Remembering Lou Reed

Last week, the women of the Pussy Power Hour decided to change it up a bit. Instead of solely focusing on women, we felt it was appropriate to do a show that focused on the late great Lou Reed. Hopefully you have heard of him or of his music, but if you haven’t, let me give you a little background. 

Lou Reed was born in Brooklyn in the early 40s. He learned to play guitar by listening to the radio as a kid.  His family was Jewish, and when asked he said he was, but that his “god is Rock n roll. It’s an obscure power that can change your life. The most important part of my religion is to play guitar.” He founded the Velvet Underground in the mid-1960s with a few other friends. Reed and early bandmates John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker delivered work variously featuring screeching feedback and meditative guitar mantras, droning viola, metronomic drumming and gently strummed lullabies. After lineup shifts resulted in the Velvet Underground disbanding. The band was never considered to be commercially successful, but Reed continued to dabble in guitar rock from countless angles for the rest of his life, tackling major and minor projects to varying degrees of success.

His personal life has always been somewhat of a mystery, with rumors of his sexual orientation in question, but he was always able to keep it private. He was a man ahead of his time.

As a solo artist, Reed became the king of downtown cool. He made failed stabs at commercial albums in the 1970s and '80s, and even Reed acknowledged their artistic shortcomings.For many, Reed fed a craving that we didn't know we had. Others passed judgment; he reveled in the grit that interested him, and though some cast his expressions as too difficult or depressing, Reed disagreed. Reed paved the way for rockers to come after him and expressed himself the best way he knew how, through music. Because of his realism, American music was changed forever.

Madame Lalaurie and American Horror Story

If you're like us, you've been captivated by this season's American Horror Story: Coven. If you haven't been following, the story takes place in New Orleans and is centered around the infamous Madam Delphine Lalaurie.

I recently took a trip down south to visit the historic, and truly beautiful, French Quater district of New Orleans. During my stay, I was fortunate enough to meet a local named Tony, who gave me an intimate and,what he thinks to be, an accurate account of the Madam Lalaurie mystery. I was standing directly in front of the home when he told me the story. Here is the account:

In the 1830's Madam Delphine Lalaurie purchased the grand estate on 1140 Royal St. in the French Quater of New Orleans. (schedule a tour of the house here) She and her third husband, Dr. Leonard Loiuse Lalaurie, were very well known in the neighborhood and hosted extravagant parties and events. Lalaurie was described by her peers as sweet, charming, captivating and gracious. However, rumors began to surface that she was extremely cruel to her slaves. 

One early morning, Lalaurie was seen by neighbors cow-hiding a young slave girl. The young girl ran back through the house, screaming the entire way. Lalaurie chased her and the girl ended up throwing herself out of the third story window, falling to her death. Lalaurie was said to have carried her lifeless body back into the house. Rumors have it that she was buried in a very shallow well in the backyard of the Lalaurie estate. Now, back in this time, it was illegal to purposefully damage or destroy your own property. Because slaves were considered property, it was actually illegal for slave owners to "damage" their slaves. The death of the young girl went unpunished.

Rumors surfaced that Lalaurie was performing strange and horrific mutilations on human bodies in the cabinet located next to the kitchen. The slaves were not permitted to enter into this part of the house. One brave slave ventured into the forbidden lair and claims to have seen what can only be described as animal consisting of half human parts and half crab parts. 

On April 11, 1834 a few slaves, sick of Lalaurie's awful treatment, chained themselves to the furnace located in the kitchen in protest, refusing to move until the police came to investigate. Knowing full well Lalaurie would not succumb to their civil protest, the slaves sacrificed themselves and lit their bodies on fire. The police arrived and discovered the horrific experiments Madam Lalaurie had been performing, confirming the rumors of torture and abuse. Lalaurie fled and was never seen again. Some say she bribed a boatsman to take her up the Mississippi, others say she was killed by an angry mob, and some go so far as to claim she was poisoned by Madam Lavaeu. Though there are two grave sites for Lalaurie, her final resting place still remains a mystery. 

The plot thickens!

