tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903133504908789322024-03-09T15:40:09.299+00:00Older than ElvisElvis never lived to be 43. I did.Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.comBlogger268125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-28202984913080173542024-03-09T15:39:00.001+00:002024-03-09T15:39:08.341+00:00 International Women’s Day, autism and wondering who is rightIt was International Women’s Day yesterday, and I was cross about it. Again.Even on normal days, I’m cross at the world (by which I mean, I suppose, society) a lot. Because it is often noisy and unfair, and is nearly always illogical.I am particularly cross on International Women’s Day because it is particularly illogical. It makes no sense that a day which originated with grassroots activism is Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-27495092235051656572024-01-22T10:57:00.005+00:002024-01-22T10:59:49.363+00:00Mary Weiss, voice of the Shangri-Las (remember)Mary Weiss from the Shangri-Las died on Friday, and I spent the weekend on YouTube remembering how good she was. I first heard the Shangri-las in 1972, when Leader of the Pack was re-released and became a hit again. I was 14.I knew it was a “classic” because the Radio 1 DJs told me so. I knew I liked it. I knew enough about pop music by then to know that the death-disc angle was corny,Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-1138119874431982492023-12-18T16:02:00.001+00:002023-12-18T16:09:22.843+00:00Women In Revolt: the thrill of women's rageSuzanne Moore wrote ten years about that women’s rage is “totally thrilling”. And she was right.I saw the Women In Revolt exhibition at Tate Britain last week and I was totally thrilled.It’s subtitled ‘Art, Activism and the Women’s movement in the UK 1970–1990’ and it’s a reminder of the power of women speaking the truth. On many different subjects – our roles, our bodies, our work, our pay, our Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-6551121718779083942023-10-26T09:48:00.007+01:002023-10-26T10:16:45.973+01:00 Writing about pop as though it really mattered: music journalism and womenGatekeepers. All women know about them, whatever their job or chosen leisure activity. And the music business has always been one of the top villains. Within that crowded field, Jann Wenner, co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine, recently emerged as an arch villain. In case you missed it, he put out a book of archive interviews which was full of old white blokes. When challenged about the Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-25628788848690005492023-10-02T16:22:00.001+01:002023-10-02T16:27:07.405+01:00 Ear-altering sounds and personal storiesBook review: Sound Within Sound by Kate MollesonThis is the latest in my series of reviews of music books by women, specifically those that were longlisted for the 2022 Penderyn Music Book Prize. I think this going to be the hardest to write, because it’s outside my field of knowledge, but the book wasn’t hard to read because it is so well written.I suspect that some books get listed (Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-21174237390491811422023-09-19T15:07:00.002+01:002023-09-19T15:08:45.935+01:00Goodbye to Twitter?Another
day, another Elon Musk rumour. This time it’s about plans to charge people to
use Twitter (which no-one will ever call X).
From a business
point of view, this is nuts. He should know that most of his user base are
hanging on by a thread, under sufferance, and we’ll all be gone if that happens. It’ll probably
turn out to be another attention-seeking item like the notion of removing the
Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-79745392611477738822023-08-31T15:51:00.004+01:002023-09-04T17:12:11.552+01:00Book review: Fingers Crossed by Miki BerenyiThis memoir from “Miki from Lush” is out now in paperback, so if you haven’t read it yet now’s your chance.Since its original release, the book has become Rough Trade Book of the Year, a Rolling Stone Book of the Year and a Mojo Book of the Year. But, I wondered, is it really a music book? There is after all a lot about Miki’s life before Lush: so is it a book about a person - like a “normal” Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-27384072075037830712023-08-08T09:36:00.002+01:002023-08-08T10:32:14.295+01:00Should I retire? I never thought I’d ask myself that question. And now I am.I get my state pension next year. Six years after I expected to get it, and I’m still angry with the Tories about this. But there’s nothing I can do about that. The Waspi T-shirt is in the bottom of a drawer, the movement split into factions, and no-one was listening anyway. Six years ago, I wouldn’t have contemplated giving upPennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com2United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-6786419374775579842023-08-04T14:54:00.001+01:002023-08-04T14:54:17.492+01:00How