By Martha Bayne
This should have been my first red flag. I’ve since learned that my friend Andrea was one of the rejected amazons. Now, Andrea is a rad woman, an accomplished artist, and a fox to boot, but buttless she is not. When I asked her about this later she said it was pretty hilarious watching all those zaftig Cinderellas trying to squeeze into the shorts in order to be part of a performance about empowerment.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“First Fridays” appears to be the next link in this strategic chain. According to Lori Kleinerman, the MCA’s marketing and PR director, the last three have all been sponsored by something called the Camel Work in Progress initiative, a program charged with promoting contemporary artists. Art consultants are hired by RJR to scout out the talent and serve as liaison between the company and the artists. The only part of last Friday’s event curated by the MCA was the funk-rock band Swimmer.
I spotted a local musician and performer named Julie, the only originally scheduled umbrella carrier who fit into the shorts. Julie hadn’t known in advance that this was a Camel event either; in fact, last year she’d crashed a Christmas party Camel threw for Camel club bartenders at the Congress Theater, wearing a giant papier-mache Joe Camel head while her cohorts took pictures. The Camel reps, who initially mistook her subversiveness for a display of enthusiasm, ended up asking her to leave. When I crossed the room to bring her more corn, Julie waved a fistful of napkins at me. Each napkin was printed with a big black camel. A woman had just handed her a stack of them and ordered her to pass them out along with the popcorn. Julie balked, saying she didn’t think Kimmel would appreciate having the Camel logo slapped directly onto her work. The woman snapped back, “Who do you think is paying the artist to be here?”
“Well, yeah. I quit.”
