By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 21, 1997
Gwen Stefani first started wearing bindis on her forehead as a teenager when she and No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal began dating. Since the band’s success, the blond singer has been repeatedly asked whether she’s Hindu.
“No, I’m not,” said Stefani, whose band will headline at the New World Music Theatre on July 3. “Tony’s Indian and we have a long history of being friends. I was at his house all the time and ate these delicious dinners with his family every night and went to all their parties. His mom had all these beautiful Indian things and she’d get all dressed up and look like a doll. And I, of course – being the girlie chick that I am – was totally fascinated by all her sparkly jewelry. So she just gave me certain things and I started wearing the bindis for fashion. I couldn’t stop.”
Despite common misconceptions, the bindi has no religious significance.
“The bindi used to be worn to signify that a woman was married,” said Bina Murarka, editor of the San Francisco-based India-West. “But now everyone wears them as a decorative type of use. I think it’s kind of neat.”
Stefani, whose boyfriend is Bush heartthrob Gavin Rossdale, wouldn’t mind being married. She and Rossdale have talked about setting up house together – not that either of them would be home, given their hectic touring schedules. Stefani said one reason she and Kanal broke up three years ago was because she kept pressuring him to tie the knot.
“I think bindis are a beautiful way of expressing yourself,” said Stefani, 27. “But I like their symbolism of marriage and weddings, too.”
Laughing, she added, “And I’m always pretending I’m getting married.”
EYE CANDY: If the jangly theme song to Fox’s new animated series “King of the Hill” sounds familiar, it’s because the group performing it is the Refreshments. The band from Tempe, Ariz., who scored a hit last year with their single “Bandidos,” wrote “Yahoo’s and Triangles” specifically for the series. They are scheduled to compose more music for the show and said they will score an entire episode later this season.
“We’re all television addicts,” vocalist Roger Clyne said in an interview before the band’s collaboration with “King of the Hill.” “I think that’s an uncool thing to admit these days. But we love pop culture, and music is just one outlet for it.”
That’s not to say the Refreshments are giving up their day jobs.
Their debut album, “Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy,” sold more than 400,000 copies, and the band is anxious to record the followup and get back out on the road touring.
“King of the Hill” airs at 7:30 p.m. Sundays on WFLD-Channel 32.
Country legend Willie Nelson will be lending his voice on a future episode.
E-mail comments to: jaehakim@suntimes.com.
