Latest news with #Grannies
CBS News
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Local "geriatric punk" band the Grannies reunite at Bottom of the Hill
The late legendary guitar great, composer and satirist Frank Zappa in the mid-1980s released a live album with the title Does Humor Belong In Music? That question gets answered with an unequivocal "Yes!" from local geriatric punk-rock reprobates the Grannies. Punk bands built around a gimmick usually focus far more attention on concept than they do songs and execution, but for over two decades, the cross-dressing rabble rousers behind Bay Area quintet the Grannies has been mixing their love for ridiculous shenanigans with some solid and serious rock and roll. Formed in 1999 when the group first clambered upon a San Francisco stage dressed in thrift-store old lady dresses, masks and wigs, The Grannies deliver a trashy, furious assault that echoes the likes of the New York Dolls, the Dictators and the Dwarves. Lead guitarist Lois "Carmen" DeNominator (aka the Grannihilator, aka Sluggo Cawley), exhibitionist lead singer Deanamite (aka Dean Scheben) and company have been entertaining the masses with their onstage antics and infectious anthems drawn from such fittingly titled efforts as Taste the Walker , the outtakes/demos collection Incontinence and the band's most recent full-length effort -- 2015's Ballsier -- for Texas-based imprint Saustex Records while playing regular local shows and touring abroad. The following year, the crew released Lords & Ladies , a split live album with the Upper Crust, the notable powdered-wig sporting Boston hard rockers who the Grannies have shared stages with in the U.S. and Europe. The group went on an extended hiatus in 2018 so Cawley could pursue his more roots-oriented songwriting with the noir-ish country-rock band REQ'D that has released three albums and a number of singles and EPs since first coming together, including Wrongheadedness , a mini album of bonus tracks from the band's 2020 effort Pulling Up Floorboards . The Grannies got back together back in 2020 to play their first show in four years at the SF Eagle to honor the memory of Daniel Blair , a longtime employee at Cawley's San Francisco framing shop. The band has largely remained quiet since that show, though Scheben has been playing in the new band Clencher featuring current and former Grannies including bassist Scott Shanks (who also played in Turn Me On Dead Man) and guitarist Neal Stillman (Hockaloogie, Handfulla Flowers). Meanwhile, Cawley self-published his entertaining underground rock and roll memoir "Guitargonaut" last year that tells his (mis)adventures of his four decades playing in bands that has since been picked up by UK publisher Earth Island Books , who will be reprinting the volume with new additional chapters. For this early show at the Bottom of the Hill Saturday that will celebrate the 50th birthday of band friend Tuula Ala, the Grannies will take the stage for what Cawley has announced will be the group's last performance ever. The band will be joined by Ala's metal outfit Theya and local skate-punk favorites Party Force. The Grannies Saturday, March 29, 6 p.m. $15 The Bottom of the Hill
Los Angeles Times
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Mailbag: Anyone else want to start a Grandpa Brigade?
Kudos to the Grandma Brigade for protesting in front of the Costa Mesa Tesla showroom ('Grandma Brigade holds its first protest in Costa Mesa to 'stop the Musk takeover,' March 7). I'm sure the Raging Grannies of Spokane, Wash.; Eugene, Ore.; Madison, Wis. and other communities salute your efforts. Which begs the question: Where is the Grandpa Brigade? Because I am 76 and about to become a grandfather for the third time, I think it's safe to say I could easily qualify as a charter member. Who's with me? Denny FreidenrichLaguna Beach Is MAGA-only library book collection next? How many times does this need to be repeated? There are no pornographic or obscene books in the Huntington Beach Library children's department. It is illegal for book publishers to sell such books for children. Puberty books, books about the human body and sex education books are not pornography, no matter how many times the Huntington Beach City Council tries to convince people otherwise. Councilman Chad Williams claims the ACLU is stripping parents of their right to decide what is appropriate for their children, but this is what our council is doing. They want a 21-person committee of their choosing to have the ultimate say over what books can and cannot be ordered for the library. They want to restrict access to library books they find questionable to anyone under the age of 18. Censorship is censorship. The City Council is not letting parents decide for themselves. They are deciding for them. Although they had the option, they chose not to accept either library petition, one to do away with the review committee and the other to allow residents to vote before the library management can be outsourced. They claim they have no plans to move forward with outsourcing the library. If this is true, why didn't they accept the petition? Instead of waiting until the next general election, our council has chosen the most expensive option to fight against them. Our city will hold a special election, June 10, at the cost of at least $1 million. Our city is known to have low voter turnout for special elections. If residents love their library and their freedom to read freely, they need to vote in favor of the library petitions. This is just the beginning of the chipping away of residents' rights. If our council is allowed to continue their censorship of library materials and is given the freedom to outsource library management to a private company without resident approval, what will come next? Residents need to get out and vote. If you are upset now about a MAGA library plaque, wait until you have