Die FORMEL E elektrisiert Berlin
Very depressing Spring with the knowledge of the recent deaths of LA underground royals Henry Peck, Janet Cunningham, Tony Kinman and Charlie Quintana.
Of the four who passed, the Ms. Vagimule Davis doll was closest to Henry Peck. Henry was the mastermind behind the legendary indie import record store Vinyl Fetish, and the other half of the infamous gay “It” couple Joseph&Henry of the 1980's Melrose Avenue scene.
With Henry's then partner Joseph Brooks they brought the New Romantic and Blitz Kid scene of London to LA's trendiest with their famed nite spot The Veil that started at the Cathay De Grande and then moved to Club Lingerie where it was immortalized in the Kim Carnes video Bette Davis Eyes.
My favorite club that Henry DJ'd was the short lived Monday night hotspot that was located at the former Cattle Barons Restaurant on LaCienega Blvd. I don't remember what he called the club, but the space was one of the best for an underground niteclub in terms of square footage and atmosphere. Henry and Joseph also used to great affect an old black owned theater on Washington Blvd near Crenshaw for their long running Fetisch Discoteca, which crisscrossed the city at various locations. Henry was one of LA's most underrated DJ's and his musical taste shaped Los Angeles in the 80s and well into the early 90s. Something he has not been properly credited for.
Henry and I both share native American heritage, something that also linked us with Glen Meadmore whose Cree/Ojibwa mother grew up on a First Nations Reservation in Canada. My grandmother Mama Sarah is a Choctaw Indian and also grew up on a reservation. Henry was also a hairdresser and was known for his wild crazy colored hairdo's and outlandish outfits. Like Tomata du Plenty of The Screamers I considered Henry to be a mentor. LA has definately lost a valued treasure.
Janet Cunningham use to run the underground performance space C.A.S.H. (Contemporary Artist Space in Hollywood) Her security guard was a pre-Matrix fame Lawrence Fishbourne. She also ran a casting agency that specialized in providing freaks, punks and weirdos for Hollywood Films and TV. She cast me and my Afro Sisters in a film called Cold Dog Soup that starred Randy Quaid. Michele Buhler was the key make-up artist on that film. I never saw Cold Dog Soup. Maybe it went straight to video. Movies with dog in the title are usually never big box office hits. Janet was a very dear, sweet lady and a major contributor to making LA of the 1980s unforgettable with her take on art and performance.
Tony Kinman along with his brother Chip were in the first wave punk band The Dils and later the indie country group Rank & File.-my fav, and Blackbird. I thought that the brothers were sexy in a lanky asphalt cutie sort of way. I never knew them but I admired them from afar. Tony died age 63.
I also didn't know Charlie Quintana who was the drummer of Tito Larriva's band the Plugz and later Cruzados. In his youth I was very hot for Charlie and the guy he later joined forces with Mike Ness of Social Distortion. I remember at one of those famous art punk New Year's Eve party's shamelessly flirting with Charlie and Mike Ness to no avail. I couldn't compete with Sean DeLear who always carried strong marijuana with her to give to straight boys, who after toking on it would somehow wind up shagging her. I was forever jealous of Sean D for her ability to always get her sex needs met. RIP Sean D and Charlie Q.
Norman von Holtzendorf my German cousin on my fathers side who lives in New York City and works as a high powered international lawyer sent me the book Mexico by Duncan MacLeod. Duncan use to be a club kid in 1980s and in the early aughts was in the most excellent alt country folk band The Acres whom I championed.
Mexico is part of the Psychotic Break Series by Duncan that playfully delves into his youth and struggles with mental illness. I read the first book of the series 5150 A Transfer, with Mexico being the third book. Hopefully Duncan will send me the second.
Duncan has a nice relaxed style of writing that is breezy and intoxicating. His books are very hard to put down. You keep reading until you're finished. Mexico is also quite lovesexy in the description of his homo antics and situations. Below is a little interview I did with Duncan via smug:
VD:... I loved your first book and your band The Acres. Your are this centuries super post punk Sinclair Lewis.
DM: I'm so glad you loved 5150. When you and I first met way back in olden times, I had just recovered from all that nonsense. I was an avid reader of Fertile LaToyah Jackson Quarterly; I was star struck. You might not have guessed that I was successfully fighting off mental illness. I kept a tight lid on the crazy shit.
VD: All teen boys are mentally ill
DM: Some girls are bigger than others. It’s a matter of degree. Is he ill enough to get arrested and 5150’ed? Or perhaps he’s just down in the dumps.
