The Story of the Vivian Girls

I have a huge crush on the Vivian Girls well not on the actual girls themselves but the band. Now I think there have been several bands with the name the Vivian Girls including one from Philadelphia, St. Louis, and most notably one from Australia. Well I am not talking about any of those bands. I am referring to the ones from Brooklyn. I was ignorant as to what the name meant or why so many bands had decided to take this moniker. So I did some handy research and found thanks to wikipedia that the Vivian Girls is a reference to the work of Henry Darger. He is known in the outsider art world and wasn't known until after his death in 1973. He was a self taught artist and left a body of work that largely contained his opus the 10,000 some pages of The Story of of the Vivian Girls of The Realms of the Unreal.



This is one of the images from said opus.

Well let me continue on here with what was my original thought. The Brooklyn band the Vivian Girls passed through Portland last week playing one of the worst venues in town which seemed a bit of a theme for their tour. At the top of the post is a photo of them at the Twilight Lounge Cafe. My wife Molly and I met up with Shelflife records Ed and Laura. We showed up supposedly a half hour into the first band's set. In true punk rock fashion not only had the first band not started but no equipment had even been set up. So we bought some of the daily specials which happened to be BL limes. Thats right Bud Light but lime flavored. So delicious. It felt a little weird ordering Bud Light Limes but if it was the "special" it must be cool or punk or something right? Ed and Laura all of a sudden looked at their mixed drinks as boring and mundane and immediately wish they were drinking something as refreshing as a BL Lime as they are called or as the label wanted us to believe. We finished our drinks and decide that BL Limes for $1.50 was really a special treat so we got to get more and Ed follows to get some too. In what I assumed was true punk rock style I held up my hand in a peace symbol and said "I will take two BL Limes". Ed followed suit with a similar motion. As we soon found out the BL Limes we were drinking were not the special because anyone at the bar liked them. They were merely trying to get rid of them which they only had one left. The BL Lime doesn't taste much like beer just so you know. Here is the beautiful design BL label.


So we were back to poor hipster status as we drank our Pabst Blue Ribbons and patiently waited for the Wet Heaves to finish playing what was a truly inspiring set of "songs". Finally the Vivian Girls played what these ears have longed to hear since I first heard the Shop Assistants, Aislers Set, and the One Kiss Can Lead to Another box set of girl groups. No it wasn't the most amazing performance but that sound the one i can't get out of my head was just there. The echo vocal harmonies, the wall of sound guitar, and short fast songs it was just that. So i can only leave you with a recorded song that won't live up to the live experience but will surely draw you in.

Vivian Girls - "Tell the World"


Also here is one of my favorite Walker Kong songs "Vivian Girls"

Also a Comet Gain song titled "The Story of the Vivian Girls"

Basically some of my favorite bands reference Henry Darger so I am definitely hoping to look up info on this artist.