July 26, 2025 • 55 mins
In Episode 15, Art Slut, Ann Wood continues her interview with Ann Magnuson, the Goddess of the 80's & 90's underground Art, Music and Theater scene, as well as an actor in countless films and television shows. What has she NOT done?
In Part 2 Ann Magnuson shares her take on what's going on now, her experience following the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and sewing. She shares the experience of creating the groundbreaking "Folk Song" recorded on the Power of Pussy, yet born in avant garde theater.
Plus, hear more music: Folk Song, Psychedelic Sewing Room, Live You Vixen! and Open Letter to an Open Letter: Seriously WTF.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
So we fucked it.
Because it was there We're Art Sluts
Welcome back to Art Sluts Radio.
I am so excited to share with you part two of my interview with Ann Magnuson.
(00:23):
Ann Magnuson is a true artist and wildly creative.
Her work started in the eighties and spans decades in every medium of art and music.
Ann is constantly weaving social commentary with comedy, music and theater in a way thatis captivating, inspiring and unlike anyone else.
Let's jump in and listen to part two of my interview.
(00:45):
with Ann Magnuson.
Well, you really encapsulate all the different forms seamlessly.
I need to kind of touch on, you had touched on it before, but you know.
Book song.
Which i always thought was called the manifesto it's just it's such a uh anthem offeminism the aids epidemic death consumerism and i would love to hear you talk about your
(01:13):
process of how you created was a stream of consciousness you know how did that happen.
Yes it pretty much was i mean i just picked up the guitar was playing with these basicchords and the aids epidemic was in full full bloom.
corpse, flower, bloom, and people were dying all over.
(01:34):
And my brother also was HIV positive and I was not supposed to tell anybody.
And there were some other people who wanted to keep it secret.
They were very private people and it was just very hard to keep that information toyourself.
I finally got him to tell my father because I knew he could be of some help.
ah But the whole thing was just, it was a horrible...
(01:57):
It was our version of the Vietnam War.
Absolutely.
So we were seeing people die constantly doing benefits and memorials.
And it was around that time, uh like 80, 89 or something, where I just picked up theguitar and started Hello Death, Goodbye Avenue A, pretty much said it all.
(02:18):
then just started building from that and started writing.
then
started to perform it and put it in my one-woman show, You Could Be Home Now, and then itended up being on a Bongwater record, The Power of Pussy, but it was written for that
show, You Could Be Home Now, which was really about not being able to tell anybody aboutmy brother having AIDS.
(02:38):
And also about my father selling the house we grew up in and this whole concept of anykind of stability being completely destroyed.
So it was a desire for, I wanted...
I want this home, want stability, I want the family to be connected.
I don't want to keep these secrets.
My mother had left my father and that was a hard thing and she wasn't doing well.
(03:04):
The whole thing was just such a mess, but I didn't feel like I had the permission to sayall of this.
I don't like didactic theater.
I wasn't going to stand there and go blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I did, did, did,did, did.
and spell it out, I like when things as Peter, and Mary sang and I dig rock and rollmusic.
(03:25):
But when you really say it, the radio won't play it.
So I'll just lay it between the lines.
This whole idea of lay it between the lines.
Our fourth grade teacher played the Peter, Paul and Mary record for us in music class andwe'd sing along to it.
And that's how I learned songs of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger and...
(03:46):
others and you know it starts with puff the magic dragon but it leads to you know blowingin the wind and so that made a big impression on me and so i wanted to write this folk
song that could put all this stuff in it that was going on at the time and that was reallyannoying the hell out of me and and are killing me i mean that stupid movie pretty woman
(04:11):
You know what's ironic?
I think I wrote it around 1990.
It was, I think, right in that time period.
Yes, yes.
I had been at Sundance, the summer film workshop in about 88 or so, uh with Bill Sherwood,who directed one of the first gay-themed films called Parting Glances with Steve Buscemi.
(04:34):
And Bill and I got on fantastically well.
I've got a really funny picture of us that I keep meaning to post.
We went somewhere, it wasn't Salt Lake City, but we were at Park City, Utah, where RobertRedford had the Sundance thing.
And we went in and you could get your picture taken if you dressed up as in the old timey,like, top hat and it was a sepia colored picture, black and white.
(05:00):
And you put on like the old pioneer clothes.
Like the tin type photo.
Yes, yes, and it's starting to fade away and I've got to get pictures of it and scan itbefore because then he died not too long after that.
But during that time we were working on a script of his.
There were other filmmakers there.
It was a filmmakers unit kind of a workshop where different actors came in to work onthese scripts and film scenes from it.
(05:28):
One of the scripts was called 3000 and it was about a man, a businessman who hires ahooker
for the weekend, pays her $3,000 to just do whatever he wants or hang around with him forthe weekend.
And it was a dark, dark script.
it was a William DeVine, divine, he was the man and Pamela Gidley, and she's passed away.
(05:52):
Your memory is unbelievable.
I was writing, I was writing, did a post about Okay.
I was looking it up and.
And it was really intense.
It was really intense.
And I knew people in New York who had done some of this kind of sex work and stuff.
uh then suddenly this movie appears called Pretty Woman.
(06:15):
I read about it and it's like, my God, this was based on this earlier script that wasdark, dark, dark.
