FICK TRÄFFA SIN FAR EFTER FLERA ÅR – UTNYTTJADES
I’m on my fourth day teaching at Malmö and i am having a marvelous time with the students. Yesterday i screened my last Josephine Baker film Zou-Zou (1934) where she goes from laundress to theatrical sensation in a single heartbeat. This film co-stars the great French actor Jean Gabin when he was super young but still tough and rough around the edges. Zou-Zou went nicely with Karim Ainouz´s Madame Sata, which is a Brazilian period piece set in 1932 about the infamous and volatile queen Joao Francisco dos Santos, a disciple of La Baker who staked his claim on the mean streets of Lapa. Day 2 at Malmö i presented Josephine Baker in Princess Tam Tam followed by the ensemble cast of MGM’s great Dinner at 8 where the students seemed to be fascinated by not only Jean Harlow and her outrageous blondine looks, but also Marie Dressler playing the dowager actress and Billie Burke as the brittle socialite. When i explained that Ms. Burke also played Glinda the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz, just a few years later in 1939 something really started to click.
Today i will show Harlow in Red Headed Woman, (1932) and Bombshell (1933) and tomorrow we will end the series of screenings with China Seas (1933) and a documentary on Harlow narrated by blondine Sharon Stone. Next week it will be all about studio visits and figuring out what kind of performances they will want to do as a final class project.
Last night i met up with some of my students at the Kunst Hall Malmö where there was an art opening and performance by a nutty British artist who lives in Frankfurt who shares with me a fascination for Gnomes. My favorite Gnome of all time is The Gnome King, Ruggedo created by L. Frank Baum who wrote the Wizard of Oz and its sequels from 1900-1919. On display at the gallery was a short film from 1972 made by John Baldassari. I really didnt expect to see a piece by Baldassari in this show.

SÅ MÅNGA SKVALLRAR PÅ SINA GRANNAR
In Malmö, Sweden teaching my block seminar Platinum Jungle-Screen Goddesses Josephine Baker & Jean Harlow, Caught Between Black&White to the lovely and sweet young students of Malmö Art Academy which is part of Lund University.
For the first day of class i received an apple, and screened Josephine Baker´s silent classic The Siren of the Tropics and the Jean Harlow/Clark Gable potboiler Red Dust. For all you movie buffs out there Red Dust was re-made by MGM in 1953 with Gable once again playing Gable, Ava Gardner taking Ms. Harlow´s place and Her Serene Highness Grace Kelly in place of Mary Astor as the snooty upper crust wife. The images and action in these very similar pictures really fired the students imagination and i felt my first day went really well, though i was completed exhausted having not gotten any sleep the night before leaving Berlin. As usual whenever i take a plane ride i am plagued by anxiety and nerves and can never get any sleep. Thats why it was so nice to be given such a joyous welcoming by Administrative Secretary Annikle Michelsen and several of her collegues and after the first day of teaching Maria Hedlund an analog art photographer from Stockholm who has been teaching at Malmö for some time and has also lived in New York and Berlin treated me to a fabu dinner at the Asian fusion restaurant Lemongrass. We were the first ones in the place and the last chit chatting for hours on end.
My faculty flat is charming and cozy and 5 minutes walking distance from the academy. The best part of my apartment is the giant deep sunken bath tub where i have already spent quality time in luxurious bubbles.
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Received some info from old pals including one of my Bricktops at the Parlour Girls Christiane Cegavske. If you are in the San Francisco area I am sure you will want to check out this event:

Mark Growden’s Saint Judas national release celebration featuring the
premiere of “Coyote”, a stop motion animation video by Christiane
Cegavske, the creator of the award winning film "Blood Tea and Red
String" and a special screening of “Martyr” by S.F. Filmmaker Thad
Povey.