VD: Where on the spectrum were your mental health issues at that time?
DM: I was officially diagnosed with 'Schizophreniform Disorder' which is roughly defined as a psychotic episode lasting between one and six months. It means "Looks like schizophrenia, but it's not". It looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker. Over the years, different doctors have given their own diagnosis - Atypical Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Acute Psychosis followed by Depression...the names are just helpful labels when they decide what pills to give a patient.
VD: A lot of your writing in the first book covers the period of your living in beautiful, but lets face it a little tired San Francisco. Could you ever see yourself living in that city again?
DM: I doubt I could afford it. The San Francisco I left twenty odd years ago has become the Manhattan I fled thirty years ago. I love the many friends I still have there, but I can't picture myself returning. Besides, I bought a house with a swimming pool here in LA. I know the Zuckerbergs might afford a house with a pool up there, but not me or anyone I know personally. And of course summer pool parties in San Francisco would have to take place indoors because of the freezing cold fog.
VD: The relationship with character Fritz and Ethan in your book Mexico seems ideal to me, being able to worship a juicy musclehunk. Why wasn't that enuf for the Ethan Character?
DM: Ethan didn’t totally dislike what was happening with Fritz. He needed somebody to pair up with. Fritz was using Ethan for his language skills, and Ethan was getting very fancy scraps in return. But they were still scraps. Ethan wanted a hand-holding kissy-poo sex boyfriend. Plus Fritz got really scary when he drank tequila.
VD: What's in store for Ethan in the series conclusion?
DM: Ethan goes down a new rabbit hole full of depression, needles and spoons. I wrote the first draft. Editing is taking a lot more time than I planned. It’s hard to know how much to keep in. I don’t want to make my readers ill with details, nor do I want to leave out the grit and grime. I’m trying to keep it sloppy and sleazy.
VD: Wish Ethan,Cory and the young Mexican character had engaged in a hot buttery threegy.
DM: An older, wiser Ethan might have allowed that to happen. He let his injured ego and broken heart get in the way.
VD: As someone who has never had a boyfriend let alone lived as part of male pattern lesbian domesticity I don't understand the world of coupledom.
DM: I’ve been in a lesbianesque couple for going on sixteen years now. I don’t know how it happened. I was at an age where being a bear looked really good on me, so I had a lot of suitors. Rafael stuck. I always trip up when I call him my “husband.” It just sounds so weird. My mother had husbands. What is really helpful about being married, besides the “I Love Yous” and the ways we take care of each other, is the sharing of money. We have shared money in a joint account, and separate money in our own private accounts. Shared money pays the bills and buys groceries. Separate money pays for whatever else we want. That’s coupledom in 250 words or less.
Be sure to visit Duncan’s author page: http://www.amazon.com/author/duncanmacleod
*
My West Coast Gallerist Amy Adams of Adams & Ollman Gallery just sent me her schedule for the rest of Spring and into Summer 2018 with the illustrious artists she works with. Check it out:
NEWS, EVENTS
VOLUME I BY MICHAEL STIPE
WITH JONATHAN BERGER
JONATHAN BERGER
901 WASHINGTON BLVD.
VEDA, FLORENCE, ITALY
OPENING MAY 25
ORIGINAL SIN, A CONCERT BY SUSANNE SACHSSE AND XIU XIU
WITH VAGINAL DAVIS
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN BY JONATHAN BERGER
EUROPEAN TOUR, VARIOUS DATES AND LOCATIONS
KATHERINE BRADFORD, RITUAL
ACQUIRED BY THE PORTLAND ART MUSEUM
WITH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF VICTOR PLATT
JOY FEASLEY AND PAUL SWENBECK
OUT, OUT, PHOSPHENE CANDLE
JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER, SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2
PERFORMANCE BY MARTHA MCDONALD WITH LAURA BAIRD
SATURDAY, MAY 12 AND SUNDAY, MAY 13
PAUL SWENBECK
AWARDED 2018 SACHS PROGRAM FOR ARTS INNOVATION GRANT
ELLEN LESPERANCE
AWARDED 2018 LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY FOUNDATION GRANT
ELLEN LESPERANCE'S ESSAY, FEMINIST VISUAL TACTICS
INCLUDED IN MAKERS, CRAFTERS, EDUCATORS, ROUTLEDGE
RYAN MCLAUGHLIN
SOLO EXHIBITION
ATLANTA CONTEMPORARY
OPENING JUNE 5
MARLON MULLEN, UNTITLED
ACQUIRED BY THE PORTLAND ART MUSEUM
WITH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF SHANE AKEROYD
CONNY PURTILL
IN CONVERSATION WITH JONATHAN GRIFFIN
ACID FREE ART BOOK MARKET, LOS ANGELES
SUNDAY, MAY 6 AT 4PM
BILL WALTON
FRITH STREET GALLERY, LONDON
CONTINUES THROUGH JUNE 23
CURRENT AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
KATHERINE BRADFORD, MAGENTA NIGHTS
THROUGH JUNE 2
INSTALLATION IMAGES
JAMES CASTLE
OPENING JUNE 8
CONDO NEW YORK
WITH CHAPTER GALLERY
JUNE 29–JULY 27
Janet Cunningham use to run the underground performance space C.A.S.H. (Contemporary Artist Space in Hollywood) Her security guard was a pre-Matrix fame Lawrence Fishbourne. She also ran a casting agency that specialized in providing freaks, punks and weirdos for Hollywood Films and TV. She cast me and my Afro Sisters in a film called Cold Dog Soup that starred Randy Quaid. Michele Buhler was the key make-up artist on that film. I never saw Cold Dog Soup. Maybe it went straight to video. Movies with dog in the title are usually never big box office hits. Janet was a very dear, sweet lady and a major contributor to making LA of the 1980s unforgettable with her take on art and performance.