And then they turned it into this romp, this shopping spree.
Gee, this is...
And it's like, no, this is not what, no.
It just was such an affront.
And then not long after that, I did a film, some kind of a TV film for some show calledThe Hidden Room.
(06:41):
And there was a child in it that I think was playing my daughter.
at one point, you're in between scenes and just talking.
And I asked her, what's your favorite movie?
And she said, Pretty Woman.
And she's nine.
Every woman I knew at the time was saying, listen to this.
It was and is the anthem, the manifesto that took us on a journey of rock machismo, femalepower against oppression, celebration of sexuality, sorrow at the AIDS epidemic,
(07:13):
consumerism, death, drugs, religion and spirituality.
That song is folk song.
Let's take a listen.
you
Oh
(08:03):
So dark he called for death to rich men Death to yuppies too Death to hardbacks, bourgeoisblacks Death to the Lord Jew
Kill the bankers, kill the cops, kill him, her and me Kill them all, the CBS, NBC, ABC,TVN, CNN, HBO, Live at Five, MTV, Street Break, weekend, Sally, Jesse, Beale, Oraldo,
(08:32):
Woodrow, Arsenio, Regis and Kathy Lee
And I said.
uh
you
(09:18):
you have this adorable and misguided notion that death is something really radical andcool, but I still can't be wildly attracted to your fresh-faced, uncompromised tattooed
rebel stance, and goddamn, I'd like to have you sing your...tune.
(09:38):
you
here
Seems a night
Hello death, avenue A I'm getting tired of waiting, tired of being afraid Joseph Campbellgave me hope and now I have been saved So I say, hello death, goodbye
(10:24):
I'm not trying to be flippant here or irreverent or exploitive or sarcastic or ironic orpost-modern.
A parody.
Get it?
Got it.
I've been thinking what he told me that it's all
(10:47):
Still teenage I'll spend twelve years on to fight
Fresh squeezed wheat grass juice Doctors all thin value Doctors all can sue And it's timewe'll all be
(11:21):
way to oh
I bought it but it looked so fabulous on you so why don't you take it on home and speakingof home is it about the time you moved out of that east village hell hole you know the one
(11:41):
with the honeymooners view of the brick wall out the window because you deserve somethingmore like affirming like a tree or a flower or a patch of grass or a singing little
bluebird or maybe you just want to take your boyfriend to Europe cause he's never been oryou always hated or
It's easy.
Or get a silly joke.
(12:02):
Show tunes, show tunes, don't be embarrassed because...
between those thin lying lizard lips that
(12:42):
Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way
Besides, it's a lot easier to exc...
Jesus Christ as your personal savior when he looks like Willem Dafoe.
But maybe that stuff turns you all silly around, P- Made me feel really-
(13:04):
Just brother, do acid and we'll listen to Led Zeppelin
last time I took hallucinogenic drugs was about five years ago.
(13:27):
I took mushrooms and Joshua Tree, looking for that Carlos Castanedas kind of experience.
I got off, my boyfriend didn't, he fell asleep, left me alone with the television, turnedit on, put on PBS.
You know what was on?
So I start
(13:48):
it.
really bummed out.
And that's when I said no to drugs, no to drugs, no no no no no Hell no to drugs!
maybe you wanna say no to drugs too Or maybe you just wanna join Atheists of America, theMadonna fang-over
(14:12):
so zen like movies with those so zen like messages like hey, it's fun to to spread my legsacross Hollywood Boulevard
(14:33):
sucking and chopping, sucking and sucking and sucking and chopping, sucking and chopping,on it's a single on sucking and chopping, sucking and chopping, sucking and sucking and
chopping, hey, who am I to argue?
summer.
(15:00):
You're scaring me.
Even if it's all
(15:23):
You
So facts on manifesto, pencil in a date.
Let me know when something gives.
I hope it's not too late.
(15:46):
Cause I'm getting tired of waiting, tired of being late.
Joseph Campbell gave me hope.
(16:40):
So yeah, so all this stuff was, I got to put it in a folk song.
And back in 2017, I wrote an update.
Oh no, when was it?
No, it was 2020.
I wrote an update, folk song 2020.
Really?
And I never recorded it.
I never even performed it, but I have the lyrics somewhere.
But then recently I thought of some other lyrics to do folk song 2025.
(17:04):
I think that would be in the next show, the next live thing, which I think is the 30thanniversary of The Power of Pussy and the 30th, no, the 35th anniversary of The Power of
Pussy, the 30th anniversary of The Love Show.
And I had wanted to do, I don't know if it's the final thing I do, but before I can, pullmyself together to do any of this stuff anymore, but I wanted to do something called The
(17:28):
Power of The Love Pussy Show.
I really.
wasn't familiar with the love show and i listen to that two times back to back and ireally think that's a really good that's thank you because not many people did it's so
well developed and it to me it harkens back to the made for tv yes i want to ask you aboutyour
(17:51):
character process because you could be a comedian, honestly.
have such good imitation of different people and so forth.
These people that you knew are...
Comedy clubs are brutal.
I'd rather be at a rock and roll club having people throw things at me and vice versa thana comedy club.
(18:12):
I did something in a comedy club at the improv here and it was mostly musical and it's notmy scene.
