A Year in Reflection

Photos by Eric T. White

When Jenny Romaine calls your phone, you know there is something awesome happening somewhere and Jenny wants you to be a part of it. The conversation may go like this, “I’m uptown everyone is wearing plushy heads and we’re dancing outside the Russian consulate to protest the proposed gay rights laws, you’ve got to be here!” Seen & Herd has been waiting for the right moment to capture the energy and intensity of one of our favorite starlets, but how? How do you squeeze the magnanimous power of a glamorous theatrical, comedic, musical, puppeteer political activist into a photograph? Well…First, you use the stage set built by her own theater company, Great Small Works, a recreation of a set by iconic Cockette, Jilala. The imagery has been reinvented many times over. We’ve seen it surface through the eyes of Keith Herring, Grace Jones, Rhianna, and many a small puppet theater performances…

Then, with the set as her inspiration, Kelly fashions a trio of accessories to adorn her figure. The mechanical, spacey, tribal pieces pop out on our painted muse. Finally, with the excellent eyes of Eric T. White behind the camera, Jenny is asked play with reflection, blend in, stand out and do what she does best…

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Seen & Herd: So Jenny, what do you do best?

Jenny Romaine: I try to make sense of what is going on around us.

SNH: Your performance and imagery is often rooted in the juicy history of people movements, share with us some of your favorite sources?

JR: Archives, Betty Boop cartoons, street posters, Democracy Now, Ancient Holy Texts (including old vaudeville scripts and outmoded forms of pop culture), DJ’s, MC’s, little girls singing games.

SNH: What’s your vision for the new world order?

JR: More artists in paid leadership positions, single payer health care, no jails, public nap centers with snacks.

SNH: If you could meet one of your fallen heroines who would it be?

JR: Nekhame Epshteyn who collected 10,000 Yiddish Jokes before she perished in WWII.

SNH: Is anger the antidote to helplessness, where do you begin?

JR: Anger gives great energy, and I also seek fun, the pleasure of telling a new story, ornamental problem solving, and companionship.

SNH: What are your secrets for overcoming time and space?

JR: The Bicycle, and the idea of ” work and after work.” There must be life and adventure after work! Also, you can go out more if you don’t drink a lot.

SNH: How many personalities are you required to summon in your everyday artistic life?

JR: I would have said 100, but having just worked with canine superstar POOPSIE, I have to say 101 and 102.

SNH: What next project are you most excited about?

JR: Covering my kitchen with clay!

Visit www.KellyHorriganHandmade.com to view products featured on Seen & Herd.

The Artist’s Way

Seen and Herd took a trip out to L.A. to do a little business and enjoy a little pleasure.  Catching up with old friends, we headed to the succulent desert paradise of the Huntington Botanical Garden to create some colorful images with Frida Kahlo as our inspiration. Who could handle such a task? Only our favorite outspoken, Persian fashion diva, Parisa Parnian. Parisa had us in a lush tropical trance. Jorge Köngsberg captured the beautiful images.

Seen & Herd: Your photo shoot setting is in a succulent garden, Can you tell us a little bit about your relationship to deserts and succulents?

Parisa Parnian: I grew up in the vast and arid lands of Arizona. When I wanted to dream and escape the world as a child, I would sit for hours and stare into the horizon of the deserts that surrounded my home and find tremendous inspiration in the colors, textures, and intangible energy that desert plants, animals and sky would provide me.

SNH: Frida Kahlo was your muse, what qualities do you admire and share with the late great painter?

PP: … her sense of self, her ability to use the pains, trials and tribulations of her life to feed her artistic expression. She was not a classic beauty, but her fierce, strong features and the way she carried herself …

SNH: If you could be an artist in any other era, would you go to the past or future? What would this idealized reality look like to you? What would be your vessel?

PP: As cliché as it may sound, I can imagine myself as part of Parisian salons of the 1930’ s and 1940’ s—I can see myself being amongst the provocative women of that era, such as Anais Nin and Maya Deren. I would be a multi-media artist and weave stories between words, costumes, and film. I am also intrigued by the group of immensely talented and visionary fashion designers, set designers, photographers who made up the Théâtre de la Mode—a community of creators who managed to bring couture to the world despite the horrors of World War II.

SNH: How would you describe your style?

