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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

DIRECTORY TO THE SERAGLIOS
Had breakfast down the street from the hotel at Caffe Primo Pegasus. Their gourmet outmeal is delicious. Back at the hotel worked on my paintings for the artist book and cutting out images from mags and newspapers for the collages. Had lunch with the divine Julianna Snapper who is part of the piece and we ate some mega delicious burgers at the Standard restaurant. It was lovely catching up with Ms. Snapper who is a genius and great beauty.
In the evening I finally was able to see one of the Pacific Standard Time public events at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy on North Central Avenue. Since arriving on January 12th I have been doing nothing but working on my performance piece and artist books so it was great to see someone else’s work and take a little breather.
Emi and West of Rome produced the Andrea Fraser piece that I saw called Men on the Line, KPFK, 1972. The piece was developed from a 1972 live radio broadcast of a dialogue between four men committed to feminist struggles. I loved how static the piece was and Ms. Fraser is an incredible actress, subtle and plaintive. I could never remember so much text and make it so believable but also liquidy and restrained. The SRO audience was mesmerized and what a good looking crowd of divergent types and ages. I chittle chatted with Marnie Weber and her hot celebritiy art posse, and the sweet and lovely British friend of Stuart Comer Ms. Sarah McCrory who is a curator with the Frieze Foundation. So nice seeing Jade, Malik and Alex of My Barbarian and Caren & Marie of West of Rome. Emi was looking very stylish in a culot pin stripe suit. It was sweet of Dr. Jennifer Doyle to give me a ride home as I walked to the venue, because I couldn’t remember the schedule of the dash buses.
This morning had a veggie omelet at The Yorkshire Grill on 6th Street and the Korean owner remembered me from last year when i had the MoCa show and was staying at the Standard.
This just in: Got word that the severed head that was found in the Hollywood Hills under the famous sign belonged to a regular at the Spotlight hustler bar. The bar has been closed for awhile, but the poor murder victim was known as an older man who hired rough trade, and since Ms. Los Ang is very crystal meth oriented it would make sense that the killing was a trick that went sour as most street male concubines are a bit on the tweaky side.
Had breakfast with Karen Lofgren this morning at the Standard restaurant. She is going to be one of my glam hostesses for my piece on Sunday. So wonderful catching up with her. She will be in a group art show below are the details. Karen is one hell of a talented artist, and made my vagina dentata sculpture that was featured in my Present Penicative installation and video for Technova song.

HR in Jan/00:00RESET Jan 27th, FRIDAY: 8pm OPENING NIGHT

HUMAN RESOURCES UPSTAIRS GALLERY PRESENTS

MEETINGS a collaborative exhibition with works by Karen Lofgren, Molly Larkey, Larissa Brantner James, Dylan Mira, Juliana Paciulli, and many many more

LIVE PERFORMANCES:
Sheree Rose begins at 8pm (main space)

Raquel Gutierrez and Jeanne Cordova 8:15pm (main space)

Oscar Santos (w/ Alex Black, Samuel Vasquez, Karen Centerfold, Alice Cunt, Paloma Parfrey, Rafael Esparza, Allen Bleyle, Larissa James / Organizer: Oscar Santos / Psychic Director: Asher) 8:45pm (backroom storage space)

Tyler Matthew Oyer 9pm (main space)

Larissa Brantner James 9:30pm (main space)

Chiara Giovando 9:45pm (main space)

Last night Andrew Gould came over to my hotel room and helped me go over the albums that i will be using for my piece on Sunday. It was great having him help me, and bouncing ideas off of him. He has excellent taste. I love Andrew, and his new muscular frame and hunky body.

