Luscious Jackson
The lawn-mower theory can apply to just about anything we associate with one gender–who hasn’t been mesmerized watching a man comfort a child in public? Traditional gender roles haven’t been eroded so far that you see that every day. It can be applied to rock bands, especially in a live setting. Female musicians (and I mean those that play their own instruments) are about the only ones who can get me to force my way up to the stage anymore, even when they’re borrowing from the same tired rock conventions as men.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The androgynous Schellenbach was hidden behind her drum kit for most of the night, but during the second encore, when the band invited several audience members onstage, she left her drum kit and joined them in a friendly, bump-style line dance during a skeletal version of “Life of Leisure.” Her presence at the front of the stage (and perhaps the fact that she’s an out lesbian) set off the leader of a bevy of puffy, baseball-hat-wearing white guys standing near the stage, who earlier was yelling “Let’s get it aawn!” at the top of his lungs whenever Cunniff spoke between songs. “Look at that! She must weigh 200 pounds!” he yelled now, several times. Guess some people would rather mow the lawn themselves.
