1/14/10
Two book events in Austin TX during SXSW--3/19 and 3/20. Info is on the appearances section of this here website. It's gonna be fun. Camper bands! Grown up bands!
12/15/09
I was on Irish public radio last week talking about the book and discussing with an Irish critic and author about the women in the Irish rock scene. You can listen here, it aired 12/8.
12/11/09
I'm starting to hash out plans for a tour towards/into the south for spring 2010. If you are located between Chicago and Austin, TX, let me know if you want me to come to your library or book-shoppe.
11/19/09
Grand Rapids date rescheduled for 12/2. Mega event tomorrow: 7:30 at Bookmarket in Glenview with my friends Stephanie Kuehnert, Daniel Kraus, James Kennedy and Adam Selzer--who is not my friend as I have never met him. Also, some info on another book/booklet I worked on:The oral history of Lifter Puller, which accompanies the bazillion song re-issue .
11/07/09
The Michigan dates next week have been canceled and will be rescheduled. I am sick and in bed. It is not swine flu.
10/29/2009
The super cool Brooklyn-based music site, The Fanzine, ran a really positive review of the book today .
10/25/2009
All the details on the Michigan dates in November are on the appearances page.
10/22/2009
The book is out in the UK now, in case you have an Irish cousin or a penpal or are wandering around Birmingham wondering what to read--THE GIRLS GUIDE TO ROCKING IS THERE. I went to the Cincinnati Book Festival, which was pretty sweet. I knew someone there--and made two friends, so I was not totally lonely--and so I just hung out with Anne Byrn, author of the best-seller The Cake Doctor and Sharon Draper, who they might as well just make the mayor of Cincy. She's written 32 books, including the best selling Sassy trilogy and in 1997 was Teacher of The Year. I shared a table with Sharon, who was a grade school teacher for 30 years and it the master. I met some real cool girls, surely they are Ohio's rock future. ONe mom came up and said "Oh my daughter is not very good, she wants to be Taylor Swfit, but she is only nine, and I don;t want to encourage her since she is not very good." Her daughter wasn't there, so I couldn't just reach around the mom and gift the girl the book. I tried to tell her, good comes later, a lot of girls are inspired by Taylor Swift. Maybe the mom's version of good is opera or traditional Scottish music or Switchfoot, and maybe her daughter is totally amazing--but I didn't say that.
MEANWHILE: I am judging the Chicago Public Library's city song contest today. Me and Rhymefest. Psalm One won--naturally. She's the best undiscovered MC in the midwest. 5 pm at Milenium park.
OTHER MEANWHILE: Mini-tour of Michigan next month, and then just local stuff through the winter I think (I will be hibernating) and then a tour down to Texas and back in March and an east coast tour in April. If you have suggestions, want me to come to your library or school or college class, just holler at me or Selina on the contacts page.
9/24/2009
So the quick dip into Grand Rapid is looking like a mini-tour of Michigan now in November. Details soonish on the dates page.
9/11/2009
Oh, blurg. I have been like Rip Van Winkle since getting home from tour. All summer long it was BOOKBOOKBOOK and when I got home from tour, I had to check out a little bit. And by check out I mean vacuum and play with my cats and yes, I also baked a pie. Also, my friend and former bandmate, JJ, who is referenced in many places in the book--usually as "my best friend/drummer" died right after I got home and so I have also been busy being sad and missing her. I cancelled the Brooklyn Book Fest thing on Sunday to go to LA for her memorial. Our old band mate sent me some pictures to give JJ's family and it made me really happy to remember and also embarrassed at some of the particularly bad haircuts I had during that first wave of nineties emo. I will post some on the blog. Updated info on the appearances page--I am still doing the other NY thing next week--A BATTLE READING on Thurs the 17th in Manhattan for the Literary Death Match. I checked, it is all ages, though I cannot verify that the content of the evening will be appropriate for say 16 and under. Just saying.
