Fans and friends of the Dirty Curls: It is with sadness that we announce that the Dirty Curls are no more. Courtney McClean has left the group to pursue other projects, which she will announce as they become public.
The remaining two members of the Dirty Curls, Bunny Sparber and Coco Mault, will continue performing in a new band -- as The Peter O’Tooles, an especially filthy Celtic punk band. The Peter O’Tooles will take over the Dirty Curls’ slot at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, refashioning The Grand Ole Orgy into a similar variety show titled This Is The Peter O’Tooles. Their first BLB show will be September 24 and will feature Saint Paul poet laureate Carol Connolly, singer/songwriter Martin Devaney, and food and sex blogger Erica Rivera, as well as original songs from the Peter O’Tooles and a short movie. Information about the event can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=124853164230827&ref=mf
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: IT’S NERD NIGHT WITH THE DIRTY CURLS AT BRYANT-LAKE BOWL AUGUST 27, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota’s favorite cult hillbilly erotica act, The Dirty Curls (formerly Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls) return to the Bryant-Lake Bowl for their monthly variety show, The Grand Ole Orgy. This month’s theme: Nerds. The show’s title: Rock Out With Your Spock Out, of course.
Once again, The Dirty Curls will present an original short film, a selection of their deliciously naughty music, and the Mayor R.T. Rybak-suggested closing theme, “Happy Tails to You” (available on The Dirty Curls site).
The Dirty Curls’ special guests this month will include the parodic rap band Valley Meadows, the math-themed rock of Radical Powers, and local birdwatcher Sharon Stiteler and husband/partner-in-crime Bill Stiteler, who will be introducing audiences to birds with filthy sounding names.
WHAT: THE DIRTY CURLS IN THE GRAND OLE ORGY: ROCK OUT WITH YOUR SPOCK OUT WHEN: August 27, 2010 10:00 p.m. WHERE: Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 West Lake Street, Minneapolis HOW MUCH: $10 / $8 Students, Seniors, Military or Fringe button
Thanks so much to all our friends and sponsors for the Naughtybilly Hoedown at the Storefront-In-A-Box.
It's still happening through August 9th! Here's the full schedule.
Our friends who have been instrumental in making this a success: Steve & Angie, Jennifer & Ross, Marne, Shayne & Tim, and everyone that's stopped by to say hi, have fun, and participate.
Thank you also to our sponsors for the week or individual events:
Ever wonder what The Dirty Curls are up to before a show? It might be exactly what you expect: taking pictures of scantily-clad women, recovering from a drunken orgy, and crying.
Have you ever just wanted to spend an ENTIRE WEEK with Coco, Bunny, and Courtney McClean? WHO HASN'T?
Well, now you can!
We're very thrilled to announce, as I'm sure you can see by our last post, we are hosting WEEK 9 of the Storefront In A Box and we're calling it The Weeklong Naughtybilly Hoedown. This does not mean you have to square-dance for an entire week, though we're not going to stop you. Especially if it's the horizontal square-dance! HEY-O!
What IS Storefront-In-A-Box? Well, click on the link and you'll see the FAQs... or I'll just tell you. What is Storefront-in-a-Box? A Minneapolis business in transition decided to rent their storefront by the week this summer (2010). For ten weeks, the store will be occupied by individuals and groups who will use the space a number of ways: entrepreneurial, artistic, cultural, social... Where is it and what was it? The storefront is at 2441 Lyndale Ave S, former home of Arise! bookstore.
Their website does say the event ends on Aug. 2 - NOT TRUE! They actually extended it another two weeks for The Dirty Curls because they loved the idea of a week of Naughtybilly!
HERE'S WHAT WE'VE GOT PLANNED!
