Rossini zurueck ins Repertoire

Was with that Scandinavian Muslim Daniel “Haji” Hendrickson recently who is the ultimate opera queen’s queen who was giving me the royal T about Erwin Schrott the Uruguayian baritone who is obviously a bisquit but is on the down beat low as he is now amicably divorced from his super famous soprano ex-wife. Openly Dorothy is Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien who is known for taking off his shirt during performances. Someone who is handsome and hetero but should definitely keep his clothes on is the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann who is tall but a bit doughy in that patriarchal Teutonic way that is quite prevalent in The Fatherland.

Had a great day with my old LA art pal Alex Donis who was visiting Berlina via Venice, Italy. He told me that Marcus Kuilland Nazario of the old Highways-Santa Monica Army Game Grift is now teaching art to children in Mexico.

Was invited to a scrumptious dinner party given by handsome studkin Uli Ziemons at his new super large Skalitzer Strasse compound. A joyous time was had by all including his hot girlfriend the art curator Anja Lueckenkemper and Omar Shariff Jr. the out and proud grandson of the legendary international film star Omar Shariff who recently passed from Alzheimer’s Disease. A tragedy that is closer to home here in Berlin is the unexpected death of Bert Neumann the celebrated East German stage designer who designed the set of my first big Berlin hit CHEAP Jewelry in 2001 that was part of the Volksbuhner’s Rich & Famous Festival. Bert was a lovely man and came from a dynasty of designer’s as his father designed my favorite East Berlin building in the form of the mid century restaurant The Schoenbrunn in Friedrichshain Park. His sister Aenna Quionnes is second in command at the current administration at Hebel am Ufer (HAU). Aenna was the co-director of the Rich & Famous Festival of 2001.

I’ve been having some lovely little adventures lately on the streets of the city which is very unusual here in this town of people keeping a very healthy distance from each other. Met a patrician tall and very handsome Turkish boy on holiday from Istanbul and a tall and very nicely built Chinese boy with huge feet named Ziyan Liu who is an exchange student studying in Darmstadt. Mr. Liu regularly attends the University of Singapore where he has a material engineering scholarship.

New ill Berlin hair don’t! Spotted a light skinned black man on the street with what can only be described as an Afro dreadlock jheri curled shag. The city of bad hair never falters in coiffured amazement.

Ich hab Watt aufm Kasten

Rising Stars, Falling Stars- We Must Have Music was beyond SRO Sunday evening for Yiddish Nite with a super rare screening of the 1937 Polish musical Jewish mysticism film The Dybbuk which featured BFF male bonding of the homosexyfaygulla kind and an array of arresting images. The einlass musik for the evening was provided by the fabulous, all-talking, all-singing, all-kevetching Barry Sisters. In the audience was a pert and stylish Jewish scholarina doing research on the dulcimet resounding Sisters Barry---gotta love that! The audience for this film was completely intergenerational which has long been a staple with RSFS since it started in 2007.
Seen cavorting up a tempest, the juicy Austrian video artiste Kornelia Kugler and posse including her cute blondine younger brother Johannes, Hotsy and super fit Israeli choreographer and Catherine Sullivan collaborateur Assaf Hochman with his bubble butt longtime companion the Greek passiv filmmaker Lil Alex Tielemachos Alexiou who drives men wilde with his tight body and muscular dimunitive frame, Scandinavian Jewish Muslim Jihadist Daniel “Haji” Hendrickson in fine form on the clavier breaking hearts left and right along with his gorgeous GermanItalio hubby Piero Bellomo just back from Rimini and I don’t mean Protokol. Filling in for Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus who is off to the four corners of the world on urgent Arsenal business was that lanky drink of spring water Ulrich Ziemons and his sizzling girlfriend the curator Anja Lueckenkemper, Israeli actress Mili Avital who did Ms. Davis’ hair and make-up was fellating the possessed Dybbuk from the penisaurus of a few of the well endowed present, like  art dealer Thor Shannon.  Taking in the scene: British live artist Richard Hancock, Documenta 10 Artistic Director Catherine David, critic Sam Avidar, artist Cyprien Gaillard, "IT boy" Richard Gersch, Emaline the lovely older daughter of American scholar Heather Love and wifette Mara with a rock steady smart set crew of young,fresh, self described humpy dorks and dorkettes and that ultimate Nerds Nerd Alexis Taylor of the London music kollectiv Hot Chip.  Oy!!!!

