I know I’ve been on a total music video kick lately, but you’re just going to have to roll with it until I get it out of my system. I know that the Lemonheads were kind of a shitty band, but for some reason I kind of like them anyway. I’m sure a significant part of that is the fact that Evan Dando is such dreamboat. sigh… While scoping out some of their old videos on Youtube and swooning over him I spotted Chloe Sevigny in the video for “Big Gay Heart”. Dando looks even more sexy than usual in this video, I’d never seen him with short hair before. I did a little research and it turns out this video was made in 1993, a couple of years before Chloe Sevigny became pseudo-famous starring in “Kids.” Anyway, here’s the video:
She was only 18 years old and had just moved to Brooklyn from her comfy suburban hometown in Connecticut. I don’t have the whole story, but I’m sure she only got to be in the video because she was such a total scenester. According to Wikipedia her whole career began when someone from Sassy magazine spotted her hanging out at a Brooklyn skate park and liked her style so much that they asked her to come intern there – giving her the opportunity to network with famous people. Who knows, had she not been at that skate park on that day, the world may have been deprived of her unquestionable style and talent. She may well have gotten married and moved back to Connecticut, where one day she’d brag to her kids about the time she was in a Lemonheads video.
…my cats keep showing up in rock videos from the 90′s!
For those of you who don’t already know there are three cats that live at gaycondo: Alien, Predator, and Carlton. A couple months a go I was shocked to find a cat that looked exactly like Carlton in a Mary Timony video. I know some cats of the same color tend to look similar, but this was uncanny, the way he walked and everything was exactly like my cat. It blew my mind so much that I wrote a blog post about it.
Then, just the other day I stumbled across this Sonic Youth video for “Kool Thing” from back in like 1990, and the cat in it is a total dead ringer for Alien. It’s not just the looks either – it’s the mannersims and everything. This is what she looks like:
When you check out the video her kitty doppelganger first appears around 37 seconds, right around the line “kool thing, sitting with a kitty.” Maybe it was Alien’s great great grandmother or something. It’s a very interesting video, too. It really embodies the spirit of third-wave feminism in the early 90′s.
Hello everyone! As you probably have noticed, Jon and myself have not been at gaycondo. In fact, we have been rocking out in our band, Swallows, in San Fransisco and Sacramento with Agent Ribbons.
Watch/Listen to our cover of Patti Smith’s “Distant Fingers”
I love a sissy as much as the next guy (probably a lot more) but someone needs to tell Chris Crocker that now that he’s a celebrity he can’t go out looking like this. The hair looks like a damn birds nest and pasty white girl’s don’t look good in yellow. Worst of all, no makeup!
This one’s a lot better. You can’t really see the clothes but the whole look seems a lot more classy and expen$$$ive.
Chris needs to find a gig that pays, I don’t know what you can make from a few gay-ass youtube videos (if anything) but I think he deserves to have a stylist a massive budget for clothes. It’s funny how Southern gay is so different than other places. You have to have a pretty thick skin and fuck-all attitude. That’s a big part of the reason I love Chris, if you’ve ever read the comments on his videos they’re full of tens of thousands of people saying awful stuff, some even threaten to kill him. Check out this video of him with his mom where they talk back to all the haters:
…is some guy I’ve never heard of!
In case you haven’t noticed Jon and Em are out of town, meaning I get to post stupid shit like this whatever I want. Craig who runs one of our favorite blogs, Puntabulous, took the quiz also. I think my guy is way cuter.
What’s Juliana Hatfield been up to the past 15 years? Well, for one thing she’s been consistently putting out records that I suppose somebody must be buying. And according to her website she’s been the target of fucked up internet imposters. Here’s what she has to say about it:
“Someone purporting to be ‘Juliana Hatfield’ is disseminating disturbing email messages, postings, and e-cards throughout the Internet.
Please ignore any and all unsolicited anti-Semitic, racist/fascist, or sexually perverted email or e-cards sent by ‘Juliana Hatfield.’ It is not coming from me.
This has, sadly, been going on for quite some time. I thought that if I ignored the problem, or at least didn’t acknowledge it publicly, the perpetrator would eventually get this sickness out of his/her system and move on to happier, healthier, more productive pursuits. I was wrong.