8/31/2009
TOUR IS OVER. I MISS THE GIRLS! Man alive, life is not the same when you aren't waking up and driving across America with the Ghost Bees. I could tour into forever with them as co-pilots. I have to regroup a little, but I will update here some with info and links. In the meanwhile, I am doing the Brooklyn Book Festival 9.13 at 4pm, a discussion with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!--details shortly and then doing Literary Death Match in NYC later that week. Dates in Michigan and Ohio for October.
8/23? 24?
I have so much to tell you about this tour. So much. Such a blast, that the lows (getting broken into, a ton of merch got thrown into SEWAGE and ruined) are forgotten immediately. The book was plugged on This American Life this weekend.
8/21/2009
24th-26th, the role of Katie Stelmanis will be played by The Ghost Bees, as a Canadian border debacle must be tended to, but KS and band will return to tour for Champaign, Bloomington and Chicago. Chicago show now also features a Girls Rock Chicago band, The Black Skittles.
8/18/2009
Baltimore City Paper interview where I discuss the book and also my love of Prince.
8/17/2009
Oh my gosh. Tour starts this week. Am panicking a bit. Just a bit. Once it's happening, I am generally fine, save for the hour or so before doors open when I freak out and think NO ONE IS COMING and then that always turns out to not be true. Meanwhile, so press is rollin' in: Examiner.com kids book section positive review , the UN's "Reality Check"podcast talkin' bout self-esteem and rocking.
8/16/2009
Cleveland Plain Dealer feature on me/the book , with a list of 20 songs for a suggested mixtape, compiled by the writer, John Petkovic. John plays in Cobra Verde, who are longtime fixtures of the Cleveland scene, I am a fan of their song "Riot in The Food Court".
8/14/2009
Two items of note: I was on Fox & Friends this morning talking about Miley Cyrus and her short shorts. It was what you would expect from Fox, and me too, given I had been awake for about 30 minutes prior and the sun was not up yet. I went on after Karl Rove, who is always a tough act to follow, as President Obama can surely attest. BETTER EVEN STILL: The Chicago Public Library had the girls at the book event there fill out cards and there was space to ask any questions they still had, and the library had me answer them. The questions from the girls were way harder than most interviews!
8/12/2009
Ramping back up to business here, as tour starts in a week. Please come. If you don't, I will be real sad. Like crying through the night sad. REALLY!
The Pittsburgh City Paper has an interview with me this week that is actually different from the rest of the others. Also, I am quoted in the LA Times story on Miley Cyrus' short shorts --I also blogged about said shorts and stage-wear in general on the GG2R blog. And also-also, I went up to Oak Park this afternoon, my BFF J.R. and I flyered for the library show (8.19) and man that library is nice and they show a lot of free movies and have TONS of CDs, well organized at that--in the library. Come for the Carol Bui show, stay for the Public Enemy CDs--thats my new motto about Oak Park Public. Oh, and I was on Feminist Magazine on KPFK tonight, which is streaming every Weds., but more importantly is a podcast where they talk about different issues affecting women and girls , womens projects, art, activism, music, all kindsa cool stuff. And also, there is a review in this month's Booklist, which hopefully means a lot of libraries will get the book soon. Apparently, Chicago public main branch should have a grip of copies shortly, they are being "processed" and Oak Park is going to hopefully have them by the event next week. If not, soon. It is currently in stock at the Pittsburgh Public Library. I know this because I saw it on a blog.
8/10/2009
The book is featured on the Gibson website today . Exciting! There is a lot about their guitars in the book.
8/09/2009
I have been so nuts-a-roo with the tour and it's impending launch that I have not been updating this news-space as I intended. Heres what I know:
The Oak Park Public library show is 8/19 @ the main branch with CAROL BUI . I posted about it as being on the 18th because I was totally corn-fused. Carol Bui is a real guitar-slinger with a full band and big voice FROM WASHINGTON DC. Pitchfork gave her last album a 7.8 but I give it A 1000. The cool thing is that Carol's other band is playing the DC show of the tour.