ENTSPANNUNG UND STRESSEBE WAELTIGUNG

Breakfast  meeting with Uli Ziemons, the handsomest  young man of all Europa at the cute Tiergarten Café which is one of Berlin’s secret treasures.  Hadn’t seen Mr. Ziemons in a coons age as he has been quite busy traveling about to exotic places like Seoul Korea representing Forum Expanded at a film congress along with Nannootchka Heidenreich.  Uli also moved to a much larger flat in Kreuzberg enjoying double the space---I am so jealous.  Those of you who haven’t read Uli’s book Aufzeichnungen eines Storm Squatters about the film great George Kuchar should run out to the nearest bookseller and purchase it immediately.  You won’t regret it.  Buy Uli's book or i will kill you.

The Tiergarten Café is becoming my new favourite meeting site as I also had a breakfast klatch with the young, gifted blatina Kunstler Diana Arce and her sweet pal Anasstacia who is a student from Hampshire College where I was a visiting artist back in 2010.  I was supposed to meet my Dominican Mija Diana at the Akademie de Kunst café but it was closed for summer rennovations.  I’ve also had some business lunch and dindins with a few curators and the handsome big footed, well endowed fagpanacademe Ricardo Montez.  Mr. Montez is a beautiful TexMex assistant professor  of the New School’s Performance Studies/Public Engagement Chair on Race and Ethnicity Gender and Sexuality Department who took me to supper at the only true Mexican boite in Berlin Ta’Cabro’n Taqueria at Skalitzer Strasse 60 in Kreuzberg.  Ta’cabro’n is the real deal with Mexicans in the kitchen and a juicy staff of lovesexy and personable young people who are friendly and accommodating which is so rare in Berlina.  Besides Mr. Montez we were joined by his redhot longtime companion David Kurnick the famed Victorian literature specialist from Rutgers University, Jake Short the famed German historian from Athens Georgia and Chad Kia Harvard Persian scholar extroidinaire.

Scandinavian Muzlim jihadist Daniel Hendrickson had his yearly Tamale Party at his compound in Neu Koln which was filled with utter deliciousness.  I went a little crazy on the Margarita front but had a yowza time with my CHEAP kolleaguan including fearless leader Susanne Sachsse, Marcuse Siegelstein, kJohnny Blue and his gorgeous Napalese wife Emilie and CHEAP family innercircle: Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus who will be off traveling to New York City, Troy New York Upstate, Cairo and other parts of Europa and beyond.  Also cavorting about was dream girl Nanna Heidenreich.  New comer to the brood: the Turkish/Arab It boy of Academia Zulfukur Centin which means Sword of Ali in Arabic. After the Tamale  Party a gaggle of us went to the 27^th birthday celebration of celesbian scholarina Heather Love---who is one sizzle of a proper butch hosted by her charming and pretty ladylove Mara  at Ankerklauseand on the Kanal.  The celebutantes on view included: Lee Wallace, Annamarie Jagose, Karin Michalski, Anja Michaelsen, Jake Short, Chad Kia, Beatrice Michaelis, Luis-Manuel Garcia, Natascha Frankenberg, Emaline Kelso and Francisco Diez.

Years ago in the early 1980s I was a guest DJane on a NPR music radio program based in Los Angeles.  The substitute host of this show was Dave Lumian who was a leftist activist /indie band manager/publisher of Twist Magazine a music and style publication.  For several years I was Twist Magazines  features editor. When I was on the program I chittle chatted with Dave Lumian about my record collection and the regular host called the studio to complain abou the way I talk.  At the time I was very offended and let my anger show on air by exaggerating on purposely my public style of speaking which is now known as Upspeak, Vocal Fry and Creak.   I’ve always seen this type of criticism as an attack on the voices of young women.  Does anyone else out their in the either want to weigh in on this?

The Skate-Anlage im park am Gleisdreieck is one of the sexiest places in Berlin proper.  The skater thrasher boys in this park can be seen daily in various stages of manly undress.  Under the Ubahn bridges in the park are some gymnasts and capoeira dancers who are also quite sexy and oogle friendly.  There  are several crews in this part of the overly landscaped park who attract quite a lot of attention.  If anyone out there knows more about these boys who I am sure are kept by wealthy gentlemen or deep pocketed Landgraffs please write to me c/o of my webmaster Larry Bob or assistant Gleeson Brevard the email address is in the contact section of this blogina.

LUFTMENSCH

Rising Stars, Falling Stars - July 2015 - Vaginal Davis & Michał Waszyńskis THE DYBBUK by Filmanzeiger on Mixcloud

Die ganze Mischboch ist da

Had a lovely Magic Flute meeting with CHEAP’s pretty fearless leader Susanne Sachsse and that handsome young studkin Musicologist Roger Mathew Grant visiting Berlin for the summer looking like a demi god.