And now I feel I must issue this disclaimer, for the benefit of any of you who may yet be targeted: Please don’t open any unsolicited mail from
‘Juliana Hatfield’ if you don’t know me. Please don’t even look at this stuff.
It’s ugly and kind of heartbreaking.
Sincerely,
Juliana Hatfield”
Geez, what a spazz! I wonder what they were saying? I doubt any non-retarded people actually believe that the real Juliana Hatfield is out there posting nasty things. Or maybe she did it just so she could get attention and talk about how extremely upset she was about it on her official website. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Anyway, just for fun check out this video of her’s from 1995 for the unbelievably catchy song ”Universal Heartbeat”!!!
…Sonic Youth – Sugar Kane
this one’s fan-made, but it’s fucking brilliantly edited. The second one’s the official video, it’s alright but the one w/ Marilyn is much better. Either way it’s a great song, and I usually prefer Sonic Youth songs where Kim sings.
…at least I think so.
1992 was a pivotal time where great things happened in art, music, and politics. Bill Clinton was elected, blacks in LA rioted, Nirvana was at their height. It wasn’t a golden age but it was a time of transition, it was definately clear the lame ass 80′s were over. While listening to the 90′s station on the satellite radio at my work today “Jump” by Kriss Kross came on.
I hadn’t thought of these kids in years, but that song was the shit back in 92′. You have to be a real bad-ass to wear your clothes backwards, right? I admit that back in the day I tried it, and even in pants 2 sizes to big with a sturdy belt it really doesn’t work very well. I think their backwards clothes were special made. I do remember some kids actually coming to school with overalls on backwards, though. That took some balls. I’m not going to post it here, but if you’re really interested you can watch their hit video here. One of the lines from the song is “bull-crap is what I’m dumpin.” Is that deep or what? For 11 year-olds they look really mean, I’m kind of scared of them even today.
Jon and I are on tour in San Francisco so we decided to stop off at MOMA!
The highlights for me included a series by Nicholas Nixon entitled, “The Brown Sisters”. For 30 years Nixon took a photograph of four sisters in the same standing order. I found this project very interesting because you could see how each woman aged over time.
The other work that affected me and inspired me the most was a video installation by Rineke Dijkstra who set up her video camera in an isolated room in a techno dance club in England and Holland. She filmed young adults individually dancing, smoking and hanging around to juxtapose their perceived sense of self and what the audience is able to communicate from “their actions.
This girl starts off shy and reserved but then becomes a dancing machine…
This next girl was my favorite because I felt she was really attached to the macho/serious side of dancing but every now and then she would dance off beat, catch herself, smile inwardly and then re-create the facade.
I couldn’t find a video of it online but my other favorite footage was of a shaved head “tough-guy” who comes up close in front of the camera and sadly smokes a cigarette. In contrast to the other videos of people dancing and trying to look cool, I felt this short segment was honest and seemed as if the boy was taking a break from his persona in the outside world and was able to show the camera his true self… Or maybe that was what he was hoping for us to perceive him as…a sensitive ex tough guy.
This may look like a tacky tchochke but it’s actually a bottle of tiger wine, a beverage made out of the crushed up bones of real-live tigers. Apparently it’s illegal, but that doesn’t stop the Chinese from running tiger farms to produce it. It’s supposed to make you all virile and give you tiger strength. I looked for some on e-bay and found one 16 oz. bottle for $45. I don’t think it’s real though since it doesn’t come in a tiger shaped bottle, and it ships from California rather than China. This is what the seller claims:
“Excellent internal training wine used to augment the results from your training program. Traditionally used for increasing bone density and strength. This formula both regulates blood and chi, prevents stagnation, and prevents damage or latent injury from repeated impact. It also tonifies the body, strengthens bones, sinews and organs, increases energy for training and improves recovery from injury.”
You’d have to be a total douchebag to believe that, but I still wonder what the stuff tastes like. Is there alcohol in it? If anybody knows where I can get the real stuff let me know. I know it’s wrong, but not drinking it won’t bring any tigers back to life, and that tiger would totally eat you if he had the chance. Check out this PSA convincing chinese people to quit making wine out of tigers, I think it’s a little heavy-handed at the end.
