Today, Veteran music journalist Katherine Yeske Taylor releases She’s a Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism (hardcover; $34.95; ISBN: 978-1-4930-7254-5.) via Backbeat Books (a division of Rowman & Littlefield.) The exciting collection includes twenty in-depth chapters, each focusing on a groundbreaking artist as she discusses feminism and what it means to be a woman in the music business (and in life in general). Following today’s release there will be several author events - beginning January 20th in Atlanta before hitting Indianapolis, New Jersey and Pennsylvania with a virtual event also included. Full itinerary and book stores participating are below.
She’s a Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism is currently available at the following: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and via local/independent booksellers at Bookshop.org. The book has been so warmly embraced that the publisher, Backbeat Books, has already committed to a second printing.
In She’s a Badass, music journalist Katherine Yeske Taylor interviews twenty significant and compelling women in rock, devoting an entire chapter to each one, taking an in-depth look at the incredible talent, determination—and, often, humor—they needed to succeed in their careers (and life). Interviewees range from legendary artists through notable up-and-comers: Suzi Quatro, Ann Wilson (Heart), Exene Cervenka (X), Gina Schock (The Go-Go's), Lydia Lunch, Suzanne Vega, Cherie Currie (The Runaways), Joan Osborne, Donita Sparks (L7), Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses/The Breeders/Belly), Paula Cole, Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill), Laura Veirs, Catherine Popper, Amanda Palmer, Bonnie Bloomgarden (Death Valley Girls), Orianthi, Fefe Dobson, and Sade Sanchez (L.A. Witch). Their experiences reveal the varied and unique challenges these women have faced, how they overcame them, and what they think still needs to be done to continue making progress on the equality front. Their stories prove that promoting feminism—either through activism or by living example—is undeniably badass. A very special Afterword is included from Susan Rogers, the longtime in-house recording engineer for Prince.
Feminism has always been a complex and controversial topic, as female rock musicians know especially well. Over the course of the twenty conversations artists such as Ann Wilson share their experience and views on how women are still treated differently than their male counterparts and that it still happens "...constantly. All the time,” Wilson tells Yeske Taylor, adding, "By standing up and being bold and not being submissive, do females go against the very basis of their gender, as it applies to culture? If they do, then that’s called being rebellious.” And, as Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill notes in her chapter, that element of rebellion remains necessary to this day: “If you look at history, you can see that progress is not linear; it goes back and forth, You never know when [progress] is going to go backwards, so you always have to be fighting. You have to be aware that rights we do have were achieved through political struggle. You can’t take them for granted.”
In-Store Book Events with Katherine Yeske Taylor:
January 20 - Atlanta, Georgia: Charis Books (7:30 p.m. - in conjunction with Y'all Rock Camp Atlanta)
January 26 - Salinas, California: Downtown Book & Sound (virtual appearance @ 6:30 p.m. PST/ 9:30 p.m. EST)
February 20 - Indianapolis, Indiana: Tomorrow Bookstore (7pm) Join Tomorrow Bookstore, Soundspace, and Forty5 Presents at Indy Fringe Eleven Theater
March 5 - Princeton, New Jersey: Labyrinth Books “In Discussion” with Tom Beaujour, New York Times bestselling author of Nothin' But a Good Time (6pm)
March 21 - Narberth, Pennsylvania: Narberth Books (7pm) in discussion with USA Today bestselling author Xio Axelrod
March 22 - Philadelphia, PA : Head House Books time tbd in discussion with USA Today bestselling author Xio Axelrod (time TBD)
March 23 - Oldwick, New Jersey: Howling Basset Books (5:00 p.m.)