Well, I mean just
You know, there's so many I can't again, my memory is not super great, but the differentcharacters that come up in that are just incredible.
And then it's also the music.
The way it's produced is works with that in the same way that made for TV.
(18:35):
The costumes and the sets and everything work with the comedy.
Yes, they're kind of, they're kind of, they're, they're Hollywood productions on, on ashoestring budget, you know, they're, they've got a little.
bit of Wizard of Oz and some of Danny Kay in it and then just some concept album JesusChrist superstar kind of vibe.
(19:02):
From her 1995 album The Love Show, here is Live You Vixen.
And when you go, you'll see what I say.
(19:46):
When you come you won't have to pay.
Yeah.
uh
S E N
(20:11):
V-I-X-E-N Do you think it's S-E-T-A-N?
A-G-B-O-R-S-T made in the sale-e-en
(20:38):
Will you?
(21:00):
you
(21:30):
It's my time
When you come you'll see what I say And when you come you won't have to pray
(21:56):
you
you
(22:52):
and then all the counterculture that was going on, the protests against the Vietnam War,which I was thinking about uh yesterday.
Yes, yesterday, because we were out there on Hollywood Boulevard in Vermont.
And it was tremendous.
It was just an incredible, incredibly invigorating experience to have so many people.
(23:17):
And everyone was exuberant and
unified and having fun.
And the first protest I was ever at, I think I was 14 or 15 or around that age, and it wasan anti-Vietnam War protest.
And we went from the Charleston West Virginia Civic Center to the federal building.
(23:41):
And I remember one of the older hippie guys shimmied up the flagpole of the federalbuilding and brought down the American flag.
My father would have been appalled at.
It was just all so daring and intense.
But I'm happy to say my parents were very much against the Vietnam War.
(24:01):
Maybe not at the beginning, but certainly once you got into My Lai and those kinds ofevents.
And they were pretty liberal, but my dad did not want to see the flag being desecrated.
As when I wore the flag in
my bell-bottom jeans.
He was not happy about that.
I want to see a picture of that.
That's awesome.
(24:22):
I don't think there is a picture.
I used to cut the seams because I learned...
My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was 12 and then I created at our housesomething I called the psychedelic sewing room and that's something that I'm reviving.
I've been doing a lot more sewing and fabric art and I wanted...
(24:42):
that sounds I've created a logo for it.
There was a Bongwater song that I'd written, the lyrics to, called Psychedelic SewingRoom.
Which album is that I don't remember, maybe Too Much Sleep.
And it kind of charts the three phases of life.
First as a 14-year-old Marsha Brady, then as a 40-year-old Samantha Stevens fromBewitched, and then a 65-year-old Bea, what was her name?
(25:12):
Aunt Bea from Andy Peeley Griffith.
And they're all like sewing in the psychedelic sewing room as women did centuriestogether, intergenerational sewing bees.
From Bongwanner's 1988 album, Too Much Sleep, psychedelic sewing room.
(25:32):
oh
14 year old Martian Brady is desperate to fly
(25:55):
You
(26:30):
3, 2,
(28:12):
I can tell
I pick up
you
(28:35):
but there's a very high power
(29:51):
started sewing in earnest during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.
ah that's so weird you mentioned that because I was at dinner with a friend a couplenights ago, uh artist, and we both at the same time, that was the point when we got the
most mad, know.
Yes, and I was so, I couldn't watch it live, um but I was following updates online.
(30:20):
What I was doing was I decided I would pull, I would start, I would get back to this hobbythat I had as a kid and as a little baby hippie and I would, to finish that other thought,
would rip the seams from the sides of the jeans down there below near the feet, near theankle and then sew in fabric to create more of an elephant bell, bell bottom.
(30:49):
And I did that once I used some American flag material and my dad was not happy about it.
But then he said he wasn't happy about it and then it was like, well, I said, well, I'msorry.
But then just kept, nothing came of it.
He expressed his disapproval and I just went on doing what I wanted to do.
(31:13):
That's pretty much the theme of my life.
yeah, I tend to...
kind of go around in circles.
was I have?
yes, Brett Kavanaugh, because I was Yes, yes.
So I said, I'm gonna pick up this, this uh hobby again, and I don't and I'm not gonna doit.
I'm not going to try to be there's a helicopter flying above, we got a lot of helicoptersand
(31:37):
of a lot more lately.
It's all part of this uh art movement I call it called Sururilism, the surreal in therural.
love that.
it's based on growing up in West Virginia and also spending a lot of time in Joshua Treeand finding the magical and the mystical elements in nature and running with that.
(32:00):
But the stuff I'm making, I'm not trying to make it, it's very raw.
I don't want, it's the opposite of perfectionism.
And it's, in a way, I've been creating these little bags, like they could be stash bags,these icons, and sometimes I use this image of David Bowie that I drew in high school, and
then somebody made fabric out of it as these icons.
(32:23):
But it was very good when you have a lot of anxiety to put your attention into this, intosewing.
And it also, it's so connected to the history of women.
And sometimes it was the only thing they were allowed to do.
And often while being secluded or locked away in some castle somewhere.
(32:44):
So I was doing that while these hearings were going on.
It's what really motivated me to do it.
And I started listening to this podcast called Revolutions and it's on YouTube and it'sthis historian.
who specializes in various revolutions.
