Post by petrolino on Nov 29, 2019 22:18:32 GMT
Kristin Thomson & Jenny Toomey : Simple Machines
'Genius Of Crack' - Tsunami
Guitarist Jenny Toomey has played in a number of rock bands including Choke, Tsunami, Grenadine, My New Boyfriend, Slack, Geek and Liquorice; several of these units were signed to Simple Machines, an independent music label Toomey co-founded. Toomey effectively ran the music label with guitarist Kristin Thomson (Tsunami) throughout the 1990s, the two of them working from a house in Arlington, Virginia. The label's roster included overlap with several other prominent independent music labels including 4AD Records and Teenbeat Records.
'Kristin Thomson is a community organizer, social policy researcher, entrepreneur and musician. After graduating with a BA in Sociology from Colorado College in 1989, Kristin moved to Washington, DC where she worked for two years as a national action organizer for the National Organization for Women. She left NOW in 1992 to make a full-time commitment to Simple Machines, an independent record label she co-ran with Jenny Toomey. Over the label’s 8-year history, Simple Machines released over seventy records and CDs, published the Mechanic’s Guide to Putting Out Records, Cassettes, and CDs, and organized three high-profile music festivals in Washington, DC. While running the label, Kristin and Jenny also wrote, recorded and released four highly-acclaimed Tsunami records on Simple Machines, and toured the US, Canada, England and Europe extensively.
After Simple Machines stopped putting out new records in 1998, Kristin permanently relocated to Philadelphia, PA where she lives with her husband Bryan Dilworth, a concert promoter, their son Riley, and plays guitar in the lady-powered band, Ken. In 2001, Kristin graduated with a Masters in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware. During her graduate program she was a recipient of a School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy Fellowship, and the Urban Affairs Association Award that recognized her thesis, The Internet as an Agent of Change, as a valuable contribution to the body of usable social knowledge. As FMC’s Education Director, Kristin is responsible for project management and research, and has overseen event programming, including recent Future of Music Policy Summits. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband Bryan Dilworth, a concert promoter, and their son, where she also plays guitar in the lady-powered band, Ken.'
After Simple Machines stopped putting out new records in 1998, Kristin permanently relocated to Philadelphia, PA where she lives with her husband Bryan Dilworth, a concert promoter, their son Riley, and plays guitar in the lady-powered band, Ken. In 2001, Kristin graduated with a Masters in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware. During her graduate program she was a recipient of a School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy Fellowship, and the Urban Affairs Association Award that recognized her thesis, The Internet as an Agent of Change, as a valuable contribution to the body of usable social knowledge. As FMC’s Education Director, Kristin is responsible for project management and research, and has overseen event programming, including recent Future of Music Policy Summits. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband Bryan Dilworth, a concert promoter, and their son, where she also plays guitar in the lady-powered band, Ken.'
- Future Of Music Coalition
Jenny Toomey with Positive Force DC
'Drama Club' - Grenadine / 'Team Player' - Liquorice
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Toomey's shrewd grasp of economics, entrepreneurial skills and business acumen would greatly inspire acts in the decade to follow, as the internet presented new opportunities for the widespread distribution of independent music. She found a perfect creative partner in Thomson, a politically charged musician whose inventivenss and resourcefulness served Simple Machines well. In 2000, Thomson and Toomey co-founded the Future of Music Coalition, an intellectual thinktank based in Washington, D.C. that was designed to translate legal and political issues to the powers that be, in order to offer help and protections to independent labels and musicians.
Kristin Thomson & Jenny Toomey
'Maybelle' - Ida' / 'Your Mother Wants To Know' - Scrawl
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In 2007, Toomey was appointed Program Officer for Media and Cultural Policy in the Media, Arts and Culture Unit at the Ford Foundation. More recently, she's operated as an Interweb Freedoms Director for Technology and Society at the Ford Foundation. One of the most distinctive voices in '90s rock 'n' roll, Toomey continues to fight for those on the fringes of the creative industries.
"Only a powerful feminist music/arts phenom such as Ladyfest would inspire a musician to raise money with Grandma's favorite pastime. It did for Jenny Toomey, former leader of Tsunami and influential indie label Simple Machines and present-day solo artist and executive director for the nonprofit Future of Music Coalition. The performer recently knit about a dozen caps and sold them for $40 each to raise money for Washington, D.C.'s Ladyfest in August.
"That's just a creative way of [raising money] instead of having a bake sale. I actually raised over $500 myself," she says on the phone from her home in D.C., describing the regular "Stitch and Bitch" sessions she would attend alongside other Ladyfest D.C. organizers/knitters. "My fans are devoted. There aren't millions of them, but the ones who exist are really cool, supportive people, and you know you don't often get a hand-knit cap Š"
"That's just a creative way of [raising money] instead of having a bake sale. I actually raised over $500 myself," she says on the phone from her home in D.C., describing the regular "Stitch and Bitch" sessions she would attend alongside other Ladyfest D.C. organizers/knitters. "My fans are devoted. There aren't millions of them, but the ones who exist are really cool, supportive people, and you know you don't often get a hand-knit cap Š"
- Kimberly Chun, SF Gate