Silverman and Dowd: Take That

It generally takes me all week to savor my New York Times, so I just now read this great interview with Sarah Silverman by Maureen Dowd. Talk about a power couple. Their discussion of the ageism of the comic boys’ club is smart and poignant. And Sarah’s comments about her need for a wife to make child-rearing possible reminds me of the intense conversations we rock moms had a few weeks ago at the MEOW Conference, inspired by Jackie Weissman’s documentary Rock’n’Roll Mamas.

Funny Girl – NYTimes.com.

via Funny Girl – NYTimes.com.

Rock’n’Role Models

Suzi and Patti Quatro at MEOW Conference

Kathy Valentine told two stories about the importance of rock’n’role models to an audience of mostly women, from 13-year-old You Tube troubadours to gray-haired guitar-slinging pioneers, this past weekend at the MEOW Conference in Austin, Texas. First story: While visiting relatives in England, the Texan teen turned on Top of the Pops to see a woman clad in black leather playing bass guitar and singing. Nearly forty years later, Valentine handed Suzi Quatro the Woman of Valor award at MEOWCon’s opening night.

Lou Reed After Hours

Friday night at the MEOW Conference in Austin, Grace London found the dark innocence in the Velvet Underground song “After Hours” like only a 13-year-old could. A tall, lanky girl with eyeliner curls, the Austin artist sang with the raw emotional warble of Conor Oberst or Chan Marshall as she strummed an acoustic guitar hard, then stepped on the pedal smashing the kick drum behind her for good measure. It was an impressive performance, doubly impressive that a young teen was playing a Velvets cover, triply impressive that she was playing that cover. Here was a new generation, discovering Lou Reed’s songwriting genius. “If you close the door, the night could last forever/ Leave the sunshine out/ And say hello to never.”

Genius is one of those words that gets tossed around so much, but Lou Reed was definitely a genius. I’ve been thinking about the Velvets a lot lately, ever since I saw Tammy Faye Starlite’s amazing Nico tribute. I played “All Tomorrow’s Parties” for my Revolution Girl Style students, explaining how this was the dawn of punk (and how women were there at the beginning). My love of Lou runs long and deep. In college I was obsessed with him. So important were albums like Street Hassle and Transformer, I can’t really imagine myself without the influence of his music. That didn’t stop me from once writing a negative review of a Broadway show he did, which I felt pandered to fans. I guess Lou read his press; a few years later, he refused to talk to me for Interview magazine. “Isn’t she that writer who writes terrible things about me?” he apparently said. Ouch.

While I stand by my judgment, I would take it all back, because I love Lou Reed’s music and what he stood for: an unapologetic, tough, loving, cantankerous, idealistic, ugly, beautiful, rapturous aesthetic, that is now silenced forever.

This Week: Austin!

I take the Queens of Noise show on the road this week, when I present the book at the MEOW Conference in Austin on Friday, Oct. 25, at 2:30 p.m. The conference includes a keynote and performance by Suzi Quatro, a keynote by Kathy Valentine, and lots of panels and performances featuring or discussing women and music. Plus, I’m going to eat lots of barbecue!