HAPPY NEW YEAR! Today, for most observers (but tomorrow for others), is Persian New Year, variously and roughly Anglicized as Navrus (Tajikistan), Nawroz (Afghanistan), Nevruz Day (Albania), Nooruz (Iran), Nov Ruz Bairam (Kyrgyzstan), Nauryz Meyrami (Kazakhstan) and Novruz Bayram (Azerbaijan). As with the Lunar New Year, which is often referred to in the media as … Continue reading Happy Nowruz!
Category: Uncategorized
Ya Hoidz Me? – Talk About Bounce Music
For some reason, the Bounce scene, born nearly 20 years ago, seems to be undergoing a minor critical reassessment as it inspires curiosity in a new generation of fans amongst the young, the Euro, the old and new. I can only guess why. I suspect that part of it is a development of the ongoing, … Continue reading Ya Hoidz Me? – Talk About Bounce Music
Share this:
The unsung heroines of Punk/Post-Punk/No Wave/New Wave
Since its beginning, rock music has been a male dominated affair. Women, such as Wanda Jackson, were not just anomalies but curiosities. By the '60s there were plenty of girl groups, female soul singers and a few female-fronted rock bands, but the few actually female-dominated rock bands like Ace of Cups, Fanny, The Girls, Goldie … Continue reading The unsung heroines of Punk/Post-Punk/No Wave/New Wave
Share this:
Samantha Bumgarner — fiddling ballad woman of mountains
Aunt Samantha Bumgarner (née Biddix) was a fiddle and banjo player from North Carolina who, in 1924, became the first woman to record hillbilly music. In doing so, she opened the doors for all the great female hillbilly and country musicians who followed. Imagine for a second a world without Brenda Lee, Iris Dement, Jean … Continue reading Samantha Bumgarner — fiddling ballad woman of mountains
Share this:
26 women’s history fictional films
Le Mépris (1963) ***** Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, writer, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities — or salaried work. He is not interested in writing advertorials, clickbait, listicles, or other 21st century variations of spam. Brightwell’s written work has appeared in Amoeblog, diaCRITICS, and KCET Departures. His … Continue reading 26 women’s history fictional films
Share this:
24 Fact-Based Films Celebrate Women’s History Month
***** Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, writer, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities — or salaried work. He is not interested in writing advertorials, clickbait, listicles, or other 21st century variations of spam. Brightwell’s written work has appeared in Amoeblog, diaCRITICS, and KCET Departures. His work has been featured by the American … Continue reading 24 Fact-Based Films Celebrate Women’s History Month
Share this:
Ruth Crawford Seeger – Modernist-cum-Folkie
Female composers getting the short shrift is certainly nothing new, and is by no means limited to classical music. But as an admittedly casual fan of atonality, dissonance, modernism and serialism, I was surprised in February of this year to, for the first time, stumble across Middlewestern composer Ruth Crawford Seeger's unique, innovative musical voice. … Continue reading Ruth Crawford Seeger – Modernist-cum-Folkie
Share this:
Delia Derbyshire – electronic music pioneer
A writer at The Guardian once described Delia Derbyshire as “The unsung heroine of British electronic music,” seemingly implying that there are other heroines of British electronic music that are more widely… sung. I suppose there is Daphne Oram but the English never use less than three adjectives when one will suffice, so let’s just … Continue reading Delia Derbyshire – electronic music pioneer
Share this:
Billie Maxwell – The Cow Girl Singer
The 1920s and ‘30s were full of cowgirl singers like the Girls of the Golden West (Millie and Dolly Good),Patsy Montana and Texas Ruby, most of whom were just as inauthentic as their better known male counterparts like Gene Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers. However, one western performer was the real deal: Billie Maxwell. … Continue reading Billie Maxwell – The Cow Girl Singer
Share this:
Happy Texas Independence Day!
After Mexico gained its independence from Spain, the newly independent country organized itself into several states. In the northern Coahuila y Tejas, there were many Native peoples like the Alabama, Apache, Aranama, Atakapa, Caddo, Comanche, Coahuiltecan, Cherokee, Choctaw, Coushatta, Hasinai, Jumano, Karankawa, Kickapoo, Kiowa and Wichita that the nearly bankrupt Mexican government had little resources … Continue reading Happy Texas Independence Day!
