So
glad I got to spend a little more quality time with a dear friend and
colleague, the great Alice Bag of the legendary early LA punk
originators The Bags. Besides being lead singer and founder of the
Bags, Alice was the high holy priestess of early goth outfit
Castration Squad, new wave hooker trio Cambridge Apostles, Chicana
folksters Las Tres and my co-conspirator of Cholita the Female Menudo
and The Afro Sisters. I could rally off a long list of other Bag
accomplishments and music projects as she is quite prolific. I was
just so appreciative that she came back through Berlin after a
holiday in the right wing Republic of Hungary with her husband
Jailbait Velasquez. Miss Alice was going to spend a few more days in
the German capital with me, but she had to cut short her trip as her
father-in-law was in critical condition back in the States. We were
able to enjoy a spirited evening together at the Prachtwerk in
NeuKolln during the Neukolln Art and Music Festival seeing Baby
Diaper of the Hidden Cameras Joel Gibb perform a solo semi acoustic
set of his new country flavoured material. The tight assed,muscular
Canuck was donning a Nudie inspired goldenen suit just to add a bit
more GeorgeJonesianess to the proceedings which the packed house of
devotees appreciated. Thankx Diaper for putting us on your pest
list.
Sunday
Sept 4th
was the second installment of Rising Stars, Falling Stars – Sweet
16 millimeter at silent green Kulturquartier in Wedding.
The
sudden summer downpour didn't dampen anyone's spirits in the domed
Cupola to watch the rare screening of the 1976 Martha Coolidge film
Not a Pretty Picture. Picture combines fictive and docudrama
mashings to tell the story of Martha Coolidge's date rape at age16 in boarding school. The
young actress playing Martha at 16 was also date raped in a similar fashion while in high school, and
her boyfriend plays the rapist which adds another dimension
to the film. One of Miss Coolidge's friends from boarding school plays herself even though its obvious she is a grown woman, so
there is yet another layer after layer in a film that is still timely
as we continue to live in what I consider a rape culture. The discussions after the
screening were quite lively if not a bit somber in mood. Joining
Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Jewish Muzlim Daniel Hendrickson and Arsenal's sensitive
projectionist Olaf were Bettina & Jorg, Afrah Bayan of silent green,
Anna Muelter the delightful dance curator of The Sophiensaler,
recently back from Iran, Lovesexy Hannah Hurtzig of Mobile Academy
where I will be performing in October at the Kampnagel,Hamburg, “It”
girl Nanna Heidenreich and gal pal, Brazilian film couple Melissa
Dullius and Gustavo Jahn,artist Maggie Schneider, my top student from
Malmo Art Akademy Maria Norrman,Lea
Schneidermann and girlfriend Arnita Jaunsubrena who were my talented
students at Justus Liebig Universitaet Giessen back in 2014 Summer
Framing the Freakazoid-Doing-By-Doing Seminar, Lisa Teasley's charming German
fiance Daniel Dermitzel,scholar Joanna Schaefer, Facebook executive
David Marcus scoping out the Berlin scene for god knows what nefarious purpose, the
enchanting Ricke Merighi of Queer Lisboa and girlfriend Vera with
posse, film scholar Marcuse Siegelstein, who writes the best CHEAP missives to the mailing list, fearless leader of CHEAP and RSFS fervent supporter Susanne Sachsse and a plethora of her dearest friends and
acquaintances including the brilliant theatre director/set and
costume designer Ida Mueller,
Michael Duté, the König von Wilmersdorf, who is a fascinating
painter,his boyfriend Robert (I think that's his name), who's the son
of a famous photographer, Little Marc, visiting from San
Francisco,Christoph,the Magnificent German historian and
mathematician,James from Mendocino County wine country, who used to
teach Sociology and Trans Theory at the University of California
at San Francisco (UCSF) and was a go-go dancer at the old Christian
Farrow/April LaRue nitesport Bitter End in Hollywood.
I
also remember Boy James as a regular at such notorious 1980s underground haunts
as Fake Club, Plastic Passion, Dirt Box, Rhythm Lounge, Nairobi Room
and Power Tools.
James
even remembered every detail of SPEW 2-The Homographic Convergence at
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions where he saw an early Cholita!
Performance.
If
that isn't enough I even shrimped Boy James' big feet at my Bay Area oneoff
Natural Born Shrimpers(subtitle: Aunt Jemima Lite and HotSauce) in the early 90s with Joan Jett Blakkk.
Also
scene & herd: everyone's fav lesbiana Paula, an old friend of
Pia Thilman from the Drag Kingz of Berlin days, beautiful
guardian of the gate Richard Gabriel, handsome tall Afro
Brazilian/Brit actor Alfred Enoch(How To Get Away With Murder) with his fellow UK musical bubble
butt beau Jake Bugg, and Manuel Schubert aka Vicki Baum of taz, die
tageszeitung whose pod cast love it or hate it you can listen to and
share here: