Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

["Mairead Case" <mairead.case AT gmail.com>]

This afternoon, I saw _La Brune et Moi_
(http://bardotagogo.com/brune/) -- a movie so good I nearly cried into
my coffeecup. It's showing again in Chicago on Thursday, but it looks
like Castle Pink Frankenstein is trying to schedule screenings in
other cities.

The story isn't as Typically-slanted as films like ". . . Fabulous
Stains" (Anoushka's mostly eye candy), but I'm a sucker for blue hair
and a lime mini.

Pitifully short Youtube teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnfsPNzxIjQ.

yrs -- M.

<><><>

> From the CPF website:

Considered by many who lived through it to be the high point of rock
'n' roll in France, the years 1977 - 1982 saw a burst of creative
angst in Gallic music. Bands like Métal Urbain, The Dogs, Bijou,
Asphalt Jungle and Ici Paris heard the noise going on in England and
quickly echoed back. Unlike in the sixties where France was a good 5
years behind the U.S.A. these musicians were concurrent with The Dead
Kennedy's, X and The Germs.

Unfortunately though, punk was a subculture in France and insufficient
record sales allowed these bands to slip into obscurity. They were
also overshadowed by more mainstream acts like Telephone and
Starshooter.

But in 1979 Philipe Puicouyoul 'borrowed' the the camera gear from the
production he was working on during the day to film a punk rock love
story at night. La brune et moi - a play on the French title for the
American 50s rock 'n' roll film The Girl Can't Help (La blonde et moi)
- was shot in one week and a Saturday. Like it's American counterpart,
the story is a thin prop for the rockin' performances.

The film stars scenester Anoushka and actor Pierre Clementi (The
Conformist, Belle de jour) and features the following bands on the
soundtrack:
Ici Paris
Artefact
Astroflash
Edith Nylon
The Questions
The Party
Marquis de Sade
Dogs
Go-Go Pigalles
Taxi Girl
Les Prives
La Brune played for a week in a small theater in the left bank in 1980
and vanished. The Cinematheque Francaise has a copy of the film but
the negative and original master audio are all gone.

Last year, rock 'n' roll movie archeologists Rockenscope uncovered La
Brune and found Philipe working in the film department at Le Centre
Pompidou in Paris and staged a screening at the underground art space
Les Voutes to a sold out crowd. The film has now crossed the Atlantic!
Castle Pink Frankenstein and RockenScope are proud to bring to you the
world of French Punk rock, a world even most Frenchies don't know
about!

--
Phone: 425.241.8881
Blog: http://www.fabulouscolor.blogspot.com

I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important
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having it bruised or misunderstood.
- Audre Lorde