DAS IST DRIN

Klatsch & Tratsch

For those of you visiting Berlina Royale as summer comes to an end, there are a few must see eventas taking place that I highly recommend.

The first happens Saturday September 1^st 7-10pm which is the opening and book launch of Elektro-Drucker at Kotti-Shop.  On hand will be Elektrik-Kaffee:  cake, tea & Plattenauflegen by the artists & DJ MFX of ReBoot FM.  Kotti-Shop is at Adalberstr 4 Berlin 10999

www.kotti-shop.net

One of my brilliant Weissensee Art Akademy ex students Annette Knol, a feminist leader if ever there was one, has been part of the Kotti Shop Familia since 2008 despite forays to New York City and other parts known and unknown.  

Annette along with Ursula Doebereiner, Katharina Schmidt have created a fab new artist book AUTO BODIES #1 AT Extrapool with Knust Press.

Elektro-Drucker is a publication and exhibition of work made with the help of machines, guidelines, rules and tools with various levels of precision and definition applied by the five contributing artists: Doebereiner, Knol, Schmidt, Dirk Krecker, and Thomas Rehnert.

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That ultimate teene idol to the world Christeene is performing in concert at the world famous Berghain Club in East Berlin.  If you are not familiar with Christeene just let me tell you that she is based in Texas and in a few short years has turned into a global phenom!  She is literally one of the kind of girls you read about in those damn high fallutin New Wave magazines.

Do  yourself a big favour and check her show out at Berghain September 5^th starting early at 8pm.  It’s a music concert evening not a techno throbathon so those of you who don’t like going out on school nights can take delight in that.

I first became aware of Christeene through my good friend the Paris based fashion designing kingpin Rick Owens, who called me up almost a decade a go and told me that his pal needed someplace to perform in Berlin.  He sent me some videos and I immediately agreed that the place for her was Pork run by the late Tennessee Brian Claflin and writer Travis Jeppesson at Ficken 3000.  Well of course the Berliners loved her, and now she is being embraced by galaxinas near and far. 

Her opening act is none other then the legendary muse, life &work partner of Rick Owens and divinity known throughout the world as Michele Lamy or HUN Atila.  

I have known Michele since 1980, and she is a walking tenundra, and a to-tal original dreamcake.  She has always performed, but has been getting a lot of attention of late with her varied art and music collaborations.  Lamy is also a prizewinning boxer and oversees a multitude of projects under the banner Lamyland, which is the only theme park I would ever want to venture in. 

Under Owenscorp, Rick handles the tailored mens and womenswear while Michele purveys the luxe furniture and homewear.  What she will do at Berghain is anyone’s guess, but its guaranteed to be memorable.  The Vagimule doll will join in on the antics DJaning in her humble erratic style playing music no one wants to hear of course.

The next evening Thursday Sept 6^th at the site specific location of the Prinzessinnengarten-Berlin Kreuzberg am Moritzplatz my performative film event Contemporary Vinegar Syndrome will take place with the theme Borscht Belt Modalities with a screening of the 16mm film A Jumpin Night in the Garden of Eden 1988 directed by Michal Goldman which is a zany and insightful musical docu on all things Klezmer.  

Also screening is a short video film Granpa Sam 2001 I directed with Marc Siegel about the famed celebrity photographer Sam Siegel who is the grandfather of CHEAP Kollektiv’s Marc Siegel aka: Marcuse Siegelstein.  The short subject features fotos from Sam Siegel’s ouvre as an award winning press agent and photographer of Hollywood, Broadway and the Catskills Circuit.  

Be prepared to have a Nebish-off so come ready to Kavetch and Schlepp through the nite with some spirited fun,  and humorous surprises.

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That handsome hunk of a British sex god Andrew Gould came through Berlin awhile back and everywhere he went men were trying to kidnap him, and get him inside their boudoiric clutches.  An English accent coupled with a humoungous penis isn’t anything to sneeze at.

Was invited to a delicious midnight supper at the famous table of Susanne Sachsse that included Canadian film director Bruce “Judy” LaBruce, John David Washington the handsome bubble butt actor son of Denzel Washington and star of Spike Lee’s engaging new film Black Klansman, and his bromantic partner Henry Golding the hunky hunk British TV presenter and breakout matinee idol of the new movie Crazy Rich Asians.  Word has it on the streets of SoHo that the very photogenic Euroasian Mr. Golding will be featured in LaBruce’s next film Twincest.  I am not one to gossip so you know you didn't hear it from me.

