Feminist Music Geek

I’m back at work this morning, shaking the dust and sweat off a successful SXSW. My coverage of the music portion of the festival for Bitch will go live this week. I have to write up my notes for Friday, Saturday, and GayBiGayGayday, upload photos, and do a bit of editing. Tomorrow night, I will be on a plane for a trip to the Midwest. Updates here will be spotty, but I’ll be back in Austin come Saturday and ready to dive into the task of transcribing interviews I held during the festival. Alongside this, I’ll be happy to write about my obsession with Misfits, discuss musical moments in Before Sunrise, Palindromes, Mona Lisa Smile, Imitation of Life, and how I’ll use my hair to write a love letter to Jana Hunter. Hope you’ll join in.

Though Bitch is where you can read my sequential guide to good music I caught during SXSW 2011, I thought I’d use my blog to draft some notes. A commenter recently described my post on Alicia Keys as an “intersectional stream-of-consciousness dissection” of my anti-fandom. That’s a great working definition of this blog’s M.O. It’s a space for me to puzzle through my thoughts on feminism and music culture, however convoluted. I also like to discuss what I learned whenever I undertake something new and challenging. I did this when I taught workshops at Girls Rock Camp, gave lectures, or attended conferences. Covering SXSW for a publication I respect as much as Bitch was definitely a big undertaking and a little scary for me. But I’m glad I did it and fully intend to dive back in to the deep end next year. Here’s what I learned:

1. I can totally navigate the schedule by myself. Though I’ve lived in Austin for nearly ten years, my sense of direction is not awesome. In years past, I’ve relied upon my partner to direct our foot travel (though not our schedule, as that’s always been a collaboration). However, he was covering hip hop shows for his site. This forced me not to rely on men as compasses. This was somewhat intimidating, as I was nervous to walk around downtown alone. Let’s face it–a woman walking alone on a busy city street is a charged political act. Even with all the foot traffic in a reasonably safe city, there were lots of poorly lit areas and drunk frat bros to negotiate. I had no problem doing any of this.

2. I did, however, have to check in with myself about personal safety. This meant that I didn’t catch a few things I wanted to see. Principally, I chose not to attend Night of Rage and the Tom Tom Magazine showcase at the last minute because I was uncomfortable walking to the venue by myself, as it was situated in something of a rough neighborhood. I was annoyed by this, as I really wanted to attend both events. And I felt a bit racist, given the area’s demographic. Had I found someone to go with me, I would have had no problem making it. However, it was just me and I had to listen to myself and make a choice. This meant I missed Grass Widow, the Carrots, Cold Girls, and Yellow Fever. Next year, I’ll do a better job of finding a buddy to accompany me to events in areas I don’t feel safe walking to alone. Coordination is key with SXSW.

3. I need a better camera. I’m not a professional photographer, as may be evident in the pictures I took during the festival that will accompany my Bitch posts. I took as many shots as I could and captured some nice moments. As a short person who got really good at elbowing tall people out of my way when I thought I had something, this was no small feat (though, as a choirgirl, I’ve got some training in using staggering to maintain your sense of perspective). I would, however, like to invest in a camera that gives me more options. I would also like to acquire a fluency in basic photography. I definitely have a sense of when a moment needs to be captured and have a new objective to work toward, because even if I was a bit self-conscious about my limited skills, I know I like taking pictures.

4. I learned when to let the professional photographers get their shots. Folks should be nice to them, as they capture the images you scroll past when you’re killing time at work on a blog you like. This is why I let the Gawker photographer take my spot for a bit during the tUnE-yArDs set at Red 7. This is also why I helped a photographer push a surly drunk out of the way at a Baths show. 

5. I need to schedule more interviews. I conducted five–two over the phone, two via e-mail, and one in person (sweet southern breakfast, are the Shondes a great group to chat with–see them when they come to your town and talk to them at the merch table). Even as a journalism major, I was nervous about interviews. I get tripped up on whether I’m asking the right questions or effectively facilitating a conversation. I also get starstruck. I had a terrible interview once with an artist I really admire when I was in college radio and it made me really nervous about the entire enterprise (to be clear, it went poorly because he was aloof and not because I was unprepared). But usually once you get an artist talking, the interview handles itself. I need to remember that most artists want to talk about their work and want to engage with others about it.

6. Actually, I’d really like to book a showcase next year. This post is my first attempt at feeling this out. I think I can do it.

7. There were all manner of incredible female artists this year. I saw Wild Flag, Sharon Van Etten, Braids, Those Darlins, Lower Dens, Glasser, Invincible, Dessa, Jean Grae, Thao Nguyen, the Tuna Helpers, tUnE-yArDs, EMA, both of Yuka Honda’s bands, Screaming Females, Khaïra Arby, and Yoko fucking Ono this week. I didn’t need a badge to see any of them. The only artists I didn’t get to see where acts that conflicted with other events or that I saw previously, so my apologies to the folks I mentioned earlier, along with Butts, the Clutters, Schmillion, Hazel Dickens, Tamaryn, Frazey Ford, and Dominique Young Unique. While it was sad to miss them, I think it’s exciting to attend SXSW and miss some female artists because there are so many. We can always have more women on bills–I’d like to wade through menstrual blood. However, there were women (and girls!) who were holding it down and this must be acknowledged. 

8. It was amazing to see so many so many queer women playing guitar. It really just goes to show that the best guitar players are dykes. Nimble fingers, you know. The lesbians understand.

9. Many women were in bands with dudes, which speaks to Neko Case’s point about how more men and women need to play together. Yes, some of these women were the singer, keyboardist, or bassist. However, some of them were drummers (hearts to Yuko Araki) and a slew of them were playing lead guitar. Not total reform, but not a huge step backwards either.

10. However, these artists were disproportionately white. We need to fix this.

11. Also, sound crews need to do a better job of miking women. I couldn’t hear the vocalist for Graceyon or Christian Mistress especially well. This problem pervaded beyond metal. Why was I having trouble hearing Mary Timony at the beginning of Wild Flag’s set when I was in front? Work it out.

12. Absorb friend recommendations, especially if they support the cause of feminist music geekery. I’m not much of a metalhead but took a friend’s suggestion to see Graceyon, a San Francisco trio with a female celloist on vocals. So glad I saw them. Really haunting and lovely.

13. Surprise yourself. I caught Zukunasisters, an all-female Japanese funk band I knew very little about. I also saw Go Chic, a Taiwanese electro outfit in the vein of Le Tigre, during the GRCA/Bitch day party. Both delivered great sets. Also, I heard from Garland Grey, a blogger I admire a great deal and had the privilege of meeting last week, that there was some confusion between Odd Future and Big Freedia’s sets during Mess With Texas. Some folks saw Big Freedia thinking they were watching Odd Future. While some folks got surly and homophobic, others stuck around and, I hope, got into Freedia’s set.  

Such an awesome time. Hope you were there. If I saw you, I hugged you. If I didn’t know you were there, I hope we’ll meet again next year. I’ll sign off here and funnel the rest of my notes over at Bitch. Again, check in with them this week for my thoughts on the festival.