going to prom with Marc Bolan

I dreamt I was in a bathroom getting dressed up to go to prom. I had this huge wig with flowers, and shoes covered with flowers that I threw across the floor and down the stairs in a fit. The outfit was over the top glam. But I began to feel stupid I was going to prom, going back to school to see all the kids I grew up with -why in the world was I going back there ??

The first time and last time I ever went to prom was when I was 15. My best friend and I had already dropped out of high school but we decided we would go to prom anyway, just for kicks. In the tradition of prom, you have to have a date, so we asked this guy Buffalo Bill who was a local bum in the small town we grew up in and a drinking buddy of ours at the time. He was delighted to come be our escort and had picked out a tye dye tuxedo complete with tyedye socks, shirt, tye, bandana, the works ! He had put his prom outfit on about a week before in anticipation but on the day of prom he was nowhere to be seen. We were pretty disappointed but didn't let it get to us, as we slugged back 40oz of Mickeys by the cliffs in our wedding dresses and leather jackets. Later we found out he had been m.i.a. cos he was arrested for multiple counts of arson around the area. The night itself was a total blackout, as I awoke in the morning in the bed of a good friends boyfriend, who had apparently rescued me from the madness.. Vague memories of cliff jumping ( a popular game those days, jumping off a cliff overlooking the sea that has lots of brush, rolling and catching yourself before you crack your head open and fall into the water), kissing alot of of people, and rolling around in the gutter outside the dance like a pig, totally delighted and mad.

In the dream I stepped out of this futuristic car as an old woman who was my chauffeur opened the door coming out the ceiling. In that moment it dawned on me that I wasn't going to prom for the people but to celebrate T-rex's album "The Slider". It was like I was married to that album, and my dress, my desire to go, everything about it was simply to worship and celebrate the music.
It was more than a ritual. It was religion.
My body was like a birthday cake, dressed in the drug of the music, lit with the candles which were the thousands and millions of dreams and lust and burning desires all inspired by shimmying to the movements of The Slider, Mystic Lady, Baby Boomerang...
In the way that people go to church to pray and hear stories about Jesus, stand in the pews and sing their songs of devotion, the church of rock n roll has always been about getting glammed up, going out into the night... and Marc Bolans songs have always been like prayers to me.
Just as I realized this, an old crippled woman was walking across the ballroom floor. I was still getting ready, but went to her to help her get across. We walked out the door, and around, back in to where we started, in a circular motion.
It reminded me of the cycle of life, how some things will never change, the eternal desire to live, to break free.. to dance !

GOD BLESS MARC BOLAN::::

live at Guadalajara International Book Fair 11.28.11

Interview in Peru with "Sugar Time"

http://sugar-time.com/articulos/archivo-de-portada/332-entrevista-a-jessie-evans.html

ST: Hola Jessie, felicitaciones por tu nuevo disco y gracias por
aceptar conversar con Sugar Time. ¿Cómo ha sido la recepción de “Is it
fire?”, tu primer disco solista? ¿Ha satisfecho las expectativas que
tenías?
Hello Jessie, Congratulations for your last album and thanks for
agreeing to talk with Sugar Time. ¿How was the audience reception
after the presentation of Is It Fire? ¿This was your firs solo album?
¿Did it satisfy your expectations?

JE: “Is It Fire?” was my first solo album and I love it !! I do think it was well received, especially considering it was completely D.I.Y and had no real promotion or distribution. At the beginning of making it I had high expectations. I’d been on indie labels for almost 10 years and wanted to see my new album in all the chain record stores, wanted it to be big time !!But it’s a strange time in the record industry. Labels rarely have any money to offer for promotion and yet they want to have the exclusive rights for 7 years. So I decided that unless somebody wants to buy me a house I’m gonna continue releasing my own stuff ! It’s a lot of work, and hard for me to keep motivated with it, as I’m very much s dreamer dedicated to the subconscious side of life and not so focused on business. But through releasing and manufacturing my album I’ve seen the first real money from the sales of my records, and I’m having a much easier time supporting myself as a musician, so its been really good for me.

“Is It Fire?” Fue mi primer álbum como solista ¡y lo amo! Pienso que fue bien recibido, especialmente considerando que fue completamente D.I.Y (Do It Yourself/ hazlo tu mismo) y que no tuvo una real promoción o distribución. Al comienzo de la producción tuve muchas expectativas de este nuevo trabajo, había estado relacionada a sellos independientes por casi 10 años y quería ver mi nuevo disco en todos los stands de ventas ¡lo quería hacer a lo grande!

Pero son tiempos realmente extraños en la industria discográfica. Los sellos raramente tiene dinero para ofrecer realizar alguna promoción y aún así, quieren exigen derechos exclusivos de tú trabajo por 7 años. Entonces decidí que a al menos, a menos que decidan comprarme una casa, iba a continuar realizando las cosas yo misma y a mi manera. Es mucho trabajo, como muy difícil mantenerte en pie además de motivada, especialmente para mi, que soy una soñadora dedicada al lado subconsciente de la vida y no muy enfocada en los negocios. Sin embargo, haciendo yo todo el trabajo y mano factura, he visto el dinero real de las ventas de los discos. La verdad estoy pasando un tiempo mucho más cómoda como música, de manera que han sido buenos tiempos para mí.

ST: ¿Cuánto tiempo le has dedicado a la producción de este disco?
Alrededor de dos años desde que comencé a escribir al masterizado.
¿How Long did it take to produced this album?

JE: About 2 years from writing to mastering.
Alrededor de dos años desde que comencé a escribir al masterizado.

ST: 3. ¿De qué manera ha influido tu estadía en México para la
producción del álbum?
¿How your visit to México (or in any way the Latino culture) had
influenced in Is It Fire?

JE: Going to Mexico had a huge impact on us and the recording of “Is It Fire?” In a way the album turned out like a love letter to Mexico. The first time we went to Mexico we drove all over, from Mexico City to Acapulco to Tijuana and many places in between. We played several shows and recorded in some strange places, from a laundry room on a rooftop in Mexico City, to John Wayne’s old bedroom over looking the cliffs in Acapulco. We bought lots of Mariachi and Nortena albums and listened to them as we drove across the country. Of course the sound of my album was also influenced by Pepe Mogt from Nortec Collective who mixed and co –produced it in Tijuana. We discovered his music through myspace and became great friends. I admired how he mixed electronic Kraftwerk type dance music with the traditional Nortena sound. This is something I wanted to do in my music: mix together different ‘roots’ with more modern pop sounds.

Ir a México fue de gran impacto para nosotros y la grabación de “Is It Fire?”. De alguna manera el álbum se torno como una clase de carta de amor a México. La primera vez que fuimos para allá fue en auto, desde la ciudad de México hasta Acapulco, Tijuana y muchos otros lugares cercanos. Tocamos en muchos lados y grabamos en espacios extraños, desde una lavandería en una azotea, al viejo dormitorio de John Wayne en Acapulco. Compramos muchos álbumes de Mariachi y Norteña y los escuchábamos a través del viaje. Desde luego el sonido de “Is It Fire?” también estuvo bajo la influencia de Pepe Mogt, del Colectivo Nortec, quien lo mezcló y co-produjo el disco en Tijuana. Recuerdo haber descubierto su música por myspace, nos hicimos grandes amigos. Admiraba como había mezclado música electrónica de baile de tipo Kraftwerk con el sonido de la norteña tradicional. Esto es algo que quise hacer en mi música, mezclar 'raíces' diferentes con sonidos pop más modernos.

