Programming Note

I know it's still a month away, but I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year, so for the month of November updates around here will be spotty, at best. I'll try my hardest to keep the same schedule and get something up every day, but I'm not guaranteeing anything.

Something else I promised myself I wouldn't do: clutter this blog up with NaNo updates. I created a separate blog just for that, in case, you know, you want to witness my frenetic NaNo'ing in real time. (Not really, but I will be posting "the worst of" NaNoWriMo 2010. Fun, fun, fun.)

2011 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees: Still Heavy on the Guys

Two years ago, I wrote about the underrepresentation of women in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

"Earlier this month, Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Totally deserving, considering her influence, and not exactly a shock to anyone, unless you consider that out of the 200-plus artists in the Hall, only twenty of them are women. Another seven women who were nominated as part of a band: (Tina Weymouth from the Talking Heads, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac..)

Twenty. That's not many."

The 2011 nominees are up, and only three of the fifteen artists are women: Darlene Love, Laura Nyro and Donna Summer. This should come as a surprise to no one, and granted the rock hall has had its share of other complaints (notably, non "rock" artists getting inducted), but I had hoped to see, especially the artists nominated move into the eighties and beyond, more female artists.

Shelving: Girls to the Front

As glad as I am to see another book written about third-wave feminism and 90s riot grrrl culture, I wonder where are all the women, children of the 80s and 90s, who came to feminism late, or through other means. (Me? A library card and my two feet, oblivious to a groundswell of female-fronted punk bands.) I know I've been critical of the riot grrrl movement in the past, but Sara Marcus's Girls to the Front looks like a good read, and I hope it addresses the problems of riot grrrl (the cliquishness, the exclusiveness, etc.), along with its successes. From Publisher's Weekly:

"A Brooklyn-based journalist gives a brash, gutsy chronicle of the empowering music and feminist movement of the early 1990s led by young women rock groups like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile. Politicized by such national events as the backlash against feminism in the press, the first Iraq War, and the Supreme Court's gearing up to review Roe v. Wade, young women were incensed."

Johanna Fateman from bookforum described the atmosphere of those early riot grrrl days well in an early review for the book, and I can't help but feel a little cheated:

"Any stab at defining Riot Grrrl still feels dangerous. In its self-mythologizing rhetoric, the revolution belonged to all girls but couldn't be owned or represented by any one. Its work was done in secret, in incremental and internal acts of resistance, as well as publicly through songs, zines, gatherings, and, as a 1992 tour flyer for the bands Bratmobile and Heavens to Betsy announced, "new aesthetics and ways of being." Now, Riot Grrrl struggles to be heard over almost two decades of associations—its influence detected in the emancipatory vibe of female-fronted tween pop and the periodic ascent of a woman rock star. But in the original anthems of Riot Grrrl, "Girl Power" was not the can-do sound track of gymnastic routines. It was the power to confront a rapist, an urgent challenge to the systematic silencing of girls, and the invocation of inconsolable, vengeful, and exhilarated revolutionary states, which would have been as unwelcome in Spice World as they were in The Man's world."

I could have so gotten behind a movement that defined feminism for someone my age, but as a working-class, Midwestern girl in the early 90s, feminism was still an unfashionable relic of my mother's generation: something served with a side order of organic lentils and worn with sandals. I grudgingly identified as one even though I knew no others. I could have used a dose of loud, raw rock with my political awareness. I'm definitely reading this book.

On the Responsibility of the Artist and the Consumer

(This is the second time I've rewritten this post. What is so difficult when it comes to debates about art and the responsibility of the artist is that on one hand, I feel if I'm not properly outraged enough when an artist, whether intentional or as the result of unexamined privilege, further marginalizes an already marginalized group, I've failed (because I have). But on another, I spend a great deal of time in "fan world" where much is excused away, and the onus is off the person making the art. Straddling these two worlds is hard, to say the least.)

I've been reading Jason Katz's book, The Macho Paradox, which was published four years ago, but this stood out in light of the recent controversy over the recent Eminem and Rihanna collaboration, "Love the Way You Lie":

"... many Americans believe that artists have an obligation only to be true to their vision -- not to be concerned with the social consequences of their art. According to this perspective, the expression of unpopular or disturbing ideas through art might make people uncomfortable, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The purpose of art is not to make people feel good, but to give voice to the widest possible range of human experience and emotion... I would never say that is necessary to 'shut up' Eminem, but I do believe that is imperative to explore the implications of his popularity."