…awesome fan video
I miss this show, ZZ was my fave but I had a crush on Michael. Why the F isn’t this on DVD? Maybe I’m an idiot, but this guy’s alteration of the opening sequence made me laugh out loud.
Thanks to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 it’s illegal for businesses to discriminate on the basis of gender, yet over 40 years after passage of that law Hooters refuses to hire male servers in their restaurants. How do they get away with it, you ask? When men sue them for discrimination, Hooters pays them to make them go away. If Hooters were to reclassify itself as entertainment along the lines of strip clubs the courts would agree that being female (with large tits) is a bona fide occupational qualification, but Hooters insists that they are a family restaurant. If your neighborhood family restaurant like Applebees refused to hire female servers you’d think it was fucked up, right? Well this is really no different. As a longtime food server I am more than qualified to perform the duties associated with a job at Hooters. To make my case (and make some money) I need a hot, straight-looking girl with big tits and minimal restaurant experience. We apply on the same day, if the hot girl gets the job even though I have more experience there’s a damn good case that I’ve been discriminated against. Also, if the hot girl is straight I could sue for discrimination based on my sexual orientation pursuant to a new Oregon law. When I file a lawsuit they’ll settle my claim and I’ll split the cash with my hot girl accomplice, I think it would be at least into 5 figures. If you live in Portland and fit the above description drop me a line, Gaycondo comes with a mortgage and I have to pay it somehow.
Prior to living in gaycondo, I lived in a janky inner city apartment…which happened to have the best cable TV….or more specifically, BRAVO tv network.
I am convinced that BRAVO is made for the gays/fagettes. They have the best celeb-reality shows such as Kathy Griffin: My Life On the D-List and competitive reality TV shows such as Project Runway (fashion) and Top Chef (food).
In fact, I think I gained 10 pounds from sitting on my ass watching Top Chef religiously. Luckily, I began to watch Work Out on BRAVO and was inspired to go to the gym.
Leaving the BRAVO cable network for gaycondo was a difficult decision…I would have to leave my TV friends behind in exchange for real ones. Leaving Jackie Warner, the andro-flexed star of Work Out and the people on Top Chef would be especially difficult.
I had to find an alternative! I tried to find Top Chef video on the internet but I couldn’t find up to date full length episodes. Instead, I happened upon a New York mother/daughter vlog who apparently are waaaay more obsessed with reality television than I was. For a myriad of shows, including Top Chef, Maddie and Janet do a 10 minute recap of each episode. Their witty commentary and precise recollection make it so you don’t even have to watch the show! I would even sit through a recap of shows I wouldn’t normally watch such as Big Brother, Dancing with Stars, American Idol, etc
Apparently, over the past few months they have become more professional and developed a theme song, acquired a blue screen and have called their show “Beyond Reality”.
Did you miss Big Brother last night? Are you like me and do not even watch the show but like to laugh? No problem. Get caught up:
….how noble of them (unless you count the snarky architecture).
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
“The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute is a planned research center which is being built in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Institute will become a national resource for the most current research and scientific information for the treatment of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington ‘s diseases, as well as focusing on prevention, early detection and education.”
WOW! How important. That is just fantastic!
Philanthropist Larry Ruvo founded the Keep Memory Alive Foundation as a heartfelt reaction to his father’s (Lou Ruvo) detrerioration at the hands of Alzheimer’s. This truly astounding foundation has raised over 20 million dollars by throwing some of the most popularly attended celebrity-irific galas Las Vegas has ever seen. This is all great.
But then things take a wierd turn.
In February of 2007, ground was broken on the Lou Ruvo Brain Instute, which was designed by architect Frank Gehry. Let’s take a Gaycondo sponsored “walking” tour of the planned design….
Hey, that’s pretty modern and minimalist. Maybe it reminds me of a pleasant stack of (Lanvin) shoe boxes. That’s nice. I like that. It’s calming. I wonder what the rest of this serene structure must be like?
OH MY GOD! The back of this building is like some sort of fucked up, very literal interpretation of a drawing by M.C. Escher. Somehow, I feel like if I was having mental collapse, I wouldn’t want the building I was recieving treatment in the be a ridiculously “in the now” postmodern representation of my ailment.
