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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 1979)
paga6 daily nebraskan thursday, december 6 1979 Discrimination is the only sour note for female musicians 'A X j' A Sally Cowan Photo by Mark Billingsley By Diane Andersen Women in music, just like women in any other field, can expect to encounter some problems. But musicians usually can count on their colleagues for support when discriminated against, according .to Allegra Pennington and Sally Cowan, two Lincoln musicians. Cowan and Pennington -Wednesday spoke about women in music as the last program this semester of the Women Speak series, sponsored by the Student Y. Cowan, who works as a singer and guitarist in local bars and at the Holiday Inn, said the biggest problem she has faced in eight years performing has been men hustling her. "Being hustled is being hassled, as far as I'm con cerned," Cowan said. "After eight years I can fairly well handle that." There was. a time when she wouldn't tell off an obnoxious customer, Cowan said, but now she feels she has a right to do so. "Music is instant gratification to me," Cowan said. "You see people sharing the feeling of your song." Cowan began singing at night eight years ago, after she was divorced and had to raise two children alone. She said she could make equal the wages of a full-time day job and still spend time with her children. ' . SOMETIMES IT was hard to find a babysitter, she said, but added, "The show must go on." Cowan said she learned most of what she knows from other musicians. She has worked with a band and several partners, but said personality conflicts were a problem in those situations. - "I think I'm ready to do something different," Cowan said. " She said she was offered a contract to work in New York City for two years, but turned it down because of her responsibilities to her family. When her children are out of school, Cowan said, she would like to travel and play her folk and bluegrass songs. , ; ; ' RAVEN m FACTORY OUTLET THE SALE-ON-SKI WEAR BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER! EVERY RAVEN SPORTSWEAR SKI JACKET ir Hi r . V On rn SUGG. RETAIL PRICE! All Nationally Markotod ; NAMP RRANiYQI m -mm v mm tniiwwi km " Savo Just In Tlmo For CHRISTMAS I , v ) Where Value Is Always On Sale! 12th & Q At the Glass Menagerie While Quantities Last! RIAIV1E1N industries, inc. . Hours: Mon. - Fri. 10-9 Sat. 10-6 Sun. 12 5 Sale Price Good Dec. 6-16. 1979 ISy doctor m cured ofcanccr. Emboss didrft My boss didn't under stand that I was healthy again. So I was let go. A lot of people are like my boss. They think that . everyone dies of cancer. I thought so. too. Until the American Cancer Society, through one of its service and rehabilitation programs, helped me return to a . normal life. - ' The ACS also has local Units that help Americans who've never had cancer understand it better. Today, more and more, cancer is a curable disease. Ignorance about cancer is ; curable, too. American Cancer Society "It's (music) a very sharing, giving profession," Cowan said, explaining that she thinks her jobs includes talking to customers and helping them feel better through her music. It even, includes, friendly flirting with male customers, Cowan said, but hevirtq the point of sexual flirtation. Cowan said she once was fired because she refused to sleep with the boss, although he said it was because her work breaks were too long. "AT THE TIME, I didn't know how to deal with it," she said. But Cowan added she has never experienced any backstabbing caused by insecurity of fellow musicians. "Lincoln has a very good musical community and many outstanding musicians for a Midwestern town of its size," Cowan said. The musicians' union or women's groups such as the National Organization for Women are good places to take a case of discriminationJike Cowan experienced, Penning, ton said. . "I've never experienced discrimination in this busi ness," Pennington said. She said perhaps that is because she works with her husband, musical contractor Chuck Pennington, and also plays for his jazz band, the Chuck Pennington Trio. Allegra Pennington is a bass player who does free-lance work for various jazz bands. Country clubs, receptions and parties provide most of her work, she said. Pennington has had problems in the music business. As a music teacher, she said, she had clashes with a principal because 'she refused to flirt with'him like other teachers did. After she tired of teaching, Pennington said she learned to play the bass and enjoyed it. "There's always been a strong tradition Of women in jazz," she said, adding that her colleagues have always been supportive. " ' Pennington said she hasn't been hustled by men be cause she is more of a backdrop musician, not a solo sing er '. ... .....,.,; ..v..' -'. V..',;. ' However, a male singer she once played for used her as a sounding board for jokes during his act, she said. Pennington said she took it for two nights. "THE THIRD night I decided I wasn't going to take this anymore," she said. 'So she shot a joke back at the performer and the audience laughed. ' "I took a chance-and in that case the chance worked out," Pennington said. She said women in the music business are expected to be aggressive and need to be, to some extent. But they should "make sure they know all the circumstances" when doing so, she said. "While we do see women in jazz, we don't see young girls in rock," Pennington said, adding that it may be be cause parents still think girls should play "feminine" instruments instead of electric guitars. - Violence toward women in song lyrics and album covers that show women chained or in "derogatory" posi tions are other problems for women in music, Pennington said. , . ' , "This has been going on for a long time," she said. Pennington said declining record sales in recent months may be, a good signshowing decreased interest in "a pro liferation of junk." ' Women should refuse to buy albums with violent lyrics or suggestive or degrading covers, she said. They also can write letters to the producer of the record, which Pennington said she has done. The largest percentage of records are bought by girls ages 12 to 15, Pennington said. "That's the market that record producers aim at and exploit," she said. S) (X DONT GET DOWNI Finish up in 9, 12, & 18 month programs. ACCOUNTING . BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION LINCOLN SCHOOL OF COMMERCE (jlhfcvi; ftiffiimi!) ihh Mli iMl:ii