This comes from a pretty meaty chapter on misogyny and hip hop, but I'd like to add that this reasoning should be applied to any anyone who makes "art" that is sexist, racist, homophobic, ableist, etc. Over the past year, I've watched not only the controversy surrounding "Love the Way You Lie" unfold, but the cause célèbre over Amanda Palmer's Evelyn/Evelyn project, and now Morrisey's recent racist remarks in a British newspaper. I believe in "hating the message, not the artist," but with reservations. Echoing Katz, this isn't about "shutting anyone up," but questioning why certain "edgy" artists are popular even when their edginess is a guise. Regarding Morrissey, I really like what Tami said:

"I won't claim that I will never again let my iPod rest on a song by The Smiths or Morrissey, but the way I experience those songs has been forever tainted. While I have never listed Morrissey among my celebrity idols, many certainly do, and I find this perplexing. It is one thing to love the music and hate the man, but if you find bigotry abhorrent, how can you then idolize someone who has a history of demonstrating racial prejudice?"

Links & Bits for 9/24/10

KEXP Documentaries: "Sirens of Jazz" - Nina Simone (KEXP Blog)
"This KEXP Documentary has vintage clips of the mysterious woman speaking her mind. Showing the balance of her sensitivity and richness, next to her hot temper and fear. One of the first and most important civil rights activists, Nina wrote many songs about racism in America. And at the time, during the Civil Rights Era of the 50′s and 60′s, she could have been killed for speaking up. But no one could silence Nina Simone."

Carrie Brownstein has a new band!

Social Media From Muscians' Perspectives (Online Fandom)
"The last decade has brought tremendous changes in the tools and possibilities for musicians and audiences to interact with one another. On one hand, this brings new possibilities as artists can directly mobilize supporters on their behalf. On the other, it poses problems as artists try to work through changing expectations of how sociable and accessible they are supposed to be with their audiences and which ways of relating to which sectors of their audiences work best for them. Except for anecdotal success and failure stories, no one knows much about the common problems musicians face, the rewards they reap, or what works and what doesn’t. Furthermore, we don’t really have a good grasp on what is really new vs. new tweaks to what’s been true for generations."

The problem with Nicki Minaj: Out female MCs on being real in rap (AfterEllen)
"The problem is that Nicki Minaj is the biggest thing in hip-hop right now. Not just the biggest woman, the biggest new artist that everyone anticipates seeing, hearing, Tweeting. Whether she means to or not, she represents women in hip-hop, and the ones who hear her lyrics about lesbians and sleeping with women aren't always going to read every interview with her in which she "clarifies" she doesn't sleep with them."

Comment of the day courtesy of No Depression from the post "On Justin Townes Earle's recent arrest, etc."

"Oh, so I see. JTE punches a 23-year-old girl in the face and HE is the victim. There are plenty of artists that travel and play shows, and don't act in this behavior. I put my own name behind this man, propped him up. I was also the only one willing to speak publicly about the warning signs that JTE had relapsed and was causing problems for the people around, and caught holy hell from many, while NPR and others propped him up and fed his cult of celebrity in an unhealthy and enabling manner.

Sure, he needs support and blessings, but how about lets see even an ounce of remorse first. He no only showed no remorse, he's added insult to injury. I'll give support and forgiveness when it is asked for.

Until then, everyone reading reports of loud crowds and bad sound (which are conflicted by just as many other eyewitness reports), just keep saying to yourselves. "He punched a 23-year-old in the face, and refuses to take responsibility for it." (savingcountrymusic)

I'm not a fan of Justin Townes Earle, but as I watched this whole debacle unfold earlier this week, I found myself frustrated with fans' excuses and rationalizations for his alleged violent behavior (the fans were rowdy, the sound was bad, he was drinking, etc.). I wanted to post that quote in its entirety as it was one of the most rational things I read all week. For a good chunk of my twenties and early thirties, I was a fan of a critically acclaimed, but commercially doomed singer-songwriter who fell off the wagon in a big way during his last tour, and the fallout from the JTE arrest mirrored a lot of the conversations I had with other fans during that time.

Last.fm Tells You What You Should Be Listening To (According to Age and Gender)

The nerd in me loves this sort of thing, but the amateur Judith Bulter in me says, "OH RLY?" Last.fm just launched an app that graphs the average age and gender of your top artists listeners, and you can how you measure up. I am apparently in my mid-twenties, almost decade off, but very much a "girl" in my musical taste:

These kinds of tools are fun and shouldn't be taken too seriously (no one can tell you what you should be listening to), but I do have a few questions, namely what is the average age of a last.fm user in general? I'm guessing the results skew sort of young because (from what I can tell from using the site for the past four years) last.fm users tend to be in their twenties. I popped some of my friends' names in, most of whom are in their thirties and forties, and all of them had the musical taste of someone much younger, according to last.fm's data. And the site overall is rather "indie heavy." It seems that certain types of music fans use last.fm. The site's own particular demographic should be taken into consideration. (You can look at last.fm's users' most listened to artists by age and gender here. )

One thing no one would find surprising is how certain styles of music -- and some highly acclaimed artists -- broke down across gender lines.  According to my very unscientific data, men generally don't listen to female artists much, and last.fm agrees. I thought this proclamation from their blog was disappointing -- but not at all shocking:

"So, you can now use this plot to decide which music you might want to listen to. For example, if you are a healthy young male in your early twenties, you probably should listen to bands such as Iron Maiden and Metallica. Gorillaz and Radiohead might just be acceptable. If you get older you can then switch to artists like Neil Young and Genesis. It’s all quite obvious really."

