It doesn't matter who they are...

I have a Google alert set for "Jack White", which means I pick up a lot of news stories about the Von Bondies, because the one and only thing most people know about the Von Bondies is that Jack White beat one of them up once. No, really, this gets mentioned all the time. The guy must be really pissed about it.

Anyway, the "Jack White" Google alert picked another one up the other day. It was in the Galway Advertiser, not exactly a primo rock journal, but all's grist to the rock and roll mill I suppose. As usual, I read it.

In answer to the question "Why are the other members always two females?" the Von Bondies' leader, the beaten-up Jason Stollsteimer, is quoted as saying, "It was never a gimmick. Always when I write, I write with female backing vocals in my head, so when we tour we have to have two female singers. It doesn’t matter who they are as long as they can sing in unison. I grew up listening to Motown and there were always female backing vocals.”

It's a whole new exciting way to objectify women!

Not only does Stollsteimer not see them as individuals or care what their names are, he calls them "females" as though they were part of his breeding herd, rather than human beings. Living in the never-neverland of Southern California, where it's ill-advised to express such sentiments about your employees, I'd almost forgotten what the average man thinks, or rather fails to think, about women. I'm not going to claim any aggrieved status or burn my Von Bondies CDs (I don't have any) over it, but it was a wake-up call of sorts for me.