Releases like this are why Teenage Teardrops is one of my favorite labels of all time.

STATION FIRE, a full color 8 1/2 X 11 collage zine by Jenna and Cali. 40 pages, limited to 150 copies. Comes with an audio companion cassette compilation which was mostly recorded in one day on the hottest day of the year while the fire raged at its peak. Features exclusive songs from John Clavin, Michael Thornhill, Nick deWitt, David Scott Stone, Lucky Dragons, Infinite Body, Jenna and Cali and more. It is dedicated to the couple from Tujunga, who, though told to evacuate, decided to ride the fire out in their hot tub.

Hot dog! (And please note I’m utilizing the 1940’s interjection, not namedropping the gross-out meat by-product.)

Station Fire is available via the Teardrops Store.

Filmmaker Lance Bangs profiles Family and other super awesome LA people and places in his short documentary Family Portrait. Watching this makes me so fucking grateful (and proud!) to live in Los Angeles and be a part of such an amazing community. And yes, everyone really is this nice!

Learned today of the passing of Larry Cassidy, frontman for legendary Factory Records band Section 25. British journalist John Robb’s tribute and excellent history of the band can be found here.

Of all the Factory bands (aside from Joy Division), Section 25 was the one that resonated most with me. RIP Larry.

Do you ever hear about the awesome girls rock camps popping up all over the country and think, “Gosh, I wish those were around when I was a kid”? Well check this out!!!

To all Ladies, Women, Mothers, Maidens, Aunties, Godmothers, Grandmothers, and Grrrls…

Register now for Ladies Rock Camp where you get to
-LEARN AN INSTRUMENT
-START A BAND
-WRITE A SONG
-PERFORM LIVE
…all in three days! Food, movies, parties, performances, and other surprises make it a weekend not to be missed. No musical experience is necessary! This is a perfect chance to dust off an old guitar, pick up a microphone for the first time, or add a new drum beat to your repertoire.

Ladies Rock Camp (LRC) is a program of Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, an Oakland-based non-profit with a mission of empowering girls of all backgrounds through music creation and performance. It’s is an unforgettable weekend modeled after our Girls Rock Camp but for women of all ages. LRC is our biggest (and best) fundraiser of the year. All of the proceeds directly support Bay Area Girls Rock Camp’s programs for girls ages 8-18. By coming to LRC, you are supporting the next generation of women and girls while celebrating and empowering your own!

So here are the details:

LADIES ROCK CAMP 2010

Where: Oakland School for the Arts (OSA), housed inside the restored FOX Theater Complex in Oakland’s Uptown District; 530 18th St.; Oakland 94612.

When: April 9-11th, 2010.

For Whom: Women ages 19 – infinity, NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.

How Much: $400, sign up with a friend before International Women’s Day (March 8th) and you both receive $10 off!

To apply or for more information visit: www.bayareagirlsrockcamp.org/pages/lrc.html
LRC gift certificates are also available.

LRC Alumni photo via Bay Area Girls Rock Camp

I’ve been downloading old Part Time Punks radio show podcasts as of late. Let’s just say I am totally obsessed. Like I want to start taking notes and making diagrams, which is kinda what I did with the Kill Rock Stars roster back in the day. Yes, I am a TOTAL dork. But seriously, Michael Stock has impeccable taste and an enviable musical acumen and every time I listen to a show I feel like I’m attending a really awesome lecture. And I can’t believe I have gone all these years without listening to Black Tambourine!

Part Time Punks radio show is every Thursday 3-6 on KXLU 88.9 FM, Los Angeles. Or you can listen on the interweb.

Kathleen Hanna talks role modeling, archiving, and feminist leadership. Awesome!

Tavi is seriously blowing my mind. And I’m not even referring to her other-worldly fashion sense. A smart and sardonic 13 yr old into zines/feminism/riot grrrl/Freaks and Geeks/The Pixies?! When the hell did kids start being rad???

We should totally be friends- if it’s okay w/ your parents.

