2 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: The Breeders

The Breeders are probably my favorite band of all time. I have seen them live more than any other band, and they are so good every time, that I would pay to see them every day, if it was possible, and to the extent that I could afford it. And, to be totally clear, I […]

3 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: PJ Harvey

I had the opportunity to load PJ Harvey in and out of the Superior Street Rehearsal Space here in Chicago in 2017 to prepare for her performance at Pitchfork, and it was the first stagehand gig I was really excited about. I very rarely get to move heavy things and set up the stage for […]

4 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Maureen Herman

If you have not already, you should really read my post about The Runaways. In it, I detail the apparent blackout in feminist rock on discussion of Joan Jett’s response to Jackie Fuchs’ coming out about being sexually assaulted in front of a large group of people, including almost all of her bandmates, by The […]

5 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Lady Miss Kier

Born Kierin Magenta Kirby in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1963. (Ohio Girls Day over here at A WOMAN A DAY TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.!) She was raised in Pittsburgh, but her family had moved to Virginia Beach by the time she was in high school, and they moved to D.C. as well before Kier moved […]

6 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman was born in 1964 in the same city as me–Cleveland, Ohio! Despite not having a lot of money, her mother bought her a ukulele when Tracy was three years old, because she was already expressing an enormous interest in making music at a very young age. After finishing her B.A. in Anthropology and […]

7 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Karen Finley

I first came into awareness of Karen Finley in high school. I was at a used book store with my best friend at the time, and he pointed her book out to me. I don’t remember him knowing anything about her or saying she was this really incredible artistic force; I just remember knowing I […]

8 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Pamela Z

Pamela Z was born Pamela Ruth Brooks in Buffalo, New York, in 1956, but Pamela Z is her name–it is not a stage name. Her last name is Z. She is a pioneer of digital looping techniques, processing her voice in real time to create dense and complex sonic layers. Her work is centered on […]

9 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Sinéad O’Connor (Shuhada’ Davitt)

I have chosen the pictures for this post based on what I have surmised about this compelling and complicated woman. It appears she wants her music and the raw emotion of her being to speak for itself, so there you have it: bald, wide-eyed, naked, or more frequently, in clothing that is remarkably modest for […]

10 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Female Rap Pioneers

Punk and hip hop: these two forms of music that emerged at the same time and in the same place, that are both very similar, in that they are message-driven and the music is most commonly just a fairly simple and cheap to produce vehicle for that message. I have thought for a long time […]

11 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: The Women Behind the ‘K’

K Records was founded in Olympia, WA, in 1982, with the immediate intention of releasing a cassette of a performance a band called Supreme Cool Beings had done on Calvin Johnson’s radio show on the local station, KAOS FM. The ethos was D.I.Y. (do it yourself), low fidelity, and home-made. It was also very much […]