Tenacity

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Lion Heart

My online time has been seriously reduced lately and as a result, I've only just heard that Ari Up of The Slits died on October 20th. She was just 48 years old and died after a long battle with cancer. I was lucky enough to have caught The Slits on their reunion tour in 2005. I stood in the middle of The Crawdaddy, bass juddering through my body and gawped in awe: Ari's force of nature personality, her Medusa mane and formidable shriek made for a magnetic presence on stage.

Ari (born Arianna Foster) formed the Slits with drummer Palmolive in 1976 at the age of 14. They were trailblazers: Young women playing punk music in a male dominated environment and at a time where anyone involved in the punk scene was a target for abuse. The Slits created music that fused punk with reggae rhythms and was joyous, mischievous and feisty. Much like the ladies themselves.

http://www.ariup.com/

http://www.myspace.com/theslits