recap of ROCKRGRL 2005 [old] from Berklee College of Music (slight P, Johnette, & women music students)

["Dennis Moore" <clayboy56>]

Front Women - Berklee women make themselves known at ROCKRGRL.

By Margot Edwards
Berklee.edu Correspondent
December 22, 2005

http://www.berklee.edu/news/2005/12/rockrgrl.html

For three days November, Seattle was the place to be for female
musicians and members of the music industry. Women came out in droves
to perform, network, and strategize about methods of self-empowerment
at the ROCKRGRL Music Conference. The conference, which offered panels
and workshops during the day and artist showcases at night, was the
largest meeting of female musicians in the world. Berklee faculty,
alumni, and staff made a strong showing as showcase performers,
exhibitors at the trade show, speakers on panels, and conference
volunteers.

"Berklee is serious and curious about how to attract more women
students and faculty musicians to the college, so any and all of these
women in music organizations are important places to make our presence
known," said Lauren Passarelli, associate professor of guitar, who
performed at the event. "We also need to let prospective women
students know that we have many talented women faculty to study with."

The Women of Valor Award dinner honoring legendary artist Patti Smith
was the kickoff event. Smith was brief but appreciative and gracious
in accepting the award. She recalled initially receiving ROCKRGRL's
invitation through her lawyer, who assumed she wouldn't want to
attend. After thinking about the invitation for a bit, Smith decided
to accept.

"If people out there say that I've inspired them and they think I'm
deserving of this award, then I want to thank them to their faces,"
said Smith. Afterwards, Smith and Lenny Kaye, her guitarist of almost
35 years, performed a short but blistering acoustic set.&

The next morning, Carla DeSantis, founder of ROCKRGRL magazine and
producer of the conference, welcomed everyone and explained the
purpose of the event.

"Why are we here [at another music conference]? In the rock arena,
we're having a problem getting airplay. It's important to have a forum
where we can talk about the problems and create solutions," said
DeSantis. "I want to see more women on the playlists . . . My mantra
for the weekend, taken from the Patti Smith song, is 'People Have the
Power.' . . . We've got to increase the odds, and that's what we're
doing here."

Smith delivered the first keynote address. She offered powerful words
of wisdom for the musicians in the audience.

"Artists and musicians have a responsibility to get the necessary
funding for their work," Smith said. "The artist has a specific
calling that the people need, and that gift belongs not to the artist
but to the people, so if you feel that calling, you must be diligent .
. . and produce work that inspires and leads the people."

Powerhouse vocalist Johnette Napolitano, of Concrete Blonde, gave the
keynote speech on Saturday morning, advising, "If you want to make a
living at this, you've got to live smart." She emphasized the
importance of ProTools to self-sufficiency as an artist, explaining
that she has her own rig so she can record at home.

[BTW, I have the transcript of Johnette's speech (tragically sans the
Q&A). I'll gladly send it to you if you email me privately]

The trade show included a number of organizations and companies of
interest to women, including MusiCares, Daisy Rock, Oasis CD
Manufacturing, the National Organization for Women, IndieGrrl, and
Rock N' Road Tripper. Jessica Yoakum, from the Admissions Office,
worked the Berklee booth and found people very interested in learning
more about the college.

"I was surprised and delighted to find a broad range of women who
seemed actively interested in pursuing Berklee," said Yoakum. "Women
and several men as young as 15 and as old as mid-50s approached the
table to find out why Berklee was in attendance and what we could do
for them." One conference participant commented that there were far
fewer exhibitors this year than at the previous ROCKRGRL in 2000, but
this appeared to be a boon to attendees and exhibitors alike, as
people were able to spend more time at each booth.

While panels and workshops given by women dominated the conference,
including the highly anticipated Shop Talk: A Conversation with Bonnie
Raitt (H'92) and Ann Wilson, men were by no means excluded. Two
Berklee alums shared their experience and wisdom with the attendees.
Derek Sivers '90, founder of CDBaby.com, the web's largest independent
music distribution service, gave a workshop titled Calling Attention
To Your Music. He emphasized the importance of making friends, not
necessarily contacts.

"Don't be a mosquito. Learn to interact and be with people, rather
than see what you can get from them," Sivers said. "Everything great
that ever happens to you in your career always starts with someone you
know."

Panos Panay '94, founder of SonicBids.com, was on the panel Podcasts,
EPKs and Blogs: New Internet Frontiers. Sonicbids hosts electronic
press kits (EPKs) for artists, connecting bands with booking agents
and festival producers. The company has 4,000 partners, including
ROCKRGRL and the Bumbershoot festival, that accept EPK submissions
through the site.

"What we're doing is teaching the music industry to speak a common
language . . . This is the best time in the world to be an independent
artist," Panay said, referring to the abundance of tools available to
musicians today. He also believes that the emergence of podcasts is
positive for the industry. "It is really democratizing things. It's up
to me to edit the content. I now have the choice to decide what I want
to hear."

The action continued long after each day's panels and trade show
hours. With over 200 performersincluding Napolitano, Amy Rigby, and
Kathy Valentine of the Go Go'son Friday and Saturday night, the
showcases presented an array of female musicians from the vibrant
Seattle music scene and artists from all over the United States and
the world. Several Berklee alums were featured, including Liz Stahler
'05, Kelly Buchanan, and Kyler England '99. Singer/songwriter Stahler
performed an impressive set on acoustic guitar at the Liquid Lounge,
located inside the Experience Music Project museum. The Boston-based
artist played several songs from her debut EP Turn the Lights Down,
including "3,000 Miles," and "Bible Belt." She plans to release her
follow-up album soon and do more touring.

Across town, Passarelli performed at cozy Cafi Vita in the Capital
Hill neighborhood, which was conveniently packed with ROCKRGRL venues.
Passarelli played solo electric guitar and regaled the audience with
her impeccable Liverpudlian accent, honed for her part as George
Harrison in the Beatles tribute band All Together Now. Her set
included several songs from the album Shadow Language, by Two Tru
(Passarelli's collaboration with Cindy Brown) including, "Serving the
Groove," "Tomorrow's Touch," and "Hold Onto Me," and songs from her
latest album of atmospheric instrumentals, Back to the Bone, including
"All Day Sun."

Boston-based singer/songwriter Pamela Martinez '04 heard about
ROCKRGRL too late to apply for a showcase, but felt it was an
important event and quickly hopped on a plane to be involved as a
conference volunteer. "I had to go to find out what women had to say
about being professional musicians and music businesswomen," Martinez
said. Being a performing artist in the Boston music scene, she has
become more interested in all stages of writing, engineering, and
promoting music. "The ROCKRGRL Music Conference changed my perspective
on women's roles in music business. The panels were amazing! The
choice of discussions I think had a lot to do with it, being a
woman-focused conference, [addressing the issues of] community
building and how do girls learn . . . it definitely created
opportunities for me to form lasting relationships within the music
community."

Said Yoakum, "Having a presence at the conference was an opportunity
to get people thinking of Berklee when they think of rock and
contemporary music. Even if they do not plan on attending, they might
send their children, siblings, or nieces. It's also good for Berklee
to show its support of such industry events promoting and honoring
women in music." - Margot Edwards is a publicist in Berklee's office
of public information.