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Rising Stars, Falling Stars - May 2015 - Vaginal Davis & John Cassavetes OPENING NIGHT by Filmanzeiger on Mixcloud

DIE MASCHE MIT DEN MUSKELN

Spent a lovely afternoon being treated to luncheon at East London-God Save Brit Food on the Mehringdamm Corridor with two visiting jungen from Los Angeles in the form of 24 year old LACMA Development Department sweetie Lord Henry Woodward of Larchmont Village and his drag queen in training pal from the Palisades Kent of Kent.  The kids are doing their European tour with pitstops in Berlin, Istanbul and the Venice Biennale.  After hanging out with the children I scurried on my bike to enjoy a very lovely sunny spring day.  Was riding past the Jewish Memorial and noticed a group of fetching tourista boys across the street snaping pics in front of the giant austere dull grey cube sculpture created by that Scandinavian artist pair Babbitt&Bromide or are they called Wahlgrens&Elmquest?Doesn’t matter.  Loved oogling the big leggy boys but didn’t understand why they used that thing in the park as their backdrop.

Rising Stars, Falling Stars-We Must Have Music April edition was packed with worshipers of the house of Ms. Jodie Foster for our screening of her 1976 gangster moll film Bugsy Malone directed by Alan Parker and also starring Scott Baio.  It was a hoot seeing the film after so many years. Ms. Foster was in town at the Babelsberg Studio working on her Leni Riefensthal film.  Carolyn Clone the lesbian club mogul and one of Jodie’s ex girlfriends swore to me that Jodie would stop by my film screening but she didn’t.  I think Jodie is probably still upset with me for writing about her relationship with her mother as being quasi incestuous.  Well that was the impression I got when I first met them at the opening of the Famous Amos Cookie Store on Sunset Blvd back in the 1970s.  Seen enjoying the charms of Bugsy:  Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus who said Bugsy Malone was the first feature film she ever saw, Skandinavian Muzlim jihadist and clavier expertin Daniel “Haji” Hendrickson, handsome Israeli choreographer Assaf Hochman with the muscular and tat sleeved Michele di Dio of GQ Magazine Germany, Susanne Sachsse and Marcuse Siegelstein, Ce’cile Tollu-Polonowski, Teresa and DoDo Heidenreich, the stylish and sexy Forum curator and artist that is the great Dorothee Wenner and her delightful partner Mickey, best selling young French author Edouard Louis with actor Gaspard Ulliel and dancer Ryan Guzman, American male ingénue Theo James and boyfriend Scott Eastwood the son of actor/director Clint Eastwood, Berlin legend Zazie de Paris who is one of the stars of the popular German television show Scene of the Crime or Tat Ort,  Atlanta Ina Beyer who brought me out to Oldenberg Universitaet for an art congress last year with her hot girl posse, actress Birgit Minichmayr with German TV presenter Andreas Bourani and his beau the humpy athlete/stud Juan Bernat.

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Those of you in New York mark in your calenderia:  Participant After Dark, Year 13 Spring Benefit which will take place Tuesday May 19th  6-10pm at the Ukrainian National Home 140 2^nd Avenue at 9^th Street.  The benefit for the not-for-profit gallery Participant Inc. is conceived under the influence of the 1960s late night TV show Playboy After Dark and iconic 1970s culture magazine After Dark which was one of my inspirations for my literary tabloid Fertile La Toyah Jackson Magazine.  Please support Participant Inc and Lia Gangitano as they are the only ones in New York presenting work that isn’t commercially oriented.  Hosting the event will be Justin Vivian Bond, DJ Scott Ewalt and a performance by Narcissister and others.  There will also be a not so silent auction of limited editions by art shtars, Kembra Pfahler, Antony and Josef Astor.

