Wimsikal's blog

Supporting Women in Music, Sports & the World.

After being postponed from January due to pandemic concerns, the 2021 Grammy Awards are finally set to drop this Sunday, March 14th at 8PM ET, and the women are in charge. For those of us in the music world who have dearly missed live concerts and festivals, it will be a small salve to allow us to dream of better times to come. The show itself will be a new adventure for all of us, as it will not be hosted at the usual Staples Center venue, but will be a hybrid of outdoor performances at the L.

The dream of the 90s is alive… in small-town Indiana? An unlikely spot to revive a RiotGrrrl and Grunge revolution, but that’s where artist, writer and zine producer Jolie Ruin runs her eclectic art business and printing press. Zines were a big deal back in the 90s, since they allowed those in Punk and Rock communities to tell others about their favorite bands and share their original art, before the internet and social media made marketing so easy.

Lindsay Minton and Mercy Harper have had their share of fun as musicians. As the frontwomen of football, etc., an indie rock band from Houston, Texas, they’ve toured all across the U.S., Europe, and Japan. But they’ve never had quite the good times that they’re having now with their current band, hardcore “screamo” quartet Overo. In an era where pretty much everyone feels like screaming about EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE THINGS HAPPENING, these ladies get to do it as part of their paying gig.

What do you do when you’re not punk enough for the punks, and not gay enough for the gays? You start your own club. That’s the story behind the 2017 documentary Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution, directed by Yony Leyser. Beginning in the mid- to late-80s and continuing through to the 1990s, Queercore tells the story of how a few people, feeling outcast within their communities, decided to take matters into their own hands.

My best memories of the late ‘90s and early 2000s involve music shows. I lived in South Florida, and those of us who became friends at local rock shows called ourselves “show kids,” and it was so special to be a part of it. After I went out of state for college in 1999, I tried to make show friends in my new scene, but it just wasn’t the same.