ST: ¿Cuales son tus influencias en la vestimenta y en tu imagen como artista?
We really love your clothes on stage ¿How do you manage/decide
which or what kind of clothes you are going to use in any
presentation? ¿Any influences?

JE: I’ve always been into hot pants, majorette suits, marching jackets,old vaudeville circus, swimsuits and sailor stuff. I think I just identify with these images. I also like wearing uniforms’ cos I don’t like to fuss so much with thinking about what I’m going to wear. In every day life I wear the same clothes every day for weeks or even months. Onstage I just want to be sparkly and move my legs and arms around like a freak.. With every aspect of the performance you aim to create some kind of fantasy which will transport the audience to a different planet, invite them into your world. I often feel like a shipwrecked mermaid who has been banished to the earth and this is where I’m coming from. I’ve got some great designer friends in Berlin like Rubbish Fairy, Jackie Taylor, and Baby Bone who are so beautiful cos they live their life like art. I like the story of the Marchesa Casati, the Italian heiress who was a muse to Man Ray and lived her life to become art, to make everything she touched and moved through into a living sculpture. Nothing was saved from this, but the memories of those who knew her and the few photos and paintings that survived from the time. I love this view of living art because its very un-materialistic, not about saving it or selling it, but being it. Other style icons for me are Sun Ra, Barbarella, Josephine Baker, and the Mexican cabaret singer Astrid Hadad, who's costumes are so beautiful like Frida Kahlo painting, yet always asatire on Mexican culture and women. My favorite of her costumes I’ve seen are a traditional Mexican sombrero and dress but done in leather and spikes, and a hat she had made out of a beer tray with margaritas on top of it. Her costumes are like a collage of flavors from her world.

Siempre he usado minishorts, ropa de majorette, chaquetas de soldado, con el viejo atuendo de vaudeville, bañadores y la ropa de marinera. Yo crecí en el océano sobre una goleta (una embarcación) y estaba en una banda de marcha cuando era una niña, pienso que solamente me identifico con estas imágenes. También me gusta llevar los uniformes porque no me gusta preocuparme tanto en pensar que es lo que me voy a poner. En el día a día, llevo la misma ropa durante semanas o aún meses. Sin embargo, en el escenario quiero estar brillante, mover mis piernas y mis brazos alrededor como demente. Con cada aspecto de la performance apunto a crear una especie de fantasía donde transporto a la audiencia a un planeta diferente, invitándolos a entrar a mi mundo. A menudo me siento como una sirena naufragada que ha sido lanzada a la tierra. Tengo algunos grandes amigos diseñadores en Berlín como Rubbish Fairy, Jackie Taylor, y Baby Bone, todas compañías hermosas que viven su vida como arte. Me gusta la historia de la Marquesa Casati, la heredera italiana que era una musa de Man Ray. Vivió su vida para ser arte, todo lo que ella tocaba o movía se convertía en una escultura viva. Nada fue salvado de esto, solo las memorias de los que la conocían, además de las pocas fotos y las pinturas que sobrevivieron al tiempo. Me gusta esta manera de vivir el arte porque es verdaderamente in materialista y sólo se ocupa en ser arte. Otros iconos de estilo para mí son el Sun Ra, Barbarella, Josephine Baker, y el cantante de cabaret mexicano Astrid Hadad, que sus trajes son tan hermosos como las pintura de Frida Kahlo, siempre muy próxima a la sátira de la cultura mexicana y sus mujeres. Uno de sus trajes que es de mis favoritos es el sombrero con un vestido tradicional mexicano hecho en cuero y puntos, junto a un gorro que había hecho de una bandeja de cerveza con unas margaritas encima. Sus trajes se parecen a un collage de sabores de su país.

ST:Tus videos son de gran calidad al igual que la producción de “Is
it fire?”, cómo lo haces?
¿How did you produced is it fire? ¿How did you managed that?
What about your videos?

JE: The video for “Is It Fire?” was produced in Los Angeles, directed by Simon Chan, & written and edited by me. In the video I’m flying to the sun in a spaceship, to be seduced by women who eventually eat me alive. It’s about desire and how if you get too close to what you want it will consume you.

“Blood And Silver” was directed by Hans Carillo and we shot it in a bull ring at Playas in Tijuana, as well as down on Revolution St. with a full mariachi band. That was really fun and I like that in this video I’m both characters: the matador=ette, and the bull (I’m a toro !) alone in the bull ring ,performing for an audience of no one. In this strange psychological constellation I am both myself (the bull) and my destroyer(the matador). I like the image of this very much, and I think it is also part of why I’m so attracted to matador costumes and paintings, There is a deep beauty and symbolism in this sacrificial ritual, which has mostly been lost now. People can say that it is ugly and horrible , and that's true. But what is war but the exaggeration of this very concept on mass inhumane levels?In modern society we are constantly sacrificing individuals through the media, putting them up on pedestals to have them immediately torn down over and over again. Or a homeless person in America who is essentially is sacrificed the moment they are arrested or lose their place to live, put on a list for life of undesirables, looking like a scab to society? Or a prisoner? These are all variations of sacrifices, shades of many colors that make up the web of human nature we are all a part of. At least in the bull fighting tradition there is a great amount of art that goes into it. You see the blood up close in a very personal way. Man versus beast. That’s the smell of death. Because I am a bull I have the desire to destroy, but I have to tame my instincts so I can live through this desire, and not be destroyed by myself !

“Class Magic” and “Let Me On” I made myself using footage that I shot on tour, and that was shot by our photographers in Berlin, Billy & Hells. Class Magic is simply about how the word is the spell, the ritual that creates destiny. It’s a celebration of living a life you love, and thanking music for that life because that is what makes my life so good. “Let Me On” is about asking to get on the ride, but at the same time, warning that I may not be as nice as I seem. I collaged images of a volcano exploding from under the gold curtain where I’m sitting, and under my legs, so it looks like its exploding out of me. A woman is like a volcano, natural but explosive. Capable of consuming and devouring everything in her path.

El video de “Is It Fire?” fue producido en Los Angeles, dirigido por Simon Chan, escrito y editado por mí. En el video yo estoy volando con dirección al sol en una nave espacial, para ser seducida por una mujer quien eventualmente me come viva. Se trata acerca del deseo y como si te acercas demasiado a lo que quieres mucho te puede consumir.

“Blood And Silver” fue dirigido por Hans Carillo, lo filmamos en una plaza de toros en Tijuana, como también en la av.Revolución junto a bandas de mariachis. Eso fue realmente divertido, me gusto ser los dos personajes: el matador y el toro (¡soy un toro!) apareciendo para ninguna audiencia. En esta extraña constelación psicológica yo soy los dos caracteres (el toro) y el asesino (matador). Me gusta mucho la imagen de la situación, estoy tan atraída a las costumbres y pinturas del matador. Veo una profunda belleza y simbolismo en este sacrificio/ritual, el cual se ha perdido bastante hoy. La gente puede decir que es feo y horrible, es verdad. Pero ¿Qué es la guerra sino la exageración de este concepto de inhumanidad? En la sociedad moderna estamos constantemente sacrificando individuos en los media, colocándolos a otros sobre pedestales para tenerlos inmediatamente derribados una y otra vez.