Vergessliches Ließchen

Rising Stars, Falling Stars - April 2015 - Vaginal Davis - BUGSY MALONE & a Soiree Extraordinaire by Filmanzeiger on Mixcloud

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Went to a new bookstore called Topics at Weser Strasse 166 to see Travis Jeppesen read from All Fall which contains two novellas by the lovehexy power top suprema Mr. Jeppesen and is the sixth book in Publication Studio's Fellow Travelers Series.  Travis read from "Written in the Sky" a harrowing  plane crashing in slow motion tale. It was written on a red-eye flight from Beijing to Vienna in the fall of 2012.  I loved how young Travis created extra tension during his reading by expertly removing himself from the room to a far off secret garden of his own creation.  The boy has mad max alchemic writing skills but few knew of his teleportation abilities. Of course I was at the venue early forgetting that anything involving young people these days never starts on time.  The Topics bookstore has an odd vibe to it but that is probably more to my being a woman of a certain age and not usually in the company of this new Berlin ilk of men with unbecoming facial hair.  Adore Travis but next time I have to hear him read someplace with more comfortable seating.  

Earlier when I was riding around on by bicycleta looking for the bookstore I stopped at a tiny park to see a boy who looked no older then 12 macking with a girl who looked like she was ten.  The boy was being very aggressive with the girl who I was glad slapped him and retreated in a huff.  An elderly couple came by and also witnessed the scene and the older gentleman took the boy aside and gave him a highfive and told him to run after the girl sort of saying, “Squirrel climb up that tree and get your gnut!” Repugnant. 

Spring Aquakening is definitely in the air as I rode by the Skate Anlage Im Parkham Gleisdrieick to joyously oogle a quintet of immaculate shirtless skater rats and under the Ubahn bridge a gaggle of tight bodied male gymnasts attracting a lot of attention with the spectacle that comes with young muscular bodies.  Could barely tear myself away but remembered I was luncheoning with her royal highness Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus of  Arsenal Institute fur filmundvideo Kunst at Osteria No. 1 on the Mehringdamn corridor.  Their backyard patio was under construction but its so huge there was still room to sit alfresco and enjoy the warm golden rays and delicious food in the form of lasagne, tortellini, funicello salad, tomata soup all washed down with the most perfect carafe of Rose’ vino.  Was wonderful hearing about La Schulte Strathaus’ travels throughout India with Marcuse Siegelstein and Susanne Sachsse presenting a fab experimental film program.  The other evening I was at the Tiergarten compound of Piero Bellomo the Italio/German husband of Scandinavian Muslim Daniel Hendrickson for an Enchilada Party.  Piero brought back some freshly made corn tortillas from South Florida so when life gives you corn tortillas you have to make enchiladas.  A few nights before the Mexican feast Fearless Leader of kollektiv CHEAP Susanne Sachsse hosted a Spargel Fruhlings dinner for the great scholar  and genius writer Douglas Crimp who is the most serene man on the planet also the best dressed.

Read in a local German newspaper that Frank Castorf the veteran Intendant(artistic director) at the Volksbuehne is getting the boot to be replaced by Belgian curator Chris Dercon from the Tate Modern.  This move seems to be orchestrated by the music laden culture politician Tim Renner, of course I could be mistaken as my reading skills in German are limited, but having an art curator head a theatre doesn’t seem like a particularly good idea to me and not for conservative reasons that I am sure the usual suspects are rattling on about as they tend to do in Berlin. 

JETZT IST PFLANZEIT

Felt so lucky I got to play Berlin tour guide for a few hours while on a pitstop back home for the dearly loved New York treasure Lia Gangitano of Participant Inc., Gallery and her new BFF the beautiful Greer Lankton collector (she owns 8 dolls!)Meg Siegel.  We walked through Schoeneberg with stops by Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories residence, and the flats of Marlene Deitrich and Hildegaard Kneff in the Rote Insel kiez, had a Thai luncheon at Papaya on the Hauptstrasse snooped around David Bowie’s old apartment and gossiped about the tired New York art world at Kleistpark.

One of my other favourite New York deities is Alex Jovanovich the NYU student arts professional coordinator and Art Forum godhead writer extroidinaire who sent me this cute little missive.

