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MAY 2002 ARCHIVE:
V&A Chronicles, Pt.1 (Xoaipa and the Accordion Accomplice)
and Pancakes |
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Before the Bangles, there were the Bangs, and
before the Bangs there were Those Girls – Vicki, Debbi, and
Amanda. A longtime friend, Amanda filled in with the Bangs from
time to time and has been part of the Bangles family for every
step of their amazing journey. She and Vicki got together to
collect and record their reminisces, and they’ll be sharing them
here in an ongoing series for all you Banglers!
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Dialogue with Vicki &
Amanda
Part I: Xoaipa
and the Accordion
Accomplice
Amanda: All right,
this is not really an interview, but it's a…
reminiscences, right?
Vicki:
Yeah..
A: And we've decided not to
just make it about the Bangs/Bangles, but to talk
about Vicki's life-
V: Oh my
Gawd…
A: --and music. Life and
music. Um, Vicki…
V: Yes, Amanda?
(they have now inexplicably begun to speak in posh
British accents…)
A: Here's a
question I've never asked you-
V: Oh
my Gawd…
A: When did you first
decide you wanted to be a performer?
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V: Yes, hmmm,
yes…
A: We can't do this seriously,
can we?
V: No.
A:
(laughs)
V: Note to listeners, we
are now speaking in bad British accents-actually
Amanda's is very good…
A: You know,
YEARS of practice…yours is actually quite good,
though…
V: No,
no…okay (clears throat, back to normal voice).
When did I first… Well, I guess there's probably
family home movies to prove it but…I was
three…?
A: Is that the one where
you're dancing without your head?
V:
Without my head, yes. Milt Peterson, a fabulous
auteur…
A: He meant to do that,
though…
V: Well, yeah, of course he
did.
A: He was focusing on your
feet.
V: Yeah, he was filming the
family and cut off my head, but it was a choice, a
cinematic choice he made with his Super 8
films…but yeah, the famous Peterson family
Sundays, rainy Sunday afternoon get-togethers when
the Peterson kids would perform and , you know, I
was often the ring leader. If it was
Christmastime, it'd be an impromptu ballet set to
the Nutcracker , of course. And if it wasn't
Christmas time, um, usually plays-with
commercials-
A: Commercials! I love
it.
V: Yeah, well you had to have
commercials. The TV generation-- have to have
commercials…and then the musical numbers…quite,
quite sad…and then by the fourth grade of course I
had my electric guitar…
A: Was it
fourth grade?
V: Yeah I was nine.
My…
A: Your Rickenbacker copy? It
was an Electro, right?
V: That's
right, I guess it was a Japanese make, Electro,
but it was REALLY a Rick, though, and it had an
authentic Rickenbacker amp--8 watts--and an
authentic Rickenbacker silver guitar case JUST
like the Beatles had.
A: That was
the coolest thing.
V: Very cool.
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A: Did you ask for
that? Was that your Christmas
present?
V: No, it wasn't a
Christmas present, it was a complete scam. The
neighborhood music store-was Mr.
B's-
A: No, that was in Palos
Verdes.
V: Okay, then it was PJ's
Music in Northridge and they had this thing they
were trying to promote called "Band", or "Junior
Band" or something, but basically they were just
trying to get poor unsuspecting parents to buy
expensive instruments for their nine-year-olds and
to get their nine-year-olds to become a party to
this massive sales pitch-genius, really. And of
course I wanted to be in the "Band" and so did my
girlfriend Angela, and SHE got HER parents to buy
HER a Rickenbacker copy-
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A: Oh did she get one,
too?
V: It was great, this guy shows
up at my house-they actually send a salesman TO
THE HOME to test the aptitude of the child-and of
course, oddly enough, this was completely
psychedelic and the only time I've had one of
these contraptions strapped to my person-they
brought an ACCORDION to my home…
A: To see if you could
play electric guitar…
V: To see if
you were actually coordinated enough to play
guitar, they'd bring an accordion and have you
play melody with one hand and push the buttons
with the other, and manipulate the bellows, of
course.
A: And they would say that
if you couldn't play it, you couldn't have the
guitar, right?
V: I'm sure every
child passed this test. I can't imagine them
saying, "No, i'm sorry Winifred is not able to
play the accordion."
A: "So we're
giving you your three hundred dollars
back."
V: Right, and I think it was
something like three hundred dollars. It was very
expensive. No, I passed the test with flying
colors: "Oh, she's amazing, obviously a natural,
sign here, Mrs. Peterson…" And I got my guitar.
Wish I still had it.
A: What happened to
it?
V: I sold it for the Les Paul, i
think?
A: When did Xoaipa come into
our lives?
V: Xoaipa came in
after…
A: We should
explain.
V: Oh, right. Xoaipa.
(Pronounced zo-ah-ip-ah) Starts with an X, not a
Z…how do we spell it?
A:
(writing)…p…a. It's
X-O-A-I-P-A.
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V:
Basically
it's the word Univox upside down. In this really
bad seventies-style font on the headstock of the
guitar. It was a Univox guitar, a white, Strat-style. A large stick of wood. And it was
stolen. Mercifully.
A: At the same
time as my EB-3 bass-
V: --As your
bass. Out of the-
A: --and the PA
system.
V: Right!
A:
Such as it was. Out of the Buick.
V:
Notice to all musicians do not ever, ever,
ever, even if you live in a gated community with
your false sense of security, leave your
instruments in the back of a station wagon!
Duh!
A:
Hell-lo…
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V: But we've skipped
ahead. Xoaipa is the word "Univox" upside down,
because as I was holding the guitar with this
weird lettering, that's how it would appear to
anyone looking at the neck.
A: No,
actually it was when you were lying upside down on
the couch one day…
V:
Ah…
A: Do you
remember?
V: That's
right.
A: You were hanging off the
side of the couch and the guitar was hanging
upside down and one of us noticed that it said
Xoaipa.
V: It was probably you.
Nobody else would recognize or pronounce a word
that began with an 'X'…
A: Like
Xerxes.
V: Exactly. You were a Greek
in a former life.
(To Be
Continued)
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If the
weather is gloriously spring-like when you wake up
this weekend, or especially if it is not, treat
yourself to some honest-to-goodness,
made-from-scratch, oh-my-God-life-is-amazing
pancakes. You deserve it,
dammit!
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PANCAKES! |
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- 1 cup all-purpose
flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp
baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 TBSP
sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk
- 3 TSP
spiced butter (apple, pear)
- 2 TSP unsalted
butter, melted
- Maple syrup to
serve |
In a bowl, sift flour, baking
powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. In another
bowl, whisk egg, milk, spiced butter and melted
butter until smooth. Fold wet ingredients into dry
until just combined. Preheat griddle over medium
heat. Spray with non-stick spray and pour 1/3 cup
rounds onto griddle, spreading with a spoon. Cook
until bubbles appear on one side, 2-3 minutes.
Flip and cook 1 minute more, until golden
brown.
Transfer to warmed plate (you can
keep them warm in a 200-degree oven while you
work); continue with remaining
batter.
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