The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Women’s Euro 2022

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Anyone watching? I went to the first game at Old Trafford (to my amazement I didnt burst into flames when I walked in), and to the Netherlands/Sweden game at Bramall Lane (with my brother in law and our daughters).

No, it isnt the same standard as the men’s Champions League. But good games, and great atmosphere. My (mostly) Scottish niece was delighted to be able to wear an England shirt without criticism. The Dutch and Swedish crowds all seemed to be in national shirts, including men wearing shirts with women player’s names. And of course, it is fairly rare that you can celebrate an English team winning 8-nil (8 bloody nil! smashes clock from fireplace) (and of course I would rather talk about that than my lot losing 4 nil to Manchester United).

The Presidents’ Club, St Andrews’ Golf Club, Monasteries… Word In Your Ear…?

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Carol From Luton reports sensational news frokm the equality frontline… She attended Heppo’s WIYE event last night and was astounded to find, in a room of a hundred or so people, no more than 4 women. Not that this stopped Cazza from enjoying the evening, but it made me wonder (having never been to one myself – the geography is against me) – are all WIYE events among the last bastions of male preserve? Or was last night’s an aberration? The way Carol described the demographic it sounded like the last gathering of the Ents, wondering where all the Entwives had gone.

As Bazza Gibb asked 50-odd years ago, ‘Where are the girls…?’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfibU–RAVg

Women of punk/ new wave/…

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The discussions of a lack of women on music mag covers reminds me of what I am sure is not an original observation; the women of punk/ post-punk opened up music the way a bit of ramalama didn’t; The Slits, Siouxie, X-Ray Spex, Rezillos, Penetration, Laura Logic … I can listen to any of these still; I find blokey punk all a bit lumpen. These days I find PJ Harvey, Goldfrapp, and St Vincent more interesting than hip indie sausage fests (and I like sausages). I’ve never been one for positive discrimination and approved quotas; I simply find these acts better.

The 150 Greatest albums by women

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I know we have mixed feelings about lists here, but this one is quite interesting. National Public Radio in the US have compiled their choice of the best 150 albums made by women since 1964. I reckon I own about 20 of them, have heard maybe another 20 and there are plenty I’ve never heard and a fair few by artists I’ve never heard of. As I type I’m listening to Deep Listening by Pauline Oliveros, someone I’d never heard of until about 15 minutes ago.

Some are obvious. Some are WTF is that doing there? Some are bloody marvellous and as indicated above some are completely unknown.

Have a browse. In the words of the late Mrs Merton “Let’s have a heated debate”. NPR’s 150 greatest albums by women since 1964

The Women Who Wrote Rock

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A delightful Radio 4 documentary that manages, without fuss or pretension or the male posturing that writing about music became, to show us a world (in the middle 60s) that we probably now underestimate or have forgotten about – a time before musicians became precious about their art and before people writing about it felt the need to become personalities themselves. And yet these supposedly fluffy interviews were read by millions and contained perhaps surprisingly truthful insights, based on significant access. It was very largely a time before ‘the PR person’. The title is slightly misleading: replace ‘rock’ with ‘pop’, which actually adds another layer to it – a time when what became rock was genuinely mainstream and ‘popular’ at the same time, a time before the myriad sub-genres to come. Well done to all who made the programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07428bt

Beany’s “Men In Bowler Hats” Thread

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In a private email, Beany expresses his chagrin at mis-identifying the character on the Stackridge album cover as “a man” (in spite of all the evidence to the contrary), claiming the “hat fooled him” (forgetting that the hat in the picture is no more a bowler than the wearer is a man), and asks if I’d kindly curate a thread on his behalf to make the whole issue of “men” and “bowler hats” clear to him. Pleased to oblige, Beansie!

http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t642/burtkocain/CbIdce2WEAAi8HL_zpsbc79vcui.jpg

Norway 1 England 2

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Anyone see that Women’s World Cup match? Crikey, the ladies’ game is still a little tame, from what I’ve seen so far [haven’t watched Germany, I have to admit].

Cracking second England goal from Lucy Bronze, though [ace name too].