m u s ic
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Coming out a Hed
eople can’t seem to get enough of Hedwig
arid the Angry Inch.
P
With the release of another extraordinary album,
Hedwig carries queer pop culture iconism
over to the straight world
“Think of the sheer volume of trying to get
all these different celebrities together," says
Brix»ks. "To get them to say yes, record these
songs, agree to the charity aspect, all of the
financial shenanigans, working with the
school, working with Stephen and John— there
were endless details that Chris had to juggle."
Now, more than a year later, Wig m a Box
lands on the shelves with a splash. Mitchell
himself is on the road to promote the release,
landing Oct. 2.3 at Portland’s Jackpot Records
for a madly crowded in-store appearance.
Audiences are still eating Hedwig up, but this
time indie-rock fans are climbing into the
technicolored fantasy, too.
The draw? An eclectic list of artists and a
fantastical foursome of musical collaborations:
Sleater-Kinney and Fred Schneider of The
B-52’s, Cyndi Lauper and The Minus 5, the
three Bens (Kweller, Folds and Lee). Then
there’s the shining jewel: Yoko Ono joins Yo La
Tengo for a performance of “Hedwig’s
Lament/Exquisite Corpse."
“Yoko loved it,” exclaims Slusarenko. “She
kept saying that she felt like she was in a movie.
You know, it was this weird little studio with thus
hand she didn’t know.... When she left it was
like a shcxrk; I couldn't believe it. It was so axil."
The project complete, Slusarenko is
exhausted. So w’hy did he do it? Ask him that
question and his fatigued voice still brightens.
“There was something so beautiful and uni­
versal about Hedwig," he says. “It was really
optimistic and really tragic. It haunted me.
When it was over I wanted to follow Hedwig
down the street and see, like, what happens.
W hat’s the next chapter? I wanted to follow
that character to the end of the earth.’ • j n
Originally birthed as a one-man
monologue on New York City stages, the
production (made into a film in 2001) has
become a shimmering glam-rock spectacle.
by Com T aratoot
Writer/director John Cameron Mitchell
retired his pitch-perfect part in all of this a few
years hack, hut Hedwig lives. Theater productions
dot national and international cities. One Hedwig
bids farewell and another lands in her glow-in-
the-dark high-heeled shoes. Portland’s version hy
triangle prixluctions! won three Drammys.
And now our own Chris Slusarenko—
founder of O ff Records, owner of Clinton
Street Video— is putting on the wig. So to
speak. Welcome to Wig in a Box: Songs from
and Inspired hy Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a
benefit album for the Hetrick-Martin Institute,
home of the Harvey Milk Schtxd in New York
for queer students.
If the play, the movie, the original sound­
track and the behind-the-scenes documentary
aren’t enough to satisfy your hunger for the
East German blond bombshell, Slusarenko has
compiled more— yes, more— Hedwig material.
He, does, however, bring his PDX sensibility
to Hedwig; like so many in this town,
Slusarenko is a musician with a Sub Pop past.
His hand Sprinkler ruled the city briefly in the
early 1990s; more recently, his label has released
new material by indie-rock luminaries like
Quasi, Stephen Malkmus and Guided hy Voices.
When John Cameron Mitchell announced he would sign anything, queer Portland lined up
Rut, get this, Slusarenko isn’t even gay!
around the block Oct. 23 at Jackpot Records
What exactly brought him and Hedwig togeth­
er? Let’s start at the beginning.
Brooks, former Willamette Week arts editor,
immense, even for Slusarenko, who had
For the uninitiated (are there any left?), Heel-
clearly felt the tug of the Hed. She pulled on
accomplished Herculean tasks in the past with
wig is a stunning Farrah Fawcett-wigged transsex­
collaborative projects like Goldcard and Colonel
CORI TARATtYrr is a Portland free-lance mustc
Slusarenko’s sleeve early in the
ual, the victim of a botched sex-change operation,
writer.
. q project, when he first imagined
Jeffrey Pumpernickel.
a vamp, a girl in mourning, a
inviting a handful of musicians to
dreamer yearning to find her
cover Hedwig material.
other half. It’s equal parts Tommy
“I bail the soundtrack," remem-
and Town.shend, Bowie and the
| hers Slusarenko. “I loved the songs
Spiders from Mars, Lou Reed’s
st) much. But I always really beat
II proceeds (after costs) from Wig in a Box: Songs from and Inspired by Hedwig and the Angry
Transformer and the sonic swag­
myself up...and 1 thought, maybe
! Inch will go to the Hetrick Martin Institute, home of New York’s Harvey Milk High School
ger of the New York Dolls.
I’m the only one that wants to hear
Why did Slusarenko, a Portlander, pick that? He knew he wanted the album to ben­
According to tme believers
more. And I knew it couldn’t he
efit a New York charity, given Hedwig’s roots in the city’s West Village. (The play began its
(“Hed-heads”), her story of
just another tribute record, it
run Feb. 14, 1998, at the Jane Street Theater in the Hotel Riverview.) So he did some
identity and freedom is the story
research and then talked to friends in New York City who knew HMHS students.
couldn’t be just a normal release.”
of each and every one of us.
H ; vr,
Rrcxiks put the word out to
“T he Harvey Milk High School just seemed right,’’ recalls Slusarenko. “It was kind of nice
“I don’t think there’s a
to see something so optimistic. 1 thought, if Hedwig were a real person, she would have gone
friends of friends and ultimately
Chris Slusarenko would
higher calling than Hedwig,”
to school there. It wouldn’t have been lonely. You know?”
found
a
way
to
contact
Stephen
follow Hedwig “to the
says Caryn Brooks, Slusarenko’s
HMHS is an inclusive public school ftx:using on the educational needs of children who are in
Trask, Hedwig’s composer and lyri­
end of the earth”
lesbian friend and co-conspira­
crisis or at risk of physical violence or emotional harm in a traditional educational environment.
cist. Trask passed Slusarenko’s pro­
tor. “Hedwig is a way of life. It’s
Opened in 1985, the facility is now a four-year, fully accredited high school. Admission is volun­
posal to Mitchell, and the project kick-started.
a philosophy. A lot of things
tary and open to all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or physical abilities.
S<x>n a sprawling network of artists— The
can he stolen from you. Your penis can be
Breeders, Imperial Teen, The Polyphonic
If you are interested in making a donation to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, buy the album
stolen from you, your songs can he stolen from
or visit www hmi.org.
—C T
Spree, Rufus Wainwright, to name a few—
you, hut the core of yourself can’t he stolen.
signed on. The scope of the project became
Hedwig is a legacy that needs to he built upon
and built upon. And it can he.”
Now, where is this money going?
■ , ~w
Ro/e City filling
H o l i d a y A f f a i r III
November 29,2003 • 8:00 PM • 618 SE Alder • $10.00
~
"
‘ " ' i f
T*i $ *
A- A ^
Fea turing : Vocalist. C arol Reise
D a nc e rs ; D aniel H utchison and Rachel Lidskog
Rose A Cit
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