Conor Jameson ’21 graduated in June with a self-design major in Writing and Performance. She will perform as the frontwoman in the artistic collective !PUFF! during Yellow Springs Porchfest on Saturday, September 16, 2021, from 4:00-5:00 PM at 122 W. Whiteman Street.
Conor Jameson ’21
Porchfest is a walk up music festival held on porches around the Village of Yellow Springs.
!PUFF!’s debut album, Bad Attitude: Singing the character, and the ‘Bubble Grunge Vignettes, is a collaborative concept piece which arose from Jameson’s major. The album was presented as Jameson’s senior capstone project during Colloquia 2021 as the culmination of her academic inquiry and work at Antioch College. Cabaret inspired vocals accentuate pop punk instrumentals in this musical storytelling experiment.
Jameson’s academic advisor was Brooke Bryan ’03, said of the group, “If Jeff Mangum and Joan Jett had a love child, then she ran away with Tori Amos to raise her on a farm, you’d have !PUFF!”
“!PUFF! blends music and fiction to depict the lives of seven women living in different worlds across time and dimensions through the form of a musical EP and an anthology of flash fiction,” wrote Jameson. “Each story has been illustrated and translated into song with support from local artists and instrumentalists. In ‘Shadows’ a woman mourns the chaos of late stage capitalism. Hopeless, she calls forth divinity under the burning sky. In ‘Kings’ a peasant woman barely escapes the terror of a legendary monster. Finding the holy castle in ruin, she comes face to face with the homicidal Jester of the court. ‘Trampoline’ describes a woman haunted by the monotony of life in a psychiatric institution. When the oldest resident:Paul,acquires a trampoline it becomes an allegory for her life. In ‘It’s Bad’ a woman hops a train car after robbing a bank. She gets away, but not without losing a piece of herself. These songs offer glimpses into the tiny, yet grandiose worlds of bizarre women and circumstances.”
Jameson’s Co-op advisor was Luisa Bieri and her Co-op job included work at Buen Dia Family School in San Francisco, Makauwahi Cave Reserve in Hawaii, and with Dramakinetics in Cincinnati. Among Jameson’s experiences beyond academic pursuits during her time as a student at Antioch, she established and facilitated: “Written Into Being” (a campus wide creative writing group) and served as a co-producer for Kaleidoscope (a weekly show on WYSO FM that features musicians, filmmakers, and artists from the Miami Valley and beyond).
Listen to songs from Bad Attitude: Singing the character, and the ‘Bubble Grunge Vignettes on the Colloquia website, and learn more about Yellow Springs Porchfest here.
