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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Stream Here:


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.

La dama del silencio and other oddities.

It's been a long time since my last post because I've been busy moving into my new home in Phoenix. I still have quite a few boxes left to unpack; we had a minor panic attack this evening when my husband could not find the cocktail shaker to mix up some margaritas.

We've moved into what I would describe as a quiet, middle class neighborhood where the yards and cars are well-tended. I had to fight my old dumpster-diving impulses the other day as I was driving down the street and I spied a perfectly good birdcage and some miscellaneous furniture set out by the roadside for trash pickup. Like my mother, who was raised during the Great Depression, I come from a working class background and I hate to see anything useful get tossed away.

When we first considered buying a house in North Phoenix, I despaired at the stretches of dark road bounded by open desert that separated our neighborhood from the more developed areas to the south. Being from a big city, I was afraid of the unknown: what if I blew a tire on the road? What if someone was trying to break into the house and there was no one around to help? What if I needed some chili cheese fries at midnight? Now that we've been in our new home for a few days, I have to say that I've seldom had a better night's sleep. It's so quiet and peaceful at night that I can sleep soundly. And I've also found a new appreciation for the desert. The saguaro cactus set against the backdrop of the mountains in the distance is just beautiful and now I can see why people who live around here don't want that main highway to get all built up and spoil the desert landscape.

I'm slowly getting set up again on the internet. For a few weeks, I was having to use the public computers at the library to access my email. I just got this email from my cousin, Alicia, who lives in Mexico City:



"Hay un caso raro e interesante en esta ciudad: una asesina serial.
Sólo mataba viejitas que vivían solas. Ya la encontraron pero la mujer,
que se hace llamar "La dama del silencio", casi no habla, así que le han ido
sacando con tirabuzón lo que hizo; hasta ahora lleva reconocidos 12
homicidios, pero se supone que son más de sesenta. La mujer, además
de asesina, era luchadora ruda y también pertenecía a una secta que
adora a "la santa muerte" (es una secta terrorífica y bastante clandestina),
así que la vida de esta persona estaba dedicada a la violencia."
Translation:

"There is a strange and interesting case in this city: a female serial killer. She only preyed upon elderly women who lived alone. They finally caught her but the woman, whom they have taken to calling "The Lady of Silence", almost did not speak...up til now they have charged her with 12 murders but they suspect that she may be responsible for more than 60. The woman, aside from being a killer, was a female wrestler "ruda" (the baddies) and also belonged to a sect that worshipped "Santa Muerta" (Saint Death) (a terrorific and very secret sect) wherein each member's life is dedicated to violence."

I suspect that my cousin may have slightly exaggerated the notoriety of the Santa Muerte cult. She could also have better information because she works closely with the major news agencies. I did a little Googling and found out that the killer was dubbed "Mataviejitas" (or little old lady killer) by the Mexican press and that police were originally looking for a transsexual male to female because of the unusual physical strength of the killer. This created quite a bit of controversy when the police decided to round up transsexuals in the search for the killer.

I wonder why my cousin thought to send this to me?

Unpopular Culture - Diane Gamboa

My very first blog entry back in July 2004 was inspired by a friend of mine named Diane Gamboa. Diane is absolutely one of my favorite artists and one of my favorite people to hang out with, too.


Diane Gamboa in calavera makeup.

Diane's own photos and recollections of the East L.A. punk scene of the late seventies and early eighties are featured on the KCET website Rites of Passage. Be sure to check out the multimedia photo essay, entitled "Unpopular Culture," which can be seen here. It's filled with wonderful black and white images and features Diane's own voiceover narration as she takes you through the history of one of the most vibrant music/art scenes that blossomed once upon a time in ELA.

Happy New Year and List of Things I'll Miss

Thanks for all of the nice feedback regarding my relocation to Arizona. I'm enjoying living out in the desert and I'm slowly finding my way around the new neighborhood. I still haven't tracked down a good comic book store in the Phoenix area and unfortunately, I've developed an addiction to manga over the past few years, so if anyone has any tips on a good comic book store, please pass them along.