Nice review in Exclaim! & nice review in The Weekender & an interview on a Brazilian girls rock site, if you speak Portuguese & Marissa Paternoster and I interviewed each other for the cool teen magazine Sadie & competitions on Mrs Magoo Reads and a chance to win signed ones via The Music Slut site . There is some more, but, yeah, you get the point.
Been updating the book's blog a lot more though and have some interviews and YouTube-y fun up. Press the green fret up top and it'll take you right there.
8/03/2009
Finally, the book got in a teen magazine. Enough of this adults business. Teen Vogue review! And for some reason they assumed I am friends with Karen O and Hayley from Paramore. I WISH!
7/30/2009
The UK release of the book has been bumped to October 3rd. I am reading today at Harold Washington public library downtown @ 1:30. I stayed up late last night finishing the posters for tour and I think they came out rad, now I am off to Kinkos to make a zillion and a half copies. Long article about the book in Chicago Sun Times yesterday with a photo of me making total pony face (neiigh!) and a long interview in the Canadian paper Exclaim!, and then I was on Chicago Tonight:
7/28/2009
Getting ready to go to Chicago Tonight. eeek. eeek. Live TV segments make me sweat profusely.
I was also on New Hampshire Public Radio today talking bout what I usually talk about. and AND. Thursday at 1:30-3:30pm, there is going to be a special thing we're doing down at the Harold Washington Library, @ YouMedia--I will do a book talk and then there is going to be a how-to/class/tutorial on how to record your own music using Garage Band, for kids/young folks. Space is limited for that, so first come first serve. I think it's going to be really really cool. See you then!
7/25/2009
HOME! All the way home! My cats eagerly greeting me at the door! After 2 weeks of hustling from one city to the next and spending a lot of time sitting on planes, in cars, on trains--all I want to do is go ride my bike and go see G-Force (I will see any movie with a talking animal). There is a lot of mail and email and making posters for tour to get to. In some ways having this book is a lot like having a band. In touring news! There are some updates on the appearances page, details filling out, Baltimore and another Champaign-Urbana reading/talk at the college, bands added to other bills, info about the Chicago library event (now with a Garage Band tutorial!). & The Page Turner book blog on the B--ch Magazine site ran an interview with me about the bands, feminists and artists that inspired me when I was a teenager .
7/23/2009
This week was epic! So little sleep, so much fun--and now tour is over (for now). I am zonked and back at my hotel room, half watching a PBS show about Appalachian settler. Tomorrow, I head home, and after a day off, I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend rushing out tour posters for the next leg. I can't really even begin to explain just how awesome it is to meet so many young ladies who are already playing music and writing songs and throwing themselves into rocking. Last night in NY, there were some really great questions, even some technical questions about using GarageBand. Here's some of whats come down the pike this week: Kansas City Pitch's book blog had a really insightful review, you can listen to me on WNYC's Soundcheck and read a review of the book by Caryn Havlik , who teaches at the Girls Rock camp in NY. The Philly Inquirer did a long peice about the book, Girls Rock Philly and the wave of cool girls making their own music, a thing about the Seattle reading q&a and women in Seattle bands on Rabert Ham's Pampelmoose blog.
7/18/2009
I am so excited for week two of tour to begin. I am leaving tonight for Philly. In the meantime, I posted pictures from the first part--including pictures from the Mika Miko library show--up on the blog. Thank you to everyone that came. I am so excited to be meeting all you future girl rock stars.
7/16/2009
WOW. WOW. WOW.
