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.
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
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: