"No more dick rock. Enter three girlie feminists not afraid to wear a dress, makeup, heels. What the hell was wrong with being a chick?” These sentiments are echoed by Kit, the bass-playing protagonist of Christine Weiser's new debut novel "Broad Street". The story follows Kit through the mid 90s Philadelphia music scene as she trys to recover from a breakup and find her own place in the world. Kit meets Margo, a like-minded compatriot that quickly becomes her band mate and best friend. Together the girls navigate the city's rock scene, all while trying to cope with family, friends, day jobs, and not-so-nice guys. Through their own questioning and self-reflection they discover they are a promising band with potential, and this lifts their confidence to new levels as they ultimately come out on top. Through it all, Kit discovers what's really important in life (besides music, of course) and learns to appreciate her relationships and most importantly her own self worth.
Author Christine Weiser called the band "Broad Street" as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the often not-women friendly music scene. However, Kit and Margo in the book appropriate the name as a badge of honor, proud of their outsider status which really in turn brings them closer inside the 90s male dominated music world and into another realm of adoration and ultimately respect.
Christine Weiser is a real-life musician as well, playing in current band The Tights (and former girl garage band Mae Pang). Christine, like her heroine Kit, plays bass and sings backing vocals. The Tights will be performing at September's Sugar Town in order to celebrate the release of Christine's book. The launch party will also feature three other bands comprised of lady rockers: Normal, Kitten Disaster, and Thee Minks. Sara Sherr will be DJing, who incidentally inspired one of the book's characters, a music reporter for the City Paper. The event is on Saturday, September 27th at the Tritone, and will be preceeded by an 8PM reading from "Broad Street" by Christine Weiser. And it's free! So use that money you were gonna spend on the cover and buy the book instead when it comes out in October.
Comments