EVENINGS OUT

An insightful look at grrrls and their guitars

HORIZON UNLIMITED

JANUARY 10, 1997 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

SUSAN M. WEAVER

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Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland

Not Bad for a Girl Written and directed by Lisa Apramian Cleveland Cinematheque

Reviewed by Bob Boone

"It's about being taken seriously as a woman, and having a voice and a choice about what you want to do," explains Calamity Jane band member Gilly Hanner about the group's song "Magdalena."

The same could be said for Not Bad for a Girl, a documentary on women in rock which features interviews with Hanner as well as

with members from Hole, L7, Lunachicks, Babes in Toyland, and more.

Not Bad is a film by Lisa Apramian, a Los Angeles psychotherapist who interviewed dozens of women in rock to find out essentially what makes them tick, and how gender has affected their roles as rock musicians.

Apramian's doctoral dissertation at the University of Southern California explored adolescents' interaction with rock music. In Not Bad, she has eliminated what could easily have been a clinical atmosphere within the film by limiting her time on the screen, and instead treating us to intertwining glimpses of concert footage and an endless flow of witty and insightful comments from the women she interviewed.

One particularly effective sequence features L7 jamming on-stage before a dense wave of their fans jumping up and down in pulsing unison in a heavy downpour of rain. Such moments in the documentary dramatically underscore the energy and strength of these women and their music.

Apramian focused the beginning of the documentary on each performer's relationship with music, their inspirations and their attitudes. She heard from L7's Donita Sparks, "The fantasy as a child was to be on-stage and to be looked to how I looked at bands I really respected."

Sparks describes her feelings about male rock stars as she was growing up, "It wasn't like, 'Oh God, Mick Jagger's so cute; I really want to kiss him.' I mean, I used to pretend I was Mick Jagger."

As the film progresses, the interviews turn more directly to being a woman in rock. Jennifer Finch, also of L7, ponders with knowing sarcasm, "Why are people so interested the second a girl picks up a guitar? Is it because men really want to see strippers playing a guitar? Or is it because they want to see their sisters become successful and be able to express themselves?"

Disappointing in the film is a lack of discussion of the fact that a number of these women are openly lesbian. Even after footage of Calamity Jane, whose members adorned their guitars with stickers like HUG ME, I'M A DYKE, Apramian failed to include the topic in her interviews.

Gratefully included, though, were scenes from the First Annual Riot Grrrl Convention in Washington, D.C. in 1992. Young women proudly rocked in the sun at Dupont Circle and later gathered together in workshops to learn how to defend themselves from sexual harassment and assault.

Another highlight is a segment on Melbourne, Australia's Rock 'n' Roll High School, which is devoted to developing its

"It wasn't like, 'Oh God, Mick Jagger's so cute; I really want to kiss him.' I mean, I used to pretend I was Mick Jagger."

students' (140 girls and ten boys) talents as songwriters, singers, and instrumentalists. Girls as young as seven are shown grabbing their instruments and emulating their heroes like Hole, L7, and Babes in Toyland.

With Apramian having spent four years researching this documentary, Not Bad for a Girl has included a great deal of material in a short amount of time. Lengthier interviews with many of these women could only prove even more interesting, so that the one real regret upon leaving the film proved to be that there aren't more opportunities to hear the insights of the likes of Leslie Rankin of Silverfish, Becky Wreck of Lunachicks, or Patty Schemel of Hole.

Not Bad for a Girl will play at the Cleveland Cinematheque on Saturday, January 18 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, January 19 at 8:45 pm.

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