4/28/09 Setlist for the Women on Women Music Program - Tune in Every Tuesday from 8 to 10pm on 88.7fm / wluw.org

ESG - "Be Good to Me" Step Off (Soul Jazz)
All Girl Summer Fun Band - "Oh No" Looking Into It (AGSFB)
J + J + J - "Jobs That Require Headphones" They Hump While We Go Nuts (Johann's Face/Circle Machine)
Scream Club - "Don't Mess With My Babies" Don't Bite Your Sister (Retard Disco)
Lesbians on Ecstasy - "Sisters in the Struggle" We Know You Know (Alien8)
The Raveonettes - "You Want the Candy" Lust Lust Lust (Vice)
Blondie - "Sunday Girl (live in Dallas, TX 1980)" Picture This Live (EMI/Capitol)
Mary Weiss - "I Just Missed You" Dangerous Game (Norton)
Dressy Bessy - "In Your Headphones" Holler and Stomp (Transdreamer)
Mates of State - "My Only Offer" Re-Arrange Us (Barsuk)
Saint Etienne - "Lose That Girl" Travel Edition 1990-2005 (Sub Pop)
Electrelane - "After the Call" No Shouts, No Calls (Too Pure)
Jennifer O'Connor - "Xmas Party" Here With Me (Matador)
Jessica Whiskey - "Pirate Girl (Sea Shanty Version)" S/T (S/R)
Rip, Rig & Panic - "Storm the Reality Asylum" V/A: Girlz: Women Ahead of Their Time (CDHW)
Ssion - "The Woman" Fool's Gold (Sleazetone)
Ladytron - "Runaway" Velocifero (Nettwerk)
Lady Sovereign - "Bang Bang" Jigsaw (Midget)
The Dials - "Happy After All" Amoeba Amore (No Fun)
Quinton & Miss Pussycat - "Love is Like a Blob" Swamp Tech (Tigerbeat6)
Gabby La La - "Boogie Woogie Man in a Black Dress" Be Careful What You Wish For (Prawn Song)
Gravy Train!!!! - "Ghost Boobs" Are You Wigglin'? (Kill Rock Stars)
Kate Havnevik - "Unlike Me" Melankton (Continentica)
Yo La Tengo - "From a Motel 6" Painful (Matador)
Mary Timony Band - "Window" The Shapes We Make (Kill Rock Stars)
Eleanor Murray - "Electric Sky" For Cedar (Anonymous Monk)
Brazillian Girls - "Internacional" New York City (Verve)
April March - "Chick Habit" V/A: Soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" (Warner)

Ladies' Rock Camp!

We here at WOW have been big fans of Girls Rock! Chicago, the rock and roll summer camp for girls, since its inception a handful of years ago. And every time we talk about it on the show, or at benefits, or to our friends, we always hear the same thing: "Man! I wish that had been around when I was a kid!" Well, ladies, fret no more (or perhaps fret much more? Instant rimshot dot com!), the first annual LADIES Rock Camp is here!

The Ladies' Rock Camp is a benefit for Girls Rock! Chicago, and registration/tuition fees will go directly towards offsetting the cost of a camper's tuition this summer. Cost is $400, and is open to adult women age 19 or older. No prior experience necessary: they'll provide you with everything you need to learn an instrument, form a band, and write a song over the course of a three-day weekend! It's all happening May 23rd to 25th, at the Music Garage (a great practice space, to which I can personally attest). Registration is available now, and applications can be found here.

(Jenny, Elizabeth, and I are still arguing over who gets to play the bass in our band.)

Old Boys Club

Dear Perry Farrell,

In the words of one of your previous Lollapalooza artists "Suck my left one."

Once again, you have managed to make Lollapalooza a total white dude fest.

The stats:
Out of 81 total bands, only 21 have women in them. And out of 19 dj acts, only 2 have women in them.

Out of 18 bigger acts, only 2 are women. And only two have non-white members.
Out of 25 "medium" acts, only 8 are women or have female members.
Out of 39 smaller acts, only 11 are women or have female members.

