New Blogging Home

After four years on Blogger I've decided to decamp my killerfemme blog to WordPress. I've gotten more comfortable using WordPress (I must create like a new WordPress blog a week at work) and I love how easy it is to use and customize. I even imported all of this blog to that one! So you won't miss a moment. So please read and follow me here: killerfemme.wordpress.com

The Thermals! The Books! Tender Trap! Jane and Serge! Oh My!

By Alison Wonderland

This past summer I've been writing up a storm for Venus Zines website. I've been writing profiles of bands and reviewing a slew of great records. Check out my latest here:
Bassist Kathy Foster, part of the Pacific Northwest rockers The Thermals discusses their new album
Indie pop icon (and Economist!) Amelia Fletcher talks about her latest project, Tender Trap
Quirky experimenters The Books talk about their latest album and moving out of NYC

Plus album reviews of the reissue of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg's Je t'aime... Moi, non plus, and Savoir Adore's In the Wooded Forest.

Nightlife Denizens

Paul with hotdog unicorn headgear and me with Slurpee hat

So if you know me even a little bit you know that i don't go out much. I like to have a good time, sure, but partying until dawn is not my usual m.o. unless, of course, the party is CHERYL. CHERYL started two years ago by a group of stylish people who mostly worked in museums. Its tagline is "the dance party that will ruin your life" and every month features a different theme and a video that can only be described as a piece of art to go along with it. The party has gained momentum and attention and moved to progressively bigger venues. I love the fact that while dressing up is encouraged it's not required and that it attracts a mixed crowd of, well, pretty much everyone who likes weird (but not that weird) arty and really honestly fun and unpretentious parties. This time around the theme was 7-11 and the Village Voice showed up to take pictures. Thanks to my handily constructed Slurpee hat apparently I was quite photogenic. Who knew I would be a nightlife icon for a fleeting second? Check out the rest of the Voice's photos here. I also put photos on my flickr stream.

Casual Evening Boating Attire

Windswept Boating Outfit
Originally uploaded by killerfemme

It's a well known joke in my family that I don't like boats. It's not my fault, it's just that when I am in a boat larger than a canoe that has a motor I tend to get really sea sick really quickly. Blame it on a childhood spent on them. However, I may have made my peace with boats after a wonderful evening spent aboard the ship Clipper City this past weekend. Our friends Frank and Sandy got married on the boat (by the ship captain, which is something that they can do as a captain!) and invited us to celebrate with them. It was magical to float about New York Harbor as the sun sunk behind Ellis Island and send golden rays glancing off the giant shipping dock cranes in Red Hook. The invitation called for "Casual Evening Boating Attire" and I think I was successful. There are more photos on flickr.

Corita on Youtube!

It's been ages since I have updated this blog and I am sorry. Corita is playing a show tomorrow (Thursday, July 8) at Fontana's on the Lower East Side, making it almost a year exactly since we played there last! Some really nice person caught our tweest song "The problem with alcohol (is)" on video at our last show during the NYC Popfest. Check it out!

Corita at NYCPopfest 2010!

I am sure my 18-year-old-self would be jealous of me right now not because I'm about to hammer in the nail on the coffin of my twenties, but because my post-punk band of my dreams Corita is playing a free show on Saturday afternoon, May 22nd as part of the NYCPopfest. As a teenager I loved indie pop as much as I loved punk and post-punk and wished I was part of a cute, cardigan sweater wearing community. We might leave the cardigans at home on Saturday, but we'll for sure coordinate our outfits and wear the spiffy shoes Corita is becoming known for (I hope we are also becoming known for our good songwriting, but we'll see). We play at 3 p.m. at Spike Hill in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Saturday May 22nd and its FREE. We're profiled on the NYCPopfest blog here. 

Lali Puna Feature on Venus Zine

I got to profile German "indietronica" act Lali Puna, of my favorite bands, for Venuszine.com. I spoke with Valerie Trebeljar, Lali Puna's main lady, over on a transatlantic telephone call and I had to control my enthusiasm while speaking to one of my favorite musicians. The feature highlights their latest album Our Inventions. Check out the profile on Venuszine.com here.

More good show pics...

The nice guys in Cobretti put some good pictures on their blog, including some of Mt. Olympus, who totally f'in shred and are the nicest guys to play with. The let us use all of their equipment, which led me to making an awkward analogy how their band was our band's boyfriend... uh, whatever, but awesome show!

Note that Mike of Mt.Olympus is riffing in the crowd (Aileen is looking on) and Dickie's hair is totally out of this world. He is my guitar hero.

Corita Review!

Corita got one of our first reviews ever from the wonderful Eve (whose Tumblr blog is called wunderfemme, truly a kindred spirit) after our show on Monday at Death by Audio. Check it out here.  Eve also took this nice picture!