DIRT, brought to you by WOZQ 91.9 FM Northampton: how nov. 21st changed my life

She Keeps Bees, with the opener, The Love Story, was nothing short of a dream come true for me.

when i first heard She Keeps Bees i was sitting alone in my room in friedman b4, looking for something new, something i could sink my teeth into. i had just gotten my hands on the Shhhh EP and by the time "Pile Up" faded out, i was fully committed. this summer while in new york, they played twice, and both times i was stuck waiting tables at Bogota (woot woot) running into the bathroom, checking my cell phone, hoping that i would be done before their set was over. but alas, having been left unfulfilled i figured, well shit, why dont i see if they will play at smith? as soon as jessica larabee emailed me back saying she was interested, i put her in contact with sarah (who makes magic) and the rest is history.

which brings me to my first point. the reason the show was such a success (a dream come true) for me is because somehow we managed to create something that kind of, dare i say it, resembles a music scene at smith. could it be? trying to get smith college students to attend anything is like pulling teeth. you can bribe us with cupcakes, promises of dates, puppies, and intellectual stimulation. maybe even free music or a free performance of some sort. but it doesnt matter how many cookies you bake or how many fliers to hang, the smithies just wont come.

this year WOZQ got literally zero dollars for special events (im not kidding- our budget read $0 for special events) so all our events have been running with the hopes of making back some of our money through ticket sales. and so the fact that we had to charge entrance to a generally skeptical public makes it incredible that we had such great turn out. that, coupled with the fact that R.A.W. was kicked off by another performance only ten days earlier, that wasnt free and already had great turn out (rock n' roll camp) makes the night just downright unbelievable. but i have to believe it, because it gives me hope for the future of music and a music community on smith campus. one which has less to do with a cappella and hand bells, and more to do with the self-expression, and subsequent self-confidence, that comes from creating and performing one's own music. (lets not forget what we learned at rock n' roll camp!)

which brings me to the role women play in music and radio, and how our presence is more often than not overshadowed by our male counterparts. which, in turn, makes what happened on november the 21st that much more important. here we had two bands headed by female musicians, brought over by WOZQ, a primarily female run radio station (!), playing for an audience made up of mostly women.

and basically, i could not have been happier with the event. thank you to all those of you who helped run the event, you did a fabulous job, and special thanks to sarahbarr, jordan, and all those on the special events team! thanks also to katie d and hannah for set-up. and of course, thank you so much to all those who came out to the show!

here are some pictures of the night: