Three Milwaukee bands get their props in 'Hit Girls'
Milwaukee Band The Shivvers, led by singer Jill Kossoris, are featured in the new book "Hit Girls: Women of Punk in the USA, 1975-1983."
Three divergent bands from Milwaukee are featured in the new book "Hit Girls: Women of Punk in the USA, 1975-1983" (Feral House), Jen B. Larson's celebration and documentation of regional rock bands from that exciting and turbulent era.
Larson, a Chicago writer, teacher, and musician, profiles nearly 90 groups. "I use the term 'punk' loosely in the title and throughout," she points out in her introduction. But every group included had strong female leadership and energy.
Hit Girls: Women of Punk in the USA, 1975-1983. By Jen B. Larson.
Her three Milwaukee selections show how big her punk umbrella is:
The Shivvers, led by singer-songwriter Jill Kossoris, played classic power pop, especially on their signature song "Teen Line," with just enough nervous energy to keep new-wave fans happy. Larson includes a Q&A with the thoughtful Kossoris.
You can call The Ama-Dots, featuring singer Mary "Boolah" Hayes, experimental punk, post-punk, art-punk, or half a dozen other labels. Larson takes the title of her Midwest chapter, "Hit Girls, Haute Girls," from an Ama-Dots song.
Dummy Club, fronted by singer Stonie Rivera, "might have given the Cramps some serious competition" for psychobilly laurels, Jon M. Gilbertson once wrote in describing the group. Rivera talks candidly with Larson both about being a woman of color in punk, and about misogyny on the scene.
While Larson's focus is on local groups, not national hitmakers, some bands here will be familiar to fans of the time period, such as The Waitresses, Romeo Void, and Bush Tetras. She also writes about the Plasmatics and singer Wendy O. Williams, who was arrested in Milwaukee following a 1981 performance for conduct prohibited in a licensed premise (i.e., lewd behavior), resisting arrest, and battery to police. Charges against Williams were eventually dismissed. A year later, she sued the seven police officers involved in her arrest. But in 1984, a jury ruled that the officers didn't use excessive force or unlawfully arrest her.
"Hit Girls" was shepherded into print by Feral House's Milwaukee-based editor, Christina Ward.
Story continues
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This article originally appeared in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New book 'Hit Girls' highlights three Milwaukee bands from the punk eraHalf of Evers' picks to the 18-member board are unconfirmed. Regent appointments are effective immediately but still subject to Senate confirmation, which the Republican-controlled body declined to pursue in the last session. Some of the governor's appointees have been serving unconfirmed for nearly three years.
Whether to confirm Evers' appointees begins with the Senate Committee on Universities and Revenue, led by Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield. Chris Rochester, a Hutton spokesperson, said the senator intends to hold hearings on the appointments but he didn't have a timeline yet.
Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at [email protected] her on Twitter at @KellyMeyerhofer.
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