Tony Kinman along with his brother Chip were in the first wave punk band The Dils and later the indie country group Rank & File.-my fav, and Blackbird. I thought that the brothers were sexy in a lanky asphalt cutie sort of way. I never knew them but I admired them from afar. Tony died age 63.
I also didn't know Charlie Quintana who was the drummer of Tito Larriva's band the Plugz and later Cruzados. In his youth I was very hot for Charlie and the guy he later joined forces with Mike Ness of Social Distortion. I remember at one of those famous art punk New Year's Eve party's shamelessly flirting with Charlie and Mike Ness to no avail. I couldn't compete with Sean DeLear who always carried strong marijuana with her to give to straight boys, who after toking on it would somehow wind up shagging her. I was forever jealous of Sean D for her ability to always get her sex needs met. RIP Sean D and Charlie Q.
Norman von Holtzendorf my German cousin on my fathers side who lives in New York City and works as a high powered international lawyer sent me the book Mexico by Duncan MacLeod. Duncan use to be a club kid in 1980s and in the early aughts was in the most excellent alt country folk band The Acres whom I championed.
Mexico is part of the Psychotic Break Series by Duncan that playfully delves into his youth and struggles with mental illness. I read the first book of the series 5150 A Transfer, with Mexico being the third book. Hopefully Duncan will send me the second.
Duncan has a nice relaxed style of writing that is breezy and intoxicating. His books are very hard to put down. You keep reading until you're finished. Mexico is also quite lovesexy in the description of his homo antics and situations. Below is a little interview I did with Duncan via smug:
VD:... I loved your first book and your band The Acres. Your are this centuries super post punk Sinclair Lewis.
DM: I'm so glad you loved 5150. When you and I first met way back in olden times, I had just recovered from all that nonsense. I was an avid reader of Fertile LaToyah Jackson Quarterly; I was star struck. You might not have guessed that I was successfully fighting off mental illness. I kept a tight lid on the crazy shit.
VD: All teen boys are mentally ill
DM: Some girls are bigger than others. It’s a matter of degree. Is he ill enough to get arrested and 5150’ed? Or perhaps he’s just down in the dumps.
VD: Where on the spectrum were your mental health issues at that time?
DM: I was officially diagnosed with 'Schizophreniform Disorder' which is roughly defined as a psychotic episode lasting between one and six months. It means "Looks like schizophrenia, but it's not". It looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker. Over the years, different doctors have given their own diagnosis - Atypical Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Acute Psychosis followed by Depression...the names are just helpful labels when they decide what pills to give a patient.
VD: A lot of your writing in the first book covers the period of your living in beautiful, but lets face it a little tired San Francisco. Could you ever see yourself living in that city again?
DM: I doubt I could afford it. The San Francisco I left twenty odd years ago has become the Manhattan I fled thirty years ago. I love the many friends I still have there, but I can't picture myself returning. Besides, I bought a house with a swimming pool here in LA. I know the Zuckerbergs might afford a house with a pool up there, but not me or anyone I know personally. And of course summer pool parties in San Francisco would have to take place indoors because of the freezing cold fog.
VD: The relationship with character Fritz and Ethan in your book Mexico seems ideal to me, being able to worship a juicy musclehunk. Why wasn't that enuf for the Ethan Character?