Delusions of Gender

After reading several stellar reviews of Cordelia Fine's Delusion of Gender , I finally got my hands on the book. She debunks a lot of those tired old myths that women are bad at math and science, are hardwired for empathy, and have a predilection for everything pink and frilly. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in how we form our gender identity, and how much of that it is influenced by society (despite our best efforts at "gender neutral" parenting):

"As we've seen, children are born into a world in which gender is continually emphasized though conventions of dress, appearance, language, color segregation, and symbols. Everything around the child indicates that whether one is male or female is a matter of great importance... once children know their own sex, in theory they can start to take socialization into their own hands."

I know anecdotes don't equal evidence, but I grew up fairly sheltered, without a lot of pressure to conform to gender roles (this was the Free To Be You And Me seventies after all). Fine touches a little on other factors, such as race, class and ethnicity -- the pink equals girl, blue equals boy, girls are good at empathizing but bad at math stereotypes are overwhelmingly a westernized, especially middle-class, concept. Growing up in a working-class/lower income neighborhood, I never had the "princess fantasy." (I grew up in a time before Disney's princess factory, which figures heavily into the equation, too.) I didn't know any girl who engaged in princess play. To the contrary, I wasn't a hardcore tomboy either; I fell somewhere in between. I played with dolls, but I turned my Barbie Beauty Salon into a spaceship, I was an active kid, but didn't play organized sports. I'd like to say my parents did an exceptional job raising me, but there were other factors at work. And I think I'm pretty lucky I didn't get -- or didn't listen to -- some of those messages.

Rewind: Holly Golightly - Truly She Is None Other

if my early thirties could have had an official soundtrack, I'd nominate Truly She Is None Other. Of course, I'm not nearly as cool as Holly. (Yes, Holly Golightly is her real name.)

Truly, Holly Golightly's 11th album, is hip without being pretentious, and has a healthy does of retro cool. "Tell Me Now So I Know" is a cover of a fairly obscure Kinks' song:



Of the nine original songs, my favorite is "Without You Here." She borrows a lot from 60s garage and girl group, but the result is modern and fresh, and still sounds good nearly a decade later:

Antony and Bjork

I saw this on Fuel Friends yesterday and thought I'd share. Fletta, is the haunting new single from Antony and the Johnsons forthconing album, Swanlights, which will be available Oct. 12. From Spinner:

"Flétta' finds its beauty in a bare-bones approach. Bjork takes the lead as Hegarty provides a somber, strikingly minimalist piano part that turns progressively bubbly as it gains momentum. There are no other instruments or adornments besides those two famous voices, so the track glides by with a purposefully airy feel."

Lost and Found (Song): Jarboe - Lavender Girl

Due to a complete lack of inspiration, I've been rereading Andrea Juno's Angry Women in Rock. It's a little -- okay a lot -- heavy on punkier side of rock, and it's pretty dated (it was published in 1996), but I'm finding a lot of artists I missed the first time around.

Jarboe was a member of Swans with Michael Gira, but has gone on to a pretty intriguing solo career (they reformed earlier this year). On touring with the band:

"I had to be macho. I had to be tough. I had lug my own equipment and everything. I owned myself; I couldn't ask for any help. I had to be in an enclosed bus with everyone chain-smoking and not say anything even though i didn't smoke or drink or do drugs the; I was completely 'straight' in every sense of the word. I had ti put up with almost constant drunkenness from nearly every member of the group, constant chain-smoking and a whole behavior system that was counter to my way of thinking., which involved body-building and vegetarianism." (Angry Women in Rock)

I really know how to describe this -- it's pretty far from my comfort zone. "Lavender Girl" is goth, electronic, perfectly orchestrated trippiness.

LInks & Bits for 9/17/10

The Curious Case of La Roux's Elly Jackson (AfterEllen)
AfterEllen's Trish Bendix has written a great piece on Elly Jackson, the frontwoman for La Roux, with a lot said about her androgynous appearance and the media's fascination with her sexuality.

Know Who's A Genius? (Dharma Pancakes)
I'm temporarily lifting my ban on Ke$sha as Deeky's post got me thinking. Maybe there's some delicious uncaught irony within the whole "party girl" persona: "Ke$ha is, I am convinced, an extended performace art piece on the nature of consumable pop personalities, manufactured music, and sex as commodity. Every auto-tuned note, every pop culture reference in the lyrics, the oversatured, over-the-top video, the childish sing-song melody: it is all a brilliant critique skewering the American celebrity machine..."

Pitchfork's editors have posted their 200 Greatest Songs of the 90s. Say what you want about Pitchfork, but for the most part, their lists are pretty diverse and varied, at least compared to their contemporaries.