¿O una persona sin hogar en Estados Unidos que es sacrificada en el momento que son detenidos o pierden su lugar para vivir, poniéndolos en una lista vitalicia de indeseables como si se tratara de una costra de la sociedad? ¿O un preso? Son todas variaciones de sacrificios, sombras de muchos colores que constituyen la web de la naturaleza humana de la que somos parte. Al menos en la tradición del toreo hay una gran cantidad de arte que entra en ello. Usted ve la sangre encima de un modo muy personal. Hombre contra bestia. El olor de la muerte. Y como soy un toro en el video tengo el deseo de destruir, ¡Pero tengo que domesticar mis instintos entonces puedo sobrevivir este deseo y de esta manera no ser destruida por mi misma!

“Class Magic” y “Let Me On” los hice yo misma usando el metraje que grabe del tour, y esto fue pegado tomado por nuestros fotógrafos en Berlín, Billy & Hells. El tema es simplemente acerca de como la palabra es la ortografía, el ritual que crea el destino. Es una celebración de vivir la vida que uno ama, un agradecimiento a la música por aquella vida.

“Let Me On” es sobre la petición de unirte al viaje, pero al mismo tiempo, la advertencia de que yo no puedo ser tan agradable como parezco. Hice un collage de las imágenes de un volcán que explota sobre debajo de mis piernas, de manera que parece que la explosión se produce dentro de mí. Una mujer se parece a un volcán, natural pero explosiva. Capaz de consumir y devorar todo en su camino.

ST: ¿Qué tan importante es el internet para una artista independiente como tu?
¿How important is internet for independent artists like you?

JE: It’s been amazing because through the internet we’ve been able to do everything ourselves and share what we’re doing with the world. If the quality of what you’re putting out there is good people pay attention.But I think things are changing now. People have had over exposure to the internet, have become spoiled from access to too many things at once. I think its made people lazy, like they don’t need to leave their house as much, they can just turn on youtube and look up anything from the last 70 or so years that they want to see. Myspacewas a revolution for musicians because it was so centered around music. It was like entering a kaleidoscope of rooms and apartments, where people had decorated their walls and had their stereos turned on. It was so beautiful. Everybody just wanted to be seen and heard.But facebook and twitter aren’t as interesting to me. I think they train peoples minds to focus on the most shallow and mundane aspects of reality. Gossiping about things you” “like” and hoping that other people will like the same things, or comment on your thread. Its really a waste of time because its not real and its not really building anything. On one hand its so beautiful that the internet has brought everyone together. We can see that we’re a world community, all connected! But on the other hand, people need to connect again in the flesh again, and also through other dimensions. I think telepathic communications is the future of humanity. We can already listen to music, have conversations and have sex without our bodies. Materialism is a ship that’s sinking and we have to start letting go of these old ways if we are going to get it on in the next level.

Ha sido increíble porque vía internet hemos podido hacer absolutamente todo por nosotros mismos y compartir lo que hacemos con el mundo. Si la calidad de lo que haces es de verdad bueno, la gente le toma atención. Sin embargo pienso que las cosas están cambiando mucho ahora. La gente se ha sobre expuesto a internet, se han engreído en relación al acceso a muchas cosas de manera inmediata. Creo que los ha convertido en flojos, haciendo que se queden en sus casas, pues solo necesitan el youtube para observar todo lo que ha ocurrido en los últimos 70 años. Myspace fue revolucionario para los músicos pues centro el universo musical. Era como entrar a un calidoscopio de habitaciones y departamentos donde la gente había decorado sus paredes y habían encendido sus estéreos. Era hermoso. Todos querían ser vistos y oídos. Sin embargo, Facebook y Twitter no son tan interesantes para mí. Creo que ellos entran la mente de las personas para enfocarse en los aspectos de la realidad más mundana y sombría. Chismeando acerca de las cosas que a ti te gustan, esperando que otra gente le guste las mismas, o que comente tus asuntos. De verdad es una perdida de tiempo por que no es real y no está construyendo nada realmente. Por un lado internet es bello por que une a todo el mundo y los acerca. Podemos ver al mundo en una comunidad todos conectados. Pero por otro lado, la gente tiene conectarse físicamente nuevamente y también en otras dimensiones. Pienso que la telepatía es el futuro de la humanidad. Podemos ya escuchar música, tener conversaciones y sexo sin necesidad de nuestros cuerpos. El materialismo es un barco que se está hundiendo y nosotros debemos dejar ir esos viejos caminos si queremos llegar al siguiente nivel.

ST: Tengo entendido que tienes un sello discográfico, ¿a que
artistas has lanzado?
We know you have your own label, it just works for you or you
have already (or planning to) produced another artist too?

JE: Until I have the time and means to actually help other people I don’t want to put anything else out other than my own stuff. I was on enough labels by now that were run by artists to know how frustrating it is working with people who are completely self centered. There’s nothing wrong with being a self centered artist, but being a label is something different.

Hasta que no tenga el tiempo suficiente, lo que significa concentrarme en ayudar otras personas, no deseo producir otra cosa que no sea mi propio trabajo. He estado en muchos sellos para saber que tan frustrante es trabajar con gente que es totalmente auto centrada. Lo que no tiene nada de malo, pero ser un sello es totalmente diferente.

ST: ¿Qué quieres transmitir en tus shows?
Do you have any massage on your shows? What do you want to
transmit to the audience?

JE: First of all I want to be free and transcend everything, discover everything.Second I want people to wake up!~ Wake up from being robots, wake up from being scared, wake up wake up. That’s it.
The show is where we can come together and break free from the chainswe’ve put on ourselves. That’s all rock and roll is, to bring people together and celebrate being alive.

Primero deseo ser libre y trascender sobre todo, descubrirlo todo. Segundo, deseo que la gente despierte, despierte de ser robots, de tener miedo. Eso es lo que busco. El show es donde podemos estar juntos y liberarnos de las cadenas que nos hemos puesto. De eso se trata el Rock & Roll, de juntar a la gente y celebrar de estar vivos.

ST: ¿Te interesa ser una artista comercial, salir en MTv y firmar
por una gran disquera internacional?
Would you mind about being a commercial artist, appear in MTV
screen maybe, or sign to a big international label?

JE: Of course I would like having more attention and the opportunities that would bring, but I’ve never been interested in compromising my artistic vision and that’s very much why I am NOT on MTV right now.

As far as big international labels are concerned, this has nothing to do with fame at this point. Fame has to do with money, anyone can make their own label and if they or someone around them has the money to exploit what they are doing thus become famous. I don’t think major labels are a great idea for smaller artists because normally they’re too busy focusing on the careers of their big artists like Madonna.

Once I realized how things really work in the system I lost a lot of respect for the idea of fame. When artists like Beyonce who have so much power to influence and shape the minds of young people are performing in front of 100 dancers wearing full riot police uniforms it makes you wonder what the fuck is going on in the world. Acts like this immediately glamourize the vision of police state,or transhumanization, thus bringing people more easily into control.But its clear that mainstream pop music is now run by the government just as Hollywood, the News, the president, tv and the radio are. Artists or politicians become tools that help to dumb down the population and shape the way people think.. Their information and sound is like a giant poison everyone is drinking.. If you have something to say and are actually challenging the ideas society wants to install to everyone: of being a sheep, a little worker, of doing what your told, then they do not want you. I think the exception is always exceptional talent which will bring in money, which is the case of Janelle Monae or M.I.A. who are actually really speaking their mind and have beliefs that aren’t centered around the agenda of the U.S.A. Nowadays pop culture likes to create manufactured rebels to give people a rebel personality they can identify with who is not actually a threat. Lady Gaga or Rihanna can dress like Wendy O. Williams or Grace Jones and people think its original, or think its crazy or tough cos they’ve never been exposed to the real thing, or possibly don’t even know what real music is. Music has become like a coca cola commercial. It’s totally sick but we can do nothing, just continue with what’s in our hearts and not worry so much about what they are doing. There is a saying I love “the masses are asses” …..

