AN DER NASE DES MANNES ERKENNT MAN SEINEN JOHANNES

Went to Arsenal to see Meet Me In St. Louis  and An American In Paris directed by the legendary Ganymede Hollywood film director Vincente Minnelli father of Liza and ex-wife of Judy Garland.  I’ve seen St. Louis a million times but I always find new things to admire in the film.  This time the supporting players really caught my attention starting off with FIT male ingénue Tom Drake who use to be boyfriends with Gore Vidal who modelled one of his City and the Pillar characters after Mr. Drake.  Drake was also a regular sex partner of the late great Taylor Mead.  I also appreciated on this viewing the performances of Leon Ames as Alonzo Smith family pater,a humorous Chill Wills in a tiny part as the iceman cometh and the radiant Mary Astor as the nuanced matriarch of the clan.  Too bad Miss Astor was forced by Hollywood to play mostly mothers for Metro during the 1940s. Mary Astor’s father was German and born in Berlin later in her life like Louise Brooks her writing on film received much praise.

In An American in Paris Nina Foch is amazing as the wealthy patron to Gene Kelly’s character and during a student ball sequence there are some scantily clad sexy gay male couples.

On Sunday the Rising Stars, Falling Stars joint presentation with Annette Lingg & Hans Joachim Fetzer of All Singing,All Dancing Hollywood Musicals 1933-1957 Festival was packed with a screening of the Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire frolic Follow the Fleet.  The SRO crowd included Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Uli Ziemons and Nanna Heidenreich of Forum Expanded, my partner in grime Daniel Hendrickson the Scandinavian Muzlim jihadist, film historian Marcuse Siegelstein with his lady love Susanne Sachsse, Assaf Hochman with a visiting pal from Israel the TV/Film scribe and comedy sensation Galit Hoogie who like Daniel doesn’t care for the assless Fred Astaire, super sweet queer activist Rufus Sona with beauty boy Tomas and posse, Piero Bellomo with due sorelle di Firenze Elena y Monica, Olivier Nowitzky and his hot new Arab lover, superstar Antonia Baird aka Werner Hersch, artist Maggie Schneider, blue movie idol and and high priced male concubine Tommy DeLuca, with rectal hydrating actor Hamish Linkletter, Stedelijk Museum curator Hendrik Folkerts, Salome & Richard Gershe and G. Craig Smith of Chicago who is doing his European tour and first saw Ms. Davis perform in Chitown back in the early 1990’s during the heyday of Homocore Chieta.

I don’t celebrate Christmas but every year I do go to Piero Bellomo’s Christmas Eve dinner at his Embassy Row compound.  His husband Daniel Hendrickson the Scandinavian Muzzy takes care of the cooking.  Last year he made an American style Turkey dinner with all the trimmings which I hadn’t had in ages, but this year The Muzlim jihadist made gourmet enchiladas with mole sauce and masculine Cornisch Game Hen which was delicious.  Fearless Leader of CHEAP Susanne Sachsse did her yearly post Christmas dinner party that features mounds of sumptuous organic lamb, kale and mashed sweet potato in carmelized garlic droplets----heavenly. 

I hate New Year’s Eve known as Silvester in Germany.  Berliners overdo the fireworks thing so it gets loud and unruly.  You won’t see me at any allnite party, I prefer to spend the evening alone meditating and enjoying some well deserved Michele Obama style “ME” time.  Its great not having to feel like I have to entertain anyone or be “ON”.

SCHNEEFLOCKE

http://www.mixcloud.com/filmanzeiger/rising-stars-falling-stars-vaginal-davis-ginger-rogers-irving-berlin-december-2014/

GESCHICHTE-MYTHOS-IDENTITAET

I adore doing research at the American Bibliotech at Hallesches Tor.  Now that the renovations are complete at the library the place is pretty comfy with a brand new café on the premises featuring a cute pud of a proletariat boy behind the counter and plenty of fresh eye candied Turkish and Arab men on parade serving swarthy hairyeyeballness.  The only thing I don’t like are the fugly security guards who take their job way too seriously.  One rent-a-cop in particular looks like a miserable inbred flounder with his bloated fish face, pear shaped haus frau body and hardboiled middleaged looking mug.  I guess I should be more forgiving towards the poor chap.  If I were young but looked elderly I would have a chip on my shoulder as well.

