Photo: Maya from Laila לילה Photo By: Goni Riskin
Women Drummers: A History from Rock and Jazz to Blues and Country Release Party
Sunday, June 8th @ Bluestockings Bookstore
2:00 – 4:00pm
Come celebrate the book launch of the first book celebrating the woman drummer in popular music idioms and her history in trying to break the barriers of this all-to-male field. WOMEN DRUMMERS outlines the evolution of female drumming from pre-biblical times when women held important leadership roles to their silencing by the church during the Middle Ages to spearheading the fight for women’s rights in the modern era. Event will include readings from the book and interview with the author by Tom Tom Magazine’s Publisher Mindy Abovitz.
Angela Smith is a freelance writer and executive director emeritus of the Writers’ League of Texas. A former reporter for the Associated Press, she is also a music journalist and working musician. In addition to WOMEN DRUMMERS, she is author of STEEL DRUMS AND STEELBANDS: A HISTORY. Along with her writing and playing the steel drum and cello, Smith is an avid amateur astronomer and activist for women’s rights.
Mindy Abovitz started Tom Tom Magazine; the first and only magazine about female drummers, in 2009. Tom Tom is full color print magazine based out of NYC that is currently distributed globally and is carried by Guitar Centers & Barnes & Noble nationwide. She hopes to impact the music industry through print media, new media, showcases, panels and community interactions and see a 50% increase of female drummers in the next ten years. The magazine has a feminist mission and seeks to raise awareness about female percussionists from all over the world and hopes to inspire women and girls of all ages to drum, while strengthening and building the community of otherwise fragmented female musicians. Mindy has lectured, performed and held panels at: Sarah Lawrence, Carnegie Melon, Smith College, UCSD, UCLA, CalArts, RISD, Perez Art Museum Miami and MoMA PS1 amongst other institutions.
Title: Women Drummers: A History from Rock and Jazz to Blues and Country
Author: Angela Smith
ISBN: 978-0-8108-8834-0
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Distributor: Rowman & Littlefield
Publication Date: April 16, 2014
List Price: $40