August 3 (Tuesday): Hilariously Bad Cowboy Movie Night! We'll be setting up shop from about 2pm till the early evening, but feel free to stop by to say hi and bring beer! Then, at 6pm, we start showing the most ridiculously bad cowboy movies EVAR. Quoth Bunny, "Oh, yes. I have so many cowboy movies you wouldn't believe it." Movie treats will be on hand (popcorn and licorice ropes! etc) August 4 (Wednesday): Gussy Up Your Cowboy Duds!Sponsored by Crafty Planet. We'll have all kinds of crafty accouterments like rhinestones and appliques on hand so that you can gussy up your favorite suit (or skirt, boots, spurs, chaps) all cowboy-like, inspired by the awesome fashion of Nudie. The crafty fun begins at 6pm and lasts till late! And feel free to bring your own crafty stuff... anything is welcome!
August 5 (Thursday): Why, it's McClean's birthday! So we're having a party, starting at 6pm, lasting till midnight! Come get a cup for a suggested donation and fill it with a myriad of spirits or take a shot from our "Jug Of Death"! Only persons 21 years of age and older will be admitted. You know what that means...
August 6 (Friday): "Sleaze Book Club" and Naughty Open Mic! The World Premiere of "Sleaze Book Club," a new play by Bunny Sparber (yes, that's OUR Bunny)... another play in a part of he & sometimes Coco Mault's (yes, that's OUR Coco)Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control collection of royalty-free short plays. FRINGE, SCHRMINGE! Just kidding, MN Fringe! But seriously, this play is free. Afterward? The Naughty Open Mic! Bring your erotic poetry, stories, jokes, songs, anything sex-positive. We'll be open at 6pm, but the show starts at 8pm!
August 7 (Saturday): General Store, Hooping, Cowboy Party! Starting at 11am, The Dirty Curls' General Store where we'll be having our friends hawking their wares, be it handmade, new or used (hopefully even edible)! At 2pm, our friend Jeff is coming in to teach a HULA-HOOPING class (donations encouraged). Then, later in the evening, we'll enjoy some cowboy tunes to jig to and ingest libations. Possibly even a jam session... heck, maybe we'll make a video. It'll be kind of a free-for-all, like Saturdays should be.
August 8, Sunday: Sexy Story & Limerick Day! Starting again at 11am, swing by to have a nice, relaxed morning writing! We'll be getting prepped for the Twin Cities Limerick Contest (in celebration of Limerick Day in Minneapolis, of course!)by churning out filthy limericks and songs and stories most of the day till around 6:00pm. But right in the middle, at 2pm, Man Eater's Erica Rivera and Lavender Magazine's John Townshend, plus a couple of other special guests will join us for a reading of sexy stories! Then, we head to Kieran's Irish Pub for the contest, which starts at 7pm! August 9, Monday: The Weeklong Naughtybilly Hoedown comes to a close, but hopefully we'll have a little bit of goodies and drinkies left over to treat you to a Happy Hour. You don't have to help deconstruct the space and get it ready for the next week, but we'd love it if you did! 3pm - 6pm.
This is a (pretty much) FREE week of naughtybilly fun... we will of course be accepting donations, but everyone is welcome (of course, we're an erotica band and the underaged can't drink the moonshine).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: COURTNEY McCLEAN & THE DIRTY CURLS HOST THE “WEEKLONG NAUGHTYBILLY HOEDOWN” WITH STOREFRONT-IN-A-BOX FROM AUGUST 3-9, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota’s favorite cult hillbilly erotica act, Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls, brings its trademark blend of salaciousness, comedy, foot-stomping music, and shameless fun to Storefront-In-A-Box during the week of August 3-9, 2010 -- aptly named “The Weeklong Naughtybilly Hoedown.”
