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So obviously this week’s Friday video is this, if by some chance you have not seen it (warning on the video — there is nudity and violence and lots of, to put it gently, problematic content):
…that is a lot of Tarantino and a lot of product placement, and Gaga going on with her latest girl-power thing, and I’m kind of surprised that Beyonce went along with all that weirdness. But yeah, damn. That is a video. Unsure how I feel about it, and Gaga is always controversial, so have at it.
Now, the Random 10. Leave yours in the comments.
1. Lykke Li – Everybody But Me
2. Grizzly Bear – Lullabye
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Shame and Fortune
4. Portishead – Over
5. Cass McCombs – Jonesy Boy
6. Ecstatic Sunshine – Little Dipper Big Dipper
7. Band of Horses – St. Augustine
8. Rufus Wainwright – Across the Universe
9. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Army Bound
10. MGMT – Electric Feel
In the aftermath of the 8.8 earthquake that killed hundreds in Chile, many are making the inevitable comparison between Chile and Haiti, where a smaller earthquake killed more than 200,000 people.
NPR and other news sources have focused on how Chile was more “prepared” — its buildings more sound, its infrastructure more “developed,” its people more [...]
Seeing these men adopting the roles of both men and women in classical paintings really serves to highlight the Guerrilla Girls' points about how women frequently appear in art: naked. Another lesson in why drag can be so powerful. It really makes you see gender norms in a new way.
Meeting a friend for lunch at Big Al’s (if you love veggies, ask for the Sarah Special!) and getting inspired to job-hunt again. I’m also grateful for friends helping me out so much! People are good.
Applying for a State Job! I liked it because I finally found where people who don’t work at Universities and/or non-profits work (or attempt to find work). I saw sooooo many interesting folks whom I immediately wanted to befriend. The life stories I imagined! My favorite was the 77-year-old Supervisor lady with a silver side ponytail and a loose-fitted tweed pantsuit. If I get a job anywhere near her, she better be ready to chat!
Good Asian Drivers consist of Melissa Li and Kit Yan, musician and slam poet. Focusing on many contemporary issues, especially in relation to queer culture, The Good Asian Drivers are not to be overlooked.
I especially recommend “Here’s To You,” Melissa Li’s amazing song celebrating women of all types, interspersed with spoken word from Kit Yan.
“here’s to the women who write
women who sing
women who rock
here’s to the women who fight
and to the women who have fought
here’s to the artists the doctors the teachers the athletes
the strong and the brave
here’s to the women who do business with men
and to the women who misbehave
here’s to the women in the army
and here’s to a little bit of defiance
here’s to the work of those filmmakers who break the silence
here’s to the women who run things own things fix things
and refuse to be hidden
here’s to the women who love freedom
and to the women who love women
here’s to all the mothers
here’s to all the daughters
here’s to all the sisters the wives the girlfriends
and those who just love being alone
here’s to all the women of the world from songo mozambique
to the plains of mongolia
from the black beaches of iceland
to the favelas of brazil
and to those right here at home”
One of the activities we did as an ice breaker at our recent retreat was to talk about our very first concert on our own. Hilarity, as you might imagine, ensued. We thought we'd share some of the stories with you all...
Miriam - Alan Jackson and Deanna Carter, c. 1996, Raleigh, North Carolina
It's true, I grew up in the South! I went with a friend and her mom when I was in middle school. I can't say I was an Alan Jackson fan, but when Deanna Carter sang Strawberry Wine I was into it.
Ann - Cornershop and Gus Gus, c. 1997, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
I grew up in a small-ish town in Iowa where nationally known musical acts only play when their careers are long dead. Seeing live music meant driving several hours -- something my mom and dad were loathe to let me do. When I was a freshman in high school, I told my parents I was going to watch Hamlet (the longest movie I could think of) at a friend's house, and snuck off to Wisconsin to see the "Brimful of Asha" band (wow, um, yeah) and some random Icelandic act I had never heard of. I got in big trouble later.
Courtney-Smoking Groove Tour, 1998, Boulder, Colorado
As the Fugees were performing in a very small venue, a woman from the audience threw her bra up at the keyboard player. Lauryn Hill stopped singing and made everyone stop playing music, and then did a ridiculously amazing freestyle about how the girl needed to respect herself. I was stunned.
Lori-Musiq Soulchild/Mary J. Blige, c. 2002, Electric Factory, Philly, PA
At 16, my friend's recently acquired learner's permit enabled he and I to follow the neo-soul trail from S. Jersey to Philly Phil. Thoroughly wooed by the ridiculous r&b riffs, I'm pretty sure I cried tears of luv & joy at least twice between episodes of "Jusfriends" and "Soulstar". Afterwards, armed with the audacity only starstruck teenagers can conjure, my friend and I invented a story about winning a radio station contest to bust backstage and take a pic w the soulchild himself. To this day, I spell "musiq" with a Q.
Vanessa-Debbie Gibson Concert, c. 1989, New York
Sue me, I was 9. My cousin brought me and I was rocking the Debbie Gibson hat, leggings with a long shirt tied in a knot at the side -- the works. I begged my cousin to bring me to the front of the stage as hoards of girls my age and older were scrambling to get closer, my cousin lifted me up as Debbie reached down to greet her fans...and we touched hands. Electric Youth indeed.