The guest of honor at the din din was the gorgeous and stylish New York diva Viva Ruiz of Thank God For Abortion project who along with La Sachsse stars in Judy’s hit film The Missandrists.  A glorious time was had by all up into the wee morning hours.

With the recent death of superstar Aretha Franklin I started musing that she should have  had a major film career after her appearance in 1980s Blues Brothers movie.  I remember at the time there was talk that she was going to star in a Bessie Smith biopic.  Lame ass Hollywood.

Barbara Harris who also died was one of my favorite character actresses.  I adored her in Alfred Hitchcock’s Family Plot, the original Freaky Friday with Jodie Foster, Stanley Donen’s MovieMovie and singing “It Don’t Worry Me in Robert Altman’s Nashville.

I am in a very sad state of affairs as my nephew Brian Keith Taylor also died age 49 last week.  Brian had a massive heart attack.  He and his older brother Mark Denning Taylor inherited a heart abnormality from their deadbeat dad.  Both of my nephews died the same age, ten years apart.  Brian was strange as a baby, and toddler.  He always had a worried expression on his face looking sad and forelorn.  Maybe that’s why he wound up joining the military.  That and there are few options for work in the USA for working class black men.

My happiest memories with him was taking him on long excursions through the city discovering new parks and playgrounds in different areas of town.  I would also take him to the observation decks of the tallest skyscrapers in Downtown Los Angeles and I would spend hours reading to him Frank L. Baum's Oz books in the childrens section of the beautiful Downtown Library.  I pretty much raised him from the time I was in Primary School to High School.  I will never forget running into some of my classmates in middle school,and they asked me why my nephew called me Mommy.  I explained that  whoever was taking care of him at the moment became Mommy as my oldest sister Gracie Lee Taylor was always working three or four low wage jobs and was never around much as he was growing up.  During summer and holiday breaks I was Mommy #1.

My nephew married young to a woman who was a good time Sally named Dion and had a son named Jonathan and a daughter named Jazmin.  All of his children took after me and were quite studius doing well in school.  Jonathan followed me to University and is now working as a Chemical Engineer.  Jazmin graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and teaches Music Theory at a prestigious music academy. 

Brian Keith’s two youngest children from his second wife Jamie are 16 and 13 and are A students on the Dean’s List of their prep school in Lancaster.   The childrens mother Jamie grew up in Washington State to a racist family who disowned her after she married my nephew.

Jamie was hoping my nephew would be more fun and spontaneous like the Black rappers she idolized.  My nephew was very rigid, controlling and conservative.  He loved housework and did the majority of the cooking, cleaning and childcare.   Brian was also a bit of a fussbudget and neatnick.  Even as an adolescent his room was spotless, and he made his bed with military procision.  In the Army he was a beloved cook. 

Both my nephew and niece had to move out of LA County as they couldn´t afford it anymore. The cost of living in Southern California is astronomical!  My niece who I can’t believe is 40 years old now, lives in the high desert with her husband and five children.

Luckily my nephew didn’t have any more children with his last wife Annabella.  Poor Annabella he married just a few years ago in Manilla is the younger sister of his Filipina Step Grandmother.  Now that my nephew is dead she is left without a social security number, greencard, official papers or documents to stay in the country.

My immediate family is drastically shrinking, and pangs of mortality is making me very depressed.  Thank goddess for therapy.

REISETIPPS DE LUXE

Reisetipps de luxe

Uncle Fishhook Jonas Mekas got the fullblown celebratory treatment with the recent culture festival Edit Film Culture at silent green Kulturquartier and Arsenal Institut fur film und video kunst.

Film Culture and After Dark Magazine were the mainstays I first discovered in the 1970s at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Biblioteca in Beverly Hills. 

Well actually, After Dark Magazine you could get at the newsstand or supermarket checkout as it was officially known as an arts/entertainment periodical, but one along with Dance Magazine that you could see full frontal male nudity in. 

Film Culture and After Dark were my models for queercore zine Fertile La Toyah Jackson.

The curatorial team for EFC: Christian Hiller of the deep manly vocal chords, Daniela Kinateder, Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Marcuse Siegelstein, Bettina Ellerkamp & Joerg Heitmann of silent green.

The excellent film program was at Kino Arsenal while the exhibition was at SAVVY Contemporary until July 22. 

