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Subject: Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

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  • From: maria tessa sciarrino <maria AT plainparade.org>
  • To: TypicalGirls AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Cc:
  • Subject: [TypicalGirls] Information on Chandra
  • Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 00:01:54 -0500

i had posted about this record earlier and someone gave me more info -- thought id share!

-m.


New York native Chandra Oppenheim started her showbiz career at the age of 7, performing skits and songs for partygoers at the home of her father, sculptor and visual artist Dennis Oppenheim. It was at one such party in 1979 that Chandra first heard Model Citizens, a band that included Eugéne Diserio, an art student assisting her father. Chandra loved the band, and they were taken with her as well. When Model Citizens broke up, Diserio and her husband Steve Alexander wanted to form a band fronted by a "young person" and asked 10-year old Chandra to join them. Chandra accepted their invitation, and Chandra the band was born. Empowered with the freedom to write her own lyrics and speak her own mind, and backed by an excellent band, Chandra was soon commanding $1,000 and up per night guarantees at then-New York venues The Mudd Club, The Peppermint Lounge, and Danceteria. The media paid attention with interviews by Andy Warhol for his Interview publication, an article in The New
York Times by John Rockwell, name dropping by Mary Tyler Moore, and an appearance on television's Captain Kangaroo! Chandra and her musical cohorts released a four-song E.P. in 1980 entitled Transportation. The band later evolved into The Chandra Dimension, which included Chandra's 12-year old friend Evie and a teenage rhythm section.

At the age of 12, Chandra's decision to focus on school ended The Chandra Dimension, but it didn't end Chandra's immersion in music. As an adult composer and performer, Chandra has fronted rock, bossa nova and jazz bands, all the while retaining her own unique flavor. She is now studying drumming, while continuing to compose and perform her strange and beautiful art pop songs. She is currently recording a full-length album tentatively entitled Don't Upset The Boy.





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