I'm currently obsessed with Liz's 1001 Albums. Liz is a 25-year-old with exactly sixty-seven songs on her iPod, so she took it upon herself to listen her way through Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die -- one per day. As someone who's lived the last twenty-years of her life in "record snob" world, I love reading about other peoples' experiences discovering the "classics." (Even if I cringed a little when she compared Patti Smith to Pink.)

A Cappella Group Does Dre

(Via Sociological Images)



"The appropriation of the song works on so many levels: the all heavily-white, all-female group, the sweet choral arrangement, the pastel prep fashion, the strategically placed tennis rackets. They use race, class, and gender contradictions to force us to see and hear the song in a new way. All serve to mock the original, taking the teeth out of the language at the same time that they expose it as grossly misogynistic. Awesome."

Except that I don't think I'd call this "awesome." On one hand, young women singing a pretty, choral arrangement of a blatantly misogynistic song takes some of the power out of the words "bitches and hos," but that it's a largely white chorus in prep school clothes and carrying tennis rackets -- symbols of privilege -- makes me a bit uneasy. It sort of fails at being subversive, though I'm not sure this was their intent. It also bothers me that people are probably posting this video without considering its larger cultural implications. The discussion over at Sociological Images is worth reading:

"I think the point here is women reappropriating their own image as presented by popular media. A bunch of young women sweetly repeating something intended to debase them should make us rather uncomfortable, particularly when you consider when the original track was released and that these women were very young girls at that time but were still most likely exposed to that content one way or another."

"But I’m struggling to articulate what’s bothering me about it, or maybe not the video itself, but reactions to it. Is it funny because it’s using/subverting the idea that rich preppy white girls are purest fragile sexless porcelain, or is it trading on that stereotype?"

"My issues with this are, as others have well expressed, that it is specifically the privilege being exaggerated in this performance that makes me give this the hairy eyeball."

Edited to add:
*The subject of Dr. Dre's original was fellow rapper, Easy E. (Eric Wright)
*The a cappella choir is using Ben Fold's arrangement, which you can listen to here.

Some Reactions To Taylor Swift's Kanye Song

So if you haven't heard by now, at last weekend's VMAs, Talyor Swift performed a new song about Kanye interrupting her during last year's show. The song was.. meh, but something about the entire situation was icky. I'm not a Kanye apologist, but the song and the choice to unveil it exactly a year since the "incident" was pretty patronizing. And it plays out some old tropes about and race and privilege. From Alas, a Blog:

"Taylor Swift’s paean to being Kanye’s “victim” makes me want to roll my eyes at her routine as well as some of the reactions to it. Because if this what happens when someone is rude to a white woman in public we really haven’t come past race at all. Not even a little bit. In fact, while we’re on the subject of coded language and images let’s talk about the phrase “White Women’s Tears” and why it seems to be both problematic and accurate in this situation. There’s a case that could be made for inherent misogyny in the way the phrase is used. After all Taylor’s feelings were undoubtedly hurt and she’s got a right to express that pain right? Right. So, as a musician she expresses those emotions in the way that best suits her and we shouldn’t read more into it than her telling her side of the story."

Jezebel also had a pretty lengthy discussion about Taylor's performance, and reactions varied wildly from "Leave Taylor alone!" to this, which reiterates what Alas, a Blog was saying.

Rewind: Lucinda Williams - S/T

Turning from a teenage girl into a woman in the early nineties, before the nineties were "The 90s," I've always regretted that I didn't have a "Liz Phair." Or a Courtney. Or an Alanis. Or a Kathleen. Either I was slightly too old for these artists to have made much of an impact on me (when you're young, there's a lifetime between seventeen and twenty-two), or I was unaware of their existence. I grew up on crappy 80s metal, eventually finding my way to less crappy 80s indie, but those were still "boy bands." Oh, I owe a lot of my musical knowledge to acts like REM and The Replacements, but when I hear other women's stories of how that one album changed their lives, I can't help but feel a little jealous. Turns out I had one in Lucinda William's self-titled  album from 1992.

Jane Wiedlin will entertain you while I continue to wreak havoc on my blog

I really hate writing about the mechanics of site maintenance. A few weeks ago, I updated the template, added a spiffy new header to go with it, and started to tackle the mess that is the tabs. Yes, some of them are undeniably useless, and I really wanted off-site links rather than a list of blogger-hosted pages under the header, but for whatever reason, that breaks my blog. Or break the geriatric version of Safari I'm using. I've only checked in Safari and Firefox, so if things start to look a little wonky around here, don't hesitate to let me know.

Also, I ditched my old Tumblr after realizing it mostly functioned as a link long, and an unduly angry one at that.. However, tumblr is a fantastic for photo blogging, so I started a new one.

I've always had a photo blog of some sort, so this doesn't change anything around here. Little background: I shoot primarily with junk or "crap" cameras or Holgas and Lomos. Seriously, I didn't know this was a hipster thing until Holgas started showing up at a *cough* unnamed chain store in the mall. I've been doing this for about ten years now, originally as a way to get my feet wet with medium format photography, though I couldn't afford a "real" medium format camera.