Dearest All:

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that the newest installment of TransBorder Art's video series, Tenderness, featuring the work of:

Allan Bailey Maria Bamford Jibz Cameron & Hedia Maron Ben Fain Michelle Grabner & Brad Killam & David Robbins Abbey Montymom Craig Robinson

will premier Friday, April 10 & Saturday April 11at 8:30 p.m., EST (and broadcast randomly afterwards) on:

Time Warner 56 / Cablevision 69 / RCN 84 /

Verizon FiOS 44 / BPN Channel 3 (online: bricartsmedia.org/bpn)

*BRIC Brooklyn Public Network cablecasts in

all five boroughs exclusively on Verizon FiOS cable

And for those of you not in New York, you may watch the episode on TransBorder Art's Vimeo channel (starting now) at: 

vimeo.com/user38903888/videos
I LOVE these artists so very, very much, and am honored they contributed work for the broadcast. They are FABULOUS. Enjoy!

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And this from the talented and gorgeous British artist Elly Clark:

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've written but I'm excited to let you know about CAMDEN ENCOUNTERS, a major commission from Camden Council in celebration of the Borough's 50th Anniversary. Lasting until November, this photo / audio & video project involves me having a series of Encounters with Camden residents at the sites of their 'Sticky Memories'. 'Sticky Memories' is the term I'm using to describe those memories which, though created in the past, continue to have a place in the present - and shape the lay of the land as a result...

Starting with people closely connected to the workings of the Borough itself, the net will gradually expand, as people I meet nominate the next to be involved. So far I have had just three Encounters - with Hannah Morris, Youth MP of Camden, Councillor Nasim Ali, and Ruth Ingram, artist, poet and long term resident of Camden. Over the next months, I hope to gather memories from as many as fifty people in various nooks and crannies of Camden.

The official Camden50 website launched yesterday. My first two Encounters are up, along with info about the three other commissioned projects: from Dmitri Galitzine, Ladies of the Press and Walls on Walls. I was also honoured to take the official portraits of all artists and partners involved (about which Ladies of the Press wrote quite a nice piece: http://camden50.co.uk/projects/demo-press/performing-to-camera-a-photoshoot-with-elly-clarke.)

Various events will be taking place throughout the year in connection with all of these projects, so if you're in London it might be worth keeping an eye open for what's going on at a place not far from you. The Camden 50 arts programme is curated by Charlie Levine. SERGINA_ The other news regards #Sergina, who has a new video out. Phone Me Don't Write was shot in Patterson, New York in November 2013 but edited in Berlin by Jacob Brosda just this year. Click on the image below to be taken to the vid directly. DIGITAL REMNANTS_ And finally, published shortly after my last mail out, is the collaboratively written article Digital Remnants: Sex Without Bodies? for Canadian feminist magazine GUTS, with (via Skype / Google Hangout / Google Docs / WhatsApp...) Amanda Turner Pohan, Robin Alex McDonald and Michelle Ty.Thanks for reading!
Best wishes,
Elly
ellyclarke.com / 

HEUTE ZURUECKGEBUCHTE MEDIEN

Was such a delight to see that super hot lady of high art Ms. Lia Gangitano of the incredible Participant Inc. Gallery in Berlin bringing her universally lauded Greer Lankton exhibition to Berlin at Wolfgang Tilman’s Between Bridges Gallery on Keith Strasse in Schoeneberg.  This exhibit is on every critic in the worlds top ten list as the best of the best in 2014 and it really is divine.  I first met the late Miss Lankton back in the 1990s in Chicago as she was part of the clique surrounding Steve LeFreniere.  Her famed doll sculptures do really transcend, and she was just the sweetest most lovely human being that ever called this Island earthina home. Lia was being flanked by hordes of well wishers that included art superstar Nan Goldin.  I am so glad Lia is getting her due as she is the last of a special breed of smart with it curators.  Her not-for-profit gallery Participant Inc on the Lower East Side is the only one of its kind still left in the “New Danger Capitalism New York City”.  I first met Lia in 1990 when she was the head curator at Boston’s ICA and she brought me to that city for the first time for the legendary series Dress Codes.  Lia also gave Catherine Opie her first big institutional art gig as well.  Lia left Boston and joined Thread Waxing Space in SoHo before starting her her gallery where I had my first solo exhibition in 2012 during Hurricane Sandy Duncan. 

