Q&A w/ Liz Tymus, organizer of Indie Queer Night [2/21 @ King Club]

hastings | 2/16/2007 3:09 am | stumbling out the dairy bar

Why you didn't call me... A) you're gay B) you've got a girlfriend C) you kinda thought I came on too strong or D) i just wasn't your thing, no ring...--The Blow, "Hey Boy"

...perhaps there were other possibilities? "Hey Boy" has been looping tonight, prompted by the Indie Queer Madison MySpace. Hop on over to see how the iQ digital persona balances a noble goal, impeccable musical taste--and an undeniable sense of play. Not exactly talking about accidental serial monogamist's Feb. 5th comment, though. More this:

It's been 10 years since Club de Wash and Hotel Washington burnt down to never be rebuilt, leaving madison queers with the darkest of options "the club?...too far. rays?...too shady. the sham?...too slutty." then what? where?... it's time for local bars to start reaching out to madison queer folks! If the constitutional amendment redefining Marriage in the state of Wisconsin didn't scare you off the isthmus, let Madison's latest attempt at harvesting queer community iQ keep you here!

After a December debut at Mickey's, Indie Queer Night's already found a home at the King Club--the third wednesday of each month. Yesterday, iQ organizer and meta-MySpacer Liz Tymus shared some thoughts re: logistics, Le Tigre, and identity politics: why this Wednesday's iQ w/ DJ Tizzy [2/21, 9pm, King Club, $2] should be your thing, even if you're not indie.

NOTE*: boldface mine, ur-caps belong to Liz.

that's a very slick MySpace page... how much time did you spend customizing it?

WOW, I DON'T WANT TO TRY TO QUANTIFY TIME SPENT ON THE SITE. MYSPACE HAS BECOME SUCH A NATURAL WAYSIDE WHENEVER I'M ONLINE. I'LL GET ON MY COMPUTER TO CHECK MY EMAIL, AND AN HOUR LATER BE CREATING A NEW MP3 PLAYER FOR THE IQ SITE--OR REPLYING TO IQ MESSAGES. SINCE I STARTED ORGANIZING IQ BEGINNING OF DECEMBER 2006, I'VE PROBABLY AVERAGED 8 HOURS A WEEK, AND THIS IS A TOTAL GUESTIMATION: IT'S TIME DESIGNING THE SITE, NETWORKING, INVITING FOLKS TO BEFRIEND THE IQ PERSONA, CREATING JPEGS OF FLYERS AND SLIDESHOWS, AND RECENTLY REPLYING TO MESSAGES AND MODERATING DISCUSSIONS AROUND KEEPING IQ FRESH AND NEW. IT HASN'T FELT LIKE WORK YET, SO LOGGING TIME DOESN'T EVEN OCCUR TO ME.

as prompted by the above--what's your favorite Le Tigre song [why]?

HMM, I HAVE SO MANY. I HAVE A WEAKNESS FOR THE REMIXES ALBUM [that album's "Deceptacon" remix is also currently playing on the iQ MySpace] AS A WHOLE. FAVORITE SONG ON THAT ALBUM IS 'DYKE MARCH 2001", ITS UNDENIABLY HOT. ANOTHER GOOD ONE IS 'NEW KICKS' ON THIS ISLAND, IT SAMPLES AMY GOODMAN FROM DEMOCRACY NOW, WHO IS AN UNBELIEVABLY INSPIRING WOMAN. LE TIGRE IS SUCH A MULTI-TALENTED GROUP WITH SUCH A VIVID MESSAGE. NOT TO MENTION, THEY ARE AWESOME MUSICIANS, DJS, WRITERS, ARTISTS & CULTURAL ICONS. THEY HAVE CONTRIBUTED HUGELY TO MY PERSONAL/POLITCAL AWARENESS AND QUEER SELF IDENTIFICATION. HANDS DOWN B EST SHOW I'VE EVER SEEN LIVE.

iQ is now monthly @ King Club--how was that worked out?

