welcome to the new chickfactor website, which launched in september 2002.
the new york-based magazine has a new print issue out (click here to order
#15), a new 21-artist compilation (click here to order), and has just
celebrated our 10-year anniversary with a series of shows in london, new
york, and washington, d.c. here are some details and photos:
the london shows occurred over two nights, sept 28 and 29, at the beautiful
bush hall in shepherds bush, a 1920s dance hall filled with chandeliers and
cherubs, which came recommended to us by the real tuesday weld (who we
begged to perform at the thing, but he's been busy finishing his new album).
first night featured glasgow's jaunty camera obscura, salford's dramatic
montgolfier brothers, london's would-be-goods (very hot in their matching
suits!), and pipas (none of whom I'd ever seen, and I was not
disappointed!). the second night featured future bible heroes, the
clientele, harvey williams and josh gennet (who filled in for a girl called
eddy, who had to cancel), and the pines, who played brilliantly and finally
found a venue to suit them. all of these artists are geniuses, but if you
haven't heard the pines' new stuff, well, let's just say in a just world
they'd be on verve by now. star sightings: chris and cosey; stephen duffy;
grego from annika; beth bluestar; so many stars I lost count. if only we
could bring the 350-capacity, pink-lit, white-walled, red-carpeted room to
new york! we could really use a larger venue than fez sometimes, and there's
just nothing like it here. thanks again to paul strange fruit and the bush
hall people and the soundmen for a wonderful weekend.
our anniversary weekend in new york city was a blast (oct 2527 at fez):
first night featured the loquacious lois, the comedic london duo pipas' u.s.
debut, the reunion of d.c. cafe-pop trio glo-worm, a brief set by the
brit-folk legend bridget st. john, the first east coast show in ages by
providence's honeybunch, and the mc was chickfactor #1 cover girl phoebe
summersquash. it did feel a little like a ten-year reunion. second night
featured mc lois, the blazing-hot all girl summer fun band, the seminal
baroque-pop would-be-goods' first gig on american soil, the
really-astonishing-live pacific ocean with alan licht, chickfactor's
favorite midwesterner the legendary jim ruiz (who was crushed by the death
of paul wellstone the previous day), and lit-yip gilmore tamny, who supplied
us with mounds of delish cookies to eat all weekend. third night kicked off
with mc dudley klute and the cover girls, a band that featured fontaine
toups on guitar and bass, kendall meade on guitar and bass, phoebe
summersquash on drums and percussion, and jennifer o'connor on guitar and
keyboards and xylophone and stuff, and various singers. I was the "guest
singer" for the rehearsals and it was superfun--I always wanted to be in an
all girl band. here is the set list, songs chosen by me and the singers. I
was supposed to do "summer lies" but fontaine and I switched songs.
1. "indian cowboy in the rodeo" (buffy st. marie) singer: kendall meade
2. "le temps de l'amour" (francoise hardy) singer: jessica griffin
3. "all that ever mattered" (shop assistants) singer: jennifer o'connor
4. "these days" (nico) singer: anna padgett
5. "baby" (mutantes/gal costa) singer: lupe nunez
6. "summer lies" (the magnetic fields) singer: fontaine toups
7. "fuck and run" (liz phair) singer: gail cf (yep, my first ever
non-karaoke performance)
8. "smoke rings" (les paul & mary ford) singer: pam picked this but was sick
so lupe and gail sang it
9. "after hours" (the velvet underground) singer: phoebe summersquash
10. "he hit me (and it felt like a kiss)" (crystals) singer: amy linton
11. "in love" (marine girls) singer: lois maffeo
(sue garner was supposed to do freakwater's "waitress song" but had the set
time mixed up; gilmore tamny was supposed to do salem 66's "grunezella daze"
but the CGs had no rehearsal so scrapped it)
the idea was to fill the stage with girls all night, and some of the songs
had great parts for backing vocals so that did happen, like on the shop
assistants, crystals, and marine girls tunes in particular. the cover girls
were followed by the sizzling australian sword dancer susannah, who some of
you may remember from her excellent band nice. she was followed the soigne
sibs known as the aluminum group, who proved that you can charm a whole town
with the right suits, backdrop, and ipods (the music ain't shabby neither).
who didn't fall in love with the navin brothers? following them were future
bible heroes, who have changed their live performance a lot since the early
days of the band. it's more mag-fieldsy which isn't a bad thing. few
realized what a corker "I'm lonely and I love it" is before tonight, and
they sound great, esp. on the non-novelty songs.
during the fab fbh set was the andrea loest frock show. I was one of 20 or
so ladies who donned the iowa-via-new orleans artist's ace creations. I
commissioned a dorothy parker dress from her, which says "hell is other
people" and "you can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think" on
the front, and "I like to have a martini, two at the very most. after three
I'm under the table, after four I'm under my host!" on the back. jessica
would-be-goods modeled the easy bunny dress (her daughter ellie's idea),
lupe pipas worked the pinup cowgirl dress, cf writer chelsey johnson (who
interviewed andrea loest in the new issue of chickfactor) sported the art
tart, and former cf covergirl lara cohen wore the bang bang. most dresses
feature bold text messages and lots of different fabrics, sequins, lace,
velvet, etc. each dress has a story behind it and boy! are they a joy to
behold, these visions in texture and color. I'm sure it's only a matter of
seconds before miuccia prada and marc jacobs start to appropriate ms.
loest's original ideas. to see photos of the fashion show,
click here.
washington, d.c.: future bible heroes + would-be-goods + glo-worm + pipas:
oct 29 at the 9:30 club. this show was rather low-key after nyc, esp. since
it was a very rainy tuesday night in d.c. but we had a star-studded crowd
(that included kiki & herb, my parents, our fantastic webmistress catherine
lewis, various indie heartthrobs, and the queen of washington city paper,
amy austin) so no one's complaining! jean's 9:30 club treated us like rock
stars, which was a really, really nice change.
in other news, we are thrilled to announce that san francisco-based novelist
daniel handler (who writes for cf) has invented a sugary cocktail called
"the chickfactor". here is the recipe. most bartenders aren't hip to these
yet but the fez serves them.
the chickfactor
2 parts bourbon
1/2 part green chartreuse
mix and fill with champagne
toss in lemon wedge
toss back
engage in clever conversation
repeat*
(serve in champagne flutes, natch)
(*repeat at your own risk, dearies.--editrix)
