Every week, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 41-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Great to see and hear Bikini Kill on TV. So much clarity after watching evidence of recent shows captured on phones. Fantastic, but I was kind of surprised by all the negative comments on the TV show’s FB page. The usual stuff circa 1995. Can’t play, etc.
I’ll have you know that Kathleen is a great singer. Great voice. Intensity for days. Tobi is a fabulous drummer. Sara makes a living teaching guitar in NYC (I think). Kathy plays bass just fine. It’s the essence of punk to maintain minimalism to the point of profundity.
The negativity toward them makes me wonder what the people commenting want from their music. My guess is these are the same people who can’t deal with abstract paintings, poetry or arugula. At this juncture, I wanna call all detractors Trump supporters, but that may not be true. Just your garden-variety misogynists putting women down in order to control them. Typical. I noticed a few women in the commenting fray calling them names. Very disconcerting. Several commenters tried to give the band credence by naming men they’d been friends with or are married to. Dear. God. What a mess.
“Fan Of Sparks” from Jarred Up (K, 1993) (download):
