Thanks for reminding me of the Fanny docu, I read about it somewhere pre-release and lost track of my mental note to watch it. Will definitely remedy that this week. Great band!
May 30, 2023·edited May 30, 2023Liked by Steve Goldberg
Wonderful column, Steve, and definitely some new stuff to add to my "to do" list (which is getting woefully long!) And thank you for the shout-out to my article on Fanny. I also read the piece you linked to by Carefree Black Girl. I agree, it's powerful and makes an important point: We can't just use our trauma as a stepping stone. Sometimes we never fully get over it. Admitting that is also the first step to having compassion for all the other damaged people on this planet--which is everyone.
I started writing up the Fanny concert but you beat me to it!!!! Thank you again for the heads-up about it. What struck me about them is the complete ease they felt on stage, despite barely having had a chance to rehearse--they were even joking about it. When they had a false start on one song, it didn't fluster them at all, they just went back and restarted. Complete pros. I guess 50 years of performing will do that!@ And they didn't seem at all jaded, only grateful and happy to be there with their fans.
I spoke with Brie after the show, and we touched on the various kinds of discrimination they faced. She made an interesting point: The discrimination was largely because of their gender. Their status as minority or gay barely entered into it, not because people were more tolerant, but because such things were SO far out of peoples' normal awareness that they didn't even have a way to process it. Now, as June says, they are on the cutting edge of battling age-ism.
If I may, one more link--this is to my article before the one on Fanny. I mention Sister Rosetta, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, Lesley Gore and a few others. https://zapatosjam.substack.com/p/rock-and-roll-women-1-pioneers I did follow up columns on The Runaways, Joan Jett and many others. I've got to watch Women who Rock--hadn't seen it and yes, I'm curious who they included!
Finally, as you know, but for your readers who get this far into this comment--Women are taking over the rock, punk and metal scenes in much of the world. Even as fans of my generation moan about the "death" of rock, it is alive and well in the rest of the world, and it is women who are carrying the torch.
You can still write about the Fanny concert! I thought you’d get to it before me! And definitely include talking to Brie after the show. They all just seem like the kindest, friendliest people ever. Hopefully their new album comes out soon.
Betsy - I ran into Carina at the show in San Francisco! I ended up sitting with her and we chatted for a bit. Did you see the film at the festival? Thanks for sharing links to your articles! Keep 'em coming!
Enjoyed this. Agree with you on the Tina documentary — essential, but... I don't know what else it could have been, but it had a paint by numbers vibe to it. Really enjoyed the Poly Styrene doc as well; it truly was a fascinating glimpse into someone I'd heard of but knew little about. Do check out the Go-Gos documentary; I was really impressed. (And it also helped catapult them into the RR Hall of Fame, which has its own issues, but that's for another day.)
Thanks for reading, Glenn! Paint-by-numbers - that is a more succinct way of putting it than I said!:) I do think that other than getting to follow Tina through her appearance at the premiere of the Broadway musical of her life, there was little "perspective" view. Maybe that was it? It felt like the difference between an autobiography and a biography. That's not feeling exactly right either....
Both the Go-Gos doc and Sinead doc are at the top of my list. Any others you suggest?
Two recent ones I enjoyed a lot — though not about women in rock — were the Jason Isbell doc ("Running With Our Eyes Closed" on HBO) and Martin Scorsese's doc on David Johansen ("Personality Crisis" on Showtime). Sam Jones did the Isbell doc, and it's really excellent.
Yeah, it was probably you who told me about the Isbell doc. I watched it probably the next day. So great. It was more emotionally raw than I expected (though should have figured, based on his songwriting). Loved the clips of him as a kid wailing on the guitar. And the early Drive-By Truckers footage was great too. Still need to see "Personality Crisis."
Thanks for reminding me of the Fanny docu, I read about it somewhere pre-release and lost track of my mental note to watch it. Will definitely remedy that this week. Great band!
I thought "Pretend We're dead" about L7 was well done.
