In this video, you can hear French-Dutch punk women’s band the Lou’s playing their song Back On The Street.
Three Frenchwomen and Dutch Saskia aka Syama de Jong on drums, they were one of the first punk bands on the European continent. Also the first all-women band in any rock genre in France.
They were the only band playing on both days of the 1977 Mont de Marsan punk festival. Later in 1977 and 1978, they played with many British bands in Britain: Sham 69, the Skids, Subway Sect, Penetration, the Mekons. On 14 November 1977, The Lou’s played with Neo, Richard Hell and the Voidoids and Siouxsie and the Banshees in the Music Machine in London. They were support band to The Clash during the 1977 Out of Control tour in the UK and Ireland.
In 1978, they played with Public Image Limited, both in Paris and in London. The Clash helped them land a recording contract with CBS. However, the Lou´s did not like that contract, broke it, and went back to small label Skydog in France.
Yesterday, an extensive Lou’s biography was published on the internet, here.
Today, thanks to Sounds Clips, a 31 December 1977 interview in British Sounds weekly with this pioneer band was rediscovered. Three French girls, a Dutch drummer.
The US government is warning violent right-wing groups may be emboldened by the riot at the Capitol building last month.
The Department of Homeland Security’s threat assessment analysts are suggesting there may be additional attacks and there are concerns conspiracy theories are continuing to fuel hate.
Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds reports from Los Angeles, US.
Every antisemitic thing Marjorie Taylor Greene has said and done (so far): here.
Don’t laugh at Marjorie Taylor Greene — her Jewish constituents must live with her hate: here.
In any politically healthy system, the Republican Party would have been irreparably discredited and disgraced by its complicity in the attempted coup. Yet less than three weeks later, it arrogantly and defiantly reasserts its defense of Trump and his fascist supporters: here.
The GOP Isn’t Big Enough for Jews and for Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Jew-hate. Republicans’ disinterest in ostracizing Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, an extremist who proudly peddles antisemitic conspiracies, is devastating for Jewish conservatives: here.
February 4: White supremacy and far-right extremism: Is the Capitol siege the end or the beginning? Here.
KYLE RITTENHOUSE VIOLATES BONDKyle Rittenhouse has violated his bond agreement by apparently moving out of his home without notifying the court, and now Wisconsin prosecutors are seeking a warrant for his arrest. In a court filing, prosecutors said several attempts to contact the teenager have failed. The 18-year-old faces multiple homicide charges related to the shooting deaths of two unarmed Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last summer. [HuffPost]
CANADA DECLARES PROUD BOYS A TERRORIST GROUP The Canadian government officially designated the Proud Boys as a terror organization, ranking the group alongside al Qaeda and Boko Haram. The move to designate the Proud Boys ― a violent, pro-Trump street gang full of extremists and white nationalists ― as a criminal entity was already under consideration before the deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol last month for which numerous members of the gang have been charged. [HuffPost]
In this live music video, pioneer all-women punk band the Lou’s play No escape, in July 1978 in the Olympia in Paris, as support band of John Lydon (aka Rotten)’s band Public Image Ltd (PIL).
PIL liked the Lou’s so well that they also played twice with them in the Rainbow Theatre in London in December 1978.
Other bands with whom they played: eg, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sham 69, the Mekons and Subway Sect.
The Lou’s were three French women and Dutch drummer Saskia aka Sascha aka Syama de Jong.
In 1979 two of the Lou’s, Ms de Jong on drums and Raphaelle Devins on saxophone, joined London band Conflict. They played many concerts for Rock Against Racism.
In 1980 Sascha and Raphaelle went to Leiden in the Netherlands. Sascha de Jong founded the all-women Miami Beach Girls. Raphaelle joined the mixed-gender band Cheap ‘n’ Nasty.
The rain failed to dampen appetites as the Collared Aracaris poured onto the banana buffet. This was a cooperative and well-mannered frenzy as these aracaris are highly social and used to sharing food and space in their efforts to thrive.
U.S. TO ESCALATE COVID-19 VARIANT TRACKING The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping up efforts to track coronavirus mutations and keep vaccines and treatments effective against new variants until collective immunity is reached. Dr. Rochelle Walensky spoke about the rapidly evolving virus during a Fox News Sunday interview as the number of Americans known to have died has passed 417,000 dead, just over a year after the first U.S. case was documented. [Reuters]
BIRX: TRUMP PEDDLED MISLEADING COVID INFO Former White House coronavirus task force official Dr. Deborah Birx revealed that Trump used mysterious graphs during presentations on COVID-19 that she did not create, which provided selective, misleading data. “I know that someone — someone out there or someone inside — was creating a parallel set of data and graphics that were shown to the president,” she said. [HuffPost]
FAUCI REVEALS WHAT HE THOUGHT WHEN TRUMP SUGGESTED BLEACH Dr. Anthony Fauci described what he thought when Trump suggested a disinfectant like bleach as a potential treatment for COVID-19. “I just said, ‘Oh, my goodness gracious,’” he said on CNN. “I could just see what’s going to happen: You’re going to have people who hear that from the president and they’re going to start doing dangerous and foolish things.” [HuffPost]
I Work In A Coffee Shop In Montana. Anti-Maskers Have Made My Job Hell: here.
Up to 100 UK children a week hospitalised with rare post-Covid disease. Exclusive: 75% of children worst affected by paediatric inflammatory multi-system syndrome are BAME: here.
AMERICANS CHEER TEACHERS UNIONS Most Americans continue to support the idea of teachers striking in response to school conditions they feel are unsafe, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they would strongly or somewhat support the idea, compared with 30% who said they would oppose it. The results largely mirror a September HuffPost/YouGov poll on the same issue. [HuffPost]
Majority of black teachers do not feel employers have addressed their Covid-19 risks, polls find
… Over half of the 500 BME teachers polled at the union’s black teachers consultation conference said that they are very worried about their safety on the full reopening of their workplace. A further 16 per cent say they do not feel at all safe.
Over a quarter said they feel racism has got worse in their workplace since the pandemic started.
Britain: School workers are up to seven times more likely to contract Covid-19: here.
