* Cartoon from patheticgeekstories.com
After years of anticipation, Jamie Babbit’s new film “Itty Bitty Titty
Committee” will finally be screening in Chicago next week as part of
this years Reeling Film Festival. Most of you have seen and loved
Babbit’s 1999 queer-teens-in-love film “But I’m a Cheerleader,” and
some of you might have been at just the right age to have had your
lives changed by its gentle and attractively-packaged message of
acceptance. You may laugh, but I’ve been carrying around my VHS copy
(recorded off HBO during the summer of 2000 while my grandmother slept
upstairs) from apartment to apartment for years now as a security
blanket.
“But I’m a Cheerleader” also boasted one of the best soundtracks never
to be released officially. If you’re a devoted indie rock lesbian
you’ve long since hunted down the tracks and burned a copy yourself; I
remember sitting on the floor of my grandmother’s living room at 3AM
advancing frame by frame through the end credits and writing down
every last artist and song to appear in the film, so that Napster and
I wouldn’t miss a single tune. That night I heard Dressy Bessy, St.
Etienne, Go Sailor, April March, Lois, Tattle Tale, and that awesome
Wanda Jackson song — all for the first time. They shocked me,
completely changing my feelings about music, and especially about
music made by women.
From what I’ve read, where “But I’m a Cheerleader” was soft and
indiepop, “Itty Bitty Titty Committee” is going to be loud and punk
rock. Doesn’t it sound like fun, sitting in a theater full of excited
queers, listening to women shout and guitars feed back? I’ve got
faith that the rest of the movie – you know, the plot and the acting
and all – are going to be thoroughly entertaining, but it’s the
soundtrack I really can’t wait for.
As of February 2, 2006, there was a kind, obsessed soul out there offering to burn people home made BIAC soundtracks at cost.
–Treefort
MP3′s!! from But, I’m a Cheerleader:
Wanda Jackson–Funnel of Love
Lois–Evening in Paris
Dressy Bessy–If You Should Try to Kiss Her