So I listened to the French Revolution and there was so much, there was so much.
There was like 25 episodes that were maybe an hour each and I listened to all of them.
(33:09):
And it was so thorough and so fascinating and frightening and it mirrored exactly what wasgoing on.
What is going on, what was going on with Trump's first foray into the fascist takeover.
And now in a second, you know, it's just, it's shocking that we're still here in this.
(33:32):
We're back in this.
Anne released a modern rant in 2017 called Open Letter to an Open Letter Seriously WTF.
This release is available on Bandcamp with one of a kind original painting by Anne on aphotograph taken Austin Young.
Let's take a listen.
(33:53):
Seriously what the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
What the fuck?
What the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
What the fuck?
(34:16):
Seriously, what the blank back me like flaps twerking for dollars on the agitatedpropaganda machine crying out for attention while masquerading your plea for help as a
publicity call the arms to legs Beckoning to what is panting between those latex clad gamsthose powerful pussy pants that can be sold for so many pieces of silver gold and Bitcoin
(34:43):
and
filing off of don't be fooled it's a losing game
You think I'm gonna fill up your empty void with self-righteous, self-promoting, textingdrivel?
So much jaw-breaking gibberish Using this platform for a hectoring, lectoring dickety docto empower the pussy over the cock All they're for is more hits, more eyeballs rolling in
(35:16):
the back of our heads and onto websites to move more products
Give me a fucking break.
Look at me.
I know this Good m
a motherfucking set you on waiting all gado-like For a royalty check that never showsbecause some industry spunk will spend it on a yin and gui
(35:37):
Bullshit.
Bullshit.
oh
I even hear one
lame ass vocoder note of that siren song.
I'll fall for it and start trying to win at a losers losers game.
(36:03):
Getting my act together and taking it on the road screwing my head.
That is gonna tell me I'm running as fast as I can.
Why?
you
(36:40):
Continue you continue you continue
You
more
space to fill to fill fill to fill to to to to to fill to to fill to fill to fill to fillto fill fill fill fill fill fill to fill fill fill to fill fill fill to fill fill fill
(37:18):
fill to fill fill
Paragraphs.
(37:48):
Now it's.
all about fucking word count and bullshit font size and patriarchal borders and shadingsand template tipped bullet mind numbing page numbering mind numbing page numbering
(38:12):
those ever-continuing pages pages ever-continuing pages and pages and pages that requirethe never-ending numbers the never-ending numbers the never-ending numbers that stretch
beyond the edges of the new universe
(38:35):
Beyond human comprehension
Bye!
(39:01):
way past the event around
to drive.
Star...
Raving...
Mad...
(39:28):
you
The
(40:17):
you
These days we don't have time to sit at a simple wooden desk with our Macduffy readersmining our P's and Q's.
We have to...
Prostitute ourselves Prostitute ourselves On computers and iPhones And home-to-dome-domumbling Jigs being thought of every day by evil game changers Evil game changers In order
(40:53):
to trick us into endless upgrades And all the while we continue to be faced with one huge,bureaucratic, blank document And on and on and on and um
Never
(41:13):
No matter what
I type no matter how much much how much and how fast I do my vitriol projectile
No matter
justify
To be
face.
oh
(41:37):
More!
All because of you, you da-
who will endlessly taunt me with your poem, goddamn white spits.
(41:58):
That's why no woman can win this game.
face the truth.
My leaves were being used into the tar baby vacuum
used as pawns in the entertainment being jerked over by the man in our vain attempt towrite our own script.
(42:23):
We think this is a way to take back our uh
epic, fail.
It's all you slo-
useless
(42:47):
So much cannon fodder grist for the mill like the sand
the hourglass.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives.
These are the lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives.
(43:08):
These are the lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives.
These are the lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
drowns.
There is always more to give, more to say, more to feed the insatiable beast, the one thatweaves a deceitful web with our Facebook threads, our Tweety-pie chicken shit cuneiform,
(43:36):
our high horse hierographics, our open wound expressionistic Esperanto, walking shadowboxing matches full of sound and
fury sound and fury sound and fury signifying
Not a heck of a lot when you get right down
(43:59):
to it.
Cause all we are
You
dust in the wind.
oh
Yeah, man.
(44:20):
It's as if, as our mother goddess role model Yoko Ono astutely said, if woman is nigger
what the fu- oh
(44:55):
So fly on me and your demons fall
(45:43):
you oh
with immense respect, Anne Magnusson.
Holy cow, hearing Anne Magnusson's take on right now is wildly refreshing.
As expected, we will continue with part three of my interview with Anne Magnusson onepisode 16, airing in a couple weeks.
(46:10):
Next, we...
We are sluts.
Thanks for listening to Art Slutz Radio.
Hey, if you identify with the Art Slutz, explore our herstory at artslutz.net.
(46:33):
That's A-R-T-S-L-U-T-S dot net.
And purchase downloads of our music wherever you stream music.
All contributions and purchases will go to support the abortion fund.
Currently, 21 states have limited access to women's health care.
including fifth total band.
(46:58):
Talking about your abortion experience, voting and donating to support abortion rightswill make a difference.