Do all high profile publicly funded (the state of Nevada kicked in a cool $12 million ) buildings built in the last couple of decades have to be so insanly (no pun intended) over designed? Wouldn’t a tasteful concrete box have sufficed???
Am I out of my miond for thinking this? (still no pun intended)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
PS: This building is TOTALLY AWESOME!!!! It’s like when I see it, every other cool building I’ve ever seen just gets absolutely erased from my mind!! Like, maybe after seeing the outrageous super fantastic-ness of this design I might even forget where my house is. What does Gaycondo look like again????
(that last one was in fact actually a fucked up joke about Alzheimer’s by the way….)
Tragically Unheard Of
Band O’ The Week ALINA SIMONE
photo credit: Andrei Konst
I effing love Alina Simone. The first time I heard her was in a artist-related search on the incredible CDBaby. I was hoping to find artists who had the raw emotive sense of PJ Harvey and early Cat Power. Alina Simone was my answer.
I have also been lucky to experience her as an endearing person who adamantly pursues her musical goals. In fact, she tours the US, Europe and Eurasia frequently. When she’s not touring, Alina is switches her homebase between NYC and Carborro, NC.
The first time I met her, she was parked illegally outside of my former apartment and had mistakenly locked her car keys inside her car. After AAA came to rescue her we chatted it up like we had known each other for years and after she left Portland I have to admit I drove 111 miles (round trip) to see her play and interview her for Church Of Girl. ((( Read that interview NOW!!! ))). Almost a year later, I joined her on a West Coast tour where I switched between her opening act and her driver (she had forgotten her license in a town we have driven 150 miles away from) and I loved every minute of it.
While we drove south from Portland to LA, we talked about how playing music has impacted our lives, enjoyed some great scenery and some crazy adventures.
(ie. Between San Fransisco and LA we were allured by a mirage in the desert and drove several miles off track following signs boldly stating: “HOT TUB/COOL SWIM”, which I translated to “Natural Hot Springs”. My judgment was sort of lost since A. We were in the desert and B. the destination was really just a creepy, rusted, outdoor bath tub full of hot water they “bring from the source” and some reluctant senior citizens. After the lord of the land didn’t fall for Alina’s charm on our hopes for a 2-1 traveler’s discount, we continued to drive south towards LA with a story to tell.)
While on the road, we listened to hours of Alina’s primary influence, Yanka*, a “Tragically Un-Heard Of” Russian folk/punk singer. While on the trip, Alina had shared some un-mastered versions of her upcoming album, Everyone is Crying Out To Me, Beware, a collection of covers/revisions of Yanka’s work.
You are releasing a new album, in tribute to the Siberian folk singer, Yanka. Can you briefly tell us why you chose to do an album of her songs? What about her work is so meaningful to you? Do you stay true to her original song structure or do you translate it into your own style?.
Not to sound cheesy, but Yanka is my hero. Not only is her music powerful and haunting, but she lived this really authentic life, doing what she felt passionately about despite all of the constraints of both Soviet society and what people expected of her as a Russian woman. I would say that all of my covers differ somewhat from the originals, but some are quite close to her versions (usually slowed down a bit) while others are almost completely re-orchestrated. Listen to Alina’s inspiration, Yanka*, play the original version of “Half My Kingdom”
Listen To Alina Simone’s revision of Yanka’s “Half My Kingdom”:
The music industry is definitely changing. Record labels are going bankrupt, mainstream acts such as Radiohead are embracing the digital era, gas prices are sky rocketing for touring musicians and affordable basic recording technology is available for the DIY musician. How do you define (or find) “success” in music making in such a time?
What a good question! I definite ‘success in music’ as getting to the point where you feel happy. The most important thing is to find a good balance in life and not drive yourself crazy. I got to the point where I realized that I just don’t want to take on projects that make me broke, angry or tired. So now the selection criteria is more like, Will it be fun? A good life experience? A totally new, artistic challenge? Not that I don’t want to work hard or am some kind of hedonist, but, you’re right, it’s really, really difficult to eek out a living as a working/touring musician and setting that as a goal involves significant life sacrifices, such as spending lots of time away from the people you love the most in life, and not doing other non-musical, but otherwise fulfilling projects. So for me it’s about finding a healthy balance. Awwww
You tour extensively throughout America and Europe. Any favorite places to play? Do you notice any different attitudes towards indie rock in your travels?