PP: My style is constantly evolving with where I am in my life both personally and professionally. I am eclectic, colorful, bold, and somewhat provocative in the way I “ fashion” myself. It’s almost a backlash to my childhood…being the uni-browed, Iranian, immigrant kid at an all-white grade school and wanting to fit in…After years of trying to fit in and not succeeding, I finally decided to embrace my unique physical outer self and go the other direction…accentuate what made me different. Currently, I am feeling a blend of modern gypsy meets Studio 54 meets Bianca Jagger with a twist of Frida thrown in for good measure.

SNH: Where do you go for inspiration? Who are some of your favorite artists working today?

PP: I go to creative, experimental visual and performative events to get my imagination going. I go to exhibits, flea markets, random dusty stores in the middle of nowhere and glorious high-end boutiques to soak in color, texture, design. I look online for images that stir me. I look around me at the friends and acquaintances I keep for inspiration and stimulation as well.

SNH: You’re a queer fashion mogul and a celebrity in your own right… tell us about Rigged Outfitters?

PP:  RIGGED OUT/fitters was a clothing and lifestyle brand I created that was inspired by the subversive, gender-queer fashion and aesthetic that made up a particular population of the Brooklyn and San Francisco queer underground from about 2000 to 2008.  It was about gender-fuck and taking labels that were once used in a derogatory way (dyke, queer, dirty) and mashing them up with rock and punk-inspired graphics and vintage men’s styling to create a fresh look.

SNH: Any thoughts on queer influence on current trends fashion?

PP: Have you heard of Justin Bieber?  Just kidding!  Queer influence has now and in the past been a big influence in fashion trends.  Let’s not forget (for better or worse) that the sideways trucker hat look copped by Von Dutch was first spotted at the dyke parties in Williamsburg back in 2001.  Holla!
Currently, the androgynous trend is back and a lot of high fashion magazines are playing off the gender-queerness of putting masculinity on women and femininity on men.

SNH: Any business advice for small fashion start-ups?

PP: 1- Really understand the reality of who you are trying to market to and what they would/wouldn’t be willing to spend their money on
2- Be unique but accessible to the people you want to cater to
3- Make sure you understand how much profit you need to make after you pay all the expenses of running the business and put that number in your top goals
4- Fashion editors, photographers, bloggers, and facebook fans are very important and free ways to get the word out about your brand and products
5- Persevere and realize it takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice to make your small business grow.

SNH: What’s your spirit animal?

PP: The Phoenix Bird

SNH: Recently the queer Muslim women’s community was victim of an on-line infiltrator, any words for this perpetrator and his activity?

PP: Yes! check out Jen Camper’s new blog http://hetwhiteboy.blogspot.com/ to get every thing I think about this blogger hoax thru the eyes of a middle-eastern gay woman.

SNH: Your current position?

PP: Senior Designer, Menswear @ G by Guess.

SNH: What would you say are an artists biggest obstacles to happiness?

PP: Balancing the need for self-indulgence and pragmatic/practical choices in life.  Figuring out how to make a living as an artist without compromising one’s core values.  Carving out time to be creative when involved in any sort of relationship/relating to others = carving out time to be an artist.

 

Visit www.KellyHorriganHandmade.com to view this and other products featured on Seen & Herd.

 

 

The Little Village

Ariela wears a brass hinge necklace with attached belt and lazer cut dress by www.KellyHorriganHandmade.com. Photo and post production by Mor Erlich.

Ariela wears a brass hinge necklace with attached belt and lazer cut dress by www.KellyHorriganHandmade.com. Photo and post production by Mor Erlich.

Ariela wears a brass hinge necklace with attached belt and lazer cut dress by www.KellyHorriganHandmade.com. Photo and post production by Mor Erlich.

It’s the end of March and winter still has us in a strange bitter grasp. I’m searching for parking on the Lower East Side, watching hail pellets get swiped from the dash. Ariela Hazan is waiting, warm inside an Italian pastry Café on the corner of 1^st and 10^th St. A stroke of luck, a few Italian Catholic parking prayers and soon I’m darting the hail. Watching the lightning light up the night sky, I take refugee in the corner booth where, cream puffs and tea are waiting! The music is loud and oddly “pumping” for the fancy décor. Ariela is positioned perfectly in the room. This is one of her talents, being solid, comfortable in any environment. A woman of incredible character, she can evoke an unbreakable toughness. But then, after a bite of delicious pastry, she collapses with an uncommonly sincere innocent glow. You’re not from around here, are you?

