How did CHAOS & CANDY first come about?
The germ was first planted in 1998 when I discovered this book called The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum which talked about how Christmas began as a rowdy festival, something closer to Halloween or Mardi Gras with wildness in the streets. The holiday was banned in the Colonies for being too irreligious and detrimental to society.
In 1999 I premiered my solo version of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus while living in L.A., that number has been in every show. In 2001 there was a short-lived periodical called Three Weeks that did an expose of the origins of Santa Claus and how he transmogrified from the Christian Saint Nicholas into a cartoon character. I guess I’ve always been interested in exploring the origins of things, going beyond the assumed world. It feels like Christmas as we know it has been around forever, but it was basically invented in New York by merchants and marketers in the 19th century.
I’d always wanted to do my own Christmas special, they were always my favorite things on TV – I miss when the animated “Special” logo would chug on screen with a funky excited soundtrack before the show –
and I mentioned it to Jeffrey Deitch when I met him in 2002. He funded the first production which we did in the Deitch warehouse space in Williamsburg. The neighborhood was just coming around the gentrification corner at that point and the warehouse is still on a rather industrial block next to a hot dog manufacturing or packaging plant. People were coming in off these deserted, filthy New York streets covered in snow and opening the door onto a full-throttle winter wonderland. The ceiling was hung with 100 hand-cut 3-foot snowflakes, floor to ceiling velvet curtains, a petting zoo (with actors dressed as animals you could feed and pet), a craft fair and a spectacular show. It was a dream come true, especially because I achieved my main goal which was to open a window on Christmas for people who felt excluded or sickened by it.
That is the most satisfying thing about doing the show, the people who come up to me weeks later and say that they hate the season and it made their holiday. I about barf when I hear modern xmas music by hobos like Jessica Simpson or whatever auto-tuned hack the industry is flogging lately. This is about giving thinking, feeling, artistically sensitive people something to enjoy as well.
What is it about the holiday season which makes you so inspired?
I loved Christmas as a child, but I wanted it to last longer and be more of a week-long winter festival. Then I did my research and found out that that is exactly how it started when it was Solstice winter revels or the Saturnalia. The 12 days of Christmas were a rowdy time when people feasted and partied in the streets, all the lights in the trees were to inspire the sun to come back. Evergreens and holly were considered magic because they didn’t die in winter. I love that. As a kid I just loved snow and winter and Santa Claus and the Rankin & Bass holiday specials, but now I have grown to love the season for all these other things I have found.
I’m a little goth at heart, and the 12 days, being the darkest time, were thought to be the time when the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest, so it is a time of ghosts roaming and trolls dancing at midnight. Children born on Christmas were believed to be werewolves!
Conservatives like to complain that Christmas is getting farther away from its supposed roots (Baby Jesus’s birthday) but the truth is that it has never strayed far from its core: a pagan festival of light and hope during the literally darkest time of year. When Christianity took root they grabbed on to the popular festivals and gods and either demonized to turn people off or absorbed them by reassigning holy days to them (December 25). I like what Clement C. Miles says about it: “Mankind’s instinctive paganism is insuppressible.”
What should people who have never seen CHAOS & CANDY expect?
Great music, eye candy, monsters, puppets, amazing costumes. There are so many wildly talented people involved.
Fashion plays such a part in CHAOS & CANDY. What can you tell us about the costumes this year? How did you come to work with Kansas City’s Peggy Noland?
I wouldn’t really say that Fashion with a capital F is a huge part of the show, but a good look is important if you are going to be on stage. Theatrical. This year the look is inspired in part by Fritz Lang’s Nibelungen movie, his two-part silent epic based on the Ring Cycle (check it out on YouTube), Karlheinz Weinberger‘s sexy photographs of Swedish biker gangs from the 50s and 60s and a dash of classic heavy metal.
Elise Martinelli is working on some phenomenal pieces for me again this year, a huge feather shoulder piece and a metallic armor look. I’m knocking off some Givenchy leggings, because although I think Riccardo Tisci is a genius, I desperately wish I could afford the whole season he did with capes . . . I told you I’m a Goth. I came to work with Peggy Noland through my boyfriend, Casey Spooner, who discovered her after meeting CSS from Brazil. Peggy makes a lot of looks for her. Casey was showing me all the videos for the band Ssion, who are amazing, and then she made some pieces for Fischerspooner’s MoMA show last month so I just asked. She’s dressing some Snow Demons and Banshees! I can’t wait to see it.
Anything specific you want to say about this year’s show?
I’m excited about the Meat Loaf epic duet I am doing with Lizzy Yoder called “The Winter Warlock”, working with new people is always fantastic and Theo Kogan from the Lunachicks is making her Chaotic debut as Holda. My great pal Angela DiCarlo is one of my favorite songwriters and her song “Broken Toys” is sheer pop genius. I haven’t stopped singing it since she first sang it to me. I’m also really excited to finally have worked the Krampus into the show, because he needs to be a part of more people’s Christmas!
Oh, and I collaborated with the artist Michael Bevilacqua on a line of tee shirts, I have merch for the first time and they are GORGEOIX! $20 each, hit me up if you want one, they are good all year!
Questions by Nick Hallett.