Thursday, March 11, 8 pm
Friday, March 12, 8 pm
Saturday, March 13, 8 pm
Sunday, March 14, 1:30 pm family matinee show
Sunday, March 14, 8 pm closing show

Porto Franco Art Parlor
953 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94110

I will be attending the Saturday and Sunday 8 pm shows.
I hope to see all of you there!

More details:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=322452386428&ref=mf

www.markgrowden.org
www.portofrancoart.com
www.portofrancorecords.com
www.christianecegavske.com

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Those of you in Berlin will want to investigate this happening that features handsome kJohnny Blue of CHEAP kollective. kJohnny is a masterful experimental musician who along with his older brother Tim Blue performs every other month accompanying the silent films i curate at Arsenal Institute fur Film und Video Kunst.

Here is the info:

Dear friends, please join us ...

The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and Who Was In It . A Fashion Performance by Juan Chamié and Mad Kate, adapted from the story by Carl Sandburg
Designs by Juan Chamié
Concept and Choreography by Mad Kate
Music by John Blue, Mimosa Pale, Margita Zalite, Petra Flurr, Bad Kat and Special Guests
Narration by Gabriel Walsh
Sunday, 7 March 2010
14.00 Uhr @ Let It Bleed
Wienerstasse 36, Kreuzberg
(U Gorlitzer Bahnhof)
Afterparty at Wonderbar Performance Space (information below)
This Sunday, Let it Bleed (www.letitbleedberlin.com) presents a fashion procession and performance wrapped in the wide-eyed fantasy of American poet and writer Carl Sandburg, whose 1967 illustrated version of the children’s story, “The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and Who Was in It” serves as the inspiration for this season’s design collection by Juan Chamié(www.myspace.com/djjuanofakind). Choreographed by Mad Kate (www.alfabus.us), this dynamic performance procession will feature narration by Gabriel Walsh and an eclectic mix of live music by the multifaceted experimental musician John Blue(www.bluesoundcut.com), electro punk artist Petra Flurr (www.myspace.com/petraflurrr), singing saw master Mimosa Pale(www.mimosapale.com), magical cabaret vocalist Margita Zalite (www.myspace.com/barenzunge), hiphop MC Bad Kat(www.myspace.com/badkatmc) and special guests.
And who marched in the procession? The spoon-lickers, the sleepyheads, the tin-pan bangers, the chocolate chins and more—over 40 of Berlin’s best performers and artists, including ReveRso, Polly Pinkerton, Cindy Wonderful, Clea Cutthroat, Bobby Jules, Joniffer, Ginger Synne, Natalie Grier, Nikolaj Tange Lange, Sereina Winters, Mademoiselle Kla, Tallulah Freeway, Goodyn Green,Karina Rocktäschel, Lola VonDage, Toni Cavaco, Faggot Matador, Helen Suhr, Celine Robinet, Anna Natt, Margarita Tsomou, Anna, Bana Banal, Layana Flachs-Rickards, Aleksis Seriös, Sarah Adorable, Juliet Gabriel, Bee Fatal, Al-ex Plush Anders, Jasmin Dickerson, Metzgerei, Sandro Piras, Sarah Lewis, Nuria, Emelie Luostarinen, Johnny Gunfodder and Walter Crasshole

Don't miss it!

>>>>>

The Fashion show after party!

Sunday 7th march, directly after the show until late!

Wonderbar performance space, Wienerstr 45 xberg
with special guest from Tel Aviv:
LIAD LIAD, spoken word/cabaret/burlesque
‘I focus more on less on 2 types of performances, the first being more of a drag with burlesque, very raw and sometimes raunchy but rather short - pieces the length of a song, and spoken word pieces that are accompanied by a performance for some visual stimulation. Lately they've all been on the subject of sex work (I’m a sex worker and a sex worker activist-organizer, the first outed sex worker in Israel Palestine). They have each a strong performative element in them, and often times much use of the body in a physical or sexualised form.’with refreshments, cocktails and more!
www.letitbleedberlin.com
www.myspace.com/letitbleedberlin
www.alfabus.us
www.bluesoundcut.com
www.mimosapale.com
www.myspace.com/petraflurrr
www.myspace.com/barenzunge
www.myspace.com/badkatmc
www.myspace.com/wonderclub