Por supuesto me encantaría tener mucha más atención y oportunidades de las que tengo, pero nunca me interesaría comprometer mi visión artística. Básicamente por ese motivo no estoy en MTV.

Por concerniente a las grandes firmas discográficas, nada tiene que ver con la fama. La fama tiene que ver directamente con el dinero. Cualquiera puede crear su propio label y si tiene el dinero suficiente para explotarlo pues se convertirá en famoso. No creo que los grandes sellos sea una buena idea para artistas pequeños, ellos andan muy ocupados enfocándose en carreras de grandes artistas como Madonna.

Una vez que me percate como las cosas realmente funcionaban perdí toda perspectiva por la idea de la fama. Cuando artistas como Beyonce, quien tiene tanto poder de influencia y de moldear las mentes del público joven presentándose frente a 100 bailarines usando trajes de policías uniformados, piensas realmente qué está ocurriendo con el mundo. Actos como esto mantiene a la gente bajo control. Está claro que la música pop está bajo el control del gobierno como lo está Hollywood, los periódicos, el presidente, la televisión y la radio. Tanto los artistas como los políticos son herramientas para mantener a la gente estúpida y controlar su manera de pensar. Su información es como un brebaje venenoso que todo el mundo está bebiendo. Si tienes algo que decir, que desafían las ideas que el sistema quiere instalar como: ser una oveja, un pequeño trabajador, hacer lo que te dicen, entonces no te aceptan. Pienso que las excepciones siempre van acompañadas de gran talento que claro, traerán dinero, como el caso de Janelle Monae o M.I.A. quienes realmente dicen lo que piensan, tienen convicciones y no giran alrededor de la agenda de los Estados Unidos.

Hoy en día la cultura popular gusta crear rebeldes manufacturados para darle a la gente una personalidad rebelde que el sistema pueda identificar. Lady Gaga o Rihanna pueden vestirse como Wendy O Williams o Grace Jones y la gente puede creer que es original, o pensar que es loco por que nunca han estado expuestos a lo real y posiblemente no sepan que es realmente la música. La música se ha convertido en un comercial de Coca Cola. Esta totalmente perturbada, no podemos hacer nada al respecto, solo continuar con lo que está en nuestros corazones y no preocuparnos mucho con lo que ellos están haciendo. Hay un dicho que amo: las masas son unos asnos (“the masses are asses”).

ST:Subtonix tiene muchos seguidores en Perú. Por las fotos que hemos visto, nos hacemos la idea de que los show eran muy explosivos.< Cuéntanos como se formo el grupo y que recuerdos tienes de esas épocas.
Subtonix have a lot of fans here in Perú. Because of the photos
we had seen in internet, it seems that your shows were really intense
(with a lot of energy). Can you tell us how the band was founded? what
memories you have about those times?

JE: When I was 19 I moved to San Francisco and I put an add out in the free section of the local paper saying I played sax and was looking for people to start a band. I met cookie, the drummer from Subtonix through that add and the singer + bass player Jessy separately, but nothing came out of it until about a year later when they had started playing together and asked me to join. We rehearsed in a room in a warehouse in the Mission district in San Francisco that was filled with boxes of dildos and vibrators. There wasn’t much space but its where we got our groove on. We started playing out around town. At that time it was a really amazing scene in San Francisco. So many groups were coming out at that time, and we were all connected and supporting each other: Bands like The Phantom Limbs, Deep Throats, Sixteens, Veronica Lipgloss, it was really an amazing time.

Subtonix toured the USA and across California a few times. It was an absolutely amazing feeling being in an all girl band and performing at some very crazy places like sports bars in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,where I thought I should wear my sneakers in case I needed to run out of there for my life. We felt totally powerful and amazing. This is a feeling of being united in something which I have never felt since and probably wont from any other project. It was also my first real band so that excitement was new for the first time.

Cuando tenía 19 me mudé a San Francisco y coloqué un aviso en la sección libre de un diario local diciendo que tocaba el saxo y que buscaba gente para empezar una banda. De esa manera conocí de manera separada a Cookie, la baterista de Subtonix y a Jessy, la bajista. Sin embargo no ocurrió nada hasta un año después hasta que ellas empezaron a tocar juntas y me llamaron para que me uniera. Ensayábamos en un cuarto en un depósito que estaba lleno de cajas juguetes sexuales y vibradores. No había mucho espacio, pero fue allí donde empezó todo. Comenzamos a tocar alrededor de la ciudad. En esos tiempos había una escena bastante impresionante en San Francisco. Habían muchos grupos que aparecían, que se iban conectando y apoyando mutuamente como: The Phantom Limbs, Deep Throats, Sixteens, Veronica Lipgloss, fueron tiempos maravillosos.

Hicimos una gira con Subtonix por los Estados Unidos, atravesando California un par de veces. Era un sentimiento absolutamente increíble estar en una banda de solo chicas, presentándonos en lugares realmente locos como en bares de deportes en Baton Rouge, Lousiana, donde pensaba que era mejor usar mis zapatillas en caso que tuviera que correr por mi vida. Nos sentíamos totalmente poderosas e fantásticas. Este es un sentimiento de estar unida a algo que nunca he tenido, seguramente, nunca en otro proyecto. Fue también mi verdadera primera banda, por lo que ese sentimiento era nuevo para mí.

ST: ¿Qué bandas de San Francisco te parecían rescatables?
In these days, which bands from San Francisco you think are good enough to mention? (That you like).

JE: Extra Action Marching Band.
I first saw them perform about 10 years ago in a a friends warehouse in East Oakland. They were about 8 people then, banging on drums and horns, with some satanic looking strippers on speed banging on pots and pans. It was horrible. But they kept at it and now they’re about 25+ brass and drums with dancers. Visually its very punk./ cabaret and very free. They completely open up any room they play in. They don’t stay on the stage, they march around through the people. It’s very sexual and raunchy. We’ve performed with them in Europe and California and they’ve joined us onstage for a couple of my songs which we play together.

Extra Action Marching Band. La primera vez que los vi en vivo fue alrededor de 10 años atrás en el depósito de un amigo al este de Oakland. Eran 8 personas entonces, tocando la percusión y cuernos, con cierto aspecto stripper satánico en speed (metanfetamina) con bailarines. Visualmente es muy punk/cabaret bastante libre. Eran muy abiertos. Cuando se presentan en un escenario marchan alrededor de la gente. Es bastante sexual. Hemos compartido conciertos junto a ellos en Europa y California, además de haber tocado un par de canciones mías en vivo.

ST: La influencia de X Ray Spex, Kleenex o Essential Logic en Subtonix era notoria, ¿querían emular el sonido punk de fines de los 70s?
We feel that kinds of X Ray Spex, kleenex and Essential Logic
sound influences with Subtonix. ¿Did you try to emulated, in some way
that sound?

JE: I love X Ray spex and they were a big influence to me with saxophone. Slits and Fuzzbox were also big influences for Subtonix.

Amo a X Ray Spex, fueron una gran influencia para mi y el saxo. Slits y Fuzzbox fueron también grandes influencias para Subtonix.

ST: Cuéntanos de The Vanishing, ¿por qué se separaron?
Can you tell us a Little bit about The Vanishing ¿Why the band ended?