This tour is blowing my mind and despite that I only get to sleep about four restless hours a night and clear airport security before the sun comes up most every single day--I don't mind a thing. I am getting to meet the young rocking ladies and see my cool friends and old friends and former high school band mates and THE LIBRARY SHOW WITH MIKA MIKO, DESPITE THIS SUNBURN I GOT FROM READING OUTSIDE THAT MAKES ME LOOK LIKE I SHOULD BE LEADING SANTA'S SLEIGH, OMG OMG IT WAS SO THE COOLEST!!!!! I am putting some pictures up on the blog page shortly. Also, after the Seattle show, I got to go see my friend Nedelle play with her band Cryptacize. I played drums in her band for about a week once. I was terrible, but it was a tour, and I will go on any tour that anyone lets me on. There's some interviews up/ more press stuff: Popmatters asked me 20 wacky questions , this blog called it "Much more useful than Good Night Moon " my former bandmate Peter Scholtes reviews the book for City Pages, and in the this-made-my-year category, Entertainment Weekly had a 15 yr old aspiring rocker girl review my book --AND SHE LIKED IT AND THOUGHT IT WAS HELPFUL AND I TOTALLY CRIED WHEN I READ IT MADE ME SO HAPPY. Not like I am surprised the book worked for her but like, every review I have read so far are people my age saying they wished they had the book when they were growing up etc.--but the opinion of the girls that this book is for is what really matters to me. Michelle, the guitarist, gave her copy to her 11 yr old cousins in Chile and she told me she wished she could show me how thrashed and thumbed through and loved their copy is (insert more crying here). DREAMS=COMING TRUE. And! Beth from Girls Rock Philly has an inspiring quote in this article about the book and the Philly camp :""What Girls Rock Philly and this book are trying to do is say that you don't need that imitation," Warshaw-Duncan says. "You don't need to see yourself out there in order to put yourself out there. You don't need to wait for an invitation."
7/14
Tour is totally fun and strange and hectic and crazy. I am alone in a business-conference room in a hotel in Seattle (too early to check in) and there is a waterfall in here. Just hanging out by the waterfall, chillin'. Portland was rad, met some cool girls last night--drummers, banjoists (is that what they are called?) and a guitarist. A 12 yr old boy even showed up (IMAGINE THAT!-haha), asked questions and bought a book, which I signed to him. The people at Powells were really wonderful. Seattle is today/tonight. Meanwhile: there's an interview with me about books I like on MNreads.com and a thing on the LA Times Pop & Hiss blog and a thing on the Stranger blog that features a quote from that "band" The Locust I had never seen. LOLZ, etc.
7/12/2009
Leaving for tour today and engaging in a lot of my pre-tour rituals and chores-- laundry, mopping the house, listening only to Prince, panicking, trying to figure out how I am gonna jam all these shoes in my bag.
There's an interview with me in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today.
7/11/2009
Due to the radical librarians I met at the ALA signing this morning, it sounds like I am heading south in late fall and doing the east coast/south east again in April--they want to get girls band events at their libraries--and I am glad to bring them. PS. The tour starts tomorrow. NUTSSSSSSS.
7/8/2009
Champaign-Urbana date added! 8/27 at The Red Herring!
In the MY BAD department, I have been mistakenly listing the NY reading as the 21st of July, not the 22nd. 22nd of JULY Barnes & Noble 396 Ave of the Americas at 8th St.
& Chris Estey, publicist/writer/man about the scene, wrote a funny review of the book for the KEXP blog in advance of the Seattle reading next week. Well, at least I thought it was funny.
7/7/2009
Nashville, TN date added 8/26 at Grimey's--6 pm reading and instore!
7/6/2009
The Girls Guide to Rocking is being released in the UK September 1st. YES!
7/1/2009
Good Morning America selected The Girls' Guide to Rocking as one of their top summer reads for teens (watch); a 10-pg excerpt is up in the GMA library online.
06/30/2009
So, it's happened. I have finally done the #1 cheesiest "with guitar" picture pose--I was photographed casually holding a guitar on my knee, half sitting on my desk, leg on the chair, looking pensive, next to a copy of the book. I never though that I would ever get a chance, as I am not an old timey country and western singer, and this is not 1972.
In other "news" tonight my friend Matt Kessler and I spent a few hours on the computer making fliers for each and every stop of the reading tour, and we started to get stuck and hung up on things and bad ideas and he picked up the book and we actually followed the guidelines. Which is to say, I have now followed my own advice and found it helpful.