THE EXAMINED LIFE
Went to a delightful spontaneous soiree for Arsenal Experimental´s Nanna Heidenreich who not only got married to a hot humpy Brazilian man, but also successfully defended her dissertation receiving her Phd Magnum Cum Laude. Nanna is not only super smart but super lovesexy with a buttocks that is the prize of Europa. Seen celebrating with joy and laughter Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Tim Blue, Daniel Hendrickson and beau Piero Bonhomme, Nadja Talmi, Ulrich Ziemons and delicious scholar Nicole Wolfe who cooked a vegetarian feasta fit for a Rhodes Scholar.
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Had a quiet and joyful bruncheon at the compound of intermedia actress and curator Susanne Sachsse whose sweet mother Ellen from the small East German town of Jena bestowed upon the doll an amazing array of birthday delights. Frau Sachsse is one of Europes most gifted hostesses and cooks with quite the gourmand slight of hand. A pleasant afternoon of gossip and frivolity abounded with film historian Marc Siegel, Daniel Hendrickson and La Sachsse´s charming and über handsome 16 year old son Richard Gershe.
Later met with NYU Performance Studies Professor Tavia Nyongo at Silver Future where we had a dwinkypoo. Tavia hired me to do an illustration for a new Social Text book. At the Future in KreuzKölln the genderfuck musichall ingenue Hans Prinzessin was performing wearing a beautiful crown with nicely applied eyeshadow. I´m not a big fan of genderfuck bearded man in a dress drag, but i did love how Fraülein Hans was belting it out in a whimsical Liza With a Z! like fashion with no regard to pitch or key. I really adored his accompanyist on keyboards. The queer writer and performer Malte was one of the organizers of this evening.
Mr. Nyongo and i quietly slunk out of the bar to meet British live art shtar Richard Hancock and his wondermint performance partner Miss Traci Kelly at Frankenstein 5000. Hilarious hijinks ensued. Hancock & Kelly have some upcoming gigs so please check them out below:
'DERMOGRAPHIA', 'IN SEASON' & 'POSTURES A-TO-M' (FROM 'LONE DUETS'), PERFORMANCES AT KÜNSTLERHAUS MOUSONTURM, FRANKFURT
The first three performances in Hancock and Kelly's series of Lone Duets will receive their German premieres in Frankfurt-am-Main on April 29th and 30th, 2010.
(see www.mousonturm.de for details)
'MY BODY TRIES TO CRY', WORKSHOP/LABORATORY AT SCHWELLE7,BERLIN
Richard Hancock and Traci Kelly will be returning to Schwelle7 in Berlin to facilitate their third annual winter workshop, from March 1 - 5, 2010. Places can now be reserved.
(see www.schwelle7.de for details)
***NOW AVAILABLE***
NRLA 30TH ANNIVERSARY CATALOGUE/BOX SET
The National Review of Live Art celebrates its 30th Anniversary in 2010. This historic event is marked by the release of a special limited edition Box Set, containing written contributions from over 70 artists, 3 specially edited DVDs of live art drawn from each of the festival's decades, and an archive section, with interviews, and listings from all the Festival's brochures.
(see www.newmoves.co.uk for details.)
ENCOUNTERS: Performance, Photography, Collaboration - MANUEL VASON
Encounters is a new and extensive collection of Manuel Vason's photographic collaborations with artists working in performance. Published by Arnolfini to accompany the first major exhibition of Vason's work in the UK, and edited by Dominic Johnson, Encounters brings together exciting new critical essays on Vason's collaborative images.
(see www.thisisunbound.co.uk for details)
info@hancockandkellylive.com
http://www.hancockandkellylive.com