My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women in Hip Hop

Read Latoya Peterson's review of My Mic Sounds Nice, a documentary on women, sexism and hip hop, which aired on BET recently. She talks a little about the 90s and how during that decade women started making inroads in the world of hip hop, but also had to sex up their image to gain acceptance:

"Lady of Rage talked about feeling pressured in as time went on to soften her look, to lose weight, to become more visually appealing, and all the female emcees echoed similar sentiments. They showed images of Da Brat at her debut and in the 1990s, noting that most women felt obligated to trade in their jeans, caps, and Tims for a more stereotypically feminine look."

Watch My Mic Sounds Nice here.

Scrap: Zines, Blogs and Privilege

"Participating in a girl zine culture requires that one have the leisure to create zines, a life generally uncluttered with the rudiments of survival, access to copy machines and other equipment, money for stamps and supplies, and enough self-esteem and encouragement to believe that one's thoughts are worth putting down for public consumption -- all marks of a certain level of privilege."

"Cut-and-Paste Revolution" by Jennifer Bleyer from The Fire This Time

I was well into my twenties before I knew what a "zine" was, and when I did, zines were the domain of boys who played in bands or worked at the small, community-owed radio station, one of my town's few enclaves of hip. The subculture of women punk rockers and activists had yet to make it to my working-class, Midwestern city. A while ago, I read a comment on another blog that said something like, "Zines were the great equalizer of the 90s." I don't think that's true at all. In fact, I think zines and the culture surrounding them caused more of a chasm between the privileged and the less privileged. The last part of that quote says it all: the timesuck of making a homegrown magazine, the expense of copying and mailing them out, the questioning whether you have something worthwhile to say at all... all marks of privilege. A lot of voices got lost in early 90s DIY culture, or weren't heard at all.

Nearly twenty years have passed, and blogs have taken over where zines have left off, but some of the same issues remain. There's no denying it's pretty easy to set up a blog: a number of blog hosts are free, and with prepackaged templates, no HTML is necessary. However, even in 2010, not everyone has internet access, nor the spare time required to maintain a blog. (Libraries have made access easier for those without a computer, but in many cases, those computers have to be booked in advance and depending on your local library, you're chances of getting one when you need it are hit or miss.)

Despite that, if would be naive to suggest that blogging hasn't given voice to a lot of women who've been silenced by traditional (or DIY) media, and for progressive feminists living in conservative parts of the country it's a blessing to find a community of like minded people. But like everything else, invariably some people are left out. Needless to say, I was a little put off by what Manifesta authors, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, said about blogs and other forms of online activism:

"They were not particularly enthusiastic about it, all this Internet and social media stuff. Jennifer said she worried it was a weak substitute for real-life activism. Amy pointed out that it was often yet another form of unpaid work for women, and that many foundations and organizations were launching blogs because they thought they were supposed to, without really knowing what they were for. Debbie didn't really want to talk about her magazine vis a vis the Internet, but she did offer that Facebook was a girly form — "Like passing notes in class," she ad-libbed."

Of course, blogging is a lot of long hours, and mostly unpaid work. A number of women have parleyed their blogs into a source of income, but those are few and far between. As someone who's been blogging in some capacity for about five years, my biggest issue with blogging and its communities is the cliquishness and exclusion. A lot of voices still aren't being heard. Renee from Womanist Musings wrote a great post about the invisibility of women of color in parent blogging. Notably, one of the areas online where women have made significant inroads, and it's still mostly a white, straight, middle-class club. Blogs penned by women who aren't mothers, or blogs that don't fit into a nice, neat, little niche, get lost altogether.

Links & Bits for 9/10/10

Sick Of This: Mental Illness in Pop Culture (Bitch Blogs)
"In Hollywood, even as women are treated as mentally ill for daring to be different, women who really are experiencing mental illness are also held under a lens. It's rare for people to come out publicly about living with mental illness in Hollywood, thanks to the stigma associated with it. Yet, somehow, the media manages to come up with diagnoses. It follows women who are experiencing psychiatric crises with prurient interest and blazons the pictures across the front page."

Florence + the Machine: The Autostraddle Interview (Autostraddle)
"According to Florence Welch, aka Florence + The Machine, her debut album ‘Lungs’ deals with “whatever the f*ck comes out of my mouth”. In that respect, that album and this interview are very similar. Florence chats to Autostraddle about David Bowie, the timelessness of death, and her fondness for hip hop & shiny objects."

