Post-“Women in Rock”

In the US, the 1990s was the decade of “grrl power” as third-wave feminists renewed the movement through cultural expression, and particularly musical expression, of women’s identities. The movement began underground in the late 1980s in the form of woman-made ‘zines (self produced and distributed magazines) and all-female punk bands who stared the Riot Grrl subculture in Olympia and Washington DC (Schlit 2004). The new feminist consciousness expressed itself through creativity and visibility and was concerned with women’s access to male dominated cultural forms. In practice, this generation of women united second wave-feminism’s grassroots consciousness-raising with the D.I.Y. ethos of punk in order to create self-produced small-scale music and media.
By the late 1990s, the mass media was announcing the arrival of the new gender equality, evidenced by women’s access to spaces and occupations traditionally reserved for men, from the arena rock stage to the U.S. Congressional floor. The image of “girls with guitars” taking over the charts drew on the unearthing of Riot Grrl subculture and on women’s presence as singer-songwriters in sold out tours of the Lilith Fair.1 As the Billboard charts showed sales of women artists outpacing that of men, a new term was coined to represent this movement: “girl power,” deriving its name from Riot Grrl but dropping the edge in favor of the more familiar and arguably disempowering “girl.”
By the late 1990s, “girl power” became a mass media frame used to understand women’s increased presence in culture-based industries. It also became a brand image. The visibility of ‘girls with guitars’ lead to guitars marketed toward a “girl” aesthetic: pink, purple, small, light, sparkles, butterflies and daisies. The “empowerment” brand eventually stretched to more traditionally feminine products like hair gel and handbags, just like second-wave feminism slogans became the intellectual property of Virginia Slims. Mudd Company, for example, placed ‘zines in the pockets of its jeans to instruct teenage girls on proper skin care. The image of girls with guitars, mixed with sexual empowerment, even allowed heterosexual boys and men to consume girl power as they checked out the latest guitar models, in both senses of the word. In these ways, women’s participation in new creative cultures morphed into women’s participation in new cultures of consumption. As such, women rock musicians came to be understood as a passing fad or consumer trend, rather than as new players in the rock music world.
Yet at the local level, women continue to participate in rock music and are quickly forgotten, as has been the case for decades (Bayton 1998). In their everyday lives, women musicians contend with the widely shared images that position them as outdated novelty and as new consumers of musical technologies.

$tackboy Entertainment

Stackboy Ent., an organization of seven young MCs, lyricists and producers, entertained a crowd of over fifty at the Outback Lodge in Charlottesville back in November 2007.

Stackboy Ent is on stage with DJ XSV, the crowd is pushing up to the stage, hands in the air, and the whole building is buzzing with sound and good vibes. Throughout the night, Stackboys make their way through the crowd, pushed ahead by friends and fans, as DJ Millz films the event. They take the stage to the cheers of the audience, where young men stand at the center in hoodies and jeans and women dance on the side in casual dress. Many people are already convinced of the talent of these young men, yet still others in the crowd, new to the experience, look on skeptically. Their skepticism doesn't last long; the crowd pushes closer. Men bob their heads and shoulders and women sway their hips to the heavy beats. The climax of the night comes with HB's Get Money - "Who wants money?" they ask, as they shower the crowd with greenbacks. The energy held through P. Giovanni's In Da'Ville, as the entire room put two up and two down to represent Virginia.


This is the third show of Outback Lodge's attempt to revive the hip-hop scene by offering the only major venue space for local artists. This effort, combined with a new sound system and new stage downstairs is aimed at offering an alternative venue in town that supports the edgier side of music. Intentional or not, this new mission also seems to have broken down the racial and genre barriers between the upstairs and downstairs clubs that used to exist - punk, metal, hip-hop, goth and indie rock all share both stages.

This is the first major show for Stack Boyz and there are some performance jitters - mostly related to sound and technology breakdowns. It is the also the first time Stackboyz have worked with DJ XSV and at times they seem to work at cross purposes. Yet, the beats, designed by P. Giovanni, Nix, and DJ Millz were well crafted. The MCs' vocal performances, and ability to work with the situation and with the crowd made this a strong show. HB was particularly charismatic, with flows that were smooth and well-executed. Domino's minimalist sounds and dead-pan delivery forge a new path for Virginia hip-hop, which is often caught between the sounds of NY and ATL. Bandana Money, the youngest member of the group, proved that he is one of the hottest up and coming acts, showing confidence in his fiery delivery.

The buzz of this live show only partially reveals the on-line attention that is given to their mix tapes. Despite the few opportunities for live performance in town, the artists of Stack Boy Ent. are remaking Charlottesville's hip-hop scene as each member contributes his own unique talents and strengths to the group.

