Love to Lady Gaga

Okay. So.  I’ve got to admit something. I kind of like Lady Gaga. And by like I mean I frantically read all of her interviews. Big deal, you may say, lots of people like her. But rewind to last spring and I was filled with spiky distate for this lady. I hated “Just Dance” (still do) as it played 20 times a day on the radio (which my coworkers play 24/7 without my control) but that’s all I knew about her. The song was vapid and seemingly manufactured crap just like the image she appeared to be such a puppet slave to. And I’m kind of a music bitch and so I judged.

But then the reverse of what usually happens happened–sometimes I like a song, then hear an interview or hear a band live, realize they’re dumb or untalented and then dislike them. But with Gaga it was the opposite. I hated her songs on the radio, but began to love her after reading her interviews, learning more about her background, and hearing her play live. I fell for her.

In a sea of Taylor Swift and American Idol I think we need Gaga. So here’s why you should love her too. Join us!

Woman of the Week: Juliette Lewis

WOW: Juliette Lewis

Why Now?: I finally saw Whip It (which I recommended last week in our FFFF) and I think her performance was especially noteworthy; to me, she’s gotten the least buzz, but was one of the biggest highlights. She portrayed Iron Maven, the “bad guy,” with dignity, class, and a kick-ass attitude that was fresh and accessible–and it fully renewed my love for Ms. Lewis.
That– and she was on Ellen this week, gushing about her childhood crush on Clint Eastwood.

Why Should You Care?:

Woman of the Week: Imogen Heap

Welcome to our latest challenge: a weekly post, Woman of the Week (WOW)!  Each week, we will spotlight a woman who’s been in the news, published a book, found the cure for cancer…  Or, if we’re feeling bookish, you’ll get a WOW that reads more like “This Day in History.”  So without further ado, here’s your WOW.

WOW: Imogen Heap

Why Now?: Heap’s much-anticipated (by myself at least) third album, Ellipse, was released on Tuesday, August 25.

Why Should You Care?:

Linking Randomly

MEN WANT FAMILIES.  EXTRA! EXTRA!  MEN DEPOSE THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS!  EXTRA!  MEN, REPEAT, MEN WANT TO HAVE BABIES—WITH OR WITHOUT WOMEN! (forget that the “growing number” is only a fraction of 70 and 100.)

This article tells women that they shouldn’t ever say “I love you” first. And then the author says “But I’m a Feminist, I’m only telling you this for your own good!” Sorry, Wendy Atterberry, your “feminist card” has been revoked.  This article, purporting to have women’s best interests in mind, actually robs them of their own agency; if the dude’s not up to the L-word, lose the dude, not your independence.  

This is a website that shows the definitions of words and then related words and so on and so on. Interesting, right? Until I looked up “Woman” and you find that a woman is “an adult female person, as opposed to a man: “the woman kept house while the man hunted.””  Sorry, ladies.  It’s in the definition.  And you can’t argue with the dictionary!!

White males win again.  No surprise there. Even though I tried to do my part for Barbados.

While we’re on the topic of end-of-year lists, here’s the Top Ten Box Office movies of 2008. Yay that Wall-E is #5! What does this say about American movie-goers?
Numbers 11 and 12 are Sex and the City: The Movie and Mamma Mia!– women have proven they have some box office muscle. Let’s hope 2009 gives us more and better options.

I will end by proclaiming my undying love for everything that Tina Fey touches: 30 Rock and Mean Girls being 2 of the greatest things. Ever. Fey was on the cover of Vanity Fair this month– photographed by Annie Leibovitz and interviewed by Maureen Dowd. Me-yow. THREE powerhouse women and I’m swooning. My biggest criticism is that Dowd spent too much time quoting and interviewing Fey’s husband; how many articles reviewing Jay-Z spend 1/2 the time interviewing Beyonce? But I didn’t let that taint an otherwise stellar article about the woman who is the sex symbol for people who can read without moving their lips. Read the full article here. Debra Dickerson responds on the Riff and hits spot-on the things that bothered me underneath it all. But I don’t want to bitch too much because it’s Tina Fey and she’s my heroine. Fuck you, Christopher Hitchens. Women ARE Funny.