I you baby
(47:20):
It's just my music baby and I gotta do the show
(55:21):
Holy cow, hearing Anne Magnusson's take on Right Now is wildly refreshing.
As expected, we will continue with part three of my interview with Anne Magnusson onepisode 16, airing in a couple weeks.
Be sure to share and subscribe to Art Slutz Radio.
So we fucked it.
Because it was there We're Art Sluts
Welcome back to Art Sluts Radio.
I am so excited to share with you part two of my interview with Ann Magnuson.
(00:23):
Ann Magnuson is a true artist and wildly creative.
Her work started in the eighties and spans decades in every medium of art and music.
Ann is constantly weaving social commentary with comedy, music and theater in a way thatis captivating, inspiring and unlike anyone else.
Let's jump in and listen to part two of my interview.
(00:45):
with Ann Magnuson.
Well, you really encapsulate all the different forms seamlessly.
I need to kind of touch on, you had touched on it before, but you know.
Book song.
Which i always thought was called the manifesto it's just it's such a uh anthem offeminism the aids epidemic death consumerism and i would love to hear you talk about your
(01:13):
process of how you created was a stream of consciousness you know how did that happen.
Yes it pretty much was i mean i just picked up the guitar was playing with these basicchords and the aids epidemic was in full full bloom.
corpse, flower, bloom, and people were dying all over.
(01:34):
And my brother also was HIV positive and I was not supposed to tell anybody.
And there were some other people who wanted to keep it secret.
They were very private people and it was just very hard to keep that information toyourself.
I finally got him to tell my father because I knew he could be of some help.
ah But the whole thing was just, it was a horrible...
(01:57):
It was our version of the Vietnam War.
Absolutely.
So we were seeing people die constantly doing benefits and memorials.
And it was around that time, uh like 80, 89 or something, where I just picked up theguitar and started Hello Death, Goodbye Avenue A, pretty much said it all.
(02:18):
then just started building from that and started writing.
then
started to perform it and put it in my one-woman show, You Could Be Home Now, and then itended up being on a Bongwater record, The Power of Pussy, but it was written for that
show, You Could Be Home Now, which was really about not being able to tell anybody aboutmy brother having AIDS.
(02:38):
And also about my father selling the house we grew up in and this whole concept of anykind of stability being completely destroyed.
So it was a desire for, I wanted...
I want this home, want stability, I want the family to be connected.
I don't want to keep these secrets.
My mother had left my father and that was a hard thing and she wasn't doing well.
(03:04):
The whole thing was just such a mess, but I didn't feel like I had the permission to sayall of this.
I don't like didactic theater.
I wasn't going to stand there and go blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I did, did, did,did, did.
and spell it out, I like when things as Peter, and Mary sang and I dig rock and rollmusic.
(03:25):
But when you really say it, the radio won't play it.
So I'll just lay it between the lines.
This whole idea of lay it between the lines.
Our fourth grade teacher played the Peter, Paul and Mary record for us in music class andwe'd sing along to it.
And that's how I learned songs of Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger and...
(03:46):
others and you know it starts with puff the magic dragon but it leads to you know blowingin the wind and so that made a big impression on me and so i wanted to write this folk
song that could put all this stuff in it that was going on at the time and that was reallyannoying the hell out of me and and are killing me i mean that stupid movie pretty woman
(04:11):
You know what's ironic?
I think I wrote it around 1990.
It was, I think, right in that time period.
Yes, yes.
I had been at Sundance, the summer film workshop in about 88 or so, uh with Bill Sherwood,who directed one of the first gay-themed films called Parting Glances with Steve Buscemi.
(04:34):
And Bill and I got on fantastically well.
I've got a really funny picture of us that I keep meaning to post.
We went somewhere, it wasn't Salt Lake City, but we were at Park City, Utah, where RobertRedford had the Sundance thing.
And we went in and you could get your picture taken if you dressed up as in the old timey,like, top hat and it was a sepia colored picture, black and white.
(05:00):
And you put on like the old pioneer clothes.
Like the tin type photo.
Yes, yes, and it's starting to fade away and I've got to get pictures of it and scan itbefore because then he died not too long after that.
But during that time we were working on a script of his.
There were other filmmakers there.
It was a filmmakers unit kind of a workshop where different actors came in to work onthese scripts and film scenes from it.
(05:28):
One of the scripts was called 3000 and it was about a man, a businessman who hires ahooker
for the weekend, pays her $3,000 to just do whatever he wants or hang around with him forthe weekend.
And it was a dark, dark script.
it was a William DeVine, divine, he was the man and Pamela Gidley, and she's passed away.
(05:52):
Your memory is unbelievable.
I was writing, I was writing, did a post about Okay.
I was looking it up and.
And it was really intense.
It was really intense.
And I knew people in New York who had done some of this kind of sex work and stuff.
uh then suddenly this movie appears called Pretty Woman.
(06:15):
I read about it and it's like, my God, this was based on this earlier script that wasdark, dark, dark.
And then they turned it into this romp, this shopping spree.
Gee, this is...
And it's like, no, this is not what, no.
It just was such an affront.
And then not long after that, I did a film, some kind of a TV film for some show calledThe Hidden Room.
(06:41):
And there was a child in it that I think was playing my daughter.
at one point, you're in between scenes and just talking.
And I asked her, what's your favorite movie?