6/27/2009
Phew! Check the tour dates update! Philly got added, same day as Exton. The entire tour is almost firmed up. So psyched.
06/26/2009
Sasha Frere-Jones made a little post with the "Adventure" video on the New Yorker blog today. It's hard not to end every sentence with "HOW EXCITING!", but really, it is. I found out I am going to be doing some morning TV on the book tour, which is the funniest thing I have ever heard, since the joke about vegan zombies my boyfriend told me last week. I am going to have to go buy a blouse, as not a one of my button down shirts has all of it's buttons, which surely could be remedied if I would only get around sewing one on. I think you have to wear blouses on TV, you cannot wear a t-shirt. I am self-employed and rock n' roll lifestyle kinda lady, thusly, I do not have TV-approps casual wear like A BLOUSE IN WORKIN CONDITION. In other news, in great and wonderful news of tour: Cleveland, DC, Seattle and Exton, PA have all been added and confimed up for the tour. I'm working real hard to get a night time thing for Philly on the same day, as Exton is pretty deep into the suburbs.
06/25/2009
There is an interview with me in Time Out Chicago and a story about the book and girls rocking in Chicago Reader today. Also, look on the tour page. Some exciting developments for Cleveland...
06/23/2009
Brooklyn and Seattle dates are both solidified. Anna from These Are Powers has put together a really amazing all evening long lady-centric bill with DJs and projections and bands and WOW. The only dudes on the five act bill are in T.A.P--the event is Aug 22nd at Littlefield. We are working to have it all-ages, it may wind up being 18+ though.Trying our darndest! Seattle is at Vera, it's just not on the schedule yet. FYI.
06/20/2009
People of Pittsburgh, Bloomington IN, Chapel Hill & Carrboro, and Oak Park, IL! The reading & rocking tour is coming true in your town. Just look at the Appearances page for all the details as shows/readings/library party-times get confirmed.
06/18/2009
Gosh golly things are busy around here. Tour #1 is booked, Tour #2 is shaping up to be AWESOME--all girl band bills, dance parties, library rock shows, Girls Rock Camp bands!?! I cannot wait. Keep yr eyeballs on the appearances page to see if we're rolling up in yr 'hood. Meanwhile: a very cool review over at After Ellen and an interview on Stephanie Kuehnerts books blog. Stephanie's books have young rock n' roll loving girl protagonists and her new book, Ballads of Suburbia is out July 21st and I haven't finished it yet, but it's TOTALLY GRIPPING. Punk teen bad girls on the road to ruin?
06/15/2009
Just confirmed the first Chicago book event jammer, it's up on the appearances page. 7/30 at the brand new YouMedia center in Harold Washington Library downtown, from 1:30-3:30. YouMedia opens next month and is a media center where kids can learn and use Garage Band, and other digital programs. It's going to be a book talk and a little bit of interactive stuff that actually doesn't involve computers at all. Anyhow, I think it's going to totally fun city, plus I am so excited to be doing something at my all-time favorite library and one of my favorite places in Chicago. Also, positive review in Houston Press --"In five pages, I learned everything I could ever want to know about pedals, picks and sticks" .
06/13/2009
I just updated the links on the blog, so now it includes links for every girls rock camp in North America that I know about or could find info for. Montreal, Rhode Island, Vegas and Seattle are all launching camp programs this year. Also, just added another 10-some dates to the rocking & reading book tour on the appearances page, including dates with Katie Stelmanis, Ghost Bees and These Are Powers.
06/12/2009
Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch blog did something on the book today. Also, I did an interview for KBZT 94.9 in San Diego that will be on their Monday morning drive time show. One of my favorite shows I ever played was at the Moustache House in San Diego. It was in the day time. I had just gotten my first iPod before that tour and the ppl at the house let me raid their iTunes and I got all these amazing mixtapes they had made for each other and got into the band that lived in the house Business Lady, which is pretty much my favorite name for a band ever.