a MAGA-only library book collection. Barbara RichardsonHuntington Beach H.B. City Council's claims of voter fraud nonsense The Huntington Beach City Council claims that voting is unsecured. I say such claims are unfounded and problematic, and here is why: On Jan. 1, the Orange County Grand Jury published its report, 'Is Voting Integrity Alive and Well in Orange County?' On page 19, it states: 'The Grand Jury's analysis confirmed that the 2024 election maintained the highest level of integrity for OC voters.' The panel listed its findings: • 'There was no evidence of fraud or election interference ascertained in the 2024 general election in Orange County; • Voting in Orange County is fair, secure, and transparent;• The ROV communications and outreach programs promote transparency and public confidence in the voting process. Orange County eligible voters can feel secure in knowing that the ROV provided an election of the highest recognized standards.' Yet, despite these findings, the City Council continues to make unsupported allegations. Show us the data! If there is any, who published it? How many cases of voter fraud have been reported to the O.C. district attorney's office? On May 15, 2024, I heard Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer address this issue at the office of the O.C. Registrar of Voters. He said that while many claim voter fraud has taken place, they do not provide evidence to that effect. Clearly, this council is talking nonsense about voter fraud! Now, they want to divert taxpayer funds to run city elections? Kathleen BungeHuntington Beach
Local Germany
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
'Grannies Against The Right' hit the streets in Germany ahead of election
Ahead of Germany's February 23rd election, the Omas Gegen Rechts (or Gannies against the right) have amped up their campaign against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is polling at a record 20 percent or higher. Most of the group's members either have early-childhood memories of Nazi Germany or grew up amid the rubble of the devastated and shamed country, and are now determined to warn younger generations of the dangers of political extremism. "Whenever there's anti-democratic behaviour, we can't stay quiet," said Uta Saenger, one of the organisers of a nationwide day of action earlier this month that drew 24,000 people in the northern city of Hannover alone. The Omas movement has become a force to be reckoned with as right-wing extremism is on the rise again. While many retirees may be quietly kicking back, the Grannies hit the streets with gusto. "In the past year we have held or participated in over 80 protests," Maja, a 72-year-old member in Berlin, told AFP, saying many rallies were shows of solidarity at synagogues against antisemitism. She said her Jewish background made the issue deeply personal, as "my grandmother had to leave Germany with my father". She said some of her grandchildren are of Middle Eastern heritage, "and I don't want them to have to leave Germany. That's why I joined the Omas." Knitted firewall At another recent rally, held in the city of Nuremberg, the Omas were out in force again, some of them holding up a knitted banner in the form of a "firewall". That is a reference to the long-established agreement between Germany's mainstream parties not to cooperate with extremists in any form. Many accuse the conservative CDU, which is leading the polls at around 30 percent, of blowing a hole in the firewall last month by teaming up with the AfD to push a motion curbing immigration through parliament. CDU leader Friedrich Merz has insisted he is not seeking any further cooperation with the far-right and argues that action is needed after a spate of deadly attacks blamed on migrants and asylum seekers. Gabi Heller, 58 and one of the founders of the Nuremberg chapter of the Omas, told AFP that "it's an easy solution to blame migration for everything, but this is just total nonsense". Speaking during a demonstration held on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army, she said she wanted to "preserve democracy" for her three grandchildren. The Omas movement started in 2017 in Austria, where the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has long been a more established part of the political scene than Germany's AfD. In Austria, too, the Omas have been regulars at demonstrations against the FPÖ, sometimes even regaling the crowds with a song or two. But despite their efforts, the FPÖ came first in a general election for the first time last year. In Nuremberg, 70-year-old Margit Hopperdietzl from the local Omas branch said it was "worrying how little success the grannies in Austria have had and how the right-wing movement there is going from strength to strength". "Of course we hope the same won't happen in Germany." 'We were too naïve' The Omas are certainly determined but Heller said they have no illusions about the progress the AfD has made, particularly in formerly communist eastern Germany. She told AFP about a national Omas congress held last summer in Thuringia, a state where the AfD won a regional election for the first time ever in September. "It was shocking how we were treated," she said, adding that "it's not yet the same" in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg. "Here I can walk down the street with my 'Grandmas' sign and I don't have to be afraid". She said the AfD's growth "makes it even more important to act and at least reach the 80 percent who definitely won't vote for the AfD". Eva-Maria Singer, 73, who has been a member of the Omas in Nuremberg for three years, said her generation who came of age in the protests of the 1960s were "too naive". On the far right, she said "we thought we had eradicated it, but that's not true, now it's growing again". Nevertheless, Singer stressed that "we are fighting against it and we believe we can win".