Had a fun telephone interview via New York’s Document Journal Magazine with Norweigan muscle hunksis artist Bjarne Melgaard.  We were supposed to do a skype interview at the CHEAP studio officina in Neu Koln but Skype wasn’t co-operating so we had to switch to landline.  Mr. Melgaard is one of the most popular young artists working the international art world firmament and he confided in me that he is a big collector of my paintings and sculpture pieces and has been following the Vagimules career if you can call it that since the days of The Afro Sisters and Cholita the female Menudo.  The article Mr Melgaard  interviewed me for along with a portrait  of yours truly by WolfgangTilmans will be in Document Journal’s Autumn issue.

Last night I went to a festive summer book launch at Arsenal Institute fur Film und Video Kunst for the dynamite duo of Nanna Heidenreich and Maja Figge called “Post koloniale Medienwissenschaft”.  The evening started with a lecture by Ms. Figge whose book is called “Deutschein (wieder-)herstellen” and a screening of the odd 1957 West German film Der Stern Von Afrika that is set in 1939 during Nationalsocialism and tells the true story of a bland blondine war hero named Marseille and his ardent hunky love interest Robert of the pillow lips and double chin and their buxom shared black concubine played by Afro Europan  low rent entertainer Roberto Blanco.  All the Germans in the audience seemed scandalized by this film which I found merely amusing for its peek through old footage of prewar Berlin.  The most disturbing part for me was the jigaboo insignia on the side of the fighter planes and the dainty swastikas on the boys uniforms.

La Heidenreich gave a concise lecturina that was part theory ala her book “V/Erkennungsdienste” des deutschen Auslaenderdiskurses und die Perspektive der Migration (which is getting some notice in the US via The New Republic Magazine and the AP newswire) and the rest all out  fangirl extroidinaire as she introduced the 1980 German/Turkish film  „Goelge“ directed by Sema Poyraz who was in attendance and was quite personable during her post screening Q&A with Nanna.  The packed crowd resonated with some of the finest celesbians in all of Europa and in general just a high quotient of the very famous and dynamic so I'm only able to give you at this time a partial list of the whose who:  Maja Figge’s girlfriend Bettina a trained architect, video artist and yoga teacher and their transatlantic possem, Miss Kolja who teaches post production at DFFB, Wibke Straube the film and trans scholarina, Gudrun her old roommate and a well known activist, Ulli the key figure of Kotti & Company, Kim her colleague at UdK, Kathrin Peters, Judith Sigmund and Tashy Endres of the Institute for Gestaltung, media studies scholar Anja Michaelson, film curator and filmmaker Karin Michaelski, artist and filmmaker Isabell Spengler, who we haven’t seen in a coons age whose child is now four years old, Ela Wusch of bbooks kollectiv who didn’t want to talk about her love affair in LA with the Franko Bros-James and Dave, film historian Christine Noll Brinckmann, Michaela Ott, philosophy professor at Art Academy Hamburg, Beatrice Michaelis,Eli Hashemi Yekani, artist Justin Tyme, Noam Gorbat, Syrian artist Omar from Ferash Publishing, Kathrin Hunsicker, Ulrike Bergermann the editor of the this fab book series and the big boss at the Universitaet Braunschweig looking very lovesexy and glam with her girlfriend the geographer,  great urban studies scholar and anti Olympics activist Sybille Bauriedl, DJane Bianca Krug, Angelika Levi, Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus looking very fresh and summery who will be off soon on more important business travels throughout the the far nether regions, Muzlim jihadist Daniel Haji Hendrickson , It boy fagademic Zulfukur Cetin, film critic Toby Ahsraf, Jasmin Ihrac the dancer and Kanak Attack activist, Jule Karakayali the racism and migration scholar and British theatre director James Dacre.

QUAL FOI A ULTIMA VEZ QUE DESTE FESTIVAL?

My first visit to Lisbon, Portugal couldn’t have come at a better time as Berlin was engulfed in a temperal heatwave. At icky Schonefeld Airport I was surprised to find that Koen Claerhout of Haus de Kulture de Welt and pal would be on my flight on their way to Lisbon for a summer holiday.

The weather in Lisbon was warm but breezy and I am not just talking about the 1971 film starring William Holden and Kay Lenz.  I arrived to the picqueresque Iberian city onTAP airlines Portugals’s own Air Berlin which because the Portugese tend to be dimunitive is one of the most cramped in terms of seating.  The 3 hour and 45 minute trip seemed like it was 6 hours long, but upon landing everything was Granada.  Whisking me to the lovely Hotel Florida the festival angelitos ----pretty&personable Magda and lovesexy suave Andre.  Lisbon’s airport is conveniently located within the city limits which is a major blessing.