One of the comments on my last post was from Mr. Bali Hai, who offered to have a Ray's Mistake for me on his next trip to Tiki Ti. It is in that spirit that I've decided to list some of the hangouts and pastimes that I'll miss most when I leave L.A. (aside from the aforementioned Tiki Ti). Here they are, in no particular order:

1. The Vista Theatre in Silver Lake.
2. Mai Tais at Damon's in Glendale - The Best!
3. Shopping at St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Cypress Park (?).
4. The Comics Factory in Pasadena.
5. The Orpheum Theatre downtown.
6. Paco's Tacos ensalada de nopales with fresh flour tortillas - Culver City.
7. Blue Hawaiis at Bahooka in Rosemead.
8. Dancing at Ballroom Blitz in Eagle Rock.
9. Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena.
10. Mr. T's in Highland Park.
11. Margaritas and mole enchiladas at La Fiesta Grande on Colorado (not the one in South Pasadena!) in Pasadena.
12. Zankou, throughout the greater L.A. area.
13. Dark Delicacies Bookstore in Burbank, the best place to find a gift for your goth friend's birthday!
14. Any drink mixed by Kim at The Parlour.
15. The India Restaurant buffet in Artesia, in the Ziba Beauty Complex.
16. Suehiro restaurant in Little Tokyo.
17. Shopping for odd stuff at Mitsuwa Marketplace.
18. Kinokuniya Bookstore in Little Tokyo where I buy the latest Kera!
19. Jumbo's Clown Room in Hollywood...need I say more?
20. Chili cheese fries from Tommy's after drinking all night.

Hey! It's pretty much all about food and booze!!!! What a surprise!!

Christmas In Arizona Travelogue

It's been a crazy year for me. My family moved from the Eastside of L.A. to the Westside, which is a bit of a culture shock in itself. Then, just as we were starting to get settled in Culver City, my husband got a great job offer which would require him to relocate to Arizona.

So I'm writing from Arizona this Christmas. For the first time in my life, I'm planning on moving away from Southern California. We had contemplated this move to the desert once before, several years ago, but decided that the culture of Scottsdale at that time was too homogenous for us to comfortably fit in. "Fitting in" has never been one of my strengths and I think my daughter has inherited that trait. Well, either Scottsdale/Phoenix has changed over the past few years or my own lifestyle has changed to the point where my needs are now closer to what this area provides. Perhaps it's a bit of both. Still, there are some things which will require getting used to.

Earlier in the week, my husband found a scorpion in his jacket. Luckily he saw it right before he put it on and was able to shake it out onto the yard. The same evening we had a large coyote (not like the skinny ones you see in the canyons in L.A.) cross in front of our car as we were driving down one of these dark streets. It seems many people out here consider street lights to be "light pollution" because they ruin your ability to see the stars. I am an avid stargazer, but there's something about street lighting that just makes me feel safe.

My husband, daughter and I drove up to spend part of the long weekend in Sedona. We drove in, awestruck by the red rock formations, but when we got to the town, we couldn't wait to leave. As soon as we parked the car, we were accosted by a timeshare salesman who promised to set us up with a free hotel room for the night. Fortunately for us, his phone seemed to be having problems and he couldn't get through to the hotel office. He began cursing his bad luck and slamming the phone on the counter. We walked out the door as he hurled the phone against the wall. The rest of the uptown area was not much better, just crowded with tourist shops and overpriced food choices. It's a shame, because the natural setting is just amazing.

After heading out of Sedona, we decided to spend the night in the quaint town of Jerome instead.

Jerome is a great place to visit if you:
A) Are not afraid of heights
B) Like to drink in bars
C) Are not afraid of ghosts


The town is famous for having ghosts and we ate dinner at a little place called the Haunted Hamburger, where the power went out about 15 minutes after we sat down, plunging the entire place into darkness and candlelight. Later, my husband dragged me up to the old Jerome Grand Hotel for a nightcap. This hotel was converted from an old mining hospital and it just feels creepy from the moment you walk up to it. The proprietors proudly display various photographs of unsuspecting visitors accompanied by unexplained "spirit orbs". Sleep that night was difficult. I kept hearing noises. I haven't been that eager to get up early on a Saturday in a long time.