Ariela: I’m from Israel. A very small place…a very special place. It’s not a city and it’s not a town, it’s a school. I was born and raised in a boarding school for kids 14-18 that helps them to learn Hebrew and start a new life in Israel. My parents used to work there. Now they’re retired… After they finished the army, they meet there. They helped to create this place. My mom was a nurse there for 50 years. My Father was a one of the managers and also in charge of the security…

So I grew up in school. We were 20 families of staff… in a beautiful place on the mountains… a view to the Ocean… with a fence around it and guards, so there were no strangers coming in, we never locked the house, I barely put shoes on… I was just barefoot all day… going to the swimming pool and coming back… My childhood was very special…I didn’t know anything else. When people ask where I’m from… They’re surprised. They think it’s fascinating… Now I understand why…

SNH: There was recently a big fire there…

Ariela: Three months ago in December, my place was on fire, the whole school…

SNH: The whole school was lost?

Ariela: No, Almost half. All the trees were lost… a small forest of pine trees, they are all gone. My parents’ house is gone. It’s a real, real shock… I still have dreams about it…One of the dreams… I was coming back to visit and the trees have all grown back, like nothing had happen. My parents’ house is not there, but the trees…

SNH: Where did your parents come from originally?

Ariela: From Morocco  (In the late 1950’s) they were also kids that came to Israel with no parents. My mother left home at age ten with her twin sister to go to Israel… just both of them

SNH: Why?

Ariela: Because everybody thought this country only for Jewish (people) could not be bad. They came from Morocco, it’s a Muslim country… to come to the Holy Land, this was a dream for every Jew…And back then you couldn’t just go from Morocco freely. They had to smuggle them in ships… they went to France. They stayed in France and waited for another ship to take them to Israel. It took two years of waiting in France, she left Morocco when she was ten and got to Israel when she was twelve.

SNH: Then where did they go?

Ariela: They went to a Kibbutz… her twin sister is still there in the same Kibbutz

SNH: Explain what a Kibbutz is…

Ariela: It’s a community that works together. They have factories…they grow a harvest…there’s no money they split everything equally…It doesn’t matter what you do, if you do the laundry, you do the laundry for everyone… there’s a dinning room for everyone to eat together

SNH: Your father is Moroccan as well?

Ariela:  My father left Morocco when he was nine… He went first to Jerusalem through France as well. He was with a group of young kids and they are still in touch…From Jerusalem he went to the boarding school, the same where he worked until recently…its called Yemin Orde. Now, after the fire people know it…

SNH:  So you had this wild, beautiful childhood and then, like everyone in Israel, you were required to serve in the military? Your Mom was a Nurse and you ended up as a medic? Were you already trained?

Ariela: My Mom was a paramedic in the army as well, and my older brother as well. When you go into the army there’s a questionnaire. They ask you what your family did …I think that influenced whoever decided what I was going to do in the army. (Laughing)

SNH: Did you enjoy this kind of work?

Ariela: Oh I loved it, I know a lot of people don’t like it; I love the army…I was coming from a really, really small place. I wanted to see something else. I wanted to see the rest of Israel. I didn’t know a lot of people. I didn’t know a lot of places. It was nice to be independent…not with my parents, to be alone…To be a soldier is to be grown up, I really waited for that. It’s tough in the beginning… To train and to study… They try to teach you a lot in a short time because you have only two years…

SNH: What did you do after the army?

Ariela: When I was in high school I started to paint…there’s an artist village right next to the school where I grew up… If you want to buy property there you have to be an artist…I started baby-sitting there… the woman’s friend had a workshop for prints… We got original paintings by artists, that were pretty famous and we did reproductions. They were numbered and signed and then sold in galleries. First I was…mixing the colors. Then, the owner gave me a chance to try to separate the colors. He liked it, I was doing this for six years. It was a nine to five job painting all day.

SNH: Was that the last job you had before you decided to come to America?

Ariela: … I was working at a hotel, a really famous, good spa hotel. I was a lifeguard in the swimming pool (laughing) for six month…from there I had a cousin in New York saying, why won’t you come here? So after six months I came to New York, I was 28

SNH: You came directly to New York?