Coming back to Berlin from my travels to Canada and the UK I caught a cold and then stomach flu with the flying patooties(projectile excrementing) so I thought I would miss Lia’s visit but thankfully I recovered-but barely.  Will be off on another trek to far off locations which I will talk more about in another postada but just want to give 1,000,000 kisses to the great and powerful Miss Lia I love you lady!!!!!

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Those of you in Frankfurt am Main area please check out this exhibition and long overdue retrospectacle by art fotog Annette Frick who along with her longtime life partner Wilhelm Hein have been getting a lot of International attention and admiration lately:

A C H T U N G !! B I T T E  V O R M E R K E N !!!

Filmkollektiv Frankfurt zeigt:

EIN AUGENBLICK IM NIEMANDSLAND

RETROSPEKTIVE: ANNETTE FRICK

FILME - VIDEOS - DIAS 

+ MEHRFACHPROJEKTIONEN

SAMSTAG 11.4.2015 ab 16 Uhr 

im HORST - in der Kleyerstr.15-17 - Frankfurt

 in den Adlerwerken an der Galluswarte

es erscheint eine Publikation

mit zahlreichen Abbildungen, Materialien und  Texten von u.A.

Angela Mc Robbie

Dennis Vetter

Gary Vanisian

Sissi Tax

Wilhelm Hein

Dr. BearBoy

Ruvi Simmons

und einem Comic von Flore Vigneron

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The wonderful Manuela Schinina’ aka:  DJane Bianca Kruk hosted an Easter Mongay dinner at her lovely flat at Kott Busser Damn the food was heavenly and the fellowship divoon consisting of Nanna Heidenreich, Daniel Hendrickson and a lovely lesbianfeministiche couple Bettina and Xana who have recently given up being artists and curators which I applaud. Their work can be found here: windberreira.com.  And now the simply delici menu:

caponata di melanzane (tradizionale siciliana) , which was the side dish with aubergine

salsa di menta , which was the sauce  insalata arance e finocchi , also sicilian ! but very fashionable lately in berlin and lamb with roasted internationalist potatoes

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Felix Knoke the editor of greatly missed D-bug Magazine and writer with Der Spiegel and Der Stern hosted a Filmhighlights Magazine studio audience intervention in the Schiller Kiez in Neu Kolln.  Felix rents a studio at the Kamo Atelier and told me he thought it would be a nice idea if Manuel Schubert aka: Vicki Baum and I did our monthly podcast promoting Rising Stars, Falling Stars-We Must Have Music in front of a live audience of his studio mates. I said yes not realizing that Felix would make a public announcement on Facebook I wanted just a nice quiet little thing in front of a few of his select friends and associates.  Well thankfully Felix took down the Facebook posting, but there was still quite a large unexpected turnout that included Felix’s beautiful girlfriend Angela Nicoletti,Glen Meadmore European tour guitarist Tilmann Schuepter,Dutch photographer Sandra van Egmond, Luca Bendandi of publishing firm Vetro Editions which is part of the Kamo Atelier, Slovenian dramaturgist Urska Brodar, penile projectionist Marius Roth who also works for Juergen Bruning and his girlfriend the filmmaker Cylixe who was a top student of Birgit Hein,interior architect Michele Bruni and psychology Phd student Anna Janssen, the underground musician Andreas “Krach”Stoiber who more people need to know about as he is a Berlin treasure, designer and illustrator Kasha Beyer, Italian Fordham Baldie Andrea Teller, hunky young and very personable Tobias Zimmerman and young artist and junior curator Andre Kirchner who took quite a liking to our little Manuel Schubert-could Springtime romance be blooming? Plus, Mariabrigida from Mama Roma, and an assortment of Argentine party girls just happy to be anywhere.