an interview with Anna Karina

.. And how she came to France .

She once went three weeks without eating.

1972 french television interview with Nico in the background ..

The sky is overcast today.

I'm going to work on straightening up the 

living room a little.. so that when my friends

come over tomorrow

they will have warm places to sit.

I'll start on the sage, walnut and mushroom stuffing

later this evening... And then tomorrow the caramelized

brussel sprouts.  The house will smell so good.

Listening to Nico in the background.

an interview on french television with Nico ...

November... wondering daydream

.. sometimes I get lost 

and daydream off on another

track.. Lately ~

Iv'e been watching some wonderful

movies : The Seven-Per-Cent-Solution is

one that I highly recommend.

And watching Black Books over again.

And ~ Spent some time for my birthday with the

happy sea otters in Shell Beach.

There were zebra's and ostrich running

around in San Simeon. Llama and goats on the

hill sides in Big Sur.

Also~  I've been working on getting some

art exhibitions in places I might like

to travel to..

I would really love to go to

Argentina again..  and might stay there

perhaps. Somewhere in the back

of my mind.

For now

and to be cont...

october xylophones

It's October..

Iv'e been getting my costume together for a night of 

trick or treating on closed desolate streets late at night.

.. spending a lot of time, during the day, listening to

the sounds of xylophones.

And in the evenings..

 watching forgotten movies.

Modern Jazz Quartet plays Lonely Woman in 1962..

nico ~ the ice queen

 

In 1969 ~ Nico had progressed in looks from

a princess to a peasant. It had been a sluggish journey,

starting with hair tinged a pale strawberry to

please Jim Morrison, to the boots of Spanish

leather she continually wore, then working in from either 

end to effect a seamless mood of rustic grace. 

(She'd smell like a pig farmer sometimes,

she washed so little, grumbled Viva).

Nice was still obsessive about the effect of

her appearance, and when she spoke to

an American magazine in March 1969

she advised others to follow a simple rule:

'Simple means elegant, black means

dramatic, simple and black means elegant

and dramatic - this is a good foundation.

I have even tried perverse combinations,

such as black with brown leather which

I created in my own look.

because it was simple it worked,

and you see it everywhere now.'

'My solution is to underline my Russian-ness. I think

it makes me look as though I am from another world

or another time, which is quite true.'

{about creating The Marble Index)

John Cale was amazed by her preparation: 'She'd written

all the words down. They were clear on paper,

in that spidery gothic script of hers. But

I never saw a manuscript with a lot of 

corrections on it. I only saw - like, if she 

would be sitting down and writing 

something, I'd sneak a look (I think she

would have hated that, had she caught me),

and there was no crossing out. A lot of

thought, and awful lot of thought, had been

given to it before it went down on paper.

That's remarkable, when you think of her

working in an alien language.

And once it was down there, 

it wasn't changed.

She was very confident in her style.

{excerpts from The Life and Lies of an Icon}

Whispering through the other end.. Edith Piaf

Edith Piaf is playing through the speakers in the living room..

and bringing some far away inspiration into this Monday morning.

 And even though it is a holiday for some {labor day}..

For me feels as though there is a bit of work to be done.

From my angle.. Surrounding me are stacks of boxes and books. 

Barware and brushes. Lamps and wires. Mounds of textiles and

old magazines waiting to be searched through and cut out.

Let me bring you up to date.

The month of July was spent packing up the two year gallery installation 

at the fish factory. Day after day was spent wearing old dirty work 

coveralls. Moving, packing, sorting, lifting, driving, unloading...  

Then coming home and finding new bruises on different 

parts of my body.  On the last day of that month.. 

The musee was completely disassembled, the walls were bare and 

the keys were left on the counter as 

we said adieu.

For the month of August.. There were three well needed 

road trips.. A bit of catching up and relaxing with good friends ..

out where there was no service. 

Only mountains, trees and fresh air.

 Up to date...

The house and recently completed studio under the pepper tree..

which are now filled to the roof with art, books, 

frames and old furniture from the gallery... 

Need to be sorted through.

 Edith is assisting me { in the background }

with going through everything and deciding

what is really important and what can be used in the next 

installment of installations. 

The interior goal should be reached in no time.. Having it look like

 a refined yet cluttered Argentine/Parisian cafe/studio 

photograph taken out of an old moldy

decor book.