And she said, Pretty Woman.
And she's nine.
Every woman I knew at the time was saying, listen to this.
It was and is the anthem, the manifesto that took us on a journey of rock machismo, femalepower against oppression, celebration of sexuality, sorrow at the AIDS epidemic,
(07:13):
consumerism, death, drugs, religion and spirituality.
That song is folk song.
Let's take a listen.
you
Oh
(08:03):
So dark he called for death to rich men Death to yuppies too Death to hardbacks, bourgeoisblacks Death to the Lord Jew
Kill the bankers, kill the cops, kill him, her and me Kill them all, the CBS, NBC, ABC,TVN, CNN, HBO, Live at Five, MTV, Street Break, weekend, Sally, Jesse, Beale, Oraldo,
(08:32):
Woodrow, Arsenio, Regis and Kathy Lee
And I said.
uh
you
(09:18):
you have this adorable and misguided notion that death is something really radical andcool, but I still can't be wildly attracted to your fresh-faced, uncompromised tattooed
rebel stance, and goddamn, I'd like to have you sing your...tune.
(09:38):
you
here
Seems a night
Hello death, avenue A I'm getting tired of waiting, tired of being afraid Joseph Campbellgave me hope and now I have been saved So I say, hello death, goodbye
(10:24):
I'm not trying to be flippant here or irreverent or exploitive or sarcastic or ironic orpost-modern.
A parody.
Get it?
Got it.
I've been thinking what he told me that it's all
(10:47):
Still teenage I'll spend twelve years on to fight
Fresh squeezed wheat grass juice Doctors all thin value Doctors all can sue And it's timewe'll all be
(11:21):
way to oh
I bought it but it looked so fabulous on you so why don't you take it on home and speakingof home is it about the time you moved out of that east village hell hole you know the one
(11:41):
with the honeymooners view of the brick wall out the window because you deserve somethingmore like affirming like a tree or a flower or a patch of grass or a singing little
bluebird or maybe you just want to take your boyfriend to Europe cause he's never been oryou always hated or
It's easy.
Or get a silly joke.
(12:02):
Show tunes, show tunes, don't be embarrassed because...
between those thin lying lizard lips that
(12:42):
Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way, Jesus is the way
Besides, it's a lot easier to exc...
Jesus Christ as your personal savior when he looks like Willem Dafoe.
But maybe that stuff turns you all silly around, P- Made me feel really-
(13:04):
Just brother, do acid and we'll listen to Led Zeppelin
last time I took hallucinogenic drugs was about five years ago.
(13:27):
I took mushrooms and Joshua Tree, looking for that Carlos Castanedas kind of experience.
I got off, my boyfriend didn't, he fell asleep, left me alone with the television, turnedit on, put on PBS.
You know what was on?
So I start
(13:48):
it.
really bummed out.
And that's when I said no to drugs, no to drugs, no no no no no Hell no to drugs!
maybe you wanna say no to drugs too Or maybe you just wanna join Atheists of America, theMadonna fang-over
(14:12):
so zen like movies with those so zen like messages like hey, it's fun to to spread my legsacross Hollywood Boulevard
(14:33):
sucking and chopping, sucking and sucking and sucking and chopping, sucking and chopping,on it's a single on sucking and chopping, sucking and chopping, sucking and sucking and
chopping, hey, who am I to argue?
summer.
(15:00):
You're scaring me.
Even if it's all
(15:23):
You
So facts on manifesto, pencil in a date.
Let me know when something gives.
I hope it's not too late.
(15:46):
Cause I'm getting tired of waiting, tired of being late.
Joseph Campbell gave me hope.
(16:40):
So yeah, so all this stuff was, I got to put it in a folk song.
And back in 2017, I wrote an update.
Oh no, when was it?
No, it was 2020.
I wrote an update, folk song 2020.
Really?
And I never recorded it.
I never even performed it, but I have the lyrics somewhere.
But then recently I thought of some other lyrics to do folk song 2025.
(17:04):
I think that would be in the next show, the next live thing, which I think is the 30thanniversary of The Power of Pussy and the 30th, no, the 35th anniversary of The Power of
Pussy, the 30th anniversary of The Love Show.
And I had wanted to do, I don't know if it's the final thing I do, but before I can, pullmyself together to do any of this stuff anymore, but I wanted to do something called The
(17:28):
Power of The Love Pussy Show.
I really.
wasn't familiar with the love show and i listen to that two times back to back and ireally think that's a really good that's thank you because not many people did it's so
well developed and it to me it harkens back to the made for tv yes i want to ask you aboutyour
(17:51):
character process because you could be a comedian, honestly.
have such good imitation of different people and so forth.
These people that you knew are...
Comedy clubs are brutal.
I'd rather be at a rock and roll club having people throw things at me and vice versa thana comedy club.
(18:12):
I did something in a comedy club at the improv here and it was mostly musical and it's notmy scene.
Well, I mean just
You know, there's so many I can't again, my memory is not super great, but the differentcharacters that come up in that are just incredible.
And then it's also the music.
The way it's produced is works with that in the same way that made for TV.
(18:35):
The costumes and the sets and everything work with the comedy.
