Susan Beschta
Susan Springfield | |
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 Performing at CBGB in 1978 | |
| Born | Susan Marie Beschta April 21, 1952 Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | May 2, 2019 (aged 67) |
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| Musical career | |
| Genres | Punk rock |
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Susan Marie Beschta (April 21, 1952 – May 2, 2019), who performed as Susan Springfield, was the founder and lead singer of Erasers, a band that headlined at CBGB in the 1970s.[1]
She became a solo artist in the 1980s and then trained as a lawyer to start a new career.[2] After graduating from the CUNY School of Law, she fought human rights cases for Catholic Charities.[2] She was sworn in as a federal judge in 2018.[3]
Early life and education
[edit]She was born Susan Marie Beschta on April 21, 1952, in Appleton, Wisconsin – one of five children of a Catholic couple, Gerald and Jean Beschta.[4] The culture was traditional and her father was keen on sports but, while she was fond of the place, she chose a different path.[4] After college at University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, she went to the hippy scene of California and then hitch-hiked across the country to study fine arts at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where she hoped to become a painter.[4]
Art and music
[edit]Beschta was able to stay rent-free at the Fine Arts Building at 232 East 59th Street in return for looking after its photo gallery.[5] She shared a loft with Jane Fire and they formed Erasers, a punk-rock band, in 1974, with Fire on drums and Beschta as the singer/songwriter and guitarist.[5] Several musicians such as Richie Lure and Anton Fig tried out with the band and the most lasting were Jody Beach on bass guitar and David Ebony, a classically trained musician.[5] The band practised in the basement of a deli near the Fine Arts Building and they played some impromptu gigs in the street there.[5] They performed at venues including The Great Gildersleeve's and, most especially, CBGB, which was a famous proving ground for punk rock bands.[5] Their style was enthusiastic, feminist and non-commercial.[5] They attracted some favourable reviews but did not sign with a record label.[5]
Beschta was influential in the social scene of punk rock, entertaining stars like Johnny Rotten and Iggy Pop and dating Richard Hell.[2][6][7] In 1978, she starred with Debbie Harry in Amos Poe's movie The Foreigner.[6] After the Erasers, she performed in other bands and artistic projects including the Susan Springfield Band, Desire and Civilization and the Landscape of Discontent.[5][8]
Legal career
[edit]In the 1980s she trained as a lawyer to start a new career.[2] After graduating from the CUNY School of Law, she fought human rights cases for Catholic Charities.[2] In 2002, she joined the Department of Homeland Security to handle immigration cases in New York while still volunteering for causes including ACT UP and Code Pink.[2] In 2018, she was sworn in as an immigration judge.[3][4]
Death
[edit]Beschta died on May 2, 2019, at the age of 67 in hospice care in Manhattan, New York City, of brain cancer.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ Rockwell, John (February 27, 1978), "Erasers, Rock Band, At CBGB's", New York Times, archived from the original on June 3, 2019, retrieved June 3, 2019
- ^ a b c d e f g Williams, Alex (May 10, 2019), "Susan Beschta, Punk Rocker Turned Judge, Is Dead at 67", New York Times, archived from the original on June 7, 2019, retrieved June 3, 2019
- ^ a b Susan M. Beschta, Immigration Judge, New York City Immigration Court, U.S. Department of Justice, November 16, 2018, archived from the original on May 12, 2019, retrieved June 10, 2019
- ^ a b c d "Susan Beschta", The Times, p. 48, June 3, 2019, archived from the original on June 3, 2019, retrieved June 3, 2019
- ^ a b c d e f g h Skolnik, Jes (January 13, 2016), "The Forgotten Women of Punk: CBGB Vets The Erasers on Their Radically Populist Art-Punk", Flavorwire, archived from the original on May 17, 2019, retrieved June 10, 2019
- ^ a b Blush, Steven (2016), "The Music", New York Rock: From the Rise of The Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB, St. Martin's Press, p. 200, ISBN 9781250083623
- ^ Nichols, David (2011), The Go-Betweens, Verse Chorus Press, p. 139, ISBN 9781891241901
- ^ Alison Pearlman (2003), Unpackaging Art of the 1980s, University of Chicago Press, p. 195, ISBN 9780226651453
| Authority control databases: Artists |
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- 1952 births
- 2019 deaths
- 20th-century American artists
- 20th-century American guitarists
- 20th-century American singer-songwriters
- 20th-century American women writers
- 20th-century American women singers
- 20th-century American singers
- American women singer-songwriters
- American punk rock guitarists
- American punk rock singers
- American rock songwriters
- CUNY School of Law alumni
- Deaths from brain cancer in New York (state)
- American women punk rock singers
- Guitarists from Wisconsin
- People from Appleton, Wisconsin
- Pratt Institute alumni
- University of Wisconsin–Whitewater alumni
- United States Article I federal judges
- 20th-century American judges
- 20th-century American women guitarists
- 21st-century American women
- Singer-songwriters from Wisconsin