Wonderful column, Steve, and definitely some new stuff to add to my "to do" list (which is getting woefully long!) And thank you for the shout-out to my article on Fanny. I also read the piece you linked to by Carefree Black Girl. I agree, it's powerful and makes an important point: We can't just use our trauma as a stepping stone. Sometimes we never fully get over it. Admitting that is also the first step to having compassion for all the other damaged people on this planet--which is everyone.
I started writing up the Fanny concert but you beat me to it!!!! Thank you again for the heads-up about it. What struck me about them is the complete ease they felt on stage, despite barely having had a chance to rehearse--they were even joking about it. When they had a false start on one song, it didn't fluster them at all, they just went back and restarted. Complete pros. I guess 50 years of performing will do that!@ And they didn't seem at all jaded, only grateful and happy to be there with their fans.
I spoke with Brie after the show, and we touched on the various kinds of discrimination they faced. She made an interesting point: The discrimination was largely because of their gender. Their status as minority or gay barely entered into it, not because people were more tolerant, but because such things were SO far out of peoples' normal awareness that they didn't even have a way to process it. Now, as June says, they are on the cutting edge of battling age-ism.
If I may, one more link--this is to my article before the one on Fanny. I mention Sister Rosetta, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, Lesley Gore and a few others. https://zapatosjam.substack.com/p/rock-and-roll-women-1-pioneers I did follow up columns on The Runaways, Joan Jett and many others. I've got to watch Women who Rock--hadn't seen it and yes, I'm curious who they included!
Finally, as you know, but for your readers who get this far into this comment--Women are taking over the rock, punk and metal scenes in much of the world. Even as fans of my generation moan about the "death" of rock, it is alive and well in the rest of the world, and it is women who are carrying the torch.
Thanks again for a great column!
You can still write about the Fanny concert! I thought you’d get to it before me! And definitely include talking to Brie after the show. They all just seem like the kindest, friendliest people ever. Hopefully their new album comes out soon.
Oh, fer sure I will finish my writeup on the concert, just have to find the time! Thanks Steve,
Had to share my own musings on two of your featured docs ;) Great picks!
https://awfj.org/blog/2022/05/15/movie-of-the-week-may-20-2022-fanny-the-right-to-rock/
https://awfj.org/blog/2022/01/30/movie-of-the-week-february-4-2022-poly-styrene-i-am-a-cliche/
Betsy - I ran into Carina at the show in San Francisco! I ended up sitting with her and we chatted for a bit. Did you see the film at the festival? Thanks for sharing links to your articles! Keep 'em coming!
No, I saw it last year when it was briefly in theaters and we covered it for the AWFJ. Such a fascinating story!!
Enjoyed this. Agree with you on the Tina documentary — essential, but... I don't know what else it could have been, but it had a paint by numbers vibe to it. Really enjoyed the Poly Styrene doc as well; it truly was a fascinating glimpse into someone I'd heard of but knew little about. Do check out the Go-Gos documentary; I was really impressed. (And it also helped catapult them into the RR Hall of Fame, which has its own issues, but that's for another day.)
Thanks for reading, Glenn! Paint-by-numbers - that is a more succinct way of putting it than I said!:) I do think that other than getting to follow Tina through her appearance at the premiere of the Broadway musical of her life, there was little "perspective" view. Maybe that was it? It felt like the difference between an autobiography and a biography. That's not feeling exactly right either....
Both the Go-Gos doc and Sinead doc are at the top of my list. Any others you suggest?
Two recent ones I enjoyed a lot — though not about women in rock — were the Jason Isbell doc ("Running With Our Eyes Closed" on HBO) and Martin Scorsese's doc on David Johansen ("Personality Crisis" on Showtime). Sam Jones did the Isbell doc, and it's really excellent.
Yeah, it was probably you who told me about the Isbell doc. I watched it probably the next day. So great. It was more emotionally raw than I expected (though should have figured, based on his songwriting). Loved the clips of him as a kid wailing on the guitar. And the early Drive-By Truckers footage was great too. Still need to see "Personality Crisis."