Women Who Rock Over America

Adele Bertei. Photo by Lucretia Tye Jasmine. Tori Amos artwork by Lindsey Bailey

When I started editing Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyonce. Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl, I knew we would be honoring a matrilineal history, but I didn’t know we would birth a sisterhood. During the two-year process of producing this book, my 30something contributors and I went through death, birth, divorce, band breakups, and band formations – not to mention the election and tyranny of a misogynist, racist pig. Some of these women I have known as dear friends for decades (love you Jana, Vivien, Ann!). Some I am still meeting. Getting to present with many of these writers during the WWR book tour has been powerful and empowering. We are making alliances and forging friendships.

Evelyn McDonnell. Photo by Solvej Schou

 

The last night of the tour on December 6 brought this all home, literally, to LA. I was honored to be joined by three gifted women at Beyond Baroque in Venice before a full house. I started the evening by reading the words of one of our New York-based sisters, Caryn Rose, who wrote about Beyond Baroque as the place where Exene Cervenka met John Doe, and “the world shifted on its axis.” Solvej Schou followed by talking about PJ Harvey, then belting Harvey’s 1993 song “Man-Size” – and when Solvej belts, you can hear her down the block. She also played her own recent composition, “America.”

Solvej Schou. Photo by Lucretia Tye Jasmine. PJ Harvey artwork by Anne Muntges

 

Thoughtful, funny, personal, philosophical, DJ Lynnee Denise described her odyssey of discovering Bjork: from Crenshaw to Iceland and back. The night closed with a true musical legend. Adele Bertei is one of the original girls who invented punk rock. She began her career working with the doomed, gifted Peter Laughner (Pere Ubu), moved to New York and introduced Brian Eno to the No Wave scene, in which she played as a member of the Contortions. She was in the all-girl, out-dyke band the Bloods before you were born, and her film career includes a starring role in the cult film Born in Flames. Adele read from her WWR essay about Tori Amos, then performed two original songs, including one also called – wait for it – “America.”

DJ Lynnee Denise. Photo by Lucretia Tye Jasmine. Bjork artwork by Winnie T. Frick.

 

Women Who Rock. Making America great again, for real.

Video: Aloud Queens Event with Exene

If you weren’t one of the lucky people who squeezed into the Los Angeles Central Library January 9 for Queens of Noise: Music, Feminism and Punk: Then and Now, you can now see for yourself just how funny and passionate my copanelists Exene Cervenka and Allison Wolfe were. The Aloud series has posted the video on Vimeo. We discuss Pussy Riot, Rock Camp for Girls, Riot Grrrl, Beyonce, the Runaways, and a lot more. If you want a piece of feminist punk history, Exene is selling off many of her earthly possessions at a sale that starts today.

Queens of Noise: Music, Feminism and Punk: Then and Now from ALOUDla on Vimeo.

Great Article About Aloud Queens Event

Larry Wilson of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune wrote a nice article about the Aloud Queens of Noise event.

 

Exene changes the world without her underwear on the outside: Larry Wilson.

 

Queens of Noise ALOUD Podcast Available

The podcast from the Queens of Noise event at the Los Angeles Central Library with Exene Cervenka, Allison Wolfe, and myself is now available at the LAPL site. Please listen and share!

Queens of Noise- Music, Feminism and Punk: Then and Now | Los Angeles Public Library.

via Queens of Noise- Music, Feminism and Punk: Then and Now | Los Angeles Public Library.

“The Feminist Meeting”

Exene, Allison, and Evelyn

Why do we keep reinventing the wheel? How come every generation of women musicians has to address all over again the confrontation between expression and exploitation, as if a hundred women haven’t gone before them? These were some of the questions raised last night at Queens of Noise: Music, Feminism, and Punk: Then and Now, the Aloud event at the Los Angeles Central Library that I hosted with amazing extra-special guests Exene Cervenka and Allison Wolfe.

Apologies to those who were not able to get in to “the feminist meeting,” as one would-be attendee described the event (according to a colleague). The podcast will be posted next week — and goddess, I hope it goes viral. Of course I’m biased, but, led by an Exene on fire, we addressed crucial issues of the value of and need for women to make themselves heard, not just seen. Riot Grrrl, Rock Camp for Girls, Pussy Riot, the Runaways, X, Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Kathleen Hanna, Bratmobile, mentoring, self-esteem, Sister Rosetta Thorpe, books, history, documentation, activism, etc. — these were just some of the issues and topics we addressed in a wide-ranging, cross-generational conversation. The audience asked sharp questions. And Exene sang a song. It was an EPIC night.

 

Queens of Noise – Event – Library Foundation of Los Angeles.

via Queens of Noise – Event – Library Foundation of Los Angeles.

“Serious, Sizzling Entertainment.”

Jonny Whiteside in the LA Weekly gave our Queens of Noise night Thursday at the LA Central Library a lovely writeup. Expect “serious, sizzling entertainment” from me, Exene Cervenka, and Allison Wolfe.

Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runaways – 7:15 p.m. January 9 – Los Angeles Central Library | Los Angeles | Voice Places.

 

Flavorpill Picks Queens!

Flavorpill picked the Queens of Noise night January 9 too.

Queens of Noise – Music, Feminism and Punk: Then and Now – Flavorpill.

via Flavorpill Picks Queens!.