Alice's Favorite Girls (Bagcast #2)/Hell Comes 2 My House

Bagcast #2 – 2/21/06

Alice’s Favorite Girls Part 1

Lulu – The Boat That I Row
Neko Case – Running Out Of Fools
Candi Staton – I’d Rather Be An Old Man’s Sweetheart
Candypants (Lisa Jenio on lead vocals) – Mandelay
Nina Simone – I Don’t Want Him
Lysa Flores – The Damaged Ones
Dengue Fever (Chhom Nimol on lead vocals) – Hummingbird
Gloria Trevi – Sr. Presidente
Sarita Montiel – A Media Luz
Maria McKee – My Lonely Sad Eyes
Dresden Dolls (Amanda Palmer on lead vocals) – Half Jack
Sleater-Kinney – Angry Inch

This set features some of my favorite female vocalists from different styles of music. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of female musicians. Don't get me wrong, I like the guys too, but it frustrates me that there are so many incredibly talented women out there who are not getting airplay when I turn on the radio. I think it should be at least 50/50, so I'm doing my bit with this podcast to rectify the situation.

Lulu and Sarita Montiel have been favorites of mine since childhood and I discovered their music through their movies, because in those days all my parents played on the radio were rancheras. I'm proud to call both Lysa Flores and Lisa Jenio my friends, but they are also great musicians and gifted songwriters. It's probably a safe bet that this is the first (but hopefully not last) time anyone will play Gloria Trevi and Dresden Dolls in the same set! I've admired Maria McKee's talent since her Lone Justice days and I once got a big thrill from her when she showed up at a Cholita show. Neko Case's voice always stands out but I especially love what she did with this Aretha song - now that takes guts! I could write for days about these ladies but I'll let their voices tell it like it is...I hope you enjoy listening to their songs as much as I do.


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I had a visit last week from another one of my favorite girls - Ms. Dinah Cancer, along with her band 45 Grave, who were in town on the first part of their 45 day tour of the U.S. If you don't know who Dinah Cancer is, you should check out my interview with her here. You can also check out 45 Grave's current tour dates on their page at www.myspace.com/45grave2005. At the show in Phoenix last Friday, I was able to convince Dinah to bring the entire band to spend the night at my new home. We sat up eating vegetarian chili and chatting until the early hours, they indulged my cooking aspirations by eating my green chili with eggs breakfast the next morning and were perfect house guests. Thanks for breaking in the new home, guys!



Here's a photo I snapped the next day as they were heading out to Tucson. And here's an mp3 of a classic 45 Grave single from my collection, Black Cross. Please go see them if they play in your town.

Soledad - Luna Nova

While looking through some old cassette tapes in preparation for my next podcast, I came across a rehearsal tape of myself, Teresa Covarrubias and Gabriel Tenorio doing a song we co-wrote entitled "Soledad". I've been in several incarnations of bands with Teresa and at the time we were performing together as Goddess 13. One of our friends, a guitarist named Gabriel, had some ideas for his own songs and asked for our assistance in finishing them. Teresa and I added some lyrics, some melodies and harmonies and the finished song is what you hear below. Teresa and I share lead vocals and Gabriel plays guitar.



Teresa and Alice - Goddess 13

It happened that Plaza de la Raza was holding a songwriter's competition around this same time and we entered our new song in the contest, performing it live for the judges and we won! I used my portion of the prize money to purchase my very first electric guitar, a Fender Strat, which I played for many years and just handed down to my stepdaughter for her most recent birthday.

Like most of my songs, this one was not professionally recorded in a studio. It was taped - pretty much live - on a cassette recorder in Gabriel's living room. It's overmodulated in parts and low-fi but still listenable. I hope you enjoy it!

Soledad - Luna Nova

My "Taste" In Music

My first experiment in podcasting (see my last post) elicited much the same reaction that I got in the club when I DJ'd. One brave soul, who obviously had not yet listened to the music, volunteered that he was planning "to listen to it with my friends on our roadtrip for hardcore shows through the Netherlands."

