ONKLE TOM'S HUTTE
Here are a few emails sent to me from my colorful pals Andrea Novarin who lives in London but is originally from Milan, and burlesque czarina Kitty Diggens who just came back to LA from Berlin.
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Erm, it is not that adventurous... Graceland is a cafe' in the next block
from where I live now. They have free wireless broadband, so sometimes I
come down for breakfast with my laptop and spend some quality time
there.... Sugar daddy has not taken me anywhere yet, he offered a trip
to a village in the south of France, but going there i'd be isolated, hence
boring so I declined... I want a bit of sporting life as well when I am away or on
holiday...
I had a hectic few weeks while staying in a friend's place with my stuff
spreaded all over London, and I also spent almost a week sleeping in
saunas, but didn't basically do anything with anyone at the sauna as I was too tired, except fucking a hot young Irish ginger guy on the first night, actually
morning... I am now settled in a new flat anyway, in a quite family
oriented area just a 10 mins walk from Portobello/Notting Hill and not far
from Little Venice...
If you are going to be in Berlin again performing for New Year's Eve, and need help, let me know a bit in advance, I might reach you, as long as you promise me I won't catch bird flu on the plane...
Seen the other day a doc about Taylor Mead called Excavating TM and I
suspect that we'd probably end up that way.... oh, and next time we see
each other I want you to bring along your Swiss friend, the boy who stars in the movie from Garcon Stupide....

The Love Camel
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Absinth Story from Berlin/and yes, my arrangement of sentences is BAD
Date: 10/18/05 6

Absinth Like many people trapped within the moral confines of this countrie's belief system , still living somewhat in Prohibition , I have for many year's read
and heard of and longed to obtain communion with that elusive "Green Fairy"
otherwise known as Absinth. I have on a few occasion's , had Absinth, but I had already been plied with other alcohol, so the time was not appropo .
When in Berlin , one thing on my list was to visit the Absinth Depot
,and I am so glad I did! I must say , it was one of the highlight's of my
trip! The Absinth Depot is a quaint little shop , with high ceiling's, so it
gives it a bit more depth where needed.I asked Tim to accompany me, and lucky for us , it was only a 10 minute walk from his place on Shoenhauserallee.
We arrived and there were 3 American yuppie's who arrived slightly before
us.The unassuming , yet charming man behind the counter gathered us before the
counter asking us 3 question's pertaining to what we were looking for in the
Absinth experience. Higher Liquor content , more Licorice flavor or the more "hallucinigenic" quality. We all eagerly expressed our enthusiasm for the latter.He began a presentation ( which prior to he expressed that if we were
actually going to purchase something , he would indulge us,as he did not
have a license to sell cocktail's) .He explained each bottle, it's origins
and content's of various propotion of herbs,alcohol etc, how it was made and
what awards it may have aquirred , if any.He then began pouring sample's of each that we were interested in to a little shot glass, and from a terracotta pitcher he added cold waterWe imbibed and discussed what we liked or didn't like or how it was
different from another , and believe me , there is quite a difference in
many. I believe I tried about 6 different kind's, all really unique .
The Yuppies left , leaving Tim and Myself to have our own private audience
with the Proprietor, whose name I believe was Hermann.... I appologised for being so indecisive , but I said I was poor and I really could only get just one,or maybe if the bottles were smaller and less expensive , I could get two.
I was also concerned about going through custom's with it .I would be sad if
I had parted with my valuable and rare dollars , only to have my precious
purchase confiscated at the airport by amature's who more than likely would
know nothing about it, but get to take it home woth them. He said that he had not heard of anyone having a problem,and my friend who told me about this place never had either. But with the current state of affairs with security,I did'nt want to take any chances. Anyway,while I was going back and forth between two possibilitie's, Tim inquired about some other bottles on the shelf., our host went to fetch one, and Tim said for him not to be troubled,but he had a stash down below ,and quickly began to pour some for Tim.When Tim asked what it was, "Hermann" said with a slightly mischievious tone "I'm not going to tell , you must try and tell me what you think it is" We laughed and Tim tasted and exclaimed "This is Marvelous , but I don't know what it is", then it was my turn. I sniffed it and it had a very woody scent,and then tasted it ,and determined it was hazelnut,and I was right. Normally I am repulsed by any kind of Hazelnut flavoring,but this was not
a liquer or an extract , but a distillation. It was pure distilled Hazelnut
,and it was really interesting.Next he began pouring another , it was like we were in the Cabinent of a slightly off inventor and he was excitedly rubbing his paws together at having us an experiment.
The next sample was Red , and immediately without hestation determined it
was Raspeberry. I love Raspberrie's and Tim dosen't so drank it down.
I finally decided to get the Serpis Absinth Classic. While I don't care
for Campari, this has a similar quality , but is very pleasant and mild.It
's color is Red and comes in a stately looking bottle. Not too much Liquoice
and not too much alcohol , measuring out at 55% and it is made in Spain.
While he was fetching my bottle ,I inquired about some other bottle's on a
shelf on the left . His reply was that these were Herb's. He explained a few
, but one caught my eye. This he said was Mandrake. Mandrake!?! I just about combusted into a million microbes in thin ir...... Surely , he must be joking , but no, he confirmed that he was not. How was this possible , and if it was , why did I not know that you could BUY Mandrake in a distilled form and in a bottle , no less? Immdiately he went for his lower shelf stash and in the twinkling of an
eye was pouring me a little glass of mandrake. I was jumping up and down and all over in one place.The Mandrake was in my hand , and I felt I should kneel down and pledgesome kind allegeinceI have kept Mandrake in my house , but never thought of consuming it , so here I go....It was to be expected,strange and bitter but not too bad really ,and it was Mandrake! Hermann said one little glass you get a nice high and two, you knew it was the Mandrake! This was a very exciting moment - I thought now my Halloween would be complete- High on a Mountain Top, a bonfire blazing ,sky clad drinking in the magical mandrake root ,being lifted into the air and carried off in a mist of witches on broomstick's , ghosts and miscelaneous Demons swirling
high above the Caverns of Hell like a scene straight out of Murnau's Dante's
Inferno...I was jumping up and down like a little kid high on too much
Haloween candy. It was an exciting moment ,and our Host was quite happy that one of his customers would know the exact purpose of this substance.At that point ,I was really torn , but convinced I had to have a bottle of the Mandrake ,but didn't have much money left, so decided to wait until tomorrow. We concluded our visit to the Absinth Depot. Thanking our host many time's over , we left place , my bag in hand and walked back to Shoenhauserallee , with the beginning's of chilly October air not bothering us one bit , because we were lit like furnaces and not even really noticing our lower extemities , I felt like the one vision of Alice with her neck stretched high head floating slightly atop .Visions of Green Faries and
flecks of gold whirling about our heads and we giggled all the way home.
And yes, I did return to the Absinth Depot ,just before midnight the next
day to secure my hold on that bottle of Mandragore which has a few words
which I loosely translate from Spanish to say " Hallucinegenic plant of the
Witches".