Hectrice picked me up from the Standard and took me to this cute El Salvadorean place on Beverly Blvd and Berendo called Atlacatl Family Restaurant. We had the best pupusas and pan de pavo. Now we are back at Hector's beautiful compound on Maltman Avenue in Silverlake. Hector has an amazing view of the Hollywood sign and Griffith Park Observatory. His next door neighbor is this old Lithuanian who is a Nazi sympathizer with pictures of Hitler and swastikas in her house which was the first modern house on the block. Her husband was a famous architect and they use to have a large house in Hancock Park. The old Nazi lady is estranged from her children and several years ago her sister and obese nephew were living with her, butthe sister died and the nephew who use to order hustlers on a regular basis committed suicide. The Old Nazi lady is now completely out of it due to Alzheimer's and is being taken care of by a Filipino home health care nurse and her husband. That should be the fate of all neo Nazi's.
Hector and i are waiting for my assistant Daniel to come so we can pull an all nighter working on my artist book.

Monday, January 23, 2012

FEYO, FUERTE Y HONESTO
Had a Skype call with Communism aka Daniel “the Jewish Muslim” Hendrickson” and he told me that President Obama was just in LA and he went to eat dinner at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles on Pico Blvd. Danny is going to visit his parents in the States and they will be hanging out in the Miami, Florida area and then he will spend a few days in little old New York.
Had a nice visit at the hotel with my sexy MoCa Dejecta boys Rashid and Jonathan along with Daniel. We went to a Mexican restaurant on Spring Street that’s down the street from the Alexandria Hotel. Spring Street has really gotten gentrified. I didn’t recognize the street anymore, and all these trendy people walking their little yappity dogs----yuk. After lunch we went to the Grand Central Market for coffee and I ran into Suzy Beal who now lives in Tujunga. We also took a peek into the Mexican bar La Cita where a banda band was playing and some people were dancing. In the back patio some downtown trendies were getting their afternoon drink on. We rode Angels Flight to the top of Bunker Hill and boy is Angel’s Flight ever rickity. It was put out of commission for many years after it broke and killed a German tourist.
Hector came by to pick me up and take me to dinner at Emi Fontana’s South Pasadena home where she made a killer Italian feast for for three kings. Also at dinner were the famous artists Marnie Weber and Mike Kelly. The conversation was very lively with Mike talking about seeing the films Human Centipede and Phillip Morris that starred Ewan McGreggor and Jim Carrey. Emi also showed us a short film by her boyfriend Michael that perfectly captured the spirit and feel of the Trespass Parade and Party

Dr. Jennifer Doyle hosts this very interesting salon. I wasn’t able to attend but here is some info on what was going on:

A Free & Open Seminar on Performance: Three Sundays (Jan 8, 15, 22)

This is a feminist conversation about politics and practice in performance, for artists & allies (programmers, hosts, writers, friends, lovers, spectators, crew, the band!) - This seminar is inspired by the city's history of feminist art pedagogy and is part of Human Resource's contributions to Pacific Standard Time.


January 8th, 15th and 22nd: 1pm-4pm
at Human Resources
410 Cottage Home St in Chinatown, 90012

Join us for an exploration of the questions raised in contemporary performance - while our agenda will be set collectively, the impetus for organizing this seminar was sparked by the intensity of the conversations that grew up around Yvonne Rainer's critique of Marina Abramovic's work with MOCA's 2011 gala fundraiser.

Those conversations have taken up the nature of feminist performance; the relationship of live art and performance to museum culture; the relationship of Los Angeles performance to independent spaces like HR; sexuality in performance; risk - as programmers or curators understand that and as artists understand that; survival - economic and emotional; race, class and "the art world" (what does that phrase mean); the "recovery" of Chican@ and African American art by that "art world" (e.g. exhibits across PST).

This is an interesting moment for performance artists - on the one hand, financial support for the genre is as dire and as politicized as ever - but the genre also has a lot of visibility and new forms of institutional currency. What does it mean to stage a feminist exporation about the politics and practice of performance? Contemporary feminist politics resists looking at sex/gender questions in isolation: race, class, ethnicity, the legacies of settler colonialism, the long shadow of the prison industrial complex - how and where to these issues factor into performance politics and practice? Add to this the way that new media forms make "old media" practices increasingly problematic - who owns their image in an age whose those images circulate widely and freely via the internet? How do artists differently confront the politics of their practices? What stake do queer/feminist artists have in those debates about appropriation and image rights?