 I was laughing hysterically at the Letters of Louise Brooks to Uncle Fishhook where she kept reminding him to send back her publicity stills. The opening of the festival featured a brash, loud and compelling concert by CHEAP’s Susanne Sachsse and Gina D’Orio of Cobra Killer with asphalt cuties Anton Garber and Robin Behling of Puff.

Wish I could have seen the documentary film about Barbara Rubin.  She was like the Sadie Benning of the early 1960s.

Thrilled at any chance I get to gaze upon that beautiful hot sex stud Abi Nilamber of SAAVY. He is one juicy piece of male joy.

Since my deadline for my next solo exhibition on the west coast at Adams&Ollman is pressing I couldn’t attend everything in the festival program.

Was able to witness the Saturday morning program which started off bright and early with the brilliant Juan Suarez. 

Was really impressed with Kalani Michell who gave a spot on dissection of Film Culture in a Box.  Pure geniustrata.  Miss Kalani is the young, gifted star scholar that everyone has been talking about. Kalani is very glamorous like my fav underated late 70s early 80s  actress Veronica Cartwright.  Veronica is best pals with actor Dennis Christopher of Breaking Away and Chariots of Fire fame.  I had such a crush on him when I was a teenager and later became his friend as he lived in Silverlake and has come to many of my events like Platinum Oasis where he introduced me to Miss Cartwright who is the younger sister of the child actress Angela Cartwright from the 1960s TV series Lost in Space and the movie The Sound of Music.  Sixty Six Degrees of Seperation with the Vagimule Doll.

There was a bit of intrigue in the presentation by Suliman Mohamed Ibrahim Elnour of Khartoum with his young lovesexy filmmaker translator.  Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus as moderator expertly kept the peace.  Didn’t get  to see the Thurston Moore concert, but heard fab things about it.  Thurston is a neighbor of The Love Camel, Andrea Novarin in London.

Crushed to find out that my neighbor Elga Sorbas, the Fassbinder star passed recently.  I ran into her life partner Eddie of  Australian punk band The Busby Berkeley’s who relayed the sad news.  Miss Elga was quite a striking presence in my kiez, and also acted as the social conscience of the neighbourhood, putting a stop to the loud unruly Sylvester Fireworks of a bunch of men in defference to the Syrian refugees who could be further traumatized by the earsplitting display.  It was always a joy to see her sitting in front of her storefront atelier holding court in a regal and majestic manner.  As an early Fassbinder star she was there with him in his theater days but didn’t allow him to abuse her.  She was in the Fassbinder films Katzelmacher, 1969, The American Soldier 1970, and The Merchant of Four Seasons, 1971.  I will miss Miss Elga.  She was a great lady, loving and very very generous.  She gave me some of her old real hair wigs and gorgeous fabrics that I used to decorate the piano at the last Rising Stars, Falling Stars.

Marcuse Siegelstein and I had a delightful time in conversation at the Friei Universitaet with the fourth in the No One Leaves Delilah Series.  The klatch this time was a (W)rap on Desire.  I started off with a poem I wrote using films with desire in the title.  Then I screened the “Take Off With Us” erotic musical number from Bob Fosse’s 1980 film All That Jazz featuring Sandahl Bergman, followed by Marcuse reading a poem by Frank O’Hara, then showing our art-punk band Ruth Fischer,  the experimental short My Levitating Arse, then our talking and riffing off of each other, and other hijinks when our nutter minds collide.

 I showed a scene from the 1961 Slovenian film Dancing in the Rain, Marc pulled out of his ass the incredible video short subject Lezzie Flick, more riffing and chittle chatting, questions and comments from the audience and then the big production number “You Stepped Out of a Dream” from Ziegfeld Girl 1941 directed by Robert Z. Leonard.  We had a very large audience that included my blood of Abraham son Assaf Hochman, glam girl Akira Knightly, fearless leader of CHEAP Susanne Sachsse, ultra fit British Chav actor Harris Dickenson with fellow English thespian Sam Claflin, Richard Gabriel, Trixie Schoenherr, Uli Ziemons and Spex journalista Franzika who had interviewed Marc and I a few days earlier.  Afterwards the wonderful curators of the event Susanna Huber and Christian Liclair of Asthetic des Begehrens and their crew took us to a nice fancy dinner at a cute Italian boite in Dahlem.

The next morning I was still groggy and exhausted but had be ON to meet the Norweigan journalista Bjorn Hatterud for an interview at the Schwartzer Café on Kant Strasse.  We had a divine time chittle chatting.  The next day I met with the very sweet American writer Robert Karron who is a friend of writer and artist Lisa Teasley.