I’ve been grateful to my ex students and interns for helping me catalogue hundreds of photos, archival documents and ephemera for my upcoming Rizzolli coffee table hard bound art book.  Its going to take forever to edit through so many things that I had forgotten existed.  When I left the USA in 2006 for Berlin I gave a lot of stuff to friends for safekeeping in Los Angeles but I forgot to write down exactly what items and who I left things with.  I do remember giving some photos and some letters from Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain to my friend Douglas Gordon who now lives in Bankok so this project is going to be quite a doosie to complete.  I thank Jehovah of Armies that I have such a dedicated crew of young people willing to pitch in and support the doll with all her endeavors.  And I still have to work on my semi-autobiographical novel Mary Magdelene.  My old LA Weekly editor Sue Horton who now is at the LA Times had given some of my early rough draft chapters to some publishing friends of hers from New York and they loved it and ever so often they check in with me.   I feel guilty as they have also floated me some moula over the years. 

Went to a fab book release party for hunky super smart&sexy scholar Christian Weber’s  new exciting tome Gus Van Sant-Looking For A Place Like Home at the Sputnik Kino on Hasenheide.  It was so thrilling to discover a new penthouse indie cinema that features a terrace with a diarama view of the city perched way atop an XBerg tower.  Van Sant’s 1985 film Mala Noche was also screened as part of the event and it looked beautiful. I hadn’t seen the flick since it was first released at an early version of what later became the Outfest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. The LA premier of Mala Noche took place at the Four Star Theatre on Wilshire Blvds Miracle Mile.  That theatre is now a multi-racial mega church.  Back in the 1980s my old pal Stuart Timmons who wrote an incredible book called The Trouble With Harry Hay first dreamed up the Gay&Lesbian film festival while he was still a student at UCLA.  The Festival was taken away from Stuart by a prissy gay power monger named Larry Horne who ruled it for many years until he was finally dethroned in the early 1990s.  I even hosted a party for Mala Noche at the dive bar The Firefly at Hollywood and Vine.  This bar had the strange feature of its counter going up in flames every hour on the hour, and was filled nightly with an odd assortment of alcoholics, movie industry misfits, happy hookers and humpy hustlers.  Needless to say Mr. Horne was not amused by this party location but Gus Van San loved it as it reminded him of Portland’s seedy dive bars and pubs.

The celebutants seen and heard at Christian Weber’s soiree included:  gay independent film director Jan Krueger, producer Silvan Zuercher(one part of the gay-Swiss-twin team behind the festival hit “Das merkwuerdige Kaetzchen”) Florian Weghorn the head of Berlinale Talents, editor Sabine Herbich, film scholar Dr. Florian Krauss,the charming queer activist Rufus Sona,  my Rote Insel neighbour the handsome psychoanalyst Jan Lindmeyer, hot NeuKoelln lesbian couple Caro Vierneisel & Chelsea, and Christian’s delightfully personable identical twin brother Dr. Johannes Weber.

For those of you who are Gus Van Sant fans the Arsenal will be screening twice in January 2015 the 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy starring Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, skaterboard stud  Max Perlich and my old next door neighbour Matt Le Gros.

DREI WEGE ZUM SEE

Had a nice late afternoon twee & dainties with visiting scholar and divine poetess extrordinaire Dr. Tracie Morris who teaches at the Pratt Art Institute in Brooklyn New York who has been performing and doing research throughout Europe.  When a coupla sexy black chicks get together expect lots of laughter, the classic lifting of the eyebrow with plenty of swayback inbetween.

Been digging through my womanly archives sorting through photos and ephemera with some former students like Christophe DeRohan Chabot, Acme Singt and Chrome Chastain editing through things that I may want to feature in my upcoming coffee table art book Magnificent Product that Rizzolli wants to publish.  I want the book to be a cross between Madonna’s Sex and the Helmet Newton tome that turned into a tiny table.  Ran across a photo of sweet Doug Kratz a tall hunky young Club Sucker at the Garage regular who was killed in the plane crash that brought down the R&B singer Aaliyah and her posse.  Doug had gotten the job at Virgin Records through my Club Sucker partner Dale Johnson.  Doug was such a sweet, kind, kid and of course was quite popular with all the queer boys that hung out at my Sunday afternoon punk rock beer/bust and olde fashion T-dance performance art venue.  I remember Doug having a short lived affair with John Roecker, who was co-owner of the Silverlake Junction boutique You’ve Got Bad Taste along with Exene Cervenka of the punk band X.  John had doll hair implants because he was sensitive about going bald, but I don’t think he had to worry so much about that since he had a gigantic penis and his lover Willy who worshipped him was a top executive at Femina Lingerie so bald or not he would always have a roof over his head and live in high comfort. 

Went to The Arsenal for the opening of their new  winter series(Dec 14-Jan 22) All Singing, All Dancing Hollywood-Musicals 1933-1957 that featured a rare screening of the 1948 film The Pirate from MGM’s Arthur Freed Unit directed by gay prissy director Vincente Minnelli starring his husband Judy Garland and robust bubble butt Gene Kelly at his his manlische prime. The last time I saw this film was in the early 1970s on regular television when I was a child.  I’ve never known it to be screened at any revival houses so it was a treat to be able to see it on the big silver screen.  The movie was a flop when it came out.  It was just too sophisticated for its time, and it looks amazing with Gene Kelly doing a very broad homage to Douglas Fairbanks and John Barrymore.  That same year he was quite thrilling in the athletic remake of The Three Musketeers with Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Angela Lansbury and June Allyson.  The Pirate also features top notch performances from the sensational dancing Nicolas Brothers, a hilarious Gladys Cooper and a brilliant Walter Slezak the father of Erica Slezak the soap opera diva from One Life To Live.  Of course Judy looks ravishing in Carribean style outfits that certainly inspired a young Yves Saint Laurent  back in the 1970s. The musical score is by Cole Porter and Judy sings beautifully “Love of My Life” and “You Can Do No Wrong” with the music conducted by the great Lennie Hayton the husband of singer Lena Horne.

Congrats to Annette and her crew who once again have programmed another splendid series just like their Neo Noir, Cyd Charisse and Pre Code Hollywood salutes.  Musicals are my favourite of classic Hollywood genre cinema so I will me hibernating at the Arsenal for most of December and January to be sure so I hope to see you there.

The famous Turkish German Journalist Murat Ham took me to din din at the best Mexican restaurant in Berlin by far Taqueria Tacabron in XBerg where we had a delightful time laughing, eating and drinking and ran into the beautiful Liad the Israeli widow of Tim Stutkin whose book on Sun Ra is finally out.  Of course it was back to The Arsenal for 42^nd Street with Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Una Merkel, Ginger Rogers and George Brent and Top Hat starring Ginger Rodgers, Fred Astaire, Edward Everette Horton and a bunch of other famous sissies.

Had to see the film version of the Broadway musical Guys&Dolls directed by the most unmusical of film directors Joseph L. Manciewitz(All About Eve,Suddenly Last Summer).  I have never seen this film before and couldn’t wait to hear the singing of Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons both I felt acquitted themselves quite nicely and the young Miss Simmons looking so much like her daughter my old punk rock pal Tracey Granger.  Frank Sinatra seemed very stiff, and Vivian Blaine recreating her role on Broadway was funny but looked a little blowsy in a Delores Gray like manner.  The supporting players Stubby Kaye, Sheldon Leonard fared much better in my opinion though the stylized Times Square set kind of got on my nerves.

