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Lorrie Sprecher | |
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 Lorrie Sprecher reading at Syracuse Stories 2011. | |
| Born | 18 July 1960 |
| Occupation | Writer, musician |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Maryland |
| Genre | novel, short story, poetry |
| Website | |
| www | |
Lorrie Sprecher (born 18 July 1960) is an American writer, musician, and activist.
She holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Maryland, where her dissertation was on Gertrude Stein.
Her debut novel, Sister Safety Pin, details the life of a 20-something lesbian named Melany as she struggles to come to terms with her sexuality, her lovers, her future, and her place in the changing world of punk rock. Peppered heavily with references to seminal punk bands, the novel follows Melany through a small series of relationships, attaining her undergraduate degree, and contemplating "if a lesbian... especially a punk lesbian... is supposed to get a Ph.D." Honed with sharp wit, the story unfolds against a backdrop of 1980s California, New York City, and D.C.; a time when punk rock was shifting faces and the AIDS crisis was exploding amongst the gay community. Widely reviewed, [1] [2] Sister Safety Pin has become a classic among its lesbian audience.
After the publication of her novel, Sprecher turned her attention to music, forming the one-woman band Sugar Rat. Her music is politically charged, most recently addressing the bombing of Afghanistan. Her debut album, Rats Have Rights, was released in 2001. In 2002, Sprecher released her follow-up to Rats, entitled The Opposite of Popular. Both albums were self-distributed and are available via iTunes or Sprecher's website. She has also contributed songs to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).
Sprecher is a vocal member of ACT UP, an organization dedicated to fighting AIDS, and has been arrested six times in Washington D.C. during various protests.
She is currently working on her third novel and an acoustic album for Sugar Rat.
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewellery, and body modifications of the punk counterculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed-down look of North American hardcore. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion. Punk fashion has likewise influenced the styles of these groups, as well as those of popular culture. Many punks use clothing as a way of making a statement.
Siobhan Maire Fahey is an Irish singer whose vocal range is a light contralto. She was a founding member of the British girl group Bananarama, who have had ten top-10 hits including the US number one hit single "Venus". She later formed the musical act Shakespears Sister, who had a UK number one hit with the 1992 single "Stay". Fahey joined the other original members of Bananarama for a 2017 UK tour, and, in 2018, a North America and Europe tour.
Skate punk is a skater subculture and punk rock subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, skate punk evolved into a more melodic genre of punk rock in the 1990s similar to pop punk. Since then, it has predominately featured fast tempos, lead guitar playing, fast drumming, and singing. Occasionally, skate punk also combines the fast tempos of hardcore punk and melodic hardcore with the catchy hooks of pop-punk.
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock/new wave band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line-up comprised six musicians; five from Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin; Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe (drums), Johnnie Fingers (keyboards), Bob Geldof (vocals) and Garry Roberts, plus Fingers' cousin Pete Briquette (bass). The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Fingers or Cott. Garry Roberts died in 2022. The band's fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the New Musical Express.
Kathleen Hanna is an American singer, musician and pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. In the early-to-mid-1990s, she was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, and then fronted the electronic rock band Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since 2010, she has recorded as The Julie Ruin.
Kathryn Dawn Lang, known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances. Her hits include the songs "Constant Craving" and "Miss Chatelaine".
Catharina "Nina" Hagen is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as "The Godmother of German Punk".
A Tonic for the Troops is the second album by Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, released in June 1978.
Allison Wolfe is a Los Angeles–based singer, songwriter, writer, and podcaster. As a founding member and lead singer of the punk rock band Bratmobile, she became one of the leading voices of the riot grrl movement.
Jennifer Finch is an American musician, designer, and photographer most notable for being the primary bass player of the punk rock band L7. Active in L7 from 1986 to 1996, Finch also wrote music and performed with her bands OtherStarPeople and The Shocker in the interim before joining the reunited L7 in 2014.
Donita Sparks is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter most notable for being the co-founder of the band L7. Sparks also initiated, performed, and released original material with her solo project, the band Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments.
Toshi Reagon is an American musician of folk, blues, gospel, rock and funk, as well as a composer, curator, and producer.
A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase equates humans to rats attempting to earn a reward such as cheese, in vain. It may also refer to a competitive struggle to get ahead financially or routinely.
Maggie MacDonald is a writer, playwright, and musician who lives in Toronto, Ontario.
"Rat Trap" is a single by The Boomtown Rats which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in November 1978, the first single by a punk or new wave act to do so. It was written by Bob Geldof, and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. It replaced "Summer Nights", a hit single for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from the soundtrack of Grease, at number one in the UK chart after the latter's seven-week reign.
Lynn Perko-Truell is an American musician, best known as the drummer, bass guitarist, and co-singer for the San Francisco indie rock band Imperial Teen. She is also known as the drummer for the San Francisco-based blues grunge band Sister Double Happiness, and the San Francisco version of the hardcore punk band The Dicks. Perko-Truell was an iconic figure and a pioneering female in the American hardcore punk and alternative rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s and remains active.
Aimee Allen is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. She is currently the lead vocalist for the ska-punk band the Interrupters under the moniker Aimee Interrupter. As a singer-songwriter, she has collaborated with Mark Ronson, Sublime with Rome, Tim Armstrong of Rancid, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Linda Perry, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jimmy Cliff, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Travis Barker, Dirty Heads, and Tom Morello.
Janet Jackson is an American pop and R&B singer and actress. Jackson garnered a substantial gay following during the 1990s as she gained prominence in popular music. Recognized as a long-term ally of the LGBTQ community, Jackson received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Album for her Grammy Award-winning sixth studio album The Velvet Rope (1997), which spoke out against homophobia and embraced same-sex love. In 2005, Jackson received the Humanitarian Award from the Human Rights Campaign and AIDS Project Los Angeles in recognition of her involvement in raising funds for AIDS Charities and received the Vanguard Award at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2008. In June 2012, Jackson announced she was executive producing a documentary on the lives of transgender people around the world titled Truth, saying she agreed to sign on to help stop discrimination against the transgender community.
Women have made significant contributions to punk rock music and its subculture since its inception in the 1970s. In contrast to the rock music and heavy metal scenes of the 1970s, which were dominated by men, the anarchic, counter-cultural mindset of the punk scene in mid-and-late 1970s encouraged women to participate. This participation played a role in the historical development of punk music, especially in the US and UK at that time, and continues to influence and enable future generations. Women have participated in the punk scene as lead singers, instrumentalists, as all-female bands, zine contributors and fashion designers.
Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons, formerly known as The Johnsons, are an English punk rock band fronted by singer Puss Johnson since 2002 and first formed by guitarist "Dirty" Jake Johnson in Basingstoke. Since 2012, the only other member has been drummer "Filfy" Antz Johnson. The band have achieved press coverage in the Basingstoke Gazette, music magazine Vive Le Rock who included their track Vampire Sugar on the free CD with the November 2011 edition and website Louder Than War.
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