Interview with Carla DeSantis Black Shree Pandya June 2nd, 2011 How did you get involved

with music? My mom taught piano, and still does at 77 years old. My dad was a writer he wrote sports and did publicity for some bands that nobody had ever heard of in Boston, and I spent my early life in Massachusetts, outside of Boston. And I always really gravitated towards music my family wasnt especially musical. My mom unsuccessfully attempted to give me piano lessons. Then I went on to a piano teacher. Then I learned guitar.In high school, I wrote a few musicals For me, when the Go-gos came out, and I was 20, it was life-changing. I started to grow up in a time when feminism was becoming popular it still wasnt something that touched my mom. By the time womens rights were starting, it wasnt part of her consciousness. Ive seen the change and Ive seen how the world has really changed. When my mom first got married, she couldnt own a credit card, couldnt own property. In TV, we see these lawyer shows and doctor shows and therere as many women doctors as men. When you see this, you think it isnt odd. Its weird to me that music is still not as equal as it could be. Nice, compliant music is fine. Quiet music is fine. But theres a lot of music to be angry about, and that needs to be expressed. It would be nice for women to be multi-faceted. Where did you study? In Eugene, Oregon, in college, I got into my first band. That was around 1980. Then I became hooked on the idea of being in bands. I was going to college to appease my dad, but I always really wanted to be a rock star. I went to several colleges Chico State in California, then to the University of Oregons Music Composition Program. College and I were ill-fated, so to speak. Bands? How far did they go? Are you interested in returning to that realm of music? None of the bands I was ever in were any really big deal the purpose of any of the bands I was in was to play cover songs. However, I did write music, and I was interested in being a professional songwriter. That was a great love of mine. I would like to pursue that again, but yknow. I feel like my role now is as an educator, an advocate.

Whats the backstory to ROCKRGRL? How did that fit into your timeline? I started ROCKRGRL in 1994-1995. I was in a band, and it folded, and online was just starting to get big in 1994, and I really didnt know a lot of other women who played music. I really longed for a sense of community because there were always comments that we would hear people would always ask if we were lip syncing or if we were really playing our instruments. I investigated that went to a bookstore and what was written was pretty condescending. The idea that the music industry was like a boys club was really obnoxious. As soon as Madonna had a baby, they started calling her the material mom. Women who gave birth became known as a mom, not a musician. In my profession, when women want to go on tours and have kids, they cant. The fathers can, but the women cant. Thats what you become known for. I never see anybody elses children. Its a weird thing, and I think a lot of the media makes a big deal of nothing. One issue of Rolling Stone was about Women Who Rock, and the writer asked everyone what their favorite perfume was, not music.Women were really shut out of those mainstream music magazines like they didnt exist. So, ROCKRGRL Music Conferences! Care to explain a bit about them? It was based on SXSW we had 250 female bands perform in clubs and coffeeshops and all kinds of places in downtown Seattle. We had really A-list artists come and speak and perform. And all levels performed, actually. It was eclectic and interesting. We had panels on groupies, Penny Lane was there. It was a really big deal because for me all the people I admired were in the same room. The last issue came out in time for the 2005 Conference. The conference size wasnt diminished, but sponsorship certainly was. This was the beginning of economic downturn, so it was harder to get funding for that. We gave an award to Patti Smith for the 30th anniversary of the release of her first album, Horses.I gave an award to the band Hart, and Ronnie Roy came to speak. Whats something that ROCKRGRL subscribers might be surprised to hear? I never had more than one employee.

Who carried ROCKRGRL magazines? Itwas carried by all the major chains, and it did have international circulation. The most important thing for me, though, was that I wanted it to be in the hands of musicians. It was important to me that it found women who were playing music. What was the magazines circulation like? The magazine peaked at 20,000 in circulation. The height of the magazines circulation was 2002, 2003. Then it started declining. When I did the second conference, I was trying to get people to subscribe a yearly subscription cost $14.95. A lot of subscribers were parents subscribing for their daughters. What I saw, however, was that people maintained a great deal of interest for the conference, but not for subscribing. What is the message of ROCKRGRL? Womens voices have been repressed for many years in music. Most of the pop stars we see are singing songs written by men, or written for them. My day, in the 80s, there were lots of women in music who were writing their own material. What the magazine provided was an opportunity for women who werent only singers to find their voices through the magazine. When there arent many women doing something, its hard to have them as role models. Different ages, different styles of music to show that women have a lot to say, and because mainstream music magazines werent exploring that, it needed to be explored in some way.The more we see it, the less of a novelty it will be. What resonates with people from music is hearing your own voice. I remember all the girls in kindergarten would talk about the Beatles they had crushes on, but I didnt have crushes on any of them. I loved female songwriters because they were expressing what I felt. I would listen to people like Carol King, Hart, just people who were saying what I had to say. Not everyone felt that way it was so interesting to me that girls would like singers who they had to date. A lot of what rock is about is self-expression, and thats been on the decline as far as womens expression goes. Would you say ROCKRGRL highlighted the artistic diversity of women? I think the name rock made it sound white, which was very unfortunate becauseI tried to bring in hip hop and new world music, unsuccessfully. I did try

to bring inpeople of different ages, though.I think the words ROCK and GRL are outdated now. Its pidgeonhole. And I want there to be more diversity in all sectors of the music industry. In the areas they arent *supposed* to be in. What are your plans for the future? I want to know how I can be useful I dont just want to talk about the past, I want to talk about the future. Im aware of what it was like before, so knowing that, knowing it doesnt exist anymore, and not living in that kind of a way is really different.I want to prepare young people who want to go into music, but not scare them. People are still noticing that the numbers really dont reflect womens voices in music. Taylor Swift isnt the entire female voice of country. The scopes bigger. So Id like to be doing advocacy now. Im starting a new organization called Musicians for Equal Opportunities for Women (MEOW), and through that, Im going to be doing my advocacy. I want to be doing conferences similar to my ROCKRGRL conferences. This is kind of like ROCKRGRL 2.0. This isnt a magazine, but the mission is still necessary. Im also thinking of writing books I want to start in November.