THE MOTHER’S RECOMPENSE
Can’t wait to start digging into this new book called The Age of Desire by Jennie Field that is about writer Edith Wharton’s love affair with journalist Morton Fullerton.

Distracted by a curly haired dark blondine boy tourist with his familie while walking to the American Bibliotech at Hallesches Tor to do a little research. This kid is quite yummy and in a few short years he will ripen into a gorgonzolan.

Sitting outside of a Turkish bakery on Akazien Strasse when who should walk by wearing odd plastic sunglasses, a SuperFly chartreuse trench coat,dusky cowboy boots and tight animal print pants but a former colleague from my CHEAP Jewelry days Berlin-circa 2001. This person is much younger then I am and use to be cute in a goofy kind of way. Over the last few years he’s become insufferable. Everytime I see him I want to run far away. Maybe he is going through some odd change of life as he drifts into middle age that is making him repugnant to me. I thought it was just me and my particular prejudices but I am not the only one who has expressed this feeling towards him.

Berlin is not known as a fashion mecca. Wealthy people either dress conservatively in expensive dull clothes or the standard all-black uniform playing it safe. Then there are those who wear the most outlandish outfits without grace or elan. I’ve been known to dress outrageously, but I’ve always had good taste. Yes there is a level of taste involved with being an outrageous dresser. Many fail to recognize this.

On the underground I saw an androgynous person with what looked like 100 wigs carefully stitched together into a giant mop on their head that seemed to wear 50 lbs. While they looked a little uncomfortable as the wig tilted them to one side it was definitely a highly stylized look that worked on someone with a thin frame and whose clothing was rather simple and muted. If you’re going to do crazy hair everything else can’t be crazy and this person understood that. They chose to make a statement with very big hair and that was fine.

If you have ruddy skin it’s not wise to dye ones hair bright red. Also bleaching your hair platinum blonde or jet black isn’t always the best thing to do if your complexion is craggy as it calls more attention to the face.

The current trend of gay men wearing bushy beards and other forms of unkept facial hair is very unfortunate. Not everyone can pull off a beard. Most just wind up looking like a derelict.

What is it with libation loving Teutonic crusties in Berlin who are attached at the hip to their equally crusty animal companions? Seven am Pilsner in hand an unfortunate woman on the Hauptstrasse ---Kafkaesque, but in reverse--- morphing from a mangey canine/bug into some unrecognizeable humanoid shape,complete with a long dredlocked tendrell.

Wonderful time the other night with my Saarbruecken scientist. Dinner at an Indian boite off the Ufer--- scrumptious, and very private. Served by an arresting dark skinned Southeast Asian young man. Was he Malyasian or Cambodian? Couldn’t tell, he just wasn’t Indian or Pakistani. Was the gaysian flirting with me while I was on my dinner date or was it just my imagination? I am so deluded. I think everyone is wrapped up in the Haus of Ms. Vaginal Davis. Well if they aren’t they should be.

I had an odd encounter Tuesday. An inbred looking man in his early 30s came up to me on the street and froze glassy eyed staring at me with mouth agape. Instinctively my big sister to the world mojo kicked in and I held him in a mama grizzly hug. The poor and unloved creature melted in my arms literally purring as I patted his shaved Nosferatu shaped head. After 40 minutes he broke free crying and mumbling thank you in Deutsch, and went on his way. Sometimes its necessary to avail yourself to complete strangers.

For the last three weeks my Saarbrucken scientist has been enjoying a holiday here in Berlin at a giant loft flat on Paul-Lincke Ufer. I guess our little late summer love affair is opening up my reedy sex chakras as I have had many encounters lately with boys sniffing at me when walking on the street. On one moonlit evening a 26 six year old from Hamburg was professing his undying love.

I was asked if I was on Gay Romeo by a Swiss/Italo actor coming out of the post office. Of course I am not on any gay dating sites as I don’t believe in them. And just the other day a Humboldt University student who saw me give a performative lecture a month ago at the school sent my webmaster an email and wanted to meet for coffee to interview me for a project on performance that he is working on. We met and it became apparent that the 19 year old had a bit of a schoolgirl crush on me. He was a cute ginger/blondine with thick legs and huge feet in Birkenstock sandles. He was very adoreable like a big baby, but when you’re that young your body should be rock hard, not doughy from the three B’s of too much bread, bier and bratwurst.

Just today at the Xerox place a tall lanky Norweigan started a chittle chat while a bubble butt Turkish youth was giving me Ankara kitten mixed with raggle taggle Barney Google eyes trying to get my attentions. He was pretty but I don’t like men with little hands, little feet and no shoulders.

Even some muscular Afro-Cuban top model looking boy came up to me and boldly asked if I was a top. I think he was Afro Cuban, though he could have also been Brazilian with his honey colored braeun skin. He was very handsome with quite a sizeable rack on him, but I could tell he was a crystal meth queen because he was acting very tweaky and couldn’t focus while he talked to me which isn’t very flattering. I think his booty hole was dialating from the drugs and it was turning him into a jennyanykind.

Luckily I got a phone call from Love Camel and was able to excuse myself. When I finished the call I noticed he had trotted down the street with an aging sex lizard in leather pants who must be in town for the Fulsom Street Festival.

Will be in a group show called Bloodyminded that opens Sept 15th here in Berlin put on by the wonderful art children from New York who represent me at the Invisble Exports Gallery. This show will be at someplace I have never heard of called The Wye. Below is the link.

http://invisible-exports.com/exhibitions/44a_bloody/bloodyminded.html

HEITER BIS WOLKIG

Lately I have been overcome with thoughts of a group of girls I use to hang out with back in the early and mid 1980s in Los Angeles. They were a closely knit gaggle of middle class gals from the Valley and Hollywood Hills and I believe we first met at hardcore punk rock venues like Godzillas in North Hollywood, which was run by the Better Youth Organization of the Valley hardcore band Youth Brigade featuring the Stern Bros who are featured in the punk documentary Another State of Mind. At one time I had a crush on Sean Stern who went to Taft High School with Jane Wiedlin of the GoGo’s. Ok now I am moving in Finnigan’s Wake territory so please be patient with me and my island of the stream of conscienceness.

I could have also met this group of girls at The ON Klub in Echo Park on Sunset Blvd which was a mod hangout for the early two-tone scene in Los Angeles which was a spinoff of the British mod revival but with Southern California charm and personality instead of English angst. Some of the girls were in relationships with members of the mod band The Untouchables or their hangers on. The cutest member of the Untouchables was Clyde Grimes a very stylish black boy who I believe was gay and had a relationship with a young graphic artist named Rick Newsome who use to work with Robert Fusfield. I met Rick and Robert through my connection to the Mod Magazine Twist that was published by Dave Lumian. I started as a writer on Twist and later became a Features Editor and even tried my hand at selling advertising which I was lousy at. Some of the other people at Twist Magazine: the sweet cougar Tina Silvey who became quite a successful video and commercial advertising producer. I adored Tina, she had great taste in men and I believe married one of her youthful blondine angels. Then there was Maris Sofar also a cougar but who preferred urban black boys. She went out with one of the guys in The Untouchables for quite sometime till he dumped her for someone his own age. Oh and then there was Miri Day who later moved to New Jersey, got married and I lost touch with her. Dave Lumian was not only the manager of the Untouchables at the height of their popularity but also some other post punk bands like Downey Mildew. Anyone remember them? Dave was also involved in a lot of liberal causes an occasionally wrote for the LA Weekly. I liked Dave, but he was a bit nebbishy, he later married an Asian woman and had children with her and moved to boring Venice Beach. I’ll never forget that Dave Lumian when he saw the Afro Sisters perform felt that we weren’t political enough. Of course that’s something that a tired well meaning white liberal would say to a black person. Dave felt that because The Afro Sisters used humour in our approach that it lacked substance. That’s something I have been battling for many years with tired clueless critics of my work. I wonder what happened to Dave Lumian and his Twist Management Company. The girl who ran his business was this cutie pie named Laurel Stearns. Laurel was still working for Dave in the 1990s because one of their bands played at my Club Sucker at the Garage in Silverlake and that was most likely the last time I saw both Dave and Laurel.