We had breakfast in one of Arizona's oldest restaurants, The English Kitchen, which once housed an opium den in the basement and has a colorful history of its own. A few blocks away, the remnants of the old redlight district are still visible, including the famously haunted House Of Joy.

On our way back out of Jerome we stopped for lunch in Prescott at an old fashioned saloon called The Palace. The Palace had quite a colorful history too, having hosted the likes of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. In the ladies restroom was a picture of Little Egypt, one of the more interesting entertainers who had performed at The Palace. Legend has it that during a big fire which wiped out most of the town, the local saloon patrons lifted the ornately carved wooden bar out of the burning building. Once they'd saved the bar, they continued drinking at it while the rest of the businesses burned. I like a town that has its priorities straight. Speaking of priorities, one of mine is to never skip a meal, and I just noticed that all of my "travel activities" seem to center around meals. My husband says that I plan my itinerary around my meals and that seems to be true! But he plans his itinerary around where to find cocktails, so we make a good traveling team.

Now we're back in Scottsdale. The beautiful resort where my husband works has been and will continue to be our temporary home for the next month or until we find a permanent residence.

L.A. and all my friends and family out there will always be in my heart. I will miss that city, but after all, it's only a 6 hour drive. It's time for a little change. May all of you enjoy a wonderful holiday season surrounded by people you love.

Germs 2005

I’ve been getting alot of inquiries lately about the Germs. People are interested not only in stories about Darby, but in hearing my opinion about the movie, What We Do Is Secret, that is being made about the band. They are also interested in the subsequent formation of the New Germs, as the band fronted by actor Shane West has been called on the internet.

I’ve had a hard time answering some of the questions. I know that the three remaining principle members of the band have been involved with and/or consulted about the movie, so I expect that most of it will be accurate and portray the band in the way they wish to be portrayed.

I also think it speaks very highly of Shane West that the remaining members of the band would want to reunite and play as the Germs with him as lead singer. I haven't had a chance to catch them yet. I don’t think there is any doubt that the band will be well-rehearsed, sound good and do a great show. But I suspect that is not what people want to know. There is a question that I feel many of you are trying to ask but have not done so far. The question is, can a band that stood for something at a certain point in time have the same relevance today?

That question goes further than asking about the Germs. There are many people performing today who were around when punk in Los Angeles was in its infancy. My favorite band, The Weirdos, still plays. They are still wonderful. I go see them every chance I get, but do their performances mean the same thing that they did 30 years ago? No. Not only is the band line-up different today, but the music is older. We’re all much older, and punk itself is nearly 30 years old.

The first time you step onto an airplane may be a new and exciting experience for you, but it’s not the same as the first time someone climbed into an airplane in the early 1900s. Air travel is part of our culture; there is little mystery and magic left of what once must have seemed an incredible experience. Even if you’ve never been on a plane yourself, you’ve seen planes flying overhead and you know people who have been on them, they are part of everyday life. Punk rock as a cultural movement has come to that point. It is part of everyday life. Some of you have grown up with a punk rock soundtrack because your parents or older siblings were listening to it. Punk music and ideology is in a different stage of its life. Which is not to say that punk isn’t relevant or valuable, just that it isn’t what it was. It has been changed, perfected, expanded upon and reinvented by some, and of course commercialized and exploited by others.

I’m sorry to say this, but if you didn’t see the Germs, or Weirdos, or Screamers, or Bags in the late ‘70s, you will never be able to have that experience. You may see reunions of some of those bands, and they may sound great, and you may even think to yourself, “this is what it was like”, but don’t fool yourself. If you want that experience, you would do better to go see a new band, one that is creating something all their own, one that can’t trace its roots back 30 years, one which is true to the spirit in which punk was born.