THE KING CLUB OWNER, LISA GALLAGHER, WAS AT THE FIRST IQ AT MICKEY'S AND WAS INTRODUCED TO ME NEAR THE END OF THE NIGHT. SHE EXPRESSED INTEREST IN HOSTING FUTURE IQ NIGHTS AT THE KING CLUB. I CONTACTED HER ABOUT A WEEK LATER AND WE SET A DATE FOR THE JANUARY IQ. ALL THE FOLKS AT THE KING CLUB HAVE BEEN FUN TO WORK WITH, LISA RUNS A GREAT CLUB AND I AM THRILLED THAT SHE WAS AT THE FIRST IQ AND WE'VE HAD SUCH SUCCESS SINCE.

was rotating venues too logistically difficult, or...

INITIALLY I HAD PLANNED TO MOVE IQ TO A NEW BAR EVERY MONTH, IN A WAY TO PROMOTE DIFFERENT BARS TO THE QUEERS AND ALSO SHOW SOME LOCAL BARS NEW BUSINESS. THE KING CLUB TURNED OUT TO BE SUCH AN IDEAL LOCATION/SETUP THAT BEFORE THE JANURAY IQ HAPPENED THE KING CLUB OFFERED TO HOST THE MONTHLY EVENT. ROTATING VENUES HAS BEEN NOT SO MUCH LOGISTICALLY DIFFICULT, BUT TIME CONSUMING. BY HOSTING THE EVENT AT THE KING CLUB, I HAVE MORE TIME TO ORGANIZE THE ACTUAL EVENT RATHER THAN CONTACTING A DIFFERENT BAR/CLUB EVERY MONTH, DEALING WITH NEW PEEPS, FIGURING OUT HOW THE PROMOTION COSTS WOULD BE COVERED. THE KING CLUB TURNED OUT TO BE SO IDEAL GIVEN ITS DOWNTOWN LOCATION AND INTERIOR SETUP WITH A STAGE AND DANCE FLOOR, THAT WE'VE DECIDED ON THE 3RD WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH.

also, now that there's a set monthly home--have anything else in the works? plans for sporadic stuff at other venues?

I AM NOT HESITANT TO TAKE IQ ON THE ROAD AGAIN, BUT AM FOCUSED CURRENTLY ON BUILDING UP IQ AS A KING CLUB EVENT. I WANT TO KEEP EACH MONTH NEW AND EXCITING. LAST MONTH WAS SO HOT WITH SCREAMIN CYN CYN & THE PONS AND THE LIVE BAND WAS A FABULOUS CULMINATING EVENT. THIS MONTH IQ IS GOING FOR A DIFFERENT VIBE, SAME POLITICS. TIZZY IS A FANTASTIC DJ AND THE CLUB WILL BE MORE IN THE MODE OF 'CHILLIN' AND 'DANCIN'. I HAVE BEEN IN TOUCH WITH LOCAL BANDS AND DJS, IDEAS ARE ON THE TABLE SUCH AS RAFFLES, DATE AUCTIONS, SPEED DATING, AND A SLEW OF OTHER ACTIVITIES. I AM NOT OPPOSED TO ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, AS LONG AS IQ CONTINUES TO BE FRESH AND NEW AND KEEPS FOLKS GUESSING. THERE ARE VENUES IN MADISON THAT I HAVE MY HEART ON TO HOST IQ AT--BUT AS I SAID, FOR NOW, I AM FOCUSED ON BUILDING UP IQ AS A KING CLUB EVENT.

how'd you define queer? and indie?

OH THE EVER-EVOLVING QUESTION. AS A DISCLAIMER, THIS IS MY PERSONAL DEFINITION: QUEER IS A SOCIO-POLITICAL/PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION. IT'S A COMMITMENT TO NONCONFORMITY TO HETERONORMATIVE SOCIETY. IN SHORT, TO IDENTIFY AS QUEER IS A REJECTION OF SOCIAL BINARIES, 'STRAIGHT-GAY', 'MALE-FEMALE', 'MAN-WOMAN', 'PRUDE-PERMISCOUS', QUEER IDENTITY EXPLODES THE ASSUMPTION OF 'ONE OR OTHER', BUT RATHER SEES FOLKS AS NUMEROUS AND INFINITE. INDIE = INDEPENDENT. THE TERM INDIE COMES FROM INDEPENDENCE FROM COMMERCIAL AND MAINSTREAM CULTURE. INDIE HAS BECOME A HOUSEHOLD TERM, AND WITHIN INDIE QUEER MADISON AND IQ NIGHTS, I USE IT IN AN AUTONOMOUS, DO-IT-YOURSELF SORT OF WAY. THERE WEREN'T ENOUGH QUEER BARS DOWNTOWN FOR ME, SO IQ IS MY INDIE QUEER SOLUTION J

how'd you feel if huge crowds of people who identify as neither queer nor indie showed up? (for instance, I self-identify as "corporate blogger")

