BLURTING WITH… Margaret Cho
Nov 16, 2009

BY RANDY HARWARD

Last March at South By Southwest, Blurt corralled Margaret Cho on the back patio of the comedy club Esther's Follies. Although she was part of a bill that included ten other comics, Cho strolled in with a guitar case. The night, at least for Cho, was about the music - namely the songs that will comprise her musical debut, Guitarded. Although not due until next year, some songs, such "I Cho Am A Woman" and her duet with Grant-Lee Phillips "Eat Shit & Die," are available on iTunes and MargaretCho.com, respectively.

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BLURT: Where do your musical aspirations come from?

CHO: I've been doing my own comedy/music stuff since 2003... I went on a couple rock tours and I really felt like I wanted to play [instead of] sing to tracks. There's something that's not that gratifying about singing along to a CD, you know? It's really exciting to play your own music. So I thought, I'm gonna do that. Now I'm learning, trying to figure it all out.

So all this time you've harbored a latent singer/songwriter?

That's the kind of music that I like, like the people I'm writing with on the circuit are Patty Griffin, Jill Sobule... That's who you think of when you think of singer/songwriter, so this is really exciting. And then I'm writing with some different people like John Wesley Harding, Jon Brion... It's really an amazing list of people. I don't know enough about music to be able to compose it, so I always ask people who really do understand it to help and teach me, so, it's really wonderful.

I read that you exchanged MP3s with your collaborators.

Usually they'll send me an MP3 with their idea of what the song should be and then I'll learn it [on guitar], and then I'll send an MP3 back and I'll go, "You mean like this?" And sometimes they'll send like chord diagrams, ‘cause I don't know the chord. So I can totally learn at least two or three new chords from everybody. I love it.

Do they leave your lyrics intact?

I kind of understand rhythm, so it's usually very minor changes, like, it's just like an "and" or a "the."

Was your first song the Prop 8 protest song?

Yeah... I wanted to write - it was kind of like what really got me playing, the thing that kind of pushed me in that direction. I was very upset about Prop 8 passing in California, which is the outlawing of gay marriage, so I wanted to do a protest song ‘cause there were all these rallies going on. And I wanted to sing; I thought it would be cool if I could sing - and "I can't play guitar but I'm gonna." So two days before, my brother-in-law helped me [write and learn to play] the song: "Well, you do this chord and this chord. If you know this chord and this chord, then you can make the song." He taught me C. That was the big chord that I learned. ‘Cause I already knew like G and A and D. He taught me C and that was like the key to the song, so that was really cool.

How has your playing progressed?

I've gradually gotten better at guitar. It's still a challenge but I want it so bad. I have a callus builder in my purse. It's like this grip thing; I do it all the time, trying to strengthen my fingers. And I have an amazing guitar teacher who is like my guitar God. So she - her name is Vicky Genfan. I worship her. She lives in New York and I live in LA, so we have kind of a long-distance, like, teacher thing. And then I get a lesson from everybody I work with.

What was your first guitar?

My first guitar was a 1963 Hofner, beautiful, red paisley, like, just badass, gorgeous vintage electric. I played that a lot when I first got it but then I started feeling like I started to get more of an acoustic kind of vibe.

Do you still get the urge to dial up the volume and rock out?

Yeah, wailing on it super-loud was really fun. It's such a beautiful - it's like an orchestra in your hands, you know? The power of it is undeniable.

Would you like to be able to play widdly-widdly-woo solos?

Oh, I'd love to. I need to learn all that, but I need to learn finger-picking first. I'm not even there yet.

Are you gonna record "Old Miley"?

No. You know, I feel bad for Miley Cyrus now, especially after the whole Radiohead thing. I felt bad. I really hope she doesn't destroy Radiohead ‘cause I really love them.

Who's in your record collection?

Well, I'm crazy about A.C. Newman's new record. I'll be premiering a song tonight that I wrote with him. He's such a Brian Wilson, you know just like, pop [genius]. The song that I'm gonna do, it's called "Your Dick."