Wednesday, September 25, 2013

GILMORE TAMNY, QUEEN OF THE YIPS

Chickfactor: When did you first publish WIGLET and why?
Gilmore Tamny: Started it in November of '90 after I'd moved to Cleveland. I'd been writing stories in college and giving the whole trying-to-get-published thing a whirl, which, ugh, was seeming pretty miserable. My boyfriend showed me some zines--they were a complete revelation--and I knew that's what I wanted to do.
CF: What sort of things were in WIGLET?
Gilmore: Interviews, comics, a confessional or two, essays, short stories.
CF: What thing in WIGLET were you most proud of?
Gilmore: Ah, I think it had a really specific feel to it.
CF: Why did you stop WIGLET?
Gilmore: I'm glad you asked me that. I've felt bad I've never written back to the people who've asked for issues or why I stopped putting it out. It was a convergence of miseries, really. I was having problems which I didn't feel comfortable writing about, it didn't fit into the WIGLET idea, but couldn't really talk about anything else, either. So I just sort of shut down and played guitar all the time. Also, the person who had been the inspiration for WIGLET had gone crazy a few years before and was going in and out of jail and institutions, which was just depressing as hell and I kinda needed to put an end to that era of my life. That's all kind of grim, but I don't know, it worked out for the best, I think I was getting ready to do something else anyway.

2 comments:

Mike Rep said...

> >>Jeff I want to share a thought with you about Gilmore - We both loved her
> >>in our ways, you seem to be unable to let go & want to blame yourself for
> >>things not being 'better' than they were - just between you & I Ms.
> >>Gilmore very nearly drove ME to a nervous breakdown making those Yips
> >>records!!! The woman was a classic passive-aggressive & ultimately
> >>IMPOSSIBLE to please / make happy. When I was trying to finish up her 2nd
> >>LP she was already writing her 5th LP & wondering why I was dragging my
> >>feet! the pressure I was feeling was tremendous (that was only part of
> >>it), and being a 'passive-aggresive' personality myself I recognized what
> >>was going on and That's when I jumped off the Tamny Express; I wasn't in
> >>love L-U-V so it wasn't so hard for me, but I ABSORBD a lot of her pent-up
> >> energy draining in the name of 'Art' (& I ain't talking about no
> >>Garfunkle) before I finally let go & it affected ME mentally for years
> >>afterwards, I did not to do another project w/ anybody again! Gilmore
> >>Zeus love her was a psychic black hole absorbing & re-channeling all
> >>energy around her, & perhaps that's wht the two of you have in common; you
> >>can be pretty demanding in a similar way to be around in my experiece
> >>Jeff (damn my fingers are still stinging from that little-'bro smackdown I
> >>had to administer) NO CRITICISM intended Darius just an observation from
> >>an old friend YOU KNOW how much I like you Jeff or I wouldn't be writing
> >>this - So I dunno why I'm telling you this, I don't expect it to make a
> >>difference, you have been obsessing about her & ohter things for so long
> >>now, but I know that I FELT A WHOLE LOT BETTER after I let go of the Tamny
> >>TimeWarp Bathrobe Moth-A-Saurus & let her flutter out of my life, can you
> >>do the same? I beieve you can if you want to and you would feel a whole
> >>lot better if you did. Why blame yourself solely for any relationship that
> >>doesn't work out? It's a two-way street & the joys & the blame go both
> >>ways. OK I'm done now I feel a whole lot better Doc, I think I'll finish
> >>up my sequel to 'Lot 49' now .......... - yer pal, M >

Darius Smith said...


Gillie, wonderkind, twentynineforever twentytwo year old and I'm sure today, a monsoon of invention, a character, a character in your favorite movie, a happy movie, she is a happy rock star shopworn passionate about much of the unfairly ignored, a happy harmless kook. Harmless but possessed of looks that kill. Gil id a friend to all, Gilmore Tamny is a mighty fortress, she is Queen of Something, commanding "Swarm to the Liferide!" and we happily swarm.