Getting back to the middle class girl gang that I use to hang with----- Su Ming who later became a makeup artist at MAC Cosmetics. Su Ming was a party girl extroidinaire, and all around good time Sally. She could be very catty and dismissive but usually done in a playful mode. Her sense of style was impeccable and very sophisticated. I think she became a lipstick lesbian. One of her best girlfriends was another striking beauty named Dina who had the gait and poise of a ballet dancer, which made sense because her aunt was Miss Denice of the Stanley Holden Dance Studios in Westwood on Pico Blvd. Miss Denice had worked with Gene Kelly in the 1940s and 50s at MGM. I took ballet clases briefly from Miss Denice along with Dina and her beautiful blond cousin Michelle Karlich and my friend from UCLA Rachel Diaz. Michelle Karlich was a pure sweatheart and was not a ferocious partygoer, but she didn’t shy away from the party scene either and had a nice subdued style that wasn’t as trendy as the other girls in this clicka. One of whom was Kelli Stahlings who looked just like a young Judy Garland with the most ravishing pale skin and reddish brown hair. Kelli lived on Mulholland Drive and came from a very wealthy family. Her handsome older brother was a sexy skier. Kelli had such personality and could make a Doberman pinscher laugh out loud with the incredible comic expressions she wore on her face, and her style was that of an actress from the late 1930s and early 1940s. She didn’t look like someone from the modern era of that time in the 1980s. I really loved Kelli, she and Michelle Karlich could dig really deep with you but in a playful way. Did Kelli wind up married with children? Michelle Karlich and I stayed in touch for a much longer period of time. She even came to Bricktops at the Parlour Club and brought a gorg of her film industry gay workmates and drinking buds and they were having a hoot of a time. I forgot exactly what Michelle did for a living but I believe it was something within the administrative end of film production. She owned a lovely small house in Studio City and Fertile La Toyah Jackson and I went to one of her houseparties around the turn of the century. I hardly ever go to houseparties so that tells you how much I liked Michele. The other girls in this group were Jenny Klein who I met when she worked on Melrose Avenue at the store Graue that was run my Claudia Graue. I worked across the street at Retail Slut. Jenny looked like a more statuesque version of Molly Ringwald. At one time Jenny became part of the entourage of Cee Farrow and April La Rue, which was not a good thing. I will have to go into that at another rememberance. Laura who was a bit on the portly side, was Jewish like Jenny and worked at one time as a makeup artist at a makeup studio in the Beverly Center beore MAC cosmetics began its cosmetics reign. Laura later lost quite a bit of weight. Then there was Sherry who was very tall and use to act a bit ditsy, Valerie who was a model,Cynthia a Beverly Hills girl whose rich aunt supported her. This aunt must have been quite wealthy indeed as she owned a Faberge Egg. Cynthia started an underground club in the mid 80s called Social Lies which I always thought was a good name for a club. This was around the time I did a club called Barefoot Boy Club in a 1920s storage facility on Western Avenue at 8th Street. Cynthia now lives in New York. Back in the day she was diagnosed with Lupis. I hope she has that disease under control. There were many dance clubs at that time that we all went to with names like Power Tools, Nairobi Room, Dirtbox, Rhythm Lounge at the Grandia Room and Rhythm Louge SoHo on North Spring Street near the Woman’s Building, Larry Lazar’s many club nights and later Plastic Passion, The Apartment hosted by the notorious Cee Farrow&April LaRue and Tommy Gear from the Screamers, and a host of other clubs the names I forget. Also on the periphery of these girls was Peacefrog aka Steve who worked at Vinyl Fetish record store and was one of the first people to champion The Afro Sisters by playing our cassette tapes in the store during the day. Peacefrog was in a popular post Paisley Underground band called The Clay Idols and was a gifted poet. I think he now lives in Portland, Oregon. Through Peacefrog I met a girl named Andi and her boyfriend Dave Cunningham who would become an integral part of some early Afro Sisters performance pieces like The Inter- Racial Dating Game and Fertile’s Last Dance. Later Dave became boyfriends with Edith “Head” Gonzales who was rooommates for many years with Fertile La Toyah Jackson when Fertile rented a large Victorian house in Pasadena. I think Dave Cunningham still works at Amoeba Records in Hollywood being one of those middle class white boys who has talent—he was quite good in our stage productions, and he plays my boyfriend in one Afro Sisters early video shot on film, but unfortunately Dave didn’t have any ambition or drive. Maybe he’s a pothead, that would make sense. I know he graduated from UCLA in Film. He showed me one of the movies he made with Edith “Head” Gonzalez as the star. It wasn’t very good. For many years I had a bit of a crush on Dave. He was the ultimate dorky blondine white boy. I always go for the same type. One time when he was drunk we got a bit frisky with each other in his car, I think that freaked him out so after that he remained nice to me but kept me at a regal distance. Though he did call me one time during my reign at Bricktops at the Parlour Club. One of his gay friends was looking for a bartender job and had applied to The Parlour Club, and Dave wanted me to put in a good word for him with the owner Lenny---but I didn’t.

Through Leslie Beatty who was my first Clitoris Turner in the Afro Sisters and who worked at Cowboys & Poodles on Melrose Avenue I met Tim Hensley who achieved quite a local cult following in the late 80s with his band The Victor Banana. Tim Hensley and Dave Cunningham were classmates Grant High School in the Valley. Tim had another earlier band called Carousel of Death with Patrick McGuinn whose famous father Roger McGuinn was leader of the 60s pop group The Byrds. Tim also had another side music project called The InsideOut which featured my future PME bass player Dean Opseth who was in Peacefrogs band Clay Idols. Oh and Big Dicque Sneaky Pete Tomlinson my drummer with PME he use to work at CowPoo’s and would fuck Leslie Beatty while they were working behind the counter at the store. I’d walk into the boutique to visit with them and Pete would be giving it to her from behind. Ah those were the salad days on Melrose Avenue.

*

Was sitting in the park enjoying one of the last warm days of the season when a man came jogging past me and I swear he looked like a fusion of Don Knotts from the film The Incredible Mr. Limpett and 60s TV personality Wally Cox.

Did I mention that I saw Woody Allen’s newest film To Rome with Love at a press screening and its quite an unusual offering. I liked it better then his box office hit Midnight in Paris, but that doesn’t say much.

Judy Davis is amazing, but not given much to do but be the straight man for Allen’s set up to his jokes. Poor young Jesse Eisenberg he’ll never become a leading man when he holds the hand of a woman he’s suppose to have just boinked like it’s a soiled dish rag. It would have been far more interesting if Mr. Eisenberg and Mr. Baldwin were having an affair with each other. I think that was most likely the initial idea, but Mr. Allen balked on it as he has a hard time dealing with homosexuality. So instead we wind up with some two bit naturalistic magical realism.

Did I forget to mention I hate Roberto Benigni and all the other two feet tall Italian men in this picture. And isn’t it about time someone else started to portray Penelope Cruz in the Penelope Cruz role? Oh and please bring back Ann Roth as costume designer for Woody Allen films. And get a good hairstylist. Did the stars have to do their own hair and wardrobe? Ellen Page could have used some Dippity Doo or even Wet Lubricant on that raggedy mop on her head. I’ve never seen an ingénue looking so unkept in a major film property. Even though a lot of people walked out on this one I stayed valiantly to the end.

CAFÉ LEVITICUS

My Vagimulic relationship with the Saarbruecken Scientist has certainly opened up my sex chakras. Lately I’ve noticed that men who use to pass me on the street with disdain and a sneer are suddenly giving me the hairy eyeball. Even the young dot.com entrepreneur Aaron Levie is all wrapped up in the House of the Vagimule doll, though I think his interest in me is more business oriented as he thinks he can exploit my talent and not my Beyonce bubbled derriere.

After my last date with Herr Saarbruecken we left the fancy Turkish boite Defne on the canal and as he was walking me to the underground we ran into kJohnny Blue of the famed Blue Brothers on a date with his gorgeous young mom visiting from Portland, Oregon and prima ballerina Trixie Schoenherr aka: Beatrice Cordua. It was a round of merriment by all as we laughed and hooted along Kottbusser Damn. Mrs. Blue is an earthy and sensuous mother of 12 spirited and talented children, and kJohnny takes after his hot mom in the looks department with sparkly eyes, joyous smile and hearty laugh. Mrs. Blue is quite famous for shaking up the Catholic Church. Her current husband left the priesthood for the love of this great beauty. She and kJohnny had just returned from Lisbon, Portugal where they enjoyed a glorious mother/son holiday. One fun fact about kJohnny is that he is an expert seamstress. His momma taught him how to sew like an El Salvadorean mamacita in a downtown LA sweatshop.