Girls Like Us – Sheila Weller

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon–and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller

To be honest, I’m not quite clear what made me pick up this book from the library. I had read a lukewarm review of it when it came out earlier this year, and so it was on my radar for a while before I spotted it and figured what the heck. As you’ve probably gathered thus far from reading the blog, I’m interested in women in music (I myself do a mean karaoke of Salt N Pepa’s ‘Shoop’) but I admit I’m not particularly well versed in Carole, Carly or Joni’s music–my memories of their songs come from films, like when the Lisbon girls listen to ‘So Far Away’ by Carole King or when when Emma Thompson falls apart to Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides, Now.’ But I was excited for the book nonetheless.

The Female Quota Goes Underground

Guest blogger Revolution returns…

The Female Quota Goes Underground

Riot grrl. Riot grrrrrrrrrrrl. It has a roar to it.

My family grew up on Amy Grant, Michael Jackson, and MC Hammer – in that order of priority. We thought Ms. Grant was bad-ass for ousting the Christians to go into Rock ‘n Roll. Baby, baby, anyone?

Last week Minneapolis leading riot grrls Kitten Forever, with vocalist/song-writer Liz Elton, bassist Laura Larson, drummer Corrie Harrigan, and keytarist Deanna Steege (also of Unicorn Basement), stopped in Chicago while on their CD-release tour of the Midwest.

The band showed up in Harrigan’s gold mini-van, the kind seen in commercials for its exceptional safety rating. I had arrived early to their venue, confused by the closed flower shop with mats of paper taped over the windows. Across the street, a group of Latino men and a family on their stoop next door had been watching me spin circles on my bike. Really, really cool circles in my silver helmet.

Pilsen is a South side Chicago neighborhood composed mostly of former immigrants from Central and South America, their American-born children and grandchildren, and new immigrants. Usually in neighborhoods such as these, where rent is cheap and residents allow neighbors with rougher lifestyles, young artists buy space to host underground shows. ‘There must be a side door somewhere,’ the bands explained to me. We searched beyond the shop’s locked entrance when a skinny, shirtless guy walked out of one. He sort of smiled as he pushed out to the sidewalk to light his cigarette. He looked around for somewhere to rest his eyes.

Women and Music…who made you CLICK?

After our awesome post about women in hip hop from our fantastic guest blogger Revolution, we’ve decided that we would like to continue with the theme of women and music via a few more guest bloggers who will extol their wisdom over the coming month. But to start off the women and music theme posts, I thought I’d ask for a little share & tell time. Oftentimes we talk about the CLICK moment–that time in your life where feminism clicked in your mind and you were forever changed. This time, though, we’d like to come at it from another direction:

Who was the female/feminist singer or band (and what was the album) that made you CLICK in a female-positive way?

As for me: it was 1997 and it was this:

The Female Quota

Say hello to Revolution, our first guest poster!  She hails from Chicago; went on an American Southwest bike tour last winter; supports women in science, hip-hop, and other historically male arenas; retains an uncanny amount of science trivia; is all about sustainability and Green industry; loves gin and bon jovi; and, according to Which SATC Character Are You?, she’s Miranda.  Read on!…

Not only did I discover my favorite magazine (Venuszine) but Makkada B. Selah’s article, “The Battle of the MCs,” in the Summer 2008 issue touched on a problem that has deeply affected my life since moving to Chicago 5 months ago.

When moving to a new city the first thing I do to seek out friends is join a bicycle club.  It’s a fast way to meet my favorite people, the mostly awkward morons who bike with you to bars, pull ridiculous stunts, and love to party.  Mostly.  This last move, however, has given me a different perspective on friend finding and female camaraderie in particular.