Margaret Cho - CHO DEPENDENT

ShulmanSays:  Your new album features work with a lot of collaborators….

Margaret Cho:  Well, I wrote a song ["Hey Big Dog"] with Patty Griffin and recorded it with Ben Lee (who also produced it) and then I sang it with Fiona Apple – and that was one of the most fun collaborations, because it was all about dogs, because we’re all obsessed with our animals.

That’s a beautiful song, because I don’t think anyone had ever done a love-song for pets and the people who love them; and people want to sing a song for their dog or cat or whatever pet they have.  I think it’s a really important relationship that just hasn’t been celebrated in songwriting, and so that’s what I wanted to do with Patty Griffin, and that’s what we accomplished.  And Fiona loves her dog, and when she heard me sing it with Ben, she wanted to sing it on the record.

Margaret Cho in the music video for "I'm Sorry"

But then there are a lot of great artists on the album, like Ani DiFranco, and Tegan and Sara, who are phenomenal.

SS:  One of the songs that’s getting a lot of attention is “I’m Sorry” that is semi-autobiographical.  And the Wikipedia page of the person about whom it’s based, features the notation “Subject of a song by Margaret Cho.”

MC:  Yes.

Margaret Cho

SS:  When I first heard it, all I could think was that Marianne Faithful had done the lyrics for a Dolly Parton song.

MC:  I love that!  It does!  It’s definitely dark-humor, but when you know the story behind it, it’s terrible, you know?  It’s about being in love with somebody and then he turns-out to be a murderer.  And how do you cope with that except go to a dark place?  For me, I go to a place of dark-humor, because that’s all I have.  It’s the only weapon that you can have, sometimes, to deal with it.  So, it helps.  It helped, a lot, to be able to write that.  Sometimes song-writing helps in a way that nothing else can, you know?  Well, I guess joke-writing can satisfy that same condition.

SS:  So, it’s cathartic?

MC:  It’s very cathartic!

Margaret Cho in the video for "Eat Shit and Die"

SS:  It saved you a lot of time on your therapist’s couch…

MC:  It’s true.  Sometimes you want to be able to create something that will ease your pain, and that’s what happened.  So it helped.

SS:  And did dancing like a Busby Berkley-choreographed dancing poo (á la the California Raisins) in the video for “Eat Shit and Die” (that you recorded with Grant Lee Phillips).  Did that help as well?

MC:  Yes!  Definitely!

SS:  Now, a certain percent of the proceeds from your tour are going to benefit a specific charity.  Tell me about that.

MC:  The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) – a wonderful organization focused on cleaning-up the animals that were harmed as a result of the oil-spill.  The spill has been capped, but the oil is still there, and the animals need to be washed and then returned to the ecosystem.  And the point is to avoid having these animals go extinct as a result of this terrible environmental tragedy.

Margaret Cho in her cha-cha heels for DANCING WITH THE STARS

SS:  Like the commercial with the Dawn soap, and the manatees…

MC:  Yup.  It’s a really lovely, lovely group, and they do great work.

SS:  So, Dancing with the Stars…  Are you a dancer?

MC:  No!

Margaret Cho channels Bettie Page (Photo: Austin Young)

SS:  Are you having fun?

MC:  Well, I wouldn’t call it fun.  I’d call it discovering-muscles-that-I-never-knew-I-had.  Like, the tops of my feet hurt.  And it’s just a very intense thing.  I have some experience with belly-dance (which is a hobby of mine that I love) and also burlesque; but stripping is totally different from ballroom dancing.  It’s a totally different discipline and art form.

SS:  So, you’re exploring something new…

MC:  And I love that.  And I’m very fortunate to have a very wonderful very patient trainer and coach and partner; and I don’t know if it’s an advantage or a disadvantage, but he’s on the road with me.  He’s on the tour bus.  So, we’re gonna be dancing in parking lots, in the backs of venues, and backs of trucks, because that’s all we have.

Margaret Cho channels Eve (Photo: Austin Young)

SS:  I hope you’re filming this.

MC:  Oh yeah.  That will be filmed.

Margaret Cho gives us gorgeous  (Photo: Austin Young)

SS:  So, Las Vegas…

MC:  I’ve performed in Vegas a lot.  I hang-out there, a lot.  The last time I was there was in January, for the AVN Awards.  I have a lot of friends in the adult-film industry, and they were all nominated, so it was this crazy party.  And I’m always excited to come back.

SS:  Is there anything about the Vegas audience that you bond with?

MC:  Performing in Vegas is always different, and it’s always fun, and it’s always a real party; so, I love it.  And it’s very rock n’ roll to work there, so I’m always psyched to come back!

Margaret Cho – The Cho Dependent Tour
Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort
Friday, September 17th
9:30pm

Get into it!