to watch your mother dieThis is a bit different from my usual blog posts. I wrote it a few years ago for a writing competition (and got longlisted). It’s another exploration of the momentous year in which I got my autism diagnosis and my mother died. It covers both themes, because in real life things never happen in isolation. I hope you like it.Trigger warning. Obviously.How to watch your mother die My mother Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-66206342230879095042023-07-30T09:39:00.000+01:002023-07-30T09:39:13.001+01:00The forgotten women of Factory Records: a different historyA review of I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women At Factory Records by Audrey GoldenWe all know that the history of popular music – like the history of most things – is a tale told by men. I’ve also read enough books about Factory Records and the Hacienda to know that their history has largely been told by men, too. This is the antidote.Audrey Golden interviewed dozens of women: the ‘Cast of Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-41509618593256704162023-07-05T11:15:00.005+01:002023-07-05T21:44:06.584+01:00Book review: Access all areas by Barbara CharoneBarbara Charone, music journalist turned legendary PR woman, has had (and continues to have) an impressive career. It’s obvious from her memoir, Access All Areas, that she also has an impressive contacts book, impressive stamina and an impressive capacity for partying.Most impressively, she’s still working in the music business well past her pension age. And she still seems to love it.The first Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-28189530348011301602023-05-28T10:44:00.001+01:002023-05-28T10:47:06.859+01:00Book review: Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You Reading Lucinda Williams’ memoir.Someone said to me the other day, the problem with some modern pop songs is that they just sound like extracts from someone’s diary. The thing about Lucinda Williams’ songs is that they sound like extracts from your own diary. Listening to Passionate Kisses or Sweet Old World, it feels like someone’s been there before you. As her friend Steve EarlePennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-39038038429026768212023-04-26T13:35:00.002+01:002023-04-26T13:40:41.244+01:00Book review: Lead Sister – The Story of Karen Carpenter Husband: “What are you reading?”Me: “A biography of Karen Carpenter.”Husband: “What’s interesting about Karen Carpenter?”It’s true – and it comes up many times in Lucy O’Brien’s new book Lead Sister – that Karen Carpenter had an image problem. Basically, she wasn’t very rock’n’roll. The first time I heard the Carpenters, it was a record owned by my friend’s parents. That says it all, Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-91975187243898118142023-04-07T16:28:00.006+01:002024-02-29T11:03:51.885+00:00“We are all a bit autistic.” Not. Did you know there is such a thing as “autistic culture? Well, I’ve seen the phrase used by #ActuallyAutistic people. I’m not quite sure what it means but I think part of it must be the way that we talk among ourselves (online, at least) and share ideas and experiences.When we share things, one of the common themes is “what not to say to an autistic person”. Because we’ve all heard Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-11843251771395511492023-03-29T10:03:00.005+01:002023-03-29T10:08:37.535+01:00 P P Arnold: Soul Survivor - book reviewOn the one hand, P P Arnold’s memoir is quite a hard book to read. Because it’s set in the music business in the 1960s and this, from the point of view of a very young, very naive black girl, was a hard place to thrive in.On the other hand, it is a good read. Because it’s set in the music business in the 1960s and full of interesting tales. Specifically, a big part of it is set in Swinging LondonPennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-79867418979699559682023-03-29T08:59:00.004+01:002023-10-02T16:23:39.709+01:00The Penderyn Music Book longlist: let’s hear it for the women The winner of this year’s Penderyn Music Book Prize has just been announced. It’s a man. I’m a bit disappointed in this because this year nearly half the books on the longlist were by women (and nearly half of those on the shortlist, too). But Bob Stanley is a very well respected music writer and I’m sure he deserved it.Nonetheless, I’d like to give a shout-out to all the women on the Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-52654695506222181902023-03-17T09:46:00.001+00:002023-03-30T11:38:41.603+01:00Autism on the telly: how to get it right A few weeks ago, I sat in front of the telly and watched the first episode of Chris Packham’s series Inside Our Autistic Minds and cried most of the way through. Afterwards I told everyone how brilliant it