58 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Wendy Carlos

I find it interesting, but not particularly surprising, that all of the women who worked in experimental electronic music that I have written about came to it from backgrounds in combinations of music and mathematical sciences. It makes sense, though: I think electronic music as a whole is the first music to really make me […]

59 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Dolly Parton

DISCLAIMER: Dolly Parton is someone I have literally never felt connected to. I’m not sure what it is: the super high voice, the plastic surgery, the capitalist media empire and commercialism, the overall themes of her music, or the fact that I just really don’t like the vast majority of country music, period. As you […]

60 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Moe Tucker

Born Maureen Tucker in New York City in 1944, Moe Tucker taught herself to drum in her teens. She was most heavily influenced by Babatunde Olatunji, but also really loved Bo Diddley, girl groups, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and The Rolling Stones. These artists inspired her to drum, so she bought a snare drum and […]

61 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Jackie Shane

Jackie Shane was born in Nashville in 1940. She began living as a woman in her teens, which would make it the 1950s. It was still illegal to “cross dress” in many states. Throughout her career, she was written about as a man who performed in androgynous clothing suggestive of femininity, and while she generally […]

62 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Alice Coltrane

Alice Coltrane was one of very few jazz harpists–Dorothy Ashby being another, if you’ve been P A Y I N G A T T E N T I O N!!! Born Alice McLeod in Detroit in 1937, she grew up in a musical household, with a mother who was an avid member of church choir, […]

63 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Yoko Ono

So, I’ve known that Yoko Ono is amazing for a long time now, but I didn’t always know about her. When I was a young woman–probably between the ages of 11 and 13 somewhere, my family went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when my aunt and uncle were in town. They had […]

64 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros is an internationally acclaimed avant garde composer, performer, author, teacher, and humanitarian. She was born in Houston, Texas in 1932. She began to play music as early as kindergarten, but the first instrument she focused on was an accordion her mother gave to her, which was very popular in the Tejanx culture she […]

65 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Daphne Oram & Delia Derbyshire

Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire were both English musicians and composers who worked at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Daphne was a co-founder of the workshop, one of the first British composers to produce electronic sound, and a pioneer of musique concrete in the U.K. Delia came after, but also did pioneering work there, and is […]

66 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Tina Turner

Well, fuck. I guess it’s just women who dealt with abusive producer husbands day over here at A WOMAN A DAY TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A. I got to talk about The Ronettes, The Supremes, and now Tina Turner. Which has meant that I also had to talk about Phil Spector, Barry Gordy, and now […]

67 DAYS TIL BIKINI KILL IN L.A.: Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson

Florence Ballard (left) and Mary Wilson (right) were the founding members of The Supremes. They had been very close friends since elementary school, and grew up in a public housing project in Detroit together. They invited a new girl to join their group, named Diana Ross. The Supremes went on to be the most […]