Susan Springfield
Performing at CBGB in 1978
Born
Susan Marie Beschta

(1952-04-21)April 21, 1952
Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedMay 2, 2019(2019-05-02) (aged 67)
Other names
  • Susan Springfield
  • Susan Beschta-Springfield
Occupations
  • Artist
  • singer
  • lawyer
Years active
  • 1970–80s (art/music)
  • 1990–2019 (law)
Children
  • Thando Marshall
  • Vuyisile Jamal
  • Layla Marie
Musical career
GenresPunk rock
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • guitar

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

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

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]

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

Beschta died on May 2, 2019, at the age of 67 in hospice care in Manhattan, New York City, of brain cancer.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 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
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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
  3. 1 2 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
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Susan Beschta", The Times, p. 48, June 3, 2019, archived from the original on June 3, 2019, retrieved June 3, 2019
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 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
  6. 1 2 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
  7. ↑ Nichols, David (2011), The Go-Betweens, Verse Chorus Press, p. 139, ISBN 9781891241901
  8. ↑ Alison Pearlman (2003), Unpackaging Art of the 1980s, University of Chicago Press, p. 195, ISBN 9780226651453
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