Just heard that my old pal Rufus Wainwright just got hitched to his long time beau Jorn Weisebrodt who is the artistic director of the Luminato Festival in Toronto. Jorn appeared in a segment called Frau Unter Einflus of my 2001 omnibus film Berlin Stories along with Susanne Sachsse. Jorn use to be known for having the longest, thickest penis in Berlin, and after acting in a scene with him in my film where he is nude I can attest to his length and prodigious girth. Jorn is also a complete sweatheart, extroidinarily handsome and has aged very well over the years since I first met him when he worked for director Robert Wilson. The last time I saw him and Rufus was when I was their special guest at the Berliner Ensemble where Wilson and Wainwright collaborated on the musical project Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

INVISIBILITY BLUES

Got together with my darling Christian Weber for breakfast at East London-God Save British Food on the Mehringdamn Corridor. I always have a wonderous time with my beautiful young Phd boy Christian, who is so adorably cute, lovesexy and dorky with his tight muscular bubble butt and pre-raphelite pale skin.

Rising Stars, Falling Stars-We Must Have Music was packed to the rafters with a young, energetic crowd. Its really developing into something new and fascinating. The movies screened included 1929’s short subject St. Louis Blues starring Bessie Smith which was problematic with its stereotypical depiction of urban black life and violence to women so I had to give it a disclaimer. Still the movie is powerful for the strident musical force that is Miss Bessie Smith in her only film appearance. Paired with St. Louis Blues is the short feature by Amos Poe and Ivan Kral Blank Generation featuring startling appearances by Patti Smith, Television, Blondie, Talking Heads, David Johansen, Annie Golden who use to be in a New York New Wave band and had a feature role in the film version of Hair and the illustrious Jayne County when she was still known as Wayne County who stole the film with her Toilet Love costume and mock French fuck of an audience member with plunger. I loved how the film’s musical performances weren’t in sinq and the rough n tumble raw like sushi quality of the entire proceedings. Some of the bands in the movie looked very hippy dippy and sounded completely middle-of-the-road which shows you that 1975/1976 in New York and Los Angeles were definately transition years.

Enjoying the ambiance of the Arsenal’s Kino 2 during the wine reception a robust Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus in conversation with prima ballerina Trixie Schoenherr aka: Beatrice Cordua and CHEAP kollective’s fearless leader Susanne Sachsse, film historian Marc Siegel, Living Archives Markus Ruff with the Arsenal guest curator in residence Joel Pizzani of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mr. Pizzani will present his program 2nite at Arsenal at 7pm and also Tue-Friday at 8pm. Also seen the delightful young artist Andrea Bellu of Staedel Schule with her handsome brother Mathei,hunky Israeli modern dancer Assaf Hochman who will in Dusseldorf for two months dancing as fast as he can with his muscular little beau Little Alex of Macedonia who did a wonderful job on my make-up, and styling, the cute Portuguese thick haired art connection were turning heads with their sheer loveliness, and rock goddess Texas Terri made her first appearance to RSFS. Texas Terri has lived in Berlin since 2007 buts wants to relocate to London. Texas and Berlin superstar Zazie de Paris bonded over Jayne County who lived with Zazie when Jayne was in Berlin in the early 1980s. Breaking hearts with his tight bodied gaysien beauty the patrician Brown scholar Eng-Beng with Conor Oberst of the band Bright Eyes, DJane Manuela “Bianca” Kruk, lovesexxxy artist Pauline Beaudry and her handsome Italian girlfriend, NYU’s Performance Studies professor Tavia Nyongo, actor Jake Gyllenhaal blending in the background and feeling a little miffed that hardly anyone recognized him, muscular Uli Ziemons who has started going to the gym and will re-emerge even buffer by next month at RSFS Sept 23rd when we will screen the French musical Les Parapluies de Cherbourg starring Catherine Denueve, Muslim Jihadist Daniel Hendrickson whose piano intros are always the talk of the evening. Daniel will be leaving for vacation to Italy with his hot lover Piero Bellomo and will be greatly missed by his doll.

link of the current interview of FilmHighlights Magazine here: http://i.mixcloud.com/CBg1GD

WER'S GLAUBT WIRD SELIG

Had a delightful meeting with Andrew S. Blackley in the Tiergarten. Andrew is a young friend of Lia G. of Participant Inc. Gallery in New York. Of course any friend of the radiant and divine Miss Lia is a friend of mine. Andrew is a sweet and charming 26 year old and I took him on a little tour of the park and then the nearbye gayborhood of Schoeneberg. A delightful time was had by all. Andrew went to the Art Institute of Chicago where I will be visiting in the Spring of 2013. I haven’t been a visiting artist to the school since the mid 1990s so I am looking forward to making my return. Actually I haven’t been to Chicago since 2001 when I was on the Notorious C.H.O tour with Margaret Cho.

The sweet young art children of Invisible Exports Gallery in New York City are coming to Berlin in September to do a show at The Wye called Bloodlines. I will have some work in this show that opens on Sept 15th. I had some paintings in their show Notes on Notes on Camp last year and they sold quite a few of my paintings at that exhibition as well as at major art fairs. My other young child of high art Jonathan Berger is planning a very special exhibit with “The Doll” for next year but I am sworn to secrecy so I won’t say anything more about it, but its bound to be electric.

One of my juicy young artists from London’s Kings College where I taught a block seminar last year called Framing the Freakazoid with Jonathan Berger wrote this lovely review of the VHofKB show at Antony’s Meltdown. I think you will enjoy it.

http://graham-russell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-voluptuous-horror-of-karen-black-at.html

WE THE LIVING

I am so tired of all this talk about Ayn Rand because of the new Republican Vice President nominee Paul Ryan----the tall square jawed tranny chaser that came on to me back in the late 1990s when I was making a visiting artist University performance in Milwaukee. The mainstream media has been trying to get me to comment about Mr. Ryan and have been badgering my web master trying to get ahold of me. I am not going to let myself be used by the media. Its funny how they send me emails saying they want to do a profile on my performance art career, but they are so not interested in my career just scandal fodder.

One of Tenderloin’s comrades in arms Andreas Stroiber is performing this Friday at Tannenbaum. Andreas is a cute, adoreable and very unique performer so please do yourself a favour and go and see him live. It will change your life. The info follows below:

Freitag gibt es Andreas Krach und seine Maschinen live zu sehen: Dubbig-lärmig im O Tannenbaum, Sonnenallee 27, um 21.30 Uhr. Im Anschluß: DJ Jerome & DJ Bankirai.

Und Samstag, ab 22 Uhr, mit Soul, Jazz, Funk und Discoplatten als DJ in der KIM Bar, Brunnenstraße 10.

Oh and here is the latest posting from Ernie Larsen who was just in Greece showing some films at some Anarchist Film Festival with his partner Sherry Milner. Ernie is an amazing writer, filmmaker and photographer. I wish I could post his fotographs as well because the text below refers to some things that he has photographed, but my blog posting skills are limited as I am a computer retard so that is why my blog remains olde school with just the text and nothing but the text, but I sure you can still follow what he is writing about. Enjoy.

Thessaloniki storefront: tautological graffito Taking nota ferry but a plane this time (mercifully), we returned from Crete to Thessaloniki a few hours before "It's the Political Economy, Stupid" opened at the Center for Contemporary Art, a government-supported museum which, as we were soon to discover, put together an impeccably-designed installation (mostly video projections) despite drastically reduced funding. Our friend N. was unable to accompany us to the port, where the museum occupies a renovated warehouse space: he was on overnight duty as part of a team of anarchists formed to protect immigrants against neo-nazi gang attack-an increasingly common occurrence. solidarity with immigrants a squat in Thessaloniki

At the airport we'd bought a good map of Greece, which would turn out to be very useful, a small Greek phrasebook which we never once consulted, and a small book of Greek jokes, none of them funny, nor identifiably Greek. However, our friend did tell us one anarchist joke. Two anarchists are sitting in a café in the Exarchia section of Athens. One says to the other:Let's go burn something down. The other answers: Great. Where and when? The first anarchist replies:Enough theory, already!

That night the museum director pointed out to us that very few, if any, Greek artists had so far ventured to take up representation of the crisis-or, as in our video,put the crisis in the now historical context of the December insurrection. She speculated that they were simply too close to it-- that it might take people like us who were equipped to see it from the outside in.

