Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 01/29/2012

Support Women Artists Sunday: Seeker Lover Keeper

Seeker Lover Keeper

There an awful lot of acoustic bands that come around these days. Oftentimes it’s hard to differentiate between them (largely because there’s a factory somewhere that makes most of them). But don’t lose faith! Sometimes good ones come along. They have brilliant lyrics and are incredibly heartfelt. Speaking of good acoustic bands, how bout that Seeker Lover Keeper!

There’s a very bizarre phenomena that happens in the American music scene where a lot of times, bands that have enormous success in other countries fail to even get mentioned in any conversations. That’s why you haven’t heard of Seeker Lover Keeper despite their debut album going gold over in Australia (and Australia’s developed a great music scene! Angus & Julia Stone, The Temper Trap, Cut Copy just to name…

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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/22/2012

Support Women Artists Sunday: Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco

After 20 years in the music biz, self-described “Little Folksinger” Ani DiFranco is still technically little, although her influence on fellow musicians, activists, and indie-minded people the world over has been huge. She still proudly identifies as a folksinger, too, but her understanding of that term has always been far more expansive than a bin at the record store or a category on iTunes, with ample room for soul, funk, jazz, electronic music, spoken word, and a marching band or two. Over the course of more than 20 albums, including the live double CD Living in Clip (1997) and the two-disc career retrospective Canon (2007), as well as the latest one, ¿Which Side are You On? (2012), Ani has never stopped evolving, experimenting, testing the limits of what can…

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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/8/2012

Support Women Artists Sunday: Joy Askew

Joy Askew

“When writing about myself I would always start by saying that I was ‘originally from the North of England’… in fact that’s not true but I grew up there from age 5 in Newcastle, famous for its coals and shipbuilding. The place was grimy, cold and hard but full of character and culture, with many theaters and concert venues and legendary clubs. Newcastle was frequented by the likes of Bob Dylan (Don’t Look Back) and Jimi Hendrix (his manager Chas Chandler, bassist for the famed Newcastle Band The Animals was a true Geordie and my father was his headmaster!) I love the English movie Get Carter set in Newcastle and starring a young Michael Caine, it really reflects well a lot of what this once Roman Northern garrison town…

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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/1/2012

Support Women Artists Sunday: Vera Chytilová

Vera Chytilova

Vera Chytilová was born on February 2, 1929, in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). She studied philosophy and architecture in Brno for two years, then worked as a technical draftsman, a designer, a fashion model, a photo re-toucher, then worked as a clapper girl for Barrandov Film Studios in Prague. There she continued as a writer, actress, and assistant director.

She was denied a scholarship, or even a recommendation from Barrandov, but she took the admissions tests at FAMU and was accepted. From 1957-1962 she studied film directing under Otakar Vávra, who also taught Jirí Menzel, Milos Forman, Jan Nemec, and Ivan Passer. In 1962 she graduated as director from Film Academy (FAMU) in Prague. Her graduation film ‘Strop’ (Ceiling 1962) and the following film ‘Pytel blech’ (A Bagful of…

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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 12/25/2011

Support Women Artists Sunday: Christmas Edition

Merry Christmas, FBombers! While I’ll personally be celebrating Christmas by sleeping in, eating Chinese food and seeing a movie later, I recognize that this actually is a holiday for many people! So, in order to celebrate, please enjoy this selection of Christmas-themed songs. And, of course, they’re all sung by women. Like, duh.

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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 12/18/2011

Support Women Artists Sunday: Joan Mitchell

Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) was a “second generation” abstract expressionist painter. She was an essential member of the American Abstract expressionist movement, even though much of her career took place in France. Along with Lee Krasner, Grace Hartigan, and Helen Frankenthaler she was one of her era’s few female painters to gain critical and public acclaim. Her paintings and editioned prints can be seen in major museums and collections across America and Europe.

Mitchell was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of James Herbert and Marion Strobel Mitchell. She studied at Smith College, in Massachusetts, and The Art Institute of Chicago. After moving to Manhattan in 1947, she wanted to study at Hans Hofmann’s school in New York but, according to Jane Livingston in her 2002…

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Pop-Culture | Posted by Brian C on 12/11/2011

Support Women Artists Sunday: Birdy

Birdy

You wanna feel like you’ve done absolutely nothing with your life? Just look at what the amazingly talented Birdy has done already. Birdy, at the age of 15, has just released her first studio album. Yeah, at fifteen. She can’t drive yet, but she can sing and cover songs like its her job. If you’re in the UK you’ve heard of her, but for everyone else, here’s a profile.

Jasmine Van den Bogaerde, also known by her stage name Birdy, (born 15 May 1996) is an English musician known for winning the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008, at the age of 12. Her version of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” was released in January 2011, peaking inside the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart and in some European territories.…

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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 12/4/2011

Support Women Artists Sunday: Agnés Varda

Agnès Varda (born 30 May 1928) is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style.

Varda was born Arlette Varda in Brussels, Belgium, the daughter of Christiane (née Pasquet) and Eugene Jean Varda, an engineer. Her mother was French and her father’s family were Greek refugees from Asia Minor.

Varda studied Art History at the Ecole du Louvre before getting a job as the official photographer for the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris. She liked photography but was interested in moving into film. After spending a few days filming the small French fishing town of La Pointe Courte for a terminally ill friend who could no longer visit…

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