Michelle Shocked: Search & Destroy.

Friend on FB indicated she's apparently become born again. Great.

i saw her a few years ago in a local la dive (not by design because i never was a fan)
idk she always seemed a bit crazy not totally shocked at this right turn

Saw her by accident in 1990 at UCLA en route to the radio station. Good enough performance, I guess.

Yeah, was about to say what buzza said--would give mental instability some of the blame.

Loved The Texas Campfire Tapes back in the day. There's one moment when a car or truck whooshes by, lots of crickets otherwise. Surprised more people don't release records like this.

Short Sharp Shocked has dated production but great songs as well.

Maybe not unrelated, looks like she was playing Short Sharp Shocked in its entirety for the first time in decades. Might send the head in a bad direction.

Michelle Shocked ‏@MShocked
First "Black Widow" in 20+ years. #shortsharpshocked

Hmm, from a 2011 Christian folk festival:

Folk singer Michelle Shocked, who has in recent years publicly rejected her lesbian fan base, became incensed when asked about her “position on homosexuality” by an audience member. “Who drafted me as a gay icon? You are looking at the world’s greatest homophobe. Ask God what He thinks,” she said, before shutting off her microphone to complain, “There is always someone who wants to catch me.” Shocked was not challenged by organizers or staff

yikes, this is disappointing to hear. my dad had her albums back in the day and i enjoyed them, although i've been leery of her politics ever since i read about her wanting to wear blackface on the cover of "arkansas traveler."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJq11taAJgY

RT @anile02
@Murray_Burns @colecoonce @MShocked she said gay marriage would cause the end of the world. She stood on stage and shouted "god hates fags"

he doesn't have to root one

fuck this woman

Michelle Shocked: Destroy & Destroy

To make matters worse, at the last minute Shocked attempted to kick Two Nice Girls off a benefit concert scheduled during the conference--something to do with her being "uncomfortable," said Shocked's then-manager at the time. The Queer Nation took this as a slap to Two Nice Girls' overtly lesbian stance and promptly posted fliers all over Sixth Street reading, "Michelle We're Shocked."

http://www.dallasobserver.com/1996-04-25/music/the-education-of-michelle-shocked/2/

that was in 1992.

Ugh, this is so disappointing. 'Short Sharp Shocked' is one of my favourite albums; wide eyed, funny and open hearted but with enough vinegar that you don't forget her activist past. Nothing like her recent persona. Will have to compartmentalise that MS from the current incarnation.

That Twitter search leads to some annoyingly non-specific stuff. Any direct quotes anywhere?

lol

idk she always seemed a bit crazy not totally shocked at this right turn

― everything you like is white (buzza), Monday, March 18, 2013 12:19 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this this this

I read several people saying she was onstage shouting "God Hates Fags" and one or two others saying she ironically said "of course, several of you might go on Twitter saying I said "God Hates Fags"".

At the very least, confusion runs rampant:

http://www.queerty.com/alt-folk-singer-michelle-shocked-goes-on-homophobic-rant-tells-audience-god-hates-fags-20130318/

Confusion is sex(ual politics).

There are several other pseudonews articles like that on the web, none with better than 3rd-hand quotation. A full audience of UNREACHABLE GHOSTS, apparently.

I remember when Short Sharp Shocked was getting so much critical praise; I eagerly checked the LP out from the library and prepared myself for some life-changing music but what I got was some boring shit I didn't connect to or identify with at all.

xpost -- the Twitter posts from last night were all clear enough, and included a slew from the guy who was apparently formally tweeting for her from the stage. He posted from his own account about how everything turned into a mess, saying it wasn't ironic and so forth. Given that and other posts I tend to think it was as described.

Long background article on her salvation so-to-speak: http://www.leeaaron.com/john/michelle-shocked-went-for-the-singing-and-stayed-for-the-song/

I genuinely cannot tell from last night's tweets if she hollered "GOD HATES FAGS" or if she said something awkward and creepy and followed it up with "Now you'll go on Twitter and say I said..." -- and I think it makes a non-insignificant difference. I am used to Michelle Shocked being awkward and creepy (first time I heard her was in '88 in a van full of folkie punks, and "When I Grow Up" got shut off the stereo right quick by a guy who is now a professional ex-punk folkie), but subte distinctions matter.

