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G. McGraw
audience while performing. Ari and the band represented a new type of performance that was built not on talent or mastery in singing or instrument playing, but on having a strong stage presence and persona. Early on Ari became enamored by reggae and Jamaican culture, and during an interview on a lowbudget, televised punk talk show, Ari shared that she and her band mates enjoyed reggae and anything tribal. As if to support their love of tribal culture, Ari and her band mates appeared topless on their first album cover in grass skirts and completely covered in mud. After the breakup of The Slits, Ari moved around to different countries and eventually took up residence in Jamaica, where she began a solo career and became known in the Jamaican dancehall scene as a performer called Madussa. Ari donned flowing ‘‘dreadlocks,’’ often spoke of her love of black cultures and became the mother of three bi-racial sons of African descent. She continued with her solo career until her death from cancer in 2010. Alice Bag is a punk pioneer. Initially from East Los Angeles, Alice Bag was born and raised Alicia Armendariz to Mexican parents. She recently published an autobiography entitled Violence Girl: East LA rage to Hollywood stage (2011), a Chicana punk story, in which she talks about her Mexican roots, violent childhood memories, and how her desire to fit in led her to punk rock. Bag states on the Amazon.com biography for the book that, ‘‘Over the past 30 years, I’ve been in a series of little known but influential bands that championed alternative feminism as well as queer and minority rights.’’ Alice Bag is not only a pioneer in the hardcore LA Punk world, but is still striving to preserve the history of females in punk rock and to acknowledge the bands forgotten by time. ***** Each character presented in Sodom’s Daughters will be presented as they see themselves; whether they live excessively, are haughty, or do abominable things, their stories will be told. Sharing the story of black women in punk using performative methods allows for the creative inclusion and consolidation of hidden, forgotten, and misrepresented facts. A major reason for creating Sodom’s Daughters is to provide exposure and ultimately build awareness about the presence of black females in punk. This is important because very little information is available about this fact despite evidence that black females did and do currently exist as part of this genre. Creating the three characters Patty 2-Tone, Fey Hellion, and Southie, who are composites of principal players in the punk rock movement, serves a dual purpose of telling their unique stories while showing the universality of our human need to belong.
Notes on contributor Gigi McGraw is an actress and has a Masters in Theater from Villanova University. She currently resides in Philadelphia, PA, where she is developing several didactic performances for film and stage.