More sad news via my old dance pal, the lovely  Marilyn Welch who was a member of the VooDoo Williamson Inner City Dance Theater of Lynwood.

Marilyn also studied under Miss Denise who taught classical ballet at the Stanley Holden Dance Center in West Los Angeles.  I also took ballet with Miss Denise with the delusion that I could become a prima ballerina.

Miss Denise aka:  Patricia Denise Galion died age 96.  She was quite a powerful woman, loving and serene.  I was definitely in awe of Miss Denise when I took classes along with Miss Denise's younger relations Michelle Karlich and Dina, two Hollywood Punkrock “It” girls that I ran around with in my wild youth.

Miss Denise also had quite a career assisting the greats in Hollywood like film choreographer Eugene Loring and Gene Kelly, whose son Tim Kelly was the mastermind along with the late Matt Dike of the famed LA clubs Nairobi Room and Power Tools.

Miss Denise was born in Canada and became a naturalized US citizen in 1997.  I will miss her.

Now I have to go off to an artist retreat where I will have use of a secluded studio in the Finnish Countryside to finish my new solo painting series Invitation to the Dance that features abstractions of famous female dancers.  This exhibit will open Sept 13^th at Adams & Ollman Gallery in Portland Oregon.  I also have ten paintings in a group show that opened at the Portland Museum of Art.  PICA the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art will welcome my artist talk on Sept 12^th.

Before running off to my retreat I had drinks with journalist Michael Scaturro who use to work for Bloomberg News and before that Deutsche Welle and NPR.  Now cute little Michael who looks like a teenager even though he is 36 is working for an Australian activist and politician as her speech  writer and main public operative.

Special thanx to my dearest angelis Skot Armstrong and his hot lover James Tallon of Science Holiday and The Museum of Fun for sending me this fascinating new book Between Friends-The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Mary McCarthy 1949-1975.  Skot and James can literally read my mind, and are always sending me the most scintillating tomes for my nightstand book review.

Just heard the shocking news that Jonathan Gold died of cancer at age 57.  Jonathan was one of my colleagues at The LA Weekly back in the 1980s, 1990’s up until the early aughts.  We also were the same class at UCLA along with Heather Locklear.  When I first met Jonathan he was this cute, nerdy ginger haired Jewish kid who was in a couple of arty punkish bands.  He was super competitive and snarky when it came to my art band The Afro Sisters and poked some mild fun at us.  My Afro Sister “Pop that Cherry” Jefferson aka: Priscilla Hazelwood who worked in the art department at the Weekly wasn’t exactly featuring his constant teasing. 

Like a lot of nerds I thought Jonathan wanted the attentions of a rock star.  He achieved this in sorts as a Foodie guru and restaurant reviewer par excellance.

Back in the 80s Jonathan was my editor of one of the most exciting Best of LA editions I ever participated in, and asked me to write about Funkytown aka:  South Central LA.  Which was a first at the time as no one was interested in the Darktown Strutters area of Los Angeles before.

The LA Weekly publisher Jay Levin had blacklisted me for some reason I don’t remember now.

It was Jonathan who got around Jay as Mr. Levin didn’t know my legal name so I just wrote my articles with that byline, and Jay Levin was never the wiser. Jonathan definitely had a streak for defying authority.

I also was on hand to witness the courtship of Jonathan and cutiepie Laurie Ochoa at eateries like Millie’s Diner in Silverlake, Gorky’s Downtown, and that amazing little Japanese restaurant on Beverly Blvd next to the Beverly Cavern.  Later Laurie became editor of the Weekly before I moved to Berlin.

Jonathan’s Foodiegeist writing was most compelling, but I felt his music journalism was even better.  I’ll never forget arriving to the original LA Hip Hop club Radio at MacArthur Park one Friday eve with my Afro Sisters and regular club crew in tow wearing our Buffalo Gal look.  Jonathan saw us enter together as a group and proclaimed out loud, “Oh my god look at them, they are doing Two Mules for Sister Sarah!”

MENSCHLICHE KRITTER

Menschliche Kritter

Didn’t have a working computer for ages so I wasn’t able to blogeet, which also prevented me from writing about my Cholita colleague Alice Bag’s second solo record Blueprint. 

Alice sent me the CD awhile back via her young cohort Seth Bogart of Hunx and his Punx fame. 