Dear Yen,

I predict that your friends will beat you mercilessly and shove your body out of the car door somewhere between Utrecht and Amsterdam. Think twice about playing it for them.

Alice
+++++++++++++++

Thanks for all the feedback. I will continue to post these podcasts but be forewarned that my taste in music is somewhat eclectic and maybe not what you'd expect from "Alice Bag." I grew up listening to soul, pop and Mexican singers and I still favor pop music. The fact that I was once the lead singer of an aggressive and noisy punk band has more to do with my own childhood experiences than any Iggy Pop influences, of which I can honestly say I had none growing up. I recall that, even as a young kid growing up in East L.A., my taste in music was very different from my peers. I grew up loving my older sister's American soul records, but I also loved "Dominique" by Sister Sourire, "Pendant les Vacances" by Sheila and I adored Sara Montiel. So I guess that my odd taste in music goes way back.

I think that is something I had in common with alot of the other people I met in the early and pre-punk scene. We all had very different tastes in music from what was popular at the time, which may help to explain why the early L.A. bands all sounded so different from one another.

I think it's better for me not to try to predict how others will react to my musical choices. The stuff I picked for my first podcast was all upbeat stuff that I like to listen to, so it made sense in my world. And I think that's the great thing about mixtapes (which is what we used to call podcasting back in the days before the internet, when we would make cassette tapes for our friends). These song collections allow you to visit someone else's musical world. I still have a cassette that a very young Beck once made for me (I used to sleep in his bedroom when he moved out of his mother's house and I even inherited a pair of his old pajamas one night when I couldn't find my own). Anyway, the Beck tape is full of scratchy Appalachian folk 78's, Cajun and zydeco music and the other stuff he was filling his creative mind with.

So, stay tuned. I've got some ideas brewing for more podcasts that will show you more of my world.

My First Podcast - The Night That Nobody Danced

This is my first attempt at podcasting, which I'm looking at as a way to share some of my favorite music with you. You can either download the entire hourlong podcast to your player by clicking on the play button below, or you can go to my website and listen to the streaming audio without having to download the whole thing.

For my first attempt at podcasting, I went with an abbreviated version of a songlist I compiled for a club DJ set I did last year. I call it
"The Night That Nobody Danced",
because it turned out that my taste in music was not shared by the club kids on that particular evening.

I hope you find something of interest in this "Bagcast."

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No Controles - Flans
Janaam Samja Karo - Anu Malik
Demokrati - Knugen Faller
Nalga Maniaca - Cholita
Ain't It The Truth - The Gossip
Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
Sailor Moon Theme - Dali
Spice Up Your Life - The Spice Girls
Speak Slow - Tegan and Sara
My Doorbell - White Stripes
Heartbreak Stroll - Raveonettes
Tunak Tunak Tun - Daler Mehndi
Tres Bien - Le Tigre
Chinga Tu Madre - Cholita
Estaba Escrito - Monna Bell

February 12, 2006 - Bagcast # 1

Women In L.A. Punk Part XVIII - Allison Anders

Allison Anders' films are often marked by her great love of music and her interest in a woman's struggle to find and assert her identity, whether she's telling the story of small-town teenagers in 1992's Gas, Food, Lodging, East L.A. homegirls in Mi Vida Loca, or an aspiring singer-songwriter in Grace of My Heart.

Even though Allison admits that she did not really feel like she was part of the early L.A. punk scene, she belongs in this series of interviews because she was in fact there at the time and because her films champion the same gritty, DIY attitude and assertive female voices that you'll find in all of the other archived interviews.

Allison doesn't mention it in her interview, but she also founded the Don't Knock The Rock Film and Music Festival, an annual event which takes place in Hollywood and is now entering its 4th year. Look for more news on this event by summertime. It usually features some great, rarely seen rock footage and live performances.Oh and just for the record, prior to this interview, I had no idea that I had the distinction of being the one to pop Allison's punk rock cherry.

That makes me proud. Click on the Women In L.A. Punk thumbnail to read her interview.