Events include: - August 3: Bad Cowboy Movie Night (6pm - midnight) - August 4: Craft Night: Gussy Up your Cowboy Duds - Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors’ Style! (6pm - 11pm) - August 5: Courtney McClean’s birthday bash (featuring a penis pinata!) (6pm - midnight) - August 6: The world premiere performance of “Sleaze Book Club” by Bunny Sparber & Coco Mault, plus a Naughty Open Mic (8pm - 11pm; open from 6pm to midnight) - August 7: The Dirty Curls’ General Store featuring handmade, new, and used goods you can’t live without. Also, hula hooping lessons! And a country dance party at night, perhaps including a performance by Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls. (11am - midnight) - August 8: Creative day: Writing dirty song lyrics and limericks... in preparation for the Twin Cities Limerick Contest at Kieran’s Irish Pub at 7pm. (11am - 6pm) - August 9: “Drink the rest of the beer, eat the rest of the candy, help us clean up if you want” happy hour (3pm - 6pm).
All week long we’ll have erotic art hanging for sale. Please see http://www.dirtycurls.com for details.
Storefront-In-A-Box (http://www.storefrontinabox.com) is a Minneapolis business in transition (formerly Arise Bookstore) that is renting their storefront by the week for Summer 2010. For ten weeks, the store will be occupied by individuals and groups who will use the space a number of ways: entrepreneurial, artistic, cultural, social, etc.
Images of Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls are available on their Web site at http://www.dirtycurls.com/2010/02/press-photos.html; for additional needs, or to arrange for interviews, contact Bunny Sparber at bunny@dirtycurls.com or 612.217.1234.
WHAT: COURTNEY McCLEAN & THE DIRTY CURLS HOST THE “WEEKLONG NAUGHTYBILLY HOEDOWN” WITH STOREFRONT-IN-A-BOX WHEN: August 3-8, 10:00 p.m. WHERE: 2441 Lyndale Ave, Minneapolis HOW MUCH: FREE (donations accepted)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: COURTNEY McCLEAN & THE DIRTY CURLS BEGIN MONTHLY SHOW AT BRYANT-LAKE BOWL JULY 23, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota’s favorite cult hillbilly erotica act, Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls, brings its trademark blend of salaciousness, comedy, and foot-stomping music to the Bryant-Lake Bowl for a monthly variety show, beginning July 23. The show’s title? The Grand Ole Orgy.
Aside from featuring the band’s gumbo of country music and scandalous lyrics, the show will feature original video short movies and a selection of Minnesota’s most scandalous and talented performers; opening night will feature burlesque performers Naughtia Noir & Paradox, comedians Amber Preston and John Schreiner, and the hard-driving naughty Americana of the Whiskey Sournotes.
Additionally, Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls will be debuting a closing song, a sing-a-long suggested to them by none other than the mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak, who may not have known that the band would take him seriously and actually write the song. It’s title: “Happy Tails to You.” It can be listened to and downloaded on the Dirty Curls site, so that audiences can join in at the end of the show: http://www.dirtycurls.com/2010/07/happy-tails-to-you.html
Images of Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls are available on their Web site at http://www.dirtycurls.com/2010/02/press-photos.html; for additional needs, or to arrange for interviews, contact Bunny Sparber at bunny@dirtycurls.com or 612.217.1234.
WHAT: COURTNEY McCLEAN & THE DIRTY CURLS IN THE GRAND OLE ORGY WHEN: July 23, 10:00 p.m. WHERE: Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 West Lake Street, Minneapolis HOW MUCH: $10 / $8 Students, Seniors, Military or Fringe button
Good friends in hard times And hard friends in good times And let us bid our adieu Goodnight to our friends, now And let us now end now With “Happy tails to you!”
CULT FAVORITE EROTIC HILLBILLY BAND COURTNEY McCLEAN & THE DIRTY CURLS TO PLAY GABE’S IN IOWA CITY, SATURDAY, JULY 17
IOWA CITY -- Minneapolis band Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls, who the Star Tribune declared one of the best live acts of 2009, will be bringing their unique sound to Gabe’s in Iowa City on Saturday, July 17. Playing with the band will be bluegrass favorites Deadman Flats from Lawrence, KS.
Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls play a style of music they called “naughtybilly,” which combines traditional bluegrass, classical country, cowboy hollers, and 70s era stadium rock to tell comic stories of sex and sin. More about the band, along with samples of their music and 300dpi press photos, are available on their site at http://www.dirtycurls.com/
WHAT: Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls w/Deadman Flats WHEN: Saturday, July 17, 2010, 10pm WHERE: Gabe’s, 330 East Washington Street, Iowa City, (319) 354-4788
Members of Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls are available for interviews, and their EP “Cowgirl the Fuck Up” is available for the press. Contact:
There’s not much to a press release, really; we’ve seen a lot of them, and sent a lot of them, as both Bunny and Coco have been journalists and editors, and Courtney McClean has been in the performing arts for more than a decade. But simple though they may seem, there’s a few things that distinguish a press release that will get noticed from one that won’t. We have a few suggestions, and we also contacted City Pages’ music editor Andrea Swensson and Pioneer Press pop music critic Ross Raihala for their comments.
To begin with, there’s a format to writing press releases that people seem to prefer, and we suggest sticking with that, at least in part because it just makes a press release look like a press release. People in the press get a lot of press releases, and if they get the idea to write about whatever you’re doing, it’s not going to help if they have to dig through piles of paper or emails because you made your press release look like a friendly email, or a love note, or whatever creative approach you take.
If you’re looking for an introduction to writing a press release, we like the Wikihow page on the subject, which is quite good. But just learning the format isn’t really enough. As we mentioned, news people are inundated with press releases, and so just getting the form right isn’t enough.
None of this is guaranteed to get you coverage, of course. “People never want to hear this,” Ross Raihala says, “but some people are going to get covered by the press regardless of how good they are at press releases (or if they even issue them at all). And even if you do everything right, it's still no guarantee of coverage. There are a million factors at work here, and they're often as mundane as the limit to how many column inches there are in a paper or how many hours there are in a day. But a well-written, well-timed press release can still do wonders.”
Here’s a few additional tips from people who look at a lot of press releases.
FIRSTLY, KNOW WHO YOU ARE SENDING YOUR PRESS RELEASE TO
Ideally, you should tailor your press release to whoever you’re sending it to. Practically, this is time consuming and probably unnecessary, but too many people simply blanket every email address they have with the same general release. A press release to a music writer is going to be different than a press release to the editor of a feminist magazine, which, in turn, will be different than the lifestyle writer at a regional publication. They’re all looking for different stories, or, at least, different spins on the same story, so write your press releases with that in mind. “Show me that you've read the paper and know what kinds of things we cover,” Andrea Swensson says.
GRAB THEIR ATTENTION
Every time you read advice on how to write a press release, it will tell you this, but it is so important that we’re going to go ahead and say it too: Writers and editors are not looking for a dry recitation of facts about a certain performance at a certain venue -- they want to know why it would make a good story. “The more interesting tidbits in a press release, the more likely I am to want to write about that person/band/whatever,” Raihala explains. “Don't think of a press release as some sort of term paper, think of it like what it is -- a pitch.”
Swensson offers some specific suggestions: “Why this is a good time to write about your band (CD release, special event, etc), where you are from, where you are playing, when your album is coming out.”
If you’re doing something creative, chances are there is a story there. Figure out what makes you interesting, and make sure that’s in the press release. If you don’t know why somebody should write about you, they’re probably going to have a hard time figuring it out too.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
There used to be a format for writing news stories -- you’ll see it still pop up, now and then, in more traditional newspapers -- called the inverted pyramid. This style of writing puts the most important information at the front of the story, usually in the first paragraph or sentence, so that if the reader stops before they finish the story, they’ll still have caught what’s important about it.
We recommend the inverted pyramid for press release writing, because writers’ and editors’ time is limited, and they often scan press releases, focusing on the first paragraph to see if it’s something worth looking into. “The volume of mail that we receive is larger than you can possibly imagine,” Swensson explains, “we simply don't have time to read more than the basic information.” She recommends press releases be no longer than a page; two at most, if you’re including a personal note.
