Unveiling the Legends: Dolls of the 60s & 70s

Artist and author Ginger Gilmour joins this special episode of the Dolls Podcast for a conversation about love and motherhood, the artistic process, having faith in yourself, and of course Pink Floyd. She talks about bands she defied her mother to listen to, things she missed when she moved to England, the Pink Floyd album she’s never heard, and which unlikely guests she brought to Floyd shows. Sh...

“Ever since I was little, there has been a flavor, a grace of energy, which has always guided me…Fortunately, despite many challenges along the way, I feel it has mainly been full of grace, for which I am eternally grateful.” - Ginger Gilmour Would you run off with the love of your life after only knowing them for 3 days? It sounds like the plot of a Disney movie, but it was Ginger Gilmour’s real...

Who is Amanda Lear? How old is she? Where was she born? How is this woman even real?? Having a Rolling Stones song written about you is just about as rock-and-roll as it gets. So is being one of Bryan Ferry’s parade of model girlfriends, or the “For Your Pleasure” covergirl, or having a joint music and acting career. Amanda Lear had it all, and then some: she was muse to the one and only Salvador...

“Everything I do is an offering to God - that’s the truth.” - Alice Coltrane Part of the Dolls Pod mission statement is to spotlight a remarkable woman each episode. That description certainly applies to this week’s subject. First she was Alice McLeod, a single Black woman working on the jazz circuit in New York, Paris, and her home city of Detroit. Then she was Alice Coltrane, John’s muse and par...

Two things we learned from this week’s episode: 1. Chat with people at the dentist’s office 2. Just make that phone call! This week’s episode is all about the spirit of collaboration. Emma introduces one of her and Abby’s favorite obscure 1970s folk artists, Linda Perhacs. Linda made music like no one else, tapping into her synesthesia to write intricate harmonies and lush tunes. But after recordi...

You’ve almost certainly heard the story of Pattie Boyd, the beautiful blonde who had two great talents pining for her affection. But have you heard of Marianne Ihlen? From a quaint village in Norway, Marianne fell in love with Axel Jensen, the “Norwegian Jack Kerouac.” Together they journeyed to the Greek island of Hydra, where they were among the first of the island’s ex-pat community. Just as th...

We’ve had episodes about Beatles wives and Stones wives, now it’s time to spotlight a Monkee wife! This week’s Doll started as the Top of the Pops disc girl, working as a dolly bird model and rocking with the mad mod London world. Then she met Monkee Micky Dolenz on the set of her TV show, traded her union jacks for Laurel Canyon digs, and rolled with the Hollywood Vampires. It’s a sweet little ep...

“I don’t think we thought about anything. We just did it!” - Genny Schorr, about her groundbreaking LA punk band Backstage Pass Back in February, we had an awesome chat with musician, stylist, and “All Roads Lead To Punk” author Genny Schorr (AKA Genny Body.) With her band Backstage Pass, she was one of the original LA punks; blending punk with glam rock as they terrorized the Sunset Strip and cha...

Our 2-part Baez sisters miniseries concludes with an episode about the queen of folk music, Joan Baez. From her first appearance at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival, it was clear something was special about Joan. She had a pure voice that softened the blows of her bold activism. She refused to let her income taxes go towards funding the Vietnam War, walked alongside civil rights protesters, walked b...

“For rising of the women Means the rising of the race. No more the drudge and idler, Ten that toil where one reposes, But the sharing of life's glories, Bread and roses, bread and roses.” Mimi Fariña spent most of her life living in someone else’s shadow. First, she was the kid sister of folk music’s Mother Mary, Joan Baez. Then, she was one half of a duo with her husband Richard Fariña; a mysteri...

This week’s Doll is a whole lot more than a name squished into a clickbait slop article. She met Mick Jagger several years into her own storied career; which brought her from the UC Berkeley campus to playing Dionne in the West End production of Hair, then gracing the pages of fashion magazines and performing at Isle of Wight. She’s a novelist and memoirist, activist, actress in TV and film, and a...

“She was a beautiful person, loving and warm...She was down-to-earth, she loved to laugh, and everyone loved her.” - Marvin Gaye, on fellow Motown star and original Supreme Florence Ballard This week, the Dolls Pod presents the true story behind the Tony-winning musical “Dreamgirls,” and the very real woman that was its muse. Both Jennifer Holliday and Jennifer Hudson won Academy awards for their...

