the key transitional figure between the two Franks (Lloyd Wright and Gehry) is that his buildings are almost all private homes.

Perhaps just as significantly, eight of those houses — the John & Mary Lautner House, the Foster Carling House, the Schaffer House, the Harvey House, the Harpel (Hollywood) House, the Pearlman Mountain Cabin, the Elrod House, and the Walstrom House — have been submitted to the State Historic Resources Commission, in the hopes that they will be eventually nominated to the National Register. The multi-property application, prepared by students and faculty at Cal Poly, opens the way for preservation of additional Lautner properties.

The ceiling of Midgaard, painted by his mother, the artist Vida Lautner

On a much sadder note, I only recently discovered that Lautner’s oldest child, Karol Peterson, passed away last year. I met Karol several years ago when I visited her father’s family homes in Marquette, Michigan. We kayaked together on Lake Superior, and I instantly loved this tall, outspoken, warm-hearted woman. It was she who suggested that someone should write a biography of her father, a task I have been picking away at during the last couple of years. Last summer I spent an intensive week with Karol going through her father’s and family papers at Deertrack (John’s first commission) in Marquette. Karol was in and out of the hospital then, and I knew she was not doing well, but I guess I was in denial when she stopped returning my messages several months ago. She was a great steward of her father’s legacy and memory, and I will miss kayaking with her dearly.

Grrrls on KXLU

The Grrrls on Film festival taking place at Loyola Marymount University wouldn’t be happening if a postproduction professor at the School of Film and Television hadn’t agreed to come teach some of my journalism students how to edit with Audacity — despite the fact that she had just had a baby and, as a clinical professor, would neither get paid nor credited for service. As scant and egotistical compensation, I gave Sharon A. Mooney a copy of my book Mamarama: A Memoir of Sex, Kids and Rock’n’Roll, because basically all I knew about her was that she was a new parent. She emailed me a thank you, saying: “Oddly enough, as far as music goes, I really only like female fronted punk.” Thus, kindred spirits did meet.

After comparing our favorite bands and movies, and being simultaneously inspired by conversations I was having with filmmaker Abby Moser (Grrrl Love and Revolution and Women’s Studies Chair Stella Oh, I suggested to Sharon we put together a film festival. Out of these modest, organic roots grew Grrrls on Film. Sharon has been a great collaborator, and there is no way this event would be happening without her.

Sharon and I will be talking about the festival and playing some jams Wednesday morning at 8 on Mukta Mohan’s show on KXLU.

#GrrrlsonFiLMU Lineup Announced

Kim and the Created

I’m extremely pleased to announce the lineup of the Grrrls on Film festival at Loyola Marymount University March 18-20. We have an incredible array of films by, for, and about women. All participating filmmakers will be present, plus a few. There will also be a concert outdoors featuring Kim and the Created, Colleen Green, Peach Kelli Pop, KXLU DJs, spoken word, and more. The press release and complete schedule are below. We will be presenting more details during the upcoming weeks. And, it’s all free!

Loyola Marymount University presents GRRRLS ON FILM, a free festival featuring films and music from groundbreaking female artists, on the LMU campus March 18, 19 and 20, 2016

Confirmed participants include Penelope Spheeris (The Decline of Western Civilization, Wayne’s World), Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways), Karyn Kusama (Girlfight), Alice Bag (the Bags), Kim and the Created, Nao Bustamante, Phranc, Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile), Colleen Green, Kari Krome, Peach Kelli Pop, Nicole Panter, Raquel Gutiérrez, Jill Reiter (In Search of Margo-go) and Lizzie Borden (Born in Flames)

For Immediate Release — Grrrls on Film is a weekend-long celebration of the feminist acts of making sound and vision. The festival and forum at Loyola Marymount University gathers together pioneers in movies, music, art and activism to address what has become one of the hot-button social justice issues of our time: lack of diverse representation and expression in arts and entertainment. The event borrows its name from the Riot Grrrl movement of the 1990s, which fused the Do-It-Yourself credo of punk with Third Wave Feminism’s call for self-determination.