JE: I formed The Vanishing with Brian Hock from The Knives, which was another group we had in the beginning gin San Francisco. I played a funny pink fretless bass my aunt had given me from the 80’s. Vanishing was a really deathrock band, very dissonant, lots of screaming, chaos, but still melodic. I cant listen to most that stuff now, though of course there’s some songs I really like, “Lovesick “ for instance, or “Idle Eyes” but most of the songs I just don’t think I had the capability to express how I really wanted them to be, and they came out in a way which I don’t identify with now. Brian and I moved to Berlin in 2004 and we toured a lot that year in Europe, but musically we just went in different directions. I couldn’t dance to the beats he was playing so it inspired me to want to start making my own rhythms.

Formé The Vanishing con Brian Hock de The Knives, el cual era otro grupo que teníamos cuando llegue a San Franciso. Tocaba un bajo rosado de los años ochenta bastante gracioso el cual mi tía me había regalado. Vanishing era realmente una banda de Deathrock, bastante disonante, con gritos, caos, pero melódico. No puedo escuchar mucho de esas cosas ahora, aunque hay claro, algunas canciones que me gustan bastante como “Lovesick” o “Idle Eyes”. Sin embargo en la mayoría de temas creo que no tuve la capacidad para expresar lo que realmente quería que fueran y llegaron de una manera con la cual no me identifico hoy.

Brian y yo nos mudamos a Berlín en el 2004 y tocamos mucho alrededor de Europa ese año, a pesar de ello, musicalmente fuimos tomando caminos muy diferentes. No podía bailar al ritmo de los beats que él tocaba, lo que me inspiró a empezar a componer mis propios ritmos.

ST: Has estado identificada con el deathrock o el darkwave con Subtonix o The Vanishing y con “Is it fire?” haces una música más alegre y bailable, como fue esa evolución?
It’s notorious the evolution from a much more dakwave sounds
like Subtonix or The Vanishing to a brighter sound as a solo artist.
Is it Fire it’s much happier and dance new sound of you that we didn’t
know ¿How was that evolution?

JE: Once I started working with drum machines it was a revolution of creating my own sound whereas before it was always more of a collaboration with other people. With Autonervous I started arranging and it was still very dissonant sounding, but that’s mostly ‘cos neither of us could sing in tune as well as Bettina’s contribution to the record was to disassemble what I had created and cut it up, thus ending with something totally different from where it had started. The Autonervous album is more like a collage of future ideas which were not fully realized. I don’t mind this, sometimes its interesting to show the process…

With “Is it fire?” I feel like I arrived at a more original sound which is my own. I know where the influences come from. It’s a lot from the no wave scene: Lydia Lunch and ESG The Contortions, also the Ethiopiques stuff, Tony Allen, The Selector, and some Latin< influences like Perez Prado and even some mariachi thrown in there. It’s a mesh of styles but I’ve made it my own. As artists, we experience life and vomit out what we’ve seen. My music is my dream of life. I want to paint the world not just how I see it, but how I would like it to be.

I know its funny that I would move to cold dark Berlin and shed my dark side, but this is something that was part of a process which< happened quite naturally. First of all, with all my bands and music, I never really wanted to be dark, it was just the way it came out. I was a teenager and I had a lot of angst. With The Vanishing I always wanted to make disco and it always turned into a bloody mess.But second of all, I think to move to Berlin and connect with the girls from Malaria, with Bettina and Beate Bartel from Liaisons Dangerous,, this coldwave scene had an impact on me and to reconnect with that allowed me to move past the 80’s sound that had been such a big influence, because I had the validation from the people directly and was playing with them now. Also, the temperature and climate of the environment and people in Berlin can be very dark, which made menaturally more inclined toward the light.

Una vez empecé a trabajar con maquinas de ritmo fue revolucionario para crear mi propio sonido, pues antes siempre habían sido colaboraciones con otras personas. Empecé entonces a trabajar con Autonervous, lo que aún era muy disonante, básicamente porque nadie podía cantar afinado tan bien como Bettina, quien colaboró en las grabaciones. Me di cuenta, sin embargo, que había terminado con algo totalmente diferente con lo que había empezado. El álbum Autonervous terminó por ser una especie de collage de ideas futuras que no terminamos de realizar del todo.

Con “Is it fire?” sentí que había arribado a un sonido más propio y original. Se donde vienen las influencias. Mucho proviene de la escena no wave como Lydia Lunch, ESG, The Contortions, como también de cosas como Ethiopiques, Tony Allen, The Selector y algunas influencias latinas tipo Pérez Prado e incluso algunos toques mariachis. Es un conjunto de estilos de los cuales he hecho mío. Como artistas hemos experimentado la vida y hemos vomitado lo que hemos visto. Mi música es mi sueño de la vida. Quiero pintar el mundo no solo de la manera que la veo, pero también de la manera en que sueño de cómo quiero que sea.

Se que es gracioso que me mudara a la oscura y fría Berlín y deje mi lado oscuro, pero esto fue un proceso que ocurrió naturalmente. Primero, con todas las bandas y música anterior, nunca quise ser oscura, solo fueron cosas que se dieron dando. Era una adolescente y tenía mucha rabia. Con The Vanishing siempre quise hacer disco pero siempre terminaba por ser todo un caos. Segundo, creo que al mudarme a Berlín con las chicas de Malaria, junto a Bettina y Beate Bartel de Liaisons Dangerous, me impactaron de tal manera que me reconectaron con los 80’s nuevamente. Sonido por cierto, que tuvo mucha influencia por que tocaba y estaba con gente de esa generación. Además que claro, el clima, la gente y el ambiente en Berlín realmente puede ser bastante oscuro, lo que hizo que naturalmente me inclinara más hacia la ¨luz¨.

ST: Con tus anteriores bandas tocaste y grabaste splits junto a Lost
Sounds, Glass Candy o Sixteens, que nos puedes decir de estas bandas?
With your old bands, you made some splits with Lost Sounds,
Glass Candy and Sixteens, What can you tell us about those groups?

JE: We met Lost Sounds in Memphis and always played with them when we came through there. Glass Candy we toured with and became good friends. They later invited me to play sax on some of their recordings, on the “Life After Sundown” EP. Sixteens were good friends of ours in the bay area. We played lots of shows together with them throughout the years I lived in San Francisco. Both of us were influenced by Tuxedo Moon< and other bands from this late 70’s San Francisco scene.

Conocimos a Lost Sounds en Memphis, siempre tocamos juntos cuando nos reuniamos. Con Glass Candy hicimos un tour juntos y nos hicimos buenos amigos. Tiempo después ellos me invitaron a tocar el saxo en algunos de sus grabaciones del “Life After Sundown” EP. Con Sixteens éramos amigos cuando andábamos por la bahía, los conocí en los años que viví en San Francisco. Los dos estábamos influenciados por Tuxedo Moon y otras bandas de finales de los setentas.

ST: ¿Como recuerdas a Jay Reatard, el líder de Lost Sounds que murió
el año pasado?
How do you remember Jay Reateard from Lost Sounds?

JE: I only met him a few times.. They were a great band and him and Alicja Trout were really sweet. Everytime we played in Memphis it was so exciting to play together and I felt deeply connected with them. Its sad and shocking when somebody so prolific dies so young, same with Amy Winehouse, or Marc Bolan. But I honestly believe that souls that are so deep have a calling to go somewhere else. We can’t judge what death is, nothing is permanent in life, and there’s really no end to anything just a new beginning.

