Photo by Tenaya HillsOne of the numerous repercussions of Koo's moving to Long Beach is that it separates women like Adrienne Santelln from the fabulous, girls-only Soapboxx Sessions. Santelln, a says-she's-shy-but-isn't organizer with the Garden Grove Youth Drop-In Center, tells us that she “has no way to get to [the new Koo's in] Long Beach” based on her lack of a car and our region's screwed-up public-transportation system. To remedy this, the fast-talking 22-year-old is starting up the All Girl Jam Sessions in Santa Ana's bad-ass community space Centro Cultural de Mxico. It's Soapboxx, part dos, using the same idea of a female-only space to play music, recite poetry, display art or hold instructional workshops—anything. The first session happens Friday and, like a menstrual cycle, will occur monthly. Santelln hopes the All Girl Jam Sessions—smack-dab in an area teeming with young Latinas who currently have nowhere to express themselves without macho men leering—will inspire the same activism and confidence she attained after attending her first Soapboxx Session at the original Santa Ana Koo's two years ago. “[Soapboxx] was my first introduction to feminism,” she said. “When I walked in, some women were doing weird experimental music—they were having fun. I was kinda scared because these girls were really good, and I'd only been playing [guitar] for two years. But they came up to me and started talking to me—I felt really welcomed.” Since that introduction, Santelln has gone on to join the rawkin' grrl band PCP and has established herself in OC activist circles as an advocate for youth and women issues. “Maybe [the All Girl Jam Sessions] can open up someone else's eyes,” she says, “because that's what it did for me.” If you want to learn more, e-mail Adrienne at de***********@ya***.com, or call the Centro at (714) 953-9305. (Sarah Callender)
Fear and Loathing
Want proof that the much-buzzed-about upstart radio station Indie 103.1 is starting to scare people? All you had to do was flip on tired, stale, “mall-ternative” station KROQ last week like we did and hear afternoon DJ Tami Heide go on about the Michael Andrews and Gary Jules cover of Tears for Fears' “Mad World” she just played, and how KROQ was spinning it “because it's been doing so well in the U.K.” Utter horsepuckey, we say—the only reason they added the tune was because 103.1 has been playing the bejeeziz out of it since the station's December debut. Then again, we've never liked Heide much—not her voice, with its valley-girl-still-looking-for-a-career-path inflections, but especially not since that moment when the verdict came down after the first O.J. Simpson trial years ago, and Heide went on the air to declare how appalled she was about Simpson's acquittal, undoubtedly feeling smug and protected with the knowledge that her listeners were mostly Caucasian. “@#$%&! Just shut up and play the next goddamned record!” we remember yelling at our car stereo, since we had tuned in to KROQ that day precisely to get away from the onslaught of an O.J.-frenzied media. So there's yet another reason why 103.1 is getting so popular: no lame, self-important DJs. Not yet, anyway. (Rich Kane)
