RIP Lisa Hodapp of Morbid Opera
21 05 2010
Lisa Hodapp
by Ivy Jeanne
Lisa Hodapp was a huge inspiration and a punk rock role model to so many people including myself. As a teenage punk girl growing up in South Florida in the late ’80s/early ’90s, I sometimes felt like the “scene” was a virtual wasteland for girls and women getting into punk rock. It felt exclusive and full of machismo, a real boys’ club.
Discovering Morbid Opera was a huge turning point for me during that time. I loved their record so much I’d listen to it on repeat much to the chagrin of some of my friends! In listening to that record, I heard a sound so raw, so strong and so female. I heard the possibilities.
Morbid Opera and other bands with ladies playing in them, made it feel possible for me to follow suit. I’ve been playing in bands ever since, 19 years and counting. In the mid-nineties, I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa and after much bonding, a friendship was formed.
She was always so supportive to the younger generations that came up after her. Unjaded and enthusiastic, Lisa was always ready to start a new musical project and to make new friends. She blew minds with her multifaceted life, a bad ass rocker, a whip-smart lawyer, and a mother to boot. In the mid ’90s there was a brief time that Morbid Opera reformed, and she asked me to join to sing backups. It was a real dream come true! Lisa was still rocking, her latest project was called Fraulein.
It’s always so hard to lose someone so vivacious to an illness as epidemic as cancer. There’s so many unspokens. Let’s start the conversations on how we can truly love and support each other when we get sick. It means everything.
As Lisa leaves us, she leaves us with a little bit of fire, sharpened wits, a real tenderness and a desire to push for something more, to create something more.
Download/listen to MORBID OPERA’s “Polyester Pig” MP3
In the eighties my band always made a point of playing a few gigs in FLA during our US tours (no, we weren’t rock stars, just a relatively popular hardcore band with a smelly van). Sometimes we’d even make a short tour of the state ignoring all others just to be a part of the tight knit scenes that were organized around the smaller cities and towns of the state. Lisa came to one of our shows, that’s when I picked up a copy of Morbid Opera’s 7″s. I’m playing it right now, as I type. As the punks in in the lowest of the 48 always said “It’s not our fault we’re from Florida”. Thank you Lisa. Goodbye.
I am thankful that we have punks like this that are inclusive, never snobs taking over ‘the scene’, the same one they laugh at, they create but those who support each other for something better PunK! I salute you Lisa, you’re contribution is appreciated, go well(yes i have foot in mouth disease.) We can listen and care, as i have illness but am inspired by people like this; a realistic and fun alternative to the world we should aim to moderate.
Reading about Lisa’s contribution to punk – not just musically, but her accepting spirit and open mindedness towards the new generations – is an inspiration. Leading by example is what we should all aim for. I don’t mean to sound preachy, but I believe it to be true. Thank you, Lisa. It sucks that you had to leave too soon. R.I.P.
R.I.P Lisa….i just googled Morbid Opera there and saw this link.it pains me when i read of punk deaths…a lot of you i don’t know,but to me you are all more than just names on LP’s/fanzines/books etc….you are part of a community that i’ve been into for over 30 years.i got this EP at a time when a lot of the bands were getting faster and harder,and it was a real antidote to that macho world.peace and love to you all…
Very sad news to her about a former bandmate. R.I.P. Lisa
always good to see Lisa appreciated…..I flew in for her funeral ….it was a sad day I thought I would never see..friends were shocked
love you Lisa
a year later its hard to believe
hi Ivey
Oh the memories I have from S. Fl. in the 80′s. I lived in Fort Lauderdale from 1981-86, and started in the scene at the New Wave Lounge. When did Lisa pass away? It saddens me to inform you all, that the singer from Roach Motel died in 2009, and Alex from Rugged Edge, and dj at the New Wave Lounge and Flynn’s,,died a month or two ago.
R.I.P. To all.
Lisa, Libby, Jeff and I were practicaly inseperable from 1980 right up until they starting having children. We had so much fun and Lisa had the best laugh I had ever heard before or since. Her music came from deep inside her. Very personal but with a sense of humor too. We also used to make short films all the time with an old rented VHS analog video recorder. We often had to film all the parts Lisa wasn’t in first because we had to wait for her to wake up before we were able to film her parts. She studied hard and she played hard, and she was wonderfully gifted and very very funny. I am glad to have been a part of her life. We met in the spring of 1980 at a club called Blue Waters. She was wearing a RnR Nigger button. We were both big Patti Smith fans. I had only moved here from the Tri-State area earlier that year and she was the first Patti Smith fan I had met down here. I will never forget that night, and how I immediately felt connected.
I love you Lisa, and I am grateful for our time together.