Solo lo vi unas cuantas veces. Ellos eran una gran banda, él y Alicia Trout eran bastante amigables. Siempre tocamos en Memphis, era muy emocionante tocar juntos pues me sentía profundamente conectada con ellos. Es triste e impactante cuando alguien tan prolífico muere tan joven, lo mismo con Amy Winehouse o Marc Bolan. Honestamente creo que esas almas tienen un llamado de ir a otro lado. No podemos juzgar que es la muerte, nada es permanente en la vida, sin embargo creo no hay un final realmente, solo nuevos comienzos.

ST: Otro proyecto que muchos de tus seguidores recordamos es Autonervous, con Bettina Koster de Malaria!, qué nos puedes contar de ella? Another nice project we heard from you was Autonervous, with
Bettina Koster from Malaria! What can you tell us about her?

JE: I met Bettina the same day we arrived in Berlin. We were picked up at the airport and driven into an interview at a Berlin based label we were on at the time which she was a part of. Soon afterward we moved into her place as we had nowhere to go yet. We got along great with her and invited her to come tour with us in Italy. One thing led to another, and we ended up forming a band together. It was amazing to work with another singer/ sax player. Especially from a different generation which was so influential to me.Immensely satisfying and thrilling at first, but then it became like having a car with wheels on just one side. We both had similar talents and capabilities in the same directions. I guess the reason why it worked was ‘cos our voices were so different that they complimented each other. I’m happy we had the opportunity to make something together.

Conocí a Bettina el mismo día que llegue a Berlín. Fuimos recogidas del aeropuerto y llevadas a una entrevista en un sello de Berlín en la cual trabajábamos las dos. Pronto nos mudaríamos a su departamento pues no teníamos otro lugar donde quedarnos. Tuvimos buenos momentos con ella y pronto la invitamos a nuestra gira por Italia. Una cosa llevo a otra y terminamos haciendo una banda juntas. Fue asombroso trabajar con otra cantante saxofonista. Especialmente de otra generación que había sido tan influyente en mí. De estar inmensamente satisfecha de trabajar juntas, luego todo paso a ser como un auto con solo una línea de llantas en un lado. Teníamos talentos similares e íbamos en la misma dirección. Creo que la razón por que funcionó fue que nuestras voces eran tan diferentes que complementaron perfectamente una con otra. Estoy feliz de haber tenido la oportunidad de trabajar juntas.

ST: Hace poco tocaste junto a Lydia Lunch ¿podrías contarnos un poco acerca de ello? You recently played with Lydia Lunch? What can you tell us about her?

JE: I met Lydia a few years ago at Ladyfest Madrid where we shared the stage for the first time.She sat through our sound check, yelling at our sound guy to turn up this, do that. She’s a great chick, totally funny and positive and very supportive. In the last year we’ve started working together as she invited me and my drummer Toby Dammit to perform her first solo album “Queen of Siam” for the first time ever at the Donau Festival in Austria. I was nervous ‘cos there’s a lot of big band stuff on there and I knew I would be the only horn player, but it turned out really great and I got along great with the boys in her band. Since then we’ve played together twice more in Italy as a trio with an Italian singer,Beatrice Antolini. It’s a real pleasure to work with Lydia, as I’ve always admired her good taste in music, her voice and her tough great sense of humor. For< me it’s also a huge compliment because she has always worked with the best sax players, so its nice that she wants to work together ! I feel so happy that I’ve been able to collaborate with so many amazing musicians over the last few years. Even last month I got to do 5 shows with Budgie (from Siouxsie and the Banshees + The Creatures), ‘cos my normal drummer Toby Dammit went on tour playing drums with Iggy and The Stooges. It's amazing to play with Budgie ‘cos he was one of my favorite drummers since I was a teenager. It's just great to be able to explore different sounds and styles with people you love and admire. I don’t feel very connected to my “heritage” as far as where my family came from, but music is the bloodline that connects us all. I feel like everything that inspired me is in my blood and I want to give it back, continue the traditions that I’m connected with and continue building from that !

Conocí a Lydia algunos años atrás en el Ladyfest en Madrid, donde compartimos escenario por primera vez. Recuerdo que se sentó junto a nuestro sonidista gritándole que hacer. Es una chica graciosa, divertida y positiva. El año pasado empezamos a trabajar juntas luego de que me invitara a mi y a mi baterista Toby Dammit para acompañarla a tocar en vivo su primer disco como solista “Queen of Siam” en el festival de Donau en Austria. Estaba nerviosa porque habían muchas bandas grandes y sabía que era la única que tocaba un instrumento de viento. Por suerte todo salió muy bien y tuvimos un gran momento con los chicos de su grupo. Desde entonces hemos tocado dos veces más en Italia como un trío junto a una cantante italiana llamada Beatrice Antolini. Es un gran placer trabajar con Lydia, siempre he admirado su buen gusto musical, su voz y su buen sentido del humor. Para mi es un gran complemento por que ella siempre ha trabajado con los mejores saxofonistas, por ello es grandioso que me llame para trabajar juntas.

Me siento muy contenta de haber podido colaborar con tantos buenos músicos en los últimos años. Incluso el último mes con Budgie (de Siouxsie and the Banshees + The Creatures) cuando Toby Dammit se fue de tour para tocar con los Iggy and The Sooges. Es genial explorar diferentes sonidos y estilos con gente uno ama y admira. Particularmente no me siento muy conectada a mis costumbres de donde mi familia proviene, pero la música es la sangre que nos conecta a todos. Siento que todo lo que me inspira está en mi sangre y lo quiero dar de vuelta, continuando las tradiciones con las cuales estoy conectada y construir algo a partir de ello.

ST: Sería posible algún concierto de reunión de Subtonix, The Vanishing o Autonervous?
Any possible reunion with Subtonix, The Vanishing or Autonervous?

JE: I’m sure subtonix will do a reunion at some point and I would very much like to reissue the music we put out and maybe a photography book to go along with it. Maybe vanishing will also reunite at some point but I don’t think there’s any rush for any of it. It will probably take about 20 + years for people to get a clue about how cool Subtonix and other bands from that time were, so with that in mind, we have about 13 years to go still….

Estoy segura que Subtonix se reunirá en algún momento, me encantaría poder tocar juntos nuevamente y porque no hacer un álbum de fotografías con el cual quedarme. Tal vez Vanishing también pueda reunirse, pero no creo que exista algún apuro. Tal vez tome 20 años más para que la gente se percate que inteligente y que excitante era Subtonix al igual que otras bandas de esos tiempos. Con esa idea en mente, todavía tenemos unos 13 años más para continuar.


ST: ¿Tienes planeada alguna gira por Sudamérica o te interesaría venir por acá?
We heard something about a South American tour in a couple of months? How that goes? We really hope you can make it here.

JE: We have 4-5 shows in Brazil confirmed. I would love to play in other countries too so fingers crossed something else will come! It would be AMAZING to come to Peru!

Tenemos 4 a 5 shows en Brasil confirmados. ¡Me encantaría tocar en otros países también, se encuentran tan cercanos que posiblemente algo ocurra! ¡Sería INCRÍBLE ir a Perú!


ST: ¿Conoces algo de música peruana? ¿Qué es lo primero que se te viene a la menta cuando te dicen Perú?
Do you know anything about Peruvian music? What is the first
thing you think when you hear the word Peru?

JE: Yma Sumac. Although there’s the rumor that she is really Jewish girl from New York. What do you know about this? It doesn’t matter, shes amazing no matter what !

