There are all kinds of reasons girls form bands with other girls. Sometimes it’s the solidarity of playing with other girls–there can be a different level of understanding–sometimes you just want to play in a band with your sister and best friend. For the Jewish Orthodox band Ashira, those six girls play together for religious reasons.

“Orthodox prohibitions prevent them from forming their frenetic dancing circles in front of men. Instead, they put up a curtain in front of the men, who are usually the ones playing the dance music. “But it feels like we are dancing to a tape recorder,” says Inbar Gassner, 22, who is the bass guitarist in the all-female religious rock group Ashira. Comprising six musicians, the band - whose name means “I will sing” - formed three years ago so that women from the religious community could have the same fun at parties as men.

Today Ashira is making headlines around the world for its women-only policy at concerts. They are also striking a chord with Israel’s secular audience, despite the fact that their songs all have religious themes. Their upcoming album will have a warning label: for women only. “

Like a lot of people my age, Michael Jackson’s Thriller was the first record I really loved. I played it all the time, had what I believed to be complex dance routines for a seven year old totally worked out to every song. He was the first pop star that really felt like he belonged to me and my generation. The early 80’s were a time when a lot of iconic people from the 70’s, my parents generation of music, were re-inventing themselves as popular solo artists (Kenny Loggins, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Carly Simon, Tina Turner etc); Michael Jackson, and a little later Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna, they were the first pop stars that felt like they were not for my parents, they were just for me. They had exploded in my lifetime, not revived themselves from a previous era. They were something that separated me from my parents–and sure, my parents understood the appeal–but Thriller was important for me as this was the first music that they didn’t understand the way I did, didn’t appreciate it the way I did. They were not trying to Moonwalk around the living room in their socks for hours at a time, they did not scream when he came on TV.Michael was mything, and it felt really special. I learned how to love music, what it meant to be a fan, to really believe in a song, for a record to be your whole world from Thriller.

In tribute, here is Michael Jackson - Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough, which I think I probably played every time I DJ’d, especially if I was DJ-ing and people were not dancing, it didn’t matter where it was, how awful or small the party was, EVERYONE DANCES TO THIS SONG. It was like magic. It still is.

Tom Tom’s Technique Tuesday tutorial: Tuning yr drums!

I am going to see Mika Miko tonight. LOOK AT THEIR FUN:

Audiotuts, a music-tutorial site, just posted links to 14 helpful articles about practicing & practicing more effectively. Some are specific–tips for choir singers wanting to sing pop, tips for jazz players, bass players, etc. The best and most all-purpose one is a BBC guide How to Practise Music, which has some useful advice and lots of thoughts to help keep you motivated, as well as some funny little games to keep personal practice from getting boring.
Some of the tips include:

# Don’t rehearse your mistakes.
# Isolate the problems.
# Go slow and steady, and use a metronome.
# Don’t practice until you get it right; practice until you never get it wrong.
# Little and often is the best way.
# Music is important: take it seriously.

Tonight I am going to see X. For the first time ever. They were broken up for a good long while and now they tour non stop and I always meant to see them and now, finally. X’s Wild Gift/Los Angeles was my favorite record (both are on one cd) right around the time I graduated high school and moved to Los Angeles a week later, and so their Los Angeles is inextricably tied to my dream of Los Angeles. This is a later-era clip of the band, from the movie, and it started a new fashion era/summer-long look for me once, inspired by Exene: APRONS. Also, there is a bit about X in the book–Billy Zoom in the guitar chapter, Los Angeles is on the timeline poster and the documentary (clip below) The Unheard Music is in the films list. CROSS REFERENCE!

The Brooklyn show of the reading/rocking tour is with These Are Powers, who are just as cool in actual life as they appear in this video.

I cannot stop listening to the new Gossip record (streaming link). Beth Ditto and Gossip are long time girls rock camp supporters, Beth used to teach at the Portland camp. I have a feeling this is my all-summer-long record.

The all-lady Mexican cumbia band La Conquista has founded a Chicas Rock camp in Corpus Christi Texas. I really love the quote from the band.

The atmosphere is free of boy pressure, something Treviño said she didn’t have.“Back in the day we had to learn how to play with the boys,” she said.
The camp is the first of what La Conquista hopes to be many rock band camps for girls. Some boys’ parents called to get into the camp, but La Conquista wasn’t having it, they said. The idea for the camp came after parents who attended their concerts asked the band where their daughters could be taught to play like the band.

“By having this camp, we can give them a little of what we have,” Treviño said.

Here’s a little commercial, with contact information.

Here’s a clip of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who gets referenced a few times in the guitar and practice makes perfect chapter. She’s riffing “Up Above My Head” on out: