Jenny Toomey: Hamlet.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy. --Hamlet, I:5

There is nothing either good or bad,
But thinking makes it so.
--Hamlet, II:2

WHAT RECORD OR CD ARE YOU MOST EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT YOU OWN?

JT: One of the benefits of being 30 is that you don't get embarrassed about things like that anymore. Besides, in the increasingly fractured and fetishized culture-space of the internet I'm sure to find a dozen sympathetic kin for any potentially embarrassing CD I could own. Normalcy is just a search-engine and a chat room away.

DO YOU LIKE TO SHOP ONLINE? WHAT DO YOU BUY?

JT: Yes, mostly computer equipment. I like to buy from smalldog.com. They have digital cameras set up so you can see your salesperson and you can request helpers by name so you can talk to the same staff over and over. I also buy records (insound), gabardine (Ebay) and cold-press coffee makers (Toddy.com).

NAME A MUSICIAN OR GENRE WHOSE POPULARITY YOU JUST DON'T GET.

JT: Popularity is overrated.

HOW DO YOU RELAX AFTER A PERFORMANCE?

JT: You get into your sleeping bag as fast as you can.

WHAT ITEMS OR ACTIVITIES ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOUR "COMFORT" WHILE TOURING?

JT: A big book, a dop kit, a map to the local thrift store, shotgun-seat and coffee.

DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM CAR (OR DREAM MODE OF TRANSPORT).

JT: I think the new bugs are pretty cute. Add a convertible to that and make it baby blue. I wouldn't mind a tricked out scooter. I don't care too much about cars.

NAME THREE PEOPLE YOU REALLY ADMIRE (OR MORE, IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT).

JT: Kristin Thompson, Archer Prewitt, Warn Defever (Dan Littleton, Danielle Howle, Dorothy Gellar, Andrew Webster, Amy Domingues, Mark Robinson, etc.)

WHAT IS THE SINGLE WORST INVENTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY?

JT: The media corporation.

WHAT IS THE MOST COMPLEX OBJECT YOU'VE EVER REPAIRED WITHOUT HELP?

JT: I don't know...a bike...I'm not particularly handy, although I can be crafty.

OF THE VENUES YOU'VE PLAYED, WHO HAS THE NICEST/NASTIEST "HOSPITALITY" FACILITIES?

JT: Toilets? Do you mean toilets? CBGB's had the worst American toilets although they were a dream next to the French shit-holes and Czech piss-walls. The Nicest toilets are the ones you don't remember because there was nothing.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY, AND WHY?

JT: X-mas. I love the singing.

Jenny Toomey, former member of Tsunami and co-owner of the now defunct Simple Machines record label, still has her paws in all sorts of musical endeavours. She's got a solo record due out next year -- she's been working on it with the help of some of her friends (Ida, Archer Prewitt and others). She can be heard singing backup on the new Promise Ring CD, Very Emergency! and will shortly be launching a website called "The Machine", an area of Insound in which she and Simple Machine partner Kristin Thompson will provide practical information about music in the age of new media and trade secrets.