Audio By Carbonatix
Jen McMillan is a woman on a mission to bring back the symbols of rebellion and authority-bucking that have been co-opted, corporatized, cleaned up and recycled into mainstream American culture — thereby completely losing the I-don’t-give-a-rat’s-ass edge that made those symbols great in the first place. That’s why she’s opened a new gallery/boutique — Idle Hands — at 606 East 13th Street.
“Idle Hands is kind of a mixture of all the neat stuff that we think is missing from the 2000s in America,” says McMillan. “I love all the old ’80s stuff, I love all of the ’70s biker stuff, I love outlaw country music, ’70s punk rock. Pretty much everything that was so cool is ruined now, in my opinion. And we want to bring it back, but not in a cheesy — well, maybe in a cheesy — but not in a sellout kind of way.
“It’s kind of just like a punk-rock, outlaw-biker, country-and-Western shop. Very American, very old-school,” she adds. And she’s right: What could possibly be more old-school American than flipping the bird at majority authority?
The venue’s first show opens tonight with a group exhibit featuring work by legendary pro skater Jason Jessee, epic pavement-shredder Steve Olson, custom-chopper builder Evan Yaniv and Powell Skateboard artist Brett Hammond. Between the boards and the choppers, it’s guaranteed to be one fast-paced, wild and very countercultural exhibit.
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Head to Idle Hands at 8 p.m.; the show runs through February 10 and is free and open to the public. E-mail McMillan at ladiesloveoutlaws@mac.com for more information.
Sat., Jan. 13, 8 p.m.