Ariela: …I never lived in Tel Aviv or any other city besides New York…

SNH: So what was the most shocking thing about the city, good or bad?

Ariela: Good… a lot of people from all over the world, that’s shocking, I met people from everywhere…countries I never knew existed. Bad? Shocking? I don’t know… I found the East Village… so I love it. It’s still tiny…I don’t know everybody but I know a lot of people… It’s kind of home to me now, I made my own village inside New York. It’s a city and a village… I love it!

SNH: In your photo shoot you really look like a princess of a village to me! You’re very earthy, down to earth, because you’re so skilled, but then there’s something a little urban and edgy you wouldn’t like to let go of too soon…

Ariela: (Laughing) that’s a compliment

SNH: You worked as makeup artist…

Ariela: That was hard

SNH: Do you still paint?

Ariela: Now I don’t have time

SNH: I can imagine because your real village within the village is Café Mogador where you are manager…

Have you ever been to Morocco?

Ariela:  Yes I went to see where my parents grew up, the culture, the houses are still there. My Mom remembered her neighborhood the synagogue, the bakery. There was a big oven where all the neighbors would bring the bread, they didn’t have ovens, they made the dough and brought it to the big oven. My Father showed us the house where he grew up.

SNH: Is there still a large Jewish community in Morocco?

Ariela: No there’s now about 3000, I still have family there… Both my Mother and Father’s moms are from Mogador

SNH: So it’s just meant to be that you found Café Mogador here…

Ariela: I remembered when I first found out about this restaurant, I called home…MOM THERE’S A RESTAURANT CALLED MOGADOR! I was so excited…April 15, the date they opened is my birthday…I feel really connected to this family. I feel like we are family. Me and the owner, Rifka, since day one we have a strong connection…

SNH: Something ancient maybe

Ariela: Rifka says, for sure, all Jewish in Mogador are connected.

SNH: So you were a medic in the army, you manage an incredibly busy restaurant… what makes you thrive in such stressful environments?

Ariela: …It was too quiet when I was a kid. There was no stress at all. It was even a little bit boring at times… Maybe I need some action to make up for it…

SNH: What images of women did you have to grow up with in such a small pocket of the world? What were your first impressions?

Ariela: My mom, she’s an energizer bunny. My parents were always working. Imagine a huge boarding school… you were always available. Kids were knocking on the door at 2 am.

SNH: Life and work were tied together

Ariela: It’s together. It’s not separate. We lived inside of work

SNH: This is like a restaurant. It’s a family, like a home…

Ariela: Yes and I’m always available. Laughter

SNH: Strength and wisdom seem to come second nature to you and you’re still a little bit of a girly girl…it’s so nice to see how easily those traits live together.

Ariela: There’re a lot of strong women in Israel, a lot… We were the third country to have a female prime minister … maybe this had an effect (on me) too…We all go to the army, We can’t be girly girls too much. You have to deal with the army. It’s a little tough you, you have to be strong, or else someone will eat you, have to protect yourself, people can take advantage if they see someone weak… not me.

Visit www.KellyHorriganHandmade.com to view this and other products featured on Seen & Herd.

 

 

 

Commanding creature…

On a late September afternoon, Seen and Herd ventured out with performer Ashley Brockington and photographer Mor Erlich to the Brooklyn waterfront. A storm was threatening and wouldn’t you know it, as soon as we landed at Brooklyn Bridge Park the heavens opened up in thunderous glory. The photo shoot took refuge under the Manhattan Bridge. With the help of the brights from our ’91 Ford Explorer, it soon became the perfect setting for the birth of “Commanding Creature”.

Wearing Kelly Horrigan’s “Warrior Shoulder Piece and Head Dress”, Ashley brought her saucy, burlesque best to the cold, rainy dusk and left us awe struck at the base of the bridge.

S&H:  This month we welcome the incredible performer, Ashley Brockington to Seen & Herd! Welcome Ashley…

Ashley:  thanks

S&H:  We know you as a woman of many talents. Can you give us some insight on your creative life? How would you describe what you do?

Ashley:  Well, I’m a host and sometimes comic (not on purpose, I’m just funny) that produces theater downtown.

I write plays and produce cabarets.

My focus tends to hover around issues that involve black queer women but I also love white people!

(laughing)

S&H:  How did you first start coming into performance as a means of expression?

