Welcoming Back Beth Ditto (Tonight at UT) and Remembering The Gossip

Tonight the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection will welcome back Beth Ditto for her first area live appearance in nearly a decade, when she’ll be headlining Union...

Tonight the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection will welcome back Beth Ditto for her first area live appearance in nearly a decade, when she’ll be headlining Union Transfer. We best know Ms. Ditto as frontwoman for Arkansas-born, Olympia-bred pro-queer, post-riot-grrrl punks, The Gossip. I first met Beth Ditto in 2001 at the original Black Cat in DC.  She was 20 and asked me to buy her alcohol, but I was 16… The show, which was attended by about 12, went on to become famous and in the years to follow I had around 100 people tell me how proud they are to have been there… The Gossip existed between 1999 and 2013 (although didn’t officially call it quits until 2016), where they kicked out jams that were a beautiful amalgam of soul, garage, blues, synth-pop, and, more than anything, punk… They’ve played a plethora of Philadelphia shows at the likes of The Fire, The fortunately-gone Starlight Ballroom, The Church, and The TLA, but it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen the brilliance of Beth Ditto live, which generally resembled something between Divine’s night club scene in Female Trouble and Cyndi Lauper on American Bandstand.  She put out her first solo EP in 2011, but last year saw the release of her first full-length, Fake Sugar.  The album shows a slightly more polished side of Ditto, boasting a combination of hyper-soulful sunshine pop and totally twangy and freakishly funky southern rock.  If you haven’t heard it yet, I would highly recommend it for all of the grrrls and bois of the 215.  And while I’m quite excited to welcome the next era in her career, I would also like to celebrate her time in The Gossip.  Here are ten of the coolest accomplishments of Beth Ditto’s pre-solo career.

 

  1. “Lily White Hands” Arkansas Heat (2002)

 

  1. “Standing in the Way of Control” Standing in the Way of Control (2006)

https://youtu.be/3T0n4zHWhi0

 

  1. “Swing Low” That’s Not What I Heard (2001)

 

  1. “Rules For Luv” Arkansas Heat (2002)

 

  1. “Coal to Diamonds” Standing in the Way of Control (2006)

 

  1. “Don’t (Make Waves)” Movement (2003)

 

  1. “Ain’t It The Truth” Arkansas Heat (2002)

 

  1. “Yr Mangled Heart” Standing in the Way of Control (2006)

 

  1. “Yesterday’s News” Movement (2003)

 

  1. “(Take Back) The Revolution” Arkansas Heat (2002)

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During the day Izzy Cihak teaches transgression, subversion, and revolution at Temple University. At night he haunts Philthy's best venues to cover worthwhile acts for Philthy Mag. Morrissey is everything to him and, in their own heads, all of his friends see themselves as Zooey Deschanel.

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