MAKE SURE ALL THE FACTS ARE THERE
You’d be surprised how many press releases forget to include basic information, such as the address of a venue or the date of an event. Worse still, sometimes the press release has wrong information in it, and, as the writer will often rely on the press release as a reference, this can be especially irritating. “Please spell everyone's names correctly,” Raihala asks. “Include the time/date/place/ticket info for any performances and make that information prominent and, again, correct”; also important: “Give me contact info that will actually be answered. If you send a journalist a contact email address, make sure it's an account you check frequently and answer emails quickly.”
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD PHOTO
Send a small photo with the press release, but include a Web address where the writer or editor can locate a higher resolution version (”and your album cover art,” Swensson adds, “if you are sending a burned copy or an advance without art.”) When Bunny was a theater critic for City Pages, the layout of the tabloid required a photo with every story. He would sometimes write about a play just because the producers had provided an image, while another theater neglected to do so.
“I love it when people have hi-res digital photos easily available because there are often times when I can run a local band photo in the paper,” Raihala explains. “The best thing for me is when people have them posted online somewhere, so I can simply email my designers a weblink.” Raihala prefers not to get jpegs in his email: “If you send me a 20MB email, it will immediately jam up my inbox, meaning any emails sent after that get bounced back to the sender”; this is the sort of thing worth noting.
ANYTHING ELSE?
“If you are sending a physical press release, I beg of you, don't put glitter or anything like that that will spill out all over when the package is opened,’ Rahaila says; obviously advice born of bitter experience.
Swensson, in the meanwhile, “would cry out of happiness if every band did the following:
Send me a preview copy of your album as soon as it is available;
Get in touch with me either via mail or email to open the lines of communication (I'm probably not going to reply, but I save all the messages and contact info and will reply if I need anything);
Make sure your website is stocked with all the resources that writers and editors need to publicize your band: A hi-res publicity photo (with the photographer's name), a graphic of your cover art, an updated show calendar, a brief bio that includes where you are from and how long you have existed, your contact info, and at least one or two streaming tracks in case some harried editor like myself wants a quick, convenient refresher on what you sound like. Post music videos (even amateur ones), post updates about what you're up to, post show flyers, stay connected. Make it as easy as possible for people to grab things off your site and write and blog about you."
ONE LAST NOTE
Even if the press does respond to your email and write a story, you can never tell what effect that will have. Sometimes a small mention on a blog can send thousands of visitors to your while other times a rave write up will do nothing to increase the attendance at your show.
We mention this because sometimes creative people rely on the media to build their audience, hoping that a good review or a feature story will attract the public. Sometimes it will, sometimes it won’t, and sometimes the press doesn’t write what you wish they would. (Broadway impresario George M. Cohan was sanguine about even bad reviews, saying “I don't care what you say about me, as long as you say something about me, and as long as you spell my name right”; his advice was not to read reviews, but measure them.) The press can help you build an audience, but they’re not very good at it, and they’re unreliable.
Our advice is to consider press releases to be just one tool of audience building, and a limited one. And the truth of it is, if you want press coverage, build your audience. Once enough people start coming to shows, the press will show up too.
Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls, in partnership with l'etoile magazine, are proud to announce the start of our very own book club: The Trash Novel Book Club. It's like Oprah's book club, except tackier (if that's possible) and more fun. Join the group on Facebook!
Remember in junior high school there were books that were passed around like secrets, with passages underlined? You'd dare each other to read them out loud at parties? You'd keep them hidden from your parents, terrified they might discover what you were reading? There were titles like Wifey by Judy Blume, or The Happy Hooker by Xaviera Hollander, or, perhaps most notoriously, Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews.
Well, at last there is a book club just for those sorts of books. And it's simple: Once per month, we will select a book. You read it, and then we will discuss it, either on the Trash Novel Book Club page in Facebook, or on Twitter (just mark your comments with the #TNBC has tag!).
Now let's get reading, because isn't it time you read a really bad book?
NOW READING: VALLEY OF THE DOLLS by Jacqueline Susann.
