Though it has been about two decades since the Riot Grrrl movement began, the music, politics and identity of the genre has continued to grow and thrive. For many young women who preferred punk to pop, fishnets to pastels and Sylvia Plath to Seventeen--Riot Grrrl showed them they were not alone in the world. That feminism was not dead. And that women could seriously rock.
While many of us missed Riot Grrrl's takeover of the Pacific Northwest in the early 90s, author Sara Marcus has been involved from the start. She attended meetings with fellow riot grrls, joined punk bands and published zines. She lived in vegetarian co-ops and a anarchist utopian community in Philadelphia. Also, she gained a vast knowledge of Riot Grrrl's history.
Aside from the bands that come to mind when one thinks of Riot Grrrl, (Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, Huggy Bear, Bikini Kill) Chicago is home to a woman who made the genre known to everyday America. Music journalist Jessica Hopper was a high school student when Newsweek published an article about the genre--and she became the young, feminist face of the movement. Hopper now writes for the Chicago Reader, provides musical assistance to NPR's "This American Life," and recently released a book titled, "The Girls Guide to Rocking," which encourages young women to start their own bands.
Marcus will be in Chicago this weekend reading from her own book--"Girls To The Front." The book is the first-ever history of Riot Grrrl, and takes readers from the "front row of a punk show to the stage of the Republican Convention." Hopper will join Marcus for the reading.
What: Sara Marcus reads from "Girls To The Front" and is joined by Jessica Hopper
When: Saturday, October 23, 7:00pm - 8:00 p.m.
Where: Quimby's Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave., Chicago
Price: Free!