But later it occurred to me that it was precisely those artists who were closest to the everyday activities in social centers, in the streets, who participated in the immigrant hunger strikes, the self-organized parks and free medical clinics, who had produced the most visually engaged and engaging work. By this I mean the radical graphic artists directly involved in representing history as and before it happens (history in the present tense), through posters that publicized demonstrations, lectures, and festivals, as well as the abundant publication of books, manifestos,broadsides, journals, comics, etc.

in Thessaloniki... also in Thessaloniki collage from "Notes from the Steppe" Sherry's homage to the collage aboveThese artists (along with some graffiti artists) had at their fingertips available technical resources, a fully developed graphic language, political conviction, and the ability to get a poster, for example, out on the street, on virtually a moment's notice. Such an indissoluble ensemble of practices and resources, which typically abjure or ignore or collectivize authorship, amounts to an immanent critique of separation, a critique which tends to be minimized or pigeonholed after the fact (history in the past tense)-when the prospect of sudden radical change recedes for the time being and people are more or less forced to return to their customary roles. Though there are always a few who will never be reconciled.

Athens summer 2009

In August of 2009, we had photographed (tense past perfect history) in the streets of the Exarchia section of Athens, for our video, a number of posters-along with some graffiti. In the editing process we looked again and again at these images. As we thereby learned to see, the ephemeral works of these artists not only produced (and reproduced) many of the images that everybody still sees in the irreparably cracked rear-view mirror of memory but they continue to structure much of the visual representation of the ongoing crisis. Such images often frame and sometimes even displace memory-as we know from the graphic output of twentieth century revolutions (to begin with: Russian, Spanish, Cuban, May/June in France). However, only much later,when the heat of the moment passes, are they accorded aesthetic significance.Then they can safely be re-framed and displaced, their historical potential successfully fixed as art objects (commodities), which is to say, drained of their own specific and necessarily ephemeral powers of transformation. As should be obvious by now: these images get under our skin not in spite of the fact that they are ephemeral, of the moment-but precisely because they are Other people are more committed to the varieties of the religious experience of art(universality/immortality homogenizing history till it's as smooth as Greek yogurt) and/or to the necessarily abstracting varieties of exchange value and so they typically skip over, rudely delete, or simply flatten the flagrant grit of ephemera. And, if that doesn't do the job, there are the droves of popularizers who weep or sigh over the least idiosyncratic iconography-like that damned dove or that eternally clenched fist. We, on the other hand, can't help being drawn to the grit, to the more contradictory truth of friction.

DAFUER & DAGEGEN

With the end of Ramadan, the Jewish Muslim Daniel Hendrickson prepared a magnificent Cervical Cerviche Feast of the Magi that was downright delectable on all accounts. Not only the Mexican flavoured food but drink in the form of Tamarindo, and Horchata and the most scrumptious guacamole ever fashioned. The rest of the menu included various kinds of salsas: pico de gallo, ancho chili salsa, chipotle chili salsa, the ceviche came with homemade corn tortillas and a side of nopalitos. for desert there was prickly pear granita with melon and orange shortbread cookies.

The most shocking thing of the evening for the Muslim was the fact that almost all of his friends have decided to become tee-totalers en masse. There were 10 people at the dinner party and when he cleaned up in the morning, there were only 6 empty beer bottles!

Enjoying the gourmand delights, a radiantly tanned Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus just back from a curator retreat in Massachusetts, Ulrich Ziemons being all handsome man from full head of thick curly hair to big barefeet and macho toes, the beautiful CHEAP collective fearless leader Susanne Sachsse who is about to start production on a new film, with her film historian beau Marc Siegel making everyone scream with Borscht Belt humour, the hot Gaysian academic Brigade, humpy Bolivian youthquaker Max Jorge Hinderer-Cruz and the delightful love sexyl Nanna Heidenreich.

Just heard that the first headlining female comic Phylis Diller died age 95. I adored the legendary Ms. Diller who I feel I grew up on watching her many appearances on TV in the 1960s and 1970s. The late great Ms. Diller and Joan Rivers are two of the most celebrated oldschool who are newschool female comiconsalias.

Spent a day in the Tiergarten being interviewed by Manuel Schubert of Filmhighlights Radio Magazine. Afterwards Manuel treated me to a late tasty breakfast at the Café am Neuen See. Later in the afternoon Manuel took me to see Steven Soderberg’s Magic Mike which is a most unusual film. Its obvious the director is smitten with his charismatic star Channing Tatum, who resembles a muscular jarhead and throughout the film is bathed in a golden light of desire. In some of Mr. Channings dance sequences he gives off the essence of the tragic mulatto, his physique is both top and bottom heavy and his thickneck asphalt cutiepieness is quite intriguing. I could see him developing into a good actor in the vein of a Rod Taylor or John Gavin. The British male ingénue Alex Pettyfer photographs nicely but has a bland screen presence. Matthew McConaughey as the burlesque impresario has the strangest role of them all, and the scene where he tutors young Mr. Pettyfer via a mock doggystyle fudgepack is downright creepy when it should be exhilarating. Mr. Soderberg has been working in Hollywood for way too long and seems to be dealing with issues via his filmmaking---I just hope crystal meth isn’t involved.

DIE MUSKELSPIELER

My handsome escort Daniel Hendrickson the Jewish Muslim was riding his bicycleta at 100 mph as I desperately tried to keep up with him in my despair of being in bad shape as we made our way to the Schwules Museum to see Hans Scheirl and Jakob Lena Knebl perform as part of the opening for the new exhibit Trans*Homo:von lesbischen Trans Schwulen und anderen Normalitaeten curated by my former Weissensee student Justin Time. The rainstorm seemed like it would abate several times but somehow the waters kept flowing. At the museum we were met by Piero Bellomo the lovesexxxy ItaloDeutsch lover of Mr. Hendrickson who was trying to get away from a randy American tourist who had his hairy eyeballs set on Mr. Bellomo as his juicy prize.

The performance wasn’t going to start for another 90 minutes so we escaped to the Eisenstein Coffee house around the corner before returning and meeting up with fearless leader of CHEAP collective Susanne Sachsse and film historian Marc Siegel and the Gaysien House of Perpetual Beauty that this evening was starring gorgeous visiting scholar Eng-Beng Lim from Brown University who specializes in theatre, high drama and performance studies with a focus on transnational Asian and queer issues.

Was in awe of the fab performance that was part Vienna Akshunist and meditative deconstruction of Performance Art archetypes. Scheirl and Knebl were aided and abetted by the gentle Ring giants Fasolt and Fafner aka: Andreas Riegler & Markus Harsleitner resulting in hilarious stage hijinks. Also seen about: video artist Liz Rosenfeld and her KreuzKoelln posse, curator Frank Wagner, art photog Annette Frick, transgender Love God Del Grace Volcano, Tavia Nyongo arriving fashionably late, and Sissy Magazines pretty boy editor Jan Kunemund expertly avoiding thine enemies.

***

Letter from Elly Clarke of the Clarke Gallery:

Birmingham, 2nd August 2012

Dear All,

This is to introduce a new development of Clarke Gallery. Clarke Griffiths Levine is the teaming up of Clarke Gallery with two Birmingham based arts practioners - artist/curator Caitlin Griffiths and independent curator Charlie Levine. This has been set up to enable the three of us to share skills, knowledge and ideas whilst maintaining our own identities (i.e. coming together without merging). Our first collaboratively organised exhibition, Joint Stock, opens in Birmingham on 12th September. (See below.)

The next solo Clarke Gallery project is FRAME. This follows on from the six month exhibition BERLIN / BIRMINGHAM / BEYOND / by providing a showcase for one work at a time, but installed this time in a variety of businesses across the city of Birmingham. With a planned launch of late October, the premise is about taking art to its audience rather than expecting the audience to come to it. As with the mac show, all work is for sale.

BEYOND / runs at mac birmingham until 9th September. So there's still a chance to see it, or to buy the current work - Sue Dodd's Lick Stix (Hot Bikini Bodies) - in person or remotely.

Finally, I'm about to launch a new selling project of my own pictures. Birmingham to Beyond will see the sale of 36 new 6"x4" Single Edition photographs via Ebay and announced via Twitter. So if you'd like to get your hands on one of these (starting bid of 15GBP), follow me @elly_clarke. Or, if Twitter isn't your thing, send me an email and I'll make sure you're kept up to date. Or keep an eye on my website.