Occasionally, other folks will remix songs by Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls; when they do, we will post their remixes here, with their permission.
MINNESOTA PR0N A remix of "Minnesota Porn" by Peter Marsh of London.
One of the first things anybody who is doing any sort of performance has to do is put together a press list, so they have a list of people they can send press releases to. As it happens, that's a pretty exhausting undertaking -- there is no one source for everybody in the local media, so you have to search every individual Web site of every paper and blog you think might be interested, where the information is sometimes buried.
We Dirty Curls have done, and continue to do, this tedious work, and we just don't think it makes sense that everybody else must duplicate this work on their own, so we've decided to go ahead and post our press list and encourage others to make use of it. We'll keep it updated as best we can, but keep in mind that this sort of thing is liable to change quickly and often. Also keep in mind that this list is specific to the needs of Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls; it's a good idea to weed out any contact that might be inappropriate for your project, and make sure you add in any that would be appropriate for whatever you're doing but not appropriate for whatever we're doing.
All of the names and contacts on here are publicly available. If you're a media person and you'd like to have your info added here, or updated, or removed, or if you're a reader and have a suggestion for an addition, please contact us at info@dirtycurls.com.
For those of you who are uncertain how to write a press release, WikiHow has a page that offers a good overview of the basics. We would encourage you to include a digital image with your press releases.
We Dirty Curls have been hearing a lot of rape jokes lately. Maybe it’s just a strange coincidence, or maybe there are just a few comedians in the Twin Cities who find this sort of humor especially appealing. There does seem to be a contingent of comedians locally whose comedy is unusually aggressive, trading in cheap shots at minorities, women, even random audience members and other comedians. There’s not much we can do about this, except to say that we don’t especially care for that sort of stand-up and will not perform at or patronize places that encourage cruelty masquerading as comedy.
However, we are about to start hosting our own variety show, and that’s a place where we do get to have a say as to what happens during the performance. Our contracts with our performers will stipulate, in general terms, what we would like to see on our stage, and what we don’t want to see at all, but, as we have our own Web page, we also have an opportunity to expand on this and explain it. It’s a complicated discussion, and one that’s taking place elsewhere, so we’ll also provide links to others who have written about the subject. And we’d like to specifically address the subject of rape jokes right now; later, we might talk about comedy that trades in racism, or homophobia, or whatever else we feel we need to clarify our viewpoint on. But it all boils down to one simple thing: We’re not especially fond of jokes that take somebody else’s pain and minimizes it into a glib punchline.
So let’s start with a larger discussion, and that’s the idea that there can be ethics in comedy. And this is not a discussion about not being offensive, because, for certain audiences, Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls are offensive. Comedy works in part because it pushes boundaries and forces people to see things in a new and surprising ways. Comedy can be terrifically risk-taking, and it can go places that audience members might find uncomfortable. We like that, and we encourage it, but there is a lot of opportunity for blundering if you do so without a clear sense of what you’re doing. It’s very possible to hurt somebody without knowing it, or, if you’re especially callous, to do so because you don’t care.
That’s where ethics come in: they help set some rules. Now, ethics aren’t carved in stone, and can change from situation to situation, but they’re a useful collection of loose guidelines to refer back to when you’re trying out something that may be a little outre, or a little risky, or a little mean, all of which have their place in comedy. New York Time’s The Ethicist started out as a comedy writer for David Letterman, and has written about his experiences (as well as peeked in on Letterman to see how well the talk show host has maintained his principals). Letterman’s guidelines, as explained by The Ethicist, were pretty simple: “[A]ssail the powerful, don’t pummel their victims ... [C]ondemn only what is volitional: what someone does, not who he is. You do not mock a guy for having a great huge nose; you do deride him for being a bad actor in a crummy movie.”
