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Monday, June 18, 2018

NACHAHMUNGSSPIEL


Nachahmungsspiel

John Harrison and his older brother David Thompson were the most beautiful boys at Hobart Blvd Elementary School.  I was in the fifth grade and my teacher was the elderly and kind Dorothy Stevenson.  She looked like the actress who played Auntie Em in the Judy Garland film The Wizard of Oz.  I was elected to student counsel and David Thompson was Student Body President.  Hobart Blvd Elementary was situated on Olympic Blvd in the  height of the area now known as Korea Town.  Back in 1972 the Koreans were just arriving in mass, and the area was mainly populated by Japanese people who owned the many garden nurseries in the area.  The Japanese were moving to West Los Angeles and Gardena, a South Bay suburb.  Most Blacks lived South of Pico which was the unofficial border to South Central.  My family lived in a dingbat apartment built in the 1950s just a bit north of Pico in the area known as Mid City.  My primary school was then part of Wilshire Center.  White flight had taken place mainly South of Pico with the majority of whites living North of Olympic Blvd working in the insurance companies that lined Wilshire Blvd.
David Thompson’ s very plump white mother worked at State Farm Insurance Company on Wilshire Blvd just west of the gated community Fremont Place that was part of Hancock Park.  David’ s stepfather was Black.  This black man was John Harrison’s father.  David didn’t get along very well with his Black step father.  David had a round pie face and a husky built.  At least that was the term department stores like Sears& Roebuck, Montgomery Ward and Zody’s used to describe chunky boys wear.  John Harrison his brother, like me would be defined as slim.  Both John and David had very pale skin, rosy cheeked peaches and cream complexions.  The only thing that gave John away that he was part racially mixed was his very corse hair.  John looked very much like the bi-racial actor Wentworth Miller. They even have a similar sounding voice.
David and John were both brilliant students.  I was jealous of both of them.  John’s best friend was a goofy looking lanky white boy named David Gilliland.  David lived in a court apartment unit next to Richard Cadabona and his family.  The Cadabonas were mixed with white and Filipino.  I had known Richard Cadabona since the 3rd Grade.  Richard was neighborhood friends with both David Thompson and John Harrison.  It was through Richard that I got to hear frequent updates on the objects of my obsession.  I never figured out if Richard understood my interest in the two brothers. 