Understanding all that, but the combination of posts, these linked articles and the extreme silence from her herself since it happened -- no posts on her site, FB or Twitter -- making me less inclined to assume it was 'just' awkwardness.

awkwardness at shows usually doesn't result in mass venue-clearing.

see, Michael Richards could have repaired his entire reputation if after his outburst if he'd looked around the venue and done a sing-songy "...awk-WAAAAAARD!"

i am shocked

I am short

http://www.headofrothchild.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/sharpie30001mrkr.jpg

woah. i wondered why the hell the michelle shocked thread was bumped.

she's doing Dylan's christian period wrong

On top of everything else!

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/michelle_shocked_makes_shocking_statement_god_hates_fags

I tried calling Shocked’s representative, Cary Baker, but got his voice mail. If you’d like to let him and Shocked know what you think, give him a call. His number is on Shocked’s website.

Update: Cary Baker has addressed the issue: “I have not worked with Michelle Shocked in four years,” he said via email. Told that he’s still listed on her website, Baker said “I am aware of that and I have asked her to change it immediately. A horrible comment and the last thing I need after a sleepless week at SXSW.”

That links to here:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/folk-singer-michelle-shocked-tells-crowd-michelle-shocked-says-god-hates-fags/

With more tweets and info and etc.

In the Michael Crichton sci-fi version of this story, Tracy Chapman will do the sane thing at a concert tonight.

same thing, followed by Edie Brickell tomorrow night, Natalie Merchant on Wednesday...

PHOBIA

on shelves Oct 2013

Tracy, Edie and Natalie were all A-listers compared to Michelle Shocked's residency on the D-list, even during her buzz years of 87-88. She may as well have been an open mic'er going off on a tangent last night.

mccabe's website shows that she's still appearing there and her 8pm set is sold out.

I only know of her because of Chaos UK

Evanston show cancelled by venue:
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#story/chi-michelle-shocked-evanston-20130318/

i guess venues have the right to cancel these shows anyway (and maybe they are because of low sales) but they should just let them happen, with her playing to her empty rooms, and that would kill off her career for good.

PHOBIA

on shelves Oct 2013

you know she actually had an album called DON'T ASK DON'T TELL

Tweet from sideman:

@MrBungo: @fiddlecub Shocked show was odd and grim. Can't begin to explain it in a tweet, but there was no "rant." I blame the audience more than her.

if this is all indeed a misunderstanding (however unlikely) she needs to respond quicksticks

I blame the audience more than her

Well duh, she's your ride home.

Hahah.

Meantime, interesting little flashback here

http://www.dallasvoice.com/michelle-shocked-said-what-1990-outlines-interview-surfaces-10434.html

it's kinda weird that in an era when even the tiniest show where something weird happens gets recorded by people with cellphones, no video of this seems to be cropping up.

that said, iirc she wanted to appear on the cover of Arkansas Traveler in blackface so what the fuck ever about Michelle Shocked

it's kinda weird that in an era when even the tiniest show where something weird happens gets recorded by people with cellphones, no video of this seems to be cropping up.

Yeah, this I keep wondering about more and more.

From that Spin piece:

Then, about 45 minutes into the interview, Shocked asked me to write down "verbatim" what she'd said the previous night at Yoshi's. I said that I didn't need to write it down, that I was taping with a digital recorder. Again, because I had specifically mentioned "interview" in my two messages earlier in the day, messages that she had responded to, I assumed that we were already in the middle of an interview. Shocked disagreed and accused me of recording her without consent, and insisted that I hold up my recorder to the camera while I deleted the audio file. I did so. Then, since she couldn't tell that the file I had just deleted was the audio file of our conversation, she dictated into her own recorder the date and time that I had recorded her, and asked that I verbally confirm that I had deleted the file in question. I did so. Shocked then asked me to restart my recorder and ask for her permission to record our conversation. I did.

XP - Yea the host is kinda flapping and becoming more shrill as she goes on.

host likes saying hashtag

kinda assuming she's on a "no such thing as bad press" high here... I mean, I haven't thought about Michelle Shocked in 20 years, so she's done something right.

her Twitter this morning is ugh. I mean...I'm not a doctor obv but what she sounds like is a person in a manic state headed for a giant crash.

^^^ this. Feel like in between God Hates Fags, Occupy Wall Street and matdors this exchange is telling:

I mean, this is a meaningful thing to me, and I hear you listening very carefully.

I'm trying. I really am.

But I don't…If it's inexplicable…

The whole interview seems to tie together.

I don't know if that exchenge is 'telling', it's a stumble over the start of a sentence..

The whole recording thing is a more insane version of what Jello Biafra does during phone interviews, or at least did with mine. He asks me if I am recording and when I affirm he asks me to stop, rewind and play a little back to him so he can confirm it is being recorded. Once I did that the interview continued.

