Female Artists Rock Queen’s Head Pub

If rock n’ roll and chugging beer are traditionally associated with men, the Harvard College Women’s Center dealt with another male-dominated environment by taking over the Pub on Saturday night.

To address the under-representation of women in the rock scene, the center invited three female-led bands to perform in the Queen’s Head, as part of its “Women Rock! Pub Night.”

“The vision behind this event was to celebrate women in the arts without being talky,” said Annemarie E. Munn ’08, one of the Women’s Center interns in charge of organizing the event.

To that effect, in between the performances by Harvard bands After Hours and The Sinister Turns and soloist Catherine D. Tuttle ’09, organizers asked the audience trivia questions about famous female musicians.

Sandra L. Ullman ’07, the program administrator at the center, said that the organization conceived of the event last spring, and decided to solicit campus acts led by women.

She added that although the pub night was originally planned to take place last semester, it was postponed due to “logistical reasons” caused by the recent opening of the Queen’s Head.

The organizers expressed satisfaction about the size of the crowd, which had equal numbers of men and women.

They added that the concert will become an annual fixture.

Saturday night’s performers commented on the difficulty of forging a place in Harvard’s music scene as a woman.

“I was surprised at how many times women were absent from the musical social events. Women tend to be rather isolated, so it’s nice to see them interacting here,” said Tuttle.

“Women in rock do not need to be a novelty,” said Susan I. Putnins ’08, lead singer of The Sinister Turns.