Wendy Orleans Williams was born in 1949 in Webster, New York. Her father was a chemist for Eastman Kodak and her teachers and classmates remember her as a ‘shy, quiet girl who played the clarinet.’ I mention this because she is probably the most over the top performer to ever wander through the wasteland of punk and metal. At age fifteen, she ran away from home and hitchhiked across the country before landing up in Times Square. There she met her lifelong musical and romantic partner, Rob Swenson. In 1976, Rob was using his conceptual art degree from Yale to create experimental happenings under the banner of “Captain Kink’s Sex…
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Girlschool–The Real Queens of Noise
The late 1970’s was a bleak time economically in England. Working class youth were unemployed, living off of the dole with no sense of a future. Out of this frustration and boredom, came punk rock to save the day (or so the story goes). Most of you know that story. What you may not know is that these same conditions gave birth to another musical renaissance known as The New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Inspired by Motorhead’s stripped down no holds barred approach, a new crop of bands rose up that were heavier, louder and more straightforward than the likes of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. The bands didn’t…
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A Look at Roberta Flack’s “First Take”
Summer is finally here. It’s been unbearably hot and muggy for days. What everyone needs is a record to chill out with. One that is light and airy. One that blows through your mind like a cool breeze. Women in Rock readers, I offer you First Take by Roberta Cleopatra Flack. Now, I know a lot of you are thinking Roberta Flack equals schmaltz. After all, she is known for a string of sentimental pop singles during the mid seventies like “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly.” Famous rock critic, Robert Christgau, (also known as the guy wearing a Wussy shirt in The Replacements…
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A Review of Tracey Thorn’s Record
Sometimes in the life of an audiophile, serendipity slaps you in the face giving you exactly what you want and really need. Such was the case when I first heard Tracey Thorn. Roxie and I were driving in the car and flipping from station to station. The oldies station had played one to many clichés so I switched to FM. This beautiful synth pop song bubbled out of the speakers. I recently had been thinking that I listen to too much guitar driven rock and needed more synthesizers in my audio diet. Ironically, the song was “Guitar” by Tracey Thorn. She was being interviewed by Fresh Air to promote her…
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Blondie’s Parallel Lines
How we attach ourselves to music is based on how we come across it, and who or where we are when we first hear it. For a long time I didn’t get Blondie. Awhile back I picked up a copy of Parallel Lines. For a few days it was the only record I wanted to hear. It was the right time and the right context. I’d like to take some time to share with Women In Rock why Blondie and this record are so important in the history of punk, women and my life as an audiophile. I started buying records around 3rd grade. I listened to the radio and…
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Simple Machines: The Wheel featuring The Juliana Experience and The Holy Rollers
Looking back on my life I feel I was really lucky to be who and where I was in the early nineties. I was in my early twenties and tapped into the D.I.Y. punk scene. I was part of a volunteer run record store called Network in Dayton, Ohio. My life was records, bands and zines. It felt like my friends and I were creating our own culture. It was the time of Riot Grrrl and Queer Core and the doors were wide open for everyone. There’s certain artifacts in my seven inch collection that I go back to over and over again and they still hold up. I like…
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Breaking Glass: An Unsolicited and Biased Review
Breaking Glass could be considered a new band. After a fairly long hiatus they have reformed under a new moniker. They are a three piece made up of Izzi on drums, Makenzie on bass and Roxie on guitar and vocals. All female bands are rare in the male dominated rock world and bands of any gender that rock this hard are even rarer. Full disclosure–this review was unsolicited because Izzi is a humble person and would not ask me to review one of her bands for her magazine. Second this review is very biased. Breaking Glass is my partner Roxie’s band. They practice at our house. I go to almost…
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Penelope Spheeris–Rock and Roll Anthroplogist
Back in the 80’s there was no internet which means no YouTube. Back then a large part of learning about punk rock was swapping homemade cassettes and VHS tapes. Two very important movies in my circle of friends were The Decline of Western Civilization and Suburbia. These movies heavily influenced what bands we listened to, but more importantly they portrayed the tribal culture of punk dress, dance and worldviews. When Izzi suggested that we make a movie list for this issue of Women in Rock, I immediately thought of these two films. Not because they focused on female bands, but because they were made by a female. I decided to…
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Girls With Guitars LP Review
Record stores have a display wall for geeks like me. That’s where they put the super rare, used records and the limited edition 180 gram reissues. The last time I was at Shake It! Records scrounging for The Pretenders’ first album I looked up and saw the Girls with Guitars comp. The price was steep and I was on a mission and a budget. I went home with a used Nick Lowe album and despite what The Bible says I coveted. So when I got a twenty five dollar gift card from my boss for my birthday, I knew where I was headed and what I wanted. I told myself…
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Getting to Know The Pretenders
One of the great things about being in a band is sitting around listening to records together. That’s what got me on this Pretenders kick in the first place. I walked out of the basement and grabbed a beer from the fridge. Jenny and Sara were already on the futon, Roxie was stationed in one of the day-glow 70’s kitchen chairs by the end table and Todd was digging into his current listening bin of vinyl. He pulled out a record and proudly proclaimed, “Here’s where I’ve been stealing those guitar hooks from.” He held up a copy of Pretenders II. Growing up in the Midwest during the eighties, I…