Collage via these peeps.

Howard Zinn image via Identity Theory. JD Salinger image via Boston.com.

Clipd Beaks’ new album To Realize officially dropped today on Lovepump United. I’ve been rocking my digital copy for some months now, and it is UH-MAY-ZING. Download the track “Home” from Stereogum to get a taste.

Record release show this Friday 29th at the Hemlock in SF. And *possibly* they’ll be down in LA around the end of March. Do not sleep on this people!

Image via dLTD.

In the annals of punk rock, it’s often the ladies who get overlooked. Thus, I present to you, three of my all time favorite underrated “girl bands.”

Kleenex formed in Zurich, Switzerland in 1978 and changed their name to LiLiPUT around 1980, due to pressure from the Kleenex tissue peeps. They underwent a bunch of lineup changes but everything released is amazing. Kill Rock Stars put out a 2-CD Kleenex/LiLiPUT retrospective in 2001 and are said to be re-releasing it on vinyl in the near future. I highly recommend it. If you don’t believe me, check out this live footage. Sick!

Young Marble Giants are probably my favorite band ever (aside from Joy Division of course!). A short-lived, late 70s Welsh band, they are known for their “minimalism,” using primarily organ and bass. Mostly, I just love Allison Statton’s vocals. In the last couple of years they’ve reunited to play festivals like All Tomorrow’s Parties. Colossal Youth is their seminal album, and if you don’t already own it, shame on you!

Honey Bane (née Donna Tracy Boylan) started her first band Fatal Microbes at the age of 14, and was tied to everyone from Crass and Killing Joke to Sham 69. Her early 80s new wavey single “Turn Me On Turn Me Off” climbed the UK charts, but “Girl on the Run” is, in my humble opinion, her best work.

And finally, I implore you to check out Jenny Woolworth’s incredibly amazing Women in Punk blog and Women in Punk archive. Cuz you don’t have to be a dude to be punk fucking rock!

I’ve been meaning to get to Ooga Booga for several reasons. This is one of them…

Losing Feeling zine from No Age and design hero Brian Roettinger, co-released by Post Present Medium and Hand Held Heart.

Print-run of 200, so you best leave one for me!

Image via Ooga Booga

Are you a band/person looking to record in the Bay Area in February or March on the cheap? My homie Scott of Clipd Beaks has openings. He will do a super awesome job. Hit him up on MyFace.

After disappointing election results out of Massachusetts today, and my subsequent fits of rage and sadness, I needed a major pick me up. Luckily I just received Aaron Rose’s Beautiful Losers in the mail. I know I’ve posted about this before, but the film is nothing short of inspirational. And I actually got to see the whole thing tonight! Of course my favorite part was Margaret Kilgallen, who I am totally in awe of.

There is just something about watching people do what they love that makes me so happy.

I was hoping that the whole death thing would ease up in 2010. Not off to such a great start. RIP Jay Reatard. You will be missed my man.

Monitor Mix, as usual, gets it totally right: “It’s a sad day for music, because we lost a guy who made the kind of songs most of us, in our heart of hearts, really love. We love his music because, before we got all worldly and esoteric in our tastes, all we wanted was for our music to rumble and roar, to give us that teenage feeling forever.”

I was introduced to Pat Spurgeon shortly after I moved to Oakland in 2005. It was outside of a show at the Ivy Room, and for some reason (probably whiskey) I kept calling him CAT. Despite my idiocy, he was super nice and we chatted briefly. Over the next year or so, I saw his band Rogue Wave play at different clubs and galleries around town, watching with Oaklandish pride as they began to get national attention.

A couple of days ago, an ex-coworker posted a link about a documentary called D tour, which chronicles Pat’s story (of which I was totally unaware). Faced with a failing kidney, a search for a donor, and twice daily dialysis, HE PROCEEDED TO GO ON TOUR.

I am completely in awe of his unyielding passion and positivity. Pat, you are truly an inspiration!