Hoot Night is so many things...

Basically, it's a gathering of musicians who play songs based on an assigned theme. No, its not an open-mic night, bite your tongue child! ...and don't show up with your guitar and ask where to sign up! However, it wasn't always like this...back in Austin where the Hoot Nights started - it looked a little different. There is an article from the Austin Chronicle that we'll be posting somewhere once Rim stops worrying about getting sued for using their story... It's a great article with a nice history lesson on what the Hoots were like in Austin,
how they got to Chicago and how they've become the premier event that has the indie-rock glitterati clamoring for a space on the roster! Yeah, right.

Where do I begin?

I was a fan of Poi Dog Pondering from their heyday of Volo Volo. Somehow, either because I saw Susan Voelz's name in the Schubas listing or because a friend of mine (Gurl Nora O'Connor) told me, I ended up at the Colour Our World Hoot Night (spelled with a u, as it should be). I was so excited! Susan, who I only knew from afar, and Michael Hall her co-host opened the show with a child's toy piano and sang Red Rubber Ball. I was hooked! I went every month for a year! I remember very clearly some of those early players like GRINGO, STEVE DARNALL, DOLLY VARDEN, JASON & ALISON and the eternal PLUNGING NECKLINES. Not to mention all the shows..."The Beatles vs. The Monkees Hoot," the "Guilty Pleasures Hoot," the "Santa vs. Satan Hoot," the "Duality's Hoot" and eventually, the most important show of my life...the "Gender Bending & Cross Dressing Hoot!" It would be at this Hoot in October of 1995 that I would make my stage debut at Schubas and into the musical community of Chicago...astoundingly enough in full drag! My friend, fellow Hoot Night stalker and performance partner at the time, Steven Roberts, and I would create the monster that was YOUR GIRLFRIENDS! While the other boys wore their
sundresses and hairy chests and the girls drew on mustaches and stuffed socks in their jeans, we gave them the real deal. I doubt Schubas has seen such glamour since! The other performers were so excited for us, after all, we were two young and tender gay boys coming out to see how the indie rockers entertained each other and now we were give something back to them! We lip-synched to Diana Ross' "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." We were so excited for us, we adored these people and here they were letting us get up on their stage to perform!
Finally, the audience was so excited for us. They really loved the choreography and they went NUTS! Something really special happened to me that night. We received the first standing ovation that I ever remember at a Hoot and we were invited back for what was to be "the last ever Hoot" in December. Susan and Michael had other musical dreams to pursue and were putting Hoot Night to bed. I don't even remember the theme of that last Hoot in '94, but I think it might have been the "Sin & Salvation Hoot."

Sadly, the December show was a bust. Steven and I fell out and delivered an awful performance in schizophrenic drag to Bette Midler's crack-cocaine version of Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets." Steven wanted High Camp Kabuki-drag and I wanted Big Business Dyke-drag. Instead of coming to an artistically sound decision, we simply did what we thought was the most loving thing at the time and let each other dress however we wanted. Idiots! I thought we'd never play in this town again and it was only our second gig and with the Hoots being shut down I became a little depressed and a little desperate!

Desperate not to let the Hoot Nights die, I approached Susan and Michael about letting YOUR GIRLFRIENDS take over hosting duties...amazingly they said yes, gave us their blessing and on Sunday night we were set. On Monday I checked with Anastasia Davies, the booking agent at Schubas to make sure it would be all right with them and she was thrilled at the prospect and said she would book a date for us as soon as possible.

YOUR GIRLFRIENDS broke up on Tuesday.

More (Part 2)