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Bye Bye Banshee: A Musical Exploration of Death From a Femme Perspective

Well I've been back home in the cold arms of Mother Minnesota for about a year and when people ask what I've been up to I slightly sheepishly tell them about my latest music project, Bye Bye Banshee, which takes on the topic of death from a decidedly female perspective. I've been surprised to find a very welcome reception to the ideas I've been exploring through this project.

In the past several years I've done a lot of moving (Austin, San Antonio, Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul) and a lot of writing and drawing. A lot of grieving. Very little performing.

But still I've been bubbling over with creative energy, honing my song craft. And getting ready to hit the stage again...and my first UK show at the Death & the Maiden Conference is on the horizon.

My curious fear and fascination of death started when I was a small child. Blame my Catholic childhood. My Pentecostal puberty. My fear of hell. My natural inclination towards the dark and mysterious.

But I've come to look at death as a spectrum with many colors. That's what Bye Bye Banshee is all about. The dark. The light. All the curious shades in between. I believe that the fear of death, that (often) unspoken dread, causing suffering and evil. For me, writing this music is part of the cure.

In less than two weeks, I'll be back in the studio, this time recording the first EP for Bye Bye Banshee. It's been a deeply spiritual experience and I've chosen people who I believe will take that soul approach to my project, including Twin Cities jazz composers Chris Bates (Red 5, Atlantis Quartet) and JT Bates (Andrew Bird,Trampled by Turtles) on upright bass and drums, Aaron Kerr (Swallows) on cello and my good friend Jeff Crandall (J.Briozo, Swallows) as co-producer. Minneapolis legend Tom Garneau will be recording and mixing.

I'll be posting some stuff from the studio soon. But in the meantime, you can hear early, crude at-home recordings of some songs at the new Bye Bye Banshee site here.

Yours in life and death,

Jezebel

Update: you can now check out the music of Bye Bye Banshee here. The upcoming EP, Deathfolk Magic, will be released October 5, 2018.

To the Next Man Who Says "I'd hit THAT" (in Front of Me)...

The way some men objectify women publicly on the street has been pissing me off for years. It's bullshit and it needs to stop, pronto.

In San Antonio street harassment was constant and scary. Any time I tried to walk somewhere, guys whistled at me, followed me in their cars, propositioned me when I was walking my dogs, told me to get into their cars at the bus stop; I almost never felt safe walking around that town.

Now that I'm in Seattle it's so much better. But even in a city with significantly more gender equality, street harassment happens, especially when a woman passes a group of younger men on the street after dark. Last night it happened twice to me in about 10 minutes as I was walking around downtown before a show.

Both times it happened like this...

*one guy looks me up and down*

Guy: "I would hit THAT" / "I'd do THAT"

*other guys laugh*

I knew they were talking to me because both times I was the only woman around. I can't tell you how terrible it is to be called an OBJECT--not 'her' but 'it' or 'that'--but when it happens in public it's even worse.

Are you purposely trying to dehumanize me?
Were you raised by misogynistic wolves?
Or perhaps you're just a shitty excuse for a human being?

Comic by Robot Hugs

It's obvious that we're still a far cry from gender equality because street harassment still happens. A LOT. And to all kinds of women of all shapes and sizes, young and old.

Saying you'd have sex with someone so they can hear you on the street is sexual harassment, pure and simple. And dehumanizing the woman by calling her 'it' or 'that' adds insult to injury. But the intent is clear. Make a woman feel small. Make a man seem big.

Men: if you thoughtlessly engage in calling women "THAT" or "IT" (even in "jest"), please fucking check yourselves. And if your mates do it, call them out. All you have to say is "DUDE" in a disapproving voice or roll your eyes. Signify in some way that this is not cool. It's not that hard to do. Literally referring to a person as an object has never been right and I think most of us can agree that harassing any human being on the street is repugnant.

If all us--both men and women--express our disgust when demeaning sexual comments are made about a woman, the behavior will die out. Organizations like Hollaback! and Stop Street Harassment are making people aware of the issue and helping women speak out. And if you haven't experienced street harassment, check out the viral video 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman.

