THAT WAS THEN

1986. Almost every Thursday through Sunday night was spent at the Rock Capital of the world, L'Amour's in Brooklyn. Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth were releasing monumental albums. Glam, hardcore, hair, thrash, speed and whatever subcategory Manowar belonged to was exploding.  The Pit and Trash and Vaudeville on St. Mark's place in NYC were the source for all things, leather, fetish, rock-n-roll and everything in between. We were in our heaviest incarnation as an all-female metal band and playing all the local venues…

Little Boy Blue's a Big Girl Now…

2008. Although much has been said and written about my old band from NYC, Missdemeanor, not much of it is accurate. Tall tales of fiery car crashes, love-struck bass players eloping in the night, spontaneous human combustion, of course...and WHAM!...two of the band's original members were expunged from the books. But, a funny thing happened on the way to the L'Amour reunion... people remembered. Or should I say, people NEVER forgot the original line-up of this band. Two of the OG's may have gone away, but 20 years later people still remember, fans still exist, and have asked me to put something, anything online that could stand as a testament to the old days. I probably would have left well enough alone until a life-altering experience occurred on March 1, 2007. My incredibly talented, beautiful, brilliant friend, Cat Coleman, succumbed to a life-long battle with cancer. A few months before she passed away she realized there wasn't much online that included the two of us. As a tribute to her I've decided to put up this page.

I have been digging through the "basement tapes" to find whatever material I could dust off. I couldn't stand one more person asking me if some of the crap on YouTube was me, or Cat, or having to explain what happened and why. So, with the help of some outside sources and a special friend from up north who located some footage, I will post some old shows and photos, unedited. 

2.09.2009

Melinda The Good Witch


In my weekly travels I'd hit the only other record store besides Zig Zag that carried new and hot metal releases and hard to find vinyl--Titus Oaks on Avenue U in Brooklyn. Considering that on an average afternoon I would be dressed in full metal apparel (boots and hair up to there), I didn't exactly blend into the racks. I'll never forget the day I met Melinda, the future MissD guitarist and big banana. She bounced and clomped behind me up and down the record aisles, snapping her gum, and in a heavy Texan drawl shouted "HEY. Y'all got a band 'er something?" So we chatted each other up and I liked her instantly. She was out of her gourd (always a plus), and immediately started running off about Michael Schenker, UFO and Scorpions. She wanted me to go home with her to "meet Michael." That was her beloved Flying V guitar. OH yeah. Handful.


It's hard to capture here all that Melinda B. Whitley was, but like a true Texan, everything about her seemed bigger--her MOUTH, her HAIR, her giant flying V, and her PERSONALITY. We got tight pretty quickly, and all she wanted to do was get in the band with us. So, I had to make a choice between never going to Titus Oaks again to avoid the risk of being mauled, or ask the girls if we needed a 2nd guitarist. If I didn't need that Sad Wings of Destiny picture-pressed 10" so damn badly, life may have turned out differently. But, Mel could play, and had a great melodic sound. She was not as adept as Linda at that time, but what she lacked in her playing capabilities, she made up for in character. We wanted to start filling the songs out and a rhythm guitarist seemed like a good idea. We thought that her and Linda could play nice in the sandbox.

HOUSTON, WE SURE HAD A PROBLEM.
Posted by OG Bass Grrl at 10:31 PM

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