ALPES MARITIMES

Alpes Maritimes

Manöver

“I am gutted!” as Ron Athey would say in hearing of the death of the incredible black feminist writer Ntozoke Shange at age 70. She was an author, poet and playwright. She was best known for the Obie award winning play for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf.

Ms. Shange also wrote the novels Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982) and Betsey Brown (1885)

Her sister Ifa Bayeza is also a well known writer.

I first saw a production of for colored girls in the 1970s and it literally was one of the major influences to my forming the performance group The Afro Sisters in 1978.

I always wished I had seen a production of Shange’s adaptation of Brecht’s Mother Courage.

*

There are more women in the world then men. Women have the power when they unite to devastate politically, socially and culturally. So with the American mid terms coming up its up to us to make some radical changes. It would be the first step in eradicating patriarchy in a series of tumultuous fell swoops. Take your passion and make it happen!!!!

*

The Vagimule doll has had some health tissues of late, and she is trying to get a handle on them with appointments with a stomach specialist, a cardiologist and other medical practitioners. The Vagiliac woman has also stopped eating bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. More updates as things progress. Wish her pluck.

My heavenly father figure the love god Ron Athey Jr. will be engaged with the world premiere of his new performance piece Acephalous Monster in New York City

· November 14-17 | 7pm

A Post-show talk on Friday, November 16th is with the great writer and performance art chronicler Cynthia Carr.

Best known for his boundary-pushing body mutilations, Ron Athey has been pursuing the transcendent and sublime for more than three decades. After the Death of God (famously proclaimed by the philosopher Nietzsche who anticipated the end of religion in Western society), Athey considers it one of the artist’s roles to invent new forms of ritual and celebration, to conjure the sacred as an antidote to the empty individualism of contemporary life. For his new work, Acephalous Monster, Athey turns to the Acéphale, the figure of the headless man, which inspired George Bataille’s secret society of the same name to combat nihilism and fascism before the Second World War in France. The headless or beheaded man is a powerful symbol of radical transformation, the driving force of all of Athey’s performances pushing towards the merging of humans and gods.

Don´t delay in getting tickets or they will be sold out. Athey´s performances are always SRO.

Performance Space New York

150 First Ave, New York, NY 10009

EINE EFFIZIENTE STADT

Eine Effiziente Stadt

Nimm mich mit!

Shrouded in secrecy the Vagimule Doll was invited to a press conference in the morning hours at the Zeughauskino on Unter der Linden.

There is nothing the doll loves more then a mystery, so she was well in her element. Upon entering the auditorium there was no clues as to what would be taking place. Then suddenly without warning or gumption four women entered the hall. One of the women seemed to be suffering from elephantiasis as her head seemed rather large and boulderish like the Rock of Gibralter. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Was this beguiling woman missing a face?

Everything became apparent immediately as one of the women, Franciska Zolyom the art critic and curator announced with great flourish the Artistic Position for the German Pavilion 2019 of La Biennale di Venezia as being none other then Natascha Süder Happelmann.

Ms. Happelmann indeed does not possess a functioning mouth so her artist speaker Helene Duldung gave a well prepared and succinct statement for her.

The ravishing Ms. Duldung spoke in a manner that was very comforting like Ulrike Meinhoff. It didn’t seem like anyone in the room had ever heard of Natascha Süder Happelmann, or maybe it was just me. Gazing upon her visage she seems quite intriguing, and one might venture to say that this clearly celebrated entity will bring something to the famed art event that has never been fully realized before.

*

Ted Cruz has rank ears.
As the mid term elections approach In the US of A I want to urge all my fellow Americans and expats to vote Democratic like your life depends upon it and it just may. The Democratic Party needs to take back the Senate and the House. If this doesn’t occur things will be more dire in the world then they already are.