This is a useful starting point, because it reminds us of something that people sometimes forget: that comedy can be a weapon. It is, in fact, the principal tool of the bully. Most of us were not beaten by bullies, but instead mocked by them -- they looked to minimize us in front of others by making us figures of fun. And this is why comedy can be such a tightrope -- sometimes it is not clear who the target is. When The Onion did their famous post-911 issue, they removed a series of jokes that referred to the Pentagon as the Quadragon, because they did not feel the target of their satire was clear; they did not want to be seen as mocking the people who lost their lives in the attack on the Pentagon.
And this is one of the issues with jokes about rape. Now, we’re not going to say it is impossible to use rape as a subject for comedy, but it’s a tricky subject, because it deals in a traumatic experience that many, many women (and some men) have experienced. (Washington City Paper’s The Sexist tackled how The Onion itself made use of the subject, and when their comedy worked, and when it didn’t). We’ve heard a number of rape jokes lately, all told, not coincidentally, by men, where the target of the joke seemed to be the rape victim themselves, or presented the subject of rape as being intrinsically funny -- jokes where the punchlines are variations of “he’s a rapist” and “I was raping her.” But it’s not an intrinsically funny subject -- it’s an intrinsically tragic and traumatizing subject, and we feel it is a mark of how disconnected some male comedians are from the reality of rape that, for them, it exists mostly as a punch line, rather than something real people actually experience.
We would like to remind these comedians that, if you have a certain number of people in a room, and it doesn’t need to be very many people, at least one of them will have experienced sexual violence. Remember, as you tell your rape joke, that, to them, it isn’t just an edgy punch line; it’s something they actually experienced. Are you still comfortable telling your joke? Now imagine they are the only person in the room, they’re you’re only audience. Are you still comfortable? If so, is it because you honestly feel you have something important to express about the subject of rape, or is it because you just don’t care if your joke hurts somebody? These questions are important ones in discussing the ethics of comedy; in our opinion, they are what distinguishes a comedian from a bully.
And we feel there is another issue, which is that sometimes comedians tell these jokes, but then frame it ironically, as though they are saying “I am aware this is a hurtful joke, and so I am presenting it as a commentary on hurtful jokes.” Sometimes, we feel this is a sort of prestidigitation -- that comedians are using ironic framing to allow themselves to tell hurtful jokes. Sometimes it isn’t; sometimes they really just want to address the subject of hurtful or bullying comedy, and are doing it using examples of that sort of comedy. This is especially tricky, because irony isn’t always obvious. If you tell an ironic rape joke, and your audience doesn’t get the irony, all you have done is told a rape joke.
And some comedians think, oh, come on, I’m not sexist, I’m not a racist, people must know that I don’t actually mean these jokes. We would point out that your audience probably doesn’t know you well enough to know that you’re just being a little daring when you tell a rape joke, and that in real life, you find the subject of rape to be terrible. Instead, they’re likely to think you just find rape funny.
There is a lot more than can be talked about here, so we may return to the subject, but for now we would like to share some links where other people have addressed this:
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Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls march in the Heart of the Beast's annual May Day Parade in south Minneapolis, and then retire to a friends house to create some chaos.
Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls announce poster contest for new monthly show at Bryant-Lake Bowl
Minneapolis, MN -- May 7, 2010 -- Who else would name a monthly show The Grand Ole Orgy? Beginning Friday, July 23, local erotic hillbilly act Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls will be offering a once-monthly variety show at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, and the band has decided to have a design contest for the promotional poster.
The contest is open to anybody, and the deadline is Saturday, May 22. The contest will be judged by the band, along with a panel of three guests: City Pages music editor Andrea Swensson, Twin Cities musician and writer Steve McPherson, and local arts writer and curator Andy Sturdevant. Prizes will be awarded to everybody who enters.
Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls marched in south Minneapolis' famous May Day Parade on Sunday, May 2. We found ourselves waiting to march behind a very large contingent of young men and women in aquamarine t-shirts emblazoned with the name R.T. Rybak. Standing in this throng, wearing sunglasses and speaking into a cell phone, was Rybak himself, the mayor of Minneapolis, the man to whom President (then-Senator) Obama had once said "Your eyes are really intense."
