Drag king stories #3 / Janitors in pop culture #2

This is a 2 fer 1 blog post!  Join me for these two ongoing series.  The point at which these topics collide is: Kurt Cobain.  No, Kurt Cobain was not a drag king, but he was a janitor.  And when I started doing drag, one of my earliest ideas was to portray him as a janitor, singing / screaming into a dust-mop handle like it’s a microphone.  (And also using the handle as a pole vault to propel myself off of the stage, super dramatic-like.)

I went back to his journals in order to glean some details from his janitorial career.  He dropped out of high school 2 weeks before graduation, turned right back around, and worked as a janitor at his old school.  He also later worked at Polynesian Condominium Hotel Resort, and for Lemons Janitorial.

On page 43 of his journals, he drew up a mock flyer for a janitorial business he apparently was dreaming up with Chris Novoselic (bass player) called Pine Tree Janitorial Service:  Basic Commercial Maintenance.  He claims, “We purposely limit our number of commercial offices in order to personally clean while taking our time.  We guarantee $50.00 lower rates than your present janitorial service.  You see, other services usually have too many buildings assigned to the individual’s route.  So in turn they end up running thru buildings trying for time.  But at Pine Tree ——”  The page ends there and so does the thought process.  His band was really starting to take off anyway by then, haha.  Most of the journals are devoted to band-related thoughts (and thoughts about drugs, guilt, politics, fame, etc.), not janitorial dreams.

On page 160, he’s starting to plan out the music video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”  He wrote out a list:
“needed
1.  mercedes benz and a few old cars
2.  access to an abandoned mall, main floor and one jewelry shop.
3.  lots of fake jewelry
4.  School Auditorium (Gym)
5.  A cast of hundreds.  1 custodian, students.
6.  6 black cheerleader outfits with Anarchy A’s on chest”

Not sure what became of the old cars (gold mercedes benz?), mall scene, and fake jewelry, but the gymnasium scene, cheerleaders, and custodian ideas did come to fruition.

The cheerleaders are wearing black uniforms with anarchy symbols on them.  The custodian plays a much more prominent role in the video than he would at an actual school.  He is rocking out with his mop handle – in multiple cut-away shots.  Great music video moments!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of my performances doing Nirvana songs, as a janitor.  But I remember some details!  The two songs I did (at two separate times) were “Aneurysm” and “Sliver.”  My hair, at the time was bleached blonde, and I pulled it in front of my face in stringy clumps.  I wore work boots, navy blue Dickies pants with a lot of keys hanging off the belt loop, a light blue work shirt – not tucked in- with epaulets, and a thermal shirt underneath that.  I brought a dust mop to dust mop the stage / use as microphone stand and pole vault.  Once off the stage, I continued dust mopping all throughout the audience.  I don’t know whether anyone got into these performances or knew what I was doing, but it felt pretty cathartic.

Just like Kurt Cobain, I worked at my old high school – er, technically it was my middle school, but it is now a high school (although unlike Kurt, I managed to graduate first, and to also graduate from college before returning).  It was weird.  Maybe I’ll write about it more in depth at a later date.  I also have rocked out with mops many many times, just like the janitor in the video (often, I’d be narrowing down drag songs, listening to my mp3 player and lip synching into the mirror in the bathrooms).  I’m actually currently doing this while at work!  I have a Halloween drag show coming up and I’m trying to decide between Bauhaus, Skinny Puppy, Swans, and a few others.

I’d like to think that Kurt Cobain wrote some of what’s in his journals while he was working as a janitor.  Although I don’t write in a journal, I do have a little notebook on my cart where I write out lists and jot down thoughts about music, mostly.  I also often utilize the time to think about stuff I might write about here, on this blog.

If you’re interested in what else I’ve written for these series so far, here they are:

Janitors in pop culture #1 – Good Will Hunting
Drag King Stories #1 – Starting Out / Overview
Drag King Stories #2 – Portraying Bob Dylan