Chloe: Avril Lavigne, February 2002, Sydney
I don't think I'll ever live this one down, music-wise. At the time, I was a huge Avril fan, convinced that, as the "anti-Britney," she was the greatest thing to happen to Girl Power since the Spice Girls. I went to the concert with my older sister and we jumped up and down like maniacs and screamed out the lyrics to all the songs. Do I still know them all? Stop asking questions.
Samhita-Ween, c. 1993, NYC
I was 15 and I was a nerd (as you can tell by the first band I went to see) and it was really exciting to be in NYC with just my friends at the age of 15!
Jos-The Polyphonic Spree, 2004, Boston
I needed a transition from the live music of my Christian fundamentalist upbringing, and this cult-y show certainly fit the bill. Two nights in a row.
There’s a huge snowstorm in New York right now, and it’s making me wish I was still in the southern hemisphere. Ugh. Anyone having a better Friday?
The Friday Video this week is a song that I’ve been a little obsessed with for the past few months — I admittedly think the TI version is the jam, even if it’s not the most feminist thing in the world, but having a lady sing it? In a really fun sex-positive video where she works at Toys in Babeland and her customers include Daniel V from Project Runway and Andy from Weeds? Love.
Now, the Ten. Add yours in the comments.
1. The Pogues – Fiesta
2. Mike Wexler – Pneuma
3. Tom Waits – How’s It Gonna End?
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Man
5. Sally Shapiro – Time to Let Go
6. Santogold – Starstruck
7. Sufjan Stevens – Size Too Small
8. Mos Def & Faith Evans – Brown Sugar
9. Voxtrot – Blood Red Blood
10. Bon Iver – Skinny Love
I haven't had a chance to read Marisa Meltzer's awesome sounding new book, Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music, but you know shit is promising when Viva la Feminista's six-year-old daughter is trying to catch a sneak peek. She wrote:
What I found most intriguing about the book was how Meltzer outlines how a group of feminists grabbed guitars, drums and the mic and launched a very real music revolution and then how that revolution was so successful that it is quickly evolved into what we typically think of as "Girl Power" music...Girl Power also made me stop and consider how do we want girls to discover feminism. Or more to the point, how do we think we can get them to discover feminism? My daughter has taken a liking to this book solely due to the title. The kid has asked me how I have liked the book, what it's about and tried to read over my shoulder.
92Y Tribeca is hosting a killer launch for the book on Wednesday, March 3rd, that includes a slide show, a dramatic reading from Courtney Love's diaries and performance by the band Supercute!. The panel features Sean Fennessey, the Director of Merchandising for eMusic.com and former Music Editor of VIBE, Emily Gould, of much blogger fame, Elizabeth Spiridakis, of White Lightning, and Marissa herself. If you're in the NYC-area, check it out. The complete deets.
Lady Gaga says of her strap-on attire on the cover of UK's Q magazine: "We all know that one of the biggest talking points of the year was that I have a dick, so why not give them what they want?"
Even better: "When a guy says, 'Oh I fucked all these chicks this week,' there's a high-five and giggling. But when a woman does it and its publicised or she's open about her sexuality or she's free or liberated, it's, 'Oh, she must have a dick.'"
Is Taylor Swift bad for women? The F-Bomb says she is not a feminist dream! Because, well, she is maybe not so talented and she writes pretty much just about boys and she relies pretty heavily on the virgin/whore thing in her songs and videos. My one quibble is the idea that Swift isn’t a feminist dream because there are lots of better female artists out there, like La Gaga, and they should be getting more of the credit. That is true, but this is not a zero-sum game! The music industry is chock-full of really really crappy male artists to balance out the handful of really really good male artists, so I’m cool with having a bunch of really really crappy female artists, too. And yes, I would put Taylor Swift in that category, even though I think she is completely adorable. And for the record, I like my share of really really crappy artists, so if you like Taylor Swift? That’s ok! But songs with painfully trite lyrics like that over sweet little melodies? Entertaining no doubt, but not exactly Musical Genius. But again, that’s ok — women should have just as much room as men to make easily-marketable and widely-palatable musical Big Macs. The problem, of course, is that women don’t have as much room as men in the music industry, and so even the really talented ones either get funneled into the Sweet Girl With a Guitar box or dressed in a latex bikini. The fact that Swift plays the virgin isn’t her fault, personally, but it is a problem with her branding — which is why it’s important to keep the ensuing flame-age focused on the idea that we’re criticizing Taylor Swift as a musical brand created and marketed in a particular cultural context, and not Taylor Swift the surely very sweet and smart young woman.
Anyway, apparently not all feminists are in agreement that Taylor Swift is bad. The point, though, isn’t that we should feel bad for liking Taylor Swift because it somehow damages our feminist creds (did anyone say that?). Just that, you know, as feminists who write on the internet we analyze pop culture and stuff. And maybe Taylor Swift is not the best thing, feminism-wise. Kind of like how Nickleback is not the best thing, humanity-wise.
Although I’ll add that, despite my feeling that Swift is completely precious, I will always sort of hate her for allowing that travesty of a duet with Stevie Nicks to go on at the Grammy Awards. That is Stevie Nicks. Stevie Nicks does not sing back-up. And if she does back you up, you had better not be out of tune.
I haven't had a chance to read Marisa Meltzer's awesome sounding new book, 
