Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
Journalist and DJ Connie Kuhns tracks powerful ’80s and ’90s women’s music in new book
Breadcrumb Trail Links
Over a decade on Co-Op Radio fosters insight into women’s influential music scene.
Published Mar 31, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 4 minute read
Vancouver journalist Connie Kuhns has released Rubymusic A Popular History of Women’s Music and Culture. Photo by MCK Photography/McKailie Carnaha
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
Rubymusic: A Popular History of Women’s Music and Culture
By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thanks for signing up!
Article content
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account
- Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on
- Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists
- Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists
- Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account
- Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on
- Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists
- Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists
- Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword
REGISTER TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments
- Enjoy additional articles per month
- Get email updates from your favourite authors
Article content
Connie Kuhns | Caitlin Press
$26 | 255pp
Every major movement in music history has its roots in the underground. In the late 1970s, punk rock had ripped open the bloated contemporary music scene to expose DIY musicians exploring new approaches to making rock ‘n’ roll and other genres. One of these was the groundbreaking sounds of what came to be called “women’s music,” by the male-dominated industry of the day.
Emerging as a platform for artists who were expressing their feminism, independence from the patriarchy and celebration of what it was and is to be a woman, the scene was fostered in venues such as Vancouver’s Full Circle Coffeehouse, the Women’s Bookstore on Richards Street, the Russian Hall on West Fourth and similar venues. But these small spaces weren’t big enough for the talents they showcased.
Article content
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Vancouver journalist Connie Kuhns wrote a column in a feminist newspaper called Kinesis documenting the soundtrack of this time. Titled Rubymusic, columns included interviews with artists ranging from k.d. lang and Animal Slaves’ Elizabeth Fisher to Yoko Ono, Amy Grant, Gloria Steinem and the incredible guitarist Ellen McIlwaine, whose photo graces the book cover. The feature was smart, witty and aimed to set the record straight in honouring women artists from a wide spectrum.
Highlights from across those columns and other features by Kuhns form the recently released Rubymusic A Popular History of Women’s Music and Culture from Caitlin Press. It’s a trip into an era that was highly creative, intense and sometimes volatile.
Blues/rock guitarist Ellen McIlwaine was a fixture on the 1980s/1990s women’s music circuit. jpg
“Part of becoming a feminist back then was to separate and reject, and it was thing that happened that women would get rid of all of their albums by men,” said Kuhns.
“Inevitably, that lead to rejecting other women as well, from girl groups not being “real,” to harder-rocking women like Ellen McIlwaine and Genya Raven being seen as too male-identified, and on and on. It was sweeping, incorrect, yet out of it came the women’s music movement which Rubymusic showcased.”
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Play Video
In 1981, Kuhns approached Vancouver Co-Op Radio about doing a show devoted to playing only music by women. Inspired by how indie DJs at KOMA Radio in Oklahoma City had shaped her youth and musical tastes, she wanted to deliver a similar experience to listeners. Rubymusic Radio was born.
“There was a great deal of support for the show which they really wanted, but also doubt about whether I would be able to fill the time-slot, which was only 30 minutes,” said Kuhns. “I had requested an hour, and fortunately Rock Talk DJ Michael Willmore offered to cut back his time so I could have that. You have to know that the rule in mainstream commercial radio at the time was no more than two females in a row, so it is a very different world today.”
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Rubymusic Radio ran for 15 years. After Kuhns retired the program, she went on to host the Rubymusic stage at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival where local audiences had their first taste of artists such as Michelle Shocked, Katie Webster, Sweet Honey in the Rock and others. Hauling around a sizable archive over the years, Kuhns finally realized the only way to come to terms with things she was still mulling over about the era was to do the book.
“I did the book to get it out of my head, because I felt that this archive had possessed me for so long that I had to unload it somewhere and the best way to do that was on readers,” she said. “Fortunately, Caitlin Press agreed and a lot of what is in the book really doesn’t exist anywhere together. Kinesis is in an archive at a university back east and Hotwire, which I also wrote for, is in an archive at the University of Illinois. None of this is readily available to the general public.”
Advertisement 6
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
From retyping old stories from yellowed, crumpled newsprint clippings she held onto, to having to home in on which stories to include or omit was time-consuming. It also turned up rabbit hole after rabbit hole to further confound the writer.
“There are a few things in the book, like a review of Terry-Lynn Ryan’s Hen Night, that might seem insignificant and an odd choice,” said Kuhns. “But this was one woman’s attempt to get women together to play country music, which was another one of these little explosions that changed things for a time. I didn’t want to see those be forgotten in the face of seemingly bigger stories.”
One of Kuhns’ favourite items in the book is her band chart displaying the interconnected artists across the scenes. She began it when she was writing her comprehensive essay on the Vancouver women’s punk scene, titled Strange Women, but the chart couldn’t be included due to lack of space. Further fleshed out with additional fact-checking, the family tree in Rubymusic is fascinating.
And many of the names are still active today.
sderdeyn@postmedia.com
-
Pretty Woman: The Musical is just an old-fashioned tale about a sex worker and corporate trader
-
![Jerry Seinfeld will headline The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival in Halifax in 2023. No work yet whether he will do the same for the proposed Vancouver leg of the festival.]()
Huge outdoor comedy festival proposed for Vancouver in September
Support our journalism: Our in-depth journalism is possible thanks to the support of our subscribers. For just $3.50 per week, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.
Share this article in your social network
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Join the Conversation
Advertisement 1
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
