More from Nikki Corvette!

Nikki Corvette gives us some great advice!

Girls Like Me Were Born to Rock 'n' Roll!

Girls Rock Camp Austin caught up with the fabulous Nikki Corvette last August at the Wild Weekend Power Pop Festival in Austin. For the unfortunately uninitiated, Ms. Corvette started playing music in 1978 in the male-dominated Detroit punk rock scene with her band, Nikki and the Corvettes. Despite playing shows with influential bands like The Ramones and The Romantics, Nikki had some jaw-dropping, but not uncommon, experiences with some of her xy-chromosomed contemporaries – like getting kicked off bills when promoters found out there were girls in her band, and having her stage stormed by a "girls-should-be-pregnant-and-in-the- kitchen" screaming Johnny Thunders. Watch Nikki talk about it here!




Check out Nikki's great anthems "Girls Like Me" and "Let's Go!" This video has a cool slide show of the women of 80's punk.

SXSW Day Party!

Big thanks to the bands who played, the volunteers who made it all happen, and everyone who came out to our party during SXSW. Special thanks to Daisy Rock Guitars and the staff at Whole Foods Market at 5th and Lamar -- what an amazing team to work with!

London's Peggy Sue.

BO-PEEP from Tokyo rawked the patio!

This little boy was transfixed.  So were the rest of us!

Follow that Bird!  features two GRCA band coaches/instructors.

It was Hesta Prynn's birthday!

We fell in love with The Coathangers from Atlanta!

Adrian from Adrian and the Sickness gives the girls a little guitar lesson.

It was a long, sunny day.  We all made it though!

See ya next year!

Team Brea takes the lead!

What a great week! Not only do we have all our fantastic SXSW events, but we've also been chosen by Friday Night Lights/Heroes superstar Brea Grant to receive money raised in the social media Charity Smackdown (sponsored by Mashable and Paypal). We are so honored that Brea would reach out to us -- she totally wanted to compete for an Austin based agency that supports women in the arts. We think we're a perfect fit, too (and we've loved you since you first walked on the Dillon High campus). Thank you, Brea, for supporting us!

The fundraiser just went live tonight. While we know that every charity will win in this competition, we do take pride in the fact that our Brea is in first place!

Here's the tally so far:
Team Brea $240
Team Elevenmoms $175
Team Kyle $160
Team Mashable $160
Team Alec $140
Team Corbin $75
Team Hayden $45
Team Ernie $30
Team Linkin Park $10

Click here to support Team Brea.  Please, circulate this far and wide. This is a great opportunity to tell all your friends about GRCA and the fabulous work we do. Remember, we have an extensive scholarship program that enables girls to come rock who might not otherwise be able to afford to. We have more programs in the works that will benefit the girls of Austin and our community as a whole.


Go Team Brea!

SXSW

Lots going on next week in Girls Rock Camp Austin land! Please join us!

We'll have tons of new GRCA swag for sale - shirts, hoodies, bags and more.  Also, tax deductible donations,  supporting camp scholarships, will be accepted!

SXSW/ BMI Benefit for Girls Rock Camp Austin
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:00pm
Maggie Mae's, 323 E. 6th Street
Free for wristbands/badges. Or, slight cover charge benefits GRCA.

7:30 - Ume (Austin, TX) (featuring GRCA guitar teacher/band coach Lauren Larson)
8:30 -The Besties (Brooklyn, NY)
9:30 - Zolof The Rock-n-Roll Destroyer (Philadelphia, PA)
10:30 - Girl In a Coma (San Antonio, TX)


GRCA SXSW Day Party (Sponsored by Daisy Rock Guitars)
Friday, March 20, 2:30-7pm
Whole Foods rooftop patio, 525 N. Lamar
FREE! Open to the public! All ages! Family Friendly! Face painting!
Enter to a WIN a sparkle pink Daisy Rock Rock Candy guitar! RAD!

2:45 Fabi Reyna - former camper! (Austin)
3:00 Peggy Sue (UK)
3:40 BO-PEEP (Tokyo)
4:20 Rank + File - former camper! (Austin)
4:30 Follow that Bird! - featuring band coaches/instructors Lauren Green and Tiffanie Lanmon (Austin)
5:10 Hesta Prynn (from Northern State)(NYC)
5:50 The Coathangers (Atlanta, GA)
6:40 Adrian & the Sickness - featuring band coaches/instructors Heather Webb and Adrian Connor) (Austin)

Hope to see you at the shows!

Last year's SXSW day party

Next week marks the second annual Girl's Rock Camp Austin SXSW. Here are some pictures from last year's party, held at Austin Java. All photos taken by esteemed Brooklyn photographer Stephanie F. Black.

Code Rainbow! (Austin)

We raffled a Gibson Les Paul Vixen guitar signed by the Go-Go's.

Follow that Bird! (Austin)

New York's Tiny Masters of Today.  Bassist Ada attended the Willie Mae Rock Camp for girls in NYC!

Kitty, Daisy, & Lewis, from London, is a band comprised of 3 teenaged siblings.  For live performances their parents accompany them. (Mom Ingrid Weiss was the drummer in The Raincoats!)

We are huge fans of New York's Care Bears on Fire!

Welcome to our blog!

Hello and welcome to the new Girls Rock Camp Austin blog! We’ve been planning this for a while and we have some catching up to do, but we’ll start with some pictures from the First Night Parade in downtown Austin. A bunch of our intrepid volunteers and campers got together and made a huge drum for our “float”. They hooked up a generator, strung the drum with lights, and plugged in amps for the electric guitars and basses. New Year’s Eve revelers were treated to a marching rock band rendition of Joan Jett’s “I love Rock ‘n Roll,” and a medley of songs written by GRCA bands last summer. It was pretty amazing see the big smiles and pumping fists of the crowd! Check it out!

Nadine leads the charge!

Singers!

Drum line!

A rolling platform was made for the sole keyboard player.

Close-up of giant drum.

Band coach/guitar instructor Lauren Larson (Ume) and camper Celeste rock out. 

Little brothers are allowed!

Drum major Rachael Shannon and GRCA executive director Emily Marks.

Post parade fun.

(photos by Melissa Bryan)