the south

Bechdel Test Canon: Passion Fish

Movies post by Alyx Vesey on December 7, 2011 - 11:55am; tagged Alfre Woodard, interracial friendship, John Sayles, Mary McDonnell, Passion Fish, the south.

Alfre Woodard and Mary McDonnell in the film Passion Fish. They are sitting outside.

A look back at John Sayles' 1992 feature Passion Fish in order to consider interracial friendship and white filmmakers telling black people's stories.

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Preacher's Daughter: Alt Country: Murder, Addiction, and the Southern Gothic Soul

Music post by Kristin Rawls on October 6, 2011 - 12:55pm; tagged addiction, alternative, home, homeless, independent music, Katrina, Neko Case, the south, working class.

I am not sure what this says about me, but I love the dark themes that infuse Southern Gothic narratives. Alt country is one of my favorite genres, at least in part because it explores the most frightening vestiges of the human soul (I also like the pedal steel). In my defense, "Deep Red Bells" was my favorite Neko Case song before I learned that it was about the Green River murders* (lyrics):

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Preacher's Daughter: Gillian Welch's "Dark Turn of Mind"

Music post by Kristin Rawls on September 23, 2011 - 1:35pm; tagged Christianity, class, country music, darkness, domestic violence, gender, Southern art, spirituality, The Bible, the south.

Americana artist Gillian Welch has always included southern Christian imagery in her work. Though not native to the South, her music is at its most comfortable when it explores the tragedy and violence of working-class survival in the region. Welch and partner David Rawlings write and record sparse songs unlike any others. In part, this has to do with Rawlings' masterful guitar work, but it also stems from Welch's unuusal singing voice.

See "The Way it Goes" from new album, The Harrow and the Harvest (lyrics here):

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Why Don't We Do it in the Road?

Article by Kira Garcia, appeared in issue Issue #11; published in 2000; filed under Art; tagged bugs, impromptu strip show, lesbian icons, Michelle Tea, Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, on the road, on tour, performance, poetry, the south.

Seven weeks on the Sister Spit tour

Issue #11

the traveling spoken-word gang Sister Spit started five years ago as a weekly open mike where grrrly-type poets and performers could ply their trade at San Francisco bars and coffeehouses. In 1997, co-ringleader Michelle Tea, author of the charming and intimate memoir The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America, and her partner-in-crime Sini Anderson, who has rocked poetry scenes from subway stations to Lollapalooza and everywhere in between, kicked off the annual Sister Spit Road Show.

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