GIRLS ROCK! OPENS NATIONWIDE MARCH 7: At Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp, girls ranging in age from eight to 18 are taught that it’s OK to sweat like a pig, scream like a banshee, wail on their instruments with complete and utter abandon, and that “it is 100% okay to be exactly who you are.” They are taught by indie rock chicks such as Carrie Brownstein from Sleater-Kinney various lessons of empowerment from self-defense to anger management. At the end of just one week, all the bands perform songs they’ve written with their new bandmates for over 700 people. “Girls Rock!” follows several campers: Laura, a Korean adoptee obsessed by death metal; Misty, who is emerging from a life of meth addiction and gang activity; Palace, whose heavy metal sneer belies her seven years, and Amelia, an eight-year-old who writes experimental rock songs about her dog Pipi. What happens to the girls as they are given a temporary reprieve from being sexualized, analyzed and pressured to conform is truly revolutionary.

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Opening weekend will be crucial in the process of getting the word out about the camp’s important work with girls. Spread the news. Tell all your friends in our March 7 cities—Seattle, San Francisco, Berkeley, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland and New York—to go see “Girls Rock!” March 7-9. Visit www.girlsrockmovie.com for more information.

Thanks to Philadelphia’s Girls Rock Philly for the tip!

Girls Rock Philly, Philadelphia’s ONLY rock camp for girls, wrapped up the inaugural camp session with a rockin’ showcase over the weekend but not before taking the local press by storm! The first ever camp session was a huge success. Campers kept busy all week long learning about women in music, forming bands, and writing their own music and lyrics, culminating in a live concert performance for their families and peers. Head on over to Philly.com to watch an exclusive video about GRP and hear the girls talk about what rocking out means to them HERE.

Interested in sending your kid next year? UWISHUNU got caught up in the rock n’ roll spirit and dispatched a blogger who spent the day exploring rock life with the girls. Get the inside scoop here: “You Go Girls”. And read more about the unique all-female summer camp in the Philadelphia Inquirer’s feature story HERE.

PS: Who do I have to track down to get a pair of those GRP guitar pick earrings???

I hardly ever ego surf (no really!) but this week for some reason I searched for one of my old bands in YouTube and struck gold. Back in the 90’s some college pals and I started a band called Prelapse that transcribed a bunch of John Zorn’s Naked City songs and wrote our own jazz hardcore stuff. We got a very enthusiastic response from Zorn and he put out our cd and had us guest on some other recordings. The experience was amazing, and I got to meet and play with a lot of my favorite improvisors. Eventually I lost touch with that scene as Megan and I pursued our music and we eventually moved to Philly and started Canary.

So back to YouTube: Someone took two of the recordings we did and made them the soundtracks to some classic cartoons. This is so appropriate because at it’s root this music is inspired by Carl Stalling’s scores to the old Warner Brother’s cartoons, but I’ve never seen cartoons set to this kind of heavy music. Check it out!

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