The Dresden Dolls and M.I.A. announce tour dates. (Separately, of course, but that would be an awesome double bill.)

the xx wins the 2010 Mercury Prize (The Guardian)

Download a new song from Marnie Stern (Paste Magazine)

Duet to Me One More Time (I Fry Mine In Butter)
"When you talk about duets, basically you’re talking about Babs and Barry. Guilty to be exact. Guilty is my personal holy karaoke song, which I will be singing in front of a live, drunken audience with Raymond by my side. “What Kind of Fool” was the first song I ever heard from this album. I’m pretty sure this was one of the tunes in La Mommie’s stable of Babs songs. I also remember she used to get cheesed whenever my sister and I would shake ourselves while singing to imitate Barry Gibbs. In other news, I seem to recall La Mommie owning that same outfit Babs is wearing. Ten bucks says Babs got hers from White House/Black Market too."

Big Mouths

Earlier this week, I wrote a short post  for Culture Brats about Morrissey's racist remarks in a recent Guardian article  . He's notorious for this kind of behavior, but here's a bit of history courtesy of Pitchfork:

"Over the years, Morrissey has been tagged by some as racist due to lyrics and his comments on immigration. In 2008, the singer donated 28,000 pounds to Love Music Hate Racism, though the organization told the Guardian it would not accept money from him in the future if he did not apologize for his most recent controversial quotes. Perhaps we'll get some background on the issue when Moz finishes his autobiography, which is apparently "almost concluded," according to the Guardian piece."

I'm not going to rehash what I wrote, and to be honest, this is less about Morrissey than it is how hard it is to write about a beloved figure whose moments of eccentricity qualify as hate speech. I feel as if I'm straddling two worlds, one telling me this is gross and he should be vilified, and another telling me we should "judge the art and not the artist." Sorry, it's hard for me to judge the art when the artist makes racist, sexist, or homophobic statements. But even then I'm a hypocrite, because if I followed my own advice, I'd have very little left on my iPod. I'm curious where other people draw the line: what can you ignore, and what do you find reprehensible? I spend a lot of time in "fan world," where all but the most egregious crimes are excused, chalking it up to "being a difficult artist." This was in a second article in the Guardian:

"It's an unfortunate facet of a complex character, but we fans should not feel obliged to disown the music we love, any more than opera enthusiasts should have to close their ears to Wagner because of his objectionable views. As the singer explains to Armitage, "the ageing process isn't terribly pretty", and although he has produced some excellent songs in recent years, it is increasingly possible to enjoy his great oeuvre without any regard to the man. It is telling that this autumn's release is remastered and expanded material first recorded two decades ago."

As self-righteous as it sounds, I have no problem "closing my ears." I don't see how Morrissey's racism is different from Michael Richards's or Mel Gibson's, who managed enough justifiable outrage to put their careers in jeopardy.

Rewind: Sally Timms - Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos

The Mekons have always had a predilection for deconstructing American country music (the British band even recorded a silly cover of Hank Williams's "Lost Highway), but veering to far outside one's comfort zone carries a high risk of failure. Country covers in particular are either too goofy, dealing in too much irony, or they're a little too reverent (boring). Frontwoman Sally Timms straddles the line nicely with her decade-old Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos. Self-described as "art country," her first full-length album features originals co-written with former band member, Jon Langford, and a number of classics from Johnny Cash and Robbie Fulks. From Pitchfork:

"If genuine country music can be likened to a shot of Jack Daniels with a Jim Beam chaser, then Sally Timms' collection of country-tinged tunes might be like sipping a cup of Earl Grey tea. And I guess by "genuine" country I mean the bastard shit-kickin' Johnny Paycheck and Merle Haggard kinda country. Timms' take on the genre isn't exactly strong, intoxicating medicine for your troubles, but it might do just fine on a lonely winter's eve."

Standout track: Timms's version of Johnny Cash's "Cry Cry Cry"

Pure Pop For Old(er) People

I'm putting a moratorium on writing any more posts about Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, or Miley Cyrus. I have nothing against these artists (though Ke$ha's cultural relevance continues to baffle me), but I'm almost old enough to be the mother of, at least, three of the four. And while I'm fascinated by their popularity, and how none of these artists seemed to have gone through any kind of evolutionary process to get to that point, I almost never listen to them, and writing about them feels disingenuous.

I like the sound of sugary pop music, it's just that most of it is made for preteens. I picked through my iPod for songs that are inherently danceable, but don't make me feel like a mom chaperoning a high school dance:







So what songs satisfy your pop jones without making you feel older than dirt?

Rock, She Writes -- Says NPR

(Via 90s Woman who made the list. Congrats!)

NPR put together a list of "10 Women Music Writers To Read Right Now:"

"Hoping to add to our bookshelves and bookmarks, we also asked the writers for reading recommendations — books, blogs, articles or Twitter feeds written by a woman and focusing on music. Check out their suggestions below, and double your chances of connecting with new music and conversation by following the recommenders too."

I've mentioned this before, but some of the best writing on music has come from blogs that don't focus primarily on music, or even pop culture in general. A lot of these blogs are penned by women in the feminist blogosphere. Bitch's B-Sides and Bitchtapes blogs are a wealth of information about women making music, especially those that have fallen through the cracks or don't pigeonhole easily.

