The Vintage & Handmade Market 
“I got banned from The Mint,” explains local singer/songwriter and 92/1FM DJ, Anya Marina, after her recent performance at the Los Angeles music club.
Marina is a 20-something gal with a beguiling, child-like voice and a penchant for catchy acoustic musings. But her appeal lies in the tension between her innocent air and her frank and witty lyrics, which deal with things like psychotherapy, broken love, pop culture and sex.
When she sings her most shocking lyric-“lick my pussy, lick it clean”-in “Millionaire,” it's akin to a Powerpuff Girl on a cussing tirade. Some find the irony appealing. Just don't include the Mint's booking agent, Lance Hub, in that bunch. After catching the last few minutes of Marina's set, he banned the artist.
“I was playing what I thought was one of the greatest shows of my life,” Marina recalls. “In L.A. they have those little quotas where you've got to meet a minimum of 20 people paid. I had, like, 30, and it was our first show.”
Marina says the staff was thrilled at the end of her set. One employee suggested she should do a residency at the club. Excited, she left a message for Hub the next day to follow up.
“I got this message, like, 10 minutes later,” Marina recalls, affecting a pretentious tone. “‘Hi Anya, it's Lance... ummm... yeaaahhh... I caught the tail end of your show... ummm... You know what, I get the whole neurosis thing. I heard the song about your therapist. I caught the tail end of that sociopath song. I saw the one where you're singing ‘lick my pussy, lick it clean.' And ya know, that whole shock jock Howard Stern, soft porn thing... that's just not what we're about here at The Mint. So take care, bye bye.'
“I was completely convinced it was a joke, like a friend pulling my leg,” she laughs.
When she called back, however, Hub assured her he wasn't kidding. When CityBeat contacted Hub about their conversation, his comments were exactly as Marina reported.
“It's Howard Stern shock radio... It's WWF wrestling, it's sexploitation,” he calmly said. “That's just really base instinct stuff. I gravitate towards artists who're trying to ask more significant questions. I know the market is all about money, and those sort of things drive the market, but I can't make my life just about money. I'm looking for what I perceive as higher art.”
Marina says she pressed Hub to tell her what exactly the Mint was about. He told her that The Mint is “about being eclectic” and “healing people through art.”
I suggest to Marina that possibly Hub had underestimated the healing power of cunnilingus...
“And isn't laughter healing?” she asks.
“There are shows where people are driving nails through their penises, but I don't want to contribute to that,” Hub told CityBeat. “I don't do aggro, I don't do punk, I don't do things that objectify women. If [Marina is] going to sell, she's going to sell on shock value.”
Marina told Hub that the two songs he saw weren't indicative of her set, and asked for a second chance to clean up a bit. Hub declined the offer.
“I saw maybe three or four songs, and in my mind that was enough,” Hub told CityBeat. “I'm not saying she's not talented in what she does, and she may even be talented in things that I might appreciate.”
Upon the suggestion that his staff reportedly enjoyed Marina's music, Hub replied, “I don't know anything about that. It wouldn't matter to me. Not that she didn't have that conversation with one person, but to say that she had that conversation with the whole staff... that's self-ingratiating. And I really doubt it happened.”
Marina is good-humored about the whole episode: “It got me a really good blurb for my flyers. I'm looking to get banned from more places and I've enrolled myself in some music healing classes at Mesa College. I'm intending to write all songs about angels and soothing people's souls.”
As for Hub, she says, “I have a mega crush on him now, because I always go for guys that I can't get.”
While she won't be playing The Mint anymore, Marina is waiting for Unwritten Law vocalist Scott Russo to return from tour so they can finish working on her demo tape. The two have finished four songs so far and plan to complete either a six- or seven-song EP or a full album.
In summation, she says: “I was actually really flattered that I got banned from somewhere because my friends always give me shit for being squeaky clean. It got me some cred.”