Pedro Marum and Ricke Merighi the genius curators/ programmers with Queer Lisbon and sponsor Africa Cont in collaboration with  the Cinemateca Portuguesa and Galeria Ze’ dos Bois brought forth this fantastic art/music/film congress  Are You For Real? An Afro Futuristic trip from blaxploitation to queer sonics and visual utopias.  Now that’s a hairy  eyeball mouthful eh?

After the horrible plane flight it was lovely to relax at Hotel Florida for a bit before the welcome dinner.  I loved how in the elevators of the hotel you are joined by a life sized Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn.  I had a great view from my 4^th floor Harrison Ford Room that looked upon an impressive square with a giant statue, the next day I was changed to a much larger John Travolta Scientology Suite with joyous street views. 

The welcome dinner hosted by the sweet festival artistic director Joao Ferreira and his crew of handsome Joao’s who are part of the Queer Lisbon extended familia was at the family owned Adega Dom Luis.   I was told that the food in Lisbon is divoon and was not disappointed.  After feasting we took a long walk back to the hotel and got a nice flavour of the city and its nitelife with so many beautiful young people partying in the streets. 

The second day in Lisbon was the opening of the congress with another VIP dinner at the spacious and delicious organic boite Jardim dos Saberes(Garden of Flavours)  It was lovely meeting Will Sylvester from Bushwick New York who is the post-production producer for the installation A Person is More Important Than Anything Else by artist Hank Willis Thomas which weaves various audio, images newsreel clips, speeches and interviews of go tell it to the mountain queen James Baldwin.  The soft spoken Mr. Sylvester reminded me of a young Mrs. Michael Glass but with  dreadlocks  when Mrs. Glass  was working as manager at the first location of Amok Books on a side street in Silverlake.  Joining the din din was handsome and tall Afro German Dominik Djialeu one half of the Berlin based party duo Stitch&Tchuani of the queer hippity hop club Berries.  I had met Dominik back in February during the Berlinale when I was DJaning the Forum Party.  In Lisbon Dominik DJed the opening party for this art congress.  Another guest was the cute and cuddly Black British journalista Ashley Clark who has curated for the BFI and The Brooklyn Academy of Music.  I love how these young modern straight black men like Mr.Sylvester and Mr. Clark are super comfortable expressing a little sugar in their tanks and flit and float quite easily in queer environs. Portugal is a tiny country but has a rather large colonial presence throughout the world so its great that congresses like this exist.  Germany could learn a lot from its deep south neighbour.  After a terrace garden wine reception at the Cinemateqa the opening screening of Are You For Real?/Space is the Place starring Sun Ra expertly set the tone for everything to come.

It was a juicy luxury  to have a few days to settle in before my performative lecture on Sunday July 5^th at the Galeria Ze dos Bois which is a former royal palace that is now a contemporary art institution.  Was wonderful meeting Dona Amelia the 79 years young caretaker and muse of the art palace who riveted Liad Hussein Kantorowicz and I with stories about living in Lisbon for the past 50 years.  Pedro Marum took us for lunch to a wonderous tapas on top of a hill with glorious views of the river and ocean with the doppleganger of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.  I was fortunate that I had the very talented make-up artiste Ms. Rita Guerreiro who beat me a fine face so that I looked immaculate infront of the very large audience that came out to see me that included actress Maria de Medeiros(Henry&June) and Pulitzer Prize winning black writer Wesley Morris. Special shoutout to Time Out Lisbon writer Bruno Horta who wrote a full page article on me that really spurred the populaces curiousity.  After my lecturina the standout performance for the evening was by Ms. Hussein Kantorowicz, the Israeli/Palestinian artist who I have known for awhile as she was the long time girlfriend of  the late scholar and artiste Tim Stuettgen.  I was completely WoWed by her disidentificative piece Running/The Better Half.  Liad is certainly a startling new voice in the performance art firmament. And the world needs a voice like Liad’s who enchants on every level with her voice, body, video imagery---featuring a low tech skype conference call with her younger self that was beyond geniustrata as well as channeling of Jewish Mysticism with the power of Sheila.

At a frolicsome party after the two performances Sunday eve I met a beautiful black woman scholar who is American but was educated in posh boarding schools in London and her cute gaysian BFF who is an artist in residence in Lisbon.  Needless to say when two black girls born the same year get together a stylish hoot of a time is had by one and all.  Lisbon I already miss and adore you.