Well, we couldn't resist, so we hurried over to get our photo taken with him. He agreed before his curiosity got the better of him; after a few photos, he asked who we were. We cautiously explained that we are a really naughty hillbilly band. "What kind of songs do you sing?" he asked, curious. "Like, 'Happy Tails to You?'"
He turned to his collection of supporters, calling out "Hey! These guys play dirty country music!" Everybody cheered.
As we said goodbye, we promised to write a song called "Happy Tails to You." "And we'll credit it to you," we told the mayor.
Courtney McCLean & The Dirty Curls present a free download of their newest song, "Minnesota Porn," a raucous ode to adult film starlets and filmmakers from Minnesota. WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK!
I got me a DVD from Lickety Split On this frigid January morn For these fucking Minnesota winters I got my teevee to keep me warm Maybe my lubricant is cold as ice And my vibrator's well-worn But if there is one thing that will get me hot It's watching Minnesota porn
Chorus: I've transgressed while watching films by Celeste And nobody makes me thrash like Nikita Cash And when the girls won't do And I want something new I watch boys, two by two In films by Chi Chi LaRue
To avoid the murderous windchill We go out dressed up like spacemen You got to cover all your exposed skin When the temp'rature reaches negative ten And if you want to see ass and titties What you supposed to do then? I forget what people look like naked Minnesota porn reminds me again
I've transgressed while watching films by Celeste And nobody makes me thrash like Nikita Cash I could go all night with Venus DeLight And my whole body aches for Christi Lake And when the girls won't do And I want something new I watch boys, two by two In films by Chi Chi LaRue
BRIDGE:
Some folks go chop wood And fuck by a roaring fire Me, I turn to adult movies To make my skin perspire Just a glimpse of those Minnesota girls Gets my temperature higher Just put on some Minnesota porn That's all that I require
I got me a DVD from Lickety Split Think Ill go back and get some more I get jolts of joy from one video Imagine what Id get from four If that's not how to heat things up Then what the hell is winter for Give me more of Minnesota porn Its what I adore
I've transgressed while watching films by Celeste And nobody makes me thrash like Nikita Cash I could go all night with Venus DeLight And my whole body aches for Christi Lake I'd happily kneel for Shaena Steele And I get sore for Erin Moore I'll share my boudoir with Mandy Star Julia Kruise just screws and screws And I'd go lez for Sky Lopez And Sophia Staks is due for a comeback Candy Roxxx gives me pleasurable shocks And I cry out the names: Wendy James And when the girls won't do And I want something new I watch boys, two by two In films by Chi Chi LaRue
Cult Favorite Minneapolis Erotic Hillbilly Band Releases Free Download of Song About Minnesota’s Porn Starlets
Minneapolis, MN -- May 2, 2010 -- It’s been the long-stated goal of cult-favorite Minneapolis band Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls to play at the Adult Video News Awards that occur every year in Las Vegas, and they have taken a step to attract the attention of the adult film industry: They are releasing their newest song, “Minnesota Porn,” as a free download.
A raucous, five-minute ode to adult actresses who hail from Minnesota, the song name-checks such porn luminaries as Christi Lake, Venus DeLight, and the crossdressing director Chi Chi LaRue. The decidedly not-safe-for-work song is available for download as an MP3 filed on the band’s Web site at http://www.dirtycurls.com/2010/05/free-download-and-video-minnesota-porn.html, and the band encourages people to share the file freely. Also available on the site is a decidedly not-safe-for-work video for “Minnesota Porn,” shot on location at Sex World in downtown Minneapolis.
Begun in the summer of 2009, Courtney McClean & The Dirty Curls perform a style of music they call "naughtybilly": an eclectic mix of country, bluegrass, 70s power rock, cowboy, tin pan alley, and pretty much any other genre that feels right to them, all in service of some of the most outrageously off-color lyrics ever written.