These seminars will give artists & allies a chance to talk about the shifting sands upon which we work - this is a chance to examine the present but also to learn about the past (the NEA wars, the roots of performance as an anti-capitalist practice, the full range of feminist work in performance, queer performance [again, what does that mean?], the roots of performance in the political, interventionist strategies of artists of color).

Sunday, January 22, 2012

BETHANY EVER AFTER
Had a lovely meeting with Jose Promis, one of my beautiful Bricktops at the Parlour Club children who will be playing piano as part of my chamber ensemble for my Getty/Pacific Standard Time/West of Rome commission piece.It was lovely catching up with the handsome Mr. Promis who will be celebrating his birthday next Saturday when we have our dress rehearsal.
Its been grenada being back in Los Ang and the weather has certainly cooperated, but there is also a bit of a chill in that a severed head and body parts were found in Griffith Park below the Hollywood sign. You never know when danger will pop out at you here in the southland.
Two musical legends died this week---Etta James 73 and Johnny Otis 90. Ms. James had been suffering from cancer so her death was expected. Mr. Otis was a Greek man who melded into the African American diaspora so well that after so many years of living the negro life he actually ceased being a caucasion man.
Friday Hector ran me around town doing errands, and it took quite a bit of time negotiating the heavy non rush hour traffic. Had a sweet time with Hectrice(his new female name). He treated the doll to lunch at Tender Greens in WeHo on Santa Monica Blvd. I had the best BBQ chicken salad and soup. The tacky queens of the boulevard were in high gear and I had forgotten how amusing they could be.
We wound up at Farmers Market and the Grove and some point and had coffee and sweet rolls and oogled some gorgeous male beauties walking about with their bubble butts and flip flops. We ended our errand run in Silverlake, and back at Hector’s house on Maltman we had took time for cocktail hour and Hector made some incredible Vodka tonics. Hector’s lover Ericla came back from work and Hector cooked us a yummy snack with homemade hummis, then they dropped me off back at the Standard Hotel. I got back to working on my special artist book and later in the evening was visited by handsome Andrew Gould and his amazing young lover Uriel Miranda Vazquez who is a dream boy if ever there was one. It was so nice to take a break from my prep work and just hang out with this super attractive virile male couple and enjoy their masculine company.
The next morning I took a walk around downtown and discovered that the Embassy Hotel is closed down and boarded shut but the building on Grand & 9th is still imposing. At the top of the hotel is the divine Crystal Room. Actually the Cyrstal Room was my second choice of a site specific location that I wanted to use for this commission piece.
Dr. Jennifer Doyle took me for a fab early birthday breakfast at the trendy boite Bottega Louie in the old Brooks Brothers Building on 7th and Grand. This place is incredible. Our waiter looked like a young boy from the 1920s, and the other waiters were equally stunning. My Lobster Hash was heavenly. We went at the perfect time before it got super crowded as later on it got so loud it was impossible to hear each other as we chittle chatted. Dr. Doyle is applying for Amelia Jones’s old position at the University of Manchester. I hope she gets the job as I think Los Angeles just isn’t a good place for her and England could provide the perfect ticket for new stimuli for Dr. Doyle’s brilliant scholarship and writing.
My old punk rock pal Craig Roose took me to lunch at the Fisherman’s Outlet Seafood Restaurant and Market at 529 South Central Avenue. This place is legendary and is always packed to the rafters during the week with City Hall workers, businessmen and everyone who adores good old fashion grub. Craig and I both ordered the giant shrimp with cole slaw and dirty sleepy rice. After eating we drove around some of our old punky haunts off of Traction Avenue and talked about the old club The Hideaway which was run by this nerdy black punk guy in the late 70s who ran a clothing store next to the Vista Theatre called Alien. Later he had a store on Washington Blvd near Arlington called Checkerboard and he taught elementary school as a day job. I wonder what happened to him. Craig didn't remember him. I was so happy when Craig took me to a 99cents and under store at 2220 So Central Avenue near Adams that was incredible. I bought so many things that I needed for making my artist books. Craig went back to the hotel with me and we caught up on many things as I was working, laughing and hooting it up. I really love Craig,he is such a dear ole pal.