I had to throw my hat in the indie-rock hype ring that is the Vivian Girls (not the same Vivian Girls that played the riffrag issue #2 launch party a few years ago for those of you who follow that). No, these Vivian Girls (named for outsider-artist Henry Darger’s heroines) have been around for a year or so and have already opened for Sonic Youth! While I don’t quite see why so much hype, though they are a good band, especially for fans of Black Tambourine and Talulah Gosh, you can read my review of their show at Death By Audio (ok, one of their many shows at Death By Audio) here.
Category Archives: Writing
Bodies of Water for Venuszine
In between all my travels and Brooklyn fun this summer, I managed to review the Bodies of Water show (which you can read here) at Mercury Lounge for venuszine.com. I really enjoy the opportunity to go to a show and really think about it critically, as well as enjoy it as a spectator. Please check it out! I’ll be writing more on my travels in just a moment…
Book Review: Riot Grrrl
Riot Grrrl: Revolution Girl Style Now! by Nadine Monem
My review
rating: 2 of 5 stars
Like the contributors to this book remind their readers, there is no official historian of Riot Grrrl and no one way to tell the story. While I appreciated the authors’ interest in personal voice, I felt that like so many other books that have tried to document an underground phenomenon (I’m thinking of “A Girl’s Guide to Taking Over the World” here), this book did not live up to its potential. I appreciated the British perspective, as I learned a lot about British bands and Grrrl culture I only had heard a little about. However, sometimes the essays were too personal. For example, one author repeatedly quoted her own writing as a source. Other chapters tended towards the long-winded sentences of an undergraduate essay. Throughout the book there were large historical gaps: writers tended to skip the years from 1995 to 2000. The story seemed to read,”There was Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear, then they broke up, Sleater-Kinney didn’t really matter, then there was Lady Fest and the Gossip, who are the ultimate Riot Grrrl band.” For me (and this is MY personal experience), the mid-to-late 1990’s and early 2000’s were a hive of Riot-Grrrl activity in the United States, including zines, Yo-Yo-A-Go-Go, the Bay Area Girl Convention, and the explosion of zine related gatherings, Rock Camp for Girls, and yes, Ladyfest. These things are barely, if at all, mentioned in the book.
Overall, the book suffered from sloppy copy editing and lack of fact checking. Zine and film names were misspelled, and typos such as “on” for “of” seemed like a rash throughout the text. It seemed like the authors of different chapters did not consult with each other or read each other’s work. As a result, the same story of Kathleen Hanna and the beginnings of Riot Grrrl were repeated throughout.
It’s true that no one book will do Riot Grrrl justice, but I had hopes that when there was an opportunity for part of the story to be told it would be done so with greater accuracy, clarity, and thus pack a greater historical and literary punch.
My Bloody Valentine Reviews and more…
Since coming home from my whirlwind trip to London, Glasgow and Edinburgh I’ve been writing up a storm. The trip to Glasgow originally involved from buying tickets to see My Bloody Valentine there and then planning everything else. The UK was fantastic, but so fantastically expensive we could barely afford to eat beans and rice. Thankfully, the band was great and you can read the review I wrote for Venus here. Shortly after arriving back at home I went to see the Watson Twins at Music Hall of Williamsburg and wrote another review here. Whew! See more images on my flickr stream.
The Carrots at the Cake Shop!
The Old Haunts at Cake Shop
This week I went to see the Old Haunts play at Cake Shop and reviewed the show for Venuszine.com. You can read the review here:
http://www.venuszine.com/articles/music/live_reviews/3230/The_Old_Haunts_bring_Northwest_punk_to_NYC
Blogging Resolve
Part of my hopes and goals for 2008 is to write more. I realized I’m in danger of becoming one of those artists who never does the thing that they really want to do (writing in my case) because they are too busy earning their rent money or getting lost in daily distractions. During a phone call with Elissa today she talked about working on her writing while being a public school teacher. They key is to start small, to “use what you have” as Elissa says. Like this blog. So I’ve decided to rekindle my posting focus and let this blog and the small stories I share about my life as writing warm up. I’m also reading “The Anti 9 to 5 Guide,” which is also inspiring me to get off my duff and start writing. So, if you have any suggestions about being a writer AND working a full time job not at all related to writing, please send them my way.
LJ reading at ABC No Rio
Several weeks ago (time is going too fast!) there was a zine reading at ABC No Rio as part of their “Art of Zines” show. It was pretty awesome to hear some old school zinesters like LJ and Elissa Nelson read. I thought about how not only had I started reading their zines about 10 years ago, but how amazing it is that we have become friends. There has been a small amount of zine activity around the city lately (I taught a workshop and attended a reading at Think Coffee the week previous) and I find that so interesting and important. Even though I’m not always sure what the power of zines are in the digital age, I know they have power. Seeing all the zines also motivated me to finally finish a new one. It’s going to be about art (big suprise) and especially about art I hate (nothing like a good rant for a zine, right?).
Killerfemme 