was. Yesterday, I sat down in front of iPlayer and watched Christine McGuinness’s new documentary Unmasking My Autism with low expectations. Actually they both did a good job, Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com2United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-71411903998217928432023-03-03T10:41:00.000+00:002023-03-03T10:41:12.615+00:00 Women Who Rock: a reviewWhen I heard that Jessica Hopper had directed a TV series about women musicians, I knew it would be good. Jessica is a music critic turned author, producer and director. Her first book was aimed at teenage girls and called The Girls’ Guide to Rocking: How to Start a Band, Book Gigs, and Get Rolling to Rock Stardom. Her next book was called The First Collection of Criticism By A Living FemalePennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-512670957348346802022-12-04T12:22:00.005+00:002022-12-07T09:54:11.729+00:00 What not to say when someone diesThere was a nice piece about Wilko Johnson in Louder than War last week, but I had to laugh at the way it got promoted on Twitter. “Wilko Johnson who sadly recently passed away,” it said. “Sadly passed away” isn’t very rock’n’roll, is it?There is a perfectly good four-letter word they could have used instead. D.I.E.D. Wilko always seemed pretty down to earth so I think he would have Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-76613368064516262702022-10-20T10:42:00.001+01:002022-10-20T10:42:41.605+01:00How not to be scared of being yourself I’ve been blogging here for nearly 15 years and I’ve always been anonymous. I can’t now remember why. It might have been because when I started I still had a job. There were things I didn’t want to be seen saying, like Why I’m scared to leave my job. And there were people who I didn’t want to see who I was behind the work persona.It might have been because I was shy. You might not Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-61641599003960869312022-09-04T14:38:00.005+01:002022-09-04T14:45:40.730+01:00 Punk rock and feminist as fuck Book review: Why Patti Smith Matters by Caryn RoseThis is one of those books that when you’ve finished you think to yourself “I’m GLAD I read that.”And not just because I agree with the title. To the extent that I wrote a blog post with the same title many years ago. It’s because, I think, it’s life affirming to hear from someone who really loves the artist they are writing about, and makes Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-52297231269951509002022-08-14T15:22:00.004+01:002022-08-14T15:22:50.428+01:00 Book review: This Woman’s WorkI don’t know what the point of this book is. Subtitled Essays on Music, the selling point is that everything in it has been written by a woman. Nearly all the reviews think the point is what’s on the publisher’s blurb – “confront male dominance and sexism” blah blah – but I don’t judge a book by its cover. Or even the inside cover. (The front cover – a woman musician, on stage, looking very Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-62058027504034209132022-07-25T13:35:00.004+01:002023-03-30T11:38:52.285+01:00 Things I have forgotten how to doI keep thinking that life has gone back to normal after the pandemic. Then I remember there is no such thing as “after the pandemic”.I kept the lockdown rules, all that time ago. I carried on with similar behaviour after lockdown was ended. When there were other lockdowns, I didn’t really notice the difference. I forgot that I once lived my life differently.I became risk-averse. I kept my Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-997222598928629032022-07-10T17:47:00.000+01:002022-07-10T17:47:30.281+01:00Generous geekiness: The sound of being human There’s a
lovely line in Jude Rogers’ new book, The Sound of Being Human, as she remembers
how she papered her teenage bedroom with pictures of pop stars. She describes: “faces
that made my connection to music human, faces that I stared at like a baby,
trying to understand the new realms they represented.”
I don’t think
a male music writer would have thought of "stared like a baby” but Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-190313350490878932.post-68799950248897866772022-07-02T18:27:00.003+01:002022-07-02T18:32:00.913+01:00Ways of listening: Glastonbury, new music and old ageToo Much StuffI turned on the television last weekend and Supergrass were on stage at Glastonbury singing “We are young”. I remembered buying that song when it came out, and how much that line – the cheek and celebration of it – meant to me. They were about 20 and I was in my 30s, but I felt young because of new-found freedom. I realised that Supergrass are older now than I was when I first Pennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550897644932906952noreply@blogger.com0United Kingdom55.378051 -3.43597327.067817163821154 -38.592223 83.688284836178838 31.720277