Yes, they're kind of, they're kind of, they're, they're Hollywood productions on, on ashoestring budget, you know, they're, they've got a little.
bit of Wizard of Oz and some of Danny Kay in it and then just some concept album JesusChrist superstar kind of vibe.
(19:02):
From her 1995 album The Love Show, here is Live You Vixen.
And when you go, you'll see what I say.
(19:46):
When you come you won't have to pay.
Yeah.
uh
S E N
(20:11):
V-I-X-E-N Do you think it's S-E-T-A-N?
A-G-B-O-R-S-T made in the sale-e-en
(20:38):
Will you?
(21:00):
you
(21:30):
It's my time
When you come you'll see what I say And when you come you won't have to pray
(21:56):
you
you
(22:52):
and then all the counterculture that was going on, the protests against the Vietnam War,which I was thinking about uh yesterday.
Yes, yesterday, because we were out there on Hollywood Boulevard in Vermont.
And it was tremendous.
It was just an incredible, incredibly invigorating experience to have so many people.
(23:17):
And everyone was exuberant and
unified and having fun.
And the first protest I was ever at, I think I was 14 or 15 or around that age, and it wasan anti-Vietnam War protest.
And we went from the Charleston West Virginia Civic Center to the federal building.
(23:41):
And I remember one of the older hippie guys shimmied up the flagpole of the federalbuilding and brought down the American flag.
My father would have been appalled at.
It was just all so daring and intense.
But I'm happy to say my parents were very much against the Vietnam War.
(24:01):
Maybe not at the beginning, but certainly once you got into My Lai and those kinds ofevents.
And they were pretty liberal, but my dad did not want to see the flag being desecrated.
As when I wore the flag in
my bell-bottom jeans.
He was not happy about that.
I want to see a picture of that.
That's awesome.
(24:22):
I don't think there is a picture.
I used to cut the seams because I learned...
My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was 12 and then I created at our housesomething I called the psychedelic sewing room and that's something that I'm reviving.
I've been doing a lot more sewing and fabric art and I wanted...
(24:42):
that sounds I've created a logo for it.
There was a Bongwater song that I'd written, the lyrics to, called Psychedelic SewingRoom.
Which album is that I don't remember, maybe Too Much Sleep.
And it kind of charts the three phases of life.
First as a 14-year-old Marsha Brady, then as a 40-year-old Samantha Stevens fromBewitched, and then a 65-year-old Bea, what was her name?
(25:12):
Aunt Bea from Andy Peeley Griffith.
And they're all like sewing in the psychedelic sewing room as women did centuriestogether, intergenerational sewing bees.
From Bongwanner's 1988 album, Too Much Sleep, psychedelic sewing room.
(25:32):
oh
14 year old Martian Brady is desperate to fly
(25:55):
You
(26:30):
3, 2,
(28:12):
I can tell
I pick up
you
(28:35):
but there's a very high power
(29:51):
started sewing in earnest during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.
ah that's so weird you mentioned that because I was at dinner with a friend a couplenights ago, uh artist, and we both at the same time, that was the point when we got the
most mad, know.
Yes, and I was so, I couldn't watch it live, um but I was following updates online.
(30:20):
What I was doing was I decided I would pull, I would start, I would get back to this hobbythat I had as a kid and as a little baby hippie and I would, to finish that other thought,
would rip the seams from the sides of the jeans down there below near the feet, near theankle and then sew in fabric to create more of an elephant bell, bell bottom.
(30:49):
And I did that once I used some American flag material and my dad was not happy about it.
But then he said he wasn't happy about it and then it was like, well, I said, well, I'msorry.
But then just kept, nothing came of it.
He expressed his disapproval and I just went on doing what I wanted to do.
(31:13):
That's pretty much the theme of my life.
yeah, I tend to...
kind of go around in circles.
was I have?
yes, Brett Kavanaugh, because I was Yes, yes.
So I said, I'm gonna pick up this, this uh hobby again, and I don't and I'm not gonna doit.
I'm not going to try to be there's a helicopter flying above, we got a lot of helicoptersand
(31:37):
of a lot more lately.
It's all part of this uh art movement I call it called Sururilism, the surreal in therural.
love that.
it's based on growing up in West Virginia and also spending a lot of time in Joshua Treeand finding the magical and the mystical elements in nature and running with that.
(32:00):
But the stuff I'm making, I'm not trying to make it, it's very raw.
I don't want, it's the opposite of perfectionism.
And it's, in a way, I've been creating these little bags, like they could be stash bags,these icons, and sometimes I use this image of David Bowie that I drew in high school, and
then somebody made fabric out of it as these icons.
(32:23):
But it was very good when you have a lot of anxiety to put your attention into this, intosewing.
And it also, it's so connected to the history of women.
And sometimes it was the only thing they were allowed to do.
And often while being secluded or locked away in some castle somewhere.
(32:44):
So I was doing that while these hearings were going on.
It's what really motivated me to do it.
And I started listening to this podcast called Revolutions and it's on YouTube and it'sthis historian.
who specializes in various revolutions.
So I listened to the French Revolution and there was so much, there was so much.
There was like 25 episodes that were maybe an hour each and I listened to all of them.
(33:09):
And it was so thorough and so fascinating and frightening and it mirrored exactly what wasgoing on.
What is going on, what was going on with Trump's first foray into the fascist takeover.
