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Jen Smith

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Jen Smith is an artist, musician, zine editor and activist from the United States.


Jen Smith is credited with being the inspiration behind the term Riot Grrrl, as well as being one of the architects of the movement. Writing in Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital, Mark Anderson reports that while living in Washington, D.C., Jen Smith reacted to the violence of the Mount Pleasant race riots in the Spring of 1991 by prophetically writing in a letter to Allison Wolfe, "this summer's going to be a girl riot" . Other reports say she wrote, "we need to start a girl riot" [1].

That summer, Olympia, Washington students Wolfe and Molly Neuman, editors of Girl Germs zine, to which Jen had contributed, relocated to Washington D.C. having already formed their band Bratmobile, While in DC, they asked Smith and Christina Billotte (of Autoclave and Slant 6) to join and the band released one cassette tape, called Bratmobile DC, of this line-up.

As written about in Bikini Kill zine by Kathleen Hanna, Jen proposed they all collaborate on a zine called Girl Riot, which would serve as a networking forum for young women. Molly Neuman began the zine, released under the title riot grrrl, with contributions from Jen, Allison, and the members of Bikini Kill, who had also relocated to Washington D.C.

At the end of the summer Bratmobile returned to Olympia and Jen Smith stayed behind to edit a zine called Red Rover. A number of issues were released before, in 1993, she began a new zine, an off-shoot of Red Rover, called Another Lo-Fi Xtravanganza [2]. The zine also became a small record label, releasing cassettes by artists such as Wandering Lucy.

At the same time, Jen Smith began a band with musicians Donna Dresch and Nikki Chapman called Rastro! The trio, with Jen on guitar and vocals, Nikki on bass, and Donna on drums, released two songs on compilations by independent record labels like Simple Machines. After this band broke up, Jen moved to Olympia, Washington. While there, she recorded with Dub Narcotic Sound System, and began the Cha Cha Cabaret, which she hosted under the persona of "Little Miss Hand Grenade" during the years 1996 till 1997. Participating artists included Miranda July, Mirah, Flying Tigers, Old Time Relijun, Simplement Jacques, Nikki McClure, The Lookers, The Skirts and Panties and all appear together on the K Records CD release, Chez Vous. which documents hightlights of the cabaret [3]. Cha Cha cabaret toured the country, adding musicians such as Sharon Cheslow while in San Franciso.

In the 2000's, Jen Smith returned to San Francisco, where she joined with ex-Circus Lupus member Seth Lorinczi [4] and ex-Electrolettes member Julianna Bright to begin the band The Quails [5] The band toured across the country with bands such as Sleater Kinney, Aislers Set and The No-No's. They released three well-recieved CDs, as well as zines and projects such as the comic book Bon Soir and a mini-opera CD under the name 'Marzipan Ponce' [6].

After this band broke up, Jen Smith devoted herself to her artwork. She has exhibited across the country, collaborating with artists such as LTTR, and having her own solos shows.



Discography

with Rastro!
  • "Some Things", Go In The Dark, Mira Records, 1992
  • "Kiss Me", Simple Machines Working Holiday: June, Simple Machines, 1993
with Cha Cha Cabaret
with Selector Dub Narcotic
with The Quails
  • "Memo From the Desk of The Quails", Fields and Streams. Kill Rock Stars compilation CD, 2001
  • We Are The Quails, Inconvenient Records, 2001
  • Atmmosphere, Inconvenient Records, 2002
  • The Song Is Love Mr. Lady Records, 2003

Bibliography

  • Bon Soir, Jen Smith, Julianna Bright, Seth Lorinczi, ed. 2002
  • Quail Hunt, Jen Smith, ed. 2000s
  • Another Lo-Fi Xtravanganza, Jen Smith, ed. 1993
  • Red Rover, Jen Smith, ed. 1990s
  • riot grrrl, Molly Neuman, ed. 1990
  • Girl Germs, Molly Neuman and Allison Wolfe, ed, 1990s

Film

References

  1. ^ Anderson, Mark, Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital, Akashic Books, 2003 ISBN 1888451440
  2. ^ Sarah Wood Zine Collection, Duke University
  3. ^ Donaldson, Glenn, "Flock You, SF Weekly, 20 Mar, 2002
  4. ^ Pletz, George, "Circus Lupus Bassist Forms New Band", Pitchforkmedia, 15 Nov, 2001
  5. ^ Rapoport, Lynn, "Red Hot Lovers of the People", SFBG", Oct 2002
  6. ^ Donaldson, Glenn, "Flock You", SF Weekly, 20 Mar, 2002

Sources

  • Anderson, Mark and Jenkins, Mark, Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital, Akashic Books, 2003, ISBN 1888451440
  • Drake, Jennifer and Haywood, Leslie, Third Wave Agenda: Being feminist, Doing Feminist. University of Minneapolis Press, 1992. pgs 226-238
  • Isaksen, Judy, "Identity and Agency: Riot Grrrls Jouissance", Enculturation, Vol 2, No. 2, Spring 1999
  • Kearney, Mary Celeste, Girls Make Media, CRC Press, 2006 ISBN 0415972787
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