/tangent

i can't believe i just listened to that whole audio. yikes.

The whole recording thing is a more insane version of what Jello Biafra does Charlie Sheen in his state did during phone interviews

Not to excuse, but worth noting she said way back that she took the name Shocked after running away from home as a teen, then being caught and brought back to Texas for electroshock, at the behest of her Christian mother. The version of Christianity I've heard her portray/represent ect. on some live tapes seems comfortably fervent and liberal enough, in terms of early Bobby D./Arlo-type passing zingers and some passionate peacenik gospelizing. But the long and winding paper trail 'o' quotes does indeed indicate gayness as xp "a thorn in her side"; Christianity too, in terms of Old Testament fine print vs. the kind of community spirit she used to bring on stage. She follows this whole disaster (none of which *sounds* ironic; mostly amounts to "bite me", when they don't appreciate the spirit of LOVE in which her words are supposedly offered) with a aong about "trying to live without a past", and meeting a guy who's real bad at keeping it all hid, as she unnecessarily explains.

this happened

intense!

"bands Beaver Fever and Frootie Flavors"

You're no Yoko and writing on your suit is no "cut piece," lady.

word

The tape across her mouth said "Silenced By Fear."

So silenced that she's in the fucking newspaper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA3JUpQzOekShare

Supposedly she's on Piers Morgan Live, on CNN in a bit.

"We will not be bashing Michelle Shocked," he said. "Rather, we will celebrate music, diversity and send some healing Santa Cruz energy her way."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michelle-shocked-a-meltdown-jesus-432050?page=show

anybody got a bootleg of this jam from the Hollywood Reporter piece? sounds heavy.

"On stage, she was wearing a full face mask and sunglasses, and she sang this really disjointed, syncopated, non-rhyming, not-very-melodic song [about Occupy] that nobody could really follow -- and she asked everybody to sing along. She alternated between being encouraging to the crowd and telling them they were doing a horrible job. She started glaring at me as if was supposed to help them in the sing-along, and I tried to, then she leaned over and told me to ‘Shut up.’ Which I did. I handed the sound guy my microphone and watched from the crowd. There had been probably 300, 400 people at the beginning of her set, but as she started to yell at everybody, it got down to about 20. She went from manic to depressive really quickly."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27_OAk2AWMg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBxRKn666rs

I should read more local (= Santa Cruz) news! Just catching up on the whole "MS shows up to her cancelled Moes Alley gig" story. Hmm.

anybody got a bootleg of this jam from the Hollywood Reporter piece? sounds heavy.

"On stage, she was wearing a full face mask and sunglasses, and she sang this really disjointed, syncopated, non-rhyming, not-very-melodic song [about Occupy] that nobody could really follow -- and she asked everybody to sing along. She alternated between being encouraging to the crowd and telling them they were doing a horrible job. She started glaring at me as if was supposed to help them in the sing-along, and I tried to, then she leaned over and told me to ‘Shut up.’ Which I did. I handed the sound guy my microphone and watched from the crowd. There had been probably 300, 400 people at the beginning of her set, but as she started to yell at everybody, it got down to about 20. She went from manic to depressive really quickly."
--brio

Michelle doesn't condone the sharing of her shows as bootlegs

can we just change the title of the threat to Michelle Shocked: Destroy

so depressing

thread

lol silent album

http://blog.sfgate.com/dailydish/2014/07/29/michelle-shocked-releases-silent-album/

http://www.onthemedia.org/story/tldr-20-silence/

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/michelleshocked1

i'm annoyed at how short the run-times are, like give me a good 3-and-a-half-minute silent song so i can feel like i got my money's worth.

bummed track 6 isn't "Chris Harrison (The Bachelor)"

i'm annoyed at how short the run-times are

Not as annoyed as Amanda Palmer must be for not thinking of this first. Of course, she would have had to contend with the "silence" aspect first.

not doing this as a kickstarter and having people pay a few thousand bucks each to have silent songs named after them seems like a missed opportunity.

Sinead's passing gets me thinking about Michelle Shocked. I'm guessing Short Sharp Shocked and Texas Campfire Tapes will endure, even as they're barely available online. Her cancellation came from what seemed to be a manic episode, but even before then she'd called her greatest hits Mercury Poise, as in mercury poisoning, as in getting to the end of her contract with Mercury Records.

But what an amazing bunch of songs on those two albums.

"Captain Swing" and especially "Arkansas Traveller" are nearly as good.

And if you want your heart broken, find the song "Stillborn" from the album Kind-Hearted Woman (couldn't find it on YouTube)