Confidential, Tuesday, September 1, 1998

On August 12th, FilmCore unleashed Hellfire ’98, a benefit for the New York Underground Film Festival, held at Coney Island High. In addition to producing the Film Festival each March, FilmCore hosts events throughout the year to promote independent cinema and filmmakers. I attended the benefit, for the cause, of course, but more importantly, as your loyal servant, with pen in hand, ready to report the dirt.

Made my grand entrance and instantly ran into one of the highlights of the evening, the members of Go-Go Pup, a group of go-go dancers from L.A. who came over to the East coast to teach us a thing or two. Two members, Derek Scott Graves and Miss Kamia, mentioned that go-go dancing is fairly big in L.A. and not that popular here and, well, they’ve come to change all that. They’re here to revolutionize the art of go-go dancing as we know it – or don’t know it, as the case may be with us New Yorkers. According to the Pups, a sex museum will soon be opening on Fifth Avenue, sponsored by the L.A.-based fashion designer Todd Oldman and Hustler magazine. It will showcase an exhibit called "The Art of Go-go Dancing" to teach us New Yorkers that go-go dancing is truly an art form. Go tell Rudy…

Miss Kamia

Adding to the eclectic entertainment of the evening was Funktaxi 1533, cutting-edge projection artists who produce live, mostly kaleidoscopic, visuals for groups such as the Chemical Brothers. Funktaxi 1533 are currently "the dominant provider of visuals in the city of New York" says co-founder and creative artist, Josh. They average three parties a week, many of which take place in galleries.

Making the rounds, I bumped into a fellow writer, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, who scribes for Magnet, a bi-monthly indie music magazine. He asked if I had a bio. I told him to check the cover of last week’s The National Enquirer.

According to Webster Hall promoter, Jimi Schultz (aka Cooper Crazy Cat), Webster Hall now has its own label and will be showcasing and signing bands. Good to know.

Double Dong

I headed upstairs to catch the Boston-based a cappella trio, Double Dong. Their beat-box sound is similar to house but less choppy, with more melodic vocals. The members, two guys and a girl, each take turns singing lead while the others imitate sounds of a rhythm section by chanting consonants of ch's, sh's, p's and k's. Fresh off their tour with They Might Be Giants, the group recently released a 15-song self-titled debut CD on Lunch Records. Princess Superstar (headlining tonight) makes a guest apprearance on the CD.

After Double Dong performed several of their tunes, someone in the crowd yelled "Freebird" to which the band surprisingly and confidently gave their interpretation of the song – it seemed to satisfy and quiet the crowd. After their set, I took a moment to chat with the group. They were full of sound bites: Ghost Krabb said, "We're psyched!" while Heaven (the female member) mentioned, "It's a chanting rhythm sextion" and Plen-T-Pac added, "Mmm, porn-punkappella."

Decided to continue on, and ran into friend and one of the sponsors of tonight's event, James, owner of PopSmear magazine. I was talking about how dedicated he is to his enterprise, when he said that he went into the office on Friday morning and left on Sunday. I said, "Are you licking stamps again for the PopSmear mailing list. C'mon, tell me the truth. No, wait, don't tell me. Let me guess. You're trying to change the expiration dates on the McDonald's Combo Meal coupons." We had a good laugh and did the friendly hug thing.

Another long-time columnist, Jill "The Diva" Stempel, was in attendance. Jill's juicy gossip can be found at Cybersleaze.com. No, it's not a porn site, but a daily column reporting the sordid details of the music and entertainment industries. Jill says the type of stories fluctuates, not unlike her cup size depending on the time of the month.

Well, time was ticking and I was still breathing, so I headed over to the Continental. It was almost closing time as I settled in for one last full glass of ice water. In walked Lenny Kaye who mentioned that he was off to California but would be back in a few days and will be performing at a "Nuggets" show at the Continental. He also said he would soon be heading out to Australia to open for Bob Dylan.