Image by Kirstie Shanley
Pitchfork culture: Muddy men, crafty girls, and $2 haircuts
By Lisa Hix
Published: July 22nd, 2008 | 9:55am
The beauty of Pitchfork Music Festival, held at Union Park in Chicago, is that it could be so many things to so many people. Hardcore music lovers pressed up against the festival stages in a sweaty, sun-drenched crush of bodies, creating frenzied mosh pits to bands like Boris and more bouncy love fests for the likes of Vampire Weekend. Those feeling more mellow spread out blankets under shady trees, sipped beer in the dawdling evening sun, and watched the hipster fashion show float by, the music more of a pleasant backdrop.
For Steve Mondics and Aaron Bastin of Sussex County, New Jersey, the festival gave ample opportunity to get down and dirty, thanks to the weather mood swings that dumped buckets and buckets of rain on the park early on Saturday. (So much rain, in fact, a Chicago’s sanitation department sent out a truck to vacuum water up off a footpath.) Wearing face paint that had streaked off the in the downpour, Mondics and Bastin sat on the ground digging their shoes into the mud of a baseball field lined with Porta Pottis and making a mud pile next to them.
"We're creating a fourth stage," explained Mondics, who happened to be wearing lenless eyeglasses, his pink shirt and vest streaked with dirt. "We're looking for people to help us. We're doing this because we're the most bored people ever."
Bastin, sporting a ragtag open-shirt look popularized by train-hopping hobos, said, "I like to be as dirty as possible." And with that, he removed his hat, picked up some clumps of dirt and dumped them on top of his head, rubbing them in. This quest of filth made the two sort-of second-tier festival celebrities, as later, when both were caked in mud, young women would come up and ask for pictures with the mud men.
The thousands of mostly white revelers that descended on the park sported styles that ranged from casual with T-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops to art-student neo-hippie chic with big sunglasses, leather and cloth headbands, and flirty sundresses. Even as the sun warmed the park up Saturday afternoon, all fancy shoes and exposed feet quickly got covered in mud, and shirtless guys who appeared to have wallowed in it used the mist tent as showers.
While there were plenty of music-loving women in the audience, only about a dozen performed on the three stages over three days in a very testosterone-dominated line-up. The one place at the festival where creative women got to shine was at the DEPART-ment DIY craft fair, where artists sold their unique wares like chip bowls made from old Foreigner records, earrings made from shells, purses made from raffle tickets, and catnip pouches designed to look like brains.
And while the craft fair had flashes of brilliance, its proximity to the male-dominated Chicago Independent Radio Project record fair reinforced the subtle message: “Men rock; women sew.” However, women revealed their ferocity, too, at information booths for groups like Windy Girl Rollers derby girls and Girls Rock Chicago.
At the Flatstock 17 Poster Convention, artist and illustrator Diana Sudyka, who has made posters for the likes of Tara Jane O’Neil and Laura Veirs, said she noticed the dearth of women on stage as well.
“It’s frustrating,” she said. “But I think it’s true that in most professions women are outnumbered by men, particularly in powerful positions, and that applies to music and to rock. If you look around here, you will see very few women poster artists. But I don’t think it’s a blatant effort to exclude women.”
The best moments at the festival happened in a random, sideshow sort of way. Tim Harrington, the flamboyant frontman of Les Savy Fav, emerged from the artists' area Saturday afternoon and set up shop not far from the asphalt basketball court with the mist tent and the cornhole and shuffleboard games (the later awarding sporty headbands embroidered with the words "winner or "loser").
In a red apron, near a handmade sign that read, "Hair Cuts $2," the singer with a wooly beard and stringy combover took as many liberties as possible with the concept of hairstyling — haphazardly chopping away at his poor customer's longish locks. With a flourish, he unwound a piece Scotch tape, stuck it on victim's head, pulled it up, and cut what stuck. "This is a technique they use in L.A.," Harrington explained. Then he finished the look off with a random stripe from a can of white spray paint, applied directly to the back of the guy's head.
"I'm trying to think of ways to make extra money," Harrington said after it was all over, explaining that he was thinking of selling hand-drawn animal portraits, on stage name-drops, and massages. (And on Sunday he did just that, kneading another customer's tongue with his hands.) "Because my band is a profitless venture.”
His last haircut customer, Brian Fox, admitted he knew Harrington would go crazy with his hair. “I could have stopped him,” Fox said with a shrug. “But I figured I’d already gone this far.”
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READ MORE OF VENUSZINE.COM’S PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL COVERAGE
Day 1: Warning: You are now entering Pitchfork Music Festival
Day 2: The aliens land on Pitchfork’s second day, but another foreigner steals the show
Day 3: It’s the last night of Pitchfork. Do you know where your band is?
Issue #35
Comments
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thursdayinjune (2 months)
I do want to stress that, while the majority of the vendors at the Chicago Independent Radio Project Record Fair were male, the fair is run by a woman, Mary Nisi (with an assist by another, Kristin Marks), and CHIRP itself is a very lady-friendly organization, founded by a woman, and with all four of the group's officers female. The general membership is split about 50/50 female/male. CHIRP definitely believes women rock.
lucyhelenrob (2 months)
The majority of vendors at the chirp fair were male, but I have to say that Secretly Canadian, Suicide Squeeze and Matador were all represented by some fierce ladies (even though this obviously includes myself).
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