SOUNDTRACK: STELLA DONNELLY-Tiny Desk Concert #819 (January 22, 2019).
Stella Donnelly has been generating some buzz lately, but I wasn’t familiar with her. I didn’t even realize she was Australian.
She is adorable with her hair in two little nubs at the back of her head and a big smile most of the time.
She immediately won the office over with her broad smile, warmth and good-natured sense of humor. It’s the kind of easy-going, open-hearted spirit that makes her one of the most affable live performers you’ll see. While there’s no doubting her sincerity, she’s also got a disarming way of making her often dark and brutal songs a little easier to take in.
And indeed, she does not mince words when she sings.
“Beware of the Dogs” is a delicate song with Stella strumming her guitar with no pick and singing in a beautiful but soft voice. There’s such a gorgeous melody for the chorus.
It turns out that this song and the other two are new. Because she doesn’t even have an album out yet!
For this set, she performed entirely new — and, as of this writing, unreleased — songs from her upcoming full-length debut, Beware of the Dogs. Opening with the title cut, Donnelly smiled cheerfully through the entire performance while reflecting on the horrors that often lurk beneath the surface of seemingly idyllic lives. “This street is haunted like a beast that doesn’t know its face is frightening to behold,” she sings. “All the painted little gnomes, smiling in a line, trying to get your vote.”
As the song builds she gets more pointed: “There’s no Parliament / Worthy of this country’s side / All these pious fucks / taking from the 99.”
She follows with “U Owe Me” which is “about my old boss at a pub I used to work at back home.”
This song has a gentle guitar melody and some surprisingly soft vocals (including some vibrato at the end of each verse). But the lyrics are straightforward and pointed (all sung with that disarming smile)
you put your great ideas up your nose /
and then try to tell me where the fuck to go /
you’re jerking off to the cctv /
while I’m pouring plastic pints of flat VB [or Foster’s or whatever].
At the end of the song she says, “He actually paid me a week after. I was on the wrong week of my payroll. It was very dramatic back then.”
She says “Allergies” is a run-of-the-mill breakup song. “I’ve only got two of them and this is one of them.” It’s a delicate, quiet song (capo on the tenth fret!) and once again, her voice is just lovely.
How can this Concert be only ten minutes long? I could listen to her all day.
Surprisingly, Donnelly chose not to play any of the songs that have gotten her to where she is in her young career — songs like 2017’s “Boys Will Be Boys” or last year’s “Talking,” two savagely frank examinations of misogyny and violence that earned her the reputation for being a fearless and uncompromising songwriter. But the new material demonstrates that her unflinching perspective and potent voice is only getting stronger.
I’m bummed that I am busy the night she’s playing a small club in Philly, as it might just be the last time she plays such a small venue.
[READ: January 26, 2019] Brazen
This is an awesome collection of short biographies of kick-ass women. Bagieu has written [translated by Montana Kane] and drawn in her wonderful style, brief, sometimes funny (occasionally there’s nothing funny), always inspiring stories about women who spoke up for themselves and for others. Some of the women were familiar to me, some were not. A few were from a long time ago, but many are still alive and fighting. And what was most cool is that the stories of the women I knew about had details and fascinating elements that I was not previously aware of.
What a great, great book. It’s perfect for Middle School students all the way to adults. I actually thought it might be perfect for fourth and fifth grade girls to read and be inspired by. However, it skews a little bit older. There’s a few mentions of sex, abortion, rape and domestic violence. These are all real and important issues, but may be too much for younger kids.
Bagieu’s art for most of the pages is very simple–perfectly befitting a kind of documentary style but after each story she creates a two page spread that is just a breathtaking wash of colors which summarizes the previews story in one glorious image. Its terrific.
The women in the book include:
Clémentine Delait, Bearded lady [1865-1939] how a woman embraces her difference.
Nzinga, Queen of Ndongo and Matamba [1583-1663] stood up to the Dutch army!
Margaret Hamilton, Terrifying actress [1902-1985] she was the Wicked West of the West with a fascinating history.
Las Mariposas, Rebel sisters [1924/26/35-1960] women from the Dominican Republic who stood up for human rights despite the dangers.
Josephina van Gorkum, Obstinate lover [1820-1888] a Catholic woman in the Netherlands who dared to marry a Protestant despite the country’s pillarisation.
Lozen, Warrior and shaman [1840-1889] she became an Apache warrior and shaman despite segregation and becomes a leader of the tribe.