I love touring Europe because it’s just so incredibly beautiful and I love touring the mid-western US. Omaha especially is full of amazingly cool musicians and club owners. I would actually single out a number of venues in the midwest that are particularly artist-friendly such as the Triple Rock in Minneapolis, The Waiting Room in Omaha, Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center in St. Louis and The Record Bar in Kansas City. I think that, in general, the indie rock circuit is a very supportive one so usually differences in how you are treated have more to do with external factors like how much time and money a venue/promoter can devote to your show, rather than how much they appreciate your music.
Photo by Rachel Bernstein
I would consider you to be a self sufficient musician : You can play with others or you can fly solo. Do you prefer one to the other? What are the pros or cons of having a backing band or touring as a solo artist?. How do you feel the audience perceives your solo work versus seeing you with musical accompaniment?
Well, I think that my set sounds much better with a full band, though the solo thing does have a raw sort of intimacy which appeals more to some people. I love my band mates, but in a way, prefer to tour solo just because it’s easier to make ‘real’ friends on the road when you can have one-on-one conversations with people who you meet. Also, getting band mates to tour with me can be complicated because everyone has jobs and bills to pay, etc. So having the flexibility to jump into the car alone if no one else can come is pretty great.
I am a freak about hearing artists develop their sound through lo-fi demos. I am lucky enough to have a small collection of demos of you playing new songs solo. When you give these demos to other musicians, whom will play on your studio release, do you give them a vibe or musical instruction to work off of? How do they integrate their personal style to help create the final version of each song?
Wow, what a great question, Em! After a long time experimenting with different approaches, I settled on this policy: Find amazing musicians that you REALLY trust and who can read your mind. Then let them do their thing. Of course, I will work with them to polish up the rough spots, but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m working with a small team of trusted, long-term collaborators as well as some professional musicians, some of whom are classically trained.
Listen to a solo demo, “Just Here to Watch The Show”, unreleased.
Listen to collaborative demo, “Day Glow Ave”:
Listen to “Saw Edge Grass” off of Placelessness (2007):
Any detailed plans you’d care to share about your next release?
Mmmm…my next album, ‘Everyone is Crying Out to Me, Beware’ will be released [later in 2008] on Fifty Four Forty or Fight! records. I’m going to start recording my next full length (original!) album this April as well.
*Yanka was an underground rock icon from Siberia/USSR. I would compare her to Kurt Cobain or early Cat Power. At age 24, she ended up drowning in 1991. “None of Yanka’s recordings were released commercially during her lifetime, but they circulated hand-to-hand as samizdat and she acquired a devoted cult following.” Hundreds of these recordings (including albums, live performances, remixes and covers) are available for free online. A fan also created a myspace in her memory. Currently this myspace page only has a little over 100 “friends”. Talk about the MOST Tragically Unheard Of Case yet. For more extensive information on Yanka, check out the biography Alina Simone compiled for the liner notes of her upcoming Yanka Tribute album, Everyone Is Crying Out To Me, Beware.
Here are some of my favorite Yanka songs…I do not speak/read Russian so they will have to remain Untitled…
Unknown #1 – dark, tangled grunge…reminds me of Bleach-era Nirvana
While I am definately not a fan of her music I really like Pink. She’s definately a complete original, and like Mariah Carey I’ll never buy her albums but I’m damn glad she’s out there. Another reason she’s great is that she’s so obviously gay. I’m not really sure why she married that BMX guy, perhaps he’s a fag and they both thought it would hurt their careers if people found out. Anyway, now that she’s single I think I’ve found the perfect girlfriend for her, fellow closet-case Kendra Wilkinson from the Girls Next Door. If you’re not all that familiar with Kendra check out my previous post about her here. Playboy’s attorneys haven’t asked me to cease and desist for that yet, cross your fingers Pink will lay off also. I think I’ll be okay because when it comes to defamation the rule is you only sue if it isn’t true.
