I Dream of Bebe Barron

Well I mean I dream about having her life. Her and her husband are credited with being the first electronic music artists in the world. Pretty fucking cool.

Ok so imagine this is totally your life, you're 22 years old. It's 1947, two years after the end of the single biggest influential event of the decade, World War II.

There are larger and larger rumblings of  the oncoming Civil Rights movement being felt throughout the country.  Television just became available to the public with 13 channels. The first computer had just been invented. During the last decade, women had experienced greater freedoms because of the war. Rosie the Riveter had become an icon of the working woman, the All American Girls Professional Baseball League ("there's no crying in baseball!") was in full swing, and women, now accustomed to a new and changing society, were creating the political and social foundations for gaining greater equalities in the workplace.


Bebe and Louis are from Minneapolis but get married and move to New York City in 1947. As wedding gift they get a tape recorder and begin recording people at their house parties.

Aren't these people like the cutest couple ever? Recording shit at their house parties? Aren't house parties the greatest?

Soon Louis starts tinkering with circuit boards, he's always loved soldering and electronics. He makes circuit boards that emit sound which Bebe records on the tape recorder.

They just fuck around. Making up "plays" where the sounds are actors.  They don't even think of it as a musical composition, though Bebe does have a musical background. They are just having fun.

Soon Bebe starts spending time listening to noises and picking out what sounds good.  She starts making new noises, using multiple tape recorders. She invents the tape loop.

She fucking invents the tape loop.

Bebe and her husband go on to record the first electronic album "Forbidden Planet" and open the first electronic music recording studio, recording the likes of Tennessee Williams and Henry Miller.


Bebe gives John Cage a boner because she's so badass and he begins encouraging her artistically, while he himself begins the authoring of a new art form.  The Barron's get involved in creating the first sound effects in film and begin a royal rein in Hollywood as the Queen and King of film sound.

Bebe's work ignited a great debate on whether her creations were of artistic or scientific value.  And she continued to work in the field of electronic recording throughout her life.

 I dream of Bebe indeed!
So when you're dancing to that Hot Chip track tonight, you can dance in honor of Bebe.

More info about Bebe and Louis Barron can be found on NPR

RIP

Bebe Barron

June 16, 1925 to April 20, 2008

Happy Women's History Month!

It's officially March, which means it's also Women's History Month. While March 8 is International Women's Day, in the US the whole of March is dedicated to celebrating the contributions American women have made in national history. In honor of Women's History Month I present to you some women to whom I am especially grateful.

Margaret Sanger


Alright, yes Sanger was involved with some fishy eugenics thought, as were many people at that point in history, but she also had a huge impact on birth control so that women could enjoy sex with less fear of pregnancy. She opened the first birth control clinic and formed the organization that would become Planned Parenthood. I propose that next time you swallow that BC pill, get your Nuvaring inserted, roll on that condom, or proceed right into sexy time without interruption thanks to your IUD, that you give a little mental thanks to Sanger. Without her sex wouldn't be nearly as safe or fun.

Juliette Gordon Low


Although Gordon Low had a privileged childhood, her marriage was not a happy one and when her husband died after 18 years of marriage he left the majority of his estate to his mistress. Talk about a dick move. Gordon Low was not a lady to be set back however, and, firmly latching onto the idea that "success is the best revenge," she set up the Girl Scouts of America after meeting the founder of the Boy Scouts. The original gathering of girls to talk about their feelings, boys, crafts, charity, pop culture, and domesticity, the Girl Scouts were, and are, about self-reliance, independence, and a willingness to help others. And not only did the Girl Scouts prepare girls for traditional domestic life, but also for a possible professional life. Many Pool Girls were undoubtedly Girl Scouts back in the day, and I, for one, credit Girl Scouts for teaching me how to build a fire, dig a latrine, and generally be a bad ass lady.

Sandra Day O'Connor


The first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Day O'Connor's vote was often instrumental in upholding a woman's right to abortion. Curious since she was nominated to the Court by Regan and was considered a moderately conservative Republican. Still, her presence on the highest judge panel in the United States was an important first for American women and her refusal to overturn Roe v. Wade signaled that women's health is an issue that effects all women, no matter the political affiliation.

Betty Dodson


Considered the mother of the sex positive feminist movement, Dodson's book Sex for One helped liberate masturbation. She began having erotic art shows in NYC in the late 1960's but soon left the art world to concentrate on women's health and pleasure. At the NOW Sexuality Conference in 1973 Dodson introduced the electric vibrator as a pleasure device. Also famed for her masturbation workshops, Dodson has written many articles and books on masturbation and women's pleasure. When you get your copy of PoolBoy Magazine in the mail and are able to sneak away for some private time, remember what Dodson did for female masturbation and maybe dedicate your next solo O to this important lady.


Some more contemporary ladies that I am thankful for: Kathleen Hanna, bell hooks, Debbie Stoller, Joani Blank, Judy Chicago, Kate Chopin, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the Guerrilla Girls.

Who are you celebrating for Women's History Month?