YOU’VE GOT NAIL: Nail Me, Megawords Salon, No Libs, Last Night
BY TIFFANY YOON LIVING ARTS EDITOR The girls of Sweatheart, Amanda Blank (who also moonlights with Spank Rock) and Rose Luardo, performed at the Megawords Storefront over the weekend, but their show wasn’t what fans expected. Rosie and Amanda weren’t rapping or singing, they weren’t even dancing, but they were watching 90210, gossiping and drinking diet coke. The Megawords storefront was created out of an abandoned space on 11th and Arch, and its function for its month long installation is to bring people together. “Where does that happen? It happens at bars, it happens in community centers, but I think a barber shop or a hair or nail salon is definitely one of those places where people congregate. They gossip, they talk shit. Even if they aren’t getting a service done, they’re just sitting there talking, drinking diet coke,” said Rosie. The Megawords storefront will be closed at the end of September, but there are hopeful rumors of prolonging the residency in Chinatown, though nothing is confirmed.
The “Nail Me” salon installation wasn’t exclusive to women, men were also getting their hair did and nails done, and most appeared to enjoy gossiping with the ladies. ]While Amanda and Rosie were rapping up their dreams of being salon queens, Lillie Ruth Bussey, Philly local, sang and played toy-like instruments. Bussey, built like a basketball player, timidly addressed the crowd, only stopping to play some records and to water her small plant, nestled in a porcelain dolphin, sitting at her feet. After Bussey’s show, just before Amanda and Rosie put away their nail polish and hair, I was able to get an extension from Rosie and ask her a few questions:
PHAWKER: What are some reasons you and Amanda got involved with Megawords and this “Nail Me” salon?
ROSIE: I’m really interested in non-scripted things, to perform and stay in character, [and] this is what Amanda and I Should be doing. We should be doing hair and nails. This is like a fulfillment of a dream.
I really knew it was going to be soo much fun. So this is our second day, yesterday we were a little more, “Hey Hon, How you Doin? Great to see yas. Diet Coke” [laughs] We had to stay in character for a large majority of the time. Today was a lot more mellow, a lot of our friends came
I also like, touching people. I like touching people, and so it’s acceptable to touch people if you’re like touching their hair and nails and providing a service for them. Also, it’s kind, it’s warm, it’s nice. I think the whole thing, I give a thumbs up, and I really had a great time.
PHAWKER: What would be the typical experience at the “Nail Me” salon?
ROSIE: We had some people sitting in the waiting room, sitting in the waiting room and watching 90210. That’s also something that I felt people should always find, conversations with strangers based on things like television programs that people could relive and chit chat, and could talk about the highs and lows of the Walsh twins, talk about Tori Spelling’s outfit changes and how she went to Paris to become a model.
PHAWKER: Have people been asking a lot of questions, confused as to what the storefront is?
ROSIE: There’s a bustle. You should ask what’s going on here. If you’re looking in the window, there’s hair on the walls, there’s nails, there’s community and laughing. You want to ask what’s going on, I think it’d be bad if you didn’t.
[photos by TIFFANY YOON]