Yma Sumac. Sin embargo he escuchado algún rumor que ella realmente es una chica judía de Nueva York. ¿Qué saben sobre esto? Da igual, ¡ella es increíble no importa que!


ST: ¿Cuáles son tus próximos proyectos?
-Which are your next projects?

JE: I’m finishing my new album right now. It’s really different from the last album and I’m so excited about it We have lot of voices on it. Then I’m gonna get a band together for our record release party in Paris. I’m still finishing up making 3+ videos for the “Is It Fire?” album too.Lydia and I have a band called SISTER ASSASIN with Beatrice Antolini, and I would like to start writing music for this too once I get a chance. Then I have yet another album after the one which I’m finishing which is more vampy which we will record some for in Brazil. My percussionist Debora Saraiva is from Sao Paulo and her father is the director of a Samba school so I hope we can record the drummers (100 at least !) for some songs while we are there in Sao Paulo.

Estoy por lanzar mi nuevo álbum muy pronto. Es bastante diferente de mi último disco y estoy muy emocionada por ello. Tenemos muchas voces, realmente es un vibra distinta. Además voy a reunir la banda para nuestra fiesta del lanzamiento del álbum en Paris y estoy por terminar 3 video más del “Is It Fire?”.

Por otro lado, Lydia y yo hemos nombrado al trío junto a Beatrice Antolini SISTER ASSASIN, me gustaría comenzar a componer algo apenas tenga tiempo. También tengo otro álbum el cual estoy terminando que es un poco más sangriento el cual grabaremos un tanto en Brasil. Mi percusionista Debora Saraiva es de Sao Paulo y su padre es el director de la escuela de Samba por lo que espero grabar algunas percusiones (alrededor de 100 por lo menos), para algunas canciones mientras estamos por allá.

ST: Gracias Jessie nuevamente, ¿algunas palabras finales para quienes lean esta entrevista?

JE: Gracias !! xxxx

la cazo en el paisaje de mi imaginación...

stills from the upcoming "Ninos Del Espacio" video..

Iggy and The Stooges in Trutnov

had a cool jam session in Prague last week with the boys from The Stooges : Mike Watt, Steve Mackay + Toby dammit before going to see their show in Trutnov ! Check out Toby on drums !!

adventures in sao paulo...

September 21, 2010
I arrived at 5 am in Sao Paulo via Frankfurt from Berlin. Met the promoter Holger and sat drinking too many espressos as we waited for the others to show up on a flight from Rio. We were picked up by one of Debora’s brothers and went into the city. It’s smoggier than anything I’ve ever seen, makes Mexico City seem like a wildlife preserve. Smog Paulo.

They drove us to Debora’s parents house on the outskirts of the city, through the downtown, through ‘the mirror of the heart” Old sharp looking men with sunglasses and thick skin sat on chairs outside their shops. Museum under the freeway of crazy graffiti faces in cartoon styles with bugged out eyes. Edgy jagged like the work of thousands of crack heads. Symbols cut together like blades of grass, metal whistles screeching thru ears, the whistles of blood and black spray paint cut through wood, shine in the sun. Everything run down, beautiful houses with triangles written on piles of stones and clutter. The city is endless, people wading through it, sharp intense faces coming out of supermarkets, waiting for the bus.

Debora’s parents live up a hill on the edge of the city but already civilization is spreading like wildfire up the hill. We drove through power plants with electric banana forests cutting through them, factories that bake bread for children. It was her father’s birthday and he didn’t know Debora was coming so we got to surprise him. When we arrived her mother was in the kitchen making lunch: fried veal, salad, hot sauce, black beans and rice. Her younger sister is twenty; she reminds me of my sister who’s the same age. Beautiful & innocent and really spaced out, like she’s caught between the dimensions of childhood and something else, the next world. Her mother is cute, a bit crazy. I took a nap and the rain started, hard and harder, palm trees on top of a hill, rainbow colored laundry hanging from newly built porches. Debora’s father is the director of a samba school in Sao Paulo. He talked to me for a long time about it, the status of his position, as her brother translated. He showed me the symbol of the samba school embroidered into all his clothes. He signed a shirt for me, he said they will always have a room for me there. The house isn’t finished yet but it’s very nice, more secluded than usual for living in a city. You feel like you’re in the country up there. Carnival is a very respected part of society here. Big business in Brazil. The family sat on a bed looking through old photographs dating back to the 70’s her father is athletic, singing, announcing carnival. In the background, spectacular colorful parades and outlandish costumes. It’s incredible to think that this is just a way of life.
As we leave her brothers girlfriends car got stuck on top of the hill cos its so steep and we had to get out and let them dislodge it. A very steep and muddy hill. At the bottom of the hill a florescent blue bar was playing “Funk” at all hours. Brazilian booty shaking music with raunchy lyrics. Women walk the streets wearing skintight jeans and have big hips and ass. Tough faces and hair pulled back tight.

Faces on the street seem so harsh. The people are much louder than what I’m used to, like Italians, screaming out of cars at each other. Debora’s family all shouting across the room at one another. I don’t mind this, I like it loud. The drawn on houses, scribbled by crack phantoms secret languages like the markings of herds. Unknown symbols. Now its night we’re downtown, shouts and tears through the traffic. The heartbeat of it all. Traffic is so bad everywhere its slow and full more cars than people. So full that rich people pay 1000 bucks to take helicopter cabs across the city.


Sep 22
We woke up at 5 am, the traffic was immense, screaming and pounding like waves all in synchronicity together. We drank coffee, ate breakfast. They took me down through Japan town and through the Cinco de Mayo St. All carnival costumes and decorations for Carnival. Beads, Halloween deco’s, headdresses, feathers, sequins. Junk and adornments, all beautiful and plastic ! Amazing what a huge business decorating their bodies is.


Sep 23
Toby arrived and we spent the afternoon looking for maracas. We took the subway, endless vaults of low lit fluorescent lights, many levels like a labyrinth, thousands of people like rivers of bodies, traveling through this place. Graffiti on all the houses looks like fangs, sigils, crack graffiti like spells a secret language spun by spiders across buildings. Seems almost satanic, as though the houses that are attacked are cursed now. Or maybe they are blessed! Dracula teeth and chantings scribbled on walls and houses.


Sep 25
Our concert was at an art gallery, “Blinddate Berlin.” The show was a festival of Berlin artists only 2 bands and 2 Djs. It was so fun !!!


Sep 28
The city is so big so spread out, like Los Angeles, but a hundred times bigger, denser, truly a concrete jungle, everything falling apart and decaying, gigantic jungle trees growing up through the streets, they seem as tall as the skyscrapers. Ancient giants climb through the junkyard of man. Like New York City in the 70’s. It’s so dense with smog you can never see the sky or the sun, never blue, it always seems to be a dirty brownish. Dirty white seeping into everything, our hotel room, cigarette smoke seeping through the neighbor’s door. Everything dreaming in pollution. It makes me want to take drugs, poison myself, like a vaccine, inject me, let me become one with it. Days and days here spent searching for something, traveling everywhere by taxi to different neighborhoods, looking for drums, looking for records!!