UNGLAEUBIGER THOMAS

Working on Magic Flute with CHEAP  fearless leader Susanne Sachsse has been very productive.  We are really close to finishing our final outline before one of our major deadlines.  We are collaborating with my lovely child of high art Jonathan Berger who takes over the production design duties for all of my major projects plus working with the great Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu and Jackie the Israeli lighting designer who works with Yael Betrana and has worked with Susi and I before with Communist Bigamist and Camp/Anti-Camp.  I am really feeling my cheery Cheerinos with all that is shaping up with The Magic Flute. If the Magic Flute wasn’t enough I also have  been working doubletime on the latest visual art installation for my New York and Oslo Gallery, but don’t want to talk too much about it or I will wind up pulling a Jinx Falkenberg on myself.  After a lovely luncheon and brainstorming session Susanne, Marcuse Siegelstein, Daniel Hendrickson and I headed to the delightful Turkish boite Defne off the canal in Kruezberg for dindin with visiting University of Michigan at Ann Arbor scholar and opera queen David Halperin.  After supper we headed to the FSK Kino at Oranienplatz for the Berlin Art Film Festival the brainchild of lovesexy Toby Raucher Ashraf.

The other evening I went to dinner at the amazing Tibetan restaurant Budda House on Akazien Strasse near my Rote Insel kiez with my new BFF the prolific Turkish writer and novelist Murat Ham.  The stylish Mr. Ham has lived all over the world and is a charming and effervescent dinner companion with a sweet, goofy sense of humour.

Forgot to write something about the Woody Allen film Magic in the Moonlight which I saw some time ago.  The movie starts off in Berlin 1928.  Seems like Mr. Allen loves defaulting to the jazz era ever so often as a fav screen conceit, and there are some lovely locations scenes in the South of France with the young ingénue Emma Stone and her big Liza with a Z eyes. Ms. Stone is quite fetching but it wasn’t believable that she would fall for long on the tooth Colin Firth who early in the film has some very funny moments.  Oh and whats with pigeon chested Hamish Linkletter? He is way too elderly to play the juvinille male lead ---talk about a casting snafu.   The character I liked best was played by the always perfect Dame Eileen Atkins.  Like most modern Allen photoplays it sort of falls apart before we are even midway through the third reel---this time with a great big THUD! but who cares it was still fun and frolicsome and I can’t wait for his next nutters vehicle set in Estonia---why not?

FilmHighlights Manuel Schubert sent me a wonderful link to a New Yorker Magazine profile about German chancellor Angela Merkel:  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german

Learned quite a bit about the power hungry pepperpot Mrs. Angie of the perpetual pants suit.

My favourite line in the piece is when a Die Linke party member quotes Bertolt Brecht: “Who does not know the truth is simply a fool, yet who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a criminal.”

***

The only person working in the arts in New York doing things the way it should be done is the legendary Miss Lia of Participant Inc. the not-for-profit gallery on the Lower East Side.  Please help support the great work she does by making a generous contribution.  Read the letter below:

Dear Participants and Friends,

It’s hard to sum up a year that exceeded our expectations in an email. We have a lot to be grateful for, and it's thanks to you that we're able to support the work of artists who are shaping the culture, whether posthumously, or those entering the field from other disciplines, or for the first time. You can help us continue this work by making a year-end, tax-deductible contribution.

Our first resolution for the New Year is W.A.G.E. certification. Working toward this goal with W.A.G.E (Working Artists and the Greater Economy) reinforces our belief that art workers should be paid, and that we are accountable for creating a sustainable model — for both artists and organization.

You can help us accomplish our work by making a year-end, tax-deductible contribution online.

Your gift goes a long way. THANK YOU.
With warm wishes for the new,

Lia Gangitano
Founder/Director

***

Marc Ruvolo the humpy sex god of the Chicago hardcore punk scene just sent me a sweet note with a link to some music from his record company that includes some old collaborations I did with him and his youthquake gang back in the last century.  Check it out if you dare:

 http://johannsfacerecords.bandcamp.com/album/vaginal-davis-and-robespierre

THE HOEHEN UND TIEFEN

Rising Stars, Falling Stars Sunday was filled with ribald tango loverkins of all shapes and strypes as we screened the 1983 concert documentary El Tango es una Historia by Humberto Rios. Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus was back from her South American travels and had lots of smoldering stories to tell and international gossip too steamy to relay here.  Trying to overhear Miss Stefanie’s conversation with Forum Expanded’s Nanna Heidenreich and DJane Bianca Kruk was the controvertial film director Mosab Hassan Yousef, just back to Berlin from giving his first lecture in English at a Belgium congress-  in demand scholar Zulfukar Cetin, famed queer activist Rufus Sona, Scandinavian Muzlim Daniel Hendrickson who was in Istanbul for a month taking a Turkish for Amflanger class.  Next month for RSFS-WMHM post Christmas celebration we will screen a classic Hollywood musical starring Fred Astaire and Gingers Rogers with Follow the Fleet from 1936. 