DM: Ethan didn’t totally dislike what was happening with Fritz. He needed somebody to pair up with. Fritz was using Ethan for his language skills, and Ethan was getting very fancy scraps in return. But they were still scraps. Ethan wanted a hand-holding kissy-poo sex boyfriend. Plus Fritz got really scary when he drank tequila.
VD: What's in store for Ethan in the series conclusion?
DM: Ethan goes down a new rabbit hole full of depression, needles and spoons. I wrote the first draft. Editing is taking a lot more time than I planned. It’s hard to know how much to keep in. I don’t want to make my readers ill with details, nor do I want to leave out the grit and grime. I’m trying to keep it sloppy and sleazy.
VD: Wish Ethan,Cory and the young Mexican character had engaged in a hot buttery threegy.
DM: An older, wiser Ethan might have allowed that to happen. He let his injured ego and broken heart get in the way.
VD: As someone who has never had a boyfriend let alone lived as part of male pattern lesbian domesticity I don't understand the world of coupledom.
DM: I’ve been in a lesbianesque couple for going on sixteen years now. I don’t know how it happened. I was at an age where being a bear looked really good on me, so I had a lot of suitors. Rafael stuck. I always trip up when I call him my “husband.” It just sounds so weird. My mother had husbands. What is really helpful about being married, besides the “I Love Yous” and the ways we take care of each other, is the sharing of money. We have shared money in a joint account, and separate money in our own private accounts. Shared money pays the bills and buys groceries. Separate money pays for whatever else we want. That’s coupledom in 250 words or less.
Be sure to visit Duncan’s author page: http://www.amazon.com/author/duncanmacleod
*
My West Coast Gallerist Amy Adams of Adams & Ollman Gallery just sent me her schedule for the rest of Spring and into Summer 2018 with the illustrious artists she works with. Check it out:
NEWS, EVENTS
VOLUME I BY MICHAEL STIPE
WITH JONATHAN BERGER
JONATHAN BERGER
901 WASHINGTON BLVD.
VEDA, FLORENCE, ITALY
OPENING MAY 25
ORIGINAL SIN, A CONCERT BY SUSANNE SACHSSE AND XIU XIU
WITH VAGINAL DAVIS
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN BY JONATHAN BERGER
EUROPEAN TOUR, VARIOUS DATES AND LOCATIONS
KATHERINE BRADFORD, RITUAL
ACQUIRED BY THE PORTLAND ART MUSEUM
WITH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF VICTOR PLATT
JOY FEASLEY AND PAUL SWENBECK
OUT, OUT, PHOSPHENE CANDLE
JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER, SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2
PERFORMANCE BY MARTHA MCDONALD WITH LAURA BAIRD
SATURDAY, MAY 12 AND SUNDAY, MAY 13
PAUL SWENBECK
AWARDED 2018 SACHS PROGRAM FOR ARTS INNOVATION GRANT
ELLEN LESPERANCE
AWARDED 2018 LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY FOUNDATION GRANT
ELLEN LESPERANCE'S ESSAY, FEMINIST VISUAL TACTICS
INCLUDED IN MAKERS, CRAFTERS, EDUCATORS, ROUTLEDGE
RYAN MCLAUGHLIN
SOLO EXHIBITION
ATLANTA CONTEMPORARY
OPENING JUNE 5
MARLON MULLEN, UNTITLED
ACQUIRED BY THE PORTLAND ART MUSEUM
WITH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF SHANE AKEROYD
CONNY PURTILL
IN CONVERSATION WITH JONATHAN GRIFFIN
ACID FREE ART BOOK MARKET, LOS ANGELES
SUNDAY, MAY 6 AT 4PM
BILL WALTON
FRITH STREET GALLERY, LONDON
CONTINUES THROUGH JUNE 23
CURRENT AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
KATHERINE BRADFORD, MAGENTA NIGHTS
THROUGH JUNE 2
INSTALLATION IMAGES
JAMES CASTLE
OPENING JUNE 8
CONDO NEW YORK
WITH CHAPTER GALLERY
JUNE 29–JULY 27
*
Had a deliriously lovely girlish birthday luncheon catching up with the great Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus of Arsenal Institut fur Film und Video Kunst at Osteria No. 5 in Kreuzberg's Mehringdamm Corridor. The day was bright and bounteous, with a little chill in the shade, but oh so blue and clear in the glorious sunlight. You are probably wondering if we were gossiping about you. Well rest assured we were. Hahahahaha