Ashley:  when I was little.  Performing was a natural impulse…

the brush in the mirror,

shows after dinner,

choreography with my sister and friends.

I begged for ballet lessons and was so traumatized by going to my first dance class at 11,

I thought I was over the hill to be starting.

Talent shows and dance teams in middle school and high school.

I went to college for performing arts but quit…twice.

Eventually I ended up here (NYC).  Being in one place has allowed to experiment with different ways of being creative.

I used to consider myself a dancer primarily.

S&H:  How did you come to settle in NYC? You spent many years wandering about, tell us some of the amazing places you’ve been.

Ashley:  Hmmm. ok.  i did kind of breeze past the hippy part.

Well,  I spent a lot of time in the Czech Republic cuz I was partnered with a fabulous Czech fag for a decade.

What up Honza!

I used to spend my winters in Michoacan, Mexico cuz its gorgeous and in ’97 the U.S. dollar went super far there… I could just hippy out for four months on the beach.

I spent one of the best two months of my life, so far, on a little island called St. Louis (san-lew-EE) off the coast of Senegal.  It was there I learned that I’m an expert dreamer.

S&H:  Dreamer of the sleeping or waking kind?

Ashley:  sleeping and waking (dreams)

Ashley:  Washington DC was my first adult home.  I ended up there in order to go to Howard U (quit) and ended up staying for five years.

I worked a glamorous coffee shop job on queer alley and bounced around fashion shows and dance companies.  I took a lot of African (dance) class and took my clothes off for anyone with a camera.

Where are those pictures now?

(laughing)

NYC became a regular stop after auditioning Circus Amok!

S&H:  You’ve been a confident performer in so many different roles: clown, sex mistress, righteous activist. What have been your most challenging shoes to fill? Anything you wish you never have to do again? Any scenario you wish to dream up?

Ashley:  It’s really weird being the only “nekkid” woman in a room…  And the only black one.  All greased up.  I call those Hottentott gigs.  Unfortunately, they often come with a good paycheck and a plane ticket.

I’d like to dream up my supper club.  A show and some kind of eats…  Not too expensive…  Regular folx can afford it.

S&H:  Explain Hottentott for the cracker…

Ashley:  Sarah Bartman was a South African woman from the Xosi tribe that was enslaved by the colonizers.  She was taken and made a “freak” in Picadilly Square on account of her stretched pussy.  The Xosi people believe that a dangling inner labia was a sign of beauty and young girls got stretched as was custom in their tribe.

She was used as scientific proof that African women were more sexualized than European women.  They wanted and needed sex more than there genteel white counterparts. She eventually married her captor.  That’s what they called her in the freak show…  The Venus Hottentott.

S&H:  Wow. Is Sarah’s story some of the fire under your work at Cabaret Cataplexy? Anyone else who your captivated by?

Explain also what Cabaret Cataplexy is for our readers…

Ashley:  Sara’s story isn’t specifically fueling Cataplexy.

Ashley:  Cataplexy is a sexy cabaret that I co-produce and co-host with the very talented Monstah Black.  It’s performance art and costumes.  Comedy and Burlesque.  Live Music and lots of fellowship.  We have primarily colored folx on the stage but we always have at least one whitey of the month so people know that we believe in diversity.

Cataplexy definitely pushes the racial envelope.  Not only is it a primarily colored cabaret, but I also complain a lot about being colored on the mic.

I make fun of stereotypes and say things that make white people uncomfortable.

It’s really fun!

I like to talk about race cuz I’m Black.

It just is a very racialized world and only white folx get the privilege of forgetting that.

I like to remind them.

I’ll often watch my favorite Richard Pryor stuff before a show.

I’m an Aries and “blunt” is one of our catchwords.

I basically let myself say anything.

I think the audience can feel me.  I love everybody and I think we need to talk about race if we’re gonna ever be at peace as a multi-cultural society and world.

S&H:  Black Girl Ugly is a production you do seasonally at WOW Café on the Lower East Side tell us more about the show. Do you see it as a sister to cataplexy to present race issues in a more structured way?

Ashley:  Black Girl Ugly I’ve been told falls under the category of Applied Theater.  We use the creation of the play to investigate real issues in our lives.  In this case:  Black Women and Self Esteem.  I don’t really see BGU as a sister to CC.  I mean, I could do a scene from BGU at CC and both are focused on Brown folx but I don’t think of them as related.  But they are cuz they both come from me. and us.