When I first starting blogging, and then blogging for a well-known website, I had a lot of trouble trying to find other women blogging about music. Since then I've added several to my feedreader. These are just a few I check regularly:

Feminist Music Geek
Side Ponytail
Bring Back Glam
The Fembassy
Don't Dance Her Down Boys
Flux-Rad
Diary of a Bad Housewife

Glee's Girl Trouble

I've had this sitting in my drafts for more than two weeks. I have a lot of things to say about PopMatters post on Glee's Kurt Hummel's "honorary girl status" , but this stood out:

"Before getting into why I’m concerned about Kurt’s construction on Glee, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that it’s impossible for televisual representations to wholly represent: there’s no one way to be white, black, female or male, and as such, there is no one way to be gay. As for Kurt, there’s no way for him to effectively televisually represent all gay men (or gay adolescents). What is concerning is that Kurt appears constructed as an “honorary girl” on Glee."

And...

"Therefore, my argument is not with Kurt’s character per se as much as it is about my wish to protest against the feminization and castration of gay men’s actual maleness."

There were a lot of a salient points made in this article, which I'll get to in a minute, but I think the author overlooked the obvious: Kurt's "honorary girl" status is concerning only because femininity is devalued in society. It's unfortunate that his argument comes across  as "everything female is bad," because it minimizes his point that gay characters on television, particularly prime time network TV, aren't varied or nuanced and are, more often than not, desexualized.

"One of the things that could help to construct Kurt as something other than a girl would be to allow him to express the sexual part of his homosexuality. Certainly the castration of gay men on television is nothing new, but it works in conjunction with feminizing gay men to render them nonthreatening and oftentimes womanly. The most readily accessible example of this phenomenon can be seen in Will from Will & Grace whose characterization sacrificed any meaningful examination of gay relationships in order to advance a politics of respectability—which essentially works to primarily put an image of gay men as middle class, white, career-oriented and essentially asexual with the ultimate conclusion left for heterosexuals to draw being, Wow, the gays are just like us! (read: normal).'"

Not mentioned, but one show that did this well was United States Of Tara. Younger son Marshall got to express his sexuality (within the limits of being a TV teen) on the past season, and was, overwhelmingly, a nuanced, complicated character. David and Keith from Six Feet Under, too, were allowed to be sexual, but of course both these shows are on Showtime and HBO, respectively, and could afford to be "risk taking."

And this, from the comments , I thought, said what the original post should :

"As per Judith Butler, it is the role of drag to reveal the imitative nature of gender. While reinforcing a restrictive stereotype, the Kurts of the television realm also serve to make obvious the disjuncture between sexuality, sex, and gender, by highlighting the pointed construction of gender. So while a “masculine” gay male representation on television is sorely needed, so is a “feminine” straight male… and a “feminine” gay female and a “masculine” straight female. Break down the restrictive box that surrounds all folks, as it were."

Links & Bits for 9/3/10

Women MCs: Doing double what a dude could do (Feministing)
"This week BET premiered a documentary about women MCs: My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women in Hip Hop. (Which takes its name from the Salt ‘n’ Pepa song.)"

Inuit women preserve unique tradition (The Guardian)
"Throat singing is a traditional Inuit game, usually played by women. The songs or sounds are made up by different women. They imitate sounds that you would hear in your environment in the North, including the wind, the river and there are some ladies that do one that's called the bumble bee and there's one we do called the saw. You have two people who play with each other and echo each other and the object of the game is to make the other person stop either by exhaustion, laughing or losing the rhythm."

The musical mind behind Friday Night Lights (I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS)
"Said kickass female music supervisor for the Friday Night Lights series is one Liza Richardson, longtime DJ at the inimitable KCRW radio station in Southern California. She also works on music in films (The Kids Are All Right and Eat, Pray, Love are two recent projects she was involved in), was invited to be the first DJ at the Academy Awards, and even got to do one of those cool Apple commercials. Her musical tastes run in all the same veins mine do, and I was excited to talk with her about her job, how she stumbled into it, and what she loves about soundtracking all those wrenching small-town Texas moments."

On White People and The Blues (PostBourgie)
"Music for me can be a touchy and emotionally charged subject, and – for the most part – I try to avoid discussions that are driven by the sole need to essentialize genres according to race. While it is clear to me that certain music has origins in circumstances in which race was an unequivocal factor, I’ve grown into an understanding that much musical development occurred within an environment of cross-racial, -cultural, often transatlantic influences. Borrowing has happened, sometimes even mutually."

Indie Rock's "Boys' Club" Problem

According to an article in The Guardian, "Indie likes to pride itself on having an enlightened sense of gender relations. But that doesn't stop female audience members from being groped at shows."