These numbers are not good. They aren't even almost equal. And, to make it even worse, several of the bands have played the festival in recent years. So not only are you making it male dominated, you aren't even adding new talent!!

I know what you're thinking: it is all about the music. It isn't about the gender of the musicians. But when you don't put female musicians on the bills of large festivals, they don't get visibility. Which means less income. And girls not being able to see women rocking out. And it feeds into the myths that women don't belong in music, that women't can't play music, that women don't play music.

You know, Perry - we really just want to be invited to the party. We can rock just as well, just as hard as men - and not just at Lilith Fair.
So, for next year, here's a list of the people I'd like to see on your invite list, just in case you need suggestions:

Bjork, Belle and Sebastian, The Breeders, Queen Latifah, Camera Obscura, P.J. Harvey, Amanda Palmer, Her Majesty, Princess Superstar, Celebration, Asobi Seksu, Mirah, Emily Haines, The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, Cyndi Lauper, Juana Molina, Dame Darcy, Feist, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Tori Amos, Rilo Kiley, Peaches, The 1900s, The Thermals, Joan Jett, The Pretenders, Blondie, Stevie Nicks, M.E.N., Tilly and the Wall, The Vaselines, Bahamadia, Rocktapussy, Rainer Maria, The Noises, The Gossip, Estelle...

I could go on.

Think about it? We don't need another year of cock rock, even if Depeche Mode is headlining....

xoxo
Elizabeth

Setlist for 4/21/09 Women on Women Music Program on WLUW 88.7fm / wluw.org

Kate Bush - "Rubberband Girl" The Red Shoes (Columbia)
Metric - "Help I'm Alive" Fantasies (Last Gang)
The Go! Team - "Universal Speech" Proof of Youth (Sub Pop)
Ladytron - "Destroy Everything You Touch" Witching Hour (Ryko)
Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators - "Blues Downtown" Keep Reachin' Up (Light in the Attic)
The Magnetic Fields - "California Girls" Distortion (Nonesuch)
Epoxies - "Need More Time" S/T (Dirtnap)
The Amps - "Just Like a Briar" Tipp City EP (4AD)
Delta 5 - "You" Singles & Sessions 1979-81 (Kill Rock Stars)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Dragon Queen" It's Blitz! (Interscope)
18th Dye - "Aug." Crayon (Matador)
Pixies - "Bone Machine (live)" Live in Chicago 11/13/04 (S/R)
Miss Alex White & the Red Orchestra - "Space & Time" Space & Time (In the Red)
PJ Harvey & John Parish - "The Chair" A Woman a Man Walked By (Island)
Nita Rossi - "Untrue Unfaithful (That Was You)" V/A: One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found (Rhino)
The Gossip - "Coal to Diamonds" Standing in the Way of Control (Kill Rock Stars)
Kirsty MacColl - "Perfect Day (with Evan Dando)" Galore (IRS)
Yo La Tengo - "Stockholm Syndrome" I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (Matador)
Nina Simone - "I Put a Spell on You" "I Put a Spell On You" b/w "Gimme Some" 45 (Philips)
Joanie Sommers - "Johnny Get Angry" "Johnny Get Angry" b/w "Theme from A Summer Place" 45 (Warner Bros.)
Cyndi Lauper - "Goonies 'R' Good Enough" "Goonies 'R' Good Enough" b/w "What a Thrill" 45 (Epic)
Marianne Faithful - "Crazy Love" Before the Poison (Anti-)
Mekons - "Diamonds" Natural (Quarterstick/Touch & Go)
Connie Smith - "Once a Day" The Essential Connie Smith (RCA)
The Triffids - "Beautiful Waste" Beautiful Waste & Other Recordings (Domino)
The New Pornographer - "Entering White Cecilia" Challengers (Matador)
The Reptoids - "15 Track" S/T EP (S/R)
Bratmobile - "The Real Janelle" The Real Janelle (Kill Rock Stars)

Day of Silence

Today marks the 13th annual Day of Silence, a day wherein students do not talk in order to raise awareness of anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. The day began in 1996 on the University of Virginia campus, and has spread across the nation, with the support of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. This year, the day falls on what would have been the 12th birthday of Carl Walker-Hoover, a Massachusetts boy who hanged himself last week after being subjected to anti-gay taunts by bullies at his school.

