Those who got a chuckle out of last week's tale of the bass-playing butt biter will be elated to learn that another member of the Seattle rock scene has been misbehaving publicly. Several people wagged tongue about the scene a local frontwoman made recently at celebrity watering hole the Cha Cha Lounge. Seems the diminutive, dependably cantankerous singer was very audibly heard to be looking for a friend we like to call "Tina." When she learned Tina was, sadly, not in the house, said singer went wacko, ranting on and on about how much men suck, particularly the guy whose face she had been sucking on only moments before. Then she tore the glasses off his face, slapped him a few times, and began to throw anything that wasn't nailed down at the poor chump. All because he didn't know how to get a hold of Tina. Where was her high-profile bandmate while all this was going down? Though he had been inside the Cha Cha earlier, he found the night's cool fresh air to be the perfect antidote to her outburst. And I must say, Tina has been the constant companion of several recognizable scenesters lately... and they don't seem to care who knows about it.
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More rock stars behaving badly: Dave Dederer was none too pleased with my negative review of his new band, Subset. He phoned me up during the noon hour and left this hee-larious message: "Hi Kathleen Wilson, this is Dave Dederer. Hey, I'm just calling up to congratulate you on your genius idea, I don't know how you came up with it: Grumpy, articulate rock critic disses band consisting of guys who have been popular and sold many records. Where did you come up with that? It's genius! It's innovative! It's funny! So subtle and charming! Maybe you could patent that! You'd be a millionaire!" Nah, I'd prefer to do it the tried-and-true way, Dave, by writing kids' songs about canned goods.
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Eric Vetter from the soon-to-be Seattle-based Orbit Travel -- rock 'n' roll's premier travel agency -- called to tell me that Cher had personally invited him and his man to her big blowout show in Las Vegas. Fancy! However, Cher needs to be taught a thing or two about what it means to INVITE. Says Eric, "We were all excited until one of the multitudinous CHER flunkies calls me and says, 'Oh yeah, by the way, your tickets are $525 apiece!' After that hag invited us!" The nerve. Orbit Travel is the travel agency for bands and music fans alike -- specializing in strange requests and knowing what "not too early in the morning" means. You can reach Orbit at 503-239-4050.
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A few weeks back I speculated that Duran Duran might be the Bumbershoot wild-card band this year, but now I fear it might be Son Volt. There have been several postings on the Son Volt message board that the band will be playing a "non-announced" show on September 4. If this is true, and Son Volt is the wild card, then I am genuinely deflated. How boring.
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Andrea Mulrain sends this big thank you: "I'd like to send a very big heartfelt thanks to everyone in Seattle who generously gave their time and talent on behalf of my fight against breast cancer. The outpouring of compassion and support has been overwhelming, and I'm especially grateful to the following people: Susie Tennant, Phil Manning and everyone at the End, Jason Hughes and Cheryl Waters at KCMU, Harvey Danger, Huge Spacebird, Alien Crime Syndicate, Nabil Ayers, Jon Auer, Braden Blake, Christine and all at the Croc, RKCNDY, Kathleen Wilson, Barbara Mitchell, and Brian Taylor at BLT Screening. I also would like to thank all of my friends and everyone who attended the shows at both RKCNDY and the Crocodile; it's truly a blessing to have such an amazing amount of support from Seattle, and it's contributed greatly to my entire healing process."
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After my item about the police raid of DV8 a couple of weeks ago, club owner Keith Olson sent a letter to The Stranger in hopes of presenting his side of the story. For the record, guns were not among the items seized when the King County Sheriff entered DV8 on Aug 16, although they were noted to be in the safe when police executed the till tap on Aug 13. To refresh, the raid was an attempt to collect on a $100,000 judgment awarded to a rape victim who was attacked in the all-ages club in 1994. Olson claims in the letter that he made improvements to the club after the incident and has been trying to negotiate a deal with the rape victim, but that her attorney, Yvonne Ward, hasn't been willing to budge. Olson characterizes her as a publicity hound: "It is unfortunate that her client has had to relive this incident over and over so that her attorney could be in front of the camera and in the newspaper advertising her law practice." However, any ninny with a television set knows that Ward could not do jack without her client's explicit permission. In response, Ward had this to say to It's My Party: "It's weird that he's talking about me; he's not talking about the club, the safety issues. [He] can't really attack my client, because it looks really bad to attack a rape victim, so [he goes] after the attorney. If [he's] really mad at me, I'm doing my job on behalf of the victim and they're basically attacking me for it, and I find that despicable." Olson's not the only person in the local music community who doesn't want to talk about the facts of the case. Several people I've spoken to since the raid said they think Olson got a bum rap -- apparently, the fact that a woman was raped in DV8 (which was found liable for the incident) and wasn't paid a cent until the club was forced to isn't as important as preserving the precious all-ages scene. I think that stinks. Above all, a club should be a relatively safe place to hear music. And when security measures do fail, a woman who's been attacked shouldn't have to keep her mouth shut for the good of the scene. The victim, who requested that her name not be used, told It's My Party that she's happy with the way Ward has handled her case. "I think my lawyer has done everything in her power to make sure that justice has happened, and this wasn't our ultimate goal to have to seize their property. But it was done because for 15 months they hadn't shown a willingness to work things out with us. I never thought that while going out dancing with friends anything like this could have happened. I just want people to be aware that it did happen, and in my opinion the club didn't take the right steps to make sure DV8 was an okay place for people to go." Olson feels his safety has been violated by all the media coverage of the raid, because the secrecy of how DV8 operates has been compromised. A good point, but now he knows what it feels like to be vulnerable. Since the raid, a payment agreement has been reached, DV8's property has been returned, and business is running as usual.