Thanks for reading. I hope you're well and enjoying the summer and to see you at some event or other before too long.

Best wishes,

Elly

--

ellyclarke.com / clarkegallery.de / @ClarkeGallery / @elly_clarke / Clarke Gallery on Facebook

From Azteca Warrior in Los Angeles

Ms Dumb As Dog Shit Davis,
(I Love Daddy Athey for coming up with that)

I am set to take photos of a new hottie. He sent me a text asking if I would mind if he came in CD. I said, sure bring ur own CD and I can transfer the images to the Disk.He said, oh, I'm sorry, I meant Cross Dress. WTF. Ok, he's a Hustler and he CD's.He has a Smoking hot body and a big Thick Chorizo, pretty white boy face, along the lines of a McCauley Kulkin type.

We shall see in the name of Art! (Arturo Castaneda that is!)

WARRIOR

Fetcha,

Well, its all for the Sake of Arturo.

The Hustler/CD shows up at my door with a light Auntie knock. I open the door and I find a young High Yellow Black Boy.I looked at him and I was a bit confused. He said, If I would have said I was Black u may not have wanted to Photograph me.

I said, What, I may not want to photograph u cuz u lied.

He was sweating and not sure where to look. I told him, come in. Served him some water and said. What r u trying to do. He's a CD DJ and needs some prof photos. He also Hustles but has not had his first client yet. We chatted for a bit. I told him I was a little concerned with his approach and his story. I told him, put urself together, tell me what kind of images u want and I will take them.

He then asked me if I wanted to Fuck. I said, No, that would disrupt my vision of how I was going to capture his image. He bought that.

OK, he is a pretty Black boy with Vanessa Williams color and a Bootie for days on a Slim narrow waist.So there u have it. He wants to be a model as well.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

UNTOTE WIE WIR

Been receiving several emugs about Tenderloin and our song titles. Well here are the titles to the new ditties we wrote for Antony’s Meltdown: “Das lied von der Glocke”, which is based on text by Schiller that I read in Otto Preminger’s autobiography and I Vaginalized after I had it translated into English from the original Deutsch. “The F*cking of Major Shtars” is from one of my 1980s spoken word poems and “Polyglot” I wrote after attending a conference at Berlin’s Haus of World Cultures listening to a lecture given by a cute young Iranian academic. “Redemption” is the only one of our new songs that I didn’t write. The music and lyrics are from Tenderloin guitar player Landgraf Jan Klesse and Joel Gibb sings the song and plays drums at the end accompanied by Jan on bass and Felix Knoke on keyboards with Dagmar Hopfisterei doing vocal soundscapes.

I was so afraid to be in London during the Olympics, but it actually turned out A-ok as all the sports stuff was in the east of the city and I was situated convienently in the city center where I could easily walk to the festival. Meltdown and Southbank Center took very good care of us. Our meals were catered by the same company that did Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee celebration and it was most delicious comfort food. Our last dinner was Asphalt Baked Salmon with Honey Neutered Chicken, Celestial Brocolli, Dirty Braun Rice and Silly Pudding for desert. There were so many gorgeous young boy pieces of eye candy floating around London that I was doing overtime lighthouse duty and turning myself into a drunken hairyeyeball Cornelius from Planet of the Apes.

Working with the lovely Antony Hegerty and his crew was a dream come true. Antony is so sweet gentle and beautiful in every way, with the most bewitching eyes in Christendom, and this Meltdown will certainly resonate for many years to come.

Our accomodations at the boutique Hotel Citizen M. at 20 Lavington Street was wonderous. The bed in my room was huge—large enough to accommodate a whorgy of water polo players, and the staff very professional and helpful. Special shoutout to Miss Ruth who was our favorite Citizen M. Guest Artist Ambassador. Ran into lots of old friends and acquaintances including one of the girls from the late 90s teenage rock band The Grown Ups who is now 30 years old. I first met her when she was 14 and performing at my club Sucker at the Garage in Silverlake. The lead singer of the Grown Ups looked like Belinda Carlisle from The GoGo’s and there was a sweet black girl in the band who played saxophone who came to my Getty/Pacific Standard Time event,and on guitar was the teenage son of Mark Hamil of StarWars. The younger Mr. Hamil is now a famous illustrator or something like that. Also chit chatted with some old New York pals who are now living in London so my time in merry old England was filled with lots of sudden reunions. The weather was picture perfect with no rain the entire time and temperatures in the high 70s farenheit. Tenderloin has already been asked to perform some more gigs and also to contribute a track to a Chicks on Speed Girl Monster #2 compilation.

Now I need to concentrate on my solo visual art exhibition that opens Nov 4th at Participant Inc. in New York. There is going to be a lot of work involved in making this happen so I have got to focus focus and focus some more.

Had gone to a screening months ago of the Aliens prequel Prometheus directed by Ridley Scott. The only thing that scored for me in the movie was the smokey come hither between Charlize Theron and Idris Alba, the humpy AfroBritish actor who harkened back a bit to Yaphet Kotto from the original Aliens. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when those two got together for fornications bliss.

EL COMBINADO PERFECTO

My blogging just took a computer glich tumble and only half of what I wrote got posted so I have to finish the rest by thanking the South Banky staff, so here goes the Academy Award list of gratitude: Event Managers: Judew Bowder aka Jude the Obscure, Gemma Broughton, Neil Mackinnon, Hattie Garrard, Alexia Higgs, Karen Petersen, Linzi Gibbs, Rachel Porter, Steve Thomas. Artist Liaison- Meergan Tovey Front, Transport Coordinator -Miss Mel Green, Production Managers: Mick Shenton, Adrian Rutter Jake Seaman, Konrad Watson, Simon Wingfield, Rick Eggleton. At the Citizen M. Hotel lots of kissy kissalia to Missy Ruth the lovely concierge who was most accommodating and hospitable in the grande British tradition.

So many celebs came to check the show out, here is just a partial list of everyone: artists Tracey Emin, Franko B aka: Franko Black with his child bride Thom, Kira O’Reilly, Ron Athey, Orthon Mataragas, Ernesto Tomasini, Oreet Oshery, Jason Graham, Manuel Vason and Marisa Carnesky whose new theater extravaganza Tarot Drome will debut at the Old Vic tunnels Sept 4-13th. With Ms. Carnesky was her lovesexxy rock god husband Raspe Thorne of The Briars who gave me a copy of his latest EP called Debutante Warnings that I can’t wait to add to my play list when I DJane. Also seen British “It Girls” Poppy Pelevingne, Jessica Brown Findlay, CoCo Sumner, Suki Waterhouse, Lykke Li and Annabelle Wallis, French actress Virginie Ledoyen with House of Carven designer Guillaume Henry, Glenn Martens the Flemish design star, Olympic swimmer Anthony Bandit Rubio with bon vivants Carlos Crespo, Manuel Lopez and Pietro Ditano escorting young Atlanta de Cadenet the supermodel daughter of Amanda de Cadenet and John Taylor of Duran Duran. The patrician record producer Ivor Guest aka: Viscount Wimbourne must be a dinge queen tranny chaser as he was all over the Vagimule doll, but isn’t he Grace Jones’ boyfriend? Getting into the Tenderloin/Karen Black mood was musician Patrick Wolfe, Pet Shop Boys 2Men Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe whose new album is called Elysium, tight bodied cutie pie Stuart Comer of Tate Modern with visiting American royal Steve Gizicki who is the right hand musical supervisor for George Lucas Productions in Marin County, portraiture artist John Lee Bird, junior art shtar Lewis Church with his gorgeous girlfriend and youthquaker posse, academic Dominic Johnson, David Waddington of Bistroteque, and legends legend Nicola Bowery the wife of the late great Leigh Bowery.

Went to see last night Kembra and Lilly of the Valley aka Claywoman the ancient extraterrestrial entity which was delightful. Ms. Kembra talked in stream of conscienceness fashion about availabism, anti-naturalism and future feminism and was hilarious in her demeanor and wonderous in voice and stage presence. The elderly black man who was the stage hand moved so slowly taking props off the stage it was as if he was in a Jack Smith performance transmogrified via Robert Wilson during his Berlin cocaine period.

In the morning I stuffed myself silly at breakfast chatting with the divine Lori E. Seid who is New York moxy perfection and a lesbian dream girl.

DIE VERHANDLUNG UEBER DAS TABU
I am exhausted from the Lou Reed/Voluptuous Horror/Tenderloin after party that was at the Function Room of the Royal Festival Hall.  Everyone was in joyous spirits not just last night but for the entire run of the festival, something that Ron Athey who has gone to all the events has duly noted.  The Vagimule was holding court as usual, sweating up a storm from the heat and humidity.  My make-up artist the gorgeous Miss Lydia from MAC Cosmetics beat me such a wonderful face, I looked like Monica Belluci.  Lydia  and her cute assistant Miss Nikki were also doing the Girls of The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black.  The Divine goddess Lady Kembra and her band were in fine high art form.  Kembra was sprouting Finian Wakeism on stage that had the audience in stitches and her performance was utter genius.  The music and visuals dazzled the Londoners, and it seemed surreal that this was the first time that England was experiencing this kind of alchemy.  Everything that Kembra does is juicy and profound.  It is no wonder she is a religious leader, Cosmotantra, and philosopher Kingdom all to herself.  Special thanks to the brilliance that is Antony Hegerty as curator suprema.  During the photo sessions conducted by the Guardian photographer I loved how Antony art directed everything and of course his choices were spot on.  So wonderful seeing Lilly of the Valley who performs tonight with Kembra in a special event called Kembra Pfahler:  Availabism and Anti-Naturalism + a Conversation with Claywoman at 7pm at the Purcell room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
My performance with Tenderloin went really well though i lost my energy half way through the set because of the humidity in the building and the fact that i havent been able to get a good night sleep for the last few days because of nerves.  The Baby Diaper Joel Gibb was really in his element playing not only drums, but guitar, keyboard, singing and masturbating all at the same time.  The fag element in the crowd also loved that Joel went commando on stage letting his giant Canuckian genitals flop in the wind.  Its also so much fun playing with Jan and Felix Knoke. Jan's girlfriend Marie and her young mom also came to the show and were having a lot of fun. Marie's father is a sports journalist so he was in London with his family covering the Olmpics.  Special kudos to Love Camel aka: Andrea Novarin who did a kickass job with the video projections during the Tenderloin set.  I also want to give shout out to the South Banky staff including their fearless leader Jane Beese and Ms. Lori E. Seid, the tech director, who also introduced us on stage, event managers: Jude Bowdler aka:  Jude the Obscure,

FOUR-CALENDER CAFE

Its so warm in London.  I am sweating like a Mongeary piglet.  Taken to a nice luncheon with Love Camel who made me a t-shirt of the phrase "four drops from the cashew".  The Baby Diaper Joel Gibb has been busy running around town meeting big peniled men and tight tusche twinks but also conducting Hidden Cameras business as well. 
Dinner at the Royal Festival Hall Function Room was a delight.  Had a lot of fun with Meltdown curator extroidinaire Miss Antony, Samoa, Gida Gash, Miss Alice and the entire VHofKB gang, plus Lady Jane, Jude the Obscure, Lori E. Seid, Miss Mel and the SouthBanky's.
Got to see Marc Almond of Soft Cell fame perform Marc & the Mambas' Torment and Toreros.  Very exciting as the last time I saw Mr. Almond live was in LA in 1982 at the Hollywood Palace. At that time one of my galpals Alicia Plaeke jumped on stage and stole a piece of his jewelry that fell off and he yelled at her saying,  "Give me back my bracelet, its the only thing of value i have left!"  Thrilling evening of music and high drama.  Miss Antony even joined Ms. Amond on stage to joyous affect.  Seen in the audience:  Johanna Constantine, Ernesto Tomasina, Orthon and posse.  Went to the after party for one drink and met Lady Jane Beese's handsome hubby.  Together they make a dynamic British power couple.  Left early as I am exhausted from not having slept very well the night before because of nerves and feeling a bit flu-ish.  Too bad i missed CoCoRosie, Planningtorock, Elizabeth Frasier of Cocteau Twins and Joey Arias who i heard was performing fellatio on a man right in front of the entrance of the Citizen M Hotel.  You get your girlish gnut Miss Joey!

HEITER BIS WOLKIG

I forgot to let you know that British Airways flight to London was almost empty.  Couldn't believe it.  That never happens anymore, so the ride to Meltdown was very comfy for me and Felix Knoke.  Also going through customs was a breeze, and the limo that picked us up at the airport was quick and high falutin.  Our boutique hotel The Citizen M. is brand new and very close to the venue of the Royal Festival Hall.  The pretty front desk girl Ruth was ever so charming in accomodating us and the fabulous Ms. Mel Green of Southbank and New York's downtown lady of  lovesexxxy juicyness Ms. Lori E. Seid were  on hand to make sure everything was going smoothly.  I feel so taken care of, and running into Ms. Kembra of the Divine, Samoa and Miss Alice, the veterana of VHoKB was perfect daytime glamour for an old tranny like myselfsis. 

WARUM HAB`ICH JA GESAGT?

Just two more day before  Tenderloin takes the stage at Antony´s Meltdown Festival, with goddess Kembra Pfahler and the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black and Future Feminism in London, UK.  Joel Gibb the baby diaper of the Hidden Cameras is already painting the town several shades of heliotrope with Stuart Comer of the Tate Modern and hanging out with legend Buffy Saint Marie as well as recording with the Pet Shop Boys.  Tenderloin is staying at a cute boutique hotel and will be trying their best to keep Dagmar Hofpfisterei from OD-ing before the performance or getting into a cat fight with Tiffany Middlesex.

Very sad that Gore Vidal died.  I met him in the late 90s in Italy with writer David Leavitt and believe you me he was a trip.  He could drink enough liquor to float Fire Island, and had a beautiful young boy adornment who said nothing the entire time i was in his presence.  The kids main purpose was as eye candy and he did his job brilliantly!  Also composer Marvin Hamlische died age 68.  He adapted the music of Scott Joplin for the 1973 film The Sting starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford and won his first of three Oscars that year, and he wasn´t even 30 years old.  Also the film critic Judith Christ died, age 90. I can remember reading her reviews in TV Guide Magazine in the 1970s.

LUSTGROTTE

In 90 degree fahrenheit weather i did a short presentation at the Radical Cross-Currents in Black Berlin one day symposium at Humbodt Universitat that was organized by Eva Boesenberg and Tavia Nyongo of NYU. The event gathered a very large crowd of artists, activists and scholars to consider the radical black presence in Berlin since the 1980s.
The keynote address was“White Brothers With No Soul?” The Racial Politics of Techno in Berlin by Alex Weheliye, Northwestern University moderated by the very sweet Eva Boesenberg
At 2pm I presented “Wir haben kein Zimmer für Auslander”: Vaginal Davis, Susanne Sachsse, CHEAP & more. Susanne who is on the jury of a film festival in Poland made a wonderful Skype appearance. Tavia was the moderator. I was completely excrement for brains, which always happens when i have to make an appearance in hot weather, but Susi was very eloquent. Got to meet Tavia´s young animated lover from Texas and we bonded the way southern girls are known to. I was surprised that there was such a SRO turnout as I figured that on a nice summer day everyone would retreat to the lake country. I had a marvelous time and it was very lovely to be at an event with a large amount of black folks which is such a rarity in anglo Berlin. It seems like a few will take me up on the offer of a dialogue through written correspondence the olde fashioned manner via the poste.
If you are visiting Berlin the perfect place to go is Arsenal Inst für film und video kunst for their Blaxploitation salute. I highly recommend seeing Cotton Goes to Harlem 1970 directed by Ossie Davis starring Godfrey Cambridge, Super Fly 1973 directed by Gordon Parks Jr. Starring Ron O´Neal, Cool Breeze 1972 featuring a young Pam Grier with Paula Kelly and Judy Pace who is also in Cotton.

Sherman Hemsley who starred as George Jefferson in the long running black TV sitcom The Jeffersons died age 72. Few people knew that Mr. Hemsley was a big old queen like another actor of the era Paul Winfield.

Was listening to NPR Berlin´s Marketplace Money program that featured my old LA Weekly collegue Queena Kim. You girl girl!

