If you were like me and grew up in the 1990’s and loved punk rock and feminism, you loved Sleater-Kinney. It’s no longer the 90’s (though with all the plaid coming back this season and all the reissues of classic grunge records you might wonder) and I’m no longer a teenager, but I still love Sleater-Kinney, punk rock, and feminism. I still have not yet found a band as compelling as Sleater-Kinney (though Electrelane filled the gap after Sleater-Kinney disbanded in 2006, but then they broke up too!). I liked S-K long enough to get over my initial teenaged rock star worship and went from buying a ticket to a show in Boston I was too young to go to and hoping for the best to being impressed with their guitar chops on their last record The Woods. They were just a really solid band. Every album brought an innovative approach to their sound. Their live shows were breathtaking and the members were well spoken and stylish to boot. All this to say that despite my ambivalence about music lately I was very excited to hear that Corin Tucker has a new project (and with Sara Lund from Unwound on drums no less!) and jumped at the chance to interview her and write a profile for Venuszine. Her new record, 1,000 Years, is solid as ever and as always, she is always thinking deeply about what’s going on in society and her personal life and working that into her songwriting. Please check out the full profile on Venuszine here.
Author Archives: killerfemme
New Reviews on Elevate Difference
I have been writing for the website the Feminist Review for several years now, reviewing books, movies, and music from a feminist perspective. The site recently rebranded and relaunched itself as Elevate Difference and it looks great! Honestly, at first I wasn’t too sure about the new name. I thought Feminist Review said what it needed to say. However, once I took a look at Elevate Difference’s snazzy new design I got it- it’s wide reaching, broader ranging, and sophisticated, while never loosing its feminist perspective.
I have two new reviews posted now on Elevate Difference—Mirah’s Gone Are All the Days 12″ single and taboo-busting French director Francois Ozon’s new movie Le Refuge. Please check them out!
Learn French with Sandrine de Paris
If you are trying to learn or perfect your French, like I am, there are always more resources to be had. I just stumbled upon the blog of Sandrine de Paris, a French teacher and friend of a friend who I was lucky enough to have dinner with one night in New York. Her blog is full of great ideas and activities for learning French, including songs and lyrics, fill in the missing word, and clarification on important (and tricky for English speakers) grammar points. She’s also part of Queer Food for Love, which is a great Bay Area (and beyond) eating get together that aims to bring queer and feminist issues to the kitchen.
Coney Island with an Umbrella
A photo series inspired by stormy fall weather and friends from a small European country.
Greetings from Coney Island, USA
Pier Romance
Come on down, the beach is great!
Long walks on the beach in the rain
Umbrella Air
The freak is absent
Efficient Awning
Ending where the hot dog began
Community Cooking Club: Delicious Daytime Lunch Specials
Cooking at the Community Cooking Club!
I recently led a workshop on making food that was easy to bring for lunch at work or school at the Community Cooking Club‘s 5th incarnation at Etsy labs. I wrote all about it and shared the recipes on 2 Cooks in the Kitchen, posted photos on flickr, and even a video on YouTube! Check it out and happy cooking!
Frankie Rose and the Outs Profile on Venus Zine
I think that Ms. Frankie Rose is one of the coolest women in Brooklyn right now. She plays drums and guitar, she writes songs, she’s committed to her professional life and her music, and she lives a grown up yet still punk rock way of life. I got to interview her about her band’s new (self-titled) album and wrote a profile for Venus Zine, which you can read about here.
My Favorite Nothing
The Rubin Museum is doing an interesting social media project where they are inviting visitors to submit videos about, well, nothing for a chance to win tickets to their upcoming series of talks about nothing. The lineup looks great, as you can see on the Rubin’s site here. You can also find the full instructions for how to participate in the nothing project there too.
Basically, visitors are being challenged to “show us nothing” via a 3 minute video. I decided to get the ball rolling and while my video is a little longer I thought the reason for that might (might) be clever. Let me know.
http://www.youtube.com/v/xpBBV4Zh8fk?hl=en&fs=1
Jen Wood Review on Venus Zine
I’ve been listening to Seattle-based singer-songwriter Jen Wood since I was in high school. At that point Jen had already been making feminist and indie oriented acoustic music for years, notably with the riot grrrl related Tattle Tale (which also featured Madigan on cello). I remember being so inspired by Wood’s song writing that I painstakingly typed out the lyrics to her song “Bullet Box” and taped them onto the cover of my math folder, along with the photo from the cover of Wood’s album Getting Past the Static. When I got the chance to see her play live (I think at 17 Nautical Miles in Portland, if memory serves? How’s that for the 90’s! That’s old-skool Todd P. right there) and dorkily had her sign her CD for me.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Jen Wood has a new album out and excited that I got the chance to review it for Venus Zine. It’s more full band oriented than her older albums and she’s reduced the length of her songs from about 6 minutes average to 4 minutes. These are both very positive changes! Read the full review of her album on Venus Zine’s website here.
The Thermals! The Books! Tender Trap! Jane and Serge! Oh My!
 |
|
| By Alison Wonderland |
This past summer I’ve been writing up a storm for Venus Zines website. I’ve been writing profiles of bands and reviewing a slew of great records. Check out my latest here:
Bassist Kathy Foster, part of the Pacific Northwest rockers The Thermals discusses their new album
Indie pop icon (and Economist!) Amelia Fletcher talks about her latest project, Tender Trap
Quirky experimenters The Books talk about their latest album and moving out of NYC
Plus album reviews of the reissue of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg’s Je t’aime… Moi, non plus, and Savoir Adore’s In the Wooded Forest.
Nightlife Denizens
 |
| Paul with hotdog unicorn headgear and me with Slurpee hat |
So if you know me even a little bit you know that i don’t go out much. I like to have a good time, sure, but partying until dawn is not my usual m.o. unless, of course, the party is CHERYL. CHERYL started two years ago by a group of stylish people who mostly worked in museums. Its tagline is “the dance party that will ruin your life” and every month features a different theme and a video that can only be described as a piece of art to go along with it. The party has gained momentum and attention and moved to progressively bigger venues. I love the fact that while dressing up is encouraged it’s not required and that it attracts a mixed crowd of, well, pretty much everyone who likes weird (but not that weird) arty and really honestly fun and unpretentious parties. This time around the theme was 7-11 and the Village Voice showed up to take pictures. Thanks to my handily constructed Slurpee hat apparently I was quite photogenic. Who knew I would be a nightlife icon for a fleeting second? Check out the rest of the Voice’s photos here. I also put photos on my flickr stream.
Killerfemme 
