Speaking From the Diaphragm
The Vaginal Davis Blog
. . .From the Counsel of Inter-Continental Balistic Principalities
Thursday, April 17, 2008
AH YOUTH,AH WILDERNESS
Tim Blue of kollective Cheap and i had our first meeting with the Hebbel Am Ufer contingent of young collaborators on this Klubszene project that will culminate in a short performance with 150 theater students around Berlin. Its an ambitious project to be sure. Tim and I must be completely mad to take part in it, but thats never stopped us before. Tim and his brother kJohnny participated in something similar with large groups of elementary school children. And i worked with youth groups in Manchester England which turned out to be brilliant. This time the age range is 13-19 or so. The sparkling bright faces we encountered were boisterous and eager, with ethnic backgrounds ranging from Turkey to Iran, mostly girls with a few boys sprinkled about. There was quite a bit of interest in the fact that both Tim and I, are from California, which i didnīt expect. Issues that came up were deep: suicide, homosexuality, bisexuality, arranged marriages, racial tension and parental abuse. These young adults are ready to tackle issues head-on, so its our duty to help them shine.
The facilitator of this particular ensemble is Miake, the tall, stylish Dutch girl who heads the music program at HAU, and assisting her is cute Belgium intern Quinten. By the end of the two hours spent with them all, i was huffing, puffing and trying to find some body oil for my stiff achy breaky knees. Working on this will either keep me young, or kill me.
.: posted by Vaginal Davis 2:18 AM
Monday, April 14, 2008
UN BADGE POUR S'AFFICHER
The teenage Scandanavian writing infant terrible Travis Jeppeson, and his dreamy lover Mario, had me over for a scrumpteous din din at their huge Moabit compound on Saturday. The tres intimate guest list included artist Christophe Chemin and beauty queen Susanne Sachße. Travis had just returned from London where he read with Adelle Stripe of the Brutalists, at Foyes Bookshop on Charing Cross Road as part of the Get London Reading Short Story Festival. Travis shared "What The Witch Doctor Says" from the Institute of Psychoplasmics catalog. The exhibition opened on April 8th at the Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park. The beautiful Mr. Jeppeson also read at the SRO Literary High Tea at the Fitzroy Dolls Restaurant at Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury. This event was organized by the genius writer,and heritage burlesque star, Heidi James, who is editing Travis' next book "Disorientations: Art on the Margins of the Contemporary" for the Social Disease imprint. Travis also has a new web journal at www.disorientations.com. that you must check out or die.
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A fan from New York just emailed me an article about the Vaginal Davis Bump. What in the hell is that you ask? Well it has something to do with the fact that anything mentioned in my lady blog suddenly experiences a sudden spike in popularity. I had no idea i was so influential.
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Spent a glorious Spring, sunny and bright day with Koen Claerhout, the Flemish youth who was a Cheap Kollective intern for our 2005 piece "It Happened to Me". The multi talented Mr. Claerhout has also designed the lady Ms. D. a deconstructed gown, as well as costumes for my art band Ruth Fischer for the Cheap Sylvester Art Bachanalia. Koen comes from a super wealthy Belgium industrialist family, and now divides his time between studies in Berlin and working for the first Brussels Biennale.
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Started slowly rehearsing with the Cheapies for our upcoming tour of Cheap Blacky. The piece that we did in collaboration with Bruce "Judy" LaBruce. At the end of April we go to the Donau Festival in Krems, Austria and will be joined by a superstar roster of international dignataries like Ron Athey, Dom Johnson, Joel Gibb of the Hidden Cameras and sexy professor Jennifer Doyle.
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Don't forget that this Saturday April 19th i host Rising Stars, Falling Stars my performative tribute to early cinema with a screening of Erich von Stroheim's 1929 classic Queen Kelly starring Gloria Swanson. The divine Eunice Martin will be accompanying the film on piano, and after the screening we will have a little reception in the rote foyer. Mark you calenderia for 9pm Saturday at Kino Arsenal at the Film Haus in Potsdamer Platz.
And speaking of falling stars, Hollywood Golden era great Charleton "NRA" Heston died. Whenever i think of two buck Chuck, i start to grin about how Gore Vidal tricked him with the homo context of Ben Hur, and the relationship in the film between Heston and Stephen the sloppy bottom Boyd. Also passing was the legendary director Jules Dassin.
.: posted by Vaginal Davis 6:31 AM
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