Star of the Cabaret Voltaire

Emmy Hemmings in Ascona, 1918 -

Because I am a seaman's child, stem from the sea, life itself is to me a journey over the sea,
and I never see the shores, as if the land, which I don't know yet and which awaits me, were
sleeping in peace. It might be my homeland or a strange land that I will love. I don't know.
Always it was the adventure which I did not seek and which befell me, and each journey was
called 'Call and Response.'
-Emmy Hennings in 'Ruf und Echo:Mein Leben mit Hugo Ball' 1953

...Hennings preferred to keep from history most of the creative work produced during her long career as a member of Munich and Zurich’s Avant-Garde inner circles, as it would unfortunately also reveal a long career as a morphine addict, prostitute, and hustler, who frequently promoted free-love, anarchy, and social revolution, and spent several stints in prison, at least once for forging passports for draft dodgers. 

[click on one of the images for more about emmy]

beatrix ost

Outré, yet Uncontrived

Beatrix Ost was born in Germany at the start of World War II. But it was art, not conflict, that shaped the life of this practicing Tibetan Buddhist who is best known for her Edwardian outfits, dramatic personal style and joie de vivre.

Beatrix Ost is both a writer and artist. 

I find her fascinating 

and inspiring on so many levels

{stills from beatrix ost for stylelikeu - click above to watch}

Colette and toby

this is colette and her little dog toby...

{yesterday it was new years eve and i fell in love a little black dog.

we did not bring him home because the time is not right.

i came home and told fugu that we will wait till next year to adopt a little

puppy brother or sister for him to play with...}

paper flowers

On this day
...7 years ago
my mother took her life.

She called me that morning and asked if I could bring over a movie and
a german chocolate milkshake.
I grabbed Big Fish and went over there....

...
I walked in the house and
I found my mom in the bath tub.
She had shot herself in the head.

On the dining room table..
She had organized important folders, papers and instructions for me.

There was also a note from her that said...

' You might not know this.. but I have always been your biggest fan....
I know you better than you know yourself perhaps...

This life is for the living.. Go live it!
 Don't keep my things.
Those things I collected, were my memories....
You have your own memories to create...

 Most importantly..
Always follow your dreams.

I love you now.
And I will love you always. '




i miss her dearly
love you mom

the day that doomsday never happened

• one man told of how he quit his job because he wasn't going to get a paycheck next week anyway.
• kids talked about how they were excited about never having to do chores or homework again.
•  some sit stunned and some drive back home in their mini vans and beg for their jobs back.
• and now they are sad because they didn't get to disappear.

[ here is a story from 1954...this was taken from an article in Live Science :]

The classic study of "doomsdays gone bad" took place in 1954. A Chicago woman named Dorothy Martin predicted a cataclysmic flood from which a few true believers would be saved by aliens. Martin and her cult, The Seekers, gathered the night before the expected flood to await the flying saucer. Unbeknown to them, however, their group had been infiltrated by psychologist Leon Festinger, who hoped to find out what happens when the rug of people's beliefs is pulled out from under them.

Festinger's study, which became the basis of the book "When Prophecy Fails" (Harper-Torchbooks 1956), revealed that as the appointed time passed with no alien visitors, the group sat stunned. But a few hours before dawn, Martin suddenly received a new prophecy, stating that The Seekers had been so devout that God had called off the apocalypse. At that, the group rejoiced — and started calling newspapers to boast of what they'd done. Eventually, the group fell apart. 

Nazimova

as played by

Алла Назимова

Alla Nazimova

was a russian american film and theatre actress..

 Oscar Wilde's Salome

This is a 1921 vanity fair caricature by Ralph Barton.

Nazimova is the one with the wild black hair.

inspired by bauhaus textiles

some of the most beautiful textile designs 

BauHaus Dessau 1925- 1930

by Gunta Stölzl

Gunta Stölzl

that cat's something i can't explain

'Night prowling, sifting sand
Padding around on the ground
He'll be found
When you're around
That cat's something I can't explain'

a few of my favorite artists

all put into one-

in two parts...

{by carter tutti..

also known previously as 

chris and cosey}
here's a lovely interview at their farm house:
http://www.vbs.tv/watch/motherboard/mbd-vbs-elec-indy-chris-and-cosey

and
then 

the original

with syd barret

Vertigo Room

This room was painted in two days and nights at BUS in Stockholm. A collaboration between the Le Gun folks and the Swedes...The exhibition was curated by Emma Rendel.