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Girls Getting Their Rock On

WUNC News | By Anita Rao,
Frank Stasio
Published September 26, 2014 at 11:48 AM EDT

Girls Rock! Live on The State of Things

For much of music history, rock music has been considered a boys club. 

But in the early 1990s, the feminist punk rock movement Riot Grrl sparked the development of a musical scene where women used music to address issues like female empowerment and patriarchy. This led to the creation of Girls Rock, a national organization that uses music education as a tool for empowering girls and women. The North Carolina chapter, Girls Rock NC, holds summer camps and year-round workshops that encourage girls to be creative and confident members of their communities. Girls Rock NC is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year with an all-day fundraising rally in downtown Carrboro on Saturday, October 4. The event includes interactive workshops, instrument-learning sessions, an alumni showcase, and performances by The Julie Ruin, Ex Hex, Mount Moriah, Shirlette Ammons, Midnight Plus One, Silent Lunch, Pink Flag, and Cosmic Punk. 

Host Frank Stasio talks to Heather McEntire, program director of Girls Rock NC and member of Mount Moriah, poet and performer Shirlette Ammons, and two Girls Rock NC alumnae who formed their own band: Bella Mead and Tehila Rosenblatt-Farrel of La Bête Magique. They all perform live in studio:McEntireon guitar and vocals;  Ammonson vocals and snare drum;Rosenblatt-Farrelon electric guitar; and Mead on vocals..

Girls Rock Alums Tehila Rosenblatt-Farrell and Bella Mead of La Bête Magique performing at The Casbah
Tim Walter /
Girls Rock Alums Tehila Rosenblatt-Farrell and Bella Mead of La Bête Magique performing at The Casbah
Poet and performer Shirlette Ammons leads workshops for Girls Rock NC.
Shirlette Ammons /
Poet and performer Shirlette Ammons leads workshops for Girls Rock NC.
Heather McEntire of Mount Moriah is also the program director for Girls Rock NC.
Heather McEntire /
Heather McEntire of Mount Moriah is also the program director for Girls Rock NC.

Copyright 2014 North Carolina Public Radio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio