Tom Lynch

Quimby's is wall-to-wall suicide.

Wicker Park's alternative bookstore has a shelf of self-help, occupied conspicuously by the hardcover "Thinking About Suicide," but now, also, by "SuicideGirls: The Book." The photo album, edited by suicidegirls.com founder Missy Suicide, features more than 100 pictures of punk-rock nudes that the site is infamous for. Missy and some of the girls are in Chicago for an evening burlesque show at Double Door, but first they talk up the book to a room full of site members, secondhand fans and confused walk-in customers.

"We can smoke in here?" questions Shera, model, dressed in a tight pink leather jacket and donning purple-red lipstick. "Oh my god that's wonderful," she says as she grabs an ashtray and sucks a Marlboro Light down at rapid pace. At first, the crowd mills about, browsing the shelves, careful not to look a Suicide in the eye. The Girls navigate the store as well and direct their attention towards the sex-book section (a few models, including a puffing Shera, grab books from the shelves with the most extreme subject matter and point to their friends). As the crowd hits the floor and the room is hushed, the leader takes the podium, the conductor of a website that hosts a million visitors a week, half of which are female.

Missy Suicide steps forward and all remain silent, respectful. The self-described "prudish girl" dresses in a black shirt and jeans and sports her trademark blue hair and bookish glasses. Missy tells the SuicideGirls story, from when she lived in Portland, Oregon, dropped out of school, and was "just a girl who went to Bikini Kill shows." She shot nudes of a friend and began to frequent Portland bars and strip clubs. "I looked for women who were not embarrassed by their bodies, who were sexy, but would still clothesline you in a mosh pit if you grabbed her ass." A tall spectator with wire-rim glasses and big black backpack raises his hand. "Have you had to deal with any sort of negativity since you started the web site?" Missy deadpans, "Well, I've had to deal with taxes."

Missy introduces the Girls behind her who are part of the tour. Shera, the smoker, Raven from England, Regan, Storm, Pearl, Sicily, and the popular Nixon. Nixon, who combines streaming, jet-black hair with inked skin seamlessly, looks shy while being introduced. She closes her eyes as the head Suicide calls attention to her to dark eyeliner and wine-red lipstick. "This is Nixon, she has a degree in biology," says Missy. "She collects dead things."

(2004-07-06)

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