After the house was recovered and the fire damage had been repaired, a traveling furniture salesman decided to buy the house and turn it into a shop. He loaded all of his goods into the house and set up shop and retired to his home. The next morning, he arrived at the house anxious to get selling. What he discovered was an unidentifiable green goo covering all of his furniture. Outraged  he called the local authorities, convinced he was being pranked. The police found no sign of a break in and could not tell him what exactly was covering his products. That night he decided to stay in the house and wait for the pranksters to return. He slept through the night, awaking to the same green goo. It was all over him and all over his furniture. Thoroughly spooked, he declared the house haunted. He packed up his stuff and went on his way, telling everyone he knew to stay away from the evil Lalaurie home. To this day it is regarded as haunted and is a must-see-destination for anyone traveling to New Orleans. 

So that folks is the story of Madam Lalaurie. Take it or leave it but note that she was in fact a real person who did do a lot of terrible things to her slaves. 

Personally I am very excited to see where this season of AHS takes this legend and how Lalaurie's end finally comes. 

Relationship Privacy Policy

As the semester continues, the Pussy Power Hour has really been heating up on the topic front. This week, along with body hair, we discussed the issue of looking at your significant other's cell phone or emails without their permission. LK and I are both in serious relationships, and I felt the topic was a significant one for many of our listeners as well. 

With the availability of information at our fingertips, it can be tempting to see what our partner is doing in his or her off-time. He could be chatting with an ex, or chatting up someone he met on Facebook. He could be exchanging naughty pictures. You just don't know. Until you do. And when you do know, you can't unknow that sort of thing.

The reason the topic came to me is because I overheard a couple arguing over the weekend. It sounded like the guy in the relationship allows his girlfriend to look through his phone. I guess they have had multiple issues with fidelity in the last seven months of being together, which right there is a red flag. It sounded like the fight was about her finding another sent message to a random girl on Craigslist So, the question is: is it ok for your significant other to go through your phone with or without your permission?

I'm not suggesting that we turn a blind eye to our partners, pretending that the possibility of infidelity doesn't exist. Far from it. I'm merely suggesting that there are other, better ways to determine whether your partner is being faithful.

I mean if you both allow it, then obviously that’s fine. But it is an invasion of privacy. I personally don’t think it is ok to do it behind their back. I would just ask them if you have some sort of suspicion, based upon his or her reaction, you should be able to tell one way or another if something is up. I'd rather be accused of being "crazy" than accused of invading my partner's privacy. I think even now, in the age of the Internet, people deserve their privacy. If he's talking about me to another woman? Maybe he needs to vent to a female ear. If he's talking about a hot chick to a buddy via Facebook? He's being human.

And frankly, I don't need to know about it. Planting seeds of doubt is hard to turn back from.

I say communication is key, and honesty is the best policy. So talk to your partner and listen to one another, and things, if they’re meant to be, should go smoothly from there.

By Ali Uro-May

Shave It Or Save It!?

A Brief History of the Art of Shaving.

The art of removing body hair began long long ago. Records on ancient cave walls depict prehistoric people using clamshells, flint knives, and even sharks teeth to shave unwanted hair. Circular solid gold or copper razors can be found as far back as the 4^th millennium BC in Egyptian tombs.

In the 4^th century BC Alexander The Great encouraged his men to shave so enemies couldn’t grab their beards during melees.

In 1847, William Henson invented the hoe-shaped razor. In 1895, King Camp Gillette, a traveling salesman, combined this shape with the idea of a disposable double-edged blade. He wanted to create a product one would need, use, throw away, and then need again (a true capitalist). And thus, the disposable razor was born.

For more history check out this awesome article. 

WHY WOMENSHAVE:

Underarms: In 1915,  “Harpers Bazaar” an extremely popular ad magazine,  published an add for a sleeveless dress; the first dress of it's kinds. However, in order to wear it, the publishers first decree that women must see to “the removal of objectionable hair” and by the early 1920’s underarm hair was so last decade.

Legs: The 1940’s rolled around and hemlines become short, tights became sheerer, and the rise of pin-ups, such as Betty Grable, began shaving their legs hairs. A trend that caught on quickly. 

Vagina:For hundreds of years, bikini wax has been a common practice of Muslim women. The night before the wedding, brides-to-be removed all of their body hair, yes all of it. Some women stick with the practice throughout their marriage and some Muslim men joined in. 