Stackboy Ent. has big plans in mind. Stackboy Ent., lead by manager DJ Millz, is working to bring new life to the Charlottesville scene, supporting each other and up and coming acts. They aim to lead a scene that would be visible beyond Charlottesville's borders and a community that would support young kids coming up in their city. As they achieve financial success, they plan to reinvest in their community through creating a venue. This will be particularly important, as the Outback Lodge, like other venues before it, has lost the ability to host hip-hop shows.

C-Fest Surround Sound

C-Fest Surround Sound
February 16th

Surround Sound is the third show in a series of that showcases Charlottesville musicians at Satellite Ballroom. The first FreakFest, featured fringe rock, and the second Noble Savages, featured Rock, Hip-Hop and Pop. Surround sound features experimental, ambient and jazz music.

This line up posed a mind bending challenge for sound engineers - tape music and video, live jazz bands, ear-bleeding shoegaze and can-hear-a-pin-drop improv. Despite the gulf between the genres of music, there was something for everyone and musicians found themselves connecting with others who were interested in experimenting with genre and instrumentation.

As bands and performers played on two stages, the crowd shifted its attention. A wide ring of space remained between the bands and the crowd as several professional photographers and video documentarists captured the evening. Particular accolades were reserved for Thrum, who played a drony set with surprisingly upbeat hooks. The Graboids, a shoe-gaze band and one of my local favorites, seemed too loud to entice the crowd who had come expecting something more gentle. They played through their CD Infinite Delay and the first song, with its meditative introduction and explosive middle reminded me of their earlier situation-climax-resolution song forms, which remains their most convincing dialogue. Judith Shatin, a composer and faculty member at the University of Virginia, composed a piece that referenced themes of weaving and women's self-actualization. The night was brought to a festive close by the Matthew Willner Band.

Dreaming Isabelle

On stage, four men in blue shirts and blue jeans played a solid 12 song set early Saturday afternoon at LaTaza's Low Country Broil, a fundraiser for coffee growers in Guatemala. As the morning fog broke into sticky afternoon sunshine, sweat dripped into their eyes as they sang and onto the stage as they moved with their instruments. The blue color scheme of the band was quickly usurped by the glistening of sweat and the drummers glittering snare. Despite the sparse crowd and the heat, Dreaming Isabelle played with conviction and as much energy as they could muster.

There is something about Dreaming Isabelle that sounds like Charlottesville. That doesn't mean they sound like Dave Matthews. They are a new generation of rockers who focus on writing well-crafted songs while referencing the jammier roots of this area. For the most part, their music is focused and forward driven, but they keep this clarity from becoming "pop" by setting the solid riffs and vocal harmonies within sparse and ambient textures. These laid back sections create the mood at the beginning of their songs, inviting the audience into song. Once there we can share in the energy they feel as they drive forward with solid riffs and emotive vocals. While some of their hooks might sound plain in another context, their arrangement skills make their songs memorable and energetic. Their music is upbeat and largely major with clean tones that makes the music stick, yet my favorite moments in their set where when they broke away into more dissonant, distorted and minor tones.

DI has good sounds. Hart, playing a fret-less six string Carvin bass not only provides solid rhythmic footing for DI, but also breaks out melodies of his own in the sparser moments of the songs. Chris provides pop and smack with a birch shelled Yamaha adorned with a heavy splash and timbale. He keeps a solid groove across rhythmic changes and provides some juicy rhythmic dissonance at just the right moments. The guitarists Jon and Daniel trade rhythms and riffs in such a way that Jon's effective lead does not steal the limelight. Occasionally, Jon's lead would serve to support and flesh out the harmony of the song, rather than play over top of the band. I hope to hear more of this from him in the future.

Its refreshing to hear a rock band that cares about their vocals. Daniel's lead voice was familiar and pleasant, referencing acoustic-driven rock. He was supported by the harmonizing skills of Jon. While I could see that the drummer had a mic and was sometimes singing, he was too far away from the mic to be heard clearly. There are some good voices in the band, and I'm sure they will gel even more as everyone grows comfortable with their microphones in the live setting.

In their biography, DI notes that they try to retain the intimacy of the bar in the larger club setting. Their interactions with the audience at this outdoor festival showed this. In the first set, they joke that Rozie is their southern rock tribute. Predictably, someone in the audience yells - "Free Bird!" The band deftly handles this by getting everyone to yell Free Bird to get it out of our system. Their on-stage banter is shy and sometimes self-effacing, but always in good humor.

Its never accurate to label a band's genre, mostly because the band will tell you you're wrong and so will the audience members. What you hear depends on what you know and like (or dislike). I heard My Bloody Valentine, I heard Survivor, I heard the Beatles, I heard Jimmy Eat World, I heard Skynard (even though they refused to play Free Bird). As they played I wondered if there is such a thing as Southern Post-Emo? I'm not sure what it would mean or if DI would lead this trend, but its what I thought of while listening.

