In the clip below shot in San Francisco at The Rickshaw Stop, Khaela Maricich and her partner Melissa Dyne deliver a track from “Brand New Abyss“, their 2017 album release from their performing entity known as “The Blow“.
Khaela first released music under the moniker The Blow in Olympia Washington 20 years ago. Since then her music, art and performances done under the name The Blow have produced albums and performance works, traversing the fields of popular music, social critique and contemporary art.
THE WOMAN YOU WANT HER TO BE
She will bethe woman you want her to bewoo woo woooowooooothe woman you want her to bethe woman you want her to be
She’ll be smart enough to knowif you want her to not be smartor just not to show ither face is a surfaceit seems like there’s something below it
And she’ll be the woman you want her to bewoo woo woooowooooothe woman you want her to bethe woman you want her to be
She’ll be your privatest propertyyours to possesto dress up and undressshe’s an infinite yes yes yes yesthere will always be more of herunless of course you’d prefer lessshe can do that too, just let her know what you want her to fixshe can take care of it
And she knows what you wantshe knows what you wantshe knows what you wantshe knows what you want(it’s like she can just feel you)
Think of her as a massnot one assbut a mass of assesplastic, magic, passive, perfectiblelimitless: a living receptacle
And the bigger the betterthe tighter the sweaterthe bigger the betterthe tighter the sweaterOr wait- is it not big is better?we need to compress hershrink up her sweaterand make her be lesserWhen you fire in your cannonballsyou want them to really hit somethingnot just go floating offinto endless mysterious space
She is accessibleyou can walk right insidethrough the welcoming holesin her mouth and her eyes“Hi!” There’s a comfortable area thereyou can chill in.Around back is the VIP entranceit’s invite only and many resent thisthey sweartheir name must be on the listThey wanna get in get in get in get in…
Ask yourself what you need her fornever mind, tell yourself that she needs you more.
If she is a game and you’re wanting to win hermaybe make a club and just don’t let her enterkeep her on the side of wherever’s the centerlike you’re in a sunny localewith a beer and a smileand havana cigarsand the subs pumped upand your cells all chargedand everything’s yesthere’s a gleam on your carand she’s off in some permanent winter.Then after ten thousand yearsof getting your coffeefreezing conditionskilling her softlyher hula girl uniform rigid and icicle frosty,yeah she might kinda wannaget in get in get in get inget in get in get in get inget in get in get in get inget in get in get in get in (etc)What wouldn’t she do to get in?
She’d be the woman you want her to be.woo woo woooowooooothe woman you want her to bethe woman you want her to be
You want to conquer the unknown:she can hold your hand while you do itand if you can’t find the unknownshe can be your unknownshe’ll lay down and let you voyage through it.
She just seems so haveable,at the very least halve-able.Split up the middle and grab what is palpable,an unlimited free material,give-able, take-able, breakable,think what all you could make with this resourcea pile of womana landmass of layered up womana suburban mega mall of womana stairway to heaven of woman
And she’ll be the woman you want her to bewoo woo woooowooooothe woman you want her to bethe woman you want her to be
- Khaela Maricich
Khaela Maricich, if she didn’t exist, is sorta like a character you might see created for the “alt rock” influenced show “Portlandia”, who not only has emerged like an enigmatic lithe elfen critter from the evergreen Pacific NorthWest, but carries with her its living balsam fringed rebellious artistic spirit.
She once wrote about the process of creating ” The thing about making things is that you don’t always know what you are making while you are making it. In the best-case scenario, the thing that you are making is bigger than you or your ability to perceive it or conceptualize around it, so you sort of have to open yourself up and watch as the new life forms come out, and trust that the process won’t kill you. “
Always exhibiting a challenging confident persona, yet with just the right mix of unraveling unease on stage or record, Khaela has been the chief creative officer and sole consistent member of her “group” The Blow since its early 2000’s inception. Her creative work somehow exists stretched out & pivots and pirouettes at the intersection of “spoken word”, “performance art”, “indie rock” and “dance music”. Khaela, performing either solo, or as “The Blow” has challenged audiences and been well received critically while being heard via radio, or seen live in performance in venues all over the world, including The Kitchen, The Warhol Museum, Henry Fonda Theater, Sarah Lawrence College, The Manchester Deaf Institute, and Yerba Buena Center For The Arts.
The artists maintain http://theblow.org website as well Khaela’s more personal site at http://www.khaelamaricich.com