We have a very special guest for our season 3 premiere! Thanks to Emma, we got to chat with “Jennifer Juniper: A Journey Beyond The Muse” author Jenny Boyd about her time as a model in swinging London, San Fransisco during the Summer of Love, with the Beatles in India, and on the road with Fleetwood Mac at the height of their fame. We also got to talk about her earning her doctorate, exploring the...

“I think that love will never die. Once you know somebody, you can never unknow that person. And knowing is loving. So you never can get out of love.” The Dolls Pod Beatle Girl miniseries concludes! Part two of our “Oh Yoko!” episode focuses on her music, activism, and of course, we tell the ballad of Yoko and John. Also: car seats and nurseries and baby names, oh my! Emma is settling into her las...

“The average rating of our podcast is too high,” we lamented. “Let’s incite a mob of one-star reviews just for covering Yoko Ono!” We giggled, as we rubbed our little hands together like flies. Season 2 of the Dolls Pod is going down screaming, or whatever you call those distinct vocal stylings. The fifth episode of our Beatle Girl miniseries is here, focusing primarily on Yoko Ono’s life and art...

Our 4th episode of the Dolls Pod Beatle Girl miniseries is all about Lovely Linda! As Linda Eastman, she was one of rock-and-roll’s premiere photographers, capturing the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones, and the first woman to photograph a Rolling Stone cover. As Linda McCartney, she was an animal rights advocate and one half of one of rock-and-roll’s most beloved couples. With Linda’s...

“It was like hitching a ride on a shooting star: a fantastic experience that caused immense pain, but I’m glad I had it…That sort of experience doesn’t come twice.” Except when it does. You know the story, you know the songs, but there’s so much more to the woman behind them. Episode three of the Dolls Pod Beatle Girl Miniseries is dedicated to rock-and-roll’s Helen of Troy: Pattie Boyd. Pattie’s...

“She married Ringo, but she could’ve had Paul, that’s why the lady is a champ!” Episode two of the Beatle Girl Miniseries is about sweet, strong, and rebellious Maureen Starkey. She never wrote a biography and gave very few interviews. She’s the silent fashion icon of the decade. But she was the heartbeat of the backbeat and an emotional refuge for our big-hearted Beatle. And she was no wallflower...

“For far too long now, Mum has put up with being relegated to a puff of smoke in Dad’s life and that is simply not the truth. Now it’s time to set the record straight.” - Julian Lennon, about his mom, Cynthia At face value, it’s the classic tale of “boy meets girl, boy is in a band, boy’s band becomes the biggest band in the world.” But wait, what about the girl? Though much of her story was dicta...

She’s a rock star, she’s a mom, she’s the ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! Plucked from the LA club scene for her fierce style, Cherie Currie went from never having sang before to fronting the biggest all-girl rock band of all time. The Runaways lit up the stage, sold out arenas, and recorded best-selling albums, all before Cherie was out of high school. Then she put down her microphone for a CHAINSAW and...

“It was, after all, 1970. No Twitter, no websites, no email. Bags of fan mail five feet high arriving at the studio every day – no possible way to read or answer them. How to respond to tens of thousands of fans, mostly girls in their early teens, some who wrote every day? They really needed to hear back from me…Tiger Beat, in the person of Ann Moses, was on the set, in the studio, and in my life....

She practically invented jeans, literally had a bag named after her, and charmed the world with her breathy voice and carefree attitude. Not to mention she was the original Penny Lane, before Almost Famous! This week’s Doll is actress, singer, activist, style icon, and one of Emma’s greatest muses, Jane Birkin. From her schoolgirl years in England through her career as a French icon, her famous fr...

“The first thing you noticed about her was her face. It was an amazing face; fast and funny and beautiful. She was a big, eat-the-world, pass-the-bourbon, soft kind of woman.” - Denny Doherty, on his Mamas and The Papas bandmate Cass Elliot You can call her fancy, you can call her plain, but don’t call her Mama anymore! Trish, AKA DJ Flower Power of The Hippie Hour, joins Emma and Abby for an epis...

“I don’t think teenage years are all that rosy for a lot of people - they certainly weren’t for me. They are the most confusing time of people’s lives and there is a tremendous dark side to the record, which I think teenagers related to.” - Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las, on their greatest hit “Leader of the Pack” It was no wonder punk rockers love the Shangri-Las so much. They had the courage to b...

“Never apologize, never explain - didn’t we always say that? Well, I haven’t, and I don’t.” - the late, great Marianne Faithfull Few women in rock-and-roll history embody the idea of, “Don’t be the rock star’s girlfriend, BE the rock star” like this week’s Doll. This week we remember singer, actress, fashion icon, and “queen of the underground,” Marianne Faithfull. Marianne refused to be just anot...