The band tells me after their set that they are still experimenting with their sound. The last song Not Missing You, they tell me is their "rock direction," which I take to mean a harder direction. This song begins with both guitars, a Rickenbacker and a Guild, riffling in unison, revealing a strong musical bond between the guitarists. It also has a more driven back beat, but these were not what caught my attention. I was drawn in by the cut time section where Jon's Guild creates a dreamy, but gritty reprieve from the rigid and contained sections. The contrast makes the song. At the end, Jon toggles between pickups and breaks out of the harmonic structure with feedback. I have a soft spot for noisy guitars, so I'd like to hear more of this. This song demonstrates the best of their abilities to move between ambient sounds and straight ahead rock. At times the ambient sections of other songs could use more rhythmic discipline and direction. I'm not suggesting they lose the ambient parts, but to work toward expressing their distinction.

On the more acoustic end of the spectrum, their strongest song was Mine, which will be coming out on their new EP in November. You can download it from their myspace now.

www.dreamingisabelle.com

The Local Legacy of the Dave Matthew's Band

The paper I'm going to present at the ASAs next week started from a small seed - whenever I would interview local musicians in Charlottesville they would always bring up Coran Capshaw, the manager of Dave Matthews and CEO of several music companies. Sometimes their assessments looked at both sides of the coin - Capshaw, by locating his companies here and operating numerous venues and restaurants, has made the local music scene vibrant, but at the same time has stifled competition and marginalized genres outside of the college rock demographic. Sometimes musicians were just bitter, depicting Capshaw as the epitome of what is wrong with the music industry as a whole - monopolostic, top-down, pitting business against creativity and ensuring business the win.

I wanted to figure out what it is about Capshaw's presence in Charlottesville that creates this feeling among musicians. Does he really rob aspiring artists out of their life savings? Does he have mafia-like control over restaurant supply companies?

So I talked to workers, analyzed public company information, and gathered social histories of how his enterprise took shape. Without talking to the man himself, but talking to those affected by his companies, I came to this conclusion: Capshaw has not attempted to make Charlottesville into the next Austin, instead he uses the local space, particularly the consumer space of the downtown mall, as a testing ground for the national artists he promotes and sponsors. His workers, local musicians and listeners are consumers of his product, not producers. His product, ironically enough, is the desire to experience the dream of rock stardom and/or that special privilege of saying "I knew them when..."

In Charlottesville he's found a market - plenty of us dream of playing on stages graced by the more famous artists that he brings through and plenty of us (secretly or vocally) hope to run into Dave Matthews in the flesh and there are aspiring bands and musicians filling the ranks of local wait staff. Unless you can't stand DMB and college rock, you really can live the dream here.

Capshaw has created an incredible consumer base and infrastructure for music making in Charlottesville. DMB themselves, through their socially conscious foundation BamaWorks have contributed millions to youth and music education in their community. So where does this leave the grassroots local music scene? With people who participate in these organizations:

Rugged Soul Records
The Bridge PAI
Monkey Clause
Dust
Street Musicians
Twisted Branch
Tyrannosaurus Rock
Saxx
Music Resource Center (Funded in part by DMB)
Outback Lodge
Nailgun Media
WeArts
and many others...

Street Musicians

This evening I went out to gather still shots and audio of downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, one of the case studies in my dissertation on local music scenes. I've been lucky enough to collaborate with two artists in town on documenting the scene through multiple senses: Tom Daly and Wendy Hsu

Tonight was a good night to be there - it was First Friday's, where all the galleries, restaurants that have turned into galleries, and stores that have turned into galleries open their doors to a new exhibit and free wine and cheese. It was also Friday's After Five, which is a concert series of local and family friendly music sponsored by a partnership between the city and local developer/music entrepreneur Coran Capshaw.

This, combined with good weather for eating sushi and drinking beer, meant that the downtown mall (a bricked in pedestrian walk in the center of town) was packed with revelers.

This also meant it was a prime night for street musicians to be heard and make some dough. I met James [pictured above], a percussionist who was playing a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a pair of worn in drum sticks. He transformed the bucket into a versatile drum, which he made boom and crack over the conversational din of the mall. He told me usually some of his friends come out to play with him but they were moving today and would be there next week. As I tucked a bill inside the Success Magazine he was using to hold his earnings, I asked him if I could take his picture and promised to send it to him via email. He was happy to oblige, telling me that people promise, but rarely follow through and he didn't yet have a picture of himself performing.

Local musicians are often more excited about the recognition than the money because sometimes the former is in shorter supply. Its even been documented scientifically.

James got me thinking more about what Charlottesville's music scene must be like for street musicians. Everyone here thinks of these musicians as an indicator of a strong music scene. James' only performances are out here, with this drum or sometimes with a hand drum. He knows that Fridays are the most worthwhile times to perform. He works the consumer culture of the mall as much as musicians who play in its bars and clubs after national acts play at the Charlottesville Pavilion.

Play on James.