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Welcome to Boss Ladies, the review column written by members for members! In this edition, Lizabeth Yandel reviews Melanie Medina's new single, “Millennial Love Dance," available today on streaming platforms.
If you’re feeling like you could use a little comic relief in this possibly-apocalyptic, so-dramatic-it-would-be-funny-except-that-it’s-real time of coronavirus and quarantine, Melanie Medina’s new single “Millennial Love Dance” may be just the witty kind of medicine you need. It’s a track that so many of us can relate to in our current virtually-charged dating world. The playfulness of the music, combined with the hilarity of cringingly relevant lyrics like “baby, I’m consenting affirmatively,” give millennials of all stripes the chance to laugh at our ridiculous selves while also singing along (and not crying, you’re crying).
The lyrics stand on their own. Medina had been “pretty fed up with overly sentimental love songs full of imagery cliches.” The response that came from her frustration is a string of super specific, well-drawn images that vividly paint an everyday coffee-shop scene that might just be love. “I stop for coffee on my latest walk of shame, and there I find you standing so astute, in vegan leather boots,” she sings, with such a sweetness in her voice that one could easily miss the cynicism and comedy of the actual words. But Medina assures us that she wasn’t trying to paint the current dating world in an “entirely cynical” light. “I wanted to write something really topical and flippant as a middle finger to, well, romanticizing romance,” she said.
The track was first written in a basement practice room at San Diego State University, where Medina completed her degree in music. Since that first rendition, the song has gone through a few revamps.
“I had to update the references a few times,” she explained. “It originally contained lines about vegan lattes and a beard that was ‘on fleek’. Yikes”. Medina cut the final track, with references so current it’s almost embarrassing for all of us, with her producer Shandon Campbell in Campbell’s home studio. The track features Sean Hicke on bass, Abran Gurrola on drums, and Melanie Medina’s own killer guitar chops and wonderfully mellow vocals.
Medina’s hope for “Millennial Love Dance” is that, “we can all just have a good laugh about being basically living in a Black Mirror episode.”
Although the theme of the tune might speak to a general disappointment we all feel in the dating world right now, this fresh, clever song with its sprinkles of jazz harmonies and “liberal propaganda” (as Medina puts it) will absolutely not disappoint! “I've been writing a LOT during the quarantine,” Medina says, adding that she has more singles scheduled to drop in the coming months. Be sure to stream or download “Millennial Love Dance” and keep your eyes wide for more singles from this rad emerging artist soon! 
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Thanks so much to everyone for attending both of our virtual workshops this month and helping us keep this community together even though we are restricted from gathering in person! Special thanks to Jules Stewart for giving us a great rundown on resolution and sizing of images during our discussion on Media Assets. We also talked about bios, pull quotes, promo photos, and more. It's always great to be prepared and professional when it comes to working with folks in the media!  As for our Recording Home Vocals workshop, our special guest Amelia Sarkisian talked to the group about various microphones, set up, signal flow, gain structure, and more. Given the circumstances of sheltering in place, it was beneficial to discuss ways to become more proficient in our home recording set-ups. There's so much to learn - we'll definitely be revisiting this topic in the future!  Carissa Schroeder (Lady Brain Collective member and founder of The Bold Vocal, has just launched her new online coaching course called Living Room Rockstar. The four week bootcamp is designed for singers who want an easy system for confidently performing live online, and a way to create cash flow from the comfort of home. According to the course description, Living Room Rockstar is an easy, repeatable, system that anyone can do, from anywhere in the world, to get cash in the bank and ears on their music.  Schroeder explains that many factors may hinder a vocalist from attempting to live stream at all, let alone develop an entire business strategy around it. Whether you are intimidated by technology or trolls, feeling insecure about your talent or capabilities, or just plain stuck on how to monetize your streams, Schroeder's course will help you simplify tech and provide a safe space to practice and develop confidence. In addition to coaching and community, the bootcamp will also offer accountability to keep you on track, as well as “non-skeezy" self promotion tips as you prepare to rock the socks off your money-making live stream.