S&H:  So what are some essential elements for your inspiration?

Ashley:  The comedy of being Black in this country.

Richard Pryor in that he really loved Black people.  He made super deep commentary on Black life and made that shit funny.  Because folx wanted to listen to him because they wanted to laugh, they also had to listen to Black life or at least pay attention for an hour.  Black folx loved this cuz we didn’t get to see enough representations of ourselves in the media.  White folx loved it cuz that shit was funny!  And, he really loved Black people which is another sentiment that is grossly under-repped in media or entertainment.  I’m not talking about I love your shiny Black skin kind of love.  But really love for the Black person’s experience.

I love the cabaret setting.  I’m not sure why…  Glamorous.  Circusy.  Irreverant.  Sexy.  I wanna be all those things!!

S&H:  In most of your appearances, you’re in control of the whole process, how you’re being presented, what comes out of your mouth. It’s so important. Pryor got to deliver to the masses, does small scale performance make you feel further marginalized, like you can only reach the audience that comes to you?

Ashley:  no.  I just feel like we’re small for now…

The right people come.  We’re still getting our game just right.  I wanna be super on point when we perform to larger audiences.

S&H:  Give us a plug for where peeps can access all this excitement.

Ashley:  Well Cataplexy just had our big comeback on Monday (Sept 27).  We’d been off for the summer.  We came back into a beautiful new space called Haven in Midtown.  We created a beautiful 18th saloon with performances all over the venue.  It was fucking sick.  We’ve decided to slow down and do our show seasonally instead of monthly so we can put more juice and intention into each show.  We’ll be returning to Haven but are also looking at the The Knitting Factory for the December show.

S&H:  We talked briefly during the photo shoot about the power of looking powerful. In the photos you look like a woman who yields an incredible amount of power or some mythical creature. Can you give us some context for how all those feathers made you feel?

Ashley:  Yeah, the shoulders made me feel like a very commanding creature.  I felt fierce and not to be fucked with,  A ruler to take care of her people.  Generous and loving but also super scary when pissed off.

S&H:  Is this far from real life? (laughing)

Ashley:  Not really.  (laughing)

Some one called me a tyrant recently…

Ouch.

I will admit… I love a handful of minions that are eager to do my bidding.

S&H: S&H is happy to be a small vessel for your thoughts, eager to blast them far and wide! Thanks for talking with us today. What else should we know about…

Ashley:  I’m in a sick fashion show on Oct. 18th & 19^th at Ico Gallery. 606 W 26th St. New York. 7-11pm. Black Snow is the name of the line.

I host the Brown Girls Burlesque Show coming up on October 22nd and 23rd at the Kumble Theater.

I need a job and I want to host for people who want a really charismatic sexy thing with a sharp tongue.

I’m on Facebook, and one of these days…  TheAshleyBrockington.com will be up and running.  I love to collaborate.  Please reach out to me if you think we should play art together.

That’s about all I got.

Be sure to check out Ashley’s work! And KIT for more interesting people and thoughtful fashion.

X,

S&H

 

Visit www.KellyHorriganHandmade.com to view this and other products featured on Seen & Herd.

A knock at the dressing room door

Seen & Herd welcomes Rachel Lee Walsh to the launch of our first official posting. Seen & Herd is a fashion and culture blog inspired by the handiwork of fashion guru, Kelly Horrigan and her line of one-of-a-kind leather accessories, Kelly Horrigan Handmade. We will be featuring bi-monthly postings for your viewing pleasure. The basic premise: find someone we love and appreciate, dress them in a KHH original, take some cool photos and find out more about the person and what makes them tick. Lee Free will conduct the interviews and craft the text. This month’s photography credit goes to Kelly and a random i-phone. Here we go…

Click here to play “She’s Not Waiting” by Rachel Lee Walsh:

S&H:  Rachel welcome to Seen & Herd, how would you describe both your music and fashion style, both on stage and off?

Rachel:  I would describe my music as soulful, country-ish, folk music that tells a story. My fashion style off stage is pretty, vintage, a little quirky and comfortable. My on stage fashion style is amped up just a little to tell more of a story.

S&H:  Nice, Who are your biggest influences? If you could meet one person who’s already moved into the great beyond, who would it be and where?

