"I go to rock shows all the time and you don't see that many women in most people's audiences. But there are a lot of women in our audience. There are also a lot of people of different ages in our audience. We sing in different languages, in Eastern European, North African, and Jewish languages. We always have people coming up to us, thanking us for doing a song, and wondering where we heard it. I like that because the music speaks to people."

A transplanted New Yorker, Jewlia Eisenberg and her band Charming Hostess have captured the attention of the local Bay Area music scene like sirens compelling the attention of wandering seafarers. And, like all great bands, they seem to be speaking to you in your very own private language. Whether you can actually understand Yiddish lyrics is beside the point. The band's musical impact is at the heart of the matter.

After studying music at UC Berkeley, Ms. Eisenberg travelled abroad. Among the many countries she visited, she listened to and bought music in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Israel and Egypt. Growing up with a father she considers to be an internationalist, she was familiar with world music. However, her tour of the world was a formative time for Eisenberg in terms of charting her musical development. In the past few years, she's been able to synthesize these disparate influences into an accessible album of songs on the band's first full-length release called Eat.

When Eisenberg was a kid, she used to run around her mother's house singing arias from Mozart's "The Magic Flute." Her mother, herself a former musician, encouraged her daughter's love of music by taking her to the opera and playing classical music around the house. The influence of both her parents' musical tastes is still reflected in her choice of music today. Charming Hostess has been described as a hybrid band, melding global rhythms with sly, thoughtful, and subversive lyrics that make light of all that ubiquitous bubble gum pop. The best thing, though, is to hear them live. They know how to rock the house.

For the last few years, the band has also been collaborating with other women. They scored a film directed by Lynn Sachs called "A Biography of Lilith." Charming Hostess also wrote music for "The Body Project," a performance by a group of aerialists, fronted by a woman named Jo Kreiter. "The Body Project" pushed the boundaries of what women can do physically. "That's an important musical idea too - exploring your limits and boundaries in collaboration with other people who are trying to do the same, instead of the idea of being about the sell."

Eisenberg also speaks plainly about the fact that the feminist movement paved the way for her to create the musical life that she has. Her straight-forward attitudes and opinions are founded upon the strength of her female predecessors. Jewlia Eisenberg is full of gratitude for the struggles they fought on her behalf.

To read more about the band and listen to Charming Hostess, go to www.charminghostess.us.