The first ever Living Room Rockstar starts on Monday, May 18. In addition to course materials, the program includes a 12:00pm coaching call every Saturday for four weeks and will culminate in a live steam showcase at 12:00pm on Saturday, June 13. Sign up now to snag one of the last remaining discounted seats be a part of the inaugural class. Thanks so much to everyone who tuned in to our Mother's Day brunch on Instagram Live yesterday! It was our first time live streaming from that platform, and we had a great time celebrating mothers/motherhood. Special thanks to our performers Thea! The Band, Mary Bee, Karina Frost, Gretchen DeVault and Lindsay White for putting on a great show! Don't forget to circle back to the blog next month for our June virtual community gathering called Creative Process. This collaborative journaling project will showcase the written work on several Lady Brain Members, serving as a time capsule of sorts to mark this moment and movement in time.  Thanks to everyone who participated and shared a song for our virtual book club takeover of the San Diego Songwriters Club. We're still getting used to this whole online gathering business, and this was a hard pivot to make because we were so excited to be in a room with our friends book club talking about this book. But, it was still lovely to check out beautiful songs from members of both groups (particularly from one of our newest members Danielle Angeloni!) and we are so proud of LBC member and book club organizer Unison Colthurst for doing amazing things with the community she leads! We're looking forward to scheduling another book club takeover when the coast is clear for being in a room together!  Over the last year, Lady Brain Collective has worked diligently toward building a strong community with a real presence in physical spaces. Needless, to say, recent events surrounding the corona virus threw us for a bit of a loop. But we realize that tough times call for stronger ties, so we are adapting and moving many of our workshops and showcases to a virtual setting until the coast is clear and we can gather IRL. Kicking things off in the workshop realm, Mary Bee and Mary Hamer led a wonderful Zoom presentation on the topic of Live Streaming 101: Tips, Tricks, and Tech. During the meeting, attendees discovered new and interesting ways to showcase their work and broaden their audience online. Members shared tips and tricks on all things live streaming, ranging from best practices, various streaming platforms, and recommended software and gear.  While we're still a little salty about not being allowed to share physical space, we know it's for the greater global good, and all those familiar faces on Zoom helped us feel connected! We will continue to offer virtual member workshops on relevant topics for the duration of our shelter-in-place experience.
If you're a San Diego-based creative womxn interested in participating in this member workshop, we'd love to have you! Please complete your membership application and subscription below! OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2020 - SAN DIEGO, CA Pandemic pending, local creative womxn's collective Lady Brain Presents is practicing cautious optimism while moving forward with plans for Lady Brain Film Fest, scheduled for Saturday, August 8. Submissions will be open April 6 through June 7, and earlybird tickets will be available starting in May. The festival will take place at the United Domestic Workers of America courtyard and sanctuary (4855 Seminole Dr, San Diego, CA 92115).  Last July's inaugural Lady Brain Fest focused primarily on music, showcasing 20 womxn-fronted acts on two stages at Heritage Ranch in Encinitas. This year, in an effort to celebrate a broader range of womxn creators, the festival is shifting gears toward the cinematic arts. Films and music videos will be screened, and Lady Brain Collective members from across the creative spectrum (directors, writers, actors, musicians, videographers, makeup artists, costume designers, etc.) are welcome to submit their creations.  Voxy performing at Lady Brain Fest 2019 - photo by Sharisse Coulter The 2020 festival is the brainchild of collective member Mary Bee (filmmaker, musician, and host of travel docuseries Finding Harmony). “I thought it would be fun to bring more creatives into the collective who work in different art forms," she said. “It will be so nice to get to know more work of Lady Brain members, and by everyone coming together that night, I hope it sparks some new collaborations!" Lady Brain Presents founder Lindsay White is excited to help execute Bee's vision. “A common misconception about Lady Brain Presents is that we are a music collective, when in reality we aim to celebrate and support local womxn creators across mediums. Mary's idea is a great way to roll out the red carpet for a more inclusive membership."  White leads January member workshop - photo by Sydney Prather White also addressed how San Diego's recent shelter in place orders have affected the organization's current and future plans. “It's been a challenge because one of the main reasons we organized in the first place was to cultivate community support for womxn creatives in real, physical spaces through both private workshops and public community gatherings. Moving away from that model feels counterintuitive because we spent the last year encouraging folks to get off their devices and out into the world. But this is a new world, at least temporarily, and we have to adapt."  Tori Roze performs at this month's Lady Brain Presents Takeover of Grampa Drew's Flim Flam Revue - photo by Darci Fontenot First up in the collective's pivot to online spaces was last Sunday's “Community Quarantine," a Facebook livestream concert featuring performances from Julie Albright, Julia Sage, Astra Kelly, Rosy Dawn, Corina Rose, and Bonnie Nicholls. The organization has also transformed its monthly Brain Candy blog from a gig calendar to an artist relief resource. As shelter in place orders continue, Lady Brain Presents will move additional member workshops and showcases to virtual platforms as needed.  “No matter what, the goal is for this family of local womxn creators to work together and find ways to lift each other up and amplify each other's work in the community," said White. “I am optimistic we will be able to gather again by August, but if we need to host a virtual film festival online, we will figure that out, too. Creative womxn always find a way - we're scrappy as hell."