Rachel:  I’m influenced by all sorts of artists all the way from old blues guys like Howlin’ Wolf to current musicians and songwriters like Lucinda Williams and Amos Lee. The songwriter nearest and dearest to my heart that I’d kill to hang out with would be Patty Griffin. She tells stories the way I like to write and her voice always sounds like she’s crying and wailin’ in a way that cuts right through me…the way her voice sounds so honest and real, like she’s really reliving the story she is telling.

S&H: I’ve been thinking about the photos of you in the “patent leather collar”, you look totally transported. There could be so many possible stories for the woman in the picture. Kelly says the piece is inspired by film noir. The genre always had a cynical tone, an anti-hollywood, unhappy ending twist. This is similar to the stories you tell and the stories you’re attracted to. Do you approach each song with a story in mind? What is your relationship to the haunted?

Rachel:  I’m definitely haunted. No doubt about that. I think the design by Kelly and the photos really picked up on the dark, cynical, anti-norm side of me and my music. I do approach each song with a story in mind. I love trying to write a great melody and trying to find the perfect chord, but it’s really the story, the lyric, that makes it all happen for me. People’s stories are what get me writing in the first place. About my relationship to the haunted, I’m going to go on record saying this…it’s possible that I see dead people.

S&H:  Is there positivity in spookiness?

Rachel:  I think the dark side is where it all gets interesting… Trying to tap into that more all the time. Positivity in spookiness? Yes. Isn’t that why we have Halloween?

S&H:  Totally!

Rachel:  important to have fun with the dark side, no?

S&H:  Well i guess there’s just so much fear around situations like seeing dead people, dead people talk to me, I don’t mind listening but seeing them would really freak me out, how do you deal? Besides writing songs for them…of course

Rachel:  I actually find them comforting. They guide me, warn me, show me around the place. I also serve them a little tea and sing them a sweet lullaby.

S&H:  Incredible!

S&H:  Okay back to the present dimension. You’re a southerner who migrated to NYC. What keeps you here? What’s your take on all the urban country music popping up?

Rachel:  I was reading the novel “Motherless Brooklyn” by Jonathan Lethem today. There was a line in it that described New York City as an “amnesiac dance of renewal”. I love that feeling. I feel like I can grow old here because I’ll never grow old, being here. My take on all the urban country music popping up…Aren’t they all copying me? (laughing)

S&H:  Snap! Do they know about your urban rap sheet too? Not too many country singers getting arrested for making human chains around NYC in the name of radical queer politics!

S&H:  I’m just saying you’re going to make it hard for them to be as bad-ass as you.

Rachel:  Ah Yes! The good ol’ days. I could do for a little chaining myself up to a bunch of other people, lying down on the streets of Manhattan. Although, I must point out that most of the great country musicians historically have been rabble-rousers! Willie Nelson has always given them hell.

S&H:  Your definitely part of a great history. Is this the cross section of your politics and southern sensibilities?

Rachel:  I would say so. I know there are a lot of ways that I’m a northerner and I’m not saying it’s just a southern thing, but I think there is a great tradition of writing and telling the truth in storytelling that comes from southern culture. Maybe it’s because of all the struggles that exist there? I don’t know, but I do know that I’ve always had a story to tell and I’ve always found it easy to do it through music. I’m pretty sure that’s common in southern culture. Music soothes the demons and the ghosts.

S&H:  Last Question: Seen and Herd is a play on that “old saw” A Woman should be Seen and Not Heard. All this talk about story telling makes it clear to me how women’s history has survived. Where would you like to see fifth/sixth wave feminism take the next generations?

Rachel:  Thanks for saving the hard question for last… I feel like even the word “feminism” has become…Dirty…even amongst progressive people. I’d like to see that change back to a time when even men called themselves “feminists”. Women are always making strides, but I think we’ve backed down a bit because of the progress. Certainly the conversation about the inequalities women face is always changing, but I’d like to see more outspokenness, more rabble-rousing, more laying down in the street, chained up for change.

S&H: Good fielding that one (more laughing). Thanks for taking time to talk with us Rachel. We look forward to hearing more from you, When can we expect the full length?

Rachel: My goal is to have the full-length done by Feb of 2011.

S&H: Update us when it’s done.

Find out more about Rachel Lee Walsh at www.RachelLeeWalsh.com.

 

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