06/11/2009
Some nice previews of the book came in today, CBC3's blog & one over at Prefix, and one over at Salon. Salon employs Joy Press as their culture editor--who wrote co-wrote a book about gender and rock n' roll called Sex Revolts that was/is a huge influence on how I think and write about music, in particular an essay I wrote about emo and sexism. Also, I was interviewed for Keeping Score in Chicago while I was at the St. Vincent show this week, an interview which was conducted in the only quiet place I could find: the alcove outside the ladies bathroom. I say "like" and "you know" about 57 times. Ugh. I was real distracted, toilets were flushing and security kept driving by Segways. C'est le guerre.
06/10/2009
Paste Magazine has something up about the book and tour today.
and The Daily Swarm has 14-page excerpt and one of the infomercials up today as well. The excerpt is about shows and the infomercial is about chopping potatoes with Josh from Flosstradamus--though, this might be my favorite review yet: from Lost In The Supermarket--"Free your sister/niece/cousin from a life of insipid misery". That should have been the tag line on the cover. GG2R=FREEING YOU FROM MISERY SINCE LAST THURSDAY!
06/10/2009
The interview I did with Girls Rock Girls Rule is up. I swear at the end and insult Henry Rollins at the end. Hope that doesn't offend anyone too terribly much.
06/4/2009
THE BOOK IS OUT TODAY. One of the little infomercials is up on the blog, which features a cameo from my cat Wyatt. The little GG2R "movie" is up on Chicagoist. I think it came out great, my friend Alan Del Rio Ortiz directed, wrote and edited them and made them special. A lot of neat book-related things are happening soon, but rather than ruin the surprise, I will just say OH JUST YOU WAIT!Also, I am judging a high school battle of the bands in Oak Park with my friend Nora and one of the women who runs the Chicago Girls Rock Camp. I feel like I am probably the "Simon" of that judging crew.Maybe they will just give us numbers to hold up and score the band with, like as if they were Olympic gymnasts. Perhaps that would be for the best.
05/27/2009
The book is in some stores, including the fancy grocery store by my friend Shayla's house in Portland. My mom called me last night and told me she has read the whole thing and it's great, so hopefully between that and a review in Booklist, that is enough to convince people to buy it. Some exciting developments, including new dates on the book tour and a signing at the ALA conference--in case you are a librarian or hang out at library conferences. I made a Twitter for the book, but it's mostly just a me-twitter @jesshopp. The informercials for the book are done and going to start showing up on the interweb next week. The "adventure" movie is almost done, though doesn't include the footage of Morgan signaling us by blowing into a shell. Meanwhile, I am beset my nightmares like I was supposed to write the book in Spanish and didn't know, with my publishers yelling at me in thick Spanish accents "BUT HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW, YESSICA?"--but I think that is par for the course--or maybe it's an omen and La Guia De Las Muchachas A La Rocking is next. I can only hope!
05/13/2009
Feministing put up a little item on the book. The rock camp mentioned actually have their own book, which has a lot of tips and advice and different info and is well worth picking up.
also--tour dates have been updated!
5/06/2009
I have some book tour dates! They are on the blog and the appearances page. It is happening. In some cities I will be doing two events, one in the day at a library or something like a library and then one at night. If you look at the tour stops and are dismayed I am not coming to wherever you live on this first tour, let me know because I am planning on spending the rest of the summer driving around on an endless book tour and I will go where ever people will have me.
5/03/2009
This week my friend Alan and I start working on some short films--mini-commercials for the book--PSAs, informercials, we're doing it all. I don't know if they will be as good as the "Slap Chop" commercial or the Spongebob Burger King commercial, but I have roped my friend Aska Matsumiya into being in one. I think it's going to be pretty fantastic, Aska is a real charmer.
4/30/2009
HOW EXCITING:
The first review of The Girls' Guide to Rocking... and it's positive!
