[As told to JONATHAN VALANIA/Illustration by ALEX FINE]
1. Kimya Malaika Dawson‘s name means ‘Quiet Angel’ in Swahili. She is not, however, Swahili. It was all her parents idea. Obviously.
2. Miss Dawson’s 18-month-old daughter is named Panda Delilah Dawson. “There was no second choice, it
was certain from the beginning that it was gonna be ‘Panda Delilah’ whether it was a boy or a girl,” says Miss Dawson, explaining that Tom Jones was playing when she went into labor. Not in concert, on the stereo. Obviously.
3. All of Miss Dawson’s songs on the Juno soundtrack were originally written for Panda Delilah’s benefit. Except for “Anyone Else But You”, which is from her days in the Moldy Peaches with Adam Green. Obviously.
4. On tour, Panda Delilah is Miss Dawson’s co-pilot. Along with her husband, the ‘one man band’ Angelo Spencer. They like to be gone most of the time — they have been to 12 states and 11 countries together. And they don’t see what anyone could see in anyone else. Obviously.
5. Miss Dawson’s knuckles are tattooed with the words LAFF LOUD. “I was all set to go with LOST SOUL and then at the last minute I thought, ‘this is gonna be with me the rest of my life,” says Miss Dawson. Obviously.
6. Miss Dawson disagrees with those who contend Juno, and for that matter Knocked Up, are de facto ‘Pro-Life’ movies. “Having a baby isn’t ‘Pro-Life‘ — it’s just natural,” she says. “If anything, the fact that the movie discusses abortion and it is an option for Juno makes it a Pro-Choice movie.” Obviously.
7. “Um, no,” says Miss Dawson when we ask if, like, she knows Diablo Cody [pictured, below right] and could help arrange a Win A Dream Date With The Hottie That Wrote Juno promotion for Phawker. But we had to ask. Obviously.
8. It was Ellen Page [pictured, upper left, with child] who urged director Jason Reitman to use Miss Dawson’s music. Miss Dawson says she
will NOT be helping to arrange a Win A Dream Date With Ellen Page contest for us, either. Obviously.
9. Miss Dawson tells us that the Moldy Peaches are on semi-permanent hiatus and fans shouldn’t hold their breath for a reunion any time soon. “If we do, it would be like in 50 years,” she says. Later, Miss Dawson excitedly tells NPR that Moldy Peaches are reuniting for an appearance on The View on Monday One of these statements is a lie. Obviously.
10. The Moldy Peaches self-titled debut was released on September 11th, 2001. That sucked. The terrorist attack, not the album. Obviously.
11. Jamie-Lynn Spears is a big fan of the Juno soundtrack, according to the New York Post. Miss Dawson could not be more pleased, no matter what Howard Gensler says. Obviously.
12. Miss Dawson’s matinee show Saturday at the Ethical Society is WAY sold out. But lucky for you she will be performing at AKA MUSIC 7 pm tomorrow night. It’s free. Obviously.
MOLDY PEACHES: These Burgers Are Crazy
THE GUARDIAN: Admittedly, my love for Juno is buoyed by my passion for its soundtrack. Sometimes it is hard to unravel one from the other; I will never, for example, fathom the true depths of my feelings towards Good Will Hunting, since much of the soundtrack is made up of Elliott Smith songs: “Between the Bars,” “Angeles,” “Miss Misery.” Juno’s soundtrack was curated by Kimya Dawson. She has chosen “I’m Sticking With You” by the Velvet Underground, “Sea of Love” by Cat Power, and Dearest, one of the loveliest songs ever sung by Buddy Holly. And she has included “Expectations” by Belle & Sebastian, a woeful tale of working at Debenhams and making life-sized models of the Velvet Underground in clay.
I fell headlong in love with Expectations in 1996, mostly because at the time my life consisted of working in Debenhams’ perfume department and listening to the Velvet Underground. For at least two weeks, I suspected Stuart Murdoch of spying on my life. I’m not sure I had this feeling again until 2001 when, lying awake late one night listening to the radio, I heard a song called “Nothing Came Out.” “Just because I don’t say anything, doesn’t mean/ I don’t like you,” it ran, and I sat up in bed and turned on the light, amazed to find a song that encapsulated everything I ever felt about boys. “And besides you’re probably holding hands,” it continued, “With some skinny, pretty girl that likes to talk about bands.” I scrawled the words “the Moldy Peaches” on my bus pass and took it to Rough Trade the very next day. MORE
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: No. [Laughs] [The Juno soundtrack’s publicist] just called me before you and was like, ”We just got an offer for The View.” Which is so exciting for me, because I’m a massive, since-childhood Whoopi Goldberg fan. I might seriously s— my pants or have a heart attack. I love, love, love her. So that’s cool
for me. But other than that, we got offered Conan but I turned it down because of the strike. [An NBC representative responds: ”The Moldy Peaches were, in fact booked. Not entirely sure why they bailed.”] Like I was saying before, I’m really particular about what I will do. And I’m not going to start doing commercials at all. If I’m going to do any more movies or anything like that, it’s going to have to be a story that I really feel good about. We’ll see. I’m pretty verbal about where I stand on those issues too, so maybe people read one entry to my blog and are like, [creaky Mr. Burns-esque voice] ”All right, I guess we don’t deal with her!” [Laughs] MORE