Annette Kellerman, Mermaid [1886-1975] born in Australia, she contracted polio at a young age. She started swimming to recover mobility. She wound up spending so much time in the water that she tried to swim the English channel three times (she failed, but beat all her male competition). She then began creating women’s swimming suits that were not restrictive–she scandalized everyone with her outfits, but Hollywood took notice and made movies about her–paving the way for synchronized swimming spectaculars of the 1950s.
Delia Akeley, Explorer [1875-1970] the first woman to cross the African continent a an ethnologist.
Josephine Baker, Dancer, French Revolution Resistance Fighter, Matriarch [1906-1975] she was all of these things but I had no idea how much more. She was pretty awesome..
Tove Jansson, Painter, creator of Trolls [1914-2001] I love Moomin and thought I knew a lot about Tove, but this taught me even more.
Agnodice, Gynecologist [350 BCE] hated that Greek men said that women could not be midwives. She studied medicine in Egypt then returned dressed as a man to help legalize women doctors in Athens.
Leymah Gbowee, Social worker [1972- ] took on Liberian dictator Charles Taylor and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Giorgina Reid, Lighthouse keeper [1908-2001] single-handedly saved The Montauk Lighthouse from falling into the sea by studying erosion, even when the Coast Guard wouldn’t help her, she did it herself (with volunteers helping).
Christine Jorgensen, Reluctant celebrity [1926-1989] was one of the first transgender people to have an operation. At first she was celebrated, then vilified and eventually became an activist.
Wu Zeitan, Empress [624-705] the first and only woman to be Empress of china, created the Zhou dynasty (690-705)
Temple Grandin, Animal whisperer [1947-] a woman with autism whose mother insisted that she was not stupid (as her father believed). She studied hard and has become and advocate for animal welfare–especially farm animals.
Sonita Alizadeh, Rapper [1996-] a young woman who fought against all of the oppression of Afghanistan and became an outspoken rapper.
Cheryl Bridges, Athlete [1947-] was the first woman to run long distances professionally–back when it was believed that if women ran, their reproductive system would get messed up (people were dumb). Cheryl was very fast and qualified for the World championship in Scotland. She finished fourth. Then she set a world record in the marathon.
Therésè Clerc, Utopian realist [1927-2016] at a young age became a feminist who spoke out for abortion rights. She learned to perform safe abortions. She then created a Utopian habitat for elderly women: The home for Baba Yagas.
Betty Davis, Singer-songwriter [1945-] I had never heard of he, but she was a funk goddess, singing explicit songs of deep funk. She grew so sick of being told she couldn’t be herself that she basically just dropped out of music altogether. Check her out on Spotify
Nellie Bly, Journalist [1864-1922] Nellie Bly is the best. She is so cool and did so many amazing things and that’s even before I found out just how many more amazing things she did.
The Shaggs, Rock stars [1948/49/51-] I have this record because of the resurgence in the 90s. I had no idea what their upbringing was like. Horrifying parental decisions.
Katia Krafft, Volcanologist [1942-1991] was the first woman to study volcanoes and was instrumental in getting people to take volcanology seriously.
Jesseyln Radack, Lawyer [1970-] After getting her dream job of working at the Department of Justice, the events of 9/11 made her realize just how much our on government was hiding and covering up . She has since become an advocate for whistle blowers.
Hedy Lamarr, Actress and inventor [1914-2000] I knew Lamarr was a beautiful actress but I had no idea that she did so many other amazing things including inventing a new kind of radar and other technologies that are used today in GPS.
Naziq al-Abid, Activist aristocrat [1898-1959] she constantly fought for women’s rights against an oppressive Syrian (and later French) government.
Frances Glessner Lee, Crime miniaturist [1878-1962] was essentially the reason that police use forensics today. She turned her hobby of making awesome miniatures into crime scenes for study. Creepy and amazing. She was the inspiration for Murder She Wrote.
Mae Jemison, Astronaut [1956-] a young African-American woman from Alabama who became an astronaut–take that! (She also appeared on Star Trek!)
Peggy Guggenheim, Lover of modern art. [1989-1979] I had no idea that she and her uncle Solomon Guggenheim (of the museum) didn’t get along and that he hated her artistic vision. She was an amazing sponsor and an eccentric woman. Shame so many dickhead artists took advantage of her.
The last pages list 30 more women whom Bagieu admires but didn’t draw and then a brief biography of herself.
This book is fantastic.
I Just Read About That... 
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