We bought many passionate records by Brazilian singers. Gal Costa, in her half naked gold painted face poses. Like a beautiful monster, free chaotic, ‘Fatal” “India” with her crotch shot, camel toe underneath a straw skirt. Indian feathers in her hair, legs spread wide onstage with a guitar in hands, savage sailor of the blues. As we were listening to her music last night I was falling off to sleep I had the most beautiful & awful image of her being lowered into a cage onstage. The cage resembled the kind of trash cans you see here on the streets, giant black cages with locks, apparently there is so much trash here combined with so many people going through the trash that you have to have giant containers with locks. It was a so tragic and symbolic to see her like that like it was necessary but impossible to continue, a crying bird, a shrieking prisoner of the heart, Tortured cries through beautiful red painted lips, to the other side. Explain this place, I’ve been here, or exist here too sometimes.

We spent days looking for records, Rita Lee, rock and roll high priestess of Brazil. Man with the birds painted on his face. Ney Matogrosso,… Secos & Molhados. Os Mutantes. Paulo Beta and Luciana took us to the flea markets, along the major streets and walkways; it all looks like post-futuristic vision from of the 80s thought up in the 50s. Street ramps that criss-cross like subterranean highways, below the main drags where the beat graffiti artist display their beautiful visions. The graffiti here is immense different from anything I’ve ever seen before. Very tribal, ancient in away. Big crazy eyes rolling out of heads, crash landings of airplanes on winding roads. In the afternoon we went to record fair in a rock n roll bar. Very cool, meeting people, walking around hanging out. We met Walter and at London Calling, a great record store.

It was a rainy and muggy day. We were in the car at about 2 in the afternoon on Augusta St. when we heard a woman screaming bloody murder from a car, which was parked right across the St. from us in front of a fitness gym. She was desperately trying to get out of the car, screaming for help, but the driver pulled her back into the car. The car was shaking like crazy. She kept trying to open the door and get out but he kept pulling her back in, pulling her hair, beating the shit out of her. We couldn’t see the driver cos his window was tinted; all we could see was her poor face and his thick hands punching her, strangling her! The terror in her face, the mans arms strangling her and beating her over and over. The car shaking back and forth, people passing by some not noticing, some walking by alarmed. We called the police, the woman inside the fitness center called the police, she looked like she was going to have a heart attack. By now the passenger door and the trunk of the car were hanging open and the beating continued. After 20 minutes the police still hadn’t shown up, nobody was going to interfere, maybe the guy had a gun? I have a friend who lost an eye at a party getting involved, I know better, but it was just heartbreaking. Was he her pimp? These discussions are so irrelevant, they really disgust me. A situation of a man beating a woman should be enough, why do we need to pry further into what their relationship is? Does it really matter? Finally after like 20 minutes suddenly the woman had a big knife in her hand! And she began stabbing him, over and over like a Hitchcock film, Wack ! Wack ! Wack ! And the psycho look on her face as she was putting the knife in him! A few minutes later the driver door slowly opened and he sort of stumbled out of the car, looking drunk and disgusting, huge pot belly, and blood pouring out of his skull and stomach in long red rivers, he was literally drenched in blood. Like a disgusting creature that crawled out of a lake of blood. He stumbled out of the car and she followed him, both still screaming at each other then he threw himself back in the car and drove away while she smashed her fists against the windshield, almost getting dragged down the street by the car, then stumbled off in the opposite direction, distressed and searching for a cab. Probably he had her drugs or her purse still in side the car. We didn’t bother her, let her be, enough drama, another day on the streets, shit!!!


Later that evening we went to the samba school run by Debora’s father. It was a rehearsal for carnival. Around 3000 people from the community filled a large auditorium with handmade flags and banners hanging from the ceiling like hundreds of colorful piñatas. Hundreds of dancers dressed in different types of costumes, cheerleaders, singers, musicians, performers. They were there to work on their moves and beats and to perform 3 different sambas and decide collectively which one they would do for carnival this next year. Debora’s father came out at first on the stage, the master of ceremonies. The almost immediately announced our presence there” Jessie Evans here from Germany!!” Welcoming us. People turned and smiled, realizing instantly that these two honkeys must be from far away, maybe big celebrities from Antartica.

Then the drummers began, loud and bold wall with shiny green marching rums and percussions, then the dancers started, real beautiful hoochy girls with short red skirts shimmying and moving so quick and sexy. Each girl came to the front to take her turn, do her moves, as the big mama of them all dance teacher shouted out at her and coached her through all the chaos “ Head up, move those hips!”” dip lower! As the girls moved their hips faster and faster to the samba groove, knowing all the moves, and the other girls, formed a line behind her, mirroring the same moves, each in their unique way. Every body was shaking! More! Then the parade began, men and woman in partners dancing. The Flag bearers-Men and women partners, some were just small children. Then men wore sharp suits, white or red and danced an African / break-dance samba dances, jittering across the floor so slick, like dominoes splashing down across white tile, while the woman carried large flags and spun in circles, always looking directly in her partners eyes at each 180 turn with a big glamorous smile. Then the older women “ Ala de Bajanas” joined the parade, their hair up in white scarves, dressed to represent the women from Bahia who sold goods in the streets of Rio during the 19th century. Many other dancers joined the parade and went around and around in circles in the auditorium, like delirious babies laughing falling into a stream of ecstasy. Some wore cheerleading outfits, others in more official dress, patches like the leaders of the ritual, a cross between sports coaches and shaman’s, the “old school” ones, showing the new kids how its done. While I searched for my gods they were dancing with the gods. The people cried out like crash landings everybody marching and dancing in circles, dissolving contagiously into magic waters. Frenzy, for real. As the ritual continued the dancing and drumming only ceased for moments in which Debora’s father took again to the mic and announced what was to come, each time mentioning again “JESSIE EVANS is here!!” it was so surreal. Then a singer in a white suit, looking strikingly like the Mexican singer SILVERIO in all his 70s sleaze took to the mic and began singing and dancing through the crowd with the people. Another director of ceremony, his voice belting out loud and distorted through the huge PA system, which was EQ’d at such a high pitched and shrill frequency like out of spinal tap or like he was a drunk wedding singer. A beautiful little girl, about 9 years old was looking up at me, at first uncertain, but very soon, smiling and introduced herself, then eager to introduce me to all her friends. She asked me if I knew how to samba and wanted to teach me. She was an amazing dancer, and all her friends were also professional dancers in the parade. It was so beautiful hanging out with her. She was absolutely enamored with the gold snake in my hair, like I was an alien from some other planet. Isabelle, dancing so fast already a natural, a real special girl.

Each year they chose somebody from the community whose life to celebrate. This year it was this actor guy who was a clown. At one point he came out, this cute little old man with a big smile. Suddenly everybody in the crowd had picket billboards with large photos printed out of this man from different stages in his career. As a clown, as an actor. And were waving them with all their might, as though it was for freedom, as though it were Election Day. His cartoonish face was silkscreened on giant posters and beautiful girls wore elaborate dresses with his caricature photo silkscreened across the chest. At one point there was some girl about 12 years old that came on the stage and sang a song sort of like in the style of Whitney Houston but in Portuguese. The PA was hissing and crackling and unbearably loud and she had her back to the crowd. It seemed absurd that she wasn’t facing the 3000+ people in the room, but then I noticed that the clown man was up there in a high window above the stage, like the principal of the school and she was serenading him! As the night progressed for over 7 hours, it manifested in different forms, the singing, dancing, a parade of bodies moving and marching in circles around the auditorium, at times waving flags singing, drumming. By end of the night it just went on and on into mass hysteria. The stage was filled with people jumping up and down and screaming and shouting. The band was playing and I was dancing with the SILVERIO lookalike onstage. There were little girls age 3 and up dancing samba in small circles in the hallway next to the bathroom. Their ritual was the samba, they danced this their whole life.