Lynn Book Covers, 1990, club performance

“Lynn Book Covers” was an evening length club performance composed of 3 separate sets at Club Lower Links, in Chicago at the time of the early 90s culture wars when gay rights was an imperative to combat the threat of the AIDS epidemic being ignored by Washington; when the artists’ prerogative was necessary in a time of attempted censorship by conservative political powers; and yet another American-led war in the Middle East was being prosecuted by the Bush (the elder) administration. The stripped down text-centered work in the first set was a biting, irreverent indictment of the current status of bodies under siege, with bits of personal material interwoven. The second set, was the first showing of “tongue”, a solo vocal text work that expanded from 18 minutes to 40 minutes. See that work in its own Project Collection. The 3rd set included a gender bending play with Book’s Bulgarian counterpart Kulov (replete with babushka's) singing Bulgarina folk songs, some of which were taught to Book by her collaborator. This Project Collection includes the complete project video documentation, performance cue cards with text, process cards with prompts for improvised portions, a later, more complete version of “tongue” (the original was handwritten on one connected loop-scroll of computer paper), a review and printed matter.

Club Lower Links was the epicenter of experimentation, activism, adventurous music and anything else that didn’t fit neatly into more established gallery, museum or music spaces. The underground club, painted completely black, on Chicago’s northside near Wrigley Field, owned and operated by Leigh Jones, was most always packed with artists and culture warriors seeking a charge, and a refuge. Book was active on that scene, performing there regularly in her work and in others, as well as for benefits for non-profit arts organizations. This work marked a distinct shift for Book away from multimedia performance projects and established her as a vocal artist in her own right.