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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

HAMER ON THE HEATHER



. . .With me one and only highland fling . . .
Yes Glasgow Scotland is divine and the Vagimule Davis doll is having the time of her life at the Glitch Film Festival presented by the dynamic lovesexy Digital Desperados curator team of Nosheen Khwaja and Cloudberry. Glitch is a queer, trans, intersex, people of color film festival that is completely free of charge.  More festivals should follow the Glitch example. I hadn’t been in Glasgow since 2003 when Franko B. was the artist in residence at the National Review of Live Arts at The Arches.  At that time I only saw my hotel and the underground venue with all the people coming to the performances being other artists or art students with no one outside of that realm.  Glitch which was held at the Center For Contemporary Art (CCA)seems much more open and inclusive then The National Review of Live Art which I don’t think exists anymore.
I was picked up at the airport by the wonderful Ben a sweet otter of a boy who has lived for 18 years in Canada but has just returned to making art in his hometown of Glasgow.  I just loved my accomodations at the Citizen M. Hotel in the downtown district.  The lovely and gregarious Scotish/Polish hotel ambassador Dominike gave me the full Monty celebrity treatment sending me a giant gift bag of designer products that included anatomical day cream believer daily face cream and puffy the eye bag slayer revitalising eye mask and champagne.  The Digital Desperados also presented me with a giant gift bag and a huge beautiful  bouquet of flowers.The CCA was only five minutes away from the Citizen M hotel but with my bad sense of direction I needed an escort so the wonderful David from North London was recruited as the celebrity wrangler.  David has that typical Sloan Ranger dry humour and had me rolling doubled back in stitches the entire time I was at the festival.  It was so good to also see Raju Rage who was in Glasgow from London presenting with his Collective Creativity Arts Collectiv.  I met the marveoux Raju when I was at the Perverse Assemblages Congress in Oldenberg.  Want to give shoutouts to hot Gordon who did my signage wearing a pair of leopard skin pumps, Lewis the tech guy and Michael one of the CCA head production managers who is the step cousin of my great friend and collaborator Glenn Belverio of New York.  Michael is married to a Scottish man and used to live in Pennsylvania and NYC but has been in Glasgow for several years.
Special kissyz go out to  The world famous Open Barbers: Felix & Greygory who came all the way from London who brilliantly styled my wigs and gave free haircuts to the audience members. The Open Barbers are part of a new breed of business entrepeneurs who have vision and purpose providing a salon experience at affordable pricing, non-judgemental environment welcoming people of all ages, genders and sexualities.  Please check them out at openbarbers.tumblr.com and tell them Ms. Davis sent you.  My make-up artist was a UK rose name Kaeleigh Wallace who had me looking so major Ms. Gorgeous that I didn’t recognize myself.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to see that much of the festival as I had to concentrate my energies on my performance and since I am a chatty Cathy every time I socialize it drains me physically.  Was happy I was able to catch the documentary film Kuma Hina directed by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson about the legendary Hawaiian transgendered activist that also featured a little 12 year girl who was so self-possessed in becoming the leader of an all-male hula troupe. 
Was also impressed by the expert curatorial selection of short subjects that included 1000 Cumshots and My Asian Boyfriend by Canadian Wayne Yung who I never heard of before but who must be part of  Nguyen Tan Hoang ’s gaysian mafia who I later found out has been living in Berlin for almost as long as I have.  Wayne is very tall and personable,  so strange that our paths have never crossed before, but Berlina is a big town and I live mostly out of a suitcase so there are a lot of queer artist that live in Berlin that I haven’t met or who are not part of the cosmos that surrounds The CHEAP kollektiv.  Something about Mr. Yung reminds me of that other Canadian video artist Benny Namerofsky famous for having had a sexual liason with Berlin’s gay mayor Klaus Wolvereit. 
Other shorts that really got my attention were: Drone by Sharlene Bamboat, In The Ladies Lounge by Fadia Abboud, Group of Seven Inches by Kent Morkman and the stellar standout Vogue Train by Kemar Jewel.
Was grateful to have a day of cooling down and the curators treated me to a fab vegan luncheon at the Mononucleosis Café in the centrale district.  The Mono Café is owned by a local musician who also runs several other cafes in town under the names of Stereo, and 78.  One intriguing fact about Glasgow is that it has the highest number of vegan oriented restaurants in the entirety of the UK.  Joining the Digital Desperados for lunch Miss Eva who is an old friend of my British husband Andrew “Lord Audre Beardsley” Gould of Brickstops at the Parlouclub fame, and juicy couple Sherrie from Canada & Ms. Evelyn Waugh.  I also learned a new Glaswegian word called Tattie Scones.  HA