On B-Sides last month, Sara Kantner introduced us to the pioneering female rock star Suzie Quatro. But before Suzie and her sister Patti brought girls that rock to the public's (and Joan Jett's!) attention in the 1970's, Genya Ravan founded Goldie & the Gingerbreads, the first all-girl rock band to be signed to a major label. After the band's breakup in 1967, Ravan went on to become one of the first female producers in the music industry and hosts "Chick & Broads" on Sirius Satelitte Radio. She may not get as much credit as Joan Jett, Cherie Curie and the Quatro sisters, but Genya Ravan is an essential trailblazer for women in rock music.
Amanda Palmer (brains behind Dresden Dolls, among other projects), was recently asked by her record label, Roadrunner, to cut scenes from her video "Leeds United," which features (along with a burlesque club, soccer fans, dancing girls) a few shots of Palmer's.....dunh dunh dunnnnh.....exposed, Bowflex-free tummy! Mr. A&R wanted those shots edited, explaining, "I'm a guy, Amanda. I understand what people like."
Video and follow-up after jump
Luscious Jackson's Kate Schellenbach on Blondie, basketball, and building her own musical all-star team
Kate Schellenbach is cool. Cool not because, after starting the fanzine Cheap Garbage for Snotty Kids in the early '80s, she was the first to take a seat behind the drum set for the Beastie Boys. Not because nearly 10 years later Luscious Jackson, the band she formed with friends from New York clubs like Hurrah and Tier 3, was the first band signed to the Beasties' Grand Royal label. Not even because since putting Luscious together the band has shared stages with the likes of Bettie Serveert, Urge Overkill, and R.E.M. Kate Schellenbach is cool in that intangible way that the person you chat casually with in the bookstore is cool—she’s smart, funny, and unassuming. On the verge of Luscious Jackson's national tour with labelmate Ben Lee, supporting their new record Electric Honey, the band played a radio show broadcast from Foxboro Stadium outside Boston alongside the Pretenders, Natalie Merchant, Sugar Ray, Melissa Etheridge, and Blondie. In between playing her set and jetting back to the stage to rock out to the Pretenders, she found time to have lunch with me.
Amanda Palmer (brains behind 
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