Alice has turned into a modern day Eydie Gorme’ with high caliber musical material like like her geniustrata songs “Sparkling Path”, “White Justice”, “Etched Deep”, and ”77” where she carries on with the likesis of the great Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and Allison Wolfe of Bratmobile.  My favorite track is  “Se Cree Joven” and I am not the only one crazy for this tune.  The video features my drag daughter Michele “Hell” Carr and the legend that is Phranc the Jewish Lesbian Folk Singer and Cardboard Cobbler.

It delights me that my sweetie pie La Alicia is getting her due with critical acclaim and sold out tours.  Nobody deserves the unabashed love, attention and  hoopla more then my homegirl Sad Girl of Cholita!

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Contemporary Vinegar Syndrome premiere was a sterling success at the Fichtenbunker in Kreuzberg.  The site specific location had everyone abuzz wondering what it looked like inside.  The convex wall that was our movie screen  that we dubbed The Convex Serviette was a big hit with the publicum who got to enjoy a double projection of Ulrike Ottinger’s Berlin Fieber as well as a surprise sneak scene from Ottinger’ famous Freak Orlando which was filmed on the top of the bunker.  The visionary directress was her usual gracious, soft spoken self, wowing everyone with her patrician grace and gentility. 

Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus opened the evening with remarks concerning the Arsenal membership drive.  Those who paid to become a member get all sorts of goodies including free entrance to our September and December CVS event, and entrance to Arsenal screenings for six months.  Now that’s a bargain.

The evening also included a double screening of two Terayama films in which we supplied the text with a range of literary material, Ela Troyano’s David Does Venus starring her hilarious sister Carmelita Tropicana and two different Bugs Bunny Cartoons. 

Scene and Herd mentality during the three days:  Fearless Leader of CHEAP Kollektiv Susanna Sachsse who provided the voice of CVS with Ashley Hans Scheirl who will be in Berlin for a year on a DAAD fellowship, Ulrike Ottinger’s beautiful girlfriend Nina with art photographer Annette Frick, Katherina Sykora, Michaela Wuench of bbooks Kollektiv, pretty ginger haired curator Anja Lueckenkemper, Florian Weghorn of Berlinale Talents, Razak Khan of the Center for Modern Indian Studies, Karo the new Arsenal Projectionist, Maria Klaus, Archive Project Publicist, Elena Baumeister, Archive Project intern, Milena Gregor of the Gregor  Klan the first family of German Cinema, Markus Ruff Head of Archive Project, handsome Toby Ashraf, sexy young UdK students Leonardo Lina, David Scholer and Zannick Spies, the gorgeous and stylish film curator Maria Morata, Sirkka Moeller of Berlinale’s Panorama Section. Dan Gunn of the Dan Gunn Gallery London and his big dick Dutch pal Robert who is the studio manager for artist Angela Bulloch, Susanna Huber and Christian Liclair of Asthetic des Begehrens, Shanti Ashtangi-Asgari, my German relation Clarisse Mehring, Mike Fenswick of Phile Magazine with statuesque best girlfriend Miss Erin, Stefania Daskalaki, DJane Bianca Kruk with Film Sound Designer Manuela Schinina, scholar Zülfukar Çetin and his international posse of EUROPACH: Emily Nicholls,from Goldsmith College London, Justyna Struzik from Jagellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and Finnish scholar Lina Bolde from Humboldt Universitaet.   Also glimpsed: Joel Gibb the baby diaper of the Hidden Cameras of Toronto, curator Natasha Ginwala, Piero Bellomo, our CVS crew of Gerrit  Woltemath, our trusty production coordinator, Daniel Hendrickson,the Jewish Muzlim, projectionists Bodo&Ina and bartender RoseLee.

Hollywood hunk of the 1950s Tab Hunter died.  So sad as he was one devilish piece of beefcake.  Back in the 50s he was lovers with Anthony Perkins but his most famous sex conquest was the entire water polo team of Pepperdine University circa 1957.  Way to Go Tab!

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Just received this shocking news that Robert Summers died in Alabama visiting his lovely sister Ruth Ann.  Robert was a young fagademic who was actually quite brilliant at times.  I collaborated with him on several projects beginning with Bricktops at the Parlour Club where he helped organize a series of mini lecturinas in the early evening of the club that was quite a success.  He did a longer version of a lecturina on Judy Garland Modalities at my 2011 MoCa Happening Dejecta.  Robert grew up in Whittier to Mexican and Jewish parents. His  auntie was the well known Los Angeles political figure Gloria Molina.

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 3^rd 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 20^th 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 & 29^th 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.