I've spoken publicly before about a college friend of mine who died when we were 19, but I'd like to tell his story again to say why I think the Day of Silence is so important. My friend was gay, and in 1996 things were rather different than they are today. There was no social networking site to connect him with other gay people, no Will and Grace, no Milk, no hope of equal protection laws against housing or job discrimination much less marriage, no place for him in any religion. His gay role models were virtually non-existent, or were negative ones. He was under enormous pressure from his parents, who were from a traditional culture. Even our supposedly open and progressive theatre department saw him more as a novelty than anything else. I once asked him what he wanted to do after college, and he said he didn't see a future. Plainly put, he literally could not envision a life for himself, and I believe that faced with this reality, he began a slow suicide, and not long after, died of a drug overdose.

I have always believed that if he had been able to hang on for a few more years, he could have seen, if not a future he wanted, a tiny glimmer of hope on the horizon. So today, if you're reading these words, and you think there's no hope for you, I want to say to you, there is. I think especially of teenagers, and my message is - it really can be better. It might really suck right now in your school or your family or your church or your small town, but the reality is that if you can hang on until you are 18, you can move to a bigger city, get a job, choose a liberal school, find a welcoming church, and create a family of friends who will love you no matter who you are. It's not easy, for sure, and GLBT people are still oppressed even in big cities, but if you can just hang on for a little while, I think you'll find that the good days will eventually outnumber the bad, and you can create the future you want. In the meantime, here are some resources that can help -

GLSEN - Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network

Scholarships for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Students - list

Directory of "welcoming churches", specifically open to and supportive of GLBT people

Housing services for homeless GLBT youth - list

Recommended Reading list for GLBT teens from the San Francisco Public Library

The Trevor Helpline - free 24/7 suicide prevention hotline and online forum specifically targeting GLBT youth

Howard Brown Health Center - health services for GLBT Chicagoans

Center on Halsted - variety of services, organizations, grouped in the GLBT community center in Chicago

Bookmark this page. Save it to your desktop. Email it to someone who needs it.

Video Fridays: Susan Boyle

Down with cynicism, up with hope and dreams and the love of music!

Embedding has been disabled by request, but trust me, you want to watch *this*.

:D

Would you like to buy more records? Sure, we all do!

It's the 7th annual CHIRP Record Fair and Other Delights, happening this weekend, April 18th and 19th!

This weekend, dozens upon dozens of record stores, record labels, independent dealers, crafters, publishers, artists, non-profit organizations, bands, and DJs will come together to make the magic happen. The obsessive, nerdy, audiophile magic.

And this year, the magic includes beer!

The Fair will be held at the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers' Union, located at 1340 W. Washington. (New location! Map here.) Doors open at 10am on both Saturday and Sunday, and close at 5pm. Admission is $7 at the door, $5 if you present a CHIRP ad or a receipt from a record store dated 4/18/09. (Special pre-admission is available for Saturday morning from 8 to 10am, for $25.)

For more information, as well as a full list of vendors and schedule of bands, visit the website at chirprecordfair.com.

The Chicago Independent Radio project (CHIRP) is a non-profit organization formed to bring a new community radio station to Chicago. This station would be independently owned and operated by the group, and would provide a voice for independent music and views. In order to be able to apply for a new station, CHIRP is working to encourage the FCC to make a rule change, and Congress to pass the Local Community Radio Act, which would open up new frequencies for low power FM radio licenses in urban areas. Right now, such signals are restricted to rural and exurban areas. For more information, please visit their website.