The oral history portion of These Streets has begun! To add their unique stories to the history of Seattle music, women from rock bands in the late ’80s/early ’90s are being interviewed on camera by TPR Founder Jess Van Nostrand. The interviews, filmed by Wes Hurley at TPR, feature musicians from bands such as Faster Tiger, Capping Day, Maxi Badd, Miracle Baby, 66 Saints, The Walkabouts and others. The interviews will be housed at the University of Washington Women Who Rock Digital Oral History Archive. And, starting this fall, the interviews will be released online on a weekly basis, leading up to the preview of These Streets at Seattle’s ACT.
Images (top to bottom): These Streets creators Gretta Harley (left) and Sarah Rudinoff; Carla Torgerson of The Walkabouts; Bonnie Hammond (left) and Laura Vanderpool of Capping Day
More about These Streets:
These Streets is an original work of theatre inspired by women rock musicians in Seattle during the infamous “grunge” years. The story centers on five musicians who share a house from 1989-1994 in the Greenlake neighborhood as was inspired by over 25 interviews conducted with the women musicians who were an integral part of the Seattle music scene and whose stories and songs have been overshadowed by the familiar bands and retrospectives. We meet these characters when they are young. We hear their music and witness the challenges they face as their tight-knit community unexpectedly explodes and their city becomes an international rock Mecca. We also meet the characters in the present, their stories evolving just as much as the city around them. These Streets will include music from that era as well as new songs, all played and sung by the characters and a live band. These Streets will have its premiere at ACT Theatre in Feb/March, 2013.
These Streets is a theatrical show about Seattle women rockers who blazed a trail during the early 90’s and who are now older and finding ways to stay vital, making music and art in a city that has changed as much as they have.
Above stills by Wes Hurley