​Lady Brain Collective is excited to kick off 2020 with our first member workshop of the year on Sunday, January 5 at a private location in downtown San Diego's East Village neighborhood from 11am-2pm. We'll briefly map out some important dates and projects for Lady Brain Presents and spend the rest of the time on strategizing personal and professional goals and intentions for the year.

If you're a vision boardy person, we'll provide some paper, magazines, scissors, etc. Feel free to bring anything that will help you get organized and inspired such as planners, journals, laptops, etc. You can also bring a snack/drink to share, but it is not required.

Workshops are open and free to Lady Brain Collective members. If you are a San Diego-based womxn creative looking for resources and support in physical and digital spaces, please consider joining the collective!

A new year and a new decade are just around the corner, and Lady Brain Collective members are already working hard to bring you fun live events throughout San Diego. Mark your calendars and go support womxn creators in your community! 

Thursday, January 9 - Plunderbund at Amplified Backstage Beer Lounge in Pacific Beach
Join Lady Brain Collective member Lisa Brackmann and her Plunderbund bandmates for free live music and the freshest craft beer inches away from the Pacific Ocean! 7-9pm. More info 

Friday, January 10 - Naiomi Sounds Co-Hosts Open Mic at Bad Ass Coffee in Rancho Penasquitos
A few Lady Brain Collective members will be heading out to the Bad Ass Coffee open mic, which is held every other Friday and co-hosted by member Naiomi Sounds. Sign-ups at 6pm, event runs from 6:30-8:30pm. More info

Thursday, January 23 - Golden Howl at Music Box in Little Italy
Golden Howl hits the Music Box stage with a stellar line up of local bands: Aviator Stash, MDRN HSTRY, The Frets, and Coral Bells. Doors at 6:30pm, 21+. Claim as many free tickets as you want via email, or DM on social media.

Thanks to all who performed, volunteered, donated and/or attended our final community gathering of the year! We decked the halls, our musical guests were FIRE, we raffled off nearly $2k in gifts (which allowed us to almost double the venue's guarantee and pay our performers more), and we donated a car-full of winter clothing and blankets to our community's former foster youth experiencing homelessness. That is how it's done, fam!

Here's a short video recap of the fun:

And here are a few photos from Vanessa Dubois of XPOSD Photography. For the full album, visit our Facebook page!

Welcome to Boss Ladies, the review column written by members for members! In this special holiday edition, Carissa Schroeder reviews “Just a Sad Xmas," new from Tori Roze and The Hot Mess.

​You’re at a bar – the kind that is still “cash only” – the kind where the bartender’s a certified asshole unless you’re a regular. Green glitter naugahyde covers the booths along the wall; it’s December and gobs of tinsel wind around the ceiling, competing for attention with the disco ball, eternally spinning over the black and white checkered dance floor. You swill your Wild Turkey old-fashioned and mash the bright red maraschino cherry and orange wedge together in the bottom of your rocks glass.

Now, imagine a Christmas song coming on the jukebox. But not the jolly, saccharine, Hallmark kind. This kind of Christmas song – a sad and soulful one – warms you like the whiskey, from the inside out. It’s noisy, it’s busy, and it’s got some stank on it. The fat bass lines (played by Harley Magsino) and the criss-crossing vocal riffs (cue guest artist Nina Leilani Deering) create the perfect holiday storm.

That’s exactly where Tori Roze and The Hot Mess take me with their version of 1969’s lost ode to the holidays, “Just a Sad Xmas.” If you’re already a fan of Roze, you won’t be disappointed. (If you’re not already a fan, it’s time
to catch up). She shows up on the track with nothing less than her signature style of vocals – soulful, free-flowing, expectation-bending, and seemingly effortless. Deering executes the backing vocals just as they should be – with the intentionality of a lead vocal but the timbre and intensity of a supporting part. Her tone choices are the perfect complement to Tori’s.

The cover is an underground cut, originally written by Ida Sands of The Soul Duo, about getting dumped right in the middle of the holidays (ouch). Brought back to life with a respect for the genre, thanks to Rashaad Graham’s clean and simple drumming and Alan Sanderson’s production style, the track remains closely related to the original while fitting into the Hot Mess setlist seamlessly. Props to the band, overall, for having the discipline (and musical maturity) to not overplay. Johnny Alexander achieved the ideal guitar tone for the song, making really
tasteful choices in his playing. How the hell Deering was able to pull off an accordion track in a song that could easily be on the soundtrack for a holiday themed installment of the Shaft franchise, I’ll never know. But it works.

The traditional, quoted Christmas lyrics (such as “Jingle Bells”) sprinkled through the song set the scene for us. The protagonist of the song is lamenting, “why can’t loneliness let me be” while being physically surrounded by the joy of the season. About halfway through the song, the tone changes from wallowing in the misfortune of the circumstances, to looking forward to a “New Year’s resolution” to reunite the love affair.

The listener never gets to know if the couple in question does, in fact, reunite – but you can absolutely put yourself in the shoes of someone, turning the facts over and over in their mind, trying to make sense of the juxtaposition of “green, red and blue (…) lights and décor” and a mood that is “grim, gray, and black.”

Overall, this is a solid pull from the Hot Mess crew. If you, yourself, were experiencing a less than joyful holiday season (perhaps drinking alone at a dive bar), this would be the kind of song that would get you swaying on your stool – or maybe even up on the dance floor. With this kind of late sixties soul laying the foundation for the sonic landscape, you might even snag yourself a new lover. This thing’s got some ass on it.
​
Support by downloading “Just a Sad Xmas” on iTunes on or after December 7.

Thanks to friends at the San Diego Troubadour for interviewing Lady Brain Presents founder/organizer Lindsay White about the collective's upcoming Holiday Party and Clothing Drive! Read the full interview here, and please join us on December 8 at The Holding Company!

Thank you to 91x Loudspeaker host Tim Pyles for inviting Lady Brain Collective members Lindsay White, Julia Sage, Chloe Lou, and Miki Vale onto the show to play our music and talk about our upcoming Lady Brain Presents Holiday Party and Clothing Drive. We love and appreciate the team at Loudspeaker for supporting local artists - yay for womxn on the radio!