FemMuse Event April 22, 2004, Humphrey’s Lounge, San Diego, California

Josie’s Ghost, Abigail’s Attic, Brigitte, The Shredmistress, Hydroplane, Jiggawatt

written and photographed by: Female Guitarist Shredmistress Rynata

The FemMuse Team wants to thank everyone for putting on such a cool event. You all rock!!! Special thanks to Bridget Brigitte and Jean Pierre for their support, help and organization.

What can I say…. just another happening FemMuse show…. this time in San Diego at Humphrey’s Lounge. Kudos to Bridget for suggesting this great place and for helping to put this all together. Fantastic. Humphrey’s is situated at the San Diego Bay (Shelter Island) and we were overlooking hundreds of sail boats and a blue skye (at least when I got there…)

The evening started off with the acoustic hour The FemGems. Julie-Marie and Makeda, two african american female singers started off the night… just acapella… and promptly brought the house down!! Suggested by Bridget, they turned out to be the perfect beginning for an evening packed with great bands. Get them to L.A…quick… It was nice to meet some of the long time FemMusers from San Diego for the first time in person and hearing them perform. Mary Dolan.. girl.. she tore it up and she’s been with this group from the beginning. Finally we were able to connect. I love ya girl. Same for Wendy Bailey. Great stuff. And the newer FemMusers i.e. Michele Shipp, Lauren De Rose, Steph Johnson – nice sets by everyone. We’ll keep a lookout for ya in L.A.

One of the surprise last minute additions to the FemGems was female guitarist Jocelyn Celaya, an acoustic guitarist who just flew in from Oklahoma to spend a day or two in SD and had asked me if she could play a song. I said yes, and was I glad I did. She played acoustic guitar (no vocals), a mix of flamenco, finger-picking blues, classical, rock etc.etc. all with hammer-ons, tapping and what have you. We were on the floor. How cool was that?

Moving right along in the program was Bridget Brigitte who performed this time with a full band… and by full I mean FULL…… about 10 people, including a guy who used the little harp you put in your mouth that makes funny sounds… whatever you call it. Mesmerizing and creative music emanated from the stage with Bridget chiming and singing beautifully. She was partially backed up by Simply Complex, a band that has its own repertoire and they gave us a taste of that as well. Fronted by female bassist/singer Lauren their material reminded me of a mix between pop meets funk with a generous dash of rock.

Following Bridget’s big spectacle was Josie’s Ghost. I’ve met some of the members before who had come to the Hard Rock Shows and I’ve always liked their personalities. JG was great on stage. Nice vocal arrangements and cool and quirky songs with tribal drumming…. as Bridget told me: they all sing in the symphony… no wonder. I loved it and the crowd loved it. We want more JG..

Hydroplane hit the stage after JG and continued on with the momentum. A female bass player, about 4 feet 11, which a huge Rickenbacker bass bigger than she is, powerhouse riffs, female drummer and soaring guitarist, they did intricate and involved rock’n roll. People came out saying: I like this band.. and so did I. Met the mom and friends of the bass player who are all music people with a history… very cool.

Female Guitarist The Shredmistress took the stage and jammed on a couple of tunes with Reggie Mars on bass and Artie Rowe on drums. Guitar masturbation from this female guitarist put the event into higher gear, and loving every single guitar minute of it! Massive shredding was done on a Burns Flyte guitar, “Shreddie’s” guitar of choice these days.

Skye followed the Shred Mistress and these three ladies rocked on. Michaela and consorts were adorable and put out some great grooves. It was cool to finally connect with them.

BTW: this is one of the few FemMuse shows where we ran right on schedule (okay.. by the end of the night we were 15 minutos behind)… thanks again to Bridget and her “stage management” skills and also to ALL the artists who played sets within their time frames, had their equipment up and running promptly and used what was provided to a great degree. Made for a very smooth night.

The all female band: Abigail’s Attic took the stage. They had played for us at the Derby a year ago so I knew some of the members. The band was good before but they were even better now. Loved the singer who doubled on sax and flute plus the bass player was neat to look at… nice stage image. Did I mention that they are all women?

Closing out the night… drum roll please… was our token boy band… JIGGAWATT…Cool bunch of guys, They hammered home some amazing rock and funk, interspersed with Motown….. The Shredmistress sat in on their last song ( a cover of Hendrix’ Voodoo Child) and together they managed to turn that into a spacey, acid rock, funk, metal, conglomerate. I hope Hendrix didn’t turn over in his grave LOL

Everybody got along and had fun. The spirit of musicians coming together and jamming was held up admirably. What a great night. Thanks again to everyone, musicians, audience, organizers.

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