So...

To the next man who says "I'd hit THAT" (in front of me):

I won't pretend I didn't hear your douchebag comment, they way I usually do.

Next time I'm going to call your shitty ass out, right there on the street in front of your friends. I'm going to shame you publicly for sexually harassing me.

I'll make you think twice about making that kind of comment to another woman.

Sincerely,

The WOMAN you would 'do'

P.S. kudos to the amazing men who are enlightened enough to tackle this issue and do something about it. Aziz Ansari's Netflix series 'Master of None' has an amazing episode on sexual harassment entitled Ladies & Gentleman (Episode 7) that deals with men being kind of oblivious to the harassment women experience on a daily basis. And blogger Nate Pyle explains how he will teach his son to see women as more than just bodies. The post is really amazing and worth a read.

********************************************

Tired of being harassed...or want to read more about the issue? Here are some good resources:

10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman

Hollaback! A movement to help end street harassment

Stop Street Harassment A non-profit org dedicated to documenting and stopping gender-based harassment worldwide

6 Things Men Can Do to Stop Street Harassment

I'm Having a Baby - It's a Girl (and it's a band).

I felt like it was time to talk publicly about my latest music project, Bye Bye Banshee. In creating this new band, I'm hoping to break my music out into two distinct sounds. Jezebel Jones & Her Wicked Ways will focus on the more raucous alt-country-cabaret-meets-bluegrass side of things, while Bye Bye Banshee is a darker folk rock project. This is a natural progression since my first record--Queen of the Devil's Rodeo--was a combination of the two styles, for better or for worse.

I've been working on the concept and music for Bye Bye Banshee for three years and soon I'll be recording it in the studio, with an EP to be available in early 2016.

This project is very dear to my heart. Though the music itself could be described as spooky or gloomy (even witchy), the songs attempt to shapeshift the story of Death from that of a scary grim reaper character (male figure) to that of a beautiful and often more benevolent female personification. Female death-related folk figures such as the Irish Banshee and Mexican saint Santa Muerte are featured in the music, along with new myths I've been conjuring up.

When we view Death as a more natural--and less scary--concept, I believe it can free us from the deep undercurrents of fear that dictate our lives. Christianity often uses Death as both the carrot and the stick: the fear of hell is a constant threat and heaven is a rich reward; both are designed to keep people in submission in *this* life. But there's a good chance there is no heaven or no hell...at least not in the way we were taught. So how do we live our lives differently when we see Death differently?

If you haven't checked it out, you can listen to the demos on Soundcloud here. Or like/follow Bye Bye Banshee on Facebook or Twitter.

Thanks for your support in this new creative endeavor!

-Jezebel

“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”

― J.K. Rowling

Texas and the TSA

Goodbye, Texas. TSA: Nun are Safe

I'll be hitting the road soon--remaining dog at my side--driving through Roswell, NM, Moab, UT and Boise, ID, on my way to my new (and old) home, Seattle. I've landed a good day job, and a songwriter often needs one of those things to pay the bills. I love a good road trip and this one's bound to be inspiring.

I'm talkin' about the road. Inspiring. Expansive. Full of Revelations.

But if the car is the modern American horse, what are planes?

Planes are annoying. Too much waiting. Too little room, obnoxious people, crying babies. And then there's the crotch-grabbing before you even board the plane...

We teach our children not to let strangers touch their genitals (STRANGER, DANGER!!!), but apparently random agents of the government can touch our genitals all they want, in a public place.

Today one of my favorite alternative weekly's--the Denver Westword--posted a funny story on TSA crotch-grabbing memes. As I scrolled through, I laughed but started to get a teeny bit annoyed that all the TSA memes they posted were of MEN. I have first hand experience with the TSA fondling my labia, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

So I thought I'd post a female TSA meme--surely they existed. But after some unsuccessful googling, apparently the internet thinks airport crotch groping it IS a male problem, because I couldn't find much in the way of female TSA memes.

So I found a picture that works (and jives well with my upbringing) and made my own.

Happy Sunday, Everyone.

Fly America at your own risk.

-Jez