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our first ever Community Quarantine livestream on Facebook! Featuring virtual sets by Julie Albright, Julia Sage, Astra Kelly, Rosy Dawn, Corina Rose, and Bonnie Nicholls, attendees were able to experience the concert-style lineup in real time and enjoy an array of musical styles from some of the most talented womxn in San Diego!  3/26/2020 0 Comments March Community Quarantine Please join us on Sunday, March 29 for our first Community Quarantine concert! Here's how it works - each performer will be live streaming from their personal account, but we will also be sharing those feeds on the Lady Brain Presents Facebook Page, so no need to jump around from profile to profile if you don't wanna! We're looking forward to bringing a little music and community into your homes! The concert is free, but if you have the means to tip our artists and our organization, a little goes a long way!
Lady Brain Livestream - Community Quarantine Sunday, March 29 - 2pm Tune in: www.facebook.com/ladybrainpresents Lineup: 2pm Julie Albright http://venmo.com/Julie-Albright-8 2:20pm Julia Sage https://venmo.com/julia-h- paypal/venmo: gothmodel@hotmail.com 2:40pm Astra Kelly http://www.venmo.com/astra-kelly 3pm Rosy Dawn Selwitz https://venmo.com/Rosy-Selwitz 3:20pm Corina Rose https://www.gofundme.com/san-diego-creatives-relief-fund (This is a fundraiser hosted by Heather Yambrovich, a local music/art lover who is setting up outreach for local artists in need of assistance.) 3:40pm Bonnie Nicholls (not collecting tips) To contribute to Lady Brain Presents: https://www.ladybrainpresents.com/contribute.html 3/20/2020 0 Comments Brain Candy - Sweet Relief EditionThe bad news? Our gigs (which were already under attack thanks to this trash bill named AB5) are cancelled as long as the quarantine is in effect. The good news? Artists are accustomed to a scrappy, resourceful life. We will get through this together. But we need our community's help. Thankfully, various San Diegan supporters of the Lady Brain Presents family have already reached out to ask how they can help their local womxn artists during this time. So we put together this special edition of Brain Candy, where we asked members one simple question: What are the top ways your community can support you NOW? Here are their answers, listed in order of response. We will be updating this blog as more members respond, so please check back in regularly, and show some love to the womxn who have worked tirelessly years through the years to bring you art, music, education, joy, healing, and entertainment.  You'll notice many requests for direct donations in addition to work for sale, services for hire, virtual entertainment, and exchange of goods. Please note that this crisis has brought on immediate financial insecurity, which can be a traumatic and difficult space to operate productively/creatively within. We are all doing our best to pull through it and help each other in the process. If you are in a position to help one or more members during this time, please do so. For those who do not have the means support financially, there are plenty of ways to support an artist at no cost - please interact with them on social media and feel free to ask them directly how you can help. We are grateful for any support in keeping our thriving womxn's art scene alive.    Sharisse Coulter Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Graphic Designer -Merch (books, prints) and Services (video editing, graphic design, commissions) -Venmo  Tori Roze Musician, Singer, Songwriter, Vocal and Performance Coach, Healer -Venmo -Messy Cat Music voice/performance/acting lessons (619-316-4948) -Roze Wellness virtual Reiki energy distance healing (619-316-4948) -Music (Tori splits sales with the band)   Laura Jane Willcock Musician, Singer, Songwriter, DJ, Producer -Lux Records Music and Merch -Paypal at fishonasticktalent@hotmail.com        Cathryn Beeks Musician, Singer, Songwriter, Host, Producer, Photographer, Videographer -Patreon -Venmo If you've shown support to the above artists in their immediate time of need, and you'd like to contribute further to the Lady Brain Collective as a whole, please find links below! Thank you for the love!  Lady Brain Collective // Lady Brain Presents
San Diego-based Womxn's Creative Collective -Patreon / Contribute -Join (San Diego Womxn Creatives) -Spotify Playlist |
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