Former Sonic Youth bassist-guitarist Kim Gordon has been in the spotlight lately, as details and quotes from her new memoir Girl in a Band continue to light up the Internet. Last night, the 61-year-old (no, really) queen of cool appeared at the Music Box for an interview, presented by the Chicago Humanities Festival and hosted by Alison Cuddy. Here are the most interesting takeaways.
1. “Visual art is my primary medium” was one of many surprising answers.
2. When asked about some of her former flames including Larry Gagosian and Danny Elfman (with whom she remains friends) she said jokingly that rewriting Danny Elfman’s Simpsons theme song was the best revenge.
3. Gordon’s first band, Below the Belt, was inspired by the Fluxus art movement and included former members of '70s cult prog band Los Blops and future members of Oingo Boingo. They played two shows.
4. Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna ended her “media blackout” by appearing in Sonic Youth’s video for "Bull in the Heather".
5. Allison Cuddy did not ask about Gordon’s breakup with Thurston Moore, but an audience member mentioned that at Sleater Kinney’s recent Chicago performance the lyrics to “I Want To Be Your Joey Ramone” were changed from "I wanna be your Thurston Moore" to "I wanna be your Kim Gordon." Kim demured, “I don’t know what to say about that—I wish I was at the show.”