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COMMUNITY
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MAGNUM OPUS
It's True, Boys ... The Girl's Got Groove
DJ Jenny LaFemme documents sexism in dance-music
through Girls Gone Vinyl: The Untold Story of Female DJs.
By Pamela A. Zinkosky
enny Feterovich, alias DJ Jenny
11LaFemme, is used to being the minority.
In 1989, when she was 14, her family
fled anti-Semitism in Moscow and settled
in suburban Detroit.
As a student at Berkley High School,
LaFemme absorbed the popular culture,
where Madonna and Michael Jackson
were en vogue. But she never forgot her
roots. "You want to be assimilated into the
culture, but you also want to be with your
DJ Jenny LaFemme with fellow female DJ Dahlia
own people," she says.
DJ Modest.
Music became her bridge between East-
ern European and American cultures. In
basement of music nerds who would mix
the 1990s, she became a fixture in Detroit's
sounds and edit songs at home.
underground music clubs, where she first
"Girls at that age are doing different
heard electronic music and the way a disc
things," says Derthick. "Boys tend to nerd
jockey could meld musical elements that
out in their basements" in their teenage
spoke to the crowd and make them dance.
years more than girls do. "There were no
Says LaFemme: "I saw the music. I saw
other women to look up to," LaFemme
the energy. I saw the vibe, and I just fell in
adds. "It was a boys' club!'
love with it!'
Girls Gone Vinyl aims to inspire women
Her desire to create that soulful, carefree
who are interested in the industry, La-
environment for fellow Russians was the
Femme says."It's not a bitch-fest," she says,
impetus for a new hobby — hosting dance
but an opportunity to tell how successful
parties — where she played Russian music,
female DJs have made their mark.
disco and other genres.
"It will give a younger girl someone to
More than a decade later, LaFemme
emulate and see where they started from,"
has created a side career out of spinning
Derthick explains.
electronic music — more specifically, a
Derthick and LaFemme began filming
subgenre of sexy, melodic electronica she
at the Movement Electronic Music Festival
calls"house."Her day job is as a principal
and are seeking seed money for the proj-
and co-founder at Clawson-based Parlia-
ect on Kickstarter.com , where artists can
ment Studios Inc., a video production
appeal to the masses for donations.
company.
"We plan to travel around the world and
As one of the few well-known female
get as many stories as we can;' LaFemme
DJs in the electronic music industry, an ar-
says. "I'd like to go to more than 100 [fe-
guably small group, LaFemme says she DJs
male DJs] and cover from the '70s and '80s
anywhere she can create a dance environ-
all the way up to the modern DJ who just
ment, including locally in Detroit, as well
started spinning a couple of weeks ago!'
as in Miami and Moscow.
Girls Gone Vinyl includes the story of
LaFemme and music-event producer
Anja Schneider, who began as an elec-
Maggie Derthick have collaborated annu-
tronic music producer for German radio,
ally on an all-female DJ lineup that coin-
owns the record label Mobilee Records
cides each year with Movement, Detroit's
and happens to be pregnant.
annual spring electronic music festival.
Also included in the interview lineup are
When they met up to discuss this year's
up-and-coming electronic music producer
event, LaFemme said she had an epiphany.
Deniz Kurtel, Chicago-born producer Kate
"It literally struck me. I have a studio. I
Simko and the DJ duo Dollz at Play.
have an opportunity to do something very
What's more, says Derthick, the film
important," says LaFemme.
includes women like her who work in busi-
The festival, which ran May 28-30 in De-
ness and public relations for the industry
troit's Hart Plaza, featured only six female
and could act as a touchpad for young
DJs out of 107 total acts and was "par for
artists.
the course," say LaFemme and Derthick."It
"There's this whole new generation of
is a very segregated industry," LaFemme
people coming into this music;' Derthick
adds. "We are consistently told we're pretty
says."Electronic music is going to become
good for girls."
more mainstream quicker than anyone
The women began planning a docu-
thinks!'
mentary — Girls Gone Vinyl: The Untold
Where a lack of female DJs might have
Story of Female DJs — highlighting female
scared some women away from the indus-
DJs and their challenges in a male-domi-
try, LaFemme says that only bolstered her
nated industry.
drive.
Derthick, an electronic music veteran,
"I think differently. I like a challenge. If
says the industry is slanted toward males
they can do it, I can do it," she says."There's
for multiple reasons.The most obvious
still a stigma that we're pretty good for
is in the way the industry began: Elec-
girls. I don't want to be pretty good for a
tronic music production grew out of the
girl. I just want to be good." ET
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July 2011 9