In September when I was back in Los Angeles visiting with relatives I was shocked to hear some of them talking political nonsence, and since I am the only one in my family gainfully employed and they depend on my largesse I made it quite clear that I would not be supporting anyone financially anymore who doesn´t make the correct decisions at the ballot box. As Judge Judy would say, “Dumb is Forever” but not with my $moula in the hands of said X-offender.

My cousin Condoleezza Rice was in town staying at the Adlon Hotel along with Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger and other international big wigs. She emailed asking me to tea, but I shined her.

Went with Jewish Muslim Daniel Hendrickson to the opening of the Arsenal’s latest film series Family Affairs – Cinematic Relationships Between Georgia and the Arsenal. Buy the book of the same title its fantastic.

The film being screened was Natwris che directed by Tengis Abuladze from 1977. The Arsenal has the biggest collection of Georgian films outside of Georgia and Moscow. The movie featured a beautiful young woman who is in love with a poor peasant boy with a really sexy flat stomach and freckles. Her mother has pimped her out to a rich boy who is a very hunky macho young man with rousing big dicque arrogance. The kid with freckles was cute, but not as desireable as the pretty girls betrothed. If she had just given it a little time I think the girl would have been quite satisfied with the more dazzling slightly older young man. But alas she is caught by her mother-in-law with the younger hottie and gets paraded backwards on a donkey through town as an adulterer and left in the mud to die.

Very strange that the towns misfits, an anarchist, a nationalist, a soothe sayer and a bawdy buxom good time Sally are the only ones who try to come to the poor disgraced girls rescue.

Jewish Muzlim Daniel has spent a lot of time in Georgia and Armenia and has become well versed in the cultures, food and fabulous wine industries. If Georgia has men in their country that look like the two main young leads in Natwris che sign me up for an indefinite stay.

The other evening I was transferring from the U7 ubahn line at Yorkstrasse when on the end of the platform toward the escalator was this black busker dude with sunglasses, cornrow beaded braids and a giant keyboard. This man is American and looks a little bit like a cross between Sly Stone, Brandy the R&B singer and star of the 90s TV sitcom Moeshe, and late in life Sun Ra. I hadn’t seen him at this station in ages. It was quite late for buskering as it was close to midnight. Every time I have seen this poor man he seems a bit more unhinged. I have witnessed him in the past having explosive tantrums as people have walked passed him without dropping some coins in his keyboard case.

Berlin use to be a city where the low cost of living made it much easier to get by on very little. Of course with gentrification rearing its fugly head those days are over, and you see more and more people looking as ragged as they do in Berlin’s sleek sister city of Los Angeles.

When I first moved here you hardly saw homeless people or anyone begging on the subway. Berlin has always had crusties but they were just loveable good natured alcoholics and drug addicts who seemed very mild mannered in their out -of -it -state. Nowadays the crusties are getting more aggressive and manic, and with the housing shortage it seems like things are becoming much more desperate.

This black American busker has the worse singing voice I have ever heard. He belts out his bad choice of pop songs like Ethel Merman or Kate Smith. He gives me a run for the money in the horrid singing arena. Even though I have performed in bands since I was quite young, that doesn´t mean I can sing, stay on pitch or carry a tune. I don´t know this man´s story of how he wound up in Berlin. A lot of Americans come to Germany thinking its an easier market to crack in having a mainstream career in the entertainment industry.

Back in the 1990s a very nice talent manager in Hamburg had seen me perform the piece Intimacy & Tomorrow / Stupidity, Today as part of the Six Sex Weeks Festival, and said that If I could put together a band she could get me booked all throughout Germany doing popular American pop songs. I can barely sing the songs I write for myself, so the prospect of being in a cheesy cover band wasn´t exactly appealing. She looked at me like I was crazy when I told her thank you, but I wasn’t interested.

Its very true that a lot of people become performance artists because within the genre no one expects polished singing or dancing skills. With performance art its about being spontaneous and improvisational. The mainstream entertainment industrial complex may try to co-op elements of performance art but capitalist production demands more stringently rehearsed commercial fare.