And thus was born the social norm of becoming a naked mole rat upon puberty. Personally, I don’t care about body hair. I am a woman and should not be made to feel bad about hair on my body, especially because there are no proven health benefits to shaving. The only reason women shave is because an add in a magazine in 1915 told us to. And you know who wrote that add? A man!  As is so typical of our patriarchal infrastructure, one man, almost 100 years ago,  decided that all women should shave their underarms because he found it, “objectionable”. Well I object to men telling us what to do with our bodies! Don’t get me wrong I’m not all natural but I do go days without shaving the pits and, candidly speaking, I can’t remember the last time I shaved my legs. Ladies, can I let you in on a little secret? Men really do not care if you’re shaven down there! And if they do, they don't deserve to see it in the first place! Acceptance is sexy and so are lovely lady locks. So shave it or save it, it's up to you!

Miley's Wrecking Us All!

We have an awesome show planned for next Monday, October 14th. Ali-Cat and LK will be discussing the ever prominent Miley Cyrus, breaking down the million and one reasons she is a horrible role model for young girls and how the industry itself is actually heavily to blame. This will launch us into a discussion about Billboard Top 100 and why these types of artists garner so much fame and attention. We will go deeper into whether or not Miley's song, "Wrecking Ball",which is actually the No. 1 song on the Billboard Top 100 currently, is indeed a hit. Miley is undoubtedly the most talked about celebrity today, but we want to dig deeper into how it has unfortunately become "Miley's World" and we are determined to take it back, dammit! Also, we will continue to feature brand new female artists from all over the world. Definitely going to be covering genres from pop to soul to funk, that we think should be known about. These up and coming women in the music industry are definitely forces to be reckoned with. Basically we will be discussing the good, the bad, and the "ratchet" b*tches.

Tune into ksfsmedia.net/radio every monday at 3pm! If you like what you hear give us a call (415) 338-1532, and like us on facebook and Instagram (alicatlkpph).


By Ali Uro-May

Emily Bear and Bright Girls

I don't know about you, but Ali and I had a blast on our last show. If you weren't able to tune in, here is a little catch-you-up. On monday October 7th, Ali-Cat and I showcased a young girl by the name of Emily Bear. Bear is a 12 year old concert pianist and composer who has been regarded as a child prodigy. The Illinois native began her career at the ripe age of 3 years old when she sat down at the piano and composed her first piece. Let me repeat that, THREE YEARS OLD. She has since had a booming career performing on Ellen, at Carnegie Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl. She caught the attention of Quincy Jones and has been under his wing ever since. Below is Emily performing "Q", which we featured on our show.

Emily's story launched us into our first conversation regarding the way young girl's perceive praise and how this affects us in our adult life. As I was fiddling around the internet I came across this extremely interesting article titled "The Problem With Bright Girls" written by Heidi Grant and published in the Healthy Living section of the Huffington Post. Now, I was a bright 5th grader ( I don't know what has happened since) and the article revealed a shocking truth I had never thought about. Heidi revealed that because girls tend to mature faster than boys, they pick up on behavioral rewards differently. When bright girls pick up new tasks quickly and are rewarded for being smart, or good at a specific subject, they tend to perceive that talent as fixed, something that they have or do not have. This is opposed to boys who are often told "if they would just try harder they would get it" or "if you would just pay attention you could do it". This creates problems when girls face tasks that do not come easily to them, they often tend to give up and assume they just don't have the ability to do it, even though they would succeed if the task was given a little more effort. This is most common in the STEM subjects (science, technology, mathematics, and engineering) and carries over into our adult lives. Women must constantly work almost twice as hard to be perceived as competent as men and when you're own worst enemy is yourself, you're working against a whole lot of oppression. But enough of my blabbering just check out the article for yourself!

Who Are We And Why You Should Care!

So, it is with much excitement that we launch our very first show on Monday, September 16th at 3 pm pacific time! We will start with a meet and greet of sorts to familiarize yourselves with the ladies of KFSF Variety radio!

What to expect: As a female duo, we want to illuminate current issues surrounding perceptions of women in media. This includes music, movies, television, commercials, and so on! Aside from breaking stereotypes we, here at KSFS media, want to extend our power of voice female artists and showcase women who have waded through the rivers of judgment and the word "no"! As the X-Ray Spex say, quite brilliantly, "Oh Bondage! Up Yours!" Cheers!