Jigsaw #2

Here's a list of what is in Jigsaw #2:


-collage using found text and image

-intro "There's No Ideas In Time Magazine" (a reference to Bob Dylan in Don't Look Back)--this is a short piece that tries to discuss the role culture (even underground culture) plays in disseminating ideology. i am trying to critique everyday life, language, the workplace, and 'common sense' as well as male-bonding rituals and cliches. ultimately this piece asks if we can use 'punk rock' as a place to challenge materialism, capitalism, sexism... it doesn't really go into how to do that, i am trying to make something happen here, though. it's a statement of intent that expresses uncertainty but determination and will.

-documentation of local bands/scene report

-a piece on what it means to be "an all-girl band" -should it matter, why/why not. I end up trying to contextualize the limits of what is now known as 'second wave feminism' as a reaction to a post-war idea of femininity. I get sort of confused, using loaded, unspecific terms like 'equality' and set up a dichotomy of 'sameness vs. oneness', which is somewhat muddled--but what I am struggling with is not wanting to have to throw out 'femininity' in order to be a feminist--I am trying to come up with a way of feeling ok about 'being a girl' or even 'girly' yet I want there to be equality between men and women. so I talk a lot about "difference" being ok-- saying that it's ok that girls and boys are different, but that doesn't mean we aren't equal. it goes too far towards essentialism here. I am also talking in general terms without situating my experience in terms of race, class, nation or sexual orientation--universalizing. this is about a month before I took my first feminist theory class, so I really had no language for what I was trying to discuss and had not yet developed an analysis of how race-class-gender intersect. still, it's pretty interesting! at the end I ask for people to contact me if they want to talk more about this stuff--I made some good female friends as a result of writing this--so I'd say the lesson is--you can get somewhere without having all the answers! asking questions, seeking dialogue is often the way to go.

-a piece called "6th Grade Enthusiasm" where I argue that sharing information, celebrating our history and being fans of music made by other women is more important than being "cool" ...first i claim that this will make things better and then I try to list a bunch of bands/records made by women that girls/women should know about. I conclude by asking if anyone wants to trade tapes-I remember getting making a lot of tapes as a result.
In this article I mention The Go-Go's, The Pretenders, Patti Smith, X Ray Spex, Young Marble Giants, the Pandoras, Girlschool and the Avengers. I also list Rough Trade bands such as Kleenex, The Delta 5, The Raincoats and The Slits that, for the most part, I didn't discover until I was 18.

-interviews with:

+Scrawl (all female band from Columbus, OH)

+Calamity Jane (all female band from Olympia)

+Heather Perkins (cassette sound collage artist from Eugene)

-cassette reviews by Al Larsen

-fanzine reviews, including one of Sister Nobody #1 and Chainsaw #2

-Fugazi/Beat Happening tour dates

-tributes I wrote to The Melvins, Rites of Spring and the Ramones.

-informative spiels on Babes in Toyland and the Lunachicks.

-a feature by Louise a.k.a. Zeb (from Viva Kneival, Some Velvet Sidewalk) on Matrimony, her all-girl band from Australia

-record reviews of Fire Party, Sylvia Juncosa, Matrimony, Seaweed, Fugazi, The Shop Assistants, Teraki Asthma Vol 3 7" (featuring frightwig, L-7, dickless & babes in toyland), Cavegurls 7", Shonen Knife covers record, The Brood 7", Mecca Normal 7"

-book reports on Hollywood Lolitas: The Nymphet Syndrome in the Movies, Louise Brooks A Biography, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

-a few ad's

-a letter's section

-a request for tapes for a 'high female input' tape. this sadly never came out officially, though all the tapes I got were played on Jigsaw Radio and I dubbed unofficial copies for friends.

background info:

I finished Jigsaw #2 in early 1990. I was 20 years old.

At that time I had been on two U.S. tours, played a bunch of shows around the NW, done at least one West Coast tour, lived in Eugene, OR for a year supporting myself by working at a sandwich place, finished a year of college (at Evergreen) and played in Doris (all-girl band) for two years. I had been going to shows for 6 or 7 years and listening to punk/new wave for about 10 (cool parents). I had also had a radio show for three years on KAOS.

When I finished Jigsaw #2 The Go Team had broken up and I was playing drums with Some Velvet Sidewalk, about to do a West Coast tour with them and record an album, Shipwreck, that later came out on K.

I will probably have more to say about all of this later.