LOL, I LOVE IDENTITY POLITICS... INDIE QUEER, CORPORATE BLOGGER, POSSIBILITIES ARE FABULOUS J I WOULD HOPE THAT IQ REMAINS A PEACEFUL AND WELCOMING EVENT FULL OF LIKE-MINDED FOLKS WHO COME OUT FOR A GOOD TIME ON THE TOWN. I'D HATE TO BE NAIVE AND NOT CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY OF FOLKS COMING TO CAUSE A RUCKUS, BUT I'LL CROSS MY FINGERS THAT IQ REMAINS AN EVENT BUILT ON THE DESIRE TO POSITIVELY FUEL A COMMUNITY. I WOULD HOPE THAT FOLKS WHO DO NOT IDENTIFY AS QUEER OR INDIE COME OUT TO EXPERIENCE IQ. IT'S FUN, IT'S EXCITING, AND AS OF NOW THERE IS NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT IN MADISON. AS FOR HUGE CROWDS, I'LL REMAIN HOPEFUL THAT AS ORGANIZER I HAVE ENOUGH INFLUENCE TO KEEP THE NIGHT AS QUEER AS MADISON HAS EVER SEEN.

how do you line up the music--do you approach bands/djs you'd be interested in hearing, or they you, or...

IT'S REALLY AN ORGANIC PROCESS AS OF NOW. FRIEND OR FRIENDS OF FRIENDS IS HOW I'VE DONE IT SO FAR. I WEIGH HEAVILY ON WORD OF MOUTH, SOME PEEPS HAVE RECOMMENDED BANDS I SHOULD TRY TO RECRUIT AND I'VE SENT SOME IQ INVITATIONS. I AM ALWAYS OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS AND IF ANY HAS I IDEAS OR ARE PERSONALLY INTERESTED, I URGE YOU TO CONTACT ME VIA THE MYSPACE PAGE.

re: Tizzy. i listen to too much hip-hop, so i'm sometimes out of the loop on these things... so for the initiated, could you clarify what "contemporary glam jams" means, and why we'll like it?

TIZZY = dance/retro/new wave/electro-indie-pop-athon with diva roots like Madonna & prince. YOU'LL LIKE IT BECAUSE IT WILL MAKE YOUR FEET FEEL THE HEAT J

just a quick point of clarification... in this TDP Guide entry, the listing says $2 cover, and the text [further below] says No Cover. Not that either's particularly steep--but which should we expect?

THERE WILL BE A $2 COVER AT THE DOOR. THIS INCONSISTENCY WAS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION AFTER THE EVENT INFO WAS RELEASED; IT WAS A MERE OVER-LOOK. I WANT TO KEEP IQ NIGHTS AFFORDABLE, AND ANY COVER CHARGE WILL FUND THE FUTURE OF IQ. WHEN A COVER CHARGE IS MORE THAN I WOULD SPEND ON A DRINK, I HAVE A HARD TIME PAYING TO WALK THROUGH A DOOR. BUT I'M HOPING THAT BY KEEPING COVER LOW AND THE ATMOSPHERE OF WHATS HAPPENING INSIDE FRESH, PAYING A COUPLE DOLLARS WON'T BE ANY BIG THING. :)

====
• Liz wants to hear how you'd keep iQ fresh
• Jan 18th Onion AV Club blurb, for last month's iQ: in an ostensibly liberal, tolerant city, that makes at least a little sense.
• Download The Blow's "Hey Boy", right here.
• Feb events @ the King Club
• NOTE#2: * Q&A was conducted via keyboards--which partially explains the first question. I've since tried saying it out loud, and it sounds like a bloggy pick-up line each time. Thanks to Liz for humoring me.