Was treated to a delightful breakfast at East London-God Save Brit Food with Joseph Hawkins  the Executive Director of LA´s One Institute who is in Europe to attend a conference in Amsterdam. So grateful he made a Berlin pitstop and we had a hoot of a girlish time gabbing about a myriad of subjects that include Mishima, Miwa Akihiro of the Black Lizard fame and the Knights of the Clocks which was the original Black & White Men Together group from back in the 1950s. Mr. Hawkins is a southern gal fluent in Japanese. He is also the boss of my dear Afro Sister Clitoris Turner aka Bud Thomas.

Just received this note from Hector Martinez who along with his lover Erica Pierce are in Israeli on holiday:
U would love this place. The Men are Hot! At every street corner u see a hot Rabbi doing Helicopters with their big Kosher Chorizo's!
This travel emug from Ernie Larsen of Sherrie & Ernie Fame:
Heat conspired with exhaustion to make the train ride from Thessaloniki to Athens seem cruelly extenuated.  We could only blame ourselves. We’d stayed up all the previous night preparing our video for an exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Art .  By the time (on the way to the train station) I’d dropped off the newly-burned  DVD at the museum I was beginning to regard the exhibition’s title, “It’s the Political Economy, Stupid,” as a direct accusation. 
The cabdriver, even as he was helping us grab our bags from the trunk of the taxi, was still gamely trying to persuade us to allow him to drive us all the way from Thessaloniki to Athens.  Was he desperate or sensible?  At what point in the affective economy does desperation become sensible?  We were tempted by the cabbie’s offer but we were meeting our friend and comrade Nikos at the station--and still imagined that a few hours of softly-rocking slumber in an air-conditioned  compartment would be renewing.
From Athens we took the crowded metro to the port of Piraeus. While crossing the street to pick up our tickets to Chania, Crete at the ferry office, Nikos pointed out a troika of dumpsters.  The graffiti read: ballot, ballot, ballot.
Over 35% of the Greek electorate decided not to vote in what’s considered the single most important election in a generation.  We were reminded of Saramago’s prophetic conceptual novel,  Essay on Lucidity (published in English under the mis-title Seeing), which (in case you haven’t read it) begins with an election in which nearly all the citizens of an unnamed city return blank or unmarked ballots to the ballot box — thereby causing a massive and ever-increasing crisis among all the political parties, not least within the governing party.  Voting by not voting, essentially.
Whoever in Piraeus produced this three-part visual essay on lucidity has in common with Saramago a sardonic awareness of the lethal delusion that continues to safeguard and perpetuate representative democracy.  Over 50% of Greek voters supported anti-austerity parties (including the 7% who voted for the fascist Golden Dawn). Contrary to international media reports, the pro-austerity ‘victory’ was on another level, an ignominious defeat, a legal fiction, not dissimilar to Saramago’s depiction of voting, a rank waste in the sense that the anonymous graffiti artist maintains. Doesn’t the recent Greek election demonstrate that the ballot box is more accurately a dumpster?
In the US, in which the political class lacks nearly as much credibility as its Greek counterpart, we are repeatedly urged by pundits and shills and liberals not to waste our ballot by refusing to vote.  The legal fiction of the Greek election (Victory to the losers!  Put the corrupt back in office again!)
is experienced by everyone we speak to here as a depressing aporia.  One indicator of an irreparable crisis: when legal fictions begin to proliferate like the vermin circulating around a dumpster filled with waste and ripening to a faretheewell in unbearable heat.  Or are we delirious?
 After we picked up our tickets we had plenty of time, before boarding, for a freddo capucchino.  The only café in the area was a Starbucks, which faced our waiting ferry.  Stupidly or not, we bit the bullet.  What choice did we have?  Three freddo capucchinos, please.  Voting in an election is also known as exercising the franchise.  However, Starbucks, now the world’s largest coffee shop chain, thanks to a billion or so people like us, is a corporation, not a franchise.  In the U.S. even though a corporation is, legally speaking, a person, it does not have the right to vote, though everybody knows that capital owns the capitol—all the capitols, in fact.  However, for what it’s worth, a franchise does not have the franchise, as such.  As Marx (Chico) pointedly and repeatedly asked during the depths of the last depression (1929), in a disquisition on real estate fraud (The Cocoanuts), “Why a duck?”  Still the most important question.  
And another missive from my god daughter Scarlet Rouge who is the child of Michele Lamy and Richard Newton:
Dear One and All
Since my last show took place in Torino, IT and many were unable to see it in the flesh
here are a few angular tastes of Origine Oscura in the gardens of La Venaria Reale. Modeled in the ceramic arts of ancient practices and cut in the industrial age of robotic hands, Origine Oscura is the united product of mythological stories and technological advancement. Origine Oscura is a goddess of ancient times distorted and affected by contemporary ailments. Initially created out of clay, she was laser cut into the disappearing marble of Vert de Mer, and as she searches for a soul in a seemingly soulless world, she unifying the "Goddess Triplicities". Personifying fertility, the cosmic womb, and the destroyer of illusions, three become one, Origine Oscura embodies the lost feminine, a disconnection with nature and owing to the anger of feeling abandon in abusive use she craves to consume. Helpless and face-less she asks you to reconnect to your deepest darkness and truest nature within. Vert de Mer and Black Marble, 30x30x192cm. HOP.E Art Jungle in the Giardini of La Venaria Reale  July 7th -September 2nd, 2012

loveScarlett Rouge

www.scarlettrouge.com

STÜMPEREI

"We´re milking applause instead of milking a cow. . . cuz we´re Babes on Broadway now!"  Hearty sentiments indeed at Rising Stars, Falling Stars-We Must Have Music with a screening of the 1941 Judy &Mickey flicker directed by cocaine addict extroidinaire Busby Berkeley with assist from Vicente Minnelli.  I hadn´t seen the film since the early 1970s, and boy was I in for a shocker with the final production number "Waiting on the Robert E. Lee".  I knew there was going to be a blackface minstrel number but wasn´t prepared for it being so long and tedious with icky Mickey Rooney mugging way beyond what is normal even for him.  And i had forgotten that Judy was in ugly blackface in male drag.  Later she switches to tanface along with the chorus girls which turned them all into variations of Shirley Bassey.  The movie is beyond ill but with standout performances from baby dyke Virginia Weidler, twinky hoofer Ray McDonald and handsome Richard Quine before he became the famous director of Bell Book & Candle.  There was even a cameo by a young Ava Gardner who was Mrs. Mickey Rooney at the time.  Kino 2 of Arsenal was packed to the rafters.  Among the Judy worshippers  Berlin legend Zazie De Paris looking like a juicy ingenue fresh from finishing school, art shtar Ali Jenka of the Austrian art kollektive Gelitin with his lovesexxy lover Baby Papi aka Gunther Gerdes and Bob Ostertag of the Kronos Quartet, Manuel Schubert of Filmhighlights Radio Magazine with posse, NYU scholar Tavia Nyongo, Aussie fashion stylist Catherine Baba, model Atlanta de Cadenet Taylor who is the daughter of Amanda de Cadenet and Duran Duran bassist John Taylor with male hooker/waitress/model/actress Noah Mills, singer Clair Boucher aka: Grimes with humpy young artist Christophe DeRohan Chabot fresh from his Um die Flache performance, Argentine model Melissa Stasiuk with skater boi Brian Davenport, the sizzling gaysian contingent of  Korean powertop Dredge Kang, forever bottom beauty Nguyen Tan Hoang and gorgeous music blogger Zackary Ching.  Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus was looking very well rested from her hiking holiday on a secret island paradise.  Miss Stefanie was surprised to see Phillip Krippendorf at RSFS with his 8 year old son.  She hadn´t seen him in over 18 years when he worked at the Academy Der Kunst. Everyone needed a drink to recover from the blackface and Mickey Rooney during the wine reception.  Uli Ziemons was his usual  charming charming self chatting with Julian Radlmeier of Chocolate Grinder Kollektive and his radiant Ukrainian wife while chanteuse Binki Shapiro from New York aggresively flirted with crooner  Bosco Del Rey who was wrapped up in the house of Daniel Hendrickson channeling Roger Edens on klavier during the intro portion of the film presentation. 
Hollywood Golden era film star Celeste Holm died age 95.  She started her career on Broadway in the early 1940s receiving much acclaim for playing Ado Annie in Oklahoma which led to a contract with 20th Century Fox under Daryl F. Zanuck and roles in musicals like Three Little Girls in Blue and Carnival in Costa Rica before landing meaty roles in Gentleman´s Agreement and All About Eve.
Daryl Zanuck´s son Richard D. Zanuck died age 77.  He produced Jaws, The Sting and Driving Miss Daisy and tried to pick me up in the late 1970s at the Backlot  of Studio One Disco in West Hollywood.  I was just a teenage queen at the time, and i think Mr. Zanuck thought i was a genetic girl.  Or maybe not.