Was reunited with my Institute for Applied Theatre Sciences Julius Leibig Universitaet Giessen student assistant Christoph Bovermann one of the sweetest and handsomest young men in all of Europa.  Christoph was in Berlin with his former high school posse and stopped by the Cheese Endique Trifecta for tea&dainties before he had to head off to the Volksbuhne to see Andrea Fraser’s SRO performance.  I went to the Arsenal for Pre-Code Plus screenings of Taxi starring sexy pud James Cagney and a very young ravishing Loretta Young before she became the Catholic reactionary we all love to hate and the quite effective One Way Passage with lisping actress Kay Francis and sauve William Powell.

Got to hang out with that super smart, super sexy and well endowed film scholar Christian F. Weber who also has  a divine ass you could build a dream on.  December 16^th Christian’s book on A list Hollywood queer director Gus Van Sant will be dropped with a party and screening of his early film Mala Noche at Sputnik Kino on Hasenheide in Kreuzberg.

Lewis Clark one of my sweetie as humble pie students from Queen Mary College in London came through town to interview me as he is writing his Phd on me.  Well I can’t help it if I am a fascinating woman.  When I did tag team teaching in England back in 2011 with Jonathan Berger Lewis was our trusty student assistant and was just magnificent in handling all of our technical needs and just being a general Jackson of all trade.  I am excited that Mr. Church has been making quite the name for himself in the performance art and academic arenas as well. 

Received this emug from one of my old pals:

Mamita Chula,

I am working in my hotel room.  Last night I went to the downstairs lobby bar for a beer and sandwich.  It was raining outside so the bar was packed.  Sitting next to me was a guy in a suit, shaved head and glasses with dark eyebrows, he looked Italian.   He saw me looking at the flight update on my phone, I nodded my head.  He said, u've been stood up.  I said, no, the flight is delayed for the second time.  He said, u should have a beer.  At that moment the waitress delivered my beer.  So he lifted his beer and said cheers.  He then turned to continue looking out the window.  I ate my food and finished my beer.  We didn't talk any more throughout my meal.  He turned and said, I've been stood up, how about another beer.  I said, I just had an IPA,[I don’t know what that is] it was strong, i'm good.  He was clearly in need of conversation.  I asked, u from here or out of town?  He was here for work from Boston with his wife, but she had to stay for a dinner with a client.  that left him on his own.  I said, i'm going upstairs to get my jacket and then go out for some coffee, u can join me if u want.  He said, ur room is upstairs, Yes.  He picks up his jacket and says, I can go.  He then said, I can also suck ur cock.  Cock is such a straight man word.  I looked at him and gave him my funky look.  I said, i'm cool, i'm good with a young man wanting to suck my dick.  He replies, I'm 32.  So he followed me up to my room and wasted no time and started to suck my dick.  He got pig crazy and wanted to rim me.  I said, it's been a travel day and u are on your own if you want to rim me.  He did.  He rimmed me and sucked me.  While rimming me I pulled his white underwear down and his pants to see his rock hard curved to the belly Chorizo.  At the 69 angle, his dick slid right down my throat as he rimmed me.  He said, dude, fuck!!  why can't my wife do that and he busted a huge HUGE load.  I let him finish but ran to spit it out in the bathroom.  He wanted me to cum, but it was over for me.  Getting rimmed is not one of my top 10 things to do.  But I will go along with the process.

He washed up and suggested we have our second beer.  I said, I was good and he left.  He had a thick chorizo. 

So that was that

WARRIOR