"Without a doubt, indie has a more enlightened sense of gender relations than many musical genres. You can see this in a number of areas, such as pioneering co-ed bands (Pixies, Arcade Fire, Lush, the White Stripes, Elastica, My Bloody Valentine, Quasi, Slowdive, the xx , Autolux, Beach House, the Kills, feel free to carry on) and the blending of gender-coded imagery where androgyny has been consistent in clothing and physicality. Blur didn't write "Girls who are boys, who like boys to be girls, who do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boys" for nothing. Androgyny can even been seen in the common use of falsetto by male singers as a higher register is usually associated with femininity. The blending of gender imagery is common in rock and pop, but the central value of equality, even between performers and audience has made humanist gender relations the ideal in indie." (Emphasis mine)

Many forms of popular music have embraced androgyny and sexual fluidity. It has never guaranteed equality among its performers, fans, or critics, though. 80s glam metal was rife with misogyny while its members donned full-face makeup and tight clothing. Indie rock (which, in 2010, has become a nebulous term for anything "not popular," though a lot of is indistinguishable from mainstream rock), is purportedly more inclusive. On the surface, it looks that way, but dig deeper and the same old problems emerge. Aside from the bands mentioned, indie bands are largely male. Of the top ten bands on Last.fm tagged "indie" only Belle and Sebastian has any female members.

"At indie shows, you still see gender distinctions in distribution patterns and activities. Women tend to stand right at the front and by the speaker stacks, rarely in the central area where dancing might happen. Groping is absolutely taboo, yet women are still loathe to crowd surf because it only takes one jerk in an audience to violate a woman which limits her ability to participate in audience activities available to males."

I'm nearing the end of my show-going days, but I usually stand front and center because I'm usually shooting. (Actually, front and center isn't the best position. Nostril shots.) I have been groped, shoved, had my ear screamed into by the guy next to me who insisted shouting his request, never mind that the band on stage couldn't hear it, and have had numerous pitchers of beer spilled on me. Some of that is part and parcel of club life, but the groping is vile and disgusting, scary and oh yeah, illegal. I've left shows because someone decided to grab at me for, I guess, the unspeakable crime of being a woman dancing at a rock show. I can't vouch for crowd surfing, given that most the acts I see these days are well into their forties -- and their fans as well -- and less likely to pitch their bodies into the crowd. I have been to a few shows where I was one of few women in the crowd, and that's an uneasy feeling itself.

"There is an assumption if you are female at a show that you are sexually available to performers. Just earlier this year, on Jeopardy (a popular game show in the US), university student Lindsay Eanet said she would like to be a music journalist like the fictional character William Miller (from Almost Famous, based on the experiences of Cameron Crowe writing for Rolling Stone). The host said, "Oh, so you want to be a groupie?" As she explained that she wanted to be a professional journalist, he once again mouthed to the camera "groupie"

Ugh. I'd like this trope to stop, ASAP. Can I add "cool rock chick" to the (short) list of archetypes for women who like music? Groupie or Cool Chick. Sexually available or "one of the guys." As someone who has fallen into the "one of the boys," trap far too often, this is a particular thorn in my side: the perception that women don't enjoy music; they want to band the lead singer. The only alternative is to prove yourself by being as good at being a hardcore fan as the guys. Not being a musician myself, I can only speak as a fan. I'm usually mistaken for someone's wife who was dragged there unwillingly, and if not, most men are flummoxed that I came alone. Do I feel safe? Not always, but I take precautions like not drinking or hanging out after. I shouldn't have to, and the only reasons nothing has happened to me is because I've been pretty lucky. The next generation shouldn't have to worry about being "lucky."

Nostalgia Isn't Universal

(A version of this was originally published at my now-defunct Tumblr.)

There aren't many feminists my age who don't remember musician Kathleen Hanna -- of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre fame -- scrawling SLUT across her stomach as a way to reclaim the word.

Jessica Valenti from Full Frontal Feminism

I'm one of those feminists who doesn't remember Kathleen Hanna scrawling SLUT on her stomach. I know I write a lot about the influx of 90s subculture nostalgia -- probably too much. But I think it's important to note that not everyone's nostalgia is the same, and not every thirty-something woman's version of the 90s is a press pack neatly stuffed with Bikini Kill, Angela Chase, Daria, and Liz Phair. My memories of the 90s are more piecemeal than that. I was still absorbing the brunt of my pop culture through the usual channels: MTV, commercial radio, mainstream magazines, and whatever my friends were into. When I did realize there was something out there beyond my own little world, a lot of times it was through those same channels. The long-gone fashion magazine Mademoiselle, of all things, introduced me to bands like Sonic Youth and, somewhat inexplicably, Redd Kross, leading me to believe they were much more popular than they were. For a few months in 1992, a couple times each day MTV would deviate from their trifecta of Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots and play something like Juliana Hatfield, but my two of my favorite bands were still AC/DC and Metallica, definitely not cool.

Sometimes I feel as though I'm rewriting my own history to fit some prescribed narrative, and I suspect others do to. It wouldn't be honest to pretend my memories of my late teens and early 20s aren't fragmented and odd. What I'd really like to see, though, are a few more voices added to the mix. Every generation gets to write its autobiography, but its contributors need diversity.