"have you seen my wallet?"

tonight's show was about honest interaction.

i'm pretty sure that tracy (and her plastics) is the most actively feminist act around right now. i say this not only because of her music, but because of the way she carries herself at her shows, the way she creates space. and above and beyond that, how validating is it to have someone ask, at every show, "is anyone in here queer? i'm a radical lesbian, a radical lesbian feminist. are you all feminists?" and how validating is it to have someone say, "yeah, there are too many dudes talking. and when i was watching everyone file into the front row it was like dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude...and i thought uh-oh..."

she opened her set - but not really, it was a pre-set setting of the setting - by asking the crowd what they wanted to get outta the show and talking about getting rid of the show hierarchy. the audience was hella uncomfortable and every question was met with some "clever" remark save for the one girl who talked about inaction and creating meaningful yet "gnarly" art. it was like trying to lead a discussion to a bunch of bored, stoned eighth graders on the exciting possibilities of pre-algebra. she got one beer-drinking dude to talk a bit about why he came to the show instead of the hip-hop open mike at the martini lounge, and somewhere in his explanation he said "honest interaction." so, we were all supposed to be focusing on honest interaction, kinda elevating the show to a different level, but i did a lot of reflecting to the discussion because no one was honestly interacting. it was all bullshit posturing and not taking things seriously (tho i think gnarly girl and eventually beer-drinker did cross over to the land of honest interaction). the most honest interaction actually happened, that i witnessed anyway, at the end of the show when dan went up to talk to her about how he truly appreciates her art and the way she made people feel uncomfortable by breaking the "rules" of what it means to go to a show.

2005 is not only about getting the fuck off the stage (thx hopper) but it is also about completely and totally dorking out in front of people you admire by telling them you love what they do and actually attempting to open up lines of communication. i don't care if you're thirteen or forty-eight, telling people that they're right on needs to happen more often.

2005 will break down all hierarchies, and as tracy said, we might have to work on it a little bit in 2006 too, but from here until forever, the hierarchies will be toppling.