GENEROUS CLITORIS


Tavia Nyongo the NYU Performance Studies professor who is here in La Berlina on a fellowship through the Humboldt Universite took me to the C/O Berlin Gallery for the Larry Clark Retrospective. I hardly ever go to Mitte the trendy section of Berlin, but had a nice time looking at the Clark show which is actually more revealing then one can imagine. The second floor collages featured a few made especially for this retrospectacle. You have to love the fact that Larry Clark wears his JoanJett Blackheart on his knotted veinsleeve. Seeing Corey Haim, Kristy McNicol, Matt Dillon and a young Terry Richardson interspersed with a Brad Renfro Memorial Room was a hoot and a half.
Jonathan Velasquez the nubile Latino skater boi is beyond beautiful and well worth the obsessive documentation. What I didn´t realize until seeing this exhibit is that Mr. Clark has literally known young Mr. Velasquez since he was a toddler. It seems as if its one of those classic Silverlake relationships where an older white dude lays title to an entire Latin familia ----taking care of parents, children and extended relations. Mr. Larry Clark is certainly one consistent everlasting secret horneliad.  How has he managed to get away with it all?  He must hold some major dirt on someone high up in the captals of industry or even the State Department.  Lord Love a Duck!

After the exhibit Tavia and I scarfed down some hate cake and coffee at the Cinema Café where we oogled a bunch of lovely French tourista boys and later ran into Uli Ziemons of Arsenal Institüt für film und Video Kunst who was out jeans shopping with his BFF Canadian artist Marc Pennock. Last night Uli was my date at the Arsenal´s Blaxploitation program which was packed beyond the rafters. It was wonderous seeing Cleopatra Jones and Coffy starring Tamara Dobsen and Pam Grier. Tonight I think I will return for the screening of Shaft and Shaft in Afrika. Earlier Friday Muslim warrior Daniel Hendrickson and I spent the entire daytime hours burrowing through the Arsenal Archives and discovered some rare gems that I can´t wait to present as part of Rising Stars, Falling Stars-We Must Have Music. 

Last week I saw a behavioural piece by the gifted young French boy beauty Christophe DeRohan Chabot, that wasn´t a traditional performance at all but a warm and carefull trek through Oranienplatz making situational discovery.

I very much loved how Christophe gently nudged his audience into a participatory role without being dogmatic and shrill and got them to break down their Berlin distance barriers----even my own. Christophe is becoming the male Lucia Joyce of the 21st Century moment and I am very proud of him as one of my former art students from Weissensee Art Akademy.

Received this cute note from Ernie Larsen:

In Berlin each morning we woke to the improvisations of little Domingo in his cage ringing changes from the basic canary songbook. Was Danny’s pet canary a genius? We couldn’t pretend to know why this caged bird sings so well but we could see this banner from Danny’s balcony in Neukoln.

Downstairs, a neighborly woman saw me taking this photo and would have narrated the history of the last decade of local resistance to landlord depredations if I understood much more German than widerstand and verboten, which I don’t. As it was she tried. She pointed to the balcony of her own apartment, four floors up. It was overflowing with well-tended plants and flowers. Despite the language barrier she made it clear that she was resisting her landlord’s campaign to eliminate her garden, which he inexplicably regarded as dangerous. Later Danny said that this landlord’s fear of nature run amok on balconies was becoming a phobia endemic among landlords in Neukoln. Since there is concerted resistance and spontaneous song even in Germany, could it be that conditions are less dire than we’ve begun to think? A rhetorical question.

***
This cute CHEAP note from Marc Siegel:
 
Dear CHEAP Friends,

it's not everyday that one gets a chance to see a Judy and Mickey musical, and one directed by Busby Berkeley no less (with Judy's numbers directed by her gay hubbie Vincente Minnelli)! And it's an even rarer treat to get to see such a musical not merely in the presence of but presented by Miss Vaginal Davis! So don't miss a great event this Sunday, July 22 at 9pm….
Vaginal Davis's Rising Stars, Falling Stars: We Must Have Music!
with BABES ON BROADWAY (Busby Berkeley, 1941)
starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney
…and featuring one of those greatly disturbing Blackface sequences that mark a number of Hollywood's musicals!
It must be seen to be believed!
And it must be seen with Vaginal Davis
on July 22 at 9pm
at the
Arsenal
Potsdamerstr. 2
http://www.arsenal-berlin.de/
http://www.vaginaldavis.com/
To prepare for the special event listen to Vaginal Davis's radio interview with Manuel Schubert at: http://i.mixcloud.com/CB9vnu

…and if you're not sick of Miss Davis by now, then go to the Meltdown festival in London on Aug. 10 for a special concert of Miss Davis's new band TENDERLOIN (which premiered at Camp/Anti-Camp) on a double bill with THE VOLUPTUOUS HORROR OF KAREN BLACK (who you loved or missed at Camp/Anti-Camp)
http://meltdown.southbankcentre.co.uk/
warmly,
Marc

JALAPENA MARTINIS

Jewish Muslim Daniel Hendrickson cooked a quiet intimate Bastille Day menu at his NeuKölln compound that was just out of this unholy world. Enjoying the feast: Susanne Sachsse and Marc Siegel who are off to Kassel for Documenta and Ms. Sachsse after that will be in Poland where she will be on the Jury of an international film festival thats puts her up at a five star hotel.

here is the Bastille Day menu:
blue moon martinis
croutons with duxelles
green Levantine olives
steak tartare
Provençal gratin
cheese and onion pudding
apricot-cherry crumble
the last three all being recipes from the famous
San Francisco vegetarian gourmet restaurant
Greens.

Tavia Nyongo the NYU Performance Studies Professor took the doll to Santa Maria Mexican boite for a stylish meal the other day before I had to vamoose back on tourina.  We didnt drink Margaritas as I have been a tea toddler since April.  Congrats to me! 
Tavia is actually related to US president Barach Obama. Tavia´s father is a black African from Kenya and his mother is Anglo. I guess back in the 1960s a bunch of big peniled Africans came to study in the US and their dinosour dicks were so exquisite that they enchanted a host of impressionable white liberal American girls who were coming into their own element during the radical spirit of the 1960s. Ole´!!!!

When i went to my Weissensee student Christophe DeRohan Chabot´s art show at Oranianplatz I ran into my other ex Weissensee student Joanna Coppi and her personable Ozzie beau Axel from the band Team Plastique. Joanna is quite the young beauty with her sensous Ava Gardner lips. She is working on her Phd so is kept very busy these days. Joanna and Axel live exactly above Santa Maria Restaurant in a spacious flat that Joanna has decorated with very unique shelving units of her own design. The location of the flat is perfect in thats its close to everything fun in the Kreuzberg area.

GALOPOGOS ISLAND
Went to see my incredibly talented Weissensee student Christophe DeRohan Chabot´s graduate exhibition at Oranienplatz 17.  The curator of the show was the independent Berlin gay curator with a capital G-Frank Wagner.  I taught a block seminar at Weissensee back in 2007 and after meeting young teenage Christophe at the time i had him star in one of my short film portraits which was a huge hit in New York back in 2010 and elsewhere.  Christophe´s work is completely out there and one of a kind. 
About two years ago this local euroasian bon vivante named Nathan aka: Sick Tranny came to one of my Rising Stars events and swooped on Christophe, and the poor naive French kid hasn´t been the same sense.  Sick Tranny who has a rich elderly German boyfriend reminds me of Bobby Trendy in LA.   
Christophe told me Sick Tranny fed him so much bullshit lacquered in fake gold that it made his head spin, and now that he  has escaped the Sick Tranny´s clutches he needs to go into rehab from all the atrocities of too much gayness.  I wish i could have protected him, but what doesn´t kill you makes you stronger.
Spent a lovely time with big Daddy Ron Athey the other day at East London-God Save Brit Food.  We hung out at the boite from 4 to 10pm having father/daughter catch up.  Ron is in Berlin to get away from the insanity of London´s summer Olympics build up.  He took a club gig at Gegen which is part of the icky Kit Kat Klub.  Ron did a variation on his Trojan Whore piece.