And now in a second, you know, it's just, it's shocking that we're still here in this.
(33:32):
We're back in this.
Anne released a modern rant in 2017 called Open Letter to an Open Letter Seriously WTF.
This release is available on Bandcamp with one of a kind original painting by Anne on aphotograph taken Austin Young.
Let's take a listen.
(33:53):
Seriously what the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
What the fuck?
What the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
Seriously what the fuck?
What the fuck?
(34:16):
Seriously, what the blank back me like flaps twerking for dollars on the agitatedpropaganda machine crying out for attention while masquerading your plea for help as a
publicity call the arms to legs Beckoning to what is panting between those latex clad gamsthose powerful pussy pants that can be sold for so many pieces of silver gold and Bitcoin
(34:43):
and
filing off of don't be fooled it's a losing game
You think I'm gonna fill up your empty void with self-righteous, self-promoting, textingdrivel?
So much jaw-breaking gibberish Using this platform for a hectoring, lectoring dickety docto empower the pussy over the cock All they're for is more hits, more eyeballs rolling in
(35:16):
the back of our heads and onto websites to move more products
Give me a fucking break.
Look at me.
I know this Good m
a motherfucking set you on waiting all gado-like For a royalty check that never showsbecause some industry spunk will spend it on a yin and gui
(35:37):
Bullshit.
Bullshit.
oh
I even hear one
lame ass vocoder note of that siren song.
I'll fall for it and start trying to win at a losers losers game.
(36:03):
Getting my act together and taking it on the road screwing my head.
That is gonna tell me I'm running as fast as I can.
Why?
you
(36:40):
Continue you continue you continue
You
more
space to fill to fill fill to fill to to to to to fill to to fill to fill to fill to fillto fill fill fill fill fill fill to fill fill fill to fill fill fill to fill fill fill
(37:18):
fill to fill fill
Paragraphs.
(37:48):
Now it's.
all about fucking word count and bullshit font size and patriarchal borders and shadingsand template tipped bullet mind numbing page numbering mind numbing page numbering
(38:12):
those ever-continuing pages pages ever-continuing pages and pages and pages that requirethe never-ending numbers the never-ending numbers the never-ending numbers that stretch
beyond the edges of the new universe
(38:35):
Beyond human comprehension
Bye!
(39:01):
way past the event around
to drive.
Star...
Raving...
Mad...
(39:28):
you
The
(40:17):
you
These days we don't have time to sit at a simple wooden desk with our Macduffy readersmining our P's and Q's.
We have to...
Prostitute ourselves Prostitute ourselves On computers and iPhones And home-to-dome-domumbling Jigs being thought of every day by evil game changers Evil game changers In order
(40:53):
to trick us into endless upgrades And all the while we continue to be faced with one huge,bureaucratic, blank document And on and on and on and um
Never
(41:13):
No matter what
I type no matter how much much how much and how fast I do my vitriol projectile
No matter
justify
To be
face.
oh
(41:37):
More!
All because of you, you da-
who will endlessly taunt me with your poem, goddamn white spits.
(41:58):
That's why no woman can win this game.
face the truth.
My leaves were being used into the tar baby vacuum
used as pawns in the entertainment being jerked over by the man in our vain attempt towrite our own script.
(42:23):
We think this is a way to take back our uh
epic, fail.
It's all you slo-
useless
(42:47):
So much cannon fodder grist for the mill like the sand
the hourglass.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives.
These are the lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives.
(43:08):
These are the lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
These are the lives.
These are the lives.
These are the lives of our lives.
drowns.
There is always more to give, more to say, more to feed the insatiable beast, the one thatweaves a deceitful web with our Facebook threads, our Tweety-pie chicken shit cuneiform,
(43:36):
our high horse hierographics, our open wound expressionistic Esperanto, walking shadowboxing matches full of sound and
fury sound and fury sound and fury signifying
Not a heck of a lot when you get right down
(43:59):
to it.
Cause all we are
You
dust in the wind.
oh
Yeah, man.
(44:20):
It's as if, as our mother goddess role model Yoko Ono astutely said, if woman is nigger
what the fu- oh
(44:55):
So fly on me and your demons fall
(45:43):
you oh
with immense respect, Anne Magnusson.
Holy cow, hearing Anne Magnusson's take on right now is wildly refreshing.
As expected, we will continue with part three of my interview with Anne Magnusson onepisode 16, airing in a couple weeks.
(46:10):
Next, we...
We are sluts.
Thanks for listening to Art Slutz Radio.
Hey, if you identify with the Art Slutz, explore our herstory at artslutz.net.
(46:33):
That's A-R-T-S-L-U-T-S dot net.
And purchase downloads of our music wherever you stream music.
All contributions and purchases will go to support the abortion fund.
Currently, 21 states have limited access to women's health care.
including fifth total band.
(46:58):
Talking about your abortion experience, voting and donating to support abortion rightswill make a difference.
I you baby
(47:20):
It's just my music baby and I gotta do the show
(55:21):
Holy cow, hearing Anne Magnusson's take on Right Now is wildly refreshing.
As expected, we will continue with part three of my interview with Anne Magnusson onepisode 16, airing in a couple weeks.
Be sure to share and subscribe to Art Slutz Radio.
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