My family had moved to Wilshire Center in 1966 from Boyle Heights Ramona Gardens Housing Project.  I was with my mother when she found our apartment which was located at 1239 South Hobart Blvd #3 area code 213 prefix Republic.  Our zip code was 90006.  Why I remember all that to this day is beyond me.  I guess I have always been a font of useless information.
The woman who owned our apartment building was named Miss Alain.  She was a black Creole from Louisiana.  The reason my mother was able to get the apartment was because I was with her.  Miss Alain’s elderly mother was struck by how well behaved I was.  I was the perfect child, never squirming fidgeting plus I was adoreably cute and cute.  Miss Alain was also completely charmed and besotted by my beautiful mother.
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Went to Park am Gleisdreieck with Baby Diaper Joel Gibb of the Hidden Cameras.  Saw my favorite skater boi who was wearing short shorts that revealed every inch of his cakes da killer.  He was also shirtless and even Baby Diaper was impressed with his flawless rack  and general young male loveliness.  Also at the park was one of the Pet Shop Bears and his lover.  Since it was one of the German religious holidays, the  park was packadermed with humpy man Fleisch.  We also checked out the beach volleyball players who were yummy.
Later that evening went to the going away dinner of my gallerist Dan Gunn who has moved his gallery to his hometown of London. Joining in the festivities La Sachsse and Marcuse Siegelstein.  Dan cooked an incredible Springtime in the Rockies Lambdulla, baked asperagus and tira misu huhu for a decadent desert.  So my Liza Minnelli diet went right out of the French doors into a poplar tree.
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Spent a glorious time with the gifted young Los Angeles based artist Elliot Reed visiting Berlin from a whirlwind tour.  Elliot is a young, Black version of Jerry Lewis in his youthful prime of the 1950s.  They even have similar voices and body shape, and are love sexy in the same scintillating manner.
Everywhere we went together he was attracting oodles of new fans and admirers.
Daddy Ron Athey says that so many younger artists don’t have any references that stretch farther then Beyonce, and are obsessed with becoming embraced by the mainstream.
When that pipe dream curdles they wind up getting angry and lose themselves.
Elliot isn’t like that.  As Papa Athey says, “He croons, he patters, he teeters.  Yes that encapsulates him well.  Some of his pieces seem like they will fall apart, but they always work in the end in a very satisfactory way.  Plus he is very easy on the eyes as a great beauty boy.
Special thankx to Ruth Schonegger and Jewish Muzlim Daniel Hendrickson for hosting fabulous dinners and luncheons for Elliot.
Continued on tour with Original Sin as the weather spiked to hot and humid conditions.  Not the best friend to a woman already menopausel.  I didn’ t get much sleep in Cologne, though I loved staying at the Chelsea Hotel.  The hotel restaurant was divine.  We performed to a packed, eager audience at the Stadtpark which is one of the cities most famous venues.  The main curator  at the Akademie Der Kunste Der Welt is the glam and patrician Madhusree Dutta who was part of the Living Archive Festival in Berlin from a few years back.  She treated the CHEAPIES to snacks and drinks after the show as the kitchen closed early, and was a joy to be around along with Re-Phill Collins and his hot young students, Max Jorge Hindere Cruz who is back in Germany after years in Brazil looking very juicy and irresistible.  I also got to flirt with the wunderkind of the German speaking theater world Ersan Mondtag.
As the rest of the CHEAP gang head back to Berlin to rest from this leg of the tour the divine Jamie Stewart and I were on a train to Basel.  I had a solo booth with Dan Gun Gallery London in the Liste Art Fair called Juno Confiding Io to the Care of Argus where I mixed mythology with  gender pioneers from the Harlem Renaissance and early part of the 20th Century.  I clicked with something because during the VIP preview Dan sold 16 out of 30 paintings that were part of the installation.  I couldn’t believe it.  I also got press in The Financial Times as someone the collectors are demanding.  Well it was all a little too much for this olde lady to be sure.  My solo performance was a bit shaky, but I looked good in my Rick Owens twinset and dinosaur wedgies, and I don’t think I angered too many people making fun of the Bildungs Burgerlich.  Much thankx to Eva Birkenstock, Verena, Millina, Mr. Dan the Man and Mattias the big hands and feet photographer from Dusseldorf -They Call Me Rolf.
I did have a nice time with all the CHEAPies & Co.  Our concert installation at the Kaserne had a very strange energy, but Fearless Leader Susanne Sachsse and Jamie Stewart gave it their all with punk rockel panasche.  I find Basel a bit problematic.  Lots of eye candy though, but its not like anyone was interested in pounding the doll’s pud.
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Next up for the doll is Contemporary Vinegar Syndrome, The Convex Serviette Edition which is our new performative film event replacing the long running Rising Stars, Falling Stars program.
The dates for CVS is June 27,28 & 29th 8pm at the site specific location of Fichtebunker ----Fichtestrasse 6, 10967 Berlin-Kreuzberg. 
The program is divided into two parts.  The first will serve as a tribute of sorts to the visionary Lesben Feministiche filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger showing her Happening Dokumentation film Berlinfieber Wolf Vostell.  The second part will be performative with a screening of Terayama Shuji’s Les chants de Maldoror and Ela Troyano’s David Does Venus starring the fabulous Carmelita Tropicana.  Of course there will be surprises every night so you will want to go all three nights just to see them.  The event also serves as a membership drive for the Arsenal.  Space is limited so remember first come, first served.
Had a delightful visit with the legendary Miss Ottinger at her huge tranquil compound.  She was so gracious and loving. We had a very sweet girlish get together.  I still can’t believe I had a one-on-one with such a legendary,visionary force of nature who keeps in shape by swimming every single day and is working on another hot film project.